September 2008

I hear that getting some type of stomach bug is par for the course when traveling in the Far East. I was no exception. No more details, enough said. Antibiotics are an amazing thing, but in addition to killing off the harmful bacteria, they also get rid of the good bacteria. Did you know that your body contains literally billions of bacteria and other microorganisms?

 
Probiotics is not a medical term, but rather a commercial one used to refer to dietary supplements or foods that contain the beneficial or good bacteria that are normally found in your body. According to the Mayo Clinic, you don’t need to take a supplement of probiotics  to be healthy, but consuming these probiotics in addition to what already exists in your body may provide a healthful boost to digestion and help to protect your body against harmful bacteria (that antibiotics kill off). According to the Mayo Clinic, additional research needs to be done, but “probiotics may help:

• Treat diarrhea, especially following treatment with certain antibiotics
• Prevent and treat vaginal yeast infections and urinary tract infections
• Treat irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
• Reduce bladder cancer recurrence
• Shorten the duration of intestinal infections
• Prevent and treat inflammation following colon surgery (pouchitis)
• Prevent eczema in children.”

So, after my time in China and Central Asia, and two different bouts with harmful microorganisms that wreaked havoc on my stomach, I’ve decided to try a supplement of probiotics. I’ll get back to you in a week and let you know if I feel a difference. In the meantime, I’ll continue to eat my yogurt with Zoe’s Granola for breakfast or lunch because it’s a much yummier way to get some of those good probiotics as well as the fiber and protein I need to energize me throughout the day. Have you tried probiotics? What have you found?

After a phenomenal trip with my husband and my parents traveling the “Silk Road” from China to Kazakhstan and then Uzbekistan, I am happy to be home. It was fascinating to visit a part of the world where I could barely form the sounds that make up Mandarin, much less begin to read the characters. By following the old trade route known as the Silk Road, we spent time in both China and two former Soviet block countries. Of course while we were away, we had access to CNN and the BBC and so received the horrible economic news that was taking place at home. With all this turmoil in our home economy, my perspectives on our travels took an economic view point as well.

The contrasts in industrialization, modernization, and culture among these three countries are immense. It was phenomenal to see how most of the cities we visited in China were modernized, so much so that you really had to look for the signs of the China I had once read about. The work ethic in China is immense, and the economic results omnipresent.

Kazakhstan is overflowing with money from oil and banking its natural gas resources for the future. We had never seen so many Mercedes, BMS, Lexus, and Cayennes in one small area before.

Uzbekistan was entirely different from China and Kazakhstan in that the country could not seem to get out of its own way. It had neither China’s work ethic, nor Kazakhstan’s easy oil. Its economy seemed to be based on agriculture, a cottage industry of handicrafts, and the stirrings of tourism. Although its population is educated through the high school level, there don’t appear to be the jobs inside the country to keep its educated population employed, and so many young people leave to work elsewhere.

Throughout our trip, I was able to call my children every single day with my AT&T cell phone, and had better service than I get in my hometown suburb of Boston! Internet access was limited and access to the Zoe Foods server was blocked when I was in China. I’m sure it was due to all of the crazy political views we espouse on this website! All in all, it was an amazing trip and I look forward to going back to China again. And of course I brought back a piece of China for my youngest daughter in the form of a tea set. She and her sister store it in the kitchen and have had several tea parties already.

So I just read that there are reports of a Swiss restaurant owner who is going to substitute 75% of the cow’s milk he uses, with BREAST MILK.

In response to this, PETA wrote a letter to Ben & Jerry’s, asking them to switch from cow’s milk to breast milk in all their ice cream production.

Don’t believe me?  See it here.

In a nutshell, PETA’s arguments against using cow’s milk include linking its consumption to human health ailments, and linking its production to harsh treatment of cows and the veal industry in general.

This is fine.

The question is - why replace the cow’s milk with breast milk?  Why not suggest something less controversial, like soy or almond milk?  I know soy ice cream doesn’t have the same texture as cow’s milk ice cream, but do they think that breast milk ice cream will?

It seems like the simple answer to this is to either just be a vegetarian, and know you are not supporting the cow industry at all, or enjoy your cow treats in peace.  But breast milk??

I can picture it already.  A new cottage industry!  Entrepreneurs will flock to build huge factories with sterile stainless-steel equipment and set the place up to look like a living room.  Women will lounge on couches and eat anything they please, breast pumps attached, chatting and watching Oprah.

To save money, maybe we’ll outsource internationally by building ‘plants’ in less-industrialized nations.  Who needs sterile breast pumps when you have eager villagers aplenty, all with years of experience milking now-obsolete cows and goats?

Me, I’d rather go get a pint of Chunky Monkey on the way home, while the getting’s good.

I love fish.  Fish is delish!

But it’s even better when you know where it was caught.

During the last six months or so, I’ve noticed a wonderful change at my local supermarkets: all of the prewrapped fish in the cooler case was labeled with its country of origin.  Things like that really get me excited, which is why I am rushing to share with you what I saw come over the newswire today.

As part of the Farm Bill of 2008, starting September 30, all meat and produce as well as some kinds of nuts must be labeled with their country of origin.  This includes all supermarkets and major mass retailers, but your local butcher shop and restaurant are exempt from this requirement.  Also, some processed foods (like chicken nuggets) are exempt from this.

Overall, this is great news!  Now, we’ll know whether our steak and chicken (or cabbage, for that matter) are grown in the USA or shipped from a foreign land.  Score one for the consumer!

Nowadays, you can’t swing a dead cat without bumping into something about Sarah Palin.

She is absolutely EVERYWHERE, and while the media frenzy is starting to die down a little, we’re about to enter the toughest part of the campaign.  I’ve seen a lot of reports focusing on her very generic answers about foreign policy, on her freezer full of wild game, and on whether she had the volume turned up or down while watching Tina Fey’s skit on SNL.  This is only the beginning…

Yet, I can’t say I know a single thing about her as a candidate.

Everything that the mass media is printing is purely circumstantial!  And it isn’t limited to just this candidate, or just this election.

Mass media frequently releases select information about issues, without printing the whole story.  I know Palin flip-flopped on the Bridge to Nowhere, but I don’t know *why*.  Was it special interest groups?  Party pressure?  Or was there actually logic behind her decision?

Same goes for Obama. He has been hammered for flip-flopping on issues whenever it suits him.  The real question is, if he flip-flopped in his voting record, what prompted the change?  That “why” is almost never reported on, and that’s where we’d really learn something about the character and intent of our candidates.

Every election season, the media becomes tinged slightly yellow, and instead of getting whole pictures of each candidate we get mere caricatures.  This year, it truly is a landmark election: let’s hope that, in the end, it’s not the media who wins.

Codliver oil.

I still vividly remember those mornings back in grade school, wolfing down my breakfast hoping that if I ate fast enough, Grandma would forget to take that little bottle out of the fridge.

Most mornings, Grandma outsmarted me.  When I had my guard down, she’d press my little body up against the fridge, force a spoonful into my mouth, and hold me there until I demonstrated I’d swallowed it.  Blech!

It took 20 years to recover from the trauma, but now I genuinely thank her for it.  This thoroughly old-fashioned habit (while always popular with Norwegian grandmas) is making a comeback, even here in the states.   Today’s New York Times presents some very compelling results here tying fish oil (or more specifically, Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids) to improvements in childhood behavioral health. According to the article, some health practitioners are even prescribing fish oil before trying medications.  It concludes by advising everyone to “take fish oil only under the supervision of a health care provider”.

Hm, what?  What was that?  I need to ask my doctor before me or my child (if I had one) takes fish oil?

I grew up on this stuff!  My family didn’t ask anyone before they fed it to me.  And I turned out fine…

I thought about this a little, and came up with the following possible reasons.

1.  Mercury and other ocean contaminants.  So, before you take any fish oils, do be careful that the are cleaned of any such impurities.

2.  Doctors think parents might begin to self-treat all misbehaving children with massive doses of fish oil in place of medications for ADHD et al.  Well - don’t do that.  Just increase you (or your child’s) intake of fish oils or omega-3s in a reasonable fashion, with either a single daily supplement or by increasing your intake of fatty fish, walnuts and flaxseeds (ground, of course!).

3.  NYT is afraid of being sued.  I’m putting my money on this one.

The bottom line is, it’s exciting to see that once again, good nutrition and a healthy diet can directly contribute to your well-being and may even positively impact behavioral conditions.  So be good to yourself and eat your Omegas!  After all, the most significant drug we take is the food we eat everyday.

I love the simplicity with which children look at life. My four-year-old daughter knows she lives in a town located in the state of Massachusetts and that these places are located on a planet called Earth which looks like the blow-up ball that her grandmother gave her. She also knows that mommy and daddy are going somewhere on Earth called China.

Last year at school, my daughter went on walks in the woods with her class. On these walks the children would find “treasures” that they would bring home. One of the treasures my daughter found and kept in her coat pocket for a month was a worn, broken piece of china with a little bit of a flower pattern on it. Just to be really clear, we’re talking a piece of a broken plate!

As we were getting ready to leave for our trip to China with a capital C, my youngest said very sincerely, “Mommy, please bring me back a piece of China when you go. I only found one of these treasures on my walks at school.” As I fly over the North pole to the other side of the world to the land of China, I wonder how I can bring some of the simplicity in perspective that our children have, back into my hectic life.

Is My Daughter Turning Into Me? My mother tells a story that when I was about four years old I snuck into the kitchen, moved a chair, climbed onto the counter, and snuck some Mallowmar cookies (a graham cracker with a marshmallow on top – all covered in chocolate). According to my mother, she only discovered this because when she went to give me a bath, my tummy was covered in chocolate. Guess I thought hiding them in the elastic waistband of my pants was a good idea instead of risking getting caught eating them at the scene of the crime.

Today I learned that my youngest daughter who is four years old pulled a similar trick. My daughter’s nanny relayed a story where my youngest snuck some candy hearts (left over from last February’s Valentine’s day) and tucked them into the waistband of her shorts and was caught red-bellied!

I couldn’t help but laugh, at least my daughter had the common sense to choose something that wouldn’t make quite as much of a mess on her tummy and clothes! When I told my story to my daughter, she replied “I want to be just like Mommy.”

When I think about what shapes who we are, we cannot help but be influenced by our parents. The only thing that gives me hope is that we learn to emulate the traits and behaviors that we admire in our parents, and learn from those we don’t. (Mom – if you’re reading this, there are very few that don’t fall into the former category – so not to worry!)

Okay, so how can there be any negatives associated with a vacation? Easy, try running a small, growing company where if you take time off, there isn’t a large enough staff to spread your work around so as not to overload any one person. What has this meant for me? It means that for the past eight years my very understanding husband has had to be satisfied with what I fondly refer to as our mini-moon (a 3-day weekend about two hours from our home for our honeymoon), cancelled vacations, a five-week maternity leave where I took calls for work at the hospital, and finally a real two-week honeymoon after we had been married for five years and had had two kids. Better late than never I told him with a smile

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. If I had to do it all over, I still would have chosen the entrepreneurial path. I don’t believe in having regrets, it’s a waste of energy on things we cannot change. All it really means is that going on vacation stresses me out! Ironic? Yes. Worth it? I’ll let you know in two weeks when I get back from China!

When I have an internet connection, I will post a blog; meanwhile, Kim, our marketing intern turned full-time employee (yippee!) will be my guest blogger writing about health, nutrition, and a healthy lifestyle. And… Tim, my trusted operations director will start his own blog. Tim will provide a fun contrast to my perspective because he is a single male who also happens to be a stand-up comedian, and who has made some very dramatic changes in his lifestyle these last three years since he has been working with me at Zoe Foods. So stay tuned, we’re going to spice it up with some useful information and interesting perspectives on entrepreneurship, health, nutrition, and work-life balance.

My college housemate and now cousin by marriage welcomed her fourth child into the world last week with Zoe’s Granola in hand. Nothing like giving birth to work up a healthy appetite. Congratulations Sarah and welcome little one!

Okay, so maybe you do not believe in any of this new age stuff (which really isn’t new at all because the concept of believing in something and making it happen has been around for a very long time). So, let me tell you a short story…

I have believed in Zoe Foods and our mission of making great tasting product that is actually good for you for eight years. It hasn’t been easy, and not necessarily fun. But, I still believed in what I was trying to do.
We are now running a promotional sale on Amazon for our new Zoe’s Granola (our new recipe is crunchy. People who have tried it for the first time, taste it and then ask me if it is really is good for them. I’m truly delighted to tell them that it is!)

This morning I received an email from John, our VP of sales saying that Zoe’s Cinnamon Raisin Granola has just moved up in its rankings out of all grocery items sold via Amazon from #13,982 to #369. Of course this means that there is now a waiting list for our granola because Amazon had been stocking a very low inventory. No problem – we’ll ship them more. So, if you signed up to buy our granola on Amazon, you should be able to get delivery really soon! Thank you for your patience, and your support of Zoe Foods.

This may sound crazy, but one of my goals (see yesterday’s entry) is to take better care of myself which means that I need to drink more water. This may sound silly or easy – but it’s not for me.

Water makes up an average of 60% of your body weight, and every system in your body depends upon it. It carries nutrients throughout your body, flushes out toxins, and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

The rule of thumb is to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. According to the Mayo Clinic, women should drink 2.2 liters of water, and 3 liters for men. Now all of this depends upon your climate, daily activity level, and general health.

Still sounds like an easy thing to do, but I’ve found that I just don’t make multiple trips to our office’s water cooler throughout the day. I get absorbed in my work, and before I know it, it’s lunch time. The end of day arrives soon after and I’m lucky if I have refilled my first glass of water.

I’ve come up with a solution that seems to be working for me… First, I bought a new water bottle because all of ours were those old plastic ones that you fit into the water bottle holder on a bicycle that smell like plastic, and make the water taste the same. Camelbak makes a great water bottle that is BPA free (no chemicals leeching into my water) and I’m convinced that the water actually tastes better. I fill the bottle up at home with ice and cold water and then refill it once during the day. That covers my 2 liters. As for the 0.2 liters, from doing some research on the internet, I’ve learned that I can eat my fluids! Did you know that tomatoes and watermelon are about 90% water by weight? Food actually supplies about 20% of the fluids we need, which means that the last .02 litres is more than covered!

Now the real challenge will be when my husband and I are in China for two weeks. From the accounts that I have read, travel writers describe people filling water bottles from local streams in which waste is also dumped. I’ll keep you posted on my progress and travels. During my two week hiatus, Zoe Foods marketing manager, Kim, will write some posts for my blog, and when and if I have an internet connection, I will post some news as well.

I recently created a list of 100 goals that I’d like to accomplish over the next 15 to 20 years. It took me a couple of weeks to come up with this list, and my goals included everything from making Zoe Foods into a major player in the natural foods industry, to having a special activity that I do with each of my children every week, to drinking more water on a daily basis, date night with my husband, and lots of travel.

However, the most interesting part of this exercise was the process itself. In coming up with 100 goals, I started to reflect upon my life, my family, and how I spend my time now. I have made a commitment to myself to revisit my goals each quarter to make sure that I keep them in my focus, because I realize that will be the only way I can attain them.