Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Preserving Summer Part Two
1:05 PM | 
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Mary Oleksowicz, MSTOM , L.Ac.
One of my favorite summer crops are peppers both hot and sweet. It
seems as though they come in bumper crops especially as the summer season ends.
One way to save these wonderful veggies is to chop or slice them then freeze
the pieces on a cookie sheet until they’re solid. You can then transfer the
pieces to plastic freezer bags which allow you to take out just enough that you
need for a particular recipe. Thin fleshed peppers such as cayenne or jalapeno
can be dried outside. Pepper can be hung on a string or dried on a screen lined
with brown paper in an airy, shady spot, as long as your weather is still hot
and dry. Upcycling old screens found at tag sales is often sufficient and
eco-friendly. You can also use “splatter protectors” available at the local
discount stores. I have also experimented many times with homemade hot
sauces. For hotter sauces retain the seeds for milder sauces remove the seeds
and add fruits. Pineapple is usually a wonderful surprise.
Herbs can also be preserved by air drying similar to
the aforementioned method used with peppers. I tend to use this for herbs such as mints which
will be used as teas. For herbs used for cooking , blending the herbs with oil
or butter ( or both ). Place washed and de-stemmed herbs in a food processor with 1/3 cup olive oil for
every 2 cups leaves, or 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) per 2 to 4
tablespoons leaves. Feel free to add garlic or ginger if you like. Package
the herb blend in quart size freezer bags and allow them to freeze flat so that
just the right amount can be out and added to your favorite recipe. Mixing the herbs with butter or oil allows for
the aromatic oils and prevents the herbs
from being soggy as can occur with
frozen water methods. On average these blends last six months in the
freezer.
I hope you have
enjoyed these simple yet effective ways to preserve summer freshness for the
remainder of the year.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Creating Healthy Habits: Starting Off in the Right Direction
1:49 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
By Melissa Dengler, ND
I
am sure that we have all said from to time that we need to eat better or
exercise more. We often will be inspired to make changes whether it be with New
Year’s Resolutions, plans to fit into your summer bathing suit or after being
inspired from watching a movie or reading a magazine article. Let’s face it, everyone wants to get better
yesterday. People come to my office with a myriad of complaints. Everything
from irritable bowel to fatigue to hormonal imbalances to diabetes. Most people
come to my office with a poor understanding of healthy eating, no exercise,
unmanaged stress, and toxic overload. This leads them to feeling fat, fatigued,
depressed and in pain. The majority have been to doctor after doctor and placed
on one medication after another…all to no avail. They are frustrated of being
told it’s normal to feel sick and they are tired of being tired.
So why
is it so hard and complicated to get and stay healthy? I suggest it’s not…. if
we master the basics. So what are those basics? Here
is a simple take-home list of rules for everyone who wants to take steps to
live a healthier life.
Eat Right. Eating right means we need to consume whole,
unprocessed foods. Studies have shown that animals who cut their calories in
half live longest and that obesity in animals accelerates aging. Fat is
pro-inflammatory and increases our stress hormones. Any excess body fat is
taking you down the path of increased illness. Excess body fat creates the
environment where cancer is likely to grow. Eat light, clean (organic), unprocessed
and mostly plant based.
Drink Right. A healthy body is made up of 2/3 water. To really
drink right, we need to make sure the water we consume is clean and filtered.
Remember to add 4 ounces of water for every 15 minutes of exercise or intense
heat you experience.
Think Right. In order for us to
think right, we need a healthy brain. The structures in the brain are water and
fat. We need to provide the brain with enough water and omega-3 fats, mostly
found in cold water fish. Managing our stress and exercise are also keys to a
healthy brain and thinking right.
Move Right. In order to move right, people need to move naturally
and preferably in nature. When you exercise, your brain and muscles will be
better, stronger and smarter.. Intense physical activity will also increase growth
hormones, which are the most powerful fat-burning hormones. A good move right
tip: In order to get the best workout possible and to release the growth
hormones, you need to break a sweat.
Sleep Right. Your brain is more
active when you sleep than when you’re awake. The whole body is going through a
cleansing, nourishing rejuvenation program when you sleep. Your immune system
is calming down and the body is settling down from stress hormones. In order to
sleep right, how much sleep do we need? Generally most people need between 7-8
hours of sleep a night. The best sleep right tips are to listen to your body,
stay away from electronics before bed, do some reading, do not have any light
source in the room and create a cooler environment.
Poop Right. The primary job of the colon is absorption. To poop
right, you need to eliminate waste in a timely manner. If you don’t eliminate
that waste in a timely manner, you are essentially poisoning yourself with what
you have absorbed from the bowels. If you have good elimination patterns, have
the right amount of fiber, water and neurologic tone, you should eliminate
whatever you put into your mouth and swallow between 18 and 22 hours.
Love Right. When looking for lasting love, forget what looks right,
forget what you think should be right, and forget what your friends,
parents, or other people think is right, and ask yourself: Does the
relationship feel right to me? A healthy relationship is when two people
develop a connection based on: mutual respect , trust, honesty, support, fairness/equality,
separate identities, good communication and a sense of playfulness/fondness.
Talk Right.
All good relationships require
communication. In talk right – we discuss two ways we need to talk – through
our cells and to ourselves. Our bodies are made up of billions of cells. These
cells talk to each other, to their neighbors and to themselves. Additionally,
you need to focus on the way you talk to yourself. We know that when people
have positive self-talk and a positive attitude, they have a stronger immune
system, a greater ability to fight off cancer and subsequently they live
longer.
These
are things to strive to get right everyday. Begin today. And then do them again tomorrow. And the next
day. One day at a time, for the rest of your life. May it be long and healthy!
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Preserving Summer Part One
8:44 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Mary Oleksowicz, MSTOM, L.Ac
With the summer season upon us it is hard to imagine the
need to preserve summer. With the bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables
available from the farmer’s market or own garden, preserving techniques can
help us to savor the tastes of summer all year long.
One of my favorite preservation methods is canning,
especially when making home-made preserves from fresh fruit. While the endeavor
may sound daunting, the process typically takes less than an hour. On average
about four cups of fruit are needed per recipe and sugar can be used in varying
amounts based on your sweet preferences. I often use stevia, a natural sugar
alternative and universal pectin which will “set” with lemon juice and calcium
(provided with the pectin packets) to help reduce unnecessary sugar. After the
preserve has set, I then ladle the product into mason jars. Making sure they are
tightly closed, the previously rinsed and boiled jars are then submerged in a canning
bath and boiled for 10-15 minutes. While there are other jam recipes available
including freezer jams which require only about 30 minutes, I feel that the
traditional canning method allows you to not only save valuable freezer space
but provides a product that does not run the risk of freezer burn or loss from
an electrical outage.
If preserving jam and jelly seems a bit intimidating why not
flash freeze you some summer tomatoes?
Whole tomatoes of any size can be frozen in small or large
batches for future soups or stews. Store them in quantities that match your
favorite recipes. The plastic bags can be run under tepid water to release the
tomatoes so that they can be used with ease.
Next time, we will talk about the preservation of your
herbal garden for long term spice usage.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
A Cookin' Education
11:19 PM |
Posted by
Kaplan Center for Health and Wellness
Peanut Butter Cookies. Horrible tasting,
baking soda overloaded, peanut butter cookies. That is the first food item I
remember making on my own. What was yours? Pizza! Angel food cake! Lasagna! Julia
Child’s Beef Bourguignon? Oui! Whatever it was I am sure you felt proud
of your accomplishment and that everyone said how tasty it was, regardless of
how it actually tasted! But, no doubt, it was fabulous!
Do
you still enjoy cooking? Oh, I hope you do! It is such an important part of
health and wellness!
In
one of my previous jobs, I ran a health and wellness program for college
students. We talked about good nutrition and exercise and I helped them create
goals and lay out steps for achieving their goals. Through this process I
became extremely frustrated because the students didn’t know how to cook. Most of them didn’t know how to boil water. We
changed our whole agenda that semester and instead I had everyone over to my
house for basic cooking lessons. From that point on, that is where we started
each semester.
We
started with cooking lessons because one of the main barriers to consuming a
healthy diet is a lack of cooking skills. According to a recent survey (Huffington Post, 2011),
almost 30% of Americans say they don’t know how to cook. As we discussed
earlier eating healthy doesn’t have to be less convenient or expensive but
in order for it to be comparable in price the individual must know how to
cook. Perhaps the lack of cooking skills is the result of no longer providing
home economic classes in high school?
In your work in the health and wellness field you may find yourself counseling individuals who have no idea how to cook. Where would you start? What would you recommend? Of course, the exact approach will depend on the client, but it is always good to do a little research and preparation. Find some great cookbooks, online videos and even local cooking classes that you could recommend to clients!
Some
of my favorite cookbooks involve education. Of course, the classic Julia Child’s:
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is wonderful. Even though it is about
French Cooking, her book really is about education. Want to know about sex
organs of lobsters? She will tell you! In great detail! Anyone can learn
something in these books. Another great author is Deborah Madison. She gained
her initial cooking education at Chez Panisse. Chez Panisse was founded by
Alice Waters and she is credited with starting the local, organic and fresh
food movement. Deborah Madison has published many cookbooks and of course her
focus is on using local, fresh foods. She is a great resource to learn how to
use fresh fruits and vegetables in the best possible way. She teaches you how
to let the produce shine!
What
cookbooks and other resources can you recommend?
Emily Boldrin PhD, RD
Huffington
Post. (2011).
Cooking Survey Reveals 28% of Americans Can’t Cook. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/09/cooking-survey_n_955600.html.
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