"Table for One" : The Art of Eating, Alone

These days, with our busy ever-shifting schedules and jam-packed work days, many of us eat at least one meal a day alone- often two. Many of these meals are eaten in the office or workplace, and some of them are eaten at home or in a restaurant of sorts. Even if we live with others or with families, we often don't eat all of our meals with them, either because we don't feel inclined to or because we are all feeling pulled in different directions by our schedules and obligations. Stop for a moment and consider how often you eat alone, and then ask yourself- how you are using that time?

The temptation when eating alone is to immediately seek distraction in the form of something "to do". Because we can't just sit there, eating, ALONE...right? We'll often look for something to read or flip through, something to entertain us and either engage our brains or shut them off such as email, Facebook, blogs online, magazines, or even paperwork for our jobs. If we're at home, we'll often plop down in front of the TV to distract ourselves with whatever shows are on, zoning out as we chew and swallow. What about when we're eating alone in a restaurant without a TV or computer or book nearby? Out comes the cell phone or PDA for some texting or internet surfing, or we dig around for something....ANYTHING....to distract ourselves with. And usually, we gobble down these alone meals fairly quickly, because it's not like it's worth spending any time on a simple old everyday meal just for us, right?

But what are we hiding and rushing away from? Is it that uncomfortable to simply sit, alone, and eat our food? Is it that preposterous to let our meal itself, and the act of enjoying it and receiving it, be all the stimulation we need? Well, yes, it can be that uncomfortable and seem odd....at first. That's because we aren't used to it, and we are no longer conditioned to view the art of eating as something intimate, pleasureable, and worthy of our full attention, especially when we are eating alone. Why shouldn't you get just as much enjoyment, pleasure, and relaxation out of a meal eaten alone as you do when dining with others or when celebrating a special occasion? Eating is about nourishment including but not limited to the food itself, and in order to get the most out of your meals both physically and emotionally, you need to honor your meal times as a special time in your day for relaxation, reflection, and pleasure; even when eating alone.

It's a well known fact that rushing through a meal by hastily chewing and gulping down your food results in discomfort, gas, bloating, and acid indigestion. But many people aren't aware that this rushed approach to eating actually hinders your ability to digest your food, assimilate your nutrients, and maintain an efficient metabolism. When we're eating fast, the digestive system does not have time to adequately and effectively process what we are taking in so we miss crucial steps of the digestion and assimilation cycle, meanwhile the body receives the message that we are in a state of stress or emergency and responds by releasing stress hormones that trigger a "fight or flight" response, causing the body to pause the metabolism of energy to focus on the "emergency" at hand. That's right: eating fast--> lack of digestion and assimilation --> stress response --> the shut-down of calorie and fat burning.

When we eat in a distracted state, there is a similar effect: our bodies and minds are so interwoven that when we are mentally focusing on something other than the art of eating what is in front of us, our bodies lose focus on the act of digesting, assimilating, and metabolizing our food. While we may think we are master multi-taskers, the fact is that you can't be working on a report on your computer while absent mindedly munching on a sandwich and getting the same level of benefit from that sandwich in terms of digestion and satisfaction as you would if you were eating it slowly and paying attention to the fact that this is your time to refuel, and that it in and of itself deserves to be a priority. When we don't give ourselves the space and attention to emotionally and mentally engage fully with the act of eating, we miss out on a crucial part of the eating experience both physically and emotionally and thus wind up unsatisfied, tired, groggy, and feeling deprived of true enjoyment of our food, resulting in everything from overeating to cravings for sweets and stimulants to an overall disillusion with the pleasure of eating.

There are two parts to the nourishment picture: the nutrients and energy in our food that are absorbed into our bodies, and the emotional and mental satisfaction that comes from deriving pleasure and sensation from the act of eating. Make no mistake: both parts are equally important and both play an equal role in balancing health, weight, and fitness. In truth, they are two parts of a whole: nourishment is not only physical or emotional/mental; it's both, and you can't ignore one or the other. If you're having trouble losing weight or maintaining your energy or you just don't feel well after you eat, ask yourself how you eat as well as what you eat. Whether you are eating by yourself or in a group, focus on actually eating your food and let yourself pay attention and enjoy it. Don't succumb to the temptation to rush through or distract yourself. You do deserve to take your time, relax, chew and swallow, and derive real pleasure from your meal.... every meal... whether you're eating alone or in the company of others. Not only do you deserve it, but you need it in order to effectively digest your food and feel truly satisfied with your experience of eating.

So how about some tips for how to make meal time sacred, relaxed and enjoyable, even when dining alone?

At home:

- Sit at at the table, not on the couch. This is a real meal like any other, even though you're alone. You don't need the TV or computer for company, you can be your own company.

- Make use of simple things that signify "dining" or "special" or "relaxation", such as a cloth napkin, a fancy glass for water, a lit candle, or some background music that makes you happy or relaxed. You may be thinking how silly it sounds, but trust me: creating the environment makes a big difference.

- Say a word of thanks before your meal. This does not have to be a prayer or anything religious. Simply having a moment of gratitude before you receive a gift to yourself puts you in the prime place for effectively using and appreciating that gift.

- Practice getting to know the food that is in front of you. Notice the sight, taste, texture, smell of your food as you are eating. This awareness is very significant to your enjoyment of and therefore satisfaction from and digestion of the meal. As my husband heard somewhere, "you take the first bite with your eyes". Or your nose, or your fingers. Engage in your eating and you'll get so much more from it!

-Breathe. This is so important. Taking deep breaths instantly slows us down, calms us within, and sends the message to the body that there is no emergency and therefore no need to tense up and pause metabolism, not to mention that adequate oxygen is essential for digestion and all other bodily processes.

In The Office or Workplace:

- If you can, leave your work area and take your meal to a common area like a lounge or even better to a park or bench outside, weather permitting. The idea is to get some separation (mentally and physically) from your work space if possible, so that you can focus on your meal.

- If you have to eat at your desk or in your office, pull a chair over to the window if you have one, or at the very least turn away from your computer and resolve to not check email, answer phones, or look through papers during your meal.

- Set aside a minimum of 20 to 30 minutes to eat your meal, and ask that anyone coming in to talk to you about work matters comes back when you're finished. You may feel uncomfortable requesting this, but think about what you're asking: a small window of time to engage in and enjoy one of the ONLY essential things we all NEED to do every day. In that context, it's not too much to ask.


As someone who works mostly from home and generally eats two of my three meals a day alone, I find that some of my best ideas, introspective insights, and refreshing periods of calm come during my meals alone. I have come to value those mealtimes as much as I do eating out with others or having a special meal with my husband. Eating is about fun, pleasure, joy, and sensuality, and you deserve to experience that regardless of the situation. Yes, it does take practice, and commitment, and there are times when it would be easier or more convenient to just grab and go, but that's not what your body wants or what your soul needs, and it isn't going to allow you to lose weight, increase your energy, feel better in your body, and just enjoy yourself. Think about it....we all love to eat, so why not give it the sweet spotlight, even when you're by yourself?

Amaranth and Apple Porridge with Chopped Pecans

I have spoken before on the joys, wisdoms, and powers of a whole grain breakfast including how to work with whole grains in their original form to make nutritious and delicious grain porridges. This recipe is a perfect example, and it was the perfect fix for the cold, grey, drizzly day when I recently made it. What we eat for breakfast sets the tone for the whole day, both physically and emotionally, so make sure you get off to the right start with a meal that is grounding, full of the nutrients your body needs for your busy day, and soothing and comforting to boot.

Amaranth is a lesser known but stellar whole grain that is similar in appearance, taste, and nutritional profile to a tiny version of quinoa, although the consistency and texture when cooked is more like grits. It is packed with minerals and is higher in protein and calcium than milk, while containing the magnesium and silicon essential to support calcium absorption. This tiny, tasty treat is one of my favorite things to cook in The World's Tiniest Kitchen.




Amaranth and Apple Porridge with Chopped Pecans
makes 2-3 servings (can be reheated on the stove for subsequent days)

2/3 cup uncooked amaranth (available at natural food stores)
2 cups fresh water
1 medium apple
4-6 tablespoons chopped raw pecans, plain (or 2 tbsp per serving)
cinammon
agave nectar, raw honey, or pure natural maple syrup
unsweetened almond milk
sea salt

Wash the amaranth carefully with your hands in a medium sized pot with plenty of water. The tiny grains will stick to your hands a bit, but just keep rinsing them off in the water. Then drain the amaranth carefully through the finest mesh sieve- you will need this, otherwise the tiny grains will slip through the holes of your strainer- and rinse well. Transfer the washed amaranth back into the pot with 2 cups of fresh water. Wash, core, and chop the apple into small pieces, and add to the amaranth in the pot. Bring to a boil uncovered, then immediately turn down to low, cover, and simmer covered for 20 minutes or so. Check the consistency and give a stir- it is done when the apple is soft and the grain has absorbed the water and turned to a grits-like consistency. If the grains are appearing wet on top but sticking to the bottom of the pan when you try to stir, turn the heat off and leave the porridge to sit covered on the stove for another 5-10 minutes. The steam and moisture will unstick the grains on the bottom. Now you're ready to dress it up!

This recipe makes 2-3 servings, so either portion out what you want for yourself and save the rest to reheat on the stove for the next day or two (when reheating add a little extra water if necessary), or portion into 2 to 3 bowls for yourself and your breakfast companions. Top each serving with 2 tbsp. chopped pecans, a healthy shake of cinnamon, a very light swirl of either agave nectar, raw honey or pure maple syrup (remember the porridge is already sweetened by the cooked apple, so you don't need much) and a subtle sprinkling of sea salt to balance the sweetness and bring out all the flavors. You're ready to spoon into some heavenly Fall in a Bowl! But...



For the final act, if you are so inclined, you can top it off with a gentle pour of unsweetened almond milk, which gives an extra creamy and smooth texture to this already comfortingly soft and sweet dish. It's delicious with it, but perfectly adequate without- chef's choice!


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

Upgrade your Oatmeal

So it's Fall again, and that's good news for Breakfast! Cooler temperatures mean that we are more inclined to seek something warming and hearty for breakfast, and the best bet for a hearty, healthy start to the day is a whole grain porridge. So why is this such good news? Because whole grains are one of the essential foods most lacking in the modern American diet, and they are absolute nutrition powerhouses- packed with protein, fiber, minerals, and energy, these grains are essential for everything from brain function to digestion to blood sugar regulation and energy maintenance. And what better way to start the day that with a bowl of such powerful goodness? I have given an all-purpose description and recipe for whole grain breakfast porridge here and also described a tasty version in the recipe for Breakfast of Champions , so check out those posts for how-to's on incorporating this healthy staple into your breakfast routine. The sky is the limit: you can use leftover cooked grains and add more water, you can cook the porridge from scratch in the morning, or you can cook it the night before and make enough for a few days at a time and just reheat a portion each morning if you find yourself strapped for time.

So what about the ubiquitous oatmeal? Most of you have had it, and many of you eat oatmeal on a somewhat regular basis as a healthy breakfast option. But, unfortunately, all oatmeal is not created equal. Cooking oats from their original state and eating them as a porridge will get you the same wonderful health benefits as the other whole grains described in the posts above, but simply microwaving up a packet of sugary, pre-flaked, preservative- and artificial flavor-laden oat bits isn't much better than reaching for a box of sugary, processed cereal. Many of my clients come to me and say they've been eating oatmeal, but using this quick-fix version because they don't have the time to make longer cooking oats, i.e. whole grain oats. But they find out from me soon enough that they are missing out, both on nutrition and taste! So luckily, I have a solution for them, and for you.

Steel Cut oatmeal, which some of you may already be familiar with, is not the hassle that you may think. Switching from the pre-flaked, processed and heavily sugared and flavored packets of oatmeal to plain steel cut oatmeal that you make yourself gains you the bounty of health benefits described above, while also delivering a much more satisfying, filling, and delicious breakfast. And don't worry, it won't be boring! Instead of banking on artificial flavors and sugars, you'll be sassing up your oatmeal with wholesome, natural toppings. But first, let's make the oatmeal:

Simply measure out 2-3 servings (each serving is 1/4 - 1/3 of a cup of dry steel cut oats), and wash well with warm water in a pot, rubbing the grains between your hands in the water for several minutes, then drain and rinse in a fine mesh sieve (this is essential for cooking with whole grains because it removes the phytic acid inherent in the grain). If you have the time to soak the oats for several hours before washing and cooking, even better, but washing well is fine- no excuses about not having time! Then, boil four times the amount of water to the total amount of oats (i.e. 4 cups of water for 1 cup uncooked oats, yielding 3-4 servings). Once the water is boiling, add the oats, turn down to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes until a uniform, creamy, grainy texture. Done!

BUT, it gets better....I can hear you now saying "I don't have 30 minutes in the morning to cook breakfast!" and that's fine, many of us don't. But you don't need to miss out: simply switch the cooking time to the night before when you do have some free time, and then reheat on the stove in the same pot the next morning for breakfast, OR, try this nifty trick employed sometimes by myself and many of my clients: go through the initial steps above, but once the water is boiling and you add the oats, simply cover the pot and turn off the heat immediately, leaving the hot pot on the stove covered until morning. The oats cook themselves in that very hot water during the night, meaning no waiting 30 minutes for it to finish; by morning, it's done and simply needs to be reheated for 5 minutes in the same pot on the stove. You can make breakfast for the whole family this way! If you are just making it for yourself, you can still make enough for several servings and reheat on the stove for the next several days (3 days max).

Once you've got your upgraded oatmeal, proceed to the flavor station. Remember from the post on Going With the Grain that the ideal breakfast contains whole grain carbs along with protein and some healthy fat for long term energy and satiation, so a great topping for whole grain, home-cooked oatmeal is a spoonful of chopped nuts, toasted seeds like pumpkin or sunflower, or ground seeds like flax. To kick up the flavor, you can go sweet with a light drizzle of honey, maple syrup, agave or brown rice syrup, or try a sprinkling of dried fruit like raisins or dried blueberries instead. If you like it salty and want to experience how grounding and stabilizing a savory grain breakfast can be, sprinkle some sea salt or seaweed flakes. Be creative!

Once you try this version of the old favorite oatmeal, I think you'll be converted, and you'll see and feel the benefits in your body. Remember, if you try the cook-during-the-night version, this literally only takes minutes from your day! Isn't it worth it for a breakfast that is better in every way?

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

A Little Patience....Yeah....

Yes, I just referenced Guns n' Roses in a blog post. Welcome to the Big Show.

Patience: it's one of the essential elements in a peaceful life, and yet it is sorely lacking in how we interact with others and how we interact with ourselves in modern times. I am sure you could look around yourself today and point out a number of instances where a little loving patience could have easily smoothed out a difficult or unpleasant situation: either while stuck in traffic on your way to work, or bustling with the crowds onto the subway, or waiting in line at the deli, or working on a project in the office. New Yorkers are especially gripped by the Disease of Speed, but it's happening everywhere: these days, we expect everything to move and work and travel at lightning speed, and we extend that expectation to ourselves when it comes to things we are trying to learn, embrace, improve on, or become successful at. While you may be able to admit that you could have been a little more patient with that car driving a bit slowly in front of you on the road this morning, or that person who was confusedly swiping their faulty Metrocard and holding up the line, or the server at the deli fumbling with the change, or even your coworker who didn't get you that report you needed right when you asked for it for your project, when was the last time that you looked at yourself and realized how far a little loving patience could go? Or have you ever acknowledged how much you are depriving yourself of it?

We all have aspirations and expectations for ourselves. You can call them dreams, goals, whatever you want. We think about them, daydream about them, plan for them, motivate ourselves towards them, and seek encouragement to reach for them. However, more often than not in this process, we are employing resolutely negative thoughts or feelings about ourselves in order to propel us forward to this desired goal or dream. For example: "I need to learn to eat more healthfully, because I am overweight and unattractive", or "I need to go to the gym 5 days a week, because I am flabby and my body isn't strong", or "I need to work harder and get a promotion, because I am not making enough money or holding an impressive enough position in my career", or "I need to re-organize and re-decorate my home, because I haven't done a nice enough job setting up my environment and I'm too sloppy". We then drive ourselves relentlessly towards these insufficiency-based goals. What's the common thread here? It all comes down to "I need to change, because I'm not good enough as I am. And I need to change fast, NOW." So where's the problem? Deep down inside, we don't like being told that we aren't good enough, by others or ourselves; it causes a pain that resides deep within, a pain that we may be unaware of but that is very real and that results in procrastination and resistance towards the very imperatives that we feel so compelled to fix, change, and improve about ourselves. Do you hear an echo of yourself in the above statements? And if so, how's that "self-improvement" project going??? Let me guess....it's not working out very well. But you're ON IT, right?

Instead of ceaseless criticism and a constant driving pressure to be better, faster, more, less, stronger, richer, higher, prettier, what if we just focused on sending love, kindness, and patience to ourselves right where we are in the quest for our desires, accepting ourselves fully for wherever we are in the process...and then approached our dreams and aspirations from a place of wanting to grow and learn naturally, according to our current capabilities and at the pace that is right for us, by standards that we ourselves define according to what comes intuitively? Doesn't that sound a whole lot easier, more pleasant, and more realistic as a method of actually getting what or where we want?

I'll give you a personal example: I love yoga. I Love Yoga. If you've worked with me as a client, you probably know how I feel about yoga; its transformative powers, and its unique ability to combine a spiritual, emotional, and physical practice seamlessly into one awe-inspiring, mind-and-heart opening, body-toning, spirit-soothing soul shakedown party. You get the idea? I'm into it. I learned about yoga from my Mom. My Mom was doing yoga when I was a little girl, way before it was so fashionable, and that's how I first came to know yoga and the wonderful secrets and powers that it promised. My Mom brought me with her to a yoga class when I was so young that my memories are hazy...but what I do remember is this: the teacher was soft-spoken, gentle and kind, there were green plants around the room, the other practitioners were open and welcoming to a curious but shy child in their midst, morning sunlight was streaming through windows into a quiet and warm space, and I saw my Mom in a light that I had never seen her in before: she was ensconced in her yoga Practice. I saw her in a different way than I was used to...I was in awe. She was moving her body into positions I had never seen; it seemed vaguely gymnastic and yet profoundly calming at the same time. It felt powerful and yet freeing; and everyone was quiet, but still moving...they were part of something unique, something special and beautiful. I was hooked. I can't tell you anything more specific than that, because it is the overall shapes and feelings that are still with me, but I remember those elements and the energy in that room like it was yesterday. That experience was the beginning of my intense feelings towards yoga, and my joy in the possibilities that it holds. I am forever grateful to my Mom for introducing me to yoga. And to vegetables, but that's another story.

Fast forward to many years later, when I was 25 years old and living the fast, fun and free life in the city, working at an office job in Manhattan, burning the candle at every end there is....and loving every minute of it. There was a yoga studio on the same block as my office that a friend belonged to, and she convinced me to join. Now at this point, my exposure to yoga had been limited to that one class when I was very young plus a very small handful of other classes sporadically through the years, usually with my Mom. As much as I was romanced by it, I had been tentative in my explorations. I wasn't sure yet if I was up to the challenge; if yoga would have me. So at 25 I was pretty much at the "beginner with familiarity" phase of my practice. But there was a twist to the story: that previous summer, my life had taken an unexpected and profoundly staggering turn when I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, the same diagnosis that became the final straw in leading me to a path of Health and Wellness Counseling as a future career. But that was a little later; at the time, I had to undergo significant surgery, and an even more traumatic recovery period. In the medical quagmire that followed, I dove into this new yoga practice with all of the fervor of someone wanting to be saved: This was going to make me Healthy! This was going to make me Safe! This was going to make me Fit! This was going to get my Spirit and Heart in line! This was going to make me all Goodness and Purity and Light! Bring it on!!!

(no pressure, right?)

As any of you who have taken yoga classes in the past few years in New York or any other cosmopolitan city can attest to, the yoga can get a bit....competitive. And high-speed. Without dwelling on this, let's just say, this is not the point of yoga. It's about challenging yourself physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally, yes- but your practice should be on your own terms, challenging you in the ways you need for your own growth; it should not be about how fast you can go to keep up with the others around you or how much can you push yourself to the extreme in order to achieve that next level of ability. I can admit that I succumbed to this mentality a little bit, it's easy to get caught up. I was having fun, I was invigorated, I was getting a great workout, and I was indeed getting the spiritual and emotional benefits of the practice...just not as much as I could have been because I was moving a little too damn fast, literally and metaphorically. Basically, I wasn't having patience with myself.

A few short months into my new yoga practice, I was taking a Sunday morning Advanced Level class. I had been out the night before, I was tired and stiff, and I had no business being in an Advanced Level class in the first place being that I was early on in my yoga practice. My body told me to stay in bed that morning, but my friend and I wanted to be motivated, so I pushed myself to go. The class warmed up quickly, VERY quickly, and before I knew it we were in full swing...a swing I was not quite ready for, but I didn't listen to myself, because I didn't take the time it would have taken to come to that realization before it was too late. Things were going fast and hard, at least for me, and I pushed myself into a position I was not warmed up enough to go into, and I went all the way.....POP, RIP!!! I hit the floor. I had badly torn the muscle that was most affected by my melanoma surgery 6 months before; I had not yet healed enough to regain the strength in that area needed for such a vigorous practice, I hadn't given myself the time. Adding injury to injury, I was devastated...I limped out of class right then and there, spent the next three days horizontal on a couch, and the next 3 years avoiding yoga more or less altogether.

Not exactly altogether...I knew deep inside that I wanted, needed yoga in my life, and so I would meekly show up to a class now and then but very rarely, never more frequently than maybe once or twice a year, and every time I would try to match the same level I was at right before that class when I got hurt, right before I pushed it too far, even though this was nonsensical: I got hurt in the first place because I was going too fast and too hard for my needs. Aside from being nonsensical, it was frustrating: the injury hadn't properly healed and so my body was now hurt more than it had been originally from the surgery, and so I simply could not maintain a consistent yoga practice at that level without causing further aggravation of my injury. But I didn't know how else to approach it, I felt I simply needed to make it happen. Each time I'd gather up my courage and go back, I'd try to keep up with my previous practice, and I'd leave frustrated (and limping in pain), angry at my inability to really embrace the practice, envious of others who could, and I would not go back for months and months. Meanwhile, my heart, soul, mind and spirit were missing out even more....they yearned for the peace and calm and love that yoga brings, but I was unintentionally depriving myself of those things, because at the time I wouldn't give myself the patience and compassion it would have taken to allow myself to approach my yoga practice through slowness and calm, stepping it back a level and taking it at the right speed and intensity for me this time, honoring the needs of my injury and re-injury, greeting and embracing the challenges but with acceptance of my current limitations; ultimately, giving myself the time and space to truly heal, and to move forward with seeking an expansive and enriching yoga practice from there rather than forcing it.

I learned that lesson finally. I let patience into my life, and into my yoga practice. I re-approached it slowly, it didn't happen all at once. I had to employ all of the concepts above and take it back to basics at first, and that wasn't easy. But I am joyful and proud to report that I now have a consistent, enormously satisfying and expanding yoga practice in my life again, and I got there by accepting a few things:

1. I am where I am. I know where I want to be, but to get there, I have to fully accept and respect where I am, embracing my strengths and my limitations.

2. It is worth it to take on the sometimes difficult but profoundly rewarding challenge of having patience with myself in order to reap the amazing benefits of whatever experience or goal I aspire to.

3. It is not about being perfect or meeting anyone else's standards. I want this for me, for my own reasons, and on my own terms.

This story is about yoga, but we all have something that we love or aspire to, something we want to have or to be a part of; something that we want to look at and be able to say I Am That. This goal comes out of a dream or a desire that we treasure and long for, something we feel will positively effect our lives- and yet we drive ourselves, abuse ourselves, judge ourselves, criticize ourselves relentlessly to get there....does that make sense? And does it work? No, it doesn't. If you can take on the challenge to look at yourself as you are, where you are, and accept it, even love it, with all of it's bumps, inconsistencies, imperfections, beauties, strengths and uniqueness- and then, from that place ask yourself what it is that you want and what you are willing (and able) to do to get it in your own time, that is when you will be embracing patience and love towards yourself on your path to whatever it is you desire- and that's how you get it, without pain, disappointment, and feelings of failure.

I spoke to my Dad on the phone the other day. My Dad is a surfer, a native Montauker like myself and his father before him, and he grew up on a surfboard in the ocean. He may not get out in the water as much these days, but he will always be a surfer to me, and I believe- and hope- he will always think of himself that way. My earliest memories involve my Dad and a surfboard, and his seemingly effortless movement through the water; his natural home. He is the one who taught me how to swim safely and confidently in ocean waves, an experience I will never forget. On the phone with my Dad that day, when I asked him what he had been up to, he excitedly told me about how he'd been surfing the day before. This wasn't just any trip out into the waves: it was his first time surfing since his diagnosis with colon cancer 3 years before, and the ongoing medical complications and recovery that he and my Mom have had to navigate together since then. He described the sensation of being out on his board in the ocean again after so long; the cool water sliding past him as he paddled out, the fresh salt air on his skin, the peace of being in that sacred space that he had missed so much; he had returned, it was all right where he left it, ready and waiting for him. I was thrilled for him, but what I loved most about the story was how he described his initial apprehension about going out into the water to surf: it had been so long, he was out of the habit, his body had undergone multiple surgeries and setbacks since then, how would it be? How would he do? And then he said Hey, you know what? Who cares, I'm just going to do this. It will be whatever it will be, and I might be a little rusty, but I want this, and it's worth it. And he did it, and he loved it, and it was worth it....and he was just fine where he was.

Please consider how hard you are on yourself all the time in your quest to achieve that which you want in life. Take a break and notice all of the little judgements, criticisms, and pressures you issue at yourself all day long. How exhausting that is! Not to mention, how ineffective! In my counseling practice, I constantly have people come to me who want to get to a particular place either with their weight, or their health, or their fitness, or their success, or their happiness, but they feel they've been trying for so long and with no luck- something inside of them has been resisting the process, but they don't listen to themselves and on they march, driving themselves harder all the time with ever-increasing doses of judgement, criticism and self-doubt, feeling that they need to change to be good enough. The harder they have pushed themselves, the harder they have fallen. That is because it takes patience and acceptance and love of who we are to get where we want to go, not constant punishment. Respect who and what you are and what you're working with, and in doing so, you empower yourself to take the steps it will take to get where you want to be- you can do whatever you dream to do, it just takes a little love and patience. Are you willing to take that challenge to get what you want?


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

Reality Check- Clearing Up Food Myths

I've noticed something funny. People love to talk about how something that was previously thought to be good for them is actually bad for them, and how something that was previously thought to be bad for them is actually good for them. When this trend combines with our cultural demand for a quick fix, have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too approach to food and health, we can really be led astray. First and foremost, let's bring it back to common sense and instinct, both of which are tools that are essential but sorely lacking in the modern day answer to the eternal question of what to eat .

If a food grows out of the ground provided by nature and is eaten in it's original unaltered state, does it make sense that this food would be bad for us? Likewise, if we take something that has traditionally been treated as an occasional indulgence food, such as cake or cookies, and twist and augment that food to be low fat, low calorie and low carb by altering the nature of all of the ingredients, do we have any reason to think that food is "healthier" than the original version?

It's time to get rid of the nonsense and get back to eating REAL FOOD. So I am here to help you clear a few things up, starting with the undeservingly maligned foods below:

Avocado- the myth is that it's too high in fat to be healthy. WRONG. The fat that avocado provides is a healthy, unrefined vegetable fat that helps to lubricate tissues of the lungs and intestine, build the blood, and soften hair and nails. The fat in avocado is easily digested and assimilated, making it a good choice for those who have trouble digesting heavier fats. Avocado is also high in protein, fiber, potassium, vitamin E, and copper, which assists in red blood cell formation. Thinking cap alert: avocado is a natural souce of lecithin, a known brain power food. Use the extra brain boost from eating avocado to help you to determine whether or not it makes any sense that a fruit that grows on a tree would be unhealthy for your body!

Peas and Beans- the myth is that they are too high in carbs to be healthy, valuable sources of protein. WRONG. The carbohydrates in beans and legumes are in the form of complex, slow burning carbs that deliver valuable, long lasting energy due to the fact they they are accompanied by high levels of protein and a powerful dose of fiber. When we digest carbs, they are converted into sugar and passed into our bloodstream to be used as energy. Which means that when we eat refined carbohydrates, such as products made from white flour and white rice, the protein and minerals and fiber have mostly been stripped away in the refinement process. So this means that those carbs are mainly only giving us glucose, and are therefore going to be converted into blood sugar very quickly, more quickly than most of us can use them- meaning that excess sugar in the bloodstream will be packed away and stored as fat. Whereas when we consume a complex carbohydrate such as a whole grain or a bean or legume, we have to break down all three components together- protein, fiber, and carbohydrate- which means a much slower, steadier release of sugar into the blood and therefore a much greater chance of using it before it's converted into fat for storage. It also means staying full and satisfied for longer, and no nasty energy peak-and-crash cycle. Best of all, by incorporating beans and legumes you can get all this healthy carb power AND satisfy your protein needs for your meal.

Carrots- the myth is that they are too high in sugar and/or carbs to be considered a healthy vegetable. WRONG. The sugars in carrots are arrive in a seriously vitamin packed parcel, delivering high doses of eye-healthy Vitamin A as well as supplying Vitamin B, phosphorous, iodine, calcium, and additional nutrients that provide anti-cancer properties. Carrots assist in digestion and elimination of waste due to their high fiber content, they also support the lungs, spleen-pancreas, and liver, and they strengthen the kidneys. Perhaps best of all, they actually aid in the lowering of blood sugar in the body while purifying the blood. I don't like to quote TV personalities but I'm gonna have to call on Oprah here: "Nobody ever got fat from eating carrots!".

Grains and Grain products- the myth is that they only provide calories and sugar in the form of carbohydrates and are therefore an enemy of weight loss and "unhealthy". WRONG. In addition to the way which they break down in the body stabilizing blood sugar and minimizing fat storage as described above, whole grains provide an impressively complete amino acid (protein) profile as well as rich content of minerals such as magnesium, which helps with loosening of tight and stagnant tissue (i.e. mitigating migraines, constipation, joint stiffness) and selenium, which assists in brain function and focus and mood stability. They are a powerhouse of fiber, protein, and healthy carbohydrates, providing us with energy to burn along with a whole host of strengthening and grounding nutrients. Best bet is to eat whole grains in their original form for the bulk of your carbohydrate intake, but foods like pasta and bread and other baked goods have been part of our culinary culture for a long time, so enjoy these products on a moderate basis but buy/make the whole grain versions to get the most benefit.

The point is to return to traditional wisdom about food. Does it make any logical sense that a fruit or a vegetable would be unhealthy for us, given what we know about fruit and vegetables and their role as vitamin and fiber providers in our diets? No. Is there any use in cutting valuable complex carbohydrates out of our diets when they have been the most basic, consistent and steady source of energy in the human diet for most of our history? Nope. Does it stand to reason that beans and legumes are inferior sources of protein when in many areas of the world they are and have been a traditional building block of protein consumption that can feed more people for less money using less resources and providing in some cases superior health benefits due to their plant based nature? I think you see my point.

So what about the things you always thought you should consume in moderation but are now being touted as "good for you" either because a study has been released saying so or because they've found a way to twist and tweak it to change whatever was considered indulgent about it in the first place? Ask yourself what makes sense. Coffee is being touted for it's antioxidants, and yet the caffiene in coffee is known to tax the kidkeys and adrenal glands, while dehydrating the body and creating an overly acidic environment. So does it make sense to start drinking coffee more than occasionally for antioxidant purposes, or to keep it as a sometimes-indulgence when you really want it and get your antioxidants from vitamin packed vegetables and fruits? I would go with the latter. Or what about the low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb versions of foods that were traditionally higher in these areas and were therefore used as accessory foods or special occasion foods? Consider this: switching to the fake version to save yourself the calories, carbs, or fat just means you're getting a fake food, and that in most cases the difference has been made up by adding unecessary refined sugars, chemicals, additives, preservatives, and flavoring agents, all of which are at best unnatural and and at worst toxic for your body. So why not skip the low fat low carb cake, and instead wait for someone's birthday party or a dinner out and have a small, real piece- savor it and enjoy the indulgence, because it is one. Or, take it a step further and make your own baked goods using whole grain flour, natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup, and fruit for extra moisture rather than loading up on the heavier fats. Don't bother with fat free cheese or butter substitutes- if you really want to partake of those foods, have the real thing and have less of it and less frequently, knowing that it's more satisfying, and much more natural, to eat real food.

So take a break from all the hub-bub and contradicting theories out there, and go with your gut. We all have an instinct about food and what to give to our bodies in order to fill our needs, it's how we've always known how to eat as a species, and it's only recently that our commercial culture and "food science" industry is leading us away from that. We do need to empower ourselves with information, but we also need to trust ourselves to use our common sense and instinct to choose our food. It's time to bring it back to basics: real healthy food that makes real healthy sense.

Go Forth and Eat Real!!!


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

Lunch Bigger Than Dinner = Healthier and Slimmer

So we have been talking about the idea of aiming to make lunch the bigger, more balanced meal of the day, and to have a lighter and smaller dinner. To many this sounds difficult at first, or even crazy- why try to have my bigger meal at a time of day when I am so busy? In fact, it makes perfect sense, and is the far better choice for your health, your energy levels, your digestion, and even your waistline.

The reasoning behind this is that in the middle of the day, your body's metabolism is burning fuel at peak efficiency; we are designed that way because we have the most demands on our energy in the middle of the day. We're working, we're out and about, we're getting exercise, we're taking care of children, we're running through the daily tasks. You've heard the expression "many miles to go before you sleep", right? This is true of you in the middle of the day. So to eat the majority of your fuel in the morning and the afternoon when you actually need it in order to have energy to take on those miles only makes sense. The body reflects this truth in that it is wired to most effectively digest, assimilate, and burn our fuel in these active daytime hours when we need it most. Meanwhile, come evening, you don't have many miles to go before you sleep- most of us are only awake for a few hours after dinner, and those hours are spent slowing down, relaxing, maybe watching some TV or helping with homework, spending quiet time with family and getting ready to turn in for the night. So why would we fill our bodies full of fuel right when we're slowing down for the day and no longer need it? This results in the fuel being stored as fat until we need it, meanwhile the body's digestion and assimilation of nutrients are hindered by the slowing down of the body's metabolism and systems, and likewise sleep and the nightly repairing of the body through rest is hindered by the fact that we are trying to digest food when we should be resting. But we can't be blamed for loading up on food at night if we only had a nibble for lunch- by the time evening comes around, we're starving! At that point, we're deprived, of nutrients and fuel but also of the satisfaction that comes from enjoyment of food, and so we're eating to replace what we've already burned and what we've missed all day rather than eating to fuel for what's ahead. We need to reverse this cycle if we want to get in tune with the natural desires and needs of our bodies for optimum health and balance.

So why do we do this? How did we come to a place where we are habitually doing the exact opposite of what our bodies want and need? We got here because we got too busy, we got too fast in our daily lives, and we forgot to slow down and respect the rhythms of nature and how our bodies fit into that. We began to prioritize work over health. How often do you hear someone say "I barely have time for lunch, some days I skip it"? Probably all the time. Knowing what you now know after reading the above, think about the disadvantage this puts a person at when it comes to energy, digestion, weight management, and productivity at work (ironically, making this choice actually hinders your ability to work well), not to mention overall feelings of balance and well being. Now, how often do you hear someone say "I take an hour for lunch almost every day. I make it a commitment to myself"? Maybe not often...but that's what we all should aspire to, even if it means working a little later in the evening or coming in a few minutes early. Think about the advantage a person has in terms of balancing their energy and blood sugar (both of which prevent mood swings and energy crashes), optimally digesting and therefore best utilizing their food, and maintaining healthy weight if they are fueling up when their body needs it and can burn it rather than loading up at the end of the day when that fuel will be underutilized, poorly assimilated, and stored as fat.

Ready to consider making the switch but wondering how to make it happen? First, it is essential to make time during your day to eat a substantial lunch. This is non-negotiable; all of the above can only work if the mid-day meal is taken in a relaxed manner, where you can enjoy your food and your body has time to process it without being rushed. However, this is easier than you might think once you agree to prioritize it. For example, you wake up a few minutes early in order to prepare a lunch for the day, or you take a few minutes of your "slow down" time the night before to prepare something to bring the next day. Once at work, ideally you have an hour that you can use for lunch to either bring your food to a park or to someplace in the building that is away from the noise and distraction of work, such as a common area, where you can eat slowly and relax. BUT, even in the worst case scenario, if you can only take a 1/2 hour for lunch and it needs to be spent AT your desk or workspace, you can (and must) turn away from the computer or the work at hand, turn the phone off or to silent, and use that 1/2 an hour to eat slowly, chewing and breathing and enjoying your food. You don't have to bring your lunch from home to follow this model, you can run out and buy some food and do the same thing. The key is to have something substantial and balanced that you can eat and enjoy slowly to really fuel up for your day; then dinner becomes the supplemental meal that it is meant to be, hence "supper" (which actually comes from the word for "soup", a perfectly suited light dinner meal).

Remember: your body will devote it's attention and the energy expenditure to one primary thing at a time; if you are shoving down your lunch while typing an email or talking on the phone, that creates stress for your body which triggers a hormonal stress response and results in more storage of fat due to what the body perceives as an emergency- "Stop everything! We can only handle the emergency at hand!"- and in this stressed state, there is no way for you to process the intake of food effectively. You won't be satisfied either physically or emotionally, therefore you can definitely expect energy crashes, cravings, sleepiness, bloating, and moodiness later in the day, not to mention the long term effects: weight gain, chronic lethargy, hindered digestion symptoms such as constipation, sleeping problems (especially if consuming a lot of food at night before bed), and an overwhelmed and sludged up system.

So give it a try, and make the commitment to yourself- are you really going to prioritize that email or that phone call over your health? Even in the busiest and most demanding of jobs, 1/2 an hour to eat a substantial, balanced lunch slowly is not too much to demand. You need to be your own advocate on this, and be willing to do the preparation that will make it easier for you. Not to mention, eating a smaller and lighter dinner frees you up to spend more time in the evening doing what you really want to do- hanging out with your family and friends, enjoying down time and relaxing hobbies, winding down for quality sleep, and maybe spending a few minutes preparing your healthy substantial lunch for tomorrow! :)

Future posts will offer some ideas for just WHAT to eat for these bigger lunches and smaller dinners, so tune in!


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

Brown Rice Reimagined

You've all heard that brown rice is good for you. Well guess what- it's not just good for you, it's great for you. It's one of the most nutritious foods available on the planet. It is packed with minerals that help with everything from boosting energy and building bone strength to improving brain function and mood elevation, while the high fiber and protein content (yep, brown rice is packed with protein) assure improved digestion and blood sugar regulation, which means no peaks and crashes in your energy. Say goodbye to that drowsy carb hangover feeling!

But like any other grain or carb, brown rice can seem a little bit boring unless you do something fun with it. Brown rice especially has an unfortunate reputation for being somewhat unpleasantly chewy and bland, but it doesn't have to be! Read on for some great ways to enjoy your brown rice, starting with how to prepare it.

Before cooking, wash raw brown rice very well in lukewarm water and drain through a mesh sieve (the holes in a colander are too big). If you have time, soak it in a bowl covered with lukewarm water for several hours (or even overnight), and then wash it well and drain. Soaking helps to open up the grain and remove the layer of acid on the outside of the grain, but washing is fine if that's all you have time for. Then, combine 1 part rice with 2 1/2 parts clean water in a pot, bring to a boil, then turn to low heat, cover with the pot lid, and simmer covered until all water is absorbed (25 to 30 minutes roughly, but check to avoid burning). This will make a lovely moist, fluffy, dense, and somewhat sticky rice. If you like your rice "drier" and less sticky, use closer to 2 parts water per 1 part rice. Part of the beauty of brown rice is that it has a delicious natural sweetness, and the longer you cook it, the more this sweetness comes out. Using the extra water results in longer cooking, and therefore a sweeter rice. But it is a matter of taste.

Once you have cooked your brown rice, read below for some fun things to do with it. Don't hesitate to experiment with brown rice or other grains and mix it up with your own ideas; grains are like bread, they are a medium upon which you can add all different textures and tastes without really going wrong. The possibilities are endless!

Here are some that I've created in my kitchen laboratory:


Candy Rice

This dish is so sweet and colorful that I couldn't help but name it Candy Rice, even though the health benefits it provides make it the furthest thing from candy! Packed with grounding, vitamin rich and fiber full root vegetables, this dish will have your body thanking you even more than your taste buds are...now that's sweet.

2 medium carrots, scrubbed and cut into rounds or small chunks
1 medium beet, scrubbed well, top and bottom removed, cut into small chunks
1 small to medium onion, cut into chunks
1 cup cooked brown rice (cooked beforehand)
1 tablespoon unrefined sesame oil
Sea salt and fresh pepper to taste


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Add the chopped vegetables to a medium size roasting pan or cast iron skillet and drizzle all over with the 1 tablespoon sesame oil, moving them around in the oil to make sure all pieces are coated. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so. Remove, shift vegetables around in pan to distribute heat and evenly coat with oil, and put back in oven for another 15 minutes or so. They will be done when they are sizzling and soft to pierce with a fork, but not brown or falling apart. Remove the pan from the oven, and add the cup of cooked brown rice right into the pan. Gently and thoroughly stir all the ingredients around to mix well; the rice will soak up the extra sesame oil in the pan, and will turn a lovely mottled pink color from the juice of the beets. Serve immediately, or leave to sit covered at room temperature to let flavors combine and all the oil be absorbed. Due to the earthy sweetness, this makes a great accompaniment to a dish with a contrasting flavor, such as spicy or bitter; I served it with a dish of lightly sauteed radicchio and kidney beans seasoned with coriander and topped with a raw sauerkraut garnish. The bitterness from the radicchio and the tartness of the coriander and sauerkraut were so perfect when paired with the sweetness of the candy rice! Who needs dessert after a meal like that?



Breakfast of Champions:

If you're ready to try something truly different for breakfast, try this savory, Asian-inspired treat that will give you buckets of energy due to its high protein and mineral content, with just enough good fats to keep you satisfied well until lunch. The sauerkraut, since it is a fermented food, provides powerful grounding energy and a boost to intestinal health by balancing intestinal bacteria and thus assisting in digestion and assimilation. Also makes a great brunch or lunch option. Who says breakfast can't be savory?

-1 cup cooked brown rice
-2 tablespoons unshelled and toasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds (toasted by stirring in a dry skillet over medium-low flame for just long enough for them to begin to pop and change color slightly, but not burn. Can be made ahead of time.)
-2 tablespoons kimchee, sauerkraut, or other pickled vegetable, OR, if pickled anything isn't your thing, throw in some leftover roasted veggies such as carrots instead
-1 tablespoon dried seaweed flakes (such as dulse, nori, or a mix, available at health food stores)

Special addition optional: top with one organic egg, soft boiled or soft fried


Mix all ingredients in a bowl and enjoy! It's that simple. If you are using the egg, mix all ingredients in a bowl first and then top with one boiled or fried egg, soft cooked so that the yoke mixes into the rice and when cut up. This is delicious, and if seaweed and pickled vegetables anytime before noon (or anytime EVER) sound crazy to you, try it without those ingredients and throw in some diced up leftover cooked veggies or just season with sea salt and pepper and enjoy a simpler version. You can start there and experiment more later. Like it sweet? Try the same idea, but nix the seaweed, sauerkraut and veggies and opt for some dried fruit and a drizzle of maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar.



Money Rice

Collard greens are traditionally associated with a hope of wealth in Southern culture, but it's your body that will be getting rich off of this dish- dark leafy greens are incredibly detoxifying due to their vitamins and high chlorophyll content, while pumpkin seeds provide healthy fats and zinc which strengthens the immune system, especially beneficial for women's health issues.

1 cup cooked brown rice
1 bunch collards greens, center ribs removed, sliced into thin ribbons
2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds (see instructions above for toasting seeds)
2-3 tablespoons finely diced onion
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Sea salt and pepper


Once the collard green leaves have been stripped of their center ribs and sliced into thin ribbons with a sharp knife, submerge them in a deep bowl of cool water and move them around to release any stuck on dirt, then drain. Add still-wet collard green leaves to a saute pan or skillet, cover, and turn heat to medium-high. Within a few short minutes, the small amount of water on the leaves from washing will have heated up and provided enough moist heat to cook down the leaves to a wilted state while preserving their bright green color (this method is called "water saute", and can also be done with a small amount of water in the skillet). At this point, remove from heat and place back in strainer to drain out any excess moisture. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in the same skillet (dry the skillet in between if necessary) and saute the 2 tablespoons of diced onion until well cooked and fragrant, even caramelized. Toss in cooked collard green leaves and toasted pumpkin seeds and coat well with the oil and onion. Finally, mix in the cooked brown rice and toss all ingredients in the skillet to combine and spread the oil and flavor throughout. Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. This dish received very high marks from the Husband, and is versatile because it can be switched up to include pretty much any other dark leafy green, and the pumpkin seeds can be switched for sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, or even pine nuts.

Possibilities with brown rice and other whole grains are endless, so get to know and love them! Brown rice works particularly well in the above recipes, but you could substitute a grain like quinoa or barley as well, with an equally nutritious and delicious result. Happy Eating!


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

Taking Time vs. Making Time

My high school guidance counselor, who was also my Physics teacher, once addressed our class and said "People, there is one thing in this world that you will never have enough of, no matter what. That is Time."

At the time, I thought it was very profound and absolutely 100% true, I myself being a person who has perpetually struggled with the art of time management since I arrived into this world. However, now that I have some more age and experience under my belt, I can see that while on the surface this appears to be true, it is also the generally held idea of "not having enough time" that keeps us stuck in habits of time wasting and stressing about time, all the while holding us back from truly enjoying and using to our highest benefit the time that we do have. Let's be honest: we have days, weeks, months, and years. We do have all the time that we need; it is a matter of learning a balance between prioritizing how we spend that time and also going with the flow, and that I think is what was at the root of what my teacher was trying to impart to us. He was trying to tell us that we needed to learn to live our desired lives while accomplishing what we needed to get done in the time that we DO have, rather than to focus on an idea of endless time that does not exist.

It is easy and very human to get stuck in a broken record message of "not having enough time" to cook dinner, bring lunch to work, go to the gym, take a walk, play with your kids, have a heart-to-heart talk with your partner, look for a new job, or clean your apartment. In reality, we spend minutes, hours, days and weeks telling ourself how little time we have while we tune out in front of the internet, the TV, or at work, numbing ourselves to needs that we want and deserve to fill "if we only had the time". Everyone can relate to this...when was the last time you got so worked up about how little time you had that in the end you got nothing on your list done, not even the "important" things? We need to tune out that mental noise and still the anxiety inside of us about not having enough time, and instead repeat the message to ourselves that we have all the time that we need, and WE decide how we are going to use it. Because, no matter what, it is important for us to realize the truth in that statement. Everything that we do, everything that we say, everything that we make, use, or eat, is a choice.

So what matters to you? I hear so often "I don't have time to do that". So often, it is an excuse that a person is using to keep themselves in the same safe, numb routine of not having to push themselves, not having to face the fear of bettering themselves or taking on new goals. It is a message that's been repeating in the person's mind for so long that they don't even see the damage that it's causing by depriving them of the satisfaction that they are capable and deserving of. At the root of it, it's a way of cheating oneself, and keeping oneself down, because it's familiar and easy that way. We do it all the time, and we don't have to!

Let's take exercise: people say that they don't have time to go to the gym or exercise. Generally speaking, 45 minutes to 1 hour of the day, 5 days a week should be spent doing some kind of physical activity or exercise, but 30 minutes a day is a great start. So let's say you have a heavy work schedule and feel that you can't give one hour of the day 5 days a week to the gym. You say to yourself "Well forget it, if I can't do that, then why bother with anything". But wait. If you live in a city, you can walk to work. 9 out of 10 days, the weather is just fine for walking to work, even in winter. We all have coats and scarves and gloves; bundle up! 20-30 minutes each way walking to and from work gives you between 40 minutes - 1 hour of exercise 5 days of the week; it's completely free, and actually saves you money on your transportation costs. Not to mention, most people's subway commute with walking on either end winds up taking about 30 minutes anyway, so that gets rid of the "not having time" excuse. Not into walking outside? Weather just too awful? Buy yourself a few inexpensive workout DVDs online. They usually run about $12-$15 and many of them on the market are designed to give you a full toning workout in 20-30 minutes. Pop one of these into the DVD player when you get up in the morning before your shower, or at night after work and before dinner, and there you go: that 30 minutes you would have spent reading email with your coffee has now been spent giving you a healthy, energized body. If you really get into it, do one in the morning and a different one at night. You will hardly notice each 30 minutes you've spent in the comfort of your own home, but at the end of the day you've exercised for an hour without really having sacrificed much.

The same goes for cooking and preparing food. So often people tell themselves they don't have time to make a healthy lunch and bring it to work. In reality, it takes less time to whip something up at home and toss it into a bag than it takes to leave the office, walk or drive over to the deli or take-out place, stand in line, and return to the office with your food. And when you add in the money you save from bringing your own lunch, the health benefits are the biggest benefit but by no means the only one! Generally what I see when I begin working with people is that lunch is their unhealthiest meal; they are either skipping lunch entirely because they "don't have enough time", or they are scarfing down a nutritionally-deficient meal laden with calories, fat, and sodium because it was whatever they could grab at the nearest food joint. Instead, try stocking the kitchen with the following easy lunch staples: nuts of various kinds, fresh fruits, hummus, beans (either home-cooked or in a can), chopped raw vegetables, cooked vegetables (dinner leftovers are great for this), cooked rice (can be made ahead of time and kept for days), carrot and celery sticks, dried fruit, whole grain bread or wraps, zip lock bags and small plastic containers. Here is a lunch idea: fill one ziploc bag with a small handful of nuts mixed with a little bit of dried fruit, another one with a bunch of carrots and celery sticks, a small plastic container of hummus, and a small container of beans tossed with brown rice and a little olive oil and vinegar. If you have some raw or cooked vegetables (dinner leftovers are great for this), toss them in with the beans and rice.

Another lunch idea: grab a piece of fresh fruit or a little bag of fresh berries, a little bag of olives, a whole grain wrap spreaded with hummus and filled with raw or cooked veggies, and a small container of fresh salad on the side. You can mix and match the parts and use your imagination; it doesn't have to be fancy, it has to be functional. For some great, easy veggie ideas and to make sure you are covering your bases, read the Varying your Veggies post further down on this page.

Most importantly, when it comes to time and having enough of it, as paradoxical as it may seem, you need to SLOW DOWN. We do so much rushing around these days, it's no wonder we are in a fit over having enough time. This is such an important thing to remember in our day to day life, because the days will pass whether we are noticing them or not, and our valuable moments can pass us by if we are not careful to appreciate them. Take this lesson into the most basic aspects of your day. Remember to breathe, and be calm. You cannot and will not accomplish everything in one day; you aren't supposed to. Start to rethink the messages you repeat to yourself about not having enough time, and then be honest with yourself about it. Where can you carve out some more time from tasks that are not important to you and give that precious time over to the things you have been promising to do for yourself?

Stay tuned for more Tips on Time in following entries, including information about the importance of eating slowly and chewing, and how to save time and bucks by preparing easy, wallet friendly meals at home!


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

Going with the Grain

You've all heard how important it is to eat breakfast. And yet, many people make a practice of skipping breakfast frequently or settling for a cup of coffee as they rush out the door. If this is you, consider the fact that you are depriving yourself of more than just a satisfied stomach. Skipping breakfast leads to crashing energy levels during the day, overeating at lunch and/or dinner, caffeine dependency, sugar cravings, and difficulty losing weight. It is proven that people who eat breakfast are more successful at losing and maintaining their weight than those that don't. If you find yourself tempted to snooze on your desk by mid-day or grabbing at snacks all day long, it's time to revamp your breakfast routine.

So what's for breakfast? We're all familiar with the usual culprits. I don't need to tell you that donuts, giant bagels, and sugary pastries are not going to serve you well in terms of your health or your waistline. So what serves us best first thing in the morning? The ideal choice is a breakfast that incorporates healthy complex carbohydrates and protein with a little bit of fat. One great way to cover your bases is to eat whole grains for breakfast in the form of a porridge or hot cereal. Cold cereals are tricky because most are made from mainly refined carbs and contain loads of sugar (and forms of sugar under various disguises of different names) and not much protein or fiber, never mind that they pack a lot of empty calories. Same goes for breads and bread products. But hot cereals and porridges, such as plain steel cut oatmeal or Bob's Red Mill brand whole grain hot cereals, are packed with fiber and protein and they are made from grains in their whole, original form, not refined grains that have been stripped of their integrity and nutritional value. Whole grains are proven to sustain energy levels for much longer than refined grains, thus keeping you full longer and curbing energy crashes that lead to cravings for snacks, sugar and caffeine. They also contain more vitamins, minerals, and fiber to keep your body healthy, strong, and functioning properly. To complete the picture of your whole grain breakfast, sprinkle on some chopped up nuts, ground flaxseed, or toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds for the ealthy fat that will keep you satisfied throughout the morning and into your day.

Like it sweet? Opt for a small amount of honey, maple syrup or other natural sweetener like brown rice syrup or agave nectar, but keep it to one tablespoon or less. Another option for added sweetness is to sprinkle on a small amount of dried fruit. Like it salty? You can use a light sprinkle of pure sea salt and any other savory spices you enjoy, or try sprinkling on some dried seaweed for an extra mineral boost. If that sounds crazy to you, don't worry, seaweed at breakfast is not for everyone....but you might want to try it sometime, it's delicious and incredibly nutritious. Believe it or not, seaweed is 20% protein by weight and is one of the most mineral-rich foods on the planet.

If you're ready to go further than oatmeal or high fiber hot cereal and get the amazing health benefits of a variety of whole grains in their original state, try making your own porridge with any combination of whole grains or just one grain solo. Some options are: brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, kasha (buckwheat), and barley. Simply purchase the grains in their original form (health food stores will have the ones that are less familiar to you), soak them for a few hours overnight or wash them well in warm water and drain, add 3 parts fresh water to 1 part grain in a pot, bring to a boil and then simmer covered for 20-30 minutes (depending on the grain). This can also be done the night before and then just heated up for breakfast; and you can make enough for several days at a time and just reheat some each morning in a pot on the stove. These grains are going to give you the biggest nutritional bang for your buck at breakfast, and while they take a little more time, they are well worth it. Season as described above and add a small amount of nuts or seeds for althy fat resulting in a delicious, nutritious, and balanced start to your day. You'll find yourself with more energy, fewer snacking urges, and less need for sugar and caffeine to keep you going. You will also likely notice that your weight loss efforts will get a big boost. What you eat at breakfast and how you feel as a result sets the tone for the rest of your day, so go with the grain and get off on the right foot!

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

Welcome!

Hello and Welcome to Wellness Realized!

Here I will be sharing health and nutrition tips, healthy recipes, articles, and guidelines on how to maximize your health and wellness even when schedules are full and budgets are tight. There will be tips for weight loss, reducing stress, increasing energy, sleeping better, introductions to new and healthy foods along with instructions on how to prepare them, and tools for how to eat well and keep it simple. Simplicity and feasibility are the keys to success, so check in often to learn lots of little ways to make big changes!

I am a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Counselor with a private practice in one on one counseling, and I am available to deliver group seminars and presentations on various topics pertaining to nutrition and wellness as well as to offer freelance consulting for projects and research. Visit my website at WellnessRealized.com if you'd like to learn more about my practice and how nutrition and wellness counseling can help you to achieve your health and wellness goals.