Sobel Health Advisors, LLC set to launch in December/January

This has been an extremely productive weekend! In addition to my health counseling business (however its all related) I have decided to start a small business consulting firm where I will be offering health care start ups assistance with business plan writing, raising capital and business development of key areas of the business. At some point later, I also hope to advise fellow holistic health counselors in developing other business offerings outside of 1:1 counseling such as wellness centers and the like. I will be offering these business consulting services in addition to my health counseling services under the same parent company. Stay tuned to the launch of the Sobel Health Advisors, LLC website in late December/early January. I could use any help in web development that anyone would like to offer me :)

Sobel Wellness, my holistic health counseling business, will also be launching around that time, perhaps in early February (because I will be in Thailand during the last week of January, first week of February, cannot wait! and I will be taking Thai Cooking classes - I'm very curious to know what goes into traditional Thai food and how I can incorporate or alter those cooking methods into recommendations for my clients). I am also investigating several other business ideas and attending networking events in New York. The businesses I am looking to get involved in are in the health and nutrition field as well as corporate wellness. If anyone has any ideas or would like to join me in building these businesses please contact me. Shortly I will be able to point you to the site and a new email for business related issues. At present that email is sobelwellness@gmail.com.

Since my last class weekend and through recorded lectures I have been listening to this week, I have been engrossed in reading about raw food theories over this past weekend. I don't know if I have quite bought into eating raw meat and eggs (actually with my egg sensitivity I can't do this), though I am going to try and have some sashimi this week. I have to say though there is some merit in organic, pastured eggs (watch out for vegetarian fed eggs - chickens were meant to eat worms and chicken feed that is not necessarily entirely vegetarian) I had an egg complete with yolk and I didn't have quite the same reaction I have had to the extra large white eggs from the supermarket or an omelet in a restaurant. I'm not yet ready to go full force back into eating eggs - but I am going to start experimenting a bit more when I don't need to be around people or working to see what continued consumption of pastured, organic brown eggs will do to me. I really have no idea what would happen if I ate the egg raw. All my negative health reactions to eggs have been in cooked form - omelets, scrambled eggs, quiche etc. I'll continue to do experiments and monitor my progress on this blog.

I would however like to try raw milk and I am looking into a milk share with the Weston A. Price Foundation and if I can find some time visit a local farm and buy raw milk there. What I would really like to find is raw goat's milk, but not sure if that is available anywhere. Weston A. Price has options to pick up raw milk right here in New York City and its really inexpensive. In the meantime I have been experimenting with grass fed unhomogenized milk (from trader joes, vitality health and agatha and valenta (super super expensive from there) and goat milk (from TJs and various health food stores) and not been experiencing any of the digestive problems I would ordinarily experience with regular industrial cows milk. I've tried the full fat and low fat varieties and not noticed any differences. The coach farm full fat goat milk does taste the best, although oak knoll and meyerberg taste quite good too. I don't notice a tangy taste or anything. It tastes particularly fresh as does the grass fed cows milk - which tastes distinctly different from supermarket milk and even lactaid milk - which is what I have been drinking for the past 10 years except in my coffee or tea. So there's something to be said for that. I've been scouring health food stores for grass fed meat, but its incredibly hard to find. Organic meat is not necessarily grass fed and still incredibly high in fat. I've found Ottomanelli's butcher on the Upper East Side on York Avenue in the 80's to sell grass fed meat which is extremely tasty, though I can't vouch for the fat content. I did not have ground meat there, but next time I visit I will see if their ground meat comes in a 10% fat or less variety and if not I will see if I can find a cut of meat with that fat content and have them grind this. After all I have been reading and recently watching "Fast Food Nation" on DVD, I highly recommend anyone eating ground meat to do this.

I've also been cooking (and actually enjoying) several new grains and greens: Millet, Wild Rice (in the grain department), Collard greens, mustard greens, kale and swiss chard (in the green department). They take a very short time to get used to and they are just lovely. If I never eat anything with wheat, corn or rye in it again, I don't think I will miss it too much. The greens are bitter like many might think. Arugula is much more bitter. For those not allergic to almonds, I have been discovering the versatility of the almond: raw almonds are wonderful on their own as a snack and I've been trying just having a handful before a run or 30 minutes before a meal and it really makes me satiated and gives me a much better run. In addition, I have also discovered almond milk (but one needs to be a nutrition label reader because many of these contain added sugars - be sure to buy the unsweetened brand from blue diamond or pacific), almond cheese (contains casein - I am going to try to find a brand that doesn't, but so far no luck), almond cheesecake (no joke, I had some sweetened with dates and agave tonight from Vitality Health on 77th and 1st here on the Upper East Side and it was fabulous). Last night and tonight I dined on millet, a mixture of kale, swiss chard and collards with a bit of sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds. I also steamed a piece of lemon sole in olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper - wrapped in aluminum foil. I made enough for two meals and enjoyed it again for dinner tonight, delish! After reading the ingredients in my American made soy sauce I am planning on throwing it out and buying shoyu or tamari that doesn't have six other ingredients that are not soy sauce (including wheat - why does there need to be wheat in soy sauce - this is beyond me - for years as a kid I avoided chinese food because of a wheat allergy and I used to carry my own tamari or other non-wheat containing soy sauce). Its strange because I feel as if I have outgrown this allergy (although I can never be completely sure) and have gone back to the non-authentic stuff - but that has to change. I've got mustard greens, more collards and red kale to cook later this week and I haven't tried the buckwheat yet. I also bought some chia seeds to put in my smoothie. I have so much energy and I definitely feel the difference. I've been contemplating raw cacao beans, but I have to admit they look a bit gross. I've put raw cacao nibs into my smoothies, they add some nice flavor - but I am a bit skeptical of them on their own. Next post perhaps I will get up the nerve to try them out. The raw coconut oil by Nutiva is delicious. I could eat it straight from the jar and I can't wait to saute some greens in it tomorrow.