Nutritionism gives us insane things like 100 calorie packs.

Here we are, the first of March. That means its “National Nutrition Month”- this campaign, sponsored by the American Dietetic Association, is all about promoting the concept of good science based nutrition information.

I have a real problem with the “N” word. The whole concept of “nutrition” has us barking up the wrong tree. As a result, we focus on calories, fat grams and carbs and often forget to ask the hard questions about what we eat. Questions like: What the heck is this ingredient? and Where the heck did it come from?

Food activist and journalist Michael Pollan has written extensively about the problems with “nutritionism”. I will paraphrase his philosophy here.

Nutritionism- a belief system that focuses on scientifically identified nutrients that determine the worthiness of a particular food or food product.

1. Food is merely a “nutrient delivery system”. You can see this on the Nutrition Facts box on every food product in the supermarket. The run down on Calories, Fat, Sodium, Total Carb, Protein, the % Daily Value (which I still don’t really understand!)

2. You must give up your power as an eater to the “experts”. The dietitians and other health professionals are the “priests” of this belief system. They interpret the scientific findings for the masses. They are the ones who tell us what to eat. Why aren’t we the experts of our own bodies and health? After all, we live with ourselves 24/7 no one knows us better than we do! When I work with clients, my goal is to raise their Food IQ to the point where they know how to ask the right questions about food and their health. My ultimate goal is to make it so that my clients don’t need me!

"good nutrients"

3. There are “good” nutrients. The high profile good guys are currently: fiber, antioxidants, probiotics, DHA. The food industry splashes these words on boxes of edible foodlike substance because those “experts” proclaim them to be healthful.

4. There are “bad” nutrients. Right now, the newest bigtime evil nutrient of  is SALT! Fat has always been on the bad boy list for a long time. Note that both good and evil nutrients are subject to change over time.

Like any religion or belief system, Nutritionism has its flaws. There are plenty of people who believe strongly in their nutritional dogmas. Whether it is low fat, sugar free, vegan, fruitarian or pill popping supplementarian, all of these philosophies are missing something.

When we attempt to reclaim our health by using the dictates of nutritionism, we end up eating pizza with low fat cheese, whole wheat pizza crust and reduced sodium. That is not going to change ANYTHING!

Real food grown close to home is true nourishment

Its time to embrace the F word: FOOD. Personal health and planetary health are directly connected. We must spend the time to learn about the food system, how it works and why it is currently in a state of collapse. If our children are to grow up healthy, we must work to re-build the food system closer to our homes and with less toxins. That means starting with a garden at school and at home. Junk doesn’t grow in gardens, real food does.

Despite what the diary industry tries to make us believe, milk doesn’t always do a body good. Not everyone can easily digest  cow’s milk.  Soy milk can be equally undigestible. Soy beverages are  not something I would recommend due to GMO concerns and questions on whether we should even be ingesting soy products.

Looking for a non dairy beverage to put on your breakfast porridge in the morning? Give almond milk a try. Almonds contain anti cancer and cholesterol lowering properties and are rich in vitamin E.  They are also a good calcium source. Its easy to make, here’s a super simple recipe:

Almond Milk

1 cup raw almonds, preferably organic

2-3 cups filtered water

1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract

1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey ( optional)

cheesecloth

1. soak almonds overnight, drain

2. put almonds and other ingredients into a blender

3.  puree at high speed for 3-5 min

4. add a touch of vanilla or almond extract depending on your tastes

5.  add a teaspoon of maple syrup if you want to sweeten it a bit

6.  pour the blend into a bowl lined with two sheets of cheesecloth.

7.  squeeze the liquid almond milk through the cheesecloth

Note: you can utilize the leftover almond grinds in cookies for added healthy fiber.

Campers love fire roasted red peppers

Yesterday I wrote about extending campout fare beyond burgers, dogs and s’mores. Today was the day I put theory into action. G1, the youngest cabin of girls, were the subjects of my little food experiment. Tonight at campout, in addition to the usual veggie burgers, dogs and burgers, I tossed some red peppers and zucchini on the grill.

The youngest girls had never seen a red pepper roasted on an open fire before. The outer skin turns black, while the inside becomes soft and super sweet. Fortunately, I had a couple of true “food ambassadors” in the group who shrieked excitedly when they saw me take the peppers off the grill and dress them with a touch of balsamic vinaigrette. As they were first in line for a piece of the roasted pepper, the other girls watched. The food ambassadors gobbled up the peppers and asked for more, the younger girls decided they wanted to try them before they were all gone.  Before I knew it, all the peppers were gone. I didn’t even get a chance to taste my creation.  I’m sure that word will spread and roasted peppers and squash will make it onto the campout food request list for more cabins.

We didn’t get a chance to try the Banana S’mores recipe I listed yesterday. After tossing 3 bananas on the grill, they were gobbled up before I had a chance to break out the  chocolate and graham crackers. Super sweet and super banana-y. Another big hit.

Lesson learned: when you’ve couple of enthusiastic adventurous kids who can act as food ambassadors, its easy to encourage others to try new foods.

re·sil·ience
Pronunciation: \ri-ˈzil-yən(t)s\
Function: noun

1 : the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress
2 : an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

Resilience. The word keeps surfacing for me lately, it’s become a mantra to help keep me balanced through a bumpy few weeks. A heavy duty snow storm downed trees and power lines just two weeks ago. Everyone’s yard is littered with branches and debris.  This past weekend another freak storm with high winds and heavy rains uprooted trees all over the tri-state area. Half of our county didn’t have school today due to power outages and obstructed roads. It takes an attitude of resilience to deal with these inconveniences.

What the heck is going on with the weather? Donald Trump suggested that Al Gore to return his Nobel Peace prize because of all the snow this winter.  I’m starting to believe like Thomas Friedman, that Al Gore underestimated the impact of climate change. Bill McKibben and his new book, Eaarth suggests that we’ve already managed to change the planet in such fundamental ways that it’s not really the planet we thought we knew.

When I think about changes in climate, first thing that comes to my mind is food. We need to create some resilience in our food system to withstand whatever shocks that climate change and fossil fuel depletion are causing. We don’t have to wait for governments or giant corporations to wake up and figure out that we need to make big changes. We can make meaningful changes  from the bottom up by getting our hands dirty and growing some of our food. Creating a small, diverse local/ regional food supply is the first step in creating resilience.

Climate change and peak oil is pretty scary stuff to contemplate. Many of my friends don’t want to acknowledge these changes are close at hand, its so much easier to remain blissfully ignorant and continue on with business as usual. But once you’ve had the wake up call, it’s impossible to go back to sleep.  This is where Transition comes in.  Transition US is part of a worldwide movement  that provides inspiration, encouragement, support, networking, and training for Transition Initiatives across the United States.

Transition Initiatives are part of a vibrant, international grassroots movement that builds community resilience in response to the challenges of peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. What’s great about Transition is that it seeks promising ways of engaging people in strengthening their communities against the effects of these challenges, resulting in a life that is more abundant, fulfilling, equitable and socially connected. I’m now working with others in my community to form Transition Westchester.

To learn more about Transition and to find a group near you, visit the Transition US website. Or check out the Transition Handbook by Rob Hopkins.  You’ll find that resilience is a comforting concept.

Right now, I’m whipping up a little “Whole Grain booklet” for our Jr. Iron Chef Event at Mount Kisco Child Care later this week. This breakfast porridge is made with one of my all time favorite whole grains, quinoa.

¾ cup quinoa, rinsed

1 ½ cups water

1 cinnamon stick, or ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons maple syrup

¾ cup (about ½ can) coconut milk

¾ cup almond milk

¼ cup raisins

¼ cup walnuts, chopped

Add the quinoa, water, salt, and cinnamon to a pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer while covered for 15 minutes.

Add the maple syrup, coconut milk, and almond milk. Continue to simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Stir in the nuts and raisins and allow to sit for another 10 minutes before serving. The porridge will thicken as it cools.

There has been an explosion of food and nutrition related books over the past few years. People ask me all the time what books to read to get up to speed with food. Not to overwhelm you, I taken my top 100 favorite books on the subject and cooked that list down to just 7. These are not cookbooks or nutrition texts, but you’ll learn lots about both from reading them.

1. Animal, Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, this book tells the story of how one family was changed by a year of deliberately eating food produced in the place where they live. Kingsolver, a well known writer of fiction, poetry and creative non fiction whose works include The Poisonwood Bible has a way with words that will inspire you

2. Every eater could benefit from reading some Michael Pollan, this journalism professor has been telling the story of America’s food system for many years now.

Food Rules: An Eater’s Guide is his most recent best selling book. Short, sweet and to the point, it was written at the request of a doctor who wanted a simple book to hand to his patients. I’ve used it with 4th year medical students to get them up to speed.

Want to read more by Pollan? Your next step would be to check out  In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto which came out last year. A more in depth read than Food Rules but equally compelling.

If you’re up for an epic read, then grab a copy of  The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals a deeper exploration of our food system.  A new children’s version came out this year which is aimed at the middle school level.

Pollan’s pieces in the NY Times have provoked many conversations. You can grab all of them online with a simple google search. You’ll find Mr. Pollan all over the Internet these days including this provocative interview on Democracy Now

3. Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of three novels. Becoming a dad and owning a dog caused him to re-think his food choices and write a book about it. His book, Eating Animals makes a good case case for decreasing your meat consumption as he shares the dark realities of more than 90% of animal agriculture in America.

4. Joan Gussow, a professor at Columbia Teachers College, has been way ahead of her time for many years. Her PhD thesis revolved around counting calories: how many calories it took to ship a tomato from California to NY. When I first met her back in the late 90′s she completely transformed my mindset about food. This Organic Life remains one of my most favorite books on the topic. Like Kingsolver, her book is sprinkled with recipes and the story of her life that builds your Food IQ in a very digestible way.

5. Science writer Susan Allport wrote a book about fat that reads like a nutritional detective story. The Queen of Fats will teach you all about  the Omega 3  fats that  have become the latest health food nutrient much like oat bran was in the 90’s. Read this for some important information about fats, one of the most misunderstood macronutrients.

6. Nina Planck is a food writer and farmer’s market entrepreneur who grew up on a farm. Her  well researched books will surprise you as she explains why butter and lard are good for you and corn oil and soy milk are not.Real Food: What to Eat and Why and her most recent book, Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods are great reads and will cause you to re-think the role of traditional foods in your diet.

7. Last but not least on my list of 7 is a small but powerful book written by  Buddhist monk and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh. His book,  The World We Have links his concerns of environmental destruction to the Buddhist teachings of interconnectedness and the impermanence of all things. I guess the reason I’m including this one is you’ll need a strategy to reduce any anxiety that may arise from reading  the other books. Its an eloquent little book that includes a chapter entitled Diet for a Mindful Planet.

photo credit: mike warren

My twice a month winter CSA share from Bialas Farms contains lots of onions, root vegetables, hearty greens like dinosaur kale and a head of cabbage. Not feeling inspired to make stuffed cabbage or cole slaw, the heads of cabbages have started to collect in the bottom drawer of my fridge.

Until yesterday. That’s when I found a recipe for a hearty but frugal cabbage soup.  I made some changes to the recipe, added some beans and presto, cabbage soup! I brought a pot to my Ethical Eating group last night, they gave it a two thumbs up. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

2 large onions

1/2 head of garlic

3 stalks celery

2 large carrots

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon of sea salt

lots of black pepper

1 small can tomato paste (I used a half jar of tomato sauce I found in the fridge)

5 bay leaves

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large head of cabbage

1 cup  fresh parsley

1-2 cups cooked beans ( I used black eyed peas, you could use any type you like)

Directions

1. Boil two quarts of water in a kettle
2. Dice the onions and the garlic
3. Slice the celery and carrots
4. Cover the bottom of a soup pot with oil and stir fry the garlic, onions, celery and carrots. Add  the salt and ground pepper. When the veggies are tender, pour in the boiling water and boil another kettle of water.
5. Add tomato past, bay leaves,  beans, apple cider vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil.
6. Slice the cabbage thinly and add  it to the pot. Add the second kettle of water after it’s boiling.
7. Cover the pot and boil the heck out of it. Its done when the celery is no longer hard and the cabbage is translucent.
8. Add chopped parsley and serve.

The more I learn about building movements, the more I appreciate my Crock Pot. My  handy slow cooker has taught me much about fixing good food for my family  along with the fine art of patience and persistence. This morning, I popped loads of veggies into my slow cooker along with some bison meat that I browned in a touch of bacon fat. My family will have stew for dinner, tomorrow’s lunch or dinner will be easier and even more delicious as the stew gains flavor over night.

PS: Have you checked out my Slow Cooker Cookbooklet? You can order it right here

So what does my slow cooker have to do with grass roots organizing? I’ve learned that in order for our advocacy to be effective, we need to utilize the same principles as slow cooking. Gather lots of diverse and delicious  real ingredients together along with a touch of  flavorful spices. Slowly cook together over time. As your efforts grow, the “aroma” becomes enticing and delicious which encourages others to get involved.

No matter what you’re doing, its important to include a diverse group of people in your community and take the time to cook something up that is so good that everyone else will want to be part of the project.  Whether you’re looking to clean up school lunch or to create a plan to deal with issues such as climate change and peak oil the project still needs to start locally. You need to find your ingredients, create your tribe. And start cooking.

I’m not talking about the kind of cheap oil that goes into Girl Scout Cookies and other forms of industrialized junk food. Its the oil that comes out of the ground that I’m thinking about! Created tens of thousands of years ago from prehistoric animals, not cottonseeds or soybeans.

After spending the day meeting with Transition Westchester and talking about creating a positive response to crazy scary things  like peak oil, climate change and economic instability, I spent the evening at home watching There Will be Blood.

Oil was first discovered in western Pennsylvania in the mid 1850′s. Once found, oil was pretty easy to get. Dig a hole, watch the stuff fly on out! Oil was easy, cheap and plentiful. For many decades, our country was basically the “Saudi Arabia” of oil. It fueled our economic expansion.  The US reached “peak oil” back in 1970 as was predicted by  Dr. M. King Hubbert a geophysicist back in 1956. After our domestic oil production peaked, we started to import oil from other countries. Now, decades later, it looks like oil production world wide may be at its peak. This peak moment has real economic and every day impact for all of us.

Let me be clear on one thing, we’re not talking about running completely out of oil, that is still many years away. Transition groups like the one now forming in Westchester is considering what life will be like when fossil fuels become significantly more expensive. We’ll be re-thinking what we eat, what we do for fun, how we’ll live. Right now, our food, our livelihoods and our fun are directly a result of cheap oil. How will that change when gas hits $50 or $100 a gallon? It could happen as we deplete the world’s remaining oil. At $100 a gallon, there is no question that 99% of us would have to make some serious changes. Food from far away would become super-expensive. Local food will be more than just a “foodie” trend, it will become a necessary way of life.

“Dig the well before you are thirsty” Chinese Proverb

The time is now to re-think what we eat and how we live in the face of more expensive energy sources. There is no better time than right now to get involved in a community garden or to transform your lawn into an edible garden. Check out this great site on how to become a hyperlocavore and get your hands dirty!

Veggie Lasagna, all set for the freezer

My family loves this lasagna, its easy to make and delicious to eat. There is no need to cook the noodles beforehand! Moisture from spinach and other ingredients does it for you.

This is a great recipe to prepare ahead and freeze. When you’ve got one of those crazy busy days, pop it into the oven and dinner is on it’s way.

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) package lasagna noodles
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. mushrooms, sliced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 zucchini, finely chopped

i jar tomato sauce

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, organic if possible
1 (16 ounce) container organic ricotta cheese
¾  cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chopped onions, mushrooms, garlic, and zucchini in the oil until soft.
• Meanwhile, mix frozen spinach with cottage cheese
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Spread 1   cup sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.
• Layer 1/3 of the noodles, the zucchini onion mixture, 1/3 of remaining sauce, and 1/3 cheese/ spinach mixture.
• Repeat layers with remaining ingredients.
• Sprinkle top with shredded mozzarella
  Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.