Rest and Recovery

September 16, 2024/0 Comments/in balance mental, Dr. Rivene and Jim Montrose, emotions, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

Rest and Recovery balancing Intense Work

With Jim Montrose and Dr. Rivene, August 2024

Here we are in Budapest as I write this. We are staying on a houseboat on the Danube River. Getting much needed rest and recharging of our batteries. We know we need to rest after working intensely for the last three months, but I can’t resist sharing in between the travel, European bath spas and inspiring cultural interaction that spark my creativity and recovery.

Budapest is celebrating their independence from communist rule, and they are putting on one of the most fantastic fireworks show that either Zaida or I have ever seen. Over a 3 KM course of the Danube River through the center of Budapest they have 4 barges loaded with fireworks; synchronized and choreographed in a 45-minute spectacular.

They even have a new fireworks effect that moves in the shape of a stag (and other figures) across the sky (maybe using drones).

This lavish fireworks display shows the creative, inspiration, and vibrant forward-looking inspiration to freely create a vibrant future of a people long held back and seriously hindered to express, build, grow and expand.

Read more Prague, Budapest and our seminar in St Gallen.

Jim Montrose 2024

Purging Challenge Resend

September 6, 2024/0 Comments/in Dr. Rivene and Jim Montrose, food, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

Try a purging challenge for health. Sometimes, we need to get rid of things to achieve better clarity and create or re-define ourselves.

The Purging Challenge

Last month, three women, who are patients, attended a women’s retreat and came back bubbling and enthusiastic with a well-being and spiritual cleansing challenge that the retreat presented to the participants. The challenge was simply to eliminate alcohol, sugar, caffeine, and gluten for a period (try a month and see how you feel). What was wonderful was the three women were “all in” and excited with the challenge.

Dr. Rivene commented it was surprising to see the change and excitement. She realized that this simpler four step process is a simple starting point for our lifestyle/eating plan that we give to each patient during their Ayurvedic exam. How about you? How are you implementing your lifestyle/eating plan?

Join us now in this simple purge to enter Spring refueled, clear and ready for what’s next.

Jim Montrose 2024

The August Purging Challenge

August 12, 2024/0 Comments/in Dr. Rivene and Jim Montrose, food, food, Jim Montrose/by Jim Montrose

This august try a purging challenge for health. Sometimes, we need to get rid of things to achieve better clarity and create or re-define ourselves.

The Purging Challenge

Join us now in this simple purge to enter Spring refueled, clear and ready for what’s next.

jim montrose

Summer Food

February 1, 2023/0 Comments/in awareness/consciousness, Ayurveda, food, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

Summer Food and Lifestyle to Cool, Balance, and Promote Health.

I just finished the last of my spring artichokes today, January 18th, but summer has firmly arrived. This is the time of heat and dry which we balance with lighter cooling foods.

Summer is a time of weaker digestion and the summer harvest produces easier to digest foods and fresh cooling foods from the garden to eat. As the sun cooks the foods they are easier to digest and don’t require as much cooking. Reduce or avoid the hard to digest barbecues for feel your best.

Ayurveda is easy when we eat locally and in season, the organic summer harvest provides gut bacteria that helps us digest the carbohydrates and simple starches of this season.

The rising heat of summer heats up the liver, stomach and respiratory system causing the upward moving breath to heat and dry out the respiratory system which may make you more sensitive to certain foods environmental and pollutants. The summer harvest does naturally antidote and help with this so eat plenty of summer foods.

Summer can bring on some constipation as the downward moving air is pulled into the colon and fans the digestive fire. This may weaken the downward flowing air and cause some constipation, it is worsened with air travel. This leads to poor toxin removal and potential re-absorption in the liver and gall-bladder creating an impaired heavy bile affecting bowel movements. Beets and apples (natural cholagogues) will boost the digestion and healthy elimination restoring bile effectiveness.

To avoid the negative effects of summer follow nature’s law and eat greens, fruits and roots from the season. Avoid winter/fall foods like eating lots of dry grains, meats, hot or spicy foods or acidic drinks (coffee, beer, and wine) which dry out, irritate and inflame the body’s delicate mucous membranes and negatively affect gut microbes.

Read on to find how to balance yourself this summer.

Montrose 2022

Spring Food

November 22, 2022/0 Comments/in awareness/consciousness, Ayurveda, food, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

Spring is the king of seasons in The Bhagavad Gita, where mother earth wakes up and restarts the cycle of growth and life for the entire planet. The whole planet wakes up, we feel more energetic, and venture outside.

It is a time of celebration. It is warm, moist, gentle and unctuous (oily). The body starts to liquefy and run. Many people get spring colds and flowers shed their pollen causing some, especially Kapha doshas, to experience hay fever and allergies.

This is the time to do a spring cleanse to reduce and eliminate these symptoms. Good time in life to clear out old and bring in the new also.
(Read On) to how to create your own detox and change to spring foods as the season warms.

Jim Montrose 2022

Spring Detox

September 30, 2022/0 Comments/in awareness/consciousness, Ayurveda, food, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

montrose 2022

The Winter Foods and Balance

August 29, 2022/0 Comments/in awareness/consciousness, Ayurveda, food, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

In winter everything slows down and plants and many animals become dormant or sluggish. Winter drying and cold affects both Vata and Kapha with aggravations like allergies, colds, and congestion to all. The Vata eating and care routine is used for all doshas with changes to adopt them to the dosha.
The quiet solitude of winter makes it the perfect months for deep thought, deep rest, hibernation and contemplation an antidote to the fast paced mobility of summer and fall. Winter is the ideal time to let go of the past and direct your attention inward. Establish new habits and focus on spiritual growth, physical health, anything you want to create and own.
Learn how to counter winters effects, eat to support your body, and stay healthy with winter in balance routines for your dosha. Eat more foods that are sweet, sour, and salty or slight modifications to meet your dosha; heavy, oily, hot, well cooked, and moist like soups, stews, steamed and baked (drying so add sauces or soup to moisten) vegetables with more fat and protein yet aim for easy digestion. Reduce pungent, bitter, astringent, dry, cold, and light.
Eating more cooked foods and heavier foods like nuts, root vegetables, beets (blood cleansing), bean soups, rich fulfilling dishes (helps you get through winter but needs to be balanced in late winter with the need to let go of accumulated reserves and detoxify).
(Read On) to learn winter balancing, the winter in season foods and how to create meals for the winter and early spring.

Happy Foods 2021

February 25, 2021/0 Comments/in Ayurveda, food, Jim Montrose, wellness/by Jim Montrose

Happy Foods I and II –
Bringing true pleasure and balance back into our foods
by Jim Montrose, Ayurvedic Specialist, January 2021

For most of us we no longer just eat to survive, but instead eat for pleasure. Yet today with the changes in our food, preparation and diet we often miss the pleasure we are expecting. An apple I used to eat in the past that was hard, crunchy, aromatic and bounding with flavor as the juice exploded from its flesh; is now mushy, mealy, less flavorful, less sweet, and sometimes less juicy.

As a compensation for this lack of nutrient flavor, wellness and health in our food supply we have now created extravagantly flavored sauces, added sugar, salt, and flavor enhancers to our foods. Fast foods and junk foods with these artificial enhancers and empty calories abound but only give a semblance of pleasure that is short lasting.

And the trouble is…

Those foods aren’t satisfying us at a deep level and often leave us unsatisfied and in the famine state which encourages us to eat more empty calories and junk that doesn’t provide the basic nutrients we need and doesn’t satisfy our taste buds long term. They’re just activating the dopamine reward centers in our brains fooling us into a false satiety.

In the long term, poor eating habits exasperate the situation which most of us feel at a deep level of knowing.

Degrading health, obesity, loss of energy, dopamine crashes, physical limitations, depleted nutrient reserves, constant snacking … don’t make us happy. They may even create a level of depression that we learn to survive with in modern life.

There are solutions that can help us reclaim our pleasure in eating and increase our health and wellness at the same time. Replacing them with whole, natural, and healthy foods that naturally give true satiety is a first step.

We can choose foods that enhance our well-being, elevate our moods, increase our immune system, have broader nutrient values (replacing processed and nutrient –sterile foods) and add foods that replace some of the depleted nutrients that lead to poor health and depression while increasing joy. Coupling this with preparing our foods in ways that conserve the nutrients, concentrate the nutrients, and provide them in tasty, exciting ways that meet our unique body’s constitutional needs we can create Happy foods that do us well, satisfy hunger, and increase pleasure in eating. Read on.

by Jim Montrose, Ayurvedic Specialist, June 2021

Ayurvedic Cooking

Happy Foods 2021 Winter – Foods that reduce anxiety, increase happiness, and fulfillment. You’ve found what your body constitution is, now what. Choose foods and recipes that meet your body’s constitution for natural Balance and Vitality

“I would like to thank you for Saturday, for the first time I feel like eating according to my Dosha is achievable and easy to understand. I loved the way you explained how we have to perceive a meal and then go about flavoring and preparing it – meal time is fun that way.” – E. Apr, 2020

In a revamped version of last year’s successful Happy Foods we are introducing expanded practical steps to learn how to make and create dishes that meet your Eating Plan in a fun and quick way. Open the way to easily and quickly make the foods that balance your dosha with fun and satisfy your taste for joy and pleasure. With expanded sections on the Chinese medicine approach that supports and augments the Ayurvedic taste and health practices including why the Chinese don’t count calories. The latest tips and discoveries from scientific research demystified and put into a holistic framework to reduce the confusion and produce the food to support the detoxification and re-generation of your body in support of your core treatments in the office.

The new Happy Foods 2021 gives the first timer a great overview of the basics as well as advanced topics not previously covered in last year’s Happy Foods, making recipes from scratch, improving taste and correcting, and more assistance in learning to effectively implement these approaches quickly, easily, and with fun in your own kitchen. Come for a wonderful deepening of your Real Food – Happy Food skills and understanding.

For the experienced and new Happy Food participant it provides a great review and expansion with new concepts, increased attention to how to set up your kitchen and learn the skills to do it more automatically (making it a habit). The advanced balancing techniques will help everyone. In addition, both groups will benefit with a special session to specifically answer your most perplexing, puzzling, confusing question about preparing food to meet your specific food plan. Bring your pressing and urgent questions in any and all areas of concern about your eating plan and cooking.

HAPPY FOODS 2021 MORE JOY, FUN, RESILIENCY, AND IMMUNITY

Many common foods enhance our joy, our resiliency in times of challenge and our immunity. We couple these foods with a system for proper cooking techniques, real foods, and matching the foods we eat with our body’s constitutional requirements we not only satisfy our hungers but truly provide the nutrients and life force that keeps us active, healthy and alive. And a big plus with the Happy food program of real foods is that the whole food offers the individual vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in a balanced whole food way. Remember that eating the actual fruit or veggie is better than popping single-vitamin and multi-vitamin extract supplements since all the components in the food interact in unique ways that insure uptake and digestibility in the body.

Choosing foods and recipes with a system to make it easier to meet your body’s constitution for natural Balance and Vitality.

“Let food be your medicine, let medicine be your food.”

Some of the topics covered include:

Systems that bring fun back and easily create healthy tasty meals.
Choosing and finding the most nutrient food available.
Cooking processes that preserve nutrients and even increase nutrient density. Ayurvedic and Chinese secrets (learn why Chinese don’t count calories and Ayurveda stresses comfort and satisfaction).
Setting up your kitchen and learning to cook easily in this new approach. Bring your questions and kitchen challenges.
Learn the foods that balance your constitution (dosha).
Discover how to use spices for flavor, variety and balance.
Proper food combinations and when to eat your biggest meals.
Cook with the seasons and the climate for balance.
Modify your favorite recipes for your individual constitution.
Digestive tips, and eating rules that assist your balance.
Make an elegant lunch with your newfound skills.
Food the first step to creating balance and harmony with your dosha.
Recipes and lectures materials provided for referral at home.

Join us at 9AM on Saturday morning to review your dosha, enjoy a happy snack, learn what Happy cooking is all about, get recipes and lecture notes to nurture you own experiments and recipe development, help prepare a Happy lunch for your dosha. We will finish around 2PM. The cost for food, notes and 5 hours of instruction is R400, register and help us by registering early and pay only R350 before July 1st; couples attend for R550 beforeJuly 1st or R600 after (1 set of notes). Call Lana now to register 083 290 1283.

Stop the dissatisfaction and hunger that modern foods and cooking produce. Learn preparation, nutrient preservation and concentration techniques and cooking procedures that provide the basic nutrients we need, in balance with our constitutions, increase pleasure, elevate mood and immune response, and satisfy our taste buds longer term. Join us July 3rd 9am-2pm. Sign-up with Lana today, 083 290 1283, to insure your place.

Happy Foods 2021 – bringing true pleasure and balance back into our foods.

In Loving Service,

Jim Montrose, Ayurvedic Counselor

www.drzaidarivene.co.za/jimmontrose

071 959 0786

P.S. Join us for Happy Foods 2021 July 3rd, pay before July 1 and get R50 off and make food that is satisfying. Sign up for our newsletter and view our blogs at the website www.drzaidarivene.co.za.

P. P.S. Check out the website for other articles and resources on cooking, words, inspired living, health, chakra meditation, Ayurveda and other topics. Some of the programs we have planned include:

Balance your Body Type offering in the Fall, email for information.

Awareness and Awakening Meditation, new online class offering in April/May, watch for the announcement and a free trial experience, email for information.

Rest and Recovery

Purging Challenge Resend

The August Purging Challenge

Summer Food

Spring Food

Spring Detox

The Winter Foods and Balance

Happy Foods 2021

Happy Foods Winter 2021 – Bring satisfying pleasure and joy back to your food, while balancing your constitution, making it fun, and systematic for quicker results.

by Jim Montrose, Ayurvedic Specialist, June 2021

HAPPY FOODS 2021 MORE JOY, FUN, RESILIENCY, AND IMMUNITY

Follow Jim Montrose

Newsletter

Summer Abundance

Happy Foods I and II

GET DIRECTIONS

Contact Us

Newsletter

Follow Us