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moringa tree, moringa benefits, jovanka ciares

Benefits Of Moringa

Have you heard of Moringa? Is the new IT girl in the world of super foods! Check out the video to learn more!

Moringa is a tree native of South Asia but can be grown in the tropics around the world. People in India and Africa have been using Moringa for hundreds of years as medicine and in Ayurvedic and other types of herbal remedies.

The leaves of the plant are packed with nutrition: high protein content, calcium, vitamins C but all parts of the plant to treat anything from lack of mother’s milk to infectious diseases and its use is well documented in Ayurvedic texts.

Here are some of its benefits:

It grows really fast – really great to have a densely nourishing plant that can feed the poor of the world. Places where other nutritious foods may not be readily available, Moringa can be harvested all year round.

It’s high in antioxidants – Really high levels of antioxidants with loads of Vitamin C, beta-carotene and other antioxidants that protect against free radicals, prevent oxidative damage and prevent against premature aging.

It lowers blood sugar levels – This one study found women who took 7 grams of moringa powder daily for 3 months reduced their fasting blood sugar levels by almost 14%

It is packed with nutrients – Check this out, Moringa has:

10 times the vitamin A of carrots

25 times the iron of spinach

9 times the protein of yogurt

17 times the calcium of milk

15 times the potassium of bananas

12 times the vitamin C of oranges

It reduces inflammation – People use it to treat stomach ulcers (where was this when I had ulcers), and protect liver from chronic inflammation. It is also used to treat arthritis.

It can lower cholesterol and protect from different types of toxicity – It is believed that it can protect from some heavy metal toxicity like arsenic and it can even purify the water.

How to use it?

You can use the leaves fresh in your dishes (salads, smoothies) or the powder, which is how I’ve used it. I add it everywhere and even take 1 tsp in hot water to make tea. Tastes similar to green tea., a little earthy but good. You can also get it in oil form.

remedies for acid reflux, jovanka ciares

Home Remedies For Acid Reflux

Have your suffered from acid reflux? The diaphragm helps keep acid in your stomach but sometimes, some of the acids that help break down food during digestion can trickle up, moving to the esophagus and causing symptoms like:

Burning sensation in the chest
Sore throat
Sour taste in the mouth

Check how to prevent it and how my home remedies here!

Why is this happening to you! Could be because of:

Eating too fast or at off times in the day (like late at night)
Alcohol and smoking consumption
Too many spicy or fried foods

Here’s what I’ve done to avoid is from happening in the first place:

Avoid foods with too many spices, or vinegar
Avoid tomato sauce
Reduce chocolate intake
Avoid carbonated drinks
Avoid tea and coffee

Here are 2 natural home remedies:

Chew on a single tiny little clove stick
Chew 5-6 basil leaves after meals

Home Remedies For Bad Breath (Halitosis Cure)

Halitosis can be caused by a number of conditions in the gut or even beyond. My first suggestion is to go to your doctor and make sure you don’t have parasites, ulcers, IBS or any other condition that may be exacerbating this issue. Get a full clean bill of health.

Here’s what I’ve tried in the past for deal with halitosis:

– Oil of oregano – add a few drops to your toothbrush to kill stubborn germs in the mouth (make sure to floss as well) and brush with it 2-3 times per day

– Wash your mouth with hot water and cinnamon powder

– Chew a few parsley leaves

– Mix 1 tsp of chlorophyll in 2 ounces of water and drink on an empty stomach

– Chew on a few fennel seeds throughout the day

Also, make sure that you are eliminating properly and fully every day. Use Magnesium citrate or Cascara Sagrada if constipated.

What Does It Mean When You Crave Salt (And How To Stop It)

Do you feel like you crave salt regularly? Think you eat way too may salty foods? Or maybe not enough?

Yes, eating too much salt is bad, but eating too little is bad too.

Salt is necessary to control the balance of body fluids, provide vital trace minerals and is crucial for growth and reproduction.

So do you have cravings? Check out the video:

Do you Crave for salty foods.

Cravings for foods that have a lot of salt in them even if they don’t taste salty. Examples include bread, crackers, cookies, TV dinners, and canned foods?
Cravings for sausages, bacon, olives, seasoning blends
Do you have fatigue, low energy and mood swings.
Muscle cramps or slow recovery from exercise.

If so, here’s what I recommend you do:

Test your adrenals and hormone levels. Cortisol and other stress hormone issues may be affected by sodium deficiency so check with your doctor asap.
Pay attention to how you feel after eating foods with a lot of sodium. Listen to the cues of your body, maybe it is trying to tell you something!
Pay attention to exercise. If you sweat a lot, rehydrate with a mixture of water and himalayan pink salt.
Be present and celebrate where you are right now. This will help you reduce stress levels.
Add some Himalayan sea salt to a big glass of water during dinner. This will help you not go to the bathroom a thousand times per day or at night.

how to prepare for fall and winter, jovanka ciares

How To Keep Your Body Healthy During Fall/Winter

Fall is the time for reflection and fasting to prepare for winter, using cleanses and warming herbs to help maintain immunity during winter.

So here are some of the easy steps you can take in the next few days to prepare your body for the harsh winter, prevent diseases and staying strong and happy.

Do A Guided Fast

Every culture, every major religion fasts to help you purge from months of debris, toxins and excesses. Today, detoxes and fasts are really popular but you must be careful, especially if you’ve never tried one and your diet is not clean. You can check out my CLEANSE! Book for a guided 3 day juice fast or a 21-day food-based cleanse.

Massage Your Feet

Do you start to feel like your toes are cold even when the rest of you is warm? Massaging your feet before bed and first thing in the morning with sesame oil can keep your feet warm and it’s a great immune booster.

Sleep More

Yep, you need more sleep when the days get shorter. It’s not just you. Almost everything in nature, including animals and plants need more rest during Fall and Winter. Stop fighting it and get to bed at 10pm sharp and make sure to get 7-9 hours of sleep.

Use Warming Herbs

For your teas and food, use herbs that increase warmth to the body like pepper, cardamom, horseradish, cinnamon, garlic

Get Out

Sounds counter intuitive because it’s colder and you feel like staying in doors. Bundle up and do some hiking, get some crisp fresh air in your lungs and keep your body moving. Trust me, this was hard for me at first but now it’s an important part of my Fall cleanse routing.

Supplement with Vitamin D

In Fall and Winter you’re not getting enough sunlight so a supplement is necessary. I’d rather take a supplement pill than a fortified juice drink (to avoid the sugar intake)

Simple Hummus Recipe + Vegan

Last week I showed you an amazing vegan mushroom risotto recipe! If you missed that video, check it out here!

This week, I’m doing a collaboration with chef Jenne Claiborne and she is going to show you how to make the yummiest, quickest, prettiest, easiest beet hummus there is!

Go to the video and recipe below!

Enjoy the yumminess!

Interested in the videos? Check them out here:

Jenne cookbook http://www.21dayveganblueprint.com/5-ingredient-vegan-cookbook/

Jovanka’s Cookbook: https://jovankaciares.com/ebook-bundle

Vegan Mushroom Risotto Recipe

Do you like to eat healthy and enjoy recipes that are fun and tasty but hate the fact that many yummy recipes are covered in cheese and other not-so-healthy ingredients?’

Well, I have a treat for you on today’s video! A Vegan Mushroom Risotto that’s amazing and oh-so-healthy!

When I started changing my diet, I experienced the same thing. I loved creamy dips at parties and dishes like risotto but I knew how bad they were and I wasn’t interested in putting crappy ingredients in my body any longer.

That was the inspiration for my first cookbook e-book, “COOK!”. One of my favorite recipes on this e-book is this vegan risotto recipe that I created with my friend Jenne Claiborne of Sweet Potato Soul.

Check Out the Books Here:

Jenne cookbook http://www.21dayveganblueprint.com/5-ingredient-vegan-cookbook/

Jovanka’s Cookbook: https://jovankaciares.com/ebook-bundle

Best Way To Flavor Water

So we need water to survive and we are also always told to have supplement this and drink herb that for better health. So I’ve found a really awesome way to combine the 2!

My herbal professor used to say never drink water alone, add herbs to get all the benefits and healing properties of the herbs. Perfect way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Here are the favorite things I add to my water every day.

Cinnamon

It’s warming to the body and delicious in flavor and also awesome for you too. It is loaded with minerals, including manganese and calcium, and contains essential oils with potent anti-inflammatory properties.

Apple cider vinegar

Great at regulating the body’s acidity (pH) levels, easing digestive discomfort, relieving heartburn, helping to prevent seasonal illness, and reducing inflammation.

Fennel

Fennel is sweet and aromatic and can help those who need to have something sweet or are used to sweet drinks with meals. Fennel is known to have antioxidant, digestive, carminative, and anti-flatulent properties. So great to take after a heavy meal and when you feel gassy.

Black Salt

Not the crappy table salt but a pinch of the unprocessed, amazing salt that have lots of trace minerals that a lot of us are deficient in.

Mint Leaves

Everybody loves mint. And we are perfectly familiar with it. But did you know that as a palate cleanser, mint can help you better digest your food? It also soothes stomachs and help reduce inflammation

Sage

This is really high in antioxidants so it can help protect your cells from damage caused by free radicals, which often results in impaired immunity, and chronic disease. People in the Caribbean use it to shorten the length of a cold and heal laryngitis.

Tips to reduce sugar cravings Part 2

In the previous video we spoke about sugar addiction and how you can get rid of it. I wanted to create a second video to give you even more tips to finally get rid of sugar in your life!

If you missed that video, click here to access it!

Check the video and tips below!

NUMBER 1 – EAT CARBOHYDRATES (UNLIMITED)
Yes, that’s right. Carbohydrates in droves. Did you know that vegetables are carbohydrates? From them you can eat all you want. Unlimited refills! I refer specifically to non-starchy vegetables, such as greens, the broccoli family (cauliflower, kale, collards, etc.), asparagus, green beans, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, tomato, fennel, aubergines, artichokes, peppers , etc.
Also eat fruit in small portions, once a day for about 14 days. Avoid potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash and beets – only for 14 days.

NUMBER 2 PLAN YOUR RECIPES
It is easier to follow a program when you have a list of ingredients and recipes that you can work from. In my sugar detox program I personally check all the ingredients and recipes to make sure they were all low in sugar. Choose a day in the week to plan your recipes so you know what ingredients to use and avoid thinking about other full of sugar. Also keep a contingency plan food around special events such as birthday parties and social events.

NUMBER 3 – ELIMINATES THE RISKS BY FINDING SUPPORTERS
When I decided to change my lifestyle and try detoxification, I told all my friends and colleagues who supported me very much and inspired many to take some of the advice I explained. This kind of support helped both me and them and became an indispensable weapon for success.

NUMBER 4 HELP YOURSELF BY HELPING OTHERS
If you observe or participated in any recovery program, the last step is to help others and teach them through your experiences. We always hope that by sharing our experiences, they inspire others, which is a powerful positive feedback loop which naturally will keep you satisfied, without sugar!

NUMBER 5 – REDUCE STRESS
If you have stress, your hormones go crazy. When cortisol (the stress hormone) rises gives you more hungry, it promotes the storage of fat in the stomach and can lead to type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions. Try doing deep conscious breathing exercises. This is something you can do anywhere, anytime.

NUMBER 6 – SLEEP MORE
Less sleep affects your appetite and makes hormones that you crave more sugar and carbohydrates. You need more energy if you do not sleep, so you head rapidly absorbed sugars. Sleep is the best way to fight the urge to overeat and manage stress.

Home Remedy For Yeast Infections

This video is for the ladies in my life (sorry guys) who have suffered from pesky and sometimes painful yeast infections. If you are a woman, chances are you have or will have a yeast infection at least once in your lifetime. I’ll show you the home remedies for yeast infection that helped me.

Go to the video here!

First of, what’s a yeast infection? It is simply put an overgrowth of yeast. Yeast is one of the many types of bacteria that grow in your gut, mouth, genitalia and other body parts. Normally yeast levels at kept at bay by other beneficial bacteria but sometimes, that balance is thrown out of whack, causing the yeast to grow and causing the awful symptoms you may have experienced, like:

burning sensation
intense itch
pain and discomfort
redness (probably from scratching
discharge

What causes the infections? Well, I asked my OB-GYN and he essentially said that a hundred things can cause yeast overgrowth. The most common causes are:

use of antibiotics
poor diet
not cleaning up after sex
use of douches
excessive stress

Check out the video to learn my natural remedy for yeast infections!

How Constellation Therapy Can Affect Your Weight, Health And Happiness

There’s a unique type of detox (or cleanse) work that is more energetic and has to do with family dynamics.

Your relationship with your family can affect your weight, health and happiness. I’ve interviewed here a Family Constellation facilitator and therapist Natalie Berthold to learn a bit more about this powerful type of work.

Check out this amazing video and learn how constellation therapies can affect your health and happiness.

Interested in learning more about Natalie’s course? Click Here For Details!

Click Here For The Discount!

The Power Of Words

Do you words have power? Is there some truth to the claim some people make about the power of words? Most people have strong opinions about this and I was one of them.

But after watching a documentary about water, where a scientist (dr. Masaru Emoto) that explains how your words and even your thoughts (positive or negative) can affect molecules of water. I was curious, even fascinated. Then, a few months ago, I saw a Facebook post from Danielle Laporte about an experiment she did with her son. So I set out to recreate the exact same experiment on video and see for myself.

Here’s what my experiment looked like: I cut out 1 apple in half, sealed each half in an identical Mason jar and stored them in the exact window sill for approx. 21 days.

Every day for a month I said negative and demeaning words to what I called the “bad apple”. Things like “you’re nasty, fat and ugly. You’re stupid and incapable. You can’t do anything right. Why do you even try! You suck and I hate you”.

The other half, the “good apple” heard beautiful words of encouragement. I told her things like: “you are so smart, amazing, sweet and gentle. You are amazing and I am in awe of you, you are the best, I love you”.

The first 7-10 days not much was happening… but then things started to change.

Check out the video above to learn the results.

How To Become Vegetarian or Vegan

Interested in a transition to vegetarian or vegan? Overwhelmed about the prospect? Here are my tips on how to become vegan without feeling deprived!

Go to the video below!

And feel free to share my new fun Infographic below!

Share / Comment / Enjoy!

The Blue Zones Project Review

Have you heard of the Blue Zones? A guy named Dan Buettner started following people in certain pockets of the world to live well into their 80’s and 90’s with lots of vitality, happiness and strength. I checked out their research and I’m sharing my findings here on this video. This will definitely surprise you!

**Make sure to scroll all the way down, to get access to the newest infographic! Print it, save it, share it!

Now tell me, did you know about this book and the research? If not, which of their “longevity clues” are you willing to implement into your lifestyle today? Let me know in the comments below!

And check out the new infographic here!

Hover over the image to share it on social media!

Natural Products Expo 2015 Highlights

Last weekend I traveled to the Anaheim convention center to check out one of the largest natural foods expos in the word, Natural Products Expo West (sometimes referred to simply as expo west).

I wanted to check out the new trends in healthy options, plant-based foods, supplements and clean, conscious living. There were tens of thousands of products featured there so creating a highlight video of my experience was a bit of a challenge. So I tried to feature here the brands I loved the most based on their vision, mission and commitment to a healthier world.

Check out the video below!

Which brand or product are you most curious about? Is there any one in particular you’d like me to do a review on? What about a giveaway? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

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