Rice and Beet Salad

Ever thought of those two ingredients in a salad together?

Ya I haven’t thought of a rice and beet salad either…. but let me tell you it was one of my favorite recipes from my weekend away at the Women’s wellness retreat called Thirteen moons.

This post and the next bunch of recipes will come from Louise Racine and Her wonderful retreat http://www.thirteenmoons.ca because she says “sharing is caring”.

Love her.

Love this retreat.

Love her recipes (all vegetarian)

She has three cookbooks and you can find them on Amazon… in print or electronic media – so worth it!

Thank you for everything again Louise!

This pic was found on the internet – it is not Louise’s or my salad – as soon as I make this salad I will post my picture….

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for the rice and beet salad in Louise’s very own hand copied from my email… it also includes the dressing which uses nutritional yeast flakes (very good for you and high and B vitamins) the dressing tastes amazing!

2 cups cooked rice blend (could also use cooked quinoa)

2 tbsp. chopped sundried tomatoes

1 raw beet, shredded or spiralized

4 cups arugula or other greens

Nutritional yeast Dressing

Goat feta

Fresh dill

Blend ½ cup dressing with rice, tomatoes, beets. Place on bed of greens. Sprinkle with feta and dill and pour a bit more of the dressing over greens.

Dressing ingredients and directions

This dressing from Hollyhock (explained below) is a perfect match to the riche and beet salad and so many others that Louise makes at her retreat! Try it – its amazing.

Hollyhock Yeast Dressing* (GF, V)

Hollyhock is a stunning retreat centre on Cortes Island in British Columbia, and this is their most popular salad dressing. This dark and intensely flavoured dressing is versatile and rich in B vitamins. It’s delicious on cooked grains as well as with fresh greens.

Yield: about 2½ cups (625 mL)

½ cup (125 mL) nutritional yeast flakes

⅓ cup (80 mL) water

⅓ cup (80 mL) soy sauce or tamari

⅓ cup (80 mL) apple-cider vinegar

2 tablespoons (30 mL) crushed garlic (optional)

1½ cups (250 mL) avocado oil

Put the yeast flakes, water, soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic in a food processor and blend until thoroughly mixed.

With the processor running on high, add the oil in a slow, steady stream. Add all the oil or stop when your desired consistency is reached. This dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Variation: I use wheat-free tamari and less oil either extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil.

*Adapted from Hollyhock Cooks: Food to Nourish Body, Mind and Soul by Moreka Jolar and Linda Solomon, New Society Publishers, 2003, with permission from Hollyhock and Moreka Jolar.

October 4, 2018

Headaches – some of the different kinds

Did you know there are probably 100s of different headaches?

if you get picky about it there are likely 100s of different types, subtypes and such of headaches…

but if you break it down there are to major classes and several that fall in these classes. I will briefly go over a few of the different common kinds of headaches in this post… maybe you can find your ‘favourite’ (or the flavour of headache you usually get)

Headache causes and symptoms

Two major classes

there are two major classes of headache really: Chronic and Remitting

Chronic meaning that it is there with the person throbbing away or being its fun dull nastiness all of the time with no break. Not fun.

Remitting meaning that they come and go – this can be in all kinds of different frequencies…

Different kinds of headaches

Here is a short list of the most common headache types I see:

Tension Headache

Cervicogenic headache

Migraine Headache

Sinus Headache

Cluster Headache

Image result for tension headache

Tension headache

So these are probably the most common type of headache and can affect kids and adults and teens. They come and go over type and can be accompanied with tight muscles in the neck and face. These are often associated with poor posture, computer and device use. I see lots of these with students too. The pain location can vary between individuals . Length of headache and frequency and intensity also vary.

Chiro treatment can help these immensely!

Cervicogenic headache

These are very similar to tension type and affect the same group. Pain areas often incorporate the back of the neck and head then spreads to other areas of the head. On examination with a chiropractor it is determined that the joins of the neck or cervical spine are the likely culprit for these headaches with the pain being referred to the head from a disorder in the joints.

Guess what – this one is spine associated therefore chiropractic can help this tons too!

Migranes

These come in all shapes and sizes, some with aura, some with out – aura are symptoms other than pain that is associated with the migraine. Oh don’t worry there is pain too, we will get to that…

An aura can come in the form of visual changes – flashing lights, narrowing of vision – I have even heard of some people who temporarily lose their sight all together. You can have auditory changes (hearing), symptoms like numbness and tingling, nausea, gastrointestinal upset, if you can think of some sort of sensory change- it can probably be an aura. The aura usually precedes the pain of the migraine and so the migraine sufferer knows it is coming. Not all migraines have auras though.

The pain of a migraine is usually described as intense, one sided (one side of the head) and unrelenting for a time. Many sufferers report light sensitivity, sensitivity to sound and other stimuli. Often people say they need to go to sleep to relieve the migraine.

Regular chiropractic treatment has been shown to decrease the intensity and frequency of migraines.

Sinus headaches

Usually this is due to sinus infection, chronic sinus irritation or some sort of sinus inflammation or other irritation. We have all experienced sinus pressure due to a bad cold or maybe even a sinus infection. Here the pain is the result of referral from the sinuses to other parts of the head.

If you have these take a peek at this article I posted a while ago about how to encourage your sinuses to drain – I do this lots during cold and flu season with my patients and I teach them how to do it themselves… It can really help with the pressure of a sinus headache!

https://drkarenhudes.ca/index.php/2017/12/28/sinus-pain-pressure-releif/

So… are you noticing a theme here? Chiropractic can help lot and lots of different kinds of headaches. In fact I am a chiropractor today because a chiropractor once cured my headaches when I was in University. So, if you have a headache – give me a call – maybe I can help 🙂

October 3, 2018

Green Tomato Sauce

What exactly does one do with green tomatoes?

I tried making fried green tomatoes – I liked them and so did my husband (the 8 year old kid not so much) but really how many can you eat? Once I tried making pickled tomatoes – this one was a big fail – maybe I didn’t get the brine right… this year I was asked by my husband “are you going to use the green tomatoes you froze last year?”? Quite possibly he wanted them out of the freezer… so this year I tried making green tomato sauce – folks we have a winner.

I have this problem throwing out food – I really hate doing it.

I grow tomatoes every year. Last year and the year before the frost hit before I pulled out the tomato plants and flash froze the tomatoes right on the vine. I guess I was leaving them there in hopes they would ripen. No such luck.

So I threw the tomatoes in the freezer last fall and there they sat.

For almost a year… taking up space.

Right – so I wondered if I could make tomato sauce out of it – and gave it a shot – It was good!!!! so I made it and canned 4.5 or so jars and plan to do the same with whatever is left on the vine this year too… If we don’t eat it or we have too much I plan on giving it away as teacher gifts along with the jams I usually make in the fall.

Ingredients

Here is what you need for green tomato sauce

5-10 lbs of fresh or frozen tomatoes
water
dried basil (1-2 tablespoons to taste)
dried garlic powder (1-2 tablespoons to taste)
Salt
Pepper

Really that’s it.

Super simple directions

Throw all tomatoes that will fit into the pot and add some water (1-2 cups will do). Boil the hell out of them until they are a soft mush. You can take out the seeds if you wish but I left them in and didn’t even cut up the tomatoes before I threw them in. I put mine in frozen…. unfortunately I left the green tops on mine before I froze them and had to pick them out after the boiling process- I suggest if you make this green tomato sauce that you take the green tops from the vine off before you toss the tomatoes in the pot.

Once soft and mush use immersion blender to smooth out or place in food processor or blender. Add spices and stir.

At this point I started sterilizing my jars for canning (please look up how to do this properly so you don’t make yourself ill- it’s super easy just do it properly please). At the same time I allowed the green tomato sauce to boil with the spices to combine the flavours. When canning I added a bit of lemon juice to the top of my jars before sealing and re-boiling.

That’s it – green tomatoes out of my freezer and I have a start on the canning season (I’m a bit of a nerd and throw back to a prior century and like these things…)

October 2, 2018

Self Care : Thirteen Moons 2018 – part deux

Self care is so important

So last year my very first blog post ever was at around this time of year – and it was about this women’s wellness retreat and the lessons I learned in self care there- Thirteen Moons Wellness in Norwood Ontario.

Here is a link to my original post:

https://drkarenhudes.ca/index.php/2017/10/18/thirteen-moons/

I wont repeat myself here – Thirteen Moons is just as restful, relaxing and restorative. Louise, the proprietor, is just as magical in the kitchen. The food is just as good if not better than I remember it. Trust me – there will be new recipes posted here because Louise is amazing and she gave me permission with the epithet “sharing is caring”

Self care – we all say it but do we really do it? If we don’t do it for ourselves no one will do it for us! Most women give and give and nurture constantly…. but you can’t pour from an empty cup right? So refill yours and do something for yourself – yes book a weekend, that’s great. But if that is out of your reach (time, money etc..) then there are lots of things you can do: meditate, take a walk in the woods (and take your shoes off), breathe deeply, rest. Schedule it. Make the time.

As with last year I came home feeling nurtured, and feeling like I have had help refilling my cup so I could give back to others. Obviously the friends I went with last year and this year decided that we enjoyed it (and each other’s company) so much we have to do it yearly.

So we booked this year last year and we booked next year this year…. if that make sense…

Let me tell you a little story

Last year when I went to Thirteen Moons and started this little blog I was an entirely different person. I wasn’t feeling at all like myself – I was shaking internally, not eating much at all, not sleeping at all – I had a bout of pretty major anxiety. This is not an exhaustive list of my symptoms but suffice it to say I tried to cancel the weekend but my friends wouldn’t let me.

I have had a few bouts of anxiety and depression in my life and I fully expect it to come and go in waves – I am not a mental health expert but I have a sense for myself that this is how it will be. And that is ok. I am not writing this post about mental health but I think is important that it plays a role in so many people’s lives. I try to talk about it when I can. Because we all should – it affects so many people.

This year, I am not sure Louise and her sister quite recognized me. But eventhough I am doing better on the anxiety front doesn’t mean I don’t need to take time to refill my cup …

So what did we do there?

This year we had a few activities planned – a drumming circle, group yoga and I had a massage. We also had some activities we didn’t plan: wine drinking, laughing until we cried, walking in the forest (forest bathing), and yes I went barefoot in the moss for a while – felt amazing.

The food was nourishing, the environment relaxing and wholly accepting and my cup again runneth over.

What have you done lately to refill your cup?

Interested in this amazing retreat? More info here: http://www.thirteenmoons.ca

October 1, 2018

Facet Syndrome and lower back pain

Ever heard of a facet joint?

Ya probably not but you have a whole bunch of them all up and down your spine – four facet joints per vertebra really. That’s tons considering in your lower back you have 5 lumbar (or lower back) vertebrae and a sacrum (more lower back stuff).

Suffice it to say that’s a lot of joints – why? more joints mean more mobility. Your spine needs to be bendy to that you can move. Simple as that.

(more about facet joints and facet syndrome and photo credit here: https://learnmuscles.com/blog/2017/09/27/17880/ )

The problem is that when one of these facet joints gets inflamed or irritated – it’s not such a party for the owner of the lower back. These suckers are highly innervated (lots of nerves). Lots of nerves means they can be big pain generators when they are pissed off. Yes, pissed off facet joint is a diagnosis – we just use different language – but you get the point.

How to piss off your facet joints 101

Best way is to load your spine by carrying something then twist.

If you are really lucky, you will make one of the facets mad – sometimes people hear a pop, sometimes not. Sometimes it happens right away and sometimes it is slower pain that develops over hours.

The pain from this can be sharp and excruciating – often feels like something is catching in the lower back and can be felt in a band like a belt around the lower back – sometimes on one side more than the other and often wrapping around to the front too.

How to fix a pissed off facet joint

A chiropractic adjustment is by far the most effective thing in my opinion. It may take a few before you feel a difference because by the time people get to the chiro it has often been several days and allowed the inflammation to collect and do more damage. The sooner you get some care the better.

Other things to do include ice, massage, and kinesiotape or other methods like TENS for pain control.

There is really no great exercise to fix this one – it is a joint level problem so moving the joints (aka a chiropractic adjustment) is really the best way to go.