Friday, August 28, 2009

What if You Could Skip the Cancer

Katrina Bos, who was my co-trainer for ‘The Quantum Life Seminars’ has written a book.

It feels weird to say that...my friend wrote a book...Her marvelous book is called 'What if You Could Skip the Cancer?', and is published by Ferne Press. This is Katrina’s own personal healing story.

Unexpectedly this is also an enlightening tour into the world of Quantum Science, Chaos Theory, Psychology, the Mind/Body Connection, and Interpersonal Dynamics.

Who knew that science and deep philosophy could be so user friendly?



Katrina's thoughts are that often, illness is a call from our souls, asking us to really and authentically LIVE. As one client said to me “why do we always have to wait until a piano falls on our head?”

Katrina’s book has been praised and endorsed by Dr. Bernie Siegel. I consider this book to be ‘good medicine’ for ‘getting ourselves sorted out’, and I recommend it highly for those who are ready to embark on a healing journey.

Visit her web site at eaststreetstation.ca

Take care
_Nelda

Container Gardens and the Lazy Cook


CONTAINER GARDENS


Apartment dwellers and those with less than perfect gardening options can still enjoy the fresh food experience. Any small space outdoors that gets good sun for some of the day is a great place to grow culinary herbs; of course, the closer to the kitchen, the better.
Get bigger pots and intense plant all the herbs together. This allows the soil to hold the moisture better between waterings as well as looking big, abundant and beautiful. I always add at least one plant in the group just for 'pretty'. Mesclun mix, lettuces and spinach do really well in large pots in any sunny area. This is a good time of year to plan for next year. Pots and garden stuff is on sale too.


Squirrels can be a big problem. Finding a fertilizer that is safe for food can be a challenge. There is one solution for both of these concerns in the form of 'bone and blood meal'. I put about an inch of the granules on top of the soil in each pot. The little rascals will not dig through it, guaranteed. This layer needs to be refreshed about once a month. Some people place chicken wire near the top of the soil. This works too.


I always plant tomatoes and basil together in the same pot. For parsley, if you have the space, in the fall dig a hole and put in pot and all. Cilantro (coriander) and dill will self seed. Rosemary will have to be brought in, but will survive through the winter. Spearmint will usually survive anywhere, and often pokes up everywhere. However, mint is an essential addition to a summer herb garden.


When my garden was limited to a balcony, I just had to bite the bullet and buy new transplants every year. It was still worth it to have abundant and readily available fresh food all summer and early fall.


THE LAZY COOK

It is hard to be enthusiastic about cooking when one is hot and hungry. Pasta is easy to cook in huge batches. Divide the cooked pasta into serving sizes and store them in airtight containers in the freezer. When you need it, either leave it to defrost, or run cold water over into the container and then drain.


For those who need to avoid wheat or gluten, consider rice pasta. Rice pasta tends to smell strange during cooking, but are a great alternative. If you aren't happy with the results, try another brand. The golden rule is to cook pasta el-dente, especially if you are going to freeze it.

When I get a wind-fall of sweet peppers, I grill them (counter-top or preferrably over charcoal), and then freeze them in zip locks.


The ‘no time to cook’ Basic Pasta with Fresh Herbs

ü 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
ü 1 Onion cut in crescents
ü 1 clove garlic crushed
ü ½ red pepper cut in slivers
ü 3 mushrooms, sliced
ü 5-6 sugar snap peas (or ¼ cup frozen peas added at the very end)
ü 1 Morga Soy Cube softened in a little hot water, (or sake, or wine)
ü (1-2 Tablespoons) ½ to 1 cup of fresh herbs chopped coarsely – mint, basil, rosemary, Italian parsley, curl leaf parsley, cilantro
ü ½ to 1 cup fresh greens
ü Fresh scallions - optional
ü Grated Parmesan cheese to taste


Defrost Pasta and reserve. Heat oil in a skillet/wok or saucepan and Sauté onions and garlic until lightly browned. Add the peppers and mushrooms and cook until just tender, add the peas and cook until just tender-crisp. Add the pasta and the water/soy cube and heat to serving temperature. Serve by topping with fresh greens, herbs scallions and parmesan.


Uncooked Pasta Sauce
This is made in a food processor, and is the easiest ever. Because the homemade pasta has such a good flavour, you can keep the sauces simple and it will be wonderful. Use diced style Fire Roasted Tomatoes for a chunky sauce or crushed style for a smoother more typical looking tomato sauce.


1 can fire roasted tomatoes- drain and reserve excess juice (or 2 cups fresh tomatoes, skinned)
1 cup chopped parsley
½ cup chopped green onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced. (Optional grilled)
1 Tbs virgin cold pressed olive oil
1 Tbs balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs basic sprinkle


1 Tbs Tamari or Braggs, or 1 soy cube dissolved
2 – 3 drops essential oil or 1 tsp of fresh herbs: basil, thyme, rosemary, bay


Pulse 2 or 3 times after each addition. Don’t over process.
Taste and add herbamere if needed.


This can be made quickly, and is wonderful and simple. If you use green pepper you will have to peel off the skin as it will be bitter. Yellow, red or orange peppers are better.


To serve, top with more parsley or thin slices of lettuce fresh ground parmesan cheese a sprinkle of dip mix and fresh ground pepper.
Sometimes I build a salad on top of the pasta and put a light dressing on it and top with grated parmesan. Any grilled meat or seafood can be put on top.


When using store bought pasta, you will need to make the sauce more flavour intense, as it will be diluted over flavourless pasta. I would definitely use 1 or 2 soy cubes that were dissolved in a little of the warmed tomato liquid or hot water. Add this back to the food processor.

Enjoy!
_Nelda










Friday, August 21, 2009

Why Pay When You Can See a Doctor For Free?

In 1984 my daughter was unwell with something inexplicable. Weeks and weeks went by and she just wasn't pulling out of it. I was getting desperate. Within a three month period I took my daughter to 13 different Physicians. I became very frustrated trying to integrate the 13 radically different opinions given. 

It finally dawned on me that conventional medicine alone wasn't going to take my family's health where it needed to go. The only solution was that I had to roll up my sleeves and take up the challenge my self.  Health very quickly became my priority. Over the next decade, Holistic Health became my career.


Neither Well or Ill

A client recently said to me that she felt unsupported with conventional health care. She “wasn't ill enough to get her Doctor’s attention and yet not well enough to be happy with her life”. Like most ‘Baby Boomers’, she had much higher expectations for herself, and wasn't prepared to lower the bar to the point where she had to accept that her concerns where all due to ‘old age’.

Is Free Really Free

Many people in Canada where I live, assume that medical health care is free.  It does appear to be free. Years ago, Dr. Jane Fulton, Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa, came to speak in my home town in rural Ontario. (At that time she had been meeting with First Lady Hillary Clinton, to discuss the development of Medicare in the US.)

Dr. Fulton very clearly showed the residents of Huron County, that Medicare wasn’t for free. In fact, my baby-boomer generation is paying the interest on the loan that financed my mother’s health care in her declining years. My daughter’s generation will have to foot the bill.

Ontario residents are now seeing a reductions of insured services. Many preventative services are now being categorized by OHIP as non-essential. There are discussions about a multi-tiered Health Care System where the better service will only be available to those who can pay from their own pocket.

Put Yourself in the Center

I encourage people to command the central and pivotal role in their health care.  Find the health care providers of all and any persuasion that fit perfectly into your team. As well, take the time to do your own research. Make this journey your own.

Making health and wellness a priority means we need to be pro-active in our own healthcare. We create health by making the commitment to care for ourselves every day; physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

The bottom line is: without the foundation of good health, we don’t have a future.

Food for Thought
_Nelda