what do i eat?

Many of my patients, after we talk about diet and lifestyle and alternatives to unhealthy food options, ask me eventually, “well, what do YOU eat?” I think it helps sometimes to know someone personally who puts together a meal plan for the week or day that follows the guidelines we are working towards. So here it is! A typical day for me looks something like this:

-breakfast is usually small but satisfying. today cottage cheese topped with walnuts and berries with a cup (& maybe another one down the line) of green or herbal tea. 

-lunch a scoop of tuna salad with lettuce greens, with olive oil and lemon juice squeezed over them, and whatever other veg i have around to chop up and throw in (radish, tomato, cucumber, carrots…). Maybe a few seed or nut crackers, or half an avocado. i usually pack my lunch in a glass container and take it to work. super easy. 

-snacks are usually from the following: string cheese, raw nut mix, clementine, carrot sticks, hot tea/water, or half an apple. 

-dinners i love. tonight i’m making soba noodle bowls. chicken broth infused with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, cilantro, and shoyu (or tamari). lots of broccoli and mushrooms, and buckwheat soba noodles simmering in this flavorful broth. one of my all time faves. it takes a whopping 15 minutes to cook. often i’ll add baked tofu or tempeh to it, or more veggies we need to get rid of. 

-when we are indulging, we’ll have a glass of wine and some dark chocolate for dessert. my husband’s new hobby is mixing old-timey cocktails, so those are fun too!

one of the things i love about my food is that it makes me feel good. i get excited seeing so many colors and flavors on my plate, and the food i eat has meaning and purpose for me. i think over time i’ve developed a deep sense of joy from food, and part of it has come from cooking so much and experimenting with what makes me feel good and happy. my hope is to pass on some of this joy to you. 

healthy cooking is also very attractive for me. it’s enticing and appealing in so many ways. the colors are sexy, the flavors vibrant, the guilt absent. i think once you get rolling, it’s hard to look back. 

I have a new hobby for 2012: vegetable juicing. 

I’ve made so many juices already - always a variety of greens with vegetables or fruits added in for flavor. This is SO easy. I have to admit receiving a Vitamix blender for Christmas, so it has definitely made the difference in ease and accessibility for juicing at our house. I just put all the ingredients in and POW! i have a super-smooth veggie juice ready to go in about 1 minute and clean up takes even less time. It’s easier than cooking toast, practically. 

I decided to start veg juicing when I was thinking about what kind of cleanse I wanted to do this year. I’ve done a few in the past and didn’t want to do anything too harsh or cumbersome, and I wanted to have a lot of nutrients coming in so I didn’t feel starved for nutrition. I think now, in addition to doing a vegetable juice cleanse for 1-3 days, we will end up making green juices part of our weekly home routine - Adam loves it just as much as I do, thankfully! 

Above are a couple variations on vegetable juice that I have made, but the possibilities are really endless. 

-tomato, carrot, spinach, parsley, red bell, slice of onion, celery - a true “natural” V8!

-cucumber, spinach, strawberries, water

-kale, cucumber, parsley, coconut water

-spinach, frozen blueberries, coconut water

-cucumber, celery, ginger root - for a nice spicy kick.

All of these took me about 2 minutes to make, start to finish! Granted, the Vitamix is an impressive machine, so may take a bit longer in a regular juicer - but still faster than making eggs or pancakes! Vegetable juicing is a great way to get added servings of veggies in each day, the juices are easily digested, the nutrients easily absorbed, have far less sugar than fruit juice, and they pack a lot of vitamins and minerals into one small glass. So long fruit smoothie - hello green juice! 

Happy New Year everyone! One of the highlights of my Christmas holiday this year was spending time with my husband at home (just the two of us) before rushing off to visit our family in Ohio for a week. We had our little Christmas gift exchange together, sat by the tree listening to the Elvis Christmas album, had some wine, and put a crackling virtual fire on the flatscreen. One of the coziest moments of the holidays for me. One of my favorite gifts this year came in the form of a small tin can with amazing, vibrant green matcha tea inside - complete with a bamboo chashaku spoon for creating some of the BEST green tea I have ever tasted. Here’s a sampling of my first matcha-making endeavors – quickly becoming a favorite ritual around here. 

Green tea is not only good for you (reduces risk for heart disease, improves artery function, reduces risk for several types of cancers, and increases your metabolism) but it tastes great! Matcha, in particular, is a super-fine, high quality, green tea that comes in powder form, and is traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremony. My matcha is springy, fresh, slightly bitter but without any lingering aftertaste - picture eating potent green tea ice cream in a field of green grass. It has powerful flavor and aroma and color - beautiful, magical color. 

I love green tea as a substitute for coffee. It has that pick-me-up potential of coffee without any of the negative effects on your body - and making something like matcha forces you to take a moment and slow down and gather yourself. You can reflect, plan, think, relax, whatever you need at the time. I think this is really what most of us are looking for when we grab an afternoon latte anyway - a moment to enjoy and reward ourselves for our work and expended energy. Making a cup of matcha gives you this satisfaction PLUS a real influx of healthy, beneficial resources for your body and mind. To all my coffee-holics out there - give green tea a try. Substitute it for a least one of your cups of coffee in a day and see what happens. 

The holidays are here and it’s a time of celebration, libations, giving, loving, and most of all, eating. Sweets mainly, and that means lots and lots of SUGAR. While I make it a point to never start a nutrition program with someone over the last couple weeks of December (worst idea!) - there is a lot to say about the cycle that sugar-consumption starts in our bodies, and the necessity of moderation in our diets or even full omission when it comes to Sugar in general. Not to be a TOTAL GRINCH! as I do believe there are natural phases and moments in life where indulging and letting go are good things… but I’m hoping for you all (and for me!) that the Holiday phase doesn’t linger too long and the new year brings positive changes with it. 

Here is a great video that I like to recommend to patients about Sugar - if you haven’t watched it, it is VERY motivating. I know it’s long, but even spending time to watch 20 minutes here and there will open your mind. A brief version of the video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ZIKOQkTiM

Herbs for Colds & Congestion

I’ve probably come into contact with 100 people lately (in the clinic & out) who have been sick…were getting sick… or in the prime of sick. This season it seems like it’s going around & around & around! Even more than usual. Seeing as it’s been almost a month since it all began, I thought I was home free… until Monday morning when I woke up with a congested nostril, sore throat, and blocked up ear. Great. Looks like this year I’m not getting away without some sort of ‘invasion’, as we call it in Chinese medicine. So, what do I do? A lot of you, like me, can’t just stay home and wallow in it - and who wants to anyway! I’ve got things to do and patients to see. I need a good arsenal of herbs to kick this thing in the butt before it really gets me down. Above is a picture of the 3 main products I always turn to when I feel those first symptoms of a cold or sickness coming on. They have never failed me!! Congaplex by Standard Process will combat any bacterial infection and promote your thymus gland to kick into gear and start fighting back. Gan Mao Ling is a Chinese herbal formula that expels pathogens in the upper body, and Yin Chiao…. well, it’s magic. 

I used to joke with a friend that even if the only bit of knowledge we came away with from four years of acupuncture and Chinese medicine school was finding out about Yin Chiao, it would have been worth it. This is one of those products EVERYONE should have at home at all times. At the first sign of a sore throat, itchy throat or nose, swollen glands - start taking this every few hours and Poof! You won’t get any further symptoms. You can take it in the pill version above, or in powder or liquid form as well. A definite First Aid herbal product! It has saved me now, as it has countless times in the past. 

Pick up these products at your local natural pharmacy, or call us to start building your Home Herbal Medicine Cabinet - these are the first 3 items to get! 

Health Renovations

I’ve noticed many clients I work with on nutrition are stuck in the past with the foods they eat. It’s time to think about upgrading your eating habits, modernizing your palette. Its time to try some new things, because nutrition has come a LONG way since the 1980s. Let’s get with it! 

One of the surprising things I still see is calorie counting! If you are extremely overweight or obese, calorie counting needs to be part of your regimen for initial weight loss. Cutting down on the amount of caloric intake (esp. with portion sizes) is essential to learn in this case. But if you are like most people - slightly overweight, want to lose the belly fat or cut down 10 to 30 lbs - most likely, calorie counting is not going to be the answer for you! More often than not, there is something going on on a deeper hormonal or biochemical level that is preventing you from losing the extra pounds. This is where you need to focus. It all starts with the kinds of foods you are eating, and what THEY are made of, and how they in turn affect your body chemistry. 

This is a great article that explains some of the current research that points to WHAT you eat having the biggest impact on your weight, as opposed to just the quantity of calories. Read it at the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/health/19brody.html?pagewanted=all

I’m a sucker for a stemmed fruit. The first winter stem & leaf grapefruits hit our neighborhood market this week and I couldn’t help myself, despite the cold and drizzle outside… the color and aroma of the red grapefruit is uplifting and refreshing, always. So I thought I’d whip up a little concoction that would lift my mood and offer some beautiful, bright hues for the eyes. I call it a Grapefruit Fizz. Super easy alternative to a soda or fruit juice. About 1/3 - ½ cup citrus juice total, with a dash of sugar. The rest is water! I would love to serve this with a little vodka or gin for a fun party cocktail, served in glass pitchers with lots of ice. 

Grapefruit Fizz

½ red grapefruit, squeezed for juice

½ lime, squeezed for juice

¼ tsp vanilla sugar* (or 1 sugar cube)

Mineral Water

Ice

*I used a really lovely vanilla sugar for this drink, as the warmth and richness of the vanilla bean tame the sourness of the citrus. It worked perfectly. 

Pour grapefruit juice in a large glass, adding lime juice when ready. Scrape in all the pulp too! Drop 1 sugar cube and muddle until dissolved, or use the vanilla sugar and stir until dissolved. Fill glass with ice and add mineral water to the top, and stir together. Garnish with grapefruit wedge. 

Makes 1 large glass - refillable with more mineral water as needed!