Cherish the Memories not the Food

I have a lot of memories tied into the unhealthy diet I always write about, but not for a second do I miss the food; instead I choose to cherish the memories as I do most any other memories from my childhood, after all it's what makes me, me.

I say this because humans, as a species, have one major flaw... many flaws actually, but I'm going to focus on this one for now. People get so attached to their memories (both bad and good) that they often let these past events run their current lives. Whether it's never quite getting closure over a sad event, or being haunted daily by a horrible event, or tightly holding onto what we perceive as a "good memory"; so much so that it becomes unhealthy to us in the present. This is the one I would like to talk about because this one in particular can directly affect your diet, which will directly affect your health.

I, like most of us, have many childhood memories attached to unhealthy food, but I unlike many of us choose to cherish the memory and not the food. Every time I pass a Friendlies I can remember how much I enjoyed going there as a child. They're known for their ice cream deserts and I absolutely loved the fribble... their version of a vanilla milk shake. As much as I consider these to be good memories, I would never consider eating their again for old times' sake.

I also am not immune to the childhood memories of the big Mickey D's, let's face it I did grow up in America. I can remember the one or two times a month that my parents would go out for an adults only evening, which always resulted in the kids getting McDonald's for dinner, and let me tell you my brother sister and I loved those nights! Even with that memory being so strong and clear in my mind, never do I pass by one of these fast food death traps and say to myself, "What's one more time anyway..."

And let us not forget the many childhood birthday memories... Still fresh in my mind are the many outings to Red Lobster where my parents would often treat us for a birthday dinner, but never, not even for a second do I miss the fried butter saturated artery clogging food.

If you grew up in this country then you more than likely have some fond memory of unhealthy food attached to your childhood, but it's important to understand that our memories should not run our lives. Cherish the memory; pull it down from the shelf every once in a while, dust if off and reminisce if you must, but then put it back on that shelf. The memory is not the unhealthy thing here, after all the events that make up these memories are the events that have molded us into what we are today, but when we hold onto these memories and revisit them (literally) we let a "good" memory turn into a bad unhealthy decision.

If I knew then what I know now I would have made different choices, and I'm sure my parents would have as well, but like most American families we did not. This is not true today however, there has been plenty of research done and there has been plenty of literature written on the subject. All it requires is for us to care enough about ours and our family's health to educate ourselves on the truth, and then live it. So do the healthy thing and eat right, because an unhealthy diet equals an unhealthy life.

Where have all the Bees Gone?

Since this strange phenomenon surfaced in the fall of 06, scientists continue to scratch their heads as they try and determine what exactly is causing the deaths of so many bees. At first they thought they had identified the killer as one particular virus (the Varroa mite), but now feel this CCD (colony collapse disorder) on such a monumental scale could have many faces. Whatever the cause though, the problem effects everyone. These busy workers pollinate all of the many flowers that are responsible for all of the many fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds that make up our diets, and without natures little pollinators our diets may not consist of much more than water...

Although I have no formal education on the subject, I've had my own idea of what may be happening and finally there seems to be scientists connecting the same dots.

There has been an abundance of research detailing the health benefits of organically grown food in comparison to that of which is grown using chemical fertilizers due to the higher levels of nutrients and anutrients in organically grown food. New research is showing that this lack of nutrients in non-organic foods is not only having a negative effect on us, but appears to be detrimental to the plant itself as well. By now many people know that such anutrients such as polyphenols are extremely beneficial to our immune systems, but most people don't consider how beneficial these chemical substances may be to the plants immune (or defense) system. Research now shows that polyphenols may actually be responsible for acting as a sort of natural pesticide, but because the use of chemical fertilizers promotes over farming of land due to its ability to replenish the soil with high quantities of nitrogen, and not much else, what your left with is a very nutrient deficient earth.

This in turn causes extremely malnourished crops that are becoming increasingly more and more dependent upon toxic chemical pesticides poisoning plants and people alike, only now in my opinion it's taking its effect on our busy little bee friends, and why not? If the fruits of these plants are lacking the nutrients and anutrients that keep us healthy (and the plants), what's to say the pollen isn't nutrient deficient as well? It would only make sense then that this potentially nutrient deficient pollen would affect the world's leading pollinators... The Bees!

How's that Beef-fed Chicken Taste?

You're probably thinking what kind of question is that... actually it's not that strange of a question. I read about it a number of times, in a handful of books on the subject, so when I saw a popular TV show touch on the subject I figured why not post about it.

It was an episode of "Dirty Jobs" and, well, the dirty job was animal rendering. They were on location at some animal rendering facility, which is basically a place where they recycle dead animals for use in a verity of commonly used products. The most common animals were cows that were picked up from the many beef farms in the area, all of which supposedly died from natural causes, only in my opinion there is nothing natural about it.

I know that the majority of beef farms in this country are not organic grass fed farms, instead they are large over crowded corporations whose commodity is beef; and to insure the best return for their dollar, they do whatever necessary to produce the biggest fattest cows possible in the shortest time. This means corn is on the menu, and as I've mentioned in the past corn to a ruminants anatomy is like poison. A ruminant (the cow) has four stomachs which allows it to very efficiently turn grass into protein, but what it doesn't do very well is digest grains (corn or soy). So when cows are fed grains they becomes sick over time, many kept alive just long enough to be brought to slaughter by the veterinary staff on premise, but unfortunately some don't survive and this is where the rendering comes in.

At this rendering facility the cow is %100 recycled, skinned, ground up, boiled, and compacted. The hides go to leather manufactures, the oils get used in products such as motor oils, candles, and cosmetics, and the ground up meat and bones becomes chicken feed or pig feed. And at one time it was added to cows feed but then came Mad Cows disease and they put a stop to that...

So anyway this is where the sick twisted story starts all over again, because at these large over crowded corporations whose commodity is chicken or pig, profit remains the driving force. Bigger fatter chickens equals more money, and in order to maximize their return they do whatever is necessary; and in this case it's feed the birds a cheap protein overloaded diet consisting of rendered cow parts.

As a result you eat an unhealthy diet of chicken, from a bird that ate an unhealthy diet of beef, from cows that were fed an unhealthy diet of corn.

So I ask you again, how's that beef-fed chicken taste?

Are you getting enough Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein?

Do you even know what it is? Or why it's in your food?

The answers are probably no, to both questions, but if you're eating a diet high in processed foods or even if you're eating some processed foods and those foods are not organic, than you may want to look into it. One of the top headlines in today's health news reads "Tainted ingredient sold after salmonella found", and guess what that ingredient is... you guessed it Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein.

It turns out that this Las Vegas based company Basic Food Flavors Inc. continued to distribute the HVP (Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein) on contaminated equipment, even after knowing about the tainted equipment. This has caused 100s of products to be recalled due to salmonella contamination.

So what is HVP (Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein)? Maybe you would recognize it better by its more widely know name... MSG! This flavor enhancer, derived from corn, soy, wheat, peanuts, or cottonseed is used in the majority of processed foods including beef and poultry to help bring back some of the flavor the food once had before the processing removed it all.

This startling headline caused my wife to check the small amount of processed foods we do eat, only to quickly take solace in seeing that there is no HVP in the foods we eat. This is no coincidence; all the credit has to go to a healthy diet.

So if the majority of your diet consists of fresh organic fruits, vegetables, natural whole grains, and free-grazed beef poultry and eggs (from local organic farmers), with the small amount of processed foods being organic with minimal ingredients then HVP and other additives preservatives and fillers are nowhere to be found.

Be smart... Eat healthy and leave the worrying to those who don't!