Farmer's Market Saturday = Buttered Leeks and Radishes Monday

While talking to my friend Chef Jim this week, I realized that I hadn't been to one farmer's market this season.  How sad is that?  I remember going twice a week on Tuesday's and Thursday's downtown.

You can probably guess where I headed this past Saturday - Lincoln Park's Green City Farmer's Market.  For $20 I scored an eggplant, a red pepper, a gorgeous bunch of purple carrots, many interesting looking zucchini and summer squash, a few gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and a leek.

I also found these amazing looking and tasting radishes.  I had never seen such a thing.  Click here to make this delicious side dish this week - Buttered Leeks and Radishes.

One conversation and $20 literally brought me back to creating so much joy for myself last Saturday afternoon.  Thanks Jim.

Are you a 1 or a 5?

When you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing that you do?

Do you check your phone, do you peruse emails, do you answer your phone?  

Do you ever ask yourself what your intention is for the day?

What is your top priority?  Make a list now of the top 5 things that you do every day.  What are they?  Why are they?  Have you made the cut?  I challenge you for the next week to put yourself at the top of your priority list.  Your health, your body and your mind will thank you.

Here are the top 5 things I do first thing every morning for ME!

1.  Awake to a beautiful flower bedside.  This is especially helpful in the Midwest when the sun doesn't want to play.

2.  I journal 3 things I appreciate today.

3.  I read a book for 30 minutes.  I'm currently reading Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss

4.  I practice 20 minutes of yoga for free at www.yogadownload.com

5.  Finally, I set an intention for how I want to feel each day.  

Caution:  This practice is contagious!

Top 5 Summer Healthy Munchies

Summer travel is in the works.  If you've been on the road this summer and haven't packed a cooler of healthy meals and snacks, you'll be facing a plethora of mindless eating, fast food and poor digestion.  This means less time for healthy eating and good choices.  Here are my top 5 favorite summer munchies:

1.  Bob's Red Mill Original Whole Grain Natural Granola

• No fat added
• Good source of fiber
• Perfect for cold cereal, over yogurt or right out of the bag

2.  Raw Almonds

• Good source of fiber
• Good source of protein
• Good source of Vitamin E

3.  Cherries

• Great antioxidant
• Helps clean the lymphatic system
• May help reduce arthritis and inflammation

4.  Carrots

• Good for your teeth
• Good for your eyes
• Beta-carotene

5.  Snap peas

• May help to lower cholesterol
• 1 cup has as much Vitamin C as an orange
• Good source of Vitamin K

What are some of your favorite summer munchies?

What's in your Vitamins?

Fast food is to organic food as synthetic sources are to natural sources.  I'm speaking of our food and vitamin supply and their ingredients.

Let's take Vitamin D, for example.  You may have heard by now that our best source of Vitamin D comes from the sun.  Pesticides aside, wouldn't it make sense to obtain Vitamin D through our food by eating fruits and vegetables grown with the sun's help?  Such natural sources of Vitamin D are fish oil, Omega-3's and mushrooms.  Why would we consume Vitamin D from a synthetic source?  I have to believe that it's because we are not aware.  Would you knowingly consume irradiated sheep's wool (lanolin)?  I'm guessing not and neither would I.

Click here to read The Five Problems with Vitamin Supplements.  Don't miss the "What's in your Vitamins? chart.

To learn more about how to obtain "the good inside" visit my website at www.lifeelemental.mytouchstoneessentials.com

The New Lean Cuisine Salad Additions. Helpful or Hurtful?

The New Lean Cuisine Salad Additions.  Helpful or Hurtful?

http://pioneervalleyma.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-salad-challenge-bring-your-own.html

Here are the bad ingredients I have spotted:

Modified Tapioca starch - anything that says modified is processed and should be avoided.

Natural Flavor - typically this means MSG which is processed and modified and should be avoided.

Carrageenan - causes inflammation and should be avoided.

Soybean Oil, Cottonseed Oil - processed oils and should be avoided.

Corn Syrup - is processed sugar and should be avoided.

Sugar in the vinaigrette - it's added and should be avoided.

Juices from concentrate are sitting in huge tanks for periods of time and are treated with 
chemicals and dyed to maintain color and freshness and should be avoided.

Caramel Color - anything with added colorings should be avoided.

Enriched Flour - anything enriched is highly processed and should be avoided.

oh, and looky there…. Vegetable Oil - you heard on my call how bad for you it is and should be avoided.

What do you think?

Spirituality. Private or Public?

Spirituality means something different to everyone. For some, it's about participating in organized religion: going to church, synagogue, a mosque, etc. For others, it's more personal: Some people get in touch with their spiritual side through private prayer, yoga, meditation, quiet reflection, or even long walks. *

Research shows that even skeptics can't stifle the sense that there is something greater than the concrete world we see. As the brain processes sensory experiences, we naturally look for patterns, and then seek out meaning in those patterns. And the phenomenon known as "cognitive dissonance" shows that once we believe in something, we will try to explain away anything that conflicts with it.
Humans can't help but ask big questions—the instinct seems wired in our minds. *

I opened the gate to my beautiful spirit about two years ago beginning with a daily practice of gratitude, appreciation, journaling, yoga and meditation.  

When you find yourself growing after discovering self help, it's only natural to want to share - especially with the people you feel could really use it.

Sometimes you just really want others to "get" it.  By "get" I mean really seeing, experiencing and feeling this power that is already within you.  Practicing what works for you.

However, as you may have discovered, spreading the word may not always be easy.

There is a right way and a wrong way to spread the word.  I've found the best way is to live it, be it and naturally people will notice there is something positively miraculous going on and they'll want to know your secret.


*Parts of this article are an excerpt from Pyschology Today Magazine.

What is Your Underlying Commitment to Yourself?

For the past four years you've been saying you want to lose twenty pounds, but here you are today not having met that objective.  So you wake up and decide today is the day.  You tell yourself, "I can do it! I'm going to make healthy choices."  You begin the morning by eating a bowl of oatmeal and a slice of whole wheat bread and leave for work feeling empowered.  Then, after eating a beautiful green salad for lunch, you have an urge for something sweet and decide to lean over and take a couple of bites of your best friend's cheesecake.  It's so good that you just can't stop, and like any good friend you help her finish it off.  Then, after a long day, you go for your favorite---a hamburger and fries---for dinner.  You rationalize your choice by saying that you had time only to stop for fast food because you worked late and by God you deserve that burger anyway.  For the moment you feel better.  Guilt eludes you and your rationalization keeps you from looking around to see if there is a deeper cause for this choice. Your excuse for your consistent behavior stops you from unearthing the source of your self-sabotage.  But then while you're getting ready for bed you begin to feel bad about the choices you made.  The burger and fries no longer feel so good, and that moment of bliss turns on you quickly, becoming a source of shame, robbing you of your goals and desires and feeding your resignation.  You go to sleep swearing that tomorrow will be a new day.  You wake up wanting to eat well and stick to your diet, but sometime around 4p.m., after having a healthy breakfast and lunch, you succumb once again to that urge for a little snack.  Then you're off again and the cycle repeats itself.  This is a day in the life of an underlying commitment.  

Is this bad?  Only if you hate yourself for eating badly that day.  It's a disempowering choice if you beat yourself up over it.  It's the most common human struggle.  When you are making choices that lead you further from your goal rather than closer to it, you know that you are operating on top of an underlying commitment.

If this example is familiar to you, I would ask you to become aware of what commitment is present for you when you are eating foods that are not supporting you to reach your goal.  You can do this by asking yourself, "What am I committed to in this moment?"  The only way to stop this battle is to acknowledge what is going on.

(Parts of this story are an excerpt from the book The Right Questions by Debbie Ford)