Double Dark-Chocolate and Ginger Biscotti

Pack two of these sweet treats with your lunch and the vending machine won't seem so tempting. Makes 30 cookies (84 calories each).

The sweet spiciness of the crystallized ginger in these cookies complements the richness of the dark chocolate. Cooking tip: Avoid getting water in the chocolate mixture while it's melting, or the chocolate will seize up and become granular and clumpy, ultimately making it difficult to work with.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 3 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

Directions

1.         Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.        In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until well combined; set aside. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg, egg yolk, and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in the vanilla and oil until well combined.

3.        With the mixer on low, beat in dry ingredients until combined. Fold in walnuts, chocolate, and ginger with a rubber spatula (dough will be stiff).

4.        With moistened hands shape the dough into 2 logs, each about 9 inches long and 2 1/2 inches wide. Bake until set on top, about 20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

5.        Transfer logs to a cutting board and, with a serrated knife, cut each log on the diagonal into 16 slices, each 1/2 inch thick. Bake until crisp, about 20 minutes, turning the biscotti over midway through. Cool 5 minutes on a baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

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Chocolate-Apricot Nut Bars

Making your own bars is surprisingly easy; this version requires less than 10 minutes of prep. Experiment with your favorite dried fruits and nuts. For snacking on the run, wrap bars individually in parchment.

 Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups dried apricots
• 1/2 cup raw almonds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
• Coarse salt
• 1/2 ounce dark chocolate, melted

Directions

1.         Pulse apricots, almonds, 1 tablespoon coconut, and a pinch of salt in a food processor until finely ground.

2.        Line a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with parchment, leaving an inch overhang on all sides. Transfer mixture to pan and press firmly to form a rectangle.

3.        Use parchment overhang to remove from pan. Drizzle mixture with chocolate and sprinkle with remaining coconut.

4.        Transfer to refrigerator and leave until firm, about 15 minutes. Slice into six bars.

Cook's Note

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.


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The Best Snacks to Take to Work

Gotta run? Take these healthy snacks with you. These make-ahead and no-cook recipes travel well and are perfect for the office fridge or your desk drawer.

A nice break from nuts, edamame give this unconventional trail mix a satisfying crunch. For a shortcut, substitute 3/4 cup store-bought roasted edamame for the homemade.

Dry-Roasted Edamame with Cranberries

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
• 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1.         Heat oven to 425 degrees. Arrange edamame on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Season with salt. Roast, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool. Toss with cranberries.

Cook's Note

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Goooooood morning good people!

Today we are going to be looking at great food for the office. A great selection of snacks that are fool proof and great to have at arms reach in your office to keep you and your brain going!
#Fresco

10 Healthy Ways to Help a Hangover

While it's not something I'm proud of, I've got plenty of hangovers under my belt. See, despite all of my healthy practices—yoga, deep breathing, clean cosmetics, brown rice and kale eating—I'm just not that great at saying no to that third or fourth drink once I get going. Bless those of you who are—and damn those of you who are immune to hangovers altogether! Apparently you exist, and you are lucky. But while I am working on my to-don't list (new rule: don't drink before dinner), I've also concluded that the only thing worse than a hangover is the guilt and self-loathing that can come with it.

And where does that take most of us? Why, straight to the couch with a big bag of chips, or some other crap we're craving that can leave us feeling worse than before—as we try desperately to fill that hangover hole in our hearts. This got us thinking: Short of avoiding hangovers altogether (genius!), there has to be a more holistic approach to dealing with them when they happen. So, since we know there are no silver bullets for too much booze anyways, Siobhan and I culled our top ten healthy tips for healing after a night of hard partying.

Got any to add?

Have some miso soup with your eggs. This is totally a thing in Japan. Miso soup replaces a lot of things our bodies need to feel better: water, sodium, and other nutrients depleted by the diuretic effects of the alcohol. Because it's a fermented food that contains healthy bacteria, miso can also aid with digestion. Too much alcohol is known to disrupt the stomach's lining and can often result in unpleasant digestive side effects—let's leave it at that. Oh and the cysteine in eggs breaks down the hangover-causing toxin acetaldehyde, so they really are a good breakfast choice post-boozing (and don't skip the yellows).

Take a handful of omega 3s—and then repeat. There's not muchomegas aren't good for. Take them when you get home; take them when you wake up; take them take them take them. Alcohol causes inflammation (which is at the root of most health problems), and omegas are proven to fight that inflammation a serious way. They will also help combat some of the unpleasant side effects of alcohol on your face, like dry, aggro, blotchy skin. Just trust us on this one.

Drink kombucha tea. Yeah, the weird stuff with the floaties at the bottom that actually can contain a bit of alcohol itself. Maybe it's a hair-of-the-dog thing, but kombucha absolutely makes us feel better when we have a hangover. Again, it's fermented, which means it's really good for your sad little tummy. And if you don't believe us just ask more seasoned hangover experts like Lindsey Lohan and the ladies at Jezebel.

Have sex or just a good cuddle. We've said it lots of times: Physical contact releases oxytocin and other happy-making hormones. And feeling cuddly and warm about the world beats out feeling glum and self-punishing. The trick is you have to do it with someone you like because, most of the time time, sex with someone you don't like is probably not going to help anything—and definitely not your hangover.

Get some body work. If there's no one to curl up with at the moment, try a professional. Actually, try a professional anyways. I always forget this one, but a good massage makes a planet of difference. Maybe that's because massage also releases happy hormones, or that one massage is proven to seriously boost your immune system with more white blood cells.

Try some hydrotherapy. One of my favorite activities—hungover or not—is hitting up a Korean spa here in Los Angeles. While these spas offer great massages and scrubs, I usually just pay the minimum to enjoy their hot and cold tubs, steam rooms, and saunas. The act of going from hot water to cold water, and back again, is so rejuvenating. It increases circulation and toxin elimination—some even believe that immersion in cold water gives a kick to the old immune system, which has some scientific support in human and animal studies (though it definitely needs more research). If you have a bath and a shower at home, you can duplicate the spa experience. A few drops of eucalyptus oil into the cold bath is a nice touch—or make the bath hot and the shower cold. Very important: Because this process will also make you sweat, you must hydrate. Make a little lemon or cucumber water to feel extra spa-y and kind to yourself.

Do some exercise—but just a little bit! The camps are divided on this, but here's our take: If exercise makes you feel better then you should do it. Again though, hydration is key here, and it is important that you not overdo it. Exercise increases circulation, helps elimination, and releases a cocktail of mood-boosting hormones. The few times I've forced myself to do it with a hangover, it's totally helped. From a psychological point of view, if you're a bit of a type A, it will also let you feel more OK about taking the rest of the day to chill (which we encourage).

Have a banana/blueberry/kale/lemon smoothie. Antioxidants. Potassium. Natural sugars. Vitamins. Digestive enzymes. These are things that actually really help heal a hangover. Get thee to a green smoothie. It has to be made fresh though, not one of those plastic bottles of green stuff next to juice in the grocery store.

Drink coconut water from a coconut. We all know by now that coconut water is nature's Gatorade—just way better. According to thisTIME piece, it has the same five electrolytes found in human blood; that sports drink we just mentioned only has two. Pshaw. Also, it's been used in medical emergencies. I don't know about you, but I've had hangovers that could almost qualify. We advocate getting a real green coconut if you can—many healthfood stores offer them with a straw—because whole foods are always better, right Mr. Pollan?

Enjoy your hangover. Come again? That's right, you heard me. There are some great reasons to have a hangover: You needed a break anyways. You haven't taken a sick day in months. You can't remember the last time you watched daytime television. There's nothing you have to do that can't wait until tomorrow. You still haven't watched Country Strong. Sundays are for rest anyways. Nothing important ever happens on a Tuesday. In other words: Let yourself off the hook. Besides, the only person mad at your hangover is you.

#GOODLIFESTYLE #FRESCO.ENT

Health foods that will rot your teeth.

SNACKS perceived as healthy, including some muesli bars and orange juices, are just as likely to rot your teeth as lollies and fizzy drinks.
Consumer advocate Choice and the Australian Dental Association's Victorian branch compared the sugar content and acidity of 85 processed foods and drinks and their potential for tooth decay.
While fizzy drinks and lollies were unsurprisingly considered high risk, energy drinks such as Red Bull and V Energy, Uncle Tobys apricot muesli bars and Golden Circle Orange Juice were among the worst offenders.

Choice spokesman Brad Schmitt said many of the poor performers were commonly found in student lunch boxes.
Australian Dental Association oral health committee chairwoman Dr Philippa Sawyer said the review results highlighted why tooth decay rates were sky-rocketing.
"People don't necessarily understand what causes tooth decay," she said.

 

"We've seen a rapid increase in the tooth decay rate of young children in particular and it's because they snack throughout the day, rather than having the recommended three meals and two snacks."

Nutrition Professionals Australia dietitian Tania Ferraretto said many fruits also contained sugar and were acidic, so potentially a risk to teeth, but should not be avoided.
"Foods should always be judged on nutritional value and if you brush your teeth twice a day, then you're on track to avoiding tooth decay," she said.
Australian Food and Grocery Council chief executive Kate Carnell said the industry had produced many new low-sugar, fat and salt alternatives in recent years.
A Nestle spokeswoman said the sugar level in Uncle Tobys Apricot Chew Muesli Bar was only seven per cent of the recommended daily intake and the product contained whole grains and fibre, making a "positive contribution" to diet.
A Golden Circle spokeswoman said a moderate intake of fruit juice could be considered as a serve of fruit, while drinking through a straw and drinking juice with a meal could reduce the impact of acid in drinks.

#HrealdSun #Fresco.ent

Boost your Metabolism for a better you!

So many people aspire for a high metabolism. After all, when you have it, you can lose weight easily. Or at the very least, lose weight faster than you normally would with a slower metabolism. So many people, teenagers as skinny as beanpole and being brutally teased for it in particular, wish that they do not have such high metabolism operating in their bodies. After all, when you have it, you cannot gain weight easily. So, the question is this: Is high metabolism a blessing or a curse? Let’s find out:

Definition

First, a definition must be made. Simply put, metabolism is the way that your body burns up the calories consumed through foods eaten. This is a complex process that involves all the chemical reactions taking place in your body to keep your internal and external organs working at top levels and, hence, keep you alive.

Each one of us possesses a unique metabolic rate due to our unique bodies. As we age, however, our metabolism slows down due to a variety of factors like sex, weight, height, body composition and genetics. On average, our metabolism slows down at least 5 percent each decade such that your high metabolism last year may not be so this year. With that said, a high metabolism refers to the body’s ability to burn calories at a faster rate than the average rate. This may seem like a blessing to you now that you are trying to lose weight but as the following advantages and disadvantages will show you, a high metabolism may not be all that it is cracked up to be.

Disadvantages

If you have high metabolism, you will soon find that gaining and keeping weight are indeed pressing issues. Even when you think that you are consuming plenty of foods and, hence, tons of calories, you still look skinny as a beanpole. And for some people, skinny as a beanpole is not exactly the look they want to achieve, not with anorexia lurking around the corner.
There are complications from not gaining weight especially for young people entering their puberty. For one thing, insufficient body fat can lead to abnormal menstrual cycles, maybe even delay their onset. For another thing, dealing with health issues in the future can be harder. So, is a super high metabolism starting to look bad to you?

Advantages

On the other side of the high metabolism debate, you can lose weight easily even in your middle age years due to this condition. After all, your body burns calories at a faster rate than average.

Hence, you can eat bigger portions of health food than your contemporaries can and still look slimmer than they are. Of course, this presupposes that you engage in moderate exercise, get sufficient sleep, manage stress, avoid the consumption of alcohol and stop smoking cigarettes so as to get the fullest benefits of high metabolism in your later years.

#MetabolismBoosterHQ   #Fresco.ent