There are a lot of Puerto Rican recipes you will find that call for these two common spice mixes: Sazon and Adobo.

Depending on your geographical location it may or may not be hard for you to find certain ethnic foods in the grocery store. Moving away from the bigger cities made it hard to find a lot of the traditional foods and spices used in cooking traditional Puerto Rican meals, so I learned how to create them myself.

Sazon

It doesn’t take a trained psychologist to realize that past experiences often dictate how we handle situations in our present—but they don’t have to define how we handle them in our future. My father was an adulterer for many years, which not-at-all-surprisingly has caused feelings of anxiety and distrust in my current relationships.

Sound a little familiar?

Grocery shopping: a necessary evil as an adult, and an absolute requirement if you aim to cook at home. But if you’re anything like the average consumer, you’ve spent hours wandering in and out of aisle after aisle of packaged foods, staring at nutrition labels, and feeling downright baffled by the amount of peanut butter brands on the shelf (seriously, isn’t it just peanuts, oil, and salt?)

Quinoa, pronounced “keen-wah”, originated in the area of Chile and Peru and flourishes in altitudes from 12,000 to 15,000 feet. It is a fruit of the family Chenopodium and is an annual herb with seeds growing in clusters at the top of the stalk, much like millet. The native peoples used the seeds for cereal, in cakes and brewed into a beer; the leaves were eaten much like spinach. It was the second most cultivated crop in the native cultures and highly valued for its protein and high nutritional content.  

A sedentary lifestyle is bad for you—try this 10-minute chair yoga routine to help you adjust better to your desk job.

Countless life-altering diagnoses root from the same underlying cause, that being inflammation. Causing problems from arthritis to cancer, inflammation wreaks havoc on the body and its organs. One way to explore cures for these issues can be by acknowledging the same source of most all modern health issues: your food.

Processed foods along with those containing high trans fats can cause a serious inflammatory type reaction in the body. Alcohol, caffeine, and sugars are huge culprits for the issue and their intake should be minimal or avoided entirely.

The primary definition of jealousy is “an unhappy or angry feeling of wanting to have what someone else has.” This cannot be a good thing, right? As by definition, it means you are harboring three negative energy emotions in your vibration, often for an extended period. What good could come of something such as anger, unhappiness, and resentment?

Well, nothing and everything. There’s also a second definition of jealousy, which we’ll get to shortly.

Ever since I can remember I have been a contrarian. My grandmother used to call me, “Contrary Canary” and I assure you, I earned that title. In hindsight, while I struggled between being contrary for contrary’s sake and being agreeable for likeableness’ sake, one thing I have realized as I have gotten older is that they both are important but like all things, timing is everything when it comes to their application. Agreeableness, like similarity or commonality, is a binding from ourselves to another. Often, it is what we have in common that brings us together and helps us get along.

Happy autumn solstice! September 22 officially marks the beginning of fall, and what better way to pay homage to the withdrawing sun than with 108 sun salutations at sunrise or sunset? It’s a number that’s auspicious in Buddhism and many more religions. The malas (rosaries) of Tibetan monks include 108 beads, which is a nod to the 108 volumes Buddha dubbed the Tibetan Kangyur. Zen priests also wear 108 beads in a juzu on their wrists.

If you are in search of a balanced, nutritious dish, then look no further. Comprised of a protein, grain, and greens, Buddha bowls are your answer to a well-rounded meal. Why the name? While this bowl has been called many things, the name “Buddha bowl” refers to the shape. Packed to the brim with some of earth's finest ingredients, the rounded top is compared to that of Buddha's belly. And I assure you it will make your belly just as happy!