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Valentine's Day dinner
In my house Valentine’s day is a BIG holiday – worth celebrating all month long. This year, my husband Rick surprised me with a dinner that was filled with heart. At the center of the dish was a gluten-free crab cake shaped like a heart, and cooked up out on the grill. To the left you see grilled “heart-beets,” and to the right a sliced and grilled sweet potato. Of course, Rick included a lovely salad (below) of romaine leaves, cucumbers, tomatoes, and avocados, and guess what? Each vegetable resembled a heart!
let's not forget the salad!
Rick is an artist, with a keen eye for hearts. His images are proudly displayed on my blog and website. He finds hearts just about everywhere and generously shares them with the world in his own blog and through the products made available on his website, www.FoundHearts.com. This year Rick and his colleague Steve Godwin created a wonderful book called Finding Heart combining poems and images that explore themes of loving, longing, struggle and finding comfort in truly knowing oneself, while noticing every day signs that love is truly all around us.
This month I invite you to join Rick and me in celebrating Valentines day all month long. Make a point of giving yourself a little loving. Take yourself out on a beauty date – enjoy a walk under a lovely blue sky or a stroll through an art museum – or make a creative meal filled with HEART. Find ways to celebrate you and your own hearty life!
As many of you know. I have spent the last twelve-and-a- half years educating and advocating decision makers in Washington DC and at the United Nations on issues of peace, social justice and ecology. Within the past year and a half I have also begun working with individuals as a health coach – helping them to feel better, to avoid preventable disease and to lose weight. I see these two apparently different kinds of work explicitly integrated. The real work that makes my heart sing is healing, whether I am trying to heal this broken world of ours or accompany individual persons struggling to more fully know and heal themselves.
For at least the last ten years I have spent a significant amount of my advocacy time working on the issue of food security – seeking to ensure that all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. When I attended the World Food Summit in 2002 many of the civil society participants pushed to adopt the concept of “food sovereignty,” which in addition to demanding food security, claims the “right” of Peoples to define their own food, agriculture, livestock and fisheries systems, in contrast to having food largely subject to international corporate and market forces.
As I noted in my post about following my heart into health coaching, the real connection for me is helping people to regain a sense of control over their own health and well-being. After the food riots of 2007 and 2008, people around the world want to be assured that they not only have access to food, but that they get to determine how that food is grown, raised, or fished. They want to regain some control over the very sustenance that maintains life rather than just accepting that one U.S. corporation can be known as “the supermarket to the world.”
In the U.S. some would say that “beggars cannot be choosers.” But what this attitude fails to admit is that a number of changeable factors, including U.S. food, trade and economic policies, U.S. futures trading and U.S. corporate practices which led to the price hikes in food and fuel causing the crises. So my work in Washington is often focused on changing policies in whatever way I can – such that people have access to good nutritious food, as well as a choice about what kind of food they want to eat, grow, raise or fish.
I’ve been asked what led me into health coaching because it seems so different from other work I have done. For me it is all a matter of following my heart. In the mid 80′s and early 90′s my heart inspired me to accompany suffering people in war-torn countries; now that same heart has called me to respond to the unnecessary suffering caused by confusing health and nutrition information in a land of plenty.
Kathy in Chichicastenango, Guatemala 1993
In Guatemala from 91-96 I lived in a rural area among people who had little material wealth and little access to western medicines. What they did have was a deep understanding of the natural world. The elders of the communities I visited could brew a tea from the bark of a specific tree and help a diabetic regulate his blood sugar. Others ground flowers from another bush to treat skin rashes and lesions.
In 1995, my last year of working in Guatemala, I became involved in a medicinal plant project which began by gathering the elders from various communities to share their knowledge with one another and with community health promoters. Knowledge is power – affordable traditional remedies combined with education about simple, everyday things that people could do to prevent disease went a long way to serve people who no doctor, hospital or regimen of western medicine would ever reach.
I found myself fascinated by all I was learning; I often went to bed at night reading my copy of Where There is No Doctor. I was witnessing a very powerful transformation – I watched people take charge of their own health by incorporating new habits and practices into their lives. Nutrition played a vital role, but what seemed even more potent was people recognizing that they themselves had the power to change a lot of variables that could create a positive outcome for themselves and their family members’ health and well-being.
When I returned to the U.S. I found that people often feel very disconnected from knowledge of the natural world and that same kind of control over their health. While fantastic health care is available to those who can afford it, the health care system offers precious little education on disease prevention and easy, affordable actions to support one’s own healing. In Guatemala, while helping resource-poor communities with little access to western health care to expand their tools to stay healthy, I had no idea I was on the cutting edge of health care. Imagine what a different state the health of U.S. citizens would be in if people and communities had the simple knowledge on how to prevent disease. People might not miss as much work; they might avoid expensive hospital stays and young people wouldn’t be sentenced to formerly “adult diseases” like type II diabetes, gout and heart disease.
Nutrition is one of the easiest things to modify to bring about remarkable health benefits. I began noticing in my own diet how certain foods made me feel better than others. When I sought to deepen my knowledge in this area, I learned that most academic dietitian programs are closely tied to the USDA’s (U.S. Department of Agriculture) nutrition standards. When these standards were updated in December 2010 – they told us to “eat less,” without giving a clear picture of what to eat and what to avoid. The USDA has a dual role – it is responsible for promoting U.S. agriculture and setting U.S. nutrition guidelines. Unfortunately for us consumers, the USDA does a much better job of the former, leaving the public with lots of nutritional questions and contradictions.
In trying to find an independent source on nutrition knowledge, I found the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where I completed a year-long program in 2009 and became a certified health coach recognized by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.
I now work with individuals investigating how they are nourished – not only by food but by the circumstances of their lives. As I watch people incorporate new practices and healthier choices, I am seeing some remarkable changes including, weight loss, more energy, better sleep and a surge of creativity around making life choices. Mostly I encourage people to follow their hearts in everything they do and to create a life full of the sustenance that truly makes their heart sing!
If you are looking for support in feeling better, truly following your bliss, or if you just want to cut down on medical expenses through making better everyday choices, you may want to talk with me about scheduling a health history consultation. And if you are thinking of a career change – talk to me to learn more about the Institute for Integrative Nutrition training program.
Given the financial challenges many people are still experiencing as well as the current stresses endured by Mother Earth, below you will find seven ideas for greening the earth while adding some greenbacks to your wallet Consider incorporating at least one of the following practices into your new year.
1- Eat the foods that keep your body fit: Most health conscious and/or weight-loss diets advise you to eat your vegetables, to cut out fatty red meat and to avoid processed foods. Incorporating these three suggestions in your diet can help you to save money while easing some of Earth’s burden. Vegetables and grains are the least amount of energy for production, while meat production often involves a number of inputs and processes that a 2007 UN Food and Agriculture Organization study has linked to global warming. Processed and packaged snack food and packaged prepared meals are popular for people with little time to cook, but they tend to cost more – for the planet, your body and your wallet. Packaging in all shapes and sizes (plastics, paper, aluminum, Styrofoam, foil etc.) is taking up a lot of real estate in landfills throughout the United States. Processed foods take their toll on your health as they can be much harder to digest, and processed foods are often more expensive when all the costs hidden by subsidies and health risks are added up. Consider reducing your intake of highly processed foods by replacing them with whole foods purchased in bulk – especially fresh fruits and vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and dried fruit.
2- Walk if you’re going less than one mile or bike for slightly longer trips: This simple action will reduce your spending on fuel and maintenance for your car and decrease your carbon foot print. An added benefit is that you will be building muscle and melting away unwanted pounds while doing your errands.
3- Minimize your exposure to toxic chemicals: If you make your own cleaning solutions you avoid the standard hazardous chemicals (ammonia, bleach, lye, formaldehyde and alcohol) that are included in most cleaning products. Look through your pantry and pull out some of these eco- friendly and less harmful cleaning products (baking soda, Borax, Castile soap, white vinegar, lemon juice). Learn more about using these here.
4- Use reusable bags when shopping: Over 50,000 bags are used every 5 seconds in the U.S. For a visual on this, click on this image put together by artist Chris Jordan in his exhibition “Running the Numbers.” Using your own bag lightens up the plastic load in city dumps. Reusable shopping bags are available at many grocery stores. In Washington, DC and in other cities around the country laws have been established to charge an extra fee (about 5 cents) for each plastic grocery bag you use. Every little bit adds up – so if you consider how many bags you bring home between shopping and picking up a sandwich here and a bottle of wine there, you could be saving about $40 – $50 a year by using your own. Try it – you will find that it does not take long to make it a habit that sticks.
5- Cut back on paper towels: paper towels are a bottomless pit of expenses especially if you are reaching for one every time you clean your hands while cooking or eating, when you wipe up spills, clean your windows, counters and appliances, scrub the bathroom, etc. Why not make the switch this year to using a few old cloth rags for spills, cleaning and messes, and fabric napkins at the table. The advantage is that cloth versions can be washed and reused. You will save money and help to cut down on the 3,000 tons of paper towels that end up landfills every day.
6- Eliminate Phantom power: You could cut your energy bill by as much as 10 percent over the course of the year simply by eliminating power leaks throughout your home. Unplug the charger for your cell phone, i-pad, mp3 player, etc. You can also invest in chargers that stop drawing current when the device’s battery is fully charged. Put those goods that are always on like your television, DVD player or stereo on a power strip to turn off all your appliances at once, or on a timer so that they automatically shut off overnight.
7- Responsibly recycle e-waste: did you get a new electronic gadget for Christmas, or have you recently upgraded your cell phone? Do you have a stash of old gadgets, chargers, etc? Most people feel paralyzed because they don’t know what to do with all this electronic stuff so they stash it in a drawer. Especially after hearing that some enterprises that say they’ll recycle these gadgets for free end up shipping them to foreign countries where often women and children are not given protective gear while using dangerous chemicals and processes to extract microchips, gold and other recyclable materials from them. If what you want to recycle is relatively new, an option is to donate them to a reputable reuse organization, like the National Cristina Foundation or World Computer Exchange. They will match donated computers to charities and agencies, or send requested working items to educational institutions in developing countries.
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2010. That’s about 3 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 32 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 42 posts. There were 12 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about a picture per month.
The busiest day of the year was January 6th with 70 views. The most popular post that day was Gluten-free Pancakes and Chocolate Chip Cookies .
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were websites.integrativenutrition.com, WordPress Dashboard, opencongress.org, mail.live.com, and facebook.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for corn on the cob, kale vegetable, corn cob, truth about caffeine blog, and nutrition blog.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
- Gluten-free Pancakes and Chocolate Chip Cookies January 2010
- Recipes November 2009 3 comments
- Thanksgiving Holiday Survival tips: November 2010
- Events December 2010 1 comment
- Resources December 2009
This is the time of year that we crave some traditional foods associated with the holiday. Maybe it’s your grandmother’s famous stuffing recipe or the chicken and dumplings, or maybe the tamales, or perhaps it’s the cranberry sauce, or the pie or the Christmas cookies…
There’s always a dish that just calls out to you – bringing back memories of family, friends and holidays past. This food nostalgia is strong especially around the winter holidays when many of us in northern climates tend to eat heavier meals to fortify us against the cold, icy climate.
A few of these festive favorites really help us celebrate, but overindulging often leads to some regret when the holidays are just a memory. One way of reducing the damage caused by holiday foods is to dream up some healthier substitutes for the traditional dishes. For example cranberry sauce can be made by using a wee bit of maple syrup to save you from the high fructose corn syrup or sugar in store-bought brands.
We live in a society of over-achievers and as North Americans over-indulgence is just one of the many areas where we can really excel! We comfort ourselves by thinking “it’s only once a year,” but we are now powerless. This holiday season, begin now to incorporate some strategies to not sharpen the old sweet tooth too an extent that it’s difficult to find our way back to everyday fare.
If you choose to excel and fall totally off the wagon, then find your way back by creating new year’s resolutions to make your 2011 really bright!
The winter holiday parties are upon us… and in spite of following some good holiday tips to keep us on track with health and nutrition goals – a little eggnog here and some hors d’oeuvres there all seem to add up. At this point some people just throw in the towel and give up. 2011 is another year – eat, drink and be merry now and January 2 will present an opportunity to get right back on track.
Just remember it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We are not perfect and one spicy-sugary drink, or a few bites of fatty food cannot bring you down unless you let it. It’s all about balance. And if you are trying to do well 90 percent of the time, you are doing well. Just remember to keep the 10 percent splurge rate to 10 percent. If it soars to 20 percent on any particular day – scale back to 10 and you won’t feel that you’ve thrown out all your good work for the past months. Your body will thank you for not making such a roller coaster out of what it has to process, and you will feel better about living a balanced life. No deprived feelings, just healthy choices.
Good luck! And for more support see my winter holiday season survival tips below. And in January, those in the Washington DC Metropolitan area can join me in a workshop on making resolutions called Make satisfaction in life the focus of your new year!
I am always challenging clients to get rid of what is in their way to having the healthy life they were meant to live. And in terms of naming the obstacles, I have to say that the holiday season ironically ends up being one of the biggest obstructions to living a balanced life. Holiday parties with their rich food and lavish drinks throw people off healthy eating routines, and gift-giving rat-race turns the whole holiday season into a material frenzy.
It’s often hard to remember that we have choices during days like BLACK FRIDAY. We can consciously decide to spend the day far away from the commercial chaos and instead find ways to reconnect with ourselves and the people we love. Mother Nature Network featured a blog last week encouraging people to buy nothing on Friday, November 26. I encourage you to think through the four reasons to buy nothing, and see how much of this is true for you.
It the face of Black Friday and its corresponding ads and gimmicks it is easy to forget that living a balanced, well-nourished life has nothing to do with stuff. For many of my family members and friends Thanksgiving is their favorite holiday because it is about being together with people you love around a table. Yes, there is eating and often over-eating involved, but what really nourishes us on a day like Thanksgiving is our gratitude for the relationships in our lives that we hold dear.
Stay tuned for future blog posts where I intend to write more about consumerism’s impact on Earth and its people as malls around the country declare open season for shopping. Happy Thanksgiving!
If you only eat sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving you are missing out on a great food to include in your balanced diet. Sweet potatoes are lower in glycemic values than white potatoes and some nutrition scientists believe that they can ultimately help with your metabolism.
They contain carotenoids that are thought to help stabilize blood sugar levels and lower insulin resistance, making your body’s cells more responsive to insulin.Rich in fiber, sweet potatoes are fat-free, and they can keep your stomach feeling satisfied for hours. Sweet potatoes are also rich in potassium and vitamins A & C; and they have about as much disease fighting beta-carotene as carrots.
In many Thanksgiving meals sweet potatoes are covered with sugar and butter which is a real shame because they have so much flavor on their own. At my house we love to lightly coat sweet potatoes in olive oil and sprinkle them with a little cardamom and cinnamon and then put them directly on the grill, or wrap the oiled and spiced potatoes in some aluminum foil, and then grill them.
