Remember how you were feeling alive in your last dreamy vacation where you immersed yourself in a new culture you’ll never forget? Or maybe that was a staycation where you got time away for yourself to relax and do nothing, or just lay by the pool. I can relate to both!
And, I love rooftop views!
Beautiful rooftop view of Bologna, Italy
…When Life couldn’t be any better. Vatas love this Cloud 9 feeling from heightened senses in different places, Pittas love the getting back to productive routine, and Kaphas love their homey comforts and sleeping in their own bed again.
Life is good and one big harmony for everyone when you’re feeling alive and good again! And you can feel this way in all these different ways because you have all these traits in you (in varying degrees).
Wherever you are, take those feeling-alive dreamy vacation feelings with you. I do!
Sprinkle those joyful feelings throughout the rest of the 365 days. Here’s an example of a typical practice I have.
When I first start my workday, I look at a small framed piece of inspiring artwork in front of me (and I can take an inspiring desk calendar with me wherever I go). It puts a peaceful smile on my face. All is well. 🧡
I also keep a changing-up scenery screensaver on my computer. This is super important for a Vata! But if you like to see the same image over and over again, then find a framed image or words that inspire you.
For now, I have a Matisse postcard image in front of me that is just as good as if I took a look at the image in an original museum painting because I choose to see from the lens that I’m not missing anything.
Visuals are oh-so-important and especially so if you don’t have a vivid imagination. Colors play into the mix. That’s why people feel differently when they wear different color pieces of clothing. Do dogs react differently to different colors? You betcha!
I had one that loved the boldness of red (that’s the same color that bulls run to). And so do us, people. Except we’re a bit more refined and complicated with our color palette choices… more on that below.
As A Vata, if you are one like I am, you’re constantly changing things up and inspired to change at least the colors, if not the clothing style or the entire room (and hopefully your spouse or roommate doesn’t mind. Your dog won’t) 😉. Continue reading “Experience Feeling Alive Every Day”
Organic cold brew coffee is the coffee you can drink regularly if you’re a cuppa joe in the morning type of person and want to be more healthy.
You can use the information below s to make your organic cold brew coffee and routine. ☕️
Let’s break this down into two parts.
Brewed coffee (or the regular coffee process) yields a more acidic coffee than cold brew in the process.
So if you want a lighter feeling coffee with a medium taste, then cold brew has its body health benefits.
…And why I do organic coffee cold brew daily.
Then, the organic coffee part is important because the bulk of coffee is sprayed with pesticides that we’re ingesting.
And if you’re noticing brain fog or blips in short-term memory has got you these days and you don’t know why, if you do drink regular coffee (cold brew or regular brewed) then the coffee could be the offender.
Switching to organic coffee for a month is a good idea to see if you feel a difference.
Organic coffee to buy can be more expensive and slightly harder to source, but you get to ask yourself what your health is worth and if you want to make the additional search effort.
These are just a few organic cold brew coffee benefits:
☕️ You can make and drink cold brew coffee faster than you can wait for hot coffee to brew (and wait for it to cool some).
I describe below 👇 how you can make your own below if you’ve never made before.
☕️ Cold brew also has health benefits. It’s less acidic through the cold brew process than regular hot coffee or espresso. This is good especially if you have a sensitive stomach or gut lining, and feel heartburn effects from coffee.
☕️ With cold brew, you may not need to eat your first meal first before your first cup as it’s more gentle and doesn’t need the food buffer.
…Many of us wake up groggy and tired, and we want our coffee first thing. But first we need a soft pillow of food in our stomach, that’s not the preference when you’re not quite awake and ready yet for eating.
So that’s where cold brew ROCKS… and is ready for you as you can make the day before or batches days or a week in advance and refrigerate!
☕️ If you gave up on coffee because it tears up your stomach or gives you heartburn, then cold brew coffee could be a good option so you can bring the healthy drink back. This point can’t be emphasized enough. ‼️
Or if you want a lighter cup of coffee during your day that won’t affect your sleep at night, cold brew coffee could be the way to go!
☕️ Cold brew coffee is great for hot weather days as your coffee is served cold. You make at room temperature and then refrigerate.
Making cold brew at home is also a mindful, relaxing activity. And it doesn’t have to end there…
If you know me, you know I like to zhugh up any food or beverages (probably from my catering background), so I’ll share how I do that too below!
What you will need for basic cold brew coffee:
-Ground coffee
-Mesh catcher (with a lip or rim)
-Coffee filters
-Spoon
-Water
-Deep bowl at least 6” high/deep OR pitcher with a large opening almost or just slightly larger than the mesh catcher diameter is ideal (but as long as most the mesh catcher sits inside the pitcher, it’ll work).
If you use a pitcher, you won’t need another pitcher to pour your finished coffee into as your cold brew coffee can go straight into the pitcher and fridge.
Cold Brew Setup:
Bowl: Find or buy a right-size mesh catcher that works comfortably for your cold brew coffee prep setup, where the coffee filter fits in easily.
Rest the mesh catcher to then rest on top of the bowl.
Set the coffee filter to sit in the catcher as flat or parallel to the table surface as best it can, so you don’t have coffee and water in the filter dripping or tipping over. Then you have your bowl setup.
Or…
Pitcher: You can put your filter/catcher ontop of a wider-opening pitcher. If you use a pitcher, you want most of the bottom half of the catcher to sit inside the pitcher so your coffee brewing doesn’t spill over in the sides.
So then you have your setup from one of the options above.
Good job!
Next, you can bring on the ground coffee grinds. See what I did there… ground grinds. 😊
I like to make cold brew coffee in the morning to get a good whiff of the coffee grounds, and as a sensory experience and relaxing mindful activity. 🧡
You can even pull out your setup the day or night before if you just want to make a cup in the morning or a batch for a couple days.
Mind you, the fresh-made coffee will be room temps warmer than when you refrigerate, but that’s actually better for your stomach in the morning when you’re getting your day started.
The stomach prefers room temperature liquids, and preferrably a big glass of plain water first.
And then in choosing coffee types, use ground coffee types. It’s easy to get enamored by coffee flavors, packaging, and brands, but be sure it’s “ground” otherwise they’ll be “whole” and you’ll need to make the grounds.
It’s better to use a mix of superfine ground coffee and a coarser ground coffee so the grounds don’t fall through the filter. Or find one that is just perfect for you and stick with it.
They stay grounded 😉
How to Make Cold Brew Coffee
To start making cold brew coffee, pour your ground coffee mix (about 1/2 cup to ¾ cup coffee grounds total for a large batch) in the filter. Every coffee grind is different. You can use less if you just want to make a cup.
You can start with 1/4 cup coffee grounds to make a cup or two of coffee. These will be the strongest cups from the grounds.
With a spoon, mix the ground coffees up a little in your catcher-filter setup before you pour in water to possibly prevent fine ground coffee from falling through the filter.
Pour cool water over the coffee grounds. Filtered water is good. The cold water is the process secret to keeping the coffee from becoming more acidic (healthy benefit). You can use room temperature water and it will be fine.
After you refrigerate it will be served “cold brew.”
In the beginning, the water will go through the filter fast and you will get a light brown/caramel trail of coffee water in your pitcher or bowl.
That won’t be the final coffee you’ll be drinking.
When you keep pouring into the catcher-filter, then the darker coffee color comes out that you were probably expecting.
Troubleshooting: If your ground coffee mix sends some of the grounds through the filter or you accidentally spill some grounds in your ready-made coffee, then you can simply start over with a new coffee filter in a second bowl.
The second bowl can catch the second round of coffee being made that sometimes can turn out better. Pour your first setup coffee and coffee grounds into the filter of the second.
So back on track… from time to time, take a spoon and stir the coffee ground and water in your filter, trying not to have coffee water overflow.
Keep pouring water as it filters down. And if you pour into a cup, watch it drip darker coffee after the first half of a cup or so.
More Coffee… thinking ahead for tomorrow
Then if you want to add more ground coffee, you can make a bigger coffee batch or a pitcher with your current setup.
This less potent coffee is good for lighter coffees.
…I like to make cappuccinos with after the first two cups of cold brew coffee.
You can make foam or froth milk (I find unsweetened coconut milk the easiest to get a good froth with a frother), or you can use a little whipped cream.
Then I add a dash of cocoa, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, or cardamom.
Oh, and one final cold brew coffee benefit: If you make cold brew coffee at home, you’ll never again be without coffee if the machine doesn’t work! You can always make your own instant coffee without a machine.
You can also pair your plant-based coffee habit to some great plant-based breakfast ideas to break away from the sugar breakfast habits or adding sugar to coffee. Sugar we know accumulates and works to destroy the biome.
So organic cold brew coffee and healthy eating together can be a better habit.
After you have your cold brew coffee setup, pour water through. The first 30 seconds of water pours will go right through. Examine if you're getting the medium to dark brown coffee color (if not, pour the watered down coffee into a temporary glass and then pour through again). If the coffee is too finely ground or too coarse, this can happen. If too fine, add/blend about a tablespoon of a slightly coarser ground coffee to the filter. This should even out the coffee grinds.
Keep pouring water and pour your first cup of coffee (will be the strongest). You can keep going until the cold brew coffee is weaker strength or turning lighter color.
Fresh orange juice is a popular, year-round favorite. In the winter, oranges are in season, so you can find an abundance of oranges.
That’s also when most people load up on Vitamin C that they associate with orange juice, and why orange juice grocery shelves can be full or running empty.
And summer is a popular time too as it’s served in vacation towns and resorts.
I share below how you can optimize an entire orange in homemade fresh orange juice squeezed by hand.
If you’re inspired by fresh juices, this is a smart idea to save money, be healthy, and enjoy conveniently at home.
And speaking of enjoyment, last week I had a nice surprise.
I won a gift card to a local smoothie place I’m inspired by. They are my inspiration for tropical smoothies.
One day I saw someone coming out of a yoga studio in my town who was carrying this mermaid blue color bowl that’s the size of a large yogurt container.
I had to find out what this healthy ingredient is!
I learned it comes from an ingredient called blue majik (that’s the magic in the blue bowl). 🥣
The South Block smoothie chain also uses ingredients like camu camu and maca root.
You feel like you’ve been invited to a new array of rainforest superfoods shipped from an exotic locale in the world and infused in your made-to-order bowl or smoothie.
It’s dreamy, no?
OK, I could go on and on excited!…
But, today I also wanted to share how you can optimize oranges in a house-made fresh orange juice.
I’ve become super sensitive to how much sugar I consume and that’s healthy motivation.
And that hopefully inspires you to think healthy food and drinks at least most of the time (as it does for me).
Next time you think about getting orange juice from the store, consider making your own fresh orange juice from whole oranges where there’s no added sugar.
Fresh Orange Juice
Look for heirloom, organic, or local farmers market produce as in season (free of pesticides, good for us and the environment)
And oranges are one of my favorite fruits as I love the smell of oranges. Here’s why…
They are good for calming anxiety, aromatherapy, and if you’re leaning into the Vata mind-body ways or wanting to restore any Vata imbalance.
If you can’t get the work life balance or life is stressful, keeping an orange near you to sniff and that’ll help calm you.
And making fresh orange juice will also in its healthy-balancing effects.
And if you feel it in your nervous digestive tract, you can try an orange elixir like this recipe:
5 Spice blend (Five spice is star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and black pepper) - (amount adjustable to liking)
water (dilute as needed)
Instructions
Zest and peel an orange. Keep all the parts. Tip: use navel, Cara Cara, blood, or heirloom oranges. They are good for the calming (and good for parasympathetic nervous system also affecting good digestion).
Squeeze the pulp into your orange juice container (or enjoy).
Add your zest and peels to the container.
Add five-spice blend.
Add apple cider vinegar
Fill up with water. Shake and refrigerate. Enjoy when you have an upset stomach.
There are so many orange varieties to choose from. I love the Cara Cara sweetheart orange variety (common around Christmas) that can be juicier and sweeter than a California navel orange that’s in season a little earlier.
Plus fresh orange juice makes me think of my second home, staying in nice hotels! Once upon a time I worked in hotel catering management where I got my first taste.
And you may have seen out and about those gigantic commercial machines that crank out fresh orange juice from whole oranges. That would be a fun job for a day!
You may have seen one of these at selective grocery stores if you live in a larger metro area.
Fresh orange juice definitely ruined me for any added sugar orange juice that comes from a carton (like I grew up drinking).
Concentrated is high sugar and harsh on the stomach, and especially along with a morning coffee routine that Americans commonly do. That’s double acidity.
👉 You can opt for making your own organic cold brew coffee and diluting orange juice with water.
So let’s begin and get your fresh orange juice-on!
For equipment, you can use a citrus squeezing tool, which is one of my favorite kitchen tools because it’s bright yellow so I have no choice but to be sunny with the brightening citrus when I use it 😉.
And a zester microplane tool that looks like a zester.
These are the parts of the orange.
Orange Zest (essence). Before I cut into the orange for orange juice, I go around the orange peel, grating, and capturing all the outside orange zest as essence for zhughing up other sweet morning smoothies, dishes, and garnishes (that’s where my former-catering mind goes and yours can go wild too!).
Orange Pith. Most people throw the spongy, slightly bitter part out, but consider keeping.
This would good in the orange digestif recipe mentioned already.
The orange pith is high in Vit C (as is the juicy pulp) and anti-inflammatory flavonoids. For those reasons alone, it’s worth considering mixing in foods and drinks/smoothies.
Plus leaving no traces of fruit is good for not attracting critters. 😉
Orange Juice and Pulp. Then cut the orange in half (perpendicular to the top or the stem or from left to right).
I know it’s tempting to cut the orange any which way since it’s perfectly round, but cutting the right way lets you cut through each orange segment to maximize juice.
Otherwise you could get stuck on a pillowy-feeling orange segment.
Now you’re ready to squeeze each orange half or use a citrus squeezer tool, and squeeze away the juice into a tall glass.
Let go of all your stress squeezing oranges. Activating calming oranges around you is a relaxing sensory exercise.
Keep repeating until you have the amount of juice you want. Add back pulp as desired if you like high pulp juice.
You can also add some water to dilute some or stretch the juice out for more.
And enjoy!
No-Waste Eco-Friendly Ideas: Save the orange pulp if you prefer high-pulp OJ and add small orange pieces to your drink.
Save the seed to grow a plant. Save the pulp and zest for cooking and baking recipes. Save the pith that has the most nutrients for digestifs and foods. Save the orange sticker as a reminder for getting the Produce LookUp (PLU) item again. 😉
If you like fresh juices, you may want to give Fresh Peach Juice and Mango Juice other sunny yellow inspiring fruity juices a GO.
Let’s see… does this describe you? You wake up and you want to eat something, but you crave something different than what you had for breakfast yesterday. (That’s a sign you could be a natural Vata). Why not try quinoa recipes for a morning cereal bowl that healthy eaters are raving about?
Btw, it’s OK to feel like you’re in a food rut, seeking food variety and abandoning old ways. That’s actually a healthy natural selection way for your body to get different nutrients and as nutrition information evolves.
Cereal used to be the most popular way to start your day, with a nutrition label full of vitamins and minerals. But then the healthy truth came out and went south when you learned that the source was fortified, (nutrients were added), or enriched (nutrients removed and added back). You see preservatives like BHT on the list of ingredients when they could (and you can) do without.
Our childhood favorites that end in “O” (maybe for “oh-no!) have been called out for having Roundup weedkiller ingredients. Even if it’s small traces, you don’t want your food near pesticides that aren’t natural foods you pick off the land, ya know what I mean? So what’s a girl to do? Like most, we grow up and tweak our diets to match a healthier lifestyle?
Other-once childhood favorites like a tart popped from the toaster are no longer appealing to a healthy adult. The nutrition label can make your eyes pop out of your head with high sugar, low fiber, etc… (you might as well go for a bakery creme-filled donut or chocolate croissant).
For our daily breakfasts, we love our fast favorite cereals and breakfast sweets, but we can love our health more.
Well… when you put it that way…
That’s not a pick-me-up way (and not my usual Enneagram 7 enthusiasm). It actually sounds a bit like wah-wah-wah, but wait… there’s a new wah in Keen-wah (quinoa)… a much better alternative to get excited about. Now, that’s what I’m talking about! And, my favorite easy, quinoa recipes are below.
Another favorite is old-fashioned or slow-cooked oatmeal (whole grain rolled oats) that’s a particularly great morning warm meal for natural Vatas who love to multitask while getting food in the morning body. It’s a good morning bowl because it doesn’t get soggy (it’s already mushy!). And it’s fast to make so it’s no bother if your brain hasn’t caught up with your stomach needs before you’ve had any caffeine. You just need a little hot water.
For slow-rising Kapha energy, warm oatmeal could also be the simple meal that works. While healthy Pittas love to eat and go! and love foods that cool their bodies down. A meal with milk or a dairy alternative is perfect like cereal or a morning healthy goodness smoothie.
Because I mentioned how finding healthy store-bought cereals that you like can be tricky, making your own homemade granola cereal (crunchy) or oatmeal (soft and warm) from whole-grained rolled oats is an easy alternative. It’s tasty and takes very little time.
And you can pre-make healthy granola cereal as an extra time-saver. The only sweet ingredient is a small amount of high quality or local honey (to act as the glue) and optionally add in your favorite dried fruit and nuts, such as almonds and raisins as the healthier choices.
If you want a crunchier granola cereal, then use less honey, and bake in higher oven temperatures for a shorter amount of time, making sure to watch your batch so they don’t burn.
Quick funny story… or at least it was entertaining to me. Long before I worked in hotel catering, I worked in the kitchen of an upscale Italian restaurant where I did food prep. One salad task I had was to prepare and bake pine nuts. I remember they were extremely temperature and time-baking-sensitive. If you didn’t stand there and watch the oven, the pine nuts would go from unbaked to burnt in the blink-of-an-eye. That happened more than once, but I got smart and learned to stay mindful on my task.
[OK…anyway, where was I? 😊]…
Granola is a little more forgiving, but every oven is a little different and depending on where in your oven you set your sheet pan. I take my Silpat off so that I can get crunchier granola (but that’s just preference). In baking, slight altitude and temperature changes outside, affect indoor baking conditions.
Another alternative and my favorite and maybe yours too (or could be yours), is the breakfast quinoa bowl. I promised some quinoa recipes (they’re further below).
When I was growing up, we didn’t know quinoa existed. Before then as far as I can remember, cous cous was the exotic and chic healthy norm alternative to pasta or rice before superfood quinoa came along.
Quinoa is actually mistaken as a grain, and even set in the grain aisle in the grocery store. It’s acually the fruit part of a dried herb (but it looks and cooks like a grain so it’s treated like one).
You know that saying, if it looks and acts like a duck, then it’s a duck.
Anyway, now we’re all fully quinoa aware.
We add healthy grains to our lunch and dinner salads like dry dressing. For breakfast ideas, have you tried or thought about adding breakfast quinoa recipes as the new cereal or oatmeal?
Without needing breathing exercises, we forget how automatic and important breathing is. Sometimes our breathing pattern or air changes wake us up to get back to our healthy breath awareness in this moment. Our breathing can easily remind us of our precious moments and the finite time we have on earth.
And in healthy reminders, I wanted to breathe some good tips your way!
…Breathing is everything life. It’s how the earth began:
“God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
With climate change, wildfires, and spring green pollen allergy dust in the air at high levels (over 10), many of us are affected from the lungs and neck up.
I suspected allergies was affecting my sleep as I was clocking in about the same amount of hours from night to morning and not feeling as rested.
I had been documenting a healthy 8 hours of sleep time on my Apple Watch and tracker.
I noticed my body runs best when I have 5 hours of restful sleep that’s also tracked.) And choosing a life with less stress and more balance, 7 hours is a good enough rhythm.
And something for you to clock in because stress and sleep is related.
Observe Your Sleep
While tracking a few nights for awareness, I observed I was getting less restful sleep and more light sleep. Hmmm… I thought, I wonder why that is?
All things being equal, I wanted to test the hypothesis that I had shallow breathing at night.
It dawned on me that my deep rest (restful sleep) may have been lessened by the shallower breathing or less air going into my lungs, as I breathed through my slightly congested nose.
Btw, breathing in air through your nose is a much better way than through your mouth as it is known to help increase memory. You have a filter in your nose that you don’t in your mouth. You can Google that if you want scientific-backed evidence.
Let’s see… does this describe you? You wake up and you want to eat something, but you crave something different than what you had for breakfast yesterday. (That’s a sign you could be a natural Vata). Why not try quinoa recipes for a morning cereal bowl that healthy eaters are raving about?