Last week I shared the story of Maria who struggled daily with symptoms we have come to know as “irritable bowel.”  Folks like Maria know well that the holiday spreads at the office and Aunt May’s are going to wreak havoc on their already sensitive digestion. So, short of doing a complete dietary overhaul in the midst of what tends to be one of the most stressful times of year, here are some practical tips and why they will work. I’ll be sure to come around in the New Year to help you overhaul that diet for good!

So, you have a string of parties to attend and you need a game plan? Here is a guide to support your bowels through all that holiday noshing.

1. Invest in these high quality probiotics now. Take 2 caps each morning through the season and on days you challenge your digestive tract, take 2 additional caps each evening. Supporting the good bacteria in your gut will help with digestion and bolster your immune system which is compromised when consuming inflammatory foods.
2. Order both walnut and fig gemmotherapy extracts. Take a dose of 25 drops of Walnut before heading out for the party and 25 drops of Fig when you come home. The walnut will provide prevention against any food borne bacteria as well as protect your sensitive digestion and Fig will calm, soothe, and support the cleaning of your bowels.
3. Fill yourself with a healthy meal before heading out—if it is early in the day eat plenty of raw fruits or juice. If it is late in the day eat a raw veggie salad and/or a cooked veggie soup.
4. Bring a dish to share that you can eat and love!
5. Either commit to avoiding the food table completely or choose wisely—so what to eat? Look out for foods in their most natural state and lay off the processed chips, crackers, and factory produced spreads.
6. Don’t be tempted to skip breakfast the next morning. This only causes further stagnation in your bowels. Instead, start your next day as clean as possible with a citrus based fresh squeezed fruit juice or smoothie, moving on to a green juice/green smoothie in the late morning or early afternoon. More is better as you are supporting your lymph to flush toxins from your system. End your day with a light, grain-free dinner such as a chopped veggie soup, miso broth and greens or raw veggie salad.
7. Bring on the next party!

Back to Maria’s story with some further information for you to consider post holiday season. Of course she had looked at her diet multiple times and tried to notice what foods triggered what response, but she had not been successful. This is true for many people. The issue was that she did not know what it was about the foods she was eating that was aggravating her system. I’m going to simplify this here for those who suffer from any digestive woes: foods that fall in these two broad categories need to be reduced and, ultimately, eliminated:

1. Foods that cause inflammation (inflammatory foods) — Here’s a list of the top 12
2. Foods that increase acid — Here are 25 common acid forming foods

While there may be minor debates among thought leaders in the industry as to the specifics about what should be avoided and why, the idea of eliminating inflammatory and acid-causing foods is generally upheld. If you’re looking for further information, these medical and nutritional experts have much to say: Dr. Frank Lipman, Dr. Mark Hyman, and T. Colin Campbell.

Let’s talk about that diet overhaul in a few weeks!

“If we do not know how to take care of ourselves and to love ourselves, we cannot take care of the people we love. Loving oneself is the foundation for loving another person.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

Consider: What would our world be like if each person really took care of and truly loved themselves? What would your extended family be like if each individual member actually took care of and loved themselves? Today you have been given an opportunity to take steps to love and care for yourself. You alone taking this step will begin a ripple effect and impact countless others because your personal capacity to love and care for others multiplies.

Prepare: Close your eyes and imagine how just today alone might have gone differently if you had begun your morning loving and caring for yourself. What need for self care did you ignore? Was it a physical need to move more slowly or did you need to build in time for some movement or exercise? What could you have said to yourself to care for your emotional state? What if you had given yourself 15 or even 5 minutes to spiritually connect through prayer or meditation? Now imagine how your interactions with others might have shifted as well.

Do: Upon first waking tomorrow morning and each morning after, affirm that you are love and can be love today. Ask what needs to be nurtured on this given day, listen to the response and attend to it. It need not be elaborate or long—just take care of yourself first. Remind yourself over and again until it is ingrained that by ignoring the care you need, you directly reduce your ability to care and be there for others.

“Silence is something that comes from your heart, not from outside. Silence doesn’t mean not talking and not doing things; it means that you are not disturbed inside… There are moments when you think you’re silent and all around is silent, but talking is going on all the time inside your head. That’s not silence. We have to realize that silence comes from our heart.”

—Thich Nhat Hanh

Consider: The value in turning off the talk and noise around you and listening to what your heart has to say. We often believe this is not possible without physically escaping the current circumstances. While this solitude would be beneficial it is not always practical. It is important to know our daily practice is to create these periods of silence even when surrounded by chatter. We can connect with our inner silence and place our attention there rather than on the external noise. This week let’s discover how to do this without abandoning our work stations or family responsibilities

Prepare: Realizing and finding the quiet place within our heart can be incredibly freeing. We are so accustomed to the noises in our mind that we often mature without the knowledge of this peaceful place. Accessing it can be life changing. Simply try now by closing your eyes and taking a few cleansing breaths. At the end of each exhale tap into the space, right in your heart center if only for a few seconds, and again on the next exhale. With each repetition as the breath moves more slowly and deliberately you may begin to catch a glimpse of the silence that lives right inside yourself.

Do: As deadlines approach or your to do list expands exponentially the noise around and within you tends rise. Use these real life opportunities to access this space you just discovered. Reap the benefits of this silence and the rejuvenation it can bring.

“Before you speak, stop, breathe, and consider if what you are about to say will improve upon the silence.”

—Allan Lokos, Meditation Instructor, Author

Consider: A time you may have spoken to soon. Possibly you can remember a time this week already when you interjected your thoughts before hearing someone out or blurted your opinion without considering the source of your message. There is nothing but benefit from pausing and considering what is driving your urgency to speak. Is it fear? Is it resentment? This week let’s practice placing our awareness on these impulsive statements—whether we apply it at the workplace, with our children or our partners.

Prepare: Bring to mind a recent experience when you may have spoken out too soon without mindfully considering your response. Imagine now this same circumstance while taking a few cleansing breaths and closing your eyes. Surrender to the stillness deep within and try to touch the source of your statements. Could your comments have been driven by fear? What might you have said if you spoke from a place of love?

Do: Let’s use our day to day life as practice and the next time you are faced with this urgent desire, pause and take five thoughtful breaths and acknowledge the source of what you intend to share.

“It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.”

—Pema Chodron

Consider: Surrendering your frustrations for inner guidance.

There is an inner guidance within each of us that knows what is needed next. We were born with this but at some point stopped trusting it. This guidance knows what is true and right for us and this practice is all we need to restore the connection.

Your answer will come with only the first step and your challenge is to accept that this is enough. Taking the first step—trusting the guidance—will move you to a place where each next step will be revealed. Remember, well orchestrated plans only come from our intellect. True inner guidance will only give us only one step at a time.

Prepare: Bring to mind whatever is disturbing your peace today. It may be a person’s words or actions or a situation where you feel stuck and resentful. Rather than staying in the frustrating place, follow this simple but powerful practice.

Take in three deep cleansing breaths. Complete the following statements:

1. I am resentful or frustrated about _________________ (situation) and I play a part in this feeling.
2. I am feeling/being ____________________(an adjective to describe your response).
3. Forgive yourself.
4. Close your eyes and with your hands placed over your heart ask for your next step in this situation.
5. Trust what you hear.

Do: Commit to addressing the first frustration of your day with this practice.

(Repeat as needed.)

“If we get deeply in touch with the present, we can touch the past as well and transform it.”

—Thich Nhat Hahn, You Are Here

Consider: Cleaning up past wounds and fears doesn’t have to involve an excavation team. When we can be fully present to our fears, lovingly accepting and acknowledging their presence, the healing begins. It continues with each mindful breath.

Realize that every fear we feel today has its roots in our past. By being conscious and mindful to each fear when they rise up within we can begin to heal our past.

Who might you become without your fear?

Prepare: Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us to sit with our wounds and fears as they arise at any given moment. Saying, “I am here for you” to the fear that arises, just as you would say to a friend or loved one that needed your support.

As it fully surfaces, say out loud to that fear, “I am here for you, I will be here for you all day.” Acknowledge that you are no longer this person from your past. You have transformed and continue to transform moment to moment with each breath in the present moment.

The minute that fear arises there is a part of us that wants to jump and run. Stay with it. Touch it gently with each breath.  Stay a few more breath cycles than you feel comfortable. That urge to dash may just dissipate… or maybe not. Try this again tomorrow and the next day….just keep coming back.

Do: When you feel an old fear or painful emotion arise today or later this week, make a date with it as you would an old friend and hear it out. Sit in silence and say, “I am here for you.”

“The truth you believe and cling to makes you unavailable to hear anything new”—Pema Chodron

Consider: You are who you believe you are. By speaking about yourself and to yourself in truths you practice loving kindness. When we are loving and kind to ourselves we can be loving and kind to those whose lives we touch. One simple act of truth telling can touch the lives of countless others.

Prepare: What do you say about yourself that you would not tolerate from others? Repeating and reliving old or untruths restrict our beliefs. These limit who we are and what we can accomplish. The truth is… you already know some of your inner dialogue isn’t true. It is just a story that restricts you from being the full person you can actually be.

• Close your eyes, take three cleansing breaths and ask yourself,
• “What do I cling to about myself that is not true?”
• “What real truth can I replace that with?”
• Now repeat it silently to yourself over and again with your hands on your heart.
• Say it out loud, inhale with each word, releasing your breath between words.
• Finally write it down and place it somewhere it can serve as a reminder.

Do: Acknowledge and release an untruth you cling to about yourself today by rewriting a truth.

Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Consider: It is so easy in the commotion of it all to get to the point where we say, “I just don’t know what makes me happy anymore.”

In all our busy-ness we can lose ourselves and knowledge of what makes us truly happy. We lose track of why we do what we do and we forget what used to bring us joy.

Today’s pause is meant to bring you back to your childhood to reconnect with what used to bring  joy—on the simplest level.

Prepare: Close your eyes and visualize a much younger you. Place your hands on your heart and take in three cleansing breaths. Feel what it was like to be so free and connected with your own heartsong.

You are five or six years old—maybe even younger. Your mom or dad is calling you in from your playtime and you just cannot stop what you are doing. What is it you were doing? What is it that you were so immersed in? What allowed you to be fully yourself? What song was your heart singing?

What could you do today that would make you feel like that if even for a few short moments in time?

Do: Today do one thing that makes your true heart sing.  Consider repeating each day this week.

It may be of no surprise, but I choose to go about my shopping and menu planning using a method a bit outside of the box. I am sharing it here because, like you, I’ve tried all sorts of variations on the theme of how-to-get-a-healthy-dinner-on-the-table-each-night-without-ending-up-in-a-puddle-of-tears and found most of them lacking.

While this approach may seem a bit awkward at first, it is super efficient and allows for lots of creativity. Efficiency is a key word at our house and we’re better with some things than others, but when it comes to shopping and eating, this process provides us with meals that meet both our health and efficiency standards which then allows us plenty of flex time for exercise and creative projects.

I mentioned here, that I shop twice a week: once to prep ahead for my four days seeing clients and once again for the weekend.

So, here is how my shop- and cook-ahead plan rolls:

1. These staples and fresh items are always on hand. I purchase them at Wheatsville or online at Soap.com

• Organic Olive, Coconut & Sesame Oils
• Pumpkin seeds; sunflower; pine nuts; hemp seeds; sprouted almonds; raw cashews; walnuts; nut butters; coconut flakes; assorted dried fruits
•  honey; maple syrup
• Organic Quinoa, Brown Rice, Buckwheat Ramen Noodles
• Lentils
• Fresh citrus—lemons/limes/oranges
• Avocados

2. In a reverse order of most cooks, once at the store I survey the produce isle and choose four vegetable combinations that will star in each evening meal. While I may not settle on the exact prep method until I am home unpacking, I choose what looks freshest and most delicious.

Here are the pairings I selected this week:

• Broccoli and Dino Kale
• Rainbow Chard, Spinach and an assortment of Sweet Potatoes
• Asparagus and Sweet Peppers
• Roma Tomatoes, Sweet Onion, Basil, Carrots, Apples

3. Once home everything gets unpacked, laid out on the dining room table and I settle on the final menus, adjusting any pairings. This week I decided to stick with my original combinations and to make the following dinners:

• Raw Broccoli-Kale Salad with Pumpkin Seeds, Avocado and Cashew Tamari Dressing
• Sautéed Greens and Roasted Cubed Sweet Potatoes
• Quinoa Salad with Roasted Asparagus and Peppers and Toasted Pine Nuts
• Fresh Roasted Tomato Soup and Grated Carrot-Apple Salad

4. Now the whole family jumps in to help wash, chop and prep for the meal making.

I’ll post more about the also slightly quirky details of my meal making process in the next few weeks.

The biggest challenge I faced when we made the big shift to the Radically Simple Diet was finding the balance of the right amount of fresh food to keep on hand and not letting any spoil. Shopping once a week just wasn’t enough and I found myself passing along too wilted veggies and greens to my hens. While they were happy, I knew I needed a better plan.

Here are three solutions I have found to help keep a fresh supply of fruits and veggies on hand.

1. We traded our one BIG shopping trip for two much shorter trips. With this plan I shop for 4 work day meals and then 3 weekend meals which feels quite manageable. Now that I just shop the produce and bulk isle I can keep the time down to 30-45 minutes. The German I live with can do it in 20 because he happens to drive his grocery cart like a BMW on the Autobahn.
2. We do use Instacart to restock fruits and sometimes greens from HEB during the week. I have found this service to be a lifesaver. Yes, there is a price difference in the produce, but I have found the trade off more than worth it not to lug 3 watermelons, 4 pineapple, etc. in and out of the cart each week! The shoppers are fantastic and the app allows you to leave descriptive notes about each product you select, such as “green bananas please.”
3. A CSA could likely cut down on one of your grocery trips each week and if you have not tried one yet, this fall season is a great time to start. We have personal experience with Tecolote Farm and Johnson’s Backyard Garden and can recommend both. The service and quality of produce is remarkable as well as that feel good sensation for directly supporting Austin agriculture.

Keep checking back in to find out how I plan my menus and what I do with all the produce once I get it home.

It’s no secret that I am a fruit pusher. You name it—whole fruit, chopped, in a smoothie or juiced. I love it and love what it does for your body…namely your lymphatic system. You can’t be in my office too long without me bringing up the topic of fruit.

In a perfect world, I would have a fridge stocked to the brim with freshly chopped fruit that I could grab when I am on the run out the door, BUT that isn’t always quite the case. So, often when I am out and about, I frequent one of Austin’s local juice shops. They are growing in number and now are located in most neighborhoods throughout the city.

We were rewarded last spring with one right here in Travis Heights, and I give it my seal of approval. Directly on South Congress, just across from Amy’s Ice Cream is Juice Austin. It couldn’t be easier, AND now it’s even cheaper! Knowing our commitment here at RS to juicing, owners Chip & Myles have extended all Radically Simple clients a permanent 15% off on all juices and smoothies. Seriously, now you really are going to have to give it a try.

Claim your personal discount card at my office Wed-Fri 9-12 from Aaron or at your next appointment.

Check out their menu for further encouragement to make a stop. My favorites of the moment just happen to be K.I.S.S. and Sweatpea.

You’ll know it’s 7:15 AM at the Hubele household by the roar of the VitaMix. It’s been packed to the brim this morning with some of the best tastes of late summer. You’ll see quartered juicy hill country peaches, chunks of fresh, tangy pineapple, cubed sweet mango, and when it’s all blended into a shot of fresh lime juice.

Prep time: 10 mins.
Cleanup Time: 5 mins.
Satisfied Family Members: 3

We began this morning fruit ritual a year ago and have never looked back. Even in the dark, cold mornings of winter we enjoyed amazing Texas pink grapefruits and blood oranges, along with fresh pineapple. Half the fun of this has been getting creative with our combinations. And yes, it’s always fruit and only fruit, but it’s always just a little bit different depending on what is on hand, in season, and sounds just right that particular morning and we still look forward to it every morning.

We got started on our fruit in the morning plan last summer after a week on the Black Sea at the home of my mentor Dr. Sorina Soescu. Sorina had been following a high fruit and raw veg diet for two years and as we spent our days together, I learned the hows and whys to this high alkaline eating philosophy. When we got started, I was the chopper and blender—but my task was taken over quickly by my husband, Joachim. He found my chopping skills not quite as efficient as the German precision he could offer. I certainly did not complain. Who would when you get served up such beautiful glasses of pure deliciousness?

We down one glass of our smoothies and out the door we head for a swoop around Stacy Park with Lucy our 90lb lap dog and most often our 12 year old Sebastian just ahead of us on his bike or scooter. On a good day by 8 am we are exercised, fed and ready to take on our day.

It’s just how it rolls here in the morning and it sure feels good.