Month: August 2011

how’s this new happiness trick: do the opposite

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This week in Sunday Life I do the opposite

angela boatwright suicide practice how's this new happiness trick: do the opposite
Photo by Angela Boatwright

George Costanza is not one of life’s most inspired or bountiful contributors. But there are two things I give him full props for: the under-the-desk nap (I employed it during my newspaper days doing the 4am shift; the trick is to pull the swivel chair in after you and use it as a leg rest), and his “The Opposite” theory.

Given everything he’d done in life had been so wrong, George reasoned that if he did the exact opposite of what he normally did, he’d get it right. It works and he picks up a hot woman instantly with the line, “I’m unemployed and I live with my parents”. (Women’s attraction to raw honesty really is their Achilles heel.)

Rather than being a mere Seinfeld absurdity, this idea has much appeal and merit. When I worked in magazines, coverlines that went, “Everything You Know About [insert topic: skin whiteners, nipple covers, reversible jackets…] is Wrong” always focus-grouped well. It’s not so much that we like to be corrected.

We like opposites. They feel fresh.

This week, though, I realized opposites are also productive. Recently I read a theory by Tony Schwartz, author of Be Excellent at Anything, for dealing with compulsions and procrastination. Whatever you feel compelled to do, don’t, he advises.

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believing your feelings…

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“It is so many years before one can believe enough in what one feels even to know what the feeling is.” W.B. Yeats

Picture 41 believing your feelings...
Photo via ‘Girl Meets NYC’

This quote struck when I came across it the other day.

It does take a long time to believe our feelings. I think I’ve lived most my life distrusting them. Feelings are reactions. Ergo, irrational. Ergo, not to be trusted. And so, off with her head!

I’ve lived in my head and ignored the stomach aches, the ugghhh! feelings, the drabby black and whiteness of life in my mind’s eye when, CLEARLY, things aren’t right. And my feelings are falling over themselves to wave flags at me.

It’s an imprecise sport, learning to believe feelings. Messy. Is my anger at someone about my being angry with them. Sometimes, when I truly feel into it, it’s regret. Or it’s disappointment in myself because their action reminds me of a failing of my own.

When people say, “what are you feeling right now”, it shits me. I don’t always know. I’m still learning to trust that they work. And it conjures such loose, sappishness.

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love food, hate waste

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Going forward the focus of the climate debate is going to be food. All the experts are saying wars will also be about food in the future. The fact is, we’re fast reaching a point where the planet won’t be able to feed us. And we’re going to be falling over each other to get at resources.

To be honest, I’m kind of glad the debate has come to this. It’s a tangible concept. I’m hoping that as the discussion shifts to food and food warfare, we’ll care more. We’ll wake up. Because we won’t have a choice. We need to eat.

charlotte abramow love food, hate waste
Personally, I'd prefer if she bought just the one. photo: Charlotte Abramow

In the US last week a report  found that eating healthy has become too expensive for most. It created much discussion over there. Soon it will be the same with junk food.

Anyway, in the meantime, what to do, both from an economic and an ecological POV?

It’s simple and elegant. Waste less.

I’m unashamedly militant about using every last bit of food. And I get incensed when I’m around people who don’t. It’s a pet issue of mine and I don’t hold back.

Some principles I personally live by:

* I don’t buy more until I’ve finished what I already have (in the fridge/pantry). I completely run out of yoghurt before I set out to buy another. That way I find myself then using up the last of the sour cream or cheese in the interim.

* I cook the leaves from beetroot bunches as I would silverbeet (and eat with oil and pepper and salt). Ditto the leaves from cauliflower and broccoli (just don’t do with rhubarb – the leaves are poisonous)

* I don’t peel anything. I eat the rind/skin on pumpkin, potatoes, carrots, beetroot. A lot of the nutrients are contained in the skin.

* Celery leaves – great in soup and salads. I use as I would parsley. I make a pistou using the leaves, too.

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the “ikea effect” and the up and up of crochet

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This week in Sunday Life I use my hands (which, admittedly, when coupled with this picture below, reads a little wrong!)

pub vintage 004 the "ikea effect" and the up and up of crochet

As kids, my brothers and I had a ritual. In the school holidays we’d sit on the back step with an ice cream bucket full of kero, a few rags and an old toothbrush and clean our bikes. We’d pull apart the hub and crank set and clean out our BMXs and mountain bikes right down to the ball bearings. Crud. There is little more satisfying than sitting in the sun picking crud from a rear cluster, I tell you.

When done we’d go for a test ride. Oh, the smoothness! It was joy on two wheels. We’d revel in our handiwork for days. Poor Mum. She must’ve turned inside out with the tedium of our post-mortem gloating.

Nowadays I get a similar kick from making my own mung bean sprouts. The soaking and sprouting takes three days. I become a helicopter parent, fussing over the sweet little things, perfecting technique, trying new approaches. Sometimes I just stare at them as they sleep. When done I’m so damn proud and, can I tell you, they taste unfathomably better than the packaged versions. I tell everyone. I post the results on Twitter. Look what I made! (Don’t get me started on my recent fire lighting efforts.)

Since no experience these days is left unphenomenon-ised I wasn’t surprised to learn this week my crud-scraping and bean-sprouting passion has a name. Harvard Business Review has dubbed the phenomena The IKEA Effect.

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my hunt for the perfect bike satchel

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This has become a fixation with me – finding THE satchel that I can carry my laptop (and wallet, keys, glasses etc) in, which also works on a bike. If you ride, you’ll know that  not all satchels are created equal. So I’ve been exploring…

copenhagencyclechic4via copenhagencyclechic.com

tumblr_l5repgmo5f1qbh9lqvia downtown from behind tumblr

The sling over the shoulder deal is great…but I’ve been finding it mucks with my left shoulder over time. And it does a swingy-forward thing if I’m not careful. Worse, to avoid this swingy-forward thing, especially when going up hills,  I find my body tensing – including my right hip – to stop it doing so. Which leads to lots of niggly pains. Ooooh, I have many!

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7 Louise Hay insights for healing your life (and a thyroid tip)

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On Sunday I met Louise Hay. For anyone unfamiliar with this true gem of a human, she’s the author of You Can Heal Your Life, which has sold more than 50 million copies! And she owns Hay House, which publishes the Big Gurus (Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Doreen Virtue etc).

photo 7 Louise Hay insights for healing your life (and a thyroid tip)

I’ll be writing more about the very particular lesson she taught me, soon, for Sunday Life. It caught me off guard and I got very teary because her lesson spoke straight to my struggle right now. She knew this and sat with me for an hour, smiling at me as I tried my usual tricks for explaining myself away (words, words, words!).

But in the meantime I thought I’d share some other little insights I gleaned. Because she shared many. Today I read her new book You Can Create An Exceptional Life, which goes into detail about how she runs her life.

Louise is about to turn 85. She healed herself of cancer many years ago and has gone on to live an extraordinary life. She’s as upright and fit as a 40-year-old. Slim, tall, a vibrant, natural face and a playful energy. She’d just got off an international flight and has been presenting and signing books for days. And yet she said she felt great. So her tips ‘n tricks for a well life are worth sharing:

1. Eat protein and vegetables. We sat and she ate breakfast. This is what she ate: peppermint tea, scrambled eggs, 3 sausages and some prunes. She ate the prunes with the sausage. Nice. As a rule, she follows the Westin A Price diet (as do I). Not strictly (ditto). So no sugar or gluten, limited grains, plenty of natural fats and a lot of veggies. Like me (via my Integrative Nutrition studies) she’s tried many different eating approaches and has settled on WAP principles.

2. You don’t need things. When she sat down I got rid of the clutter on the table. “We need less stuff,” she said, in a broad way. “Less clothes…I go shopping and I think, I don’t need this!” I instantly wanted to hug her. It’s been reported that while she’s a very wealthy woman, she lives minimally. She drives a Smart Car. And grows her own veggies.

3. Don’t worry whether you can do it….

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Tuesday eats: breakfast…sans grains and sugar!

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As readers of this blog might know, I can’t do gluten or sugar, which makes breakfast tricky. If not toast or porridge or muesli or fruit, then what? Eggs. And more eggs.

Picture 1 Tuesday eats: breakfast...sans grains and sugar!zucchini ricotta cheesecake, via 101cookbooks

Not a sad predicament, but variety is required. Lately I’ve also been experimenting with cutting back on grains overall. I’m not wholly paleo (caveman diet follower); I tend to follow Weston A Price’s eating ideas (although not strictly). I can see merits in not eating so many carbs…doing so does curb my cravings…which I have problems with. I still eat carbs, just not as many.

So back to breakfast…no sugar, no gluten and… less grains. A challenge? Yes, but one I’m up for.

Tell me what you think of these ideas, and please add your own.

Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake

I use a springform pan, but you could use an equivalent baking dish or deep tart pan as well.

serves 8

  • 2 cups zucchini, unpeeled & grated
  • 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 2 shallots, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
  • zest of one lemon
  • 2 large eggs, well beaten
  • 1/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled
  • drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 170C degrees. Butter/oil a 7-inch springform pan.

In a strainer, toss the grated zucchini with the salt and let sit for ten minutes. Now aggressively squeeze and press out as much moisture as you can. Set aside.

Combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan, shallots, garlic, dill and lemon zest. Stir in the eggs and mix. Now stir in the zucchini. Fill the pan with the mixture and place on a baking sheet and in the oven and for sixty minutes. Sprinkle with the goat cheese and return to the oven for another 20 -30 minutes or until the goat cheese is melted and the cake barely jiggles in the center (it will set up more as it cools).

Let cool five minutes, then release the cake from its pan. Serve at room temperature drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a few sprigs of dill.

chia omlette Tuesday eats: breakfast...sans grains and sugar!

Chia Omelette

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