Conscious Eating

Vegetables over Soba noodles

 I was inspired after watching the documentary movie FORKS OVER KNIVES to compose this post about what I am calling CONSCIOUS EATING.

According to Webster’s Dictionary:

Conscious: “perceiving, apprehending, or noticing with a degree of controlled thought or observation”.

Eating: “to take in through the mouth as food”.

Placed together, Conscious Eating, would be defined as:

Taking into consideration what we are putting into our bodies as food.

If asked what one image from this film has stayed with me, I would have to say that of a clogged artery being removed during surgery. How does an artery get to be so clogged? That is what this film addresses. If you care about your health or that of your children, read on.

The following is a synopsis of Forks Over Knives:

“What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure.

Two out of every three of us are overweight. Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country’s three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to "battle" these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases.

Could it be there’s a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive but so straightforward, that it’s mind-boggling that more of us haven’t taken it seriously?

FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn”.

Anyone reading my post can google the film title and read the synopsis in its entirety. Better yet, rent or buy this film. Then when done, pass it on to your family & friends. Share the information you learn from the film. Start a dialogue w/others.

Losing weight is a by-product of learning to eat healthier and make better food choices. How many of us read the package labels to know what’s in our processed food? If you knew, would you care? Would you make changes to your diet if it meant better health?

SKYSCRAPERS TO PALM TREES

Top: Michelle & Lynne 2011    Bottom 2: Moorea, Tahiti

I was recently writing a message on Facebook to a friend I made on a vacation to an island in the South Pacific 3 decades ago and have not seen since. At the time we met, L.A. was her hometown. I was from NYC, living in Manhattan.

 

It takes 24 hours to arrive on the island of Moorea, in Tahiti, from Manhattan, door to door. Being young and single and needing a break from city life, Club Med Vacations offered a nice getaway. A cab, two jets, a 4-hour layover, a small plane, and a bus ride later, there I was about to spend the next 2 weeks in an exotic location not knowing a soul. Needless to say, I was a bit tired when I finally arrived on this very tiny island, Moorea.

I remember getting off the bus so excited though, to be finally there. It was at that point I noticed Michelle standing there. I went up to her and asked quite directly, do you smoke cigarettes? She gave me the answer I was hoping for. She said no. I said, well great, neither do I, want to be roommates?

She said ok. And with that, I was ready to head down to the beach and jump right into the crystal clear water.

We became good pals right from the beginning, exploring the island outside of Club Med. Though activities and food were all inclusive, we thought it was more fun to see the island from another perspective. I remember there was only one road around the whole island. We found a couple of bicycles and rode for miles. A man standing at a tree getting mangos down handed us one. When we asked how much, he said, no money. It’s free. We rode up to a house with a big window in front. A man and woman were sitting inside and once we realized they could speak English, we chatted. We learned they had moved here from Paris, as did many other transplanted city dwellers. It was a great week for both of us. She had only signed up for a week so at the end of 7 days, we said goodbye. We promised to keep in touch. I stayed on for another week. I painted with watercolors that second week and kept busy meeting vacationers from New Zealand.

Once I returned to Manhattan, ( Miche) Michelle kept her promise. We wrote back and forth for a while. Then she wrote that she was moving to Northern California with a great guy who was now her boyfriend. I was happy for her and excited she was starting a new chapter. We soon lost touch, as they say, life gets in the way. There was no Facebook in those days.

I finally left NYC after 15 years in the Big Apple. I started my own new chapter 21 years ago when I bought a one-way ticket and moved to LA. I wanted a change of lifestyle. I was tired of looking at concrete. I would measure time at first by saying I was living in L.A. 2 months. Then it became 2 years. Then 20. Wow, does time fly. I have discovered that writing down one’s thoughts helps to process one’s life. After all, each of us has a story to tell.

Recently I was rummaging through an old box of stuff, you know the kind, where memories are kept. I came upon a picture postcard I had received so long ago. It was that famous photo of John Lennon in a NYC T-shirt. It was from my pal Michelle while she still lived in L.A. I re-read what she wrote picturing this 21 year old in my head. She made guys heads turn, like no other, when she walked down the street. At some point, having remembered her full name, I thought I might find her on Facebook. Luckily there was only one person with her name on the site. Though 30 years have passed, I could tell in the photo, it was she. I wrote a short message and sent it off.  Then I had to forget about it because I didn’t hear back right away. Then what felt like out of the blue, it was a month later, I got a reply. She too was excited that I had reached out and found her on Facebook. The reason for the delay was that she’d been working non-stop at her job and had little time for much else. She and I spoke briefly on the phone during her break and plan to see each other as soon as schedules permit. It was in my last email message to her that I explained my reason for moving out WEST. Simply put, I needed a change of lifestyle. I coined the phrase “Skyscrapers to Palm Trees” in that very moment.