I Like to Move it, Move it

Wednesday is moving day! What does this mean for me?? STRESS!!! I am trying to keep the stress monster at bay....getting my vitamins (especially C and B's), drinking tons of water, getting lots of sleep and trying to avoid things like coffee and alcohol. I am also taking lots of breaks between boxes to relax and meditate to stay nice and centered.
I am also eating lots of DULSE!

Sorry for the stolen image but my camera gear is packed away.

Dulse is a sea vegetable that is grown along North Atlantic and Northwest Pacific coastlines. It comes in a small bag and can be found at any healthfood store, usually around the asian section of the store, where the other seaweeds are. It is a good source of so many things. A handful will provide more than what you need in a day of Vitamin B6, 66% of Vitamin B12, making sea veggies one of the few plant sources of B12. It also has amazing levels of B1 and B2, which are essential for energy production and metabolism, which are a must in times of stress.

Dulse is also high in iron which is needed for red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body. Good oxygen flow means energy. It is also a good source of Vitamin C - my favourite anti oxidant, which is needed for detoxification and Vitamin E which helps keep the cells strong and helps them fight against free radicals.

I am a bit of a salt junkie so I am ok with eating it straight out of the bag. For some people, the salt, seaweed taste is too strong. In that case, it can be added to soups or toasted in pan on the stove, which turns it into a chip and tones down the strong taste a bit.

Be well,
c

Fractal Food

Thursday is my weekly trip to the market. As I walked there, I thought, “hey I can probably feature a veggie every week on the blog!”. Once I got there, there was all this buzz about a veggie that no one knew the name of and that was that. So....

I bring you Broccoli Romanesco …



This kooky looking cauliflower/broccoli/cabbage is a naturally occurring crop that is harvested end of September and into October. And look, It matches the blog! My guess is that it has the same nutrients as any cruciferous veggie, making it a great anti-oxidant, high in Vitamin C and fiber. It tastes a tad more nut-like than cauliflower but has cauliflower’s texture. I’d say it tastes like the perfect combo of cauliflower and broccoli with a hint of almond or some sort of nut. Not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, I feel I should use it for something totally awesome but perhaps it will end up as just a salad or steamed with some rice.

And here’s where the total geek in me flows out like a river but I don’t care! The really neat thing is that it’s a fractal food (it has self-similar patterns that occur over and over and over). I remember having to study fractals in University while taking photography and wondering, “where does this ever happen so that you can actually see it, without having to magnify something a million times, except outer space?” Now I know – it happens in veggies!!

Nothing says Fall like Curry...

Especially a curry with sweet potatoes and kale! I still call it a curry, but really, the curry taste is really subtle.

What you need:



1 cup green lentils, rinsed and drained
4 cups water
1 medium red onion, minced
3 medium cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, diced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced
2 cups finely chopped kale
2 tsp curry powder
1 15oz can whole tomatoes (do not drain) – (I prefer buying whole rather than diced and chopping them finely in the can with a knife. I find the flavour is much better. You can used diced too)
3 TBS chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
salt and black pepper to taste
cayenne pepper to taste (also optional)

In a medium pot, sauté the onion on medium until translucent. Add the garlic, carrot, sweet potato and kale. Keep on medium heat for about 5 minutes.




Add the curry powder and stir it up to coat the veggies and allow it to cook for about a minute. Add the lentils, tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 30-minutes or until lentils are done and veggies are tender.

Voila!



When I made it, I had no cilantro. Ofcourse, everything is better with cilantro but what can you do? Still yummy. This dish is not really a soup or a stew. You can serve on brown rice or eat it alone. It tastes better the next day. Today I am eating it on some spelt pizza crust, sprinkled with feta cheese.

FUN FOOD FACTS:

Kale is high in bio-available calcium, folic acid, and is a great antioxidant. Kale is usually best lightly steamed but cooking it longer in this dish is ok since the vitamins are preserved in the broth.
Sweet potatoes alse have anti-oxidant properties as well as betacarotene, vitamin C, potassium and fiber.
Lentils are a great protein, low in fat, high in nutrients and help reduce LDL cholesterol.

My Best Breakfast

My first recipe post! This is a bit of a cop out one....but I had to make this tonight so I figured why not post it. This is a great , yummy breakfast. The seeds provide protein. The apple butter mixture and the cranberries make it slightly sweet.

Just so ya know and since this is my first official recipe post...
I ALWAYS mean organic ingredients, unless otherwise specified. I am big on using the best ingredients you can find.
Sure, it's not always possible to get organic and that's ok too. Don't ever avoid making something because you can't find something organic....but do try.



What you need:
3 cups rolled oats
½ cup flax seeds
¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup chopped raw almonds
2 tablespoons of apple butter dissolved in ¼ cup warm water
¼ cup flax oil - * TAKE THIS OUT (YOU WILL USE IT LATER ON IN A BETTER WAY)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups dried cranberries
½ cup flaked unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly oil 2 cookie sheets (use olive oil or coconut oil)

Mix oats, seeds and nuts in a large bowl. Combine the apple mixture, oil, vanilla and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until everything is well coated. Spread the mixture onto the cookie sheets. I have one big round one, so I just bake in two batches. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir it up after 10 minutes to mix it up a bit and avoid burning along the sides. At this time, add the cranberries - you can also mix them with everything beforehan, but they tend to harden if cooked too long.

Store in an airtight container. I always eat it pretty quickly but I suppose if you plan on keeping it for a while, it should go in the fridge. To serve, POUR GRANOLA IN A BOWL, THEN ADD 2 TBSP FLAX OIL and eat with rice milk or soymilk, honey if you want and fresh fruit (I dig the banana, cranberry combo).

* EXPLANATION FOR THE CHANGES - flax oil is an unstable oil and heating it renders the omega 3 useless. Pouring it on the granola allows you to get your daily dose of omega 3 fatty acids. It does not make the granola oily at all and actually adds a nice flavour. Give it a try.

YUM!

We Feed the World - A film review

"Given the current state of agriculture in the world, it could feed 12 billion people with no problem. Or to put it another way: any child who dies of starvation today is in fact murdered." Jean Ziegler, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
(Switzerland)

I was just in Vancouver for the past few weeks - the Vancouver Film Festival was happening while I was there. My brother and I were determined to see a film. I decided to see We Feed The World, my thought was I'd be "working" and maybe i could write off some of my trip. Crafty!

Funny story though, we are waiting in line and some guy comes up to me and says that his friend didn't show up and gives me a ticket! Then, we are in the theatre and they ask us all to check under our seats to see if there is a post-it. After being hesitant to put our hands under movie theatre seats, my bro had a post-it and won a $25 certificate for Capers, this really expensive organic food shop. It's not like we're that type of people that stuff like that happens to, so it was odd.

So my review... We Feed the World is a documentary by Austrain filmmaker, Erwin Wagenhofer. The film is basically going to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and back to Austria to talk to farmers, fisherman and heads of corporations to talk about where food comes from. The images are pretty disturbing and well shot. If you have never seen a chicken processing plant from egg to grocery store, see this film. The film deals with globalization, starvation, pesticide use and GMO farming. It points the finger at corporations and the almighty dollar.


Baby chicks ....to grow up to be "plump chicken breast"

The film ends with an interview with Peter Brabeck, Chairman and CEO of Nestlé International, which is the food company that owns everything. His thoughts about food floored me. Between talking about the merits of GMO framing, he actually said that having water should not be a right and that is why he deserves to bottle and sell it. What that meant to me is DON'T BUY DASANI.

It should be out on DVD at some point. I'll post something if I see it playing on Toronto. See this movie!
http://www.we-feed-the-world.at/en/trailer.htm

what the heck is Holistic Nutrition anyway?

I have always had an interest in nutrition. Why can some people eat certain things while others can't? Why do some of us sneeze at the thought of a cat and others are fine? These things fascinate me. So after much soul searching, I enrolled at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. I studied there for a year and found it satisfying and challenging. I was also going through a divorce at the time and although studying Anatomy while crying uncontrollably was difficult...being at the school and in that headspace really saved me. I became more intune with energy and really focused on the road ahead. I found what I needed from the "hippyness" of the field.

So what is it I do? Holistic Nutrition is based on the idea that the digestive tract is the most important system in the body and that every illness or symptom that we have is due to a "bad" or "dirty" digestive system. Relief comes from cleansing and eliminating the foods that cause digestion to be harmed. The standard diet of most Canadians is full of processed foods that reek havoc on digestion. Holistic Nutrition says that by cleaning up the diet, you improve health.

The thing that I have noticed is that there are SO many different diets and cleanses out there that people are confused. I am confused! New diets are popping up everywhere and all of them claim the same thing. My hope is that people will move toward Holistic Nutrition and see that your diet should be your lifestyle, not something you do for a short time and that cleanses should be easy and not come in a package. Foods should be whole and clean and serve your body.

After all this yaking, here are some simple things we can all do to improve digestion and overall health, besides Eat your Veggies....

1. Chew food well. Didn't your mom tell you to chew your food? Digestion begins in the mouth. When food is not well chewed and is too big to be properly broken down, incomplete digestion occurs. Not only do nutrients not get extracted from the food but undigested food becomes a breading ground for bacteria in the colon which can lead to bacterial overgrowth, gas and other symptoms of indigestion.
A good rule of thumb is - if you can still recognize the food in your mouth by texture or flavour when you swallow it, you haven't chewed enough.

2. Choose whole food. Whole food is food that is closet to it's natural state. Many digestion issues are due to an overprocessed diet. Whole foods have more nutrients, enzymes and best of all, flavour.

3. Know where your food comes from. Part of healthy eating is mindful eating. Feeling good about your food means knowging where it comes from. We all hear tales of organic and seasonal eating...I agree that organic is important as is eating with the seasons. Try buying produce and meat as farmers markets.

4. Fiber, fiber, fiber! A healthy digestive tract exists because of a diet that includes both soluble and insoluble fiber. Eating fruits and veggies are important as are whole grains. Try sprinkling ground flax seeds on your food - grind them yourself for both fiber and omega 3's.

Be well,
c

eeeeeee! I'm blogging

Ok this is weird. I've always been resistant to the whole idea of blogs or "online journals". I am not a writer by any means and am not one to let others read things that I do write. But...I am embarking on this new business as a Registered Holistic Nutritionist and something told me that it was a good idea to get myself out there as much as I can.

So "out there" means keeping a log of all things having to do with starting this business. Heck, maybe others can benefit from my ramblings. The idea really is to post recipies, reviews of books, fun food facts and anything that I find that I want to share. I am constantly finding things that I geek out on, so why not post them for anyone else that may care.

So, I guess I'm excited! Sit back, relax and comment (that is what this is about, right?)

Be well,
c