Inside HBC

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Christmas Cookies

Cookies, cookies, cookies!  They are everywhere this time of year.  Get it together, WLCers, you know you can’t eat just any old cookie.  Here’s a recipe for a batch that you’ll love, and they won’t kill your weight loss plan.  In moderation, of course.

• 1 package of cream cheese, room temperature (sour, sweet)
• 2 sticks of butter (1 cup), room temperature (sweet)
• 2 TBS stevia powder (sweet)
• 2 large eggs (sweet)
• 2 cups of GWF Baking Mix (sweet, salty)
• 1 package of as-dark-as-you-can-get-em chocolate chips (bitter, sweet)
• 2 tsp grated orange zest (bitter

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  With an electric mixer, beat together butter, cheese, & stevia powder until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time and beat on high until well mixed.  Add chips and orange rind and stir until just mixed.
2. Drop teaspoons of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown and firm to touch.
3. Transfer to a cooling rack.  Can be stored for 1 week in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Really, the hardest part of the holiday office parties are the baked goods: the cakes, cookies, candies that remind us of Grandma’s house.  If you bring a few of these with you, eat the privately if you want to, you will be able to resist the rest!

You can get GWF Baking Mix at the Heavenly Bodies Clinic or by ordering online.

First Friday Women Only Sauna Night

UPDATE: No reflexology this month (December)!  Come anyway! 

Black Friday got you feeling a little stressed?  Holidays are coming, and they aren’t going to wait for you to be ready.  Guess what?  Taking a little time for you could be just the thing to slow down the pace.  Come try the HBC Sauna next Friday, December 4th.  On the First Friday of every month, the Heavenly Bodies Clinic Healing Team hosts a free* Women Only Sauna Night.  That’s right, just us girls.  We talk, laugh, tell stories, eat delicious food (like Power Pesto and GWF cakes!) and just learn to RELAX at the end of the work week.

No reservations necessary, unless you want a reflexology appointment with Marlene.  Just hit “Comment” on this entry or call us at 703.528.8272 if you are interested and we’ll make sure to save you a spot.*  The holidays were never so relaxed until now.

The Sauna Center is located at 5801 22nd St North, Arlington (1.5 miles west of the main clinic). Call us if you would like directions 703-528-8272.

*$30 for 30 minute reflexology appointment

WLC – Yikes it’s Turkey Day!

OK, folks–BIG day if you are watching what you are eating… here’s my plan:

Stick to 5-Flavor Eating!

That’s it.  Really… if you focus on the 5 Flavors: sweet, sour, salty, pungent and bitter, you will feel satified sooner and you won’t overeat.  Well, on Thanksgiving day, you might overeat a bit, but this plan really will help.  Oh, and if there’s sugar in it?  Fuhgedabowdit.

If you are cooking, make sure your dishes are in compliance with YOUR food plan.  Recipes from the HBC Recipe Book are all good, of course.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

What’s the tapping thing?

You might already be schooled in EFT, but in case not, here’s a website that explains it and even has several weight loss examples.  Take a look, and then any of your HBC healing team members can give you some more information if you are interested!  Let us know by commenting!

Almond Flour Pie Crust

Pie is an essential dessert during the holidays here in America.  This is a very good substitute for the flaky pie crust my Grandmother taught me to make.  When I learned wheat flour was the culprit in my extreme discomfort, I thought I’d never have pie again (and feel good about it afterward, anyway).  This does the trick.

• 1 cup almond flour (sweet)
• 1/2 cup arrowroot starch
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (salty)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon–optional (pungent, bitter)
• 3 TBS vegetable oil
• 3 TBS ice water

1. Blend the dry ingredients together.
2. Add oil and water, all at once and stir.  The mixture should stick together to form a ball.  If it is crumbly, add more water, a little at a time until it forms a ball.
3. Lightly oil a 9″ pie pan (glass seems to work best), and press the dough evenly to cover the bottom and sides.  The dough may tear easily, but its also very easy to mend.
4. Bake in a preheated, 400 degree oven for 3 minutes.
5. Fill and bake according to recipe.
6. If filling does not require further baking, then bake crust alone for 15 minutes for a crisp, delicious crust.

You can also order the dry ingredients pre-mixed from the Heavenly Bodies Clinic.  Please visit our main sight (click at right) and send us a note, call, or come visit!

Tap, tap, tap

Those little words are often on my “to do” list each day to remind me to “use my tools’ for whatever might be bothering me.  Recently my neck had been very painful, like the nerves and muscles all got together and decided to transform themselves into pretzels.  I guess they were bored with normal neck duty.  Of course, I went straight to the clinic and pleaded with Dr. Ana to jab some needles into them to make them behave.  She didn’t jab, but she very gently helped them rearrange themselves with needles and cupping and my favorite, guasha.  The next week, I was back with the same issue in the same spot.  We did the treatment again, and again, it subsided.  The third time, I wasn’t able to get to the clinic as soon as I needed, but I remembered to tap.  I tapped through the whole routine once in the morning, then throughout the day I tapped here and there as I thought of it (mostly whenever I moved).  Sure enough, it resolved and I haven’t had any more pain.  Its been two weeks.  TODAY I am tapping on weight loss and metabolism!  Can’t wait to see what happens with that.

Throw the candy away!

I know you have some.  And I know you want to eat it, but don’t!  You have a goal to lose weight, and SUGAR is not on the menu.  Don’t give the poison to someone else, either.  Just trash it.  Out the door, into the dumpster.  You will be glad next week when you weigh in, I promise.

Chinese Five Spice

Although the exact origins of five-spice powder are unknown, one theory is that the Chinese were attempting to produce a “wonder powder” encompassing all of the five elements. All of the five flavors – sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, and salty – are found in five-spice powder.  It’s possible, too, that a cook accidentally stumbled upon this particular combination of spices, and realized its power to enliven the blandest dish.

You can find Chinese Five Spice already mixed in you local grocery store spice rack, or you can make your own:

1. In a dry skillet, roast 2 teaspoons of Szechuan peppercorns by shaking the pan over low to medium heat until the aroma of the peppercorns is released (about three minutes).
2. Grind the roasted peppercorns and 8 star anise in a blender or pepper mill.
3. Strain the blended seasonings.
4. Grind the seasonings until very fine.
5. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon ground fennel seeds.

Store in an airtight container.