OneHealthyGirl.com - Carla Golden's Get Healthier! Blog

THIS PASSIONATE FOODIE CAN'T STAY QUIET!

I said that I wouldn't write again until the Wonder Bread molds, but last night my husband and I viewed the documentary Food, Inc. at a theater in Savannah, GA. The eager audience filled TWO theaters!! Having read what other foodies have written about the movie, I wasn't expecting to learn many new tidbits about our corrupt food system. Well, I was wrong.

First, what impacted me the most were the visuals. It's one thing to read about the food industry in books and another to watch YouTube videos, but it's another to watch and hear simultaneously a compelling story well presented. The impression was deep.

I am well aware of the horrors happening to animals in slaughterhouses and CAFOs as well as to the crops in the fields with toxic chemicals, but what I was less aware of, and what hit me the hardest, is the welfare of factory farm workers, meatpackers and non-Monsanto, independent farmers. We have reached the point of absolutely destroying innocent human lives with our ignorant food choices.

It is imperative that as many citizens as possible see this movie, read the book or study from the website. All the information is available, you just have to make the effort and have the desire to learn.

Here's an example of the human atrocities: One of the largest meat processing plants (Smithfield? I don't recall specifically) recruits illegal labor from across the US/Mexico border. They will use these impoverished people for grotesque labor practices (slaughter, corps dis-assembly) that no one else is capable of or willing to do. This company has exhausted their regional US labor pool. 

Then these illegal immigrants who were recruited and paid by a US company are then, after about 10 years, instantaneously deported at a rate of 15 per day per an agreement between the company and the immigration office as to not disrupt the rate of production (too many illegal immigrants deported at a time slows production). WHAT!? The immigration offices are supporting (and basically supplying) this mega-corporation with illegal laborers?

Most meat produced in this country is processed by three or four processing plants. If you have a political position against illegal immigration, you may want to consider boycotting meat as a vote against the companies who employ dishonest, abhorent and illegal labor practices.

These poor people are wooed, used and then disposed of as if they were mere objects. Eating meat that comes from grocery stores and restaurants and not specified as from a small, local farmer supports this human atrocity. More can be learned at Blood, Sweat and Fears.

Your fast food or supermarket burger is linked to a woman being plucked out of her trailer in the middle of the night by immigration agents, handcuffed and sent back to Mexico with no possessions but what is on her back. 

Aren't we nicer people than this?

Do your homework. See the movie. Reduce your meat consumption. Here are 10 changes you can begin making right away.

Live Light, xo-C.

PS - I am very proud of my husband who resisted the wafting smell of popcorn and the habitual bag of peanut M&M's and instead enjoyed with me some cashews and dried goji berries during the film (xoxoCJG). My optimistic self was hoping that no one in the audience would choose to support the junk food industry by purchasing theater concessions. Boy, was I wrong! When will movie theaters begin selling respectable snacks...especially during a viewing of Food, Inc.???

FOOD, INC. HITS SAVANNAH, GA!

I am so excited for my local peeps and myself because the world-rocking food documentary Food, Inc. is showing this Sunday evening, July 19th, at 7 pm in Savannah, GA at the Victory Square Theaters (MAP).

Anyone who eats food should watch this movie.

Why? Here's why.

"In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. 

We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults. 

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here."

 

 Live Light, xo-C.

PS - If you contact Victory Square Theaters, they very likely will have no idea that Food, Inc. is showing on Sunday. But I contacted Brighter Day Health Food Store (from whom I learned of this showing) and they confirmed that Reel Savannah is hosting this event at Victory Square Theaters and that the cost is $8 per person cash only and the Box Office opens at 6 pm. Show time is 7 pm.

TURNING CANCER ON AND OFF!

I've heard about the book entitled The China Study here and there and seen it referenced periodically. I figured it was time to get my own copy and begin reading it, which I did last night. 

The China Study was written in 2006 by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and his son Thomas M. Campbell II.

From the back cover:

"By any measure, America's health is failing. We spend far more, per capita, on health care than any other society in the world, and yet two-thirds of America are overweight, and more than 15 million American have diabetes. 

We fall prey to heart disease as often as we did thirty years ago. The War on Cancer, launched in the 1970, has been a miserable failure. Half of all American have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week, and more than 100 million Americans have high cholesterol.

To make matters worse, we are leading our youth down a path of disease earlier and earlier in their lives. One-third of the children in this country are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. 

Our kids are increasingly falling prey to a form of diabetes that used to be seen only in adults, and children now take more prescription drugs than ever before.

These issue all come down to three things: breakfast, lunch and dinner."

WOW! But that's not what rocked my world. This is:

Based on studies in the Philippines and India, Dr. Campbell learned that when carcinogens (cancer causing toxins) are present in the body, the crucial element determining if cancer will be expressed is the level of animal protein in the diet.

"In one group, they administered the cancer-causing aflatoxin (natural occurring toxic fungus in grains), then fed a diet that was composed of 20% protein, a level near what many of us consume in the West. 

In the other group, they administered the same amount of aflatoxin, but then fed a diet that was only composed of 5% protein. Incredibly, every single animal that consumed the 20% protein diet had evidence of liver cancer, and every single animal that consumed a 5% protein diet avoided liver cancer. 

It was a 100 to 0 score, leaving no doubt that nutrition trumped chemical carcinogens, even very potent carcinogens, in controlling cancer."

"Low-protein diets inhibited the initiation of cancer by aflatoxin, regardless of how much of this carcinogen was administered to these animal. After cancer initiation was completed, low-protein diets also dramatically blocked subsequent cancer growth. 

In other words, the cancer-producing effects of this highly carcinogenic chemical were rendered insignificant by a low-protein diet. In fact, dietary protein proved to be so powerful in its effect that we could turn on and turn off cancer growth simple by changing the level (of protein) consumed."

"What protein consistently and strongly promoted cancer? Casein, which makes up 87% of cow's milk protein, promoted all stages of the cancer process. What type of protein did not promote cancer, even at high levels of intake? The safe proteins were from plants, including wheat and soy."

Is your mind blown, like mine? Turn ON and OFF cancer with animal protein, especially casein??? While we may not be exposed to aflatoxin, there are many toxins in the air, water, and in our food and body products no matter how stringent we are about avoiding them. An optimal diet is imperative to cancer prevention.

What is a mother of a "cheeseatarian" child to do???

1. First we will look for goat milk cheese (like chevre) and sheep milk cheese (like feta) alternatives, preferably raw. 

2. Secondly we will look for recipes that make "cheeses" out of nuts (cashews, macademia, pine, etc.)

3. We will avoid soy cheese because many brands contain casein. (Isn't that a sucker punch for vegans and casein avoiders?) I'm not a big fan of processed soy anyhow, so that's not such a big deal, but I bet many people didn't know that many soy cheese brands contain animal protein - read your labels!!!

4. OneHealthyKid.com is getting taken over by momma! It will be dedicated (now that it has been abandoned by THE KID) to the journey, including recipes, to the land of no cow milk products, namely cheese and butter.

Bella already no longer drinks cow milk nor eats flesh foods, which is good. But if I were to take away her cheese, she'd be left with little to eat (well a lot, but little that she would embrace at this point). We must find some alternatives!!

An herein lies my work. If can convince a stubborn 7.5 year old to give up cow cheese and learn to love other animal milk cheeses and more plant protein, then I will have done something more difficult than changing my own diet. 

Oh, what little Buddhas children are and how they arrive to teach us our grandest life lessons. 

Live Light, xo-C.

ORGANICS BEING SABOTAGED?

I find this to be so unfortunate. Rarely do I post a third-party article in full, especially long ones. But this one is too important not to share with you.

If you are health conscious and a smart shopper, you need to read this. There are subtle changes going on with some food companies and their products are showing up now as "natural" rather than "organic" and the two terms meet radically different standards. 

I've highlighted what I found to be the most important points, so if you don't read the entire article, please read the highlights. 

I've bemoaned my town's lack of a health food supermarket. There is a fine line between an organic and sustainable business and a health food conglomerate which in many aspects more greatly resembles their non-organic, unsustainable conventional counterparts.

Many towns and cities with health food supermarket choices are still turning toward their famer's markets and co-ops for best choices and best business practices. If you live in a small town like I do, support your independent food shops and your local farmer's markets. Those mega health food stores probably aren't the answer after all.

Live Light, xo-C.

The Organic Alternative: A Matter of Survival

(http://www.OrganicConsumers.org/articles/article_18493.cfm)

After four decades of hard work, the organic community has built up a $25 billion "certified organic" food, farming, and green products sector. This consumer-driven movement, under steady attack by the biotech and Big Food lobby, with little or no help from government, has managed to create a healthy and sustainable alternative to America's disastrous, chemical and energy-intensive system of industrial agriculture. Conscious of the health hazards of Big Food Inc., and the mortal threat of climate change and Peak Oil, a critical mass of organic consumers are now demanding food and other products that are certified organic, as well as locally or regionally produced, minimally processed, and packaged. 

The Organic Alternative, in turn, is bolstered by an additional $50 billion in annual spending by consumers on products marketed as "natural," or "sustainable." This rapidly expanding organic/green products sector--organic (4% of total retail sales) and natural (8%)--now constitutes more than 12% of total retail grocery sales, with an annual growth rate of 10-15%. Even taking into account what appears to be a permanent economic recession and a lower rate of growth than that seen over the past 20 years, the organic and natural market will likely constitute 31-56% of grocery sales in 2020. 

If the Organic Alternative continues to grow, and if consumers demand that all so-called "natural" products move in a genuine, third party-certified "transition to organic" direction, the U.S. will be well on its way to solving three of the nation's most pressing problems: climate change, deteriorating public health, and Peak Oil. 

Sales statistics and polls underline the positive fact that a vast army of organic consumers, more than 75 million Americans, despite an economic recession, are willing to pay a premium price for organic and green products. These consumers are willing to pay a premium because they firmly believe that organic and natural products are healthier, climate stabilizing, environmentally sustainable, humane for animals, and well as more equitable for family farmers, farmworkers, and workers throughout the supply chain. 

Many of the most committed organic consumers are conscious of the fact that organic food and other products are actually "cheaper" in real terms than conventional food and other items-since industrial agriculture's so-called "cheap" products carry hidden costs, including billions of dollars in annual tax subsidies, and hundreds of billions of dollars in damage to our health, the environment, and climate. 

Strengthening the argument for organic food and farming, scientists now tell us that it will take a massive conversion to organic agriculture (as well as renewable energy, sustainable housing and transportation) to drastically reduce climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million and to cope with the advent of "Peak Oil," the impending decline in petroleum and natural gas supplies. 

Organic food and a healthy diet and lifestyle are obviously key factors in preventing chronic disease, restoring public health, and reducing out-of-control health care costs. While in 1970, U.S. health care spending appeared somewhat sustainable, totaling $75 billion, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services project that by 2016, health care spending will soar to over $4.1 trillion, or $12,782 per resident. 

Millions of health-minded Americans, especially parents of young children, now understand that cheap, non-organic, industrial food is hazardous. Not only does chemical and energy-intensive factory farming destroy the environment, impoverish rural communities, exploit farm workers, inflict unnecessary cruelty on farm animals, and contaminate the water supply; but the end product itself is inevitably contaminated. Routinely contained in nearly every bite or swallow of non-organic industrial food are pesticides, antibiotics and other animal drug residues, pathogens, feces, hormone disrupting chemicals, toxic sludge, slaughterhouse waste, genetically modified organisms, chemical additives and preservatives, irradiation-derived radiolytic chemical by-products, and a host of other hazardous allergens and toxins. 

Eighty million cases of food poisoning every year in the US, an impending swine/bird flu pandemic (directly attributable to factory farms), and an epidemic of food-related cancers, heart attacks, and obesity make for a compelling case for the Organic Alternative. Likewise millions of green-minded consumers understand that industrial agriculture poses a terminal threat to the environment and climate stability. A highly conscious and passionate segment of the population are beginning to understand that converting to non-chemical, energy-efficient, carbon-sequestering organic farming practices, and drastically reducing food miles by relocalizing the food chain, are essential preconditions for stabilizing our out-of-control climate and preparing our families and communities for Peak Oil and future energy shortages. 

Decades of research confirm that organic agriculture produces crop yields that are comparable (under normal weather conditions) or even 50-70% superior (during droughts or excessive rain) to chemical farming. Nutritional studies show that organic crops are qualitatively higher in vitamin content and trace minerals, and that fresh unprocessed organic foods boost the immune system and reduce cancer risks. And, of course climate scientists emphasize that organic agriculture substantially reduces greenhouse pollution. Organic farms use, on the average, 50% or less petroleum inputs than chemical farms, while generating drastically less greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide. Moreover diverse, multi-crop organic farms sequester enormous amounts of CO2 in the soil. Agronomists point out that a return to traditional organic farming practices across the globe could reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 40%. 

In other words, America and the world desperately need an Organic Revolution in food and farming, not only to salvage public health and improve nutrition, but also in order to literally survive in the onrushing era of Peak Oil and climate change. Scientists, as well as common sense, warn us that a public health Doomsday Clock is ticking. Within a decade, diet and environment-related diseases, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer-heavily subsidized under our Big Pharma/chemical/genetically engineered/factory farm system-will likely bankrupt Medicare and the entire U.S. health care system. Likewise, climate chaos and oil shortages, unless we act quickly, will soon severely disrupt industrial agriculture and long-distance food transportation, leading to massive crop failures, food shortages, famine, war, and pestilence. Even more alarming, accelerating levels of greenhouse gases (especially from cars, coal, cattle, and related rainforest and wetlands destruction) will soon push global warming to a tipping point that will melt the polar icecaps and unleash a cataclysmic discharge of climate-destabilizing methane, fragilely sequestered in the frozen arctic tundra. 

If we care about our children and the future generations, we obviously must reverse global warming, stabilize the climate, and prepare for petroleum shortages and vastly higher oil prices. The only way to do this is to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by 90% by 2050, by shifting away from petroleum and coal-based energy to radical energy conservation and making a transition to renewable solar and wind power-not only in transportation, housing, and industry, but in farming, food processing, and food distribution as well. 

In the food sector, we cannot continue to hand over 88% of our consumer dollars to out-of-control, chemical-intensive, energy-intensive, greenhouse gas polluting corporations and "profit at any cost" retail chains such as Wal-Mart. The growth of the Organic Alternative is literally a matter of survival. The question then becomes how (and how quickly) can we move healthy, organic, and "natural" products from a 12% market share, to becoming the dominant force in American food and farming. This is a major undertaking, one that will require a major transformation in public consciousness and policy, but it is doable, and absolutely necessary. 

But before we overthrow Monsanto, Wal-Mart, and Big Food Inc., we need to put our own house in order. Before we set our sights on making organic and "transition to organic" the norm, rather than the alternative, we need to take a closer, more critical look at the $50 billion annual natural food and products industry. How natural is the so-called natural food in our local Whole Foods Market, coop, or grocery store? Is the "natural" sector moving our nation toward an organic future, or has it degenerated into a "green washed" marketing tool, disguising unhealthy and unsustainable food and farming practices as alternatives. Is "natural" just a marketing ploy to sell conventional-unhealthy, energy-intensive, and non-sustainable food and products at a premium price? 

The Myth of Natural Food, Farming, and Products 

Walk down the aisles of any Whole Foods Market (WFM) or browse the wholesale catalogue of industry giant United Natural Foods (UNFI) and look closely. What do you see? Row after row of attractively displayed, but mostly non-organic "natural" (i.e. conventional) foods and products. By marketing sleight of hand, these conventional foods, vitamins, private label "365" items, and personal care products become "natural" or "almost organic" (and overpriced) in the Whole Foods setting. The overwhelming majority of WFM products, even their best-selling private label, "365" house brand, are not organic, but rather the products of chemical-intensive and energy-intensive farm and food production factories. 

(I don't have a Whole Foods in order to check these current product labels. Perhaps a reader will report back any subtle lable changes if indeed these products have gone "natural" and ditched "organic.")

Test these so-called natural products in a lab and what will you find: pesticide residues, Genetically Modified Organisms, and a long list of problematic and/or carcinogenic synthetic chemicals and additives. Trace these products back to the farm or factory and what will you find: climate destabilizing chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and sewage sludge-not to mention exploited farm workers and workers in the food processing industry. Of course there are many products in WFM (and in UNFI's catalogue} that bear the label "USDA Organic." But the overwhelming majority of their products, even their best selling private label, "365," are not. 

What does certified organic or "USDA Organic" mean? This means these products are certified 95-100% organic. Certified organic means the farmer or producer has undergone a regular inspection of its farm, facilities, ingredients, and practices by an independent Third Party certifier, accredited by the USDA National Organic Program (NOP). The producer has followed strict NOP regulations and maintained detailed records. Synthetic pesticides, animal drugs, sewage sludge, GMOs, irradiation, and chemical fertilizers are prohibited. Farm animals, soil, and crops have been managed organically; food can only be processed with certain methods; only allowed ingredients can be used. 

 On the other hand, what does "natural" really mean, in terms of farming practices, ingredients, and its impact on the environment and climate? To put it bluntly, "natural," in the overwhelming majority of cases is meaningless, even though most consumers do not fully understand this. Natural, in other words, means conventional, with a green veneer. Natural products are routinely produced using pesticides, chemical fertilizer, hormones, genetic engineering, and sewage sludge. Natural or conventional products-whether produce, dairy, or canned or frozen goods are typically produced on large industrial farms or in processing plants that are highly polluting, chemical-intensive and energy-intensive. 

"Natural," "all-natural," and "sustainable," products in most cases are neither backed up by rules and regulations, nor a Third Party certifier. Natural and sustainable are typically label claims that are neither policed nor monitored. (For an evaluation of eco-labels see the Consumers Union website http://www.eco-labels.org). The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service provides loose, non-enforced guidelines for the use of the term "natural" on meat--basically the products cannot contain artificial flavors, coloring, or preservatives and cannot be more than minimally processed. On non-meat products, the term natural is typically pure propaganda. 

Companies (like Whole Foods Market or UNFI) are simply telling us what we want to hear, so that we pay an organic or premium price for a conventional product. Perhaps this wouldn't matter that much if we were living in normal times, with a relatively healthy population, environment, and climate. Conventional products sold as natural or "nearly organic" would be a simple matter of chicanery or consumer fraud. But we are not living in normal times. Pressuring natural and conventional products and producers to make the transition to organic is a matter of life or death. And standing in the way of making this great transition are not only Fortune 500 food and beverage corporations, Monsanto, and corporate agribusiness, as we would expect, but the wholesale and retail giants in the organic and natural products sector, UNFI (United Natural Foods) and Whole Foods Market (WFM). 

UNFI & Whole Foods: Profits at Any Cost 

UNFI and Whole Foods Market are the acknowledged market and wholesale distribution leaders in the $70 billion organic and natural foods and products sector. Companies or brands that want to distribute their products on more than just a local or regional basis must deal with the near-monopoly wholesaler, UNFI, and giant retailer WFM. Meanwhile retailers in markets dominated by Whole Foods have little choice but to emulate the business practices of WFM-i.e. sell as many conventional foods, green washed as "natural," as possible. 

Unfortunately neither UNFI and Whole Foods are putting out the essential message to their millions of customers that expanding organics is literally a matter of life or death for public health, climate, and the environment. Neither are leading the charge to double or triple organic food and farming sales by exposing the myth of natural foods, giving preference to organic producers and products, and pressuring natural brands and companies to make the transition to organic. Neither are the industry giants lobbying the government to stop nickel and dime-ing organics and get serious about making a societal transition to organic food and farming. 

The reason for this is simple: it is far easier and profitable for UNFI and WFM to sell conventional or so-called natural foods at a premium price, than it is to pay a premium price for organics and educate consumers as to why "cheap" conventional/natural food is really more expensive than organic, given the astronomical hidden costs (health, pollution, climate destabilization) of conventional agriculture and food processing. 

UNFI has cemented this "WFM/Conventional as Natural" paradigm by emulating conventional grocery store practices: giving WFM preferential prices over smaller stores and coops-many of whom are trying their best to sell as many certified organic and local organic products as possible. Compounding this undermining of organics is the increasing practice among large organic companies of dropping organic ingredients in favor of conventional ingredients, while maintaining their preferential shelf space in WFM or UNFI-supplied stores. In other words the most ethical and organic (often smaller) grocers and producers are being discriminated against. 

WFM also demands, and in most cases receives, a large quantity of free products from producers in exchange for being distributed in WFM markets. The unfortunate consequence of all this is that it's very difficult for an independently-owned grocer or a coop trying to sell mostly organic products to compete with, or even survive in the same market as WFM, given the natural products "Sweetheart Deal" between UNFI and WFM. As a consequence more and more independently owned "natural" grocery stores and coops are emulating the WFM model, while a number of brand name, formerly organic, companies are moving away from organic ingredients (Silk soy milk, Horizon, Hain, and Peace Cereal for example) or organic practices (the infamous intensive confinement dairy feedlots of Horizon and Aurora) altogether, while maintaining a misleading green profile in the UNFI/WFM marketplace. 

Other companies, in the multi-billion dollar body care sector for example, are simply labeling their conventional/natural products as "organic" or trade-marking the word "organic" or "organics" as part of their brand name. The bottom line is that we must put our money and our principles where our values lie. Buy Certified Organic, not so-called natural products, today and everyday. And tell your retail grocer or coop how you feel.

Contact Whole Foods Market and UNFI today by using this online letter generator and tell them that you will buy only certified organic products for you and your family.

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Update: 

Natural Food Inc. Responds to OCA's Criticisms 

In last week's Organic Bytes, Organic Consumer's Association (OCA) criticized Whole Foods Market (WFM) and United Natural Foods (UNFI) for undermining organics by promoting and selling mostly conventional products (greenwashed as "Natural"), instead of certified organic products. OCA and thousands of organic consumers asked WFM & UNFI to begin to put pressure on their so-called "Natural" product suppliers to sign contracts with accredited certifiers and make the transition to organic. 

Unfortunately, instead of pressuring these "bottom line" companies to rethink dropping organic ingredients in favor of conventional ingredients, and to stop marketing conventional foods as if they were "as good as" or "nearly organic," WFM and UNFI have "put the squeeze" on a number of OCA's advertisers--costing our organization thousands of dollars in lost revenue. 

In spite of this blatant intimidation, OCA will not be silent. We will continue to expose the myth of so-called "Natural" foods and farming. We will continue educating ethical consumers, retailers, wholesalers, farmers, and food processors to put their money and their practices where their supposed values lie. 

MY ABSOLUTE FRUSTRATION WITH EATING A HEALTHFUL & ETHICAL DIET

As my blog states, I'm one healthy girl getting healthier. Like happiness, health is a journey, not a destination. There is no end point, but rather something to move towards every day.

While I consider myself to be fairly healthy - no sign of illness, adequate energy, clear eyes and skin (occasional blemishes), physically fit, happy - I know there is MUCH more I can do to be even healthier. 

But it's so hard. Waaaaa! Boo.Hoo.

Wherever you are on your journey, the presence of challenge is the same. Change and self-discipline are required at each and every step. It doesn't necessarily get easier the healthier you get, but it certainly becomes more rewarding and enlightening. 

Here are my current complaints challenges:

1. Lack of FABULOUS food purchasing options in my town

I read, listen and watch others in life and online live out their health stories and I learn about superfoods and organic everything and I cry a little cry inside because that stuff is not available here. I could mail order it...but then there's the carbon footprint, the expense, and the packaging. I could grow it....well, some of it may grow here. Very few restaurants are vegan friendly...oh, to be indulged locally by knowledgeable vegan chefs like at The Laughing Seed in Asheville, NC or Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco, CA. Waaaa!

2. So many organics come packaged in plastic

Plastic may save your head in a bike fall or regulate your heartbeat in a pacemaker, but I am sick and tired of so many good, delicious foods being unnecessarily packaged in plastic. "I don't feed myself junk, but I'm oblivious to the fact that I make the planet eat indigestible junk at the land fill." Do plastics really get recycled? Can't we - us so-called superior thinking species - think of a better food packaging than plastic?

I question the morals of any health food/organic food company or store who packages their pristine food in plastic. Who cares how healthy you are if you choke the planet with litter. Really. 

3. It was to be expected, but the vegan critics are maddening

I've had several omnivore's who wish to convince me that having a house pet (dog, fish) or riding a horse is equally as cruel as slaughtering and eating an animal. While imprisoning a dog, cat, horse or fish certainly robs that animal of it's rightful freedom, I don't think it is anywhere near as cruel as the treatment received by the animals in CAFOs.

Their logic is that if I'm willing to have a pet dog or ride a horse then I might as well eat meat. Veganism is not a black and white issue, there are many, many, many shades of gray.

While I may not be a perfect vegan, I certainly feel that I am doing the right thing by the environment by not supporting a system that destroys forests, pollutes water and produces pharmaceutical infused meat from sick, diseased, maltreated animals.

4. The raw food diet plays with my mind and heart strings

There's a lot of good to be said for the raw food diet. Amazing stories about people who have overcome major diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes with nutrition generally employed a raw food vegan diet. I have yet to read studies of anyone who employed the Atkins Diet (meat based) or similar to overcome any one of these diseases. Meat does not heal. I do not read about meat smoothies.

The body loves plants. The body loves raw plants. I would like to eat more raw plants. See #1. The organic section in my main grocery store is sad. All the organic produce sections in my small town put together make for a marginally decent produce section.

Tangent: Yesterday in the grocery store there were white grapes on special. The sign read "Product of the USA"....well, how local. It does make a difference when you're in South Carolina whether those "local USA" grapes came from California or Georgia. Local does not equal USA, guys. What's really funny is that the bags of grapes actually indicated that they were from Mexico. Well, in this case I guess "USA" meant North America! Is there such a term as "LocalWashing"??

5. The "if I only knew then what I know now" self-destructive kick-yourself mental tape

I certainly did not eat as well as I do back when I birthed and nursed Bella. It is a huge regret of mine. The breast milk she received was built off chicken, steak, pizza, bread, cheese and ice cream. I didn't home grind her baby food of fresh, organic sweet potatoes or avocados. She didn't pinch little goji berries into her precious toddler mouth. Her first birthday cake wasn't a raisin sweetened bran muffin.

I didn't introduce these natural flavors to her until she was already set in her ways. I have radically changed my diet because I consciously understand the benefit, but those reasons don't fly with a 7.5 year old. 

"I'm the mommy and you eat what I tell you to eat" is not my approach. I hope to encourage Bella to adopt at least some of my eating patterns. She's as proficient at saying "NO, I won't eat that" as I am with saying "NO, I won't buy that." I can at least cut myself a break by knowing that she has never eaten a Happy Meal, never drank a Coke and never been on antibiotics.

Bella is not a mini-Carla in the food department. But she, like we, is on her own journey, and I am merely her guide....until she's 18. (Oh dear, I must get busy!)

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I share all this with you because I struggle every day, learn every day and make the best choice with the information that I have. It is a full-time vocation to stay up to date on food options and health studies. I am but one source and one opinion and I hope that my findings and experience help you in making the best decision for you.

None of us live in a food utopia. (I hear from all the raw food gurus food utopia is actually in Ecuador where they're all relocating.) I don't want to move. I don't think that abandoning a broken system is the way to fix the system. It may be in an individual's best interest to abandon the system, but for the benefit of all, I believe it is important to stay in the broken system and work on fixing it from within. I am an idealistic optimist, I know.

These are ways that I intend to help improve my local food system: encourage vegan meals in local restaurants, support local farmer's markets and encourage expansion, and get more bold and creative in the kitchen and find vegan/raw recipes that my family loves for the taste, if not for the ethics or nutritional benefit.

Live Light, xo-C. 

A WORLD WAITING TO BE BORN

I've been enthralled by reading Dr. M. Scott Peck's (of The Road Less Traveled fame) book entitled A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered which he wrote in 1993. 

From the book jacket:

"We are a deeply ailing society. Our illness is incivility, by which Dr. Peck means conduct far more serious than a want of politeness - and going back in time much further than the blatantly gluttonous 1980s. Morally destructive patterns of self-absorption, callousness, manipulativeness, and materialism are so ingrained in our routine behavior that we often do not recognize them. 

In multiple ways we engage in subtle forms of unconscious hurtfulness toward ourselves and others - ways that have come to be accepted as the norm in American society.

Yet there is a growing awareness that something is seriously wrong. If one of the many powerful themes in this book is that civil behavior has largely vanished from our lives - between individuals, in marriage and family life, in the workplace, and in organizations and businesses - another theme is that change is not only possible, it is achievable. 

We can learn to restore civility to ourselves and our institutions. We can make the spiritual commitment that is a cornerstone of civility. We have the power and the knowledge to become a truly civil society."

This passage stuck with me: 

"...the prevailing lack of organizational consciousness lies at the root of our failure of civics, our severe problem in diagnosing our systemic ills and implementing timely treatment. As I travel around the nation, I find the vast majority of its citizens to be very decent sorts. They generally like to take care of themselves. The are generally concerned about their neighbors and behave in a kindly fashion toward them. 

But, despite their bombardment by newspapers and TV [Dr. Peck wasn't even aware of what was to come with the internet in 1993!!], they are generally unconcerned about the broader social or systemic issues that affect them. They seem remarkably unaware of the exorbitant personal price they and their neighbors are paying to support the military-industrial complex or a health care system that is almost our of control. 

They may have opinion about such matter. But their opinions are usually thoughtless and uneducated. Their concern is shallow. They don't seem to feel any responsibility for the systems in which they are caught up, and they don't seem to want any responsibility. They want a mythical "someone" to take care of it for them. The system seems beyond them, something in which they are somehow not involved, something that is out of sight and out of mind." 

What do you perceive as a systemic ill and what responsibility are you taking for it? We own the system because we are the system. Remember, if you're not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.

Live Light, xo-C.

PS - I was disappointed this morning in discovering my published typos in yesterday's blog post. My apologies to my articulate readers! The blog version has been corrected.

HELP END WORLD HUNGER, WITHOUT DONATING A CENT, TODAY!

Yes, there are politics involved with world hunger and I do not claim to know the solutions around those snares, but the fact remains that there is more than enough food produced regularly to feed the ENTIRE human population!

But, still, more than 840 million people go hungry day after day, many of them children. 

Today, you can help reverse this. Eat no meat. Not so others can eat that meat, but so that others can eat the grains that would have otherwise been fed to the animals whom you would have eaten. 

It takes up to 16 pounds  of grain to produce just 1 pound of edible animal flesh. (GoVeg.com) I would imagine that 16 pounds of grain would feed  AT LEAST 16 people, but 1 pound of flesh would feed maybe 1 or 2. 

From BellaOnline.com:

It takes 23 gallons of water to produce a pound of tomatoes.

It takes 5,214 gallons of water to produce a pound of beef. 

One acre of land can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes. 

One acre of land can produce 165 pounds of beef. 

It takes 1 pound of grain to make 1 pound of bread. 

It takes 20 pounds of grain to make 1 pound of beef. [This differs from the stat above.]

"[M]eat consumption is an inefficient use of grain—the grain is used more efficiently when consumed by humans. Continued growth in meat output is dependent on feeding grain to animals, creating competition for grain between affluent meat-eaters and the world's poor." World Watch Organization

"If just 10 percent of American meat-eaters adopted a vegetarian diet, there would be 12 million more tons of grain to feed to humans, enough to support the 60 million people who starve to death each year." DownToEarth.org

Not only is forgoing meat more compassionate to all Earthly inhabitants, it is also better for your health and healthier for the planet. But I won't go there now. Again. 

Why is it that people ~ in our abundant culture with endless food options ~ insist upon eating meat? Is it because Iit is everywhere, affordable and tempting? I'd love to know your input because I really do not understand. Yes, I've eaten meat in the past, but knowing what I know now, I can no longer do it. I personally feel it is irresponsible to those who are hungry, to the polluted planet and to the poorly treated animals in factory farms. Do you understand? Can you help me understand?

Here are some resources for going vegetarian and or vegan for the day....or longer...if you so choose:

Vegetarian Starter Kit - free by mail

Vegetarian 101

Healthy Beginnings

Take the VegPledge

On Monday, May 11th I will be starting a Six Week Jump and Juice Fast Feast Fest. I'll go into the details another day soon, but if you'd like to join me here the supplies to consider: I will be referencing Natalie Savona's Big Book of Juices and using my Needak rebounder. If you are local, you can obtain this rebounder at a discount from Oasis Life Spa or you can order it directly from the Needak website. 

Live Light, xo-C.

I'VE FALLEN IN LOVE...FOR THE 5 MILLIONth TIME!

My dear AC passed along a flyer which has stolen my heart away. That's the trouble with me...I fall in love so easily. This explains why I'm generally in a neurotic state. There are so many ideas, businesses, grassroot causes and ideals by which to get swept away! I do get swept away and fall hopelessly behind. Then I catch up just to get swept away again. It's a crazy way to live, isn't it? But I don't know any other way and I guess I really don't mind, otherwise I'd change. 

This time it's Dr. Will Tuttle's World Peace Diet: Eating for Spiritual Health and Social Harmony. It "sheds light not only on the underlying causes of war, injustice, and exploitation, but also offers valuable insights into precisely how we can each contribute to world peace and a revolution of consciousness. His research is based on a new understanding of the far-reacing implications of our food choices, as well as ancient wisdom eaching that have been suppressed in our culture."

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that I advocate abstaining from flesh foods. I've tried to share my now staunch opinion while trying not to offend too many people. (I'm learning that food is politics, religion and culture on a plate and can be VERY controversial!!) The more I learn and understand, the stronger I feel about reducing the killing of animals. I believe that if we each had to kill with our own hands any meat we would eat, then more people would instantly become vegetarian. Most of us are repulsed by killing, but somehow we avoid those feelings when someone else kills for us and provides the flesh in a convenient package on a store shelf. It's still a dead animal you are purchasing.

Our individual bodies and our personal ethics are microcosoms of The Big Picture. If we can collectively kill a chicken, then we can collectively kill another human. Until we value ourselves, or neighbors and even our enemies as fellow human beings then we will continue to slaughter animals. Can we not collectively learn to value the lives of innocent animals and eventually better value each other and find world peace?

You may say that I'm idealistic, a dreamer or a Pollyanna. But it takes keeping a vision of Universal Love in focus in order to have any hope of one day getting even a wee bit closer. You don't think about just doing well before a big game. You think about winning. In the case of Universal Love, however, we all win. What happens to be good for the animal is also good for the planet, good for your body and easier on your wallet in the long run (excerpted from my Economic Crisis Diet). I'm keeping this vision in focus and hope to do my part in attracting others to follow.

Americans are addicted to flesh consumption (I won't even get into sexual exploitation but it's rolled in there too). Just because we can physically eat meat, doesn't mean that we should. It's the Omnivore's Dilemma. There are compelling arguments for and against the human physiological capabilites of meat eating. Regardless, ethical and environmental issues which support a meatless diet trump those arguments as far as I'm concerned. 

We will not ever be truly free and full of love until we can treat animals and other humans the way we wish to be treated. The Golden Rule applies to creatures too!

Dr. Tuttle advocates the vegan diet. I'm not there yet, but hope to gravitate to that level before too long. I will have to let go of my beloved Caesar salad (anchovies...my only meat....and Parmesan cheese), the occasional butter, sour cream, goat cheese and yogurt. Perhaps I'll be inspired to make the change when I hear Dr. Tuttle speak in Bluffton, South Carolina on Sunday, May 3rd from 11:45 to 1:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry. His talk follows the Sunday service which will also be lead by Dr. Tuttle starting at 10 am. If you'd like to carpool from Hilton Head Island, please let me know!

www.WorldPeaceDiet.org

Live Light, xo-C.

FRESH Movie Trailer

Synopsis

FRESH celebrates the farmers, thinkers and business people across America who are re-inventing our food system. Each has witnessed the rapid transformation of our agriculture into an industrial model, and confronted the consequences: food contamination, environmental pollution, depletion of natural resources, and morbid obesity. Forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, they offer a practical vision for a future of our food and our planet.

Among several main characters, FRESH features urban farmer and activist, Will Allen, the recipient of MacArthur’s 2008 Genius Award; sustainable farmer and entrepreneur, Joel Salatin, made famous by Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma; and supermarket owner, David Ball, challenging our Wal-Mart dominated economy.

Learn more at the FRESH website!

PS - Don't forget! My Food School class will be Thursday, April 23rd from 6:30 to 8 pm at Oasis Life Spa on Hilton Head Island, SC. I'd love to see you there! More info here.

JERRY, ROSEMARY and THYME!

I had my blog post all mapped out in my head, but am now having trouble reclaiming that data! I have been overcome with the beauty of a sunny day...finally! We have had a fair amount of rain as of late for which I am thankful on behalf of the plants and because it hasn't been too much rain like in some areas.

But I have been a little concerned about my seed babies and worried that they'd drown or get washed away. But as you ca see here they are safe and ready to grow! I think with one week of sun after all this rain that they could turn into beanstalks and I into Jack. Weeee!

To keep the seed babies company, I procured 11 different little herb plants today at the Hilton Head Island Herb Society sale. Aren't they gorgeous? I'll plant them in the pots on the back patio to keep them near to the kitchen.

And while doing the chores I love (buying edible plants and going grocery shopping while thinking about seed babies) I met an interesting man. He was handing out flyers in the grocery store for a 5K Run/Walk tomorrow. It's a benefit run to raise money for Jerry Sanders who is in need of a kiney transplant.

"Jerry was born in Kansas City, MO in 1957. At an early age he started competing in cross country and track. Jerry attended the University of South Dakota and eventually moved to Hilton Head Island in 1987 where he worked with the childens' after school program at HH Prep. 

For the past 18 years Jerry has worked with the PGA pros' children during the Heritage Golf Tournament kids program. He became President of the HHI Running Club due to his extensive running background. 

Jerry is now in need of a kidney transplant. The two main loves in Jerry's life are his children and the sport of running. His wish and goal is for his two daugthers to see him run again. With your help we can make his goal come true."

The man I met was the father of Addison Palmer who is a friend of Jerry's and artist who will be donating an original oil painting to be award through a raffle to raise additional money for Jerry. Check out Addison's talent on his website here. 

The road race is TOMORROW, Saturday, April 4th at 9 AM. It's a 5K run, a 5K walk or a 1 Mile Fun Run. No dogs.  $25 to register for 5K, $10 for 1 Mile. $5 for raffle tickets. Location is Coligny Beach.

More info in The Island Packet article here.

Perhaps we'll seeya there! Live Light, xo-C.

PS - I went to a rebounder class last night - what fun!!! I can't wait to tell you more about this simple gadget designed for pure fun and which helps your lymph fluid to better circulate. I'll explain all that next week and why it's important to have optimal lymph health. 

PSS- In the meantime, read this fascinating article about why exercise is not the solution to losing weight. Food choices are SO much more important. Learn how to make smarter choices at my Food School class on Thursday, April 23rd at 6:30 pm. More info on that is here.