Interested in a healthier diet this winter? Shift to a plant based diet.

What is a plant based diet?
Unlike most diets, a plant-based diet is defined by what it focuses on, not what it excludes. When you eat a plant based diet, you maximize consumption of nutrient-dense plant based foods while minimizing processed foods, oils, and animal foods. Eat veggies, fruits, beans, seeds, and nuts. Include local and sustainably-raised dairy, eggs, poultry, and meat in smaller amounts if you wish.

Food writer, Michael Pollan, coined a 7 word phrase that makes it easy to know how to eat a plant based diet:

“Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”

"Eat food" means to eat real food (vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and small amounts of eggs, fish, and meat if you wish), and to avoid what Pollan calls "edible food-like substances.“

You can watch Michael Pollan's take on healthy eating in the wonderful PBS documentary: In Defense of Food. You can also read his book Food Rules, An Eater's Manual.

Here are a handful of food rules from Michael Pollan's book Food Rules that you can start using right away to eat healthier this season.

"Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."​​

"Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in the pantry."

"Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle." Real food tends to be on the outer edge of the store near the loading docks, where it can be replaced with fresh foods when it goes bad.

"Eat only foods that will eventually rot." 

"Eat foods made from ingredients that you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature."

"If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don't.

"Treat meat as a special flavoring or special occasion food."

"Eat your colors."​

The new year is an opportunity to get out of an eating rut and try some new plant based foods. Head over to your local grocery store, food co-op or farmer’s market and see what’s in season. 

Plant-based foods to add to your diet this winter:

• In season and cold storage fruits like apples, pears, quince, pomegranate, and citrus. Eat apples and oranges on their own or add them to salads. Make an apple crisp. 
• Cold tolerant leafy greens such as, kale, arugula, bok choy, chicory, spinach, and chard. Steamed, sauteed and added to soups, leafy greens are some of the best nutrition around.
• Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and kohlrabi. Steamed, added to stir-fries, or roasted, cauliflower and broccoli are superfoods for winter.
• Root veggies like turnips, parsnips, carrots, beets, celeriac root, and rutabaga. Roasted root vegetables are warm, grounding and nourishment for cold weather.
• Squash varieties like pumpkin, butternut, spaghetti squash, delicata, and acorn. Enjoy squash roasted, in soups and or baked.
• Nuts and seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, flax, chia, walnut, almond, brazil, pecan, and hazelnut. Add nuts to salads. Sprinkle them on your morning oats or by the handful.
• Dried legumes such as lentils, mung beans, split peas, black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans and black eyed peas. Soak your legumes before cooking them to improve digestibility. Season them with warming spices and eat them on their own or add them to soups and stews.
• Whole grains such as quinoa, millet, buckwheat, bulgar wheat, brown rice, basmati rice, wild rice, oats, and barley. Eat whole grain porridges for breakfast. Enjoy whole grains next to stirfries. Add grains added to soups. 
• Healthy fats such as extra-virgen olive oil, coconut oil. and avocados

Simple plant based meals for winter using the Instant Pot
Nothing beats the cold like a warm bowl of stew or soup. I'm a huge fan of using the Instant Pot to feed my family warm food in the winter. Many of you readers will already know about or own an Instant Pot, but in case you're new to the game, I just came across a great guide in the NY Times: How to Use an Instant Pot. 

Once you get the hang of the Instant Pot, you don't really need a recipe, but if you're looking for recipes, the internet is full of Instant Pot recipes. Here are a few that you might want to try this month:

• Mixed Vegetables and Lentil Kichdi - Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Chana Masala
• Instant Pot Ethiopian Lentil Stew
• Pressure Cooker Black Bean Soup
• Instant Pot White Bean Kale Soup

Healthy happy plant based eating!
Treat mat as a flavoring or special occasion 
Eat only f

Hello! There's a lot going on in the world that's challenging, and I hope we're all up for the challenge of making the world a better place. This is an excellent reason to stay healthy. We all have to eat, and what we choose to eat affects our own health and the health of the planet. To this end, I have created a downloadable Healthy Eating Tip Sheet (see below). In this blog post and in the upcoming blogs, I'll unpack the tips from this tip sheet.

In this blog, I discuss meal timing, meal spacing and why lunch should be your main meal of the day.

TIP: Eat 2 -3 times a day at roughly the same time during daylight hours.
Even as we humans have the capacity to eat whatever we want whenever we want, like eating ice cream at midnight, snacking on nuts while working at the computer, skipping lunch entirely, and binging on chips in the late afternoon, eating two or three meals a day at roughly the same time every day is better for your body.

Anahad O'Conner of the New York Times writes that "a growing body of research suggests that our bodies function optimally when we align our eating patterns with our circadian rhythms, the innate 24-hour cycles that tell our bodies when to wake up, when to eat and when to fall asleep. Studies show that chronically disrupting this rhythm — by eating late meals or nibbling on midnight snacks, for example — could be a recipe for weight gain and metabolic trouble." Dr. Satchin Panda, a researcher on Circadian science and author of the Circadian Code argues that our bodies function best when we eat our meals daily during an 8 - 10 hour window, eating our breakfast in the morning and finishing dinner by the early evening. (Read this article here.)

TIP: Make lunch the main meal of the day. This is when your digestive capacity is at its peak

Ayurveda, the healing tradition of India and sister science of yoga, and modern science are in agreement with regards to meal timing, meal spacing and what to eat when. Ayurveda has always emphasized that meal spacing and making lunch the largest meal of the day are keys to health and longevity. Ayurveda argues that when the sun is at its highest ,at the noon hour, is when the body is most primed to take in the largest meal. Scientific evidence support this. Eating the bulk of your food in the first half of the day is better for our health because we are biologically best equipped to digest food more efficiently and burn more calories in the earlier part of the day.

Ayurveda and growing scientific evidence suggests that you should eat a nourishing breakfast, a bigger lunch and an earlier, lighter dinner. Allow at least three hours between finishing dinner and going to bed. Allow at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Evidence suggests that 14 hour or more of fasting reduces inflammation and may help promote better weight. If you finish dinner by 7 PM, your body will have ample digestion time. If you are going to skip any meal, let it be dinner rather than lunch or breakfast. 

Making the shift to a bigger better lunch.
A few generations back, the midday meal that we call lunch was called dinner. Folks stopped working and gathered at midday or early afternoon to eat their largest meal together. It was a time to be nourished and to relax. After this, folks would return to their work or chores. Later in the day, they would gather again for a smaller meal called supper. Supper: think something "supplemental."  A lighter meal, not a large, heavy meal. This healthy pattern of eating is still practiced in many parts of the world. 

This all sounds reasonable, but so many of us are away from home at lunch that it's hard to make lunch a priority. What can we do? Shifting our eating pattern to making lunch a larger meal requires planning, meal planning. If you work away from the home and gather with your family for dinner in the evening, plan to make enough dinner so that you'll have leftovers for lunch for the next day. Before serving your dinner, put away healthy portions for lunch for the next day in lunch containers. Then, serve yourself a smaller portion for dinner. Better yet, save the dense, heavy food for lunch and eat something lighter and more digestible like soup for dinner.

When it's lunch time at work, make it an occasion. Get away from your desk. Gather with your colleagues, your friends, or even take time by yourself, and take a real pause to eat and relax before getting back to work.

More strategies for healthier meals for busy people
Invest in good lunch containers. Use glass containers that you can reheat easily. Get yourself a food thermos. If you like to go out to eat, go out for lunch instead of dinner. Use a pressure cooker (like an Instant pot) or a crock pot to make save time and make healthy food at home. Hearty stews and soups make excellent lunches and can make great dinners when enjoyed in smaller portions. 

Here are a few of my favorite stews for winter time lunches:

• Easy Red Lentil Dhal
• Mujadarra Lentils + Rice
• Easy One Pot Black Bean Soup
• Moosewood White Bean Black Olive Soup

For more recipe ideas, see my list of Vibrant Soulful curated recipes.

Ever since I was young, I have always loved ringing in the New Year.  It has always been a special and potent time for reflecting on my past and envisioning the future.  As a kid, I always enjoyed the ritual of writing New Year’s resolutions. As a yogi, this ritual has morphed into what I call a dharma alignment exercise.  

About dharma
The word dharma comes from Sanskrit, and it refers to your unique purpose and passion in life. The dharma alignment exercise  is an opportunity to get clear on who you are, who you are becoming, what you stand for, and where you want to put my time and energy. The premise is that you are not entirely the same as you were twelve months ago. Hopefully you have evolved. That is the point! Hopefully you have learned and grown from the past year and have acquired new gifts and skills to take with you into the New Year.  

You see, dharma is dynamic. I am and you are in a state of evolution.  We are works in progress. Even as I still feel myself to be the same person that I have always been, I have been growing and changing during the last year, and my identity has shifted some.  My desire is to be in a co-creative relationship with the Universe. I have come to strongly believe that the Universe has my back and is conspiring for my evolution, and the best thing I can do for myself and for the planet is to cooperate with this and figure out who I am and live this on purpose.

Over the years, I have developed a New Year's Reflection and Dharma worksheet with questions that I like to consider at the New Year. These serve as both reflection and planning.  To use this worksheet, I would suggest setting aside a little time each day.  You may choose to work on it for a week or even for the entire month of January.

Download the New Year's Reflection and Dharma Worksheet here.

The Busy Month of December
If your life is like that of most North Americans, the month of December is intensely busy with activities, to-lists, gift lists and holiday events. Peace and tranquility may be what you want, yet for many, this month and the holiday season is far from peaceful.
 
Cultivating Peace: 
Yet, I believe in my capacity (and yours) to cultivate peace this month and and anytime. 

A daily well-being practice is key. Whether your form of self-care is yoga, meditation, walking, getting a massage (or all of the above!) make these habits and practices count this month. Make it to yoga class. Stop, drop and sit on your meditation cushion. Bundle up and go for a walk with your raincoat and umbrella. You will be amazed at how far even 15 minutes will go toward keeping you in a peaceful state.
(Want a guided home yoga practice? Click here.)

The practices of yoga and meditation and time spent outside in nature calm the nerves, release agitation, and soothe an over-stimulated mind/body.  Practice yoga to steep in the sweet serenity of your deepest core.  This is shanti, peace surcharged with ecstasy.  Commit to your well-being practices so that field of shanti, felt on the inside becomes more and more a quality of your daily functioning: your thoughts, spoken words and actions.  Commit to your practices and good habits so that you can stay in the space of open-hearted-ness toward yourself, toward those you love most, toward those who you may find difficult, and toward all beings.
 
Cultivating Goodwill:
Most people spend more time with family and friends during the holiday season, and thus, this season is an opportunity to cultivate our positive connections with others and spread goodwill.  This isn't necessarily easy, especially in the times in which we are living.

To cultivate goodwill, we have to focus on the intrinsic web of unity that binds us together so that our common humanity and common divinity are active in our awareness.  

To help me keep stay in a spirit of goodwill during the holidays, I look to the teachings of the Brahma Viharas, literally the "heavenly abodes", a list of four qualities or mindsets that are embraced by yogis and Buddhists alike as a means for cultivating peace inside and out. 

The Brahma Viharas are:

Maitri – friendliness and loving-kindness, the wish that all sentient beings be happy.  
How to practice this: Take care of your own happiness first!  To express goodwill toward others, you have to fill up your own happiness cup first. Be friendly and kind to yourself first and you will activate your natural capacity to be kind to others.
 
Karuna – compassion, the wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering.
How to practice this: Cultivate the attitude of interacting with others on the basis of your shared humanity. Compassion is to see someone eye to eye even when it’s uncomfortable. Be willing to lean into conversations and practice deep listening.
 
Mudhita – empathetic joy, the wholesome attitude of rejoicing in the happiness and virtues of others.
How to practice this: Emotions are contagious. Happiness is contagious.  Brain studies are proving this with the study of mirror neurons. Surround yourself with positive and happy people. This will increase your odds of being happy.
 
Upeksha – over-looking, equanimity, literally “over-looking”, to look high rather than low, to focus on the highest in ourselves and in others, to stay broad-minded and in a state of equanimity with regard to ourselves and others.
How to practice this: Watch your nagging, especially with the people you live with! Instead, practice seeing these people in their highest, and helping them succeed.  (This is particularly good advice for parents and spouses!)

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti
May there be peace.  May there be peace. May there be peace.

Thanksgiving is coming right up! 

Here is a list of 13 tips for a making your Thanksgiving weekend healthier.

1. Plan to eat your Thanksgiving meal at midday or in the afternoon. This is when your digestive capacity is at its peak. Studies show that eating the bulk of your calories earlier in the day supports maintaining a healthy weight.

2. Plan several delicious plant based sides to accompany your Thanksgiving turkey. For healthy Thanksgiving food ideas, look here, here and here.

3. If you're not hosting, volunteer to bring a healthy dish to your holiday gathering. This way, you'll know that you have at least one healthy dish to put on your plate. Here's a list of healthy plant based Thanksgiving recipes.

4. Eat breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. This has been shown to prevent over-eating later in the day.

5. Sit next to healthy eaters. Find your healthy eating allies and enjoy strength and wellness in numbers.

6. Put veggies on your plate first. Take a larger portion of the healthier foods and a smaller portion of the less healthy foods. 

7. Choose your indulgences wisely and enjoy them. There is a time for feasting. Consciously enjoy your dessert!

8. Slow down. Enjoy your food. Savor the flavors. Chew and swallow. Pause. Breathe. Repeat.

9. Focus on gratitude. Studies show that folks who make gratitude a daily practice open the door to more relationships, improve their physical health, psychological health, sleep better, are more empathetic, have better self esteem and mental resilience. 

10. Drink digestive teas after your meal. Ginger tea, Cumin, coriander, fennel tea and licorice mint are all great choices. Here are some recipes.

11. When you're done eating, brush your teeth to discourage yourself from eating more than you need.

12. Move your body after your big meal. Invite your friends and loved ones to take a walk after your Thanksgiving feast. This will give your metabolism a boost and lighten the load.

13. Eat lighter and greener on Black Friday. It's a good practice to pulse between festive meals and simple meals. After a day of rich celebratory eating, dial it back. Think healthy and simple like green smoothies and vegetable soups.

Happy Healthy Thanksgiving!

Don’t you hate it when you realize that you’ve been living life in the fast lane, being too busy, feeling stressed, not eating well and not resting enough, and you wear down on your immune system and you end up sick. Let’s not let that happen!

Here are some ideas to help you build your immunity this season.

According to Ayurveda, ojas  is the life sustaining vitality that promotes immunity in the body. I think of it as your energy reserves and deep immunity.  Ojas  is responsible for sustaining your physical health, mental clarity and emotional well-being.  When you have a lot of ojas, your cup is full.  You are a picture of health. Your eyes are bright. You look well-rested and content.  You build ojas by good, wholesome living.  When you are living in the fast lane, you spend your ojas quick.  Burning the candle at both ends is a sure way to deplete your energy reserves.

Late fall is an important time to build ojas. Here is a list of simple ways you can do this:

• Keep good company.  Positive people nourish and uplift the soul.
• Eat nourishing foods.  Warm, plant based, nourishmnent. (For autumn nourishment ideas, click here.)
• Live and eat in season. Season living promotes immunity. (For your fall health tip sheet, click here.)
• Rest. So simple, yet so often overlooked!  Go to bed early and prioritize rest.
• Positive touch and hugs. Practice self-massage and give and receive hugs.
• Reduce/avoid  sweets, alcohol and caffeine
• Practice a restorative yoga sequence. (See below!)
• Meditate.
• Get fresh air.  Go out into nature.

Restorative Yoga is a great way to build immunity and replenish yourself.

Here is a simple 11 minute restorative yoga and pranayama practice you can to build your immunity:

​Here's to your health!

Here are 3 reasons to discover your Ayurvedic body type:

1) To optimize your diet.  What should I be eating? (Why can my friend eat all the bananas, nuts, and pizza she wants, and when I eat these, I feel gassy and bloated?)  According to Ayurveda, what is food for one person may be poison for another.  It all comes down to digestion.  Learning your Ayurvedic dosha or body type helps you choose your foods wisely for maximum nourishment.

2)   To choose the best yoga or movement practice for you. What is the best exercise for me?  (My friend loves hot yoga and I can't stand it - why is that?)  According to Ayurveda, there are different kinds of exercises that are suitable for different body types.  Knowing your dosha can help you choose an exercise program that is suited for you so you can feel grounded, energized and fit.

3) To create a balanced lifestyle for yourself. How can I bring routine into my day? What can I do to manage my emotions? What can I do when I feel grouchy? anxious? depressed? Ayurveda recognizes that people are prone to different mental/emotional tendencies.  Discovering your dosha can help you recognize areas of strength and weakness. Ayurveda recommends daily habits to bring balance to your bodymind and life.

​An on-going theme that I teach my clients and emphasize in my wellness courses and explore in my own life is how to step into the role of being your own best care-giver and how to prioritize self-care. This is the intelligent stance of putting yourself first when it comes to health. Put on your own oxygen mask first. ​

I see too many people, particularly women, taking care of others, but not actively advocating and prioritizing their health and well-being and I've been guilty of this myself! But, we all know that when you don't prioritize your health, not only do you suffer, your family and community suffers too. It doesn't have to be this way!

Self care isn't a luxury. It's a necessity. 
A parent who is perpetually exhausted has little to give. A zombie mom can’t be an effective parent. A zombie in the workplace can't contribute to the greater good.

When you practice self-care, everyone wins!

A good way to begin to self-care is by remembering your own care-givers and becoming aware of your learned and inherited patterns of care-giving and self-care. These inquiries are important.  Our own personal health evolution requires a strong examination of the habits and patterns that are present in our lineage.  The habits that we learned from our care-givers that are life-affirming, we aim to perpetuate. The habits that we learned from them that are not life-affirming we should release. 

​Who were your primary care-givers? Name them. Your mother, father, older siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, etc. Your list can include blood relatives as well as the special people who showed up for you in your life and cared for you. 

In what ways did you experience their care?  Maybe it was through physical touch, nourishment, humor, coaching or teachable moments.  If your caregivers are still living, consider reaching out to them and expressing gratitude for their care. If they are no longer living, find a way to remember them and inwardly express gratitude.

Was self-care something that was strongly modeled in your family of up-bringing? Did the adults in your life model self-care? Can you remember how your care-givers cared for themselves and/or reached out for support when they needed it?

You already know how to be a caregiver to your family. 
What does it look like  to be your own best caregiver?
What habits or practices do you regularly engage in to promote your wellbeing? 

Practice daily self-care and you'll live a healthy life.

“There is no herb, supplement or drug that can entirely take the place of having an appropriate daily diet, lifestyle and stress-management routine.”
- Dr. Claudia Welch

“I prescribe regimens for the good of my patients.”
- Hippocrates


Self Care Basics

Bookend your days with morning and evening routines
The day is going to be busy, hectic, variable with school, projects, errands, etc. You'll be more resilient and effective with your day if you make time for yourself in the morning and evening. Bookend your days with routines and rituals that ground, nourish and calm.

Cultivate a powerful morning routine
Get up early so you can have quiet time before the busy-ness of the day begins. Make time for self care in the morning: reflection, meditation, reading, exercise, journaling, etc. Plan your day for efficiency and flow.

Cultivate an easeful evening routine
Honor your body’s fatigue and slow down after the workday. Avoid doing more work in the evening and choose instead to make time for doing something that is pleasant and relaxing. Play a game. Listen to music. Consider a bath, reading, self massage, meditation or journaling. 

Prioritize Sleep. Make Early to Bed a Habit
The truth is, most of us are incredibly busy and many of us get through life on little sleep. We don’t give our sleep the attention it deserves.  What we want to recognize is that fatigue is a basic, natural sign from your body, like hunger and thirst.  We need to pay attention to fatigue, just as we pay attention to hunger, for example. 
Getting enough sleep is crucial for good health. Early to bed is crucial for parents. Get off your screen at least one hour before bed. Get to sleep by 10 PM to get the best hours of rest.

Move Your Body Daily
Exercise daily and you'll be more successful at home, at work, or at anything you do. Exercise boosts your metabolism, is linked to better productivity, encourages better sleep, and makes for a happier you!

Prioritize Your Nourishment
Meal plan on the weekends. Eat a well balanced, whole foods diet. Up your veggies and greens! Drink water between meals. Sit down and relax when you eat your meals. Eat a bigger lunch and an earlier, lighter dinner for better energy, weight management, and less inflammation.

Carve out breaks for yourself. Take yourself on a date
Can you give yourself a half day a week and a full day a month for self care? What brings you joy and pleasure?
What would you like to do for yourself? Plan something that gives you joy and pleasure. A walk in nature, a visit to a museum, an outing with a friend. How can you make this happen?

Don’t lose sight of your passions, joy and desires.
Be an awesome parent, care-giver, worker, boss or employee, but don’t lose sight of yourself in the process. Keep prioritizing your personal passions, interests and desires.

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. What the world needs is people who have come alive. - Howard Thurman

Are you tired of being tired? 

I can't believe how often I hear this.  I get it. I'm 48 and may women (and men) in my age bracket just don't sleep as well as they used to. 

This post is for you if..

1. You just don't sleep as well as you used to when you were younger. 
2. Sleep issues have been an issue for you on and off throughout your life. 
3. You tend to be a night owl and you know you aren't getting as much sleep as you need.
4. You have a hard time falling asleep.
5. You fall asleep fine but tend to wake up at 3 AM and can't get back to sleep.
6. You want natural solutions (not drugs) for great sleep.

Do you fancy yourself a cook? A foodie? A health enthusiast? A locovore? According to habit change expert, James Clear, every action you take casts a vote for the person you believe you are. Do you go for burgers or go for beets? Do you opt for pop tarts or for parnsips? Do you meal plan or do you default to frozen entrees? When you change your habits, you change your identity. The actions you take daily, weekly, and seasonally in your kitchen cast big votes for the type of body you have now and the kind of body you are going to have in 3 months and in 3 years.

I call myself a cook, a foodie, a health enthusiast and a locovore. It probably started in my teens when I would turn my mom's kitchen upside down experimenting with recipes and food ideas. This identity was solidified in my college years when I worked at the vegetarian collective restaurant name the Che Cafe on the campus of UC San Diego. I made the weekly Indian lunch special, I worked the early AM sandwich shift, and I served food for the Wednesday night All You Can Eat special. People who know me know I love to cook and prepare healthy, local food.

If you want to be a healthy person, start to ask yourself, what would a healthy person do in the kitchen? ​

Kitchen Sadhana
In this post, I share with you a lot of habits and ideas about how to make the most out of your time in the kitchen each day, each week and each season. I call this Kitchen Sadhana. Sadhana is a word from the yoga tradition that translates as a practice aimed at evolution. The habits I do in my kitchen cast votes for my future health and well-being. What I put into my body eventually becomes my tissues, my thoughts and my actions.

I define Kitchen Sadhana as:

• Consciousness in action in my kitchen. 
• The practice of food preparation and nourishment.  
• Daily, weekly and seasonal taks that up-level my kitchen environment and vibration. 
• Clear intentions around my food preparation.  
• Investment in my future body and consciousness.

A weekly Kitchen Sadhana will help you:

• Save time during the week.
• Eat better.
• Save money.
• Be seasonal.
• Be more relaxed.
• Have a healthier, more vibrant body.

Seasonal Kitchen Tasks
These are tasks to do about every three months.

• Purge your fridge and cupboards of anything that is old and devoid of life force (prana).
• Arrange your refrigerator and cupboards like you would rooms in your house! Arrange them neatly and nicely for your satisfaction, pleasure and ease. Design your refrigerator and cabinets to emphasize what you want to put into your body.
• Organize your bins and jars.
• Organize your compost container and system.
• Organize your spices.
• Stock your kitchen for the current season.
• Assess your kitchen tools. Upgrade if necessary.
• Blend spice mixes for the season.
• Freeze or can food to eat later in the year.
• Prepare herbal tea blends, superfood blends, etc.
• Plant a garden or get a CSA subscription.
• Install a compost bin.

Weekly Kitchen Tasks
These are weekly tasks to prepare for good nourishment for the week ahead. These can be customized depending on the season and what you like to eat.

• Explore new recipes for the coming week.
• Fill out your weekly meal planner. (Download this PDF)
• Take a shopping trip.
• Restock your kitchen staples.
• Harvest your garden.
• Gather your edible weeds for the week.
• Arrange fresh produce where you will be enticed to use it.
• Clean greens and veggies for easy meal prep.
• Make mason jar salads for lunches away from home.
• Prepare vegetarian soup stock or bone broth.
• Sprout seeds.
• Make granola.
• Make salad dressings and sauces
• Make almond milk or coconut milk from scratch.
• Start a batch of sauerkraut.
• Make hummus or other bean dips.

Kitchen Tasks for the Evening

• Check your meal plan. Adjust if necessary.
• Soak any legumes or grains for the next day (chia sees, rice, beans, etc).
• Chop and prep ingredients for tomorrow's meal.
• Get out lunch containers that you'll need for tomorrow's work lunch.
• Get your family involved in planning and prepping tomorrow's food

​More suggestions for Kitchen Sadhana Success:

• Invest in you consciousness. Invest in your body.
• Follow the prana (life force). Trust your desire! 
• Enjoy your time in the kitchen! 
• Make Kitchen Sadhana something you can relax into!  

Want to learn more about healthy habits and how to get implement them? Check out the Vibrant Living Habits course. 

The days are getting chillier. Apples are falling off the trees. The trees in my back yard are starting to drop their leaves.  The natural world is in transition and the Ayurveda tradition offers a wonderful lens from which to understand this season and practical guidance for healthy living. 

In Ayurveda, autumn is considered a vata season dominated by the elements of air and space. The qualities of autumn according to Ayurveda are dry, rough, windy, erratic, cool, subtle, and clear.  To see this in nature and in our own lives, think of dry leaves and skin, windy weather, erratic schedules, cool mornings and clear nights.

Because this season is dynamic, moving and changeable, there is a sense of excitement and possibility.  At the same time, the qualities of dynamism and variability inherent to Autumn can leave us feeling overwhelmed or depleted, especially those of us who have busy schedules. Therefore Ayurveda recommends focusing on the qualities that balance vata. 

​To bring balance to the busyness of this season, focus on creating more predictable routines and boundaries to support them.

Predictability
Ease happens in the body-mind when life is predictable.  Not everything needs to be predictable, but enough of life should be predictable that there is a felt sense of rhythm to the day.  Rising, moving, eating, working, hydrating, having fun and sleeping need to be pretty predictable, that is they should happen at similar times each day.  This rhythm settles the nervous system and optimizes our metabolism and digestion. 

I think of predictable morning and evening routines as bookends of sanity for my day. My days might be erratic and changing, but my mornings and evenings can be rhythmic and sane inducing.

A predictable morning routine for is to get up, meditate, move and, then eat breakfast. This sets me up for a productive and grounded day. Taking a break in the middle of the day to sit and eat a satisfying lunch gives me a well needed pause. My evening routine involves another round of some kind of movement and an earlier dinner followed by connection with family and relaxation. This sets me up for a good night sleep and a successful following day. When I stick to these daily routines, I stay grounded, calm and sane.

Of course none of this will happen if I don't plan it. My calendar is key for this. Of course I must enter into my calendar my appointments and meetings. and work commitments. I am also diligent about putting into my calendar my morning and evening routines as well as my lunch hour. 

Boundaries
It's one thing to create my weekly schedule and health routines and put them into my calendar, but for my routines to happen, I must be diligent with boundaries. I have to hold myself accountable for what I put in the calendar which means I must get up when I said I would get up, take a break from work to eat my lunch, stop working in time to get some afternoon exercise, prepare and eat my dinner, and make time to relax. In the evening, I have to exercise boundaries to spend time with my people rather than with my screen, and to make sure I'm off all electronics early enough to read and wind down and get to bed by 10 PM. If I don't enforce these boundaries, I might sleep in and not do my morning meditation or yoga practice.  I might keep working and not make time to eat a good lunch. I might stay on my screen too late which will wreak havoc with my sleep. Then, I'll go to bed late and not sleep as long or as deeply as I need.  And, the next day, I won't be well rested or set up for a great day.

When I commit to my daily routines and make them predictable and adhere to healthy boundaries, my life is much more grounded and easeful I protect the time in my schedule set aside for movement, relaxation, friends and family. and I am therefore less likely to over commit myself to people or projects that sap my energy and downgrade my health.

Self Inquiry
How can you create a predictable routine for rising, moving, eating, working, hydrating and sleeping? 

Where you can firm your boundaries in your life to make sure you are prioritizing wha't most important? 

For more tips on healthy living this season, check out my tip sheet:
How to live Vibrantly in Autumn

Why Do a Seasonal Detox?

I hope you had a fun summer. I hope you enjoyed celebrations, travel, vacation, BBQ, ice-cream, and exciting late nights with people you enjoy. know I did. Getting back into the swing of work and family life after a busy summer can be tough. If you played hard in the summer, it's possible that you put on a few extra pounds, let your healthy diet slip a little, and tended to stay up later than usual. When September comes around, you may feel exhausted rather than rested. If this is the case, then you may be starting the busy fall season from a place of health depletion rather than health abundance. 

This is exactly why Ayurveda. the health tradition from India and the sister science of Yoga recommends doing a detox each spring and fall.

Even though I eat a healthy diet, get lots of exercise, and have good self-care practices, I'm not perfect. and I don’t live in a perfect world. I sometimes cut corners, especially in the summer months when I'm on vacation having fun. I don't want to be a perfect human, but I do want to be healthy. Because this is the case, I’m a great fan of doing a seasonal detox. I do a detox every fall and spring to reset my course toward higher health and get into a place of better integrity with my body and mind.

A seasonal detox in the fall is an opportunity to reset your body and your mind for health and well-being for greater health and immunity for the upcoming season.

Doing a seasonal detox will help you:

• Clear toxins from your mind and body.
• Shed unwanted pounds.
• Calm and settle your nervous system.
• Improve your digestion.
• Improve your sleep.
• Bolster your immune system.
• Rejuvenate your body, mind, and spirit.
• Set you on a course for healthier aging

Rid your body and mind of Toxins Ama is a term from the Ayurvedic wellness tradition that is defined as the undigested gunk that accumulates in the body and mind. These include physical and environmental toxins that might accumulate in our body from processed foods, poor quality foods, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and chemicals as well as mental and emotional toxins that might accumulate in our body and mind from over-busy schedules, stress, challenging relationships, too much media. It's pretty hard to lead a toxin-free life in this day and age, and that's why Ayurveda recommends detoxing twice a year.

Ama or toxins show up in a variety of ways. 

• Toxins can show up in the body as creaky or inflamed joints, sluggishness, congestion, fuzzy thinking, poor memory, heaviness, weight gain or weight loss, lethargy, bloating, poor digestion, or unhealthy cravings.
• Toxins can show up in the mind as depression, worry, distraction, anxiety, or a feeling of dissatisfaction. 
• Ama can show up in our behavior as emotional eating, drinking too much alcohol, drinking too much caffeine, numbing out with technology, over-spending, and getting insufficient sleep.

Did you accumulate some ama over the summer? Modern life is full of toxins, and that's why a seasonal detox is recommended in the early fall and again in the spring.

When we take the time to slow down, clean out, rejuvenate, and re-set, we can come back to ourselves and tune into who we are, where we are, and where we want to be. Taking time twice a year to reset and renew ourselves clears the ama from our systems and keeps us from living on automatic pilot, being over-busy, and perpetuating patterns and habits that aren’t in our best interest.

Hit the pause button and reset your course. A seasonal detox is a time to 

• slow down
• clear your space
• focus on yourself
• get more rest
• eat more simply
• be reflective

What's involved?

When you detox, you simplify your calendar so that you put yourself first for a few weeks. During this time, you hone in on your diet, self-care, sleep and movement. You commit to eating simple, healthy, whole foods. You add in more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables and reduce or eliminate foods that can cause problems for your body such as processed foods, refined carbs, sugars, red meat, alcohol and caffeine. You commit to strengthening your Circadian rhythm by getting regular exercise, spending time outdoors, prioritizing sleep, avoiding late night device use, and generally becoming more mindful of your daily habits.

A detox not rocket science. A detox at its core is a return to healthy living. That sounds simple enough. And, conceptually it is simple. You could go it alone and be successful. But, humans are social creatures and we evolve faster in a group than we do on our own which is why detoxing with a guide and a community could make one's detox more successful. 

If you are interested in joining my Fall Detox, I'd be happy to be your guide and invite you into a community of folks seeking higher health. Find the details here.

Share it with a friend!
 
XO
Annie

Ayurveda Foods for August
 
According to Ayurveda, our bodies heat up at the end of the summer.  The effects of this heat can show up as skin irritations, rashes, hay fever, and disrupted digestion.  If you suffer from any of these, it is likely that your body has accumulated excess heat.  If you can cool and release the hot, sharp qualities of summer from your body, you will transition more smoothly to the dry season of fall and you will strengthen your immune system and prevent full colds and flus.  

Thankfully, if you look to what is fresh in your area, you can cool the heat by eating what nature provides best this season: juicy fruits!

Enjoy the juicy fruits of August:

Enjoy melon, watermelons, grapes, apples, peaches, pears, plums.  Eat lots of these.  They are sweet and juicy and will cool and hydrate your body. They are gentle on digestion. 

Foods that aren’t great to consume in excess in late summer because these will increase heat are:

• Spicy salsas and sauces
• Coffee
• Red meat
• Cheeses
• Alcohol

My favorite ways to juicy fruits these are fresh off the tree or vine and I love  starting my morning with a fresh fruit smoothie. 

Try these smoothie combos for August:

• Peach-lime-basil
• Watermelon-orange-lime-mint
• Blueberry-banana-lime

Seasonal fruit crisp 
You can make a fruit crisp with almost any kind of fruit.  Plums, pears and apples are all great. 
Filling:

• 4 cups fruit chopped (plums, peaches, berries, apples, pears, etc.)
• ¼ cup tapioca flour or cornstarch
• ½ cup natural sweetener (coconut sugar, evaporated cane juice or agave are good choices)
• 1 T lemon juice

Topping:

• ½ cup butter or coconut oil (melted)
• 1 tsp ginger or cinnamon
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup flour (any flour will work: brown rice, whole wheat, sorghum, tapioca)
• ½ cup sweetener of choice
• ½ cup chopped walnuts or almonds (if desired)

 
Mix filling ingredients and place in 9 X 13 pyrex pan.  Mix together topping ingredients and spread over the top of the filling.  Bake at 400 degrees of about 40 minutes, until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.  Serve and enjoy!

What's your favorite way to enjoy the fruits of August?  Leave me a comment!
​

Saludos from Pisac, Peru! 

If you have been following me, you have probably noticed that I write and teach about daily rhythm and healthy habits through Ayurveda. Over the past several years, I have been on a personal mission to up-level my own and my family’s daily rhythm. As many of you know, my family spends time each year in a rural area in the Peruvian Andes.  Here people’s lives continue to be interwoven with their majestic landscape and the agrarian calendar. In many ways, it has been here in the Andes where I have learned the most about rhythm and have been most successful at aligning my body and life to the rhythms of nature, which is at the heart of the practices and teachings of Ayurveda. Of course, Ayurveda comes from India, but anyone who has traveled to a region of the world where traditional cultures are still intact will find that traditional cultures naturally sync up with nature. That is how we evolved. Humans evolved with and within the cycles and rhythms of nature.

In this blog post, I want to share the key lessons I’ve learned about daily rhythm from the people of the Andes:

Practicing these healthy habits is easy in the Andes because the people around me have this as their lifestyle. In the U.S., it can be harder because many of these natural habits go against the dominant cultural norm. Nonetheless, I’ve found that keeping to these rhythms ensures vibrant health.

Interested in learning more?
If you are interested in support to align your body and lifestyle with the rhythms of nature, and if you are interested in better understanding how you can create a daily routine to support your health, please contact me.  As a Yoga Health Coach, I am a holistic wellness provider, trained and practiced in the daily habits and health principles of yoga and Ayurveda. I help people up-level their habits for vibrant living.

The summer season has these characteristics: heat, long days of bright sun, and sharp intensity.

​These are all attributes of pitta dosha (fire and a little water), which is why summer is considered in Ayurveda to be a pitta season. And, even though some climates are also humid this time of year, the cumulative effect of intense heat is to dry things out, so summer is also considered dry.

According to Ayurveda, our bodies heat up over the course of the summer season. The effects of this heat can show up as skin irritations, rashes, hay fever, and disrupted digestion. If you suffer from any of these, it is likely that your body has accumulated excess heat. If you can cool and release the hot, sharp qualities of summer from your body, you will enjoy the summer season more.

Thankfully, if you look to what is fresh in your area, you can cool the heat by eating what nature provides best this season.

• Favor foods that are sweet, bitter and astringent as these will cool the body. ENJOY COCONUT, CUCUMBERS, GREENS, FRESH VEGETABLES, GREEN SMOOTHIES, COLORFUL SALADS, BASMATI RICE, QUINOA, MINT, CILANTRO.
• Reduce foods that are pungent, sour and salty as these will create more heat in the body. REDUCE COFFEE, SALTY CHIPS, SALSA, HOT SAUCE, PICKLES, ALCOHOL, RED MEAT, CHEESE.

​For a list and links to healthy seasonal recipes, click here. 

Here's a visual of foods to favor and foods to avoid in the summer:

Interested in more healthy living tip sheets, go here.

Stay hydrated. This is my number one travel tip.  It’s so easy to get dehydrated while traveling.  In my experience, dehydration leads to feeling ungrounded, spaced out, grumpy. Dehydration also upsets digestion.  I always travel with my water bottle. If it’s cold, I travel with a thermos full of hot water. Ayurveda recommends room temperature and/or warm water rather than cold beverages for sound digestion. To feel at home, I like to travel with a few of my favorite herbal tea bags. . 

Travel with nourishing and grounding food.  There is nothing worse than being hungry while traveling, and there is nothing worse than being somewhere like an airport terminal or gas station convenience store with no good food choices. I love to try new foods wherever I am, but on travel days, I always bring along my own nourishing food.  Fresh fruit, cut up veggies and nuts are a must.  Instant oatmeal is great for early morning breakfasts on the go (simply add hot water to a thermos cup).  Other options are avocados and fresh bread, par-cooked veggies or salads.  To make sure I get my daily dose of greens, I like to bring along super greens powder to add to juice or water.

Support your digestion. Traveling can easily upset digestion. These are some ways I support my digestion while traveling:

• Ginger tea. Drink throughout the day and after a heavy meal.
• Triphala. Take the Ayurvedic remedy triphala in capsule or powdered form with warm water before bed for smooth digestion.
• Add chia seeds to your favorite drink.  Chia seeds are great for energy and they support bowel regularity.
• Magnesium supports healthy bowel function. Try magnesium citrate. I like this type.

Support your sleep. Do you find it hard to sleep in new places? I am a sensitive sleeper. These are the strategies I use to sleep soundly when I'm traveling:

• Use an eye mask. I love this black silk eye mask. It helps me sleep soundly when I'm home and away.
• Magnesium. I love the magnesium calms my body and helps me sleep when I'm away from home. There are many forms of magnesium available. Two forms I like are magnesium citrate and magnesium glycinate. I use this type.

Stick to a routine.  No matter where I am, I follow the same morning and evening routine.  My routine helps me feel at home wherever I am. These are habits for the morning and evening routine that will keep you grounded and centered anywhere on the planet:

• Wake up at roughly the same time of the day.
  
• Drink 2 cups of warm water first thing in the morning.
  
• Center yourself with a morning  meditation. Even five minutes counts.
  
• Do ten minutes of exercise before breakfast.  
• Before bed massage your feet with oil. A foot massage relieves stress and fatigue from travel and helps settle the nervous system for sleep.
• Try to get to bed by 10 PM

Do yoga.  A few poses every day while traveling will help your body feel comfortable and strong.  Whether your travel includes lots of plane or car time, or lots of hiking, a few sun salutations in the morning or some supine poses in the evening will refresh, enliven and keep your body from getting stiff or sore.  (Yoga on the go? Check out my free yoga resources. You can play them right from your smartphone.)

Use essential oils.  Essential oils are great for travelers.

• Use lavender to  reduce stress. 
  
• Peppermint and ginger help with motion sickness and improve digestion. 
  
• Eucalyptus is great respiratory support. 
  
• Citronella is great for repelling insects. 

​Happy Travels!

​Here in Olympia we are coming out of a week of Snowpocalypse. If you're in my region, you know what I'm talking about! Our region is ill-equipped to deal with a big snow storm, so schools and many businesses were shut down last week. Lots of folks lost power and were snowed in. For our family, it was a stay-cation of sorts. No school, no work, no internet. So, we had lots of family time. We played games, went sledding, walked in the snow, read books, and slept in. After a week of diminished work and school activities, we all felt quite rejuvenated. Despite the obvious discomforts caused by this storm, the week at home was, in many ways, a very pleasurable experience.

Kama - Enjoyment or Pleasure
The word pleasure or kama, in Sanskrit is a concept I am teaching in my yoga classes this week. According to the Vedic teachings, pleasure or enjoyment is one of the 4 Aims of Life. Kama refers to the pleasure of the senses. It is both an aesthetic enjoyment and also an enjoyment of emotional connection and affection. In Vedic teachings, taking time for enjoyment is considered a responsibility of householders. For me last week, this was taking in the simple pleasure of enjoying the rare (in the Pacific Northwest) winter wonderland with my family. This pleasure involved all my senses. I enjoyed the brightness of the snow, and the clear skies with stars at night, crackling of snow and ice under my feet, and the touch of my warmest, puffiest coat and thickest mittens. Because it was more difficult to prepare food, the simplest meals were more satisfying.

Of course we experienced the discomforts that come with a big storm, like no power which in our neighborhood also means no water! Luckily we were prepared and were able to ride it out. But, the point I want to make is what could have been a negative experience turned into a very positive experience because we chose to make it that way. It was in many ways, all about mindset. Having an attitude of seeking enjoyment and positivity is a skill and a practice that involves the mind and the body.

Counter-acting our Built-in Negativity Bias
I am reminded by the teachings of Dr. Rick Hanson. Dr. Rick Hanson is a psychologist who studies and writes about the inner skills of personal well-being. Scientists believe that humans have a built in "negativity bias." We are hard-wired to look out for negative experiences and to prevent them if possible. This is an evolutionary trait that has in Rick's words made us more apt to dodge sticks than to chase down carrots. Rick says we are "velcro for negativity" and like "teflon for positivity." By this, he means that we are going to be on the look out for anything negative and any negative experience will "stick to our ribs" more than a "positive experience." In the case of the snowstorms, we are wired to be more preoccupied with the hazards and discomforts of a storm than the silver lining of pleasurable time with family and natural beauty. 

Tilting toward the Positive
A big part of my job as a yoga and wellness teacher is to help people's minds and bodies become more resilient by guiding folks realign to what is already good, and build on that. One of my favorite practices that I am teaching this week is Taking in the Good. This is a practice I learned from Dr. Rick Hanson. It is the simple practice of noticing, appreciating and even basking in what is positive, enjoyable and pleasurable in one's life. This basking or soaking in the good involved all of the senses. An example is being outside in the snow or anywhere where you realize you are experiencing something pleasant, and taking the time enjoy the all of the accompanying sights, sounds, feelings, smells and even flavors. By doing so, we begin to slant our mind-body toward more positivity. We can even begin to change our brain! This is neuroplasticity. If we always tilt toward the negative, we become more prone to a negative mindset. Each time, we incline our mind-body toward the positive and pause and appreciate the positive, we build neuro-pathways that incline our lives toward resilience and positivity.

Soaking in the good practice
This is a practice you can do anytime and anywhere. When you become aware that whatever you are experiencing has a pleasant quality, bring your awareness to that experience. If it's early morning and you just poured yourself a cup of hot tea. Take a moment and enjoy the warmth of the mug on your skin. Breathe in the aroma of the tea. Pause, soften and breathe. Let your body relax. Exhale again. Even before you take your first sip, anticipate the pleasure of the warmth and taste of the tea in your mouth. Then, when you take your first sip, linger with the flavors and sensation. Don't rush on to the next task of the morning. Soak in the good for just a few more moments. It's that simple. Fill up your cup with what's good and build on that for the rest of the day.

Namaste,
Annie