Soul Food - Dining on the Wild Side

We hear these words and this phrase, Soul Food mentioned around seemingly good food or supposedly great comforting food yet do we use it too loosely? Might it mean something far more, much deeper then the connection we make between feeding ourselves rich foods?

Perhaps when it comes to food, eating and diet in general this term goes back to a distant time when we were more in touch with who we are and what the consequences of eating a poor diet would be. What if this really has to do less with the type of food and relates to the place the food comes from?

When I think of a spiritual connection to my food, these days I seem to gravitate towards wild game, herbs, vegetables and berries I grow in the garden and meat I raise myself. All of this would be organic in that no chemical would knowingly be supplied to anything.

Our food is something that has gotten away from us. We have been taken down a path of resistance to real, earth grown produce towards trusting and placing faith in clean, 'safe' (sterile) foods manufactured, treated and processed in some way.

This alone destroys the intended meaning of our food - it is meant to build strong healthy bodies, also contributing to strong willed minds. But, we must also take this one step further because we are spiritual creatures, our food is meant to maintain this connection we have with the earth and all her forces.

For me, this has come to mean keeping the cleanest diet possible, and seeking out wild natural sources of basic foods that are alive with nature vibrating inside of it. I have mentioned how the first time I ate venison (after many years) I dreamed of the foods the animal had been eating - wild apples, grasses, trees - as if I was becoming a part of some hidden landscape.

But then again, I was not becoming anything - this wild animal was now leading me inward, towards an ancient original aspect of myself - my soul. They have not forgotten who we are....

April

Roast Venison cooked in clay pot

If You Think Changing Your Diet Is Too Much Trouble...well...

If you think changing your diet is too much trouble and too much work to cook, eat at home, peel vegetables, learn a few recipes, get organised in your kitchen...

Wait until you are sick or ill because of the way you have been eating. Then trying to back track and reverse all those years of playing Russian roulette with your body - well, that takes far more, time, energy and effort then making a few small changes right now.

The beginning of a new year is just that - a fresh start. A time for renewal and with that possibilities. Absolutely everything that makes life worth living is stored deeply within our bodies. And the only way in is through treating your body well with good clean food, water and of course exercise.

A few years ago when I started making changes (and I had just as many to make as anyone else) I took things one at a time - literally week by week until I had completely reoganised my lifestyle, my diet and myself. Once I knew and felt I was on the road to better health, then I was able to relax.

During that time, each week I would take an area of my life and make a change for the better. I even remember spending a weekend getting rid of everything in the house that was not organic. We were left with a clean slate and started over.

Then another week I stopped buying boxed cereal and have only ever made breakfasts since with things like porridge, home made muesli, kippers and toast, roasted sweet potatoes with nut butter (lovely by the way!) and so forth.

Moving forward into the next week I got rid of the dairy, meats and animal products. That may not be for everyone, but at the time, I wanted to really clean out my body - so we spent the next 6 or 7 years vegan and vegetarian. 

We replaced these foods with beans, lentils, peas and other great sources of protein. We kept going until we all felt, looked and knew we were in much better health. And I have never looked back...

The difference is - you have to stick with it. You have to alter your lifestyle, your habits, set up your life to provide a framework supportive of good health. Otherwise, you end up frustrated and going back to old habits.

Once you make each of the changes you are needing to make - reorganise your life to suit your new way of living.

It really is this simple...

April

Homemade Hazelnut butter - Yumm!!! 

It All Begins with A Change in Attitude....

At this time of year there are always a couple of things on our minds - the top one being how to get healthy and stay healthy - perhaps you have been thinking long and hard about exercise, diet changes, or firming up your spiritual walk. 

Any one of these might require of you a stronger constitution - but that is exactly what is missing... so how about a change of attitude? It's often such a small thing - a slight alteration in your thinking can then work wonders on the rest of your life.

For me, it was the fact that I wanted to be fit enough to carry on with living my life...and to not ever experience sickness again like I once had. That was motivation enough and it still gets me out of bed every morning to this day.

With this change in attitude in mind - what if you were to start replacing anything nasty in your diet with something good for you - but you would still get to enjoy yourself. And who knows, you might even be surprised and actually like it! LOL

For me there are many things I no longer eat (and have no desire to) but have replaced them all with a far healthier version.....here is a list of some items for you to get started on in your own life:

Still drinking the drugged stuff? Try dandelion coffee, chicory or nut coffee, aids digestion, detoxes the liver and tastes great.

Tea is not much better and is very addictive - in place of tea why not indulge in herbal drinks such as lemon & thyme or chamomile flowers and fruit?

Next, change out that yukky yeasty bread for some homemade organic spelt soda bread...when you make it yourself you can add anything you like - cinnamon and raisin, herby rosemary or seeds and nuts.

Then get rid of those whites - they are sitting on your spare tire - instead of white potatoes have sweet potato, pumpkin or squash, in place of white sugar try honey, maple syrup and apple concentrate, and there are so many lovely kinds of rice to use such as basmati, brown long grain, brown jasmine, red rice, wild rice and black rice. 

Any of the treats (and let's face it, we've eaten enough during the holidays!) can be replaced with homemade versions of cakes, cookies - or something simpler such as a few dates, figs or my favourite, dried mango....

As you can see, this is only the beginning - but all it takes are a few changes such as these and before you know it - not only has your attitude changed, so have you.

April

Hot Apple, Pineapple, Ginger and Cinnamon juice during the holidays...healthy and delicious!

Wild Rabbit Stew - A change for the better

Today I made Wild Rabbit Stew - it is one of my favourite meals from way back in my childhood and I still feel it is such a wholesome meal. What is more, it is simple to make and rabbit is fairly easy to come by, especially this time of the year.

Wild rabbit is lean and being wild caught, not full of medicated feeds or even weird GMO grains. I can taste and feel the difference whenever I eat something wild caught (or organic) as opposed to the heavily treated type of meat or fish.

And there is a huge difference in flavour, texture and perhaps anything else you might be expecting in meats. I ate a lot of wild rabbit when I was growing up - along with other game such as sea ducks, and moose.

Including wild game into your diet, certainly when it is in season is a healthy idea...there are no unhappy bunnies in the wild. They are free to live as they should and this means an important source of superior food for us.

To cook wild rabbit it is best to marinade it overnight first. I use something simple such as balsamic vinegar, honey mustard, bay leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper - with a little water. I also use a slow cooker to cook the rabbit first before I put the vegetables in to make a stew.

Rabbit is full of tiny little bones and I have small children - so the meat is cooked first, then taken off the bones, lightly floured and added to a ready stew of seasoned (sage, thyme, rosemary, lovage) vegetables.  I check the liquid from the rabbit carefully before I add it to the stew as well.

Once all is assembled, let it cook for another hour or so and then stand in the slow cooker to cool down. This makes a most delicious meal for the whole family which is both nourishing and low in fat. We all enjoy our rabbit stew in the winter months.

April

Wild Rabbit Stew - lots of herbs and veggies!

Make Up Your Own Mind, BUT.....

I have been keeping a bit of an eye on the articles that come out this time of year - you know the ones - 'how to lose 10 pounds by next week' or 'how to detox completely by cutting back on wine 2 nights a week' or the old standards 'Don't detox, don't exercise, take this pill'....

So, you may have already guessed what I think and feel about some of this total load of rubbish being sent around the internet. There is one new one these last couple of years though, which completely dismisses water fasting as a form of detox.

And that one sends me into a bit of a rant...LOL

Yesterday I was reading a not very insightful article written by someone who talked with 2 dietitians to gather information for their report. Of course, one recommendation for a New Years detox was to cut back on alcohol to only drinking 5 nights a week (I am so not kidding) - leaving me wondering if she was thinking how low were her expectations of the people reading the post.

The other piece of sage advice was to keep things in moderation - but to include everything. Right. Well, I can tell you from a lot of personal experience that is how most people set themselves up to fail in the first place.

I don't know many people who can eat one square of chocolate or one cookie or one crisp - walk away and not hear the bag calling their name for the rest of the day.... And, what about the fact that this is the problem - these 'foods' and their poisonous ingredients (sugar, caffeine, alcohol) are addictive?

Of course, then there is the dismissal of fasting and using water to cleanse your body. Imagine! How could anyone do such a thing - what on earth does water have to do with cleaning, clearing and removing the built up debris from the inside of our cells?

Just because it is the universal solvent, has a somewhat neutral pH and we use it to clean everything else, doesn't mean anything....Perhaps you can tell, these so-called experts have never done a detox, altered their diets and at least one of them is an alcoholic....

Nuff said

If you are ready to do a fast, change your diet and get your life back - here's a great place to start

To Detox or Not to Detox...

So, you spent another Solstice/Christmas/Yule/New Year's laying about, over indulging in sugar, alcohol, chocolate - just fueling some bad habits and feeding the mold, yeast and other nasty critters in your gut. You wake up 2 days after the new year feeling heavy, yukky and wondering how and if you can ever feel 'good' about yourself again.

But right now you feel like a bag of sh** and you are seriously considering doing something about it. Perhaps a change in diet or a detox, or some exercise....

For the life of me, I can't understand why this is such a dilemma! I mean, what on earth holds you back, keeps you stuck in that place and won't let you go? We can read about it, talk about it, cry over it - and yes there are many energetic, spiritual, emotional, fear based reasons that you are still doing all the same things; over and over again.

Ultimately, it is up to you and only you to break these patterns. You are the only one who can stand up (get off your arse) and place one foot in front of the other one and take those first steps towards making the most important decision of your year and perhaps your entire life.

If you are still addicted to anything, you need to detox. If you do not exercise, you must detox. When you spend days, weeks and months over eating the wrong types of foods - your body needs a break, you need to take some time to clean and support your internal digestive functions. 

If you are sick, unwell, have taken anti-biotics (or drugs) of any sort over the last little while - you need to rebuild your system from the beginning using clean water and real food. And you must find a way to exercise, get out side and follow your dreams.

Now, for those of you who are wanting to follow a higher path, pursue your own spirituality and embark on the single most important journey of your life - there is no time like this moment. And no better way to begin then to clean up your diet, start a detox (water fast) and change your life.

What you need, is here

April

The Pagan Diet - a great place to start... also available on Gumroad in pdf 

New Years' Food Resolution

I haven't posted much about how to cook a turkey - I just assume most people would know how to do that and wouldn't need me to go on about it here...but I did see something over the holidays that got me thinking differently...

One rare day, I opened up the newspaper (we buy them for arts projects!) to a food section which caught my eye and saw how the writer of the article was explaining in great detail how to make a stuffing for turkey.

In particular she was talking about how to make stale bread, using the white stuff from a shop. Well, to say the least - it got a chuckle out of me!! LOL

Who needs to know how to make stale bread...any left over bread (after 2 or 3 days) will be 'stale' --- and if it's not, it's most likely the kind that doesn't rot and you should not be eating that rubbish anyway. And certainly not ruining your turkey with it.

As a matter of fact there appears to be quite a few things that people are 'needing' to be told about this time of year, not the least of which is what, how and when to eat. I don't know where this is all coming from, it's as if something has switched off inside of everyone's brains and now, no one remembers how to cook.

If you are wanting to remember how to cook or to get back into this age old art - start with something simple. Or better still, something you like (and no, sugar and chocolate don't count) such as a soup, stew or baking some healthy muffins.

In fact, this is a marvelous place to begin your new year - perhaps in the form of a resolution - be determined to cook far more, to make more meals from scratch and to get reintroduced to your kitchen. It really is the centre of the home and all good feelings should stem from this place...

Your gut, your digestion, your mind, body and soul will thank you for it,

April

My daughter waiting for her dinner!