Monday, October 6, 2008

Pumpkin Spice Soup

Hello,

With fall well underway it is time to take advantage of the fall harvest. Pumpkin is a magical food (remember Cinderella) and loaded with incredible nutrients. Below is a recipe I adapted to be served thick and warm for the chilly weather that is blowing in. This is the best recipe because it seriously takes only 10 minutes! Let me know how it comes out for you!



Ingredients

1 can of pumpkin puree (use 2 cups of fresh)
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 dash cinnamon
2 dashes ginger powder
1 dash stevia powder
1/4 cup coconut milk (or cow/soy/almond milk)
1 handful of raisins

Preparation

Blend everything together until smooth . Add more spice to taste if desired. Place on stove and heat. Be careful not to heat too long. This is really like a five minute soup!

Serve topped with pecans, and a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg!

Monday, September 15, 2008

A Passion That Lives On....


Yesterday I went to a farm stand with my father, Raymond Germain. He enjoyed picking out local produce and I chatted with two other customers that were milling about the barn. The woman at the barn began telling us how a relative of her's just came off of dialysis and received a transplanted kidney from an anonymous donor. This woman was currently going through dialysis and was on the list to receive a transplant as well. The man who was also shopping related to us that he had been on dialysis for several years before receiving his transplant.
I became struck by the fact that every customer at this little farmstand had kidney disease! My father was born with an adult onset form of Polycystic Kidney Disease. He was diagnosed in 1982 and received his transplant in December of 2002. There was one key difference between my father and the other people in the barn. My father went twenty years without ever needing to be hooked up to a dialysis machine.

Many claim he was lucky. They explain this was a result of a gradual enough cyst formation to sustain him until 2001 when his sister, Sue, was declared a match. There cannot be a more incredible gift than life and that is what his sister was able to give him. My family is quite thankful.

What sustained him for so long? The answer is the inspiration for this blog. My father knew long before his diagnosis that being positive was the key to a vibrant and enjoyable life. This lesson he bestowed on his children and all those who were fortunate to come in his presence. However he began to take an even more active role in sustaining his life. He began to eat in a way that was positive as well.

His loving wife of thirty seven years, Jean, took to the library and began looking at the way food affected kidney function. Incrementally, they began to make shifts that worked for the entire family. This is where I was blessed to be born to such enlightened people. We woke up every morning to fresh fruit before heading off to school or play. In the evening, we came through the door to a fresh salad every night before eating a family dinner.

In addition to adding in more fresh fruits and vegetables, they began to limit foods that taxed kidney function. Sodium was cut tremendously and water intake went up. Cranberry juice became a pretty constant staple around the Germain household and we needed two water pitchers in a fridge just to keep up with H2O demand. Meat and dairy intake was reduced slowly and methodically over a period of ten years. Animal protein produces many acids that are tough on the kidney and the vegan or vegetarian lifestyle favors a person with such a diagnosis. Thanks to this process it became very easy for me to take dairy products completely out of my diet...a transition that is difficult for many.

Most importantly, Jean and Ray continued to create and share food together. This act of love may have been the most healing aspect of the entire diet they constructed. Even though they are responsible for everything that drives me to learn, live and teach the positive and healthy lifestyle, they maintain an eagerness to learn more and continue to make shifts that aid their wellbeing.

My passion was born from this. Eating is a positive and fun experience for me but that is just an outward expression of a deep understanding of its true importance. Food truly does sustain us and for many of us without a life threatening illness we forget that it keeps us alive. This is a conscious act of survival and I believe it nourishes much more than our anatomy. This is why food is so interwoven with love. What is sharing a meal with someone? It is the decsion to share with others the very matter that is nourishing our physical bodies, our growing minds and our loving spirits. When we create and share food together we are actually creating and sharing life.
By medical standards I am lucky to have shared as many years with my father as I have. The doctor's at Massachusetts General Hospital are to be regarded as angels and my mother a saint for all they have done to make this possible. We all can do something to sustain ourselves and those around us. The steps we take to actively improve the quality of our lives have a tendency to ripple out and benefit all those that are close to our hearts. The heart beat itself can almost be thought of as the source of this rippling effect. The strength inside our hearts determines how far out the waves will travel. Strengthen your own heart and you will truly affect others.
I wish you strength and well being and hope to hear from you soon!

Stay Positive,
Matthew

"Food is the one thing that is everything"
-David Wolfe

Monday, September 8, 2008

Sweeett!!!

The Corn Refiner's Association and everyone's favorite refined sugar High Fructose Corn Syrup!


A recent campaign by the Corn Refiner's Association (an industrial group that protects and promotes corn based products) is defending the consumption of a natural sugar called High Fructose Corn Syrup or HFCS. This "natural" sugar is created by stripping corn of all its nutrients, separating out the sugar and then chemically treating that sugar so it matches the sweetness of sucrose, also known as table sugar (for a more accurate description of how it is manufactured click here). The ads feature every day people being served sugary treats and being comforted by the fact that corn syrup comes from corn. Other than the general "corniness" of the ads, I became slightly concerned. Over the past several years I have been taking HFCS out of my diet and replacing it with fruits and vegetables. I began to break out in a cold sweat. Did I make a rash decision leaving this wonderfully refined, processed and chemicalized natural product behind? I set out on a quest to find High Fructose Corn Syrup and possibly invite it back into my body.


This was not difficult. I found it everywhere at the grocery store. This sugar was found in breads, salad dressings, cereals, baby food, ketchup, juice and it even made it to the top of the charts on some ingredient labels. Soft drinks turned out to come away with the bragging rights of being the most HFCS power packed product. Later on I discovered that forty five thousand products in the average grocery store contain corn products, six percent of those corn products being HFCS (Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan Page 19). I was relieved. I did not want to be responsible for starting a trend that wiped out an entire denatured carbohydrate from the American diet. High Fructose Corn Syrup was alive and well and if I wished I could make sure it was present in every meal and drink I took in for the rest of my life.

I realized I needed to do more research. What were the potential benefits or potential dangers of consuming HFCS in large quantities? This is important to know, since the corn industry makes sure every single American is provided 78 pounds of HFCS a year. When you take out all the extraneous factors, we are all entitled to half a pound of HFCS each and every day for the rest of our lives (What to Eat, Marion Nestle page 319). I visited two websites launched by the Corn Refiner's Association, sweetsuprise.com and HFCSfacts.com. I was blown away to see what I had been missing. High Fructose Corn Syrup actually enhances the flavor of fruit and spices. What have I been doing eating apples and bananas without dumping refined sugar on them?! My cumin, turmeric and curry powder simply are not enough on their own, they are all begging to be brought out of their flavor prisons and freed by the miracle of HFCS. According to the Corn Refiner's Association, the refined sugar known as High Fructose Corn Syrup does not contribute to rises in obesity or type 2 diabetes. It made me wonder why type 2 diabetes is often called "sugar diabetes", for all the facts about how people develop diabetes click here (for those who want a quick summary it says the more glucose, or sugar, that builds up in your blood the more your body becomes at risk for type 2 diabetes)
There were even leading experts in the field exonerating HFCS, including Dr. Walter Willett from the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Marion Nestle an NYU professor and author of Food Politics and What to Eat and Dr. Michael Jacobsen of the Center for Science in Public Interest. This is where I started to become confused. The website HFCSfacts quotes Dr. Marion Nestle as a friend of HFCS yet in Chapter 27 of her own book, What to Eat, she offers some pretty startling evidence that the increase in sugar consumption can be declared "guilty by association" for the rise in obesity in this country over the last twenty years. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the consumption of HFCS has jumped 1000% in the last thirty years, "far exceeding the intake of any other food or food group" (Sugar Shock, Connie Bennett and Stephen Sinatra page 88) . Dr. Walter Willett even claims that the HFCS does not satisfy our need for sugar, especially when consumed in beverage form, causing us to take in more processed sugar than is healthy for us. His landmark project, The Nurse's Health Study, showed that "women who increased their intake in soda or fruit punch over a four year period gained weight" and "woman who consumed one soda or a glass of fruit punch per day had nearly a two fold higher risk of type 2 diabetes" (Eat, Drink and Weigh Less page 69). I actually receive Dr. Michael Jacobsen's Nutrition Action: Health Letter, where he states that all processed sugar, including HFCS, "undermines our diets because it supplies us with empty calories" (Nutrition Action Health Letter: January/February 2008)
This was all becoming very complex to me. I was diving deeper and deeper into the world of sugar and my intellectual cortex was expanding. I could feel myself becoming tired, cynical and in need of something to eat. On the way downstairs from my personal library, I remembered what Positive Eating was all about. Eating is supposed to be a positive and enjoyable experience and the things we put into our body should be as positive and enjoyable as possible. I grabbed an apple and came upstairs to write this blog post. I decided to look up a picture of High Fructose Corn Syrup and see if it brought up the same feelings of wholeness and goodness I was getting from my apple. This is what I found:




The Corn Refiner's Association is correct. Sugar is a natural occurring substance and the sweet taste was meant to be enjoyed by human taste buds. I enjoy it thoroughly every day...however it looks a little bit more something like this:

Please let me know what your thoughts are. If anyone from the Corn Refiner's Association is out there please send me a bottle of High Fructose Corn Syrup...I am curious of how much it can enhance the flavor of these remarkable tasty farm fresh locally grown peaches I've been eating daily.

As always eat positive,

Matthew

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

What is Health Counseling?

Hello,

I am so happy to finally post on this blog page again! Things have been pretty incredible making the transition to being a Health Counselor full time. However, I am happily ready to start blogging again. Let's start by telling you what it is I do in this new career.

Health Counseling is about looking at the entire scope of a person and guiding them in ways that will bring more health and vibrancy into their lives. This is a holistic practice in the truest sense. There is really no effective way to teach or preach healthy living. The vast majority of people know that getting adequate rest, eating fruits and vegetables, drinking water and partaking in some form of physical movement are all part of a healthy lifestyle. Even with this knowledge, this country still struggles with many health problems that are completely preventable.

This is not because we are lazy! America is probably the least lazy country on the planet. We work long hours, we make sure our children are given every opportunity in the world and we remain active in our communities. We are actually so busy not being lazy that we leave our bodies on the back burner as we move through this land of opportunity at break neck speed.

Unfortunately, our mind and our spirit is given only one human body in which to travel through life. This is why it is so important to make sure that we nourish ourselves at every level of human experience. Only then can we truly integrate healthy changes into our lifestyle. This is why health counseling is so effective. It allows us to take a one hour break from the marathon we attempt to sprint every single day and take notice of what our body truly needs. My job as a counselor is to recognize those things with you and then develop a plan that will make sure the change is made and accepted by your mind, body and spirit.

To learn more about my six month health counseling program please contact me via my website. I strongly encourage you to sign up for a free initial health history consultation. I look forward to talking to you.

I am excited to be blogging again! Please know that your comments and support are always welcome!

Stay Positive,

Matthew

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Leaving New Balance

HEY EVERYBODY!
Major Life Changing Event Unfolding



August 1st is may proposed last day of employment at New Balance Athletic Shoe Inc.
My tenure here will forever be held in my heart as a life changing time. I am so filled with joy for all that I have experienced here. I worked with people and a product that were deeply engrained in my own beliefs and values. Threads of wisdom and positivity were woven deep and wide into the fabric of my young life as a result of the people I met here.

Starting in October 2007, I endeavored to earn a Certificate in Health Counseling from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, the world's largest nutrition school and the only school offering a certificate of this kind. I am happy to say I fulfilled all the requirements and received my certificate on June 21st. My path now leads to a place of service to those looking to bring health and vibrancy into their lives. Each and everyone of the people I work with will benefit from the lessons I learned here at New Balance.

Health, like most of life, is about constantly seeking a New Balance. These words not only appeared at the bottom of my paycheck each and every week....they adorned the very walls that surrounded me 7.5 hours a day and were found on the clothes and footwear that were worn on a daily basis as I participated in activities I love. These two words will forever guide each step I take on my new life path. Thank you for the blessed gift of allowing me to serve as an associate of this company. Thank you for your support and friendship that you've shown to me in the past, the present and I know you will continue to show in the moments to come.

With deep an sincere appreciation,

matthew
http://www.matthewgermain.com

Sky's The Limit!






Friday, June 13, 2008

Juicing at Work!

I've dreamed of this day for a long time! Today it was a reality! I actually brought my juicer to work and made juice there for the associates. I was part of an incredible event called "What Else Do You Do?". I like to share positive eating experiences so I figured I would contribute in the best way I knew possible. The juice was a big hit!

People were blown away that I juice every single morning. They wondered if it was a hassle. My response to that question is "Did you taste the juice". Yes, juicing requires cutting, grinding and eventually cleaning the juicer.....but there is so much positive energy in one glass of juice....it is worth ten minutes every morning!




I would like to give a shout out to a man who is inspired me at the deepest levels of my being. Mr. Jack Lalanne introduced me to gaining positive energy via a fresh glass of juice every morning. This was the one step into the world of positive eating I needed. Every day has been an adventure since your wonderful infomercial.

with reverence,

matthew

Friday, June 6, 2008

Open House




Tonight was my open house! Ry Chi hosted a ChiRunning class at the local park while I busily prepared some food at the house. We had a fresh salad with mixed greens, bok choy, avocado and strawberry. Raymond Tu made us some incredible sushi! I made fudge from fresh cacao beans. Even made a nice and simple pasta dish. Of course there was lots of fresh juice and smiles.

I delivered a talk called Building a Positive Relationship with Food. I had never delivered it before. This was my first go at it. Fortunately I was in the company of friends and loved ones which made it easier. I would tell you what I said....but I would rather just deliver it for you. Let me know...I will talk to anyone about food, relationships and being positive :)

The night was full of friendship and fun. Lots of great questions were asked and I feel everyone left a little more positive than they came in. I want to thank everyone of you who did come and reads this blog. That was awesome guys. Thanks for helping me live my dream!

stay positive,

matthew

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Kitchen Sink Soup


Hello,

Has it really been fourteen days since my last blog post? Wow. Did you all mis me? :).

I am busy living the life of my dreams. Helping people live positive and healthy lives, doing talks, counseling people, going to the grocery store, making some pretty good food. Life is great...but the positive act of eating needs to spread even further. So here I am back and in action!

Today, I want to show you a neat little trick for making soup. Everyone has vegetables lying around that they don't know what to do with. Half a stalk of celery, some leftover carrots, even at the office the refrigerator is full of leftover veggies that need a home. Here is a really simple way to make use of them: Make a soup.

Soup is very unfairly labeled a fall and winter food. I live in New England....we can go for a good soup any time of year.

So here is the process. Round up all your leftover veggies or steal them from the refrigerator at work and chop them all up. Put them in a slow cooker with some any type of broth you want (vegetable/chicken/mushroom/beef/eye of newt). Let this simmer all morning and by lunch you will have a soup!

This is a little chaotic but fun. Quantum physics says the structure of an atom is chaotic and orderly at the same time. Why not take this wonderful scientific theory into our food preparation?

We enjoyed this with some incredible tomato and avocado sandwiches provided by M. Lafleur. What a guy! I even included a picture of him chowing down!



Stay Chaotically Positive,

matthew

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Quick and Easy Quinoa Pilaf

Quick and Easy Quinoa Pilaf
as taught to me by Andrea Beaman :)
Everytime I make this dish it makes people smile! Plus, it looks really fancy and tastes unbelievable. Try it and you will be suprised.
Ingredients:
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Onion peeled and diced (or use 2 garlic cloves)
1 small can of mushrooms (or use potatoes)
2 celery stalks
1 Tablespoon fresh sage (really folks I reccomend the fresh sage!)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (regular salt is fine)
1 cup Quinoa
1/3 cup of dried cranberries
2 cups water
Directions:
saute onions or garlic with olive oil in a saucepan for 2-4 minutes. Add mushrooms or potatoes and cook for five more minutes. Add celery and sage together and cook for 2 minutes. Add quinoa and then 2 cups of water into the saucepan. This whole concoction will come to a aromatic boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 15-20 minutes.
This stuff is sure to make you smile!
stay positive,
matthew

Monday, May 12, 2008

ChiRunning and ChiWalking



Hello All,

As many of you know, I am an avid runner. I love to run so much that I've driven myself to the point of sheer exhaustion doing it. This is partially because I have an exaggerated personality and partially because running is the most beautiful thing I've ever done with my body.

When my good friend Ry Chi became a certified ChiRunning instructor in October, he taught me how to run in a way that was both energy efficient and free of pain. Suddenly my relationship with running was no longer dysfunctional. I now run everyday with a feeling quite similar to marital bliss (I think...).

Ry Chi not only taught me how to run more effectively but introduced me to the fine people at ChiLiving. To make a long story short....like you, they love Positive Eating! In a recent addition of their newsletter they featured a nutrition article by yours truly :)

I encourage all of you to sign up for the ChiRunning and ChiWalking newsletter. You will learn more about your body than you could ever have dreamed and you may even get a dose of nutrition advice now and again.

Here is the link to the article,

ChiRunning Article

stay positive,

matthew

PS

If any of you would like to learn more about ChiRunning or ChiWalking you can click on the logo above for a list of instructors in your area. If you live near me....then you can be instructed by Ry Chi himself! His link is below

ChiRunning and ChiWalking Instruction

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

C is for cookie!

Cookies....you absolutely got to eat your cookies. I mean where would the world be without them. As a matter of fact, the cookie is analogous to the spinning disk in the sky we call the "world." They are both round and as you move across them you find all sorts of sweet and good things. Someone should make a cookie that looks like the world!

Last night, I had company coming over and realized I had to make something quick. By no means am I Betty Crocker, but I remembered the concept of how to make a cookie. Take some dry ingredients add them to wet and sticky ingredients and then mix them together. After baking for 10-15 minutes you got a cookie!

So I grabbed some whole wheat graham flour, some rolled oats, cinnamon and nutmeg. I decided to add baking powder....that seems to show up in baking recipes a lot. I have no clue what it does but figured it was best to stay safe and add it. Then I mixed Maple Syrup, canola oil, a little bit of rice milk, vanilla extract in a bowl. I added these two mixtures together, threw in some organic, dark chocolate chips and baked at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes.

To my utter shock this came out delicious. So I recommend you put this concept into action yourself:

Dry stuff - Sticky stuff - Chocolate chips - Bake

It may not make the best cookie in the world. But this is certainly the simplest cookie recipe in existence!

stay positive,

matthew


Friday, May 2, 2008

Bisphenol A

No, this is not a new pharmaceutical that someone walking next to a child pedaling a tricycle tells you about. Those are funny aren't they. They always claiming they got their life back, all they had to do was ask their doctor about _________. I am not quite sure where their life went? In all seriousness, this stuff leaches from PolyCarbonate water bottles and gets into your water.

Now, Positive Eating is the furthest thing from a "shock and awe" campaign. We are not even going to discuss all the nasty implications of this chemical. Because there is plenty of opportunity to have fun with this.

Find a simple glass bottle. Glass is probably pretty safe...we've been using it a while now and everyone seems to like it. Here is what I've been using.

Then I thought to myself....."well that is pretty boring". So I adorned it with this very simple sticker. I also am advertising my blog! That was the reason they started handing out those water bottles to begin with so made as well keep the tradition alive. I encourage you to create your own water container! If you would like to advertise for Positive Eating on the side of yours feel free. However, I would simply ask that you create a more appealing and eye catching logo than I did.
Stay Positive,

matthew

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Wow! I got to up my game....

Hi Positive Eaters,



Over the past six days I've been checking out some other people's blogs. While I am proud of my lovely little blogspot....some people are doing some incredible stuff out there. I am not a celebrity...but many of my friends are and there blogs have videos, guest contributers, contests, spiritual awakening practices......It is enough to make me want to dress up in a funny costume dance around and then figure out how to upload video. Well I don't have really any funny costumes. But if I was going to do a video on positive eating, I would dress up like Shrek and have the song All-Star by Smashmouth playing in the background and I would turn delicous healthy foods into mock disgusting foods! That would be wicked cool.



If you get a chance check out the important work many of these people are doing in the world of health and nutrition.



My School's Blog site



http://www.integrativenutritionblog.com/



The blog of an absolute genius



http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog



A woman who really understands building a relationship with food



http://www.geneenroth.com/notes_from_geneen/



Deepak Chopra



http://www.intentblog.com/

My Good Friend Sebastian Oddo's Blog

http://www.positivefeelingsrule.com/blog.html


I want to do another post with more blogs for you to check out. So all my friends that read this blog, who have blogs, send me the links and I'll get them up here.

stay positive,

matthew

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Are you rooted and grounded? Try a Daikon Radish

This may come as a surprise to many of you. But often I am not the most grounded person on the planet. Say one thing that gets me excited and I am off up in the clouds and ready to fly! You should see where a simple conversation about the Muppets can take me! When I drink green tea...which is known to grow at high altitude....consider me on another planet! So I thought to myself, maybe I should eat some foods that grow deep in the ground. We already know I am crazy about sweet potatoes. Well I decided to kick it up a notch when I saw this crazy root in the produce aisle. If the tail end didn't curve I would not have fit it in the picture!
I chopped up my Daikon Radish with care and tossed it in a hot pot with some freshly chopped ginger (another root). This simmered along with a box of Sweet Potato Soup. The box soups were on sale! I could not resist picking up a bunch. So they may be making a consistent appearance here.
Afterwards, I mixed it up with some medium grain brown rice. This meal consisted of three different root vegetables. After the meal my feet were stuck to the floor and I was nervous that I would not be able to get back to my desk. Fortunately I made it and was able to finish this blog post.
Stay Positive,

matthew

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Food of the Heart

I know it's been a while....but you positive eaters out there never leave my heart. I've been to New York and back and a little bit of everywhere the last two weeks and thought. I am going to make a lunch today from my heart. There is no scientific evidence to say that Red Peppers and Green Beans with Rice lightly flavored with Sweet Pea Soup is "certified Heart Healthy".
What I am talking about is making food from your heart. We should always love and appreciate our food. When we make food for others this is a chance to love and appreciate them. When I made this lunch I really tried to stay in my heart....I even listened to Tracy Chapman's Matters of the Heart album while preparing it. I know I am a big softy....but Tracy Chapman is cool and she is from Massachusetts!



It is important to put your heart in everything you do. But that can get stressful for people....so I recommend starting with your cooking. I promise you it will radiate out into other areas of your life

:)

stay in your heart,

matthew

Sweet Brown Rice with Sweet Red Pepper and Sweet Peas Soup

Sweet isn't it?

One or Two Red Bell Peppers
Three Handfuls of Green Beans
2 Cups of Sweet Brown Rice
4 Cups of Water
2 cups of Sweet Pea Soup

Remember we use a 2:1 ratio with our rice and water! I cooked this rice up in my rice cooker and right before it was finished cooking off all the water I added the soup and the vegetables. I let this simmer for a bit and then enjoyed!


Thursday, April 10, 2008

Mediterranean Scrambled Eggs

Hello everyone,

Today I made breakfast for a group of hardworking teachers in the town I live in. This is a monthly ritual for them. One Thursday a month they all bring in food and enjoy selections from a large spread of dishes. I felt one way to thank them for the important work they do is to make an organic healthy breakfast.

Mediterranean Scrambled Eggs
A bunch of eggs
1/2 cup of soy milk
chopped spinach
sliced in half grape tomatoes
lemon pepper
feta cheese

I beat the eggs and soy milk thoroughly then add in some lemon pepper and beat the eggs a little more. I then transfer to a a frying pan that is coated with butter, ghee, shortening...whatever works for you. I let these eggs cook until they are becoming solid but still a little moist. Then I put in the tomatoes and the spinach and move them around until the eggs are done. I transfer these two a casserole dish and sprinkle feta cheese on top. This makes a great lunch and it is colorful...making it a hit at group breakfast events. Sorry there is no picture....I guess I was still a little sleep making this and forgot to bring the most important cooking utensil I have....the camera!

stay positive,
matthew

PS.
off to school again this weekend. The world of Positive Eating is getting busy!

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Fruit Faces

Hello Positive Eaters,





I just wanted to share with you what our Pita Face project inspired. Ray Germain has added fruit faces to his morning fruit repertoire. He is quite proud of these and wants to go over and make this with his neices and nephews.





Positive Eating is now reaching out an inspiring people! Of course....when I say it is inspiring people I mean my Mom and Dad....but it is a start. Please feel free to send me any Positive Eating experiences you have had lately.





matthewgermain@yahoo.com



Stay Positive,

matthew

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Positive Lunch notes from Mom


picture found at zettwoch.blogspot.com

Remember those wonderful little lunch notes you got from Mom. At first, they made you feel so good about yourself. Then you started to hide them because you didn't want the other kids to find out....but you still cherished them all the same. There cannot be anyone out there who deep down wasn't smiling from ear to ear when they saw a little scrap paper in their lunch.

I've recently been lucky enough to start getting lunch notes from my mom again. Except now....she sends me emails and they are about the awesome positive lunches she is providing herself. Hear are a couple of her emails

Hi Matt,

I had another nice lunch. I took cherry tomatoes and sprinkled lime pepper and some balsamic vinegar in a small container. When I had lunch I cut up the rest of the avocado, but forgot to put in my pecans. I mixed it up a bit and it was sooooooo good! When I saw the pecans I dropped them in the container which had just a smidgen of the vinegar left, but it was still good, but I am sure would have been even better if I had put the pecans in before I ate it. Talk with you soon.

Love, MOM

Just thought I would tell you that my lunch was terrific. I had the spring mix salad dad made. I added pecans and then avocado and balsamic vinegar. It was great. Hope you day is going well.

Love, MOM

Now.....no one tell my mother that her emails to her son are broadcasting over the world wide web. She probably will be embarrassed. Maybe I am subconsciously getting her back for the time a couple of fourth grades stole my lunch when I was in the second grade and showed everyone a note from her that read.

Matty Boy,

Remember that you are great. This is your day. We love you

Your Loving Mother

Set me back about seven years from becoming one of the "cool kids".

Stay Positive,

matthew

Monday, March 31, 2008

PostiveFeelingsRule.com

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to talk to you a little bit about a website that I am proud to be associated with. PositiveFeelingsRule.com is maintained by my friend Sebastian Oddo. He is a tremendous proponent of living a positive lifestyle. The work he is doing at PFR inspires me to keep up with this blog and build my health counseling business.

This month Sebastian is featuring a story I wrote about life experiences that I went through since age three. Since the story is about past events, I was reluctant to share it, but there is no denying that all of the moments of our lives build the foundation of our current reality. I encourage all of you to visit PositiveFeelingsRule.com and read any of the stories that catch your attention. Sebastian Oddo is doing great work and it is a pleasure to draw attention to it.

http://www.positivefeelingsrule.com

Everyone has a story.....I encourage you to take your wonderful story and use it as a basis for a truly remarkable life!

stay positive,

matthew

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Welcome to the Party

Last night we celebrated, Positive Eating style! I invited family and friends over for some Sushi made by world reknowned Sushi chef Raymond Tu! I made three pitchers worth of fresh juice for everyone and we just listened to music and were positive. Many people were trying Sushi for their first time and were pleasantly suprised. I like to say it was thanks to Raymond Tu....but most people I encounter are pleasantly suprised by the taste of Sushi. I encourage you, when you are ready, to try it out.


This was a birthday party for anyone who spent this last year trying to live positively. I should have invited all the readers of this blog! Okay....okay I was a little lazy getting the invitations out to you all. I will give you plenty of notice for the next one.

Stay Positive,

matthew


Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Staple Office Meal

The fuzzy image above is of a meal I consider the staple of all office cooking. Rice and beans with salsa and a vegetable. This meal is nutritious, offers "real" food and is flavorful. Most importantly it is very inexpensive. If you want to start office cooking I suggest you begin with this recipe.

Cooking Implements:

Rice Cooker
Can opener
Knife
Cutting board

Ingredients:

1 can of Red Kidney Beans
2 cups brown rice
4 cups water
Jar of Salsa
1 Vegetable (broccoli, squash, sweet potato are all good choices)

Directions:

Soak your rice for one hour before cooking. Drain rice and add to rice cooker. Add four cups of water. Open can of beans and drain liquid. Rinse beans off in can until foamy water stops appearing. Dump into the rice cooker. Hit Cook on Rice cooker. After 30 minutes add chopped up vegetable. After ten minutes you may spoon into you dish topped with salsa.

This recipe will hold you over on any day. If you try this or any other office cooking adventure please email me and I will include you in my blog....don't forget a photo!

stay positive,

matthew

matthewgermain@yahoo.com

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bring some warmth to your vegetables


Monday when I was walking by the freezer case, I saw all of these vegetables confined to bags and just needed to set them free. The very chlorophyll in their veins must have turned to icicles! If you remember photosynthesis from science class you know that plants go through quite a process to extract energy from the sun. If you are looking for some more sun in your day all you have to do is eat plants. Especially dark green ones because that green color is the result of a photosynthesis explosion. For those of you who need a refresher course on photosynthesis view the diagram below:



I do not use frozen vegetables that much but have to promote them due to their longer shelf life and easy storage. Above is some organic broccoli that just needs to be warmed up. I am steaming these with my brown rice today. Nothing like a little broccoli, rice and sunshine for lunch!

Thawing out,

matthew

Friday, March 21, 2008

Eating Dandelions for lunch!?

Growing up we were blessed to have a nice big lawn. Raymond, my father, never spent time seeding and grooming the grass. As a matter of fact, I remember distinctly my father looking out the window at the dandelions that were creating a sea of yellow and saying this

You know something....everyone at work has all these tricks for how to keep their lawn looking perfect. There maybe something to that. In this affluent society we seek the best of anything. Whether it be a perfect house or a perfect car. Now look at us. We have this nice big lawn. People might say 'jeez Ray you really should pull those weeds up in your lawn, you would have a wonderful looking green lawn.' You want to know something. As I look out at all these dandelions....I can't help but admit, I kind of like they way they look

So in honor of Ray's wisdom I decided to eat some dandelion greens. The grass is now reappearing and it will be pleasant to see those dandelions grow!

Dandelion Green Salad Wrap

A Bowl full of Dandelion Greens
Two Avocados
Balsamic Vinaigrette

Tomatoes are a nice touch

Chop stems off of the dandelion greens. Remove the green flesh from inside the avocado and dice up. Throw in some tomatoes....or my favorite, dried berries. Mix with some balsamic vinaigrette. Roll up in a wrap and enjoy!



Wednesday, March 19, 2008

If it weighs as much as a duck.....


In an effort to be really cool, I tried to send all of you a post from New York. Unfortunately, not owning a laptop computer made that quite difficult. Here is a picture of me eating a duck at the Whym restaurant on 9th avenue in New York City. I shared a great meal with my friends Marian and Yael. The food was exceptional as well as the service.

As many of you have probably noticed, I rarely eat any meat. I am not a vegan or vegetarian. I am a "positivarian".....okay I am making up this term on the spot. I eat whatever is going to bring me positive energy. I tend to let the animals be. They are busy eating their grasses and grains...so I tend to do the same. A sense of adventure takes over me now and again and I try a dish with meat in it. The duck tasted very much like I thought a duck would taste like. My feelings on it were neutral.

I want to thank Marian for taking this photo with her Iphone. I am amazed at the photo quality.

Keep Your Heart Open,

matthew

Friday, March 14, 2008

Everybody is working for the weekend....

Hey guys,

The weekend is upon us. I am sorry you've been without a pizza post in a couple weeks. We are working on the grandaddy (or grandmommy) of all pizzas. We are getting close!

I am headed to New York this weekend and am going to try and send a post from the road. Stay tuned it will be worth it!

I wish you all a marvelous weekend. Please take time to nourish yourself with the most important food of all....time with friends, family and loved ones.

Here is a great food related activity for you guys.

The Community Salad

(picture found at fellow blogger's site! check it out zioneocon.blogspot.com)

Invite all of your friends over for dinner. Encourage them all to bring one produce item that they would put in a salad. Get a humongous bowl and throw all of it in together! I might encourage your guests to chop, dice, peel the items before hand unless you find the idea of all your friends wielding knives in a confined area appealing. You cannot invite any picky friends over....because you never know what you are going to get. No just kidding, make individual bowls excluding the items your "selective" friends cannot or will not eat.

I've done this before. It makes for an interesting time. I once did a community salad and when we finally were ready to dive into the big wooden bowl of salad.....I realized I forgot to pick up salad dressing! So make sure you have salad dressing....or better yet....make your own! Here is a great easy recipe!

Sesame Maple Dressing (from andreabeaman.com)

  • 2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil.
  • 1 tbsp. maple syrup
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 tbsp. ginger juice (grate ginger and squeeze to obtain juice)
  • 2 tbsp. shoyu or tamari

Combine all ingredients.

stay positive,

matthew

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Goji Berries and Chocolate - use with caution


We all love chocolate! What makes people happier than chocolate? The chocolate we all know is really milk and sugar mixed with a bean called Cacao. I decided to investigate this. I ate a spoonful of sugar. That was certainly fun....but I didn't see myself yearning for more like people do as soon as they eat one piece of a chocolate bar. Then I drank a glass of milk....and well that wasn't all that exciting. The magic ingredient must be the actual chocolate.

Ry Chi hunted down some Cacao and brought into work. I must say I was nervous to try it! I swallowed a handful of these bark-like granules. This produced a visceral, bitter and powerful taste. This certainly could not be the magic ingredient that drives everyone into fits of euphoria!

I then sought the world over for the answer. Actually, I just visited www.sunfood.com where world renown raw foodist and Cacao expert David Wolfe opens up shop. I discovered that Cacao in ancient cultures was eaten with berries and that this combination was used for centuries in the Amazon for fertility and aphrodisial reasons. I am about to try Goji Berries (another exaggerated food) and Cacao. I don't know what will happen over the course of the next 24hours.
Wish me luck,

matthew

Monday, March 10, 2008

Looks like spring is on its way

Hi All,

I absolutely loved having that blog post featuring that wonderful group of preschool students at the top of the page. Please feel free to scroll down the page and view the previous post several times. It will brighten your day!

Spring is on its way. I know this because of the following signs

  • I saw a hawk with sticks in its talons (must be making a nest)
  • My mother just bought a bunch of seeds and potting soil
  • ABC does this really cool commercial, featuring my good friend Oprah, where flowers blossom and they flash all sorts of upcoming shows with a song that says something like "Something New Begins"
  • My feet our soaked after my daily run
  • People aren't talking about football anymore
  • My cravings for spring foods are on the rise.
We all know every season has its own foods that go along with it. Apples in the fall, Watermelon in the summer, every pastry known to man during the holiday season!

Below is a list of some of my favorite spring foods. Many of these foods help ward off familiar spring ailments....such as stomach flu. These are worth experimenting with. We can all watch as I try to make some edible meals with foods from this list.

Bok Choy
Kale
Dandelion Greens
Broccoli
Spinach
Radishes

Blueberries
Pears
Grapefruit

Goat Milk

Brown Rice
Rye Bread

Sunflower seeds

Dandelion Tea

Grow Positively,

matthew

PS

*for a complete list of spring foods visit John Douillard's website

http://www.lifespa.com/article.asp?art_id=55

Friday, March 7, 2008

Make a Face!




Here I am with the most positive group of preschoolers you could ever imagine. See me in the middle! In order to protect these children and abide by state and local laws I am not able to show you their priceless faces. Fortunately, these smily faces on the sticks were used in their activity and we were able to take this funny shot of us all in the classroom.


A very wonderful young woman who I went to both college and high school with was nice enough to invite me into her classroom and gave me an opportunity to talk to her students about positive eating. Eating is all about having fun, right?! Well we had a blast. We all discovered which foods make us smile and which foods make us grimace. No matter what our particular taste we found a way to enjoy these foods no matter what and we made these awesome faces!




If you want to do this activity with your children....I've copied it below.

Let me know how it goes!

Stay positive,

matthew


Make A Face With Your Food!



Healthy habits begin with our earliest memories. Use simple and fun exercises like this one to make eating wholesome foods a fun experience for everyone involved!

Ingredients:

  • Pita Pockets
    Hummus
    Carrots
    Cucumber
    Cherry Tomatoes
    Apples
    Alfalfa Sprouts

  • Start with some pita bread. Separate the pocket into two pieces. Pita pockets are made in wheat, whole wheat and oat bran varieties. Experiment and see which works best with your child
  • Hummus, this chickpea and sesame based spread can be used for gluing fruit and vegetable pieces onto the pita pocket. Other ideas: peanut and other nut butters, cream cheese, honey
  • With the inner surface of the pocket face up let child experiment using the food to make a face. This will foster a relationship between healthy food and the childs creative center. It also saves you prep time!
  • Prompt your child just enough so that they are able to establish appropriate facial structure. Leave lots of room for imagination!
  • Take time to admire their work and then let them eat their creation. If the child does not want to ruin their work use already cut pieces to make a standard Hummus and Veggie Sandwich.



    Matthew Germain
    Health Counselor
    www.matthewgermain.com

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Hey man, stop grilling my veggies.

Today was a true cooperative effort. I was in the mood for a grilled veggie sandwich and picked up some really fresh wraps at the local Whole Foods (where the award winning Sushi Chef Raymond Tu serves food) and an eggplant. I thought I would bring some peppers and zucchini to work to grill up on my trusty George Foreman (which is stored at work with my blender, rice cooker, pasta maker, hot pot, cutting board and utensils). On my way to work I realized I did not bring any of these items. My trusty colleague Matt L. came through with a some summer squash and a zucchini.
We grilled these as they were with no oil and wrapped them up with some Roasted Garlic Salsa. This was really good. Many of my co-workers were hovering over our food with focused gazes. I believe the slang terminology for what they were doing is "grilling". I am happy people are "grilling me". One reason is, I love attention. The other reason is grilling makes for a delicious experience!

stay postive,

matthew

PS

I am kind of curious about the use of these food related statements now

"I am steaming"
"That guy really cooked my goose"
"That's Hot"
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire"
"She's got a salty attitude"
"Holy Mackerel"

let me know if you can think of any others.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

A "Balanced" Meal

Do you remember Saturday morning cereal commercials. They used to flash a picture of Golden Grahams with a glass of orange juice, a glass of milk, some toast and tell you that there cereal was part of "balanced breakfast". Tonight Caitlyn came up with a fantastic "balanced dinner". This was another kind of balance. We were making rice pilaf and sweet potato chips. The sweet potato chips were made in this way:

sweet potatoes chopped thin
put in a baking pan
drizzled with olive oil
salted with Garlic and Sea Salt
Dashed with Rosemary
and cooked for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees


We needed something to balance the saltiness of the chips and the pilaf. What balances the salty taste? The sweet taste! Cailtyn chopped up some apples and put them on our plate as well. This balanced out our taste buds and helped to make us feel satisfied and nourished :)

Stay Balanced,

matthew

PS
We also without trying enjoyed a delicous vegan meal!

Friday, February 29, 2008

Raymond and Lye Tu's marvelous Sushi Bar


I would like to introduce you to Raymond Tu. He operates the Sushi Bar at Whole Foods Market in Andover, MA. As a native New Englander I vowed to never eat raw fish. Fish was meant to be cooked, that was simply the New England way. Well the tricky things with vows is nothing can stop you from breaking them. I don't know how it happened but one day I drifted over to the Sushi Bar and picked up some spicy tuna rolls. I was hooked! I've been eating Sushi on a weekly basis since then.

The Sushi that Raymond and Lye Tu make is of superior quality. They make it with loving and caring attention. Their customers are truly blessed. This post is not meant to be an advertisement. It simply must be stated that Raymond and Lye Tu are the most positive people I've ever seen preparing food. I am under obligation as an international expert on the practice of positive eating to let you know about them. They are setting the path for putting love into food. Ry Chi has experienced an actual sensation of physically being hugged after eating their wonderful Sushi plates.

You don't have to take my word for it. They are the recipients of numerous awards for their fantastic service and there is often a line of people picking up combo plates and Sushi platters.

I also want to thank Ry Chi for taking the photo above. Doesn't Raymond just look like he can't wait to serve you Sushi!

stay positive,

matthew

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Paper or Plastic? That is so last centuty......


I know it sounds like a stretch but I now carry the foremost in fashion statements when it comes to handbags. I am not talking Louis Vitton, Coach or Kate Spade (how do I know these names????) I am talking reusable shopping bags! Everyone is getting them. You simply leave them in your car and uses them to lug around your groceries while shopping. Let me tell you I prefer this! You know how many times I went to the grocery store and there were no available hand baskets!

I also want you to notice that the Whole Foods bag featured in the photo is authentic. You can tell it is a real Whole Foods reusable shopping bag by the darker green spheres inside the apple graphic. The knockoffs can't reproduce that! The bags they give me at school are also great. They are simple and functional. Plus, if people ask me about Integrative Nutrition I get to talk about using food as a way to bring positivity into your life. Which is simply my favorite topic of conversation.

If you don't want to be left in the fashion dust yet again I recommend picking up a reusable shopping bag. The real ones are 99 cents. You may find a knock-off for 5 or 6 cents...but why not treat yourself and get the real thing!

stay positively fashionable,

matthew

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Staying positive even when the pasta is mushy

Hi guys,

Today I brutally failed in my attempt to cook Sprouted Whole Grain Pasta. I made two attempts at this. Once with my pasta cooker and another time trying to cook it in my rice cooker. Simply put, it wasn't happening today folks. I was not even able to supply you with a picture of this debacle...because I could not locate the camera. Things were quite awry in the realm of office cooking.

Nevertheless, my primary food was well in tact. I enjoyed my mushy pasta with friends and talked about the wacky ways of the world. I went back to the kitchen to get some yogurt and low and behold an entire plate of fruit salad was sitting there.

I snatched the whole tray and brought it back as an offering to my fellow positive eaters! Just goes to show you that being positive always gives you a great return.....so start investing!

matthew

Monday, February 25, 2008

Forbidden Foods

This weekend I ate a forbidden food. My mother told me she was going to make Steelhead Trout and was interested in having someone show her how to use her recently acquired rice cooker (if you don't own a rice cooker after reading this blog...you must really be attached to your pots and pans). Right before heading home I found some black rice at the grocery store. This was just too cool. I picked it up and thought this would be a great addition to her meal.

The story of Forbidden Rice was that it was kept under lock and key by Chinese Emperors because it was a powerful aphrodisiac. This is why it is called forbidden! The emperor shared it amongst his court when necessary. The rice was thought to be grown strictly on Royal Grounds. So I truly did eat like a king on Saturday night.

The rice is lower in gluten than brown rice and has a high iron count. It also gives off a popcorn smell during cooking. The water also turn purple during cooking. This stains so be careful!

stay positive,

matthew

PS

The meal was absolutely fantastic!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Spice is nice!

Hey everybody. How are you.....and you better not answer "not too bad". If I answered "not too bad" to people, I would be lying. Usually, I am doing great! Even if things I prefer to answer "Fantastic" just because it is a fun little game I like to play. Of course, in that case I would still be lying.....who's the judge of this stuff anyway!

Yesterday's office meal was kind of bland. It needed some spice. I tend to think big so I envisioned myself bringing my entire spice rack to work. I decided I've littered work with enough cooking appliances...I better leave the spices at home. Instead, this morning I took the ingredients I needed and placed them in small tupperware containers. That little jar with the red cap had cumin, curry, nutmeg, chili powder and mustard seed in it. This morning before I left I sprinkled a little bit of each into it and then when I got to work I added them to:

1 can of Coconut Milk
4 Tablespoons Peanut Butter

This served as a drizzle for steamed Garnett Yams (really just a big sweet potato)

Here is a picture:
Upon tasting it Matt L. exclaimed "Not too bad"!

hahaha......see how it doesn't really match up with the emphatic passion we should bring to eating as well as life. His actual words were:

"This is good "

He then immediately apologized for using an expletive and said

"This is really good stuff, "

He will get the hang of it eventually. In the meantime may all your meals be positive!

Have a fantastic day

matthew

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Watercress....pleasant sounding huh?

What's behind the glare....Watercress!

I bought this from the Whole Foods yesterday just because the name sounded so fresh and alive. Say it with me-----Watercress.

One thing about dark green vegetables is they are power packed with nutrients. They are so packed that these nutrients can be hard to get out. One method to get at them is cooking. Cooking is great....but it is kind of like blowing up an entire city just because you have a quarrel with one person. That doesn't really make sense.

We still need to coax these beautiful life giving friends out of the tight cellular wall that contains them. Last night I chopped up the Watercress and placed it in a Ziplock bag with some vinegar and dried cranberries. The vinegar will act as an agent to break down the cell walls and let the vital nutrients out. Ancient traditions put vinegar on all sorts of vegetable for this very reason. It also helps increase their shelf life. This method survives today and is known as "pickling" as in Pickles!

Of course, I didn't place these items in a jar and leave them on a shelf for six months because I just can't wait to eat this beautiful sounding plant --- Watercress.

stay positive,

matthew

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

New York City's Most Positive Cook


This weekend I was in New York for another incredible weekend of schooling at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. My very good friend, Nick, invited me to attend an Andrea Beaman cooking class with him. Andrea Beaman is a rock star chef. She was on Bravo's Top Chef and is now the host of Wise UP! a television show that sends Andrea around the country exploring holistic approaches to health.

Her energy and positivity was absolutely Beamin! (I could not avoid using that....sorry) With the help of her assistant Donna Sonkin (her website) they took us through a fun filled evening in NYC. Andrea and Donna are cutting edge in their application of holistic nutrition to cooking and fun! The passion that was brought to cooking was infectious and everyone left saying they could not wait to attend another class.

Here is a great recipe from her website!

Brown Rice Pilaf

- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 leek, cleaned and diced
- 4-5 mushrooms, sliced thin
- 1 tsp. herbed sea salt seasoning
- 1 cup brown basmati rice, soaked overnight
- 1 3/4 cups water

Saute leek for 1-2 minutes. Add mushrooms and herbed salt seasoning and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add rice and water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce flame to simmer and cook for 40 minutes.


If you took the best nutrients possible and formed them into a personality you would have Andrea Beaman! I strongly encourage you to check out her website:

http://www.andreabeaman.com.

Stay positive,

matthew

PS: I have not started her book yet but I am sure it is going to be quite a ride



Thursday, February 14, 2008

Valentine's Day Pizza!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I promised a suprise for you and boy did I deliver. Follow me as I take us through this love drenched experience!
Here are the toppings for this Thursday night's pizza. That's right that pot is a 30 year old fondue heater. In it is a melted brick of 65% Cacao chocoloate. On the right are chopped strawberries. These two foods have been enjoying a hot and steamy relationship for years now!
Here is the crust! The universal symbol for love! It is kind of funny how this looks nothing like an actual human heart. I thought about making crust in the shape of an actual human heart. I even broke out an anatomy book my mother bought me for Christmas. It was pretty complicated. I struggle with cutting hearts out of pieces of paper. Thank God Caitlyn is responsible for making the crust :)

Here is the finished product.

Pizza Crust

2 cups wheat flour
2 cups oat bran
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons of "Brown Sugar" ("how come you taste so good" - Rolling Stones)
1 teaspoon of yeast
1 Cup warm water

Toppings
melted chocolate
chopped strawberries
lots of love

Here Caitlyn and I are with our Valentine Pizza. This was nothing short of amazing. You got to try it. "Try a little a tenderness" (Donkey, Shrek) while you are at it.

"All you need is love" - John Lennon

matthew