Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. May the holiday leave you feeling healthy, loved and energized!
I love this time of year. Even though I like the long days of summer best, I do appreciate the seasonal shift, the way the light looks different and even the shorter days. Makes me want to curl up in a blanket on the coach and read a good mindless work of fiction. And, even though that's not going to happen this year, I still have a lot to be thankful for.

I'm so grateful to have my career as a health coach. The training I received from the
Institute for Integrative Nutrition has allowed me to improve my eating, see the connection between what I eat and how I feel, and to also examine the Primary Nutrition in my life: my relationships, exercise, spirituality and career and to see how improvements in those areas increase my overall health. What a fascinating journey. As I continue to peel away the "layers of the onion" of my health and wellness, I'll keep you informed.

I'm also thankful for my family and friends. My children, now grown, are a constant source of joy and my grandson (yes, I'm a Grandma) is just a blast! My significant other provides a continuous supply of encouragement, not to mention graphic design assistance and errand running. I am also blessed with a large group of supportive, fun and inspirational friends, both near and far. Support and inspiration is just a phone call or coffee date away. Life is good.
And, I am grateful for you. I appreciate that you take the time to read, or at least skim, the newsletters that I send, attend my teleclasses, cleanse with my cleanse groups and trust in me as your health and wellness advisor and coach. It means the world to me to serve others by helping them meet and exceed their health and wellness goals. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to fulfill my soul purpose each day.

I hope that you will take a few minutes, or maybe even an hour (!), to sit and reflect on the things and people in your life that you are grateful for this Thanksgiving.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Getting Your Vitamin L

This is a guest post by Integrative Nutrition. 

Happy Valentine's Day and a Big Hug!

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Integrative Nutrition

February, the “month of love,” is here.  It’s the time every year we are reminded to recognize and celebrate the love in our lives. We mark our calendar and give flowers, chocolates and cards. 

We’ve made Valentine’s Day the big day, however we need to give and receive love all the time, not just on that one particular day. At Integrative Nutrition, we feel passionately about the importance of healthy relationships. We like to call this Vitamin L (the ‘L’ stands for love!). Getting a daily dose of Vitamin L is essential to living happier, healthier lives.  Vitamin L comes in many forms and isn’t just about romantic love between two people. It can be love for ourselves, or a particular practice of self-care. Vitamin L can come in the shape of  our partners, our pets, our kids or parents.  Love is food for the soul and heart; it nourishes body, mind, and spirit for optimal wellbeing.

How do you get your Vitamin L? To celebrate the month of love and all of the different ways love can exist in our lives, we are having a fun contest.  It’s easy, just show us how you get your daily dose of Vitamin L by submitting a picture. You could win a gift certificate to SoLove Self-Care.  Help us inspire others to get a daily dose of Vitamin L!

Find our more about the Vitamin L Contest here.

11 Healthy Ideas for 2011

Happy New Year!

For the new year, I want to share with you a list of simple ways to improve your health. Try the one that seems like a good idea, or try them all. Sometimes the smallest changes make the difference between feeling good and feeling great!


1. Drink more water.
Simple and heathful. Drink two or three extra glasses of water early in the day. Filtered is best. The human body is about 60% water in adult males and 55% in adult females (thanks, Wikipedia). More fresh water will increase your energy and help your body function better.

2. Take a walk.
We were made to move. Walk to work, to the store or just around the block a couple times. Park farther from work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk with co-workers at lunch. Walk with friends. Take a walk for entertainment. Look around. It's fun!

3. Eat a new green vegetable.
There are lots to choose from. Try a new one. You might fall in love. Fresh spinach, kale, collard greens, dandelion greens, beat greens, chard, cabbage, etc. There are lots to try and recipes are easy to find - go green!

4. Shop at a farmers' market.
A great way to support your local economy, make some farmer friends and improve your health at the same time. High quality fresh food has everything your body needs.

5. Care for yourself.
Try a new self-care idea. Snuggle with a water bottle. Give yourself a hot towel scrub. Try a tongue scraper. Enjoy a warm relaxing bath with essential oils that smell good to you. Invigorate at the end of your shower with a cool rinse (this is not as chilling as it sounds). Take a belly-dance class. Sing!

6. Make simple food.
Home-cooked simple food is great for our bodies. Brown rice and veggies really only takes 15 minutes of pre-time. 10 for veggie washing and chopping, 5 to get the rice started and finished. Just set the timer. No need to stand in the kitchen while the rice cooks. Season with your favorite seasonings. A good resource: Simple Food for Busy Families. Buy it locally - this link is just so you can see the cover.

7. Step into the sun.
Warm sun on the skin creates vitamin D. Vitamin D protects against osteoporosis, heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. Just 15 minutes on your bare arms and face each day in the summer or 2000 IUs of a high-quality supplement in the winter is all you need. Sunlight also helps protect against depression, insomnia  and helps regulate the immune system.

8. Try a super-food.
Cacao or Raw Chocolate - highest anti-oxidant food on the planet, known as the "bliss chemical", Goji Berries - This superfood contains 18 kinds of amino acids, including all 8 essential amino acids, Spirulina - the world's highest source of complete protein (65%), Raw Honey - rich in minerals, antioxidants, probiotics, and enzymes, Sea Vegetables - the most common is nori (the green sushi wrapper) seaweeds benefit the entire body, and are especially excellent for the thyroid, immune system, adrenals, and hormone function.

9. Sit quietly.
At the beginning or ending of the day, sit and concentrate on your breathing. Let you mind be empty. Relax. Connect with yourself. Don't do. Just be. For 5 minutes or 30 minutes. After all, we are human "be"ings, right? If you want to try something a little more formal, here are some choices.

10. Eat colorful food.
Beets, carrots, yams, kale, berries. Colorful food is nutrient dense and good for you. Raw or cooked, it's your best bang for the buck. Enjoy some!

11. Sleep better and longer.
Sleep is important. The body mends itself while you rest. Darken your sleeping space, or try a sleeping mask. Move the clock radio across the room and away from your head. Drink water early in the day so you don't have to wake up to pee. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon. Avoid alcohol just prior to bed time. Don't eat anything within three hours of bed time. Keep stimulation to a minimum for an hour before you plan to sleep. Take a warm bath before bed, or warm your toes with a hot water bottle. Go to bed early enough that you don't need to use an alarm to wake on time. Rest well.

Here's to YOUR health and happiness!

The Oranges vs. the Hazelnuts

As you all know, I am taking a professional training course to become a heath councilor with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. The lessons are all on an ipod that came with my books and then there is a lot of support material on the website. I have been using my commute time on the train and bus to listen to the classes. On Thursday, I watched a video with Joshua Rosenthal demonstrating a "surprising time management secret".

He had three containers. one was about 3/4 full of hazelnuts, one was empty, and the other held 6 oranges. The hazelnuts represented all the tasks we have to do in our lives. The 6 oranges represented the really important things that we want to accomplish while we are here.

He demonstrated how we spend most of our time on the tasks by pouring the hazelnuts into the empty container, listing off menial tasks as he poured. He stopped occasionally to put in an orange, when he got done pouring the hazelnuts, the rest of the oranges wouldn't fit, and he said, "Sometimes people forget to do the important stuff, and one day they look around and say, 'Oh. I forgot to have kids.' or 'Oh. Where did my relationship go?'"

He then put the oranges back in their bowl and the hazelnuts back in their container. He said, "Do the important things first. Figure out what they are and do them. Don't worry about the other stuff. Concentrate on what is important to you." And he put all the oranges into the empty container. . . "All the tasks get done anyway." and he poured the hazelnuts over the oranges, they filtered into the empty spaces and it all fit.

It actually brought tears to my eyes.

Sometimes I get so freaked out by all the crap that needs done that I miss doing things that are important. For example, I forgot to call my aunt on her 80th birthday. What was I doing? Who knows, but I can tell you it wasn't important. Also, I just get distracted. I stare at the net. I go out to dinner. I work late. I watch a movie. And then I end up studying for long periods of time with long periods of time in-between. I know that doesn't work for information retention and I feel unorganized.

So, the first question to ask is, "What are the things that are important to me?"

My heath/exercise
Training to become a heath councilor
My relationship
My grandson/family
Looking for, finding and moving to, a place where we can grow food

And the second question is, "How can I concentrate on these things?"

Time reorganization feels like a possible answer. We have the time we have and we do with it what we will. I am a creature of habit just like everyone else. Routine is hard to shift. I've read that it takes 2 weeks to break a habit and a month to get a new one to stick. So, a new schedule focused on my priorities. I'm a professional planner. I'll create a new plan for myself. I'll keep you updated.

This isn't profound. It's a shift.

I'm lucky. I actually have the privilege of  working with a health councilor while I'm in school. She's got my back. I'll be sharing my new plan with her and she'll be holding me to account. For me, telling others what I'm up to helps make it a reality. It helps me remember what I want to do be doing. And, oddly, remembering what I want to be doing isn't always that easy.

I'll also be enrolling Mr. Green. I'm discovering, through time, Mr. Green's patience and stick-to-it-iveness that I can't be the lone ranger and be in a relationship at the same time. . . sharing what's going on is important. At 47 I'm still working on getting past "I can do it all myself and I don't need your help." Which really doesn't work that well if I want to actually have the "relationshipness" that I crave. An orange for sure.

And for you? What are the Oranges in your life?

Dill Pickle Soup

This post is for my cousin Kathleen, but I thought everyone else might enjoy it, also. 

Dill Pickle Soup, a Polish dish, is a wonderful warming food that is easy to make, vegetarian, cheap and also good for you.

The first time I tried Dill Pickle Soup was on my first date with Mr. Green. We went to a Polish restaurant called Old Krakow in West Portal. He said that dill pickle soup was one of the best things on the menu and we ordered a cup to share. Needless to say, I was skeptical, but I tried it and it was delicious! Unfortunately, the restaurant is no longer there, and, although they said they were going to open up somewhere else in the city, they seem to have disappeared. Their dill pickle soup was wonderful! I'm not sure mine is as good, but I thank them for the inspiration.

You'll find lots of different versions of this soup on the net if you google it.

Here's my version:

Dill Pickle Soup
1 tbls olive oil
1 large onion
2 cloves of garlic
4 Idaho potatoes - not huge, but a little bigger than a standard baker
chicken or vegetable broth
dill pickles - preferably ones you put up yourself or some that you bought at a local farmers' market
1 large carrot
1 good-sized bunch of fresh dill
1/2 cup of pickle juice
whole milk
1 pat of butter (optional)

Dice onion, chop garlic fine and saute in the olive oil, in the bottom of a large sauce pan, until translucent.
If at all possible ALL of these veggies should be organic. So should the broth & the milk. OK, so all the ingredients should be organic - for your health & for the planet.

Peel the potatoes and cut into small cubes, add to the onions and garlic and pour enough stock into the pot to just cover the potatoes. Bring to a gentle boil.

Chop up a bunch of pickles into small pieces - about the size of a pea (only, of course, they won't to be round). Make a pile that is about 3/4 as big as the pile of potatoes were. 

I get that this is a lot of pickles. . . 

Chop up the entire bunch of dill - take out the big stems and just chop the finer stuff. Add it to the pot.
And, yes, that's a lot of dill. Trust me, you'll like it.

Grate the carrot
This is as much for color contrast as it is for flavor, but it's also good for you so go ahead. 

When the potatoes are about half done (10 to 15 minutes, depending upon your definition of small) add the pickles and the carrot.

Then add 1/2 cup of pickle juice.
I have no idea why I measure this, but I do.

Bring back to a gentle boil.

When the potatoes are almost done, add some milk. About a cup. Enough to turn the broth opaque. Heat to a gentle boil one last time.
Taste it at this point. Don't burn your tongue (I am notorious for burning my tongue tasting cooking food). If you want to richen it up a bit, add the butter. Just a pat. Not a bunch. You might also add a couple grinds of fresh pepper. I don't add extra salt, but I was raised without salt, so if you think it's not salty enough, add a little. 


That's it. Turn the burner off, let it set for a few minutes, ladle it into bowls and eat it.

I like it kind of thin, so I don't thicken it. The starch in the potatoes thickens it enough. Also, if a lot of the broth has gone away during cooking, I add more when I add the milk. You can also add more pickle juice if you like the flavor. And, if you want to get fancy, save a few sprigs of dill to garnish the top!


Enjoy!

By the way, ALL of these ingredients are available right now at your local Farmers' Market. Shopping at the Farmers' Market is fun and supports your community. Buy Local!


Please note: I got the soup picture from Sister Mary Martha's blog, entitled Ask Sister Mary Martha and sub-titled "Life is Tough, but Nuns are Tougher. If you need advise ask Sister Mary Martha". A great blog! I love it! She hasn't posted since 2008, but it's still worth a look. The picture is under a post about Santa Claus. You should check out the blog if you are, at this point, just entertaining yourself. . . 

The Next Healthy Thing for Me - A Letter to My Friends & Community

Dear Fabulous Friends and Community,

I am a student again! I have enrolled in a health and nutrition class with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. The course is a year long and at the end I will be a certified health coach. I'm SO excited! Wooowhoo! Since it's a distance learning course and all the info came to me weeks ago, I've totally cheated and have read and listened to a whole bunch of the material we are to cover. It's great stuff!

As most, if not all, of you know, I have always been interested in health and nutrition. My obsession with local food, gardening, eating and all things health-related is going to develop into my next career!

I'm going to learn a lot about all the different dietary theories out there. From the Zone Diet to the Blood Type Diet to Five Element Theory (which, by the way, I'd never heard of - Shocking!). I'm also going to learn a lot about listening, the basics of food consumption, and the latest in dietary theory - As well as the business end of being a health coach.

I chose Integrative Nutrition because of their basic philosophy, which is:

There are two types of food: 
Primary Food consists of our relationships, our physical activity, our career and our spiritual practice.
Secondary Food is what we put in our mouths.

This was a revelation to me when I heard it! The world got brighter and bigger and all the stuff in my head around food and place and self-care and community started to link up like a string of old Christmas lights when you replace the right bulb! Fascinating!

There is no one-size-fits-all diet: 
What invigorates you may bore me. What I eat to feel great might make you feel lethargic. What works for your body might make me have a rash! We all are intuitive and smart enough to figure out what will bring optimal health and happiness. . . all we need is information, support and encouragement along the way.

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? 

What will I do with all this new-found learning and inspiration?

Here's my vision for this year:

• I'm going to share it with you. Here on my blog. So please check in occasionally to see what's new!
• I'm going to offer seminars to groups, starting (hopefully) with my workplace. 
• I'm going to take on clients who want to increase their health and happiness. 

Here's my vision for a few years after that:
I'm going to buy a piece of land and start a biodynamic human-scale garden/farm that will serve as the centerpiece for seminars, weekend retreats and classes about nutritionally dense food, how to grow it, how to cook it, how to enjoy eating it - and taking care of our children, grandchildren and ourselves as we age.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?!

Where will this garden/farm be? I have no idea, but I'm looking for that piece of land. Two to five acres with water rights in an area that's pretty and has a good growing season. Not sure if that's California, Idaho, Oregon or Washington - or someplace I haven't thought of yet.

I'm planning to apprentice on a biodynamic farm, either the fall of 2011 or the spring of 2012, for a year. There are a few out there that pay a small stipend, which is all I really need.

I am looking forward to the next part of my journey and sharing it with you. I cannot begin to express what you all mean to me.

For those of you who are new in my world, I have family and friends that are amazing. They've been there for me through many different phases in my life (not all good) and I love and admire every single one of them. 

Of course, I can't do this alone. I will need your help and encouragement along the way.

To start with, if you have information about, or know of, a piece of land that is for sale that I would love, or a biodynamic farm that hires help, please post a comment or email me at greenlifejunkie@gmail.com.

Here's to the future!

Love to you all,
Tamara

PS - Mr. Green is totally supportive of this new adventure. Crazy man!  :)

Mom's, Ethel's, Sally's Mom's & Mrs. Gregory's Mustard Pickles

I'm inspired to share a recipe.

My father passed away on July 4th and I just haven't felt like writing since then. I was at our family cabin this week and looked through some recipes. A while back my good friend Wendy asked if I had "The Mustard Pickle Recipe". I told her I was pretty sure I did and I said I would look for it. That was at least three or four months ago. . . I found it. Three versions, actually.

You need to get that "The Mustard Pickle Recipe" used to be a secret. The funny thing is, apparently everyone in the generation older than my mom used to make them. I read three very similar, but slightly different recipes from that older generation, plus I know I have another one floating around here someplace that is in my mom's handwriting that says "Ethel's Mustard Pickles" on top of the card, which is the one she wouldn't share, even though it wasn't hers in the first place. In a small town, recipes as awesome as "The Mustard Pickle Recipe" are a secret. And if you are lucky, you get a jar for Christmas.

The recipe listed here is a conglomeration of the three, plus my memories of watching the process multiple times, plus some logic.

Wish I had a picture of a jar of the "Real" ones. . . maybe next year. Here's what they look like, sort of. The color is right, anyway.

Mustard Pickles
2 or 3 quarts cucumbers, unpeeled - quarter lengthwise, scoop out big seeds & slice.
NOTE: 2 recipes called for 2 quarts, one called for 3. I don't recall any scooping out of seeds ever and this was suggested on only one of the recipes - I am including it as an option. As I recall, my mom used smaller cucumbers and cut them in half and sliced them in about quarter inch slices. 


2 quarts pickling onions, peeled & left whole
NOTE: My father used to come home from work and sit at the picnic table with a small paring knife and peel these things for my mom and Ethel until it was dark. It is tedious work and best if you can find someone else to do it. You can just cube up a bunch of onion, if you don't have the patience. Also, if you got a jar for christmas with the little onions, you were damn special. Those jars were usually saved for family or those who were invited to dinner. 

2 quarts cauliflower, broken into medium-sized pieces
NOTE: Not one of the recipes said what to do with the cauliflower. This is where I participated. I think you could call it child labor. . . "Not too small!" is the size. 

2 red peppers, 2 green peppers
NOTE: Also no directions for these. I guess we all know what to do with them. . . cut 'em up, right?

Make brine with 1 cup salt & 1 gallon water.
Let stand 24 hours.
NOTE: What this means is put the brine on the veggies, preferably in a small crock, and let them soak for 24 hours. This is when you take a break, have a cocktail and eat some sort of grilled meat, corn on the cob and salad for dinner. My dad was responsible for grilling the meat - and making the cocktails. After he was done peeling all those tiny onions. 

Bring to a boil, drain
NOTE: If you have a big enamel pot, that's what you should use. That's what my mom used, anyway. I'm pretty sure I recall her using another huge pot that was Club Aluminum. We all know better these days. Seriously, just to a boil. 

Add Sauce:
1 cup water, 2 quarts vinegar
6 cups white sugar
1/2 cup dried mustard
1 tablespoon turmeric
1/2 cup flour

Heat to boiling, cook for 20 minutes. Just before putting in bottles, add 1 or 2 tablespoons celery seed.
NOTE: These pickles are in fairly big pieces. They are not exactly crisp, but they aren't mushy, either. Makes me wonder if 20 minutes is too long, even though all three recipes said the same thing. Also, I don't remember my mom adding the celery seed at the last minute and the amount varied from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon to 2 tablespoons on each recipe. Maybe it should just say "to taste". I can tell you that there are definitely seeds in it. Enough that my mom probably used 2 tablespoons. 

Bottle & Seal
NOTE: This means boil the bottles & seals long enough to make the kitchen hotter than hell (20 minutes, as I recall) and put the hot pickles in the hot jars, slap on a lid and crank on a ring tight - and don't burn yourself. Make sure the lip of the jar is CLEAN - my mom wiped each one with a hot well-wrung wash cloth and rinsed it often. Then put the jars on the counter or a rack to cool. each one will "Pop" when it seals. You can tell if any didn't seal by tapping on top of each one. Jars that don't seal sound flat - no "ping". Jars that don't seal can be put in the fridge to be eaten sometime in the fairly near future - a bonus that rarely happened with Kerr jars, seals and rings (Shameless promotion - my mother never used Ball). 

GENERAL NOTE: OK, which kind of vinegar, white or apple cider? Your guess is as good as mine. None of the recipes say. I'm pretty sure it was apple cider, although we had both in the cupboard during canning season. Maybe Wendy knows. . . That's a lot of white sugar, by the way. Have no idea how to substitute for that. I think you might be able to sub tapioca flour for the wheat flour if you are gluten free. And, by the way, this "sauce" will stain EVERYTHING. I can remember a spot on our counter that faded gradually by the new year, kitchen towels that, after multiple washings, became rags and a wooden spoon that my mom dug out each time she made these pickles that was stained permanently. You can double or triple this recipe. I can remember hours and hours of cutting, peeling, laughing and swearing. And two large crocks that sat out overnight on the patio in the backyard in Rupert. There must have been a lot of Mustard Pickle Christmas Gifts that year. . . We always had the privilege of some of the new batch at Thanksgiving. . . they go really well with turkey. Yum!

If you don't grow a garden, all the fresh ingredients can, of course, be found at your local farmers' market. My mom used to drive around and get her ingredients from various friends with large gardens and people who sold produce out of their yards. Someone would call with a hot tip on where you could get cucumbers and the pickle making was on!

These pickles are best if you can get together with a couple of other women to make them. . . the shared labor, shared love and shared result is wonderful.

I get that it's a little late in the season to put this recipe out. It's really a mid-July recipe.

If you make these, I hope you will include me on your Christmas List.

Love to All and happy pickling!