Life, Interrupted

"Whether Casa de Luz closes or stays open is decided this evening (Wednesday, 9-26-2012) at City Hall on Caesar Chavez Dr. The Building and Standards Commission will make a binding decision tonight at 6:30, Room 1101, 301 West 2nd Street. This is a public meeting. You and everyone that has an interest in keeping Casa de Luz open is invited to attend."

Considering how many restaurants are downtown with no parking other than street parking, I don't understand why they can close the center. But that's what is at stake. Here's what I wrote as I was heading out of serious illness, back in February of 2011. It was addressed to the Austin City Council, as well as there being a variant version for why PARD (Parks & Recreation Department) should join with Casa to beautify and improve the area.

I have meals on my card, and I want to use them at leisure! Thanks to Casa, who had bullet points out so a brain-fogged (at that time) woman could write this letter of protest.
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February 14, 2011

To mayor and city council:

This category is parks, neighborhoods, zoning, environmental, small business, nonprofit -- this is Casa de Luz.

Two years ago, I was dying from catastrophic illness. Only discovering the macrobiotic way of healing through dietary moderation has saved my life. Now, slowly, I am rebuilding that life, struggling to get back to the self-employed business owner I once was. Part of the reason I remained in Austin was because I was convinced that I would find no healing anywhere else I could afford to live. I would find only enduring until an early death.

Casa de Luz has been an integral part of my healing process. I have learned much about cooking macrobiotically from the employees and community at Casa. I know, on weeks when I feel awful and cannot muster the strength to cook healthy, minimally processed meals for myself, I can go to Casa and get that food. When I finally am able to work again, I am counting on Casa as a way to interject variety and a guaranteed healthy meal into my weekly food rotation.

To quote Chad Evans, Casa’s general manager: “Perhaps it would be interesting for them [the city council and mayor] to find out that Austin has a non-profit organization serving nearly 100,000 organic healing meals per year at deep discount to serve the overall public good. Dining at Casa de Luz can change one's life. Carefully crafted and minimally processed meals help people conquer catastrophic illness. It's a choice to participate in a shifting of paradigm.”

Casa is part of a building wave of preventing major disease and chronic conditions through healthy eating. It has changed my life and helped me point others along the path to health. Please don’t take the Casa de Luz dining hall and community away from us. It has taken 20 years to build that community. Help them come up with a parking solution. Help PARD recognize that they would be excellent partners in the beautification and maintenance of the parks and walking city we want Austin to become.

Casa de Luz is the kind of grassroots place the city council always says they want to blossom here. Well, they (Casa) took root and are blooming. Let’s encourage the plant to continue to bloom and grow – not kill the green growth where it flourishes.

Thank you --

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These are not Alfreda’s suggestions – these suggestions came to me from Leslie, the macrobiotic chef who first taught me how to cook whole grains, nourishing teas, and beans that did not argue with me. She wrote up a list of “rules” to help us benefit from the freshest, healthiest food possible.

You don’t have to go whole hog on macrobiotics, as I did. I’m trying to heal myself. You can sidle in through a side door and scope things out first. I think that everyone can benefit from these hints. I’ll probably add a word or two in italics, because there are reasons for every one of these rules – and the reasons aren’t always self-evident.

Info like this can be found all over the Internet. I’ll share both sites and books in a future post.
( Simple tips for making the most of every meal )
I wish for you healing. Let food be a part of building your healthy future.

"Snacking of the Desperate" has gone up over at the Book View Cafe Blog.

The series, which is a snapshot version of testing a gluten-free diet in only 30 days, starts here.

Macrobiotic = Long Life.

From the Greek “macro” (large, long) and “bios” (life)

“Doing something over and over the same way and expecting a different result is considered a sign of insanity.”

I’ve never had what you might call the average American diet. Junk food has been minimal in my life. My father was a dentist. I never tasted candy until I was 5 years old. We were part of a breakfast study. I remember the white boxes, and thought it was weird, because shouldn’t singing raisins be on this box? I had a brief affair with Twinkies, back in the day, and I love baking unusual cookies. Chocolate, good chocolate was my friend.

But I wasn’t more than 10 when my mother started cooking Weight Watchers’ style. Back then there were no points, just sound principles of eating. The family lost some weight, and did not gain more. I decided I hated diet drinks and switched to water. But as I grew to adulthood, food and I had an uneasy existence -- something was not quite right.
( The story deepens )
Does your food leave you with more energy than it took to break down the food? What do you take away from the transaction? Is it time for you to nourish body and soul?

Do you have comfort foods that you are convinced help your energy, your digestion, your spirit? What are they? (Yes, chocolate counts, but that is also another post!)

In less than 24 hours I have managed to, at the least, jam one little toe and quite possibly break the other one. Why do I watch friends going barefoot in their homes and think I can do this?
( Unpacking commences. )
Also, today I have worked around the massage table I prepared for the client who didn't show.
( Never look a gift horse in the mouth. )
Why yes, it is nearly 5:00 am in my time zone. This is called "what life was like before 5htp" -- the bottle is in a box around here somewhere. Haven't found the rest of the vitamins -- may need to buy another bottle from the nutritionist. At least I've confirmed I did have real benefit from taking the stuff.

So far, chocolate has been my coping mechanism. I suspect the stairs will keep me from gaining any weight.

Iced a lot when first hurt self. Second pain pill is kicking in. Will try sleep.