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For years I have tried to find the perfect granola to satisfy a snack or morning meal – not too sweet, not too bland, not artificial, not with gluten, not with soy… I never even once considered making the crunchy treat myself. I though it would be too cumbersome or tedious, and not worth the effort. How untrue! With this recipe I found on foodnetwork (doctored up a bit to boost health benefits), we now have fresh-made granola whenever we want at my house.
Ever thought that your morning muffin or stir-fry lunch contained not just sustenance, but healing properties? Ancient Chinese medical theory has ascribed certain energetics and functions to many common foods, that still remain true today. Such properties are very different from nutritional values (vitamins, calories, fats, fiber, etc), which came later in the evolution of the nature of food. Let’s take watermelon (Xi Gua) as an example of this idea: our analytical mind knows that this delicious fruit is sweet, refreshing and nutritious with its high water content and fiber. The energetics of this food according to Chinese theory are cooling and damp draining, and therefore can prevent heat stroke on a hot summer day and promote healthy water metabolism by ridding edema. A more relevant example for the winter season would be lamb (Yang Rou), which is warming to the system and promotes optimum functioning.
Food therapy is considered to be the number one treatment in preventative care and healing therapy. In modern China, there are special restaurants where one can go to receive tailored medicinal meals. After a visit with the Chinese medicine doctor, a pattern diagnosis is ascribed which can then be brought to the chef at such a restaurant. Food will then be prepared in accordance with individual needs – to nourish, eliminate or course any given imbalance. This notion contradicts the idea that one particular diet is best for everyone, but rather tailors nutritional choices based on individual need. What may help one person lose weight and feel energetic, may not be the right fit for someone else. I had the fortune of experiencing this model for myself at the medicinal food restaurant across from the hospital during my one-year clinical rotation in Hangzhou, China.
Chinese herbal medicine utilizes the combination of roots, barks, leaves, stems and berries to promote health and vitality. It only makes sense that Chinese Herbal Medicine and Food Therapy often overlap, with many herbal ingredients ending up on typical supermarket shelves. The following is a delicious trailmix you can make at home, as your own “herbal formula prescription.” In addition to curbing hunger between meals, or giving an energy boost before a work-out, this mix is high in antioxidents, essential fatty acids and protein. From the Chinese perspective, it is nourishing to the kidneys; promotes mental clarity, memory function; improves libido, energy and digestion. Enjoy!
Goji Berries/Wolfberries
Gou Qi Zi -Nourishes the kidney energy, enhances fertility, memory, and sexual function
Walnut Halves
Hu Tao Ren -Promotes brain function, mental clarity
Black Sesame Seeds
Huo Ma Ren -Nourishes blood, improves vision and sluggish digestion. Black sesame has the additional benefit of promoting lactation in breast-feeding women.
*I like Mrs. May’s Black Sesame Crunch Squares, they are slightly sweetened with honey that provides a great flavor and also aids digestion.
This post is a proud participant in the Kathleen Show’s Prevention Not Prescriptions Blog - a great place for other resources to stay healthy.
Going in for a facial can not only be an expensive endeavor, but depending on the place also involve harsh products that can be irritating to sensitive skin. Here is a simple and effective facial you can do at home – using most of what already is in your fridge (plus a couple of extras you can pick up on your next trip to Chinatown). This facial is great for normalizing skin color, reducing blemishes and the appearance of fine lines.
If you are looking for a facial to remove deep facial lines, wrinkles, or to lift sagging skin, Acupuncture paired with this facial can be of tremendous benefit. Without surgery or botox or collagen, an acupuncture facial gives lasting results for a natural radiance. Special training is necessary to perform cosmetic acupuncture. Please seek out professionals with such certifications or email me and I will help you find someone in your area (I do not have this certification myself, my area of expertise lies more in internal medicine).
Here is the secret, easy, at-home facial straight from my facial acupuncturist to you. Enjoy!
I must admit, that duck was one meat that I never remembered experiencing as a kid. I fed them bread crumbs at the pond near our house, but never considered them an edible animal like the turkeys or chickens that adorned our dinner table on a weekly basis. In fact, I can distinctly remember my first experience eating duck at the delicious Peking Duck Special at a traditional restaurant Beijing on Thanksgiving in 2001. Appropriate, we thought, to at least be eating a bird on that very traditional holiday. If you have never tried Peking Duck, with its hoisin sauce and delicate rice pancakes, it is truly a treat worth experiencing. Travelling through China and studying Traditional Chinese Medicine opened my eyes to the unique flavors and health benefits of duck meat.
Depending on your location will depend on the availability (and price) of duck meat. Most specialty food stores will carry some form of packaged duck breasts, but beware that they can be pricey for the amount you get. New York is famous for its exportation of whole Long Island Ducks, which are large and last for several savory meals. It does have a slightly gamey taste and can get tough if over-cooked, although I find it quite delicious. Its versatile flavor can be a perfect compliment to many meals.
According to traditional Chinese Dietary Medicine, Duck meat is neutral in temperature and is therefore suitable for many constitutional types. It heavily nourishes the yin of the body, and regulates water metabolism by simultaneously nourishing the lungs, spleen and kidneys. Such symptoms as edema, excessive thirst or profuse sweating may be reduced by adding some duck meat to the diet. As we enter the winter season, hearty meats like duck and lamb can deeply nourish, warm and rejuvenate the body.
Some of my favorite ways to eat duck:
Roasted
By far the easiest way is to buy a whole duck, cover it with garlic and spices, stuff it with potatoes and shallots and roast it in the oven for a couple of hours. The skin will get nice and crispy and the meat perfectly tender. Serve it up with some fresh vegetables and you’ve got a gourmet meal.
Soup
Once the whole duck has been generously carved, a perfect way to utilize the nutrients left is to boil it up as soup. Throw the entire carcass into a pot of boiling salt-water to make a delicious duck broth. Add vegetables and spices of your choice. The left-0ver meat should fall easily off the bone adding extra protein to a very nourishing and delicious soup. Below is a duck stew that my colleague Grace and I made as a pre-Thanksgiving meal. We used turnips, carrots, yams, potatoes, shallots and squash which made for a delightfully sweet broth.
Duck Broth
Duck pizza? I said the same when I first saw it on the menu at Pairings - a lovely wine bistro in Minnetonka, Minnesota. But, let me tell you, this one is worth trying to re-create at home (or just stopping by if you are in the neighborhood). Goat Cheese, roasted duck breast, tart cherries, butternut squash and piles of arugula adorned a thin-crust pizza dough toasted with an olive-oil glaze. Amazing!
Yum! This recipe was a total accident (meaning I threw together leftovers from other meals to make it) but it came out amazing. I will definitely be making this one on purpose many times in the future. It is perfect on a cool fall day. The carrots and squash are sweet in nature, according to Chinese Medicine, and work as a strong tonic for the digestive system. The two also have a healthy dose of beta carotene and other nutritious vitamins.
1 Small Orange Kabocha Squash (or other hearty orange squash), peeled & cut into cubes
5 C Carrots, peeled & cut into coins
1 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Ground Pepper
2 tsp Fresh Chopped Garlic
Whole Milk Ricotta, 1 Tbsp per bowl for garnish
Olive Oil & Pepitas for garnish
Saute garlic in Olive Oil in a medium sized saucepan until tender (not brown). Add carrots, squash, salt, and pepper to taste. Cover the ingredients with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and bring to a simmer. Simmer covered about 20 min or until carrots and squash are tender. Remove from heat and puree the entire contents of the pot in a blender.
Serve in large bowls. Top with a scoop of ricotta, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of roasted pepitas. Enjoy! (Your spleen and stomach will thank you).
You know when your using the bathroom at your friend’s house-warming party and it is just so tempting to peek in one of her/his drawers, or slide open the medicine cabinet, just to see what’s there – not because you are “snooping” per say, but just…curious? Well, there is no need to hold your breath with curiosity anymore because I am bringing my favorite medicine cabinet “secrets” into the open. Having spent the last ten years of my life traveling and studying herbal medicine, I have collected quite the arsenal of natural remedies. The medicine cabinet in my Manhattan apartment may be quite different from most Americans: filled with all sorts of herbal pills, tablets, syrups & powders.
The leaves have turned color in New York City, the clocks turned back and the slight chill of winter lurks around the corner. As our internal thermostats adjust to accommodate the external environmental changes during the fall, we often find ourselves fighting colds or catching the flu (beyond the hullabaloo of H1N1, there are many strains of simple colds out there – remember those?). Much to my loving outdoor-hockey-playing boyfriend’s approval, these “natural alternatives” deliver potent relief when the time is right. Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly a fan of the occasional Advil or Tylenol PM (also harbored in my medicine cabinet), but sometimes these other things get the job done better. Yup, that’s right, better.
Chinese medicine offers great remedies to knock out that bug that hasn’t quite become full-blown illness, or strengthen the system to prevent an attack. Acupuncture works to detoxify the body, and tonify the immune system. Herbal medicine can do the same and work at a very deep level to re-balance during seasonal shifts and either treat or prevent common ailments. The following are some remedies you can try at home to stay healthy and out of the doctor’s office as winter gingerly approaches.
Acupuncture, Autumn, Health & Fitness, Herbs, Metal, New York, Nutrition, Recipes
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"Erin Hessel", Autumn, Catching Colds, Chinese Herbs, Cold Remedies, erinhessel.com, Fall, Flu, Gan Mao Ling, Ginger, Health, Herbal Remedies, Herbs NY, Home Remedies, Immune System, New York City, New York Herbal Medicine, NY, Prevention Not Prescriptions, Rest, Seasonal Health, Sleep, Tea
Fall is a very interesting time of year, where the warm yang of summer transforms into the cool yin of winter, and fruitful harvest moves into preparation for quietude. Seasonal foods move out of the sun and back into the earth, producing hearty root vegetables like yams, potatoes, squash, beets, cabbage, and brussel-sprouts. Many delicious and nutritious recipes can be made from these foods. Before the modern conveniences of having such foods like strawberries available year-round, fall was a time for harvesting the last of summer’s produce and preserving it into pickles, jams and sauces to be enjoyed through the barren winter.
In an effort to honor the transitional nature of fall (and provide a yummy breakfast in the process), I prepared home-made banana-fig muffins. Melding the tropical bananas of summer with fresh fall figs to make a nourishing and hearty sweet-bread. The coconut oil can be substituted with any vegetable oil, but then you’d be missing out on these important benefits. Did you know that it helps to maintain healthy cholesterol levels, promote weight loss, stabilize metabolism levels and support immune function? It is truly an amazing (and under-utilized) oil. These muffins are extra delicious served slightly toasted with goat-butter and a cup of earl gray tea.
BANANA-FIG MUFFINS
3-4 ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 Cup Virgin Coconut Oil
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Brown Sugar (loosely measured, not firmly packed)
12 Fresh Figs
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
Dash of Salt
2 Cups Flour
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Using a hand mixer, blend together the bananas and oil, add the sugar and vanilla until smooth. Incorporate the eggs one by one. Slice 6 figs into halves and place in the batter, sprinkle the mixture with salt, baking powder and soda. Blend until figs are fully incorporated into the mixture and powders are dissolved. Using a large spoon, slowly incorporate the flour. Lightly grease 12 muffin molds and fill 2/3 full with batter. With remaining 6 figs, slice them into quarters, nestling 2 quarter-pieces on the top of each muffin for garnish. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into muffin comes out clean. Enjoy!
Autumn, Metal, Nutrition, Recipes, Uncategorized
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The Leaves
Fall is such a gorgeous time of year – especially in New York. There is something magical about wandering through Central Park, admiring the bright colors in front of the bright blue backdrop of sky. With the crunch of leaves under our feet as we circled around the Reservoir, artist Borbay and I enjoyed a truly wonderful autumn day.
But the walk was just the beginning….
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