Relaxing at one of my favorite restaurants

My good friends know, I love drinking loose leaf tea. I enjoy sipping white tea all morning long (I've written about all of the incredible health benefits especially with white tea because it is not processed like other teas)

My husband Mike and I had lunch outside at one of our favorite restaurants, Restaurant BT in Hyde Park Village in South Tampa. 

BT also knows how much I appreciate the fresh ingredients she uses in all of her dishes so she surprised me with this incredible homemade tea!

She added fresh ginger, lemongrass, fresh mint, kumquats and a touch of honey--it was amazing!

It can be hard to eat fresh and healthy at restaurants... that's why I always end up at Restaurant BT. She uses mainly fresh ingredients in all of her dishes.

I WISH I could've shown you the fresh cilantro chicken sandwich, but Mike ate it before I could even pull out my cell phone!

He craves it once a week!

I always order the pumpkin soup... I'm lucky I was able to take a photo... it's hard for me to resist devouring this soup!

The wild salmon soba is loaded with vegetables and a light way to start your day.

This is the time of year we can sit outside and really enjoy Tampa weather. Call your girlfriends and spend a nice afternoon sitting outside and enjoying December in Florida.

5 ways to not overeat on Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're having a great time with friends and family. I will enjoy every bite of turkey, sausage apple stuffing, roasted veggies and my favorite, PUMPKIN PIE!
Most people eat around 3,000 calories during their Thanksgiving meal.
I don't want you to miss out on some of your favorite foods (mine too!)...


Here are 5 ways to make sure you don't go overboard...
Fill up on a healthy breakfast like high fiber cereal or oatmeal.
Snack on green apples during the day--they're lower in calories and high in fiber
Drink two glasses of water before you sit down to eat
Skip the bread and butter
Use smaller plates so even if you go back for seconds, you're less likely to overeat.

Nothing better than buying fresh, locally grown organic veggies!

I just picked up my first harvest of the season from Sweetwater Organic Community Farm in Hillsborough County.

I pay the farmer a lump sum for my membership and then I stop by the farm (bring your own bag) once every two weeks to pick up 20 different vegetables and herbs.

Here's a look at some of them:

You can visit the farm on Sundays to see what it's all about. They also have local farmers selling eggs and goat's milk as well as herbs, soap and organic snacks.

Extra produce is available for purchase.

Sweetwater is also dropping off locally grown, organic vegetables at the St. Pete Farmer's Market.

Click here to see if there is an organic, community farm in your neighborhood. It is the least expensive way to eat locally grown, organic foods.

Pass on movie theater popcorn

Yes, I know the smell calls your name the second you step foot in a movie theatre... "Popcorn in all its buttery glory...must eat NOW."

But did you know a medium-sized buttery popcorn and medium soda can be a nutritional nightmare?

This may have you thinking twice about dinner and a movie.

Your popcorn could count as your splurge, big meal for the day.

15 years after the food police brought to our attention that the snack packed the equivalent of three Quarter Pounders TOPPED WITH 12 pats of butter, it seems not much as changed.

Consumer advocacy group, Center for Science in the Public Interest had several servings of movie theater popcorn from the three largest chains tested at an independent lab.

Here's what they found:

Regal medium popcorn: 20 cups, 1,200 calories, 60 grams of saturated fat, and 980 milligrams of sodium (without buttery topping!) Butter flavored oil can add 200 calories, 3 grams of saturated fat per 1.5 tablespoons.

AMC medium popcorn: 9 cups, 590 calories, 33 grams of saturated fat

(before buttery flavored topping)

Cinemark medium popcorn: 14 cups, 760 calories, 3 grams of saturated fat (before buttery flavored topping)

*According to the American Heart Association, you should not eat more than 16 grams of saturated fat a day.

CSPI says Regal and AMC pop their popcorn in processed coconut oil. It has 90 percent saturated fat. Cinemark has lower levels of saturated fat because it uses canola oil.

Movie theaters say they do have healthier options available. The Motion Picture Association of American says popcorn and movie snacks are viewed as a treat and not intended to be part of a regular diet.

Read more of my stories and check out healthy recipes on Heather's Natural Health

It's Harvest Time!

Blame it on our fast paced lifestyle... no time to make a meal... spend time with family and friends... or do much else for yourself.

The Slow Food movement puts the focus back on nutrient rich foods created to fuel your body so you feel better. It gives you a great reason to get together with friends and family and enjoy something you cooked up.

Pamela and Hank Sindlinger, owners of Gateway Organic Farm in Pinellas County are starting a Tampa Bay chapter of the Slow Food movement.

I met them a few years ago when they decided to transition a landscaping company into an organic farm in Pinellas County. They are also raising their wonderful grandkids so the farm provided the perfect place for them to balance both.

If you've always wanted to pay closer attention to your health (you are what you eat--think about what you ate this past week), swap easy recipes and learn more about locally grown, organic food, head to Gateway Organic Farm Sunday, November 22 at 4:00.

Read more stories and check out recipes on Heather's Natural Health

Bring your favorite potluck dish, chair and plate. They'll talk about starting the new, Slow Food chapter and watch "Fresh, The Movie."

Every Saturday, they have an open house from 9am-12 so you can meet the farmers, check out the produce and learn more about becoming a member.

I've been a member of Sweetwater Organic Community Farm in Tampa for several years. 

It's an inexpensive, easy way to buy the freshest, organic produce that is picked the same day I bring it home.

Take a look at labels on produce in the grocery store. You might be surprised to find oranges from South Africa, tomatoes from Canada or Mexico and garlic from China.

Most of our produce travels 1500 to 2,000 miles to get here.

Trust me, locally grown organic produce makes you want to eat more veggies!

To see if there is an organic farm near you, click here.

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen

I can tell you from experience, cutting out a lot of junk, processed foods and replacing them with nutrient rich whole foods has literally changed my life.
10 years ago, I was on a fast-track to diabetes, autoimmune issues and Lord knows what else, had I not figured out how to take care of myself.
You are what you eat--I spent too many years fueling my body with Twinkies, Doritos and Dr. Pepper!

Read more of my stories and check out easy recipes on Heather's Natural Health

I found a great book to give to someone (or maybe yourself) that will help make that transition easier.
"The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen" shows you how to use food as medicine. It was created for cancer patients going through treatment but I think it's good for anyone who wants to learn how to cook and eat better.
If you have a chronic disease, adding whole foods to your diet can only help.

Rebecca Katz created the cookbook--she has excellent credentials--Masters of Science degree in Health and Nutrition Education and culinary training from a school I would love to attend: New York's Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. She also works with patients at a cancer center in California. Rebecca stopped by the TV station so I could interview her. She has seen the dramatic difference between cancer patients who eat nutrient rich foods and those who don't.
Her top 5 cancer fighting foods include: garlic, onions (anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial) Dark, leafy greens from the cabbage family including kale and broccoli and spices like turmeric, found in curry dishes (anti-inflammatory, aids in digestion).
I recently interviewed an M.D. Anderson Cancer researcher about the health benefits of turmeric/curcumin.

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen includes 150 science based recipes designed to taste good and be good for you!

She shared some of the recipes with us:

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen/Emerald Greens with Orange


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
6 cups stemmed, chopped Swiss chard in bite-size pieces
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon maple syrup

Heat olive oil in a large saute' pan over medium heat, then add garlic, red pepper flakes, cranberries and orange juice and saute' for 30 seconds. Add the chard, salt, zest and saute' until chard starts to darken. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the greens to a bowl, then bring the liquid in the pan to a boil. When the liquid thickens a bit, stir the greens back in, along with the maple syrup. You may want to add another pinch of salt.
You can also put pomegranate seeds over the greens just before serving.

The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen/Almond Muffin Mania 


1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup spelt flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup organic milk (or almond milk)
2 organic eggs
1/4 cup unrefined organic coconut oil
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare mini muffin tin by oiling each cup. Combine almond meal,spelt flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until combined. Separately, combine agave nectar, mashed banana, milk, eggs, oil, almond and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well with rubber spatula.
Spoon batter into the muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until muffins spring back from touch. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen before they pop out.
*For ginger/lemon muffins, add 1 teaspoon of ground ginger to the dry ingredients/ Omit the extracts and add 3 tablespoons chopped, peeled fresh ginger, 3 tablespoons of lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to wet ingredients.

Scratchy throat or just want to prevent one? Read on...

Simple soup to make you feel better

Ok, so a good guy friend of mine, Jeff, (single--hates to cook) told me he is surrounded by sneezers and other sick people who are coming down with colds. He would love to make the "healing soup" I told you about (recipe included below in another BLOG), but he wants an easier version.

*Facebook friend, Donald Buffamanti, earns EXTRA credit for not only making the "healing soup" but also including his fantastic photo!
Donald said it was easy to make, but for those who try to avoid the grocery store at all cost, I have a 2 to 3 ingredient super simple garlic soup that will also do the trick.

You can sip on this garlic soup to prevent colds or make you feel better if you're fighing one.

There's science behind the benefits of eating raw garlic.
Harvard educated, Integrative medicine guru, Dr. Andrew Weil suggests eating raw garlic everyday for its antibiotic/antiviral properties.

Garlic is a powerful natural medicine. It has abilities to lower cholesterol and reduce clotting of the blood. It can also help lower high blood pressure. 
In addition, raw garlic is a potent antibiotic, especially active against fungal infections, with antibacterial and antiviral effects as well. An effective home remedy for colds is to eat several cloves of raw garlic at the first onset of symptoms. Eating raw garlic does not appeal to everyone, but garlic loses its antibiotic properties when you cook or dry it, and commercial garlic capsules do not preserve the full activity of the fresh bulb. You can make raw garlic more palatable by chopping it fine, mixing it with food, and eating it with a meal. Or cut a clove into chunks and swallow them whole like pills. One or two cloves of garlic a day are recommended for people who suffer from chronic or recurrent infections.



Eating raw garlic by itself can be be tough... that's why I like to sip this soup.
You only need three ingredients:
-Bulb of garlic
-Organic chicken broth
-Organic extra virgin olive oil

The most laber intensive part is you have to mince an entire bulb of garlic.
Use a knife to pop each clove from its shell and then mince all of the cloves.

Next, toss minced garlic in a pot, add a tablespoon of olive oil and lightly cook for 30 seconds.
(Keep garlic as raw as possible)
Add 32 ounces of organic chicken broth to pot and heat only until warm.

Strain the garlic and drink the broth.
*If it tastes too strong for you (or your kids make a horrible face) you can add more chicken broth  or water.

It won't fill you up like the "healing soup" but it will make you feel better and it takes only 5 minutes to make!