Delicious Food That Will Satisfy your Mouth and Your Body!
Summer is almost officially here, well at least when its nearly 90′ outside! Sometimes its too hot to know what to eat. It is a great time for a mozzarella, tomato basil salad. In Chinese Medicine, you often hear that ‘raw food’ does not digest well. This is because the body often does not have enough digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid to break down the raw food. But this is often due to not having anything in the food that accelerates the break down of these foods. Everything that we eat has either a hot or a cold quality to its nature. Here are some examples:
Cucumbers-very cooling
Watermelon-very cooling (this is why these are great in the summer heat, can also be used for heat stroke or overheating from the hot sun)
Tomatoes-warming
Avocado-warming
Oregano-warming
Rosemary-warming
Thyme-warming
When preparing something like a salad that is raw, it is good to think about the temperatures of the food. Cucumbers and watermelon are cold so a cucumber and watermelon salad would be difficult for the body to break down. Yet, if drank ginger tea (which is warm and spicy), your body would have a much better chance at breaking that down. If you added lemon and vinegar to the salad, the stomach’s Hydrochloric acid would increase allowing for the stomach to churn the food more proficiently. However, we also want the food to taste good! Isn’t that they key to eating healthy? Healthy food CAN taste good, making you want to eat more of it, and less Chic Filet! 😉
When you add a delicious salad dressing, it just makes everything taste good. You could almost dip a piece of grass in there and eat it with a good dressing. This salad dressing is so nutritious and it adds an impeccable amount of TNavor to the salad. When you put this all together, it is mouth-watering and will allow you to feel satisfied but dreaming about when you are going to immerse the next plate of vegetables in this wonderful dressing. I bet you will not want a store-bought dressing again.
To assemble the salad you need:
Organic Mixed greens (whichever variety looks good to you)
Heirloom Tomatoes (any color)
Fresh Buffalo Mozzarella
Red Onion
Avocado
Siracha sauce (optional)
The rest is super simple. Put the greens on the plate. Slice the tomatoes and place 4 slices on the plate. Slice the buffalo mozzrella and place on top of the tomatoes. Cut half an avocado and put around the plate. Slice red onion very thin and drizzle the onion around the salad. If you like a bit of spice, place just a droplet of Siracha sauce on the buffalo mozzarella (not for kids, this is spicy!)
For the dressing:
Olive oil
Lemon
Vinegar (any kind you’d like-red wine, balsamic, apple cider, I used rice wine vinegar and it was amazing!)
Oregano-I bought a plant for $3 and will plant it in the garden or a pot and can be used all summer long (why buy a package when you can buy a whole plant and keep it growing?)
Thyme- also bought a plant
Basil-already planted
Rosemary-already planted
(I cannot recommend enough to purchase these plants and have them on your deck, your window or wherever. You can use them with cooking whenever you’d like and they add an amazing fresh taste to your food)
Salt, Pepper
Honey
Garlic
To Make: Get a jar for the salad dressing. I like to get these wonderful all natural teas that come in these amazing glass jars. They actually sell them at CVS. Add olive oil and vinegar in about a 3:1 ratio. Squeeze some lemon. Add 1-2 tsp of honey. Chop herbs and add them in. Add one garlic clove. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and shake. Chop fresh basil and lay over the mozzarella cheese. Voila! So easy.
Once done, pour onto your salad.
This salad, gives you foods that are warming for the digestion (tomato, avocado, onions) and also contains spices that are warming to help aid in digestion (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary). In addition, the siracha adds a bit of spice. The lemon and vinegar help with hydrochloric acid production. All of these ‘warming’ ingredients will help that salad to happily be broken down and assimilated into nutrients that the body can use. Now compare this to a salad that just has the normal stuff (greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, croutons, carrots with ranch dressing). What a difference right? Who says you can’t eat a healthy digestible salad? It just takes some creativity.
How long did this take? About 30 mins. It seems daunting but really it doesn’t take much longer to prepare than mac n’ cheese or throwing a pizza in the oven. It just takes a bit more creativity. But you FEEL sooooo much better after eating this! Eating healthy is a choice and I know it is difficult with our fast paced society that is always on the go. But, your body will thank you for it in the long run by keeping your immune system healthy, preventing inTNammation in your body(pain!), fighting toxic/cancerous cells from forming, nourishing your hair/skin/nails, keeping your digestive system healthy and bowels moving, keeping your brain alert and polished, allowing your heart to function properly, keeping your blood clean and moving, free from cholesterol, keeping your blood pressure down, helping your bones to continue to be strong and durable. There are SO many things that healthy food does. Are you having a moment where you have slipped into poor eating habits? I always recommend the movie, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. It has a treacherous title but such a great message and its really an eye opener and very educational about healthy food.
Remember that healthy eating can also be delicious! Please share any healthy, delicious recipes you may have to the Holistic Clinic. Acupuncture isn’t just about sticking needles in people, its about bringing forth a movement of health to the mind, body and spirit.
Acupuncturist in Franklin Tennessee-Amy L. Suplee
Amy L. Suplee-Licensed Acupuncturist in Franklin, TN
Amy is a Licensed Acupuncturist and Board Certified by the NCCAOM, the governing body for Acupuncturists in the United States. She received her Master’s Degree in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine at Five Branches University in Santa Cruz, California and is a graduate of University of Colorado. Amy is the Founder and CEO of the International Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Association.
Amy specializes in Women’s Health, Fertility, Pain Management and Chronic Illness. She has been trained in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Classical Chinese Medicine and 5 Element Emotional Balancing and Acupuncture. She has a long history in Western Medicine so she has the ability to integrate an Eastern and Western approach.
Amy is passionate about her work and enjoys seeing results in her patients. As an Acupuncturist and resident of Franklin, she is dedicated to helping individuals achieve their health goals. She has taken on some of the most difficult cases, and treated patients who have seen multiple doctors who had not previously had relief from their ailments.
