Christina's blog

I am asked this question all the time, but I realized that I have never really dedicated an entire blog to the topic of soy and the fear that has been created around this humble bean.

I was just recently described as a badass since, it seems, I speak my mind freely. As I get older, I find that I do it more and more…and more easily at that.

So here I go again.

Many of you know that I LOVE to read my husband’s Men’s Health magazine. I love the fitness tips and workout advice that serve me in my own workouts.

It’s National Vegan Month, which got me to thinking, as these various month-long commemorations often do. Sometimes they evoke a rant from me and sometimes, I want to just ruminate.

What does it mean to be vegan in this modern time? Is it elitist to eschew meat, a cultural phenomenon reserved only for the wealthy? Is it for celebrities looking for their thigh gap? Is it just for people who are dysfunctional around food? Or just for puppy lovers?

I am at it again, ranting about cancer and the fact that we continue to “wage war” on this disease but yet, what are we accomplishing?

It’s the time of year when we will once again, Stand Up to Cancer, watching on all networks as celebrities in their designer tee shirts ask us to donate to groundbreaking research to end cancer. Again.

I am an avid listener of the NPR radio program 1A. Well, I was an avid listener, until last week.

I find the show and its host, Joshua Johnson to be intelligent, unbiased and open-minded to all sides of an argument or issue. Again, until last week.

I often go on record as saying that I’m “not that kind of vegan.” You know the ones, lecturing everyone, preaching, waggling their fingers in your face.

When we think of the Mediterranean we think of azure blue seas and leisurely days. I think of robust feasts served in olive orchards on one of our many trips to Italy with clients, family and friends. The image of the table laden with freshly cooked whole grains, beans and seasonal vegetables prepared in deliciously simple and imaginative ways, transports me there.

In the past few months, I have had more phone calls from people I love asking for advice about cancer (and diabetes and heart disease) than I care to think about. People are losing their health at younger and younger ages. People who considered themselves healthy are struggling.

I am particularly raw about it right now, I have to confess, so please excuse my passion.

I have started saying that I would be happy with one day without bad news, not a week, just…one…day.

My husband is simply mad for Life Extension, using a number of their products and reading their magazine. Over the years I have fallen for this company as well, with their impeccable research.  So when I saw an interview in the latest issue called “Reversing the Downward Spiral of Aging” I was intrigued.

I hear it all the time. It seems everyone I meet is tired. It gets me to wondering what’s up with that?

Now I get that many of us are over-scheduled and work hard. I get it. I work hard, too, running three small businesses, teaching all over the globe, writing and staying fit, while cooking and cleaning. I truly do understand hard work.

Each night, I fall into bed, exhausted from my day’s adventures. I wake up, ready to go again. Many of us don’t and I’d like to talk about why that might be, since it seems to be so prevalent in our culture these days.

Have you ever stood in the kitchen without one solid idea of what to cook? Me, too.

Have you ever lost your inspiration and find yourself cooking the same recipes over and over? Me, too. It doesn’t happen to me often, but I have to be straight with you. I cook and bake so much…and I love it.

But every now and then, I lose my inspiration; throw up my hands and want to order take-out. The problem is, there’s no take-out worth ordering, so I hike up my skirt (as the saying goes) and get into the kitchen and cook.