Archive for November, 2008
Very Merry Thanksgiving! ~ Raw Pumpkin Delight!
Pumpkin Delight!
I made this from a bunch of left over fresh organic pumpkin from the pie I made for my husband…
Fresh raw organic pie pumpkin blended until smooth in food processor or high powered blender (I had approx. 2 cups of fresh pumpkin). In the food processor you may need to add a little purified water. Add 2 tsp (teaspoons) pumpkin pie spice.. cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg (listed in order of greater amounts used, cinnamon being the most used). Then add Extra Virgin Unrefined Coconut Oil approx. 2 tbls (tablespoons). Sweeten with yacon syrup, agave nectar or stevia which ever you choose to desired sweetness (I used raw agave nectar). Blend and enjoy! I had some immediately last night right when I made it, it was very good. I refrigerated most of it over night and had it today as part of my Raw Thanksgiving ( I am sooo grateful) meal, it was very good.
P.S unrefined coconut oil creates a more solid pie or cake consistency when refrigerated.
Enjoy!
Many Blessings to You,
Cathi :0)
Irradiation and Cloning
FOOD IRRADIATION
Rotten meat, toxic tomatoes and now what, irradiated spinach?
Irradiation is used by the food industry to kill harmful pathogens like E. coli, increase shelf life, kill insects and stop spoilage. Today, ground meat, spices, fresh fruit and vegetables may be irradiated. The process is considered safe and effective by government regulators. Currently, irradiated foods are labeled, except for food sold in institutions and restaurants.
But now, the Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing food treated with irradiation to be renamed and sold without labels.
Consumer groups question the safety of food irradiation. Natural food markets like Whole Foods have decided not to sell it. Critics say that irradiation can affect the nutritional value of food by destroying antioxidents, or that it could deform bacteria instead of killing it off. Some loss of vitamins and essential fatty
acids occurs in irradiated foods, and there may be formation of dangerous chemicals such as benzene. The process also creates additional hazardous waste, and environmental and worker safety problems.
Because the existing food safety inspection system is already weak, layering on another complex technology might not result in better protection. The Center for Food Safety notes that using irradiation does nothing to stop the practices in the field and factories that contaminate food. Worse, its use may result in less incentive to clean up the widespread unsanitary conditions that are the primary cause of food contamination.
For related information visit: FoodAndWaterWatch.org/food/foodirradiation and
OrganicConsumers.org/irrad/alternatives.cfm; search ‘supermarkets’ at Citizen.org, for a list of groceries that carry irradiated foods.
Also Watch Out For…
CLONING
Cloning raises fundamental issues around the ethics of eating.
Cloning is not the same as genetic engineering. Cloning is a reproductive technique that makes a genetically identical copy of a plant or animal, bypassing normal sexual reproduction. Cloning is used along with genetic engineering to reproduce genetically modified organisms.
Currently, many animals considered commercially useful are cloned. The question this raises is, even if we can do this, should we? Critics say cloning is unethical, unnecessary and unsafe.
“Dolly,” a sheep, was the first cloned farm animal. She lived from 1996 to 2003 and remains a symbol of what can go wrong. The Center for Food Safety reports that, “More than 90 percent of cloning attempts fail, and cloned animals that are born have more health problems and higher mortality rates than sexually reproduced animals.”
Carol Tucker Foreman, director of food policy at the Consumer Federation of America, adds that cloned animals have higher rates of birth deformities. Cloning creates untold suffering for animals sacrificed in the process, and the defects in the animals can affect the meat and milk products they produce.
Regardless, in September 2008, the FDA approved the sale of meat and milk from cloned animals for human consumption. Since the government does not require that it be labeled as such, consumers will not be able to refuse it at the supermarket.
The Center for Food Safety, which has sued the Food and Drug Administration to stop approval of food from cloned animals, summarizes the issue at
CenterForFoodSafety.org/pubs/fact%20sheet.pdf andwww.CenterForFoodSafety.org/cloned_animals.cfm.
Animal rights, humane organizations and the Union of Concerned Scientists question many aspects of animal cloning. As a starting point,
see aavs.org/images/cloningfactsheet.pdf andwww.ucsusa.org/news/press_release/scientists-say-cloning.html.
Source: naturalawakeningsmag.com
Issue: November 2008
The Conscious Eater’s Guide to GMOs
Choosing to eat a healthy diet can be a challenge, especially when it comes to sorting out the controversies surrounding genetically engineered foods. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), were first grown commercially in the United States in 1996. Now, the Center for Food Safety reports that GMOs can be found in about 75 percent of the processed foods sold in our local supermarkets.
Worldwide, GMO crops are grown on about 280 million acres, almost entirely in corn and soybeans grown for animal feed, industrial chemicals and plant-based fuels. The main thing to know about GMOs is that they are made by the chemical industry, for the chemical industry, and sold to farmers for weed and pest control.
We now eat GMOs in our breakfast cereals and corn chips because in the United States the industrial agriculture system mixes crops from many sources during production and manufacturing. GMOs are now in just about anything made with corn, soy or canola, as well as oil from cottonseed. Most of the meat, eggs and dairy products we eat come from animals fed GMOs. The only fresh GMO food being sold right now is a mushy papaya from Hawaii; the GMO spud was a dud and other fresh GMOs have failed in the marketplace.
How GMOs Came to Market
GMOs were developed by large agrochemical multinational corporations like Monsanto, Dow, DuPont, Sygenta and Bayer. These companies are not known for their commitment to public health and environmental safety. They continue to lobby against government regulations and work to undermine the public research system. As a result, they have been able to put GMOs on the market without appropriate health and environmental testing and safety measures.
As part of their marketing strategy, the GMO industry also has kept labels off their products in the United States, even though the Center for Food Safety reports that polls repeatedly show that up to 94 percent of Americans want labels on GMO foods. Most other industrial countries label GMOs, and many tightly restrict their testing and use.
The industry, made up of corporations, their paid lobbyists and academic allies, claim that GMOs are safe. The industry says they don’t know of any health harm proven to be caused by their products. But their position is not backed by reliable research from independent scientists. There is no government testing; whatever information the government gets from industry is on a voluntary basis.
And there are ethical issues, especially for people with health-based or religious dietary restrictions. Everyone needs to know what’s in their food. But GMOs are unlike anything the world has seen before. They combine genes from different species. For example, genetic engineers have inserted genes from an arctic fish into strawberries, to make them frost tolerant, but not something a vegan would want to eat.
Genetic engineering is also known as recombinant DNA technology, because it takes DNA from one organism and combines it with DNA from another organism. It does what nature avoids, crossing the natural boundaries between species. GMOs are new, living organisms, capable of spreading, reproducing and recombining. Their presence is invisible and irreversible.
What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us
The processes used to create GMOs are not precise or predictable. What is precise is the first step, selecting and engineering the DNA to be used. After that, genes are engineered and recombined with bacteria, viruses, and other designer molecules, then often put into a ‘gene gun’ and shot into living cells.
The result can create new proteins that might trigger serious allergic
reactions or recombine with other bacteria and viruses to create new pathogens or toxins. The antibiotic resistant marker gene used in the process could render the antibiotics we use to control disease less effective.
Reports based on animal studies indicate that both the process and products of genetic engineering are causing problems. Animals fed GMOs exclusively had more false pregnancies and a greater mortality rate than control groups. Researchers also have evidence of impaired blood cell formation, liver problems, excessive growths in the digestive tract and adverse immune reactions.
One thing is certain—GMOs are an uncontrolled human experiment. A leading pediatric neurologist at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Martha R. Herbert, says: “Today, the vast majority of foods in supermarkets contain genetically modified substances whose effects on our health are unknown. As a medical doctor, I can assure you that no one in the medical profession would attempt to perform experiments on human subjects without their consent. Such conduct is illegal and unethical. Yet, manufacturers of genetically altered foods are exposing us to one of the largest uncontrolled experiments in modern history.”
In terms of nutrition, as early as 1992, scientists at the Food and Drug Administration warned that GMOs could cause “undesirable alteration in the level of nutrients” in foods. Later, one study found that GMO soybeans repeatedly sprayed with herbicides had 12 to 14 percent less essential phytonutrient content than conventionally grown soybeans.
Here’s why scientists think GMOs are different: when plants are forced to do something as stressful as having to stay alive while being repeatedly sprayed with a lethal herbicide, they make tradeoffs during the growth cycle. One tradeoff might be diminished nutrient content; another might be in the plant’s ability to produce seed, which would affect productivity. More than 8,000 field trials and numerous studies have shown that herbicide-resistant soybeans are 6 to 11 percent less productive than conventional varieties.
The Politics of Food
The facts about GMOs reveal that they are not more productive than conventional crops and they are not better for people. Still, many consumers and farmers believe the advertising that says GMOs can feed the world.
Unfortunately, the public does not get reliable information about GMOs. That’s because, even before GMOs went on the market, government regulators made a political decision, not one based on science, that they would treat GMO foods the same as natural foods. It also was decided that no new laws would be passed to oversee this industry. This ineffective regulatory system is causing even greater concern now because pending products, such as GMO animals, fish and insects, and plants that are engineered with human genes and pharmaceuticals, are coming on the market or have already contaminated farm fields and the food supply.
Public interest groups and independent scientists have documented the problems caused by GMOs, reporting, for instance, that GMOs have increased the use of herbicides, thereby increasing soil and water pollution.
Research has shown that GMO insecticidal corn harms monarch butterflies and other beneficial insects. Weeds growing near GMO farms have become ‘superweeds,’ which don’t die when sprayed with weed killers. GMOs have spread their unnatural DNA into forests and grasslands and contaminated the crops grown by organic farmers. Today, even conventional seeds are laden with GMOs, so that farmers who want to plant conventional crops are unintentionally growing GMOs. GMO contamination also has caused serious legal problems for farmers and had an impact on U.S. farm exports.
The persistent problems of hunger and poverty in countries around the world are caused by political and economic inequalities. It will take political action, not a techno-fix, to remedy these problems. Farmers need support, but not in the form of patented products like GMOs.
International studies show that farmers want easy-to-use tools, locally bred and adapted seed, clean water and healthy soil. The technology that is needed would produce healthy food while protecting the environment and providing a means for farmers to support themselves and their communities. Fortunately, that technology already exists. It’s called organic farming.
The good news is that consumers can avoid GMOs by choosing organic foods. By law, certified organic products are not allowed to contain GMOs. Making this choice also supports sustainable farming and ensures the nutritional quality of food, free of synthetic chemicals.
We can support local farmers by buying more fresh food from them. We also can grow food ourselves. Even keeping a pot of herbs or salad greens near a sunny window is a delicious reminder that our food comes from nature, not corporate farm factories.
Growing and sharing food builds community relationships and reconnects us to the land. All that is needed to create an economy of abundance are many small acts of generosity. It’s what nature does for us, every day.
Claire Hope Cummings is a lawyer, journalist, and expert on agriculture and genetic engineering. She has farmed in California and Vietnam, was an attorney with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for four years, and is the author of the primary source for this article, Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds (Beacon Press, 2008.)
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
Organic Consumers Association –
www.OrganicConsumers.org
Center for Food Safety –
www.CenterForFoodSafety.org
Watch out for cloning & irradiation
Source: naturalawakeningsmag.com
by Claire Hope Cummings
by Claire Hope Cummings
Issue: November 2008
Why buy Organic Meat and Dairy?
Even if you are not ready to awaken to the VAST benefits of Raw~Living Vegan foods I urge you to at least consider the following!…
Why buy organic meat and dairy?
Eating fewer animal products is a good choice for us and for our environment. When we support farms that ethically take care of the animals they raise in a more humane way, we provide healthier choices for our families and support healthy and ecological neighborhoods. Look for farm products that meet these criteria:
NO ANTIBIOTICS,
HORMONES, GMO FEED
OR OTHER DRUGS
Animals raised organically cannot be fed antibiotics, genetically modified foods, or the bovine human growth hormone (rbGH) or other drugs. The animals receive certified 100 percent organic feed and a wider range of nutrients than those raised in factory farms.
Organically raised animals have been shown to be significantly healthier than their factory-raised counterparts. The products from these animals carry a certified organic label.
NO MAD COWS
The practice of feeding cattle the ground-up remains of other cows appears to cause mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which destroys the central nervous system and brain, and can pass to humans who eat the cows. In humans, it has a long latency period, and causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. This practice is outlawed in organic production.
MORE HUMANE TREATMENT
Free-range and ranch-raised animals are not confined. They spend much of their time outdoors in the fresh air.
Factory farms treat animals like commodities, holding them in tightly confined pens. Often, they never move more than a few feet their whole lives.
RECYCLE MANURE
Sustainable farms use their manure productively as organic fertilizer, recycling its nutrients.
Industrial farms produce so much manure that it becomes a larger health risk, contaminating wells and waterways with E. coli and other pathogens.
FEWER CHEMICALS
Organic agriculture uses crop rotation and other techniques to improve soil fertility, instead of synthetic chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Organic livestock are not fed food containing these chemicals, which concentrate in animal fat, so our exposure to such toxins is reduced.
Farmers working on organic farms also are exposed to fewer chemicals. Organic farming safeguards groundwater, topsoil, habitats and neighborhood health.
EMBRACE DIVERSITY
Small, sustainable farms tend to raise a wider variety of livestock; industrial farms rely more upon monocultures. We support a healthy gene pool by purchasing diverse foods.
USE RESOURCES WISELY
Organic farms use 70 percent less energy than factory farms through careful ecological management that leverages nature’s checks and balances to solve pest problems and preserve topsoil from erosion. When we buy from local farms, we also reduce the distance food travels from field to table.
In producing, transporting, processing and marketing food, typical factory farms operate on cheap, nonrenewable fossil fuels. Their heavy pesticide use both contaminates groundwater and soil and fosters erosion.
SUPPORT LOCAL FARMS
When we buy our meat and dairy products from an organic stand at a farmers’ market, we support that farm and the whole concept of healthy food, ensuring its continued availability. If we don’t, we are likely supporting the less wholesome practices of the multinational food industry.
Buying organic animal products, rather than conventional versions, is better for our family’s health, our community and our world.
Adapted from: www.Care2.com/greenliving/why-buy-organic-dairy-meat.html, an article by Annie B. Bond.
Organic Farm Certification in a Nutshell
To qualify farm products for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification, a farmer must track and report all related activities, including animal feed and food crop practices, livestock health and living conditions, and product processing, packaging, storage and shipping. Requirements are rigorous.
Specifically:
Land must have been free of prohibited substances for at least three years.
No harmful pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics or hormones may be used.
Using sewage sludge as fertilizer is prohibited.
No use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is allowed.
No irradiation of feed is allowed.
There can be no commingling of organic and nonorganic items at any stage.
Annual inspections of grounds and facilities must be conducted by a disinterested third party.
The farmer must undergo a detailed annual audit of purchases, production and sales.
Source: naturalawakeningsmag.com
Issue: November 2008
7 Foods You Must Eat Organic
I found this article on Planet Green by Alex Smith. Thanks Alex!
We’re definite supporters of organic food here at Planet Green, but it’s by no means the only way to eat green. As the market has increased in size, organic food can sometimes cover thousands of miles before it makes it to your plate. Insuring thatlocal food is high on your food priority list as well will keep the food miles low, but combining local with organic can put extra strain your wallet.
But still, the pesticides used on conventional foods can be pretty bad for the planet, not to mention your personal health. So if your budget dictactes that you can only get a few things organic, here are seven items you should definitely avoid buying in their conventional form.
Stone fruit like peaches and nectarines have the highest pesticide concentration in its conventionally grown form according to the Environmental Working Group. Over 90 percent of these fruits tested had pesticides on them, and 86 percent of the peaches the group tested had two or more pesticides on them. In the past, the FDA has cited the peach industry for illegal pesticide use. Because stone fruit is hard to scrub, it is a must on your organic grocery list.
Strawberries, the delicious summer bounty, if grown conventionally, are laden with pesticides. Almost 80 percent of the strawberries grown in the U.S. come from California, and, according to the Pesticide Action Network (PANNA), strawberries are the most densely-sprayed California crop. In 2006, the Network reported 9,222,870 pounds of a wide variety of pesticides were sprayed on strawberry crops. Because the fruit is porous and delicate to wash carefully, it is another important food to buy organic.
Rice is found in everything from baby food to snacks. The rice industry generates more than $1.5 billion annually in the United States. PANNA studies have found over forty pesticides used in rice production, fifteen of which are considered types that have ill effects on the human body or groundwater systems. In the last decade, the rice industry in California’s Sacramento Valley has seriously contaminated the local water system. Buying organic rice can help stem the tide.
Baby food, in its conventional form, is, of course, produced with conventional produce, which is often laden with pesticides. According to a National Academy of Sciences report, federal pesticide standards do to little to protect infants’ health. Developing bodies, particularly the immune, neurological and hormonal systems, are more vulnerable to toxins and may absorb pesticides more easily. For more on organic baby food, readConsumer Reports, and learn to make your own.
Milk, from our mooing friends, can take a long and winding road from cow to glass. Conventional cows are often fed pesticide-laden crops including corn; as ruminants, they get sick when fed things other than grass, which they’re stomachs can properly digest. So they’re pumpep up with antibiotics, to keep them from getting ill, and are often injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to keep them pumping out the milk. Buying organic keeps those things out of the cows, and out of your glass. Plus, organic milk has been found to be healthier than conventional, including things like more omega 3 fatty acids.
Bananas are typically grown with one of the highest pesticide levels of all tropical crops. Herbicides, aerial spraying and other chemical methods all are utilized to make sure bananas show up in their Northern marketslooking pretty. The conventional banana industry is not only bad for consumer health, banana plantation workers are renowned for being exposed to some of the worst working conditions. Workers unprotected from the array of banana pesticides have even successfully sued banana companies for their adverse effects. Buying organic keeps all these nasties at bay.
Green beans are treated with over 60 different kinds of pesticides. Often, these beans test with pesticide levels above the legal limits. Significant chemical components have even been found recently in frozen green beans from abroad.
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/eat-organic-foods.html
High Style, Earth Friendly Furnishings and Gifts!
A great local store here in the Lehigh Valley has now launched their online store. I love introducing people to this store. Everything has been made from recycled products or renewable materials. Definitely worth checking it out!!! http://www.homeandplanet.com/
Green up your Home or Business ~ Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Restore!
Please consider doing everything you can to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Restore! I am amazed at how many people still have no clue as to how really simple this can actually be. Here in the Lehigh Valley of PA things that can be recycled are paper, junkmail, paperboard (cereal box type material), cardboard, newspaper, magazines, plastics #1-7, steel, aluminum, copper, other scrap metals, all automobile oils, vegetable oil, cellphone, batteries (auto and home), eyeglasses… Even clothing and household goods can be donated to needy families that will appreciate them, there are plenty of secondhand shops throughout the region. Craigslist is another great way of giving things away for free or even making a few bucks in the process. http://craigslist.org
If you do not live in the Lehigh Valley where we are so fortunate to be able to easily do our part, then start insisting that your local governments start taking action to do their part in providing something other than a landfill option.
You can even go as far as building or restoring your home or business with renewable or recycled products, Low or No VOC (volatile organic compounds) that create harmful off gasses. Don’t forget to plan for clean electricity and energy efficiency. This website can help you to find local resources~ http://paenergyfest.com
Even if you do not own the place that you live or work, you can still do your part to minimize your footprint. Turn off lights, TV, or computer when no one is using them, when searching for something online use http://blackle.com, reduce and recycle whatever you can. At my previous places of employment I always found ways to recycle things that would have been tossed. I have shown up with my own paper recycling bin, or have collapsed boxes and taken them to the recycle center on my own time.
Please do not trash up the borrowed land you are living on when you can very easily do plenty to minimize and clean up your impact. You will not only be creating a healthier planet, your quality of life will be better for having done it.
Don’t forget to take your own bags when going shopping I have not been in any store that did not like me doing this.
If you read my Bio, you will find out that I even use earth ~ friendly products throughout my home. #1 Reason I use these products ~ Quality of Life for me and the planet. Why be sick and contaminated when you could be thriving instead!?
For personal assistance please feel free to contact me.
Healthforce Nutritionals
The only supplement I take on a regular basis except for my food of course :0) is the Vitamineral Greens by Healthforce Nutritionals.
This company is by far the best that I have tried in 10+ years of experiementation.
Powder form, no fillers, no preservatives, dried and produced at low temperatures to ensure active ingredients…
I am not affiliated with them I make no money on you purchasing their products. I just feel a very noticeable difference when taking the Vitamineral Greens.
Live Long and Prosper :0)
Whoever you voted for ~ Please read!
It is my prayer that we all come and stand together in UNITY as one nation moving forward NOW choosing to experience Prosperity ~ Love ~ Peace ~ and Harmony, helping each other to acheive this and the entire planet as well!
I had someone very close to me say that if we pull out our troops from the middle east, then terrorism will once again rise. I DO believe in the power of prayer and ask that if you do too, then please start now more than ever sending daily prayers for LOVE ~ PEACE ~ HARMONY ~ invision Christ’s Divine Light (or whichever Divine Master you believe in..) flowing into the regions of the Middle East so that we can safely pull out. China and Russia could use some extra Love as well!
Blessings to You on your Journey,
Cathi :0)
