No Impact Woman

No Impact Woman

Friends gifted us with a Roku player this winter after staying with us in Vermont. I’m not that much a movie watcher but the boys were thrilled. With this contraption, you basically can access Netflix instantly via your TV. One day, when I wasn’t skiing, I turned it on and spotted a food documentary section and sensed an addiction in the making. That night, I treated traumatized my young children with Food Inc. I now think this should be required viewing for all kids as it connected them to their food. It was more valuable than be telling them to eat something “because it’s good for you”. My 9 year old really got it.  This past weekend, the boys were skiing and I turned on a documentary called No Impact Man.

No Impact Man follows a writer and his family, in NYC, on a yearlong experiment to try to have no adverse impact on the environment.  This meant local food, no elevators, no cars or trips. At six months they yanked their electricity eliminating refrigeration and necessitating lots of candles. This couple had a 2-year-old daughter so disposable diapers (and toilet paper for the adults) were no more.  No Impact Man is Colin Beavan, a writer, who wants to veer away from historical writing. For me though, the star of this film is his wife Michelle Conlin who accepts her husband’s challenge and goes from self-confessed reality television, shopping and coffee junkie to no impact woman. When you see someone with no experience in environmentalism making sweeping changes it’s pretty inspiring.

Of course I zeroed in on the food changes invovled:

No meat (responsible for more greenhouse gases than cars) or fish

No food from more than 250 miles away (no such thing as local coffee in NYC), lots of farmers market trips

No packaged food, if it wasn’t from the farmer’s market food came from bulk bins

No restaurant meals because many ingredients come from faraway places

No take out; after all takeout comes in containers

No paper towels, dishwasher.

As you watch Michelle go to work on her scooter, bid farewell to her makeup and eat lots and lots of parsnips and cornmeal porridge you start to think about what you really need. I should also note that her local diet, scooting to work and 9^th floor apartment led to a 10-pound weight loss and her pre-diabetic condition reversed. Michelle calls the scooter “no impact Ambien.”

In the film Colin points out that when you insinuate people should “do without” it traumatizes people.  And a lot of the potentially traumatized dismissed these efforts as crazy. I flinched while watching when the point is made that it’s not enough to just bring your reusable bags to the market with you. This stung as I’m a believer in doing what you can do, even if it’s not full force. The truth is, the day after seeing No Impact Man I walked instead of jumping in a taxi, asked for an emailed versus paper receipt, turned down a bag and cancelled catalogs we don’t need (or don’t need multiples of). They real key, says Beavan, is to get what you need in a way that doesn’t hurt the planet versus simply living without. I love this from a blog post Michelle wrote:

What I learned from No Impact was that there is a steep cost to supporting all your stuff. To a life devoted to getting and having. In my days of high consumption, I'd been searching for something. It turned out that it was right in my own home.

My refrigerator and coffee aren’t going anywhere and there’s no composting in my immediate future but I appreciated the wake up call. I liked the perspective to be able appreciate having light and  a dishwasher. We can all pay attention to packaging, walk more, ride less  and encourage our friends and family to do the same. Here are some tips from the No Impact site:

Save the world by improving your diet.

• Cutting beef out of your diet will reduce your CO2 emissions by 2,400 pounds annually. Will you commit to a week without beef? A month? A year?
• Giving up 1 bottle of imported water means using up one less liter of fossil fuel and emitting 1.2 pounds less of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. Will you commit to a week without plastic water bottles? A month? A year?

• Don’t buy anything, don't use any machines, don't switch on anything electric, don't cook, don't answer your phone, and, in general, don't use any resources. Do it for a whole day each week to cut your impact by 14.4% a year. Will you commit to one hour a week for a month? A year?
• If an average family contributes 1% ($502.33) of their annual income ($50,233) to an environmental non-profit, they could offset 40.7 tons of carbon dioxide per year. Will you commit to tithing .5% of your annual income to an environmental non-profit? 1%? 2%?

• If you can stay off the road and ride your bike or walk just two days a week, you'll reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 1,590 pounds per year and get good, healthy exercise and we'll all breathe fewer fumes. Will you commit to using your own steam for one day a week? Two? Three?
• Take time off from television watching each week and join with others to improve our planet. Spend three fewer hours each day sitting in front of your plasma television and you will reduce your carbon emissions by 550 pounds each year. Will you commit to 5 hours of eco-service a month? 0? 15?

And if this inspires you I would check out the Roku.

What food film has had an impact on you? Any you’d recommend? Do you think you could do a month or a year with “zero impact”? Or what can you see yourself doing to reduce your impact?

Much Ado Or What To Do About Apple Juice?

*sorry about the spacing in this post, must be my childhood apple juice causing problems

I have to admit when I first heart the apple juice news, I thought it was sensationalized. I assumed the juice tested was an isolated batch found to be tainted. Then, Carolyn and I were talking to the GMA producers and they asked if we had seen Dr Besser and Dr Oz on that morning. We hadn't but heard Dr Besser retracted his initial statement stating Dr Oz was blowing this situation out of proportion. We knew it was time to look into this. Carolyn did some digging to find the juicy truth.


Apples have a healthy reputation but apple juice has never been known for its nutrition. Once an apple is peeled and juiced, what's left in that convenient little box is essentially sugar. Well, we thought it was just sugar anyway. Thanks to Dr Oz, who we're growing to adore around here, apple juice has been part of a whole lot of drama over the past few weeks.
In September, the Dr Oz show did a private investigation and reported unsafe levels of arsenic in all 50 brands of apple juice they tested. The FDA attacked Dr Oz's report as "irresponsible and misleading" because he didn't distinguish between organic and inorganic arsenic (more on that later). Two weeks ago, Consumer Reports followed up and tested 88 samples of apple and grape juice and found 10% had inorganic arsenic levels over the FDA limit and 25% of samples had higher lead levels than the FDA's drinking water standards. Consumer Reports found that big brands including Mott's, Apple and Eve, Great Value (Wal-Mart's house label) and Welches (grape) all exceeded the 10 pbb limit. CR has also suggested the FDA's acceptable levels for arsenic be decreased; this would render the majority of juices tested unsafe.

Arsenic sounds scary and it is. There are two kinds of the heavy metal: organic (less harmful) and inorganic (more harmful). Organic arsenic occurs in nature and we are constantly exposed to small amounts...but you still wouldn't want to drink it. Inorganic (man-made) aresenic is the more toxic type used in pesticides, herbicides and, best of all, chemical warfare. Chronic exposure to the carcinogen is associated with increased risk of bladder, kidney, lung, liver and colon cancer. Those cute little juice boxes are longing for the days when sugar was there biggest issue.

Does that mean no more apples and walnut butter (my favorite)? No, our American apples should technically be safe because the inorganic arsenic-based pesticides haven't been legal here in years. At least we're doing something right. Sort of, you see some apple juice tested from solely US apples still had elevated levels of arsenic. This is where organic becomes essential. If you're eating organic apples harmful pesticides shouldn't be an issue. The majority of America's apple juice comes from China but manufacturers often mix juice concentrates from multiple countries. Many bottles of apple juice are melting pots making it difficult to tract down its exact origin.

We're not apple juice promoters in general but I spent every day of my childhood lunch sipping Mott's (parents, I forgive you) so I get that kids love it. If you must have apple juice follow Dr Oz's rules to make it organic and from the US. Additionally read ingredient labels as apple juice is used in products you may not suspect. If the FDA thinks sipping chemical warfare compounds is safe, you must take matters into your own hands and make decisions that work for you.

It's easy to feel as though eating is a minefield with dangerous chemicals at every turn. However, there are safe foods to eat. This is just another reason to know the provenance of your food and to purchase organic and domestic when possible. 

Are you concerned about arsenic in apple juice? Have you considered that organic from other countries may not be what it is here? Do you think there's a safe level of poison in food/isn't that a strange concept?

The blog winner of our Hint giveaway was Lisa  from Healthful Sense.

Superfruits or Super hype?

Source: NY Times, is this in your fruit bowl?

Recently, I was contacted by one of my favorite writers who was working on a story about superfruits.  She asked me if I had time for an interview and said “I'll be talking to some hard core sciencey types, but also was wondering if I could get your Laurenly real world insight (a la, "do you really think a Dunkin Donuts Acai Slushee will keep cancer at bay?"). While I was fairly very insulted not to be regarded as “hard core and sciencey” (why did I bother with the whole Masters of Science? Do I need a PhD?) I obliged. My Laurenly opinions:

Most fruits are super:

When it comes to produce (and not gummy candy or “juice” drinks) brightly colored means beneficial. There are food trends much like fashion trends. While we’re hearing about maxi skirts, minis are just fine. The same goes for acai and blueberries. Just because something is familiar doesn’t mean it is inferior.

Don’t look to vodka for your vitamins:

Did you see the article, last month, in the New York Times about Dragon fruit? There’s a new superfruit on the block (see photo above, not sure I want to eat that). “Skyy is introducing a dragon-fruit-flavor vodka spring. Celestial Seasonings, the Colorado-based stalwart of herbal infusions, recently began pairing powdered dragon fruit with green tea. There’s a Sumatra Dragon fruit version of Bai, a thirst quencher made from the unroasted fruit of the coffee plant; a line of Lite Pom that blends a few swigs of dragon fruit with pomegranate juice; and a new pitaya-tinged cream liqueur called Dragon Kiss.”

This is where popularity turns into perversion. To answer the question above, nothing at a doughnut shop is improving your health. The same goes for flavored vodka with a smidgen of fruit (the real sign a superfruit has arrived). Quality counts and if you sample superfruits seek out a something as close to the original source as possible.

Superfruits and foods may be new to us but not necessarily new:

Though superfruits may seem to suddenly pop up, many of them have been consumed for thousands of years. I am a big Goji berry fan (though a client almost ruined them for me saying they taste like feet). Lest you think superfruits are only about heart health and cancer prevention gojis are also sexual tonics. I wrote about them last year for Valentines Day. I love the cocoa dusted gojis.

Pomegranates are also on my shopping list when they are available. With a family history of heart disease, I put on rubber gloves and shell those slippery seeds. I also add an ounce of pure pomegranate juice to seltzer every so often.

What ever happened to eating seasonally and locally?

It’s strange to me that on one hand we’re encouraging people to shop at farmers’ markets and join CSA’s. In another breath we’re mentioning mangosteen. There’s no mangosteen at my local market or anywhere close. There are delicious fruits and vegetables that I recognize and can pronounce. 

It’s fine if you want to try dragon fruit (though the Times didn’t rave about it’s taste despite its “good looks”), just don’t forget about the plums, blackberries and cherries that are all “super” right now.

What’s your verdict on superfruits- super or hyped? What’s the most silly superfruit use you’ve seen? Have you tried goji berries, acai or dragon fruit?

Blackberry Farm

I am writing this from post from Blackberry Farm. I’m here giving a series of short talks to some guests participating in a motivational boot camp.  If you aren’t familiar with Blackberry Farm it’s a farm to table property in the Smoky Mountains. All of the produce served here is produced on the farm. Last night on the way to dinner we passed the truffle farm and saw the building where the cheese and jam are made. Before dinner, I met the participants as they returned from a hike.

I introduced people, singles and couples, from Texas, Mississippi and Westchester to Foodtraining. The premise of the talk is that we all know the “shoulds” in terms of exercise.  Yet there is a gap between what we know we should do and what we actually do. Whether it’s cooking or exercise or snacking or drinking we each have our behavioral Achilles heel. My proposed antidote to these weak areas is planning (more on that later). It was my first talk I’ve ever done with a glass of champagne in my hand. I raised a glass to the group and we headed into dinner.

Dinner was a delicious four-course meal with a wine for each course. I worked with Sam Beall, the proprietor of Blackberry, offering a few suggestions (they clearly don’t need my help). We started with a Beet Carpaccio served with Hen of the Woods mushrooms and “crispy buckwheat.” Buckwheat is gluten free and the crunch in the salad was fantastic. The following course was a vegetable soup utilizing the last kale of the season here. Also in the soup were the flowers from the kale this time of year. These flowers have a name but two wines in, it’s no wonder I cannot recall it. Our entrée was Guinea Hen serves with ramps (wild leeks) and brown “basmati rice grits”.  The flavor of the ramps with these polenta-like grits was insanely good. I chose not to lick my plate but scraped it clean. And finally, on a beautiful slab of slate we were served Blackberry Farm’s “Singing Brook” cheese with Honey Turnips.

It was one of those nights where I felt the rest of the world was so far away. Marc and I were seated with Mary Celeste and Sam Beall who live at Blackberry Farm with their four children. Marc was next to a couple married when they were in their 50’s in the French Quarter. Stories were shared about travel and cooking and wine and more. As I relaxed from a long week I realized I was supposed to talk “sleep tips” after dinner. Everyone grabbed his or her tea or coffee (or remaining wine) and we walked down a path to another house. In a living room-like setting we all talked about sleep which I didn’t think would be too hard after all that good food and wine.

What do you feel is your Achilles heel when it comes to nutrition or exercise? Are you at all sat to say goodbye to root vegetables or kale as spring arrives? What are your favorite meal memories where the menu and company seemed perfect?

Market Melissa

Melissa O'Shea (aka Market Melissa) and I have developed an off-shoot of Foodtrainers called Market Foodtraining. Melissa guides small groups of participants through various NYC markets offering her expertise on organics, ingredients and more. I had a few questions for Melissa  and she will offer weekly tips, so check back with us!
Lauren: You’ve been touring around groups for your market foodtraining tours, what do people have the most questions about?

Melissa: What foods to buy organic is always a question I get and also how to work organics into their budget. On the tours, I give participants the organic do’s and don’ts. For example, DO buy the in-store organic brand, this can shave 20% off your grocery bill.

Lauren What’s exciting that’s in season now?

Melissa: I feel like in summer we all go crazy for the delicious variety of fruits in season, but in the fall some of my favorite veggies are in season. I am making soups and chili with butternut squash, pumpkin and kale and love roasted sweet potato fries. These ingredients make the chilly weather not seem so bad.

Lauren: You’re always tweeting (@marketmelissa) about ingredients and food-shopping, any tidbit you’d like to share?

Melissa: Oh there are so many to share! A recent one I found was that the average carrot travels 1,800 miles to your dinner table. We grow carrots in NY! It seems silly when we can get them from a farm that is less than 100 miles away.

Lauren: I love when you say “these jarred tomato sauces are great, I can’t use jarred ones, I have an Italian husband.” For those of us who don’t, what is your advice for making things from scratch?

Melissa: Oh I still remember the look on my husband’s face the first night I made pasta with jarred tomato sauce. What does an Irish girl know!? While I admit I was intimidated at first, it isn’t as hard as it seems. My husband’s grandmother says “if you have good ingredients, you can’t go wrong.” And she’s right, I now make all own soups and salad dressings…I’ve come a long way.

Lauren: Any favorite new product/discovery?

Melissa: I’m usually not a huge fan of cottage cheese, but I have to say Rachel’s (http://rachelsdairy.com) now makes ones that come in flavors like cucumber dill and pear mangosteen…yum!

Lauren: What’s new in market foodtraining?

Melissa: In September and October we were doing a lot of ‘back to school’ tours with parents on what’s to pack in school lunches and easy weeknight dinners. As we transition to winter, we are going to focus on flu-fighting foods, as well as comfort foods made healthy and winter produce. I am always looking to keep the tours fresh and exciting. Blog readers, come check them out!