Watch Yourself

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

On Wednesdays, I share posts, fables, songs, poems, quotations, TEDx Talks, cartoons, and books that have inspired and motivated me on my writing journey. I hope these posts will give writers, artists, and other creatives a mid-week boost.

While the following is not technically a Zen story, it is said to have been told by the Buddha himself. Its message of self-care is one that will resonate, especially with women.

There was once a pair of acrobats. The teacher was a poor widower and the student was a young girl by the name of Meda. These acrobats performed each day on the streets in order to earn enough to eat.

Their act consisted of the teacher balancing a tall bamboo pole on his head while the little girl climbed slowly to the top. Once to the top, she remained there while the teacher walked along the ground.

Both performers had to maintain complete focus and balance in order to prevent any injury from occurring and to complete the performance. One day, the teacher said to the pupil:

‘Listen Meda, I will watch you and you watch me, so that we can help each other maintain concentration and balance and prevent an accident. Then we’ll surely earn enough to eat.’

But the little girl was wise. She answered, ‘Dear Master, I think it would be better for each of us to watch ourself. To look after oneself means to look after both of us. That way I am sure we will avoid any accidents and earn enough to eat.’

Warming Up to Watercress Soup

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

Diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2006, I make every effort to incorporate thyroid-nourishing foods into my diet.

I enjoy eating most of the iodine-rich foods, but I struggle with watercress. Its pungency doesn't sit well with my fussy taste buds.

While stocking up on spinach and parsley last week, I noticed the watercress. On a whim, I picked up one of the bunches and some sweet potatoes. I experimented and came up with the following recipe.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons of butter
2 sweet potatoes, chopped
4 cups of chicken/vegetable stock
1.5 cups of watercress
1/4 cup of parsley
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Hemp hearts (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions and garlic until soft.

2. Add the sweet potatoes and stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

3. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are tender.

4. Add the watercress and parsley. Stir and let the mixture simmer for about one minute or until the greens have wilted.

5. Remove from heat and purée the soup in batches using a hand or immersion blender.

6. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper (to taste).

7. Sprinkle hemp hearts into the individual bowls.

Makes 4 servings, about one cup each.

Buon appetito!

Enjoying Sweet & Savory Asparagus Soup

Posted on February 17, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed that asparagus possessed medicinal qualities, curing everything from toothaches to rheumatism.

While none of these claims have been proven, asparagus contains many essential nutrients, among them potassium, folate, and Vitamins B6 and C.

Last week, I decided to create an asparagus soup that would satisfy my sweet and savory taste buds.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups of asparagus, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 sweet potato, chopped
3 cups of chicken/vegetable broth
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Hemp hearts (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, and celery until the onions are translucent.

2. Add the asparagus , sweet potato, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

3. Simmer for about fifteen minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

4. Purée the soup in batches using a hand or immersion blender.

5. Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper (to taste).

6. Sprinkle hemp hearts into the individual bowls.

Makes 4 servings, about one cup each.

Buon appetito!

Adding a Touch of Gold to Celery Soup

Posted on February 10, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

During chemotherapy, I found myself unable to tolerate a host of foods, among them coffee, meat, fish, cheese, tomatoes, onions, garlic, salad dressings, citrus fruits, and all cooked vegetables.

So, what could I eat?

Plain Eggo waffles without syrup, roasted chicken, white bread, some luncheon meats, white rice, apples, pears, carrots, and celery.

I was especially fond of celery, a preference that has remained in life abc (after breast cancer). I love munching on the stalks and tossing them into casseroles, stuffings, and soups. Almost every soup I make has at least one celery rib.

Last week, I decided to make celery the primary vegetable. While researching celery soups, I discovered that most of them included potatoes or cauliflower. The final results appeared a bit too pale and unappetizing for my taste. I experimented and came up with this golden alternative.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
4 cups of fresh celery, chopped
2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup of baby carrots, chopped
Handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped (include stems)
1 cup water
1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Hemp hearts (optional)

Directions

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft.

2. Add garlic cloves and cook for a minute before adding celery, stock, carrots, water, and parsley. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.

3. Lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the celery and carrots are soft enough to be puréed.

4. Purée the soup in the pot using an immersion blender. Or remove the soup from the pot and purée in a blender.

5. Add lemon juice and salt and pepper (to taste).

6. Sprinkle hemp hearts into each individual bowl.

Makes 4 servings, about one cup each.

Buon appetito!

Warming Up with Broccoli Soup

Posted on February 3, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

A piping hot bowl of soup is my favorite way to incorporate vegetables into my diet. I especially like puréed, low-starch vegetable soups that are quick and easy-to prepare.

Puréed broccoli soup is at the top of my list.

Considered one of the most nutritious vegetables–and often described as a superfood–broccoli is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

This daily bowl of comfort helped me survive (and somewhat thrive) during this past week of frigid temperatures, record snowfalls, and dangerously low windchill factors in Southern Ontario.

On Wednesday, I thought we’d reach a windchill of -40 degrees Celsius. At that point Celsius and Fahrenheit meet…something my well-honed left brain finds fascinating. But only in theory!!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery
Handful of parsley, roughly chopped (include stems)
4 cups of chopped broccoli (florets and stems)
2 cups of chicken (or vegetable) broth
1 cup water
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Hemp hearts (optional)

Directions

1. Heat butter and oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft.

2. Add garlic and celery. Cook until softened, 4 to 6 minutes.

3. Add parsley and stir for about ten seconds.

4. Add broccoli, broth, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Let the soup simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Test to see that the vegetables are tender.

5. Transfer the soup (in batches) to a blender and purée until smooth. Or you can use an immersion blender.

6. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

7. Optional: Sprinkle hemp hearts into individual bowls.

Makes 4 servings, about one cup each.

Buon appetito!

Spotlight on Revolutionize Your Health

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome authors and healers Janet Nestor and Cornelia Merk. Today is the launch of their unique and illuminating book, Revolutionize Your Health.

About the Book

Be Inspired to Take Back Your Body’s Power to Heal

Are you feeling helpless about the health problems you face? Do you suffer from a chronic condition that gives you no peace or relief? Are you ready to trust your body’s innate power to heal?

Revolutionize Your Health is filled with inspiring stories of real people, who have healed themselves in incredible circumstances or experienced miraculous healings. The authors illustrate, backed by the newest scientific findings, that all healing is self-healing and explain how everyone can heal, even in the most desperate of times.

This unique and illuminating book gives you all the practical tools you will need for a real change in the way you approach your body’s health problems, showing you that healing is possible, no matter what the diagnosis.

Awareness is the Key to Healing

The Basic Principles of Healing teaches how the authors overcame their own individual health challenges and also provides fundamental scientific background and latest research in the emerging fields of epigenetics and neuroscience.

Holistic Awareness – The Secret to All Healing talks in depth about awareness of the body, mind, emotions, energy, and spirit. The section explores how thinking patterns and beliefs, self-treatment, hidden and unacknowledged feelings and emotions, environment, or disconnection from your spirit may be the at the root of a person’s current state of health.

Exercises That Help You Heal is a compendium of physical exercises and mental activities that are designed to further develop levels of awareness.

Packed with inspiring cases of miraculous healing and scientific research, this new book teaches you how to approach your body’s health issues mindfully, and inspires that healing is always possible.

On sale for $0.99 … January 22, 23, and 24!

About the Authors

Janet G. Nestor is an author, licensed counselor, and expert in energy healing and relaxation strategies, who is regularly interviewed about mindful living and inner peacefulness. Janet has released several books recently including Pathways to Wholeness and Yeshua: One Hundred Meaningful Messages for Messengers. She has also contributed to four books by other authors and participated in five collaborative books that have all become best sellers. In 2017 and 2018, Janet was recognized by Richtopia as one of the top 200 most influential authors in the world.

Janet maintains a private practice where her ability to communicate with Spirit underpins her holistic counseling, spiritual coaching, and soul art, which are drawings of the soul complete with a detailed reading for her clients.

She also connects mothers, fathers, children, and friends with their loved ones who have passed into spirit, providing an extremely validating and healing experience. She intuitively views a person’s energy field and creates bespoken drawings that automatically bring calm and balance. She is a master teacher for those wishing to take the journey into self-awareness and mindful living.

Cornelia Merk is an intuitive healer, holistic wellness practitioner, and motivational speaker with an extensive background in the study of human potential and the body’s self-healing capacity. She is a certified Nia Brown Belt instructor and has explored the martial arts of aikido, tai chi, and taekwondo to expand her knowledge in body movement and energy flow. In addition, she is a third level reiki practitioner and worked as a personal trainer with Educogym, a fitness training that specifically uses the power of the mind in weight training and losing weight and includes education in nutrition and supplementation with the Irish Association of Holistic Medicine.

For the last 20 years, she has helped hundreds of people all over the world to reconnect to their body’s self-healing power and develop a lifestyle that supports increased health and well-being on all levels. Inspired by her own healing in 1998 after living with debilitating pain for eight years, Cornelia Merk has now co-authored Revolutionize Your Health, a book about how to take back the body’s power to heal.

Facebook | Linked In | Twitter

Happy Launch Day!

Words of Wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Joanne Guidoccio

It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season. Whenever that happens, I like to read the following words of wisdom from renowned Zen master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh. Affectionately known as “Thay” by his students, he is the author of more than 100 books on mindfulness and meditation. His key message is that happiness lies in the present moment.

Living Well and Opting for Joy – A Centenarian’s Secrets

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Joanne Guidoccio

Yoga teacher and competitive ballroom dancer Tao Porchon-Lynch turned 100 on August 13, 2018. Just before her birthday, she shared the following seven secrets for aging gracefully:

Secret No. 1: Wake up before the sun. “I wake up before the sun rises because I like to watch it rise,” says Tao Porchon-Lynch.“ By observing nature, I can feel a life force. I look outside my window to the sky and tell myself that this is going to be the best day of my life. Then I’ll often pick up my journal and write something that comes to my mind that’s in my heart.”

Secret No. 2: Be grateful—and optimistic. Tao Porchon-Lynchsays she learned the importance of embodying both of these traits from the time she was a child. “I was raised by my aunt and uncle, and my uncle started every day with, ‘It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?’ Now I do the same, and I do it with a smile. I believe the key to a long life is positive thinking.”

Secret No. 3: Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. When Tao Porchon-Lynch has something to do, she says she does it right away—she never procrastinates. “I don’t want to sit there hoping, wishing, and wasting time,” she says. “I always practice my yoga in the morning and my dancing in the afternoon. This commitment is likely why I’ve received the Guinness World Records for being the oldest yoga teacher and the oldest competitive ballroom dancer.”

Secret No. 4: Remember the true meaning of yoga. “Yoga can be the joy of life, and it’s not just about putting our bodies into specific postures,” she says. “It’s about expressing what comes from inside of you and showing up when you meet other people to create a oneness.”

Secret No. 5: If you see a barrier, try to push past it. Yoga has almost always been a part of Tao Porchon-Lynch’s life. “I was introduced to it when I was seven years old; I wandered to the beach near my childhood home in French India and saw some boys practicing yoga on the sand,” she says. “I followed their movements and I thought that I was learning a new game. That evening I told my aunt about the game, and she explained that it was called yoga and that it was only for boys. This was 1925. I told her that girls can do what boys can do, and by the time I was eight years old, I was on that beach joining the boys during my playtime.”

Secret No. 6: Do what you love. “I became a yoga teacher after friends saw me incorporating yoga into my everyday life and asked to join my practice. What I love most about teaching is seeing a smile come onto someone’s face when they realize that they can do things that they thought were impossible, physically and mentally.”

Secret No. 7: Don’t be afraid to age. “I don’t feel any different now that I’ve turned 100. I’m not even scared. And I’ll never stop practicing yoga—it’s the dance of life! The breath is the breath eternal, which makes all things possible.”

Source: Yoga Journal September 2018

Navigating the Food Court

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Joanne Guidoccio

Shopping in the mall can be challenging, especially if you are hungry and tired.

Ideally, you should eat before going to the mall, but sometimes that isn’t possible, and you need to eat on the run. Most food courts offer a wide variety of foods from around the world. Take some time to carefully examine each menu and select the best low-fat, nutritional entrées.

Here are some suggestions…

Italian: Pasta with tomato sauce, vegetable soup, or salad with dressing on the side are good picks. The best pizza choice is vegetarian–get double vegetables instead of double cheese. Avoid garlic bread, cream-based sauces, Caesar salad, and chicken parmigiana.

Mexican: Select chicken fajitas, enchilada, beef soft tacos, or vegetarian burritos without the high-fat toppings. Avoid high-fat nachos with cheese and guacamole.

Greek: Order chicken souvlaki and a salad with dressing on the side.

Chinese: Try egg drop and wonton soups, mixed vegetables, steamed dim sum, steamed rice, or stir-fries. Avoid deep-fried egg rolls, chicken balls, chicken wings, and fried rice.

Burger Outlets: Order a plain hamburger or veggie burger dressed with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, and onions. Consider grilled chicken on a bun, a stuffed pita, or a wrap. Avoid the special sauces, bacon, and cheese toppings.

Submarine Shops: Order a six-inch sub on a whole wheat bun with turkey, beef, chicken, or seafood, lots of vegetables and low-fat mayonnaise. Avoid club subs and those with meatballs or deep-fried chicken.

More tips to keep in mind…

• Take advantage of late shopping hours. Head out after an early dinner at home.
• Wear comfortable walking shoes and leave your coat in the car. You won’t be as tired or on the lookout for a snack to cool you down or revive you.
• Try shopping downtown where you can stroll the streets and eat a healthy meal at a local café.
• Bring your own food: bottled water, a snack bag of nuts, protein bar, and an apple.
• Indulge and buy a single truffle at the chocolate store. (There are several women in my circle who can limit themselves to a single truffle)

Any other tips to share?

Lady Honor’s Top Ten Healing Herbs

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Joanne Guidoccio

I’m happy to welcome Soul Mate author Madelyn Hill to the Power of 10 series. Today, Madelyn shares ten healing herbs and her latest release, Highland Honor.

Here’s Madelyn!

Lady Honor MacAlister is a healer. Her innate healing ability allows her to sense which herb is right for any malady.

1. Ginger – Lady Honor uses ginger for upset stomachs, building immunity when one is ill, and even to apply to a cut or sore to help it heal faster.

2. Willow Bark – Lady Honor uses Willow Bark as a pain reliever that is steeped in a tea.

3. Lavender – Soothing in a tea to help calm someone or help with sleeping.

4. Honey – Lady Honor gathers honey from the Bee Boles to use in teas for soothing throats, but also as a barrier to prevent infection. Honey offers antibacterial properties.

5. Camphor Oil – Not readily available in Scotland as a natural resource, but available for purchase in larger cities such as Edinburgh. Aids colds and consumption, think Vicks Vapor Rub.

6. Onion – Used in poultice to help with congestion and can prevent scurvy.

7. Catnip – Helps the body release heat from a fever and relaxes muscles and induces sleep.

8. Chamomile – Makes a calming tea and with other ingredients can be a soothing tonic.

9. Fennel Seeds – Helps with stomach upset, helps lower blood pressure, and treats respiratory issues.

10. Valerian Root – Has anti-inflammatory benefits, reduces stress, and calms anxiety.

*Please note, I am not a doctor and you shouldn’t try any of the above mentioned remedies without consulting your physician.

Hook: Lady Honor MacAllister can heal everything but a broken heart . . .

Blurb

Lady Honor does not believe in marriage. Her father’s death broke her mother’s spirit and took her from her daughters emotionally well before her own death. When Honor is attacked in the forest, she keeps the event to herself, lest her lairds search for the man and strike him down. As a healer, she’ll do anything it takes not to cause harm. Rumors of attacks in the Highlands forces the lairds to increase guards and security measures. When Bryce Calder is assigned to protect Lady Honor, she fights the burgeoning attraction for the man, knowing she’ll never risk her heart to love.

Warrior Bryce Calder trusts no woman. Women only strive to better themselves through cunning, as his father warned throughout his childhood. When he is asked to escort Lady Honor while she gathers healing herbs, he is vexed. Training the men and protecting the clan are his duties, not following the sharped-tongued lass about the wood. With each passing day, Bryce becomes enchanted by Lady Honor, despite his father’s words, but his unworthiness halts any proclamation of his desire.

An unlikely partnership develops during the frequent trips to the forest and work in the apothecary. The walls each has erected to protect their hearts and their future crumbles. Until a stranger arrives at the keep. Lady Honor’s secret is threatened to be revealed putting in jeopardy the growing romance between the ardent healer and the reluctant warrior-suitor.

Author Bio

Madelyn Hill has always loved the written word. From the time she could read and all through her school years, she’d sneak books into her textbooks during school. And she devoured books daily. At the age of 10 she proclaimed she wanted to be a writer. After being a “closet” writer for several years, she sent her manuscripts out there and is now published with Soul Mate Publishing. And she couldn’t be happier!

A resident of Western New York, she moved from one Rochester to another Rochester to be with the love of her life. They are busy with their 3 children and a puppy named Cannoli! They love to cook, go to the movies, and hang out with friends.

Where to find Madelyn…