Food Sensitivities

Many of my patients learn through our work together that they are sensitive to gluten products which is found in wheat, spelt, rye, barley and more. At first this can seem like a scary discovery. They ask "what will I eat?!"

There is an increased awareness of the link between food and health conditions. It's because of this awareness that many more gluten-free products are popping up in our grocery stores and health food stores.

I recently read a book called "Where Do I Start? Your essential gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free Allergy Cookbook" by Victoria Yeh. This book is a great resource to have when trying to live and cook without these offending foods. http://www.glutenfreeliving.ca/

If you think you may have food sensitivities causing health issues there are a number of ways to determine which foods are the problem. A visit with a Naturopathic Doctor can help you get to the root cause of potential food sensitivities.

Morning Rice Pudding by Angela Hanlon, ND

I had the pleasure of having my friend and colleague, Angela, visit last weekend. She cooked up a great gluten-free breakfast for us.

white basmati rice

1 can coconut milk

1-2 mashed bananas

1 apple chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

Cook the rice with all these ingredients together. Add water to make sure the rice to liquid ratio is 1:2.

You can make a large batch of this and heat up each portion as necessary for a few mornings.

Enjoy!

CLIENT APPRECIATION SKATE DAY!!

March Break Begins Friday March 12th at 5:30pm....

Join us at the Allandale Rec Center for an hour of
FREE fun and exercise at THE HEALING OASIS
2nd Annual Client Appreciation SKATE DAY!



Bring your skates, kids, family and friends, your youthfulness and smiles as we thank you for letting us help you with your health care.

Friday March 12 - 5:30 - 6:30pm
Hot Chocolate and snacks

Munchies for Munchkins

Tonight I will be instructing the Meals and Nutrition for Munchkins with The City of Barrie. I've had a lot of fun preparing for this seminar while looking at cookbooks, which are my favourite type of book. I love trying new recipes and this gave me a great opportunity to check out new books and recipes to share with the parents attending.

Here I have made the "Hale and Hearty Fruit Dip" from The Kid-Friendly Food Allergy Cookbook by Leslie Hammond and Lyne Marie Rominger. F.Y.I. This book is available at the Barrie Public Library.

For the smiley snack:

I used a plain rice cake for the face, spread the fruit dip on the face, orange slice for the mouth, dried cranberry for the nose and 2 whole, natural almonds for the eyes. The hair is unsweetened coconut flakes. Steve, my guinea pig, loved it!

For those of you who missed the class, stay tuned for more of my informative sessions with The City of Barrie.

Fruit Dip:

1 cup cottage cheese (or yogurt)

1 tbsp honey (optional, local honey is the best)

1/2 firm banana

1/3 cup fresh or frozen berries (I used raspberries)

Squeezed juice from 1/2 fresh orange

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

2. Refridgerate for 30 minutes and serve with fruit or rice cakes and crackers.

After-School or At-Work Treats!

These were a hit at my latest Go Venture meeting. (Go Venture is a business course for new businesses).

Pecan-Raisin Balls

2 cups pecan halves

1/4 cup rolled oats or millet flour

10 large pitted dates or 8 pitted prunes

2 tbsp tahini or macadamia nut butter

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup raisins

Finely grind pecans and oats (or millet flour) in a food processor. Place in a mixing bowl and set aside. Put dates, tahini, cinnamon, and vanilla into the processor and blend into a paste. Stir paste into pecan-oat mixture and blend well. Add raisins and blend well. Roll into 1" balls. Refridgerate and enjoy.

For more info about Go Venture visit www.donnadouglas.com

How can we HELP YOU??

With the many different health services available to us now it's quite a difficult task of finding which one is the right fit for you...

We are pleased to announce that all of our practitioners now offer Complimentary 15 minute consults to help you in the decision making process.

If you're thinking of trying reiki or reflexology but not sure which one would be better suited to your symptomology - just call us to book your consult - we can even do a phone consult!

Are you wondering how a Naturopathic Doctor can help you? Just give us a call...

Knowledge and education is power... we aim to empower our clients to help them have an active role in their health and wellness care.

Yours in health,
The Healing Oasis Team

Valentine's gift certificates...

Give her a special gift...without getting into trouble!

We have created a choco-holic's delight and it wont "go to her hips!"

This Valentine's Day treat your special lady to an hour of pure relaxation and satisfy her craving with a delectable chocolate massage.

We will use a chocolate cantaloupe massage oil, choco-mint foot lotion, and chocolate truffle hand lotion. Of course, we will send her home with an edible treat as well. We can also customize your gift if you'd like to add something yourself.

Call us now to reserve your gift certificate and make arrangements!

(And ladies you can buy this for yourself too!!)

Almond Coconut Macaroons - Gluten & Dairy Free Baking can taste good!

Yes, it's true, gluten & dairy free cooking is tastey! Just take the word of my 4 year old friend, Nigel. He looked sceptical at first looking at these cookies. After one bite, his face suddenly brightened and he quickly ate the rest.

Gluten/Dairy free recipes don't have to be hard to find. I found this recipe in my Recipe of The Week: Cookies cookbook by Sally Sampson. You can adapt it slightly to make it even more healthy if you'd like. Many people discover through Naturopathic Medicine that they have sensitivities to common foods like these. After they begin to feel so good when cutting these foods out many don't return to eating the "bad" foods again.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup white sugar (substitute with local honey or try a small amount of Stevia)
3 cups natural almonds, lightly toasted and cooled
1 1/2 cups unsweetened dried coconut flakes
4 large egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Toasting the almonds:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place nuts on a baking sheet or in a shallow pan, transfer to the oven and bake until lightly coloured and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Cookies:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or tin foil.

2. Place sugar, almonds, and coconut in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until the mixture looks like fine sand. Transfer to a large bowl, add the egg whites, vanilla, and salt and mix, using a wooden spoon, until everything is well incorporated.

3. Place heaping teaspoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Transfer to the oven and bake until the edges begin to firm up, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack. Let the cookie sheet cool completely between batches and repeat with the remaining dough.

Whitney Young, ND