Summer Travels: Meeting Fellow Organic Warriors

Dear Friends,

Well, we are back from an eight day trip to the eastcoast: three days in New York City seeing our friends, and five days in the Washington DC area for Dohrea’s PhD program.  In this week’s newsletter both Dohrea and I will share with you a part of our adventures and discoveries in the realm of organic living.  Here’s Dohrea:

It is Monday afternoon in NYC; the temperature is high, humidity higher, and everyone is dressed with minimal clothing, wears huge sunglasses, and large hats. It is indeed summertime, a perfect season to further green our life. The warming trend is obvious over here in NYC and even more so in DC, where we will spend the whole week, me in seminars for my PhD (air-conditioned environment), and Seann, connecting with wonderful physicians like yourselves, and visiting special organizations who work towards the betterment of our earth.

Greening, as we all know, is our duty.  So, what we eat, drink, and of course use around the house (clealing products), our cars, and our personal grooming products, are all a part of the causation of the de-evolution pattern we are endeavoring to change. On a nice Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn (hot of course), Jessa Blades from Blades Natural Beauty taught us all about greening our personal and beauty routines. The experience was enlivening, and our time together deepened our resolve to not only green ourselves but help others think through the process. Check out Jessa’s blog, and share this great resource with your patients, they will thank you!

Here is a picture of Jessa and I, sitting and playing with a variety of beautiful products, all healthy, all fortifying, made by individuals and companies who care about our plant and us.  We think about cleaning and purifying our earth, changing farming methods, buying and supporting organic farms, and now, we need to think of supporting those who are working hard to bring us wonderfully thoughtful green personal products to keep our bodies humming in health. We learned from Jessa about individuals who are partnering up with different indigenous people in many parts of the world to harvest, sustainably, ingredients that create intelligent and profoundly active products for our skin, hair, and nails.

Jessa’s dream is to create a shop that carries many products that are locally unique to NYC, as well as bring products from different places around the globe. As you know, we believe in supporting organic/green local and global talent while we develop and encourage others to think about energy efficient life style. Take a closer look at this beautifully arrayed table: we have organic oils, creams, lip colors, sun screens that are rated well (you do already know of the Skin Deep rating system), powders, and even exceptional deodorants—all healthy, all beautiful—and each product has a story that is worth knowing.

Jessa Blades knows people from all over the world who love our earth and this love is communicated through the joy she brings into teaching people where to find and how to use organic, active products. She spent two hours teaching us how to green our personal routines and then taught me a few great application techniques (make-up) to look natural (and as I requested—glowing!). Simple routines, wonderful products to work with, and superb results—well worth the time. You can find Jessa if you live in NY or close by, and there are many eco-chic experts you can get in touch with or bring into your clinic to teach your patients about personal care. Check out this article at Glamour (yes, Glamour, is it not great that they are starting to advertise green living?) “70 New Reasons to live Green” and meet 70 eco-concious women whose mission is aligned with greening the earth. We respect their efforts and hard work.  Here is what these activists think:

What else can you do this year? Keep up the great green work—and try one new thing, or two or three (find dozens of easy ideas at glamour.com). Every little bit helps. Talk to others about what you’re doing; Mother Earth needs as many friends as possible. To inspire you even more, take a look at our 70 eco go-getters. They’re grassroots activists, CEOs and celebs, ages 17 to 66. Some run big-gun groups; others are building greener lipsticks and totes. But they’ve all recognized the same thing: “Future generations depend on our vigilance. We must care,” says Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. “Time and again, we’ve faced the frustrations of righting past wrongs.” So here’s to the environment—and greener years ahead. Virginia Sole-Smith

You have already met Annie Leonard who created the Story of Stuff Project. Review her Story of Cosmetics and offer this link to your patients: The Story of Cosmetics. It is a pleasure sharing our journey with you—I wish you a joyful summer!! And now, off to DC for my seminar, back to my books, and papers.

And, back to me:

We hit the motherload of culinary organic dinning in DC, but before I get into this jewel of a find, I must tell you about a very, very good organic/vegan restaurant in NYC—The Caravan of Dreams.  Their food is to die for!  It is Dohrea’s most favorite place to eat.  Here’s a quote from their website:

Founded in 1991 by Angel Moreno, a Spanish expat in New York [and he’s a Sufi], who saw the restaurant as an opportunity to combine his passions for food, health, music, and community. It’s a place where Angel and others are reaching out to countless people and developing new ideas for a greater world, that all have at its core the Caravan of Dreams tenet: around good food and health, music and dance, and friends and family and lovers, lies the wellspring of happiness.

Now on to DC.  My instruction from Dohrea and one of her cohort, Susan, was to find a good organic restaurant that we could bring their special group of around six fellow students.  I found Restaurant Nora.

Nora Pouillon is a pioneer and champion of organic, environmentally conscious cuisine. Born in Austria, Nora promotes and embodies healthy, sustainable living. Her inspiration in the kitchen comes from her parents who understood the value of simply prepared seasonal foods. When Nora came to the US, in the late 1960s She was disturbed by the amount of processed and chemical-laden foods Americans were eating. That’s when Nora began her search for seasonal and organic food and her crusade for healthier living.

Nora made a lifetime commitment to nutritionally wholesome food, balanced eating and sustainable living that is based on the premise that you are what you eat, drink and breathe, and that it is important to take responsibility for one’s own health. Her approach also includes a daily exercise routine that strengthens and focuses the body and mind.

Nora opened Restaurant Nora, in 1979 and was immediately recognized for her ability to create not only healthy but also delicous organic dishes. In 1999, twenty years later, the restaurant became the nation’s first certified organic restaurant. Only three other restaurants have since achieved this goal.

We had a wonderful evening.  The food was perfect for all—from paleo to vegan.  Restaurant Nora is eloquent, and was packed with all kinds to very interesting people.  Needless to say, we were very pleased and proud  of our organic family—thanks to Nora.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

What is the Therpapeutic Foods Paradigm?

Our bodies are so bombarded with pollution, pathogens and stress that they desperately need to be fed real food, sustaining food, energizing food, organic food with high actives.

Even if we eat seven servings of fruits and vegetables a day, it’s good but it is not enough, we need powerful organic food, food that doesn’t add more pollutants to our body burden, but food that impacts our bodies therapeutically and makes them strong.

Here is the link to read further about the Therapeutic Foods paradigm.

Also, read about the World Today, the reason we need to fight for a clean environment.
The Last Quiz Answer:

Flying fish make the tropical waters spanning the globe their home.  During my two year living in Micronesia I witnessed their amazing feats of flight.  One always wondered what was lurking under the water’s surface that was chasing them—tuna, mackeral, marlin, swordfish, or the more scary thoughts of possible hunting baracudas and sharks.  Flying fish can cover an amazing distance in flight, having been recorded of flying over the distance of three football fields.

The Story of Change just came out this week on Wednesday and here is the link.  As our world spins into greater pollution, greater inequity, greater starvation and chronic illness, and moves ever closer to the next mass extinction, there is, believe me, hope!  And, Anne Leonard, is one of those points of light—enjoy this link and pass it on.