November 2007 Newsletter from Your Favorite Holistic Health Counselor

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” Anne Bradstreet

Hmmm, might you not enjoy spring as much as you do if you didn’t have to go through winter? To get that delicious sensation of being warmed through to your bones, requires getting really cold first. Jumping from the cold shower to the sauna & back into to the cold shower & back into the steam room & back into the cold shower. Doing this often enough while drinking plenty of water will eliminate any stress you might be feeling. It will also leave you so relaxed the only option is a cup of something warm & bed for a truly restful night of sleep.

Moving through Fall & Winter

Bradstreet’s quote could be considered an encouragement to keep ourselves physically active in the colder months. For those of you who spend all year too hot, you’re reveling in the cold weather. The rest of us are thinking the bears might be onto something with the whole hibernation thing. While it is completely normal to want to eat more heavier, warming food & shiver under the covers with a cup of something warm, it makes for an awfully long winter. You might find yourself getting fidgety, impatient along with fearing the winter time weight gain.

With proper preparation, any physical activity that happens during the warmer months, can happen during cooler months. Walking, hiking, jogging are still good ideas in the cold. With the proper clothes, a fairly tropical environment can develop inside your clothes, keeping you nice & toasty. Layers is the key with natural fibers & something to wik away moisture close to the skin with a substantial outer layer to break the wind. Fill in the gaps with hats, scarves, and gloves and make sure boots don’t leak and you have good socks. Now that you’re wrapped up well, get outside. Walking in snow burns more calories than on flat surfaces. You’ll also be exposed to sunlight, needed to generate vitamin D. The best part of getting exercise out in the cold is, as Bradstreet points out, that delicious sensation of getting warm when you come in.

Indulge that luxurious feel of being cold & tired, moving into a cozy warm place with a warm cup of something & feel the stress of the day vanish.

Food Focus – One Pot Meals

It’s normal to want to eat more in this time of year, because eating & digesting generate heat. Getting yourself out and about during this time of year will help fend off boredom based snacking by burning off the extra calories your body craves now. Soups and stews are perfect because they are filling, but not in a high calorie way, and warming. In addition to helping with that cozy transition from cold to warm, the aroma of a pot of soup on the stove is very comforting.

This month’s recipe is good, it makes a lot & can be frozen. Yes it takes awhile to prepare, but it’s the unattended kind of cooking, some of which make your apartment smell particularly soothing. Soaking beans can be done while you sleep. Simmering can be done while you’re puttering around your apartment on a weekend. The smell of simmering vegetables in stock with our without a ham hock is a great aroma to greet you when coming in from a bit of outdoor exercise.

Recipe of the Month: White Bean, Wheat Berry, and Escarole Soup
www.epicurious.com
Prep time: 20 minutes (not including pre-soaking beans)
Cooking time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:
1 pound dried baby lima beans or other dried white beans, picked over for stones or anything you don’t like the look of
2 ham hocks (optional)
2/3 cup wheat berries* (substitute brown rice & add with beans rather than ham hock, if using)
8 cups water
2 cups chicken broth
2 medium onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery ribs, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled
1 head escarole (about 1 pound), chopped coarse
3 garlic cloves, minced

*available at natural foods stores and some specialty foods shops
Directions:
In a bowl soak beans in water to cover by 2 inches overnight or quick-soak (procedure follows) and drain.

In a heavy kettle (at least 5 quarts) simmer ham hocks and wheat berries in water and broth, covered, 1 hour. Add drained beans and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and skim froth. Add onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, and rosemary and simmer, covered, until beans are tender, about 1 hour.

Transfer ham hocks with a slotted spoon to a cutting board. Discard fat and bones and chop meat.

In a blender or food processor purée 3 cups soup. Stir purée into soup with chopped meat and escarole and simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes. Stir in garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Soup may be made 4 days ahead (cool uncovered before chilling covered.)

To quick-soak dried beans:
In a large saucepan combine dried beans, picked over and rinsed, with triple, their volume of cold water. Bring the water to a boil and cook beans, uncovered, over moderate heat 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let beans soak 1 hour.

Send This On!
I hope you have found this newsletter to be as informative and inspiring to read as it has been for me to share it with you. Please feel free to forward it to those friends, family and colleagues in your life that you think might also be interested and inspired by it. If you refer someone who signs up, it’s $100 in your pocket or a free exercise session.

Toni Taylor
Holistic Nutritional & Exercise Consultant
212-586-0681

Toni Taylor, Holistic Health Counselor

<>Greetings,

Welcome to my blog on holistic health & custom physical training. I’m an certified holistic health counselor focusing on stress reduction and overall health. In addition to health counseling and with over 25 years of experience as a professional dancer and choreographer, I’m uniquely qualified to help you design a custom exercise program that can be integrated into your health maintenance regimen, injury free. I’ll be posting a monthly newsletter & look forward to your comments on the topics under discussion.

October, 2007

<>Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded. – Goethe

Taking care of oneself with Goethe’s “steadfast fidelity” also includes your emotional & spiritual health. We see the world with our eyes and what we see is is interpreted through our spiritual & social prisms. If we’re feeling overwrought or overwhelmed because our spiritual exercise has lapsed, our interpretation of what we see can be dimmed with impatience. If we’ve allowed our good nutritional practices to slip, we might view the world with selfishness. The queasy thing about both of those interpretations is that they can easily spiral into self perpetuating cycles brought about because we’ve neglected our physical, spiritual & emotional wellbeing. Eeeek! See clearly, take care of all aspects of your body and well being.

Deconstructing Cravings

True or false (or perhaps something in between), caving into cravings is a character flaw. I vote for false. For most of us, our bodies tend to crave some combination of sugar, salt, and fat at various times. As our body’s sole purpose is to keep going, cravings could be the signal that you’re depriving it of something it needs. If it needs rest & you miss the signal, you’ll crave caffeine. If it needs sweet, it might not specifically be prompting you for refined white sugar, but perhaps that it needs its blood sugar regulated with regular helpings of fruits and veggies. If you’re dabbling with a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, you will suddenly crave carbs in any form, lots of bagels & waffles, when what might really be needed to head off the craving is a steady supply of unrefined carbs in the form of whole grains and almost all fruit and vegetable sources. Sudden cravings for alcohol might your body’s way of telling you that its stressed. What it won’t tell you is that regular stress reduction activities such as meditation, candle lit baths, being in nature, or whatever works for you done regularly could head off that sudden urge for a drink.

As our body’s sole purpose is to keep going, it also changes from moment to moment. Even if you’re diligent in your health maintenance routines, something will throw you out of balance, creating the possibilities of unhelpful cravings. These can be good things, moving to a bigger apartment or not so good, losing a job. Isn’t it funny how our response to both types of events tend to lead to too much indulgence and cravings.

There are many ways to deal with cravings. First, try to determine what triggers them and see what you can change to head them off. Some things you can address, stress, boredom, or sleep deprivation; others not so much, menstruation and outside environmental changes. Though we can control our response to the last two. The easiest way to head off a craving is to drown in by drinking a lot of water. Distracting yourself with meditation or some other peaceful, but stimulating activity will sometime do the trick. There is also a school of thought that advises to meditate and focus on the feeling of the craving as it arises, how it feels, and it recedes. All are valid, as is maintaining your health maintenance routine to fend them off as best as possible.

All of this said, the occasional indulgence (in moderation) of your craving isn’t bad. Doing so in extreme might be ill advised, but even that won’t do irreparable harm, only if indulging to that degree doesn’t initiate a cycle of bouncing between good & bad health habits. Depending upon the thing you most often crave, it might be helpful to indulge in a little bit of your favorite thing a day, to head off the need to do the whole package/pint at some point in the future. So the upshot is that cravings aren’t a character flaw, but your body’s signaling mechanism. Responding to our cravings from a point of view of being informed of the options and knowing ourselves very well are what will help us weather them well.

Food Focus: Root Vegetables

Carrots, beets, parsnips, burdok root, sweet potatoes, turnips, celery root, yucca; seems every culture has roots in its cuisine. Good thing, because many of them have great nutritional value. Like most veggies, they have high fiber content as well as vitamins A & C as well as many of the B vitamins, beta carotene, potassium, magnesium, copper, and phosphorus can also be found in roots. In addition, root vegetables, especially those deeper in color, contain health-promoting antioxidants known as phytochemicals; examples of which are beta carotene in deep-orange carrots, and anthocyanins in purple potatoes.

Root vegetables are often a good economic value as well, in that they are usually inexpensive & can last a very long time if stored properly. They keep forever in a cool dark place, yes that’s where the term “root cellar” came from, a place to store the fall’s harvest of roots through the winter.

You can do almost anything to almost all root vegetables. They can be boiled, roasted, sautéed, pureed, & grated . Many can have a sweet taste, especially if roasted, that plays well with bitter greens, such as kale, collard greens & cabbage.

In Chinese medicine, root vegetables have warming qualities that prepare us for the upcoming cold weather. If you’re trying to eat seasonally, this is the season for root vegetables..

Recipe of the Month: Steamed Root Vegetables And Cabbage With Dill
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 25-35 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1/2 of small head of cabbage cut into 1/8 inch shreads
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into fine julienne
1 pound turnips, peeled and cut into fine julienne
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into fine julienne
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill plus dill sprigs for garnish

Directions:
In a large steamer set over boiling water arrange in order the carrots, the turnips, the parsnips, and the shredded cabbage, steam the vegetables, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are just tender. Transfer to a heated bowl to toss them with the butter, the vinegar, the minced dill, and salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to add things to the steaming liquid, such as chicken stock, white wine, bay leaves. To make for a complete, one pot meal, experiment with adding a protein, perhaps a firm tofu or tender, mild fish, such as scrod, trout, or perhaps scallops. If you don’t have an official steamer, one can be rigged with a combination of a metal colandar or some type of large strainer that fits in your biggest soup pot. Use another pot or cookie sheet for a lid.

Send This On!
I hope you have found this newsletter to be as informative and inspiring to read as it has been for me to share it with you. Please feel free to forward it to those friends, family and colleagues in your life that you think might also be interested and inspired by it. If you refer someone who signs up, it’s $100 in your pocket or a free exercise session.

Toni Taylor
Holistic Nutritional & Exercise Consultant
212-586-0681
ttatpdt@mac.com

October, 2007 Holistic Health Newsletter

Hello,

Welcome to my initial blog entry as a holistic health counselor.  I look forward to providing you topics on health, wellbeing, & nutrition.  I also look forward to hearing from you with questions and comments.

<>October, 2007

<>Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded. – Goethe

Taking care of oneself with Goethe’s “steadfast fidelity” also includes your emotional & spiritual health.  We see the world with our eyes and what we see is is interpreted through our spiritual & social prisms.  If we’re feeling overwrought or overwhelmed because our spiritual exercise has lapsed, our interpretation of what we see can be dimmed with impatience.  If we’ve allowed our good nutritional practices to slip, we might view the world with selfishness.  The queasy thing about both of those interpretations is that they can easily spiral into self perpetuating cycles brought about because we’ve neglected our physical, spiritual & emotional wellbeing.  Eeeek!  See clearly, take care of all aspects of your body and well being.

Deconstructing Cravings

True or false (or perhaps something in between), caving into cravings is a character flaw.  I vote for false.   For most of us, our bodies tend to crave some combination of sugar, salt, and fat at various times.  As our body’s sole purpose is to keep going, cravings could be the signal that you’re depriving it of something it needs.  If it needs rest & you miss the signal, you’ll crave caffeine.  If it needs sweet, it might not specifically be prompting you for refined white sugar, but perhaps that it needs its blood sugar regulated with regular helpings of fruits and veggies.  If you’re dabbling with a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, you will suddenly crave carbs in any form, lots of bagels & waffles, when what might really be needed to head off the craving is a steady supply of unrefined carbs in the form of whole grains and almost all fruit and vegetable sources.  Sudden cravings for alcohol might your body’s way of telling you that its stressed.  What it won’t tell you is that regular stress reduction activities such as meditation, candle lit baths, being in nature, or whatever works for you done regularly could head off that sudden urge for a drink.

As our body’s sole purpose is to keep going, it also changes from moment to moment.  Even if you’re diligent in your health maintenance routines, something will throw you out of balance, creating the possibilities of unhelpful cravings.  These can be good things, moving to a bigger apartment or not so good, losing a job.  Isn’t it funny how our response to both types of events tend to lead to too much indulgence and cravings.

There are many ways to deal with cravings.  First, try to determine what triggers them and see what you can change to head them off.  Some things you can address, stress, boredom, or sleep deprivation; others not so much, menstruation and outside environmental changes.  Though we can control our response to the last two.  The easiest way to head off a craving is to drown in by drinking a lot of water.  Distracting yourself with meditation or some other peaceful, but stimulating activity will sometime do the trick.  There is also a school of thought that advises to meditate and focus on the feeling of the craving as it arises, how it feels, and it recedes.  All are valid, as is maintaining your health maintenance routine to fend them off as best as possible.

All of this said, the occasional indulgence (in moderation) of your craving isn’t bad.  Doing so in extreme might be ill advised, but even that won’t do irreparable harm, only if indulging to that degree doesn’t initiate a cycle of bouncing between good & bad health habits.  Depending upon the thing you most often crave, it might be helpful to indulge in a little bit of your favorite thing a day, to head off the need to do the whole package/pint at some point in the future.  So the upshot is that cravings aren’t a character flaw, but your body’s signaling mechanism.  Responding to our cravings from a point of view of being informed of the options and knowing ourselves very well are what will help us weather them well.

Food Focus: Root Vegetables

Carrots, beets, parsnips, burdok root, sweet potatoes, turnips, celery root, yucca;  seems every culture has roots in its cuisine.  Good thing, because many of them have great nutritional value. Like most veggies, they have high fiber content as well as vitamins A & C as well as many of the B vitamins, beta carotene, potassium, magnesium, copper, and phosphorus can also be found in roots. In addition, root vegetables, especially those deeper in color, contain health-promoting antioxidants known as phytochemicals; examples of which are beta carotene in deep-orange carrots, and anthocyanins in purple potatoes.

Root vegetables are often a good economic value as well, in that they are usually inexpensive & can last a very long time if stored properly. They keep forever in a cool dark place, yes that’s where the term “root cellar” came from, a place to store the fall’s harvest of roots through the winter.

You can do almost anything to almost all root vegetables.  They can be boiled, roasted, sautéed, pureed, & grated .  Many can have a sweet taste, especially if roasted, that plays well with bitter greens, such as kale, collard greens & cabbage.

In Chinese medicine, root vegetables have warming qualities that prepare us for the upcoming cold weather.  If you’re trying to eat seasonally, this is the season for root vegetables..

Recipe of the Month: Steamed Root Vegetables And Cabbage With Dill
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 25-35 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1/2 of  small head of cabbage cut into 1/8 inch shreads
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into fine julienne
1 pound turnips, peeled and cut into fine julienne
1 pound parsnips, peeled and cut into fine julienne
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh dill plus dill sprigs for garnish

Directions:
In a large steamer set over boiling water arrange in order the carrots, the turnips, the parsnips, and the shredded cabbage, steam the vegetables, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are just tender.  Transfer to a heated bowl to toss them with the butter, the vinegar, the minced dill, and salt and pepper to taste.  Feel free to add things to the steaming liquid, such as chicken stock, white wine, bay leaves.  To make for a complete, one pot meal, experiment with adding a protein, perhaps a firm tofu or tender, mild fish, such as scrod, trout, or perhaps scallops.  If you don’t have an official steamer, one can be rigged with a combination of a metal colandar or some type of large strainer that fits in your biggest soup pot.  Use another pot or cookie sheet for a lid.

Send This On!
I hope you have found this newsletter to be as informative and inspiring to read as it has been for me to share it with you.  Please feel free to forward it to those friends, family and colleagues in your life that you think might also be interested and inspired by it.  If you refer someone who signs up, it’s $100 in your pocket or a free exercise session.

Toni Taylor
Holistic Nutritional & Exercise Consultant
212-586-0681
ttatpdt@mac.com