Late to the Party

I finally got around to reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto; and I have to say that this book is seriously one of the best books I've read in an incredibly long time. I always try to read with some skepticism; but if it's possible, I agree with every word written in this book.

Anyone who knows the book knows the short version of the Eater's Manifesto which is:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.

The book outlines the theory that since people have studied nutrition and tried to extract the specific components in food that are conducive to our health and survival- we have actually become less healthy with more of what he describes as the Western Diseases: Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Cancer among others. Over time, we've tried to find the 'magic bullet' of nutrition; protein,oat bran, antioxidants, pomegranates, flaxseed, or some single food (or supplement) that will take care of all our ills. As we ping-pong around following a current health fad, avoiding fat, or carbs, or meat, or dairy - we allow ourselves to push the common sense of eating in moderation foods that were raised healthfully and ethically away.

By studying what's 'healthy' in foods lets us create food products that do a much better job of supporting the economy with mass commercial farming, trucking, and commerce in selling the foods in a way that is shelf stable so that people can buy more food without the worry that the food will go bad. It's funny that in even my refrigerator, it's only the vegetables that hang around long enough to go bad, when the processed snacks (that could probably last for 100 years) are eaten within a few days of being purchased. By being so cheap and easy to consume, we don't appreciate the food we're eating - so people are more likely to 'feed' instead of 'dine' on our food. I would wager that most of the money put into the study of nutrition was put there by food corporations looking for ways to add another health claim to their package.

After talking about the problems caused by Nutritionism and the Western Diet, Pollan offers a solution in following the Manifesto: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. He gives us a blueprint to follow in making more positive choices that could benefit our lives.

I'm putting this down, not so much for any reader who happens by, but to remember more of what I've read and put it into practice for myself.

EAT FOOD

• Don't eat anything your Great Grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. He uses the example of GoGurt (a far cry from yogurt that includes only milk and bacterial culture) .
• Avoid food products containing ingredients that are: A) Unfamiliar; B) Unpronounceable; C) More than 5 in number, or That include; D) High-Fructose Corn Syrup. This answers the question that, yeah, Great-Grandma may recognize bread, but not the stuff on the shelves with added softeners and sweeteners because it's imperative that bread be eaten with no texture or inherent flavor. Also, to make lowfat milk more creamy they add powdered milk which contains oxidized cholesterol (which may be worse than regular cholesterol). Removing the fat also makes it harder for you to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins that made milk healthy to drink in the first place.
• Avoid food products that make health claims. Do we really need to talk about the sugar cereals that now trumpet the existence of whole grains along with the tablespoons of sugar in each serving? Also, think about what the package isn't saying.
• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle. That's where real food lives.
  
• Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.Farmers' Markets, CSAs, independent meat/dairy producers. Find sources that rely less on chemicals, grain, and hormones. Shorten the food chain.

MOSTLY PLANTS

• Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. We need the omega-3s,vitamins, and antioxidants from plants because our bodies don't produce these. Sticking to a diet that relies mostly on plants helps protect us from Western Diseases, and uses less energy and resources than needed in the production of meat.
  
• You are what *what you eat* eats too. Eat meat, dairy, and eggs from pastured animals.
• If you have the space, buy a freezer. Get healthy foods in quantity when they're at their peak, freezing has less of an impact on the nutritional impact of the food than canning does.
• Eat like an omnivore. More species of everything, more covered nutritionally.
• Eat well-grown food from healthy soils. Lots of farmers grow/raise food without the use of chemicals, hormones so the label 'certified organic' doesn't necessarily guarantee that the food is the healthiest option. Know who grows your food.
• Eat wild foods when you can. Wild greens have super-high levels of phytochemicals, higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Wild animals eat a diverse diet, wild fish have higher levels of omega-3 because they aren't fed grain. Higher levels of omega-3 can ward off depression. Abundant wildlife: deer, sardines, anchovies, salmon.
• Be the kind of person who takes supplements. Be more health conscious, more educated, and more affluent. Could take a multi, and if you don't eat enough fish, a fish oil supplement.
• Eat more like the French. Or the Italians. Or the Japanese. Or the Indians. Or the Greeks. Eating foods in the way they're eaten in a culture makes up for nutritional deficiencies, dangers that may come from eating a food in other ways. In mexico corn and beans together, corn was ground with limestone. In Asia, they developed the best way to eat soy: in tofu.
• Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism. Be wary of new permutations of soy.
• Don't look for the magic bullet in the traditional diet. Mostly when we study aspects of diet, we aren't able to account for all factors in the success of a diet.
  
• Have a glass of wine with dinner. Men can have two. Drinking alcohol in moderation seems to promote health - or help us enjoy it.

NOT TOO MUCH

• Pay more, eat less. Better foods cost more. If you spend more, you may take more time over it, appreciate it, and consequently eat less of it. Americans eat by visual cue (unlike French who ea 'til they're full). Put a smaller portion on the plate, and we'll learn to be satisfied by that. We'll do less snacking, especially if we have to put effort in preparing what we eat. "In 1960 Americans spent 17.5 % of their income on food and 5.2 % on health care." Now, "spending on food has dropped to 9.9 %, while spending on health care has climbed to 16%." The numbers have flipped. Choose quality over quantity.
• Eat meals. Together as a family, at the table, eating the same food. Turn off the TV and talk to each other. Do you really need to snack, or eat in the car? Are you going to starve otherwise. (Although I have to admit that a small latte before class (the mixture of protein, carbs and caffeine) was the key to getting A's in my Calculus classes.)
• Do all of your eating at a table. No variations.
• Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. Duh. Corn syrup.
  
• Try not to eat alone. You'll enjoy the company, take longer to eat because you're less likely to scarf your food in front of an audience. Use tricks to make you think you're eating more than you are. Look at the book Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.
• Eat Slowly. Eat deliberately ("from freedom") instead of compulsively. Learn about the Slow Food Movement. Think about what happens when we put success at the center of life. Our whole life diminishes, family, friends, leisure all take a hit. So does our health. Appreciate the food you're eating. Make eating a ritual, offer a blessing before eating. From Wendell Berry:

  Eating with the fullest pleasure - pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance - is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend.

• Cook and, if you can, plant a garden. We'll know, learn, and appreciate more about what we're eating.
  

The List

1. Portland, Oregon
2. Madison, Wisconsin
   
3. Burlington, Vermont
4. Ann Arbor, MI

I wanted to put Pittsburgh, PA on the list; I love the city and it has the lowest cost of living of the entire group. I couldn't do it because I just don't see a big focus on health/fitness overall. Otherwise it would be at the top of the list.

On Change

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

- Anatole France

Three Things

Okay, I went to Weight Watchers a couple of weeks ago and the leader for that particular group is some kind of Weight Watchers Rockstar or something. She's a total pistol and I can completely relate to her 'frugal' perspective on everything. Anyway, she had a really good tip that I'm totally up for doing this week.

Here's the tip:

Make a List of Three Things

So, if you're a list maker who (like me) makes a list of things to do, then gets totally demotivated by the looming number of unfinished things on the list, make a list of ONLY three items to complete. My list for today is:

1. Take down all of the Halloween decorations and put them away.
   
2. Clean the three bathrooms.
3. Take Grey to the park (temps in the 30's make me feel less and less like going outside lately).

That's it. I know that I have lots of other things to do, but I will definitely complete these items. The list could be for a week, or a day, or home projects that never seem to get done. I'll be back to mark them off as I go.

*Edited to add - finished everything on the list today. It really helped writing down the bathrooms because with three boys, cleaning toilets is something I try to put off as much as I can.

November already?

So, since I was last here, the whole family (except for husband) managed to get over their bout of H1N1 with variable speed.

Kids had a great Halloween, managed to give away candy to a few hundred kids before running out just before Trick-Or-Treating was over. As we're one of the only subdivisions in an otherwise pretty rural area, people come for miles with vanloads of kids for trick-or treating. I like seeing all of the kids, but it would be nice if maybe some of the teenagers could actually dress up for the occasion.

Husband's car died over the weekend, so I had to take all of the kids for oldest son's checkup this morning - not that any of them minded being late for school - while Hubs bummed a ride into work with a friend. So, with over 220,000 miles, is this it for the old Passat?

Being Grateful

I'm just really tired of looking at the same page. Instead of writing about how I feel, which would be somwhat negative (hello early winter) and not constructive, I'm going to be thankful because I know that lots of things in life are more about how we frame them.

Saying that I'm grateful for all of the really big things makes me worry that I'll jinx myself, so maybe I'll acknowledge mostly the things that aren't so big.

I'm glad that of the 23 houses on my street, 13 haven't gone into foreclosure, and more than half of the couples are still married to each other. I'm glad that a few of my kids' best friends are still able to spend half of their time with the parents that still live in the neighborhood.

Because the kids are LOVING school, I don't mind spending 3-4 hours taking them there and back (I'm serious - it is worth EVERY minute).

All three kids (and hubs) sick in the last week means that I get to mommy them a little bit more. Sometimes it's nice for mom when everyone wants to cuddle.

Husband working 76-80 hrs/week means that business is doing well enough to keep on going in this crazy Michigan economy. Also, I get to spend a bit more time talking to kids, helping with homework, teaching them to cook.

Even though he is the busiest man alive, hubs is really the most caring person I have ever known -his ability to see the positive in everything is the reason why I knew he was the one for me - and his friends are wrong, I am the lucky one.

Hubs might be home this weekend - fingers crossed. I may be able to get that armoire downstairs, and take a walk by myself.

The 50% off coupon at Michaels? Awesome. Making cheap, fake art for bedroom out of canvas and scrapbook paper is a fun distraction. Also learning that my house needs more glitter.

Livestrong Failure

Usually when I screw something up, I feel like I should do something about it, but don't. I don't know how many times I buy a card for someone, then neglect to send it and feel bad about it - but not bad enough to send it late, or let the person know I was thinking about them. Even though it's not Friday, I'm still putting this up:

So, my favorite blogger POD had this great idea to write a post to support Livestrong Day on Friday, October 2. Sounded good to me, count me in. So this particular date coincides with Boy1's 10th birthday, and grandparents called to let me know that they'll be showing up too. Which is great news, but makes things just a bit crazier with cleaning, stocking, decorating, baking, preparing Sunday school class, dog obedience school, garage sale (some thing's got to give), etc.

So, I was running around all day Friday with last-minute preparations for the birthday and grandparents' surprise visit. I left my car keys in the garage when the neighbor's dog ran over earlier in the day, so when it was time to pick up birthday boy, I had no idea where I had put them and could not find them (no, we do not have a spare car key). I was late to pick him up for the first time this year ON HIS BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday E! We then rushed over to pickup Boy2 from school and he came out of his class 20 minutes after school was over - the first time he was late leaving from class this year ever. He wasn't able to find a folder that he needed and his teacher was ignoring him when he tried to talk to her about it. I was trying to beat my parents home, but got a call from them needing our garage code so that they could get into the house. As we pulled into the driveway, one kid thought it was funny that there was a car in our driveway with a Union Jack license plate like Grandma's at the same time another realized what that actually meant. I barely had the car in park as they jumped out and bounded up the stairs to greet their grandparents.

We had Evan's favorite pizza and yellow frosted cupcakes to celebrate the big day. My Dad and I talked about Michael Moore's movies. Anyone not from the rust belt may not understand how real and true all of his movies are, but now even conservative are getting behind Moore with his latest two films, Sicko and Capitalism, A Love Story.

It is pretty funny that people complain about the notion that healthcare would make our nation a socialist country when we embrace our military, police, and firefighters for keeping us safe at taxpayer's expense. I don't want to go without their services any more than I think that the current healthcare system is working even for those with excellent coverage. What happens to your great coverage if your job is downsized, or your care is deemed too expensive? In Moore's Sicko, many of those charged with providing care to us are encouraged, rewarded, and forced to make the decision to deny policy holders with needed health care coverage. A husband with leukemia with a brother who's a match is first told that he's been approved for a bone-marrow transplant, then told that the operation will not be covered and he will die. A doctor charged with making decisions that favor the bottom line over human life was told, to assuage her guilt, that you're not denying medical treatment, you're just denying payment.

In this country, we stay in jobs that make us miserable because we fear the loss of health insurance, especially those of us who've had any medical problems. A boy I went to high school with died at the age of 32, a few months before the birth of his second child. He was in remission from melanoma and having severe stomach pain. At his checkups, they didn't find the reason for this pain, missed the elevated levels on renal function. He had just moved back to Pgh. from CA, and was waiting for the health insurance to kick in from his new job in January because his cobra insurance wouldn't cover tests to confirm what was gnawing at the back of his mind. He was treated like a hypochondriac for months (his doctor gave him Cipro, telling him that it would make him feel better) until just before Christmas of that year when he wound up in the emergency room. They gave him the tests he had been asking for and he found out that the melanoma had returned with a vengeance. Just before treatment was about to begin, he became too ill and the disease took him from his pregnant wife and daughter in January . Maybe an earlier diagnosis wouldn't have saved his life, but he might have met his son or given his loved ones some time to digest what was happening.

Our worth as a person and our right to good medical coverage should not be tied to what job we have. Want to help small businesses flourish? Take the responsibility of health insurance out of small business owner's hands - they can't afford it - so either they don't provide it, or they provide sub-par policies because it's the best they can do, or they don't go into business at all. Without the ability to negotiate for better health care costs, people with pre-existing medical concerns cannot afford healthcare when insurance corporations take it away from them, and people without health insurance have to decide whether they are sick enough to warrant the cost of medical care.

Caring for the health of our citizens shouldn't be consumed by profit, and by making it a cash cow for some attracts precisely the wrong people to those positions. Making profit the goal is the reason that our top scientists aren't paid to cure diseases, but to find ways to 'treat' them with pharmaceuticals. Please let's take our health back into our own hands and return this country into a Democracy where the people decide what is best for our citizens rather than a few executives with a vested interest in keeping us sick.

Even though I was a jackass and missed Livestrong Day, don't let it stop you from visiting Livestrong.org and offering your support. Or Stand Up for Healthcare Reform.

By the way, these are my opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of anyone I've linked to in this post.