Our floors have gotten cold. Have yours?

Last year we replaced our wall to wall carpet with laminate floors (best for dogs) and rugs. We love them. They are so easy to clean and the house looks so modern. But recently I have noticed that my feet and calves have become achy and stiff, and that I am feeling colder in general. I am finally experiencing first hand a condition that I have told my patients about for 20 years. The negative health effects of hardwood/tile floors.

Now that the seasons have changed our floors are getting colder. The coldness in your floors can actually have an adverse effect on your health. On the bottom of your feet are key acupuncture points that are in direct contact with the cold. The coldness literally travels up your feet to your calves, low back and into your lower abdomen. Most of my patients will say “But I’m not cold”. Then I touch their feet or their low backs and I ask them to feel how warm my hand is compared to your skin. “Oh yeah I guess I am cold”. The problem is that cold is considered a pernicious evil in Chinese medicine. As it slowly invades your body it enters at the bottom of your feet and creeps up your legs into your lower abdomen. It numbs and desensitized you as it progresses up into your body. You are totally unaware that you have been invaded by “evil” qi.

Walking barefoot on cold wet surface

This problem is quite prevalent in San Diego. You may wonder, how is it possible as we live in such a mild climate. Yes it is mild but it still gets cool and the moisture from the ocean makes the cold even heavier and keeps it on the ground. Even though your head is warm your feet can be quite cold. In addition we all love to go barefoot or at least wear flip-flops. So there you have it, the perfect recipe for the invasion of internal cold.

Here is a list of conditions that indicate you have internal cold:

• PMS
• Infertility
• Low back pain
• Stiff joints
• Prostate issues
• Fatigue
• Dull Headache
• Catch frequent colds or flues
• Bloating and indigestion

Simple things you can do

There are so many benefits to not having carpet so I’m not suggesting we all go back to carpeting. Here are a few simple steps you can do to avoid this health danger. The best remedy is to never go barefoot on cold floors, either inside or out. In fact it is best to wear something that covers not only your feet but your ankle and calf too. Don’t forget to put your slippers on in the middle of the night when you use the bathroom. It is considered a double dose of cold if you are barefoot on the toilet.

Keep your feet covered

Also being football season, it is important to note that the cold can invade your body from stadium seats and other cold cement surfaces. This creates something I call Cold Butt Syndrome. So make sure to bring a blanket and/or pillow to sit on to keep your whole lower body warm.

If you already have cold lower abdomen you can add this practice to your morning regime: place a microwave hot gel pack inside your pants just below your navel when you first get up. Wear it there around the house for 15 minutes. This will help drive the cold out of your lower abdomen. Also drinking Ginger tea and eat mildly spicy food will help.

While you are at it, place a few more blankets and beds around the house for your pets so they are protected from the cold too.

We get cold too.

Let me know if you have cold butt syndrome.  I have lots of stories to tell about this condition.

Inspire Your Flavor Pallette

Taste adventures at The Gourmet Experience

 Del Mar Fairgrounds -Sunday October 9, 2011

I am always looking for new and unusual things to add to our kitchen pantry that will tweak our palettes and inspire our taste buds. Needing to eat gluten-free has forced me to improve my cooking skills and expand my meal repertoire as we eat almost all our meals at home. The consequences of gluten exposure are not pretty and it is better to be safe than sorry. So when Amazon (via Living Social) sent me an offer of discounted tickets to the Gourmet Experience at the Fairgrounds this past weekend I couldn’t resist. I invited my best friend Carol to join me as we both love to cook and are always trying to deconstruct a chef’s dish to discover it’s secret ingredients.

As we first entered the gate we came across the Grilled Fish Taco cooking competition held between 8 of our top local seafood chefs.   It held our attention for a moment but the lure of all that awaited inside the pavilion drew us in.  The O’brien Hall was filled with booths of all different variety of things food and kitchen related.  But as always at these events, there were the “ how did that get here” vendors– such as the wool throws and the Vibrating qi machine. What really impressed me were all the gluten-free offerings.  I was afraid there would be nothing for me to taste.   But no –it seems that there has never been a better time to be Gluten-Free.

Here are three things that caught my attention and intrigued me enough to buy them.

Fennel Pollen Spice Blends from Pollen Ranch in Lemon Cove, CA a small town just west of Sequoia National Park.  

Using Pollen to Spice up your life

Have you ever tasted pollen before?  One time on a hike, my shirt picked up pollen from a flowering bush where I just saw a hummingbird eating.  I tasted it just to see what it would be like to eat like a hummingbird.  Boy was I surprised by the sweetness and the energy burst that came from it.

Here is a company that uses pollen as a base for its spice blends.  They chose Fennel Pollen as it is extremely aromatic and has a licorice taste which is a great base to build a flavor profile.  The folks at Pollen Ranch hand collect the Fennel blooms at their peak, then carefully dry and screen them for their pollen.  Fennel Pollen, as a spice, has two to four times the flavor of the plant alone or the seed, so a little pollen goes a long way.   Pollen Ranch partnered with the award-winning Executive Chef, Bernard Guillas of the Marine Room and La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, and created eight fennel pollen based spice blends.  They are packaged in lovely tins that will fit well in your spice cupboard.  I bought the Zen Sational and M-Ocean blends.  Carol bought the Hog Heaven and Pollen Asian blends. Later that night when my husband Ron tasted Zen Sational, he got goosebumps on his arms.  That means he likes it.

www.pollenranch.com

Bitchin’ Sauce from Carlsbad, CA

Yummy Sauces made from Raw Almonds

At first glance, it looked like humus or a special dip from Trader Joes. But no it is a gluten-free, vegan sauce made from raw almonds, grapeseed oil, nutritional yeast and garlic.  It is has such delicious flavor that you can use it as a topping for a meal or just use it as a dip.  They have 3 flavors – Original tastes like humus, Pesto and Spicy Chipotle.  They sell it at 22 local San Diego Farmer’s markets.  The funny thing is the night before I had just added a little almond butter to my stir fry to help thicken it and add a nutty flavor.  It was very tasty.  I bought the pesto flavor and added it to my rice and veggies last night.  Sadly Carol is allergic to almonds so she couldn’t even try it.

http://www.bitchinsauce.com/Bitchin_Sauce/Bitchin_Sauce_Home.html

Elixirs by the Lounging Gourmet

Brighten your smile and add a twinkle to your eye

Finally, we made our way into the Spirits area of the Expo where we stopped at the Lounging Gourmet Booth.  They offered tastes of their natural floral infusions of rose, lavender, orchid and hibiscus which they added to champagne and sparkling water.  It is a line of luxurious mixers that you can add to  cocktails, teas, sodas, lemonade, any drink you can think of.  They are highly concentrated so only a splash is needed.  It added an unexpected flavor that brightened and uplifted our palettes.  It brought a smile and twinkle to our eyes as we tasted it.  I picked up the Elixir of Damascan Rose and  Carol bought the English  Lavender.

http://thelounginggourmet.com/

Final note:  Juan Munoz of The Fish Shop on Garnet in Pacific Beach won the taco challenge!!   We also met Chef Larry Malone of Empirehouse Urban Palette on University in Hillcrest. He showed such passion for his food and restaurant that it made us want to adventure out and give his place a try.

Bone Broth the Original Stem Cell Therapy

Bone Broth has been the center of humanity’s diet for eons. Today, Natural Medicine Doctors, Nutritionists, and Chefs consider it the foundation of a healthy diet.   In our fast paced lives we have lost touch with basic nutritional necessity of a good home-made bone broth.   In my research for this posting I have uncovered some very interesting theories about just how important consuming bone broth is.   It may just have been the original stem cell therapy our ancestors used to support their health and even to help grow their brains.   I close this posting with a simple healthy recipe with the secrets for making your own Bone Broth.

Traditional Medicine Roots – Bone Marrow is called Jing

In Traditional Chinese Medicine one of the key measures for your health and resilience is the strength of your Jing.   Jing is considered your core physical essence.    It is the material basis for your physical body, it nourishes, fuels, and cools your body.   You inherit it from your familial lineage so it is determined by your DNA.   The strength of your Jing is based on the age and health of your parents when you were conceived.  It is the essence of your life force.  It creates your bone marrow, cerebral spinal fluid, lymph, blood, all the fluids of life.

We are born with enough Jing to live healthy dynamic lives of over 100 years but once you use it up your body dies.  Your Jing is consumed continuously throughout your life.  Large amounts of Jing are consumed by everyday stress, prolonged or severe illness, substance abuse, sexual intemperance, too many too frequent pregnancies, over indulgence, poor diet.

Bone Marrow as Food is Even Older than that   

Anthropologists theorize that 4 million years ago the Australopithecine started cracking open the bones and consuming the bone marrow of its prey.  This correlates to the time when their brains started to develop and grow into the size it is today in Homo Sapiens. Prior to this they were similar to humans, but with a brain size not much larger than modern apes, lacking the encephalization characteristics of the genus Homo.  In “Ape-Man; Adventures in Human Evolution”, Prof. Leslie Aiello (University College London) points out: “Bone Marrow is highly nutritious, and contains many important elements for brain growth and development. It also takes much less energy to digest than plant food. Scientists have shown that brain size was beginning to increase in the later australopithecines, and it could all be down to bone marrow as brain food.”

Who will benefit from homemade broth?:

Those who are or have

• Immune Compromised
• Auto Immune disorders
• Easily catch flus or colds
• Post Menopausal women
• Osteoporosis
• Post Partum women
• Insomnia
• Any Intestine issues ie
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Colitis
• Leaky Gut
• Anemic
• Brain Disorders
• Alzheimer’s
• ADD
• Anyone in recovery from surgeries, long-term illness, cancer
• Weak Nails
• Thinning Hair
• Fatigue
• Adrenal Exhaustion
• Burn out
• Basically Everybody

Basic Beef Bone Marrow Stock   

Based on  Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

 

I made this recipe for the first time last week.  I used Marrow Bones from my Grass Fed/Grass Finished Beef CSA (community supported agriculture) J and J  Grass Fed Beef.     http://www.jandjgrassfedbeef.com/

It turned out really well and tastes amazing.  I could feel its healing energy giving me strength with each mouthful.

There are 4 Secrets to making a good bone broth:

1) Use the highest quality of bones you can find. Grass fed and finished is the best

2) Add Vinegar to the water to draw the minerals out of the bones into the broth

3) Roast and brown the bones in the oven before adding them to the stock.

4) You don’t have to buy bones just for this – freeze the bones from your meals until you have enough to make stock.   You can also freeze the ends of your carrots, celery and other veggies to add to it as well.

 

Ingredients:

4 pounds of beef marrow, knuckle bones, bits of leftover beef

3 pounds meaty rib or neck bones

4 or more quarts cold water – add more as needed to keep bones covered

1/4 cup Apple Cider vinegar

You can add your standard mirepoix (carrot, celery, potato) as you like for more flavor.

Preparation:

Place all of your bones that have meaty bits on them on a large cookie sheet or roasting pan and brown in the oven at 350 degrees until well-browned (30-60 minutes usually). Meanwhile, throw all of your non-meaty marrow bones into a pot, add the water, vinegar and vegetables. Let sit while the other bones are browning. Add the browned bones to the pot, deglaze your roasting pan with hot water and get up all of the brown bits, pour this liquid into the pot. Add additional water if needed to cover the bones. Bring to a boil and remove the scum/foam that rises to the top. No need to remove the floating fat. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for at least 12 hours and as long as 72 hours. The longer you cook the stock, the more rich and flavorful it will be.

Sally Fallon in Nourishing Traditions: “You will now have a pot of rather repulsive-looking brown liquid containing globs of gelantinous and fatty material. It doesn’t even smell particularly good. But don’t despair. After straining you will have a delicious and nourishing clear broth that forms the basis for many other recipes….“

Remove the bones with a slotted spoon and/or tongs. Strain the stock into a large bowl, then ladle into mason jars. Let the jars sit until they are pretty cool, then freeze or refrigerate. Remove the congealed fat after refrigerating or freezing.

Reference Links:

Nourishing Traditions Blog

http://thenourishingcook.com/2009/12/beef-stock-anyone/

“Ape-Man; Adventures in Human Evolution”,

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/apeman/chronology/2_5.shtml)

Homeostasis

Homeostasis is a fancy word meaning “equilibrium”  It is how your body maintains balance and regulates itself even under challenging situations. Temperature is among the most straightforward of these. Your body sweats to keep cool and shivers to stay warm. It is masterful at balancing many other factors. Most are subtler, involving the regulation of hormones and other bodily chemicals. All of your body’s systems self-regulate using an intricate coordination hormones and receptor sites on cells.

Overwhelming your system leads to procrastination and accumulation
Your body is wired to prioritize functions in order to maintain balance.  It will only deal with what it has energy to deal with at the time.  If you give it too much to deal with, it will do what it can at the time to keep your body functioning and then push all else to the side untill a down time comes and it can process it.   Like a profound procrastinator – it deals with what is on top first as it is takes the least amount of energy and is easiest to reach.  Have you ever noticed that when you indulge in something you feel fine while you are doing it – and then you do a little more (hair of the dog)  and then when you finally stop doing it  you feel really bad and you wonder why did I ever stop doing that?  I felt better when I was  …. Fill in the blank – smoking, drinking, eating junk food.  That is because your body waits until you stop indulging to start healing.   You have to be very patient with yourself and let the deep healing begin.  

This is why it is good to switch up your routine
Cleansing helps to reset your homeostasis set point and helps you have a broader range in your balance.  You can handle more before you have a negative reaction.