If you’ve learned one thing about me from the narratives and declarations on my site, it is that growing forward is important to me. Unsurprisingly, this mind frame gets a fair amount of “easy for you to say” pushback, and assumptions that if you have a positive-grow-forward attitude that you came from pure light, and it’s easy for you to sit on a high hill and tell others how to be. In my case, you couldn’t be more wrong.

This essay is an attempt to explain where I started and how far I've come. It was never easy. My past is full of abuse, hills, and stumbling forward; and it is precisely why I’m so laser-focused on setting the best example for my son.

Below you will find: a book that will shake you into action as it explains how we are impacting every ecosystem on this plant (and how we can start fixing that damage before it is too late); a mind-blowing podcast lead by two neurologists about brain health, vascular health, and how animal-product-heavy diets lead to strokes (and how plant-based diets reverse the damage before you get to that point); an engaging, well-written book on powerful foods that will boost your memory and keep it from slipping; another doctor-lead podcast, this one about how to heal your body and attack autoimmune disorders with plant-based diets (she healed herself from kidney failure and Lupus); and a grocery list of foods that are as kind to your immune system as they are to the earth.

Move forward and live kindly, folks!

We all want robust immune systems (ESPECIALLY AMIDST A PANDEMIC!), eyes that see clearly, and well-grown babies, eh? If so, read on and see how you can use up a whole squash (seeds and all) and feast kindly.

Now that you can’t plead ignorance, and know all the many delicious/healthy/better options available to you, I hope you grow forward with kindness and vitality. It’s the only way we can heal this earth and ourselves.

Did you know that there is startling evidence that our CHILDREN show signs of streaky fats clogging up their arteries? It’s increasing their blood pressure, setting them up for heart disease, and giving them high risk of diabetes, cancer, autoimmune disease, etc.

Have you or someone you know suffered from: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, thyroid diseases (hyper and hypo), MS, breast cancer, fibroids, PCOS, infertility, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, Sjogren’s Disease, eczema, depression, gastrointestinal distress, or debilitating menstrual cramps? Have a stent? On a statin?

These three podcasts, the book by Dr. Neal Barnard, and the documentary “What the Health” will illuminate how the foods you eat are causing all of the above and how a shift to plant-based whole-foods can heal your body and the only planet we have.

It’s all about forward movement around here, so this is a good oatbar to end on for awhile. It is created with the most frequency, takes the tiniest amount of time to whip up, has the smallest environmental footprint, and is the product of streamlining my first two oatbar variants.

2020 is the year of moving beyond comfort zones and illuminating as many souls as possible; so I accepted an invite from our dearly loved Kathy Haendle, and this morning I summoned up the spine to give a speech at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Auburn.

It was titled “Environmental Kindness: How to Care for the Earth and Yourself”, and I came bearing a laundry basket of zero-waste examples, and a promise to post the text soon thereafter so they could see the links…and read sentences likely lost in the whirl and blur of my trademark rapid-fire-breathless-way of relaying info.

Afterward was a swirl of great questions, open discourse, a request to do more talks in the future, and sweet Q whispering how proud he was that I did my “first TED talk!” (<—Someday, kid)

There is so much to say, and I’ll be learning how to say it better and slower. 💚

This salad base is a boon on all fronts: it is zero-waste; it preps up quickly (there’s no need to “massage” the kale” because the warm quinoa and acids will do that for you: leaving you more time, which is the most precious resource on this earth); and it is packed with nutritional power that will fuel you through a day with health and environmental-kindness.

Ten years ago, I thought that quinoa was a bitter pearl of lesser-than-rice, and here I am propped in front of a computer at 6AM with the intent of mapping out how we buy it, cook it zero-waste, and why it is the perfect fuel to propel us through busy weeks.

Life is a dang wonder of growth and movement.

Oatmilk works in all binding (ie sauces, dredging things before coating them in a crispy coating, the inside of a potato pancake I’ll post soon!) and baking applications. You can buy a carton of it at the store, but if you also happen to have a lot of oats on hand this is a super quick, cheap alternative. We get our oats in bulk, and find this is a great way to get a lot of protein for super cheap.)

“Furthermore, oats also use 80% less land to grow than dairy milk. In fact, a glass of oat milk is responsible for less greenhouse gas emissions than soy milk or dairy milk.”

If you use this in your baking and cooking, you won’t miss the milk, but you’ll be helping the earth and being kind to your body!

Lentils live the dramatic life of being despised for their chalky, mealy mouth-feel, yet praised for their glorious nutritional profile.

While they are Ian’s dearest, I’ll admit that lentils are my least favorite of the legumes (Anasazi Beans own my heart): but I make sure to cook them often and find ways to sneak them into meals through the week. There are ways to eat lentils that range from pleasant-enough to downright-delicious, and I’ll be working through the week with this batch of lentils to show you some.

You know those delicious butterscotch-and-peanut-buttery rice Krispie treats sometimes slathered in chocolate? These are the energy bite version.

Avocados are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin K , Potassium, are good for your heart, and have 4g of plant-based protein. We add them to stir-fry bowls, bean bowls, soups, hummus, and just about anything we can.

These oatbars are bursting with Vitamin C, Potassium (from the bananas and the strawberries), and a feast of other macro and micronutrients between the strawberries, bananas, oats, chia seeds, and almonds. They are great for heart health, packed with protein (12g in a slice), and full of minerals and vitamins.

Best part? There are absolutely no added or lurking sugars.

Radishes come from the same nutritious brassica family as broccoli, cabbage, and kale. They are: full of vitamin C and minerals, are good for your heart, contain sulforaphane ("a natural compound with anticancer and chemoprotective properties. This substance may induce breast cancer cell death even at relatively low concentrations”), and they are even anti-fungal!

Cranberry Dark Chocolate Chip Oatbars: packed with protein and flavonoids that’ll fill you up and fight inflammation.

We are steadily working through perpetual pillars of the Cappello household, and this one is a treasure loved by all.

What the heck is anthocyanin? It is a purple flavonoid (part of your food rainbow) found in the hull of this rice, and it helps to prevent neuronal diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, and inflammation!