Grace Magazine

Here are 10 ways to lower your cholesterol levels and your risk of heart disease without taking scary drugs.

1. Exercise - There’s no way around it. You have to move every day. Exercise fights the buildup of cholesterol in the blood and plaque on the arteries.
2. Eat Soluble Fiber - Eating foods like beans and lentils can help remove bad cholesterol from your system.
3. Eat fish - Fatty fish provides DHA and EPA, two fatty acids which help fight cholesterol buildup in your arteries. If you don’t like fish, you could take a fish oil supplement.
4. Cut down on meat - Meat and the fat that comes with it is packed with cholesterol. A heavy meat diet is probably the biggest cause of heart disease in America.
5. Cut back on dairy - Dairy products are high in saturated fat and therefore loaded with cholesterol.
6. Use olive oil - Olive oil is one of the best oils to use in cooking and salads. It can help lower LDL, which is bad cholesterol without reducing HDL, good cholesterol.
7. Eat broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage - These kinds of vegetables are high in fiber, which you already know is good, and loaded with indoles, which fights high cholesterol.
8. Eat plant sterols - They can be found in foods like avocados and sunflower seeds and may reduce bad cholesterol.
9. Spice your foods - Cinnamon, chili peppers, evening primrose, garlic and cayenne can help reduce cholesterol.
10. Add oat bran to your diet - Oat bran and rolled oats are other ways to lower your cholesterol. Just be careful not to buy the sugar-filled instant types. Eat the real thing. Yum.

Source: beachbody.com

These ten foods will help cleanse and detox your body, making you look and feel more beautiful.

1. green leafy vegetables - Chlorophyll is a powerful way to rid your body of toxins. Raw vegetables are best, but cooked ones are good too. Chop them into salads, toss them in soups, throw them in a juicer.

2. lemons - full of vitamin C, lemons are a natural detoxifier. They help clarify your body’s fluids and are also great for soothing a soar throat.

3. watercress - tasty in salads and sandwiches, watercress is rich in minerals and is a natural diuretic.

4. garlic - add spice to your life with garlic, perhaps nature’s most beneficial food. Not only does it ward off vampires, it softens up the stuff that clogs your arteries and helps it pass through your system.

5. green tea - rich in antioxidants, hot brewed green tea helps keep your liver healthy.

6. broccoli sprouts - a super cancer fighter, even more so than broccoli itself.

7. sesame seeds - protects the liver from invaders like alcohol. A tasty way to enjoy it is in tahini.

8. cabbage - it may be stinky but it sure is good for your liver. Try it cooked or in cole slaw.

9. psyllium - a soluble fiber that fights toxins and helps rid your body of cholesterol. You can buy it powdered in your health food store or find it in some bran cereals.

10. fruit - we can’t say enough about the benefits of fruit. Delicious and nutricious. Full of vitamins, fiber, fluids, antioxidants, and flavor. And no, fruit rollups do not count.

Coloring eggs is a tradition dating back thousands of years.

According to Paas, the Easter Egg decorating eggsperts, ancient Persians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans used colored eggs to celebrate Spring.

In the thirteen century, Macedonians were the first Christians to use colored eggs at Easter time. The tradition soon spread throughout Europe.

Choose from Paas traditional kits or try one of the funkier ones like, beaded, glow-in-the-dark, tye-dyed, scribblers or egg heads.

French chocolates by the house of Debauve & Gallais have a royal history.

In an effort to help the Queen, Marie Antoinette, be able to stomach her medicine, royal family chemist Sulpice Debauve developed a chocolate bonbon. Everything tastes better with chocolate.

After the French Revolution, Sulpice opened a shop to sell his confections and they are still available today.

Pistoles of Marie-Antoinette: coins of black chocolate, pure 99% of cocoa (chocolat de Santé) or flavoured with almond oil (Pastilles de la Reine), bitter coffee (Chocolat des Affligés), island Bourbon vanilla (Croquignoles du roi), orgeat cream (Chocolat des Demoiselles) or orange tree flower(Chocolat des Dames),designed by Sulpice Debauve in remembering the Queen of France. - $180.96

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

source: style.com

Have a mimosa with breakfast.

Pour 2 oz. of fresh-squeezed orange juice into a tall flute and top off with 4 oz. of champagne.

Mmm.

A friend sent me this. There are several coffee houses in Vancouver that bring coffee to an art form.

How do you take your coffee?

Hershey’s Lip Balm Ultra-Moisturizing Trio SPF 15

What could be more delicious than a trio of lip balms in authentic Hershey’s flavors?

on10 offers up a set of hydrating lip balms in Hershey’s Vanilla Crème, Hershey’s Milk Chocolate, and Hershey’s Almond flavors.

This fun novelty lip balm smoothes and moisturizes for luscious lips with the protection of SPF 15. All of the On10® formulas are rich and efficacious, so they taste and smell great and are good for you too.

These Sephora-exclusive products are made in the USA using high quality organic and natural ingredients with an authentic indulgent Hershey’s flavors for the ultimate indulgence, without the guilt.

Yummy without the calories.

Available exclusively at sephora for $16

Earlier today, I was shopping at Sprouts, an organic supermarket, and they had a large display of heirloom tomatoes.

I’ve always been curious about this strange-looking fruit. They’re so beautiful in a non-traditional way, with their variety of shapes and colors.

So, I brought some home and made a simple salad. I cut the tomatoes into rough chunks, sprinkled them with sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I added a generous helping of oregano, then tossed the mixture with a little balsamic vinegar and plenty of extra virgin olive oil.

It’s not really prime tomato season here in California right now. Late summer is best. But the weather was mild today and the heirlooms made a tasty treat.

When I’m in a cookie-baking mood, my favorite recipe is Classic Spritz Cookies.

They are so easy and you can make many different kinds of cookies from this one recipe. The consistency is perfect for using a cookie press.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extracts, beat well.
• Sift together flour and baking powder and slowly add to the butter mixture, making a smooth dough.
• Using a cookie press, stamp various cookie shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned around the edges.
• Cool on a wire rack. Yeild: 7-8 dozen small cookies.

This recipe is very versatile. Enjoy the cookies plain or try one of these variations:

• sprinkle with colored sugar
• press a candied cherry into the center
• sprinkle with chopped nuts
• dip ends into melted chocolate
• decorate with colored frosting

What are your favorite cookie recipes?

Here’s a simple gingerbread cake recipe to spice up your holidays.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 sugar
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon marmalade
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
pinch of salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour
confectioner’s sugar to dust

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

• Line and 8-inch square cake pan with waxed paper, grease lightly with butter and dust with flour. (I don’t have a square pan, so I use an 8-inch round pan and the recipes turns out fine)
• Combine butter, sugar, dark corn syrup and marmalade in a saucepan over low heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
• In a bowl, beat together eggs and milk, then stir in the syrup mixture.
• In a separate bowl, sift together the self-rising flour, baking soda, spices, salt and whole-wheat flour.
• Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until just smooth. Do not overbeat.
• Pour into cake pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.
• Allow to cool in the pan.
• Remove from pan, peel off the wax paper. Sprinkle the top with confectioner’s sugar. Cut into squares and serve.

Gingerbread is wonderful served with pears and whipped cream and a nice strong pot of tea.