Merry Christmas with Love
Yes, I am a 'lil late... got caught up in the flurry of Holiday activities! Hope it was HAPPY!
Merry Christmas to all.
You are the gift. Give this gift freely and make the world a better place to be.
You ARE the Gift
As we pull ourselves together for Holiday celebrating 2013, remember that you ARE the gift.
We so often get caught up in the corporate world's version and vision of what a holiday should look like:
1. Credit cards bending to the $$ weight of gift purchases, because, well, that is what we are supposed to do, right?
2. Over stuffed gift giving all to the benefit of the corporate world's bottom line.
3. Over stuffed eating and merry making leaving us feeling washed out after the celebrations are over.
Giving You As The Gift
Take time to do things for others that count; make someone else's life easier, happier, and healthier by giving You as the gift. It is a gift of LOVE.
Happy Holidays
and may your 2014 be Happy, Healthy, and Whole
in Mind, Body & Soul.
Eggnog Latte*
1 cup of milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. dark maple syrup
1-2 tsp. decaffeinated instant coffee (Or use the caffeine and enjoy!)
pinch or two of nutmeg
pinch or two of cinnamon
optional: whipped cream
Place all ingredients, except whipped cream, in a blender and gently blend together.
Pour into a pan and heat slowly and gently. I heat on low for 2 minutes and test the temperature. If not warmed enough, I keep heating and check every 1 minute. Yes, I set the timer. Over heated eggnog gets clumpy!
Pour into your favorite mug, add whipped cream (or not), enjoy!
*I opt for all organic, naturally-raised ingredients to better nourish me, to nourish those I am making my "eggnog love", and to inadvertently nourish the earth through better food and farming choices.
Mount Hagen Organic Instant Coffee available through special order at Nature's Storehouse, Canton, NY.
Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing
Why I Love Yoga…and other thoughts on local, whole foods!
And you are now thinking, what does yoga have to do with the food? My answer is quite simple. When we create mindfulness through a regular yoga practice (or any other form of body awareness exercises: Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Tae Kwon Do), we consciously make healthier choices in all areas of our lives. This means healthier food choices.
Back to yoga. Why I love yoga… because it works! It works on many levels, see my above comment around food choices. The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj and means to yoke or bind. Yoga is often interpreted as a method of discipline that brings union (yoking or binding) to body, mind, and spirit. Yoga is the study of the Self. Yoga gives us tools to improve our lives by stripping away the illusions that block us from connecting with our true self, with others, and with life itself.
Yoga is a whole food that nourishes body, mind, and soul. Food is sacred to the body; it nourishes and sustains us. Love is sacred to the mind and heart; nourishing the very part of us, our spirits, that gives to others and back to ourselves. Yoga is the breath of the soul; keeping our life force strong and our 3 parts (body, mind, soul) in harmony and union.
Getting down to the brass tack: I am an exercise enthusiast. Those who know me, know this well. As long as I am not sitting still, I am happy. The list of activities I have engaged in goes on and on and blurs together over the years and decades of my life. I love and have loved them all.
Frost, my Siamese Mutt Cat, doing her version of Downward Facing Cat Pose. She IS a natural at Yoga!Why I Love Yoga…and other thoughts on local, whole foods!
And you are now thinking, what does yoga have to do with the food? My answer is quite simple. When we create mindfulness through a regular yoga practice (or any other form of body awareness exercises: Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Tae Kwon Do), we consciously make healthier choices in all areas of our lives. This means healthier food choices.
Back to yoga. Why I love yoga… because it works! It works on many levels, see my above comment around food choices. The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit word yuj and means to yoke or bind. Yoga is often interpreted as a method of discipline that brings union (yoking or binding) to body, mind, and spirit. Yoga is the study of the Self. Yoga gives us tools to improve our lives by stripping away the illusions that block us from connecting with our true self, with others, and with life itself.
Yoga is a whole food that nourishes body, mind, and soul. Food is sacred to the body; it nourishes and sustains us. Love is sacred to the mind and heart; nourishing the very part of us, our spirits, that gives to others and back to ourselves. Yoga is the breath of the soul; keeping our life force strong and our 3 parts (body, mind, soul) in harmony and union.
Getting down to the brass tack: I am an exercise enthusiast. Those who know me, know this well. As long as I am not sitting still, I am happy. The list of activities I have engaged in goes on and on and blurs together over the years and decades of my life. I love and have loved them all.
For many years I was into serious weight training and I felt that I was very strong. When I started to do yoga, I was humbled. I could not push up into a back bend. My arms would just not do it. After a few weeks I had the back bend thing down. Years later, I now do reverse push ups. Push ups from the back bend pose! The strength I have gained is through my whole body (mind and soul!).
Over the years I realized my yoga strength ran deeper than that. My choices around food and other lifestyle habits became more conscious in a health promoting way. I paid attention to eating with awareness, chewing food well, eating only what I needed, and stopping before I was stuffed. These habits around food and food choices slipped in the back door; all part of the study of self (ha ha, yoga!). All those years of doing yoga transformed the way I interacted with myself and the world around me and I did not even perceive it happening.
Positive things I noticed around food: not needing to fill my plate to the brim or returning to the potluck table for another round of food, being satisfied with enough, passing on the desserts as sweet foods no longer dominated my taste buds, feeling abundance and satisfaction with light meals, and reveling in the flavors / colors / textures / and gift that each meal brings.
When we stop the constant chatter inside our heads and still our minds through mindfulness activities (yoga and other body awareness exercises), we tend to make choices that are in alignment with what is best for our health without feeling deprived. This is because we have learned to live in the present moment and are aligned in body, mind, and spirit. That is the awareness that Yoga brings to our being.
A cluttered "chattery" mind and a body that is not aligned in mind, body, and spirit tends to make decisions based upon impulse and cravings without regard to what is best for long term health.
When we quiet our minds, we use our emotions to our advantage. When our minds are busy, our emotions use us.
Change is defined as the process of becoming different, substituting one thing for another, biological metamorphosis, personal development especially if seen as personally "life-changing". Consciousness is awareness of one's own existence and behaviors, inwardly attentive and mindful. Conscious change involves will and deliberateness, altering self in an intentionally conceived manner.
When we discover that something we are doing in our lives no longer serves our higher purpose as a human, conscious change is how we evolve. When we discover that the lifestyle and food choices we have made, consciously or not, are not reflections of our higher selves, we move to make change. We realize our bodies are not vibrating at our highest level of health and we seek out ways to change this: to heal current symptoms and weight issues and prevent lifelong degenerative diseases from interfering with our vibrant quality of life.
Remember that life is always for us! Life force energy is always moving towards the positive, health and healing. It is humans who tend to go against the grain of nature and turn this flow of energy against ourselves. If you allow yourself to be in this flow, positive things will just happen.
Yoga, or any body awareness type exercise, aligns our bodies, our minds and our spirits so we make life giving choices. Yoga helps us to become normalized in our eating, to reach a pattern of habits that are normal and healthy for us. Yoga (or any body awareness exercise) help us to walk into the Potsdam Food Coop, Nature's Storehouse, our local farm stands or supermarkets, and we can make choices that feed and nourish every cell of our being. We walk out with life giving, whole foods to nourish ourselves and our families.
Update 3/2/2020: over the 8 years since I originally wrote this article, I have learned much info about how science has proven “how” Yoga works. Here is one article that is simple and to the point on Vagus Nerve Toning and Health. The words, in the image below, exemplify how toning the Vagus Nerve improves our wellbeing.
Simply put into words by Donna Farhi, world renowned Yoga Teacher: (image compliments of Trillium Center for Yoga & Health, Potsdam, NY)
A book to inspire you to create conscious living in your life.
This means you no longer make choices based upon emotional triggers. You instead make choices based upon inner wisdom and peacefulness.
Namaste
PS
Update 7/31/2019 I created and teach my Sacred Circle Yoga Mentorship because I see what a daily Yoga practice does for one’s health. This Whole Food / Functional Medicine Health Coaching Mentorship encourages you to add Yoga (any kind of poses and deep breathing habits) to your daily Lifestyle Medicine to retrain your body-mind-spirit to a place of peaceful calm. When we walk the Earth in peace & calm… we are capable of making the best decisions for our purpose on this planet. See the Donna Farhi image above.
Update 4/23/2018 Happy Earth Day! This post has been used and published in several newsletters and journals in the 5 years since I wrote it. My wish is that the gift of Yoga, mindfulness, reaches out to help many heal emotional issues around food, food choices, and eating habits. I have since created The School of Self Healing home study courses on weight loss, sugar addiction, and whole food eating that embody the mindful / yoga habits to support your feeling whole and happy in the healing choices you make. Much Love to All.
More Why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Yoga Blog Posts, Yup, click on the "blue" back there. Enjoy reading as much as I enjoy sharing my Love of Yoga.
Update on 4/29/16 Great quotes from the book "The Little Red Book Of YOGA WISDOM" Thank you Shelby of Five Elements Living Retreat Center for always keeping my heart and soul open to inspiration.
Yoga is the martial art of the soul and the opponent is the strongest you have ever faced: Your Ego. - Unknown
Spiritual practices help us move from identifying with the ego to identifying with the soul. -Ram Dass
Yoga exists in the world because everything is linked (connected). -Desikashar
Diet "Dr. Doom"
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Protein Powder I Use
Protein Powder I Use...
Wait...What? Protein, Paula... have I stumbled upon the wrong Paula's blog post?
I get questions from clients, quite frequently, on what I think is the best protein powder to use.
Stepping back a few years... protein powders come in and out of fashion like clothing styles. I know this cyclic pattern, I have plaid shirts purchased when I was 20 years old and 28 years later (yes, I still have those plaid shirts), I am right back in the swing of fashion!
Enter protein powders from the late 70's and 80's. With a processing makeover (claiming to preserve the vital nutrients of raw milk and colostrum... maybe, but I have a hard time believing that you can remove the liquid whey from the whole milk and then process it into powdered form and still retain all the vital nutrients...really?) and a new label, perhaps some updated, high tech marketing hype and voila... a new fad ready to sell to the newest generation.
My favorite protein powder is this: zero, zip, nada, zilch, none of them! In my eyes, they are very processed, refined, manufactured products... not food. When food is in its whole state, it is a nourishing, cell building gift to your body. Processed products by any name: rice protein powder, soy protein powder, whey protein powder, hemp protein powder (get the idea here?), well... not so nourishing.
Protein Powder I Use...
Wait...What? Protein, Paula... have I stumbled upon the wrong Paula's blog post?
I get questions from clients, quite frequently, on what I think is the best protein powder to use.
Stepping back a few years... protein powders come in and out of fashion like clothing styles. I know this cyclic pattern, I have plaid shirts purchased when I was 20 years old and 28 years later (yes, I still have those plaid shirts), I am right back in the swing of fashion!
Enter protein powders from the late 70's and 80's. With a processing makeover (claiming to preserve the vital nutrients of raw milk and colostrum... maybe, but I have a hard time believing that you can remove the liquid whey from the whole milk and then process it into powdered form and still retain all the vital nutrients...really?) and a new label, perhaps some updated, high tech marketing hype and voila... a new fad ready to sell to the newest generation.
My favorite protein powder is this: zero, zip, nada, zilch, none of them! In my eyes, they are very processed, refined, manufactured products... not food. When food is in its whole state, it is a nourishing, cell building gift to your body. Processed products by any name: rice protein powder, soy protein powder, whey protein powder, hemp protein powder (get the idea here?), well... not so nourishing.
My thoughts, and I know I go against the grain, take it for what it is worth.
Now if you are making your own cheese and keeping the whey liquid to use, great. Much different than the powdered whey stuff sold as health food. Again, this is my healing thoughts.
If you think you need more protein, for whatever your reason, use real foods - whole foods. Are you using protein powders in a smoothie to up your daily protein? Add a raw egg or two from healthy chickens, raised by farmers you know, and living on farms that are clean and natural. I would never use a commercially raised egg in raw form, organic or not. Add raw nuts and seeds, they are loaded with protein and healthy fat to boot. Tolerate dairy? Use real milk from real cows / goats / sheep / yaks, raised eating their natural diets and keep the milk raw and unprocessed. (I am not a big fan of the packaged milk replacements: rice, soy, almond milk, etc. Again, it is processed, made in a factory. Make your almond milk at home, it is easy and you control the ingredients and process. Email me for a recipe.) Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of beans to the smoothie, if you tolerate them. I recommend light tasting and lighter colored beans for this purpose.
All of these recommendations, for smoothies, are foods that can be eaten just as food. I am not a big fan of tossing a bunch of yummy foods in a blender and pureeing into a liquid meal. I like to chew food in a real meal form. So, with that said, eat any of the above foods to increase your protein intake. Take soft boiled eggs (from healthy, local chickens), 3 minutes, for on the go meals. Cheese and yogurt from well raised animals. Eat lentils and split peas in all sorts of yummy dishes: soups, stews, Indian dahl... the sky is the limit.
My point is that there are many plant and animal whole foods that can be added to your diet without resorting to powdered protein products. Nature did not make them, a factory did.
My focal point for making healthy food choices: did nature make it or was it concocted in a factory?
I will confess, I have had running dialogues with various naturopathic healers who recommend protein powders. One healer, in particular, I have their whole food protocol for healing disease that clearly states to eat natural foods, avoid packaged foods. Then the protocol recommends a protein powder and protein snack bar made by a specific company. What?! Really?! When I read this my first thought was: "How can this "healer" recommend a 100% whole food diet that eliminates packaged foods, and then turn around and recommend a factory made protein product or two, all in the same health education document? How is this not sending a very confusing message to those seeking healing?"
As I always say, take the information in and create your own healing truths.
Stay tuned for fat... Mmmm, Mmmm Fat, coming soon in a newsletter blog post near you!
Medicinal Herbs ARE Food
Dandelion: the flower, leaves, & roots are all used for liver healing nourishment. The part used depends on the season and strength of medicine desired.
Burdock Root: a powerful liver nourishing & healing herb.
"One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedence of chemical therapy over whole food nutrition.
It is substitution of artificial therapy over natural, of poison over food, in which we are feeding people poisons trying to correct the reactions of nutritional starvation." -Dr. Royal Lee
Herbs are Food
Herbs can be used in tea, tinctures, oils, poultices, and some eaten whole as food.
A common message heard from main stream media and western medicine is Do NOT use herbs as they are potentially dangerous.
As an Herbalist, I am here to remind you what we have known as humans interacting with the Nature: Herbs are plants with body cell nourishing capabilities.
When we know, or work with someone who knows, the nourishing and medicinal benefits of herbs we can use them to support our health and healing. Many factors are considered to help guide the decision as to which herb, or combination of herbs, would best support an individual’s health and healing.
Historically, people learned from each other which plants support which body organs and systems. We learned from our elders which plants supported the nourishing and healing of an individual’s needs.
Herbs are a plant: leaf, root, stems, bark, berries, seeds. Herbs are plants, similar to plants we eat as vegetables.
The individual herb has nutritional and healing properties with affinities for certain tissues. Some examples:
Hawthorne berry for the heart
Saw palmetto for the prostate
Red Raspberry leaf for the uterus
Rhubarb root for the colon
Milk thistle for the liver
Nettle as a general nutritive herb
Dandelion and burdock root for liver cleansing
The list of herbs and their benefits is as long as the list of plants we share this Earth with.
The above herbs are a few example of herbs and the tissue / organ they have affinities for healing. Healing happens because the herb adds whole food nutrition to your body cells. Plants we eat as food serve the same physiological process of nourishing our body cells.
Recommendations for working with herbal plants:
Read up on the herb you want to take. Learn about the herb and its healing affinities before you make the decision to take it.
Contact an herbalist for help in choosing the right herb, or blend of herbs, to add to your plan for health and healing. The herb or blend of herbs for one person may not be the best blend for another person with the seemingly same “symptoms presentation.” Healing is not a one size fits all experience.
Eat a whole food diet. Your body cells require whole food nutrition to function properly in each moment, replicate as normal & healthy cells, and keep your being whole for vital longevity.
Herbs are amazing nutrition for the body but they cannot make up for a refined, processed, junk food product diet.
Herbs are whole foods. Use them wisely for whole body healing.
Stinging Nettle, below, are one of my favorite herbs. Nettles are a powerhouse of nutrition and healing energy for the whole body.
Nature Knows Best
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