You Are What You Eat

Bootsie made a sublime comment yesterday about how amazing it is to realize that in the most literal sense, you are what you eat.  Whether it's kale or pizza, what goes in becomes your cells, your muscles, your bones, your hair, your brain. 

Upon meditating upon it today, it struck me that we actually are MORE than just what we eat, in that the same two people can eat the same diet and manifest very different physically.  Yeah yeah, genes and all, but that's not what I mean.  I am commenting on the mind-body connection.  We also are that which we think about all the time (paraphrased from I believe Jerry Bruckner, though he certainly doesn't have a monopoly on this concept).  Change your thoughts, change your life, and all that.  Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich was founded on that concept.

During my meditation today I heard this commentary:

I am what I eat - I will eat clean healthy food, with naturally occurring macro/micro nutrients
I am what I drink - I will drink clean fresh water, without caffeine or chemicals
I am what I breathe - I will take deep belly breaths, filling my lungs with clean cool air
I am what I believe - I will believe the best of the world, assuming positive intent
I am what I think - I will think about that which I want to achieve and who I want to become
I am what I do - I will take action on my biggest priorities of the day, focusing on big rocks
I am what I love - I will practice compassion and patience, seeking joy in those and that which I love

3 Lessons From 2 Farmers

The owners of Broadfork Farm came to my neighborhood yesterday to give a presentation on their farm and to make a sales pitch to join their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Owned and operated by Janet Aardema and Dan Gagnon, Broadfork is a small family farm providing the metro-Richmond area with Certified CNG color logoNaturally Grown vegetables and herbs.

This was the perfect intersection with my life at the perfect time. 

1. I've been developing a passion for food over the course of my entire life.  What started as a love for cooking made me a cook.  I developed a love for the gourmet - I became a foodie.  My baby daughter showed signs of food allergies before turning one - I turned into a label reader.  Label reading made me question what I was putting into the rest of our bodies - I started getting really opinionated.  Getting sick and tired of being sick and tired led me to try a Whole30 - I became a practitioner and convert.  Listening to TED talks and others made me frightened of what we're doing to our food supply.  I am on the verge of becoming an activist.  I set a goal to have my entire family 100% organic and/or grass fed by 2018... with the subgoal of being able to afford it by then.  I determined I should expand my home garden as much as I can in my opinionated neighborhood - though exactly where the time would come from I do not know.
2. I've been reading The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod this week.  I heard about it when I was listening to an unusual podcast on Bigger Pockets (usually solely Real Estate Investing focused), and it completely caught my imagination.  This is why I'm blogging before sunrise - I'm on Day 3 of getting up on PURPOSE, scribing about my goals which I know I will achieve (AFFIRMATION!!).  Hal talks about morning routines to add focus, calmness, productivity, and joy to my life.  This is morning three and it is all coming together.  I am adding an extra affirmation of gratitude for having found Broadfork and that they're coming to my neighborhood.  Previously when I'd looked into them, the delivery options were just flat out inconvenient.
3. I've also been reading The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris this week, which is one of the books Hal rattled off in the podcast I mentioned.  It's been very eye opening, in terms of (a) pushing me to define the life of my dreams, so I can then (b) go live it!  After reading the first section on dreams, I was motivated to write a bunch of them down.  This included going my organic goal (above), and writing a book (more on this one later).  After reading the chapter on Time Management, I started implementing changes at work, really focusing on my big rocks and getting the sand out of my way.  IT MADE A DIFFERENCE!  On Friday then I read the chapter about outsourcing things that others can do for me - exchanging money for time to make more efficient use of all my resources.

Sitting in Janet and Dan's presentation, I felt like all of my pieces were coming together.  For $25/week, I could get a decent sized box of freshly grown, healthier than average, chemical free, produce delivered to my neighborhood.  I could try new things, (ask the family to do the same), save a little time grocery shopping, and a hella lot of time gardening myself ... without worrying about the deer who insist on chowing down on my strawberry plants.  It was getting me closer to my goal of being 100% organic, investing my money instead of my time.  Supporting the local economy and knowing the produce is local is an extra added bonus.

I so wanted to give Janet a huge bear hug at the end of the info session, which I told her.  Finding multiple solutions to my problems - organic produce at a reasonable price, outsourced and delivered - just made my week.

I signed up.

If I'm not me, who else is going to be me?

On March 22, 2014, I was a part of Capital One's Future Leaders Forum for Young Women.  Andy Stefanovich was the keynote speaker, on the topic "Passion is Persuasive."


In cleaning up my home office this week as I'm making space for the piano my dad gave my mom on their 10th wedding anniversary (they just celebrated #46), I found notes from the day.  I'd like to declutter the paper, but keep the thoughts.

• If I'm not me, who else is going to be me?
• Laugh Cry Think.....FEEL the emotion (not my strongest strength)
• Perfectly Imperfect ... Perfection is Highly Overrated
• One thought; One idea; One spark is all it takes
• Passion in Action - cooking - eating - food - health - joy
• Why be inside when we can be outside?
• Carry a piece of passion with you at all times
• Human Library - don't check out a book; check out a person and hear their stories!
• You can create anything so long as it doesn't violate the laws of physics - Eli Musk
• New Version of Normal
• Who are the three people I need to ask to help me unleash this passion?
• Choose your tribe!
• Ed Trask's Photo of the Brain

Sweet Peas Shouldn't Need Sweetening!!!

I'm so disappointed. I bought a can of organic peas thinking the kids might like them. First of all, they didn't ... Which is ok because come on - they're kids, and they're peas. The annoying part is that I don't want to finish them, having just read the label. The manufacturer added sugar!  WTH?  Were they not sweet enough?  Too low quality to stand on their own?  Peas, water, cane juice, and sea salt. Grrrr... Back to frozen (which actually taste better anyway). But just sayin'...

Organic or not, peas don't need sugar.