Eating Well in Santa Fe  - June 2015 - Santa Fe

 

FEED YOUR SOUL – FEED YOUR LIFE

 

By Valeria Alarcón

 

Feeding is the act of providing food or nourishment to oneself or another. In the literal sense feeding our bodies with health promoting foods will support in reaching optimum health and vitality. As you probably know not all food is created equal, therefore choosing naturally grown foods that were planted and cultivated without harmful chemicals will feed your body right.

 

In the same sense, the way we feed our souls is through our daily life experience, which in turn feed our body, mind and spirit. The way we engage with the world around us, our relationship to self, the relationships we keep, the creative outlets and the career path we manifest our talents and skill set either enrich or deplete our lives. We don’t often think that the ways in which we engage with life, day in and day out, is actually feeding us with vibrant, exhilarating, uplifting energy or not. This is where primary foods come into play, when we are feeling a deep sense of fulfillment, wholeness and interconnectedness, we in turn feel a sense of thriving – our souls are happy - we feel happy. Part of how to reach optimum health and vitality includes taking a look at how we are feeding our lives. 

 

So here is an easy way to assess how well you are feeding your life, draw a big circle on a piece of paper, draw a line through the middle of the circle and start to draw out slices, as if you were drawing a pie. Label each “slice” with an area of your life that is important to you, relationships, career, spirituality, physical movement, creativity, travel, finances, personal development, so on and so forth. Now with a colorful marker or pen,

mark a dot closest to the circumference of the circle, which signifies that you are feeling pretty awesome and fulfilled in that specific area of your life. Then mark a dot closer to the center of the circle if you are not feeling fulfilled in that specific area. Then connect the dots and quickly you’ll have a visual of how fulfilled you are feeling in all areas of your life. Now remember that life isn’t always going to feel fulfilling all of the time, there is always some aspect of life that invites us to grow or to heal or to address. Now that you have your visual of what life is looking like and how fulfilled you are feeling, identify an area that isn’t feeling so fulfilling and ask yourself “What is this area of life calling for? What type of attention, support, healing, intention or nurturance is it asking for? What is a reasonable action step that I can take to begin to address this unfulfilled area in life? What type of support will I need?” By asking these questions a dialogue begins of how to bring attention to the specific aspect of life so that a sense of balance, growth, healing and thriving can begin to take place. This will set you on the path towards reclaiming your life, health and vitality.

 

Kale Salad with a Twist

 

• Rinse and dry kale, remove stem (save stem for juice or soup) and chop to bite size

 

• In a mixing bowl add 2 tbsp of olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper

 

• Add the chopped kale to the olive oil mixture and begin to massage the kale until it feels soft

 

• Mince two cloves of garlic, add an avocado, mix well until creamy, add a tsp of lime juice and add mixture to kale salad

 

• Mix well and add finely chopped red onion, red and yellow pepper

 

• Garnish with avocado slices, a couple of tomato slices and minced cilantro

 

• Enjoy! Buen Provecho! Bonn Appetite!

 

Health Benefits of Kale: Kale is high in vitamin C, K and A, all which are great for boosting the immune system; it's an effective antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and improves bone health, and cholesterol levels. Kale is also known for preventing/combating cancer due to its high content in glucosinolates, and supports liver detoxification.

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