Choice

Some mornings I wake up & really miss the routine I had while keeping up with my little 365 days of breakfast project. It was 2020 & I was leaning into my first year of sobriety, feeling a little less raw each day - despite the pandemic & the seemingly new found level of uncertainty it presented us all with. In July I celebrated 3 years of sobriety. The uncertainty persists but somehow that feels ok, manageable. A round of applause for better daily practices, coping mechanisms & the absence of anxiety inducing booze. Anyhow, I was thinking this morning. Thinking about over thinking. Thinking about thinking vs. feeling. Thinking about what I can & can not control. As I worked through my yoga routine all the thoughts reduced down into the sweet little reminder that I often need. So I wanted to pop in to share it here…

I control what I think about.

It’s simple & maybe annoyingly obvious but I do not believe I am alone in regularly forgetting that there is a choice. Part of me wants to say is that all it takes is a little awareness but let’s be real - some days it takes a heroic dose of awareness.

Anyway - happy weekend. I hope it’s peaceful & fun. I hope you choose to think beautiful, creative, connective, constructive thoughts. May your moments of awareness outnumber the times when you forget the choice is yours.

B

For old times sake - breakfast today was coconut yogurt with maple chia pudding, strawberries, raspberries, bloobs, pecans, pumpkin seeds & cocao nibs. Protein, fiber, fat, flavor, color, fuel.

If you are feeling down..

Here we are - a week into Dry January! I hope you’re all hanging in and feeling ok. I know the news has a lot of people feeling stressed and depressed. Looks like America couldn’t even make it a full week into the new year without another fit of divisive disintegration. We have so much healing that needs to be done. It starts with ourselves. Always. On that note, If you find yourself lacking energy, feeling weak, anxious, depressed, unable to focus or at the mercy of one chaotic mood swing after another - you might have a B vitamin deficiency. Which would make sense if your are newly in recovery. B vitamins are water soluble so, drinking means that once we “break the seal” they all quite literally go down the toilet. Not ideal. Our body does not produce B vitamins so we have to get it from the food we eat or supplements. These MVP’s keep the body energized by converting our food into energy and creating red blood cells which are responsible for carrying oxygen to your muscles. They also ensure that your immune and nervous system are working properly. In fact it is vital in the production of neurotransmitters, especially dopamine, serotonin and GABA. All essential for feeling calm, sleeping well, experiencing pleasure, being happy, ya know - our general well-being.

There are plenty of delicious things you can eat to get all your necessary B vitamins. Leafy greens, eggs, yogurt, salmon, avocado, legumes, bananas, plantains, tofu, pork and chicken breast.. to name a few.

Day 363: Last night I did not sleep so well. My dreams were less than great and I blame it on consuming too much news. I woke up this morning and I just wanted something beautiful. I wasn’t very hungry but if I have learned anything over the past year it is that skipping breakfast means things will get a little dark and bitchy by 2pm. So.. something simple, nourishing and beautiful to balance out all the chaos and negativity from yesterday. Bavarian yogurt, pumpkin seeds, a few raisins, almonds, some toasted pine nuts leftover from last nights dinner, half an apple and a turmeric, honey syrup I whipped up with a little fermented pineapple shrub that I made a while back. So damn good. I could have used a splash of any kombucha but that’s not what was around. Point is - work with what you got. Get creative.

Our Body & Our Consciousness

“What we eat is very important. Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are. Tell me where you eat, and I will tell you who you are.
We are what we consume. If we look deeply into what and how much we consume every day, we’ll come to know our own nature very well. We have to eat, drink, and consume, but if we do it unmindfully, we may destroy our body and our consciousness.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Eat

Today it looks like I am eating Mr. Bill… “Oh no!”
I wonder what Thich Nhat Hanh would have to say about that. He is right though. We are what we consume. It goes beyond our food choices too. The music we listen to, the company we keep, the air we breathe, the books we read, the things we buy, the podcasts we listen to… you catch my drift. It all effects us. Physically, emotionally and energetically. Keep that in mind today and see what you notice.

Day 326: Ginger coconut rice with kimchi, sunflower sprouts, bloobs, braggs amino acids, Udo’s 3*6*9 oil and a soft boiled egg. I cooked the rice in coconut milk, a few slices of ginger and a little pink salt for flavor but also for comfort and extra nutrition. Ginger has such a unique flavor and it is great for soothing the gut, lowering inflammation, cutting cholesterol, fighting infections, boosting your brain function, making you feel warm from the inside out and maybe preventing cancer. Coconut milk adds some extra fat to the dish which we need for hormone production and brain proper function.

It’s stinky but I like it

Day 286: Quinoa with sea veg, kimchi, a perfect egg, bloobs and kiwi.

Kimchi used to be a part of my hangover cure and incorporating it into my diet was (unknowingly) one of the first steps I took on my path to sobriety. I had eaten it before here and there but never with any regularity or intention until I read that kimchi was the new Prozac. I was wicked depressed and eating fermented cabbage seemed worlds easier than making the big changes I really needed to. Duh. So, I started making a weekly kimchi stew. This stuff was my savior and a sign that somewhere deep down I still gave a shit about myself. Brothy.. spicy.. with little silken tofu and a whole lotta gojuchang and kimchi. It made me sweat which had to be a big part of what made me feel better as I had plenty of toxins to release. I usually made it on Sunday nights - when I felt like chewed gum - after a weekend of partying with all the hopes that it would dance my brain chemistry around and out of its depression or magically make my shitty choices somehow work for me. I did this week after month until one day I wondered… what if ALL the good in this food didn’t have to contest with the booze? I knew that alcohol is a depressant. I knew it was tanking mood AND creating an after shock of anxiety that lingered for days - and caused me to drink more. I realized that had been trying to have it both ways and as long as I kept that up anything I tried would be a bandaid. Luckily by the time I finally quit drinking I had already incorporated something into my diet that would be make a huge difference in my sobriety. Delicious, fermented, positively probiotic - kimchi. It provided me with a weekly ritual and it helped to rebuild my microbiome. That is where 90% of our bodies serotonin and 50% of dopamine are produced. With facts like that it is clear this is a huge priority. It could even make all the difference in ones ability to stay sober. It gets mega bonus points for the ability to combat some other health issues that can come from alcohol and substance abuse, such as:

Candida // Inflammation // Weight gain // Premature aging // High cholesterol
Higher risk of Osteoporosis

AND it has loads of potassium which I was talking about yesterday. Sold? You can make it yourself (it honestly isn’t that intimidating) or buy it at the farmers market or grocery store. I like the Mother in Laws Kimchi brand quite a bit and they have a vegan option. A++.

Let’s wrap this up with hunky Brad from Bon Appétit making a little kimchi in the test kitchen, shall we?