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Stay Fueled for BolderBoulder!
by Dennis Sweeney
BolderBoulder is in three days, the weather is getting bright, and Boulder is starting to hum with runners up and down the Creek Path. Seasoned runners know that when you hit the trails you have to have food in your body, and that the right food makes a difference between a slog and a brisk trot.
What you eat, of course, depends on how far you’re going. When I ran the Salt Lake City Marathon at the end of April, I carried a Power Bar, a pack of Clif Shot Blocks, and a Clif Bar in my running shorts. I had eaten them all before the three and a half hour race was over.
In a 10k like the BolderBoulder, on the other hand, most runners shouldn’t be carrying fuel. I’ll probably go with my regular routine: eat a bowl of oatmeal with dried fruit an hour or two before the race, long enough that it digests but not so long that I’m hungry when the gun goes off. The main thing is that your system feels comfortable and settled on the line.
Even more important is the night (and the few days) before: what’s affectionately known as carbo-loading. Pumping carbohydrates into your body adds glycogen to your muscles that can be broken down quickly into energy during a race. I find it best to avoid foods that I have a questionable relationship with. Gluten, aside from all the theories, is found by a lot of runners to be inflammatory and a sap on energy. So instead of the traditional pasta dinner you might, like me, go with a dinner of curried potatoes on brown rice.
After a race or a workout, chocolate milk is a popular recovery drink. It combines simple carbs and protein in a way that helps the muscles recover quickly as well as kickstarts their growth. But if you’re not a huge fan of dairy, you might opt for fresh fruit paired with a protein. Organic apples dipped in fresh-ground peanut butter is one of my favorite post-workout foods.
At the end of the day, an intuitive understanding of your own hunger will serve you well. If you’ve been training, you’ll know what your body wants and needs. Once you get to the starting line, the rest is up to you!
Book Review: Myra Goodman’s Earthbound Cook
by Joan Boykin
Myra Goodman’s marvelous book, The Earthbound Cook: Recipes for Delicious Food and a Healthy Planet (Workman), is much, much more than a cookbook. In addition to recipes, it is replete with gorgeous food, farm and family photos, practical kitchen tips, and eye-opening information on how to live sustainably to protect the earth’s precious resources.
And what a story! Myra, the co-founder of Earthbound Farm (EBF) along with her husband Drew, started EBF on several acres in their backyard in 1984, and today, their once-small garden has grown to more than 150 farmers growing organic produce on 37,000 acres, making EBF the largest grower/producer of organic produce and related products in the U.S.
In reality, there is nothing earthbound about Myra—more like heavenly in my view!—and her new book is chock full of out-of-this-world recipes accompanied by mouth-watering photos of delectable dishes made from organic food, straight from the garden.
Myra’s passion for organic food comes alive in recipes like Curried Garnet Yam Soup, Roasted Cauliflower Tart, and Whole Wheat Crepes filled with a variety of sweet and savory ingredients. Each and every recipe inspires even the most reluctant cook to action, and the accompanying photos are a veritable feast for the eyes.
Adding to the value of this beautiful book is the information Myra offers on a wealth of food related topics: responsible living and eating; preserving our precious resources; avoiding harmful pesticides; cage free v. nest fresh eggs; wild or farmed salmon; carbon footprint measures; energy saving cooking tips; clarification of oft-confusing terms such as grass fed, pasture forage or free range; the environmental benefits of organic farming, and more.
The Earthbound Cook is Myra’s second book and her first one, Food to Live By, are equally pleasing, educational, and inspiring. Enjoy it, regardless of your culinary proficiency, and be sure to visit EBF’s website for a wealth of information and videos of Mrya whipping up dishes in her kitchen: http://www.ebfarm.com/story
Alfalfa’s Trash Diversion Rate Was 93% for 2012!
Thanks to our continued partnership with Ecocycle, Alfalfa’s was able to divert 93% of its trash from landfills. Instead our waste was nearly all sent to be recycled and composted. We couldn’t have done it without our guests! Thanks to you, we composted 335,000 pounds of food scraps and sent nearly 200,000 pounds of materials to be recycled!
This equates to 108 cars off the road for an entire year, or 11,200 gallons of gas saved!
Celebrities Speak Out Against GMOs
Dave Matthews and Danny DeVito express their opinions about GMOs in our food system as the Prop 37 vote in California draws near. We hope you find it as entertaining as we do!
Click here to view: Right to Know?
WholeVine: Wine is Great, But There is So Much More!
When you think of sustainability and using “every last drop” of something, generally you think of something like energy or water. Fortunately, there are people like Peggy Furth, co-founder of WholeVine Products, who marry the principles of sustainability and zero waste with food and drink.
Located in Napa Valley Wine Country, WholeVine takes the scraps, skins, seeds and general muck—officially known as “pumice”—leftover from the wine making process, then turns it into ingenious and tasty products. Founded in 2009 and using Jackson Family pumice as a base, they have created a line of grape seed oils from different grape varietals, and some delicious, gluten-free flour made from an extrusion of the pumice. They are working on other products too, including gorgeous all-natural food colorings made from- you guessed it- grape skins. Sound high tech? It is. WholeVine has no less than 4 PhD’s either on staff or as consulting scientists.
Fortunately, their flavored oils and signature line of baked goods taste anything but high tech. On a recent press lunch at Alfalfa’s (the exclusive place to find their goods outside of California) WholeVine laid out a spread including pizza, salads, cakes, popcorn and even a baked chicken dish, each with an ingredient from their vine-based products, as well as their packaged cookies and oils. Honestly, they have something here. No gluten? No worries, you don’t pay a sensory price. To the contrary, using, say, flour made from rich purple Syrah grapes provides an unexpectedly pleasing surprise for your tongue, and your eyes. From a company that donates a portion of the proceeds to children in need, the reasons for not trying their products are indeed slim.
Learn more at wholevine.com, but if you are into pleasure and experiential learning, pick up some of their peanut butter cookies, or Cabernet grape seed oil at Alfalfa’s and school yourself the old fashioned way. Sustainability never tasted so good.
~Allan Parr for EatDrinkBoulder
Buying Organic in Bulk Saves Consumers an Average of 89%
A shopper can save an average of 89 percent by purchasing natural and organic foods in the bulk foods aisle of a grocery store, according to a new study.
The study by Portland State University’s Food Industry Leadership Center (FILC), the first of its kind in the United States, examines three main areas related to buying in bulk: cost comparisons (to packaged counterparts), environmental impact and consumer attitudes toward buying in bulk. The study was conducted on behalf of the Bulk is Green Council (BIG), based in Portland, Ore.
Researchers made cost comparisons between organic bulk foods and organic packaged foods in a number of key categories, including coffee and tea, nut butters, flour and grains, dried fruit, spices, beans, pasta and confectionaries.
The percentage of savings when buying in bulk differed from category to category, but averaging the savings across all categories resulted in an average of 89 percent lower costs compared to packaged counterparts.
Chief among the environmental advantages of buying in bulk is reducing the amount of product packaging going into landfills. According to the study, if coffee-drinking Americans purchased all of their coffee in bulk for one year, nearly 240 million pounds of foil packaging would be saved from entering a landfill. If Americans purchased all their almonds in bulk for one year, 72 million pounds of waste would be saved from a landfill, according to the study.
The study also found that food manufacturers choosing to market bulk foods versus packaged foods can save an average of 54 percent on material and delivery costs since more pallets of bulk food can be packed onto delivery trucks.
Researchers found that consumers who do buy in bulk are aware of the benefits of doing so. The study’s findings show the main reason consumers shop the bulk foods aisle is for the ability to buy the exact quantity needed.
As a result, consumers said bulk items were less likely than packaged items to be thrown away, which results in less food waste. Consumers also cited cost savings and the environmental aspect of using less packaging as the other top reasons for buying bulk.
“We’ve long touted shopping in the bulk foods aisle as the most economical and environmentally friendly way to shop, and now we have the data to back up those claims,” said Todd Kluger, a founding member of BIG and vice president of marketing at Lundberg Family Farms, the top U.S. organic rice producer. “Even better, with more and more U.S. grocery stores now offering a larger selection of bulk foods, these benefits are widely accessible.”
“Many claims have been made regarding the benefits of buying in bulk, but there have been few quantifiable statistics to support those claims,” said Tom Gillpatrick, executive director of FILC. “We’re excited to be the first research team in the United States to substantiate that buying in bulk does offer tangible environmental and economical benefits.”
To check out the findings from the study, click here.
Via ~ sustainablefoodnews.com
Rethink the Statin ~ Cholesterol is Not the Bad Guy!
People who arrive at my office on a statin frequently complain of one of the following things as a direct side effect of the drug:
Fatigue, mood changes, irritability, headaches, insomnia heart palpitations, arrhythmias, stomach pain, or muscle weakness
These are all listed right in the Physician’s Drug Information Handbook as common side effects. But the new news is that users of statins have a 48% increased chance of developing Type II diabetes, even with short term use at low dosages.
Then What About Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is not the bad guy!
No really, it’s true. Cholesterol is the duct tape of the body. It is for patching up holes (damage) to blood vessels and internal organs. Cholesterol is actually a structural material for maintaining integrity of vital body parts like your arteries, veins, liver cells, brain cells, and much more. Here are just a few other things for which cholesterol is needed:
Adrenal and sex hormones are made out of cholesterol. The myelin sheath that protects the brain is made in large part of cholesterol. Every single cell requires cholesterol in its wall or it gets leaky.
What causes damage to blood vessels, brain cells and other internal organs? Think toxins and inflammation. Car exhaust, solvents such as industrial and household cleaning products, Febreze, paints, heavy metals found right in our food, water, and air on a daily basis. Not to mention that aluminum in the Tums or baking soda or table salt.
I’m much more concerned about a person’s anti-oxidant status, levels of vital detox nutrients and nutrients for balancing inflammation than I am about their cholesterol levels. It’s also about balance of essential fats in the diet. A person on a statin to bring down their cholesterol is still not addressing the reason their cholesterol is high in the first place.
Statins may be called for in cases where cholesterol is extremely high (i.e. over 350 or so) or where triglycerides are very elevated, but this is not the average person you find on a statin.
Think deeper America…
~Dr. Julie M. Barter, ND
Dr. Julie Barter, ND currently practices in Niwot, Colorado, serving the Denver, Boulder and Longmont areas as a natural medicine expert. She is family doctor who works with everyone from infants to seniors. She specializes in women’s and children’s health, food allergies, cancer support, digestive, hormonal and environmental concerns.
She has extensive experience in resolving most common health complaints using clinical nutrition, herbal medicine, homeopathic remedies, and physical medicine for relieving aches and pains.
She enjoyed a busy private clinical practice in Maine before relocating to Colorado.
As a graduate of the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, an accredited four-year medical school program, Dr. Julie underwent outstanding clinical training with some of the finest Naturopathic Doctors in the country. She completed internships in internal medicine, environmental medicine, gynecology, and acute care for underserved populations. One medical school training was not enough to give her all the expertise she desired in physical medicine, so she also attended Western States Chiropractic College to attain a high level of competence in adjusting and biomechanics. She takes a special delight in physical medicine, completing over 1000 extra classroom and clinical hours in Applied Kinesiology. She also holds Certificates in Botanical Medicine and Homeopathy.
Natural medicine is a second career for Dr. Julie, having worked in research at the University of Colorado, Boulder for nearly 10 years prior to entering medical school. She participated in NIH-funded research in molecular biology, immunology and neuroscience with an emphasis on pain in chronic illness. She managed the laboratory of approximately 50 researchers for five years, teaching others proper laboratory procedure and technique as well as equipment operation. This has put her in a unique position to be able to evaluate the validity and implications of scientific research on current medical issues.
Dr. Julie has also been an avid athlete her entire life. She used to be an elite amateur cyclist, competing at the national level both on-road and off-road. She rode about 10,000 miles per year for over 10 years. These days she sticks to running, enjoying about 20-30 miles per week on both roads and trails. She takes an insider’s interest in helping other athletes to achieve their maximum potential and enjoyment in their sport.
She also finds great satisfaction in gardening, and finds the practice of natural medicine using herbs and homeopathic remedies derived from these beloved plants to be a very natural extension of her love and respect for nature.
Dr. Julie M. Barter ND LLC 303.652.0903 www.nfmedicine.com drjulie@nfmedicine.com7105 La Vista Place Suite 150, Niwot, CO 80503
Julie will be a panelist at our Wellness Wednesday event on the topic of heart health, which takes place on February 8th from 7-8 pm in the Alfalfa’s Community Room. Please see guest services for registration details. Or give them a ring at 720.420.8400. Hope to see you there!
Why Counting Calories and Exercise Aren’t the Answer to Weight Loss
After 30 + years of working with clients with all forms of health issues and health challenges, including obesity and difficulty losing weight, certain things become obvious about what helps people lose weight, and what does not help people with weight loss.
Over 90% of people who have had the experience of trying to lose weight by dieting either have no success or they lose the weight only to have it return within the year.
The fallacy of weight loss being the product of simply cutting calories and increasing exercise is seen in most gyms and weight loss centers where people diligently follow all of the rules but never lose a pound, (unless you are a contestant on The Biggest Loser and exercise 8 hours a day!). Once someone has gotten far enough out of balance metabolically to put on large amounts of weight, the imbalance drives your metabolism. At this point the cure is more complicated than just the reversal of the habits that got you there. At this point, the imbalances caused by poor eating habits have now turned into metabolic imbalances involving a major organ or system such as the thyroid, adrenals, pancreas (diabetes), liver, kidney, digestion / intestines, mineral imbalances or brain chemistry imbalances. Until the missing links in the underling imbalance(s) are found and corrected, the person will be faced with “yo-yo” dieting for temporary results.
In spite of what most people may think, weight gain is a valuable sign that there are deeper metabolic problems that may ultimately lead to more serious diseases. Because of that, the goal of a good weight loss program should be to find the underlying imbalance and when that is corrected, the weight will be lost more easily and the weight loss more easily maintained.
Kathy Moritz, RN
Kathy is an RN with 30 + years experience in nutritional counseling. She owns a consulting practice specializing in blending leading edge alternative therapies aimed at finding the core biochemical and nutritional imbalances. This often includes uncovering distortions in the information pathways in the body fields responsible for orchestrating the deepest levels of communication between the organs, glands and systems of the body. Consultations also focus on deep mineral balance. Minerals are the spark plugs for all of the biochemistry of the body. Finding the significant mineral imbalances and mineral ratio imbalances allows us to re-balance the body, which in turn allows all of the systems and organs to begin to function normally as they are designed to do.
Kathy’s consulting practice is centered on her skills as a practitioner, researcher, and educator. Her goal is to help each client find their core imbalances in order to restore them to wellness, and not simply treat the symptoms.
Intermed, Inc
414 S Cedar Brook
Boulder, CO 80304
303-442-5100
Kathy will be a panelist at our Wellness Wednesday event on the topic of weight loss, which takes place on January 11th from 7-8 pm in the Alfalfa’s Community Room. Please see guest services for registration details. Or give them a ring at 720.420.8400. Hope to see you there!
Alfalfa’s Stance on Genetically Modified Organisms
Dear friends,
From the time we opened our first store – Pearl Street Market – in 1979, and then our first Alfalfa’s at the corner of Broadway and Arapahoe in 1983, we have always been a company with a strong social mission. Alfalfa’s is a company that stands for what we believe in, and we aren’t afraid to let our opinions be known.
That is why we have taken a very public stand against the planting of GMOs on Boulder County Open Space. Personally, I entered the natural and organic foods movement in the 1960s because the environmental impact of conventional agriculture was causing substantial detriment to our planet – and it still is. The pervasive nature of GMOs means that neighboring crops are at risk when GMOs are planted nearby. As a long-time proponent of organic agriculture, and an avid organic gardener myself, I don’t want to see our organic farmers at risk for GMO contamination.
For those of you familiar with organic agricultural production standards, GMOs are not allowed in organic production. Therefore, organic is currently the best choice for consumers who want to avoid GMOs.
For non-organic products, there are several third-party verification programs that can assure a product was produced without GMO ingredients. At Alfalfas, we give the highest priority to organic products first, and then will accept products that make a no-GMO claim as long as they are certified by one of these third-party verifiers.
The Organic Trade Association (OTA), the trade group for the organic industry, has recently adopted a position that calls for a moratorium on the planting of GMOs until further research can be done. To learn more about OTA’s position, visit http://www.ota.com/pp/regulatory/OTA-Position-on-GMOs.html.
We wish we could say that our work stops here, and that consumers can rest assured that the products they purchase from Alfalfa’s were all produced without GMOs. Unfortunately, as a retailer, the situation with GMOs is not so black and white. At Alfalfa’s our long-term goal is to be a store that does not sell any products that were made with GMO ingredients. This, however, is an aspirational goal due to the pervasive nature of certain GMO crops, like corn, soy and sugar beets. These are common ingredients in many manufactured food products, and corn and soy are common in livestock feed, affecting our ability to source non-GMO meat and dairy products.
In fact, 93% of all soy, 86% of all corn and 95% of all sugar beets grown in the U.S. come from GMO seed. That leaves food manufacturers very little choice when seeking clean ingredients for their product formulations. As such, at Alfalfa’s, we must balance our consumers’ desires for product choices at prices they can afford with our desire to replace any and all products made with GMOs.
We are taking a two-step approach to reaching our long-term goal of being a GMO-free zone at Alfalfa’s. First, we buy organics whenever available, and organics are made without GMOs. In fact, we are an organic certified store by Oregon Tilth and we are a member of the OTA, which demonstrates our commitment to organics. Our produce department has been running about 95% to 97% organic since we opened our doors, our salad bar is close to 95% organic, our juice bar is 100% organic and the only fluid milk we offer is organic. So, we are off to a good start with these departments and with our efforts to remove GMOs from our store.
The second step toward reaching our goal is to review all the non-organic products in our store and determine which ones may contain GMO ingredients. Our buyers are currently reaching out to manufacturers to make this determination. If a product manufacturer cannot provide proof of third-party verification that their products are made without GMOs, we will request that they reformulate. If they are unwilling to reformulate, we will begin the search for a comparable product that does not contain GMO ingredients. Even though organic meat is still a tiny part of the overall meat industry, we are starting to identify producers who are using non-GMO feedstuffs in their livestock production. Once our product vendors can provide verification their products were made without GMO ingredients, we will post signage throughout our store to identify the non-GMO products in our store, allowing our consumers to make an educated choice. We feel it is part of our commitment to you, our customers, to be fully transparent about our products until we can find other alternatives.
Alfalfa’s was always known as a place where consumers didn’t have to read the labels because they knew that our buyers were hard at work sourcing the highest quality, all-natural products available that met a set of meaningful standards. We still hold this as an important part of our commitment to the Boulder community.
We will continue to educate our staff and consumers about important food issues that affect our community. We urge our Commissioners to vote NO for GMOs on Open Space, and we encourage our consumers and supporters to have your voices heard before it is too late. Learn how here.
You can find out more about what is happening nationally with GMO labeling by visiting the GMO Right 2 Know March website and by going to Just Label It to let the FDA know you want GMO ingredients labeled on food products marketed in the U.S. Alfalfa’s is a partner in these important initiatives, and we urge you to have your voices heard so that our government officials can understand consumers’ concerns about GMOs infiltrating our food supply.
Sincerely,
Mark Retzloff, co-founder and CEO, Alfalfa’s
By Mark
Chairman & Co-Founder
Mark is a pioneer in the organic and natural foods industry with a 40-year career starting and managing successful companies. He has called Boulder home since 1977, and ...
Homemade Holiday Gift Ideas
When we want to share a gesture that shows how much we care for someone we can find ourselves going back to the basics. We craft. We write. We cook. This year, Alfalfa’s has made it easy to warm your loved one’s hearts and wow their taste buds. Begin a tradition of homemade gifts that people look forward to year after year.
From candied nuts to macadamia butter-crunch popcorn, we’ve got tons of recipes for you. And we even have some FREE gift tags for you to download.
Give them gifts they’ll go nuts over
Glazed Spiced Nuts
Sugared Pecans
Rosemary Roasted Walnuts
Give them gifts that pop
Brown Sesame Mustard Popcorn
Macadamia Buttercrunch Popcorn
Wish them happy trails this coming year
Holiday Trail Mix
Snow Day Snack Mix
Give them gifts that are almost as sweet as they are
Blackberry Lime Jam
Apple Spice Pie Filling
Tag your homemade gift with our homemade tags
Circular Holiday Gift Stickers
Swing by target, staples or a local shop and pick up Avery 2.5” recyclable craft circle gift labels. Print your homemade gift tag, a gift from us to you.
Diamond-Shaped Holiday Gift Tags
You can print these gift tags on any paper, no specific paper or labels are needed for these cute little gift tags. Just print, punch and tag.
