Joy & Health: Holidays 2008
The end of fall seems to reveal many trees with yellow or golden leaves. I call them sunshine trees and this photo is from the street by the entrance of our condo building.
“The good life is the healthful life, the merry life. Life is health, joy, laughter.” Bodin (This is a recent cryptoquote from the Philadelphia Inquirer puzzle page.)
Joy is very much linked to good health. Recently I injured my foot and am hobbling around on an orthopedic boot, draining my energy every day, and generally unhappy that I can’t do all my activities. We often take our health for granted until we get ill or injured; only then do we really appreciate the joy of being healthy. Likewise, the holidays are a time to be joyful, but stress from company, preparing meals, overnight guests, and shopping for food and gifts can sometimes take the joy away from the holidays. So keeping your immune system up to par is important to help fight stress and have more joy at the holidays.
The six recipes for this posting are simple and easy-to-prepare—very low stress. (Since I combined November and December, I am featuring six, not four recipes.) They are mostly side dishes or appetizer-type recipes, since many people have favorite main dishes used for years. These recipes can be called “low-stress dishes,” because they have no complicated ingredients or directions, yet they are colorful, with an emphasis on red, white, and green, reflecting the red of pomegranates, cranberries, and holly berries; the white of snow; and the green of evergreen trees.
Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are also celebrated this time of year. You can find traditional Hannukah and Kwanzaa recipes by Googling these holidays. Instead of potato pancakes, try a potato kugel. Kwanzaa recipes are reflections of African roots, so many of the recipes use familiar ingredients. For my” untraditional” holiday recipes, go to Kitchen Nutrition with Recipes to see what’s cookin’ for the holidays.
I was in Central PA in early November when snow blanketed the Poconos and we had our first taste of winter. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me, so instead I am posting white flowers as my early “snow.”
In the review section I am re-visiting two websites or authors from previous postings: One is the 2009 calendar from The Luna Press and another is a wonderful yoga book by Suza Francina entitled The New Yoga for Healthy Aging. If you go to Reviews you will see them posted. You may also want to check out This ‘n That because Human Rights Day is December 10th and I am posting information from Amnesty International, an organization I support because it helps prisoners of conscience all over the world.
In Profiles, I feature my acupuncturist Daniel Axelrod, who helped me in a time of a health crisis and helps me maintain a balanced body. In Flashes/Special Reports are 10 Super Foods from Nutrition Action, the healthletter from The Center for Science in the Public Interest.
These are glass “shells” by the world-renowned glass blower Dale Gilhuly. This is a part of the installation at the aquarium in Monterey, CA, which we visited in September. The colors are reminiscent of late fall with all the yellow leaves and red leaves on the wane, but still brilliant!