Sharing the Happy

This morning my son ran to my bed, jumped in and snuggled with me. He bent his head back, looked up into my eyes and beamed. "Mommy, you make me happy every day and all the time."
My eyes welled up and my heart warmed and swelled until I felt like a beach ball in the hot sun.
What was instantly there for me was not all the moments that I made him happy, but the enormity of his generosity and choice to not let times I did not make him happy ruin his perception of being happy.
God knows there where those times! The crying fits and screaming rages, the "just a minute's" and outright "NO!"'s.
But he chose to declare his life was filled with "happy all the time," to remember those moments and to make our current moment, the present, happier with his choice.

He remembered the giggling moments, trike riding moments, and reading together moments; the times we laugh and play and snuggle moments. He chose to love me including every moment and make them all part of happy.

Because being together is being happy and those together times include ups and downs, anger and joy. The choice of togetherness, embracing all those moments, being able to be with them, is what makes up happiness.

Recently I had a falling out with a friend. We misunderstood somethings that happened. She did something that hurt and shocked me and I did something that hurt and shocked her, and not necessarily in that order. The hurt lasted longer than I expected and we hashed it out for quite a while. And in the midst of the worst of it all, just when I thought we could no longer be friends, the opposite of that misery flashed itself in my memory like the glistening of a coin in a fountain. Those moments when we were laughing until I almost peed my pants, the moments when we called eachother first thing in the morning and spoke to eachother just before bed, the moments when we screamed with joy about our day together and I felt like she was my sister and best friend, sent like an angel from heaven.
I remembered those moments and knew that is who we truly were for eachother. I chose to remember those times.
We resolved all our misunderstandings. What we choose is to live happy with our friendship because we value that more.
The most challenging and difficult times can actually show us what we truly value.

So I look at challenging times to ask myself, what is it that really matters to me?
To Bronson, it is to love his Momma. Thank God, because I love him so too. I love all my boys so much I would do watever it takes to be healthy for them. See, I have recently seen that working as much as I do on the cause of health and freedom in America has left me with fatigue and inability to function as I would like. My health is seriously being impacted. I am letting the challenge and difficulty of the times take away the happy.
That is not what I am commited to. I choose the happy. I value health. So that means rest, sleep, love, laughter, fun, writing, art, walking, yoga and eating healthy food I love. Being inspired by life!
My expression of being inspired by life is writing or making art.
So I promise to make art or write everyday for the next two weeks. And share them, share the happy.
Thank you for being people with whom I can share the happy.
Love,
Zen

"Health Come First" and How it Doesn't

My Mother used to bring a bowl of chicken broth to me when I was sick and gently chide me to put away my book, drink my soup and sleep. "Health comes first." she would say...homework, reading, etc...would have to wait. Now, when she hears the rush in my voice and weariness creeping in, she reminds me, from 3000 miles away, to take care of my health and I do. Most of the time.

For Halloween, I was sewing large round polka dots onto a white sweat suit to be the zebra-turned-circus-horse Character Chris Rock played in Madagascar 3 "Afro Circus, Polka Dot Circus, polka dot, polka dot, polka dot, Afro Circus!!!" and I could barely thread the needle. My eyesight is going. I am almost forty, I thought, and my body is going through those changes, that's just the way it is.

Realizing I have also been unusually tired and because health comes first, I went to my Iridologist, who looks into your eyes, take a photo which is analyzed by a very high tech computer system and she points out all the mineral deletions, physical symptoms and causes for pain, sickness or issues in your body.

She could see that I had muscular pain on my scapula ( amazing! It had been hurting for months and I didn't tell her!) which was causing pain up my neck and muscles tightening across my face and restricting the blood flow to my eye. My right pupil was significantly smaller than my left pupil and could be the source of my eyesight blurriness. Completely correctable and not a function of just getting old.
This is preventing me from just accepting deteriorating eyesight, getting glasses and living with the blood flow being restricted to my eye and brain. Who knows what problems that could cause over time? Blindness? Brain deterioration? I went to a holistic doctor who focuses on cranial work, who said that the pain stemmed from my liver, which was over taxed from filtering toxins. She did some kind of massage to my head and liver and I left feeling completely better. I will also go to an eye doctor and maybe get glasses, but I will not ignore the cause and continue to monitor my neck pain as more than just bad posture, but as the a sign my brain is not being fed the blood it needs.

She saw that my stomach was acidic, causing a likely hood of more allergies, adrenals were overworked which causes very low energy levels, fatigue and irritability...and that really effects my parenting and confidence.

She then saw that white foggy lines around my pupil showed deep concern for osteoporosis, a serious lack of calcium and weakening of the bones. It's the reason why my grandmother hunched over constantly. But she was in her nineties...why was I getting this in my thirties? I eat very healthy food, lots of greens which supply more calcium than milk! I was shocked but so grateful to be able to know this and take a high quality calcium supplement for the next six months (which she does not sell or make money from) and then I will go in for a bone scan. This is preventing me from permanent spinal curvature, lifelong pain and being aware to not get wonky and do risky things that cold have me easily break a fragile hip. Hip surgery is tens of thousands of dollars and months in recuperation.
An injury like that would greatly impact the function of my family.
And a western medical doctor would never see these things in a regular checkup.

Why do I share all this? Because none of this is paid for by our Healthcare system, and that's just ludicris. I also believe that many of our health issues, including mine are related to GMOs in our food. According to "Genetic Roulette" movie,GMOs are sprayed with and injected with glyphosate, which is chelator, meaning it hugs the nutrients in the plant and strips them away to kill the weed. 70-85% of the food I was eating up until a few months ago, had this chelating chemical in it. I believe that a huge number of people who are mineral depleted now are experiencing this because of the glyphosate in our food which is hugging onto and depleting our bodies of the important nutrients we need. We then get sicker and experience liver overload, muscle aches, pains, fatigue, rashes, inflammation which can result in weight gain, auto immune diseases and more.

Alternative health care, and paying more for organic food is preventative and saves me and the insurance companies and the government tens of thousands of dollars in the future. It allows me to function as a responsible member of society and contribute, rather than site on the couch and take in disability. Alternative healthcare has us truly put health first, and out future first. And eliminating GMO's sustains our health.

WHY then, isn't the government promoting preventative healthcare and organic food?
Because it doesn't occur to them that health really does come first. Money does. Their jobs do. They have it all mixed up. They should listen to their Mommas.

Zen Honeycutt

Unpopular

What I have to say is very unpopular. I think it's making my family unpopular too. I am pretty sure we may not be getting invited to BBQ's and family dinners because people have heard me talk about my kid's multitude of allergies and wonder what the hell they would feed us. So they don't bother, too complicated. I really don't blame them. No one wants to have people over that are complicated.

Then there are others that I have also shared the very inconvenient and unhealthy truth about GMO's in our food, and man, they get a clouded look on their face like it's just not something they ever wanted to know. They don't want to hear it. It's not a fun topic. I can relate. I didn't want to know about it either.
They also don't want to be scrutinized for what they serve and they don't want to have to scrutinize what they buy at the store. It's just too damn hard. So they don't invite us over.
So invite them, you might say. Yes, I could, and do sometimes. Those are the times when people bring over food. Do I ask if it's organic before letting my kids eat it? Is that considered a faux pas in etiquette? Usually I just let my kids eat it, sometimes I eat it myself, and then later, when my son's or husband's lips have puffed up from an allergic reaction or my stomach aches and I am crankier than cat hanging by it's tail, I regret it. And I am not quick to invite people over again either.

GMO's are impacting our health AND social life and I am not happy about it.
Oh Waaaah! You may think I am crying like a baby. I get it. Just be responsible and bring my own food and suck it up.
I know. Fine.

The thing is, it wasn't always this way and doesn't have to be this way.

My Mom didn't have to make gluten free pizza for me with non dairy cheese and a gluten free/egg free cupcake before going to a birthday party. ALOT of Moms do now. Millions. All in the past 10-15 years since GMO's were introduced into our food. And the number is rising. Allergies and GMO foods.And we put up with it.
Or stay home and avoid it. Seriously, if my kids have two things going in a day and the night before we have plans, the answer to going to a birthday party is no. Because what is going to be served there is pizza, cake and soda. If I don't make time to make and bring a bunch of food, my kids will eat what is there. They will leave especially tired and grumpy from the food and a few hours later they are screaming at each other, we are screaming at them and they have some painful rash that last for weeks. It's not worth it. We love people but if this is what it takes to be social we choose to be unpopular.

That place of shutting down is so stinky though isn't it? It's totally not inspiring. My game is to have life be inspiring. So I play.
Today I am playing at planning fun activities with friends that do not involve much food. Just snacks, that we bring. Swimming works. Campfire with healthy smores (there is a brand of marshmallows without GMO corn syrup at Mother's). Park play dates. Board games.

And in the meantime I can just let go of my fear of being unpopular and share what is there for me. Talk to people about GMO's and even ask them if they want to be a part of helping to eliminate them. They may yes. I might even make new friends. Who knows?

Please leave a comment. How do you feel about GMO's in our food? Do you talk with your friends and family about them? What happens?

Zen Honeycutt

GMO hazards:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/08/07/genetically-engineered-foods-hazards.aspx

GMO's in pregnant women and babies:

http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/new-study-shows-gmo-toxins-in-93-percent-of-pregnant-women/

Want to contact the White House and be heard?
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/contact

Creating Our Own Truths

Whole wheat bread, good for you. Lies!
Milk does a body good. Lies!
Formula that is healthy because it is made with the same essential minerals and vitamins as in breast milk? Lies.
Corn flakes; wholesome goodness in every bite (with GMO pesticides), Ensure; packed with vitamins (dyes and high fructose corn syrup), refreshing ice tea (with corn syrup, dyes and aspartame), healthy fruit juice (with high fructose corn syrup), better-for-you diet soda (with aspartame), healthy soy milk (with GMO soy)...lies,lies,lies.

I could go on and on. It baffles me how many friends I now have that also know that the majority of what the media is feeding us as advertising about food is literally all lies...and yet how they still get away with doing it. The public is beginning to know....so why do the lies still work?
Now in other countries, where Grandma makes the bread in the morning and the milk comes from a cow in the back yard, these above statements may be true. But I am talking about here, in America with our current factory farming system and food company conglomerates. There are millions of people for whom the current advertising is a farce.

There has been oodles of noodles of research to show that wheat and gluten is an allergen for millions ( 1 in 4 women over 30), and even some data that shows processed wheat is not healthy for anyone. And yet, it's in almost everything processed. There are entire aisles of food, several ailes in a row, that I just don't walk down. There is no point. It all has cheap filler highly processed wheat in it. It's making us fat, tired, irritable, headachy, rashy, unfocused and distracted at school and work, and stops our bodies from absorbing the vitamins and minerals we need.

The New York Times ran an article yesterday saying "Got Milk? You Don't Need It."
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/07/got-milk-you-dont-need-it/
When for years and years we have been forced to swallow a concept that we won't grow properly if we don't have out three glasses of milk a day. This has been such a truth for some parents that they get tight lipped when their offspring bring up the truth and think it's an offense to their parenting skills. It has nothing to do with parenting and everything to do with major food companies and factory farmers part of a broken system making money.

Formula for babies. The lies they are telling around soy formula in particular are criminal. Soy has been shown, reeatedly in scietific tests, to cause goiters, pancreatic, stomach and colorectal canceer,cause thyroid malfunction, increase estrogen levels and alter the hormonal makeup of children. Sound healthy? Genetically modified soy is in 80% of our soy and is even worse. It has some of the same proteins as peanuts and other foods and when they are exposed to peanuts or the other foods after having GMO soy, they react to the peanuts because their body thinks it's the GMO protiens and voila, life threatening allergies have increased 265% in the past 15 years in children alone. See:http://www.robynobrien.com/the_unhealthy_truth

Synthetic Food dyes in cookies, candy, drinks, cheese, ice cream etc has shown to exacerbate ADHD and cause ADHD like behavior in children without ADHD. When I am volunteering at school, and see an agitated student, who repeatedly disrupts my child's classroom, eating sugar coated cookies for a snack with blue and red sprinkles on it, I want to scream. Parents need to know the truth!

We need to create new truths for ourselves. We can avoid the lies on TV by just choosing to watch quality movies and documentaries on Netflix and Youtube. We can choose to go to Farmer's Markets, bring organic food to parties, buy the whole food that heals and makes us healthy and vote with our money. My kids are under no illusion that they should eat any food other than what works for them and that what they see as commercials are just as much for entertainment as the cartoons they are watching. They are just words to them. Not truths.

Our truth is that kale is delicious, has more calcium than cow's milk and it is a regular part of our diet. Coconut milk ice cream is is divine. Rice milk and water are our staple drinks. Our truth is that sweets without food dyes are much sweeter and that fruit and veges are always in our meal and first choice. Our truth is Gluten Free is the way to be.

May you find and define your own truths. May you sweep aside the lies that are being promoted as truths and see the reality of food. May you be a part of spreading the truth and creating a country of integrity and health. Because ignorance is not bliss, it is subjugation and choosing entrapment. The truth is what works for you, not for them.

Zen Honeycutt

Freedom Food

Today as we prepare to go to 4th of July gathering and stuff our faces, I face a new set of perils I never saw before a few months ago.

The food that will be laid out before us could slowly kill my son...and our family.
This is horrific. Why even write this? Why get panicked and alarmist?
Why not just shut up and enjoy the party and eat the corn chips?

I will enjoy the party, I might even shut up about the food and be gracious.
But I will not eat the corn chips. Neither will my family.

No more corn chips, corn tortillas, popcorn, corn bread or corn on the cob unless it is organic. Oh geez, come on...you might think I am a hippie nutter, neurotic and probably a hypochondriac.

Think what you will. Eat what you will. But know that 80% of the corn is grown from seeds from the largest pesticide company in the world and those seeds are Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's)with pesticides injected into the DNA with the intention of blowing up the stomachs of the insects that eat the corn and killing them. That's less pesticides that they have to spray on the corn, they argue.

What does that do to our stomachs?
Over time, the pesticides cause corrosion of our stomach lining. Couple with the high amounts of acidic foods we eat (highly processed, meats, dairy, junk food etc), soon our stomach have tiny holes in them, a symptom called Leaky Gut, and food escapes. When the food escapes the body thinks it a foreign invader and attacks it. From then on, when ever we ingest that food the body thinks it's an allergen and we develope rashes, stomach aches, headaches, skin irritations, and eventually stomach ulcers and colon problems which lead to cancer.

Life threatening allergies are up 265%. Cancer rates are now 4X higher in our country than others. 1 in 2 men are expected to get cancer and 1 in 3 women. Look around you in your family. Those numbers include our families.
And NO OTHER country in the world allows GMO's except the USA.
They inspire me. We CAN have Freedom in our Food, but first we have to see that we don't.

The fact is, that we are eating food everyday that is GMO and we are not only not informed but we don't have other choices. If we have a limited budget for food, or travel and eat at restaurants, if we shop at a Stop and Shop or chain Stater Brothers etc...most of these stores are the only source of food for miles and do not offer organic, non GMO alternatives. People take what they can get and they don't want to hear bad things about their food. I don't blame them. But it's going to keep going like this unless we DO hear, we DO learn and we DO speak up.

The only way to have Freedom in our FOOD is to fight for it. To speak up for it. To demand it.
All you have to do is ask.
Just take a step and demand from your Congress and Representatives that the people are heard. Say No to GMO's and YES to Real Food on the 4th of July.
"It's the most patriotic thing you can do." - Robyn O'Brien, author of "The Unhealthy Truth."

Here is a link to California Senate and Reps. Please google your states and take a few minutes today to stand for your country.

http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=congressmerge&state=ca

Zen Honeycutt

My New "Buzz"

I watched " Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead " on Netflix two days ago. It is a remarkable documentary of a very wealthy and very overweight and very unhealthy, ie: rashy Australian man Joe Cross who travels cross country in the USA whilst partaking a 60 day juice fast and interviewing Americans about health.
He is charming, unassuming, and really not preachy at all. He offers help to one nearly 500 pound trucker with the same rash disease he has, and later in the movie this man takes him up on his offer. In 10 days the trucker looses 30 pounds, completely healthily ( with doc checkups) in 30 days; 90 pounds and in 60 days the scale we were left at, was at 202 pounds less. He converts neighbors, family members and friends all from just gently sharing his experience. His brother has a 56,000 dollar heart attack and takes 471 dollars worth of medication a month and finally surrenders to his younger brother's new way of life and tries it, loosing 47 pounds. It is truly touching to see the brothers connect over health, choosing a future together of empowerment and responsibility for their lives. Actually, they are choosing not only health, but each other, family and their love for each other. It is moving.

The most impressive part of the film besides the weight loss, glow of skin, confidence and happiness the Reboot Juicers experience, is the way the film explains with cartoons and narration, the effect that Micro nutrients ( from raw vegetables and fruits) have on cells. They literally heal cells. Macro nutrients, meats, processed foods etc, weaken the cells and make us more susceptible to disease, cancer illness and allergies. Even having known a friend who reduced his prostate cancer cell rate 40% by eating 90% raw for 60 days, I still didn't really understand the importance of fruits and veges for everyone. Now I get that they are a direct source of the sun's energy, our life source. I couldn't wait to go out and get a juicer.

That night, I told my husband about the movie and he surprised me by saying he would try a fast. I love his commitment to our family. The next day, after I went out and bought an Omega 8006 juicer from Mother's ( has a 15 year warranty, that is an extraordinary appliance!) I came home thrilled to assemble and juice up my big bunches of kale, celery, spinach and bags of granny apples, lemons, and cucumbers. It was easy to do and when I drank the juice it was like drinking a cool crisp garden. I felt sprightly and fresh.
When I went out with the children for a potluck dinner, I left my husband a big glass of juice in the refrigerator and came home to see him half way through "Fat,Sick and Nearly Dead" and raving about the juice. I was delighted.

Yesterday and today I have been so excited to wake up and make a new concoction, I have added beets, oranges (sans peel), eliminated the celery and lemon that the kids don't like, and added berries via blender. The kids help push the veges and fruits into the juicer, delighting at the crunch crunch crunch of the turning auger and their power in choice to contribute to being healthy.We call the beet one Super Hero Juice.
I feel a healthy energetic buzz after drinking these juices. I feel empowered in creating a future with zero doctors visits, zero medications, just health, energy, adventures and a long life of love and laughter.

I am so grateful to Joe Cross and his production crew, to Alex from Mother's market for telling all the nitty gritty details about juicing and making the transition to vegan, ( he suggests taking Brewer's Yeast powder in the juice, which has the complete amino acid chain which we miss out on if we don't have meat, and B Complex which without we will feel cranky, irritable, tired and head-achy, like PMS )and I am so grateful to my husband for once again being supportive of a new adventure in health.
Anytime I have cravings now, I juice up some Super Hero Juice, not to loose weight, but to feed my cells, care for my body, and get that BUZZ of being healthy, vital and alive!

Zen Honeycutt