Dissertation

When I was young I had to write book reports, probably just like you did.  We had assigned reading in class and then we had to write a book summary.

As we got older these book summaries turned into book reports where we had to do a more detailed summary and maybe answer a few questions about our feelings on the book.

Then we got into high school and book reports morphed into intuitive analysis of characters feelings and the author’s motivations for the story.

In college classes we had to read articles and novels, watch clips and films.  Analyzing them became more complex as we had to compare one to another, figure out the differences and similarities, draw our own conclusions and back up reasons why.

Sound familiar?  I HATED writing.

Writing was the number one reason I never wanted to go to graduate school or pursue a higher degree.  I didn’t know what I truly wanted to do with my life.  Everyone else always wants to know what you want to do in life though.  So when people asked me “are you going to go to grad school?”  I found strength in saying, “You know why I’ll never get my PhD?  Because I could never write the dissertation!”

 

I went from hating writing to writing a book! I am currently approaching 30 pages on a book I didn't know I could write!

 

I’m not writing all this to tell you how much writing sucks.  I have found my voice IN writing the last year.  When I first started blogging, it was a way to reach out and share all I had learned about health and nutrition.  I wanted to expose all the conspiracies about big business, the government and how individuals that hold influence over the masses collude together for the purpose of profit to give us mis-information that harms our lives.  I LOVE writing now when I used to hate it.  I figured out why and had that “AHA!” moment while watching the film “Sharkwater” which I wrote about for Movie Monday.

There is an underlying tone of the movie that goes so far beyond exposing a shark fishing industry that is putting the planet at risk.  It’s that you can only make a true difference in people’s lives by pursuing your passion so deeply that you inspire others to pursue theirs.  See, my passion is not sharks as Rob Stewart’s is.  BUT what we have in common is a love for something that transcends into a love for everyone, and a genuine caring about all of the people around us AND the planet.

My passion is food and the amazing healing properties that it has.  This translates to my concern for the health of others and how we can all lead healthier lives.  Inevitably, this leads to the health of the planet because as we pollute our planet more and kill off more  species of plants and animals we put ourselves at risk.  The risk is that we will not realize what we’ve done until it’s too late to fix it.

What my passion has led me to do is write, talk and SHOUT what I hope everyone can take the time to learn about: a genuine caring for yourself and for those around you.

Whether or not you’ve found your passion or not, it’s different than mine.  Yours is different from your neighbors too.  In some way though, they are all interconnected, or will be once they are fully realized.  See, that’s the essence of passion, it’s caring so much about something that your only goal is for the end benefit of everyone.  You want others to love as you love and find great joy in inspiring others.  That’s why writing has become so enjoyable now, because it’s a means to an end, an end that I so desperately want.

I want everyone to know that we are standing on the edge of the cliff.  We can choose to keep going as we have, fall off the edge to our death (as a species) or we can choose to build the bridge that crosses the gap.  Yea, it’s going to take some work, some blood, sweat and tears to build, but ask your moral conscience, “Is it worth it?”  The bridge is more than just awareness.  See, global warming doesn’t stop and reverse itself just because everyone knows about it.  Global warming doesn’t stop when everyone knows about it and starts making little changes.  Global warming stops when everyone knows about it and makes life changes with it in mind every step of the way.

Change is a process, so I’m not trying to inspire you change your whole life today.  Little changes are what (start) the process.  They aren’t the completion of it though.  Realization is the first step at the beginning, it’s not what happens when we have almost achieved our goal.  I say all that to say this:

If you truly get the purpose of this blog, if you understand that I am writing not for self-interest, not to feel cool amongst those who read my stuff, but to help spread a message that we can change the world by changing ourselves, then HELP ME.  You don’t have to become a writer, speaker or a SHOUTER, but you can (help) me do all those things which in turn means that you are making a huge difference.  We live in an age that is so easy to spread information.  I can write and you can click a button that shares it with others.

The awareness and acceptance that our food has a dramatic effect on our health is the first step.  This leads to a change in eating habits, in consumption habits, in living habits.  Changes lead to better health, better vitality and an increased satisfaction of life.   Becoming aware that how we grow, harvest/kill, transport and eat our food has a dramatic effect on our planet is the next realization.  This can lead to a change in what we eat, what we buy and how we live.  Each moment we allow to pass without doing something is a moment lost to the crumbling cliff in front of us.

We can’t inspire individual changes until there is awareness.  Once there is awareness though, we can inspire community changes, then local government, state government, national government and finally world change that will truly make a difference.  The first point is also the last, it all starts with awareness.

I wouldn’t ask you for help without taking the necessary steps myself, first.  I know that I can do more to help spread this message.  I’ve put my money where my mouth is and invested in a new look blog to be launched on www.worldhealthhub.com.  It will have a better ability to reach out, find more people on the internet and bring them here where they can learn and be exposed to this message.  I’m making sure to include the technology that will make it easier for you to share this information with others and invite them to take part in it.  I will be launching it soon and when I do, I humbly and sincerely ask you, please help.  Please help, not for my benefit, but for the benefit of everyone.  This is my dissertation…

What’s yours? Feel free to leave a comment.  If you’d like to write a post to share your passion with the world, let me know and we can figure out how to get it featured on here.  Remember, this blog is for everyone to benefit from.  Share this with others for now by clicking the share button below to re-post on Facebook and Twitter.  As always, thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.

Movie Mondays: Sharkwater

When I initially asked for suggestions of movies to review for this new segment, Movie Mondays, “Sharkwater” came up many times.  I hadn’t heard of it before and so I was definitely intrigued.  If you click on the link above it will take you to the website where you can see a 2 minute trailer for the film.

No wonder this movie won 31 International Awards

Sharkwater absolutely floored me.  It has a unique appeal for anyone who is an animal lover or is concerned about the environment.  The movie does an excellent job of drawing all the evidence together to show that sharks are intimately connected to the survival of humans as a species.  Being the top predator in the ocean food chain means that sharks, big and small, help to control populations all the way down the food chain.  If the smaller fish populations get out of control then the phyto plankton which are the primary oxygen creators for our planet can get dangerously out of balance.  What happens to us on land if our oxygen supply starts to get cut off from the ocean?

But sharks are bad right?  They kill people, they bite people, they are the most aggressive species in the ocean, a reason to be afraid, right?  WRONG.  Rob Stewart’s mission with this movie is to reveal the details of shark’s lives how they truly are.  Finally, a movie that casts sharks in a majestic light.  They truly are an amazing creature, as the oldest living species on the planet, dating back 450 million years.

Sharks, it turns out are quite shy.  The water is their domain and they have complete control over it and yet they are much more scared of us than we are of them.  Sharks have an additional 2 senses, electromagnetic sensing and a sense that means they can sense the emotional state and your heart beat.  This helps them find injured animals such as seals that are easier prey than the rest.  Just like the wild cats of Africa, they would rather have an easier meal than spend all their time chasing agile, healthy prey.  That’s how nature works right?  Survival of the fittest.  It’s built into the system for population control and species survival.

Here are some statistics quoted in the movie to keep in mind as (I hope) you change your view of sharks.  Sharks kill 5 people worldwide each year.  Elephants and tigers kill 100.  Execution 2400.  Illegal drugs 22,000.  Road accidents 1.2 million.  Starvation 8 million people.  Yet we are so afraid of sharks.  I guess the point that everybody wants a villain is true.  It’s much more convenient for us to hate sharks and be afraid of them.  Yea, there are 5 deaths, but there are a lot more shark bites every year.  Doesn’t that show something?  If sharks were really trying to eat us, the hundreds of shark bites would end up as much more than 5 deaths.  The deaths that occur are usually because the person bled to death, not because they were eaten.  Make no mistake, when we are in the water, we are at the shark’s mercy, it’s their domain.  If they wanted to kills us, they could and they would.

OK, so my experience of the movie was absolutely a softening and full reversal of my view on sharks.  But why would Rob Stewart go to all this trouble to change our view on sharks?  Because, they are being hunted to near extinction.  We need sharks in the ocean as the top predator to help control fish (and seal) populations.   However, sharks are being killed by the tens of thousands everyday.  It can take sharks decades to reach sexual maturity.  They don’t have short lifespans like fish and can’t regenerate their numbers like them.  Look what has happened to fish populations worldwide.  We have fished some into near extinction and we are doing the same with sharks.  But, why?  Shark fins.

There is a multi-billion dollar shark fin industry in Asia.  Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in many asian cultures.  In addition, the shark cartilage from their fins is taken as a health supplement.  Sharks are perceived to be a strong species that doesn’t get sick and doesn’t get disease.  There are many beliefs throughout traditional asian cultures that consuming shark cartilage will enable the shark’s health resiliency to be transferred to the person.  Science has shown that there really is no nutritional benefit or documented healing qualities with shark fins, but it’s all about belief.

If there is a multi-billion dollar market demanding a product, there is inevitably someone who could benefit from that money willing to go out and supply for it.  To make it even easier, there are no laws regulating the killing of sharks.  We have whaling laws, fishing laws, but no shark fishing laws or quotas.  This is partly due to our fear of sharks.  Nobody cares if one more blood thirsty predator is killed.  It’s ok, I didn’t either until I saw this film.

All for this? The shark fin doesn't even lend flavor to the soup. The broth's flavor is derived from chicken and pork. The soup is "tradition." Let's start encouraging some new traditions huh?

Sharks are being fished worldwide using the “long-line” fishing practice.  Basically, a 60 mile line is hooked and baited and then strung out in the ocean.  Then the fisherman just reel the line in and collect their catch of sharks.  The problem is that these lines catch all sorts of other species which die, but aren’t used by the fishermen.  They are there for shark fins.  These other animals along a 60 mile fishing line die for no reason.  In addition, the fishermen are only after the shark fin.  They literally just cut off the fins and throw the rest of the shark back in the ocean.  It’s really sad.  Really sad.

For anyone who has seen The Cove, I reason that you may find this movie to be even more moving.  I know that’s a bold statement, but dolphins in Japan are being killed in the tens of thousands.  Sharks are being killed in the hundreds of thousands and millions every year.  They are being wiped out at such a catastrophic rate that their numbers are down over 90% from the last century.  Keep in mind that we NEED sharks for the health of the oceans.

That’s why Rob Stewart enlisted the help of Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd from Whale Wars, the TV show.  Paul was interestingly enough a founding member of Greenpeace but was kicked out because of his “extreme” actions to stop eco-terrorism.  As a side note, I have a newfound respect for Paul because he does what needs to be done, but what governments think is too touchy of a subject to get involved with.  I watched the Whale Wars tv show after seeing Sharkwater and firmly believe that the actions Paul Watson takes are necessary, respectable and deserve our support.

Nothing wrong with Greenpeace, BUT Paul is doing what (needs) to be done

So the last half of the movie shows how Paul Watson and Rob Stewart go into these wildlife sanctuaries to document and uncover the illegal slaughter of sharks.  Yes, in some countries there are sanctuaries where it’s illegal to kill sharks.  And yet, it’s happening anyway and Paul and Rob wanted to catch it on film.  They uncovered a Mafia-like crime syndicate that pays off government officials to look the other way and who actually issued warrants to arrest Paul and Rob.

There is no way that I can do this film justice in a few hundred words, but I hope that I’ve been able to paint a picture that allows you to see sharks in a different light.  Hopefully, you will put Sharkwater on your Netflix queue and check it out for yourself.  In the same way that movies like Avatar, Dances With Wolves, and The Last Samurai mobilize certain feelings in us, so do Sharkwater and The Cove.  See, at some level we all feel that intimate connection with the world around us.  We know that harming that delicate balance in nature will have untold effects.  Nature is designed to be harmonious and when we ignore that for profit and self-interest there are always consequences.  Sharkwater’s mission is to expose viewers to the shark tragedy and warn us of the consequences before it’s too late.

What will you do?  I for one am going to go contribute to Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd society right now.  They are the only ones actively trying to bring true justice to our oceans and as a caring citizen I feel the responsibility to put my money where my mouth is.  Yea, we all live busy lives.  Are we too busy to care about our planet and our future though?  Help out by clicking the share button down below.  Share this with your Facebook friends and Twitter followers.  Making a small difference is better than turning a blind eye.  Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.

Super Food Saturday. Cleanse!

It’s that time of year again, the Holidays!  Definitely a fun time of year with lots of friends, family, food, drink and good times.  I’d like to throw out a recommendation.  You don’t think that I’d stay silent about trying to make one of the un-healthiest times of the year just a bit healthier did you?

You can help avoid getting sick during the holidays by making a simple master cleanse 3-5 days per week and drink in the morning.

So obviously with all the food and celebrating at this time of year it is hard to commit to being healthy through it all.  Why do you think that the flu season is in full swing around the holidays?   It’s not a “seasonal” illness.  you can get the flu any time of year.  In fact the “flu season” is during the summer in the Southern hemisphere.  Why is that?  Holidays!  Everybody is knocking down their systems with unhealthy food, alcohol and partying that your immune system isn’t strong enough to fight off the everyday bugs that attack you.

I’d like to make a suggestion this year.  BEFORE the holidays start, get ready to do a cleanse.  As in, go out now and get a cleanse system to get ready to start right after the holidays are over.  Don’t wait until after you’ve spent all your money on partying and presents.  Don’t wait until the new year to do something.  Go out now and purchase a cleanse system.

Lasts a week, but you need to know it won't be easy.

There are many different kinds.  I haven’t tried very many of them so I won’t recommend any that i haven’t tried.  I’ve done the Ultimate Energy Cleanse and am currently doing the Yerba Prima Men’s Rebuild Internal Cleanse (the also have one for women).  They are very different.  The UE Cleanse is a week-long strict diet designed to heavily detox with herbs and juices and can be quite hard to handle.  Although getting toxins out of your system will leave you feeling amazing.  I have been doing the Yerba Prima cleanse for 5 days now.  It’s designed to work with your regular diet, although I feel better about doing it while I am eating healthy so I am not eating any fried foods or processed foods, trying now to have any alcohol or caffeine while I am doing it.  I feel good so far doing it and it looks like it’s designed to last between 2 weeks and a month depending on how heavy you go with the cleansing pills.

It uses herbs and bentonite, a highly absorbable clay designed to suck toxins from your body

There is another type of daily cleanse that I absolutely recommend this holiday season.  Do it in the morning right when you wake up.  The master cleanse is designed to alkalize your system in the morning and flush out many of the toxins accumulated while you sleep.  See our body begins to detox when it’s not burdened with the stress of digesting food or drinks.  The longest un-interrupted stretch for this is while we sleep.  It’s important to get these toxins out of your body as quickly as possible in the morning so they don’t re-absorb.  The master cleanse (1 lemon, 1 tbsp grade B maple syrup, pinch of cayenne pepper) blend together with 16-32 oz. water.  Do this as many days a week as you can and you’ll help your body out tremendously.

Here’s to a happy and healthy(er) holiday season!  Go get that cleanse!

“La Fin.” The end to a great trip with some great food!

From the first post about London, the Second onto Paris, and now the 3rd, onto the last dinner we had in Paris at a restaurant called Le Potager du Marais, a vegetarian restaurant that is mostly vegan actually.  This place is small with 5 tables inside and 3 on the street outside, but if it’s cold you probably won’t eat out there.  We arrived for an early dinner around 6pm and got a table, but by the end of our meal every table was taken.  I recommend a reservation or showing up early.  This restaurant was cozy, and personable.

French onion soup, Chick Pea paste and greens salad

We started out strong, getting a bottle of Bordeaux and 3 starters.  Terri got the French onion soup which was vegetarian since it had cheese on top and I got the chick pea paste (hummus) with a greens salad.  So far, so delicious.  The ambiance was nice, the waiter very friendly and we just sat back, relaxed and took our time.

I love salad so I was happy to get a second portion with my dinner.

If I had known that each main course came with its own salad I may have ordered a different starter.  As it is though, extra veggies are always ok with me!  I ordered the quinoa burger with mushroom sauce and sweet potato mash.  Terri got the vegetables gratin which was sliced and baked sweet potato, regular potato and some other veggies.  It was served with a salad and brown rice.  They had an option for fried potatoes which are similar to country fried potatoes like we serve here in the US.  The vegetables gratin were good, but if we went back I think we would try something else for main course.  We would definitely order the quinoa burger again.  It was incredible!  I ate everything on my plate and was pretty stuffed but tried to help Terri finish hers off to no avail.  We sat and enjoyed some more wine while our food settled.

A soy milk cappucino was artistic and the carrot cake looked great!

Dessert was never in question as our table was next to the dessert display case and we had been staring at it all night.  However, we needed a few minutes of wine sipping and food settling to work up the strength for dessert.  Terri got what was one of the most beautiful cappuccino ever created and we shared the vegan carrot cake.  I thought it was great but we would probably try one of the other tasty looking desserts the next time we go back.  If we had simply ordered a main course we would have left with enough food in our stomachs to satisfy, but this was our last dinner in Paris and we did the full deal.  With multiple appetizers, 2 main course, a dessert and bottle of wine, our meal was about 100 Euros but money well spent.  You could probably dine here for around 40-50 euros no problem.

There was one other restaurant that we were bummed not to go to and that was called The Gentle Gourmet.  You need to make reservations at this place in advance and we didn’t do that.  It looks like an awesome environment and amazing food.  It’s a bed and breakfast so you could stay here too if you wanted to!  Every vegetarian or vegan place we went to knew what The Gentle Gourmet was.  Apparently the lady that runs it is known all around Paris as a veggie advocate.  She organized what was to be the first Paris “Vegan Day” on Sunday, the day after we left Paris  That would have been cool to attend, but such is life.  The next time we go back to Paris, this place will be on top of our list to go for food.

different options including just dinner, or dinner and a vegan cooking class with wine!

We took the Chunnel back to London and had a meal in the St. Pancras train station at Le Pan Quotidien.  It would have cost us an extra 30 euro to store our bags at the train station and get on the subway to go to dinner somewhere, so instead of blowing $50 for nothing we found a nice little cafe in the train station and got a ton of food!  We had freshly prepared veggie sandwiches on ciabatta bread, fruit salad, honey cashews, salt and pepper chips, super food muffin and hot tea all for the same cost as it would have been just to travel elsewhere for dinner.  This was one of my favorite meals because we just sat by the window, pigged out and people watched as hundreds of people walked, ran or just strolled by the window on the way to their destinations.

This place was cute and cozy. It was nice to get out of the freezing cold station.

Breakfast buffet at our hotel was 19 pounds per person which is like $25 each.  So instead we just loaded up on food from the cafe to take with us!  We got some muffins, a large fruit cup and a green salad with hummus.  We also had a French baguette we saved from the day before so we were happy enough until the last big meal on our flight back.  The vegan meal was served first once again (and good thing too because we were hungry).  It included a roll, salad and cous cous with grilled mushrooms and tomatoes.  Very tasty.  I looked over at the guy next to us eating the regular meal and it just didn’t look that great; just some meat with gravy all over it.  Once again, the vegan airplane food seemed like the right way to go!

So, there you have it, our trip to London, Paris and back again.  We were able to eat healthy, enjoy the local flavors and have enough energy to walk around all day.  A lot of times people gain weight when they go on vacation.  I would say if anything, we may have lost a couple pounds with all the healthy eating and walking we were doing.  I’ll end with a little tip for eating healthy when you’re out of town, use happycow.net to find at least a place or two to eat.  It hasn’t steered (haha, beef pun!) me wrong yet!

Euro trip part deux, Paris

I wanted to take a second to give some jet lag advice.  It’s definitely a factor whether you are flying cross-country or flying across the ocean.  Flying during the day at high altitudes exposes the plane and you to radiation.  You get dehydrated with all the changes in air pressure and lack of fluids for hours on end during your flight.  Also being in close proximity to others exposes you to many more germs than usual.  All of these factors contribute to jet lag.  May I suggest (and this is a recommendation more than a commercial) that you give Oxylent a try.  I drink one during my flight and again when I get off the plane.  Then I drink one everyday on my trip and it really helps my body to cope with all the stress factors mentioned above.

If you didn’t catch the blog on our London trip, here it is.  Unfortunately, cameras died at different times so I missed some opportunities to get pictures of our meals.  Recharging the cameras was ill-advised because of the different voltage from european outlets.  Little tip, just leave your appliances (flat iron, hair dryer, magic bullet etc) at home.  I purchased a power converter that did literally nothing to stop the 220 volts from ruining my fiance’s flat iron.  The computers were ok though because they come with their own special power converter (the box on your power cord).

We took the Eurostar train from London to Paris through the Chunnel.  On the train ride over we had lunch in the dining car and they had a nice vegan option, a falafel wrap with roasted peppers and hummus.  It was quite tasty.  We then arrived in Paris at the Guar d’Nord train station where I popped the question.  For all the sentimental types out there I figured I would include the proposal.

OK, so now I was engaged!  Time to start our Paris experience.  We went to dinner the first night at a place I found online called The Loving Hut.  The dinner was amazingly good!  We started out with a green salad that included butter lettuce, tomatoes, avocados and sprouts.  For the main course we had the sautéed vegetables and tofu with noodles dish and the veggie kabobs.  Both were so good and we didn’t have room for dessert, but would make up for that with our second trip later in the week.  It was nice because they had a menu in English and the people working there spoke English so it was a bit easier to order.  Our meal was around 35 Euro.

This restaurant is really cool. Not flashy, but they are really trying to promote healthier eating in Paris and their food is delicious.

Each day I woke up and did my regular morning routine.  I drank a lot of water with electrolytes and my Oxylent.  Then I had my super shake (although only mixed with water instead of my usual almond milk) with super greens, protein, maca and cacao.  It wasn’t delicious as normal, but wasn’t bad at all.  My stomach felt good and ready for the day after getting all the good nutrients in the morning.  We were on vacation so it’s important to splurge, especially when you are in the culinary realm of the French.  For breakfast each day we shared a baguette with apricot jam and each had a pan au raison followed by some hot tea.  This was truly a delight to start out the day.  If you’re going to load up on carbs, best do it in the morning before you go walk for miles around the city.  You’ll burn it off better and actually your body will thank you for the fuel to power through til lunch.

I'm not sure I would eat them every day of my life for breakfast, but they are insanely delicious!

There really is nothing like fresh baked bread right out the oven at 7am in the morning in Paris.

There are a lot of places around the city that serve falafel sandwiches.  Many places refer to them as the “Greek Sandwich.”  A couple days for lunch we had greek falafel at different spots.  One chain which has a couple locations around the city and even chain stores in the US as well called Maoz Vegetarian.  This place was great and I wish they had more in the US.  You can make your own sandwich.  They freshly prepare your falafel balls and put in pita bread and then you top with your own veggies and sauce.  They were delicious!

You could also get a freshly made salad with falafel balls instead of the pita sandwich.

We went back to The Loving Hut again for lunch later in the week and pigged out!  We had the spring rolls for appetizer, again got the sautéed veggies and tofu with noodles.  I switched up my main course (even though I really wanted the kabobs again) and got the spaghetti.  It was not only tasty but I can honestly say it was one of the best plates of pasta I’ve had at any restaurant, even Italian places.  They even brought me a dairy free parmesan cheese to shake on top.  We then decided to go for the banana split dessert which came with bananas, (vegan) vanilla, strawberry and chocolate ice cream with non-dairy whipped cream on top.  It was good!  The manager at the restaurant and also the chef is a trained vegan pastry chef.  We decided next time we go back we’ll have to opt for the in-house made vegan cheesecake.  Oh yea and Terri got a rose cappuccino as well and said it was one of the best ones she’s ever had.  Like I said we splurged and it was around 50 Euro.

You wouldn't think to go to an asian-theme vegan restaurant to get a good plate of spaghetti, but you should consider it if in Paris.

The rest of our trip tomorrow.  Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon!