short-term desires

This short article  is worth your time.
Sharing with you words of Deepak Chopra MD (Founder, Chopra Foundation)

 If you let the demands and desires of the day consume every minute, short-term waste turns into long-term frustration. This happens unconsciously without paying much attention to how the time flies by, then the days, months, and years.

Quick and Easy

For those of us who like to try some different things, here is a quick and tasty option:

 

Ingredients

Ingredients:

1 ounce wakame seaweed or other tender seaweed

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 Thai chile, seeded and minced

2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

2 teaspoons coconut aminos (optional)

1/2 cup sliced mint leaves

1/2 cup sliced basil leaves

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1.      Place seaweed into a large bowl.

2.      Add cold water to cover and let soak until tender, about 10 minutes.

3.      Drain well, pressing down to extract as much water as possible and pat dry.

- Meanwhile, combine vinegar, shallot, chile, ginger and coconut aminos  (optional) in a large bowl.

-        Add seaweed, mint, basil and cilantro, and toss to coat.

Nutritional Info:

Per Serving:15 calories (0 from fat), 0g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 180mg sodium, 3g carbohydrate (1g dietary fiber, 0g sugar), 1g protein

What's Hiding in Your Soap? Four Toxic Ingredients to Avoid

authored by Erin Zaikis

Many of the products we use to get clean—soaps, facial cleansers and body washes—might actually be doing us more harm than good.  

One of the main ways your body acquires nutrients, other than eating, is transdermally— through the skin.

Proven way to keep your skin beautiful

To understand how significantly lifestyle impacts your skin, a mini-lesson in

Ayurvedic physiology of the skin is in order.

Physicians Integrate Yoga Into Medical Practice

by Ankita Rao
We need to expand the horizons of physicians — yoga is much more than just relaxation response.

Sponsored by Howard University College of Medicine, yoga training programs for doctors are recognized by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education. That means doctors

Jeweled Rice

... this article is written by a guest, a great chef and a founder of Frittata House http://frittatahouse-elena.blogspot.com/

check her blog out when you get a chance

Whenever I smell curry , cardamom, or saffron, I feel as if someone has cloaked me in an incredibly luxurious velvet blanket, the world stops revolving, and everything moves a bit slower, softer, and with more peace. This is mainly the reason of why I love to cook with Middle Eastern spices, I want the world to slow down, and I want to feel at peace.  

Recently, I came across a recipe in Bon Appetite for Persian Jeweled Rice. The recipe was similar to Pilaf or what we Ukrainians call “plov”, but it has all of these amazing spices in it. I was curious as to how orange zest, saffron, cranberries, and pistachios would go together, so I decided to have a Monday adventure in the kitchen.

My fiancé sat in the living room as I cooked, and as soon as those spices hit the pan, he was snooping around my left shoulder, “What’s cooking? Smells good!”. You know you’re doing a good job in the kitchen when the man of the house gets off the couch and turns off the TV.

I am truly my mother’s daughter, and I learned to cook from many observations of my mother, meaning that I didn’t follow the recipe in the magazine, but rather took it as inspiration.

After the rice was finished, and the apartment smelled like an exotic island to the point where I could almost hear the sitars in the background, we slowly enjoyed what I truly believe to be one of the richest dishes we’ve had, and true to its name:

Jeweled Rice

Ingredients:

½ large sweet onion

2 large carrots

1 stick of butter

2 teaspoons of cardamom

2 teaspoons of coriander

3 teaspoons of curry

A pinch of saffron threads

1 teaspoon of allspice

1 teaspoon of powdered ginger

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup of dried cranberries

Orange peel of one orange

½ cup pistachios

½ cup of almonds

Basmati rice

Fresh Dill (optional)

Fresh Parsley (optional)

1.  Chop your pistachios and almonds and lightly toast in a frying pan. No oils necessary. About 5-8 minutes on medium heat.

2.  Cook rice according to directions.

3.  While rice cooks. Combine orange zest and cranberries in a bowl with boiling water. Let this sit aside.

4.  Shred your carrots and finely chop the onion.

5.  You can use the pan you in which you toasted the nuts to sauté the onions and carrots. Add a tablespoon of butter. Add the rest of the butter to the rice at this point. Lightly stir, cover, and continue to cook rice.

6.  After you have added the onions and carrots to sauté, add all of the spices, and enough salt and pepper to your liking. Let this sauté for 5-8 minutes.

7.  Once the onions and carrots are done, add them to the rice. Add the nuts, and add just the orange zest and cranberries. Fluff lightly.

8.  If you like, add chopped fresh dill and parsley before serving.

9.  Enjoy the trip to the Middle East in your own kitchen.

Love me tender?

Love me tender?

-          By Elephant . Published April 21, 2013

If you love me, tell me the truth–tender or not.

Ah, criticism.

No one wants to hear he has screwed up. You get flustered. Maybe even blush. You feel like a little kid who’s been called on the carpet for doing something naughty or making a mistake. You want to start swinging away at whoever is dishing out the criticism. It sucks. Can’t we just skip over this part where I’m wrong and move on to where you like me again and everybody’s happy? Please? Nope.

Criticism is like going to the dentist. You know you need it. You’re afraid it’s going to hurt. You get that knot in your stomach when you see it coming. You want the end result where you are better, stronger–but you don’t want to go through it.

Culprit in Heart Disease Goes Beyond Meat’s Fat

By GINA KOLATA

Published: April 7, 2013

• 
  

It was breakfast time and the people participating in a study of red meat and its consequences had hot, sizzling sirloin steaks plopped down in front of them. The researcher himself bought a George Foreman grill for the occasion, and the nurse assisting him did the cooking.

Enlarge This Image

Getty Images

In a study, meat eaters who ate steak showed a burst of a chemical that increases risk.

For the sake of science, these six men and women ate every last juicy bite of the 8-ounce steaks. Then they waited to have their blood drawn.

Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, who led the study, and his colleagues had accumulated evidence for a surprising new explanation of why red meat may contribute to heart disease. And they were testing it with this early morning experiment.

The researchers had come to believe that what damaged hearts was not just the thick edge of fat on steaks, or the delectable marbling of their tender interiors. In fact, these scientists suspected that saturated fat and cholesterol made only a minor contribution to the increased amount of heart disease seen in red-meat eaters. The real culprit, they proposed, was a little-studied chemical that is burped out by bacteria in the intestines after people eat red meat. It is quickly converted by the liver into yet another little-studied chemical called TMAO that gets into the blood and increases the risk of heart disease.

Wise Water

I have learned about the Wise Water from an Ayurveda doctor , or , a specialist in nontraditional medicine. I do not know why we refer to a very traditional medicine as “ nontraditional” … Really! : What can be more traditional than what has been around for thousands of years? Right?

You are going to love this tea. It is tasty and it is full of health benefits.

Sculpted bodies…

Yoga has been slowly going through  “westernalization”  within the last 100 years , but recently we see more and more of it.  Just few years ago, when people heard “yoga” they automatically envisioned meditating monks and pretzel-like bodies. And today, we can find a yoga studio almost on every other block in any city. It is becoming very popular. Why? Is it because all these celebrities flaunting their well sculpted booties and we want the same??

inner voice....part two: Security

What would you say if I asked you: What makes you feel more secure?

inner dialog... r u going crazy?

Have you ever watched your own inner voice conversing with you? Take a moment and think of what is usually going on inside of your head. Your mind is constantly processing some kind of inner dialog….

“ I should go get mail from the mail box before the rain starts. Ooops, it is already raining; so, I should wait., I should check my emails now. What time is it? The dinner is at 6. I better take

TV Detox. Day 7.

Power of Nature is incredible. It can easily destroy us, and equally easily, it can heal us. After a couple of days in the jungle of the wild Costa Rica, I felt like my physical body contour was fading away and I was becoming one with the wind, water and sun. My mind was clear and I felt calm and happy.

Sunset and sunrise yoga practices were magically transforming me into a well balanced being, giving me the sensation of joy and moving me deeper into the center of my soul. I felt like nothing could take me out of balance.  I DO NOT want any TV noise or any kind of fabricated noise for that matter! Nothing but the monkey screams and ocean sound. Wow! What happened to me? How quickly I forgot my buddies from the dear-near-to my heart TV shows!

TV Detox. Day 1

Letter from distant camping ground of Costa Rica:

So, here I am, arrived in Costa Rica for my 7 day yoga retreat. For the person like me, who is accustomed to the great accommodations, exclusive cuisine, and car services, this will be “SOMETHING” to live through.. ;-)

TV Detox:

No TV. Day 1…

I think about TV at least once every 5 minutes, or even 2 minutes, to be frank. I just want to see those faces that became the “people of my living room” for many years now. We have dinners together, vacuum the carpet, clean the kitchen floors, have tea, take naps… we do everything together. I miss you my virtual family!

So, what’s on TV , tonight , people? I am sad,…

Going to bed now, and who knows, I may write  next best movie plot... in my head.

Oh, boy, I had no idea I was hooked on on TV so much.

Oh, yes : check out my shower. It is  private, but it is an outside shower attached to my eco friendly cabin!

And here is the view from the cabin…. Somehow I think you all are giggling now..

holidays...

I’m tired of jingle bells, mass texts and candy canes

And all the happy Christmas songs are driving me insane

… Turkey's burned - your uncle's drunk

Your second cousin's spouting junk

Bragging about some stupid crap

I hate holidays

I hate holidays

I hate holidays

Iron....

I cannot imagine someone will not want to know this:…

Iron is a mineral that is important to all body cells. Blood cells especially need iron to make hemoglobin. The hemoglobin in blood cells brings oxygen to the body cells. You can get iron deficiency anemia if your diet does not have enough iron.. This means that your blood has less hemoglobin than normal.

People who have iron deficiency anemia are often tired and don’t have much energy overall.

Iron deficiency anemia may result from:

Good God, this is a GOOD breakfast

Too much anxiety, too much sadness on TV lately. I am looking for some comfort food that will not kill my waist line!

I like the taste of Coconut Oil. I love the smell of it! So, what is Coconut oil?

I use it in my hot cereal. For example, this breakfast dish has the following ingredients:

1.       Organic Oatmeal, golden raisins, chia and flax seed, shredded coconut and coconut oil.

This is very tasty! So, let’s look at the facts:

Beets - wouldn't you know it...

Long time no seen! You probably thought I forgot about you; no, my dear health-thirsty little monsters, I stay on the top of things, for our own sake, even during my busy schedules of travel and school…

I am back with good news. You can make a delicious dinner tonight that will be tickling your taste buds and at the same time will nurture your body with lots of health benefits.

We will make a “Baked kaleidoscope of colors” !

Five Super Foods in One Easy to make Salad

Travel, work, school, etc, etc….. all that busy life just gives me another reason to go for  the food that nourishes my body. Every bite is a blessing. ;-)

This is my favorite salad. We are so lucky to be able to buy radishes at this time of the year (they are actually in season only early May and June in the parts of the country with the traditional 4 seasons..)

…very quickly about the benefits of the food I am suggesting for your table:

ACV - antibiotic and antiseptic

Apple cider vinegar has been known to treat numerous diseases and health conditions. To name a few, it supposed to slow down aging, ease digestion, and wash "toxins" from the body. And yes, one more : kill head lice; if anyone is interested in that particular property. ;-)

A number of med-researches support what was found back in 400 B.C.  It was discovered that Organic/Natural, Undistilled Apple Cider Vinegar (or ACV) is a powerful cleansing elixir and  "a naturally occurring antibiotic and antiseptic that fights germs and bacteria" .