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In preparation

I’m getting ready for next month’s challenge by narrowing down exactly which exercises will fit in to my schedule. I’ve come up with some good possibilities that I think I will enjoy.

1. Fast walking at the mall in the morning while pushing the stroller.

2. Dance parties with the kids after school.

3. Yoga

4. Joining a friend at the Y, using some of her guest passes.

I’ve got the beginnings of a good list. I just need to fill in a couple of blanks and then actually find openings in my schedule for them.

What ways can you work your March Challenge in to your life?

 

March Challenge Accepted!

Holi-17-March-2014-calendar-Photos

Hello, gentle readers. I am creating a little challenge for myself for the month of March and I hope that you will join me. I would love to have some support along the way as well as spread some good motivational  juju to my readers.

So here’s the deal. This week (the last week of February) is the prep week. I will be preparing myself to take on my personal challenge in a way that will fit into my daily life and not create too much crazy. Each day this week I’ll be thinking and writing down the best and easiest ways to make this challenge really happen. Then on March first, the challenge begins.

What’s my challenge? Finding a way to schedule exercise into my day, every day. This will be a major accomplishment for me since I have never been an athletic person. I mean never, ever. Exercise has always been a side note for me, not a integral part of my life. I want to change all of that if I can, by cementing it into my schedule.

So, are you with me? It doesn’t matter what your personal challenge is. It could be drinking more water everyday, giving up coffee or as grand as starting to train for a marathon. Whatever it is, we’ll be in it together and keeping each other on track. I’ll be posting my progress here, on facebook and on Twitter. I’d love to hear how you are doing with it too!

Oops!

I totally forgot to officially announce the winner of my Equal Exchange Organic Chocolate Hearts giveaway here on Enlightened Nourishment. Congratulations again to Debra Pearlstein!! Thank you to everyone that entered and made my first giveaway a smashing success. It was a lot of fun for me and very gratifying to giveaway a superior product from a fantastic company. Thanks again everyone!

Take a good look.

passport

 

I’ve learned quite a bit about myself in these past few months. Some good, some not as good. It’s all part of the process, learning our strengths and weaknesses.

Some positive things:

I can handle a much bigger work load than I ever thought possible.

I absolutely 100% love my chosen profession of being a health coach.

I am highly adaptive to an ever changing life.

I have surrounded myself with the most supportive and loving people any human could hope for.

Some not so positive things:

My psyche kind of crumbles when my home is in disarray.

My focus on school and my career have definitely taken it’s toll on my parenting skills.

I wasn’t as healthy as I thought I was going in to this certification course.

As cool as I thought I was with my past, it can still pop up and throw me in to a tail spin.

 

If life is a journey, my passport has been decorated with lots of brightly colored stamps lately. What’s your passport look like?

 

Want to win some chocolate?

chocolate-heartsLife is like a box of chocolates. Luckily, this time you know exactly what you’re going to get. Delicious organic dark chocolate from a company that cares about the environment, farmers and it’s customers. My Equal Exchange Organic Chocolate Hearts giveaway has begun! Visit my facebook page for details on how to win this awesome prize for your Valentine or yourself. Good luck to all of my readers! Xoxo

My First Giveaway!!

chocolate-hearts

I am celebrating Valentine’s Day this year by sharing my love of chocolate with one lucky reader. My very favorite chocolate in the world is from an amazing company called Equal Exchange. They sell fairly traded organic chocolate, cocoa, coffee, tea and bananas to the world. They make sure that the environment and the farmers are cared for with the respect that they are due. They love what they do and spread that love to the consumer. I’d like to follow suite by giving away one box of their yummy organic dark chocolate hearts. The giveaway starts tomorrow (2/13/14) on the Enlightened Nourishment facebook page. If you’d love to be that special person that receives this delectable treat, follow the simple steps to enter the raffle. Good Luck! Xoxo

Vegging Out

WeeklyVeg

I’m a bit behind this week with my veg prep. I usually try to get all of my vegetables that I’ll need for the week washed and cut by Monday afternoon at the latest. This week I’m finally getting to it on Tuesday morning. With this lovely batch, I’ll be making a big salad for my husband to take for his lunches. I’ll also have some pre-chopped veggies for quick dinners. Lastly, the scraps will be used for homemade vegetable stock. This is an invaluable time saver. I use some frozen corn, peas and spinach throughout the week too, to fill in if I run out of fresh. So take a tip from a soon to be health coach. Investing the time at the beginning of your week to prepare your ingredients, will make you life so much easier later in the week.

 

 

The Attention They Deserve

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I am always happy to promote praise worthy businesses in my area. One such business is a brand new restaurant that just opened in the past month called, The Farmer and the Chickpea. They are located at 404 S. Main Street in Manville, NJ. It’s a tiny place set inside of a nondescript brick building, but the food and personal warmth they serve up is anything but tiny.

When you open the door to this humble little place, you are immediately welcomed with  a “Hey, how are ya?” and the gorgeous aromas of the day’s specials. It definitely has the feel of a rustic Italian nook of a cafe. There’s a menu you can order from, as well a full case of display dishes to show all of their made to order options of the day. Hot dishes such as chicken chili, quiche with quinoa crust and mac and cheese. Bright green and fresh as can be salads, to which you can add their signature baked chickpeas or grilled chicken. The potato wedges and baked kale chips are To. Die. For.

The two women that own the place are sweet, funny and completely delightful. All of the ingredients are gathered from local sources (when possible) and many are organic. The cook is Italian and studied at an Italian cooking school, so you know what that means. Lots of garlic, olive oil and love go in to this food. The servings are tremendous. I mean, they make Jersey diner servings look like those of a fru fru french restaurant. You can easily serve a family of four with a main dish and 2 sides. In fact this past Saturday, I stopped in to pick up dinner for my family of 4 and a friend. I chose the chicken chili, tomato basil quinoa fritters and potato wedges with kale chips. The entire meal cost me $24 and was enough to feed us all for dinner and then have leftovers for my lunch on Sunday and again for my breakfast this morning! You can’t beat the economic and health benefits of dining here or taking it to go. First, everything is bought and cooked fresh. That seems to be incredibly rare nowadays. Plus, there are loads of vegetarian options as well as enough gluten free options to keep me as a repeat customer.

I will definitely be recommending The Farmer and the Chickpea to my clients and friends. This is certainly one of the healthiest options for a night out or a take home meal for your family. I am so glad that there is another go-to place for those nights that I don’t want to cook, but don’t want the same old pizza or Chinese. You can also catch them at various farmer’s markets around the state during the warmer months. Please visit their website http://www.thefarmerandthechickpea.com/index.html, like them on facebook and if you are in the area and hungry, have one of the best meals you’ve had in a long time.

Pretty Little Thing

IMG_1617 Just a quick post to show off my pretty little smoothie that I made this afternoon. Not all green smoothies come out looking so vibrant and lovely. Many times, I’ll end up creating an incredibly delicious yet completely revolting looking concoction. Today was different, thankfully.

Recipe:

1 cup original almond milk

1 cup water

1 medium banana

2 pitted dates

2 handfuls chopped kale

1/2 medium cucumber

Oh, That’s Pinteresting!

Hey kids, it’s been a hectic few weeks here at Enlightened Nourishment headquarters. Lots of snow days, runny noses, homework, writing and filming. This morning I decided that it had been way too long since I’d updated my blog and kept you in the loop as to what I’ve been up to.

Some truly lovely things are filling up my life lately. I have 3 wonderful health coaching clients that are working their tails off trying to improve their lives, one step at a time. Each individual session that I have with them, brings new discoveries for both client and coach. I can’t express how much I love this work. Together, we set goals and week after week, continue to reach them! I am so proud of them all. It takes a courageous person to look at their life and say, it’s time for a change. It takes an even stronger person to take the steps to actually make that change. So this is me saying, “Woo hoo!!”.

My book is coming along slowly, but surly. It is a no nonsense guide to how to feed yourself and your children, creating a healthier future. Thankfully, I haven’t been short on inspiration so far. My husband and kids have been the best source of data for me. Three men with very different tastes and temperaments. My husband, a life long picky eater. My oldest, a good eater, but a dawdler. My youngest, is finicky to say the least.

Also, school is still filling my brain with so much new knowledge, that I feel it may pop. Big, scary knowledge. We are well into the business end of becoming a health coach. This is a scary area for me. Nutrition comes easy to me, the money end of it definitely does not. Going in to this program, I wanted to save the world one person at a time. Of course, I knew that I also needed to eventually charge people for this help. On top of learning how to get paid what I’m worth, I am learning how to market my business to get an edge over my competitors. This is so not me. Before I started school, I pictured myself magically having lots of clients that would somehow just transfer money into my account without me asking or even talking about the “M” word. In reality, it’s incredibly hard for me to put a monetary value on what I do. I want everyone to be able to afford my services, but I also need to make ends meet. In the end, I have decided on a rate that is slightly higher than I am comfortable with, but lower than the “going rate” for health coaches. Blech, money talk.

Lastly, I had taken a rest from pinning for quite a while. I found it to be a big sucker of my time. However, I have found a new and wonderful use for Pinterest. I created a board called “Nourishments” specifically for my clients to follow. It’s full of recipes, food prep ideas, exercises and inspirations. Sure, anyone can follow it, and I hope that they do. But this way, if a client is stuck in a dinner rut or in need of a new workout routine, this can be their go to page. Go ahead, take a gander at the “Nourishments” board and let me know what you think!

Know your MSG

No-MSG

If you are someone that suffers from chronic migraines or high blood pressure, you should be aware that consuming MSG is a major trigger for both of these conditions. It’s not enough to check that there is no monosodium glutamate listed on the box or bag you just picked up. MSG goes by many different names. Here is list of some of the aliases that the food industry tries to slide past us, never mind the health risks.

-Hydrolyzed protein
-Hydrolyzed vegetable protein
-Sodium caseinate
-Yeast extract
-Hydrolyzed oat flour
-Yeast nutrient
-Autolyzed yeast
-Textured vegetable protein
-Calcium caseinate
-Yeast food

But did you also know that MSG can be hiding in harmless looking words (spices, seasoning, artificial flavors, natural flavors and flavoring)?

Basically, the only way to tell if you are getting MSG free food is to either not buy anything that comes in a package or make sure that each ingredient is clearly listed. For example, if the box lists the spices it contains (salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil…) go for it. If it literally says “spices” in the ingredient list, skip it!

Wow!

What an amazing weekend this has been! The inspiration alone has been groundbreaking. My present and future have opened up to me like a gorgeous, vibrant lotus flower. This has never really happened for me before. To see my year laid out so clearly and to feel so sure about every step that I will be taking, it’s an incredible endorphin rush. I’m trying to not be too obnoxious about it with my husband. I don’t want to overwhelm him with my giddiness, but it’s so hard to hold it in.

First, there will be my vlog series that will be featured here and on YouTube. That will be starting up within the next couple of months. Then there is the knowledge that by the end of this summer I will be a certified health coach, able to lead clients to their own brighter future. And most recently, I have begun writing my first book! This is perhaps the scariest and most exciting of all my goals for this year.

I am embracing that fear and turning it into exilhiration and drive. By stepping outside of my comfort zone, I am able to reach new heights that I never dreamed could be possible! Being a published author has always been on my bucket list, but until now, it never felt realistic. Now it’s more of a need to get my message out in to the world, to create a ripple in the sea of collective consciousness. See, told you I was giddy.

Lastly, when logging in to write this post, I was greeted by a notice that traffic to my blog has exploded beyond anything it’s had before. Now, I’m not one to usually care or even notice how many views I get a day. I like to stay grounded and write because I love to write. However, I must admit that seeing the stats today gave me a rush of pride and a renewed conviction for my life’s direction.

So, thank you everyone for making a glorious weekend even brighter. I hope that you are feeling even a fraction of the excitement for life that fills me today.

I’d love to hear what is new and good in your life that is making you feel like dancing today!

New and Good

One of the first questions that we are taught to ask while training to become a health coach is, “So, what’s new and good with you?”. It starts the conversation off on a positive note. It gets the client thinking about accomplishments and blessings in their life, as apposed to all the things that they feel are dragging them down. Though I’m not one to follow a script while meeting a new client, this question feels like a great way to start a coaching session.

So, what’s new and good with me? Everyone in my little family is relatively healthy and happy. I have completed the first quarter of my health coach certification. I recently quit my part time job in order to spend more time with my family in New York and concentrate more on my future career. My family and circle of friends is filled with smart, talented, hilarious and incredibly creative people that enrich my life daily.

What’s new and good with this blog? Well, the look is new and I think that’s good. This theme is a bit more simple and sleek looking than what it was previously. The other thing that I’m getting pretty excited about, is that I am planning to do a weekly vlog. I will be answering your questions (one or two a week) relating to nutrition and general health concerns. So, if you have a question for me, please e-mail it to enlightenednourishment@gmail.com. If I don’t answer your question here, I will respond by e-mail. Please limit your questions to health and nutrition. I can’t tell you if that mole looks weird or why your friend has daddy issues. See disclaimer below.

*I’m not a doctor (or a certified health coach yet), but I do know bucket loads of information related to these topics. The answers I give to your questions will be meant as suggestions or opinion only and are not to replace a doctor’s treatment.*

That’s it for today, kids. Can’t wait to hear from you and start vlogging. See you soon!!

“Oh! I like kale!”

Kale
Kale (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Getting your kids in to the kitchen to help you cook/wash vegetables/create new recipes, is the best way to get them to enjoy trying new foods. Juni, who refuses all things green, knowingly ate kale twice today. All I did differently was to let him add the greens in to the blender for our afternoon smoothie. Then tonight, when it appeared on his plate, he gobbled it all up without blinking an eye. He said, “What is it, Mama?”. I said, “It’s Kale, honey.” He said, “Oh! I like Kale!”. That’s it. No big drama. No wailing about how he doesn’t like green.

When kids touch the ingredients of the foods that they’ll be eating, it opens a door for them. They are part of the process. They have power over how much goes in to the dish or how clean the veggies get. They get to smell the raw produce, feel the texture of the grains between their fingers. See what color the beets will turn their hands, just from touching the surface after it’s peeled. It’s like they’ve stepped in to a science lab and they get to set up the experiments. The stuff we do everyday, it’s all new and cool to them.

There is a great gift to sharing time cooking with our children. A little bit each day is all it takes to raise kids that not only love cooking, but hopefully have a healthy relationship with food. Not to mention that it’s 10 minutes that you get to spend with them that doesn’t involve playing trains/princesses/secret agents/whatever it is they just begged you to play for the 17th time today.

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Haaaaave you met my friend cinnamon?

Yup, cinnamon is one of my best friends, especially in the fall. Of course I love the flavor, but it’s what cinnamon does for me that keeps me coming back for more. Cinnamon regulates blood sugar, reduces LDL cholesterol levels, reduces arthritis pain, it’s an antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant. It’s not just a latte topper anymore.

Because of all of it’s lovely healthful qualities, I take it daily as well as give it to my children when cold and flu season comes around. A little sprinkle here, a pinch there and we are good to go. It’s wonderful for avoiding getting sick when everyone else around you is hacking up a lung and sneezing all over you. It is also fantastic if you have managed to catch what’s going around, to shorten the span of the sickness.

Like I said a little goes a long way with cinnamon. No need to over do it. It’s wonderful in plain yogurt, since it adds a natural sweetness. I put it in my coffee and my kid’s oatmeal or grits in the morning. But I wouldn’t have more than a teaspoon a day. There’s really no need.

So, if you like the flavor as much as I do, give it a try. Here’s another tasty way that I’ve been adding cinnamon to my diet:

 

My fall maintenance drink.
My fall maintenance drink.

 

Don't even get me started on how awesome turmeric is.
Don’t even get me started on how awesome turmeric is.

 

So, one day I was getting sick of drinking plain water and was also getting a little scratchiness in the throat. I decided to add some lime juice to get some vitamin C in me. Then I thought, why not add a little cinnamon (2 shakes) to take the sour edge off? Then I was like, well I’m right here in the spice cabinet, why not throw in some turmeric (again, 2 shakes) and shut this cold down before it starts?! It totally worked and tasted great doing so. Now I try to have one of these a day. So far I’m feeling terrific and getting my autumn spice fix!

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The Religion of Food

Being a student again is amazing. I love being in a program that is so well rounded. I will be learning over a hundred different nutritional theories as well as learning how to become an effective certified health coach. It’s only been a little over two weeks and I feel like I’ve already learned so much. Most recently I’ve learned that to be a good health coach, one needs to just get over themselves.

The goal of a health coach is to guide the client in finding their best way of nourishing themselves. Each individual has their own needs nutritionally. They may have a history or family history of heart disease, diabetes, anemia, cancer, hypertension or thyroid issues to name a few. Ethnic background plays an important roll as well. So to guide someone in the direction of your own personal nutritional beliefs is misguided and potentially harmful to your client. The goal is to listen to the person in front of you and encourage them to listen to themselves to reach the best version of themselves. Not another version of you.

I’ve been witnessing several heated debates in the online discussion groups for my fellow classmates. One person will bring up a topic such as: How anyone can advise a client to get their protein from an animal source, when it is so clearly wrong and cruel to do so? Yes, this is a topic that is going to ruffle some feathers. Yes, there are people that have gone from meat eater to vegetarian and back again (myself included). For the most part though, people (especially health nuts like myself) have uber strong opinions on what is the best way to eat. However, forcing these opinions onto others won’t work as a health coach. If the goal is to turn everyone on the planet in to a vegan raw food-ist, you might want to consider a new career. The same goes for any other heart felt nutritional belief. It’s not about you anymore, it’s about that one person in front of you that is absolutely desperate to be healthy. That’s what we are signing on for.

The other day I was discussing this with a couple of friends and the connection was made that nutrition is like a religion to many people. They think they have the one true way of eating and everyone else just hasn’t found the “Truth” yet. Not to get too down on organized religion, but there have been a lot of wars and death in the name of “I’m right, you’re wrong”. The key is to respect the views of others and maybe try to find a common ground if possible. Get down off your veggie crate or stack of porter house steaks and try to look outside yourself and into the eyes of the person in front of you.

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What to do with all of those gorgeous veggies this fall.

I am lucky enough to live near several farms that produce either certified organic, transitioning to organic or sustainably grown produce from May to the end of November. After all, New Jersey is called the Garden State for a reason. We have some of the most lovely farm land in the country. Now that the weather is starting to turn cooler in the mornings and evenings I am happy to get back to one of my favorite ways of cooking all those beautiful tomatoes, onions, garlic, squash, tomatillos, peppers, green beans, eggplants and whatever else shows up in my farm share box each week. Oven roasted vegetables have such an amazing flavor and are so easy to incorporate in to your everyday dishes.

To me the best way to use up the weekly harvest before it goes bad is to make homemade pasta sauce. It’s such a simple way to make sure my family is getting the most nutrition out of something they already love. This week we received our first batch of tomatillos in our share and I was so excited to see them. Most people use them in salsas, but I love the zippy flavor they give to sauces and soups. So I added them to the regular line up of veggies and the results were as expected.

I know most people use some sort of oil when they roast vegetables. I choose to dry roast them except for a bit of water in the bottom of the roasting dish. I feel like I am getting the true, sweet, rich flavors of the vegetables rather than the flavor of the oil this way. Also, it’s really much healthier to drizzle a bit of olive oil on after if you love that flavor, than it is to roast them in the oil. Here’s why.
Tonight’s pasta sauce was made with:

3- large tomatoes

1- large red onion cut in half

3- cloves of garlic

10- tomatillos

This morning while the oven was preheating to 400 degrees, I washed the tomatoes and took the outer leaves off the tomatillos and gave them a good rinse. I put all of the veggies in a large glass baking dish with a half an inch of water in the bottom. I set the timer for 30 minutes and read my little guy a story. When the timer went off, I took the dish out of the oven and let it cool on top of the stove til the afternoon. When I was ready to make the sauce, I put two batches of veggies in to the blender and blended it to a smooth red sauce.

Now I have a large container of delicious pasta sauce that I can season any way I want with fresh or dried herbs and spices.

RoastedSauce

*A helpful hint that I learned from my parents when it comes to making homemade tomato sauce, is to cook a carrot in the sauce to cut down on the acidity level of the tomatoes. I also like to add a tablespoon of butter to my sauce when I’m heating it up to add to pasta. The added oil and fat from the butter helps to absorb more nutrients from the vegetables. Here’s a little article from WebMD on that.

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Back To School

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Today I started my new journey to become a certified health coach. I’ve finally begun my online courses at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. They have started us out nice and easy as to not scare us away with a heavy work load all at once, but we’ve been assured that very soon we will very busy little health nuts. We’ve been advised that we should consider ourselves to be entering medical school. Tell friends and family that they won’t be seeing as much of us and that we won’t have as much free time for social engagements as we use to. This is both scary and exciting to think about. This has been my dream for so long that I do want to go all in. Now, I just need the courage and stamina to get it done and come out the other side ready to inspire others.

Last week I created a daily schedule for myself so that I can stay on track and get everything done. Cooking, child rearing, car pooling, studying, exercise, meditation and yes, the occasional social engagement. Today got off to a bit of a rocky start as just at the beginning of it I learned that a dear friend’s mother passed away. It threw me. I lost my footing for a couple of hours as I have known and loved this family for 20 years. As I did eventually get back to my tightly made schedule, she and my friend remained constantly in my thoughts. I was able to get a large chunk of this week’s module done and have determined how much time I will need to dedicate to the remaining assignment.

Other than mourning my friend’s loss, I am feeling pretty solid about today. To all the children and adults going back to school this fall I say, stay focused. There will always be outside forces that can easily knock you off course. Just remember what your goal is. My goal is to graduate a year from now with more nutritional knowledge and a greater ability to guide others to a longer, happier life.

Palm to the head.

Tonight, I made tacos for dinner. For the first time. Ever.

If this sounds ridiculous to you, it should. I’m kicking myself for never thinking of doing it before. I’m always trying to think of the most creative, nutritious well rounded meal to feed my family. I never thought tacos would fit the bill. But when my son told me how much he loved the tacos at my mother in-law’s house, I knew I should give “healthy” tacos a shot.

What are healthy tacos? Well to me, it just means using great fresh ingredients instead of the pre-seasoned packages. I don’t really do recipes, I mostly just rely on my sense of smell and knowledge of flavor combinations and start throwing the spices together. It almost always works.

So I made some pretty awesome tacos out of fresh, local and mostly organic ingredients. The family loved and devoured them all, so there are no pretty pictures to show. I will list the ingredients below if you’d like to give my version a shot.

What it comes down to is this, I now know what countless parents have known for years. You can’t go wrong with tacos. Tonight after dinner, my older son suggested that every Thursday be Taco Night. I’m cool with that.

1 pound local pasture raised ground beef
1 small red onion diced
3 cloves garlic sliced
4 tablespoons homemade tomato sauce (roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, green bell peppers puréed)
1/2 cup small broccoli florets

Salt, white pepper, chili powder, turmeric and cumin to taste

Brown the beef then add onion and garlic. Sauté until onion is tender. Add tomato sauce, salt, pepper, turmeric, chili powder and cumin. Cook for 10 more minutes. Add broccoli florets and cook for 5 more minutes.

I used the Garden of Eatin’ yellow corn taco shells made with organic corn. They were fantastic. For toppings I set out Wegman’s organic medium salsa, plain whole milk yogurt and shredded Mexican blend cheese from Organic Valley. Since the taco mix already had broccoli, I didn’t feel the need to add shredded lettuce.

Slow Roasting In Summer, For Realz!

Thanks to a food blog (that slips my tired brain right now) I recently found out that I can roast veggies in a slow cooker! This is huge. I love roasted vegetables in the fall and winter months, but haven’t done much roasting in the summer for obvious reasons. Um, hello! Way to hot to have the oven on 400 degrees for any amount of time. So, before now, I haven’t been able to enjoy the awesome flavors of roasted squash, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic… you get the picture. That’s all changed, my friends. Oh yes, it is officially on!

Today I made homemade pasta sauce, using roasted tomatoes, zucchini, yellow summer squash, yellow onion and garlic in the crock pot on high for 3 hours. This process added almost no heat to the kitchen and took very little of my precious child rearing time. I greased the crock pot lightly with coconut oil, added the cut up veggies, seasoned them with salt, pepper and fresh oregano and drizzled it all with a bit of olive oil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the 3 hours, I spooned it all in to the food processor and voila! Delicious, perfectly roasted pasta sauce. I wish I could say  that the pasta was perfectly cooked, but alas, it was overcooked and mushy. You can’t have it all, I guess.

sauce

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