What shapes our tastes?
Certainly our families, our heritage, our experience
influence our likes and dislikes. So does our biology. The organ of taste, our tongue and mouth, can only detect 5 tastes. - sweet
- sour
- salty
- savory umami
- bitter
What we often call taste is actually FLAVOR
which is the marriage of taste and smell. Where our taste is able to distinguish only
five tastes, our smell abilities can detect thousands of aromas. Smell and taste, our called "chemical senses,"
are dependent on molecular interactions. And many scientists theorize that its the shape of the molecules that interact with
our cells. Others add on the concept of the vibration of the molecule influence how we detect specific aromas. Through the microscope we can see the expressions
of these molecules and may even imagine that some of our words about tastes actually reflect the molecule's shapes. Look
at sweet and rounded sugar, prickly caffeine, and full bodied wine to tickle your imagination. Read more about this
in Chapter 3 of Wine's Hidden Beauty.
| SAVORY |
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| Umami |
People who see
the photomicrograph of caffeine say, “It looks like what it does.”
SCHOOL GARDENS 
Hat's off and shovels down to Michelle Obama for setting the example for growing our own
food. What a concept for starting a health program. Getting in touch with the beginnings
- from seeds to something good to eat. My own experience with a garden
that schooled me, was at a small seaside town on the Left Coast where I apprenticed to an eccentric garden keeper and I fell
in love. In love with watering in tiny lettuce, digging beds, building 6-foot high compost beds. I fell in love
With the spirit of it all. Watching flowers dance in the wind, smelling succulent herbs and tasting the lettuce I grew myself,
well, with everyone else. For this city girl whose only connection with plants was an indoor potted palm, being in the
garden and living in nature brought me to a deeper heart of life. and Spirit. A new health plan that everyone should be able to agree upon starts with each school growing a garden, kids learning
from the ground up about food and nourishment. This goes into education and long-term prevention of obesity and other
health-problems. This is a preventive model, one step at a time., one seed at a time.
You
can take a kid out of the city or the gangs, one garden at a time. I have fantasized for years - what it - what if we
could feed every child on the planet - with food and love, then what? So as I reach into my later years here I
am committed to helping make that happen, one breath at a time. The reality about gardens and schools - Sonoma County is a wonderful model with their School Garden Network which has a whole curriculum developed and putting it into action. I will post here and at my blog about the latest
and greatest. Please tell us what you are doing around school food.
Good FOOD tastes great. It provides nutrients we need for life. When its farmed without pesticides
its likely to provide better nourishment for the land, the farmers,& us.
When it's shared with people we like,
it tastes even better.
SHARING MEALS - Watch EDIBLE
While many of us enjoy meals with our families or friends, it's estimated that
more than half the teens in the US eat most meals alone.
Studies indicate that the more meals children share
with others, the less likely they will overindulge in food, drugs, cigarettes, or other unhealthy habits.
EDIBLE - a short film produced by filmmaker Kristi Moya, illustrates
the reality of a teen eating alone and discovering the joy of fresh, local food.
How do you add more shared meals into your week?
Kristi, Allan Hogle, and I created a GUIDE to explore
ways to share food and gardens for families and in the classroom. Feel free to download this guide and watch the film clip
at www.bornofwomanfilms.com. We welcome your feedback.
Download Discussion Guide
We are a cellular universe and I'm not just
talking phones. Each of us thrives because of the trillions of living cells that are us. And what we do, think, eat
influences their functioning and our survival. 
Did you know that the fats you eat influence how your cells respond and transmit information? The more saturated and
trans fats we put into our bodies, the more rigid our cell membranes become. Our
cell membranes need to be flexible and fluid for optimal health and cellular intelligence. To help them respond efficiently
to the millions of bits of incoming information, we can avoid trans fats, lower our intake of saturated fat from animal products, and enjoy cold-water fish like salmon
and sardines, olive oil, walnuts and avocados. Eating good fats isn't only about helping our heart health, they help our cells first.
Vitamin B12
The RED vitamin is found in significant amounts ONLY in animal foods
FOODS that are good sources for it: meat, yogurt, eggs, fish, poultry, yeast, cheese and sea greens. Some foods are fortified
with B12. Read labels.
B12's bright red color is due to the presence of the mineral cobalt which gives its other name, cobalmin. It is the vitamin
required in the smallest amounts, micrograms = millionths of a gram.
Important for energy, genes and the nervous system.
Vitamin B12 partners with another B vitamin, folic acid, to support production of red blood cells, DNA, and the myelin
sheath that insulates our nerve cells. B12, folic acid and B6 support the nervous system, so best to take these 3 together.
| Selenium |
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NUTRITIONAL
BIOCHEMISTRY
An Integrated Approach to Cellular Nourishment
OVERVIEW
OF CLASS SESSIONS
Class 1. BASICS. What constitutes molecules and cells? Where does energy fit into our biological
model? How are our cells built and what is considered "the brain" of the cell? How do fats influence the abilities
and intelligence of our cells? How attitudes and thoughts influence our choice and behavior?
Class 2. ENERGY:
Where does cellular energy come from, what nutrients are essential and what compromises energy production? How does stress
impact energy and health? What nutritional and lifestyle choices improve our ability to manage energy?
Class
3. PROTEINS: What are the basics of protein formation and structure and what are their essential functions for sustaining
life? Can we influence gene activity and which proteins are made? How do specific proteins enhance or compromise neurotransmitters?
Class 4. INFLAMMATION: What is oxidative stress and which foods and nutrients help calm this potentially devastating
oxidation of our cells? Where do oxidants fit into inflammation and what diseases have inflammation as a key contributing
factor? What are anti-inflammatory foods and what lifestyle choices support well-being?
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