I was recently talking with some friends and I mentioned the word Orthorexia. "Orthorexia" is defined as an obsession with "healthy or righteous eating". It often begins with someone's simple and genuine desire to live a healthy lifestyle.

In my last post, I mentioned how I have turned to yoga to balance my very high energy, intense way of living. Some yin to balance my yang, if that makes it any clearer.

I have always been known as energetic, intense, someone who gets things done. I have a zillion ideas and never run short on things to say. I am a runner, I do power yoga, I do, do, do . . . when I started getting little aches and pains here and there, my wrists, my neck and arm, my leg. I was faced with a question of why? And then what to do about it? 

Why should we avoid food dye (a similar answer could be given for artificial sweeteners, chemicals and preservatives)? By the way, the drink pictured is a green smoothie, nature's own food coloring.

I am writing this short post to introduce the web site www.localharvest.org.

Many people who are interested in improving their health and caring for the environment are beginning to realize the benefits of eating locally.

Why Locally Grown?

I am going to do a series of posts focused on food label claims. If you have taken steps toward healthier, more humane ways of consuming your food, you are familiar with several labels such as "cage-free", "grass-fed", "fair-trade" and the hyphenated list goes on. 

Before supporting various local farms for meat, eggs, vegetables etc, I was buying cage-free eggs from a national grocery store chain, assuming of course that my extra money was being spent on a good cause, enabling those little mama chickens to see the light of day.

I am not sure how to put this delicately, it isn't necessarily my strong suit, so if this is somehow offensive, I do apologize, but what has happened to the neighborhood pharmacy? I do slightly live under a rock and I have to admit that it is on purpose. I am very careful about what I expose my children and myself to and this includes box stores and restaurants. I want them to see authenticity and things that support healthful, natural living.

Did you miss the news bites this week? Don't worry, we collected the hottest topics right here in one place for you to easily digest. 

In this weeks digest:

I recently underwent surgery. I am currently on bed rest followed by several weeks of no running and even longer without strength training. I understand why but at first this really frustrated me, so much that I considered not doing what was a medically necessary procedure that will hopefully take away much of the pain I have been experiencing on a daily basis.

Please check out this interview with Weightless author Kate Wicker. If you read my last blog post you know I am a huge fan of the work Kate has done with addressing women, faith and body image. This is your chance to read her own well-spoken words and to grab some inspiration and hope for becoming weightless.

http://www.crisismagazine.com/2011/weighty-issues-a-conversation-with-kate-wicker

Peace!