Could Clinical Trial Reporting Spur Illicit Substance Use?

Might the widespread publicization of oversimplified clinical study findings contribute to increased substance use? The precipitous rise of cannabis legalization, industrialization, and use may prove a powerful case in point. Some studies suggesting the efficacy of cannabis to treat various medical problems were used by cannabis proponents to support the drug’s legalization and commercialization.

In recent years, stories citing small-scale clinical trial data published in traditional and social media channels suggest that cannabis could effectively treat pain and some mental health disorders, and even replace the use of some opioids to help address the opioid epidemic.

More recent information about the effects of legal medical and recreational cannabis calls into question many of the claims made by these earlier studies and highlights the adverse knock-on effects of cannabis legalization, including sharp rises in cannabis use disorder, cannabis induce psychosis, emergency department visits, and traffic accidents.

Importantly, America’s longest-running study on substance attitudes indicates that fewer people than ever feel that cannabis poses health risks, and cannabis use among all age groups, including teens and adolescents, is up.

If it holds true that people’s beliefs about substances and consumption behaviors can be swayed by exposure to clinical trial data (no matter how preliminary and cursory), this may be one reason for recent increases in hallucinogen use.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that just this year, clinical trials conducted by highly trusted institutions including Johns Hopkins, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the University of California at San Francisco, and others, show that hallucinogens like psilocybin and ketamine may reduce the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, a major public health problem.

The findings of these studies have been circulated by esteemed publications including the New York Times, The Guardian, the BBC, National Public Radio, Stat News, and others. In fact, a Google search for “psilocybin treats depression” returns more than 5.5 million results. While research into the potential mental health benefits of hallucinogens has peaked in recent years, the study of these substances as commercial medications has been underway for decades.

A peer-reviewed study released in August by the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center indicates hallucinogen use grew from 1.7 percent in the U.S. in 2002 to 2.2 percent in 2019.

Just as promising clinical trial data may have spurred increased cannabis use, so too the publication of studies indicating potential health benefits of hallucinogens may reduce perceived health risks and make people feel more comfortable about using these substances.

Part of the problem posed by news reporting about clinical trials is that people may not read beyond the headlines or think critically about the study’s findings. Many of the articles reporting on the trials of psilocybin and ketamine make it clear that trial sample sizes may be small, that additional phases of research are needed to determine if compounds found in these substances can be turned into safe and efficacious medications, and that people should not attempt to achieve the same effects by using these substances on their own.

The Nature article “Psychedelic drugs take on depression — Mind-altering drugs might provide relief for those who don’t respond to conventional therapies — but does the hype outweigh the hope?” questions the significance of some claims made by recent studies suggesting the health benefits of hallucinogens and cites an important fact — that the promising effects of hallucinogens like esketamine show modest differences when compared to placebo. Additionally, many of the clinical trials being conducted are performed under close medical supervision and often include trained psychotherapists who counsel test participants during their study experience.

Despite the fact that most clinical trial reporting contains cautionary language and suggests that further study is needed to substantiate initial findings, it is possible that many readers may simply conclude that the substances are safe or beneficial because they either skim news headlines without reading full articles or choose to make their own interpretations.

As summarized in a 2014 Washington Post article, “Americans read headlines. And not much else.” “So, roughly six in 10 people acknowledge that they have done nothing more than read news headlines in the past week. And, in truth, that number is almost certainly higher than that, since plenty of people won't want to admit to just being headline-gazers but, in fact, are.” It is possible that even fewer people read in-depth news coverage or follow-up on news stories today — seven years after this article was written.

Before internet-based news and the ubiquitous use of mobile devices, most people got their news through a relatively small number of television and radio channels, newspapers, and periodicals. The relatively high cost of producing and distributing news, and the pressure by advertisers to control the quality of editorial content, meant that most major news outlets spent significant time fact-checking stories, and fewer news stories made it into mass circulation.

Scholarly articles like clinical trial information were most likely to be found in esoteric trade publications read by members of the medical profession rather than in mainstream media. Today, we are exposed to millions of times more sources of information, many sources do not fact-check information, and still, other information channels shape news to suit political or commercial outcomes. Another major change is the algorithmic distribution of information, largely driven by social networks, that attempts to deliver news that evokes an emotional response among consumers (as has been claimed about the inner workings of Facebook).

Confirmation bias is another issue that can impact information consumers and make them more likely to draw their own conclusions when presented with facts. Confirmation bias is the tendency to use information to confirm existing beliefs. If an individual is predisposed to believing that hallucinogens, like psilocybin, are natural substances that are harmless or efficacious, reading headlines that seem to support this point of view can solidify their belief in this supposition despite the fact that this assertion may not be accurate.

Digesting news uncritically and confirmation bias has led people in some quarters to expect a “psychedelic revolution” in the treatment of substance use disorders and other mental health conditions.

“In light of popular media reports of a forthcoming ‘psychedelic revolution’ with commercialization and marketing that may further reduce the public perception of any risk, researchers, clinicians, and policymakers should increase their attention to the rising rates of unsupervised hallucinogen use among the general public,” observed Columbia University study author Deborah Hasin. “Our results highlight such use as a growing public health concern and suggest that the increasing risk of potentially unsupervised hallucinogen use warrants preventive strategies.“

LSD, psilocybin, phencyclidine (PCP), MDMA, and other dangerous hallucinogens are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) used by psychiatrists in the United States to diagnose substance use disorders. Symptoms of LSD use can include panic attacks, psychosis, seizures, and delusions. Another condition listed in the DSM-5 is cannabis use disorder (CUD), a potentially serious condition frequently requiring treatment.

Treatment providers see the impacts of misleading or misinterpreted substance information

Clinicians at Foundry Treatment Center Steamboat, and colleagues across the country, often witness the collision between incorrect perceptions about psychoactive substances and the negative effects of their problematic use. It is common, for example, for Foundry Steamboat clinicians to find clients experiencing cannabis use disorder surprised to learn that cannabis addiction is possible. The prevailing narrative that cannabis is not habit forming is untrue, and rates of cannabis use disorder and problematic use have increased since the substance became medically and recreationally legal.

Cannabis legalization, commercialization, and use disorder may be a bellwether for the future of hallucinogens and other substances highlighted in clinical studies. The specter of changing public risk perceptions that may increase the likelihood of substance trial and use is worrisome to behavioral healthcare providers.

“When Colorado legalized recreational cannabis, many of us were worried about the results, especially for younger people. Unfortunately, these worries were justified,” says Amber King, Foundry Steamboat Outreach and Special Projects. “We are not only seeing more people finding themselves addicted to high-potency THC products, but we are also seeing other negative impacts in the community. Some of these problems, like increased traffic accidents and children accidentally accessing these products, mirror some of the problems caused by alcohol, which kills more people every year than any other substance.”

“Now we are afraid that the trend toward relaxing concerns about other substances will result in similar problems,” says King. “Widespread headlines that suggest that hallucinogens may help treat mental health conditions could lead some people to attempt to self-medicate with these substances — a choice that without proper clinical supervision and dosages could exacerbate preexisting mental health disorder symptoms instead of alleviating them. Other people may simply believe that using these substances is unlikely to be harmful. Still other people may use this information to push for legalization and commercialization, a move that has had catastrophic effects for many people negatively affected by cannabis legalization.”

The Foundry Treatment Center Steamboat Men’s Program provides comprehensive, Trauma-Integrated Care to men experiencing substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. The program’s virtual Intensive Outpatient Program treats adults throughout Colorado. For more information call (844) 955-1066.

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This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. The previous National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 is also still available. 

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Colorado’s Rural Communities Offer Stark Evidence of Factors Reducing the Nation’s Life Expectancy

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US life expectancy dropped for the second consecutive year in 2021, falling by nearly a year from 2020, according to government data released in August.

In 2019, someone born in America had a life expectancy of almost 79 years. In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, that dropped to 77 years. Last year, the life span dropped again—to 76.1 years. 

Life expectancy estimates the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live, given death rates at that time. It is “the most fundamental indicator of population health in this country,” Robert Hummer, a University of North Carolina researcher focused on population health patterns, told the Associated Press. 

Officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) blamed COVID for about half the decline in 2021, a year when vaccinations became widely available, but new coronavirus variants caused waves of hospitalizations and deaths. Other longstanding problems were major contributors as well, though: drug overdoses, heart disease, suicide, and chronic liver disease. 

According to the CDC release, the decline “between 2020 and 2021 was primarily due to increases in mortality due to COVID-19 (50.0 percent of the negative contribution), unintentional injuries (15.9 percent), heart disease (4.1 percent), chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (3.0 percent), and suicide (2.1).” 

“This is the biggest two-year decline—2.7 years in total—in almost 100 years,” reported Kate Sheridan on Stat News. “The COVID-19 pandemic is the primary cause of the decline. However, increases in the number of people dying from overdoses and accidents are also a significant factor.”

A large percentage of the cases of chronic liver disease is caused by alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder, and a lot of the unintentional injuries are really drug overdose deaths; the increase in suicides is driven by trauma, depression, anxiety, and substance misuse. 

Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate there were an estimated 107,622 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2021, an increase of nearly 15 percent from the 93,655 deaths estimated for 2020 which in turn amounted to a 29 percent increase over 2019. As recently as 2014, the number of overdose deaths in the US was 47,055. 

COVID-19 may have exacerbated the decline in US life expectancy in the past two years, but the downtrend started quite some time before the pandemic. For decades, US life expectancy was on the upswing. But, as the AP reported in July 2021, that trend stalled in 2015, for several years, before hitting 78 years, ten months in 2019. A person born in Canada could expect to live 82 years in 2019. The life expectancy in Japan was 84 years three years ago. 

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Deaths of Despair

Years before the emergence of the COVID pandemic, Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton suggested in a 2015 paper and a subsequent book that working-age white men and women without four-year college degrees were dying “deaths of despair” by suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related liver disease at unprecedented rates. 

In a review of the book, Carlos Lozada noted, “even before the coronavirus struck, America was suffering an eviscerating epidemic. Its cause was not a virus; its spread could not be blamed on foreign travelers or college kids on spring break. No masks or gloves could slow its contagion, no vaccine could prevent new cases.”

Although Case and Deaton completed their book before the onset of the COVID pandemic, Lozada found that their diagnosis was “painfully relevant.” 

“The debate over how quickly to ease social distancing restrictions and get the economy moving again forces a reckoning: How do we balance the risk of increased coronavirus infections if we reopen the economy too soon against the risk of more deaths of despair if we do so too late?”

Some researchers observed as early as July 2020 that the unfolding COVID pandemic and the existing addiction epidemic in the US would converge into a “perfect storm”:

“Given the COVID-19 pandemic, tackling the alcohol and substance use disorder crisis may be even more problematic because, as in a perfect storm, a combination of elements serves to worsen the already complex clinical conditions of patients with these disorders. The consequences of this storm may spread long after the pandemic is resolved and may affect a large proportion of the population, beyond individuals with current alcohol and substance use disorders.”

The CDC data show that men were hit harder by this perfect storm: While the decline in life expectancy for the male population due to unintentional injuries was 19.1 percent, it was 14.8 percent for females; in chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, it was 3.4 percent for males versus 2.4 percent for females.

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Colorado’s Rural Communities Especially Hard-Hit

Colorado has some of the nation’s highest rates of substance use disorders and age-adjusted suicides, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Research from the Colorado Health Institute suggests that untreated mental health conditions, stigma and structural racism, prevalent alcohol and marijuana use, and firearm ownership rates are some of the leading factors contributing to Colorado’s suicide and behavioral health problems. Another recent study points to financial insecurity and economic disparity, lacking infrastructure and federal support resources, and perceived breakdowns in community connectedness and family systems as leading causes of “diseases of despair” in rural and urban communities. 

In rural communities throughout Colorado, the problems represented by statistics and data points in research studies can be seen in the real lives of people suffering their effects. 

During recent visits with community workers and care providers in Cedaredge, Grand Junction, Telluride, Hotchkiss, Paonia, Delta, Ridgway, and Durango, Foundry Steamboat team members Amanda Buckner and Amber King heard harrowing reports of staggeringly high rates of substance use disorder and suicide — two neighboring towns reporting ten suicides in just one week. They were told about how many of the people in these communities feel isolated and distant from one another and have limited access to high-paying jobs and healthcare resources. Native American people in these communities, like Native American people throughout the US, continue to suffer myriad and disproportionate socioeconomic problems that contribute to addiction, mental health disorders, and suicide. 

Problematic ideas about addictive disorders also seem to be a common issue embedded in the cultures of some rural Colorado communities. “I grew up and live in a rural Colorado town, and I hear the same misperceptions perpetuated there today. The belief that using substances, especially alcohol, is fine as long as someone is able to function and has a house to live in,” says Amanda Buckner, Foundry Steamboat Community Outreach Manager. “For many families in these areas, substance use has become normalized, even encouraged, within the family system and passes for acceptable behavior. In too many cases, this leads to people self-medicating underlying mental health issues with substances instead of recognizing that they have a problem and seeking treatment."

Amber King, who also grew up in a rural Colorado town, cites the lack of access to a continuum of care in rural communities. “Most people who need help in these communities are hours away from the levels of care and specialized providers they need. They have few financial resources and lack family and peer support needed for people to feel comfortable and safe seeking help.” Challenges unique to rural communities can also prevent people from acknowledging that they are experiencing mental health problems or seeking care. “These towns can be very tight-knit communities with some families going back generations. Residents may know more about the lives of their neighbors than people who live in larger cities, and this lack of perceived anonymity can make it hard for people to feel safe getting help. This issue especially affects first responders, physicians, and other professionals who live in and serve these towns, who perceive a need to maintain a local reputation. When you believe that the people you interact with every day know what’s happening in your life, it can be hard to admit that you have a problem and ask for help,” says King. 

Foundry Steamboat is establishing close and regular ties with rural communities to facilitate connections between caregivers and make it easier for individuals and families to talk about mental and behavioral health problems. Foundry Steamboat team members are hosting ongoing virtual meetings where mental health professionals, community leaders, school officials, and others responsible for the mental health and wellbeing of rural communities can discuss needs, share resource information, and find camaraderie and understanding. Through these efforts, Foundry Steamboat hopes to play a positive role in helping to dispel the stigma surrounding mental health and substance use disorders, expand resources for rural communities, and break down the barriers that make it harder for people to seek treatment and find recovery.

Summer has come and before we knew it, it was almost over! There are so many reasons to love summertime and especially summer in Steamboat Springs! The clients have been able to enjoy; some of the best hikes in and around Steamboat, watching the garden flourish as Kim Brooks walks them through harvesting, and eating some of the best tasting vegetables that you could ever ask for. 

Sometimes summer offers so many exciting activities that we gloss over things that can sometimes give us the most joy in life, and that is food! What better season is there for food? So many fresh foods that were literally hand selected only seconds ago are now sitting in front of us on a plate. A lot of times there will be so many fresh things from our garden that Cord and I get overwhelmed (these are good problems!!). 

It is in these times of overwhelming fresh harvests that I am reminded of a phrase by my favorite author, Michael Pollen, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”. If you were to mention this phrase to most of the clients that come through Foundry, you will probably get a response that has something to do with how much Chef Henry uses vegetables. Then that same client will also hopefully go on to say something about how a lot of those veggies Henry was feeding him “actually weren’t bad”. 

Probably the only way to cook and eat all of the veggies that we get from our garden/greenhouse is to cook with mostly plants. When I say “mostly plants” I’m not talking about never eating meat again, but I am talking about reducing the amount of meat consumed in a given meal. Imagine that you are going to make taco. How can you reduce the amount of meat consumed in a taco? Well instead of using only ground beef as a taco filling, consider cutting the amount of ground beef in half and then adding in some taco seasoned and roasted cauliflower. Hopefully you will find that you can still enjoy the beef flavor but only be eating half of the meat. 

Why would I want to even cut back on meat? There are many reasons to cut back on meat consumption, one of the reasons that clients hear me talking about all the time is that meat has a large impact on our earth. Meat (especially red meat) requires a lot of resources to grow due to such high demands by consumers, so by reducing meat consumption your carbon footprint will be reduced. Also maybe the most important reason is to reduce your food budget. Whole vegetables and plants in general are much cheaper than buying meat for every single meal. If you supplement your meat with a lot of plants it could stretch your meat for multiple days instead of just one meal's worth. 

This way of cooking and eating might be hard at first, but give it a try. Try the half beef half cauliflower tacos, try having a smaller portion of steak and then upping the amount of roasted veggies on the side, or try cutting up any leftover meat and putting it on a salad with some grains (quinoa, rice, farro…). 

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Garden Update

Wow! We have been talking so much about our veggies from the garden, let's just enjoy looking at them for a minute.

Recipe

Earlier we were talking about ways to reduce meat in our meals, so let’s take a look at some more ideas!

• What a lot of people don’t realize about eating vegetarian meals is that they are really just looking for a meal that has a good texture. So try adding in some chopped nuts, raw diced cauliflower, or chewy grains like farro to your next vegetarian salad. 
• Start thinking of your meals as more than just the meat, for example; “I’m going to eat steak tonight” vs “I am going to be eating a steak salad with roasted brussel sprouts served over some creamy farro”. If you are only thinking of the steak, you will eat more meat and hardly anything else. If you are thinking of all the sides along with your steak sometimes there are such amazing side that you hardly need any steak.
• Start eating your meals mixed together as opposed to separated. When you separate your meat from your veggies as well as other components of the meal you are more likely to not only eat more meat, but also eat more food in general. Some people do not like their food touching, so when cooking for yourself try to only use things you enjoy!
• Last of all! Remember what types of foods are classified as plants! It sounds easier than you would think, but a lot of people will associate the word plants with only vegetables, but there are so many more plants to eat than just veggies (more edible plants exist than animals we eat). Below is a list of plants for you to just remember how delicious they actually are.

• Grains (farro, rice, quinoa, barley…)
• Pastas (try to stick to whole grains)
• Fruits!! (berries, peaches, plums, apricots, apples, bananas…)

• Fruits are a great way to add some sweetness in your life.

• Baked goods! (we all love a little bit of carbs but let's make sure that it stays only a little bit)

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Catch us on Social Media!

If you are looking for more Foundry content check out our website, or look for us on social media; instagram (@foundrysteamboat), Facebook (Foundry Steamboat), or Twitter (@foundryrehab)! 

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**As always have a safe and clean month - Chef Henry

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This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide please call the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, textHOME to 741741, or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.

Many American men have a friendship problem.

In a 2021 Saturday Night Live sketch called “Man Park,” a young man waits anxiously for his female partner to return from work. He has few if any friends and has had little social interaction all day. She listens, barely feigning interest in his verbal torrent about the events of his day. She responds by mothering her partner, suggesting he go outside and play with his friends. When he replies that he has no friends, she takes him to the “man park”—a dog park for men—to play with other males. Like cute little puppies, the men enjoy each other’s company as the women cheer them on from the sidelines.

This is meant to be comedy, of course, but as with all good satire, the sketch touches on a very real issue: the loneliness that too many men experience. Avrum Weiss confirmed the SNL scenario in an article on Psychology Today:

“In heterosexual couples, women tend to handle all the social relationships for the couple and the children. This may fall to women because they are aware that their male partners do not have substantial relationships outside of the family as they do. The women may pull their partners into socializing with other couples so that the women can have more time socializing with each other without that becoming an issue in the marriage. They may even arrange ‘play dates’ with their friends’ partners so that their partner will be more interested in socializing as a couple.

Approximately one in five American men say they do not have a close friend, according to the Survey Center on AmericanLife's May 2021 American Perspectives Survey. “Only 30 percent of men reported having a private conversation with a close friend when they divulged personal emotions in the past week,” wrote psychiatry professor Charles Hebert in Newsweek in February.

This comes at a cost. “Loneliness increases the risk of mental illness among men,” warned Hebert. “Persistent loneliness independently predicts risk of Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, psychiatric illnesses such as major depressive disorder often go unrecognized in men due to reluctance to discuss one's symptoms.”

Loneliness can also induce substance misuse. When people feel lonely, misunderstood, or unloved, they frequently turn to drugs or alcohol to suppress their emotional pain. Unfortunately, their substance misuse may isolate them even further from the people who are still on their side. Any ensuing addiction will create havoc with their careers and personal relationships. Thus, the maladaptive coping mechanism of substance use is likely to backfire—making them very sick and even lonelier than before.

As the COVID-19 pandemic converged with widespread loneliness and the addiction epidemic in the US two years ago, public health and mental health experts predicted further dramatic increases in substance misuse and mental health conditions.

“Even before imposed COVID-19 social restrictions, loneliness had been gaining attention as a public health crisis,” wrote Horigian, Schmidt, and Feaster in their 2020 study on loneliness, mental health, and substance use among young adults. “Distinct from objective social isolation and solitude, loneliness is the feeling of lacking needed social connections, and has been associated with depression, suicidality, substance abuse, and cognitive decline, as well as overall health and mortality.”

Isolation and social distancing brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated the male friendship crisis but “broader structural forces may be playing a more important role,” reportedDaniel Cox on the findings from the May 2021 American Perspectives Survey:

“First, Americans are marrying later than ever and are more geographically mobile than in the past—two trends that are strongly associated with increasing rates of self-reported social isolation and feelings of loneliness. Second, American parents are spending twice as much time with their children compared to previous generations, crowding out other types of relationships, including friendships. Finally, Americans are working longer hours and traveling more for work, which may come at the cost of maintaining and developing friendships. In fact, perhaps reflecting its central place in the hierarchy of American social life, Americans are now more likely to make friends at work than any other way—including at school, in their neighborhood, at their place of worship, or even through existing friends.”

“It is typically only when they are divorced or widowed those men realize how few relationships they actually have that have not been arranged or managed by their partner, and how vulnerable they have been in depending entirely on their partners for all of the connection in their lives,” wrote Weiss.

Addiction and mental health journalist Johann Hari famously declared that the opposite of addiction is connection. Hari has also suggested that depression is largely driven by lost connections. If men are socially more disconnected than women, they face particular mental health and substance use consequences as a result.

According to the Mental Health Index published in January, men now face a significantly increased risk of addiction—up an alarming 80 percent between September and December 2021. In just three months, depression among men was up 118 percent, and social anxiety by 162 percent. When looking specifically at men ages 40-59, general anxiety was up 94 percent.

Using national data, other researchers noted a 21 percent increase in excessive drinking during the pandemic. The scientists simulated the drinking trajectories and liver disease trends in all US adults and estimated that a one-year increase in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic will result in 8,000 additional deaths from alcohol-related liver disease, 18,700 cases of liver failure, and1,000 cases of liver cancer by 2040.

Loneliness, social disconnection, anxiety, depression, and substance misuse can have another tragic consequence for men: suicide.

Even before the highly stressful COVID pandemic, Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton suggested in a 2015 paper (and a subsequent 2021 book), that working-age white men and women without four-year college degrees were dying “deaths of despair” by suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related liver disease at unprecedented rates.

Wyoming’s “prevention specialist” Bill Hawley believes that too many men are unwilling or unable to talk about their feelings. As Jose A. Del Real reported in the Washington Post, Hawley’s “official mandate is to connect people who struggle with alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco addiction, and suicidal impulses to the state’s limited social service programs.”

Some sociologists have cynically nicknamed the Mountain West America’s “suicide belt.”

“Across the United States, men accounted for79 percent of suicide deaths in 2020, according to a Washington Post analysis of new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also shows Wyoming has the highest rate of suicide deaths per capita in the country,” wrote Del Real. “A majority of suicide deaths involve firearms, of which there are plenty in Wyoming, and alcohol or drugs are often a factor.”

Some researchers blame the pitfalls of toxic masculinity for the gender gap in suicides.

Toxic masculinity frequently turns outward in the form of violent behavior against others, but it can also turn inward.

“Talk saves lives,” Bill told the WashingtonPost — because it has saved his own life many times since he tried to kill himself two decades ago after a cascade of bad behavior and mental anguish led to a divorce, hopelessness, and estrangement from his two older sons.

Hawley now talks to other men “about that brokenness we all feel inside,” about “whole health: mind, body, and soul.”Some men feel uncomfortable with being vulnerable but others respond by openly“talking about their addictions, about their problems with middle-aged bullies who still taunt them about ‘acting gay,’ about their search for scarce therapists in rural America who can help them heal.”

Christopher Williams, LMFT, the founder and CEO of Renovari Counseling in Orange County, California, treats a significant number of high-performing men experiencing mental health conditions who feel disconnected from family and friends. “It is increasingly common to find men who appear highly successful and present an outward appearance of ‘having it all together’ to be carrying around significant emotional and relational struggles in their internal world,” Williams reports. “One of the most important aspects of our work is showing men the heavy cost and suffering due to the lack of meaningful relationships in their lives, while helping them build healthy, life-giving connections.”

The problem of men lacking meaningful relationships was so apparent to Williams that he teamed up with FoundrySteamboat CEO Ben Cort to offer a series of men's retreats. These four-day experiences bring together small groups of male professionals who tend to be in executive leadership positions and who are experiencing loneliness, anxiety, and a reduced spiritual aspect.

“The retreat may be the first time in years or even decades that these men have openly talked about their emotional state or relationships with other men, realized that they shared these issues in common, and heard others with similar experiences and perspectives. This can be an incredibly cathartic and life-changing experience. Attendees come away feeling that they have made connections that can blossom into real friendships and understanding the importance of reconnecting deeply with partners, family members, and other people who are important in their lives outside of their work environment. I know this from direct experience. I attended one of Chris’s retreats three years ago as a participant and came away a better person. The time was cathartic because Chris is a master of his craft, and the environment, food, and fellow participants were so amazing. I’m always ‘too busy’ for things like this but I made time and remain thankful that I did. If you get the invite, do what it takes to attend,” says Cort.

The retreats are carefully planned to combine enjoyable activities like fly fishing, hiking, campfires, and meal times with lightly guided conversations directed and moderated by Williams and Cort. “We are here to start meaningful discussions and stimulate the discovery of important insights,” says Cort. “But the men do most of the work. They realize that when they allow themselves to explore the relational areas of their lives, which they often put aside, they have a lot to offer and a great deal of common ground to share with their peers.”

Cort and his colleagues at Foundry Treatment Center Steamboat regularly encounter men seeking help for behavioral health problems who feel isolated and alone. A lack of friends is a common factor affecting the program’s clients, and the program helps men understand how and why they lack friends and how to make change. Lifestyles of people with active addictions tend to make the affected person isolated. The side effects and behaviors of substance use disorders can alienate friends and family members. But it is equally important to understand that loneliness and isolation can also be the causes of substance misuse — these issues are directly connected. Often, helping men manage their addictive disorders and mental health conditions requires finding ways of healthily connecting with other people who can be supporters of recovery and add meaning and joy to life.

A lot of fun changes have happened in the Foundry kitchen in the last month! First off we are very excited to welcome Cord Such as our new Culinarian! Having Cord around has been great! We are able to go the extra mile in the kitchen and give our clients an even better experience. Also another awesome thing that happened in our kitchen is our amazing new partnership with Hayden Fresh Farms!

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Hayden Fresh Farm is a local chicken, beef, and pork farm that is located in Hayden Colorado about 35 miles away from the Foundry. As some of us know locally sourced ingredients (especially meats) are way better in many ways. Not only are the ingredients fresher and oftentimes more quality, but buying locally is also more sustainable for our earth! I also find it really cool to know exactly where your food is coming from and have a good relationship with the people that grow your food! 

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It is all too easy to get caught up in our daily lives and forget about things that really matter. Like that our food is grown somewhere and not just produced in a factory. Many things in our lives are produced by some big corporation, and a lot of the food found in many grocery stores also unfortunately comes from big corporations. Oftentimes people say “the food industry” and it is just known what they are talking about, but years ago no one would have any idea why you would say food and industry in the same phrase. Food used to be something people worked for either by growing it themselves or by killing it themselves. Now we just get everything in plastic bags at the grocery store.

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Is it likely or realistic that people will be growing or killing all of the food that they eat in our modern civilization? Probably not, but the closer that we can get to the origins of our food the better. 

Greenhouse and garden Update!

Our greenhouse is getting taller! We have a cherry blossom tree inside of the greenhouse! That’s right, a tree inside! Why do we like our greenhouse so much? The greenhouse is more than just a big place with plants in it. It is quickly becoming a great place for people to gather and share with others. Oftentimes clients will seek out the greenhouse as a place to talk to staff or other clients about things they are dealing with.  

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Catch us on Social Media!

If you are looking for more Foundry content check out our website, or look for us on social media; instagram (@foundrysteamboat), Facebook (Foundry Steamboat), or Twitter (@foundryrehab)! 

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Recipe!

This month I thought it would be interesting to share a conceptual recipe with everybody! “All About Salads” is my attempt at getting more people to eat salads. A Lot of people get intimidated by “salads” or they think that there needs to be ranch dressing drizzled on a salad otherwise they can’t eat it. As you will read, salads are nothing more than ingredients put together so why not make those ingredients the very best ingredients!

All About Salads

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What do I put in my salad?

Great question! Salads are a great way to eat a ton of your favorite foods! That’s right I did say your favorite foods! Just think of foods that you really love to eat; bacon, chicken thighs, grilled veggies, croutons, any of the best cheeses, dried fruits, fresh fruits, roasted nuts, fresh herbs, and so much more! My favorite way to make a salad is to just put any of my favorite foods on top of mixed greens. 

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Good things to add into your salad

While adding your favorite foods to mixed greens is a great start to your salad, here are some good ideas to get you started;

• Grilled zucchini
• Aged cheddar cheese
• Bacon bits
• Grilled chicken breast 
• Smoked salmon
• Cherry tomatoes
• Olive oil, salt and pepper
• Pickled beets
• Roasted carrots
• Grains; Farrow, quinoa, or couscous 

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Final tips

Alright now that you have some ideas for a salad, just try it out! Start with maybe one or two of the items from the list above to see how it is! Eventually you will learn what your favorite salad toppings are and you can keep building off of that. Keep it simple at first and use your favorite salad dressings from the store (ranch, blue cheese, 1000 island, vinaigrettes etc.). All you really have to do is keep trying different salads! 

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As always, have a safe and clean month!

Chef Henry

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Gun violence, political unrest, climate change, the affordability of healthcare, the global COVID pandemic, and its repercussions, racism, terrorism, and the cost of living—Americans are deeply concerned about many things these days. And the onslaught of problematic issues seems to have impacted the nation's mental health.

"Our country faces an unprecedented mental health crisis among people of all ages," stated a White House fact sheet in March. "Two out of five adults report symptoms of anxiety or depression… Even before the pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety were inching higher. But the grief, trauma, and physical isolation of the last two years have driven Americans to a breaking point."

The White House fact sheet notes that America's youth has been particularly impacted "as losses from COVID and disruptions in routines and relationships have led to increased social isolation, anxiety, and learning loss. More than half of parents express concern over their children's mental well-being." Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued a similar warning in December.

Derek Thompson described it as "an extreme teenage mental-health crisis" in an April article in The Atlantic. Between 2009 and 2021, the share of high-school students who say they feel "persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness" increased from 26 percent to 44 percent, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—it is the highest level of teenage sadness ever recorded in the United States.

Feelings of sadness, emptiness, or hopelessness are primary symptoms of depression, but America's youth is also anxious. From 2013 to 2019, one in 11 children aged 3–17 was affected by anxiety, according to the CDC. Although there is some variation, "the big picture is the same across all categories: Almost every measure of mental health is getting worse, for every teenage demographic, and it's happening all across the country," Thompson reported.

Pervasive feelings of sadness, hopelessness, or anxiety at any age can result from traumatic experiences—with long-lasting consequences. "The effects of unresolved trauma can be devastating," wrote psychologist Peter Levine in Healing Trauma. "It can affect our habits and outlook on life, leading to addictions and poor decision-making. It can take a toll on our family life and interpersonal relationships. It can trigger real physical pain, symptoms, and disease. It can lead to a range of self-destructive behaviors."

Trauma is an emotional response to an intense event that threatens or causes harm, such as being in an accident or witnessing a violent crime. It is often the result of overwhelming stress that exceeds one's ability to cope with or accept the emotions involved with that experience.

Some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after experiencing such a shocking or dangerous event. It is natural to feel afraid during and after a traumatic situation. Fear is a part of the body's normal "fight-or-flight" response, which helps us avoid or respond to potential danger. People may experience a range of reactions after trauma, and most will recover from their symptoms over time. Those who continue to experience symptoms may be diagnosed with PTSD.

Trauma (and PTSD) may also result from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect, witnessing violence in the home or community, or having a family member attempt or die by suicide. About 61 percent of adults surveyed across 25 states reported having experienced at least one type of ACE before age 18, and nearly 1 in 6 reported having experienced four or more ACEs.

Trauma is prevalent in the United States. "The CDC statistics on abuse and violence in the United States are sobering," wrote Monique Tello, MD, MPH, on the Harvard Health Blog in 2018. "They report that one in four children experiences some sort of maltreatment (physical, sexual, or emotional abuse). One in four women has experienced domestic violence. In addition, one in five women and one in 71 men have experienced rape at some point in their lives—12 percent of these women and 30 percent of these men were younger than 10 years old when they were raped. This means a very large number of people have experienced serious trauma at some point in their lives."

"Trauma is a pernicious, silent, and progressive mental health threat that dramatically increases the risks of depression, anxiety, hypervigilance, suicidality, and further violence if not treated," explained Michael Barnes, the chief clinical officer at the Foundry Treatment Center in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

"Unfortunately, it can take the devastating impacts of large-scale traumatic events like the Robb Elementary School shooting to bring America's mental health and traumatic experience epidemic into public view. However, for many reasons, including accidents and injury, domestic violence, loss and grief, adverse life events, intense stress, exposure to the side effects of substance use disorders, and other untreated mental health disorders, an estimated 89.7 percent of Americans are exposed to traumatic events, and 12 million adults—that's six percent of the population—suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder at any given time. For every person experiencing PTSD, there are untold numbers of family members, friends, and colleagues whose lives are directly or indirectly affected by PTSD's side effects."

The human trauma response is complicated. In addition to the familiar negative effects of the classic "fight-or-flight" stress response, the polyvagal theory introduced by Stephen Porges in the 1990s added "a second defense system with features not of mobilization as manifest in fight/flight reactions, but of immobilization, behavioral shutdown, and dissociation."  

Watch "Trauma and the Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective"

Trauma-informed Addiction Treatment

Trauma, depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions are major drivers of addiction. "Trauma and addiction go hand-in-hand," wrote Tian Dayton in Trauma and Addiction. "What starts out as an attempt to manage pain evolves into a new source of it…. The cycle of trauma and addiction is endless."

Even before the highly stressful COVID-19 pandemic, Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton suggested in a 2015 paper (and a subsequent 2021 book) that working-age white men and women without four-year college degrees were dying "deaths of despair" by suicide, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related liver disease at unprecedented rates. The pandemic appears to have exacerbated that trend.

In May, the CDC reported that more than 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, setting another tragic record in the nation's continually escalating addiction epidemic. The provisional 2021 total translated to roughly one US overdose death every five minutes and marked a 15 percent increase from the previous year's record.

These numbers have now significantly contributed to a decline in life expectancy. A new study by the University of Colorado Boulder, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Urban Institute found that life expectancy in the United States plunged by nearly two years between 2018 and 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating a troubling trend dating back more than a decade. The overall US decline was 8.5 times greater than the average decline among 16 other high-income countries during the same period.

Since trauma is frequently the driver behind a substance use disorder, any traumatic history of the patient and any resulting mental health issues need to be addressed in addiction treatment concurrent with the substance misuse.

"Giving words to trauma begins to heal it. Hiding it or pretending it isn't there creates a cauldron of pain that eventually boils over. That's where addiction comes in," wrote Tian Dayton.  

Foundry Steamboat Chief Clinical Officer, Michael Barnes, is a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Diplomate in the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. During his forty-year career, Dr. Barnes has developed a new model for treating addictive and co-occurring mental health disorders that centers around the identification and understanding of trauma, the resolution of trauma, and learning to naturally self-regulate emotion. The Trauma-Integrated Care model practiced at Foundry Treatment Center Steamboat helps clients and family members learn about the role of trauma in individual and family system dysfunction, reduces the likelihood of re-triggering traumatic responses during treatment, and teaches skills to reduce the chances of repeating traumatizing behaviors after treatment. The program also helps clients learn how to promote recovery-supportive lifestyles.

Addiction is often described as a family disease. "The effects of a substance use disorder (SUD) are felt by the whole family," wrote Lander, Howsare, and Byrne in a 2013 study. "The family context holds information about how SUDs develop, are maintained, and what can positively or negatively influence the treatment of the disorder."

The Michael Barnes Family Institute, launched in 2021, makes Trauma-Integrated approaches available to any family with members experiencing behavioral health conditions — even if no family member is receiving treatment. The ability to engage families at any stage of their recovery journey can make it easier to enter treatment and can increase a family's ability to safely and effectively communicate to reduce the causes of stress, alienation, and traumatic stimuli that can perpetuate dysfunction.

Participating in family programming improves treatment outcomes and encourages lasting positive changes in the entire family system. The Michael Barnes Family Institute offers two levels of programming to Foundry clients or any family in need of care:

● 101 provides psychoeducation, coaching, and connection to treatment resources to help families begin to establish a safe and supportive home environment for loved ones in recovery and to acknowledge the ways in which living with active addiction and traumatic experiences has affected their own lives.

● 102 provides in-depth analysis of family dysfunction root causes, in-depth coaching, counseling, and connection to treatment and support resources to help families identify and address deeper issues to improve the well-being and mental health of all participating family members and to restore family system function.  

Located in a beautiful mountain setting in Colorado, Foundry Steamboat takes a holistic approach to treating trauma and addiction. Our programs are designed to treat the entire person, meeting their physical, mental, and spiritual needs. Learn more about the program at www.forgingnewlives.com.

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Cooking classes are one of my favorite things! Being able to express to people my favorite parts of cooking gives me so much joy! A lot of times cooking classes give me a chance to talk about my food philosophy; slow food vs. fast food and how cooking can have a positive impact on our earth. This month our Wellness Director, Cait Mowris, and I decided to do a collaborative cooking class! 

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A big part of my cooking involves breaking down the common misconceptions of certain foods; i.e. tofu is gross, veggies don’t have protein, or humans need meat to survive. Cait and I decided to base our cooking class around some common questions that arise around protein; how much protein is appropriate for a meal, can you get complete proteins from eating only veggies, or is there such a thing as too much protein? 

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Setting out to try and answer some of these questions Cait and I decided that a good meal to make during class would be Falafel Pita Sandwiches with a fresh Greek Salad! 

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Of course during our cooking class we focused on my usual idea of  “community cooking”. All of the clients got involved in forming the falafels and preparing veggies for the salad! Once the meal was coming together we started on trying to determine how much protein was actually on one plate of food. The clients initially thought there wouldn’t be much protein since our meal was completely vegetarian, but after finding serving sizes for our meal we determined there is actually about 50 grams of protein per plate! Some of the clients were now saying there could even be too much protein for one meal!

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In our findings during our cooking class we determined that falafels are a pretty protein dense meal. Since all of the protein comes from just vegetables though it ends up being almost the perfect amount of protein for the average male. After helping to make the falafels and actually eating them, most of our clients had changed their minds on vegetable protein. You can actually get enough protein from just plants AND the meal can taste good too! 

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Greenhouse/garden Update!!

Our greenhouse is just killing it! Bok choy, Kale, Arugula, Spinach, Radishes, and so much more! With the longer and warmer days of summer just around the corner our outside garden will soon be just as vibrant as our greenhouse!

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Catch us on Social Media!

If you are looking for more Foundry content check out our website, or look for us on social media; instagram (@foundrysteamboat), Facebook (Foundry Steamboat), or Twitter (@foundryrehab)! 

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Recipe Time!

Falafels and greek salad!

(this is a two day recipe only because you need to soak chickpeas)

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Serves: 5-6 people

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time 20 minutes

Total time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients

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For the falafels:

• ¾ pounds of dry chickpeas
• 2 small shallots diced into ¼ inch pieces 
• 2 raw cloves of garlic
• About a cup of chopped cilantro
• ½ - 1 cup of chickpea flour (or regular all purpose flour)
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of paprika powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• Sunflower oil as needed for frying falafels (or use canola/vegetable oil/coconut oil)
• About 6-8 pita pockets (or make your own! Refer to my recipe in the foundry’s blog!)

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For the tahini salad dressing:

• ½ cup of tahini
• The juice from one lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• About 1 cup of warm water, or enough water to thin the sauce

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For the salad:

• ½ of a big box of mixed greens (whatever your favorite greens are)
• 1 15oz can of chickpeas
• One small container of cherry tomatoes 
• One red onion
• One small head of cauliflower
• Olive oil as needed

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For the tzatziki sauce:

• 1 ½ cups of unsweetened greek yogurt
• Juice of 2 lemons

• One cucumber shredded
• 1 teaspoon of dill seasoning
• 1 cup of chopped cilantro 
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Directions

• The day before you want to enjoy your falafels, put the ¾ of a pound of dry chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with about three times the amount of water by volume. Let the chickpeas soak overnight or at least 8 hours.
• Start the next day by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.
• Working on the falafel mix first, begin by straining the chickpeas. Now dice your shallots and peel your garlic. Place the garlic and shallot in a food processor or blender. Add the cilantro, kosher salt, cracked pepper, paprika, and cumin. Pulse the food processor until all ingredients are minced and mixed together. Transfer your mixture to a large mixing bowl and set aside for now. Now, working with about 1 cup of chickpeas at a time, blend them in the food processor until the chickpeas are very finely chopped and paste-like (if using a blender you may need to scrap the sides down on occasion). When the chickpeas have been processed, place them in the bowl with the garlic onion mixture. Once all of the chickpeas are in the bowl with the garlic onion mixture, stir the mixture until combined. Add in the chickpea flour and baking soda (more chickpea flour may be needed to hold the mixture together). Form the falafel mixture into patties with your hands that are sized slightly larger than a golf ball. Place the patties on a baking tray and set aside for now.
• Now work on prepping your salad ingredients. Wash and rinse your salad greens, cut the cherry tomatoes in half, cut the red onion into strips (julienne), and cut the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. The red onions will be caramelized on the stove, so place them in a saute pan with a little olive oil and set over the stove to medium low heat. Stir the onions occasionally and cook until they are a nice dark caramel color on the outside. While the onions are on the stove, work on the cauliflower. The cauliflower will be roasted in the oven along with the can of chickpeas, so toss the cauliflower in olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet.  Drain the chickpeas and place on a baking sheet with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Place both the cauliflower and chickpeas to the side for now and work on your tahini dressing.
• For the tahini dressing start by juicing the lemon or use about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. In a medium size mixing bowl whisk the tahini, lemon juice and warm water together. You are looking for a thinner consistency so add more water if necessary. Now add salt and pepper to taste. The sauce will be pretty tart but it will taste great on the salad! Set sauce aside for now.
• Work on the tzatziki sauce. In a medium bowl combine the shredded cucumbers, lemon juice, cilantro, and dill. Taste sauce and add salt/pepper to taste. 
• Alright! Now everything is prepped and ready to cook! The falafels will be shallow fried on the stove, so in a large skillet preheat enough sunflower oil to cover the bottom of the skillet plus a little more. While the pan heats up, place the cauliflower and chickpeas in the preheated oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until cauliflower is slightly charred and chickpeas are slightly crispy. When the falafel skillet has warmed up, place the falafels onto the hot oil. Cook for about 5 minutes per side or until the first side has been nicely browned. When the falafels, cauliflower, and chickpeas are all done, it is time to plate and enjoy! Place the falafels into the pockets of the pita bread and top with some tzatziki sauce. Lay some greens on a plate next to the falafel pita and then top the greens with; cherry tomatoes, caramelized onions, chickpeas, roasted cauliflower and tahini sauce. Enjoy! 

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Have a safe and clean month! - Chef Henry  

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Easter time! Easter is of course a big holiday and with it comes big expectations of being around family and friends. There’s also an expectation of eating great food and having a “feast”, but sometimes gathering in large groups becomes overwhelming especially if you are the one hosting! If you are anything like me, you love gathering with friends or family to enjoy some great food and have good conversations, but there is a lot of pressure to make all the food yourself AND provide the entertainment. 

I think the best entertainment actually just is the cooking! So how do you get everyone involved in the cooking process? That is a great question, and one that I try to ask myself every time I have a cooking class or people over. I like to refer to a good group of people cooking together as “community cooking”! 

Where to start with community cooking? Well I think about meals that get multiple people either; using a cutting board, rolling dough, or doing some sort of other prep.

Easter Sunday at the Ranch was a great community cooking day! All of the clients got in on the feast that we had at the ranch, and what says Easter more than a good Easter brunch with hot cross buns! Our “community meal” was a potato veggie hash with eggs and bacon. Enough veggies for everyone to be able to lend a helping hand! Plus we always have some great conversations when everyone is involved in the cooking process. Yes there was even time to make some great lemon raspberry cake!

So the next time you are hosting a group of people at your house, or just having a casual get together with friends, think of ways that they can cook with you! You never know what great things you will talk about!

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Greenhouse update!

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Yes!! We are eating food from the greenhouse! Our farm to table cooking is back! We are now harvesting enough mixed greens just from our greenhouse that we don’t need to buy anymore greens from the store!! How exciting!

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As always if you are looking for more Foundry content check out our website, or look for us on social media; instagram (@foundrysteamboat), Facebook (Foundry Steamboat), or Twitter (@foundryrehab)! 

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Recipe time!

Hot Cross Buns

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Makes about 15 buns

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes 

Rising/down time: ~1.5 hours

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Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups of warm water
• 2 teaspoons of yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
• 1 cup of dried cranberries 
• ½ of a stick of melted butter
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• About 3-4 cups of bread flour

For the icing

• ¼ cup of milk
• 2 cups of powdered sugar (or add powdered sugar to texture)

Directions 

• In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer add the warm water and yeast. Let the yeast dissolve for about 1 minute.
• Add in 1 cup of whole wheat flour and stir to combine. Let the mixture sit until you see bubbles start to form or about 5 minutes.
• After the five minutes are up, add in the bread flour, melted butter, dried cranberries, and salt. Stir/mix to combine. If you are using a stand mixer, mix until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl (you may need to add a little bit more flour depending on what flour you are using). 
• Once the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl; “knead” the dough until smooth and elastic. If using a stand mixer, the kneading process will only involve turning up the mixer to speed 3-4. If you are mixing by hand, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and push the palms of your hands into the dough and stretch it. Repeat this motion until the dough is smooth/elastic.
• Once kneaded, put your dough back in the mixing bowl and wrap it with plastic wrap or put a wet towel over it. 
• Let your dough rise/ferment for about 45 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size. 
• After the dough doubles in size, divide it into 4 ounce balls by weight (or about the size of two golf balls).
• Roll your “dough babies” into nice round balls then place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lay a wet towel over your dough after shaping. After you have rolled all of your dough, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Let your dough sit again for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size again.
• When the dough has doubled, place it in the oven for about 15-18 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. 
• While the buns are baking, work on making the icing! Icing is super easy to make, just combine the milk and the powdered sugar. If your icing is too runny, add some more powdered sugar. If your icing is too thick, add some more milk. 
• When the buns are done, take them out of the oven and place on a cooling rack. Eat them hot with the icing or allow them to cool completely and then make a “cross” with the icing on top!

Have a fun and clean month everyone!

• Chef Henry

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Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 30 minutes 

Cook time: 50 minutes

Total time: 1hr 20 minutes 

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Sunday brunch is the best! Brunch is great for those mornings when it is rainy and colder outside, or great for days when it is sunny and nice to enjoy brunch outside! Either way brunch is a very underrated meal! This brunch hash is very simple, it basically boils down to (pun intended) putting some great veggies together and topping them with eggs!

Ingredients

• 3 pounds tri colored potatoes (purple, Yukon and red)
• One bundle asparagus 
• One yellow onion 
• 3-4 large carrots
• 1 pound of bacon
• 6-8 eggs scrambled
• Salt as needed
• Olive oil as needed
• 1 tablespoon of ground sage
• 1 tablespoon dry parsley
• 1 ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• ½ cup parmesan cheese for topping

Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 420 degrees 
• Prepare the onions, carrots, and asparagus.
• Cut carrots into circles or “coins”.Dice your onion into small cubes. Cut onion in half then peel the dead layer of skin off. Make incisions horizontally and vertically. Now your onion should be “diced” but if it isn’t just chop it until it is all in small pieces!
• Cut the asparagus into one inch segments. 
• Lay the bacon out on a parchment lined baking sheet and set aside for later.
• The potatoes will be boiled whole, and then roasted. So fill a large pot with enough water to cover the potatoes, and salt the water heavily or until the water tastes like “sea water” . Boil potatoes on the stove until they are fork tender (about 25 minutes). Now strain off water and cut potatoes into one inch cubes. Place them on a large baking sheet and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Put the potatoes in the preheated oven. Cook until crispy or about 25 minutes. 
• When you put the potatoes in the oven, place the bacon in the oven as well and cook until the crispness of your liking. 
• While potatoes are cooking; sauté the onions, carrots and asparagus together. In a large skillet, heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom. When oil is hot, put the onions into the skillet and cook until translucent. Then add the asparagus and carrots. Continue to stir and cook until carrots and asparagus are tender. 
• Stir in spices; 1 tablespoon sage, 1 tablespoon parsley, and 1 ½ teaspoon cracked black pepper.
• Transfer the veggies to a large bowl and set aside in a warm place.
• In the hot skillet that was used for the veggies, add some more oil if needed and cook the scrambled eggs.
• Now check on the potatoes and bacon. Once both the potatoes and bacon are done it is time to eat! On your plate mix the potatoes, veggies, and eggs. Then lay some bacon over the top! (option to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top too!)

Notes 

• The picture has a hot crossed bun! The hot crossed bun recipe is going to come out in the April kitchen blog! So go check out the Foundry’s website!

Well it is finally happening! Spring has sprung! The short days of winter are almost behind us, and the activity filled days of summer are right around the corner! The most exciting thing of all is that our greenhouse is actually green now! 

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I know! How exciting! Soon we will be actually putting these plants right into our meals. A big part of my food philosophy is sustainability, which is driven largely from the farm to table (or garden to table) cooking that we are able to do at the Ranch! 

Oftentimes I am asked why cooking farm to table is actually more sustainable than globalized food sourcing. Well there are so many reasons, but I will only share one here. One big reason is that we know everything that we put into our garden/greenhouse at the ranch. Kim Brooks, our gardener, is so thoughtful about how all the plants in our garden can work together instead of forcing things to grow with fertilizers and pesticides. Since larger factory farms in America use human produced fertilizers and pesticides, the average acre of corn grown in America in 2006 needed about 50 gallons of oil to grow! This is mainly due to the amount of energy needed to make the fertilizers and then transport them. 

The best meals are the meals in which you have a connection to every ingredient on the plate. Whether you planted, harvested, or foraged all of the ingredients, you can take pride in the thought that your meal is making a positive impact!

With all of the excitement of farm to table summer cooking on the horizon, I still make everything I can from scratch with seasonal ingredients. Last month I shared my famous homemade bread recipe, and this month I want to share another staple recipe! A classic granola recipe! This granola is perfect for a breakfast parfait or just plain granola and milk! It is also great for a midday snack!

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**Side note!!**

Do you want more content from the Foundry kitchen? Or from Foundry altogether? Look us up on Instagram (@foundrysteamboat), Facebook (Foundry Steamboat), or Twitter (@foundryrehab)! 

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Mixed nut Granola!

(Makes about 1 gallons' worth)

Ingredients

• 5-6 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups unsalted mixed nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, really whatever nuts you want!)
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ⅛ cup sunflower, coconut or canola oil*
• ¼ cup honey 
• ~1 cup of dried fruits (optional)

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Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
• In a small saucepan over medium heat heat the honey until warm and runny, then take off the heat for later
• In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer combine the rolled oats, mixed nuts, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until combined Add in whatever oil you are using and stir until the oil coats all of the mixture
• Stir in the honey and make sure it is well mixed
• Dump granola mixture onto a large baking sheet, and press with a spatula until all the granola is leveled on the sheet
• Bake for 8 minutes in the oven, then take out of the oven and stir the granola on the pan. After stirring press the granola until level again and place back in the oven. After another 8 minutes take the granola out of the oven and stir/press granola one more time. Then place in the oven for the final 5-8 minutes until golden brown
• After taking the granola out of the oven press it with a spatula one more time, let the granola cool until it is cool to the touch. 
• Once fully cooled, break up the granola with a spatula. The granola should be nice and crunchy! 
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Have a fun and clean month everyone!
- Chef Henry
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*Big thank you to Andrew Olson (@_andrew_olson_) for taking some awesome food styling pictures with us!

*Also big thank you to Siena Atkins with @sienas_studio for providing us with great handmade plates to put our creations on!

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