Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/26/479494486/evaporated-cane-juice-puh-leeze-just-call-it-sugar-fda-says?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

Is it sugar, or “evaporated cane juice”? The FDA says they’re the same thing, folks.

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration seems intent on bringing sugar out of the shadows.

Not only will food companies have to reveal, right on the package, how much sugar they’ve added to food; they also will have to call it by its real name.

The FDA is taking aim at one of sugar’s cover identities: evaporated cane juice. This ingredient made its appearance about 25 years ago and has been especially popular among companies that have cultivated a healthful image, including Amy’s Kitchen, Kind and Chobani.

Just like sugar, this ingredient is created by crushing sugar cane to extract the juice, then purifying that juice, getting rid of the water and turning it into fine crystals. However, it still contains a bit of molasses, which is completely removed from the cane sugar you find in the store.

Food companies that use this ingredient maintain that it’s different from sugar and that “evaporated cane juice” is its proper name. Others disagree.

“Evaporated cane juice is the food industry’s latest attempt to convince you that crystallizing sugar by t…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/food/lamb-barbacoa/

This hearty lamb barbacoa is perfect for taco night and it requires just a few minutes of hands-on preparation thanks to the magic of your slow cooker. When simmered low and slow over the course of a few hours the lamb becomes juicy, succulent, and fall-apart tender. The secret to the lamb’s flavor is in the piquant paste made of onion, tomato, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, and a variety of herbs and spices. Combine these ingredients in a food processor before adding to the slow cooker with your favorite beef broth, cloves, and bay leaves.

After cooking for five hours the lamb should be fork-tender and ready to eat. To serve, place in corn tortillas and top the meat with some avocado and this tangy cilantro pesto, and you’ve got a flavor-packed dinner that won’t overheat your kitchen during the hot summer months.

Photo by Lacy Kiernan

The post Slow Cooker Lamb Barbacoa appeared first on Sonima.

…

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/05/those-top-secret-trade-agreements-leaked-ttip-documents/

A couple of years ago, I wrote a long post attempting to explain the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a trade agreement under negotiation since then with the European Union.  Like all trade agreements, this one is done secretly, making it difficult for interested parties to weigh in.

But Greenpeace Netherlands has now leaked what it says are the texts of 13 chapters of the TTIP.  These include 248 pages of internal documents dating from TTIP talks at some uncertain date.  These include chapters about food and agriculture, as well as many other issues.

The documents include a 25-page “Tactical State of Play” on the negotiations similar to a 20-page public EU report, but with more detail on points of disagreement and consensus.

Greenpeace claims that the documents demonstrate major risks for the climate, environment and consumer safety.  The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative strongly disagrees, and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malström says the leaked documents only reflect negotiating positions.

I took a look at the leaked Chapter X Agriculture [US: Market Access].  The European Union proposes, for example:

[On public health and safety] The Parties recognize that their respective societal choices may differ with respect to public policy decisions affecting agriculture. In this regard, nothing in this Agreement will restrain the Parties from taking measures necessary to achieve legitimate p…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/26/479500707/to-survive-the-bust-cycle-farmers-go-back-to-business-school-basics?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

To Survive The Bust Cycle, Farmers Go Back To Business-School Basics

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May 26, 20164:37 AM ET

Heard on Morning Edition

Amy Mayer

…

Source: http://summertomato.com/how-to-start-a-habit-you-dont-enjoy

Photo by douglemoine

Something amazing happened this morning.

Instead of hopping out of bed, having breakfast, then plunging myself headlong into work, I casually sipped my coffee, ate my muesli, then wandered into my office for a 30 minute meditation session before even turning on my computer.

What’s amazing isn’t that I’ve done this once, but that I’ve been doing it for months.

Even more amazing is that I love it.

Meditation is not an easy habit to develop, because the reward is not immediate or obvious.

Sure I know what the reward is in theory. Meditation is supposed to help me focus better, reduce stress and increase contentment.

It should help me be more creative and do better work. It should help me build deeper relationships with the people I love. It should be easier for me to appreciate the important things.

Only it’s incredibly frustrating to try to focus on my breath when new thoughts distract me every few seconds. It takes time out of my day I could really use for other important things. And during most of the session I feel like a total failure.

I want all those benefits, but gawd I’d rather watch paint dry.

Of course meditation isn’t the only habit that fits…

Source: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2016/05/24/your-beliefs-are-wrong-are-you-willing-to-change/

“Your opinion is irrelevant! I’m correct! Look at this study!”

Whether it’s Paleo vs Vegetarian, Stretching vs Mobility, Fat vs Carbs, Cardio vs Strength, Star Trek vs Star Wars, or Captain America vs Iron Man, we all have belief systems that cause us to accept certain ideas and immediately discredit others.

Go to any article on any of the subjects above and spend five minutes in the comment section, and you’ll see people either championing the article or skewering it and destroying the other side.

Can both sides be right? Can both sides be wrong? Why is it that whenever we read something that goes against what we say, we stick our heads in the sand, ostrich-style, and discredit it, only to turn around and proudly share any news that reaffirms our beliefs?

Would you be able to recognize when you held a wrong belief? Do you have the clarity to hold strong when you are in fact, right?

Gaining the right mindset to discern what’s real from what’s BS requires us to admit two big things to ourselves:

I don’t know shit.
Nobody else knows shit either!

Nobody knows nothin’

Throughout history, everything we know and have learned generally builds on the work of others before us. 

When…

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/05/guest-blog-for-scientific-american-the-new-food-label/

Guest Blog

The FDA’s new rules for food labeling are finally here

The changes are a step toward better health and less obesity, especially in children

By Marion Nestle on May 24, 2016

The FDA’s announcement of final rules for its overhaul of labels on food packages is a signature accomplishment of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.

In 2010, in setting the agenda for Let’s Move!, the White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity called for improving the clarity, accuracy, and consistency of food package labels to enable parents and children to make healthier food choices.  The Task Force noted that more than half the adult public used food labels to decide what to buy, but that the current labels had hardly changed since the FDA’s regulations of 1993.

The FDA actually began work on revising the food label in 2005 with a request for public input on updating serving sizes, and it began formal rulemaking in 2008.  The FDA proposed rules and issued its last call for comments in 2014.

I attribute this nine-year process to details and politics.

First, the details. The Federal Register notice on the food label takes up 943 pages, and it takes another 170 pages to explain the changes in serving sizes.

FDA’s fact sheet on the changes explains the politics.  Most changes are relatively uncont…

Source: http://clubindustry.com/ideaxchange/throw-out-your-health-club-contracts

Your favorite restaurant doesn’t require a contract, but people keep going back to them, so why do health club operators require contracts?

read more

…

Source: http://www.sonima.com/yoga/integrated-yoga-therapy/

Before Joseph Le Page became known as a leader in the field of yoga therapy, he was a Kripalu Yoga teacher. So the announcement late last month that Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health had acquired Le Page’s Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT) program marked what is in some ways a homecoming for Le Page, the closing of a circle whose beginnings date back to his introduction to Kripalu Yoga in 1987 and his certification as a yoga teacher two years later.

But on a larger scale, the acquisition—a natural one for both entities, as Kripalu has hosted a portion of the IYT program for the past 20 years—signaled that the retreat center had definitively staked its claim in this emerging field. (“Emerging” in the Western world, that is; in India, yoga therapy is a centuries-old form of preventative medicine.)

“For Kripalu to create a home for yoga therapy to grow and flourish is a significant step,” says Micah Mortali, director of the Kripalu Schools, which now include the School of Yoga, the School of Ayurveda, and the School of Integrative Yoga Therapy. “We’re making a commitment to yoga therapy and to playing a part in the future of [the practice].”

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Yoga Is Not Your Therapy&…

Source: http://www.theminimalists.com/p023/

By Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus · Follow: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

In this episode of The Minimalists Podcast, Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus share a handful of interviews from their new film, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things, which hits United States and Canadian theaters starting today, May 24, 2016. Find your nearest showing here. You can also pre-order the online version of the film worldwide here, which includes six hours of bonus content.

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People Featured in This Episode

Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Neuropsychologist
Jesse Jacobs, Entrepreneur
Shannon Whitehead, Sustainable Apparel Consultant
Sam Harris, Ph.D., Neuroscientist
Juliet Schor, Ph.D., Economist and Sociologist
Patrick Rhone, Author
Yarrow Kraner, Film Director and Photographer
Ryan Nicodemus Co-founder, The Minimalists
Joshua Fields Millburn, Co-founder, The Minimalists
Leo Babauta, Author
David Friedlander, Communications Director, LifeEdited
Jacqueline Smith, Illustrator and Designer
Joshua Becker, Author
Kim Becker, Co-founder, The Hope Effect

Mentioned in This Episode

Own: Minimalism Online
Watch: Minimalism Screening

This episode was produced by Shawn…