Soul Food Yoga and Wellness

Community Cooking group

Over the years, I've noticed that some of the biggest problems in our culture today are loneliness and a lack of community, as well as a chronic un-wellness caused by our disconnect from our bodies and the food that we nourish ourselves with.

When i speak to people about these issues, the underlying complaints I hear most commonly when it comes to eating well and self care are:

-Lifestyles that are just too busy to find the time for self care
-intimidation, overwhelm and lack of education when it comes to eating well and cooking instead of taking the easy and convenient fast food path
-lack of motivation to cook for just ourselves
-the expense involved in buying quality food and cooking it.

So Ive decided to create a community cooking group in the hopes of addressing some of these issues.

Call it an experiment :)

My intention with this group is to bring people together once or twice a month ( to start) and build a community where we can share our time, resources and energies with each other to learn about cooking and eating well, good food and each other.

Sounds sappy ... I know... But I'm pretty sure I'm on to something.

Some of my ideas so far for this group are that each person in the group will host a community dinner night with options of adding in games, documentaries or movies geared towards wellness. The host can opt to open their kitchen up to sharing and teaching their recipes to the people in the group. Dinners will be focused on easy and nutritious recipes. Anyone who cannot attend a particular night can bring Tupperware over before or after so that they still have a nutritious meal to look forward to.

I would love to get a group of interested people together and brainstorm about the logistics of my crafty plan and what it might look like.

I would be happy to host the first dinner Sunday, January 5th at 6 pm. Please let me know if you would be interested in being a part of this group.


Carrie Ann

Staple Recipe #3: Overnight Pumpkin Pie Oats

Now that I’ve depressed everyone about the evils of cereal, I thought I would redeem myself by providing an easy and healthy recipe for breakfast.

It’s true what they say about breakfast: It is the most important meal of the day.

Why?

Because it gives us the fuel that we need and it calibrates our metabolic rate and blood sugar balance for the day.

Skipping breakfast tells your metabolic rate to preserve energy, thereby preventing it from burning sugars and fat. Allowing your blood sugar to stay low in the mornings by not eating, leads to fatigue, low energy and cravings. Both of these situations are why many of us get into trouble with weight gain.

Many people complain that they don’t have time for breakfast or they’re not hungry in the mornings. But with a little bit of planning and organization, it doesn’t have to be that hard and the long term benefits on our health and wellness are definitely worth it.

Habit forming is the key.

Following is a great recipe I found for oatmeal that you can leave overnight and will be ready to go when you get up in the morning. The main ingredients: rolled oats and pumpkin are nutrient and fiber dense rock stars and are great for supporting blood sugar balance. Chia and H**p seeds may be more difficult to find but if you can, definitely worth adding in because of their nutritional values. Play with this recipe to suit your taste. Add nuts, fruit and yogurt as an option.

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats

Recipe type: Breakfast
Serves: 2-4


Ingredients

1 cup of rolled oats
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
3 tbsp chia or h**p seeds
2 tbsp maple syrup
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ginger
1/3 tsp cloves
1 2/3 cup of almond milk (or whatever milk you use)

Mix together and store in a container overnight in the refrigerator.

Non Food #2: Processed Breakfast Cereals

Breakfast cereals are another one of those sneaky “non foods” that many people rely on as part of a “healthy” diet. The news that breakfast cereal is not as healthy as we are led to believe is hard to take for many people, including myself when I started studying nutrition. I used to eat cereal sometimes 3 times a day because it was so easy and convenient. I always thought that because I ate special K instead of the obvious bad cereals, I was supporting my health, and it took me a while to realize just how far away cereal is from being a whole food.

Breakfast cereals may start out as being food, but they go through a lot of processing to become the shaped puffs and flakes that they are. Most of these cereals are made with low quality GMO foods to begin with and then are loaded with food additives and refined sugars to make them into the non-perishable sugary treat that they are. Yes it is better to eat cheerios or special k instead of lucky charms or cocoa puffs, but the hard truth is, even the “healthy” cereals are still a processed food that contain fillers and additives that are harmful to our health. An example of one of these common additives is TSP or trisodium-phosphate which is a toxic substance found in wall paper stripper, yet there it is in those “healthy” cereals like cheerios. And although the food companies say that these toxic substances are in such small amounts that there’s no need to worry about their effects on our health, we have to ask ourselves the question: Why would we risk putting a product that carries these toxic non-food substances into our bodies in the first place?

Hard stuff to hear... I know.

A complaint I hear from many people when faced with this information is: “What am I going to eat for breakfast now if I don’t eat my cereal?”

To which I reply...... Eat food.

Real food.

Some examples of breakfast foods to consider instead of cereals are yogurt and/or oats with fruit, cinnamon and nuts, scrambles with quinoa or brown rice and vegetables, eggs, sliced apple with nut butters or even soups. Why not? Who says we can’t have soup for breakfast?

Live dangerously!


http://www.naturalnews.com/033838_breakfast_cereals_GMOs.html

Staple Recipe #2:
Oldie's Baked Cauliflower Soup

What's Oodie? She's the friend that gave me this awesome recipe.


1 head of cauliflower (~3 cups)
4 cups of broth
Sea salt
Favourite seasoning herbs
First cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar * (optional)
Plain yogurt* (optional)

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the leaves off of the cauliflower and cut across the base of the head of cauliflower to remove the florets. Twist off the stems.
- Put the cauliflower in a large bowl and add a pinch of sea salt, a swirl of oil (1-2 tbsp) and sprinkle on whatever dried or fresh herbs you have available. I use oregano and basil because they're my favourites.
- Mix together and then spread the mixture onto a baking sheet.
- Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until the edges of the cauliflower start turning slightly brown.
- Add the cauliflower back into the bowl and mix with 4 cups of broth (I use harvest sun organic broth powdered mix)
- Mix with a hand blender or blend mixture in a conventional blender
- Serve with a swish of balsamic vinegar and/or a dollop of plain full fat yogurt

Yes... That's right.... I said full fat (more on that later)

The obvious main ingredient in this wonderful soup is cauliflower which is loaded with the powerful nutrition of the B vitamins and vitamin C ... Among others. Cauliflower is also known for it's anti inflammatory properties, liver detoxification properties and cancer prevention properties.

I know many people who aren't big fans of cauliflower. One friend in particular... I won't mention any names...

Andrew..

.Complained to me one day that he doesn't eat cauliflower because broccoli is so much better. He asks..in hilarious seriousness... Why would you eat cauliflower when you could eat broccoli instead??

I struggle for a "retort" to a debate on eating more broccoli and less cauliflower because clearly, eating more broccoli is far from being a terrible thing.

But here's a little tidbit of information that could sway more peeps like my friend Andrew into giving other non-broccoli vegetables another shot:

Nutrients work synergistically together. Meaning, the benefits of eating a variety of vegetables together is much more powerful than eating one particular vegetable or food all the time.

In the same way, some vitamins taken in supplement form work synergistically and should be taken in combination with each other to improve their effects. Such as vitamins E and C.

Now if you'll excuse me... I'm off to make some cauliflower soup for Andrew so I can trick him into eating it.

Now, the inquiry of yoga

~ patanjali's yoga sutras~


It took me a few years of practising yoga before I really started to get an idea that yoga was a whole lot more than what I had bargained for. I used to think that it was just a way of stretching the body, helping me with relaxation and staying healthy. But then I slowly started to see how I would always feel mentally stronger, clear and at peace with myself when I really started a consistent practice. I couldn't explain why but I thought who cares... This makes me feel great... I'll take it!

And just when i thought i had yoga figured out, I really started to open up to the world of yoga... Unwittingly. Well, if truth be told.... Yoga dragged me in kicking and screaming really.

Case in point:

I remember one particular class I took at Kripalu being a huge learning experience for me. I'd naively gone into class thinking I was in for a nice and easy "feel good practice", when yoga decided it was time. There I was, minding my own business, doing a warrior pose like I had done hundreds of times before when I started feeling irritated and frustrated for no good reason. My thighs were burning, I couldn't relax into the pose and all of these irrational, angry emotions were surfacing.

Rage like I'd never known my friends.

And unfortunately, I was directing this irrational rage towards the teacher. If looks could kill... She would have gone down. I would have sprinted over the people in front of me to get to her if I could.... But my legs hurt too much.

And what's worse was that I knew... That she knew... That I was learning a hard lesson here. I could see her trying to suppress a knowing smile... And bracing herself, should I find the strength to leap towards her.

She approached me after class and asked me if I was ok. I told her what I had experienced and she explained to me that the hips were the place in the body of stored emotions. Fitting, seeing as I was digging pretty deep through "my stuff" at that point on my personal path of self inquiry.

Take whatever you like from this story but here's the thing about yoga:

Yoga is a practice of observing what comes up.

It is a tool to help us learn about ourselves. To dig through our "stuff" and let it come up to the surface and out. It is only through relaxation, and letting our "stuff" come up and out that we can let go of our harmful patterns. That which does not serve us.

Yoga is about compassionate self observation. It helps us separate essence from mind.

It teaches us and reminds us that we are already whole.... Worthy...enough.

We are already what we seek.

Sometimes it isn't pretty though.

As my friend and teacher Stephen Massullo says:

It's not all rainbows and unicorns my friends!

Just as important as adding healthful foods to our diet, is to eliminate (slowly) the things we are consuming that are causing stress to our digestive system. Such as digestive irritants and non-foods.

Not only do non-foods lack the proper nutrients that the digestive system needs to break them down... But they force the digestive system to "steal" nutrients from the body that are already there. This Creates nutrient debt which leads to things like cravings, addictions, allergies, disease and weight gain.

Some of these non-foods, like soda, can be obvious but others can be sneaky and Part of My job as a nutritionist is to bring awareness to what those sneaky non-foods are. So in light of that I will be periodically posting little write ups that spotlight common non-foods.

Lets start with margarine shall we? Why? Because it's a biggie.

Non-food #1: Margarine

To give you an idea of how much of a non-food margarine is, Here is a snapshot of the process involved in it's production..

The first step is to use a cheap, poor quality oil that is already rancid because of the extraction process needed to make the oil. When an oil/fat is rancid, it causes free radical damage in the body... So we're already off to a bad start.

Next, solvents like hexane which is known to cause cancer, are added to the oil. The oil is then steam cleaned, destroying all the vitamins and antioxidants but leaving behind the pesticides and solvents.

The oil is then mixed with a highly toxic chemical catalyst like nickel and then hydrogen gas is added during the hydrogenation process. This is where the trans fats are introduced.

The product at this point is a lumpy, grey, greasy substance.

Now emulsifiers are added to remove the lumps. More steam cleaning to remove chemical odour and then the unappealing grey colour is bleached out.

Synthetic vitamins and artificial flavours are added in and then a natural colour is added to make it more appealing to the consumer.

And finally, it's labelled a "health food" to unsuspecting consumers.

Hard to believe... I know..

So again... We need to ask ourselves the hard questions:

Is this food? Where did it come from? Why am I eating this?

Tell the truth.

Disclaimer: These posts I put up here are sure to ruffle a few feathers. And I hope they do because the point of this site is to educate. It's meant to show people a different way of looking at things. it's intention is to be thought provoking enough to elicit the desire to gather information and find out what is true and right for you.

Because it shouldn't matter to you what I think or what anyone else thinks. It should only matter to you what you think.

Habit forming:

Switching over to a healthy lifestyle and a whole foods diet can be very challenging and intimidating. There is such a vast amount of information and differing opinions to sort through.

Not to mention that talking about food can be very emotional. There are a lot of feelings of confusion, shame and guilt that Can show up. Resistant and self deprecating thoughts like:

- But this is the way I've always eaten
- "They" told me to eat this way
- I've always thought I was doing the best thing for myself and my family
- what if I can't do it?

In my opinion, the best we can do is to empower ourselves through education about food and wellness and to take things slowly.

One step at a time.

Crowd out the bad habits with new and improved habits that serve you.

Until one day, not long from now... You wake up feeling well and you think...

"Hmmmm..would you look at that... How the hell did that happen?"

In keeping with the goal of getting more people eating real food again, I plan to periodically post some of my favourite staple whole foods recipes here.

I have learned over the years that one of the biggest hindrances to cooking and eating well seems to be time management, convenience and the intimidation of complicated recipes. Because of this, I will keep my focus on super nutritious recipes that have few ingredients and are easy to make.

Starting with one I'm most famous for: guacamole.

Ingredients needed are 3 avocados, sea salt, one lime or lemon, 1-3 cloves of garlic and first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

Cut the avocados in half, lengthwise and pull them apart.
Squeeze the fruit into a medium sized bowl.

Mince garlic and add to the mixture.

Cut lime or lemon in half, and then squeeze into the mix.

A swish of oil (1-2 tbsp) and a pinch of sea salt.

Use a fork to mash up the mixture and continue to mix until desired consistency... Tasting along the way for your own preferences.

If using a small blender, mix the garlic together with the salt before adding the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Serve with veggies or crackers, add to a wrap or spread on a good quality piece of whole grain bread, with sliced tomato, goat cheese and basil.

Or you can just throw on a bib, pull the bowl towards you and eat it with a spoon as one of my dinner guests did one night.

True story.

This guacamole will make you a rock star at any potluck party or a really smelly date.

A word on avocados:

I meet a lot of people who avoid eating avocados because of it's high fat content. This is a crying shame because they are loaded with nutrition including the healthy fats that are essential to our bodies for optimal functioning. The truth is that avocados are extremely helpful in correcting blood sugar balance and making us feel fuller, faster.

Thereby helping us with maintaining a healthy weight.

I love Jamie Oliver.

not just because he's a hottie, is hilarious and can cook.

But because he tells the truth in the face of much adversity. I've always admired that quality in people and try to incorporate it into my own life.

One of the reasons I went back to school for nutrition was because I wanted to learn how best to support my health without all the confusion generated by the media and selfish interests of big business. I wanted to know the truth.

As hard as the truth is to hear and admit sometimes, I think it is absolutely essential in the name of personal power, growth and healing. It does not do to stick your head in the sand or enable another person to do the same. Because eventually, when you pull your head out again... The truth will still be there, taunting you with it's "is-ness" until you pay attention.

Following is one of my favourite TED talks by Jamie Oliver. Foodie, chef, hopeless truth teller and hottie.

Enjoy.

"Hit it Jamie!"

http://m.youtube.com/ #/watch?v=go_QOzc79Uc&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dgo_QOzc79Uc

Clearly, a huge problem with western society's health today is that we have strayed so far away from eating real food. We've been brainwashed and conditioned into eating non-foods for ease and convenience for so long, that we don't even know what real food is anymore.

We force our bodies to consume this non-food diet, expect it to thrive and have plenty of energy.... And then we don't understand why we suffer from migraines, have no energy and are always depressed. We are shocked when one day, we wake up with a chronic disease.

I remember one of the first nutrition programs I took at Kripalu and how what I learned there changed the way I looked at food. I asked the instructor what he thought was the best cereal I could buy to support my health. He looked at me in frustration and said "Carrie Ann... You might as well be eating cardboard!!" And then I got it... Cereal is not food. It might have been once... But it's not anymore.

If we want to improve our health and quality of life, we have to ask ourselves the hard questions. And then.... Most importantly... We have to tell the truth.

- is this food? In it's whole form?
- where did it come from?
- how far did it come to get to me?
- has it been processed or tampered with in any way?
- what will be the consequence if I consume this and will it be worth that consequence?

Tell the truth.

What I hope to achieve with this blog is to get people to start eating food again. Real food. Whole, live, and In it's natural form.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

~Michael Pollan~

A word on the name "soul food yoga and wellness":

I've always had a fascination with wellness and the mind/body/spirit connection. And as the years go by, the significance of this connection becomes more and more true for me.

I truly believe that what's good for the soul is good for the body and the mind. Bringing balance into one area will indirectly bring balance into the other. Feeding your body with the nutrients it needs will have a positive effect on the spirit and mind. Creating space and stillness for a healthy mind will have a positive effect on the spirit and body. Feeding the spirit with time for friends, family, joy and laughter... Will undoubtedly bring balance to the mind and physical body.

I believe that as long as you're eating healthy enough for the most part... There's nothing wrong with the daily cup of coffee or a night of good wine and good friends. Just as I believe that in it's own way.. A slice of grandma's chocolate cream pie made with love...is just as good for us as a bowl of quinoa and vegetables.

Because let's face it... That's the stuff of life

My rule of thumb is: 80% what's good for you...and 20% "who the hell cares"!

What would it look like if Instead of seeking the travesty of a life of perfection, we seek a life of balance instead?

So often I hear from people... "I can't do yoga...I'm not flexible enough"

It makes me a little sad that so many people are missing out on the transformative benefits of the practice of yoga because they're afraid that they don't belong in a yoga class full of what they perceive as "natural born yogis" wearing the latest lululemon fashion.

The truth is ... Yoga is for everyone. Anyone can do it. Yoga is about finding stillness by using physical postures to trick the busy mind into staying in the present moment.

It's about self compassion and self acceptance. Being who you are. Not comparing yourself to others and beating yourself up because you can't do the perfect "crow pose".

One of my favourite teachers once said in class: "I don't care if my students can stand on their heads.... I care if my students can stand on their own two feet in this life"

And that is yoga.