Market-Fresh

1.31
It's market time! Now is the season to get out and not only buy some fresh produce and baked goods, but to enjoy local camaraderie, see old friends and meet new ones. There is a strong and growing 'buy local' trend in the US, which is a great thing. Many restaurants are looking at farm-to-table sourcing for their menus, and promoting and cooking around the seasonal nature of the local harvest. Local farm markets may just be the key to revving up your power pantry as well.

If you've never visited a local farmer's market, I'd encourage you to give it a try. Chances are if there isn't one in the town where you live, there's one within a half hour drive. Like anything else we start paying attention to, once you're aware of shopping and eating more locally, you find there is more opportunity at your fingertips than you suspected.

We live in Lancaster County, PA, and farm stands and markets are a viable year-round opportunity. I pass a berry farm, an Amish stand and a good and growing roadside farm store on my 5 mile commute to work, all of which have great seasonal offerings. There are three other roadside stands within a few miles of us that do brisk business three or four seasons out of the year. Point is, we have no excuse for not shopping and attempting to eat in a healthy way; all we need to do is engage in the opportunity right in front of us.


Organized farmers' markets are another offering for local fare. These are often open one or two days a week with a dozen to sometimes dozens of stands with everything from baked goods, jar goods, and produce to fresh flowers, home made crafts and even fresh seafood. Our local farmer's market in Lititz has a great vendor who drives to Maine regularly to purchase and bring back fresh seafood - it's quite a hit. Check out the Lititz Farmer's Market here.


Looking for an official farmer's market in your area? Try out this web site by LocalHarvest. It's a tremendous resource for general information, hours, locations, etc. for farm markets all over the country. And make it a point to find a market, or farm stand or roadside stand, near you and buy some fresh food to stock up your power pantry.

By the Way

There's another 'advanced' opportunity when it comes to buying local, seasonal produce and farm-fresh food: the CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and like farm markets everywhere, it is trending steadily in popularity nationwide. (Learn more from this page on LocalHarvest.) At a CSA, you pay for a 'share' (or half share) for the growing season, and reap a weekly bundle of whatever fresh produce is being harvested that week.

A calendar is often published indicating what to expect from the harvest at which parts of the season. There will be greens and berries and root veggies, peppers, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, watermelons... the list go on and on. All you do is stop by on your designated day of the week, and that week's share is waiting for you. It's another opportunity to connect with your local community and often yields rich experiences not only with your local farmer, but with your surrounding community as well. And what you'll realize is that you're not the only one building a power pantry.

Water, Water, Everywhere

1.30
I have always enjoyed a nice hot beverage in a big mug. In the 1990's I was a coff-aholic (I drank way too much coffee). Some days I would top 2 quarts a day, and being in my 20's, that seemed like no big deal. Since then I've gone caffeine-free for months and years at a time, and settled into being pretty much of a tea snob. I'll indulge in a great cup of coffee a couple of times a year. Beyond that, I enjoy a good cup of green tea, herbal mint or chamomile, and sometimes a black tea or blend. I can get plenty of caffeine, if that's what I think I want, and I keep my hot-drink habit.


Much of our wellness is based on throughput - taking nutrients in and getting rid of whatever is left over that our bodies don't need, or are of marginal value. The key to that throughput is water. Call it hydration or detoxification, water is a key to physical health and wellness. Believe me, 20 years ago, I didn't have a 'water habit', but I do now. I realized, in the midst of my hot-drink habit, I need to also keep up with that necessary hydrating throughput.

To define 'good' water, it would be filtered (tap) water. We use a Pur activated carbon filter at home. A reverse osmosis unit is great, but they are expensive and use a ton of process water for regular back washing and maintenance. Bottled water is marginal - the bottles are wasteful and numerous studies show that the plastics in the bottles can be bad for our health. So filtered tap water (the pitcher filters are great as well - you can keep them in the fridge for cold water anytime) is a great resource.



Another thought on daily beverages: I don't drink flavored sodas anymore. I can't remember the last time I had a Coke or Mountain Dew. What I've replaced those with is seltzer. That is now my drink of choice whenever I'm out for a business meal or dinner with our family. Many fast food soda dispensers now offer seltzer as one of the 'water' tabs next to the iced tea or Sprite. Put in a slice of lemon or lime, and it is refreshing and not at all bad for you. We keep 2 liter bottles on hand around the house and our kids love to experiment with fruit juice additions - cranberry, orange, grape, etc. We keep 100% fruit juices on hand, and while those aren't the most nutritious choice (you still get a huge glucose spike from fruit juices) it's much better than any soda or processed juice options.

Suggested things to stay away from in drinks: sugars of any kind (high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, etc.) artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sorbitol, sucralose, etc - these are detrimental to our health) artificial colors and flavors. If we stick with natural juices (grape, cranberry, apple, orange) those are a good treat. "Vitamin" waters are okay as well; these are often fortified with natural nutrients and vitamins and natural sweeteners like xylitol and stevia.

With summer here and all the chances for sweating at the amusement park and the beach, or if you're just around the office or traveling, think about working on your water habit. Staying hydrated is a fundamental key to wellness, and goes great in with your power pantry.

By the Way

I've learned that there are some simple parameters to staying hydrated. A key rule of thumb is to drink half your weight in ounces of water, every day. For example, my weight is in the 150's, so I should be drinking 75 ounces of water every day. That would be at least 10 - 8 ounce glasses of water. I usually drink from a large glass or water bottle (closer to 16 ounces) so that would be about 5 of those a day. One in the morning, one at lunch and one in the evening, and a couple thrown in during the day and I'm well on my way to that goal.

If you work out, run or do a lot of physical activity (yard work, etc.) then you should add to that base line, like an extra quart or more per day. And caffeinated drinks and alcohol don't count toward your water habit... sorry...

On the Road

1.29
For years I’ve traveled for business. Sometimes a lot, with road trips several days a week and multiple overnights, to just a few days a month. In recent years I’ve become a lot more aware of what I eat when I’m on the road. I guess that’s what happens in middle age.

A functional lunch years ago was two chicken sandwiches and a sweet tea from a value menu for $3.18. Now that I make healthier food choices, that lunch doesn’t work, and it’s a challenge to eat in a healthy way on the road. The filter I’ve developed is to simply ask, “would this ‘fit’ in our pantry at home?” If it wouldn’t fit there, then it doesn’t fit when I’m travelling. I need to be in control just as much during business travel as I am at home.

What I’ve learned to do is apply the power panty filter to whatever I see. Say I go into a fast food restaurant. As I scan down the menu board, I’m literally saying to myself, “no… no… no… maybe… no… yes!” The yes choices are likely to be something green (a salad) or lean (something with chicken) or portion controlled where it’s a good offering for under 500 calories or so. No heavy bread or pasta or potatoes, just something nutritious and simple.

Another option on the road is to stop at a supermarket and get a salad from the salad bar. As long as I go heavy on the greens and stay away from the prepared salads and pasta, I can get a great salad to go. A simple, fast fallback is to get the best looking, large apple I can find. It’s sweet, juicy and is quite satisfying to hold me over until I can get a healthier meal.

It’s been about 4 years that I’ve been this deliberate about my eating choices on the road. And after numerous situations where it would have been really easy to go back to my old ways, the fact that I didn’t, strengthens that choice muscle. It becomes easier to make a good choice. So next time you’re on the road and struggling with making a healthy choice, try thinking about what would fit into your power pantry.

By the Way

A simple take-along snack that I like is nuts and raisins. I mix it up between almonds and walnuts (two great protein choices, nutritionally) Sometimes I'll throw in raw pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds for variety. (Note: peanuts aren’t a very good choice – they’re actually a bean (more pea than nut) and difficult to digest) For fruit, sometimes I'll use dried cranberries, dried apples or unsweetened banana chips in place of raisins. I go about 2:1 on dried fruit to the nuts, like ¼ cup of nuts to ½ cup of dried fruit. You have to be careful with this snack, though, as the calories add up very quickly. The trick for road tripping with nut and fruit is to nibble – snack on it slowly and it will fill you up until your destination or next meal.

Food is Medicine

1.28
There is a saying attributed to Hippocrates from almost 2,500 years ago, "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food." Even in ancient times (or maybe especially in ancient times) nutritional excellence was recognized as vital for good health. In our western / American culture, we've slid very far from any semblance of nutritional excellence. The good news is how easy it is to return to it.

There is mounting evidence of how right Hippocrates was, and how beneficial a whole food, plant-based diet is to our health. Consider The China Study, where Dr. T. Colin Campbell did exhaustive research of over 50 diseases in the US and compared the results on our population to that of rural China. The point was that there are vast regions of China where a very homogeneous, healthful diet was consumed by incredibly large populations. By studying heart disease, diabetes, cancers, etc., and comparing these to the diet they were eating, you could draw valuable conclusions about how eating habits affected health.



Their biggest conclusion was that western diseases (coronary artery disease, diabetes, and numerous cancers) were directly related to the levels of animal-derived cholesterol in the blood stream. The good news was that a plant-based diet would reduce and even reverse the damage done by a high-cholesterol diet. Nutritional excellence is beneficial for lowering cholesterol and providing vital micronutrients, providing healthful results across the board, not just for a specific ailment.

Check out the overview of The China Study here (from Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study 

The conclusion of The China Study, according to cardiologist Dr. Mimi Guarneri, founder of the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine: food is related to positive and negative health outcomes; what we eat matters! 

It is fascinating to me how our bodies willingly and obediently go along with whatever foods we eat, and do their best to assimilate that food (whether nutritious or not) and keep going. The slow decay we see in our physical health as a society is directly related to the fact that we don't see the cause and effect of our eating habits. There is enough delay between eating an un-nutritious food and the ailments it may cause, that we don't draw any correlation, and go on literally eating ourselves to death. The great news is that at any time we can begin to live as if our food is medicine, and the medicine we need is in our food, and bring our bodies back to functional health and eventually optimal health.

By the Way

There is an ancient Indian precept which clearly frames the issue of our food functioning as medicine:
"When diet is wrong medicine is of no use.
When diet is correct, medicine is of no need."

A bold statement, but that says it all.

Want something else to chew on? Check out the documentary, "Forks Over Knives" featuring Dr. Campbell and his research.

Time Out

1.27
Sometimes I just want to be a kid again (or at least have the boundaries and expectations of a kid...) In our family we span from a toddler, to a tweener, to two teenagers and they are all well-behaved. With all our kiddos, we held to the idea of appropriate obedience or you would get a time-out to think about your choices until you agreed to align them with our expectations. The time out would always equal one minute of time for each year of age (so a one year old gets one minute, a two year old gets two minutes, etc.)

I had this odd longing today for an adult time-out... what if I could just take a 46 minutes time-out? Not a nap, and not that I was in the dog house or anything, just a chance to breath deeply and mentally check out somewhere. Maybe it would be a specifically quiet or sunny place, but definitely peaceful and alone. Ahhhhh... 



Especially with today being Father's Day, there was just something about this idea that kept getting at me. And then I 'woke up.' I totally understand that in this season of middle age, with four active and engaged kiddos, Jen and I get to go and do every day, and it doesn't necessarily offer the latitude for us do what we would like. I've heard it said, "Some days I do what I want to do... most days I do what I have to do..." That's my life, and I don't resent it at all. I know there will be other seasons in the future with other adventures and margin and me-time that don't exist today.

Back to my adult time-out. I really like this idea of checking out, mentally, on purpose. I have regular prayer time throughout the week which is sort of like a time-out. Most weekdays I make about 10 to 20 minutes for quiet prayer, and then throughout the day, often while driving for work or commuting home, I make some gratitude-time to note all the things I have to be thankful for. 

Down time gives us margin, margin brings us at least some peace, and peace offers us the chance for wellness, healing and growth. Where might you find some downtime today and give yourself a time-out to reboot?

By the Way

A great thing to linger on in an adult time-out is what I call the "middle of a decade". Think back five years. Where were you, and what was happening? What were your expectations of life back then? What challenges have you overcome since then, and what triumphs can you lay claim to in the last five years?

Then reflect ahead five years. What might life look like? How old will you and your immediate family be? What might the flow of a year look like then (vacations, holidays, community service.) What about professionally? Will you have found yourself less enthused with success and maybe more focused on significance?

By 2019 a lot will happen for me. Two of our kids will be graduated from high school by then. I'll be be over 50? (and cancelling all those crazy AARP mailings and offers.) I love the challenge of middle-of-a-decade thinking. I think it gives a valuable dose of reality to help focus on what really matters.

Going Mediterranean

1.26
There's an interesting tension between our modern world and the ancient world. We're fast; they were slow. Success for us is often defined by material possessions; success for them was about passing on a generational legacy. And concerning our food supply, ours is industrial, and theirs was local (and organic).

When I think of what to stock in our pantry, I often think of a continuum where the standard American diet is on the left end, and a Mediterranean diet is to the right. (When I say Mediterranean, think France, Italy, Greece, Israel.) The far right of that continuum would be a vegan diet, which is too extreme for most (although it is a perfect regimen for an occasional detox and reboot.) The best place on that continuum is somewhere right of center where we get a lot of healthy micronutients and a small amount of regular animal proteins. This is often considered a 'flexitarian' diet, or 'nutritarian' as Dr. Joel Fuhrman likes to describe it. It's not vegetarian or vegan, but has an overwhelming amount of calories coming from healthy greens, beans, fruits, berries, etc.

The challenge for us is to move our pantries along the continuum from the standard American diet's industrialized foods toward healthier (Mediterranean-style) choices. Grains would be unrefined, whole grains like brown rice and whole wheat; greens would be dark, leafy greens like romaine and kale and basil. Fats would come from olive oil an avocado. Proteins would come from beans and legumes, and some fish and shellfish.


What would your pantry and fridge look like if you moved a little further to the right on that continuum? Less processed foods, more whole grains and beans... taking some additional time to prepare your meals and linger over your eating choices? Maybe doing more of your cooking with a family member, including conversation and doing life together? These would all be good things. Maybe today is a day to grow away from industrialized foods toward more wholesome choices.

By the Way

The healthful choices at the far right of the continuum I described aren't new or radical. Veganism has its issues (being mindful of particular essential fats and vitamins which may be lacking without some animal proteins) but the benefits far outweigh any deficits. Consider Daniel from Biblical times. His story is told in the Old Testament book of Daniel; in the first chapter, we get a glimpse of his nutritional excellence that gave him and his three friends a distinct advantage. Have a look, here - it's an interesting and bold position... a power pantry position: Daniel chapter 1.

Nutrient Density

1.25
I'm a big fan of Dr. Joel Fuhrman. About 3 years ago a business friend gave me Fuhrman's book, "Eat to Live", and we've benefited from the precepts in it since. Although the book can seem like a diet fad to lose weight, it actually describes a fundamental shift in thinking, which takes you to ever-improving levels of good health almost effortlessly. I know because that's what's been happening to me over these same few years.

The crux of Fuhrman's philosophy is to consider what he refers to as "nutrient density" of every mouthful of food we eat. The key consideration is: what nutrition will our bodies derive from the foods (calories) which are passing our lips? To quote his book:

"Food supplies us with both nutrients and calories (energy). All calories come from only three elements: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Nutrients are derived from noncaloric food factors--including vitamins, minerals, fibers, and phytochemicals. These noncaloric nutrients are vitally important to health. Your key to permanent weight loss is to eat predominantly those foods that have a high proportion of nutrients (noncaloric food factors) to calories (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins)." (emphasis his).

That's it... that's the secret. It's all about the density of nutrition in the foods we are eating. Let's consider some examples of high-nutrient-density foods compared to low-nutrient-density foods:

whole grain bread - high nutrient density
     white bread from bleached flour - low nutrient density
salad with dark greens and fresh vegetables - high nutrient density
     breaded fried chicken - low nutrient density
fresh berries (or frozen) - high nutrient density
     Twinkies, cookies or crackers of pretty much any kind - low nutrient density

When it comes to food choices, I'm a 90/10 kind of eater - I choose to consume about 90% of my calories from high-nutrient-density foods (much of which are plant-based calories) and 10% from low-nutrient-density foods (refined grains, processed foods in general, convenience foods). Many days I find I'm a 100/0 eater, and I have to say those are days I feel the best, think most clearly and sleep well at night.

Cleaning out our pantries of low-nutrient-density foods can seem like a huge undertaking. All those refined grains, all the stuff with high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils, all the flavor-enhanced food-like products with MSG... cleaning all that up is a big undertaking. It's been a good two years for us as a family, and I have to say we have a fairly clean pantry now. Lot's of high-nutrient-density foods, and the health of our whole family benefits from that. So, how's your pantry?

By the Way

Another MD who agrees with the fundamental idea of nutrient density is Dr. Mark Hyman. While I haven't read his two books, "The Blood Sugar Solution" and "The 10-Day Detox Diet", they are both on my reading list.

Learn more about Dr. Hyman here: www.drhyman.com 

Whether you've decided you need to permanently shed pounds, or you just can't live with the joint pains, brain fog and feeling run down all the time, check out Dr. Fuhrman and Dr. Hyman. Their guidance and content are invaluable to sustained health and I know you'll be glad you did.

I'm Choosin' It

1.24
McDonald's gets a bad rap. Some of it they deserve, but most of the slings and arrows are from overzealous nanny-state finger-waggers. I'm a free-enterprise guy and I think the best economic system is an open, capitalistic market. The point is, if McDonald's has found and maintained a market where they can serve burgers and fries to millions of customers a day around the world, then more power to them.

What gets McDonald's a black eye is that their top sellers are quarter pounders, Big Macs, fries and McNuggets. Obviously these items are notoriously bad for your health. (I'll throw in the caveat that a few times a year isn't an issue for eating these foods, but make it a couple times a week, and it's almost a death threat.)


A challenge that Jen and I have had fun with for the last several years is to see if we can go into a fast food place or quick mart and make a healthy choice. Can we shop in a regular fast/convenience setting and walk away with something that looks like a power pantry selection? The answer is undoubtedly, "yes". We've done this at Wawa, Sheetz, McDonald's, Wendy's and others. It's all in the choosing...when it comes to our selections and purchases, it isn't just that "I'm lovin' it", the reality is, "I'm choosin' it."

What happens over time is you can walk into McDonald's and very easily order a couple of side salads with the balsamic vinaigrette and maybe the grilled chicken wrap, and be satisfied with your healthier choices. You can even get oatmeal with fruit and nuts for breakfast.

Here's McDonald's full menu explorer if you want to have a look:
McD's full menu explorer

So, how are your choices? The culprit isn't the fast food joints or corporate boogey man try to make obscene profits at the expense of unsuspecting middle class dolts. We're citizens in control of our choices and destinies, and we need to act like it, burgers and all.

By the Way

Have you heard of John Cisna's healthy eating experiment at McDonald's from last year? Here's the story from Forbes:
John Cisna's Story




The punchline is that he lost 37 pounds and lowered his bad cholesterol by 60 points just eating McDonald's food for 90 days. As a science teacher, he thought it would be good to enlist the help of his class, so they tracked his choices and progress on spreadsheets, and held him to a regimen of daily walking and healthy choices.

To quote Cisna from the article: "We all have choices. It's our choices that make us fat, not McDonald's." Here's to a free market, and to the personal responsibility of healthy choices!

Redefining Treats

1.23
We had an interesting experience in contrasts today. Our church holds Sunday evening services, and for summer we get a food truck to come to out as a little bonus for folks who attend late in the day. This evening's food truck was the folks from Lickety Split in New Holland - a great ice cream truck serving real hand-dipped ice cream treats. Well, since Jen is dairy-free (as a solution to her arthritis) and I'm basically dairy free for the health of it, we faced the challenge of our four kiddos whining and cajoling about wanting to get treats at the ice cream truck.


While we don't have any problem with an occasional dish of ice cream (or frozen Greek yogurt, more often) we had decided that tonight just wasn't the night for ice cream. At some point Jen and I agreed that it would be great to make fresh smoothies at home, though, and presented that to our kids as our answer to their aching for ice cream. It was well received, so we had a deal.

Someone else's tapas bar- a lot like ours...

Our Sunday nights after church are family time, and tonight was no exception. We've settled into this fun routine of what we call 'snacky supper' while watching food shows online. Snacky supper is something Jen and I have been doing for almost 20 years. It's our version of a tapas bar with an assortment of all kinds of good foods and everyone gets to pick and snack and enjoy whatever they like. Where we used to have a lot of interesting breads and cheeses, we've melded more into hummus, home made guacamole, salsa, interesting gluten-free crackers, 'gourmet' potato chips, and fresh veggies and fruits.

So tonight while we enjoyed Guy Fieri's 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives' on Hulu, we also added fresh smoothies to our snacky supper mix. Jen has experimented with any number of smoothie recipes (which are a regular after-school snack for the kids... lucky kids...) and settled on a couple that are simple and delicious. Tonight's mix was one of those: about 3 cups of mixed frozen berries, two bananas, and a cup and a half of orange juice. Mmmmmm...

A second batch of smoothies was also a hit with frozen strawberries, a can of pineapple chunks (room temperature with the juice) and a banana. Another winner.

So those were our treats for tonight and we all really enjoyed them. Great sweets to go along with our fresh veggies, chips, crackers, hummus, guacamole and fresh fruit. I know it doesn't live up to the specialness of stopping at the ice cream truck and enjoying a cone of mint chocolate chip or rocky road, but the power pantry choices we made this evening were tasty, simple and good for you. Here's to a summer filled with those kinds of choices. I know there will be the occasional opportunity for summer indulgences that don't exactly fit into a power pantry, but with some perseverance, creativity and the willingness to say yes to a healthier choice, we'll all make it to Labor Day in great shape.

By the Way

We have an excellent smoothie resource: Pat Crocker's 'Smoothies Bible' Second Edition. It has all the variety you could possibly want in smoothie recipes, from sweet to savory to spicy.

We still have a tough time knowing what to do with frozen blueberries, though... what goes with blueberries?