The Kathleen Show Blog

Food fight heats up...

Wow, where has Bryan Walsh been all my life?

If you have not seen last week's article in TIME magazine "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food", I encourage you to dig in and then share it with everyone you know. Because the beauty of this piece is that it's not just for us 'foodies' who already have a decent understanding of the problems surrounding the crap we're shoveling into our mouths. 

This article can cross the divide to those who do not know and previously did not think or care about these issues. And that's possible due to the sheer brilliance of Bryan Walsh's writing. He has tackled a mountain (health, safety, environment, worker/animal cruelty, and sustainability) and powerfully and succinctly made his points. (And that's just the opening paragraph.)  The reader has no time to be distracted by round about introductions or politics or wondering if he/she really cares about this issue because the words and information are so direct—so unavoidable. 

And although there's no doubt Walsh owes his knowledge to the masters who came before him (Sinclair, Schlosser, Pollan), the addition of his pen to this cause might be just what is needed to light a fire with the masses.

For more great resources about where food comes from, check out my interviews with the following:

Michael Pollan author of The Omnivores Dilemma.

Curt Ellis producer of "King Corn" (a fantastic documentary based on Pollan's work). 

Rory Freedman author of Skinny Bitch. (The book is not what it seems, is not for everyone, but definitely offers a unique opportunity to reach those outside the choir.)

Kathy Freston author of Quantum Wellness. (I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but Kathy—and Rory—use different and effective ways to get us thinking about what industrialized agriculture is doing to animals, people, and our planet.)

Must read books on this topic:

The Jungle
Fast Food Nation
The Omnivore's Dilemma
Sick Planet 

This entry has been posted as part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday. 

(And a special shout out to Rob Smart of ProFood for bringing the TIME article to my attention.  He's always a great resource for sustainable food info.) 

The baton is now in your hands. Please share this post via email, Tweet, Stumble, Digg or your personal blog.

Also, visit our like-minded, kick-butt and carefully chosen sponsors who make our show possible:

Ayala's Herbal Water
Zero Calories. Certified Organic.
Six tongue tickling flavors...

An interview with Sir Ken Robinson

And a whole new definition of the word "practical"

Are you paying attention to what rocks your world or even your kid’s world?  Or are you too practical to consider your passion as a career choice (like Kathleen until she walked away from big pharma and took on filmmaking and radio)?

Enter the world's leading thinker on creativity, Sir Ken Robinson...
 
We’ve all had those moments where we start doing something only to look up from the clock five hours later unsure of how time flew by.  Well next time take a closer look at what you were doing because as Sir Ken suggests, there’s a good chance you were in your element—that sweet spot where natural ability meets pure bliss.

Sir Ken talks about how to find that thing that lights your fire, and the barriers we face including schools, well-meaning parents, family and friends, our own minds, and society as a whole. His stories will rattle your cage and help you see what's possible.

And if you're still caught up on 'practical' (for yourself or your kids), be sure to also listen to Kathleen's monologue. She's got a perspective that might have you changing your definition of the word.

Listen to Kathleen’s interview with Sir Ken Robinson.

For more on this topic, check out Sir Ken Robinson’s book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything.

Shocking video on texting while driving

Next week, I'll be doing a show on texting while driving (with an emphasis on keeping our kids safe.) In the interim, I wanted to share the following PSA from the UK. 

Warning: This is a very graphic, haunting video. But it may be the most effective way to reach our teens (and ourselves?) about the dangers of text driving.





Please share with others and comment below with your thoughts on the video. I'd also love to know if you think this should be shown in schools.

I Am a Business Owner, and I Fully Support a Public Health Option

Here's my latest Huff Post piece. Thank you to everyone who tweeted it, blogged it, emailed it, and commented. 

We have to make our voices heard right now if we want things to be different. Please share this post and ask friends and family to pick up the phone or send their Congressmen an email. 

Read the full article here. 

Real food rock stars

People we need to thank...

Most of us who have become passionate about where our food comes from and issues of sustainability are more than familiar with the rock stars of the movement like Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle. (In fact, you can hear my candid interview with Michael here).

But today is about saluting those who are working hard and taking risks to bring organic and sustainable food to the market. They are busting their buns so that you and I can purchase, serve and eat food that is in line with our values.

Whether they are farmers, developers or distributers I am grateful that they are out there, often making personal sacrifices. We need to honor them with our words, our wallets and our willingness to spread the message.

Following are five examples of these fantastic people. Some of them I've worked with, interviewed, heard about from others or even met on Twitter:

	Maureen Knapp Thank goodness there are farmers like Maureen who are willing to give up their evenings and weekends for us. Farmers who believe to their core in the importance of organic food and sustainable farming. We need them and we need to support them because we all know that if you try to figure out the hourly wage of a farmer, it wouldn’t be pretty. You can buy Maureen’s milk under the Organic Valley name or go straight to her lovely farm to sample her organic strawberries.
	Dr. Ayala Dr. Ayala is a pediatrician and developer of Herbal Water. As a doctor who was determined to make a dent in the growing obesity epidemic, she decided to bring Herbal Water to market as an alternative to sugary beverages. So she went to her garden, came up with six certified organic flavors (cinnamon orange peel and lemongrass mint vanilla just to name two) and made it happen. The result is a zero calorie, delicious beverage that is muscling its way onto store shelves and giving Coke and Pepsi a run for its money.
	Joel Salatin Ok, so if you read The Omnivore’s Dilemma you know that Joel is already a bit of a rock star. Or at the very least, a folk legend vis-à-vis Michael Pollan. But Joel had to make this list because he continues to work his tail off on his farm and is an advocate/shining example of doing the earth and animals right. Because of Joel, grass-fed beef has become more of a household name and something we are demanding at our stores. Because of Joel, more of us are thinking and buying local. Because of Joel, more farmers are reconsidering their options and saying hell no to industrialized agriculture. Take a bow, Mr. Salatin.
	Katrina Frey Katrina and her family were making organic wine before organic was cool. They are passionate about wine and the soil—taking the painstaking steps to incorporate biodynamic practices into their farm. The Frey family doesn’t do this business because it’s easy—they do it because they love it and feel a responsibility to their customers and the earth. Because of this, we get an organic wine option that we can feel great about drinking and serving.
	Vaughan Lazar Most of us who are walking the path in this food movement agree that in a best case scenario, we’d all be doing more cooking and eating at home. But the reality is that there are times when we need or even want to eat out. Meet Vaughan Lazar, one of the founders of Pizza Fusion. Yes, Pizza Fusion is a chain, but it’s like no chain you’ve seen before. Seventy-five percent of their ingredients are organic, the buildings are LEED certified, and they offset 100 percent of their power consumption with the purchase of renewable wind energy certificates. This is a company who cares about sustainability and is willing to put their money where their mouth is—even their delivery cars are hybrid. For these entrepreneurs, being socially conscious is as important as being profitable. This is one chain I can fully get behind. For all of us, I wish them the best success.

And in case you're wondering who's in the photo at the top of this post, it's Josh and Noah Engel. Two young, organic farmers from Wisconsin who are making their move in this market...stay tuned.

This entry has been posted as part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade. (Another real food rock star!)

Do you have someone you’d like to nominate for future recognition? Leave a comment below.

Kathleen's film "Money Talks" free online

Why it matters to watch it now

The truth about health care reform?  If we don’t get it right this time around, insurance companies and big pharma will continue to put profits over patients. So to add a little fuel to the fire, and to help people see the bigger picture about what’s at stake here, Kathleen has decided it’s time to put “Money Talks” online (for FREE).  Read the full press release.

Because as the health care reform debate heats up (or boils over as it has been lately) it’s become clear that there’s a lack of knowledge about what is going on behind the scenes of the health care industry (in terms of the power of money to influence).  Not to mention a lot of confusion about what exactly is being proposed to fix our broken system.

But it’s up to us to get informed so we can make the best decisions for ourselves and our families.  So don’t miss the opportunity to watch “Money Talks” in its entirety, and share it with your friends and family (or the other great resources below for that matter). 

Get the facts on what health care reform means for YOU. Listen to Kathleen’s recent interview with Howard Dean.

Find out how far the insurance companies will go to prevent health care reform from going through.  Watch Bill Moyers’ eye-opening interview with former health insurance executive Wendell Potter.

 

Fight Back Friday: Crap in, crap out

Food is a drug…with both effects and side effects

This entry has been re-posted as part of Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays.

Your refrigerator is a pharmacy and every bite triggers a hormonal chain reaction that has effects and side effects. Many of our greatest health problems—including weight gain, diabetes, depression, cancer and low energy—are a direct result of what we eat (all those processed foods that wreak havoc on our systems).

On the flip side, used wisely, food can become the drug of choice for reducing inflammation, creating hormone balance, and reducing toxic fat.

Learn how to make food work for you, not against you.  It really is as simple as that next forkful.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Barry Sears, international expert on the hormonal effects of food and the New York Times best-selling author of numerous books including The Zone and Toxic Fat.

The baton is now in your hands. Please share this post via email, Tweet, Stumble, Digg  or your personal blog. 

Also, visit our like-minded, kick-butt and carefully chosen sponsors who make our show possible:

Ayala's Herbal Water
Zero Calories. Certified Organic.
Six tongue tickling flavors...

Howard Roark, where art thou?

My 'Pick of the Week': The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

No matter what your opinion of the controversial author Ayn Rand, there’s little denying that The Fountainhead is a life changer.

It's a novel about what’s possible in terms of individual human capacity. In the main character of Howard Roark, we find an intoxicating example of everything we could be. Ayn Rand will challenge you as a reader and demand that you rise up and stop acting (or feeling) like a cog in the wheel.

There are many parallels between The Fountainhead and the writings of Henry David Thoreau and even to some extent, our previous guest Vicki Robin—parallels about finding your genius, doing what you love, living your life so lean that you never have to compromise or answer to The Man again. And parallels about the priceless benefits of independence.

Part of the controversy is that Ayn Rand is an unforgiving author. She has the highest expectation that we live bold and brilliant lives…or get out of the way. And because of this (among other things), readers either love or crucify her.

But Rand ingeniously addresses her critics within the pages of The Fountainhead. She argues that the best way to serve yourself and others is to rise to your own greatness, thus igniting and providing a source of inspiration to everyone around you.

As for me, The Fountainhead made my head spin, forced me to sit up a little straighter and had me longing for one Mr. Howard Roark. What more can you ask from a book?

The baton is now in your hands. Please share this post via email, Tweet, Stumble, Digg  or your personal blog.  


Footnote 1: I have not yet begun to dive into Ayn Rand’s personal philosophy—something she calls objectivism. I wanted to read her before I studied her as I did not want her bias (or possibly my feelings toward her bias) to taint my own interpretation or enjoyment of her body of work. With Atlas Shrugged, We The Living, and Anthem still on my nightstand, it may be a few months. But at that time, I plan to do a show on Ms. Rand and we all can have a very spirited discussion.

Footnote 2: Although I draw parallels above between Thoreau and even Vicki Robin, there are also significant differences which can further mess with the reader’s head.

Order The Fountainhead HERE

(I specifically like this 50th anniversary edition because the afterword contains some amazing notes that Ms. Rand kept prior to beginning the novel--giving insight to her writing and thinking process.)