Category Archives: organic

Gluten Free Watchdog

by

…because companies will label their products “Gluten-Free” when they’re really not.  It’s either conscious deception so they can get the $$$ gluten free market dollars, or they’re not really testing their product to be sure that it is gluten free.  As I’ve posted before,  even a little gluten for someone who is Celiac can mean a serious reaction. (hat tip to this blog.)

Watchdog mentions this organization that helps certify food.   This makes food shopping sooo much easier–all you have to do is look for the logo and you are reasonably comfortable buying the product.   There is this, too, which also has a logo to help shoppers identify gluten free food.  There is a link to GF recipes on the main page.

Here is a webpage of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.  They, too, help to certify GF foods.  They use a third party to help certify products, which is a bonus. Here is a list of GF manufacturers.  I always want to add a caution that everything can change in a moment’s notice and if a food affects one, whether it’s labeled GF or not, one should be cautious about eating it again.  As they say on the support group–something may be gluten free, but it perhaps is an allergen for a particular person.  Allergies can show up with the typical runny nose, or rash or headache or someone may just feel extra tired after eating a particular food.  Your body will tell you what it needs and doesn’t need–one just has to pay attention.

 

Boycott Kellogg’s

by

Organic Consumers posted this a while back (I’m sooo far behind in emails).  Financially supporting the companies that truly have the best interests of their consumers at heart is the best way to go.  Well, that and labeling our food.

Read the note on Kashi’s using genetically engineered soy in their “organic” products.  It is such a cop-out to claim pollination was the reason the soy was GMO–an easy way to escape accountability.  Instead of fighting GMO labeling, they should be fighting against Monsanto and the others involved in genetically modified food.  This food is highly likely involved in leaky gut, as the body cannot recognize the grain anymore, and treats it as a foreign substance and that leads to gut inflammation and eventually leaky gut.

A link here to eye problems and leaky gut and GMO’s.  Very interesting.  My eyes have begun to improve–I was using 1.50 readers and now am able to use the 1.25 magnification.  I’m also able to distinguish fine degrees of color, and I had lost some of my ability to determine colors.  I know this by my embroidery thread that I used for counted cross-stitch–the thread is numbered and has very minute distinctions, and it was difficult for me to separate them by color.  I grew so frustrated at it that I just put them all in one bag, unable to organize them.  This began to change when I started to detox.

Here’s a good opinion on the GMO’s.

More here on the global effort to get GMO’s labeled.

A debate between a professor and a neoliberal. (hat tip to organic consumers).

Lastly, I really wonder about the exposure even if you’re not eating GMO foods (or at least trying not to by buying organic).  I say this because every year, around late July, I begin to have more severe allergy symptoms, culminating in September, when I usually have headaches several days out of the month (this has been after mercury poisoning–at least, that’s when I first noticed it).  I found a link here on the increase in allergies and GMO’s.

Here is a paper that must have been written by a Monsanto toadie, it is so slanted towards GMO’s and gives very little attention or support for research towards health concerns.  This is what I was seeing when I was a student in college and I took a class in science writing:  they had a forum at this strongly agricultural school on GMO’s when they were first being introduced in 1997-98 (only we found out later that they had been unleashed onto the unsuspecting public earlier.)

A good blog here on GMO.

 

 

~~~~~~~~

Related to this is an stunning affirmation of those in power that amalgams are safe.  Just stunning. Absolutely stunning.  (hat tip to organic consumers).  It just goes to show that Washington is bought by those whose interests don’t include the health and well being of the public, but of who has the $$$ to fund their campaigns.

And my previous blog  with this on how not only mercury affects us, but the animals, as well.  My other blogs on it here and here.

And I’m finished.  So much for catching up on my emails. 😛

 

 

PR Watch

by

(I’m sooo far behind, I think I’m ahead…)

Trying to play catch up–here are some highlights of issues sent out by Center for Media and Democracy–

I love that he is holding Whole Foods accountable for the food they are saying is organic….but not quite telling all of the possible ingredients (heavy metals and other contaminants)…

The “Don’t ask, don’t tell” I-see-no-evil, I-hear-no-evil is pretty standard.  They aren’t counting on folks like Mario asking questions, either.  The more people ask questions, the harder it is to come up with evasive answers.

Like I’ve said before, know where your food is from–buy locally if at all possible, because the gossip is at least one other national organic food store is selling conventionally grown (using chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides) food is being marketed as organic.

~~~~~~

Addressing the gun violence issue.  Like in my previous post, you can use other weapons for violence instead of guns–it’s the acceptance of violence in our society (and others) that encourages this.  It’s so much easier to throw a rock than to try to reason with someone and to compromise and to recognize one’s own responsibility towards making peace.  A gun is a  quick way to end whatever problem there is…

And the argument that everyone carrying a gun would stop violence…oy vey…

~~~~~~~~~~

ALEC member Scott nominated to fill Demint vacancy.

IRS audit for ALEC?  The question becomes “are you a charity if you have a political action committee and go from state to state trying to heavily influence legislation?”

Michigan and ALEC’s right to work law.   This is part of the religious right’s assault on fairness, which I’m finding out in the book Holy Terror.  (I’m slowly getting through it, a better report later.)

 

Celiac

by

I can’t remember if I’ve blogged on this website or not, so forgive the repeat if I did~

Celiac.com is a wonderful resource for those with gluten intolerance/celiac.

I was reading the forums from others and it really helps especially during the holidays.  One of the posters has family that don’t understand how serious the condition is and that they can’t eat the normal foods associated with the holidays.  The family member took offense that she would want to fix food for her family (husband and child are affected) separately.

In another post, it really struck home for me–a new member asked if she could cheat a little, as long as she was eating right most of the time.  I have to admit that I’ve cheated, too, and was thinking that as long as I was eating the right foods 90% of the time, that a little bit of cheating wouldn’t hurt.

Wrong.

The other members were quick to tell her in no uncertain terms not to do it.  For one, even if you’re diligent about eating the right foods, you never know when you’ll be exposed to cross contamination (eating food prepared in a facility that also prepares wheat products or even breathing the wheat dust while someone else is baking can affect one, as well).  One member related that she got fed up with the gluten-free diet and for a year or so ate whatever she wanted….she was at a pizzeria when she doubled over in pain and had to be taken to the hospital.  They rushed her into emergency surgery and removed part of her bowel that had literally exploded.  She now has a colostomy and hopes to heal enough to get it removed in the near future.

And on the support group (GAPS), a member posted about her child that had been given crackers by the teacher.  When the parent raised alarm at this, and how this was not allowed, the teacher made some comment that it was *only* six crackers (or something like that).

Incredible!

If the child had a peanut allergy, and this teacher had given him/her peanuts, it would be considered a serious breach of duty.

Even a doctors have told their Celiac patients that they can cheat *a little*.  Wow.

And trying to tell my family about this disease and warning them that it’s inherited and pointing out signs of it has fallen on deaf ears….some even get a little perturbed at me….<sigh>

Monsanto sneaking through power grab legislation

by

(sigh) this just gets sooo monotonous…once again Monsanto is trying to sneak through legislation to grab even more power over what is planted in the land. (hat tip organic consumers)

More from organic consumers here on the boycott of companies that have “natural” brands that sunk Prop  37 in California.  They’re worried about money in political campaigns…I’m worried about the money behind stuff like this.  It’s much harder to get attention directed at these campaigns by the media, therefore, it’s much harder to get the facts out there.

They also have a video posted by Jim Goodman.  I don’t have time to watch it today, but wanted to post it for others.

Progress

by

(PERSONAL BLOG)

I haven’t posted on my progress for awhile, so I thought I’d put this up–

I am finally able to eat a little garlic. This is wonderful for me because I love it in butter sauce over spaghetti pasta.  Only now I have to use spaghetti squash.  It’s still delicious, though, and garlic is a wonder food.  It was actually used in WWII for the soldiers’ ailments (before penicillin was discovered).  It’s a natural antibacterial, antifungal and is just an all-around superfood for the immune system.  So, yeah, it’s good that I can eat it…as long as it’s not too often–still have issues if I eat too much of a good thing.

I can eat green leafy lettuce now, too, which is w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l.  I discovered a simple but delicious recipe in the book How to Cook without a Book.   I’ve discovered that most gluten-free books are written by people who don’t know how to cook.  This book, although not aimed at the gluten-free crowd, nevertheless has wonderful recipes that I’ve adapted.  She gives a basic ingredient list and then gives one different go-togethers.  A favorite of mine is a basic leafy green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing.  (personally, I prefer it without the vinegar) and she adds bacon, avocado, and tomato.  It’s the closest thing to a BLT, and I love BLT’s, but of course can’t have the bread anymore.  This is a great alternative and nutritious, to boot. 🙂

My skin looks so much better just since March, when starting this diet.  I figure if it looks better on the outside, the inside is hopefully making the same progress.

Other progress I’ve noticed is that I’m able to handle stress a lot better.  This is crucial because the adrenals take such a beating with heavy metal poisoning that they can’t put out the cortisone to calm you down when you’re in a stressful situation.  In other words, you don’t freak out over stupid stuff.

Another crucial recovery is with my sense of humor —it is more frequently there than not…because I can tell you that my sense of humor has always been a part of my personality and with mercury’s affects on my brain’s creativity and linear thinking and constant exhaustion– that precious gift had disappeared.  It’s a cruelty that at the time when I needed my sense of humor the most, with the sense of connectedness, it wasn’t there for me–I had lost “myself”.  I cannot begin to describe how it feels to lose oneself–you know you’re still *there*  but you can’t bring *her* out.  Even more cruel is that every now and then, I’d get a glimpse of *me*, but as I tried to grab hold, she slipped back *underwater* and out of my grasp.

I’m sleeping better, which probably helps all of the above.  Not great, but much better.

There are still days, though, when I want to withdraw and not talk to anyone (autistic symptoms).  And the memory stuff comes and goes…and of course, the dreaded migraines.  I do have hope, however, as others on the GAPS diet have testified that they had suffered, too, but are now headache-free (keeping fingers and toes crossed).

So…yeah…I’m…Feelin’ Stronger Every Day (James Pankow, Chicago)

Blessed.

 

 

Big Bird breathes sigh of relief…

by

Congratulations, President Obama. Big Bird lives on…:)

I know better, but I was listening to the rightwing radio last night and they were painting a dim picture of Obama’s win.  I turned it off and went to bed to read…thinking we were going to get Bush III…

Indiana voted in Mike do-nothing Pence for Governor,  and now has a super majority in the legislature…<sigh>

…well, at least I am spared Richard my-sperm-is-a-gift-from-God Mourdock…

The news on the reaction in the Middle East.  I hope this means a peaceful movement in Israel is underway….

DN! has this up on the elections.  Elizabeth Warren is animated after her win.  Thank God.

Unfortunately, the GMO lobby won and Californians defeated the measure requiring GMO labeling. Shit.

O”Reilly had a nice take on why Obama won–because people want “stuff” and Obama was going to give it to them…

Well, now…Romney has the gov’t pay $77,000 for the care and housing of his horse…has money in offshore accounts and John McCain has so many houses he can’t even remember how many he has…all because they don’t pay their fair share of taxes…now who feels entitled?

Is it entitlement when one wants to eat? Have a roof over their head? Get medical care? I’m confused.

They went on to talk about the shift away from the standard–now women and minorities are getting their voices heard. The boys of the old school are threatened…and it will probably get uglier before it’s all done.

To my sisters who were the power behind getting President Obama re-elected:  Thank you.  We can move mountains when we focus on what’s important to us and fight for it.

I want to say, though, that women have been characterized as of “one mind”–that any woman who manages to get before a microphone speaks for all women.  They don’t.

This is one of the reasons that the middle-of-the-road women backed away from the Feminist Movement–they were treated as if they spoke for all women.  Women who wanted to stay home with their children were characterized as dull twits who lacked ambition.  Women who didn’t believe in abortion but believed in equality were marginalized, also.

And the 70s Feminists who fought against alimony because it…well, I’m not really sure why they were fighting against alimony…but as this quote by Barbara Seaman, amongst others, puts it quite well–this is something that I lost out on when I divorced.  I also got less than half of the assets (with a mortgage to pay off) and my ex got away with only paying one-fifth ($20,000) of his income to support his three children.  Although I had stayed home for eleven years, the judge did not allow for that, and had instead computed the amount of support as if I had a job!!  Yes, I had a lousy lawyer–whose partner still smirks at me to this day whenever I have to trudge back to the place I grew up in…I’ve always wondered what that smirk means….

Anyway, I hope that with the election that women and minorities will do their homework, and support thoughtful politicians who approach the legislative process with the “Do unto others…” mindset…it would make life so much easier and just might bring about Peace…

Dental decay reversed?

by

Members of the GAPS diet group posted this link to a theory that teeth can remineralize following the basic GAPS diet and staying away from processed food.  Wouldn’t that just blow you away?  Put the dental profession out of business, eh?  Shhh…we don’t want them to get wind of this…you know, that whole profits against morality thing…and we know that profits usually wins…

…what I didn’t see in the bottom of the article when it listed what one needed for the teeth to remineralize was an absence of toxins…because the immune system cannot function properly while the body’s cells are malfunctioning due to chemical interference.

Feed the soil…

by

…and the rest will follow. (hat tip to organic farmers’ group)

Here we are, 2012, and still rediscovering what wisdom has been known forever…nature can do a bang up job when we cooperate with her instead of fighting against her…

The cover crops angle is the missing link that nourishes the soil while preventing erosion.  As the article states, it puts back nutrients that create that rich compost responsible for holding the soil together, holding water when droughts hit, and feeding the worms, which add their own version of rich casings (fertilizer).  (A side story–someone told me of a woman who detested worms and requested a chemical fertilizer be applied to kill all the worms in her yard.  I kid you not.)  Also, the article doesn’t mention the beneficial microbes that eat e.coli –which helps keep it in check.