I love all things food — growing it, preparing it, and, of course, eating it. I also love to share what I have learned about food to help people eat better and to start them on a road to better health. I truly believe that the food we eat leads to health or disease. The choice is yours. There’s no middle ground. The problem is that there is a disconnect between what we eat and health. Because when we eat a cheeseburger loaded with cholesterol, fat and salt and don’t have immediate health consequences, we don’t associate the two. But they are connected. I’ll say it again. EVERYTHING we eat leads to either health OR disease. It’s time to start thinking about that every time you eat so that you can lead your body toward better health. I love this meme! It’s time to start thinking more deeply about our food choices. Every bite counts. Of… Read More
Pulled “Pork” with Jackfruit
I am not kidding when I tell you that I think you can fool your friends with this “pulled” pork made from a fruit! Jackfruit, that is. I had never heard of jackfruit until a few years ago. In the grocery store they can be found fresh in the produce aisle. It looks like this and can be as large as a watermelon. It can also be found in cans — usually at a specialty or health food store. However many regular grocery stores are also carrying jackfruit in cans these days. I have only bought fresh jackfruit once. Luckily it was already cut into slices so I did not have to cut it in half, which I think would be quite tricky. CLICK HERE to see me dig through the jackfruit I bought. The fresh fruit is quite tasty and can be eaten raw, of course. This recipe is similar to that one, but… Read More
Meet Your Energy Body is Here
A few years back I learned about energy work. Have you ever heard of energy work? Energy work is moving your body in a whole new way to improve wellness. For me, this started when I got into Reiki, which is a form of energy work that helps move bad energy out of the body and good energy in. From there I learned about energy work and it has helped me age much more gracefully. No pain, no prescription drugs, and no illness as I have aged well into my 50s. You see, energy can get stuck in our body. When stuck energy remains long enough it can create physical illness in the body. By learning how to work with your energy body, you can learn how to release this stagnant energy into the universe for disposal. This brings about renewed energy and can lead you on a path to wellness. It’s all about being… Read More
Informed Consent is a Must
Everyday we are inundated with information. Some people are information junkies. I love information because it leads to learning. As a teacher, I have a natural love of learning. I feel I was put on this Earth to teach. So I felt compelled to share this information to help you learn more about the COVID vaccines. My purpose for this blog is not to convince you of anything or to talk you into anything. Again, sharing information is my goal with the hope of balancing out the scale so that you can make a reasonable decision when it comes deciding whether to get the COVID vaccine. You might wonder what I mean by “balancing out the scale.” Well, it is my understanding that a majority of people get their information from mainstream media — MSM — (CBS, NBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, etc). If all the information you are getting on the vaccine is from these… Read More
Must Have Dogs!
I can’t remember a time when I did not have a dog in my life. Ever since I was about 4 or 5 my family had at least one dog, sometimes two. I am so happy that my mom and dad allowed us to have a dog and, as a result, instilled in me a love of all things canine. I have no doubt that I was a dog in another life. I just feel deeper connections with dogs more than people. I cannot imagine living a life without a dog. If you are a dog lover, you can relate. I’m sure cats provide the same affection as dogs but I cannot speak from experience as I have never owned a cat. Whatever animal you choose will improve your life and their life. Here’s a few reasons why. They bring joy and they love you unconditionally There is nothing better than seeing the bright eyes… Read More
Keeping an open mind
COVID — If I never hear that word again I would bend down and kiss the ground and thank the universe. COVID, and primarily our reaction to it, has caused untold stresses for millions of people in this country. People have lost jobs, businesses, and livelihoods due to the shut downs and social distancing measures. Let me state for the record that I am not afraid of the virus. I am afraid of our reaction to it. I believe the collateral damages caused by the closings and job loses are far worse than the deaths from COVID. These last few months, with COVID raging, I have been studying statistics. I have, multiple times, calculated the percentage of people who have died from COVID considering the draconian measures taken to control this pandemic, which we are told on a daily basis is out of control. Keep in mind I want percentages, not numbers, because it helps… Read More
Healing Through Gardening
I have never been much of a gardener even though my parents had a pretty big garden when I was growing up. I truly regret not learning from their expertise. I just never really took an interest in the garden as a kid. As an adult, I tried gardening and found that keeping up with the weeds was very difficult and I always produced too much food, so a lot of it seemed to go to waste. So, I stopped gardening. A couple years back I decided to give it a try again. Being a plant-based eater (which I never was when I tried to garden before) I figured I would be more enthused about gardening with my new love of everything green, red, yellow, orange, and purple. Plus I wanted to learn how to can my own tomato soup with chemical free tomatoes, so I was doubly inspired. I am so glad I gave… Read More
Mother Earth Needs Your Help
I think I have always been an environmentalist at heart. I have always cared about animals, picking up litter and keeping our Earth clean. I cringe when I see unnecessary destruction of our land and water. I just don’t understand how people can be so thoughtless and cruel. Call me a bleeding heart, but that is truly who I am at my core. So, today just after the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, I am writing to plead to you to help take care of Mother Earth’s health. Without her being healthy, NO ONE on Earth can be truly healthy. As I have holed up trying to ride out this current “storm”, I have been looking for things to read and listen to. I ended up downloading an app on my phone for podcasts called Stitcher. As I looked through all of their offerings, I came across one done my Micheal Moore — the director… Read More
You Have the Power! You do!
I’m still in shock, as I am sure many people are, over the current health scare going on worldwide. I find it fascinating that a microscopic organism can shut down the planet, but it basically has. We are to avoid exposure to other people by distancing ourselves and remaining holed up in our homes so as to stop the virus from spreading. One can feel helpless in this situation, but you aren’t helpless. You have more power than you know to get or keep yourself healthy during this crisis. Now is an excellent time to start some immunity boosting activities to help your immune system ward off this virus if you come in contact with it. Unfortunately, our planet is overrun with unhealthy people whose immune systems are comprised. That is one reason why this virus is spreading so rapidly. When the immune system is compromised you are more likely to get sick from any… Read More
Speciesism — Do you know what it is?
Speciesism. I have come to understand this term very well in the last year or so. Have you ever heard of it? It is really pretty simple: it’s prejudice or discrimination based on species. And it is everywhere in this world just like other -isms you know. It just took me 50 some years to figure it out. I have always loved animals. As a kid I remember seeing a picture of a raccoon caught in a trap who died as it struggled to free itself. This picture is still seared in my mind. The fact that it wasn’t a dog or a cat didn’t matter. It was an animal who suffered at the hands of a human and it made me both sad and angry. How could someone do that? So, I have always had a compassion for animals of all kinds. I bet you do too! As a kid, we always had at… Read More
The Poop on Poop
Yes, you heard me right…..I want to talk about poop. Now, I know this is a rather embarrassing and uncomfortable topic, but it’s important to talk about this because what you excrete from your body is just as important as what you put into your body. Your poop can tell you a lot about your health. I will be brutally honest here. Because I eat a plant based diet, I eat a lot of fiber. Fiber makes you poop — in fact fiber is essential if you want to poop regularly (and who doesn’t?) So, I poop as much as 3-4 times a day — regular sized poops. I can’t imagine my day without that. I understand that some people only poop every other day or maybe only a few times a week. Say, what?? Are you kidding me? That is not a person eating a healthy diet, in my opinion. They are eating too… Read More
My Skin Cancer Experience
I consider myself a pretty healthy person — I do my best to eat right and exercise. My body is my temple and I try to treat it that way. So I was surprised when I got a phone call from my dermatologist telling me I had skin cancer. As far as I know, there is not much I could have done to keep from getting skin cancer other than stay out of the sun or protect my skin with sunscreen, so, having a healthy lifestyle, really didn’t help me in this case. Around the spring of 2017, I noticed a spot on the top of my nose. It was very small and I really didn’t think much about it other than I had noticed it was there. I really didn’t want to go to the doctor because I was leaving my job (and therefore my health insurance) so I let it go and tried… Read More
A Perfect Vision for 2020
Last year at this time I gave 5 tips to make 2019 the healthiest year ever. These tips still ring true and if you missed it last year, CLICK HERE to read these tips. For 2020 I wanted to do something a little different. Since the year is 2020 which is perfect vision, I thought I would share some of the visions of how I would like to make 2020 a great year. Look around…everything you see was a vision in someone’s mind before it ever became reality. I see 2020 as a year of vision and following through on that vision so that it becomes a reality. 1. LISTEN TO MORE MUSIC For whatever reason, I have gotten out of the habit of listening to music regularly. Music is and always has been a passion of mine, but recently I have been listening to other things like podcasts or books on tape or… Read More
Are you for the environment?
I am a granola — guilty as charged. I have also been guilty of harming the environment — little did I know at the time. Granolas are supposed to be protectors of the environment. According the the Urban Dictionary, a granola is a person who is environmentally aware and is concerned about wasting resources. I don’t remember when I started thinking this way, but it was probably sometime in high school. I remember going to my local park and working with a friend to pick up all the litter I saw there. I felt better after having removed all the ugliness put there by uncaring people. I felt it was my duty as a citizen of the world to make it a better place. As a matter of fact, that act got me a job at that park one summer. I had mentioned picking up litter at the park in my interview and was later… Read More
How I Healed From Grief (Part 4)
Drumming, becoming more spiritual, and Reiki all helped me heal from the grief of losing my husband. The last thing I will share that helped me is journaling. It’s a very simple, yet powerful way to get the pent up anger, frustrations, and sadness onto paper and out of your system. Way back in my childhood I learned about the power of journaling. When I started (probably around the age of 11 or 12) I was going through a loss too — this time of a good friend. I felt very betrayed at this time. We were best friends and then we weren’t. I had no idea what I did or didn’t do to cause this friendship to end. I began writing about it and it really helped. I went through many pages and lots of tissues, but it helped me get out all the gunk floating around in my head. I still have those… Read More
How I Healed From Grief (Part 3)
Time to share another way that helped me heal from grief. I have already discussed drumming and becoming more spiritual. If you missed those posts, here are the links: DRUMMING and SPIRITUAL. As I mentioned in my two previous posts, these two activities really helped me heal. Funny, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I do now. They both clearly helped me move forward. This was because they got me out of my head and heart, helped me meet new people, and provided me with something new to learn (which I love, because I am a life-long learner). Finding distractions from thinking about my loss was instrumental in helping me move through my grief. The third thing that helped me heal from grief was discovering and embracing Reiki. Reiki is a Japanese energy technique where the practitioners hands are placed lightly on a person so that universal life force energy can flow into… Read More
How I Healed From Grief (Part 1)
Pretty much everyone has had a loss in their life. It could be a family member, a friend who enriched our lives, or a beloved pet. With the loss comes grief, loneliness, and isolation. As I’m sure you have heard, everyone grieves in their own way. You really can’t criticize someone for grieving a certain way. It’s hard to maneuver through some losses and our path to recovery can be a twisted and winding road — the road that eventually leads to healing and moving forward. Back in 2004 I lost my husband of 13 years to cancer. We had been dealing with his illness for 4 years. It was difficult, to say the least. With his passing I was lost and alone. You definitely get to know your true friends when you lose a husband. There are those who stick with you and those who quietly disappear from your life. For those who disappear,… Read More
Easy Asparagus Salad
Asparagus season is upon us and now is the time to enjoy fresh and local asparagus — the green spears of deliciousness! I usually grill or roast my asparagus but I decided I wanted to try a salad. I wasn’t sure if I would like cold asparagus, but it is very tasty. This salad is sooooo easy with only 4 ingredients. This whole food, plant based, oil free salad is not to be missed. Here’s the easy recipe: 1 bunch asparagus, cleaned and trimmed 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1/2 tbsp. tamari 1 clove garlic Steam the asparagus until crisp tender. Put the hot asparagus in a large bowl and add the dressing. Toss gently to coat the asparagus with the dressing. Cover and chill 3-24 hours. Serve chilled. To make the dressing, put the lemon juice, tamari, and garlic into a small bowl. Whisk until smooth and emulsified.