Life Force Recipes - Explanatory Notes (3)

We now know that seeds are important to us,

as they are the vitality-generating engines.

We also know that harvesting the life-force from seeds
isn't straight forward.

However, there are a few general pointers on
how to minimise the "side-effects" from the consumption of seeds:

(I) choose seeds which are alkaline in nature
~~ these seeds which are relatively rare,
     and can be taken on it's own without much need
     to balance any prominent biased traits.
     Some good examples are: millet, quiona and amaranth seeds

(II) choose seeds which are grown in the climate/region of residence
~~ in other words, these seeds can be grown
     (naturally and robustly without much human intervention)
     in the region we live.
     In the case of Malaysia/Singapore which are in the tropical region,
     some examples are rice, mung bean, millet and amaranth seeds

(III) soak or sprout seeds before consumption
~~ whether to consume raw or cooked,
     soaking and sprouting of seeds prior to consumption
     will reduce acidity of seeds to substantial extent
     For example: soaking of almond overnight, sprouting adzuki beans for two days.

(IV) add in enhancement ingredients to improve digestivity
~~ many seeds are not easily digested and their nutrients are difficult to absorb.
     Adding in some other cooking ingredients that will improve the digestivity
     will balance off the side effects of seeds.
     These ingredients are usually herbs/spices,
     like ginger, pepper, cumin and corriander.
     Cooking lentil with ginger, mixing brown rice with cumin and corriander
     elevates the taste of humble staple food while ensuring the digestivity of the seeds.


Hope you have been enjoying this series on the science of life-force so far :)



Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Life-force-notes

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Life Force Recipes - Explanatory Notes (2)

We know nothing is created equal on Earth,
because different entities have their uniqueness, preferences and bias,
so as seeds.

While the fact that seeds offer life force remains true,
some seeds are more difficult to digest compared to others;
some seeds are more toxic than others,
some seeds are more neutral (in term of Yin & Yang);
some seeds are more alkaline;
and some seeds are more robust (ie easier to germinate in harsh conditions).

In general, all seeds fit into life force recipes,
but without the knowledge of how to balance the biased traits of different seeds,
sometimes a badly formualted recipe may cause more harm
rather than serving the life-force-giving purpose.

There are different ways to balance off or to get around
the unfavourable traits of certain grains:

In the first recipes, Rejuvenate Concoction,
some of the grains are quite acidic,
but the problem was circumvented by selectively taking on the supernatant
and also balanced by other grains of opposite traits.

The same happened to the second recipe, Longevity Porridge,
where the Yang trait of Huangqi is counteracted by Yin trait of mung bean;
while the other ingredients were also formulated to balance each other.

As for the Amaranth recipe,
amaranth seed itself is very alkaline and not very biased in its medicinal properties,
hence it can be taken all by its own.

Hence, substantial knowledge and intellect are required in
formulating life force recipes... many a time this requires ancient wisdom!!

In the next blog,
more on how to harvest life force from seeds in the proper ways... =)


Well regards,
Kee Yew

Life-force-notes
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Life Force Recipes - Explanatory Notes (1)

In the past few days,
I have been posting a special series of Life Force Recipes.

This series of Life Force Recipes
will slowly expand in long term,
so that they will continue to guide people on taking the right food =)

Something I missed out from the beginning of this blog series
is the explanation on the essence of life force recipes.
Hence, there is a need of supplementary note here.

Probably one may already guess,
The essence of Life Force recipes
is to give longevity, vitality and energy?

Yes, but here are the principles behind:

(i) the food must have meant to give birth to life
(ii) the food must have comprehensive nutrients content to support a new life
to signify the presence of robust vitality.

Often in my vegetarian wellness classes,
I half-jokingly told my students that
there is one fool proof way to identify good nutritious food
-- that is to eat whatever babies eat!

In nature, babies are vulnerables and demand meticulous care
(especially in the quality and nutrition of their feed),
to ensure they grow up strong and healhty (reflection of life force).

If we have observed carefully,
it's not hard to notice that
eggs give life force to newborn chick
milk give life force to newborn cattle
seeds give life force to newborn seedling.

In vegan context, in order to harvest the life force from nature,
seeds is a very logical means for us to sustain life with vitality.

Seeds is a compact package of complete nutrients
(from proteins to minerals to carbo to fats to vitamins etc)
that ensure that a seedlings will germinate and grow up into a seedling
before it can nourish from the sun.

Therefore, in the entire series of Life Force Recipes,
one will always see the hallmark of
seeds, cereals, grains, nuts, legumes
among the major ingredients ;)

That's because life force recipes is virtually baby food :P

-- However, are all seeds created equal?
Are all seeds-packed recipes Life Force Recipes?
We will discuss about this next...



Toast to vitality,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

Life-force-notes

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}
Life-Force-Recipes-Explanatory-Notes

Life Force Recipe (3) - Amaranth Cereal Drink

Amaranth Plant

When I first became vegetarian,
like many newbies,
I was concerned about protein intake.

One day, I was surfing the internet
for more convincing info on vegan sources of protein,
and something 'different' popped up in my google search page
-- that is Amaranth Seeds.

According the article,
Amaranth seeds is actually the seeds of amaranth plant (of spinach family).
It was a staple of ancient South Americans
and is notably known for its high protein content and minerals.
This why one of the high protein foods that vegan body builders routinely consume
in place of whey protein and eggs
is Amaranth seeds.

Amaranth can be consumed in many ways,
e.g. served with salad, as cereal or amaranth powder blended into shake.

Sometimes, I would also add 1 or 2 tablespoon of Amaranth Seeds into my
millet/quiona congee, to further boost the protein content (and also life force!).

Here, would like to share a special Mexican-style Amaranth Breakfast Cereal Drink
for variety =)

Ingredients:
. Amaranth seeds (1/4 cup)
. water (2 cups)
. Cinnamon stick (x1)
. Agave nectar (1 tbs or to taste)
. Sea salt (a tiny pinch)

Methods:
- combine Amaranth seeds with water and cinnamon stick, and bring to boil.
- simmer for 20~25min
- stir in Agave nectar and sea salt and serve warm

~~ .. the cinnamon and the crunchy Amaranth seeds would perk you up in the morning =P


Bon apetit,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com

p/s: Amaranth seeds is available at some health food shops in Singapore


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Life Force Recipe (2) - Longevity Porridge

I spent some quality time with mum
celebrating Mid Autumn in KL last weekend.

A very common scene
how I communicate with mum at home..
is watching cooking show or wellness show on satellite TV together
-- and discussing about the content (some times debate!!)
:P

I was almost falling asleep in the sofa
when my mum woke me up to catch
this program (中华医药) on CCTV Channel
featuring a 93-year-old TCM physician in China.

When asked about his secret to his longevity,
given his hectic schedule and frequent travelling,
Dr Zhu Liang Chun, revealed on this Longevity Porridge that he takes every single day
for the past 60 years!!

The ingredients as shown below are very common grains and herb;
but the combination (invented by himself and his mum, 60yrs ago)
is formulated to support the harmonious interaction among the 5 internal organs.
By harmonizing the 5 internal organs, our health will naturally strengthen.

This very 'secret' recipe of Dr Zhu that
helped him endure a lot of stress and long working hours is a truly simple one:

Ingredients:
[1 serving]
.Mung Beans 绿豆 (pre-soaked 8hr) ..................................... 10g
.Lotus Seeds 莲子 (pre-soaked 8hr)  .................................... 10g       
.Barley 薏仁 (pre-soaked 8hr)  ............................................. 10g    
.White Yunnan Biandou 白扁豆 (pre-soaked 8hr) ................. 10g       
.Red Dates 红枣 .................................................................... 6g            
.Wolfberries  枸杞子 ............................................................ 2g         
.HuangQi Herb 黄芪 (pre-soaked 20min) ..............................50g       
.Filtered Water 水 ..................................................................1 bowls 

Methods:
- Boil HuangQi herb in 1 bowl of water for 15min; collect the water.
- Boil with another bowl of water for 15min, collect the water and combine with the previous.
- Combine Mung beans, Lotus seeds, Barley, Biandou, Red Dates with HuangQi herbal water and bring to boil, before simmering for 40min
- add in Wolfberries and boil for another 10min and serve warm.



Longevity to all,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


p/s: if you read in Chinese, here is an excerpt of the TV program

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Life Force Recipe (1) - Rejuvenate Concoction

Several weeks ago,
I went for dinner at Kampung Senang Aljunied
after missing their hearty organic meal for a month or so!!

Then, Auntie MuiFa (the creative and loving chef @ Kg Senang)
came by my table and gave me this special beverage called
the Rejuvenate Concoction.

Rejuvenate Concoction is a humble wellness beverage
that helps (in TCM perspective)
  - improve digestivity and spleen function
  - unblock clogged up Qi within the body
  - remove "damp"-ness from the body

It's not the first time I had Rejuvanate Concoction,
but this time, it caught my extra attention, because I was shown the recipe along.
Auntie MuiFa asked that I spread this recipe for the benefit of broad public,
and hence I am happily uploading the recipe here to share the cyber community ;)

Ingredients:
.Lotus Seeds   30g
.Organic Whole Wheat   30g
.Organic Brown Rice   30g
.Organic Black Wild Rice   30g
.Organic Millet   30g
.Organic Pearl Barley (Western)   30g
.Organic Whole Oat   30g
.Glutinous Rice   30g
.Chinese Barley   30g
. Filtered water   12L

Methods:
- mix Lotus Seeds and Wheat with room temperature Water and bring to boil
- add in Millet and Rice
- add in Barley and boil for another 5 min
- add in whole Oat and boil for the last 5~10min before taking off the stove.

>>Drink only the supernatant (ie liquid part).
-- The sediment (ie grains) could be served as porridge or blended into rice milk.



Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

The humble truth of genes (5)

Knowing genes are equally important as the environmental factors,
we should harness information from genes
to help us to improve our environmental factors.

For examples:
If we know from genetic screenings that
we are susceptible to cancer,
we should tailor our diet to contain more antioxidant or pick up a less stressful job.

If we know that we have gene variants that lead to higher cholesterol level in our body,
then we may take more folate to prevent inflammation of LDL.

The idea is to acknowledge the significance of genes,
but not to exaggerate the 'power' of genes.

Some time ago, I received an email from a friend asking for opinion whether
she should go for a genetic screening, as many of her relatives had cancers.

My suggestion then was that there wasn't a need to do a genetic screen,
as the family trend was already a virtual genetic screen!
There is no need to spend the extra money on the fanciful technologies
which tells the same as traditional methods do.

However if one happens to be unwell since young/birth for no obvious reason,
it's beneficial to go for genetic screening to get some clues what may have gone wrong.

What is most important is that we do the necessary changes accordingly in our lifestyle and diet
when the genetic cause is identified (instead of taking drugs to target the 'causative' gene)

There is no right or wrong as to how a genetic information is used,
but it's important to get educated on where gene is positioned in our lives
and take the corresponding action to improve our health via humble and practical means.
(hence the purpose of this blog series)




Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}