We're all gearing up for the New Year, so I thought I'd talk a bit about alcohol.
We recently had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with Sarah Hammelman of Arizona's Sand Reckoner Vineyards (in Willcox, Arizona). She brought some of her vineyard's wine and shared with us what it has taken her and her husband to convert their vineyard to a pesticide-free operation.
(I am still in awe of Sarah's wine swirling technique…she had this way of whipping that wine around just to the top of the glass without spilling a single drop…I am going to see if I can talk her into sending me a video so you can see for yourself!)
I learned that many smaller vineyards cannot afford the true"organic designation", even though they're putting in tremendous effort to create a healthy product. It pays to get to know your vintners and distillers, since pesticides have been shown to have a pretty significant effect on fertility and hormone function in general.
I recently wrote an article for Examiner.com in response to the news that alcohol consumption was strongly correlated with breast cancer, considering the omission of analysis of pesticide exposure when interpreting the data. One of my Examiner colleagues, Dr. Robin Wulffson, commented that I'd only spoken to wine. In responding to his comment, I learned that there are many organic and pesticide-free hard alcohol options as well…be sure to look for them! Many of those spirits come from countries where there is far less attention to endocrine disruptors and chemicals than we have here in the United States.
By the way, here are Lisa Reinhart, Chief Chocolatier at Wei of Chocolate, and inCYSTer and yoga instructor Sarah Jones, along with Sarah. As you can see, at inCYST we firmly believe that it has to be fun as well as healthy!
Cheers to all of you, we'll see you in the New Year!