Farmers Market Calender

So I sorta jotted down the schedule of some of the farmers markets i had check out, but boston localvore did it much better and made an app. just click on the different views of the calender. Theres soo many going on daily that if you're able to travel a little, you could shop at the farmers markets almost like going to the grocery store. Or at least sometimes.

http://bostonlocalvores.org/2010-farmers-market-calendar

Anatomy of a local Meal via boston localvore

Oh so very cool

http://bostonlocalvores.org/archives/2016

In the real world....

Hello all!

I'm getting back to my beloved blog! Its been a couple months since I last wrote, and my life has shifted in a different way of living. My eating local project started as my senior thesis project and has really impacted how I eat and the choices I make. I've finished school, and found myself in a radical new adventure of the real world has taken center stage. I had been thinking the next step would involve getting out into the world and advocating what I've learned, but I feel I'm still learning myself. Its a daily task to navigate my food choices and figuring out how to live my beliefs all on my own. No structure, no one to report to. But its also a really exciting time. Local food is coming out in all its glory. Most of the farmers markets in the city are up and running with amazing produce and options since I was going to the winter farmers market outside of the city. Its becoming quite easy to shop locally with a farmers market almost every day. After 60 days of local food ended, I went so far in the opposite direction of eating (no local food at at all) that i was having a hard time navigating how to integrate local eating into everyday life. But I finally have been figuring it out. I would say I've actually been eating a large bulk of my diet in local food. I think the key to getting these foods into my diet is figuring out what to do with them. Working on local recipes was my answer to this issue, but I myself am still figuring out how to cook everything. Its still learning. But as I learn to cook in new ways, I do get to share them with the people around me, when my friends are willing :-) So I'd say its a process, one I want to share!

Here are the markets I have been going to!

Mondays: Central square 12-6 on Bishop Richard Allen Drive (parallel to mass ave)

Tuesdays and Fridays: Copley Square 11-6 both days

Thursdays: Prudential Center on Boylston 11-6

Some upcoming markets i haven't checked out yet:

Fridays: Allston Market!! Starts tomorrow! at the intersection of North Harvard and Western Ave 3-7

Mondays and Wednesdays: City Hall Market - City Hall Plaza along Cambridge Street: 11-6

Tuesdays and thursdays: South station. Across the street from south station: 11:30 - 6

Sundays: South End/SOWA open market: Open Market on Harrison Ave 10 -4

Wednesdays: Cambridge Center, Main Street, near MBTA: 11-6

Sundays: Cambridge Charles Square Plaza: 11-3

Tuesdays: Harvard Market at the intersections of Oxford and Kirkland in Cambridge 12:30-6

Thursdays: Kendall Square - 500 Kendall St - 11-2:30

more info at http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/

mountain of kale

local kale mountain cooked in red wine sauce with onions, bread from the farmers market and couscous

chicken with a rhubarb and mushroom glaze! Made with my own rhubarb i grew!

Am I the only localvore out there?

One thing I've been thinking about for a while is the importance of support and community on the part of local eating. Most of the people that I have read about (No Impact Man, Barbara Kingsolver) all do their local eating together with their families. I've met some of my farmers, and I've plowed through the social norms of eating, but I feel I'm lacking the connection to others that are as passionate about their beliefs. I can't imagine I'm the only one in boston interested in local food. I bet even some of the people around me would like to eat some local food, but haven't made the steps or don't know where to begin. While my 60 days of local eating was extreme, it can even be little steps and small choices, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing. So I want to invite anyone interested in learning how to find local food, cook it, or even just eat it to join forces and come together. Call me! Email me! jduncan802@gmail.com I don't know if anyone still reads this, but I know its hard to do it on your own, so why not do it together! Let me know!

Post-Local

Its been about three weeks since my 60 days of strict local eating has ended. I've been having quite the love affair with non-local food, and i think its time to really think about what this means. In the reality of real life where I'm not bound by a set of rules, how do my beliefs and morals really play out? Well so far, not very well. I pretty much haven't eaten any local food since my 60 days ended. I have been regularly eating tortilla chips made in needham, because they are so good and easily found at various stores, but where the ingredients come from I don't know. I've switched back to organic milk that comes from wisconsin because it taste better to me, and i don't have to buy such a big container, and thus don't have to drink as much milk so fast because milk often gives me a stomach ache. But shouldn't local milk taste better? Perhaps organic local milk would taste the best. I don't know what it is but the crescent ridge milk i get at whole foods doesn't taste very great to me. Perhaps it has to do with that the milk is sourced from all around new england. Turns out its not that easy to find out exactly where your milk is coming from even if there is a location on the bottle, which is usually where its bottled. The best tasting local milk I have had comes from shaw dairy which is sold at the dairy bar in somerville. Honestly though I haven't been motivated to drive all the way to somerville for milk, when i can walk two block to whole foods. I think this also raises an interesting point of transportation of food on both end: farm to store, and consumer to store. the milk from whole foods traveled 1, 158 miles to the store and i walked two blocks to buy it. the milk from the dairy bar traveled 39 miles and i had to drive 8 miles round trip to buy it. Its clear that the consumer takes on extra energy costs (gas), time, and carbon emissions to be able to support a local business/farmer, and get a quality product. It seems that the biggest issue for the local movement is not a matter of convincing people its a good idea but making it accessible. If after going so extreme to as to eat local for 60 days, I won't even drive to somerville for milk, how could expect the average person would? Organic has caught on at most large shopping conglomerates, which is a start. Its true that organic is better than not, but while organic original signified the values of local - safeguarding
the ecological integrity of local bioregions; creating social justice and
equality for both growers and eaters; and cultivating whole, healthful
foods.- it now often usually points to industrial organic farming. Large scale organic doesn't use chemicals (at least not much), but it still grows large monocultures of single crops which drains the land of resources, is transported high distances, usually from central or south america as more of food is being imported for a cheaper price, where labor can be paid for less, and rhe food is picked unripe and ripened in a truck, and threatens to put local farmers who can't compete in scale out out of business. With organic being the 'big thing' these days many large businesses are jumping to put the cachet on their product. But is more the idea of organic that they are actually selling? Let think whole foods for a minute who really markets the whole idea of organic and local. But to actually distribute on such a high scale of whole foods, how could they buy produce from a small farmer? Real, "whole" foods cannot be shipped around the country. Michael Pollan makes a good point that how our food is grow is inseparable from how we distribute it, which is inseparable to how we eat it. Its a toss up, who 'should' bear the responsibility, the system or the consumer? I think at this point, the system leave it all up to the consumer. Its hard, and expensive, and time consuming to eat your beliefs, but in the end we are a consumer of our food.

normal eating?

Its been a week now since my two months of local eating has ended. I've had my indulgence, still enjoying it a bit, but I'm left wondering how to resolve going back to a "normal" eating. I've learned so much doing this project and really valued this experience, but as a busy college kid with still injured fingers, franticly trying to get ready for my senior show, I don't have the time or energy to put in to finding and preparing all my food the way i have been. Part of it is the time of year, winter farmers markets have ended, and the spring ones will start soon - access is hard right now. I really appreciate the option to be able to buy food while i'm out, particularly when i'm at school and hungry, I can buy a snack now. so thats really great. I appreciate fruit!!! besides apples i didn't have any fruit. a diversity of vegetables. its funny though, i bought corn on the cobb for our bbq last night well knowing that corn is not in season and that it was from florida, and let me just say it was a sad piece of corn. limp, scrawny, flavorless. sort of similarly, i had my favorite ben and jerry flavor (magic brownies) and i'll be honest it didn't taste as good as i remembered, which was shocking because ben and jerry's is my thing. I had a burger and shake from u burger and felt terribly sick. I don't think I can drink milkshakes anymore, also shocking as its one of my favorite treats. Such intense dairy and sugar don't seem to agree with me anymore. I've also noticed i get full much more easily since doing my project. I'm satisfied by smaller portions than i used to. I find when i get a sandwich i can eat only half, and then the other half a few hours later. Its probably a good thing. I think its interesting to think about the over eating of americans, how it just feels normal and how its possible for your body to adjust to healthier portions instead of feeling deprived. Back to my original question, how do i reconcile my beliefs and my eating now in more real life situation without the extreme rules? The project certainly has changed me. Not in an eating disorder way, but i think about everything i eat, in terms of where its come from, how its grown or eaten. Do i want chicken in my pad thai if i can probably guess that it was raised with no room to move, its beak cut off, never seen the light of day, and pumped growth hormones to the point that its breasts were so big? or do i want to support the genetic modification of soy and gene patenting that is allowing large seed companies like monsanto to sue farmers who's crops have been pollinated by their geneticly modified seeds when there's no way to control pollination if i order tofu? like plato's cave, you can't go back to ignorance. i can't help but think about everything i eat, which can be overwhelming sometimes but ultimately part of the experience i wanted to gain from my project. one may think that one person can't make a difference but really we are the consumers of our food and we make the choice everytime we buy and then eat food. the food system is an economy, and every dollar goes somewhere. vote with your fork, eat your values. think about it. what you buy and eat is a direct action that has the potential to be farm more effect than talk or preaching ever will. If you don't like the system, don't participate in it. of course its easier said than done, but even small actions or changing part of your diet is profound. it doesn't have to an all or nothing kind of thing, but i think it really empowering to be able to have such direct choice and control over the issue of food that when thats not the case in many other political issues such as education or health care. the more people support local agriculture economy, the more it will respond with access and options. personal action really is how our food system will change. just think about it. :-)

p.s. my aesthetic manifestation of the project will be going up as an exhibition on sunday at 601 newbury, with an opening reception friday april 16th 6-8!

So i've been living the non-local life pretty well now, eating out every meal and indulging in every way. the result? gained 3 pounds in 4 days, and i feel like crap. I went with friends to Uburger, and while it was all tasty and good i felt terrible after. i couldn't even make it through more than a 1/4 of my shake, and i LOVE shakes. my stomach hurt after, i felt really lathergic for hours, and grouchy.

basically its time to for me get back to more whole foods and veggies. I even feel sick the morning after. I gotta get back to healthy eating before i get used to feeling like crap again! i haven't run since i hurt my fingers two weeks, so its off for a jog and a tasty salad for me today!

popping champagne from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

3 days post local

So its a bit late but i thought i would let you know how life has been since my local eating challenge ended on thursday and ive been assimilating back into food culture. let me just say its ben great. it feels so freeing, and eating has become so fun! i haven't cooked anything, which has been relaxing. Every meal feels like a spontaneous adventure. I haven't had to worry about planning out my meals which has been nice. and COFFEE!! i may have not been perfect about the 100 miles but i didn't drink any coffee for the whole 60 days, not even a sip. so naturally ive been indulging in lots of coffee, and getting all sorts of buzzed in a way i never used to. sort of annoying actually! not a great feeling to have become so sensitive to coffee. my stomach hasn't loved much of what i've been eating (particularly ice cream?) but i haven't exactly eased in. here's what i've been eating the last few days :-)

lots of iced coffee with cream (i usually do milk or soy milk, but livin' life) donuts, lobster roll, milkshake, crackers, cheeseburger, asparagus (out of season and hard but AWESOME), fries, ben and jerry's (even being my favorite flavor, it didn't taste as good as i remembered...) pretzels, hot dog, pizza, eggs benedict with smoked salmon and spinach, mussels, emack and bolios ice cream, and a few bites of mac n cheese.

so yeah its been good. even though i've been eating sort of indulgently, i really can't eat as much as i used to (in general, not just treats) and i definitely eat smaller (healthy) sized portions now. my body is craving veggies. ive been having stomach aches. i need to go grocery shopping and get back to normal(ish) eating.

I have videos over due to show, and some recipes from a cook book i'm making, along with a map to share. The work I am making about this experience will be on exhibition at 601 newbury st. april 12-17th with and opening reception on april 16th 6-8. it will be fabulous. come share free champagne and wine with us. you might even get to see me making cheese and sample some if you're lucky!

best

Food Wrap Up!!

Thursday-

Brunch: Omelette with salsa (Concord, MA - 21.4 miles) and cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) (eggs -Elizaville, NY - 165 miles)

Dinner: Tempeh (Somerville, MA - 5 miles) with melted cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles)

Late night: Bravo Pizza (after midnight so totally legit!)

Drinks: Narragansett (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) and champagne at midnight!

Wednesday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Elizaville, NY - 165 miles)

Snack: tortilla chips (Needham Heights, MA - 5.6 miles)

Dinner: Tempeh (Somerville, MA - 5 miles) Potatoes (Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) and Parsnips from Burlington, Vt - 22.1 miles from bristol, VT 223 from boston

Drinks: UFO White

Last day, (yesterday!)

Last Day! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Today!

Here is what i ate today:

Breakfast - Plain Yogurt (Stonyfield in Londonderry, NH - 51.5 miles) with Maple Syrup (North Brookfield, MA - 59.6 miles)

Snack - Carrots (Hadley, MA - 101 miles)

Lunch - Salad (HOME GROWN GREENS!!! 0 miles), potatoes (Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) and onions (Warwick, NY - 185 miles from south deerfield, 228 miles from boston)

Dinner- Nachos : Chips (Needham Heights - 5.6 miles) Salsa (Concord, MA - 21.4 miles) cheese (Providence, RI - 49.6 miles) Potatoes (potatoes (Lewis creek farm in Starksboro, VT - 13.5 miles from Bristol, VT 228 from boston) Parsnips ( Burlington, Vt - 22.1 miles from bristol, VT 223 from boston)

Update

I've gotten behind, as usual, because its been really hard to type. i've upgraded to bandaids on my fingers now and will get my stitches out in a few days, but it still hurts a bit. Anyway. Its' been really hard to feed myself local food without the use of my left hand. not to literally put food in my mouth, but to get food, and to prepare it (chopping, cooking, ect.) So i've had to make some compromises. The week kid of blurred together, but i've been eating a lot of the same things, so i'll make a list of the local and not local food i ate in the last week:

non local-

bagel Turkery sandwhich from bruggers, darwins, sandwhich, bravo pizza x 2, spinach salad, tuna sandwich, fries, wings

local-

spinach x3, oatmeal x 3, chorizo sausage x 3, pasta with sauce and cheese, eggs, potatoes, cabbage onion soup x 2, tortilla chips, crackers, home fries

so really not good on the illegal foods as i like to call them, but i haven't really had any food, so its been pretty tough, but my wonderful friend james drove me to sherman market in somerville on friday to stock up on some food which was really awesome. also i'm eating a salad for lunch today all with greens ive grown myself! its a rather small salad....

anyway sunday and yesterday i did good with all local food and will keep it up through thursday which is my last day!!! i don't know what i will have cause i have cheated with most of the things ive wanted. perhaps a really lovely glass of wine....

Video Archive

how the plants are looking from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

New Bread from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

lobster adventure from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

what to eat? from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

dinner from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

tortillas from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

root veggies from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

tasting of the roots from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

aero garden from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

sprouts! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

plants update from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Ice cream update from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Straining Ice Cream from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Ice Cream Success!!!!!!!!!!!!!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Failed Ice Cream #2 from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

no burgers for us tonight.... from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

GARLIC!!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

ice cream attempt #1 from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Day 3!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

my roommate said i could have a cookie if i was willing to eat wet cat food... from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Untitled from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

day 1!! from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

http://www.slowmoneyalliance.org/

check this out!!

butter mishap

i gashed my hand up pretty bad on tuesday when i was scraping out the butter from the hand held blender, which was off, and some how got turned on. yeah, it really sucked. 17 stitches later.

swollen hand after ladacaine injection

so not only am i having a hard time doing things with my left hand but also making local food. i burned the crap out of the beans i was making for dinner cause my hand hurt so bad i went to lay down and the fire department barged in with their fire axes. i was a hot mess and had nothing to eat. anna saved the day and brought home take out from grasshopper. its hard to type a lot but lets just say its going to get interesting to say the least figuring out how to feed myself on my low supply of local food requiring lots of cooking.....

p.s. video in er to come

Current Realities

So if you saw my last post of what i ate last week, you'll see i started making more exception with the culmination of sunday eating entirely zero local food. What's up with that right? Well I have been feeling the project coming to a close and I've felt like I've gleaned what I need to from this experiment and feel anxious to not be bound my these rules. I look forward to when eating local food is a daily decision rather than a constraints. i am making the decision for the constraint but it doesn't feel like real life, it feels like a project. and so i started being bad here and there and finally yesterday I really indulged. After breakfast I felt like shit (physically felt terrible) pizza was damn good though. Even though I was indulging, the whole time i was eating i felt really conscious of that fact that the bacon and eggs were most definitely coming from factory farmed animals - pigs in close confinement, chickens in cages. I usually have no problem telling people about my project and pushing acceptable social boundaries, but i just felt like going with it. So yeah a lot of the decision was based on wanting to participate in social situations. Social situation have been the number one thing I've felt alienated from during this project. Other people who i have read about that have done this sort of experiment (Barbara Kingsolver, No Impact Man) all have done it with their family. I feel like this would be a lot easier, since the people you eat with on a regular basis are doing the project too, versus me who I'm on my own with two roommates and all my friends not doing it. I feel like as a household decision it would be a lot easier, I'm constantly surrounded my food I can't eat and people eating it. I've learned to live with it, and meditate to zen place :-) its also funny though that people are constantly apologizing to me for eating in front of me, but its like what is that apology really doing? relieving you from feeling guilty, not really thinking about why I am choosing to make the statement of not the food you are. Ever think about why I'm not eating that cheeseburger in your hand? Its been really interesting how such a simple act on me not eating something affect the people around me. All these social protocols attached to food is sort of strange when you become aware of them.....

Anyway. I failed in a big (interesting?) way yesterday in terms of food, but I'm getting back in it today and going to finish out strong for the rest of the project. I thought i have one week left, as i was counting weeks (8 weeks = 2 months = 60 days) but when I counted out the days, April 1st will be day 60 so i have 10 days left (after today). hurray! People have been asking me what my first meal is going to be. It was going to be pizza, but since i've had pizza I think it's going to be a darwin's sandwich with turkey, hummus, apple, avocado, cheese, carrots, sprout, tomatoes, mayo and mustard, with and orange and a LARGE soy latte. yes please. Despite the cheating, there isn' really a lot of food i miss. Citrus and coffee are really the only big ones. I've been able to make a lot of things I want. And the things I can't, I don't really want to be putting so many chemical and high fructose corn syrup in my body.

and this week i gained .5 pounds to bring me to -.5 from my starting weight. honestly not bad if you look at everything I ate (i guess you don't get to see the quantities, but usually when i say ice cream, i mean the whole pint and when i say chocolate i mean one the big fancy chocolate bars) I bet i would lose a lot of weight if i didn't drink too. local beer has a lot of calories ha.

Food Rewind

Tuesday-

Breakfast: toast (homemade) with butter (homemade)

Lunch: Arugula salad (Sheffield, MA - 139 miles)

Dinner: Quesadilla with home made corn tortilla (Corn Meal From Hadley, MA - 101 miles, Wheat flour from Norwich, VT - 139 miles) Turkey from New Haven, VT - 3 miles from Bristol, VT (where i was when i bought it) 219 miles from boston, Cheddar Cheese from Cabot, VT - 70 miles from bristol, vt, 198 from boston

Wednesday-

Breakfast: Toast (homemade) with butter (homemade)

Snack: Apple

Lunch: French Onion (whately, MA - 108 miles) Soup with Cabbage (South Deerfield, MA - 109 miles)

Dinner: Soup again, Chips (Needham, MA - 9 miles) and Salsa (concord, MA - 20.6 miles)

Dessert: Chocolate

Drinks: Narragansett (providence, RI - 49.6 miles) guiness (i only had one and it was st patrick's day)

Late Night: Bravo Pizza (illegal food)

Thursday-

Breakfast: French Toast with homemade bread and eggs from Grand Isle, VT - 44 miles from bristol, 246 from boston

Snack: Arugula Salad with home made dressing (oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup)

Snack: Tortilla Chips, Chocolate

Late Lunch: French Onion and Cabbage Soup

Dessert: Gaga Ice Cream from Warwick, RI - 65.8 miles

Drinks: Sam Adams

Late night: chicken tacos (illegal food -these tasted really bad, bland, and i felt like shit after and regreted it)

Friday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Grand Isle, VT - 44 miles from bristol, 246 from boston)

Lunch: Arugula Salad (Sheffield, MA - 139 miles) with smoked gouda (Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles) and wheat berries (Northfield, MA - 88.9 miles), home made dressing

Snack: Chips (Needham, MA - 9 miles) and Salsa (concord, MA - 20.6 miles)

Snack: Ice Cream from Richardson's in Middleton, MA - 28.1 miles

Dinner: Pasta (somerville- 4.9 miles) Pasta Sauce - (Woonsocket, RI - 42.8 miles) Smoked Gouda (Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles)

Drinks: Beer from Harpoon (boston, MA - 7.7 miles)

Saturday-

Breakfast: Eggs (Grand Isle, VT - 44 miles from bristol, 246 from boston)

Snack: Chocolate milk (Thatcher Diary in Milton, MA - 15 miles) Chips (Needham, MA - 9 miles) and Salsa (concord, MA - 20.6 miles)

Dinner: LAMB STEAK!!! on the grill (Stillman's Farm in Hardwick, MA - 77.4 miles) and Arugula Salad (Sheffield, MA - 139 miles) with Smoked Gouda (Winchendon, MA - 65.8 miles) and home made dressing

Drinks: Harpoon (boston, MA 7.7 miles)

Sunday- (Disclaimer: I failed in a big way on this day, see accompanying post)

Brunch: Eggs, toast, bacon, belgian waffle with strawberries and whip cream, home fries, mamosa with cranberry juice

Dinner: Cheese pizza, buffalo chicken pizza

Plantz

how the plants are looking from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Soup!

I made a delicious french onion soup also with purple cabbage. Sounds gross maybe but reallly good. I saw cabbage today and cringed, and bought it. I had never cooked cabbage before. So i sliced it up for my soup and started munching on some raw cabbage. BIG SURPRISE to me. I love cabbage, and had to stop munching before there wasn't any left! I'm constantly amazed at how much i like the food that have always seemed gross to me. I was listening to a thing today that was talking about how we developed the defense mechanism of being disgusted to keep us from eating things that could kill us, but i fail to see how being grossed out by beets and cabbage was designed to keep me from dying when they are actually very tasty. and look really cool. The cabbage gave my soup a great deep purple/red broth.

NYC

So i spent the weekend in nyc for a trip for my art in context class packing in some full days going to different galleries and museums. It was a rainy weekend for sure. What i wasn't counting on was over stimulation of food desires. Even before I got off the bus I was watching all the restaurants and advertisements drive by. I wanted EVERYTHING. It was sort of rough. In the cold rainy weather with everyone else wanting it, I too really wanted coffee. I almost got some on a few occasions, but I held strong. So what did i eat? I ended up compromising a little. I brought some food and went to a farmers market in the terribly wind and rain, and gave in a little too. By the end of the day, I was soaking wet and exhausted so I picked my battles

Friday:

Breakfast - Eggs and Pancakes (ate at home)

Snack- carrots (precut and part of the two giant bags i brought)

Lunch- Turkey sandwiches with home made bread, misty knoll turkey from when i was in vt, Annie's Mustard from vt, goat cheese from mass

Snack- more carrots

Dinner - white pizza (locally made, probably not local ingredients)

Drinks- Blue Point Beer, gin and tonic (the bar ran out of beer glasses so i gave in and had a cocktail, a lame excuse i admit but it was so tasty, I've gotten rather sick of beer)

Saturday:

Breakfast- Apple Maple Smoothie from the farmers market

Grazing throughout the day- bread from farmers market, juice from farmers market

Early Dinner: Garlic Bread, Hot Chocolate, pizza (locally made but probably not local ingredients)

Snack: the turkey from my uneaten turkey sandwhich

Sunday:

Breakfast- Toast (homemade) with strawberry rhubarb jam

Late Brunch: Tomato Eggs, Homefries, bacon, salad, toast

Snack: Carrots

Dinner: Vermont Fresh pasta (from when i was home) tomato sauce, pesto

Dessert: French Vanilla Ice cream (Made in Cambridge)

Today:

Breakfast: Apple, Cheddar, goat cheese omelette

Lunch: Pasta with tomato sauce

Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce and beef, cheese quesadilla with home made corn tortillas and cabot cheddar (from when i was home)

Dessert: Butterworks yogurt with maple syrup

what to eat? from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

Epic Lobster Adventure with my Mom

lobster adventure from Jena Duncan on Vimeo.

My body

So a lot of people have been asking me how its affecting my body. I started on the first day recording my weight weekly to try to see how the food would affect my weight (a REALLY general measure of how healthy i am eating) Here's what's been going on:

Starting weight: 150.5

After Week 1: 151.5 (+1 lbs)

Week 2: 150 (-1.5 lbs)

Week 3: 149.5 (-.5 lbs)

Week 4: 149.5 (0 lbs)

Week 5: 150.5 (+1 lbs)

Week 6 : 149.5 (-1 lbs)

Total Weigh loss: 1lbs

Ok so on initial thought, losing 1 pound isn't very impressive from not eating any processed foods. But lets look at the bigger picture right now. Its the middle of winter. Not a lot of fresh veggies are in season. The winter months are typically a time to eat ones winter stores and conserve energy. The whole meat and potatoes thing, pretty true if you through in some chicken and breads and diary too. So considering I'm eating a diet with pretty high fat, a lot of meat, few greens, and to be honest copious amounts of chocolate, I think I'm doing pretty good. I can't speak for everyone but in the winter we typically pack on the pounds. So if i lose a few pounds or even break even in the winter that sounds pretty good to me considering I eat a lot of chocolate and ice cream, whole milk yogurt, whole milk, a lot of bread, meat. I imagine in the spring and summer months when there are veggies galore will be a time to see more of an impact, but non the less I have dropped a pants size.

But interestingly enough I've been learning more about the nutrition of pastured meat and diary. It makes sense, but never occurred to me that what the animals eat highly determines their own nutrition and thus our nutrition. Cows and chickens naturally eat grass. Grass fed meat has high levels of beta carotene, vitamin e, and folic acid. In general, it has less fat than cows raised on corn feed

and living in a confined area because pastured cows get exercise and don't eat only carbohydrates.

In terms of the fat that grass fed beef does have they have more of the good for us polyunstaturated

fats than the unhealthy saturated fats found in Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO's)

Less Saturated fat, and less total fat than grain fed animals.

Grass fed beef and chicken also have higher levels of omega-3's an essential fatty acid found in the

cells of green plants and indispensable to human healthy particularly in the development of

neurons (brain cells).

Another important fatty acid omega-6 found in the seeds of green plants while omega-3 in the

leaves. Studies have shown that it is the balance of these two fatty acids, rather than the actual

amounts that play a critical role. A ratio above 4:1 tends to be problematic in health. An imbalance

in ratio may account for many diseases of civilization such as cardiac, diabetes, obesity,

learning behavior in children, and depression in adults.

Factory and thus corn fed meat has a ratio 10:1 whereas grass fed beef has the

recommended ratio of 3:1

Its a similar story with chickens and eggs. Eggs from chickens that were allowed a rich diet of

grass and insects, fruits and veggies, and little corn have much more omega-3's and thus a healthy

ratio of 1.5 to 1 of fatty acids while a "supermarket egg" has a ratio of over 20:1.

Fish has traditionally been seen as the Mecca of omega 3's but since over half of the US burns coal to generate electricty and 80,000 pounds of mercury is dumped into the oceans every year as a result. Nearly all fish are contaminated with mercury. If you get farm raised fish, they are usually fed corn and then you have the same problems of low omega-3.

Grass-fed beef is loaded with other natural minerals and vitamins, plus it's a great source of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) a fat that reduces the risk of cancer, obesity, diabetes, and a number of immune disorders.