Hi Friend,
Happy Sunday! I hope you're having a great weekend and getting in the holiday spirit.
We're spending the holidays with my family in Northern California, and we're so glad to be here! All of my brothers and sisters (I'm one of 5) will be together. We're cooking up lots of yummy food, enjoying good wine (more on that later), and embracing a slower pace. I love that we don't put much on the schedule, have most meals at home, and just focus on time together.
Holiday health tip (that's good anytime): Wherever you are and whoever you're with, I hope you're connecting with people you love and taking time for yourself to wind down. Try to make time to get out for a walk everyday-- either alone with a great podcast or with someone you want to catch-up with. It's one of my favorite things to do, and it's good for you in so many ways! Wrapping presents and the to-do list can wait (save time and recycle old gift bags like me!). Make a point to spend time doing what makes you feel good!
What I've been working on:
I have some healthy recipes in the works, which I'll be posting in the next week or so. In the meantime, I've been optimizing the Recipe section of my website to help you find ideas and inspiration more easily. Now, under Recipes in the main navigation, you'll see subcategories for Instant Pot, Mains, Sides, Sauces, and Vegetarian.
I'm curious - are there any other categories that you'd like to see? I primarily eat and cook food that's veggie-heavy, gluten-free, dairy-free (with the exception of grass-fed butter and a little Parmesan once in a while), and free of added sugar. Much of what I make is Paleo, Keto, and / or Whole30 compliant, but I don't follow any of these exclusively.
What I've been learning about:
As I mentioned in a recent Instagram post, I've been on a natural wine kick for a while. I recently started a documentary series called Wine Revealed (available on YouTube). Episode 1 features an interview with the founder and CEO of Dry Farm Wines, Todd White. I've been a customer of theirs for a while, and hearing Todd speak reignited my appreciation for what they do, and a desire to shift to drinking natural wine exclusively. Here are a few quick stats on wine and why I opt for natural whenever possible: - Grapes have been shown to contain significant levels of pesticides. In the Environmental Working Group's annual ranking of produce with the highest levels of pesticides, grapes were the 6th highest. (Time)
- Conventional wines can contain 70+ additives, including industrial chemicals, artificial colors, and animal byproducts (with no ingredient labeling!). (Food & Wine)
- Most wines, even organic, test positive for the toxic herbicide, Roundup (glyphosate-based). This is one of the benefits of the deeper roots of organic, dry-farmed vineyards over simply organically or biodynamically farmed vineyards.
- Conventional wines typically contain 5-50g of sugar per liter. (New York Times).
In contrast, Dry Farm Wines are all lab tested for purity. They're free of industrial additives, low sulfites, low alcohol (<12.5%) and sugar-free (<1 g/L). And all of their wines are dry-farmed, grown organically or biodynamically, and fermented with wild, native yeast (conventional wines are made with genetically modified yeast). It's no wonder there's a noticeable difference in how much better I sleep and how I feel the next day compared to drinking conventional wine.
As a happy repeat customer, I'm excited to be partnering with Dry Farm Wines to bring this goodness to more people. I encourage you to check them out if you're interested in learning more. If you make a purchase through this link, you'll receive an extra bottle of wine for $.01 with your first subscription order. Send me a message if you have any questions! |
