Soup for Supper in SUMMER?

Sure, why not? You may think soup is just for the cooler months, but even if you aren't interested in the wonderful array of cold soups available in summer (gazpacho, cantaloupe, pea and mint, just to name a few!), there are plenty of ways to whip up a pot of comforting, soothing warm soup in summer without sending the heat index through the roof. One of my favorites is a simple miso soup with root vegetables and greens. Miso soup is light and brothy and won't weigh you down, and yet by virtue of the fact that it is made with miso paste, seaweed, and often root vegetables, energetically speaking it is incredibly grounding and stabilizing- and that's some energy we can all use in the busy, active summertime. This is the perfect thing to make for someone who is on the mend either from an illness or a surgery (the firming, contracting energies of these ingredients actually help us to "come back together"), and is also just the ticket on a day when you need something soothing, relaxing, and comforting- perhaps after an active and busy day of running around engaging in summer fun, or to counteract a recent indulgence in sweets or alcohol, both of which are refined therefore energetically create a spike and crash in the body's energy, making us feel uprooted and unstable as opposed to grounded and steady. To benefit from all of that grounding energy while also keeping things light and relaxed, I like to add a few handfuls of chopped greens to a miso soup, which provide an uplifting energy that is flexible and expansive yet mellow and balanced. To make it a complete meal, simply add a protein such as cubes of tofu or tempeh or pieces of mild white fish, and serve it alongside some cooked brown rice or other grain or with some nice crusty whole grain bread. Follow the recipe below for a mellow, comforting soup that will soothe your heart and soul without overheating you this summer!

3-4 cups fresh water
1- 1 1/2 tablespoons miso
2 medium carrots, scrubbed and sliced into thin rounds
1/2 medium daikon radish, scrubbed and cut into thin half-moons or quarters (if daikon isn't available, use regular red radish chopped into thin rounds)
1/2 large sheet of kombu seaweed, torn or broken into small pieces (if the seaweed is tough, soak for 10 minutes and drain beforehand)
2-3 handfuls of kale or collard greens, washed well and chopped into thin slivers

1/2 block tofu or tempeh, cut into small cubes OR several ounces mild, flaky white fish (optional)
several shiitake mushrooms, fresh or dried, chopped into pieces or thin slices (optional)
1 tablespoon unrefined sesame oil (optional)

Bring water to a boil, then add all ingredients except for miso and kale/collard greens (including . mushrooms and tofu/tempeh if using- if using fish, do not add yet). Turn down to medium-low heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes until broth has become fragrant and root vegetables and seaweed are becoming tender. If using fish, cooked white fish or thin pieces of raw white fish can be added at this point to this lightly bubbling broth- simmer until fish is cooked. When all ingredients have cooked, add leafy greens and continue to cook covered on medium-low heat only a few more moments until the greens wilt and become tender.

At this point, turn off heat completely, and with a ladle or cup remove a small amount of the hot broth into a cup or small bowl. Dilute the 1 tablespoon of miso into this removed broth, mix and mash well to dilute completely. Then add this diluted miso and broth back into the pot and stir, so that all flavors combine. The reason for this step is that the miso will not dilute well if added directly to the larger amount of broth and vegetables. Taste the soup and add a little more miso using the same dilution method if a stronger, saltier taste is desired, remembering not to add too much- miso is a powerfully healthful ingredient meant to be used in small doses. Once the miso has added, do not ever bring the soup back to a boil as it will destroy the positive active bacteria that a great health benefit of fermented miso. The soup is now ready to serve, and if serving this as a main meal, I like to add a light swirl of unrefined sesame oil and mix throughout in order to impart some healthy fat and depth of flavor to the soup- skip this step if serving this soup with other, richer or fattier dishes in a meal or if serving it as a simple appetizer.

Either bolstered with some protein and served alongside some fluffy brown rice as a full meal, or enjoyed in its simplest form as a light vegetable soup, this soup is sure to make you feel good all over- and it is the perfect balancing note for a busy, celebratory summer holiday! Eat up and enjoy in good health!


Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com

Balancing the Plate: Inspiration for Healthy, Easy, and Balanced Meals

After my last post about the importance of maintaining balance, it's a perfect time to talk about how the idea of balance applies to structuring meals. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a boring step by step tutorial or a set of stifling rules for how your meals must be composed in order to be healthy- rather, it's a look at how easy and simple it can be to throw together a healthy and delicious meal without a lot of effort or forethought, simply by following some basic guidelines.

Much in the same way that we need to maintain balance in our lives by prioritizing supportive and beneficial practices of self care that keep us healthy, happy, and grounded, we also need to maintain balance on the plate in order to create a healthful, stable, and flexible condition in the body. We need nutritious, wholesome, natural foods in combinations that provide our body with the necessary nutrients in proportions that allow our body to maintain balance in order for us to be healthy, strong, and functioning optimally. The point here is to get your nutritional needs met without having to spend all your time strategizing, and to do so in a way that's pretty easy, super tasty, and flexible enough to keep things fun and interesting.

Some of you may be familiar with the term Macrobiotics and the school of thought and practice that it describes. Most people who are casually aware of it think of it as a dietary system, but it extends beyond that into a way of life. People harbor all kinds of preconceived notions about macrobiotics, from the good to the bad, often settling on an assumption that it is a super-restrictive and "clean" way of eating that allows for little more than brown rice and vegetables. But the truth is that the main principle of macrobiotics is all about Balance, not restriction. It means the food we eat is chosen in a way that balances the conditions in the body to allow for optimal digestion, assimilation, nourishment of our organs and bodily systems, and that creates physical, emotional, mental, and energetic harmony. While there are general guidelines that apply broadly, it is a system that can be and should be modified and personalized depending on the individual needs of the person and the situation they're in; and the most important and always constant part of the approach to eating is the reliance on natural, wholesome foods in the appropriate proportions to create and maintain balance.

But this post isn't about teaching you how to be macrobiotic or encouraging you to be, although I will happily teach you how to implement macrobiotic principles into both your diet and your life if you are interested. Rather, this post is to help you and anybody out there to adapt principles of balance into planning and creating wholesome, natural meals in a way that is intuitive to you but also easy and fun. Being that I began my training in nutrition specifically with a focus on macrobiotics and it is still one of the main schools of thought that informs my approach, much of my cooking style has developed based in the general principles of macrobiotic philosophy, specifically the emphasis on a plant-based, natural diet of wholesome and unprocessed foods combined in ratios that are supportive of the body. But I am also a modern person living in the real world, in New York of all places, and I believe in flexibility and being realistic and being free to do what feels good, while always keeping one's intutive sense of one's individual needs at the center of one's awareness. And I know that my clients have varying needs, desires, physical make-ups, and schedules, so rather than give them "rules", I teach them how different foods work in the body and what foods and proportions create and sustain optimal health and balance, while encouraging them to allow for creativity, flexibility and the dictations of their own needs all while working within health supportive guidelines.

To help you with the inspiration side of things and to give an idea of how a healthy meal comes together, the following are descriptions and pictures of the kinds of meals that I cook for myself and my family, the meals and foods that I teach my clients how to prepare and eat; and the idea is that you take the ingredients and combinations presented here and think of them not so much as a recipe but as a guide for creating these meals using the inspiration presented and then using them as jumping off point for creating your own new combinations for future meals. You'll notice that many ingredients appear several times or even frequently but in different variations or combinations; this is because I rely on certain healthful standard choices in my meal preparation (unrefined sesame oil, extra virgin olive oil, certain whole grains) and also because this is a sampling of what I cooked over a particular period of time, meaning it reflects different and interesting combinations of the foods I had in the kitchen at that time, rather than requiring a large array of different ingredients. This will help you to get in the habit of smaller shopping trips, cooking for more than one meal at a time, and then using what you make to create various different and satisfying meals; thus minimizing effort, time, and money. Get to cooking, and enjoy!

As simple as it gets: a plate of brown rice, chickpeas (cook your own or use organic from a can), steamed green beans and steamed kabocha squash (which is like a small, dense pumpkin). This meal is complete with a healthy fat for flavor and nutrition, hence the homemade miso-tahini dressing to the right- simply mix a bit of tahini paste with a small amount miso paste and a few tablespoons of water until desired consistency is achieved, then drizzle all over the plate of goodness! This is a perfect example of the standard balanced meal, and the ingredients can easily be changed out for others from the same category.




Brown rice couscous (or you could use whole wheat couscous) tossed with lightly sauteed carrots, onions, and baby golden beets, then mixed with raw spinach leaves into a room temperature salad dressed in a zesty olive oil vinaigrette. This idea can be made into many different variations by switching out the greens to arugula or watercress or another salad green, switching the grain to millet or quinoa, or throwing in some cubed avocado. To make this a more substantial and filling meal, simply top with some lean protein; either beans, lentils, or some grilled fish or other lean meat would be the perfect accompaniment.


A side dish of grapefruit and avocado salad, made by combining peeled grapefruit segments (easily peel the clear skin away from each segment and toss into a bowl), cubed avocado, sliced scallions, and a very small amount of dijon mustard to taste. Mix well to combine all of the flavors, and serve as a breakfast or brunch dish with whole grain rye toast and soft boiled eggs, or serve over a beautiful bunch of salad greens such as mâche or mesclun as a side salad for lunch or dinner, alongside an entree of your choice.



A simple but hearty breakfast: leftover brown rice warmed on the stove and tossed with cubes of steamed tofu, seasoned with basil, sea salt, and unrefined sesame oil. To make this a complete meal for lunch or dinner, simply add some green vegetables, such as either roasted broccoli or asparagus, or sauteed kale or collard greens with seasoning of your choice, or even a simple green salad.







An easy, scrumptious vegetable side: cauliflower and acorn squash cut into cubes and roasted with unrefined sesame oil, garlic, and a bit of turmeric to bring out the flavor. This could be served with any meal and seasonings of your choice, but to balance the hearty and rich flavors and textures of the roasted vegetables, I served this alongside a lighter entree of broiled flounder with a miso glaze over a bed of quinoa topped with sauteed bok choi in olive oil. Or, it would go very nicely with the simple and light tofu meal described above.



A typical macrobiotic meal, combined into one main dish: cooked chickpeas and brown rice tossed with cooked arame seaweed and lightly sauteed kale, then mixed with unrefined sesame oil and sesame seeds, and served with a side of carrots sticks and cornichon pickles. This idea can be used to create countless takes on the one-dish meal: you can use a different kind of bean or a different whole grain, skip the seaweed if you like, or add some fish or lean meat into this mixture instead of beans for protein. The idea is to keep the balance and ease, and have fun with it!



Here's an idea for a quick last minute meal: this mixture can be used as a filling for quesadillas, sandwich wraps or crepes, or can be folded into an omelet, stuffed into thin slices of lean meats (see below), or simply served over a bed of cooked whole grains as it is here. This is something you can make from items stocked in the freezer and pantry when you're short on fresh stock: simply combine cooked black beans, thawed and drained frozen chopped spinach, thawed frozen organic corn, garlic (fresh or powder), onion (fresh or dried), and chili powder, along with olive oil, and simmer over low heat until warm and flavors have combined, then add toasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. Then it is ready to be enjoyed on it's own with a grain, or added into your meal of choice.

I enjoyed the mixture over some cooked whole grain polenta above (beans and polenta go very well together), and mixed the rest with leftover cooked quinoa and stuffed it into rolled thin slices of turkey for my husband's lunch, along with cut carrot sticks. (Read here about this lunch container and how ones like this can help you to save time, money, and effort in bringing lunch to work while encouraging healthy balance and proper portions.)







Here is a hearty, balanced meal of delicious goodness, clockwise from top right: a baked casserole made from cooked green lentils and cooked brown rice mixed with garlic, onions, chopped spinach, spices and herbs, and 1 beaten egg to hold it together and then baked in the oven; cooked arame seaweed dressed with a bit of unrefined sesame oil and rice vinegar; roasted parsnips and sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) roasted with unrefined sesame oil, thyme, and sea salt; and lightly sauteed watercress. This meal was DELICIOUS! Again, this is one you can take and run with- try your own casserole ingredients using whatever protein and grain you have on hand, or try different combinations of starchy and sweet vegetables for roasting. The seaweed is optional but provides a wonderfully healthful boost!



A light dinner: red lentil soup with kombu seaweed served with sauteed collard green ribbons dressed in unrefined sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds, and a side of Mestemacher whole rye bread. I make various versions of red lentil soup all the time; another recent one contained chopped sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes) and parsnips and was seasoned with nutmeg and thyme, a different one cooked with chopped carrots and sweet corn and seasoned with garlic, turmeric, cumin, and paprika. Be creative! Soup is pretty failsafe- lots of room for experimentation.



Cooked chickpeas and sauteed tatsoi (a bitter Asian green; you can substitute kale, collards, or bok choi easily) with unrefined sesame oil, caramelized onions, garlic, and fresh ginger, and lightly sauteed buckwheat sprouts thrown in at the very end of cooking (any kind of sprouts would work), served over fluffy cooked millet and topped with a drizzle of tahini dressing, with a spoon of sauerkraut on the side. This meal was sooo tasty!






Sauteed tempeh (made from fermented soy beans) and watercress in unrefined sesame oil served with cooked black quinoa and thin-sliced red radishes. Black quinoa may be hard to find; you can easily use regular quinoa or red quinoa here, and since this is a very simple dish, season as you would like to pump up the flavor. If tempeh is not desirable or available, you could use tofu, a cooked bean of your choice, or a fish or lean meat of your choice.






Here's a version of one of my favorites, cabbage slaw. You can find my basic cabbage slaw recipe here, but I make this a bit different each time to keep it interesting and depending on what I have around. In this version, it's simply shredded Nappa cabbage, carrots, sweet corn, and toasted pumpkin seeds in a lemon juice and flaxseed oil dressing with a dash of sea salt. For my own breakfast, I served this with a scoop of fluffy cooked and seasoned millet as seen here.



For my husband's lunch, I filled thin slices of turkey breast with the seasoned millet and the served the cabbage slaw on the side, as seen here. Don't hesitate to use these meal ideas as a jumping off point for modifying them based on your own preference or needs, or for varying tastes of members of your family, as I did for us with this meal. Making a small change or addition in order to create two versions of one meal can be extremely simple once you get the hang of it. (Tiffins are very handy for transporting this type of balanced, three-part meal to work or elsewhere!)



Here is another riff on the bean-vegetable-grain formula, which can be made in literally endless combinations and kept interesting by clever and creative use of seasonings such as gomasio and tekka, both macrobiotic/Japanese condiments used here, or simply having fun with whatever herbs, spices, and seasonings are in your own cabinets. Here we have aduki beans mixed with black quinoa and cooked kombu seaweed (optional) and seasoned with unrefined sesame oil, gomasio (sesame seeds ground up with sea salt), and tekka (a condiment made from ground root vegetables and miso), topped with white turnips that have been cut into matchsticks and simmered with a splash of water, unrefined sesame oil, and tamari (wheat-free soy sauce) until the liquid is absorbed/reduced, and accompanied by a simple salad of chopped mizuna greens dressed with flaxseed oil, apple cider vinegar, and a sprinkle of sea salt. If mizuna greens are not available or desirable, arugula or watercress would work perfectly with this meal and are both easy to find.

This last one I don't have a photo for, but it is so easy and simple that it doesn't need one: cooked brown rice pasta (any whole grain pasta will do, such as whole wheat pasta or quinoa pasta) tossed with fresh basil, cooked kidney beans, sauteed arugula, sweet peas, olive oil, and garlic. This is comfort food at it's best and easiest!

I am looking forward to hearing which ones you try and how you make them your own; remember, once you have the basic proportions for health and balance in place, it's time to be creative and have fun with it!



Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com

How, and Why, to Soak and Cook Your Own Beans

There's always a pot of beans soaking or cooking in The World's Tiniest Kitchen, and if I can do it here, trust me- you can do it anywhere! Cooking your own beans is easy, the most nutritious choice, cheaper by a long shot than buying canned beans, and despite popular belief, it's not actually time consuming. "Time consuming" means that something is taking up your time or taking time away from other tasks, and when it comes to soaking and cooking beans, it's rather a matter of very short periods of actual time spent interspersed with long periods of time when the beans are doing all the work and you don't even need to be in the room. So when you're ready to make that step and see just how easy, cheap, and deliciously nutritious homemade beans can be, read on!

Let's start with the why: when it comes to the intrinsic energy and quality of our food, we always want to consume food that is as close as possible to it's original state, when it came from the earth. Dried beans have simply been dried in their natural state and then sold- no salt or other preservatives, no chemicals or additives or flavorings, and no sitting around in liquid inside a can for long periods of time. Because they exist in this simplest of states and nothing has been added to them or done with them, they are also very cheap to buy in comparison with canned beans. You buy them in bulk, store them in airtight containers in a cupboard or on a shelf, and they last for months and even years! Aside from that, home cooked beans are easier to digest because the process of soaking and careful cooking descreases their gas-causing tendencies, so if you've experienced gas or indigestion with beans in the past, it's time to give home cooked beans a try.

And now for the how: simply measure out the dried beans you want to use depending on the recipe or use you have in mind, figuring that one cup of dried beans will feed about 3-4 people or servings. Place them in the bottom of a pot or bowl that has a lid, and cover them with plenty of fresh lukewarm water (at least twice as much water to beans). Add in either a bay leaf or a small strip of kombu seaweed (available at health food stores and Asian markets) to help break down the gas causing components of the beans, and nestle it under the beans. Cover with the lid, and leave for 8-10 hours. An ideal time to do this is either before you leave for work for the day so you can cook them when you get home, or before you go to bed at night so you can cook them the following morning or afternoon. Work and sleep are chunks of time already in your day when cooking prep like this can be happening on the side, with no effort! The time of soaking doesn't have to be exact- if you soak them for a little bit less than 8 hours or longer than 10 hours, that's ok, but don't soak them for up to 24 hours or more because they will start to sprout. During the soaking time, you don't do anything with them at all, you can be sleeping or not even home- meaning it takes less than 5 minutes total to measure them out, add water and a bay leaf or kombu strip and cover them, and you spend the next 8-10 hours the way you would anyway. See? Not bad so far.

After they've soaked 8-10 hours, drain them in a collander, discard the soaking water, and rinse them very well with fresh water. Reserve the bay leaf or kombu strip for cooking. Place the bay leaf or kombu strip at the bottom of a large pot with a heavy lid (enamel or cast iron pots work well), and top with the soaked washed beans as well as 3 times the amount of water per the amount of dried beans when you started, i.e. 3 cups of water if you started with one cup of dried beans before you soaked them. Bring to a boil uncovered and leave to boil uncovered for 15 minutes, occasionally checking on them and skimming off any foam that has formed on the surface of the water, discarding the foam. The longer you soaked the beans, the less foam there will be, if any. Then turn down the heat to low, cover the pot with the heavy lid, and simmer for a minimum of 1 hour and up to 90 minutes, depending on the kind of beans you are using (some are harder) and how long you soaked for (longer soaking shortens cooking time).

During this time, you don't need to be in the room watching them; they're just bubbling away on the stove- so while 60-90 minutes sounds like a long time, you're not actively cooking during that time at all. You can be in the other room helping with homework or showering and dressing for the day and tidying the house or answering emails. It's not an exact science when it comes to the length cooking time (are you seeing the pattern here? beans aren't fussy!) - the beans are done when they feel very soft to the touch and to the bite, but not mush. This means a minimum of one hour, but remember that well cooked beans are much easier to digest, so if you are someone who has often had indigestion with beans in the past, go for the full 90 minutes.

When finished cooking, strain and proceed to use in your recipe. However if you are cooking the beans for multiple uses over the course of one to several days, keep them in their cooking liquid in a glass or ceramic container with a lid in the refrigerator and strain out servings as you need them- the liquid keeps them from drying out. Home cooked beans can be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, and can also be frozen for use at a later time. They are wonderfully handy to throw into soups, stews, casseroles, stir fries, salads, and all types of home cooked dishes.

So all told, the process of making beans from scratch does take hours- but you're only actively cooking or working for about 30 minutes of that. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be amazed at how easy it is and how you don't even notice the time passing, because you're doing your own thing the whole time and the beans are doing the work!

You will find that between the soaking, the bay leaf/kombu strip, the skimming off the foam, and the long cooking time, the beans are much easier for your body to digest than the ones being cooked en masse by a food manufacturer and sealed into a can with preservatives. Not to mention that home cooked beans save you a ton of money, and are better tasting and more pleasing in texture than beans out of a can, and best of all, you're giving your body this food in its closest to original state, which is always ideal. Closest to the source is best of course!

(All of this being said, canned beans are convenient, and it's ok to use them when you need to- but it's best to make your own whenever you can. If you do need to use canned beans or would like to simply have a few cans on hand for times when you haven't gotten a chance to make your own, buy a brand such as Eden Organics, which uses a safe can lining, avoids preservatives and additives, and includes kombu seaweed in their ingredients.)

Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com

Get Yourself Into A Pickle

So what's the deal with pickles? Are they simply extra garnish on the plate, or a flavorful addition that some people relish (sorry, I can't help myself!) but others view as mainly decoration?

Nope, there's more to it than that. Ever wonder why sandwiches and hamburgers are often accompanied by a pickle spear, or why hot dogs are traditionally topped with sauerkraut (which is pickled cabbage), or why sushi comes with pickled ginger? These various pickled foods aren't just there for decoration, and not just for their burst of taste either- fermented foods, including vegetables that are "pickled", serve a very important digestive function. Pickles are almost always served with other foods, rather than on their own, and for good reason- they actually help us to break down and better digest our other food, especially when it comes to animal foods such as meat which require more energy and effort from the body to digest. In all of the above examples, a meat or animal food is served with a pickled vegetable...we may think of it as just "the norm", and not think about the reason, but in fact these pairings come from a long tradition of food wisdom from other cultures about what our body needs in order to most efficiently assimilate and then dispose of the food we consume.

So what exactly do these powerful pickles do for us when it comes to digestion? Fermented foods such as pickles provide active healthy bacteria, or "flora", which we need in the intestinal tract in order to effectively break down and digest our food and then dispose of the remains as waste. This may come as a surprise, but we have active bacteria at work in our bodies all the time, and it's a good thing we do- we need them to adequately process the food we take in, and to be able to dispose of what we don't need. When we consume fermented foods such as pickles, these healthy bacteria get to work in our intestinal tract, and we reap the benefits through improved digestion in every area from assimilation of nutrients to ease of bowel function. This is why you hear about people taking probiotics or eating foods containing probiotics to ease digestive problems- it's that healthy bacteria getting the job done.

The meat and pickle connection comes in because of the fact that meat and animal foods are primarily composed of protein and fat, and don't contain the necessary fiber to move themselves smoothly through the intestinal tract on their own-our bodies depend on adequate intake of vegetal foods (foods that come from plants) to provide the absorbent, bulky fiber that will soak up water, become heavy, and move the more dense, protein and fat rich animal foods through the intestinal tract. If we aren't getting a good balance of animal to vegetal foods and there are not enough high fiber foods to move the low fiber animal foods through the colon, then the animal foods can sit there for too long and begin to decay and putrefy, thus releasing toxins and bad bacteria into the intestinal tract, interfering with digestion and also creating extra work for the kidneys and liver. These toxins and bad bacteria can also be released if we are consuming poor quality animal foods, or accidentally consume a piece of animal food that was spoiled. Therefore, it makes sense to have a tradition around consuming pickles in a meal that contains meat or animal food, because they give us that good bacteria to 1) help us to maximize our digestion and assimilation of nutrients from our food and assist in the disposal of what we don't need, and 2) balance out any bad bacteria that could be released due to low fiber foods "stuck" in the colon, and to get those foods moving to where they need to go.

In Northern Europe, where pork consumption has always been popular, sauerkraut is a staple. In the Middle East, where lamb is a featured meat, it is usually served with fermented yogurt. The examples go on. The best news is, the good bacteria connection only one part of the pretty pickle picture- fermented foods are also generally alkaline in nature and therefore help to balance out an acidic state in the body, which can result from the consumption of too much animal foods without balancing vegetal foods, or from consumption of too much alcohol, sugars, or extremely fatty foods and refined/processed foods. An overly acidic condition in the body creates inflammation, which is increasingly indicated as the predominant precursor to serious degenerative disease, as well as more common discomforts such as headaches, muscle cramps, and constipation. To avoid an acidic state in the body, it is therefore very important to balance with alkaline foods, as well as to mitigate stress which is a major contributor to inflammation.

But it doesn't stop there- pickles have another trick up their sleeve! In Eastern medicine, they considered very grounding to the body and mind; before people knew anything about a calorie or a fat gram or a carbohydrate, they used a different kind of science to help them understand foods and how they related to the needs of the body. This wisdom was based on the perceived energy of a food; the energy that would be imparted to a person who consumed it. When we get moving too fast, or too caught up in our head, or when we can't seem to stop the wheels from spinning and are feeling distracted, we need some grounding energy- something to bring us down to earth and calm us down. Pickles pack a powerful punch in this area. To prove it, try this experiment: the next time you are craving sweets mid-day or late at night (which is a common but misguided craving when people are moving too fast and burning out or feeling distracted), snack on a pickle spear instead of a cookie, or nibble a spoonful of sauerkraut instead of some ice cream. A few minutes later, see if that sweets cravings hasn't bitten the dust, and if you aren't feeling more relaxed and grounded (which is the exact opposite of how you'd be feeling if you gave in and went for sugar, because sweets have the opposite energetic effect).

So now you're ready to party with pickles! One thing to remember, though: the beneficial elements of pickled foods do depend on the active bacteria, so don't heat them to temperatures so high that these active bacteria have been killed. Stick to pickles, sauerkraut, and pickled ginger and other veggies that have not been heated. You also don't need a large amount to enjoy the benefits, and pickles are best enjoyed in moderation: one small serving per day is plenty. Happy Eating!

*And when it comes to wine and beer (yes, they are fermented, and of course everyone asks!), it's important to remember that they are also alcoholic, and so drinking more than one or two drinks puts your body at a disadvantage in terms of processing the effects of the alcohol.


Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com