Prana On The Go: Say Bye-Bye To Leftovers
I remember the day I got my first Ayurvedic Cookbook. I was eager to learn and ready for some deep healing. In this beautiful art and ancient science of peaceful feel-good living food is considered our sacred medicine. That being said, when I got the lowdown that leftovers are a “no-no” both from the book and my Ayurvedic teachers, let’s just say I had a difficult time digesting this info at first…pun intended. Truth be told, I already knew this. I just didn't want to believe it.
This still makes me a little sad. Reheated Thanksgiving dinners or spaghetti for lunch or dinner back in the day used to be a treat. No meal planning or cooking meant less time in the kitchen…but this came at a cost as I found myself quite tired, depleted, with little zest for life. Sure I had “more time” seemingly, but I wasn’t feeling like a million bucks with all this so-called time I was “saving” under nourishing myself with tamasic foods.
Here’s the deal: Ayurveda states that humankind is part of nature. Therefore, anytime nature is altered, this affects how humanity expresses itself. Unfortunately, once food has been cooked, cooled and then re-heated (microwaved or otherwise), the prana (life force) has left the food, and our bodies have to work much harder to digest it leading to a sluggish metabolism. I see a lot of this in my work.
The same goes for frozen, canned, microwaved or packaged food. The fresher the food, the greater the prana and its healing properties.
When our food is not properly digested, ama (undigested food particles/toxins) builds up and begins to clog the channels in the body, setting the stage for disease.
If you practice yoga then you might know about the 72,000 nadis or subtle energy channels that exist in the body. Ama even clogs these subtle channels, so you can easily see the potential for a lot of health problems to arise.
For most of us in this fast-paced culture that we live in, the thought of cooking each meal from scratch seems laughable and next to impossible. Especially if you're a city-dweller without a garden in your backyard.
But the truth is, it just takes a little more thought and effort – learning proper portion size to eliminate waste – and the rewards are great. Also, most cities now have farmer's markets, so this shouldn't be an excuse.
I can't say I miss my microwave - I ditched it years ago and never looked back. Now I spend much of my time in the kitchen, and life has slowed down for the better. Weirdly enough I feel like I have more time because I have waaay more energy!
When we eat fresh foods, which are naturally sweet, while blending all six tastes, our bodies get deeply nourished, our intellect grows sharper and our memories improve. When food is prepared with love and natural/fresh local/seasonal ingredients life becomes easier to digest. Sattva will amplify in the mind and our ojas and agni will strengthen. When sattva dominates it becomes simple to live in alignment with nature and in a manner that supports optimal health.
Here are some helpful tips as well as a recipe to inspire you on your journey:
Create a meal plan for the week.
Get an Instapot, a couple of thermoses, or a slow cooker.
Get rid of the clutter in your kitchen and make it a space you want to spend time in.
Ditch the microwave!
Get support! I would be happy to show you the ropes and love teaching folks how to cook, eat, and live as nature intended.
Prana On The Go Recipe:
Easy Breezy Soup:
Serves 1
Ingredients
Soups are easy to make in the morning and will cook in the thermos too with time.
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp ginger
2 tsp ghee
1 pinch Hing
1 tsp basil or herb of choice
1/4 of white basmati rice (or grain of choice)
1/8 cup of yellow mung bean (or legume/bean of choice)
Here’s how:
Grain & Rice (soupy mixture)
Heat spices, salt, oil for 1 minute/until you can smell the lovely aroma. Hello, nose it’s time to wake up!
Add ⅛ cup of legumes of choice (extractive) and ¼ cup of white rice or (augmenting) grain of choice. Stirred with spices and 1 ½ cup add water
Boil for 10 mins then add to thermos (it will cook while it’s in there too if you’re making it first thing in the morning and eating at noon)*** (if eating within the hour cook for longer about 15-20 mins)
Veggies
1 hand full of (augmenting) vegetables eg. carrots and 1 handful of (extractive) vegetables eg spinach
2 tsp of ghee or sesame oil
1/4 tsp of mustard seed
1/8 tsp fennel seed
1/8 tsp of clove
Here’s how:
Heat spices for 1 minute or until aroma is present, add veggies stir and then add 1/2 cup or more of water. Cook for 5 mins if having later for lunch and place in a separate thermos (veggies can become overcooked by soupy mixture if put together, so keeping separate will prevent this and then simply add to soupy mixture when ready to eat at lunchtime). ***If eating within the hour cook veggies for 10 minutes.
Add a couple of drops of lemon or 1/4 cup of fresh buttermilk at the end for the sour taste.
If using the pressure cooker, sauté spices for 3 mins, add soupy rice mixture to pot and cook for 12-15 mins, cook veggies separately and throw them in at the end once the grains and rice are ready for eating.
Et voilà! It’s really that simple.
Thermos recommendations and Instapot:
I use these two and love this Instapot-
Happy eating and healing! May you come to appreciate the art of slowing down. Remember not only are we what we eat, but also how we eat. So take a deep breath, put the forks down and chew chew chew. There is no time to rush in life!
Reach out with any questions, I am happy to share my learnings!
