Rebuild from Depression Blog

This blog would not be nearly as much fun to maintain without people and events that make me laugh. I admit in advance that some of this isn’t necessarily funny to everyone reading this blog. My apologies.

The Vander Eyk Once-Organic Dairy
This was one of those situations where history was being made before my eyes and it took nine years to realize it. Those black-and-white cattle grazing near my house since about 1998 belonged to the notorious and now defunct Vander Eyk Organic Dairy. When its decertification was made public in June, I was actually planning a flight over the pasture areas. An organic farmer agreed to pilot, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter agreed to cover the story. This “cow census” that never was is perhaps why this blog slowed down in May. If you have managed to miss the video eulogy to the dairy, you should take a look at it now.

Lessons:

• Look around. You never know what might be there.
  
• When you find it, make an event of it.
  
• Get a good video camera if you are going to make a video. (For the record, I intended to rent a very good one for the exposé that never was.)
  

Alex Avery

Be careful what you promise or you could end up with a long list of stories never told. Such is the case on the Rebuild blog where I left many readers hanging by a nail on some very important issues. I am sorry for any sleep lost out there. These are real nail-biters.

The Book

“Where is that thing anyway?” Good question. These things take a ridiculous amount of time to produce well. I will offer a combination digital and print book package soon. You’ll receive the digital copy immediately and the print book as a bonus when it comes back from the printer. Look for details by the end of January.

Mom’s videos

They came out of the gate strong during the summer and just disappeared. We got great feedback on the videos but we got a number of comments about the volume. The volume and picture quality of the food videos plus the video quality on the organic dairy eulogy inspired us to buy a new camera. The problem was that the new camera required using iMovie08 instead of the previous version. iMovie08 is a whole other critter, so the video production got further and further behind. Finally I got the bright idea to outsource the project to a documentarian friend of ours. Expect new food videos this month.

Henny the Huge

In light of the many inches of rain we have gotten here in the Sequoia National Forest (and spared from the winds and the feet of snow), here is an interesting drought picture I took in December before Christmas.

The picture shows snow in the high Sierras in the background, the first snow of the season. In the foreground, note the dry grass and struggling oak tree. Thank goodness for the recent five-plus inches of rain this week.

You never know when it's going to be a burn day and with ten burn piles on this property (most tarped in blue like you see below), we've been getting busy. ("We" is really "me" at the moment, but I am hoping that will change.)

A "before" shot:

After
tap..tap..tap..

I am a strong supporter of all things organic. The farming methods used in organics tend to be more sustainable. In regular farming, small pesticide residues can stay on the food product or in the cotton fibers. The exposure may be small, but when I can afford to do so, I buy organic to reduce my toxic exposure. (In a similar vein, I buy all-natural products for my home and body, so I am not really attempting to single out agriculture here as a culprit.)

With my organic frame of mind, I tried some organic cotton sports socks when all of my other socks finally wore out after over five years of solid wear. I tend to buy a dozen or so pairs of socks at a time and wear them until they fall apart. And then I continue to wear them for another few months before I get around to replacing them. By the time I finally replace them, I am always shocked at the prices and disappointed that I waited until a sock crisis to buy rather than to take my time looking for deals. My husband points out that I get a pretty good value out of those dozen pairs of socks.

I found some cotton organic socks for wholesale prices and decided to give them a whirl.

The problem with living every day in a black hole of despair is that we see things differently from that hole than do people around us.

“Buck up!”

“Just make the call!”

“What’s your problem?”

We’ve all heard it and the problem is that if you could “buck up,” you would, but you can’t and you can’t really explain why because apparently it seems so easy to everyone else that “bucking up” should be easy.

My son just lost his first tooth and his world just about fell apart. The tooth was loose and all of the adults in the world talked about what a great milestone it was. He should be excited, right? We thought so. Of course, he’s only five-and-a-half and none of his friends have lost teeth. This was unknown territory for him.

One day I worked in my office with the door closed and although he was playing with his grammy, he barged into my office and curled up on my lap. His tooth was suddenly more loose and he was scared.

By the next morning, the adults had forgotten about the tooth but he was still in emotional turmoil. My husband took him to a movie (a forty-five minute drive) just to distract him. On the way to the movie, the tooth came out. He was suddenly better and fascinated by the thing in his hand that looked like a tiny piece of chopped almond. He nearly lost it about seventeen times before he got it home.

At home he put it into a small silk pillow that is made to put under his own bed pillow. He nearly fell asleep watching another movie that evening until I roused him to go to bed. He headed to bed half asleep but clinging to that little silk pillow like his entire world revolved around it.

And the fact is, his world did revolve around that microscopic piece of bone. His emotions were tied up in it for nearly a week. We didn’t quite “get it” because, of course, we thought he should be excited about losing a tooth. Perhaps the next time will go a little better. Perhaps next time the adults will have a better understanding of the child’s perspective.

As we head south this weekend, I thought I would write a quick post about how we survive on the road without partaking in the junk food offerings along the Interstate. The list starts from most ambitious to least and we usually use a mixed strategy with any one trip.

Pack Leftovers in the Cooler
This is a good strategy for a well-prepared household. The limitation is that not all leftovers make a decent cold meal. My mom would tell you that all you have to do is warm your food up on your dashboard a few hours before you want to eat. But with the risk of foodborne illness, I thank mom for the suggestion and pack foods that taste good cold. My favorites are the following:

• Meat loaf. Just a small piece sustains me well. It’s best warm, but accepted cold. It takes a small space which makes it optimal.
• Most other left-over meats. Just like the meatloaf, they pack well.
• Wraps. Use some of those left-over meats and pack some tortillas as well. They make good wraps. (Go well prepared with vegetables and dressing for the wrap.)
• Yogurt. We have homemade yogurt or store-bought yogurt in our house most of the time. It travels well. Pre-sweeten it before the trip if you like it sweet.
• Hummus. Always a good travel companion.
• Seafood dip and vegetables. This is a five-minute meal that can be prepared in your trunk with the right tools.

Buy it on the Road
Note with the list above, that you can purchase any of those items on the road.

A good rule of thumb to follow in improving your nutritional status is that food sources of a nutrient will be superior to a nutritional supplement. However, a recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that fish oil supplements worked as well as fish at improving the Omega 3 status of the study participants.

Participants were given a daily Omega 3 supplement with 485 mg of EPA + DHA (specific types of Omega 3s) or a diet of fish with about 3400 mg of EPA + DHA over the course of a week. The fish diet group consumed an equivalent amount of Omega 3 fatty acids as did the supplement group over the course of a week. Researchers followed them for sixteen weeks.

What this means for you is that if you do not like fish or do not have access to fish you do like, fish oil is a good option for you to meet your Omega 3 requirements. Keep in mind, however, that fish itself is rich in vitamins and minerals that you will not be getting in the fish oil bottle. From an overall dietary perspective, the actual fish is going to be your best bet (with the usual caveats about finding fish low in mercury and other toxins).

Read more at this site on Omega 3 fatty acids:
Omega 3 Round-Up

Read more offsite on fish selection
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on fish
Sustainable Choices from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and from Environmental Defense (Ocean’s Alive).

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I work too hard. When I feel like I have no choice (with a newborn baby and contract deadline), I work too hard. Even now when no one is riding me hard to meet a deadline, I work too hard.

When my son lost his tooth, I told him “it won’t be long before you will be a man.” He got upset. This is what he said to me:

“I don’t want to grow up because I don’t want to work all the time like you do.”

Yowch.

The lyrics to “Cat’s in the Cradle” came to my mind immediately. In fact, I had been promising him a trip to “the coast” with me for about six months.

In the book, Rebuild from Depression, I identify foods highest in depression-fighting nutrients. An assortment of fish and seafood made the list. Three fish would have made the list based on their nutritional content (shark, king mackerel, and tilefish) but the Environmental Protection Agency warns us of their high mercury content. Don’t eat them. Some species of mackerel and tilefish are safe and if you have access, you can consider them to be depression busters.

Of the remaining depression-busting fish and seafood, I was able to obtain the Omega-3 content and mercury content for all seafood except the most obscure. Of our depression busters, I list here the top five with the most favorable ratio of Omega-3 fatty acids to mercury. For your seafood meals, start with these choices.

• Wild salmon
• Sardines
• Anchovies
• Herring
• Oyster

To examine your seafood choices more thoroughly, visit the Environmental Protection Agency, Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch, and Environmental Defense.

“Let’s get the fish and chips.”

“That stuff will kill you. Get the steamers instead.”

“But the fish and chips are crispy goodness. You can’t come to the beach without getting fish and chips.”

“It’s the crispy that will kill you. Those restaurants are probably frying in a pool of trans fats.”

“But the Omega 3 fatty acids in the fish more than make up for the trans fats in the fries and batter.”

“Except that the trans fats in the fries and batter will reduce your absorption of the Omega 3s in the fish.”

“Do you ever have any fun?”

If you were a judge and choosing the best "Farm to Fork" photo, which would you choose?

The judges' choice:

My entry:

Look at that license plate! You can't make this stuff up.

(Okay, I really didn't think this photo had a chance but couldn't help but submit it.)

You can read more about this steer in our freezer:
I Met My Meat
I Met My Meat II

Trader Joe’s carries a really great tasting corn chip with a twist on the traditional version: it is filled with flax seeds.

The label boasts 1000 mg of Omega 3 per serving One serving is one-third of one cup and about 140 calories. It contains a total of 5 grams of polyunsaturated fat, 1 gram of which is Omega 3 fatty acids. The remaining is Omega 6 fats. That puts the ratio at about 5:1 of Omega 6 to Omega 3. That’s pretty darned good for a corn product.

Corn is naturally high in Omega 6 fatty acids, a necessary fat but one we all get too much of in our diet. Our over-indulging in Omega 6s and relative lack of Omega 3s is part of our depression story.

But does this product help the cause?

I am sorry to report: No, it does not.

The problem with this product is that the flaxseeds are whole and you will not be able to digest them. You will consume the 4 grams of Omega 6 fats without benefiting from the Omega 3 in the flax seed itself.

Eat them for the flavor. (I won't deprive you of corn chips or fish and chips.) But don't buy them to improve your Omega 3 fatty acid status.

I am a lover of beef. It is rich in minerals and B vitamins. It is a depression buster food. However we haven’t even gotten through the first month of 2008 without a string of hamburger recalls due to the pathogenic bacteria E. coli 0157:H7. January is not even the peak month of E. coli. Look for that in late summer and early fall. All indications, then, are that E. coli 0157:H7 is on the rise and you may get a whole lot more than you bargained for in your burger.

So what in the heck do you do?

Some people reduce their risks by doing what I do – buying a steer from a small rancher and saving it from spending its final days on a feedlot. My steer continued to graze and eat a bit of grain in its last month. With less grain feeding, he would be less likely to have E. coli 0157:H7 in his gut, but he would not be immune to it. He might still have the pathogen in his system and when he was slaughtered and gutted, some of that bacteria may have made it to the carcass. Bacteria from another animal at the meat locker may have made it to my meat as well. You just never know.

I do shoulder some risk and eat medium-well burgers from this particular steer. My gut has withstood other food borne illnesses and my general strategy is to keep my digestion healthy enough to withstand the sorts of challenges it will inevitably face from beef, peanut butter, or spinach.

Way back in August when I was drowning in contract work, I received a link from YouTube's Healthy Herbalist, Allan, to his chili pepper video and thought “Maybe this is a contest entry.” Watch Allan eat peppers.

Frankly, eating peppers like that seems a bit crazy but the men in my family seem to “get it.” My Uncle Fred and cousin Andy, for instance, have been known to grow their own peppers in a window box to ensure a source of good, hot peppers. Andy is way over the top with his pepper-eating. He’s one of those guys who eats them whole like they are any other sort of snack. When we have had a really hot, inedible batch, someone always says “Mail those to Andy.”

The topic came up again as I was working on the book. When I made the list of depression buster foods, I did a little reality check on each of the foods. Spirulina, for instance, made the list. But the measure was 100 grams – a mountain of green powder. The amount of spirulina that would have made the list was really unreasonable for anyone to eat, even though it has some really good health properties.

Red chili peppers are actually on the list as well. I considered cutting the peppers from the list. Who would eat seven peppers after all? “Andy would,” I said to myself.