It’s used extensively in Japanese cuisine and is often paired with oily fish and fried foods like tempura. The name dai (large) and kon (root) is the perfect name for it, as this root can grow to be HUGE!

I used daikon root as medicine when I was initially healing my body over 30 years ago, and I still use it today. Mostly, just because it’s delicious.

Studies show that radishes, like daikon, can help lower triglyceride and cholesterol levels by improving lipid metabolism.

Daikon is a nutritious, low-calorie, cruciferous vegetable packed with Vitamin C, potassium, and enzymes that support heart health and weight loss.

Not only does this radish aid digestion, it also acts as a natural detoxifier (diuretic), and contains cancer-fighting compounds, particularly when eaten raw or lightly cooked.

So, if you’re struggling with poor fat metabolism and/or excess weight, or just want to improve your health, add this Marinated Daikon and Carrot salad into your routine.

It’s yummy!

Marinated Carrot and Daikon Radish Salad

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Author: Andrea Beaman

Recipe type: salad

Cuisine: Food is Medicine

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 medium sized daikon radish
• 2 carrots
• ¼ tsp. sea salt
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tsp. honey
• 2 tbsp. parsley, minced
• 1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Wash the vegetables.
2. With a cheese grater, or food processor with a grater disc, grate the daikon and carrots.
3. Put the grated veggies into a large mixing bowl, add salt and toss.
4. Let the veggies release their water (about 10-15 minutes).
5. Discard the water.
6. Whisk olive oil, vinegar, and honey.
7. Pour dressing on top of grated veggies.
8. Let the salad marinate 15 minutes.
9. Garnish with parsley and toasted sesame seeds.

3.5.3251

Save

The post Marinated Carrot and Daikon Radish Salad first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

But, if you cook everything in one pot… cleaning up gets a heck of a LOT easier.

This delicious one pot chicken dish simplifies your kitchen clean up.

And, the best part… it’s totally yummy!

Enjoy!

Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives and Capers

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

60 mins

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

Author: Andrea Beaman

Recipe type: One Pot Meal

Cuisine: Food is Medicine

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 5-6 pastured chicken thighs, with skin on
• ¼ cup pitted black olives
• ¼ cup pitted green olives
• 2 tbsp. capers
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced into thin crescents
• 1 green or red pepper, seeded and sliced thin
• 15-ounce diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. basil
• ½ tsp. oregano
• ½ tsp. hot red pepper flakes
• ⅔ cup chicken stock or water
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• Black pepper

Instructions

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Place the chicken, skin side down into a cold Dutch oven, or other deep pot.
3. Bring the heat up to medium/low.
4. Cooking on lower heat for a longer time, renders the fat from the chicken skin.
5. Once the fat is rendered (about 30 minutes), use tongs to turn the chicken onto the other side.
6. Add into the pot, olives, capers, onion, pepper, diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, stock, salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
7. Cover and bring to a boil on high heat.
8. Reduce heat to low and cook an additional 30 minutes.
9. Adjust seasoning if needed.
10. Serve on rice or pasta and top with a dollop of Parsley Pistou

3.5.3251

The post Braised Chicken Thighs with Olives and Capers first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

Are you asking Google or AI for health information?

If yes, I hope you understand that it is 100% skewed toward supplying you with allopathic medical answers first, and intentionally steering you away from anything that is considered alternative or natural.

I’ll give you a great example.

My family and I traveled to Costa Rica for a vacation.

One morning, I was preparing scrambled eggs with tortillas, plus a side of fresh papaya seasoned with lime and salt.

As I was seeding the papaya, I took a teaspoon of the seeds and ate them. My husband looked at me quizzically and said, “Why did you eat those seeds?”

I said, “Papaya seeds are a natural de-wormer. Just like pumpkin seeds. I’m just taking a little bit of the seeds as a preventative measure to keep any potential parasites in check.”

He said, “How do you know that actually works?”

I replied, “That’s basic common knowledge. The papaya meat and its peppery little seeds have been used for centuries as a digestive aid in environments where papayas grow.”

He said, “Before you do anything like that again. Let me doublecheck with Chat GPT.”

So, he input the papaya seed question into the AI model and this is what it said…

“Eating papaya seeds for parasites is folklore. Let me separate the facts from the folklore for you.”  

It proceeded to give scientific data about treating parasites from the Western medicine perspective that said:

“Dealing with a parasite requires a confirmed diagnosis from a healthcare provider, who will prescribe specific antiparasitic medication to kill the organism or its eggs. Effective treatment often involves a short course of prescription drugs, supported by hygiene measures—such as washing bedding and hands—to prevent re-infection.”

I asked my husband to re-ask the ChatGPT to give us the folklore perspective instead. And, when he used that as a prompt, the ChatGPT found a scientific study showing the efficacy of papaya seeds for parasites. It was in the National Public Library of Medicine:

“The stool clearance rate for the various types of parasites encountered was between 71.4% and 100%. Thus, air-dried C. papaya seeds are efficacious in treating human intestinal parasites and without significant side effects. Their consumption offers a cheap, natural, harmless, readily available monotherapy and preventive strategy against intestinal parasitosis, especially in tropical communities.”[1] 

My hubby looked at me and said, “Okay, give me a teaspoon of those seeds.”

If we would have relied solely on Google AI or Chat GPT for information, it would have led us down the allopathic path that waits for disease (or parasite infection) to develop before taking action using harsh pharmaceutical drugs. Some of which cause gastrointestinal distress, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dizziness, headache, temporary hair loss, and elevated liver enzymes.[2]

Thankfully, I still carry within me, ancient healing knowledge. A teaspoon of papaya seeds while visiting a tropical country and eating papaya makes the most sense.

I trust the wisdom of ancient cultures.

I do NOT trust the skewed regurgitated information coming from the bots.

If you want to get parasites and then eliminate them through western medicine modalities that destroy your microbiome (and your health) using harsh anti-parasitic drugs, keep listening to the AI models that are intentionally skewed toward allopathic treatments.

But, if you want ancient health wisdom, that is affordable and highly effective, join us inside my Health is Wealth Community.

You don’t have to dig for the knowledge, it’s always available whenever you need it.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17472487/

[2] https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0000682#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20meta%2Danalysis%20of%20randomized%20controlled,Turkey%20*%20Mexico%20*%20India%20*%20Bangladesh

The post Don’t rely on AI for health knowledge first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

Many people that take on a healthier diet and lifestyle, incorporate smoothies into their new routine.

But, throughout the 25+ years I’ve been involved in wellness, I’ve witnessed an interesting negative side effect some folks experience with green smoothies.

I’ll give you just one example, but I have many.

A dear friend wanted to reduce inflammation and weight, so she began a new diet that included drinking spinach and blueberry smoothies every day.

In the beginning she felt amazing! She dropped a few pounds, reduced inflammation, and was sleeping better – which was a nice bonus.

Unfortunately, after a few weeks she began feeling irritation in her bladder. She thought she was developing a UTI or a bladder infection. She did all of the things she knows to do for a bladder infection (cranberry juice, probiotics, herbs), but the irritation persisted.

Soon after, she developed excruciating lower back pain that landed her in the ER with blood in her urine. The attending physician told her she may have passed a kidney stone.

How could she develop a kidney stone from eating so healthfully?

The truth is, not all foods are meant to be eaten (or drank) in such large quantities, especially if they have not been properly prepared with cooking.

Her raw spinach/blueberry smoothie was rich in oxalates – a natural compound found in many plants, nuts, seeds, and cocoa – that caused her to develop sharp oxalate crystals.

Those crystals form when high levels of oxalate bind with calcium in the urine, causing crystallization. And, in some folks those crystals accumulate to form stones. Most often, it takes a while to form stones. But in some high risk people, stones can form in just a matter of weeks – 1

I posted about her “Dangerous Smoothie” experience on my social media feed and it caused a frenzy.

There were basically three camps of people:

1. The vast majority of comments came from people that had a similar experience from eating too much spinach, or other high oxalate containing foods (berries, almonds, beets, chocolate, spinach, etc.), and developed stones.
2. There were also people that didn’t have a problem with raw spinach, and smoothies, and some were angry at me for spreading negative propaganda about spinach.
3. And, there were people who didn’t know that some vegetables and fruits contain these compounds and were happy to receive the warning.

I’ve provided some of the comments so you can see for yourself:

Yes, there is a LOT of propaganda and misinformation on the web. But, I’m not spreading it.

I only share the truth of what I have experienced and learned about food and how it impacts health, and lack of health, in the human body.

Not everyone experiences a problem with high oxalate foods, but the vast majority of the people do (you can head over to the post and read the comments for yourself).

There is a reason why spinach was traditionally cooked or paired with other ingredients to help balance out its negative effects. And, that’s the way I use it in my delicious recipes.

It’s vital to get knowledge from people who understand the nuances about what’s truly healthy and what’s not.

If you want more healing truth and less trends, connect with my like-minded community of peers that are learning, growing, and sharing wisdom together.

Join us inside my Health is Wealth Community.

Get in before the next “healthy diet trend” negatively impacts your health.

1 – https://www.urologyhealth.org/urology-a-z/k/kidney-stones

The post Are smoothies dangerous to health? first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

If you are struggling with thyroid issues that include low energy, weight gain, and hair loss, join my FREE LIVE Thyroid Support Class to transform your health: Join me live April 22nd at 1pm or April 28th at 7pm ET.

For more information and to register, CLICK HERE

The post Thyroid Webinar first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

But, it was cold outside and all I really wanted was soup to warm my bones!

They had only ONE option on the menu – it was a Creamy Tomato Miso Soup. At first, I wasn’t interested.

The umami flavor (miso) combined in an already umami soup (tomatoes with cream), didn’t call to me. But, I ordered it anyway and gave it a try.

Holy cow, it was totally delicious!

I let my husband taste it and he said, “Wow, that soup has a lot of cheese in it.”

I said, “No, it’s not cheese. It’s miso!”

As soon as I got home, I got to work recreating it.

Below is my version of a Creamy Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup with Miso. It’s a triple whammy of umami that’s sure to satisfy you. Learn more about the Umami flavor here: Do You Crave Umami?

Big thanks to the Court Street Grocers for this yummy inspiration!

Creamy Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic and Miso

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Author: Andrea Beaman

Recipe type: Soups

Cuisine: Food is Medicine

Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 head garlic
• Olive oil
• 2 tbsp, tomato paste
• ¼ cup white miso
• 1½-2 cups vegetable stock (can use beef, chicken stock, or water)
• 28 ounce can peeled whole tomatoes
• 1 tsp, dried basil
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• ⅓ cup cream or half and half (optional)
• Chopped parsley or other herbs for garnish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Trim the top of the garlic head about ¼ inch so the bulbs are exposed.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and a pinch or two of sea salt and wrap in aluminum foil.
4. Roast the garlic 40-50 minutes or until soft and fragrant.
5. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a soup pot or dutch-oven on medium heat.
6. Add tomato paste and miso and combine.
7. Add stock and whisk until combined with miso and tomato paste.
8. Add the canned tomatoes, basil and sea salt.
9. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower heat to simmer for 15 minutes.
10. Puree all the ingredients in a food processor or blender, and add back into the soup pot with cream, Cook on low 1-2 minutes.
11. Adjust seasoning if needed.
12. Garnish with fresh herbs.

3.5.3251

The post Creamy Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic and Miso first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

LIVE Spring Cleanse Cooking Class. Learn to support your body’s natural detox system with a delicious Spring Cleanse. You’ll discover foods and herbs that naturally promote gentle detoxification. Available to Health is Wealth Community members.

For more information and to register, CLICK HERE

The post Spring Cleanse Cooking Class first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

For more information and to register, CLICK HERE

The post Discover the Power of Sound Healing first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

When it comes to healing the heart, people focus on eating the right foods and engaging in cardiovascular exercises.

But, there is more to healing the heart, than just food and exercise.

The heart is not just a physical organ beating inside your body. It’s also our emotional regulator and the true motivator for the human spirit.

Here’s an example of what supporting the deeper aspects of your beautiful heart looks like.

Below is an old picture of me teaching a cooking class inside my tiny apartment on the Upper East Side in New York City. In the audience, every month without fail, was my elderly neighbor Connie. You can see her sitting on the couch in her purple shirt and purple pants.

We lived across the hall from each other for 26 years. Connie didn’t have close family in New York, and she didn’t have a husband or children, but what she did have was community connection.

Every month she looked forward to connecting with me and the students in the cooking class, enjoying a community meal, and sharing life experiences.

Beyond nourishing her body with delicious organic food, she was strengthening her heart and cardiovascular system with social connections.

“Individual and societal relationships are key determinants of health and wellbeing, and high social cohesion is documented to have a strong protective effect on cardiovascular health. Conversely, poor social bonds and weak social networks predict poor cardiovascular health.” -1 

 The reason this occurs is due to the hormone Oxytocin, that is produced when you are engaged with a healthy and loving community. Oxytocin plays a crucial role in connection by promoting feelings of trust, empathy, and social bonding.

Oxytocin is a cardiovascular hormone that naturally lowers blood pressure, improves cardiac function and regenerates heart cells.

“Researchers show for the first time that the neurohormone oxytocin has a previously unsuspected function in human cell cultures: it stimulates mature cells in the epicardium of the heart to become stem-like cells, which can replace heart cells lost after damage.” -2

Wow! Oxytocin “can replace heart cells lost after damage.” That’s one powerful hormone!

The natural release of oxytocin when you are bonding and connecting socially is vital to the health of your heart – and you can’t get that from a bowl of blueberries, or by running on the treadmill.

To support heart health, it’s imperative that we connect with other people.

My neighbor Connie eventually passed away. But, she didn’t die of heart disease, as one out of three people in the United States does. She died peacefully, in her sleep, at 90 years old.

Do your heart a favor and take a lesson from Connie. Nourish yourself deeply and connect socially with a community you love.

Lack of connection is unhealthy. It causes the emotional heart to grow malnourished, and that can kill the spirit and stop the heart from functioning, even if you are exercising and eating the best food.

I know how important social connection is and I’m grateful that I have created, and continue to nourish, strong bonds within a healthy like-minded community that I love.

If you want to learn more, connect with my Health is Wealth Community. It’s good for your health, and even better… it’s good for your heart.

1 – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8588761/

2 – Frontiers in Cell Development and Biology

The post Can you heal your heart through social connections? first appeared on Andrea Beaman.

Despite decades of taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, cardiovascular diseases have not improved.

They are still the #1 cause of death worldwide, and it’s getting worse. Especially, in younger people.

Why do you think?

Here’s something to consider…

One of the main reasons cardiovascular diseases have gotten worse, is that for decades modern medicine has focused on lowering blood cholesterol. But, it’s the wrong approach.

Lowering blood cholesterol does NOT heal the cardiovascular system.

In fact, cholesterol is protective: your brain needs it, your heart needs it, and it’s vital to your existence.

And yet statin drugs (blood thinners), are prescribed for anyone with cholesterol over 175.

These same statin drugs are linked to muscle weakness, internal bleeding, cognitive decline, and dementia.

“According to the University of California at Los Angeles authors, taking lipophilic statins—which include atorvastatin, simvastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin, cerivastatin, and pitavastatin—appears to more than double those patients’ risk of developing dementia compared with those who do not take statins.”[1]

Even the FDA changed the statin drug labels to include an additional, and questionable, safety notice:

“Information about the potential for generally non-serious and reversible cognitive side effects (memory loss, confusion, etc.) and reports of increased blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels has been added to the statin labels.”[2]

The FDA claims these are “non-serious and reversible cognitive side effects.” But, is that true?

If these drugs have non-serious and reversible side effects, why would they even bother to update the statin drug labels?

I encourage you to question that new labeling. And, to question the use of statin drugs to lower blood cholesterol in the first place.

This isn’t even controversial anymore. Statin drugs are NOT good for our health and even cardiologists are saying it out loud.

Inside my Health is Wealth community, we hosted world renowned cardiologist, Dr. Patrick Fratellone.

He said, “Why would we put rat poison inside the body? That’s what blood thinners are. It’s the worst possible thing to do.”

He was talking about Warfarin – which was originally used as a rodenticide poison to kill rodents.

“Warfarin is a slow-acting anticoagulant rodenticide, first registered in 1950, that controls rats and mice by inhibiting Vitamin K, preventing blood clotting, and causing internal bleeding. It is commonly formulated as bait blocks, powders, or liquids.”[3]

A derivative of this poison is what they are using on people? Let that sit in your heart and mind, and in your cardiovascular system for a moment while I tell you a story.

I first learned about how rat poison works while living on the Upper East Side in NYC. My apartment was in a building that had a mouse and rat infestation. So, the landlord sent an exterminator into all of the apartments to take care of business.

As a curious human, I wanted to know what exactly was the powder the exterminator was putting behind my stove to kill the rodents.

I asked, “Is that powder dangerous for my family and my dog?”

He said, “It’s not dangerous unless you go behind the stove and ingest it. The way this poison works is that the rodent walks through the powder and it gets on their paws. They lick their paws because they’re actually very clean animals, and they ingest it.”

I didn’t know that about rats. I knew they were resilient and revered in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but I didn’t know they were so cleanly. That’s not the way they are generally portrayed.

He continued, “The poison doesn’t kill them immediately. It takes repeated times walking through the powder and continually ingesting it over time that kills them. It slowly bleeds them from the inside out.”

I was shocked.

First of all, I thought it was inhumane. Killing them slowly is akin to torture.

Secondly, it made perfect sense that THAT is why people taking blood thinners like Warfarin and Heparin and others, have bruising on their skin, internal bleeding, blood in their stool, dizziness and weakness, hemorrhaging, and higher incidence of stroke.[4]

It is internally weakening their system and destroying their blood cells from the inside out.

This is what happened to my father when he took blood thinners for high cholesterol. He started getting weird bruises on his skin, and was having trouble with his memory. And, within a couple of years he had a series of strokes that debilitated him.

The fact that they are still prescribing this crap to people is crazy to me. My personal belief is that it shouldn’t be used on rats, and it shouldn’t be used on humans either – unless you have clots that need to be dissolved.

Cholesterol is so important to your health that your body makes 80% of it to keep you healthy. Here’s some science from Harvard Health:

“The Harvard Special Health Report, Managing Your Cholesterol, explains cholesterol as a waxy, whitish-yellow fat and a crucial building block in cell membranes. Cholesterol is needed to make vitamin D, hormones (including testosterone and estrogen), and fat-dissolving bile acids. In fact, cholesterol production is so important that your liver and intestines make about 80% of the cholesterol you need to stay healthy. Only about 20% comes from the foods you eat.”

Cholesterol keeps us healthy.

The real question we should be asking is… if high cholesterol is keeping us healthy, then what is the real cause of cardiovascular disease?

Research shows that cardiovascular diseases are actually driven by:

• Gut imbalance
• Chronic stress
• Poor sleep
• Inflammation
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Lack of movement
• And social disconnection

Every one of those contributors are diet and lifestyle related.

That means the #1 cause of premature death worldwide is preventable… at least 95% of the time, through diet and lifestyle modifications.

But, if you knew that, and implemented self-care on a daily basis, the medical industry wouldn’t be able to make money off your fear about high cholesterol.

When you learn how to stop fighting your body’s natural processes and instead, understand why your body is increasing your cholesterol levels, you can start supporting it with:

• Real food
• Herbal remedies
• Daily movement
• Nervous system regulation
• Meaningful social connections

This is exactly what we teach members inside my Health is Wealth Community… step by step self-care, and how to support your body, mind and spirit.

Don’t let the medical industry and Big Pharma treat you like a rodent.

Reclaim responsibility for your wellness and learn to understand your body better.

When you do that everything changes.

Caring for your health isn’t about doing more – it’s about doing what works.

Join my thriving health community to get empowered!

[1] https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/some-statins-appear-to-increase-dementia-in-patients-with-mild-cognitive-issues

[2] https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-drug-safety-communication-important-safety-label-changes-cholesterol-lowering-statin-drugs

[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/nrcardio.2017.172

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470313/

The post Are you taking rat poison for cardiovascular health? first appeared on Andrea Beaman.