FRESH!

FRESH is a movie/documentary about Food of course, fresh food, fresh thinking, a fresh movement, sustainable living and all that good and delicious stuff. It is somewhat similar to the movie that was made before this, Food, Inc. but is supposed to give us ideas on what to do to promote a sustainable and fresher life-style and environment. So far, I know this movie is showing in several cities in the US. I hope it will spread abroad and maybe you and I can help do that. See their website for lots more great info and how to host a show! I recommend Food, Inc. as well and see my recommendations list for books about this issue.
So, its not really a new movement or thinking as organic and sustainable small farms have always been how our food was grown until the money maniac companies became powerful enough to control how food is grown or I should say made as in a laboratory. Oh damn the politics...but not that easy, it can be up to us individuals to get united to spread the word of the torture thats going on to animals, plants and out planet and to start taking little steps and developing it into bigger steps to eventually return to sustainable living and save our planet. See my previous post, Down to Earth, about what you can do.
But I know sometimes it seems like organic might be a new movement or new idea for growing food which is just too expensive for the general public to afford. Nope thats a Incorrecto! Like I said its been the way food was grown before, the food that smelled and tasted awesome and had all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients we humans need to function well and not get sick often and just die from natural causes or aging instead of complications developing from morbid obesity and type 2 diabetes. And that is why it's not as expensive as you think, eating all the other non-organic food may not really have the same nutritional quality as the organic varieties and plus has the added growth hormones, antibiotics and pesticide residues which eventually could make us very very sick which would require a lot of money to treat. And at the end you keep spending all that money to get well when you are already sick but could have spent money on organics from the start to help prevent sicknesses. Well don't count me on all of this...this last part is partially my theory which needs to be researched better. So there you have it, a new post from me again on Organic Food, oh so boring. How dare you! Stop that yawning and go and buy fresh organic food (almost everything is available in organic now, well at least in US) and let me know how it goes...it's the only healthiest and sustainable food we can trust right now (oh yes unless you grow your own organics). All done for now...

Down to Earth...

It was such an inspirational weekend. So isn't each day and moment supposed to be an experience and inspiration for better living for the next days and years. Why are we not doing this all the time? Part of my job as a dietitian is to remind this to my patients, friends, family and most other people I connect with and myself. Well believe it or not reminding it to myself is the most difficult, and I am learning that for me the best way to remind myself of how important every moment in my life is by doing yoga everyday. If one day goes by I don't do it I feel horrible and miserable and worse if more days pass without any yoga. No one is perfect, I am not able to do it every single day, a few days may pass by but I try to get in some yogic breathing or awareness or consciousness or other exercises in my day to make it meaningful to me. Anyways we can't get anywhere without struggling through miserable times either. Well that was part of my inspirational weekend. I struggled a lot through my yoga class realizing that it has nothing to do with me being tired or hungry or out of practice for a day or 2, but that I am struggling through my life at the moment and that was why. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe and let whatever was stressing me get through me...most things have to end at some point. So its okay, struggling is good. When it comes to coping with stress, your breath is one of the best remedies there is...and its free!
Because, this breathing and struggling helped me to cope with the miserable, yet must-know and learn from type of journey in the later hours. So later during the weekend I read more of Harvest for Hope and miserably learned again that what we eat nowadays is not the product of nature or mother earth but is the product of food science made in labs with no care, no love, no concern for beings. Even if we think we are eating healthy and buy all organic and stuff...there is so little we know and even less we can control. But nothing is impossible!
So how can we give back to Mother Earth? We took so much from her, we poisened her soil and plants and water and played around with the genes of her useful products, melted the wonderful icebergs and destroyed coral reefs, rainforests to leave many useful living creaters to be extinct! We may not be able to return all the lost back to alive but we can give back to the Earth to help it heal and recover from the torture we have done to her so she can once again give us useful and healthy products for us to continue living.
Some Ways to give back to Earth and save Our Lives:
- use less electricity, gas, water.
-  unplug electrical devices when not is use such as toaster and cell phone charger.
- watch less TV and go out more to spend more time with nature.
- drive less and walk more or ride a bike or at least use public transportation.
- recycle paper, plastic, cans, glass and especially electrical stuff such as batteries.
- or resuse, plastic containers make good pen or crayon holders, glass containers can be reused to store dried herbs, coffee, teas, dry beans, dried fruits, occasional sweets, candy, pins, sewing materials, jewelry, etc.
- when shopping bring your own paper bags or hangbags or choose paper instead of plastic when asked and then recycle the paperbags.
- grow your own vegetables and herbs (all you need is a small garden or dirt and seeds in big pots in a balcony or window sill).
- As much as you can buy organic, local and seasonal fruits and vegetables.
- Eat more plant proteins such as beans, legumes, lentils instead of animal proteins such as meats, poultry and fish.
- drink mostly water and less of juices, sodas, alcohol and other sweetened and high calorie drinks.
- Whenever you get a chance protest against GMOs (genetically modified organisms- plants) and the use of pesticides.
- use organic cleaning supplies for your home such as vinegar and baking soda, and clorax and seventh generation products seem to be environment friendly. (http://www.clorox.com/, http://www.seventhgeneration.com/ )
- spend time with children to teach them about the environment and let them observe and learn from you.
- take action with Greenpeace or learn more about them: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa
I'm sure there are more ways to give back to Earth so let your creative imaginations take you forward and share some of them with me! Peace...