Sunday Song Day: Application & Enrichment (Art+Learning, Research/Science+Feasting, "Mean Green Mother" Review)
On Sundays, I wake up at 4:30 so I can have time to write before Q wakes. I do a drawing on Q’s chalkboard first (<— it’s always some spooky delight he’s requested which I’ve altered to be sappy <—because I’m that mom) but he’s getting so good at drawing that he’s critiquing these little love messages like one of my college art profs, and the resulting effort to improve along-with-him involved some chalked stumblings that had just wrapped when I heard the pitter-patter of early-bird feet.
Like most recent mornings, this zealous artist was up before light immediately inspired to draw… but narrating whatever he’s creating or what was on his mind, so writing was tabled for being present, delayed, then condensed.
Continue for: some heart-swelling/saving information about the benefits of whole-grains; examples of what this active plant-based family was eating through the week; a cub keen on carnivorous plants & math; a revisit of “Mean Green Mother” (<— with the inspiring plant-based Olympians and Athletes list again) ; plus Mom drawings. :-)
Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward.
I’ve mentioned good ol’ gastroenterologist, mind-blowingly brainy/helpful, and bestselling author Dr Will Bulsiewicz more than a few times :-D , and here’s another helpful informational wallop re whole-grains.
Want some more information about how plant-based diets help folks with diabetes? Click the links in that sentence (they are all leading to doctors or dietitians) and here are a lot of essays I wrote re diabetes and plant-based benefits.
What’s TMAO? Discussed that in these essays: it is created when you eat animal products and it oxidizes your LDL causing widespread cardiovascular damage.
Want some more links re whole grains and health? Here you go:
“Whole Grains, Refined Grains, and Dietary Fiber” - American Heart Association
“Whole grains: Hearty options for a healthy diet” - Mayo Clinic
Here seen: a few Plant-Based (almost entirely whole-food) meals we loved through the week, most of which involved some manner of whole grain.
Plant-Based Breakfast and Whole-Grain Celebration: Whole-Oatflour Ginger Cake topped with hemp hearts and a lemon/maple glaze; served with apple and peanut butter.
This recipe will be coming up on Recipe Wednesday with some Thanksgiving options.
Kiddo Lunch: homemade whole-grain roll with peanut butter and homemade berry sauce (mango, blueberry, strawberry), and served with the last of some sesame garlic green beans (<—he was offered a salad, and he said “Do we have any of those green beans from last night? If so, I’d like as many of them as you can offer!”)
Perpetual Plant-Based Taco Excitement
Pumfu tacos with cashew queso, CSA greens, quick-pickled cabbage, olives, whole grain tortillas.
Not Healthy Cheat Meal (but kinder to the earth than the beef version): Beyond Burger on a homemade whole-grain bun with kale, baked fries, green beans, and sugar-free ketchup. If we eat something as fatty (and delicious) as a Beyond Burger we make sure to do so with lots of fiber too, it’s all about balance.
Broccoli Soup with braised carrots, greens, sunflower seeds, and homemade whole-grain bread.
Last bit of the test-batch of a “cheesy” (Crystal’s plant-based whole-food cheese) hashbrown casserole; served with balsamic greens, sugar free ketchup, and hot sauce.
Crystal caught this photo of a collaboration dinner: some of her amazing potato “cheese” soup, side salad (Stone’s Throw Arugula, with apples, roasted squash, sunflower seeds, and balsamic), and whole-grain homemade pretzels.
Crystal’s sweet son Ewen let Q and Ian try his VR set: first for both, and equally a hoot. <3
If apple season has left you with a lot of apples and some are getting beyond snappy, ‘tis the season of apple sauce. Leave those skins on! <3
Closed loop system: when we rinse off quinoa, we collect the discarded water to use in our house plants.
That recycled water works well for nourishing the little freckled lettuce hitchhikers that came in with the yard plants before the first freeze. :-)
Homeschooling View (Benefactors of rinsed grains and beans :-D): Q drawing a picture of the blooming cactus on his morning message from Ian.
When we moved in, I started collecting everyone’s cuttings and refuse plants (and subsidized by shopping at Carol Watson Greenhouse) and filled the house with greenery. Cheaper than furniture, helps fight back on the dryness of a windy Victorian, and gives us greenery through our long winters.
Ian’s morning messages have a weight of guidance that lights beyond Q. <3 (The cactus is top right.)
What’s the frequency in which Q learns? Art, spooky art, heart, more art. The way he drew the mom and daughter handing off the plant makes my heart flutter.
Q uses a visual math system, and likes it enough that it becomes a sort of game to create numbers.
Each week he chooses what he wants to learn/write about, and this week he wanted to focus on the real Audrey 2s. “Thigmonasty”, “Nastic Responses”, and “Turgor” were all new to us and opened up some fascinating discussions.
What’s not new information? Carnivorous plants may need to consume other souls to survive, but humans do not. In fact, we’re healthier the less animal products we eat, and the more we avoid them the more we help lessen the disastrous impacts of animal agriculture and its part in runaway climate change. You could shift your feasting toward plant-based foods and you’d help yourself (your kin), the earth, and the animal needlessly suffering to give you flesh, breastmilk, and ovulation. Win, win,win, Eh? What’s holding you back?
The view often from sunrise to sunset, to the tune of “One more drawing, Mama, please?!”
I used to post Q’s morning chalkboards, and only stopped to save space. Doing them daily was too much to throw into a day, so he now gets them on Sundays.
He requests some spooky delight, and I use my rudimentary skills to make them lovey.
“Mama, could it be a drawing of all the sandworms? Even the bobbitt?)” / Q swimming down to greet Eunice Aphroditois and a grabboid, with a shai-hulud and Beetlejuice Sandworm poster in E.A’s burrow. :-)
“Mama, could it be a Beetlejuice Sandworm? But it has to be coming right at you!” (<—because he’d been working on that all week.) / The face is a sweet hot mess, but it gave us a good example of learning through mistakes and practicing, and a chance to highlight one of Q’s linguistic delights: jinxing. <—— there must be something inherently comforting about getting on the same wavelength (in this case: sound) as another soul. <3
“Mama, can it be a piranha plant, but with a three-dimensional mouth?”
“Mama, could it be the Mean Green Mother?”
Copied from original post, but with even more links.
As Q and I were listening to the “Little Shop of Horrors” soundtrack for the millionth time (because this is all he wants to listen to these days <—and still), “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” came on and the conversation went as follows:
j - Man, maybe “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space” should be the song for Sunday Song Day.
Q- Because we love dancing to it?
j- Hah! No, although I do love dancing to it with you. (<—Q and I have cardio dance breaks all day, every day) It’d be because people think I’m a “Mean Green Mother”.
Q - What?! (laughs) That’s silly. You’re not mean!
j- Well, people think my website tone is mean. (<—remember I read these out loud to him each time, so he’s heard them all <—everything is a life lesson in this house.)
Q - WHAT?! You’re not mean! You’re trying to tell people that they need to care about the earth, and they keep eating animals even though it is mean to the animals and ruining the environment and making themselves all sick and inflamed…aren’t they the mean ones?!
j - UGH. Yeah, well that’s what I wish they understood, but folks refuse to wake up to that reality.
Q - Is it like when bullies try to tell people that they are bad, but really it’s because the bully is the bad one?
j - Oh man, Bear…Yeah, it’s a little like that.
Oh dear standstill souls. If only you could have the insight of my 5 year old. If you were only harming yourselves, I’d stay silent…but you’re ruining my son’s future, you’re filling yourselves with disease, you’re compromising the planetary stability for every soul and species on this planet, and needlessly consuming flesh/breastmilk/ovulation in the process.
There is a healthier, kinder, environmentally sustainable path forward! And it’s delicious to boot! There’s so much to gain and it’s a darn shame to stay rooted in harmful habits.
Want some inspiration to move forward? Meet the following plant-based souls who inspire me to tears:
Dotsie Bausch (PERSONAL HERO) - “an American cyclist, advocate, speaker, and the executive director of the nonprofit, Switch4Good. She is a seven-time USA Cycling National Champion, a two-time Pan American Champion, and an Olympic silver medalist (women's track cycling, London 2012).” (<—And she’s the oldest soul in her sport to ever medal!!!)
Patrick Baboumian (<—Q’s personal hero) - Won "Germany's Strongest Man" in 2011 by winning the open division at the German strongman nationals, broke the world record for most weight ever carried by a human being, traveling 10 meters with a 1216 lb (550 kg) yoke on 9.8.13 in Toronto; and on September 20, 2015, Baboumian beat his own record by completing the yoke walk with 560 kg (1,230 pounds) in Germany.
Kendrick Farris - “the only male weightlifter from Team USA to qualify for the Rio Olympics, has moved up a weight class (he now competes in the 94kg class, aka 207 pounds) and claimed an American record after lifting a total 377kg (831 pounds) at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in May since adopting the plant-based diet.”
Rich Roll - “In May 2010, Rich and his ultra-colleague Jason Lester accomplished an unprecedented feat of staggering endurance many said was not possible. Something they call the EPIC5 CHALLENGE– an odyssey that entailed completing 5 ironman-distance triathlons on 5 islands of Hawaii in under a week.”…and he’s FIFTY. He’s also one of the most mindful souls I’ve ever listened to, and his podcast is a balm: you soak up heady medical info with a down-to-earth ease.
Scott Jurek - He is the only runner ever to win the Western States seven years in a row, from 1999 to 2005. (His course record, set in 2004, was 15 hours, 36 minutes, 27 seconds, an average of 9:21 per mile.) He is the only American ever to win Greece’s Spartathlon, a 153-mile race from Sparta to Athens (he won that in 2006, 2007, and 2008). He is the only person to win, in the same year (2005), Western States and the fiendish 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon that begins in Death Valley.
In May 2015, Jurek began an attempt to break the supported Appalachian Trail thru-hike speed record: which was 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes to complete the 2,168-mile route. On July 13, 2015, he completed the trail, breaking the old record by three hours….It meant he was running two marathons a day over tough terrain and he did it with a quadriceps injury. Could you do that?! Could you even handle one day of it?! (This Runner’s World article about him is a great read and made my heart burst and flutter.)
Want a podcast that will open your mind to racial disparities and also fill your heart with hope of forward movement? Listen to this amazing 2 part interview from the Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine.
Chuck (an inspiring story in his own right) “revisits conversations with two leaders who explore the disparities facing the black community, including a widening gap of health. Author Tracye McQuirter details the nutritional challenges facing the community that correlate to a socio-economic divide. Tracye also highlights the rich history of African Americans and plant-based diets and the 10,000 Black Vegan Women initiative.”
Or: “At a time when black Americans are being diagnosed with chronic health conditions at alarming rates, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams is defying the odds to chart his own course for a healthier life. Borough President Adams was beginning to lose his vision and experiencing nerve damage when he was diagnosed with diabetes. Despite the grim circumstances, he would not accept failing health and an early grave as his fate. Instead, he overhauled his diet and lifestyle to reverse his diabetes. Today, he is inspiring thousands of others who feel trapped to follow in his footsteps and live the healthier lives they’ve always imagined.”
Also: “What’s going to lower your blood pressure because you’re going to be smiling so much and lit up by her positivity? This interview with Tabitha Brown on the Plant Prescription Podcast titled, “Being a vegan woman of colour*, black lives matter, and healing with plant-based diets.” Tabitha had an arc that sounds like soooo many other plant-based souls: she was sick, she went round after round with her doctors and no one could figure out what was ailing her, she was at her absolute wits end, she tried going plant-based as a last-ditch “Well, what do I have to lose?!” after her daughter urged her to try it out (the daughter had seen What the Health at school, and y’all SHOULD REALLY WATCH THAT as I have urged too!), and Tabitha found every single damn thing that was wrong with her vanished away and she was filled with overwhelming energy. She’s gone on to be a viral sensation of illumination and joy. Want to be pepped up and have your mind-opened with an inspiring tale of growth? Set aside an hour and give that podcast a listen.”
Or go read this post where I wax poetic about my love for Dr. Brooke Goldner. It has two different podcasts with her, both of which make me happy-cry. (Have Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, MS, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease? GIVE HER YOUR TIME! It could save and better your whole life!!!)
Or go read my “Leading Doctors” post. They are all overwhelmingly inspiring and informative.
Want some more heart-lifting inspiration? Go watch Game Changers on Netflix (or however you stream) and have your heart-bursting with pride for all the athletes who crushed personal goals after switching to plant-based whole-foods, and have your mind rattled opened by all the doctors interviewed therein that explain the mechanisms in play that illuminate why PBWF are best for you and precisely why animal products are feeding you disease. [<—The first time I saw this movie I kept bursting into happy tears because the Dotsie trajectory mirrored by own background shock at how STRONG I was getting in contrast to the assumed withering. I personally (as well as my family) became healthier than ever, the athletes within were the same, and this documentary explains precisely why the best fuel for a human body is plant-based feasting.]
And If you need celebrities, you have Beyonce (who is even on the back of that Undo It book by Dr Dean Ornish I keep reading/harping about), but I don’t have time to keep listing out folks. A simple Google search awaits you.
Ian and Q
Ian and Q <3
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?✌️🤟🖖
