It’s January, and my own health isn’t feeling so tip-top. During my journey on the Camino de Santiago, I walked 20 miles a day, ate whatever I wanted, and felt fantastic. The problem is I’ve kept eating that amount, and added a boatload of cookies, cakes, and sweets during the holidays. So much in fact that I am oozing sugar cookies out of my pores (I should not be getting breakouts at this age), and the muffins I love so much have become a giant muffin tire around my hips and back. No joke. I can feel it.

So like many others who jumpstart a nutritional change on January 1, I am too (also, my annual physical is in two weeks, and I’m embarrassed to go there and have the doctor tell me I’ve gained 20 pounds). No joke. Those loose-fitting pants from the Camino? Not so loose anymore. Rather, what’s the word? Snug. (Even though I’ve been pretty committed to spinning the last couple months, I’m pretty sure the newly thickened thighs are not all muscle.)

It’s not weight I’m concerned about. It’s health. I’m celebrating another birthday this month (and it’s not 18), and I need to really pay attention to how I age. I had been all set to de-tox for three weeks (no refined flours, sugars, etc. for three weeks. First week: fruits & veggies. Second week: tofu, legumes, beans. Third week: fish). Then Patty tells me to watch Forks Over Knives (learn about the 5% Diet and the movie here) and go vegan. We had a heated argument. I told her she was going too extreme. I had tried vegan for a month a year ago after reading The China Study, and then, well, bacon rocks. She sighed in exasperation, not understanding how I could be so stubborn and stupid.

My answer: whatever.

I come from a family who loves to eat. So much so that my mom has Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol (probably a few more things that I forgot). She isn’t overweight, quite tiny actually, so she thinks she’s actually fine. When she went from pills to insulin shots, she thought that was a sign of improvement (not kidding). She proudly skips her other medications because she thinks she will overdose (not kidding). She said her doctor was a bad doctor for threatening to “fire” her because she won’t listen to him. He tells her to change her diet and exercise.

Her answer: whatever.

My dad, on the other hand, ten years her senior is fit as a fiddle, with a cholesterol 20 points below mine, and can do yoga positions I only dream about. He is also the cook in the family, and so has been the one plying us with dinners full of meat and rice (for whatever reason, this diet has not negatively affected him). And he has never been able to say no to my mom. So he continues to succumb to her demands for duck, lobster, and sweets.

You would think these two were two little old, uneducated people who don’t understand how their diet is linked to their health. But oh no, no. My mom isn’t even in her 60s yet and she continues to instruct me on how to eat better (“turnips help to cut down blood sugar”…perhaps, then why is yours so high?). My dad loads us up with healing broths when we visit.

So why do they insist on wanting an early death?

I really have no idea. Whatever the resistance is to change is probably what is also killing so many people prematurely, or at least, making their elder years really crappy.

I figured, if not one of her kids (or a really adorable grandson) can convince my mom to change her eating habits, perhaps a movie might. Forks Over Knives has been on my Netflix forever, so I decided to go ahead and rent it (Netflix, you are starting to be economically un-smart for me.) since I was visiting my folks over the holidays. I made my parents sit and watch it.

My mom’s reaction: this is stupid, This woman is still fat, (before wandering off like a 2-year old).

My dad’s reaction: we should try this.

My mom’s reaction to my dad’s reaction: Of course eating less meat helps (huh?) I crammed before my last bloodwork and my doctor was pleased with the results (we have progress!)…but I can’t be bothered to eat like that all the time. This is stupid. Everyone needs meat and enjoy sweets. I’ll get sick if I don’t (and..end progress. Regress).

As if she isn’t sick right now. She’s stabbing herself daily with  insulin and complaining about leg and foot pain (signs of diabetes-related nerve damage). We’ve all tried to scare her, cajole her, teach her how to pick out how the whole grains, everything, but she seems to insist on dying early and painfully. It doesn’t help that she’s stubborn and opinionated (runs in the family).

Do I sound pissed? Well, let me put it this way: it is not going to end well. My dad is going to end up taking care of my mom, carrying her up the stairs when she has no legs or feeding her when she can’t do it herself because she’s had a stroke. The Beanie Baby, aka Mister Strong, will not have his grandmother around for long, or at least, not in great condition (interestingly, my grandmother – my mom’s mom – lived healthy well into her 90s.  She understood the concept of hari hachi bu. Her one weakness was vanilla ice cream).

So although my mom seems insistent on trapping her young-at-heart, young-in-mind spirit into an old woman’s body and we’re not sure what to do about it, here are a few things I am doing because at least these steps are within my control:

• Practice what I preach – commit to the whole foods/planet-based/little-no-meat/no overly processed-packaged food way of eating. For those of you know me, this is a HUGE deal. But I have ZERO desire to age in a way that I could avoid by taking preventive measures. Perhaps by changing my diet and forcing my family to adjust to it when I visit will convince my mom that she needs to change, too.
• Stop beating around the bush – try and help others be aware of what they eat directly affects their health (and their life span and their families). It’s selfish for people to eat in a way that leads them to avoidable premature death or preventive chronic conditions. Not only are taxpayers paying for what-could-have-been unnecessary medications, but kids are then also left without their parents or aunts, etc. (Yes, Mister Strong’s dad, I’m looking at you).

So to jumpstart the steps I can take, here is a delicious (DEE-LICIOUS), healthy, whole-foods recipe that might even convince my mom that “whatever” isn’t going to cut it anymore. For other awesome, vegetarian recipes, check out the Telegraph.

Don’t tell Patty. She loves to tell me, “I told you so,” especially when it’s for my own good.

Whatever.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Wild Rice & Quinoa Stuffing
I used wild rice harvested by canoe, thanks to ZomppaLiz’s dear husband. You can make the rice ahead of time, and the flavors of the rice will continue to harmonize over a few days, making leftovers awesome.

Ingredients
6 small acorn squashes (nice to have individual portions), halved lengthwise and seeds removed
3 TB honey
3 TB dark brown sugar
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
3 medium shallots, finely chopped
6 celery stalks, finely chopped
3 TB thyme
3 TB rosemary
1 TB cayenne pepper (or more, for a bigger kick)
1 1/2 cups wild rice (or red, brown, or black)
1 1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups vegetable broth
Balsamic vinegar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
Oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions
1. C wild rice and quinoa in veggie broth (2:1 water:grain ratio). Bring broth to boil, cover for 20 minutes until fluffy. Remove from heat.
2. Preheat oven to 450F. Rub each half of acorn squash with honey and brown sugar. Season with bit of salt and pepper.
3. Bake acorn squash for 30 minutes until tender (fork should go right in).
4. While baking, add a bit of oil in deep skillet and add onions, shallots, and celery (can use veggie broth instead of oil). Season with salt, pepper, thyme and rosemary (and really, any other herbs you prefer) until soft (about 6-7 minutes).
5. Take mixture and stir into rice. Add walnuts, cranberries, and raisins. Season with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar (makes flavors pop).
6. Stuff each half of acorn squash with rice and return to oven for another 20-25 minutes until squash is totally tender and edges browned.

Below is a clip of the documentary for your viewing pleasure:

We’ve written about water for last year’s Blog Action Day, but some recent movies have got me thinking again about water, and wanted to share them.

View of Manhattan from Roosevelt Island

I recently watched the documentary No Impact Man. This guy Colin Beavan takes his family on a one-year quest to have no impact on the environment – meaning walking, biking, scooting everywhere, no electricity, no new clothes, no toilet paper, and of course, no water in plastic bottles. While many of us don’t live in places like New York City where it’s a bit easier because of the accessibility of farmer’s markets within walking or biking distance, the documentary makes one question what each of us can do to lower our impact.

Georgia Aquarium

For anyone who talks about caring about the environment or where their food comes from, check it out (streaming on Netflix) and the follow-up initiative, the No Impact Project. In any case, the Beavan’s taking their no impact to the nth degree really raises how far we have become as a society in how we treat our food and drink.

Waters of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa

If you’ve ever drank water (duh), you need to watch Tapped, a documentary about the bottled water business. Winner of multiple awards, this movie examines some startling information, not only about how much we consume (29 billion bottles purchased by Americans alone in 2007), but also the terrible consequences of the business. A few notes:

• Everyone – EVERYONE, YOU, ME – will have an issue with having accessible, clean, drinking water by 2030. That’s not so far away.
• Only 1% of the Earth’s water is drinkable.
• Groundwater rights depends on the state, so big companies own water rights in small towns, like Nestle (which owns Poland Springs) in Maine.
• Though the International Bottled Water Association (yes, there is one) says they only take .02% of available groundwater, critics say by doing so in small areas, fish populations get depleted…among other things.
• 40% of bottled water is filtered tap water. (My way is cheaper!)
• Places nearby refineries making plastic bottles have higher rates of birth defects and cancer. In Corpus Christi, refinery workers are forbidden to let citizens know they have a right to clean air and water. Air and soil are contaminated. Birth defects are 84% higher than the state average.

Jellyfish at Dawn, Wilmington, NC

Wait! It gets better! Have you switched out of individual bottled water because of BPA and stuff? You might still drink water at the office from the water cooler, even filling your aluminum bottle with it. Well, it turns out that most 5-gallon bottles have BPA, and these low doses of estrogen can lead to cancers of the breast and prostrate, ADD, diseases of the liver, ovaries, uterus, low sperm count, and it goes on and on…. So you might think you’re safe refilling at the water cooler, but think again!

The movie is streaming on Netflix (oh, Netflix, how I love thee). See the trailer here:

The smart guys at McKinsey recently came out with a key report, Charting Our Water Future. They are part of a group, the 2030 Water Resources Group that comprises of some big business, including the Barilla Group, The Coca Cola Company, Nestlé (yes Nestle), New Holland Agriculture, SAB Miller, Standard Chartered, and Syngenta.

Folks are starting to recognize this issue more and more. University of Canberra in Australia is discontinuing sale of bottled water by World Water Day 2011. World Water Day (March 22) theme this year is: Water for Cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge. Find out here what you can do.

Essentially, something’s gotta be done because we’re all going to be effected – whether you want to know or not.

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I am now a weekday vegetarian.*

*Some exceptions: i.e. birthday meals at the Brazilian steakhouse, holidays during the week. I’m not perfect, OK. For more about this, see video at end of post. Even Anthony Bourdain is reducing his meat consumption.

For most of you, you might be thinking, big deal. You have to understand this in context. I. Did. Not. Eat. Vegetables. Until. After. I. Turned. 31.

31. That’s Yoda in dog years.

I tried once in college to become vegetarian, but since I didn’t eat veggies, I ate pasta for three straight days and got bored, not to mention hungry. So why now? One, my big kid tastebuds have started to grow in and I no longer gag on tomatoes or shiver at spinach. Two, as ZomppaPatty noted, I’d prefer to live out my years as healthy as possible, however long that will be.

One of the lessons learned is that while these centenarians didn’t cut out meat entirely, they didn’t eat it very often. So I’m a-changing my ways. For real.

The other thing that I picked up that I need to start implementing is the notion of Hara Hachi Bu.  According to the healthy seniors living in Okinawa, before each meal, they say to themselves, “hara hachi bu, ” a reminder to eat until only 80% full. Since food takes about 20 minutes to digest, you’ll soon realize you are actually full. Jenny from the Nourished Kitchen wrote a great piece on this.

This is something my mom told me for years, but for some reason, I always practiced negative hara hachi bu, if there is such a thing. I ate 20% MORE AFTER I was full. It was like I couldn’t stop until my stomach hurt. In fact, ZomppaLiz likes to make up stories of when I would outeat the football players at the all-you-can-eat cafeteria in college (only partly, sort of, kind of true).

It makes sense, watch portion control, live healthier longer.

Another key point that the Blue Zones speak of is the notion of having a greater purpose. Last year, I wrote about Dan Buettner’s piece on finding one’s Ikigai. Forget what that means? Take a look – one of the best “diet” tips ever – as well as a real impetus to reach for what ZomppaPatty speaks of: growing old and healthy with the ones near and dear.

Life is not about cutting things out, but about living well. Yes, that means Hara Hachi Bu for me. But it means that I am also more aware of the foods I eat. People often think of chicken liver as gross, but I adore it. The centenarians all eat meat, and when they do, they utilize as many parts of the animals so as not to waste as well as for nutrients. Liver is high in iron and can be so tasty when made properly.

You might be wondering why I’m writing a meat post on this discussion about becoming a weekday vegetarian. One. I am a fan of pate. Two, since I don’t eat meat on the weekdays, I want the meat I eat on the weekends to be a delicious treat. Three, pate allows me to utilize more of the chicken. Four, pate fills you up quickly, so you don’t have to eat a lot of it. Five, pate is such a nutrient-dense food. In other words, big flavor, not a lot, nutritious.

Rather than question how it is made or overspending, I make my own. For less than $3.00 for organic chicken livers, you can impress your loved one from now until 108.

Thank goodness for the weekends.

Homemade Chicken Liver Pate

Chicken Liver Pate
1 lb. chicken liver
6 TB butter
2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup orange juice
1 cup chicken stock
2 TB dijon mustard
1/2 tsp rosemary
2 tsp black pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed

1. Melt 2TB butter
2. Add chicken livers and saute 10 minutes until brown
3. Add orange juice, chicken stock, rosemary, dijon mustard, pepper, and garlic clove
4. Boil until liquid is pretty much gone
5. Cool and put in food processor with 4TB of softened butter
6. Add salt to season and puree

Curious about weekday vegetarianism? Check out this TedX video with Treehugger’s Graham Hill:

Check us out on Tip Day Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, and Fresh Bites Friday!

On February 12, TedX Manhattan held a session on “Changing the Way We Eat.” Some amazing speakers…it’s a bit long, put it on while you’re cleaning or cooking, it’s worth your time. Check out the site for more, but some highlights from Session 1:

Do I know at what price my seafood consumption pays for the environment and for the wild animals who live in the waters?

Jellyfish at the Georgia Aquarium

I’m always a little perplexed by those who say they won’t eat meat because they don’t want to eat animals or hurt the planet, yet seafood is often an exception….

Seafood. Frutas del mar.Frutti de mare. We don’t call four-legged animals we eat “landfood,” yet we think our oceans are forever overflowing.

Salmon at Jaleo, Bethesda, MD

If you eat anything from the seas, do you know how it’s caught? Is it endangered? Is it sustainable? If you eat any kind of fish or animal from the waters, I highly recommend first reading Four Fish by Paul Greenberg.

Four Fish by Paul Greenberg

One of the best written and clear books I’ve read, Greenberg investigates the fishing industry and what “seafood” and sustainability means through the four fish that have characterized much of our “seafood” today: salmon, cod, bass, and tuna. Being from New England, cod, lobster, and clam chowder were givens. We ate like there was no tomorrow.

Sea bass

But Greenberg warns otherwise, and investigates which fish are more sustainably raise, fish that have had less fame – tilapia, Kona Kampachi, carp. He also makes it clear that wild fish are not “seafood,” there for our consumption, but like any creature, deserves to fulfill its destiny. Francis Lam from Salon interviewed Greenberg via email recently, and you can read the transcript here.

Yet recent reports, like Treehugger and Guardian’s pieces by Lewis Smith raise concern about whether MSC is rushing too label certain fish or sea animals sustainable when they may not be.

Rights to animals in the water and what constitutes as our food is coming to a head, literally. Do you remember that report of Gordon Ramsey getting doused with gasoline for investigating illicit shark fin trade? I love Gordon Ramsey!! Sorry for the digression…but he rocks.

An important video to watch is End of the Line (also streaming on Netflix. Netflix, I love you!). Check out their site and join the campaign to protect our “seafood” before we can no longer “see” anything in the ocean. See trailer here:

If we pay more attention to the animals that come from the waters, we may start hearing better news. Recently, Barry Eastabrook of Politics of the Plate noted that haddock stocks have been replenishing. Marc aka  Mental Masala wrote a great piece on Ethicurean on what some restaurants in San Francisco, i.e. Fish and Chez Panisse, are doing. Follow fish2fork (on Twitter too) which is a “campaigning restaurant guide for people who want to eat fish – sustainably” – done by the folks who did End of the Line.

Seafood is a misnomer. Animals in the oceans are wild, roaming animals, and we need to recognize and honor their place, especially if we ask them to give their lives for us.

Source: Summer Tomato

As a milk lover and one who has drunk straight from the teet (warm), I know how yummy raw milk can be. But this seems to be topic that gets people riled up. Slate wrote an article arguing that drinking raw milk puts people at risk and milk was never meant to be drunk this way.

While you’re deliberating, check out Barry from Politics of the Plate’s visit to two dairy farms. Seems a good place to start is to ask where the milk – raw or not – comes from and how it’s gotten to your glass.

Organic foods do not always had a good reputation. People have criticized the likes of Chef Ann Cooper and Alice Waters saying that they don’t understand “regular” people who cannot afford organic foods. It seems there may be a “cultural war,” as Washington Post’s Brent Cunningham and Jane Black write about.

True, organic foods tends to be more expensive. But is the “crusade against fast and processed food…an obsession of ‘elites’…and not ‘real Americans’?

The answer is no. Actually, those who try and make this a “crusade” are missing the entire point.

Does it make me un-American to support local American family farmers, our American children from growing breasts prematurely, or raise awareness among our American neighbors that food is something to value and appreciate, not something that is conducted out of scientific laboratories for the dollar menu?

Does it make me an elitist to spend a little more on what goes into my body and into those for whom I cook? I don’t own $100 handbags. I carry a little bag that came free with a purchase. I don’t wear $500 shoes. I wear my shoes until the soles start to separate.

Yes, I was one of those who spent more money on an heirloom turkey and ham from local NC hogs. But when I start hearing about 7-year old girls developing breasts, and my own lip starts puffing up when I eat conventional apples (it took me years to realize it was the pesticides I was allergic to), I realize that my food purchases are at least something I have control over and I don’t see it as a cultural war, I see it as a way to watch my health, support my community and value food.

In the U.S., I know I’m fortunate to have the option to purchase organic foods. The organic industry isn’t this well developed in every country. Remember the cooking oil scandal in China where oil was recycled from sewers? That has prompted a movement in organic farming there, though it is not nearly as widespread as it is here.

Or as well developed as Canada, which has fairly sophisticated local food systems, like the Concordia Food Systems Project. Local food, like organic food, can be pricier than conventional foods, because the economies of scale are far smaller.

But local food supports local economies and tends to be provide fairer wages for farmers and producers. When we pay higher prices for local or organic foods, we forget that for the most part, we underpay for our food. Food has long been cheap, often due to the unfair wages paid to laborers. As I was making this super easy Tomato Mushroom Egg Bake (this photo series, recipe below), I was somewhat comforted by the fact that even though my tomato was $0.30 more per pound, I knew that the people who picked it were compensated fairly.

This is not always the case. The tomato industry, in particular, is notorious. Wages haven’t risen in 30 years. A person who can pick a TON a day, might make $50 a day. Of course, a ton a day doesn’t happen. This wage, of course, doesn’t include health care or other benefits.

So I am willing to pay more for local and/or organic foods. But I’m not a wealthy person (monetarily), so I try and make my dollar stretch just like the next person. Since I had already had eggs, milk tomatoes, etc. on hand for the Tomato Mushroom Egg Bake (photos above, recipe below), I figured I’d utilize as many of the same ingredients the next day for another hearty breakfast.

This Ham and Egg Pastry Pie (recipe below) allowed me to stretch the dozen eggs, the cheese, etc., so I only had to purchase a few additional ingredients. I plan a week in advance so that I make different – but similar enough – dishes together so I can maximize the purchase.

This way, I avoid the last minute – oh-it’d-be-cheaper-to-pick-up-fast-food-breakfast where the eggs aren’t really eggs and everything is processed.

As Tom Philpott, a financial journalist-turned-farmer who helps run Maverick Farms in North Carolina (an educational non-profit promoting sustainable agriculture and local community development) argues, it is possible to afford organic food. A lot has to change to change the food system – policies, personal choices – but we all too often forget the real cost of food is not just on the sticker price.

Call me an elitist if you want. If that’s what it means, I’m proud to be a snob.

Tomato Mushroom Egg Bake

Tomato Mushroom Egg Bake
2 English muffins
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup baby portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup gruyere, grated
Olive Oil
4 eggs
2 green onions, chopped
Salt
Pepper
1 TB dried basil, crushed
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 milk

1. In skillet, heat olive oil
2. Add chopped tomatoes and mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes until soft. Season with salt and pepper
3. In bowl, whisk eggs, milk, basil, and garlic
4. When tomato/mushroom mix is ready, take off heat source and cool
5. In small casserole dish, place English muffin at bottom
6. Top with tomato/mushroom mix
7. Pour egg mix over everything
8. Wrap with cellophane and put in refrigerator overnight
9. The next day, take out and keep at room temperature for 45 minutes
10. Add gruyere cheese
11. Cook for 50 minutes at 375F

Ham and Egg Pastry Pie

Ham and Egg Pastry Pie
1 sheet puff pastry
5 eggs
1/2 pound ham
2 green onions, chopped
1 TB milk
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano

1. Cut puff pastry sheet in quarters
2. Put one quarter of the puff pastry in each small casserole dish (one of two) or ramekin
3. Add 1/4 of the ham in each dish
4. Crack two eggs in each dish – poke gently so eggs runs slightly
5. Add green onions
6. Layer the rest of the ham
7. Put top layer of puff pastry and press
8. Mix 1 egg, milk, and cheese in separate dish and use as wash over each pie
9. Bake for 20 minutes at 350F

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