Simple supper - Quinoa and Yam Mash

For the first almost 2 weeks of the cleanse, I have been having simple suppers.  I thought I would share the simple supper I had tonight because it was so yummy!  I had quinoa (see top picture) which was cooked for 25 minutes at a 2:1 water:quinoa ratio.  To season the quinoa, I added 1/4 cup diced onion, 1 minced garlic clove, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/8 tsp turmeric, 1/8 tsp paprika, and 1 tsp lemon juice while the quinoa was cooking.  I also added 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup chopped parsley, and 2 chopped green onions shortly before removing the quinoa from the stove.  The yam mash (see bottom picture) consisted of chopped onions, minced garlic, diced yams, diced beets, chopped zucchini, chopped carrots, chopped shiitake mushrooms, and chopped kale, all sautéed until tender.  To season the yam mash, I added 3 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp basil/oregano mix.  I also mixed pinto beans with this meal.  This meal was a hearty and delicious winter cleanse meal.  It took approximately 45 minutes to prepare and was simple and easy to make!

The Supreme Meal

I have recently started reading a book called Instructions to the Cook by Bernie Glassman and Rick Fields.  Bernie Glassman is a Zen master and the book is partially based on the lessons he has learned as he has navigated through his life.  He discusses the Zen concept of the supreme meal which is "a life that is lived fully and completely, with nothing held back".  He also discusses that we have all the ingredients in our current lives to be able to create our own supreme meal, that we just need to remain open and see our lives completely and without limitations.  I really like the idea of the supreme meal and find it very empowering.  I think it provides a very helpful guide to support continued internal growth and further strengthening of our overall health.  I am going to aim to continue to work on creating my own supreme meal during the cleanse and further into 2014.

Supplements and Breast Cancer Survivors

In the October 2013 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal, Tina Kaczor comments on findings from the After Breast Cancer Pooling Project which analyzes info from 4 separate large studies of women with a history of breast cancer (totalling over 12,000 women).   The project found that women who took antioxidant supplements (multivitamin, vitamin C, or vitamin E) had a 16% decreased risk of death from any cause.  Vitamin E supplementation was also associated with a decreased risk of cancer recurrence.  Vitamin D was associated with a decreased risk of cancer recurrence among women who had estrogen receptor positive breast cancer only.  No supplements were found to be associated with an increased risk of cancer recurrence or death.  These findings help confirm that integrating antioxidant based supplements can be a positive, health supportive step for women who have  survived breast cancer.  

Melatonin and Stomach Health

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a bacteria that can cause chronic inflammation of the stomach lining and the development of ulcers.  If a person is diagnosed with an H. pylori infection, they are commonly treated with an HP-Pac, which is a combination of a proton pump inhibitor and 2 antibiotics, to clear the infection.  In the September 2013 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal, author Jacob Schor discusses a 2012 study published in a Russian medical journal (Klin Med) that found when melatonin was added alongside the standard HP-Pac treatment for H. pylori infection, the H. pylori infection was eliminated more effectively and the stomach lining healed more quickly.  This research further extends our understanding of melatonin, which is most commonly integrated as a support for restful/improved sleep.  With this research, we can now also consider melatonin as a great support for overall stomach health too.  

Yummy Rice Cakes!

One of the most important steps to making the cleanse easier to manage is ensuring that we don't feel hungry and that we have snacks to choose from.  One of the foods that I will commonly use as a snack on the cleanse is rice cakes -   I usually put almond butter on rice cakes for a quick, protein rich, easily transportable snack.   Sometimes I can find rice cakes a bit too bulky/thick though, so I have been delighted to find the Plum.M.Good organic brown rice thins.  These rice thins seem to be about one quarter the thickness of regular rice cakes and they are always fresh and very yummy (and are available in a variety of flavours)!  So far, I have only been able to find these rice thins at Blush Lane in Edmonton, but they are worth the trip!

Food for Thought for 2014

In the December 4, 2013 issue of the Natural Medicine Journal, author Jacob Schor comments on a study (originally published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics) that evaluated the impact that school based interventions had on elementary students' fruit consumption.  There were 3 groups of elementary aged children in this study:  1 group received no intervention/served as a control, 1 group was taught a 15 minute lesson 1 time per week for the entire school year around developing skills for making healthy food and life choices, and 1 group received no specific lessons but their homeroom teacher brought fruit to school at least 3 times per week, kept the fruit on their desk until they ate it, and in general ate healthy snacks during the school day.  Both the group who received the lessons and the group whose teacher ate healthy snacks increased their fruit consumption during the school year in comparison to the control group, but interestingly only the group whose teacher ate healthy snacks maintained an increased level of fruit consumption at the 1 year post intervention follow-up.  This study provides an excellent insight into how important it is for adults to model healthy food choices for the little people in their lives - telling kids what is best to eat will not be as effective as them seeing their adult loved ones eating the food themselves as well.  For me, the message of this study extends beyond food and can be applied to our behaviour in general -  it is how we move through the world and choose to behave, rather than just what we say, that has the deepest impact on those around us and has the most potential to help make the world a more peaceful and healthy place.  For me, this message serves as a great reminder and a great motivator moving forward into 2014.  

Getting Grounded

One of the most important ways we can support our overall health (and make a cleanse easier to manage) is to aim to keep our selves grounded in the face of our busy lives.  In the January 2014 issue of Shambhala Sun magazine, author Andrea Miller writes about her experience at a retreat offered by the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.  In her piece, Miller describes learning about the importance of integrating a singing bowl/bell into our daily lives as a source of grounding and centring support.  Miller also mentions that the bell can be a bell of mindfulness that we cultivate within and that we can utilize regular parts of our daily routine as reminders for us to ring the bell/focus on feeling more grounded and more mindful.  I found this article very inspiring and really appreciate how it offers another very simple and easily integrated way to continue to work on being more mindful, more centred, and more aware on a daily basis.  Even if we choose just one part of our daily routine to serve as a reminder (before we get dressed in the morning, before we turn on the computer for the day, before we sit down for lunch in the afternoon etc.) to ring our internal bell of mindfulness, we have already created more space for increased grounding which offers great support for our overall health.