Bushido Code-The Warrior's Way of Life

My son’s friend was over this weekend for the first time, and he made a comment curiously saying, “I’m surprised to see you don’t have a microwave.” Well, my response was polite but somewhat defensive as I answered, “We did have one once, but it broke.

I like to cook on the stove, so we never got around to replacing it.” I thought long and hard about the reasons why we don’t have a microwave, and I realize that it’s not part of how we live our life. The Bushido Way for us is returning to nature and living life in a more natural way. Processed foods and microwave cooking are unhealthy and are not in harmony with living in the moment.

I like things simple. Meaning, I don’t have the newest appliances and only dishes and cookware that I need for preparing frequent meals. I do have a food processor but I use it all the time and it helps me to prepare healthy meals. A microwave is just another unnecessary appliance to me and takes up space in my kitchen.

The taste of food from a microwave oven is flat and the texture rubbery, and the food rarely has a consistency in its texture. Even a baked potato tastes different to me when cooked in a microwave. In nature everything has a balance and our foods provide us with the necessary vitamins and nutrients we need without being altered by man. Cooking in a microwave has been shown to decrease the nutrients in foods, and could be altering the natural energy that we gain from our food.

As Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell point out in “The Hidden Hazards Of Microwave Cooking”,       

“Russian researchers also found decreased nutritional value – or significant dimming of their “vital energy field” – in up to 90% in all microwaved foods. In addition, the B complex, C and E vitamins linked with stress-reduction and the prevention of cancer and heart disease – as well as the essential trace minerals needed for optimum brain and body functioning – were rendered useless by microwaves, even at short cooking durations”. 

The speed of life has left us all compromising our health with foods that accommodate our limited time for planning and preparation, but unfortunately much of this food is loaded with chemicals, additives, and decreased levels of nutrients after “speed” cooking.

Not to mention the plastic containers deemed unhealthy because of leaching chemicals as well as the increase in packaging that adds to the waste that needs to be dealt with by town waste management programs. Food packaging accounts for almost two-thirds of total packaging waste by volume, and food packaging is approximately 50 percent (by weight) of total packaging sales.  

There have even been several recent articles about bottled water and how there are concerns about the levels of chemicals in the water we drink. Turns out, when certain plastics are heated at a high temperature, chemicals from the plastics may leach into container’s contents. So there’s been a flurry of speculation recently as to whether the amounts of these chemicals are actually harmful, and whether this is even a concern when it comes to water bottles—which aren’t likely to be placed in boiling water or even a microwave.  

Many people buy and cook frozen, pre-prepared foods and use a microwave to cook these meals because the process saves us time. After-all isn’t this message one that advertisers promote to us busy professionals and working parents.          

Mmmmm appetizing isn’t it! And what about the big bold statement about the “no artificial colors or artificial flavors.” That’s certain to hook us busy “moms!” I strongly encourage you to look at the fine print on the nutritional label that’s listed on the back of the package.

Negative Effects of Eating Processed Foods

Certainly as a working parent, I’m always looking for ways to save time in preparing meals; however, not at the expense of my families health. Frozen and processed foods can still be cooked by using a traditional oven, but I still stay away from these foods because they are not natural and are not in harmony with the way of the warrior.

My family has a busy schedule. My husband and I both work full-time jobs, write blogs, exercise and we are involved in our son’s school and extra curricular activities; however, we still take time to shop for and prepare healthy more natural food. I agree that processed and frozen foods help save time in cooking and preparation, but cooking can also be a form of relaxation.

Zen: The Art of Modern Eastern Cooking by Deng Ming- Dao is one of my favorite cook books. Not to mention, traditional stove-top and conventional oven cooking allows the preparer time to do other chores like emptying the dish-washer and setting the table while the food bakes.

I like natural foods and can’t deal with additives and excessive salt in my diet. In fact, I notice when I do eat these packaged, pre-prepared foods that my feet swell and I fell sluggish due to the increase in salt and other preservatives. Much of the food manufactured for microwave cooking and quick meals is frozen, processed and high in sodium. People who are sodium sensitive retain sodium more easily, leading to excess fluid retention and increased blood pressure.

At one time, salting was one of the only ways to preserve food. Although that’s not the case today, salt remains a common ingredient in many processed foods.

It’s easy to determine how much sodium is in the foods you’re eating. The nutritional label on the back of packaged food is required to list the sodium and other necessary nutrients. I was shopping in my local Trader Joe’s market and chose the Low Sodium Organic Butternut Squash Soup (90mg per serving) over the regular Organic Butternut Squash Soup listed with 500mg of sodium per serving.

Cooking a healthy meal requires a bit more effort, but you’ll find that planning more simple meals and preparing ahead of time helps to speed up the process during the week when schedules are busy. Though my husband Marcus and I have greatly decreased our meat intake, we do cook meat and more often for our active son.

One of our more simple meals is a few chicken breasts (frozen or refrigerated) cooked in a conventional oven, a couple of baked potatoes baked at the same time, and fresh spinach, carrots or broccoli steamed by stovetop or raw. This meal will take longer to cook and prepare than if a microwave were used, or even if you cooked a packaged frozen meal by conventional oven, but is healthier for you and the family.

We often use low-sodium natural spices, natural herbs, or even some pesto that I prepared over the weekend to doctor-up a plain chicken breast, fish or shrimp. My pesto recipe takes about 15 minutes to make and can be stored in the refrigerator all week. It’s great on toasted bread, with low-sodium corn chips or as a spread on fresh cut green, red or yellow peppers.

 Exercise:

1. Take some time to think about the quality of food you’re eating. Make a few small changes to help improve your diet each week by eliminating processed foods. Buy a water filter, reheat your left-over’s in the oven while you’re setting the dinner table, make a salad rather than buying a frozen meal for lunch. This may take some additional planning and time, but can be fun too. It’s worth the inconvenience to feel better about yourself and what you’re putting into your body. It’s all about planning!
2. Make a few simple changes to your grocery list this week and purchase a few natural products like nuts, dried fruit, carrot sticks and celery. Check the nutritional labels on the food you buy for a long list of unrecognizable words that you can’t pronounce and STAY AWAY from these products! A good tip is to shop on the outside isles at your grocery store. This is usually where you’ll find the fresh food. The middle isles are where all the processed junk is stocked.
3. Check the sodium content and make sure the foods you buy don’t contain hydrogenated oils and Trans Fats—these are horrible fats that should not be included in your diet!

This soup is incredibly easy, delicious and nutritious. Not to mention that it is also extremely versatile. Once the base ingredients are ready, everyone in the whole family can flavor their individual soups the way they like them­­­.

Ingredients: 

1-2 containers silken tofu

Organic vegetable broth (2 cups per bowl of soup served)

Other Optional Ingredients (Flavor to Taste!):

Many of these ingredients can be found in a local Asian market, which should be listed in a local directory. If you don’t have one near you, check out the international section of a large grocery store.

Soy sauce

Bok choi

Carrots (shredded)

Onions

Shredded cabbage

Sea weed (cut small)

Chili paste

Bamboo shoots

Sesame oil

Hot soy bean paste

Mustard greens

The sky’s the limit for different ways to flavor this soup. Experiment and have fun. If you discover an interesting and tasty new creation, please share them with us!

Heat the tofu in a covered double boiler until it is warm throughout. Make sure not to stir or move the tofu so that it retains its shape.

In a separate saucepan, heat the vegetable broth until hot (do not boil!)

Using a large serving spoon, place the tofu into a bowl and add the broth until it’s covered. The amount of tofu you add to your soup is entirely up to you. Add your choice of optional ingredients to create your own individual soy pudding soup.

That’s all there is to it! I told you it was easy.

As I had mentioned, this soup is very nutritious. It is high in protein, low in fat, and depending on the optional ingredients can also be low in sodium and no cholesterol.

Get Organized and Create More Quality Time

 Do you find yourself feeling tense and anxious for no apparent reason? I made a commitment to myself several years ago to try and determine what was causing me stress, and I finally realized that I was feeling chaos from my external environment. Imagine-my external world was causing my internal world to be confusing and chaotic. There’s an interesting connection between having a clean, uncluttered living space and having more clarity and focus mentally. There is a profound psychological thread that binds all areas of your existence into one distinctive unit. A messy house trashed with useless clutter is an abstract representation of many lives – also muddled with unnecessary debris that needs to be regrouped, set aside, hidden out of sight or, better yet, disposed of completely. Wasted thoughts, wasted energy and wasted time all add up to wasted money.

Create Harmony in Your Living Space

 Part of the Zen philosophy includes letting go of materialism and not being attached to things, and to focus on self-reliance. The Book of the Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi talks about “The Way of Walking Alone”, and lists several steps to maintain this perspective including “not carrying antiques handed down from generation to generation”. Though I love history and do enjoy hanging on to memorabilia, additional clutter was taking up to much of my space and time.

When it comes to getting organized, we’re our own worst enemies. We keep things because we persuade ourselves we’ll need them—even if we haven’t used them in five years and don’t quite know where we’ve put them. There seems to be a security factor in just knowing they’re around… somewhere.

What a great metaphor this is for mental hoarding. We hang on to habits we learn from our parents and grandparents, and much of our negative self-talk is learned from internalizing the comments of other people in our life. Certainly, it’s important to honor your parents and feel a sense of pride in your roots but self-reliance means we must become independent and confident with ourselves and what we represent. Security is not found in a dusty wooden chest tucked away in the corner of the attic, harmony is found when the chest is emptied of it’s contents and the air can flow freely through the inside of the box. By cleaning our external world of junk, we are able to cleanse our internal world (meaning our cluttered minds) and let go of the mental junk.  In any event, the day I decided to get rid of my “stuff” was an experience that I’ll never forget.

Japanese Clean

I’ve always been drawn toward Japanese culture because if it’s simplicity. The Japanese home is spacious and simple with objects and furniture that have a purpose rather than cluttering space. There’s a focus on balancing Yin and Yang, which is something we should pay careful attention to in all aspects of our lives. To learn more about Japanese living and interior design, check out Wade Robbins Ezine article. Japanese style home décor seems to incorporate a few artistic accents and is much more spacious than American style homes. Americans seem to havean attachment to memorabilia and collectibles to a point that we save way too much. It’s important to understand systems for maintaining cleanliness like the 5S system. The 5s philosophy focuses on effective workplace organization and standardized work procedures. It is based on five Japanese words that begin with S.There’s no reason why this workspace system can’t be applied to our living space at home. The Japanese words and there English versions include, Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set in Order), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize), and Shitsuki (Sustain).

The 5S system helped me to maintain an organized clutter free home and consequently develop a freer more focused mind.

 

A spacious and clean home is not only visually aesthetic but also translates to a harmonious mind and spirit.

Begin to Simplify Your Life

Exercise: Clean your Home to a Level of  Japanese Clean

Start with one room and in one section at a time, so you don’t become overwhelmed. For instance, the top of a bureau or a closet are a great starting point. Take a large trash bag and fill the bag with anything that you have not used in more than six months. Survey the surface areas for memorabilia that’s taking up too much space. Is the closet filled with boxes that you haven’t opened for over a year? Do you know what’s in the boxes? Have you missed anything or did you forget you owned these items? Do you have a pile of old shoes you’ll never were again sitting in the dark corner of the closet?

Pick-up one item or piece of clothing from your closet and ask yourself if you really need this object to make you feel good. Does it have a purpose? I made a conscious effort to try and keep things that only have a purpose.  When our space is open and free of material objects that have no purpose or true meaning, we have fewer distractions and find a renewed energy.