HERBALCONSULTS

Have fun; enjoy the fact that you are nurturing yourself. Use it as an opportunity to explore nature. Immerse yourself in the textures, colors, and scents. Be creative; look at cooking as an art form to express yourself. Feel free to change recipes, invent your own, and if the store does not have the ingredients called for, learn to substitute. Try to start cooking for yourself once a week and as you get more proficient slowly increase to 4-5 days per week. Buy ingredients that are fresh and use them in a day or two.

Get to know your grocer! The good ones will have a love for food and will have the best products on hand! Don’t be afraid to ask them to special order what you want. Buy locally when you can. Believe it or not produce grown near you will be best suited to you and will provide the nutrition you are more likely to need. Organic is best except when you pick up the celery and it is limp as cooked noodles!!! Sometimes organic produce is shipped for thousands of miles and sits in warehouses and trucks for days or even weeks! So, if you have to occasionally buy non organic produce be sure to use a fruit and vegetable spray that is now readily available. In the past I have joined local organic farmers co-ops that are actually much cheaper than any grocer I have found. Usually they are seasonal and send you a bushel of mixed produce each week. To the city folk out there that is enough for 3 vegetarians to gorge themselves all week. Check the internet, (www.angelicorganics.com). If you eat beef or chicken this MUST be organic. Sadly this industry does not care about the animals or us; unhappy, lethargic, anxious animals make for people who exhibit the same traits. These animals are kept in dirty pens with no room for movement, injected with hormones (steroids), antibiotics and who knows what else. The residues of which are left in the meat and dairy when you consume it. For most people I think it is acceptable to consume 2-4 ounces of meat/fish per day. This, of course does not consider any moral, religious, or spiritual implications.

The only canned products I consider using are tomatoes and tomato paste and coconut milk. The only frozen foods I will use are peas, otherwise go fresh! One good general rule is: the closer to nature anything you will consume is, the better it will be for you. For example: fresh ground pepper, sea salt, or “realsalt” brand, or “Celtic” brand sea salt or even kosher salt would be better than “Morton’s”; Also, grate your own nutmeg, and parmesan cheese -- I don’t know what comes in the green can! Use “Succanat” brand sugar when you must use sugar; other wise avoid it. A two pound bag will last me months. You can try substituting honey or molasses or stevia sometimes too – each of these has their strong points on where they are best used, like honey in beverages, and molasses in stir-fry and baking. NEVER use Nutrasweet/aspartame, or saccharine. Get two kinds of olive oil, I like Italian the best; one for everyday cooking which is still damn good that should cost $15-20 per liter and the other should come from Tuscany and cost 2-3 times as much, this one is not cooked with but drizzled over just about everything. (It is rich in essential fatty acids, especially omega 9) Both of these oils should be unrefined, unfiltered, organic, first cold press extra virgin olive oils made from locally grown olives. Avoid all processed and refined foods: this includes just about all convenience foods like frozen dinners, bags of chips, boxes of cookies, hamburger helper, gravy in a jar, crackers, hot dogs, etc. Also avoid fast foods and junk foods. Limit your intake of sugar and sweets. Stay away from deep fried food. Try to learn the value of quality in foods as opposed to quantity or price. By following these freshness guidelines you WILL taste the difference in your food and eventually see the difference in your health.

Always have your “mis en place” or ingredients prepped and ready before the actual cooking process begins. Season each dish with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper at each stage of the cooking process or each time a new ingredient or group of ingredients goes into the pan. Get some decent quality cookware; it is better to have only a few top quality essentials than a kitchen filled with low quality gadgets. For example, avoid aluminum cookware, and buy a good set of knives. Try to get your family and friends involved in the process; make it a social event!