Nutricia Consulting

Hi friends and loyal readers,

Please post your comments, questions, and reactions to this month's newsletter here!  I will be eating mini-guacamole while I await your posts...  xoxo

Do you have comments, questions, or anything to share regarding the latest Nutricia's Nusletter?  Please do so here.

I hope to see you soon at a workshop!

Happy Dragon Year to you.

Happy almost-new year!

I included a cordial recipe in this most recent newsletter ... because I'm curious as to whether that will encourage open rates?  :)

What's your new year's ritual?  What's your Word for 2012?  And how do you like the Chocolate Chili Cordial?

xoxo

PS get your free subscription here.

The latest newsletter is hot off the press, with my annual tips for staying sane and healthy though the winter holiday season. 

Please feel free to share your holiday challenges and triumphs here!  (And get your own subscription here.)

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, lovelies!  xoxo

Recently, a study was conducted comparing weight-loss counseling in person and via telephone.  Two groups participated in the study; one group was offered in-person counseling and group meetings, while the other was offered phone counseling.  in addion, both groups had an online program/ website to interact with. 

Both groups lost a "clinically significant" amount of weight - about 5% of body mass - but what surprised the folks running the trial the most was that the phone counseling was equally as effective as the in-person counseling.

I'm not surprised by that.  But what I do find surprising is that the participants with the in-person option skipped most of their sessions! What's that about?  Convenience?  Busy schedules?  Lack of bonding with other session participants?  I am  c u r i o u s !

Any thoughts?

Here's the study: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1108660#t=articleTop

And here's an article that sums it up, in case you don't feel like reading the study: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-15/obese-find-telephone-counseling-on-weight-loss-most-effective.html.

Here's an interesting article on the gluten-free phenomenon.  It sums up the varying constituencies: those with Celiac disease, those with sensitivities/ intolerances, and those who might feel better when eliminating gluten simply because they're eating less junk!

How much of the gluten-is-a-bad-guy issue is simply our modern diet and environment?  There are so many factors, including:

- wheat grown today is much higher in gluten than in past generations.

- we don't diversify our grains in Western culture, and studies show a higher incidence of Celiac disease in cultures that consumer larger amounts of wheat.  (And there's a higher likelihood of rice allergy or sensitivity in rice-based cultures.)

- medications, including anti-biotics, aspirin, and NSAIDS, can reduce our ability to effectively digest foods.

- wheat, like peanuts, is selected for hardiness and productivity, not for digestibility.

I am DELIGHTED to be able to eat a piece of pita bread, or a cookie, or drink a beer, after 12 years of strictly avoiding gluten.  But I've learned over the past few months that if eat gluten daily, I get bloated and lose energy. 

The moral of my story is: eat lots of vegetables.  Diversify my diet.  Practice mindfulness and continue to plan ahead. I think these would be good rules even if I weren't gluten-sensitive. 

What do you think?

It's been a long time since I've played around in the kitchen and experimented with flavor combinations. What a delight to create some fun and tasty things this weekend!  I'm not a trained or brilliant chef by any means, but it's really nice to feed friends.  Here at the end of the harvest season in the mid-Atlantic, it's time to take down the tomatoes and tomatillos, even if they're not quite ripe.  This dish was created from end-of-season garden bounty. Yum. 

Fried Green Tomatoes with Tomatillo Pico de Gallo
serves 2

Ingredients:

Fried Green Tomatoes:
4 medium green tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 egg, beaten, in a bowl
1/2 cup flour* + 2 tablespoons Old Bay spice, combined in a bowl
1/4 cup oil for cooking - olive, peanut, or coconut (mm I want to try cocount next time!)

Pico de Gallo:
5-10 tomatillos, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 cayenne pepper, diced
juice of one lime
1-2 tablespoons rice vinegar
dash of olive oil
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine all pico de gallo ingredients.  Stir well and let sit. 

Heat the oil in a cast iron or other lovely pan over medium heat.  (You want to make sure the tomato slices cook but don't burn.)
One at a time, dredge (slide to coat) the tomato slices in flour, then egg, then flour.  Warning: this will be a bit messy.
When dredged/ battered, place each tomato slice in the oil. 
Turn each slice as it becomes browned.  (You can't tell if it's browned without looking, so this takes a little trial-and-error.)
Continue to fry each tomato slice until the center is soft and the breading is crispy.
Remove each completed tomato slice to drain on a paper towel on top of a plate. 

Serve with tomatillo pico de gallo.

*I used chestnut flour. So tasty!  But on the off-chance that you don't have access to chestnut flour, any flour will do - experiment to see what you enjoy most.

Happy Monday!  xoxo

This month's newsletter, I admit, is more newsy than informational.  Well, heck, I have a lot to announce! 

The wild roller coaster ride of writing, editing, and wrangling the new universe of ePublishing has been a c r a z y few months, and the learning curve is certainly not over.  Nevertheless, I am so very, very excited to have the first eBook up and running!!  Right now I'm working on getting it up for sale on Amazon; after that I'll tackle iBookstore, and in the meantime I'm writing another one and learning to record and edit audiobooks. 

Whew. 

If you have any thoughts on the newsletter, the book, the harvest festivals, the harvest season, or my new sliding scale for one-on-one clients, I'd love to hear from you!

Happy new moon!  xoxo

I subscribe to a number of Google Alerts, which means that Google searches the web every day for certain terms and then reports the results to me.  This is handy, and allows me to keep up with breaking news and trends and stuff like that. 

One of my searches is "stress managment" because I do a lot of work with my clients (and myself, let's be honest) around this topic. 

Today's search result? 

McDonald’s McRib Sandwich

Every now and then it is good to indulge in your favourite food and thanks to McDonalds until November we can eat McRib sandwich with that great sauce on it. Not everyone’s best meal but once in a while it is wise to lighten up and have a little of what you fancy especially if you are on a restricted regime just as long as you do not break any wellbeing rules for your self.

Well, so, on the up-side, this "Stress Management Tip & Worker Well-being Resource" is at least a proponent of giving oneself treats.  But McDonald's??  I can't get on that bandwagon. 

And I was really hoping for an insightful workplace stress management tip.  Sigh. 

Brussels sprouts look like little cabbages, but they grow along a stalk.  Like outer space vegetables. 

In this photo, i am holding in my hand a stalk of Brussels sprouts. The leaves have been removed to protect the ... er... people who might get smacked aroud if i hit them with leaves!

Brussels sprouts are native to Europe, though not necessarly to Brussels, Belgium.  They're a part of the Brassica family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards, and kohlrabi.  These vegetalbles are very high in all sorts of vitamins and minerals, and all that nutritional goodness is best absorbed by the body when they're cooked.

Recipe: Roasted Brussles Sprouts

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Remove your Brussles sprouts from the stalk, if neccessary. Rinse them, and trim off the very ends.
Toss the Brussels sprouts with a little olive oil and sea salt.
Place the Bruseels sprouts on a baking pan and put them in the oven for 20 minutes or until tender.
Toss with lemon juice, honey-mustard vinaigrette, or whatever dressing makes you happy.

Happy Monday!