My Three Buns: Exploring God's Food

Got {Raw} Milk

2010-07-23T18:56:00.005-04:00

Great interview and intro to Raw Milk - Dr. Mercola interviewing raw milk producer and expert Mark McAfee - go to Youtube for full series.

One fascinating fact McAfee shared was the bizarre birth of pasteurization:

To meet the soaring demand for spirits, distilleries soon sprang up in most
major cities. In one of the most bizarre twists of entrepreneurial insight, some
brilliant soul thought it would be fun (and profitable) to confine cows adjacent
to the distillery and feed them with the hot, reeking swill left over from the
spirit-making process.

As you might guess, the effects of distillery dairy
milk were abominable, and for many of those drinking it, amounted to a virtual
death sentence. Confined to filthy, manure-filled pens, the unfortunate cows
gave a pale, bluish milk so poor in quality, it couldn't even be used for making
butter or cheese. Add sick workers with dirty hands, diseased animals and any
number of contaminants in unsanitary milk pails and you had a recipe for
disaster.
Lacking its usual ability to protect itself, and with a basic
understanding of germs or microbes decades away, the easily contaminated
"pseudo-milk" was fed to babies by their unwitting mothers. In New York City
during 1870 alone, infant mortality rocketed to around 20% and stayed there for
many more years

Check it out on http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/milk_history.html

Raw milk, according to McAffee, requires a great deal more sanitation and attention to creating a healthy environment for the cow. Milk intended for pasteurization is not necessarily safe to drink raw because the cows are often not raised in a very sanitary situation and the assumption is that the resulting contamination will be handled during the pasteurization process.

So once again, we see a common theme - good, healthy food is labor intensive so it's easier to just set up massive dairies, boil out the contaminants and mass distribute. Unfortunately only 6 states allow the sale of raw milk and those found violating the rules are often the subject of heavy handed 'sting' operations. And while the health benefits of raw milk are significant, the government is siding with 'big dairy' and fear mongering abounds.

More information can be found at: http://www.rawmilk.com/ and www.realmilk.com

Meatgate: Grist Articles

2010-02-10T13:37:00.002-05:00

Two-thirds of hamburgers consumed in the U.S. contain a filler made of scraps [often referred to as 'Pink Slime'] from the slaughterhouse floor, which are ground into a paste and washed with ammonia. If that sounds gross, get this: despite the chemical bath, the filler still often carries E. coli and other nasty pathogens.

The above quote is from a great series of articles at Grist.com on the perils of commercially produced meat. If you need to motivate yourself to lay off fast food, I think you'll find the information most helpful!

Meat Wagon - Click Here to View

Commercial/fast food meat is controlled by giant agribusineses like Cargill where squeezing every cent of profit trumps food safety. They don't care how gross it is, as long as it passes muster w/the USDA, it's business as usual.

A better alternative is eat a mainly plant based diet and find local farmers offering naturally raised animal products:

Local Harvest
Eat Wild
(Check out my sidebar on local grocers offering these products as well)

Everything You Need to Know about GMO's Video

2010-01-26T18:50:00.003-05:00

Here's a great new video posted at Dr. Mercola's site. It's a speech by GMO activist Michael Taylor, author of the book Seeds of Deception.

If you are new to the whole GMO issue, I highly recommend that you check out this video and the website below. Genetically modified crops are not safe. If you consume fast food, processed food, and non-organic Corn, Soybeans, Canola, or Cottonseed products, chances are you are consuming these dangerous substances.

Everything You HAVE TO KNOW about Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods from Jeffrey Smith on Vimeo.

**Click here for more information on GMO's and for a free buying guide to avoiding GMO's**

Highlights of the video:
- We are at a 'tipping point' in terms of convincing consumers to avoid GMO's
- When offered GM foods, animals will refuse it. Animals allowed to graze on GM crops have actually died
- Studies have shown long term detrimental effects of GM foods
- GMO's create massive collateral damage environmentally and in the human body
- GMO's do scary things to genes and cells

Key points of avoiding GMO's:
1. Buy Organic - Organic producers are not allowed to use GMOs
2. Look for "Non-GMO" Labels
3. Avoid At-Risk Ingredients including: Corn, Soybeans, Canola, Cottonseed

**Click here for more information on GMO's and for a free buying guide to avoiding GMO's**

Factory Farmed Meat: Fast Food Beef 'Disinfected' with Ammonia

2010-01-06T09:33:00.002-05:00

From Natural News.com comes yet another expose on the perils of factory farmed meat. This time, we discover that ammonia is used to 'disinfect' meat scraps from e-coli so they can be sold to fast food joints. Folks, this is more proof of the USDA's rather warped perspective on food safety. (See my other articles on meat by clicking "Meat/Factory Farming" in the labels section of the bottom of the post).

(NaturalNews) If you're in the beef business, what do you do with all the extra cow parts and trimmings that have traditionally been sold off for use in pet food? You scrape them together into a pink mass, inject them with a chemical to kill the e.coli, and sell them to fast food restaurants to make into hamburgers.

That's what's been happening all across the USA with beef sold to McDonald's, Burger King, school lunches and other fast food restaurants, according to a New York Times article. The beef is injected with ammonia, a chemical commonly used in glass cleaning and window cleaning products.

This is all fine with the USDA, which endorses the procedure as a way to make the hamburger beef "safe" enough to eat. Ammonia kills e.coli, you see, and the USDA doesn't seem to be concerned with the fact that people are eating ammonia in their hamburgers.........

Fascinating. So you can inject a beef product with a chemical found in glass cleaning products and simply call it a "processing agent" -- with the full permission and approval of the USDA, no less! Does anyone doubt any longer how deeply embedded the USDA is with the beef industry?

Review of Natalia Rose's Raw Detox Diet and Detox for Women

2010-01-01T18:14:00.004-05:00

Long time no hear, Happy New Year! How about a book review to kick off 2010?

I'd read Natalia Rose's books a while back but the info kind of got 'lost in the the shuffle'. I was a tad skeptical at first but I've just met a health practitioner who went from tired, depressed and miserable to feeling great using her regime.

The Raw Food Detox Diet is sort of a raw foods book but sort of not. Rose's main focus is digestibility and colon health. Unlike 100% raw advocates, Rose nixes overreliance on heavy, hard to digest 'raw' items like nuts and seeds in favor of lighter cooked fare (steamed veggies, fish and baked root vegetables).

In order to succeed on this plan, which is more of a lifestyle change than a quickie diet you have to be willing accomodate the following:

1) Move toward green juices and fruit in the AM. This will require the purchase of a juicer. Alternatively, if you have a high speed blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec you can strain the juice in a nut milk bag (I've had good luck with this except for 'juicing' carrots).

2) Be willing to not mix the following food groups in the same meal:
- Starches (beans/grains/starchy root vegetables)
- Animal protein (meat/cheese)
- Nuts and Dried Fruits
- Fresh fruits (which she recommends eating alone)
- Veggies mix w/all of the above and the author is a fan of copious green salads

3) Eat 'light to heavy' - this means the heaviest food gets eaten for dinner and easier to digest foods get eaten first in the meal.

The Raw Food Detox Diet is the most flexible of her books. She has a quiz that puts readers in one of five levels, one being a super clean raw foods regime and five being a total beginner.

Detox for Women is a variation on the above designed for women with yeast overgrowth. This plan is a lot more restrictive in that she recommends avoiding beans, grains, soy (hard to digest) and sweet fruits and natural sweeteners (feeds yeast) for 30 days.

For non-vegans, Rose recommends Alta Dena Raw Goat Cheese or raw sheep's milk cheese if that is not available. Since I wrote this article, Bexley Coop, Calumet Coop and Raisin Rack have started carrying it. Oddly enough Whole Foods only carries one gourmet brand at about $20 a pount. You can also check out http://www.localharvest.com/ for a local heirloom dairy that makes this type of cheese. Rose also nixes meat that is factory farmed in favor of organic and seafood so again, you may have to hit Whole Foods or LocalHarvest in search of alternatives to your local grocery store fare.

I did find food bill climbing on Rose's program. Juicing uses a lot of organic produce and the plan is also big on salads. Beans and grains would be a cheap way to balance this out but she doesn't recommend them due to digestibility issues. Exceptions would be: millet, buckwheat and quinoa and sprouted grain bread.

Rose's clientele are Manhattan's Upper East Siders; she's not writing from the perspective of someone who lives in a small town with only a WalMart to rely on. She lists some websites for various specialty foods she adores but financially strapped folks stuck in the boonies may not find that they share the same perspective on how easy it is to adopt the program.

On the other hand Rose is not into supplements and 'superfoods' so someone following her plan wouldn't have to fork over a lot of cash for that kind of stuff, which believe me can be super pricey.

How do I personally feel after following Rose's guidelines (albeit loosely)? I really have to say that I'm feeling better. The feeling of being lighter and more energized is a lot stronger than when I was eating a bunch of food and not food combining. I've come to use her 'green lemonade' as a staple of my diet. On the other hand, I found myself getting too hung up on rules about what combines with what. So I have to say she's onto something and her program is worth trying but it's not worth becoming fanatical about.

--------------LOCAL Resources-------------
Whole Foods - Organic baby salad greens are $6 a pound (although you can get them at Walmart and Krogrer too). They also sell the Nu Naturals Stevia Rose recommends (esp in Detox for Women). Whole Foods also has a good source of greens in the Winter (although farmer's markets are vastly preferable when open - see sidebar links for various options).

Trader Joes - has great prices on bags of lemons and avocados + various salad fixings. They also have some raw sheep milk cheese at decent prices. See sidebar for links to area stores.

Bexley Coop, Calumet Food Coop and Raisin Rack - now stock raw goat milk cheese.

Factory Farmed Meat: E Coli Burgers and Chicken Poo

2009-11-06T11:55:00.006-05:00

As if yesterday's post wasn't enough now I'm reading confirmation that livestock cows are fed chicken poo. Worse yet, the USDA is allowing E-Coli Tainted Meat to be cooked and resold in the form of pre-cooked meat products. Can anyone say eeeewww?!

ABC News Story
Imagine a ton of freshly ground beef. The company in charge of processing this meat finds out during a routine test that it is contaminated with E. coli. They record the test results, which are read by a government inspector, who acknowledges that the meat is indeed tainted.

Tainted ground beef has killed at least one and sickened more than two dozen. You might think that this beef would be headed straight for the garbage bin. But in many cases, this meat is instead cooked, prepared and packaged as a pre-cooked hamburger patty that you pick up from the grocery store. And it's all completely legal.

Below is more confirmation that feeding animal poo to livestock is a widely accepted practice. Why? Because it's cheaper than the food God designed them to eat and the meat industry is completely in denial about what livestock eat and how it affects your body. All the care about is cheap meat and bigger profit margins.

LA Times Article
'Farmers feed 1 million to 2 million tons of poultry litter to their cattle annually, according to FDA.
estimates...Using the litter -- which includes feces, spilled chicken feed, feathers and poultry farm detritus -- increases the risk of cows becoming infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union.

That's because the spilled chicken feed and the feces contain tissue from ruminants -- cows and sheep, among other mammals. The disease is transmitted through feeding ruminant remains to cattle.

"It takes a very small quantity of ruminant protein, even just 1 milligram, to cause an infection," said Steve Roach, public health program director with Food Animal Concerns Trust, a Chicago-based animal welfare group that is part of the coalition.

The beef industry claims that this is not an issue? What?????? So they can save money by feeding cows chicken poop contaminated with God knows what?

Factory Farmed Meat: You are what {they} eat

2009-11-05T13:25:00.007-05:00

I'm listening to Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health interview vegetarian activist and former cattle rancher Howard Lyman on the perils of factory farmed meat.

Next time you are tempted to chow on fast food or buy some cheapo meat at the supermarket, consider what these animals are FED. It's really eye opening and totally disgusting.

Imagine that humans are fed a low cost 'protein powder'. Justification for the powder is that it's cheap and can feed the planet. Now imagine discovering that this powder contains the remains of diseased hospital patients, recycled plastic, hormones, drugs and fecal material from the city sewer system. Makers of the powder claim that it doesn't really matter where the protein came from and that they are doing the world a favor by inventing something that could feed the planet cheaply. They have a powerful lobby in place to keep that protein powder as part of the nation's food supply. People keep buying the protein powder because the company just lists 'protein byproducts' on the label and they can't believe the government would sell them anything that wasn't safe.

You would be disgusted, outraged and violated. Yet, this kind of stuff is routinely fed to the factory farmed livestock who end up on your dinner table.

Note: if you read the article and are as disgusted as I am please know that there are safer alternatives if you still want to eat some meat and cheese. Chemfree/organic grassfed products are the safest bet and support small local farmers. In Ohio you can find great products like Heini's Cheese, Hartzler Dairy, Snowville Creamery and other small, local operations. Many of these can be found in health or gourmet oriented stores and at local farmers markets.

Material below quoted or paraphrased from a Union of Concerned Scientists Article

Same Species Meat
Although cows technically can't be fed cows due to mad cow disease it still creeps in. It's perfectly legal to feed dead animals to livestock, (whom God created to be herbivores).

Diseased Animals
Including roadkill, dead deer and your euthanized pets left at medical clinics, and 'downer' animals too sick to stand on their own. Yep, even if Fido had cancer and was pumped full of meds, his body can legally be dumped right back into the nation's food supply.

Feathers, Hair, Skin, Hooves, and Blood
"Rendered feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, and intestines can also be found in feed, often under catch-all categories like 'animal protein products.'" Blood is a major carrier of disease. Even back in the Old Testament, Jewish law required the blood to be drained from the flesh of any ritually slaughtered animal. Guess they had more sense back then.

Manure and Other Animal Waste
"Feed for any food animal can contain cattle manure, swine waste, and poultry litter. This waste may contain drugs such as antibiotics and hormones that have passed unchanged through the animals' bodies.

The poultry litter that is fed to cattle contains rendered cattle parts in the form of digested poultry feed and spilled poultry feed. This is another loophole that may allow mad cow agents to infect healthy cattle."

Plastics
"Many animals need roughage to move food through their digestive systems. But instead of using plant-based roughage, animal factories often turn to pellets made from plastics to compensate for the lack of natural fiber in the factory feed." My comment: this is like cheaping out and feeding your Grandmother plastic pellets instead of Metamucil.

Drugs and Chemicals
"...Animals at animal factories often receive antibiotics to promote faster growth and to compensate for crowded, stressful, and unsanitary living conditions. An estimated 13.5 million pounds of antibiotics—the same classes of antibiotics used in human medicine—are routinely added to animal feed or water. This routine, nontherapeutic use of antibiotics speeds the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can infect humans as well as animals. Antibiotic resistance is a pressing public health problem that costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars each year.

Some of the antimicrobials used to control parasites and promote growth in poultry contain arsenic, a known human carcinogen. Arsenic can be found in meat or can contaminate human water supplies through runoff from factory farms."

Unhealthy Amounts of Grains
"While grain may sound like a healthful food, the excessive quantities fed to some animals are not. This is especially true for cattle, which are natural grass eaters. Their digestive systems are not designed to handle the large amounts of corn they receive at feedlots. As a result of this corn-rich diet, feedlot cattle can suffer significant health problems, including excessively acidic digestive systems and liver abscesses. Grain-induced health problems, in turn, ramp up the need for drugs."

Resources
Eat Wild: Organic Grassfed Meat (essay on byproducts fed to factory farmed livestock
This is a great site because it allows you to find local sources of organic grassfed meat. Cows and sheep were designed to be herbivores so organic grass fed livestock is as close to nature as you can get. Because the animals are out grazing in the pasture they are also able to enjoy their natural God given environment.

Technical Article on animal byproducts and other nasties in feed

American Grassfed Association

Green and Local, Ohio Style

2009-10-23T21:19:00.004-04:00

I found some great videos from OurOhio. It really gives me hope to watch these inspiring stories of local entepreneurs committed to earth friendly practices. I'm starting to see Ohio as having a wealth of really super cool people and resources!

Hartzler Family Dairy - all natural old fashioned dairy, bottled in glass, just like in the olden days. They believe strongly in supporting the soil and earthworm power :) Available in some Columbus stores.

Heini's Cheese - artisan cheesemaerks. They get their milk daily from small Amish farms who deliver it via horse and buggy in old fashioned jugs. Too cool! (I have seen Heini's for sale at Raisin Rack in Westerville).

'
Vista Grand Buffalo Ranch - interesting. Buffalo are so low maintenance that they can be easily raised as chem free, free range and grass fed. Buffalo are also indigenous to the area and have not been genetically altered like many other types of livestock.

DayBreak Lavender Farm - single woman buys farm and shows up with a push mower. Meets husband who is the son of a farmer. The farm is the result. They use this 'swiss army knife of herbs' in many of the 180 products they offer. You can even cook with it :)

Mulberry Creek Herb Farm - organic herbs from a small family farm. Biodiversity at it's best . For example they have over 20 varieties each of rosemary and basil as well as 12 of the world's smallest plants. Also this cool segment on 'faery gardens'

Blue Rock Station - I am actually visiting there tomorrow. They have an 'earthship' home built out of recycled garbage, llamas, chickens and all sorts of other cool ecological stuff.

Lake Farmpark - a family oriented science and cultural center devoted to agriculture, farming, renewable energy and country life. You can milk a cow, take a wagon ride and discover more than 50 breeds of farm animals. This sounds like an awesome place for kids and they are open year round.

Price Farms Organics - recycles tons of stuff that would normally go into landfills into compost.
Black Creek Bistro - German Village restauranteur uses produce from his farm for his restaurant and tries to operate in a sustainable manner.

The Swine Flu Racket: the FDA Threatens Dr. Weil

2009-10-22T19:09:00.007-04:00

OK, this is ridiculous.

Like many natural doctors with online websites, Dr. Andrew Weil is marketing an immune defense supplement to ward against colds and flu. Now the FDA is accusing him of hawing unapproved swine flu remedies.

Full details at Naturalnews. Also NPR.

See the FDA/FTC Injunction here.

Evidently 'natural remedies' pose a threat to the Swine Flu racket and the billions of dollars the government has spent on the vaccine.

I'll take Dr. Weil's product any day. At least it doesn't contain mercury laced thimerosal!

To be fair, health scams like bogus Acai berry ads proliferate on the internet so the FDA's interest in cracking down on bogus swine flu products is valid as reported here (I actually know of 2 people whose 'before and after' pictures--from eating a raw foods diet--were stolen and inserted into bogus Acai berry product ads). Nevertheless, I don't think marketing an immune support product is at all wrong and it's a tad creepy that they went after Dr. Weil the way they did. Such heavy handed tactics will only foment the (much needed) rebellion of informed consumers.

Organic Vanilla Beans - Cheap

2009-10-22T18:03:00.002-04:00

Tip from RawDawg Rory on a great place to get organic vanilla beans that don't cost a fortune.

The Organic Vanilla Bean Company

What's nice is they show exactly how the beans are raised by the farmers they work with and their prices are awesome.

I've never bought vanilla beans because of their outrageous price but this definitely sounds win-win.

Interesting note for raw food purists, Vanilla Beans must be blanched in order to prevent molding:

Vanilla Beans are very susceptible to attracting mold and rotting during the sun drying and curing process. To combat this problem, prior to curing, the ripe green beans are blanched in hot water, (not boiling), for several minutes at 140° - 150F° (60° - 65°C). This process terminates any further organic change, keeps the bean from splitting open and from rotting during the curing process. The importance of the correct blanching time is crucial as to how the flavor and color of the bean will evolve. After blanching, the beans are wrapped in canvas and concealed in wooden boxes for 2 days where the temperature remains high.

Concerned about Factory Farming?: Vote No on Ohio Issue 2

2009-10-19T16:28:00.006-04:00

I've seen commercials on Issue 2 spinning it as 'pro local farmer'...unfortunately, according to the Humane Society, issue 2 is a political move to protect factory farming.

Here's the deal: HSUS (Humane Society of the US) lobbied successfully to pass farm animal rights legislation in California (Proposition 2). Ohio Issue 2 would put the treatment of farm animals under the control of a State Board (dominated by agribusiness) so that the HSUS or similar groups can't come in and introduce similar animal rights legislation.

While designed to give the appearance of helping farm animals, Issue 2 is little more than a power grab by Ohio’s agribusiness lobby. The industry-dominated “animal care” council proposed by Issue 2 is really intended to thwart meaningful improvements in how the millions of farm animals in Ohio are treated on large factory farms.

Because it’s designed to favor large factory farms, not family farmers, Issue 2 is opposed by the Ohio Farmers Union, the Ohio Environmental Stewardship Alliance, League of Women Voters of Ohio, the Ohio League of Humane Voters, and the Ohio Sierra Club. The editorial boards of Ohio’s major newspapers—including the Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and Dayton Daily News—all oppose this effort to enshrine the agribusiness lobby’s favored oversight system in the state’s constitution.

Issue 2 is a classic example of bad public policy-making and should be rejected by voters.

More here....

According to the article, issue 2 is a response by big agribusiness to protect itself against the type of animal rights legislation created recently in California...

Ohio is one of the top veal production states in the nation, with many calves chained by their necks inside crates so small they can’t even turn around for months on end. As well, the state has 170,000 breeding pigs, many of whom are confined in two-foot-wide crates barely larger than their bodies for almost their entire lives. And 28 million egg-laying hens in Ohio are confined in barren, wire battery cages so restrictive the birds can't even spread their wings. This type of extreme confinement is cruel and inhumane, environmentally damaging, and poses severe public health threats. These problems have prompted six U.S. states—and the entire European Union—to criminalize certain kinds of extreme confinement of farm animals.

In the wake of California’s overwhelming passage of the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act—which banned veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages in California—The Humane Society of the United States sought to engage in cooperative dialogue with the agribusiness community in Ohio. We hoped to be able to continue that dialogue and work cooperatively with the state’s farming leaders—both large and small—to collaboratively advance animal welfare statewide. But rather than discussing potential solutions to these problems, the Ohio Farm Bureau is now trying to hastily grab more power than it already has. The lobby group persuaded the legislature to refer a measure to the November 2009 ballot that would enshrine in the state’s constitution an industry-dominated council to “oversee” the treatment of farm animals. Unfortunately, this council is likely to do little to advance farm animal welfare. It is little more than a handout to Big Agribusiness interests in the state, seeking to codify the abusive practices currently being used in the state constitution.

More Links:
Animal Blawg: Issue 2 Animal Rights Perspective
Great Article by OSU Professor on Impact of Issue 2 on Farmers
This is a more neutral analysis of Issue 2. He notes that if Issue 2 is passed, the Board will adopt existing animal care standards, many of which animal rights activists consider cruel and inhumane. California Proposition 2 type Animal Rights Reform would be more difficult to initiate. However, if it passed, it would pose a financial challenge to farmers. The farmers would then either eat the cost and change, stop raising livestock that was regulated or leave Ohio in search of another state that wasn't regulated. Very good article for those interested in doing more research.

S.O.L.E. Food and Ethical Values

2009-10-15T22:05:00.039-04:00

Interesting article here about one family's attempts to eat conscientiously on the cheap:

SOLE Food: Eating Organically and Responsibly on a Food Stamp Budget

For the past three years, following the typical Michael Pollan-fueled, now-I've-seen-the-locavore-light conversion experience, I've been trying hard to feed my family good food. It's more difficult than it sounds; the supermarkets are full of tempting, affordable foodlike products that ultimately owe more to industry than agriculture, once you start reading the labels. It took me an embarrassingly long while to figure out that buying foods so basic that they don't have a label is the key.

I found myself shopping less and less at the grocery store and instead buying directly from the farmers who actually produce the food, sometimes at the farmers market, sometimes at the farms themselves. Thus it is always local and usually also organic--in practice, if not formal certification--and, helpfully, affordable. I tracked down these farmers, and know about the food I'm buying, because I'm interested and I ask. In doing this I am, as Pollan urges, voting for systemic change with my food dollars, though in my case that's sort of a side bonus. This kind of conscious buying has come to be known as SOLE food, for Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical.

In case you've been living under a culinary and environmental blackout for the past couple years, here's why SOLE food is worth investing in: Our current meat-centric diet, with its reliance on highly processed fats, refined grains, and industrial inventions like high-fructose corn syrup, is literally killing us. This diet is the main reason why one of every three adult Americans is now overweight, and obesity--which parties with its morbid pals diabetes, cardiac disease, and high blood pressure--is drowning ever more of us every year. (A study in the January 2008 issue of the International Journal of Obesity estimates that, if current trends continue, 86.3 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese by the year 2030.)

Handing over our nation's nourishment to agribusiness companies that earn more from processing the food than by growing it is not only making us fatter and sicker, it's also degrading the environment. Monocultures of corn, wheat, and soybeans can thrive only on massive inputs of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides, the manufacture of which requires massive amounts of fossil fuel. Once applied, these chemicals don't go away--the ones we don't consume directly in our food aggregate in our soil and water supply along with the antibiotics and hormones used in factory-farmed livestock production. Meanwhile, the industries doing this to us receive billions of dollars each year in taxpayer subsidies.

I couldn't have said it better.

Unfortunately the author, who tried to eat according to S.O.L.E. principles on a foodstamp budget, received some downright ugly comments, insinuating that she was an elitist yuppie playing poor.

Sorry, but I don't buy it. Because eating ethically is an investment and a sacrifice. And when it comes to sacrificing our vices for the sake of health, most of us aren't willing to make hard choices.

It hit me hard reading an article about Snowville Creamery, a local dairy offering minimally processed milk. They treat their cows well. They do everything right. Their milk costs $3 for 1/2 gallon.

But it wasnt' the article but one of the online comments that really made me think - this individual noted that many of the individuals criticizing the notion of spending that much for milk wouldn't think twice about plunking down the same amount of cash for a Red Bull.

Bingo.

When it comes to our vices and addictions, even the most financially strapped among us seems to open our wallet and roll out the red carpet. I have a friend who cites her husband's semi-employment as a reason she can't eat healthy. But I've had to point out to her that I've seen her plunk down over ten bucks on a fast food meal just because she wanted it. Being on foodstamps doesn't stop many people from smoking cigarettes, eating at McDonalds or getting cable TV. In other words, we all have financial blind spots that we can use as excuses to cheap out on healthy choices.

Eating ethically is about more than nutrition. It's about investing your financial resources in individuals and small businesses who are struggling to make a difference. Places like Snowville Creamery. As opposed to some giant agri-dairy that sells to Wal Mart, mistreats its cows and pumps them full of bovine growth hormone. You have to wonder if that extra $1.50 is such a big deal, especially when there's other stuff that can be sacrificed like cans of soda or a movie rental at Blockbuster. It's all about choices.

So check out the sidebar (I've got a ton of links for local Columbus resources). Check out a farmer's market or a local food coop. Do something. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the positive connections you'll start making. Knowing your grocery money went to a good cause that keeps you healthy is a really wonderful feeling :)

Blind Faith: Information on Vaccination You Need to Know

2009-10-13T04:21:00.020-04:00

Originally this post was a rather self righteous rant on the Swine Flu Epidemic. After viewing the following documentary my perspective changed.

Folks, this just isn't funny. Your children are at stake. I suggest you examine the following very carefully. Blind faith in the medical establishment could cost you or your child dearly.

Here is a vaccine watchdog group that will help you make an informed decision on vaccinating yourself and/or your children: National Vaccine Information Center

Vaccine Nation, by Gary Null:

Research, pray, study...here are some links to get you started...

Article/Interview w/Dr. Russell Blaylock (Neurosurgeon) on the Swine Flu Coverup and Neurological Dangers of Vaccines added 11/6/2009
Dr. Mercola Swine Flu Info Center added 11/6/2009
Review of Swine Flu Vaccine Ingredients added 11/6/2009
Natural News Swine Flu Articles added 11/6/2009
Significant Harm from just One Mercury Containing Vaccine added 10/22/09
Swine Flu Update with vaccine expert Barbara Fisher added 10/20/09
Washington Health Dpt Suspends Mercury Restrictions for Swine Flu Vaccines added 10/19/09
Dr. TenPenny's Swine Flu Hype Page
Why You Shouldn't Vaccinate Your Children Against the Flu
Swine Flu Shot Linked to Killer Nerve Disease
Half of Children Given Swine Flu Vaccine Have Side Effects
Flu Vaccine Exposed
Does the Vaccine Matter?

I found this blurb in Dr. TenPenny's site particularly chilling - it's the essence of what I am feeling about this whole thing:

Most persons at least 43 years of age will no doubt recall the Swine flu hype of 1976. Starting from a single, infected military recruit, the threat of a pandemic and global death turned into a full-scale media and government circus. For many, the "Pandemic that Never Was" created havoc, death and long term disability. But the mayhem was not the work of a microscopic particle of replicating RNA. The carnage was created by the misguided steps our government and the overzealous drive from CDC officials to vaccinate.

Most persons at least 43 years of age will no doubt recall the Swine flu hype of 1976. Starting from a single, infected military recruit, the threat of a pandemic and global death turned into a full-scale media and government circus. For many, the "Pandemic that Never Was" created havoc, death and long term disability. But the mayhem was not the work of a microscopic particle of replicating RNA. The carnage was created by the misguided steps our government and the overzealous drive from CDC officials to vaccinate.

The absolute belief in the effectiveness of vaccines resulted in the disability of 532 people who contracted Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a life-threatening form of paralysis. While many recovered in the ensuing months, at least 33 died and up to 10 percent remained paralyzed to varying degrees for the rest of their lives. While vaccine manufacturers reaped the rewards of government handouts to make vaccines, and secured legislation to protect them from liability (the Swine Flu Act of 1976), more than $1.3 billion of tax payer dollars were released to compensate those who had been injured by the swine flu vaccine.

Videos:

Short summary by Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health:

Foxes in the Henhouse: the Obama Administration Strikes Out

2009-10-12T12:29:00.006-04:00

Mercola.com has an excellent article on the appointment of Monsanto Insiders to key agricultural positions in the Obama administration. (To be fair, Michael Pollan, who was initially critical of Tom Vilsack, has actually complimented Vilsack for his support of farmer's markets).

If you are unfamiliar with the dark underworld of Monsanto, GMO's (genetically modified foods), big agribusiness and government corruption, I suggest you start doing some research. No, the food you buy at the grocery store isn't safe and there is big money invested in keeping you from knowing the truth.

In a nutshell:

If you eat processed food (ie. which comprises 70-80% of the junk sold in today's supermarkets), you are supporting and consuming genetically modified food and putting your health at risk. Flip the box over and read the ingredients. If it isn't something that came out of God's earth and/or you can't pronounce it, you can rest assurred that you shouldn't be putting into your body. Companies aren't required to tell you if their product contains genetically modified ingredients - the only way you can be safe is if the label says it's not GMO or if you buy USDA certified organic.

Monsanto wants to control the world's food supply. This sounds draconian and rather conspiracy-theorish but it's not too far from the truth. Contrast a world in which God provided all sorts of wonderful natural food as a blessing to mankind to a modern police state where Monsanto genetically alter's God's creation and maintains ultimate control over who can plant or harvest. And you can't just avoid them. GMO's can contaminate 'real' plants through cross pollination, putting the world's natural and organic food supply at risk.
Curious? Here are some more links:

The World According to Monsanto (Documentary)
Millions Against Monsanto Campaign
Axis of Logic (Articles)
GM Watch
Seeds of Deception Video
Mercola.com Future of Food Article
Seeds of Suicide Documentary (Indian farmers suicide)

Evil Food Additives: MSG

2009-10-06T21:41:00.001-04:00

There are so many evil food additives. What I am getting from reading is that much of what passes for 'food' in the grocery store is a bunch of cheap junk like corn and soy (genetically modified) with a ton of chemicals thrown in. Then they put in some vitamins, fiber or whatnot and make some kind of health claim.

Ask youself when reading a label, is this ingredient something God created? If man created it through some complex chemistry chances are you are wasting your money and endangering your health.

The problem with foods God created is that they simply aren't all that sexy or profitable. Much of what passes for food in the grocery is cleverly packaged pseudofood designed to titillate the tastebuds and get the consumer addicted.

I could rant forever but I wanted to focus on MSG - Monosodium Glutamate - it's an excitotoxin found in many products. It amps up you taste buds making you want to eat more and more. Unfortunately it's often disguised with other names, a lot of which can be found in health store products.

MSG is an excitoxin - a fancy word for something that kills brain cells - check this out:

Like aspartame, MSG is an excitotoxin, a substance that overexcites neurons to the point of cell damage and, eventually, cell death. Humans lack a blood-brain barrier in the hypothalamus, which allows excitotoxins to enter the brain and cause damage, according to Dr. Russell L. Blaylock in his book Excitotoxins. According to animal studies, MSG creates a lesion in the hypothalamus that correlates with abnormal development, including obesity, short stature and sexual reproduction problems.

OK, there's the problem - MSG is squirreled away in practically all processed foods and disguised under various labels, some of which sound perfectly harmless. You have to get knowlegeable and recognize hidden sources of MSG.
Truth in Labeling - Hidden Sources of MSG

Glutamate
Glutamic acid
Gelatin

Monosodium glutamate
Calcium caseinate
Textured protein
Monopotassium glutamate
Sodium caseinate
Yeast nutrient
Yeast extract
Yeast food
Autolyzed yeast

Hydrolyzed protein (any protein that is hydrolyzed)
Hydrolyzed corn gluten
Natrium glutamate (natrium is Latin/German for sodium)

Buying Used in Columbus

2009-09-28T23:20:00.001-04:00

When I was young I got on this trip about 'status' clothes - my biggest 'find' was a Calvin Klein navy blazer that I got at the 'bargain' price of $200 (and that was in the 80's). Sadly, I soon became sick of it and tried to sell it to my NY roommate who wasn't terribly interested in taking on my prize. At that point it became a $200 albatross hanging around my neck.

Thrift Shops - Since then I've gradually discovered the wonder and wisdom of thrift shops. You tell me you like my outfit I will tell you how cheap I got it. In fact I'm embarrassed when I pay full price cause there's nothing to brag on.

When you get great items cheap it's easy to give back by donating, esp when your closet starts filling up. We're talking all sorts of nice, quality, brand name clothing for $2-5 per item. Thrift stores totally rock! Anyone who thinks they are just for poor people - all I can say is dude, you have no idea how much of your hard earned money is wasted on new clothes. Thrift store clothes = more $$$ for buying organic. Plus if you get tired of stuff you don't feel guilty letting go of it cause it only cost you a few bucks to begin with.

Lest you be new to the whole resale scene I've assembled a few of my favorite places in Columbus:

Ohio Thrift

Big selection - some of the best I've found
No dressing rooms or restrooms - this means you have to hide yourself amid the racks to try stuff on. For women, wearing a thin t shirt and a skirt works best. Now usually it goes OK although some lady did yell at me once for having a wardrobe malfunction. Very humiliating but I guess that's the price of getting a deal :)
On houswares they tend to jack up prices if they think something is super valuable. Usually it's not worth the $$$ they are asking so I mostly use them for clothing.

Volunteers of America

Big selection - quality varies according to store
Has fitting rooms
Great prices

Goodwill Stores

Store sizes vary - some of the smaller stores don't have the greatest quality
Has fitting rooms
Usually does one price for each type of item (shirts, slacks, skirts, etc. unless it's designer)

Plato's Closet
Popular teen resale shop. I don't go in there. It makes me feel really old!

New Uses

Housewares and electronics
Pays cash for used stuff
Selection can be kind of kitschy but hey it's worth a look.
Apparently they run a hooty tooty high end store called Ubberhaus (ie rich people who get tired of their stuff) - I met a woman who did a fabulous interior design job with stuff gleaned from that store so it's definitely worth checking out.

To be honest I get my best deals on housewares at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. They have brand new stuff on clearance that rivals thrift store/resale shop prices but is way above and beyond in quality and style.

Ebay

One could shop here forever. I use Ebay to get a lot of my shoes but they also have great deals on clothing - esp designer brands. They have great search engines that allow you to punch in exactly what you're looking for. My best deal was probably a $175 pair of shoes for $10 + shipping. Or a pair of brand new boot retailing for over $100 for something like $20. That sure beats a $20 pair junk shoes made in China.

I've also decorated my townhome on E-bay. I have several tapestries made from old wedding dresses from the Thar Desert (Pakistan) and India region. Two of them cost me $1 + postage (some antique dealer apparently wanted to get rid of them). The rest were $20-30 each. I've found folk carvings from indie craftsmen, cool porcelain pieces, little bunny figurines from England and China - all for a very reasonable price.

There are so many charming little collectibles - all one of a kind you can find on there. It totally beats paying a ton of money at Pier One or some chain for mass produced stuff that isn't even original.

Recycling Whirlwind

2009-09-28T22:28:00.010-04:00

Been busy 'organizing' my life (never ending battle)...so one of things I find hard to let go of are old mailing envelopes, cardboard, paper and other stuff I feel guilty about dumping in landfills...But being a clutter hater it starts freaking me out when it piles up...soooo.....I went on a whirlwind cleanup spree and did a little digging on recycling...

Recycling - I was majorly disappointed to learn that Rumpke, our local company doesn't do plastic unless it's a #1-7 bottle. Now that kinda stinks. Now that I'm aware of the environment again I totally feel guilty throwing anything away and go into spasms trying to figger' out what to do with all my cardboard, plastic, mailing envelopes and all that kinda stuff. Note: if you live in Metro Columbus, click here for recycling info.

But progress is being made!

The bunny poo/litter/hay is going in the new compost pile along w/veggie scraps pureed in the Vita-Mix (I almost killed it by overloading it w/banana peels and too little water - the auto shutoff kicked in and I freaked thinking I'd have to send it back to the factory). Hopefully this will produce some kind of useful mixture for my spring garden.

Cardboard - Rumpke does do cardboard (as well as office paper, magazines and envelopes).
Glossy Paper - Groov-ay - there is some bin by the Sam's Club in Reynoldsburg that recycles old paper - we're talking, newspaper, glossy inserts, magazines, the whole 9 yards. Instant relief. I mean I have all these old multicolor slick brochures I don't need an I was agonizing about how to get rid of them (at the same time resenting the fact that all this stuff gets spewed out in the first place and all the junk mail that ends up in my box despite registering w/the Direct Mail Marketing Association). So now I can just collect it and donate it to this outfit, which appears to be a fundraising effort - yay!

Plastic bags - most of the big chains have plastic bag recycling so I loaded up a big bag (I had way to many) and took them to Kroger.

Old Electronics - just found this site - Ohio Dropoff that takes old computers and electronics - various locations throughout Ohio.

Tonya Kay's Cool Raw Transition Advice/the Chipotle Incident

2009-09-21T01:51:00.007-04:00

Tonya Kay is no flighty space chick bimbo. I loved her get real down to earth advice on this video series - so worth listening to...

The Chipotle incident: an example
Friday I seriously felt like an old hag. I mean my face had been looking younger but this feeling was like hollow eyes peering out of their sockets - my spiritual mom (never one to mince words) even told me I looked bad.

So you know what I did? I went to Chipotle and had a steak bowl. I had to fight all the guilt from the environmental books I'd been reading but to be honest doing the vegetarian thing or the more PC chicken option was not what I honestly needed.

Man, at the moment, that steak bowl was the best thing I'd ever tasted. And you know what? The whole hag thing melted away. Cause I listened to my gut instinct and went with it.

Listen to your body. Forget the dogma. That's Tonya's message in a nutshell :)

Beware of Natural Brands owned by Big Business

2009-09-12T00:17:00.005-04:00

I found an interesting little article here on OCA by Andrea Whitfill that identifies a lot of 'natural' brands that are now owned by giant megacorporations. Important because many of us spend extra money on this stuff thinking we are helping some nice socially responsible business owner. I don't really buy any of this stuff except Burt's Bees once in a while (gee I kinda wondered how they managed to score Target).

So anyway here they are (drumroll please...)

Burts Bees - Clorox

Toms of Maine - Colgate-Palmolive

Ben & Jerry's - Unilever

Stonyfield Farm Dairy - Danone (big French outfit that had to recall yogurt because it contained unsafe levels of dioxin)

Horizon Organic Milk - Dean Foods (Largest dairy company in the US)
Odwalla Juice - Coca Cola
Naked Juice - Pepsi

Kashi - Kelloggs

Back to Nature - Kraft
Cascadian Farms - General Mills
Barbara's Bakery - Weetabix
Mother's - Quaker Oats (owned by Pepsi)
Health Valley/Arrowhead Mills - Hain - HJ Heinz owns 16% of Hain
Green & Black Organic Chocolate - Schweppes
Dagoba Chocolate - Hersheys

Bottled Water - according to Whitfill "The industry is dominated by three companies, who together control more than half the market: Coca-Cola, which produces Dasani; Pepsi, which produces Aquafina; and Nestle, which produces several "local" brands, including Poland Spring, Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ozarka and Calistoga. Both Coke and Pepsi exclusively use tap water for their sources, while Nestle uses tap water in some brands. "

Food for thought...one more reason to buy locally and do more mail order from privately owned businesses.

On a personal note, I originally thought I'd have to trek to Whole Foods for organically grown produce but I found a local outfit called Raisin Rack (they only own 2 stores) that actually has excellent produce prices. I've never been a big fan of Whole Foods (my local Trader Joes calls it 'Whole Paycheck' ) so it's kind of a relief. It fits into the whole 'buy locally' paradigm. Next on the list is checking out some cool farmer's markets, yee haw!

FrankenProduce - Avoid the 8's

2009-09-11T00:52:00.008-04:00

You can tell if produce is conventionally grown, genetically modified, or organic - it's all in the numbers. This is an extremely helpful bit of information given the fact that the powers that be don't want American's to know what's GMO...apparently 70% of packed products have GMO but for fresh produce you can just check the PLU sticker and avoid the 8's:

4 DIGIT NUMBERS (they all begin with 3 or 4) denote conventionally grown, non-GMO produce (that is, grown with chemical pesticides and fertilizers and not genetically modified)

5 DIGITS BEGINNING WITH AN 8 means the produce is evil genetically modified Frankenproduce!!!

5 DIGITS BEGINNING WITH A 9 means it is ORGANIC (yay)

In other works, avoid 8's at all costs! The 9's have it! From this really cool website called EarthSky.

Vitamin D

2009-09-04T19:54:00.001-04:00

Oh wow, so I'm on this Dr. Mercola Site and he has really interesting video on Vitamin D. He says it's actually a potent repair and maintenance steroid hormone responsible for the regulation of over 2000 genes. This is why it's so critical to health. Here's more info from Dr. Mercola's site:

Vitamin D is important for weight control, hypertension and calcium absorption.

A study by Dr. William Grant, Ph.D., internationally recognized research scientist and vitamin D expert, found that about 30 percent of cancer deaths -- which amounts to 2 million worldwide and 200,000 in the United States -- could be prevented each year with higher levels of vitamin D.

The ideal way to get vitamin D is by exposing your skin to appropriate sunlight. Unfortunately for most of us there simply isn’t enough sun exposure for nearly half of the year. However, even in the sun many of us are modern day cavemen and we spend the majority of the time the sun is out shining inside at work or in our home. Not many of us are regularly out in the sun. Sun exposure (without sunscreen) of about 10 to 15 minutes a day, with at least 40 percent of your skin exposed, is a general guide of how much you need, although people with dark skin will need to stay out significantly longer.

It is important to understand that in the summertime, when you put on your bathing suit and sunbathe for 30 minutes, your body produces about 20,000 IUs of vitamin D -- as much as exists in 200 glasses of milk, or the equivalent of about 50 typical multivitamins!

A third option is taking a high-quality vitamin D supplement. The most important thing to keep in mind if you opt for oral supplementation is that you only want to supplement with natural vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which is human vitamin D. Do NOT use the synthetic and highly inferior vitamin D2.

Vitamin D Testing Guidelines

Food and Hormonal Balance

2009-09-04T19:20:00.004-04:00

I never realized food, water and skincare products have a major impact on hormones. The first clue I got was from reading Gillian Michael's book Master Your Metabolism. She outlines all sorts of foods that affect different hormones and in particular emphasizes the destructive effects of chemically laden processed foods. There's also a bit about skincare products and plastics in the book.

She mentioned this awesome site - Skin Deep - this is a free site that rates the contents of various bodycare and cosmetics products. Every ingredient is listed along w/a safety rating - really eye opening as most beauty care products you see on the shelves rate pretty poorly. I started getting rid of a lot of off the shelve products after reading this. I mean who really needs it anyway? I mean a lot of the stuff we buy is just stuff we are conditioned to think we need. Skincare products are full of questionable chemicals and this stuff is being absorbed right into your skin. I found out that natural stuff like sesame oil or coconut oil works great as a moisturizer. Also stuff like Tom's of Maine deodorant which doesn't have aluminum and other harmful chemicals.

Kevin Gianni of Renegade Health has a nice article by Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo on balancing hormones naturally...one thing she mentioned was plastics. Apparently plastics can contain an estrogen-like material that can mess w/your hormones:

Avoid plastic drinking and food containers. These contain what’s known as
xenoestrogens, which are estrogen look alikes that bind to estrogen receptors.
Xenoestrogens can cause endometriosis, ovarian cysts, breast cancer and fetal
abnormalities. Other sources of xenoestrogens are detergents, some skin lotions
and soaps, commercially raised meat and dairy, spermicides, and herbicides. The
xenoestrogens leach from the plastic food containers into the food or water.
Heat increases the amount of xenoestrogen that gets into the food or water. Use
ceramic or glass as much as possible, NEVER heat anything in a plastic
container,and use only pure, chemical free body and home care products.

BTW, if you still think soy is a superfood, think again. Apparently soy contains estrogen like substances as well. They are putting soy in almost everything these days, much of which is genetically modified. From what I have read, Asians use mostly small amounts of fermented soy like Miso, tempeh, etc. because the fermentation. Here's a site w/a short video that goes into some of this information.