Who needs refined sugar, anyway? Nobody, really.
With just a bit of effort, you can enjoy naturally sweet foods and kiss foods with added sugar (and the rollercoaster of hunger and overeating they cause) goodbye. If you need convincing, here’s a recipe to get you started. It couldn’t be easier.
Serve this compote warm as a topping to grass-fed yogurt or whole grains and top with nuts. Makes a great desert or breakfast. How about to top some buckwheat pancakes for a Sunday breakfast?
Ingredients
- 3 young stalks rhubarb, cleaned and sliced crossways to approximate 1/2 inch cubes
- 10-12 strawberries, cleaned and sliced in half
- 1/2 inch slice fresh ginger
- 2-3 Tbsp water
Directions
- Prepare ginger. You can peel ginger easily by scraping it with a spoon. Do that, then dice.
- Simmer everything. Place rhubarb, strawberries and diced ginger into a small saucepan and simmer over low heat until soft, 15-20 minutes. Add water if needed to make or keep things juicy.
- Serve warm over grass-fed yogurt as a dessert or warm or cold with breakfast grains and nuts. Or, just eat warm as a sweet and tangy natural treat or side-dish.
Now is the time to begin a relationship with dandelion. They’re everywhere, and are still tender (not so bitter) now. The raw greens taste a bit like the skin of a tart apple, but as the season progresses, they’ll become more bitter. The flowers have a nice sweetness. So, head outside, find one and say hello, admire it for a breath or two, then (if you don’t use chemicals on your lawn) have a taste. Once you convince yourself that it’s really quite delicious, bring a few leaves in to top your salad or throw into your morning smoothie.
Dandelion is a nutrient dense liver and gall bladder tonic – a natural detoxifier perfect for internal spring cleaning. It’s often used to treat upset stomach, gas or constipation, and prevent UTIs (urinary tract infections), though the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database notes insufficient evidence for any of these uses. It may affect the P450 detox pathway in the liver, so if you are on any drugs that clear through that route then don’t overdo dandelion (though if you time it right I bet dandelion would be supportive for you – again, be wise and know yourself, your health conditions and your medications). Otherwise, it’s a safe, healthy and economical (being free for most of us) herb to add to your spring table.
A cup of raw dandelion greens will give you the classic dark green leafy nutrient density – well over your daily needs of vitamins A and K, and about 10% of your calcium needs. They are also rich in iron, vitamins E, C and have a little omega 3 to boot.
Here are a couple of dandelion recipes from around the web to try:
Dandelion Greens with Hot Olive Oil Dressing from epicurious
Pink Dandelion Wine from The Old Farmer’s Almanac
Some nutritionists say that wild food speaks to us in a cellular pre-genetic language, suggesting we heal. While I can’t say if that’s true, I can tell you that when I’m eating greens that until recently I’ve thought of as weeds and they are delicious, my life is clearly better. As I get to know dandelion I’m glad he’s around (and he is everywhere). If dandelion can teach me to be a survivor in my life – a joyfully resilient survivor who doesn’t care if I’m considered weed or gourmet green – just offer my gift and practice non-attachment to who gets it – my life is clearly better.
Enjoy dandelion time.
This year I was speaking at FNCE (the Food and Nutrition Conference and Exhibition), and a dietitian described a dilemma(a common one, I bet) then asked a great question: she said she was encouraging her patients to do more conscious breathing, but find that they tend not to. She then asked if I knew of any resources to help people get started. Kripalu has a few breathing mp3s on their website.
But what a great idea, I thought!
Conscious breathing is a simple skill that is challenging to begin if you don’t have a regular yoga or meditation teacher. So, what I’ve done is one simple introductory video, that will cost you or your patients/clients 5 minutes of time. Do you have 5 minutes to make your life better? Me too!
So, that inspired me to get my first video underway. I am just learning how to get a video made and uploaded to my blog, so please know it’s on its way – as in days.
Enjoy! And let me know what you think.
Handout: 5 minutes
Video: 5 minutes for conscious breathing
Annie
Once in a while, Bill Maher weaves the headlines and the cultural zeitgeist into a riff that’s funny, poignant, and delivers a teachable moment like nobody’s business. On Friday night he did it again. He was in the zone on a topic I talk about all the time. He tied a few things together, and reminded me of this week’s absurd and scarily true media stories that reminds us that we’re really not paranoid by avoiding most restaurants and packaged foods.
Listen to what he has to say about clean food, Ikea meatballs, mislabeled fish and food labels.
Thanks Bill, blab on.
… And escape the self-defeating diet-binge cycle for good
- Cultivate an attitude of gratitude: Remind yourself of the people and things that make you feel grateful.
- Develop your compassion: Try to be kind to yourself and others.
- Get outraged to get motivated: check out www.aboutface.org to see just how soul-destroying advertising can be.
- Reward yourself: Develop a list of non-food rewards and honor yourself liberally.
- Empower yourself: Remember each of us is responsible for the life experience we create.
- Celebrate you body right now: What is beautiful about it? What is your best feature? Let how you feel about your best feature inform the areas you don’t feel so good about.
- Trust yourself: You know who you are and what to do to let your truest self shine.
- Be a flexible gatekeeper: can you eat and care for yourself in a loving way that allows for everyday health and occasional healthy splurges?
- Cultivate positive thoughts: when you notice a judging or negative thought, can you turn it around and make it a positive one?
- Nurture yourself: What can you feed your body and your soul and your spirit to let it grow.
- Relax: Take one-minute or even a five-breath pause though the day to center yourself and release tension.
- Nice n’easy: Make small easy changes, and over time you’ll see big results.
- Be yourself: Avoid adopting habits that you just don’t like to do – you can find enough things you enjoy to make the difference
- Connect: Cultivate positive relationships with family and friends.
- Celebrate your uniqueness: There has never been another being just like you, and there never will be again.
- Develop your strengths: what do you feel passionate about? How can you bring more of it into your life?
