Chicken McNuggets = 50% Chicken + 50% Toxic Chemicals - check it out!

Thanks to Dr. Mercola for this well-researched and frankly, shocking article...

The Chicken Which Should be Banned

Posted By Dr. Mercola | November 08 2010 | 704,477 views |

Do you put dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent made of silicone, in your chicken dishes?   How about tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you?

These are just two of the ingredients in a McDonalds Chicken McNugget. Only 50 percent of a McNugget is actually chicken. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.

Organic Authority helpfully transcribed the full ingredients list provided by McDonalds:

"White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary).
Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch.
Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

There's no doubt about it. Processed food like that from McDonald's is just not part of a healthful diet – in fact, much of it cannot even pass for real food.

After reviewing the above article I am very grateful I can say I have never had a Chicken McNugget from McDonald's. If you can't say the same at least you can commit to never having another one again.

This sentiment was echoed by Federal Judge Robert Sweet in a lawsuit against the restaurant chain back in 2003 when he said:

"Chicken McNuggets, rather than being merely chicken fried in a pan, are a McFrankenstein creation of various elements not utilized by the home cook."

At the time, Time Magazine reported that Judge Sweet "questioned whether customers understood the risks of eating McDonald's chicken over regular chicken."

That was seven years ago, and I still wonder whether or not McDonald's customers truly understand the risks they take when consuming fast food on a regular basis.

If you missed Morgan Spurlock's documentary Super-Size Me, I highly recommend you watch it with your entire family. It's a real-life illustration of just how dangerous – life threatening, in fact – an excessive fast food diet can really be. And "excessive" consumption is likely far less than you imagine: Eating fast food just twice a week DOUBLES your risk of developing insulin resistance, compared to eating it just once a week, for example. Insulin resistance, as I've discussed on many occasions, is one of THE primary driving factors behind most of the diseases we currently struggle with, from diabetes to cancer and heart disease...

The truth is, McDonald's fare contain non-food ingredients that can seriously harm your health.

This shouldn't come as any great surprise. After all, how healthful can something be that shows no signs of decomposing after being left on a counter for more than a decade?

Clearly there's more chemicals in there than actual, real foodstuff.

Chicken McNuggets: "Made With White Meat"... and What Else?

According to McDonald's, their chicken nuggets are "made with white meat, wrapped up in a crisp tempura batter." But as the article above shows, these chicken nuggets are a far cry from what you might expect, based on that description.

About half of it is actual chicken. The rest is a mix of corn-derived fillers and additives (most likely genetically modified), along with a slew of synthetic chemicals, including:

• Dimethyl polysiloxane, a type of silicone with anti-foaming properties used in cosmetics and a variety of other goods like Silly Putty
• Tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a petroleum-based product with antioxidant properties

The latter, TBHQ, is typically listed as an "antioxidant," but it's important to realize it is a SYNTHETIC chemical with antioxidant properties – NOT a natural antioxidant.

The chemical prevents oxidation of fats and oils, thereby extending shelf life of processed foods. It's a commonly used ingredient in processed foods of all kinds, but you can also find it in varnishes, lacquers, pesticide products, as well as cosmetics and perfumes to reduce the evaporation rate and improve stability.

At its 19^th and 21^st meetings, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives determined that TBHQ was safe for human consumption at levels of 0-0.5 mg/kg of body weight. However, more recently, the Codex commission set the maximum allowable limits up to between 100 to as much as 400 mg/kg, depending on the food it's added to. (Chewing gum is permitted to contain the highest levels of TBHQ.)

That's quite a discrepancy in supposedly "safe" limits!

So, is the safe level zero, or 400 mg/kg? Who knows?!

According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, one gram of TBHQ can cause:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Ringing in the ears (tinnitus)
• Delirium
• Sense of suffocation
• Collapse

Based on animal studies, health hazards associated with TBHQ include:

• liver effects at very low doses
• positive mutation results from in vitro tests on mammalian cells
• biochemical changes at very low doses
• reproductive effects at high doses

The good news is that it is not suspected to be a persistent toxin, meaning your body is probably able to eliminate it so that it does not bioaccumulate.

REAL Food "Lives" and "Dies"

I recently commented on the curious ability of McDonald's food to remain impervious to degradation. It's as if the food has been embalmed to stay "fresh" forever! After sitting on a shelf for 14 years, the hamburger bun has yet to develop a single trace of mold. It's barely even begun to shrivel...

Folks, these buns bear absolutely no resemblance to real bread, and when you read the list of ingredients, this mysterious mummification feature becomes less of a mystery.

Here are just a few of the ingredients in a McDonald's hamburger bun:

• calcium sulfate (aka Plaster of Paris)
• calcium carbonate (Antacid medication)
• ammonium sulfate (According to MSDS,“harmful if swallowed”)
• ammonium chloride (Causes irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea)
• calcium propionate (Preservative)
• sodium propionate (Mold inhibitor)

Always remember that wholesome, health-promoting food is "live" food, and the hallmark of live food is the fact that it will decompose.
The fact that these burgers, buns, and fries do not decompose, even after a decade or two, is a clear sign that it's just not real food, and should not be part of your diet.

You Are What You Eat...

The bottom line is that if you want to stay healthy, and keep your children healthy, you have to avoid fast food and other processed foods, and invest some time in your kitchen, cooking from scratch. Reclaiming your kitchen is part and parcel of healthful living, so you know exactly what you're putting in your body.

Ideally, you'll want to consume as much whole, raw, organic and/or locally grown foods as possible. That's one of the major reasons why vegetable juicing works so well – you're consuming living raw food!

Most vegetables also have very low carbohydrate levels that minimally disturb insulin metabolism – another important trait of a healthful diet -- but there is something very special about vegetable juicing and eating live raw foods in general.

In addition, I believe optimal health is also largely dependent on eating the right foods for your nutritional type. I think this is such an important part of an optimal diet that I am now offering the entire Nutritional Typing program to you for free.

If you're "hooked" on fast food and other processed foods, please review my recent article How to Wean Yourself Off Processed Foods in 7 Steps. If you're currently sustaining yourself on fast food and processed foods, this is probably the most positive life change you could ever make.

And if you have children, remember that feeding your children home cooked meals can have far reaching benefits, extending even to your future grandchildren. Yes, that's right! It is now well known that dietary changes can prompt epigenetic DNA changes that can be passed on to future generations. For instance, pregnant rats fed a fatty diet had daughters and granddaughters with a greater risk of breast cancer.

Making wise food decisions can literally "override" genetic predispositions for disease.

If you need help determining what foods are actually healthful and which are not, please Review shopping guidelines listed at end of this article 

Dr. Mercola is the founder of the world's most visited natural health website, Mercola.com.  You can learn the hazardous side effects of OTC Remedies by getting a FREE copy of his latest special report The Dangers of Over the Counter Remedies by going to his Report Page

Are we trading health for speed when we "NUKE" food?

           I would like to thank handsome hubby for challenging me when I made the statement (for the umpteenth time), "microwave use is dangerous." 

This was after a regular contributor to my Facebook page, Med-Veg Fusion - A Natural Food and Health Resource, Lisa Murphy of Veg with Lisa made a comment in her latest video, "Dark Chocolate Pudding" (it's vegan and sounds fabulous - check it out!) about not liking to use a microwave - I shared the link with Paul (handsome hubby) and asked him if he noticed that she made that remark, thinking that coming from such a reputable source as I consider Lisa to be, that might lend further weight to my long-held stance.  BTW, before today, I have been known to occasionally cave and "nuke" stuff from time to time when in a super hurry, but I never use plastic and I am always filled with shame afterwards, so it sorta takes away the victory of receiving my heated goods 60-90 seconds faster than using a more conventional (safer) method. 

Well, Paul posited something to the effect of, "just because the molecules are vibrated to generate the heat doesn't mean it's bad for you."  That was all I needed to respond, "I'll just need to share with you some results of the years of research I have done that has led me to my opinion."  He seemed to be OK with that so I set about digging up fresh facts.

Actually, what I found was sort of like my post about the baby carrots and chlorine scare earlier this week -- I found quite a bit of material and depending on what I judged to be the incentives of the authors (whether they had profit to gain on swaying public opinion one way or the other....), the opinions and "facts" were sort of all over the place...  I kept with my review of the material and did manage to come away with some consistent generalities.   I think one of the most thoroughly investigated and objectively presented report was found in this article,     Microwave Ovens - The Proven Dangers     by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell.

In my opinion, this is a well-researched article.  However, it is lengthy in its detail.  I thought I would share with you their conclusions below:

Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following points:

1. Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].
2. The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Have you tossed out your microwave oven yet?

The use of artificial microwave transmissions for subliminal psychological control, a.k.a. "brainwashing", has also been proven. We're attempting to obtain copies of the 1970's Russian research documents and results written by Drs. Luria and Perov specifying their clinical experiments in this area.

Written by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell
International common Law Copyright 2000
by The Christian Law Institute & Fellowship Assembly


Follows are a couple more links to research I evaluated today:

Microwave containers leaching toxins into food at alarming rates by S. D. Wells

Microwave Radiation by EM Watch

Fact vs. fiction.(Microwave Myths) by David Schardt

So, as in the story of the baby carrots, I share this information with you and encourage you to do your additional research and form your own opinion on how it resonates with you.  Personally, while I may avail myself of the convenience of the micro from time to time, it will be far less frequently.  I haven't actually cooked a dish in the microwave for many years, typically using it to reheat a cup of coffee or melt cheese on some organic corn chips for a quick snack but will definitely think twice after today's research about even doing that much...

I hope you found this interesting and/or helpful.  I encourage you, as in all of my sharings of opinion, to track down your own findings and make your resulting choices based on how the material resounds with you.  After all.....

....It's all up to you!

To our health,

Cris

Ask your representative if an anti-GMO bill is right for you!

This just in from the Organic Consumers Association....

News From Washington D.C.

Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D) from Ohio has introduced a bill (HR3553) in Congress that would give us the right to know whether or not there are genetically engineered ingredients in our food. Please ask your Congressional Representative to cosponsor the Kucinich bill.

Click here to take action -


Write your Congressman TODAY

You can click above to easily send a letter to your representative to ask him/her to co-sponsor this important bill to help President Obama fulfill his 2007 campaign promise.  He would be able to accomplish what previous administration's (Bush - Clinton - Bush) weren't able to achieve.

We deserve to join many other nations (who have banned GMO crops and products from being grown, imported or stocked on store shelves) and to know what is in our food!  This should not be a right we have to fight for, but since FDA has refused to allow labels on GMO products, we need to vote with our vote and our grocery shopping dollar!

More info and videos here --


Tell the FDA - GMO Foods ARE Different!


BTW, Congrssman Kucinich is a strong advocate for consumer and environmental causes.  He is a vegan - a member of the "Power Vegans" along with many other socio-politico celebrities as well.  Follows is an excerpt from "The Rise of the Power Vegans" by Joel Stein

 "Being a vegan then (a decade ago) was so weird that pundits listed it as a reason Dennis Kucinich couldn't be the Democratic Presidential nominee. "People weren't sure if it was another political party or an ethnic group they'd never heard of," Kucinich says. While the Ohio representative failed to win the Democratic nomination in 2004—and in 2008—Kucinich's diet has become so accepted that he was able to persuade Representative Robert A. Brady (D-Pa.), the head of the Committee on House Administration, to include vegan options in the congressional cafeteria. When Bill Clinton announced his dietary epiphany—"I got back to basically what I weighed in high school," he told Wolf Blitzer this September—Kucinich decided to finally finish his own diet book, whose working title, The Cleveland Diet, will probably be changed by its publisher. Kucinich, however, did not go vegan for power, but rather for love. Fifteen years ago, he says, "I met someone who was vegan when I went to the state senate. This was someone I was very fond of. This was kind of a courtship strategy."

I hope you found this information helpful and interesting.


I hope you will also make a moment to let your representative know that you are one of the 93% of US consumers who want to have their GMO foods labeled.  The choice is yours, of course.

After all...it's all up to you!

To our health,


Cris

Are you achy all over? Perhaps the culprit is in your tap water....

I don't know about you, but the younger I get, the more achy I'm feeling -  all over... 

I'm working on flexibility exercises and working out almost every day - also, I plan to start "oil pulling therapy" next week, following the book, "Oil Pulling Therapy" by Dr. Bruce Fife,  that is purported by thousands of testimonials to virtually cure this along with many other maladies. 

However, since our tap water here in the burbs of Denver smells like a swimming pool, I am thinking that our making our morning coffee from it isn't such a great idea after all.  I had previously been told that if it is heated, the chlorine's effect is knocked out - not sure about that, but am guessing that perhaps it doesn't take away the toxicity of fluoride. 

I make our toothpaste using coconut oil, baking soda and peppermint oil - haven't used fluoridated toothpaste for years and drink spring water for hydration but have been lazy, using tap water for coffee.  I will start substituting spring water for a couple of weeks and see if that doesn't make a difference - will be happy to share here what my results are with this test as well...  We have been very happy with Eldorado Natural Spring Water - we have a cooler here at home and it's delightfully cold, odorless and tasteless - what a concept! 

Sending a big thank you to Peter Glickman for the following informative article:

"Arthritis" & Fluoride

The "tangle" of fluoridation and the US Government dates from the 1930's when Francis Frary, Chief Scientist of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), concerned about the fluoride pollution from Aluminum plants suggested fluoride strengthened teeth.

Across the Atlantic, in Denmark, Kaj Roholm, Copenhagen's Deputy Health Minister, repeated a study done at Johns Hopkins University in 1925 showing that fluoride actually weakened teeth. (Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 63 (1925), p. 553) Roholm published his work in 1937, which referenced 893 scientific articles on fluoride. He made the point that fluoride waste from factories had etched windows, crippled cattle, and damaged vegetation. He urged no fluoride to be given to children at all. He believed that its horrific effects could be due to the fact that it destroyed enzyme action in the body. (Enzymes are the chemical messengers that bring about hundreds of chemical reactions in our bodies.)

By 1943, the US had a bigger problem, World War II, and strangely enough fluoride played a central role. In order to make just one single atom bomb, the Manhattan Project (the code name for the Army project to build the atom bomb) needed 12,000 workers, enough electricity to power New York City, and 33 tons of uranium hexafluoride gas each month! And to prevent Germany from discovering the process, the existence of fluoride had to be kept secret, which wasn't easy as at many of the fluoride manufacturing plants, the "spillage" of fluoride gas was destroying crops, crippling animals and killing a few people. As you might suspect, this lead to several law suits against the defense contractors, which was viewed by General Groves, who headed the Manhattan project, as a major threat to the wartime effort. He responded by making all the documents relating to fluoride secret and persuading a group of scientists to provide those contractors with studies that downplayed fluoride's role in these catastrophes.

In 1944, the US Public Health Service held a conference on fluoride, which was secretly financed by the Medical Director for the Manhattan Project. It was at this conference that the idea to test fluoridation of public water supplies was put forward. The Chief Dental Officer of the New York Health Department, Dr. David Ast, volunteered to set up a test on Newburgh, NY. A technical advisory committee was set up to guide that test and Dr. Harold Hodge, a scientist from the University of Rochester (NY) was appointed chairman of that committee. Hodge was also the head of poison testing for the Manhattan Project, by the way.

In 1953, Dr. George Waldbott began investigating fluoride. Dr. Waldbott was vice president of the American College of Allergists; was applauded in Time magazine for his discovery that some people had fatal allergic reactions to penicillin; and published the first report in 1953 on the dangers of smoking.

Dr. Waldbott wrote Fluoridation: The Great Dilemma, in which he explained that many people are extremely sensitive to fluoride, resulting in stiffness and pain in the spine, muscular weakness, stomach upsets and headaches. He reported that just taking people off the fluoridated water resulted in the absence of these symptoms.

So, the "arthritis" bothering you may just be a reaction to the fluoride in their water. How can you be sure? Drink only spring water that has not been fluoridated for a week and see if the symptoms go away. You'll need to avoid any coffee, tea, soft drinks, etc. when you eat out as those are all made with tap water.

The history I've given above is from The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson. A marvelous book with more than 100 pages of footnotes in addition to some photocopies of recently unclassified US Government documents. (2004, Seven Stories Press, NY)

©2011 Peter Glickman, Inc.

Peter Glickman's "Master Cleanse" website

As always, I hope you found this information interesting if not helpful.  I bring you results of my extensive research into what lurks in our food and water supplies.  Of course, what you choose to do with this information is up to you.   It is my personal hope that it will lead you to your own investigation to learn more on these topics to make the right choices for you and your family. 

After all, it's all up to you!

To our health,


Cris

PS  -  Since my research is continually bringing up more questions, even posting this article did - wondered what sort of tools there are available to "defluoridate" our home drinking water on the market.  A quick Google search turned up quite a few  -  will be looking more into these before I write more articles/book on this subject.  Here's a link to what I found if you'd care to check more into it -- Google search results - "how to remove fluoride from tap water"

Beware the Baby Carrot Beast! ... Really? "Scarrot" Tactics or "Myth-Information"?

OMGoodness... 

Such a Big Deal "they" are making over how baby carrots are made and especially how they are treated to keep bad bacteria from infiltrating their mini naked bodies within those little bags....  wow!

Recently, I received several messages from caring friends, asking if I was aware of the chlorine baths baby carrots are dipped in during processing and how this "white blush" surfaces after this toxin seeps up from its hiding spots within this food as proof of its contamination.... It appears that this e-mail "scare" is enjoying a resurgence of late.

Throw out the Baby Carrots with the Chlorine Bath Water?

Since I've been growingly concerned about what evils are lurking within our food supply like:  antibiotics; growth hormones; pesticides; genetically engineered ingredients; artificial flavorings, colorings and preservatives to name a few, I decided to dig deeper.  There are many articles addressing this concern.  Depending on the sources of these articles, there are predictably, conflicting reports.  The inspection agencies and the top carrot producers are naturally reassuring that all is well in Baby Carrot Land.    However, other reputable and seemingly more objective  sources are not sounding an alarm - saying that the carrots are rinsed in water containing chlorine, not "preserved" in it and thoroughly rinsed before packaging. 

Just from having learned this last bit does make me wonder the environmental impact of this step.  One article suggested that 10 times the amount of water is used to rinse baby carrots than in the processing of regular carrots, for example.  Also, I question whether the rinsing is sufficient to remove the chlorine from the interior of the vegetable, but it does appear that even if it does, the levels fall well within the "accepted standards" approved by the FDA. 

In any event, I would suggest that you do your own research to form your own opinion.  Based on what I have learned though, I plan to stick to organic, whole carrots that I will thoroughly wash with diluted white vinegar as I do all my organic vegetables (rinsing with water alone does not remove the film left from oils from produce shoppers and certainly will not remove the chemicals from pesticides from non-organic produce - especially vegetables with complex characteristics like broccoli).  I like to keep the skin on the vegetable to retain the additional nutrients found under the skin.   I personally love the taste and convenience of a carrot - especially the beta-carotine that converts into vitamin A that helps with night vision.

Follows are links to what I consider to be excellent articles for more information on this topic --

The Origin and Evolution of Baby Carrots

Nutritional Comparison of Organic Baby with Organic Regular Carrots

Are Baby Carrots Preserved with Chlorine?

Carrot and Schtick - Snopes.com

As always, thanks for listening to my opinion that I believe is well-researched and unbiased.  I invite you to share your comments and concerns on this as well as other related topics. 

After all, it's all up to you! 

To our health,

Cris



Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.....

...wishing you a warm, loving, safe and healthy holiday celebration, spending it just as you would design....  Should this time find you in circumstances not quite as you would have "scripted", may you be able to make the best out of it and memorable anyway.... 

If you aren't able to be with family for any number of reasons this year (as is the case for Paul and I), I hope you can reflect on your many blessings -- perhaps consider donating time with others who may be especially lonely - perhaps in assisted living, nursing homes or hospitals.  Maybe consider dropping by a local food bank and offering to fill in for a volunteer there to give them a treat...  I've found that it helps to reach out to others.  When you can see the light in their eyes that you know you helped to put there, it can make your day the best ever so far!

If you're looking for last-minute, healthy menu ideas, you'll find them in the SEASONAL section! 

I'm spending this holiday counting blessings, enjoying special meal with Paul - perhaps out on deck, it'll be that warm!   We plan to take a long walk and appreciate this lovely place we are grateful to call home.  Also, I'll be reviewing notes to build content in this brand new blog and for my upcoming book on organic cooking on a shoestring.  I hope what I'm doing here is of help and interest to you!

Thank you for visiting - please consider joining by clicking on FOLLOW if you haven't already.

See you Friday! 

Cris

Behind the scenes....

...building a new page that will host a variety of short, related news clips that I hope you will find timely and useful!

for example: 

"The best natural treatment for crows feet lines around eyes:  Vitamin C cream"

and natural ways to prevent colds and flu this season and to shorten the span you feel icky if you do come under the influence.... 

more to come - please come back soon... 

Take Action - Safeguard Organic Standards by Nov. 30th

Photo by Christine Zipps

Action Alert: Protect Organics from Synthetic Additives and Factory Farms

This just in from cornucopia.org --

The organic label was founded on the idea that food should be produced in concert with nature, without dangerous chemicals and synthetic ingredients. Another organic value: animals should be raised on real farms that treat them with respect, not exploited on “factory farms."

Since the government began regulating the organic label, corporate agribusinesses and their lobbyists have been doing everything in their power to co-opt the values the organic movement was founded upon while taking a larger slice of the profit pie.

We were promised change under the Obama administration, but the corrupt alliance between the USDA and corporate agribusiness remains strong with wholesale approval of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) while federal officials look the other way as the organic law continues to be compromised.
    
At their upcoming meeting, the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has the opportunity to close loopholes and strengthen the regulations, but a handful of corporate sector Board members are attempting to do the exact opposite: watering down the standards.
    
Corporate lobbyists will be at the NOSB meeting at the end of  November – and so will we, to counter their claims and make sure your voice, supporting organic integrity, is heard.

Please take a moment to print, sign and mail the

PROXY LETTER with these requests:

1. Enforce the organic standards on factory dairies masquerading as “organic.”
   Since the adoption of the new pasture rule, the USDA has made no effort to systematically visit and inspect the two dozen or so giant factory farms—with up to 9,000 cows each—producing “organic” milk, generally in the desert Southwest, to ensure compliance.
   Giant corporate dairies continue to squeeze family farmers, and deceive consumers. We need enforcement action NOW. These industrial-scale dairies have a history of scoffing at the law and deserve scrutiny!
2. Genetically modified microorganisms that are chemically processed and stabilized with synthetic ingredients have no place in organics – especially organic infant formula, baby food and milk.
   USDA officials admitted in 2010 that their predecessors incorrectly allowed Martek Biosciences Corporation’s unapproved (therefore illegal) synthetic nutrient additives (DHA oil and ARA oil—from fermented algae and soil fungus) in organic foods.
   Yet the Obama administration has refused to take enforcement action and remove the offending illegal ingredients from organic foods.
   After a friendly meeting with the USDA, Martek Biosciences Corporation petitioned regulators for approval of their chemically processed, synthetic nutrient additives in organic food. Their corporate friends and the Organic Trade Association (OTA) have joined in lobbying the USDA to approve these materials.
   Join us in urging the USDA to close the door on the future use of novel, unproven synthetic additives in organics and for their immediate removal from existing products.
3. Stand up for meaningful outdoor access in organic egg, chicken, turkey & hog production.
   Another incorrect interpretation made under the Bush administration (and now acknowledged under the Obama administration) was to allow giant henhouses to confine up to 100,000 birds in a single building without access to the outdoors (as the law requires).
   The NOSB is currently considering new rules to eliminate these atrocities. But instead of recommending a reasonable amount of outdoor space for chickens, they are proposing an outdoor space requirement that doesn’t even give the birds enough room to spread their wings, let alone run around, dustbathe and forage for seeds and insects in the outdoors.
   As for pigs, the NOSB’s woefully inadequate space proposal resembles recommendations by the National Pork Board, the industry lobby group representing factory farmers!
4. We also request the USDA to stop stacking the National Organic Standards Board with agribusiness representatives instead of truly experienced, independent and respected voices from the organic community. Farmer slots and consumers slots, as mandated by Congress, should go to real organic farmers and organic consumers, not corporate reps.

To a large degree, the future of organics is in your hands. At Cornucopia we are proud, with 4,500 members, to represent more organic farmers than any other group in the United States (about 30% of our members are the farmers’ most astute urban allies/customers).
But you need to make your voice heard to counter the powerful corporate influence.
When we attend these USDA organic meetings, we are badly outgunned by corporate lobbyists—our power comes from the organic community and the good food movement standing together.
Please take a moment to print, sign, and mail back the proxy letter—today!

We will hand-carry your proxy to the USDA fall meeting, adding your voice to the demand that laws covering organics be enforced!

 

-----Pleased to share this with you today on behalf of the great folks at cornucopia.org.  Thanks for joining me in doing our part to make a difference.... 

To our health,

Cris

Please help stop the "Secret" Farm Bill - our action is needed....

Will be sharing more on this soon, but there's lots of important information through this link along with a petition to sign to make a difference to keep additives and factory farms out of our food supply and process.... 

CLICK here for Farm Bill News

Thank you for your time and consideration - this affects us all -- our very right to PURE food!

To our health, 

Cris

Oil Pulling Therapy - Is it the "miracle cure" it's touted to be?

This rather strange sounding protocol therapy with hundreds of positive testimonials attached to it, was shared with me just last night by a friend.  She has been doing it for two days and has seen positive results already.  I plan to start it soon for specific help with some dental issues and am eager to see if it works for me. 

Asthma, arthritis, migraine headaches, bleeding gums, tooth decay, detoxifier, etc., are just a few common ailments that have been attributed to having been healed through this process.  I've already been researching this and will continue to learn more before beginning this process.  For example, I understand that there's need to do a heavy-metal cleanse if you have amalgam fillings or metal crowns first so I want to understand more about this first.   My first reaction to it was that it sounded wierd and too good to be true, but the more I learn, the more it makes sense that the mouth, a center of so much bacteria but connected to all areas of the body with nerve endings capable of delivering good and bad treatments could be a logical place to effect positive change through this simple, inexpensive, natural method.

However, I'm so excited by this, I'm eager to share a link to a video (first of four in this series) by Dr. Bruce Fife who has written a book on this topic after lots of research in case you would like to check more into this as well for yourself. 

Link to video clip with Dr. Bruce Fife about Oil Pulling Therapy

If you have experience with this or plan to try it yourself, would love to hear from you - simply post a comment to this post.    I plan to share my results along with additional information on this blog soon as well. 

To our health,

Cris

Turkey Consumers - Beware of the Turkey Terrors.....

This just in - excellent and informative article by Talia Fuhrman --

"Truth About That Thanksgiving Day Bird"

Working on New Book -- "Awesome Organic/Non-GMO Meals on a Budget!"

           Thanks to a recent visitor, Dawn from NH, an idea was born for a new book -- it will likely be part of my "11 Steps to...." series as in the first or DEBUT book...

           Dawn shared the many ways she strives to keep her family healthy and free from the contaminants currently found in our food supply including (but sadly, not limited to):  anitibiotics, hormones, pesticides, genetically modified organisms, etc... but feels that the price of organic food keeps her having to make choices.  She will select foods that are minimally processed to make the food dollar stretch further... 

           That got me to thinking again -- it's just not fair that we Americans should have to pay more for PURE food!  Shouldn't this be a basic right?  There're just so many reasons including lobby group efforts and subsidies behind the scenes that attempt to guide our food choices not to mention "Beef: It's What's For Dinner" media and don't even get me started on the "Ask your doctor about...." TV ads but I digress...

           I did a little scouting about in my notes and through more resources and am finding lots of ways we can purchase the GOOD foods, plan yummy meals that come together easily and hold plenty of micronutrients that protect us against disease.  Not just the immune system boosting goodies that help keep colds and flu at bay, but contribute to helping us prevent/reverse disease including many cancers...

           I'm going to plan this book around a budget for a family of four and will begin price shopping and recipe creating to share meal plans and tips to help get the biggest bang for your organic buck.  I'll be starting with two recipes this weekend:  Savory Pesto Polenta with Fire Roasted Tomatoes  and  Quinoa with Roasted Butternut Squash (a "Veg with Lisa" creation).  My main thoughts on creating these dishes are to take advantage of seasonal produce and pair with compatible "fillers" like organic pastas and grains and mix them into soups, stews, frittatas and casseroles - many of them can easily have the leftovers frozen for another day, increasing their value!

           Please stay tuned - I look forward to sharing this book with you in the very near future!  If you have any ideas you'd specifically like to see included, please let me know!

To our health,

Cris


        

Testimonials and Thanksgiving Table Settings and Centerpiece Ideas

           I'm most grateful for endorsements, reviews and other types of support from others who have accomplished much in this natural food/health and wellness field.  Mike Anderson, author of "Eating", that got me started with this blog project provided a wonderful lead-in to my segment about the Vegan Thanksgiving Menu & Recipes segment.

           Also, Ms. Kelly Hayford, author of "If It's Not Food, Don't Eat It!"  has been kind enough to share her insights into how we can benefit from plant-based nutrition through organic/Non-GMO foods and has proven quite the inspiration to me during my research for this blog.  I will be adding her specific comment details in the "Don't Panic - Go Organic!" section soon.

           Other leaders in this field including Dr. Joel Fuhrman http://www.drfuhrman.com/ and Gary Null http://www.garynull.com/about-gary/ have agreed to providing interviews to share with you in this blog format.  I am grateful for these and look forward to entering into these conversations with them in the new year.

& & & & & & & & & & &

           I would imagine that most of you are looking forward to a lovely Thanksgiving celebration next week - I hope you will find my suggestions for a healthy menu with recipes helpful as well as Mr. Anderson's comments about the traditional dinner to be good "food for thought" as many of us look forward to setting plans in motion to improving our nutritional habits for a healthier future. 

           Here's an interesting link from our friends at HGTV with great ideas on setting a festive table and creative beautiful centerpieces!  HGTV Thanksgiving Table Settings and Centerpieces


To our health,

Cris

Salad - It's What's for Dinner!

.....a couple of FRESH ideas for you....

Here's a concept.... 

Make Salad the Meal! 

If you're like me, you grew up on with your mom building meals around the meat du jour -- veggies were typically overcooked, canned or frozen or simple iceberg lettuce with bottled dressing...  Starches were typically baked or mashed potato - sometimes white rice and white bread and butter - sound familiar?   Please know that I'm not criticizing "Mom" -- she did the best with what she knew in that era.  She was greatly influenced by media and food manufacturers looking to influence her meal planning decisions. 

What I think is exciting is to see smarter choices coming into spotlight from lots of chefs and everyday cooks who know that they are just... well, smarter!  And, guess what?  When you get into experimenting and being more open to trying new tastes and textures, looking for produce and grains that contain their whole nutritional values, it's very exciting and satisfying to build meals with this newer philosophy.  

Your body will thank you for it with greater energy and vitality!

When you add in the fact that it's been proven that eating closer to the source - staying away from processed foods - those containing GMO's, hormones, pesticides, antibiotics, allergans and other contaminants, one can even expect to prevent and reverse disease - well, it's just awesome, IMHO....

Above is a close up pic of what I created for dinner the other evening - I can't even begin to tell you how very delicious and satisfying it was!  I had fun setting up a salad bar for Paul and I so we could build our custom salads with what we like.  For example, he wanted to take advantage of two of his last four homegrown, organic tomatoes of the season and likes his organic, "cowgirl ranch" dressing.  Mine consisted of organic: baby spinach - petite heirloom lettuce - Spanish onion - mushrooms - black olives (good fat), hard boiled egg, raw sunflower seeds, shaved carrots, halved red grapes (considered a berry, I recently learned...) - red pepper flakes, sea salt & cracked black pepper.  I made a quick dressing from organic apple cider vinegar and 2T of Vegenaise - Cholula hot sauce, sprinkling of shaved organic romano and S&P -- I made it dinner plate size and it was so safisfying with a glass of chardonnay! 

Neither of us were tempted to hit our fav before-bed snack - "Late July cheddar crackers - organic" -- they are so good, but we are trying to break that habit.  We are eating a little earlier than before - closer to 5:30-6pm and just feeling better for it!   When I build a salad now, I think of Dr. Joel Fuhrman's talking about his "GOMBS" salads for sticking to the micronutrient ingredients -- "GOMBS" stands for: "greens - onion - mushrooms - beans/berries and seeds/nuts" and usually add a little more... 

VERY satisfying year round - no need for anything more! 

& & & & & & & & & & &

Speaking of satisfying, check out this great sounding dish by Lisa Murphy - our regular contributor -- Quinoa with Roasted Butternut Squash --

http://vegwithlisa.com/

I'm going to try it for our dinner this Thursday --  If you're not familiar with cooking with this super healthy, ancient grain - we highly recommend it.  I just recently tried it myself and both Paul and I enjoy it's interesting texture - like little "pearls" that sort of pop in your mouth with a subtle nutty flavor -- really compliments a variety of other foods - whether used in a soup, casserole or a salad -- this dish could be a salad or main dish for lunch or dinner, served warm or room temp.  Sounds delicious.    Thanks, Lisa!

To our health,

Cris

Video Clip - About Dr. Max Gerson's 1920's discovery of how cancer can be healed with food

Happy Monday!

Hope you're on a good track at the beginning of this work week!

Sending a big thanks to Kevin Gianni of "The Renegade Health Show" for sharing his exclusive interview video clip with Charlotte Gerson, daughter of Dr. Max Gerson of The Gerson Institute.  In this clip, she shares how her father first discovered how many types of cancer can be cured with food.   Ms. Gerson took over his work upon his passing and after 32 years, the institute has an impressive collection of success stories.  You can find much more information on-line by Googling "The Gerson Institute" or the "Gerson Therapy"... 

Click here for the Gerson interview clip

On a more personal level, I want to report that "Luna" has weighed in after her first week of her weight loss/fitness challenge.  She is feeling a little discouraged that her weight is up 1# and body fat up 1/2%.  On top of that, her Wii Fit Plus "coach" calls her unbalanced, in flexible and lacking rhythm!   Since she's fallen behind, she now has 2.4# to lose over the next 7 days to reach her 2 week goal...  Despite this negative report, she is not deterred.  She not only intends to meet this goal, but to exceed it.  She skipped 3 days of Wii workouts and could have done better with the walking.  However, she has been eating well and her body feels tighter and a little sore all over.  She's starting to see improvement in definition in upper arms, so she know that it's working....  She'll report on Monday the 21st to share progress.  If you are on a program to achieve healthy weight loss and fitness, Luna wishes you well and invites you to share your story with her here if you'd like...

New Content added to "Bless the Beasts & Children" page and below...

Happy Sunday!

I certainly hope that you are enJOYing a lovely day...  We  have a sunny high in mid-50's here in Denver with crazy wind and snow in the mountains - just perfect and for that, we are grateful...  I'm looking forward to a long walk, soaking in the fresh air, sights and sounds and hopefully bringing our Broncos to victory over the Chiefs!  ;-)

With this new blog, I've been building content to the pages.  Today, I've added some text, article and video clip links to the "Bless the Beasts...." page that I hope you will find informative.

Also, I'd like to share a couple of links from two great research resources I've found -- Ms. Robyn O'Brien and Mike Adams...

This link will share Ms. O'Brien's personal experience that led her to investigate more into the allegans and toxic contaminants found in everyday foods.  This brilliant, former food industry analyst, mother of four does a remarkable job of presenting many of the concerns over the current state of our food supply that echoes my own. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rixyrCNVVGA

Mike Adams is another go-to mentor in my search for answers and more questions to try to get to the bottom of what's going on with our food supply.  For many years, there's been a lot of hype and misunderstandings surround high fructose corn syrup.   Just the other day, I saw a TV commercial sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association (always good to check sources!) that says, "your body doesn't know the difference between high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar" -- wow... 

In addition to the many other factors that Mr. Adams will expertly cover in the following clip, corn syrup comes from CORN and if it's not ORGANIC, it is highly likely to have come from genetically modified (GM) corn which means it was grown from seeds infused with Round-Up resistant chemicals.    A good tip when out shopping is to look at the ingredients and if they are not organic, stick with cane sugar.  If it just says, "sugar", it likely is from beet sugar that is also likely contaminated.  Like Mr. Adams says, if you are eating a healthy diet of micro-nutrient rich foods and don't make a habit of consuming liquid sugars like in sodas, getting a little bit now and then is not going to hurt you at all.  But so many Americans consume highly processed foods, fast foods and soft drinks and just get a lot of high fructose corn syrup.   I hope you will find this video clip insightful, as I did --

Click to view link about high fructose corn syrup

Please know that I am not holding myself as expert here - just one who is trying to understand what's in her food to make informed choices and sharing some material I'm coming across in the hopes that it will be helpful to you and your family as well...

I've a long way to go to even follow my own advice, but babystepping closer all the time and feeling better for it.   There's a lot of information on-line, in books, PBS presentations, documentaries, etc. - and the good news is, we've all the tools we need to help ourselves to better health and vitality.

Cheers and smiles,

Cris

Are you looking for HEALTHY Thanksgiving ideas?

Whether you're a vegan or vegetarian or merely looking for lighter versions of traditional dishes, I hope you will check out the suggested menu and recipes in the SEASONAL Menu & Recipes page. 

I'm thrilled to have Mike Anderson's participation in the column to the right.  He's the author of "Eating" DVD that got me started on this latest push to develop this blog.  He's done a great deal of research that puts forth compelling evidence that leaning closer to if not all the way into a plant-based nutrition lifestyle can help us lead healthier lives.

Please check back often - it's my goal to add valuable content - sharing tidbits related to natural foods, health and wellness and coming up with innovative ways to prepare delicious, "REAL" meals full of nutritional fabulousness! 

Many thanks for stopping by - hope you're enjoying your weekend - it's a windy one here along the plains of Denver - sunny and warm in the 60's and snowing like crazy in the mountains - perfect! 

Smiles,

Cris

First Day of Brand New Blog - Welcome!

Today is a most important day for me -- officially announcing the publication of my first blog at 11:11am on 11:11:11 - hoping it will be auspicious for this vehicle to share what I feel is very important information for everyone who eats and looks to live their best life in wellness.  This is also Veterans Day and I am grateful for all those who have and do serve our country to keep us safe...

My goal with this blog is to increase awareness.  I am not an expert but simply "one who cares and shares".   Some people eat to live - some, live to eat.  I think I fall somewhere in between.  As an only child, raised in 50's-60's in Midwest suburbia, I was served the traditional "meat and potatoes" fare.  Mom was a good cook and always had a garden with good food that we would call 'organic' today for it was relatively free from pesticides.  They used beer to coax slugs and baking soda to fool aphids but then came along dad, spraying chemicals for the weeds (never did get that but don't think that the connection was made back then....). 

I realize that some of the concerns and material contained within this blog might be termed "contrarian" for they rather fly in the face of what many (including myself) grew up with.    I'm an unlikely proponent of suggesting that we will be more healthy - in fact even prevent and reverse disease - by following a plant-based diet.  Even if we only move closer to that, we will be better off.   Again, I grew up when none of my role models were choosing to forego meat.  My dad had a connection that allowed us to have steak more often than salads and while there were always the obligatory "sides", every meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner was built around the meat - it was just the way things were - period.  Also, since the age of 12 when I came up with the idea to pedal (by bike) flyers to promote my babysitting "business", I've been an entrepreneur. 

My parents were both artistic and as an only child, I naturally gravitated to art as a form of self-entertainment and I have always found ways to sell my talents for a few extra bucks.  In high school, I made and sold custom purses made from hand-painted/initialed/lined lunch boxes.  I believe that the basis for a strong commerce base was founded on entrepreneurs who struck out on their own to make their way - through a hard work ethic, they started businesses and hired workers.  This very fabric courses through me today and I am proud to say that I am an artist entrepreneur who is not ashamed to accept compensation in exchange for my fine art photography and writing projects.   Having said this, I want to be clear that I will NOT be accepting any compensation from sponsors or advertisers in this blog.  The links to books/DVD's and even products come from sources from my research or products that I have personally discovered to make a difference to my health. 

Therefore, when I share that my concerns over the food supply - how its contamination affects our health and that of our children - has required the animals "destined for human consumption" to suffer in factory farms (a/k/a 'confined animal feeding operations - CAFOs") has come from companies out to make a profit, it comes from a place of true caring.  To those who would look to these companies who control how our food reaches us - not only the quality but even the long distances it typically travels to reach the market (averaging 1500 miles), further diminishing the nutritional value and see that they are making good business decisions, I would like to ask, where do you draw the line?  From a sheer business model standpoint, there's no arguing that the more profit you can make, the better.  If that was the only criteria, I say, "go for it!".  However, when it's been proven to adversely affect the very health of those who are consuming this food - not immediately evident at the moment of digestion but manifesting over time to potentially grave consequences, contaminating our land and waters and animals and robbing us of the nutrition that Mother Nature intended, it's time to at least raise a flag of awareness. 

I find it sad that most of us are clueless what a "GMO" is yet, these "genetically modified organisms" Wikipedia's definition of GMO's are in most every food that isn't organic.  One of our basic human rights is the right to have access to real food.  I am finding that not only is our "real food" no longer that, but our choices are being guided by food lobby groups like those representing meat, poultry, sugar and dairy industries to keep prices low on the foods that keep the manufacturers rich. 

 The more foods we Americans consume like the fat/salt/sugar laden fast foods, the more our health deteriorates.  The more our health deteriorates, the more we are inclined to go to doctors who have been trained to treat our symptoms and not the causes.  The average medical student receives 2-4 hours of nutrition classes in their 4 years of med school.  They are trained to write prescriptions and advise surgery.  I'll be sharing more evidence within the pages of this blog about the statistics on the numbers of hospitalizations caused by food-based diseases and how many surgeries could be prevented if the patients had followed a diet consisting of unprocessed food.  Also, I'll be sharing how our children are especially adversely affected - how they are getting diseases typically reserved for adults.  How they have had to change the name of "adult onset diabetes" to Type 2 diabetes because children are now getting it.  This is the first generation likely to have a longer lifespan than our children.  It is sad and it must be reversed.  The good news is:  we have the tools to do so. 

"The more Americans continue to eat the same American diet,

the more they will continue to get the same diseases."

---Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of "Eat to Live" 

CLICK for video highlights from Dr. Fuhrman

Again, I am not an expert - am learning as I'm going and have a lot of notes and more information to share within these pages that I've just started to fill.  I hope you will find it interesting if not helpful - eye-opening and empowering.  I hope that you will feel compelled to launch your own path to discovery to enhance your good health.  If you are dealing with health adversities, I hope you will be open to considering a natural path to wellness as your first course.  Please know that I am most certainly not suggesting that there is not a time and place for traditional  medicine and health practitioners.  There have been many advancements and they offer a great service, especially in the area of emergency medicine.  I am merely sharing that I am discovering that there have been many proven cases where diseases have been reversed and prevented through lifestyle and nutrition adjustments.  When one isn't dealing with an emergency situation, I think it just makes good sense to consider natural remedies first. 

I've come to learn that we have marvelous mechanisms to self-heal.  We are made of natural parts and to me, it doesn't make sense to look to foreign substances to fix what ails us or to keep us from getting sick in the first place.  I like the idea that we can live in a world where we can easily get real food - uncontaminated with foreign substances such as pesticides, hormones, antibiotics and other chemicals.  At least, we should be able to know what's inside the cans, boxes, jars and even inside the food itself and even in the soil and seeds from which it originates. 

If so, perhaps I will have saved some research time for you, sent you on your own journey of self-discovery.  At the very least, my hope is to raise awareness in the areas of gaining better health through natural (un-fooled around with - no genetically modified ingredients, pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, etc...) foods.  Topics will also venture into green-living; grateful aging; special interest for kids; animal welfare issues, etc.... 

This will always be growing, expanding and hopefully improving.  Hopefully, you'll feel comfortable sharing related, respectful comments and questions -- check out the "Ask Luna" section and we will learn together.  I welcome suggestions for improvement. 

I'm grateful for the contributions of so many others who hold similar views - medical researchers like Mike Anderson, author of "Eating" - the DVD that started this pursuit of the truth in the field of natural health and wellness.  He was kind enough to offer a wonderful introduction to my segment about the vegan Thanksgiving menu and recipes.   I have met and will continue to meet many others who have influenced me and educated me - you will find mention of their work and links to more information within this blog. 

Please plan to check back often for I am continuing to build content.  I plan to share tips on how we can help glide through the upcoming holiday season into the start of a new, healthier year without falling victim to all the unhealthy sweet and savory food temptations that make it easy for us to overeat.  I've found some great ideas on how to lower stress and keep our immune systems stable so we don't easily fall victim to colds and flu this season so please stay tuned! 

I appreciate your time and consideration.... 

To our health,

Christine