I’m pleased to announce that Mike Biltonen (my darling husband) is the first of a series of guest bloggers, to bring you things I know you’ll be interested in. Mike is a passionate fruit farmer and serious about local food security.

Crossroads, we all have them. Mine came just over two years ago during the 2010 apple harvest. I am not sure what precipitated it, but sometime in mid-October I began having serious problems with my lower back. I was walking around like an old man, bent over at the waist and in very visible discomfort. Turns out there were a lot of things wrong, but at this time my illiopsoas muscle was out of whack. After a number of visits to my chiropractor, and several hundred dollars later, I had an epiphany. I thought, maybe if I simply exercised I could strengthen this old ‘sore ass’ muscle, get back into shape, and save myself time and money in the process. So, on our annual trip to Florida, I hit the pool for some laps for the first time in a long, long time.

I had always loved athletics. From competitive swimming to backpacking to bodybuilding, and even brief stints with jogging and mountain biking, I have always taken time throughout my life to stay in reasonably good physical shape. But now I was getting older (47 at the time) and knew that if I wanted to live a long, healthy, active life, I needed to make some lasting changes to my life. I realized it had become easier to fall out of shape, harder to get back into shape, and harder yet to maintain a desired level of fitness. That is, without some serious commitment. The swimming started a cascade of choices that have since lead me to compete in sprint triathlons, 5Ks, and swimming events. I recently realized that if I was going to continue and improve (especially on a competitive stage), then I needed to make additional lifestyle changes, primarily with my diet.

I have never had any problem with eating. In fact, I love food. I’ve often said that if I didn’t grow food, I’d be preparing it—which has led to a certain love with the culinary arts. That said, I’ve not always eaten the most healthily. I basically subscribe to the Julia Child school of cooking. That is, the richer the food, the better. But over the past two years I’ve slowly come to the conclusion that switching my focus to a plant-based diet was going to be important to me achieving other goals I’d set. Although I haven’t completely written off meat or butter, I have incorporated more plants and superfoods into my diet. Fortunately, I am a fruit farmer, so getting enough fruits into my diet has never been a problem. But what else could I do to enhance my diet?

Earlier this year, I read three books “Born to Run“, “Eat and Run“, and “Finding Ultra“, all of which led me to challenge my diet in ways that I had never really considered. First up were chia seeds. In “Born to Run” they were a featured part of the diet of the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico. When mixed with water, lime, and little sugar they create a healthy drink called Iskiate. Iskiate is a heart healthy, energy packed drink used for centuries by the Tarahumara. I’ve used it before and after workouts, and now swear by it. I’ve since realized that chia can be used in almost any dish or preparation.

Second up was the blue-green algae called spirulina. It was featured in “Eat and Run” as an ingredient in high-energy smoothies great for recovering from long runs or workouts. Not only is it heart healthy, but it is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. I didn’t jump right on the algae bandwagon until I read “Finding Ultra“. In “Finding Ultra“, endurance athlete Rich Roll brought it all together by making his case for how a middle-aged, wannabe endurance athlete can get really healthy and compete successfully even as they get older. His story sounded a lot like my journey and so I figured there was hope for me.

Now I am at a point where I feel that I have plateaued in my training and that the only way at my age to get stronger, faster, better is to make additional changes to my diet. So I have developed my own super-smoothie. Every morning I mix up the following in a high-speed blender (I don’t yet have the highly valued VitaMix) and drink it down with much delight.

• 1 c. orange (or other fruit) juice
• 1 Tbsp. chia seeds
• ½ tsp. spirulina
• 1 banana
• When in season: add strawberries, blueberries, peaches, mango, pineapple, or other fruit

I’ll probably stick with this recipe until next summer when many of the fruits I grow and love come back around. I look forward to working fresh strawberries, apricots, cherries, blueberries, peaches, and more into my morning smoothie. I’ll also work to get some kale, chard, beets, and other superfoods into the mix, as well.

After only two months of my new superdrink I feel awesome. It’s akin to how I feel after two years of serious attention to my physical being. I can’t wait to see how I feel in another two years after its all come together and settled into my overall lifestyle. Notably, my journey has also triangulated my loves of growing and cooking foods with my new-found love of competitive sports. For now, I think I’m off to mix up afternoon snack. Anyone care to take a guess as to what it’ll be?