Dynamic and Always Learning

What is Healthy Food? Really.

I have been under contract for a new project that involves working with and understanding organic, biodynamic, and conventional farming practices to varying degrees. Regulation geek that I am, the project has been a blast and when it is ready I am sure that the person behind it will be happy to let me promote our product.

I have learned a few more things through this project, and after all of these years I am amazed at how much there is to learn. It is a reminder that we are dynamic, our needs change and learning always continues. 

Now to my new “discoveries” and reflections after deeper research.

• Last year more than 14,000 pesticides were registered in North Carolina, but not all of them are for agricultural use. Apparently that is a slow year and normally it is 16,000 or 17,000 registered. 
• Massive honey bee die off has been in the news a lot the last five or more years. NC State University’s Agricultural Chemical Manual ranks relative pesticide toxicity to honey bees. Note that glyphosate (Roundup) is ranked relatively non-toxic, but one has to wonder – were glyphosate impacts on honey bees studied after chronic exposure or acute exposure. If you have been reading for awhile, you know that glyphosate and GMOs are on my ultra-bad list. see Glyphosate Findings from Dr. Stephanie Seneff (aka GMO Foods are not Safer than Organic Foods, aka Museum GMO Follow-up, aka a Whole Heap of Health Problems) and We Marched Against Monsanto – Join Us Next Time.
• I find it interesting and enlightening that glyphosate is listed on a pesticide table given that it is an herbicide. The listing makes sense when you view the whole table, but a bit of reflection on an herbicide being include on a pesticide table made me realize that very few of us have an understanding of toxins and the whole food picture. When considering information from various sources I haven’t found anyone considering the whole picture. For example, I and many others default to the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen. The Clean 15 recommends two GMO foods: corn and papaya. The clean 15 makes no mention of glyphosate and its many problems. The organization What's On My Food.Org has a really cool program that lets you search by food type to see all of the possible pesticides that could be on it. And there are other organizations promoting their take on chemicals and food. What is largely left out, though, is that the problems with conventional food aren’t just the result of pesticides. Roundup/glyphosate is an herbicide. And what about fungicides? Many of those are linked to health issues too. I am amazed at how toxic some of the fungicides are. My lazy, non-critical thinking default to the EWG is now obliterated. 
• Speaking of glyphosate, last week I checked in with the NC Museum of Natural History (promoters of GMOs and Roundup) to find out if they had developed the ethics standards that were to guide their corporate interactions, which we discussed six months ago when the Museum staff finally agreed to meet with me after my six months of objections to their GMO-promoting efforts. It was my telling public records request that threw them into the meeting (see Quick Museum GMO Update – Whew!) I requested the update on June 25 but didn’t hear a peep until July 2. Realizing that it is summer and people take vacations (the Director who responded was on vacation, per her automatic email response), I have been patient. Here is the kicker, though. The director is not the lead on this and is deferring to the guy who is – the guy who dodged me for six months. Perhaps he is on vacation too and forgot to set up his auto-response. I will give it another week, as he has been reminded by his director through email that my request is pending.
• A really awesome guy explained to me a couple of years ago that that happy hippie free-range chicken and pork that I was purchasing from my local, in the top 10 in the country farmers market was really not all that. Even though he spoke clearly and slowly and made perfect sense I put my head in the sand regarding pork (my chicken farmer raises her birds exceptionally well, so I wasn’t worried there). And, afterall, pork seems to be relatively anti-inflammatory.  After this project, though, I have shaken the sand from my hair and I am actively pursuing better food sources. The deal is that those pasture raised heritage breed pigs are, with very rare exception, eating gmo, chemical toxic crap in large amounts even when on pasture. I have heard estimates from farmers that feeding pigs this junk will decrease their time to slaughter anywhere from four months to a year, thus increasing their profits. Basically I have been paying premium price for an omega 6 factory because these pigs are grain-fed and toxic. Learn more about the Omega 6:3 imbalance. To learn more about properly raising pigs and finding a health product check out Slankers.

Finally, the project that brought me all of this new knowledge is a little out of the scope of my website, but what the heck. If you have a question, I am up for it.

Hopefully my experience will be helpful. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at [email protected].