Category: Healthy Food

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Healthy Food

Fermented Foods for Health

BTW, speaking of health and vitality, did you know fermented foods like Sauerkraut is so good for you?  Another fermented power food is MISO – oh, so good for you; Aedan brand Miso and Amazake are so delicious. Only at San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market OR… special order for the lucky ones on the mailing list:)  Check out their website www.aedansf.com for more information. Hoping some day, we can just pick them up at local Whole Foods.

Fermented foods is a probiotic powerhouse that helps regulate our gut in a natural way. There’s a huge attention given to fermented foods and drinks like Kombu-cha and even wine; Kimchi and sauerkraut… because of their health benefits. Our “gut” health plays a key role in strengthening our immune system. Instead of me preaching, just read what renowned integral doctor like Dr. Andrew Weil has to say about fermented foods. Here’s a lovely article on my favorite soup… and you will be a convert too. Dr. Andrew Weil was the Key Note Speaker at this year’s San Fancisco Yoga Journal Conference… He promotes yoga for general health and expounds on the notion of food as medicine. Miso can be made at home but … if you can get quality organic miso locally, I like to have a variety at hand.

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So this post is an excerpt republished from a post I wrote maybe a month ago – then today, Mariko via FB mentions that her company is a candidate at Whole Foods Local Foods Grant program! Wow – amazing. When there’s a desire, when there’s a dream – that desire is met and that dream, reached when there’s support from friends and fans – it’s all in the shared consciousness. Unlike artificial or processed foods, Mariko-san’s Aedan foods is ALIVE, ORGANIC and NATURAL. It’s full of energy that restores and nourishes our body. Let’s vote for her and her company’s success! (Click and then vote for Aedan Fermented Foods!)
I for one can really use a high quality organic locally made miso I can easily pickup at a local Whole Foods:) That would be a dream come true:) Hope it becomes a shared dream so we may all benefit!

Categories
Healthy Food Healthy Living

IMG_5953Right before my Sunday evening yoga class my mother from Tokyo called – apparently there was an earthquake there – the jolt was quite intense and lasting, waking her up.@ Magnitude-6. Epicenter 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Tokyo…my hometown. It was the strongest felt in the Japanese capital since March 2011, when a magnitude-9 earthquake hit the country’s northeast. That record temblor left more than 18,500 people dead or missing and crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.

Did she call in fear and panic?  No, she was cool as a cucumber…laughing how it woke her up and ruined her breakfast plans as the elevator did not work in her building… then when I asked if she’s still doing the yoga pranayama I taught her on my last visit, she replied, yes, yes. hai, hai – then, off to breakfast she went now that the elevator was working – she’s on the 18th floor… I worry about her a lot (and yes, I worried about the after shocks and her in the elevator… ) as probably most children do of their aging parents.

Yet, I know worrying do nothing to help her and is most harmful to me – Yoga has really helped me tame my busy mind.  Outside world is not under control and sometimes as my mentor yoga teacher used to say, “sometimes s–t happens” that’s totally beyond your control.  It’s not some naive self-help book written by someone who has not yet lived an authentic full life singing “positive thinking” as a road to happiness – Attaining your desires* does not assure happiness nor determine your destiny. That’s an illusion.  With the best of intentions and hard work and superhuman focus, sometimes, still things do not work out – or shall I say, it worked out BUT not the way you wanted.

Sure, planning, scheduling, prioritizing and organizing certainly help – and yet… When things seem out of control to you; you are indeed, right – yes, it is.  External world is beyond your control.  It’s the internal world that’s within your control – so with that knowledge, you can relax now. You have the power and control over your inner-world;  you have all the choices on how to react to the external forces by being a force to reckon with yourself.

Speaking of self-help books, I am reading this popular book from Japan, translated would be entitled something like, “How to live in optimal health to age 100 with vitality; then depart just like That !” (snap your fingers at the end:)

I know, I know – what a book to be reading… BUT it’s very informative.  I will share my findings in my teachings.

BTW, tried 23&Me – interesting… We are brothers and sisters after all…and if we go back far enough, we are all related.

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Beautiful Places Healthy Food

Ferry Building – Blue Bottle

Where there is (gourmet) coffee, there’s biscotti –  La Biscotteria’s biscotti should be here… Instead dry cardboard like cracker called biscotti with Spanish Saffron & Almonds… I guess you are just paying more for the saffron not the biscotti itself. I prefer Authentic over Trendy but always willing to try new things:)

In S.F. for special friend’s impromptu birthday lunch.  This is how I don’t get any work done but all worth it for anyone special.  Aging is a celebration.

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