~ View the movie Fresh online at the link below until April 30th. Fresh
is a wonderful movie about the systems of food production and the
changes that are occurring to bring us into a closer relationship with
our food - how it is grown, sourced and enjoyed! Highly recommended
http://bit.ly/AbfNsm
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~The
paper towel challenge! We have not given you that in a few months! Make
a commitment to go a day, or a week, or a month, without paper towel.
Use washable cotton rags and towels in place of paper. Remember, paper
towel is loaded with chemicals! Don't expose yourself, your food and our
world, to this single use toxic load!
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~When
using the oven, endeavor to bake or roast more than one item at a time,
to maximize the heat that is created in the oven. For example, if you
are going to bake, during the warming or cooling of the oven put a pan
of nuts into the oven to gently dry roast, or dry out kale or dulse!
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mothering Mother Blog
For recipes, videos and ways to whole living, visit the
mothering Mother®
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What does mothering Mother®
nurturing Nature mean? It means taking care of Mother Nature through
our daily actions. Mother Nature has given us so much and now it is time
for us to be aware and active in creating a reciprocal relationship.
Each newsletter seeks to address opportunities in daily life to invite a connection to the Earth. mothering Mother® believes
that food is an integral and ongoing way to nurture the Mother Nature
relationship. We eat 2-3 times a day. Eating whole foods for a healthy
body, and a calm mind, will also nurture the Earth. We are intricately
connected with the Mother.
Use your cotton mothering Mother® bags
as ongoing reminders of this evolving relationship. Less plastic is
better for you and the Earth. Eating more vegetables, fruits, whole
grains, beans, nuts and seeds are better for you, and the Earth. Allow
the mothering of Mother and the nurturing of Nature to be your daily
offering of thanks.
Namaste
Sydney |
| Lent & VB6 |
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Frank Jaklitsch
Lawyer, Runner, Food Experimenter
I couldn't think of an
inspiring sacrifice for Lent this year, until I happened upon an Outside
magazine article about a lifestyle called "VB6". It is short for
"Vegan Before 6", and it's the title of an upcoming book by a famed food
critic, Mark Bittman.
The program is as simple as it sounds. Just eat vegan at breakfast and
lunch, as well as snacks during the day, and then eat whatever you want
(emphasis on "whatever") for dinner after 6 pm. For those who are not
sure, vegan really means no animal products (emphasis on "no"),
including any meat, fish, dairy or eggs, and even honey - I couldn't
believe that last one, either. I finished the article an hour before
the start of Fat Tuesday, and I decided right then I would try VB6 for
Lent. No deliberations necessary. After all, it was only for 40 days,
and it wouldn't affect my dinner plans, so why not?
I have never been a vegan before, or even a vegetarian. My original
motivation was to do something different for myself, and of course to
make a legitimate sacrifice for Lent. I have always liked a wide
variety of foods so I was a nervous this would quickly become a seven
week sentence of the same few lunches that were safe (e.g., McDonald's
French fries, bean burritos (hold the cheese), cucumber sushi rolls, and
garden salads with vinaigrette dressing - I was never much of a brown
bagger.) Breakfast I could deal with, but I expected that most
afternoons I would feel less than satiated, with mild hunger pangs
setting in around 3pm, and perhaps some lightheadedness from the assured
decrease in protein intake. Mentally, I worked in several weekday
afternoons where VB6 would be abandoned for the "greater good" (read: my
job).
What actually happened
is that by day 5 or so, those expectations became flat out ridiculous.
The biggest surprise is that I felt much less hungry during the day.
Hmmm, less hungry without meat or dairy or eggs? I felt more alert
actually, and I was not missing out on much protein at all. The 11:45am
"it's early but I've got to eat something" quickly became the "wow, its
2:00pm and I haven't grabbed lunch yet." And when I got home from
work, I unconsciously stopped my terrible habit of consuming assorted
snacks in the hour before dinner - because I wasn't hungry. I'm not a
doctor but I suspect that my blood sugar was much more consistent on
this new plan. Vegan food generally is a better source of fiber
(compared with animal products, which have none), and I suspect this was
an important factor as well.
The second biggest
surprise for me, is that I started losing weight. This wasn't an
initial goal of the VB6 'sacrifice' and this quickly got me energized
about the program. Suddenly I was losing roughly 2lbs a week, without
counting a single calorie, and fitting into some old pants again. I
lost at least 8lbs, which is 5% of my body weight. Honestly, I have
plateaued in the last couple of weeks, but I'm very optimistic that with
just a minimum amount of effort here or there (like counting a calorie,
or eating a vegan dinner), I may get even thinner. I should have
realized this might happen - try and google "overweight vegan," and see
if you get any results. The conventional wisdom is that vegans are
generally thinner than the average population, and after a few weeks
just following VB6, it's easy to see why.
So what vegan foods did I
eat for the last 7 weeks? In a sentence, all that stuff I've probably
walked past 100 times in the supermarket. It takes a tiny amount of
effort to scan shelves or read labels, but there all kinds of great
vegan products out there. For breakfast, I sometimes combine almond
yogurt or walnuts or almond butter along with my oatmeal in the morning
(they even taste pretty good in the same bowl). For lunch, I discovered
fennel and baby bok choy and snap peas in the produce aisle (literally -
I had never noticed these before), and most days I just eat them raw.
I've also made my own barley, farro, wild rice and buckwheat for the
first time ever (the real stuff, not the high salt preparations), and
sometimes I'll mix them with beans or sauce (think Indian, Mexican,
etc.). From the freezer section, black bean burgers are really good, as
are some imitation 'meats' using textured vegetable protein. And I'd
be remiss if I didn't give a shout out to almost anything by Amy's,
Daiya brand 'cheese' (tastier than some real ones) and Speculoos (better
than peanut butter, and I'll never understand how 20th century America
missed this). And this is just a start. I started bringing my lunch to
work way more often, although for a break, the lunch counter at the
local health food store is a good option, too.
Lent ended, but I'm
sticking with VB6 for the long haul. I have seriously considered going
with just the "V", but if I only keep one non-vegan type of food, it
will probably be fish (after all, it's a reliable source of Vitamin
B12). I won't pretend to be extremely principled about animal rights or
the environment, although I do care about my blood pressure, and I am
forever trying to lower my running times (it helps a lot to be thin). I
did find an article on the internet, pondering whether the creator of
VB6 was doing veganism more harm than good - to paraphrase (loosely),
the author turned a principled movement (that wasn't about health) into a
cafeteria-style short-term fad that used a perceived inferior, low
protein diet to achieve a specific personal health goal. I will
preemptively ask anyone who feels that same frustration toward me to
please give me a break, and to spew such vitriol at those 8lbs of me
that no longer exist!
My dog, Bandit, did not try VB6 with me, although he does love peanut butter!
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3 Bean Salad
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This
salad is unique in its origin - coming from your own kitchen! It is so
tasty and satisfying! This salad fits right in with Frank's VB6 program.
Bean salad is wonderful for lunch, and it can be the salad
dressing/topping on your salad. There is enough flavor and goodness in
it to give you some protein and some slow burning carbohydrates, with
some great fiber to keep your system moving!
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| Simple eating! |
3 Bean Salad
2 cups cooked kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chick peas, drained and rinsed
1 cup celery, finely diced
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 cup chopped parsley
1 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 apple cider vinegar
2 T maple syrup
Salt, pepper
Combine
all of the ingredients for the salad in a bowl. Combine all of the
ingredients for the dressing in a jar. Emulsify the dressing ingredients
together (shake or use a small whisk), taste and adjust seasoning if
necessary. Pour the dressing over the beans and vegetables, mix
thoroughly and then refrigerator for 4-12 hours. The flavor of the
dressing penetrates into the beans and the herbs develop greater flavor
with time.
Makes 4-5 servings.
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Health = Home
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Sydney MacInnis
Founder mothering Mother
Holistic Nutritionist, Yoga & Meditation Instructor
Cordon Bleu Cook
As I sit in a bookstore in New York City, waiting for Michael Pollan to speak about his new book, Cooked,
I am extra inspired to write words in this newsletter, words that I can
only hope will help all of us to further our connection with our food,
our bodies and our environment. Frank has written in the above article
about his experience of 40 days of VB6. Change is possible, in bite size
pieces that we are ready to accomodate, fueled by desire and
commitment.
In
his talk, Pollan said that he believes that the most important thing
about our diet is recognizing who is cooking our food - a human or a
corporation. Cooking is a key to health and those who cook their own
food have a better diet. It is the willingness of people to cook that is
the key item here. Our culture spends less time cooking than we spend
watching cooking shows! How interesting! Pollan feels that we are
obsessed with cooking because it elicits fond memories of watching our
mum, our grandma, cooking, and, together with the smells, elicit
memories of love.
Well, even Pollan says that the kitchen today
cannot look like the kitchen of our mothers' and grandmothers' days. Men
and children need to, and in many cases, want to be in the kitchen.
Adding
to this, I would say that eating is essential to all of us, and
preparing the food is sharing in the most basic aspect of our being -
our own survival! Whether it is vegan, or vegetarian, or flexitarian, or
pescetarian, or omnivore, let it be a reflection of your creation and
consciousness. Countries that put the most time into cooking at home
have the lowest obesity rates. Restaurants and corporations have one
main goal when it comes to your food - that you like it enough to come
back again. To achieve that end additives and calories are used to
extents that we the consumer do not know.
Although I can give a
full nutritional account of the disadvantage of VB6, I am going to hold
off. Mark Bittman with his focus on gradual change is creating a
platform that is reasonable and useable for those looking to shift.
Veganism and vegetarianism are on the rise, and we are becoming more
informed and discerning "consumers".
"May food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." (Hippocrates)
Eat well, be well.
Namaste |
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