Shadow or no shadow, it’s the dead of winter. In our Idaho climate and latitude, historically we’d be eating stewed squash, onions, and potatoes, the last of fall’s tomatoes (red but no longer tasty), and jerky. We’d be fattening up on bread, dried fruits, pickled foods, and preserves.

But we don’t eat seasonally because we have every imaginable food at our fingertips – papaya, bananas, avocado, coffee, cacao…

Every three weeks I receive a reminder about my Idaho Mountain Express column, an alert evoking a cascade of musings on possible topics – holidays, community events, national celebrations, family traditions, and which foods trend with the natural seasonal flow. Or I’ve just been down a rabbit hole for client research, my food memoir, or contract work, and feel compelled to tie the findings to more existential subjects.

Got your attention? Call me judgmental (many do), but I assure you it’s primarily passion. No, I’m not embarking on a “mine is better” contest for the sake of food competition. Not in the slightest! Instead, I‘m inviting you to think about how your food and food habits could improve – even a little.

This fall I’ve been swapping salads for soup, coffee for lemon tea, and ice cream for gut-healing food. Knowing gut health is essential for supporting my immune health and sanity, it’s more complicated than probiotics and avoiding sugar. We’ve got to get to the root of our health problems.

One of them is glyphosate – the most common herbicide in the US – unleashed in the 280 million pounds sprayed on conventionally grown field crops, orchards, vineyards, vegetables, pastures, nurseries, forests, lawns, gardens, and parks.

Perusing our local Farmers’ Markets, you may relish in the overwhelming array of spring greens, sprinkled with a few herbs and a side of blushing cherries. Even with the early onset of summer weather, seasonal fruits still are sparse. Have patience! Anticipate the ripening of strawberries and apricots. Watermelons – disappearing icons of Idaho’s banana belt – may not be available by July 4th, yet well worth the wait to buy them fresh and local.

It’s almost June, national What You Think About Grows month. Also Dairy, Country Cooking, Soul Food, Fresh Fruit and Veggies, Great Outdoors, Camping, and … Candy month. Common denominator? FOOD.

Alternately, June is National Headache & Migraine Awareness month and Effective Communications month – understandable, as families head into a big shift with kids home (or still home) from school. Just thinking about planning the week’s food can be a headache. Want some help? Read more…

This week’s Super Moon invites us Super Moms to reflect, find clarity, and consider fresh approaches. Coupled with the fickle snowy/sunny weather, the changing season beckons us to look around, look within, notice. There are so many ways to mimic springtime’s rejuvenation – what would you like to create?

Writing from the beach, I was enjoying the sunrise, waves crashing, rustling palm fronds, birds chirping and reading a chapter in my book about workaholism and how peak performers have one thing in common: they rest.

Rest?!

It’s something I teach in my detox programs (detoxing from “doing-it-all”) and particularly with my mama clients…

Despite continued challenges and life-altering restrictions, a sense of hope seems to be resurfacing. Longer days promise more sunshine; spring break is on the horizon; and for some, there’s optimism that life will “open up” again.

Nonetheless, perhaps you’re still feeling a bit like me: anxious, fearful, indecisive and stuck.

I’m energized about the fact that many people returned to cooking in 2020. Of course, there wasn’t much choice - and the impact of COVID on human lives, our artisan restaurants and other small businesses has been immense. But now we are seeing layers of sustainable benefits due to an entire shift in the food system: better for our personal finances, for our families’ nutrition, and for the environment.

Earlier this week I wrote a very different article for our local newspaper. It drew unnerving parallels between global industrial agricultural practices, pesticides, poor human and environmental health, nutrient insufficiencies, and the most at-risk population to contract COVID-19.

But on Tuesday – election day – I felt crummy editing such a daunting topic. Who needs additional controversial messages right now? Not me. So, let’s trade election news for expansion and introspection, and talk food consciousness.

It’s probably safe to assume that many humans currently are experiencing disconnect between how they feel and how their body functions. Emotions (fear, anxiety) influence our physical state (fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath). Impending emotional threat from chronic worry, pressure or panic contributes physically to increased food sensitivities, gut dysfunction, insomnia, and susceptibility to illness. These symptoms are not simply related to a weakened immune system but rooted in whole-body imbalance.

Navigating kids’ part-time or online schooling is difficult enough. Add rusty food rhythms to the mix and we scramble, revert to packaged foods, and quickly realize the need for a practical plan. Let’s review lunch basics.

August is hot and fiery. Dry, desert climates often are physically on fire about now, while family rhythms are “thrown to the wind”. Currently, there also seems to be an underlying air of internal fire – simultaneous worry about the foreboding unknown flickering against hopeful possibilities for recreating a value-driven life.

In many cases, COVID-19 has caused loss of taste and smell, yet I wonder if most of us actually tune into these senses regularly?

Certain foods are so powerfully tasty, so undeniably savory that not only are we compelled to slow down and revel in their natural potency, but we can sense their enrichment in every sniff, salivary excretion, taste bud and cell.

Every spiritual teacher reminds humankind of compassion, love, peace and wellness. Unfortunately, fear overshadows these birthrights, causing generations to grow up in chaos, fear, judgement and disconnect.

In these unpredictable times, tragic events invoke pause, yet confusion. How to feel? What to say? What to do?

When I’m super stressed, I crave my favorite comfort food: homemade triple chocolate brownies with coconut flakes, served with a healthy dollop of almond butter and freshly-cracked vanilla sea salt.

To my kids, these brownies represent a, “We love you, mom!” special-baked-goodie-moment, but in my book they’re a, “time to pause and evaluate my stress levels” food.

Right now, a prevalent preoccupation health – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and, certainly, community health.

Like you, I rely on recommendations from researchers, doctors and health practitioners in my field to shape my safety habits and family guidelines. While handwashing and isolation are imperatives to reducing virus spread, some institutions claim that food has little or no effect on immunity. As a nutritionist, I deeply trust the healing potential of food and botanicals.

Fear abounds. An invisible organism spreads insidiously into the air we breathe, onto surfaces and faces we can’t help but touch, and within living hosts. It persists, this virus, shape-shifting. Once recognized, it morphs again to prey effectively on vulnerable populations.

Why is chocolate a beloved treat on a holiday that celebrates love? Chocolate not only elevates our mood and warms our heart, it is biochemically beneficial to both our cardiovascular wellbeing and our brain function via the symbiotic heart-brain axis. Inside our heart is a “heart brain”, a tiny center of neurons, neurotransmitters and proteins, just like in the head’s brain, and coordinated by the nervous system. Areas of the brain regulate the heart, and the heart is a key communicator to the brain. Chocolate seems to benefit both!