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You’ve heard it on Oprah. You read it in a book by Dr. Oz. You’ve seen it thrown around year after year like a rag doll. Let’s just stop the b.s. Is it a real lifestyle change that you can live with, or just a perpetual diet, based on the premise that you’d rather be miserable than overweight? Like the woman I know who works at the weight loss clinic I used to go to, who only eats 10 foods, all low carb fruits and vegetables all week long only to “treat” herself with pancakes on the weekends? She’s shaped like a skeleton and rarely smiles. Or like the gung-ho gym guy who told me that if I wanted to slim down and maintain it I’d never be able to eat another cookie again for the rest of my life?
Stop Stop Stop!!!
Lifestyle change is perpetual, ongoing, forever. But it’s not a diet!
Lifestyle change, in the context of LifeBliss Solutions, means making fundamental changes in the way you do things so that they support, not sabotage your efforts at being healthy and happy.
For example, take Marita. She’s a single suburban mom with 3 children. She’s also a busy professional with a lengthy commute and thinks she doesn’t have enough time to prepare nutritious meals that her children will eat for dinner on weeknights. She ended up going through a fast food drive thru twice a week, which was sabotaging her efforts at maintaining a healthy weight because she was eating junky food too late in the evening. To solve the problem she began doing basic food prep for dinners on the weekend and mid-week, and packing larger lunches and making dinner the lightest meal of the day. She also incorporated some raw dishes to cut down on prep time and her children loved it, especially because they got to help make the meals. With her lifestyle change, she was able to drop that 15 lbs of fat and she kept it off. As the children got older, things got even easier. She made a few more practical changes but NO DIET, NO CONTRIVED WORKOUTS.
In order to make effective lifestyle changes, you have to first identify your current lifestyle problems. Then, you have to keep a wide open mind for solutions. The key element of lifestyle change is to be honest about what changes you are able and willing to cope with for the rest of your life, that won’t make you miserable in the process.
It’s December 21, 3:28am, the winter solstice 2010. I woke up to get a glimpse of the total lunar eclipse this morning. Earlier I had been looking for historical or ancient symbolism of this unique event, a lunar eclipse on the winter solstice. The winter solstice is the time when the sun reaches its lowest point in the northern sky. The day of the winter solstice is essentially the shortest of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The seasonal significance of the winter solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days.
While I gazed out of my bedroom window (did you think I was really going outside in the 20 degree temps?) at the progression of the eclipse, it came to me. The solstice is the darkest and longest night of the year. From here it only gets brighter. This coupled with the dark crimson moon reminded me that we are currently experiencing a time of Kali Yuga, or dark age (not the Goddess Kali). According to the Hindu faith, Kali Yuga is literally the age of the male demon, or the age of vice. Kali Yuga is the last of the four natural stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures.
The bright and luminous moon, closely associated with the divine feminine, grew duller and duller. It made me think of recent times of women forgetting about their divine essence, and the feminine attributes of nurturing, collective cooperation, creativity and deep respect for the environment. It made me lament that women have been affected by corporate conditioning, hiding their true beauty behind plastic masks and starving their bodies in pursuit of the perpetually unattainable standardization. I thought of the unnecessary pain and abuse of not only women, but of humankind worldwide, due to excessive greed, jealousy, selfishness, and aggression characteristic of this dark age.
I couldn’t help but imagine that in this time of darkness (well not really for me, I’m a city dweller and there’s light pollution) is a very important event. Within the next hour, we will begin to see Luna’s re-emergence as a bright and powerful cosmic entity. Slowly I’ll watch as the darkness again becomes light. Is this our release from 432,000 years of Kali Yuga, or dark age?
I am not Hindu (so please forgive me) but I would like to believe that this is the end of Kali Yuga and the beginning of the Golden Age of Truth. Women and girls will once again recognize their power and beauty. The world as a whole (feminine and masculine) will begin to experience a divine feminine spiritual revolution and enjoy the benefits of a more evolved and civilized egalitarian society?
Today’s event can serve as an inspiration. I will start with myself right now. I can spare a little (actually a lot) more general kindness to people around me. I will pay more attention to the needs of others, instead of ignoring them because I’m crankified. Although I love my body and am generally comfortable in it, I have my moments. I am going to appreciate and adore it more, even the parts that tend to annoy me (the hereditary belly pooch). Adoring my body includes getting it into the best shape in can be in, without extreme measures or harmful abuse. (I need to lose a few pounds of fat).
What will YOU do to bring on the Golden Age of Truth and Beauty?
This morning I went for a 3-3.5 mile brisk walk. I am recovering from some bizarre (and common) knee ailment that involves pain, clicking, crunching, and swelling. I don’t even remember any injury. I just woke up one morning busted. So, today I’m not having any knee discomfort, even after my morning exercise. I’m happy about this.
Usually when I go out to walk I end up running. I hate running but in my mind I’m getting it over with so I speed it up. It used to bother me when the strange bone-thin ultra-animated yuppie snot showoffs rudely breeze past me (invading my personal space). But not today. Things are different. AND, today a rude dork came very close to getting flattened by an SUV that I had stopped at the intersection to avoid, how embarrassing, that snot.
Anyway, back to running vs. walking. I am fully aware that in the end your can get rid of more fat for the amount of exercise time by running. But when you start having aches and pains, like last year’s boot camp injury, plantar fasciitis, it’s time to tone it down. My body sent me a message and I am listening. I’m not 20 years old anymore. I need my feet and knees for what I love, dancing. So I’m not running anymore. I will have to exercise longer at the lower intensity to get the same results. It’s well worth it to me to not dread my workout and also to not have these injuries that could stop me from dancing forever. I have a friend in her mid 40s who just had a hip replacement and is learning how to walk again, thanks to her ignoring of her body telling her that running was destroying her. I certainly don’t want to go through that.
There are plenty of other things that I can do to make up that calorie-burning deficit. Things that I think are fun and don’t seem like exercise, like (belly, soca, freestyle, wild woman) dance!
Lesson to be learned: one size does not fit all. We each have a set of abilities and limitations that need to be considered when we set our fitness challenges and goals. It’s best to do an honest assessment and adjust accordingly. Most of us are not designed to be a size zero. But all of us can become a little fitter, a little sexier, and a little happier with a customized plan of action that doesn’t involve pain and torture. LifeBliss Solutions is launching a program to help you get your groove back in March. Stay tuned.
I so love preparing a feast of epic proportions for my family and friends to enjoy. I went to get a pad and pen to jot down my plan to keep from spending all day Thanksgiving in the kitchen this year. Instead, I’m here, sharing my thoughts with you. There will be four courses and lots of wine, and I want to partake in the festivities while I throw down in the kitchen. As always, every single dish will be fresh and home made by me, except the pie crusts (total pains in the ass last year), the macaroni pasta, and whole grain cornbread, made from the Hodgsen Mill mix. This will take some strategic planning.
The Branscomb Thanksgiving 2010 Menu:
1st course
Butternut squash soup
Green salad with grapes, pecans, and gorgonzola
Main course
Herb roasted turkey
Cornbread and crab dressing
Wild mushroom gravy
Roasted garlic red smashed potatoes
Macaroni and cheese
Old fashioned mixed greens
Sautéed green beans with shallots and almonds
Dessert
Apple pie
Sweet potato pie
The plan:
Sunday – make herbed olive oil
Tuesday – make cranberry sauce and refrigerate. Mix brine and refrigerate. Make butternut squash soup and refrigerate.
Wednesday – take frozen greens out and refrigerate. Put together macaroni and cheese and refrigerate. Put together sweet potato pies and refrigerate, make apple filling and refrigerate. Bake cornbread. Saute dressing stuff and refrigerate. Soak the turkey in the brine.
Thanksgiving day- Roast turkey, make mashed potatoes, saute green beans, toss salad, bake dressing, macaroni and cheese, and pies. Fellow kitchen superheroes, what’s YOUR plan?
Of course you have heard about the Kansas State University human nutrition Professor Haub, who lost 27 pounds eating Twinkies, donuts, candy bars, and other jank. It was an experiment to test his theory: “In weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most — not the nutritional value of the food.” So, that’s all folks, let’s just all stuff ourselves with ultra-processed snack cakes and live happily and skinnily ever after, Yay!
NOT SO FAST, PRETTIES!
I absolutely hate these types of stories because in a society where the average viewer had the attention span of a flatworm, inevitably people will take this and run with it the wrong way. So put the donuts down, I’m gonna break this on down for you right now. Please share it with any over-zealous cake eaters in your life.
Twinkies
Every person is not fat for the same reasons. Professor Haub expressed that pre-Twinkie diet, despite eating whole grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, and occasional treats he wasn’t what he considers healthy, simply because he ate too much. Too many calories, portion sizes too large. So he was fat because he just ate too much. On his Twinkie experiment he limited his caloric intake to less than 1800, instead of his normal intake of 2600 calories per day and lost weight. However, not everyone is fat simply because of portion size/high caloric intake. In many cases the culprit is an imbalance of the types of nutrients: fats, protein, and carbohydrates, which is directly related to nutritional density. Take Judy (not her real name) for example. Judy is from Georgia and grew up on some good old fashioned soul food, and you know what I’m talking about. Fried chicken, greens with hamhocks, fried pork chops, and macaroni and cheese that would make you smack your mama. Guess why she was fat. She consumed way too much fat. She did cut calories and portion sizes and would lose a handful of pounds and would very quickly plateau. She wasn’t fat because she ate too much, she was fat because she ate too much fat. Don’t get me wrong, she did have to reduce her overall caloric intake to achieve and maintain her healthy weight. But the process went easier, faster, and lasted longer when she added more high-fiber fruits, vegetables, and whole grains at the same time as her moderate overall calorie reduction.
On his nutrient deprived junk food diet the professor must have been starving, both literally and figuratively, and here is why. Nutrient dense foods may have fewer calories but the comparatively higher water and fiber content makes these foods much more filling and satisfying. For example, many years ago I used to eat Jiffy cornbread. Jiffy is made with refined flour, is high in sugar and low in fiber. [ 1/4 cup (1/6 package), 170, 4.5g, 27g, 2g Fiber: 1g] I could eat the entire thing by myself, yes it is delicious! But I switched to Hodgson Mill cornbread, which is slightly less sweet, tastes better, and is made with mostly whole grain, with [Serving size 1/4 cup (1/6 package), Calories: 130, fat: 1g, Carbs 27g, Protein: 4g, Fiber: 3g]. But the biggest difference is that I can’t eat another bite more than one or two slices of the Hodgsen Mill cornbread which adds up to about 130-260 calories, much less than the whole pan of Jiffy cornbread at whopping 1020 calories!
According to the highly respected Discovery Health expert, Dr. Mehmet Oz,
Since more than 40% of the calories in the American diet are derived from sugar or refined grains, both of which are nutrient depleted, Americans are severely malnourished. Refined sugars cause us to be malnourished in direct proportion to how much we consume them. They are partially to blame for high cancer and heart attack rates we see in America.
Nutritional density is extremely important to not only weight loss, but to overall wellness and disease prevention. We didn’t even go into the disease discussion.
Families who live in food deserts, usually in very impoverished urban or rural communities, have limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables, so they often rely on the kind of food Haub was eating. I also took offense to Professor Haub’s statement,
These foods are consumed by lots of people,” he said. “It may be an issue of portion size and moderation rather than total removal. I just think it’s unrealistic to expect people to totally drop these foods for vegetables and fruits. It may be healthy, but not realistic.
While I do agree that it is unrealistic (and unnecessary) to expect people to eliminate junk food entirely from their diets, I can not throw my hands up and say to hell with the fact that some communities basically get all of their food from convienience stores, and are suffering from obesety and various serious ailments as a result. We will cover this important issue in a later post.
I saw this “healthy mac and cheese recipe” and my foodilicious panties got all in a bunch! I am all for taking a classic dish and making it a little healthier. Like greens, nowadays I use smoked turkey neck to season them if I’m using meat at all, instead of the traditional pork. Or using whole grain pastry flour to make my pizza crust.
I saw this on the site of a totally cool healthy foodie but she lost major points on this one. Here’s what’s in the fake ass healthy “mac and cheese”:
Looks delish huh?
spaghetti squash
cashews
nutritional yeast
Arrowroot starch (just for thickening)
lemon, juiced
dry mustard
turmeric
paprika
sesame seeds or tahini
miso paste
garlic
sea salt
WTH!!!! Does your macaroni and cheese normally taste nutty? Lemony? There’s no cheese nor anything remotely cheese-like! I wanted this to be a good dish when I saw the spaghetti squash. It has the shape of pasta but not the texture. If you’re okay with that then mo’ power to you. But one of the major attractions to mac and cheese is its TEXTURE! It’s just not acceptable. I’m being closed minded. I’m not gonna even try that crap. I may have been a little more understanding if this were not even offered as a mac and cheese alternative, but as spicy, lemony, nutty squash crap. I’d try it then.
I have a better alternative to mac and cheese that won’t piss you off, cheesy quinoa. Although quinoa is technically a seed it has a starchy mouthfeel. And when you add some real cheese–badow! you’ve got something your family won’t stage a violent mutiny over. And oh, so simple:
Prepare quinoa as the instructions say.
Add a little milk or soy milk, stir in some mild cheddar cheese, and salt to taste.
Trust me! I wouldn’t try to pull the wool over your foodie eyes.
It’s fine to substitute or make things similar to others but the nutty-lemony spaghetti squash trying to pass as macaroni and cheese is simply perpetrating a serious fraud. Remember, everything tasty won’t kill you.
I have read some Gurdjief, a lot of Rumi, and studied a bit about “detachment” through Yoga, Sufism and Buddhism. I learn and take what I can from them. The stars and the moon, the tides of the sea, the rhythms of the wind and song of birds, the rhythms of the seasons- these are my Gurus. They are the Mistresses and Masters of all learning, of all being, of becoming and un-becoming. They are the only Mistresses and Masters to whom I can surrender myself.
If my work is about wholeness, it is because of my studies of our fragmentation. Nature is about wholeness, is wholeness. When something is out of balance, Nature re-balances itself. We seem to have built our societies on a culture of fragmentation, rather than integration and wholeness, which lead to growth. My answer to this is to paint women making themselves whole again, wholly integrated with Nature, because we are part of Nature, and to paint trees, and the sea and the moon. Over and over I try to present wholeness.
Noor Jihan is the Goddess of Art and Spirit in Motion. She’s a mystical, magical, woo woo, sparkly faerie mermaid whose favorite phrase is, “shut up and dance”. She is an elegant and graceful bellydancer, a patient, gentle, but tough vinyasa yoga instructor, and a talented painter. There is a deeply feminine, pantheistic, soulful energy to everything she creates. She is an animal lover, herbalist, experienced reiki practitioner, and tarot reader, and is always willing to share her priceless wealth of spiritual wisdom.
See, wha-haa-haappened wuz…back on September 9th I went on a mission to drop 10 pounds in 30 days with no diet or fake food and no boring crap. The whole plan went straight to hell when I discovered a health problem and took action to correct it. I will spare you all the gory details but I went through a minor surgery (which didn’t seem so minor at all) at the end of September. Before that I had lost 3 pounds of fat. After, I don’t know. It looks as though I gained seven, but the doctor insists that this is water weight. I my mind I know he’s right because just the same as how the body can’t get rid of more than 1-2 pounds a week, the body can’t manufacture more than 1-2 pounds a fat per week, unless it’s a Supersize Me situation but still, I had a few resulting cookie episodes. I had to take it easy from all physical activity for 2 and a half weeks after the surgery, which kinda threw me off a little bit more.
So, here we are again. These things happen because this is real life. I’m back on the program because I want to slim down a little but also because I love the variety of foods and the exercise, well, is not just exercise. It’s all fun and games. (Yasmin unlocked some new songs on Dance Dance Revolution, woo-hoo!)
I don’t know whether I can lose 10 pounds in 30 days or not. But I know I can slim down and look fabulous in 30 days, but it might take a few more weeks to total 10 pounds, or maybe not, who knows? I’ve learned that this doesn’t matter. I was wasting energy worrying about something stupid that just causes unnecessary anxiety and a fall off the bandwagon. I decided a while ago that I am not willing to make any drastic dietary or exercise changes that I am not willing to reasonably keep up forever. However, I fully acknowledge and take into consideration that to lose weight requires that we intake less and exert more than maintaining weight does. But the difference between the two should not be drastic if I’m generally eating nutrient dense delicious foods and keeping my body moving.
The lesson learned: do the right things and skip the arbitrary deadlines and quotas. Motivation should not be found in a date on the calendar or a number on the scale, especially since the journey never ends there. I’ve found some super motivation (besides the good feeling) though. I’m dancing in a show in February. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need to work towards a certain weight or size. The motivation is to get back down in that studio working on the most deliciously fantastic erotic tantric bellydance creation ever! Stay tuned for details, dates, invites. What’s YOUR motivation?
Some people meditate by sitting cross legged, frozen for hours. Some people meditate with walking or dance, some people meditate on canvas or handmade parchment with paints, pastels, or charcoal. My dear friend and spirit sister Francie Trainor, known as Noor Jihan does all of the above. Noor Jihan means “light of the world”, and that she truly is. That name was given to her by somebody somewhere, you’ll have to ask her about that. I met Noor something like sixteen years ago. A good friend and coworker introduced me to her after much begging and pleading from me because she was a professional bellydancer who taught and I was an eager bellydance obsessed person. We hit it off immediately, as most people do with Noor because of her powerfully gentle, kind personality. She is an awesome dancer with a very elegant, fluid classical style. She performs regularly at Marrakesh Palace in DC and Laziza in Fredricksburg VA and teaches monthly intermediate level workshops here in our Arts and Wellness Sanctuary.
Noor Jihan is also a formally trained professional visual artist. Her paintings are deep and moody and depict a certain optimism in darkness. Several of her paintings are on display at our Arts and Wellness Sanctuary. All of her works are very spiritual and reflect her rich ancient Celtic pantheistic roots. Her pieces include all of herself, with no fragmentation.
Noor’s spirit art workshops center around nurturing creativity for spiritual transformation and gaining access to individual artistic expression. Spirit art helps to relieve stress, heal emotional pain, and bring a quiet joy to life. She begins her workshops with a deep, visual meditation to set the sacred security of the space and to help students to interpret their inner artist voices and awaken the creative passion within. She encourages her students to let loose and play with color, shape, and texture. The resulting piece is always worthy of being framed and displayed as soulful symbols of a personal journey or given away as precious gifts. At the end, it looks and feels as though the work is literally a visual representation of pure love.
Noor sees beauty in everything, even things I swear are butt ugly. She is excrutiatingly patient and truly believes that everybody is an artist, no matter their skill or confidence levels. When she sees beauty, she causes everyone around her to recognize the beauty she sees, which makes creating art with her particularly comfortable for new artists of all ages. She has spirit art workshops scheduled in November and December.
A Goddess is a woman who strives to make informed, conscious choices that benefit her health, beauty, and spiritual wellness; she is not a high-maintenance diva-girl. Being a Goddess is about living well and embracing the divine feminine spirit. A Goddess is confident, sensually delicious, authentic, and unique.
Passion Fruit is an online resource for Goddesses filled with sweet, juicy tidbits of information for joyful, sensual living, and some fun too! For more information and resources on wellness and sensual lifestyles visit http://www.lifeblisssolutions.com
About Founder, Goddess Lisa
Lisa Rasa Devi
Rasa Devi means Divine Nectar; taste of enlightenment; sensual Goddess essence; or Goddess with a passionate appetite or taste for the sweet juice of life.
Lisa Rasa Devi is a proud mom of one little Goddess, a
poorly behaved wifey, certified tantra instructor and wellness coach and founder of LifeBliss Solutions, professional bellydancer, lawyer, foodie, cosmopolite, damn fool actor, wild fun advocate, and sensual lifestyle expert.
Passion Fruit is an online resource for Goddesses filled with sweet, juicy tidbits of information for joyful, sensual living, and some fun too! For more information and resources on wellness and sensual lifestyles visit http://www.lifeblisssolutions.com
Passion Fruit 