super.

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how is your weekend so far? ours= really great. sam did his thing on the rifle range, i went to target. we ate my favorite burger here on one of my favorite date nights ever, where we also ran in to this pretty lady and her awesome husband. we watched this at our neighbors house. yikes. i kissed matilda about 12434353656564 times. that girl is talking up a storm. it's hilarious. the other day i was getting her dressed and she said, "ooh i like it mama, it's cute!"

we are making this tonight and are pretending to watch this. confession: neither sam nor i knew until this week that a. it was superbowl sunday and b. who was playing.

so, in honor of paul's class starting up again this week, i thought it would be fun to talk about some super foods that you need to be incorporating in to your diet. here's why:

1. garlic - sam and i say all the time that we could never be married to someone that doesn't like garlic. we put it in everything. this works out well for us. garlic is an anti-oxidant, a natural antibiotic, and has been used to fight everything from the plague to acne.
2. black pepper - stimulates digestion and wards off gas (chest bump). this spice actually helps break down the food it was seasoning. black pepper also has anti-bacterial and antioxidant properties. the outer layer of the peppercorn helps break down fat.
3. cinnamon - cinnamon is the mamajamma. i put it in our oatmeal, greek yogurt, smoothies. this super spice has powerful anti-inflammatory components. it also helps lower blood sugar and is used to treat diabetes.
4. himalayan salt or real salt - good salt is no joke. we use real salt (the only difference between himalayan and real salt is that real salt is found in utah), which you can find at whole foods. unlike table salt, which is stripped of all of its nutrients and full of chemicals, real salt has 60 naturally occurring minerals. it's great for you and 1t is a cup of water can be used as a gentle cleanse.
5. ginger - helps fight ovarian and colon cancer, helps with nausea, headaches, and heartburn. it's also very popular for relieving morning sickness, but let's be honest sometimes nothing helps with that. we love making carrot ginger soup and ginger chicken stir-fry.
6. tumeric - tumeric is all the rage, friends. this herb is crazy awesome at healing cuts and burns, preventing and treating cancer, speeding up your metabolism, and is a natural pain-killer. see the rest of what this must-have spice is capable of here.
7. coconut oil - saved the best for last. i've talked about the importance of cooking with coconut oil here, but did you know that it treats dandruff and lice (ew)? coconut oil also aids in slowing down the aging process (sign me up) when applied topically. the oil can be used in massages to aid in relaxation. when ingested it resembles mother's milk (aka breast milk), works to speed up metabolism, fights cellulite, prevents heart disease and cancer, as well as viral loads in HIV patients. coconut oil fights infection and diabetes. it's the bomb. it's much cheaper if you buy it at the farmer's market. just make sure it's organic. according to dr. jockers, the average 150 lb human should get 3.5 T of coconut oil daily.

so my challenge to you this week is to start adding as much of these super foods in to your diet as possible. just start with one you like and go from there! hope to see some of you at paul's class tomorrow (feb 7th) night at 7:30 at stonebridge church on the marietta square.