#going fishing for our NYE dish c:

[viaetor]

THANK YOU FOR 2023 AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

as this year comes to a close, i wanted to thank everyone that has been a part of my days. thank you for the conversations, for the plots, for the simple interactions, for your patience, for your caring, for your loving, for the ear pulls, for the fights, for the comfort. thank you for being you and for allowing me to meet you, partially or wholly. thank you! for the good memories, for the bad ones that turned into lessons, for the dreams, for just being around. thank you for everything! i will carry it all out with me, heartfully.

i hope that 2024 brings you kindness, happiness, laughter, cheer and good tears and so many accomplishments. i hope that next year you can face the difficult times with strength and love, with your chin up. i hope i can be there to see you being reborn into thousand other versions of you and that we can meet in the intersections of our roads. may we grow wiser, kinder, happier, more patient, welcoming and understanding. may we celebrate each other! may we write and fall in love with each other! may we find art in one another! may we meet!

thank you and we will see each other soon! i can't wait to meet more of you and mesh your art with mine. ♡

[whatstheherb]

Two birds, one stone. Or better yet, one dish.

Adrenal Fatigue & Acne. Yep, they’ve both got 3 things in common. Hormonal imbalance, stress & inflammation. All sounds pretty common, right?

So, Adrenal Fatigue. What is it and why do so many of us (especially in the service industry in NYC) have it without knowing what it is?

Adrenal fatigue is a term used to describe a list of nonspecific symptoms, such as body aches, fatigue, nervousness, sleep disturbances and digestive problems. The term shows up in popular health books and on alternative medicine websites, but isn't an accepted medical diagnosis (surprise, surprise).

Your adrenal glands produce a myriad of hormones that are essential to life. The medical term adrenal insufficiency (Addison's disease) refers to inadequate production of one or more of these hormones as a result of an underlying disease.

Signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency may include:

Fatigue

Body aches

Unexplained weight loss

Low blood pressure

Lightheadedness

Loss of body hair

Skin discoloration (hyperpigmentation)

Adrenal insufficiency can be diagnosed by blood tests and special stimulation tests that show inadequate levels of adrenal hormones. Unnecessary supplementation can be harmful, so it’s imperative to see a physician and have them run proper tests to determine your adrenal status. 

Alright, now that we’ve got all that the FDA wants us to say out of the way.... let’s talk about how simple foods like Brazilian nuts & Black rice can provide our diets with the necessary minerals & vitamins to reduce inflammation & hormonal imbalance within our bodies, which lead to more severe & chronic issues.  Think, thyroid gland - produces a vast range of important hormones in which your whole body benefits by maintaining its healthy function. Ever notice the increase in how many people, especially women, are experiencing thyroid dysfunction in recent times? Even medical diagnosis & treatment have almost been at a loss for many of the dysfunctions arising with the thyroid gland in the last 5-10 years. This tells us what?

Searching for the silver bullet to the symptoms of a long-standing problem, won’t make your ACTUAL problem sit down. Or better yet, leave.

Integrative/Complimentary/Alternative medicine have all been looked down upon by the medical community, when it should be embraced & INTEGRATED (Tell Bill Nye I said “what’s good?”). What we make a habit of putting into our bodies surely comes to the surface when our body is coming undone or losing alignment. It’s hard to pinpoint what works and what doesn’t when it comes to diet, unless you put in time & consistency. I will admit that 2 Brazilian nuts & a cup of OJ first thing in the morn’ definitely gives me an immediate immune system boost that I feel almost instantaneously, but that can’t be the end all be all of course. This has to be consistent. & Homeopathically would be best (micro-dosing). 

Raw Brazilian nuts are exceptionally good for your health. In many ways, their benefits are due to their high content of the mineral selenium. Selenium is essential to a variety of very important processes within the human body. We must consume small amounts of it on a daily basis in order to stay in good health. Raw Brazilian nuts make for one of the most delicious ways to get your daily fix of this nutrient. They’re also almost the only way for vegans to get this element as other food sources of selenium are fish, shrimp, beef, and turkey. Fortunately, unlike with animal sources, the mineral from the nuts doesn’t break down during cooking (which is awesome since I roasted these babies before tossing ‘em in the salad). 

Food To Live’s statement on the importance of selenium in Brazilian nuts: “Note that some whole grains also contain selenium. However, they lose over 60% of its originally meager content during the processing. Brazil nuts are, without a doubt, the best plant-based source of the element. In order to stay healthy, an adult should consume 55 mcg selenium per day. Considering the level of it in these extraordinary nuts, eating two pieces a day would get you the necessary boost. Selenium is so important for the general wellbeing because it’s an extremely potent antioxidant. In fact, this particular element is necessary to ensure the function of enzymes directly responsible for removing toxins from the body. It’s very wise to combine your Brazil nuts raw snack with foods rich in vitamin C, because these same enzymes are responsible for the recycling of this element. Therefore, selenium enhances the antioxidant effect of vitamin C. The other vitally important function of the mineral that makes eating Brazil nuts regularly a smart idea is its effect on the thyroid gland. Another enzyme that contains selenium is affecting the transformation of a thyroid hormone T4 into T3, which is more active. The hormonal balance within a human body is extremely delicate, and once it gets out of alignment, the negative effects can spread to every system. Therefore, you should always do your best to maintain this precarious balance. Leading a healthy lifestyle and eating a well-balanced diet are the best ways to go about it. Studies indicate that eating 2-4 Brazil nuts a day is perfectly safe, as this ‘dose’ doesn’t carry the risk of selenium overload. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the maximum safe level of daily selenium intake is 400 mcg.”

As an acne treatment, selenium needs to work synergistically with Vitamin E & Zinc. Selenium helps treat acne through protecting other antioxidants, increasing the body’s overall antioxidant levels which are proven to decrease inflammation that contributes to acne. Considering the powerful capability of selenium to increase antioxidant effects, it makes sense that this recipe including Brazilian nuts also included Black rice (packed with Vitamin E & anthocyanin). While whole grain red rice and brown rice also contain beneficial antioxidants, only black rice contains anthocyanin (a blue, purple or red flavonoid that helps to repair damaged cells and promote the growth of new and healthy cells while giving protection against free radicals). I use both black and white rice for the rice water in Aliensauce’s Alien Dew Toner, for all of these reasons. Anthocyanins and other polyphenols help the human immune system to work more efficiently against all type of infections & modulate inflammation - decreasing primary and secondary tissue damage. Primary being the damage generated by the immune response itself, and secondary being the damage caused by the original injury.

Now finally, the recipe which I acquired & tweaked a bit from the same company from which I purchased 2 lbs of raw Brazilian nuts, Food To Live. Along with the sesame oil used in the dressing, the black rice & Brazilian nuts were stars of this dish as all of the ingredients synergistically worked to provide the minerals & vitamins necessary for healthy hormonal balance & nutrient supplementation -- leading to radiant skin, a strengthened immune system & overall energy boost. Adrenal fatigue & acne, who?

Brazilian Nut & Black Rice Salad:

1 cup black rice (cook according to package instructions)

10 mushrooms of your choosing (sliced)

3 tablespoons of fresh coriander roots (sliced)

½ brown onion (diced)

1 handful fresh baby spinach

1 handful fresh basil leaves

1 handful coriander leaves (chopped)

1-2 handfuls Brazil nuts (roasted)

1 fresh jalapeno (sliced with the seeds removed)

Dressing Ingredients:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon agave

½ tablespoon lime juice

¼ teaspoon ginger (minced)

1 clove garlic (minced)

½ jalapeno (minced, seeds removed)

Sesame oil (as much as necessary)

Instructions:

Cook the rice. To do this you need to rinse it thoroughly, bring to a boil, and cook for about 30-40 minutes. The length of cooking depends on the type of rice you use. You should consider rinsing the rice after it’s cooked to remove any leftover starches.

Cook the onion in a pan, then add the mushrooms and cook until they soften. Use the kind of oil you prefer. When cooked, set the mushrooms and onions on a paper towel so that the extra oil drains off them.

Mix the dressing ingredients in a blender or just whisk them together in a bowl.

Mix all the ingredients together into a delicious salad. You can serve it topped with noodles, either cold or warm.

The Mahi Mahi, I simply seasoned with salt/pepper/cayenne, dusted with paprika/flour & pan-seared in grape seed oil & savory/thyme butter (also all full of antioxidant properties).

Because, healthy and delicious belong together. Don’t they? Of course they do, now let’s hit all the birds.

<3, Sasha Anniyah