Julia Child Brought Real Food to the Modern World

Julia Child

In the 1960s, a movement began to rekindle quality food, you know, the kind of fresh food that is grown on farms. Michio Kushi came to the United States to teach macrobiotics in the 1950s, but he couldn’t find good enough quality food for his classes. After World War II, the modern world of the United States had embraced technology, mass production and adulterated, processed food, designed in the lab mainly for ease of transport and lengthy storage. In restaurants we had what I call, “the white bucket” fake foods, foods made from mixes provided by corporation headquarters. At home, we had frozen food dinners, Velveeta cheese, American cheese slices, frozen sausages, frozen pizza, cake mixes, instant coffee, I could go on forever listing the faux foods that replaced real foods people used to cook and eat for healthy meals. Even something as simple as an egg had undergone processing that had altered the very nature of an egg. All of these conveniences were a relief from the often hard labor of cooking, but they were not a relief for our overall health.

I still remember the scene in the movie, “Infamous,” in which the writer, cosmopolitan Truman Capote, on a 1959 research trip to Kansas, could not find real cheese. He is standing, lost, in front of a huge display of Velveeta processed cheese, the only cheese in town.

In the movie, "Infamous," Truman Capote 

contemplates the cheese desert in Kansas

Michio Kushi couldn’t find good food so he turned to an import/export business back in Japan, Mitoku. By 1967, he had created his own small grocer called Erewhon (Named after the utopian novel of the same name, Nowhere spelled backwards, it now was everywhere!) that provided fresh vegetables, imported Japanese foods, including sea vegetables and whole grain brown rice, beans from American farmers, fresh sour dough bread, homemade jams and jellies and natural beauty products. A revolution had begun. Countless Mom & Pop health food stores opened, including Autumn Harvest, which saved our lives one freezing winter in Chicago; A New Leaf, where I bought my first macrobiotic cookbook by Eunice Farmilant and  Bread & Circus, a small chain in Massachusetts and who could forget, the indomitable, Trader Joe's. Fifty years later, we also have Whole Foods, a wonderfully monstrous chain of natural food markets!

Similarly, Julia Child, in the early 1940s, in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, while working in the Office of Strategic Services, couldn’t abide the awful food in the barracks, so she and her then, friend Paul, soon to become her husband, ventured out into the city for real fresh food, Asian food.

Paul Child had also spent a good deal of time in Paris where he learned what quality food was. To this day, the United States is not allowed to send our adulterated rBGH dairy to France. By the way, have you EVER SEEN French school lunches? Compared to school lunches in the U.S.? And, while we’re at it, how about the school lunches in Africa? Talk about whole grains! In fact, many of our fake foods, popular and accepted as food in the United States, are banned abroad.

American School Lunch: nothing real here

French School Lunch: real food!

African School Lunch: real food!

In 1963, Julia Child began the first season of her now classic TV show, “The French Chef." Julia was not only cooking with whole, fresh, quality foods, she was cooking on television! She was educating the country mired in artificial foods what real food actually was! Sure, for a good many years, Julia’s meals were considered gourmet - fancy French food - but not all! She also cooked peasant food: good simple stews to be eaten with fresh bread, broiled fish, roasted chicken, simple omelettes, and baked apples for dessert. Along the way, she taught us how to go to the store or farmer’s market and choose fresh meats, fish and vegetables. 

Julia at the market

One of the biggest things Julia accomplished was after the fact of her groundbreaking TV show, that is the interest in real food that in turn created new chefs interested in growing their own organic gardens - chefs like Alice Waters, who, in turn, reached out to young people and children to create organic gardens in schools, to teach children about how food grows, where it comes from, how to cook it, how to make it their own! Now many schools across the country have school gardens! Thank you, Alice! Thank you, Julia! More chefs appeared, chefs like Michael Pollan, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Anthony Bourdain, whose enthusiasm for real food reached even more people. 

Chef Alice Waters and her Edible Schoolyard project

Not exactly a chef, but as the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama began her health program, “Let’s Move,” by encouraging, not only exercise, but school gardens, organic gardens, and organic school lunches. Michelle would surprise students with her visits to their school gardens. She created an organic garden at the White House. 

The First Lady Michelle Obama

encouraging students to learn about food

Michelle Obama also worked hard to do away with “food deserts” in this country by encouraging supermarkets to open in places without fresh food sources. Walgreens and Walmart responded with fresh foods in their stores. Two new Whole Foods were opened, one in Chicago, another in Detroit to fill the need.

Julia created ripples of goodness, far-reaching into the future! When we watch the movies created in her honor, we get a sense of how hard she worked and how long she worked hard! When we watch her on TV, she makes it all seem effortless, but we now know how much resistance Julia received for trying to teach people how to cook! She even paid for the food until the show got its sea legs! Could anyone imagine that when we watch her giggle at her mistakes or moan her appreciation of really good food? “Mmmm!”

Not everyone thanks Michio Kushi for bringing us Erewhon, creating somewhere out of Nowhere. Not everyone remembers what it was like before hummus and whole wheat bread were on every supermarket shelf. When a tuna fish sandwich or a dried up hunk of cod was as close as you could get to a vegetarian meal. Ok, maybe a tiny wilted iceberg salad, if you weren’t that hungry. Thank you, Michio. 

Thank you, Julia! 

©Patricia Goodwin, 2022

Patricia Goodwin is the author of When Two Women Die, about Marblehead legends and true crime and its sequel, Dreamwater, about the Salem witch trials and the vicious 11-year-old pirate Ned Low. Holy Days is her third novel, about the sexual, psychological seduction of Gloria Wisher and her subsequent transformation. Her latest novel is Low Flying, about two women suffering psychologically abusive marriages who find and nurture each other. Her newest poetry books are Telling Time By Apples, And Other Poems About Life On The Remnants of Olde Humphrey Farme, illustrated by the author, and Java Love: Poems of a Coffeehouse.

Within this blog, Patricia writes often about non-fiction subjects that inspire or disturb her, hopefully informing and inspiring people to be happy, healthy and free.

***Disclaimer: The information on this blog is not meant to substitute for medical care. Please consult your physician before beginning any new dietary guidelines. 

Pre-Pre Natal Care for Women and Men - Get Ready For Your Baby!

 

Did you know that childbirth is supposed to be an orgasm? No pain. Only ecstasy. 

This body that we nurture every day nurtures us back. We are stuck in it. And sometimes, it’s scary. But it doesn’t have to be.

I’ve written about health many times and it all boils down to something we all learned in school. Again, I’m saying it - it seems to me there are only two kinds of people in the world, those who paid attention in school and those who didn’t. Maybe you had a loser for a teacher and you coasted but you missed out on a lot that could be useful to you now. That loser had a lot to teach you.

In all of the pandemic, I only heard the WGBH Boston journalist, Adam Reilly* say what we all learned or should have learned in school (I’m paraphrasing) - “All you really need to do to strengthen your immune system and be healthy is to eat real nutritious food, get enough sleep and exercise.” 

That’s three things.

And, nobody does it.

I was lucky. I was brought up Italian, eating only whole foods from the Italian market in Haymarket Square, Boston. My grandfather and my uncle used to go every week and come home with wheels of cheese and hunks of prosciutto that the family shared. Every day was a fresh loaf of bread. Fresh fruits were abundant. My mother even foraged for dandelion greens. My grandmother grew her own arugula, tomatoes and red pepper in a tiny backyard garden in East Boston. 

My mother cautioned us to never eat anything from a factory! Candy was kept on a top shelf. Anything packaged was suspect.

I was thirty-one years old and eight years macrobiotic when my daughter was born. She popped out after only four hours of labor; she was pissing, pooping and screaming! I won’t say it was painless, it wasn’t. I did it without drugs and there comes a point, where, like Catholic saints, you pass the pain and drift into nothingness. 

Ecstasy.

But it’s not about pain or no pain. It’s about health.

A friend of mine delivered her ninth child herself behind the counter of her natural food store. Health.

Every time I see a commercial for children in a cancer ward, I shudder, because NO CHILD SHOULD HAVE CANCER! No, nor any other degenerative disease.

It is my opinion, and you can take it or leave it, that eating junk food as food causes cancer. “White bucket” fast food restaurants, where the ingredients come out of white plastic buckets instead of out of the garden or from the farm. Anything made in a factory - artificial “food-like substances” (Michael Pollan*, author, nutritionist and chef) that we eat as our daily food.

Feed yourself and your children real nutritious food! Everyone must learn how to cook! Every man, woman and, yes, every child as soon as they are able! 

Cooking is not an inconvenience. It is an opportunity. A chance to get better, to be better, to feel better!

NYC Mayor Eric Adams healed his diabetes and the blindness in his left eye 

by changing his diet 

What is good nutritious food? Here is the Food Pyramid we learned in school. It changes sometimes, but the basics remain the same. In macrobiotics, we lean more toward whole grains and vegetables with occasional servings of chicken, fish, dairy and eggs.

Here’s what to do for good pre-prenatal care and it’s the same for everyone’s everyday health. You don't have to be macrobiotic to be healthy! Get as close to this as you can!

Pre Pre Natal Care For Women and Men: Get Ready For Your Baby!

1. Learn to cook real whole foods. When you are a young adult (think high school!) stop all junk food as food. Junk food is a cheat meal, only for fun, not for food. Children cannot develop properly on a diet of sugary breakfast cereal, pizza and hot dogs. Not in life or in the womb - you must pre prepare for pregnancy to give your baby the best chance at health! 
2. No drugs, limit alcohol. 
3. Cut your sugar intake in half - or more!
4. Get enough sleep. This can be hard when you work and commute. But you must try.
5. Exercise. Keep your body as strong as possible. Keep your blood circulation pumping! Your own good quality blood made from good quality food is the best healing medicine for you!
6. Drink plenty of water! Water is the only drink that can truly hydrate you! Dehydration can sneak up on you.  It has many, many symptoms that can be dangerous!

Drugs, alcohol and sugar take from the body. Obviously, no hard drugs which can take your life as well as your baby’s life. Use other medications in moderation at all times. (Check with your doctor.) Nowadays women do not drink alcohol when pregnant. Many women also stop coffee. My mother never heard of these restrictions. I did drink coffee and everything was fine. I was advised by my European macro friends that European women drank good quality beer while pregnant to ensure plenty of breast milk. So, I drank the best beer I could find at the time, Pilsner Urquell. I had lots and lots of milk! I was also advised to eat a fermented soy product called natto for skin health. “No stretch marks,” commented the intern who cared for me. The doctor wouldn’t come down to the delivery. He said since it was my first, there was plenty of time. An intern and several nurses attended me. Initially, I had planned to use a mid-wife with doctor/hospital back-up. However, the doctor felt my hematocrit (number of red blood cells) was too low for mid-wife conditions. I studied what that meant and adjusted my diet to change my condition - I reduced my coffee intake and I made a hearty miso soup for my lunch everyday, bringing my hematocrit up to an acceptable level. The doctor couldn’t believe I had done it.

Be advised - 

Pre-Prenatal care also applies to boys and men! When they eat, young men are preparing the quality of their sperm which contains the program of their good or bad health. When they eat, they are creating the quality of their health which they are passing to their child! How many young men do I see leaving the convenience store at lunch time with a huge bag of chips and a huge bottle of Coke! Not a nutritious lunch for a working man! We could go into the eating habits of our mothers and fathers which also influence the quality of our health. Again, I was lucky. My parents’ generation did not have a lot of junk food around and most of it was too expensive for them to buy. That’s no longer true.

We are further and further away from that naturally healthy generation. Possibly four generations removed. In many cases, we could go back to great-great-grandmothers before we reach someone who cooked real nutritious food every day. And THAT effects our health, our children’s health and our future children’s health! The good news is, the body reacts quickly and powerfully to good food and good habits; we can reverse most damage that has been done.

This body that we were given. This body that we nurture will nurture us back.

If we don’t take good care of our body, it will seem to attack us one day when we least expect it.

But, it’s not an attack, it’s our body reacting to what we gave it.

Give your body goodness. Get ready for your baby!

©Patricia Goodwin, 2022

• I am not affiliated with journalist Adam Reilly, nutritionist Michael Pollan, or Mayor Eric Adams, and they have not endorsed me in any way. 

• I am not a doctor, nor a medical professional. I’m just a person who has enjoyed the benefits of a macrobiotic diet and lifestyle for nearly 50 years. I’m 70 years old and not on any medications. When something goes wrong, I am able to consider what caused it, make adjustments and watch things heal. However, by law, I am required to say that any advice you see in my blog is not meant to be followed without first checking with your doctor.

Patricia Goodwin is the author of When Two Women Die, about Marblehead legends and true crime and its sequel, Dreamwater, about the Salem witch trials and the vicious 11-year-old pirate Ned Low. Holy Days is her third novel, about the sexual, psychological seduction of Gloria Wisher and her subsequent transformation. Her latest novel is Low Flying, about two women suffering psychologically abusive marriages who find and nurture each other. Her newest poetry books are Telling Time By Apples, And Other Poems About Life On The Remnants of Olde Humphrey Farme, illustrated by the author, and Java Love: Poems of a Coffeehouse.

Within this blog, Patricia writes often about non-fiction subjects that inspire or disturb her, hopefully informing and inspiring people to be happy, healthy and free.

***Disclaimer: The information on this blog is not meant to substitute for medical care. Please consult your physician before beginning any new dietary guidelines. 

Wormwood or How I was Poisoned by My Martini

 

"The Absinthe Drinker" by Viktor Oliva, 1901, Prague

Wormwood. It sounds like a new western starring Brian Cranston. 

But, it’s the poison that poisoned me. Poisoned my already delicate nervous system. I remember when I had my consultation with Michio Kushi in 1975 - my husband had just been named Vice-President of the East West Foundation, a macrobiotic org, and I was asked to see Michio, our mentor and teacher, for a health consultation. I was ushered into the elegant, serious study in his old fashioned home. I sat down and faced him, a small, thin man in a dark suit and tie. He took one look at me and said, “No stimulants!” 

Outwardly, I nodded. Inwardly I thought, “Oh, dear. We’re going to have a problem.” As a writer I feared I would not want to live without coffee or wine!

If you read my blog post, Anxiety Now! You already know how I was poisoned. Martinis. A very sophisticated and elegant stimulant, loved by writers for decades. I used to have about two, maybe four a year, on special occasions, in equally elegant restaurants. But, since COVID, I’d been making my own at home. Two a night. (A doctoral thesis could be written about the comfort foods of COVID and their often terrible effects on human health!) 

Since two months of martinis, my husband, daughter and I noticed a huge increase in my anxiety that was making sleep impossible. Even when I wrote Anxiety Now! I hadn’t known exactly what had happened to me. Something kept nagging at me. Something, I thought, must be IN the martinis. What was it?

It had to be in the vermouth! I researched the mysterious, bitter, spicy vermouth, googling the ingredients - cinnamon, cardoman, ginger, cinchona, chamomile, and there it was - the same ingredient that had once been (and still was!) used to make the infamously poisonous absinthe that the French writers, poets and artists had taken to flirt with death and insanity - granted it was prepared differently - but, there it was - wormwood.

Wormwood, often called artemisia, whose side-effects are seizures, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), kidney failure, restlessness, difficulty sleeping, nightmares, vomiting, stomach cramps, dizziness, tremors, changes in heart rate, urine retention, thirst, numbness of arms and legs, paralysis, and death. 

As described on BBC Culture, “The spirit [absinthe] was a muse extraordinaire from 1859, when Édouard Manet’s The Absinthe Drinker shocked the annual Salon de Paris, to 1914, when Pablo Picasso created his painted bronze sculpture, The Glass of Absinthe. During the Belle Époque, the Green Fairy – nicknamed after its distinctive colour – was the drink of choice for so many writers and artists in Paris that five o’clock was known as the Green Hour, a happy hour when cafes filled with drinkers sitting with glasses of the verdant liquor. Absinthe solidified or destroyed friendships, and created visions and dream-like states that filtered into artistic work. It shaped Symbolism, Surrealism, Modernism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Cubism. Dozens of artists took as their subjects absinthe drinkers and the ritual paraphernalia: a glass, slotted spoon, sugar cubes – sugar softened the bitter bite of cheaper brands – and fountains dripping cold water to dilute the liquor.

Absinthe was, at its conception, not unlike other medicinal herbal preparations (vermouth, the German word for wormwood, among them). Its licorice flavor derived from fennel and anise. But this was an aperitif capable of creating blackouts, pass-outs, hallucinations and bizarre behaviour. Contemporary analysis indicates that the chemical thujone in wormwood was present in such minute quantities in properly distilled absinthe as to cause little psychoactive effect. It’s more likely that the damage was done by severe alcohol poisoning from drinking twelve to twenty shots a day…”

As a student, we were told of raging artists running mad through the streets, and I confess to the urge to leap from the bed and run screaming through the house, something to the effect of “I don’t even waaaant to sleep!” But, I didn’t want to drag my family into my horror. I took comfort and still do in the fact that they were sound asleep. I was so glad it was me and not them.

The Chinese have a word for it - though it’s not exactly what I have, it’s close - they call the phenomenon, “Revenge Bedtime Procrastination” or the desire to delay bedtime while you enjoy the pleasures of light and daily activity. Something about control. But, add old age to the equation and you have the terror of death in which the darkness - which we need in order to make melatonin, that chemical that naturally closes our eyes and brings on the mystery of restful sleep - becomes death, particularly if you know you are in the last room of your life. It’s a beautiful room, but I must learn to embrace death. The movie “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” comes to mind. Even the cold assassin, Judberg in “The Edge of Darkness” feared the dark - “something about the dark,” he said. I’ve been using screen time, watching reassuring movies and shows that I have seen many, many times to lull me to sleep. I pause the scene and hold it there all night to comfort me that I am not alone. Screen time pollutes the eyes with light and tells your body to not go to sleep. I can’t help it. I need to see Carrie Bradshaw - she tries so hard - or Mary Spaulding - she’s so smart - or Olivia Benson - she’s so fearless - that they are with me - and then, I can close my eyes.

It’s a point of pride with me that Virginia Woolf was also diagnosed with a “no stimulants” delicate nervous system. She was a marvelous writer, whose prose was sheer poetry - deep, clever, courageous, profound, and beautiful. But, I don’t want to end like her. If you know her, you know that she saw “the shark fin on the horizon” and wanted to spare her family from further pain. However, though she wasn’t allowed alcohol, Virginia consumed copious amounts of stimulant in her daily tea. We all know that the English drink very strong tea and take it for everything from wet, cold feet after a walk to something to calm the nerves after trauma. Hmm. The shark is in the hen house.

I’m continuing my journey to freedom from wormwood. I tried Tylenol PM for nearly two months - it worked wonderfully! Till I got a few nasty side effects that I am still dealing with, mostly from dehydration; I couldn’t drink enough water! Now, I’m trying melatonin, which, after asking out on Facebook for help, I discovered most of my friends are already taking in 5mg to 10 mg form! I’m only using 1 mg and so far so good…like Steve McQueen says in “The Magnificent Seven” after telling the joke about the man who leapt off a four story roof; at each floor people heard him say, “So far so good!”

***Disclaimer: Patricia Goodwin does not blame or endorse vermouth. Many people may enjoy vermouth with no adverse effects. She wishes them bon appetite and bonne santé!

Patricia Goodwin is the author of When Two Women Die, about Marblehead legends and true crime and its sequel, Dreamwater, about the Salem witch trials and the vicious 11-year-old pirate Ned Low. Holy Days is her third novel, about the sexual, psychological seduction of Gloria Wisher and her subsequent transformation. Her latest novel is Low Flying, about two women suffering psychologically abusive marriages who find and nurture each other. Her newest poetry books are Telling Time By Apples, And Other Poems About Life On The Remnants of Olde Humphrey Farme, illustrated by the author, and Java Love: Poems of a Coffeehouse.

Within this blog, Patricia writes often about non-fiction subjects that inspire or disturb her, hopefully informing and inspiring people to be happy, healthy and free.

***Disclaimer: The information on this blog is not meant to substitute for medical care. Please consult your physician before beginning any new dietary guidelines. 

How To Strengthen Your Immune System Against COVID

"You did it! You finally did it! You blew it all up!"

This is what I see and hear every time I see a person with a mask. 

I'm not an anti-masker. I dutifully wear my mask. Mostly, out of courtesy. 

Not that I can't catch COVID. I could. 

But, I'm macrobiotic. I have tools. 

I and many others have been trying to tell everyone in the nation about these tools for - are you ready for it? 

For over 50 years! 

We macros have been telling you what you need to do to be healthy and happy for over 50 years!

The best tools I have are yin and yang and my own strong immune system.

The key to dealing with the Coronavirus is to strengthen your immune system. Even if you've already trashed your immune system on years of junk food, you most likely can build it up again.

It’s so simple and we all learned it in school. I can’t help thinking - There are two kinds of people in the world: those who paid attention in school and those who didn’t.

Here is a break-down of what you can do to make your own immune system strong: 

1. The Triangle of Health: Nutrition, Sleep, Exercise has always been a basic part of my life and it’s so simple, though not always easy to implement. Often, we can’t get the sleep we need, nor do we have time to exercise. However, nutrition should never be allowed to slacken. 

2. The Healthy Plate:

Though recently re-emerged from Harvard, this simple plate has been with me since elementary school. I have, since then, updated my protein from meat to a healthy vegetable protein of beans, or occasional good quality fish. (Our fish supply has also been usurped by factory farms, so it is not as easy to find good fish as it used to be. Be careful: good fish looks good and smells fresh and clean; its edges are moist, not dry and curled; it smells sweet, not fishy; the flesh is white, not yellow or rubbery.

We must make the effort to find good food! Real whole foods at places like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, good quality markets, co-ops, buy directly from the farm if you have to! You'll be surprised how many are delivering during COVID lockdown!

3. Fresh air! Open a window! Get that fresh air circulating in your home! (Remember, the worst places for COVID deaths - stuffy, stale, enclosed spaces with recycled “air” - old age homes, airplanes, factories, hotels, cruise ships and, the worst - HOSPITALS!) 

4. Sunshine! Go outside! If you can’t go outside, open a window and stick your head out! Ten minutes a day is enough to get Vitamin D to strengthen your immune system. Even on cloudy days, enough sun gets through.

It's so simple, not always easy, but A LOT easier than being sick! 

People on my Facebook are still posting marshmallows - how do you like yours? Barely toasted or charred? And flavors of ice cream - which one is you? 

Americans are not eating real food. 

What Americans are eating all day every day are fake oils created in the lab and flavored to resemble the thing they think they’re eating whether that is peanut butter or cheese, ice cream or cake, breakfast cereals or donuts, tacos or hot dogs.

Fake oils are not human nutrition. We can eat them occasionally without creating too many problems in the body, but they do not nourish our bodies. 

Many Americans have NEVER eaten real food.

What is really happening when a young person contracts the coronavirus and does well for a while but then crashes and dies? The doctors say that young person was "healthy and had no previously existing conditions.” But, they were NOT healthy and DID have a previous condition which was malnutrition and a compromised immune system.

You really don’t have to give up your comfort foods. Just limit them. 

You don’t really have to give up all meat. Choose wisely. Better cuts, organic chicken, good quality fish. 

Adding brown rice to your plate will begin to change you in amazing new ways!

After a while, you’ll notice the difference in the way you feel after you eat a good dinner of brown rice, broiled fish and salad, strawberries for dessert.

©Patricia Goodwin, 2020

Other sources for good healthy choices are:

Denny Waxman's macrobiotic cookbook, The Ultimate Guide to Eating for Longevity: The Macrobiotic Way to Live a Long, Healthy, and Happy Life

If you wish to start macrobiotics - with personal advice and guidance - dennywaxman.com. 

Allen Campbell: Nutrition Studies Allen Campbell was Tom Brady's nutrition coach and chef. His advice on inflammatory foods has helped me a great deal with any occasional pain.

Hip Chicks Guide to Macrobiotics

Aveline Kushi's Complete Guide to Macrobiotic Cooking: For Health, Harmony, and Peace

Mayumi's Kitchen: Macrobiotic Cooking for Body and Soul

Patricia Goodwin is the author of When Two Women Die, about Marblehead legends and true crime and its sequel, Dreamwater, about the Salem witch trials and the vicious 11-year-old pirate Ned Low. Holy Days is her third novel, about the sexual, psychological seduction of Gloria Wisher and her subsequent transformation. Her newest poetry books are Telling Time By Apples, And Other Poems About Life On The Remnants of Olde Humphrey Farme, illustrated by the author, and Java Love: Poems of a Coffeehouse.

Patricia has been a practicing macrobiotic for 46 years. 

Within this blog, Patricia writes often about non-fiction subjects that inspire or disturb her, hopefully informing and inspiring people to be happy, healthy and free. 

***Disclaimer: The information on this blog is not meant to substitute for medical care. Please consult your physician before beginning any new dietary guidelines.