Get Movin’ With Green Smoothies

- by Doll Creelman

Green Smoothies Saved the Day!

I woke up this morning with the news that our dear pick-up truck driving friend whom we thought was going to be available on Friday to help us move is not… but is here today instead!

Boy did I jump at that news.

We’ve been working on this move for the last 2 weeks but even bumping it up a day made  for a scramble.

How was I to manage?  I had neglected to prepare for my day last night.  No
quick and easy food to be found and I needed energy.

Green smoothies to the rescue!  Here’s what got my motor running today. Read more »

Sisterhood Spotlight: Vicky controls Gestational Diabetes with diet alone!

Vicky has been a participant in WISH and was gracious enough to share her experience with diabetes.  We felt her experience could be very helpful to others who may need to adjust their diet to help keep their blood sugar in range.  Please post any questions below.  I think this is an area we will want to be exploring more.  xoxoxo  Lyn

Hello, my name is Vicky Glisson.  I am a 42 yr old mother of five children, 4 boys and 1 girl.  Our baby girl Cadence was born at home on July 29^th.  I would like to share my experience with staying on a raw diet when I developed gestational diabetes during my 5^th pregnancy.

Our family has been on a raw diet (75-90%) since January of 2008. When I became pregnant with Cadence I was very excited to have the chance to experience a pregnancy while on a raw diet and give my next child the most nutritious, healthy start I could.

I find out I have Gestational Diabetes….

When it was time to test for Gestational Diabetes I decided not to drink the glucose drink, but to test my blood sugar after each meal with a glucose monitor for one week.  My blood sugar tested higher than normal.  When I took my results to my midwife she explained that I had Gestational Diabetes and that she could not do a home delivery if I could not keep my blood sugar in a normal range. Read more »

Get Outside into Summer!

- by Sarah McMurray

I have a dear friend whom I meet with every week, normally for coffee at one of our favorite haunts. We talk about traveling, exploring our own backyard, relationships and creativity.

I look forward to this time.

I’ve noticed recently that most of my gatherings with friends are around happy hours, coffee dates and alcohol. As I’ve been working on more holistic health and deeper, more authentic community I’ve made a commitment to make my get togethers less food oriented, and more focused on activity. Read more »

Toilet Talk and Other Pertinent Poop Issues

Today is Monday and it feels like things are getting back into full speed ahead mode after the holidays. I’m certainly glad I’ve given myself these 21 days to put things in place. I know today is supposed to be the day that we buckle down and address fitness, but I need to interrupt your regularly scheduled 21-Day Challenge programming with an announcement about toilet talk and other pertinent poop issues.

Okay, so I need to get right down to the juicy stuff here because I’m just aching to share with you my big news. Brace yourselves, if you’re the sensitive type.

Around here it is to be expected that if you’re talking about food, you’re talking about poop. I have yet to meet a woman with whom I couldn’t have a great conversation about the pleasure of a satisfying bowel movement. Either we’re consitpated, gassy, bloated or just irregular, but without exception we all know that the pleasure of a productive bowel movement has been daringly, but not unjustly, compared to the pleasure of a sexual orgasm.

In the last few hours I’ve had four intensely pleasurable experiences of the non-sexual variety and I feel like a new woman!

The secret?

I’ll tell you in a moment.

As you know, I’m prepping for the 6-Week Deep Tissue Detox. It’s starting in just a week and today is the first day I’ve really been able to consider getting myself on track for food and prepping myself for the detox that’s coming. The timing is PERFECT for a detox. After the travel, irregular sleep, mashed potato indulgences and other chocolate-coated conditions that come with the holidays, I am so ready to clean out and clear up. But more than that, I’m ready to learn.

I’ve been at this now for seven years and am astonished still to realize to what degree I am the byproduct of the information I’ve been fed by other health enthusiasts. I can remember when I first jumped on board the raw food bandwagon, I was rubbing noses with a lot of friendly fruit-eaters and running about 30km on an average Sunday afternoon. I was doing my best to learn the ropes and ask questions and get the results I was hearing about.  Unlike many raw foodists, I didn’t come to this lifestyle seeking health improvement. I was simply curious.

I was following a pure path at first. Avoiding salt was a spiritual arm-wrestling match unlike any other I’ve ever had. The white-knuckling didn’t last long for me. The recommendations I followed at the time were probably better than what I’d been doing before, and so I got results. I still felt bloated and constipated and remember asking about enemas and colonics at the time and got a big ol’ resounding “NO!” That’s “BAD”. The ideas put out were that some people have had enemas and colonics and then never had a natural bowel movement again in their lives.

Last year after encountering a few health professionals that do recommend and use enemas and colonics themselves, I decided to call upon Michael Perrine and ask him to give me the “Scoop on Poop”.  Looking back at 2009, I can honestly say that one of the best things I did for myself was invest $20 in a rubber enema bag from my local drugstore! SUCH a good move. The reason I’m telling you all this is because I don’t think you should believe anything I say. I think you should find out for yourself.

With the 6-Week Detox coming up, this is the perfect opportunity to learn for yourself what happens when you really clean out your body and understand more about what’s going on inside it. We are so indoctrinated to avoid things, fear certain practices, etc. Inform yourself honestly and objectively, then try stuff. Listen to the teleseminar that I recorded with Michael and read some of the comments left by other people and have the courage to walk your own path. The reason I started all this toilet talk in the first place, actually has nothing to do with enemas, but is related to bacterial balance in the gut and my extremely productive morning on the throne.

Here’s the secret to my high productivity:

The last time we did the 6-Week Detox, I learned SO much about the gut and healthy bacterial balance, but I didn’t really apply it all. Over the last few days I’ve been drinking LOADS of fermented Kombucha and may I just tell you that stuff works!! I could never be convinced that enemas are a bad thing because they have just done way too much good for me. And now I am most thoroughly convinced that drinking and eating fermented foods is a health-building habit to have and one I intend to keep for a long time.

Through Crudessence we’ll be offering a fermentation workshop very soon. You can access the Crudessence calendar for more details if you’re in the area.

As for you, my dear, and our 21-Day Challenge, please spend some time tonight dreaming of your fit, hot body and how you feel when you’re fitness is at its ideal. What do you want to do and how often? Set your ideal scene and tomorrow we’ll do some action steps and target setting to put things in place. I know today and tomorrow are devoted to dreaming of and putting in place our fitness goals for the year, but with my glorious gut adventures this morning, I simply had to tell you how excited I am about learning more, about deconstructing the myths that I didn’t even realize I was operating with.

I mean, I’ve heard all this bacteria stuff and people say it works, but holy smokin’ toilet seats, now I’m a believer. If you’re joining us for the 6-Week Detox we’ll make a believer out of you, too. Otherwise, start googling about fermentation, Sister!

Okay, back tomorrow with the fitness focus!

Love and laughter,

Tera

It’s Time For Our Annual Attitude Adjustment

Gooooood morning, Sparkle Puff. (Okay, well, it was morning when I started this. But then the doorbell rang, and one of our kids needed help with her entrpreneurial plan and another had a fashion question and the drier finished and lunch needed to be prepared and…

…7 hours later I have finally managed to free myself enough to finish this blog post. I don’t know about the kids, but I can’t wait for school to start on Monday. )

I admit I was feeling just kinda ordinary this morning (a bit of indigestion after this week’s festivities) until I sat down to do my own reflections of 2009. I looked back through the calendar and went through, month by month, taking mental note of all that had happened. It didn’t take long, but WHAT A TRIP! If you haven’t done it yet, DO IT! At first all I noticed were the dramatic things–January was a bit rough. With the hope that it might inspire you to fit in the time to do your own reflections in detail before settling into the goal setting exercises we’ll be doing throughout the weeks to come, here are a few of my observations about the successes of 2009:

Personally:

I fell in love and worked through the bumpy parts of a new relationship where you look for every exit door you can find before deciding to make love work with a person.

I became a better mom and actually went through some A M A Z I N G marriage counseling with my ex-husband. After 6 years of having been divorced!!, we actually ironed out the wrinkles in our relationship and became amazing co-parents and good friends to each other! Then we put the kids on a much better schedule and just got them feeling and behaving SO confident and SO darn cool. Yes, we are still divorced.

I started getting a lot more sleep and had a whole hot yoga binge in March that I looooved. I swam, skated and cross-country skied. I strapped on my shoes and adventured over the big bridge near my house a few times. I did a juice fast and started green juicing for the first time after almost 7 years of being a raw foodist.

Professionally:

I created WISH: Women’s International Summit for Health and in preparation for it interviewed some of the most incredible people I have ever known. In 2010 I’ll be bringing it to life on March 8 (International Women’s Day) and I cannot begin to express how escited I am about it. I did the Raw Mom Summit with Shannon and we had such a powerful and positive impact on the Raw Food Community, that we decided to spread the circle of influence a bit wider.

I developed the 6 Week Deep Tissue Detox with Ritamarie and spent huge amounts of time revising, improving and finally launching it. 2010 will be the year I actually do it myself!

I became partners with Crudessence and was assigned as the “Director” of their workshops and community programming.

The other thing that stands out in 2009 are a few moments I took to make some smart decisions about how to manage my business–a moment of clarity and confidence. I was simply deciding NOT to do something, but knowing that I would put my energy in the right place felt fantastic. I got excited about  the fact that something as simple as a decision could get me feeling so enthusiastic and hopeful so quickly. It propelled me to pick up my e-pen and start writing to you. Not about productivity, performance or promises that were kept. I wanted to write to you about the power of decision making. When I look back the things that excited and inspired me the most about 2009, it was the DECISIONS that I made to take charge of my life or business in a positive way and improve things.

That’s why it is SO important that you take the time NOW to chart your course for the year ahead. NOW you are setting your goals and making objectives and DECISIONS about how you want your life to be this year.

Today (January 2nd) we’re supposed to be looking at Attitude. (I wanted to wait a bit before hitting the obvious food, fitness, etc. Many people are still on vacation and getting back into gear with things, too.)

How do you look at your life? When you consider the things that happen in a day, a week, a year, how do you view your role in it all?
Do you view yourself as the passive participant in the soap opera of life, or are you the clever creator of all that happens to you?
When you wake up in the morning, are you ready and rarin’ to take on the day, or dreading the never-ending to do list?

When you walk in the street and look out at other people, what kind of thoughts are you thinking?
What about when you look at yourself in the mirror? Are you critical and judgmental, or compassionate and kind? What about in your relationships and professional life? When things aren’t going well, do you point the finger, or ask yourself what more you can take responsibility for?
Do you hear yourself making a lot of excuses or apologies?
Do you validate the things that go right or feel focused on where things are troubled and difficult?

We talk a lot about food, diet and exercise. We talk a lot about enemas and superfoods and drinking enough water. We talk a lot about the things we have to get done in a day, but criticism is bad for your liver and anger makes your armpits stink! Grumpiness puts ugly wrinkles all over your forehead and face, too! There is nothing beautiful, attractive or remotely empowering about being a GRUMP or a complainer. So let’s make this the year of good vibrations, baby!! Out with the crust, lift up your bust and show the world how beautiful life is!!

Understand that crabby people don’t feel good about themselves or they wouldn’t be crabby in the first place. Rather than bitch and complain about what other people do wrong, do it right. Rather than tell other people they’ve pissed you off, tell them how much you appreciate something they did.

When you feel like everything is wrong, find the one thing that is right about it all, and things will all turn around. Life is as positive and as pleasurable as you are able to wrap your attitude around your experiences. I could talk about this one for hours, and in fact, if at least 10 people ask for it, I’ll give you a special spiritual butt-kicking teleseminar all about it.

At the end of your days, it won’t be the car, the house, or the clutter in your cupboards that fills your soul and lets you leave this world in peace. It will be the choices you made to love in the face of opposition, to persist in the face of adversity and to believe when everyone else has given up. It will be the moments you lived and loved at your very best that will stand out and lift your soul to a higher place, or (if you’re not a soul-subscrber) it will simply give you the satisfaction of having lived a meaningful, empowered life.

Reach out, stretch your heart wide open and make enough room to love one more person. Then make enough room to love them all and watch how doing so makes loving yourself a whole lot easier. You can do it, Sunshine. You can make this your best year EVER. I know you can and I’m rooting for you until my pom-poms fall apart!

Go, Girl, Go!

5 Steps to Get Back on the Healthy Food Band Wagon

(Doll’s weekly thoughts on goals, starting over and success!)

Monday is the most popular day to re-start programs.  This goes for exercise, diets and other self-improvement ideas.  We’ve all been there.  We start on Monday.  Then, by Friday, we wonder what happened to take us so far off track.

Here are some thoughts to help all of us enjoy our successes at the end of the Week.

• Begin at the finish line!

  I am very happy with the work I do with The Raw Divas.  My goal is to be a successful businesswoman. I need to set the stage.  Last week Nick helped me buy and put together this great office set up.  There is no reason to wait until I am successful.  The time is now!

• Plan for success

  In my planning for success I’ve placed only those things that are necessary for my work on and around my desk.  I decided that distractions where not helping me to get the work done. You all know what I mean.  Dishes and nick-knacks do not belong.

• Set an attainable goal

  I’d love to set a goal of writing 3 hours every day.  That’s just not possible for me. But, if I set a goal of 15 min, twice a day I can get the work done and feel like I’ve accomplished something.

• Reward yourself

  I work really well with tangible gifts.  Finish a project?  Try a spa treatment, new scarf or even a star on your calendar.  Make it fun!

• Think in the present tense

  No more do I say, “I will finish this on time” or “I will have this piece published someday”.  I make statements for today.  I am writing 15 minutes today.  My published article is informative and fun.  Be positive and specific.

These 5 points can be used in terms of your food planning, exercise schedule, or your over all health and happiness.  Living a Raw Food Lifestyle is planned for and something to be enjoyed.  See yourself as healthy, fit, glowing and filled with energy!

Make this Monday your special Do-Over day!  Create a commitment or goal that works for you.  Sweet Diva, you can take on the world.  One do-over at a time!

With love and warm hugs

Doll (from her new office)

Why Can’t You Just Start Already? How to Handle Your Fitness Excuses!

By Jenn Givler

You’ve felt the niggles. The urges. The nudges. You know it’s time to start. You know you should be doing something. But every time you think about starting, something comes up. Some other plan, some interruption, some unexpected obstacle.

I’m talking about exercising. In the midst of being a significant other, a mom, a daughter, a friend and a professional, it can be tough to think about fitting in one more thing, or to even just take the plunge.

The fact is, exercise is good for you and your body. Among the commonly stated health benefits (increased cardio vascular health, increased energy, lower risk of multiple diseases, etc…), exercise also has some amazing not-commonly-heard-about benefits.

For example, exercising helps your body eliminate toxins. It also increases the good feelings you have about yourself and your positive self-talk. Exercise is wonderful for your libido. It helps you think clearly, and it gives you stamina for your all of your regular daily activities. It also improves sleep.

Even knowing all of this can make us stutter and stammer when it comes to starting a new exercise program.

Here are 3 simple ways to get started:

• Buddy up.  Find someone that will truly kick you into gear if you start making excuses. And, be sure that your buddy has the same mind-set and similar goals for exercise that you do. Together, create a plan that you can both easily stick to and go for it.
• Find the time.  Find a time each and every day that will be used for nothing other than exercise. At first, it’s going to be tough to stick to that time. Your mind is going to have all sorts of reasons why you can’t. And you’re going to make up excuses. But, I promise, if you stick to a regular time for at least 2 weeks, it will become a new routine, and you’ll actually hate to miss your exercise time.
• Keep it simple.  To get aerobic benefits, you don’t have to beat yourself to a pulp. This is something that is echoed in the Body Enlightenment System.

Walking at a moderate pace for 20 to 30 minutes a day is the perfect way to start moving.

To know that you’re truly getting benefit from the movement, make sure you’re winded (that it’s not easy to have a conversation, or that you’re breathing heavier),  and that you feel like you’re really working.
Inertia is defined as “an object at rest stays at rest unless acted on by an outside force.” For those of us needing to start something, inertia can be our biggest rival.
But, once you get going and get into a new routine, it’s easy to build a great new momentum in the right direction.

Start simply, find a buddy, pick a time and go for it.

**Jenn Givler is a fitness and wellness coach. She helps busy women break their fitness hiatus, and shows them how to fit fitness into a busy schedule. You don’t have to be a fitness buff, or live at the gym to feel healthy, fit and strong. Check out Jenn’s web site for exercise ideas, recipes, and insight: JGivlerFitness.com

Moments in Thyme . . . The Little Things We Do

By Joyce Wiatroski

“Almost everything you do will seem insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” —Gandhi

As I thought about these simple words I was struck by the depth of wisdom they impart.

When I take into consideration the magnificence of the universe on one hand, and the immensity of the challenges that face mankind on the other: securing world peace, protecting the environment, eradicating disease and alleviating poverty, I wonder how anything I do will make a difference.

Gandhi’s admonition that it’s important to do whatever little we can, resonates a simple truth. A cumulative effort will produce dramatic results.

Think about it.

• I can contribute to world peace by starting in my own neighborhood. By reaching out to a new neighbor, I’ve made an acquaintance out of a stranger.

• I’ve learned to smile at the homeless and greet handicapped people I pass on the street, instead of avoiding eye contact. When they smile back I no longer feel uncomfortable in their presence. Maybe their day will be a bit warmer and brighter, too.

• With a concern for protecting the environment, five years ago I stopped using plastic or paper bags when I shop. I’ve accumulated a collection of canvas tote bags and like a piece of plastic we often hear advertised, I “never leave home without it”.

• Even though I live on a very limited budget, I’ve made a small monthly commitment to an organization that helps the homeless—The Salvation Army Bed and Bread Club.
There are many other worthwhile organizations that would appreciate a few dollars regularly.

• Because I love and listen to my local FM station, practically 24-7, I support it with a nominal monthly donation. My small amount, added with the contribution of others, makes non-commercial news reports, classical music and mind-expanding programs possible for the whole community.

• I subscribe to the local newspaper, along with the RSS feed for a major metropolitan newspaper, giving me a different perspective and assuring that I’m aware of what’s happening in the world at large, as well as in my own backyard. Apathy is dangerous. We must take an interest in our world locally and globally.

• I subscribe to a variety of health, nutrition, and raw food related blogs and websites. With the marvels of modern technology, I take advantage of interviews, seminars and podcasts that inform and direct me as I pursue a healthy lifestyle.

• I keep up with issues that affect me personally and take note of subjects that pertain to family and friends as well. This allows me to forward information and encouragement to assist others on the road to abundant vibrant health.

• I take full responsibility for my own health and well-being. No one cares more about me than me. No one cares more about you than you. Never forget that.

Many of the things I do seem so insignificant. But in retrospect, I see how important
it is for each of us to do small things to make our neighborhoods a better place, to help our communities blossom, to heal relationships, to work on building healthier bodies.

If we adopt the rationale behind Gandhi’s quote, and do simple things consistently, the outcome may well have a far-reaching and lasting impact.

These individually insignificant actions will exponentially build a better world.

It’s up to us to make it happen. Let’s continue to manifest . . .

Like fine wine, women grow better with thyme.

Joyce Wiatroski is the wit and wisdom found on foodiefumblings blog. You can watch for her contributions on the Diva blog on Tuesdays.

Moments in Thyme . . . Breast Cancer Awareness Month

by Joyce Wiatroski

It’s October. Once again we are inundated with the annual mammography marketing campaign.

What we need is more emphasis on education and prevention, and less on detection, as a means for women to conquer breast cancer.

Researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Center in Denmark studied 500,000 women to determine the results of breast cancer screening programs. They found that for every one woman helped by breast cancer screening, ten were harmed through false diagnosis or unnecessary treatments that devastated their health.

Why is all the money and emphasis being spent on detection? What ever happened to seeking PREVENTION? Why are women not being educated on ways we can prevent this disease, instead of waiting to be diagnosed with it and then being given ‘treatment’?

Cancer is a pharmaceutical pot of gold that we all buy into year after year.

Shame on us.

The big business of breast cancer is alive and well and extremely profitable. Before you fork out dough for more walks for the cure and pink ribboned paraphernalia, think about the industry you’re supporting. Think before you pink!

Take a gander at all the companies that have jumped on the bandwagon with their Think Pink messages. Many of these companies are selling products that contribute to cancer. (Cosmetics and beauty aids made with synthetic chemicals, cereals and pastries made with processed white flour, sugar and hydrogenated oils, etc.) These manufacturers ask us to buy more of their products so we can get more cancer. Then generous souls that they are, they offer to donate a few cents from each purchase for more cancer research. Meanwhile, their profits steadily rise by riding on the coattails of breast cancer and its victims.

As a breast cancer survivor, woman and concerned citizen, I believe it’s a mandate for every woman to become more familiar with the literature on how one can avoid known carcinogens—factors that have been proven to contribute to breast cancer.

It’s also our responsibility to become familiar with the steps we can take to avoid this aggressive disease that will strike one in — how many women? Currently, it’s one in every eight. As we continue to ingest more synthetic chemicals and toxins from our food, water, air, clothing, cleaning products, etc. will we see this ratio escalate?

For an eye opening exposé on the correlation between synthetic chemicals to the near epidemic diseases we now face, I recommend reading The One Hundred Year Lie by Randall Fitzgerald. This noted investigative reporter shows, in layman’s terms, how the ‘progress of modern technology’ along with corporate greed has led us down the road to the current state of health in the Western world today.

Are you familiar with Breast Cancer Action (BCA)? Check out this organization that is actively AGAINST breast cancer and all the contributing factors that have proven to be precursors of this dreaded disease.

• Help support a worthwhile cause by joining the Think Before You Pink campaign.  Use the leverage of your influential purchasing power by NOT purchasing pink items that contribute to breast cancer and other debilitating diseases.

•  Make it your business to know what’s in the products you buy: the food you serve your family, the cleaning agents you use in your home, the cosmetics and beauty products you use on your skin and hair, the synthetic fabrics in your clothing.

•  Don’t expect the guy who is making his living by selling you these items to inform you they are harmful. Find out for yourself if they are safe.

•  Don’t wait for cancer to strike and then look for a treatment. Make it your first priority to find out how you can contribute to your own well being and then take essential steps to prevent it.

•  Don’t let big business, whether it’s the medical community, the pharmaceutical industry, chemical companies, or factory farms and food giants dictate our future.

As women we need to unite and speak up for our healthful rights.

As a concerned sisterhood let’s continue to manifest . . .

Like fine wine, women grow better with thyme.

* Joyce Wiatroski is the wit and wisdom found on foodiefumblings blog. You can watch for her contributions on the Diva blog on Tuesdays.

Moments in Thyme . . . Food in Film!

By Joyce Wiatroski

Recently, I went to see Cloudy with Chance of Meatballs. As interested as I am in food, nutrition, and the sad state of our collective health, a mainstream, animated film that carries the message “don’t fill up on junk food” certainly caught my attention.
The film does a neat job of sending an important message to kids and their folks. Having your fill of easy eats, such as chicken wings, cheeseburgers, and French fries, has dire consequences. The message is: “ease up on the junk food before it kills you”. I wonder how many viewers will take the message to heart. I also wonder how many left the theater and headed for the nearest fast food drive-in window.

On the ride home, I thought about how film influences our lives — how our culture is both reflected and informed by the films of an era.

Film offers escape, entertainment, enlightenment and education. It’s a medium that encourages us to lose ourselves, for a short while, in the adventures, joys and sorrows of other people. People much like us, and also people whose lifestyles and mores are completely different from ours. Film transports us, visually and audibly, to new worlds offering the opportunity to gain new insights, and develop broader understanding as we grow intellectually.

Before television, movies were our window on the world. Each current generation has grown up with some exposure to film. For many of us, movies are woven into the fabric of our lives, subtly influencing many of our decisions.

Film has always been a big deal in my life. As a kid, Saturday at the Movies included a double feature, newsreels, cartoons, and coming attractions (trailers). We spent entire Saturday afternoons glued to the big screen. All for a quarter. Imagine!

As a pre-teen, after seeing a fascinating ice skating movie, I imagined myself as a swirling, twirling, Sonja Henie, waiting to be discovered on the ice rink at our local firehouse. The fact that I couldn’t skate backwards, let alone twirl, didn’t diminish the dream one bit!
Then Esther Williams stole my heart, and the dreams went from the frigid skating rink to the sensuous movements of a lithe ballerina in the wet depths of an exotic swimming pool. I couldn’t figure out how to give my adoring audience a big smile, while continuing to breathe under water. The mere fact that I couldn’t swim very well didn’t begin to slow down those exciting fantasies.
I went on to dance with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly — giving Ginger Rogers a run for her money. Dressed in glamorous gowns, I pranced upon the stage in my mind. The movies were a wonderful weekly adventure, teaching me to aspire and to dream. Movies magically opened up beautiful new worlds, expanding horizons for a skinny, freckle-faced New Hampshire girl.

Now I seem to gravitate toward health related documentaries, yet I’m easily lured by any film about food. Food speaks volumes about nurturing, caring, and love. The joy with which we prepare foods for family, friends or simply for ourselves is a major component, adding to the total nourishment of the final dish, make no mistake about that. The sentiment that food and love go hand in hand is reflected in many a well-written film treatment.

For a comprehensive list of food films, check out Gastronomica. I was entranced by some of the titles, for instance: Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers, Killer Tomatoes and . Many of my favorite food films are listed: Big Night, Babette’s Feast, Like Water for Chocolate, and so many more, along with plenty of informative documentaries. Check out the list and find some grand food related films to watch. Don’t miss the recent release, Julie and Julia. Just because raw foodists choose not to cook, or vegans not to cook with butter, watching Julia Child (Meryl Streep) make culinary history is a pure delight.

Food — the center of attention.  What does that say about us as a society?

Today we each have the opportunity to make healthy food choices the center of attention. An opportunity to nurture, care and show love to our circle of influence by setting a good example, eating to nurture the body, mind and spirit. It will be interesting to see what impact we have on our immediate circle and watch the ripple effect on the world.

Maybe someday we’ll see a film entitled: Sunny with Chance of Kale!

Meanwhile, let’s each do our part to manifest . . .

Like fine wine, women grow better with thyme.

**Joyce Wiatroski is the wit and wisdom found on foodiefumblings blog. You can watch for her contributions on the Diva blog on Tuesdays.