Thank You to the many who have contributed to our Fundraising Drive! We collected enough to get us through this year and into the next!

On Valentine's Day, February 14, we will serve a special dinner ($16), and host Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Project Director of the China Study, the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted. If staying for Dr. Campbell's presentation (see After-Dinner Events, suggested donation of $5-10), dinner will be discounted to $15, just mention it when paying. This would be an ideal time to bring newcomers to the Monday Dinners!

Macrobiotic Counselor and Licensed Acupuncturist Michael Rossoff will do health consultations in Woodside from Sunday, March 13 through Tuesday, March 15, call 650 366-4285 for information and appointments.

Monthly Vegan Potlucks! Sunday, February 20, 6:30 PM, hosted by Brett Garrett in Redwood City, call 650 599-9678 to let him know you're coming and to get directions. Also on Sunday, March 20, 6:30 PM, hosted by Harold Stephenson and John Cabrera in Palo Alto, call 650 856-1125. To host a fun potluck in your home, call Diane Wohler at 650 369-1858 or Harold.

Apartment to share, master bedroom with view and bath available, must be perfume-free. San Carlos, $750, 650 592-2139.

A Taste of Health and Healing Lifestyles & Spas present Holistic Holiday at Sea II. Cruise for 7 nights on the breathtaking Costa Mediterranea to San Juan, St. Thomas/St. John, Catalina Island, Casa de Campa, Dominican Republic and Nassau, beginning February 27, 2005 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Teachers include Michio Kushi, Yogi Amrit Desai, Ohashi, Master C.K.Chu, Sherry Rogers, M.D., Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, PhD, Christina Pirello, Verne Varona, Denny Waxman, Patrick McCarty, Lino Stanchich and Jane Quincannon Stanchich. Rates from $1095. Call 800 496-0989 or visit http://www.atasteofhealth.org.

Chuck Collison, Assistant Chef of the Monday Dinners, is a personal chef and runs a meal service in Marin. Call 415 258-0528.

James Holloway, frequent Guest Chef at the Monday Dinners, does personal home cooking in Palo Alto, in macrobiotic and classical styles, call 650 852-9182.

Anne Mark does takeout meals and lifestyle recommendations, and teaches macrobiotic cooking in Palo Alto, call 650 843-0255.

Cookbook Author Meredith McCarty teaches a cooking class (Soups, Whole Grain Breads and Spreads) on Feb 5, 10 AM - 12:30 PM, in Mill Valley, $50. She also offers tours of Whole Foods Market and the Farmers Market, and other related activities; call 415 381-1735 or visit http://www.healingcuisine.com.

Carolyn Peters is a private chef and caterer for creative healthy cuisine in San Francisco. Call 415 810-3496.

Speakers receive a gratuity from the audience; please show your support and appreciation with a donation ($5-10 suggested).

On February 14, T. Colin Campbell, PhD will speak on Challenging the Status Quo. The Misunderstood Role of Nutrition in Health, Medicine, and Society. Dr. Campbell will draw on his numerous experiences to critique the way nutrition is corrupted by special interests and largely ignored by the health establishment, despite the fact that nutrition, if practiced and taught correctly, has unmatched potential to correct our troubling health trends.

Dr. Campbell, with his son Tom, is the author of the recently published book The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-Term Health (see http://www.thechinastudy.com). The New York Times has recognized the study (known formally as the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project, a 20 year partnership which surveyed diseases and lifestyle factors in rural China and Taiwan) as the "Grand Prix of epidemiology." In The China Study, Dr. Campbell details the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and also its ability to reduce or reverse the risk or effects of these deadly illnesses. Click here to view an excerpt from the Introduction to The China Study (requires the Adobe Acrobat reader).

For more than 40 years, Dr. Campbell has been active in experimental nutrition research and policy development, has authored more than 300 research papers, and has participated in many national and international diet and health policy reports. Dr. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, and Project Director of the China Study.

On March 14, Macrobiotic Counselor and Licensed Acupuncturist Michael Rossoff will speak on Growing Older In Good Health. Maturity has its advantages over youth. But to many people in our culture the idea or reality of becoming older is difficult to accept. Underlying this view is the fear of aging, with the expected loss of physical and mental powers, as well as the decline of overall health. This lecture explores the greater possibilities of aging with grace, vitality, wise consciousness and sustainable health. Learn the keys to this successful approach. And the younger you are, the greater its long-term benefits will be!

Michael has been involved in macrobiotics, acupuncture, and Chinese medicine for 35 years. He studied macrobiotics with Michio Kushi in the '60s and '70s. In addition to teaching and counseling, he directed various macrobiotic centers in the Washington, D.C. area for 20 years, and published the macrobiotic magazine MacroMuse for seven years in the 1980s.

Michael studied acupuncture in England in the 1970s, and began practicing in 1978. He was the academic dean and a core teacher for three years at Atlantic University of Chinese Medicine, near his current residence of Asheville, North Carolina. Michael has counseled many thousands of people in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Israel. Visit his website at http://www.michaelrossoff.com.

This recipe is very versatile and can be adjusted in many ways. Use a flat fish such as flounder or sole and you'll have a more chowder-like soup. Or add leftover fish to a vegetable soup. Fish soup is very satisfying, very nourishing. I often mix in leftover rice at the last minute. Or serve with toast or a chunk of whole grain peasant bread.

• 3/4 to 1-1/4 lb. fish such as scrod or halibut (boned)
• olive oil
• 1 leek and/or sweet onions
• 1 or 2 carrots
• 2 or 3 other vegetables (for example: celery, tender cabbage, summer squash, fresh corn)
• sea salt & Herbamare (organic herb seasoning salt)
• fresh ground pepper (optional)
• 2 to 4 tablespoons white wine (optional) or squeeze of lemon

1.  Soup stock is optional. Suggested soup stock ingredients: dried shiitake, soaked 1 to several hours (optional); teaspoon of wakame flakes; 1 small/medium garlic clove, crushed; couple of sprigs fresh thyme; sprig of parsley with leafy part; leek parts (if using). Do not use broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage in soup stock since these will lend an unpleasant taste. Put stock ingredients and water, approximately 6 cups, into a stock pan and bring to a simmer. Add a pinch of salt and simmer 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2.  Rinse fish quickly and pat dry with paper towel. Cut into 1 to 2 inch chunks. Sprinkle lightly with Herbamare. Put fish in flat casserole and cover with mat or sheet of wax paper while preparing the soup.

3.  Assemble and wash vegetables. In another pot, heat olive oil gently while slicing or dicing the onion and/or leek. Sauté at very gentle heat while slicing other vegetables into medium sized pieces. Add other vegetables and turn up the heat to medium. After a few minutes cover pot with lid. Check or stir every few minutes for about 10 minutes.

4.  Add soup stock to vegetables and add about 1/4 teaspoon sea salt. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Add a generous pinch of Herbamare and take a spoonful of soup out to taste.

5.  As long as you are almost ready to serve your meal, go ahead and add the fish pieces. They will cook within a few minutes. Do not over cook. Add more seasoning as needed. More Herbamare or a little light miso can work well.

by Caren Bakkum

Caren Bakkum lives with Michael Rossoff in Asheville, N.C., where she works for a national book distributor. She taught natural foods cooking for many years in the 80s and 90s and now enjoys cooking at home.

              by Denise Huajardo Springer

Diane appears on my doorstep wearing a red, sporty raincoat. Brown curls spill out over her shoulders. She is trim and energetic. We settle at the dining room table. Diane has a lot to say about her current career and studies in floral design, and about her past. In her presence it is difficult to imagine that just two years ago, before a series of wake-up calls, before macrobiotics, before healing, Diane weighed almost 200 pounds.

Diane had been married 12-1/2 years when her husband left her. "I didn't see it coming and at first was devastated and very depressed but then I realized that I was suffering from depression for a lot of years without really realizing it." I finally "realized that he did me a favor and did something that the old me wouldn't have had the guts to do." She took 3 weeks off work and moved out to an apartment in East Palo Alto. "It was a huge traumatic change for me." Six months later, Diane was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

"It was really terrifying and scary but it also did some amazing things for me. It let me really see myself and my life very clearly-and be brutally honest with myself-and let my ex-husband and that life go-just sort of in an instant. It's amazing how quickly your life-when you hear that diagnosis-in the space of a day-can change your outlook on life. When I got my diagnosis, I realized that there were two ways that I could go: I could sink further into depression or I could use this to change my life and find myself again and be happy. And I just realized that I didn't want to waste my life anymore being depressed. God, life is short! And I don't want to waste it being depressed and not doing what I want to be doing, not doing things that make me happy."

Diane's mother, Jennie Wohler, introduced her to the Monday Night Dinners about ten years ago. Diane's voice gets animated when she described her first experience. "I went this one time and thought, 'This is vegetarian!'" The seitan stew tasted like lamb to her. She really liked the food. "It didn't change my life at that point but I started to look at food differently, look at health a little bit differently."

Diane met people who had healed themselves from cancer and who had refused chemotherapy and surgery and were cancer-free after ten years. "So as soon as I got my diagnosis I found a macrobiotic counselor," who prescribed a very strict diet specifically for cervical cancer, addressing the hormonal issues involved. As a result, "I threw everything out of my house-all my body products, all my food. I completely changed my life."

Because she had hormone-related cancer, she and her counselor decided to eliminate soy, getting protein from three or four different kinds of fish. To make her system more alkaline, she ate quinoa and barley, which are more alkalizing than brown rice. She followed a list of foods from her counselor, divided into three categories of consumption: regular, occasional, and not at all. She filtered water for cooking and drinking with a solid block filter. She ate organic foods, changed to organic body care products, and took organic supplements. Diane was meticulous for at least six months. Shiatsu, acupuncture and talk therapy were also part of her healing.

In June of 2002, Diane had a modified radical hysterectomy. She had met women who had refused surgery, but she said, "I'm afraid [that] when I was told I had to have surgery-when I was told I had cancer-I wasn't that brave." After the surgery, she stayed with her mother for a week and took six weeks medical disability leave.

"It's amazing how much changing my diet has helped my overall health. A lot of problems that I had before my surgery, irritable bowel syndrome and other health problems, are gone. It has just been amazing. That's what I credit for having as much energy as I do." The change in diet, side-effects of the surgery, exercise and how long it took to chew thoroughly with braces contributed to Diane's loss of 60 pounds-one-third her body weight.

Incredibly, there were more disruptions to come-four days after returning to work, her company sent all employees home, permanently, because it was going bankrupt. She had been there for seven years and her job was her income, her stability, and her independence. Diane quickly added "It was also my crutch." She had income, a long administrative career and health benefits, but, "It was also keeping me from doing what I wanted to do." Since graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1988 with a degree in Art, Diane had struggled to develop a creative career. She studied Interior Design intermittently at Cañada College. She even rented a studio where she returned to painting large canvases with oil paints. But she was not able to generate enough income with her creative work.

After the lay off and all the other changes, Diane decided to pursue floral design. She realized that people buy flowers even in poor economic times and that she could start a career more quickly and easily in floral design than interior design. She is halfway through a two-year program in Floristry at College of San Mateo and she works part-time at Nature's Alley, a florist in Palo Alto. She has started DW Floral Designs out of her mother's garage. Ultimately, Diane says, "Flowers make me happy. I've always loved flowers."

In April of 2004, she gave up her apartment and moved in with her mother. She had used up most of her savings after she lost her job and realized that she could live rent-free while she got her business going. She now says, "I really need to be in my own place again and have my own garage space. So that's my goal for next year in addition to growing my businesses."

With the improvements to her health, Diane has broadened her food choices, describing her diet as primarily vegan with occasional organic animal products. She can ignore the ice cream in her mother's refrigerator. She has a harder time eating healthfully at parties and restaurants.

When she first changed her diet, she attended the Monday Dinners regularly and got to know people better. It's "just a really wonderful group of people and so that really helped me, too, in my new life." She learned how much she valued community.

I thanked her for sharing her journey. She replied, "Well, it's definitely still a journey. But I know that I will never be that same person. I will never go back to that old life." Diane paused to reflect. "I've really been enjoying life even after all these sort of bad things have happened. I'm so much happier now than I've ever been in my life. I have more energy."

Diane recently celebrated her 40th birthday with a dinner at the BayLeaf Café in Palo Alto. At that dinner she said, "Life, for me, definitely begins at 40."

Denise Huajardo Springer attends the Monday Dinners with her husband Kim and young son Nathan.

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