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Last week, 12 ZomppaKids joined our Education Director Leanne for our inaugural Spring Break Workshop – and what a week it was! Our intrepid explorers “visited” 18 countries, cooked 18 different dishes, visited 3 urban gardens, planted many seeds, and met 1 cute puppy. The ZomppaKids made dishes from buticha (Ethiopia) to lumpia (Philippines) to carrot salad (India). We had some amazing guest speakers and visitors, and a few wonderful interns from North Carolina State, Amira and Michelle.

Thanks to Terreiro de Arte y Cultura, a beautiful nonprofit studio space, we had our classroom set up in the proper proximity near multiple city gardens and Durham Central Park. Whole Foods in Durham provided a generous gift card to food purchases, and the Interfaith Food Shuttle provided several dozen farm-fresh eggs. Leanne kept the kids engaged and busy, learning greetings from various languages, captivating them with items from the “artifact” bag in anticipation of their next “trip,” and learning to try new foods (yes, even the pickiest of pickiest realized he loved injera!)

The week began with a visit from the Little Green Bus, a farmer’s market on wheels, started and managed by a savvy group of high school students from Cary Academy. They helped the ZomppaKids visualize the benefits of locally-produced produce, and got their hands dirty with some potato/carrot art.

Cullen Whitley from the Goodwill Farm Foundation led the ZomppaKids on a city nature walk, teaching them about white butterflies and crops. He brought them to Emily-Kate of Sweet Beet City Farm, a new urban farm preparing for its first produce right in the middle of downtown Durham.

Santos and Kamilah of SEEDS then brought five DIG youth leaders - Andresha, Kaleb, Nilisha, and Kristen – who led the students through the city to the gardens, where they not only got to see their amazing gardens, but also make seed bombs.

During the China unit, Dana Highfill got the kids up and moving physically, leading them in a mindful session of Qi Gong. Think 5 year olds can’t follow this ancient form of exercise? Think again!

The Sol Food Mobile Farm crew brought their seeds, and the ZomppaKids planted multiple crops. Two of our students, Marcus and Sofia, also enthralled family members at the Parents’ reception with their cello and violin.

Needless to say, it was a busy, fun-filled week, but we are delighted that the ZomppaKids left with a little more excitement about trying new foods, learning about other cultures, and exploring gardens and farms around the city. We will be convening a Parents’ Advisory Council, and continue to work to bring more of these programs wherever there is interest!

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In case you didn’t see our tweets last week, we wanted to share two brilliant artist groups using popular, contemporary, country, and hip-hop music (not to mention the Matrix!) to help raise awareness about healthy eating and the dangers of overly processed food. It’s not just about a growing waistline, but our future at stake.

Earth Amplified & SOS Juice have put together a curriculum that accompanies FOOD FIGHT. Love the Morpheus-esque “Red Bull” or “Carrot” choice….

Homegrown aka Lucas DiGia and Abigail Stauffer of Rap for Food (we were thrilled to have Lucas at the Bull City Food Exchange part deux, and can’t wait for his return) have made Swift’s infamous breakup songs into a rather awesome take on getting rid of relationships with bad food.

Rock on.

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Sigh.

As part of my family’s lifestyle and food culture, we try very hard to rely on the medicinal properties of food to minimize the longevity and severity of our illnesses.  For the most part, this works as the frequency and severity of our colds/sicknesses is negligible (when compared to the average time an adult or child is sick); however, occasionally, an antibiotic is required.  I’ve always assumed that multiple bouts of colds, sneezes and other sickness were par for the course – part of the rigmarole when living with kids.

That is, until I started to do more research on the benefits of Vitamin D.  Vitamin D, as defined by Wikipedia, is a fat-soluble molecule ‘responsible for intestinal absorption of calcium and phosphate.’  Sufficient amounts of vitamin D can be synthesized by most mammals if exposed to sufficient levels of sunlight; however, as many of us, particularly during the winter months, do not get enough sunlight, we must supplement with vitamins or diet.

What are the benefits of vitamin D?   There are potentially multiple significant benefits.  Below are a few:

1. It may be helpful in protecting the immune system from the common cold;
2. It may reduce the risk of development multiple sclerosis;
3. It may have a role in protecting the health of the brain;
4. It may reduce the risk of developing cancer;
5. It may also help regulate ones mood;

For the first time since my children were born, I decided it was time the family take some vitamin D supplements, on top of absorbing it via food (fish, eggs, mushrooms, to name a few).  I didn’t anticipate any immediate benefits (I’ll admit that some of this might be placebo, but that wouldn’t be the case with my children as they do not understand the potential benefits of Vitamin D), but I believe strongly that we greatly benefit from a daily dosage (about 2000 IU’s for me and about 600 IU’s for kids), starting with significantly better/steady moods and no major sicknesses this winter (there were a few runny noses with no other symptoms and the youngest had a fever that lasted less than 6 hours, but other than that, nothing…knocking on wood).  Another potential benefit, specific to me, is the major improvement in my PMS symptoms; the usual ‘storm’ that precedes my period has in essence, been non-existent.  After about 2 decades of severe PMS, I’ll take whatever relief I can get.

Vitamin D.  It does our bodies good.  Try it.

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Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, ‘The Physiology of Taste’ (1825)

Everyone knows the feeling of “butterflies in the stomach” when nervous, and many of us have had the unfortunate experience of getting a stomachache when stressed or sad. We understand that the brain can affect our guts, but it can also work the other way around. In this article, I will be discussing not only healthy eating, but also the importance of happy eating.

Scientists have been examining how deeply influenced our mood and decision-making abilities are by the occurrences in our bellies. It has long been known that 95% of the body’s serotonin stores in our gastrointestinal tract, and that harnessing that is crucial to mental health.  Researchers now know that there are around one hundred million neurons in our enteric nervous system (ENS) , which controls the stomach and intestines, and that they transmit more signals to the brain than they receive. This resulted in the ENS being dubbed the body’s “second brain” by Dr. Michael Gershon, a neurobiologist and founding father of the field of neurogastroenterology.

According to Gershon, “A steady stream of messages flow back and forth between the brain and the gut…in fact, messages departing the gut outnumber the opposing traffic on the order of about nine to one.”

So, what does this mean to us when we sit down for dinner? Obviously, we want to eat foods that promote healthy serotonin levels- particularly in these winter months, when the body’s  natural stores tend to drop. Foods such as wild-caught fish, eggs, nuts and seeds, kale, avocados, and dark chocolate can help the body produce serotonin. But nutrients alone are not enough.

Consider how you are eating. Are you enjoying the experience of the meal, or are you feeling distracted, rushed, angry, or sad? Was the process of preparing the food one that gave you pleasure? Whether you are sharing brunch with friends, or dining in peaceful solitude, a positive state of mind will likely have longer term effects than merely the avoidance of indigestion.

Mindful eating may help coax the digestive system to release more serotonin and send calming signals to the brain, whereas stressful or negative food experiences may trigger anxiety or depressive tendencies. “The brain in the gut plays a major role in human happiness and misery,” says Gershon.

Multiple studies have shown that adolescents who engage in at least three family meals per week are less likely to exhibit depressive symptoms and engage in risky behaviors, and tend to do better in school and have better self-esteem- regardless of what the nutritional content of the meal is. Cultures in which food sharing, such as hand-feeding; use of common plates; and potluck meals, is common rate higher on levels of emotional satisfaction and sociable happiness. Clearly, the consumption of food in a social context feeds more than just the body.

This is not to leave out those who choose to nourish themselves unaccompanied. There is a meditative peace in being able to focus oneself entirely on a delicious bowl of soup, uninterrupted by conversation. The sound of a knife cutting vegetables in an otherwise silent kitchen can be as sweet as the peppers themselves.

However you decide to consume your food, be it with your friends or family, or in the company of your own thoughts, let it be with happiness and love. Your guts will thank you for it.

Sources & Additional Reading:

http://dailyfreepress.com/2012/01/17/the-real-butterfly-in-your-stomach-scientists-explore-the-possibility-of-a-second-brain-in-our-gut/

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain

Gershon, MD (1999) The Enteric Nervous System; A Second Brain, Hospital Practice. Book.

Assessing Causality and Persistence in Associations Between Family Dinners and Adolescent Well‐Being

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/612649

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458608000078

http://hea.sagepub.com/content/14/5/467.full.pdf+html

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