Seasonal eating and magnet therapy...

It's about this time of year that I start to slow down. The days become noticeably shorter, leaves begin to fall, and I find myself sleeping in a little more each day. Foods become warmer, and I begin to turn inward and become less active, embracing the peaceful energy of the coming winter, as opposed to the vibrant energy of summer. Watching the leaves fall from the trees inspires me to look at my life and consider shedding the parts of myself that I no longer need, as well.

I firmly believe in eating seasonally. While I definitely enjoy the benefits of modern farming and the ability to enjoy a watermelon in November, I follow my natural instincts which lead me to eating less sweet fruits, such as apples, persimmons, lemons, and the abundance of winter squashes and dark greens that are so iconic in these steady months. The ripe cherries, sweet melons, and peaches are gone, leaving behind seeds that will lie dormant until the sun begins it's journey again next year. It gives me a feeling of security, knowing that no matter what madness is going on in my life, the dependable march of the seasons remains unchanged. Growing up on a house with acres devoted to seasonal foods such as cherries, plums, apples, oranges and tangerines has instilled within me a true sense of alignment with seasonal life.

No matter how far we remove ourselves from those natural rhythms, they are inescapable, because they come from within as well as from without. Even in the giant metropolis, the trees will shed their leaves, the sun will rise later and later, and we as humans will celebrate the feasting winter holidays, no matter what names we give them.

The magnetic pull of the earth contributes greatly to our health. This magnetic force, measured on the Gauss scale, is weakening as time goes by, diminishing from over 2.0 hundreds of thousands of years ago, to a mere 0.5 in recent times, and is ever dwindling. As this force decreases we are seeing an increase in a wide array of disease, including the introduction of diseases never before recorded in human history. You may have seen certain magnetic products for sale in holistic and health food shops. There are magnetic bracelets, water treatments, joint wraps and even mattress pads which have helped to heal or provide relief for numerous ailments that were otherwise "untreatable". If you suffer from chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, or other illness where the source of your aches and pains are a mystery, magnetic therapy may be an option for you to investigate.

By the way, how was your Thanksgiving? If you're anything like me, you took full advantage of the holiday and went nuts, eating everything in sight. However, I'm back to my happy little self today, thanks to a few tricks that helped to get my digestive system back on track while completely avoiding over the counter drugs.

First things first: plan ahead! The morning of Thanksgiving, hours before eating anything, I primed myself by taking a good probiotic supplement AND drinking a few ounces of Kombucha. It's not an excuse to go nuts, it's just plain smart. Now, if you really tank the food and make yourself sick, here's a few more things that I do around this time of year to keep everything running smoothly.

For that morning after tummy ache or nausea, drink a full glass of water with one tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar to eliminate discomfort and correct pH levels.

On an empty stomach in the morning (I do this every morning without fail), drink one liter of purified water with fresh squeezed lemon juice. This makes for a very happy liver.

Herbs to have on hand are ginger, peppermint, and fennel, all of which will soothe the digestive system and taste wonderful as a hot infusion. Enteric coated peppermint oil capsules are something to try for hardcore stomach aches.

Fruit, baby. It's my go-to healer and the perfect food for humans. Eating a fruit-only breakfast will give you tons of energy and drag those fiber-less Thanksgiving foods right out of your colon.

Here is my after Thanksgiving breakfast



Persimmons, the greatest fruit in the world. Best morning EVAR!

Farmer's market and "organic" produce...

I actually live a few city blocks away from a very nice Farmer's Market. For those of you in Sacramento, it's in the back parking lot of Country Club Plaza, which is the lamest mall in the city. It's not even really a mall, but they keep switching stores out and billing it as one so more shoppers and less elderly mall walkers will show up. It's not working.

Every Saturday morning, however, farmers from all over the valley come and sell local produce at awesome prices, which is more than worth the 30 minute walk from our apartment, which is the same walk we take several times a week, so it's not any extra effort on our part. There's a local lavender farm that sells little blue bottles of 100% lavender essential oil for only 5$! The people from Apple Hill are also there this time of year.

I go to Farmer's Markets to get great produce, to support local farmers and to reduce the amount of wasted resources we become responsible for by inadvertently paying for food to be shipped worldwide. All those reasons are enough on their own, but more than anything I shop there because I serisouly hate buying produce from grocery stores. Why? Because it's freaky. It's genetically modified, filled with pesticides, covered in MSG laced wax, picked too early, and shipped from other countries where they use sprays that are illegal to use here. And with all that going on, you'd think it would be cheaper. But it isn't. It's insanely more expensive to buy produce in grocery stores, and don't even think about buying organic there. It's much better, of course, but you're gonna pay for that organic label.

So, what's the difference between grocery store organic and local produce? In short, money. In order for a farm to sell food that's certified organic, they have to go through a very costly and time consuming process that consists of much more than just growing good produce. There are annual fees and certification fees that some small time farmer's just can't keep up with, but that doesn't mean they don't grow organic produce. It simply means that they don't have the resources to apply and maintain a USDA label, which still doesn't guarantee that your food is 100% organic, anyway. At a local farmer's market, you can actually meet with the people who are growing your food and ask them about their farming practices. You'll find a ton of stands that sell "pesticide-free" fruits and vegetables that just can't afford an organic label. Generally, farms that are able to comply with certification standards are big, make lots of money, and can afford to hire people to deal with the paperwork.

The USDA Organic label itself isn't 100% reassuring, either. In order for a product to sell under the organic label (and the price), it must be 95% organic. Yeah. Products that state "made with organic ingredients" are only 75% organic. So, how much is that label worth? It depends on what you're looking for, and how much you're willing to spend. I think that buying produce at a grocery store is the last resort, organic or not. I'm the only person I know without a porch, a patio or a window to grow food, and I'm the only one mourning the loss, yet from all around I hear complaints about the price of organic food. There is so much that can come from a simple patio pot or a small backyard vegetable plot, and it's free. You can decide what organic means. If you don't have a place to grow food, go and find someone who does. A farmer's market is a great place to start, as well as neighbors, friends, and family who have trees filled with food that go neglected every year. Co-ops, where available, are also helpful.

While we're on the subject of organic food, I'm hearing a lot of people whining about how organic food isn't worth the price because it isn't any more nutritious than conventional food. In this situation, the bottom line isn't what's in organic food, it's what ISN'T in organic food that makes all the difference. If you're that concerned, go back to the soil. Follow that apple/zucchini/persimmon or whatever it is back to it's roots, and you'll get a good idea of how nutritious it's going to be. Now, that's going to be pretty hard to do if you buy tomatoes from Mexico, unless someone you know is going to have a bachelor party. I'd prefer to eat something a little closer to home. In addition, food todau has, at best, 1/5 of the nutrition of the food your grandparents ate. So, you can either eat 5 more plates, or you can supplement and juice.

I walked out of that market today with a lot of produce, and I spent 8$. I got 3 huge daikons with the greens still on (can't get that anywhere else), a big bundle of 7-8 baby bok choy, 2 salad cucumbers, 5 eggplants, 1 pound of shady lady tomatoes, 1 pound of onions, and the biggest head of cabbage I have ever seen. I'm not kidding, it weighs as much as a pumpkin and is nearly as big, and it's was only 1.50$. I might have got more, but all that was getting kind of heavy. Another farmer had huge bags of apples for 3$, and I really wanted one. The Almighty Persimmon, my favorite thing in the world to eat, was also incredibly cheap, averaging 75 cents a pound for big, beautiful Fuyus. Or, I can get tiny, sad looking ones at Savemart for 1$ apiece from who knows where. But I got some from a local tree :)

My Mom calls me a Food Nazi because I tell her these sorts of things, but I'm of the mindset where I'd rather know exactly what I'm eating than just leave it up to someone else and hope that they got it right. I don't think it's possible for everyone who reads this to just cast off decades of habit and start frantically digging in the backyard, but I do think it's possible to eat mindfully. It's important to understand what your options are, but it's equally important to realize that there are other options that you aren't aware of, and it's your responsibility to seek them out. Awesomeness isn't going to knock on your door.

Greens...and smoothies...

Every time I try to buy dandelion greens from the supermarket, it's a challenge. First of all, they rarely have them in. It's not because of seasonal issues, because the other chain grocer in my area has them 100% of the time, but it's a much longer walk and more often than not I don't feel like tacking an extra mile to my walk to buy 2$ worth of greens, however awesome they might be. But let's say a miracle has occurred, and Save Mart has a bundle of dandelion greens. In this case, when I take it up to the checkout, it has no barcode on the tie and no code to key in. I have to wait until the self check girl notices my plight and shuffles lazily through a reference sheet of about a million codes, searching for something she's never heard of. It takes forever.

All whining aside, I do wish that it was a little easier to buy dandelion greens, or kale for that matter. If you have easy access to these amazing super special awesome foods, take advantage. The easiest way is to throw a quick green drink into your day. I can't think of a better way to make a fast and dramatic change to your mood, your energy levels, your mental clarity, and your overall health. Despite the nuclear color, this super shake tastes fruity and sweet and I'm gonna show you how to make it.



The magic of the green smoothie is that it changes with the seasons, with the time of day, and with your own needs. It doesn't take much to make it, you don't have to have any extra powders or expensive ingredients, it's fast and filling and can be eaten for any meal of the day or just added in to your current menu.

Some basic ingredients:

Bananas! These energy powerhouses are insanely cheap and make a perfect foundation for a good smoothie. If you're aiming for a meal in a glass, use 5. If it's just a snack, try 3.

Raw greens. This is where the good feelings hide :) I cram handfuls into my blender, but if you're new to green smoothies, start out with 1 cup of spinach, romaine, green leaf, or whatever you're used to. Avoid white or pale greens. You want dark, mineral rich leaves.

Apples. They're in season, they're sweet, and they blend well. Slice up 1-2 small ones and throw them in. Pears will have a similar effect, but make sure they're ripe. Crunchy pears are not good.

Berries. The more, the merrier. Berries blend right up and add great flavor and loads of nutrition. Make sure they're organic because berries are one of the most dangerous foods to eat non-organic. Try strawberries, blueberries, or if you really want to feel good try goji berries (which I am so addicted too, haha).

Celery. You absolutely gotta have some celery. This is a majorly hydrating food and should be eaten daily, hopefully in lieu of table salt (gasp!). It does have a bit of a salty taste, so add sparingly once you've found a smoothie blend you like.

Water. Don't even try to add juices or milks to this. Add lots of purified water to make sure everything blends easily and goes down smoothly.

Here's a list of some extras that I either use daily or have used in the past:

Hemp powder (for me, it's a must)
Maca
raw cacao powder
spirulina or other algae
any whole food powders or liquid vitamin supplement
soy or rice powder
powdered herbs

Green smoothies are pretty individual, and everyone has their own favorite mix. My favorite at the moment is bananas, spinach, kale, hemp, maca, and my whole food powder. Change your smoothies as the seasons change to keep things fun. Summertime makes for fun tropical drinks filled with mango, pineapple, kiwi or watermelon, while winter drinks can be filled with apples, pears, soft persimmons, and dark winter greens.

There's nothing more energizing and refreshing in the morning than a superfood smoothie filled with more nutrients than you'd get from an entire days worth of food. Skip the coffee and actually wake up.

I met the Vitamin Lady today...

...and she gave me free stuff! I came home with this nice promotional package with a serving of both adult and children's multivitamins from Nature's Plus Source of Life line of products.



I also tried a serving of their liquid version and wasn't terribly grossed out by the taste. Nature's Plus awesomely uses spirulina, which is an amazing algae that provides unbelievable amounts of harder to find nutrients. It is not, however, in any way palatable (in my trials, anyway) so I was surprised that there was very little of that telltale pondscum aftertaste.

After reading the ingredients on the label of the pill version of multivitamins I brought home, I couldn't really find any horrific ingredients to nitpick over, but there are a few things I will share here. Firstly, see all those tablets in the picture? That's one serving. You have to take about a million of these things a day (six). I completely understand that it's impossible to fit optimal levels of nutrients in a single pill (take note, Centrum users) but if you hate pill swallowing I'd steer clear of these and pick up the liquid version instead, which only requires you to drink 2 tablespoons if I understood the Vitamin Lady correctly.

The Vitamin Lady...oh, where to begin. She was nice and helpful, but first and foremost she is a saleswoman so I took the liberty of not sharing my occupation until the end of the conversation, wanting to see what she was willing to say in order to sell vitamins to people. I told her that I was currently taking a powder form of multivitamin. My reasons for doing so are because of the higher level of nutrient absorption and, like I mentioned earlier, it's impossible to get any sane amount of nutrition from a single pill. I didn't tell her these reasons, I just told her what sort of vitamins I took. She proceeded to tell me that powder vitamins don't work because they don't survive the "acidity of the stomach", and that I needed to take liquid vitamins. Okay, granted, liquid vitamins are a little better than reconstituted powder, but her idea of powder supplements being destroyed by the stomach environment is seriously strange. Whole food powder is just that: whole fruits, vegetables and other foods that have been turned into powder, so if nutrients from whole foods can't survive the stomach environment, then we're all dead and this blog isn't happening. Secondly, powder vitamins are mixed with liquid and reconstituted into LIQUID VITAMINS. It's an extra step to the same, albeit slightly less nutritious, end, but the end result is a liquid supplement, so if mine won't survive, hers won't either.

Here's where the serious no-no happened. The label advertises the product as "vegetarian". Well, that's all well and good, but things that are labeled vegetarian more often than not have a whole host of animal products lurking inside. I asked her, point blank, if the vitamins were vegan, and she assured me they were. Upon inspection of the label, I see that their multivitamins include bee pollen, which is not vegan. It is an animal product and there are strict vegetarians who do use bee products (often called "beegans") but the label "vegan" is only to be used on items that have no animal products. None whatsoever. That is a serious offense and a lot of vegans would be absolutely horrified at ingesting a product they were told was vegan and wasn't. After being a vegan for years, I've come to the conclusion that it happens, and it will probably happen again, so stressing out over it is pointless. But I definitely don't think that people should be lied to in order to sell a product.

I actually like Nature's Plus, and I have used several of their products with great results. They have been around for a long time and are one of the better choices in the holistic health industry. But watch out for Vitamin Lady, haha, cause she really wants you to buy.

Nature's Plus Source of Life multivitamin includes real herbs and whole food sources of nutrients, which your body is actually able to use, unlike synthetic versions. They include all of the key ingredients I normally look for in a supplement, including some form of algae like Blue Green or Spirulina, a seed complex for EFAs (this one has Sunflower), DNA and RNA, antioxidants, and several digestive enzymes. You'll need to take additional Vitamin C powder, a multimineral and a B complex, but I've never actually seen a single multivitamin supplement that was so comprehensive you wouldn't need to take anything else. I dare anyone to find one for me. As far as multivitamins go, this one is a keeper...if you're not a vegan.

CLEANSING TIME!!!

So, I always have to be doing something mad scientist-like, so I've come up with a new project to test on myself. I picked up some empty veggie capsules today, and I'm going to create my own cleanse system. I already have loads of the right herbs and supplements in my massive dried plant collection, so my trusty herb grinder is coming out of the closet (faaabulous!) and will be powdering some nasty tasting plants for encapsulation! I'm planning on making one set of pills for liver/blood cleansing, so basically just some good alterative herbs, another one for the colon with lots of gooey, intestine scrubbing plants, and then another one for candida/parasites. I should have bought an ounce of black walnut hull powder but I didn't. All of this plus a bottle of probiotics and I'll be ready to go. I've taken full cleanses from several different companies but I'm coming to the realization that I have the education, the interest, and the spare time to actually invent my own. Such fun!

So, hopefully, in the next blog, I'll be showing you some of the herbal adventures I'll be undertaking :)