The holidays are a particularly meaningful time to think about the most valuable gifts that we receive. I’m talking about the words of wisdom that are passed along from one generation to the next. Around the holidays, a few years ago, a few of my friends from work got talking about our grandmothers’ old-fashioned expressions, beliefs, and bits of sage advice. You may think these expressions are quaint and old-fashioned, but they are really much more. These sayings are the collective wisdom of our ancestors, the survivors. Here are a few of the ones for which I am most grateful. Continue reading
Category Archives: Gratitude & Inspiration
YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Heirloom Beans & Wild Rice Thanksgiving Salad
I usually thank people for their recipes at the end of my blog posts, but not today. This week, not only does gratitude itself deserve top billing, but so does our appreciation for this particular recipe. Continue reading
Checkout Line Zen II
Today is a good day for thinking about mindfulness. This sweet little #mindfulness tip comes courtesy of my friend Diane, who works as a pediatrician. She is patience personified.
Here’s what she told me a couple of weeks ago: Continue reading
A Good Week Gets Better With Intention
It has been a busy week! I was interviewed for a piece in U.S. News & World Report about my favorite topic: real food! Continue reading
Lucky Enough
An old friend of mine is lucky enough to live at the confluence of two small lakes. I hope I’m using that word right — what I mean to say is that if you look out the windows of his home toward the east you see one lake; and if you look toward the north you see a different one. Can you picture it? On the little spit of land that juts into the space between the two lakes, right next to where families of ducks and swans cross all the day long in a patient parade of parenting, sits a small cabin. And in the front window of that cabin rests a sign:
“If you’re lucky enough to live on the water, you’re lucky enough.” Continue reading
What Makes You Tick?
What makes you grateful to feel your feet hit the ground every morning? What gets you up and out? Here are some of the things that inspire my work and keep me rockin’ and rollin’: Continue reading
A Poem for the New Year
In honor of the New Year, I share here a poem by the artist, author and educator Judy Chicago. I am inspired in particular by the last part of this poem, and by the idea that as health and wellness improve and flourish in our homes and communities, the medical-care delivery economy must, inevitably, shrink. More beans and greens means fewer dialysis centers. Fewer food deserts, fewer heart attacks. More physical activity, less depression. Continue reading
#Mindful Being
A few words today encouraging you to be mindful, to be kind to yourself, to help yourself to remain centered, especially in the spinning vortex of ceaseless activity that will characterize the coming weeks of nonstop celebration. Continue reading
Milestone Celebration: Your Favorite Posts
This weekend, Your Health is on Your Plate (YHIOYP) passed 100,000 hits! Just two years old, the blog is being read and shared across the country and around the globe. To celebrate, today I am sharing the ten most popular posts. New readers, this is your chance to catch up, to read the best posts, and to share them with your friends and family. It’s not too late; it’s never too late.
Your favorite choices for best blog post (in no particular order) are these:
- Leaves, Stems, and Buds: Cruciferous Vegetables
- Instant Oatmeal, Steel-cut Oats, and Everything In Between
- Juice and Soda Increase Your Risk of Diabetes and Obesity
- Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
- Maybe Hillary Clinton Reads My Blog
- What the Vegan, Mayo Clinic, and Atkins Diets Have in Common
- Hospital Food
- How Low-Carb Can You Go?
- Don’t Eat Bread for Breakfast
- Coffee Whiteners (Go ahead and Google this phrase!)
I’m adding to this list with some of my own favorite posts as well. Maybe you’ll discover something that speaks to you, or maybe this post will offer more food for thought on an issue you’ve been thinking about, or maybe it will bring it all together. If you have additional questions, I hope you’ll share them and give me a chance to think about a response.
In no particular order once again, some of my own favorites are these:
Finally, speaking of favorites, many thanks to all of you for the great questions and recipes that have come our way, and thank you for reading YHIOYP.