Archive for January, 2010
Oprah’s show featuring Michael Pollan and “Food, Inc” has many of us ‘foodies’ CHEERING !
This is JUST what’s needed, the well known ‘Oprah Effect’, to kick the plight of small farmers vs pesticide-laden, genetically modified, antibiotic filled food — right into the limelight! THANK YOU, OPRAH!
People like me know too much. A trip through the grocery store for us, isn’t what it used to be. Where I never gave a thought about what I was buying, now I venture through the grocery store like I’m walking through a mine field! Certain aisles I avoid like the plague: snack food, soda, meat and dairy and the entire frozen food section. Forget about cereals, bread, lunch meats and anything processed. Ugh….
I use it as a people watching experience, or rather I should say, a grocery watching experience. I look at what people have in their carts. Most of it is crap: processed, frozen, sugary and full of chemicals.
Thank you, Oprah…. thank you a bazillion times. What you have done for the local food movement is momentous. When people see “Food, Inc” and hopefully, “Fresh, The Movie” then perhaps the food movement will get into high gear. Consumers - the REAL heavy hitters behind everything, will find out about Monsanto’s bag of tricks.
The lid will be blown off Pandora’s box containing the secrets of Tyson, Perdue, and their ‘chicken secrets’, Cargill, ADM, Swift, and many others. The veil over the food industry is s-l-o-w-l-y being exposed. Everything from the pesticides on your food, mysterious additives in processed food and stuff like soda. Our bodies were not designed to eat this way! The truth is coming out about artificial ingredients and what they are doing to us!
If every person who reads this (or something else on food) passes it on to another person, in time the chain will be so big; imagine the voice that people will have when they are educated!
Write to Oprah, foodies…. and get her to do more shows on this! There are lots of other visionaries such as Sally Fallon from the Weston A. Price Foundation, and farmers advocating grassfed animals.
Because I feel very strongly about supporting local food endeavors and educating people on environmental issues, I recently made an announcement of an upcoming showing of “Fresh, The Movie” and “Food, Inc.”
In my e-mail I stated: “Please keep this in the back of your minds to come to because these are two VERY IMPORTANT films that anyone concerned about our food supply really needs to see.”
I received an reply from a editor in the Charlottesville area:
“I question the validity of your statement that either or both of these films are important for everyone to see.”
Excuse me????
If you are truly concerned about our food system I would think that you’d want people to see these films.
If you feel that the public has been purposely kept in the dark by the FDA, USDA, the food industry, large corporations like Wal-Mart, chemical giants such as Monsanto, fast food companies and large agribusiness concerns, how can you ‘question the validity’ of my attempt to educate consumers?
Current health statistics cite rising rates of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, food allergies, birth defects and a host of diseases from our modern diet. Consumption of food laced with pesticides, additives, hormones, antibiotics, artificial colorings and flavorings are making people sick. Society’s dependence on cheap processed foods, proffered by our ‘friends’ in the food industry and fast food chains, have led to a frightening rate of obesity, illness & premature death. With this in mind, can you honestly say that either or both of these films are NOT important?
Pending legislation threatens the very existence of small farms and farmer’s markets across this country. Passage, without amendments, will sound a death knell for small farmers and severely damage organic food concerns. If you support our farmers and local food initiatives, then I would hope you would be for the dissemination of this information.
If you are committed to preserving the right of citizens to get their food directly from small farmers, instead of corporate giants who put profits ahead of the health of their customers, why then do you not support this venue?
Are you at all concerned about Monsanto and their tactics of bullying, spying on and putting small farmers out of business through litigation?
Do you question Monsanto’s worldwide monopoly for Round-Up Ready crops? What about the environmental effect of farmer’s increasing use of pesticides on all GMOs? Are you unfazed about the environmental impact of pesticides on the health of this planet & ALL of its inhabitants?
“Fresh” captured many accolades in 2009. Among them were official selections from: Environmental Film Festival, Sustainable Living Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Maine International Film Festival and the Kerry Film Festival. It was reviewed far and wide, garnering praise for insightful views into the food world.
“Food, Inc” also was applauded in many circles last year. In addition to the Gotham Award, it also was on the list for Academy Award for Best Documentary, the 25th Anniversary Spirit Award, and is on the list for an Oscar Award.
Everyone that I’ve talked to who has seen either (or both) agrees that these two films are important.
Methinks, dear scribe, that you are outnumbered!
As a child of the 50’s, I ate my share of frozen TV dinners. With the advent of the microwave and improved packaging technology, one can live their life without ever having to cook from scratch.
An article posted by Rachael Ray extols the benefits of the new frozen foods. Reading the ingredients, I noticed a ‘Seafood Multi-Pak’. Hmmmm… knowing that many seafood varieties are imported from China, I’d pass on this one. China’s dubious record for food purity is well documented. Inspections of food from China at U.S. ports have turned up a scary list. Do YOU trust imported Chinese food? I don’t!
Pork from Hormel? I’d skip that, too. If you’ve seen either “Fresh” or “Food, Inc” or done any reading about the food industry at all you’d know that this ‘food’ isn’t really food. The animals are fed hormones and antibiotics, which YOU are eating when you consume this food. They’re fed GMO corn, which has been sprayed with pesticides.
Knowing what I know about food, I would hardly say that these items are “New and Improved.” Read the ingredient listing on any frozen food and see how many words you can pronounce. Some of the contents in food you probably don’t want to know… but should.
Two more beef recalls: one from a from a California meatpacker with ground beef that was processed almost TWO YEARS AGO.
A second beef recall for e-coli involves restaurants such as Applebee’s, Olive Garden and others have been told to remove meat from National Steak & Poultry from Oklahoma.
This only adds fuel to the fire which points out that locally produced food is far safer than mass-produced products. Feedlot animals are raised in filth, killed and hung on conveyor lines still covered in feces.
(WATCH THIS TRAILER for “Food, Inc”)
Learn about WHERE YOUR FOOD COMES FROM…. HOW IT’S MADE…. because it’s NOT all it’s cracked up to be!
A recent study in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, has linked organ damage in mammals (rats) to consumption of Monsanto’s GMO corn, NK603, MON 810 & MON 863. Closely monitoring each animal within set parameters for 90 days, effects were noticed in the kidney, liver, heart, adrenal glands, spleen and haematopoietic system (formation of blood). The study goes on to say that there is a potential toxicity relating to the pesticides specific to each species of corn. It was noted by the scientists in the IJBS:
“Effects were mostly concentrated in kidney and liver function, the two major diet detoxification organs, but in detail differed with each GM type. In addition, some effects on heart, adrenal, spleen and blood cells were also frequently noted. As there normally exists sex differences in liver and kidney metabolism, the highly statistically significant disturbances in the function of these organs, seen between male and female rats, cannot be dismissed as biologically insignificant as has been proposed by others. We therefore conclude that our data strongly suggests that these GM maize varieties induce a state of hepatorenal toxicity….These substances have never before been an integral part of the human or animal diet and therefore their health consequences for those who consume them, especially over long time periods are currently unknown.”
In another GMO report, Greenpeace reiterated that Monsanto’s methods were not intrusive enough to detect inconsistancies in the parameters used in its testing. In other words, the whole testing process is flawed.
Monsanto obviously complicates the test data by testing with unrelated groups, therefore there can be no clear conclusion.
GMOs have been linked to bee colony collapse and butterfly deaths. Why wouldn’t this be so? After all, the plants on which the bees and butterflies feed will kill them. Between GMO crops and the use of pesticides on them, it is a death knell for pollinators.
GMO corn is in all of our food, be it from the U.S. or imported in food from China or other nations.
Forbes has even bought into the lie that Monsanto is ‘The Company of The Year”. Read on and get sick!
We need to push for more organic food. Consumers have a voice against GMO products.
Toxins make pain. It’s a well documented fact that the more junk you’re carrying around in your system, the more you’ll be in pain.
Again I use myself as a case study. Years ago worked at Lowe’s in the garden center and inside seasonal department. I was around the pesticide area constantly. I swept floors, handled the bags for customers, restocked the shelves. (never without gloves) I started experiencing pain all through my body. Sometimes at night it would wake me out of a dead sleep; I’d wake up screaming as if I were being stabbed!
After I left Lowe’s, my constant pain stopped. I was being poisoned by pesticides!
Being more conscious of what I eat, I find that when my diet gets ‘junky’ with processed foods slipping in, and dehydration, I start to experience more pain. Toxins are building up. My movement is restricted, I hurt more all over and I find myself reaching for the bottle of aspirin.
A good detox bath with either Epsom salts or Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath takes the edge off that. It helps the cells release and rebuild. Damaged cells allow more toxins in.
Follow these rules:
- Go on a healthy, all natural (uncooked) food diet for a few days or a week.
- Eat enough fiber. Elimination of toxins through waste is very important.
- Hydrate - Drink water, green teas, fresh juices - NO soda, fizzy water, juices with sugar or caffeine.
- Go for massages to help drain your lymph system and remove toxins and acids
- Take a detox bath using mustard bath and/or Epsom salts.
- Do what you can to eliminate stress: learn meditation, go for walks outside; whatever calms you.
You can help your body heal, relieve pain and regenerate.
Organics from China probably aren’t. As reported on the Organic Consumer site:
“One company that had an excellent opportunity to meet consumer expectations by supporting the growth of organic acreage in North America was Dean Foods, makers of the industry’s leading soy milk, Silk. Instead, after buying the Silk brand, Dean Foods quit purchasing most of their soybeans from American family farmers and switched their primary sourcing to China. This cost-cutting move helped them build their commanding soy milk market share using soybeans of questionable organic certification from China.
“White Wave (the operating division of Dean Foods that markets Silk and Horizon organic milk) had the opportunity to push organic and sustainable agriculture to incredible heights of production by working with North American farmers and traders to get more land in organic production, but what they did was pit cheap foreign soybeans against the U.S. organic farmer, taking away any attraction for conventional farmers to make the move into sustainable agriculture,” said Merle Kramer, a marketer for the Midwestern Organic Farmers Cooperative.
And now Dean, the $11 billion agribusiness behemoth and the nation’s largest dairy concern, has quietly abandoned organic soybeans in most of the Silk product line, switching to even cheaper conventional soybeans without changing UPC codes for retailers or lowering pricing to consumers.”
Furthermore, many small independent organic food producers are being bought by large corporations who are switching to imported products to boost profitability. This is how American companies are selling out to the Chinese in favor of cheap food with lower and potentially dangerous standards.
The Cornucopia Institute has issued a scorecard report that everyone who eats organics should read.
Hexane, a chemical which is a toxic petrochemical, is used to extract the oils and protein from soy products.
This is flu and cold season. The best defense is an offense, and doing a detox with mustard bath is a good way to stay ahead of the germs and the H1N1.
A hot bath with Epsom Salts or other bath salts, coupled with Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath will detox your body. Eliminating toxins, which weaken the immune system, helps rid your body of potential bouts with flu and colds. The idea here, though, is to keep on top of it. By regularly taking a hot detox bath - which raises body temperature - you are killing off germs. That’s what a fever does where you’re sick. It’s the body’s natural reaction to the virus. Why not help it?
When my throat feels scratchy and I fear I might be bitten by some errant bug, I jump in the tub and ‘boil’ myself for an hour or two. I guess, too, that I am blessed with a good immune system, but I never get sick. I don’t get colds and haven’t had the flu in over 30 years. (knock wood)
I’m not saying that Dr. Singha’s Mustard bath will cure the H1N1 flu or a cold once it’s gotten a good grip on you. No, it’s just a good cold and flu fighter and keeps your system running better to fight off illness.
This is my own testimony to the healing effects of detox baths and bath salts.
On Christmas Eve, I took a nasty fall on the stairs inside my home. I missed the last step and went down like a ton of bricks. Most of my weight landed on my right hand and knee, but my fall was broken (thankfully) by some boxes at the foot of the stairs. As I was falling, and apparently by instinct trying to find balance, I yanked down the brass hall tree, which fell on top of me. I got ’stabbed’ on the back by one of the arms of the tree, leaving a cut and nasty bruise. My leg had a bruise that ran from my kneecap half way up my thigh! (I’m gettin’ too old for acrobatics!)
That night I knew the best thing to do was to take a hot bath in Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath. This I knew from other ‘over-exertions’ would draw some of the soreness and pain out of my body.
Being injured produces a myriad of chemical reactions in the body. Physical effects include stiffness wherein the affected area tries to immobilize itself to heal torn or stretched ligaments or bruises. We also react unconsciously, by limiting our movements. Taking a hot bath in salts or a detox solution helps to relieve pain and stiffness. It draws toxins from the injured area away and out. Old blood that has pooled due to bruising is stimulated to move out, reducing more pain.
The next morning - I could not believe how sore I wasn’t! I thought for sure I’d really be hobbling and unable to move. Yeah, my knee was touchy and the immediate area where it was bruised was tender, but all in all - I truly believe the detox bath helped!
‘Tis the season for slipping and sliding on icy stairs and sidewalks. A Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath and oil in your medicinal arsenal will do wonders to help with winter acrobatics!