Mindful Girl Blog
August 30, 2010
Our conscious food expert, Randy Rabney, shares with us her pantry full of secrets to quick, great tasting, yet healthy food. Learn more about Randy at http://www.theconsciousplate.com
By Randy Rabney
“I feel a recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation.” ~ Madame Benoit
I often teach about the importance of keeping your house stocked with herbs, spices, condiments and basic food items so that you can make great tasting healthy food on a regular basis. Sometimes, when I tell this to people, they seem confused. They don’t know where to begin and ask for examples.
Today, I am going to share with you some of the things that I always keep on hand to make my food taste great and to make a quick meal from ingredients in my kitchen. Remember, this is my list and I created it based upon what I enjoy eating. You can use this as a guide, but your list should be created based upon what you enjoy.
If you’re ready, here’s a peek inside my refrigerator, freezer and pantry.
• Dijon mustard
• Hot sauce
• Shoyu or tamari (Good Quality Soy Sauce)
• Toasted sesame oil
• Gamasio (a blend of sesame seeds and seaweed)
• Organic apple juice (I use it for a sweet element in cooking)
• Organic raw honey, if you can get local even better
• Real maple syrup
• Good Quality Butter (unsalted is best for cooking)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Brown Rice Vinegar
• Herbs de Provence
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Cinnamon
• Dried Basil
• Sea Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Vanilla Extract
• Mellow white miso
• Onions and Garlic
• Carrots
• Lemon
• Lime Organic
• Whole wheat, spelt and or corn tortillas
• Organic Eggs
• Organic Milk
• Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• Organic Cheddar, usually raw
• Frozen organic spinach
• Frozen organic peas
• Whole wheat pasta
• Soba noodles
• Quinoa
• Various types of nuts
• Various Sea Vegetables
• Dried Lentils
• Canned Organic White Beans
• Canned Organic Chick Peas
• Canned Organic Refried Beans
• Some type of tomato product
Special extras: White truffle oil and Saba
These are the things that are my staples. They allow me to cook quickly and add flavor to my food. As I begin to run low on these items, I replace them. Having these things in my home forms the foundation for fast, healthy and DELICIOUS meals. I encourage you to create your list and stock your home so that you too are ready to cook well.
If you want help creating your list or want to learn more about my list, contact me at Randy@TheConsciousplate.com.
August 24, 2010
Don’t you love it when science proves what people have been sharing anecdotally for years?
This week, Science Daily published a report on a study out of Boston University School of Medicine which claims “an association between yoga postures, increased GABA levels and decreased anxiety.” Basically, a regular yoga practice can shift your mood. In fact, the study says, yoga might be even more powerful than regular exercise.
More than a little part of me gets this school-girl obnoxious feeling inside when I see stories like this in the mainstream media. I almost want to put my hands on my hips and sing, “Nyah, nyah, I told you so.” The more beneficent side of me is just thrilled that this information will hopefully be passed along to the Average Joe and Jane…accepted and shared in therapist’s and doctor’s offices.
The purely optimistic side of me wants to xerox the study and hand it over to the local department of health so we can apply for a grant and get yoga in our schools.
Who wants to take that on? I’m ready to appoint some volunteers.
August 17, 2010
The question I get asked most often as founder of Mindful Living NJ is:
“Do you know a holistic…
MD? OB? Dermatologist? Dentist? Pediatrician?”
The follow up question to that is: Do they take insurance?
We know many holistic health and wellness practitioners in this great state, and we’re happy to refer you to them. (We also love www.wellnesspossibilities.com a web site directory populated with a lot of NJ wellness practitioners.)
And while we do know a handful of conventional physicians (MDs or DOs) who take a holistic-approach to practicing medicine, we’re sad to report that the list is too short for our liking. How do we build that list? With your help.
Mindful Living NJ wants to hear about your doctor. The seemingly conventional MD who takes a holistic approach to your health. Whether he or she allows alternative vaccination schedules, or is extraordinarily supportive of VBAC, or encourages you to wait out a cold rather than medicate it. Does your doctor use alternative forms of diagnostic tools? Unconventional blood tests or saliva testing? Is your doctor specialized in caring for chronic illness from a holistic approach, such as approaching ADHD and autism through diet or environmental causes?
If you are currently working with an MD who takes a holistic approach to your wellness, please let us know.
Email the following to info@mindfullivingnj.com. In the subject line write MY MINDFUL DOCTOR.
Your Name:
Your Doctor’s Name:
Your Doctor’s Specialty (ie. OB, Primary Care, Pediatrics):
City Your Doctor Practices In:
Contact Info for Your Doctor
Does Your Doctor Take Insurance:
Why Your Doctor Is Holistic:
August 10, 2010
By Jen Maidenberg
You wake up. You get dressed. You take your coffee or tea. You eat breakfast. You prepare to set out. You map out the route or you grab your GPS to do the mapping for you.
You’ve planned your day. You know what’s ahead of you.
And then you don’t.
What happened?
You wrote the directions down wrong. The GPS battery died and your forgot the charger. You made a wrong turn. An accident caused a back up. The train broke down. There was a roadblock or a detour.
Yes, that’s what happened. But none of that truly matters, does it?
Seriously, pause and think about it. When all is said and done, and you finally arrive at your destination (whether that destination is the same or different from the one you anticipated), what really matters?
I suggest that what’s real is who you choose to be in the face of road blocks, traffic, and wrong turns.
Do you get to be angry? Or accusatory? Or self-doubting?
Or do you get to be graceful? Forgiving? Accepting?
I got to experience the often frustrating, yet valuable upset that is life while driving in my car this morning. Looking back on my morning, it’s easy to laugh at the real-time metaphors that kept cropping up. It wasn’t so easy at the time, though.
This morning, I had every intention of meeting up with my friend Kathy Smyly Miller of Wellness Possibilities to try out a new fitness/self-improvement program called IntenSati. Knowing I had about a 40 minute drive ahead of me and knowing it would be rush hour traffic, I got into my car with a plan…and plenty of time to spare.
I’m tempted to give you a play by play of my morning. How, beginning with writing down the directions, every wrong turn just led to another one. How I encountered every man-made and natural diversion known to man while trying to make my way to Kathy. Wrong turns, traffic, accidents, slow moving grandma traffic, construction, detours, you name it. Not to mention, I had no gas, no cash, no map (or GPS), and a very full bladder. It sounds like bad planning, I know. Which is even worse for someone who prides herself on being a planner.
I kept telling myself to breathe. I reminded myself of all the tools I have to keep calm. And yet I still succumbed to the upset. I cursed. I cried. I made myself wrong. I replayed over and over again all the mistakes I made that got me into this situation.
Until I finally got to Kathy. I made it. An hour late and about 40 miles from my original destination, I found myself.
Yes, lucky for me, I had a very patient and loving friend waiting for me on the other end. Every step of the way, Kathy gracefully changed directions and altered her own plans to adjust for what life was throwing at me that morning. I joked with her when we finally (FINALLY) met up at a diner in Summit: “You were an unknowing participant in a life lesson for me this morning. I’m treating you to breakfast.”
Within ten minutes of chatting, the upset magically disappeared. From that vantage point, I could finally see what I did right that morning.
I acted with integrity (I called Kathy to let her know what was going on.)
I asked for help (In the absence of maps, I called my husband to help me navigate the way.)
I asked for forgiveness. And I quickly let go.
I was able to laugh at myself. I was able to acknowledge the Universe for knowing that sometimes it’s the “wrong turns” and “roadblocks” that get you where you need to go and show you who you get to be.
July 29, 2010
Mindful Girl welcomes to the blog Jennifer Chaky, owner of Montclair’s eco-store, Go Lightly. Through her store and workshops, she is dedicated to bringing about the Green Revolution and spreading the love of life and planet!
By Jennifer Chaky
As I walk and bike all over town, I hear central A/C units cranking all day in huge 3,000-square-foot homes whose owners aren’t even home during the day. I asked one such homeowner why they keep the a/c on even when they are not home and they told me it’s so the house is cool when they get home. I can’t help but wonder what becoming a society that cannot tolerate being uncomfortable for even 10 minutes is doing to us—both personally and physically.
Now that I am committed to not using A/C and keeping my heat low in the winter, I’m finding that I am developing a tolerance to heat and cold that I never had before. And this year in particular I discovered how my metabolism and my wellbeing adjusted to this deeper experience of the seasons.
Last winter I kept the heat at 58 degrees. I wore sweaters and hats in the house and frankly I wasn’t miserable (and I am NOT a winter person). But my body adjusted, and instead of craving warmth, I craved fats. We are a vegan household so our fats come in the form of nuts and oils, and boy, did I crave them last winter. Talk about being in tune with nature! The weather was actually directing what my body needed. And while everyone around us was falling ill to the dreaded flu, we managed to stay completely healthy all season.
And now this summer, since I am experiencing the heat without the aid of air conditioning, my appetite has dramatically decreased and I only crave fresh fruits and vegetables. That diet, plus the fact that I’m biking and walking more, have resulted in getting more toned than I have been in years. I feel great! I have learned to cope with extreme temperatures by controlling my body temperature instead of controlling the air temperature around me.
Here are the ways I keep cool naturally:
# 1: Drinking tons of ice water. My insulated stainless steel water bottle has become my best friend and I sip from it all day long.
# 2: Keep the air moving. Human beings have a natural cooling mechanism called sweat. We sweat, air moves over our skin, the moisture evaporates, and we are cooled. You can enhance this process by spraying yourself with a mist of water and using fans and open windows. Put a bowl of ice, or a bowl with frozen water bottles that you can refreeze, in front of a fan directed at you if you are doing something stationery like working on the computer or watching TV. You may actually get cold.
# 3: Do a mini-cooling with ice water on the back of your neck, wrists, and feet. The body radiates heat from the hands, feet, face, and ears, so cooling any of these will efficiently cool the body.
# 4: Keep the sun out. Close blinds or drapes so the heat of the sun does not reach inside.
#5: If you still need to use the A/C, setting it to a high temperature like 80 degrees will cut the humidity and a ceiling fan will create a nice cool breeze. There is no sense in cranking an A/C so much that it is actually frigid. It is very inefficient and the planet just can’t withstand that kind of waste. And by all means, cool just the rooms you are using, not the whole house of empty rooms! And of course, turn the A/C off when you leave the house!
#6: Don’t forget to leave ice water and open windows for pets. They know what to do when it gets hot—they drink and lay still, usually finding a nice tile floor.
