Recall your first memory skipping through an autumn pumpkin patch? Or plunging your teeth into a freshly plucked apple from a local farm? No doubt, farm-fresh food can leave long-lasting, juicy impressions. Wouldn't it be great if all supermarket produce tasted this way?
Slow Food - the international "anti fast-food"organization and movement - is speeding up their global mission to make just this kind of food within reach with a membership promotion until the end of September.
You simply go to this link and name your price for membership and ~ presto ~ you are now helping quality, delicious food from family farms become within reach to your local community and schools. Normal annual membership costs $60.00, so now everybody can participate. Sign up here to become a member and for more details.
Don't let the airport dictate your entire plate when you travel. Even with heightened security restrictions, you can BYO food and eat pretty well. Read on for travel suggestions and better options and strategies once inside the terminal.
BEFORE LEAVING - TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS
When traveling cross-country, generally aim for an earlier flight which will get you in around dinner time. That way you have a few hours to
acclimate to the time difference, feel more settled in new surroundings, and are better able to get to bed at a decent hour.
The week of travel ask friends for restaurant recommendations or do a search to find those near where you will be staying that have at least some fresh, locally-grown or sustainable food options as part of their menu.
PREPARING FOR THE PLANE RIDE
Choose easy-to-pack foods with lots of good fat and protein; it will keep you sated instead of snappish on a long haul. Otherwise, if you are craving fat the choices on the plane are limited and of very low quality; any meat is usually of a questionable source, furthering the importance of BYO.
Here's a sample of what types of items you can take with you in a carry-on bag:
Beet and yam salad with goat cheese*
Smoked Salmon*
Avocado
Hard boiled egg
Carrot and celery (or other raw veggie) sticks
Granny Smith apple
Orange
Banana
Meusli in a ziploc (just add whole milk or yogurt for breakfast) ~ and/or ~ trail mix**
Hand wipes and napkins;
Note: all items should be enclosed in a double-lined plastic bag inside a
carry-on. The salmon and eggs may be wrapped with a cold
freezer pack.
What to ALWAYS buy at the airport:
Two of the largest bottles of water you can find, preferably glass.
SECURITY RESTRICTIONS
You CANNOT bring anything through security that is remotely gel or liquid-like, such as:
Soup
Peanut butter or anything of its consistency
Gravy (Thanksgiving must be completely left behind...)
Mashed potatoes
Yogurt
Homemade salad dressing (unless >3 ounces and fits within a quart ziploc bag with other liquid carry-on items)
INSIDE THE TERMINAL
Despite the low quality of airport food, eat an eggy breakfast in the terminal before boarding. Rather than dwelling that the food quality is not the same as home, take the opportunity to feel grateful about having freshly prepared food choices knowing that it will be many hours or possibly the next day before getting something made fresh to order again.
BETTER OPTIONS AT THE AIRPORT
Whether packing for yourself or other family members, if you aren't able to pack much food beforehand then definitely have an eggy breakfast - it helps to feel satisfied and have energy to read and/or work on the plane. If you're not hungry for breakfast but want to avoid inevitable mid-trip hunger pangs, look for someplace in the airport that has salad with hummus and vegetables - again, protein and fat with something fresh of real color. Usually there is an option for simple olive oil and vinegar for dressing (generally avoid packaged dressings with long ingredient lists).
Another option includes vegetarian sushi with avocado and miso soup for the plane. You may find an apple or banana, but you usually pay a lot more for it at the airport; try to bring what you can from home.
ON THE PLANE
Whether or not you have breakfast in the terminal, when hunger strikes mid-flight, cut a slice of avocado and wrap a piece of salmon around it; the experience alone feels like total luxury on the plane. Upon arrival at your destination, eat lightly at dinner, mostly vegetables, salad and/or soup. This is easier to do when you've had your fat and protein earlier in the day, when your body has had time to metabolize it. Eating something heavy before bed usually tends to disrupt sleep.
Meusli is a great breakfast the next morning when paired with yogurt or milk; trail mix can help you hang in there until lunch. Otherwise, enjoy smoked salmon with any combination of leftovers to your liking.
Make sure to have more than enough water during the flight; any water not consumed on-board is great at bedside and upon waking first thing in the morning.
SOURCES
* Bi-Rite is the best source in the city for prepared foods when you're in a pinch. They have wonderful salads made with whole grains and/or seasonal vegetables made with olive oil instead of canola. Their smoked salmon is made in-house and is absolutely delicious.
** Rainbow Grocery offers organic Swiss Meusli in bulk that contains no sugar. It's delicious and you can add fresh or dried fruit for extra sweetness. Grizzly's organic trail mix is also very tasty and handy. It is available in bulk at Rainbow as well as Real Foods. Otherwise it is easy to make your own trail mix from a variety of nuts and dried fruits at most co-ops. Often the trail mixes at airports and gas stations have additives that you don't want or are processed with high heat, however, pistachios may be the safest choice. Always be sure to check the label for ingredients.
As I have seen for myself, Soul Food Farm is as the name implies, soulful. When their chicken farm pasture was devastated by fire the other week, people started stepping up to help. Bi-Rite - as most of my friends and clients know as my FAVORITE place to shop - is reaching out with their heart and wallet to the farmers with a raffle fundraiser. ALL money from ticket sales will go to the farm and Bi-Rite will match up to $2,000 of raffle ticket sales, which they did in the first few days.
Since the farm needs $25,000 to get back on their feet, you still have a chance to donate.
Bi-Rite will give out some great goodies to the lucky winners to be announced on October 1st. Check it out:
~ Private dinner for 8 at 18 Reasons (Bi-Rite’s community space for food and art), plus memberships/renewals for each guest
~ Ice cream for a year from Bi-Rite Creamery (as a $400 gift card)
~ Gift basket of our “greatest hits” items ($150 value)
~ A 6-pack of Mom’s preserves ($50 value)
~ A case of our favorite 18th Street wines ($150 value)
When I watched this video on a friend's website, I was so touched to hear Will Smith talk with such wisdom and heartfelt depth. Hearing him share his lessons about his career and life gave me so much inspiration - I can't wait to watch it again. I hope you take a moment to look at it, think about what he says, share it, and feel inspired as well.
In recent decades, the idea of sustenance and nourishment has become a numbers game. No doubt there is a certain logic and reputable science to back up measuring food via calories, fat grams, vitamins, etc.
Problem is, with all this counting hardly anybody ends up the winner. Most of us end up in the land of confusion, thinking we're so smart with info overload and starving for a practical way about how to be healthy.
In my own journeys (yes, plural) back to wellness, I have had to finally unravel the counting mindset once and for all. After all, humans and animals are wired to go toward pleasure and away from pain and counting is a lot of maintenance.
One of the results of not obsessing over calories is that I feel a lot more relaxed about what I eat, even if it's not from the farmers' market and occasionally comes in a wrapper.
~ Here are the Top 7 Reasons Why Calorie Counting Is Bogus ~
7. Calorie counting is not sustainable. For how long should you count calories, fat grams, etc.? For the rest of your life? When does it stop?
6. Calorie counting can make you obsessive, even paranoid about eating. You are not being truly present about food. More often than not, you are being judgmental about what's on your own and your neighbors' plate.
5. Calories do not equal hunger satisfaction. You can eat a mound of food and be hungry an hour later or sometimes eat less and be more satisfied.
4. Focus on calorie count usually obscures food quality. When you are counting calories on the side of a box, how often are you looking at the list of ingredients? How much do you know about how ingredients are processed and procured and what effect it has on your body?
3. Once you stop counting calories and reach a weight goal, then what do you do? How do you eat thereafter for maintenance?
2. Um, my grandma never did it and she lived happily until age 90.
1. You can still gain weight and feel sick while counting calories.
~ Good News ~
There are times during the day when you can eat almost without any regard to quantity (i.e., calorie intake). Curious about how? Check out my blog tomorrow to understand how and why.
When I visited Slow Food Farm back in March (see me pictured with Alexis, farmer-in-chief) I couldn't help but smile at the clucking chickens and snorting pigs. Seeing the animals' personalities and the love that goes into raising them for meat and eggs was educational, heart-warming and humbling.
What I didn't realize is that, despite the higher price tag of pasture-raised animal meat and eggs at the market, most of these farmers are hanging on by a string. Often one partner has to work in the city in order for the farm to scrape by. Believe me, small family farmers are not living "high on the hog" - they work very hard 'round the clock and 'round the year.
When fire swept through Slow Food Farm from a neighboring property recently, it really put their dream of animal and land stewardship to test. An outpouring of phone calls of support from San Francisco chefs and die-hard customers have donated about $4,500 so far. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, about $25,000 is needed to get the farmers back on their feet and to replace the chicks, tractor and chicken houses that were destroyed.
We need to protect safe sources of food so please join me in helping rebuild Slow Food Farms. If you would like to donate - whether you can spare $5 or $5000, please use this PayPal link and give what you can. You can make lotsa "chicks" really happy!
As one of 5 kids in my family, playing in the backyard sandbox was something I loved to do with my siblings. But as an adult, the sandbox is a distant memory and I'm left wondering, "when is playtime?"
Get outside. Find any excuse to do it and try to combine it with a pleasurable activity. Not just to relieve stress or punish yourself with exercise but to inject oxygen into your day and into your life.
Kick self-punishment out of your sandbox and have some FUN, whether it's to listen to music on your iPod, play basketball, soak in some relaxing rays. Studies have shown that people who have fun regularly have better health, better relationships and a happier life.
On Labor Day, Monday, September 7, Slow Food is holding potluck picnicsthroughout the country to bring attention to the sorry state of school lunch in our public schools. The legislation determining school lunch is up for renewal this fall.
These "Eat-Ins" are an opportunity to share food in a public space, listen to a carefully selected roster of short-winded speakers, receive information on letter-writing campaigns and other ways of making our voices heard, and spending convivial time with friends and like-minded people.
The San Francisco Eat-in is in the Civic Center Plaza - site of last year's Slow Food Nation - from 12 noon to 3:00 PM.The event is FREE but Slow Food is providing tables and chairs so a head count is necessary. RSVP at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/76244.
Each person is to bring plate, glass, silverware, napkin and something to share. Your dish will be served at your table, so if you get a group together you can even coordinate.
There are currently over 250 Eat-Ins planned on this day throughout the country and at least one in every state. Each is organized locally.
To see a national map and for more information: www.slowfoodusa.org - click on "Time For Lunch".
See Chicago's Eat-In
It's Time For Lunch! Eat-In to get REAL FOOD into schools from Rebecca Parrish.
Message adapted from email sent out to Slow Food members by Eleanor Bertino.
Collecting famous quotes is one of my favorite ways of finding the right words to communicate joy or figure out one of life's lessons.
You can get a friendly, uplifting quote emailed to you every day from either one of these sources:
~ www.TUT.com~ uplifting words of wisdom for men or women emailed daily from Mike Dooley (The Secret)
~ www.MamaGenas.com~ "Daily Fluff" gives women one-liner quotes that will make you/her smile every day.
~ #quotes on Twitter ~ whether you have an account or not you can enter this into the www.Twitter.com search box anytime to see "Tweeple" words of wisdom
What is your favorite source for quotes? Please share them on Facebook or on my blog at www.SandraKeros.com/blog.
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