Column Kevin Cotter
- The Root: Thanks for your support
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Thank you!
It's hard to believe that next weekend we will celebrate our second anniversary at New Earth Market. What an amazing adventure these past two years have been! This week I would like to reflect a bit about our journey and open up about som... Full story
- Help others by sharing your experiences
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- The other day when I sat down to write this week's column, my 10-year-old daughter asked, "Won't you run out of things to talk about soon?"
My response was: As long as there are people in the world, there will be stories to share. I told her I get t... Full story
- Sick care versus health care
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Ponder this: If we do not have our health, what do we have?
Health is really the key to everything. Health gives us the opportunity to be active with our loved ones, our church and our work. It allows us freedom to be productive stewards in the worl... Full story
- Coke can't have it both ways
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Coca-Cola just came out with a new ad campaign called "coming together," a promotional push about the obesity epidemic and how the company wants to be part of the solution.
The ad says the "long-term health of our families and the country is at stak... Full story
- Get to the root of your problem
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I have a wonderful success story to share with you about a dear friend of mine who recently discovered the root of a medical condition that was being treated with antibiotics as a short-term Band-Aid versus a long-term remedy. The antibiotics made he... Full story
- Self care: The best present you can give
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Congratulations! If you are reading this, it means you survived the "end of the world." So much for the expression "you only live once."
Which then got me to pondering — do we really only live once? How about the alternative of you only die on... Full story
- Feeling better versus getting better
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- The other day I was watching TV and one of those pharmaceutical ads came on — you know, the one where they show people frolicking through a meadow one moment, playing basketball and then dancing the next. All the while in the background you hea... Full story
- No trespassing allowed
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I was on a bike ride the other day and couldn't help but notice the number of "No Trespassing" signs on land in the area. From farmers to residences, folks have put up signs wanting to protect their property from unwanted activity.
This got me think... Full story
- Give yourself the best fuel
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- How do you fuel your Ferrari?
What? You don't have a Ferrari? Neither do I. But what we do have is much more valuable and precious: our one and only body.
The other day when I picked up my son from school, he was excited to share an analogy that hi... Full story
- Fighting for food freedom, part 2
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- As citizens of California, we have a "golden state" opportunity to vote on a proposition that will require labeling on packaging that contains genetically modified foods.
I am not a scientist, and I do not understand the long-term effects of eating ... Full story
- Fighting for food freedom, part 1
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I have been thinking a lot about our freedoms lately. One thing that continues to puzzle me is why we are kept in the dark about what really is in the food we eat. Why aren't we told what artificial flavors and artificial colors are made from?
Witho... Full story
- School lunch: What is the best food for thought?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I was listening to a radio talk show while driving the other day when the topic of the school lunch program came up. The basis for the dialogue was Michelle Obama taking on childhood obesity and wanting to improve the quality of food being presented ... Full story
- It was that simple
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I met a mother in the market about a year ago whose son was struggling with staying focused in school, in sports and in daily activities. The story sounded very similar to many stories we hear at the market.
She said her son was prescribed meds to t... Full story
- Do you ever wonder?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I used to love to watch Andy Rooney's segments at the end of "60 Minutes." He would usually have a practical perspective or question things we just sometimes give little thought to in our daily lives.
One of his great lead in lines was: "Do you ever... Full story
- Find your inner Aborigine
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I was recently re-reading Michael Pollin's book "In Defense of Food" when I was reminded of a story about how remarkable our bodies are and how they want to thrive if given the proper environment.
In his book, Pollin talks about a group of Aborigine... Full story
- Acts of kindness are not always random
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- As I write this piece, I am sitting on a plane bound for Denver to spend some time bonding with my teenage son on a bike ride in the Rockies. When we land, I feel compelled to drive to Aurora to pay respect to those who lost their lives in the recent... Full story
- To get healthy, pick just one thing to change
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Seemingly every day, I hear of someone coming into the market wanting advice about certain products to help them with their new diet, be it an all-starch, low-carb, all-protein, vegan, no bean, cleansing diet ... the list is long.
I am oftentimes cu... Full story
- Is diet soda killing us?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- What makes diet soda and about 6,000 other products taste sweet? Aspartame. Aspartame is found in almost all major brands of gum, breath mints, NutraSweet, Equal and most diet sodas, including: Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Sprite Zero... Full story
- Look for the hidden dangers
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I am asked quite frequently to define natural food. This is often followed by the asker stating: I thought natural food tasted like cardboard. How can it be natural if it tastes good?
Can great tasting gelato be natural? If the ingredients are real ... Full story
- Who's growing your food?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I was thinking the other day about how our food systems have evolved. In the book "Lunch Lessons: Changing the Way We Feed Our Children" by Ann Cooper, Cooper wrote: "In less than 200 years we have gone from being a nation of farmers (more than 98 pe... Full story
- Select the best paint for your canvas
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- The other day when I was in one of our local hardware stores, I found myself observing a family standing at the paint counter. While the parents interviewed the paint specialist, one of their children was eating a McDonald's Double Quarter-Pounder Wi... Full story
- Start living, not just surviving
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- My brother and I were blessed to be by my father's side as he took his last breath this past week. Given that, I have really struggled with finding much motivation to write this week's column. We have lost both of our parents in the past 10 months. M... Full story
- Connect the dots between food, health
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Are we living our lives or dying our lives?
We make choices every day that determine our individual health as well as the overall health of our society. When are we going to wake up and ask ourselves: Is what I am putting into my one, precious body ... Full story
- Heartburn: How do we put out the flames?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- I usually write this column in the morning after a good night's sleep. However, last night I woke up with horrible heartburn after eating a big meal late and then going to sleep on a full stomach. So much for good sleep.
The original premise behind ... Full story
- What is pink slime?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- There has been a lot of press recently regarding lean, finely textured beef known better as "pink slime," What is pink slime, and why should we care?
Pink slime is a meat filler manufactured (again I ask: Should our food be manufactured?) mainly by ... Full story
- What happened to my maple syrup?
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Sunday mornings are one of my favorite times of the week. It's quiet in town, and life seemingly slows down a bit for most folks. After reading the local periodical, I will often times fix a big breakfast — or, as my daughter used to call it, "... Full story
- The Root: How to live to 100
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Reading the story this past week in the Appeal-Democrat about the 107-year-old Estelle Bills from Wheatland reminded me of my own grandmother who would have been 108 this next week. As it was, she lived a long healthy life to 103. Reflecting upon my ... Full story
- The Root: Rooted in the community
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Most of us have heard the expression "to lay down roots." But what does this mean?
To me, it is a symbolic expression or desire to make a commitment to enrich the community where we live. Moving to our community is like planting a seed here. From th... Full story
- Looking through a different window
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- Recently, I exited one of our county buildings behind two other men when a woman who appeared to be homeless approached us. Her clothes were worn out, she looked weathered and was seeking some help. She held some papers in her shaking hands as she wa... Full story
- Choices and results: Hard versus easy
- By Kevin Cotter/For the Appeal-Democrat
- In the last column, we looked at adding or making positive changes in our lives versus taking away or making negative changes as New Year's resolutions. To add to that theme this week, how many times do we make the "easy" choice today only to find th... Full story
