This fresh take on a classic Colombian dish swaps beef steak for cauliflower “steak”, offering a lighter, yet still deliciously satisfying dish that’s fun to share with vegans and carnivores alike. Widely considered an Argentinian condiment, chimichurri is also popular in Colombia, where the addition of cilantro gives an extra kick of flavor to this already zesty sauce. You’ll find those same punchy flavors in this avocado crema, which lends a creamy component to the dish, as well as a boost of heart-healthy unsaturated fat. Cauliflower is rich in vitamin C, fiber, antioxidants, choline and sulfur, which has a detoxifying effect on the body. If you have access to a grill, you can also grill the cauliflower steaks over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side. 

Total Time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
• Juice of 1 lime (plus more to taste)
• 2 tablespoons extra

Holiday shopping can feel overwhelming in the best of times. If you’re abroad and buying for people on a different continent, it can be hard to know where to start. Whether you’ll be traveling home for the holidays or sending gifts to your loved ones overseas, here are some tips to keep in mind to make the process easier. 

Gift a taste of your travels

If you’re able to gift a memento that your loved ones would not be able to find at home, that’s a win. You’ll have gotten them a souvenir and holiday gift all in one. But the logistics of traveling with or shipping bulky packages can get complicated. 

For simple gifts that won’t necessarily take up too much space, focus on art or food. These don’t need to be large or complex items either. A smaller print from a local street vendor, specialty preserved or canned

Holidays are supposed to be a joyful break from daily routines, but it doesn’t always feel that way. Sometimes people have to interact with family members, friends or other people who don’t respect their recovery during holiday vacations. These are a few ways I’ve learned to make recovery easier while traveling during the holidays.

1. Create Backup Plans

Travel and substance use can seem like an unchangeable combination. It also doesn’t help when you travel to see people who don’t support or care about your recovery. The thought fills me with intense anxiety before the holiday arrives, making substance use even more appealing.

It’s so important to create backup plans for those challenging moments. I like to bring a few mocktail recipes when I visit family and ask everyone to try them with me. It turns sobriety into a fun activity and a bonding experience.

You can also plan polite

This creamy, sweet and savory miso dressing turns anything it touches into a delicious dish. It pairs especially well with sweet snap peas, corn, crunchy cabbage and cucumbers. The ideal side for salmon or shrimp, it also stands on its own as a vegetarian dish served with grains or tofu if you’re seeking a more substantial meal. As a fermented food, miso contains powerful probiotics which help bolster your gut health and boost your immune system. It also contains Vitamin K, zinc, protein and calcium, along with a host of beneficial minerals. Best consumed raw to preserve its probiotic power, miso works beautifully in this easy-to-whisk-together dressing. While all the vegetables in this recipe are hydrating and full of fiber and minerals, cabbage stands out for its ability to help lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, as well as lowering inflammation in your body and aiding in digestion.  

Serves 4

Food features central in any holiday season, in every one’s culture.

For Thanksgiving in the United States, food plays a huge role in the history/legend of the holiday’s origins, along with the present-day celebration of the festival.

At the same time, in and beyond the U.S., families’ finances will also be playing a central role in dinner-table conversations, shopping on the so-called “Black Friday” retail season (which has extended long before Friday 25th November), and in what’s actually served up on those tables.

Let’s connect some dots today on food, finance and health as we enter the holiday season many people will be sharing this and in the coming weeks.

Financial security, health and food were featured in a YouGov poll in April 2022 which can inform our understanding of the relationship between these factors in everyday peoples’ lives. https://business.yougov.com/content/42271-global-financial-security-and-health

The graph clearly illustrates the relationship between peoples’ perceptions of

At the recent ecoAmerica National Health and Climate Forum, I was invited to present some thoughts about self-care for those of us engaged in the climate fight.  I believe we must continuously invest in ourselves to do our best work now and to maintain this commitment over time.

For everyone involved in stopping climate change, it’s challenging not only because of the enormous complexity of the problem, but also because the rest of life doesn’t stop, with work, family, personal or health issues demanding our attention and energy at the same time.

But for those of us in health care, we get both the benefit and the burden of that added perspective. Although we’re not climate scientists, our health background allows us to understand and communicate climate change better than many.  But in addition, we truly get the extreme risks we’re running with the worsening dis-ease of nature, which

Extreme weather takes many forms: massive hurricanes, overwhelming floods, prolonged and severe droughts- but few are as harmful to as many as extreme heat. We know that high temperatures hurt some more than others: outdoor workers, those in urban heat islands, people without access to air conditioning, or those with medical conditions like asthma and cardiopulmonary disease; recent evidence also suggests heat is linked to bad birth outcomes. 

In this episode of Let’s Talk Climate, we hear from Dr. Sergio Rimola of the National Hispanic Medical Association, which represents 50,000 latino physicians across the US. Join us and hear his perspective on dealing with the heat, from how to counsel patients at risk to how to advocate effectively in our communities for policies to address climate change, turn down these temperatures, and make life better for all.

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Additional Resources

Heat Wave- Posters & Handouts

Severe Weather Drives

Last week marked the 17th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the failure of levees in New Orleans, and the flooding of much of the city.

I was a college student in New Orleans in 2005 and when I think about Katrina it brings intense memories. I remember the rushed decision to evacuate, joking with friends that it would be another close miss like Hurricane Ivan the year before. Later I numbly watched CNN in a motel as a friend tried to reach his family members to confirm they were safe. I remember the mud that caked the city when I returned several weeks later to sort through the musty belongings of our second floor apartment. A year later, I sat in front-yard FEMA trailers talking with people about mold blooms keeping them out of their homes, later learning that the trailers had unsafe levels of formaldehyde. And several years after

September is National Preparedness Month and we are all aware of the growing risks. We are in the peak of hurricane season for the East Coast & Gulf South, a long wildfire season for much of the West, and deadly heat waves all over the country. These extreme weather events, along with the disruption they bring, will be increasingly frequent. This creates new challenges for us both as individuals and as healthcare workers seeking to care for our communities.

In this episode of Let’s Talk Climate, we discuss how public health can respond to these risks from Dr. Diana Hamer, the Director of Climate and Crisis Preparedness at the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI). We learn about new programs, challenges of coordination and planning, and best practices to start preparing, as individuals, as a community, and through institutional and policy action.

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Additional Resources

National Preparedness