Beating the Cold Season and Carrot Ginger Breakfast Cookies

Everyone is sick. It’s all over the news, facebook, and getting in the way of our daily routines. There are some really easy ways to prevent it and kick it quickly before it puts you out.

1. Ginger – on top of being great for treating colds and flu it may reduce chances of some cancers, eases the stomach, boosts the immune system, reduces inflammation, helps with motion and morning sickness on top of some other great benefits. Make yourself a shot of lemon, ginger and cayenne pepper once or twice a day until your sickness is gone. I juiced the ginger by hand - if that’s not dedication I don’t know what is! (But you can always use your juicer or go to a juice bar)
2. Neti Pot – follow directions on the box. Do NOT use tap water. These are great for clearing out a stuffy nose without using harmful medications.
3. Warm Water with lemon.
4. No sugar! It greatly weakens the immune system when you need it to be strong. This includes orange juice: due to a similar chemical structure, the sugar in OJ actually competes with Vitamin C to enter cells. Therefore, the more sugar you ingest, the less Vitamin C is absorbed!  To get Vitamin C eat leafy greens especially kale it contains more Vitamin C than oranges anyway.
5. NO Dairy. In the course I took with T. Colin Campbell he talked about when you consume dairy it creates a net metabolic acidity in the body. In order to neutralize that acidity, your body draws salts such as calcium and phosphorus from your bones so it can return to its naturally alkaline state. The result is weakened bones and teeth – this also weakens your immune system. Dairy promotes the production of mucus and can make existing mucus thicker in your nose and sinuses, leaving you completely congested. It may also cause a runny nose or the ever annoying post nasal drip.

I do all of these things on a regular biases in addition to a well balanced plant based diet and I haven’t been sick in years. Making yourself a priority will help you dodge cold season all together. 

And for a fun way to get more ginger in your diet (although juicing it is preferable)... 

I tried out this fantastic breakfast cookie recipe the other day and fell in love with them. Once I realized they are basically a bowl of oatmeal in cookie form I felt even better about them. Then ate too many, then went hard on myself at the gym…

Anyway, they are a great winter breakfast addition, after your water with lemon of course! I made these then immediately regretted not using my new mini muffin tin. So I did what anyone else would do, made another batch.

1 cup gluten free flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon fine grain salt

1 cup rolled oats

2/3 cup chopped walnuts (omit to make it nut free – try adding sunflower seeds)

1 cup shredded carrots

½ cup maple syrup (at room temperature)

½ cup unrefined coconut oil warmed

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 egg replacer (1 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp of water and refrigerated for 15 minutes)

1. Preheat oven to 375F degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and oats. Then add the nuts and carrots. In a separate smaller bowl, use a whisk to combine the maple syrup, coconut oil, ginger and egg replacer.
3. Combine the two mixtures until well incorporated.
4. Drop onto prepared baking sheets, one level tablespoon at a time, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.
5. Or use mini cupcake tins for mini muffins.