These past two weeks have been chaotic, to say the least. And even that would probably be an understatement. Between traveling, preparing for the holidays, working on new projects, figuring out plans for the new year – it’s been pretty hectic. Oh and then yesterday, I decided it would be a great idea to de-clutter and purge.

So here I am trying to detox a few of the materialistic things, while managing the outlining stress of all the other factors I have going on in my life. I know the last thing my body needs is an extra increase in sugar intake, and my adrenals especially do not need to be slammed by caffeine.

So yesterday I decided to give my body some self-love. Along with trying to live a bit more minimally, I want to make sure my body is healthy going into this crazy holiday season. Which also happens is the season for sickness, too. Yesterday, after many hours of purging I went to a nearly two-hour detox yoga class. It was SO amazing. Everything I needed in a class and truthfully, leading up to it, I thought “I don’t really need to detox from anything, I’m doing pretty good.” WRONG!

I  was completely wrong about what my body needed. In fact, I needed the emotional release of pushing my body through movements, to sweat, to deeply stretch in order to help set me back to a  state of balance and clarity.

So today, along with work I am taking it easy on myself. Being gentle with my body and recognizing that I just did a lot of HARD work. Between physical movement and emotional fatigue, I need to give my immune system some support as it deals with all the baggage I am throwing at it. Oh, and the change in season.

As I type, I am sitting and sipping on this turmeric tea.

Ginger happens to be one of my favorite spices to cook with. It adds such complexity of flavor and spice to different meals by adding only a tiny bit of it. A little really goes a long way in the case of ginger although I prefer to use A LOT just because I love it. I am glad too, that I enjoy it so much because the immune boosting power of ginger is one of the greatest. It not only helps to balance out the immune system functions but works as an anti-inflammatory to help calm down the systemic inflammation response in the body, for people like me, whose immune systems think it’s a great idea to attack itself!

Being a part of the ginger family, turmeric is a well-known superfood that has antioxidant properties that help to boost the immune system to support your body and keep your antibodies healthy. Turmeric has been used in Chinese and Indian medicine for generations to help bodily ailments like arthritis, irritable bowl syndrome, and as a powerful anti-inflammatory it helps to reduce overall inflammation in the body. Along with these benefits you can see here an in-depth nutritional profile of turmeric that indicates high levels of magnesium and potassium.

The gentle spice from the ginger rejuvenates and awakens the body while the green tea and turmeric warm you up, making this drink super cozy. Your body will thank you!

 

IMMUNE BOOSTING TURMERIC TEA

Ingredients

1 cup hot water and one green tea bag (let steep for 2-3 minutes)

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon coconut milk (make sure it’s free of additives)

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

½  teaspoon fresh grated ginger

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Sprinkling of  ground clove

 

Process

1. Stir together coconut oil and turmeric until it creates a paste.

2. Pour hot green tea into a blender, add half of turmeric paste along with cinnamon, fresh ginger, clove and coconut milk.  Blend on high until mixture becomes frothy.

3.Pour in serving cup sprinkle more cinnamon//clove//ginger or favorite spices, relax and enjoy.

 

Tip: Save the other half of your turmeric paste for another morning and you’re already one step ahead. You can easily make a large batch of the paste as well.

ENJOY

xo,

Kari