Easier ways to eat healthier

Many people have talked to me about their desire to change their eating habits for the better -- they want to improve their health, reduce their exposure to unhealthy ingredients and chemicals and support food production methods that are in line with their values.

I think this rising awareness is great, and I like that people are making better choices that respect their bodies and that support what they believe in. But it can be overwhelming to get started or to make these improvements. In light of that, I interviewed a team of food/nutrition/health experts to hear their suggestions on how to eat healthier and, just as important, how to create a strategy or routine that will provide them with the time and energy to cook homemade, healthy meals.

One suggestion, for people who are in the habit of buying whatever is cheapest, is to start thinking about your food budget in a new way. For some food items, like better animal products and organic produce, eating healthier costs more. But if you value your health and the earth (because many food production methods are disastrous for the environment), put your money where your values are. Think about what's most important to you. Can you reduce or altogether cut your cable package? Avoid buying a new cell phone? Realize you don't need another pair of shoes? If TV, cell phones and shoes are more important to your health and the earth, then it makes sense to spend money on those things and skimp on food. But hopefully, we all realize that our health and the health of our planet are at the very top of our values and are worth paying for. One nurse I interviewed said she recommends everyone combine their health care and food budgets because the two are so linked.

Read the full article here. And, here's a brief summary of the first half of the article - goals to work on one at a time to improve your health:

1. Read labels: Every label, every time until you know which products are safe. Avoid items with mystery ingredients, trans fats (partially hydrogenated anything), high-fructose corn syrup, MSG (present in everything from Doritos to soup) and genetically modified foods.

2. Choose produce strategically: Eat as many fruits and veggies as you can! And buy them organic as much as you can. If that seems it'll bust your budget, start by buying the "Dirty Dozen" organic and sticking with conventional for the "Clean 15."

3. Do a meat check: Buy 100 percent grass-fed beef, free-range poultry and eggs raised on pasture, etc.

4. Increase healthy fats: Wild-caught salmon, nuts, flax, avocado.

5. Use whole grains and legumes: Buy these in bulk to save enormously. Cook a big pot of steel cut oats, quinoa, brown rice or beans and use them for many meals through the week.

6. Buy better milk: Choose hormone-free and organic.

If it seems impossible to find foods that fit these suggestions, it's time to find a new grocery store. Co-op grocery stores are great at filtering out most of what's bad for you, and because the food all meets a certain standard, prices can be lower than the one organic option at a typical grocery store. Co-ops are often food, nutrition and health meccas, offering classes, information and services that you don't find at typical grocery stores. If you live in the Mpls/St. Paul area, there are oodles of options. Our co-op is about ten minutes away, and there are actually four good co-ops within about a 15 minute drive.

Wishing you happy eating and good health!

Mason and meditation

I love Mason Jennings and I love what he said about meditation, yoga and the great state of Minnesota in our interview. The Q and A with a photo's also online here:

As Minnesota singer/songwriter Mason Jennings travels the country performing tunes from his latest album, "Blood of Man," he doesn't leave his yoga mat and meditation practice behind. The folksy pop artist finds creativity, peace and gratitude from a consistent practice. In advance of his Minneapolis show Nov. 22 at First Avenue, Jennings talked about his love of the Boundary Waters, the hum of the Earth and learning meditation from a woman who helped teach the Beatles.

Q What kind of routine do you keep with yoga and meditation while touring?

A For the last five years I've done transcendental meditation every day. I wake up in the morning and do 20 minutes of sitting meditation with my mantra, and in the afternoons I try to find a place somewhere private at the club or theater we're at to do another 20 minutes. At least twice a week I try to find a Bikram yoga studio on the road. It's made a huge difference. Meditation was the first thing I got into. I had a lot of panic attacks and anxiety on the road, changing cities every night. I couldn't figure out how to get that under control, but I wanted to do it without medication or drugs. I was introduced to my meditation teacher Nancy DeHerrera -- she was a liaison between the Beatles, Donovan and the Maharishi -- and it was a massive change for me. Suddenly I wasn't having panic attacks, and I felt really centered. I found a great sense of peace and a sense of a higher power.

Q And when you're back in Minnesota?

A That's one of my favorite things when I get home -- I can't wait to get back to my favorite yoga studios and practice more. At home I try to go as much as I can, maybe five days a week.

Q What difference have meditation and yoga practice made in your life?

A Personally I have a lot more faith in a higher power, though I can't explain that, but every time I practice meditation I feel a sense of peace and bliss. When you feel that, it changes your life right way. When I started meditation I didn't have any more anxiety issues, and when I started doing yoga I felt so much better. I haven't been sick this year, I've felt really strong and healthy and good. Professionally, I can sing a lot better now that I'm doing yoga and I have more lung capacity. I also feel more able to take risks and experiment with my work, because I feel like I can handle it physically.

Q You traveled to Patagonia recently to work on music for the upcoming documentary, "180 Degrees South." What was it like to practice meditation there?

A It was amazing. Anytime you can be somewhere away from all the cell phone interference and electronics, you can actually hear the Earth hum.

Q You've said people need to stay inspired by life and keep a sense of wonder. How do you do that?

A For sure, meditation and yoga keep me in that state. As soon as you start to meditate, you start feeling grateful -- it's the first feeling that comes into your heart. Also with yoga it's interesting because you don't ever get "good" at it, it's not a competition -- you're just always trying to get more in tune with your body. Engaging in this beautiful practice keeps a sense of wonder for me. As an artist I try to treat everything as art -- find creativity in everything and have that sense of play and fun.

Q Where in Minnesota do you feel the most contemplative, insightful or creative?

A For me it's the Boundary Waters, going up there and hanging out in the North Woods. That's a magical place, I think. There's nowhere else I've been that's like that in this world. I feel really lucky that we live so close to that area. Anywhere in Minnesota -- I'm forever fascinated with that place. When I go all over the country, every state has a certain vibe. You come to Minnesota, and there's this confluence of energy. I get really inspired when I'm there.

How to find safe cosmetics

I highly recommend reading this article I wrote on how to buy safer, healthier cosmetics. The story will show you easy ways to find better products. In case you think this is something only a neurotic person might be concerned about, I pulled some paragraphs from the story to highlight why you should care. Also, if you're a man and think this doesn't apply to you, remember the issue isn't just about makeup -- it's shampoo, lotion and anything else you put on your skin:

Most likely, your bathroom beauty products are made with not-so-gorgeous ingredients, including lead, mercury, parabens, phthalates and other known human carcinogens. Many of these chemicals mimic human hormones, especially estrogen, and may disrupt your body's natural hormone system, which is responsible for directing cell division, gene expression, growth, reproduction and brain and nervous system development.

"It's really important for people to understand you can absorb chemicals through the skin," said Ann Louise Gittleman, a beauty expert and nutrition specialist. "Remember, the skin is an organ."

Studies show that people are absorbing these chemicals. Parabens have been found in breast tumor tissue, for example. This chemical preservative acts like the hormone estrogen in the body, and increased exposure to estrogen increases the risk of breast cancer.

The Food and Drug Administration recently released results from its study of 22 lipsticks. All contained lead.

The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, studied 20 teenage girls from across the country last year. Their blood and urine samples contained 16 toxic chemicals commonly found in cosmetics and many of which are associated with serious health risks in lab animals, even at low doses.

Laugh for happiness

Have you ever tried fake laughing really hard for long enough that you actually started laughing? I actually have, and it really works. Although my cousins and I had a noble purpose for our fake laughing that involved teasing my fabulous sister, laughing with no purpose at all really works too.

Even if I hadn't truly started laughing from my fake laughter, my mind and body would have benefited. Read this story I wrote about laughter yoga to learn more. Or here's a piece of it for quicker reading:

Even if the laughter is faked the entire time, laughers are still soaking up health benefits. Laughing can infuse oxygen into the blood and organs; lower blood pressure, pulse rate and cortisol levels; improve circulation; lift depression; enhance immune and digestive functioning, and boost endorphins, leading to a more positive mood.

The body doesn't know the difference between real and fake laughter, said Dr. Dale Anderson, a retired surgeon and holistic physician. As founder and owner of ActHappy.com, he uses theater, acting and laughter to help people transform their outlook.

"You don't find the chemistry of happiness -- you make the chemistry of happiness," he said. "Laughter is certainly one of those ways that we can open our inner cellular pharmacy and pull out the inner 'uppers.'" Laughing creates positive physiological changes that can be seen on PET scans and functional MRIs, he said.

Bountiful CSAs

Pictured above is a box of our CSA from earlier this summer. If you're not familiar with CSAs, it stands for community supported agriculture. Basically each season a farmer offers a certain number of "shares" (boxes of produce or other farm goods). Anyone can buy a share and then regularly get fresh produce from that farmer. This was our first year buying into a CSA, and it's something we'll definitely continue. It's the next best thing to growing all your own produce.

Some reasons we like it:
- You typically receive a wider variety of produce than you'd likely seek out in a grocery store, which means you're taking in a greater range of nutrients.
- We're eating tons and tons of produce because we don't want to waste what we already paid for.
- Being introduced to food you wouldn't necessarily grab at a store means you cook new and interesting recipes.
- We bought from an organic farmer, so we know everything we eat is free of any chemicals, and we know we're supporting a farm that is not damaging the environment.
- Our farmer sends a newsletter each week with updates from the farm and recipe ideas, especially for the rarer items so knowing what to do with them is no problem.
- I believe that for the most part, what you spend your money on is a reflection of what you value. We value health, food that's produced in a sustainable way and local family farms.
- The food is fresh as can be and doesn't travel far to get here. It eliminates a middle man, shelf time and excess transportation.
- The farmer can spend less time marketing and dealing with the business side while they're busy in the field because they've already sold their produce.

Now that summer is over, our farmer also has winter and spring shares. So if you're interested in checking into a CSA, you don't have to wait until summer. Some tips:
- Find a CSA that touts the cleanliness of the produce. (Some can have lots of dirt when they arrive).
- Pick a CSA with a pickup option that is convenient for you. (Our pickup location is just a couple miles away, so it's not a hassle to get our box each week). Many CSAs have multiple pickup locations.
- Look for a farmer who includes recipes and meal suggestions for the items.

Resources for finding CSAs:
www.localharvest.org/csa/
www.landstewardshipproject.org/csa.html (for Minnesota and Wisconsin)
www.minnesotagrown.org (for Minnesotans, obviously)
www.rsfarm.com (our CSA, Rock Spring Farm)

Or check with your state's Department of Agriculture or just google your state/city and community supported agriculture.

Why your food choices affect water supply

Voting with your food dollars for sustainable farming operations and those that don't use chemicals is also a vote for clean water. See this article in the New York Times to learn more about the health effects resulting from conventional big agriculture. Some highlights:

Agricultural runoff is the single largest source of water pollution in the nation’s rivers and streams, according to the E.P.A. An estimated 19.5 million Americans fall ill each year from waterborne parasites, viruses or bacteria, including those stemming from human and animal waste, according to a study published last year in the scientific journal Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

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Yet runoff from all but the largest farms is essentially unregulated by many of the federal laws intended to prevent pollution and protect drinking water sources. The Clean Water Act of 1972 largely regulates only chemicals or contaminants that move through pipes or ditches, which means it does not typically apply to waste that is sprayed on a field and seeps into groundwater.

As a result, many of the agricultural pollutants that contaminate drinking water sources are often subject only to state or county regulations. And those laws have failed to protect some residents living nearby.

To address this problem, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has created special rules for the biggest farms, like those with at least 700 cows.

But thousands of large animal feedlots that should be regulated by those rules are effectively ignored because farmers never file paperwork, E.P.A. officials say.

And regulations passed during the administration of President George W. Bush allow many of those farms to self-certify that they will not pollute, and thereby largely escape regulation.

Sleep, sleep, sleep!

I love to sleep! And I love even more when people talk about how good sleep is for me. Here's an article I wrote that talks about this fabulous topic. The sidebar is the most important piece because it discusses what beneficial processes happen when you get enough sleep. Since many people have trouble sleeping or getting enough sleep, there are also tips for getting better rest.

The truth about sleep:
- Almost everyone needs 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours, but some people need more or less. This is what the experts I interviewed this time around said, but when I wrote about sleep a few years ago, different people said 7 1/2 to 9 is the normal range. I believe this range since I need at least 9, and in the early 1900s people got an average of 9 hours. Which leads to the question of whether technology and progress has made our lives easier.
- When you don't get enough sleep, your hormones are affected. You become hungrier, gain weight more easily (especially around the belly), increase your chances for getting diabetes, can't concentrate or remember as well, are more likely to become depressed or anxious and are more likely to get sick.
- You cannot train yourself to need less than you need. Your sleep needs are genetically determined.
- If you think you trained yourself to need less, you actually have just gotten used to how you feel sleep deprived, so it's your new norm. But it's still putting a dent in your health.
- You don't need less sleep as you age. It's just harder to sleep sometimes as people get older.
- Certain light frequencies, including those on TVs, computers, cell phones, can block the effects of melatonin, which is a natural sedative that your body releases to help you get tired and fall asleep easily.

In addition to the tips listed in the article, these relaxation CDs designed specifically to help people sleep better might be helpful for people with troubles sleeping.

Taking responsibility

Read this great op ed piece in the New York Times by food writer Michael Pollan. A few highlights:

No one disputes that the $2.3 trillion we devote to the health care industry is often spent unwisely, but the fact that the United States spends twice as much per person as most European countries on health care can be substantially explained, as a study released last month says, by our being fatter. Even the most efficient health care system that the administration could hope to devise would still confront a rising tide of chronic disease linked to diet.

That’s why our success in bringing health care costs under control ultimately depends on whether Washington can summon the political will to take on and reform a second, even more powerful industry: the food industry.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases.” Not all of these diseases are linked to diet — there’s smoking, for instance — but many, if not most, of them are.

We’re spending $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions more to treat cardiovascular disease and the many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called Western diet. One recent study estimated that 30 percent of the increase in health care spending over the past 20 years could be attributed to the soaring rate of obesity, a condition that now accounts for nearly a tenth of all spending on health care.

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Even under the weaker versions of health care reform now on offer, health insurers would be required to take everyone at the same rates, provide a standard level of coverage and keep people on their rolls regardless of their health. Terms like “pre-existing conditions” and “underwriting” would vanish from the health insurance rulebook — and, when they do, the relationship between the health insurance industry and the food industry will undergo a sea change.

The moment these new rules take effect, health insurance companies will promptly discover they have a powerful interest in reducing rates of obesity and chronic diseases linked to diet. A patient with Type 2 diabetes incurs additional health care costs of more than $6,600 a year; over a lifetime, that can come to more than $400,000. Insurers will quickly figure out that every case of Type 2 diabetes they can prevent adds $400,000 to their bottom line. Suddenly, every can of soda or Happy Meal or chicken nugget on a school lunch menu will look like a threat to future profits.

When health insurers can no longer evade much of the cost of treating the collateral damage of the American diet, the movement to reform the food system — everything from farm policy to food marketing and school lunches — will acquire a powerful and wealthy ally, something it hasn’t really ever had before.

How to forgive

Mary Hayes Grieco has dedicated her life to helping people forgive and spreading forgiveness. God bless her. Most of us realize that it's good to forgive and that we'll be better off if we're forgiving. But how many people know how to actually forgive? For some, it comes naturally. For others, it does not. I fit into the "It Definitely Does Not" category.

So I can use the help of a concrete method, which is what Mary teaches. I attended some of her workshops for this profile I wrote about her and found her tools to be highly effective.

One thing she's quick to note is that forgiveness is NOT about being passive. It's not about letting people mistreat or walk all over you, or continuing in a relationship that's unhealthy or draining. It's also not about failing to respond in a healthy, appropriate way to hurtful actions, words or situations.

Mary advocates for people to have healthy boundaries and healthy expectations. I've been fortunate to have had very few times I've needed to really forgive people. But those times have been extremely difficult for me. I'm slowly learning how to better handle my expectations about how people act and communicate (or fail to!) and what they value. And I'm slowly learning how to adjust my boundaries accordingly. Because the reality is, some people are not life-giving. Some people don't need to be part of our lives or don't need to be part of our lives at the level we expected. But even if we realize we'll never be close with a particular person or in extreme cases that we need to end a relationship altogether, it's still helpful to forgive, for our own sake and the sake of a more peaceful world. Who wants to be a bitter grudge-holder? Failing to forgive sets us down that path.

If you're interested in forgiveness, or just personal growth in general, read about Mary, check out her website, www.maryhayesgrieco.com and maybe order her CDs or books. If you're in the area and can attend a workshop, I highly recommend it.

Also, Mary notes that it's not just people who need forgiving. Sometimes we need to forgive an institution, a church, a society, a belief or an illness.

Here's a brief summary of her eight-step method (this part isn't done with the person you're forgiving, it's a more internal process):

• State your will to make a change in attitude and move on.

• Express your emotions about what happened.

• Release the expectations you are holding in your mind, one at a time.

• Open up to getting your needs met in a different way.

• Sort out your boundaries by giving the other person responsibility for their actions and being willing to take responsibility for yours. Visualize a sphere of light around you, protecting you from the hurtful actions and attitudes.

• Receive healing energy and unconditional love through your spirit. Imagine light pouring into you from above.

• Send unconditional love, as goodwill and light, to the person or situation.

• See the good in the person or situation. Notice the physical change inside yourself and gently integrate it as your new way of being.

The real cost of cheap food

This article from Time magazine has a lot of great information about the hidden costs of buying cheap food. If you've not yet decided whether you can afford to buy organic or choose ethically-raised meat or buy from a sustainable farm, this is a must read. I like to think about it this way: Do you have cable? Do you have a cell phone? Do you have a new gadget or more than enough shoes? Do you spend money every day buying coffee? Then this lifestyle IS affordable, it's just a matter of priorities. Here are a few highlights from the article:


- For all the grumbling you do about your weekly grocery bill, the fact is you've never had it so good, at least in terms of what you pay for every calorie you eat. According to the USDA, Americans spend less than 10% of their incomes on food, down from 18% in 1966.

- The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans.

- But cheap food is not free food, and corn comes with hidden costs. The crop is heavily fertilized — both with chemicals like nitrogen and with subsidies from Washington. Over the past decade, the Federal Government has poured more than $50 billion into the corn industry, keeping prices for the crop — at least until corn ethanol skewed the market — artificially low. That's why McDonald's can sell you a Big Mac, fries and a Coke for around $5 — a bargain, given that the meal contains nearly 1,200 calories, more than half the daily recommended requirement for adults.

- So what's wrong with cheap food and cheap meat — especially in a world in which more than 1 billion people go hungry? A lot. For one thing, not all food is equally inexpensive; fruits and vegetables don't receive the same price supports as grains. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a dollar could buy 1,200 calories of potato chips or 875 calories of soda but just 250 calories of vegetables or 170 calories of fresh fruit. With the backing of the government, farmers are producing more calories — some 500 more per person per day since the 1970s — but too many are unhealthy calories. Given that, it's no surprise we're so fat; it simply costs too much to be thin.

- Our expanding girth is just one consequence of mainstream farming. Another is chemicals. No one doubts the power of chemical fertilizer to pull more crop from a field. American farmers now produce an astounding 153 bu. of corn per acre, up from 118 as recently as 1990. But the quantity of that fertilizer is flat-out scary: more than 10 million tons for corn alone — and nearly 23 million for all crops. When runoff from the fields of the Midwest reaches the Gulf of Mexico, it contributes to what's known as a dead zone, a seasonal, approximately 6,000-sq.-mi. area that has almost no oxygen and therefore almost no sea life.