I almost broke my rules and used a “bad” word, but stink will have to do. I am straying form my normal course of trying to be passive and gentle in my persuasion. When it come to industrial farming practices, though, it is hard to have a discussion and keep a level head. I am talking about the huge multi thousand acre mono-culture farms, not the farms run by smaller business people. Although many of the smaller farms have had to adopt practices similar to the industrial giants, most farmers have to respect their land and their animals if they want to continue to make a living from the farm.
For more than a year now, I have been saying we need to bring about a move towards “Ethical Food”. Every part of our food supply chain needs to be judged not just by how low the cost in dollars is, but by how high the hidden costs are to consumer health, farmer health, societal health, animal health, and the health of the earth. Many make the argument that today our food supply is healthier and more varied than it has ever been. On the surface this can appear to be true, but scratch a little deeper and things look a bit different. As just one example on a grand scale, look at what farm runoff is doing to thousands of square mile of ocean in the Gulf of Mexico. Farm runoff, especially from big agri-businesses, is affecting the health of people, animals, water, and land all over the world.
I would not be surprised if the recent salmonella contamination of the water supply in Alamosa, Colorado was the result of farm or feedlot runoff into the ground water. Maybe not, I suppose it could have entered the system in many different ways. But, when farm runoff reaches the water supply as it inevitably does, the danger is not just from bacteria. Other chemicals like antibiotics, hormones, herbicides, and pesticides are contamination worries also.
So today I am writing again about our water supply. I know it has been 4 posts on the topic in the past 10 days, but this needs to be pointed out. Last week the news people were talking about the “big story” that factory farm feedlots are contaminating our water tables and drinking water supply. When stories like this break, I feel like shouting at the TV, “wake up, this is news so old that it is not even funny”! I understand that with the recent news about pharmaceuticals in drinking water, the topic of pollution of our water is on the front burner. But really folks, check this article out. It is from July of 1990, 18 years ago! And, it was written by a conventional school of agriculture in the heart of the U.S. “breadbasket”. We have known about this problem for decades. On the other hand, it is important to keep these issues publicized.
Modern industrial scaled agriculture can be a difficult thing to evaluate. Some factory farms and feed lots are horrible places. Others do their best to be responsible in their farming methods. I agree that any argument against modern farming methods has to be countered by realities of our abundant and varied food choices here in the U.S. Recent increases in many food items like wheat and corn are hitting families in the pocketbook. It is tempting and understandable to look only at the price on the package of meat or the bag of peppers. But there can be hidden costs associated with our food. These are hidden expenses to our wallets, to our health, to the health of animals brought to market, and to the health of the planet.
Now I have to say that I do look at the cost of food when I shop. I do eat meat, but, I wish I had more choice and that there was a greater availability of meat that was ethically and organically produced. I am sure I eat other food that is not produced in an ethical manner. It is impossible to know the sources of everything that goes in to all the many things we buy and feed to ourselves and our families. The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” is very applicable to our modern food supply. There are some things you can do, however.
On a daily basis, think about the sources of your food. Ask questions of the places you buy your food. Try to think in terms of Ethical Food. Don’t just choose organic for the sake of organic. An organic bag of lettuce from a huge corporation in California is not necessarily a better choice than a bag of uncertified lettuce from your local farmers market, food co-op, or health food grocery. It may sometimes be a cheaper, but often not a more ethical choice.
Spread the word and use the term “Ethical Food”. Make this an important consideration when you shop. Buy local as much as you can. This is harder in the winter, but should be easy almost everywhere in the spring, summer, and fall. If you live rurally, you have many opportunities to grow or buy locally produced food. If you live in a city, you have more choices of places to shop. Find a business that makes an ethically considered decision about the food they sell. And then thank them for doing that. We can all improve our food choices, and in the process improve our health and the health of the world’s food supply.
If you agree this is an issue that needs to be publicized as much as possible, a Digg, Stumble, or any other publicity to get the cause of Ethical Food spread far and wide would be appreciated. Thanks!
I found this today. More information is here. Got to love some of those European Advertisements! Although it is in English, this is an German ad for wind power. Ingenious and moving!
This is just a reminder or notice that this year’s earth hour will take place at 8 pm, this Saturday, March 29th. Details about the event can be found here. Although the hearts of the organizers are in the right place, I am not sure this event will be as successful as it could be. I hope I am wrong, and I may be since over a quarter of a million people have already signed up. There are a couple of reasons I think it could be even bigger.
First when you go to the home page of Earth Hour, you are asked to sign up and "agree to receive information from WWF about Earth Hour and other programs". It is stated on another page of the site that "WWF" is the World Wildlife Fund. In any case, asking people to register and agree to receive rather undefined emails is going to be a turn off for some.
Second, the stated single goal of the event is to draw attention to global warming. Nothing is said about other reasons to draw attention to our increasing energy use and dependence on coal and oil. I think if the event was less political and more practical in nature, it would garner more support and publicity.
In any case the plan is simple. Wherever you are, at 8pm local time, turn off all lights for one hour. I don’t know if I will participate, but I might. I lean more towards changes we can make on a smaller scale in our everyday lives than I do towards grand events like this. But who knows? It might be easy enough to do and if it does get millions of people taking part, could even provide an interesting view from space. Maybe I’ll have to ask Bob at Black Holes and Astrostuff what it would take to be visible from a space satellite.
It is ironic that my Wordless Wednesday post yesterday was of a wildflower I found on one of my hikes. You know what is said about jinxing something by talking about it? Well today is in the high 30’s and raining with occasional snow showers. Real snow is predicted for tonight! Oh well.
Is it spring where you live? Once spring does arrive, is the time short before the heat of summer sets in? To me spring signals the start of the season when I can grow much of the food I eat. The photo to the left is taken today in my little greenhouse. Outside it is cold, but in there it is warm and friendly for the plants that will soon start to go out into the garden. You can see the white tent-like covering in the below photo where I have actually already planted out lettuce, kale, collards, and beets under floating row covers. If all goes well, I’ll have the first home-grown lettuce of the season next week. I still have some carrots and beets that I pick from last falls crop. They over winter well with very little protection.
I suggest you all grow some of your food. Not only is it good therapy in a stressed world, but you know the food is safe and healthy. You don’t need a large space or a greenhouse. If you don’t have space for a large squash or tomato plant, grow herbs or salad greens. When I lived in an apartment in San Francisco too many years ago, there was a postage stamp size yard in the back. Fortunately the other tenants in the building did not use the yard much, so I was able to grow tomatoes, lettuce and summer squash. So prepare your soil well and plant a little garden. Avoid using any of the poisonous “biocides” like chemical fungicides, herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Take a few minutes every day to look after your garden and your health will benefit and you will enjoy a bit of food the way food should be prepared and consumed.
If you really have no interest in growing your own food, then take notice of where the local food in you area is sold. Make a weekly visit to a local farm-stand or farmers market. Ask the grower many questions about their food and growing methods. Most will be very forthcoming in revealing the care they put into the land and crops they grow.
Even if the snow flurries are flying outside one last time, spring is really here. Get prepared by making a commitment right now to grow, buy, and eat more of your local harvest this year. Your health and the health or the Earth will benefit from your choices.
Smart people use metal water bottles and you should too! Just kidding, but read this article for my view on how you can help your health and the health of the planet by making the switch from plastic to metal.
I went on a hike this past weekend and was asked the same question I received in an email a few weeks ago. The discussion on the hike was whether it was “safe” to drink water out of a plastic bottle. This came up because of the Sigg bottles I use for my water. The Sigg bottles are aluminum, but with a safe, water based epoxy coating that has been tested to not leach at all. I also use the slightly heavier stainless steel water bottles. I believe either of these are a better choice than plastic.
In the discussion of why I choose the metal bottles, I referred to my article indicating that we do need to be concerned about the effects long term exposure to chemicals in plastic may have on our health. What I was asked was, why I should worry about using plastic water bottles when I am unavoidably exposed to plastic from many other sources. One person on the hike even pointed out that many of the pipes that bring the tap water to my house are lined with plastic. While all that is true, I use non-plastic bottles simply because that is one exposure I can control. This is the same reason I do not cook in Teflon coated pans. In addition, by using a metal bottle, I feel I am making a small contribution to the reduction in overall use of petroleum based plastics. Your mileage may vary, make your own decision, but……
I feel strongly we should take a common sense, simple approach to our health. Control what we can without great inconvenience, and don’t lose sleep over the rest that we can’t control. If you take this approach to both your diet and your lifestyle, you may be surprised at all the positive changes you can make. If you figure that because you can’t control everything, there is no point in making healthy changes, then guess what…. the changes will be slow and difficult in coming.
So, try a stainless steel or Sigg water bottle. Not only do you avoid the immediate exposure to the chemicals from a cheap plastic bottle, you get a virtually indestructible water bottle that you can use over and over again.
And a big thank you to the people who purchased products from Amazon last month using either text or image links like the three for the bottles above or by using this link for anything else you might buy from Amazon. The price of your purchases are exactly the same for you, and Amazon pays me a tiny commission. Over the course of a year, if I am fortunate, I can earn back the cost of hosting and maintaining this site. It really is a painless contribution by you to help spread the “healthy living” message and I appreciate it very much!
Recently a reader sent me a link to an interesting old castle in Sweden that is now used as a hotel and restaurant. Häringe Castle has a website, but be forewarned, it is very slow and makes heavy use of Flash Player. In addition to being a very beautiful place, it has the reputation of being the most haunted castle in Sweden! Here is a link to a Flickr site that has a lot of information and photos of the castle.
Why does this castle interest me? Apparently the restaurant is planning to go to all organic food with as much as possible from local sources. They also plan to make their organic, local foods menu, slow food. This castle is a very high class, expensive retreat. Still, this sort of thing needs to be encouraged and acknowledged. So to them, I say thanks! Maybe one of us will get to visit someday!
I read that the purchase of water filters is up by a lot in the past year. Reports like the one last week about drugs in the water supply will probably push even more people to consider a purchase. Whole house filters are the thing right now.
There is an expressed concern about our intake of contaminants and chlorine from our water supplies. Water filters at the tap can remove the chemicals before we drink or cook with the water. However, only a small part of our exposure to anything that might be in tap water comes from drinking the water. For example, two thirds of our exposure to chlorine is due to inhalation of steam and absorption through the skin while showering. There are shower head water filters available, but you would need one on each shower and on the bath tap for any bubble baths you plan to take.
There are also the whole house filters. You need to install them on the main waterline of your house, but they are not too expensive. Amazon has them from $35 to $300. I don’t know how effective they are or if they are really even necessary. I have read reports that the effectiveness of filters is rated when they are new and that almost immediately upon use, the effectiveness begins to decline. The makers and sellers of filters will tell all kinds of stories to support their sales. On the other hand, some of the reports I have read claim filters are unnecessary and, in real life installations, not as effective as claimed. Some of those articles, however seem to be written by people with a history of bias against claims of water dangers. Who knows what the truth is? Probably like in most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I do know that there are lots of very healthy elderly people who have been drinking and showering in unfiltered water for a long time. Many of them have also spent a good amount of time in highly chlorinated swimming pools.
Getting back to drinking water, you might think it safer to drink bottled water. Even if you discount the warnings about absorbing chemicals from plastic bottles, you might want to think twice. It is surprising how much less regulated bottled water is than tap water. Some studies have shown bottled water to be less reliably clean than tap water. It can be difficult to know exactly what you are getting in that bottle.
I think this subject is another one that leads back to the recommendation to eat well and live a healthy lifestyle. We should be realistic with our priorities and not stress out worrying about our tap water while consuming the U.S. average of 54 gallons of soda per person, per year. We should not worry about taking long hot showers while we continue to get our recommended daily amount of vegetables from eating french fries. Statistically, the effects of poor diet and lifestyle will probably get you long before your tap water does!
This is just a short, friendly request to all of you that use Blogger as your blogging platform. I know that most of my regular readers from Blogger blogs already do this, but for everyone else, please read and consider making the changes. Doing so will help your blog comments increase in number.
I wrote a guest post titled “An Open Plea To Blogger Users”, on the Bird On a Wire web site a few weeks ago. Please read that for the details of how all of you that use Blogger can set things up to make it possible for us non-Blogger users to comment on your site. I visit a bunch of Blogger sites that make it impossible for me to comment using my valid url and name. In addition to what you can read at that post, there appears to be a new comment form from Blogger that is even better than the ones I recommended in the article. You can see Claire using it here. Thanks!
Since my post on pharmaceuticals in drinking water, a few readers have contacted or IM’d me pointing out that contamination of drinking water supplies is nothing new. The fact of pharmaceuticals in drinking water was new to me although contamination by other compounds does occasionally make the news. Even today, there is a story breaking about contamination in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove. In this case the contamination is with fecal coliform bacteria, likely from animal or human waste. Nice.
This story got me wondering about the time lines involved in contaminated municipal water supplies. How fast is the detection and notification process? Is the contamination usually caught and publicized quickly? Or does the water generally reach the home of tens of thousands of customers before the alert is given? This information is more difficult that you might think to find. The EPA has a 72 page guide titled “A Water Security Handbook“, (warning, large, slow PDF file download). It is interesting to browse, but I could not find anything about specific times from detection to notification or whether notification time in general was quick enough to prevent exposing people to the contaminated water.. The phrase “fast, reliable communication is the key to success” is used several times in the EPA document, but that is just sort of stating the obvious. What I was looking for were examples of actual events and whether the water departments were able to notify users before any of them actually drank the contaminated water.
I would think timely warning might not be as difficult as it sounds. If detection methods are on-going before the point where the treated water enters the delivery system, there should be a window of time between detection and when the first contaminated water comes out of a tap. Maybe that is a new criterion for determining the desirability of a neighborhood when moving to a new home? The closer to the end of the water delivery line, the better the neighborhood!
I was not able to find specific information about how many customers actually consume contaminated water before they get the notification form their water authorities. I did find several articles like these: Water Sickened Almost 500,000 Americans, and Cryptosporidium in Milwaukee’s Water Supply Caused Widespread Illness. Most of the articles found in searches turn out to be about the threat of terrorism. One of the best summaries I found dealing with that threat is by the author of the book: Understanding Water and Terrorism.
My searching turned up almost too much information to absorb completely. What I started out to find today, I really did not get the answer to: Is the time from the discovery of contamination in a water supply to the widespread dissemination of a warning short enough to prevent consumers from drinking the contaminated water? Or is the time frame involved in the delivery of the water sufficiently lengthy so that, as long as testing and detection is reliable, warnings can be given in time? If any of you know of specific instances where the issue of timely warnings is discussed, please post information or a link in a comment below. Thanks!
I started reading this book by Linda Prout in January. As some of you know, I have the habit of reading 2 or 3 books at the same time. For the first couple of weeks, this book shared time with Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words and a couple of other books. Eventually Live in the Balance took center stage, capturing my full attention.
It is a book chock-full of information, with every sentence seeming to contain a new nutritional idea or fact. Did you know that foods of animal origin, not fruits and vegetables are the main source of pesticides in our diet? When you think about that, it makes perfect sense. I learned that in China, the word for rice is the same as the word for food. On page 170, you will learn all you will ever need to know about margarine and why you should never substitute it for butter. I have always been suspicious of “foods” like margarine and do not use them. Now I am glad to know many of my common sense food decisions have a strong basis in nutritional fact.
The Introduction and Part One do a remarkable job of laying the foundation for what is to follow. Before reading this book, my understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine and the role of food and nutrition in TCM was limited to what I had read in the popular media. I did know that TCM viewed food as being the source of both good, and bad, health. But by the time I got to page 60 of Live in the Balance, I definitely had furthered my education in the fundamentals of TCM and, even though the two are beginning to meld, how it differs from the Western approach to wellness. In fact, after finishing the book, I went back and read part of this first section again, this time with the added advantage of having had the author guide me through the applications in the rest of the book.
Even though Part Two, “Balancing Who You Are With What You Eat” was interesting and informative, I found myself getting a bit distracted as I read. I suspect this was because the focus of that section is identifying patterns of imbalance you might have and listing foods that will help you fix these imbalances. No matter how closely I read, or how honestly I thought about it, I could not fit myself into one of the patterns of imbalance or even into one or the other of Yin or Yang. Just when I would be thinking I was tending towards Yang, I would come across something that made me think I had Yin tendencies. It became even more difficult when I tried to identify with one of the patterns of imbalance that TCM uses nutrition to help. In fact, even when telling myself to be brutally judgmental, I could only find a passing recognition with 1 or 2 signs of each pattern. By the end of Part Two, I had concluded that this was probably a good thing.
Part Three starts making specific recommendations to even out any patterns of imbalance you might have. This section is where I realized I was already following most of the author’s suggestions; hence my difficulty in the book’s Part Two, trying to fit myself into a pattern of imbalance. Still, it was very educational to read and consider proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and sugars from the TCM point of view. The section on fruits and vegetables did hit close to home. I tend to eat a lot of raw fruits, vegetables and salads. I realized after reading chapter 14 that I could and probably should incorporate more cooked greens and vegetables into my diet.
One specific enlightenment I got from the book was support for a dietary change I made years ago that has always puzzled me. For 12 or 13 years the first and only thing I would eat every day was fresh fruit, usually lots of it. Eventually I developed a sort of intolerance or allergy to fruit. Only after almost eliminating fruit from my diet for a period of time, did my tolerance return to normal. I now realize that even something as healthy as fresh fruit can put the body out of whack if not consumed with moderation and in balance with other types of food.
When I was done I really felt that if I had any health issues at all, I could probably find a recommendation in this book that would help. I also felt good knowing that the reason I am feel so well at this point in my life is that I already follow many of the suggestions and recommendations in the book. The well known saying “you are what you eat” never seemed as true as it does now after reading this book.
In summary, this is a book that anyone with even a passing interest in diet and nutrition will find enjoyable and educational. It is a must read if you have any health or medical issues or if you are at all frustrated with your current eating patterns. Amazon has it both new and used. If you do buy it, or anything else, from Amazon, please consider using this link, or the one on my How To Help This Site page. I will be very appreciative because the small referral fee Amazon pays will help to offset the cost of hosting and maintaining this site. Thanks!
Last week I read about tests that had been done to check the levels of both prescribed and over-the-counter medications in the U.S. drinking water supply. Then today the Associated Press published a story describing the details. I would like to say I am shocked by this story, but unfortunately I am not. We should have long ago stopped believing when we toss something in the trash, let a chemical evaporate into the air, or flush our toilets, that we have seen the last of whatever it is we are throwing away.
It has been found that our bodies contain varying amounts of all kinds of chemicals that accumulate over years of exposure in the most common and mundane daily situations. A chemical used in gasoline today is present at surprising levels in the blood of most U.S. residents. I wrote an article in October of last year explaining why you should not use non-stick cookware. This story is just another example of how chemicals we think we protect ourselves from show up in our bodies.
According to water utilities cited in the AP report, the pharmaceutical chemicals in drinking water are present in amounts so small that no danger is present. I don’t know how the suppliers of our water can feel comfortable reaching this conclusion. There are many scientists that say we do not yet understand the health risks from many years of “persistent exposure to random combinations of low levels of pharmaceuticals”. Studies have indeed shown serious adverse affects on human cells and wildlife.
Bottled or purified water may not be drug-free either as the bottlers do not typically test for or filter out drugs. Once again, I hope our local water supply is somewhat safe from the latest contamination news. Our water comes from an underground spring high in the mountains. In the summer, some treated river water is mixed in some of our supply so there may be some exposure from that.
As it should be, this story will be on your radio and TV news. What will probably be missing is the concern I have every time I read a story like this. I don’t care if the issue is irradiation of meat, antibiotic treatment of dairy cows, genetically modified food, or the health hazard of Teflon, we have a right to know. I want publicity and labeling of my food. I don’t want some “expert” employed by the bottled water industry deciding I don’t need to know because the danger level is low. Safety is an important issue, but so is full disclosure.
Producers and distributors of food and consumer products have an ethical obligation, and should have a legal obligation, to fully disclose what is in those products. In this post, I say there should be closer scrutiny of the tact some companies take of hiding behind “trade secret” concerns. We should be able to have a system that forces disclosure, but protects a companies trade secrets. Unfortunately industry fights full disclosure for other reasons also. Sometimes there is a concern that if consumers knew the meat or dairy they were buying contained hormones and antibiotics, consumers might choose to buy different product. You don’t say!!?? Second, frequently there is an almost patronizing, “it is better if they don’t know”, attitude towards the public. I really object to this. And, in case you think I am overly concerned about this lack of disclosure, I leave you with the following right out of today’s AP article.
The head of a group representing major California water suppliers (when asked about non-disclosure of the drugs in water supplies), said the public “doesn’t know how to interpret the information and might be unduly alarmed”.
Well I am alarmed! I am very alarmed. I am alarmed about the pervasive, patronizing, attitude of some regulators, industry groups, and companies who think that for our own good, we need to be protected from disclosure. Are you alarmed? Tell me in a comment if I am off-base in my concern. Choose an answer in the poll so we can get a visual idea of what you all think about this. Thanks!
We received an insert with our water bill this week that listed some interesting environmental statistics. Some of you might remember one or two of my past articles on statistics and know that I am a bit skeptical of manipulating them to make an point. However, the ones listed below are really just to get us thinking about the numbers and how the facts behind them can surprise. So, on with a short list. Please add any others that you find interesting or surprising in a comment.
1) Each Gallon of gas burned in a vehicle releases almost 20 pounds of CO2 into the air. The most common question I have heard regarding this one is: How can this be true when a gallon of gas weighs 6.5 to 7 pounds? I am sure there is a detailed answer somewhere that takes into account the octane level of different types of gas and the specific molecular weight of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen and the algebra needed to convert gas into CO2. However, the short answer is that when the gas burns, each carbon atom combines with 2 oxygen atoms to make CO2. And, even though oxygen is a little heavier that carbon, we can see that the resulting CO2 will be about 3 times the weight of the original carbon alone. (6.5 lbs of gas X 3 = 19.5 lbs of CO2.)
2) In the U.S. about 40 billion soda cans and bottles are thrown away each year. If glued end to end, these would stretch out into space more that 40 times the distance from Earth to the Moon. This is an interesting answer since the Moon has an elliptical orbit and, over the course of a year, the distance from the earth varies from about 220,000 to 250,000 miles. (Am I right on these numbers, Bob?) Multiplied by 40 times, that is a big margin of error. In any case whether the empty soda vessels would reach 8.8 million or 10 million miles into space, that is a long ways. I can’t help wondering about two things. How far would they go if we did not have recycling and bottle deposit laws? And, getting a bit off topic, how much soda is consumed in the U.S every year?
OK, I could not stand it and looked this last one up. U.S. residents consume an average of 54 gallons of soda, each, per year. This works out to a constantly increasing total as you can see from watching this entertaining web site for a few minutes. The total soda consumption in the U.S. as I write this would be sixteen billion, six hundred million gallons per year. When you account for infants and people like me that basically drink no soda, the average consumption is probably closer to 100 gallons, per person, each year!
3) We toss out enough wood and paper every year to heat 50 million homes for 20 years. Again, I wonder what it would be without recycling. I also debate whether this is a concerning statistic, other than from a waste standpoint. This is because in order to heat those billion homes, we would need to burn the wood and paper. I don’t know how much carbon this would add to the atmosphere each year, but it would be a lot.
Have any of you have run across any interesting ecology, health or diet statistics?
Today’s post is by Linda Prout, author of Live in The Balance, the Ground-Breaking East-West Nutrition Program. Linda creates personalized nutrition and lifestyle programs for clients worldwide. She recently returned from seven years living in the Mediterranean region, including Turkey, where she studied local food remedies.
Fatigue drives 10 million people to doctor visits each year. Chronic tiredness blocks our productivity and disrupts our lives. It’s one of the most common health complaints I hear in my nutritional counseling practice. I was once plagued by chronic fatigue severe enough to keep me from reaching for my goals and even from going out with friends. Since no one wants to go to a tired nutritionist, I had to figure out why I was so tired, and how to turn it around.
Fatigue can result from thyroid or adrenal imbalance, a virus, autoimmune disorders, arthritis, the winter season (SAD), too little sleep, sleeping in (no kidding), sleep apnea, most pharmaceuticals and/or poor diet. A good health practitioner can help you determine the cause of fatigue.
The following strategies have helped me, as well as my clients, access high levels of energy regardless of the cause:
1. Drink up, water that is, and make sure its not cold.Dehydration is a big cause of fatigue and thirst is not always a reliable indicator of need. Avoid sweet drinks, even artificially sweetened, and anything cold.
2. Back off the Sugar and White Flour. Nothing zaps your energy like a steady diet of muffins, cookies, bread and pasta. Simple carbohydrates wreak havoc on blood sugar, which leads to low energy.
3. Eat Your Greens. Cooked leafy greens, including spinach and broccoli are a powerhouse of energy-boosting chlorophyll as well as magnesium and B vitamins, nutrients needed to make serotonin and thus to keep us happy, focused and productive. According to Chinese medicine, greens stimulate life energy, or Qi.
4. Exercise and Breathe. Studies show aerobic exercise improves mental performance and physical well-being. A vigorous daily walk, swim or bike ride will keep you physically energized and mentally alert. Be careful to avoid overexertion as this depletes blood sugar and thus energy.
5. Get in Yang* Foods at Breakfast and Lunch. All things, including food and human qualities, can be described as relatively yin or yang. You can click here to read my PDF article on Yin and Yang Balance and Food Choices and to learn how yin or yang food impacts specific human characteristics. According to Chinese medicine, meat, eggs, poultry, fish, and other yang foods provide that get-up-and-go energy needed to get things done. Be sure to choose grass-fed, humane-raised meats verses toxic feedlot choices.
6. Get some sunlight. Fear of sunlight and daily sunscreen use can lead to fatigue, depression, muscle weakness, cancer (including skin cancer), osteoporosis and other diseases from lack of vitamin D, a nutrient commonly deficient among Americans. Your skin makes this vitalizing vitamin only when exposed to sunlight. You can learn more about vitamin D in this article.
7. Plan Something Exciting. There’s nothing like an upcoming get-away or starting a new project to renew your energy.
This post is summary of a longer article by Linda. Linda also has a shopping guide that will help you shop for flavorful, ethical and healthy food and a blog where you can read and comment on articles about diet and nutrition.
I almost broke my rules and used a “bad” word, but stink will have to do. I am straying form my normal course of trying to be passive and gentle in my persuasion. When it come to industrial farming practices, though, it is hard to have a discussion and keep a level head. I am talking about the huge multi thousand acre mono-culture farms, not the farms run by smaller business people. Although many of the smaller farms have had to adopt practices similar to the industrial giants, most farmers have to respect their land and their animals if they want to continue to make a living from the farm.
On a daily basis, think about the sources of your food. Ask questions of the places you buy your food. Try to think in terms of Ethical Food. Don’t just choose organic for the sake of organic. An organic bag of lettuce from a huge corporation in California is not necessarily a better choice than a bag of uncertified lettuce from your local farmers market, food co-op, or health food grocery. It may sometimes be a cheaper, but often not a more ethical choice.
I use for my water. The Sigg bottles are aluminum, but with a safe, water based epoxy coating that has been tested to not leach at all. I also use the slightly heavier 
TCM viewed food as being the source of both good, and bad, health. But by the time I got to page 60 of Live in the Balance, I definitely had furthered my education in the fundamentals of TCM and, even though the two are beginning to meld, how it differs from the Western approach to wellness. In fact, after finishing the book, I went back and read part of this first section again, this time with the added advantage of having had the author guide me through the applications in the rest of the book. 
towards Yang, I would come across something that made me think I had Yin tendencies. It became even more difficult when I tried to identify with one of the patterns of imbalance that TCM uses nutrition to help. In fact, even when telling myself to be brutally judgmental, I could only find a passing recognition with 1 or 2 signs of each pattern. By the end of Part Two, I had concluded that this was probably a good thing. 
L
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