Living the WELL Life

In our house, 1998 has a pet name…the year from hell.  Everyone has them…those years that you literally count the days until they end…even living a macrobiotic lifestyle does not guarantee immunity to such years.  We may like to think that it does, that living natural, whole lives makes us somehow magically immune to disease and other natural disasters.  Well, maybe not everyone thinks this, but I surely did. I thought that having had…and survived cancer through macrobiotics (trial by fire, in my case) ensured that the rest of my life would sail smoothly along.  I was ‘all in’ in the tragedy department.  Read more

As an off-shoot of my cooking show, my husband and I own a travel business.  We organize holidays for people who want to continue their commitment to health even while on vacation.  We organize tours of Europe, scuba trips to the Caribbean and retreats in the U.S.  My staff and prepare meals to keep our guests sated and healthy.  The challenges of cooking in varying locales can be exciting and daunting.  Read more

‘…A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou…’
–from The Rubaiyat by Omar Khayyam


In my last blog I wrote about wine and the one before that, bread, so now its time for thou.  As in ‘How art thou?’  Really.  Before you answer, I want you to reconsider your lifestyle.  Yes, really.
That’s what I did.  I spelled it out, one letter at a time and before I knew it, I had my very own LIFESTYLE acronym.  Sounds silly, I know.  But it focused me, very clearly, on the way I live my life and what my real priorities are.  This may seem like over thinking it to some, but both of my parents died from lifestyle diseases (Type II diabetes)… so yeah… I do think about it a lot.  Maybe you should too.  Making your own anagram is way more fun than burdening your brain with more phases like ‘…I should do more blah, blah, blah…’  Really.  Read more

I don't know if you've noticed, but there has been an energy shift happening over the last few months. We are moving into a new age where having a meat-centered diet and using animals as commodities will no longer be acceptable. People are ready to take an honest look at their dinner plates and see the bigger picture staring back at them. Here's a list of things I think would be great to get on your plate this year.  Read more

I’ve been in bed most of this week. I was felled by a sinus infection and it decided that my bed was the safest, comfiest, snottiest place to rest my painful head.  I’m just pulling out now, but I’d like to share some some interesting discoveries:  Read more

Well, here we are…the New Year. Don’t let another one pass and find yourself still not making healthy choices…time for change, baby. And with delicious menu plans like this one, how can you resist?  Healthy and delicious? It’s a fresh start, my friends.  Read more

Every year it’s the same old thing. This is the year you will: lose weight, get fit, stop smoking, take care of your health, live greener, drink less (or more), be a nicer person. And every year, January comes and goes…and with it our resolve.  Read more

Everyone seems interested in food again. Not the stuff in the bright packages; not the fried animal parts; not the quick weight loss formula with 100 times the daily requirement of all known nutrients – just plain old food. Those of us of a certain age can remember our mothers or grandmothers getting food. They would squeeze the fruit, smell the vegetables, shake the eggs, poke the meat - they were serious about food. They knew zip about nutrition but they knew that food was supposed to be fresh and whole if it was to cook well and taste right.  Read more