HOW You Cook Affects How You Feel

Mom knows best. As the seasons change, so do the vegetables that Mother Nature provides. With the cooling temperatures of Fall, the vegetables we harvest are ones of a more grounding and warming nature.

When we eat right, the type of food we eat medicinally creates health and balance in our body.  Similarly, varying our cooking methods will do the same.

The way we prepare our food plays a role in the effect it has on our body. In the Fall and Winter it is best to cook our meals on a lower heat for a longer period of time. This releases the more warming quality of our food and provides a settling effect that in turn helps internalize our focus.

Baked foods, sautéed foods, heartier foods, and root vegetables all contribute towards the thickening of the blood. When living in a cold climate, it is necessary for the blood to thicken as the weather grows colder.

Different methods and temperatures of cooking will also help balance out our personality. Since slower cooking methods are more grounding, it makes sense that rapidly cooked foods will have a more activating yet relaxing effect, suitable for the more stagnant and tense individual.
A more harmoniously sweet flavor, cooked undisturbed on a low heat for a longer period of time will have a more calming effect for the angry or impatient person.

The more pressure, salt, oil, time and heat that is used, the more concentrated the food will be. Concentrated foods provide the warmth needed for weaker constitutions that have lost interest in food or life.

When cooking, mindfully engaging with our food by pureeing, mashing, tossing, stirring, or kneading will help energize the food.  

Cooking is the highest of art forms; when it is complete, you ingest your artwork and it becomes you and all those you feed.

It is helpful to be aware of your intentions. The state of the cook affects the state of the food. One can often taste the richness of a meal made and presented with attentiveness and love. Similarly so, a meal prepared in anger imparts anger. Respect what you are doing no matter how simple the preparation.

The foods you eat today prepare you for tomorrow. If feeling melancholy, bake something sweet like winter squash or yams with sweet spices such as cinnamon. Similarly, add some lemon zest to your dressings to add zest to your day. Become creative. At social functions, eating lighter, sweeter foods will help you be more sociable. When studying, simple concentrated foods will help your focus.

Be intuitive. Let the colors, flavors, shapes and smells be your guide.

Choose Living Food

Kirlian photography
captures the energy
field of an apple

As individuals we have the choice of participating in our own health care. We can constantly discover new and healthy ways to nourish ourselves, connecting to our inner source of healing.

We are more than just a physical body. Our body has an energy field of life force pulsing within and around it. Food gives us life so we need to eat foods that contain life as well. When we eat, we nourish ourselves to maintain our ‘life source,’ known in the East as Chi or Prana. When choosing food it is helpful to ask yourself the question “How close is this food to its original source of life?” In other words, how many processes has it passed through since it was harvested from a field? The more processed the food is, the less Prana, life force, it contains.

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• A vegetable picked today is more nutritious than a vegetable picked months ago, as it is still filled with the life soaked up from the earth and the sun. A freshly cooked vegetable has more life energy then a canned vegetable, as it has avoided factory processing.

• However, a canned vegetable has far more life energy than a box of mac & cheese. Processed foods contain little or no energy. In fact they can cause more harm than good. 

• Whole grains are closer to their natural state then processed grains. For example brown rice is what white rice was prior to processing; therefore it is closer to the original state of growing in the fields.
• Whole grain products do not equal whole grains. A bowl of oatmeal or high quality granola is less processed and therefore contains more life than a box of “whole grain cereal.” Whole grain cereals may be made from whole grains but they are no longer whole grains. As a processed product, they act more like sugar in the body rather than like grain.
• Organic has more life energy than conventional, providing a higher content of vitamins and minerals due to factors such as the soil that is used.

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Locally Grown Food

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For those of us living locally in New England we are fortunate enough to enjoy the seasonal pleasures of local produce at the farmers markets. The selection at a farmers market is usually picked the same day, versus the produce found at a conventional grocery store that is often weeks or months old.  If you have to ship a piece of fruit halfway around the world, it will contain far less vital energy than the fresh fruit you get from the farmer who drove in from the fields that same morning. Keep in mind that the closer to home the food was harvested, the fresher it is. When shopping at a conventional supermarket, look around the produce section; try to find foods that came from your state, or at least your country, not the other side of the globe.

An economical option is to buy lots of fresh food at the peak of its season and freeze, jar, or dry it for later use. Why not freeze your own fresh fruit or broccoli?

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What's Preferable; Local or Organic?

Organic foods imported from other countries will usually be more expensive than those from local farmers. Organic foods that are shipped long distances are also often picked when they are unripe. Since organic standards ban the use of fungicides, this allows the food to be transported long distances without spoiling. When fruits and vegetables are picked before they ripen, they contain fewer vitamins and minerals.

When shopping at a farmers market, you have the opportunity to find out from the farmers which treatments they have used on their crops. Many small farms grow their crops following organic standards, but do not get organically certified because of the cost.

When we eat locally grown foods we help the environment by minimizing the miles of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide that it takes to get the foods transported. We are doing our part for both our local agriculture and the environment. Plus, it tastes better.  Produce loses flavor on those long journeys.

Recipes: Edamame Dip With Cumin Corn Chips

Making your own corn chips is easy. This way you get to use the highest quality oil as well as bake chips rather than frying.

Edamame are young soybeans. They are a good source of protein, are easy to digest and are exceptionally high in fiber.

Edamame Dip

1 cup frozen shelled edamame

2 cups boiling water

3 tablespoons (extra virgin cold pressed) olive oil

juice of half a lemon

1 garlic clove

salt to taste

2-3 tbs water (as needed)

Boil 2 cups of water in a pot. Once boiled add edamame and bring back to boil. Let boil for 5 minutes. Drain immediately and let cool. 

Blend with all other ingredients adding water as needed to create desired smooth consistency. 

Options: add parsley or cilantro to the mix.

Cumin Chips

1 packet (usually 10-12) corn tortillas, sized 5-6 inches

juice of 2 limes (4 Tbs)

1.5 Tbs olive oil

3/4 tsp ground cumin

salt to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Combine oil, juice and cumin in a bowl and brush the mix on both sides of each tortilla. Cut each tortilla into 6 wedges and spread out on a baking tray. You will need two baking trays to fit all chips. Once all chips are on the trays, sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 minutes, turn them over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.