You Might Be a 90s Woman If…

I found a blog where the title itself makes my heart all a flutter -  90sWoman.com. And as I conducted research on the re-emergence of my favorite 90s fashion, chunky heels, I was led to the ultimate test:

You Might Be a 90s Woman If...

You think any of the following items of clothing are hot: thigh-highs, plaid shirts, work boots with dresses, cat-eye glasses, chunky heels, baby-doll dresses, overalls, plaid, flannel, bra straps showing, barrettes.

That would be me...

Recipe - Lentils w/ Tomato and Feta

1 cup Trader Joe's Steamed Lentils

1 cup chopped grape tomatoes

1 cup chopped mushrooms (oyster and/or shitake)

1 oz feta cheese

1/2 red onion

4-6 leaves chopped basil

1 tbs coconut oil 

salt & pepper to taste

Chop grape tomatoes and basil. Mix with lentils and crumble in feta cheese. Saute chopped onion and mushrooms in coconut oil. Season with salt and pepper. Fold mixture into lentils. 

Study Sheds Light on the Role of Emotional Stress in Disordered Eating

I have the opposite issue then the one presented in this article. Quite informative nonetheless. 

Study Sheds Light on the Role of Emotional Stress in Disordered Eating

Easy Autumn - Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

8 oz Pacific Natural Foods Organic Chicken Broth

15 oz can of Farmer's Market Organic Sweet Potato Puree

1 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer

1/2 cup tomato juice

1 tbs of juice from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1tsp lemon juice

1 tbs each onion powder, garlic powder, pumpkin pie spice

2-3 tbs each curry and cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

As simple as combining all the ingredients in a pot on medium heat, stirring regularly, until the soup is warm. Enjoy with a nice slice of pumpernickel bread.

#occupysesamestreet - No Words Needed

Actually maybe some words are needed. Do your part and donate to a childhood friend!

How We'd Wear: Flannel

If you're anything like me (and I assume you are), you love flannel but don't know how to wear it without attracting your favorite lesbians as more than just friends. I was totally going to come up with my own outfits and set of rules that would allow you to bundle up in lumberjack essentials while still enticing men into your web of seduction. Alas, Closet Couture has done this for me (well not me specifically): 

How We'd Wear: Flannel
(Example)

When you get a chance, check them out. Meanwhile, for the straight girls, I offer flannel dreamboat of last decade: 

   and for my lesbian friends, I offer flannel dreamboat of this decade: 

How to Make a Zombie (or Why I Love Thiamine)

In 2007, I watched a nature documentary called Zombie Alligators. The documentary chronicles the weird behavior and ultimate deaths of everglade gators in the late 90s. The ferocious beasts would appear unsteady on their feet or in the water. They stopped eating and showed mental confusion. For awhile they would survive in this "zombie" state until ultimately dying. Scientists in Florida were dumbfounded. They did every study they could trying to determine the cause only to come up empty handed.

Eventually the scientists in Florida met up with scientists studying neuropathy and death of salmon in the Great Lakes region. The salmon suffered from a thiamine (B1) deficiency. Making a connection between this deficiency and alligator deaths broke the case of "zombies" wide open. Scientists were able to determine that more algae was being produced in the lake, increasing food sources and therefore populations of a certain fish known to inhibit thiamine absorption when consumed. Beyond inhibiting absorption, the fish population crowded out other thiamine food sources for the alligators. It was an ecological chain of events that caused one of the oldest types of reptiles, surviving from pre-history, to lay down and die.

What does this have to do with us humans?

As we try different fad diets we tend to limit or ban certain foods - no gluten, no carbs, no meat, et cetera. In doing so, we reduce variety in our food choices and increase our risk for deficiency. 

Humans obtain small amounts of thiamine from oatmeal, flax, sunflower seeds, brown rice, wholegrain rye, asparagus, kale, cauliflower, potatoes, oranges, liver, and eggs.  You have to eat a wide-range of foods everyday to get enough thiamine. If you restrict carb consumption, you could place yourself at  risk for deficiency. Further, a strictly raw diet, where you eat a lot of thiamine-inhibiting fish and shellfish, may lead to deficiency as well.

Whole Foods confirms it knowingly sells products containing Monsanto's genetically modified corn: Don't ask, don't tell!

Whole Foods confirms it knowingly sells products containing Monsanto's genetically modified corn: Don't ask, don't tell!

You let me down Whole Foods, you let me down.

Policy Better Than A Soda Ban

In September, the New York City Board of Health approved the well-publicized ban on large sugery drinks like soda. The ban, championed by NYC Mayor Bloomberg, is an attempt to stem the tide of an "obesity epidemic". Many people, most notably New Yorker and funnyman Jon Stewart, have criticized this ban because it both infringes on people's liberties and will probably be ineffective in reducing any one's weight. Just remember, you can still order pizza, hamburgers, and fries within New York city limits.

I think Bloomberg's heart is in the right place. Aside from my personal dislike of calling obesity an epidemic (you know, comparing fat people to diseases like typhoid and cholera) and institutionalizing fat-shaming, I do think health is important and Americans have been neglecting it for decades. In my opinion, it is a major concern that people (thin and fat) suck down sodas all day while consuming oversized servings of processed food with nary a real veggie in sight. It means despite getting our allotment of calories, we are still malnourished. It is that malnourishment that leads to our bodies preforming at less optimal levels. Over the last year, I have done tons of internet (suspicious, I know) research on how micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) or the lack of them effect our bodies. No good comes from a deficiency - we become too tired to maintain physical activity and overeat in a subconscious attempt to fulfill our energy needs.

So, instead of banning large sodas to fix America's muy importante health issues, we should encourage increased consumption of real foods and decreased consumption of processed food.

My platform would look something like this:

1. Nutrition labels on prepared and packaged food would have the daily values for all recognized micronutrients. Consumers could compare products and understand what they are and aren't getting in their purchase. Do you know what molybdenum is? If it showed up on the nutrition label, even at zero percent, would it give you pause? Would you ask what is this and should I eat more of it?   

2. Restaurants and food producers would be offered tax incentives for making foods with only wholefood ingredients. 

3. AND rather than banning large or extra-large drinks - Restaurants, movie theaters, and minimarts, would be required to sell 6-8 oz cups of surgery goodness.  Far too many of these businesses have morphed their small or kiddie size cups into what was a decade-ago medium and larges. You try drinking only half of a "small" soda from Burger King.

Let's legislate to provide people with more options (even if slightly smaller ones), not less.

Klingon Style - Psy Parody

For the Star Trek nerds or people who just enjoy a great parody: 

Lotus Foods - Bringing Rice Back to the Table

For the last decade, we've been told not to eat the evil carb that is rice because it lacks nutrition and makes us fat. Luckily the latest food movement is less about what not to eat and more about filling our bodies with nutrients. Thank you Michael Pollan for re-introducing us to real foods and their importance!

Lotus Foods rice is packed full of good stuff. I personally like to mix a serving of Volcano Rice with a serving of Forbidden Rice. In doing so, I nourish my body with the following DV percentages:

13% Protein
90% Maganese
20% Magnesium
20% Phosophorus
17.5% Molybdenum
8% Iron
8% Zinc
3% Selenium

Add in, Lotus Foods produces fair trade and non-GMO products contributing to increased sustainability and biodiversity, one would be hard pressed to find an argument against serving this rice up at mealtime.

Campfire Songs

Crunch from fallen twigs under heavy boots.
Crisp smells of descending Autumn tickling a cold nose.
His scratch beard nuzzling your neck for warmth.
As coffee percolates, your heart drums out campfire songs
Come here my love, kumbaya.

Samhain - A New Year

I am always comforted by approaching Autumn. There is something mentally re-energizing to know that for the next few months I will cocoon myself in warm clothing, heavy blankets, and ultimately my warmed house. Society will not expect me to be out in the world because the days are cold and darken early. I am granted reprieve from the frenzied social activities of spring and summer with which I can never keep up. 

Obviously my thoughts are influenced enough by new age philosophy to know that beginnings are born from endings, life born from death. January seemed far too late in the season to account for this philosophy. How could I enact life changes, sustainable even after the birth of spring, in just a few months without feeling rushed and out of sorts? 

Prior to last year I was vaguely aware of Samhain, the day after All Hallow's Eve. I was not aware enough to know how pleasantly the holiday buttressed with my inner resolution clock. 

Patty Wigington describes it as follows:

"Sunset on Samhain is the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The old year has passed, the harvest has been gathered, cattle and sheep have been brought in from the fields, and the leaves have fallen from the trees. The earth slowly begins to die around us.  

This is a good time for us to look at wrapping up the old and preparing for the new in our lives. Think about the things you did the last twelve months. Have you left anything unresolved? If so, now is the time to wrap things up. Once you've gotten all that unfinished stuff cleared away, and out of your life, then you can begin looking towards the next year."

So, like my Pagan friends, I retreat and think during Autumn months. I take a long hard look at the past year and celebrate the good of it, while vowing to fix the bad. Last year - shortly after Samhain - my resolution was to overcome binge-eating (the last vestige of my depressing childhood), which I successfully did.

I'm not quite sure what this New Year's resolution will be but I'd love to hear yours whether it's made in November or January.