Bodhimed

I never thought I'd see my kids fight over kale.  Everytime I make these kale chips, however, I wish I had made a whole bunch more.  There's a million ways you can make them, and when I look around the Internet, I discover more combinations I'd never thought of.  If you're not already on this kale bandwagon that's sweeping the nation, get on board right now and go make some!

Nutritional Benefits of Kale

Kale is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.  In only one cup of kale, you get 192% of your daily allowance of Vitamin A, and 88% of your daily Vitamin C.  It contains 10% of your daily requirement of fiber and calcium as well.  The phytonutrients in kale, along with the antioxidant properties of Vitamins A and C, make it a very effective defense against free radical damage, aka cancer.  Kale actually helps to detoxify the body of harmful chemicals.  With all of these benefits and low caloric value, the more you can eat of this stuff, the better.  So make way more of these kale chips than you'd planned!

Basic Kale Chips Recipe

Wash and dry at least one bunch of curly kale.  Cut the leaves off of the stalk and into small-ish pieces. Think chip-size!

Toss the kale pieces in extra-virgin olive oil and some Celtic or Himalayan salt.

Arrange on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 250 degrees.  Enjoy until they're gobbled up by everyone else.

Kale Chips Variations

I've tried several variations on the recipe that were also great.  Get creative, and share your recipes in the comments below!

Always use olive oil, and try adding:

Parmesan, garlic and lemon juice.

Tamari and nutritional yeast.

Crushed almonds, balsamic vinegar, and bread crumbs.

These days it's trendy to sneak nutritious ingredients into kids' meals.  While I'd prefer that my kids willingly and happily enjoy vegetables in their natural state, I also appreciate the versatility and convenience of a protein-packed sauce.  I love sauces because they make everything taste better and can really complete a meal.  This Yumm! sauce recipe below was introduced to me by friends in Eugene, Oregon where, for obvious reasons, it is all the rage.  Try it over steamed veggies with rice, as a dip for raw carrots and cucumbers, or any other creative use you can think of.  Your kids really will say "Yummmm!!!"

Yumm! Sauce Recipe

• 3/4 c. melted coconut oil (or organic canola oil)
• 1/2 c. roasted almonds
• 2/3 c. nutritional yeast
• 1/2 c. cooked garbanzo beans
• 1/3 c. cooked soybeans
• 1/2 c. filtered water
• 1/2 c. lemon juice
• 2 or more (or many more if you are like me) garlic cloves
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried cilantro (To be honest, I skip this because I am not a cilantro person and it still tastes great.)
• 1.5 tsp. curry powder (optional)

Blend the almonds, beans, and oil in a blender.  Add the rest of the ingredients and puree until creamy and smooth.  Cover and let stand in the fridge for at least an hour.  Or just eat it right away.

All of a sudden I know too many people with cancer.  Years ago I worked in a cancer clinic supporting oncology patients with acupuncture and herbs.  They were patients of mine, not friends and family.  Prior to leaving for our summer road trip three weeks ago, five people close to me had cancer.  Sadly, now there are only four.  This is too many, and it leaves me sad and angry that our world has become so toxic that everyone from 6-month-old babies to 33-year-old women to 60-somethings can suffer from this epidemic.  What can we do if the dreaded diagnosis hits close to home?

Have you ever wanted to make sea vegetables a part of your family's diet but just didn't know how?  Sushi is a common way to get seaweed into a meal, but it can be pretty time consuming.  I love the following recipe because it's really easy to make and totally delicious.  Sea veggies should be a regular part of your diet because they are high in minerals, trace elements, and B vitamins.  The high iodine content in seaweed makes it the ideal choice for anyone with thyroid issues.  And from an Ayurvedic perspective, the cooling energy of vegetables from the sea balance the entire body during the heat of summer.

Seaweed Saute Recipe

The best sea veggies to use in this recipe are hijiki or arame.  They are small and almost the same texture as the noodles they can be served with!

1/2 cup hijiki or arame

3/4 cup grated carrots

3/4 cup diced yellow onion

1 Tbs. coconut oil

1 1/2 tsp. tamari

1 Tbs. raw honey

1/2 tsp. grated ginger

pinch of cayenne

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

1 Tbs. toasted sesame seeds

1 package of soba, udon, or rice noodles.

Rinse the seaweed with fresh water and then soak for 30 minutes.  Drain and rinse once or twice more. 

Saute the carrots and onions in coconut oil for 3 minutes.  Add seaweed to veggies and toss over heat for 2 minutes.  Add tamari, honey, ginger and cayenne.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cover and simmer away any excess liquid.  Remove from heat and toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Serve over udon, soba or rice noodles.  It's even good cold.  I promise you and your family will love this!

It is said that it takes feeling 50,000 pulses to get really good at Ayurvedic pulse diagnosis.  After almost 20 years of practicing Ayurveda, I'm probably closing in on that huge number, but sometimes I still find myself doubting whether I'm really feeling what I think I'm feeling.  Driving back to Santa Fe from my recent weekend Ayurvedic pulse seminar with Dr. Vasant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute, I remembered the profound truth that when we trust ourselves to listen to our intuition, we access a level of knowing that is usually hidden from our over-thinking, analytical mind.

Summer is upon us, and thanks to climate change it feels hotter than ever in Santa Fe.  I wish I could tell you that the ancient medical science of Ayurveda holds the key to controlling the weather.  But the truth is that it does contain the secrets to staying cool when the temperature is reaching record highs.  Summer is fire season, and when you learn what to eat and how to act to balance this element, you will feel cooler and more comfortable all season long.

Cooling Foods

Ayurveda describes summer as Pitta season.  Pitta is made of fire and water, and its qualities are hot, sharp, oily, and light.  During summer season you can reduce Pitta heat within your own body by eating a diet of cooling foods.

While stress gets a lot of press because of its harmful effects on your health, guilt is usually overlooked as being equally destructive.  Whether someone tries to make you feel guilty or you succumb to it yourself, what good comes from feeling guilty?  Remorse for hurting somebody is one thing, but oftentimes we feel guilty because we ate cake, or because we think we're not doing something well enough.  What if we turned guilt around and practiced loving kindness toward ourselves, accepting that we are good enough and that we're all doing the best we can?  We might finally experience a new level of well-being and breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Guilt-Free Eating

One of the worst things we can do during a meal is to feel guilty about what we're eating.  Think of the mental stress we create if we're not enjoying our food, but rather feeling stressed about it?  I'm not advocating that you eat junk food and feel good about it, but that you choose food consciously and then savor it.  One of the explanations I like regarding why French people are generally thin is that they take time to really enjoy their food. In my blog post about learning this lesson with donuts, I share how I had to confront my desire for donuts so I could then let go of it and move beyond the guilt I had created around it.

Do you, or someone you love, suffer because of a past trauma or a current addiction?  The two often go hand in hand with depression.  The healing involved in such profound life situtations is very difficult and, unfortunately, often temporary.  The powerful healing sciences of Ayurveda, yoga and meditation can actually change the mental, physical, and energetic patterns that keep a person in a state of post-traumatic stress, or depression, or addiction.  Here's some insight into how a holistic recovery program in Santa Fe that incorporates these mindfulness practices can bring about genuine growth and healing.

It's not easy for me to admit that I wasn't able to cure my son of his chronic stomachaches.  After all, I've spent the last 20 years studying and practicing natural medicine.  Putting my ego aside, I recently sought help from yet another doctor in Santa Fe who focuses on food sensitivities and heavy metal toxicity.  Now that the results are in, I want to encourage all parents of children who suffer from any chronic health problem to consider these tests.  It's a sign of the times that our children likely carry a toxic burden that makes them hyper-sensitive to everyday whole foods.  If your child gets headaches, stomachaches, or any illness regularly, you'll want to investigate food sensitivities and heavy metal toxicity with these reliable tests.

Do you believe that everything happens for a reason?  If we choose to have this faith, then even an accident is no longer just an accident.  It can be seen as a warning sign that we're not paying attention to something important.  I never thought I'd be thankful for an injury.  But surprisingly, having a sprained ankle the size of a grapefruit has helped me to appreciate the power of slowing down. 

Running on Adrenaline

According to Ayurveda, my own genetic constitution is predominantly Vata, otherwise known as Wind.  By nature I tend to be active, verging on hyper if I don't take care to stay grounded.  As I discussed in "The Yoga of (Un) Multi-Tasking", I usually operate by doing several things at once, especially with my kids.  Like many people in our fast-paced society, I can thrive on an energy level that is akin to an adrenaline rush.  There's an illusion in this way of life that we need to be super busy and fast in order to be productive.  This can be described in Ayurvedic terms as a systemic Vata imbalance in Western society.  Everyone is rushing around like the wind, doing too many things at the same time and often missing the joyful subtleties that only stillness can reveal.  Especially in the dry, high-altitude climate here in Santa Fe, it's easy for the wind element to become aggravated.