Lunch-A-Bunch

I work near the Sears Tower in Chicago and surprisingly there are very few really healthy options for lunch. I rarely eat out and when I do I’m surprised at how much money nutrient-poor meals out cost. It’s a lose-lose situation: unhealthy food for too much money. My Ayurvedic guru, Matthew Remski, who looks nothing like a guru, gave me this brilliant recipe. I try to make lunch my biggest meal of the day which isn’t easy when I’m super stressed at work and I get most of my requests just when I want to go to lunch! The answer is the thermos flask lunch. You can find a wide mouth thermos at hardware stores or army navy surplus retailers. Here’s a recipe for Kitchadi, or simply put mung beans and rice that cooks in the thermos while you are toiling at work!

Ingredients:

¼ cup split yellow mung beans, ¼ cup basmati rice
1 ½ cup fresh vegetables, cut small to fit in the thermos
1-2 T of ghee or your dosha appropriate oil
2-4 cups of boiled water
Whole or ground spices (I like sea salt, ginger, turmeric)

Wash the mung beans and rice at least 3 times. Soaking the beans and rice overnight is ideal if you have the time. Saute the spices in ghee or oil. Add the mung beans, rice and chopped veggies. Cover with water and simmer for five minutes. While still boiling hot pour the mixture into the thermos. You can spoon the mixture in but don’t let it cool. Top off with boiling water from the kettle to make a soupier more liquid lunch (not “martini” liquid lunch but you know!) Close the thermos completely and quickly. Your lunch should cook and be ready to eat after four hours. Of course there is some experimentation here. You could always do a “stunt” run on a Saturday or Sunday and take notes and then by Monday you could have it down to a science. Stocky vegetables like carrots or beets will take longer to cook, lighter vegetables or leafy greens will cook quicker.

You can substitute beans and lentils for the mung beans to create endless combinations. I also pack some fresh herbs in a little ziplock and add them just before eating. I use some finely chopped cilantro but you can use whatever you like as well.

Now for something completely different . . . my artwork was featured on the WCA Art Waves International site. It’s a collection of postcards regarding sustaining the environment. I latticed a bunch of old newspapers, then used decopage to seal the work so I could paint on it. I’ve been working on some new collages. I'm "showing up" in the studio every morning before work. It seems to be working. I'll have more artwork to post later.

Spring-ie Spring!

Today is the first day of Spring and we are expecting a winter snowstorm. Isn’t it always like this? Monday was St. Patrick’s Day which is one of my favorite holidays being Irish and a “Patricia”. I love the color green and I love a Guinness once in a while. One is usually enough for me, it’s so rich like drinking liquid pumpernickel. So I had my holiday treat (actually twice) at the Irish pub across the street from me called Atlantic Bar and Grill. One of the few real Irish bars where you actually hear people with Irish accents. I got to hear some great Irish music and see some lovely dancing.

Now on to Easter and I am so not ready yet. I need more than one week after St. Pat’s to get excited about Easter! It's so friggin early this year. I don’t dye eggs anymore or follow many traditions but I used to love going to Marshall Fields to check out the spring Flower Show. Thank God Macy’s is still keeping that tradition with some amazing exotic flowers.

Even though I had a little sniffle this week I’m in a great mood. I’m really learning how to take care of myself. I’ve been following an Ayuvedic program designed by my practitioner, Matthew Ramski of Rennaissance Yoga in Toronto. I’ll talk more about Ayurveda in future blogs. I just happened to start taking Amalaki (Indian Gooseberry) and it’s changing my life. I have more energy, some of my female troubles have completely stopped, my hair seems thicker . . . life is good. Life is also good because I’m so looking forward to seeing Eddie Izaard at the Chicago Theater in May. Yeah I got tickets and I will definitely report back. I choose cake!

I also just started reading a book called The Slow Down Diet by nutritionist Marc David. It’s about really eating when you eat. I’m learning to slow down and enjoy my food and why the hell not, eating is so pleasurable do I really need to be an autopilot while doing so? Do I really need to eat while watching TV, while reading a catalog with an ipod in my ear? David also supports the idea of eating what you really want just make sure it’s the highest quality. Hello Vosage chocolate Easter bunnies! Also, timing is essential. As in Ayurveda, one should eat a small breakfast, a big lunch and a small early dinner. I was surprised to learn that sumo wrestlers eat the same healthy food as their countryman but they eat bigger portions and late at night. One of David’s clients had an aha moment when she realized she was on the sumo wrestler diet and lost weight simply by not eating late at night. Oh yeah and breathing while you eat is good too, I need to do more of that. The body stores fat if we eat in a stressed state. So breatheee.

I’m also really into podcasts these days. I’ve only had an ipod since x-mas and I love love love it. I’ve been into Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth podcasts with Oprah. Tolle is just brilliant. The book is sitting on my nightstand, once I’m done with The Slow Down Diet I’ll start that. I guess I’m going backwards by listening to the podcasts first but I will get to it! I’ve been downloading meditations and lectures from Dr. Wayne Dyer and Caroline Myss. It really does change your day when you start out listening to something peaceful but I will still always heart my bad loud 80’s anthem rock too.

Hopper and More

I saw the Hopper Show last week at the Art Institute. I have always loved Hopper’s lonely little landscapes. The classic, Nighthawks, is there. That poor painting has been through more in our pop culture than Munch’s The Scream. Even if it is his biggest hit, I still love it. Yeah, I know it’s always cooler to love the B-sides, anyway, the rest of Hopper’s work is great too. I like his figure work more than I do the landscapes or housescapes as I like to call them.

I just wrapped up reading Sandor Ellix Katz’s book, The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, his latest cutting edge “real food” book. Katz also wrote Wild Fermentation, which is pretty dampened from use in my kitchen. He discusses some fairly conversational topics such as eating raw meats and drinking raw milk, foraging in forests for herbs, marijuana, the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, eating road kill, veganism vs. omnivorism and more. I appreciate that he does it all with a non-judgemental tone. He echoes my own motto, you do what works whether it be raw, macrobiotic, pharmaceutical, etc. It’s so ironic that the sustenance that is actually the most health providing is often illegal or unattainable. It’s a book that supports community and the ritual of making and eating food. I’m learning to value eating as an important ritual. At my worst I would eat over the sink. Now I sit down pray and thank the animals and plants for their sacrifices. I still eat in front of the TV at times but I eat slower and remind myself to stop and actually savor what is in front of me.

Speaking of slower eating, I’m enjoying more slow cooked foods lately. I finally broke out the ole crockpot this winter. I figure I might as well use it during these last few weeks of Winter. I suppose I could still use it in warmer weather for beverages and jams. Slow cooking tastes soooo good. I really do feel like it restores some of the nutrients lost in regular cooking. I used to aspire to be a serious raw foodist but I feel just as healthy if not more so adding some crockpot dishes. I made this a few weeks ago and it was delicious, I got it from the Fat Free Vegan site which is a goldmine for great healthy recipes:

Vegetable Paella (Crockpot)

Adapted From The Best Slow Cooker Cookbook Ever
Serves 6 to 8

10 ounces packaged frozen chopped spinach, thawed but not drained

2 cups converted white rice (I used basmati, which I soaked in water for about 8 hours prior)

4 cups homemade vegetable stock

3/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers1 large onion -- chopped

1 green bell pepper -- chopped

2 garlic cloves -- minced

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads (or turmeric)

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

13 3/4 ounces canned quartered artichoke hearts, rinsed and well drained

16 ounces packaged frozen mixed vegetables -- thawed

1. In a 31/2- or 4-quart electric slow cooker, combine the undrained spinach, rice, stock, bell pepper, roasted peppers, onion, garlic, saffron, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper.

2. Cover and cook on the low heat setting about 4 hours, or until the rice is just tender but the grains are still separate and not mushy; watch closely near the end of the cooking time.

3. Stir in the artichokes and thawed vegetables. Increase the heat to the high setting and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes longer. Serve immediately.

I'm usually not a fan of frozen veggies or canned food but Whole Foods or Trader Joe's has some good varieties.

Dealing with Food Cravings

If I could just program my body to do what I’m supposed to I would be so much healthier. I follow the 80/20 rule and eat a healthy diet most of the time. It’s sometimes more challenging to get back on track after a holiday. I mostly crave the following: wine, chocolate, Guinness (or other good quality beer), hummus, nut butters, and coffee. Chocolate is probably my no. 1 craving and like most women I crave it during my PMS cycle. Scientifically speaking it’s because stress depletes the body’s reserve of magnesium and chocolate is one of the most magnesium dense foods. I do supplement with magnesium but I still want my chocolate! I also think it’s partly the caffeine especially during that 3 pm slump. A year ago, at let’s say the height of my addiction; I was consuming 3-4 TBS of raw chocolate powder a day. I would put it in smoothies or mix it like a little pudding with coconut water and some agave nectar. I was noticing how impatient I was getting and my heart would sometimes race. Now I hardly use it unless I'm really tired. Everyone is different, there are some people who can have it every day no problem. I also found it to be really dehydrating.

I love a good latte too. I find the act of going out and having a cup of coffee really relaxing. It’s cheap entertainment. You spend a few bucks and go to a café that has reading material, a nice chair and the possibility of meeting new people. Sure I could have tea but I hate spending $1.25 on tea, when I have an assortment of tea at home. So when I go out I want to have something complicated that I can’t make at home. I treat myself to a good latte of specialty drink at almost every holiday. I do enjoy Starbuck’s mochas or their Pumpkin Spice latte. It’s kinda like when I was a kid and I had to have McDonald’s Shamrock Shake on St. Patrick’s Day or the Artic Orange at the beginning of summer. There are some striking similarities to McDonald’s and Starbucks . . . but that’s another blog for another time. To me the best tasting coffee would be Peet’s and there is only one shop here in Chicago. They have more chains in the West Coast. I also love Intelligensia. On a Saturday when I feel the need to treat myself (or basically to justify a weak moment) I'll have a small decaf soy latte.

Honnestly, people don’t like people who eat healthy. Perfect eaters don’t have a lot of friends. Sinners are always more interesting than non-sinners. In nearly any movie the villain is always the most fascinating character and better dressed too. It’s a toss up for me because well I am human. I usually pay for my food sins with acid reflux, bloating, bad skin or hang-overs. What motivates me on those “good” days is vanity and longevity. I want to look good when I get old and I don’t have Sofia Loren’s genes. On the flip-side, I judge a health book by the photo the author on the back. Thumbs up to Donna Gaines who wrote The Body Ecology Diet, she is 60 and definitely doesn’t look it. She practices what she preaches. Sally Fallon, Dr. Oz, Anne-Louise Guittleman, Loren Cordain and David Wolfe are all authors who walk the walk and are very youthful looking.

I’m working on some new ideas to combat my cravings such as ingesting non-food things like good books, beautiful art, or great music. Other supportive activities might be: meditating, working out, journaling, knitting, calling a friend, or taking a nap. You can also replace a “bad” or let’s say less nutritionally dense food with one that is healthier. Instead of salty snacks from the suppermarket I like Papa Lena's beet chips. Instead of booze a bottle of Kombucha tea provides some bubbly satisfaction. Instead of a typical junky foody snack, health food stores and raw food restaurants have tons of sweet tasting food bars like Lara Bars or Go Raw! Sometimes just a banana with some cinnamon might do the trick.

One of my yoga teachers said that sugar cravings could be a sign that one might want more sweetness in their life. This could be a valid point. Of course having just a small amount of what you really want is valid too that is if you don't eat the whole bag. Savor it and enjoy it just like the French do. I usually don’t keep chocolate in the house but at work there is usually a drawer where there is chocolate. Since I’m being watched (and it’s well usually someone else’s candy) I only take a few squares instead of eating a whole bar. If I were at home I would just eat the whole thing.

At 3pm I usually have my Ayurvedic “candy” know as Chavanaprah which is dark brown and sweet like chocolate. At this time I might also have some homemade almond milk with spices like turmeric, pumpkin pie spice mix, ginger, and black pepper. I might sweeten with a tiny bit of raw honey or molasses. Like Stuart Smalley says “progress not perfection”.