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The magic of proper nutrition….
….I don’t know why I keep being surprised because it seems like I come across a story at least once a week detailing the healing power of the right food. We certainly have noticed that the aches and pains associated with aging have dropped away in recent years but that’s nothing compared to the “cures” we keep reading about. Here’s one that we discovered this morning: http://www.thepointmag.com/2012/essays/plea-human-food
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Dare we hope….
….we saw sometime back that fast-food giant McDonald’s was having trouble maintaining its spectacular growth. Apparently all the fast food chains are “flat” or even down a little except for their breakfasts. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the economy…and not common sense….got people eating more healthfully? http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2013/05/08/the-new-normal-for-fast-food-price-cuts-and-stagnant-sales/?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth
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The struggle beneath our feet….
….bit by bit, the word is getting out. And when the New York Times “gets it”, maybe there’s hope. The struggle is to save the microbe, the little critters that make soil alive and productive. They are threatened, of course, by modern chemistry which supposedly increases crop yields. Fertilizers, herbicides and all those products kill the microbes and the nutrient value not only of the soil but our food. The only answer is to pour ever more chemicals on the land. Ian Mitchell-Innes (see “Yes, it’s true” below) calls it an addiction with farmers enriching the big drug companies to support the habit. Here’s the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/opinion/sunday/the-hidden-world-of-soil-under-our-feet.html?ref=science&_r=1& Note that the Times…
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Yes, it’s true….
….Greg and Jan Judy’s Green Pastures farm certainly lives up to its name. More than 50 would-be grazers attended Greg’s three-day program near Moberly, Missouri last week to study the power of mob grazing. It’s been a cold, wet spring but the proof was there as you drove down the road. Greg’s green pastures alongside neighbors who were still feeding hay! The featured speaker was Ian Mitchell-Innes who practices a version of what might be called “Mob Grazing for Dummies”. Ian’s approach is throw you in the shallow water so you don’t have to drown. He has become something of a missionary in the battle to save the microbe. There’s…
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Slow food a “hot” investment?
Apparently some folks like to think so. And there’s a group looking for investors to invest in sustainable agriculture. Most of the people who have developed small scale, but profitable companies specializing in healthier foods find they can’t compete against the “big guys” who move in and threaten to crush them. So far, those small companies have just given up and sold out to the highest bidder (who proceeds to corrupt the brand). Farmers, by and large, are terrible businessmen and worse marketers. In fact, they’re repelled by the idea they should have to sell their products. But for those out there who are still interested in making the “fight”, there’s…
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Why am I not surprised….
….that food labels don’t necessarily tell the whole truth. “Food fraud” has become big business, and bigger with the introduction of what we’d like to believe is healthier foods. Big Ag, of course, has moved in to corrupt labels such as “natural” and “organic” and just about every box or bag of processed foods contains stuff that’s not on the label and is not good for you. Food blogger Dr. Joseph Mercola has the story here. Important reading but I’m at a loss as to how to protect ourselves. Oh, right. Buy from a local farmer you know. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/05/04/food-fraud.aspx Anyone who still believes the government is protecting you from this…
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To the barricades….
….there are times when I think I could be a revolutionary. Mostly those are times when I hear about the latest outrage perpetrated by chemical giant, Monsanto. It’s hard to imagine a more powerful, more destructive company on the planet. Their genetic engineering—all government-sanctioned—and their ability to skirt any real scientific review is without parallel. We’ve detailed many times their influence in Washington (and it has made no difference whether a Republican or Democrat is in charge). While other countries have been careful to keep a lid on genetically engineered foods, Monsanto has had free reign with its willing accomplices in the government and universities. One of the articles of…
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Food, the counter-revolution….
….we were at a party last weekend, and wound up sitting with two other couples at a table in the kitchen. (I always position myself to watch the cook, if possible, or at least be closer to the “seconds”.) Near the end of the dinner, one of the women at the table commented this was the first time she had had a meal with a group of people and not one had pulled out a smart phone during the course of the dinner to check for email messages. It was true, we were unhooked for more than an hour and not one of us was experiencing tremors. I was reminded…
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Our government, here to protect us….
….The New York Times discovers the antibiotic menace. Of course, years after the problem first surfaced. This article is revealing on several accounts: First, the most recent warning from the FDA was published in February but no one noticed until a public service group publicized it. The government didn’t do much to spread the word. Second, the inevitable professor of agriculture at a major university—Minnesota—jumps in to defend Big Ag. Third, the prof lets the cat out of the bag. The antibiotics are used to “keep cows healthy”…not to cure a sick cow. A cow on pasture is as healthy a creature as there is. It is only when you feed…
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The antibiotic menace….
….is real and growing. Antibiotics are not used primarily to treat sick animals, but as a weight enhancer. They’re at least as effective as growth hormones but, just to be sure, commercial producers of meat use both. In fact, antibiotics are used more in farming than among humans. Dr. David Kessler, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, recently said this about the practice. “While the F.D.A. can see what kinds of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are coming out of livestock facilities, the agency doesn’t know enough about the antibiotics that are being fed to these animals,” he writes. “This is a major public health problem, because giving healthy livestock…