spreading tast joy with santa

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Santa is here, giving out presents

Santa is coming!

Santa is coming to town!

the amazing human being

 

its amazing what we mere human beings are capable of, imagination, creation of, dance, art, mechanics, thought and philosophy.

imagine of we were able to tap into the knowledge of our vast universe,

'oh, the places you'll go!'

 

 

karma and cloud beings

Via @nprnews: Arsenic Life Is Nice; Living Clouds Are Nicer | http://t.co/nxhfFC2

I find it intriguing how millions of people practice yoga and I wonder about all those who are 'certifed' to teach it. do they know where yoga originated from? are they fully benefiting from practicing yoga positions and not practicing the philosophy of diet and spirituality that can go with yoga?

we all know how to use the phrase 'its bad karma' or 'its good karma', but do we really understand what karma is?

buddhism and hinduism has its roots in jainism where 'karma' is believed to be an actual physical matter and affects people in a physical way, either in a 'good way, good karma' or a 'bad way, bad karma'.

think of the smallest particle that can possibly exist which we cannot see. currently, the smallest particle that we can see is a quark which is smaller than a proton or neutron which makes up an atom which is the basic unit of matter. this tiny particle dust is floating all around us and is called karma in jainism. 

in short without getting religious, in jainism, the goal is to rid of the bad karma covering our souls, then we will reach enlightenment. 

clouds, particle clouds, nebulas, being 'alive', Im not so sure about. but maybe these cloud particles, or nebulas thoughout the universe are the neurons for synapses to travel for a greater being that we cannot see because we're not able to distance ourselves far enough away. 

a proper diet folow up

In between cooking, prepping, marketing, and the other million things Im working on on top of rying to get together a new menu, I try to post blogs.

so my thoughts will be random.

getting back to the ulcerative colitis and a proper diet and eating worms......

I remember growing up my parents were always working and my sister and I usually had to take care of ourselves even when it came to eating. Also being an immigrant family, there were many not so healthy eating habits that quickly became part of our regular diet. whether it be spam or fast food, eating a stick of butter like a candy bar. oh and all that white bread, from pasta to pizza to PBJ on wonder bread. I remember how we as kids would tear off the brown edges, roll up the bread into a big ball and get such satisfaction biting into it.

Unfortunately fo some of us who have weak stomachs, years of unhealthy eating habits will take a toll on our system. this is what happened to my wife.

a proper diet is important to prevent health problems, and it is also important to cure health problems.

at the same time, some help from nature cant hurt either, whether it be herbal remedies or microorganisms.

I'll need to do a little more research about this healthy parasite before letting my wife ingest them. 

a proper diet

Via @nprnews: Eat Your Worms: The Upside Of Parasites | http://t.co/5wWYGGC

 

My wife was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis almost 2 years ago. Its an extremely distressful condition and renders doing mundane routines difficult. A visit to the physician can be humiliating and what makes dealing with a so called 'educated' 'professional' so disconcerting is the fact that a doctor's advice is to smoke in order to relieve the discomfort.

thank god for the internet, for both its good and bad.

through much reading and research, my wife tried different diets and found a starch free diet which seems to help, but it will be a while longer before we know if its going to actually heal her intestinal lining.

I always knew the importance of a proper diet, but now I know the importance of a proper diet.

this is why i go out of my way, even if it means smaller profit margins, to use the ingredients that i do at tast eatery. no, our menu is far from perfect, and our goal is not to have the perfect menu, but help everyone transition to a proper diet. I wish i could be a vegetarian, but i like eating red meat and I think there are many out there in a similar transition period to a proper diet.

 

do what you love, than its no longer work

if you can refrain from being envious of others, 

stop being tempted by the media, 

find your life's passion,

then you'll never have to work again.

 

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/23/131550142/-soul-mates-shoe-entrepreneur-finds-love-in-giving

 

 

first kill your food

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2010/11/19/arts/1248069338605/city-critic-slau...

knowing that our meat was once alive use to be common knowledge

food as medicine

Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy

food.

-  Hippocrates

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/21/magazine/21Epilepsy-t.html

why we are so unhealthy

when the USDA creates a marketing entity called Dairy Management to help boost sales for food corporations such as Domino's and Taco Bells.....

we the people better make a stand or else its basically a lost cause when our own government is in bed with the food corporations that supply the fast food chains.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07fat.html

 

when you read this NYT article, you should be F'in pissed OFF!

 

but whats the point if we dont do anything about it.

take part in something

http://www.takepart.com/

 

http://www.takepart.com/foodinc

what choice do we have

making choices

http://www.takepart.com/videos/hungry-for-change-anna-lappé/10413

What's in your food

music inspiration

 

what you eat

Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy

food.

-  Hippocrates

diet, meaning the everyday food we eat

When diet is wrong medicine is of no use.

When diet is correct medicine is of no need.

- Ancient Ayurvedic Proverb

1 in 10 adults have type 2 diabetes

Diabetes Rates To Soar Unless Americans Get Weight Under Control | http://t.co/neTt7bK

Diabetes costing the US 174 Billion a year! 174 Billion! 174 Billion!!!!

1 in 10 adults, not including children, have type 2 diabetes. 24 MIllion. 24 million. 24       million!

"..................Some pills boost our risk of more health problems."

so what is the solution? a healthy diet?

so what does our government want to do? pass legislation?

how about stop giving into the lobbyists of 'food incorporated' and start giving a rats ass about the american people!

got milk?

celery recall

Texas Shuts Down Celery Plant After Five Deadly Listeria Cases Reported | http://t.co/rQwz37M

who are these so called food safety advocates? pass more legislation!? and more legislation!?

"...from consumer groups to producers, have called for the Senate to pass the bill, which would increase inspections, amp up the FDA's recall authority, and give it new tools to detect illness before it gets too widespread."

how about farming properly so to limit growth of food borne illnesses and educating the public to eat healthy so the body can naturally defend against illnesses.

its bad enough that the FDA allows radiation of spinach and lettuce.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2128774020080821

"...The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday the radiation treatment also would make the leafy greens last longer and give them greater "shelf-life" for retailers and consumers."

great. longer shelf life in exchange for produce zapped of 75% of its nutrients from radiation.

so now we are eating produce grown in nutrient deprived soil which gets radiated further reducing nutrients in the produce all to force us to take pharmaceutical developed multi vitamins and keep us just barely sick enough to relie on our healthcare system.

There is only one species on planet Earth that's stupid enough to think a McDonald's hamburger is food

http://www.naturalnews.com/030074_Happy_Meal_decompose.html

 

"There is only one species on planet Earth that's stupid enough to think a McDonald's hamburger is food. This species is suffering from skyrocketing rates of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia and obesity. This species claims to be the most intelligent species on the planet, and yet it behaves in such a moronic way that it feeds its own children poisonous chemicals and such atrocious non-foods that even fungi won't eat it (and fungi will eat cow manure, just FYI)."

more vital than the nation's oil supply?

FOOD!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/business/12sorkin.html

imagine if we took our decomposable garbage and actually decomposed it instead of throwing it into landfills mixed with garbage that doesnt decompose, we could actually make rich organic material that could provide actual nutrients for farming.

 

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who prepared your food?

This meal is the labor of countless beings;

let us remember their toil.

-  Zen meal chant

Gratitude and Reverence for what you eat

Before his enlightenment, the historical Buddha

weakened himself with fasting and other ascetic

practices. Then a young woman offered him a bowl of

milk, which he drank. Strengthened, he sat beneath

a bodhi tree and began to meditate, and in this way

he realized enlightenment.

 

From a Buddhist perspective, eating is more than

just taking in nourishment. It is an interaction

with the entire phenomenal universe. It is a gift

given us through the work of all beings. We vow to

be worthy of the gift and work to benefit others.

Food is received and eaten with gratitude and

reverence.

 

 

A Zen blessing at mealtime: 

"In this plate of food, I see the entire universe

supporting my existence."

want to be healthy?

its common sense really.

How much sugar do you eat or drink?

Food Revolution

If you are eating a bagel or even worse nothing at all almost every morning, pizza, processed deli meats,  or fast food most of the week for lunch, pasta or Chinese take-out several times a week for dinner, any kind of sugary drink at least once a day, its seriously time to re-evaluate your eating habit.

Yes we do sell bagels, buttery croissants  and drinks organic or not loaded with sugar. There is nothing wrong with having a bagel or croissant once in a while. Even I need to give in to my Chinese take-out/taco bell cravings. However, if this is 80% of your weekly meal, its time for a change. You may be feeling fine now, but wait til your age catches up to you.

In fact your body may be telling you something now, but you just are not listening.

Some symptoms caused by poor eating habits:

• Constipation
• head aches
• feeling lethargic
• allergies
• diabeities
• kidney stones
•  high cholesterol
• lack of concentration
•  regular colds
• pale skin color

these are just some of the symptoms caused by poor eating habits. Usually we address these symptoms by taking over the counter medication rather than getting to the root of the cause which if not addressed can cause you to have a very unfulfilling life as you get older.

Eat well now so you don’t have to pay later.

We know how hard it is to eat healthy, so we will be working on helping you make it easier.

We are working on completely revising our menu to help everyone eat better by early 2011.

my daughter eats her fruits and veggies

researchers at the University of California, Berkeley did a 3 year study examining the difference between children who participated in a edible schoolyard program and those who didnt. Apparently the children who helped garden and helped cook the food they harvested ate 1 and a half servings more fruit and vegetables.

hmmmmmm, sounds a lot like what I did with my daughter. and I really didnt need an expert to tell me this.

it just seemed like common sense to me. In fact this was common practice in the old days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/health/policy/25vegetables.html

kids eating a proper diet starts with the parents eating a proper diet. until then, the chain cannot be broken.

what do chickens eat?

Via @nprnews: Egg Farmers At Center Of Salmonella Outbreak Speak Out | http://t.co/c2zDsXV

the egg farmer believes the root cause of the salmonella may be 'meat and bone meal' found in the chicken feed?!

So, lets do a common sense exercise here. growing up as a kid, going to parks, visiting zoos, feeding the pigeons and ducks in the parks or those PBS shows, I really can't remember birds being fed meat unless it was a predatorial bird such as an eagle, a hawk, a vulture, etc.......

I really can't remember chicken eating meat.

I think the real question 'the house panel' should be asking the egg farmer is, 'why are you feeding the chickens bones and meat in the first place?

Mr President, please make a stand and fight for our health! among other things.

If only our food were to be properly farmed, and most of the country were to eat properly, maybe we could almost eliminate the need for healthcare.

Its about time doctors do more than prescribe medicine that just numbs the pain, or prescribe surgery for the sake of surgery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/22/dining/22doctors.html

I like the doctor's quote at the end of the article. As I mentioned on this blog, common sense is difficult to find in people these days. A little common sense can go a long way.

where does your food come from?

Creating a garden is about building an ecosystem.  You take your decomposed organic material (grass clippings, kitchen organic material) to mix into the soil which provides the nutrients for the plants. A rich soil provides food for earthworms. the plants grow and attracts insects, which provides food for birds and other critters, which help pollinate your plants. One sign that you have a thriving ecosystem is when you see earthworms and other insects that help your garden thrive.  You won’t find any life on a factory farm. The soil is basically dead from all the pesticide and weedicide. You’ll never see an earthworm. Its also void of any nutrients because organic material is never mixed in. Instead the soil is given its nutrients through chemical fertilizers which eventually renders the farmland dead.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/11/business/energy-environment/11solar.html

A healthy garden is full of life. Ladybugs are commonly used in organic farms to fight off insects that would eat your crop.

I'd like to harvest honey next.

We need to take a step back and think about just where it is our food comes from.

composting reduces landfill

Black gold. Anything from our kitchen that can be composted , is piled up with leaves, lawn clippings and whateverelse is available to make black gold. Think how much we could reduce our landfill if everyone just did a simple thing as this, composting. Even newspaper and cardboard, paper could be composted. I refrain from composting paper goods unless it was printed with non toxic ink. If only we could get all packaging material to be made from recycled material, compostable plastics, non toxic inks, we can basically eliminate the need for garbage pickups from suburban homes. Landfills could be drastically reduced.

I killed my lawn

I never understood why people spent so much time and money on fertilizing and weeding lawns. So proud of a green lawn? All that toxic fertilizer, pesticides and weedicide that gets washed into our sewers and water system.

We mow the lawns and put the grass clippings in garbage bags. We rake the leaves and take them somewhere to be composted, hopefully. Some much time and energy for what?

I like to pile the grass clippings and leaves into composting piles. 

tāst health

we at tāst dont wait for others to tell us if something is not good our health.

why eat something if its injected, infused with, cooked with things you never heard of?

we at tāst have been looking out for your health from the beginning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/us/15farm.html

Let's start blogging!

I’m not a writer or journalist, far from it, I’m not a nutritionist, nor do I have any medical background. What I do believe I have is a little common sense and experience.  The discussions and material presented on this blog may not always have medical backing or be substantiated by any medical studies, but hopefully everyone sees it as common sense, something that is harder to find in people these days.

Through this blog, I hope to share with everyone information and experience gained over the years about the food we eat and where it comes from and how it has affected my life.

The postings may be sporadic late in the middle of the night while half asleep or from my phone while out on the road  so there will be many grammer and spelling errors and sometimes what I post may not make any sense at all, but hopefully it will be informative.

So lets start blogging!

“Antibiotic Resistance and the Use of Antibiotics in Animal Agriculture”

Tasteatery stays away from meats pumped with hornones, antibiotics, steroids. In fact we go step further, our beef comes from a small farm upstate NY that is grass fed and grass finished. the grass finished being the important part. (more on this next time)

we care about what you eat. you should to.

A great person to follow,

https://twitter.com/jarkoch,

Our own goverment agency (an agency that is suppose to look out for the good of the people) is now......., just now..........testifying to the fact that the use of antibiotics in farm animals is contributing to antibiotic resistance for us.

http://www.ecocentrism.org/2010/07/20/usda-admits-link-between-antibiotic-use-by-big-ag-and-human-health/

http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2071:hearing-on-antibiotic-resistance-and-the-use-of-antibiotics-in-animal-agriculture&catid=132:subcommittee-on-health&Itemid=72

 

 

 

posterous or tumblr

we are now blogging on tast.posterous.com but it looks like i will now switch to tumblr.

what the hell

I've got a bone to pick...

I've got a bone to pick or maybe in this case a wing with the author of an article in February's issue of Fitness magazine. In "The No- Hunger way to Cut Calories" the author suggests different ways to cut 100, 200 or 500 calories a day from your diet without sacrificing taste or resorting to dieting. I totally agree that for most people, what we call "dieting" simply doesn't work. Most diets are far too restrictive and rather than teaching people how to eat, diets just eliminate certain food groups which is not a long term solution to weight loss.

The bone, or wing, I have to pick with the author has to do with some of the suggestions she makes for cutting calories. Here are my three favorites: "Ask for the 12-ounce child size soda instead of the 21-ounce medium at the drive through"; "Indulge in a slice of angel food cake drizzled with chocolate syrup rather than three cookies"; and, my absolute favorite, "When munching on chicken wings, don't toss the bones midway through. Seeing the evidence of your feast may help you eat less, studies show". Other suggestions include switching the type of pizza and ice cream that you eat.

In all honesty, I really don't know where to begin. Now, I will try to keep in mind that we all live in the real world where work and kids and stress and life in general have a way of disrupting the best of intentions. However, even with this in mind, how a Fitness magazine could offer such suggestions is beyond me. Soda, chicken wings, cake, pizza and ice cream? Is this some kind of joke??? No-one, and I mean no-one, who is trying to be healthy and fit should be consuming any one of these items, let alone all of them.

And, lets not forget that it takes a lot more to be healthy and fit than just cutting 100 or 200 calories from your diet. You need to have a balanced and nutritious diet made up mainly of whole, unprocessed foods. You have to exercise, often and for the rest of your life. You have to get enough sleep, limit stress, and still find time to work and spend time with family and friends. Basically you need to live a healthy lifestyle; and a healthy lifestyle does not include chicken wings, fast food, soda, french fries and/or angel food cake drizzled in chocolate syrup. Sorry...

Absolutely ridiculous!

So, I have been trying to write to you about fats: good v. bad; low fat v. no fat v. high fat diets; basically, trying to give you the skinny on fat. Problem is, there is a lot of new and conflicting information out there so it is taking me a while to put it all together. Anyway, in the meantime, I saw something today that I have never seen before and, quite honestly, didn't think I would ever see.

I was at the gym doing my workout when I heard a women talking on her cell phone. The gym was really empty and the only other person in that section of the gym was a woman doing squats. I didn't pay any attention to the voice I heard talking on the phone until I realized that it had to be the woman who was doing squats as there was nobody else there.

I tried to be discrete at first but when I saw what she was doing I actually stood there and stared. This ridiculous woman was doing squats with a barbell across her back, holding the barbell with one hand and holding her phone to her ear with the other. When she finished doing squats she started doing another exercise while still taking on the phone. Unbelievable!

Now, lots of people bring their cell phones out on to the gym floor and these same people waste a lot of time texting and talking on their phones when they should be exercising. This is bad enough; but until today I had never seen anyone try to lift weights while talking on their phone. Stupid, dangerous, ridiculous, are all words that come to mind, and if you are going to be so distracted that you must talk on the telephone while exercising at the gym, why bother even going?

Yes, exercising is hard work but the benefits are too numerous and substantial not to put in the effort. It should be challenging and it should also be fun and rewarding. Going to the gym only to read a magazine while you walk on the treadmill or, and I can't believe that I need to say this, talk on your cell while you do squats is not fun, rewarding, challenging or really even exercising.

Come on folks, lets get motivated and lets get fit and healthy.

So now what?

Well, its official, the holidays are over. Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years and Three Kings Day have all come and gone. The only question is: what do you have to show for it besides a new sweater or, much worse, 5 or 10 new pounds?

If you are like a lot of people, you over indulged this holiday season and you once again resolved to get into shape or back into shape for those of you that were in shape once upon a time.

If you are serious about getting into shape, and I hope you are, then you are going to need a serious strategy. A game plan so to speak for defeating all the negative and undermining influences in your life and, once again, if you are like most people there are many.

Getting and staying motivated; finding the time; finding the inspiration; changing your diet and more importantly your attitude toward food; actually exercising, consistently and for the rest of your life, not just for 6 months and then quitting and one you may not have expected. Believe it or not your family may become jealous of the time you spend taking care of yourself and they may become even more jealous of the way you look and feel.

In my experience this holds true especially for moms (and some dads) who are expected, mostly by themselves, to do so much for everyone in the house and always place their own needs last. I have seen it many times, and I always tell my clients that they have to take care of themselves and place their health first. Without good health and the energy that comes with it, you can't possibly do everything you need and want to do for your family. Yes, there will be an adjustment period but soon enough your family will accept that you have placed a priority on your health and they will learn how to manage for themselves while you are at the gym or out for a walk or whatever. The point is you should never feel guilty about taking care of yourself. Exercising and eating right are not luxuries; they are necessities.

One way to minimize the adjustment is to plan group activities that involve and are fun for the entire family. After all, exercising and eating right are necessary for everyone and individuals are much more likely to stick with their programs if the entire family is doing it together. And, with childhood obesity on the rise, you also owe it to your children to see that they get enough exercise and are eating right.

So, the good news is that with the internet and with the gym industry competing for your business there are so many affordable ways to exercise that money should not be an issue. The internet has thousands of web pages with exercise routines and magazines like Shape and Fitness have web sites filled with free information. With more and more gyms opening there is more competition and prices have really come down. I know of several area gyms that are offering memberships for $30 a month.

Time could be an issue but it really shouldn’t be. You can workout at home, 30 minutes a day and, with the right program, you can see dramatic results. If you have a gym close by and can take advantage of the equipment and the classes , even better.

So, you are committed, motivated, inspired and determined to live a long, healthy and happy life. You are going to exercise, eat right (I will talk more about diet next time) and you are going to get everyone around you involved. That’s what I call a game plan.

Until next time,

Peace and Health
Dave