A Building Diet incorporates most calories from fats and proteins over carbs. It’s good for folks that are under physical/mental stress, active, or just burned out of energy. Heavy in vegetables, it includes 1-2 servings of fat and protein per meal. The Paleo Diet, popular now, is a Building Diet. An easy meal example is an omelette, or fish with rice and veggies. You’re shooting for 30-45% perecnt Carbs, 25-30% Proteins, and 30-40% Fats, with 4-6 servings of Protein a day. A serving is considered 3 oz. serving of Animal Protein or 6 oz. Vegetarian Protein. Fill the rest with leafy and crunchy veggies, whole grains, fluids, nuts and seeds.

Background
We live in a fast paced society. We overwork our Adrenal glands, which help regulate our energy levels, and run on stimulants like caffeine and sugar for energy that’s quickly-accessible. With the mental energy required for today’s information-overload, and the physical demands we put on our bodies, it’s important to incorporate the building blocks of nutrition in every meal.

Protein
Although I know the S.A.D. is obsessed with protein, and the animal kind in particular, the right amount and sources of it can be healing. Although I promote a plant-based diet, I recognize and respect the importance of these nutrients in our diet. For this reason, I joke that I’m a Mooditarian, and I recommend that you too, stay flexible to your Diet Direction needs.

Here are examples of plant-based Building Diet meals:

• Balance out a green smoothie: Add hemp seeds or hemp powder and nut butter, or pre-soaked cashew
• Add nuts to your breakfast: Make your own Muesli with oats, pre-soaked, roasted almonds, millet, dried fruit, sea salt, and agave. (I’ll include the recipe in my next newsletter!)
• Make meals out of salads: French lentils with steamed greens of any kind, a touch of feta cheese, cut up dried figs
• Make hearty soups: Miso with tofu and veggies or Dahl, for example
• Give carbs some substance when snacking: Toasted bread with almond butter
• Try a tempeh/‘TLT’ sandwich or throw tempeh over greens – it’s an excellent, eco-friendly protein

Animal protein Building Meals:

• High in essential amino acids, (ones the body can’t make alone) cottage cheese and cage free eggs will give you lots of bang for your buck nutritionally-speaking, and dollarwise. I eat eggs often over greens and a corn tortilla.
• Try greek yogurt. It is the bomb! Lots of protein for little calories. I mix pre-soaked nuts in or a touch of honey. It’s a weekly treat.
• Make sure to eat organic, free range meat when you do, and remember the environmental cost of it. Once in a while I buy roasted organic chicken at Whole Foods. If I find my mouth watering over the smell, I now choose to eat it.

It always saddens me to hear of people trying to lose weight on extreme ‘detox’ diets. The body is constantly at work, repairing and regenerating itself, and it needs protein and fat to do it well.  These combined with fiber from lots of veggies help one feel full, keep the mind sharp, and the body strong in today’s demanding world.

Fat

“Considering the human brain is like 60% fat,” I heard a Bauman graduate say, “monounsaturated fats are crucial; ideally with a good omega 6 and 3 ratio.” Contrary to most saturated fats, coconut oil and some butter are good fats too.

• Choose Chia seeds, flax seeds, nuts, avocados, olives, fatty fish, or the oils from all these sources to be available in every meal.

Holistic nutrition is a lot about listening to one’s body. See what yours is telling you. Is it constantly hungry? Running on low batteries? Perhaps it’s time to make a tempeh sandwich, or a kick-ass, pizza that’s overflowing with veggies  and see how you feel. If you’re active, I bet your body will be thankful.

Just two tablespoons of this delightful, high-fiber, low-carb treat offers 14% of a day’s required calcium intake, along with an invaluable dose of Omega 3 fatty acids. It tastes so good too I eat mine as a dessert or afternoon treat.

Processed foods cooked with vegetable oil in S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) are high in Omega-6′s, and what the body needs is a more balanced ratio of Omega 3′s and 6′s for its well-being. The body can’t make Omega 3 fatty acids alone and depends on dietary sources like fatty fish, olive oil, nuts, chia and flax seeds for them. Chia seeds are one of the most affordable and nutrient ready sources for Omega 3′s.

This butter combines chia seeds, dried blueberries and cranberries with a bit of honey, chia seed oil, and Pink Himalayan salt for a richly textured, balancing superfood that tastes amazing. Order online from Living Tree Community Foods!

Bambu Cork Taper Cutting Board

This super-light, handsome cork cutting board by Bambu not only cushions knife blades and keeps them sharper, but is slip-resistant, and makes cutting vegetables smoother on the wrist. It’s hypoallergenic and also impermeable to liquids. I love how it supports your wristFor fruits, cheeses, and appetizers, it doubles as a handy serving tray. Utilitarian purposes aside, cork harvesting from a tree’s outer bark actually helps to revitalize and strengthen the tree’s health, making this a sustainable choice.

One of the coolest home products to help you stay hydrated is the SodaStream. Enjoy seltzer without creating bottle water waste by making your own! In just 2-3 seconds it bubbles up your filtered water. Save and seal in the handy reusable bottle and mix up the bubbly with apple cider and lime – yum, my favorite!

The SodaStream comes with various flavors for you to make your own sodas, 2 bottles to wash and reuse, and fits compactly on your counter.

Unlike that fancy food processor or ice cream maker you bought a while back, this is one appliance you’ll use over and over!

Beyonce's ethical extensions on Fashionista

This Friday I’m invited to a feather extension and wine drinking party, where they may even be some hooping involved- my kinda girlie get-together! But while I see the appeal for the the whole feather-in-hair look, as an animal lover I’m having a hard time feeling good about going for it myself. I don’t want to support what appears like an industry with pretty dodgy practices. Funny enough, Ecorazzi and Vegansaurus covered the topic today too, pointing to a hypocritical ad campaign by PETA. The trend’s completely blown up. You know it’s over the top and gettin’ old when celebs like Roseanne Barr are even buying it.)

But I am loving tinsel strands like Beyonce’s, which are cheap and fall out naturally after a while. Shakin’ Tail Feathers is just one local company that does this ethical alternative to feathers.

I’m really surprised I actually had to contact PETA several times before getting a very general statement regarding the whole feather as fashion explosion, with nothing specific words on their website. Now I see their ad too, thanks to Laura at Vegansaurus, who happened to cover this today too! This is what two of the folks on PETA staff had to say:

Anytime animals are used to turn a profit, their interests are put below the interests of the company. It is impossible for birds to lose enough feathers naturally to keep any company in business. The feathers are taken from Roosters and the process is brutal and fatal. Feathers are beautiful – if they fall naturally from the bird and are chanced upon during a walk through the woods. Feather extensions are another symbol of people’s consumerist attitude toward animals; each extension equals another life extinguished from the earth.

Fine Featherheads

I understand that companies like Fine Featherheads are high in demand supplying salons all over the country right now.  So it’s good they choose to work with Whiting Farms, the “responsible” (and largest) producer of long rooster feathers -  at least they don’t pluck the live animals for the prized goods. They say they care for them in order to extend their lives, which results in the long feathers. They are confined to cages because they are territorial animals, and these may not necessarily be small.

But the whole thing just seems so wasteful and the more I learn, cruel. The rooster meat isn’t even tender enough to go on the market for most carnivores. Even Whiting Farms admits openly it cannot keep up with current demand. They also make it clear that the roosters are thrown away as compost after their feathers are harvested. Gawker mentions that Whiting Farms kills 1,500 birds a week and women have even been banned from fly fishing stores in their pursuit of fashion!

So I guess for right now I won’t throw out the (awesome) feather earrings I got a year ago, but skip the feather extensions.  Boo! I like them.

But Beyonce’s sparkly tinsel extensions are actually sustainable and way more ethical! I hope this answers any questions for Kind Lifers and other “vegan flirts.”

Read more here

So much produce for around $16 at Heart of the City's Farmers' Market

Where are you buying your fruits and veggies lately? When you start to branch out from supermarket shopping (goodbye tasteless food out of season, high CO2 miles in transport, bad fluorescent light, and industry marketing!)  your best choices are:

• Shop at the Farmers’ Market
• Order from a local CSA (community supported agriculture)
• Grow your own

Why the Farmers’ Market rocks
Growing your own food isn’t something many families get to do easily, and what you get delivered in a CSA box may rot before you get to cooking it. That’s why I still think going to the Farmers’ Market is the best choice for individuals and small, busy families. To keep your carbon footprint as low as possible and stay healthy, you want to get locally grown, pesticide – free food.

The Farmer’s Market is a great place for accountability. You can get fresh eggs, for example, and avoid reading confusing egg carton labels by actually speaking with a human who will tell you if the farm’s hens are cage-free,have their beaks clipped, or how they are treated. Why not find this stuff out? It’s what feeds us. I even got a whole carton of high quality eggs this way for less than $4.

Organic versus no spray at the Farmers’ Market
Certified organic food can be really expensive because obtaining the certified organic label is a rigorous process. According to Gail P. Myers from Farms to Grow, the initial and follow up costs for inspection, maintenance, and record upkeep deter small farmers who are already mindful and use no sprays, nor pesticides.In a study by Farms To Grow, almost 70% of Northern California farmers were using low or no pesticides.

So ask farmers if they use sprays and pesticides. You may not need to buy organic if you’re on a budget and have access to no-spray, locally grown food, and you can save a lot this way. Some veggies like asparagus or eggplant are much safer to buy non-organic. Berries, peaches, peppers and other thin-skinned fruits and veggies are important to get without sprays or chemicals. Organic is your safest label when you can’t talk to the grower, but at the Farmers’ Market you can! (do get your bananas organic and fair trade at the supermarket though; non-organic ones are sprayed to death.)

It pays off to become a Farmers’ Market Snob
If you have the luxury of having various Farmers’ Markets in your geographical area, you might do well to shop around too. I’ve found big price differences between the Noe Valley Farmers’ Market and the Heart of the City one at Civic Center near the Tenderloin here in San Francisco. Due to the lack of quality food markets in the Tenderloin, the area is considered a food desert, yet it’s centrally located attracting college students to seniors on a budget. Many people here shop with food stamps, and market demand keeps prices very low. The farmers have flexibility on rental fees and don’t have to show if they are having a slow growing season. The result is a win-win situation that provides affordable healthy food and profits for the farmers.

Getting creative with low cost food
On my last visit I got a variety of mushrooms, cage-free, organic eggs, Persian cucumbers,cheap no-spray red bell peppers (so pricy elsewhere!) baby carrots to drizzle with maple syrup and roast, as well as Dino kale. I paid less than twenty bucks!!

Many farmers’ markets now have live music, crafts, activities even. They create a sense of community. The Hillcrest Farmers’ Market is one of my favorites when I return to San Diego. And the Union Square market in downtown NY breaks up all the concrete with good food and people.

So if you live in an area without a farmers’ market, consider starting one! Check out Shareable’s Guide or one by the Rodale Insitute

Image from Yoni Freedhoff

While Michelle Obama continues to teach kids in the White House Garden, our tax dollars are funding a mono-crop culture heavy in corn and soy. Imagine U.S. disease rates (including child obesity and the growing epidemic of Type II diabetes) if most vegetables weren’t pricier than your average soda or McDonald’s cheeseburger.

Michael Pollan has frequently touched on  the problems caused by government subsidies, and I just heard him speak on the politics of high fructose corn syrup (our cheapest sweetener) and sugar recently. If there’s any take home message from his books, it is deciding for ourselves what we eat, rather than to blindly reach for what food manufacturers are selling us in the middle aisles of supermarkets. Processed food is what the government is funding essentially. It’s up to you to get your vegetables and pursue good health in a backward system.

Best MP food quote: “If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.”

A larger environmental problem. Most  processed foods contain genetically modified corn or soy today, as seen in the 2007 documentary King Corn. A large percentage of that feeds livestock, which fills the air with methane, contributing largely to global warming, as well as polluting huge masses of water with runoff. (Not reflected below)

We can work to change this (very sloooowly…zzzz) by voting for changes in the Farm Bill, a massive piece of legislature that comes out every four years that should really be called the Food Bill. I produced a video on this with Free Range Studios and we titled it Food Battle. I hope you enjoy watching the Spongecake-like dude running around scared and that you get involved the next time it comes up for legislation :  ) In the meantime, Green Foodies can unite and advocate for real, nutritious food by voting with your dollars, shopping from farmers and coops, and growing our own food. This article by Andy Bellatti, MS, sums up the subsidy issue perfectly in a great quote:

“Unless the government plans on matching crop subsidies to the recommendations laid out on My Plate (i.e.: subsidize fruits and vegetables, rather than wheat corn and soy to make nutritionally inferior byproducts), I don’t see how My Plate is supposed to help anyone develop better eating habits. I don’t believe Americans are lacking knowledge or awareness that fruits and vegetables are healthy; the problem is that fruits and vegetables compete with artificially priced junk food in the marketplace.  Lucky Charms and Trix are so cheap because they are made with crop subsidies; meat is cheap because it cows are fed government-subsidized crops, and so on and so forth.  Is My Plate suddenly going to make a pound of vegetables cost less, and a box of Lucky Charms cost more?  Will My Plate turn food deserts into areas where residents can have access to healthy foods?  No.”

Roger Doiron from Kitchen Gardeners compared Michelle Obama’s sustainably-grown model garden to a subsidy-funded conventional farm. (The data was provided from the Environmental Working Group.) Scroll down to see the nifty graphic below!

RD: “I thought it would be eye-opening – not to mention jaw-dropping – to see what the White House garden would look like if it were planted to reflect the relative importance of the crops that our taxdollars are actually supporting.  You’ll see that there’s very little resemblance between America’s Kitchen Garden and our “Subsidy Garden.”

I know I’m hooked on my dark chocolate, but this kind of treat isn’t so bad in comparison to many others. High fructose corn syrup is the evil additive everyone’s talking about these days – a concentrated source of fructose( fruit sugar) – that shows up primarily in sweetened drinks. The topic of sugar dominated the public forum I attended with Michael Pollan, Dr. Andrew Weil, and UCSF child obesity expert Dr. Robert H. Lustig at the Nutrition & Health Conference a month ago.

For the first time in decades, doctors and scientists are examining fructose in particular as a potential toxin. It’s the stuff that easily adds 200 extra calories to people’s daily intake with no nutritional benefit. The New York Times Magazine ran a great article on this back in April.

Background
Calling anything toxic is a strong word, but doctors like Lustig are regarding sugar as an addictive, disease-forming substance that should be regulated in our foods. They have observed that a high concentration of fructose (fruit sugar specifically) is the culprit behind major lifestyle health issues like heart disease, accelerated aging, and may even spread cancer cells. This link is still being studied (enormous quantities of fructose are given to rats) and poses a political issue (corn in HFCS is subsidized and sweetens most of commercial foods today!) But the connection has to do with how the body metabolizes fructose, which happens mostly in the liver.

• Why is junk food cheap? Because 16% of corn in the U.S. goes into HFCS.
• It takes only 6 to 8 weeks for a farmer to grow a year’s worth of corn and soy and the government subsidizes it. Imagine subsidizes veggies instead!
• The World Health Organization tried to put a limit on sugar consumption, but the U.S. didn’t go for it.  S U R P R I S E!
• There is no daily recommended intake (DRI) for sugar in USDA recommendations.  Y I K E S!

• The fiber in food gives the liver a chance to slow down the absorption of sugar. Eat whole fruits and vegetables that are sweet and you’re doing your body good!
• Choose whole grain products over (pulverized) whole wheat. The more grain in your food, the longer it takes the body to turn it into sugar.
• Dark chocolate is one of the best (processed sugar) sweets you can eat.
• Stop drinking convenience drinks in large quantities and don’t give boxed juices to your kids, this is pure fructose with no fiber. Make whole food green smoothies and drink water instead!
• Introduce a healthy food to your kids at least ten times (if you have the patience!) Research says it takes 11 to 15 times before they adapt to it.
• Experiment by roasting some sweet vegetables, munching on dried fruit like dates and mangos with nuts, and enjoy a banana to satisfy your sweet tooth and curb sugar cravings. Jot down how you feel at the end of your day.
• If you want to geek out on sugar digestion, learn the difference between Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load. Yams and carrots may have high GI but are still a great food full of vitamins with low GL. See a detailed chart here

And last, donate if you feel called to help grow DumpSugar.org into a non-profit campaign! The team has put a comprehensive list of health research on this in one place.

Veggie "BLT"

I recently wrote a Sustainable Food Beginner’s Guide for MindBodyGreen, so check it out!

Here’s an easy plant-based recipe I wanted to share that I make often, a Veggie BLT that’s really a TKT – Tempeh Kale Tomato sandwich to substitute the traditional fatty, nutritionally lame bacon, lettuce, and tomato. I hope you try it!

Smoky Tempeh Strips

• I use tempeh strips from Lightlife with a slight meaty flavor in my sandwiches at least once a week. Tempeh is one of the healthiest ways to eat your soy (along with miso and organic edamame). Since it’s fermented, live, healthy bacteria have already begun the digestion process for you and help build and maintain a healthy gut. High in protein, fiber, and low in cholesterol and fat, tempeh is one of the best plant-based proteins you can eat. This product in particular comes with a smoky flavor and goes so well with Portobello mushrooms, veggies, bread or pasta.

Email vera@nourishthespirit.com and I should have some Lightlife coupons for you to get some of your own

• Adding Dino kale adds so many vitamins and minerals. It’s actually healthiest lightly steamed.
• Sundried tomatoes. They have so much flavor and carry a lower carbon footprint than hothouse tomatoes, which take substantial energy to grow. Just reconstitute them in some water or olive oil and you’re good to go.
• Add some pickles on the side – more fermented, healthy bacteria goodness! Yum. I’m hooked on ones from Trader Joe’s.

I’ve been lucky to visit several hot springs throughout Northern and Southern California, but never one where gourmet, organic meals are served in an intimate dining room for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That’s the beauty of Guest Chef weekends at Wilbur Hot Springs, a smaller resort with natural hot springs located about 3 hours north of San Francisco. Chef Charlie Cascio, who for many years managed Esalen’s kitchen, often leads these culinary retreats, including the April weekend when I visited recently.

Chef Charlie makes his own cheese, honey, and olive oil with help from WOOFers staying in his organic farm in Big Sur and these play a big role throughout all meals. We got to sample some of these delicacies at brunch.

Dinner included a tasty offshoot of the Asparagus & Shiitake Mushroom Strudel from Charlie’s Esalen cookbook. (See Artichoke Yam & Blue Cheese Scones for another great recipe from this whole foods cookbook)

My favorite dish of his was a delicious curried tempeh, for which he emailed me the recipe:

“In coconut oil, I sauteed 1 yellow onion until it wilted, added 1/2 pound of tempeh that was chopped into 1 1/2 inch cubes and cooked it with the onions until it was browned. Then I placed the tempeh & onions into a baking dish, added a mixture of a can of coconut milk, tablespoon of yellow curry paste and about 1/2 cup of sauvinion blanc wine. Baked this in an oven at 350 degrees until the sauce was reduced to 1/2.”

When you go: The menu for omnivores is not necessarily local, gluten or dairy-free so specify any dietary restrictions or preferences ahead of time. Meals are served in a large communal dining room, where the Chef makes his rounds, and guests sip on their own wine, so bring yourself a sweet bottle!

Wilbur’s got a much smaller, laid back, rustic feel compared to other hot springs northeast of San Francisco. Walking into the front entrance of the main building feels like stepping into a Sunset magazine cover- a perfectly shaded refuge to sip on some lemonade in between sauna and dinner time.

Outside, three channel-like “flumes” each run water with varying temperatures under an open barn-like structure that gives way to gorgeous views of the hilly landscape. There’s an outdoor spring fed with cool mineral water just big enough for short laps, and a smaller pool next to it from which to view the pretty stars at night time. The water has a strong sulphur smell but feels extra silky. The wooden decks offer a chill place to read overlooking a stream that stretches into the distance. The large living room makes a warm place to relax or pick up an instrument, but you might find it hard to get off the couch after a day of soaking.

Overall, the crowd has a low key vibe and leans towards forty to sixty-somethings; a good choice for a retreat with Mom. Bonus: There’s mountain bikes to get some exercise and check out the surroundings for free. Mornings are the best time to ride before the strong Gold Country sunshine takes over. In spring, oranges and purples cover the meadows with beautiful little wild flowers.