New Website and Blog

Just a quick post to let you know that the blog will be moving to my new website at www.a-well-nourished-life.com. New posts will not appear here, only at the new site. Just look for the "BLOG" tab at the top of the website to find archived posts as well as my new blog posts. And while you're there, take a look around my new site. Thanks!

Don't Be Fooled

I'm always telling my clients, "when you're food shopping, you must always read the label". But I don't mean the one on the front of the package. That's just advertising. It's meant to make you pick up the product and buy it. It's sometimes misleading. And sometimes it flat out lies. No, I mean the label on the back. The one that is usually in really small letters. The ingredients.

If you want to make better food choices you must read the ingredients, not just the labeling on the front. Here's a great example:

Looks like a pretty good choice, right? After all, it is an "excellent source of ANTIOXIDANTS". Says so right on the front. It's not just lemonade, it's "enhanced" lemonade, and it contains pomegranate juice. Pretty convincing stuff. But wait a minute. Take a look at the ingredients in small type, on the back:

"HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP". The second ingredient of this drink that boasts "antioxidants" as a selling point, also contains this manufactured industrial food product (no, it's NOT natural) that is a major cause of obesity and chronic health problems. (For more on high fructose corn syrup, please see what Dr Mark Hyman has to say in the Huffington Post).

Food manufacturers who take advantage of their customer's desire to make healthier choices are particularly despicable to me. They know what they're doing when they put images of pomegranates on their labels and feature words like "antioxidants" and "enhanced". They are hoping you will be too trusting or too rushed to turn the bottle over and read the fine print. They are hoping they can dupe you. Don't be fooled, read the ingredients.

Thought For The Day: "Become"

Experience Life

 "Our job in this lifetime is not to shape ourselves

into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, 

but to find out who we already are and become it."

-Steven Pressfield

Life's Lemonade

We're all familiar with the expression "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade". I always thought it was a cute saying, and while I thought I could relate to it now and then I never really lived it. Until last year. 2011 served me up a big ole bushel of lemons with the rapid onset and diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis. I've detailed the onset of my RA already in My Story so let's jump ahead a bit to the lemonade recipe I've been working on.

I'm an optimistic person by nature, so when I became ill I knew that somewhere in my future there had to be a reason, a silver lining, a recipe for "lemonade". My illness forced me to make some really big changes, really fast. I had to re-order my priorities so I could take better care of myself. In one year's time I changed every single part of my life outside of my personal relationships. The process was painful, but it was necessary.

On a personal level my lemonade recipe has included making more time for family, moving to a smaller house to lighten my financial burden, and saying no to projects and commitments that would spread me too thin. My recipe also involved a very important change in attitude and perspective. As trite as it may seem, I no longer sweat the small stuff. I worry less and trust more. I don't put my time or energy into toxic people. I know that the only things that truly matter in this world are relationships and health. On the professional side I restructured my business to allow me more control over my time. I closed my storefront, downsized my custom cakes business, and canceled many of my commitments. I found a new professional path that has greater personal meaning and allows me to help others with chronic illnesses. I'm launching a new business offering culinary wellness services, going back to my culinary roots to work again as a personal chef and instructor, but with a twist- now my food is all about health and healing. I've gone back to school to study nutrition and become a holistic health coach. I've never been happier, or healthier. My lemonade is tasting pretty damn good right now. And moreover, I've learned to be thankful for the lemons I was handed.

In hindsight I realize that the personal and professional changes I made in response to my health crisis had been necessary for quite some time, I just couldn't or wouldn't see it. Life does have a way of kicking us in the ass when we're not paying attention to the more gentle hints it serves us, and I got one heck of an ass-kicking last year. I'm telling you all this in the hope that someone out there may relate to it,  perhaps someone who has just been handed some lemons and is having a hard time understanding the "why?" of it all. Hang in there, take care of yourself, and look for the silver lining. It's there, and so is that lemonade recipe that will make your life so much sweeter.

Happy New Year!

Yep, it's been two months since my last post. I've missed blogging but I had to take a break for a while to focus on other things. In addition to the typically hectic holiday season that plagues anyone working in the food industry, my family moved to a new home and I completed preparatory work for my studies at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. In short, it's been hella busy. This week I'm back on track with regular posts but for now I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy, and healthy, new year!

KIND Healthy Snacks: The Snack Food With a Conscience

When you're on an anti-inflammatory diet you avoid processed foods like the plague, which can make snacking on the run close to impossible. Of course, in a perfect world all of our food consumption would take place around the family table in a stress-free environment complete with lively conversation and nutritionally exacting meals. But seriously, this world ain't perfect.

When I started my food-based program for rheumatoid arthritis I knew I'd have to find some "purse-portable" snack foods that I could turn to in a pinch. Enter KIND HEALTHY SNACKS. These bars are my new addiction. With more than a dozen flavors of bars to choose from, I never get bored. My faves, the Almond & Apricot and Macadamia & Apricot, are gluten and dairy free in addition to being high in fiber, low glycemic, and very low in sodium. All of their bars are trans fat free, non GMO, and free of sulphur dioxide. I love the way they describe their products: "KIND is a brand of delicious, natural, healthful foods made with ingredients you can see and pronounce". Love that. I also love a company that rewards it's loyal customers with discounts and freebies. Sign up for their KIND Advantage program and receive discounted prices on regularly scheduled shipments of product plus free samples of new flavors.

But here's the best part. As if healthy, delicious snacks weren't enough, KIND is also a socially responsible company. The brand's philosophy is one of "holistic kindness". You can even be part of their mission by joining the KIND Movement which practices unexpected "kindings". Each month, if enough people complete the kinding mission, (something simple like writing a note to someone who has impacted your life) then KIND will carry out "The Big KIND Act" for a group of people in need. Their next mission will partner with Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to bring Thanksgiving meals to senior citizens facing hardship.

So seriously, do your body and the world a favor, support KIND Healthy Snacks. Because this may not be a perfect world, but we can all do our part to get it just a little bit closer.

Fave Sources: Health and Wellness Magazines

I'm an information junkie. I'm insatiable. I have a stack of mags and books at my bedside, in the kitchen, and on the table by "my side" of the couch in the family room. The storage ottoman in the living room is chockablock full of healthy eating and wellness reading material and cookbooks. And let's not even get started on how much time I spend with my pal Google.

Information is power, and it's with this power that I was able to heal my rheumatoid arthritis without medication. Magazines are generally avoided in my home, their throw away nature makes them decidedly NOT "green", so I purchase mags I consider worthy of a permanent spot on my book shelf. If they aren't keepers I don't bring them home. I definitely have my favorites that I turn to again and again.The mags here are my top pics for healthy eating advice, recipes, and wellness tips.

DR ANDREW WEIL'S SELF HEALING, or anything written by this man for that matter, is tops on my list. Dr. Weil is a Harvard trained MD and integrative health guru who brings health and wellness facts, figures and scientific research to life in a straightforward way that neither confuses the reader nor talks down to them. In short, Dr. Weil is da bomb.

LIVING WITHOUT magazine is a must-have for anyone on a gluten free diet. Their recipes are all 100% gluten free. They also offer ingredient substitutions for dairy, egg, peanuts and soy. This magazine is a lifesaver for those with food allergies or sensitivities.

WHOLE LIVING magazine's tag line is "body + soul in balance". That balance is what we're all striving for and this Martha Stewart Publication definitely delivers. Don't let the Martha Stewart thing scare you away, there's none of that condescending "it's a good thing" talk here. Whole Living covers more than just food too. Health and beauty, style, travel, home, they're all covered here in the beautiful pages.

NATURAL HEALTH is one of the first publications to print on recycled paper. Kudos to them for that and for an absolutely fabulous mag. Natural Health focuses on food, health, beauty and exercise. I've made many of their recipes and they are fantastic. Love, love, love their natural beauty product reviews and their attainable tips for managing stress. And PS, this month's cover girl, Dancing With The Stars judge, Carrie Ann Inaba, manages her arthritis pain with an anti-inflammatory diet. Just sayin'.