New Book on the Amazing Powers of Coffee

Wake up to the perks of java juice This Summer!

 By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

From the author of the hugely successful Healing Powers series (Honey, Vinegar, Olive Oil, and Chocolate) comes The Healing Powers of Coffee: A Complete Guide to Nature’s Surprising Superfood.

It’s the beverage we can’t live without—yet few consume it without some guilt. But the wonderful truth is that coffee has abundant health benefits. Coffee boasts more antioxidants than cocoa and tea, and even more than renowned antioxidant-rich fruits like oranges and blueberries. In fact, there are hundreds of healing compounds in coffee.
Recent studies have shown that coffee consumption can significantly decrease or reduce the risk of many conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, asthma, cancer, heart disease, chronic constipation, dental caries, diabetes, gallstone disease, and liver disease.
As in her previous bestselling books, Cal Orey combines groundbreaking research into all these health and weight loss benefits with home cures, cosmetic uses, household hints, and dozens of heart-health Mediterranean style recipes.

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

CAL OREY is an author and journalist specializing in topics such as health, science, relationships, and pets. She is the author of The Healing Powers series and has written countless articles for both health and women’s magazines about foods and their amazing health benefits and home cures. Her articles have appeared in Woman’s World, Woman’s Day, Men’s Fitness, as well as The Writer. She has a master’s degree in English from San Francisco State University and currently resides in northern California. Her books include The Healing Powers of Vinegar, The Healing Powers of Olive Oil, The Healing Powers of Chocolate, The Healing Powers of Honey, and The Healing Powers of Coffee --available now for pre-order.  www.calorey.com.

The Healing Powers of Coffee

A Complete Guide to Nature’s Surprising Superfood

Cal Orey

Kensington Books, August 2012, Trade Paperback Non-fiction

ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-7330/$15.00 ($16.95 – Canada)

Is Chocolate Really Healthy for You?

By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

Courtesy of Enjou Chocolate

Ever wonder if eating chocolate is good or bad?  You can stop pondering about chocolate being a vice and embrace it for its multitude of virtues. Today, an excerpt from my book The Healing Powers of Chocolate was published in an online heart health magazine --and as a "health expert" I dish out the word about chocolate and your heart.
Of course, eating chocolate isn't the only key to staying heart healthy. I practice what I preach in my Healing Powers series to stay heart healthy. So, when I'm not savoring a square of dark chocolate (for its antioxidants and other good for you compounds), I'm doing other stuff to keep my ticker ticking. 
That means, I just got back from a long dog walk; my cat is sleeping on my leg as I work on my book(s); tomorrow I will definitely hit the pool and swim laps (and chill in the hot tub); and tonight I'll fix a Mediterranean heart-healthy dinner: pasta and veggies. Not to forget the cup of java with organic low-fat milk, a banana, and whole grain bagel I had for breakfast. 
So, does chocolate work to help you stay healthy? It can if you pair it with a heart-healthy diet, exercise, and clean lifestyle. 

Happiness is Pretending You're a Fish

By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

As an author, columnist, phone psychic, fur mom--I know how important it is to find your balance. Eating superfoods is one key as is a cup of coffee in the A.M. and cups of herbal tea and water throughout the day.

But it's swimming laps (and chillin' in the hot tub) that works wonders.

As a kid, I was a competitive swimmer, thanks to my dad. These days, I thank him (he's in parent heaven) because swimming gives me time to relax, regroup, and revitalize my body from head to toe. And here are 10 more healing perks of swimming...

Coming back home to companion animals and chocolate is good--but pretending you're a fish is great.

P.S. I hope there are infinity swimming pools in heaven.

New Chocolate Fave Friend: Dark Chocolate Covered Ginger Snaps

Courtesy of Nuts.com 

By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

Today, at Lake Tahoe it's snowing (again). Plus, earthquakes continue to rattle nerves of me, and other people who live on the North America West Coast. It used to be eating popcorn before an oncoming shaker was a sign that the Earth was going to shake, rattle, and roll. But as a devout quake intuitive, I've moved over to chocolate. It soothes me. (Its compounds endorphins, serotonin, theobromine are good relaxers and mood boosters.) And, chocolate and ginger as a team work wonders for pre-quake queasies and high anxiety!

In my book The Healing Powers of Chocolate (Kensington), I included a chapter "Chocolate's Favorite Friends." And yes, ginger is one of them! I write, "Ginger root is a digestive aid like tasty cinnamon, that can be soothing medicine for the stomach and intestines, relieving indigestion, cramps, and nausea. Best Choco Blend: It is used in dark chocolate bars and combined with lemon, in truffles, and in baked chocolate goods."

Enter Dark Chocolate Covered Ginger Snaps. These cookies are so perfect. Not too hard, not too soft. They're not too sweet or too bitter. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears tale, I've found the perfect place -- but in dark chocolate ginger snap CookieLand. 

Each cookie is satisfying, boasts a bit of protein, no cholesterol, not high in sugar, and dark chocolate is the first ingredient listed on the nutrition label. No need to eat more than one (or two). Paired with a cup of java or chamomile tea it's bliss. These cookies are special. 
What's more, I'd be proud to offer them to guests who come to visit me in my cabin. The deal is, nobody wants to drive in the snow or on black ice. So, I guess it's just me and these chocolate gems to get me through Mother Nature's moves. And the shelf life is a half year, so I'll enjoy these cookies with both hot and iced coffee beverages (all types) discussed in my new book The Healing Powers of Coffee (due out this summer). Thank you nuts.com!

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 40g (~1.4 oz.)
(Approx. 11.4 Servings/Pound)

Amount Per Serving
Calories	200
Calories From Fat	90

%DV
Total Fat	11g	16%
Saturated Fat	9g	43%
Cholesterol	0mg	0%
Sodium	90mg	4%
Total Carbohydrate	27g	9%
Dietary Fiber	0g	0%
Sugars	20g
Protein	1g

Vitamin A	0%	Calcium	2%
Vitamin C	0%	Iron	0%

Ingredients

Dark chocolate(sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, (an emulsifier),vanilla), center (enriched flour (wheat flour niacin, reduced iron, thiamine, mononitrate(vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid), sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, molasses, ginger, sodium bicarbonate(leavening), caramel color, salt, soy lecithin (an emulsifier), cinnamon, cloves, nonfat dry milk, and red pepper)**Contains: Milk, Soy, and Wheat.

Storage in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. We do not recommend refrigeration or freezing.

Healthy Honey Feng Shui Tips for Spring Cleaning

By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

Welcome your sweet home to the art of honey-ized feng shui--the ancient Chinese art of placement. Its goal is to bring you peace and harmony. Read on--you can enjoy a well-balanced hive that feels good from head to toe, with a touch of honey.

*Use beeswax cleaners. It's time to clean your kitchen from top to bottom to be clean like a clean beehive. If you keep it eco-friendly it will provide you with better health and energy.
* Declutter your honeys. Getting rid of things you don't use will up your energy. You will feel lighter with less kitchen baggage. I cleaned out my pantry. Then I tackled each honey jar and wiped each one one by one.
* Clean the stovetop and oven. This was a chore, but it feels right to have the stovetop shine. Use vinegar and water. Trust me, this is a feel-good must-do before baking and cooking with honey.
* Boost your mood with plants. To help wipe out pollutants in your kitchen--like beekeepers do with their colonies--fill your space with healthy, hardy, happy plants.
* Fish, fish, fish. Goldfish can bring you good luck and prosperity. In fact, nine is the lucky number (and so is eight). The colors? Gold like amber honey. Also, this is a good strategy, for when you cook and bake honey dishes the odds are better that they will turn out better.
*Bring out the fresh fruit. Keep healthful seasonal fruits on display and ready to cut and pair with honeys.

More tips can be found in The Healing Powers of Honey chapter "Honeymania: Honey for the Household".

More Kudos for The Healing Powers of the Mediterranean Diet

By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

Introducing health expert Tom Corson-Knowles...He speaks out on the heart-healthy Mediterranean diet--a key theme in The Healing Powers series--including olive oil, a healthful, primary fat.

Why The Mediterranean Diet Reduces Heart Disease Risk

Ever since the 1990s when "The Mediterranean Diet" gained attention from researchers and widespread media, there's been a lot of buzz about it. Researchers started to notice that people who lived in Greece, Crete, Spain and Southern Italy and ate the typical local diet had much lower risk of heart disease. But why is it?

Many think it's the healthy olive oil used in so much of the Mediterranean foods. Others say it's the goat cheese and yogurt frequently eaten. Others say that the diet is high in monounsaturated fat and low in saturated fats - so that's why! Still others think it's the high intake of dietary fiber that really gives the Mediterranean diet it's heart-healthy powers.

But I have a different idea...

I think it's the simple fact that the Mediterranean diet does not include processed foods, junk food, or pre-packaged microwave dinners!

In America, I see people eat a so-called "Mediterranean diet" every day - lots of meat, dairy, yogurt, oil in their foods, and yet they tend to be overweight and have high risk for heart disease! Why is that?

Because in America our food system and food supply is so dramatically different than on the island of Crete. 

You see, when someone eats yogurt in Crete, it's fresh from that farm, unprocessed and often times even unpasteurized! In America, when someone eats yogurt it's often from a large corporation packaged in a small plastic container loaded with white sugar, food coloring, food dyes, artificial flavorings, and it's pasteurized! Not to mention the fact that our cows are fed corn, growth hormones and antibiotics on a daily basis.

So, is it the yogurt that makes the Mediterranean Diet so healthy? Or is it the simple fact that their food is unprocessed, natural and as fresh as possible?

What do you think?

This article written by Tom Corson-Knowles, founder of Authentic Health Coaching. Tom blogs regularly about natural diets, healthy weight loss and living a healthy lifestyle. You can grab Dr. Candace Corson's Top 5 Nutrition Tips Report for free at www.TomCorsonKnowles.com