A couple of posts ago I recommended David Kirby’s website and book, Animal Factory.
Factory Farms, CAFOs. Big topic today. The book link is here. Order and we can talk about animal farms versus factory farms!

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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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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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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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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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Part I

Cleansing has a different face today.  Different from even a few years ago.

Cleansing must be paired with nutrition today to support cellular health in an environment that is drastically different from that of even a few years ago.  

THE UNIVERSE, A LIVING SYSTEM, CONTINUALLY CHANGING

Change is the rule because the Universe is a living system, not a machine. 

Cultures rise and fall. Beliefs we lived with yesterday may not still be true today.  If we do not question our culture’s beliefs we continue to operate as though yesterday’s beliefs are still true.  Yesterday’s beliefs are impotent today. Living in yesterday’s paradigm will not bring health we’re looking for today.

TRADITIONAL CLEANSING METHODS DON’T FIT TODAY’S WORLD

As we cleanse to bring our bodies to a higher form of health we must operate from beliefs that we have tested personally, beliefs that are valid today, not beliefs from the past.

Cleansing today cannot take the same form as it did years ago in long-standing traditions.  We operate under beliefs different from those held by traditional cultures.

PAST CLEANSORS DIDN’T WORRY ABOUT POLLUTION

When tradional cultures cleansed (allowed the body to get rid of that which was not useful) it was unthinkable that food they ate might not be providing proper nutrition.  It didn’t occur to them that they might not be getting necessary nutrients.

In ages past there was no thought of pesticides, manmade chemicals, or toxins in/on produce.

No thought fruits and vegetables might not be nutrionally adequate because of depleted soil. 

People did not wonder whether water was pure and healthy.  They didn’t wonder about chlorine.  And they didn’t worry about stress. In ages past, those were unthinkable thoughts. 

 Navajos preparing ritual celebration

OUR BELIEFS ARE OUT-OF-DATE

We live in a different time.  We must adopt beliefs that serve today.

Today our soil is depleted.  People are under tremendous stress. Our water is polluted. 

Meat animals, in confined units, eat unnatural diets with added hormones and anti-biotics.  

Processed food has been robbed of nutrients. 

Drastic changes, so it’s no wonder many of us think cleansing is a good idea.  But the idea of cleansing must be paired with new beliefs about a polluted environment, not the same as in the past.

“IF WE JUST EAT GOOD FOOD WE’LL BE FINE,”

TODAY, AN OBSOLETE BELIEF

Many operate with the old belief that if we just eat good food we’ll be fine.  That belief is obsolete because our environment has changed.  It’s polluted. 

Many of us hold beliefs about CLEANSING that sound really good.

And many of us hold onto beliefs about FOOD that sound really good.

FOOD and CLEANSING must be seen as a package.  They must be seen together.  Refusing to accept a true view of the world today will keep us from discovering how food and cleansing work together.

Cleansing is a good idea, but it takes resources, and energy.  What if we don’t have those resources?  What if our bodies aren’t playing with a “full” nutritional deck?” What if organs aren’t healthy enough to process and digest food? 

What if cells, overloaded with toxins, are unable to deal with food? 

What if food is nutritionally depleted, lacking essential minerals and protein for healthy cells?

 CLEANSING AND HEALTHY FOOD IN THE PAST WENT TOGETHER NATURALLY

If you’ve tried cleansing perhaps that one reason it didn’t work as you expected.

Cleansing and replenishing with nutrients, produce results beyond what each can bring alone. To bring health today we need both. 

MISSING PIECE IN THE WELLNESS PUZZLE, NUTRITIONAL CLEANSING

Today’s missing piece in the wellness puzzle is nutritional cleansing: Cleansing paired with super nutrition to build health.  Cleansing at the cellular level in a matrix of complete nutrition.  Cleansing is not stand-alone; it must be paired with complete nutrition or results will not be optimum.

Part II next Blog entry!

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Cleansing is the answer to diets. Regular cleansing takes care of diets–throws them in the trash.  American, though, are still obsessed.

My Oprah magazine just came. The cover story for the September issue, is ”Finding the diet that fits your life. 

Americans have a love/hate relationship with food. We’re dieting, counting calories, watching our weight, continually on some diet or restricted food plan. And yet, a high percentage of us are not only overweight, but obese.

Why do we have so much trouble with food?

Why can’t we relax and enjoy something that’s such a big part of living? Other cultures don’t seem to have these American hangups.  Look at the French, for example, and you’ll see a lot of slender French people eating gobs of saturated fat washed down with wine. These are a people who have a relationship to food completely different from ours, according to Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food.

The French eat small portions, don’t come back for seconds, and they spend considerably more time eating than we do. Taken together, these habits contribute to a food culture in which the French consume fewer calories than we do, yet manage to enjoy them far more,” page 183.

• Drink a large glass of water first thing in the morning to hydrate your brain. Continue drinking water throughout the day.
• Follow with breakfast, containing high-quality protein along with carbohydrate and fat.
• Have a 100 calorie snack about 10:00 a.m. (raw nuts, celery, carrots, vegetables, nut butters, tuna, and crackers.)
• Drink water throughout the day.
• At Lunch include high quality protein with carbohydrate and fat. 
• It’s another snack at 3:00 p.m. Aim for 3 snacks and 3 balanced meals every day.
• Evening meal around 5:30, or 6:00.
• Snack at 8:00 if you head for bed around 10:00.

EAT MORE FOOD TO RELEASE MORE FAT

1. Three 100-calorie snacks a day. Eat more to get best results because you don’t want to go more than 3 hours without eating something with protein. If you restrict calories, don’t eat, your body will lower metabolism and drop into starvation mode.
2. Avoid processed food, anything with high fructose corn syrup, long chemical names. These products are not food. Much of what we see in our groceries is a chemical rearrangement of three ingredients: corn, soy, and wheat, not real food.  When Pollan says, “Eat food, not too much, mostly vegetables,” he’s not referring to processed food which is fake.
3. Don’t avoid good fats found in eggs from open-range chickens, avocados, coconut, healthy fish, olilve oil, and butter from grass-finished cows. America’s diet is devoid of Omega-3 fatty acids that are very important to all aspects of good health.
4. Take time to prepare food, eat slowly, and enjoy it with someone you love.

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