A Holiday Meditation

The holidays are supposed to be "the most wonderful time of the year," but for so many people, they instead are a time of stress and overindulgence. While we tend to over-consume in every way possible - from party foods to buying gifts we feel social pressure to give, many of us are left feeling rather empty by the time the new year rolls around.

Along with this emptiness, we often get caught up on what is lacking in our lives - whether it's money to buy special gifts, time to accomplish everything on our to-do lists, the right partner to celebrate with, etc. These feelings of deprivation can send us into the depths of depression at a time when we feel so much social pressure to be cheerful, which can then lead to further spirals of self-judgement and inner criticism.

The following meditation is inspired by a practice offered by Rick Hanson, who wrote the book Buddha's Brain, which is a fabulous introduction to the research neuroscientists have conducted on the effects of meditation and other contemplative arts. This meditation specifically builds up areas of our brain that are responsible for helping us feel safe, secure and that we have enough. Done daily, this meditation is like preventative medicine against the poisonous thoughts of lack, jealousy and greed.

In the recording below, we practice for about 10 minutes (beginning by connecting to the breath, and then proceeding through three sets of instructions), but know that you can do this meditation in less than two minutes on your own (spending about 30 seconds with each of the instructions). The more you practice, the more you build up your natural defenses to social pressures telling you that you must acquire new or be something different to find happiness and meaning in your life. Start today...whether you practice just once, or on an on-going basis, the results are noticeable and profound in my experience.

Click here to listen to the meditation (right-click to save file to your computer).

Embracing the Bitter

In addition to being a strong believer in food as medicine, I also believe food can be a powerfully effective teacher. Food has the power not only to teach us about our own bodies, but to help us confront other blocks we may be facing on the mental or emotional level. Ayurveda (the Indian healing system) teaches us that a balanced diet includes foods that fit into six flavor profiles - sweet, salty, sour, pungent (spicy), astringent (drying) and bitter. In Western cultures, we generally tend to neglect the latter more than any other, yet the lessons it can teach us are powerful in my experience. Just as we tend to shy away from bitter foods, many of us struggle to digest bitter emotions and experiences, pushing them aside and letting them remained unresolved. In the same way that undigested food (known as ama in Ayurevda) is toxic for the body, undigested emotions have the power to wreak havoc on the psyche.

Walk into any "schwag mart" (my term for a neighborhood mini-market, i.e., what a New Yorker would call a bodega) and I dare you to find anything bitter amidst the candy, chips and sodas filling its aisles and coolers. The wizards of the processed food industry know that bitter foods don't light up the brain in the addictive ways sugar and salt do, so finding bitter foods can be a challenge unless one is committed to a mainly whole foods, plant-based diet.

In my own journey, I've come to recognize my previous aversions to bitter foods, and have actually come to love and embrace bitter flavors and recognize my body's cravings for them. In addition to adding complexity and new dimensions to recipes I create, bitter foods have amazing healing benefits, most notably as liver cleansers and blood detoxifiers. When I notice intense cravings for bitter foods, I stop and look at what else is going on in my life, and generally such cravings are accompanied by over-consumption of foods that tend to set me off balance or stress. My body's SOS call is a good reminder to take a couple days to detox and restore balance. When my cravings are especially intense, I quell them instantly with a shot of fresh bitter melon juice, mixed with aloe vera and turmeric (warning: not for the faint of heart).

To embrace the bitter is not to turn our backs on life's sweetness, but rather to recognize that life comes in many flavors, as do the fruits of the earth. Without bitterness, we would have a much less robust appreciation of sweetness, in the same ways that some of life's bitter wake-up calls lead us to a deeper appreciation for the sources of happiness in our lives. In Judaism, horseradish is used in the Passover seder to remind us of the bitterness faced by our ancestors, as part of a larger feast that also includes sweet charoset (a sweet apple concoction). The seder meal reminds us that bitterness and sweetness complement one another and naturally ebb and flow in the course of our life experience. To expect life to always be sweet is to deny the fullness of human experience.

Looking to amp up your intake and appreciation of bitter foods? Check out a few of my favorites:

1) Arugula: Also known as Rocket, this mighty green packs a bitter punch. I love it in salads (topped with a slightly sweet dressing to accentuate the bitter notes). I'm also a huge fan of making pesto with arugula. If you grow your own arugula, take note that each progressive harvest from the same plant will get more bitter as time passes. By the third picking, your liver will be pulsing with ecstasy.

(My latest batch of vegan Arugula Artichoke Heart pesto)

2) Dandelion: Another powerful bitter green, dandelion can be enjoyed in salads, teas, juices  or warm dishes. In many places, you can find it growing plentifully in the wild (or even in urban jungles).

3) Radicchio: Used medicinally as a blood tonic since the days of the early Romans, this member of the chicory family adds a bitter punch to salads, as well as awesome red color.

4) Bitter melon: Ever notice bumpy mutant cucumbers at the farmer's market or your favorite Asian grocer? That's a bitter melon, and the name is appropriate, seeing it's considered to be the most bitter fruit given to us by nature. There are several varieties - those with roots in China are typically larger and slightly bumpy, while bitter melons from India are smaller and covered in green warts.

Cut them in half, blanche in water (optional, to remove excess bitterness), and then saute lightly with your favorite spices for a simple preparation. To learn more about this fabulous food, check out The National Bitter Melon Council, an organization that promotes awareness of this funny-looking fruit, while also building awareness around the importance of welcoming bitter foods and sensations into our lives. From the Council's website:

"This world cannot be understood through sweetness alone, i.e. embracing of only all that is pleasing and easy on the (mental, emotional, physical) palette. In most understandings, bitterness is valued as a negative, repellent flavor and emotion, but fear and avoidance of bitterness lead to blandness and flatness in flavor and experience. Therefore, we assert that bitterness should be valued, period—as negative, positive, and everything in between. And we affirm our inextricable humanity and the interdependence of that humanity on the taste and experience of bitterness."

What bitter foods do you love? Tell us in the comments!

Embrace the Shorter Days

Are you feeling a bit thrown off by the recent time change? You’re not alone. Many people I’ve talked with struggle at this time of year. I’m in Seattle this week, where there are currently fewer than 10 hours of daylight, with sunsets well before 5 p.m. I’m feeling the time shift especially profoundly up here in this northerly neck of the country.

Here are a few tips I rely on to navigate the autumn time shift gracefully and with ease:

1. Establish a rhythm. Like anything in nature, our bodies operate according to rhythmic cycles. Work with the intelligence of your body (rather than against it) by going to bed and waking at roughly the same time each day. Try as much as possible to eat your meals at the same time each day. And most importantly, don’t be harsh towards yourself if you fall out of rhythm. Just do your best to get back on track.
2. Ease into the day. This one is especially important if you’re not a morning person. Avoid the tendency to sleep in until the last possible moment, and then get up and go in a rushed manner. Make an effort to wake up a bit earlier than needed, and take time to go slowly. Perhaps do yoga or light stretching, meditate or drink tea mindfully. The morning is often a time when our creative inclinations are clearest, so this is also a wonderful time to write/journal or pursue other creative endeavors.
3. Eat dinner before the sun sets. This is the one I struggle with the most, especially after the fall time change. Our digestive rhythms follow the patterns of the sun, and once it is dark, the body is ready to stop receiving new inputs, and process what has already been consumed. If you do need to eat a later dinner, stick to light meals. Soup is a particularly good choice. Drink decaffeinated tea – ideally with digestive herbs like ginger, fennel or mint – in the evening hours to keep your body warm and further stoke your digestive fire.
4. Eat seasonal foods. The time shift is often accompanied by a sense of disorientation, and in the fall the vata (air) energies are strong, which can further fuel feelings of ungroundedness. Foods that are naturally available this time of year, like winter squashes, sweet potatoes and other root vegetables, help restore grounding and balance.
5. Move your body. Exercise naturally causes the body to release increased serotonin, which helps elevate mood. Avoid the winter blues by staying active. Exercise should ideally be done in the morning or during the daylight hours. Exercising too late in the evening can be overly stimulating and interfere with healthy sleep patterns.

Be well, and be compassionate with yourself as you pass through this seasonal transition. If you have other tips to share, please offer them in the comments below!

How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree

For many of my younger years, I always used canned pumpkin in my fall desserts. It's one of the better canned products you can buy (i.e., most brands have nothing added) and organic varieties readily abound, but it turns out much of it is not purely pumpkin (many manufacturers add butternut squash and other winter squash into their products). After the first time I pureed a pumpkin from scratch, I swore I would never use a can again...and I haven't since! Not only is the process relatively easy, you get the added bonus of pumpkin seeds to roast and snack on!

Peruse the Internet and you'll find many ways to prepare pumpkins for pureeing. Some people boil the pumpkin, but I swear by roasting. I prefer the flavor and consistency of roasted pumpkin puree, and there's less knifework involved than if you butcher up a pumpkin in pieces that will fit into a pot. Be sure that the pumpkin you use are good edible varieties (i.e., not jack o'lantern pumpkins) and often I find that bigger is not better when it comes to pumpkins. I suggest getting two smaller pumpkins versus one large gourd. And be sure to select pumpkins that sit stably (i.e., aren't tilted or misshapen) to assist in cutting.

Here's my favorite method for preparing puree:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Set pumpkin on a cutting surface. Use a sharp knife to make cuts around the stem of the pumpkin, then use your fingers to pop the stem out.

Cut the pumpkin in half (through the stem end). If you've selected a relatively flat-bottomed, stable pumpkin, this will be a breeze.

Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and excess pulp. Drag the surface of the spoon along the pulpy regions of the inner pumpkin firmly to remove stubborn stringy pulp. Save the seeds to roast later.

Place pumpkin halves face down on parchment lined baking trays. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the pumpkin can easily be pierced with a fork in the thickest regions.

Take the trays out of the oven, and slip the pumpkin halves onto their backs (i.e., cut side up) to let out excess heat and steam that's built up during baking. Let the pumpkin cool for about an hour.

When pumpkin is cool, use a spoon to scrape the flesh away from the skin. Place flesh in a food processor, and discard skin.

Process pumpkin until it is well homogenized. This step takes a little patience, and likely will involve stopping the machine and scraping the food processor bowl down from time to time. Resists the urge to add water to speed up the process. I've never found this to be necessary, and you'll end up needing to drain out excess water later on.

Once the puree is finished, you can assess how watery it is. Some pumpkins are naturally less dry than others. It's fine to use puree with a bit of moisture in it, but if  your pumpkin is super watery, you'll want to take care of it. To remove any excess water, place puree in a fine mesh sieve and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. Place something beneath it to catch the orange water that will trickle out. (I like to then use this in a smoothie.)

Use the finished puree in any recipes that call for either canned pumpkin or pumpkin puree. It will store about a week in the refrigerator, so it can be made in advance of your pies and other creations. I've heard it freezes well for up to a couple months, but it's never lasted long enough in my kitchen to try this out.

Enjoy! And please take a second to let me know in the comments below how you're using your pureed pumpkin!