My son and I went to Family Camp at a Meditation Center in Vermont last week. Along with 50 or 60 other families, we slept in tents, used the outhouses, ate in the dining tent and tried to not melt in the 95˚F heat. In the mornings, Griffin would go to the “Tiger Tent” for games, art-making and even meditation for 5 year olds, and I would go to the shrine room for 3 luxurious hours of shamatha sitting meditation, walking meditation and captivating discussions on the spiritual rigors of parenting.

We could have spent much more than a week on parenting and the 6 Paramitas  (Generosity, Discipline, Patience, Exertion, Meditation and Wisdom.) But of course the spiritual path of parenting is hands-on, so after getting all blissed out and calm, I would go pick up my son and brace myself for the big fight we would have over lunch.

“I am NOT eating ANY of that!”

First I would try to find some low-nutrient-density carb to entice his taste buds into allowing his body to feel hunger on a swelteringly hot day. Then came negotiating, cajoling, playing, demanding and eventually bribing and bullying.

There are some kids that can just play and play– graze just a little– then happily play more. My son is not one of them. He will play and play, get a bit uncoordinated from being so hungry, hurt himself, then go ballistic, usually on me.

So not-eating was not an option.

Although they served quinoa and kale, and even gluten free bread, it was all unseasoned and unfamiliar. Most meals were concoctions he had never seen before (meatloaf, lentil-cauliflower soup, quiche-but-no-ketchup.) I had very little control over how it would taste.

So in the first few days I filled our plates with the amount he would normally eat, he would eat a small fraction on his plate, and then I would eat the rest so as not to waste it. I was stuffed after every meal, until I caught on.

By then, I was already off-kilter foodwise, myself.

We took to having fruit juice “pospicles” after lunch everyday, because they were cold, because they were calories and because they were slightly more effective than thumb screws to get him to eat 5 bites of vegetables.

I had them too, sometimes had some chocolate as well. Slowly it careened into a sugar binge where we’d have corn flakes together at 4pm and by week’s end, gluten-free was a futile aspiration. We had the wheat chocolate chip cookies that were on the buffet. I was drinking bad coffee with abandon.

Gluten makes Griffin cranky and rashy, but hell, he could hardly get crankier and he was covered in bug bites, scrapes and mud. As for me, I was so far off kilter, I was just riding the roller coaster now.

I had not relinquished that much control over my food since I went on food-service as a freshman in college. That was the year I gained “the Freshman 15″ so fast that I got bright red stretchmarks on my inner thighs.

(I’m turning 40 this year, by the way, and reminiscing like this makes me anti-nostalgic for my youth. You could not pay me enough money to turn back the clock and go back to being 20 years old. Just so you know. All those people who’d like to pay me to be 20 are just out of luck.)

So just to help myself remember “the good old days,” Griff and I stopped for a slice of pizza and a greek salad for lunch on the way home. The pizza wasn’t gluten free, but the chocolate chip cookies we had in the car afterwards were, for whatever that was worth, which wasn’t much.

He had 2 or 3 cookies. I sat there next to the bag in the car and ate probably 20 cookies right in a row. I was just watching myself do it. Saying “this is the last one,” then –op!– there’s another one in my mouth! How did that happen?!

Partly I was morbidly curious as to how many cookies my unbalanced body wanted– so I went with it–and partly I wanted to literally make myself feel sick in order to have motivation to clean up my act.

Does that sound nuts?

This leads to my theory of the Fast Way or Slow Way of getting Back On Track.

The Slow Path Home

In the slow version, I work with the sugar and caffeine cravings I have cultivated in my body and rather than denying them (which makes me crazy and eventually leads to some sort of backlash,) I allow myself 5 more days of having sugar and caffeine in diminishing amounts.

In this scenario, I’m pretty clear about the difference between my emotional and my physiological cravings. I’m working with my physical cravings here. (If I have emotional cravings come up during this time, I try some other and usually more effective emotionally nourishing strategy [calling my dad, watching a movie with a cup of hot sweet tea, meditating.])

I will try to get the TOP QUALITY chocolate or coffee or whatever I’m craving for this 5-day transition time. I mean go for the good stuff. The good stuff has fewer ingredients and less chance of creating confusion in your body with thickeners, preservatives and chemicals. (note: Godiva used to be the good stuff, but read the label, it’s not anymore!) The top quality stuff also helps you savor it more because it’s so good AND expensive. (That’s good! you want to feel the pinch!)

You enjoy your treats everyday, being very sensitive to eat it only until the point you are satisfied and not beyond it. You are allowing the pendulum to stop swinging slowly and if you eat past that magic point, you give your pendulum another push.

It helps very much if you have a clear and regular feeling of what it means to be balanced in your body. Balance feels calm, bright, vital and if largely free of cravings. If that’s not a familiar feeling to you, then it can be hard to aim for it.

The Fast Path Home

This is what I took yesterday. Ahem. I got SO far out of balance and then I got some kind of food poisoning. I will spare you the yucky details, but suffice it to say that at 4am, that pizza and those chocolate cookies opted for an alternate route.

I am prone to digestive upset, it’s true. But it’s also probably true that I can handle more “adventure” when my body is balanced and strong. Something got past my defenses yesterday and probably because my defenses were in sad shape.

So the Fast Path involved drinking only juice for a whole day or two. Apple/Blueberry with ice, rice milk, bee pollen, B12 and Blue/green algae for breakfast, Banana/blueberry, ice, almond butter for lunch and carrot, daikon, cucumber, lime and maple syrup for dinner.

I woke up this morning feel MUCH better, and voilà, my sugar and caffeine cravings are gonzo! That’s a nice bonus to feeling crappy for a whole day.

But the Fast Path is, I think, what I was aiming for when I was eating enough cookies to bring on a feeling of being sick. I believe deeply in the wisdom of learning from your pain, even to the point of calling it into your life.

**Caveat**–This does NOT work for people with true food addictions! But for many of us, pain is the quickest possible way to reconnect with our formidable motivation to feel better.

The exasperated, frustrated feeling of “I’m SO DONE with this!! ARGH!!” is the gold at the bottom of the downcycle. (Note that this does not include shame or self-loathing or disgust, which are feelings that keep you stuck.)

So, the week of camping, junkfood and meditation was a rousing success, especially if Griffin and I can pull out of the tailspin within a week or 10 days.

I have a headstart on him in the race back to being balanced. But with a little food magic, the kid will be back to his mild and constant sugar cravings in no time!

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I talk all the time about how your relationship with good food goes in cycles. You eat well, then some thing happens and you get derailed for a while, eating crap. That eventually gets really old and you clean it up again, and so it goes. On and on. For years.

Sometimes, when you “bottom out” in the cycle, it seems to have an extra gravity, doesn’t it? Like you got caught in a tar pit, when self-care is just a hypothetical concept you laugh scornfully at.

“Yeah, yeah, exercise and a bowl of broccoli sound LOVELY for someone who has TIME! My life is so far from achieving the whole ’self-care package’ of eating well, exercising and sleeping, that there’s no point in even starting. I’m going to Dunkin Donuts. Want anything?”

Sometimes it’s regular old disorganization, other times it’s self-defeating thinking.

But sometimes we are on the threshold into a new stage of development in our lives and it’s SCARY. Sometimes our life invites us to step UP, to inhabit a larger, more spectacular version of ourselves that feels…too… good.

Boy THAT, my friends, is when my self-care goes to hell. Read more »

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I had seriously one of the crappiest days I had had in years about a week ago. A royal suckfest. I was really busy, as usual, but I was dragging my butt through my tasks, heartsick and bummed out. I also happened to be totally out of food and really hungry. So I found myself in the supermarket, shopping, in my painter clothes.

I got my usual staples and then worked my way to the ice cream aisle, and stared at the pints of chocolate coconut ice cream.  I was having a gloves-off, let’s-do-some-damage kind of sucky day when the weirdest thing happened.

You know, 20 years ago, I had lots of really crappy days. They were a regular occurrence. But back then there was a sort of satisfaction and logic to inflicting self-injury. I would hurt myself with food. Eat bad stuff. Way too much of it. Then sometimes throw it up. I would try to steer my emotional tornadoes into positive things like bike riding, but it often wasn’t enough. There was something way too gratifying about eating an entire box of junky cereal.

So here I was, with my forehead pressed against the freezer glass, glaring at the ice cream, wanting to play really loud heavy metal in my car on the way home, when I realized… I didn’t want ice cream. I truly didn’t want it.

Clearly I wanted something, so I just bumped around the store until I found what it was that I wanted. Something that would make me feel decadent and satisfied and awesome.

Broccoli Rabe.

(What? What the hell? Broccoli freaking rabe? Seriously?)

Yep. Broccoli Rabe. With cheese sauce made from that awesome Dubliner cheese (Kerry Gold– Grass fed.) That was EXACTLY what I wanted on my crappiest day ever. Then a Mosh Pit.

I REALLY get how good eating habits can fall apart when your life gets insane. Divorce? Elderly parent move in with yah? Illness in your family? Bugging out from the financial pressure? Yeah. That’s when the easiest, most processed, least vital food seems to swarm over your whole family.

It’s like the food manufacturers have “vulture” marketing schemes aimed precisely at the people who are under stress. “Eat this because it’s easy,” it says, and then in small print “nevermind the mental fog, (coffee will help that,) and the heartburn and diminished ability to handle stress have nothing to do with this product.”

We eat poor quality food because of stress and then it diminishes out ability to handle stress. It’s a TRAP. “Easy” food is what you eat if you do NOT want to be free.

I swear to you, I don’t know HOW I would have made it through the last 8 months without huge plates of vegetables (the original easiest food)  at least twice a day. It allows me to handle stress better. FAR better.

My divorce has been a cakewalk, compared to some. But there is no way to avoid the fact that the best intentions don’t prevent you from having horrible days. It’s a condition of being human.

Getting clear of food addictions, cravings and even myths like “ice cream makes you feel better” is the way to freedom and to living a powerful life, even on those horrible days. (ESPECIALLY on those horrible days!)

Want to hear more about that? Check out my newest offering. I want to create a tribe of people aiming for exactly that kind of freedom.

___________________________

Feel free to keep in touch by signing up for my newsletter:
http://www.mindbodynutrition.net/resources/newsletter/

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This interview is the first in a new monthly series called “Ask the Power People.” To preregister for the whole series, get an MBN Community Membership here.

This interview is from April 20th, 7:30pm EST with David Gershon, founder and CEO of Empowerment Institute. He is one of the world’s foremost authorities on behavior-change and large-system transformation, and applies this expertise to issues requiring community, organizational, and societal change.

I asked David about the technology of empowerment in a person’s life, as well as how to effect larger social or organizational change.

He shared some stories about Dr. Christiane Northrup, John Mackey and a band member from Aerosmith who attended his training program. And take a guess how David eats!

Inspiring Stuff! Click the link Below to listen (and please excuse exasperating technical foible at the beginning!)

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I feel like I’m in a Chrysalis. I’m living in a little cottage in the Maine woods while I renovate the house I just bought in Camden, Maine. I’m fast approaching the threshold of busting out of my little chrysalis cottage and moving into my new life.

My friend just taught me how to tile floors and we tiled my bathroom floors! I have wheeled and dealed the objects I could sell from the basement and pulled off (with mucho help) an epic trip to IKEA to buy 2 whole new kitchens. (It’s a duplex and the second kitchen will eventually be for cooking classes!)

Yesterday, I was covered in tile dust and had mortar on my face and caked under my fingernails. I had an appointment after this tiling date. Get this. I had to get dolled up for a professional photo shoot at Rheal Day Spa with photographer Sarah Szwaijkos and my sisters at the Camrock Network. That’s right, I went from muck-smeared tile rat to glamorous goddess within one hour.

The transformation just about gave me whiplash, but I rolled with it and had a lot of fun. I’m doing a lot of transforming lately, but that was just about the most visually dramatic. (Although I have to admit, the mortar wasn’t completely out from under my fingernails!)

Next month in my April newsletter, you’ll not only see Sarah’s new portraits, but some of my newest programs and services to kick off this new era of my life.

Want a sneak peek?

OK, check it out:

I’ve scheduled interviews with some FASCINATING people who have big impacts in the world around them.

On April 20th, 7:30pm EST I will be interviewing David Gershon, founder and CEO of Empowerment Institute. He is one of the world’s foremost authorities on behavior-change and large-system transformation, and applies this expertise to issues requiring community, organizational, and societal change.

If you are interested in understanding the technology of what makes you change and how to change the world, then you don’t want to miss this call! Register here now.

Want more?

On April 27th, I will be interview my secret weapon in healing myself from a 7 year chronic illness. Amy Jenner is a 5 elements practitioner who practices medical Chi Gong. She literally pulled my life force out of the grips of a tenacious energy imbalance that would not let go. Her treatments were nearly the only thing that made me feel vibrant for about 2 years.

Amy will be discussing overcoming chronic illnesses, like Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, candida, IBS, chronic fatigue or frequent headaches. She’ll illuminate how the Five Element system of Chinese medicine, a 2500-year-old method of healing that brings people back into balance, allows for the profound healing that arises out of the deepest intelligence of the body, mind and spirit to occur.

You can register for that call here. You don’t want to miss this call.

If you can’t make the live calls, register anyway and the link to the recording will be sent to you.

So there’s a little sneak preview of what I’m up to here in my chrysalis in the woods. I’ve got mortar under my fingernails and a sparkle in my eye!

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Being a “holistic health counselor” means that I deal with all aspects of my clients’ lives. That means from emotional eating after a hard work week to looking at test results. I’m not a medical practitioner, however. I’m a lifestyle-change-agent.

When people come to me frustrated by their long-term inability to lose weight and keep it off, I dig deeper than the “calories in- calories out” model. Together we looks for signs of hormone imbalance and then lifestyle patterns that are holding that imbalance as the status quo.

Hormone imbalance often looks like this: a woman who is dedicated to her work, yet she also loves to fit in the other elements of what she feels should be in a balanced life: exercise, keeping a garden, volunteering, time with her spouse, time with her children or grandchildren, family gatherings, shopping, meal planning and cooking, care of her pets, vacations. I mean really. Just reading the list is exhausting.

The fact is, most modern American women get regularly adrenally fatigued. That leads to sugar cravings which leads to insulin resistance. Insulin is not just a hormone, it’s THE hormone system upon which the rest of the endocrine system takes its cue.

An over-committed life often leads to use of caffeine and sugar in a way that throws your hormones out of whack. It’s simple as that. You don’t need to be a medical practitioner to see the common sense in that. The problem is, while a doctor can tell you about this connection, our system isn’t set up for your doctor to sort through all the tiny factors that are holding your life in a pattern that supports your use of sugar and caffeine. (What, willpower?  You and I both know how well THAT works. Other strategies work much better than willpower for permanent change. )

The factors that hold your life in patterns that encourages hormone imbalance, are not just personal, they are political and social and spiritual. And the only way to free yourself from such patterns is to illuminate them so you can see them and then have the CONSCIOUS choice of participating in them, or not.

Here’s an example; one of my favorite clients has spent years doing well in a job didn’t feel good to her. She was GOOD at it, one of the best in her field in fact, but it sapped her lifeforce. It also required a long commute, so the time she spent in the car to and from her job on the days of her commute became her days to eat the crappiest travel food. We excavated what emotions might compel her to pull into that drive through, how to get aware of the emotional triggers and make room for alternative outcomes. She has made amazing changes!

Now she prepares all her own travel food (whole grain, gluten free and sugar free) and has really settled very confidently into a new lifestyle.  Her hormones have stabilized, she was able to go off insulin and she lost 72 pounds, which is GREAT, but it’s not even the best part! The best part is that she created a private practice closer to home that will be more satisfying for her and she is blossoming personally and professionally.

That’s what I’m talking about! I LOVE that! That’s the “holistic” part. Our food tends to act as a mirror for us.  What’s not working in our lives shows up in our food. And conversely, when our food is working well for us, our lives open up into new possibilities. You can become the best version of yourself when you eat well! It’s my pleasure to watch this happen over and over.

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To keep in touch, sign up for my newsletter at http://www.mindbodynutrition.net/resources/newsletter/

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For those of you who were on this teleclass  (How to Get Hooked on Healthy Habits) did you go to the place you thought of in our visualization? Did you really go there?

There are places that just hold a special place in your heart. Here in Maine, we have the blessing of living by the ocean, with an incredible coastline. There’s a place in Rockport that I have always loved with a dirt road that snakes along the coast. I never get sick of going there. It smells like cedar trees.  Last fall, I developed a habit of going there to run. During the run, there are two places I stop. First is a tiny, wooden, open-air chapel with a rough stone floor that overlooks the ocean. I do a meditation there in which the sounds of the ocean and the wind blowing the tops of the pine trees anchors me into the present moment. I watch my breath until the wind and the view actually crowd out the yakyakyak of my thoughts, and then I ask for guidance. After that I run again until I end up at the place where big, smooth boulders tumble down into the surf and I stop again and do yoga, stretch out and look at the lobster boats on the sparkling water.

I’ve done this ritual in all seasons and at all different times of day and I cannot tell you how addicted I am to it.  I cannot wait to do it again every time, even right after I finish.

So what’s the secret of getting addicted to good things like this instead of to self-destructive habits? Read on.

Read more »

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On the eve of this holiday, I have been trying to teach my son that Christmas is about giving and about feeling and expressing gratitude. Of course, he’s five, so it’s mostly countdown to presents, but we’ve created some cool Christmas cheer, too. Check out this collage he put together to be our Christmas card.

Holidays are hard, eh? It’s hard to keep your equilibrium with all the extra parties and the entire part-time job that preparing for the holidays entails. What if you have extra stress happening at the same time? I’m not going to pretend I’m anywhere close to on top of my life. I’m so not!

As a matter of fact, I’m going through a “relationship transition” and moving house. I’m racking up some points on the “life stress scale.”

Interestingly enough, though, I feel great physically. One of the side benefits of having increased stress is that I’ve gotten addicted to running again in the last few months. I’m also eating really well and my sleeping pattern goes like this; For 2 or 3 days, I sleep six hours, wake up rested and bound out of bed to get to work. Then, I get really tired and sleep hard for 10 hours. (Then, sometimes, I fall asleep with my son at 8:30 and then am WIDE AWAKE til midnight…)

All I can say is, I’m psyched to be addicted to things like vegetables and exercise rather than sugar and alcohol. It wasn’t always this way.

I had this bad habit of eating entire boxes of cereal when I got stressed out in my 20s. Then occassionally I’d put new holes in my own body (ear, nose, eyebrow.) Sometimes it was a response to stress, sometimes it was simple reckless self-destructiveness.

I don’t recall a point at which I consciously decided to get addicted to positive, life-affirming things, but I did. I had both options around me of course. I even TRIED to learn to smoke, because all my friends did! (And still do! You know who you are!)  I sort of found a common ground between reckless self-destruction and life-affirmation with my reckless, life-affirming trip around the world. Slowly I was just steadily drawn to whatever forced me to grow. (Sometimes that feels good, but a lot of times it doesn’t!)

I found that growth often calls for a good habit that will neutralize a bad habit. Exercise, for example, was my antidote to bulemia in my early 20s because it gave me a sense of empowerment. Whole food neutralized my out-of-control sugar addiction. Right now running is neutralizing my stress and a regular spiritual practice is grounding me when I feel like a small bird caught in an upward-rising thermal.

The older I get (I’ll be 40 in 2010!) the more I’m leaning towards the light. I am really feeling the value of being “addicted” to habits that keep me rested and vibrant and clear during this major life transition.

My wish for all who lay eyes on these words is peace. Peace of mind and gentleness with yourself wherever you are in your life. May your holiday be full of restorative rest and overflowing joy.

Holly

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Here they come! The holidays. A mixture of excitement, joy, overwhelm and reckless abandon. It creeps up on you every year, doesn’t it? And yet you can see it coming.

Thanksgiving is first. The old standards come out, there’s so much emphasis on the food… you actually try not to eat and then you get hungry and there are so many treats around… you’re socializing while you’re eating and then all of a sudden, you’re stuffed! But it’s the holidays and you’re so “good” most of the time. You’re SUPPOSED to indulge at this time of year!

Right?

Read more »

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The time is here when we give ourselves permission to go to town with those mini candy bars “just for a few days.” It just happens to be coinciding H1N1 hitting our state.

Yet we know that sugar is one of the triggers for lowering our immune system, along with alcohol, stress and lack of sleep.

While this “swine flu” doesn’t seem to be more severe than a regular, seasonal flu (with some unpredictable exceptions) it is way, way more contagious than a regular flu.

Watch this 60 Minutes video about how it’s spreading and why young people are more at risk than those who were born in the 30s and 40s. Read more »

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Empty Nest?

Did your youngest just leave home? Wow, it’s SUCH a perfect time to go all-organic, exercise and finally focus on taking care of yourself.

But…yet you might find yourself longing for comfort foods, even misting up at that box of mac and cheese that you weren’t very interesting in before. What’s going on??

Give yourself some time. Really. It’s a major shift in your life. Allow it to rock you for a while. The only real deadline is that it would be nice to regain your balance before the holidays throw you off again. Read more »

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Dear lawmakers-
We are witnessing a moment in history when massive, fundamental shifting is possible. There are very powerful people in this country who are interested in preserving the status quo of profit-driven politics that keep millions of Americans uninsured and underinsured, not to mention addicted to processed food and sick enough to require medication. It is only during a crisis that powerful players who helped create our crisis don’t have the influence that they are used to having. These simultaneous economic  and health care crises are giving us a tremendous opportunity; to finally shift the status quo in our health care system. Read more »

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I have a renewed respect for single parents after the week I just had. My husband was just away for a week on an incredibly-well-deserved vacation (solo kayaking at Moosehead Lake.) I got everything done. I fed the dog and gave her her meds. I emptied the dishwasher and the dehumidifiers under the house. I fed, bathed and nuzzled my son to sleep every night. Then I got up and cleaned the kitchen and finished all my domestic work by about 9:15pm, at which time I would start my other work. Read more »

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No one is happy with their current health care benefits (except, perhaps, Congress who have blessed themselves with lavishly complete medical benefit plans,) but according to a recent article in AARP magazine, we in the US are now spending about $8000 per person per year and we’re getting crappy results for that exorbitant investment. Our hospitals are suffering, our doctors aren’t happy and patients are fearful and stressed-out and over-medicated. The universal health care models in Europe are spending approximately half that much and are getting better results. A recent study revealed that three decades ago, 7% of American corporate profits went towards health care costs and now the average is 50%! It’s amazing that anyone is attached to the status quo, but we need only see who is struggling against of health-care reform to know who is making money off the pain. There are powerful entities in this country who are invested in keeping people passive, unwell and prescribed-to. Read more »

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A friend of mine recently had a skin irritation in her armpit that turned into an abscess that had to be surgically removed. OUCH! A course of antibiotics followed. She had been using an antiperspirant for 20 years and apparently her pores just clogged up. Antiperspirants work by using aluminum to stop the functioning of sweat gland. Deodorants, on the other hand, use antibacterials to stop odor, but they don’t stop the flow of sweat. She switched to using a deodorant until the abscess healed and then went back to using the same antiperspirant. The same thing happened and she had to go on antibiotics again to avert another surgery.

Read more »

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For school break, my son and I flew to Grammy and Grampy’s house in Ohio. Oh what fun we had! The Aquarium! The Train Museum! The Children’s Museum of Cincinnati. It’s good fun heading to a big city, but boy is it a wilderness of whole food.

This is modern America. Interstate 95 runs from Maine all the way down to Florida in one gigundous corridor of fast food franchise. This is true of every highway in every single state. For those of us who set an intention to eat seasonal, local, whole food that would be recognizable to our ancestors, the simple act of eating real food while away from home seems impossible.

Instead, there is a smorgasbord of highly processed, genetically-modified, pesticide-sprayed, federally-subsidized wheat accompanied by the meat and milk of extremely unlucky creatures and finished off with additives, preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. De-lish! Read more »

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My New Favorite Book

This is one of those books that I swear I want to clear my schedule so that I can just sit down and read it til I’m done. My good friend Elizabeth told me about this book that was written by her doctor– that I might be interested in it. WOW! It’s called The Jungle Effect, but Daphne Miller, MD. (2008) It’s part travel log, part culinary anthropology and part cookbook.

Dr. Daphne sets about researching the diets in the epidemiological “Cold Spots” around the world. Some places are “Hot Spots” for diseases like heart disease (guess where) and other places are the opposite. Dr. Daphne actually travels to these cold-spot locales (Copper Canyon, Mexico, Crete, Iceland, Cameroon and Okinawa) to see what the people are eating and reports back on the virtues of food systems that have evolved over the millenia. Read more »

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1.) Eat well yourself. If your relationship with food needs some work, there is nothing that will have a greater single impact on your kids’ health for the rest of their lives than for you to eat well and feel good yourself right now. (Need help with that? Hire a health counselor!) The “do what I say and not what I do” line your parents gave you never worked when YOU were a kid and it won’t work now. Kids listen to your actions, not your words. Furthermore, the Center for Disease Control has said that children born in the year 2000 are predicted to be the first generation to die at a younger age than their parents (that’s us) and its because of what we feed them. At least we started out eating real food. Kids now eat pure crap. (And BTW never underestimate how easily they pick up on Oreos on your breath and wrappers in your car. A double standard blows your cred.) Read more »

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My proverbial cup runneth over with optimism.  It’s not just because Barack Obama finally took the oath of office, but boy did that help! His inaugural speech moved me deeply and it feels as if we have palpably turned a corner in history. The problems are still there but our capacity to meet them has changed. We have turned a corner but now we face a precipice.

The paradigm has needed to change for a very long time. Paradigms have changed throughout history. That’s what makes up history. But as David McCullough has said, “History didn’t have to go the way it did. Nothing is inevitable.” Our choices now are crucial.

And it was Margaret Mead who said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

I see evidence of the paradigm shifting on political, environmental, societal and spiritual levels. Who doesn’t feel it? The financial crisis is a major paradigm shift, hopefully one where we remember  (or learn) how to save up before we spend and contract our consumption to a level that maybe approaches one that’s sustainable. Read more »

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Does guilt work as a motivator to change your life for the better in a longterm way? Both my observation and my experience tell me that, at best, it’s an unnecessary expenditure of precious energy, and at worst, it can lead to bad backlash. Backlash is when you find that you’ve just eaten/drunk/done the very thing that you swore you would NEVER eat/drink/do ever again, period. Whoops.

It’s actually easier, more realistic and requires less psychic energy to just anticipate that you WILL eat/drink/do it again and that hopefully next time you will have your eyes open while you’re doing it so that you can at least learn something from it. We are cyclical creatures. We all have cycles. For some that means maintaining an intense pace of life and then crashing hard 3 or 4 times a year. For others it’s feeling awesome for a few weeks and then kind of down for a week. For many the cycles are more subtle. Read more »

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