Anyway, my dear husband and I decided to spend the first week of the new year consuming nothing but fresh squeezed fruit and veggie juices in order to start our new year off on the right track and maybe, just maybe, make up for some extra rich eating over the holidays.

I may not have told you about this, but back in September, when it was still summer in Los Angeles and warm and sunny and… sorry, I forgot it’s probably snowy and frigid where you are, but back in September we did the juicing and it was grand. We lost weight, we were full of boundless energy and we slept better than a baby. (The proverbial baby who actually sleeps through the night, with nary a care in the world, not an actual baby).

After 11 days we eased back into the world of real people food but kept on juicing for a meal or two a day. Ah, those were the days.

So, it certainly wasn’t out of line to think that a week long January juice cleanse would be a good idea. Well, it definitely wasn’t a good idea. My body struggled and I suffered. Usually detoxing takes about a day and a half as your body scrounges up all the ice cream sundae and cheeseburger residue and flushes it from your system. Not this time. I detoxed for four days. That meant headaches, fuzzy thinking, a runny nose, some aches, etc. My skin even broke out, despite the fact that all that went into my body were fruits, veggies and water. I was always hungry, no matter how much I consumed. That’s not usually an issue with this type of eating, where you can have as much as you want. And, I didn’t have any additional energy. I did, however, lose weight at about the same rate as before. It was just twice as hard.

I should have remembered what I learned in school last quarter: In Oriental medicine we are taught that the body works differently at different times of the year. For example, in summer our bodies want to eat lighter and we need less rest. And in winter we need more rest and our bodies crave more nourishment. This is just natural biological functioning, the same way we are biologically programmed to be active during the day and sleepy at night. We can ignore it and do whatever we want, but there are consequences.

This got me thinking about New Years Resolutions. In January, the time when we (in the Northern Hemisphere) should be less active, eat and sleep more, we are prone to jump starting our year with great plans to work out, sweat a lot and eat less to purge the holiday eating pounds. That usually leads to getting up early or staying up late to squeeze workouts in before or after work, school or caring for our families. The typical result is disaster and quitting before the calendar hits February.

I suggest a more natural, body-conscious approach: save your New Years Resolution to get in shape and lose weight until late April or May, when nature and your body will be on your side. You may find that it is simply easier to get into a groove, your appetite may naturally wane and you will need less sleep as the days become longer.

And if that throws a wrench into your bathing suit aesthetic plans then I suggest that you start this year with an eye toward a complete lifestyle change, rather than needing to allocate your annual resolutions to weight loss every year. Just think, if this year you started in April then by next year, it will not only be old hat, but you’ll already be where you want to be and you can make resolutions about other things you want to accomplish in your life, like permanent hair removal in areas where hair is downright gross.

If you live in the Southern Hemisphere then New Years is a great time to start such a resolution. Lucky.

And if you still want to get started in January, cut yourself some slack. Rather than going whole hog (so to speak) with your health plans, start by cutting sugar and processed foods out of your diet. Resolve to eat smaller meals and more often. Eat filling, hearty foods like vegetable based soups and oatmeal so you will be fuller longer with fewer calories. Go for walks regularly, even if they are just short ones. Take long strides so you can feel your muscles stretching as you go. Eating better and walking will also help you sleep better, which will give you more energy. All of that will help you shed a few pounds in a way that won’t tax your hibernating body and will give you a head start for an April work out and diet plan.

That way you’ll be much more likely to see your New Years Resolution to success.

Good luck and report back!

For more information on juicing, watch the documentary that started it all for us: Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It’s a great movie, a fun watch and very inspiring.

I intend to write a multi-part series on things I’m learning in school. This series will not be consecutive blogs. Nope, I have to break it up with “Other Things”.

Without further ado, here’s part 1:

In case you don’t yet know, I’m pursuing a 4 year master’s degree in Oriental Medicine. This is comprised of acupuncture, herbology and a great deal of Western Medicine.

The techniques I’m learning go back thousands of years and work amazingly well for an incredible number of things, assuming your practitioner is on top of their game.

This week I want to talk about something I learned in herbs class. Some of the herbs we use in prescriptions are also food items. That food is medicine isn’t news to any of you. Turkey’s tryptophan makes you sleepy, drink a warm glass of milk to fall asleep at night, an apple a day keeps the doctor away, eating carrots improves your vision. I could go on, but I got hung up on trying to find medicinal properties in chocolate cake and drifted off on a mental “yum” cloud.

Anyway, here are a few other medicinal foods that you might not know are medicinal:

Green onions. 

Green onions can be eaten in the early stages of cold and flu to help you break a sweat and release the pathogen. They can also help relieve nasal pain and abdominal pain and distention. So don’t be afraid to toss some of those bad boys into your chicken noodle soup. By the way, chicken noodle soup is one of those foods we know and love for curing the common cold. Studies have shown that the soup is very effective. That’s not a chinese herb, but it’s another example of food as medicine.

Cinnamon twigs. 

Cinnamon moves the blood, helping to prevent or alleviate stasis. It can also relieve fatigue, fever and chills, body aches and respiratory symptoms, as with the flu.

Fresh ginger. 

We all know ginger is good for settling an upset stomach. But did you also know that eating it can help warm your lungs and stop a cough? Or that it can help relieve chills, chest congestion and phlegm from a cold?

Peppermint. 

Peppermint can help relieve a sore throat and red eyes. It’s also a good tea to have when you feel depressed and anxious.

Those are a few examples of foods you probably have around your home, or can easily get, that can help you out when you’d like to feel better. And, unless they’re genetically modified, they’re certainly a lot healthier for you than some of the artificially created cold remedies at your drug store.

Here’s to your health!

I am reminded, however, by this brave woman -

Dorli Rainey after being pepper sprayed by Seattle police. Pepper spray is a use of force reserved for threat to police officers' safety as in the threat of bodily harm this woman must have presented.

- that when people are silent and stand by while some people do the wrong thing, the right thing won’t get done at all.

Hear her in her own powerful words here.

Yes, of course I’m talking about the Occupy Wall Street protests. I posted a video of the UC Davis pepper spraying of students on my facebook page, as did some of my friends. The responses they got on their pages were horror and outrage. On my page? People talking about how the lazy student bums need to quit complaining and go get jobs.

To me their arguments are illogical. When has protesting been something lazy people do? It’s not an easy good time. The kids at UC Davis knew they might get pepper sprayed, it’s been happening all over the country. (Watch the video here). They could have been snug in their dorms playing video games, without a care in the world. Why in the world would lazy spoiled children protest and risk their health and safety? They wouldn’t. Watching this made me cry, it’s so blatantly unnecessary and cruel.

The comments on my facebook page talked about how people need to take responsibility for themselves and go get jobs. I wonder: who would choose homelessness over working? Do you know such people? People who willingly give up homes, cars, clothes, entertainment, fresh food and convenient bathroom facilities with running water because they’re lazy? Did I miss the memo about how homelessness is the easy life?

On my page one of the commenters suggested:  ”Use that education vote or get the job to where they can change policy or be influential in that process. There is a time to protest. I’m all for it.” We’ll set our issues with his grammar aside and focus on the point at hand: The students are protesting rapidly rising tuition in a time when credit is getting tighter. They may not be able to complete that education. If they can complete it, they will likely be in quite a bit of debt. Let’s say they decide to go into politics to change the system. That’s several years away. In the meantime they’ve got to start a career, master public speaking and be up on all the current topics that matter to voters, something many of our republican candidates have not yet managed to do (see Rick Perry here and Herman Cain here, and those two have major corporate backing.) Next, if they want to avoid the influence of those who have contributed to our current circumstances, i.e. what the protesters are protesting, he or she will have to raise all of their campaign funds outside of the corporate world. Here’s a video clip about someone who tried to do just that in 2010.

These statements: the protesters are a bunch of lazy hippie kids without a point, these people have created these circumstances for themselves, and there are better ways to accomplish their goals than protesting lack a logical foundation and smack of Fox news-style propaganda. I can almost hear Ann Coulter’s and Glenn Beck’s voices as my dear commenters quote directly from the news feeds.  If people thought about what they’re saying here, would they still say it? I’m taking a stand because I think this is wrong.

In my opinion the protesters are the new front line in the war for America’s freedom. America is all of us, not the very wealthy and not the career politicians who have been bought and paid for by certain individuals.

The soldiers who’ve died in all of the wars fought to defend our country would flip out in their graves if they knew that despite their sacrifices our country was being destroyed from the inside out. We have to stop it and we have to defend what America stands for so that the American dream is still a reality for us and for future generations. The time to do that is now, not once we’ve become a Banana Republic – a land where the top 1% lives in unimaginable luxury while the bottom 99% wallows in abject poverty with no one in between. Why wait for that eventuality? Right now, thousands of brave Americans are taking to the streets to reclaim our freedoms and our rights and the very least, the very least, we can do is support them in that. It’s unAmerican not to fight for our rights.

Remember, dear readers: Civil disobedience is as American as apple pie. If not for civil disobedience we’d be British citizens, women couldn’t vote, black people would be at the back of the bus and we’d still be at war in Vietnam, among other things.

And you can quote me on that.

In the aftermath of the UC Davis pepper spraying, the school’s chancellor, Linda Katehi, walked to her car amidst hundreds of students sitting in silent protest. This isn’t violent, it isn’t mindless – it’s extremely powerful and you can see how affected she is by the response to what was done under her watch. See it here. (scroll to the bottom of the article)

Here is their cover of Jane’s Addiction’s “Stop!”

Enjoy.

Sure, you give all of your nearest and dearest constant adoration, praise and compliments on the tiny-ness of their hindquarters or massiveness of their manly muscles, but an even better way to make them feel like valuable members of society is to let them be there for you in your time(s) of need.

That’s right, glittering readerati, I’m saying that the best thing you can do for your friends is to let them be there for you. Use them for their stated purposes – shoulders to cry on, ears to bend and hands to hold.

There’s nothing worse for a person with a heart (which is 99% of us) than to know a friend is struggling or hurting and to be shut out from the opportunity to help them.

The reasons we shut people out are usually based in thoughtfulness,  such as the desire not to be a burden or thinking that we’re too messy for our friends to handle.

But if you ponder for a moment what makes you feel good about yourself as a person, chances are good that being a good friend ranks high on your list. And how does one go about being a good friend? By being there for one’s friends. By being their 3:00 a.m. crying phone call go-to.  By being a person that others feel comfortable baring their souls to.

And what happens if you keep all your ooey-gooey ugly bits, sadnesses and 3:00 a.m. calls to yourself? Your friends feel unworthy of your emotion dumps, which makes us feel like we’re not as good a friend as we could be. No one likes to see people they care about in pain and knowing that you might be hurting and we’re not invited to the help-you party is not a friendly thing to make a friend feel.

So this year, reach deep inside your emotional purse and pull out a heaping helping of “I need you, I want you, I love you”, wrap it up in a pretty bow, serve it with a glass of wine and give it to someone you care about. They’ll be so grateful they won’t even care that you bathed the suede jacket their grandma sent them from the 80′s in your tears.

Remember not too long after the turn of the last century when women got all uppity and wanted the right to vote? They protested and the cops beat them up and put them in jail, but eventually they won the right and now those of us with lady parts don’t think twice about the fact we get to check off little boxes deciding who our overlords will be.

No?

From left: Charles and David Koch, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry

Remember back in the sock hoppy fifties and the hippy dippy sixties when Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and their friends said, “No more separate but equal. How about just equal?”*        (* Not to be confused with the chemical laden artificial sweetening product).

No?

Rosa Parks, criminal mastermind, busted for sitting on a bus while black in 1955

Martin Luther King Jr. and protesters getting all civil and unrested

Well then, how about back in the big hair eighties, when Kevin Bacon had had enough of a ban on dancing and stood up and tapped a toe about it? (Before he was 6 degrees from people you’ve heard of.)

No?

"You smell the civil disobedience the Bacon is cooking up?"

Luckily you can catch up on this one with the upcoming remake, also called Footloose. Watch a trailer here.

Well, two of these uprisings really happened right here in the land of the supposedly free and the brave, the good ol’ US of A.

I mention them because Occupy Wall Street is very similar; people have been treated unfairly and are upset about it and they are peacefully demonstrating to demand an end to an injustice.

And just as has happened before, they are being arrested and beaten by police and berated by the talking heads who tell the people what they should think. Some of the people have decided to turn off their TVs and think for themselves but that’s not within the comfort zone of others.

The faces change but the story remains the same.

The newsertainment writers at Fox News and their pals at The Other Networks say that these unwashed hippies are a bunch of disorganized malcontents whining about the rich instead of buckling down and getting a job like a good American should. Like they, the talking heads themselves, have done. They say the protesters don’t have clear demands.

In case you’ve been confused by the bobble heads about what this movement is all about and why it’s hopefully going to change things for the better, here is a list of the demands of the unwashed masses (I’ve taken this quote from Rep. Alan Grayson’s appearance on Bill Maher. Watch it here.):

“…They’re complaining that Wall Street wrecked the economy three years ago and nobody’s held responsible for that. Not a single person’s been indicted or convicted for destroying twenty percent of our national net worth accumulated over two centuries. They’re upset about the fact that Wall Street has iron control over the economic policies of this country, and that one party is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street, and the other party caters to them as well.”

Something is wrong when regular everyday people are siding with the banks on this, people. I’m talking to you, good-looking reader, especially because I’m quite sure that fewer than 1% of the people reading this blog financially benefited from the Wall Street collapse and bailout. (See what I did there? With the 1%?) And I’m not just upset about what’s happened because I have a high paying full time job and am married to a man who has a high paying full time job and the two of us together can’t afford to buy a decent house in our area.

I’m upset about it because what’s happening in this country is fundamentally wrong. And I’m happy that there are people brave enough and willing to go into a public forum and speak out about the injustice that is being done to us, the American people, on our behalf. And if you’re being told that these people are are wrong in what they’re doing, check the source.

I have no doubt that one day history will call these people heroes, like the strong women who fought for our right to vote or the brave black men and women who took to the streets for equal rights. We still haven’t achieved equality in many ways, as women, as African Americans or as the 99% but as long as we don’t keep silent and take it we’ll get there eventually.

Follow the movement, support the movement or become part of it:

Twitter: @OccupyWall

http://occupywallst.org/

Here’s some additional reading:

Aljazeera: Occupy Wall Street: A Media Blackout?

Alternet: Seven Snappy Comebacks For Those Lame Anti- “Occupy” Talking Points

Opensecrets.org: Top Bank Contributors to Government Candidates

Keep reading, the news is out there, even though the revolution is not being fully televised.

And now onto the good stuff.

I try always to be open minded in my political beliefs, though I have strong feelings about what I think is right and wrong. Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to a member of the actual, real life Tea Party via facebook. I’m including my side of the conversation here, as I haven’t asked my co-conversant’s permission to reprint her responses. But she was polite in her replies and our conversation was civil, as these conversations should be.

Zena Leigh Logan Sharon, I don’t know any tea partiers personally and I hope it’s okay if I ask you a question I’ve been wondering about. And I am not looking to start a debate, just curious. The tea party was established by the Koch brothers, wealthy oil magnates, who hired people to spread out and create a movement they could label grassroots so they could keep their names in the background. Their goal is to pay less in taxes than they do now, which is a lower percentage than the rest of us pay. And I’m all for fiscal conservatism, which is how I live my life, so I can understand the desire to reign in government spending to prevent increased taxation. The Koch brothers are looking to keep their personal high income and corporate taxes low and do not seem to be looking out for the regular Joe. My question is: Does that worry you at all, that the Koch brothers will get what they want and forsake those who stood up and fought for their ideals? Or is the movement bigger than it’s creators? Thank you.

The Koch Brothers

Zena Leigh Logan

Thank you for answering, Sharon. I totally agree with you that we can’t label everyone with generalizations based on the groups with which they identify. And the political rhetoric in this country has gotten out of hand with aggression. I’m not personally a fan of several tea party candidates because though they claim to be on the side of God, especially Bachmann and Perry (who claims God told him to run for Pres), all of their political speeches and stated intentions if elected are the opposite of every christian value I’ve ever heard of. It does seem like they want to make sure that their rich backers get all the perks they’re demanding at the expense of the rest of us, particularly the working class, poor and sick, who have somehow become vilified. And while not all Tea Partiers are people who would cheer the notion of an uninsured person being left to die or boo a soldier who fought for their safety and freedom because he’s gay, the things the candidates are saying are stirring up that kind of sentiment and I can’t get behind it at all. As for the Koch Brothers and their backing of the Tea Party, here are two articles that detail their involvement:http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html and http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/Peter-Fenn/2011/02/02/tea-party-funding-koch-brothers-emerge-from-anonymity. The Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News, terrify me with their ideas and plans for this country because it is blatant raping and pillaging of our resources at the expenses of the American citizens. And Rupert Murdoch isn’t even from this country, he’s just here to profit from us. We’re never going to get everything for nothing and those who are trying to do that will bankrupt us and turn us into a Banana Republic – a nation in which the top tiny percentage live in unbelievable wealth while the rest of the populace lives in abject poverty.

The Koch brothers and Rupert Murdoch have self-interested agendas that go well beyond the interests of those who carry their banners.

Rick “Hang Em High” Perry

Michele Bachmann

And that’s what I had to say about that.

So I’m pretty sure no one is going to persuade me to join the Tea Party. But just as I dislike religious people who try to convert me to their point of view, so too do I dislike people who are steadfast in their belief that their opinion is right and I am determined not to be one of them.

I just find myself wondering who these regular non-millionaire citizens of the United States are who are members of the Tea Party. I don’t think the vast majority of them are crazy zealots.

I think most of them are people who consider themselves strong Christian believers and the Tea Party organizers have tapped into that and exploited it. Religion is a strong identifier and one based on faith rather than logic (that’s not a judgment, just a statement). So when the Tea Party comes forth and says they’re on the same side of God the followers accept them without too much scrutiny. Now I think it’s time to start scrutinizing because their actions and intentions are in direct opposition to the tenets of the religion they’re touting and it reeks of exploitation.

I hear them proclaiming themselves on the side of God and Jesus I can’t find a shred of christian values in their ‘down with the working man/sick people and poor’ hate speech. It really is hate speech.

It was unexpected, sweet and thoughtful. There’s no reason to give me a gift, other than to say that she was thinking about me and I was really touched. And, of course, it’s a great idea to give random ‘I’m thinking of you’ gifts so I plan to adopt the practice.

I try to be a good person and when I fail, which I feel is pretty often, I feel bad. Sunday as I walked out of the Hollywood Farmers’ Market a homeless man held a sign that read, ‘Even a smile helps’. I thought about smiling, was planning to do it and then he asked me for money and I just kept walking. It was a reflex and led me to feel bad for a while. And, obviously, I’m still thinking about it. I know that one of the worst things homeless people experience is the way other people treat them as if they are invisible. I should have smiled.

On my way out to work yesterday I saw a bird with a broken wing hopping around. He avoided me as I got closer and I thought about how I could help him. I was late, I couldn’t take him into my home with my cats, I didn’t know if the vet would take him and then he hopped into a bush and I got in my car and drove to work. This felt like another opportunity to do something good and again I’d failed.

I remember those failures the next time, though, and slowly my percentage of doing good seems to be going up. It’s a process and I feel good about the fact that I’m working on it. Sometimes I feel that busy lives lead to neglecting the small helpful and kind things we can do and I want to stay focused on that.

And thoughtful gifts for no reason is a good way to bulk up my stats.

Why is gay marriage such a big deal to certain religious people? I had a conversation with someone about this the other day and she brought up a point that I hadn’t thought of before. If gay marriage is legal and gay couples go to their home churches to get married and the churches refuse to perform the ceremonies then they can be sued for discrimination. And no church wants to be sued for discrimination, it makes them look bad when religion is supposed to be about the love and acceptance of all humans.

So they make their arguments, including: If gay people are allowed to get married then, next thing you know, we’ll have people trying to get married to animals. The funny thing about that, though, is that it says much more about the people who spend their time (and I bet it’s a lot of time) thinking that’s the natural next step in marriage than it says about gay people. Or even about people who fraternize with their pets.

If we look into the fairly recent past we’ll find that there was a time when people thought that if interracial couples were allowed to marry then next thing you know people would want to marry animals, leading to anarchy. When we look back on that now most of us realize how ridiculous it is. We’ve exchanged one bigotry for another but it’s still discrimination.

I think anyone who answers the question, “When did you decide to be straight?” will concede that no one has decided to be gay and live a life of discrimination and hatred based on who they love. So once we admit that gay people are born that way we have to ask what they could have done to deserve to be denied the basic rights and happiness that straight people enjoy.

And once we’ve done that we have to take a good long hard look at ourselves and what makes us want to hurt others because they want the same thing we want, but in a different way.

And to those among us who feel this way about gay people I feel deeply ashamed that you’re my fellow man.

And to gay New Yorkers I say, “Mazel Tov!” Even if they’re not Jewish because I don’t want to discriminate.

I saw this here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/newsdaylaura/truer-words-have-never-been-spoken-24ap and thought I'd share it

And that brings me to the subject of today’s blog: our almighty busy-ness.

First, let me brag: the show I work on, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, won a Critics’ Choice Award yesterday. Sure, we tied with Hoarders from A&E and no doubt they’re going to keep those accolades, but it’s pretty awesome to win an award, especially on a Monday afternoon. If you’re into that sort of thing, you can watch the ceremony on Reelz Channel (wait, where now?) on Wednesday, June 22.

Actually, the Housewives are an example of what I want to talk about today. If you watched Season 1 then you know that the women all make a point of making sure everyone knows how busy they are. In fact, a bit of a brouhaha erupted when one housewife, Camille Grammer, declared herself to be 30% busier than the other women in some sort of mathematical calculation that will forever remain a mystery.

No one wants to be considered idle, let alone ‘idle rich’, or undeserving of their opulent wealth. Our society bestows value and importance on people based on how few hours they have in a day to do anything for themselves. And in the last year I have found myself increasingly ‘important’ and married to a super-’important’ man and I can’t say it’s really a good thing.

So here we are, locked into the rat race, chasing that increasingly elusive dollar hour after hour and thinking we’re a big cheese because we believed the hype and now we exist in a self-imposed land of endless sleep deprivation and a never-shrinking to-do list.

I don’t mean to sound bitter. Things are actually good. I have a great job as a story producer on a hit show, I’m a grad student learning something incredibly amazing and helpful to humanity and an actor, and a writer, and a cat owner, and… I mean, really. Sometimes it’s a big deal if I remember to brush my teeth at the end of the day.

I have to say, though, that important as I obviously am, I am missing out on those quiet, introspective and all important meditative moments in life. I don’t have time for them. I’m lucky I ever see any of my friends at all. My husband is sometimes lucky if he gets to see my smiling face for a waking hour a day.

And if I want to get any of that new-fangled ‘exercise’ I have to get up at 5:00 a.m., often after four or five hours of sleep. Some days I fantasize about my bed. I imagine myself laying in it, sleeping. It’s pretty hot.

I’m always looking for ways to simplify, to bring it down a notch and when I do that, I find subtle and consistent resistance. If I want to stay home and spend a Sunday on my couch I am somehow less than everyone else. I think I’m just less busy, but really it’s just less than, apparently.

The point is, folks, WHAT THE HEY-NOW ARE WE DOING TO OURSELVES? How did we come to sell ourselves into a form of indentured servitude to our social and corporate masters in exchange for an iPhone and some hot shoes? Keeping up with ourselves has become a Herculean task and we’re but mere mortals hopped up on caffeine and determination.

I’d like to forge a society where we relax and enjoy our lives with a bit less stress and get-out-there and get ‘em attitude. More of a ‘let’s all share the land’-ness, with lovely afternoon naps. I’m going to go ask Spain how that’s working out for them. Oh, wait…

Well, I don’t have an answer. Cuz if I did I’d have had a lot more time to write this blog. But until we can squeeze answer hunting into our busy schedules, I hope we can all remember to take deep breaths, notice the world around us and appreciate the moments so our lives don’t pass us by.