Buying Local Food

The idea of buying our food as close to home sounds like an environmentally friendly and ethical thing to do. After all, we need to support the local farmers, and the transportation of produce over long distances uses up fossil fuels and pollutes the environment.

However, it isn't as simple as that. Sometimes it is better to buy from longer distances. For instance, it uses less energy to buy rice from Asia, even factoring in shipping costs, than to buy it from California...because farming in California is so energy intensive. There are a great deal of products that are better bought imported.

Foods flown in on air freight are the most wasteful, but foods (like fruit from Central or South America) brought in on ships are 10 times more energy efficient than shipped on trucks. So, actually, it can be more responsible to buy oranges from Panama than Florida. You do not have to feel so guilty eating pineapples, bananas, etc. imported anymore, as long as they come in on container ships, which they do.

Another consideration is which farmers do we want to support. Buying locally we may be helping local farmers send their kids to college. Buying from Central America and we may be helping those farmers send their kids to elementary school...and feed and clothe them.

I am leaving out a lot of details, but you get the point. It isn't as simple as we think when it comes to making the best choice of where and what foods to buy. I think the bottom line is to reduce or eliminate animal products as much as possible and consume more fruits and veggies...if we are trying to be more friendly to our planet.

Back on Track

Okay, after that wonderful dinner, I am back to mostly raw and all vegan. And feeling much better. I sleep so well on an empty stomach.

More than ever I am determined to learn how to eat differently. My sister Joyce was over yesterday and we talked about how hard it is to eat when you try not to eat animals. What is left? Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, grains. I do well with my green fruit smoothie for breakfast. I'm satisfied till early afternoon. I then have a salad and snack on fruit till dinner time. But then I am ready for something more substantial and that is where I am struggling. And that is when I go off the raw food.

I'm not giving up. I've moved my food dehydrator off of the living room floor and onto the counter. I shall try some recipes this weekend using it. Let's see how this experiment works.

A Major Setback!

My dear friends Mark and Gerre invited me over for dinner last night. They just got back from spending three months in Greece and Morocco. Mark is an excellent cook and made a gourmet meal that he got from watching Emeril the night before.

"You don't mind if we serve chicken, do you.?" he asked. "We read all your blogs. Can you have more than just salad?"

"Hey, I'm not going to be rigid about this. I'll eat what you cook."

I love Mark and Gerre. They are just plain good people who can really dance and know how to enjoy life. We have shared some wonderful times together. So, the meal is to die for. Probably one of the best home cooking ever, top five all time. Simple and sweet, cous-cous (or something like that) and grilled chicken and totally tasty. I devoured my share like I hadn't eaten since the beginning of spring. And I had no regrets or guilt. That is until the middle of the night.

Maybe I'm used to sleeping well on my new diet. Last night I paid for the sins of eating meat again. I slept like I had a small bowling ball rolling around in my stomach. What's worse, I gained a pound and a half in one day. I'm still groggy this morning as I write this.

What's a guy to do? I don't believe in being a pain in the ass when invited over for dinner. And I have absolutely no willpower...especially when Mark is cooking!

Well, back on the raw food wagon today.

Living With Raw Food

I was thinking that maybe I could do this raw food thing. Give me unlimited access to fruits, especially watermelon, pineapple, and bananas, and I'd be fine. Then the third book comes my way, Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine, by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. Why does everything have to get more complicated and extreme? I would have been fine with Eat to Live.

Dr. Cousens has been into this live food thing since the seventies and has done more research than he should have. According to Cousens the biggest problem with achieving optimal health is more complicated than just giving up animal products and cooking. The real problem is the toxicity in our blood caused by mycotoxins, which are caused by eating acid-promoting foods, stress, and our bad thoughts. (I can deal with the stress and thoughts, but what about these foods?)

Anyhow, these mycotoxins create all kinds of havoc: suppress the immune system, make bad cholesterol, cause cancer. (Pretty nasty creatures if you ask me.) Actually, the list goes on: depression, anxiety, PMS, fatigue, allergies, weight problems, colds, flu, gas, really bad health. I'm beginning to feel lucky to be alive. Essentially, it's the sugars and acid diet (along with acid thoughts and emotions) that makes the body self-compost. Yuk!! Double Yuk!! Think fungus, mold, and bacteria, giving off waste products, weakening our cells, bringing about disease.

Do you want holistic health? Get rid of foods high in sugar (sweet fruits), most grains, potatoes. There goes my watermelon and pineapple. Grains are high on the list because they are acid-forming and contain mold and fungus from being stored so long. Of course animal foods are off the list too, mostly because animals are fed grains infected with fungus.

Specifically, Dr Cousens warns us against eating sugar (and honey and maple syrup), flesh, dairy, yeast, corn, alcohol, coffee, caffeine, mushrooms, dried fruit, peanuts, cashews, soy sauce, and all processed foods.

What is allowed? Nuts and seeds, raw veggies, avocados, tomatoes, lemons, legumes, unheated oil, coconut pulp, and algae. As for fruits we can eat grapefruit, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries. I'm in big trouble.

After a week of being vegan I don't have any cravings for meat or dairy, not even ice-cream. But how can I live without watermelon? At first I was thinking forget the whole thing. That just made me depressed. I've decided to just try and do my best. As my daughter Gina says, eat as many greens as you can and let the rest take care of itself. Fine. I'll use my green smoothies in the morning, my veggies in the afternoon, and my salad at dinner as my starting point and try to be as good as possible after that and see what happens.

Healthy Diet Continued

So what do I do now? I really don't want to eat animal products. As fate would have it, another book crosses my path, Eat to Live, by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Perfect timing. Dr. Fuhrman supports his writings with over two-thousand research articles. His book is inspiring and rational. I think it is one of the most important ever written on the subject of food and eating habits. These are the most important lessons I got from the book:

1. The formula for a healthy diet: Health = Nutrients/Calories. Optimal health comes from eating large quantities of nutrient rich foods.

2. The more we feed our bodies with high-nutrient foods, the less we want food that is bad for us. Cravings for junk food arise because we don't feed ourselves healthy food. We are left hungry.

3. Healthy foods are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Unhealthy foods are meats, poultry, fish, refined (processed) white products such as white bread and rice, dairy products.

4. The phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables protect against heart disease and cancer.

5. All the protein we need can be easily derived from plant foods.

6. Raw, leafy greens (romaine lettuce, kale, collards, spinach) are the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet.

7. We have been brain washed by big business (meat and dairy industry) and corrupted government officials to believe that we need animal products to be healthy.

8. The most comprehensive study on diet and disease shows that populations eating little or no animal products were much healthier than those that did. The China Project data shows that as animal food consumption approached zero so did cancer and heart attacks. This is by far the largest study ever completed.

I highly recommend reading this book. Now I had something positive to hold on to. I was turning away from animals, but now I had something to go towards. I could eat all the fruits and vegetables I wanted. Things were looking up. I could see the light. Maybe I could become a vegetarian after all. It looked like clear sailing...until another book came to my attention. More on that tomorrow.

A Healthy, Holistic Diet

I'm not talking diet as in trying to lose weight, but as in a way of living. It seems as if the whole universe is trying to make me change my eating habits. I've been health conscious most of my life. I have been jogging since college. I have paid attention to what I eat since I left home and got married in my early twenties. Tried to become a vegetarian many times...but hamburgers always did me in. Even in failure I still did my best to eat lots of fruits, veggies, and whole grains.

Now the pressure is on. Why? I don't know. Maybe because my cholesterol isn't where it should be, as well as my blood pressure. How is that possible, I ask my doc? I take really good care of myself. Apparently not. The figures don't lie. Something has to change.

Books start calling for me to read them. Fine. First, The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter, by Peter Singer and Jim Mason. Yes, I would really like to be a vegetarian. I don't like the idea of eating animals and fish. I don't believe animal products are good for me. I don't like big business farming and all of the pollution and waste of resources.

Well, Singer and Mason pull no punches. This is why our food choices matter:

1. Cattle, pigs, chickens, and fish suffer horrible deaths because of our choice to eat them. Most of them suffer their whole lives, too (except non-farmed fish). It isn't just disgusting what happens to them, it is immoral and perverse. Factory farming is much more horrible than you have been led to believe. They do not want you to know about this.

2. The production of meat, fish (including shellfish), dairy (eggs and milk), contribute enormously to the pollution and destruction of our environment through volumes of waste and consumption of fossil fuel. You would not believe how much oil goes into raising a cow. If Al Gore really wants to do something about global warming besides buying energy credits he should go on a diet (vegetarian, that is)

I have spared you the details. If you really want to do something helpful for yourself and the planet, read this book. It will inspire you.

Next time I will share with you what I've learned about eating now that I choose to stop killing animals. I know this is not going to be easy. I can't imagine a world without burgers and fries, but maybe it's time to stop ignoring the facts.

A Happy Holistic Mother's Day Story

My mother is lying in a hospital bed; her heart is so weak and damaged that it cannot keep fluids from accumulating in her lungs. Nearly twenty years after quadruple bypass surgery, she may be on her deathbed. My sister and I are talking to her about the past and my brother Ronnie, who died of asthma when he was four years old. His death became the fulcrum around which my mother's life has fallen and then risen. It is the lowest point of her life, and also from where she has become a source of strength to all who know her.

At the end of our conversation about my brother, my mother said something that nearly took my breath away. Leaning forward and looking to some far away place, in a voice barely audible, she said, "At least we had him for four years. Some babies are lost after only a few months." And then she lay back in her hospital bed and closed her eyes.

I could not stop thinking about my mother's statement. How could she be so positive, so grateful? This woman has such strength. Her perspective on the life and loss of my brother made her life more meaningful than I can comprehend. The perspectives that we take impact the quality and meaning of our own lives in ways that most of us are rarely aware.

Happy Mother's Day Mom...and thanks for being such an inspiring teacher! Love you!

Perspective Evolves

Throughout the history of humankind we can see the evolution, not just of the species, but of perspective. Perspective widens and humans evolve. One way of looking at perspective is in the context of values. Another way would be through belief systems. Perspective determines what we can see; it plays a major role in how we interpret what we see and experience.

Over the years philosophers and scientists have theorized about how human development takes place, both individually and as a species. We will look at both aspects. For now, let's look at the big picture. European philosopher poet Jean Gebser has done research in this area and describes evolving structures of consciousness throughout history. These structures provide a framework for individual perspective. Perception changes from structure to structure. The following is how we humans have evolved according to Gebser:

Archaic stage: humans are essentially unconscious, embedded in the natural world with zero perspective, non-dimensional vision. Seen in newborns.

Magical stage: the dawn of humanity as we know it. Humankind experiences a magical unity with the universe, involves witchcraft and spell-casting. Perspective is one dimensional.

Mythical stage: religion and poetry arise, as does a sense of time. Vision is two dimensional. Seen in fundamental religions.

Mental stage: rationality rules, objective and analytic thought is possible. Three dimensional perspective. Gives rise to the Renaissance.

Aperspectival stage: integral thinking, holistic perspective, multiple viewpoints accepted and appreciated. Seen in Picasso's paintings and Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics.

As you can see, perspective is ever-widening and evolves to become more inclusive. Humanity is evolving towards a more holistic perspective.

Reality is Strange

The fact (or appearance) of the universe is really strange if you think about it. Have you ever thought about existence and why there is something and not nothing? Science says that first there was nothing, then there was the big bang, and here we are...doesn't that strike you as, well, interesting?

Our regular everyday lives work out just fine. We work, play, eat, live, die. Everything is normal. That is life. However, the minute we step outside of the ordinary and look at really big things, or really small things, uh-oh. Poof, things get really weird. Problems arise.

The universe is expanding. Where is it expanding to? What's outside of the universe, and what's outside of that? If that isn't enough, things are even more problematical in the sub-atomic level. Particles don't appear like they do in our "real" world. They exist as probability waves. You can't pin them down. Read a good book on quantum physics and you will want to become a mystic like many of the early discovers' of the field.

But why bother? Most of us have enough problems just living. We have to act as if the universe made sense. To survive we let ourselves be shaped by what psychologist Charles Tart calls "consensus consciousness." Reality, which if we really thought about it, is too strange for us. So, our consciousness gets formed by our culture and we live our lives...but at a great expense. We miss out on the mystery of this incredibly strange and interesting universe. We live our lives playing with illusions. Holistic perspective gets at the heart of the illusion, stepping back to see what is really there...strange or not.

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. " Albert Einstein

In future blogs I hope to open the door to seeing reality from a holistic perspective.

Perspective on Holistic Perspectives

Perspective is a two-way process. We are changed by what we see, and what we see is determined by what we are. What I see changes how I feel and what emotions I have. It also changes the way I treat people and, in return, how I am treated. What I see determines my life!

Holistic perspective is all about seeing: not so much about what is out there, but what is happening inside our heads. Acquiring a holistic perspective involves first becoming personally aware that perspective is subjective, an opinion, if you will.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not is seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust

Dancing...An Integral Transformative Practice

Living an integral holistic life is fostered by doing what some call ITP, Integral TransformativePractice. Ken Wilber says that it is the exercise of body, mind, and spirit in self, nature, and culture. That is the simple definition and it works for me. Last night I took my first Tango lesson and it felt like ITP in it's best sense of the word.

Dance may be the very best of transformative practices. First, you are certainly exercising your body. Following the instructor's direction requires total concentration of the mind. And when we flow to the music and our partner we are definitely having a spiritual experience...especially when doing the Tango. (God it's sexy.)

My dance career began in high school doing the bouncing up and down in place to rock and roll, that is, when I got up the courage to ask a girl to dance. Some years ago I learned how to Cajun and Zydeco dance at a Roots type music festival. That totally broadened my social life. I went on to take Country and Western line dancing (and drink beer). In the last few years Swing, Lindy Hop, Salsa, and now Tango, have enriched my life--physically, mentally, and spiritually. I gotta tell you, if you are not dancing you are missing out of one of the best holistic integral experiences around!

Let's see...that was quick, quick, slow, quick, quick, slow...

The Mind Body Connection

My friend Mike and I were having dinner last night and he told me what happened when his doctor informed him that the batteries in his pace-maker were running low. All at once he began to feel his heart beating harder. He made an appointment to see a specialist in Boston and for the next few days he lived in a stressful situation, still feeling his heart beating abnormally.

When he was examined by the new doctor he was told that there was nothing going on with his heart and that the reason he was feeling the new sensations was that he was more sensitive to what his pace-maker was doing. Mike said that immediately the sensations stopped and never came back.

Sometimes we forget the power of our minds. There is a lesson in A Course in Miracles that says all physical illness comes from a belief that the body can create, that sickness is a belief in magic. Studies show that a very high percentage of people who visit their doctors are suffering from symptoms that originate in the mind. I'm not saying that all illness is an illusion, but who knows? I think that is one area worth more exploration in our quest for a holistic integral perspective.

Several years ago I drank several glasses of diet coke with dinner and my heart began to race. I had also eaten quite a bit of food. I thought I was having a heart attack. Not wanting to go to the hospital I began to meditate to relax myself and my heart calmed down. But now, whenever I have too much soda or food, the feeling comes back. I say to myself that it's just my mind and guess what...the feeling goes away. Gotta love that mind body connection.