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