Sprout Into Better Health!

If I told you that you could grow your own superfood right in your kitchen and it took very little effort, would you do it?

The good news is you can.

Sprouting is easy, it’s low cost and can be completely organic.  Not to mention it would be a great mini science experiment for your kids to be involved with.

When you sprout your are accessing nutrients that are otherwise hard to get.

Most seeds and other plant resources are nutrient powerhouses however they contain anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are the plants natural defense mechanism that make it hard to digest (think beans the “magical fruit, the more you eat the more you…”).  Naturally animals will not eat foods that upset their system.

It’s kind of like having a safe full of money but there is no way into the safe to get it! Not really harnessing the true potential!

To access the nutrients we have to find a way in, to open safe and break out the goods inside.

The way this can be done is by treating food before we eat it. The way we most commonly treat food is cooking with heat.  But heat can also break down other compounds that would benefit us.

Although heat helps to access nutrients, there are better, easier options.  These include but are not limited to soaking, sprouting and fermenting.

Sprouting involves soaking the seed and rinsing it with water for 2-5 days (depending on what your are sprouting) and let nature do the rest.

You will be left with a nutrient powerhouse that is highly bioavailable since this process decreases the anti-nutrients and other guy irritating compounds.

If you eat certain seeds, peas, beans that irritate your gut, sprouting them may be the answer to enjoy the benefits while not getting the irritations.

Personally speaking raw chickpeas can cause a lot of bloating and gut irritation for me but once sprouted they don’t.

Sprouting is so easy to do and something we should all be doing to improve our diets.  Many other dietary improvements can have high barriers such as cost or accessibility. With sprouting these same barriers are very low as they are cheap, organic and easy to order online!

Smoothie Boosters

DIY Bone Broth

Bone broth not only tastes amazing on cold winter mornings but it has amazing health benefits as well. 

The long low boil extracts so many nutrients from the bone and other goodies that you put in there. 

One effect is the collagen and fat that you will get.  Both really important to keep you healthy. 

The other benefit of this fatty drink is that it will keep you full.   When I have this in the morning I am usually good until lunch where I will have a smoothie. 

- Enjoy! 

What Type of ________ Supplement Do You Take?

I get this question all the time and people   The only supplements I recommend are the ones that supplement our diet.  When it is difficult to get all these different foods and nutrients it’s sometimes easier to take the supplement to fulfill our need for that nutrient.

The only supplements I can stand behind are that I have tried and continue to use for myself and recommend for my family.

The bottom line is you always want to try and get your nutrition from real food, but depending on the area you live in the world sometimes having a fully balanced diet is difficult to achieve.

I decided to post the all the supplements that I currently use and the ones I recommend for my family members, and give you a brief description of why I take them. You can find all of them HERE.

In health,

Dr. Adam Markew

Hardy Autumn Soup

This recipe is a popular one on our detox.  The detox will be put on in January 2018, but it's a great fall dish - enjoy! 

2 tbsp coconut oil
3 carrots (diced)
1 yellow onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 cups butternut squash (cubed)
1⁄2 tsp all spice
Pinch cayenne pepper
8 cups chicken broth (home­made or store bought)
2 cups diced tomatoes
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups kale (chopped)
1 cup chickpeas

Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add carrots and
onions and cook 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1
minute. Add squash, all spice, cayenne and cook 5
minutes. Add broth and tomatoes and let simmer for 30
minutes. Add chickpeas and thyme and cook additional
5 minutes.

3 Natural Immune Boosting Supplements

This time of year we try our best to avoid germs, but sometimes our efforts fall short.  If you can’t avoid the germs this cold season then boost your immune system so those germs can’t wreak havoc on your body.

3 things to take to boost your immune system this season, and my recommendations.

1. Chlorella - this algea is packed with antioxidants and minerals like Vit.A, B., Magnesium, Zinc, and iron.  This can help aid immune cells and decrease the inflammatory response.

2. Vitamin D - This Vitamin is more than just that, it’s actually a hormone.  Vitamin D3 is what you can take to modulate innate immune defense.  Getting a drop is a lot easier as you can take more concentrated doses if you feel you are getting run down.  Remember that vitamin D is fat soluble so take it with food.

3. Curcumin - the ingredient that makes tumeric so potent.  This anti-inflammatory compound also increases the activity of various immune modulating cells.  It has shown to have a positive effect on allergies, arthritis, asthma, atherosclerosis, heart disease and more most likely due to it’s immune responses.

Here are the supplements I take everyday:

Chlorella - https://goo.gl/n7Nffq

Vitamin D - https://goo.gl/xKF3vm

Curcumin - https://goo.gl/AmmcFi

Supercharge Your Smoothie

Let’s face it, getting quality whole food nutrition all the time consuming. 

A good quality blender can be a time saver and in the long run a potential life saver if you are using it to make green drinks (not margaritas). 

Here are a few additives that I like to add into my smoothies that don’t destroy the taste but help to supercharge it even more. 

Collagen - Great for skin and joints collagen consists of the building blocks of your body.  You can gnaw on a beef bone with tendon and ligaments attached or use the hydrolyzed version that does not affect the flavour what so ever. 

Tumeric - Waking up with a headache, feeling tired and foggy or a lot of chronic joint pain throughout your body you should consider this.  This is a natural anti-inflammatory and can help lower your risk of some major lifestyle conditions. Look for one with black pepper for better absorption. 

Greens supplement - The more the merrier. I tend have the habit of putting it in there even if I’m using a ton spinach or kale. 

turmeric,  greens supplement,  hydrolyzed collagen

Here’s one of my favourites that I make variations of regularly. 

Handful of spinach

Handful of kale

1/2 avocado

1/2 banana

1/2 orange

4-5 strawberries

water

1 scoop of tumeric

1 scoop of greens powder

1.5 tbsp of hydrolyzed collagen.