Ingredients:

Noodles & Veggies

• 2 tablespoons avocado oil
• 9 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless, trimmed of excess fat and cut into cubes
• 1 cup white onion, finely diced
• 1 ½ cups cooking liquid such as bone broth or water
• 1 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 bunch asparagus, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
• 4 large zucchini, spiralized into noodles or ribboned with a peeler
• chili pepper, thinly sliced (optional - I used a fresno chili)
• 6 ounces buckwheat soba noodles

Pesto

• 3 ounces basil leaves
• 5 garlic cloves
• ¼ cup nuts, such as almonds or walnuts
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ¼ cup olive oil

Optional Garnish

• Sprinkle of sliced raw almonds

Directions:

We know about our bad habits. Sometimes these habits can be firmly established and will take time to unlearn. However, our values and good habits are also deeply rooted in us and nurturing them or building new good ones can certainly help us live happier. At Healthline, they came up with a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly list of positive habits to choose from and start working on. This week we’ll focus on the daily list. Choose one or two habits that you feel you can improve daily and see how this week goes for you. Ready? Set. Go.

1. Smile

You tend to smile when you’re happy. But it’s actually a two-way street. We smile because we’re happy, and smiling causes the brain to release dopamine, which makes us happier. While not completely foolproof, researchers have found that the link between smiling and happiness could be attributed to the “facial feedback hypothesis,” where facial expressions may have a modest influence on emotions.

That does...

Ingredients:

• 1 cup diced cucumber peeled
• 2 diced tomato
• 1/2 cup mango
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients, except for the olive oil, into the blending container and secure the lid.
2. Blend on high for 2 minutes.
3. Add the olive oil while your ingredients are blending for another 20 seconds. Enjoy and serve!

This recipe is by Chef Jenny Ross. For more of her recipes click here.

We all know that exercise has many benefits. However, there is one benefit that is truly fascinating and that is how exercise profoundly impacts our brain and nervous system. Neuroscience news has recently featured an article about this and we’re eager to share it with you! Here are our takeaways from the article:

1. Exercise helps create new neurons.
Exercise stimulates neurogenesis which basically means the creation of new neurons in the brain. This happens primarily in the hippocampus. It influences memory and learning while increasing key mood-regulating neurotransmitters. It also enhances brain plasticity, essential for recovery from injury and aging, and improves cognitive functions such as attention and memory.

2. Exercise improves memory and brain function.
Regular aerobic exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus and preserve vital brain matter, therefore improving spatial memory and cognitive function. But wait, what does spatial memory mean? Spatial memory...

Ingredients:

• 1 package Miyokos cultured vegan butter
• 6 figs sliced
• 1 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1 cup basil
• 4 cloves garlic

Directions:

1. Soften butter by leaving to sit out for 1 hour before use.
2. Press out butter over wooden cutting board or plate evenly.
3. In the Personal Blender, pulse the basil and the garlic. Add this mix throughout the board. 
4. Layer on pomegranate seeds and figs. 
5. Enjoy with a fresh gluten-free bread like Carbonaut, grain-free crackers, or your favorite dippable square.

This recipe is by Chef Jenny Ross. Check out her blog here.

These days, no matter what stage of life you’re at or what season you’re in, it’s crucial to always have hope. According to Psychology Today, hope is much more than wishful thinking. It’s a powerful tool in the life toolbox that’s built on strategies for strengthening well-being, resilience, and accomplishment. Hope can empower you to create and sustain a more positive future in many areas of your life—at work, at school, and at home. It can strengthen your emotional health and happiness, augment your stress reduction skills, and amplify your ability to achieve goals. Furthermore, clinical neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf said, “Hope leads to expectation, which creates peace, excitement, and health in our minds, thus increasing brain and body health.”

So how do we harness the power of hope in our lives? An organization called Hopeful Minds came up with the acronym SHINE as five keys to create hope.

S - Stress Skills
You can...

Ingredients

• 1 cauliflower head large (about 4 cups medium to large diced)
• 1 tablespoon macadamia nut oil
• 3 ribs celery (about 1 1/2 cups small diced)
• 1/2 red onion (about 1/2 cup small diced)
• 1 cup cilantro chopped
• 1/2 cup vegenaise or mayonnaise organic sugarless
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard organic (yellow or grain mustards are great too)
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• salt (optional) - to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F (convection roast is great).
2. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with parchment paper. Toss the cauliflower pieces with macadamia nut oil and spread out on the sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes or until browned and roasted, but not dark. Once roasted, remove from the oven to cool completely.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the diced celery, red onion, chopped cilantro, mayonnaise or vegenaise, mustard, paprika, salt...

Spring is here and nature beckons to us to enjoy it. It’s not coincidental that we celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd. We are made from earth and to earth our bodies will return. We were meant to be in touch with nature. In fact Dr. Will Cole, a functional medicine expert and one of our faculty at RISE, tells us that by making a conscious effort to reconnect with the earth we can experience the wide range of health benefits that go hand in hand with spending time in nature. Dr. Cole shares with us 8 ways to do this:

1. Try forest bathing
Known as shinrin-yoku in Japan, forest bathing and spending time in nature has been shown to help lower stress hormones like cortisol, calm inflammation levels, and improve a variety of other biomarkers involved in overall health. Since most of us can’t spend hours hiking every day, I recommend carving out 10-15 minutes of uninterrupted time outside. For me, I take a walk during lunch without my phone or any other distractions. Even...

“I’m too old to exercise!”

“I’ll hurt myself.”

“I don’t move like I used to.”

These are some common excuses that older individuals say about exercise. Are these statements true though to the point that a person, as they get older, can no longer become more active? Is it really too late to start?

Dr. Beth Templin holds a Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy and is a board-certified specialist in geriatric physical therapy. Here’s what she has to say:

“Myth 1: I’m too old to start exercising.
This is completely false. Age does not play a role in your ability to exercise. Research on healthy aging shows that exercise for aging adults is not only safe but beneficial. People can safely begin to exercise in their 70s, 80s, and beyond. It’s never too late to get started, and it does not matter if you’ve never exercised before.

No matter what your current age or fitness level, your body benefits from...

Do you ever feel like sometimes your life seems out of balance? Do you feel that work sometimes gets in the way of life? According to Psychology Today, “Work-life balance” describes the equilibrium between the demands of “work,” and the activities that make up the rest of our lives. “Work” may represent working for income, but also includes caring for loved ones, and performing other essential activities. We each need quality personal time outside of work. Yet it's not always easy to reconcile your personal life with things you must do. Before we can balance work with life, we need to establish the starting point. Ask yourself: How much of my energy goes to me and my family/friends, compared with time spent working?

“It is not work but rather the pursuit of things outside of work that are often the most rewarding. From travel to family time, personal time, socializing, volunteering, and other recreation, these activities are enriching....