You’ve heard me talk about Clean Eating on this blog, but if you’re looking for a different angle on healthy eating check out my friend Hilary’s new blog The Healthy Flamingo. She offers an honest, fresh and fun angle on her journey with the Paleo Diet (including recipes). Not sure what Paleo is? Don’t worry, she’ll fill in the gaps.
Stop by, say “Hi!” and enjoy!
Kate
March 8, 2013
Thinking Paleo?
February 15, 2013
beloved
Five Minute Friday. Writing to write not worrying if it’s right.
Go:
beloved are our families, our friends, our pets. hopefully our things aren’t as beloved as them.
i hold in my heart the love of so many, to love, to be loved, beloved.
so important, it is, to let them know. to share the feelings, let them out and let them go.
so often i’m busy, so much can distract me, that out of the corner of my eye i nearly miss the affection. my child looking up, the gaze from my spouse, my mother’s warm voice, my father’s heart in his eyes. my four-legged babies with their eyes all adoring, tails wagging, awaiting the love they deserve. the soft rub and meow. even the girls with their clucks. life is so precious and love is so much.
but sometimes i forget to say what i feel. the reality is that often i go about my day, rushing here, running there, always failing to say. my have tos and my need tos seem to get in the way of letting my beloved feel what i feel.
today my heart is full, i feel like the grinch with his make-over. my heart is nearly bursting, like water balloons in the summer.
beloved are my friends with whom i’ve lost touch and i yearn for the day, that we bond again, just us.
for my beloved are many and i feel oh, so blessed. so fortunate, so lucky to touch and be touched.
to all of my friends and my family and critters, if you’re reading this now take a moment to feel, whether you are near or you’re far, whether we’ve just spoken or not. i think of you often, probably more than you think. just in case you wonder or ponder or doubt, i’ll forever hold you near and dear to my heart. for if you’re my in my circle, if i call you a friend, i love you, my beloved, forever.
the end
kate
Five Minute Friday
February 13, 2013
Don’t Get Mad, Get Eatin’!
If you know me, you know that I’m very passionate about one thing… food. Good food. Great food. Great tasting food. Great tasting, healthy food. Great tasting, healthy food that I can grow!
And… if you know me, you probably know I’m pretty pissed at the world about the “food” that is in our grocery stores. I’m mad that the stores are jammed to the gills with processed crap that feeds the majority of the world. I’m mad that the “good stuff” is on the perimeter of the store and that the “good stuff” really isn’t all that good because it’s picked too early and selected not for its taste but for its ability to last on the store shelves for as long as possible. I’m mad that we’ve become dependent on convenience to feed our bodies rather than really good food to nourish them and keep them healthy. I’m mad that when I want to “go out” to eat there are only a handful of restaurants that serve “real” food. I’m mad that most people don’t realize exactly how bad the food is. I’m mad that most families are choosing cost over nutrition to feed their families. I’m mad that people have to choose cost over nutrition. I’m mad that the food in our stores is killing us, causing Obesity, Heart Disease, Cancer and Diabetes. I’m mad that people aren’t mad about that! I’m mad that it’s often uncomfortable for me to talk to people about food because they get defensive and think that I’m “one of those people” or that I’m cramping their style or somehow judging them when instead I’m just mad that we are even in this position to begin with.
I’ll tell you what though, being mad doesn’t do any good. But being the change does. So I decided that I’m not going to be mad any more. I’m going to do something about it. What am I going to do? I’m gonna eat. That’s right, eat.
I’m going to eat and I’m going to grow. Okay, realistically I’m done growing in the physical sense, but I am going to grow food. I already have a garden, but I’m adding on this year. I’m making another section of lawn go away and I’m going to grow as much food as I can, right out in front of my house. And then I’m going to have as many people as possible eat my food. I want them to eat it and taste how great it is and love it. And then, hopefully, they’ll want to grow great food too and share that food with everyone they know. And before you know it, we’ll all be eating food not because it’s “cheap” or because it’s quick or because it’s convenient, but because we want to eat something that tastes wonderful and that nourishes us.
And I want to share recipes for that perfect tomato we grew in our garden. And I want to learn to can my own food not from You Tube, but from my friends and neighbors. And I want to trade some of my eggs for a great loaf of bread or a jar of homemade jam. And swap my tomatoes for greens or strawberries.
I want food to be food. I want it to nourish us, all of us. I want us to be healthy as a neighborhood, as a community, as a country, as the world. Yes, that’s right, I plan on saving the world by eating… one delicious bite at a time. Starting now.
Kate
February 2, 2013
Connectedness
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
When you take a breath what do you think about?
Do it again. This time, think about your breath and the air you breathe.
Where does it come from?
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Did you think about the plants and the trees?
I know. Many of us don’t want to stop and think about that. We feel weird. Or think others will think we’re weird.
But the plants and trees give us the gift of oxygen every second of our life.
And we, in return, give them carbon dioxide.
We have a relationship with the plants and the trees around us.
But it’s easy for us to forget.
It’s easy for us to forget that we have a relationship with the plants and trees on this planet.
But there’s more to it than that.
We have a relationship with every living species whether we want to admit it or not, we are connected.
When I stop to think about that, it makes me wonder, why is it then, that we find it so easy to abuse that relationship?
Why is it that we get so focused on “me” and lose focus on them?
Why do we find it so easy to ignore the earth and neglect the environment?
I know, some of us, myself included, like to think we’re being conscious of the environment. I recycle, I shut the lights off when I’m not using them, I don’t use chemicals in my yard, I compost and I try to be conscious of the Carbon Footprint I’m leaving behind, but the reality is, I like my life.
I like sitting on my iPad, typing away in my dining room, while the furnace runs to keep me warm on this frigid day. I like my car and the ability to go where I “need” to go whenever I want to.
I like the convenience of the stores that provide the “necessities” within a couple of miles of my home.
I like my life. And the reality is, to acknowledge that I’m connected to this planet, to the air, to the water, to the plants and the trees, and every living being from the microbes in the soil to the animals in the jungle on the other side of the world means I need to take responsibility for it.
Most of us would do anything to take care of our family and friends if they were in need. They are our blood, they hold a special place in our heart and we wouldn’t want to lose that. Yet to ask us to think about the earth, the environment or the living things around us is a different story. We take it for granted. In our lifetime, we’ve always had air to breathe, water at our disposal and food on our tables.
What if you chose not to feed your children or take care of an elderly grandparent or neighbor, how would you feel? Would you feel a pang of guilt in the pit of your stomach? Would you heart hurt knowing you’re neglecting them when you could be and should be doing something to help?
So why is it that when the plants and trees that supply the air that we breathe get neglected or the water that we take for granted that runs from our taps everyday gets wasted and when we abuse the resources that the environment provides for us, by using more than our “fair share” do we not feel equally guilty? Why do we find it so easy to disconnect ourselves from this?
What if we didn’t? What if, instead, when we go out the door or look up from our phones or out the windows of our house or cars, and we started paying attention to the air we breathe, the amount of water we use and the ways we could take care of the world around us a little better?
What if we treated the air, the water and the environment like family? Would you do anything differently? I know I would.
And when you really stop to think about it, we should. Because whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we are connected. We’re connected to every living thing around us just like we’re connected to our families and friends. Yes, we have a direct relationship with some, and a more distant relationship with others, but it’s no different than the relationship we have with our parents versus our distant cousins. And while we might feel a tighter bond with our mother or father or siblings than we do with our great aunt she is still family nonetheless.
So let’s pretend, even if it’s just for a moment, that the air is our mother, the water our father, the soil our siblings and the oil our grandparents. Let’s pretend we love them and value them the same as we do our families. Let’s pretend we care. Because if we do, we might change how we treat them. We may start paying attention to them. We may begin feeding them, nurturing them and watching out for them. We may restore the neglected relationship we have and start living in harmony again.
Let’s pretend for a moment that we are connected to the entire world around us. Let’s pretend that if we care for that world, that it will care for us.
Because guess what? She’s not called Mother Nature for nothing. We are connected.
Kate
Walnuts n Pears 