By Carol Crystal, Massage Therapist, Certified Holistic Health Counselor

The summer is slipping away, school has resumed and many families are changing from their warm weather routines to their cooler weather routines. All bodies naturally go through changes just as the seasons change. Dogs grow thicker coats, squirrels bury nuts, and humans begin to store nutrition for the colder months. During the summer light meals are satisfying and keep us feeling cool. As we prepare for the colder months we need more substantial foods to fuel our bodies, keep warm and build our immune systems.

The best way to ensure that our children eat healthfully is to eat a healthy diet ourselves. More than doing as we say our children do as they see us do. With the cooler weather using the oven is a great way to make delicious meals.

Here is an idea to get several meals from minimal effort. Roast sweet potatoes, yams, whole beets, whole garlic bulbs and any other root vegetables you love or want to experiment with all at the same time. Make more than enough for two meals for you family. Heat the oven to about 350 degrees. Scrub the vegetables with a clean brush in fresh water. By roasting each vegetable separately you can create several different tasting meals from this one roasting. I use glass baking dishes or baking pans and cover each dish with aluminum foil. Parchment paper could also be used to wrap around the vegetables. I roast the potatoes whole and unpeeled. The beets keep whole and always in a dish or a pan, they can be juicy. If the beets came with the greens attached save them in the refrigerator for another meal they are delicious. (I avoid having aluminum foil touch my food, there is significant evidence there is a connection between Alzheimer's disease and accumulation of aluminum in the brain.)

Since all of the vegetable are covered and the oven isn't too hot you have about an hour to 90 minutes to do something else. Check the vegetables after about 45 min then every half hour and pull out what ever is thoroughly cooked. If you had the chance to prepare the vegetables the day before, just put them in the oven when you get home from work and you have some time to change, rest, do chores, help with home work, make the salad or stir fry your favorite protein.

One dinner idea - In a bowl put a few hot cooked cubed potatoes and any other roasted veggie with the skin on, and add your protein (for example, chickpeas, navy beans, Tofu chucks, chicken, beef, turkey, thickly sliced deli meat, chopped hard boiled eggs, almonds, cashew nuts or cottage cheese). Separately mix a small amount of olive oil or coconut oil, a tablespoon or so, and mash that with a clove or two of the roasted garlic and any herb or spice you like. Stir this into your roasted veggie-protein mix. Serve this with a salad for a complete meal. The beets are delicious cubed, (the skin practically falls off once they are cooked). Serve just as they are with a pinch of sea salt. Now while you eat dinner the balance of the vegetables cool. Refrigerate and you have lots of cooked food ready for tomorrow.

The cooked potatoes and other root veggies can be sliced, seasoned and eaten as a snack, put in a lunch box, mashed or used as the basis of the next meal. The beets, cooled and sliced can be marinated with thinly sliced onion and apple cider vinegar and kept ready for use as a salad or snack. (The best use for white vinegar is as a cleaning product; its health benefits are questionable.) The roasted garlic can be used to season the next meal, or mix it with butter or oil to use as a spread or topping.

Preparing creative lunches to go daily can be challenging. Whenever you are in the kitchen you can keep your mind alert for possible lunch items that can make your life easier. If you are slicing up any raw veggies, put a few aside in a baggie and that goes for lunch tomorrow. Red or green pepper, carrots, celery, radishes, sliced cooked seasoned potatoes, are examples. Any left over from any meal is a good possibility for the next day's lunch. Left over egg omelet can easily translate into a lunch sandwich. Sandwiches can be on different types of breads or use romaine lettuce leaves as the ëholder' for the sandwich insides. Fork mashed beans seasoned as you might tuna or egg salad make a great sandwich. As with life, a little planning and creativity goes a long way.

As the days get cooler, let your meals be hardier and use your oven more. Healthier eating will keep your immune system stronger and you and your family can look forward to a health winter season.

A list of healthy snack ideas is available by request.

Holistic Health - considers the whole person, including physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects. Massage Therapy includes manipulation of muscle and tissue to reduce chronic and acute pain and improve overall health.

Carol Crystal practices massage therapy and health counseling in Jersey City and Hoboken, NJ and can be reached at 201-913-2864 or by e-mail at CeeCrystal@aol.com