Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Well it's that time of year again. The weather is getting colder...maybe, the sun is out for shorter periods of time, and people are getting sick. Any loyal reader will know about how important a Vitamin-D3 supplement is by now and so I won't waste this space to rehash that. What I will talk about is a great, easy-to-make soup that is as classic as Cool Hand Luke.

Any good broth based soup will have homemade broth and will NOT use a bouillon cube. Gross. But the question is what is broth and how is it made? You'll typically hear the broth referred to as stock but that's just another name. Stock is water that was heated with a combination of mirpois (2 parts carrots to 2 parts celery to 1 part onion) and the flavoring. I've heard of chicken stock, fish stock, beef stock, pork stock, lamb stock, vegetable stock. Basically anything can be made into stock, though I will focus on the chicken stock for now. For this soup, I bought a whole chicken and added that, the mirpois, salt, and fresh ground pepper to a large pot with lots of water and cooked. It took about an hour or two to fully cook the chicken and get the really good flavor. You can then pull the chicken and debone it for its meat which will be added back into the soup. (BE CAREFUL. THE CHICKEN WILL BE HOT!!!!!!!) About a half an hour before serving, I added two types of noodles, one made from rice flour and one from a corn/quinoa mix. I liked the rice ones better though both were good. If the soup was just for me, I would not have added the noodles but I made for a bunch of people and thus added them. Anyone on a gluten-free diet may use these noodles as they are not made of barley, wheat, or rye, the gluten containing grains.

Always remember to taste and add seasoning until desired. I added some fresh rosemary as well though I don't think the flavor came out. Enjoy!!!

Fractal Broccoli

If any of you just read that and completely knew what I was talking about....then kudos. A fractal is a geometric pattern that is a constant repeat of itself, meaning that the overall picture is simply a pattern that when focused on will resemble the same thing. Note the pattern on the right how each little side pattern is a microcosm of the main pattern.

So what does this have to with food? Well the past week I went to the local market and found some fractal broccoli. It really was a sight to see and took me about a week to eat since I just like looking at it. After searching for similar searches on the Internet, I found that it is an Italian form of broccoli that has a nutty flavor to it. I tried it raw and it tasted like, well, broccoli, though with a much better texture. Broccoli to me seems very fibrous whereas this type was tender, very tender. I sauteed it with some baby bok choi in oil, garlic, salt and pepper. It was delicious. The next questions is where to find it? Honestly, I have no idea. I saw it at the local farmer's market but I also went to this market just about every week and this was the first time I saw it. I know you can order seeds online and try planting it but who knows what conditions it likes and whether or not it will excel? If you find it, enjoy!

Bottled or Tap?: Appendix 1

Just in reference to the blog I posted yesterday, I found this article in today's Philly Inquirer. It is about different plastics and how they can effect male sex organs.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20081027_Male__interrupted.html

Bottled or Tap?

As far as questions go, this one certainly is not age old. As recently as 10 years ago, bottled water was almost unheard. And even though this revolution came about in my lifetime, I'm having trouble remembering when it first happened. It seems like the market just got flooded with the source of life and took it within stride.

But now it's 2008 and there are more things in the diet to worry about then ever before. We have the capabilities of detecting individual atoms and electrons let alone the components of water. So you'd think by now that this question would've been answered. Bottled water has nice packaging and a clean taste while tap water is, well, out of the tap. We've all also heard the horror stories of water containing bacteria in places of poor sanitation. This question really is larger than it seems.

Water has an innate ability to dissolve many substances that occur naturally. Due to it's polarity (meaning the molecule has a positive and a negative side, kinda like how a magnet has a north and south), the water molecule will be attracted to anything else that is polar. This includes any salt (a mixture of a metal and a non-metal) and an abundance of natural molecules. This is good in that water works as a great filter system and can also retain necessary minerals that are ingested upon drinking. Unfortunately, it will also retain all the synthetic materials that we have produced and littered the world with over the past century. Water also has a really high resistance to heat meaning that it can keep the same temperature relatively easily, making it ideal as a temperature regulator. Bacteria and other microorganisms may thrive in these temperature safe environments. All of these attributes make water a source of life as well as death.

So back to the initial question, tap or bottled? To answer this question I'd like to view each on the particulate level. Tap water will have come from a local source and have been treated locally as well. In actuality, the water is being shared by everyone in the community and is recycled by treating it. Many treatment plants will give you a tour if you request one. In this process, the water will be screened for larger and smaller particulates as well as treated with chlorine as an antimicrobial. After a final filtering, the water is ready to go. In the right area this type of water is not ideal but definitely clean. In the wrong area, this type of water is scary. Anything with an off taste (I mean really off) or with color would be wise to steer clear of. Now obviously not everyone has this option but I think there are better options.

Bottled water on the other hand has a source high up in the lakes of some place that frankly you've never visited. A lot of these companies may have natural sources like those but I have not seen them nor would I be shocked if it was not really there. And frankly, even if there were a couple of companies that did have legitimate pure sources of water, they would be so outnumbered by the major beverage company brands that it would be tough to either spot them or rely on them. If you look at a lot of bottled waters, they are linked to a major beverage company that is most likely simply packaging simple filtered tap water and charging you an arm and a leg. So if we assume that the bottled water is simply filtered tap water, does that make it better? Lets not forget the packaging.

The plastic packaging has been around for awhile and clearly has had much use, but we haven't seen any major side effects or cries about it until recently. Recently, you hear a lot of concerns about bottles being BPA free. There are whole lines of carry-along water bottles that are BPA free and becoming a trend. BPA is a chemical used in the making of the plastic bottle which is a polymer. Basic polymers are long strands resembling spaghetti. When making one, you will get you a point where there is a soup of these spaghetti noodles. A cross-link is needed to attached to every spaghetti strand and align them. Depending on what properties the cross-link has, many different types of plastics can be made. Cross-links can be springy (bouncy balls) or rigid (hard plastics). BPA is one of those cross-links and has been known to leech into the water, especially at high temperatures or after being in high temperatures. Recently, I've seen lots of articles about plastic baby bottles having ten times more BPA in their fluids after being run through the dishwasher. The greatest concerns for BPA is that it is an endocrine disruptor. On one of those discover channel shows they visited a creek where fish were changing sex during their lifespan due to high concentrations of BPA.

So this is scary stuff. In the end, I'd have to say tap water rules over bottled water in the right circumstance. Also, it's much better on the wallet. Now when drinking that tap water I would recommend using some sort of filter but I will visit those in a later blog.

Using Alternative Therapies to Help Break Addiction

It's common knowledge on this post that Well Being Journal is a favorite magazine and it wouldn't be fair to not mention that magazine because this blog is simply a summary of an article found in the most recent issue.

Addiction is common in today's society and very easy to fall into. My friend Tootie always said that you really don't know someone until you know their vice. I feel these addictions fall under that category as a vice or something that people rely on to feel "in control" of their lives. I would go as far as to say that everyone has been addicted to something in their lives. As rug rats, we have favorite toys that we cling to and bring everywhere. Around 10, lots of kids have their first full blown addiction to sugar. Now lots of people have given me guff about sugar being a drug but listen to the argument. It's a refined white powder, that gives you a high, and is addictive. How is that not a drug? By the late teens many kids will now have multiple addictions to other substances such as caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, marijuana, or other street drugs. At that, many young adults could have addictions to prescription drugs as well. I knew many kids in college who had prescriptions to adderall or other ADD medications and around finals time they became popular people.

But what causes addiction? The obvious thirst for the attained high has to be the number one cause. That is at least the mental aspect. With enough use there will also be a chemical dependence that the body will develop and crave. It doesn't take much either. As an experiment, you can eat a piece of chocolate one night and note the time. The next night around the same time, or after the same amount of time has elapsed after dinner, note if you crave another piece. The few times that I've ran experiment like this I've noticed cravings. After a point the body becomes so dependent on the substance that withdrawing from the substance causes side effects that can alter mood.

Knowing that stopping addiction is hard (I know people that have quit addictions many times, yet have never stopped), here are some alternative therapies that could work in conjunction with whatever you are currently trying.

1) Supplements: Vitamin-C for it's antioxidant powers of cleaning your tissues. Omega-3s for assistance with fat-soluble toxins. Glutamine to help curb cravings (the article suggests 1 gram, 4-6 times a day on an empty stomach). The amino acids tyrosine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and the vitamin niacinamide to help with depression and sleep. These supplements can be found in the extracts of valerian, scutellaria (skullcap), passiflora (passionflower), and chamomile. They also suggest chromium drops for help with sugar addiction.

2) Perspiration including exercise, steam baths, and saunas. This helps excrete the toxins the body is eliminating.

3) Exercise will help anyway to fill tie normally used to, well, use and also release good endorphins to help counter depression.

4) Acupuncture has been used with good success to help fight addiction and specifically smoking addictions. The article suggests five ear points that have been used with success. The five points are lungs (obvious), kidney and liver (detox), spirit gate (labeled shen men, for anxiety, stress, and sensitivity), and parasympathetic (labeled as autonomic point, for balancing the nervous systems and help with blood circulation). These points can be stimulated by rubbing them and applying pressure, though are best stimulated by seeing a licensed acupuncturist.

5) Social behavior and simple social contact can help with addiction as well. Having strong emotion attached to this social contact can be very helpful as well. Simply look at how much help AA or NA (narcotics anonymous) has helped with people overcoming these addictions. I also correlate this phenomenon to the correlation with emotion and the immune system (see the post Molecules of Emotion for more). A lot of times people will avoid social contact due to being high or feeling like they lose control of the situation once they leave home. Going out can cause people to leave their comfort zone and use different emotions and molecules in the body which will help the body overcome old habits.

In essence, overcoming an addiction is hard and anyone who has done so will agree. Stopping use usually takes way longer than expected but is rewarded with praise from other trying to do the same. As you proceed into your journey I only wish you luck and strength.

Vitamin D and the Sun

If you are a persistent reader of this blog, you would have realized by now that the sun and vitamin D has turned into a hackneyed topic. But there it was, again, featured in a short article in the most recent issue of Well Being Journal. I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping vitamin-D levels high as we transition from the summer into the fall. Think about all the ways in which you are getting LESS vitamin-D during the fall.

1) Playing outside on weekends has turned into going to indoor places, meaning less activity and less sunlight.

2) Meals. You may have eaten lunches or dinners outside while using the grill, but those have turned into indoor meals.

3) Vacation is over and so your week of immense amounts of sun has turned into no sun. Sure, you get a few minutes as you walk from your job to the car and vice versa, but it's not like what you were getting over the summer.

4) Clothing is now long sleeved which means less exposure even on those car trips where your left arm gets tanner than the right.

So what does this all add up to? Essentially the need for vitamin-D is still out there. It's important to supplement to ensure your health stays high. But Immune response was not the only beneficial quality of the sun. The article went onto include other benefits such as calcium absorption, pain relief, blood pressure drop, and endorphin release.

The one thing that struck me the most was that the beginning of the article stated that vitamin-D is made by having the body pool cholesterol near the skin so it can absorb the UV light and turn into vitamin-D. This got me wondering, but before that let's add a little background.

Cholesterol is a basic steroid that the body produces naturally. It contains the typical steroid backbone of four fused rings with three of them being 6-carbon rings and the final being a five-carbon ring. From this basic molecule, the body can change what are called "functional groups" to make it a different molecule. The functional groups are the chemicals attached to the ring structure. Many molecules will take this form including most messenger hormones like testosterone, progesterone, and adrenaline. I guess what I'm saying is that cholesterol is very necessary to our diet and high cholesterol could stem from a great many problems. As we run low on hormones, the body will produce cholesterol in order to make that hormone, so if that hormone keeps getting used, the body will continue to generate cholesterol. Eventually, the body will start to store the cholesterol for use which will lead to high levels of cholesterol.

So we now know that cholesterol is the precursor to vitamin-D. Now here's my question, as we become deficient in vitamin-D around this time of year, do we as humans produce more cholesterol to try to make more? It this another cause of high cholesterol? Looking at it in this light, is high cholesterol a problem in the first place or simply a warning sign of some sort of deficiency of another hormone?

Nonetheless, it safe to say that a prescription for all of us should be some sunshine and fresh air. Go for a walk during your lunch hour. Walk the dog in the morning, and I mean WALK the dog. Go for a walk when you get home. Make it a date and it'll be doubly productive.

So it is best to take a vitamin-D supplement to make sure your body stays healthy and energized.

Does the paleo diet provide weight loss?

When people ask me about the paleo diet this is one of the questions that I get asked most. I'm not here to promise a version of a fad diet because the paleo diet is not that diet. This is a diet for people seeking health and relief from whatever is ailing them. Will some weight melt away? Most likely. I know I definitely saw some weight loss, especially in some areas of my body I never expected. This could have been due to what I was eating but also could have been due what I wasn't eating any more now that I was out of college, which is when I started the paleo diet. In the following two years, my weight has fluctuated depending on the time of year but I'm starting this new school year with a simple rule that I feel can easily be followed.

No seconds, no picking.

I'm one of those people who pick constantly while cooking. Also, due to the fact that I cook in quantity, there's always seconds of which I take frequently. Now should this rule be followed to the letter? Probably not. But keeping it in the back of your mind will help in those times you want seconds but know you shouldn't. School lunch? Seconds are probably not needed. Grass-fed sausage baked in homemade pesto? Yea, I'm taking seconds, but only a little.

So this rule needs to be followed in a way that you stay sane. Unlike other rules that shouldn't be broken like the no trans fat rule, this is one that has some flexibility to it. And I bet you'd be amazed at how much less full/bloated/distended you feel.

To bring it back to the initial question, does the paleo diet provide weight loss? I would say yes but it isn't the ultimate goal. Health is. I'll leave you with a story from high school. A friend asked me what kind of fat I was. I explained that I ate a lot and took seconds frequently. He labeled me as "pig fat" which I've kind of lived by since. This is my way of leaving that behind and moving forward with a weight loss tactic to supplement the health driven paleo diet.

Getting Over the Sorrow

"Everybody hurt.....sometimes." Such a simple quote that resonates in me from my youth. I still remember the music video for this song where everyone is stuck in traffic, doing their own thing to pass the time whether staring into space or arguing with other passengers. Now there was most likely a reason why R.E.M wrote the song, but it's message can be felt with anyone due to the fact that yes, everyone has emotions and some of those emotions are sorrowful. It's actually been proven that humans are not the only animals to feel sorrow and tests have proven that animals such as elephants will mourn the loss of a loved one.

Recently, the Mets got barred from the playoffs for the second straight year with a less than spectacular performance in the final game. This obviously stirs up some sorrow for a team that I've poured my heart and soul into for an entire season, watching over 2/3 of the 162 games of the regular season. Now this isn't the best example of sorrow since there are lots of worse things in the world than a team not getting the desired result, but I'm still using it as an example. So how do you get over the sorrow and move on? There are many different ways and I'm here to outline them.

1) Laugh. Never underestimate the ability of laughter and a smile to perk up your day. The simple act will get the good endorphins flowing and getting you to feel better. My personal tactic is watching a old classic funny movie. On Sunday it was "Dirty Work", one of my personal favorites. But this type of laughter not only helps with sorrow but sickness as well. I had a pitching student who came to a lesson sick as a dog. After 15 minutes she was ready to cry from the pain and congestion. I told her to do what I did and to go watch a funny movie. The next week she said it helped a lot to laugh and she got over the sickness much faster than normal. This tactic is almost like tricking the body into feeling like it's healthy, starting the healing process.

2) Write a letter: And it does not necessarily need to be sent or read by the intended reader. For the Mets this year, I wrote a long winded email that took 2.5 hours to write, venting all my frustrations and allowing myself to focus on the future and what I think the club should do. Lots of people go through this form of venting when they visit a shrink, but writing a letter is way cheaper. It's a way to vent your frustrations and allow your voice to be heard. This process also gets the emotional chemicals in your body to start to flow, firing the much built up molecules. Imagine if you will an long awaited explosion of emotion. A sort of orgasm of the mind. And the fact is that the simple act of writing the letter allows for the chemical release.

3) Music: The type of music listened to can dictate emotion as well. I know personally I have certain bands/songs that I correlate to times in my life that had a particularly strong emotion attached to it. When I went through my emotional climax this summer I completely changed my music to get a different flavor going in my life. Another example was when I was in college. A roommate had been dumped by a girl and he proceeded to listen to the same depressing mix for about a month. It wasn't until he changed his music did he start to come out of his funk and get back in the game.

4) Food: It's important to watch your diet and not lapse back into comfort food once the sadness has set in. The comfort food will leave you feeling run down and even more depressed. Stay healthy, takes lots of Omega-3s (I noted this in a prior post Depression in Sports), and use food as a tool, not a crutch. I also know that when Papa Doc gets upset, he likes to make a large meal. The actual process of cooking can be very relaxing in itself but I've always said that cooking should be accompanied with a drink and music. Get into the mood. Get lost in the food and the environment. Cooking is also nice because it brings joy to the ones you love when they eat your food and praise it. It's the necessary confidence boost.

5) Dress: Your feeling is always reflected by your dress. When you feel dreary, sweats and a hoodie are the typical. When going to a wedding, you may be uncomfortable, but knowing you look good can be rewarding. Personally, when I knew I had a big test in college, I got up extra early, showered (a rare early morning occurrence in college), dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt, and gladly accepted the compliments before going to class. I firmly believe that the compliments boosted my confidence, allowing me to perform better.

So there you have it. Get up and out of the sorrow! Use these tricks to feel better and get back out there. Whatever the source of your sorrow, these tricks can help.

Monkfish

The best fish you've never tried is awesome for three reasons.

1) It's cheap
2) It's tender, often referred to as the "poor man's lobster"
3) It is UGLY

I fell in love with monkfish while working at a little Italian restaurant during my college summers. We used to serve it as a Friday night special. Anyway, there are many ways to cook it with the best most likely being sauteing in butter and pepper, but for those of us looking for a more healthy alternative, here's a nice recipe that is easy.

I take the monkfish and put it in a baking dish. Make sure to coat the bottom with olive oil so the fish doesn't stick to the pan. Next, the fish must be seasoned. Recently, I've been using spices that come from Penzeys, an awesome spice store with a wide variety. For white fish, I like using the Sunny Paris and it goes great with monkfish. After seasoning with that and a little black pepper or the Florida Seasoned Pepper (the best spice they offer at Penzeys), I cut up some lemon wedges and lay them on top. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes on 350 and let it go. After, the lemon comes out either slightly dried if it stayed on top of the fish or juicy if it fell to the pan and soaked up the oil. Either way, you can use the lemon for juice to squeeze or to simply eat whole like I do.

For sides, I tried this last night and for a bad kitchen set up like I have, it was easy and tasted well. Cut a couple small eggplants and grill them on the George Forman grill. You can then do the same for kohlrabi. After they are grilled, you can toss them in some olive oil and pepper for a great side dish. Note that I got the kohlrabi idea from our friend over at My Paleo Kitchen.

When done, it was an awesome meal that was fresh and delicious. I tried taking a picture with my phone which turned out harder than expected. Looks like I'm not the cameraman that Naomi at My Paleo Kitchen is.

I buy my monkfish at wholefoods (wild caught, $10.95 a lb) but wherever is good. Good luck!

note: I was going to add a picture of the monkfish but once again it is UGLY! Though I don't hate on ugly fish, I will refrain from scaring people away from this great fish.

May I have some fish in my OJ please?

Read an article from the NY Times about the trend of infusing many of our favorite traditional foods with vitamins and minerals. This trend has been in effect since the 1940's when vitamin-B was added to flour only to see rates of pellagra decrease. From there, certain other major additions such as iodine in salt and vitamin-D in milk allowed for the extermination of other prominent diseases.

Despite these early positive results, today's additives take on an entirely different form. These are not major vitamins and minerals that simply need to get into the body. A lot of these minerals are dependent on co-factors that are present in the natural sources where the additives are found. In a NY Times article from early 2007 which was a sort of entry to my own nutritional foray, the chemicals contained in a typical thyme plant were listed, at least a handful of the over 1,000 present. How many of those chemicals work in conjunction with others? Also in the article did it state that for a while doctors thought that supplemental beta-carotene had positive side effects in the body and that it was only later did they realize that it actually helped promote cancer.

So who's to say that these don't work the same? At that, who's to say that whatever medium these additives are in don't cause them to alter in some way in the body? Sure you can get some great vitamins from new Coke Plus, but does that vitamin B6 alter into a different chemical in an acidic environment? These are essential questions that we really cannot answer for sure because in vitro research is different than in vivo research. My question is how the FDA allows these products through without thorough research.

In conclusion, I'd like to add a quote from the article. "But whether the nutritional benefits of the original foods survive in additive form is still to be determined." Trust yourself, not them.

Happy Birthday!!!!

Wow. One whole year. It seems like yesterday that this blog was started out of the brains of two young fellas with only health on their minds. So after one year, it pays to look back and see what was learned and in what capacity, the changes that were made, and the stories that keep us going.

I'll never forget it. It was in line at the school BBQ that Karol and I hatched our brain child. We had spoken about health and nutrition previously but this was something completely different. If you look back at those original blogs, you can tell the youth in the writing and the vast amount of knowledge we tried to cover. It was a diet blog that was trying to change the world.

After school got into its pace the blogs slowed down and seemed to be longer. Recipes started showing up as I had time to cook. It was at this time that the grass-fed meat started showing up on my plate. And I'll take it to the grave, but grass-fed meat is simply better. When I bite into a piece of grass-fed meat, it's chewier, tighter, meatier. Grain-fed meat feels fibrous, like it's grainy. Try it yourself, you'll see the difference. It was also around this time that I started buying the Well Being Journal, a magazine dedicated to staying healthy and not masking the symptoms of sickness. After buying a few issues, I ordered a three year subscription.

As the year changed I was turned onto The Secret by Mama Doc. Like always, I dove in head first, focusing all my thoughts onto positive thinking and visualizing the things I wanted in life. After staying in that mind set for a couple months, it was time to reevaluate. I think the secret (it's a book and a movie about the power of attraction and positive thought) can be good but it's not the cure-all. I also believe that negative thinking does have the power to run someone's life and send it down the drain.

With March came softball season which means no time for me. I was teaching everyday, coaching everyday, giving hitting and pitching lessons two nights a week along with Sunday mornings, and also spending my Sunday afternoons tutoring. I was busy to say the least and this was reflected in the website by an absence of posts. I vow not to let that happen again this year as I missed spewing my thoughts to my loyal readers, however few you may be.

The beginning of '08 also brought with it Monavie. Just like The Secret I dove in head first, raving about its energy giving abilities. After a few months of reflection I still think it is a good supplement though definitely not the panacea it claims to be. For someone like me or you who pay very close attention to their diet, it is not necessary, but for someone who eats a typical western diet, it could be very helpful as a source of fruit, which they are presumably not getting a lot of, and antioxidants, though I have since read an article that these juices only contain certain antioxidants and leave some free radicals in the body untouched.

The start of summer brought carefree days and traveling. The motto of the summer was "when in Rome" and boy did I follow it. Kangaroo pizza in Australia? You bet. My Nanny's chocolate cake in Florida? Just like when I was a kid. Fenway Frank at a Red Sox game? I had two. And I still believe that indulging is necessary for sanity and comfort, but it's important to control what you eat when you can to indulge when you want. It's rare that you'll see me eating the nachos in the cafeteria at school but I will eat my friend Dana's down the shore. They're awesome.

As the summer waned, Mama Doc and I spent time making basil and making summer rolls. We also spent time eating crabs and steamers even if the only reason was to dip some fresh bread into the juices. It's these moments that you truly bond with people as food has that power. A family friend has always said that when you go out, it's important to order what you want and not worry about the bill. You're having a good time and that enjoyment is what you are after. If you are going out to simply put food into your stomach you might as well stay home and take something out of the freezer. With a little ingenuity, a simple yet exquisite meal can be whipped up in no time.

As the new school year starts my diet is taking a new turn that I will speak about when I'm done in a couple months. As this past year has seen it share of new challenges the next year will as well. I look forward to sharing my findings as this website moves into its next phase. I've started writing about the total health experience of my life including such things as Feng Shui and Molecules of Emotion. I think it's important to know about all the influences in our lives whether they be positive or negative. As this website morphs like a blob in a 1980's horror flick I hope to hear more of your comments. Please write in with your stories and thoughts as I'm always looking to learn. And that truly is the key to life, never admitting that you're no longer a student. Keep learning and keep making adjustments. Thanks for reading.

Schools Becoming Hazard Zones

Mama Doc recently sent me an article concerning the pollutants in the classroom. This was concerning to me primarily because I'm a teacher and essentially live in my classroom for a good 9 months. Despite the fact that I was concerned, I had no intentions of posting a blog because it really doesn't concern a majority of people. What changed my mind was reading a completely separate article concerning the SAME TOPIC!

What the articles (other one) stated were that classrooms are harboring lots of polluting chemicals in many different forms. The classic pollutant would be asbestos, a multi talented building material used in large quantities before its toxicity was discovered, though it has since been joined by a multitude of other chemicals. The classroom and teaching itself has evolved from the dull and boring "chalk talk" sessions into an interactive wonderland, able to hold the increasingly waning attention spans of our students. To update these classrooms, it required the involvement of these potentially harmful chemicals. Here are the biggest culprits.

- White boards: I had the pleasure of using one of these for a single period of my first year. The colors allow for visual learners to better see the connections and better retain the material. The problem comes when you start adding those volatile chemicals that keep the pens fresh and writing competently (these are the ones that students will sniff jokingly). At that, the easily erased dried leftover can pool on boards and erasers alike. These leftovers can be kicked up into the dust in the air where passage to the lungs becomes increasingly easier.

- Electronics: These will include computers, projectors, and others. Though helping connect classrooms to the vast information of the Internet, the wiring and coatings are polluting the rooms. The insulating materials can get into the air when the cooling fans blow them out at small but dangerous amounts.

- Textiles: All of the carpets, drapes, and other amenities have been coated with fire-retardant/stain-repellent chemicals that do make it easier to clean, yet more harmful.

Though these are the main offenders, it's important to remember that there are many more that are either not known or flying under the radar. All I know is that with this new information coming out, I'm just happy I teach in a chemistry lab where I have a blackboard, a fume hood, and chemicals that I know what they are.

Pesto!

One of the benefits of living at home for the summer is the fresh garden veggies and herbs that Papa Doc grows. One of the biggest crops he has is basil which makes for some amazing pesto. Here's the recipe for making it. Mama Doc and I will boil up some gnocchi made from potato starch and simply mix it with the pesto for a very easy and delicious meal.

Unfortunately I don't have exact portions because cooking is a lot like art. Throw all this stuff together and fix it to taste and consistency! I use a food processor to buzz it all in a few minutes. It's really the easiest way to make pesto.

Basil, washed. Lots of it!

Garlic. We use fresh from the farm garlic for it is more potent and less is needed. Make sure you buzz this before adding other ingredients because it will get lost otherwise and not get chopped.

Pecorino (parmesian cheese). I'll use about a half a slice that you can buy at a store. Due to the saltiness of the cheese, adding extra salt is not needed. Grate first.

Pepper. Enough said. Please fresh grind it. I use an antique coffee grinder to grind my pepper. Works perfectly.

Pine nuts. The secret ingredient.

Olive oil. After you add it all it will have trouble buzzing. As you pour in the olive oil, it will become easier and get to that consistency you want.

If you have a different recipe I'd love to hear it. Good luck and this may be the last chance you get to get fresh ingredients!

Feng Shui for a Healthy Life

Feng Shui has become popular enough in the past decade that it can be considered a commonly known method. After brief forays into Feng Shui during my high school years, with good success, and a crystal hanging from my car mirror (note: the only accident coming when I had a new car and no crystal), I recently decided to bring the far eastern practice back into my life. But before I get into my changes, I'd like to tell you a story of tragedy and triumph.

The Cassell brothers are very successful in their own right being professional athletes. Matt a backup quarterback to arguably the best quarterback ever, Tom Brady, and Jack a relief pitcher for the Houston Astros. These aren't exactly the most glamorous positions in professional sports but it sure beats working at Target.

Last Sunday, Tom Brady went down with a torn ligament in his knee, ending his season and thrusting Matt into the limelight. He led his team to victory and is in line to be the starter the rest of the season. On the SAME DAY Astros' starter Wandy Rodriguez left after the first inning and Jack had to come in for relief. Pitching four good innings, the Astros went on to win and stay in the race for the playoffs.

Now any normal person would call that a coincidence. But I ask you one question, what are the odds? This seems too improbable to be left to a coincidence. In a moment of mathematical clarity I tried to calculate the odds. Now I'm not going to claim to be a great mathematician or even claim that my algorithm is correct. In fact, I'm going to say it's not correct, but is at least in the right direction. By my calculations, the odds of two brothers playing MLB and NFL and each being a backup and coming in for an injured starter on the same day would be around 1 in 7.7 quadrillion (7,700,000,000,000). This is statistically improbable ad begs for another reason, say an outside force or energy driving the world. And here's where Feng Shui comes into play.

Families are connected and it could have been from something the parents did that brought this good chi to the kids. I can't speak for them but I can speak for myself. I live in an awkwardly shaped room and had my energy blocked by a bad bed placement which kind of blocked my entrance door. I rearranged the other day and even made a little nook in my relationship corner consisting of some plants my roommate tried to kill over the summer (he claims otherwise, but look at that brown leaf!) and some geodes I collected as a kid. That night, not one but two friends contacted me when I hadn't spoken to them in months. Coincidence? I still can't say no. What are the odds of that? Probably less but I'm not about to go calculating that.

So what can you learn from Feng Shui? I've learned that everything must be balanced in this world and if you don't balance it, Feng Shui will. For instance there are five elements of Feng Shui (water, wood, fire, metal, and earth) and these elements must be in balance for good chi flow. I read a book in which each element was described and what personality trait would go with it. I came to the conclusion with the help of Mama Doc that I lacked a little fire. The author recommended wearing something soft life suede, silk, or jade until the next birthday to balance the fire, and this is where the story gets interesting.

Over the summer, I had purchased two necklaces, one of jade and one of opal. The clasp of the opal one broke immediately and is currently being fixed, but this forced me to wear the jade one. After two months of wear, I read this Feng Shui book, seeing that it had sought to balance my chi for me. Wow.

So when thinking about your life as a whole, don't simply make it diet. Allow yourself to bring other practices into your life for a whole health experience. Since rearranging my room I feel so much healthier and better and I hope you can find this as well. Please send in questions.

Molecules of Emotion

Dr. Candace Pert was a simple scientist trying to make it in the "Old Boys Club" mentality of the laboratory science world. In this world, getting your name published in a paper means everything. Certain scientists will even string out information into multiple papers simply to be published multiple times! For proof, I was speaking to a friend last night who when asked what he accomplished exclaimed that he'd been published three times.

Though her time in the laboratory science field was an exciting one. In the early seventies, levels of detection were getting smaller, enabling for the discovery of a whole slew of molecules. Among these were neurotransmitters and their respective receptors. These molecules are the communication in your brain. When a transmitter molecule is secreted it goes to another part of the brain, filling the receptor like a lock and key and causing a chain reaction of other chemical changes in the body. Her discoveries later would find receptors all over the body including digestive tract and immune cells, proving a complex communication between the body and mind.

As Dr. Pert continued to make discoveries, her name grew until she became well respected in her field. As life hits highs though it will also hit lows. Through multiple events, Pert eventually made some forays into the cancer and AIDS research fields, coming up with her own ideas that seemed to be years ahead of their time. As her life continued, she eventually hit a point where modern medicine wasn't doing it for her, and that's where the book got interesting.

Molecules of Emotion turned into a book combining the biochemistry background of Dr. Pert with the alternative medicine she learned in her later life (she uses the term complimentary medicine which both Mama Doc and I like better). Even for the scientifically challenged, she does a great job explaining all the terms and even adds easy to understand pictures. There is also a glossary for those who still struggle with some of the language. Using her receptor science background, she explains that there are certain molecules programmed into the body for each emotion and that these emotions were once keys to survival. For instance, wolves and humans use the same facial muscles when enraged. This would stem from the same molecules being used in the body, showing emotion as a key component of evolution. Though the book isn't all science. She uses the story of her life as a way of showing her path to health. It's also very inspirational for any young female scientists trying to make it in a male dominated sector.

Her main point by the end is that the body-mind connection is extremely strong and should not be overlooked. There's a great story early in the book that Descartes made a deal with Pope allowing him to dissect the bodies of dead people on the terms that he keep away from the soul, mind, or emotions. This simple deal set the course of history where for years the mind and body were separate entities. She along with multiple other complimentary heath professionals are fighting the war to bring them back together.

As the summer wanes away for me, I've taken the time to reflect and have come up with the best example of this book in my life. Dr. Pert talks about having emotional blocks that can hinder the best communications in the body. She offers that the best therapy is to release that emotion, whether it be positive or negative, and allow the molecules to flow freely once again. This summer, I visited a friend whom I'd been thinking a lot about. We had a long heart to heart upon which I release a lot of pent-up emotion. Days later I was feeling like I had "moved on" and saw only my future. With my confidence at a new high, I was able to freely go about my life without that constant thought in the back of my head. I guess the moral of the story is that if your life has your tires spinning with no traction, figure out what emotion is keeping you there and release it. How do you do this? Depends on the emotion. If it is sadness, a good cry will help, though at the same time the opposite could be it. Go play with a friend's dog or child. Relax and step back to a time when you had no worries. If it is anger, write a long letter addressed to that person. Whether you send it or not won't matter since you will have fired those neurons, releasing those emotions. Fear? Go ride a roller coaster and scream your head off. She writes a list of the eight basic emotions (sadness, disgust, anger, anticipation, joy, acceptance, fear, and surprise) and correlates them to the primary colors. Two or more can be combined to make other emotions (joy + fear = guilt or sadness + anticipation = longing). Simply reading this book will get you into the emotional mindset, tuning you into these emotions.

Best of luck reading Molecules of Emotion, if you have questions don't hesitate to write in and ask them.

Less Sleep Makes Golfers Worse

Yes, the scientists have made this phenomenal breakthrough! Getting more sleep will help your golf game. Wow. Who would've thought that getting a better nights sleep would help you in a sporting event?

Now that I've got the sarcasm out of my system, lets take a look at this. I found the article in the Tuesday August 26th sports section of the Daily Record and felt it was worth noting. The golfers they looked at were suffering from sleep apnea, or interrupted breathing during sleeping hours, causing the brain to wake up multiple times (even up to 100!). As a full nights sleep has not been attained, the person will be, irritable, impatient, inattentive, and generally slow. Now imagine this on the golf course or even better yet imagine it after a bad shot when the Happy Gilmore putter throw will immediately follow.


While the article focuses on sleep apnea, I'd like to focus on general sleep. People are getting less and less sleep these days and even when they're asleep it isn't that good deep sleep. So why are people getting less and worse sleep? Could it be dietary? Absolutely.

The number one culprit for this must be caffeine (I have a large caffeine post coming up in which I will add more detail). Most people don't know it but it takes multiple hours for even a small amount of caffeine to be excreted from the body. Imagine someone who drinks multiple cups a day! When they're trying to sleep their body is still in an excited state, hindering their ability to sleep. If they can't sleep well they will be tired and drink more coffee, causing for worse sleep. it's a vicious cycle.

I'm sure there are other foods. I know personally, I usually sleep through the night except days I decide to indulge. I wrote about one particular incident (Sleepless Nights 12/3/07) when three beers kept me up all night. Other foods that could disrupt sleep include sugar filled desserts.

So how does sleep work? There are four stages of sleep where stage one is the lightest sleep known as REM sleep. This is where you dream, and why you can incorporate outside sounds to your dreams. Interesting note: the brain will temporarily paralyze the body during this type of sleep to hinder it from enacting vivid dreams. From there, stage four sleep is the deepest and is the restorative sleep. A normal sleep cycle will last about an hour and a half. Caffeine intake will hinder the body's ability to reach this stage four sleep and in turn miss out on this powerfully helpful sleep stage.

In the end, it's better to avoid this maligned foods which lead to this less beneficial sleep. A quick story to finish up. When I was younger and coming home late at night, I couldn't get up to my room a single time without waking the Docs. Coco and Amber, our two labs, didn't help by barking, but even after they passed, the Docs continued to wake when I got home. Compare this to a couple weeks ago when I got in from a night out, got upstairs, got ready for and into bed and did not wake them. The next morning they even asked me at what time I had gotten home! It's also worth noting that we now have two new dogs, Daisy and Pumpkin, who did not wake up either. You could chalk this up to them not being good watch dogs (most likely not true since Corgis are known as have exceptional hearing) or to the fact that their diet is healthier than what we used to feed the labs. Maybe they sleep more soundly as well?

Eating Seasonally

Just picked up some great honeydew at a local farm stand and briefly wanted to state how thrilled I am with the options of local fresh fruit. I wrote awhile ago about how a sustainable garden will produce different foods for local wildlife as the seasons change. Even as the summer continues and the temperature changes, different plants will bloom and whatnot.

So what's the point? I feel a lot of people, especially kids, get caught up in the one or two fruits they like and stick to those all year long. Apples are good, but are best in the fall when they are in season. Why go with an under-ripe piece of fruit when a great batch of berries is sitting across the aisle? The human body was meant to work this way.

Different chemicals from different fruits during different seasons. As we continue to become a society relying monoculture farming and fewer foods, it's important to keep a variety in the diet.

So what can you do? GO GET A FRUIT YOU'VE NEVER LIKED!!!! Try it again! I recently warmed up to honeydew (still don't like cantaloupe) and I'm so happy I gave it another try. The taste buds do develop over time and so you may like that fruit you once detested.

Thai Summer Rolls

During the summer, dinner gets a little more fun. Ask any ordinary person and they would say it's the heat. Ask me, it's the happy atmosphere, especially on vacation. All that vitamin D and stress release makes people open to new ideas instead of looking to drown their sorrows in the stuffed crust of a $5 pizza.

Mama Doc and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and make a delicious dinner with lots of fresh ingredients from all walks of life. This is a great meal when you have time to cook, hence the on vacation remark. It takes time but can be a lot of fun if you include the cooking essentials of music and a drink. The drink of choice that night was a mixed drink of vodka (triple distilled) and a mixture of fresh cranberry juice and pineapple-tangerine.

The essential of the meal is the rice wraps. These can be found at any local Asian market. The ones we had were approximately 8 inches in diameter. From there, the ingredients really are up to you. We decided to add fresh Boston lettuce, leaves separated, rinsed and dried, carrots and red pepper both julienned and fresh garden cilantro to each. We then added a fish to each in the form of shrimp, jumbo lump crab and raw ahi tuna. You can add one fish to each or mix and match to your hearts desire.

To make them, moisten the wraps by dipping them in a bowl of water. Remove and add ingredients, then roll. It's not very complicated. After rolling them all, you simply need to make the dipping sauce!

The spiced chili sauce combines 1/4 cup diced scallions (white part only), 1 finely diced plum tomato, 1 tsp minced jalapeno pepper, 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. You can also add cilantro if you please. Do note that the recipe for both calls for fresh mint as well as cilantro, but Mama Doc and I are both cilantro fans and didn't want that flavor to be masked.

This truly is a wonderful summer meal; though the true beauty is that you can add WHATEVER YOU WANT! Don't like crab? Substitute some fresh yellow tail. Don't like seafood at all? Substitute some julienned zucchini or summer squash. Go ahead and try anything. Be creative! Think outside the wrap!

Dietary Cure For Acne

Written by the same author as The Paleo Diet (Dr. Loren Cordain), The Dietary Cure For Acne is a small spin-off harping on the same basic concepts and diet. The basic difference is that the focus is not on overall health but rather on the causes of acne and how an inflammatory diet will promote this common health problem.

So what causes acne? Well, it basically breaks down to four steps which are all interconnected.

1) Blockage: The skin has a certain system of ejecting old dead cells on the surface; though in order to do this, it must first break down the linkage proteins between each cell. With an improper diet, the enzymes responsible for breaking down these linkages will not function properly and the dead cells will stick together for a longer duration of time. This in turn will keep them on the outer surface of the skin longer, helping to block pores.

2) Oil Secretion Overload: Each hair follicle in each pore contains a gland responsible for the secretion of oil. When hormone levels fluctuate, these glands secrete extra oil to try to balance them out. This is one of the reasons acne is so prevalent in pubescent teenagers. We were all there once. Our hormones are COMPLETELY haywire; thus, leading to over secretion of oil. After puberty, it is an inflammatory diet that can lead to these skewed hormone levels.

3) Infection: Once sealed, the pore produces the extra oil and is now prime real estate for a certain strain of bacteria to set up shop. It is this reason that antibiotics have been successful in fighting acne, but what are those same antibiotics doing to your gut flora? Once the bacteria take over, the immune system goes to work by causing...

4) Inflammation: Those lovely red sores on your face with bubbling white heads. Did you know that white pus is actually dead white blood cells fighting that bacteria?

So that's how acne is caused. But what does the author talk about for the rest of the book? There are essentially three other sections. The first is an explanation to how some foods cause certain enzymes to malfunction or other problems leading to the prior four steps. The second is a list of food to avoid and a list to eat. If you follow the paleo diet, you know what foods to eat and which to avoid. The third is a set of letters from reader who have had great success with the story.

If you have questions please write in or pick up the book! It's very short (96 pages) and can be read very quickly. There is even a video on youtube by a kid who followed the book and had great results (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S08VGSbvgR8&feature=related). Best of luck!

Vacation and Stomachs

Just a quick note while enjoying the last bits of my crab dinner and beach vacation.

I recently spent the week with some friends at a popular Atlantic Ocean beach town and observing was one of the joys. Every single member of our group (except two of us)had some sort of stomach pains that had them running for the toilet at a moments notice. My guess is that the combination of a) partying b) eating more and c) some poor food choices led to the urgent scampering.

Which leaves the two of us. Tim's reason for feeling alright was a combination of being used to the partying and making some wiser food choices. He's also someone who has picked my brain frequently for advice on food, but that's a whole different story. (See: A Paleo Diet Success Story from 3/4/08) As for myself, the food going into my body was definitely better. I avoided any bread and fast food, but lot of our meals were shared between all of us so these were the two major components I missed. Bread is huge including rolls for sausage and peppers, pasta, and pancakes. I also took immense amounts of enzymes and even noticed a great difference when the carb/sugar enzyme ran out (vacation = more sugary drinks vs. the normal vodka and club with lime).

So what's the moral? This stuff works. This was a great experiment to watch and clearly proved the worth of better food and enzymes despite higher cost. It's your health, your life, and your decision.

Depression in Professional Sports

Yeah, it's possible.

Recently, Shawn Andrews, a guard on the Philadelphia Eagles, who had been missing from training camp, finally reported and claimed he was suffering from depression. The obvious question is, how does that happen? Most of the country would claim he makes millions of dollars which should lead to happiness, yes?

To quote my grandfather (we'll call him Pop-pop): "Money does not buy you happiness, only freedom." How true. Here is a man who has been through a lot in Andrews. His depression could stem from many areas including a friend who died in the past couple years, though it was that overweight friend that fueled Andrews to eat better and get his weight under control. He has since become a top player at his position.

If you read one of the many articles (check any Philly area paper), you'll read that he is on medication and will soon see a mental health expert. But are their other ways?

Free safety Brian Dawkins claimed he fought through depression in 1996 but eventually weaned off the meds through "prayer" and a strong supporting cast. (article) I'm sure this method is worthy. I've been through tough times and one in particular back in my senior year of high school. Three independently tough things came down on me at once including the death of my Pop-pop and what helped me the most was going back to school and playing on a sports team. The camaraderie was beneficial to getting my mind off of the sadness and into a more positive mode. Dawkins method is viable, but there has to be something physiological.

When Papa Doc saw the article, his immediate response was to give Andrews more fish-oils. There is one study where a study group in a prison was given omega-3 oils vs. a standard diet for another group. The omega-3 group behaved so well and were generally so much happier that the study was stopped midway with results proven.

Fish-oils can be found all over the place right now. I even hear ads for them over the radio, but what are they and how do they work?

Omega-3s are fatty acids that are made by cold water plants. As the plants get eaten by the fish, the fish inherit the fatty acid and start to stock it. Eating these fish provides us with a good portion of the necessary fat. The typical ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids in the body is 1:2. With the huge influx of Omega-6s to the Western diet through corn, other grains, and farmed fish, that ratio has grown to around 1:20. Mama Doc even read recently that if provided with a choice between a hamburger and farm-raised tilapia, you would be better off with the hamburger due to the large amount of pro-inflammatory Omega-6s in the fish. Wow.

So what happens in the body? Omega-3s are natural brain food, helping form synapses between brain cells, increasing mental speed, focus, and capacity. The best example of this can be seen through the Vikings who resided in the cold-water areas of Scandinavia. With all the fish they ate, they were able to figure out seafaring before the rest of Europe, helping them become the first civilization to sail the open waters and land in North America. As time went on, they lack of resources in their landing cites (Greenland, Northern Canada) hindered them from proliferating but that's a whole different discussion.

So Omega-3s are wonderful for the body, mind, and through the transitive property the spirit. Hopefully Shawn Andrews reads this website and will give Omega-3s a shot. For my spirit, it would help to back a winning football team this year. Go Birds.

Paleodieter's Handbook: The Camping Trip

Of the many vacation types, camping may be one of the trips with the most hassle to maintain a paleolithic diet. Notice I don't say toughest because I think it can be easy to maintain a healthy lifestyle, but the onus must be on you. Once you get to the campsites, your options will be crap, crap, and more crap so proper preparation is essential.

I will set the scene of a typical camp trip to give an example of how a typical day might go. If you go to a state camp grounds, you'll be in a small campsite with the possibility of electric. For the purposes of this blog though we will assume no electricity. The main source of refrigeration will be a cooler or two with the main cooking source an open flame in a fire pit (would you have it any other way?) Each day will provide a bunch of hours hanging out with a few hours set aside for hiking, fishing, biking, and various other outdoor activities.

Each day will start the same. Another member of the group will inevitably wake up way earlier than you and rush you to do some outdoor activity. I'm all for this, but sleep is sleep and I like it. Fishing on the other hand must be done early so this is a necessary time to be up when camping. These days, a fruit and nut bar is perfect for a quick meal before hiking. Breakfast can be eaten upon return when there is time to hang out. I also found that drinking a fruit smoothie or V-8 juice was filling yet energizing in the morning. Proper fruit smoothie mixes can be found. Simply remember to read labels and don't hesitate to put something down if an ingredient makes you uncomfortable.

One of the friends I went on this trip with is a habitual coffee drinker. One cup in the morning and that's it. He told me after 4 days without coffee that he noticed he got hungrier earlier than normal, especially when hiking. Could a caffeine habit needing to be kicked be helped by a small breakfast to replace the false energy generated by the coffee?

Now that the morning excursion is over, it's time for breakfast. Assuming you only have a cooler and are refreshing the ice daily, this and other big meals can consist of any style of meats that you may have bought at farm markets or Wholefoods. You can find great cuts of bacon that contain no preservatives at these places that always taste wonderful. Good omega-3 eggs also come out well over an open flame. Do be careful when cooking over an open flame as they are less stable and tougher to control than say charcoal. The building of the fire can be a great lesson to a youngster and also lots of fun. Remember, the most important part to any fire is air flow.

Other large meals can be sufficed by burgers, sausages, ribs, or basically any other style of meat. Make sure you purchase it at the right place and know the background whether grass or grain-fed. Butcher shops will always tell you the food source of their meat though when need be , veal is mostly grass-fed.

The tricky part comes with the snacks. Camping with kids will make it difficult since they will eat all the time and not simply at meal time. Fruit will be good but tough to keep around with the cooler getting very wet from melted ice. It may be easier to travel with citrus type fruits which of course are out of season during the summer months in the north part of America. It's probably best to ask a worker where a good local farm market is. If not available, I only wish you the best of luck. Fruit can be had with some creativity but if camping for a week it may be difficult to take. Dried fruit can be a good backup plan but is less healthy than fresh fruit.

Nuts are always good snack items and have a variety. Cashews, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and many other are all good items, but peanuts ARE NOT! Peanut butter is not a good choice either. There is a posting from October 2007 (Health Nuts?!) that explains why peanuts are bad. Other nuts butters can be brought and possibly put on celery or apples for an easy snack. Other rice based crackers seem to be necessary in this situation. With many snacks needed, especially for families, rice cakes and rice crackers will provide what saltines and animal crackers used to. Some Terra chips can also be a better choice than some of their greasy counterparts.

As for desert, there really is no replacement for a good fire-roasted marshmallow. Especially when done right with brown on the outside and the inside all gooey. Yum. The key is to have a couple and not an entire bag. If smores are desired, you can find good dark chocolate. As for the cracker, you may have you be a little creative in choosing a substitute that is healthy and desirable for yourself.

Too recap, it's best to take care of shopping yourself. Lara bars and other similar products make a good pre-morning hike boost before a proper breakfast can be had. Good meats can be cooked for good meals with a variety of fruits and rice crackers for snacks. Fruits may be tough to keep and should be packaged right. Dried fruit can be a good alternative and get paired well with nuts. Dessert should be a time to indulge but don't go wild. Remember, a healthy body is a happy body!

Kids Foods Deemed Unhealthy....No Way?!

Can you sense the sarcasm?

Ask anyone to remember their child years and most will have a song or slogan or cartoon character they can relate to a food item. These advertisements are plastered all over kids TV networks, ads, and packages to simply attract the kids. Add in a toy and they are like wet sauerkraut in the major company's hands.

A recent article on philly.com (link here) spoke of an analysis of 367 kids products of which 90% were deemed unhealthy. Shocking right? Well, the bigger news is that this study excluded candy and soft drinks. So the 90% was for the everyday foods that parents willingly buy their kids and pack in their lunches.

These sugar, fat, and salt rich foods are destroying America's youth and causing a multitude of the problems that are seen today. I'm sure the study didn't even touch on artificial colors or flavors.

Even more disturbing is that 62% of these foods had some sort of nutritional claim. The article gives examples such as "made with real fruit juice" or "no artificial flavors". In my experience, the more a food has to claim its nutritional benefit, the worse it is. Imagine that person who tries to convince you they are smart by all the knowledge they know. That person either isn't smart, or is an a-hole.


So how can you teach your child to eat healthier? The simplest way is to set the proper example. Your child will eat what you eat. You can find some great cracker alternatives at whole foods. Our favorites are the Nut-Thins made by Blue Diamond. They come in almond, hazelnut, and pecan. I've attached a picture to help you find them.

You can also give your child fruits and veggies to bring to school. Baby carrots pack easily and taste good. If they won't eat them, give some cashew butter to dip them in. Spread some almond butter on some celery sticks. There are ways to get veggies into the diet. Pack some grapes or other fruits that taste good and travel well.

The key still is to set the example. Make time for food. If you snack on unhealthy foods, your child will too. Show that food isn't simply a necessity, but rather a way of living. Be creative and eat healthy. Your body and future teen will thank you.

A Vampire's Worst Nightmane

Anyone who has watched, read, or played anything dealing with vampires will tell you that garlic is a major repellent. So what does this have to do with my life and the paleo diet? Despite being a major part of any paleo dieter's diet, garlic is a highlight from my latest trip of this glorious summer.

I had the pleasure of visiting some family this weekend in northern Connecticut. The town they live in is a modern marvel of sorts in that that do not allow neon signs and overall are very quaint and quiet. It's always fun going up there for the simplicity.

Anyway, this particular trip was beneficial for multiple reasons, the most being the time I got to spend with my 5 year old cousin. With some deep thoughts on my mind, it was refreshing to act like a child again, running around the yard and allowing myself to tackled by him, playing hide and go seek, and being pelted by about 25 watermelon seeds as I taught him how to revel in this fantastic past time. When talking about stress-release as a form of health care, I highly recommend this.

Back to dieting, my cousin happens to have some great paleo diet resources around her area. In order of proximity, her next door neighbor and cousin on our non-related side has honeybees and has some of the best honey I've ever tasted. It's so fresh and can be used in a multitude of ways. We actually made a bean salad consisting of fresh green beans mixed with oil, white balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and a drizzle of honey. It was fresh and delicious but did need to marinate a little to fully bring all the flavors together. These neighbors also grow lots of fresh fruits and veggies which I was lucky enough to be the beneficiary of. They brought over blueberries and broccoli, which I barely got a bite of the broccoli before the 5 year old gobbled it all up (how many 5 year old kids do you know eat broccoli straight?) The blueberries we some of the best I've every had. This was obvious when compared to:

The blueberries from a local farm. while good, couldn't hold a candle to the homegrown ones. This once again proves that homegrown fruits and veggies are far and beyond tastier and healthier. Now luckily she has this farm close by to provide all the veggies and fruits she needs. The produce was very good and I recommend finding a local farm stand or farmer's market for produce shopping over the summer. You can even buy extra produce and can them for the tough winter months. This can save money as well when produce prices go up during the winter. I'll try to put out a post about canning soon.

The top of the mountain still belongs to the local garlic farm. This stuff is absolutely outstanding. Harvested very recently, the purchased goods still aren't ready to eat as they need more time to cure. After hanging in a cool, dry area for a couple more weeks, the fresh garlic is so good that the Docs and I will even chop it fresh into a salad. The funny thing was when we bought all this garlic the girl working the stand exclaimed "you guys must be healthy!" Garlic truly is one of the healthiest substances int he western diet and should be eaten more ofter. Fresh when you can though powdered still has its merits.

Try searching for local farms or garlic specific farms online to see if any are close. If not, garlic should become a staple of your paleolithic diet. There are so many recipes for garlic or recipes that contain garlic that it's not even funny. The simplest is to saute some fresh greens in oil and garlic, chopped or sliced. You can also cut the top off a head of garlic and drizzle some oil on top to roast in the oven.


Later in the season, this farm will produce it's 10-[lb bags of garlic which the Docs and I will eat all winter. With lots of extra heads, Papa Doc stuck some cloves (a head is consisted of cloves) into the garden which sprouted with ease. When the garlic sprouts it shoots up what is called a scape.
These scapes can be harvested and cooked. I enjoyed the second harvest which due to the harsher summer weather the Docs said weren't as tender. They can be sauteed in the manner described earlier.

So garlic can provide nutrition in a variety of ways. Enjoy this wonderful bulb as it not only taste exhilarating, but also cleanses the body of toxins. There's also the whole vampire thing as well....

Sanity Tip: Moderation

Being a teacher, the summer is...well...the best time of year. With it comes three months of freedom from the burdens of work. That's the good part. The bad part is that this freedom will frequently cause you to stray from other strict regimens that are typically followed. For me, my diet is everything, but when traveling I enjoy immersing myself in the customs of the locals. You know the saying. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. The summer is especially nice for me since I get to go to the Docs house near Philadelphia. With this stay comes hanging out with friends and enjoying all my old favorites. For example:

Cheese steaks: Chopped up steak with onions, peppers, and cheese whiz all on an Amoroso roll. Reason number one to not get a cheese steak outside of Philly is the roll. The roll is everything.

Tomato Pie: A large square pizza with only sauce and a small amount of sprinkled Parmesan cheese. This stuff is amazing. Yet there is only one place to get tomato pie around here called Corpolese. Have you ever seen that episode of The Office where Michael orders pizza from the wrong place? If you get tomato pie from the wrong place, it is not even worth entertaining.




Pizza: Philly isn't known for its pizza but this one local place called Franzones is simply my favorite. So many good memories. Worth ordering once a summer. Their sauce is so sweet. MMMMM.

Now that I'm drooling at the mouth, it's worth noting that I will/have eaten these things this summer. The important part is that I'm not eating these every day. I had them once. ONCE. After that it's back to business. The important word to keep in mind is:

MODERATION!!!!!!!!

Get it out of the system and move on. Mama Doc always said "I'm not going to waste calories on stuff I don't like." Now she said this in reference to preferring chocolate ice cream over vanilla, but she's right. In a dire health situation, it's important to not cheat. If you are following the paleo diet simply to feel better, it's ok to stray once in a while. If and when you do though, make it worth wild. Eat a piece of tomato pie. Heck, eat two. Get a cheese steak. Recently, I was visiting friends in the Boston area and I got fried clams in Ipswich which has some of the best fried clams in America. Did I feel guilty, no, because guilt builds stress. Pick the foods you REALLY like and have them. Cheating will ease the taste buds and the following day of grogginess will remind you why you are on the paleo diet in the first place.

Remember, moderation. Control your diet when you can to cheat when you really want to. I would appreciate any stories people have with their cheat foods. You know mine now lets hear yours.