We’ve been quite absent from this space, for a while… We’re contemplating a change in approach, a change in theme… In the meantime, Jake has begun a new chapter in this blogging journey. You can find him over at Analogue Living, where he writes brilliantly about a less-digitized vision of life than many of us know. Hope to see you over there!
We had two Thanksgivings. One on the day of, with family. One a week later, with friends. It’s a tradition with these friends, to honor the earth and good food by preparing the stuff we love most for ourselves and enjoying it to no end a week after Thanksgiving. So, casa agad hosted Thanksgiving twice. First, for the first time in our own humble abode, for family… we made pumpkin pie (with real pumpkin), fly-off-the-plate rolls, and maple-dijon glazed tofu with brussel sprouts (for ourselves). They brought: turkey, dressing, gravy, potatoes, squash, butter (lots of it), etc.
One week later, we made: pumpkin pie (same recipe - and OMG is it TO DIE FOR. seriously. make it. you’ll know what i’m sayin’… although it’s far from macro), mushroom stuffing a la umami girl (sans gravy) (SO GOOD), garlic mashed potatoes, homemade tofu glazed with maple-dijon with roasted brussel sprouts and garlic, squash-apple compote, and scalloped corn (a staple at my family dinners). They made: a gorgeous bread & cheese plate, cranberry relish, dandilion green salad with amazing dressing, and wild rice with roasted root vegetables. We ate a LOT. We drank quite a bit. We laughed nearly all night long. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing. So thankful for this life.
Wishing all of you a wonderful, love-filled, joyful holiday season!
(”Blessing”)
On the day when
the weight deadens on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance to balance you.
And when your eyes freeze
behind the grey window and
the ghost of loss gets in to you,
may a flock of colours:
indigo, red, green, and azure blue
come to awaken in you a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow light to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
–John O’Donohue
“Dear Lord,
I’ve been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us… a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird… a social being… capable of actual affection… nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it’s dead and we’re gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family.”
–Berke Breathed, Bloom County Babylon
Last week I started to feel hibernation sinking in. The onset of winter is chilling my body, making my blood flow a bit slower, and as a result, making my muscles feel a bit lethargic. In the winter, I am inclined to retreat into myself and think a bit deeper, but move a lot less. Tonight I was awoken by a splash of color and uplifting music at an Indian dance performance.
While I fully support the flow of the cycle of energy of the seasons and letting down a bit through the winter, I also support living the BIG LIFE at all times. Living the big life to me involves deep breaths. It involves calm energy. But I also love the way my body feels when I put good food into it. In order to heighten my awareness of my body, I have to get some blood moving. The Indian dancers last night inspired me to be free and open and uninhibited. Like I said, winter is cooling us down, so you have to make more of an effort to pump some blood and get in touch with your limbs and your innards.
So my suggestion today is simple: hang out in a warm place today. Maybe it’s the kitchen where you’re cooking up some hotpot. Put on your favorite upbeat dancing music and groove. Groove until you feel so alive you have to sit down. That’s it. Why don’t we think of doing this everyday?
We’ve been really upping the fish intake here at casa agad, and I must say that I’m lovin it! We’ve mainly been eating salmon — but we’ve also had some halibut. These two fish are high in all the things we decided we needed more of: B vitamins, vitamin D, and omega 3. It’s also a great source of protein. We try to buy wild-caught Alaskan Salmon, because it is more sustainable. We also go with Pacific / Alaskan Halibut, as it is more sustainable than Atlantic.
Last week, we enjoyed some wildcaught copper river salmon which we baked on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. It was super tasty — we had it with coconut-lime quinoa and toasted-then-steamed cauliflower sauteed with some garlic and fresh ginger root. I love creating meals like this — where you throw in a hint of something in each part of the meal, so it creates some harmony between the different dishes. Jake threw some garlic and olive oil on the fish before baking it, and I boiled the quinoa with lime, ginger, and coconut milk; then I threw in some garlic and ginger with the cauliflower to bring it all together! It was a masterpiece.
Anyway — back to the fish. I had no idea the importance of balancing omega 3’s and 6’s in your diet! Both of these are essential fatty acids that we cannot make in our own bodies. Omega 3’s are fairly hard to come by in the typical American diet — the most common sources are cold water fish like salmon and herring. Vegetarians can get this from walnuts and flaxseeds - but the body has to go through a little more work to get it (needing to convert the precursors to omega-3 contained in these sources into EPA and DHA, the two types of omega-3). We need EPA and DHA to build hormones that control immune function, cell growth, and blood clotting.
By contrast, omega 6’s are EVERYWHERE! They are found in seeds and nuts and the oils extracted from them - which are in everything the typical American eats every day (think soybean oil, which makes up 20% of the typical American’s caloric intake every day). Our body also makes hormones from Omega 6’s — but those hormones have the opposite effect than Omega 3-derived hormones, causing inflammation, blood clotting, and cell proliferation (where omega-3 fatty acid hormones have the opposite effect).
Many nutrition experts have concluded that the rise of many common diseases today can be attributed, at least in part, to the severe imbalance in our intake of Omega-3 fatty acids versus Omega-6, including: asthma, coronary heart disease, many forms of cancer, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases, depression and hyperactivity (which are all associated with inflammation). Cutting down on processed foods will help immeasurably with this balance, as will using extra virgin olive oil for cooking, and eating more fish!!! And, add another tally mark next to sea veggies — which are also an excellent source of omega-3 (especially kelp)!
I was talking with a coworker yesterday and she was telling me about how she is vitamin D deficient. The way she figured it out was by being extremely tired and then going to her doctor who confirmed her extremely low levels! It got me thinking about this sometimes elusive nutrient. Am I getting enough!?
Vitamin D helps your body absorb other nutrients, specifically calcium. It’s really important for bone development, and also supports muscle and nerve formation. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient, so it is typically stored in fat in your body for a few days to several months, until you need it. The docs say you should have 5 mg of vitamin D a day if you are 19-50 years old, and 10 mg if you are over age 51.
Vitamin D is a pretty amazing nutrient because your body gets (one type of) it from sunlight! When you spend time in the sun, your skin absorbs the nutrient (a cholesterol compound) and then your body converts it into vitamin D to use! About three 15-minute sessions in the sun per week will satisfy your body’s needs for vitamin D, so don’t take this as an excuse to lay out on the beach for hours (shucks)! You can also get vitamin D from supplements, fish & crustations, eggs, and fortified foods (such as cereal and milk).
Yes — macros - this is another nutrient that you need to make sure you’re getting somewhere, especially if you follow a vegan diet. So, spend some time in the sun - or make sure that your milk of choice is fortified with vitamin D!
Yesterday morning I found myself pondering the inevitable. No, not death. I was thinking about allllllllllllllllll the friends and acquaintances I’ve known who have tried a “healthy” lifestyle: i.e. vegetarianism or veganism, for a period of time and then had that crash moment where they find themselves inhaling an entire barbeque chicken pizza at 1 in the morning (true story). After a few months of being incredibly strict, incredibly vigilant, and incredibly vocal about her choice to become vegan suddenly because she thought she would feel better and look better, I found my roommate in college on the couch one morning at 1:00 AM with a half-gone barbeque chicken pizza. Of all things! She had a *slightly* guilty look on her face, but not really. She was clearly enjoying herself. And I don’t think she’s looked back the vegan way since.
This story isn’t unique! I’m sure lots of you have a similar story - even if you eventually did find your way back to a “cleaner” lifestyle. But I’d like to explore where this tendency comes from - are we, as humans, hard-wired to eat animal protein, butter, and lots of baked white flour? I don’t think so (look at Asian diets, for example, that contain much less of this stuff than the typical American / Western diet). Is it that we are a product of our upbringing? Or perhaps we are just weak in will power?
I guess I’m not exactly sure where it comes from - but I know that it is common - incredibly common. Even if someone is feeling good and clean, eating in a way that is healthy and clean, there comes a moment when he / she has an intense craving for something that isn’t in the “diet”. Whether that’s a barbeque chicken pizza, goat cheese, eggs, or a giant piece of chocolate cake, there is a craving. Sometimes we can overcome the craving - sometimes we can’t. And I don’t believe that whether we can overcome that craving is necessarily good or bad - it just is. Honor that.
What I’ve discovered is that being strict about things seems to exacerbate this problem for me - if I’m constantly telling myself I can’t have this and I can’t have that, I want exactly that which I have determined I cannot have. If, instead, I reframe the conversation and truly develop a plan of eating that honors what I want to eat but is also healthy, I win! So — I eat some eggs and some cheese here and there - and I still allow myself baked goods (but I make them myself, with far less / no sugar, and little animal protein as well). I’ve figured out ways to substitute more healthy options for the things I crave most. And, of course, we do go out for pizza every once in a while - so I don’t have to find myself on the couch at 1 AM with a barbeque chicken pizza (this wouldn’t happen because I truly do not like chicken - the thought of the little peckers grosses me out as well as the texture) (yes I realize that I eat eggs and I realize they come from chickens - and sometimes when I think of it that grosses me out too!)…
What’s your barbeque chicken pizza moment? And what do you do to avoid it!?? (or do you?)
I stumbled upon Jessica Porter’s blog post, Ladies who Lunch, the other day and it got me perusing … she plugs Mayumi Nishimura’s new book, Mayumi’s Kitchen: Macrobiotic Cooking for Body and Soul. In my perusing, I checked out the Amazon listing for Nishimura’s new book, and I must say I was intrigued and very pleasantly surprised. I’m going to put this on my Christmas list (if I can keep my impatience at bay until then). I just read her introduction, how she got into macrobiotics, as well as her 10-day detox plan (which I hope to try in the new year!). Her approach seems incredibly laid back - which is exactly what we’re going for these days when it comes to macrobiotics. Nothing too flashy or over-the-top so much that it makes me want to eat lots and lots of sugar… Here are some excerpts I found particularly inspiring and blog-worthy:
[speaking of reading Our Bodies, Ourselves] “I was blown away by a passage that compared women’s bodies to the sea, describing how when a woman becomes pregnant, her amniotic fluid works like sea water. I had images of a baby swimming happily in a tiny little ocean inside of me, and I suddenly realized that when the time came, I wanted the water to be as clean and pure as possible.”
[regarding George Ohsawa's statements that the world could be a peaceful place if individuals lived healthy lifestyles] “What Ohsawa said made a lot of sense to me. The smallest unit of society is a single person, followed by a family, neighborhood, country, and the world. If the smallest units are happy and healthy, so will be the whole.”
[on her concept of 'petit macro'] “What I call ‘petit macro’ is macrobiotics for everyone — a new take on macrobiotics that is suited to cosmopolitan tastes, with less emphasis on Japanese-style cooking… Eating is supposed to be fun, the colors of the foods festive. Petit macro is a stress-free way for anyone to enjoy the benefits of macrobiotics without giving up the foods and cooking styles they are used to.”
She goes on to talk about ‘basic guidelines’, but really leaves a lot up to the reader / eater. She indicates that although she recommends avoiding animal products because they lead to lifestyle disease, they can be part of your diet occasionally. She even says that since nothing is strictly prohibited in petit macro, one can even have meat sometimes if that’s what they’re into! (She notes that you should eat it with three times the amount of vegetables by weight, and seasoning of ginger / pickled things.)
Now, what Nishimura is talking about is something I can get behind (as my husband would say). It’s a realistic approach to macrobiotics for a Western / Midwestern girl like myself. Yet, it is clear that it also is heavily influenced by traditional macrobiotics and one would gain many if not all of the health benefits of macrobiotic lifestyle MINUS the stress / judgment of strictly following the macrobiotic diet as Ohsawa / Kushi laid it out. More to come on Nishimura when I have her sweet little book in my hot little hands.
I picked up this cookbook a few months ago, on a recommendation from one of my favorite bloggers to try Kim Boyce’s Hucklebuckle. And try the hucklebuckle I did (with blue berries)! It was amazing. Nearly ate it all in one setting.
Since then, I’ve been working my way through some of the recipes in here. I really like the book for many reasons — amazing pictures, great layout (divided by the type of grain flour used in the recipes), and detailed instructions for creating some amazing culinary delights.
However, one thing I *don’t* like as much: the woman (like a true pastry chef) uses a LOT of butter. I mean A LOT. Although we have been doing more dairy in our diets, Jake really doesn’t like butter. And I don’t feel great about eating baked goods loaded with butter, either. So, I’ve been substituting other things like olive oil, applesauce, smashed bananas, etc. for the butter in the recipes. In some it works ok, in others… not so much.
The Oatmeal Sandwich Bread has become a staple in our house over the past few weeks - and it’s pretty amazing. Relatively little work for an amazing loaf, and pretty consistent! I’ve also made the cornmeal blueberry cookies (I’d give them a B), granola bars (great!), and (as mentioned before) the hucklebuckle (worth the price of the book!). I’ve had the strawberry jam (really good! but lots of sugar…) and some of the scones… Has anyone else tried some recipes out of this book!?
Your Macro Guide
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