How are you, friend? We hope your Christmas is wonderful and blessed. We thought it would be good to sit back and maybe enjoy a Christmas story to remind us why we celebrate and the significance of it. This story is called The Parable of the Birds by Louis Cassels. We hope this narrative will rekindle your faith, renew your hope and create the right mindset for the coming new year. Let's read...

Once upon a time there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a Scrooge. He was a kind and decent person, generous to his family, upright in all his dealings with other men. But he didn’t believe all that stuff about Incarnation which churches proclaim at Christmas. And he was too honest to pretend that he did. “I am truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, who was a faithful churchgoer. “But I simply cannot understand this claim that God becomes man. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

On Christmas Eve...

Ingredients

• 6 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate
• 2 large eggs
• 10 drops vanilla cream or plain liquid stevia extract
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces) coconut milk

Instructions

1. Chop chocolate into small pieces. Using a long serrated bread knife or a heavy chef’s knife makes it easy. Place chopped chocolate into the bowl of a food processor. Process until very fine. Add the eggs, stevia, vanilla, and salt. Process for a few more seconds.
2. In a small pan over medium heat, bring the coconut milk to a boil. When it boils, remove from the heat.
3. Start the food processor, and slowly pour the hot milk through the feed tube. Process pudding until smooth.
4. Pour the hot liquid chocolate equally into six 2-ounce ramekins, dishes, or cups. Refrigerate until chilled and set, about 2 hours.

This recipe and more can be found in The Daniel Plan Cookbook.

All that hustling and bustling can sometimes turn us into a grinch. In fact holidays can be triggering for some and cause old emotional wounds to come up. According to Dr. Amen, some individuals who have anxiety or depression may find that their symptoms increase when the holiday season approaches. People who struggle with eating disorders or addiction also experience difficulties when the focus is on holiday meals and/or cocktails. Dr. Amen tells us that despite triggers, with a little planning, we can overcome holiday hazards and make the season more peaceful.

1. ’Tis the Season to be Stressed
Buying gifts, hosting lavish feasts, decorating—there’s a lot that goes into making the holiday season perfect. All of this added stress can take a toll on brain health and lead to increased vulnerability to mental health symptoms.

Holiday Helper: Stay grounded with a few minutes of daily meditation or prayer and don’t take on more projects than you can handle.

2. No...

We have a few days to go before Christmas and the hustle and bustle can certainly be stressful. However, there are ways to make your holidays more mindful and heartfelt. Here are some Intelligent tips you can start with.

Plan ahead and be more intentional
Planning ahead is the first step for staying more mindful, intentional, and focused on what is truly important. It gives you the time and energy to think of different ways you can make gifting and the overall festive experience more meaningful and joyful.

Take a notebook or use your Productivity Planner and make a list of everything you need to do, from planning holiday activities and meal preparation, to gift shopping. Then, explore your why behind giving the gifts and think of what is significant to the recipient. Reflect on these questions:

• How do you understand and measure the value of a gift?
• How can your appreciation and love be transformed into holiday gifts?
• How do you want to share your positive energy...

Ingredients:

Risotto:
• 4 cups steamed Arborio rice
• 1 tsp. sea salt

Puree:
• 2 1⁄2 cups diced butternut squash
• 1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. raw honey (optional)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp. stemmed fresh rosemary
• 1 Roma tomato
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• 1⁄2 cup water

Directions

1. In a medium-size bowl, combine rice and sea salt and toss well.
2. Let sit until the rest of the recipe is prepared.
3. In a high-powered blender, combine all puree ingredients and puree to a smooth
consistency. Butternut squash is very dense, so it’s important to really work with this
mixture until it’s rich and creamy.
4. Pour over the rice and toss well.
5. Transfer to a deep baking dish and bake at 250 for 20 minutes.
6. Enjoy garnished with fresh tomato or avocado.

Here’s Part 2 of Dr. Will Cole’s tips for staying healthy during the holidays. Missed Part 1? You can read it here.

Be sweet on grain-free desserts.
If you are hosting, or just bringing a dish to a party, you can make a delicious dessert using gluten-free and grain-free flours like coconut, almond, hazelnut, and tapioca. These allergy-friendly desserts don’t exclude anyone, and since grains aren’t always the best option when it comes to healthy eating, you can feel better about having a little something sweet. There are many recipes online for delectable grain-free desserts, so browse a bit and have fun! 

It doesn’t have to be all about the food.
What if the food doesn’t really matter? What if, instead of worrying about eating, you focus instead on relaxing and enjoying the good time with your family and friends? Remember stress isn’t good for your health, either, and healthy eating needn’t be a source of anxiety. Make a conscious...

It’s Thanksgiving week which means the holidays have started! It also means there will be tons of opportunities to partake in feasts and celebrations. Unfortunately because it’s the holidays, people tend to forget all their good eating habits because celebration also means food. But worry not because Dr. Will Cole has some tips for you to stay healthy during the holidays. Here’s the first part of this series!

Spoil your appetite
If you’re going to a holiday party where you don’t exactly know what the hosts will be serving, or you know it won’t be on your list of good food choices, have a healthy snack before you go. Taking the edge off hunger will help you to make more rational, healthier choices at the holiday party. Then, if you decide to eat that cookie, you’ll choose to do so rationally instead of compulsively, and move on without polishing off the rest of the plate.

Keep your hands out of the snack bowl
Bowls of pretzels, peanuts, and...