Food costs can be a big part of your overall budget, especially when you are trying to buy the healthiest foods for you and your family. Being mindful about what you buy (and eat) can make a positive impact on both your health and your wallet.

There are many ways to cut food costs. Here are 10 tips that help me afford to nourish my body with healthy foods:

1.    Plan a weekly menu. Know what you are going to eat for the week…and know what you are not going to eat.

2.    Make a grocery list based on your weekly menu. Impulse shopping adds up quickly. A grocery list keeps you focused. Shop with a grocery list, a full belly, and stay on task.

3.    Buy local, seasonal foods. Shop at your local farmer’s market , or join a community supported agriculture (CSA)  for direct-from-the-farm seasonal produce. Read more

Every moment is my favorite moment. And as “new-agey” or zen-like as that sounds, it is just one of the many lessons that I learned that from my dog.

Being out of the loop, I missed the following email that made the rounds a few years ago. Thanks to a dear client who also appreciates what we might learn from out pets, he passed it on to me. I am including it in its entirety because, even if you have read it before, redundancy is a good thing. And from my perspective the “dog’s diary” reminds me to be in the moment, and love it for all it is.

Pet Diary Excerpts

The Dog’s Diary

8:00 am – Breakfast! My favorite thing!
9:30 am – A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:15 am – Back in the car for a ride! My favorite thing!
10:30 am – Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm – Milk Bones! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favorite thing! Read more

During the winter months (meaning November, December, and January here in Seattle) I get in the mood to slow cook yummy dishes that I dote over lovingly – dishes that bring me through the long winter nights.

But once February rolls around, and the daffodils bloom, and the days are noticeably longer (and warmer), the sunlight calls me to come outside to play. My fading interest in slow cooking is a sure sign that springtime is arriving.

So now that I’m into quick and easy, I wanted to share with you the quickest, easiest beef and root vegetable stew. Ever.

This beef stew took me 10 minutes to prepare. Chop. Chop. Chop. Once the pressure cooker was whooshing away, I was free to bike, play fetch with the dog, sit in the afternoon sun and read, whatever, for the next 40 minutes, only to return to a delicious, savory stew. Read more

I made a delicious chocolate cake on Valentine’s Day. From scratch. It had only five ingredients (walnuts, cocoa powder, dates, vanilla extract, and sea salt). And it took me only 10 minutes to make from start to finish – with the help of my food processor. That it was gluten-free, dairy-free, and raw was just a bonus.

And not only is the recipe easy, it is fun. After you mix everything in the food processor, you take the clump of “dough” and shape it, like a sand castle, into any shape you like. Given that it was Valentine’s Day, I patted my chocolate cake into a (very original) heart-shape. Served it with sliced strawberries. It was yummy. As a matter of fact, I am enjoying a slice of it this morning as I write this.

There are lots of similar raw chocolate cake recipes available at the end of a Google search, but I like this video because it shows you how easy it really is…

While I did see signs of springtime during my weekend walk, today it is snowing. And over much of North America, we are still smack in the middle of winter. Summer raspberries and peaches seem forever away. Even the fresh shoots of springtime asparagus or spinach are beyond the horizon. “Fresh” veggies and fruits are transported from Florida, California, Mexico, and Chile.

So in search of a fresh, local option to those far away foods, I want to remind you how fun and easy it is to have a winter garden right on your kitchen counter. Sprouts!

Sprouting is way easier than those science projects your kids bring home. To create your winter garden you just need seeds to sprout, a quart jar, and a screened lid. Simpler still, you can use a hemp bag. And, if you like gadgets, more elaborate sprouting devices are available. The Sprout People provide a plethora of information and guidance for beginners, and have high quality seeds and a variety of sprouters. Read more

What if our thoughts manifested immediately? No lag time whatsoever?

Imagine.

We could immediately be swimming with dolphins in the Bahamas, or skiing down the best powder run in Colorado, or dining on delicacies with good friends on the patio of our dream home.

Or.

We could immediately be handed a pink slip, or receive a dire medical diagnosis, or stall on the freeway, or lose close relationships due to resentment, misunderstandings and long-held grudges.

Stay with me here. Read more

For the last week I have been sleeping with my head at the foot of the bed. Just for a change of pace. And my brain is enjoying the novelty of it all.

From my new perspective, with my toes up next to the headboard, my brain is so engaged. The dog is snoring. The clock is ticking. The moonlight is coming in the window. But everything is upside down and backwards. How fun is that? Waking up in the middle of the night, my mind pauses. There is this exquisite moment of complete awareness while my brain puts everything into place. And this slight change in orientation makes me feel like I am waking up in a new place. Like being on vacation. Surprisingly it adds to my excitement for the new day.

Being creatures of habit, many of us hold on to the security of routine. We find it hard to change habits, in part, because of the familiarity we have developed with the old ones. Repeated habits wire the brain to form a nice groove. Everything can go on autopilot. But that groove tends to become a rut. Sometimes a really deep rut. And being in a rut stagnates growth and development. Read more

I have several favorite breathing techniques in my bag of relaxation tools. Of them, I find “Alternate Nostril Breathing” (or Nadi Shodhana) to be one of the most effective at calming my mind and soothing my nervous system. It also feels very balancing because it helps integrate the brain, allowing me to get the most out of my creative right hemisphere and my logical left hemisphere.

You may not have noticed, but we don’t breathe evenly between our two nostrils. One nostril typically feels more clear and open than the other. And this openness tends to cycle from one nostril to the other. A typical breathing pattern cycles between each nostril every 2-3 hours. One cycle, you find that you can breathe comfortably through your left nostril and your right nostril is congested. A few hours later, your right nostril is clear, but your left is a bit more congested.

Research has shown more electrical brain activity on the side opposite the open, clear nostril. Left nostril open – the creative right brain is more predominant. Right nostril open – the logical left brain in more predominant. Read more

A public service announcement: Get your vitamin D levels checked.

I am sitting here enjoying the sunshine. It is a sunny and mild February day in Seattle. But as sunny as it is, my skin is not able to make vitamin D from the sun’s rays from late September to late March. And that’s a problem.

Plain and simple. The majority of us do not get enough vitamin D from our environment (sunshine or food). Vitamin D deficiency is endemic and research has linked this deficiency to many chronic degenerative diseases associated with industrialized cultures.

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported that a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D blood test is one of the most important blood tests you can ever have. Yet health care providers are still slow to check their patients’ vitamin D levels. Read more

I remember my first kumquat.

Several years ago, a dear friend of mine from South Africa handed me one. I looked at it, trying to figure out how to peel such a tiny orange. “Oh, just eat the whole thing”, she instructed, amused at my hesitation.

Zowie. A puckersome little tidbit. Bitter. But with a wonderful burst of sweet tartness.

Kumquats look like small oval oranges, but have a surprisingly bold flavor (emphasis on “surprisingly”). Bite size, pop-in-your-mouth morsels of bitter, sweet juiciness.

And since I am writing about them here, you’ve probably guessed that they have some wonderful nutritional benefits as well.

Indeed they do. Read more