beguiles and fascinations

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The beauty you've been seeking is already inside you

It seems Dr. Ali Binazir, author of Tao of Dating, and I were in the same pensive mood this past weekend.  While I considered the simple pleasures in my life from a Buddhist perspective, he too was blogging for the Huffington Post about kundalini yoga as a method of accessing internal joy.  Here's an excerpt:

"Partway through the exercise, something cracked inside me. My whole body was already flooded with electricity, and then I felt this expansion in my chest. Perhaps this is what people meant when they talked about their heart opening up. What I can say is that it was a feeling of beauty. The thought with the feeling was this: 'The beauty you've been seeking is already inside you.' / And that's when I cried. Because I realized that all the pretty things I had been chasing down my whole life (read: cute girls) were already residing inside me."

To Forget the Self

"To study Buddhism is to study the self.  To study the self is to forget the self. To forget the self is to be enlightened by all things. To be enlightened by all things is to be free from attachment to the body and mind of one's self and others."
~ Zen Master Dogen


We are so often judging ourselves for what we wear, where we work, or who we spend time with.  It's easy to get lost in the micro and to forget about the macro - to forget to stop to put one hand to your belly, the other to your heart, and really just "listen" to your body.  Sometimes I find myself lost in a fog, concerned with how I look or with what I'm doing, rather than with what I think and how I feel.  In my continual quest to "know myself," I frequently (though not frequently enough) stop to take note of the things that entertain my mind, warm my belly, or fill my heart.  Things like the sound of my dog's snore, a bowl of butternut squash soup, sunshine and a newspaper, a good cup of coffee, fresh peonias, driving with the top down, charred asparagus, a scratchy blanket, twilight on the beach, my mother's hug.  I'd never presume to call myself "enlightened," but it's interesting to note that such simple pleasures - many of them intangibles - come to mind when I consider what makes me happy.  I think what Dogen meant is that it isn't the attainment of specific things (items, wealth, power), but rather the curiosity for all things that leads to enlightenment.  In a fast-paced city, filled with Facebook, Twitter feeds, and all the other windows social media offers into other peoples' lives, I too often worry that I'm not doing enough or that what I'm doing isn't "the best." But the thing is, the best friend is the one who has your back, the best man is the one you love, and the best you is the you who stops to smell the radishes.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

NY Times Op-Ed columnist, Nicholas Kristof, broke the news of an undercover investigation by the Humane Society at Krieder Farms, an industrial egg farm.  The Humane Society reported hens at Krieder Farms have even less than the 67-inch federal standard.  Kristof provides, in harrowing detail, the many instances of inhumane treatment at Krieder Farms.  Why do we love our dogs, but mistreat our chickens?  Is it just out of sight, out of mind?

Dr. Beck follows up on NY Times Article

Dr. Judith Beck, a psychologist at the forefront of cognitive therapy, wrote a follow-up article to the NY Times article on mindful eating, "Why Dieters Can't Eat Mindfully?"  She suggests dieters have difficulty learning mindful eating, due to a "combination of practical problems and 'sabotaging' ideas."  So important to consider the struggles associated with learning mindful eating, especially for those who might benefit most.

Mindful Eating

My "day job" includes attending classes, working with patients, and going to an externship program all related to working towards my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.  By next January, I will have had to complete a masters thesis; my topic of choice: mindful eating.  Today, the NY Times published an interesting article about mindful eating, "Mindful Eating as Food for Thought."  Think about how often you eat at your desk at lunch or in front of the TV at dinner.  Do you pay much attention to the taste of your food? My research will explore whether there is a relationship between mindful awareness of eating and appetite and weight. Wish me luck!

Fructose and Cardiovascular Disease

Recent research suggests a link between fructose consumption and visceral fat. Visceral fat, which accumulates around internal organs, increases risk for cardiovascular disease. See an article in NYTimes for more.

Pasture-Raised Dairy

Industrial milk is not as good for you as the "Got Milk?" media would like you to believe.

The huge dairy farms that produce the majority of milk at your supermarket, raise their cows on grain (usually corn and soybeans), which fattens them quickly. This practice is bad for the cows and bad for the consumer. Grain reduces saliva, thereby causing high acidic levels in the cows' digestive tracts. As a result, grain-fed cattle often suffer from a number of health problems including intestinal damage, dehydration, liver abscesses, and even death. Cows who graze on pasture do not have the digestive tract issues of their counterparts. The roughage provided by grasses and other plants allows ruminants to produce saliva, which helps neutralize acids that exist naturally in their digestive systems.

Cows are ruminants, which are vegetarian by nature. They have a four-chambered stomach, which enables them to digest cellulose; this means that cows, unlike humans, can turn grass into important vitamins and enzymes. When industrial cows are fed grain and other additives, meant to fatten them quickly, they produce milk with high fat (caloric) content. Alternatively, cows who graze on grass and forage (plants), produce milk with lower fat (caloric) content and higher amounts of vitamins (A, D, C), minerals (calcium), antioxidants, and enzymes (lactase, which helps you digest the nutrients in the milk). Milk and dairy from pasture-raised (aka "grass-fed") cows have a healthier balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fats (that's because omega-3's come from grass and leafy greens) and as much as five times the conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; sometimes called "good" fatty acid) as milk from grain-fed cows. Among CLA's many potential benefits: it raises metabolic rate, helps remove abdominal fat, boosts muscle growth, reduces resistance to insulin, strengthens the immune system, and lowers food allergy reactions.

If you want to take it a step further, there is a growing movement toward drinking "raw" milk. Raw milk has not been pasteurized. In 1862, Louis Pasteur, a French chemist and microbiologist, developed the process of pasteurization, to keep wine and beer from spoiling. During the industrial era, pasteurization was brought to the dairy farms. Pasteurization is a process of heating a food, usually liquid, to a specific temperature for a definite length of time, and then cooling it immediately, to slow microbrial growth.

Pasteurization is about 90% effective when it comes to killing harmful bacteria (though listeria is particularly resistant) in milk, and accordingly pasteurization of milk is required by law in 22 US states. However, pasteurization kills many of the beneficial nutrients available in raw milk.  Additionally, pasteurization remains well-liked by farmers (and the USDA) because it preserves milk, allowing for long transport time over very long distances without spoilage.  Per contra, proponents of raw milk claim that pasteurization enables farmers to be less cautious regarding hygiene during milking and transport; meaning, if farmers were more careful, the spread of bacteria would not be problematic in the first place. Moreover, raw milk contains antimicrobials that naturally destroy harmful bacteria, but which are destroyed with the heat of pasteurization, along with many of the vitamins in raw milk.  Medical research indicates raw milk consumption positively influences the immune system's resistance to the development of asthma as well as numerous other diseases.

It's hard to find raw milk, but if you're interested, check out http://www.realmilk.com/where03.html. If you aren't ready for raw milk, look for milk, yogurt, and cheese from pasture-raised cows. It's good for the cows and good for you!

For more information:

http://www.eatwild.com/

http://www.realmilk.com/

http://nymag.com/restaurants/features/65483/

http://www.ninaplanck.com/books.html

Portobello burgers

Check out these beautiful and savory portobello burgers!

Ingredients:

2 fresh sourdough rolls (sliced in half and heated/toasted)

2 large portobello mushroom caps, cleaned

2 handfuls watercress, washed and dried

2 handfuls sprouts

4 cherry tomatoes, sliced into thin half moons

1/2 cup peppers, sliced thin (red, yellow, or orange - or a mix of all three!)

For the dressing:

6T olive oil

3T balsamic vinegar

2T dijon mustard

paprika

dried basil

dried rosemary

S&P

In a small bowl, whisk together dijon mustard and vinegar. Slowly add olive oil and whisk until ingredients are combined. Then add dried herbs, salt and pepper to taste.

Place the mushrooms, smooth side up, in a shallow dish. Drizzle the mushrooms with dressing. Turn the mushrooms over and drizzle bottom side with dressing. Allow to marinate for about 15 minutes. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of dressing and spread some onto each half of the sourdough rolls.

Place mushrooms into preheated saute pan and cook for about 10 minutes, turning once. Once cooked through, place mushroom, smooth side down, onto the bottom half of the roll (this way the mushroom serves as a small cup, in which to assemble the rest of the ingredients). On top of the mushroom, place a handful of watercress, a handful of sprouts, some peppers and some tomato slices. Cover with the other half of the roll. Take to a park or picnic bench and savor!

Serves 2.

Chopped salad with lemon mustard dressing

Healthy and colorful chopped salad with lemon mustard dressing recipe:

Salad ingredients:

romaine (washed, dried and chopped)

carrots (diced)

celery (diced)

corn kernels (cooked and chilled)

radishes (sliced into thin half moons)

gruyere cheese (diced into cubes)

apple (diced into cubes)

Dressing ingredients:

2T dijon mustard

1 lemon, squeezed for it's juices

4T olive oil

dried herbs mix (e.g., parsley, basil, etc)

salt & pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together mustard and lemon juice. Then slowly add olive oil and continue to whisk. Once you have a smooth consistency, add salt, pepper and herbs.

Place romaine into your serving bowl. Add the rest of the salad ingredients. Drizzle dressing on top. Toss, serve and enjoy!