Learning what to eat to be healthy and fit isn't hard. There's tons of research and information out there that explains all that. But being consistent in eating what we know is healthy can be hard at times. Cravings can drive us off track even with the best of intentions.
What we talk about today is how cravings are a signal from the body, but not the body's wisdom. We've always encouraged people to listen to their body, meaning listen to the wisdom of the body because it knows what it needs to be healthy. But often it's hard to hear the body's wisdom when there are strong cravings for something.
Join us to learn more:
One way to tell if the desire for a food is a craving or a nudge from our body's wisdom is the sense of urgency or push that's in the feeling. When we're craving something as a form of relief, it's very loud and compelling. This isn't our body's wisdom. Signals from our body's wisdom are calm and settling.
So, when the feeling or craving is really strong, if you can pause for a moment and let that come off the front burner, your thinking can settle down. From a more settled mind, see if there's something nudging you in the direction of wisdom. Some people refer to this as a knowing. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.
The recipe this week is our Wild Rice Sage Dressing in preparation for the Holidays. We came up with this a few years ago to replace the traditional bread-based dressing with milk and butter we had known all our lives at the holidays... and that we kind of "craved" this time of year. 😎 Our wisdom, after eating it each year was nudging us to create a whole food version to eliminate the bread, milk and butter. And this is it. We find ourselves liking it even more than the old style because our bodies feel better after eating the whole grain version than they did with bread as a base.
To your Amazing Health,
Connie and Bill
Wild Rice Sage Dressing
- 3 cups wild rice blend cooked grain
- 1½ cups rolled oats
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 stalks celery, diced
- 2 tablespoons dried sage
- 6-8 cups (12-14 small to medium)mushrooms, diced
- 2 apples, cubed
- 1 pear, cubed
- ½ cup pecans
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1½ cups cashew cream (use recipe below or any regular plant-based milk)
- Optional: ¾ cup dried cranberries (if not serving with cranberry sauce)
If not going salt-free:
½ teaspoon sea salt
We always eat this dressing with cranberry or mushroom gravy, and with these added tastes don’t notice that it’s salt-free.
Add all ingredients except the cashew cream to a large bowl and mix well.
Pour the cashew cream over the mix and stir to combine well.
Scoop into an 8 x 12 casserole and cover with foil. Bake at 350º F until onion and celery are soft, approximately 90 minutes.
Cashew Cream
- 1 cup cashews
- 2 cups filtered water
Add cashews and water to a high-speed blender and blend on high for 60 seconds.
NOTE: This makes more than needed for the Dressing, but requires this much volume to blend well