All this talk about eggs laced with toxins makes some of us avoid an excellent whole food, eggs.

Eggs from a family farm are healthy food, whole food. What we need to avoid is eggs and chickens from factory farms, CAFOs where crowded, unsanitary conditions can breed dangerous bacteria.

Dr Mercola recommends eggs as healthy food. Buy eggs from someone you know, maybe someone in your neighborhood. His rather lengthy article is below.  The article is a little long, but interesting, especially if you’re playing with the idea of having a few chickens in your back yard…

http://tinyurl.com/3yf88e5

Janice

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Recalled eggs, 380 million of them. Source farm was found according to New York Times and it’s Wright County Egg Farm near Clarion, Iowa, owned by the DeCoster family. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27eggs.html?_r=2&src=twt&twt=nytimesdining

(Check my post yesterday. We talked about DeCoster farms.)

DeCoster farms does 2.3 million dozen eggs, a week….that makes you pause.  Ever seen 2.3 million dozen in one place at one time?

Neither have I.  But don’t dump them in MY kitchen any time soon.

Apparently DeCoster has been fined numerous times for environmental pollution and sexual harrassment.

Check out the New York Times article.  It’s enlightening.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27eggs.html?_r=2&src=twt&twt=nytimesdining

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Know where your food comes from?

When I grew up in the 50s we knew.  The back yard garden, the back pasture, the neighbor next door who had a few chickens.

Now, it’s not so easy.

AMERICA’S FOOD, CONTROLLED BY ONLY FOUR CORPORATIONS

Food is big business. Hogs, chickens, and beef production is controlled by only four (4) corporations.  These four corporations control the animals, the buildings, the feed, the feedlots, and the distribution centers that supply meat to American grocers.

Controlled Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) control most of our egg supply, too.  Unless you buy eggs from a local small farm!

I found a great website just yesterday.
Amy Goodman, “Democracy Now!” interviewed Kirby about his book, “Animal Factory.” (check the 8/25 blog post).  Here’s his website. It’s a good one. http://animalfactorybook.com/

And, here’s a video from his website:

POLLUTION MACHINES=INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE

“These factory farms, known as “Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations,” or CAFOs, confine thousands of pigs, dairy and beef cattle, and poultry in small spaces, often under stressful conditions, and generate enormous volumes of fecal and biological waste as well as other toxins.”

DISEASE FACTORIES

Kirby: “Swine flu. MRSA. Unusual concentrations of cancer and other diseases. Massive fish kills from algal blooms and flesh-eating parasites. Recalls of meats, vegetables, and fruits because of deadly E-coli bacteria contamination, salmonella and 380 million eggs…

Recent public health crises raise urgent questions about how our animal-derived food is raised and brought to market.”

NOT SO EASY TO TELL WHAT’S REAL FOOD

It’s not not so easy today to tell what’s really food.  But, there are still a few tell tale guidelines.

Michael Pollan (In “Defense of Food”) lists five.

• Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
• Avoid food containing ingredients that are a: unfamiliar, b: unpronounceable, c: more than five in number, or that include d: high fructose corn syrup.
• Avoid food products that make health claims.
• Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.
• Get out of the supermarket whenever possible.

Know where your food comes from?

It’s the responsibility of the consumer now.  Read labels.  What else do you do?
Food is big business today. Corporations aren’t concerned with your health; they’re money-making machines.  Each of us must take responsibility.

So, what do you do?  I’ll take new ideas, your thoughts about food sources.  Let me know below

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380 Million eggs recalled since last week.

Were they from a small family farm or CAFO?

What’s your guess?

Two Iowa farms, CAFOs, recalled more than half a billion potentially tainted eggs this month. Those two farms share close ties since they supply both the chickens and the feed and yet are owned by the same company.

DECOSTER FARMS CITED FOR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE

Both farms are linked to businessman Austin “Jack” DeCoster, cited for numerous health, safety and employment violations over the years. DeCoster owns Wright County Egg, the original farm that recalled 380 million eggs Aug. 13 after they were linked to more than 1,000 reported cases of salmonella poisoning.

FDA SEEKS FURTHER REGULATORY AUTHORITY

According to Sherri McGarry of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, “There are preventive measures that would have been in place that could have prevented this.” She and other officials declined to say what specific measures would have prevented this particular outbreak, citing an ongoing FDA investigation. The FDA recommends stronger regulatory powers be given to the agency.

CHEAP EGGS, FILTHY CONDITIONS

Michael Pollan, “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” would call these eggs, “battery cage eggs,” because the chickens are crammed into tiny cages, unable to walk or spread their wings.

They’re covered in feces, often forced to share cages with the bodies of dead neighbors. These unnatural conditions produce sick birds, which increases the likelihood of infected eggs.

DeCoster has been warned before of environmental violations. Hog effluent, from his hog farm, contaminated the chicken operation. Rats contaminated the feed, and carried contamination from one to the other.

Hog effluent, rats rummaging in chicken feed.  It’s no surprise there’s salmonella.

Picture courtesy of “Farm Sanctuary”

FACTORY FARMS FIGHT NATURAL DESIGN

I wonder how the FDA proposes to inspect and regulate huge animal factories.

Why try to regulate “farms” that are, by design, breeding grounds for disease and bacteria? It seems to me this problem does not stem frm lack the lack of regulation as much as faulty design.

It’s the industry itself. How do you present factories that treat animals/birds inhumanely as sources of healthy food for our bodies?

Can we expect food from abused creatures to really nourish and bring health?

EGG INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION MEANS FEWER FOOD SOURCES

The egg industry has consolidated over recent years, leaving a few very large businesses.  Controlled Animal Feeding Operations, CAFOs, control most of the nation’s egg supply.  That’s not a sustainable system.

Amy Goodman interviews, Aug 24, on “Democracy Now” author David Kirby, “Animal Factory,” about the dangerous consolidation of our food supply:

WHERE DOES OUR FOOD COME FROM?

WHERE DO I GET MY EGGS?

Thanks for asking!! Our family buys chickens and eggs from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program. The chickens are raised on a small family farm in Nevada.  Even in the city you can find today folks who raise a few chickens and are willing to sell their eggs. 

The chickens run free, are not cramped in small cages with no room to turn.  They’re allowed to express their “chickenness,” as Joel Saladin would say.

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I Googled fluoride.

Fluoride in toothpaste is what I’m investigating. Is fluoride a heavy metal toxin? If so, what’s it doing in toothpaste?

There’s a lot of interest in fluoride, let me tell you that for starters.

15,500,000 Entries for Fluoride in Google

15,500,000 entries for fluoride, and that’s not including other key word phrases such as fluoride in Utah, fluoride deception, fluoride toothpaste, fluoride poison, fluoride water…

BBC Journalist says Fluoride in water Linked to Industry

I clicked on “The Fluoride Deception,” a YouTube interview of Christopher Bryson, reporter for the BBC.

“>

Fluoride linked to nuclear and aluminum industry

From his investigation it’s clear fluoride was/is closely connected with American industry, a by-product of two industries: the nuclear industry and the aluminum industry.

The interview takes up four videos, over an hour.

I also clicked (right hand margin of the Bryson video), on a talk by Dr.Phyllis Mullenix, at Clark College in 1994. Mullenix was head of the Toxicology Department at the Forsyth Dental Center, a world renowned dental research institution affiliated with the Harvard Medical School, when she was asked to perform a study to test a new computer technology.

The Institute picked the well-established health practice of fluoridation to demonstrate the new technology. The subject sparked little initial interest because fluoridation had been declared a safe and effective treatment for dental carries in young children for some time.

There was little need to study it.

Shocking results show fluoride does cross blood/brain barrier

But, the results of the study were not expected. The study showed fluoride effects the central nervous system, and the brain, specifically hippocampal development, the region generally linked with memory.

“Results were completely unexpected by all of us.”

Fluoride definitely crosses the blood/brain barrier.

Mullenix reported study results, the study was cut off, and Mullenix was terminated.

She commented later, fluoridation is a “politically sensitive subject.”

More to come…

I’m not finished.

Janice

P.S. Dr. Phyllis Mullenix isn’t finished yet either.

Read here about further studies into fluoride heavy metal toxicology and what she’s doing now.

http://www.fluoridealert.org/pmullenix.htm

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Fluoride in toothpaste.  That’s what I found on the shelf.  Over 20 brands and all of them contained what I thought was a toxic heavy metal.  Fluoride.  Isn’t it a toxin?  Why do they all  have fluoride?

We ran out of toothpaste. We usually use a wonderful homeopathic toothpaste, good for your gums, that I get on the InterNet from Unicity Network.  We ran out, and I didn’t get it ordered in time.  During my next stop at the grocery for food, toothpaste was on my list.

Over twenty brands to choose from. Not one without fluoride.  Every single toothpaste in the display contained fluoride.  Every single one.

That’s odd.  I don’t know much about fluoride.  Do I want a heavy metal in my toothpaste?  In my mouth?  I’m baffled.  But, all these companies put fluoride in their products….

There were a few brands in the natural foods department, and I picked one out, “Jason.”  Even my old favorite, “Toms” contains fluoride.  The company was recently purchased by Colgate, though, so maybe that explains the change.

What do you do when you aren’t sure?  Is fluoride safe or not?  It was in every product so it must be safe.  Still, I don’t know, but I bought the “Powersmile,” no fluoride from Jason.

I need to know more about fluoride.  Give me a minute while I check the InterNet….

P.S. I’m still checking…  get back with you in a few days.

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Hello, Entrepreneurs!

We’re fortunate to live in a time of rapid changes that support small businesses and Entrepreneurs.  We’ve moved back into real conversation–permission-based, when people, not elites, have the voice.

The following links will help you dig in further to sociology behind this revolution and help you, I hope, find your niche to take part.

Markets are organizing themselves into tribes engaged in digital conversations to connect, communicate, and converse with a target audience.  People can no longer be approached with a mass-marketing mindset.   They want to be part of the conversation.  They’ve had a taste of contributing their viewpoints, and they want to hear the opinions of others and discuss.

It’s with the small business owner that you find the genius of connecting with small groups, flexibility to change direction rapidly, and flexibility to respond rapidly to current world events.  That can be most effectively done with a blog built around targeted key words.

Here’s your link to QuanSite, the blog system that automatically connects your blog article to social media sites> 

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Grow your own organic food

Organic food.  Not processed food.  Whole food at your fingertips.

PIcture big city (New York).  It’s summer and it’s hot. Farmers markets, fresh organic produce, and neighborhood gardens bursting with tasty, read-to-eat veggies, picnic in the park.  

Six months from now: Hunker down in cold, snowy, icy, blustery, sleety winter.  No-Fresh-Food.  Vegetables from the truck at the store.

Does that stop some of these people from enjoying fresh organic food?  No.  Not on your life.  I laughed with delight at this video, the inventiveness and creativity of my fellow humans.  There’s hope for any problem we face when individuals tackle the problem with this sort of creativity.  Watch this video.  You’ll love it.

Might give you some ideas…

Here’s the link http://www.windowfarms.org/

Blessing on all of you.  May good food and sunshine fill your days,

Janice

hmmm…I have a kitchen window that faces direct east in the winter… They have a kit…Want to try this for winter?  Let me know.  We’ll share ideas.

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We’re getting fatter.  All of us.

Most of us weigh 25 pounds more than we weighed 20 years ago.  And, it’s not just a U.S. problem.

It’s a world wide trend.

Dr. David Ludwig, Boston Children’s Hospital,

says doctors worldwide are seeing 6-month-old

children (babies!) who are obese.

Come on!  Read that again.  Doctors are seeing 6-month-old children already obese.  This is not due to lack of exercise and too much food!  These are babies we’re talking about.

There must be another reason.  Something we’re not seeing, or not admitting.

Babies–the canary in the mineshaft.

Ira Flatow, NPR, “Science Friday;” (I love “Science Friday;” I’m a regular listener.)  But in an interview Friday he parroted the same useless factoids we’ve heard for years,

“We’re driving cars, sitting at computers–not exercising enough to burn all the calories we eat.” 

Too many calories; not enough exercise. We’ve heard that song too long

I say, “Horse Pucky!”

I know we’re more sedentary and we’re eating more food, but that by itself doesn’t account for the obesity of babies!  There’s something else going on.

WHY are we eating so much more? 

WHY are so many children at risk for Metabolic Syndrome?

Metabolic Syndrome: 

•  abdominal obesity

• heart disease (high triglycerides, high LDL choles, low HDL)

• high blood pressure

• prediabetic, insulin resistant

Calories and little exercise.  That talk doesn’t go far enough to explain this alarming trend.

Could it be something we’re eating that’s causing havoc in bodies all over the globe?

Something a lot of us are eating a lot of?

“The number one source of calories in the U.S. is high fructose corn syrup…the food that most people get

MOST of their calories from is high fructose corn syrup, primarily in the form of soft drinks,” Dr. Mercola:

http://articles.mercola.com

If High Fructose Corn Syrup is the number one source of calories in most people’s diets perhaps we should take a look at it.

Let’s talk.  Where did HFCS come from?  Why is it used in so many processed foods?  Is this just more talk about too much sugar in our diets?  What’s the difference between plain old sugar and fructose corn syrup anyway?  It’s just sugar.  Right?

Take care of yourself and I’ll see you next time,

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TOXINS MAKE YOUR STOMACH FAT

Your body stores toxins in fat cells. If your liver can’t break poisons down, it keeps them away from important organs by hiding them in fat and water, and that’s usually around the stomach. 

We’ve all known people, and perhaps we ourselves, who have lost weight, but who even with weight lost still have fat stomachs. 

That’s roughly where the liver is. When toxins overwhelm that organ, so it can’t do its job, it does the next best thing. It surrounds toxins in fat and water and “sequesters” impurities. Fat doesn’t have much blood circulation so toxins stay out of touch with the rest of the body.

Brilliant mechanism, but a fat stomach is annoying and not healthy. Fat bellies, if they stick around too long, are risk factors for metabolic syndrome, which includes diabetes, heart, and blood pressure problems.

So, it’s not just that we don’t like the look of fat bellies, they really are a sign our health is out of whack.

LIVER, MYSTERIOUS DETOX LAB

At the source of the problem is toxin overload. If I could encourage my body to get rid of poisons–help the liver detoxify–then maybe the fat would release naturally because it wouldn’t be needed any longer.

See, when the body recognizes a substance that can’t be used for fuel, mechanisms kick in to break it down to get rid of it through the skin, lungs, colon, and kidneys. 

To my mind those mechanisms are miraculous and mysterious, and most of the time they’re effective at keeping our bodies free from poisons.

DIETS DO NOT TAKE CARE OF TOXINS 

Restricting calories (diets) does not help the body handle toxins.  Nutritional cleansing is different from dieting and counting calories.

Traditional cultures have used certain natural ingredients for centuries to encourage toxin release. 

Aloe Vera is one of the best known.  And Licorice root, Burdock, and Yellow Dock.  Burdock has been used for centuries to clear the blood stream of impurities.  Yellow dock is a spring tonic to improve general health.  Licorice root is an over-all body tonic, and Aloe Vera is known for its healing properties.  Peppermint, and Fennel, too.

But, I’m not ready to start taking any of these without some advice on how to use them.  How would I go about putting them all together?  All herbs have effects in the body.  I don’t know enough about them to jump right in and start medicating myself.

Our youngest son Daniel is an herbalist.

The “Berry Boy”

He could help me identify cleansing herbs.  He’s loved plants since a little boy.  On family hikes his nickname was the “berry boy.”  He stuck by that early interest and studied in New Mexico, Alaska, and now California.  He understands it can be difficult to use healing herbs in proper combinations to gently encourage the body to release toxins.  Practitioners can help, but it does take patience and knowledge.

YOUR BODY IS EQUIPPED TO DETOXIFY

I’m probably not going to put my own herbal concoction together. 

But I know I need to consciously take steps beyond just eating good food.  My body needs a little more than that.

HELP THE BODY DETOXIFY AND LOOSE YOUR FAT STOMACH

Healing herbs and whole, natural foods used to be viewed as medicine.  That is not the case today in America for a couple of reasons.

• Corporate food production today has become a money-making industry.  More money can be made processing natural foods than selling those foods unprocessed.  Processed foods with low nutritional value and long shelf life, are what most Americans eat today.  The bottom line is profit, not good health.

• Foods grown in soil depleted by chemical fertilizers, devoid of minerals and living organisms, do not contain the full complement of vitamins and minerals that were present in food tested only twenty years ago.

• Personal products, cleansing products, exhaust from vehicles and factories, manmade chemicals in water and air, and pesticides and herbicides on our fruits and vegetables surround us and threaten health daily.

The knowledge of what is healthy food is largely gone from our culture.  The preparation of healthy meals from “scratch” is a lost art in many homes.

Most Americans have no idea what food is healthy and what food is nothing more than empty calories.  Our culture is no longer the repository of that knowledge.  Our bellies are satisfied temporarily by bulky processed grains and our taste buds by high fructose corn syrup.

So, what to do today?  Today you can make a difference in your health.

• Begin carrying around a water bottle with filtered water everywhere you go, Drink from it all day. Water is the great purifier. Your kidneys, lungs, colon, and skin will begin throwing off poisons almost immediately when you furnish your body with plenty of pure water.

• Become aware of processed food. Anything in a package is processed. Become aware of how much food is processed, not “real,” food.

Check the Blog for articles.  Do you know what happens to food animals in America? http://cleanse-for-better-health.com/blog/factory-farm-or-family-farm/

 We’ll talk more about that issue in future issues, for right now get into the kitchen and fill your water bottle… 

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