Live Smart Book

The Warning Sign of Our Times
Nutritional Content of Food

Since the advent of the agricultural revolution, American agriculture has evolved into American agribusiness which has grown exponentially during the 20th century and into this century. It is continuing to produce more food than it ever has before to keep up with demands of ever increasing population both domestically and abroad. At the same time we are showing a continual decline in the vitamins, minerals and trace elements that have proven to be vital to sustaining a healthy, robust life.

As we forgot about Mother Nature, we shifted food production and distribution methodology. We turned into a fast food society loaded with chronic disease and poor health in epidemic proportions. The inexorable link between the foods we eat, poor health and disease are no longer being ignored. Raw, green, and organic ways are making a strong comeback. The massive increase in reigniting the knowledge base of these foundations of nutrition is necessary and vital for human health. For example, raw foods we know are packed with essential nutrients. Eating more raw fruits, vegetables, sprouts, and sprouted grains improves health and reduces disease. Eggs from organic free range hens contain up to 30% more vitamin E, 50% more folic acid and 30% more Vitamin B-12 than "factory eggs". Plus the yolks contain higher levels of antioxidants called carotenes. Also, a new study completed in 2007 showed free range eggs from hens allowed to roam and peck freely had 1/3rd less cholesterol, 1/4th less saturated fat, 2/3rd more vitamin A, two times more omega-3 fatty acids, three times more vitamin E and seven times more beta carotene(vitamin A).

It wasn't long ago that we ate foods such as fresh eggs from a local farmer and crops were raised in more natural methods in harmony with the environment and nature. Then there was a quantum leap in the production where food supply shifted to larger producers more capable of sustaining the growing population. This shift gave way to the introduction and large scale distribution and usage of chemicals in the form of pesticides, fertilizers, drugs, hormones and antibiotics. The key focus of these organizations is increasing yields as well as profits forgoing the latter of nutrition and flavor and ultimately safety of the consumer. The ever increasing body of evidence is indeed showing that these methods are resulting in nutrient deficient foods. Everything from fruits, vegetables, breads, and grains, to milk, meat, coffee, teas etc.

For another example, beef raised in feed lots pumped with hormones, antibiotics and fed high grain diets that mainly contain chemically tainted grains, contain lower levels of vitamin E, A, D, beta-carotene, and alpha-linolenic acid(ALA) and they contain twice as much fat as grass fed, naturally grazed cattle. This nutrient deficiency applies across all different food groups: milk, cheese, grains, meats, fruits, and vegetables.

Referencing an article in the Journal of Dairy Research, the researcher stated the following: "continuing the breeding and management systems that focus solely on increasing milk yield will result in a steady dilution of vitamins and antioxidants".

Even the USDA is turning a blind eye to the situation. When they were confronted with the data that their numbers in the USDA's National Nutrient Database showed a continual decline in the number of nutrients in fruits and vegetables from 1975 to 2004 they responded "..it is true that in many cases, the apparent nutrient content...decreased. They also did not pursue any investigation into the matter since informed of this trend in 1999.

The USDA Data concluded:
A sampling of one dozen vegetables showed a 26.5 % decrease in calcium content a 21.4% drop in vitamin A, a 29.9% drop in vitamin C and a 36.5% drop in Iron. More specifically however, look at these key food items eaten on a daily basis: Calcium - Broccoli had a 54% decrease, Blueberries a 60% decrease, Green Beans a 33% drop, Kale a 46% drop, Strawberries a 24% drop. Vitamin A - Apples - 40%, Blueberries -46%, Tomatoes -31%, Onions -94%, Corn -400%, Broccoli -74%, Strawberries -80%. Vitamin C - Blueberries - 31%, Carrots -26%, Potatoes -43%, Spinach -45%, Corn -44%, Broccoli -21%, Green Beans -14%. Iron - Apples -60%, Blueberries -72%, Carrots -57%, Onions -62%, Corn -26%, Peas - 23%, Broccoli -33%, Strawberries - 58%, Tomatoes -10% Also, a report in British Food Journal (1997, Vol. 99, No. 6) noted that the concentrations of essential minerals in 40 fruits and vegetables has declined and the water content has increased over the past 50 years.

Fruits and vegetables grown with synthetic fertilizers (containing synthetic chemical nitrogen) contain 20% less dry matter and more water compared with organic crops. High nitrogen levels makes plants grow faster and absorb more water. Bigger- heavier produce is good for agribusiness but we are paying higher prices for a lower nutrient content, poorer tasting, and lower quality product.

What Does Your Doctor Really Know?

Our medical system is devised to create a force of medical professionals adept at identifying conditions and treating these conditions with drugs. It is a widely accepted fact that most traditionally trained doctors, called allopathic medical doctors, only receive very little nutritional training in the 12+years of training it takes to be an MD in the USA. As a matter of fact, according to a Senate investigation, they discovered that most doctors receive less than 3 hours of nutritional training in medical school. So it is no wonder why most doctor "pooh pooh" any nutritional approach to improved wellness, disease prevention, disease management, ailment management, psychological and physical dysfunction as a result of the things we are or are not eating. Too often the doctors are a mechanism of the pharmaceutical industry lambasting ill-informed and misguided individuals with many unnecessary medications that often give the person who takes them more side effects, often dangerous, than the current condition for which they are seeking help.

When looking for a physician's advice regarding preventative health practices and nutrition, seek alternative viewpoints. Get advice from a Naturopathic Physician or Nutritionist when it comes to nutrition and Naturopathic Physician for advice on management of medical conditions with less dugs and more natural means. They can provide adjunct advice for incorporating additional strategies to manage or cure your condition, prevent disease and ailments and broaden your depth of knowledge. Knowledge is power.

What You Should Know About The Water You Drink

Before you go downing water from anywhere, think twice, plan ahead and be safe. Here is why. Today more than 700 chemical pollutants have been identified in public water systems; many of these have been linked to and studies have shown that many cause cancer, birth defects, brain dysfunction, learning disabilities, and other health problems. Even the EPA - Environmental Protection Agency officially recommended boiling or drinking bottled water way back in 1995 for people with compromised immune systems. Do you think the water supply is any better since then? The municipal water utilities and the pipelines supplying the water are way out of date. Do you know that over 90 % of the pipes that supply water to American homes are over 100 years old?

The CDC - Center for Disease Control, which is our government body responsible for oversight and working to keep us safe and free of disease states that about one million, "ONE MILLION", people get sick from drinking contaminated water every year.

Get A Water Filter

Parasites are in our water supply. The two monsters of significance are Cryptosporidium and Giardia. They are chlorine resistant meaning that most typical water treatment measures don't kill them. They cause diarrhea, dehydration, fevers, vomiting, cramping and death. Symptoms can show up days or a couple weeks after infection and last for weeks. Oh yea, Crypto can slip through the filters at the water treatment facilities that supply millions of homes and the CDC gives the estimates of about a million cases of bacterial infection each year from water borne bacteria. Salmonella recently found in the water supply in Alamosa, CO infected hundreds. Crypto and Guardia were found in this water supply as well. In Milwaukee 400,000 people were afflicted with Crypto and 104 people died. Listen, I could go on and on but only one final dose of reality.

The EPA- has also confirmed that about 130 municipal water systems exceed the federal legal limit for LEAD contamination. This affects about 42 MILLION people.

This contamination was known in 2000 or before and they were given until 2013 to fix the problem. What!! 13-15 years of contamination is ok? How about the fact that most of these municipalities did not and do not have the funds and won't meet that deadline. And if you think that is going to change since we are facing severe economic crisis now and for the foreseeable future you better start facing reality and get a dose of the truth in you.

Get A Water Filter

Photo:Horst Brandt

Live Smarter: Know What's In Your Bottled Water

Unfortunately, bottled water in some cases may be better but recent research is continuing to show that bottled water companies and their products cannot be trusted. Take for example a study just released in Oct. 2008 by researchers at The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit watchdog group whose goal is to protect public health. Laboratory tests conducted for EWG at one of the country's leading water quality laboratories found that ten popular brands of bottled water, purchased from grocery stores and other retailers in nine states and the District of Columbia, contained 38 chemical pollutants altogether, with an average of 8 contaminants in each brand.

More than one-third of the chemicals found are not regulated in bottled water. Contaminants were toxic compounds from chlorination, fertilizers, disinfectants, ammonia, heavy metals, arsenic, even pharmaceutical drugs.

In the Sam's Choice and Acadia brands, levels of some chemicals exceeded legal limits in California as well as industry-sponsored voluntary safety standards. Four brands were also contaminated with bacteria. The study also included assays for breast cancer cell proliferation, conducted at the University of Missouri. One bottled water brand spurred a 78% increase in the growth of the breast cancer cells compared to the control sample, with 1,200 initial breast cancer cells multiplying to 32,000 in 4 days, versus only 18,000 for the control sample, indicating that chemical contaminants in the bottled water sample stimulated accelerated division of cancer cells.
Tap water supplied to your home undergoes contamination tests every year. These test results are provided to homeowners once a year.

The bottled water industry is not required to provide contamination test results so they don't, leaving you and me to be potentially contaminated with toxins that shouldn't be there.

Even the United States EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) says that bottled water may not be safer than tap water and some bottled waters are not even treated before bottling. So if you're going to pay about 2000% more for a product that is marketed and purported to be healthier and more pure don't you think you should get what you pay for? Me too! Now, not all bottled water is contaminated all the time. There are some bottlers that try to make a good product. What you want to look for is bottled spring water that is ozone purified. You most likely will get better bottled water with less contaminant. Ozone purification removes most toxins including neutralizing fluoride.

Filter your own water at home: Get A Water Filter

Damage Caused By Pesticides

Breast Cancer
Parkinsons Disease
Brain Damage
Hypertension
Pulmonary Edema
Heart Arrhythmia
Death

Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement Pushes To Allow More Pesticide Residues On Your Food

Although Canadian standards for pesticide residue on food are already less protective than in Europe and Australia, Canada's Maximum Residue Limits for pesticides were flagged as a trade barrier in the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" -- a trade agreement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. The Federal Government(of Canada) is considering to further weaken pesticide controls in order to "harmonize" with the United States--in other words, allow more pesticides on your food. The David Suzuki Foundation has asked the federal Minister of Health to assure Canadians that pesticide residue limits will not be undermined by the trade agenda. So you see this arm of deceit extends beyond the boundaries of our own country. We are even trying to undermine other countries food production and safety as long as it benefits our big agribusiness and the lobbyist manipulated "corporatetacracy" government agencies.

Educated men are as much superior to uneducated men as the living are to the dead.
-Aristotle, 384-322 B.C

There are many factors working against us as mortal, often easily-distractible beings, from chemical toxins in the air we breathe and the food that we consume, to stressful, busy lifestyles coupled with completely inadequate dietary nutritional intake (especially in the US). Often the decision to make important and lasting changes in one's life is extremely difficult. The task often seems insurmountable for an average person, and we are bombarded daily with evidence of this in the "quick fix" products of the food and pharmaceutical industries. We are told that if we consume this product or that product, the weight will come off, the pain will stop, and the depression or lethargy will go away. The fact is, it usually doesn't, and we speak from years of experience of working with individuals desperate to lose weight and get fit. Do you want to know a secret? You have been lied to, duped, and most people don't even know it.

The health issues that we face as a society, from cancer and heart disease to obesity and generalized fatigue, are fully preventable, and are in most cases the result of chronic nutritional deficiencies. The commercially processed food that is consumed by the population-at-large is loaded with toxic chemicals that will definitely make you sick and shorten your life.

The food products that we are told are "healthy" because they are "low-fat", or "fat free", or "sugar free", are in actuality loaded with addictive chemical poisons that starve the body of necessary nutrients and, because of their addictive quality, cause you to consume more of them. The reality is that you can lose the weight, stop the pain, end the depression, and relieve the lethargy. You can heal yourself and you can prevent disease.

There is a profound lack of nutritional education, an abundance of nutritionally depleted and chemically laden foods, and a society that has fallen victim to the hypnotic marketing of the food and pharmaceutical industries. This is the first generation of young people in history that has a shorter projected life span than their parents, a sad and pathetic commentary for our nation. Remember, the young people that now inhabit this planet are the ones that we as human beings will require to solve the problems that now face us and threaten our very survival.

Albert Einstein stated that we cannot solve the significant problems we face today with the same level of thinking that created them.

If your body is in balance then it has attained a state that it naturally strives to achieve. This state of balance is what we call "homeostasis". Homeostasis is the body's way of trying to maintain a sense of balance among its systems to keep the whole body functioning at peak performance. It is a pure efficient system often in a continually dynamic state that works much like any other system. If one key component is not there or has been removed it causes trouble for the systems balance. If other components that are detrimental to the system are added to the system it can cause inefficiency, breakdown and even failure of the system. Think of it like a car. If you run the most premium gasoline, regularly clean the required filters & systems, keep clean fluids moving in it and keep the fluids at optimum levels it typically will run very efficiently for a very long time. If you run your car with poor gas or add sugar to the gas tank along with the gas it is going to breakdown (as a matter of fact if you put sugar in your gas tank- your car won't run at all. Keep this in mind when we talk about sugars effects on your body). If you don't change your oil for 20,000 miles and never clean-change the filters it is going to breakdown. This is just an analogy but you get the point. It is a pointed fact that modern life has become out of balance and many people go day to day in this unbalanced lifestyle, in defiance of their own body's innate needs. We have simply tuned out the constant messages that the body is sending us when it is overtaxed or its needs are not being met. The push, rush and grind lifestyle has blinded many people creating a life where people just become trapped and tripped up on the "gerbil" wheel spinning around, sometimes tumbling around uncontrollably in a mess. People who use instincts, intuition and pay attention to their bodies quite simply have an enhanced ability to deal with the ebb and flow of this modern life. You too can attain this ability to live an active, healthy, positive life, and share it with your loved ones, simply by educating yourself and putting that information to effective use in your life. So practice the guidelines. Search deeper into the knowledge and sources. Stay in touch. Stay in tune. Stay connected. As you learn you will grow.

Life is a process. Enjoy

-Tim Cousins & Dale Seibel

To some, making a difference means small, simple acts that can be done every single day. If that's you, check out 5 Minutes of Caring articles. They're daily 99-word articles that offer practical tips and motivation for you to make a positive impact each and every day.




Free Rice
Play a game & donate free rice to the UN World Food ProgramPLAY HERE