Expanding Qi

Nutrition Tips to Stabilize Blood Sugar

1. Do not skip breakfast.
2. Eat a high quality protein based breakfast.
3. Eat every 2-3 hours.
4. Snack on nuts, seeds, nut butters/hummus/bean spreads with celery, “super” greens like ProGreens, spirulina. high quality rice protein powder with nut/seed milk, hard boiled eggs.
5. Avoid straight fruit juice-dilute or better yet-dilute & blend on high with water and a handful of spinach/kale or chard plus fresh spearmint.
(See my green smoothie recipes below)
6. Have a handful of nuts when you have fruit to slow down the insulin surge.
7. Avoid adrenal stimulants (over-training/inadequate sleep/concentrated sugars/artificial sweeteners/partially hydrogenated fats/nicotine/alcohol/allergic foods/caffeine).
8. As Michael Pollan says “In Defense of Food” EAT FOOD, NOT TOO MUCH, MOSTLY PLANTS with some lean meat and quality grains. (Read this book to understand how we agonize over nutrition as we’ve strayed away from basic unadulterated food.)
9. Fast overnight-but for no longer than 14 hours

Cold and Flu season is already upon us- so stay warm and strengthen your immune system with Chinese herbs as a stock for this delicious carrot/ginger soup.

You’ll need: 3 tbls. olive oil, 2 cups chopped yellow onion, 4 garlic cloves minced, one 5″ piece of ginger chopped, 1 tbls. dried basil or a handful of chopped fresh, 10 medium carrots, peeled and sliced thinly, 1 thinly sliced yellow finn potato, juice of half a lemon, 1 tbls. tamari, freshly ground pepper, 3 tbls. cilantro (save a little for garnish), 5 cups chicken or veggie broth and finally 1 cup of the Jade Screen formula i.e. 9 grams ea. of Astagalus, Atractylodes and Siler. (HuangQi, BaiZhu & FangFeng).

This is what you do:
Soak the herbs in 2 cups of water for 20 minutes while you start slicing your carrots and prepping the other ingredients. Start the flame under the herbs and bring up to a boil then down to a simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and set aside. Next heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onion, garlic and ginger and sautee over high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the basil carrots and potato and cook for 5 minutes. Add the herbs and broth, cover the pot, reduce heat and simmer until the carrots are soft, 30-40 minutes.
In a blender or food processor, blend the soup and herb formula until smooth and return to the stove. Add the lemon juice, tamari and pepper to taste. Stir in the cilantro and simmer another 5 minutes.
Now you are ready to garnish and serve your therapeutic soup as you imagine a protective jade screen shielding you from cold and flu season.

Historical Note: This formula “Yu Ping Feng San” -The Jade Screen Decoction has been used traditionally to strengthen the Spleen Qi (digestive energy) and to boost the Lungs’ ability to spread the “protective Qi” to the surface of the body.

Bone Broth ala Meea
Korean New Year Recipe
The Mochi rice cakes in this recipe represent good fortune for the new year because they are shaped like coins in the hopes that one will be prosperous.

Get a few beef bones from your butcher and he’ll assume it’s for the dog-but boiling these bones for 8 hours gives a cartilage and marrow medicine broth that you’ll season with dashi and miso. Add any greens like spinach and cilantro plus some mochi rice cake pasta and you are warmed for the evening. You can find all the ingredients at a Korean grocery store. Here’s the video showing the process.