Spiritualitea

Stress Management Kit

To say that stress is a problem in todays society is to grossly understate the situation. Since readers of this site are assumed to be already actively involved in managing their health, this book should be a great start for anyone who hasnt as yet read a book on stress reduction.

The kit consists of a book, a CD, and two Stressdots . The book gives the same information on stress as many other books I have read, but for the first-time reader, it presents the reasons why stress reduction is necessary and the ways to achieve it in a clear-cut, no-nonsense manner. For example, Chapter Two is all about recognizing the symptoms of stress. In this chapter the author describes the fight or flight reaction that the body demonstrates when under stress–its not pretty, and explaining it works well as an argumentation technique by showing a concrete example of why stress management is important. In addition, three questionnaires intended for self-diagnosis explain the physical, psychological, and behavioral effects of stress.

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No two books fit the philosophy and focus of Spiritualitea quite so well as this pair from Caf Gratitude.  Inherent within them is the idea that food is nourishment for both body and spirit.  Take, for example, the titles of each of the dishes, both at the café and in the book I Am Grateful:

The Café Gratitude menu gives you the opportunity to start practicing saying something new and affirming about yourself by simply placing your order.  All the items on our menu have self-affirming names like I Am Adoring, I am Loved, or I Am Fulfilled, which is how we encourage customers to order what they want.  Then when the servers bring them their food and drinks, they place them down saying, You Are Adoring, Your Are Loved, or You Are Fulfilled!

The recipes in I Am Grateful are fairly straightforward, though a good many of them require you to have a dehydrator. The recipes in Sweet Gratitude on the other hand can seem involved at first they may entail learning to use unfamiliar ingredients such as Irish Moss (a sea vegetable) or learning to create your own liquid vanilla but once youve learned the techniques, the recipes arent as complex as they first seemed and the results are oh so worth it.  In one taste test, non-raw friends sampled the Sweet Gratitudepecan pie side by side with one from Marie Callendars and deemed the former superior.  With regular desserts, you can expect only sin and guilt from your indulgence, but with these recipes you get living enzymes, protein, and healthy fats.    I can personally attest to the fact that even with desserts like these as a semi-regular part of my diet, my previously pre-diabetic glucose levels have remained stable and I continued to lose weight.  What more could you ask?

While of the two books I loved Sweet Gratitude more I’ve been blown away by every recipe Ive tried in it Id recommend getting I Am Grateful if you are deciding between the two rather than planning to purchase both. I Am Grateful not only includes a broad range of raw entrees, salads, sauces and drinks, but also includes some of my favorite desserts from Sweet Gratitude, such as the Pecan Pie and Banana Cream Pie.  I Am Grateful also includes the inspiring story of restaurant founder Terces Engelhart and a bit on the philosophy behind her creation.

I am so inspired by the food of the underlying philosophy of the restaurant, I hope to make a pilgrimage of sorts next time Im in the Bay Area of California where it is located.  Its no doubt a favorite destination of raw vegan pop star Jason Mraz he mentions it in his song Make It Mine (from the album We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things) and used a reference to the restaurant as the title for his recent tour.   Like Jason Mraz, I am grateful for many things, and among them are these two books.

Sample Recipes:

• I Am Present: Farmer-Style Cheese
• I Am Cheerful: Sun Burgers

Rather than a traditional diet book that advises you to avoid certain foods to lose weight or lower your cholesterol, this book takes the approach of changing your diet to heal your chakras, and therefore heal your entire energetic system.

It would be easy to assume the book is based on new age fluff, but the dietary recommendations are based on real science about the energetic properties of different foods. The authors argument is that by balancing your chakras through dietary changes, you can recover from illnesses or stress and restore your energy and creativity.

Minich offers a scientific approach to her recommendations, starting with a quiz that indicates which of your chakras is most in need of balancing, and which is the most balanced. She recommends starting your recovery with the healthiest chakras so you build a foundation for healing. She predicts that most modern Americans have severe throat chakra issues.

Each chapter focuses on one chakra in order, and focuses on using that chakra to balance the energetic activity associated with it, such as communication in the throat chakra. It includes the diseases commonly associated with imbalances in that chakra and an exploration of the foods that could be consumed and avoided in order to start the healing process.

Although she argues that changes to your diet can help heal your chakras, she doesnt argue that healing the chakra alone will cure all diseases. It can, however, make the disease easier to manage. In the back of the book, she lists a variety of foods and the chakras they either activate or balance, as well as a list of common health concerns and the chakras they either activate or balance. Finally, she includes a chart of the chakras and the foods associated with them.

The book is designed to allow you to quickly flip through it for the advice you need, or to work through it chakra by chakra in order to heal your entire system. To get you started, she provides healthy recipes for each chakra, most of which sound like tantalizing treats rather than traditional diet food.

This is not a traditional diet book. Its a wellness book and a resource for living a more balanced life through food and spiritual health.

My only quibble with the book was the size of the text. The print is rather small, which can be hard on tired eyes.

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