4 Ways to Stay Grounded Through Food

I’m so excited to have my good friend Michelle Kabler share a post with us today. Michelle is a Certified Natural Foods Chef and Food Coach on a mission to support busy professional women achieve health through food. In these concerning social and political times, Michelle’s philosophy is a welcome reminder that personal health and self-care are supreme!

If the first month of 2017 is any indication of how the rest of the year will unfold, we’re in for a wild ride. Just a quick glance at current events, it’s clear our world is undergoing a massive shift. To top it all off, we’re in the midst of eclipse season. Translation: things are about to get rocky.

Before you tense up at the mention of “eclipse season,” consider this an opportunity to support your soul so deeply that you don’t just “get by,” but actually thrive throughout the next few weeks.

I wholeheartedly agree with Jenn that life flows more smoothly when we look at what’s happening in the stars and take direction from within. Let’s embrace this cosmic blueprint of the universe and allow this to guide our actions, how we show up for ourselves, and how we nourish our entire well-being.

The key to making sure we don’t create any unnecessary stress right now?

Cooking for ourselves.

I know what you may be thinking: “Cooking?! I work crazy hours, there’s no way I have the time. BYE!” or “Yeah, right. My kitchen is smaller than my bathroom.”

True, you may have a small kitchen; and yes, you’re kicking butt at work and have a full social calendar. But now is a better time than ever to amplify your self-care and truly ground yourself so you can show up stronger than ever in this world. How great would that feel?

4 Tips to Stay Grounded During Eclipse Season

1. Get cooking

Healthy starts in YOUR kitchen. Not mine, not the local health café, but yours. Your lasting vitality depends on your ability to learn the basics in your very own kitchen (no matter how small) and feed yourself what your body needs to thrive. Expensive juices, meal delivery, and takeout will only get you so far. Hasta la vista, excuses!

If you’re skeptical, start with one home-cooked meal a day: breakfast. It’s the perfect way to add self-care to your day in 10 minutes or less. Once you have breakfast down pat, adding more home-cooked meals will feel totally manageable. Your best shot at grounding wellness and aliveness begins with you getting comfortable in your kitchen and feeding yourself, literally.

2. Cook grounding foods

Food is medicine, and it carries an incredible amount of energy. Imagine what a difference it will make to physically add grounding energy to your constitution.

These are your go-to foods:

• Root vegetables like parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots. A simple roast will taste delish.
• Winter squash like butternut, acorn, kabocha, delicata, and so many local varieties. My favorite recipe is winter squash simmered with vegetable broth and blended into a yummy soup.
• Mineral-rich foods like good sea salt, high quality dark chocolate, and seaweed. Yes, craving chocolate is a good thing; your body is craving grounding minerals, so listen up!
• Greens that grow from the ground, like kale, spinach, collard greens, and chard. Tear up leaves when you get home from the market, and they’re ready to go for whenever you need them, like in egg scrambles, sautés, or smoothies.
• Red foods that strengthen the root chakra, like raspberries, rooibos tea, pomegranates, and tomatoes. Strengthening this chakra will help you feel more rooted and armed to take anything on.

3. Get spiritual

When we cook, we don’t just put ingredients on a plate. The energy of your food actually changes composition and transforms into a dish because of what you put into it and how you intentionally create. And it becomes even more spiritual when you put that energy into the dish yourself.

You are nourishing your own body, loving her up with the goodness that you want to share with her. Cooking is an act of love and self-nurturing, and celebrating this when you cook and savoring your home-cooked meals will provide much deeper healing than even the priciest spiritual workshops.

4. Start batch cooking

Batch cooking is the North Star of grounding rituals. You are busy, you are awesome, you are out in the world rocking at life. Batch cooking means setting aside time once a week to prepare mix-and-match dishes that enable you to feel nourished during even the busiest week.

You know that dread that comes around 7pm when you feel your stomach rumble and you suddenly realize it’s dinnertime? Your body and soul will be grateful for that healthy food ready to go. Yes, this means spending a few hours on a Sunday afternoon or Monday night to prep for the week. But look at it like this: when you consider your lifelong longevity, a few short hours once a week will actually add hours to your weeknights and your life, so you’ll feel grounded no matter what the world throws your way. It’s a no-brainer.

Want to get a head start on getting grounded in your kitchen? Visit my website to download your copy of my 3 Most Delicious Batch Cooking Recipes for FREE. Not only will you feel like a kitchen pro, but you’ll also set yourself up for the healthiest eclipse season ever. All right, New Year, let’s do this!

Happy & healthy,
Michelle

Michelle Kabler is a Certified Natural Foods Chef and Food Coach on a mission to support busy professional women in learning how to cook healthy meals for themselves. After years of bingeing, dieting, and a stressful career, she embarked on a quest to heal her own health struggles. Her turning point? Learning to cook for herself. Since completing the Chef’s Training program at the Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC, she continues helping burned out women nourish themselves daily. Michelle can be found dishing healthy tips in her YouTube series Michelle’s Minutes, coaching one-on-one clients, providing healthy meal delivery, and on MichelleKabler.com.