If according to Hippocrates, food is medicine, then a cook book or a recipe blog is the prescription pad.
Here comes my disclaimer: I am neither a medical doctor, nor a nutritionist. My background is holistic psychology, naturopathy, essential oils, and I am an enthusiastic hobby/family cook.
My food section here on this website is not intended to diagnose, prescribe or treat any health or psychotherapeutic condition and should not be used as a substitute for consulting with a professional health care provider.
CREATING A HOLISTIC FUNCTIONAL NUTRITION KITCHEN
CONSCIOUSLY
What we eat matters!
Food isn't just nourishment and pleasure. The right kind of food can enhance the quality of our lives, especially as we age, now in our wisdom years. We don't just want that our bodies function with minimal of aches and pains, we also strive for mental health and cognitive vitality!
Every bite we take can either upgrade or downgrade our biology. It's the key to living a long and healthy life.
It's not always easy to make the right food choices. But the kitchen is our ultimate playground for creating magic with real whole food.
Considering that our bodies are individually different,
there is no one perfect way of eating for everyone!
- Eat real food, preferably grown organically and naturally.
- Transform your kitchen into a sanctuary of wellness, a safe zone with only foods that nourish rather than harm.
- Eat animals that are raised in ways that are humane (Or as my son would say, meat from 'happy animals)
- Focus on quality and nutrient density
- Avoid ultra-processed food
- Keep sugar and starch to a minimum.
- Eat lots of plants, Keep meat as a side dish. Quality should be your most important objective when shopping, cooking, and eating.
- Beware of foods with health claims on their packaging, such as "reduced sugar", a marketing ploy for "healthy food" pretenders.
- Ensure you consume enough omega-3 fats.
- Eat enough high-quality protein to maintain muscle mass.
- Learn to find joy in cooking and preparing life-giving meals to share with loved ones.
- Find connectedness and friendship in community. Sharing in life with others is as old as we are as a species.
As I mentioned earlier, I am an enthusiastic hobby cook. I never claim to be a purist! Despite all the knowledge I have gathered over 70 years, I still fancy some less-than-beneficial munchies ever so often. However, I am getting better at it, hence my contribution of it here on this website. I aim to inspire you to join me in eating and cooking consciously.
One thing I had to wean myself off was relying on prepacked sauces and seasoned powder mixes for certain dishes. Cooking from scratch was initially a challenge. Like many other people, my kitchen had been held hostage by the food industry with some ultra-processed fare.
As you may have read elsewhere, I managed to die due to a cardiac arrest, but was resuscitated and given a second chance with life.
I found the book: "The Paleo Cardiologist: The Natural Way to Heart Health" by Dr. Jack Wolfson very useful. These days, I like to focus more on nutrient-dense plant-based food, but with carefully sourced meat, fish, etc.
As we get older, I find a common theme amongst my clients and friends, which is mental health and cognitive fitness concerns. Like you, I am forever learning!
Because I have travelled a lot and enjoy cuisines from around the world, I also allow my artistic bent to surface and try to adapt certain dishes so that they fall into my conscious eating lifestyle. However, with some of the traditional family recipes here on this site, I just honour the time-proven ways, and well, enjoy them as they are.
The key is enjoyment, not being a health police fanatic. The 70/30 rule works for me.....
TRANSFORMING COOKING FROM CHORE TO JOY …
RE-IMAGINE WELLBEING AND COOKING AS MEDITATION
(imagine yourself being a Temple Priestess for your 'BodyTemple' as you create sacred foods with loving intentions)
WELL, WHAT EXACTLY IS MINDFUL EATING AND CREATING A CONSCIOUS & HEALING KITCHEN?
It is easy to overeat candy and junk food because these foods have been engineered by the food industry to keep you addicted. Food scientist literally plot how to highjack your brain chemistry with the ingredients in their products by tapping into your "bliss point" and creating "heavy users".
So, what does that mean for you? ... become a label reader on whatever package or jar you happen to think of buying - ideally foods without labels and packages. Or even better, get fresh, just picked plants from your garden or the market.
A BIT ABOUT MY FOOD BACKGROUND
Although I was born in Hannover, Germany, my second home was always with my grandmother in Göttingen. It was here that my father, Dr. Max Heimann, met my mother. He was a science plant disease doctorial student renting a small room in my grandmother's house, and my mother studied pharmacy. Göttingen is a German town known for its university. The Old Botanical Garden has a collection of medicinal plants and an arboretum.
My grandmother was of aristocratic descent, born and raised in Bavaria. My grandfather moved the entire family over to Göttingen at some point. They lived in a very big old house with gardens all around. The large front garden was more of a gorgeous rose garden, and the back garden had all sorts of fruit trees, soft fruit and vegetable areas.As a Bavarian lady, grandma prided herself in excellent cooking. Yes, she as an amazing cook who lived into her mid 90's. Grandma was an old world-style cook, and food was fresh and seasonal. If it wasn't freshly brought in from the garden, it came from the market.
Grandma seldom cooked from a recipe, she was an intuitive cook who treated her ingredients with soul, care, attention, and respect. In my grandma's world getting into a healthy relationship with food was more important than blindly following a recipe.
On my original food website (the one I lost, and now bit by bit adding recipes here from whatever I could salvage), I remember how my daughter used to get irritated with me for not adding the exact measurements to most of my dishes. She rolled her eyes when I said that it's an art, she needs to feel intuitively how to connect with the ingredients and cook with love from the heart....
You see, anything you really get into a relationship with, will reveal it's secrets to you.
Many of us have been in a toxic relationship with food, and we can give ourselves permission to gradually walk free form that, learning the art of mindful self-care, inner harmony, joy and self-compassion.
When you are in a loving relationship with natural food and yourself, all you have to do is stand in the kitchen, your sacred space, with an open mind and heart, recognising the honour of preparing and cooking the food. It is learning the difference between cooking as a science and cooking as an art.
The process starts with a question: how does this particular dish want to be put together. Although I come from a science background, I also very much so embrace my woo-woo art of living. It's learning to experience and intimate relationship with life foods and vibrationally alive essential oils. You open yourself, and you are guided by a higher essence, and discover things you never knew before. It simply requires you to feel, to listen, and to trust yourself. That's art.
PRACTICAL Tips for Mindful and Conscious Meditative Meal Preparation
1. Set an Intention:
- Begin by setting a positive intention for your meal preparation. This could be about nourishing yourself and others, expressing gratitude for the food, or connecting with the vibrational essence of the ingredients - plants are living creatures with their own energies
2. Create a Sacred Space:
- Treat your kitchen as a sacred space. Forget about the "declutter" mantra you hear so often from experts. It assumes a negative notion of your kitchen and yourself. Instead, imagine you create a sacred sanctuary where everything in it is loved and cherished. For example, I love collecting beautiful containers. Some are vintage, some are from a craft shop. Some are glass, some look like they came from an old fashioned apothecary. Containers that inspire you, spark joy and make you feel good. The key message I like to inspire is: create your personal 'happy place' where you enjoy spending time in.
So, what I am saying is, make the place yours, let your heart sing and feel-good. When you love spending time there, and it puts a smile on your face, then that is all that matters!
- Your sacred space enhances the awareness and energy you put into your meal. Your sacred space is a magical playground of mindful nurturing food artisan rituals, fit for the divine Elder Goddess that you are.
- Touch everything with respectful gratitude, even as you are chopping, blending, and sampling. Nothing should be a rushed routine!
3. Practice Gratitude:
- Take a moment to express gratitude for the ingredients. Acknowledge the farmers, the earth, the sunlight, and the water that contributed to the growth and nourishment of the plants as being living creatures with their own energies.
- Recognize the life force within the plants and other ingredients, such as the natural vibrationally alive culinary essential oils. Treat them with care and reverence.
- Consider the energy and nutrients the food will provide, and prepare it in a way that respects its natural essence.
- You can say a silent thank you or even create a short gratitude ritual before you begin cooking.
4. Engage All Your Senses:
- Be fully present with each step of the meal preparation. Notice the colors, textures, and smells of the ingredients.
- Feel the vibrational energy of the plants as you handle them.
- Listen to the sounds of chopping, sizzling, and stirring.
5. Slow Down:
- Avoid rushing through the meal preparation process. Take your time with each task.
- Focus on the rhythm of your chopping, the flow of stirring, and the arrangement of your ingredients.
6. Mindful Breathing:
- Incorporate deep, conscious breathing into your cooking routine. This can help center your mind and connect you more deeply to the process.
- Take a few deep breaths before starting each new task to maintain focus and calm.
7. Visualize Energy Transfer:
- Visualize positive energy transferring from your hands into the food as you prepare it, and vice versa.
- Imagine the ingredients absorbing love, joy, and health to nourish those who will eat the meal.
8. Create Aesthetic Plates:
- Present your food artfully on the plate. This can be an expressive and creative part of the meditative process.
- Think about colors, shapes, and how the food is arranged to make the meal visually appealing.
9. Mindful Eating:
- Once the meal is prepared, extend the mindfulness to the act of eating.
- Eat slowly, savor each bite, and continue to express gratitude for the nourishment.
- Appreciate textures, flavors, and aromas.
- Put your utensils down between bites to savor each mouthful.
10. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY:
- Eat when you're hungry and stop when you're satisfied, not full.
- Pay attention to how different foods make you feel.
- Avoid eating out of boredom or stress.
11. MINIMISE DISTRACTIONS:
- Turn off screens and other distractions during meals.
- focus mindfully on your food and the act of eating.
- Engage in conversations with diners if you are not eating on your own.
This is Part 1 of the Conscious Kitchen.
Part 2 is: Stocking up Your Larder/Pantry/Store Cupboard
Part 3 is: Cooking and Meal Prep Equipment
Bright blessings,
Rouladen
Read more...Here's a basic recipe of the classic German potato salad ... prepared in my family tradition.
Read more...
