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A simple healthy snack

4/16/2013

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A fun growing project, mung bean sprouts
  1. Soak a half cup of mung bean seeds overnight
  2. Spread them out in a waterproof container
  3. Place them in a sunny window
  4. Water every few days
  5. In a week to 10 days you'll have a crunchy snack / salad topping

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Green vibes in the movie Bloodsport?!

3/3/2012

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Those of you who are martial arts film buffs know the film Bloodsport (1988).  A cult classic and Jean-Claude Van Damme's breakout role, it tells the story of Frank Dux, a renowned martial artist who enters a full-contact tournament called the Kumite.  The film is one of my guilty pleasures and features martial arts styles from all over the world.  So what does this have to do with the green dragons and food? 

In the beginning of the film we learn about how the young Frank Dux is caught stealing from Senzo Tanaka (played by legend Roy Chiao).  Tanaka tells the boy that he must learn martial arts or he will call the cops.  An interesting conversation occurs between Tanaka and Dux's parents when they ask about their son's new interest in martial arts (see the clip below). 
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I love this scene because it connects growing plants, martial arts, and the importance of these to our youth.  Good martial arts films always have a training montage and Bloodsport has a well-done and inspiring set of scenes that build the relationship between Tanaka and Dux.  These training relationships are key in martial arts but as this film also points out, good martial artists see how this training is related to things that grow and take time and energy to produce. 

In Bloodsport the training sequence shows an interesting departure from what many see as martial arts.  A blindfolded Frank balances a tray full of hot tea as he brings it to Tanaka and his wife, calmly setting the table and serving the food.  The three enjoy the tea together when all of a sudden Tanaka launches a strike at Frank's face.
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Frank catches the strike, demonstrating his ability to listen and be in tune with his environment.  I personally enjoy hard martial arts training but only when this training is balanced with mental discipline.  Today, many martial arts schools are just about the fitness and their curriculum, we forget that a whole range of other activities such as serving food and growing plants can be tied to martial lessons.  This scene from Bloodsport reminds me that old school methods of training were much more strongly tied to balancing the soft and the hard. 

This is just one example of finding green issues in martial arts films.  If you look around there are often embedded environmental and green ideals in martial arts films.  Send your own scenes in and I'll keep looking and writing about them too.  -Mike
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Whole Grain or Multigrain, What do these terms mean?

3/2/2012

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To see the term "multigrain" on a food package you might think the product is something healthy. Be sure to read the package carefully, things might not be what they seem.  As martial artists we need to be aware of any hidden dangers in our environment.  We can apply the same awareness to choosing our food.  -Ben

From an article by Heidi Almond on Livestrong.com:  "The term "multigrain" is not synonymous with "whole grain." Multigrain products are made with more than one grain, but those grains may have been processed to have the more nutritious bran and germ removed."

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/492754-what-does-the-word-whole-grain-mean/#ixzz1nzJ2RVus
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Food and martial arts in popular culture

2/13/2012

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Have you noticed that in the past few years we have been seeing a lot of films about martial arts but also about food?  The Kung Fu Panda films have been quality interpretations of martial philosophy and we also saw the re-make of the Karate Kid in 2010. In a similar time line (see the figure I made below) we had films like King Corn (2007), Food Inc (2008), and Forks over Knives (2011) that are drawing attention to the problems in our food system.  To me, this seems like our society is starting to think about these two trends, martial arts and food, and there is room to explore a deeper connection. 
The martial arts films and food films, particularly King Corn, the Garden, and Grown in Detroit have one thing in common; getting back to the power of our root through hard work.  Kung fu, when translated, literally means hard work and this connects the rigors of martial arts training with the demands of growing real food.  As an avid urban gardener I can think of no two forms that require greater organic energy than a day working the fields and a day training martial arts, forms and sparring.  At the Green Dragons we think it's time to combine these two forces.

The food films say it directly: we have lost our roots and connection to the natural growth of crops and we need to take this power back.  The martial arts films reflect a deeper loss and call for the discipline and structure cultivated with strong training of martial arts.  In most of these kung fu films the main characters are having trouble at school (Daniel-san), overweight (Po), or just plain bored.  I see this a lot in our kids today and the positive response to these films shows me that this type of training is ready for a comeback. 
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Kids martial arts films and food documentaries
This will be just the first of a series of explorations of food and martial arts in popular culture but I think this broad look at the rise of these two forms of film can start a conversation about why we are seeing this and what we can do about it.  We hope to incorporate many of the ideas in these films in our lessons and keeping up to date on how our popular culture treats these themes is a good start. - Mike Cermak
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