Self Care Through The Holiday Season

The Holiday Season! This can be a nourishing time when we choose it to be so; gathering with loved ones, giving gifts, celebrating food and paying homage to our ancestors.

But the season of celebrations can also be the season of burnout. As nature slows down we tend to speed up with parties, hectic preparations and low quality foods.

This year, let's rejoyce in the festivities AND take care of ourselves...

• Take a deep breath.
• Aim for 30 chews per bite.
• Eat foods that are warmer, heavier, oilier, and saltier (that means high quality unrefined oils and sea salt - not table salt). 
• Add miso and tempeh to your weekly diet.
• Incorporate more grains like quinoa, amaranth, millet, and brown rice, which are filling, full of nutrients and help create calm.
• Enjoy the taste of beets, carrots, winter squashes, onions and sweet potatoes. Root vegetables will energetically ground you.
• Spice it up with cardamom, cumin, cinnamon and fennel.
• Dose up on vegetables. Many people feel more grounded and warm when eating animal protein in the winter. If doing so, be sure to balance your meals with an abundance of vegetables to help with the digestion of heavier animal foods.   

More Support?

Download Your FREE Holiday Guide! 

Recognizing the potential stress that this season can bring, I am happy to offer you the The Integrative Nutrition Healthy Holiday Guide as your very own go-to resource for holiday eating, self-care, and gift-giving. From delicious recipes that will warm your spirit to unique gift ideas for your family and friends, you are sure to find something to make this holiday season even more delightful!

Click Here to Receive Your FREE eBook
(Link expires on 12/31/11)

Warm Quinoa Breakfast

Oatmeal sometimes feels a little heavy for me in the morning. So when I want a warm breakfast on a cold day, quinoa is a personal favorite.

¾ cup cooked quinoa
½ cup unsweetened almond milk or any/ other milk/ water
1 tbs raw honey or maple syrup
1 tbs goji berries
1 tbs raw walnuts
¼- banana, sliced
Sprinkle of cinnamon

Combine quinoa, milk, honey and goji berries in a small saucepan and place over a medium-low heat.  Once the mixture comes to a boil, turn it down to a simmer and allow it to cook for 3-5 minutes, until the porridge has thickened a bit and is heated through.

 Stir in walnuts and bananas and top with cinnamon.

Have an energetic and satiated morning!

Click Here For Home Made Almond Milk Recipe

Eggnog: Naturally Sweetened & Dairy Free

1/2 cup almonds
3 medjool dates (or 1/4 cup dates)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 Tbs maple syrup
3 cups water
1 cheese cloth
optional - for the alcoholic version add rum and brandy to taste.

In your blender, blend almonds, dates, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and water. Blend until the almonds and dates are chopped as fine as possible.

In a bowl whisk the eggs and add maple syrup.
Pour the liquid from the blender through a cheese cloth into the bowl with the eggs.
Whisk the eggnog and add alcohol if you wish.
Place it in the fridge to cool until it thickens.

For a lighter vegan version, this blended mixture tastes great without the eggs.

(If you are using a powerful blender such as a Vitamix, most of the almonds and dates will have liquified anyway so the cheese cloth is not as important.)

Hey, Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

Calorie burning efficiency is dramatically affected by lack of sleep. You must sleep! Sleep is the state where we fully integrate the relaxation response. It’s where we do much of our healing.

The average amount of sleep needed is said to average eight hours though for some it might be an hour more or less.

If You’d Like to Gain Weight, Go On A Diet

Just prior to Thanksgiving, many of the health and wellness blogs and articles shared the common focus of helping people control their appetite during the holiday.

I wondered if someone were to follow any of these suggestions to help curb their appetite, would they feel empowered?

The modern mind has become a master at transforming self-improvement into self-blame. We get trapped into feeling stuck rather than empowered. All these articles seemed to speak to our fears and shame rather than our strengths.

We live in a dieting culture where diets are beginning to create more problems than solutions.

Almost every study shows that 99% of humans who lose weight on a diet gain it back within a year or two. Why do people diet for years on end even though it isn't working?

Chronic dieting (i.e. endlessly dieting 'on and off') has become a seductively destructive epidemic. For most, it enhances self-judgment and unworthiness. In our culture it has become totally acceptable (and somewhat expected) to diet.

Well, here are six reasons why ongoing dieting doesn’t work:

1)  The body’s response to food restriction is to slow down metabolism. This is a natural survival response to prevent death by starvation. If the body senses there is a famine, it will slow down caloric burning to sustain itself on less for longer. We can actually gain weight or not lose weight when eating fewer calories.

2)  Dieting puts the body into a ‘stress response’. Mental cycles of self-judgment and self-hate increase our stress hormones, cortisol and insulin. “I’m no good, I’m too fat” is a physiology that pulls away from our digestive power, hormonally negating muscle building and fat burning.

3)  Most dieters will be a little fat deficient and protein deficient. When we are missing essential fatty acids and essential amino acids, our thermal efficiency is slowed down.

4)  Many dieters cannot find pleasure in their food. Part of our digestive power is fired in the cephalic phase in which the brain senses pleasure through the senses. When we are not getting the pleasure, metabolism is weakened. This is also why eating too fast or when distracted weakens digestion, as the senses are not involved.

5)  Many dieters skip meals, eating less in the morning and more at night. When we skip breakfast and eat a late lunch, we lose out on the heightened hours of digestion. 12-1:30pm and the hours prior to that are the strongest caloric burning hours.

6)  If we have less food, we can take in oxygen less efficiently because the body is trying to slow down its systems. Oxygen enhances the proficiency of our bodily functions.

Calories have little power over the power of the mind.

While diets can be useful and healing short term, a chronic dieting mentality is anti- weight-loss. If it worked, we wouldn't need to continuously diet!

There are a tremendous number of health issues that are a direct result of chronic dieting. These include fatigue, poor digestion, low mood, immune problems, headaches, binge eating, skin, constipation, and more. These conditions are often misdiagnosed as the problem rather than a symptom of nutrient deficiency.

When we are stressed about eating, our body is incapable of properly digesting.

To change our patterns we need to change our thoughts. We need to learn how to relax into the process. While there are many paths of personal growth and evolution, I can speak to the path of yoga, as it has been a pillar in my own personal development.

The path of yoga aids in improving health and weight for various reasons such as caloric burning, cleansing, and mental stress reduction that soothes our emotional drive for overeating. More than that, yoga works because it changes the stress physiology, which prevents us from losing weight no matter how little we eat.

What are your methods for changing your stress physiology?

Related Articles:
The 100 Year Diet Cycle
Are We Overestimating Overeating?
Understanding Macronutrient Balance

Pumpkin Pie

Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of pumpkin pie. BUT I really enjoyed the filling in this one! It has a sweet finish without being too sweet. I wondered how others would receive it since it had less sugar than most pies. When taking it to a Thanksgiving meal, everyone loved it and there wasn’t a crumb left in the dish!

The Crust:
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, finely ground

2 teaspoons raw coconut crystals (this is evaporated coconut tree sap. You can also try date sugar or pure maple sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold organic* butter, cut into small pieces
2- 3 Tbs very cold water

Grind the oat in a coffee grinder until they become flour. Combine flour, ground oats, sweetener and salt in medium bowl. Cut in butter using two knives until the mixture is crumbly (I use my fingers although your not suppose to as the heat of the hands will make the dough less flakey.) Sprinkle with water; mixing until the mixture holds together.

Shape the dough into ball; place on lightly floured sheet of wax paper. Top with additional piece of wax paper; roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Don’t be surprised if the dough is a little tougher to roll.

Remove top sheet of wax paper and invert dough into 9-inch pie plate; slowly peel away wax paper. Trim excess crust. Turn edge under; crimp as desired.
Cover by placing it in a plastic bag and store it in the fridge while you prepare the filling.


The Filling:
The filling is tailored from Alice Water’s Joy of Cooking.

1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 Tbs organic* butter, softened
1 cup organic* heavy cream
2 teaspoons flour
3 eggs
1/3 cup raw coconut crystals
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of fresh-ground black pepper

In a small saucepan whisk together 1/4 cup the cream with the flour. Heat the mixture over a low heat until it fully heats and thickens. Slowly whisk in the rest of the cream. Continue whisking until the mixture returns to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Mix the pumpkin purée, butter and eggs together in a medium bowl. In another bowl combine the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt and pepper. Stir the sugar and spice mixture and the thickened cream into the pumpkin mixture.

Pour into the pie shell. Using a brush or your finger, dip into the remaining egg that tends to pool in the leftover eggshells and thinly coat the edges of the pie crust.
Bake for 45 minutes at 375, until the center is almost set. Let cool completely on a rack before cutting.

* Buying Organic Dairy Products: 
People often ask me what's "most important" to purchase organic if working with a budget. My answer is animal products. The dairy and meat industry has become unhealthfully contaminated with synthetic hormones, antibiotics, and harmful pesticides. Antibiotic overuse is a major public health problem and hormones are powerful that even trace amounts can cause dramatic changes in living beings. These agricultural methods have been implemented for the sake of profit at the expense of our health and the health of our planet.

Related Article: Truth or Dairy?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for Breakfast

This morning's breakfast was inspired by my friend's pint of Ben and Jerry's that was in the freezer. My favorite thing as a kid was not the cake, but the batter!

1/2 cup quick/ rolled oats
1/4 cup raw cashews (or almonds)
1 Tbs maca powder
1 date
1/2 medium banana (1/3 cup)
2 Tbs flax meal
3 Tbs dried shredded coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup water/ almond milk/ coconut water
2 Tbs cocoa nibs (or grain-sweetened-chocolate-chips)
Optional: for more sweetness, add coconut nectar, agave, or maple syrup.

Blend all ingredients except for the cocoa nibs/ chips in a powerful blender (Vitamix works best!) until smooth. Then mix the cocoa nibs into the batter.

I kind of had my fix from licking the mixer clean with a spatula (to be 5y/o again!), I might save the "batter" for a mid morning snack...

Click Here to learn more about Maca and other Superfoods.... 

Green Smoothies

I love a green smoothie for breakfast. Actually, I love vegetables for breakfast! Green smoothies give me a long lasting energy boost and are very satisfying when I am craving something sweet.


To make a green smoothies:

1. Choose your base: water or non dairy milk (if you have a Vitamix, throw a handful of nuts in with some water and your milk will be made along with your shake.) 
2. Choose your green: I love using kale but it is a little bitter so I would suggest starting with spinach or romaine lettuce. (The darker the green leaf, the better.)
3. Choose your fruit: bananas almost always have a starring role, but avocados, mangos, fresh dates, pineapples, berries, apples, and pears are tasty too. 
4. Optional superfoods*: a tsp of maca, spirulina, other seaweeds (like dulse), hemp powder for protein, cacao powder or nibs, goji berries, or bee pollen.
5. If you need some added sweetness: add raw honey, maple syrup or agave.

The average ratio in a green smoothie is about 60% fruit to 40% leafy greens but you can start with more fruit and work your way up. 


* View this related article explaining superfoods

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Cookies

(make one dozen)

3/4 cup pureed butternut squash (fresh or canned)

1/3 cup maple syrup (preferably grade B)

4 Tbs peanut butter (all natural, unsalted)

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

1/2 cup chocolate chips (preferably grain sweetened)

Preheat oven to 350.

mix ingredients together adding one at a time, following the order in which they are listed above.

bake for 20 minutes.

If You Binge, You Are Powerful Beyond Measure!

If you gorged yourself on chocolate during Halloween or suspect you might find yourself eating too much on Thanksgiving, you know what it feels like to overeat. It's not unusual to overeat from time to time, most people do.

Binging is quite different in that it is more immediate and intense.

In order to understand binging, we must acknowledge its power. Often binging is described as “a trance in which a force takes over.”  A similar thing can be said about a woman’s child birth experience, a dancer on stage, or a act of life threatening self defese.

All these examples, whether we may think of some as more positive than others, point to inner power. Power is a good quality to maintain and binge eating is a powerful force being unleashed. Somewhere within we are sitting on our power, unable to unleash our expression or emotional flow. Binging points to a need to unleash.

Binging is an out of control behavior which helps balance other areas in our lives where we over control. We may intensely control our diet through calorie restriction. Such restrictions guaranty  a future binge because the body’s natural impulse is appetite rather than restriction. We may overly control our emotions: harnessing anger, sexual energy, desires; or perhaps we are overly controlling with others such as our partners, coworkers or kids. The balancing laws of nature dictate that the more we act as a control freak; the more we will lose control in another aspect of our lives.

In order for the body to binge, the body has to be in a deep state of stress. Stress will accumulate with our daily anxieties or fears that we try to push away in order to “survive” the day. We may feel we don’t have the time, the tools or the willingness to deal with these stresses and we put them aside. The nervous system doesn’t unwind.

If we binge, the body will need to relax the nervous system in order to digest such large amounts of food. To enhance digestion, the body sedates all our emotional processing and the mind goes a little numb. We feel like we got a break.

This is a response to the ego’s fear of discomfort. It comes from the same drive we all share to occasionally withdraw when life is uncomfortable and there is too much emotion in the system.

Nutritional Reasons That Can Cause Us to Binge (or Overeat):
The body isn’t always smart enough to let you know what you specifically need. Regardless of what the body lacks , whether it be fat, protein, or any of the micronutrients, it will simply call in hunger. Keep in mind that we don’t always crave what we need. We may crave carbohydrates when the body wants fat or protein (sometimes we crave things that meet an immediate need but do not fulfill what the body needs for healing.)

If we are dealing with binging or overeating, we need to evaluate if our body is really getting enough food, if our foods are providing all the needed nutrients, and if our diet is too strict that there is no pleasure in our meals. It is a common belief that emotional eating is a “bad” thing. We are emotional creatures; it is natural to crave pleasure from our food!

Going Beyond Nutrition: 
The body doesn’t do anything without reason. A binge can be a placeholder to digest past experience. We may put things out of our minds, but nothing gets swept under the rug within the body. Sometimes we have to find a place to metabolize our experiences and if we haven't learned healthier methods, a binge might be that place. To unleash such an uncontrollable power that would lead us to binge, there is clearly a message to which the binge is pointing towards.

Begin exploring for yourself:
1.  Where do you sense you are you a control freak? Where would those close to you like to see you less controlling?
2.  Are you really engaging in things that give you pleasure? In what great pleasures are you not engaged?
3.  Which "wilder" aspects of you are you restraining? Binging can be a release of power that we are holding back from releasing in another realm of life.
4.  Where is life asking you to relax more? (Work, money, relationships, sexuality?)

A binge is not a lack of power. You are too powerful to be contained. Power is the ability to act. The more tools we learn to decompress, relax the nervous system, and metabolize our life experiences, the more we are able to channel our powers into health and conscious living.

* Regarding the picture above: Yogis believe that each finger has a different energy, and there are hundreds if not thousands of mudras or hand positions with different meanings and healing capacities. Jnana Mudra is one of the simplest and most common mudras in yoga. Jnana means wisdom or knowledge. Its root is similar to the Germanic root for the word 'know.' Mudra means seal or gesture. Jnana Mudra is the seal of wisdom.

A Tool Bag for Dealing With Sugar Cravings

Halloween is approaching. Come November 1^st, either your home is filled with candy or your work place is overflowing with everyone’s Halloween leftovers brought in by your co-workers in the hope that someone else (you!) eats it instead of them.

If you are concerned about how to moderate your sugar intake, here are some steps to help:

Evaluating Diet:

Incorporate more complex carbohydrates into your diet: Craving something sweet is natural. The sugars that give us the sweet flavor also provide us with energy. Complex carbohydrates will provide the sugars needed for the body without an extreme drop in blood sugar levels. By preventing our blood sugar dipping too low, we can reduce or eliminate the cravings for simple sugars. Beans, grains, nuts, vegetables and fruits can all contain sugars as well as being rich in other nutrients.

Eat Sweet Vegetables: Sweet vegetables in our diet are one of the most helpful tools in eliminating sweet cravings. Incorporating the sweet flavor into our nutritious meals, will lessen the urge for additional  sweetness when the meal is done. Furthermore, if you think about a root vegetable, the direction in which it grows is downward, deeper into the earth. Energetically, roots are very grounding. While sugar can often leave us feeling spacey, sweet vegetables provide the body with sweetness while still maintaining ground.

Vegetables with a deep sweet flavor: corn, carrots, onions, beets, winter squash, sweet potatoes and yams.  Some semi sweet veggies include turnips, parsnips and rutabagas. These are very easy to boil or bake until desired tenderness- the softer these vegetables get, the sweeter they become.

Fruits: They are sweet, healthy, and delicious. If you suffer from yeast infections or high triglyceride levels, sugar and fruits should be avoided.

Incorporate mostly whole foods into your diet: Remember that processed carbohydrates will affect blood sugar levels just as simple sugars do and can cause sugar cravings. Enjoy brown rice instead of white and have an orange instead of Tropicana.

Drink water!!! Sweet cravings are often a sign of dehydration. If experiencing a craving, have a glass of water and wait a few minutes to see what happens.

Caution: soft drinks are now America’s number one source of added sugar.

Reduce or eliminate caffeine: If sugar is a craving you tend to always have, consider that the ups and downs of caffeine include dehydration and blood sugar swings, causing sugar cravings to be more frequent.

Use gentle sweets: Forget about the chemical artificial sweeteners. These are the worst sweetener for your health. Use gentle sweeteners like maple syrup, brown rice syrup, raw honey, dried fruit, stevia, or raw agave nectar.

Forget about sugar in your tea and use a natural sweetener instead. If you enjoy baked goods, substitute the sugar in your baking recipes with natural sweeteners. If shopping for cookies, look for ones made from whole grain flours and sweetened with fruit juice or other natural sweeteners. 

Evaluate your protein intake: Eating too much or too little protein can lead to cravings for sweets. Figuring out the right amount as well as the right type of protein for you will depend on your individual body and lifestyle.

Read the labels on fat-free or low-fat foods: These foods most often contain high quantities of sugar that are sure to spike your blood sugar levels.  

Get the highest quality: If it is chocolate you crave, get yourself a high quality dark chocolate and take a moment to savor the experience of its flavor. It is quite a different experience in comparison to half consciously consuming an entire packet of Hershey’s. Dark chocolate contains a high percent of cocoa and will take a much smaller amount to satisfy your craving. Common chocolates contain little cocoa and more sweeteners and artificial flavors.

Products always list ingredients beginning with the highest amount and working down to the lowest. If sugar is listed before cocoa, it is not really a dark chocolate. There should be at least 51% cocoa in a dark chocolate bar. 

Knock out the sweet tooth: Sometimes you can eliminate a sugar craving by eating the opposite flavor to what you are craving. Try something sour like sauerkraut...

It works!

Evaluating Lifestyle:

Move your body: Physical activity will help balance your blood sugar levels and reduce tension. Start with simple activities, to be sure that you don’t overwhelm yourself. Add some walking into your day or incorporate simple stretching. Soon enough the body will wake up and crave more movement.

If you fight with yourself to go to the gym, it is time to think of other activities you might cenjoy. Try yoga, dancing, martial arts, sports, rock climbing or anything that will be fun for you. Rather than thinking of it as exercise, find an activity that feels therapeutic in movement.  

Get more sleep and relaxation: When you are tired or stressed, your body will crave energy. Since sugar is the quickest form of energy, the body will crave it.  Find ten minutes to close your eyes at the end of the work day, stop your “to do” list at a reasonable hour, and shut off the TV earlier at night. 

Sweeten your days: If you are reaching for sugar in search of comfort, temporarily sedating the craving with sugar will only make things more uncomfortable in the long run. Spend time with friends, enjoy the outdoors and treat yourself to regular acupuncture or massage treatments. When life is as sweet as sugar, no substitutes are needed.

Make a Nourishment List: If sugar is your way of soothing or energizing yourself and you are experiencing a craving, it is difficult to think of a healthier choice that will meet your needs. Take some time to write all the activities you can think of that energize and sooth you. This way, you have access to a list of ideas for you to choose from at a time of need. Keep adding things to the list over time: A walk outside, 10 deep breaths, a few stretches, a few minutes of rest with elevated legs, calling a friend, a bubble bath, etc.

Manage Your “To Do” List: Make  a point of first addressing the bigger tasks that you want to avoid  so that you don’t expend your time and energy on the smaller tasks, ending the day feeling less accomplished. List all the things that zap your energy and all the things that give you energy; then balance out your ‘To Do’s with both.

Are We OVERestimating Overeating?

The common belief is that most people are overweight because they eat too much and move too little. While this represents some of the population, it is a mistake to see this as a truth in its whole. On the contrary, many of us struggle with weight or health issues because we are not eating enough while moving too fast.

We may very well be falsely labeling ourselves as an overeater. Lets face it, what we consider overeating is subjective. One person might consider 1-2 cookies as overeating while another would consider overeating to be an entire bag of cookies. Many of us set impossible standards for ourselves based on a fear of food, a fear of appetite, and fear of weight. This often stems from a deeper belief that “food is the enemy,” that food equals fat and if we eat less food, we will have less fat. Fear is what guides the assessment of how much we eat.

Only the body can determine overeating. It’s the wisdom of the body that knows these things.The body is where wisdom lives. We may need more or less food on different days or in different seasons. When we learn to tune into our bodies, we know what to eat and how much of it we need. we cannot learn this about ourselves in a diet book.

As soon as we self-label ourselves as “overeaters,” we start to self-hate and begin an internal attack on self. Let’s get the word “overeater” out of our vocabulary. The word itself is seen by most as a horrible crime. We often equate eating too much to a weakness or an unbeatable battle. Internally we are saying, “I’m bad, I’ve failed.” A mental fight against food keeps us in survival mode (the sympathetic nervous symptom), which physiologically prevents us from releasing fat and building muscle. The mental process alone is often what gets in our own way of maintaining our health or any sense of self-compassion.

Rather than seeing overeating as a failure, lets look at it as a doorway: A gift with a brilliant message. It is a symptom of something else. Overeating has little to do with eating. It has to do with a transformation that we are seeking in our lives.

Welcome it. The more we fight something the more it comes back. Especially if what we’re fighting is ourselves. There is no winner in a fight against self. Overeating comes from body wisdom, asking us to better nourish ourselves.

Why we overeat:

Becoming curious about our symptoms will help us evolve as individuals both consciously and biologically (in our health and metabolism.)

1) Are we under-eating while falsely self-diagnosing ourselves as overeaters?

    A) If we are always on a diet, we may overeat as a rebound to under-eating. If we are not getting sufficient amounts of fat and protein, the lack of these macronutrients will lead the body to scream hunger.

    B) If we are skipping breakfast or lunch in service of work schedules or weight loss, our bodies’ natural need to nourish will eventually win.

    C) Holding on to a belief that food equals caloric fat and is bad, we will fight food, and it will fight back. Appetite will win because it is natural. We are biologically designed to eat food. It is very basic junior high biology.

2) If our diet is lacking in needed fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals, it will continue to hunger in search of what it needs. Let’s get the majority of our calories from sources of the highest quality.

3) Emotional stress

Symptoms show up (thanks to our body’s wisdom) to slow us down. We tend to want to sweep the past under the rug but our body speaks up if we haven’t resolved our issues. Unexpressed hurts of the past remain in the present and may be shoved down and sedated with food. Current relationships or careers not congruent with who we are, will cause us to feel stress. If the body can’t find nourishment in life, it will search for it in food. If it cannot relax on its own, it can rely on overeating. One method to deal with stress is to overeat because the body will pull blood out of the brain and into the digestive system, causing us to feel relaxed. Since digestion is only possible when the nervous system is relaxed, the body must start to relax in order to deal with all the food we just ingested.

4) Fast-paced living

Overeating is a lack of awareness, of satisfaction, of relaxation, and of a palatable life or diet. The body needs time to realize that it is full. The brain needs to know we have received all the nutrients needed. The body requires time and presence. In a rushed mindset, we will keep eating because we are not giving the body enough time to sense what is enough. Some may see this as fast eating. I see it as fast living.

Eating and living (aka nourishment) is about presence, relaxation, and time. Overeating is predominantly a problem of not being present to the experience of life and what it has to teach us. If we are rushing around, we will over-consume.

Amp up on vitamin T (time) and vitamin R (relaxation.)

Further Thoughts on Caffeine

Caffeine, sugar and alcohol are the three substances that I am most frequently asked about. All three are powerful substances that need to be respected. To understand their potency, we could compare them to prescription medications. For some they might aid healing , but be harmful to others. They may be tolerated at a certain dosage but become harmful when exceeding the recommended dosage . We need to understand and honor the powerful effect of these substances on our body.

When we over-use caffeine, it mimics the stress response within the body. Our heart rate increases, our blood pressure goes up, insulin levels rise, as do the levels of cortisol and adrenalin. Each person is able to metabolize caffeine differently and expel it from the system at a different rate. Some people get the buzz from ½ a cup, and some get it from 2 cups. Small amounts of caffeine could increase metabolism, but too much will weaken it. This is similar to building a fire (our digestive fire,) a small log can increase the flame but a large one will smother it.

Individuals who struggle with weight issues and drink lots of caffeine should cut down on the caffeine. Caffeine’s effect on cortisol and insulin through the stress response, slows down calorie burning capabilities, sustains fat, and inhibits muscle from being built.

Caffeine gives us a false sense of metabolism. It provides an artificial sense of energy but this it is not a true calorie burning kind of energy (i.e when we eat food, we extract the nutrients and burn the calories.)

If we find ourselves binge eating, ravenous later in the day, experiencing mood swings, or a lack of weight loss, then it is best to reduce caffeine. This is especially true if we are relying on caffeine’s energy for the early third or half of the day. We reduce our calorie burning capacity to a degree that when we do eat food, we’re burning the calories more slowly.

To read more about caffeine and its effect, view this past posting.

The photo above was borrowed from a T-shirt design available at this link

Protein Bar

1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup pumpkin/ pepita seeds
1/3 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup flax meal/ seeds
4 Tbs sesame seeds (or hemp seeds/ meal)
1/4 raisins
1/4 dried goji berries
1.5 cup oats- quick/ rolled
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond butter
3 Tbs. cocoa powder (preferably raw)
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup agave nectar

If you have a food processor, blend all nuts and seeds, adding oats in for last few seconds. Mix all other ingredients in as well. (This can also be done in a bowl with no processor.) Then press into a 8x8 baking dish and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Once cooled, cut into squares and store in fridge or freezer.

Optional: Add to recipe:
1 Tbs of spirulina along with 1 more Tbs of agave nectar and 3 more Tbs of cocoa powder

Understanding Macronutrient Balance: Fats, Proteins and Carbohydrates

The macronutrients in our diet are proteins, fats, carbohydrates, (and water)

Fat is the New Healthy: Eat Fat, Get Thin.

A common imbalance in our modern day diet is the consumption of too much unhealthy fat. These fats are the refined and hydrogenated kinds.

Many of us might be consuming significant amounts of unhealthy fats due to false advertising of food or simply by eating out a lot. However there is a large percentage of our population that is so fat conscious, that we’re not eating enough fat as a result of its bad rep.

We live in a nation with the largest fat-free food industry and yet we are the most obese. Our collective weight issues lay in the quality of fats we eat, not in fat itself. Most fat free products are extremely low in quality: yogurts are filled with processed sugars, foods are filled with chemicals, and milk is chemically altered and flooded with hormones.

Headlines news- Low fat diets are passé! Science has changed. Most low fat diets are rooted in a toxic belief that fat in food equals fat in the body. This is not an absolute truth and is often a misconception.

If we are on a fat free diet and not losing weight, chances are that our bodies have gone into starvation mode. If the body does not receive the basic macronutrients it needs to function, it will consider itself in famine. Not knowing if it will receive these nutrients anytime soon, it begins to store fat and inhibits the building of muscle in order to sustain energy. 

It’s time to get over the fat phobia. The phobia itself might be making us fat.

Poor quality fats as well as the processed carbohydrates and artificial ingredients that supplement fat-free foods tend to lead us to craving more carbohydrates and more unhealthy fat. If we are low in fat and protein, we will almost definitely find ourselves binge eating.

A fat deficient diet often leads to dry hair, dry skin, brittle hair or skin, mood issues, digestive, redness around the eyes, deficiency in fat soluble vitamins A D E, and the already mentioned inability to lose weight. Fat deficiency also tampers with memory, cognition and brain function.

When adding in EFA (Essential Fatty Acids,) we will most likely see a difference in skin and hair as well as the stabilization of our mood within as little as two weeks. Within a few months, chances are we’ll be losing weight rather than gaining it. These fats are found in unrefined oil present in food such as extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, unrefined sesame oil, fish, avocado, and nuts. We can also take a fish oil (or flax oil if vegan) supplement, which tend to be most digestible when consumed during a meal.

Carbohydrates: Forget Simple; Keep it Complex

Most of the population has a diet excessive in processed carbohydrates. If the bulk of our diet contains processed carbohydrates, we will often experience symptoms such as weight gain, fatigue, binge eating, cravings, indigestion, heightened PMS and mood swings. If consumed in large quantities over a long period of time, we may develop a variety of conditions such as diabetes, depression (as insulin blocks serotonin,) yeast infections, and ADHD.

These carbohydrates appear in fast food, junk food, packaged food, breads, and all the sugars added to our pre-packed foods. Often referred to as “empty calories,” these carbohydrates are stripped of all their nutrients during a refining process. Since the body taps into its own storage of minerals and vitamins when digesting, empty calories not only provide no micronutrients (minerals and vitamins,) but we end up further depleted after using our stored ones to digest them.

Like with fat, many of us have become carbophobic. Carbohydrates are extremely important to our health! They provide us with the energy we need to function. They are not bad! They become hazardous when the majority of our carbohydrates intake is in its lowest quality versions. We have been educated through past diet fads to fear carbohydrates and often we forget that not all carbohydrates are created equally. Be sure to get complex carbohydrates in the form of vegetables, beans, and grains. When eating whole grains, try to have the majority of them in an unprocessed form. While a whole wheat bread or pasta is preferable than its white flour version, it is still a refined food that plays its effects on our blood sugar levels.

Protein Deficiency:

Often when we try to lose weight and cut down on calories, the first calories to go are breakfast calories. We may have nothing more than coffee or a bagel and work till lunch with out fueling the body with any sustenance. If lunch then is just a salad, we may not be having much protein till dinner.  

Overeating at evening and night often has to do with daytime starvation. If this could be you, reevaluate your intake of protein and healthy fats during the day. These foods help us feel grounded and satiated. If we consume little more than carbohydrates and caffeine during the day, when its time to settle down in the evening the body will gorge on anything to help it feel grounded… going from one extreme to the other.

Focus on protein earlier in the day and include meat, fish, eggs, nuts, tofu and tempeh. Beans might work for some but as they are pretty low in protein, if this is your main source and you have some health complaints, you may need to reconsider your protein resources. If you are vegan, consider adding a high quality protein shake into your diet. Hemp, pea and brown rice are all good sources.

Too little protein can lead to sugar and carbohydrate cravings, low energy, low mood, and the inability to build muscle and lose weight. Our response to stress tends to last longer and have a stronger impact.

Stress and Micronutrients:

When the body is in stress mode, it excretes nutrients. Water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C and B as well as all minerals get released through urine (as well as through perspiration.) When stressed, a urine test will reveal a 50% increase in calcium, zinc, and other vitamins and mineral that have leached.  The body releases the micronutrients and holds onto macronutrients as fat.

Quality of Food:

When it comes to macronutrients, we need to be sure that they are nutrient dense.

The basic combination of fresh, real, home cooked, and cooked/served with love all effect nutrient density.

Much of our diet is mass-produced in a way that leaves little to no nutrients in our food. This means decreased nutrition to the body, which in turn increases our appetite and cravings because the body is looking for its needed nutrients.

When we are not getting what we need from food, the body sends out more hunger signals. This increases appetite and food cravings and will lead to binging. Often at this point we beat ourselves up thinking it’s about lock of will power.

Increase the quality: upgrade meats to antibiotic and growth hormone free (grass fed is best,) free-pasture laid eggs, home made pizza with organic cheese, organic produce, etc’. Many people have reported that taking hormones out of their meat and dairy products has resulted in weight loss.

When we mostly eat out and order out, our internal body wisdom gets dumbed down (it gets dumber!) As we start to eat in a more conscious way (simply by cooking for ourselves or taking a moment to notice and appreciate our food before eating,) we start to connect to the subtle messages we receive from our body regarding our personal nutritional needs (i.e. what foods we need and when.)

The nutrition world pulls us in various dietary directions, resulting in us losing our confidence to connect to our own body wisdom. Start a dialog with your body and you will discover things on your own.

Related Articles:
The Pros of Protein
The Food Pyramid... What Should I Eat?
Understanding Digestive Rhythm
Overeating- It's Not About Willpower

Understanding Digestive Rhythm

Starting to surf this summer, I find myself gaining a deeper understanding of the rhythm of the ocean. I watch the more experienced surfers tune into a rhythm that I have yet to feel. It reminds me of musical rhythms. I am often in awe of musician’s ability to tune into each other’s beat. This too is a rhythm I don’t truly understand.

The rhythms I find myself most intrigued by are the rhythms within our body. We all experience them, yet we may not be truly grasping their wisdom

Rhythm is everything; we find it in our heartbeat, our breath, our brain waves, or in a woman’s cycle. When rhythm is on, we are on. When it becomes erratic, we become erratic. Through yoga we discover that when the breath finds its rhythm, the mind finds peace.

When it comes to digestive rhythms, there is much to be said about timing and frequency. Some experts support three meals a day while others advocate lots of snacking. While there may not be one true way to eat, if we are experiencing weight, mood or health issues, our own rhythm is out of sync.

It is not uncommon in our culture to skip meals, or to have the first meal late in the day. Often trying to minimize calories, we have a small breakfast and supplement our appetite with a dose of caffeine. Immersed in work, we may push through lunch not feeling hungry until 2-3pm. These actions are most commonly not based in rhythm but rather in stress or in fears such as of gaining weight.

When we do this, we are over-riding our body wisdom. Our body temperature fluctuates through the day. When body temperature is at its highest, then metabolism is at its peak. This happens around noon, when the sun is highest in the sky.

Put simply, the peak metabolic hours are between 12pm-1:30pm. When we postpone lunch until 2pm-3pm, we miss these hours.

Between 2pm-4:30pm our body temperature naturally drops. Historically in Japan (before it was influenced by modern Western diets,) Sumo wrestlers would eat the same foods as all other Japanese but in bigger quantities and late at night. Mostly at 1-3am, when digestion is at its lowest.

Many of us have our biggest meals at night. One study has shown that one group of people ate a 2000-calorie diet at night and they all gained weight. The other group ate the same 2000-calorie diet during the first half of the day resulting in some losing weight and some maintaining weight.

Skipping breakfast and lunch is not sustainable- it leads to fatigue, sugar cravings, headaches, weight gain, and binge eating later in the afternoon or night. Perhaps we don’t experience it within a day but within the spectrum of a week. Holding back on calories during the week and binging on the weekend.

When the body is going through its days starved of nutrients, it is triggered into starvation mode. In order to survive what it perceives as scarcity, it begins a hormonal process to slow down the capacity to burn calories and refrains form building muscle in order to conserve energy.

The same effect can happen through a diet rich in food but lacking in nutrients. But we’ll save that for the next article about Macronutrients.…

What We Judge We Can't Digest

Our number one goal is to become relaxed eaters.

Recently I sat down to eat lunch; a home-made stir-fry of homegrown kale and organic grass-fed beef. Sounds pretty healthy. And yet as I was about to take a bite, a thought popped into my head about the “pesticide ridden tomato” I mixed into the stir-fry. A tomato I bought last minute at a local 7/11 just for the convenience. Was I really judging this beautiful meal as unhealthy due to a tomato?! I put down my fork, took a breath and took a long look at my food. The kale began to look greener, the smell of the beef got juicier. My digestive system had turned on. It looked amazing and I was once again excited to eat.

Our digestive efficiency is dependent on our nervous system which in turn is dependent on our mental state. When our body is under stress it goes into a state of “fight or flight” which physiologically halts our digestive efficiency. The same switch in the brain which turns on stress, turns off digestion. Digestion is at its strongest calorie-burning power when we are in a relaxed state which is when we breathe deeply and feel okay with ourselves and the foods that we choose.

We could be eating the healthiest of meals, but if we feel any degree of stress, anxiety, fear, or judgment, we are unable to assimilate its nutrients. Hence, we decrease the nutritional value of the meal because our metabolism is impaired.

It is basic science and yet we are never taught this. Everything to do with advertized diets has to do with food and not with ourselves. Quite simply, this type of information can’t be packaged and sold.

Stress will decrease the blood flow to the gut needed for digestion, and will prevent the production of important growth and thyroid hormones. These hormones boost metabolic rate and are important for growth and healing, building muscle and burning fat. Stress will cause the excretion of vitamins and minerals. When we are under chronic low-level stress on a daily basis, we decrease our oxygen intake.
Stress will increase inflammation, change the chemistry of our cells, and alter the physiology of the digestive system. Inflammation is a major contributor to weight gain, blood sugar imbalance and diabetes.

If we are multi-tasking or rushing our meals,  we are eating under stress. If we say to ourselves, “I’m too fat, I shouldn’t be eating this, food is bad; this will make me unlovable,” these are all stresses.

Even if we eat less food, we are still chemically training the body to store fat because that is the body’s natural response to stress.

Our ongoing process is to recognize our mental state when engaging in activities of self-nourishment. Not just with food, but also in conversations, our exercise (movement practices), or anything else we do to nourish ourselves. 

We can create a powerful difference if we learn to modulate and influence our state of mind and heart.

Beef and Arugula Stir-Fry

1/2 pound beef sirloin, cut into thin strips
2 tablespoons of oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium red peppers, cut into thick strips
1-2 bunches arugula, well washed
2 teaspoons kuzu
2 tablespoons tamari
2 tablespoons rice or cider vinegar
¼ cup water


Stir-fry beef in pan with 2 teaspoons of oil over medium-high heat for 2 minutes or until browned.
Remove beef with tongs or fork, allowing excess oil to drip off and set aside.
With remaining oil, stir-fry ginger and garlic for 2 to 3 minutes and then add bell peppers. Cook another 2 to 3 minutes.
Mix together fresh arugula and bell pepper mixture in a serving bowl.
In a small bowl, combine kuzu, tamari, vinegar and water.
Place mixture into skillet and cook over medium heat until sauce starts to thicken.
Return beef to skillet and cook for 1 minute, just enough to warm up beef.
Add beef to serving bowl with arugula and bell peppers.
Mix and serve warm.

*What is Kuzu?

Kuzu is a substitute thickener to corn starch. without the health hazardous effects of corn starch, kuzu is alkalizing, relieves upset stomach, controls diarrhea, and can strengthen the body from prolonged weakness. It easily dissolves in cold water and thickens in hot, Use ti thicken sauces, stews and puddings.

Recipe by Integrative Nutrition

What Causes Us To Have cravings?

Our bodies are amazing.

The body knows when it needs rest, when it needs to go to the bathroom, how to maintain 98.6 degrees, how to recover from a cold, and how to heal cuts or scrapes. The body knows the miracle of pregnancy and childbirth. The heart never misses a beat and the lungs keep to the rhythm of the breath. The body never makes mistakes.

With such inner intelligence, why would the body experience unhealthy cravings? Many of us view cravings as weakness, but really they are important messages meant to assist us in maintaining balance. Our bodies are designed to always heal and maintain balance. Even the unhealthiest of cravings contains something that the body needs.

If we pause long enough to deconstruct our cravings, we can figure out how to meet the body’s needs in a healthier way.

Cravings Caused By Physical Aspects

Dehydration: Most people do not think to drink enough water and walk around in a constant state of dehydration. Our thirst mechanism is impaired which often mistakenly translates a craving for water into mild hunger.
Water has a very light and expansive energy to it. If your body is too tight or tense, or you suffer from stress-related disorders, the body will search for the light expansive energy of water. Sugar has a similar energy to water, both causing us to feel ‘lighter’. Often the body’s signal of dehydration will be confused with the cravings for sweet treats. A glass of water may subside the craving.

Nutritional Deficiency: If our diet does not contain the various needed nutrients to maintain health, we may be driven to overeat in search of the required fuel. Salt cravings, for example, may indicate a lack of minerals. Adding more leafy greens as well as seaweeds to our diet might calm the craving. If our diet lacks nutrients due to a low variety or high quantities of processed foods, we may find ourselves constantly thinking about food as the body remains unsatisfied. Commonly this type of deficiency is tied in to a dependency on caffeine or sugar. Be sure to incorporate all macronutrients and an abundance of micronutrients in your diet. 

Hormonal (women): the female body goes through cycles of fluctuating testosterone and estrogen levels that may cause strange cravings.

Cleansing: As we take better care of ourselves, our body goes through a cleansing process. As part of this process, the body clears out old cellular memory, surfacing old memories or experiences. This may cause a craving for a certain food that once we start eating, does not actually taste as great as we remembered. In this case, stop eating and let yourself cleanse out the old, making space for a healthier you.

Addictions: Similar to an alcoholic or a smoker,we may be craving what is harming us most; convinced that is the only thing that is going to make us feel better. Common food addictions include caffeine, sugar and dairy. Do you have foods or people that you are addicted to in your life? 

Cravings Caused By Emotional Aspects

Emotional Dissatisfaction: When we are not truly satisfied in our relationships, not inspired by our career, or have not found a spiritual practice that gives us a sense of peace, we may turn to emotional eating to fill the void.

Fear of Change: Change is scary. Sometimes when things are going extremely well, we find ourselves self-sabotaging. We resist letting go of old ways even if we know that they do not serve our greater self. While we may recognize that old habits are preventing us from moving forward, these are the ways in which we have come to identify ourselves. If we let go of what we know, who are we? The process of self-improvement involves trust. Create a supportive environment for yourself so that you feel excited to grow in new directions.

Craving Caused By Energetic Effects

The Energetic Qualities of Food According to the Modality of Yin and Yang:
Yin & Yang present a system of opposites: Yang being a more masculine, grounded, contractive energy and yin being a more feminine, uplifting, expansive energy.
For example; drinking coffee, eating sweets, or drinking alcohol all provide a lighter and more expansive energy, making them yin. Eating a diet rich in red meat, salts, eggs, or hard cheeses, provides a denser and more grounded feeling, making them yang.   
Eating foods that are either extremely yin or extremely yang cause cravings of the opposite to maintain balance. A common craving is the sway between sweet (yin) and salty (yang). Another example is seen in people who enjoy a diet rich in dense animal proteins (yang) and experience cravings for sugar or alcohol (yin).

Stress: When looking at cravings through the modality of yin and yang, it is not only our diet that will create cravings for the opposite. If we are easily and commonly stressed out, we are in a contracted state of yang. Such a state of being will create a craving for yin foods to make us feel lighter. If most of our day is spent in a yang state of being, we can easily get hooked on yin. Examples of this would be the craving for alcohol at the end of the workday, sugar while at work, or perhaps ice cream late at night. Learning to balance our stress levels and decompress in healthier constructive ways is what is needed to eliminate such cravings.

Cravings Caused By Environmental Aspects:

Seasonal: Often the body craves foods that balance out the elements of the season. During spring, the earth produces detoxifying foods like leafy greens, as our body naturally goes through a post-winter cleanse. In the heat of summer, the earth produces fruit and vegetables that help cool our body temperature. In the fall the earth delivers warming foods like winter squash. During winter we may crave hot foods with heat-producing ingredients such as meat, oil and fat.
We feel different in each season, but when we are in tune, our cravings will change accordingly. This correlates with the system of yin and yang; craving cooling foods when we are hot, and vice versa.