SAY NO to GMO – You have until February 27th to make your voice heard!

“Government of the people, by the people, for

the people, shall not perish from the Earth”.

Abraham Lincoln

Make your voice heard at: www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/12/27/2011-33009/dow-agroscience-llc-availability-of-petition-plant-pest-risk-assessment-and-environmental-assessment

 and at
http://www.cornucopia.org/2011/12/action-alert-say-no-to-dow-chemicals-ge-corn-petition/
 to sign a petition

 going directly to President Obama and US Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Learn more about GMO foods at
http://www.saynotogmos.org/

 Dear Readers – I put in my 2 cents below  - Will you speak up?

“With the ever-increasing cancer rates, obesity, and chronic disease in our country, I find it hard to fathom the connection between what we eat and our health is not being made.  Health care cost is at  epidemic proportions along with all the disease and with no end in sight.  According to CMS.gov the National Health Expenditure has reached 17.6% of the GDP and an average of $8,086 per person.   The answer is not in forcing people to buy insurance so healthcare providers can get paid for more open heart surgeries  and chemotherapy and big  Pharma can sell more drugs.  I very seldom watch TV anymore and when I do I’m amazed at the amount of drug advertisements.   Every other commercial is a drug for this and a drug for that.  Drugs companies spend billions of dollars convincing the sick, that they have the magic pill.  I was shocked the other day to hear an advertisement for the new drug “Provigil”, to treat “shift work disorder” – really?  Half of the 60 second spot was taken up with the side effect disclosure of which included death of course.  Who benefits from all this advertising?  I don’t think it’s the poor shift worker who now needs more drugs to deal with the side effects of his “shift work disorder” drug. 

The answer to all this madness is not in a pill –  It’s in preventing illness before it cost thousands of dollars.  The answer is in getting healthy.  Supply and demand still works.  Decrease the demand for a product or service and the cost goes down for everyone.

Studies have proven time and again, that pesticides and toxins cause cancer and disease, along with poor nutrition.  Maybe it’s  time our elected officials put our money where their mouth is – how about a few more dollars spent on subsidizing  clean produce?  You say America needs to get healthy and then you subsidize the very foods that are making us sick and fat, like GMO corn.

No benefit will be gained by promoting the market for GM food.  I read the news and I am aware of the problems already surfacing with cross contamination of organic fields for instance, and the fact Monsanto’s pesticide and herbicide formulas have produced crops more and more resistant to the pests and weeds they were designed to resist. The same has happened with antibiotics as the misuse of these miracle drugs has increased, creating stronger and more resistant strains of deadly bacteria.   Where does this end?  When our food source is gobbled up by super bugs or so contaminated it’s not fit for human consumption, or when a new bacterial epidemic wipes us out?

If the government is really interested in the health of America, you will not allow this deregulation.   Corporate profit is the only benefactor of such a decision.

Americans can no longer but on blinders and allow profit to dictate how we eat.   We have the right of not only knowing what is in our food supply, but the right to choose.  I choose good health for myself and by doing so affect the gene pool positively for the next generation.

Demand good food and the supply of bad food will end automatically.   Supply and demand – simple…..

Thanks for reading and sharing……And thank you “saynotogmo.org” for all of your important, thoughtful research.  I’m playing it forward.

With Patience

Obesity and Malnutrition

Could it be that obesity is actually a result of malnutrition and a body’s attempt to survive at all cost?  Just hear me out.  Hunger is an automatic response to the body’s need for nutrients (not just food).   In our fast paced, “fast food” society, we consume more empty calories (no nutrients) than ever in our human history.  The body screams with hunger pains – feed me, feed me and so the body keeps eating and eating.  But all it is getting is calories with no substance – way more calories than it needs and it’s still starving.  And to add to the problem, the excess animal protein in our standard American diet along with processed carbs and sugars throws the body so out of balance that pH, blood sugar, insulin and hormones are completely out of rack.   So along with obesity, comes chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, all kinds of digestive disorders, etc. etc.

There was a time when we grew our produce and supplemented our meat.  Now we grow our meat and supplement our produce.   Or even worse – eat no produce.   I’ve been at my sister’s a lot lately helping take care of my grandmother in her final days.  She’s 96 and grew up in a whole different era when families actually grew food from the earth, cooked and ate around the family table.  The contrast between my Grandmother’s diet and what my sister’s family is eating is staggering.   Eating a vegetable or fruit is rare and fast food is the usual fare in this house.  Even the youngest at 1 ½, is fed primarily highly processed, packaged, toxic food.   Of course, you can’t change what you don’t know.  Media and commerce has done a very good job of selling these empty calories.  Even so, I think most people real agree vegetables and fruit are important.   What they don’t know and the main media is not telling (look at all the advertising dollars they would lose!), is what they’re eating is actually poison and is leading them down a path of misery and disease.

Could eating mindful actually solve the obesity epidemic?  Maybe just asking ourselves “is this food nourishing my body” every time we shovel something in our mouths, could change the way we eat.  It worked for me.  I’m not saying I never eat anything unhealthy, but this question keeps me balanced.  Good food for thought. 

Check out this healthy, delicious, soul warming soup:

 

Hearty & Healthy Potato Leek Soup

 

3 tbsp safflower oil or organic canola

1 small head of Cauliflower (chopped into small pieces)

2 medium russet or Idaho potatoes (cubed)

3 leeks (cleaned well and chopped – remove tough dark green stalk)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 stalks of celery (chopped fine)

4 cups vegetable broth (Better than Bouillon)*

 1 cup unsweetened plant-based milk

1 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 dash of cayenne

Salt and Pepper to taste

 1.     Add oil to large soup pot over medium high heat.  Add leeks and celery and a dash of salt and sauté for a few minutes.  Add garlic stirring a few times and then cauliflower and potatoes.  Add 1/2 cup of broth, lower heat and steam for about 10 minutes.

2.    Add rest of broth, thyme, bay leaf and cayenne.  Simmer with lid on for about 20 minutes until cauliflower and potatoes are tender.

3.    Remove soup and process in batches for a creamy texture.  For a more chunky soup (my favorite) process half. 

4.    Pour back into pot and add milk.  Re-heat gently.

5. Add salt and pepper to taste* (Taste First! – will probably not need more salt)

*If on sodium restricted diet – dilute bouillon by half