Aegean Summer Herb Salad

My baby brother is getting married in a few days as I write this. His fiancee is from the Aegean (Ege) Sea region of Turkey and a total delight. She’s also a whiz in the kitchen. She and her lovely family introduced me to some regional dishes that are perfect for summer – cleansing, refreshing, easy, and delicious.

We had this salad with our typical Mediterranean breakfast, actually: olives, fresh bread (gluten-free corn bread for me), tomatos, cucumbers, home-made apricot jam, fresh figs and other fruit, hard-boiled eggs, and tea.

This salad is my current favorite. I could have it every day if there weren’t so many other flavors distracting me these days!

Aegean Summer Herb Salad

Serves 3 people or 1 really hungry person

1/2 – 3/4 large bunch fresh parsley leaves, picked off the stems (I prefer flat leaf Italian – ehem, Turkish – parsley)

1 small bunch fresh dill, picked off the stems

1 medium bunch fresh mint leaves, picked off the stems

1/2 TBS Extra Virgin olive oil

3-5 TBS crumbled feta / ricotta / or other lightly salted white cheese

That’s it. Chop the herbs lightly, or not. Toss all the ingredients. You’re done.

The texture is rougher than other salads, but trust me – it’s addictive.

There are no seasonings. Enjoy the simple, natural bite and sweetness of these herbs alone. You may find it bland at first, but give your tastebuds a chance to adjust. Buy the best quality ingredients you can find – fresh, local, organic, seasonal – and you’ll notice the difference in flavor. Better yet – grow your own summer herbs!

This salad is a fantastic source of antioxidants, chlorophyll, healing herbs, vitamins, minerals. Note: It is relatively high in oxalic acid.

Enjoy!

If you share this recipe, please include this blurb with it:

This recipe shared with you courtesy of Simla Somturk Wickless and Delicious Health, Inc., a health, nutrition, and lifestyle consultancy. Find us at www.enjoydelicioushealth.com or www.delicioushealthblog.com. Have a deliciously  healthy day!

Give a Little, Get a Lot

I recently joined my dear friend Cami’s worldwide giving movement called 29 Gifts–there are several thousand others involved in 38 different countries. We are raising our collective voices to revive the giving spirit in the world and I hope you’ll join me today. Our community has accomplished so much in just one year:

• We helped California 29 Gifts member Elysia Skye fund a much needed cancer-related surgery

• We sent Mbali Creazzo, our 29 Gifts Spiritual Advisor, on a humanitarian singing tour in South Africa, where she and her choir performed privately for Nelson Mandela and raised funds for lots of worthy causes

• We helped Charity Water build a well that will provide clean drinking water for an African village for decades to come.

We believe there is strength in numbers, so we want to have 29,000 committed 29Givers on board by 9/29/09, which is why I hope you’ll say “YES” and join with me to offer your own gifts to the world. This means we need to inspire 25,000 more people to sign up for our 29-Day Giving Challenge in just three months!

The Challenge is so simple. Just sign up at http://www.29Gifts.org and commit to give away 29 gifts in 29 days. Your 29 Gifts can be anything given to anyone… money, food, old sweaters, smiles, your time, kind words, positive thoughts, prayers…

WHY SHOULD YOU DO THIS? To inspire more generosity on our planet. Because to see our world change, we have to do something to change our world. Plus, the best way to attract abundance into your own life is to be in a perpetual state of giving and gratitude.

Visit http://www.29Gifts.org today and sign up to start your giving!

Thanks!

How to Take Charge of Your Health and Your Life

I originally entitled this article “The 5 Secrets to Taking Charge of Your Health and Your Life.” The marketers told me to do it. But you know what? These aren’t secrets. But they might as well be secrets, because TOO FEW OF YOU (probably including you, reading this article) ARE TRULY HEALTHY!

Headaches, low energy, moodiness, gassiness, weight gain around your middle, achy joints… For most people, these are not the “inevitable” side effects of life and aging as you may presume. You can take simple steps to help alleviate these symptoms and others.

So, what are these 5 steps to getting truly healthy? Here they are:

1. Fabulous food. Refuse to settle for fake food, the very same food that has become a staple in our Standard American Diet (otherwise known as “SAD”). Lay off the Caffeine, the Refined foods, Artificial additives / colorings / flavors and alcohol, and Pesticide / hormone / gas-laden and genetically modified foods. In other words, no more C.R.A.P. The real stuff is unbeatable – in flavor, in nourishment for your body and for your soul’s satiation, and in price as well. Food? Seems pretty straight forward, right? But true health demands that you address the other aspects of your life that can either feed or deplete you…
2. Real relationships. You Tweet and Facebook all day long, but where’s the real-life love? Family, friends, soul-mates, your community. Get out there, get involved, get real. Also let toxic relationships go and die a natural death. Really, you’re doing yourself – and the other person – a favor.
3. Mojo & movement. Rev it up. Sweat it out. Our bodies want… crave… live to move and groooove. Let it have some fun. This does not mean you have to become a gym bunny (boringgg). Carry your groceries home. Take a hike. Go jump in a lake. Remember how joyous and alive you can feel when you move. Sorry, I have to say it:  just do it. Even if it’s just standing 15 minutes a day, which is the best I could during my health crisis.
4. Wonder-ful Work. Work shouldn’t be a four-letter word. If it is, and has to be in the shorter term, find a creative outlet that reminds you who you are and what it means to express yourself fully in this world. Ultimately, however, seek out that less-traveled path and find your true passion. I promise you – there’s nothing quite like it.
5. Know Your Self, HealThy Self ™. Get to know yourself again. Stop thinking for a minute and let your true, subtle Self emerge from all that chatter in your head. Reconnect your head to your body. You know your body best. It’s always sending you signals. Learn to listen to them. Heed them, before it has got to scream so loud that it’s “too late.”

If any one of these areas is broken, it can severely impact your health to the point where it won’t matter how much broccoli you eat.

So what’s it going to take?

Do you have to have a major, sneak-up-on-you-and-whack-you-in-the-face type of wake up call at the ripe old age of 32, like I did, to pay attention to your life, and your health, at this level? Or are you more in tune with your reality than that?

Ask yourself…

“Do I want to live my life stuck in this so-so, mediocre state (or worse) like I’m doing now, or do I want to be high on life pretty much all the time?”

It’s your choice. What’s it going to be?

***

© 2009 Delicious Health, Inc.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR EZINE OR WEB SITE?
You may, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:

“Simla Somturk Wickless is an integrative health, nutrition, and lifestyle coach whose mission is to transform busy bodies into healthy, balanced beings (TM). To learn how to increase your energy, tame your stress, and take back control of your health, register for her free monthly eZine at www.enjoydelicioushealth.com.”