Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead. ~Yvoone Woon

We're closing in on the end of the year. Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013! There's something wonderful about starting a fresh new year. It's new, but you get to bring in everything you learned from prior years to make this year your best ever. I love goal setting and New Year's Resolutions--it's amazing how many goals you achieve once you actually articulate them. 

This year I'm adding a new twist - I'm going to dwell on my failures. Not in a morose, beat myself up for being suchaloser way, but I'm going to take time to think about the things that sucked this year. I've seen too much advice like "Don't sweat it, don't regret it, just move on and forget it." That kind of thinking is selfish at best -- criminals and perverts are masters of it. One practioner I know of this philosophy is being sued by nearly everyone he has done business with, then on a personal level he left his sick wife. A little bit of reflection would have prevented most, if not all, the lawsuits and legal fees.

You learn a lot by reflecting on the things that hadn't turned out the way you hoped, and thinking about the things you could have done better. This kind of thoughtful analysis helps to win championships, better business outcomes, and most importantly, improve relationships. It also turns disappointments into something useful. The seeds of success can be found in the ruins of failure.

For example, one goal I perpetually have is to be more timely. I can blithly set a goal of being on time, or I can think about the most frustrating times I've been late, and reflect on what made me late and what I could have done to avoid it. If I think about it, I realize that I didn't include enough time for walking the dog or for picking out an outfit. Ha. Now I have a goal AND a game plan. 

So this year, before I set my new resolutions, I'm going to mine the year's disappointments.

What to do - Make New Year's Resolutions

1. Think about your three biggest disappointments. What could you have done differently to change the outcome?
2. Conversely, make a list of your happiest moments from the past year. It's fun! Last year's New Year's post walks through the process.
3. Now identify the common threads from your best moments, and figure out what you want to do differently from your disappointments.
4. Read this post on goal setting and New Year's Resolutions.
5. Have fun making a few specific resolutions.

What I ate: 1 latte, 1 crab omelet, salad, jalapeno corn bread + honey + butter, 1 piece toast, 5 pieces, dark chocolate, 3 chocolate truffles, green tea, popcorn, udon noodles + spinach + mixed mushrooms + tofu in soup, rice crackers, raw milk cheddar, 20 oz. water

Exercise: ran 2.5 miles

A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity. ~Dalai Lama

Hurricane Sandy has focused me on food. The electriciy outage is forcing me to eat everything in my refrigerator before it spoils, and worry about the food left at Pop Karma. I guess the positive of it is that the food DOES spoil since it's not genetically modified, and isn't some Frankenfood made in a lab.

While we are grappling with food issues on the East Coast, a very important food date is coming up in California. Proposition 37 is up for voting on November 6th. This proposition that would require that genetically modified food (with exceptions of course) is labeled as genetically modified. That's it. Transparency. So if you want genetically modified food, you can happily know it is, and if you don't want it, you can avoid it.

Monsanto and other large food corporations have poured millions of dollars into California to fight this proposition. Why? Because genetically modified foods (GMOs) make a lot of money for Monsanto and other companies. Food that has been altered to resist pests and spoilage are obviously better for manufacturers. But they aren't obviously better for human health. And until they are, I don't want it. I'm not into eating untested food to make other people richer.

The food corporations insist that Proposition 37 will open the way to frivolous lawsuits and will cost more for consumers. The proposition may not be perfectly worded, but no bills are since they are so negotiated before they become law. And frankly, someone that wants to bring a frivolous lawsuit will do so no matter what. Proposition 37 is a step in letting people know what is in their food. The food corporations think that once they do know, they won't want GMO food -- hence it will cost consumers more. Because they have been using cheap GMOs to lower the price of food. Give us a choice!

As a food manufacturer at Pop Karma, we are firmly anti-GMO. It may cost more, but we aren't playing with your health.

If you are in California, please vote on November 6th, and vote YES to Proposition 37. And encourage everyone you know to do so.

Want to know more?

• Proposition 37 Voter Information Guide
• Michael Pollan's Take on Prop 37 (Yes), Vote for the Dinner Party
• Monsanto and Food Corporations Reasons to Vote No to Prop 37

What I ate: Haven's Kitchen whole wheat pancakes + butter, quinoa, sauteed green chard + broccoli + tempeh, kimchi, fresh pasta, boiled watercress + Rao's sauce, Cremont cheese, rosemary crostini, chai tea, milk, water

Exercise: 2 mile patrol with dog + 24 flights of stairs

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand in hand. ~Emily Kimbrough

It's been 11 years since September 11th, 2001. When I think about that time, I remember the deep confusion and the persistent sadness. But the strongest memory I have is of the kindness and care we took of each other: in the Towers, by the responders, in the city as a community and the support that poured in from all around the world.

There were many moments of heroism, but in general we held each others' hands. New York City stopped for days and remembered what the most important things were - our relationships. There was soul searching and crying. We vowed to be the best versions of ourselves. We were glad to be alive. It was quiet. 

There's a quote on our wall at Pop Karma - "As the years go by, this moment will last forever." At that time, during 9/11 and its aftermath it was impossible to imagine where we would be in five, ten, eleven years. Yet here we are. New York City is back to its frenetic pace. The years have gone by, and that moment does last forever. Like the other traumas we suffered and will continue to suffer, time, and we, inevitably move on. But we don't forget.

The challenge is to move on. You won't forget the old moments. But the new ones keep coming, so keep creating the best ones you can.

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it. ~Buddha

We are in the full throes of summer. And it is hot! My oven goes off sometime in May, and I do very limited cooking (pasta) and begin eating a LOT of sandwiches. I love this sandwich because it is so simple and summery. You can make the hummus yourself, or if you're in a hurry like I am these days, it's easy to buy from stores. It takes two minutes to make if you're slow like me. Once I collect the ingredients, I'll have it for lunch several times a week. 

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 med ripe tomato 
1 ripe avocado
hummus
2 slices of your favorite whole grain bread 

1. Slice the tomato in half, than slice into rounds. 
2. Slice the avocado in half around the seed. Twist the avocado so that it breaks cleanly in two, and reserve the half with the seed. This can be kept in the refrigerator for a day - the seed is an antioxidant and will keep it from browning. Take the other half and slice into thin wedges.
3. Slather one piece of bread with hummus.
4. Arrange the avocado over the hummus then the tomato
5. Top with the other slice of bread.

What I ate: Fage yogurt + strawberries + blueberries, 8 boiled vegetable dumplings, hummus + baby carrots, 16 oz ice coffee, handful of almonds, cheese popcorn, caramel popcorn, handful of grape tomatoes, whole wheat pasta + tomato basil pesto + mixed green salad, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 3 mile jog

Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead. ~Louisa May Alcott

MindfulEaters, I am so sorry that I've been neglecting you! It's time to share the details of what has been taking me away from you. I mentioned before that I was starting a popcorn company, so here's the scoop.

As you can tell by many posts on snacking, I snack a lot. I've spent years looking for a mindful snack that was irresistible and healthy. A snack that had a minimal number of top quality ingredients that were carefully sourced. I also wanted to buy from a company that behaved as responsibly and sustainably as possible -- that honored its relationships, its employees, the environment, and its customers.

I searched for and dreamed about this snack for over 10 years, and since I never found it, I decided to create it. I've always known that it would be popcorn because it's an antioxidant-loaded whole grain AND it's a great base for layering flavors. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may be able to tell that I believe our actions have a definite impact on our lives and the world around us. That is why the company is named Pop Karma.

I have lots of goals for the company, but we definitely aren't perfect. We will always try to get better though. Please keep us honest. Our brand pillars are:

• Excellence in our products, our relationships and our actions
• Authenticity in our communications, our food and our behavior
• Responsibility for the environment, our partners, and each other
• Inspiration for all that we encounter, including ourselves

We currently have a project on Kickstarter where you can learn more about us, help support us and get great pre-opening rewards. Thanks to all that have pledged and gotten us to 70%! For more information, our website is here.

I promise that I won't be taking excessively about Pop Karma here and we will go back to our regularly scheduled programming. I am, however, learning a lot from it and will share those findings here!

What I ate: Greek yogurt +blueberries + strawberries, grapes. cherries, blueberries, 6 squares dark chocolate, nuts, vegetable lo mein, 8 oz coffee + milk, 3 ears of corn, 36 oz milk, 40 oz milk

Exercise: 2 mile jog

The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just. ~Abraham Lincoln

Today's gift is a Free Pass Card to eat whatever you like -- as long as its unprocessed and preferably prepared at home.

I came across an inspirational Mark Bittman talk called "What's Wrong with What We Eat" at a 2007 TED conference. It's wise, funny and informative. I rarely watch videos over two minutes long but I watched all 20 minutes. In short, it's fabulous and worth your time.

Then a few days later I received two comments that would be directly addressed by Mr. Bittman's video: one from a reader who wanted to buy organic, but found it expensive and felt guilty for buying conventional food and the second from a man who was anti-tofu because he gets too much soy in his regular diet.

STOP THE MADNESS! At MindfulEats, we are totally flexible about the kind of diets and foods you choose to eat. In terms of food, we have only two rules: 1) eat non-processed foods, and 2) be moderate in how much of each food you eat. That's it. To expound a little on #2 - if you eat animal products, you should probably eat less of it. The average American eats 1/2 pound a day (3.5 lbs a week), and the generous FDA recommendation is 1/2 pound a week.

If you're eating non-processed foods, you're not getting soy in your diet unless you are consciously choosing it. The only place it's sneaking in is in animal products, since animals are often fed soy. If you're preparing your own non-processed foods (and mostly plants), you are doing fabulous. Even if it's conventional. If you washed all the residue off an organic tomato and a conventional tomato, a lab would not be able to tell the difference between them (unless the conventional tomato was genetically modified). You are doing better preparing your own conventional meals than buying a really expensive live organic food in a bag. Because that bagged food is processed. And don't complain about preparing food -- you can just steam it which is fast, easy, and what I often do.

Mark Bittman says it much more eloquently in his video.

What to do - Eat more fresh unprocessed food

Mr. Bittman's video reminded me that old stuff is classic. So here are a few posts to review to help you eat less processed food:

• What is processed food?
• What is conventionally grown, industrial food?
• How to prepare your own food
• The low down on organic food

What I ate: strawberries, cherries, blueberries, 6 squares dark chocolate, almonds, grilled portobello and radicchio salad, swordfish, eggplant, root mash, strawberry shortcake, 32 oz. pomegranate white tea, parmesan cheese, steamed tofu + baby bok choy, soofoo (grain and lentil blend)

Exercise: 2 mile jog, 75 minutes yoga

Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself. ~Leo Tolstoy

I've been working on an exciting new project - a new popcorn company called Pop Karma - so I haven't written as often as I'd like. I promise I'll provide more details on Pop Karma soon.

In the meantime, my dear cousin asked me what I used to dye my hair with since she didn't want to use something really harsh and chemically. Oh no, clearly I've gotten to the age where I should be dying my hair! But I'm not. I have some stray grays, and sometimes when I see them I'll pull them out. Sometimes I leave it in because I think it looks distinguished.

I expect the grays will start coming in quickly and then who knows what I'll think. While I haven't tried dying my hair, I have been using camellia oil for years. My friend started making it around 2004, and I started using it to support his entrepreneurial spirit. One of the properties it claims is that it has reversed graying in some people.

Camellia oil has been used as a beauty product for generations in Asia, and when I told my mother about it, she had vague memories of her grandmother using it. She remembered her as always having black hair, so she called her brother for confirmation. He remembered her having black hair too.

So what is this stuff? Let's start with the facts. Camellia oll is made from the seeds of tea trees. It is rich in Vitamins A, B, C & E and various minerals. It's composed mainly of oleic acid (80%), one of the most penetrative oils, which allows it to hydrate and clean pores and follicles without greasy residue. It allows oxygen and nutrients to penetrate. Camellia is a natural antioxidant that helps protect from UV exposure. It was used for centuries in Japan and Taiwan as a mositurizer and revitalizer. It fell out of favor with more recent generations since it was pungent and greasy.

When my friend first started the company, I told my mother about it, and she spoke to his father, Dr. Michael Liau, one of the founders. He is a retired professor of pathology that specialized in oil at Columbia University. She was impressed and started using the scalp oil. My mother said her hair and eyebrows started growing in thicker. My aunt noticed and she started using it too. I'll note that they think it has grown more hair, but they are still dying it.

I use it, and my cousin frequently observed over the years that my hair seemed fuller. I never really thought about it until recently, when she asked me about dying my hair. Maybe it's working. I thought I should do more investigative reporting so I called Dr. Liau.

Dr. Liau specialized in lung cell research, and specifically, the oil that covers your lungs. He became interested in camellia oil when he noticed how similar a structure it had with lung oil -- about 34%. He recalled that it used to be used as a beauty treatment in Asia, and this sparked his interest. He started working with camellia oil, and purified it to remove natural impurities and odor. Then he began blending it with other oils to provide greater benefits.

Of course I asked him why this stuff works. According to him, the key to healthy hair is healthy follicles. Shampoo is alkaline, which is bad for your hair. Age and environmental dirt clogs your follicles and makes them unhealthy. Camellia oil deeply penetrates and cleans your follicles, removing dirt and other impurities. This stimulates increased hair cell activity and hair cell division. The end result is that your hair grows more quickly, it is healthier and stronger, and inactive hair cells become "awakened" and active again. There is also increased production of melanin which reverses the grayng process, and the slightly acidic pH of camellia oil helps neutralize the alkalinity of shampoo to prevent further damage.

The results of all this is that hair loss and graying is reversed. In some cases.

One interesting thing I learned is that creams are over 50% water, so oils are more effective. Your skin understands and absorbs oils more readily since it naturally oily. It's speaking the same oily language. Oil is more effective even if your skin is "oily", since the oils you are adding penetrates the pores to clean better, rather than sitting on the surface to clog more.

I haven't used the skin version of camellia oil, so I can't really comment on it. I've been using argyn oil on my face, which seems to work, but that's another post.

What to do: Try Camellia Oil for the Scalp

1. Buy camellia oil. You can buy it from different places. I buy Dr. Liau's oil, which is under the brand name Purity. The Hair and Scalp Oil is $25 and available here. 
2. Massage it into your hair one to three times a week before you go to sleep. I try to do it twice a week when I remember. It's a little bit of a pain. Wash it out in the morning. It makes your hair more full when you wash it out, which is nice.

What I ate: two lattes, pineapple, whole wheat spaghetti + Rao's Siciliana sauce, hard boiled egg, quinoa, salad, pad see-ew, 3 dark chocolate squares, 45 oz water

Exercise: jogged 5.5 miles

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else. ~Judy Garland

A lot of artisanal small-batch granola has hit the market in the past few years, starting with Bear Naked (which is now huge and owned by Kellogg) and continuing on to newer brands like Early Bird Granola. Granola seems to fall in two camps: the kind that comes in big clusters, and the flakey unclustered kind. My earliest granola experiences were at the school breakfast buffet where we had huge rocks of granola, so my preference is for clusters. 

When the Boulder-based company Snackle Mouth offered to send me their crunchy granola, I said sure. The first thing I did when I received their package was look at the ingredients. It's a fairly clean list, with blue agave and brown rice syrup as sweeteners instead of sugar, and canola oil which I assume is a binder. There is also the mysterious ingredient, "Natural Flavors."

To me, a sweetener is a sweetener, and I don't have a problem with sugar - it's best to limit your intake of ANY sweetener. I'd rather have granola without any sweeteners.

Snackle Mouth is indeed very crunchy. It's got a nice dosage of fat per serving, about 8 grams in the Almond Berry flavor, so it is a satisfying snack with great crunch appeal. The ingredients are real, so is supplies 12% of fiber and 4 grams of protein in Almond Berry. They aren't quite as cruncy as Grape Nuts, but that is a good thing in granola.

I tried three flavors - Almond Berry, Almond Pecan Maple and Peanut Cranberry. My favorite was Peanut Cranberry since I'm partial to both peanuts, almonds (also in this flavor) and cranberries. Snackle Mouth is also good with milk as cereal.

Bottom Line: Snackle Mouth satisfies both hunger and crunch lovers with a pretty good list of real ingredients. Though if you are hungry for a crunchy snack, MindfulEats recommends an apple and a handful of nuts.

What I ate: two lattes, 1 orange, 1 grapefruit, whole wheat spaghetti, grass fed beef bolognese sauce, tea, 6 Almond Rocas, 1 green tea mochi ice cream, brown rice, brusell sprouts, tempeh  2 dark chocolate squares, hot chocolate

Exercise: jogges 4 miles, 120 situps, 6 push-ups, 50 tricep pushups, 3 backbends

The biggest trends this year were nons: companies using 1) non-genetically engineered or modified foods (non-GMO), and 2) being gluten-free. At MindfulEats, we're heartened by the increasing popularity of non-GMO foods and a little perplexed by the gluten-free trend. Only 1% of the US population has Celiac disease (an allergy to wheat), and 6% of the population has some kind of wheat intolerance, but the words "No Gluten" are popping up all over the place. Until I develop an allergy, I am going to keep eating spelt berries (whole wheat berries), which have recently become one of my favorite whole grains.

There was also a little chia trend, which was great to see. Which reminds me I need to do a post on this amazing super-food.

Outstanding products at Expo West were:

• Go Raw bars. I have never been able to find a granola bar that I like, but these live sprouted bars were delicious. I tried the granola bar, the apricot bar, and the banana bread flax bar. All yummy. I even gave some of a bar to my boyfriend and he liked it (before he found out it was raw).
• Sea Tangle Noodle Company. These sea kelp noodles are chewy, kinda crisp, raw and easy to prepare. They don't taste oceany at all.
• Greenoodle. These instant noodles are made with unbleached and unprocessed wheat flour, and have Morohieya (a vegetable) added to them. The result is a tasty, chewy fast instant noodle meal that's healthier. I can't wait to buy them.
• Russo's Gluten-Free Pizza. There were lots of gluten free pizza sample, but this one stood out as scrumptious. There were even lines for it. It tasted like real pizza.
• Mamma Chia. These chia drinks were delicious. Sometimes chia can be thick and slimey, but these drinks were refreshing and went down easy. And they're loaded with chia! You can see the seeds.
• New York Superfoods. These chia nut butters and snacks were yummy and loaded with chia. Another tasty "bar." This company is also a finalist for the Next Big Small Brand. I met the co-founders, Catherine and Jason, and they were both really sweet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for them!

What I ate: chocolate croissant, coffee, chicken, vegetables, couscous, ground beef in tomato sauce, whole wheat pasta, pear

Exercise: 120 situps, 6 push-ups, 25 tricep pushups, 3 backbends

If you have it [Love], you don't need to have anything else, and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter much what else you have. ~Sir James M. Barrie

I recently discovered a new love - spelt berries. Spelt is a type of wheat, and the whole grains are called berries. They are nutty, chewy, and utterly pleasing. They are so delicious, you should add them to your Valentine's Day menu. Cook them for yourself, your sweetie or your family. They are the perfect ingredient for a salad or a nutty side. I originally found them in a supereasy Food & Wine recipe that called for kamut, but since the grocery store didn't have kamut, I substituted spelt berries and fell in love. I made dinner for three people that night, and we all adored it. Kamut is not off the hook though - it's still on my list to try. According to Food & Wine, this is about 330 calories a serving.

Warm Shrimp Salad with Spelt Berries (adapted from Food & Wine)

Serves 3-4

1 pound of medium to jumbo shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 cup of spelt berries
4 oz haricots verts chopped into thirds (frozen if you can't find fresh)
1 tablespoon butter
1 large clove garlic
2 teaspoons minced fresh red chipe, or 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
1/2 lemon
optional: 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped tarragon  

1. In heavy medium saucepan, toast the spelt berries over moderately high heat for 3-4 minutes until fragrant. Add 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 70 minutes. Drain off excess water.
2. In a medium, deep skillet, combine haricots verts with 1/4 cup water and steam over moderately high heat for 3-4 minutes. Or, if you are good at timing, throw the haricots verts in with the spelt for the last 3-4 minutes.
3. Wipe out skillet and melt butter over moderately high heat. Add the garlic and cook until golden. Add the chile pepper and cook for another minute. Add the shrimp, season with salt and cook, stirring until just pink. Add the wine and cook for another minute.
4. Stir in the spelt and the haricots verts and cook until hot.
5. Add the tarragon if you are using it, then squeeze in the lemon.

What I ate: udon noodle soup + shitaake mushrooms + bok choy + brocollini + tofu, 6 squares dark chocolate, brown rice, stir-fried bok choy + broccoli + shrimp, 1 piece candied ginger, 1 cup apple cider vinegar + blackstrap molasses, 45 oz water

Exercise: 3 mile jog, 120 situps, 6 push-ups, 25 tricep pushups, 3 backbends