YES! Magazine and Food

I was thrilled to discover YES! Magazine this weekend at the Seattle Green Festival, mostly because the free issue I got of this quarterly publication is all about food.

From an article entitled Eight Ways to Join the Local Food Movement to New (and Old) Ideas for a Better Food System, the current edition of YES! Magazine focuses on sustainability and the social justice aspects of our food, calling for reform of the Farm Bill, "which primarily funds corporate farming operations growing 'commodities' like corn, soy, and wheat. As a result, unhealthy foods, like corn-fed meat and corn-based sweeteners, are usually far cheaper than fruits and vegetables," according to an article by Anna Stern and Madeline Ostrander.

You can also find a discussion between Democracy Now host Amy Goodman and Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin, in which he discusses Seattle's progress toward zero waste.

You can check all this and more out here.

Beware of Antioxidant Branding

I love antioxidants as much as, if not more than, the next person. But I prefer to get them directly from organic whole foods such as berries, vegetables, beans and nuts as opposed to trying to irradicate free-radicals via breakfast cereals, soft drinks and other highly processed foods that claim to be packed with these cancer-fighting agents.

Hundreds of products have been developed in the last few years that boast antioxidants, or high ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) values. But those statements have not really been evaluated and proven to be true, according to an article by FoodProductionDaily.com

“Just increasing the ORAC value provides no guarantee of greater benefit. It’s pure marketing and it is time the nutraceutical industry steps up to the plate and substantiates implicit and explicit claims of performance based on product antioxidant content,” states Alex Schauss, PhD, founder of AIBMR Life Sciences, a nutraceutical products consulting company based in Puyallup, Washington.

So...if you really want to get your antioxidants, feast on whole foods like red kidney beans, blueberries, cranberries, pinto beans, artichokes, pecans and more. Here's an article about antioxidants and a list of un-processed foods that contain them.

Meditating on the Microbe

As I sit here drinking my fermented beverage — a glass of Sangiovese — I am thinking about fermentation and the microbes that make this process possible.

Fermentation, in addition to being a way to preserve food without refrigeration, also increases the bioavailability of nutrients. In other words, it makes food more nutritious. It even creates new nutrients.

"As they go through their life cycles, microbial cultures create B vitamins, including folic acid, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and biotin," according to Sandor Ellix Katz in his book Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition and Craft of Live-Culture Foods.

Katz, a self-proclaimed fermentation fetishist, exalts the microbe and criticizes the germaphopic culture that has antibacterial soaps in every home. The problem, Katz says, is that every time we remove bacteria from the surfaces of our skin, we're more susceptible to harmful bacteria. We make ourselves a "blank slate" for harmful bacteria to come and take over. Then, new bacteria develops that is more resistant.

In this culture of rampant germ warfare, fermentation provides an opportunity to make peace with and cultivate a working relationship with the vast microbial world, inviting it into our diets, and strengthening our digestive systems in the process.

Some fermented foods you may already enjoy:
yogurt
cheese
vegetable krauts/kimchis
miso
tempeh
tamari
sourdough breads

Here is a video of Sandor Ellix Katz giving simple, step-by-step instructions on making sauerkraut. I'm going to give this a whirl.

For more information on fermentation, go here or check out Katz's website: www.wildfermentation.com

Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (Bill # H.R.875) is currently before Congress.

The Organic Consumers Association has not taken a position for or against this bill and has stated concerns that this bill could be "interpreted to impose onerous regulations on small farms, especially raw milk producers who are already unfairly targeted by state food-safety regulators."

For more information as well as a list of the bill's sponsors, go here.

Calcium Without Dairy

If you are lactose-intolerant, vegan, or aren't too keen on dairy, you might get asked how you get enough calcium in your diet. Or you might be asking that question, yourself.

The good news is that there are excellent plant-based calcium sources, many of which have higher levels of calcium than dairy. It just so happens that we usually only hear about calcium in the context of dairy consumption because the Dairy Coalition is, well, formidably huge.

Kelp and other sea vegetables, along with dark leafy greens like collards, kale, parsley, dandelion and watercress have some of the highest levels of calcium, considerably higher than milk. You can find calcium in levels equal to milk in foods such as sesame seeds, broccoli, walnuts and sunflower seeds.

Below is a chart that lists some of the best calcium sources, according to Naturopathic Doctors Joseph Pizzorno and Michael Murray in their book The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods

Calcium content in milligrams per 3 1/2-ounce (100 gram) serving:

Kelp 1,093
Cheddar cheese 750
Dulse 296
Collard greens 250
Kale 249
Almonds 234
Yeast, brewer's 210
Parsely 203
Dandelion greens 187
Brazil nuts 186
Watercress 151
Tofu 126
Figs, dried 121
Sunflower seeds 120
Whole milk 118
Sesame seeds 110
Broccoli 103
Walnuts 99

Food Facials

You don't have to spend tons of money on expensive cosmetics and skin care products to re-vitalize your skin. There are many items from your kitchen you can use to help keep your skin vibrant and healthy.

Here are the basics of what I use to give myself a food facial:

For a mild and soothing exfoliant, put uncooked rolled oats in coffee grinder or mortar and pestle and grind until about half or more is powdery. Add just enough whole milk to make into a paste-like substance. Smooth onto face, avoiding eye area. If your skin is feeling especially rough, rub mixture gently into skin. Rinse with warm water.

Homemade toner: Use a ratio of half vinegar (I suggest raw apple cider vinegar) and water or half lemon juice and half water. Mix and apply as you would any other toner.

Skin soother: Apply a very small amount of raw honey to your face. Raw honey is loaded with antioxidants and enzymes, and is antimicrobial. It is good for reducing swelling and scarring (especially useful if you've had an acne outbreak). Leave honey on face for 15-20 minutes. Remove gently any excess honey with a warm wet cloth.

Moisturizer: coconut oil. I love this stuff. It's usually solid and white at room temperature, but once you start to apply it to your body, it melts instantly. Coconut oil is antibacterial and helps relieve dryness, prevents wrinkles, age spots and sagging.

These are just a few food items you can use to give yourself a food facial, but there are many other options (raspberries, avocados, cucumbers, bananas, etc.) Before you head out to buy a mask or a cream that is loaded with stuff you can't pronounce, look around your kitchen and luxuriate in the simplest of ingredients.

Greening Your Diet

The current (March 2009) issue of Conscious Choice Magazine has a great list of ways to green your diet, as well as an interview with food activist Raj Patel. Check it out.

Produce with highest levels of pesticides

Here is a great link to the Environmental Working Group's list of non-organic produce with the highest levels of pesticides. Peaches and apples are the worst, ranked at the very top of the list with the highest load of pesticides, while avocados and onions are ranked lowest. There are a total of 47 fruits and veggies listed here:

http://www.foodnews.org/fulllist.php

Whew!

Here it is: my inaugural food blog entry. It took me a few hours to come up with a blog address and name—everything I tried was already taken. Apparently a lot of people are blogging about food on blogspot. And, to quote Martha Stewart, that's a good thing.

Why do I want to blog about food? Well, because I spend large quantities of my time thinking about food (everything from growing, preparing and eating food to the social and political aspects such as genetically modified ingredients and other issues of food safety, food scarcity, advocacy, nutrition, etc.) I could go on and on. And I will.

But I'd like to start by first asking you to slow down with your food. Slow. Way. Down. Create space for mealtime. Turn off the tv or the computer, sit down and take in the aromas, the flavors, the textures of the food before you. Regardless of what you're eating, give yourself space to really smell, taste and feel the affects this food has on you.

This is the beginning. But so much is contained right there in cultivating that awareness. Start thinking about what journey this food took to be at your table (Was it from your garden? A local farm? A farm 100 miles away? A farm 1,000 or more miles away?) Ask yourself about the resources used to grow this food, the machinery used to process this food, the packaging used to contain this food, the marketing used to sell this food, etc. Now ask yourself what nutrients this food brings you. And if you don't know the answers to these questions, I encourage you to start looking for them. Because you may be shocked at what you find.

Stay tuned. I'll be posting links to all sorts of resources. I'll even throw in a recipe from time to time. My wish is this: May all people everywhere be nourished.