Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter
If you’re a regular at Joe’s, skip this. You already know we are into the most exciting food season in Northern New Mexico and even more exciting, the annual return of Joe’s famous Margherita Pizza. OMG, I can taste it now as I write! For the 19 years we have been making this pizza it has gathered an impatient following. Why? What could be simpler than a cheese and tomato pizza? Well, here’s the secret – we don’t do it all year round. I don’t care what kind of tomatoes you bring us in off-season, nothing comes close to creating the necessary flavor that makes it worth Roland’s effort to make this pizza until he gets Dave Fresques’ (and many other great NM farmers’) sweet, luscious, earth-grown, sun-ripened, organic, heirloom tomatoes. Of course the other unique ingredient is our fresh mozzarella which is made in house 2,3,4,5 times a day, as needed. Roland is known by some as the Mozzarella King and I must say I have never tasted better than his never-refrigerated, minutes-old fiore di latte (flower of the milk). Do not let the season go by without enjoying this extraordinary Margherita pizza or Caprese salad. For those who are GF, we can do it as a small pizza – almost as good!
Lately I’ve been going back to basics. In my never-ending research on nutrition and healing I am always fascinated by the latest nutraceutical. But recently I’ve re-discovered the sun! Well I mean Vit D, the sunshine vitamin. Were any of you (like me) forced to take cod liver oil during the dark winter months as a child? Bleeagh! Turns out that Mom was right…again. Cod liver oil, fatty fish, Vitamin D capsules are all stand-ins for good ol’ sunshine. And without sunshine we wither and die. Literally. I really had no idea!
For years, since the 80’s we have been slathering ourselves with sunscreen and avoiding sun exposure. Meanwhile rates of all the major diseases and many more have been rising. Could there be a connection? I think yes.
Michael Holick MD, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Jeff T. Bowles and other health writers will astound you with their assertions of the many conditions caused or exacerbated by Vit D (sunshine) deficiency. Ready? …. In no particular order: heart disease, stroke, flu, infections, bone spurs, arthritis, clogged arteries, cancers, leukemia, asthma, obesity, depression, injuries that never fully heal, autism, muscle weakness in the elderly, Crohn’s, IBS, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, MS, Lupus, other autoimmune diseases, psoriasis, colitis, cavities, osteoporosis. OMG the list goes on.
What this extensive list tells me is that Vit D (whether from sunshine, food or supplements) is so basic, so intrinsic to our well being, that we ignore it at our peril. That this hormone (yes did I forget to tell you it is a steroid hormone?) weaves complex alliances with other substances (proteins, and other nutrients) to run, generate or support almost every body process.
Some of you may have been lucky enough to have benefited from some simple practices that kept you healthy – herbal medicine? prayer? chicken soup? cod liver oil? Sunbaths?
So why have we drifted away from these simple practices? In the last 30 or 40, maybe 50 years, our food production and health care has gone so far out of wack, so far from common sense, that we are sabotaging ourselves at every turn. We have been persuaded that traditional health and dietary practices are unsophisticated and ineffective. That we need something stronger, faster, more dramatic.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want to go back in time or stand still. I am ecstatic about some new technologies and cutting edge protocols that are truly promising – stem cell therapy to name one. And I believe there is a time and place for drug, surgery and chemical intervention. But let’s reacquaint ourselves also with older fundamental practices in the care of our bodies.
The kiss of the sun on our skin has been pilloried since the 80’s when some semi-informed idiots convinced us of the dangers of sun exposure. And further, built an entire industry around chemical sunscreens! It may be hard to swallow, but there is plenty of research now to support the benefits, indeed necessity of unscreened sun exposure.
Here what Keith Scott-Mumby MD says, “The fundamental lie is that we need sunscreen at all. Just stay out of the sun until you can tolerate it. Otherwise, we need sun. Contrary to everything you have heard, sunshine protects against melanoma . . . Intense and unaccustomed radiation is what might cause skin cancers. A (sun)tan is your best protection. I repeat: suns rays protect against cancer. It’s science that goes back decades and is totally ignored by the medical profession and the skin care industry.”
Since the 80’s we have become perilously deficient in Vit D. Currently 32% of the US populace is deficient. Please get your D levels taken.
Regarding heart health – if you are deficient in D, you are 50% more at risk for heart attack. And with that same deficiency, if you have a heart attack, you are 100% at risk for dying. Well that’s sobering isn’t it?
Regarding cancer – sufficient D levels reduce your cancer risk by 50%.
Another not-so-fun condition, osteoporosis, is the result, not of a calcium deficiency, but rather of a D3 & K2 deficiency. Most of us get enough calcium but the calcium just does not know where to go! In a nutshell, Vit D makes calcium usable and K2 tells the calcium where to go. K2 moves calcium into the bones and teeth and out of the soft tissue like tendons, joints and arteries. Let me be emphatic about this – if you choose to supplement with oral D3 (rather than just sunshine), you must, I repeat must, take K2 with it.
Dr. Holick treats his patients with 3,000 IU’s per day, increasing the dose radically for those who are obese.
Dr. Mercola, however, believes that the best way to get your D is with sunshine.
Here are some interesting facts about sun exposure – the best time to sun (appropriately) is between 10AM and 3 PM. Why? The beneficial UVB rays are at their max then. Car windows unfortunately allow exposure ONLY to the dangerous rays.
Food sources of Vit D are: Fatty fish like tuna, mackerel, and salmon, liver, cheese and egg yolks.
This space limits any comprehensive discussion. Vit D and its interrelationships with K2, Vit A, magnesium and calcium form a complex biochemical dance. But don’t be put off — the solution to many D deficiency health issues is simple and cheap – sunshine. You can read more in Dr. Holick’s book, The Vitamin D Solution.
We now offer Benzinger wines of Sonoma. There are 2 Benziger wines on the menu – a delightful Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay Sonoma County. They practise Biodynamic farming at Benziger. It fits right in with Joe’s food philosophy. By the way, whenyou order any wine by the bottle at Joe’s, our pricing determines that you are getting an extremely good value. And remember NM law permits you to take home any unfinished bottle of wine. Ask your waiter for the official wine bag.
uWhy do we keep hammering on this “buy local” theme? There are many factors that are out of our hands when it comes to our food supply. Most of what ends up on the American dinner table derives from a shockingly few giant agribusinesses. Their influence reaches from designing the (GMO) seeds to planting, harvesting, processing and shipping. We as consumers cannot with confidence hand over the entire stewardship of our food to these few multinationals. Our passion here at Joe’s is for a local sustainable food supply – food produced by growers who are accountable for what they grow. KYG – Know Your Grower. We are able to look our local farmer in the eye and ask him about his growing practices or even visit his operation. This gives us the confidence that we are eating food that is healthy,wholesome, non-genetically engineered, often better than organic, humanely treated and minimally processed. It is grown with a smaller energy-use footprint and transported short distances. We cannot divorce human health, the economy, ecology, personal (perhaps spiritual) satisfaction or honorable work from food. Food is fundamental. What we eat, where it comes from,
the stewardship of food animals, the nurturing and building of soils – all these factors affect us at a cellular
and visceral level … whether we slow down enough to be aware of it or not. We so are fortunate in Santa Fe to have one of the very best Farmers Markets in the nation.
Here at Joe’s we do our best to offer this bounty to you, keeping dollars in the community. In the interest of transparency, in 2008 Joe’s spent $30,000 on local foods. In 2009 that increased to $60,000. And since 2012 we have far exceeded $100,000 per annum. During the growing season as much as 95% of our produce is locally sourced.
Land, economy, health – inseparable.
*Here are some of the farmers/ranchers we have developed long-standing partnerships with – Monte Vista Organics (Dave and Loretta), Camino de Paz Farm & School (Greg & Patty), Shepherd’s Lamb (Antonio and Molly), La Mont’s Buffalo (Monte and Lana), Green Tractor Farms (Tom and Mary), Synergia Ranch (Mark), La Montanita Co-Op, Sweetgrass Co-Op, Matt Romero Farms.
Tired of still paying for BB’s (big banks) bailouts? Tired of lining the pockets of the uber-rich Wall Street bankers? And still no convictions? DiJa know… in 2011 a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve found that the Fed gave 16 trillion dollars from American taxpayers to bail out the “too big to fail” banks with a hefty portion of it going to obscene CEO bonuses. Can you imagine — had this staggering figure been re-directed to the people of the US, how different the picture could have looked today? Manufacturing starts, job creation, skills training, roads and bridges repair, national parks, education, etc. Every time we use a credit card, part of that 3%-5% fee contributes to the BB’s. Now let’s be real – in today’s world you cannot function without a cc, but there are still (legal) alternatives that can save money and reduce our dependency on and subsidies to the BB’s. We have a couple of suggestions: (1.) Are you on Joe’s Check List? If you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on the list. (2.) Joe’s own credit card/gift card – purchase a $100 gift card with cash or check, get a $10 free bonus!
Giggles: funny signs
On a ski lift in Taos, NM: No jumping from the lift. Survivors will be prosecuted.
Two signs found on top of one another in a country kitchen restaurant: Restrooms to the left. Please wait for the hostess to seat you.
Joe’s
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM 87507
505-471-3800 www.JoesDining.com
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