A Garden Can Be Your Financial Life Boat

I heard a news commentator today say that more than 37 million Americans can't find full time work.

They're struggling, and it doesn't appear that there's any solution in site at the national level. We owe too much money. On paper, we're fiscally bankrupt.

If people haven't read about it, they feel it. We are living in a time of inevitable transition, and in our guts we know we're in for a rocky ride.

But if we step outside and look around, we know that our true equity isn't on paper. It's us, and our ability to be resourceful.

If we think of what we really need, it's good food, and that can be as close as our own backyards. You can grow food in an area about the size of the bed of a pick-up truck.

For instance, I think of Swiss chard, those elephant-ear sized greens from the spinach family, but surprising pack much more nutrients. It's easy to grow, and you can cook it up in soups or pasta sauces, or saute' it in a pan along with some onions and garlic. Once it gets to your stomach, it can begin processing all that "medicine" to deliver a dose of health to your cells.(It can even survive into the winter if you cover it!)

I use this space to write about the abundance of nutrients available in fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains because I've seen the difference good food can make in a variety of health conditions. In these days of concerns over the future of health care in this country, it should be of some comfort to know that we can access a veritable pharmacy in a garden.

An Encore for Fiber

Barring any medical conditions that are aggravated by eating lots of fiber, most people would probably find that it's a silver bullet for reducing sugar cravings, becoming healthier, and, yes, losing weight.

Food journals are useful for tracking your eating patterns, just like you would track your spending. But at the end of the day, the result is the same surprise at how much you are eating ~ or spending.

But if you're focusing on fiber, all you need is to add. Basically you're just counting up the fiber grams, veritable deposits in your physical health account.

You can Google the fiber grams for various fruits, vegetables and nuts, but to simplify it for you, a 1/2 cup serving for most of them contains about 3 - 4 grams.

But if you set a goal to eat 35 to 40 grams of fiber every day, you really have to eat plenty of good stuff to reach that amount. You can't eat junk because there's little fiber in processed foods. Not only that, you WON"T eat junk if you're lasered in on getting enough fiber because you won't have enough room in your tummy!

What's not to like about that approach?

Of Food and Fiber

If you want your nutrition strategy in a word, it's "fiber."

It's a veritable "silver bullet," guaranteed to reduce cravings, shed pounds; and clear your arteries, as well as your head.

To gain such impressive results, especially if you're dealing with any of those illnesses that result from inflammation in the body, you probably need to get at least 30 to 35 grams of fiber ~ ideally, closer to 40.

That said, eating well couldn't be simpler!

That's because you have to eat a lot to get that much fiber, and you won't find it in the bad stuff! It resides in the pulp and the skins and the sinew of fruits and vegetables. Nuts and beans are also good sources of fiber.

So it's not about "going without", because once you start making regular fiber deposits in your diet, your cravings for things like sugar, fat and salt won't be as great.

Not a small part of this journey is drinking water. It's the elixir of life!

They've been telling us to drink eight glasses of water a day for as long as I can remember (which is a very long time!). There's good reason. Water helps to flush out all the toxins that break loose from your liver as you eat these very cleansing foods.

The good news is you don't have to be a cook, or follow a bunch of recipes.

A meal can be as simple as cooking up some rice, and spooning some sauteed veggies over it. Or you can prepare a baked potato, but instead of adding butter and sour cream, top it with some steamed broccoli (diced), a little sauteed onion, some shredded cheddar cheese, and some black beans. Add a dollap of Greek yogurt, and you're ready to dine!

And you don't need much protein in the way of meat. A portion the size of a deck of cards is plenty, and you don't need to eat it every day.

Fiber is a great investment for your health. It's not expensive, and it can make a huge difference in how you feel.

Think of it as "affordable health care"!

Children Are Watching

Besides the benefits to my own health, probably the most unforeseen benefit of my efforts to eat well has been its effect on my granddaughters.

They've spent a lot of time with me since they were babies, and they've watched me as I've prepared food for the table. I guess I always heard that example was stronger than words, but now I know it.

(Had I "gotten it" earlier as a parent, I would have spent far less time preaching to my kids about how I thought things should be.)

My oldest granddaughter pays attention to what she eats. My daughter tells me when they visit Texas Roadhouse or a McDonald's, she's more apt to order a salad. Her younger sister, on the other hand, enjoys a wider range of foods, some good and some not so good, but at least she notices.

That's what mindful eating is all about. Just noticing.

So when you load up your grocery cart, consider what you're putting in there.

Your kids are watching.

This Farm Bill Ain't "Small Potatoes"

While the pending Farm Bill legislation may not be as intriguing as who Tom Kat will choose next, it will have much more impact on our lives.

Depending on how it plays out, we could see huge reductions in Food Stamp allocations at a time when 1/3 of U.S. children live in poverty; relaxed regs on food inspection, living conditions for animals that will eventually become meat, and the proliferation of GMO's.

Also pending is how much subsidy will be allowed for commodities, particularly corn. Corn, of course, being the staple for high fructose corn syrup that is an ingredient in75 percent of what lies on grocery store shelves and contributes heavily (no pun intended) to the obesity crisis.

What if the bill evolved from the platform that every American should be well and able so that they can play a contributing role in our society? How about that?

Keep in mind that about $300 billion will be divied up per this legislation.

How about starting with what's available in the food basket?  Lots of fruits and vegetables? It's an underpinning for good health, so why not subsidize farmers who provide them, particularly if they are organic. Or provide incentives to families who grow their own?

Would we not logically wean ourselves from corn products and lose some of those extra pounds?

Of course, then, we'd want the meat we buy to be raised in sanitary, humane conditions because we're going to be eating it!

And we'd certainly want to be able to hire enough food inspectors to avoid deadly food poisoning, as was the case with Colorado cantalope last year.

This would be assuming we actually view people as the human capital that we absolutely rely on, every day, to show to gas up our airplanes, deliver our food, stock our shelves, and care for us when we're sick.

Three hundred billion dollars spent with those things in mind could go a long way towards making us a healthier nation.

Contact your Congressman. Then let's see what happens.

Dogs Should Eat Well, Too!

My nine-year-old dog was getting pretty fat, eventhough I was walking him him every day. Logic told me that if I fed him less, eventually he'd weigh less.

I couldn't figure out why that wasn't working until my daughter made the observation that he wouldn't lose weight until he started eating better. She said the chow he was eating was comprised of more fat than nutrients, and until I purchased a higher quality dog food, nothing was going to change.

It hit me that for all I have to say about eating well, I had failed to apply that knowledge to what I fed my dog.

So I invested in a better brand of dog food, kept up the exercise, and in a little over a week I noticed he looked a little bit slimmer.

Of course, it's no different for anyone who wants to drop some weight. Start eating more nutrient-packed foods and your body will begin to reshape itself by dropping excess weight.

You don't save a thing by buying cheap food, for yourself, or for your pets. What you don't invest in quality food will end up getting spent on visits to the doctor or to the veterinarian!

Heat, Fires & Savoring What We Have

Nothing reframes priorities like natural disasters, and the record-breaking heat wave we're experiencing in this country is doing just that. As crops burn in the fields and water evaporates, it's easy to translate what's important.

Food and water.

You can forget the paper money you've got stashed away, or the pulse on your 401K. Without water to drink, or healthy food on the table, it means "nada"!

The visual for me is that less than a mile from my home, the Colorado River is ankle-deep, while smoke billows on the horizon above the Bookcliffs from a fire that has raged for days. Over in Colorado Springs, over 300 families have lost their homes to fires of epic proportion there.

All of a sudden, giving thought to which shade of paint to select for my kitchen walls or which style of sandal to purchase seems glaringly inappropriate in the light of what appear to be obvious shifts from life as we know it.

Am I a doomsdayer?

No. That would be to focus on hand-wringing or mindless distractions.

Every day of our lives, there are choices that lie before us as to how we might play a better role in our world.

I believe it begins with gratitude.

For me, I'm grateful that I even have a kitchen, or a strong body so I can do the things I need to do ~ with or without new sandals!

And if you have good food to eat and fresh, clean water to drink, don't miss any opportunity to whisper a prayer of thanks!