Mindful Eats

Paula Deen is a Waste

  Paula Deen photo from the Huffington Post, 1/24/12 

The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. ~William James

Paula Deen's diabetes announcement happened nearly three weeks ago, and she still makes me mad. I have to take a break from our regularly scheduled program for a rant.

We ask very young athletes to be role models and hold them to high standards of behavior. LeBron James was razzed mercilessly when he left the Cleveland Cavaliers at the age of 26 in 2010. Tim Tebow receives intense scrutiny at the age of 25. Tiger Woods. Enough said. These people didn't ask to be famous - they were given amazing athletic ability and worked hard. Should they be role models? I'm not so sure. What about more mature, accidentally famous people like US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger who was held up as a role model after he successfully crash landed his plane into the Hudson River without losing a single person? Sully was 58 and never asked for fame. He did his job admirably and held up gracefully as an old-school role model under public pressure.

Paula Deen is a 64 year old fame whore that has just been gifted the opportunity to be an inspiring role model. Without a great deal of discernable talent, she doggedly pursued fame and money by shilling fatty fried food and saturated fats. She achieved her goal. That in itself is admirable.

Then she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and hid it for three years so she could continue flogging fatty foods that are hurtful to diabetics and those susceptible to it. If she were young and didn't know any better, that would be shameful. However, she is a 64 year old grandmother. Elders in society should display wisdom. If they are fame chasers, they should be role models. Paula Deen makes me sick. She did neither. Instead of highlighting healthy lifestyle changes, she chose to highlight a drug (Americans love quick fixes) for cash.

Ms. Deen also denies responsibility for pushing unhealthy recipes by telling Al Roker, "I've always eaten in moderation." Mindful Readers, this is a joke. Her physique belies her. Ms. Deen says that though she always ate in moderation, she is now eating lighter and increasing her exercise. The "increased" physical activity she is adding? She says she is walking with her husband more (up to a mile!) and running after her grandkids now. People, grandparents are supposed to run after their grandkids. If they were too unhealthy to do it before, that is a serious problem. And her diet? She wants to show you can continue enjoying food. Hello? Whole foods in their prime ARE delicious. What is wrong with her? Just in case you wanted to argue 60 year olds can't be in shape, here is a photo of 62 year old Vera Wang from a recent Harper's Bazzar interview, who probably has no problem chasing after her kids.

What could Paula Deen do? I would be awed if she used her diagnosis and her fame to be an inspirational role model. She could determinedly set her pudgy jowls, look her fans in the eyes, and say "Y'all know that I have type 2 diabetes. Being fat, not being active, and eating unhealthy foods for years did not help. Now that I have personally learned about how food, exercise, obesity and disease are interrelated, I am very sorry for the food I have encouraged America to eat in the past. I commit to y'all that I am going to manage my diabetes with a healthier lifestyle. I commit to losing 30 pounds through exercise and diet. Watch and support me on this journey." 

It's not too late, Paula Deen. Prove me wrong. Inspire us. 

Want to learn more?

• Did Paula Den's Diet Cause Her Diabetes?
• The Paula Deen Debacle on Eater

 

What I ate today: 1 grapefruit, 1 pear, latte, 2 slices multigrain toast with butter, 10 Rising Moon Organics wild chantarelle ravioli + Rao's marinara sauce, biriyana rice + tikka masala sauce, saag paneer, macrobiotic noodles, dried squid, spelt berries, haricort verts, shrimp, 1 Crumbs Blackout cupcake, hot chocolate, 45 oz. water

Exercise: jogged 3 miles, 120 situps, 7 pushups, 25 tricep bends, 3 backbends

 

Benefits of Alcohol - or is it Bad?

Alcohol gives you infinite patience for stupidity. ~Sammy Davis Jr.

Alcohol is intertwined with human history. Ancient Greeks had drinking parties, or symposia, which could be celebratory events or debacles. The modern Greek system (as in college fraternities) continues this tradition today in almost the same format but without togas.

So is drinking alcohol good or bad for you? Like so many answers in MindfulEats, the answer is it's usually fine in moderation BUT it depends. Research indicates that moderate alcohol drinking may provide health benefits. Most of the health benefits seems to come from red wine, which has resveratrol and flavonoids as well as other antioxidants. The resveratol may help reduce the risk of heart disease and heart attacks. These are all available in other foods like grape juice, tea and dark chocolate.

If you don't currently drink, there is no reason to start drinking to get these benefits.

For those of you that do/have had a drink, you know that people react in different ways. Drinking can be pleasurable - it can help you "unwind" and it can make you funnier and more talkative. There's also the flip side, when the demon pops out and you end up apologizing the next day for being overserved. It definitely dampens your judgement. George W. Bush quit drinking completely one morning - I'm guessing the quitting included a massive apology for the evening before. We all know people that quit - whether for a while or forever. Like caffeine, you should be mindful of how much you drink and why. Drinking can be a slippery slope. If you need a glass, or three, to unwind and be funny, that's a problem. Find other ways to unwind (and I know it's hard to believe, but you really aren't any funnier). If you need a drink to face certain situations, that's a problem. If you're an alcoholic or you know someone that is, get help.

Drinking also makes you fat. They're known as empty calories since they don't add any nutrition (except for that moderate glass of red wine). On average:

• Beer, 12 oz, 149 calories
• Light Beer, 12 oz, 110 calories
• Red wine, 4 oz, 80 calories
• Dry white wine, 4 oz, 85 calories
• Sweet white wine, 4 oz, 105 calories
• Liquer (vodka, gin, whisky, etc), 1 oz, 65 calories
• Sweet Liquer (Drambuie, Cointreau, Kahlua, etc), 1.5 oz, 188 calories
• Champagne, 4 oz, 84 calories
• Margarita, 4 oz, 168 calories

Toss back a few of those and you've added some insta-pounds.

So what's moderation? Obviously it depends on size and gender, but the general rule of thumb is two drinks a night for men (14 a week) and one for women (7 a week). And that doesn't mean a week's worth in one night.

Want to learn more?

• Mayo Clinic Guidelines: Keep it Moderate
• American Heart Association on Wine and Heart Disease
• Alcohol Calorie Calculator
• Beer Calories: This cool site lists your beer, calories and alcohol content

 

What I ate: 2 lattes, hardboiled egg, grapefruit, 2 oranges, Stacy's Naked Pita Chips, Cedar hummus, Mindful Mix, Early Bird Aloha granola, whole wheat spaghetti + Rao's Siciliana sauce, multigrain salmon + avocado sushi, 12 oz coconut water, 45 oz water 

Exercise: slow 10 miles, 40 min yoga

 

Sitting Will Kill You

Lizard sitting so much a pigeon sits on it 

Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. ~Chinese Proverb

Some recent news on sitting reported in the New York Times will make some of you very happy, and some of you not-so-happy. You know that your body is meant to move and you exercise regularly since it's important for your health. Awesome. Well, it turns out your body is REALLY meant to move. Extended periods of sitting cause muscular change that can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and other bad stuff. Your body shuts down at a metabolic level, and exercise doesn't undo it.

How do we know this? Scientists recently parsed some data from a study on men's exercise habits in 1982 (done by researchers affiliated with the Cooper Institute in Dallas), and they found that men who spent more than 23 hours a week watching TV or sitting in their cars had a 64% greater chance if dying from heart disease than men who sat 11 hours a week or less. Even active exercisers didn't get a pass.

Recent animal studies show that mice or rats who aren't allowed to move around normally quickly develop unhealthy cellular change.

Adults spend 9+ hours per day in sedentary activities: work, commuting, playing video games, reading, Internetting, watching videos.

You've got to move your body or lose it! Fidgeters are delighted by this news. For those that like to couch potato it or sit in front of a computer for hours, you have to strategize a little. The good thing is that you can counteract sitting by adding as much movement into your day as you can.

What to do - Move Your Body

1. Exercise. Even though sitting is bad, it's still important to exercise.
2. Identify the times that you spend time sitting. It might be at work, commuting, or watching TV.
3. Try to get up once or twice an hour when sitting to pace around. Set an alarm. You can also get a desk that allows you to stand instead of sit.
4. Combine TV watching with household chores. "Home activities" like cleaning, straightening, and changing lightbulbs require more energy than sitting.
5. Make your commute active. Walk or bike to work and to do chores. Stand on the train. Park as far away from the entrance as possible.

Want to learn more?

• The Men Who Stare At Screens, NYT 
• Sitting Disease
• Mindul Exercise
• Standing Desk

What I ate: blueberries, cherries, strawberries, tomatos, 24 oz. coconut water, 16 oz. vegetable juice, milk, acai juice, Raw Milk Cheddar NYCheese, mahon cheese, whole wheat fusilli+heirloom tomatoes+garlic scape+basil+parmesan, Mindful Mix (macadamias, almonds, walnuts, goji berries, cranberries), 4 slice dried mangos,  Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip ice cream, 40 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 8 miles

What You Can Do About Antibiotic Use in Animals

Industrial pig farm. Photo via honestmeat.com

There's a better way to do it. Find it! ~Thomas Edison

One of the problems with industrial farming is the use of antibiotics. 70% of antibiotics in the U.S. go to the animals. Unlike human use, industrial farmers feed it to their animals daily to prevent sickness and accelerate growth. That's like feeding your kids antibiotics every day (for the rest of their lives) as soon as they start nursery school so you can 1) fit more kids in a class and 2) prevent them all from catching each others' colds. Yup, that's crazy. BUT, you can do something about it! This overactive drugging impacts you because:

• It creates superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics (like MRSA). Bacteria become exposed to antibiotics, and then the ones that survive are no longer resistant. It's kind of like a vaccine for bugs.
• You end up drinking antibiotics. The drugs end up as runoff in land and water. There are more and more drugs showing up in our water supply. If I want any, I'd rather take it myself, thanks.
• You can end up eating antibiotics. If the meat or milk you ingest was fed antibiotics, it can end up in you. Yuck.
• Farm workers are getting sick from handling animals. They end up with infections that are drug-resistant (like MRSA). That's sad. 

It's taken a while, but the government is beginning to agree it's crazy. The Department of Agriculture, FDA and Center for Disease Control are all urging farmers to stop feeding antibiotics to their animals. There are hearings on Capitol Hill this week, and a draft bill in Congress banning the use of antibiotics in healthy animals. The farm industry is fighting back hard since the drugs allow them to cram more animals in a small area, and the animals also grow faster with the drugs. It will take years before any laws are actually enacted, but you can impact them and you can avoid antibiotics in your food now.

What to do - Avoid Animal Antibiotics

1. Buy responsibly produced meat, dairy and eggs. Look for labels that say grass-fed, pasture-fed, free-range or organic. You can buy directly from growers at farmer's markets, where you can ask if they use antibiotics, or just ask the butcher how the animals are grown.
2. Don't eat industrially-produced meat at restaurants. Ask your waiter what farms the animals are from - are they from responsible farms or raised industrially?
3. Contact your Congressmen and tell them to support the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA). Here's an easy way to act on PAMTA.

Want to learn more?

• What is industrial farming? (Mindful Eats)
• CBS News on guidelines for antibiotic usage in animals
• CBS News on impact of antibiotics in animals
• Pew Campaign on saving antibiotics
• WebMD on MRSA

What I ate: blueberries, cherries, strawberries, tomato, Teas Tea white tea, chocolate milk, 1 latte, Seeds of Change rice pilaf, raw milk cheddar NYCheese, sauteed salmon + rainbow chard, brown rice, seaweed, Mindful Mix (macadamias, almonds, walnuts, goji berries, cranberries), 1 slice dried mangos,  Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Half-Baked ice cream, 40 oz. water

Exercise: ran 4 miles, 60 min vinyassa yoga

Sustainable Sushi

School of fish off Bonaire 

History, despire its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. ~Maya Angelou

For a long time I ate seafood and avoided meat, but last year I reversed the situation since seafood has become overfished, and there are more and more responsible meat producers. This leaves me feeling conflicted over sushi, a former meal staple, especially during the summer when the last thing I want is hot food. I've been avoiding sushi, but there are times when I end up at a Japanese restaurant. Happily I found some great resources to help me order sustainable sushi, with simple principles like the 4 S's.

What to do - Order Sustainable Sushi

1. Download this pocket-sized sushi guide from Monterey Bay Aquarium that you can keep in your wallet, or download the iPhone application. 
2. Order vegetable sushi. I am partial to avocado and mushroom rolls.
3. Talk to your server/sushi chef and ask where the fish is from, how it was raised, and how it was caught. Order the sushi that is a "Best Choice" from the sushi guide in step 1.
4. Order with the 4-S rules in mind. I found 4-S from fish guru Casson Trenor, and they are awesome and simple.  
5. • SMALL - order small fish since they are more resilient to overfishing. These include sardines (iwashi), skipjack tuna (katsuo), horse mackeral (aji).
   • SEASONAL - fish are seasonal, and it's best to order off the specials list.
   • SILVER - you know the sushi that still has silver skin on it? Order that. It's high in omega-3s and tasty. This includes mackeral (saba and sawara) and Pacific saury (sanma).
   • SHELLFISH - foods like oysters, mussels and clams are easy and environmental to farm.
6. Avoid tuna. Especially blue-fin tuna, which is endangered. 

Want to learn more? 

• Issues around seafood and overfishing
• Sustainable sushi - website and book from Casson Trenor
• Monterey Bay Aquarium sushi guide

What I ate: 16 oz. chocolate milk, brown rice + tofu salad, 12 oz. hemp milk, 1 handful Mindful Mix, 1 pint blueberries, 2 handfuls cherries, 1 mango, 1 large latte, 1 hardboiled egg, Pirate's Booty, dried sliced mangos, cheddar cheese Del Posto dinner: 4 risotto balls, 2 prosciutto balls, 2 parmesan + balsamic vinegar, veal meatball in pastry, lobster salad, 3 steak tartare on crackers, bread + butter + lardo, shrimp salad, garganelli + bolognese, lamb chops, chocolate tartuffo, 60 oz water

Exercise: ran 8 miles

Reduce Chemicals to Reduce Cancer?

Everyone likes a little validation every once in a while. Well, Mindful Readers, you are so justified! Our principles are simple and not unique: 

 

• Eat whole unprocessed foods
• Drink lots of clean water
• Exercise regularly
• Get enough sleep
• Stay away from chemicals whenever you can since you get more then enough of them in everyday life

We don't need any medical studies to prove that. But, in April 2010, the President's Cancer Panel linked cancer to chemicals and made all the same recommendations that MindfulEats does. The Panel was established in 1971 to report directly to the President of the U.S., and they report their findings at least once a year. Their last report states that more than 80,000 chemicals are in use in the U.S., and only a few hundred have been tested for safety.

The Panel is not a research study - it receives cancer testimonials and suggests future research and practical recommendations. 41% of people living in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer - much of it is genetic, but some of it is due to environmental causes (stuff that we are exposed to). Cancer is devastating, and the Panel makes the following recommendations to lower your chance of getting it (we've linked to relevant MindfulEats posts, just in case you haven't memorized them and want more detail):

What to do: Reduce Environmental Cancer

1. Be especially vigilant keeping toxins away from children. They are far more susceptible to damage from environmental carcinogens and endocrine-disrupting compounds since their little systems aren't fully developed. All the following recommendations are especially important for kids and pregnant women.
2. Remove shoes before entering your house and wash work clothes separately if you are exposed to chemicals at work.
3. Drink filtered tap water instead of bottled unless your tap water is known to be contaminated.
4. Store or carry water in stainless steel, glass, or BPA- and phthalate-free containers.
5. Microwave in ceramic or glass containers instead of plastic.
6. Eat organically grown food to avoid pesticides, herbicides and antibiotics. We aren't convinced the regulation of organically-labelled food is all that great, so it's best to buy direct from a trusted farmer if possible. If you can't buy organic, you are getting all the nutritional value from whole, non-processed foods anyway. Roger that.
7. Use green cleaners. Or check them out in the Household Products Database to get less toxic ones.
8. Dispose of pharmaceuticals, household chemicals, paint, and other chemicals properly so they don't leach into our water and soil.
9. Turn off lights and electrical items to reduce exposure to petroleum combustion by-products.
10. Take public transportation, bike or walk when possible, or drive a fuel-efficient car to reduce the amount of toxic auto exhaust. Or car-pool - it's social and green!
11. Don't smoke and avoid second-hand smoke.

Want more info?

• The actual 2008-2009 Cancer Panel report
• Nicholas Kristoff column that tipped us off
• Mindful Eats manifesto (kinda)

For a blog festival on real foods, visit Food Renegade.

What I ate: latte, Fage yogurt + Sarabeth's Strawberry Peach jam + flaxseeds, 3.25 oz macadamia nuts, Mindful Mix, 2 slices grandma's cheese pizza + 1 slice vodka sauce pizza (work lunch), 1 hard-boiled egg, NYcheese Pepper Jack, whole wheat spaghetti + boiled asparagus + spinach + soy sauce + sesame oil + ground flaxseeds + nutritional yeast, dried mango slices, pineapple, hot chocolate, 50 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 7 miles

Green Household Cleaners

Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder, Mrs. Meyer's Lavender All-Purpose Cleaner refill, white vinegar

Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely. ~PJ O'Rourke

My parents visit me every year during tax season, and their visit throws me into a spring cleaning tizzy. Last year when they were here, I woke up and found my mother cleaning my already-spotless bathroom floor. So this week I spent a few days deep cleaning for their visit -- floor scrubbing, sweater folding, window washing type cleaning. 

Household cleaning is a gazillion dollar industry. Just go to a store and look at the tremendous amount of real estate allotted to cleaning products - they promise to bomb germs and grime to kingdom come. You probably have an extensive selection of cleaners. Do we really need that many? We probably need fewer than we think.

My philosophy of avoiding chemicals in my food and personal products whenever possible is pretty much the same with cleaners. This stuff can be toxic - take one whiff and let your eyes water. Cleaners work their way into your body through multiple channels - you inhale them as you are scrubbing, you absorb them through touch (even if its just walking into your recently Tilexed bathtub), and you eat them when you put food on your recently sprayed counter or just on your plates. You also drink them as cleaners get absorbed into the ground and contaminate our water sources.

Have cleaners been proven to be toxic? Some of them have, but I don't really care. There is a strong dose of unpronounceable chemicals in those bottles, and I'm not going to wait around for a medical study to tell me that a specific cleaner is linked to a chronic condition. This stuff is clearly not good for my health or the environment. 

I started looking for less-toxic, greener alternatives a few years ago. It's hard! You can whip up your own natural cleaners with lemons, vinegar, baking soda and water, which is pretty cool, but I'm too lazy to do that, so I buy commercial items. It's pricier than making my own, but at least the "natural" alternatives leave a fresh, nice smelling house instead of a light head like the conventional stuff. I even look forward to using it - it's the only nice thing about cleaning. 

What to do - Mindfully Green Your Cleaners

Simplify your cleaning needs in zones (in bold below), and begin greening your supplies gradually or all at once. There's an ever-growing world of green cleaners out there - from the granddaddies of green brands like Seventh Generation, Ecover and Biokleen to higher end Caldrea to the widely distributed Method. Check out your household products at this National Institute of Health database. Do you really need all those supplies? See if you can narrow what you need down to an all-purpose cleaner and a few specialists.

1. Read the ingredients lists of your cleaners. Like food, make sure the lists aren't long and/or toxic sounding. If you are motivated to make your own cleaners from household ingredients, you are awesome. Search the internet for recipes or check out these by Real Simple magazine. 
2. Experiment to see what works best. Then share your results with us! I like products that don't require a lot of elbow grease. The easiest way to avoid heavy scrubbing is to clean regularly. When Silda Wall Spitzer was in the governor's mansion, they tried a lot of green cleaners and ended up primarily using Ecover, Seventh Generation and Biokleen.
3. Buy large quantities of cleaner to refill your smaller bottles with. It's easier on your wallet and the environment! Most of the green cleaners make large refill sizes.
4. Glass. Glass cleaner is actually easy and cheap to make. Real Simple says to mix ¼ cup vinegar, 2 cups water, and a squirt of liquid Castile soap in a spray bottle, then spritz windows and wipe with a sheet of newspaper. The now defunct Domino Magazine recommended Biokleen Glass Cleaner in 2008.
5. Floors. I use Mrs. Meyer's All-Purpose Lavender Cleaner for non-wood floors. According to Real Simple, you can mop almost any type of floor with a solution of ¼ cup liquid Castile soap and 2 gallons warm water. If the floors are greasy, add ¼ cup distilled white vinegar to the bucket.
6. Bathrooms. I use Mrs. Meyer's All-Purpose Lavender Cleaner ($7.99 for large 32 oz that can be cut into spray bottles) on everything in the bathroom. Domino Magazine crowned Solay Simple (7.95 for large 32 oz) their 2008 Green winner, and I'm planning on trying it. I have to admit, I don't always clean my bathtub as regularly as I should, and as a result, I had to bomb it with Tilex Mold and Mildew Remover for my parents. That stuff works wonders, but it smells like you need a hazmat. I'm going to stick to using my all-purpose more frequently from now on. 
7. Kitchens. I use the all-purpose cleaner for all surfaces in here as well. Some people want a disinfectant, which used to be hard to find green, but fortunately Seventh Generation has a new line of EPA registered disinfectants. Conventional dishwashing detergents are icky. Mine is from Williams Sonoma (works great on grease - I use it to clean off my stovetop when it's greasy), and I love my Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder. It's effective and concentrated so you don't need that much. One of the most common cleaning mistakes is using too much cleaner in the dishwasher, so be careful!
8. Laundry. Domino Magazine crowned Shaklee "Get Clean Fresh Laundry" their 2008 Green winner. I haven't tried it but it's on my list. This is the other most common cleaning mistake - too much laundry detergent, so go light. It's good for your clothes and the environment.
9. Wood furniture. My furniture store recommended Guardsman Furniture Polish, but I have a feeling it's not too green since it doesn't list the ingredients. Domino Magazine put Timothy Corrigan Home ($12.50 for 12 oz.) on their list.

Resources:

• Debra's List of Green Cleaners - an extensive brand list from Debra Lynn Dadd, who was dubbed the Queen of Green by the New York Times
• Household Products Database - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - check out household cleaners here
• Mindful Gear - you can buy many green cleaners from our Amazon store if you can't find it locally. They can also make a nice present for an eco-minded person that has everything.

What I ate: 1/2 sweet potato, lots of macadamia nuts, 1/2 avocado, 1 c. steel cut oatmeal + milk + ground flaxseeds, scrambled eggs + ground flaxseeds, Mindful Mix, 1 apple, 1 cup steamed broccoli, Mike & Sam's cheese popcorn, cheddar cheese, 1 piece duck, whole wheat spaghetti + Rao's Siciliana sauce + parmesan + ground flaxseeds, dried mango slices, hot chocolate, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 2 mile jog + 4 mile race, 25 minutes weights

Progresso Soup Review + Giveaway

MindfulEats loves soup, so when Progresso asked if we wanted to participate in their promotion, we said sure. After all, we ate a lot of canned soup in school. Because not only do we like soup, we are also lazy - and nothing's easier than opening a can for dinner.

So Progresso sent a big box with lots of different flavors of soup, and a giveaway for you guys. Naturally, we won't make any recommendations to you without actually trying the product. In the meantime, we also asked Progresso a couple questions: 1) is there bisphenol-A (BPA) in the cans, and 2) are the ingredients organic?

Progresso kindly answered our questions, and you can see the full letter below. However, in a nutshell:

• Progresso uses BPA in their can liners (like most other canned foods). MindfulEats is staunchly anti-BPA even though it's not yet proven to be bad. Why absorb chemicals into your body if you don't have to? A scientist that studies BPA won't go near canned tomatoes. Progresso's working on finding alternatives and hopes to find some soon.
• Progresso soup ingredients are not organic.

Before we got the answer about BPA, Jean ate several cans of soup over the course of two days. She reports that she got a black tongue a few days later (this may be purely coincidental and have nothing to do with the soup, but she's never had a black tongue), and didn't feel great. The soups themselves were tasty. They tasted very salty, but Progresso has a low-sodium line. They also offer a "Light" line that is 100 calories and under for calorie counters.

Bottom Line: MindfulEats does not recommend regularly eating any canned soup. If you want packaged soups, look for glass jars or BPA-free cans. That being said, we do have some canned chicken noodle soup in case we get sick because chicken soup helps you get over colds, and canned soup is super easy to make - critical for when you're sick.

Oh - and the giveaway. Progresso has provided us with a gift box that contains a Progresso digital jump rope that keeps track of jumps and calories burned, a Progresso soup mug, and a couple cans of soup. MindfulEats will pick a random winner on April 1, 2010 - leave a comment on this post, on our Facebook page, or tweet us by April 1. We'll throw all names in a hat and pick a winner.

Here's the letter from Progresso:

 

What I ate: vegetable juice, latte, Nancy's Cottage cheese + ground flax seeds, nycheese raw milk cheddar, 1 cup coffee, 6 squares dark chocolate, Margarita personal pizza, salad, 3 dried mango slices, LifeThyme Market Raw Vegan Pizza (awesome and much tastier than the "real" pizza), Gopal's raw goldenberry cookie, hot chocolate, 50 oz. water

Exercise: Ran 4 miles

Experts Choose What Not to Eat

 Root vegetables in Union Square Greenmarket

Make visible what without you, might perhaps have never been seen. ~Robert Bresson

Our friend Dave passed along a great article on foods to avoid that was on msn.com. This was superhelpful because 1) no one reads msn, and 2) the article is really interesting. It's so interesting, we're going to summarize it. 

The author, Anne Underwood, asked seven experts who spend their time thinking about what is safe to eat, "what foods do you avoid?" The answers are interesting and right in line with MindfulEats - avoid processed and industrial foods. Of course, it's not always so easy, so we've added a little commentary. Without further ado - top picks of foods to avoid:

1. Farmed Salmon. MindfulEats has railed against farmed salmon. It's bad for you and the environment. Fishery expert, David Carpenter, M.D., director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany won't eat it. He published a major study in the journal Science on contamination in fish. Like land-based industrial farming, farmed fish are crammed into pens and fed odd things, so they are weaker than their wild brethren. They are loaded with antibiotics and contaminants, and like beef, they have less nutrition. Pound for pound, you are getting less nutritional value with farmed salmon. Switch to wild alaskan salmon. According to Carpenter, the most contaminated fish is from Northern Europe. Any fresh Atlantic salmon is farmed. Learn more about why seafood is controversial.
2. Corn-fed beef. Farmer and writer Joel Salatin steers clear of anything but grass-fed beef. Industrial farmers raise their cattle on corn and soybeans since it fattens them up quicker for a fast profit. That meat is not as nutritious as naturally raised, grass-fed beef. You'd have to eat more of it to get the same value, and who wants to be fat? Not you. A recent study conducted by the USDA and Clemson University found that grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), calcium, magnesium and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats that have been linked to heart disease. Pound for pound, you're getting more value with the grass-fed beef.
3. Milk produced with hormones. Cancer researcher Rick North won't drink it. The former CEO of the Oregon division of the American Cancer Society notes that recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH or rBST) increases udder infections and even pus in the milk. It also leads to higher levels of a hormone called insulin-like growth factor in milk. Life is hard enough when you're hormonal - why drink it? If you can afford grass-fed milk, opt for it. Like meat, milk is better from happier, heathier cows.
4. Canned tomatoes. Endocrinologist Fredrick Vom Saal, Ph.D., at the University of Missouri studies bisphenol-A (BPA) and he won't go near canned tomatoes. Cans are often lined with resin that contains BPA, and acidity (which tomatoes are) causes the BPA to leach. You can find tomatoes packed in glass or tetrapaks. These brands include Bionature, Coluccio, Trader Joe's and Pomi.
5. Microwave popcorn. Toxoligist Olga Naidenko, Ph.D., a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group avoids microwave popcorn since chemicals in the lining of the bag, especially perfluorooctanoic acid, are linked to infertility. Microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize and migrate into your popcorn. "They stay in your body for years and accumulate there," says Naidenko. Yuck. Popcorn flavoring is also associated with lung disease (known as popcorn workers lung) for workers of microwave popcorn factories. Pop your own popcorn the old fashioned way - in a skillet. It's really cheap!
6. Nonorganic potatoes. Jeffrey Moyer, the chair of the Organic Standards Board, won't eat non-organic potatoes. Apparently, root vegetables absorb all the chemicals (pesticides, fertilizer, fungicides, etc) in soil (yikes, I guess that means the other root vegetables are better organic too). Then on top of that, potatoes get sprayed with extra chemicals while growing, during harvesting and after they've been dug up. Moyer says "I've talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals."
7. Conventional apples. We all know that apples are one of the Dirty Dozen. Mark Kastel, a former executive for agribusiness, currently codirector of the Cornucopia Institute, won't eat nonorganic apples. Apples have lower resistance to pests, so they are doused regularly. If you can't buy organic, wash and peel your apples.

The original article we cribbed this from is awesome, so read it here.

What I ate: 1 grapefruit, 1 orange, 1 cup McCann's steel-cut oatmeal + ground flaxseeds + dried cranberries + milk, Stilton cheese, dried mango slices, 3/4 cup brown rice, 1 avocado, 3 stalks broccolini, 2 hot chocolates, 40 oz. water 

Exercise: Ran 7 miles, 90 min yoga

Mind Your Plastic Bottles

Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections. ~St. Francis de Sales

MindfulEats is delighted to welcome George Dodwell in his first post. George has been a vegetarian for years and is very mindful of his impact on the environment. He hails from the UK, which is why you'll notice the references to the metric system.

The human body is anywhere between 55% and 78% water, depending on body size. To function properly, the body requires between 1 and 7 liters of water a day. How do you get yours?

Hopefully not from bottles. The Container Recycling Institute estimates that Americans buy 34 billion – yes, that's billion – single serving plastic water bottles each year. The total estimated energy needed to make, transport and dispose of one bottle of water is equivalent to filling that same bottle one-quarter full of oil. On top of that, it takes three liters of water to produce a one-liter bottle of water.

 

According to the Beverage Marketing Corporation in 2002 the average American consumed 20.1 gallons of bottled water. By 2007 that figure had risen to 29.3 gallons, an increase of almost 46 percent. The US is not alone in its thirst for packaged drinks - US is ninth in the world in per capita consumption, after the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Italy, Belgium-Luxembourg (the report combines the two countries), France, Germany, Spain, and Lebanon. Of these countries only France has seen a decline in consumption since 2002. (Ah the pesky French, with their cigarettes, croissants, butter, steaks and their immaculate health.) Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make water bottles.

 

It's not even cheap. Fiji water, shipped all the way from, yes, Fiji, costs about $1.50 per half-liter bottle. That equates to about $11 per gallon, or $7 more than a gallon of regular petrol. The Pacific Institute estimates that bottled water costs a thousand times more than tap water – a figure that makes the consumption figures even more astounding.

 

Most water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), 80% of which end up in landfills or incinerators. That's an estimated 845 bottles per second. Recycling rates are up on previous years, but that's still a lot of bottles that aren't being recycled.

 

Most bottled water isn't even spring water. Dasani and Aquafina, the two leading brands by market share, contain tap water. Meticulously treated tap water, but tap water all the same. Pepsi, the owner of the Aquafina brand, now labels its water as coming from a “Public Water Source”. Dasani was forced to pull out of the UK entirely after the British public created an outcry over the source of the water and suspected bromate poisoning.

 

There is some good news. After years of steady growth, the US market for bottled water appears to be cooling off, the Worldwatch Institute reported last year; an Australian town became the first to ban bottled water entirely last year and the U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution in 2008 Monday to phase out city spending on bottled water.  The contract isn't binding, but 60 Mayors promptly cancelled their city's bottled water contracts.

 

So, Mindful Eater, what can you do?

 

Drink tap water. Buy a water filter and use it. Carry your own water – it's cheaper, fresher and more environmentally sound. You can be a Mindful Drinker too.

 

What I ate: 1 bowl Alpen; 2 bananas; 2 cheese + lettuce + branston pickle sarnies; few handfuls of mixed nuts + raisins; 2 apples; 4 cups tea; 4 pints water; leek pie + broccoli; a smattering of Cadbury's dairy milk chocolate.