DIET Green Tea ?

Isn’t GREEN TEA a low calorie drink ANYWAY?  Why in God’s name does there have to be Lipton DIET Green Tea?

An end-cap in a local grocery store touted Lipton ‘Sparkling” Green Tea and “Diet” Green Tea.

I almost fell over!

What IS wrong with the corporate mentality that comes up with this garbage that is supposed to pass as ‘healthy’ food? They’ve bastardized TEA into a chemical-laden beverage with absolutely no nutritional value; not that it has any in the first place!

The word ‘diet’ slithered its way into mainstream food back in the 60′s. To satisfy the American public’s desire for ‘healthy’ foods, they scientifically engineer this crap. With one hand in the ‘low fat’ potato chip bag and the other clutching an artificially processed drink, we Americans are chugging it down our three-chinned gullets like waters from the Fountain of Youth!  IF YOU MAKE IT – and LABEL IT ‘DIET’… ‘HEALTHY’ or  ‘NATURAL’ – THEY WILL EAT IT!

There is not ONE PERSON on this earth that will convince me that all the artificial crap in food ISN’T the cause of cancer and obesity.  Our bodies can’t figure out how to metabolize this junk.

Add to this that all of the meat, milk (and dairy products)  and eggs contain growth hormones – and that most of the people in this country…. the FATTEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD – never think what that animal was pumped full of during its miserable life on the stinking feed lot or in a putrid, overcrowded cage!

DO YOU EVER READ LABELS ON FOOD BEFORE YOU BUY IT?

If you can’t pronounce it, or don’t know WHAT it is – don’t eat it!

Cancer Evidence: Exposure to Pesticides

Evidence linking specific cancers with human exposure to agents in the agricultural environment

Bladder Suspected: PAHs Breast Suspected: 2,4-D, chlordane, DDT/DDE, dieldrin, hexachlorobenzene, malathion, organic solvents, PAHs, triazine herbicides, farm wives living/presence near pesticide applied crops

Brain and other central nervous system Suspected: N-nitroso compounds (fertilizers), parental occupation or occupation associated with pesticide exposure

Colorectal Suspected: alachlor, aldicarb, aldrin, chlorpyrifos, chlordane, dicamba, dieldrin, occupation associated with pesticide exposure

Hodgkin’s Disease Suspected: chlorophenols, DDT/DDE, dioxin-contaminated phenoxy herbicides, occupation associated with pesticide exposure, solvents

Kidney Suspected: N-nitroso compounds (fertilizers), parental occupation/occupation associated with pesticide exposure, solvents

Leukemia Suspected: aldrin, carbon disulfide, chlordane, DDT/DDE, dieldrin, ethylene dibromide, heptachlor, lindane, mancozeb, methyl bromide, parental occupation/occupation associated with pesticide exposure, phosphine, simazine, toxaphene

Lung Strong: air pollution, arsenic and arsenic compounds, diesel exhaust, wood dust Suspected: carbofuran, chlorpyrifos, DDT/DDE, diazinon, dicamba, dieldrin, metolachlor, occupation associated with pesticide exposure, pendimethalin, phenoxyherbicides and/or dioxin contaminants

Multiple myeloma Suspected: DDT/DDE, dioxin-contaminated phenoxyherbicides/chlorophenols, glyphosate, occupation associated with pesticide exposure, solvents

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Strong: dioxin-contaminated phenoxyherbicides/chlorophenols Suspected: 2,4-D, carbamate, carbaryl, chlorophenols, dicamba, ethylene dibromide, glyphosate, hexachlorocyclohexane/lindane, MCPA, mecoprop, methyl bromide, organochlorine pesticides, occupation associated with pesticide exposure, phosphine, solvents

Pancreatic Suspected: DDT/DDE, occupation associated with pesticide exposure

Prostate Suspected: butylate, chlordane, chlorpyrifos, coumaphos, cyanazine, DDT/ DDE, dioxin-contaminated phenoxyherbicides, fonofos, hexachlorobenzene, methyl bromide, occupation associated with pesticide exposure, permethrin, phorate

Ovarian Suspected: atrazine, occupation associated with pesticide exposure

Soft-tissue sarcoma Suspected: chlorophenols, DDT/DDE, dioxin-contaminated phenoxyherbicides, occupation associated with pesticide exposure

Skin Strong: arsenic and arsenic compounds, PAHs Suspected: DDT/DDE, occupation associated with pesticide exposure Stomach Suspected: atrazine, agricultural work in the citrus industry, chlordane, occupation associated with pesticide exposure, propargite, and trifluralin

Testicular Suspected: occupation associated with pesticide exposure

Tellin’ It Like It Is

I’m just tellin’ it like it is for me and maybe for a lot of other folks, too.  THANKS for the cudos to those who have written saying they like the post.

As I said in ‘About’ – I’m not going to pull punches.  If I want to rant on the slugs who collect welfare, who have no right to, or spread the knowledge I’ve gained on the food industry – hey – I’m just writing here.  Hopefully somebody will listen.

If what I write   b-o-t-h-e-r-s you, well then maybe you need to look at yourself.

If the stuff about food or chemicals upsets you, perhaps it’s time you learned something.  I sincerely HOPE that I can get you to put down that diet soda, and toss that microwaveable meal in the trash.  Maybe the next time you want to eat out you’ll opt for a healthier choice than the drive thru at Wendy’s, KFC, Hardees, McDonald’s or Burger King! When you’re thirsty you’ll realize your body wants water – not - poison-in-a-can: SODA!

I hope I’ve rattled your cage about pesticides and chemicals.  It ain’t pretty, but YOU PEOPLE have to GET YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR BUTTS about pesticides.  We ALL have to do our part.

If you go to blame someone else for something that’s happened, you might remember my post on stupid lawsuits.  Slap yourself one upside the head  because you’ve probably been a dumb ass anyway. The world does NOT revolve around you and as Mick Jagger once said…, “You can’t always get what you want.”  Here in the U.S. you’d never know it, though!

So – off to another rant.

Rock on, fellow ranters!

L-O-V-E Those ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS? Things You Should Know!

What does DDT, FORMALDEHYDE, CHLORINE and a host of other chemicals have in common with artificial sweeteners?

Plenty!

How about the fact that Splenda more closely resembles the DDT molecule and that CHLORINE molecules are added to make the sweetener. The folks who make it will tell you that it’s made from sugar.  Well, it IS, initially, but the chemical changes that make it into SUCRALOSE  – which is a chemical formation and NOT real sugar is NOT FOUND IN NATURE!  Don’t be fooled by the name.  Additionally, your body does not have the ability to metabolize this chemical because it is artificial!  It is a CHLOROCARBON,  which causes shrinkage in the thymus, calcification in the kidneys.  If you get kidney pain after using this product, STOP using it at once. Nice, huh? It is also a fat soluble substance and remains in the body for a long time.

Did you know that scientists were creating an INSECTICIDE when Splenda was ‘discovered?’

People gobble Splenda ridden products and think nothing of it.  THIS IS NOT FOOD YOU ARE EATING - it is ARTIFICIAL INGREDIENTS something your body CANNOT PROCESS.

For more history of artificial sweeteners read this.

Personal note:

I ran the gamut of artificial sweetener use.  Grandma was into healthy eating and – we didn’t know any better then – she used saccarine.  I used that till the 70′s.  Then I used Sweet-N-Low… but…  when I started getting severe pain in my kidneys after using it, I started to wonder.  A friend who was an editor, and was currently on the health editing desk – alerted me to the dangers of S&L waaaay back then.  I stopped using ALL artificial sweeteners and have not had any pain since then.

Moms-to-be:  Please, PLEASE do NOT eat foods with artificial sweeteners.  Do not think you are doing your baby a favor by trying to ‘diet’ while you are pregnant.  EAT REAL FOOD – not ‘plastic, poison, artificial’  food!

For God’s sake (your BABY’S sake – really)  don’t drink soda, either.  That is one of the MOST poisonious things you can ingest and your baby is getting it, too.

Find out what IN your food, folks – because it probably is making you sick!

WHY We’re So Messed Up = CHEMICALS

Thank you MONSANTO!  Thank you ORTHO!  Thank you to ALL those wonderful scientists who  thought they were helping this world when some of this stuff was invented.

OK…, OK…, I know about the miracle of plastics and synthetic compounds  and how they have revolutionized life on this planet.

Let’s also remember that as we are finding out, ‘fake’ isn’t better.  Synthetic isn’t necessarily better.  Why?  Because it’s killing us.

Modern science is gathering evidence that artificial ingredients are making us sick.  Decades have passed since this stuff was first introduced into our food.  Look at us now?  We’re fat and sick… some of us are dying from cancer BECAUSE of the stuff.

Our bodies cannot metabolize those fake ingredients.  They cause all sorts of havoc in our bodies as they try to deal with them.  The result:  cancer, hormonal disruptions, illness, allergies and mysterious diseases.

Pesticides are endocrine disruptors, carcinogenic and weaken the immune system.  They are also NEUROTOXINS.  How do you think they kill bugs?  The chemical makes their systems shut down – BANG !  Little by little, with enough exposure, humans suffer a different reaction.  These insidious compounds lodge in fat cells and organs and sit there for decades.  By then – there may be other factors, coupled with the weakened immune system and the whole body goes nuts and says “I GIVE UP!”  Result:  cancer.

I heard a story of a woman who worked at a company where she was in contact chemicals on a regular basis.  I don’t know what the extent OF the exposure was; direct, indirect, exposure to fumes,  or what chemical.  I do know that her hair started falling out, she had terrible pain and many other symptoms.  Doctor after doctor dismissed her as a hypochondriac because their standard blood & urine tests revealed nothing.

Finally she went to a doctor who was inquisitive enough to run some different tests which evidenced that this poor woman was slowly being poisoned!

This is how insidious these things can be.  If you or someone you know has been diagnosed as a hypochondriac, tell them to get a different doctor who will do some extensive tests for poisonings.

It could save their life!

Food & Wacky, Uncontrollable Kids

I picked up a book in a used book  shop:  “Why You Child Is Hyperactive”  by Ben F. Feingold, M.D.

Dr. Feingold was an allergist, who, back in the 70′s proposed that hyperactivity in children could be traced to chemical additives in food colorings.  His ‘Feingold Diet’ advocated strict adherence to a fresh food, chemical free life.  Parents of ADD and ADHD children were encouraged to keep a food diary.  The results were amazing.

Now, 40 years later, diet and the link to all sorts of disorders, in adults as well as children is mainstream medicine…. well,  practically.  There are still some parents and physicians who barely admit that what goes into a kid’s mouth will result in their little darling turning into the  creature from the black lagoon or Mr. Hyde.

If your child, or one you know, is out of their tree after eating a Happy Meal, you might do well to investigate…, that is unless you have stock in the pharmaceutical company that makes Ritalin!  Or maybe you’re totally oblivious to what it’s really doing to your kid and figure it’s just easier to keep shoving pills down his throat! Hey – if you don’t give a damn…. then keep having those prescriptions filled!

Chemical You….

My current list of books includes one by a prominent physician in environmental medicine. “Huh??” you’re probably thinking – “Environmental medicine – what’s that??”  Just what it says:  a physician who studies  how our environment affects our health.  Years ago, Dr. Roberts would have been called a quack.  Today, the evidence she offers in her books are backed up by solid medical research.

She’s beginning to scare me because too much of what I read in her articles and books mirrors what many other naturopathic, holistic and organic based evidence points out:  we are literally surrounded every day by toxins we have no control over.

CANCER

Maybe it’s because way back – cancer wasn’t diagnosed as cancer, or even at all.  Why, then, does it seem like so many people are getting it?  Not only older people, but young ones as well.  I doubt there is one person alive in this country who doesn’t know somebody with cancer.

Why?

Our environment.  Every single aspect of our lives has in it artificial components of plastic, out-gassing (fumes) or toxins of some sort.  The sad part about this is that the entire population of this world had no say – and is totally unaware that manufacturers, food producers, agribusiness and technology has contributed to it every day.

Chemicals surround us.  Our computers are made from plastics which release chemicals into our environment.  If we’ve sworn off caffeine, and drink decaf instead, chances are we’re getting a good dose of chemicals from the decaffeination process. Got that suit back from the cleaners?  Guess what it’s been cleaned with?  Dry cleaning fluid=chemicals.  If your kids play sports like football or soccer they’re probably rolling around on turf treated with herbicides and other toxic lawn chemicals.  Think you’re safe at work?  Your company probably has a contract with an extermination service and sometimes you’re even sitting at your desk when the guy comes through with the little sprayer tank!  Millions of Americans go to work in environments chocked full of chemicals:  manufacturing facilities with dust and fumes from chemicals, heavy metals, plastic compounds, cleaning solutions,  paints, glues and pesticide residues.  Even if your job does not put you in direct or daily contact, you are still at risk.

We take medicines to make us well, right?  We suffer from various diseases which may have been caused by our body’s reaction to the onslaught of chemicals that started in the womb! Every thing our mother ate, drank, breathed, cleaned with, bathed with;  every time she dyed her hair – we got a little dose of it too. The fetal brain is far more delicate and subject to abnormalities from environmental toxins, as well as hormones created by the mother’s body in response to stress and emotion.  (see ‘The New Feminine Brain”  by Dr. Mona Lisa Schulz)

Our modern world is full of things that we have no control over.  Modern science, supposedly our friends, may unknowingly or KNOWINGLY – have been responsible for the drastic rise in a host of maladies.  From ‘the ‘Big C’ to asthma, fibromyalgia, ADHD, depression – all can be traced to chemical imbalances.  Artificial substances which act as hormone disruptors, making our bodies react with symptoms of an inner world gone haywire:  illness.

Another thing that always scared me was hormone replacement therapy.  Why would a woman want to take the stuff when she could go through a natural process the way her body was designed to do?  OK, for some it’s more uncomfortable than others.  We’re a population of people who don’t want to be uncomfortable.  Now, however, modern medicine is finding that it really ISN’T  ‘nice to fool Mother Nature.’  All the women I know who have taken hormone replacement therapy have cancer in some form or another.  What does that tell you?  I’ll pass, thank you!

When I worked at Lowe’s in the section with the lawn chemicals, after about a month I developed severe body pain.  Every joint would hurt.  At night it usually was the worst.  Sometimes I’d wake up screaming because it felt like I’d been stabbed!  I hurt so bad I gobbled pain killers just to function.  Looking back now, it probably was from exposure to atrazine (‘Weed-B-Gone’) and triazicide and all the other things I was around.  Sweeping the floors and inhaling the dust probably gave me a good dose of pesticides!  Though I wore gloves when handling bags and bottles, there was so much of it in the atmosphere. This is a frightening thought and just one example of how our environment can affect us.

The only thing we can do is learn more, teach others and try our best to live a clean life.  Fastidious detox routines must become the norm, not only with food, massage, detox baths and saunas to beat back the chemical onslaught.

Maybe we can buy ourselves some time.

We Are All LAB RATS

YOU and I are lab rats.  Your KIDS are lab rats, too. Unless you grow and consume all your food yourself, YOU are held hostage by the food companies.

Think about it.  Everything thing you eat -  e v e n   those so-called ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ foods probably are tainted in some way with something.

I know too much.  I have my roots in the local food movement, but they stretch way back to the environmental movement.  What I do here, and on my website an other blogs, is try to EDUCATE.

For the most part, the average consumer has their head up their butt when it comes to food and the environment.  They think it’s not their problem, that it doesn’t concern them and that it doesn’t affect them.

Do you send your kids to public  school? Do they play sports?  Do they eat school food?  Do you take them to fast food joints?  What do you buy for them at the  grocery store? Do you eat in restaurants? What DO you eat when you eat? What DO you drink when you drink?

What about your home life?  What products do you buy:  laundry detergent, body care products, beauty products, perfumes, lotions, hair dye, nail polish?  What do you paint your walls with?  Where did you get your furniture? Do you use any bug killing preparations?  What about your lawn?  Do you have a lawn care service and do you KNOW what they put on your lawn?  Have you had a pest company assure you their ‘chemicals’ are safe around kids and pets?  Do you go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy lawn care products to keep the nasty bugs away?  Do your KIDS PLAY ON YOUR LAWN?

Where do YOU choose to shop?  Is Wally-World your best buddy because you have fallen victim and been brainwashed by their  ‘save money, live better’  catchphrase?

Big business, especially the likes of Wal-Mart, does NOT give a shit about you.  Look at the way they treat their own employees?  They’ve been convicted on a vast array of charges in recent years of labor violations.  Going waaaay back, and I have a copy of the article in my files here…. they even wanted to move a Native American cemetery because they wanted to build a store!  Do you think, in this day of corporate greed, that it’s gotten any better, that they’ve become a kinder, more gentler Wally?

There are numerous links detailing environmental disregard -and- total disregard for human life on this planet BY food companies and agricultural chemical companies.  You and I and this planet are being POISONED by thousands of chemicals a day because the likes of Monsanto and Bayer… those kindly aspirin people.

DO THE RESEARCH.  Do it for your kids, your friends, your family, your friends and if you care enough – our planet.

Pesticide Producers OWN Seed Companies

A recent article on Organic Consumer’s website details how much of the world is owned by the pesticide manufacturers.

THIS IS OUR FOOD, folks!  Companies like Monsanto, a chemical giant, pro-GMO,  is the world’s biggest seed company; fifth largest company in the world.  Bayer, yes the aspirin people, is the largest agrochemical corporation in the world.

One third of all pesticide use is weed killers (herbicides) and 80% of the genetically modified seeds are herbicide resistant.

That means that HERBICIDES CAN and WILL BE USED ON YOUR FOOD because it will not kill the plant, just the weeds.  This is what these companies are all about:  getting their agendas passed and up and running without concern for the human race!  Cross pollination is also possible between GM (genetically modified) and non-GMO plants.  Worldwide, 14 species of weeds have developed resistance to ‘Glyphosphate’, (Roundup) which required farmers to use heavier doses.

More bad news:  Monsanto’s Round-Up which has led the market in herbicides for over 10 years, the  “Roundup Ready” patent expires this year which will make it possible for other manufacturers to market a Round-Up clone.

That being said, the poison producers have the world market cornered on food.

THAT’S NOT a good thing!

Buy Local

The average distance food travels to get to YOU is 1,500 miles.  The lettuce you bought at Wal-Mart probably came from California.  So did those strawberries.

Buying local has many benefits.  You get to meet the person who grew the food.  The money you spend stays in the community.  The food is fresher than trucked in stuff.  You’re eating seasonally which is what our bodies were designed to do.  Naturally grown, which is organic food, even if it is not ‘certified’ organic doesn’t contain pesticides & chemicals.

Despite what you think, we humans are still pretty primitive.  Our bodies have not adapted to digesting chemical compounds.  Chemicals have only become the norm in the last 50 years or so; a fleck of dust on the clock of evolution. Why, then, do we think our systems can effectively digest and eliminate them?

We are also made to eat seasonally.  Again, look to our past.  Did cavemen have food brought in during the winter?  Did the almighty Wal-Mart truck roll up at the cave and dump off strawberries in January?  No.  People scrounged for roots;  our modern equivalent of potatoes. Our bodies have not developed much beyond that. It wasn’t until the advent of modern transportation that brought the multitude of different foods to our grocers.

The food you buy locally has more nutritional value.  Depending on the crop, it probably was picked a day or two ago instead of weeks ago.  It wasn’t irradiated or wrapped in plastic.  It hasn’t been in cold storage for 6 months like those apples you buy in the spring.  They’ve been off the tree since the previous fall!

Big agribusiness does NOT have YOUR interests in mind.  Profit is their only goal.  They could care less if the food you eat is poisoned with chemicals.  Wal-Mart doesn’t care about you, either.  They import food which contains chemicals that have been banned in the United States for decades, and YOU’RE eating it! Those grapes from Chile:  do YOU know what chemicals were used on them?

Your local small farmer works tirelessly for YOU.  He or she wants to get good, fresh, nutritious food to you. They are fighting hard to exist, as we all are, but you can help.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS! Know where your food comes from!