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Tags: FOOD MOOD CONNECTION
FOOD MOOD CONNECTION:
REST AND DIGEST-
5 FOOD RULES for Charming your Body into Happiness.
We are approaching the winter season which is an internal time of year, we aren't being distracted by long days, blasting sun, so it gives us an opportunity (whether we are fond of this or not!) to look inside.
Ume Plum Vinegar
This is a brilliant red, tart and tangy japanese vinegar made from the venerable umeboshi plum and shiso leaves.
The umeboshi plums are fermented: they are sprinkled with sea salt so the juice is drawn out and soaked in shiso leaves.
Shiso is an herb that is related to mint, but has a slight lemony taste. Besides adding a beautiful red color and flavor to umeboshi, shiso has strong antibacterial and preservative qualities
FLAXSEEDS
FLAXSEEDS: Linum usitatissimum
These are my favourite seeds for women's health.
However, the health benefits of these fiber-laden phytosterol packed seeds are by no means exclusive to women!
- 1-2 TBSP of ground flaxseeds are a healthful addition to every adults diet.
I can tell you 3 good reasons why:
QUINOASummer Solstice and the eating is easy
Summer Solstice
and the Eating is easier, 5 ways over.
There is that Gershwin song that goes: summer is here and the living is easy.
I believe this is so very true when it comes to the eating part of living. Given that you likely eat at least 3 times daily-- this is a huge acreage of your life-landscape!
Let me tell you the ways it has gotten easy this season:
CHIA SEEDS!
CHIA SEEDS (Salvia Hispanica)
These are the ultimate “power food” – tiny wholefood of the legendary marathon running Tarahumara Indians of copper canyon in Mexico.
Here's some info to support this lofty status:
HEMPSEEDS
- A true Canadian “superfood!”, hemp is a nutrient rich whole food in its natural state, no need to create isolates or extracts from it.
- 10 gm of protein/2 TBSP hempseeds
- The protein is complete, containing all 10 essential amino acids.
- In it’s whole food state, it has a high pH, is more alkaline than most proteins.
Interesting fact:
Edestin, an amino acid found only in hemp is considered an integral part of our DNA. It makes hemp the plant source closest to our own amino acid profile
What is special about this protein source?
Superfoods to Fortify your upcoming Summer Diet!
The farmers markets are on!
Summer (coming right up!!) is a natural time to put into practice some of the healthiest diet intentions without sacrificing pleasure.
With the growing abundance of fresh local food, we can easily increase our intake of vitamin rich fruits and vegetables, minimize our consumption of high glycemic index processed foods, and eat a greater variety of diverse foods to reduce the possibility of developing food sensitivities like lactose or gluten intolerance.
SAGE CLINIC OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY MAY 15
THIS SUNDAY MAY 15TH FROM 11 AM - 5 PM AT SAGE CLINIC VANCOUVER
Sage Clinic Vancouver celebrates Naturopathic Medicine Week with an Open House on Sunday at 487 Davie Street in Yaletown.
HOW to SUBSTITUTE Natural Sweeteners for SUGAR in Baking
The agave plant (Maguey cactus in the Jardin Etnobotanico In Oaxaca, Mexico last March!
There are a few general rules to note when substituting a liquid for a solid or dry ingredient, you must
1. reduce other liquids in the recipe.
2. add some baking soda (the natural sweeteners are acidic, so they must be balanced).
3. bake slightly longer at a lower temperature (by 25 *F)
How to replace 1 cup of white sugar?
use the following quantities, and adjust liquids as below:
HOW TO SPROUT!
SPROUTING HOW TO:
1. Start with organic seeds, grains or legumes.
I really like adzuki, mung, lentil, (the easiest beans to sprout) and amaranth (protein packed) and fenugreek (great for blood sugar balance)
2. A clean glass jar with fine mesh (cheesecloth) and a rubber band. You can also buy "sprouting bags" at healthfood stores--makes for easy drainage.
3. Rinse the seed/legume/grain and soak it
- 2 TBSP seeds or ½ c legume or grain in the jar with 3x the water.
Different ingredients need different soaking times:
Get Sprouting!
Sprouting-What is all the buzz about?
This weekend I attended the CHFA (Canadian Health Food Association) Tradeshow.
The Vancouver convention center was filled with every health foodie concoction known (and previously unknown!) to humankind. This is a great place to see what is coming down the pike of your local healthfood store and what all kinds of health experts will be writing about- promoting or critiquing.
Last year it seemed to me that Hemp seeds and Chia seeds (the plant based foods high in omega oils, and raw, vegan protein ) stole the show.
Try Amaranth: A high protein complex carb seed that cooks like a grain!
All about Amaranth
I love amaranth! This is actually a tiny seed that cooks up like a grain.
Cleansing and the Anti-Inflammatory Diet
So this workshop on cleansing-cooking and lifestyle is June 4th
Now you and a cynical Tina Turner might ask:
What does SPRING have to do with it?
That would be because this upcoming season is full of rites of passage.
Belting out Beltane and May days ahead, spring is the harbinger of bursting buds and vitality coming out through the soil. Out with the old, in with the new.
And so it follows, it is the RIGHT time to get excited about the cleansing scene- closets, body, mind and all.
Top 10 Asian Cuisine Essentials for Healthy Meals
The key to healthy cooking is, of course, healthy ingredients. But short of ditching your favourite flab-inducing flavourings, here are some asian-cuisine condiments, spices and essential oils that will maximize flavour and minimize post-meal regret.
- Beyond the obvious (chinatown, SE Asian food stores), many of these items you can now get in your local organic healthfood or Asian/ethnic food section your neighbourhood grocery store.
Asian Inspiration-CLEAN Eating for the New Year Ahead!
Learn how to use the amazing ingredients that make these diets age-less in their healthwise traditions, legendary for their "anti-aging" qualities and slimming effects, all the while simultaneously trend-setting and tantalizing in taste.
We will make delicious dishes using seaweeds, fermented foods and unique flavourings.
Awaken your taste buds and your mind to the benefits and incorporating some diverse pacific inspired dishes into your repertoire.
The food horoscope for Jan 2011
"Spring cleaning" might be fitting for your closets when a wardrobe change is in order.
However, when it comes to food, THIS is the time of year that we think clean.
Rest and Digest: How to de-stress and cook with Teens
Last week, I spent a half day teaching at the Xit'olacw Community School in Mount Currie. I was part of a “supercourse” on stress reduction. The class, made up mostly of male students, ages 13-16 : your typical captive audience for making concoctions out of flax, chia seeds, agave syrup and fibrous vegetables, or for connecting the omega 3-filled ingredients to the nervous system’s “rest and digest mode”. But they were captive! This might have had something to do with the fact that all that week they had already spent time meditating, getting hooked on yoga, and learning how you can actually stop stress at the level of the brain stem. Who among you knows how to do that?!?
An Earthy Course in Sustainably Culinary Arts -- Learn to grow, harvest and and create beautiful meals!
I am really excited about being a part of the first Garden to Table Intensive Course at Hollyhock
The timing couldn't be better. Everyone it seems wants to get their hands in the garden, and there is so much interest in the how to make it happen closer to home. We want and need to eat healthy beautiful food and I can't think of a more inspiring combination! The 3 wk, 3 part course runs March 16- April 6 on incomparable Cortes Island. Check it out: Wildcrafting, Gardening and Cooking
Egg Substitute options to Bind and Lighten Baked Goods
I am seeing more and more people who are on "egg-free" diets for a period of time-- here are some ways to get around the egg-free zone when baking.
I egg is normally about ¼ cup of liquid
Check out my simple polenta recipe published in EAT -- we will make this next WEDNESDAY (June 16)
There are still some spaces in my Fresh From the Field class here in Vancouver next week (WED, June 16).
Check out my simple polenta recipe in published in EAT -- We will be making some sassier version- with high protein amaranth , in the form of crispy triangles-- great for grilling or as an appetizer. Check out the divine menu!
Nutritional Profiles of Saucy Staple Foods
There was some good interest in my first list of top 10 foods. So now, I want to follow-up and tell you more of WHY I
have some top 10s at all. It was brought to my attention, after the fact, that there are many famous people out
there doing hot lists of 10s. Not only am I not famous, I am shamefully out of the loop of what is on the “must have” and “must do” of these trend -setting advisors. But I do know some about food, and about health and I think the 2 should intersect most of the time if we want to be living the good life. So top 10 and trendy or not, here is some my own down low on the “why and how” these are some new foods we can learn to love and love to learn about!
TOP TEN bottles/bags to Buy
My last Vancouver workshop participants requested a “where to” find/buy some of the ingredients that we used. Here is short list that will help you stock a wholesome pantry!
Many of these things you can now get in the “organic/healthfood or asian/ethnic food section your neighbourhood grocery store- like Safeway, IGA, and Save On.
A sure bet though is the following shops I call Healthfood stores (HFS) but they are often a mix of conventional and “healthfood”
Here are some potions/condiments/spice mistress elixirs of life that I use all the time and where you can find them.
Big Bites - A retreat at Cortes Island
Pink rhubarb, yellow, pink, red and purple tulips, blue ocean, blue-er sky turning yellow pink.
I am neither a writer, nor an artist, but ending our first meal with fresh rhubard sorbet stuffed tulips, was a spectacular way to feature the precious just picked spring garden produce and begin our 5 day sun-filled garden touring healthy gastronomic program!
I just completed my first workshop at Hollyhock of the season, (the first of 3 the foundation is offering this year on beautiful Cortes Island).
Also in attendance at Hollyhock at the same time, was Sharon Butala’s The Perfection of the Morning writing group who were happily able to enjoy our own program’s artistic afternoon forays into “palate perfection”.
487 Davie Street (at Richards)
Vancouver, BC
V6B 2G2
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