Reform the USDA Food Pyramid

Sign the petition for CHANGE!!

We all know that the Pyramid is designed to support large commodity grain growers. It currently is designed to appease big business. It's a slap in the face millions of people who are suffering from type 2 diabetes, and all those afflicted with Syndrome X diseases.

As you can see, we need more to create more awareness for this to even get this reform bill to legislature, so please pass the link onto all of your family and friends.


~Sweet Assassin

PCF 30 Day Paleo Challenge **April 19th-May19th

For those who have been on the fence about committing or for those who are still having challenges with little "cheats" here and there, we are asking for a 30 day commitment to eat WHOLE FOODS, and an opportunity to JUMPSTART your nutrition!

From Paleodiet.com, Paleo lifestyle is defined as "a simple dietary lifestyle that is based on foods being either in or out. In are the Paleolithic Era foods that we ate prior to agriculture and animal husbandry (meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, tree nuts, vegetables, roots, fruit, berries, mushrooms, etc.). Out are Neolithic Era foods that result from agriculture or animal husbandry (grains, dairy, beans/legumes, potatoes, sugar and fake foods)."

The 30 Day Challenge will begin on Monday, April 19th and end Wednesday, May 19th. 

Borrowed from Melissa Byer's blog, we should follow the guidelines below:

1. Eat real food – meat*, eggs, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit, oils (like EVOO or coconut). Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re fresh and natural.
2. Do not eat dairy. This includes butter, cheese (hard and soft), yogurt (even Greek) and milk (including cream in your coffee**).
3. Do not eat grains. This includes bread, rice, pasta, corn (I count corn as a grain), oatmeal, and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains. That’s not real food, right?
4. Do not eat legumes. This includes beans of all kinds, lentils, and peanuts. (No peanut butter, kids.)
5. Do not eat sugars*** of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Truvia, Stevia, etc.
6. Do not eat processed foods. This includes protein shakes, processed bars (like Zone bars), dairy-free creamers, etc.
7. Do not drink alcohol, in any form.
8. If you have serious inflammation issues like arthritis, you may want to consider avoiding nightshades for 30 days as well.

• It is recommended that you keep a daily log of what you are eating. There are many online food logs that free, like Livestrong.com has an easy to navigate online food diary. 
• Also, it is a good idea to weigh yourself on April 19th and compute your body fat percentage so that you may be able to track the changes in your body composition through the end of the challenge.
• Optional: If you'd like, you can have photos taken of your body prior to start of the challenge- I'm sure Diso would be able to snap them for you. 
• I will set up a "tracking" sheet on the white board for those who want to participate in the challenge for all to see, so we can be a true community by supporting each other and keeping each other accountable. 

If you have any questions on what you can and can't eat please feel free to ask any one of the trainers or myself, Assassin!

Coconut Flour Orange Cake Recipe

Coconut Flour Orange Cake (gfcf)

Recipe notes: I give you a method for melting the coconut oil while greasing the pan, saving you a dish. You can certainly melt the coconut oil in one pan and grease the pan separately. Also, I add the coconut oil last just in case it is still pretty warm. Having the eggs already mixed with the other ingredients provides a bit of a buffer in case the oil is still too warm. Scrambled egg cake is not what we’re after here.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 6 Tablespoons raw honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• juice of 1/2 medium orange

Directions

1. Take your eggs out of your refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Measure out coconut oil and place in an 8"x8" pan. Place the pan in the oven to melt the coconut oil.
2. While the coconut oil is melting, whisk the eggs, coconut milk, honey, vanilla and orange zest together. Once the coconut oil is melted (probably around five minutes or less), remove the pan from the oven and let it cool while you mix in the rest of your ingredients.
3. Combine coconut flour, baking powder and sea salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Once your pan is cooled enough to handle, carefully swirl your coconut oil around your pan in order to grease all sides. Then pour the coconut oil into the batter and mix until all lumps are gone.
4. Pour the batter into your greased pan and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean.Place the cake on a cooling rack. After the cake has cooled a bit, but is still warm, poke holes all over the top with a fork. Juice the orange half right over the whole cake, making sure to evenly distribute the juice

Yes, you can cook with Coconut Oil

Dr. Joseph Mercola, Board Certified Physician and Surgeon, is the founder of Mercola.com which is recognized as the top 10 leading online resources for Health and Wellness. In this video Dr. Mercola explains the benefits of the use of coconut oil as a supplement, for cooking and a beauty remedy.



Experience the benefits of Coconut Oil

Composition of Coconut Oil: Coconut oil consists of more than ninety percent of saturated fats (Don’t panic! First read to the last word. Your opinion may change), with traces of few unsaturated fatty acids, such as monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Virgin Coconut Oil is no different from this. Let us have a bit detailed study of this.

• The Saturated Fatty Acids: Most of them are Medium Chain Triglycerides, which are supposed to assimilate well. Lauric Acid is the chief contributor, with more than forty percent of the share, followed by Capric Acid, Caprylic Acid, Myristic Acid and Palmitic.
• The Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids: Linoleic Acid.
• The Monounsaturated Fatty Acids: Oleic Acid.
• The Poly-phenols: Gallic Acid, which is phenolic acid. These poly-phenols are supposed to be responsible for the fragrance and the taste of Coconut Oil and Virgin Coconut Oilis rich in these poly-phenols.
• Certain derivatives of fatty acid like Betaines, Ethanolamide, Ethoxylates, Fatty Esters, Fatty Polysorbates, Monoglycerides and Polyol Esters.
• Fatty Chlorides, Fatty Alcohol Sulphate and Fatty Alcohol Ether Sulphate, all of which are derivatives of Fatty Alcohols.
• Vitamin-E and Vitamin K and minerals such as Iron.

Please see Assassin or Martina for the Organic Virgin Coconut Oil $8/500mL Jar