From Guilt to Good For You!

Gone are the days of sneaking off to huge bowls of ice cream...gone are sneaking off in the middle of the night to huge bowls of ice cream...gone are the huge bowls of ice cream!

We've heard of more than one heir to ice cream dynasties giving it all up because of health and humanitarian reasons, but we've got to have ice cream!

In comes a product that lives up to it's name: Coconut Bliss. And, yes, it is! Bliss, that is! This ice cream has taken us past a guilty pleasure and debatable health concerns to extreme taste satisfaction and total health benefit!

The two flavors I've tried are chocolate and vanilla. I must say I prefer the chocolate over the vanilla - although that is just a flavor preference. The vanilla is still so vividly rich that it is hard to say I like the chocolate better. And with only four (that's really 4!) ingredients, all of which are good for you, what better way to eat breakfast? Or lunch, or dinner or midnight snack!

Here is the ingredients list: coconut milk, guar gum, agave syrup, vanilla extract and vanilla beans. The chocolate differs only by adding chocolate. Both are organic. And both are available at Cali's Natural Foods!

And a good way to tell if the food you are eating is nutritious: if you can eat a smaller portion of it and feel satisfied. If you were eating huge bowls of regular ice cream and now you can eat a normal portion of this Coconut Bliss Ice Cream, then you are getting more nutrition out of your dollar, and getting the premium stuff!

Goodbye guilt!

Coconut Milk Kefir

Soft, mellow, unassuming. Those are the words that come to mind as I eat coconut milk kefir.

Kefir is one of those superfoods - loaded with tons of nutrition. It has beneficial bacteria to promote healthy digestion and as a wonderful bonus that most people would welcome, if they knew, is that kefir also has beneficial yeasts which take control and rid the body of destructive pathogenic yeasts. (Raise your hand if you have candida!)

Kefir is very similar to yogurt in texture and consistency. Coconut milk kefir is the mild-mannered cousin in the pro-biotic family.

And for those people who don't do dairy, coconut milk kefir is a very welcome addition to the diet. The live cultures in kefir differ from yogurt in that yogurt's cultures are transient in their ability and kefir's are more permanent.

And since we all want to end the problems of the 'A List' (asthma, allergies, autism, auto-immune diseases) kefir fits wonderfully into the mix. The more you can do for those little symbiotes in your body, the better you feel! And the variety helps you from getting tired of any one thing.

I, for one, am glad that I have access to coconut milk kefir at Cali's Natural Foods. Very few places would take the time or the effort to provide me with the alternatives I need since I don't do dairy. Finally, a place where there are options to the standard American diet. Please support Cali's if you feel the same way! I say we keep a place like this around!