Spring Awakening – A Savory Season

Each season sings its own melody that reflects the aliveness of the earth’s natural growing cycles. The first breath of spring heralds rebirth and a start to the gentle growing season: the slow unfurling of leaves, the tiny baby shoots as they push up through the ground, awakened by the sun and an inner knowing.

Just as the knowing of the plants triggers them to grow, the wisdom in our bodies awakens our senses to the healthful spring foods the land will produce. If we allow ourselves to listen, we are all in harmony, making up a vibrant symphony of sorts. The spring crops sprout and flourish just as we are ripe to experience the life-giving foods of springtime at its fullest.

Spring is a time to shed the layers of winter, to stretch our limbs and turn toward the sun. We begin to eat lighter foods: nourishing tender greens, buttery lettuces with the simplest of dressings, baby vegetables so sweet they need barely a whisper of sea salt, a breath of tarragon or thyme, a drizzle of olive oil.

Candle Cafe and Candle 79 rekindle their relationships with the local farmers who supply the delicacies of the season. It’s always a privilege to work with farmers to supply our fourth generation of clients with the best, most nutrient-dense food available. Our motto of “Food Fresh from Farm to Table” sings of spring. As the early crops unfold, the melody of fresh herbs and delicacies like fiddlehead ferns, asparagus and ramps are the chef’s inspiration. Memorable meals are made of these melodies and keep us on a path toward inspired wellness.

Spring is a wonderful time to cleanse away the old. Eating more raw vegetables and fruits or easing into a nourishing  juice cleanse can be a great way to give your body the gentle nudge it needs to feel vibrant and well. I’m pleased to share Candle 79 Chef Angel Ramos’ recipe for a simple spring salad and Candle 79 Bar Chef Kyle Bullen’s recipe for a wonderfully rejuvenating elixir, aptly called “Rejuvenation.”

Cheers to your Crazy Sexy spring awakening!

Spring Salad

-8 ounces spring lettuce mix
-1 fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced
-2 blood oranges, pith removed and sliced to ¼ inch segments
-2 teaspoons thyme, chopped
-1 teaspoon parsley, chopped
-2 tablespoons organic extra virgin oil olive
-Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a bowl. Serve and enjoy!

Rejuvenation

-3 ounces cucumber juice
-2 ounces George’s Aloe
-¾ ounce lemon juice
-½ ounce ginger agave simple syrup (mix grated ginger and agave nectar)
-Soda water, as needed

Build first four ingredients in a 16-ounce Pilsner glass, add ice to top, fill with soda water and mix and enjoy!

Photo credit: Rubber Slippers in Italy

When Should You Buy Organic?

One of the biggest debates as we peruse the produce aisle is whether or not to buy organic. Most folks know that eating organic fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of developing cancer and other diseases. However, in this economy, sometimes our wallets override our emotions. Well, I’m here to tell you that there is a loophole to get out of the guilt we may have when not buying organic. If you’re looking to do right by your body without breaking the bank, you will be happy to find out that you can skimp here and there!

Two lists were compiled with data from the US Department of Agriculture; one is The Dirty Dozen and the other is The Clean 15. Tests were run to determine the amount of pesticide residue found in non-organic fruits and vegetables after they had been pressure washed. The produce that made The Dirty Dozen list tested positive for at least 47 different chemicals, with some testing positive for as many as 67. And that wasn’t just in the skin. They found traces all the way down into the seeds! By making sure that you stick to organic when buying the fruit and veggies from this list, you can reduce your exposure to harmful toxins by as much as 80 percent.

If you can’t afford to buy organic all the time, you can still rest easy. Purchasing conventional, non-organic produce from The Clean 15 list is likely fine, as those were the least affected by chemicals. Mainly due to their thicker skin, The Clean 15 are able to fight toxin absorption much better than those on The Dirty Dozen list. Of course, I’m an advocate of buying local and organic produce whenever possible. But in this day and age, we could all use a financial break every now and again, so here’s a little pass when you need one.

When you MUST buy organic:
1. celery
2. peaches
3. strawberries
4. apples
5. domestic blueberries
6. nectarines
7. sweet bell peppers
8. spinach, kale and collard greens
9. cherries
10. potatoes
11. imported grapes
12. lettuce

When you can skip it:
1. onions
2. avocados
3. sweet corn
4. pineapples
5. mangoes
6. sweet peas
7. asparagus
8. kiwi fruit
9. cabbage
10. eggplant
11. cantaloupe
12. watermelon
13. grapefruit
14. sweet potatoes
15. sweet onions

While it is said that it’s safe to consume The Clean 15, never miss out on a thorough wash of your produce. In fact, conventional as well as organic produce should always be washed and treated with a special veggie wash. Even when eating organic, your produce can be touched by 20 sets of hands before it ends up on your fork, so take precautions for your health. Shop smart, stay healthy and save your money for rainy days whenever you can!

Carolyn Scott is the executive producer, creator, host, and writer of The Healthy Voyager brand. Her web series, radio show, site, blog and social network show you how to live, and travel, healthy and green.

Photo Credit: Darren Kirby

Shopping Smart at the Farmers Market

By Lisa Borden

Shopping at the farmers market is better for the environment, better for our economy and better for your wallet. It’s also fun, healthy and the food tastes better. Once you eat fresh, recently harvested produce, you’ll realize the stuff from the supermarket (organic or not) is just not the same thing. Being connected to your food will change your entire life!

As with anything new, it takes time to figure it all out, so here are some helpful hints for hitting the farmers market.

1. Don’t forget your bags, baskets and containers. Invest in good reusables (I couldn’t live without my washable, square-bottomed RuMe bags). Be warned, no one goes to market and forgets their bags! A basket can also be very handy especially during berry season. There are no plastic clamshell containers at the market, so stacking is not an option. Expert tip: take your own produce bags, bread bags and containers; they all come in handy.

2. Bring cash and plenty of small change. It’ll be faster and easier for everyone. Trust me, it doesn’t feel good to pass a $50 dollar bill to a farmer selling you $3 worth of spinach!

3. Bring your family and friends. It’s more fun to share the market with others. Consider meeting at the market for a meal or drink (extra points for bringing a reusable mug!). It’s also a place to involve everyone in food choices. We need our children to understand where our food comes from; just ask Jamie Oliver!

4. Do a full walk-through. There are no returns. Who has the best tomatoes? Would you have preferred the peaches instead of the pears? Walk the whole market first to see what’s available and compare prices and product–although if you have a favorite farmer with limited crops, you’ll want to go directly there first. Also, later in the season, the produce seems to get heavier. Melons and squash are always my last purchases, so that I don’t have to carry them around the entire time. Once you become a regular, you will know your favorites, and your shopping routine will become second nature.

5. Don’t get sold a fake. Just because it’s the farmers market doesn’t mean the food is automatically healthy. Some markets have vendors selling donuts made from white flour and fried in conventional oil. No, I have no idea how they were allowed in. Happily, a few stalls away will be someone selling lovingly-made stuffed French toast made with the finest ingredients. Choose wisely, and choose real.

6. Go early and get first pickings. You cannot imagine the excitement the regular market shoppers have for the season’s first strawberries, asparagus, ramps, and…if you don’t “get it” now, you will next year at this time. If you want to take part to the fullest, don’t sleep in. Go late if you are looking for deals and are not picky. Vendors will generally be happy not to haul anything back with them; they worked hard to get it to market in the first place.

7. Ask questions. You’ll get real answers. If you want to know when something was picked, or how to best choose a particular item, just ask. You’ll get great answers. Make sure what you are buying is organic by asking. And, although sometimes the farmer will not have paid for certification, they are as stringent (or more) in their fields and operations. Also feel free to ask what something is, or try things that you would not necessarily see at the store. Farmers know all about what they grow (sometimes they will share great recipes too–that’s not happening at the supermarket!).

8. Speak to other marketers. I have generally found people to be quite friendly at markets. It’s amazing not only what advice I’ve given, but what I’ve learned. I’ve received great recommendations for restaurants, family events, and products nearby or just outside of the city.

9. Don’t buy ingredients for a meal; make a meal based on the best ingredients you buy. Don’t just go to the market to cross things off your grocery list. Buy what’s best and in season, and try new things. When you buy fresh and simple, the dishes you prepare can be also. Sometimes we just enjoy a “market meal”—a help-yourself-to-all-of-the-goodness-we-just-got-meal. You can obviously make a list, but keep an open mind. Take advantage of seasonal inspiration.

10. Cook together. By cooking with your children, as opposed to for them, you have the opportunity to teach them so much (and have a great time together). “Give a person a fish; you have fed them for today. Teach a person to fish, and you have fed them for a lifetime.” Before you decide that this is an impossible task with your hectic schedule, consider making this a weekly event. Even toddlers can help. Picking leaves off of basil, or putting berries into the bowl is enough to sustain at least 5 minutes of kitchen time together! Make a concerted effort to be connected to your food, your family and your friends. Mealtime will change forever.

As always, keep in mind, your money is your voice. With every dollar you spend, you are asking for more of the same. Shopping at our local markets will change your life personally and benefit the whole community.

It’s not local vs. organic, it’s local AND organic from the farmers market. Enjoy the season. Share the experience with others, and enjoy some great food while you’re at it!

Lisa Borden is an eco-advocate and mother of three, whose full-service marketing firm, Borden Communications + Design Inc., is a direct reflection of her commitment to better, more responsible living. She is a dedicated workaholic, admitting that it takes a lot of time and effort to change the world, especially in her non-preachy, fun, engaging and inspiring ways.

A Salad in Motion Remains in Motion

When you launch into a diet high in living foods, you will discover that these foods contain a force that creates motion. Non-living foods—such as cooked proteins, cooked starches, nuts, and all manner of processed substances—do not have this effect on the body. Given the physical laws of motion, if you eat foods with no life force, your intestines will be mostly stagnant.

When living foods suddenly enter your stagnant, acid-waste-impacted intestine, you may feel like you swallowed a bunch of expanding jumping beans! People usually embark on a diet of living foods for the weight loss and digestive benefits, so they are perplexed when their midsection suddenly starts moving and expanding.

One thing I am stressing to everyone these days is that WE MUST ALL BECOME SCIENTISTS. People are too quick to cry confusion in the face of all the conflicting information circulating in health and raw food circles. If everyone would just take a moment to sit with the common scientific sense of chemical reactions and the laws of motion, they could find all the answers they need without opening a single book or visiting a nutritionist, spa, doctor, or raw food guru.

Pay close attention now. Here are two scenarios that illustrate the two important concepts that will serve you well in this living-foods lifestyle:

1. Imagine taking the remains of dinner and tossing it into a garbage can. Seal the lid. The next morning when you wake up, go to the garbage can, and open it. The stench that assaults you is noxious carbonic gas that has started to grow rogue bacteria. This is what happens in your body—but your body is much warmer, so the chemical reaction and resulting bacteria are much more pernicious.

Now imagine what would happen if you took fruit—the cleanest, healthiest food known to humankind—and added it to the garbage, or to the contents of your stomach, at this moment of chemical decomposition. Would that be healthy? Health means cleanliness, so even though fruit is wonderful, it is not going to generate health in this scenario. Since the chemical reaction in the body is already troublesome, the fruit in this case would just make it worse. If you are bloated, gassy, and constipated, think scientifically about what your next move should be: something that reduces the gas and bloat and annihilates the bad bacteria.

Given the kinetic motions and chemical properties of foods, when you place fruit sugar on top of acidic waste and gas, the result is more gas, fermentation, and putrefaction. This scenario adds insult to injury, contributing to the intestinal distress, and ultimately endangering the bacterial balance of the intestine and constipating the bowel.

Therefore, if you were a scientifically minded live-foods enthusiast, you would take one of the following steps:
(a) Wait for your body to remove the waste and gas that supports the proliferation of bad bacteria;
(b) Have a vegetable juice or vegetables, which will have a neutral effect at worst and a beneficial effect at best, by hydrating the waste and contributing good microbes to fend off the bad bacteria (ideally, you would first consume some quality probiotics to help the process along); or
(c) Just wait a few hours before eating or drinking to give the body a chance to clear up this digestive upset (which is commonly caused by poor food combining, poor food order, overeating, eating while stressed, etc.).

Remember, living food is only potentially health-generating. It is only health-generating if it has an advantageous chemical reaction with everything else going on in the great petri dish of the body.

2. Next, imagine the average person off the street who has consumed mainstream food or “gym-head health food”—meaning lots of protein bars, lean meats, soy, peanut butter, etc. This food is dead; it has no kinetic energy. Living foods are alive; they have a lot of kinetic energy.

Again, most people come to living foods because they want to lose weight and heal digestive issues and other illnesses. Therefore, they don’t expect what usually happens as soon as they eat their first living-foods meal—a ballooning midsection with lots of gas and motion! But if they put on their scientific thinking cap, they would remember Newton’s first law of motion: “A body persists its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force.” Dead food piled on top of dead food keeps the intestine pretty dead. But add living foods—with all their live enzymes kickin’ around—and that system will be moved according to the rate and force of the added food. Living foods will act upon the body in a state of rest.

Most people assume this means that the cleaner, living-food meals don’t agree with them. But what’s happening is ultimately a very good thing. The all-raw hydrating substances are just reacting to the acidic waste and helping to eliminate it. This is a temporary state of awakening the old matter in the intestine. The only way to clean it out is to introduce these ultra-clean living foods (think of them like soap for the intestine), allow them to awaken and magnetize the waste, and then eliminate.

If living-food enthusiasts of all levels keep their science caps on and make choices that minimize the development of new carbonic gas (following my guidelines for food order and combination) they will eventually have clean, contracted, healthy cells. This will correlate to a lean body with tremendous vitality. Keep this in mind so you don’t misunderstand the changes your body undergoes as you introduce more living foods to your diet.

So let’s all keep our science caps on and consider the chemical reactions and the laws of motion as we make our meal choices. This way, we can use food and our food preferences as tools for our health. It’s really fun getting to know our bodies in this new way.

Here’s to the kinetic energy of living foods and harnessing the laws of science to improve our life experience!