THIS IS NOURISHMENT

The angle of the sun changed suddenly.  It's cool and rainy after a summer of oppressive heat. Autumn is in the air and we are getting a taste of my favorite season.  My meal tonight is a single bowl containing the following:  mustard greens and black kale sauteed with garlic and cumin seed,  a garnet yam, steaming as I cut into it, its creamy texture is comforting.  After adding some raw, julienned beets, Seth's amazing sunflower sprouts, a sprinkling of spicy sunflower and pumpkin seeds, I drizzle some good olive oil and add a few pinches of Celtic sea salt.  At the last minute I put a forkful of Hawthorne Valley's lacto-fermented red cabbage into the bowl.  I sit alone, listening to some music and I am deeply satisfied.  

I am often asked about what I eat on a daily basis and also what I consider to be optimal nutrition, but I would rather ask:  What does it mean to be truly nourished? Yes, we are nourished or not nourished by the foods we eat, but nourishment is not confined to the foods we eat. The foods we eat, any physical or spiritual practice we engage in, the people we surround ourselves with and the overall climate of our environment all play a part in nourishment.  It does not matter if we are consuming the most pristine, organic food if we are rigid in our body, static in our mind and troubled in our heart when we eat.  So everything leading up to that moment, the very quality of your life affects your ability to receive nourishment. As we become more conscious about the foods we choose to eat and more sensitive to the effects those foods have on our body, we then begin to become more sensitive and refined in the choices we make about other things in our life. Our lives unfold from these choices.  So, curiosity, flexibility and responsiveness in the mind and the body are vital to true nourishment.

More important than labeling an approach to food, is the practice of being open and developing an intuitive sense of how your needs may change over the course of a week, a month and a lifetime. It is vital that we seek the resources to educate ourselves and continually cultivate the knowledge that we have the potential to be nourished by the choices we make and the life that ultimately unfolds from these choices. This is what I consider to be optimal nutrition.



LACIENTO KALE with CUMIN SEED & GARLIC
1 lg bunch Laciento Kale
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
Himalayan salt, to taste
1 lemon
Oil cured black olives

Slice the kale in ribbons about 1/2" wide and chop the stems into 1"pieces if they are not too woody.   Rinse the kale in plenty of water. Drain well.

Heat a large sauté pan and add olive oil and cumin seeds. when the seeds become fragrant and "pop" add the garlic.  After about two minutes, when the aroma of the garlic merges with the fragrant cumin add the kale and saute for about 5 minuts until the greens are softened. sprinkle a few pinches of salt on the greens and a squeeze of fresh lemon; toss to combine and serve with olives and hummus.