I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.

Oliver’s was my favorite (let’s be honest–cute British guy speaking passionately about food education and the health of our children? Yes please!), but there were some other solid food-centric talks in the TED archives.

Mark Bittman is my hero, so of course I was delighted to spend eighteen minutes listening to him talk about what’s wrong with what we eat.

Ann Cooper, head of nutrition for the Berkeley school system, had a great message, but, I have to admit, I found her delivery a bit grating.

I’ll finish out the list with this short (about three minutes) talk by Dean Ornish, clinical professor at UCSF and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, about the world’s killer diet. This one is very direct and has great graphics (check out that map!) so even if you’re in a rush, I really encourage you to give it a watch.

There is, of course, some overlap between these talks, but I love hearing how different people digest, respond to, and relay similar information.

Which of these was your favorite? Learn anything new? Inspired to make any changes?

1. Sunitha Krishnan Fights Against Sex Slavery

2. Mallika Sarabhai: Dance to Change the World

3. Shashi Tharoor: Why Nations Should Pursue “Soft” Power

4. Kiran Bir Sethi Teaches Kids to Take Charge

As is to be expected, some of these talks spoke to me more than others. We had some really interesting discussions about the usefulness and practicality of the ideas presented in the first two videos, and all seemed to enjoy (to varying degrees) the latter two.

If I had to choose, I think the message in the final video resonated the most with me–on both philosophical and practical levels. We wound up having great talks about the essential value of play in education. This is something my sister explores in her inspiring blog, Grow Me a Playground. (She’s a super busy momma and grad student, so it isn’t updated often, but well-worth a spot on your Google Reader so you don’t miss any posts.) It also reminded me of this NYT article about an amazing Forest Kindergarten, which is precisely the type of school the man and I would like to send our little ones to…far far far far in the future when we decide it’s time to enter that phase. (FAR in the future.) And, finally, this great op-ed piece by Susan Engel, director of the teaching program at Williams College, entitled “Playing to Learn“.

Which is what I’m off to do–it’s time for me to sit down for a few hours and play with my poetry homework, which I might finally post about this week. Maybe.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think about the videos above, the articles I’ve linked to, the importance of play in education, and, of course, any gluten-free vegan Indian recipes you care to share.

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year’s TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.

For each get together, a theme is selected along with four 18 minute videos (we rotate who chooses the theme and videos). Friends from all different backgrounds pile into our teeny apartment, and we watch, eat, drink, and discuss. This has been an invaluable outlet for me; it is inspiring and stimulating to be in a space focused on the exchange and dissection of ideas with a group of people who find the act of thinking exciting.

I particularly enjoy these discussions with the group that has evolved. With seven people in attendance, we had a wonderfully diverse group, with a wide range of ethinicities, ages, sexual identities, and religious beliefs. It pushes me to think about things in a new way, and constantly re-evaluate what I thought I knew. These evenings have also helped me get to know people on a new level; it sets a very different tone than that at work or a bar, so I see different sides to my friends. It’s also important to note that open-mindedness and respect for others’ opinions is essential. People often disagree, but it’s not about convincing others to com around to your point of view.

We started in December with a theme of passion and creativity. If you’re interested, we watched the following videos:

• Larry Lessig on laws that choke creativity (Good, but not stellar.)
• Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, looking for hints about how hers evolved (Pretty awesome.)
• Isabel Allende tells tales of passion (Hilarious and inspiring.)
• Sir Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity (A must watch!)

For January, we turned the selection over to our friends Amanda and Paloma. They picked the topic of Ethics and the Human Condition. Here are the videos they chose:

• Rebecca Saxe studies how we think about other people’s thoughts. At the Saxelab at MIT, she uses fMRI to identify what happens in our brains when we consider the motives, passions and beliefs. (Extremely cool.)
• Oxford philosopher and transhumanist Nick Bostrom examines the future of humankind and asks whether we might alter the fundamental nature of humanity to solve our most intrinsic problems. (Lame. Don’t bother.)
• Author Robert Wright explains “non-zero-sumness” — the network of linked fortunes and cooperation that has guided our evolution to this point — and how we can use it to help save humanity today. (Absolutely the highlight of the evening.)
• Michael Sandel teaches political philosophy at Harvard. His new book, Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, explores some of the most hotly contested moral and political issues of our time. (Watched the first 20 minutes. Brings up some interesting ideas, but I didn’t find this particularly useful. The discussion that resulted, however, was.)

They also kicked things up a notch and prepared all sorts of delicious vegetarian Mexican eats. I am now thinking about adding an international food theme to the monthly evening. Because what’s better than a group of friends getting together to trade ideas than a group of friends getting together to trade ideas while eating delicious, healthy, vegetarian cuisine?

While I’m not one to get excited about celebrities — it’s just not something on my “I care about that” radar — I realized that is completely different when it comes to health celebrities.  So when I saw that I had a comment from one of my all time favorite, realistic, gorgeous, and fun health gurus (for lack of a better word), I nearly jumped out of my chair. Thank you, Kristen Suzanne, for checking out my blog!

Now that that little geek out is over, I’d like to direct you over to my very first guest post, ever. My amazing friend Jen, back in Pennsylvania, has an informative, down-to-earth blog tracking her own health journey and findings. She invited me to do a guest post, so I wrote about my love affair with my VitaMix blender and green smoothies. It’s long, but I tried to break it up with pictures. (Including one with my brand spanking new haircut. Which I realized I share with Suri Cruise. But hey, at least it’s not green anymore!) Scroll down below my post for a very lovely and warm introduction from Jen.

The last piece of exciting news is that I have *drum roll please* energy! On Saturday night we had some friends over to watch TED Talks, have a few drinks, and see what sort of discussion followed. We listened to Larry Lessig, Amy Tan, Isabel Allende, and Ken Robinson. Each was interesting and engaging, but Isabel Allende and Ken Robinson gave me the chills.  Unfortunately, we stayed up way too late, and I drank way too much, which meant Sunday was a wash. But when I woke up yesterday (Monday), I was amazed. I didn’t have trouble getting out of bed. All I wanted was a green smoothie, and my energy lasted all day. Today, same thing. Woke up feeling awake, made my honey some hot choco, and…didn’t have to resist making some for myself. I just didn’t want it. WOW.

I think a few things are at work here.

For starters, I finally found an endocrinologist who would increase my synthroid from 88mcg to 100mcg. And to think — I only had to travel 8,000 miles to do it! I’ve only been on this dosage for about 5 days, but this is the first time I actually feel a difference from taking my synthroid. In ten years. Could you imagine taking a little pill every day for ten years, and feeling no difference from before you took it? It’s frustrating, to say the least. I have blood tests scheduled for January to check my thyroid levels, and I hope they’ll be within range so I can continue at this higher dosage.

The other big change is that I’ve been super consistent with my green smoothies for two weeks. I’ve found a combination of ingredients that seems to really work for me, targeting my three major areas of poor health: digestion, energy, and seasonal depression. The addition of kale seems to have made all the difference. My green powders are great, but the real greens, that’s where the vitality lives. The best “side effect” of these green smoothies, coupled with a decision to forgo wine during the week (baby steps, people) has pretty much zapped my sugar cravings. Let me repeat: Zapped My Sugar Cravings. If you’ve met me, you’ve probably seen me inhale sugar and refined carbs like it’s my job. And now, for now, I don’t even want them. Hallelujah!

I really feel that I’m on the road to a vibrant life. Work is about to get crazy again next week, which is part of the reason I’ve spent these last few weeks focusing on restoring my system. At least I’m entering the 70 hour work weeks with a functioning, energized system. There’s no reason I can’t sip on green smoothies during class all day, so I think I have a real chance to stay healthy through these next two months.

My next goals are to resume meditation and yoga practices. I’m not sure what those will look like for me yet, so I’d love to hear what works for you. I know I need to start small and let the results fuel the next stages. Ideas?