Working With, Not Against, Your Caffeine Habit

I like this article in Yoga Journal: Quitting Time. Yoga Journal is a neat resource that I think even non-yogis might find interesting and useful. I subscribe to their weekly "My Yoga Journal" e-newsletter, which bills itself as "your weekly dose of yoga tips, information, and advice", and find that the issues often include appealing, pithy pieces on everything from healthful eating to keeping both your mind and body fit. And if you're not up for advice or musing at the particular moment the e-newsletter arrives, well then maybe the healthy thing to do for yourself that day is to hit the archive button and free yourself of one more inbox squatter... anyway, I thought these thoughts on caffeine were interesting. Enjoy!

Made in the USA Stickers For Food: Keeping You and the Environment Healthy

So my mom has been attending nutrition classes with this lady that specializes in ancient Chinese healing/medicine. She has been going to the lady for acupuncture throughout chemo and radiation. I've been asking my mom to pass on her new pearls of wisdom, and one thing that she said that the nutritionist emphasizes is the importance of eating foods that are "in season." Basically, this means not eating strawberries from Mexico, Chile, etc, in the dead of winter in the U.S... I don't know about you guys, but when I am at Whole Foods, Safeway, etc, I head straight for the conventional tomatoes from Mexico instead of the more expensive, more local produce. I didn't really know what to think about this new piece of advice until I read this interesting article from the New York Times. According to the article,

... a plump red tomato from Florida is often not the same as one grown in Mexico. The imported fruits and vegetables found in our shopping carts in winter and early spring are grown with types and amounts of pesticides that would often be illegal in the United States.

These pesticides are not only bad for us (some of them do not wash off with water) but they are terrible for the animals that live around the crops. This article focuses on how the pesticides effect birds specifically.

So what should you do to help? It is hard enough worrying about how to keep yourself healthy, let alone birds and animals in Latin America. Here are a few things to watch out for:

What should you put on your bird-friendly grocery list? Organic coffee, for one thing. Most mass-produced coffee is grown in open fields heavily treated with fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides and insecticides...

Organic bananas should also be on your list. Bananas are typically grown with one of the highest pesticide loads of any tropical crop. Although bananas present little risk of pesticide ingestion to the consumer, the environment where they are grown is heavily contaminated.

When it comes to nontraditional Latin American crops like melons, green beans, tomatoes, bell peppers and strawberries, it can be difficult to find any that are organically grown. We should buy these foods only if they are not imported from Latin America

Maybe we should bring back the Made in the USA stickers for food?

Let Them Eat Yodels

April 18th is the last best chance for Congress to reform the Farm Bill for at least a year. For a compelling and beautifully written case for why we, the health-conscious readers of Spoonfull, should care check out this article by Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma."

The bottom line: By subsidizing the over-production of a handful of crops (those that happen to be the raw inputs to nutritionally worthless processed foods) and discouraging the local growers of virtually everything else, the Farm Bill results in a world where ring-dings are cheaper than produce.

We get the worst of this bargain every day--either in the check-out line at Whole Foods or in line at the drive-thru (when we're too broke to 'buy local'). Now Congress is trying to pass a Farm Bill which gives the junkfood coalition another sweet deal, but Bush, who is actually on the right side of this issue, has threatened to veto the bill absent substantial changes. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Apple Cider Vinegar: Does a Body Good

Has anyone else out there heard/read about the benefits of Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar? Supposedly a few teaspoons a day in some water can cure whatever ails you. What IS this vinegar, you ask? Here is what the website says:

Certified Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar is unfiltered, unheated, unpasteurized and 5% acidity. Contains the amazing Mother of Vinegar which occurs naturally as strand-like enzymes of connected protein molecules.

The long list of internal and external health benefits includes the following: supports healthy immune systems, helps control weight, promotes healthy skin, promotes digestion (ahem fiber post from earlier), and relieves muscle pain. I have even read that it helps with allergies!!

Miracle drink or crock of you know what? I decided to try it out for myself. Last month, I started the day with 2 teaspoons of the vinegar in a glass of cold water. It tasted sort of gross at first, but then I started to like it and it even started to taste refreshing! Without going into too much detail, I found that it does INDEED help with digestion. I also found that I was not starving by lunch, and I stopped craving my usual cup of caffeine first thing at work... Pure coincidence? Possibly... But I stopped drinking it all last week because I had a cold, and sure enough, some zit bombs have flared up this week... Hmmmm...

What do other people say, you might wonder? Well, I haven't found anything that says it's a hoax. EarthClinic.com seems to think it's for real. For more information from the Bragg people, click here. Try it out and let me know what you think. It may not look pretty, but it could work tiny miracles.

fiber: it's good for me and poo!

BUTT if, like me, you often skip breakfast, eat a lean cuisine for lunch (and sometimes dinner), you probably aren’t getting enough fiber in your diet. So, it’s kind of an uncomfortable topic to broach, but I want to bring the topic of digestive health to the forefront. According to studies from the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, North Americans consume less than 50% of the dietary fiber levels required for good health.

A-ha! Enter the fiber supplement. There are many types of dietary fiber supplements available -- in pills, powder, yogurt, and chewable forms! Side effects may include feeling bloated or having gas, but you can cut back on the doses if these issues occur (i.e. don’t start experimenting with a fiber supplement the weekend of your first trip away with that new boyfriend). And the benefits far outweigh any embarrassment you might experience. Fiber can prevent constipation, lower your risk of digestive conditions (ahem! hemorrhoids), control blood sugar levels (reducing the risk of diabetes), and help curb your appetite to help with weight loss or maintaining a healthy weight! And though the American Cancer Society has conflicting headlines on their webpage: “Studies Find High-Fiber Diet Lowers Colon Cancer Risk" and “Fiber May Not Reduce Colon Cancer Risk,” the previously listed benefits are worth exploring a fiber supplement (or adding more fiber to your diet naturally). Until next time, stay regular y’all!

Hocus-Pocus

First of all I have to just say, C-Mase, you are 2 cool with this blog and doing a mighty fine job and the posts are so entertaining and informative. (Shanz, I knew it was you below the moment I saw the words "Ms. Meyers.")

Anyway - my thoughts instantly turned to a 'Spoon Full of Sugar' as soon as I read an article in the current "Glamour" (Salma Hayek edition.) It's called "Health Hoaxes Not to Fall For." The blurb says that according to the American Cancer Society, there is NOT sufficient evidence to conclude that "antiperspirants, underwire bras and underarm shaving (!)" may cause cancer. Of course I believe it's better to be safe than sorry, which is why I have given up both deodorant and pit-shaving. (Ba-dum-bum.) Glamour's so-called health hoaxes also include:

(on my honor as a student i am copying and pasting from the actual article)

"Tampons are toxic!
Some e-mails claim tampons contain asbestos to promote bleeding (so you’ll buy more). Says Newark, New Jersey, ob-gyn Sharon Mass, M.D.: Tampons don’t contain asbestos. Period.

Carmex is addictive!
Urban legend e-mails say the lip balm contains drying ingredients—even ground glass—that make lips drier and turn people into Carmex junkies. Simply false, says dermatologist Zoe Draelos, M.D. What does dry out lips? Licking them a lot.

NutraSweet is nutra-sick!
Alarming missives assert that NutraSweet, aka aspartame, has caused an epidemic of lupus, multiple sclerosis and cancer. But the Food and Drug Administration says current research shows aspartame is safe (except for people with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria, who can’t metabolize it).

Rapists sterilize women!
Scary e-mails claim rapists prowling your town are using a drug called Progesterex to sterilize victims—so perps can’t be identified by paternity. The truth? No such drug. Hoaxers love to prey on female-specific fears, which actually distract you from other important health issues, says Marc Siegel, M.D., author of False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear."

OK, I'm back, and I still believe Diet Coke and its aspertame absolutely just has to be a carcinogen but I figured I'd share this so we can be aware of what MAY be hocus-pocus and continue to cast our spells on the things that could actually hurt us.

Downward Dog

I only shop at Whole Foods. Take multi-vitamins that are $35 a bottle and I have given in to Mrs. Meyers cleaning products (geranium or lavender).

To say the least, I cannot afford anything I have mentioned above. Still, I go into debt over the promising world of organic fruit and all natural shampoo. In fact, I recently fell further into my financial black hole when I succumbed to an Equinox membership.

Note: I do not workout on any sort of monthly basis. This spa haven, masking as a gym, screamed out to me, "I will better you (and decorate the cardio room with orchids and Calypso candles)!!" I was sold.

Today on my day off, I decided it was time to put some of that credit card debt to use and trudge over to the 10am Pilates class. Although I remained in tabletop position while all of my classmates' legs were beautifully extended in a linear fashion, I did feel that I was doing a body good. And this was only my first visit. As class came to an end, our perfectly proportioned instructor Jules (who I could only assume was a granola tree hugger), asked us all to sit upright and cross our legs. She offered some advice that was anything but the hippie rhetoric I was prepared to answer with an eye roll. She said, 

"Lets all find ourselves in the mirror. If you don't like what you see, change it. If you do like what you see, accept it."

Jules! I love a good poignant and realistic nugget of wisdom before noon.

The field is flooded with contradictory advice debating the effectiveness of vitamins, the safety of this product or that. But I can say with confidence, taking fish oil capsules and opting for fresh greens instead of TV dinners isn't doing me more harm. 

So, I think I will take Jules' mantra to heart. Accept my obsession for $6 organic, dark chocolate bars and good red wine. Work to change the things I do not like. I think I will go back to Pilates tomorrow...