Love Is In The Air

I have to admit...I am a hopeless romantic and yes I adore Holiday's like Valentine's Day. Thankfully I married someone who feels the same way. Personally I try to do nice things for my husband all year long but enjoy going all out for certain Holiday's. Last year I started researching some eco friendly Valentine's gifts and this year I wanted to look for some fair trade gifts, chocolates, etc..... I came across the store at Global Exchange that has all sorts of great Valentine's gifts. I personally love the Valentine's Day action kit I've shown here.

Whatever you choose to do for your sweetie, your kids or just someone special to you, try to include one or two items you can truly feel good about giving.

"Love consists in desiring to give what is our own to another and feeling his delight as our own"

Emanuel Swdenborg

A plastic victory!

This is such exciting news, I just had to post about it. Hopefully more and more people will just start bringing their own bags anyway.

Sack Your Bags
Whole Foods to stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day
Posted at 11:24 AM on 22 Jan 2008Natural foods retailer Whole Foods has announced it will stop giving out plastic grocery bags by Earth Day due to the bags' ubiquity and associated environmental problems. The company is opting instead for bagging customers' groceries in 100 percent recycled paper bags and/or encouraging customers to bring their own reusable sacks. "More and more cities and countries are beginning to place serious restrictions on single-use plastic shopping bags since they don't break down in our landfills, can harm nature by clogging waterways and endangering wildlife, and litter our roadsides," said Whole Foods' A.C. Gallo. The grocery chain estimates that the plastic-bag ban at all its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. will eliminate the use of about 100 million plastic sacks between Earth Day and the end of 2008. All together, Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic bags each year.

"Plastic bags don’t biodegrade, they photo degrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits contaminating soil and waterways and entering the food web when animals accidentally ingest"

Eat up, drink up and get movin........

I am a huge fan of Dr. Weil, one of the big names in integrative medicine out there right now. I ran across this great article about 4 easy ways to live healthy that came out of a recent British study. To me what is both sad and amazing is that, if these suggestions were a prescription pill, this news would be everywhere. Sadly the science of integrative medicine and nutrition is still not wildly accepted by the medical community. What is also wonderful is how easy these behaviors are, totally something we could all do. So eat up, drink up and get moving!

People who practice four specific behaviors live, on average, 14 more years compared to people who don’t practice those healthy behaviors, according to a new British study.
The four behaviors - not smoking, performing regular exercise, drinking moderate amounts of alcohol and eating five servings of fruit and vegetables a day - had each been independently shown to increase lifespan, but this was the first study to examine their combined value.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council studied 20,000 men and women from the city of Norfolk who were between the ages of 45 and 79 in the years between 1993 and 1997. The participants filled out questionnaires tracking their health habits. Then, their death rates were recorded until 2006. The study was reported in the January 8, 2008 edition of the journal PLOS Medicine. It is part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), conducted in 10 European countries. EPIC is the largest-ever study of diet and health.

"Wine is bottled poetry"
Robert Louis Stevenson

DNA means: "Do Not Ask."

Source: Washington Post
Tuesday, January 15, 2008; Page A01

I am so disturbed by the news that came out this week regarding the FDA's approval of cloned meat I'm seeing double. I am so baffled that somehow this seems normal and right to the FDA and lawmakers. That just because we can produce things in a lab then we should? I could go on and on about my frustrations on this but I'll let you read the article for yourself. In my mind though it confirms two important points. 1) if we as a country are consuming so much meat and milk that we need to start cloning animals to keep up with demand, why not start telling people to consume less and 2) I am now totally convinced that the only way for me to buy items such as meat, chicken, eggs, and milk, and to know exactly where it came from is straight from the farmer. Maybe the ray of hope in this is that people will be forced to become connected to their food supply again. Here is the beginning of the article from the Washington Post.

A long-awaited final report from the Food and Drug Administration concludes that foods from healthy cloned animals and their offspring are as safe as those from ordinary animals, effectively removing the last U.S. regulatory barrier to the marketing of meat and milk from cloned cattle, pigs and goats. Click here for the rest of the article.

“If you want government food, go to the supermarket and buy government food. But for those who want to have a relationship with their food, and the accountability that inherently comes with voluntarily and informatively opting out of the supermarket to go ask around, smell around, sniff around, look around and opt out of the government food system, they ought to have that right.”
Joel Salatin

Eat Like Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan, the man who knows everything about our food supply and author of the Omnivore's Dilemma, has written a new book, In Defense of Food, An Eater's Manifesto.

Basically he explains now just how we eat here in the United States but how and what we are told to eat. All of his books are amazing and never cease to change the way you think about food. I am sure this book is no different. Here is a link to an interview he recently did.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants"

Michael Pollan

Flower Power

I am a natural remedy junky and over the years have become convinced by trial an error that many work. I myself have managed to get off a lot of traditional medicine I was taking just by putting in to place some natural remedies. One of my favorites is Bach Flower Remedies. Now before you quickly browse to another site convinced I've gone way too herbal on you, read my description of the research behind flower remedies.

The essence of flowers can do more than just add a decorative touch, according to Dr. Edward Bach.
When we visit a sick friend or relative in the hospital, our first impulse is to bring flowers. At some level, we sense that there's something about fresh flowers that will help the healing process. Bach Flower Remedies are a popular alternative medicine based on the healing powers of flowers. Pioneer in alternative treatments Dr. Edward Bach, a British physician, become convinced that some flowers have such healing powers that their "essence" should be ingested by patients.
Before he died in 1936, Bach had isolated 38 flowering plants that he felt had positive energy to neutralize specific negative emotions. To obtain the flower essences, he picked the best specimens grown in sunlight and steeped them individually in bowls of water under the heat and light of the afternoon sun. The result of this process is the 'mother tincture' which is further diluted with brandy to preserve the essence. Any Bach flower remedy is taken in liquid form as a few drops placed under the tongue.

Virtually no reliable clinical studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of the remedies until recently. On July 2, 2007, the Medical News Today reported the results of a study on the effectiveness of a popular Bach Flower preparation called Rescue Remedy. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Miami School of Nursing in conjunction with the Sirkin Creative Living Center. Using a sample of 111 individuals aged 18 to 49, the study was a double-blind clinical trial comparing a standard dose of Rescue Remedy against a placebo of identical appearance. A standard test to evaluate anxiety was administered before and after the dosage. The result was that Rescue Remedy was found to be "an effective over-the-counter stress reliever with a comparable effect to traditional pharmaceutical drugs yet without any of the known adverse side effects, including addiction."

My personal favorite is the Bach Rescue Remedy. I've taken it many a day that I feel stressed or anxious. I've even passed it on to my sister to give to my niece to help with sleepless nights or days when the terrible two's are out in force.

Bach Flower Remedies are sold at many health food stores as well as pharmacies.

"Flowers have an expression of countenance as much as men or animals. Some seem to smile; some have a sad expression; some are pensive and diffident; others again are plain, honest and upright, like the broad-faced sunflower and the hollyhock"
~Henry Ward Beecher, Star Papers: A Discourse of Flowers

Gimme Some (Healthy) Skin

I'm posting a link to another great article from Present Magazine and my friend Jill McLaughlin about skin issues. It highlights again my firm belief that so many of our health issues CAN be resolved through our diet. Click here for the full article.

"Beauty is only skin deep"

New Site Added!

I've added a new site/blog for those interested in foodie type sites. Sara from the Live Lightly Tour has added a new site, Happy Foody to her list. Happy Foody is her musings on eating with tons of yummy recipes, mostly vegetarian. And although I am not a vegetarian I do cook vegetarian meals. There are so many wonderful things to make you often forget you aren't eating meat!

So check out Sara's new site and try adding a vegetarian recipe to your families menu, you might be surprised.

"Happiness is a bowl of cherries and a book of poetry under a shade tree"

Astrid Alauda

Health Is A Vehicle, Not A Destination

So the new year is here, 2008, and with it probably comes for many a list of resolutions and to do's for the new year. I myself have had such a list for as many years as I can remember, except this year! I've been on a long health journey of my own this year and realized that the gentler I am with myself and the more I set little goals for myself the more I accomplish. So many of us start the year with so much negativity which I think sets us up for failure from the start. Pushing ourselves to lose huge quantities of weight in a short period, working out more than our bodies are ready for, forcing ourselves to eat "healthy" food that is neither good or appetizing, and so on and so on. This year for myself I realized that I can make amazing changes in my health when I do it with love and care for myself. When I set small goals I can actually make them. For me it was drink more water, eat more veggies, be physical with an activity I actually like and not despise, take stairs, park farther, get more sleep, take downtime for myself, all of these were small changes that by December 31st had made a huge impact on my life.
I wish these for so many people I know and love. Health is not a destination, it is a day by day journey full of ups and down, mistakes and triumphs that help us to learn to take the steps to care for who we are as individuals. There is no one diet, no one workout routine, no one health plan, that works for all of us. Embrace your individuality! Take the time to care for all of the aspects of your life that make you unique. You will find that little by little you will have so much more to give to others and will be introduced to a new you, you might not have ever known.

"Every situation is an opportunity for growth and healing"