Quick and Healthy Breakfast Idea: Mung Bean Crepes

Posted on: February 13th, 2023 by TouchStone Health

By Swapna Viswanathan, Holistic Nutritionist

Breakfast is the first meal of the day, and you might want to make it as healthy as possible. Sometimes in the quest for making it very healthy you might observe skipping the breakfast that day and grabbing something to eat on the go. One of the quickest and healthiest breakfast recipes with fat and protein that I give my clients is Moong Dal Chilla (aka green mung beans crepes). Moong dal chilla is a traditional breakfast option coming from India. One of my childhood favourites as well!
Ingredients:
 Split Green mung beans 1 cup
 Water to soak the mung beans.
 Himalayan pink salt/rock salt
 Cumin seeds or grounded cumin 1 teaspoon
 Ginger 1 inch or as per your taste – it is spicy!
 Carrots grated ½ cup (or any vegetable of your choice)
 Cilantro 2 teaspoon chopped.
Direction to cook:
 Soak the mung beans overnight or for 5-6 hours.
 Blend the soaked mung beans with ginger, salt, cumin seeds/grounded cumin with little or few spoons of water to make the batter in the consistency for making a crepe.
 Add chopped cilantro and grated vegetables and mix the batter.
 Heat a pan and apply avocado oil or any healthy oil.
 Once the pan is heated, pour the batter with a deep spoon/ladle, and spread the batter to make the chilla/crepe.
 Once it is cooked on one side, flip the crepe/chilla to cook it from the other side as well.
 You can have it as it is or with a dip or with a green chutney!

You can keep the chilla batter in the fridge up until 3 days and use it with different vegetables.

Swapna Viswanathan is a Holistic Nutritionist at TouchStone Health. She loves helping clients with reversing pre-diabetes / diabetes, creating meal plans, fertility nutrition, postpartum nutrition, and general nutrition needs.

Are You Always Feeling Cold?

Posted on: February 9th, 2023 by Anna Totzke

by Anna Totzke, Registered Acupuncturist

Do you often feel cold, and not only in the winter months? Do you like bundling up with a blanket, a hot drink, and slippers?

Coldness can show in the body in many different ways such as actually feeling cold, especially the low back, feet, and hands; lack of motivation or tiredness especially when feeling chilled; copious urination; or feeling of tight contracted muscles (to name a few). From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, coldness can occur in our bodies due to:

Lack of physical activity, eating too many cooling foods, overexposure to cold environments, lack of warming foods in the diet, or a constitutional weakness.

To help warm the body, here are some lifestyle and diet changes that can be very helpful including:

EAT WARMING FOODS – Some foods have warming properties and by adding these foods into your diet, can help warm your body:

Aduki Beans, Lentils

Ginger, Cloves, Cinnamon, Basil, Rosemary, Fennel, Dill, Anise, Cumin,

Oats, Spelt, Quinoa, Sunflower Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Walnuts, Sweet Brown Rice

Parsnips, Parsley, Mustard Greens, Winter Squash, Cabbage, Kale, Onions, Leeks, Chives, Garlic

Cherries, Citrus Peel, Dates

USE MODERATELY—-> animal products: mussels, trout, beef, and lamb, butter

AVOID/LIMIT—> sweeteners, eating cold to the touch food (directly out of the fridge or freezer) raw foods, cow dairy

USE WARMING FOOD PREPARATION METHODS:

Baking, stir fry, saute, soups, stews, cook longer with lower heat

BECOME MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE:

Getting some physical activity each day will help warm the body.

SOAK YOUR FEET IN HOT WATER (instead of Long Hot Baths)

BUNDLE UP TO ESPECIALLY KEEP YOUR FEET, LOWER BACK, and LOWER ABDOMEN WARM

Check in with your body once in a while and see how it is feeling. Often people that have been cold their whole lives are used to being cold. Make adjustments to your wardrobe like wearing wooly high socks, cover your neck, tuck in your shirt.

From an Acupuncture perspective, moxibustion (heat therapy using a herb called mugwort) treatments are a wonderful way to deeply warm the body.

This article is for educational purposes only. Please consult your doctor or practitioner for any medical advice.

Why Should I See an Acupuncturist?

Posted on: January 18th, 2023 by Anna Totzke

I found this great video clip summarizing how Acupuncture can help not only pain, but other conditions as well.

Book an Appointment

What is Your Word of the Year?

Posted on: January 10th, 2023 by Anna Totzke

By Anna Totzke, Registered Acupuncturist

Happy New Year to you all!!

Over the last couple of years I’ve started a new tradition of choosing a new word for the upcoming year. After reflecting on the year that passed, I find that there is a word that naturally reveals itself as a theme for the year to come.

Last year I chose the word AUTHENTICITY. Throughout the year I would check in and ask, “Am I being authentic?” If I wasn’t, why? I found the exercise to be quite fruitful and also brought attention to the areas in my life that could use some growth.

This year’s word is quite different than last year’s. For 2023 I have chosen FELLOWSHIP as my word of the year. Choosing this word may be a reflection of the times we are in and knowing the importance of having a strong community around us and one that you can contribute to and cherish.

So, do you want to join in? WHAT IS YOUR WORD OF THE YEAR?

WORKSHOP: TRIMESTER 0 JOURNEY! NUTRITION FOR FERTILITY – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20

Posted on: November 2nd, 2022 by Anna Totzke

with SWAPNA VISWANATHAN, R.H.N.

10 A.M. TO 12noon

Nutrition and mindfulness guidance for those who are trying to conceive.

An IN-PERSON workshop at TouchStone Health in Waterloo.
Fees: $60
Workshop includes:
Fertility Nutrition education
Breathwork
Meditation
3 days fertility meal plan sample
Resources for mindfulness and nutrition
Tea and fruits
Participant limitation: 8-10 BOOK YOUR SPOT