The Future of Food Film

It's a sad commentary on our society when even foods that we should be free to assume are healthy, aren't. By now I think most people have heard of GMOs-- or Genetically Modified Organisms, but I wonder how many of us realize what they really are and how they affect us. I know I learned quite a few things I didn't already know when I watched the film, "The Future of Food." If you are reading this, I would request that you would watch the first six minutes of this documentary. In it's full-length it's about an hour and a half. I'm just asking that you watch until the 5:55 time appears on the bottom of the viewer. If you eat food everyday, these issues affect you.



From Hulu:
"The Future Of Food offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade."

Teflon, Aluminum, Silicone and Non-stick Cookware

I found this article online called Safe, Healthy and Non-Leaching Cookware. There are any number of articles written on the web that address this topic, but I felt like this one was fairly concise.

Kitchen plastics

The Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that people avoid using plastics in the kitchen--particularly plastics labeled 3, 6, and 7, unless they are marked as BPA-free. They recommend that consumers do not use any plastics (whatever the number) in the dishwasher or microwave. The reason? Several kitchen plastics contain endocrine disrupters, which can cause or contribute to disease and certain types of cancer.
If you use plastic spoons or utensils to cook with, don't leave them in the pot while you're cooking (the heated plastic can leech BPA into the food), instead use a spoon rest--better yet, switch out your plastics to glass, wood, stainless steel or other natural materials.

Information reported in Reader's Digest Feb. 2010, pg. 21.

Restaurant Reviews

Pad Thai
1986 N Hill Field Rd # 8
Layton, UT 84041-2112
(801) 776-8424
(By the Hill Field Rd and Antelope Dr intersection)

Good Thai food!
Nice ambiance: table cloths on the tables, low (but not dim) lighting, quiet restaurant
Great service.
Reasonable prices (about $10 a plate for dinner.)

I ordered the "Pad Thai" from the menu, which was Thai noodles, veggies, and your choice of meat (I had the shrimp.) I also tried some of my friend's curry--it was also really good.

Little Taste of Britain
1095 N Main St, Layton
(801) 543-5707
across the street from Shopko

Casual dining.
Operated by husband and (British) wife. Friendly service.
Sandwiches: about $4-5. Fish (cod) and chips: about $8.
British Mini-market within the restaurant where you can buy UK grocery-type items.
Their TV was playing an episode of Fawlty Towers, which ought to count for something right there. :)
Closed Sunday and Monday. Open 11 am- 7 pm Tues-Sat

Taggart's
1105 Taggart Ln Morgan, UT 84050
(801) 829-3837 (Phone)

Can I say ROMANTIC!? Too bad I was there with the girls. ;) The outdoor dining is really nice: waterfall, peacocks roaming around, mountain scenery... It's also nice inside, and has big windows for you to enjoy looking at the outside. :)

Good food (I had the soup of the day--artichoke chicken-- and a salad. It was very tasty, although the soup was warmish, not hot; our orders were slow being served; and I thought ten bucks was a little steep for a bowl of soup and a small salad.) Still, I think it would be a great place to go on a date. The menu also includes Mexican foods like enchiladas; and burgers; sandwiches; etc. I went at lunch-time, so I'm not sure if there is a different menu for dinner.

Kim Long Vietnamese Cuisine
1664 Woodland Park Dr # 101
Layton, UT 84041-5630
(801) 779-9586

Those who know better than I do say that the food is very authentic, and I like it.
The menu can be a little intimidating for someone who hasn't had Vietnamese food before, but I'm sure the friendly staff would be happy to assist you in making a selection if you asked for help. I don't know what my dish was called, but it was a light broth with thin meat, rice noodles, and a few vegetables. I also had a "boba" drink which is comparable to a shake. It has a texture almost like a very soft ice cream, and comes in a variety of flavors and is topped with whipped cream. (I had the peach. It was very good.) In the bottom of the drink are little black starchy balls--I guess they are tapioca. They're chewy and different; if you don't like them it's very easy to drink around them.
The prices are great-- my lunch was filling, yet light on the stomach, and about $6.

Go forth and enjoy good dining!

One-line philosophy

When it comes to health, I have a pretty simple philosophy: natural is better. It's amazing how controversial that view can be.

I trust the wisdom of God and nature infinitely more than the "wisdom" of men and science--and sometimes they agree, but when they don't, I'm always on the side of what's natural versus synthetic.

Certainly I am not saying that modern medicine is all bad, but I will be bold enough to assert that there is plenty of bad in it, and it is full of greed-driven practices that have little to do with healing. (Even some M.D.s take a similar view.)

When I write about natural health on this blog, or when I dis on what I consider to be unhealthy, I'm not trying to be obnoxiously preachy or tell others what to do. It is a subject that I am passionate about, and with good reason-- look at all the sickness in our society right now. It's truly alarming. My goal is just to put some information out there, and give people something to consider. For just about any health issue, you can find opposing philosophies and each side claims its own expertise, research, authority, etc. You'll have to use your best informed judgment. My own touchstone is the question: is it natural? (From my own experiences with sickness and being healthy, I've found that natural living and natural medicine are best for keeping me healthy, and for healing when I have a problem.) What do I mean by natural living? I'm talking about being mindful of what we put IN, ON, and AROUND our bodies--which encompasses many things.

It's the time of year that the flu shot is being plugged just about everywhere you look. I'm not going to be getting a flu shot, never have, never plan to. (Personally I think one of the causes of the flu is a belief in seasonal sickness, but that's a topic for another post...I haven't had a flu in years. Can't even remember the last time I had it--which is happy.) In an effort to offer a different perspective and encourage people to be questioning and discriminating consumers, may I suggest that you look at this one page website on flu shots: http://www.advancedhealthplan.com/flushots.html

What do I do in lieu of the flu shot? First of all, I try to lay off the sugar that is rampant from Halloween to Easter. It's not that I don't have any treats during the holiday season, I certainly do, but I also understand that eating lots of garbage is like sending out engraved invitations for illness to come and hang out in your body. So a good diet of natural foods and drinking water is essential. I also wash my hands a lot, and wash every time I come home from a store or public place. I use the winter setting on my ceiling fan, and occasionally open the window in the fall and winter, because stuffy air is an AWESOME breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. Obviously exercise and a healthy emotional state are also important. And as extra defense I use an essential oil called Thieves to boost my immunity and ward-off airborne disease. At the first sign of a cold or a bug I pounce on it with herbs, oils, accupressure, homeopathics, or any number of other natural medicine remedies. I don't get sick as often, I recover faster if I do, and I'm not getting side-effects or doing harm to my body's organs. Sounds good to me. If that's controversial, nutty, and backwards, ah well.

Kitchen Needs

I was introduced to a great kitchen needs store when I was in California, and I am so happy to find out that we have one in Utah at the Gateway! It's Sur La Table! They have some fun things that are difficult to find elsewhere. Their prices are not cheap, but reasonable for what you get in quality.

Another fun store for cooking products is Orson Gygi, also in Salt Lake City. Gygi is a restaurant supply company-- it appeals to my inner chef. :)

India Imported

When I was in Rome I met a Catholic priest from India who spoke 13 different languages!
The catacomb tours were ending for the day, and he and another priest walked alongside their bicycles down the Appian Way with my traveling companions and myself. The friendly priest asked where we where from and what places we were visiting in Italy. "Have you been to India?" he asked. "No." I had to admit.
"Oh, don't say that! Say, 'not yet...' " he told me. :) I thought it was so charming.

On Saturday September 12, the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork is holding their 23rd annual "India Fest" -- I haven't been...not yet, however I went to their Llama Fest last year, and that was a lot of fun. If you have an interest in Indian culture, this is a good way to experience a little flavor of India. For more information, follow the link here.

If you go, I recommend taking bottled water, some spending cash, and plan on wearing shoes that are comfortable to walk in, and easy to take off to go inside the temple.


If you're looking for something a little further north, I recommend the restaurant Taste of India in Layton. It's near Barnes and Noble. A menu and directions are available on their website. I like the vegetable korma (rice and vegetables with a delicious Indian sauce) and garlic naan (Indian flat bread). I haven't had their mango lassi, not yet, but I had it an an Indian restuarant in L.A. and it was really good. It's a smooth drink with yogurt and mango.

Enjoy!

S.O.A.P.

We could call this post the “significant other appreciation post” because all of you out there in Married Land will be rejoicing in your residency there. Just for kicks, I decided to write a little bit about the ever entertaining singles’ scene. It is nothing if not hilarious.

So I actually like being set up on blind dates. I have friends who HATE them and refuse to be set up. If I had their horror stories I’m sure I’d feel the same way, but thus far I’ve never had an awful blind date. When you’ve graduated from college and don’t meet new people quite so often, a blind date (and/or an introduction through mutual friends) can be a good opportunity to do so --if you trust the person setting you up and know enough about who you’re being lined up with. Furthermore, with a blind date you get to bypass that obnoxious “pre-first date stage” characterized by juvenile flirting and guessing/waiting games. I could easily live without that phase.

Okay, so I say all that to say this: recently, with reluctance, I decided to experiment with the online dating phenomenon. I mean, it kind of works like a blind date, except that you get to do all the screening yourself. In theory it’s an immensely practical way to find people who are interested in dating. Simplicity, right? In spite of my long-held perception that you don’t go online unless you’re desperate, and you’re not desperate unless there’s something wrong with you that you can’t find what you’re looking for in a more conventional way, I ventured to TRY it… Not because I was desperate, or there was something wrong with me (LOL) but because I realized that I held a rather broad and unforgiving stereotype. What the heck? Not much to lose.

I subscribed for two months, and although I don’t plan to continue using dating sites, my short experience was not altogether bad, and I have had plenty of belly laughs at some of the absurdities I’ve encountered. I love introductions on dating websites, because some men are so creative in the way they try to put their best foot forward. I’m sure the women are just as terrible -if not worse, but since I don’t look at their profiles, I really couldn’t say. Here are a few gems I’ve found in my cyber-browsing. (I am not making these up, although out of the goodness of my heart I did change incorrect spellings, and lack of capitalization and punctuation.)

“I’ve been described as a walking aphrodisiac.”

“I’m not just eye-candy. Send me a message to get to know the deeper side of me.”

“Just to let you know, I’m a hustler.”

“I am me. I can't really thing of a better way to describe myself than that.”

“As a medical student, I’m approaching the $200K debt mark.”

“Ok, the Basics: I want to get married and start a family. Any questions? Are you ready to apply? All applicants will receive a kind and proper response. Will you be the one selected?”

"I'm not proud of my egotism, I'm just proud of myself."

“Hello! I'm a 24 year old grade "A" hottie going to school at BYU-I in Rexburg. I'm totally shallow and superficial, and am only interested in cute girls with sexy feet and straight white teeth. Girls with buckteeth and yellow toenails need not apply. Also, if you have a figure that makes you look more like a manatee than a person, please, please, PLEASE try and prey on another young, hot, naive man. I'm tired of being taken advantage of because of my looks. Facial hair on women is another huge no-no.
Anyways, I'm looking for Miss Perfect, so if you think you have what it takes to entertain me, then by all means, send me a message. If not, I wish you luck with one of the many available 50 year old perverts on this website that are also looking for love.”

And my personal favorite, only because I actually met this one: “I am #1 at being awesome. I am everything you've dreamed about in a man, times 10.”

Gee, with selection like this, finding the love of my life should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Back to the drawing board.