Green Symphony

Green Symphony was the name of the corner organic juice/smoothie shop where my husband and I stayed on a trip to New York City last week. I just love the name! The name said it all about the experience I had eating the delicious food there every morning. I had never been to New York City before and I just fell in love with it! The visit to Statue of Liberty and seeing "Wicked" on Broadway, as well as attending an opera at the Met and visiting our church's temple were all super amazing. The visits to 3 different Whole Foods stores were fun as usual (business for my husband) because I love to just gaze at the beautifully organized and colorful produce section and read about all the different fruits and vegetables. And, of course, there was the one-on-one time with my husband. It was bliss! Thanks, Mom, for taking on the 4 little ones!

The food, though, added sooooo much to my experience. I actually felt some kinship, like there REALLY are other people out there who eat like I do! We have one organic cafe relatively close to where we live. New York, however, seemed to have an option on every corner. When we travel, we have always had to stay somewhere with a small kitchen and bring our Vitamix. I was a little worried because we weren't going to be doing either. No hotel with a kitchenette OR Vitamix. Yikes. But my husband assured me that I'd be able to find things to eat. I was amazed when I found out how right he was! Every morning I was able to enjoy my traditional green smoothie (not loaded with fruits or added sugars, very GREEN). I ordered a smoothie with spinach, kale, avocado, lemon & green apple every morning and had a couple of hard boiled eggs along with it. Wow, was I set for a long time! I think I'll go back to New York for our next vacation just to be able to so easily procure the food that works for my body - and not have to prepare it!!!! :-)

We also went to Pret A Manger (means "Just Ready") for two different lunches. Wowzers! It is a corner sandwich shop which makes their food fresh every day. The trucks come in the morning with all the ingredients and they hand make their sandwiches, soups and salads all day. In the evening, whatever is left over is donated to local organizations. Both days I had amazing salads and was surprisingly full.

For dinner we went to the hotel restaurant one night, but the other two nights we found great restaurants in the area. We went to Cafe Blossom (a vegan cafe) and a Cuban restaurant called Victor's Cafe. Even the Cuban restaurant had an organic chicken breast marinated in a citrus adobo sauce and topped with watercress. Mmmmmm-Mmmmmm! At the vegan cafe I enjoyed a glass of green juice with a twist of ginger and a black bean/quinoa salad. That salad had watercress in it too...I don't think I had ever had watercress before, or at least not that I recognized. In terms of nutrients, watercress rates at the top of the list. Right up there with kale, collard and mustard greens. It's a more delicate, mild tasting green and one of my new favorites!

Soup recipes and a small victory!

I have a wonderful 5 year old daughter who displays most of her stubbornness when it comes to trying new foods. My other three girls do this now and again, but not to the extent that Molly does. It is frustrating, especially when certain dishes come to the dinner table and she says "eeeeeeewwwww" without even as much as taking a bite, and everyone else follows suit. Then it's four against two (or four against one when my husband is out-of-town)!! I actually find it quite humorous when I sit down beside Molly with a salad and she moves. She absolutely refuses to stay next to me. Anything green is quite scary to her. Hmmmmm....as I'm writing this I am remembering that yours truly was pretty averse to vegetables most of my life :-) I don't know if I was quite so picky, but I do know that my mom used to worry at the lack of variety in my diet.

Anyhow, to the small victory. I made a new soup tonight (yes, it is freezing cold here in Ohio) and, as expected, Molly refused to try it before she even saw the soup. Upon just hearing the word "soup" she had her mind made up. (Even though she has never tried a bite of soup in her life.) But I braced myself for at least a couple of sisters to follow her lead. After all, on the nights I don't choose to make one of the top favorite kid dinners in our house, some of my kids are known to not eat until the next morning. Even an offer for a dessert that they like, pending having a few bites of dinner, doesn't work many times. But to my pleasant surprise, the other 3 tried it and liked it! It may seem like such a small thing, but I was just plain thrilled! I have been trying to offer more of a variety of foods in these past few months that I've been feeling better and more energetic. And it seems that lately the efforts are paying off!

I thought I would post the successful recipe. Below it is another soup recipe that, although my girls refused to try, my husband commented that it was "restaurant quality"! That was reason enough to share the winning recipe with you all. And I must mention that I shared the chicken curry soup recipe with a friend and it did get a thumbs up from her young children!

Vegetarian Taco Soup

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

2 (28 oz.) cans chopped organic tomatoes

1 cup fresh or frozen corn

1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans or black beans

1 tbsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

2 medium avocados, chopped

3-4 sprouted corn tortillas, cut into triangles and baked until crisp (I used the organic blue corn chips)

3 tbsp. fresh cilantro, finely chopped

sour cream (optional)

fresh cilantro (optional)

In a large saucepan, saute garlic, onion, and bell pepper until tender. Add tomatoes, corn, beans, chili powder, cumin and sea salt. Heat thoroughly, and add avocado, tortilla chips, and cilantro last. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and fresh cilantro.

Curry Chicken Soup

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 red potatoes, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1-2 tbsp. curry

1 cup cooked, shredded chicken

Cook carrots, celery, potatoes, peppers, onion, and garlic in chicken broth for 20 minutes or until tender. Add coconut milk, butter, salt, curry and chicken. Heat thoroughly and serve.

Making butter, yogurt & kefir

For the past couple of months we have been ordering dairy products from an Amish farmer and we get cream and milk straight from the cow, eggs straight from the roaming chickens. A friend, Nickie, who I met through this buying co-op, noticed that I was buying kefir (cultured milk) and offered to show me how to make it, as well as butter and yogurt. I was excited, yet a little overwhelmed by the possibility. But as I learn more and more in my studies through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition I become more clear about the many, many benefits of knowing exactly where your food comes from. I know that buying organic butter is OK and that it is a better choice than non-organic butter, but making my own from the cream that I bought straight from the cow that is eating green grass? Wow, how amazing. My older girls get so excited that we can so easily pretend to play Little House on the Prairie these days! :-) Mary & Laura churning their butter, only it is Elizabeth & Molly hand-mixing the butter. Hours of fun. I should have snapped a picture today when we were making it. I will make a mental note to take some pictures to add to the blog next time!

So our first batch of butter turned out wonderfully. And the yogurt we made last week is still in the refrigerator, being consumed every now and then with fruit on top, or in a smoothie. I was amazed at how easy it was to make these dairy products from scratch. I haven't yet attempted to make the kefir, but I've heard that will be just as easy. I will be doing that next week after I procure the kefir grains, so stay tuned! (And I will post recipes too, I just don't have them written down yet because I made the recipes through watching Nickie make them.)

Fresh, local food

This past Saturday we visited our local Farmer's Market and we worked on our garden. It was a beautiful experience. Since the Farmer's Market is just getting started for the season, there wasn't a lot of fresh produce available yet. But, regardless of what is being sold there, it's just about knowing that what is being sold is fresh, local food. You can depend on the food being "clean and green"! It didn't travel thousands of miles to get here and it wasn't sprayed on with chemicals or pumped with antibiotics. I did buy some salad greens and splurged on seasoned kale chips so I could keep the long list of seasonings and make my own next time. We also bought some chicken burger patties produced locally. They sure were YUMMY!

But my excitement for the Farmer's Market cannot surpass the excitement of a fellow blogger - I LOVED her post about going to the Farmer's Market!

In the afternoon we took advantage of the nice weather and got the garden ready for planting. I will have to say that my dear husband did all of the hard work. I was busy planting my starter seeds that I should have planted a couple of weeks before. I had our little preschoolers help me start planting one week, and then just never got back to it! But now the task is done and I'm excited for everything to start growing. Here is a picture of our unfinished garden plots from last year...we only used one. But this year we are taking the plunge and using both! Admittedly - just ask my mom - I do NOT have a green thumb and had never really had an an interest in gardening. But a couple of years ago I knew it was time to start growing a garden (our church really encourages being self-reliant through growing a garden) and I am pleasantly surprised that I have really enjoyed it! I'm not so fond of doing the work to get the desired results. But I absolutely love harvesting the food and bringing it in the house to wash it and get it ready for consumption. And knowing that it came fresh from my backyard is just one of the greatest feelings ever known to man. It makes my heart sing!!!

Healing

For those of you who haven't read my blog before, here is where you can read my story. Healing is an incredible journey, a road filled with learning and growth. I have healed in so many different ways and have learned so many exciting things! While I don't claim that everyone who experiences healing can do so fully by just changing their diet, I do believe that shifting to a whole foods, nutrient-dense diet will make a world of difference and give one a foundation upon which to experience more healing. The mind, body and spirit are deeply interconnected, each part being influenced greatly by the other. I have mentioned before that in order to be balanced we must balance our "secondary food" (the actual food that we eat), with our "primary food" (our lifestyle - areas such as spiritual practice, exercise, career and relationships). Balance and healing will only take place when all of these areas of our lives are running more smoothly. (Notice I say "more" smoothly, because life is never perfect :-) I have a deep religious belief which, for me, has contributed to my healing above and beyond diet. I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jesus Christ is the center of our gospel message. We believe that it is He who heals all sin, pain, grief, suffering and sickness. He is the true source of healing and light and if we turn to Him, we can be healed. After all I can do, it is He that makes up the difference and makes me become whole again.

On this Easter Sunday we celebrate Christ's life and Resurrection. He died so that man may live. Not only physically, but spiritually. I am so grateful for this gift. And so amidst all the food talk here and my belief that food is healing and has medicinal properties, may we remember who is the divine source of healing. And that He will lead us on the right healing path for our particular circumstance when we are need of that healing.

Choosing a new clientele

It has been a few months! I have been studying and learning and experimenting and have decided that my new clientele is (drum roll)...none other than my husband and daughters! I have always studied with the intention to help improve my health and the health of my family. But I also intended to start a health coaching business focusing on moms and families. As things have unfolded, I have realized that I must keep my focus on my calling as a wife and mother. And through writing on this blog and through my regular interactions with people, I can still help others find the health they desire.

That said, this blog will become a little different than it has been. For the couple of months that I wrote before, I focused on a particular principle of dietary health and was usually pretty factual, only sharing a story or two here and there. But because my focus group is now my family...well, you will probably get a few more personal stories and some insight into our less than perfect life! ;-) Don't be surprised when I talk about my mission to try and get my kids to eat more vegetables, or to have them eat something more for lunch than a nitrate free hotdog or almond butter sandwich with fruit. We have a lot of work to do here, but I am excited about the things I am learning and that I will be trying in the near future. And I am also excited to take you along with me on the journey. I hope we can all learn together!

Natural Healing

"Given the chance, the body will heal itself, by itself." (Joshua Rosenthal, Founder of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition)

Our bodies are incredible creations. They were designed to heal themselves. On the most basic level, when we get a cut or scrape, the body heals itself - with a little help from a protective covering. When a bone is broken, with the proper setting, it heals. So why don't we trust our bodies to heal in other circumstances? Why do we run to the first pharmaceutical drug we can find to help our symptoms when we don't feel well? Now, I have to say that I think there is a place for medication. It has saved many a life and I am grateful for modern medicine. But my opinion is that it is highly over-used and misused and, in many cases, not the best option.

In my quest for healing, I have found so many non-invasive, non-toxic things that have helped my body to heal. They are out there, but it does take some research to find the right methods for you. And these holistic, safe alternatives often work better than anything else. They may cost some money. But insurance co-pays and deductibles and non-covered procedures cost money too.

So, as is the topic here, let food be thy medicine. It is healing, it has medicinal properties, and if you are not feeling well - look at your diet first. It is true that there may be many other factors at play. So if you don't have an emergency situation, looking at your diet first, getting a handle on that, and then exploring other areas that need help would be the smartest order to proceed. Many people gain a clarity of mind and feel less stress and overwhelm once they change their diet. So the next steps to take become much more clear then.

Think of it this way, "toxic in, toxic out". If your food is toxic (unhealthy, processed, and devoid of nutrients), your life has the potential to be toxic. What we put into our bodies, if consistently unhealthy and processed, may eventually manifest itself as an illness. If our bodies do not go there, they are likely to go to decreased immunity, pain, and/or loss of energy. The environment inside our bodies matters. What we put into our bodies matters. If we are suffering, it could be because our diet is suffering.

The thing about natural healing that no one likes, though, is that it takes time. It is not an overnight process. Society wants a quick fix, so natural healing is not popular. I became ill after the birth of my 4th child almost 2 years ago and, while I am doing much, much better, I am still in the process of healing. I have fine-tuned my food and now I have gone on to other tools that are helping me become even more well. (Exercise, spiritual practice, energy healing & just starting to explore the world of essential oils - to name a few.)

Please join me in the natural healing journey. It is truly a rewarding one!