Ellen Gustafson

Photo from: http://www.ellengustafson.com/About

Ellen Gustafson is one of those people that I really admire. She's a strong women who wants to make a real impact on the way our food system works. Here's what she's all about, don't forget to check out her TEDx Talk down below!

"Ellen Gustafson is a sustainable food system activist, author, innovator and social entrepreneur. She is the Co-Founder of Food Tank: the Food Think Tank, an organization that grew out of the 30 Project, which Ellen founded in 2010 and Danielle Nierenberg’s Nourishing the Planet initiative. The 30 Project has been a significant part of changing the conversation about the global food system by connecting hunger and obesity. She is also the creator of the ChangeDinnercampaign and HealthClass2.0, which are helping individuals change the food system at dinner tables and in schools.

Ellen previously Co-Founded of FEED Projects, LLC, a charitable company that creates good products that help FEED the world, and is the Co-Founder and former Executive Director of FEED’s non-profit partner, the FEED Foundation. Under Ellen’s leadership FEED provided over 60 million school meals to children around the world. (See CBS Evening News piece about FEED.)

Ellen was also previously a US Spokesperson for the UN World Food Program, a terrorism research reporter in the ABC News Investigative Unit and a research associate for the Military Fellows at the Council on Foreign Relation. She has a BA in International Politics from Columbia University. " 

Pregnant Raw Vegan Controversy

 Loni Jane Anthony, a 25-year-old expecting mother follows a 80/10/10 raw vegan diet created by Dr. Douglas Graham. Meaning 80% of food is carbs, 10% fat, and 10% protein. She has made quite the controversy because of those that call her diet "extreme." Many have expressed their worry and concern for her baby because of her diet strictly just fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

"She says she switched to the diet, created by longtime athlete and trainer Douglas Graham, after a lifestyle of heavy drinking and lots of junk food that led to a battery of health problems. 'I started getting skin infections, acne, and putting on weight, which was weird because I'd always been so slim,' she says. 'I wanted to sleep all the time and ended up with a whole range of health problems including candida overgrowth, hormone imbalance, irregular periods, and hair loss. I also got really sick on a trip (read: fully-blown bender) to Thailand and picked up parasites and dengue fever.' 

After a series of antibiotics made her sicker, Anthony says she came across Graham’s diet book, 'The 80/10/10 Diet," which taught her that “you can live and thrive on this lifestyle by just eating higher carbohydrate vegetables, fruits, and juices, and keeping your diet low fat. You even keep good fats low to keep your blood sugar stable. It's been amazing.'

Graham tells Yahoo Shine in an email that there is no reason to worry about Anthony's diet. 'Eating fruits and vegetables, universally acclaimed as health foods, is not dangerous. A pregnant woman needs extra calories, but neither she nor her unborn baby benefit when she eats foods that lead to illness,' he says. 'Some folks see 80/10/10 as a threat, thinking that if they eat healthy foods it will mean they can never eat their unhealthy foods ever again. This is not so. People can and do eat what they want.'" 

Food is such a sensitive subject because in a way it defines who we are. Though during pregnancy I do think her intake of fat and protein should be increased, isn't eating fruits and vegetables good for you? I mean according to the Food Matters documentary, in 23 years only 10 people will die from supplement overdosing where as over 10,000 people die every year from adverse affects of medication. This is medication prescribed by doctors, not including people who overdose or abuse prescription drugs. That is a lot of people!!! And she doesn't supplement, it's right from the source. I mean isn't her diet better than the many pregnant women who eat processed food and fast food everyday?
I'm interested to see what you guys think about her "extreme" diet.

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If you would like to read the full article you can here: http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/is-she-bananas--pregnant-woman-on-raw-fruit-diet-causes-controversy-194918045.html

Autumn Soup

As the nights get longer and the days a little colder, I realize that Summer is coming to an end. I love soup in Autumn. This one I made a few days ago and it was really yummy with butternut squash, spinach, and wild rice!

1 cup wild rice
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
herbs of choice
2 1/2 quarts stock
1 medium sized butternut squash diced
4 cups dark leafy greens
salt and pepper

Manna Bread

"Today's modern mass-produced bread is a far cry from the original bread of the ancients, consisting of bleached and demineralized white flour,...hydrogenated vegetable oil, yeast or baking soda, lard or butter, and chemicalized table salt -all injurious to the health. While healthier whole-grain breads have been re-introduced into the mainstream market in the past few decades, they still cannot compare to essence or manna bread."

http://www.librarising.com/health/essenebread.html

 

This is what I have been reading mostly about. So I decided to try making my own manna bread after reading up on a few recipes online. Here's what I came up with:

• 2 cups of wheat berries, soak overnight and for 2-3 days sprout them by rinsing 3 times in the day until the sprout is about the length of the grain, (no longer or it will start to taste 'grassy'). 
• Place in a food processor until you get a smooth sticky paste. You can also incorporate spices, nuts and seeds, salt, dried fruit. Whatever you'd like at this point.
• Put in the oven at 225 degrees F for 2-3 hours, depending on how moist you want it.

I put pumpkin and flax seeds on top of my manna bread. Now that I have tried a basic recipe of just wheat, I think I will incorporate more sprouted grains and more flavor with salt and spices, as well as dehydrate for only 2 hours so it's a little moist. Sprouted grains are super good for you. Did you know that wheat berries ground up into flour has no vitamin C in it, but if sprouted you can get 2% of your daily amount per serving? I am excited about the endless possibilities to this simple ancient bread recipe and hope you venture to try it as well!

Photos by: yours truly