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How I View Food

Yesterday, a journalist was interviewing me and wanted to know about my eating habits.

When I proceeded to tell her all of the organic food that I keep in my fridge and that I put into my body each day, she then asked the question “What are your guilty pleasures?”

Maybe I am an anomaly but I don’t have any guilty pleasures. I simply do not view that way.

First, I view food as medicine. This means that I want to put the most nutritious food (organic food) into my body, so that my body will be as healthy as possible.

I make food selections based on what it is going to do to my physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.

Second, I eat food that tastes good. Even though I choose food based on its health quotient, this does not mean that it doesn’t taste good. I eat great tasting food every single day.

For example, the organic desserts at One Lucky Duck in New York City are as good, if not better, than any dessert anywhere.

Furthermore, I eat a good amount of raw, organic chocolate, which is amazing.

Cacao is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, and it is believed to have the highest level of antioxidants of any food. Cacao is a superfood in every respect.

Third, I don’t eat food that causes guilt. To most people, a “guilty pleasure” may be a non-organic piece of cake, candy, fried foods, french fries or something along those lines.

I eat certain kinds of organic ice cream but nothing that has refined sugar (even if it is organic) because refined sugar gets me depressed.

But I don’t eat foods that are going to make me feel badly afterwards. I used to do that but not anymore. I eat foods that are going to nourish me, make me feel energetic and keep me healthy.

Before I put food into my body, I ask myself two questions:

– Is this healthy?
– How am I going to feel after eating it?

If it is not healthy and if I am not going to feel good after eating it, I don’t eat it. Period.

So, the thought of a traditional “guilty pleasure” is not something that I can even relate to anymore.

Should all people eat like me? No.

These are my decisions, my diet works for me and is constantly evolving, and this has been a 10+ year journey of constant education as to what I should be eating.

In short, every person needs to decide what works for them and understand that what we eat truly matters.

The only thing that I would hope for is that people are choosing to eat as much organic as possible. It is unquestionably the best option for the health of a person’s body and our environment.

A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

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Learn more.

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Living Maxwell

Personal

Depression and Antidepressants – What They Don’t Want You to Know

In the summer of 2001, after being on Prozac for more than a decade, I made the life-altering decision to go off of antidepressants.

Despite what doctors and nearly everyone else around me were saying – that I had a chemical imbalance and that antidepressants were essential to keep me going – I believed otherwise. Intuitively, I knew that there was a better way to live, yet almost no one in my support system was in agreement with this line of thinking.

For the millions of people facing depression and who have similar doubts about medication being the only answer, a book has arrived that completely validates our concerns.

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A message from Tradin Organic

Why Tradin Organic is Prioritizing Regenerative Organic Farming

At Tradin Organic, we believe that regenerative organic farming is key to growing healthy and nutritious food ingredients — for now and for future generations.

And in Sierra Leone, we have grown the world’s first Regenerative Organic Certified cacao.

Learn more.

Living Maxwell

Personal

The Repercussions of Going on Antidepressants

As I mentioned the other day, there were tremendous repercussions for me going on Prozac during college. Yet at the time, I didn’t have any idea that they would be so disastrous.

What influenced my judgment to go on antidepressants was a real desperation to feel better. And to feel better quickly. Worrying about how this would impact my life 5 or 10 years down the road was of no consideration whatsoever. I wanted relief and I wanted it immediately.

These are the key repercussions:

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Living Maxwell

Personal

“I Was Told My Brain Was Broken”

In November, I put up blog entry titled The Repercussions of Going on Antidepressants, and I received a comment on this post the other day that both disturbed me and confirmed what I already knew. I thought it merited its own discussion here.

The woman who wrote the comment calls herself NoRx4Me and left the following information:

I was put on an SSRI at 24 years old during a bad marriage. I needed guidance and support, instead I was told my brain was broken.

SSRI’s led to stimulants, mood stabilizers, SNRI’s, and lithium for a short time. I was a mess. I lost 13 years. I have little memory of those years (especially sad, because I was raising two boys). I didn’t grow as a person at all. I quit dating in 2003 and never developed knew friendships either. I didn’t even realize this was odd until I was off meds.

I probably would have responded like some others on here while I was still under the influence and told you the meds were great. With a clear mind and 20/20 hindsight, I know the facts, my life was destroyed.

And they do cause physical problems; I lost a ton of hair, and my teeth are a mess. I look like I’ve aged 20 years instead of 10.

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