Meditation Q&A

Recently, a few people have asked me about my meditation practice.  How and when I got started? How long did it take to start feeling the benefits? How much time do I dedicate?  How do I keep my mind from wandering?  I never feel like I can fully answer these questions because even though I started meditating regularly about 8 years ago, I feel like I still am just getting started.  There is so much more to meditating then I could ever explain in any amount of words.  This practice has fulfilled me in ways that has created an essentially magnificent transformation internally and a sweet and softer existence externally.

 

I wanted to dedicate some space here to offer somewhat of an answer to these questions since I have been asked.  I would love if my experience had even the smallest bit of impact on someone else’s.  My teachers have given me so much and spreading that light is so important to me.

 

When did you begin mediating?

As I’ve said, I began meditating about 8 years ago.  It began sporadically and then became more of a regular daily practice.  I would go through waves of consistent practice but would certainly fall into the excuses of not having enough time.  Recently, the change I have made is that it is no longer negotiable when it comes to time, and it is not an obligation but rather part of my existence.  Without a daily practice I move further away from my Self and entangled in the ever existent web of maya.  I think it is important to not put too much stress into the beginning or the end, but rather the fact that any effort does not go to waste.  I recommend starting small, being consistent, and allowing yourself to allow the practice to be set with  intention.  

How long did it take for you to see the benefits?

Unfortunately, for me when I began meditating it was not a good experience.  I wish I could say something differently here.  I have at times debilitating anxiety and when I first started meditating it would only increase my anxiety.  I would have very intense panic attacks throughout my meditation only to be interrupted by tears and “why me” statements.  A steady practice over time broke the constriction of my anxiety and I began to relax into the process.  So I could never answer this question with a statement that would make someone want to begin meditating.  What I would offer is that all of our experiences are different, and what is mine, may not be yours. I believe that even when it does not feel necessarily good the benefits should still be considered.  But rather, what acknowledgements are being brought to the surface and what are you to with them.

How much time do you dedicate?

How much time I dedicate now is certainly different from when I started.  When I began I would try to meditate at least 20 min a day.  I never set a schedule as to when this would happen and I would always fall into the reality that it got pushed out for the “more important” things.  Changing this mindset was the most important change I have made to my practice thus far.  

Every morning I wake up at 5am to begin my meditation.  First I complete japa meditation for about 30-40 min (usually about 4 rounds on the beads) and then I read part of sacred texts (right now the Bhagavad Gita) to begin a quiet sitting meditation. I use the text as my tool for when my mind wanders.  When it wanders I pull it back to the verse(s) that I read to focus my intentions for the day.  

Does your mind wander?

When it comes to answering the question regarding, how do I keep my mind from wandering, the answer is that I don’t.  I am more accepting now to this process than ever before.  Your mind will wander and this is okay.  Being able to bring it back is the practice.  The more you practice the easier this becomes.  Some days it is easy, some not so much.  I do find that mantra and intentions are very instrumental in cultivating focus. 

I hope this is helpful to those that have asked and to those that are interested in a meditation practice.  If I can offer any advice to this practice is that becomes a joyful constant rather than an obligation and that you hold it closely as entirely yours.

Classic Chickpea Noodle Soup

A Veggie Ma
Classic Chickpea Noodle Soup

I have never really been interested in noodle soup because I never knew anything other than Chicken Noodle Soup.  Even as a kid, when I ate meat, I wouldn't have chosen Chicken Noodle as my soup of choice.  I was always a tomato or minestrone kinda kid.  Maybe it was those gross little chunks of chicken that were inside or the film that would settle when it sat for a moment or two, regardless the allure of the classic American comfort soup was never there for me. 

I recently went into my favorite little market to pick up some soup for lunch and right there was Chickpea Noodle Soup.  I was so interested, but also skeptical because I could not imagine this tasting good.  After I took my first bite, I was disappointed to find my skepticism was correct, this soup was disgusting.  It literally tasted like water with a bunch of pasta and carrots, maybe a chickpea or two.  As I prepared to throw it in the trash, which I never do (I hate waste), I said to myself that I would recreate this, and I would include what was missing, FLAVOR!

So here we are friends, a Chickpea Noodle Soup with lots of flavor.  Wishing you comfort and pleasant childhood memories to go along

Half red onion, minced

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 inch cut of fresh ginger, minced

8 cloves of garlic, minced

8 stalks of celery, minced

6 organic whole carrots, cut into rounds

2 qt boxes organic low sodium veggie stock

1 tbsp fresh rosemary minced

1 tsp fresh thyme

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp black pepper

8 oz package mushrooms

1 head broccoli cut small even stems

2 tbsp liquid aminos

1 tbsp sherry

1 tsp salt

1 can chickpeas

1 box of Banza chickpea pasta

Begin in a large soup pot.  Add 1 tbsp oil, red onion, ginger, celery and garlic.  Saute on low heat until onion begins to soften.  Add in carrots, veggie stock, rosemary, thyme, turmeric and black pepper.  Cook on low for about two hours stirring occasionally.

For the mushrooms and broccoli, you can choose to skip this step and throw directly in pot with the carrots and rest of stock to cook.  Omit sherry, salt, and liquid aminos if you do this.  Otherwise, like I did saute the mushrooms and broccoli in the 1/2 tbsp of sunflower oil, adding sherry next, then liquid aminos, then salt.

Add mushroom/broccoli mixture to the stock pot and simmer for about another hour.  Add chickpeas.

About 15 minutes before removing from heat add box of pasta, I chose Banza because it is my favorite non pasta "pasta"

Enjoy!

A Veggie Ma Classic Chickpea Noodle Soup

Pumpkin Coconut Vegetable Curry

All I can say is wow!!  This by far, is my new favorite meal.  Feeling like I could eat it breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  My husband, who is a "curry hater" text me to let me know he ate three bowls and it has officially changed his perspective about curry.  I did not make it as spicy as I would like, but I know that is the reason why he doesn't like curry so I made it on the mild side.

There are two parts to this recipe.  The second part, adding the cashew cream is what I feel really made the recipe.  You can omit this part, but I highly recommend taking the extra few minutes to add it in.

Pumpkin Coconut Curry

Ingredients

1 can organic pumpkin purée

1 can organic coconut milk

1 cup veggie stock

1 can diced tomato (no salt)

1 1/2 tbsp Sunflower Oil (or Oil of choice) for cooking

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp of fresh ginger (add more for spicy)

1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt

1 tbsp curry powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup organic carrots, chopped

2 cups broccoli                                      

1 sweet potato

1 organic red bell pepper

1/2 cup red lentils

1 cup quinoa

First step: 

Add oil to large pot, heat and then add garlic, ginger and onions.  Saute the onions until they are golden.  Add pumpkin, coconut milk, and veggie stock along with all spices.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add all veggies and lentils and cook on medium-low for about an hour.  My heat was reduced to low because I wanted to slow cook it.  This took about two hours or so.  Taste the veggies and lentils to determine if you feel it is cooked to your preference.

Cook quinoa.  Use as a side to the curry.  I added a small amount of liquid aminos and coconut aminos to my quinoa for additional flavor.  

Second step (optional):  

Ingredients

1/2 cup cashews (soaked either overnight or in very hot water for at least an hour)

1/4 cup cashew milk

1 tsp curry

1 handful coconut flakes

Add all ingredients to a high speed blender, like a Vitamix or food processor.  Blend on high until all cashews are creamy.  

Add cream to the Vegetable Curry for additional creaminess.  Highly recommended for maximum flavor!

Enjoy!

Veggie Tales :: Lesson One, Breakfast

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have had an increasing amount of people asking me for suggestions or ideas to move towards a more vegetarian based diet.  I want to be clear, in explaining that while I eat a vegetarian diet, I also tend to eat food that is clean and not processed (most of the time :)  There was a time in my life, as a vegetarian, that I ate a not so healthy vegetarian diet.

The question I am asked the most is "are you vegan?"  My answer mostly is that I do not label myself anything.  I am me, and the diet that I follow is one that is mindful and nourishing to my body.  I have never been a skinny chick.  Most of my life consisted of wishing for a tinier frame, a smaller waistline, not so broad shoulders, etc etc, but that is not me.  There are times I eat dairy because that is what my body is asking for, but most times it is not what it prefers.  I have issues with the dairy industry so there are many restrictions that I do consider prior to eating dairy (please see my egg post for that subject).  For the most part, however, I eat mindfully, for me, and for the animals that may be providing me with the food.  What I can ask you is to do the same.  I promise, what it does for your mind and your body far outweighs what any fad diet will give you.  This is a lifestyle, not something that will change you overnight.

Life really changed for me when I began to view food differently.  Food to me is incredibly special, for without it we cannot live.  I love learning about what different foods can do for my body and my health.  I love cooking a meal, offering it spiritually as a gift, and then enjoying it with other people.  Food makes me happy and gives me life.

With people asking me for suggestions, I thought it would be helpful to give you some recipes of things I eat throughout the day.  I try and post one photo a day of a meal I am eating, but I know you all want recipes.  Working on that :)

So let's start with breakfast!!

Tip #1: Do not skip breakfast, no matter what.
Tip #2: Eat carbs and fats early, so your body receives them and they can help you function throughout the day.
Tip #3: Plan, otherwise mornings get crazy and we either grab something unhealthy or not at all
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Smoothies!

1 cup milk choice
1/2 banana
1/2 cup organic frozen berries
1 cup spinach or kale
Choice of Protein Powder
**I use Nutiva Hemp Seed Protein or Aloha Protein, please make sure your protein powders are made from pure and healthy ingredients.  Protein Powders easy hide nasty ingredients.  It is important we know what is going into our bodies.  I follow the rule that if I cannot pronounce something, I do not eat it.   You can check my blog on this as well here.

Add ins for smoothies--these are ingredients that I use as I feel I need them.  The benefits that I use them for are listed.

Maca Powder: Maca Root has a great affect for those with hormone imbalances.  As I breast fed, and after our transition without, my body needed some resetting so Maca Powder was beneficial.  It also is an immune booster as it a natural antioxidant.  Some other benefits are increased energy, mood, and memory.

Cacao Powder: Cacao nibs, different from Cocoa, has incredible benefits, and it tastes great too!  I add this into all of my smoothies.  I use it as an iron and immune booster.  Cacao has 40 times the antioxidants that blueberries have!  It is also really high in calcium which is great for your bone health.

Flax Seeds: are a high fiber super food!  They help with digestive issues, which I've always had, and gut health.  They are high in Omega 3's and antioxidants

Brazil Nuts: I eat two a day, whether thrown in my smoothie or in my mouth while making a smoothie.  Brazil Nuts are very high in selenium, which helps with inflammation and mood!  Also, it helps with fighting free radical damage.

Nut Butter: benefits include happiness and happiness, and a little more happiness.  Who doesn't love all kinds of nut butters.

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Avocado Toast

Another option for breakfast when I do not have a smoothie is Avocado Toast.  I could eat this every day for every meal I love it so much.  It is so versatile.  Avocado's have such great health benefits. Avocados have more potassium than bananas, are loaded with fiber, and very high in protein.  I know, crazy right, vegetables do have protein too!

One of the greatest thing about Avocados is they are high in what's called Oleic Acid.  Oleic Acid
(a monounsaturated fat) helps the brain function and improves memory.  Learn more about avocados and oleic acid in Dr. Axe's article.

For the toast

Bread of choice, I use either Dave's Killer Bread or a Bagel of Choice.
**Tip for bread: when buying bread try squeezing the loaf together.  If it smushes easily, try and find something with more strength to it.  Your bread should be full of great nutrients that don't smush easily.  Also, your bread should go bad within a week or so.  If it is not, that should be telling you something.

Smash Avocado and spread right on that bread

Toppings:

Ghee: I use ghee under the avocado for more benefits of a healthy digestive system.  I have a sensitivity to lactose, so ghee rids of that.  Also, if your body struggles with absorbing Vitamin A, like those with a gluten allergy, ghee helps to absorb Vitamin A.  Also, has a lot of Vitamin E for those that try and stay out of the sun like me :)

Trader Joes Everything Seasoning:  this seasoning is, well, EVERYTHING!

Mustard: might sound weird, and it is, but it is soooo good

Hot Sauce

Peanut Butter: because of happiness

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Oatmeal

You either like it or you don't.  But if you don't I challenge you to try it with some different stuff in it. I always boil it with cashew milk, because I don't like it with just water.  Also, buy plain oats, and not the packaged oatmeal, which has a ton of added sugar.

Add Ins

Ghee--I use the Vanilla Ghee for this one :)

Vanilla

Fruit

Nuts

Cinnamon

Coconut Oil

Coconut


Please comment if you have any questions!

Understanding Egg Labels

So as a former vegan it was a tough decision for me to start eating eggs again.  When I made the decision I was facing some health issues that were a result of my lack of protein and my acupuncturist was strongly suggesting that I either drink bone broth or add meat and/or eggs into my diet.  For those vegans out there, you will understand the sense of anxiousness that I felt.  I knew however that I once enjoyed eggs, unlike meat, and that if I was going to make it change it could be here.

I began to do my own research on eggs and what to buy so that I would feel more comfortable purchasing eggs.  This might have been a bad idea, but overall it opened my eyes to the food industry and the labels that are so incredibly misleading.

I am not sure if those reading this have ever watched any documentaries or read about how chickens are treated in order for us to get eggs and meat from them, however most American ways are absolutely terrifying and inhumane.  I highly suggest becoming more aware about the meat industry without becoming overpowering with my beliefs.

So anyway, I wanted to provide you a list of labels and what they actually mean (in my terms),

Cage Free--so this is what I immediately began to buy.  I knew that "cages" were the problem and I could not imagine eating eggs that came from a chicken that was only given about 8-12 inches of room to move around.  But please listen, Cage Free, DOES NOT mean the chickens are able to roam free as they should be.  This just means they are not in a cage, but rather a large industrial barn, called an aviary, that still limits them to space.  The conditions of these barns are not sanitary and the chickens live among each others feces.  It is disgusting to think about.   They have about one square foot a bird.  More than 11 percent of cage free birds die, predominantly from pecking of other chickens.  Imagine that life.

Image: The Seattle Times

Hormone Free, or No Hormones--it is actually illegal to give chickens hormones so I am unsure why this is even a label.  Basically it is telling you that your chicken was not illegally poisoned.

Free Range--free range means that chickens are not subjected to cages and have access to outdoors.  However, by outdoors the typical access means some sort of outdoor space, such as a porch or screened in area that is accessible by small doors from the aviary.  When I think of Free Range I want to think of chickens roaming free.  This is not necessarily the case and I find this label the most misleading in my mind.

Vegetarian Diet--also super misleading.  Ignorantly, I used to think, oh awesome they are just like me.  Chickens are omnivores, not herbivores, so I am also unsure why this would be seen as a good thing, or even a purpose for a label at all.  Chickens should be eating worms and other insects for a natural way of living, not a diet of corn fortified with amino acids.

Pasture Raised--this means exactly what it says, that chickens are pasture raised, and they also have access to a barn.  This is the type of egg, that when concerned with the humanity of birds, we should be eating.  It is the most natural state for the chickens.  And while it comes for at a higher price, isn't it worth the extra money to know that you have held a little more compassion for the animal that has given his life for your nutrition.

Image: Organic Producer Mag

This all makes me sad to think about, and makes me question again my consumption of eggs.  But I know for me right now this is working for my body.  While I certainly limit my consumption of eggs, at least those that I do, I know they are pasture raised and treated "subjectively" as they should be in this life.

Thank you chickens.


 

A Veggie Ma ~ Easy Peasy Veggie Burgers

2 cups sweet potato, steamed
1 cup Japanese sweet potato, steamed
1/2 cup steamed broccoli
1 can of organic cannelli beans (low sodium if canned)
1/2 cup cooked lentils
1/4 cup sliced yellow onion
1 cup organic brown rice, cooked
2 tbsp of coconut flour
1 tbsp of flax seeds
1 tbsp nutritional yeast


Mash potatoes and cannelli beans to make combination into a paste.  Add lentils and rest of ingredients and mix together.  Make sure ingredients are well mixed ensuring flour gets throughout.  With such little flour it is important to make it spread.

Create patties with mixture

Bake at 375 degrees for a half hour, flipping in between.

**everything in this recipe is already cooked, so use your judgement
on how well done  you would like your burgers.

ENJOY!

ButterNut Mac and Cheese

This Mac and Cheese will now become a permanent staple in my house.  So completely in love.  This recipe is so warm and comforting and if I must say, addicting!  Enjoy.

For Cheese Sauce

1/2 Butternut Squash (Whole) or 1.5 cups

1/2 Yellow Onion

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup cashews (soaked overnight or in hot water for an hour)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Nutritional Yeast

1 tsp of Trader Joes Dijon Mustard, or any other mustard

1/4 tsp of garlic powder

1/8 tsp of black pepper

1/8 tsp of paprika

1/8 tsp of tumeric

Add Butternut Squash and Onion to large saucepan and fill about 2 inches above the vegetables with water.  Boil Veggies until they are soft and ready to eat.  

Add Butternut Squash, Onion, and all other ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor.  Do not forget the 1/4 cup of water.  

Tip: Save water by using boiled water or water from cashew soak to the blender

Blend and Done.

For pasta:

Use your favorite pasta.  Macaroni noodles are usually suggested for Mac and Cheese, however my son prefers the noodles to be bigger so he can practice using his fork.

My new favorite pasta is Banzo's Chickpea Pasta.  I typically do not use gluten free pasta or any other pasta that is not the real stuff however, my life has been changed.  Banzo did it for me.  I am hooked. 

Additions:

You can feel free to add whatever additions you crave when making mac and cheese.  I wanted to make this more of a full meal rather than a side dish so I added Spinach, Diced Tomatoes, and Eggplant.  Delish!