Create Constant Calm

Anxiety and panic attacks are a common health concern. The ages of affected people range from young elementary kids to our wise seniors. Anxiety seems to be across the board and a common denominator in many of my client's health struggles.

I will not tell you there is a quick fix, a silver bullet, or magic wand answer.

I will tell you there are some self-help triage habits you can put into place, now, while you work on the long-term lifestyle changes that will weave and create an inner magic of calm and bliss.

Yes, I know, there is some eye rolling going on here. I cannot tell you often enough how you are in complete control of your own health: body, mind, and spirit. You have the personal power to make every change necessary to create vibrant health, inner calm (even when the world around you is spinning out of control - remember, we can ride the merry go round, we just don't have to get carried away with the ride), and radiant self healing. 

Quick Fix Triage:

This is to help you get on with your life right now BUT please realize you need to work on the long-term solutions below for creating true, lasting calm. Healing body (physical) - mind (emotional) - spirit (soul) is key to whole health.

• Teach yourself to deep breathe right now. Yes, right now. Sit, relax, and close your eyes. Now deep breathe way down low into your belly. Remember the "take 5-10 breaths before you knee jerk respond in anger" advice. It is a truth. Do this deep breath at least 5 times in a session. Repeat several times daily.

• Deep breathing habits, doing while in yoga poses is fun as well, supports toning of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve is a large nerve in your parasympathetic nervous system, your rest & digest - “Constant Calm” branch of your nervous system. Constant stress keeps the sympathetic nervous system branch activated, your fight-flight-freeze branch of the nervous system.

• Create a grounding habit you can return to, in a moment's notice, for an immediate calming energy. Here is how... Find a body motion (hands in Namaste or prayer position), a "saying" or mantra (Amen, Namaste, Blessed Be, Mitakuye Oyasin), and a visualization of a space in nature that is sacred to you. When you close your eyes and do all three you will bring yourself to a place of inner calm. Proceed forth from a space of thoughtful action as opposed to emotional reacting. The ideas in parenthesis are just that, ideas. Create a 5 second ritual that is your special way of coming into calm. Use it daily.

• Chamomile tea is a blessing. Add some passion flower, calendula flower, peppermint or spearmint, lemongrass, lavender flowers (use lavender in small amounts)... there are many tea blends offered by many companies. Buy 3 or 4 and use a different one each time. This prevents developing resistance to the plant medicine's affects. (Teas: Yogi Tea Calming, Tazo Chamomile Calm, Traditional Medicinal's Cup Of Calm, Yogi Relaxed Mind, Yogi Stress Relief, Celestial Seasoning's Tension Tamer - this tea is in glued tea bags so cut the bags open and use the loose herbs to avoid steeping glue into your tea. How to steep medicinal infusions: click here.)

Paula's Tea, below, is available at the Potsdam Food Co-op.  It is a simple, calming, medicinal tea recipe I threw together to create a video with Shelby Connelly of Five Element's Living, Colton, NY. 

• Magnesium: this is a body, mind, spirit relaxing mineral. Think Epsom's salts baths. Try a product called Natural Calm by Natural Vitality. Available at Nature's Storehouse in Canton. The 2 teaspoon dose is 325 mg. I recommend 400 mg at bedtime. This is magnesium citrate and will assist if you are constipated. If constipation is not an issue, this could create loose stools. Pay very close attention. After 1 week, up the dose to 500-600 mg daily by using Calm in the morning and at bedtime. If your bowel movements get too loose try using magnesium glycinate for part of your daily dosage. Magnesium deficiency is common in many people and contributes to tension and anxiety. Taking Vitamin D uses magnesium for integration into the body and can contribute to magnesium insufficiency/deficiency. Pure Encapsulation brand is available in citrate and glycinate form as well as magnesium malate.

• Herbs Etc. Brand Stress ReLeaf tincture or gel caps. This is the link for the tincture because it has the reviews of the product: http://www.herbsetc.com/stress-releaf-1-oz/ I would buy it in the gel cap 60 bottle; 120 bottle if they had one.

• Create a habit of gratitude for everything. This is both an in the moment triage habit and a long-term lifestyle habit, much like the take a deep breath advise above. When we cultivate a true attitude of gratitude in our lives it helps to bring inner peace.

 

Are You Ready for Lifestyle Changes to Create Vibrant Health (and prevent & heal anxiety)?

1. Food is the foundation of your health. If you are eating a whole food diet you are doing these things for your body:

• Creating vibrant body cells that retain their level of health with each new regeneration of cells (degenerative disease, including anxiety, is a degeneration of body cell health contributed to by eating food that is not real, not whole)

• Feed your gut microbial population for health and well being. Whole foods feed the gut bugs you want living in your body and starves the ones you want to see less of in your life. The reverse happens with junk, packaged, processed foods.

• Feeding neurological health by creating healthy neurons (see cell health info above) and healthy neurotransmitters (those feel good hormones manufactured by your gut microbes - see advice above).

• I could go on & on about the impacts of whole foods on each and every body system. If you want this info; please, give me a call and we will chat.

2. Get rid of sugar and caffeine in your life. They both feed poor mood health. Sugar is a get rid of completely issue. Yup, bye-bye sugar.         (I have a donation based online class to help you kiss sugar goodbye for good. Click & Scroll down to Sugar Addiction Be Gone.)

If you drink one cup of coffee a day, and it does not interfere with your sleep at night, don't deprive yourself of this pleasure. Life is about pleasure and the morning, calm & peaceful coffee ritual is a daily self gift.

3. Sleep, my friend, sleep. You know how much sleep you need to function at top notch capacity and feel happy and energetic. So do this! Keep in mind: sleep needs change with monthly cycles, seasons of the year, and your age. Pay attention to you and your individual needs and fulfill those needs! Lack of sleep causes stress. This sleep deprivation just feeds into the cycle of anxiety. Get off this particular merry go round ride.    : )

4. Move your beautiful body. Exercise (that is not a dirty word) fuels your body with energy, feel good hormones, and helps you sleep at night. Move yourself outside so you get the added benefit of...

5. Natural sunlight (even on cloudy days): the sun does really recharge your personal batteries. Remember to get plenty of sunshine that is not interfered with chemical sunscreens. You need healthy levels of vitamin D, manufactured by your skin, to prevent anxiety. Be smart; don't overdo it and burn your skin but get out there and manufacture some vitamin D. If you need sunscreen for extended outdoor time: use a natural one. Chemical sunscreens are toxic to the very body cells you are feeding whole foods to create vibrant health. Why do counter-productive things in life?

6. Get your digestive health in order. You body needs a well functioning digestive tract to digest food and move nutrients to your body cells. Healthy digestive tracts have a gut microbial population that manufactures mood hormones that keep you happy and calm. 

7. Yoga is a gift you give yourself to reclaim your body, mind, and spirit for a peaceful presence in this world. Any body, mind, spirit exercise will do here if yoga is not your thing: Tae Kwon Do, Tai Chi, Qi Gong...  If you want to learn more about the benefits of yoga: go to your right on this page, type yoga into the search bar, and click. You will pull up many posts I have written about the healing beauty of yoga.

I have many more suggestions to alter your lifestyle and create vibrant health for anxiety prevention. Check out my WHOLE HEALTH LIFESTYLE page and make your sense of calm and peace soar to new heights.

A Yoga blog post to deepen your wisdom around creating inner peace: Why I Love Yoga and Other Thoughts on Whole Food, Whole Health Healing     More yoga posts from a search on my blog: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/search?q=yoga&f_collectionId=539c849de4b01d9b6dd2fef4

Grounding Yourself for Emotional Healing

My books below were written to support your path of healing.

Hands On Health is a lifestyle primer to support your making healthy choices across all aspects of your life.

Weaving Healing Wisdom is a book on mindfulness and how to create it in your life with activities, food, yoga, herbs, essential oils, and lifestyle habits. Jenny Morrill, of 3 Marigolds Mindfulness Consultation Services, and I co-authored this book. Enjoy with love from Jenny & I.

My work in this world is to support true health and healing for everyone who is interested in making personal Lifestyle Medicine changes. When we grow and heal ourselves… we heal family, friends, our communities, and the world.

Coffee & Donuts not currently available; publisher's issues.

The Path To Easy Weight Loss

Magical path in the woods

Yes, I said easy.

Before you click the X in the upper right hand corner of your computer screen and end this pseudo conversation (or before you want to reach out and slap me upside the head)... read on, add comments, and create a dialogue.

What is this path you ask? Mindfulness I say, mindfulness around your eating habits but more importantly, mindfulness around your life.

Mindfulness defined from Jenny Kenny Morrill (Colton, NY) 3 Marigolds Mindfulness Tutoring services:

Why Mindfulness?
Mindfulness teaches us to be present-minded and grounded in our professional and personal lives from a foundation of inner (my word) connectedness. A mindfulness practice involves a small amount of time devoted to re-setting.  This re-set allows us to be in the moment, make decisions, reflect, and communicate from our innermost - authentic voice.  

End Result: You make decisions based upon what is best for the growth of your higher self and the greater good not impulse based decisions to satisfy immediate gratification on some level or another.

Thank you Trillium Yoga for posting this Yoga wisdom picture on FB.

You have heard me speak of how my 16 year, daily yoga practice has created mindfulness in my life.  I also hope you have enjoyed my earlier post on Walking the Red Road... I remind you of these things, and previous posts, because I want to show you that all of this is within your grasp and you will start creating a healthier you (including that weight loss you have been intending on).

Pick a mindfulness habit that works for you and start watching your life look like this:

• Thinking thoughtfully around your day... "Oh, I have a big dinner tonight. I will mindfully eat very lightly the rest of the day to not over food, over stuff myself, in this 24 hour period.
• "Wow, that family celebration was heavy last night." Mindfully I decide to fast a bit longer today, skip break - fast, and breathe deeply knowing I am fine without food for a few hours more.
• You realize that hunger signals from the brain and belly do not always need to be immediately gratified. "Hey, I hear you speaking awesome body but I am going to pass on any food right now and I know I will be ok. This hunger pang too shall pass and I can wait until breakfast, lunch, dinner..."
• Working through the ending sugar addiction becomes a practice of self-love wrapped in gorgeous, mindfulness gift paper and ribbons. Gently reminding yourself:

                      "If I stop feeding the gut bugs that thrive on sugar and refined carbs what they want (more sugar and refined carbs) they, the sugar craving gut bugs, will die."

                      "Yup, starve the 'lil buggers to death. My whole food diet will re-establish the amazing gut bugs I do want in my digestive tract. These wanted gut bugs will not be begging me for sugar, they will not scream from deep inside my belly to run and find that hidden ice ' cream in the freezer or that bag of chocolate chips I hide from the family."

                     "Goodbye soda, other sugary drinks, and packaged refined foods... my gut bugs don't want you!"  

Seriously, have these dialogues with yourself and your gut bugs. Good inner dialogue keeps you mindful AND makes you chuckle (laughter is healing my friends!) as you move through your day on this magical path of mindfulness.

Use mindfulness to improve any aspect of your life, make those whole health lifestyle changes you have been meaning to, and support the kissing goodbye of all of the habits that are not cultivating your higher self or the greater good.

Need extra help?

• Find a yoga teacher and/or class in your area. Here in Northern NY: Trillium, Yoga Loft, Five Elements, Northern Light Yoga
• Call Jenny for mindfulness tutoring, see above.
• Try meditation: go to Five Elements Living and check out the offerings with Sarah Jane, check out the upcoming classes: Cultivating Ease & Liveliness
• More meditation in the Potsdam-Canton, NY area: Northern Light Yoga, Trillium Yoga, St. Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam, and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton
• Find what works for you in your area: tai chi, qi gong, tae kwon do, prayer, walking meditation...
• Read a book on yoga or mindfulness and teach yourself... then practice every day.
• Go to my blog page (hey, wait... you are already here!) OK, then just do this for some added loving support: in the search bar type in Yoga. You will get many posts on supporting your mindfulness practice. Now type in weight loss... yup, more support 'cuz friends, that's what I do... work to support your health and healing needs. I am hoping that a word or two of wisdom will spark some sort of change in you to help you find your natural path, find you, again.

BIG HUGS (filled with mindfulness of course) , Paula

PS... Hey, I just remembered, I wrote a book and Jenny & I wrote a book together to help you cultivate your mindfulness and turn your life into a blissful existence. 

Currently unavailable. I have a few copies and am working on a re-publish. Contact me.

Available on Amazon or from me

I wrote another book to help you navigate lifestyle changes to restore your natural health and lose that weight. See, I do have your back 24/7!

Order at Amazon.com

Join My Home Study Courses, The School of Self Healing

To Mindfully Restore Your Health From The Ground Up

OR

Start learning with Divine Weight Loss to taste test

how I can support your health.

Find your path and walk in peace.

Walking The Red Road

22 years ago I was teaching School Health Education in the Syracuse City School District. The district graciously sent me "home" to a week long health conference at St. Lawrence University, Canton. I attended an amazing workshop presented by Ed McGaa, Eagle Man, Sioux Tribal Leader and purchased both of his books.

Now this was not my 1st experience with Native American culture; growing up 20 minutes from the Mohawk Nation and involved with the local lacrosse team, I was exposed to and aware of Native culture and philosophy. But honestly, traditional Native American spirituality is not something that was shared openly.

Over the past 22 years I have read many books by great Native American writers, healers, and visionaries. My latest book by Ehanamani, Dr. A.C. Ross, member of the Dakota Nation - Sioux Native Americans is titled "Mitakuye Oyasin." In this book, Ehanamani introduces me to the Native American principle of the Red Road.

The Red Road is a mind set, a way of thinking that carries one through their day's decisions. It is a way to make the best decision for you and the greater good, right now in this moment, without having that decision be the only choice you have for the rest of your life.

Let me give you an example:

• Someone offers me a large chunk of gooey dessert. My Red Road decision looks like this: "Not now, not today, this is not best for my health." Now this does not mean I can't decide tomorrow to have a gooey hunk of dessert. It just means that right now I am going to make the best decision for my health, for my higher self, for the greater good.

Taking the Red Road path in life gives you the emotional / spiritual comfort of not crossing out the possibility forever.

We have all done this sort of lifestyle planning... "I am not going to" 

• eat desserts ever again
• drink alcohol ever again
• eat pasta and bread ever again...

Then maybe 2 days or 2 weeks into our "not going to" lifestyle plan we have gooey desserts for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Taking the Red Road path in life spares the feeling of deprivation. It is a choice to do the best right now, in this moment.

I find that all paths of spiritual growth and transformation work on this same principle of mindfulness and choosing to do what is best for our personal growth or higher self. I have practiced yoga daily for 16 years and yoga teachings us, through practice, to make healing choices without our feeling deprived. A post I wrote in 2013 delves deeper into this Red Road perk of yoga: Why I Love Yoga And Other Thoughts On Whole Food, Whole Health Healing

We can also compare Red Road and yoga to other spiritual teachings:  Tae Kwon Do, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Reiki... any deep and true spiritual teachings.

Open the door to new possibilities, take the first step on your personal Red Road Path... a lifestyle that supports health and healing.

If I can be a helpful part of your health repair plan, give me a shout! Happy Spring.

Healing the Collective Mind, Body, & Soul!

Human… Heal thyself! 

Healing literally means to make, return yourself, to whole–whole in mind, body, and spirit.

Healing is natural

I write this to remind everyone of their own innate ability to heal.  Healing is the norm.  If you cut your finger, it heals without intervention.  Every part of your body is capable of healing if it is given what it needs to heal and thrive.  This is a Vitalist philosophy of healing:  healing comes through nature.  You are nature; therefore, healing comes from within you and through you.

The responsibility to care for our bodies, to ensure lifelong health, prevent disease, and heal is ours.  Healing is not about what you are giving up; it is not about deprivation.  It IS about what you are inviting into your life: the choices, changes, and additions that will open doors to healing, health, and happiness in ways you may never have imagined or experienced.

Healing your own body is a supreme act of self-responsibility.  It means taking control of aspects of your life that have often been left in the hands of the modern medical professional. “You are in the driver seat, Doc. I will do whatever you say.”

Self-responsibility would change the above statement to,  “Thanks for being here to support me, Doc. This is how I plan to handle this health crisis.”

“If you don’t take care of your body, where are you going to live?”      Unknown

Healing is a simple equation:

Remove the cause(s) of your health issue + add in healing choices = healing, returning to whole!

10 steps to start on your self-healing path:

• Remove the causes of your disease.  If you are diabetic, this means removing sugar, in all its forms, from your diet. Lung disease?  Stop smoking or exposing your body to the toxins creating the lung challenges.  Find a healer who can help you with the task of discovering the causes of your health challenges.
• Add in whole foods.  Whole foods heal the body by feeding your body cells with nutrients.  Refined, factory made foods deplete the body of nutrients.  You want to nourish the body, not deplete it.
• Add in herbs that heal the health challenges you are facing.  Every organ system has herbs specific for healing that system.  Herbs are whole foods.  Herbs feed your body cells.
• Movement.  Movement, daily exercise, increases circulation to every body cell.  This brings more oxygen and more nutrients to each and every body cell.  This IS healing! I call this Movement Magic! Increased circulation also removes the waste products, toxins, from each and every body cell.  Again, this is healing!
• Movement Outside!  Engaging in your daily movement outside has the added benefit of fresh air and natural light.  Fresh air and natural light are amazing healing tools for every body cell.  Both help your body to produce the hormones that balance the nervous system and create happy, feel good emotions. Feeling happy and emotionally balanced sends ripple effects of healing throughout your body to every cell.

 “Just lift the corner of the clouds and the sun is always shining.”  Eli Schechter 

• Sleep.  When we get to bed, to sleep, before 10 p.m. each night, our bodies work in rhythm with the earth’s circadian rhythm. This is poetry in motion; magic healing energy to your every body cell.
• Get plenty of juiciness in your life!  Hydration is a must for keeping body cells working at their optimum levels.  The internal structures, organelles, of each and every body cell need proper hydration to do their jobs.  If your cellular structures are doing their jobs, your whole body is functioning at optimum performance.  Your cells are your building blocks!  Get your juiciness from pure water, herbal teas, and fresh produce every day.
• Juiciness in your emotional and spiritual life is also essential for health and healing.  When we connect with people we love, who love us, when we have support in our lives, have people to tell “our stories” to, and have people we listen to as they tell their stories, we produce oxytocin.  This is the feel good hormone, the hormone of love.  Oxytocin is also the antagonist of adrenaline, the stress hormone.  Oxytocin helps us to relax, release stress, feel love, and heal mind, body, and soul.  Find some juicy friends in your life.
• Kindness.  Create and live from a space of a healthy attitude toward yourself, all others on this planet, and life in general.  Practice a kind attitude towards all, starting with you.  Self-care, and its ripple effects for your health and how you perceive and interact with the world, cannot be  emphasized enough.
• Energy Healing.  Energy healing helps us to release blockages in our body’s internal energy system, the chakras and meridians.  When life force energy flows freely to every body cell, this is healing energy.  Find a form of energy healing that works for you and use it regularly to shift the healing, life force energy in your body.   Energy healing to try includes acupuncture, acupressure, reiki, yoga, Tai chi, Qi gong, Tae kwon do, prayer, meditation, massage… to name but a few.

Taking one step at a time can create huge changes in your health, happiness, and vibrant longevity. Step up to your plate of health and healing today.  Ask a holistic health coach for support on your healing path. This one action could bring some juiciness, oxytocin, into your self-healing equation.

See my bonus pages for more tips on incorporating healing changes into your juicy life!

Every person who self-heals adds one more healed being to the collective mind, body, and soul. These actions, in your personal life, make the world a better place for every living being.

Get healing and, please, tell me your story!  

My Happy, Juicy, Life Announcement:

My next book... Early Morning Coffee & Donuts will be out before the end of this year, 2014.  OK, so my fingers are crossed that all goes as planned with the publisher!

Are you chuckling yet?  A book about coffee and donuts from Paula, seriously?  Maybe, just maybe, it is more than you think it is.... read what it IS about here: http://www.paulayoumellrn.com/book-2/

Cheers of good health to you in mind, body, and soul!

Back To School Stress Free!

Creating Back to School Flow

The return to school, fall schedules, can bring on a bit of stress.  Summer has its go with the flow, easy kind of existence. Easing back in to fall can be made simple and stress free by taking a few mindfulness steps.

1.    Remind yourself that fall, and the return to school, means a return to an organized, set schedule.  Knowing where you need to be, 5 days a week, can bring a level of comfort after the chaos of spontaneous, summer living. Revel in this return to harmony.

2.   Start your day with an AM grounding experience. I do a blended visualization / meditation that takes 5-7 minutes and grounds me for the day.  I sit on the stone steps in my back yard with my feet in contact with the ground. (Urban dwellers, sit and visualize your feet in the grass, connected to Mother Earth!) I close my eyes and visualize white light coming from the ground, up through my Chakras and Nadis, then turns around at the crown Chakra and goes back into the earth taking all negative (dark light) energy back into the earth to be absorbed. I visualize white light coming from above, through my crown Chakra, and circling back up at my root Chakra taking negative energy back into the atmosphere. I do both of these twice.  Next I visualize white light coming from the earth again, up through my root Chakra.  When It turns the corner at my crown, this time it goes back into the earth and creates a root system from my tailbone down into the earth. Now visualize white light from the crown Chakra, turns at the root Chakra and turns again at the crown Chakra to go back into the earth.  Again, visualize the roots coming from your tailbone deep into the earth to ground you for the day’s challenges. Finally, I swirl white light energy around my body, from feet to head, like a twister moving up my body. This is to protect me from negative energy and other’s stress.

3.   Create peace in your life with a regular yoga practice. The benefits of Yoga are profound.  You will intuitively move towards healthier choices in your life. Your mind will become calm. Your body will respond physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually to the beauty of yoga.  Your body will be in the flow of life. This is true mind, body, soul healing.

4.   Nourish your body with 100% whole foods. To get started on whole food eating, pick up a copy of my book, Hands On Health: Take Your Vibrant, Whole Health Back Into Your Healing Hands.

5.   Get to bed and be asleep before 10 PM.  When your body is asleep before 10 PM, the level of stress hormones in your body drops. When you stay up late, burning the midnight oil, your body pays through higher levels of cortisol hormones. This is stress.  Sleep, sweet dream sleep, before 10 PM and your body’s glandular system works for you in a balanced manner, making happy feel-good hormones!

6.   Get outside every day, preferably moving your body. Yes, I mean exercise. Call it movement magic that heals the divine you!  Something as simple as a brisk paced walk in the fresh air and natural light can do much to reduce stress, create feel good hormones, help you sleep better at night, and ease the challenges of daily life. Get outside in sun/wind/rain/snow/fog, walk barefoot, sit on ground, hug a tree, rest your spine against an old growth tree… just breathe in the world around you. Your body, mind, and soul will thank you for this grounding, earthy experience.

Positive, holistically-minded, lifestyle choices make for healthier, happier living.  For a full list of lifestyle choices I recommend to my holistic health coaching clients, click here.

Be well; very well, Paula   ; )

Gustatory Guru of Gastronomy

Gustatory Guru of Gastronomy

So recently, I received a very sweet email, thanking me for my support in cleaning up this divine person's diet and contributing to their vibrant health.  And... "Gustatory Guru of Gastronomy" was the "alliterative moniker" she used for me!

Seems a lighter label than Diet “Dr. Doom” from an earlier blog post inspired by an encounter with a "health" chump of mine!

I find this to be true of people who are ready, on the cusp of making healthy changes in their lives:

When you are a stick of dynamite, ready to blast off into health and healing, changes are easier to accomplish and feel good about!

I light the fire under you and inspire you to activate your beautiful mind. You then peel back the layers to uncover your perfect soul. Healthy changes happen because when you feel good, you want to feel better.  What a ripple effect!

And... when one is not quite ready to dive headlong into major changes (Maybe you are one for a more subtle metamorphosis!), I help plant a seed.  A seed that will bloom and grow in your life, when the "soil" and conditions are right for growth.

Recipe:

Ethiopian Smothered Brussel Sprouts and Carrots with Turmeric 

1-2 tbsp butter, ghee, or toasted sesame oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

Unrefined Sea Salt

3 cloves garlic, minced

¾-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced (or use dried ginger powder in a pinch!)

2 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 lb carrots, quartered lengthwise and cut into bite sized chunks

2 lbs Brussel sprouts, cut in half to make bite sized pieces

How to throw this together into a scrumptious pile of food:

Saute' the onion in butter, add ginger and saute' for 1-2 minutes more

Add carrot and Brussel sprout chunks

Let simmer in a cover pan for 10 minutes or so (I like the veggies to have a crispness to them)

Sprinkle turmeric over veggies, add crushed garlic cloves and stir well.

Turn off heat and let sit, covered, while you finish getting the table ready.

Serve:  over red lentils.

I bring 1 1/2 cups of water to boil, add 1 cup red lentils,  and gently return to simmer.  Shut off heat when it returns to simmer and keep covered.  I then take the dog for a good 1/2 walk and the lentils are ready when I come out of the woods!

Options:

Use cabbage and potatoes instead of carrots & brussel sprouts

Add garlic, ginger powder, and turmeric to 1 cup pasture raised milk in your blender.  I also add 1/2 to 1 cup shredded coconut.  Blend to a puree and pour over veggies, stir well and gently re-warm.

Use coconut milk with the above spices.

As you can see, I added a few raw cashews on top!

The veggies are all local, seasonal, and organic.

The spices, coconut, and cashews... well, not so local!