Lucid Nutrition

How Our Weight Affects Us.

I am going to be doing a number of posts exploring how our eating patterns impact our minds and our lives. The following post was written by a very dear friend of mine, who I am so glad I met online, Christine. She will be joining LucidNutrition.com on her path to health, struggles included. You will get to know more about her as soon as she sends me her bio!! But for now, I will just tell you that she is great!! So, Thanks Christine for sharing such intimate thoughts with us. We love you!

An Intimate Meditation Towards Change. Crossposted from ByFlutter.com

We have a socially acceptable bias against fat people. People with weight problems are made fun of, reviled, rejected and thought less of across the board.

In movies, on television, in our media we are bombarded with the stereotype that women with weight problems curl up and eat french fries and ice cream from a bucket and men with weight problems are the funny guys who play side kick to their more attractive friends.

The assumption is that weight carries with it, pound for pound an inverse relationship to worth. The more you weigh, the less you are worth, as a person. The larger you get, the less you are seen. The bigger your pant size, the less likely to be loved.This is not to say that society is to blame for the weight problems of people, but it certainly helps perpetuate the last great wall of prejudice as I see it.

For me, as I am ever flexing and extending an undulating and fluid mass of numbers on a scale, I see the difference in how the world responds. When I am thinner I get appreciative stares, people pay attention when I speak and ask intelligent questions. Doors are held open for me. I am permitted to linger in nice clothing stores without being derisively stared at by the shop girls. I am congratulated for slimming down and working hard.

As if, when I am heavy, I am lazy and slovenly. It seems absurd to pack on weight in order to hide. It is like balancing an elephant on a teacup. You would think that someone would notice that, but people walk past with not so much as a glance. Where as, the thinner me is rarely left without a word, or a proposition. I realize that this is why, when I start to approach a more socially acceptable weight, a switch flips in my brain. The big, red switch with the word “DANGER!” on it. Danger, I might be expected to be as intelligent as I am. Danger, people may expect more from me. Danger, I may have to ward off advances. Danger, I may no longer have a built in excuse to fail.

That’s it for me, really. I see how people bypass me at this weight and I can point my chubby finger and say, “See? They won’t LET me succeed.” When the truth is, it is fear of fully exposing myself that keeps me in my fat suit.This is a disorder. This is not a normal way of thinking. To obsess over food. To indulge then deny. To fluctuate tens of pounds. To control my body in such a way that is not healthy for it.

It destroys me to feel this way, to feel less than. To know exactly what I am doing in a very logical sense and to do it anyway. I am better than this and it is not good enough.

It just isn’t.

Junk Food Charm Bracelet by Nights Requiem.

We are indeed much more than we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are. ~ Adelle Davis

Once a Lucid Eater, Always Lucid.

How to Save the World: One Man, One Cow, One World Trailer

In response to farmer suicides in India.

What does an environmentally friendly biodynamic food system capable of feeding everyone actually look like?

This film is a blueprint for a post-industrial future. It takes you into the heart of the world's most important renaissance.

The outcome of the battle for agricultural control in India may just dictate the future of the earth.

Our existence on this planet is precarious.

Modern industrial agriculture is destroying the earth:
Desertification, water scarcity, toxic cocktails of agricultural chemicals pervading our food chains, ocean ecosystem collapse, soil erosion and massive loss of soil fertility.

Our ecosystems ore overwhelmed. Humanity's increasing demands are exceeding the Earth's carrying capacity.

A simple recipe to save the world?

One old man and a bucket of cow-dung.

Why YOU should see this film

Modern agriculture causes topsoil to be eroded at 3 million tons per hour. (that’s 26 billion tons a year)

Human mass is replacing biomass and other species. The carrying capacity of the earth is almost spent.

To maintain our comfort zone lifestyles we will soon need five earths to sustain us in the style to which we have become accustomed.

The mantra of free trade has failed the world’s poor. There is a better way.

Human created climate change is destroying the Planet. Ecosystems collapse is not some sci-fi fantasy. It is real and it is happening. Right now.

Biodynamic agriculture may be the only answer we have left.

"When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands." Ralph Waldo Emerson

End Speculation that Drove Global Food Crisis

WASHINGTON - March 24 - Food & Water Watch, along with a coalition of faith, farm, food, hunger and international development groups, today sent a letter to President Barack Obama and congressional leaders demanding decisive action to prevent speculation in the commodity markets from threatening the food security of hundreds of millions of people. According to the coalition's letter, "A significant part of last year's food price fluctuations were the result of excessive speculation in the commodities markets by the very hedge funds and investment banks that helped create the current economic meltdown." 

"Congress and the White House must wring excess speculation out of the commodities markets to tamp down on the tremendous food price volatility that is harming consumers and farmers worldwide," said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter.

The letter was signed by 183 social justice and civil society groups, including 76 U.S.-based organizations and 107 international groups from 29 countries.  The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 200 million additional people in the developing world faced malnutrition because of surging food prices in 2008. The letter urges the president and Congress to pass legislation to re-regulate the commodity markets to prevent speculation from continuing to contribute to global hunger.

The letter states that the 2008 food price volatility "could have been stopped with sensible rules that, if enforced, would have staved off the malnutrition and starvation that was caused by excessive gambling of food prices.  Important reforms are needed now to prevent mega-investors from viewing the futures market like a casino where they can gamble on hunger."

There are several proposals in Congress that aim to reform the commodities markets.  House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson passed legislation out of his committee (H.R. 977, the Derivatives Markets Transparency and Accountability Act of 2009) that takes important first steps to prevent excess speculation from inflating food prices, but this legislation needs to be strengthened.  Senators Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Senator Carl Levin have also introduced measures. 

"Congress is assembling important legislative building blocks that could prevent speculative agricultural price bubbles from increasing global hunger," said Hauter.  "Strong commodities speculation reform measures must ensure that all commodity futures marketplaces are adequately regulated and that giant investment funds do not exert undo speculative pressures on food prices."

To view the coalition letter, please click here.

CONTACT: Food & Water Watch

Patrick Woodall
(202) 683-2487

King Corn, A Conversation with the Filmmaker

"The following clips are from a conversation with filmmaker Curt Ellis brought to us by Cooking Up A Story. It is about his documentary "King Corn", the film that may open eyes across America. Surprisingly, corn is present in some form or another, in almost everything on the American plate. And, none more so, than through the food ingredient "high fructose corn syrup" (HFCS). Is it a good idea to have "HFCS" present in so many of our foods without prior public debate, or adequate science to measure its impact on the long-term health of adults, and especially our children? Should our standard meals be unnaturally skewed toward a corn based diet, in the first place? This interview, along with video clips from the documentary, may not provide the answers here, but it's a good beginning for further thought and reflection."

What do you think? Were you even aware that corn is in just about everything that is processed? That typically means all the food that comes out of a box or a bag or picked up from a drive thru. Everything from the Oreo's, to the spaghetti sauce, to most loaves of bread. You wouldn't pour sugar on spaghetti naturally, would you? So why have so many of our diets become so much sweeter than they used to be? How can we find solutions that make healthy food available to everyone and not just the wealthy?

If you're concerned about the amount of high-fructose corn syrup or other sweeteners in your diet, consider these tips:

• Limit processed foods.
• Avoid foods that contain added sugar.
• Choose fresh fruit rather than fruit juice or fruit-flavored drinks. Even 100 percent fruit juice has a high concentration of sugar.
• Go Raw.
• Go Vegan.
• Don't get your nourishment out of a box.
• Don't get your fix out of a bag.
• Don't expect healthy food from a drive-thru window.
• Do not drink soda.
• Don't allow sweetened beverages to replace milk, especially for children.

More Info:
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Not so Good for the Planet.
Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

"We may have to learn again the mystery of the garden: how its external characteristics model the heart itself, and how the soul is a garden enclosed, our own perpetual paradise where we can be refreshed and restored." ~Thomas Moore

Best Common Sense Advice From "Top" Diet Plans

 It's 2009. Almost February.  You are still trying to keep up with your new year's resolutions, aren't you? You want to lose serious weight fast, learn to eat healthier, and how to exercise, but don't have time to read every diet book out there. Well, Health.com has saved us time. They have put together a list that encapsulates the best tips from some of the top diet plans out there—for free—so you can start putting the helpful advice into action ASAP. Swimsuit time is just around the corner and so are all the weddings you've been invited to. 

Skinny Bitch: Best Tip: Read the ingredients. Don’t eat anything you can’t pronounce.

 The Biggest Loser Calorie Counter: Best Tip: Try circuit training. The effective, total-body workouts will help you lose weight and inches, as well as boost your metabolism, strengthen your bones, and may even make you more resistant to stress.

French Women Don't Get Fat: Best Tip: Add “petit” and “peu” to your French vocabulary; you can have a little of everything if you stick to small portions.

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person Best Tip: Differentiate between cravings and hunger. If you can tell the difference between wanting to eat and needing to eat, you can cut out unnecessary calories.

The Thrive Diet: Best Tip: Eat less processed food. Sticking to whole, fiber-rich foods will help you lose weight.

You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management : Best Tip: Pick a range for your ideal weight instead of fixating on a particular number. You’ll feel guilt-free when faced with the small fluctuations that occur naturally day-to-day.

Dr. Phil's The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide: Best Tip: Reduce your exposure to unhealthy foods and to the cues that cause you to eat. You can’t eat what isn’t there! (in other words, stop buying junk or fast food when you know it is not worth your money)

The advice above also includes a "Worse Advice from Top Diet Plans" (according to Health.com) but some of those "worse tips"...I actually agree with...with some flexibility. For instance:

The Thrive Diet: Worst Tip???: Eat raw. Didn’t the raw food trend already come and go?

My answer to that question is NO NO NO. I mean does the girl in the picture above look like she is gonna give up that celery stick? The raw food 'trend' should not be labeled as one in my opinion. Every BODY needs whole raw unprocessed foods. I am not saying that one must eat ONLY raw foods, but I think it is so important for us to eat a greater amounts of fruits and veggies in their raw state. Fiber, Nutrients, Detox, Energy. Need I say more? Check out Dr. RitaMarie's Recipe E-books if you are new to raw foods. They will come in handy.

Skinny Bitch: Worst Tip???: You must eat vegan. The dairy- and animal-products-free lifestyle is just too extreme for many dieters.

Well, I don't think anyone must absolutely follow a vegan diet, but being a vegan since 2004 and feeling great makes me a lil' biased. So I will let you decide. I think you should try it for a month at least.  See if it makes a difference in the way you are feeling physically and the way that you think about animals. Here is a link to a great vegetarian starter kit which is always in my sidebar. Also, you should read World Peace Diet by Dr. Will Tuttle and see if that won't turn you into a vegan :)

You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management : Worst Tip???: Eat the exact same thing for lunch—and breakfast too if you can stand it—every day. The lack of variety may bore you to the point of giving up on your diet.

I am not so sure this is a bad idea. If you were to eat the same thing everyday for breakfast and lunch which includes a colorful array of mixed vegetables, fruits, and grains... how could it bore you? You get satisfaction every time you eat. You look forward to your bowl of oats in the morning, your blueberry on mixed greens salad for lunch. And whenever you do have other (healthy) foods, your taste buds will be soooo stoked. You will learn to appreciate your taste buds and the cravings for the unhealthy junk will most likely be obsolete; vanished. Also, you might be just like my guy who actually LOVE's eating the same thing everyday for breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal, slice of HealthNut lightly buttered, with a whole banana and a cup of fresh squeezed juice, sometimes a small apple.

The Biggest Loser Calorie Counter:: Worst Tip??: Start your own competition à la Biggest Loser, complete with group meetings and registration fees. If you’re into the kitsch, go for it, but without producers, camera crew, and a six-figure salary, it’s not worth the trouble.

I think the underlying point here is to create a support system of people who can encourage one another to stick to their healthier diets and lifestyles. Beyond the registration fees and winning a lump sum of money in this silly tip, is the notion that humans are by nature compassionate beings who will oftentimes do a better job of achieving their goals with the help of a community (even if it is only you, your best friend, and your sister on the healthy transformation mission) For the record, I've never seen an episode of The Biggest Loser, so I might be completely off here.

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person Worst Tip??: Just say, “Oh well.” If you’re really dreading going to the gym, or just dying to have a few more fries, are you really going to be able to just say, “Oh well,” and stick to the rules of your diet?

Here's is what I take from this tip. Do NOT get so down on yourself when you give in to a temptation, craving, or the sweet pressure in Grandma's kitchen for pan dulce or homemade buttery tortillas. Just DO NOT let it happen as frequently as you let it before. It's all about finding a comfortable balance for you and staying focused. No person, book, or TV show can tell you exactly what you should be eating and when. A magazine, blog, not even a doctor, can know your body the way you do OR are learning to.

I think it's safe to say that  people can begin to suffer from serious mental illnesses (i.e. depression) all because of their supposed dieting failures. Many people start to feel like they have no control over their bodies and lose touch with the reality that they DO indeed have the will power to switch from bad eating habits to GREAT ones. Many people (men, women, and sadly children) have turned the comfort, joy, & energy food brings us into an addiction. The problems escalates. Pounds & toxins added to the body makes a person less likely to work out, to feel their bodies. I think it is natural for a person to want to lose excess weight gain. Your body can not handle being sick anymore. It wants and needs to be free. You are your body. You want to be free. 

And If you don't feel like exercising today or tomorrow, you may be lacking some key nutrients. Eat more greens. Drink more water. Nothing from a box. Nothing from a bag. Unless of course you picked up some nuts, seeds, or dried fruit (in moderation). Tell me if I am missing something...is there anything else that is TRULY healthy that comes from a bag or a box? I dare you to come up with something

Good food makes us happy. Healthier food makes us happier. Bring awareness to your plate. Be a lucid eater.

Big Food Trend Predictions for 2009

The following list of Big Food Trends and Emerging Trends was predicted by The Food People, UK's leading food trends and food innovation business. It seems like many of their forecasts have already gained some momentum here in the states, but it is still an interesting read. I added my notes and links in italics.

Big Trends for 2009

* Comfort food - Incorporating retro, nostalgia, feel good foods of the past. (ex. Jamba Juice will start selling steel cut oats with fruit for breakfast. Better option for those fast food mornings)

* Scratch cooking and home baking - More cooking from raw ingredients, also more breads, tray bakes, not just because it saves money but also it makes you feel great. (More Vegan/Raw Food Potlucks and Meet-ups)

* Less protein - It is expensive and also there are so many possibilities with vegetable accompaniments. (Thank you World Peace Diet!)

* Thirst for food skills and knowledge - More entry level cookery schools teaching the basics and how to get the best out of what you have. (for example: The Natural Epicurean Culinary School, Austin TX)

Restaurant and farm alliances - Savvy restaurateurs teaming up with farms to bring the consumers food that they know and trust. (For example: Casa de Luz, Austin TX)

* More miniaturization - Things getting smaller – greater choice, less cost, more variety, more cute factor. (The vegan cupcake revolution has been here!)

* Health - Instant nutrition, ultra low calorie, health through natural choices (ex. FDA's approval of Stevia. Finally! )

Emerging Food trends for 2009:

• Beauty foods - Foods that enhance your inner or outer beauty. (Get sweet with fruit)
  

• Raw food - Foods that are raw and retain all of their natural goodness, raw food diets (I am now addicted to green smoothies after participating in a free 3 day cleanse with Dr. Ritamarie a couple of weeks ago. I highly recommend anybody with $97, a blender, and a very strong desire to take their health life to a brighter level to Sign Up for a  7 day cleanse. You are worth it and she is awesome and will give you all the inspiration ad motivation you need to get you through it.
  

• Free food - Incorporating foraging, freeganism, growing your own.
  

• Bistronomics - Avant garde cuisine at bistro prices by using what’s in season, not throwing anything away and using modern cooking techniques

• Community food projects - Power to the people, groups of people sharing land, skills and knowledge to share food within communities (here's a list of Community Gardens in Austin, TX)
  

• Anti (this and that) foods - Foods that fight certain conditions and aliments. (I don't see this trend ever going away, sometimes it can be annoying)
  

• Fun - Introduction of more fun, personality and informality into brands and the dining room
  

• Multi sensory emotional food experiences - Use of alternative techniques to cook, serve, present food to deliver a more all encompassing food experience that is multi sensory. (For ex. several upscale & risky restaurants are popping up in places like New York that are un lit; pitch black rooms allowing for customers to "focus" on the food. Interesting? ) 

Without clarity, we don't know we need to change. Without willingness, we cannot adopt better habits. Without discipline, we cannot keep from falling back into the old habits.

Raw Food Cooking Class

Yesterday I attended a raw food cooking class in Austin Texas taught by Dr. RitaMarie Roscalzo. She titled the name of the show "Magic in the Kitchen" and gleefully donned her favorite wizard tee for the occasion. :)

Wait, what do you mean, Raw Foods?!

The raw food diet is a diet based on unprocessed and uncooked plant foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, sprouts, seeds, nuts, grains, beans, nuts, dried fruit, and seaweed.

Heating food above 116 degrees F is believed to destroy enzymes in food that can assist in the digestion and absorption of food. Cooking is also thought to diminish the nutritional value and "life force" of food. Typically, at least 75% of the diet must be living or raw. 

Proponents of the raw food diet believe it has numerous health benefits, including:

Increased Energy, Improved Skin Appearance, Better Digestion, Weight Loss, and a Reduced risk of heart disease...

The raw food diet contains fewer trans fats and saturated fats than the typical Western diet. It is also low in sodium and high in potassium, magnesium, folate, fiber and health-promoting plant chemicals called phytochemicals.

These properties are associated with a reduced risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. For example, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that consumption of a raw food diet lowered plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. Source: Cathy Wong

I believe eating more raw foods will help you live as lucid as you can live. The ingredients are fresh & alive, not burned or on fire. But what the hell is a raw foodist supposed to eat then? No bread. No pasta. No tofu chicken. No nothing? No.

BACK TO CLASS

Before the event Dr.Ritamarie asked us to clean out our refrigerators and bring in items (still fresh) that might typically be found in our homes. I brought in rainbow chard, fresh spinach, a yellow bell pepper, a large juicy mango, cilantro, fresh ginger, and lemons. Her mission was to take our grocery bags full of.....whatever we stuffed inside of them, and show us how to turn them into a quick healthy "raw" meal. What followed was the tastiest Thai "Soup" ever.

If you have a food processor or high speed blender this can work for you to. Try it.

Chop one large mango and lemons and add to blender to form a juicy base. The lemon juice counteracts the bitterness of some greens. Chop or tear pieces of rainbow chard, spinach, cilantro and add to blender. Add chopped yellow bellpepper and a good size chunk of fresh ginger. In come the secret ingredients: Add about 2 tsp of coconut butter, 3/4 tsp tumeric, and 1/2 tsp dulse (optional). You can also add a kefir lime leaf or lemongrass for the ultimate thai flavor. Now all you do is Blend It until you reach a desired consistency and enjoy. It is so savory and deliciously Green! As Green and Simple as it gets actually.

With what was left of  the greens I brought in, she made a simple salad. She chopped the rest of the rainbow chard and spinach, added lemon, and then massaged the greens with her hands. Finally she added olive oil and a lil sesame oil to give that Asian flavor, tossed on some sesame seeds and passed the salad around for us all to partake. A few women suggested adding ground nuts or ginger juice to top it off. It thought it was great as is. I never realized how easy it was to make a soft Asian salad.

Did I mention we also learned how to make the most delicious chocolate frosting in the world AND also witnessed a fabulous recipe redo: lemon fluff delight. Yeah, you can have it all raw. It is amazing how much creativity goes into this way of preparing food and the joy you get when eating it. With all the right equipment, and information abut what ingredients you will need to have in your kitchen, you will be all set.

If you are at all interested in learning more about raw foods, I highly recommend a visit to Dr. Ritamarie's website and blog. It contains an awesome collection of FREE articles, e-books, green cleanse videos, and all the inspiration you need to transition to living a healthier lifestyle. Also, if you are in Austin, consider attending a raw food POTLUCK. 

One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle.  ~Henry David Thoreau

Michael Pollan Secretary of Agriculture

Press Release: Website Launched, Lobbyist and Publicist Appointed

PollanforSecretaryofAgriculture.org

WASHINGTON D.C.--President-elect Barack Obama’s selection for Secretary of Agriculture has a new twist, thanks to a burgeoning grass-roots petition campaign endorsing Washington outsider Michael Pollan for the post.

Pollan, author of runaway New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma, NYT journalist, and unofficial guru of the local, non-industrial food movement, framed his agenda most recently in his essay ‘Farmer In Chief’ published in the NYT Magazine, the Big Idea being:

“Most of the problems our food system faces today are because of its reliance on fossil fuels, and to the extent that our policies wring the oil out of the system and replace it with the energy of the sun, those policies will simultaneously improve the state of our health, our environment
and our security.”

Now boasting 8,000 signatures, the petition and a new website are the brainchild of lobbyist and media representative Blane Friest. Featured on WNYC, the nation’s largest public radio station and on Bill Moyers Journal, Pollan and the petition effort are gaining credible buzz among the nation’s media outlets. A Facebook Group now approaching 4000 members has also been formed independently by another Pollan devotee, Bryan Giglio.

Pollan’s reluctance to throw his hat in the ring has caused many in the blogosphere to question the validity of the campaign, but Friest remains resolute, “In the Moyers interview he begins by saying he knows his limitations and doesn’t consider himself a viable candidate for the position. He then spends the next 45 minutes eloquently proving precisely why he’s the right one for the job. It’s not necessary to have a politician or bureaucrat as Secretary, but someone who knows the players well enough to hire the right people to write policy while maintaining oversight of the direction of the agency. Pollan is that person.”

The petition reads in part:

“Mr. Pollan has a unique understanding of the history, development, and contemporary practices of U.S. Agriculture and its relationship to the health of the citizens of The United States. He is singularly qualified to identify inefficiencies and present improvements in production, nutrition, and our problematic reliance on petroleum and petro-chemical based fertilizers, for the benefit of food producers and consumers both.”

The complete petition and position statement are at ww.PollanforSecretaryofAgriculture.org.

If you think Michael Pollan would be great for this position and country, why not sign the petition? I don't think he would turn down the job if it was offered to him.

P.S. I still think Will Tuttle would do a better job.

This Season, Think & Feel & Think Again Before You Buy

Back in April, Thom Yorke and the rest of his Radiohead bandmates joined forces with MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) to produce a music video for "All I Need," a song from their In Rainbows album.
Anonymous comment:

"How can you complain about this video, this is reality, America gets to live well and buy the consumerists goods they don't need because American companies have subsidiaries in other countries that employee children for low wages".

Some other helpful articles I read today pertaining to consumer awareness:

What would the Buddha buy?

How Marketing Tricks You and How To Beat It

World Peace Diet Lecture, Friday Night

If you are in Austin Texas on Friday December 5th you should stop by Casa de Luz, Center for Integral Studies to hear Dr. Will Tuttle give his lecture and presentation on The World Peace Diet from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

And if you are unfamiliar with the Casa de Luz, you are in a special time. The vision is this:

The philosophy of how to live a great life (Macrobiotics) is the founding idea for Casa de Luz. This is an all encompassing philosophy, which includes all methods of supporting health and freedom. Our mission is to offer a sacred space for those that want to bring their disciplines to share with the community. Casa de Luz is open to all. Our reason for being is to practice and live in integrity. We believe that living with integrity includes practicing, learning, teaching, and sharing actions and philosophies to develop conscious living and cognition. It also takes commitment, authenticity, appreciation and openness to being wrong. The search of improvement is necessary, least we become arrogant and dogmatic. This is a place that is ever changing and colored by the practices that people bring to share.

In order to fulfill its complete destiny, Casa de Luz will create a full spectrum village which will be designed to include smart living modalities. Humanity's recent industrialized development has created conveniences that have proven to be detrimental to the overall health of all things on earth. The automobile, while wonderful, has proven to destroy well being. Industrialized foods have been made tasty, attractive and cheap, yet not only do they lack nourishment, but they also cause illness. By design, a village can support well being for all.

Besides being the gathering place for various forms of study including yoga, cooking classes, tai chi etc... the Casa de Luz kitchen prepares the most delicious foods all based on the macrobiotic regimen served buffet style in a communal style of seating. Every time I go there, I meet someone so interesting and on the brightest path of lucid living. It's wonderful. I will be meeting with Will before the event to capture some new video footage for his website and getting some details about his experience on th 13 month full time book tour in his solar powered RV across the country which is nearing completion. As you can tell,  he is one hard working, compassionate man planting peace daily and it has been great working with he and his wife Madeleine to help grow their online presence.

If you are unable to attend this event make sure you join the World Peace Diet Network, Read the Book, or follow Will's blog. Getting to know his mission and understanding his life work will definitely strike some harmonious chords in you and make you healthier too. Inside and Out. Really.

Oh and when you come to town call me or DM me on Twitter and we will visit Casa de Luz together :)