“If we all did things like hang out our clothes, we could shut down the nuclear industry.” – Helen Caldicott

Renewable energy is all the rage these days and with good reason. We all know the inconvenient truth about burning fossil fuels: we must wean ourselves and our society off of them if we are to have any shot at surviving the future. A future with 400ppm CO2 and steadily rising temperatures.

I looked into getting solar panels on my roof, but I’ve got too many trees. At this point in the game, I prefer to have my trees giving the Rubin Rodeo some shade (we have no AC) and allow them to continue with their most important work: converting CO2 into oxygen.

I did discover one way to utilize both wind and solar to cut down on my electric bill. No pricey solar panels or wind turbines needed. Just a simple rack is all that is needed. Crazy as it may sound, this technology is illegal in some municipalities. I didn’t dare check with my town, I just decided to do it anyway.

I visited my friend Sue in Valencia, Spain last fall. She was drying her clothes right in her front yard, she had a cool rack that made it super easy to dry all of her laundry. As I traveled by train through the rest of Spain, I noticed laundry lines everywhere.  It made me realize how foolish we are to use a clothes dryer on a sunny or breezy day.

As soon as I got home, I went and bought a fold up rack like my friend Sue’s along with a pack of wooden clothes pins.

My high tech clothes drying rack.

YES, it takes a bit more time to go outside and fasten my wet laundry onto the rack and bring it back in when its dry. There is a bit of zen involved. There is something very soothing about mindfully arranging your clothes with clothespins. Plus I’m outside on a nice day. Nothing wrong with that! Besides, my clothes smell fantastic now. They will last longer by not being tossed around in the dryer. I’ll save money as my electric bill will definitely notice that the dryer isn’t running as much as it was.

I realize that I’m not going to save the world by drying my clothes outside. We’ve all got to start somewhere. If I can inspire  you to dry outside in the sun and you can tell others, a ripple starts to roll.

Go ahead. Give it a try. It’s easier than you think!

CO2 levels have been going up up up in my lifetime. 1960- the present.

400ppm.

We are there.

The atmosphere of planet earth now contains 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide. This is the first time in human history that we’ve hit this milestone. The last time we had this much greenhouse gas in the air was several million years ago. Back then, the Arctic was ice-free and sea level was 131 feet higher than it is today.

Way back in the early 1970′s, when my science nerd of a dad was explaining the “greenhouse effect” to me while we sat in lines waiting to gas up the car, the CO2 level was hovering around 320-325 parts per million. Deep down, I knew that we’d be coming to this place in my lifetime. My dad is no longer here, if he were he would be as concerned scared as I am about what will happen as this number continues to rise. This rise is not a straight line, it is an exponential curve. What that means is that the numbers are increasing faster and faster.

As these numbers climb higher and higher, extreme weather such as storms and droughts become more frequent occurrences.    This will directly impact our food supply, our homes, our very existence. I’m not being melodramatic here, how I wish I was just being a drama queen. The science backs up what I’m saying.

David Roberts does a great job of explaining the story of climate change. You can watch here:

(If the YouTube video doesn’t show up, here’s the link: http://youtu.be/pznsPkJy2x8 )

What does that mean for you and me?

It means we have a lot of work to do. If you haven’t done so already, visit 350.org and get involved.

In the meantime, enjoy this little music video by the Climate Reality Project founder Al Gore.

(here’s the link if it doesn’t show up on your screen: http://youtu.be/1iVDHiOEBvw )

Granola bars, fresh out of the oven. Make sure to cool completely before cutting.

Granola bars have a health halo thanks to food industry marketing practices.  I rarely find a granola bar in the supermarket that meets my standards, so I decided to make my own.  This version is nut free, so it can work in a school setting. I’ll be recommending this recipe next month for Mount Kisco Child Care Center’s Feed Me Fresh garden to table program – I work there as a food and garden consultant. The children will have fun making these treats for their afternoon snack.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened coconut ribbons

1/2 cup pepitas – shelled pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1/3 cup Goji berries, chopped

1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

pinch of sea salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Prepare a 9″ by 9″ pan with some coconut oil or butter. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

If you’re using wide coconut ribbons, chop them a bit so they are similar to the size of rolled oatmeal flakes.

Lightly chop the pepitas so they are the size of the sunflower seeds.

Chop the Goji berries and cranberries so they are slightly smaller than raisin size.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, salt and cinnamon and pour them over the dry ingredients and mix together.

Pour into the pan and press it down evenly.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Wait until they are cool before cutting into bars or square.

Enjoy!

My Dorito meditation is the perfect activity for you after you read the NY Times piece on addictive food.

Here’s a fun activity for kids and adults of all ages. I’ve used this in classes for more than a decade with great results. I’ll be using it next month with medical students from NY Medical College where I teach on occasion. Today,  I’m putting it out there free of charge for all the world to share. If you like it, please visit my new “tip jar” on the right hand side of the blog and buy me a cup of tea!

The latest piece in the NY Times about the addictive nature of food is not news to me. I’ve been more than aware of food industry manipulation of your taste buds and your brain for quite some time. This is one of the reasons I am inspired to share my Dorito meditation with you all. It’s one thing to read information and quite another to experience it for yourself.

Here’s what you need for the meditation.

• 1 raisin per person
• 1 small cup cooked short grain rice
• 1 Cool Ranch Dorito chip. That’s right, just one. One is all you’ll need.

We will start with a raisin.

Take 4 pounds of grapes put them in the sun to dry and you get 1 pound of raisins.  Raisins have lots of sugar, they’ve been popular for ever. Up until the European medieval period, when cane sugar was imported, raisins and honey were the top two sweeteners.

Just about all of the raisins we eat come from California’s San Joaquin valley.  The grapes are harvested in august, spread on paper trays, dried in the sun for 2 weeks in the vineyard, then the stems are removed and they are sorted and packaged.

As you look at the raisin in your hand, think of it’s life in California in the sunshine on a grape vine. It gets picked, gets to hang out in the sunshine for a couple of weeks, as it gets tan and juicy. Before it gets packaged, sent to a warehouse, sent off in a truck to a store near you.

Slowly put the raisin in your mouth.

Don’t eat it, just roll it around there for a minute. A good 60 seconds. Time it if you have to.

Now take one tiny bite.

Notice the explosion of taste in your mouth.

Notice how sweet it is.

Now slowly, mindfully chew the raisin.

Pay attention to how your mouth feels.

Take a breath. Relax.

Next is a spoonful of rice.

Take a look at the rice on your spoon, this is a short grain brown rice.

You are more than likely used to eating long grain rice. Notice how this rice looks a little short and chubby. It makes for a wonderful porridge in the morning, by the way.

There are lots of different types of rice upwards of 120,000 varieties.

Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world’s populations. Americans eat 25 lbs rice/ year, people in the far east eat more than 100 lbs/year.  We only grow less than 1% of the worlds rice. Rice has been produced in the U.S. since the late 17th century. Today, six states produce more than 99% of all rice grown in America – Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Texas. Most likely, the rice you’re looking at was grown in India, Southeast Asia, or Japan. Portugal, Spain, USSR, Italy, and France also grow lots of rice.

Rice plants grow 4- 6 feet tall.

Rice is often grown in flooded fields called rice paddies. It is shipped to a mill where the hulls on the grain are removed to produce brown rice. The outer bran layer of brown rice is high in fiber, B vitamins, and minerals like calcium, phosphorus, iron, sodium, and potassium. Although the bran layer contains most of the nutritious components of the grain, it is also a barrier to water absorption and is the reason why it takes longer to cook brown rice than white rice.

So take a look at this grain, don’t eat it yet! Close your eyes and imagine it growing tall in a flooded rice paddy either in this country or one over seas.

Imagine someone harvesting the rice, sending it to the mill. Putting it into a 50-pound burlap bag. That bag gets shipped to a warehouse, and then off to a store. You find the rice at the store, buy it, and bring it home. I’m taking the time to explain where these foods originated and how they got onto our plates because part of meditation is slowing down, and considering the journey that our food took. In our busy lives, we rarely take this time to stop and think about where our food comes from.

OK. Now its time to taste the rice.

Take one small spoonful.

Slowly, carefully, chew this rice.

Keep count in your mind how many chews it takes to finish this spoonful of rice.

When you’re done, pay attention to what your mouth feels like.

Take a breath. Relax.

Now we are going to take another bite of rice.

This time, I want you to go even slower!!

Close your eyes, that will help you to go inward and pay attention even more.

Slow down your chewing so that you can feel the rice grains smashing against the cusps of your molars.

Try to double the # of chews from your last bite.

Sit quietly, focused on the chewing in your mouth.

Notice how the sweetness of the rice changes over time. That is due to enzymes in your saliva turning starch into sugar.

How do you feel right now??

Zen monks chew each bite 75 times. When you see them, they are so serene.

Do you feel a little zoned out by this exercise? Do you feel calm?

When your rice is gone, pay attention to how your mouth feels.

And how you feel.

Next and last food we are meditating on.

Most of the ingredients in Cool Ranch Doritoes come from a lab, not nature.

Cool ranch Doritos.

Take a close look at the chip. Look at all the colored specks, what is that??

Read the ingredients on the side of the bag outloud. Can you pronounce all of them?

Now let’s imagine where this chip actually came from……I cannot tell you for sure like I can with the raisin and the rice.

Slowly, mindfully take a bite of the Doritos and carefully chew it.

Slowly, like  you did with the rice.

Mindully, paying attention to tastes and textures in your mouth.

How does your mouth taste??

Why do you think it tastes that way?

How do you feel?

Do you feel centered and grounded like you did when you ate the rice??

Look at the packaging of the Doritoes. What sort of message are they trying to get across??

Why do you think it tastes so gross to eat Doritoes slowly?

Doritoes were designed to be eaten rapidly. To slow down and actually taste them is like taking a look at the emperor and realizing he’s got nothing on!

Doritoes has nothing going for it, with the exception of chemicals designed specifically to make you crave them.

Go ahead, have another spoonful of rice. It’s subtle sweetness will grow on you.

Don’t feel bad about throwing out the rest of the bag of Doritoes uneaten.

I hope this meditation helped to break the spell of junk food for you.

Feel free to try this strategy with any processed food vs. a real food.

Mother Nature is far wiser than any food chemist.

Don’t Tar Sands Me Bro

This was probably my favorite sign from the march I attended in Washington DC over the weekend. Over 50,000 concerned citizens traveled from near and far for what was the largest climate rally in US history. Ever since learning about the Alberta Tar Sands in 2009, I’ve been following the issue and doing whatever small thing I can to convince my government to do the right thing. That included participating in civil disobedience, a fancy word for getting arrested,  in front of the White House in August of 2011.

I’ve kept up to speed on the issue of tar sands because based on my reading and research, this is one project that can basically guarantee the early extinction of life as we know it on earth. The biggest mistake that President Obama can make would be to give the green light on the Keystone XL pipeline. There is nothing more important than keeping tar sands in the ground. Our children’s futures will be decided by the actions and inactions that we take. I’m not yet convinced that our president will do the right thing. While I was marching in the cold outside his house, he was playing golf in Florida with a Texas businessman who has ties to big oil.

The climate rally on Sunday was a peaceful, perfectly legal event that included a march from the Washington monument to the White House. It was great fun and very inspiring to see all of the different groups of people who cared enough to show up and march on a cold windy day to protest a warming planet.

The environmental movement is not just a bunch of tree hugging, granola crunching hippies. I met 5th grade teachers, college professors, faith based organizations of all types, Occupy Wall Street, Sandy survivors from the Rockaways, moms and dads with small children, grandparents, Green Party candidates and members of Deep Green Resistance during the march. The movement is growing in width, depth and determination.

The rally was great fun. Hopefully next time, you will join us. I put together a little montage of some of the photos I took and turned it into a little video. Hope you enjoy it!

Here’s the link to Vimeo in case it doesn’t show up right here. https://vimeo.com/59950863

Rosemary, sage and thyme from my herb garden. With a clove of garlic on the side.

Spring is still many weeks away, which makes it the perfect time for planning what to grow when the weather gets warmer. If you are new to gardening, herbs can be a fun and easy place to start.  It’s great to be able to have fresh herbs ready when you need them just a few steps away from your kitchen.

I don’t have a super amount of sun on my deck, but I have enough to grow some herbs in a medium planter.  Here’s the run down on what herbs to grow and how.

Thyme- this perennial comes in many varieties. Rather than start from seed, simply invest in a small plant. If its happy and if you don’t use it all, it will come back year after year.

Rosemary- like thyme, its easier to buy this woody perennial as a small plant. If your winter is cold and harsh, it might not make it through the winter, you could transplant it and bring it inside for the winter. Last year, our winter was mild and my rosemary did fine.

Oregano- another woody perennial that will come back year after year if its happy.

My container herb garden on my back deck in spring/summer

Parsley, Basil, Cilantro are annual herbs that can be started from seed. They are happiest when you harvest them regularly, it makes them grow more vigorously.

Mint is one of those herbs that are handy to have, but you’ll want to keep them in a separate container because they love to spread.  If you want some and you live near me, come on over in the spring, I’ll give you plenty. It’s super easy to start from cuttings.

Chives also grow with gusto and will come back in bigger numbers with each passing year. I give giant clumps of it away each year. Its a handy herb to have on hand, I like to snip it with scissors.

Beans must be soaked over night before cooking.

Last weekend I whipped up two pots of chili. One vegetarian and one made with really good grass fed organic ground beef.  There are zillions of chili recipes out there. I like to go cruising on Food 52 for inspiration.  That’s where I found a recipe for Just Good Chili which included fun ingredients like beer, coffee and some cocoa.

Vegetarian Chili

I was headed out to a community garden pot luck that night, so I made one pot of the chili with no meat. Easy enough to adjust the recipe, I simply omitted the beef and added a few more veggies that were in my fridge. Chili is easy to play around with.

I froze a container or two, and still had chili left to spare. Someone at the potluck brought a pinto bean cornbread casserole. Almost like a shepherd’s pie but with beans and cornbread instead of meat and potatoes. That gave me an idea for my leftovers!

Chili and Cornbread Casserole

Since hubby and I are playing the “no bread” game this month, cornbread could be made easily without wheat. So the next night, I played around with this concept. I put the remaining chili into a casserole dish and put cornbread batter on top. I even added some frozen corn to the cornbread batter for extra corny-ness!  Into the oven it went.

It worked great!  Try it!

Key ingredients for flu prevention

SOUP is a magical food during this time of year, its the best thing to be eating when its cold outside. I’m playing the soup for dinner game this month, I think you should too!  I have too many soup recipes to count on my blog page. You can browse through them by visiting my blog, www.DrSusanRubin.com/blog, on the lower right side of that page, you’ll find a list of categories. Simply click on SOUP and you’ll find pages and pages of recipes.

Here are my top 3 soup recommendations, simply click on the links below to get to the recipes. These soups have one thing in common: warming herbs and spices.

1. Magical Miso Onion Soup this combination of onions, garlic and ginger will help fight off bug that might be coming your way. The miso helps support your gut flora which is also essential to good immunity.

2. Thai Chicken Soup the Asian spices in this soup, turmeric, garlic, chili pepper make it spicy but not too hot. Mung beans add crunch, peanuts and cilantro help to transport your tastebuds to Southeast Asia

3. Curried Squash Soup  curry powder, turmeric, ginger and garlic combined with roasted winter squash make this soup very nourishing and digestible.

One other point that will help to encourage you to cook at home for yourself is illustrated by this disturbing poster from the FDA.
Not everyone can afford to take a sick day when they’re not feeling well. This is one of the ways that colds and flu spread.

If you cook for yourself, you won’t have to wonder whether your take out, your frozen processed packaged food or even your high end restaurant food was made by someone who looks like the people in this poster.  If you make your own meals, you’ll know that the ingredients are good and you’ll be putting your own good energy into the food. There is nothing better than that.

Cooking from scratch is the most effective investment of time and money you can make to insure your own health.

Let 2013 be the year that you dedicate to more home cooked food and less take out/restaurant food.  Better for your wallet, your waistline and your health.

There are many ways to build immunity to colds and flu

I’m not here to convince you one way or the other on flu shots,  the choice is yours to make. Shot or no shot, there is plenty you can do to help avoid the flu. More than washing your hands and sneezing into your elbow as the CDC keeps telling us to do.

Here are a few things that can be done for little or no cost.

SLEEP I consider  sleep to be a nutrient that we need every day. Scientists have shown that sleep is when we grow and when we heal. Parents know this first hand with their kids. When you’re sick, you sleep! Well, why not make sure you get adequate sleep BEFORE you get sick? This is one reason I have a zero sleepover policy, I want my kids home to sleep in their own beds at a reasonable time. Regular sleep hours are shown to be helpful in boosting immunity, and also in better brain function: retaining what you learn. Make regular, restful sleep a priority in your home and you’ll have happier healthier kids to show for it.  

This book is an eyeopening exploration of how light impacts our health.

DARKNESS We are supposed to be in the dark in the winter. The more you can align with the rhythms of Mother Nature, they better off you’ll be health wise. Stay away from your computer and TV screens at night, turn down the lights, and get serious about getting to bed a little earlier. Start with 10 minutes earlier, build up to 30. It will make a huge difference in your energy level, your outlook on life and your resistance to illness.

SUGAR We all love sugar, and the holidays are full of it. Now that the holidays are behind us, its time to face the not so popular truth: refined sugar can deplete your immunity and can drain the body of much needed nutrients. I could show you all sorts of articles and studies to prove this point. The bottom line is, we all need to look at decreasing our consumption of refined sugar. Replace juices and other sugary drinks with water, preferably filtered, from the tap and you’ll be saving loads of money and helping the planet. Take a good long look at how much refined sugar you and your kids eat over the course of a day or a week. Get conscious and cut back on the white stuff!

GOOD BUGS One thing that many non science peeps might not realize is that our bodies consist of all sorts of microorganisms living together in harmony. Bacterial cells outnumber human cells by a factor of 10 to 1. One group of bacteria that I’m particularly fond of is the Lactobacillis family of bacteria that lives in your gut. You can add to this happy family of bugs that helps your digestive and immune systems to work optimally by enjoying foods that naturally contain these beneficial bacteria. Miso soup, Kim Chee, Sauerkraut, Kefir and Yogurt come to mind. You can also take probiotic supplements. This is one thing I get my family going on when there is a flu bug going around. I think of it as a tonic, a small action taken once a day that will make a big difference over time.

DE-STRESS  You absolutely must find ways to decrease your stress level. This is a big ask in these trying times but it is essential.  Meditation, taking a regular walk, doing daily yoga, remembering to plant your feet on the ground and breathe. Reducing stress levels will help build up your resistance to illness and can also help you let go of unwanted weight.

Laughter is food for the spirit.

LAUGH I heard a physician speak about this just last week when I was at a comedy show, of all places. Laughter lowers blood pressure, improves blood flow to the heart and other organs, and has shown to help improve resistance to disease. I set time aside every day for chuckles watching  The Daily Show and Colbert Report

GET OUTSIDE We weren’t meant to be indoor creatures. Acclimate to the colder weather by making an  extra effort to get outside a little every day. Talk a walk, go sit in the park, enjoy a little fresh air. Open the windows a little. This will help your body make gradual adjustments rather than be stressed by a sudden change.  Wear a scarf and protect your neck and upper back against the wind.

Here’s an interesting 30 day program I’ve signed up for that involves sitting outside in stillness. While the instructor is not suggesting that this could help to prevent the flu, that’s just my theory. Stay tuned, I’ll give you a full report!

A 30-Day Challenge to Develop Your Relationship to Self, Earth, Others, and the Wisdom of the Ancestors