BLOWING UP

It's been a rough several weeks. I had the opportunity (thanks to my friend Ameena) to rent a space in Tribeca to open up M.S. APOTHECARY (which has been a virtual store up until now). It has been kicking my ass trying to carry the two businesses right now (Beauty By Mary Schook).

That would explain why once again I have neglected this blog, BUT I have been staying true to the organic as usual. The only time I caved was when we hosted Gordon Ramsay's baker for our Holiday Grand Opening. I had to taste test the product for our upcoming events. I'm such a snob when it comes to cupcakes and up until now I never liked a cupcake in the entire city of New York!

So anyway back to my strategy that I was going to tell you about. I had joined Organic Liason, Kirstie Alley's new weight loss/lifestyle company. I was looking forward to my product kit which includes 100% USDA certified organic supplements. One product is a beverage you drink which contains chromium. It just made me pee like crazy all day. Then it has a beverage that you drink in the evening that reminds me of a product called CALM. To top it off they have a product called Nightingale which I'm not a huge fan of. I researched the L-Tryptophan in there which seemed to give me some problems and decided I couldn't do it anymore.

All-in-all the supplement portion of the program is not something that suits my lifestyle right now. I'm dealing with 2-4 hour interrupted sleep nights because there is too much work that has to get done and when I rely on other people to help me they have been dropping the ball which only doubles my workload!!!

Despite the fact that I can't really use the program with my current lifestyle I felt it was important to still be a part of the Organic Liason system. They have a geolocator where you type in the zipcode on their site and they will tell you where you can find restaurants and stores that are organic. Brilliant right? I'm currently at 10013. I punched it in and found out the bar, Walker's within 100 yards of the store was listed. I just came from Walker's and NOTHING was organic. I think the wait staff had to try their best to contain themselves when I asked! They double checked with the chef and the chef said they will carry organic chicken at night. Sorry, but this is unacceptable. I had a limited amount of time to try to grab something to eat and this just made me very unhappy! I don't have time to now go and research other restaurants that they have listed. When I get a moment after the holiday season I will definitely be looking into this. Again what a bummer.

Part two of this entry is about the fact that now that the weather has changed I have noticed many menus have not. While many restaurants say that their food is organic I have a hard time believing it. I keep getting reactions after I eat certain foods.
Many would argue that the lack of sleep that I am getting is the source of the problem, but my response is I never got much sleep before. The stress has definitely increased, but it's good stress and lots of exciting changes that I live for!!!

I go back to the interview that I did earlier in the year with the Alberto, the owner of Gusto Organics. He told me that many restaurants will buy a certain number of organic chickens and then they will buy the rest of the chickens from the industrial companies while still claiming that they are organic. I trust his opinion only because I have seen Gusto Organics run out of their skirt steak for weeks which is probably their top selling dinner!!! Now that is loyalty to the customer and hopefully it pays off for him eventually!

So for now I will have to pray that I don't gain too much weight from trusting people when they say something is organic. It makes me sad and reminds me that there is such a long way to go.

Back to work! Got a store to run!!!

SKIN ALERT

Another experiment took place yesterday. I went to a wedding out of town. Given special circumstances I decided I was not going to think about what I would or wouldn't eat at the wedding. I had heaping amounts of stuffed grape leaves, only water to drink, meatballs, rice paella, potato chips, greek salad, cheese, a few bites of pasta, and lots of cake. I stayed away from most of the raw vegetables because I knew if they weren't organic I'd get an insane migraine. So didn't matter. Talk about the worst food hangover on the planet!!! This is the first conventional cake that I've had all year. I already have a gluten intolerance. I feel like I've been vomiting from food poisoning for the past 24 hours. My tummy is really upset!!!! (p.s. I did not vomit). My waist is enormous. My hands, face, legs.....all of it is swollen. What's worst of all is the angry acne (as pictured here) that's just appeared on my face and chest. There are some pretty sizable blisters on my legs as well. I will NEVER do this again. I have learned my lesson.

The next thing to also talk about this week is the seasons have changed. NY is very cold. Somehow menus at some of the "organic" places don't seem to have changed with the seasons. That being said I have started to pick up some weight. I eat less now. I'm eating a bit more fried fish. Still having my ice cream. Still working out every day. The routine hasn't changed, but looks like the food source has?

Is Gustorganics the only place I can trust? I really wish I could eat there all week, but I JUST don't have the time or a consistent schedule. I'm really friendly with many other places, but even the guacamole at Chipotle is looking a little fluorescent right now....hmmmm.

Next week I will talk about some new plans I will have in place. In the meantime I have to get back to my day job....or rather my 24 hour a day job!

Thanks again for visiting!!!

OBESOGENS

Check out the blog http://whatsupwithred.blogspot.com/

Marnie puts in a lot more explanation of obesogens and what you should know about plastics, chemicals, etc.

Great job Marnie!

ORGANIC CENTRAL

This Sunday I'm going to be away on business so I am actually writing an entry in advance.
For anyone that is wanting to go organic and is looking for awesome resources this is your link!
It's the consumer's guide to buying organic. I wish I had seen this closer to the beginning of my journey. I can't believe it's coming to an end!
I can see I'm starting to relax on my experiments a bit which only ends up giving breakouts, stomach aches, or food comas. I imagine at this point if I wanted to stop doing organic I really couldn't. The natural thing right now is not really working either. It's been putting a little back on to my midsection. Getting fat off of vegetables? Wait that's why I started this in the first place. I was getting fat off of one salad a day with no dressing, chicken, egg, and avocado were my fats in there.
Now I really eat like a pig and lose weight.
Go figure. Wonder if it has anything to do with eating organic? ;)

MISERY LOVES COMPANY

I'm so excited to see that Glamour Magazine (November issue) did a big junk food test. It begins on page 147. They did a day by day account of what was consumed and how the writer felt after those days. It's like an editorial version of Supersize Me.

I found it fascinating only because I don't really eat crap. Fried foods make me throw up because of the grease and sugar makes me moody. Chocolate around my period is a whole different story. Pastas and breads make me crash and burn and I haven't touched a soda in years unless it's in an alcoholic beverage and that was more than a year ago.

On day one Beth Shapouri, the writer/tester(from Kentucky) had a sugar crash.
Day 2 was "headache central".
Day 3 she had a cheese hangover (food coma).
Day 4 she had roller coaster hunger.
Day 5 she had the jitters.
Day 6 she had a breakdown.
Day 7 she had a problem finding her full button.
Boy can I relate to that feeling. I would know that I was eating a lot of food, but I couldn't seem to satisfy my hunger. Most other times I would just not eat. It was always one extreme or another and the only thing that seems to help it is going to the gym on a daily basis or staying active.

Sometimes I wish our bodies were a little more intelligently designed, but actually we are. We have become so busy and out of touch with ourselves that we don't really know what we want and soon enough ads and media are there to pick up the slack and tell you what you want and need. It's pretty insane really.

I really suggest reading this article. It's like a mini version of what my journey has been like. I actually still have not been trying to lose weight right now like I said I finally would. My life has been truly insane. I did run across some very interesting HCG however, but I would prefer waiting until after my organic journey is done. My life and plans change minute to minute so we'll see.

Oh my organic ice cream moved in next to my office!!!! I've literally been eating ice cream every day and still looking good!

See you guys next week!

Mary Schook

BIODYNAMIC

EVERYONE is carrying around a glass of wine at EATALY here in New York City. It's quite beautiful and romantic. It also reminds me of the days of gluttony in old Roman Times I used to read about.

I am constantly roaming through Eataly to find organic products. It gives me a little sense of the days of when I used to live in Italy. Eataly is definitely fresh and natural.[But I have now discovered eating that way makes me gain weight in hyper speed and also gives me a lot of headaches.]

One of the places I paid a visit to was the wine shoppe attached to Eataly. The clerk was quite helpful and went on to suggest biodynamic wines they carry in the restaurants. He also introduced me to the Italian wine guide that would list wines as either conventional, natural, or organic.

Biodynamic is a big buzz word that kept coming up so I decided to investigate what biodynamic was. It actually sounds like the way farming used to really be, but it's only been around since 1924. There's a site http://www.biodynamics.com/ that explains a lot more about Biodynamic and what farms are doing it.

On the Biodynamic list for New York is a place called Roxybury Farm. You should check out the site. It really seems like a place I would like to venture to in my "spare" time. They are basically a food share, but I haven't had time to immerse myself into all of the site.
The fruit is not organic.

As I'm writing this I'm already getting another splitting headache from a store that says their produce is organic.....being on organic patrol can be exhausting and disappointing.

See you next Sunday!

MS

EAT PRAY LOVE

For the last two weeks I have been immersed with Fashion week and clients returning without a minute to spare here. During that time I have had the great fortune of dining at Mario Batali's new place next to my office called Eataly.

Italian men love their women. They love to watch them eat good food, because "life's too short". Actually in all honesty they prefer seeing women make their food, but at Eataly sitting at the Pesce counter makes me feel like the movie Eat, Pray, Love. For me it's a wonderful dining experience (especially the salmon roe and bronzini).

Eataly made me decide and wonder if I was taking this ORGANIC thing too seriously. I mean the whole point of this experiment was to figure out how my body reacts to food. So for the past two weeks I have been eating "natural" and "locally sourced".

Aside from the mini egg rolls at the wedding I went to last night at the New Leaf Cafe along with a couple of bites of cupcake I have gained sooo much weight. I get major headaches, bloating, and worst of all I am NOT satisfied when I eat.

I totally forgot the feeling of not being satisfied. It's like you just can't stop eating. There's no off button. It's horrible!!!
My stomach is a bowling ball. My hands are swollen. I keep getting bags and swelling under my eyes which indicates the liver is going into overtime. My face and neck are swollen. I just can't do "natural" anymore.

Many people have laughed about the organic idea. They tell me that organic is a joke. I can understand their frustration. I can't tell you how many times someone told me something was organic and then I would have a reaction. After I would have a reaction I would go back to the owner of the restaurant or to the source only to find that the food was NOT organic!!! They really didn't think it was a big deal.

So many people are throwing in the towel saying what's the point? Even this week I posted on my facebook that I needed to start handing out violations for all of the false marketing and deception going on.

The body doesn't lie. The only place in all of New York I actually feel safe is Gustorganics. I don't get headaches, breakouts, or indigestion from their food. If the world could only be a Gustorganics.

The owner agrees that USDA is not perfect, but it is a start. It takes time to make a change and perfect things.

So for all of the doubters out there I am now taking this journey to a whole new level. For over 8 months I have not been trying to lose weight and I have lost over 70 lbs. Now I'm actually going to start to try to lose weight and see what happens.

Another thing I need to talk about is my schedule. I have too many irons in the fire at the moment. It takes a lot of time and energy to blog so I am now going to only do posts every sunday. I appreciate you guys following my journey and all of the feedback you continue to give me. It has really helped me to continue blogging on about this.

Please continue to send me your stories. I will keep you posted on my journey.
xoxo mary

PETITION FOR BETTER FOOD KY!

After my eye-opening grocery shopping trip in Kentucky I decided that something has to be done. Louisville desperately needs a place to find better quality foods at decent prices!!!

I just finished shopping at Trader Joe's here in NYC and I think I paid 1/10th of what I did in Kentucky for all kinds of food! Isn't New York legend for being more expensive???!!!!

After speaking to many of my KY peeps on facebook I figured there has to be some way to make their requests heard. I found a petition site online. Yeah!
I hope getting 10,000 signatures from people in Kentucky might be enough to get Trader Joe's to seriously listen. If we can get even more all the better. This might even get Kroger, Whole Foods and the other stores to lower their outrageous prices or seek out more organic solutions!!!

You can sign the petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/view/we_need_trader_joes_in_louisville_kentucky

CONSUMER POWER

I'm so glad to see consumers raising their voices and beginning to be heard. Here is a link to an article about sugar versus high fructose corn syrup. http://tinyurl.com/23m3uec The big brands are starting to play around with their formulas and ingredients because they're recognizing there is a demand for better quality in regards to food.
Consumers still need to be more educated and specific. White sugar is still processed! Is it still better than HFCS? I'm sure the body can at least recognize it better.

I am also pleased to report that the stoppage I was experiencing from eating Denny's and Famous Dave's last Sunday is finally beginning to exit the building and my body's swelling is going down. I couldn't even work out this week I was so uncomfortable which is a first for me in a year!!!!!

Glad to be almost back!

THE GREAT EXPERIMENT

As I have mentioned in the past if I ate something that was not organic I would have severe reactions to the food. They include toxin spots oozing with blood and pus and major headaches behind my eyes.

For months I have been bracing myself to eat at my grandmother's favorite place, Denny's. I don't have the heart to make an aging woman go through my organic experiment. So this past week as planned I went ahead and ordered the Moons over My Hammy (eggs with ham and cheese) and the cheese fries. Hey if I'm going to break organic I might as well go all the way. Much to my surprise the only thing I experienced was severe bloat (probably from all of the salt). No ketchup on the fries. No extra salt. Just the sandwich and the fries. In total I consumed 1400 calories in that meal. The sandwich tasted good, but the fries tasted fake and tasteless to me. What was sad is less than two hours later I was starving again as if I had never eaten anything. My stomach looked like I was in the early stages of pregnancy.

Then my grandmother wanted me to go to dinner with her as well. I wasn't so worried about dinner since I seemed to survive breakfast okay. We went to Famous Dave's and I ate the rib tip dinner as pictured here on the left. The entire platter was actually only 1073 calories. The sides all tasted fake to me, and the meat was just okay. Nothing amazing...until I drowned it in devil sauce (those calories are calculated as well). After I ate I felt drunk and off balance. I also felt like a slug. At least I felt full. In fact I woke up the next day to a major food hangover. Thankfully no headache though. The sad part is it's three days later and it still hasn't left my body. My body is swollen and I look like my stomach is in the final trimester of pregnancy. This is horrible. Two meals could physically do this to me? What was interesting is I had 2,473 calories in total for the day. That's a lot, but not when you compare it to the 4000+ calories I have been consuming each day over the last month (and still losing weight).

So I would like to discuss a few facts or shall I say observations on this journey so far:

-When I eat produce that is not organic I get SEVERE migraines and nausea.

-When I eat meat that is not organic I can not use the toilet for a few days. I feel sluggish and my stomach swells. I am usually still feeling hungry or dissatisfied.

-When I eat organic processed foods in quantities of 5000+ calories I FINALLY start to put on some weight and break out around my jaw area.

-When I eat unprocessed organic meats, dairy, fruits, and vegetables I can eat unlimited amounts of food and not gain weight and also be satisfied for hours. The side effects are great energy and satisfying sleep.

The photos featured here show the industrial food I had on the left at Famous Dave's. The food on the right is the organic food that I normally eat at Gusto Organics. It's more meat than the Famous Dave's. I guarantee Gusto's potatoes which are rich in dairy and other binders is heavier in calories than what I had at Dave's as well. The only thing I normally don't eat is the corn bread and the corn (unless they are organic chips). I am probably eating twice the calories on the right as I am on the left. Yet the meal on the right didn't bloat me or give me discomfort or indigestion. I had no problems using the toilet. I can say this for all of my meals at Gusto Organics.

I added these photos to show the people who think I am "dieting" the actual volumes and content of my foods. Please tell me what kind of diet allows you to eat steak and potatoes like this and lose weight?

I hopefully have put some minds to rest and can't wait to see what happens in September when I actually begin to try to lose weight......that is if I can get the Famous Dave's to pass out of me first. Yech!

LUCKY IN KENTUCKY

Sorry I've been absent for a few days. I've just returned back from both a work and play trip in Kentucky. Sometimes it's nice for people to not know where you are or where you're going at all times.

I was really looking forward to this trip so that I could get a chance to experiment and research organic versus industrial a bit more away from New York and be closer to the source of food I was raised on.

As I arrived to my dad's house he asked me what I wanted to eat. He told me there was a lot available in the garden so he gave me a tour of what was growing out back. He wasn't kidding. Endless amounts of tomatoes, squashes of all kinds, zucchini, grapes, varieties of herbs, melons....in fact this photo is of my dad after just plucking a watermelon right from the garden. He's a bit shy here. It ended up being the sweetest, juiciest melon I've had in a looooong time.

It was so nice to have access to the freshest produce 24/7. Nothing beats waking up in the morning and gathering raspberries to go with my yogurt! I was in heaven.

Then I realized I still needed my dairy and eggs so we went off to the grocery store. There was VERY little that was organic at the markets and what was there was TWICE and THREE times the price! No wonder people complain about the cost of organic! In addition a lot of the organic was vegan or bland stuff that has no real appeal or taste. No wonder people associate vegetarianism with organic!!! That's just wrong!

So one thing was for sure. Price and availability is an enormous problem in Kentucky (the last place I ever thought it would be). It made me feel really fortunate to live in New York City. The only financial relief consumers can take some comfort in is from the food salvage stores. My best friend Chris shops a lot of her organic from there. So instead of her pasta costing $4.00 at whole foods, it's .60 cents for the same brand at the salvage store. They carry a huge variety of organic products like Annie's organic pasta or Late July's cheese crackers. Who knew!

As I reflect I think about the fact that we grew our food a long time ago to supplement the food we really couldn't afford to buy. Now growing our own food seems to be a luxury. If my parents weren't retired there would be no way they could maintain a garden. Time is now the new luxury that most of us do not have.

If a lot of people put their time together in a community garden maybe we all could afford this luxury. Just thinking out loud. I know it's being done in coops around the country. This just has to somehow go viral. This would bring back community and also give parents and their kids something to share.

This sunday is World Kitchen Garden Day. New Yorkers will come prepared to garden and bring their own bowls, utensils, and a few bucks. The people sponsoring it are trying to get a garden in front of City Hall in New York. Interesting. I would prefer Central Park.

Anyway. I felt lucky to be in Kentucky and was thankful my family shared their garden with me. I probably ate 20 lbs of tomatoes while I was there!!! Wish you were there!

HOME GROWN

At the beginning of my experiment an old mate from grade school told me she had a friend she grew up with in Pittsburgh that had gone organic and lost 40 lbs in a matter of two months. I later found out it was a small exaggeration. I am so glad I waited to speak to her until this last week because we both have the same story to tell. Her journey didn't influence the outcome of what happened to me and I would probably have doubted her anyway. I NEVER would have thought I would lose weight by eating more food!!!

Her name is Heather Henderson Price. Heather is originally from Pittsburgh, but now lives with her husband and kids in Georgia. Heather was generous enough to allow me to listen to her life's story about her relationship with food and how it related to her.

She just as I had been raised mostly off of food grown in her garden. If "they needed carrots for dinner she walked in the back yard and picked them". As Heather got older she married and had three children. Each pregnancy she packed on the weight and found it impossible to get off. During one of her pregnancies she had an urge of to consume oreos and other processed foods which is what made the weight creep on so easily.

Eventually Heather went to extremes to lose the weight, but she couldn't shake it. It wasn't until she had tried every weight loss gimmick on the market (the shakes, etc) that Heather decided to visit a weight loss center for assistance. The center showed her how to eat again and emphasized whole, fresh foods. Processed foods were eliminated from her diet. Heather intuitively took it a step further by eating a lot of her foods organically because that's what she did when she was younger. She quickly sloughed off 30+ lbs within a couple of months from the diet change and still continues to maintain it over a year and a half later.

Weight wasn't the only major change that Heather noticed by going with whole, fresh foods. Heather was on migraine medication. She would get persistent migraines throughout the month. When she changed her diet her migraines disappeared. Occasionally she will get a migraine about once a month.

Heather's family began to also see other benefits from the diet change. At 8months of age one of Heather's kids was diagnosed Tuberous Sclerosis Complex which causes epileptic-like seizures. After years of dealing with different issues with the drugs, etc they took her daughter off of the medication. For the last six months Heather's daughter has not experienced an epileptic episode. Heather credits watching her daughter's diet and making sure she doesn't get any refined sugars or processed foods.

The part that blows me away is how Heather and I both react to industrial food now that we've made these changes. Four times through my journey I have had SIGNIFICANT reactions to my food where I get nausea, severe headaches, and a feeling similar to a hangover for two days if I eat something that is not organic. I have been able to go back to the sources of each incident and pick out which food was the problem and confirm that with the people that served me those foods! The funny thing Heather said when she goes to visit her family in Pittsburgh she has the same problem!!! She also feels "sluggish and fatigued".

After speaking to Heather I now wonder if people are more prone to chemical sensitivity in their foods if they had little to no exposure to chemicals in their food as a child? Changing our diets allowed us to increase the volume of food that we ate and resulted in weight loss we were both unable to achieve in prior attempts. Would someone raised off of pop tarts and McDonald's have the same benefits or weight changes that Heather and I had? I have to find someone willing to take the challenge!

It's also interesting to reflect on seeing the swelling and weight gain in my aunt who is vegetarian. She seems to eat a lot of tofu which is mostly genetically modified. If she went entirely GMO free would she lose the weight?

If anything it was certainly consoling to speak to someone on a similar journey and see that organic has had a positive outcome in our lives. We both feel more of a sense of control about how we look and feel.

Heather and I also agree that sourcing our food is going to be the next biggest challenge for both of us. She wishes she could have a garden like the one she grew up with, but her back yard in Georgia is all clay. We'll get there Heather. I promise!

DAYCATION

Over the weekend I got a chance to go to Boston to see my Aunt whom I've only seen maybe a total of 5 times in my life. What was special about this trip was she was the first person to introduce me to the idea of vegetarianism. She's been vegetarian for over 30+ years and a darn good one at that!

One thing about her is despite her healthy consumption of vegetables she is still overweight and struggles with her health at times. She has also been in accidents that have caused major trauma to the head where her weight was affected just as I have. I will have to speak with my old classmate at the University of Kentucky to see if weight and brain damage tie in. I know that I have been told that my pituitary gland has been compromised.

Back to my daycation. When I arrived she took me to a vegetarian Indian restaurant south of Boston that she thought would be safe for my organic needs. We really enjoyed our tasty Palak Paneer and rice Dosa filled with potatoes. Not even an hour after eating I had the worst headache behind my eyes and fatigue. I tried to ignore it.

After spending many hours together it was time for dinner. She prepared THE BEST Quinoa salad I have ever had. It was soooo fluffy!!! I could have eaten the whole thing. I overate dinner hoping that it would help dilute what was in my system for lunch, but the headache only worsened! It was turning into a migraine followed by nausea. Eventually a couple of hours later I ended up vomiting. I sprayed some silver just to make sure I didn't get some weird food poisoning, but I don't think I would get a headache from food poisoning.

In the end I woke up with a sore stomach and didn't want to eat. I forced myself to eat just before boarding the bus back to NY. Part of the take home had some of the Indian as leftovers. I took it back with me and had it for dinner. The headache symptoms returned along with the nausea!!! It was definitely a reaction to something in the food.

Two days later all of the swelling in my hands and arms and especially my stomach shrank back down. My stomach calmed down. Everything is back to normal.

What's the moral of the story here? Even eating a healthy vegetarian lifestyle has its hazards. I reacted to what would be considered healthy food! This is insane!

In my next post I will talking about an interview that I did with a young lady who started organic almost a year before me. She was introduced to me by an old grade school buddy who found out about my organic journey and thought I should speak with her.

In the meantime I have to get my aunt's recipe to that quinoa!

All THAT AND A BAG OF CHIPS

After listening to a lot of discussions and theories over my weight loss I decided to try a little experiment. Do calories really count?

For almost the last two weeks I have been eating like a complete pig!!!!
I'll have a huge 1100 calorie burrito bowl at Chipotle followed by a 250 calorie ice cream. Then even the last two nights I have forced myself into eating an entire BAG of UTZ blue corn tortilla chips with a whole container of hummus. That's at least another 2000 calories. People I'm eating over 4000 calories a day and not even exercising and still not climbing the scale.

No, I do not have a tapeworm, nor am I using stimulants. Mind you I'm also not able to get to the gym and exercise like I usually do either. My schedule is murder right now.

I don't know how much longer my stomach can take this stretching so I'm going to back off now, but I just thought you may find this interesting.

I'm also going to announce that as of September 1st I will be officially trying to lose weight. That's right. I have not tried to lose those 70 lbs. They just came off.
What's going to happen now that I'm going to put some effort into it?

I will be making small changes like not eating after 7pm, paying closer attention to my portions so that I'm eating 1 serving of mashed potatoes instead of 4. I'll either lose, gain, or stay the same.

Watch me put the effort in and stay the same!!!!

Anyway thanks as usual for reading!

MS

A NEW RECRUIT!

My friend Stephanie was so excited to see some of the changes that I have undergone from eating entirely organic that she decided to go ahead an jump on board.....at least for this month. I believe she said she had a weight loss goal, but don't quote me on it. I think she already looks fabulous!

Anyway I thought one of the very interesting things that she posted on her facebook wall was that she is sleeping better! I have to say that in the beginning I noticed my body craved more sleep as well. Babies are constantly repairing at a rapid rate and need tons of sleep. Could organic be rejuvenating for Stephanie as well? Is her body trying to mend from all of the damage the chemicals induced on her body? Remember toxins are fat soluble and wear down the immune system and slow down the thyroid!

We'll have to keep you posted on her changes as well!

Welcome aboard Stephanie!

IT'S TOXIC

Much to my dismay something I ate earlier in the week must not have been organic! The telltale sign is I have strategic, angry welts on my chest and face. I have taken a photo of one of them on my chest to show you what they look like.

Before I got these bumps I had that nausea in my stomach and headaches as if I had a hangover. Even though I did have alcohol earlier in the week I am not sensitive to it, but I bet you the vodka I drank was not organic. The mixer probably was, but I doubt the alcohol was. I'll find out more sunday.

The reason I'm sharing this with you is because I had at least a dozen of these when I first started organic only they got really bloody and full of pus. That is what a detox bump/symptom can also be like. They form where toxins are trying to get out of the body through the skin. Many doctors have patients on Niacin to help avoid this sort of situation.

See what you could have to look forward to?

EVENING DELIGHT

I think Organic has been taken to a whole different level with some of my friends. I was invited to a dinner event where my friends Taylor and Ronnie prepared striped bass ceviche(cooked) with a spicy mango and cilantro chutney. What was so special about the dish is the fish was caught by Taylor on a mini escape from the city! Does it get any fresher than that? http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=139113836109984

The thing is there is no USDA certification for fish according to Gustorganics owner Alberto Gonzales. That may be so, but I can say there is definitely a difference between getting farm-raised versus wild caught fish. The fish are not raised in stifling proximity to each other or raised off of feed made from GMO corn. Who ever heard of feeding fish corn anyway?

Oh by the way the Ceviche stole the show and I was honored that the hostess Stephanie had gone so far out of her way to make sure that everything was organic.

Still trying to figure out how to score some of the leftovers. My schedule has been insane!

NEWS FROM THE WHITE HOUSE!

The White House announced on May 11th that the threat to American society is not necessarily the war on terrorism, but the endocrine-disrupting chemicals in our foods!!!!!!!!!!

This is a MAJOR news break that shows that my journey may not be as ridiculous as many have commented. After the major results I was seeing in the first month I knew it couldn't be hype, but I just wasn't sure how much just the source of my food could be effecting me. I mean it does sound silly that I would be melting away 70 lbs of fat from eating steak and ice cream.

You MUST read this article: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/loveyourbody/why-you-cant-lose-those-last-10-pounds-1964849/

A big thanks to Donna for bringing this to my attention. There is a great amount of work to be done.

A WORK OF ART

This past weekend my friends Ronnie and Taylor treated me to a home-cooked organic meal. They did their shopping at Whole Foods which included steak, stir fry veggies, sweet tea, and carrots with a very addictive dip. The meal was topped off with the most intensely flavorful parfait! The combination of the yogurt, chocolate, granola, and fruit were so delightful that I asked them if they could step out of the room for a minute for some privacy. It didn't help that the dinner came with napkins decorated with half-naked cowboys on them. The entire meal was just incredible.

It was interesting to listen to their journey about sourcing their foods and how expensive organic can actually get. I then explained to them that farmers have said that if the demand increases then prices will go down. Basic supply and demand. I had also told them about www.organicdirect.com. They tend to be much more reasonable than whole foods anyway. They also commented on how despite the volume of food they ate that they were not miserably full as one would be after a meal like that.

A couple of days later Ronnie and Taylor said they had planned to eat like that more often. I replied if this country could do that at least once a week imagine what could happen?

The moral of the story is there's a lot of joy in organic food. It makes people feel good. It tastes good. The only thing missing from our dinner was our friend Stephanie who was off somewhere saving some part of the world, but I have a feeling we'll be enjoying more organic dinners in the future!

TESTING. TESTING.

So there seems to be a lot of doubt, cynicism, and sarcasm when I speak of organic.
Most people I poll say that they don't really believe that there is a difference.
Some say that it's just hype.
Some say it's not enough to really make a difference.

I would like for you to go out and buy one regular apple and one organic apple.
Slice both apples in half or to not be wasteful cut them into quarters and keep out a quarter of each apple on a plate.

I guarantee this will be a quick experiment because the organic apple will already begin to oxidize before you probably get a chance to put everything away.
See what happens to each apple in a day.

Then think about how difficult it might be for your own body to break down that regular apple versus the organic apple.

It might theoretically take even more calories to break down that regular apple than the organic one. That's something I will be personally looking into.

This will hopefully answer some people's question about how I know if I'm eating organic or industrial food. It's about as elementary as this apple.

Organic Muscle?

So now it looks like even the fitness industry has seen the marketing potential of organic.
Several months ago I saw a product launch called Orgain. All of the sudden it's starting to pop up around new york city just like vitamin water had started.
This could both scary and exciting. It certainly tastes better than any muscle drink I've had in the past, but it did give my stomach a little tinge of discomfort.
Lately my stomach has been a pretty quick gauge at what is and isn't organic.
I'm certainly not implying anything here and I applaud the effort. If anything it's a step forward AND the nutrition supplement industry should have already been on this trend a very long time ago!!! It's also refreshing to see words that I can pronounce as well! Check out some of the conventional brands!!!

AMISH CHICKEN?

A while back we explored Kosher meat. Many were under the idea that Kosher meat is the same as organic meat. We quickly found out they don't even compare.

This evening I was invited out to dinner and the main course was Amish Chicken. For once I did not make a scene given the circumstances. It's only logical that the very people who chose to opt out of zippers on their clothing would raise livestock without hormones or antibiotics right?

All I can say is by the end of the dinner I was getting a miniature migraine behind my left eye and my ankles were beginning to swell. Some of the other guests also commented on how big the chicken was which could also be an indicator of hormone use.

Luckily someone has already done that homework for me. Amy's table has looked into Amish chicken in the new york area via the NY Times. The verdict is the Amish label on the food is more about marketing hype. Amish Chicken may not even be raised by the Amish.

Judging by my body's response to the dinner (and no I did not even have a sip of alcohol) USDA might be a better way to go for now. Haven't had a headache from that yet!

I'm still glad I took a chance to see what would happen if I trusted a restaurant. I was among great company anyway.

Just to be fair I'll give them a ring in the morning to find out what the whole story is.

CALORIES MATTER?

Last night I had about 8 oz of steak, 4 servings of the fattiest potatoes, and a tiramisu (pictured here). In total I'm guessing I consumed over 3000 calories. Earlier that day I had a chicken and sausage gumbo and a high protein shake called orgain which definitely hit over 1000 calories. For breakfast I had a raw salad that would probably equal at least 600 calories. All in all there were at least 4000 calories consumed in the day. It takes 3500 calories to equal a pound.

I have not been able to eat this volume of food since high school! Off of eating these foods I am losing weight. If you had told me this in the past that calories may not matter I would have told you that's crazy!

Things to consider: all of the food that I am consuming is organic. No I do not have a tapeworm. Yes I am exercising less than I was when I first started....maybe 3-4 times a week instead of 7 days a week.

The reason I am bringing this up is because I was blasted for not making sense on this journey. I have both doubters and cheerleaders. I didn't say I knew what I was doing. I just thought it made sense that since my body had difficulty losing weight for many reasons that I would go back to the way I used to eat when I was thin. It was a time where we grew and ate our own food or bought from a store that locally sourced our food.

Don't get me wrong. Even my father thinks organic and my weight is a bunch of crap, but I can't wait to see him in August and have him tell me he still thinks that way.
Even my skin looks like it used to.....clear and soft.

So now I want to find a documentary/filmographer that will test twins eating the same foods for three to six months. The only difference is the one twin will be eating industrial foods and the other one will be eating organic! That's a true test!

In the meantime I'm going to dig up more fun facts like how low levels of toxins absorbed by the body can lower the thyroid function thus causing your metabolism to slow down.
I don't know of any toxins in any foods do you? I just found out from a doctor on thursday that margerine is one molecule away from plastic! Hmmmmm.

ORGANIC PERCEPTION

This morning I was greeted with a post on my FB from my friend Julie about a study done at the University or Michigan about the perception of organic. You can read about the study and my comments to the press release and tell me what you think.

As a side note I would like to know if these students were also asked who the third president of the United States was? How can you not know what a calorie is and what it means?! To me I visually see Jay Leno doing one of his old night show segments on 'How smart is America.'

I'm not trying to be cynical here, but it just goes to show that we as a country need so much education when it comes to our food. We have been so brainwashed by our advertising and the multibillion dollar diet industry. It's time to get back to food basics and enhance our quality of life!

WHAT'S ORGANIC ABOUT ORGANIC?

I made it out last monday for the opening screening of the documentary What's Organic About Organic. I felt it was a great movie for people that have no concept of what goes on at an organic farm. It also sampled what happens at an industrial farm. What I loved most was a scene where one of the farmers goes around to show weeds that most farmers kill that can actually benefit the cows by cleaning their blood, etc. What I also loved is that it wasn't sensationalizing the problems with industrial food only celebrating the farmers out there showing organic can be done.

There was a roundtable/forum after the screening that was actually even more interesting to me where the organic trailblazers discussed the fact that Wine is the only product on the market that does not list its ingredients on the label. Wine can have over 40 ingredients alone which include dyes and arsenic (which is used as a fungicide). Gives a whole new meaning to a hangover.

In addition I did not know that farming was one of the deadliest occupations in the U.S. I would have personally thought coal mining was. That being said one of the panel members spoke of fair trade labor. Fair trade is obviously something that isn't just a third world country problem. It's a problem in our own back yard.

One of the problems I have personally found is sourcing of Organic Food. The panel discussed the fact that if we ask our local grocers to dedicate a section to organic food we might be able to make it more available. In addition I also feel that if we can all find a farmer to connect to our grocers then we can all make a difference!

Some of the sites I heard about at the screening were: www.eco-labels.org, www.attra.org, and www.howtogoorganic.com.
Looks like there's a lot of info to dig into here!!!!!

By the way the weight is continuing to melt away. I haven't weighed myself, but my smaller clothes are starting to swim on me.

Be back with more organic info!

WHAT'S UP WITH BACON?!?!

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for charity. Add Kevin Bacon to the equation and who knows what 6 degrees can do to change the world?!?!

First of all Kevin didn't I teach you anything on that cover shoot that we worked together on a few years back? As if losing your money to Madoff wasn't a big enough lesson (for which I am so sorry to hear about) now you are promoting a company that pushes products on consumers that is only making this country ill!

I know it's a tough position to be put in. Kevin's not asking us to drink Pepsi. He's actually promoting an amazing idea called Good Card. You can read about it more at sixdegrees.org

Just try not to guzzle a pepsi or eat your KFC wings while you're trying to figure out which of the 1,000,000+ charities you want to help support.

AWARDS DINNER

Last night was the 8th Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Awards Dinner Honoring Philip Glass for his contribution of music to peace and interfaith understanding.

The dinner was a lavish spread of Grilled Filet Mignon, Miso Glazed Cod, or Polenta with fresh mixed grilled Vegetables. Some of the most beautiful food I have seen in a long while. My neighbors were kind enough to allow me to photograph one of the dessert plates being passed around. There were so many others, but this was an example of just one tempting plate!

The staff was a little concerned that I wasn't eating and I assured them that all they needed to do was pretend I was anorexic and everything would be okay. They weren't content with that answer so the lovely head of the waitstaff approached me and offered to put together a wonderful salad for me. After the conversation I had with him it finally became very clear to me that organic to many people....even those who specialize in food think that organic means eating vegetables or being vegetarian. Organic only means eating from food sources that are free of chemicals, hormones, and GMO's.

What was really alarming to me is that no one seems to know where our food comes from. The CEO of Fair Oaks Farms is so right! We are so removed from our food and the people that bring it to us. We have learned to trust too much. The cost of that trust seems to be our health.

What was great about the evening is I was surrounded by over 50 different religious leaders who were all there to make a difference. They were really compelled to help support my organic initiative because it coincided with their wanting to demonstrate how making small changes in our lives can potentially have a great impact.

Who knows... world peace through food? Ghandi started that trend a long time ago!

SUPERSIZE ME

So I FINALLY got a chance to see Supersize Me, the movie on Hulu the other day.
It's the first time I didn't fall asleep through it like I had a couple of times in the past. Watching another person's inevitable indigestion never really appealed to me.

BUT what I'm so glad I got to see was Appleton Central High School's changes in the diet with their students. These kids tend to have aggression and ADD among many issues, but the school seemed to find less resistance and more improvement in scores when they switched out chicken nuggets and processed foods for the nutritious meals.

The most exciting thing I could have heard is that the food that comes from a contractor called NATURAL OVENS BAKERY is no more expensive than the US Government's food they supplied to the schools.

This means that cost is not an issue when it comes to eating well!!!!!

So my next mission is to speak with the company and figure out how we can better source our foods. I also think the owner of Gustorganics is writing something on this subject as well.

Stay tuned! I think there are more exciting things ahead!!!!!

WHERE DOES ORGANIC START?

According to writer Matthew Dillon he believes organic begins with the integrity of the seed. If you've seen the movie the FUTURE OF FOOD Monsanto makes the future of our food seem grim. The company has powerful lobbyists that want to monopolize the food industry.

You can catch the full article here.

HANGOVER CLASSIC

So for the last few days I was working on a client's Bar mitzvah. No expense was spared when it came to the great event. Despite how rude I may have appeared I still felt it was essential to find out if any of the food was organic. At this juncture I felt it was better to starve than to put crap back into my body.

On the first night the restaurant I went to with my client was offended that I would think that their food was not of the highest quality. On the second day I stepped out of the party to buy a stash of organic cheese and nuts that I scoped while riding in the car on my way to the Bar Mitzvah. As I reentered the party the server I initially asked if their food was organic said that the food they had for the kids was organic, but the adults was not. I thought that was a really odd statement. I decided instead of being all out rude about the situation that I would trust the server and risk eating the food. They had quail eggs with a truffle center, lamb skewers, all kinds of chocolates, endless alcohol......all so very tempting.

Before the end of the night I had a throbbing headache (only consumed water). When I got back to my client's apartment I pulled out the cheese and nuts hoping to settle my stomach.

The next morning when I awoke I felt as if a truck had run over me. I have never had a hangover, but if I did this would probably be the closest feeling to it!!!
That horrible feeling lasted two days!!!!

Moral of the story is I highly doubt that the food I ate at the event was organic. Someone had a field day with me. I NEVER thought I would feel so bad after eating food. I have an allergy to wheat so I know what a food allergy is like, but this one takes the cake!

The question is what was in that food?!!!!

ALL DONE

I'm officially off the cleanse and back in action. The Clean cleanse was not for me. Not only did I not lose weight, but I gained a couple of pounds. I don't know if it was because I couldn't eliminate my waste properly or if it was because it slowed down my metabolism in the end.
I do know that I'm just glad it's over and I can now get on with my full organic eating.
Even though my one meal a day was organic I just felt like my body wasn't getting nourished properly. My nails are the worst! They are splitting left and right! I have a lot of lashes missing as well.
The thing I missed most about my cleanse were my supplements. No matter how clean and pure we eat our soil is quickly becoming depleted of minerals which are vital to the body. Without minerals (which our bodies do not produce) our cells can't function properly. Our bodies are only going to grow more out of balance.
By the way my colleague on the cleanse did not fare well either. We both had elimination problems. We also drank a couple of gallons of water a day each. Guess we'll both mark this one off of the list!
I was never a big fan of cleanses anyway and after my organic detox experience in the beginning I already fell like I've been on a cleanse anyway!

STILL CLEAN

So I'm still plugging away on this cleanse. The first week was basically a breeze however not to get into too much detail I usually use the toilet more frequently and this cleanse seems to be doing the opposite in so many ways. Never thought I would have to break down and buy castor oil yech!

I'm also writing to say that I will be taking a break from posting on this blog (NOT FROM EATING ORGANIC). One of my companies, MS APOTHECARY will be debuting at The Makeup Show NYC. We want everything to be perfect and we're running out of time!

I'll be posting again as of May 18th with more interesting info.

In the meantime thanks for being such loyal followers.

xoxo Mary Schook

FO FARMS

It's all about FO Farms (not Faux Farms)! There's nothing fake about this farm.

Fair Oaks farms is a dairy farm that I discovered driving between Chicago and Louisville in February. The whole point of that drive was to see how many farms I could pass that carried organic. Sadly they were the only one.

At first I was wary because for miles they were advertising the farm with 3-d cow signs. It seemed a bit six flags over dairy to me. I drove up to the store located next to the farm and walked in to find an array of different cheeses. None of the signs said organic or even hormone free. When I asked the staff if the cows were hormone free they said yes. "And what about their feed?" I said. They said yes. Then I replied back to the cheese lady that there's no signs saying their cheese was free of antibiotics and hormones. She responded back saying that it was on their website.
After a quick stare down I decided to trust the cheese lady. She let me try some samples and I have to say they were divine.

I left the store with my cheddar curd, sweet swiss cheese, and colby in tow to bring back to my family in Kentucky. It was absolutely divine! The family loved it too. When I got back to NY I still couldn't find anything on the site that stated that the cows were hormone or Antibiotic free!

I decided that further investigation was required. Eventually I was put through to the CEO, Gary Corbett. He was quite lovely and forthright to speak to and full of great information. My first question to him was if you don't use antibiotics, feed your cows organic feed, and don't use hormones then why isn't your dairy organic? Gary said that the cows have to graze a certain amount of time in the pasture. For 30,000 cows to efficiently produce a sizeable amount of milk that's a difficult task.

He also said that when the cows are pregnant they are put through a dry period (that means the cows are not milked). Not all farmers do this by the way. When pregnant cows are milked they secrete hormones that we ingest and cause us problems. Milk and dairy with these hormones are suspected to be one factor in adult acne.

Gary went on to give me many other facts like all of the manure that the cows produce is recycled into gas which powers the entire plant and will soon fuel all of the dairy's delivery trucks. In addition they are working on getting wind towers to put on the land so they are also generating electricity to put back into the grid. They are basically creating a negative carbon footprint AND producing award winning cheese and other dairy to boot!

The price of the cheese was less than what I would pay at the grocery store for any 'ol cheese and tasted better than most of the cheeses I have ever tasted.

Fair Oaks Farms is open to the public to tour. You can even watch the cows give birth in a special birthing room. Gary brought up a good point. At one time we all somehow directly knew a farmer. Now we are detached from what happens to our food. We're about 8 generations away from knowing a farmer.

So in this case I am not particular about organic. Organic is just a label. Fair Oaks has a fine, quality product with full integrity and I'm proud to be one of the 400,000 people a year to come and visit.

Gotta get me some more of that cheese!!!

DETERMINING ORGANIC?

One of my writer friends just emailed me to ask me how do I determine if a product is GMO? Well I haven't done tons of research yet, but generally the big products: corn, soybeans, canola, etc are mostly GMO. Here is what the USDA reported. Almost 100% of soybeans are GMO! Soymilk and Tofu lovers beware!

So simply put if you are feeding yourself and/or your children processed foods they're likely to have hidden high fructose corn syrup and be GM (Genetically Modified). I don't think our bodies can process this!

In addition there's a simpler test to know if your farmer/grocer is being honest about their produce. How long does it last? Organic tends to go bad faster. At Gustorganics restaurant you can even see the dessert tray of fruits go brown right in front of you eyes while you sit there! Doesn't affect the taste at all.

I had a really cute experience the other day. One of my clients told me that she had to buy organic lemons because the store was sold out of regular lemons. She said she never knew lemons could have such a full taste or could be so juicy. Then she commented on how they didn't last very long. After such a fulfilling experience in taste with the lemons and seeing my weight fall of she never wants to go back to industrial fruit!

So the moral of the story is stay away from processed foods. We hear it all of the time, but it's literally killing us!!! Do your homework. Find out what you can buy locally. The more we support independent farmers the more food options there will be because right now outside of NYC organic is almost impossible!

AND THE RESULTS ARE IN!

I had a hunch my weight problem was from industrial foods. Since I have lost almost three sizes and was about to start the cleanse I felt it was time to finally weigh myself. In fact my colleague insisted on it so she could record the effects I was having from the cleanse.

I am happy to report I have gone from 282+ lbs in january to 246 lbs as of a couple of days ago. How wonderful is that? In fact if you don't believe it my gym has my stats on file after they tried wrestling me in for personal training sessions. I'm slowly losing substantial weight not by dieting, but by changing the source of my food.

It has been a difficult journey. It has definitely been anti-social, but now I'm beginning to see changes in how the people around me look at food. My changes are fueling their desire to change. It's not depriving myself of anything, but fortifying my body with delicious food.

BUT given I was sick last year I will see if this loss continues to happen. So far the cleanse has made me a bit hungry which I'm sure is lowering my metabolism as we speak!

Keep you posted on the progress!!!!!

KEEP IT CLEAN

As promised I am now into day two of CLEAN, the 21 day detox program that is hitting Hollywood like wildfire. I am usually the LAST one to hit a trend when there is one. Still don't use an IPod and I barely made it on to MySpace which I've only used less than a handful of times.

My colleague is big into cleanses. I however am not for several reasons. One is that it takes me months to revive someone's skin after they have done so. The skin is our largest organ and it can sometimes give us glimpse into what is going on inside the body. That makes me think that the vitamins and minerals that we deprive our cells from over an extended period of time can cause adverse effects when it comes to aging after what I have already observed from most cleanses.

BUT I do think that we are eating waaaay too much crap as a society and food choices tend to have a certain domino effect that can spiral out of control. A lot of people out there need a jump start. I like that Gwyneth Paltrow wrote so openly about her experience for her online mag called GOOP. You can see her post about the cleanse here. It's good when a celebrity takes the position of being a positive role model for whatever reason it is that they do.

If you don't have time right now to go to her excerpt I'm going to give you CLEAN in a nutshell. 21 days. Shake in the morning and evening with supplements. One meal in the middle of the day with foods like wild salmon and lots of greens. Your one meal has to be clean as well. The first thing you do in the morning is take a probiotic (which I like) and then your supplements at both shake times. I know I have a problem with one supplement because it contains oil of oregano which I am allergic to, but I'll do it anyway until I think it's causing a problem. Oregano is fantastic at killing candida which is one of the things that causes yeast infections in women.

If you want to lose weight you mix your shake with water. In this case I would like to get the most out of my money and take advantage of that part of the cleanse. IF you do it that way it will taste like you've been soaking your cereal in water overnight. Unless you are hard core I recommend mixing the shake with almond milk and blueberries for taste!!!!!

So far my side effects have been great amounts of fatigue. I wish I had started this on the weekend. I'm going to really miss my supplements that I take for energy as well. When I went to switch over to organic I had a much heavier detoxification effect. My skin was blistering. I had constant chills and headaches and felt like I was about to come down with the flu. Up until my meal right now I have just been hungry and tired.

My colleague who has been a raw vegan, cleanses constantly, and frequents her colonic therapist has had headaches and lots of fatigue. It sounds like this cleanse is hitting her much harder. Knowing she is getting a response tells me that this could be an effective cleanse. Time will only tell

LOOKING BACK

This week a big change is going to happen. Being that my business is about testing products both myself and one of the girls that works with me have decided to test out a very popular cleansing program called CLEAN. At first I thought it was a fad that some of my celebs were doing, but when I spoke to one of the partners that I happened to be friends with, he told me that the cleanse was manufactured by a company I know with a superb reputation.

Given that my business is about anti-aging I wanted to see what would happen to my skin on this cleanse as well as the structure of my face. The great thing is if something goes wrong I have all of the tools to repair it.

This is why I'm taking this time right now to post my latest before (left) and after (right) images from when I first started organic because up until this moment the whole experiment was solely about changing the source of my food. The after photo is even me with only 3 hours of sleep, getting over an allergy attack and infection, and being under severe stress. My eyes are so much wider. What's really interesting is you couldn't see my earring in the before photo because of how wide my face was versus the after. I think my neck even looks like it's almost half the size!

So the moral of the story here is organic is making some physical changes with me. The cleanse that I plan going on I will explain in the next post. It lasts 21 days.
In the beginning my body already went through a major cleansing process going through organic so it will be interesting to see what happens on a planned cleanse!

GIVE ME TRANSPARENCY!

GMO. Short for Genetically Modified Organism. GMO according to the industrial world is also known as farming productivity. I am never one to stand in the way of science, but the idea of altering the course of nature for the rest of time just does not sit well with me. Once you go down this road one can never come back.

It is not science and changing nature that scares me. It's using bacteria or a virus to change that plant's DNA. That virus or bacteria is now part of the plant. It is not friendly bacteria either. It is meant to invade. Feeding our bodies with these mutated plants just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

There are consequences to our industrial farming practices. People out there are getting sicker than ever! We have more cancers than ever. Could it be that we are getting this cancer because we are not getting good foods to fight off free radicals?
We are also not getting enough minerals because the minerals are being depleted from our soil. Did you know that our bodies don't even produce minerals naturally? Did you know that without minerals our cells can't function properly?

My friends the reason I am writing this post is for one reason. It has been brought to my attention that the current administration like it's past one is allowing our food companies to get away with hiding what happens to our food. The europeans won't let them get away with that, but we don't make companies accountable as consumers in any way in this country!

It's not about making companies stop what they are doing. Everyone should be free to do what they want to do. That's the problem in the first place. Everyone is trying to control everyone. It's about allowing people to do what they want and make the choices that they want.

I want to know where my food is coming from and what they are doing!
If that is important to you as well I encourage you to read this article and sign the petition. Please pass this along to others you think might care.

We still might have a chance!

A NEW EXPERIENCE

Tonight was a late night with clients for me. It's around 11pm and my last client just left, but not before she ordered us in some grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and brown rice from Gustorganics. She's not one to really go crazy for vegetables, but since she was with me she thought she'd be open about it.
After we finished our meals in the salon she said that she was very impressed and couldn't wait to try other things! Then she went on to ask what was on the vegetables to make them taste so good? I asked her what she meant by that? She said that the vegetables had so much flavor! I laughed and told her 'that flavor' is what a vegetable is supposed to taste like. I explained to her this was what I felt I was missing in my food from the time I came to New York: taste!!!! She's lived here her whole life so she really didn't have the perspective I have of eating food grown right in our own gardens!
Just goes to show positive lifestyle choices can bring about positive change!

IT'S TEA TIME

There's a new coffee/tea shop that kicks another chain's ass in so many ways. First of all can I say I am so glad that large means large?

The place is called Argo Tea. They really bring in the art of tea. The shop that is next to my office in the flatiron district reminds me a bit of a tokyo tea bar with their bubble and signature teas. Just the idea of a strawberry green tea alone makes my mouth water! The coffee is not only organic, but certified fair trade. You can also get your milk organic as a "topper".

I also love that they are in the spirit of giving back to the artist community. 10% of all of their proceeds at this cafe goes to GenArt. I almost feel like a coffee shop should always be synonymous to the artist anyway, not Oprah's book pick of the month!

I've always told my overseas friends that the art of tea and tea time is what is missing from this country. There could be a lot of healing through tea.

Back to the health and nutrition Argo states: "We've created our own unique blends of Signature Drinks that are all naturally fresh, healthy, and distinctive. Always made from real ingredients that are free of any artificial flavorings, colors, or additives."

Amen!

A LITTLE PERSPECTIVE

I was eating once again at Gustorganics the other day in NYC and found that they were promoting a new film called FRESH.

I feel that the more we know about our food and its sources the better decisions we can make. I personally have not seen it yet and the screenings are not available in my area at this minute, but they do give the option to buy your own DVD.

I wonder how/ if this could be any different or better than the FUTURE OF FOOD was or FOOD, INC? I guess I'll have to let you know. They say that the movie is about people trying to rethink the food system. Our current industrial model has "consequences" which include "environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, food contamination, and obesity."

One thing that I do know if that there is no restaurant I feel better than eating at than Gustorganics AND I know he has integrity. How I feel at the end of that meal is becoming the most important thing to me! Oh and p.s. when can you ever eat a huge bowl of pesto pasta with 3 heapings of parmesan cheese and still lose weight?!

IT'S ABOUT DEMOCRACY

We were founded upon choices and truths in this country. I've already seen how much making choices from better sourced foods has directly made an impact on my health. The results so far are clearer skin and and a continuous decrease in my size. While the results have slowed down a bit (probably from the volumes of food I can eat from time to time), my body seems to continue to undergo changes.

I like knowing I live in a country with a president that told us WE can make changes. It took a close friend of mine from another country to send this petition to me and make me aware that transparent farming and food practices could be on the horizon here in America.

You can have your crap out there, but I want to be able to nourish my body with better foods that aren't the result of a lab experiment that could go very wrong in the future. I know I want food that tastes like food and won't leave me sick for hours while my body tries to digest it! I want to pick up a piece of fruit or a vegetable and bite into it and taste the full flavor nature has to offer. I know I have personally suffered long enough.

Please sign and pass this petition along to your friends. Let's really make a difference!