Yesterday we had a big dinner in my house with different healthy and delicious meals. We invited several friends and our nephew, a Moscow musician. He comes every March to Florida as an artist of the Russian National Orchestra, a returning favorite and established Orchestra in Residence  with renowed Grammy Award winning conductor, Patrick Summers and Constantine Kitsopoulos, recognized as musical genius of opera and symphony conductor; the most beloved and celebrated musical ambassadors of our time, Grammy Award winning soprano Renee Fleming and virtuoso, master of piano Conrad Tao; the stars of the American Ballet Theatre and jazz extraordinaire Eldar Djangirov. From March 5th till March 13th) Floridians enjoy a week of celebration of music, literature, film, art and dance. Such an enlightening time of global culture!

Festival of the Arts presents 2010 line-up “From Russia With Love”-a tribute to Russian artistry in dance, music, literature and film. I’ll write more about this Festival of Arts in my Saturday post because as Charlie Siemon, Chair of Boca Festival of the Arts said, “We have endeavored to put together a program that is not only exceptional but has something special for everyone.”

Usually musicians have two rehearsals a day, then a concert in the evening. If they have a couple of hours, these guys walk about 15 miles to the beach to enjoy their free time on the ocean. They all are slender and don’t have any problems with weight.

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Fresh apples are important ingredients in many meals, including desserts.  The apples and apple juice you consume may have positive effects in one of the main places in the body– the colon. New research has demonstrated that components in apple pectin and apple juice enhance biological mechanisms that have anticarcinogenic effects in the colon.

Another research published in the April 2008 issue of Nutrition, noted, “apples are a major source of natural fiber and of low molecular weight plan polyphenols in the Western diet.” The Food Guide Pyramid recommends we should eat at least 5 servings of fresh produce each day –2 servings of fruit, like apples, and 3 servings of vegetables.

 What counts as a serving of apple?

• 1 whole medium apple
• 1 cup chopped fresh apples
• 1/2 cup applesauce (organic)
• 1/2 cup dried apples
• 6 ounces 100% organic apple juice or cider

A medium size apple contains:

• fat-free that helps reduce the risk of some types of cancer
• saturated fat–0%
• sodium–0%, may reduce the risk of high blood pressure
• natural sugars 25% called fructose
• only 80 calories that helps you maintain a healthy weight
• cholesterol–0%, helps your heart to stay healthy and may protect against cardiovascular disease
• artificial colors or flavors–%, helps you to keep your body free of chemicals
• dietary fiber–20%, helps to keep down cholesterol and high blood pressure, and aids digestion overall
• a natural and healthy snack you can carry everywhere and eat withour creating any mess

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 I write again about apples because these fresh organic fruits are really good for you! Apples can eaten fresh, canned, juiced or made into pectin, a beneficial dietary fiber.  Apple juice can be turned into non-alcoholic, sweet apple cider or vinegar through fermentation.

Apple wine and other alcoholic beverages can be produced from apples through the distillation process. This way Calvados, the famous French Apple Brandy, was created long ago in Normandy, and Applejack, a strong alcoholic beverage that originated from the French Apple Brandy, and was popular in the American colonial period.

The French Apple Brandy is an interesting blend of spirits of different ages blended with flowers, fruits and spices. Usually this beverage is long and at the same time light on the palate. It has a fresh aroma which comes from apples.

Want to make a Calvados cocktail and surprise yourself or your guests? Watch this video and see how Jill Santopietro, cook and recipe tester for the New York Times, makes this delicious drink in her tiny 11-square-foot kitchen.

Calvados is still very popular in European countries and can be served in any bar or restaurant there, but it is less in demand in the United States. I tried once this rich liquor, as French call it, at one of our student parties. I cannot say that I liked it, but it was cheap and obviously right for the students’ party budget. It tasted too strong to me. After that I have never tried again this beverage, but I built a very special relationship with it.
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 Ever counted how many fresh, organic apples do you eat in a week?  If you want to supply your body with great nutritional benefits, stay healthy and full of energy, eat one or two fresh apples every day. Several recent studies suggest again, apples may provide health benefits for a “whole body” and reduce the risk of some serious diseases. Do you know, there are more than 10,000 varieties of apples for you to choose? 

My favorite apples are organic green Granny Smith and juicy HoneyCrisp.  One of these apples and a glass of organic kefir makes my favorite  light, nutritious and delicious snack full with dietary fiber (more than most cereals), flavonoids, antioxidants, plenty of vitamins, and almost zero fat and cholesterol.

According to the USDA Nutrient database if you eat one apple a day (100g/3.5oz) it gives you so many nutritional benefits, such as

• Energy                                    218 kJ (52 kcal)
• Carbohydrates                       10.81 g
• Sugars                                        10.39 g
• Dietary fiber                            2.4 g
• Fat                                                0.17 g
• Protein                                       0.26 g
• Water                                          85.56 g
• Vitamin A equiv.                    3 ug (0%)
• Thiamine (Vit. B1)                0.017 mg (1%)
• Riboflavin (Vit. B2)              0.026 mg (2%)
• Niacin (Vit. B3)                      0.091 mg (1%)
• Vitamin B6                               0.041 mg (3%)
• Folate (Vit. B9)                           3 ig (1%)
• Calcium                                      6 mg (1%)
• Iron                                             0.12 mg (1%)
• Magnesium                                5 mg (1%)
• Phosphorus                              11 mg (2%)
• Potassium                                  107 mg (2%)
• Zink                                              0.04 mg (0%)

Over the last decade, scientists and doctors at Mayo Clinic, the Cornell University, and the National Cancer Institute and other universities tried to find a proof that apples can help reduce risk of cancer and other diseases. 

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by Svetlana Konnikova

Do you feel unhappy, depressed or fatigued? Make fresh pomegranate juice or buy a bottle of 100% natural Pom juice from California in Whole Foods. Add one teaspoon honey to eight ounces (one cup) and drink it. This is my Grandma’s recipe tested by many people including me, and it works. Try it, boost your energy, and treat your depression or fatigue naturally.

Pomegranate juice is high in three different types of polyphenols, a potent form of antioxidants. These three types–tannins, anthocyanins, and ellagic acid can be found in many fruits, but pomegranate juice contains particularly high amounts of all three. As antioxidants, they are credited with helping in the prevention of cancer and heart disease.

Lately pomegranates are being recognized as a new, hot “super food.” No surprise! Pomegranates are not only delicious and beautiful gifts of Mother Nature, they are also the most nutritious fruits you can eat.  Researchers confirm that pomegranates are high in vitamin C and rich in minerals –calcium, potassium, iron, and phytonutrients–compounds helping the body protect itself against heart disease, arthritis, cancer, diabetes and rheumatoid.

This nutrition-rich fruit contains powerful antioxidants helping you also to delay the aging process and neutralize almost twice as many free radicals as red wine and seven times as many as green tea. Some researchers also suggest that the crunchy  seeds of the pomegranate help to flush fats from the digestive tract.

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Starting off the year with New Year’s Resolutions for a healthier and happier 2010? To feel and keep yourself healthier just for one year is not enough. We need more time– a whole life, which is longer, healthier and happier. It’s not so easy task, but we all want this kind of life, free of sicknesses, depression and worries. So, if you know what to do, you’ll put together your New Year’s Resolutions you can actually keep without any excuses.

I found for you one interesting video that gives information you need to know about how to live longer and healthier life. If you did not watch Dr Oz, Oprah’s health expert, on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyers. You should. Dr. Oz has the formula for you to live longer and healthier. He says Resveratrol is good for you and your heart. Now watch and listen to his explanation.

Source: www.youtube.com

by Svetlana Konnikova, MA, AN

Now is cold everywhere. Ugh! Definitely we need not only warm cloth, but a hot cup of vitamin-rich tea to heal and rejuvenate our body and mind. What can be better and healthier than sipping hot, natural, herbal tea several times a day?

It is very important to load your body with vitamins, especially now, in winter time. To take vitamins hidden in capsules in powder form is boring. Do it by drinking hot teas. It’s really joyful and exciting. This centuries old tradition became a pleasant ceremony and entertainment in many countries around the world. You can do it alone or while socializing with your friends or business associates.

Here are several herbal compositions widely used in Russia and other European countries that will help you strengthen and clean the immune and respiratory systems from toxins so viruses and bacteria will not find a beneficial envoronment in which to “blossom” into colds, flu, cough, sore throat and other diseases.

Method of preparation is the same for all three compositions:

Combine in a pot or a glass jar two tablespoons of the mixed herbs with two cups boiling water. Steep 10 minutes. Drink one to two cups hot herbal tea daily. You can add one teaspoon organic raw honey.

1. Four and a half tablespoons rose hips
One tablespoon black currant
Four tablespoons nettle leaves
One and a half tablespoons cranberries

2. Three tablespoons rose hips
One tablespoon black currant
Three tablespoons minced carrot

3. One tablespoon rose hips
One tablespoon blueberries
One tablespoon nettle leaves

Tea parties were a Friday tradition and always a perfect get-together at our home. We would meet as usual in our garden or family room when it was cold. Tea was considered to be an essential part of l’art de vivre. We sat down to tea many times–the same party around the same table on our patio or inside the house. In summer time we enjoyed the view of Grandma’s multicolored garden with in array of flowers that greeted us with sweet and pungent aromas while the strains of Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” filled the air. In winter time we listened to Vivaldi’s “The Seasons” while sipping the delicious, spicy, hot steaming cuppa of tea to cure our body and mind, cold, cough, sore throat or relieve a pain or stress.

There are so many different hot herbal teas that you can enjoy and drink for your well-being. Would you like to see how these natural, healing beverages are made? Watch what a ‘Wise Woman’, herbalist Susan Weed, tells you from her kitchen about herbal teas and how she brew them.

References: Mama’s Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Life and the Pleasures of Natural Living by Svetlana Konnikova MA, AN, Aurora Publishers, 2008, pages 4, 97, 169; Photo of herbal teas by Petr Kratovchil; http://www.youtube.com

Copyright 2010

This post continues the previous which told you about our favorite products that can provoke allergies. Substitute one of them, strawberry yogurt (it has artificial color), with kefir, an ancient cultured, enzyme-rich beverage filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your “inner ecosystem” to maintain optimal health and joyful living.

Are you familiar with this amazing, fermented milk drink that originated in the Caucasus region? If you did not try it yet, you should. This must-have food is usually prepared by combining cow, goat, or sheep’s milk with kefir grains. The word ‘kefir’ comes from Persian words kef (foam) and shir(milk), but in Turkish the same word means “feel good.”

Centuries ago kefir became an every day breakfast, lunch and dinner drink in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Hingary, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. You can drink it plain, as many Europeans do, but if you find this taste too sour, add organic blueberries, bananas, strawberry, honey, agave nectar or maple syrup. Mix organic fruits in a blender and make a delicious, homemade smoothie.
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Some people prefer skiing or just have fun touring unknown places. Others find exciting to plant organic garden during their winter vacation. No matter what, any of activities you involve yourself in are healing and relaxing, esprecially if it happens in the beauty of nature.

References: http://www.youtube.com

“If you are not feeling well, if you have not slept. chocolate will revive you. But you have no chocolate! I think of that again and again! My dear, how will you ever manage?” — Marquise de Sevigne

Do you usually bring a fruitcake as a gift to the Christmas party? This year make some changes in your holiday list  and include new  inexpensive, healthy and elegant gifts–a collection of the best gourmet chocolates from around the world. I am sure, your family members, friends and hosts of the holiday parties never expected to have it for Christmas or New Year, but would love to have it. Give them a collection of the best gourmet chocolates that are known worldwide for centuries.

Many famous actors, writers and other personalities are big fans of the  fine chocolate. They consider it one of the must-to-have everyday healthy foods, giving energy, vigor and a feeling of joy.

• “My favorite thing in the world is a box of fine European chocolate which is, for sure, better than sex,” thinks Alicia Silverstone.
• Sharon Stone declares, ” I’m a chocolate fiend, but only dark chocolate.”
• John Travolta said once, “I probably have some sort of chocolate five times a week. There’s definitely a change it does to the chemistry of the body. It’s my favorite feeling. I live for it.”
• “Biochermically, love is just like eating large amounts of chocolate,” these words came out from Al Pacino playing John Milton in the Devil’s Advocate.
• “What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of chocolate,” confessed Katherine Hepburn
• Sandra Bullock has her own opinion about how chocolate is important in your life, especually for women. She said,  ”Chocolate is the greatest gift to women ever created, next to the likes of Paul Newman and Gene Kelly. It’s something that should be had on a daily basic.”

According to Baron Justin von Liebig, “Chocolate Is a perfect food, as wholesome as it is delicious, a beneficient restorer of exhausted power. ” So, restore somebody else’s exhausted power, give them hope for the best New Year ahead, inspiration and a smile.

Buy good quality, dark chocolate for yourself and give it as an elegant gift. You can put together this fine ’collection” for $$5-10-$15-$20-$25. It depends of how much you want to spend. As Sandra Boynton, a children’s author, said, “the greatest tragedies were written by the Greeks and by Shakespeare. Neither knew of chocolate. The Swiss are known for nonviolence. They are also known for superb chocolate.”

The source of chocolate, the seeds of the cacao (cocoa) tree are known and used by many different cultures. First, in prehistoric Central America, then in Mayan and Aztec civilization, then around the world “the chocolate news” were spread by the great colonial powers. But we know that cocoa beans are an important part in gastronomie, in  religious ceremonies, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, medical practice, economic development, farming, and social history.

Here is the List of 24  holiday bittersweet gifts–fine chocolates. I chose the best chocolates, containing not less than 60% of cocoa. The reason for that is simple: the higher percent of cocoa is in chocolate, the smaller percent of sugar it has. So why you don’t  gain weight by eating even five times per week this kind of chocolate. Isn’t sound healthy to you? Read my previous post about the benefits of eating fine, dark chocolate.

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