Mindful Eats

Buy Local Plants for Garden and Home

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.  ~Hanna Rion

MindfulEats loves and envies home gardeners. Given our druthers, we would till a plot of land and raise our own chickens, but it's hard to do in Manhattan (and underappreciated by both neighbors and chickens). 

Home gardening fits nicely into the trends of being thrifty and healthy. You know exactly what goes into your food, and you get to see the cycle of life. Cool. While your labor in your garden affects you directly, it can also affect large commercial farmers. Who knew?

Since we don't have a garden, we spend quality time at the farmers' market. This summer we waited for the tomatoes to show up, but they never really did. We were shocked when Dan Barber, celebrated organic restauranteur (Blue Hill), explained the mystery. A wicked case of tomato blight jumped from home gardens to commercial farmers and decimated the Northeast tomato crop!

If you're not growing your plants from seed, where you buy your plants makes a difference. Popular plant retailers like Home Depot, Lowe's and Wal-Mart, buy their stock from industrial breeding operations thousands of miles away. These plants can be bad since they:

1. can be infected with disease (like blight)
2. are not local varieties that are bred to resist local challenges

It may seem cheaper to buy your plants from Home Depot, but if the plant dies and spreads disease to other plants, it's not really cheaper. The best thing to do with plants (for your garden or home) is to buy local, since the grower can supply a wealth of advice, and is ultimately responsible for the quality of his plants. Dan says it much more eloquently than I do, so read his op-ed on home gardens.

What to do - Buying Plants

1. Yay for buying plants! You are either a savvy gardener, or beautifying your environment.  
2. Ask around and find a respected local plant retailer. You can pick their brains for advice. Ask them what you should do if the plant has a disease or fares poorly (they should give you your money back and help if the plant spreads disease to the other plants. If they don't, go elsewhere). Avoid the Wal-Marts and Home Depots that stock industrial plants since they won't do anything for you, and they won't have the advice.
3. Develop a relationship. Go back to the grower for more plants, advice, or both.

What I ate: 12 oz. vegetable juice, 2 peaches, strawberries, spaghetti + tomatoes + garlic + basil + ollive oil, 1 banana, 2 cups coffee, nuts, cheddar cheese, dinner from Whole Foods salad bar: basmati rice, chicken tikka masala, seaweed salad, seitan red curry, bok choy, 24 oz. Gatorade, 12 oz. chocolate milk, 16 oz. coconut water, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 4 mile warmup/cool down, 4.2 miles hills

Red Mango Probiotic Iced Tea

 Red Mango, Bleeker Street, NYC

The gut is an ecosystem, just as much as the rainforests and the oceans ~Dr. Vincent Young, University of Michigan Medical School

We sometimes call ourselves a top blog. But only as a joke, and only in our heads, because we're really a small secret blog for those in the know (you). So imagine our surprise when a Red Mango PR person emailed us as "one of the nation's leading bloggers" to see if we wanted to try their new probiotic iced tea. They had obviously conducted many online searches to find MindfulEats, so we said yes.

They sent us a $5 gift card, which bought us one (1) small Red Mango probiotic iced tea. We were tempted to buy frozen yogurt instead, but realized that was the worse option. 

The 16 oz. version is $2.99, and the large 24 oz. is $3.45. There are three flavors: 

• Vanilla Black Tea (Mysteaque)
• Wildberry Hibiscus Tea (Fanteasia)
• Lemonade Green Tea (Lemonocity) 

We chose the Lemonade Green Tea since we didn't know what a wildberry was, and green tea is loaded with antioxidants.

It was refreshing. The first things we noticed was that there was no flavor from the added probiotics, and the tea was very sweet (more than we like). It also settled a post-run queasy stomach, which was an unexpected bonus. 

Overall, it's iced tea with the addition of bacillus coagulans. It's not fermented like kombucha - in fact, it may be the only nonfermented probiotic we've had so we're not sure how it works. However, the bacteria in it is patented to be extremely stable. We don't like how sweetened it is, but the ingredient list is simple:

• tea
• cane sugar
• natural flavoring (whatever that is - we asked the PR person and never heard back)
• bacillus coagulans GB-30 6086
• citric acid

It's 87-93 calories per 16 oz serving, which isn't bad. We're skeptical of Red Mango's claim that it is the first probiotic iced tea, since kombucha exists, but they could make worse claims. 

Bottom line: Probiotics are good for you, and this iced tea tastes only like iced tea. If that gets you to eat more probiotics, go for it! The iced tea is a good alternative if you are with friends that want a frozen yogurt, and you feel like something light and not as artificial.

What I ate: 14 oz. vegetable juice, banana, yogurt + blueberries + strawberries, raspberry tea, coffee, macadamia nuts, 6 squares dark chocolate, vegetable fried rice, roasted turkey, salt and pepper popchips, strawberries, cherries, fried chicken, kale, broccolini, kefir, milk, coconut water, water

Exercise: Ran 7 miles (3 miles hills)

Exercise makes you healthy, not thin?

You're not obligated to win. You're obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day. ~Marian Wright Edelman

Let's be perfectly clear - you need four things to be healthy: whole foods, clean water, enough sleep and exercise. We'll repeat it again. You need exercise. You're minding your diet, which is awesome - make sure you are mindful about exercise. Exercise keeps your heart healthy, your brain sharp, diabetes at bay... and your muscles toned. And just as important as exercise is NOT being obese.

A recent Time article came states that exercise won't help you lose weight. It suggests that for most people, vigorous exercise makes you:

1. Eat MORE because you're hungry and think that you deserve it. Lots of people think this - I ran an 8K with my family over the Fourth of July, and my cousin stopped at Krispy Kreme after the race. She thought it was a reward for being virtuous, but the 200 calories in a doughnut negates the calories burned in a slow run. (Sorry cuz). She wasn't alone in her faulty math since we ran into a lot of other runners from the race.
2. Move less than you normally would. After vigorous exercise, a lot of people put their feet up instead of continuing on with their normal activities.

None of this matters if your goal is just to get healthy - do the exercise!

If you want to lose weight, you should still exercise. You also need to portion control. In losing weight, portion control is more effective. The inviolate principle behind losing weight is simple - expend more calories than you need to maintain your weight. Reading the Time article is helpful, since it gives you greater awareness of what to watch out for - don't reward yourself with excess calories, and keep moving. You can lose weight - just plan and know the pitfalls to watch out for.

What to do - Exercise

1. You need to exercise to be healthy. It will save you money since you will have less health-related issues, you'll feel great, and you'll be setting a great example for the kids. This post on mindful exercise will help you get started.
2. Turn exercise into a habit. Don't reward yourself - if you do, give yourself a healthy treat like extra time to read a book or your favorite fruit. You don't reward yourself with a piece of candy for brushing your teeth, do you?
3. If you are trying to lose weight, exercise is additive. You don't need to rest. Carry on with your regular like, and don't eat any extra calories.

The Time article definitely struck a chord with me since vigorous exercise makes me gain weight. I am in my second season of marathon training, and this week will clock ~37 miles. I'm also the heaviest that I've ever weighed. Last year, I also gained weight during training. I don't mind, since I feel fitter than usual. The weight came off after the marathon, but during the season I definitely eat more and spend much of my nonrunning time being lazy. Experiment - keep a food and exercise log and see what happens!

Want to learn more?

• The Time article, Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin, and a New York Magazine article that makes similar claims
• SparkPeople on the mechanics of why exercise doesn't make you lose fat (you burn glycogen instead of fat)
• Refuting the Time article: LA Times

What I ate: 14 oz. coconut water, 14 oz. vegetable juice, Barbara's Bakery Puffins cereal + blueberries + 2% milk, small latte, 2 coffees, sauteed salmon + spinach + shitaake mushrooms, quinoa, 1 plum, Mindful Mix, 2 apricots, 2 cups popcorn, Barilla Plus spaghetti (yuck), raw tomatoes + garlic + basil, blueberries, baked tofu, chicken, 14 oz. milk, 50 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 5 miles

Contest - Mindful Eats Tagline and Logo

Dear Mindful Eater, MindfulEats is excited to announce a slogan and logo contest.

Why MindfulEats?  

Submit a tagline, a logo or BOTH, and if selected, your handiwork can end up on a t-shirt! 

OF COURSE, you will get a free t-shirt, bragging rights, and all the PR that we can muster (unless you're shy). You can even put it on your resume. And we will be eternally grateful.

Post your entry as a comment or email it to jean at mindful eats dot com.

xo

What I ate: 2 bananas, coconut water, Mindful Mix, spaghetti + tomatoes + basil + garlic + olive oil, 2 apricots, blueberries, strawberries, 1 hardboiled egg, rice + seaweed ball, popcorn, Morandi: minestrone soup, 1/2 linguine + shrimp + cherry tomatoes, 1/2 spaghetti with bolognese, broccoli rabe

Exercise: Ran 10.4 miles

Study says organic food is not healthier

 Bowl of rainier cherries - good for you and one of the dirty dozen in terms of pesticides

Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt. ~H.L. Mencken

A recent U.K. review on organic food studies concluded that organic food is not more nutritious than conventionally grown food. People are in an uproar! Bloggers are freaking out! Calm down folks, it's ok. MindfulEats is not surprised by the results, nor do we think it's the end of the earth. We actually think the review is awesome, because there's a lack of solid research in this area. Let's break it down:

First, let's look at the study. It's actually a review of studies by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that was published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition July 2009. The goal was to try to determine whether there's a difference in nutrient quantity between organic and conventionally grown foods (produce and livestock.) To figure this out, the team found 52,471 articles on the topic in a 50 year period from 1958-2008. They then slogged through them and found 162 actual studies, of which only 55 were deemed satisfactory quality. How cool is that? A smart group of people looked at all the existing studies they could find, figured out what was good, then combed through it for conclusions. Awesome.

What did they determine? From the studies they looked at. there was no significant difference between nutrients in conventionally grown and organically grown foods. Nutrients are things like Vitamin A, B, and C. The important thing to remember is that they weren't looking at other items like antioxidents or toxins.

Bottom Line - if you are feeding you and those you love whole foods, no matter how they are grown, you are doing a great job. Pat yourself on the back. Whole foods have much more nutrition than processed food, any day of the year.

If you can afford a little more and buy organic food, that's even better. There are some foods (like spinach) that have higher concentrations of nutrients like iron, but what you are really buying is food that is pesticide free. Organic food is grown without chemicals, so it takes much more manual effort and provides less yield. That is why it is more expensive. Some evidence suggests that organically grown food has more antioxidents. Even though studies have not (yet) demonstrated that pesticides can harm you, why bother waiting? You get enough toxins in your daily life (pollution, car fumes, furniture), why consciously add more? And you are taking care of the environment.

What to do

1. Eat more whole foods. It's always cheaper and better for you than processed.
2. If you can afford organic, do so. If you are buying only part of your food organic, focus on meat, dairy, then the dirty dozen produce items.

Want to learn more?

• The review by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
• MindfulEats: The Low-Down on Organics
• Refuting the study: Beyond Pesticides and the Huffington Post

What I ate: 14 oz. vegetable juice, 2 hard boiled eggs, 10 oz. kefir, 1 banana, whole wheat spaghetti + basil + tomatoes + olive oil + garlic + spinach, 1 slice cheese pizza, 1 slice chocolate cake, 1 Gatorade, 3 slices Flying Pigs smoked tenderloin, macadamia nuts, Dale & Thomas movie popcorn, 1 cucumber, blueberries, cherries, 16 oz. milk, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, 5x 800m w 200 m recovery, 1.5 mile cool down

Sustainable Seafood - the Controversy

Panama City Beach, FL

We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. ~Mother Teresa

My family hails from an island of fisherman, so I grew up eating seafood. I didn't really think about it, it was just a staple. I ate anything as a kid (except for cilantro and onions, yuck), but at some point, stymied by animal farming practices, I stopped eating meat and relied on seafood and plant sources for protein. At that time, the oceans were teeming, and it was the sustainable choice.

Now that it's become fairly easy to find small production, humanely grown animals, I started eating meat again and cut way back on my seafood consumption. Things have flipped, and its now seafood that has become a thorny, complicated issue. 

Demand for seafood has soared as more people choose it for health benefits and the global population increases. But all this seafood love is unsustainable - our oceans are being killed through overfishing and environmental damage. Mark Bittman wrote a great article on the issues confronting seafood.

Why is seafood so controversial? Catching and eating seafood causes several issues:

1. Catching seafood damages the environment. Most seafood is trawled for or dragged. This means huge nets are weighted down (often to the sea floor), and dragged. This is bad for two reasons: 
   • It hurts the seabed and crushes a living habitat that takes years to regenerate
   • Lots of animals are captured and killed as bycatch - according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, 25% of the sea animals accidentally caught are discarded. This includes sea turtles, dolphins, seals and whales. 
2. We are overfishing several popular species of fish, causing fisheries to collapse. This means that we are catching fish faster than they can reproduce. Not good. Populations are getting smaller, and we start catching the fish even younger, which doesn't give them a chance to recover. Once the populations are gone, it's forever. Cod, bluefin tuna, Chilean seabass are examples of overfished populations. Check out our resources page for lists of sustainable seafood.
3. Farmed seafood can be unhealthy and unenvironmental. Just as industrial animal farming produces chemically produced meat, aquaculture often produces weaker, chemical-ridden seafood. Many fish (like salmon) eat other fish, and when they're farmed, thousands are penned into small spaces so they don't get the chance to grow strong as they would in the wild. Antibiotics are used to keep disease down (large numbers breed disease), and tons of fecal matter harms the environment. Sometimes these substandard fish escape and breed with wild fish, lowering the quality of wildlife. When you buy these fish, their meat is usually paler in color so they are injected with dye to make them look more appetizing. Yuck. Shrimp farming is also an ecological disaster. Mangrove forests are cut down to make way for shrimp, and when the area stops being productive, the farm moves to cut down another forest. HOWEVER, some seafood that can be environmentally farmed like mussels, clams, oysters and vegetarian fish like tilapia. 

Our oceans are under direct threat, but you can have a positive impact on our oceans by being mindful about seafood.

What to do: Choose Seafood Mindfully

1. Cut down on your seafood consumption. There are lots of artisan farmers now, so if you have a hankering for flesh, you can choose humanely and happily grown meat.
2. Be mindful and choose sustainable seafood. Our resources page has lists of sustainable seafood. When you find a seafood that is sustainable, ask how it was caught. Trawling or dragging are bad, longlining, hook and line fishing, and trap fishing are better. Buy the fish that is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (Whole Foods now has some MSC-certified fish).
3. Ask questions at your seafood restaurant. Check that the seafood is sustainable and ask about it. Is it wild or farmed?  How was it caught?
4. Replace seafood with easily farmed fish like tilapia or mussels.
5. Are you looking for Omega-3's? Eat walnuts, flaxseeds, eggs, etc.
6. Enjoy the ocean and learn more about it. Go to the beach and catch some waves. Learn to sail or scuba dive. Snorkel. There's a whole world in there, and your kids will love it!

Want to learn more? Check out these articles:

• Mark Bittman, Loving Fish, this Time with the Fish in Mind 
• The Slow Cook on seafood
• Monterey Bay Aquarium on Ocean Issues

What I ate: 14 oz. coconut water, 14 oz. vegetable juice, 1 handful Mindful Mix, Whole Foods plain yogurt + flaxseeds + strawberries + blueberries, 2 handfuls blueberries, 2 handfuls cherries, 1 large latte, cantalope, 2 hardboiled eggs, Thai dinner: Pad See-Ew, fried tilapia, sticky rice

Exercise: ran 6 miles