A basic life necessity we cannot do unless we feel valuable and worthy

I recently came across Hale Sofia Schatz, a nourishment educator.  Though I’m still learning about her and her work, I’ve come across some pretty great ideas I wanted to share with you.  Below is a beautiful quote from her book, that left me inspired and with a lot to think about:

“Nourishment means that our bodies, hearts, minds, and spirits are open and willing to take in (what’s being) offered. To do this, we have to believe that we are valuable and worthy to receive.”

When we are eating, are we paying attention to what is going into our bodies with our heard, mind, and spirit?  How do we eat? Why do we eat? What do we eat?  More importantly, do we feel valuable and worthy to receive nourishment through our food?  That is powerful.  One of the biggest changes I’ve made is to become mindful of what I put into my body.  In order for me to do this, I really needed to step into my self-worth and my value.  Fully knowing that I am worthy and valuable enough to only consume that which will allow me to be my very best me. 

Hale’s model has taken this mindfulness to a completely different level.  Below is her model, the “Nourishment Cycle”, which poses wonderful questions that can help us with our mindfulness efforts:

Aren’t these questions great?  How often do you ask these to yourself before and while you are eating?  I didn’t do so often until I came across them!

  • WHO: How often do we feed our anxiety? Our sadness? I love it when I am feeding not only my body, but my mind and spirit.  Nothing feeds my spirit more than food that has been made with the best ingredients and with lots of love. 
  • HOW: Have you ever eaten while driving?  I am pretty sure I’ve done this at some point.  Well no more! Another terrible habit? Eating quickly while standing up in my kitchen, running to my next meeting.  I have made incredible progress at pausing, taking some time to look at my meal, enjoy it, and nourish myself.  I do still have a long way to go on this one!
  • WHY: Aside from being hungry, there are a ton of reasons why we eat.  Boredom.  Routine.  Because we feel we “have to” to keep someone company.  Let’s eat because we are fueling our body.
  • WHAT: The question we probably focus the most on, and probably one of the easiest ones to start with.  What are we feeding ourselves?  Junk or healthy, nutritious food? Processed food, or fresh, beautiful ingredients?

Let’s do this together! I would love to hear your thoughts on how you are nourishing yourself today and what improvements you would like to make tomorrow.  Leave a message below, and if you enjoyed this article, share it with your friends and family. 

Lots of Love,

Judith 

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

This dish is easy, economical, and DELICIOUS!  I made some small “Judith Modifications” to a recipe that comes from “A Plate of Grace”, the cookbook of this super awesome retreat center in Sonoma, California, “The Westerbeke Ranch”.  I hope you enjoy!

  • 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
  • 2 lemons, zested and juiced (keep zest and juice separate)
  • 4-6 garlic cloves (If you love garlic do 6+)
  • 2 teaspoons of rosemary, minced
  • 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons of pepper
  • 1 cup water (or ½ cup water, ½ cup white wine)

Preheat your oven to 425. Lay the chicken down on a pan.  Make sure there is space between the chicken pieces and you are not crowding them (or else the skin will not brown).  Take the lemon zest, half of the lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and combine in a small bowl. Pour evenly over the chicken (make sure each pieces gets lots of your mixture).  Place in the oven.  In 20 minutes, take the chicken out and baste it with the remaining lemon juice.  Put it back in the oven for 20 minutes.  When the chicken is done (take a thermometer and place it in the thickest part of the chicken.  It should say 160 degrees), take all of the chicken pieces out of the pan.  If there is a lot of grease, you might want to pour some out (I didn’t have to when I made it below).  Place pan over flame in stove top.  Add the water (or water and wine), and bring to a boil, scraping off pieces of chicken tuck to the pan.  Let the liquid boil down until it is a tasty sauce (keep tasting it, though this should happen when it is half evaporated).  You can serve the sauce on the side so your guests can pour it over the chicken. Enjoy!! 

Here I am making the sauce after the chicken is done!

Here I am making the sauce after the chicken is done!

A 5 minute delicious banana-flax smoothie

Recently after a workout I was CRAVING this smoothie.  It is so delicious, refreshing, and satisfying.  The best part? You can make it in 5 minutes.  Yup, got home from yoga, added this all to a blender and in minutes, was sipping on deliciousness. 

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1.5 cups spinach
  • 1.5 cups baby kale
  • 1 cup almond milk
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla protein powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds

Add all of the above to your blender and mix until smooth.  

Chia Pudding

We’ve all read the research on chia seeds (if you haven’t, click here: http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/top-10-health-benefits-chia-seeds-6962.html).  They have been a staple in the Mayan and Aztec diets forever.  This is an incredibly easy way to make a yummy chia pudding:

¼ cup of chia seeds

1 cup of coconut milk

Combine the milk and seeds and refrigerate for a few hours (3 hours works, though the longer the better)

Cut up your favorite fruit and serve!  I had some leftover pears and that’s how I did mine below: 

The best baked chicken recipe ever!

"Oh my goodness!"  That’s what I said when I tasted this chicken dish.  "Oh my goodness!"  It was delicious.  It is from the book “Clean Eats” by Dr. Alejandro Junger, who is also the creator of the Clean Diet.  You have to make this recipe ASAP.  You can pretty much serve it with anything, I served it with sautéed kale and garlic.

4 chicken legs (skin on and bone in), thighs and drumsticks separated (you will have 8 pieces total).  Get organic and pasture-raised if possible.  I do even if it means eating less meat during the week!

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 tablespoons whole-grain mustard

8 garlic cloves, totally crushed (below is a video on how to crush garlic)

2 teaspoons fennel seeds (the best part!)

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

4 teaspoons of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. 

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, including the chicken.  Allow the chicken to marinate for 15 minutes.  Place the chicken on a baking dish, with all of the marinate spooned over it.  I took the smashed garlic cloves and placed each one underneath a chicken piece.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.  The chicken will be done when using a thermometer it reads 160 degrees.  A nice crust should form on the chicken (leave it in a little bit longer until this happens).  ENJOY this amazing clean recipe!

How to crush garlic (unlike the video, I do not use a knife when I do this, I feel more comfortable using a wooden spoon; also, you only have to watch 25 seconds of this video, past this the garlic is begins to be chopped):

Currently using to take care of my hair

As with my skin, people often ask me what I use to take care of my hair.  Below is what I use often.  I only wash my hair 2 times per week, as this keeps it healthy and doesn’t strip necessary oils from both my scalp and my hair.  I hope you find these useful!

  1. I am almost always taking a Hair, Nail, and Skin vitamin.  You can pick this up at any grocery/wellness store
  2. The health of your scalp determines the health of your hair.  We often forget about our scalp, so I want you to think about it similarly as you would your facial skin.  I love to do a pre-treatment before I wash my hair.  Depending on what I need at the moment, I use different treatments.  This is what I am using today: http://www.sephora.com/phytopolleine-botanical-scalp-treatment-P6039?skuId=1438050
  3. I love, love, love this new brand Agave!  Talk about NO FRIZZ when you use this shampoo and conditioner.  LOVE!  Highly recommend!  Shampoo: http://www.sephora.com/smoothing-shampoo-P378711?skuId=1521715 and the conditioner: http://www.sephora.com/smoothing-conditioner-P378710?skuId=1521723
  4. Again, health of scalp is super important.  I use this leave-in serum which rejuvenates and revitalizes my scalp to create healthy conditions for new hair growth: http://www.sephora.com/phytocyane-revitalizing-serum-P2883?skuId=98707
  5. Ok, totally repeating myself: health of scalp is super important! This leave-in serum fortifies hair among much more!  http://www.sephora.com/phytodensium-lifeless-hair-age-defying-serum-P186406?skuId=1015676
  6. I do Keratin and/or Brazilian Blow Out, which I absolutely love.  For those frizzies that still pop up, I manage them with this nice product from Bumble & Bumble and my handy dandy blow dryer: http://www.sephora.com/straight-blow-dry-P297554?skuId=1376318
  7. When I do curl my hair, I use this product beforehand.  I take a dollop of it and spread it throughout my hair, especially the areas that will get the most heat from the curling iron.  This not only protect my hair from the heat, but helps the curls keep longer: http://www.sephora.com/prime-style-extender-P375668?skuId=1460138
  8. As I said, I only wash my hair 2 times per week as I find that is what I need to do to keep it healthiest.  If I need to freshen up in between washes, I use baby powder for dry shampoo.  Yup, baby powder.  I have used many of the dry shampoo powders and sprays out in the market and have found baby powder works best for me.  Go figure!  Very old school: Rumor has it this is how dry shampoo started backstage on runway shows :)

Well there it is!  Sending all of you lots of love,

Judith


My breakfast every morning these days

We know the research.  Every health advocate tells us the same thing.  DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST.  It is supposed to be the most important meal of the day.  I have to say, I used to skip breakfast regularly in the past.  Now that I eat breakfast every morning, I do not know how I survived without it!  It has become my favorite meal of the day.

Though it’s easier to default into grabbing a bowl of cereal in the mornings, I challenge you guys to get some protein and healthy fats into this meal.  Below is what I am eating almost every single day for breakfast these days…It’s just so yummy I can’t help but to make it every morning!

  • 1 egg sunny side up
  • ¼ of an avocado
  • 1 slice of gluten free bread
  • A pinch of hot pepper flakes (yum)
  • A pinch of salt

This takes me less than 15 minutes to make and eat!  And I mean “eat” while flipping through fashion magazines and drinking lemon water…More than doable for anyone who has a crazy busy schedule :)  

Sauteed Scallops with Salsa Verde

I love, love, LOVE, scallops.  This recipe is so easy and at the same time elegant, you will want to make it over and over again.  It is from “The Art of Simple Food”, a cookbook that is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

 

THE SALSA VERDE

  • 1/3 cup coarsely chopped parsley
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped very fine or pureed
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • Black pepper (fresh-ground preferred)

Combine all of the above in a small bowl.  Mix well and taste for salt.  Let the sauce sit for a bit to develop the flavors. 

 

THE SCALLOPS

  • 1 lb sea scallops
  • Kosher salt
  • Black pepper (fresh-ground preferred)
  • Olive Oil

Season the scallops with salt and pepper on both sides.  Heat a pan over high heat.  When the pan becomes hot, pour in enough olive oil to coat the bottom.  Heat the olive oil before you start working with the scallops.  It’s very important to make sure your oil is hot enough.  If not, the scallops will stick to the pan!  These guys are so delicate that if they stick, it will be hard for you to take them off the pan without breaking them up.  Here is a good video that explains how to tell if you oil is hot enough: 

Though the video says to start with a cold pan, I actually heat my pan first and then I put in my oil.

When the oil is hot enough, add the scallops to sear them.  Do not crowd the pan or the scallops will steam!  Just cook the scallops in batches until they are all done.  Below is a good video on how to sear scallops.  When all the scallops are cooked, spoon the salsa verde over them and serve immediately!