QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders. Henry D. Thoreau
MAY EDITOR'S LETTER
Greetings and Spring tidings! The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and this month I'm encouraging everyone to start sprouting. Sprouting is a simple way to increase the vitamins, minerals and protein of basic nuts and seeds. Because sprouts will grow in any climate and require no soil or sunlight, sprouting can be done in any season, anywhere. They cause no waste in preparation and are incredibly economical-- for about a nickel, it is possible to raise enough mung bean sprouts for a highly nutritious meal! Please consider experimenting with sprouting this spring, both for your health and as a low-impact, environmentally sound way to provide nourishment for yourself and your family. Be well, Katherine PS-- Dr. Jeffrey Migdow, MD, Holistic Physician and Director of the Prana Yoga Teacher Training program, whose article was featured in my last newsletter, has changed his phone number. He can now be reached at: 413-637-1513.
WEBSITES OF THE MONTH:
Here are some very helpful sprouting websites, with more detailed information about equipment, seeds, and health benefits of sprouting. http://www.sprouting.com/homesprouting.htm http://www.living-foods.com/articles/sprouting.html http://www.sproutpeople.com/grow/bits/bits.html http://www.primalseeds.org/sprouting.htm
Simply Living Well Corporate Wellness Training Series
Preventable diseases cost businesses thousands of dollars a year. Recent research shows that over 50% of absenteeism at the workplace can be attributed to stress and stress-related illnesses. According to the Director of Health Care Management at Ford Motors, weight-related expenses alone are costing employers approximately $12 billion per year. A 2003 Chrysler Corporation study showed that employees with poor eating habits generated 41 percent more health case claim costs than those with good eating habits. Across the country, companies are beginning to take notice of the startling connections between employee wellness and fiscal responsibility, and look for better answers. Employee wellness programs not only boost morale, but make significant, measurable differences in healthcare spending. Studies have shown that employee wellness programs help companies reduce their healthcare costs an average of $3.72 for each dollar invested! For this reason, I have developed Simply Living Well Corporate Wellness Training Series, comprising15 programs designed to inspire employees to take significant, preventative steps for their long-term health and wellness. The Wellness Series is accessible to a wide range of people, and the 60-90 minutes programs are highly interactive, incorporating exercises, visual aids, food samples, handouts and other media. The programs may also be combined for a half-day training, giving employees the opportunity to look at multiple facets of wellness simultaneously. The Wellness Series gives employees the skills to take control of their wellness by deepening their knowledge of the effect of nutrition and lifestyle change on their health. The Series is excellent training to help employees make the best choices to sustain their vitality and productivity for years to come. Currently, I am conducting workshops to corporations and organizations on a variety of topics including: -- Stress for Success: Managing and Making the Most of the Stress in Your Life -- Desk Yoga: Simple Practices to Reduce Stress at Work -- Sugar Blues: Breaking the Cycle of Sugar Cravings -- Seasonal Eating -- Wheel of Life: Creating and Maintaining Life Balance -- Finding the Connections Between Your Diet and Your Moods -- Food and Energy: An Eating Plan to Help You Stay Vibrant -- Beyond Dieting: How to Lose Weight Without Even Trying Some of my past and current clients include: ** State Department Federal Credit Union
** New York City Department of Health
** United Nations
** UNICEF
** UNDP
** United States Department of Agriculture
** The Hospital for Joint Diseases
** Embassy of Australia
** Nuclear Energy Institute
** Ethical Culture Society If your business or organization is interested in supporting its employees to better understand the connections between diet, lifestyle and health, please let them know about these exciting programs. This is a great opportunity to take the information available in this newsletter and make it available to a much wider audience of your co-workers and friends. If you would like more information about the Health and Wellness Training Series, please e-mail me at Katherine@SimplyLivingWell.net or call me directly at 1-877-509-3680. Testimonials from recent Health and Wellness Training clients: "The United Nations Wellness Initiative was a success, not only in terms of high participation numbers but also in itis impact on staff members' health and productivity at work. Over 10% of all staff members registered in at least one health promotion program, and the individuals who actually changed behavior and maintained healthier behaviors over time have Katherine to thank. Katherine developed a 12-week series of holistic wellness seminars touching on nutrition, food and mood, stress management and communication. These workshops were extremely popular; in fact, Katherine developed a bit of a following, in large part due to her unique ability to connect with each individual even while leading a workshop in a room of 100. Her approach to health promotion is to raise awareness that our overall health status is a product of what we eat, our emotional health, lifestyle behaviors, and many other factors. She recognizes that stress, finances, and our struggle to balance work and life demands can all impact overall health.
Katherine's approach integrates holistic health research and scientific evidence with role play and personal story telling, offering individuals a chance to share work through their own health goals in a group setting. She brought creativity and great energy to her workhops which demonstrated her passion for wellness. Katherine would be a great asset to any organization looking to provide on-site wellness programming or training for their health staff."
Alissa Carlat, MS
Health Promotion Program Coordinator, United Nations Wellness Initiative
NYC DOHMH Wellness At Work Program "The Nutrition & Wellness Program has been a wonderful addition to our Learning Program. We have always provided training on everyday skill development and ways to relieve life's stress, but when we incorporated the nutrition & wellness series, our employees could see how nutrition affected our day-to-day functions and productivity. Great program!!" Eunice Deras, Nuclear Energy Institute
ONE SPOT LEFT! Healthy Cooking and Yoga at the Beach, May 13th-May 15th, 2005
Spring Women’s Wellness- Weekend at a Waterfront Home in Lewes, Delaware A Woman’s Wellness Weekend
May 13 - May 15, 2005 Nourish your mind, body & soul with yoga, massage and time in nature, together with delicious organic food everyday! Walk away with a deeper knowledge around whole food cooking and nutrition and how it can benefit your life. Give yourself the gift of health! A wonderful Mother's Day gift for yourself or a Mother in your life! 2 or 3 night options available
Pick-ups will be available for those coming from New York City. One space left! Please call or e-mail us ASAP if you are interested! Visit http://www.livingwholehealth.com for registration form. Comments from our Fall Wellness Weekend: “I really enjoyed the weekend - the professionalism of the hosts and the camaraderie of the guests. I found the time to be very collegial and rejuvenating. I would definitely come back for another round. I thought the weekend was totally successful. And I have told all my friends and relatives what a great time it was; I raved about the food; I expounded on the "ideal picture"; and I told them the yoga instructor was first rate”.
-- Barbara “I got what I wanted out of the weekend: quiet, relaxation, rest, reflection, and I left with a sense of renewed wellness. I learned how to do Ideal Scenes and am looking forward to incorporating those into my goals. And it also got me excited about yoga again and wanting to keep that up on a more regular basis. It was a great time to get away from the noise of daily life and just be. Thanks for everything.”
-- Kate Wellness To Go! Planning a girl’s weekend. family or corporate retreat? We will bring daily yoga and healthy delicious organic meals and more to your gathering, just give us a call to create your healthy gathering! Get together your group and leave the rest to us!! For more information contact Katherine at 1-877-509-3680 or Katherine@SimplyLivingWell.net or Cheryl at 703-360-8791
SPROUTING RECIPE: Almond Milk
Almond milk is a delicious alternative to regular milk which can be used as an ingredient in recipes and also as a beverage. I like it in cereal, or cooked in with grains for a sweet, nutty flavor. Almonds lower blood cholesterol level, reduce the risk of heart disease, are rich in vitamin E and serve as a useful source of calcium. Time Required: 15 minutes Ingredients: 1 cup almonds
4 cups water 1. Place almonds in a glass jar with straining lid or cheesecloth. 2. Wash seed by rinsing several times, and then cover with 4 cups water. 3. Rinse and drain almonds 2-3 times over the next day, covering again with 4 cups of water after each rinsing. Keep refrigerated. 5. After a day of soaking, pour into blender and blend until smooth. 6. Strain liquid from pulp through cheesecloth, applying pressure to squeeze out all liquid. 7. Retain the almond paste pulp for other uses. Tips:
1. Honey and vanilla enhance the flavor of the milk.
2. The almond paste pulp can be used to top cereal, vegetables, or rice.
3. 1 pound shelled almonds = 3 cups halves or 4 cups slivered. This website will give you the play by play for almond milk making, with full-color photos: http://www.almondessence.com/photos/photos.html
ARTICLE: Four Magic Steps to Sprouting Anything
Sprouting is an under-utilized method for improving nutrition and adding variety to the diet. The nutrients of grains, seeds and legumes increase as much as 10-20% when sprouted, and sprouted grains and legumes have all eight essential amino acids. The process of sprouting breaks down proteins into amino acids, making them more easily absorbable by the body, and the high amount of simple sugars makes them high energy foods. There are just 4 simple steps to sprouting anything (most seeds, grains and legumes can be sprouted, though some taste better than others). Make sure whatever you are sprouting has not been chemically treated, and keep in mind that about one ounce of dry seed equals about one cup of mature sprouts. The Four Magic Steps are: 1. Get your Equipment: You will need widemouth jars, such as mason jars, and some way to strain your sprouts. Traditionally cheesecloth or wire mesh has been used, with a rubber band or string to secure it. These days you can actually buy sprouting kits, with plastic tops that screw on to the jars and have different size straining holes. Also you will need the seeds or beans you want to sprout. You might start with almonds, alfalfa, or mung beans, which tend to be popular and easy to grow. 2. Soaking Place seeds in jar and cover with lid or cheesecloth, then wash by rinsing several times. Fill the jar up about halfway with lukwarm water, purified or spring water is the best. Some people prefer to put the jar in the refrigerator or a dark, warm cupboard for the soaking period. 3. Draining Drain off the water after the seeds have been soaked and rinse sprouts with new fresh water. Tilt the jar upside down so the sprouts are at a 45 degree angle in your dish rack. The opening should not be completely blocked and air should be able to circulate in with the sprouts. 4. Rinsing You will need to rinse and drain the sprouts 2 or 3 times a day for the next 3-5 days using fresh lukewarm water. In order to avoid molding or spoilage, you will want to make sure the sprouts are continually and well-drained. Rinsing keeps the sprouts most through the whole process. That's really the gist of it, and I would recommend checking the websites above for more specific information about the exact timing for different kinds of seeds. Temperature and humidity can also impact the amount of time it takes for sprouts to mature, and in hotter, more humid weather you can shorten soaking times and rinse sprouts more frequently. (This article adapted from Dr. Ann Wigmore's "Recipes for Life")
ABOUT KATHERINE JAMIESON, HEALTH AND WELLNESS TRAINER
Katherine was trained in Holistic Health Counseling through the Professional Training Program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, and certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. She was certified to teach yoga in 2001 through the New York Open Center Prana Yoga Teacher Training, instructed by Dr. Jeffrey Migdow, MD. She holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from Wesleyan University. Before entering the Holistic Health field, Katherine was a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Guyana, South America. Katherine is a Health and Wellness Trainer who specializes in conducting seminars on a variety of topics related to nutrition, life balance, stress reduction and wellness practices. She has been a speaker at the United Nations, UNICEF, UNDP, the United States Department of Agriculture, the New York City Department of Health, the Hospital for Joint Diseases, the Nuclear Energy Institute and the Embassy of Australia. Katherine also maintains a private practice which combines cutting-edge, holistic nutritional theory and yoga breathing and postures, to help people attain optimal health and well being in their lives. If you are interested in reading back issues of this newsletter, in publication since May 2003, please feel free to visit the web hosting site where you can find the full editions catalogued: http://casts.webvalence.com/sites/SimplyLivingWell/
Some end of the newsletter bad food puns...
What did the female mushroom say about the male mushroom? He's a real fun guy (fungi). The snack bar next door to an atom smasher was called "The Fission Chips." On April Fools Day, a mother put a fire cracker under the pancakes. She blew her stack. The new chef from India was fired a week after starting the job. He kept favoring curry. A couple of kids tried using pickles for a Ping-Pong game. They had the volley of the Dills. A friend got some vinegar in his ear, now he suffers from pickled hearing. THANK YOU FOR READING AND BE WELL!
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