Day: April 29, 2008

Things I love: Be Three

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There is a new online newsletter called Be Three.  Its for women, its clever, sassy, and the staff seems really cool based on their bios.  Check it out, and for those who just don’t get enough emails in their inbox every day, they even have a daily newsletter.

I don’t often address my yogini side in my posts (Try and focus on nutrition and sustainable wellness, but yoga is certainly a part of that!), but I loved this article, titled: Get your chant on:

Get Your Chant On

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Last week, you found out that chanting isn’t just for saffron-robed monks, and that (heck yeah!) you’re willing to try it out for the sake of inner peace. Now, let’s turn our focus on ”what is a chant” and how easy it is to get your chant on.

What Is a Chant?
1. Words: One of the most popular spiritual words du jour is Om because of its intention to cultivate a sense of connection with those around you. And while many chants use Om as the main repetition, chants can range from this one-word mantra to a forty-verse ode to a brave monkey, like the Hanuman Chalisa.

2. Short and Sweet: Chants are often short and easy to remember, and, much like the songs you learned in grade school, are done in a call-and-response fashion (so that fading memory of yours doesn’t have to recall much at all).

3. Simplicity: All you need for chanting is your voice. No super-yoga flexibility, odd-shaped implements, or worldly-strength required.

4. Strength In Numbers: If singing in public ranks up there with public speaking on your top-fears list, worry not. While chanting, you’re singing with others – no solos required.

What to Chant?
Turn on one of these playlists – in your car, when you’re cleaning your apartment, or right before bed – and you’ll be on the fast track to zen.

Krishna Das: Check out this chant master’s CD collection of traditional chants, available for download on your iPod.

BMW – the ultimate driving (me crazy) machine

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Lately I’ve been taking my BMW for a spin more than I should.  What I’m talking about is the BMW in my brain: the Bitching, Moaning, and Whining.  Yes, it is the ultimate driving machine – of my neurosis!

Seems like I’ve been living in the problem a bit, and not in the solution…and what happens when I’m there: I get caught up into the desire to eat sugar, forget my responsibilities and become self-centered.

There is a reason I haven’t posted much in the past week – I’ve simply been self consumed.  LIving an Off-White life is all about personal accountability, responsibility, and balance.  Well, this week I none of the above.  I also saw a correlation between my attitude, my stress and my lack of self-care.  I ate too quickly, I did not give myself the simple pleasure of sitting at the table for dinner.  I did not connect with friends as much.  yada, yada, yada…..you get the idea.

What is it about the BMW’s of our minds that make the simple principles of self-care, especially with nutrition, so difficult.  Is it that I don’t feel worthy of good choices?  Is it because I see all the people in the TV and magazine Ads having so much fun with their junk food that I want to join in?  Is it simply that stress really does drive the need to just simple carbs, go into a food coma, and forget life.

I suppose the answer can be all three.  For me, the reason behind all the BMW moments was based in a fear of uncertainty.  I thrive on stability and control.  I like when things are the same, yet they never are.  So much is evolving in my life: career, residence, the role my husband plays in our life (grad student), financial insecurity…..it goes on and on.

Can anybody else relate?  I’m so interested in this human phenomenoa of wanting to neglect self in order to buy into fears and stress.  Yes, I get it that fears/stress are valid, but it never feels better  to give them all my power.

My hope is that I’ve done the footwork, prayer, and surrender over these issues, at least for now, and can get back to what I do love : blogging, connecting with friends, making healthy meals and being creative with food, and trusting that this evolution is absolutely perfect in its awkwardness.  Isn’t everything beautiful at one point awkward (I think of flowers opening for the first time, baby chicks with ugly patchwork down feathers, storm clouds that you can’t tell if rain is coming or not).  My biggest lesson to realize is that I am, and always will be, perfectly imperfect, and no amount of fantasizing about mile-high cheesecakes or donuts is going to change that truth.  For me, or for anybody else.

So, here are a few steps I’ve taken to get my mojo back;

1. Spend time with a friend on Sunday afternoon
2. Make some time for my husband on Sunday night after his trip out of town
3. Eat simply for 3 days: focus on 3 meals/day with the emphasis of these meals being fruits/veggies, and a lean protien.  No grains, and get off the dairy again.
4. Write in my journal
5. Post here, and be honest with myself and others about me
6. Look at websites of people I admire – ever reminding me to stay connected to my dreams and realize that nobody wakes up in one day with it all put together
7. Turn OFF THE TV – it is so demoralizing and food-tempting for me.
8. Go for a walk instead of a run on Saturday – gave myself permission to be in “flow” instead of force.

Blessings,
R

Splenda is not so splendid

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Yet another reason I’m not a fan of Splenda…….corn.
What, you ask, do corn and Splenda have in common?  If you take a look at the back of a Splenda packet, you’ll find a very imporant word: Dextrose.

Dextrose is a sugar derived from corn.  The same plants that gives us high fructose corn syrup also produce dextrose.  Now, dextrose can also be derived from other things, like grapes, but much of the dextrose we eat comes from corn.

Why all the hype about corn?  What gives?  Corn continues to be a hot button because we are over-using it; the typical American approach: Something has a good aspect to it, so we exploit it and over-work it, and then wonder what went wrong.  Our food (including dairy, meats, legumes, grains, etc) is at least 25% corn-based, from the reading I did in both “Omnivores Dilemma” and “Fast Food Nation” recently.  The reason is that many of our lifestock eat corn, so we get the residual issues in our bodies.

Corn sensitivity, like gluten or dairy sensitivity, is on the rise.  Of course it is – when we over-consume something, our bodies get sensitive to it.  It’s like being poked in the same spot on your arm 1,000 times.  Sure, a poke every now and again isn’t so bad, but constant poking yields a bruise, dysfunction on the skin and sensory feedback and general irritation.  Same with food.  We over-eat something ,especially if that something is genetically modified (and you can be your bottom dollar Corn is genetically modified, especially nowadays).
The other reason artificial sweeteners don’t excite me is that they miss the point: we are addicted to sweet.  Wouldn’t you (who are also fellow addicts like me) agree that once you get the taste for sweet, it’s over?
Americans consume a lot of sugar, we all know that
What I think is under-represented is the genetic and biochemical drive to consume that sugar even when we know it is not good for us.  What would serve us better are foods/recipes/mindsets that help us put our sweet craving aside.

In Chinese medicine it is said that a sweet addiction is an addiction to “the sweetness of life”.  We want it to taste like honey all the time, and when it doesn’t, we go looking for the honey.

I can certainly see this in myself.  I’ve used sugar as a compadre to cope with the drama in my head for many years.  Without it, life still seems a little sour, and yet with it I am a slave to its effects.

I suppose the call to action here is to invite myself and others to look at the role sweet foods play and ask ourselves if that role is really suiting our life’s dreams?  And for the times when something sweet would be really appropriatae, why not make something real, good and of the earth?
For such an occasion, I have a recipe.  Maybe its weird to post a dessert recipe here, because I’m talking about abstaining from sugar, so this one is for the birthday party, the 4th of July picnic, or whatever else is a call to celebrate.

I have to thank Better Homes and Garden’s for the inspiration.  I was looking for a recipe for a birthday potluck at work and my new mag came to the door, offering a recipe that catapulted me into creative recipe creating mode.

Blueberry-lemon-coconut-pie (and low sugar too!)

1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup whole oats (you can blend them for 30 seconds for a finer flavor, if you’d like)
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
2 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg, each
1/2 cup flaxmeal
1/4 cup sucanat

In a small saucepan, heat coconut oil over medium heat until melted and warmed (1-2 minutes).   In a med bowl, stir oats, flour, coconut, flax, spices, and sugar.  Stir in butter and mix.  Press into the bottom of a 10″ pie dish, or 13″x9″ pie dish.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Filling:

6 eggs (or 3 eggs + 4 whites)
1/2 cup spelt flour
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp lime peel
2 cups blueberries (I warmed 2 cups of blueberries on the stove w/1 packet Stevia to bring out flavor prior to adding)
1/4 cup sucanat.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, sugar, 1/2 cup spelt flour, lemon juice, baking powder and nutmeg.  Beat for 2 min.  Stir in lime peel and berries.  Pour over crust.  Bake 30 minutes at 350.  Serve chilled after 2 hrs of refrigeration.

This one was a hit with all the co-workers, even those who don’t normally eat healthy.

I’m learning the power of having a well planned, special treat on occasion versus the daily consumption of “junk” sugar, which doesn’t actually make me feel good, and certainly doesn’t add anything to my health.

Blessings

R