Peppers (+ why they help you absorb iron & are immune boosting) + Securing the Sea-Legs of Remote Kindergarten

I’m doing what I can to help Q find his Kindergarten footing via Google Classroom + home documentation, and those hours are eating up the day(light) & time for a recipe crafting, so there’s no recipe this week.

Instead, we’re going to talk about peppers. You can get peppers in the store any time of the year, but this season is when your farms are flooded with peppers, and it makes my heart flutter at the thought of crisp bells, simmer sauces full of all the rainbow-colored hot ones we get from our CSA (<—Stone’s Throw Farm), and the added nutritional punch to stir-fry, soups, ANYTHING.

A peppery recipe will be up soon. I want y’all to eat as many peppers as you possibly can: it benefits your health and it’ll benefit your local farmer.

Continue for: Peppers (that seasonal delight that is in most of our meals this week) plus why they help you absorb iron and support your immune system; what some of Q’s remote-learning looks like; examples of plant-based feasting and a family living their healthiest/happiest (most environmentally kind) lives via Lifestyle Medicine principles.

Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.

Black Rice, Yellow Bell Pepper, Swiss Chard, Mustard Greens, Lettuce, Kalamata Olives, Furikake, and Q’s Sesame Dressing.

There is ~317%~ of your Vitamin C in cup of peppers, so just even getting a third of that into your daily line-up will set you on your way to your RDI.

Vitamin C is needed for the growth and repair of tissues in all parts of your body. It is used to:

• Form an important protein used to make skin, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels (<—your skin is your first immune defense)

• Helps encourage the production of white blood cells known as lymphocytes and phagocytes, which help protect the body against infection; these white blood cells function more effectively while protecting themselves from damage by free radicals.

• (<—ie helps your immune system)

• Heal wounds and from scar tissue

• Repair and maintain cartilage, bones, and teeth

• Aid in the absorption of iron

Iron helps to preserve many vital functions in the body: our general energy and focus, gastrointestinal processes, immune system, and regulation of body temperature. Iron deficiency is something you want no part of, so pay attention to your iron intake and the best way to absorb it.

You need Iron to function —whether you eat animals or not— and the best way to absorb iron is to consume it with Vitamin C. Why? Because Vitamin C captures non-heme iron and stores it in a form that's more easily absorbed by your body.

What does “non-heme” mean? It means the iron you get from plants…and there are a LOT of robust, iron-dense options in the plant realm.

What is heme-iron? It’s the iron you find in animal flesh and chicken ovulation. Why would you want to avoid heme-iron? (<—If the planetary imperatives and compassionate reasons weren’t enough.) Because heme-iron is tied to cardiovascular oxidation and disease. It’ll lead you right toward that #1 cause of death in the world: cardiovascular disease.

So how does a soul get heart-healthy non-heme down their gullet, while also ensuring it’s well-paired with some Vitamin C so that they can absorb that precious mineral and carry on with their days? Get ye some seasonal peppers (<—loaded with Vitamin C) and then go find yourself any of the many plant-based sources of iron (and some more favorites listed out for those click-adversed):

• BEANS (any and all)

• Broccoli

• Brussel Sprouts

• Leafy Greens (beet greens, collard greens, kale, spinach, swiss chard, etc)

• Lentils (any and all, as well)

• Mushrooms

• Nuts and Seeds

• Olives

• Quinoa

• Peas

• Potatoes

• Squash

• Tomatoes

Another fun way to pair iron and vitamin C? Berry bread: oats are high in iron and the berries are high in vitamin c.

Plant-Based Whole-Food Breakfast: homemade whole-grain bread with cinnamon and date, served with a pear from my Aunt Sylvia's tree.

Q: checking in on Wicket and giving her love all dang day. <3

(Sloppy, Quick, School Day) Plant-Based Whole-Food Lunch: black rice noodles, pickled beets (Thanks, Tara!), sugar-free version of the peanut-sauce, furikake (another great sourced of omegas), kalamatas.

Shared Dessert: berry bread, overnight oats, almond butter, berry sauce, and chocolate sauce.

Sandworms and Legos <3

We’ve hit that point of environmental-nerd adulthood where the National Grid letters make me relieved with how we’re handling this 1890’s beast of a Victorian.

We’ve also hit that stage of adulthood/parenthood where your kid designs you a mug. (<—Ian dropped his favorite one, so I walked Q through making him a new one: he drew the picture and looked through all the designs to create this himself.)

That streak across Ian’s face is apparently his mustache blowing in the wind. <3

Plant-Based Whole-Food Breakfast: berry bread (this time with NYS cherries and blueberries) and peanut butter.

A sheet of Q’s homework, done with his usual Q-nique flair. <3

Plant-Based Whole-Food Lunch: black rice noodles, peas, yellow bell pepper, beets, and Q’s Sesame Dressing.

Sometimes remote learning looks like documenting your child’s ability to replicate patterns. (After he's done the work of finding the correct number of same/different items.)

Sometimes it’s writing out sentences.

Sometimes it’s working on writing/listing our numbers (and learning we need to work on spacing :-) )

Sometimes it is documenting that they can follow the lines given through the art teacher’s first lesson. :-)

And as seen by all of the above, Q is determined to give everything his own artistic/sandworm-obsessed enhancement. (<— This zeal is both a balm and a time-gobbler <—another thing we’re working on. )

And sometimes you log on after lunch and see new assignments are posted and one of them (ONE of them <—he had 9 assignments to do and 3 videos on this day) involves cutting out 45 circles, and you laugh outloud, assess the scope of things your 5 year still has to do in the day, and you let him color in the ice cream with markers.

Yesterday, Q and I started his remote learning around 8:45 and we ended at 5:15; but today we wrapped around 4 (and that was with the added bit of Crystal coming over to see the arepa pizza process and discuss business) so I’m hopeful the system will soften out.

He works out of two workbooks, does the Open Court online platform, logs on to multiple video sessions through a day (with his primary teacher, the PE instructor, the music teacher, the art teacher, the social/emotional teacher), creates a flurry of crafts, gathers things, writes letters/words/sentences, works on equations/numbers/shapes, shapes, etc, etc etc: the kid has a full day. Meanwhile, I have been sorting out what is applicable for forward-movement motivating, and what is necessary re “We are going to take a breath and do what we can”, because so far we have daily tears from an overwhelmed cub as MORE assignments are added to the plate, and my heart is in a million frazzly pieces finding some semblance of balance in this wildly foreign realm.

Compromise

We shook off the school day in the yard and soaked up some sun before Ian got home.

Here seen: some of our sunflower stragglers.

And then I cut up a lot of peppers. :-)

Roast bell peppers with onions in the oven at 425 for about half an hour, and you can get a big ol’ pan that can be used in many, many dishes.

I also used the hot peppers to make a hot sauce (boiled peppers with apple cider vinegar, garlic, onion, water, and a bay leaf; took out the leaf, pureed, season to taste.)

Tostada Tuesday: black bean and lentil tacos with fresh greens, ten-minute verde sauce, roasted corn, quick-pickled cabbage, queso, black rice, roasted peppers, and that hot sauce from above.
This whole meal was AMAZING and bursting with fiber, protein, iron, vitamin C, and KINDNESS.

He’s flown through Potter’s 1 and 2 and now we’re on to book 3.

What yesterday looked liked.

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?✌️🤟🖖