Signs of Spring

Spring is a time of rebirth, renewal, time for making positive changes in our life and our health and healing.

When the potatoes, onions, and garlic, still in their bins, begin to sprout, it is a clear sign that spring is on its way.  The rhythm of life cannot be denied when root veggies, tucked away in the cupboards of a home, know it is their time to sprout and bloom.

I never cease to be amazed at the wonders of nature (and we are nature).  There is a rhythm, an internal time clock in every living thing, that just knows when it is time to grow and change.

Humans, as we are nature, know this too.  We internally know when we need to shift, change, and grow.

As my geranium reaches for the light every day, growing larger and larger, I contemplate where I need to grow towards light and learning; where I need to get "larger."

What spring changes need to be made in your life?  How do you need to change and grow to share the gift of who you are on this earth?

Further signs of the impending spring: My Siamese has not been outside in months!  March 29th and she wandered outside for an hour!

A recipe to put "Spring" into your step

• 3/4 cup extra virgin, organic olive oil
• 6 tbsp. lemon juice
• 5 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar, the raw & local kind!
• 1 tbsp. honey mustard (read ingredients to avoid crap)
• 1 tbsp. minced shallots or green onions (they will be coming soon AND those wild leeks I long for in spring!)
• 1/2 tsp. unrefined sea salt
• 3/4 cup raspberries (maybe pull some out of the freezer from last summer's picking frenzies?)

Put the first 7 ingredients into a jar (a wide mouth quart jar works nicely).

Smash the raspberries very well and add to the jar of liquids.

Shake like crazy... with the lid on, please!

Enjoy!

Thanks to my sister Terry for sharing her kitchen art and magic. She was in the mood for raspberry vinaigrette and found herself in a "fix" without any on hand. With her whole food kitchen know-how, she created her own healthy, home version.

Nature Knows Best

www.HandsOnHealthHH.com "Just lift the corner of the clouds and the sun is ALWAYS shining!"   Eli Schechter

Photo courtesy of Paula Willard, Lake Ozonia FB post. "Now I see the secret of making the best persons. It is to grow up in the open air, and to eat and sleep with the earth."  Walt Whitman There is amazing wisdom in this quote by Walt Whitman.  When we eat, sleep, move, and live with the rhythms of nature our bodies thrive with vibrant health.  Eating food from the season we currently are experiencing, from farmers who live right around the corner (Local food is the label for this!), and experiencing our lives in tune with the forces of nature (Remember, we ARE nature.) is very potent "medicine."  My goal in life is to reach as many people as I can, turning on their passion for health and healing in themselves.  Every healthy person influences others around them (Paying it forward!) creating more healthy people.  Healthy people create healthy families and communities... healthy communities link together to create a global community that thrives with vibrant health.  It is a ripple effect and I am a pebble, throwing myself into the pond.  Join me on this quest for changing the collective mind, body, and soul health... one person at a time! Health and Healing Hint Recently I presented a health and healing workshop in Homer, NY.  After the workshop, a lady approached me as she had stories to tell of her upbringing with a mom who fed her organic, whole foods.  I love people's stories and I think she connected with my funny stories about Jake and Eli thinking I am a crazed, food and health "sheriff."  She said her mom used to give her a tablespoon of wheat germ whenever her and her siblings were going to get their occasional piece of candy treat.  She said this prevented the blood sugar rush and crash.  Which, by the way, is a good thing to avoid!  Just a helpful hint to keep your blood sugar on an even keel. I always recommend making sure baked goods have healthy amounts of fat and protein in them (as well as drastically reducing the sugar amounts in the recipe) as these cooking habits counter the high content of easily digested and quickly absorbed carbohydrates from the sweetener and whole grain flours in any treat recipes (even if one uses all whole foods ingredients). Wheat Germ:   Very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Fat, Vitamin B6, Folate, Magnesium and Copper, and a very good source of Thiamin, Phosphorus, Zinc, Manganese and Selenium.  The high level of nutrients also counters the depletion of nutrients from your body that happens when you eat a refined food.  Remember my cell biology lessons in my whole food articles? http://www.livestrong.com/article/34470-wheat-germ-nutritional/