THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST

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Episode Summary
Over the weekend, I celebrated my birthday with friends on the beach. It's become my standard celebration. Each year I make the main dish, the entree, and it changes from year to year, depending on my mood  or what I've been cooking lately. This time it was empanadas.

As I rolled the dough into circles, and filled each with savory ingredients, the morning of the party, it got me reflecting on my own food stories. Because there was a time when I would of been so overwhelmed by the task. In fact, there was a time when I would reluctantly make my way to the kitchen each time I had to cook a meal for the family. But somewhere along the way of learning to Eat Less Water, I learned how to cook with propose too. And to my sweet delight, when I cook with purpose joy follows. 

In this episode I offer action steps anyone can take to uncover their own food stories that shaped your own relationship to meal time. I offer you the path to bring more joy to your cooking.

And as promised in the episode, here is the link to the empanada dough recipe I use.

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary
The following news article came up in my newsfeed  Steep Water Cuts Are Coming For the Southwest As Colorado River Shrinks and Lake Mead's Level Plummets. I think it’s safe to say you have seen a similar article in recent days. And like me, you are concerned. So, what does that have to do with farm-to-table restaurants? And I'd say it has everything to do with it.  

We are facing serious water shortages, not just in the Southwest, but around the nation and the world.  The negotiations that are occurring between states and policymakers on ways to get folks to lower their water usage cannot begin an end with changing out your lawns. That is a strategy that's rolled out every drought, including shorter showers, turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth, etc.  All those action steps are important.  But consider this:

• Each person uses  82 gallons of water every day in the United States.   
• Each person eats anywhere between 500 to 1300 gallons of water, our virtual water footprint. 

Every day 80% of all water flows to grow and produce our food. The conversation always seems to leave out agriculture in any meaningful way. We have an opportunity to dig deep and strategies and ways to support our farmers who are implementing strategies that save water and build soil and are part of the solution.

In this episode, I’m joined by my husband and number one supporter on carving a path to Eat Less Water since day 1. Together we go through the steps to seek and support farm-to-table restaurants that are a piece of this puzzle to use less water. 

Articles
Tips to Make Sure you are Buying the Right Salmon

In the episode, the term "free range" came up. Here is the definition I found:
Free Range
“Free range” labels are regulated by the USDA only for poultry produced for meat – it’s not regulated for pigs, cattle or egg-producing chickens. Nor are the requirements very high. Poultry can use the label if the chicken had any access to the outdoors each day for some unspecified period of time; it could be just a few minutes and does not assure that the animal ever actually went outdoors to roam freely.

Here is a link to a useful article on the definition of labels.


Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary
This episode honors the memory of Supervisor Carmen Ramirez, friend, activist, and mentor. She died over the weekend tragically and suddenly. In this episode, I share parts of the blueprint she left for us to follow to turn our hope for better communities into action.

Articles
LA Times Article
ABC NEWS
KEYT NEWS

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary
In this episode, I build our shared vocabulary of sustainable food and explain the term holistic managed. 

Language is power. And when we know the terminology we can partner with techniques to grow-wellbeing simply by reaching for these food ingredients when we see them at the market or start asking for them. 

Having an understanding of the agricultural methods that grow well-being is key to saving water because 1) 70% of water globally is used to grow food, and 2) eating is something we must do every day. If we change how and what we eat, collectively it will make waves of change.

Visit the Cobblestone Valley Farms Website, a holistic managed farm I mention in this episode.

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary
Now imagine you are at the grocery store in the milk section. You have many choices from organic to non-organic, and non-dairy alternatives. Which do you reach for? 

Whether you are drinking milk from dairy cows or the dairy alternative, like soy, almond, or oat, the action tip for today’s episode is to reach for the organic option always. Even better, reach for the organic option that comes from small-scale dairy farmers like one of my favorite brands, Organic Valley. 

Right before I recorded this podcast episode, I looked up the price for a half gallon of conventional or non-organic milk and the organic variety, specifically Organic Valley. The price difference was $2.00. And the difference in price between conventional milk and organic soy milk was 0.75.

What you gain in that .75 cents to 2.00 more you pay for organic milk is huge. 

At the individual level, paying the extra money means your glass of milk will not contain, trace chemicals from pesticides. Nor will you be drinking down growth hormones or antibiotics, both practices are restricted in organic certified food.

But why does that matter? In this episode, I will examine a few of the differences (there are many others I will discuss in future episodes.) 

I mention the following study in the episode. Link here.

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary
Last week I introduced the concept of meal planning. In that episode, I said, Some of you already have a meal planning, practice, which is great. And some of you don't have a meal planning practice. Once you start meal planning, you're going to wonder what took you so long.  

But what does it take to build a new habit?  At its essence, activism is getting oneself to do things differently, to create new habits. But why do some habits stick and others fail? What are the blocks that stand in the way?

In this episode, I explore these questions with Michele Nevarez, author of the book “Beyond Emotional intelligence: A Guide to Accessing Your Full Potential. She coaches clients around the world on this very topic with her team of Beyond Emotional Intelligence (BEI) certified coaches.

During this interview, Michele, an expert on EI and its practical application, will answer these and other questions and walk us through the proven action steps she designed to help us move from where we are to where we want to be. She offers us simple exercises to take out the “head trash,” so we can turn our hope of a better environment into action.

In the interview, we use food and specifically meal planning as the example, but the exercises she provides can be used for any habit we want to build from eating more sustainably, to meal planning, and beyond.

To learn more about the work Michele does at her company Beyond Emotional Intelligence, and sign up for her newsletter, visit www.beyondei.inc .

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary:
According to government stats, we eat a lot of bread, about 55 loaves of bread a year per person. In the average lifetime, those loaves of bread add up to about 87,000 slices in a lifetime. How much water are we eating in all those loaves? 

If the water footprint of bread, that is how much water it takes to grow the grain to make one slice is 11 gallons and we multiply it by 87,000 slices, that is 957,000 gallons of fresh water we will each eat. 

This total doesn’t include the additional 5,000 hot dog rolls and 12,000 hamburgers the average person will eat over a lifetime taking the water footprint total past a million gallons of fresh water.

In this episode, I share three steps you can implement today to reduce your bread water footprint while still enjoying your daily bread. 

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary:
During the first 8-weeks of the HOW to EAT LESS WATER podcast I’ve shared many simple ideas to turn our shared hope for a cleaner more sustainable environment into action. But the foundation of all the action steps offered thus far is MEAL PLANNING. This one action step in many ways is the container or storage bin where all the action tips are organized.

In the book I’m writing now, HOW TO EAT LESS WATER IN 30 DAYS, meal planning is the action tip introduced on DAY 1 and embedded throughout.

If you already meal plan that's great, you have a good habit formed. But in today’s podcast episode I offer some approaches that you may not already implement into your weekly meal planning.

For those of you who don't have a meal planning practice, you're going to soon wonder what took you so long. Because when you start to meal plan at the beginning of your week, three things automatically happen:

1. I WASTE LESS FOOD
2. I EAT HEALTHIER
3. COOKING FEELS LIGHTER, EVEN JOYFUL

I invite you to share with me what you're doing in your kitchen and how you approach your meal planning to give me more ideas that I can share on future podcast episodes at [email protected].

When we merge our influence we can change the world one meal (plan) at a time.

Be resplendent,

Florencia

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Join me for a LIVE VIRTUAL PIZZA PARTY on July 30 or August 1. Come alone or invite friends and family to help you mix, knead, roll, and garnish pizzas that save water, grow well-being, and are delicious. LAST DAY TO PURCHASE TICKETS IS SATURDAY, JULY 23.

Find gifts designed to serve well-being at the Eat Less Water Shop.

Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book

Celebrate summer with DRY FARM WINE. They curate delicious, low-sugar, organic wine from biodynamic farms around the globe. Learn more in my podcast episode HOW TO BUY YOUR NEXT BOTTLE OF WINE.

Sign up with this link to receive an extra bottle for one penny with your first order!

Make sure you hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss out on future episodes released every Monday and (water) Wednesday.

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Episode Summary
Recently I sent my teenage son, Joaquin to pick up flour tortillas for dinner. He handed me the package and said without prompting, this is the only brand that didn’t have palm oil. It has become second nature to look for this ingredient for all of us in the family. But it hasn’t always been the case. I didn’t connect the dots between palm oil, and global water systems until I did the research for the chocolate chapter in my book Eat Less Water.

When I was immersed in the research for cacao farming it brought me to tears. Palm plantations are devastating not only to water systems, but to groups of people who are displaced, to animals now facing extinction, and to our global climate.

Palm oil is the most popular vegetable oil on the planet because it's cheap. The cheap oil can be found in over half the items found in any grocery store from chocolate to toothpaste.

The true cost of the popular cheap oil is best explained through the story of peatlands and forests.

If you don't know what peatlands are I didn't know until I did the research for my chapter. Peatlands are essentially layers of soggy plant debris. They act as freshwater reservoirs like wetlands. Formed over 10,000 years, these layers of plant material can reach depths of 70 feet.

These saturated land filters the water for animals and humans living downstream and are critical in regulating global climate. Peatlands hold 30% of the world's carbon. More than all the forests combined.

Over the ages, peatlands absorbed 1.2 trillion, tons of carbon dioxide. And to get a sense of what that looks like. It is the amount emitted from 34,000 coal plants in a year.

But as I explain in this episode, illegal fires are downing these virgin forests draining the peatlands of freshwater to make way for the orderly rows of palm trees that now engulf the tropic landscape. This is especially true in Indonesia, the largest producer of palm. The 18,000 islands that comprise this nation are lush in biodiversity and host to one of the most extensive peatlands in the world. But 2 million palm plantations grow on former peatlands in Indonesia and the number grows as the palm oil keeps flowing to our favorite food brands.

The damage to the peatlands to clear the terrain for palm is irreversible. When peatlands are drained and burned, carbon, the leading contributor to climate change is released into the atmosphere.

Peatlands are necessary, not cheap palm oil. But as I explain in this episode, there are actions we can take during our next trip to the store to turn the tide.

Take a listen and send me any questions or ideas you implement in your kitchen to Eat Less Water by replying to this email.

When we merge our influence we can change the world one meal at a time.

Be resplendent,

Florencia

Links and resources:
Download FREE the TEN TIPS to EAT LESS WATER SUMMER PARTY PLANNING GUIDE for all the tips, steps, and info on how to celebrate like a kitchen activist with your friends and family.

Join me for a LIVE VIRTUAL PIZZA PARTY on July 30 or August 1. Come alone or invite friends and family to help you mix, knead, roll, and garnish pizzas that save water, grow well-being, and 

RESOURCES + LINKS

•  Watch the PBS segment on Kitchen Activism 
•  Join the 4-week Kitchen Activist group (closes Sunday) 
•  Preorder The Kitchen Activist 
• Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! started.
• Sign up for my weekly newsletter. 
• Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
  
  Reach Florencia Ramirez at [email protected]