Thursday, December 31, 2009

Leaning Toward Health

Finishing up my office work for this year, I wrote the following note to a patient.

"As I said to you yesterday, my advice is that you become joyfully very-involved in the monitoring and improving of your health. I am concerned that anything less than this, given your current state of being, would put you at further risk. And, of course, it is more fun  and functional to be involved in your life and health."

I realize that this advice really applies to each of us. Who do you know who is joyfully very-involved in the monitoring and improving of his or her health? Regardless of our current state of being, we would be wise to be leaning toward health. Illness and pain will find enough of us on their own.

As I have been recommending to you for some time, please start this New Year with a resolution to create a health notebook for yourself and your children. Imagine what you will be communicating to yourself, your family, and your doctors when you arrive at each doctor's visit with your notebook and the sense that you are engaged in your health.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009



It's 4 PM on Wednesday, December 30th. I'm at the office finishing up. Joanne is off running some errands. And, once again, I am starving. I had a decent breakfast. Started with coffee (exception 1), coconut milk (exception 2) in my coffee, and half a big cherimoya. I stirfried onion and napa cabbage in coconut oil (ex...ecption 2, like I said) and threw in some freshly steamed brown rice (exception 3). Decent, right? Huge, by some standards. Joanne and I (mostly Joanne this time) made giganto salads for lunch (pic) with more brown rice on top. By 1:30 PM I had consumed the entire salad. And now my stomach is growling. Within 10 feet of me are high-quality and delicious protein bars and powdered meal replacement shakes. But, I'm a hardcore locavore on day 364 of Eat Local One Year. I wanted to tell you this so that you would know, that there have been many times and days in 2009 when I have not planned well and found myself hungry and with not a scrap of local food in sight. No complaint here. Just a great year-long, life-awakening choice! :)

Tuesday, December 29, 2009



I just communicated with Chef Tim at the Sidecar Restaurant in Ventura. He is a committed participant of Locavore Lite 2010 and a proud supporter of the project!

Tim has been using lots of great local food for a long time. Please check him out at: http://www.thesidecarrestaurant.com/ , and let him know how much you appreciate his support of local food and Locavore Lite 2010 !

Kris

Monday, December 28, 2009

Day 362



Just a quick note before I head off to bed. We have 3 days left of this beautiful and informative year-long Eat Local One Year project (http://eatlocaloneyear.com ). I will let you search out and read of the rigors that we have lived, but suffice it to say that we have shopped for or grown, planned for and prepared over 900 all-local food meals in 2009. Almost every day we thought about and worked with where our food came from.

In 2008 we called out for, looked for 98 others in Ventura County to join us on this journey. We found 19, and the 21 of us set forth together on January 1, 2009.

The difficulty of the project is clearly indicated by the number of those willing to give it a try. Nine of us will complete the project at 12:00 AM on January 1, 2010.

I am so grateful to have been inspired by Barbara Kingsolver to create this project, for the opportunity to have participated in this project, and to the friends that took the challenge with us!

We will continue in 2010 and beyond to eat more locally than previously in our lives. But not as edgy as in 2009.

On January 1, 2010 we launch Locavore Lite 2010. Please join us. We are looking for 5,000 people to join us in Ventura County, and thousands more world-wide.

Kris

Saturday, December 12, 2009

New Year's Restitution


I don't know about you, but I am going to need both resolution and restitution in the New Year!

I will need resolution to make change toward better care of myself and the world in which we live. And restitution for the harm that I have unintentionally done to myself for not caring for myself adequately, i.e., not enough sleep, stretching or walking.

My hope is that you have plans, or at least thoughts about expanding the care of yourself, and maybe even our planet.

In 2010, be sure to have your blood tested for the level of Vitamin D; very important to your health.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org 

Wouldn't take too much to increase the amount of stretching that you do each day. From none to 5 minutes would be easy. :)

You could also join Locavore Lite 2010 at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Locavore-Lite-2010/180619179086?ref=ts
Super easy project to eat a little local food and help make our lives and planet healthier! I would like to see tens of thousands of people participate around the world and thousands here in Ventura County. Will you help me spread the word?

In health,
Dr. Young