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!