Mindful Eats

Eating Seafood Responsibly

Bonaire, squid

"For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it's always ourselves we find in the sea." ~ee cummings

There is a huge global demand for seafood. It is now a common menu item and sushi is as popular as Arby's. This wasn't always the case. When I was a kid, seafood was not popular. Catholics weren't supposed to eat meat on Fridays, so some would opt for fish. My family came from an island, so we ate a lot of seafood, which was considered weird. Then at one point, I stopped eating meat and was a pescatarian for 20 years. The seas weren't yet overfished, cod hadn't collapsed, mercury wasn't in seafood, and people weren't enslaved to feed the global appetite.

Things seemed to have come full circle. I have stopped eating most seafood, except for easily farmed items like mussels and oysters. There was a time when I would just ask a lot of questions -- where was the seafood from? How was it caught? Is it sustainable?

Then the questions just weren't enough. First, certain fish types were collapsing. Cod, blue fin tuna, swordfish... We were overfishing our seas, and these huge fish couldn't reproduce fast enough to replace what we were eating. Second, all the pollution we create was finding its way back into the ocean and bioaccumulating as mercury in the fish we eat. 10% of women of childbearing age in the US have enough mercury in their systems to cause defects. Third, I noticed that there was a lot of fraud. Many restaurants (including sushi restaurants) and stores were labeling fish as a certain type, like snapper, and it wasn't! Outrageous. And the last straw? Fourth, there is such a huge global demand for fish that PEOPLE ARE BEING ENSLAVED to work in the fishing industry! This "lucky" man escaped after 22 years. The problem is that there isn't enough accountability, so if someone tells you that no slaves were involved in the fish they are serving, they just don't know. I don't need to eat fish that badly.

Not to mention that I started scuba diving, and the fish that we eat are beautiful in their natural habitat. A shoal of squid is a graceful, beautiful sight - nothing like what you see on your plates. But that's a digression.

What to do - Eat Seafood Responsibly

1. Just avoid eating any seafood or
2. Eat only seafood that can be farmed or fished locally and responsibly. Mussels are a safe bet.
3. Don't feed pet food that contains seafood. Thailand supplies a lot of that fish, and that is where most slaves are used.
4. Use the Seafood Watch guide and app to find the most sustainable seafood. Ask your server and fishmonger questions about sourcing and sustainability.

Want to read more?

• MindfulEats on Sustainable Sushi
• MindfulEats on Sustainable Seafood
• Natural Resources Defense Council Seafood Guide

 

What I ate: 15 oz green juice, 10 oz yogurt + blueberries + chia seeds, 2 peaches, portobella mushroom + arugula + queso arepa, 6 Korean vegetable dumplings, 2 peaches, 2 ears of corn, dried mangos, 50 oz water, 4 squares of dark chocolate

Exercise: jogged 4.5 miles

Rules for Restaurant Eating to Avoid Getting Fat

Japanese breakfast

Eating out is one of the biggest diet killers and a sure way to eat unhealthy. It will make you fat. But sometimes you just can't avoid it. Traveling, catching up with friends, and being short of energy and time usually results in a restaurant meal. By the way, even if you ordered it in and eat at home, it's still a restaurant meal!

Since you're eating out, you probably want to treat yourself. Go ahead and do so - just follow some simple rules. We were delighted to find this great New York Times' article that believes the restaurant scene is offering healthier food choices. We've added some of their tips to ours to create an easy mindful cheat sheet.

What to do - Eat Out Smartly

1. If you can, choose your restaurant carefully. Pick a high quality restaurant that focuses on real food. Mediterranean restaurants are often fresh, healthy and flavorful. There are also some fast casual chains that are health conscious: Chop't, Mod-market, Lyfe Kitchen, Native Foods Cafe Sweetgreen and Pret-a-Manger.
2. Scrutinize the menu and try to order whole foods that are grilled or less sauced.
3. More plants, less meat.
4. Some menus have "healthy" options with less calories and fat. Focus on these. They are often called "heart-healthy" or fit. The NYT points out that even the Cheesecake Factory has a "SkinniLicious" menu with over 50 items less than 590 calories.
5. It's all about portion control. That restaurant meal you are eating has more than twice - sometimes four times - the meal you would make at home. To combat that, leave half of your meal on the plate (you can take it home) or order two appetizers instead of an appetizer and an entree. If you can't take food home, just leave it! You didn't ask for such a huge portion so you can leave it guilt-free.
6. Be wary of white sauces. Stay away from mayo, caesar dressing, ranch dressing, hollandaise, cream sauce. It's loaded with fat and calories. Add zing to your food with lemon juice, vinegar and mustard.
7. At a steak restaurant? Choose the filet mignon. It is the lowest calorie option. According to the NYT, filet and a glass of wine will clock in under 750 calories.
8. Eat only delicious bread. It's easy to be mindless about bread. Choose a flavorful, whole grain bread and have just one piece.
9. Drink water. Lots of it. It's good for your skin, and all those juices have calories. Diet soda is full of chemicals.
10. Eat eggs and oatmeal. They are both healthy, as long as they are as natural as possible. Don't add sauces or sugar! You can often find eggs for lunch or dinner at a diner. If you're having breakfast, the processed stuff like pancakes and waffles are NOT the way to go. Bacon and sausages? Have ONE if you need to. Split the side order or leave half of it on the plate.
11. Do not get your own dessert! You did a good job with your meal, don't blow it! After a calorific meal, desserts are calorie bombs. Just get fresh fruit (nothing on it), or share a single desert with at least one (preferably more) people.

 

What I ate: 15 oz. green juice, greek yogurt with blueberries and strawberries, one egg, 2 c.Trader Joe's Japanese fried rice, 12 oz decaf coffee, cheese and crackers, nachos, eggplant kottu, fruit salad, 2 c. cherries, 45 oz water

Exercise: jogged 5.8 miles

 

Manicures and Nail Polish are Bad Habits

Photo Credit: The New York Times

We've been anti-manicure for a long time at MindfulEats, as evidenced in this post from 2009. Manis and pedis have become common place in the last 15 years, and there is nothing natural about them. We didn't like them for the below obvious common sense reasons, and now we are delighted to be backed up by in-depth reporting from the New York Times.

• Nail polishes and solvents often have chemicals like formaldehyde (used to preserve dead things) in them. Just smell the stuff -- if that doesn't tip you off to its contents then I have a bridge I'd like to see you in Brooklyn. Coating yourself in this stuff isn't good for you. If you are a regular mani-pedi girl, have you ever wondered why your natural nails are brittle, discolored, or just not normal? Sure, companies will tell you that you don't use enough polish or remover to provide a serious health risk, but since you are here at MindulEats, you probably aren't too keen on voluntarily adding additional chemicals to yourself beyond the many that we cam't control (e.g. pollution, furniture, paint)
• Nail technicians have serious health problems from working with nail products - at the least rashes and breathing problems, and they are not being fully informed of the risks of the job
• Nail art doesn't look good. They are going to look as dated as tramp stamps (the tatoos women used to get in the small of their backs) in 10 years.

The NYT has gone far deeper than our common-sense observations with excellent investigative reporting that took 13 months. Just a few of their points:

• Nail technicians in the vast majority of cheapie nail salons are paid far less than minimum wage and often subject to abuse
• Nail technicians suffer serious health problems: respiratory illness, miscarriages, birth defects

What to do - Pay Up for Manicures

1. Don't get mani/pedis at all. Just keep your nails clean and short. Long painted nails will look weird and dated in 10 years anyway. And think about all the money you will save!
2. Give yourself manicures. If you can't resist, buy polish that is as nontoxic as possible and DIY.
3. Pay up for mani/pedis and go less often. Don't go to the cheapie neighborhood salon. Go to a reputable place with a selection of chemical free nail polish (just kidding, it doesn't exist, find polish without as many chemicals) and ask your nail technician what they are being paid. 

This series by the New York Times is very impressive investigative reporting that took 13 months. It will change the industry, if not our culture:

• The Price of Nice Nails, 5/7/15
• Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers, 5/8/15
• Readers' Questions and Answers

Please let us know if you are going to change your mani habits in the comments!

What I ate: 4 oz scrambled eggs, 2/3 cup yogurt+blueberries+strawberries+pineapple, 10 oz coffee, 10 oz green tea, Pret a Manger nori roll wrap and 1 Harvest Cookie, 1 chocolate chip cookie, brown rice + broccoli + mushrooms, cheddar puffed rice, Trader Joe's mini rice crackers, 1 cup pineapple, 4 pieces dark chocolate, 12 oz pomegranate juice, 50 oz water

Exercise: None

Diary: Does the Juice Fast / Cleanse Work?

I've always been intrigued by juice fasts as a way to detox but had never tried one. Western medical advice generally says fasting is unnecessary since the liver is created specifically to detoxify the body. As a fairly mindful person, that seemed like an excellent point. I was pretty healthy and tried to maintain a mindful lifestyle - I exercised, hydrated, ate mindfully and tried to get enough sleep. 

However, in the last couple years, I became unhealthy for a variety of reasons. I wasn't exercising, and I started eating in restaurants too many times a week, which makes you fat and unhealthy. I started eating a lot of convenience foods, which were fast but highly processed and loaded with sugar. I felt like walking toxic waste. I needed something drastic to jumpstart a healthy regimen. So after finding a deal on Gilt City, I decided to do a Juice Fast with Liquiteria.

I have to admit, I'm skeptical about the claims that juicing detoxifies your body, but advocates will tell you that taking a break from eating solid food and digesting will allow your body to focus on healing itself. Though I'm not sure I believe in the health benefits, I had a feeling that taking a break from making food choices and eating sugar would help break a sugar addiction and let me reset how I was viewing food. 

As a first time juice faster, I had more decisions to make than I expected. 

Which Juice Company?

I could make my own juice, but my juicer had collected so much dust during the long period of lazy eating, that I wanted the luxury of having someone else do it. Fortunately, juicing has become so trendy there are now a myriad of companies to choose from. They all have beautiful branding that promise health. It's easy to get confused, but I knew I wanted fresh, cold-pressed organic vegetable juices that were sugar free (without added fruit such as apples, grapes, etc.) The fruit makes the juice taste better, but I wanted pure vegetable juices. Since juices are expensive, I wanted to make sure they included top quality ingredients and were cold pressed to maximize retained nutritition. That narrowed down the field, then I ended up checking out companies for reviews, reputation and price. 

Which Juice Fast?

After deciding on a company, the juice company had a few different levels. There were one day fasts, three days fasts, and levels from beginner to advanced. Even though it was my first cleanse, I wanted a three day fast to break my bad habits. I had never fasted, but since I used to make my own juices I figured I could go straight to the intermediate level since I didn't want a higher calorie, sugary beginner level. Truth be told, I wanted to lose a few of the pounds I had gained, but I also didn't want to starve. I checked the total number of daily calories of each fast looking for a lower calorie fast that wasn't insanely restrictive.

A lot of juice cleanses fit the bill, so when I found a flash sale on one of them, that's the one I went with.

Pre-Cleanse

If you are going to cleanse, you should prepare for it by eating as mindfully as possible during the days/weeks before hand so you don't shock your body. Cut out processed foods, sugars and eat as cleanly as possible. I also started a regular exercise routine during the precleanse.

The Actual Juice Cleanse

Theoretically a cleanse shouldn't be too hard -- you're still taking in calories on a regular basis and you're not exercising, right? However, I found it to be very difficult. Liquiteria recommends no exercise while cleansing since presumably the cleanse is giving your body the time and energy to heal itself and Exercise takes energy away from healing.

Day 1

I start the day with green juice, then every 2-3 hours I have another juice until I drink a total of six. 16 oz of water in between the juices. Lots of liquids. After the first few hours I am obsessed with food - I can't stop thinking about it. Specifically brown rice with vegetables. My mind is rebelling. Lunch brings a sweeter juice, which I am ecstatic about. After that I feel weak and I really want to chew food. By the time dinner rolls around I have two more juices left. I can't stop staring as my husband eats his salmon burger for dinner. It's not that I want to eat it, but I just like watching. My last juice of the day includes beets - thick and sweet. It's like dessert -- completely heavenly. The water is tough to finsh. I definitely do not feel full and go to bed unsated.

Day 2

I'm glad to start the day with green juice, and I love the idea of not having to figure out what to eat for the day. A couple hours later I am miserable. I have a slight headache and I think about food all day. Chewing food, tasting food, eating food. A bizarre amount of enery goes into wanting food. I think of all the things I can eat when I'm done juicing. The juices are unsatisfying. I am tired and cranky all day. My highlight of the day is again the sweeter juice - "Skin Deep". I am more careful about drinking water between each juice and find it goes down more easily. When it's time for dinner, I watch my husband chew his food with so much intensity he feels uncomfortable. The end of day beet juice is delicious and goes down far faster than the other juices. Again, I am hungry all day.

Day 3

I wake up not excited about juice. Oh well, that's what I am having. No headache today, but I still think about food...a lot. Not as obssessively, but a lot. I can't wait to have brown rice with vegetables. This day is the easiest. Maybe my body has resigned itself to a reality of no food, or my mind has capitulated or both. I'm still tired but I know it's the last day, and it really is easier. For a second I think about doing a fourth day... nah. Like the other days I continue to eliminate stuff, which I find weird because I haven't had anything solid and I have a pretty fast digestive system. I'm less hungry than I was during the past couple days, but I'm definitely not sated. Once again the highlights of my day are the sweeter drinks. The end is near and I'm lamely proud to have made it three days since it's not that impressive a feat (I'm ingesting nutritious calories all day after all). I'm excited to be done.

Post-Cleanse

I wake up feeling like it's Christmas morning since I know I can eat. Oddly, I don't rush to the kitchen. I'm a little loath to start eating. Crazy. I was told to break my cleanse with a green juice so as not to shock my system, then to eat primarily raw food. However, I do NOT have any juice. I break my fast with a salad and have a bite of chicken. I can't wait for the next meal, which will be brown rice with vegetables, just as I'd been fantasizing. We get to the restaurant, and they are out of the brown rice bowl. So, I order... pancakes. I'm not happy about it, but oh well. I am plunged back into the world of cooked sugary foods without a grace period. And my body was ok with it - no adverse reactions whatsoever. But let's get real people, it was only three days of juicing - not weeks.

Post Post Cleanse

It's been about three months after I did the juice cleanse, and I still have the results I wanted. It helped break the sugar addiction and processed food habit that I had started. I'm back to starting most days with a homemade green juice, and I've also gotten into the habit of being much more mindful of my food choices.

So that was my experience. Here's my friend Walter's testimonial.

Bottom Line - doing a three day juice cleanse was a good shortcut to jumpstart my mindful eating. It helped reset my eating habits. I could have reset without it, but the break from thinking about what food to eat was helpful. II would do it again only IF I fell off the bandwagon again. Otherwise, I don't think I would gain any health benefits from it if I were living a mindfully.

 

What I ate: green juice, handful of blueberries, 3 cups of cherries, broccoli + adzuki beans + pumpkin seads + quinoa, brussels and squash Brooklyn Taco, plum, 3 dried apricots, dried mangos, walnuts, spinach + beet salad with balsamic and extra virgin olive oil, 3 colossal shrimp, quinoa, steamed broccoli, dark chocolate sorbet

 Exercise: none

 

 

Getting Healthy After Hitting Rock Bottom

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. ~Lao Tzu

I have a confession -- my days of mindful eating and exercise have fallen far to the wayside in the past couple years. It turns out the three things that have made me happiest - starting a business, meeting the love of my life and getting a dog -- were not the most conducive for my health. The dog hates to run so I started running more slowly and at lower mileage. I've also been eating out with my partner much more frequently, and we all know that restaurants make you fat. The business seems to take up so much time that I don't have enough time to exercise or cook. I relied on convenience foods, and the worst thing is that I ended up eating far too much sugar, which is evil.

Anyway, that's all a BIG FAT EXCUSE because you need to prioritize eating well and exercising, no matter what. It's the foundation for everything else that you do. And I didn't. The result is that I am woefully out of shape, as evidenced by my inability to wake up in the morning, general tiredness, weight gain and susceptibility to colds. I finally had it when I caught a cold that wouldn't go away and lingered for two weeks. 

It was time for a massive rehaul. Fortunately, the map is already written. Eat well, sleep regularly, exercise, drink water. I started by exercising and cutting out dairy (not completely since I work in food and I constantly need to taste things). This prompted me to stop eating cheese as a convenient snack and just general more healthful eating. Almost immediately I noticed that it was easier to wake up in the morning. After five days of cleaner eating, I did a juice cleanse.

I've been fascinated with juice cleanses, but never felt the need to do one since I ate pretty mindfully, and your body works well when your healthy. However, I had become too accustomed to sugar and I had a constant lack of energy. I thought that not eating food was one of the only ways I could quickly reset my palate and signal to my body that we were about to make a big change. So in this iteration of getting healthier, the juice cleanse was a way for me to set the stage for myself. How was it? The next post will be all about it.

Getting healthy is simple, but not necessarily easy. It just takes discipline and willpower. If anyone out there wants to get healthier, let's do it, shall we? It might feel lonely, but there are millions of people out there making that same commitment today. So let's do it!

What to do - Kickstart your Healthy Lifestyle

1. Are you fed up with being unhealthy and tired? Don't take it anymore! Take that anger and turn it into positive motivation. Use it to fuel the foundation of your new healthy lifestyle.
2. Follow the steps in the Mindful Map.

 

What I ate: 14 oz green juice, 2 hard boiled eggs, quinoa, sauteed tofu + kale + shiitake mushrooms, 1.5 cup almonds, brown rice, stirfried shrimp + swiss chard + summer squash + shitaake mushrooms, grapes, tangerine, 3 squares dark chocolate, 16 oz coconut water, 64 oz water

Exercise: jogged 4 miles

How to Talk to Someone with Mental Illness

Remember me?  It's been far too long since the last post! Since I've been preoccupied with my small business, I've neglected poor MindfulEats. I've thought of you often, but Pop Karma has been all-consuming over the last year. Anyway, I'm back and I have a guest post on mental health that I've been meaning to share for many many months. We tend to focus on eating and physical health here, but mental health is just as important. People can often seek sympathy and support for physical diseases, but we tend to ignore mental illness. It is just as real and debilitating, but we often sweep it under the table and don't ask for support, or don't know how to discuss it with those that need it. As in any disease, professional medical help and treatment can be a lifesaver. Taking care of yourself physically also helps.

People (myself included) often don't know how to provide support or what to say when someone suffers from mental illness. If you find yourself with someone who has been diagnosed with mental illness and don't know what to say, an incredibly smart, kind and brave friend of mine wrote the below post for those of us that feel awkward. Mental illness takes as much discipline and effort to treat as any other disease, and there is an unfair stigma. It takes bravery to seek and maintain treatment, so if someone if someone confides in you, they should be applauded. Listen and be supportive. Without further ado:

My friend Jean asked me to write something on the subject of mental illness. So here I go. Do you know someone with uh…ahem…a mental illness? Are you related to that person? Well it’s not the end of the world, ya know. I speak from experience because I have a mental illness. I am a manic depressive, a.k.a. bipolar. I am 41 years old and was diagnosed more than 15 years ago when I was 25. I’ve spent almost half my life as a wacko. I wanted to reach out to those of you who know someone, or (gasp) are related to someone, who is crazy, nuts, bananas and don’t talk to him/her about it…because you don’t know what to say. Most of my friends don’t talk to me about being bipolar. It actually makes me sad because being bipolar is a big part of who I am. I went through a lot of personal angst and soul searching after I recovered from my first nervous breakdown and was diagnosed as a bipolar. Was I normal I asked myself? Granted I am now a highly functional bipolar. I am highly educated with three Ivy League degrees. I have a good job and own a home and a car. I’m actually on the Board of a non-profit dedicated to adults recovering with mental illness. I’ve being taking meds since I was diagnosed more than 15 years ago, and I’ve worked with my doctors to make sure that my meds work. Not all of us are like that however. When you see your friend/family member with mental illness, don’t worry about saying the right words. There are no right words. The most important thing is to say SOMETHING. Acknowledge it. An “are you okay?” goes a long way…a really long way. Ask about his/her doctor and the meds if you need to have something concrete to talk about. Something on the order of an Avatar-like “I see you” would be great but not necessary. I’d point out that it is important to try to be sensitive to your friend/family member. Some of us crazies don’t appreciate references to manic behavior or nervous breakdowns by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. The important thing is that you made an effort to talk to your friend/family member about their “illness”, and that’s a big deal. Remember that there is no such thing as normal. We’re all normal.

What I ate: 1 latte, udon noodles + spinach + enoki mushrooms + egg in chicken broth, 2 cups of cheddar & cajun popcorn, pork, salad, creamed carrots, 1 slice of chocolate cake, 1 glass sparkling wine, 2 glasses red wine, 30 oz. water

Exercise: none

Failures and New Year Resolutions

 

Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead. ~Yvoone Woon

We're closing in on the end of the year. Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013! There's something wonderful about starting a fresh new year. It's new, but you get to bring in everything you learned from prior years to make this year your best ever. I love goal setting and New Year's Resolutions--it's amazing how many goals you achieve once you actually articulate them. 

This year I'm adding a new twist - I'm going to dwell on my failures. Not in a morose, beat myself up for being suchaloser way, but I'm going to take time to think about the things that sucked this year. I've seen too much advice like "Don't sweat it, don't regret it, just move on and forget it." That kind of thinking is selfish at best -- criminals and perverts are masters of it. One practioner I know of this philosophy is being sued by nearly everyone he has done business with, then on a personal level he left his sick wife. A little bit of reflection would have prevented most, if not all, the lawsuits and legal fees.

You learn a lot by reflecting on the things that hadn't turned out the way you hoped, and thinking about the things you could have done better. This kind of thoughtful analysis helps to win championships, better business outcomes, and most importantly, improve relationships. It also turns disappointments into something useful. The seeds of success can be found in the ruins of failure.

For example, one goal I perpetually have is to be more timely. I can blithly set a goal of being on time, or I can think about the most frustrating times I've been late, and reflect on what made me late and what I could have done to avoid it. If I think about it, I realize that I didn't include enough time for walking the dog or for picking out an outfit. Ha. Now I have a goal AND a game plan. 

So this year, before I set my new resolutions, I'm going to mine the year's disappointments.

What to do - Make New Year's Resolutions

1. Think about your three biggest disappointments. What could you have done differently to change the outcome?
2. Conversely, make a list of your happiest moments from the past year. It's fun! Last year's New Year's post walks through the process.
3. Now identify the common threads from your best moments, and figure out what you want to do differently from your disappointments.
4. Read this post on goal setting and New Year's Resolutions.
5. Have fun making a few specific resolutions.

What I ate: 1 latte, 1 crab omelet, salad, jalapeno corn bread + honey + butter, 1 piece toast, 5 pieces, dark chocolate, 3 chocolate truffles, green tea, popcorn, udon noodles + spinach + mixed mushrooms + tofu in soup, rice crackers, raw milk cheddar, 20 oz. water

Exercise: ran 2.5 miles

 

 

Vote YES to Proposition 37 on Nov. 6

 Right to Know Video by Nutiva

A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity. ~Dalai Lama

Hurricane Sandy has focused me on food. The electriciy outage is forcing me to eat everything in my refrigerator before it spoils, and worry about the food left at Pop Karma. I guess the positive of it is that the food DOES spoil since it's not genetically modified, and isn't some Frankenfood made in a lab.

While we are grappling with food issues on the East Coast, a very important food date is coming up in California. Proposition 37 is up for voting on November 6th. This proposition that would require that genetically modified food (with exceptions of course) is labeled as genetically modified. That's it. Transparency. So if you want genetically modified food, you can happily know it is, and if you don't want it, you can avoid it.

Monsanto and other large food corporations have poured millions of dollars into California to fight this proposition. Why? Because genetically modified foods (GMOs) make a lot of money for Monsanto and other companies. Food that has been altered to resist pests and spoilage are obviously better for manufacturers. But they aren't obviously better for human health. And until they are, I don't want it. I'm not into eating untested food to make other people richer.

The food corporations insist that Proposition 37 will open the way to frivolous lawsuits and will cost more for consumers. The proposition may not be perfectly worded, but no bills are since they are so negotiated before they become law. And frankly, someone that wants to bring a frivolous lawsuit will do so no matter what. Proposition 37 is a step in letting people know what is in their food. The food corporations think that once they do know, they won't want GMO food -- hence it will cost consumers more. Because they have been using cheap GMOs to lower the price of food. Give us a choice!

As a food manufacturer at Pop Karma, we are firmly anti-GMO. It may cost more, but we aren't playing with your health.

If you are in California, please vote on November 6th, and vote YES to Proposition 37. And encourage everyone you know to do so.

Want to know more?

• Proposition 37 Voter Information Guide
• Michael Pollan's Take on Prop 37 (Yes), Vote for the Dinner Party
• Monsanto and Food Corporations Reasons to Vote No to Prop 37

 

What I ate: Haven's Kitchen whole wheat pancakes + butter, quinoa, sauteed green chard + broccoli + tempeh, kimchi, fresh pasta, boiled watercress + Rao's sauce, Cremont cheese, rosemary crostini, chai tea, milk, water

Exercise: 2 mile patrol with dog + 24 flights of stairs

 

Making Moments

Twin beams from WhattheHellz.com

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough

It's been 11 years since September 11th, 2001. When I think about that time, I remember the deep confusion and the persistent sadness. But the strongest memory I have is of the kindness and care we took of each other: in the Towers, by the responders, in the city as a community and the support that poured in from all around the world.

There were many moments of heroism, but in general we held each others' hands. New York City stopped for days and remembered what the most important things were - our relationships. There was soul searching and crying. We vowed to be the best versions of ourselves. We were glad to be alive. It was quiet. 

There's a quote on our wall at Pop Karma - "As the years go by, this moment will last forever." At that time, during 9/11 and its aftermath it was impossible to imagine where we would be in five, ten, eleven years. Yet here we are. New York City is back to its frenetic pace. The years have gone by, and that moment does last forever. Like the other traumas we suffered and will continue to suffer, time, and we, inevitably move on. But we don't forget.

The challenge is to move on. You won't forget the old moments. But the new ones keep coming, so keep creating the best ones you can.

Avocado, Tomato and Hummus Sandwich

Simple pleasure: Avocado, tomato, hummus

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. ~Buddha

We are in the full throes of summer. And it is hot! My oven goes off sometime in May, and I do very limited cooking (pasta) and begin eating a LOT of sandwiches. I love this sandwich because it is so simple and summery. You can make the hummus yourself, or if you're in a hurry like I am these days, it's easy to buy from stores. It takes two minutes to make if you're slow like me. Once I collect the ingredients, I'll have it for lunch several times a week. 

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 med ripe tomato 
1 ripe avocado
hummus
2 slices of your favorite whole grain bread 

1. Slice the tomato in half, than slice into rounds. 
2. Slice the avocado in half around the seed. Twist the avocado so that it breaks cleanly in two, and reserve the half with the seed. This can be kept in the refrigerator for a day - the seed is an antioxidant and will keep it from browning. Take the other half and slice into thin wedges.
3. Slather one piece of bread with hummus.
4. Arrange the avocado over the hummus then the tomato
5. Top with the other slice of bread.

What I ate: Fage yogurt + strawberries + blueberries, 8 boiled vegetable dumplings, hummus + baby carrots, 16 oz ice coffee, handful of almonds, cheese popcorn, caramel popcorn, handful of grape tomatoes, whole wheat pasta + tomato basil pesto + mixed green salad, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 3 mile jog