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In the last episode of 2017 Caryn discusses the following topics: a Los Angeles Animal Services commission proposal to make shelter dogs vegan; dental hygiene; humans innate directive to be part of and support a larger entity; tips for digestive issues.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Hi everybody I’m Caryn Hartglass and this is It’s All About Food. I am pre-recording this show, it’s actually Christmas Day for me, and I am sitting by the Rose Garden in San Jose, California. I wanted to find a place that was somewhat quiet where I could get away and record this program. And it’s a funny thing because it’s hard to go anywhere where it’s completely quiet. So, there are people occasionally strolling along the park, it’s such a beautiful space here at rose garden, San Jose, California. And then of course, there are cars passing by, but the one thing that’s really amazing me is nature. We can’t control nature and that’s kind of a theme that goes on and on as we try to deal with our environment today. But I’m sitting here and I’m looking at I want to say the autumn colors leaves, its winter, but it looks like autumn here, the leaves are falling off the trees and falling on the car that I am sitting in while I record this program. So if you hear an occasional little thud or something it could be a whole bunch of beautifully colored leaves, so instead of a white Christmas here, it’s more like a gold and rust and red and brown Christmas, but it’s really lovely, and as I said I’m here in San Jose, California. I’m leaving tonight, my partner Gary and I are leaving tonight on a red eye from San Jose to New York, and then tomorrow we arrive early in the morning and I won’t be able to broadcast my program because I have to have root canal and I discovered this just before we left California early in December, so thinking about my upcoming root canal I wanted to talk a little bit about teeth care. And good dental practice, and I would love to hear from you if you any wonderful recommendations that you’ve discovered that we might share. I mean I will confess that when I was young I ate a lot of sugary foods and you know I really admire parents who raise their children from a very early age to have good care of their teeth with brushing and flossing and rinsing. I really didn’t have that, I mean I brush my teeth, but I’ve always had a hard time getting into the flossing concept. And I’ve actually heard that people have different opinions on whether it’s a good thing or not a good thing, because the string can actually be a bit abrasive to the gums some people think it’s not as good an idea as other would think of just clearing those empty spaces between the teeth, that can collect and create problems for the teeth. But I do try, and it’s a funny thing because I’m so passionate about health, why do I have this resistance or feel that it’s a bother, you know I, you know me I have no problem green juicing, and people talk about the bother of cleaning the juicier, I just say it’s a gift to myself for some reason we’re all a little nutty, aren’t we? I haven’t been able to use that kind of logic when it comes to my teeth, but you know, I’m not negligent, I just in hindsight, thinking of needing root canal now. I’m wishing that I had done more right, it’s like the joke the person who lives to a late age, 90,95,100 whatever, and they say if I knew I was going to live this long I would’ve taken better care of myself. But here are some things I discovered, I remember talking about this years ago on my Ask A Vegan program, I think that’s when I discovered it. That simply brushing your teeth for three minutes versus 30 seconds or however quickly we like to do it, makes a tremendous difference, and when I do that I really feel like I’ve had my teeth cleaned, like teeth cleaned professionally like when you go to a dentist. All the teeth feel really smooth. And just taking that time enables the brush, and the saliva, and whatever you’re using a toothpaste, a toothpowder, or nothing to actually work, and get rid of the potential plaque that’s building up. So I do have a strategy, and when I know I have some dental procedure coming up I’m a bit more vigilant you know what I mean. Lately, I’ve been a number of things: First, when I have the time, and I don’t always have the time, I do the oil pull, is everybody familiar with oil pulling, it’s when you take a little oil like coconut oil or another oil, about a tablespoon and you swish it around in your mouth for about 20 minutes and you don’t swallow it, and the idea is that toxins like to accumulate in fat, and it’s supposed to pull toxins out your body into the oil and then you spit out the oil and you’re cleansed a little bit. I haven’t seen any studies on the validity of this, but I don’t know I like to do it, I don’t do it all the time, but I like to start with that if I have time. I use a nice tooth potter that I like and when I’m done brushing, I like to swish with hydrogen peroxide or one-to-one solution peroxide three percent with water, and I think that’s a pretty good plan, and I just, and of course, flossing. And I like a vegetable waxed floss, they’re not always easy to find, but they work better for me, and that’s that. But I was recently reviewing some information for what people believe to be more holistic practices for dental care, and I was kind of fascinated by some of it, I don’t know if I will ever practice it, and I wonder if anyone out there has done some of this.
But the recommendations in 2017 and 2018, the 21st century would seem kind of out there, but I never want to judge without fully knowing, because there may be some ancient practices that really have some value that we just throw out because they’re old, and some of these things need to be looked in a lot more. But some of the recommendations were instead of using a toothbrush to use a stick of dead wood, a stick of dead wood, and preparing in such a way that when you slice it on the diagonal and then you can scrape your teeth so rather than brushing they recommend scraping the teeth with the stick of dead wood. Has anyone ever tried this or heard of this? I mean is that crazy, or is it of value? I really have no idea, and then there are a variety of herbs that are recommended to be used in an herbal toothpowder. And it’s fascinating because these things are not readily available, and there are some people who put together their own recipes of herbal toothpowders, I’m just wondering anybody out there have tried any of these mixes? So one that I saw recommended was using chaparral, which is an anti-microbial; it helps balance Ph, pitches of pine or juniper, and a little herb of bonsai for spice and then California white sage for taste. I never heard of these things and that’s what’s fascinating. Either they’re just totally, old recipes that people used that have no value or maybe they do have some value, or maybe it’s somewhere in between, I’m kind of fascinated by all of this. And then there’s the idea of using different poultices of herbs that can draw out infections in the teeth. I ponder these things as I know that I am going to have root canal, and I’m not quite looking forward to it. I had one root canal about 35 years ago, and it was, the root canal itself was fine, but the coming before it was not fine, and I always have been somewhat suspect of dentists since that time. I am suspect of doctors and dentists. I am suspect of human beings. There are some that I trust and some that I am not so sure of. I had a bad experience back then, and I feel like that dentists back then caused the infection that ultimately led to the root canal that I had, but I haven’t really had problems with my teeth, so this is hopefully a rare occurrence, and something that I will deal with. But I really again, I welcome any information you have about good dental care, I’m really open to hearing it and learning all about it. Teeth you know they’re something to be grateful for. Teeth, we only get officially two sets, baby teeth and then our adult teeth. And when they’re gone, they’re gone, there are newer technologies today that help replace teethes, teeth, and help protect them. But they are really a valuable thing to have. I like to chew, I recommend chewing all the time. In fact, when it comes to food, we want to chew our food as much as we can, chew solid foods to a liquid almost before swallowing it because we need those digestive juices to get all the good things that we want out of our food, so I’m grateful for my teeth and I want them to last me a long, long time.
All right moving on to the next thing that I wanted to talk about. The next subject is dogs. I was kind of tickled and intrigued by an article that was in the New York Times three days ago with the title, “California Today Should Shelter Dogs Be Vegan,” and apparently a proposal is making its way through the Los Angeles Animal Services Commission which could require that all dogs in the city’s public shelters be fed an all vegan diet. And they’re saying they want to do it because it’s having a devastating effect on other animals, the animals that are used to feed these dogs, and that it hurts the environment. And you know that it’s a bunch of animal rights activists that are sort of leading this, people like Moby who’s a vegan, is supporting it, and it’s a really interesting proposal and whenever I read the paper these days, I always go to the comments whenever they’re available to see what everyone’s reactions are. And if I read an article that I don’t like I’m always amused to see if people feel the same way, very often, especially in The New York Times, you find some very articulate responses, and then sometimes you just get the emotional variety, where people don’t know what they’re saying and they just feel they need to vent. And there was a lot of that with respect to this article, so there were many, many people who responded and they basically uninformed, and giving these knee jerk reactions feeling that dogs absolutely must eat meat. And who are these people, these crazy vegans, these crazy animal’s rights activists, that are trying to do this to do dogs. There’s a lot of different things going on here. I think it’s a great proposal. I think it’s a great proposal because it can save so many animal’s lives, the animals that are used for food for the dogs, and it can also improve the environment because we know that raising animals for food it devastating on the environment, ok, all of that’s good. But the question is can dogs thrive on a vegan diet, and many, many knee-jerk reactions say, no, no, no, no, dogs are carnivores and they cannot survive. But I remember talking on this program to a wonderful veterinarian and I always have to slow down and get in all those syllables when I say, veterinarian, because it’s hard to say, and interview Lorelei Wakefield and she is a veterinarian and founder, Veterinary Concierge Care. Concierge, concierge care, and we had a great discussion and I think I need to get her back because this was years back. But she said, and I’m going to quote her and but I’m looking for it right now, when I asked her, can dogs and cats be vegan? And she said that yes, dogs and cats can be vegan. Cats are more cats are more difficult, because cats are obligate-carnivores, it’s against their natural system to be vegan, but there are some that have thrived with commercially available prepared vegan diets that are made to fit their needs. But dogs, dogs are a little different, so how did she describe them? She said, ‘Technically they are carnivores, but they’re in the order carnivore, but when it comes to their physiology, they’re more omnivorous, dogs can really thrive on a vegan diet, and it’s not so controversial,’ she says. She was saying that it would take about she thinks that about 50 percent of vets would actually agree with her that dogs can be vegetarian, and probably can be vegan and be quite healthy. And she said there were studies done in India, where a large percent of the population had been vegetarian for centuries, and those dogs thrived. And that makes me that reminds me recently I was looking at a program about dogs, dogs and cancer, unfortunately, I’ll get to that in a minute. I was looking at the Guinness Book of World Records, and maybe you’ve heard this, the fourth longest living dog was 27 years old the dog’s name was Ramble, and Ramble lived on a vegan diet of lentils, rice, lentils and rice and one other thing I think they listed in the article. Yes, dogs can live on a healthy vegan diet. But let’s dig a little deeper into this conversation, because what irked me about those uninformed people who were saying no, no, no, we shouldn’t feed these dogs vegan, they don’t think twice about what most dogs are being fed today, and what are most dogs being fed today? Dog food which is garbage, just like people food, is garbage, we know that much of the food today that is available for human consumption in the United States and many other places, is industrialized, overly processed, filled with artificial flavors, seasonings, colors some things that have nothing to do with food, but are there as stabilizers things that give these foods quote, “long shelf lives” and as a result, we’re seeing a devastating impact on the health of people today, we’re discovering the impact of these industrial foods on our gut flora, and causing the leaky gut syndrome in our intestinal lining that are causing undigested food to get into our blood system and causing all kinds of autoimmune diseases, and so we’re in people, and we’re also seeing it in dogs. Because dogs get these foods too, and they’re food is a lower quality than we get because what is not improved for people sometimes is approved for dogs. And many people don’t think twice about this. And as a result we’re seeing a tremendous increase in cancer in companion animals like dogs. And I’m thinking about this proposal in Los Angeles and not only would it better for the environment because all these animals that are used to make the dog food would be raised and killed, but these dogs would likely get healthier. And it’s frustrating when people get so emotional and they are so uninformed.
There is an epidemic of illnesses in dogs and cats and other companion animals that are fed formulations that are filled with the same problems, the same problem ingredients that people food are filled with. Fillers, sugars, refined grains things that are not healthy for people, and they are not healthy our non-human animal companions. So I’m curious to see what happens with this legislation in Los Angeles, the pessimist in me says oh yeah that will die quickly, and the optimist says yeah, I hope that goes through, and I certainly do hope it goes through, but we should talk more not only what we’re feeding ourselves, but the non-human animals that are in our lives that we love. Now, I’m not one of those people because I’m not a dog person or a cat person, I respect those who have, who live with non-human animals and when I visit families who have them I like to what, I’m friendly with all those beings and I think we are meant to live with other species maybe not how we do it today with the chosen species that we breed how we like them to look, oh, that opened up another whole can of worms didn’t it? Yeah, so breeding is another problem and it is just part of the world that we live in today, I know so many people, their companion animals and like the particular breed, and go out of their way to make sure that when they are looking for a new one they get the breed that they like. But, I don’t think, I don’t want to be judgmental here, but breeding is really is a fair thing to the animals, I don’t think so, it’s another part of the hierarchy, where humans are at the top and we can control other species at our will and when and we really should be able to let all of these non-human animals live the way they want, choose the partners that they want, choose who they want to live with, rather than ripping the puppies away from their mommies and daddies so that we can have the cute little puppies for ourselves. And I’m sure Christmas there were a lot of little baby dogs, little puppies, and kittens and rabbits were given as gifts today. And it saddens me to think about me, and it’s different when you’re going to a shelter and you’re finding a non-human animal that has been abused or left behind, and you want to care for them that is a beautiful thing. But it’s also kind of a symptom, you know we talk about healing disease and the medical community often heals symptoms right, they don’t go to the cause, and so many sheltered animals, having so many animals in shelters is a symptom of a bigger problem, and I didn’t think I’d be delving into this today. But there I go, so I’m just going to review talking about food for dogs I think we should have another program where we talk about this and bring back that veterinarian that I had on once on the program, but a well-planned vegan diet can work for dogs, maybe not so much for cats, but definitely for dogs. So you can keep that in mind and know that when somebody says oh no dogs have to eat meat. I look forward to the time, I’m not a religious person you know that, but I love the image of the lion lying down with the lamb that image of all of the animals in the kingdom on planet earth, who all can live peacefully together and we don’t have to hate each other to survive. We can all live with the abundant fruits and vegetables that are growing here all over so beautifully.
Okay, here we go with some food for thought. Something that I have been thinking about, we’ve had these conversations before from time to time where we notice patterns on earth at a microscopic level that kind of seem the same at a microscopic level. What am I talking about? I am talking about how you can see these patterns where the smallest living things, bacteria, small cellular living things, ultimately seem to group together and become larger things. I am talking about how life has evolved over time. And smaller beings evolved made up of a few more cells, and then those smaller beings, kind of grouped together and ultimately become something different and something larger. And ultimately you get larger beings and animals and people, and you see with people when things are going well, we group together and we form towns and we form cities, and states, and countries, and I’ve seen certain people take this apparent pattern that seem to go with life itself starting small and then cooperating with other like species and forming something else and forming something bigger, and perhaps something I don’t want to say better, because bigger is not better, but just something larger that some people have proposed we’re struggling on earth because the goal for earth if you think of earth as a living thing Gaia, however you think about it with the earth might be striving for is that all of these cities, and states, and countries cooperating together so that we are all working together and so the ultimate goal for earth is to then when that happens join together with other planets and the work together, and cooperate and form something larger through that. It’s an interesting concept; it’s just kind of fun to look at the patterns that we see from the cellular level up unto the planetary level. And you see how cooperation and forming groups together works and there are things that work against that like disease for example. Or excuse me, polarizing politics, but I was thinking of it recently and I was having a conversation with some people we were in the capital of California on Christmas Eve, or the day before Christmas Eve actually and a couple of people make it a tradition to go to this one bar in capital and Margaretville, right on the day before Christmas Eve and it’s fun because in the town of Capital which is a very lovely, beach community the parking’s free over the Christmas period, there aren’t many people there so it’s kind of sleepy and beautiful.
We were having a conversation about corporations. And I talk a lot about corporations and something that people always boggles my mind is how is it there are always smart people, scientists and other smart people can be working and doing something that isn’t beneficial for society, for people, for the planet, and it’s like they have these shields on, and then I thought that these people are really benefiting the corporations which is like a being or an entity in itself, and there are laws now that actually consider corporations as people, right. So I was thinking maybe that’s like in us maybe it is part of our DNA that we are always looking to become a part of something, a part of something larger, something bigger than us. And when we are cooperating within that scheme to promote a larger being that feels good to us, that feels right. Now, the unfortunate thing is that larger thing we may not be able to realize when we’re within it, within its confines, that it’s not beneficial, it’s not doing good things for the future, for ourselves, for the family, for the environment, for people, for animals, but we may not be able to see that, and that gave me a little, I don’t want to say peace of mind, but a little better understanding because I always ask myself how is it that so many wonderful people, smart people can be working for corporations that aren’t doing good things for us. I remember this is when I sort of got chills actually. My first job out of college, I worked for DuPont, and I was working with a number of other young people just like myself, all graduated within the same year, or the year before, or the year after and we were all very green, we all wanted to do a good job, we were kind of intimidated by everything around us, but I remember we a number of us had to give a presentation we had to do some studies about the liability of an older process that was already there and in place and comparing it to a newer building with an upgraded version of the process. And we knew, we knew that management wanted to, to unplug the old process, just get rid of it and just focus on the newer one, and when I did my personal studies on the liability of both and the economics, I could not show that it was right decision. What I saw was it was better to keep them both open and use both of them that was more profitable. But I knew that was not the answer they wanted, and I was really conflicted, and I have to say I don’t remember what I did, but I remember the situation, and it makes me think that in similar situations in corporations even without people saying what they want and I know there are times when they actually do make it very clear what is wanted, people may realize through their research, through their numbers what is the ideal situation, but when they know what the higher ups and what the corporation really wants, they may actually go in that direction to support what their management wants, but not what is really best for the corporation, or for people, and planet, and the environment, everything like that, but there might be something in us that feels like we have to support what we feel is best for the entity that we are involved in. Yeah, is that like out there or kind of heavy?
So, I’m thinking about Monsanto, I’m thinking about a genetically engineered organisms and the one specifically that goes into our food system that have not been given any significant testing on people and certainly not any long-term testing and we’re seeing all these repercussions, as I mentioned before with our gut flora, thanks to industrialized foods, that includes genetically engineered organisms. And the people that are within these companies like [?] that are helping to produce them believe they are doing something good for the planet, they believe that are helping feeding the world, they’ve swallowed the pill. They’ve believed the company line whether it’s true or not, because they’re part of this entity. And there’s something in us that wants to support the entity that we are within. What do you think of that theory, what do you think? Let me know.
You know you can always give me your comments by sending at info@realmeals.org, and I would appreciate hearing from you. Okay, back to Christmas.
So, you know I am not a religious person, but I love holidays and festivities and fun, and we’re spending some time with Gary’s family out here in San Jose, California, and last night at Gary’s sister’s house her daughter and son-in-law were there, and her husband, and me and Gary after we had a lovely family dinner at a local restaurant, a local Italian restaurant because Gary’s family is very Italian. And we came back and opened presents, so I had purchased a few little items for Gary, just kind of fun things, and I wanted to tell you one of the things that I got him because it’s actually for me and for him, and I’m very excited about them. I bought stainless steel straws and they come with a very nice little straw brush that you can clean the inside of a straw. And it’s something that I wanted for a while and just would forget about ordering and then I saw it in a local health food store, and I just grabbed it. So you may know this, but you know that plastic is a huge problem especially for the world’s oceans. And straws are not the largest quantity of plastic items that are found in the oceans, but they are very, very problematic because people don’t go out of their way necessarily to throw them away in a proper receptacle or recycle them sometimes they just lie around on the beaches, and they get into the oceans, and unfortunately, they’re eaten by fish or they strangle different animal species in the water, and they’re creating a tremendous havoc, they’re polluting, they’re cruel, and it’s, they just seem like simple little straws, but they get embedded in turtle’s noses, you may have seen that one video that went viral a couple of years ago, with the scientist removing the straw from a turtle’s nose. They are everywhere, and something to think about. So I was happy to find them and pick them up, and I can’t wait to use them, we’re not big straw users but we do make fun drinks and smoothies, and I’m glad we now have them as a part of our life. And this whole plastic thing, I’ve been on a campaign in my own personal life, maybe this could be like a New Year’s resolution, let’s talk about New Year’s resolutions in a minute. But eliminating plastic, we can’t wait for the laws to require us to do these things especially in today’s climate where our current government here in the United States are abolishing a lot of laws and regulations that have been used to help the environment, these things are to ourselves to do. It takes small movements to make big movements, and it really bugs me when people say oh I’ll do it when everyone else does it, or it doesn’t make a difference if I do it and nobody else, of course, it makes a difference. And I’m glad I’m starting 2018 with stainless steel straws. And like I was saying I’m working to remove as much plastic as I can from the environment, it’s such an odd thing. You know I talked about my first job out of college my first job out of college with DuPont I worked as a chemical engineer, and I studied polymers, polymerization, making plastics, fascinating, but I really didn’t realize the ramifications at that time when I graduated college the devastating impact that plastic would have on our environment, and on living species and on our health. It’s just dramatic, so we can do, can we clean it up and make, turn things around, and I think we can. We have a number already, not many or cities, that are banning plastic bags, and we all have the opportunity to bring our bags to the stores when we shop, it’s a mindset, it’s just when we leave the house to go shopping, we take our wallet, we take our keys, do we take our canvas bags, it’s just a part of our behavior, or a habit and it requires a little mindfulness to get in that practice. It’s challenging for me when I’m on the road, when I’m traveling because my whole routine is shaking up a bit, but we do the best we can. But here in California, where we’re staying, you have the paper bags, they don’t give them away free, and some people don’t give plastic bags period because they are so dangerous and they’re so much plastic debris that is introduced into the ocean year after year after year, so I was really happy to find those stainless-steel straws. What did you get? Did you get some kind of gift that was especially meaningful to you on this holiday or during this holiday season or something you might want to share with us, because I’d love to hear about it, let me know, I was given another gift by the producer of the show we’re directing out here in San Jose, we’re doing Music Man with Playful People Productions, and I’m music director and the co-producer of the group Barb, is a lovely person, everybody in this group is wonderful. The mission of this group, have I told it, have I told you this, the number one mission or objective of this group is to be kind, even before they talk about promoting theatre and the arts, the number one thing is to be kind, and I’ve never seen that anywhere. And it’s really quite lovely and I’m happy to be a part of it for this show.
And Barb when she heard that my father had passed last month, she offered me a session with a grief counselor, and I’m not someone who has gone to therapy over my lifetime, I think I might have talked to someone once or twice, but it was really beneficial to do this I recommend it to everyone, but the key is, just like any product, or person you’re going to deal with like a medical doctor for example, you have to feel comfortable with the person you’re talking to, just like you have to feel comfortable with a doctor who maybe treating you because if you don’t it’s like we have an antenna that can gauge, or an instinct we can work with someone and if you’re feeling uncomfortable around medical professional or counselor they’re not the right person for you. Fortunately, this person that I had this session with was wonderful we had a really good session, and we talked about lots of things, and the one thing, one of the things that came out was talking about caring for others how we have to care for ourselves, how some people may focus so much on other people that they don’t create enough care for themselves and for a moment, you know I know how important that is, and I know we create, we create an environment for ourselves and you know my life, “It’s All About Food”, and I believe in nurturing myself and everyone around me with healthy, delicious food, because I know it makes me feel good, it makes other people feel good, I want to make it delicious, while it is nutritious, that’s my thing, but at the same time, I know there are many other things going on around me things that are not pleasant, things that aren’t good, and if I focus on them long enough, and long it can be just 30 seconds, you know I think about animals at Zachary Farms and right away I hear their pain, I hear their screams, I choke up, I can bring the tears on instantaneously and I don’t even want to talk about it right now because I know it’s going to start happening. A simple little shift, looking at the world a little differently looking at the beautiful, colorful leaves, can change your feelings. I learned again in this session or it reinforced something that I already do, and sometimes we have to get reinforcement because when we go through difficult, challenging times, it’s easy to get sucked in to the negativity and forget what’s important to us, and if there’s a way to get grounded again and become mindful again, we feel better. What I’m saying is we can choose the environment that we live in. That can make us healthier and make us feel better, and as you’re moving into the next year which is all made up anyway, you know there is no time, we just made up this calendar and we kind of go by it, but it has it benefits in that people we like to have beginnings and ends, we understand life in terms of beginnings and ends, and when I think about what happens after an end or what happens before a beginning, you know my mind kind of gets twisted because we don’t have the capacity to think about that, but we do like to have beginnings and ends, so it’s nice to put an end to 2017 it is symbolic, you can put an end to certain things that occurred this year that may not have gone so well, or you can remember the good things that happened and kind of package them up as a good little memory that you can go back to from time to time and then we like to start fresh with a new year. So I’m moving forward into this new year and thinking about things that I want to do for myself, I’m wondering what it is you’re thinking about doing for yourself a lot of people of course think about getting healthier, improving their diet, adding exercise, the interesting thing about exercise, couple of things that I learned, is more and more, we don’t have exercise too long, which is convenient, because people are very busy, what’s helpful is these short bursts of intensity in our exercise workout. So if you like to walk great, while you’re walking, like for a minute or two, walk really, really fast and then go back to your normal pace, same thing with running or you know other kinds of exercises, these short bursts of intensity are really, really beneficial because they teach our bodies how to deal with stress. And there’s a number of studies showing how beneficial they are, so I just did jumping jacks yesterday. I haven’t done jumping jacks in ages, but I was feeling fantastically fatigued, and I didn’t really have the time to exercise and I just did like 30 jumping jacks and it was very invigorating. So, you can think about that, when you’re thinking about adding exercise to your life, I would, and for those of you that are thinking about dieting or going vegan we can help you, we meaning, Responsible Eating and Living my nonprofit which promotes a healthy, vegan diet, you have all kinds of information on our website responsibleeatingandliving.com. Responsible Eating and Living is the producer of this show, “It’s All About Food,” and I love answering people’s questions so if you’re thinking about going vegetarian going vegan incorporating more plant foods into your life, if that’s your New Year’s resolution, I applaud you, and I want to help you, there are a number of ways that I can help, you can just send me an email at info@realmeals.org , and say hey I’m thinking about doing this, what do you recommend? And I’ll be happy to answer you. I do do individual coaching. I find that most people I give them a short list of activities and they’re often running and that’s really all I need.
I was at a party this week, and I met someone who just went vegan because she saw the film, What the Health?, so if you have a moment, and you haven’t seen it, you’re subscribing to Netflix, for example, or one of those other platforms, many, I know Netflix has the What the Health? for free where you can go to just Google What the Health? and go to their website, but there’s a great film to kind of give you a kick in the butt if you want one to help convince you that it’s time to eat more plants, go vegan. I can’t say enough good about it because I have been talking for decades about it, I like to say you never know how good you can feel by eating better, and of course, there’s different kinds of diets, and I like to talk about going vegan because I care about animals, I care about not killing animals, human animals, non-human animals, and as a result of the vegan lifestyle becoming more popular there are plenty of industrialized foods all kinds of junk foods, candies, desserts, cakes, that are free of animals products, but they’re not good for you. And I want the best for you; I want the best for everyone. So those foods that are vegan, that are sweet and refined, maybe think about the treats for special occasions, and there’s another thing that always blows my mind, why is it for special occasions, we want to give ourselves junk food? Does that make sense? For a special occasion, don’t we want to celebrate and treat ourselves with foods that are going to nourish us. It’s just this crazy mindset, that we’ve been manipulated to have in order for capitalists to make money off of us. It’s not that Oreos taste better than blueberries, they don’t you’ve been made to believe they do, and your poor tongues have been manipulated, your poor tongues have kind of been taken over so that your consciousness doesn’t get to decide what tastes better, but these entities outside of us, this profit making capitalistic is kind of convincing you, you need more junk food you need more garbage because we’re going to make money off of you. But when you’re eating a fresh, organic berry there’s nothing like it, nothing like it. Unfortunately, they can be very expensive to have, fresh, organic berries and that’s something we need to work on and change. So it’s really up to all of us and I’m inviting you to eat healthier, I’m inviting you to celebrate with foods that celebrate you rather than destroy you. Now, there’s a concept isn’t it? Celebrate you. I’ve been very grateful during this time here in California, we’ve been here a month and we’re going home for a week, and then we’ll going to be back here in San Jose, for more rehearsals, but people have been really loving and giving and very sensitive to our food needs, and going out of their way to make sure we have food to eat once again, Barb, the producer of the show we’re directing, she’s always bringing us wonderful foods, she, when she took me to my grief session she came with all kind of lovely things. Mandarin oranges, big bag, and some gluten free crackers, and the tree line, no it wasn’t it was a cashew cheese spread, and I’m forgetting the name of the company because there are so many of them, I can’t keep track fortunately anymore, but it was a lovely little goodie bag of nutritious things that I really appreciated. And what else? So I think my New Year’s resolution, back to that, is wheat, I’ve talked about wheat from time to time. Being gluten free is quite trendy these days. And some people say is it a real thing, this wheat intolerance, these wheat allergies, we know that people who have Celiac disease cannot eat gluten, that’s clear, but what about people who have allergies and intolerances? Are they being trendy or are they making enough? I have been suspicious for a very long time about the effect of wheat or gluten on me, I have two particular issues that occur, I get headaches and then I’m not going to give you specific details but it has something to do with the very end of my intestines where I have a problem, and it only happens, I really figured out now because I wasn’t sure, but it only happens when I consume refined wheat, it doesn’t happen when I eat a wheat product, like faro and whole grain wheat. And so I’m not quite sure what it is I’m thinking it’s maybe the glyphosate that might be used to desiccate the conventional wheat harvests, or that choose to grow some of these products, but I do know when I consume a refined wheat like a flour or a pasta I have problems. So 2018 I’m never doing it again. Now it gets complicated wonderful people who want to nourish me and offer things that are vegan, it gets complicated when you keep adding restrictions to what you can eat, and I want to be sensitive to that because I don’t want to be difficult. But, I’m not going to eat wheat anymore, ok, will you hold me to that? I talked to a lot of people who had digestion issues and what I want to say to you about that if you do is that you’re the only one who can really get to the bottom of some of these things, we are all individuals, and there’s some wonderful doctors out there, there’s some wonderful nature paths out there and then there’s some not so wonderful ones and some that think they’re informed and some that don’t and some will tell you based on some allergy test based on that is so unreliable that you can’t eat all of these super foods, and you believe them and you’re still not getting relief, and maybe you are, but the only real gauge is you. So if you’re having issues, and I’m sorry if you are, the best things to do is an elimination diet where you’re eating super super simply you get to a place where you’re feeling good and you’re stable, and then you introduce a suspect food, and how do you know what the suspect food is? Well, again that’s up to you, but many people are reactive to a number of foods, wheat, and eggs, some fish, soy, genetically modified foods, and then there are a variety of others. But you know what sometimes, and you may think this is kind of woo-woo, wah-wah, but if you can sit in a quiet space, maybe do some meditation sit back and ask your body respectfully and gratefully, what it is that is causing havoc? And sit back and don’t try and figure out the answer, sit back and relax and see if your body tells you because your body knows. This is miraculous, a miraculous technique, and I hope, that’s my gift today to think about solving your problem, giving your permission to do it on your own, and having your own body tell you what your issues are.
Okay, well, you’ve listened to an episode, the last episode of 2017 of It’s All About Food, thank you so much today for joining me and I wish you very, very happy 2018, I’ll see you then in the meantime have a delicious week.
Transcribed by AE, 1/3/2018