Published on October 15th, 2009
According to the 2008 National Coffee Drinking Trends Summary, young adults (age 18-24) who drink coffee consume an average of 3.2 cups a day. I completely represent this statistic. I often drink multiple cups of coffee in the morning to get me going, and sometimes require a booster cup in the afternoon to keep up my momentum. Most of the college students and young professionals that I know have a similar routine. For most us, coffee is not a want, but a need: it makes us more alert, and it helps to be more focused and productive when we study or tackle a project.
I’ve tried to reduce my daily coffee intake, and even quit, because coffee stains my teeth an lingers on my breath far longer than I’d like it to. However, I always wave the white flag after 48 hours and, with twitching hands, exhume my coffee pot from the depths of my pantry so that I can get my caffeine fix. Addiction is rough.
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Published on September 22nd, 2009
Just in case you were thinking about indulging in some sweet treats today, I would like to offer you the option to take the healthier road. Sometimes it can take a visual aid to open your eyes and force you to take a cold hard look at what you are actually putting in your body or feeding to your family. Luckily, Sugar Stacks has put together an array of photos for us. Unluckily, there are many items on their website that a lot of folks may consume on any given day, slowly causing their body to deteriorate without even realizing it.
Each food item is paired with the actual amount of sugar it contains stacked up in pretty little cubes. Each cube equals a teaspoon of sugar. Since they do not differentiate between different kinds of sugar, its important to know that natural sugars found in fruit and vegetables will be metabolized differently then the sugar found in a can coke or your favorite Frappachino. In my article on Natural Sweeteners, I explain that not all sweeteners are created equal. When it comes to refined sweeteners like white table sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners like NutraSweet and Splenda, there are many side effects and health risks to take into consideration.
It’s time to face reality. It’s time to ask your self, what have I been putting in my body? Would I ever just eat the nearly 10 cubes of sugar that are the soda I just drank? Can I make a smarter choice then this? You may have seen these before, but in my opinion, if you are still eating and drinking these items on a regular basis, you can never see them too much. For even more photos go to Sugarstacks.com.
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Published on August 23rd, 2009
If you love milk (from animals or a vegan option) but are tired of drinking it plain or having it with your cereal every morning, you can try to prepare some delicious drinks and frozen desserts from it. Here are a few recipes you can use to enrich your daily diet.
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Tags:
American Indian,
blueberries,
cacao,
drinks,
fruit,
Ice Cream,
latte,
milk,
milkshake,
milkshakes,
Native American,
Native American Indian,
strawberries
Published on July 29th, 2009
Occasionally on hot, long drives, I will treat myself to either Peet’s Freddo or a Starbucks Frappuccino. Although I’d prefer to support a local coffee shop, the interstate does not offer many options. Recently, thanks to a friend’s suggestion, I realized I could make these drinks at home. A vegan homemade mocha espresso frozen blended drink is the perfect pick me up on a lazy, hot afternoon and as easy to make as a smoothie.
Homemade Mocha Espresso Frozen Blended Drink
Place in blender: Read the rest of this entry »
Published on October 13th, 2008
I’ve deservedly ranted about Starbucks a lot lately. (See Starbucks: Wasting Up to 6 Million Gallons of Water Every Day and Where Do You Draw the Line?)
Let me ask you and them another question, What about the eco-impact of disposable paper coffee cups? Disposable coffee cups are responsible for the deaths of over 6.5 million trees each year. In 2006 it’s estimated that 16 billion found their way into the trash creating over 250 million pounds of solid waste.
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Published on October 8th, 2008
Searching for that truly virtuous cup of coffee? If you’ve looked into the impact of your morning cup of joe recently, chances are you know that most coffees are their greenest when they’re still on the plantation, or maybe the tree.
Roasting, shipping, marketing, bagging and processing all take a lot of energy, and most coffee in the world travels a fair distance before it ends up in our french presses. Coffee is an equatorial crop, and we don’t all live on the equator.
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Published on October 8th, 2008
The Sydney Morning Herald, The Dallas Morning News and The Sun published articles today that estimated that the Starbucks wastes up to 6 million gallons of water every day. The Sun said,
As part of a company policy aimed at preventing germ buildup in its taps, Starbucks stores are directed to keep water running constantly into a sink, called a dipper well, to clean utensils and wash away food residue.
As a result of running water all day, every day at each of the company’s 10,000 worldwide coffee emporiums, Starbucks wastes water in an amount The Sun estimated, to be enough daily water for the entire 2 million strong population of drought-hit Namibia in Africa or fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes. A single Starbucks tap left running for just over three minutes wastes the amount of water one African needs to survive for a day in drought conditions.
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Published on September 2nd, 2008
I’m a coffee addict. When it gets too hot in the summer, I’ll stop drinking hot and make myself some iced. There’s several schools of thought on making iced coffee at home: some make regular hot coffee, then chill it, some pour hot over ice, some cold-brew. In my younger, naive days, I would make hot coffee, let it cool, then chill it further with the addition of cold milk. But wisdom–and experience–tells me that cold-brew is the path of least resistance and provides the best buzz for your buck. Seriously. You won’t go back. And you can save a few bucks by making your own at home. The all-too-simple directions, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on August 21st, 2008
At home, we rank king and queen of our own kitchen – declaring local and seasonal priorities, treating area farmers like valued citizens, banning high fructose corn syrup and declaring kale royalty. Once we cross the moat of our island home base, navigating reality can get a bit more treacherous and sticky, especially when organizing an event outside your kitchen confines. Our quest for sustainability deflates through the reality of standardized event menus, venue restrictions and catering managers rolling their eyes and commenting, “But we’ve never done it that way before.”
Enter Greg Christian, owner of Greg Christian Catering and Events, Chicago’s “Conscious Caterer” on a mission to bring the healthy, sustainable food message to the event scene. Wearing his white chef coat like a cloak of armor, Christensen proves that commitment, passion for healthy food and a dedication to constantly questioning and evolving can prompt true change.
Christian’s journey toward sustainability sparked when his young daughter’s asthma improved significantly through eating organic foods. “But I was living two lives, eating organic at home and using conventional foods in my businesses,” Christian confesses. “I realized I couldn’t live these two separate lives anymore and I started literally diagnosing where my food inputs came from on a world map.” This mapping system prompted not only change, but a deep sense of humility for Christian. “I’m humble and honored to be part of the global food system,” adds Christian, an emotion fueling his catering company’s constant quest to buy from area farmers, run a zero waste kitchen and continually work towards further greening his operations.
Planning an event you would like to keep green? Here are five tips to get started: Read the rest of this entry »
Published on June 20th, 2008
While they don’t normally farm naked, eleven of Kona’s farmers dared and bared it all to raise awareness about false advertising on coffee labels. The tasteful and fun photos of these mature women grace the pages of a 2009 calendar, reminiscent of the Alternate WI Calendar, the inspiration for the movie Calendar Girls. While the calendar was a bit of light-hearted humor, these farmers are serious about protecting the trademark of Kona coffee. And they should be.
Currently, coffee labels are allowed to use terms like “Kona blend,” “Kona style,” or even “Kona coffee,” even if the package contains only ten percent Kona beans. The remaining 90 percent of the beans come from other regions like Brazil or Columbia.
Kona farmers are concerned that the mislabeling dilutes the integrity of this unique variety. That integrity does have value when you examine how the coffee is produced and the Kona Coffee Farmers mission to protect Kona farmers’ economic interests in 100% Kona coffee, to protect the Kona coffee heritage, and to seek greater legal protection of the Kona coffee name.
I contacted Christine Sheppard of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association to find out more about this unique variety. Interview follows the jump. Read the rest of this entry »
