Blue Zones & Longevity, Holiday Cheer, and Another Free Central NY Gem: Labrador Hollow

We first visited Labrador Hollow when I was a few months pregnant with Q, and from then through the first 4 years of his life, every visit was visual glory… followed by days of screaming muscles from the swiftly zig-zagging 653ft incline up to the top of Jones Hill, and then the knee-bracing race back down the way you came.

We obviously loved the above enough to keep coming back for more, and we were active souls, but we were not at optimal health because we were still shoveling inflammatory animal products down our gullets multiple times a day.

It wasn’t until this time last year that I tried it plant-based and alone with Q. I was shaking off holiday frustrations (<—had been 2 years of vegetarian “living by example”, zero changes had developed within our loved ones, their health was increasingly failing yet our healthy-lifestyle was the dismissive mocking delight of gatherings, and all the while the environment was crumbling more and more from the animal agriculture they refused to give up), I had furious steam to burn (<—every species’ future AND MY SON’S FUTURE is on the line!), newfound energy from kicking dairy to the curb, was home alone with an equally energetic Q (because Ian was at work), and so I gathered our gear and hit the road.

We ended up running the bulk of the trail (<—if you know me, you know I am not a runner, this has been an unexpected side effect of PBWF feasting), and when Q could climb no more I gathered him up and ran the last half of the hill while carrying that 40lb cub. We made it to the top, filled the air with joyful hollering, slid-splashed back down in another sprint (<—it was so rainy there were streams on the usual path), and I kept waiting for the ol’ painful wallop to creep into my joints and muscles, but the only lingering remnant of the hike was a slightly sore bicep from schlepping Q.

I was stronger, healthier, and recovering faster than I’d ever had in my life, and yet like all of you I am every day older than the last. What had changed? The foods/fuel I was feeding my system.

That hike cleared my roaring head enough to let out the klaxon howl that kicked off this whole year. I thought, “People don’t listen to us or acknowledge our radical health shift, but maybe I just need to take my passion for writing & research and map it out for them… They’ll follow the doctors, science, Leading Organizations, and links all screaming the same, right?”

Well, Good Gravy. Enough of you woke up and stepped up, that this Sunday we headed to Labrador to make the same circuit (this time thankfully with Ian), but the purpose was of an entirely different steam-venting: the overwhelming shock of doubling Your Kind Kitchen’s dream goal and the need to disconnect from that omnipresent business-crunch-stress to soak up time with my family.

This year has been one heck of a whirl and a wallop. There has been howling, growth, disconnection, and so many new/inspiring light-filled souls met/loved that they have fractaled beyond count. In a kismet clang, a few of these folks have recently been harking about Blue Zones, and that research folds right in to all of the above, so there’ll be illuminating links found below.


Continue for: Blue Zones & Longevity, Holiday Cheer, Shock/Gratitude, and the glory of Labrador Hollow.

Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.

Last time we attempted Labrador Hollow, it was in April and there were soooooo many folks trying to get out in nature (because quarantine is hard on everyone!) that the whole road leading to this park was over-stuffed with cars, so we turned around and avoided it like the COVID plague.

This time, we came out early on a rainy morning and had it almost entirely to ourselves.

Last Year’s View

This year’s view. Q is spooked of heights, so kept trying to pull Ian back. :-)

Running back down the hill.

Last year’s view: the trail had enough rain water to create a little stream.

Post-Hike Business Supporting.
The owner of Bloomin’ Cup was one of our many subscribers, she’d asked us to pop in to her coffee shop anytime we were in Tully (Labrador is right outside of Tully), and she wasn’t there for meeting (it was a Sunday after all!), but they have tasty coffee, gifts, and local pastries like this delicious Gluen-Free/Plant-Based brownie from Half Moon Bakery. :-)

By the time we got home, I had to shutdown our subscription page and I sat with this view for a long jangly (over-filled with gratitude) while.

We are folks who operate a simple, low-budget (<—I was laid-off at the beginning of this pandemic), low-waste lifestyle: my standing desk is my son’s building blocks (I add them to the corner of our table each day, and then dismantle later), our tree is covered with salt-dough ornaments we made when we couldn’t afford ornaments (and then filled in with gifted ones through the years), our front room is filled with plants because we couldn’t afford filler furniture, almost everything in this house is some sort of hand-me-down (in both an effort to keep costs low and reduce waste); so when Crystal and I launched this business we KNEW it needed to be affordable and accessible or the radius of environmental/nutritional impact would be withered to those who only have money to spare, and we feel EVERY ONE should have access to environmental sustainability and nutrition (both information about and daily feasting).

We hope to grow along with our community and open up more subscriptions in the future, but there needed to be a cap for careful execution, our sanity, and delivery times that fall within a reasonable window. :-)

Kiran Sidhu (<—one of my favorite nutritionists) is one of those light-filled/super-helpful folks I’ve met through this year, and she posted the above gem re: Blue Zones.


I’m going to copy from another-favorite Nutritionist (+Physiotherapist) Simon Hill for the first 3 questions because he writes/says this better than I ever could (and I need to wrap up this post to start homeschooling Q before heading out to pick up Your Kind Kitchen items from a liquidation auction):

What the heck are Blue Zones?

The Blue Zones are 5 populations which have been studied in detail by medical researchers, anthropologists, epidemiologists and demographers & show the greatest longevity across all human populations on Planet Earth. On average, they live 10 years longer than the average Westerner and their populations have 10x as many centurions (people 100+ yrs of age). These populations are from:

• Okinawa, Japan

• The Ogliastra region of Sardinia

• karia, Greece

• Nicoya, Costa Rica

• Loma Linda, California

Ok, so what do they have in common?

“They eat a largely plant-based diet with the majority of their calories coming from grains, nuts, legumes, fruits & vegetables. Fava beans, black beans, soy beans and lentils are the most common lentils among the centenarians in these groups and are typically consumed daily. Fish and VERY small amounts of cheese (from sheep and goats, not from cows) are the most common animal products these populations consume. On average, 95% of their meals do not include any meat – to quantify this, that is 1 in 20 meals. They consume very small, if any, processed foods.”

YOU MAY BE THINKING “IF THE BLUE ZONE POPULATIONS ARE NOT 100% PLANT-BASED, THEN WHY NOT STICK TO A 95% PLANT-BASED DIET.

“Whilst they aren’t strictly vegan by definition (some groups within the blue zones are vegan, but overall if we take a broad view these populations aren’t) we have to remember the blue zones have NOT set out to live the longest without disease & medication, their longevity is merely a result of a culture that is inclusive to health promotion. It’s certainly not a title they set their eyes on and developed a diet and life principles around – it’s just happened. But luckily, we have more to go off than just their lifestyle habits – they are a great guide but we have years of detailed clinical science and trials to draw information from as well.

It’s clear now that science has linked animal product consumption with chronic disease & mortality, in particular processed meat & red meat. We also know that plant-based food groups like unrefined grains & legumes have been used in clinical studies to actually prevent & reverse chronic disease (8,9,10,11,12) .

Below is a snippet from an article published in the Journal of Geriatric Cardiology by highly regarded Internal Medicine physician Dr Michelle McMacken:

There is a general consensus that the elements of a whole-foods plant-based diet—legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and nuts, with limited or no intake of refined foods and animal products—are highly beneficial for preventing and treating type 2 diabetes. Equally important, plant-based diets address the bigger picture for patients with diabetes by simultaneously treating cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, and its risk factors such as obesity, hypertension, hyper-lipidemia, and inflammation. The advantages of a plant-based diet also extend to reduction in risk of cancer, the second leading cause of death in the United States; the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research recommend eating mostly foods of plant origin, avoiding all processed meats and sugary drinks, and limiting intake of red meats, energy dense foods, salt, and alcohol for cancer prevention (11).

On top of that, we know you can thrive without any animal products at all & that supplements are commonly recommended for BOTH people consuming animal or plant-based diets depending on their stage of life & personal circumstances (i.e Vitamin D, Folate and B12).  Many animal products artificially contain these supplements via fortified cattle feed or injections so we are led to believe that meat is the holy grail when, in reality, it’s a second hand source of many nutrients – if an animal-based diet is so ‘complete’ then why do so many people eating a Western diet have deficiencies & buy supplements? It’s best to just agree that supplements may be required whatever diet someone has depending on their circumstances…otherwise supplement shops would only have ever existed for vegans. For me, it’s clear a plant-based diet is full of health promoting food groups and free from disease provoking food groups. Show me a a decent study that says legumes, fruits, veg and unrefined grains cause disease?

Further to this I look at the 5% fish that some these Blue Zone groups consume and know I can get the same nutrients from a plant-based diet without exposing myself to heavy metals, cholesterol, antibiotics, hormones & saturated animal fats.  In addition to that, the group that shows the greatest longevity among the blue zones is the Adventist’s who do not consume any meat at all (purely vegetarian).”

——————-

And all of the above reasons are purely for health, but when we get into the environmental imperatives (animal agriculture has a bigger contribution to climate change than OUR ENTIRE TRANSPORTATION SECTOR, and it pollutes waterways and squanders valuable land) and compassionate consideration: there is no reason any of us need to be eating animal products. They are hurting our bodies, the earth, and the animals suffering to fill us with disease.

Want a great podcast interview with a brilliant doctor who will explain all of the above in down-to-earth detail? Give this Dr. Will Bulsiewicz interview a listen. He’ll explain in nutritional/biological mechanistic detail all that those animal products are doing to your body (from your microbiome to your cardiovascular system), he’ll explain the absurdity of eating a diet our ancestors ate (<—THEY LIVED DECADES LESS THAN US!), and how to eat for longevity and robust health. If podcasts aren’t your thing, I’ve read his book two times over and I’ve color-penciled sections and blasted corresponding links in over 20 previous essays. (Also mentioned Blue Zones in these ones.)

Want to hear from Dan Buettner (the man who wrote the book on Blue Zones), himself? Here is a mind-opening interview he did with plant-based ultra-marathoner Rich Roll.

Oh hey, even CBS gave a shout-out to Blue Zones this week. :-) “‘Ensure that your diet is 90% to 100% plant-based’: 9 food rules from the world’s longest-living people”

And if you’re like, “Yeah…well… that’s just a few areas of the world and what do these folks know about anything?” here are the leading organizations also promoting the health necessity of plant-based feasting: National Institutes of Health, Mayo Clinic, Yale, the United Nations, Harvard School of Health, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, even the National Kidney Foundation.

It’s been an action-packed few days and I forgot to get pics of foods in the flurry, but here was a scrumptious lunch of quinoa (cooked with peas), garlicky green beans, easy avocado, quick-pickled kholrabi (made just like our cabbage, but with cilantro added in too), topped with sesame dressing and furikake.

And will a kiddo even eat that? Yes, he grabs it looking like this and then returns that bowl licked clean. :-)

Holiday Cheer: He’s the kind of kiddo who closes his eyes even as he’s opening a surprise delivery. <3

David had sent Q an ornament for our tree, Q responded by sending back this drawing, with the background: "Up above is [some new creation he's calling] Dehmrock: the son of Jack Skellington who checks to see if you're grateful for the gifts you've been given. If so, you get a Beetlejuice Sandworm under your tree; if you aren't, he eats them in front of you or sets them on fire.” 😅🤦‍♀️😬

Holiday Cheer and Making The Best Out Of Old Harms

We used to love eating the flesh of other souls. We’d dice up that long-suffering animal’s flesh on these old cutting boards, braise it, roast it, grill it, we did it all…and then we grew forward with the horror of that cycle.

Now we use these old (cleaned) cutting boards as marker-blotting savers for our table when Q is working away on artistic whims, and we’ll never (willingly) eat another animal-product again. There is absolutely no good reason to do so!

Here seen: he’s helping me fill in “Season’s Greetings!” Cards (<— we know many non-Christian souls and we also sometimes don’t even get these things out until closer to the New Year :-D), and he’s turning that old harm into forward sprinting LIGHT.

What’s the most impactful thing you can do as an individual to help your kin, community, millions of species, and planet? Transition as plant-based as possible.🌎♥️

Why? Plant-Based foods are environmentally imperative 🌎. They also promote ideal health💪 (which takes stress off our overburdened health care system), are inexpensive🙌, delicious🤤, & compassionate. 💕  

Why imperative, though? 🤔We’re approaching (& have crossed) climate tipping points that will doom our kin & millions of other species. 😱📣Reducing/eliminating animal products is the *most impactful thing an individual can do* to prevent worse. 🌎🔥

Why? Animal Agriculture creates more emissions than the entire transportation sector combined, it’s tied to water waste/loss/pollution (<-- freshwater is our most precious resource💧), land loss/deforestation (<-- exacerbates climate change by reducing our ability to sequester carbon🔥🌎), ocean acidification (<-- FYI 50-85% of earth’s oxygen originates from oceanic plankton🌊) & vast species loss/extinction/suffering💔📣🌎

Plus, consuming animal products is tied to increased risk of cardiovascular disease❤️‍🩹, diabetes👎, cancer👎, and chronic disease👎; whereas Plant-Based feasting is linked to preventing/reversing some of our most common diseases (<— like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer); plus it promotes ideal health & robust strength (ie Olympians, Weightlifters, Endurance Athletes are thriving via PBWFs too). 🎉🙌♥️

What organizations are promoting plant-based diets for best health and environmental stability? National Institutes of Health,  Mayo Clinic, Yale, the United Nations, Harvard School of Health,  American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, National Kidney Foundation, even the Parkinson’s Foundation.

We’re all overwhelmed in one way or another, but for the sake of our kin (and the millions of species we share this planet with) we need to start pivoting forward. As someone who once rarely ate green things & used to eat animal products at every meal, I can assure you that is possible, affordable, enjoyable, & purposeful to pivot Plant-Based. In fact, our whole family is now healthier/stronger than ever. 🙌♥️

Anecdotally, our son had failure-to-thrive, was also plagued with perpetual ear-infections/sinus-infections, and had an omnipresent runny nose. What was he eating? Grass-fed milk, organic/antibiotic-free/grass-fed/local meats, eggs from organic-fed/well-loved chickens from a neighbor, every meal came with vegetables, and we limited junkfood. He was healed via a plant-based diet: he’s launched out of that diagnosis and the last time he had a sinus-infection (or was sick at all) was in 2019 when he had some cheese at a school Christmas party. Before shifting to PBWF’s he was sick every month, and how he’s a robust, vital, thriving kiddo. 🙌🎉♥️

If you think any of the above sounds over-reached/absurd/impossible, please go read the links above. I understand the inclination to hackle-raise (<—because I was once totally there) but the science is clear: any step we make forward is imperative (<—and again “STEPS” is the focus. Don’t leap, just start making steps!). It’s as simple as starting with one meal a week and growing from there.💕

We have the ability (deliciously, healthfully, kindly, inexpensively) to *preserve/protect* the planet we share with millions of species & our kin. How are we going to use that power today?✌️🤟🖖