Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -102 May 2014
The winds have arrived. Hang on to your hat!
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May brings us all kinds of goodies – western winds, Mothers’ Day, Memorial Day, graduations – May is a busy month. Joe’s will again help you celebrate your Mom. We offer a delightful 3-course prix fixe menu starting at 11:30 that day. Please please make your reservation. On any other Sunday small parties can always be accommodated, BUT on Mother’s Day, we strongly urge you to reserve to avoid waiting. Our regular and our Brunch menus will be available too.
Dija Know – After five decades, Dallas has terminated a practice that was initially implemented to counter tooth decay – fluoridating the public water supply. While fluoride does indeed lower the incidence of tooth decay, it has now been firmly proven that it is an inefficient way to control decay and further, that it causes harm. Neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD, dyslexia and autism have been linked to fluoride and to other industrial chemicals. In an article published in The Lancet, MD´s Philippe Grandjean and Philip Landrigan, state that fluoride and other industrial chemicals injure the developing brain and are known to contribute to the rise in brain disorders mentioned above. In my view, Dallas has made a common sense decision. Why in heavens name (and we do know why!) medicate an entire population without individual consent for a singular result? Common sense would suggest if you want the “benefits” of fluoride, get a treatment from your dentist or simply use a high fluoride toothpaste. That way less is ingested to be metabolized with unwanted consequences! Back to the Dallas decision. Economic factors may have played a strong role. It is estimated that Dallas will save $1 million a year by removing the aluminum byproduct from their water supply. Santa Fe would save $30,000. As you may know there is strong sentiment here in Santa Fe to remove the chemical. And it chagrins me that in one of the nation’s most progressive cities, a simple commonsense decision was not enforced by our city council once it was actually passed! Surely we have the right to clean untampered-with water. sfreporter.com/santafe/article-8244-fluoride-wars-resume-in-abq.html
DiJa Know there was a two-year study of GMOs by an independent lab in France that found that the genetically embedded pesticides in GMO food, designed to kill insects by disintegrating their guts, did the same thing to the guts of the lab rats that ate the GMO food. This causes leaky gut syndrome whereby undigested proteins circulate in the blood to feed systemic fungal, bacterial and viral infestation with resulting cancers.
Vermont is the first State to require labeling of foods with GMOs. Kudos to Vermont. I do wish New Mexico had been first when given the opportunity in the Jan 2013 legislative session. Again, another common sense issue – simply allow us the freedom to choose.
It didn’t start yesterday but it has become blatantly evident – there is an ongoing attack on our right to good health. It is especially troublesome to those who are guided by Hippocrates’ mandate, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Widespread chronic disease (sadly showing up in younger and younger people) bears witness to the fact that our highly promoted mass produced “food” is killing us. The run-off from the big players – agribusiness, big pharma, big weaponry – is compromising the purity of our water, air and food to a deadly degree. Staying healthy these days is an enormous challenge. OK, didn’t mean to depress you! The thing is, we need to be aware of what is happening in order to take appropriate action and judiciously select foods that will sustain and even revitalize our bodies!
Superfoods is a word that gets bandied about in health and fitness circles. There used to be something like 3 superfoods. Remember wheat germ? oat bran? Well now the list of superfoods is quite extensive. My definition of a superfood is one that is so densely packed with nutrition that #1 you could almost live on it if you had to and #2. its splendid nutrition justifies its questionable . . . taste! As a matter of fact as I sit here writing I am sipping my greenish-gray superfood smoothie. Yum? Just kidding, it’s really not bad. And fortunately many superfoods are quite tasty. Here are several of my favorites – coconut oil, wheat grass, cinnamon and raw cacao powder (chocolate). I’ve already written about coconut oil and it’s brilliant results in reversing some cases of Alzheimer’s and dementia. So let me now sing the praises of cacao, pronounced ku-cow’. Raw Cacao Powder is one of the most nutrient rich and complex foods. Ancient Mayans and Aztecs knew about its amazing healing properties. While the entire nutrient profile of the cacao bean is yet to be discovered, the benefits we do know so far are mind-blowing! And as an aside, women have somehow always known that chocolate is good for them!
Cacao is the highest whole food source of magnesium, antioxidants and iron. Its antioxidant value is more than that of red wine, green tea and blueberries combined. As a matter of fact, 40 times that found in blueberries. This helps you fight free radicals and infections. High levels of magnesium help regulate metabolism, increase brainpower, help muscles including your heart work smoothly and build strong bones. But, the cacao you are buying should be raw and organic. Cacao contains high levels of iron, which forms a critical part of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin transports oxygen around the body. Research by David Wolfe (the king of raw foods) has led him to state that cacao contains 314% of the recommended daily intake of iron per 28 gram serving (about 1 ounce). Also cacao has more calcium than milk and it is more absorbable.
It is also really good for your skin because it contains sulphur a mineral that builds strong nails, hair and promotes beautiful skin, as it helps to detoxify the liver.
Cacao raises endorphins, and promotes a healthy exchange of neurotransmitters, such as serotonin. And cacao helps immensely with hormone imbalance. We just feel good when we eat chocolate! .
Read more at http://www.lovingfit.com/nutrition/raw-cacao-amazing-super-food/#fYrJUfJ1xhAgslVX.99
♥Joe’s own “melt in your mouth” French chocolate truffles. $1.99 @ or 6 for the price of 5 — $9.95
Every Tuesday is Spaghetti and Chianti Night at Joe’s. Still $29.95 for two! That will get two of you Caesar salad, Spaghetti Bolognese (made with our grass-finished local beef) and a ½ liter of great Chianti. Wadda deal! Finish your meal elegantly with a glass of Essensia orange Muscat dessert wine and homemade desserts.
Why 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 fromdesigning the (GMO) seeds to planting, harvesting, processingand shipping. We as consumers cannot withconfidence hand over the entire stewardship of our food tothese 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 visithis operation. This gives us theconfidence 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 card free!
DiJa Know – silver and gold have been reinstated as legal tender in two states – Utah was first and Arizona followed. I believe Oklahoma is considering it as well. It’s only a matter of time . . .
For fun:
I don’t have ADD, I just . . . oh look a squirrel!
I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was
blaming you.
“I’m not young enough to know everything.”
Oscar Wilde
Joe’s
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM 87507
505-471-3800 www.JoesDining.com
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