Just when you though you were safe from gut-busting holiday meals, along comes Easter, just full of unhealthy ways to indulge in food. But don’t fret, you can still enjoy Easter and stay on a healthy eating plan. Below are a few ideas to help you plan a healthier Easter celebration.

Easter isn’t about the dinner. Focus on the meaning of the day, rather than what you’ll eat. Easter is, at it’s essence, all about life. So treat yourself by concentrating on living a healthy, purposeful life. Concentrating on the non-food traditions of the day — such as family togetherness, church rituals and worship, and enjoying the happiness of youngsters as they discover Easter eggs — rather than the holiday meal will help you keep perspective as you make healthier choices. And, once you’ve adjusted to looking at the bigger picture, you can make an informed decision about how much — or how little — you want to indulge.

Consider making healthy substitutions for unhealthy favorites. Offer a lightly dressed, crisp salad along with the heavier dishes. Cut the fat, sodium and sugar where you can in foods like dressing, stuffing, green bean casserole, and desserts. I’ve found that my family rarely even notices if I make a healthier — but small — change to a recipe. For instance, while I couldn’t get away with serving tofu instead of turkey, I can serve a butter-less roasted sweet potato mash instead of sweet potato casserole, without a fuss.

Skip the candy. Just say no to the marshmallow Peeps and chocolate bunnies and opt Instead for plastic eggs for your egg hunt. Then fill them with stickers, money, small toys and gift certificates.

Eat lighter for the rest of the day. If you do decide to treat yourself with a high-calorie indulgence, mitigate the damage by saving calories elsewhere during the day. For instance, eat a lighter breakfast or skip the goopy appetizers in favor of a splurge at dinner. Then, cut back a bit when you eat your next meal.

Walk it off. Add in extra exercise to account for your Easter splurge. You could go for a walk before church, or get the whole family together to go for a walk after Easter dinner. Or even add a bit more time to your Monday-after-Easter workout.

Don’t show up empty. Don’t sit down to dinner on an empty stomach, it might encourage you to eat more than you’d planned. Research shows that having a light snack before being faced with an over-the-top meal can help you eat less.

Reward yourself. If you’ve been working hard on your healthy eating plan and do resist all those tempting Easter goodies, consider giving yourself a non-food reward for sticking to your guns. How about a new outfit? Or even something that will help you reach your health goals like a Fitbit or a new pair of running shoes.

If you give in, make it count. If you do decide to give in to temptation, make a conscious choice of what you’ll eat, don’t default to whatever chocolatey treat is near by. Eat what you really want, be it a Peep or a piece of coconut cream pie. By doing this, you guarantee that you’ll be satisfied, not just full.

Always strive for progress, not perfection. When it comes to eating healthy, Easter is just like any other holiday,,, it’s one day out of the 365 you’ll get this year. So relax and enjoy your splurge if you decide to have it. Remember that there is no such thing as perfection. If you can keep your splurges to 3 or 4 times a year, you’re way ahead of the game.

Did you know that there are simple culinary herbs and spices you can use to think more clearly and be more alert? Many people don’t realize that herbs like rosemary have shown in studies to help us focus. Read on to learn more about how to use common herbs and spices to boost brain power. 

Sage
Sage is known to add a delicious flavor to foods such as soups, sauces and dressings. It is also great for brain health. According to Natural News, in trials even small amounts of sage have been shown to significantly boost memory recall. It is thought to work by helping to improve the interconnectivity of the different parts of the brain. Also, interestingly the root of the Danshen or Chinese sage contains compounds that are very similar to the drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Check out the full article here.

Peppermint and Cinnamon
An interesting study conducted at Wheeling Jesuit University in Wheeling, WV found that smelling peppermint or cinnamon in your car might make your morning commute less frustrating and you more alert when behind the wheel.  According to the study, drivers demonstrated decreased levels of frustration, anxiety and fatigue when exposed to peppermint and cinnamon scents. The study also revealed that drivers were more alert.

Rosemary
Rosemary, the earthy spice that we use to flavor chicken breasts and perk up our sauces also has incredible power when it comes to helping us focus. Rosemary contains a component called cineole that increases our ability to think effectively. One study found that cineole helped to enhance the ability of rats to navigate through mazes, while another study found that smelling the scent of rosemary helped people to better perform tasks at work.

Gaia Mental Alertness
You can also find some of these everyday herbs in supplements to help promote mental clarity, focus and memory. Gaia Mental Alertness contains both peppermint and rosemary and works to help enhance the cognitive functions of the brain. Another great thing about Gaia products is that you can use the ID number on the back of the package to track the life story of each herb in your bottle, so that you can see the origin of each herb back to its source.

It can be hard to enjoy all the beautiful blooming plants when you are suffering from spring allergies. To make it even more challenging, allergy season is striking early this year. Thankfully, you can utilize some simple foods to fight spring allergies naturally. Of course, make sure to consult with your doctor to come up with the best allergy-fighting plan for you.

Natural Antihistamines
Simply put, antihistamines are substances that help your body from releasing histamines, which can trigger runny noses, congestion, red eyes and hives. Research has shown that everyday items from your kitchen like garlic, apples and broccoli contain beneficial flavonoids that help prevent both the manufacture and release of histamine. One simple remedy for red and irritated eyes is placing organic red potato slices over closed eyelids. Red potatoes contain a variety of nutrients including Vitamin C.

Liver Toxicity and Allergies
Researchers have made a compelling connection between liver toxicity and allergies. Through the filtering process, the liver plays a substantial role in reducing the effect an established or potential allergen will have on the body. When the liver gets backed up with toxins, it can send out hyperactive signals for the body to produce histamines. Thus, some people have found consistent and long-term allergy relief by cleansing and building the liver. Foods such as apples and grapefruits have shown to be effective in liver cleansing as well as bitter herbs – such as those found in a Swedish Bitters formula.

Onion Allergy-Fighting Soup
Onions contain Quercetin, which is a compound that works to naturally fight spring allergies. Making a quick, onion soup can help to thwart off allergies and provide a delicious meal. Simply cut up one onion (leave the skin on) and boil with two cloves of garlic for about 15 minutes. At the same time, boil and prepare some brown rice pasta. (Note: Do not use wheat pasta as wheat can spark allergens.) Drain the broth, add the brown rice pasta and season with parsley, salt and pepper. Enjoy hot and inhale the nourishing qualities of the onion and garlic deep into your nostrils. Feels great!

Frozen vegetables don’t get the credit they deserve.

I used to think of them as just something to have on standby when fresh ones were out of season. You know, something to fill in for a meal when nothing else is available.

But that’s a mistake – especially if you don’t have a lot of “prep” time to spend in the kitchen.

So here’s a great way to turn out a meal that tastes just as good as your favorite Chinese takeout, but will take you less time than it would to place that order and pick it up.

And the best part is that you have total control over the ingredients, so you don’t have to worry about MSG or any other spices or oils you don’t want to eat.

This entire jiffy, stir-fry recipe is based on vegetables and seasonings, though it can easily be married to meat and seafood items. Such proteins should be cooked separately and placed atop the stir-fry at time of serving. Adding meats or seafood to the stir itself could require greater cooking time, which would negatively impact the proper cooking process needed to perfectly capture the essence of the rapidly thawed vegetables.

And it also tastes great just as a veggie dish – one added on top of steamed rice or quinoa!

FAST-THAW STIR-FRY RECIPE

MAKING IT: The trick to this stir fry is closely monitoring the doneness of veggies, which need only to be adequately heated for best and most natural results. Cooking most veggies – fresh or frozen — to “softness” is overcooking.

INGREDIENTS:

Must haves:

• Two tablespoons Wild Oats Organic Olive Oil
• One tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 12 ounce bag of frozen, mixed stir-fry veggies. I used a mix of broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas and water chestnuts.

Your call:

• Spices to taste – such as Wild Oats Organic Garlic Powder, Wild Oats Organic Crushed Red Pepper (if you like it hot!), pinch of Wild Oats Organic Ginger, sesame seeds, pepper, etc.
• Optional: one tablespoon of soy or tamari sauce, chopped fresh green onions (scallions) and chopped fresh green, red, or orange peppers (to add right before serving).
• Also optional: cooked chicken or fish to add on top before serving.
• Another great option is the addition of peanut butter to make a quick Thai-like sauce. Here’s how: Once the veggies have cooked for a couple of minutes, push them to the side of the pan making an empty circle in the center. Add two tablespoons of creamy peanut butter to the (hot) center of your pan. If there is any liquid in the pan, mix it with the peanut butter as it heats. If not, add a tablespoon or so of hot water to blend the peanut butter.

DIRECTIONS:

In a large skillet add one tablespoon olive oil and one tablespoon sesame oil. BEFORE you turn on the heat, add your frozen veggie mix. Sprinkle another tablespoon of olive oil on top.

TIP: Now I know that’s breaking a cardinal rule of cooking – always preheat your pan or oven – but in this case adding frozen things to hot oil is a very bad idea. And that’s even true if you have a fire extinguisher handy!

Turn to medium high heat, and once the pan and veggies start warming up toss the mixture around a bit to blend. Add any spices or your soy or tamari sauce at this point and toss/mix well.

Cook for approximately 5 minutes, moving the veggies around several times with a wooden spoon or spatula, and also check for doneness with a fork at around 4 minutes. You want the veggies cooked but still crunchy. If the pan looks too dry, you can add a tablespoon of water.

Turn out your snappy stir-fry veggies on top of a bed of steaming rice or quinoa and place any meat or seafood on top; do not stir in.

You can also add chopped fresh green onions and peppers on top to add some extra crunch and eye appeal.

“In Spring, at the end of the day, one should smell like dirt.”- Margaret Atwood

As Spring creeps across the land, we turn our gaze downward to catch the first green buds with their promise of warmth and abundance to come. The sight of new life springing from the seemingly-sleeping soil has the capacity to send our hearts soaring, even as we dig our fingers into the dirt to plant to new seeds. This March is Soils Support Agriculture Month, part of the 2015 International Year of Soils, and is an excellent prompting to dig a little deeper.

Healthy soil, alive and teeming with biodiversity, may be the greatest security a nation can have; in the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” Roosevelt would go on to establish the Soil Conservation Service in the 30’s, now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, after the devastation brought about by the Dust Bowl laid American Agriculture (and the economy) low.

Not surprisingly, soil health impacts our food supply from the ground up, and may in fact be the bedrock of a civilizations success or failure. We’ve known for quite some time that healthy soil creates healthy crops, and the growing movements of organic and sustainable agriculture have had a lot to say about soil sequestering carbon and mitigating drought (crucial elements to support farming). Links between soil health and human health are hard to ignore, whether you are looking at the many microbes that build our immune systems and to which scientists turn once more for medicinal purposes, or the decrease in our food’s nutrient density associated with depleted soil.

This is a timeless issue, exacerbated by unsustainable practices. *Recently, Maine adopted the Joint Resolution Recognizing the Importance of Soils to Maine’s Future Prosperity, designed to raise awareness of the vital role soil plays in our lives. Organizations such as SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education) and the Soil Science Society of America, working in conjunction with the NRCS and the USDA among a widening group, have brought this issue squarely to the fore. Great minds alike agree- replenishing the soil is a no brainer.

On the individual level, hailing back to the notion of voting with your fork, consumer demand for organic produce is driving the market and increasing incentives for sustainable agricultural methods. Whether you work on a farm or have never visited one, your purchasing power can be harnessed to advocate for healthy soil- the very foundation of our health and a source of “fresh strength” for us all.

*Edited to reflect that Maine’s Soil Recognition Resolution is an platform for discussion and awareness, rather than an initiative. Thank you to the well informed commenter below! (You can also read more about the Resolution here)