Is it a conspiracy?
From my friend and former colleague, Matt Davies.
Last week, Rajiv Shah, the administrator of the US Agency for International Development, made the statement that we need big business to help end hunger in Africa.
Big business, as in Monsanto, which has grabbed up millions of acres to turn them into a monoculture, growing corn for processed, chemical-laden foods that are far less nutritious than food grown the way Nature intended. Monsanto has sued farmers near its industrialized farms because pollen from its genetically modified seeds has mixed with their seed. Monsanto wants the royalties. In other words, it is forcing family farms out of business so its seed is the only seed available to growers.
Once the crops are grown in this chemical-infested earth, it moves to processing plants, where more chemicals are added to dye and preserve the “food.”
People who eat this crap are getting fewer nutrients and many more damaging chemicals than people who eat food grown locally on small farms.
For example, no matter what the “corn sugar” commercials say, high-fructose corn syrup is not the same as sugar and your body doesn’t metabolize it the same way it does sugar. The more high-fructose corn syrup you ingest, the more likely you are to develop Type 2 diabetes.
If you look at the rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, it all started to skyrocket in the 1970s, when high-fructose corn syrup and palm oil began to be used widely in foods. Both helped bring longer shelf-life to foods and minimized waste, driving food prices down, which seemed great for business and consumers alike.
But there is a dark side to this failed food revolution: It makes us sick.
The epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes is immensely costly. Diabetes affects every system in the body, causing nerve damage in the hands and feet, slow healing of wounds, kidney damage, high blood pressure and strokes, heart disease and blindness. The money we spend on drugs to treat diabetes in this country could feed the world and provide universal health care.
So, why don’t we do something?
Because big business likes the way things are. There’s huge profit to be made on unhealthy foods and on the drugs used to treat the illnesses that are caused by bad nutrition. Big business will spend billions to lobby against the public interest, even as it kills off its customers (remember Big Tobacco’s claim that nicotine isn’t addictive and that cigarettes don’t cause cancer?). It is greedy and short-sighted.
But you don’t have to buy into it. Here’s how you can avoid the effects of bad food:
- Don’t eat at fast-food restaurants. Even their “healthy” choices are high in sodium and fat and are produced on industrialized farms.
- Cook meals from scratch. It doesn’t take that much time and you know what’s going into what you’re putting into your body.
- Avoid processed foods (see above). Buy fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned.
- If you’re rushed during the week, cook a big pot of soup or make a big pasta salad on the weekend and you can eat leftovers during the week. Cook up a pot of brown rice or whole-wheat pasta and use it as a base for meals during the week
- Use your slow-cooker. Throw some meat or beans and vegetables into the pot with some herbs, add water and let it simmer all day.
- Buy local foods. Get to know your local farmers. Go to tailgate markets. Even large cities have tailgate markets and you can get fresh produce, eggs and meat that haven’t been adulterated with hormones and antibiotics. Yes it’s a little more expensive, but think about how much you’ll save on health care. Non-industrial meats and eggs have lower levels of saturated fats and cholesterol, and a much, much, much lower chance of having lethal forms of e.Coli or salmonella. They are more nutritious and they taste better.
- Sweeten with honey when you can. Yes, the calories are still there, but it’s unprocessed. Or at least it should be. There’s no reason to process honey — it stays fresh forever. Also, locally produced honey will help you develop resistance to local allergens.
- Try home canning and freezing. Jams, fruit butters and jellies are easy to make. Tomatoes and pickles are easy to can. You can even make and can your own ketchup. And it all tastes better than anything you buy in the store.
- If you have a place to plant things, grow some of your own food. You can grow potatoes in black contractor bags, half-filled with soil. You can grow tomatoes upside-down over your deck or patio.
We don’t have to sentence our children to a lifetime of illness and disability. If more of us support the Local Food movement, we’ll see less obesity and diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure … It’s really worth the price. And there’s the added bonus of pissing off the people who run the big food corporations.
Tags: Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Life o’ Mike honors Joe Eblen
Life o' Mike presented its first Michael T. Danforth Community Service Award to Joe Eblen at a luncheon on June 8, in the Friendship Hall of First Congregational Church, 20 Oak St., Asheville.
Joe, seen here with Leslie Boyd, left, and his wife, Bobbie, has spent his life helping children and families, both as a coach and game official for more than 60 years, and as founder of Eblen Charities.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.