People who meet here are dedicated to living a quality life, for health and happiness.

Join us and you'll see that we're passionate about a variety of ways to enrich our lives, share our wisdom and cultivate a community of like-minded folks.  Although this Meetup group is local, its content is connected to the web in a variety of ways.

More of us follow a neo-paleo lifestyle, which includes key aspects of many dietary styles.  Strategies include...

• reliance on low-carb vegetables as a dietary mainstay,
• nutrient-dense foods (not just mineral density in vegetables),
• dietary variability (intermittent and partial fasting, seasonal eating, rotation),
• food as therapy (diet as first principle for wellbeing), and
• conscious food choices (avoiding ruts and autopilot, bypassing cravings).

Conscious food choices may also involve...

• unprocessed, unrefined, "natural" foods,
• low carb, low glycemic, anti-insulin-resistance foods,
• clean foods (free of antibiotics, mycotoxins, added hormones, pesticides),
• sustainability (local, organic, biodynamic soil, regional, mixed use),
• ancestral strains (pre-GMO and pre-cultivation vegetables and grains),
• to grain or not to grain (avoidance, rotation, or selective), and
• to milk or not to milk (dairy choices, raw, cultured, etc).

Joni's goals are to focus on:

• whole food eating and cooking
• nutrition
• wellbeing
• inner and outer exercise
• community
• sustainability, and
• consciousness and awareness

Steve's areas of interest and expertise are:

• self-care modalities (being your own primary-care expert),
• quantified-self technologies (fun with gadgets and science),
• aging (mechanisms of aging, and how to age gracefully),
• neurodegerative diseases (Alzheimer's reversal and prevention),
• the FDA (the 23andme situation is just the latest),
• supplements (vitamins, minerals, nutrients, amino acids, etc.).
• metabolism (the "dance" of the body's molecules), and
• the body-brain-mind connection (spiritual health).

Events (please vote!) may include:

• themed potlucks
  (please read our food guidelines under the PAGES menu),
• outings (hikes),
• field trips (to farms, Farmer's markets, stores),
• lectures, classes, study groups,
• evenings with authors, speakers, film makers, etc., and
• Dialog Dinners with featured guests at the head of the table.

We'll post our own events, and those of others (for-profit and non-profit).

Most of our Meetup events will be in the South Bay near Cupertino, but we do occasionally take a show on the road to Marin, the Walnut Creek area (where we used to live), and to other members' private homes when they want to host an event in their own backyard (or living room).

If you want a raw-vegan Meetup group, please go to Joni's other group:  www.meetup.com/southbayraw. The South Bay Raw group does not mention use of meat/animal products.