Find Balance: Belly vs Brain

Ways to wake up the taste buds with : Garlic

We’ve all heard that our gut is the center of our overall health. Which is so true. We need a happy healthy belly in order to digest food properly so our bodies can receive the nutrition it needs. With that being so choosing the most nutritious foods would be a no-brainer to live healthy…right? Well no not totally. Our tastebuds also demand being happy too. So since food fuels the body and our taste buds fuel our pleasure receptors in the brain how do we keep balance in both the body and mind?

Well one way is to give yourself one meal a day that can suffice your all day calorie needs. However when doing so it becomes a lot more difficult to stay focused on not indulging throughout the day and that one meal that was total euphoria becomes a distant memory of pleasure. Now you can continue that vicious cycle attitude and all or you can start to venture off into foods that you deemed boring or bland weird or unappealing and learn quick ways to make them delicious.

Garlic. What is it exactly? Well at wikipedia.com: Garlic is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to Central Asia and northeastern Iran and has long been a common seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use.

There are countless ways you can use garlic in so many dishes. And what was once a bland and boring dish now can be jazzed up with out adding any extra calories or unnecessary ingredients and can make your brain and belly happy.

Aside from the delicious addition added to your dish garlic also has it’s wonderful health benefits. According to wikipedia.com can help with Cardiac Health, Antimicrobial, and has Anticancer properties.

One clove of garlic contains:  4 Calories, 0 Protein, 0 Grams of fat, 1 Gram of Carbohydrates and 0 Grams of Fiber.

Sauteed Garlicky Spinach or Broccoli
1 1/2 pounds baby spinach leaves or 2 bushels of broccoli (if frozen 2 bags for either)

2 tablespoons good olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped garlic (6 cloves)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Lemon Squeeze

Directions

Finely chop or grate garlic cloves. In a saute pan add olive oil and heat over medium. Add garlic cloves to pan and saute for 2 min and then add spinach or broccoli to pan. Add salt and pepper tossing vegetables in pan and coating them in the garlic olive oil. Cook over medium heat tossing (spinach 3 minutes) (broccoli 8 min raw / 10 min frozen). Cover and let sit for 2 min. Squeeze lemon over spinach or broccoli and serve. Can be tossed with pasta and Parmesan cheese for a complete dish.

Enjoy!