De-stress today

“Our entire life consists ultimately in accepting ourselves as we are.” ~ Jean Anouilh

Here is a wonderful message about stress from the Chopra Center in today's email I received...Also, please check out Their free 21 day meditation challenge!!! It is so wonderful!!

 

Someone once said that there are only two times when we feel stress – daytime and nighttime. Let’s face it. Stress is part of our everyday life. We experience some level of stress every time our needs are not met. In today’s meditation, we are going to transform our relationship with stress, learning to let it go and cultivate more peace, joy, and calm in its place.

What Is Stress?

Stress has been part of human life since our earliest days on the planet. Although we no longer experience the stress of living in cold, dark caves and fighting off saber tooth cats, we do experience emotional turmoil in our relationships, challenges balancing our daily lives, and a multitude of physical health concerns. When we encounter situations that we interpret as stressful, our body has the same reactions our ancestors had tens of thousands of years ago. Our blood pressure rises, we begin to perspire, our breath becomes shallow, and our blood platelets become sticky. Our body activates its fight-or-flight response, and it takes at least twenty-four hours for the body to recover its equilibrium. Many people live in a state of chronic stress and imbalance, which contributes to emotional and physical dis-ease.

Through the practice of meditation, we can activate a different response, one of restful awareness, intuitiveness, and creativity. Meditation takes our body and our mind from a place of hyperactivity, fear, unrest, and uneasiness to a state of inner calm, peace, and silence.

In meditation, as we cultivate the ability to witness the activity of the mind, we spontaneously make more conscious choices. We’re able to access the response that best supports our own health and well being. Stress then becomes something that we can observe and release.

 

Nourish Your Children with Real foods ....Another wonderful blog to follow:

Nourish Your Children With Real Foods

Good nutrition is essential for children to have proper brain development and growth.  It also promotes good sleeping and good behavior.  The best way to make sure your kids are getting good nutrition is to feed them real foods, not processed foods. Goldfish crackers, Cheerios, soy milk: these are not real foods!

Let's Take a Look at Some Processed Foods
Grocery stores are filled with processed foods. For example, let's look at Goldfish crackers and Cheerios.  These are very popular foods that seem relatively benign as they're not very sweet.

Chech out the whole article ....here
http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/



I happen to have a lot of red peppers so I am roasting them and found a wonderful recipe I will make with them:

White Bean, Roasted Red Pepper, and Arugula Salad

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3 red bell peppers
1 clove garlic, crushed
zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp coarsley chopped flat-leaf parsley
14 oz can white beans
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 small bunch arugula

Roast the red bell peppers by broiling or grilling until the skins are blackened, then place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap. When cool, peel the skin off, remove the seeds and membrane, and cut into strips.
Combine the garlic, lemon zest, and parsley, and set aside.
Add half the garlic/parsley mix to the white beans, and add half the lemon juice and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place the arugula on a large plate and toss with the remaining lemon juice and olive oil.
Scatter the beans over the leaves, then lay the pepper strips on top, along with the remaining garlic/parsley mix. Season with salt and pepper.

4 side servings, or 2 as a light main course

Healing the Emotional Connection with Food

Emotional eating…we’ve all heard about it but do we do it? Are we ready to admit it? I am. I’ve been looking into this subject recently and I really want to get back to a place where I feel good about my relationship with food. I want to create a rhythm where I feel as great as I can, as often as I can. If you do too, then follow along…..

I think we need to, one, realize where we are at, and secondly move to a transition stage to healthier eating habits, then thirdly, to a happy maintenance state. I will start this message with the first.

It is our mental/ emotional relationship with food, not the food itself that can make it seem tough to eat optimally.

Our consistent eating patterns, peer pressure, unconscious needs, cultural patterns and so on persuade a huge part of our consummation of foods. We need to distinguish between these patterns and true hunger with a healthy intuition about what, when, where and how much to eat, then we will be on a great pathway to healing.

Are you ready to let go of the patterns that no longer serve you? Let’s begin at the beginning, our past. Take a few minutes to truly examine your history with food and patterns you see. This is such a simple & rewarding task, yet very few ever do it. To guide you, you may ask your self:

·        When did I start overeating/or eat unhealthily?

·        What were the things going on around me at that time?

·        How did I feel during and afterward?

·        What was it that I overate?

·        What/Where do I overeat now?

·        Which foods do I crave?

If you don’t identify with overeating, adjust the questions here, to suit your particular situation.

·        Are their any foods you suddenly started eating a lot of, at any time?

·        What was happening then?

·        Do you find yourself suddenly eating that food again in similar circumstances-for example, if I’m upset?

·        Do I use food in a way that is unhealthy to me?

·        What were those circumstances?

·        How did I feel when I ate that way?

·        What was I eating?

·        What are the main things I eat now?

·        Which foods do I crave?

Use your journal here and just sit with yourself for a few moments and get in touch with your self. It can be very rewarding. I can also be challenging to really see what you’ve been doing and see it, maybe for the very first time.

After this step, it is time for a reward. Put on the pot of water for a warm cup of herbal tea and relax on your favorite comfy spot and listen to some wonderful music, you deserve it! You’ve worked hard to go deep within.

You may try this recipe if your so inclined:

Zucchini and Carrot Salad

INGREDIENTS

• 2 carrots, julienned
• 1 zucchini, julienned
• 2-3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dulse flakes
• Dash Nama Shoyu

DIRECTIONS

This simple dish is at its best when the vegetables are sliced into very long, thin strips. You can make the strips with a gadget that can be found at country fairs. It looks like a poor man's mandolin. It has scary-looking razor-sharp blades which you drag the vegetable across. A similar machine with V-shaped blades is occasionally advertised on TV and can be found in some kitchen gadget stores. Pulling the carrot and zucchini across the cutter the long way rather than on their ends creates 4-6 inch strips. Even if you are slicing by hand, try to achieve this effect.

If you are using a mandolin, don't watch television or have a conversation at the same time. These pieces of equipment are sharp and dangerous and require one hundred percent of your attention!

Combine carrots, zucchini, oil, garlic, dulse and Nama Shoyu in a bowl. Toss.

Serves 2-3.

Orange Tahini Dressing

NOTES

A delightful light dressing that only takes a few minutes to make. Its simplicity invites variation. Try adding 1 teaspoon chopped ginger and 1-2 teaspoons tamari. Or, add 2 teaspoons poppy seeds and 1/4 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice powder.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
• pinch sea salt
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dulse flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon curry powder

DIRECTIONS

In bowl, add orange juice gradually to tahini, stirring after each addition. Add salt. Dressing tastes fine as is, or add spices to taste.

Yields approximately 1/2 cup