This recipe is an adaptation of one I first made about 30 years ago (in my vegan days) from The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond. Better hot but also good cold IMO!
There have been many incarnations of this soup in my life, including as a staple at the health food deli where I worked–along with a catering job–to finance an 8-week trip to an ashram in India (that, my friends, is a story for another time.)
Lately I’ve simplified the soup to the bare bones for a quick and delicious low allergen side dish. Sometimes I have this with a side of tempeh, sometimes chicken, and it’s a really great side with salmon.
(more…)
In Chinese Medicine emphasis is placed on living in tune with the seasons of the year in order to experience health, wellbeing and to prevent disease. Each season is related to one of the main organ networks or meridians and has its own unique associations that can be seen both in the externally in natural world and also within our bodies.
Spring has always been one of my favorite seasons. A sense of excitement and expansions seems to permeate the air as trees and plants that have been dormant during the winter months begin to bloom with new growth and life. In Chinese Medicine the season of Spring is associated with the Liver network. The Liver encapsulates the energizing and expanding energy of spring within our bodies. When the Liver is functioning properly there is a smooth functionality within our bodies on both an emotional and physical level and we experience an internal sense of freedom and expansiveness.
Symptoms of Liver imbalance
Symptoms of Liver imbalanceThese are some of the most common symptoms that indicate an imbalance in the Liver network.
- Anger or Irritation
- Depression
- Digestive disorder (IBS and indigestion)
- Menstrual disorders (PMS, irregular or painful menses)
- Shoulder and Neck tension
- Headaches and Dizziness
During spring there is a tendency to experience an increase in the above Liver pathologies. But, by shifting our awareness and taking simple steps we can harmonize our Liver with the expanding energy of spring and experience getter wellbeing.
Simple lifestyle changes make a big difference
Simple lifestyle changes make a big difference1. Wake early. While it is still beneficial to go to bed by 10 pm, the morning is the spring of the day and therefore in spring it is a good idea to begin to rise earlier. Wake by 7 am and see if you feel more energized throughout the day.
2. Exercise. While exercise is important year-round, the connections between spring, the Liver, and anger and depression makes this time of year especially important to have a good exercise routine. Feeling more irritable, depressed or stress? Sooth your Liver by walking in nature for 20-30 minutes 3-4x/ week.
3. Eat your Greens. The Liver is associated with the color green. Take advantage of the new spring growth and increase your consumption of kale, sprouts, arugula, watercress, and other green vegetables.
4. Add sour to your diet. The flavor related to the Liver is sour. Add a slice of fresh lemon or a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to a glass of water every morning. This aids both digestive and emotional health.
5. Relax and de-stress. While the tendency in the spring is to get even busier, remember to schedule in downtime in order to let your energy gradually build as we move out of winter.
Just as overloading plants with too much sun and fertilizer makes them bolt, exerting too much energy in spring will leave you feeling depleted come fall and winter. Allow yourself time for leisure and resting.
6. Acupuncture (of course!) Acupuncture works directly to bring you back into balance by harmonizing your Liver and attuning you to spring. Experience relief in your symptoms and set the stage for long-term health for the rest of the year with a spring acupuncture tune-up. For the most effective and long-term results it is important to complete a series of acupuncture treatments, with most patients benefiting from weekly treatments for 4-6 weeks followed by monthly or bi-monthly maintenance treatments.
Last week I wrote about the difference between feeling ok and feeling well. About how it’s so easy for us to just get used to mediocre and think it’s ok to settle for that. I wrote:
“Feeling well is deeper. And wider. It’s the you that you can imagine being if you lifted off all of the things that are holding you back in your life.”
Since then I’ve been thinking about my own life and the times that I’ve come up against this kind of wall. I decided to go ahead and share this, even though it’s a little personal, in case it can help you identify something small, or big for that matter, that’s been bothering you, or keeping you from feeling your best.
About 15 years ago, about 5 years after a severe bout of mono I realized that when I ate wheat I felt the same way I did when I first got sick. Exhausted. Not just “I want to lay down.” exhausted, but “It feels like every cell in my body is crying,” exhausted. The kind of exhausted that no amount of sleep could cure. Since I know that what I eat impacts my body profoundly I made some additional diet changes to my already pretty healthy diet. I tried both being off of wheat and being completely gluten-free. I felt substantially better with both but didn’t notice much of a difference between the two, so I cut out wheat and left it at that.
Then, in 2007, I became a mom and it sent me into an extended rough patch complete with crying jags, mood swings and almost debilitating anxiety. With some help from a very good counselor I got it under control and truly thought I was better. And then I hurt my shoulder. Ripped the socket basically, carrying a too-heavy suitcase down the stairs to catch a subway to JFK (I call it my fashion injury). After the initial sharp pain it seemed fine but then within a week it started aching all night long, waking me repeatedly. No position was comfortable.
Because I wasn’t getting enough sleep the fatigue that I’d had after the mono started rearing its head again. And my shoulder wasn’t getting better. After about 6 months, in addition to that pain and some decreased range of motion, suddenly I was experiencing a new kind of pain. The kind of pain that if I reached the wrong way, or moved suddenly, would strike like a lightning bolt and literally drop me to my knees. This might even happen in the middle of the night If I rolled over to pull up my covers or reached out to grab a sip of water.
I was in physical therapy but it wasn’t working and although I was ready to have surgery, the surgeon thought there was still a chance it would get better if I gave it more time (kudos to that surgeon who didn’t jump to the scalpel).
I decided to put myself on an anti-inflammatory diet, including going off of gluten entirely.
You’re probably expecting to hear that my shoulder miraculously got better. It didn’t. But what did get better was my mental state. I hadn’t even realized that I was still crouching under a dark cloud. A gluten-free diet changed everything for me. The lights were back on. I could feel it. But more than that, I could see it in the eyes of my husband and my then 5-year-old son. Nothing could make me go back.
You see, I thought I was ok because it wasn’t as bad as it had been.I had settled for ‘ok’ partly because I couldn’t see it, but also partly because I wasn’t honest with myself about how I was feeling.
Let me be clear. This isn’t a story about why you shouldn’t eat gluten it’s a story about what’s possible. You can be ok with good, or you can go for great- for your optimal, whatever that may be. You need the choices you make on a daily basis to move you in the direction of truly feeling well. It’s easier than you might think.
Yours In Health,
PS Want more energy to do more of the things you love? I’m running a 7-day FREE Energy Infusion. A tip a day for 7-days to give you that boost of energy you’ve been craving. Click HERE to get in on it!
A few weeks ago I was chatting with a friend at a conference and another friend wandered by and mentioned that she woke up that morning very early full of energy because she was excited for the day. It struck me how very rare that is for people. Day in and day out in my practice I hear my patients tell me they just don’t feel great. Here and there I’ll hear ‘good’ or ‘fine’ or even ‘good enough’ but ‘great’ is a pretty rare commodity. We get so used to feeling awful that when we make a change and feel better we can trick ourselves into thinking it’s the end game.
What is it, exactly, that makes up the difference between crappy vs fine, and then the next level, fine vs great?
Think about it like this. Great stems from wellness. Feeling well is deeper. And wider. It’s the you that you can imagine being if you lifted off all of the things that are holding you back in your life.
Although there are some exceptions, getting people from crappy to fine is something I can do pretty easily. Figure out what’s actually going on for the patient. Direct toward identifying causes instead of just treating symptoms. Talk about the importance of sleep. Educate that drinking those 3 beers while sitting on the couch watching reruns on Nick at Night *might* be the cause of the extra 20 lbs they’re hauling around, even if they have a day job when they’re on their feet all day (yes, that actually happened.)
That extra step from fine to well is about finding the sweet spot. Going gluten-free, for instance, might have helped your digestion, or your energy level, or even your state of mind. Cutting out sugar might have you feeling better than you have in ages. But f you really look you may see that there’s more.
So. Much. More.
There’s more energy to grab (and that cup of coffee can become a choice instead of a necessity), there’s better rest, there’s feeling lighter, and freer, and the ability to make decision based on what you want to see happen in your life rather than in reaction to one more thing getting thrown on your plate.
I’m here to tell you you’ve got this. It’s within your reach. You can feel well.
I wrote another blog post about a few little things you can do right here if you want to take a peek.
Yours In Health,
You are supposed to produce stress hormones when you’re chilling at the watering hole and you suddenly notice a Leopard is eying your baby as a possible appetizer. It’s pretty simple. You see the Leopard, you realize there’s danger, you grab your baby, you run to safety. You are able to do this because your body is wise and knows when you’re in danger. Your body knows you need to produce hormones that will most effectively allow your body to fight or run (that’s the fight or flight response.) Then, once the danger has passed, your body recovers. And maybe a few days later there is another stress that you need to respond to and the cycle continues. This is a good thing.
In this day and age most of us are producing stress hormone pretty much constantly.
It might go like this…
It’s evening, the kids are finally asleep so you turn on Game of Thrones, you are on the edge of your seat. Will Tyrion betray Dany? Did Arya and Sansa plan it all?* You’re producing stress hormone. Then it’s time for bed but you just need to check email one more time. There’s an email from your sister and she’s in another bad fight with her husband. You call her. More stress hormone. When it’s finally time to get into bed, you’re wide awake and it takes you an hour to fall asleep.
Morning comes but you’ve only been asleep for 6 hours so you hit the snooze button and then wake up late. Stress hormone. Your kid is having a meltdown because he dropped his eggs on the floor and you don’t have time to make more food before school. He can’t find his jacket. Your partner is long gone and you’re now late for work. You get out the door with a giant mug of coffee in your hand, get your kid to the bus stop and race off to work. Someone cuts you off and you slam on your brakes, screaming. And then work? Your boss is out of town so you’re doing your job and hers. They let your assistant go months ago and it’s clear you’re now going this on your own. Someone wants something from you all the time. You miss lunch. More stress hormone. Are you getting the picture?
It isn’t always this dramatic but most of us spend most of our time running from thing to thing. Finishing deadline after deadline, or even worse, missing them. You don’t get enough sleep, you drink too much coffee, you’re running around feeling like you’re never getting enough done.
No, you can’t change the number of hours in your day, and there’s no magic button to push. But you can choose to decrease your overall stress load by identifying the things you do have control over.
And this may be more things than you think! this is the basis of my book Overcoming Overwhelm: Dismantle Your Stress from the Inside Out. The big picture for decreasing stress and overwhelm is really digging into the accumulation of stress that you have, and dismantling it. But some stress management in the meantime is a good place to start.
Here are three things (or just pick one!) that will profoundly change your overall state of stress and how you feel every day.
1. Move. 5 minutes every hour (even if you work out regularly!) Get up from your desk and run stairs, buy a mini-elliptical for next to your desk, find an empty room at the office and do jumping jacks, or hula-hoop. Seriously. 5 minutes an hour during a regular workday is 40 minutes of movement. By far not enough but this improves your circulation including to your brain. Your mood will be better. You’ll feel calmer. Your energy will be better. You’ll be more resilient. And if you have 7 minutes, throw this in to up your game.
2. Sleep. Get your sleep in order. Here is a handout for identifying what you can do to change your sleep habits and patterns. If you have insomnia your first priority is to work with someone who can help you get to the cause so you can get good quality sleep. This is something I often help clients with in my Skype consults, but there are many experienced practitioners who can help. If you prefer to work with someone in person, there may be someone in your local area who can help.
3. Meditate. Everyone says that, right? But when your are stressed it feels impossible to meditate, right? I cannot even estimate how many of my patients over the last 20 years have said to me ‘but I hate meditation’ or ‘I’m terrible at meditating.’ The thing is that all you need to do to meditate is sit. If your brain is spinning just bring it back to your breath. You cannot fail at meditation. And even sitting for 5 minutes a day, or even 5 minutes twice a day if you can, will make a profound difference, I promise. Try the insight timer for guided meditation. Or choose coloring, it’s another kind of easy going meditation that allows you to quiet your mind without the traditional meditation approach.
Yours in Health,
*Please forgive me if those questions don’t actually make sense, I don’t watch GOT and had to do a quick google search here!
I was just chatting with a friend at a conference and another friend wandered by and mentioned that she woke up that morning very early because she was excited for the day. It struck me how very rare that is for people. Day in and day out in my practice I hear my patients tell me they just don’t feel great. Here and there I’ll hear ‘good’ or ‘fine’ or even ‘good enough’ but ‘great’ is a pretty rare commodity. We get so used to feeling awful that when we make a change and feel better we can trick ourselves into thinking it’s the end game.
What is it, exactly, that makes up the difference between crappy vs fine, and then the next level, fine vs great?
Think about it like this. Great stems from wellness. Feeling well is deeper. And wider. It’s the you that you can imagine being if you lifted off all of the things that are holding you back in your life.
Although there are some exceptions, getting people from crappy to fine is something I can do pretty easily. Figure out what’s actually going on for the patient. Direct toward identifying causes instead of just treating symptoms. Talk about the importance of sleep. Educate that drinking those 3 beers while sitting on the couch watching reruns on Nick at Night *might* be the cause of the extra 20 lbs they’re hauling around, even if they have a day job when they’re on their feet all day (yes, that actually happened.)
But that extra step from good to well is about finding the sweet spot. Going gluten-free, for instance, might have helped your digestion, or your energy level, or even your state of mind, perhaps you feel better than you have in decades.
The truth is that there is so much more. So. Much. More. There’s more energy to grab (and that cup of coffee can become a choice instead of a necessity), there’s better rest, there’s feeling lighter, and freer, and the ability to make decision based on what you want to see happen in your life rather than in reaction to one more thing getting thrown on your plate. I’m here to tell you you’ve got this. It’s within your reach. You can feel well.
I wrote another blog post about a few things you can do right here if you want to take a peek.
Yours In Health,
Add more energy to your life every day.
Get 7 days of energy-infusing practices delivered to your inbox, FREE!
