health Archives - My Halal Kitchen

5 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO BOOST YOUR IMMUNITY

by Yvonne Maffei | Apr 5, 2020 | Cooking Techniques & Kitchen Tips, Halal & Tayyib (Pure/Organic), Household Tips, Natural Living

update: I wrote this at the start of the covid-19 pandemic, but I think it’s just as relevant now than it was then, considering the world seems to be watching a livestream of the most televised man-made tragedy we’ve ever witnessed in our lives….please pray for the people of Gaza and of Palestine. And for humanity.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had some serious bouts of anxiety listening to all the bad news about the covid-19 pandemic our world is facing. I’m missing my family and I worry about them being in the States right now with the world’s largest outbreak in terms of numbers, as well as the completely bizarre and unorganized way the pandemic has been handled there. It’s unnerving, to say the least, and now we have to brace ourselves for impact here in Turkey.

That said, t’s time to take the bull by the horns and feel a little more empowered by doing something about it. At a time when it seems we have so little control over the outcome of this extremely contagious virus, there are things we can do to calm the nerves and actually arm ourselves with the best fighting chance to not get infected, or at the very least to not get so affected by all the bad news that we literally stress ourselves out to the point that we do lower our immune systems and make ourselves more vulnerable to disease and illness, even those unrelated to covid-19.

Here’s what I’m doing to take control over my own life and I do hope that these tips might help or inspire you to do what’s best for you, in your world, and within your means. Here goes:

I’m drinking a LOT of herbal teas. Consuming less caffeine is one of the most relaxing things I’ve done for my body, which has been in effect for several months now, as I was way too addicted to coffee for my own liking. In the coming days I’ll be posting more recipes for some of the teas I’ve been experimenting with after doing the research about their overall health benefits, so stay tuned and make sure you’re subscribed to this website so that you can get those. For example, I’m drinking ihlamur (linden tea), hot water with lemon, olive leaf tea, chammomile, and my favorite so far: mountain sage & lavender combination.

Tr4thudYSSJRyyssdR3TQ 1 — Dried papatya (chammomile) tea in the local pazar in Fethiye, Turkey | My Halal Kitchen

I’m staying in touch with family and friends, a lot. Whether it’s through texting, FaceTime, or WhatsApp, I’m using whatever tools I can use to check in on my parents, aunts and uncles, cousins (one is a nurse, so of course I worry), and of course all of my closest friends. It not only helps me to know how they’re doing, but the connection is good for my soul. Laughing, crying, expressing emotions about how we feel about one another and how much we mean to one another can only be good for the heart, it’s that important to me.

I’m doing other things that feed my soul are gardening and working, yes working. I actually try to combine both these days so that I can work among my plants, which makes me so very happy. I’ve moved all of my plants to a cozier place where I can work right in the center of them. It inspires me visually, but it’s also the most wonderfully-scented place in my house. It makes me very productive, too, so it’s a great place to be during quarantine.

I’m watching some of my favorite youtube channels for uplifting content, inspiration and to give myself hope for the future. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The Chateau Diaries– I love Stephanie Jarvis’ cheery nature and what she’s doing around her French chateau during the quarantine. It’s quite uplifting, to say the least.
Lifestyle Si– I love this interior designer’s calm and soothing nature as she talks about simple ways to decorate your home that just look incredibly aesthetic, natural and beautiful.

QvXCewRRTOESE4XDmhKyA — Eating a variety of healthy, all-natural, chemical-free real foods to boost my immunity | My Halal Kitchen

Most importantly, I’m listening to my doctors and their good advice- not the advice of rumors or old wives tales. For example, in addition to eating healthy (no refined sugars and only a variety of real, seasonal all-natural, chemical-free foods) I’m making beef or chicken bone broths almost daily, taking black seed and honey, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Zinc, magnesium, bee propolis.
I do need to do more fish oils, so that’s going to start again soon. Here are some of the doctors I listen to most:

Dr. Berg- see a couple of his recent videos here.
Dr. Madiha Saeed (Holistic Mom, MD)- click here to download her informative PDF about how to optimize your immune system and keep your sanity.

What do I need to do better during this quarantine?

Mediate more (prayer and du’a/supplication)
Exercise (I need to find more good exercises to do from home)
Sleep earlier. Working long hours isn’t always a good thing and good quality sleep is crucial.
Stress less by reading less negative news and only what’s absolutely necessary. For a news junkie like me, it’s not easy but I’m going to do it.

How are you handling stress and boredom during the quarantine? I’d love to know in the comments below, so please share your tips and wisdom with the rest of us.

*This information is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your physician before undertaking any of the advice or suggestions included in this post.

Smoothie Packs

by Yvonne Maffei | Aug 28, 2014 | American, Drinks, Suhoor, Summer

This past Ramadan I got really used to drinking smoothies at iftar and sometimes even at suhoor. Now here were are a couple of months out, and they are very much still on my radar, especially since I’ve frozen so much of the fruit that was leftover and still gets left over from weekly shopping. But what I decided to do this time around was to make packs of fruits, combining the ones I wanted to have together in a smoothie since it’s just easier to take it right out of the bag and add the things you can’t necessarily freeze so well. Here’s what I do:

Gather your favorite fruits, freshest fruits, most seasonal fruits and think about what combos you’d like to prepare in a smoothie. Then, get proper freezing bags, plus think about what liquids you’d like to add to the smoothies once they’re prepared fresh (I don’t actually advise freezing milk, yogurt, coconut water or any creams but just showed them here for visual purposes).

Mark the bags, using freezer tape and nice and bright markers like Sharpies, which don’t bleed when cold or frozen.

I personally like to combine dates with figs, dates with apricots, figs with bananas, pineapple with banana and coconut flakes.

Proportionally, I bag enough for one or two, but not more than that at a time so that they’re easy for everyone in the house to make their one when they want, especially for breakfast.

For example, I put 2 large figs (cut in half so that when they’re frozen they’re easy on the blender), 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup whole milk. Really delicious and makes about 12 ounces of a very smooth smoothie when blended until all the lumps are gone.

One last word of advice is to use whole milk products such as whole-milk yogurt so that the resulting drink isn’t too watery. Coconut water is so excellent in smoothies, too, but you almost never need as much as you think because the fruits have so much water in them, too, especially after they’ve been frozen.