Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Great video......

When you have time (it is over 30 minutes) please check out this video from Dr. Mercola's website.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/10/07/world-s-most-evil-company-debates-michael-pollan-at-google.aspx?source=nl

I had to keep hitting pause and stretched this out over several days to find time to watch it all. But, HUGELY important. This is a discussion with Hugh Grant the CEO of Monsanto and Michael Pollan author of "In Defense of Food". If you don't know who Monsanto is, please find out! This is the biggest threat to our food supply. They started as a chemical company (creating agent orange and Round Up). They then moved into seed production and made the first "Round Up Ready" seed. Round Up kills anything green and yet these plants are genetically engineered to resist Round Up. Yuck. And they discuss the production of the main crops (soy and corn for feed). Our dependance on meat is also a huge drain on our grain supply.

A few takeaways......TRY to look for NON-Genetically Modified (GMO) foods. GMO corn produces inflammation in our system plus all the pesticides, etc. and we do not know the long term effects of genetically modified food. Try and be more aware of how your food is created. We have probably all planted a seed and watched it grow. Then when we eat the fruit or veggie you can take that seed and make a new plant from it. Not with Monsanto seed. It is engineered NOT to reproduce after that first time so that farmers must buy new seed each year. This is all about money and production whereas I think we need to eat less but eat mindfully and locally. That means eating what is in season and supporting your local farmer's market or CSA.

I have no answers for the world crisis. It seems amazing in this day and age of extreme wealth of the select few that we can still have some areas in such dire poverty and famine. It is pretty ridiculous actually. I am not going to get polictical because I want this blog to be as bi-partisan as possible and not alienate people. But, if you are a McCain supporter urge him to force labeling of GMO products. He is currently the only candidate that does not support mandatory labeling of GMO foods. I think it should be mandatory, I think the next step is mandatory labeling of all 200 forms of MSG as well. We should KNOW what we are eating dangerous chemicals and what they do to our brains and then make the choice to eat it or not. So many people have no clue what it is they are eating. Part of that is education and part of that is transparency. If these products DO the same thing yet are not called Mono Sodium Glutamate the packaging can read "NO MSG". That is unfair and deceitful, which kind of goes along with the government way but that is another topic.

It was amazing to hear how many seed varieties we once had and how many we have now. We need to move away from GMO crops and get back to basics. I urge everyone to think about creating their own raised bed gardening and using heirloom seeds. I will post some sources here sometime soon, along with sources for local, quality grass fed beef and turkeys. We have to fight for our right to basic, healthy food. I do not want "Franken-Food". Sometimes more isn't always better.

Food for thought.....

4 comments:

Shari Goodman said...

Thanks for this! I can't wait to digest it all. So, if we are buying organic corn chips, are we safe to say that they are non GMO? Same with other organic foods?

Terri Burges Hirning said...

YES! That is how I understand this. To be organic, it must be non-GMO products. Now, I have also heard "organic" can mean a certain percentage of organic ingredients. I would verify on the packaging that ALL ingredients are organic. But, we had a consult with Julie Matthews, DAN! participant and presenter, has her own private practice and a book all about ASD kids and nutition, she advised us to give ONLY organic corn (like popcorn for example). With Matthew's gut/brain inflammation the GMO stuff just adds to inflammation in the body. Are you going to the DAN! conference? Since it is in my hometown of San Diego I am attending, I am taking Julie's cooking class to build on what I learned from our consult. I can't WAIT!!! I am reading her book, I love it so far!

Megan said...

Just popped over from Shari Goodman's blog. I loved reading this! I am learning so much and hope that I can just retain it all. Thank you!

Terri Burges Hirning said...

Thanks Megan! I am so glad you stopped in and got something from my blog!!!! I know, it is just so much to take in sometimes....