KonaYoga.com

Take It Off Hawaii

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.

-Jim Rohn

"Take It Off Hawaii" is getting ready to launch this year's ten-week challenge. Between September 6 and November 10, participants will have the chance to rack up Lifestyle points by creating healthy habits in eating, exercise and stress reduction.

Teams of 4 to 10 participants will begin the challenge by registering their starting weight and blood pressure. Team members will then be able to earn points based on a pre-determined list of "good" lifestyle habits such as eating a minimum of 5 vegetable and fruit servings per day (1 point) and taking 10,000 steps (5 miles) per day (2 points). For the complete list, see Lifestyle Points.

"Last year, more than 1,000 pounds were shed by the participants of Take It Off Hawai'i," said Robin Mullin, executive director, Five Mountains Hawai'i," but there are many other benefits that "outweigh" the weight loss. Participants reported higher energy levels, lower blood pressure, and overall profound changes in their lives. This was accomplished through programs that focused on nutrition, activity/exercise, stress resilience, and a bit of friendly/healthy competition."

I'm a board member of Five Mountains Hawaii and this year I've decided to form a Kona Yoga team. I'll be creating and teaching some flowing yoga sequences that could be used to gain physical activity points, as well as  organizing walks and weekly support meetings.

If you're interested in joining us, please send me an e-mail: [email protected]. Teams are limited to ten participants and I have five spots remaining. If you live off-island, you can still participate online with all of the forms and resources made available by Take It Off Hawaii.

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• Take It Off Hawaii - 2010 (guavabee.com)

The First Medical Revolution of the 21st Century

Imagine that one medical advancement held the promise to conquer cancer, perhaps within your lifetime. Now imagine that same advance has the potential to also end more than 70 of life's most threatening conditions, affecting one billion people worldwide. This is the promise of angiogenesis, the first medical revolution of the 21^st century.

-Dr. William Li

You can imagine how excited I was to share an article with my teacher, Jehangir Palkhivala, that contained a list of cancer preventive foods. Since he often suggests specific foods to heal physical (even psychological) issues, I knew he'd be interested in this! That was in early February and I have been waiting for Dr. William Li's talk on TED to become available for viewing.

Released last week, Dr. Li's twenty minute presentation is described by TED:

William Li presents a new way to think about treating cancer and other diseases: anti-angiogenesis, preventing the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. The crucial first (and best) step: Eating cancer-fighting foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game.

If you're interested, watch it by clicking here. If you're wary of links to videos, this is the entire URL which you may copy and paste into your favorite browser:
http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li.html The talk lasts exactly 20 minutes and 02 seconds. Watch it with a cup of green tea or a glass of red wine (both on the  list of beneficial items) and be prepared for the most optimistic cancer solution to date.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~
More resources:

List of AntiangiogenicFoods: http://blog.ted.com/2010/02/dr_william_lis.php

Understanding Angiogenesis



Photo: Wired.com

Rooting New Habits

Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you. ~Elbert Hubbard

It's been a little over three weeks since my teacher Jehangir Palkhivala was here. Time enough for a bare stalk of sugar cane, set in water, to start growing roots and shoots. It's been in my kitchen since the day we  headed out toward Hamakua after a discussion on the benefits of jaggery and raw cane juice.

Armed with a machete we bought in Waimea, Jehangir chopped several stalks growing by the roadside near Honokaa and once back in Kona, he peeled and cut them into bite sized pieces so we could chew and suck on raw cane. That's when I decided  to grow one of the dark, deep purple canes.

As I was holding the growing stalk in my hands today and wondering if it was ready to be planted, it illustrated Jehangir's teachings: given time and faith, it grows and transforms. The exchange of notes and experiences among other workshop participants also continues to grow and folks are making subtle, yet dynamic changes.

The foods and eating plan that Jehangir suggested as a way to balance body energies, weren't difficult at all for me to follow for the requisite 21 days. I had no physical ailment I was trying to cure but lost five pounds, my skin feels well hydrated and I've fallen in love with different foods and tastes. Clean, unadulterated, straight up from the ground stuff. No animals. What I'm hoping to plant along with my purple sugar cane is the habit of eating clean and save the unconscious eating for another, oh maybe...21 days.

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.-Viktor Frankl

Eat Food

Avoid foods that are pretending to be something they are not.  -Michael Pollan

I'm reheating my food blog, Ono Bee. While maintaining the Eat Local theme, I'm also encouraged by Michael Pollan's book Food Rules and artist Terry Border (creator of the scene above) to keep it simple and fun.

 
There's so much news and information streaming toward us on a daily basis, often conflicting what was said the month before, that most people give up trying to understand it all.  What Pollan did was seek out answers to the simple question, "What should I eat?" and came up with sixty-four simple rules which could be even further reduced to seven words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I know, it sounds like marching orders for a little rabbit. That's why, the other  thing I plan to do with Ono Bee is to find good tasting, healthy foods to make at home or restaurants that serve the same.  It's bound to be good for all of us.

In the end, it's our healthcare system and our country, and while a growing number of us are shopping for fresh, local and organic food, the majority of Americans who end up in our healthcare system are not. Thus there is always a need for constant outreach and education. Excerpt from Healthcare:The High Cost of the American Diet. Organic Connections Magazine

Please stay tuned to www.OnoBee.com.  In the meantime, a few more food rules:

"It's better to pay the grocer than the doctor".
"If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you are not hungry."
"Don't eat anything you aren't willing to kill yourself."

and more...

Photo: Food Art by Terry Border via GPL Teens

Food as Medicine: Almonds

Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food. -Hippocrates



During Jehangir Palkhivala's workshop last month, I mentioned that my foot was cramping in a few of the poses and he suggested I eat 3 almonds, three times a day. I did it and the cramping stopped on the fourth day.

Almonds have protein, vitamins, and minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus and my muscles got whatever they needed through a steady, three times a day dosage with no adverse side effects.

I've mentioned this in my yoga classes and decided that this was a great way to get the recipe out. If it works for you, please let me know. At the very least, you'll find a delicious new snack (with a higher nutrient content than the canned nuts). I'm also using a sesame seed recipe for bone building and juicing cilantro for my parents to cleanse and strengthen their arteries. After several weeks, my mom has cut her blood pressure medication in half and my dad's blood sugar level has gone down.

I know, it's not hard science and purely anecdotal evidence at this point, but it's all real food, in small portions. It's certainly given me greater appreciation and respect for unprocessed, unadulterated food: generic goodness!

Sharon Warren, of Warren Botanicals, wrote down Jehangir's recipe as he prescribed it to her and kindly shares it with us:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
One cup raw organic almonds
Juice of 1/2 lime
Real good salt* (amount is according to your taste)
Mix lime and salt into a light paste and rub almonds well with this mixture.
Spread almond mixture out onto a baking pan
When oven has reached 350 degrees put almonds into the oven and immediately turn oven down to 200 degrees
Roast for 20 minutes
Remove and turn almonds over and return to oven for 5 more minutes
When finished roasting, cool almonds and store in a glass jar
Eat 3 almonds three times a day before each meal to eliminate muscle cramps

If you have any questions or are interested in receiving remedies for other ailments, let me know. It's all in good health.

Photo: University of Toronto
*Such as unrefined sea salt.

"Thanks, for the Memories"

Today equals the sum of yesterday's dreams and tomorrow's memories. ~William Shubin
 

At a yoga workshop one year, we focused on releasing spots of tightly bound muscle tissue in our abdomens by applying long, deep and sustained pressure to the belly knots. Some people had amazing revelations. Long forgotten struggles and issues arose, often in tearful recognition. I, in contrast, encountered the most intense taste and smell of...turkey, stuffing and gravy!

The taste and smell were so lusciously enjoyable that it made up for the embarrassment I felt in sharing my "revelation". My teacher, in all his loving compassion, suggested that my experience might have had something to do with cravings or my feelings associated with cravings. After a few questions, he offered that my sense of amusement and joy indicated a release.

That occurred in 2006 and now when I think of turkey, stuffing and gravy I associate it more with the sounds and feelings of Thanksgiving. Pots and pans clanging, the oven door opening and closing, "watch out, it's hot", "here, taste this", "look who's here!", "mmmm, that looks good" are all sound bites that replay. I don't crave the food, although I can smell and taste it.

I pressed some wheatgrass for my daughter-in- law yesterday and she loved it, saying that it reminded her of rolling in the grass! Pleasing connections. That's what we all need. Not just with food but with everything that moves us forward.

If we want pleasant memories, what we do now is vital. In my yoga practice, I try to make each breath and its coordinating movement bring me joy and pleasure. I want my body to name each pose Happy. One day, I want joy to be my natural response when I inhale, but for now, I think of turkey, stuffing and gravy.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Week!

Illustration: Julie Paschkis

Food. Don't Take it for Granted.

The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed. -Brillat-Savarin

 

When I read an interview with Alice Waters, author and owner of Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, the current headlines of babies poisoned by milk in China, shed a different light:

"...every decision we make about the food that we eat has consequences. And they aren't just about people's personal health. There are consequences in terms of the healthcare system for all of us if people eat food that makes them sick. And there are environmental consequences. But I think the thing that people don't understand is that there are cultural consequences." (1)

As a residual of the milk situation, a particular brand of candy made in China has been taken off store shelves in Hawaii with more perhaps to follow. After sending a message along to a few people and receiving several "thank you" notes from those who often buy White Rabbit candy, I needed to hear a positive note. How vigilant do we have to be about our food sources? Who's in charge? Alice Waters continues:

"When we're eating fast food, we're not just eating the food, we're eating a set of values that comes with the food. And it's telling us that food should be cheap. It's telling us that food should be the same no matter where we are on the planet. It's telling us that advertising confers value. That it's OK to eat 24 hours a day. That there are unlimited resources. It's telling us that the work of the people who grow or raise the food is unimportant -- in fact we don't even need to know. And all of those values are informing what's happening in the world around us." (1)

She's so right. The number of women who breast- feed in China has declined as more young mothers have entered the workforce and given in to the advertised benefits of baby formulas. Many of them view instant formulas as a status symbol! (2)

Where's my positive note? I think it's time to change my tune! Except when I cook for company, food is a bother. Even though I don't use a microwave and buy organic as much as possible, according to Alice Waters, I've got fast food values. I think about food only when I'm hungry and then I want it fast. It's time to bring my yoga into the kitchen.

As I mentally prepare for the Eat Local Challenge that begins this Wednesday, the world within my 100 mile radius comes into focus. I'm looking for sources of locally grown foods to replace my favorite "foreign substances" and it sure looks as though a plan and a schedule are necessary. It's been years since I've made a weekly menu! But then all it takes is a decision and a change in attitude, a far more pleasant attitude.

Alice says, "you have to find ways of slowing it down. And this is an everyday delightful way to slow it down. Take time. Take a moment....there's pleasure in the doing. It's pleasure in work. It's something that we don't understand in this country. Work is over there and pleasure's over here..."

Consider what it would be like, if people all over the world were able to:

• Eat locally and sustainably.
• Eat seasonally.
• Eat together with friends and family.
• Believe that food should never be taken for granted.

What would need to change? What hasn't happened, yet?

-------------------------------------
Sources:
(1) Interview with Alice Waters (Salon Life)
(2) Women worry, but many don't breastfeed in China. (AP)

Photo: happy d

"Cooking" for Me, Myself and I

When I am organized and have a refrigerator stocked with local fruits and veggies (70% of the time and getting better), this is how I assemble my breakfast/lunch. I take some local, organic lettuce greens, 2 oranges, 2 frozen bananas and a quarter-sized piece of ginger. I add some acai concentrate, Hawaiian Spirulina and Agave syrup or local honey.

 

I turn my Vita-Mix to the "variable" speed and slowly increase it to high and within less than a minute, I've taken the colorful blend to a single shade of "furple".

  You won't taste the lettuce or spirulina because of the sweetness of the fruits. This whole concoction sustains me through the day, it varies slightly with the fruits that I'm given or find at the local supermarket.  All of the fiber and goodness remains in the smoothie. It's no wonder that I'm in love with my Vita-Mix, a blender with 4 wheel drive!

Nothing Says Lovin' Like Something from the Oven

We talk a lot about babies in the Prenatal Yoga class on Friday mornings. I can share my experience of being pregnant, having a natural birth, and having a boy. It gives me some of the qualifications to teach the class even though my birthing experiences are almost 28 years old. My son Brede (bray-dee) will be 28 this year and married for three of those years to Natalie.

They took me out for a Valentine's Day dinner, along with my nephew Kai's shadow  (a school project and subject of another post or two). It's when they come over for dinner that I'll crank up the stove and oven, drag out the big pots and pans and even bake a pie! This Sunday I fed them beef stew and rice, a green salad (I have a lot of greens in my reefer) and a peach pie.

I think we all eat lighter during the week, but something chemical happens when you gather with kinfolk. Your taste buds emit cholesterol melting enzymes and all the rules are suspended for 24 hours.

There you go, cut the Kona Yoga logo in there and it turns all that sugar and spice into a one Om Pie. You can take me out of the kitchen but I'm still a boy-pleasing-mom who's too short to get a decent photo.

By the way, does anyone know the entire jingle that contains my post title? I'm sure it's from the days of black and white TV...Gunsmoke, Lassie. Show us your maturity.

3/11/08. Kathleen Cornell provided the correct ending to the jingle: "Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven, AND PILLSBURY SAYS IT BEST!"

A New Green on the Block

Here's another reason to seek out local foods. If you frequent the weekly farmers' markets, your patronage and support will encourage them to offer new and varied products. When they do, you'll have a chance to try foods that you may have never seen before, much less tasted.

I grew up with my Aunty Thelma's daikon-ba, pickled daikon shoots, on hot rice with a sprinkling of soy sauce. Sometimes with hot green tea added for what's known as chazuke.

My aunt grew vegetables in a designated "patch", along side her driveway and around her grey, two-story house.  Wherever she deemed the soil rich enough and the sunlight sufficient for her eggplants, string beans, daikon, etc., she planted an edible landscape and served up some of the most delicious food offerings this side of heaven!

So now, when someone offers me a sealed, plastic bag full of green stuff that I am not familiar with, my taste buds grapple. Is this something we like? Can we associate it with something good that we've had in the past? The curly leaf mustard greens on sale at Manuka Farms' booth today, fit the bill.  It was crispy and slightly bitter, like the raw onion slices that I love in my salads and because I knew that it was grown in Big Island soil, I thought of Thelma as I chewed and salivated.

Mustard Greens: Nutritional Facts

Photo: CookThink