ORGANIC FOOD

       

Not for You 47 Percent?

Mitt Romney hasn't divulged many details about what kind of agriculture policy he'd pursue as president. (Sound familiar?) 

But all signs suggest that he'd follow the agribiz party line. As Wayne Barrett showed in a recent Nation piece (my comment here), Romney has ties to agribusiness giant Monsanto that date to the '70s, when GMO seeds were an R&D project, not a business model.

According to Barrett, Romney, then a young Bain consultant, helped nudge Monsanto on its path away from disgraced industrial chemical concern toward its current status as world-beating agribiz player. Then there's the agribiz execs and shills the GOP nominee tapped for his campaign's Agriculture Advisory Committee.

But guess what? In the privacy of his campaign jet, the beleaguered presidential contender apparently eats organic, reports the Today show's Peter Alexander: And, while I've never been invited up front, sources close to the campaign tell me the shelves are stocked with a wide variety of healthy fare. Kashi cereals, hummus, pita as well as organic applesauce are well stocked. Everything's organic, I'm told, including the ingredients to Romney's favorite, peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

Nor is this the first time the Romney family has been linked to organic food. Get a load of this2002 profile of Ann Romney from the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette: Mrs. Romney was introduced to several practitioners of holistic medicine, who persuaded her to adopt alternative therapies. She now eats organic foods and very little meat. She practices reflexology and undergoes acupuncture treatments. She credits the lifestyle with turning her health around.

I have calls and emails into the Romney campaign to confirm these reports. I have yet to hear back. But if they're true—and it's hard to imagine either the Romney’s or the journalists would make them up—Romney would hardly be the only prominent politician to publicly promote genetically modified foods while privately avoiding them by sticking to organics. (USDA organic code forbids GMOs from any food labeled organic, along with the application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides).

Indeed, he's following a tradition that dates to Bill Clinton, includes George W. Bush and his family, and is alive and well in the White House of Romney's opponent, Barack Obama. What's my evidence that the Clintons and Bushes ate organic? Get this, from someone who knows—Walter Scheib, who served as White House executive chef during the Clinton and Bush years:

From 1994 to 2005 I was the executive chef at the White House. This offered me not only the personal honor of serving two unique and interesting first families, but the professional challenge of fulfilling Hillary Clinton's mandate of bringing contemporary American cuisine and nutritionally responsible food to the White House.

This meant that nearly all the product used was obtained from local growers and suppliers. There was a small garden on the roof of the White House where produce was grown.The ethic of the purchasing and the cooking at the White House under my direction and under the continuing direction of [current Obama White House executive chef] Cris Comerford is one of respect for the pedigree of the product and manner it is grown, gathered, raised or caught.

The Clinton and Bush families dined regularly on organic foods. Both wagyu and grass-fed beef were frequently used.And here's Scheib again, in an interview with the blog Obama Foodorama, on Hillary Clinton's unheralded rooftop veggie garden: "Not certified organic," Mr. Scheib said. "But everything was absolutely grown without pesticides and fertilizers. I guess it's what these days we call 'natural.'"

And "the emphasis on organics became even more important when the Bushes arrived in the White House," Obama Foodorama reported. "Laura Bush was 'adamant' about organics, according to Mr. Scheib." Scheib also told the New York Times that Laura Bush "insisted that fresh, organic foods be served in the White House," but she just didn't talk "much about it outside the house."  

While the Clintons and Bushes quietly dined on organic and grass-fed, their administrations pushed policies that propped up industrial agriculture and the companies that dominate it. Clinton promoted GMOs to the very end of his term—a cause his wife Hillary has kept up as secretary of state. At least Clinton was fairly progressive on maintaining strict USDA standards for organic farming; Bush matched Clinton's zeal for propping up industrial farming but also tried to weaken organic standards.

As for the Obamas, Michelle Obama, unlike her predecessors, was pretty open about her preference for organics—at least at first. For a pre-election 2008 profile, Ms. Obama told theThe New Yorker that "in my household, over the last year we have just shifted to organic." She added a little critique of a famous industrial-food sweetener:

And the fruit-juice-box thing, and we think—we think—that's juice. And you start reading the labels and you realize there's high-fructose corn syrup in everything we're eating. Every jelly, every juice. Everything that's in a bottle or a package is like poison in a way that most people don't even know…

And, of course, soon after she moved into the White House, Ms. Obama famously broke ground on an organic garden on the lawn—and launched a campaign to inspire children to make healthier food choices.

But the agrichemical industry quickly chided the Obamas for not using "crop protection products" (i.e., pesticides) in their garden; the administration began making pro-agribiz appointments and policy moves (a trend that continues to this day); and Michelle Obama shifted her kids' health campaign to emphasize exercise over diet change.

Now the Obamas appear to have settled into the pattern established by their predecessors: privately eat organic while publicly maintaining the food system status quo—a pattern that Romney, if he wins, seems ready to maintain. So, organic for the elite, GMOs for everyone else? That's precisely the kind of exclusive mindset that gives organic food a bad name.

—By Tom Philpott

http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/09/report-monsanto-man-mitt-romney-eats-organic

Just thought you may want to know that the folks who run the world do not eat what they sell and promote. Think About It and remember,

CHIT CHAT WON'T BURN FAT

YOUR FOOD AFFECTS

Your Mood

Scientific research and personal experience both demonstrate that what we eat affects how we think and how we act. Still, most people don’t acknowledge the connection between their food and their mood. Stop and think for a moment about how you feel throughout the day. Do you sometimes feel fuzzy and tired after lunch? Do you feel angry and irritable between meals and energized by a great meal.

Food undoubtedly changes your mood. The most extreme examples are coffee and alcohol which change your state of mind within minutes. For this reason, I don’t even classify them as foods but as drugs. The standard American diet, high in processed carbohydrates and poor-quality animal meat while lacking in vegetables and water, leaves many people in a bad mood.

It’s hard to feel inspired and happy when you’re living on chemical, artificial junk food. Julia Ross, author of The Mood Cure and a pioneer in the field of nutritional psychology, refers to this relationship as the law of malnutrition. The current epidemic of bad moods is definitely linked to an epidemic of deteriorating food quality and quantity: junk moods come from junk foods, she writes.  Is this why poor neighborhoods have higher levels of violence?

Soda, chocolates, ice cream, potato chips and fries are all easily accessible and less expensive fuels that people turn to when they want to be lifted out of a bad mood. The irony is that these low quality fuels are a big part of the problem. Salt impacts your moods making you feel tense. Sugar gives you a high and makes you feel energized. When your blood sugar goes up, you get that woo-hoo, good feeling. But as soon as it goes down, you feel like the world is coming to an end. 

We even crave more aphrodisiac food, such as chili peppers and spice, avocado and chocolate, when we are out on a date. What we are really doing with all this food is a form of self-medicating or seeking balance. We already understand the food-mood connection; we just don’t have a language to discuss these habits with each other. 

Eating carbohydrates releases serotonin in the brain, which makes people feel more relaxed. Eating too many carbs or overly processed carbs like sugar and flour releases even more serotonin, and causes drowsiness. You've probably experienced that sleepy feeling after eating too much pasta or heavy carbohydrates. 

Eating protein produces dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain which makes people feel more alert and full of energy, when protein is eaten in the appropriate portions. On the other hand, overeating protein can lead to tension and irritability. 

Each person’s food-mood sensitivity varies. Only you can determine the right amount of proteins, carbs and fats to keep yourself in balance. Once the correlation enters your consciousness, you will be more careful with your food choices. I simply encourage you to notice, explore, experiment and determine what works for you.

Above Excerpt from Integrative Nutrition

One of the best ways to learn what us best for you is to record what you eat and how you feel afterwards. Similar to recording your workouts recording what you are eating and how you feel subsequently will assist you in learning what is right for you. Your memory is not as good as you think and it only takes a few minutes to record. The time utilized to record may save you from sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting your exam.

Is it becoming clearer that food is fuel, pure and simple, nothing more? Yet in many places where food is abundant, it is romanticized and over used or used inappropriately. When it rains steadily and consistently, water seeps into the fuel pack on my truck. The truck will still run but it rumbles and shakes noticeably whenever I press on the gas. Like my  truck your body will demonstrate to you when the fuel you provide has been compromised. You may y not rumble and shake but there will be a response.

So let’s pay attention and record what fuel does what and begin to eliminate the contaminants from our system. Once you do your engine will purr and roar as it is supposed  to do.

So Get Up Get Moving and Get the Right Fuel for You and remember……….

CHIT CHAT WON’T BURN FAT

EVERYTHING ISN'T FOR......

EVERYBODY

In 1956 Roger Williams published Biochemical Individuality, asserting that individuality permeates each part of the human body. This book explained how individual differences in anatomy, metabolism, composition of bodily fluids and cell structure influence your overall health. Each person, Williams wrote, “has genetically determined and highly individualistic nutrition requirements.” This theory influenced some independent-thinking minds in the nutrition world but is still largely ignored by mainstream medicine.

One of the major factors shaping bio-individuality is ancestry. If your ancestors were Japanese, you will most likely thrive on a Japanese-type diet, high in rice, sea vegetables and fish. If your ancestors were from India, your digestive system will probably love basmati rice, cooked beans and curry. If many generations of your ancestors from Scandinavia were accustomed to eating dairy on a daily basis, it’s natural that your body will be able to assimilate dairy foods. This theory also applies to foods that you have difficulty digesting.

For example, many traditional African communities had an abundance of beans, grains, animal protein, sweet potatoes and green vegetables. Dairy was not easily accessible or easy to store in hot regions, and therefore, not a part of the traditional diet. So, it makes sense that a lot of people of African descent are lactose intolerant. It is a fact that no other animal species, except for humans, naturally consumes dairy after infancy.

Your blood type also influences your bio-individuality. Many people don’t know their blood type, unless they have donated blood or received a blood transfusion, but the four blood types (A, B, AB, O) have evolved over thousands of years and offer insight into what foods work best in your body. Each type can be traced to a certain period of human history with distinct differences in diet, culture, and social conditions. Each blood type has developed particular strengths and limitations and knowing them can influence your health.

Many Type O’s feel energized by eating meat, while Type B’s are better able to digest dairy. These preferences are based on a chemical reaction that occurs between the foods you eat and your blood. Some foods are capable of causing the cells of individuals with a certain blood type to clump together, while having no impact on the cells of individuals with another blood type. If you eat a food that is incompatible with your blood type, it could eventually lead to health problems, demonstrating how one person’s food can be another person’s poison.

Another aspect of bio-individuality is metabolism, or the rate at which you convert food into energy. Knowing your personal metabolic rate is useful when gauging the quantity of food your digestive system can process. Depending on your metabolic rate, your body may quickly convert calories to energy, or it may store the extra calories. You may recall that as a teenager you could wolf down a burger, fries, milkshake and ice cream all in one meal, without any indigestion or tightening of your jeans. That’s because young people are still growing, have fast metabolic rates and burn calories more quickly than adults.

People can be divided into three general types of metabolic activity. Fast Burners, or Protein types, tend to be frequently hungry and crave fatty, salty foods and not do well on high carbohydrate or vegetarian-type diets. Their bodies burn through carbohydrates too quickly, and a higher protein intake helps slow down their metabolism. 

Slow Burners, or Carbo types, generally have relatively weak appetites, a high tolerance for sweets and problems with weight control. They require a higher percentage of carbohydrates to give them energy to speed up their metabolism. Mixed types generally have average appetites and moderate cravings for sweets and starchy foods. For them, the ideal diet is a balanced combination of protein and carbohydrates.

You can determine your metabolic type by answering questionnaires or taking simple medical tests. Keep in mind that even your metabolic rate and sensitivity can shift as you age, or as stress levels or nutrient deficiencies shift in your diet or lifestyle. If this all seems too confusing and complicated, don’t worry. Just observe how your own body responds to the food you give it.

People are different, and getting to know your own body is an essential first step in discovering how to stay healthy. 

Metabolic theory demonstrates that no one diet is right for all of us. You may know people who can eat processed carbohydrates, such as bread and pasta, and stay very thin while you gain weight on such a diet. It’s not because carbohydrates are “evil” or your body isn’t as healthy; it just shows that all people metabolize these foods differently. You might do better on a high-protein diet with lots of fresh vegetables and some whole grains.

Knowing what foods you metabolize best will help you to choose foods that make you feel good and support your individual body. Our personal tastes and preferences, natural shapes and sizes, blood types, metabolic rates and genetic backgrounds influences what foods will and won’t nourish us. So, when the experts say “tomatoes are good for you” or “red meat is unhealthy,” it’s too much of a generalization. One person’s food is another person’s poison, and that’s why fad diets don’t work in the long run. They are not based on the reality that we all have different dietary needs.

Sometimes it takes millions of dollars in funding and years of research for scientists to prove what we already know. I am certain that science will soon discover diet needs to be based on bio-individuality. To some extent, it’s already happening. We see it with the USDA’s new dietary guidelines and the 12 versions of the food pyramid. These small steps are just the beginning.

Above Excerpt from “Integrative Nutrition”

Based on what I’ve read here and in other resources including, “Eat Right for Your Type,” I’ve been aware of this for some time and have adjusted my nutrition to eliminate foods that are not right for me. Learning what is right for us requires conscious living and is a part of the mind/body connection, a key component of being well. Wellness includes all components of our being, mind, body and spirit/soul. To get well we need to live in a conscious manner and raise our levels of awareness.

Pay attention to everything you are thinking since our thoughts become our beliefs and our beliefs are who we are. Have you ever caught yourself thinking something in a stressful moment that you do not really believe belongs in your belief system? These are what I refer to as the implanted beliefs that are hoisted upon us by our influences from our inner circles. Even though intellectually, we may know these thoughts to be false or inconsistent with whom we think we are, they will continue to influence how we think and how we behave.

It is not as hard as it seems but it does take practice. Connecting the dots of belief, thoughts and actions does take work but until we do it we cannot clean out the junk. And remember, what another person eats doesn’t make you fat, and vice versa. Find out what’s best for you. Listen to your own heart and body about what’s best for you. As you start to pay attention to what makes you feel good and what does not, you will have the information you need that is best for YOUR body, mind, and spirit!

Get Up, Get Moving, and Get Well by figuring out what is right for your wellness and remember,

“CHIT CHAT WON’T BURN FAT

and won’t get rid of the junk holding you back from becoming the best you possible. Have a great day and Be Well.

Jay Henry