there's nothing like butter. since i don't eat bread, either, its not really a big deal. there was a time when i would occasionally treat myself to gluten-free waffles with earth balance or some such not-butter spreads. i always felt weird about it, not being a big fan of soy products. after soy, there's the canola business, which also makes me wonder. canola is a hybridized form of rapeseed, often genetically engineered. these things raise flags. i hate to eat things i feel weird about.
but occasionally you get that hankering. maybe your neighbor gave you a batch of homemade fig jam, or perhaps you've concocted a sensational vegan, gluten-free cornbread, which begs some melty goodness atop. who says we can't all have our toast and butter it, too?
at thanksgiving, i made pumpkin pie and had to find a substitute for the gobs of butter in the recipe. i wanted a delicious crust, and a delicious crust i had! my concoction has passed taste tests on all sorts of butter-begging goodies. it does NOT taste just like butter. but it IS delicious, spreadable, smooth, melty, and SO deliciously satisfying in its own right. and it is super super simple to make, having only two ingredients.
the secret?
coconut oil and nutritional yeast. that is all. i blend it in a food processor and put it back in the coconut oil container. once, i added a little apple cider vinegar, which i found delicious, but my mom disagreed. so, suit yourself.
i just can't keep it to myself, so yummy.
15.5.10
things i've been up to
a card i made for the lovely caitie koch before she away'ed to panama. (more cards)
wild mint for smoking, drying on the bureau
all dry
right before i smush my toes in the mucky part. mmmmm.
growing babies! mostly tomatoes. the garden peach variety is doing well! some holy basil, 5 other types of tomatoes, 3 varieties of eggplant (i'm excited for the turkish orange variety)... genovese and lettuce leaf basils, marigolds, white cucumbers, hmmm.... and i guess we'll see what else comes up... its hard in the house, there's no good place for them to get a lot of light. this house has porches on the east and west sides which block sun from the windows, and only tiny windows to the south. also, i am gone 3 or more days a week, so its hard to make sure they're doing well. i give them lots of love while i'm here though. and i send them good vibes from far away. (if you haven't, you must read the secret life of plants)
my dad and i have been digging and building, and soon they'll be at home in the ground. fence in progress.
meanwhile i have to move them around the house to catch the light.
6.5.10
holes in my moccassins
we're getting ready to build raised beds at my parents' house this weekend. of the hundred plus seeds i planted, about 10 of them popped up. i work far away for 3 days a week, and i often go down to baltimore or elsewhere on my 4-day weekends, so i only spend random time at my folks' where the plants are. i've got plenty of guilt over being a neglectful plant mom. dense potting soil, mold, lack of enough sunlight, overwatering when wrongly guessing on weather patterns, and simple lack of attention resulted in the poor showing i got this year. i planted a new tray of mostly tomatoes last week, but that one doesnt look that promising either. its hard being rootless and away, and trying to raise up a garden. i may have to buy seedlings at a farm or something. we'll see. anyway. i hope at least the garden peach seeds come up. they are my favorite.
this morning i watched a groundhog eating the tall dandelion stems in the yard. now i know why they're called hogs. that guy ate like a little oinky pig. it was super cute. he was smart to be in our yard. my parents had a fully disturbed dirt yard after building a new house about 5 years ago. they never planted grass, so our yard is all weeds and grass that came in on its own. a lot of wonderful weeds. the groundhog was wiser than i- i wish i collected a bunch of dandelion leaves to eat before my dad mowed this afternoon. i did, however, get to collect a bunch of wild mint leaves, which are drying in my room. i'm planning to smoke them. i haven't smoked cigarettes in about 3 weeks, but i've gone that distance and way more before. i like smoking, i just hate how it makes me feel. so, i'm drying the mint to roll into cigarette papers, for a harmless smoke. mullein and sage are also good herbs for smoking. smoking mullein can actually help reverse lung damage from smoking cigarettes, and can help with asthma and bronchitis. sweet. i haven't seen any mullein growing in this yard, though i do know where i've seen it in past years, so i'll probably bring that into my new smoking habit soon, too. you can smoke most dried leaves, so i may experiment with different blends in the future. for now i'm into the wild mint. i bruised a few leaves and enjoyed them in my sparkling red wine. yum.
i've started carrying a bag in my back pocket for foraging. this encourages me to actually do it more, instead of making mental maps of where i see edible things i recognize. i'd like to go on a weed walk soon, with the Wildman. i went once, when i was ten or so. i think i'd get much more out of it now. also, i'm ordering these books by Samuel Thayer.
i want to start using road kill, not to eat. for craft. preparing small leathers or furs and burying their remains into the soil appeals to me more than to see them decay on the asphalt. this has been a goal for awhile and i'm only baby steps closer. on one drive back from baltimore i kept thinking about stopping for the next big dead bird i found. i always think about doing that while i'm driving, but i'm usually going so fast on the highway that its hard to decide to stop and act with the right timing before it just seems like a silly thing to do. so, but this time, i was prepared. right before i found the big, dead, turkey vulture, i knew i was about to find it. i felt it about to happen, so i actually slowed the car a little before i found it, and pulled over not 20 yards past.
from the safety of my moving vehicle, it seemed like an easy task- go collect feathers! not so, my friend. those feathers don't just pop off their wings. this great bird had to be a recent kill. i had a feeling if i laid my hands on its body, it would have a trace of warmth. i didn't. i was afraid of bugs and bird disease. i pick up feathers all the time, mind you. off of any ground. city, forest, chicken coop. i have hundreds of feathers on my craft desk. but i was spooked a bit. i tugged on some of the outer feathers to no avail. i realized i would need tools in the future, to do this seriously. plastic gloves, for sure. ziplock bags. scissors, perhaps, maybe. this time, i collected a few of the loose feathers that were around it, moved the body from the asphalt to the grass, and gave thanks. the feathers i kept had tiny mites on them. i shook them off and wrapped them in a plastic shopping bag from the floor in my car. i washed them in soap and water when i got home. three very long, brown, striped feathers, and a tiny one.
the other baby step is that i've got an email address for an artist who i know through 2 degrees of separation, who uses furs from roadkill in her work. i'm not exactly sure what to ask her, yet. i'm sure i'll figure that out soon.
anyway. happy spring. eat it all! ramps, field onions, violets, and dandelions!
<3jacqueline p.s. here's a great post on digging up dandelion roots and making dandelion coffee. (what in the wild?!)
this morning i watched a groundhog eating the tall dandelion stems in the yard. now i know why they're called hogs. that guy ate like a little oinky pig. it was super cute. he was smart to be in our yard. my parents had a fully disturbed dirt yard after building a new house about 5 years ago. they never planted grass, so our yard is all weeds and grass that came in on its own. a lot of wonderful weeds. the groundhog was wiser than i- i wish i collected a bunch of dandelion leaves to eat before my dad mowed this afternoon. i did, however, get to collect a bunch of wild mint leaves, which are drying in my room. i'm planning to smoke them. i haven't smoked cigarettes in about 3 weeks, but i've gone that distance and way more before. i like smoking, i just hate how it makes me feel. so, i'm drying the mint to roll into cigarette papers, for a harmless smoke. mullein and sage are also good herbs for smoking. smoking mullein can actually help reverse lung damage from smoking cigarettes, and can help with asthma and bronchitis. sweet. i haven't seen any mullein growing in this yard, though i do know where i've seen it in past years, so i'll probably bring that into my new smoking habit soon, too. you can smoke most dried leaves, so i may experiment with different blends in the future. for now i'm into the wild mint. i bruised a few leaves and enjoyed them in my sparkling red wine. yum.
i've started carrying a bag in my back pocket for foraging. this encourages me to actually do it more, instead of making mental maps of where i see edible things i recognize. i'd like to go on a weed walk soon, with the Wildman. i went once, when i was ten or so. i think i'd get much more out of it now. also, i'm ordering these books by Samuel Thayer.
i want to start using road kill, not to eat. for craft. preparing small leathers or furs and burying their remains into the soil appeals to me more than to see them decay on the asphalt. this has been a goal for awhile and i'm only baby steps closer. on one drive back from baltimore i kept thinking about stopping for the next big dead bird i found. i always think about doing that while i'm driving, but i'm usually going so fast on the highway that its hard to decide to stop and act with the right timing before it just seems like a silly thing to do. so, but this time, i was prepared. right before i found the big, dead, turkey vulture, i knew i was about to find it. i felt it about to happen, so i actually slowed the car a little before i found it, and pulled over not 20 yards past.
from the safety of my moving vehicle, it seemed like an easy task- go collect feathers! not so, my friend. those feathers don't just pop off their wings. this great bird had to be a recent kill. i had a feeling if i laid my hands on its body, it would have a trace of warmth. i didn't. i was afraid of bugs and bird disease. i pick up feathers all the time, mind you. off of any ground. city, forest, chicken coop. i have hundreds of feathers on my craft desk. but i was spooked a bit. i tugged on some of the outer feathers to no avail. i realized i would need tools in the future, to do this seriously. plastic gloves, for sure. ziplock bags. scissors, perhaps, maybe. this time, i collected a few of the loose feathers that were around it, moved the body from the asphalt to the grass, and gave thanks. the feathers i kept had tiny mites on them. i shook them off and wrapped them in a plastic shopping bag from the floor in my car. i washed them in soap and water when i got home. three very long, brown, striped feathers, and a tiny one.
the other baby step is that i've got an email address for an artist who i know through 2 degrees of separation, who uses furs from roadkill in her work. i'm not exactly sure what to ask her, yet. i'm sure i'll figure that out soon.
anyway. happy spring. eat it all! ramps, field onions, violets, and dandelions!
<3jacqueline p.s. here's a great post on digging up dandelion roots and making dandelion coffee. (what in the wild?!)
29.4.10
april showers of love
the internet is a crazy place. humans are so interesting and complex. and boring, too. there is such a vast amount of information, colors, ideas, links and connections... somehow we navigate, and each follow some unique path. here are some sights along the way i'd love to share:
my house, by leriverrose
chocolate, oh chocolate. chocolovely love. by now, most people are aware of the beautiful, health-giving properties of this super, indeed, food. cacao, itself, is good for the heart/blood/vessels, is high in antioxidants, has magnesium, iron, and phosphorous, regulates insulin levels, can inhibit cancer growth, and on and on... blah... SO GOOD! EAT YOUR CHOCOLATE!
but wait---- what's in your chocolate? refined sugar? buttermilk solids? soy lecithin? how much chocolate is in your chocolate?
try to eat the darkest chocolate you can find, with the highest quality ingredients. here, i've found it: gnosis chocolate a RAW food chocolate of superior ingredients, chosen carefully by vanessa barg to be the most healthful ingredients, acquired in the most ethical way.
i just received my case of supercounselor bars which are jam-packed with super super foods. tulsi (holy basil) cat's claw, ashwaganda, reishi mushrooms... its a crazy amzing thing. and its delicious. silky and satisfying. i'm going to give them out to some moms i know, for a certain, arbitrary, spring holiday that's on its way.
ps-peep the chocoblog
Delaware Phoenix Absinthe.... i read about this in the recent
edible hudson valley (click and fing the Edible for your community! full of info on farms, restaurants, and other slow-food style projects in your area)...
delaware phoenix absinthe sounds like a beautiful beverage. the second of two versions, "meadow of love" is distilled as such: "The core six herbs are grand wormwood, anise, fennel, roman wormwood, hyssop, and lemon balm in different proportions than the Walton Waters. The seventh herb is violet." (walton waters is the other, more traditional of the two absinthe varieties available. for now, these elixirs are only available locally in NY's hudson valley and some places in NYC (see the website for details) but online ordering seems to be coming soon. I'm going up to Rhinebeck, NY to purchase some. *edit:demand is high, supply is low. still waiting for my taste... artisan wine shop in beacon, ny, will be carrying it in a week or two. i'm excited. now, i'm looking into home-distilling...
erin gleeson keeps a wonderful blog, Let's Be Self-Sufficient, where she has been detailing her backyard chicken coop, home-brewing gluten-free beer (!), making soap, and other such forays. she's supercute and funny, to boot. check it!
much love.
p.s. its prime time for preparing dandelion wine
my house, by leriverrosechocolate, oh chocolate. chocolovely love. by now, most people are aware of the beautiful, health-giving properties of this super, indeed, food. cacao, itself, is good for the heart/blood/vessels, is high in antioxidants, has magnesium, iron, and phosphorous, regulates insulin levels, can inhibit cancer growth, and on and on... blah... SO GOOD! EAT YOUR CHOCOLATE!
but wait---- what's in your chocolate? refined sugar? buttermilk solids? soy lecithin? how much chocolate is in your chocolate?
try to eat the darkest chocolate you can find, with the highest quality ingredients. here, i've found it: gnosis chocolate a RAW food chocolate of superior ingredients, chosen carefully by vanessa barg to be the most healthful ingredients, acquired in the most ethical way.
i just received my case of supercounselor bars which are jam-packed with super super foods. tulsi (holy basil) cat's claw, ashwaganda, reishi mushrooms... its a crazy amzing thing. and its delicious. silky and satisfying. i'm going to give them out to some moms i know, for a certain, arbitrary, spring holiday that's on its way.
ps-peep the chocoblog
Delaware Phoenix Absinthe.... i read about this in the recent
edible hudson valley (click and fing the Edible for your community! full of info on farms, restaurants, and other slow-food style projects in your area)... delaware phoenix absinthe sounds like a beautiful beverage. the second of two versions, "meadow of love" is distilled as such: "The core six herbs are grand wormwood, anise, fennel, roman wormwood, hyssop, and lemon balm in different proportions than the Walton Waters. The seventh herb is violet." (walton waters is the other, more traditional of the two absinthe varieties available. for now, these elixirs are only available locally in NY's hudson valley and some places in NYC (see the website for details) but online ordering seems to be coming soon. I'm going up to Rhinebeck, NY to purchase some. *edit:demand is high, supply is low. still waiting for my taste... artisan wine shop in beacon, ny, will be carrying it in a week or two. i'm excited. now, i'm looking into home-distilling...
erin gleeson keeps a wonderful blog, Let's Be Self-Sufficient, where she has been detailing her backyard chicken coop, home-brewing gluten-free beer (!), making soap, and other such forays. she's supercute and funny, to boot. check it!
much love.
p.s. its prime time for preparing dandelion wine
27.3.10
sprouted quinoa with ume vinegar, nori, apple, avocado, white radish, leek, dulce, and spring garden greens:mint, arugula, basil, shiso, cilantro, chives....
plus a nasturtium for *zing*
and BAM
sprouted quinoa nori maki
a most delicious meal. raw, vegan, gluten-free, + yum.
the quinoa needs to be sprouted before hand, +everything else is good to go.
18.2.10
february slush and starch
i've been eating a lot of gluten-free bagels lately. comfort food. i'm so ready for this winter to be finished!!!
note- this post puts my scattered brain on display.
today i bought smoked sea salt! i'm excited about it. have you tried it? i've never even heard of it, but my local health food store has a wonderful bulk section and so i happened upon it- between the pink himalayan salt, and black volcanic salt. the last time i bought pink salt, it was a long while ago, to put on vegan chocolate truffles. salt + chocolate... yum.
i'm trying to circumnavigate the winter blues- i'm always trying. for my birthday instead of gifts or flowers or anything like that, my mom got me supplements. whew. after researching (very important book and some important health-related websites from which you can search articles on specific ailments gary null, weston a. price, dr.Mercola --- you may find conflicting advice between these sites, as these are all boundary-pushing medical and nutrional experts. practice due diligence and trust your instincts.) i'm taking holy basil, a liquid D3 vitamin, iron, B complex, Essential Fatty Acids, and magnesium. apparently magnesium is really important in depression. I got my supplements from quantum nutrition labs" who make very high quality products.
a bunch of these supplements are liquids. if you take liquid supplements, first see if they can be mixed with other things. if so, a smoothie is certainly the way to go. the EFA's i'm taking are impossible for me to swallow on a spoon. today i made a smoothie with:
* all my liquid supplements
* frozen dark cherries
* banana
* flax
* chia seeds
* maca powder
* a splash of coconut milk
* cranberry juice to cover
* almonds
* dried hibiscus
it was delicious. now i have no excuse not to finish cleaning and rearranging my room, or to deal with my hair emergency.... (i was going for platinum and accidentally turned it blue...)
i'm scattered mentally, physically and psychically right now. 3 days a week i work in the city, 3 days i'm at my folks (1.5 hours away from nyc), 1 day i'm confused about where i'm sleeping.... so there's that. there's my winter blues to contend with. i want to share with you my favorite foods, but i'm not eating them right now! most days, i'm eating bananas+dried fruit+nuts or g-f bagels or toast with coconut oil in the morning, with coffee! i eat jalepeno potato chips and a v-8 on the train, and i snack on fruits and nuts all day. today i had french fries. the other night a weird lentil soup at an italian place while all my cousins ate pizza... sushi 2 or 3 times last week. i'm just not that creative at eating right now. but i think its coming soon! i've got an income now, and the supplements should help. so. see you soon! with lovely food!
<3
note- this post puts my scattered brain on display.
today i bought smoked sea salt! i'm excited about it. have you tried it? i've never even heard of it, but my local health food store has a wonderful bulk section and so i happened upon it- between the pink himalayan salt, and black volcanic salt. the last time i bought pink salt, it was a long while ago, to put on vegan chocolate truffles. salt + chocolate... yum.
i'm trying to circumnavigate the winter blues- i'm always trying. for my birthday instead of gifts or flowers or anything like that, my mom got me supplements. whew. after researching (very important book and some important health-related websites from which you can search articles on specific ailments gary null, weston a. price, dr.Mercola --- you may find conflicting advice between these sites, as these are all boundary-pushing medical and nutrional experts. practice due diligence and trust your instincts.) i'm taking holy basil, a liquid D3 vitamin, iron, B complex, Essential Fatty Acids, and magnesium. apparently magnesium is really important in depression. I got my supplements from quantum nutrition labs" who make very high quality products.
a bunch of these supplements are liquids. if you take liquid supplements, first see if they can be mixed with other things. if so, a smoothie is certainly the way to go. the EFA's i'm taking are impossible for me to swallow on a spoon. today i made a smoothie with:
* all my liquid supplements
* frozen dark cherries
* banana
* flax
* chia seeds
* maca powder
* a splash of coconut milk
* cranberry juice to cover
* almonds
* dried hibiscus
it was delicious. now i have no excuse not to finish cleaning and rearranging my room, or to deal with my hair emergency.... (i was going for platinum and accidentally turned it blue...)
i'm scattered mentally, physically and psychically right now. 3 days a week i work in the city, 3 days i'm at my folks (1.5 hours away from nyc), 1 day i'm confused about where i'm sleeping.... so there's that. there's my winter blues to contend with. i want to share with you my favorite foods, but i'm not eating them right now! most days, i'm eating bananas+dried fruit+nuts or g-f bagels or toast with coconut oil in the morning, with coffee! i eat jalepeno potato chips and a v-8 on the train, and i snack on fruits and nuts all day. today i had french fries. the other night a weird lentil soup at an italian place while all my cousins ate pizza... sushi 2 or 3 times last week. i'm just not that creative at eating right now. but i think its coming soon! i've got an income now, and the supplements should help. so. see you soon! with lovely food!
<3
4.2.10
a midwinter night's dream
this is a glimpse of a summertime spread. i worked at this farm for 2 spring months months, and would go back every couple of weeks and harvest summer groceries. mmm. plus eggs with bright, orangey yolks, and bouquets of flowers for the house. good times.
this winter has been full of starchy, sticky foods, for me. this picture is to help me remember what i love about food! soon it will be growing season and i will quit this hibernation diet.
28.1.10
food love; origins and the way i do.
i absolutely love food and derive so much pleasure from it! people are skeptical of this sometimes, given the current state of the (aptly acronymed) Standard American Diet and my deviation from it. since this is my first post here, i'll let you know what you can expect here. also, i'm going to talk about how i got to this point and who i am as an experiencer of foods. get ready, it's a long story.
After a 5-month kidney problem (at age 24, my second kidney stones, which became impacted, blocking the flow of urine from my left kidney, causing back-up and kidney failure and damage) resulting in sepsis, rheumatic fever, and sugery, i never wanted to feel so sick again. i was raised to be skeptical of western medical practices, but i keep an open mind. through this ordeal my distrust was reaffirmed as i cycled through the horrors of the health care options available to an uninsured person. i realized that it was in my hands to find ways to keep myself healthy.
ok, you got me, i already had an alternative health bent, being a licensed massage therapist, and growing up with a mother who is a nurse as well as a practitioner of various holistic health modalities. i always knew about nutrition as medicine, and i ate healthfully, i thought.
after the surgery, i was ill and bed-bound for about a week with the after-effects of the anesthesia. my mom made an appointment for me to see this woman, nolini, who was visiting her yoga studio from new mexico. nolini did this intense bodywork/breathwork/meditation thing- i've never experienced anything else like it. for about an hour, i breathed the deepest, most forceful breaths that i could, while nolini chanted, stimulated lymph nodes and energetic points in my body, shook rattles, used lights and prayers all around me. it was spacey, cosmic, and healing. that session definitely exorcised the lingering cloudiness i'd been stuck in, and when it was over, there was more. she asked me about my diet. through muscle testing, nolini told me my body would prefer if i would cease to feed it gluten, dairy, and sugar. whoa! she said, try it for a week. ok.
at this point, i had felt such extreme pain in my body during the 5 months when i was so sick, that all i wanted was to feel good, better than i ever had, and i was willing. i had already given up meat, once as a teenager for about 6 years, and again a few months before this. so i figured, i was up for the challenge.
it was halloween the day after i began. Halloween! there was candy all over the place! but i had made a commitment to myself, and i stuck with it. before the week was over, i had an appointment with Dr.J, an ayurvedic doctor who had helped me with some extreme depression a few years prior. Dr.J recommended the exact same changes that nolini had. well, the gluten and dairy, and he had a list of vegetables that i shouldn't consume in excess, because of calcium oxolates which may contribute to more kidney stone formation. and he said i should never eat meat or fish or high protein meals late in the day.
that first week wasn't easy. i could no longer go to any old restaurant, or eat things that had been staples, like cereal and sandwhiches... i ate a ton of potatoes in the beginning. like, multiple times a day. and i was terribly constiptated at first.
but when that week was over, i knew. i knew i was beginning a new chapter of health and well-being in my life. before ten days had passed, i noticed new levels of energy, glowing skin, and this feeling in my lungs, like i had an extra 3 inches to breathe in... it was glorious. i grew up with asthma and allergies. i was always sick as a kid, and i got used to a certain level of illness, believing it was normal, or the way i was supposed to feel. i never knew how good it *could* be, until this change. within the first 6 months, i had easily dropped about 30 lbs. after three more, about 30 more. it wasn't even work! it was the cherry on top!
before:
after:
i must say now, my own words are motivating me. i remember how that felt. at my lowest weight i still had excess to lose, and i thought it would be easy. i've since become a bit more lenient than i was that first year. i don't pay as much attention to the sugar restriction. and i occasionally eat chocolate that i suspect has dairy products in it. i'm close to militant about wheat, but i've allowed a few glutenous things like barley to pass through my lips a few times. that first year, i did yoga regularly and i had very physically demanding jobs. after that year, i moved to baltimore, reduced my physical activity to dancing at parties, and i started drinking a lot more alcohol than i had been. i've gained back probably 15 or so of the pounds i originally lost (nearly 3 years later) and i'd like to go back down, and pass my old lowest weight on the way to my ideal weight.
anyway. changing my eating habits changed my life. i became enamoured with vegetables, which led me to apprentice on an organic farm. what an amazing experience, watching thousands of tiny seeds grow, magically, into vegetables... and learning about vegetable origins and cultivation techniques... my brain was completely cracked open and i felt more empowered with this knowledge than anything i'd ever learned before, besides, maybe reading. it was almost a spiritual awakening. this first experience led me to an obsessive gathering of seeds, planting over 200 seedlings in baltimore for myself and others, my first ever container garden, and traveling some of this enormous country through WWOOF.... i worked on 4 or 5 farms on that trip, and went as far south as miami, and as far west (from the east coast) as chicago. lucky me!!! i'm sure this new part of me will continue to lead my life in interesting directions.
i've dabbled in eating raw. there are a lot of things i love that, raw, don't suit my kidney issues. for instance, dark, leafy greens hold a ton of calicium oxolates unless they are cooked down. weird, right? when else are you told to cook the hell out of greens? but i'm inspired by raw cuisine and DO think most of us should be consuming a much higher percentage of raw foods.
i've cut out almost all processed foods, and process my own meals from whole ingredients. some exceptions are nut milks (i make my own when i'm motivated to) and occasional gluten-free baked items (though i don't prefer to eat this way, its more of a comfort food thing i've recently picked up. may be a problem)i think grains should be very limited, and ideally all consumed grains will be of the very dark variety (black, purple, or wild rice, red quinoa... )
while i don't eat meat or poultry, i do eat fish and eggs when i feel like it. poultry and meat are not at all appetizing for me (except for bacon, but i control the temptation) nor do i condone the industry. I don't condone large-scale fishing or mainstream egg production, either. my deciding to eat eggs again came from working with pastured laying hens and appreciating the rich, golden yolks they made. i was hooked. fish, well, i have a (possibly abnormal, definitely extreme) association with the ocean. maybe i was a coastal fisher in a past life. maybe i was a mermaid. i'm not sure. but i derive so much pleasure from seafood, that it feels unhealthy to restrict my consumption. that said, i avoid fish with high mercury content which also tend to be large and over-fished and whose catching threatens dolphins, so that works... i try to eat fresh, locally-caught fish wherever i am, and my consumption averages once a week or less.
ethically, i oppose consumption of animal products. health-wise, i believe every body is different and some people may need this type of protein. i'm undecided on it, though. for me, i know less is better.
oh! AND- i'm totally NOT down with the high consumption of soy products. i don't think there's anything wrong with a little tofu here and there, but i've known former dairy-consumers who replace the 6 to 8 glasses of milk they were brought up to believe they should drink with soy milk, their butter with "earth" or "smart" spreads, their meat with soy-meat, etc and on... i do not condone this style of change. i believe soy should be consumed in extreme moderation, if at all, and vegetables and fruit should take center stage in a healthy way of eating.
anyway. so, that's how i eat. no gluten or dairy, low on refined forms of sugar, up with whole food ingredients, down with packaged processed foods, down with any product ingredients i can't identify. up with veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds.
and way way up with delicious!!! it *was* a struggle at first, but it has become such a pleasure to eat this way. also, the more i learn, the more i can actually live by the hippocratic ideal "let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food."
coming attractions:
raw chocolate-creme pie for 4th of july:
raw, sprouted-quinoa nori-maki:
most, if not all, of the recipes i share will be vegan, gluten free, and sugar free. many will be raw. i will probably create a future post about sweeteners, but i will say now that agave nectar and stevia are superstars for a sweet tooth with a sugar problem.
i've been learning more and more about herbs, foraging, correcting imbalances and dis-ease through nutrition, and on... these gleanings, as well as delicious recipes and musings of food experiences, are what i would like to share with you, my dear reader. and i hope you will share your experience and knowlege with me, in turn. so, begins this journey!
After a 5-month kidney problem (at age 24, my second kidney stones, which became impacted, blocking the flow of urine from my left kidney, causing back-up and kidney failure and damage) resulting in sepsis, rheumatic fever, and sugery, i never wanted to feel so sick again. i was raised to be skeptical of western medical practices, but i keep an open mind. through this ordeal my distrust was reaffirmed as i cycled through the horrors of the health care options available to an uninsured person. i realized that it was in my hands to find ways to keep myself healthy.
ok, you got me, i already had an alternative health bent, being a licensed massage therapist, and growing up with a mother who is a nurse as well as a practitioner of various holistic health modalities. i always knew about nutrition as medicine, and i ate healthfully, i thought.
after the surgery, i was ill and bed-bound for about a week with the after-effects of the anesthesia. my mom made an appointment for me to see this woman, nolini, who was visiting her yoga studio from new mexico. nolini did this intense bodywork/breathwork/meditation thing- i've never experienced anything else like it. for about an hour, i breathed the deepest, most forceful breaths that i could, while nolini chanted, stimulated lymph nodes and energetic points in my body, shook rattles, used lights and prayers all around me. it was spacey, cosmic, and healing. that session definitely exorcised the lingering cloudiness i'd been stuck in, and when it was over, there was more. she asked me about my diet. through muscle testing, nolini told me my body would prefer if i would cease to feed it gluten, dairy, and sugar. whoa! she said, try it for a week. ok.
at this point, i had felt such extreme pain in my body during the 5 months when i was so sick, that all i wanted was to feel good, better than i ever had, and i was willing. i had already given up meat, once as a teenager for about 6 years, and again a few months before this. so i figured, i was up for the challenge.
it was halloween the day after i began. Halloween! there was candy all over the place! but i had made a commitment to myself, and i stuck with it. before the week was over, i had an appointment with Dr.J, an ayurvedic doctor who had helped me with some extreme depression a few years prior. Dr.J recommended the exact same changes that nolini had. well, the gluten and dairy, and he had a list of vegetables that i shouldn't consume in excess, because of calcium oxolates which may contribute to more kidney stone formation. and he said i should never eat meat or fish or high protein meals late in the day.
that first week wasn't easy. i could no longer go to any old restaurant, or eat things that had been staples, like cereal and sandwhiches... i ate a ton of potatoes in the beginning. like, multiple times a day. and i was terribly constiptated at first.
but when that week was over, i knew. i knew i was beginning a new chapter of health and well-being in my life. before ten days had passed, i noticed new levels of energy, glowing skin, and this feeling in my lungs, like i had an extra 3 inches to breathe in... it was glorious. i grew up with asthma and allergies. i was always sick as a kid, and i got used to a certain level of illness, believing it was normal, or the way i was supposed to feel. i never knew how good it *could* be, until this change. within the first 6 months, i had easily dropped about 30 lbs. after three more, about 30 more. it wasn't even work! it was the cherry on top!
before:
after:
i must say now, my own words are motivating me. i remember how that felt. at my lowest weight i still had excess to lose, and i thought it would be easy. i've since become a bit more lenient than i was that first year. i don't pay as much attention to the sugar restriction. and i occasionally eat chocolate that i suspect has dairy products in it. i'm close to militant about wheat, but i've allowed a few glutenous things like barley to pass through my lips a few times. that first year, i did yoga regularly and i had very physically demanding jobs. after that year, i moved to baltimore, reduced my physical activity to dancing at parties, and i started drinking a lot more alcohol than i had been. i've gained back probably 15 or so of the pounds i originally lost (nearly 3 years later) and i'd like to go back down, and pass my old lowest weight on the way to my ideal weight.
anyway. changing my eating habits changed my life. i became enamoured with vegetables, which led me to apprentice on an organic farm. what an amazing experience, watching thousands of tiny seeds grow, magically, into vegetables... and learning about vegetable origins and cultivation techniques... my brain was completely cracked open and i felt more empowered with this knowledge than anything i'd ever learned before, besides, maybe reading. it was almost a spiritual awakening. this first experience led me to an obsessive gathering of seeds, planting over 200 seedlings in baltimore for myself and others, my first ever container garden, and traveling some of this enormous country through WWOOF.... i worked on 4 or 5 farms on that trip, and went as far south as miami, and as far west (from the east coast) as chicago. lucky me!!! i'm sure this new part of me will continue to lead my life in interesting directions.
i've dabbled in eating raw. there are a lot of things i love that, raw, don't suit my kidney issues. for instance, dark, leafy greens hold a ton of calicium oxolates unless they are cooked down. weird, right? when else are you told to cook the hell out of greens? but i'm inspired by raw cuisine and DO think most of us should be consuming a much higher percentage of raw foods.
i've cut out almost all processed foods, and process my own meals from whole ingredients. some exceptions are nut milks (i make my own when i'm motivated to) and occasional gluten-free baked items (though i don't prefer to eat this way, its more of a comfort food thing i've recently picked up. may be a problem)i think grains should be very limited, and ideally all consumed grains will be of the very dark variety (black, purple, or wild rice, red quinoa... )
while i don't eat meat or poultry, i do eat fish and eggs when i feel like it. poultry and meat are not at all appetizing for me (except for bacon, but i control the temptation) nor do i condone the industry. I don't condone large-scale fishing or mainstream egg production, either. my deciding to eat eggs again came from working with pastured laying hens and appreciating the rich, golden yolks they made. i was hooked. fish, well, i have a (possibly abnormal, definitely extreme) association with the ocean. maybe i was a coastal fisher in a past life. maybe i was a mermaid. i'm not sure. but i derive so much pleasure from seafood, that it feels unhealthy to restrict my consumption. that said, i avoid fish with high mercury content which also tend to be large and over-fished and whose catching threatens dolphins, so that works... i try to eat fresh, locally-caught fish wherever i am, and my consumption averages once a week or less.
ethically, i oppose consumption of animal products. health-wise, i believe every body is different and some people may need this type of protein. i'm undecided on it, though. for me, i know less is better.
oh! AND- i'm totally NOT down with the high consumption of soy products. i don't think there's anything wrong with a little tofu here and there, but i've known former dairy-consumers who replace the 6 to 8 glasses of milk they were brought up to believe they should drink with soy milk, their butter with "earth" or "smart" spreads, their meat with soy-meat, etc and on... i do not condone this style of change. i believe soy should be consumed in extreme moderation, if at all, and vegetables and fruit should take center stage in a healthy way of eating.
anyway. so, that's how i eat. no gluten or dairy, low on refined forms of sugar, up with whole food ingredients, down with packaged processed foods, down with any product ingredients i can't identify. up with veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds.
and way way up with delicious!!! it *was* a struggle at first, but it has become such a pleasure to eat this way. also, the more i learn, the more i can actually live by the hippocratic ideal "let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food."
coming attractions:
raw chocolate-creme pie for 4th of july:
raw, sprouted-quinoa nori-maki:
most, if not all, of the recipes i share will be vegan, gluten free, and sugar free. many will be raw. i will probably create a future post about sweeteners, but i will say now that agave nectar and stevia are superstars for a sweet tooth with a sugar problem.
i've been learning more and more about herbs, foraging, correcting imbalances and dis-ease through nutrition, and on... these gleanings, as well as delicious recipes and musings of food experiences, are what i would like to share with you, my dear reader. and i hope you will share your experience and knowlege with me, in turn. so, begins this journey!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)