Know Your Farmer - Local is the New Organic

Yesterday was the first day of a spring/summer ritual for many  - it was opening day of our local Spring/Summer Farmer’s Market. We arrived early and the parking lot was full, and it will be weeks before any hopes of fresh produce will become a reality. The money was changing hands anyway, and people were buying everything from meats to cheese and milk to bread to plant starts.  This year even brought not one but two local organic coffee roasters! And well, you know me; coffee is one of my favorite things!

We shop almost exclusively at the Farmer’s Market for a multitude of reasons – but putting those reasons aside, how has our Farmer’s Market, and those across the nation, managed to grow so popular, so fast?

In my opinion, it’s about the quality. People want to know WHERE their food comes from, and know that the food that they put on their tables is the best quality that it can possibly be.

The Organic Consumers Association reports that traditional farmer's markets are flourishing, and not only for the fresh, seasonal produce. As consumers begin to visit these local establishments they learn that food has a history and a taste, and that there are other members of their communities, from amateur growers to professional farmers, who are eager to talk about the food on display.

While many farmers in our Market are not certified “organic”, they are using clean, hormone and pesticide free farming methods. Certification is costly, but the story behind their techniques is just a short conversation. Over the years we have picked those that farm the way we like to eat, joined their CSA’s and refer them to friends. If you are unsure just say, “do you use pesticides” they will either say yes or no, you can decide from there.

We are committed to our Farmer’s Market year round, and every other Saturday all winter long we bundled up and braved the elements to buy fresh meat, eggs, milk and cheese. Yes, the farmers travel to be there, but usually no more than 30 miles. Our food is local, our farmer’s are local, we are supporting the local economy, and at the same time eating clean, ethically grown food.

It’s a fact that eating local means more for the local economy.  According to a study by the New Economics Foundation in London, a dollar spent locally generates twice as much income for the local economy.  When businesses are not owned locally, money leaves the community at every transaction.

When you go to a conventional grocery store, how much of the food sold there is local? Probably not much. According to statistics in Brian Halweil's Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket, fruits and vegetables now travel between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to market, "an increase of roughly 20 percent in the last two decades." And that's just the produce within the U.S. Halweil says that 898 million tons of food are shipped around the planet each year, four times the amount that was shipped in 1961.

That’s mind-boggling and unsound on so many different levels that I’m not quite sure where to even start. The miles that organic food often travels to our plate creates environmental damage that outweighs the benefit of buying organic. And the environmental damage caused by corporate farming and the transport of conventional and organic food on every shelf in the supermarket is devastating.

Bottom line – local is the new organic. I feel good each and every week to go out and hand money to my local farmers in exchange for quality food. The money I hand them goes directly back into their operation, and their pocket. There is no middleman taking his cut, my money to the farmer. Period. And the quality I get in return? Priceless.

Fresher – tastier – and more nutritious, each and every time.

Know your farmer, and support your farmer’s market – your health and your community’s financial sustainability depend on it! To find a farmer’s market in your area, go to Local Harvest at http://www.localharvest.org/.

What is a Nutrition Coach?

We’ve all heard you need to eat right for your type. But do you know what your type is? Do you know what foods are working for your body, and what foods are actually working against it?

If you are physically not where you want to be, or you have health and fitness goals that appear to be just out of reach, Nutrition Coaching could be the solution. Nutrition Coaching is a unique concept, as it combines nutritional therapy with life coaching principles. A Nutrition Coach can help you incorporate change within your existing lifestyle rather than trying to direct you to make changes that are difficult to maintain.

Too often we are given a “one-size-fits-all” approach to nutrition, and I can tell you that seldom, if ever, works. Good nutrition is important for everyone. But what foods should you provide and in what quantity? Nutritional needs change throughout your lifetime and the foods and the amounts of specific nutrients required will vary based on many different factors. As a Nutrition Coach, I will offer guidance tailored to your needs using custom solutions to match your biochemistry, lifestyle, environment and outlook on life.

Through my work at Zen Life Solutions, I have seen firsthand that true health is attainable by facilitating the body's natural ability to heal itself with food, enzymes, minerals, and other nutrients that are missing from the modern diet. By identifying an ideal health-related goal, I work to help my clients develop a roadmap and support them as they take the actions necessary to reach that goal. Through lifestyle changes, dietary adaptations, and basic health-building principles, my clients are walking the path to reclaim their health and overall well-being, seeing results, and feeling better each and every day.

Nutrition Coaching has been proven to be the most effective way to achieve lasting health-building results. Through structured conversations and learning activities, you will build new eating habits that you can sustain. . . even when life gets in the way of the best intentions!

Best - Gary

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Aspartame Rebranding

When you think of the word “AminoSweet” what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Is it something not so bad for you perhaps, something that maybe, just maybe is even good? I mean – amino- sweet – two pretty innocuous terms, unless you have heard the latest health news through Dr. Mercola’s site, or you follow industry news through FoodBev 2010.

AminoSweet is the new brand name for aspartame. Aspartame is the most controversial food additive in history, and its approval for use in food was the most contested in FDA history. Aspartame producer Ajinomoto chose to rebrand it under the name AminoSweet, to “remind the industry that aspartame tastes just like sugar, and that it’s made from amino acids – the building blocks of protein that are abundant in our diet.”

A claim Dr. Mercola calls, “deception at its finest”. More than likely the choice to rebrand was made because people are becoming aware of the dangers of aspartame, and making healthier choices.

The fact is, the number one artificial sweetener that you need to watch out for is aspartame. Commonly sold under the brand names of NutraSweet, Spoonful, and Equal, aspartame will not help you feel better as you work so hard to do just that. Now I know what you're thinking, aspartame has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) so surely it's safe right? After all, it is in practically EVERYTHING from diet soda to instant breakfasts and breath mints to multivitamins and many pharmaceuticals and over the counter medications.

Well, let's start by taking a look at some aspartame highlights. One of the key ingredients in aspartame is methanol, which besides being toxic is cumulative, converting to formaldehyde in the body. As a matter of fact, methanol, or wood alcohol is the very same thing that has blinded or killed so many skid-row alcoholics. See what that can of diet soda could cost you?

Just a few of the other key ingredients in aspartame are aspartic acid, and phenylalanine – which has been suggested that in high levels it actually lowers seratonin levels, and leads to emotional disorders. In also breaks down the seizure threshold, causing manic depression and panic attacks.

According to the Aspartame Consumer Safety Network Fact Sheet, in the laboratory aspartame has produced brain tumors, breast tumors, uterine tumors, pancreatic tumors, seizures and deaths. Aspartame has also reportedly led to suicidal depressions, panic attacks and anxiety, sleep disorders, mood disorders, brain chemical imbalances, and personaility disorders. It has also been reported to exacerbate or trigger the onset of epilepsy, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia, and that's just for starters.

Think about what aspartame, now known as “AminoSweet” has been reported to do next time you reach for that diet soda…and find a healthier alternative.

Chocolate – Yes, It Really IS Good For You!

The Mayans did it. The Aztecs did it. And now you can do it too – guilt free. What is it? One of my favorite things in the world – Chocolate.

Cocoa powder and chocolate are gaining recognition in the scientific community as a rich source of fiber, proteins, and vitamins including A, E, and folic acid. The compound in chocolate that is gaining the attention however, is flavonoids.

Flavonoids are naturally-occurring compounds found in plant-based foods recognized as providing certain health benefits. Flavonoids are found in a wide array of foods and beverages, like cranberries, apples, peanuts, chocolate, onions, tea and red wine. There are more than 4,000 flavonoid compounds; flavonoids are a subgroup of a large class called polyphenols. 

In terms of chocolate, ClevelandClinic.org writes that flavonoids provide important protective benefits to plants, such as in repairing damage and shielding from environmental toxins. When we consume plant-based foods rich in flavonoids, it appears that we also benefit from this “antioxidant” power because flavonoids may help reduce the cell damage that can spur tumor growth.

It doesn’t stop there; LiveScience.com reported today that a new study suggests that chocolate may decrease your risk of stroke as well as your risk of cardiovascular disease. Science Daily also writes that the "chocolate cure" for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research. It found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed.  

Okay, so we have a good source of fiber, proteins, and vitamins that contains flavonoids that have antioxidant properties AND can reduce your risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease and decrease your stress levels – and its in chocolate. Yes, chocolate.

Before you head out to the grocery store though, it’s important to note that not all chocolate is created equal. If you’re going to eat chocolate and you hope to get any health benefits out of it, you had better make it dark, like at least 70% dark. Which is also, coincidentally, my favorite!

Dark chocolate contains a lot more cocoa than other forms of chocolate. And standard chocolate manufacturing destroys up to half of the flavonoids. But chocolate companies have now learned to make dark chocolate that keeps up to 95% of its flavonoids, and generally, dark chocolate contains far fewer ingredients.

As with anything, make it organic, and if you doubt me on this one, check this out, unless chocolate is organic it contains pesticide residue and here is what some of those FDA approved levels of residues do to you – negatively affect digestive system tissue, genetic damage, effects on reproduction, carcinogenicity; can lead to acute toxicity, thyroid effects, nerve degeneration; not to mention an increased risk of central nervous system disruption. None of which sounds like a good time.

Eat your chocolate, and remember to make it dark – make it organic – and make it soon!

Here’s to your health!

Tip of the Week - New Year, New You?

People around the world see the new year as the perfect time for a new set of resolutions for change. For some, that could mean a new gym membership or treadmill for the spare bedroom. For others, more time and energy could be the goals, or maybe even focus or clarity to make changes or tackle a long neglected project or dream.

Bottom line, whether you want to lose weight or have more energy or focus, streamlining your foods is a crucial first step. True health, and the changes you need to make to attain it, can be found in your kitchen and the foods you buy to stock it.

The first step, or tip for this week, is to take the process out of your diet…and by process, I mean, processed foods.

Processed food is made from real food that has been put through devitalizing chemical processes and is infused with chemicals and preservatives. According to Reader’s Digest, ninety percent of Americans' household food budget is spent on processed foods, the majority of which are filled with additives and stripped of nutrients. As a matter of fact, most processed foods are laden with sweeteners, salts, artificial flavors, factory-created fats, colorings, chemicals that alter texture, and preservatives. But the trouble is not just what's been added, but what's been taken away. Processed foods are often stripped of nutrients designed by nature, such as soluble fiber, antioxidants, and "good" fats. Combine that with additives, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Tara Gidus RD, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association was recently quoted on WEB MD as saying, “We live in a society that eats so much processed and manufactured food, that I think there's some genuine confusion about what qualifies as a whole food. When you eat whole foods, you're getting the food in its natural state. You're getting it intact, with all of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that are in the food."

Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as sugar, salt, or fat. Examples of whole foods include unpolished grains; fruits and vegetables; unprocessed meat, poultry, and fish; and non-homogenized milk.

In my experience, whole food is what my grandmother cooked. In a typical shopping trip, I buy staples - cheese, yogurt, potatoes, rice, fruits and vegetables, my meats thankfully come from a local farmer, as do many of my seasonal fruits and vegetables. And that’s what it is, staples, that’s what I buy, that’s what I cook.

It took some time, to take the process out of my diet – but the end result has been worth it. I have lost weight, have more energy, more focus, and less of the seasonal colds and flus. Eliminating every guilty pleasure in life is not the end goal here, and not a particularly realistic approach to making changes, especially in the beginning. I mean, let’s fact it, we all enjoy the occasional cheeseburger, order of fries, or bag of chips. This elimination of processed foods is a process. Moderation is the first step, and then you will find yourself moving from mainstay to moderation and eventually to elimination.

Keep it simple, look for things you can pronounce and maybe even recognize. Make sure it has the fewest ingredients, and when possible, go organic. You can easily avoid additives and the health problems they may cause by eating fresh, locally grown unprocessed foods. Make matters easier and try to cook most of your foods from scratch, using clean, natural or organic products. As you start to read the labels in the grocery stores, you will find yourself buying less convenience foods and more of the kinds of foods you cook, or better yet, incorporate more raw foods into your diet, as cooking removes many of the nutrients, including enzymes our body uses to actually digest the food we are eating. With increasing organic selections, you may put a little more work into your meal, but your body will definitely thank you for it. By taking the time to really feed your body with good, clean, foods, you will begin to feel better, faster. It truly is one of the best things you can do for yourself as you work to put your resolutions in action and reclaim your health, and your life.

Listen To Your Own Truth

Be Willing to Accept the Disapproval of Others – one of the essential principles for finding your way to an Inspired Life, and according to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, a way of making sure that inspiration is your master or driving force, even through following it might disappoint others.

“When we begin to follow our ultimate calling, there will be a lot of resistance,” Dyer writes. “In fact, the purpose of the slings and arrows sent our way is to get us to change our mind and be reasonable, which translates into “Do it my way!”

 

This section in Dyer’s book, Inspiration, follows the thread I began with A Matter of Focus last month, which discusses the “shoulds” placed on us by our friends, family and community at large – what we “should” be doing for a living, where we “should” live, where we “should” educate our kids, what kind of opportunities they “should” have, what types of vacations we “should” take, and on and on and on it goes. What we “should” do however, is what we feel driven to do, what takes our breath away, what we feel is our purpose.

As I discussed in A Matter of Focus, “shoulds” are everywhere. And really, until the past few years, I could have easily been dubbed the Queen of the Shoulds. But something changed….I started to feel a sense of unhappiness I couldn’t shake. I couldn’t identify it, I couldn’t wrap my head around it, heck I couldn’t even shop it away. And believe me, I tried.

Let me give you an example from my own life. Several years ago, I had a great job with a local governmental agency as a writer. A dream job for many, filled with benefits, retirement plans and a crazy number of paid holidays. But it was flat. There was no spark, no joy, no excitement. It was words on a page, day in, and day out. It wasn’t the words I wanted to write, or the stories I wanted to tell. It was words for hire.

But wait, state job, paid benefits, so what, right? Wrong. The reason I started writing in the first place, the reason that words had carried me this far was because I had passion. Passion for telling the story, sharing lessons from the journey, bringing the truth to light, being the voice for the voiceless, a true breathtaking passion for the art and craft of writing. And with the job, telling the same story a million different ways was not doing anything but killing that passion and removing the joy that brought me into the field in the first place. I thought…and I thought…and I thought, and with nothing but belief in the dream I quit. Walked away from a state job, walked away from benefits, paid holidays and stability and ran straight back into the realm of freelancing.

Talk about slings and arrows – wow! My parents were flabbergasted, and probably thought I had lost my mind. My friends thought I was making a horrible mistake. Heck, even my ex husband called to see if I had gone insane. But I knew….just knew I was making the right decision.

The same type of decision I am once again consciously making as I turn away some freelance projects in search of more space for my growing coaching practice and the writing associated with that. There is passion, and it is something I feel called to do. Ultimately, we do what is before us, we do what we are compelled to do. We grow, we change, and we move with it. And when we listen to that voice, to our authentic selves, we make these moves and changes with grace and ease.

That grace and ease will also enable us to be stronger in our decisions, because believe me when I say, slings, arrows, anger and disapproval will come as soon as you deviate from the “path” that has been set before you. The path of “shoulds”, “woulds” and “ought-tos”, guarded diligently by friends, family and the community at large.

Dyer sums it up beautifully as he writes, “As we gain the strength to ignore the pressure to conform, resistance will diminish and ultimately change to respect. When we steadfastly refuse to think, act, and conform to the mandates of others, the pressure to do so loses its momentum. All we have to do is endure some initial disapproval such as dogmatic persuasion, anger, pouting, silence, and long-winded lectures…and then we’re on our way to inspiration rather than frustration.”

Think about it…do you want to be frustrated or inspired? Do you want to look at what you should do, or do you want to think about what you could do? Do you want to walk the walk and talk the talk or do you want to tune it all out and just dance? Get inspired, dance the dance, and savor the journey. And bottom line, listen to your own truth, not the opinions of others.

Enjoy Every Moment

Stay Detached from Outcomes – one of the essential principles for finding your way to an Inspired Life, and according to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, a key element for living fully in the moment.

“Our purpose in life isn’t to arrive at a destination where we find inspiration, just as the purpose of dancing isn’t to end up at a particular spot on the floor,” Dyer writes. “The purpose of dancing – and of life – is to enjoy every moment and every step, regardless of where we are when the music ends.”

This section in Dyer’s book, Inspiration, really spoke to me on a number of levels. As he writes, many of us are seduced into believing that having goals is necessary for a successful life. Too much focus on the goal, or on the prize can in all actuality keep us from feeling inspired because we are living a life of striving while foregoing arriving.

A huge spiritual truth, discussed by Dyer, Eckhart Tolle in The Power of Now, and many, many other spiritual teachers, is that there is only Now. Think about it, just this moment.

I had a teacher share that with me once during a session, while exploring my fears. He simply looked at me and said, “You are too worried about the past, too fearful of the future when in all reality you have only this moment, and this one, and this one and this one. Moment by moment we live our lives and it is our responsibility to savor each moment and to celebrate and live it fully.”

Goals, if we place too much emphasis on them, can rob us of that ability. If we have our eye on the prize continually, if we are driven by our to-do lists, and we measure our worth at the end of each day by the amount of tasks we were able to accomplish, we are striving, not arriving.

If we instead take a moment, a Now moment, meditate, dream, and listen for our direction, we will naturally go there. If we make goals less about measurable accomplishment and more about the love of the journey, things will naturally fall into place. If we trust that the same force that brought us here and has supported us each and every day of our lives will not fail us now, we will be amazed at the outcome.

Think for a moment about goals. They are fluid and ever-changing.

When I get this or that, I will be happy…
When I get a promotion, I can start working a few less hours and enjoy life a bit more…
When the kids are in school, I will write that book…
When I get two books published, I will go to Europe…
When the house is paid for, I will look at getting this or that…
When I…When I…When I…

By the time you arrive at a When I, chances are, there are three more When I’s that have been put in place, so the happy, or the inspiration, or the this or that can’t happen yet, because another goal or When I has to be accomplished first.

Goals can be worthwhile, and are definitely useful to help us move with direction along our path…as long as they don’t rob us of our worth and take away from the enjoyment of the journey.

Goals and dreams can serve as guides, but should not define us, and should not take away from the moment.

Take a moment to look around you. What do you see? Can you take a deep breath, stretch, and savor this moment, and the next one, and the next? Can you focus on the dance and enjoy the journey? Or do you have too many things on your to-do list?

Put the list down and listen to the music – dance the dance yet again, that’s the essence of the journey. Choose this moment to arrive.