Kate’s #1 Digestive Around the Holidays

I’d like to share my #1  MOST EFFECTIVE HOLIDAY DIGESTIVE PRACTICE. 

Drumroll, please. 

It’s meal spacing. You’ll be amazed what your belly can do when you find a 4-hour period throughout the festivities to NOT EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING. OK, maybe some hot water. 

It’s not easy, it may mean skipping breakfast, or the apps, or waiting a bit longer till cocktail hour but I’m telling you (and I totally watch the clock and count the hours- and hey 3 hours are good too) I feel so much better in the day to follow. Let your hunger grow! 

Wishing you a simple and pleasing time of rest and relaxation. 

Holiday digestion Tips 2

Between meals is the time to digest. Through experience, I have noticed the importance of spacing it out. Eating even a bite, or something healthy like fruit, between big meals causes indigestion. Try these three tips through your holiday season, and drop me a comment below to tell me how it’s working!

Holiday digestion Tips

These tips are hard-won! I have long been a lover of celebration and have experimented and over-indulged enough to know when to draw the line! These tips are my non-negotiables for digesting big meals. Please let me know how they work for you!

On Milk

Milk gets a bad rap these days, but Ayurveda uses milk a lot! 

A few things about milk: 

Milk is hard to digest when taken cold. It is always served warmed up, with warming spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. 

Milk opposes dry skin, dry poops, and frayed nerves. So it's medicine in the dry season (and later in life is also a dry season). 

The milk of today is not the milk of days of old, however. Quality milk is non-homogenized, and responsibly harvested from cows who are calving in season.  

Have you noticed A2 milk popping up at your grocery? A2 (heirloom) cows may be closer to traditional cows, and I have seen A2 milk digest better for many.  

Plant milks are said to take on the qualities of the plants used. Usually not as nourishing as cow’s milk.  

I’ll field questions about milk for Friday’s live! Leave me a comment or a DM and I’ll try to address it. 

Butternut Tikka Masala

Sharing an oldie but goodie on request from my lovers of the butternut! SO GOOD.

Butternut Tikka Masala!

Ingredients

For the Squash...

• 4 cups Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1“ cubes (about one small/medium squash)

• 2 tbsp Farmtrue Traditional Ghee, melted

• 1 1/2 tsp Garam Masala Spice

• 1/2 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt

For the Tikka Masala...

• 1/4" Ginger Root, peeled and chopped

• 1 Serrano Chili, halved and seeded

• 2 tbsp Tomato Paste

• 2 tbsp Golden Milk Superfuel Latte Mix

• 2 tbsp Traditional Ghee

• 1 medium Onion, chopped

• 8 Roma Tomatoes, coarsely chopped

• 1 1/2 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt

• 3/4 cup canned Coconut Milk

• 1 can Chickpeas, drained and rinsed well

• 3 large handfuls of Baby Spinach

Directions

To roast the Squash:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.

2. Toss the squash with melted ghee, spices, and salt.

3. Transfer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for 25 minutes, until tender.

4. Broil for 2-3 minutes to brown the squash cubes.

To prepare the Tikka Masala:

1. Use a small food processor to combine the ginger, chili, Golden Milk Latte Mix, and tomato paste to make the masala; process to a paste. If your processor is too big for the job, dice everything up small and stir to combine. The sauce will be blended later.

2. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven, warm the ghee over medium-high heat. Saute the onion for 2-3 minutes until it begins to brown.

3. Turn heat down to medium, add the Tikka Masala, and saute, mixing well, until the spice mixture begins to brown, about 2 minutes.

4. Add the tomatoes and salt. Bring to a simmer for 20 minutes on medium-low heat.

5. Using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth.

6. Stir in chickpeas, spinach, and coconut milk.

7. Gently stir in the squash cubes.

8. Return to a simmer for 5 minutes.

9. Serve over basmati rice or with Stove-Top Naan Bread.

Use code FARMTRUEKATE15 for a discount on ghee and more from my friends at @farmtrue

Sattvic Mind

This doesn’t mean agenda and craving won’t be there! Just less compelling. 
In Ayurveda, mental wellness is patience and alertness, one is able to both accept things as they are and take necessary actions for preservation and prosperity. 
Our thoughts and desires move through the mental field, but balanced consciousness sees them for what they are, and discerns when to act and when to remain still — without angst, anxiety, or regret. 
Our Sattvic mind is an unbiased observer, not muddled by agenda or craving. 

NOW- from this place, WE ACT. Imagine how this ability to separate one’s individual will from the act- and how the likelihood of the action benefiting all beings is greater this way.  

Does this make sense? 

Letting Go

“The wise one lets go of all results whether good or bad and is focused on the action alone. Yoga is a skill in actions.” B Gita 2.47 🏋🏼‍♀️❤️ 

Reposting this ancient reminder as a follow-up to my IG live last Friday where I discussed the importance of slowing down between reaction and action during these times when everything seems to be escalating so fast. 

I'm going to keep this thread on mental wellness going this week. Please drop any Qs for another live in the comments or DM. 

Stronger In Winter

Like the trees when their leaves fall, our juices will be receding into the core now. 

This time of year the digestive fire gets stronger, as it is localized in the central furnace of the digestive core. Which means we can digest more heavy foods and burn more calories. 

Along with this localizing in the core, however, it can also be necessary to move the body a bit more than in hot weather. Got to circulate it out from the core. In Ayurveda, cold weather is the time the body is strongest and can withstand hard work and exercise. After a bit of rest and rejuvenation with the fall transition, it’ll be time to get out there and enjoy.

WINTER OUTDOOR TIME

Last paddle pic as the green dies away. It's not my fave time of year friends! I feel the cold deeply and it causes all sorts of problems that get me into vata-management mode.  

I do not let the skin or respiratory passages get dry! I use licorice, and nasya oil, and do oil massage before shower every other day.   

One of the things I'm finding is that movement is key. After a vigorous and deeply rewarding teaching yoga vocation for 20 years, I really needed to rest...for 4 years. Seriously!

In 2023 I find myself stepping out into a lot more physical activity and finding the more I move the better I feel! This is a new and wonderful thing! When the activity is outside I get mental health bonus points, for sure. 

In the cold, its trickier- even taking a walk can kind of...hurt...until I warm up. If I'm moving more to stay warm, its better. Help me brainstorm some activities (that don’t involve driving in a car to get there??) I am thinking about winter hikes with micro-spikes, cross-country skiing on the golf courses, biking in a snowsuit...what do you do in the cold? Share your winter hacks below! 

Alarm Clocks Save Your Life

My most important personal rule about sleep and screen hygiene is here! 
Don’t bring it into the bedroom! It sounds obvious to me but as a practitioner, I kept hearing people saying they needed their phone to be an Alarm clock. Then...a little scrolling, a wee bit of email...and blah. There goes the sattvic morning vibes. 
Here is a photo of my bedside table. You will see a clear space+ Nasya oil+ that strange grey box there. That’s called an “alarm clock” which is a vintage contraption historically used for waking up. 
If you don’t have one, I highly recommend getting one. It can change your life. Please leave me a note in the comments below if you get one and find it improves your dinacharya. 

Did you know I have an on-demand workshop on improving sleep?? Find it under live events.