Author: Tristan Klesick

Posted on by

"Share the Good" Contest

This is a time of year when people are making lifestyle changes for good. We all start to focus on maintaining healthy eating, exercise and setting goals for ourselves to keep us eating healthy. However, there are so many others—friends, family members, and neighbors—who could benefit from the fresh variety of fruits and veggies that you’ve been enjoying!  This season, we want to partner with you in the goal to share the good!

Many new customers join our team of faithful customers at this time every year, and many of those new customers are referrals from you! We are always so excited when a new customer signs up and gets on board with “a box of good” that we send out a thank you gift! Be it one of our incredible coffees, artisan sourdough breads, or delicious products from Sweet Creek Foods, we send out one of these offerings to both the new customer and the existing customer that referred them to us!

This has been a fun way for you to sample some of our product offerings, and yet we decided to make it even more fun for you to refer your friends. We are having a “Share the Good” contest! From now through the month of February, not only will you receive the standard thank you gift for your referrals, but for every two people you refer, your name will be entered into a drawing for the chance to win one of three unique prizes!

Chocolate Lovers Cookie Box
A completely unique, beautiful gift package of Breadfarm’s most delicious chocolate concoctions
Cocoa Nibs
Espresso Shortbread
Chocolate Thumbprints
Dark Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Breakfast Selection
½ lb. of Camano Island Coffee Roasters’ Coffee of the Month
Artisan Chuckanut Multigrain Bread
Local Organic Eggs, 1 doz.
Local Creamed Honey, 12 oz.
2 jars of Fruit Spread, 10 oz. each

Lunch Assortment
Artisan Honey Wheat Sandwich Bread
Albacore Tuna, 7.5 oz.
Dill Pickles, 16 oz.
Peanut Butter, 16 oz.
Fruit Spread, 10 oz.

The prize drawing will take place February 26 and winners will be notified immediately thereafter.

We are excited about making your referrals more rewarding! So spread the word! Share the good!

Posted on by

Judge Tristan Klesick??

Last week, I attended the American Farm Bureau (AFB) National Conference which was held in Seattle. The AFB hasn’t held its national conference in Seattle since the 1950s.  Normally I wouldn’t head off to an AFB convention, but it was so close to home that I decided to go.  It didn’t hurt either that the local agricultural bank I work with asked me to come and be a judge at one of the AFB contests.

I served as a judge for the Young Farmer and Rancher Discussion Meet.  Essentially, these are the future leaders of American Agriculture and they are competing in a mock policy meeting. The goal is for the participants to demonstrate their abilities to communicate and build consensus around a certain question that is asked of the group. Each group is made up of four to five participants.  This is a big deal and the winner has had to win their state competition and then has to compete with the best from every other state at the national convention.  The winner takes home a brand new Dodge 4×4 pick up. Needless to say, there were some motivated participants.

The question my group was asked to debate was (paraphrased):  We know that the American food supply is the safest in the world, but how do we get that message out to the public?

This was a pretty loaded question and the participants (three men and one woman) discussed it for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, I was ushered off to a “secret” room to tally my scores and turn in my evaluations. 

Sadly, I do not necessarily agree with the presupposition that America’s food supply is the safest in the world.  I certainly do not believe that our system produces the healthiest food in the world.  Our entire focus as a nation has been to direct national farm policy towards cheap grain and, consequently, cheap and empty calories. And because of this national policy we have created an industrial farm model that doesn’t value quality, nutrition or variety, but values quantity and control of our food supply.  And I, personally, believe that this focus has weakened the safety of our food supply and the quality of our food supply to the point that it drastically impacts our educational systems and health care industries in America. 

I would contend that if American farmers were producing healthy food we wouldn’t have a national healthcare crisis and we would not have children “bouncing off the walls” from being fed a high sugar and overly processed food diet.

Thankfully, the organic farmer has stood up and said, “We are going to grow food that is filled with health and nutrition!”  It is not easy to farm organically, it takes more labor and applying minerals and compost to our fields cost more money. But, if we are going to have a healthy food supply, the soil has to have the nutrients available to grow and raise the healthiest fruits and vegetables Americans and everyone else in this world deserve to eat.

Tristan

Posted on by

Judge Tristan Klesick??

Last week, I attended the American Farm Bureau (AFB) National Conference which was held in Seattle. The AFB hasn’t held its national conference in Seattle since the 1950s.  Normally I wouldn’t head off to an AFB convention, but it was so close to home that I decided to go.  It didn’t hurt either that the local agricultural bank I work with asked me to come and be a judge at one of the AFB contests.

I served as a judge for the Young Farmer and Rancher Discussion Meet.  Essentially, these are the future leaders of American Agriculture and they are competing in a mock policy meeting. The goal is for the participants to demonstrate their abilities to communicate and build consensus around a certain question that is asked of the group. Each group is made up of four to five participants.  This is a big deal and the winner has had to win their state competition and then has to compete with the best from every other state at the national convention.  The winner takes home a brand new Dodge 4×4 pick up. Needless to say, there were some motivated participants.

The question my group was asked to debate was (paraphrased):  We know that the American food supply is the safest in the world, but how do we get that message out to the public?

This was a pretty loaded question and the participants (three men and one woman) discussed it for about 40 minutes. Afterwards, I was ushered off to a “secret” room to tally my scores and turn in my evaluations. 

Sadly, I do not necessarily agree with the presupposition that America’s food supply is the safest in the world.  I certainly do not believe that our system produces the healthiest food in the world.  Our entire focus as a nation has been to direct national farm policy towards cheap grain and, consequently, cheap and empty calories. And because of this national policy we have created an industrial farm model that doesn’t value quality, nutrition or variety, but values quantity and control of our food supply.  And I, personally, believe that this focus has weakened the safety of our food supply and the quality of our food supply to the point that it drastically impacts our educational systems and health care industries in America. 

I would contend that if American farmers were producing healthy food we wouldn’t have a national healthcare crisis and we would not have children “bouncing off the walls” from being fed a high sugar and overly processed food diet.

Thankfully, the organic farmer has stood up and said, “We are going to grow food that is filled with health and nutrition!”  It is not easy to farm organically, it takes more labor and applying minerals and compost to our fields cost more money. But, if we are going to have a healthy food supply, the soil has to have the nutrients available to grow and raise the healthiest fruits and vegetables Americans and everyone else in this world deserve to eat.

Tristan

Posted on by

Off and Running

This is the famous time of the New Year’s Resolutions.  We save up all of our energy, build up all the muster we have, to make the big push to change something.  If we could only apply all the time we spend waiting to implement the change to the actual change, most of us would be more successful than less in our new habits.  

The crux of the issue boils down to motivation and accountability.  Some would throw in desire, but I have all the desire I need to start anything, but I really need that motivation that comes from accountability to succeed.  “The experts” say it takes 91 days to change a habit.  I think they are right.  It takes 91 days to make the new habit an old habit.

But if we are going to make it to 91 days, we need a plan with some measurable goals.  But don’t spend too much time thinking about your plan. We love to plan in this country, the shelves are filled with dust covered intentions. You already know what areas you want to improve, pick one and get started! 

So if you need to eat healthier, make a plan to eat a salad every day or bring a lunch to work three days per week.  You might decide to walk for 30 minutes, rain or shine, three or four days a week.  These are measurable goals that will eventually lead to the bigger goal of losing weight or increasing your stamina or whatever. 

So let’s get started!  Most of us already have a mental plan, the plan needs shoe leather.  I can’t resist one farmer’s comment at this time: “It is hard to get the field plowed, if you never put the plow in the field.”  So let’s put the plow in the field.  Plowing isn’t always easy and it isn’t always pretty, but if you don’t start plowing, you can’t plant and if you don’t plant you can’t harvest (your goals).

Now tell a spouse, a friend, your farmer (smile) about your goals and ask them to motivate and encourage and hold you accountable on your new venture.  Just get going. You can’t harvest your goals, until you plow the field.

Happy Plowing!                 

Tristan

Posted on by

Helping Local People

Another core principle at Klesick Family Farm is to give back to our community. Last year, with your help, the Klesick Family Farm delivered 463 boxes of good to the Stanwood and Snohomish food banks. That is $11,000.00 of quality organic fruits and vegetables. There is no way our farm could meet this need without your help. This is one of the most satisfying aspects of our business. I love meeting local needs with local resources! Thank you for partnering with us to meet this local need. If you would like to join us to help provide quality organic produce to local food banks, visit the “How To Help” page of our new website.

Thanks for a great 2009!

Posted on by

Supporting Local Farms

Since the inception of our home delivery business in1999, we have always focused on purchasing our fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers first. Every week, I call my farmer friends to find out what they currently have available that I can add to our boxes. If I need to find more produce, I then source it from farms outside our area. This year, however, was a great year for local food! As your personal farmer, I really appreciate your dedication to the local farm community. With your box of good purchases this last year, you have blessed several local farm families:

Rents Due Ranch, Skagit Harmony Farm, Ralph’s Greenhouse, Motherflight Farms, Hedlund Farms, Cascadian Farms, Blue Heron Farms,  CJ’s Grassfed Beef, Munks Farm, Anselmo’s Organic Gardens, Paul and Janice Madden Orchards, Ponderosa Orchards, Goose Tail Orchards, Filaree Farms, and of course, the Klesick Family Farm.

Posted on by

'09 in the Books

 

It was this time last year that our farm and faming neighbors were hunkering down and sand bagging like crazy.  The January ’09 flood was a record event.  Flooding is a fairly normal event during the winter, but last January was the perfect storm.  We had snow melting, huge amounts of rain and really high tides.  As you can imagine, I am glad that the January ’09 flood is put to rest. 

It is ironic how over time disasters take on their own personality and eventually are referred to as the ’51 flood or the ‘9o flood.  Farmers are already referring to the January ’09 flood as the ’09 flood.  I have been in more than one meeting where an old timer has stood up and referenced the ’51 flood.  I have never seen pictures of the ’51 flood, until recently. I knew that it was a big flood to have so burned the memory of into the farmers pysche 50 years later.  But when I saw the aerial photographs, I finally understood.  That flood wiped out the City of Stanwood. May we never see water like that again.

Posted on by

Simple decisions for healthy living

The days of heavy holiday foods laden with luscious cream and butter are now a thing of the past, but their memory lives on in the form of tight fitting clothes and an extra pound (or three). We remember those days of celebrating with joy and fondness, but as the new year is upon us, most likely new lifestyle changes and goals are here as well.

Often, diets come and go. Big diet decisions are hard to follow and are quickly laid to rest and old habits become new again.

For me, the most successful lifestyle decisions are the ones that start small yet over time show big changes.

If eating healthier in the New Year is on your list of things to do, first of all, congratulate yourself. Having fresh, organic produce in your home on a regular basis is a HUGE step towards a healthy lifestyle. When sweet cravings strike you can turn to the Bartlett pear or a tangy satsuma. If salty is what you crave turn on the oven and make chips. Yes, I did say chips – they can be part of healthy eating. Many winter vegetables can be turned into crispy and salty morsels that satisfy the need for a crunch. My husband, who feels as if the grocery list is not complete without chips, fends off his cravings with Kale chips.

Other little daily healthful decisions I try to make include: limiting calories that come from beverages and drink more water, watch my sugar intake – which is hard for me as I love to bake, eat smaller quantities and park in the last parking spot rather than the one closest to the store – it’s amazing how a few extra steps a day adds up to miles in the course of a year.

When we make small daily decisions we may not see drastic results as you would with other ‘fad’ diets but you will see a gradually feeling of overall better health and eventually, if weight loss is your goal, you will drop the pounds. The best part is that you will be more likely to stick with this new ‘diet’ because it is quite easy and fun.

You may argue the fun part but I will argue right back at you. Scour the internet, magazines and cookbooks to find new recipes for vegetables and fruit. Old standbys will get new life as you see them used in different ways.

The best decision has already been made as you are making fresh, organic produce a part of your daily life. May 2010 fill you with joy in the kitchen, new recipes to try and a healthful renewed energy.

Blessings to you all in this New Year! 

by Ashley Rodriquez
Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom.
You can read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

Posted on by

Off and Running

This is the famous time of the New Year’s Resolutions.  We save up all of our energy, build up all the muster we have, to make the big push to change something.  If we could only apply all the time we spend waiting to implement the change to the actual change, most of us would be more successful than less in our new habits.  

The crux of the issue boils down to motivation and accountability.  Some would throw in desire, but I have all the desire I need to start anything, but I really need that motivation that comes from accountability to succeed.  “The experts” say it takes 91 days to change a habit.  I think they are right.  It takes 91 days to make the new habit an old habit.

But if we are going to make it to 91 days, we need a plan with some measurable goals.  But don’t spend too much time thinking about your plan. We love to plan in this country, the shelves are filled with dust covered intentions. You already know what areas you want to improve, pick one and get started! 

So if you need to eat healthier, make a plan to eat a salad every day or bring a lunch to work 3 days per week.  You might decide to walk for 30 minutes, rain or shine, 3 0r 4 days a week.  These are measurable goals that will eventually lead to the bigger goal of losing weight or increasing your stamina or whatever. 

So let’s get started!  Most of us already have a mental plan, the plan needs shoe leather.  I can’t resist one farmer comment at this time, “it is hard to get the field plowed, if you never put the plow in the field.”  So let’s put the plow in the field.  Plowing isn’t always easy and it isn’t always pretty, but if you don’t start plowing, you can’t plant and if you don’t plant you can’t harvest (your goals).

Now tell a spouse, a friend, your farmer (smile) about your goals and ask them to motivate and encourage and hold you accountable on your new venture.  Just get going. You can’t harvest your goals, until you plow the field.

Happy Plowing!

Posted on by

Egg Production – Part 2

Researchers are apparently going to research whether chickens are happy in cages or not?  Sadly, I think that Benjamin Franklin was right when he said, “nothing is more uncommon than common sense.” I have raised chickens and they do like to keep close quarters, but only when they are Roosting (sleeping), not all the time.  I also know that chickens love being chickens. They are created to scratch and eat bugs. 

So we, the tax payers, are going to pay a researcher at some university to study if the chickens are really happy in cages or not!  I can save us a lot of money and answer the question.  The answer is quite obvious, the chicken is not happy.  Sadly, the research is not about chickens, it is about egg production.  If we respected the design and nature of a chicken, it would be easy to conclude  they are not happy.  Chickens wouldn’t choose to live in a cage with 9 other birds, never seeing the light of day, never being able to stretch their wings and never scratching for some delicious bug!  Organic and cage free chickens get to live more like they were created.

Join the good food revolution, vote with your dollars.

Posted on by

The Year in Review

 Supporting Local Farms  Since the inception of our home delivery business in1999, we have always focused on purchasing our fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers first. Every week, I call my farmer friends to find out what they currently have available that I can add to our boxes. If I need to find more produce, I then source it from farms outside our area. This year, however, was a great year for local food! As your personal farmer, I really appreciate your dedication to the local farm community. With your box of good purchases this last year, you have blessed several local farm families:

Rents Due Ranch, Skagit Harmony Farm, Ralph’s Greenhouse, Motherflight Farms, Hedlund Farms, Cascadian Farms, Blue Heron Farms,  CJ’s Grassfed Beef, Munks Farm, Anselmo’s Organic Gardens, Paul and Janice Madden Orchards, Ponderosa Orchards, Goose Tail Orchards, River Valley Organics, Filaree Farms, and of course, the Klesick Family Farm.

 Helping Local People  Another core principle at Klesick Family Farm is to give back to our community. Last year, with your help, the Klesick Family Farm delivered 463 boxes of good to the Stanwood and Snohomish food banks. That is $11,000.00 of quality organic fruits and vegetables. There is no way our farm could meet this need without your help. This is one of the most satisfying aspects of our business. I love meeting local needs with local resources! Thank you for partnering with us to meet this local need. If you would like to join us to help provide quality organic produce to local food banks, visit the “How To Help” page of our new website.

Thanks for a great 2009!

Looking forward to next year!!!!

Posted on by

Egg Production – Part 1

Something happened along the way that has changed agriculture from farming to food production.  It is a subtle shift, but nonetheless profound and impactful.  Farmers have always been interested in increased production and efficiencies.  Farming is like all other business, you have to have a profit to stay in business or in the language of today “sustainable.”

Let’s take egg production as an example.  94% plus or minus, as quoted in a recent Capital Press article, comes from chickens that live in a 24 inch by 25.5 inch cage that contains 9 chickens.  Doesn’t that seem a bit crowded? Somewhere in the past a researcher or farmer or both discovered that chickens can produce eggs in close confinement, never seeing the light of day. It doesn’t really matter if the chickens see the light of day because they are destined for the stew pot at some massive soup manufacturer in 24 months anyway. 

But why does the egg producing industry (I have purposely shifted from using term farming) choose small cages?  It is simple, it’s more efficient.  The closer the birds are in proximity to each other, the easier it is to harvest eggs, feed them, clean up after their messes and ultimately catch them when it is time to butcher.  Pretty straight forward and the consumers are letting the egg producers continue on with this production model simply because they are buying the eggs raised that way.

So why should the Egg producers change their manufacturing (farming?) practices?

What is going to cause the industry to change?  Profits!!! If the consumers choose to only buy eggs from chickens that are cage free or Organic then the egg producing companies will change their practices.  Pretty strait forward, it really is that simple.

Join the good food revolution, vote with your dollars.

Posted on by

Chilly days and warm fragrant ovens

This time of year my oven is rarely off. My mind swells with satisfaction as the scent of cinnamon and ginger dance through the air mingling with the subtle pine scent wafting from our Christmas tree. It’s a joyous time when something inside me longs to bake each and every day. Rather than acquiring the extra holiday pounds that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly, mimicking that of ol’ St. Nick, I happily share my homemade treats spreading sweet joy to family, friends and neighbors.

 

This season offers a bounty of flavors that love being folded into a rich batter or snuggling up under the heat of the oven. Apples rest under a blanket of sweet and nutty crumble or lay on a bed of buttery-rich dough. Pumpkin gets folded into everything from pancakes to loaf cakes. And my most recent spicy obsession is poached pears. After shedding their skin they get dunked into a warm bath of wine, juice and spices. They tumble around in a simmering broth soaking up the fragrant liquid and return with a soft and tender texture.

Poaching is simply the process of gently simmering food in a liquid. This basic cooking technique is often reserved for fragile food items such as eggs, fish, poultry and fruit. Because of the fragile nature of these foods it is important to keep the heat low and to watch for overcooking which can cause toughness or, in the case of fruit, cause them to fall apart.

Poached pears are impressive and delicious served on their own with a drizzle of warm caramel. They also make a wonderful accompaniment to any sweet custard.

I hope this season finds you in your kitchen warmed by the heat of the oven joyfully creating dishes to be shared with the people who love you and the food you’ve prepared.

Happy Holidays!

 

by Ashley Rodriquez

Chef, food blogger, and full-time mom. You can read more of her writings at www.notwithoutsalt.com

Posted on by

Let the good food movement roll on!

This last week, I came across a couple of good articles at Rodale Institute that I wanted to share with you.

Lupus, other autoimmune diseases linked to insecticide exposure

A recent study shows that women who use insecticides are at elevated risk for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The results of the yet unpublished study were presented October 2009 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

The study of 75,000 women shows that those who spray insecticides at least six times per year have almost two and a half times the risk of developing lupus and rheumatoid arthritis versus those who do not use insecticides. The risk doubles if insecticides were used in the home for 20 years or more.

“Our new results provide support for the idea that environmental factors may increase susceptibility or trigger the development of autoimmune diseases in some individuals,” said Dr. Christine G. Parks, PhD. She is an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., one of the lead researchers who analyzed data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Observational

“The findings are fairly compelling” because they show the greater and longer the exposure, the greater the risk,” said Darcy Majka, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University, who also analyzed the WHI data. Full story: Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

 

Herbicide-resistant pigweeds stop combines, make national TV

Cotton and soybean farmers in eastern Arkansas are interviewed in an ABC News story highlighting the potential harvest disruption caused by weeds that chemicals cannot kill. The reporter says that more than 1 million acres may be affected by the problem, long predicted by farmers and weed scientists who advocate for non-chemical weed management.

One farmer interviewed said he had spent $500,000 spraying chemicals this year, and lost the battle against pigweed. The resistant, persistent plant pest forms a hard, fibrous stalk that can be as thick as a baseball bat. A veteran extension agent says he has never seen such a weed threat.

While the coverage focuses on the current-year crisis—and highlights the fallacy of depending on herbicides for  long-term sustainability—glyphosate (the active ingredient in many widely used herbicides) has been losing its impact for years, as our background story illustrates. Full story: ABC News

Science initially came to the rescue to help farmers control  insects and weeds and now that their chemicals are no longer effective or are even causing autoimmune diseases, America is going to go running back to these companies to solve the problem they helped to create.  It sure looks like the fox (aka chemical companies) has the keys to the hen house (aka USDA).  This kind of information speaks loudly for the importance of Organic Agriculture.

Posted on by

Let the good food movement roll on!

This last week, I came across a couple of good articles at Rodale Institute that I wanted to share with you.

 

Lupus, other autoimmune diseases linked to insecticide exposure

A recent study shows that women who use insecticides are at elevated risk for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The results of the yet unpublished study were presented October 2009 at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA.

The study of 75,000 women shows that those who spray insecticides at least six times per year have almost two and a half times the risk of developing lupus and rheumatoid arthritis versus those who do not use insecticides. The risk doubles if insecticides were used in the home for 20 years or more.

“Our new results provide support for the idea that environmental factors may increase susceptibility or trigger the development of autoimmune diseases in some individuals,” said Dr. Christine G. Parks, PhD. She is an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., one of the lead researchers who analyzed data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Observational

“The findings are fairly compelling” because they show the greater and longer the exposure, the greater the risk,” said Darcy Majka, MD, assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University, who also analyzed the WHI data. Full story: Beyond Pesticides Daily News Blog

 

Herbicide-resistant pigweeds stop combines, make national TV

Cotton and soybean farmers in eastern Arkansas are interviewed in an ABC News story highlighting the potential harvest disruption caused by weeds that chemicals cannot kill. The reporter says that more than 1 million acres may be affected by the problem, long predicted by farmers and weed scientists who advocate for non-chemical weed management.

One farmer interviewed said he had spent $500,000 spraying chemicals this year, and lost the battle against pigweed. The resistant, persistent plant pest forms a hard, fibrous stalk that can be as thick as a baseball bat. A veteran extension agent says he has never seen such a weed threat.

While the coverage focuses on the current-year crisis—and highlights the fallacy of depending on herbicides for  long-term sustainability—glyphosate (the active ingredient in many widely used herbicides) has been losing its impact for years, as our background story illustrates. Full story: ABC News

 

Science initially came to the rescue to help farmers control  insects and weeds and now that their chemicals are no longer effective or are even causing autoimmune diseases, America is going to go running back to these companies to solve the problem they helped to create.  It sure looks like the fox (aka chemical companies) has the keys to the hen house (aka USDA).  This kind of information speaks loudly for the importance of Organic Agriculture.

Posted on by

Enjoying the Holiday Meals

Enjoying the Holiday Meals

Are you rushing around yet? It’s the season for holiday plans, schedules, trying to find and give that perfect gift, and entertaining friends and family. It’s also a time of dietary excess, increased stress, and let’s not forget colds and flu. Statistics show that December is the most stressful month of the year. That and the cold weather alone can wreak havoc on a person. Rest assured! There are things you can do to prepare yourself for the holidays, and prevent certain discomforts that can accompany this season.

Growing up, in my family, it was considered impolite to not sample food being offered, especially if Grandma made it. We would eat and eat, sometimes having three to four holiday meals in one day! Some of you can no doubt identify with this situation. To help you avoid overeating during the holidays, here are some tips. First, avoid starving yourself early in the day to “save room” for the holiday meal. The easiest way to overeat is to create maximum hunger this way. Small frequent meals are always better. Second, remember to drink plenty of water. This will prevent you from serving and eating a huge portion which you will “have to finish,” since you “don’t want it to go to waste.” Third, decide on a maximum and reasonable portion size for the meal and stick to it. After eating, drink some hot herbal tea to promote relaxation.

With too much good food comes heartburn. To decrease your chance of getting the discomfort and pain of heartburn, start the meal with apple cider vinegar. This helps increase digestive enzymes and break down foods faster. Another way to avoid stomach upset is to use deglycyrrhized licorice (abbreviated DGL). Licorice is an herb that stimulates the cells lining your digestive tract to produce mucus. The mucus, in turn, protects the stomach and esophagus from digestive acid. DGL can help tremendously with heartburn, or excess stomach acid, when it’s food related or if you have esophageal reflux (backflow of stomach acid). A typical prescription is to chew and swallow two 400mg tablets 10 minutes before each meal to help keep your digestive tract in order. Talk to your ND to find out what’s best for you.

by Rebecca Dirks, N.D.

Associate Physician, NW Center for Optimal Health

Marysville, 360-651-9355

Producer & Co-Host, Healthy Living, KSER FM 90.7