Big Agriculture is Not Happy

>> Wednesday, October 28, 2009


Food Renegade brings us this news during this week's Link Love.  Marion Nestle of Food Politics describes how big agribusiness is starting to move against sustainable farming.

It is shocking, and yet highly encouraging, to see Big Agricultural leaders responding to the increasing awareness of how consolidated and/or conventional farming practices are bad for our health and the environment.

In October, there was a planned lecture to be given by Michael Pollan at Cal Poly university. It was to be a one hour lecture and naturally it would be about the emerging viewpoint that corporate food manufacturing is neither healthy nor tenable. When David Wood, chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Company, heard about it, he threatened to withdraw his planned $500,000 donation to the university which would be used to further industrial beef processing education. The university complied with Wood's demands, and changed the format of the event to a panel, bringing in industry members who would offer conventional viewpoints.

Chairman Wood objects to the opinions held by Pollan (and other organic/local/small farm producers) which lead one to believe that if someone were to see how industrial-produced food was made, that person would not want to eat such food anymore. This is not something to simply object to; if the chairman believes his manufacturing process is worthy of scrutinization, he should be going out of his way to show it and thus prove these contrary opinions wrong. However, that's not what he's doing; he's using his accumulated power and money to simply squash the competition by hiding it where no one can see. That alone should cause the average consumer to stop buying, immediately.

When people everywhere realize how Big Ag is hurting them, then we will start to see real change. The average person probably doesn't wish destruction or bankruptcy on companies such as Mr Wood's, but probably does demand ethical and moral business practices be followed. It is high time for corporations to take responsibility for their behavior.

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Staying Healthy: Fight the Flu with Thieves Oil


Thieves oil. Historically, this mixture of essential oils was used by a group of thieves during the plague. They were said to have robbed the bodies of the dead and not contracted the disease due to this concoction. Whether that's actually true or not doesn't matter so much as the ingredients of this mixture and whether it really helps. It typically has cinnamon, lemon, and eucalyptus oils, but may also have clove and rosemary oils as well.

All together, this combination of oils is a strong antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and is a good antioxidant as well.  Wow!  Not only that but can improve circulation in the body while stimulating your white blood cells.  Among other things.  But best of all, it smells delicious so you can really enjoy using it.  You can apply it topically or take it interally - or both, of course.

I use Young Living's Thieves Essential Oil (http://www.youngliving.com/thieves-essential-oil/Thieves-Oil).  It's expensive for such a tiny bottle, but it lasts a good long while, too, since you only use a couple of drops per day. I melt a tiny bit of coconut oil in my palm, add 2-3 drops of thieves oil, and then rub it on my face and neck.  I've also been told that applying it to the soles of your feet before donning socks is a good way to absorb its properties as well. This might also be helpful when applying it to children who might otherwise fuss.

As an aside, I've also tried testing this coconut oil-thieves oil mixture as a deodorant, and it works, although it's not as strong as a mineral-based or otherwise commercially prepared deodorant. If you're sitting at a desk all day, it would probably be just fine, but it wouldn't cut it for outdoor or heavy work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon#Uses
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/natural-essential-oils/health-benefits-of-eucalyptus-essential-oil.html
http://www.organicfacts.net/organic-oils/natural-essential-oils/health-benefits-of-lemon-oil.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon

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Staying healthy during cold and flu season, part 1

>> Tuesday, October 27, 2009


AVOID THE FLU

You can avoid any flu or cold naturally by keeping your body's defenses strong. Unfortunately if you're like the average American, you're probably starting off on a poor foundation as the American food industry does everything it can to make a buck at the expense of your health, even when it claims otherwise. Don't let that get you down, though - everyone has to start somewhere.

If you're on the Standard American Diet (SAD) then one of the first and most important tasks you must accomplish is to reduce your daily sugar intake. It's a good thing to check your foods for sugar levels even if you aren't on SAD because the typical food manufacturer hides sugar in their products in numerous ways. High Fructose Corn Syrup is getting the negative attention it rightfully deserves, much to the obvious chagrin of agriculturally-related corporations everywhere. For them, it's cheap. For you, well, treat it like poison. It hides in everything from the obvious such as pop and sugared cereals to innocent-seeming products like bread and ketchup.

When you consume sugar, it is like you are inviting a cold or flu into your body. Sugar is like a bully inside your digestion system, and pushes its way ahead of cold-fighting nutrients that your body needs, like Vitamin C. Thus your immune system is brought to its knees for the time that sugar controls it. Normally, foods that you eat often come "packaged" naturally with enzymes, vitamins, and minerals that specifically help your body digest it. This isn't always the case, and with sugar, it is the opposite of how it should be. There are no digestive helpers, so those minerals and vitamins are actually taken from your body's own stores. Sugar puts you into a position that is even more dangerous than just being susceptible to the latest cold or flu germs that are floating around. All sorts of disorders from asthma to obesity await you when you consume sugar.

Another element of the SAD that is omnipresent, dangerous, and overlooked is the oil, or oils, used in cooking. Typical vegetable oils bought in Supermarkets everywhere should be avoided as much as refined sugar. This includes pretty much every oil you might find on the shelf in those tall, clear, plastic bottles; canola, corn, sunflower, safflower, soybean, and so forth. Not only are these kinds of oils already rancid (and bleached to hide it) to some degree BEFORE you buy them, but they immediately begin a toxic decomposition inside your body once you consume them. Immediately get rid of these kinds of oils from your house, and swap them out with coconut oil. This is the best oil for cooking with, and you should also try work up to three tablespoons of pure, virgin coconut oil into your diet. It is antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal. This is a key tool in your body's defense against germs.

While there are other things such as dairy foods and flour that may need to be updated in your diet, the next flu fighter we should take a look at is garlic. It is a holy grail for fighting off the cold and flu because it is a natural antibiotic and antibacterial agent. It is abundant and cheap, and it is easy to eat. Either chew a clove while eating your lunch, or chop it onto a spoon and swallow it with a drink as you would vitamins. If you choose the latter route you will wind up with less garlic breath, but you may want to make sure to eat something else as well since garlic alone can make your stomach slightly upset.

There are, of course, other ways of boosting your immune system, and these will be explored in the days to come. We'll step back to take a closer look at dairy and flours and how they may be unhealthy even when they seem good for you, and we'll take a look at "old world" answers to sickness and remedies as well.  Keep in good health!

References:

[http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm]
[http://www.thescreamonline.com/essays/essays5-1/vegoil.html]
[http://www.naturalnews.com/026624_coconut_oil_fatty_acids_viruses.html]
[http://www.coconutoil.com/]
[http://www.garlic-central.com/cold-flu.html]

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Government uses The Henson Company to push junk science on kids?

>> Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR), First 5 California and The Boeing Company are funding an episode of The Jim Henson company in order to bring the mainstream vaccine message directly to your children. On October 26th, Sid the Science Kid, a show aimed at preschool- and kindergarten-aged children, will be airing a special episode aimed at convincing children that vaccination is how to keep from being sick.

The episode will center around Sid's school's vaccination day, dealing with his and his friends' feelings about receiving a shot.

I will be watching this show as soon as possible to see exactly what and how they are going to present this information, but I can already guess that there will be no dissenting views against vaccination that will be shown in any kind of positive light.

Most likely they will show the kids as nervous or frightened about the pain of being stuck with a needle, and then some rationally-sounding doctor type of person will reassure kids that there's absolutely nothing dangerous about getting a shot.

This, of course, as many and more people are realizing today, is as fictional as the characters themselves. It is refreshing to see that three out of four responders to a pro-vaccination opinion on PBS's own website stand adamantly against the process. It is refreshing because it means more people are actually pausing to consider the history and ramifications of vaccinations before running out and injecting whatever pharmaceutical company X says is safe.

I think the recent (and ongoing as of this writing) swine flu outbreak may be actually more of a boon to proving the falsehoods of vaccination. Not only are the terrible side effects of the swine flu vaccine from the '70s rather well-known, but the fact that this current vaccine was rushed through production has given people this pause for reflection. However, as this children's episode proves just by its creation, the war is certainly far from over. I know friends and co-workers personally who rush right out every year for the latest flu shot, due to ignorance or propaganda.

Stay strong, and keep hope alive. Eventually truth will win out, but I hope not many more will contract autism or die in order for it to prevail.

Other references:


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About

>> Wednesday, October 7, 2009


What's this all about?

I'm just a dad with a longing to be healthy and near his children. That's it, in a nutshell, but naturally there's more. Usually, I sit all day at the computer working on projects for large corporations that through some twist of fate are big food manufacturers. I find it a bit ironic because everything they produce goes against the "principles of food" I have come to believe in.

But let me back up a bit.

I grew up as a fat kid because, due to my inborn love of computers, I sat a lot when I was young. It is not fun whatsoever to be overweight, and being so while young only magnifies the discomfort. Through dieting, I gained a fairly-normal physical size, and since then usually followed a fairly good eating regiment and exercised somewhat properly.

I'm not sure at what point I started "waking up" to realize the sorry state of food production in America, but it was mostly after 2000 that it really started hitting me. I had always been healthy but started noticing slight failings in my body; skin problems. For years I didn't know what was going wrong and I tried everything I could think of, going as far as using off-the-shelf hydro-cortisone. Nothing "fixed" it until I discovered the book, "Never Be Sick Again" by Raymond Francis. I just happened to walk by it while it was on display at the bookstore, and on impulse I picked it up.

I had known about white flour and sugar being bad for you, but this book helped me discover that the OILS we consume are particularly bad. I discovered how despicably the healthy oils, such as coconut oil, had been maligned by financial interests in America, and that opened the door to an entirely new consciousness of being healthy.

So in the end, it has come down to this: I want people to be happy and healthy. I want to devote my life to helping others in a way that I can still spend time being with my family. I want life to have a personal, caring touch. I want it to start right now.

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Contact Psychic Lunch

>> Tuesday, October 6, 2009


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About Psychic Lunch

Psychic Lunch was founded in 2009 by a nerd and father who wants people to be healthy. The information on this site is researched, but should be considered opinion; that is, you should always do your own research and come to your own conclusions about what is and what is not healthy. Products endorsed on this site are actually believed in and used by the author.

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