Obesity and Starvation: Crazy and Cruel

Will these past several decades be recorded as the time of a horrible exploitation of people's health for the purpose of corporate profit? Will these generations be remembered for the times when thousands of people died daily from malnutrition and hunger - while so many others lived shortened unhealthy lives - from obesity?

It will be difficult to comprehend as it is even now. We in the most affluent countries may be looked upon as belonging to a prosperous society, much of which was frivolous and uncaring... and mean.

Obesity: Wasteful and sickening.
It is now estimated that the number of overweight people rivals the number of underweight people. On the fat side of the worrisome obesity-starvation equation are overly fed bad food consumers.

In our modern world with increasingly cheap, high calorie food (example, fast food — or “junk food”), prepared foods that are high in things like salt, sugars or fat, combined with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, increasing urbanization and changing modes of transportation, it is no wonder that obesity has rapidly increased in the last few decades, around the world."

Global Issues continues on the obesity epidemic...
Topics discussed:
1. Number of People Overweight or With Obesity Rivals World’s Hungry
2. Obesity on the Increase
3. Obesity Affects Poor as well as Rich
4. Health impacts
5. Various causes of obesity
6. Addressing Obesity Globally, Nationally, Locally, Individually
7. Healthy versus Unhealthy Food Marketing; Who Usually Wins?
1. Talk of banning ads to kids met with resistance from industry
2. Industry attempts at self-regulation not working, sometimes reversing
3. Taxing junk food; a popular idea, but realistic?

Over-eaters can be blamed for their own situation but not totally; because they have been brain soaked with millions of advertisements telling them to eat tasty cheaply produced food. Food that is heavily loaded with additives such as preservatives and taste enhancers that increase shelf life and cravings - and profit margins. And they hooked them young!

Junk food it is appropriately called!
At this point in time the onus to eat healthy is on the consumer who is required to learn about choices and the pitfalls and traps in the marketing of food. There is some health information on food product labels but this usually only consists of that which is specifically required by government legislation. This helps those who understand and care about the benefits of eating wisely. Those who do not will much more likely be swayed by the shrewd advertising.

Unfortunately there is little promotion of the good stuff, at least compared to the propaganda churned out daily enticing all to eat greasy, salty, sugary food. The grand marketing by the big food companies has made it a tradition; pull in for a mess of fries, a burger and pop. Or grab a package of quick to cook stuff off the shelf and contribute to the corporate bottom line.

Government in many ways appears to be on the corporate team as they allow food producers and sellers to tiptoe around insufficient regulations. Consumers are mislead in many ways and are sold some very nasty food often camouflaged as something better. To protect one's own health it is not only necessary learn all about good diets but also how to read and decipher and be aware of the trick ads and food package labels. It is very important as deception is carefully designed and is widespread throughout the food marketing industry.

It is unfortunate that selling sickly processed foods is so common and so profitable. Worse yet is their 'success' in tempting and winning children over to their lucrative eating agenda, perhaps for a lifetime.

Starvation: The sad and inhumane side of the equation.
Hunger is the single gravest threat to the world's public health. According to the World Health Organization malnutrition is by far the biggest contributor to child mortality, present in half of all cases. Underweight births and inter-uterine growth restrictions cause 2.2 million child deaths a year. Poor or non-existent breastfeeding causes another 1.4 million. Other deficiencies, such as lack of vitamin A or zinc, for example, account for 1 million.
Read more on hunger and malnutrition at Wikipedia

World Hunger and Poverty by Anup Shah
We often hear about people’s desire to solve world hunger, or to be able to feed the world and help alleviate the suffering associated with it. However, meaningful long-term alleviation to hunger is rooted in the alleviation of poverty, as poverty leads to hunger. World hunger is a terrible symptom of world poverty. If efforts are only directed at providing food, or improving food production or distribution, then the structural root causes that create hunger, poverty and dependency would still remain. And so while continuous effort, resources and energies are deployed to relieve hunger through these technical measures, the political causes require political solutions as well....

Causes of Hunger are related to Poverty
There are many inter-related issues causing hunger, which are related to economics and other factors that cause poverty. They include land rights and ownership, diversion of land use to non-productive use, increasing emphasis on export-oriented agriculture, inefficient agricultural practices, war, famine, drought, over-fishing, poor crop yields, etc...

Solving World Hunger Means Solving World Poverty
Solving world hunger in the conventional sense (of providing/growing more food etc) will not tackle poverty that leads to hunger in the first place. Further, there is a risk of continuing the poverty and dependency without realizing it, because the act of attempting to provide more food etc can appear so altruistic in motive. To solve world hunger in the long run, poverty alleviation is required....

Food and Agriculture Issues
Food and agriculture goes to the heart of our civilizations. Religions, cultures and even modern civilization have food and agriculture at their core. For an issue that goes to the heart of humanity it also has its ugly side. This issue explores topics ranging from the global food crisis of 2008, to issues of food aid, world hunger, food dumping and wasteful agriculture such as growing tobacco, sugar, beef....

Read the comprehensive articles on World Hunger and Poverty by Anup Shah
Global Issues, Updated: August 22, 2010

Cutting obesity to feed the hungry would be a nice way to balance this grim equation. Unfortunately our world's current social and political environments do not seem capable or do not care.

A revision and extension of an earlier article as per Article Blogs and Re-posting.
Short url link to this article http://goo.gl/TNQ65

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Poor, Hungry and Hopeless

Sickness and starvation in a world of wild consumption and great waste.

What a shameful blot on this rich era in history.
It is astounding and unbelievable; while we constantly strive to excessively accumulate possessions, create massive mountains of garbage, and distribute widespread pollution around the globe - a billion or more people are poor, sick or dying because of deplorable poverty.

Faced with continuing hunger families in desperation will take drastic measures to survive. They may live in small shacks, scour back alleys and garbage dumps for food, submit their children to long days of tough working conditions, or even sell or submit them to prostitution.

The problem is a continuing one. If living conditions are so bad that the children cannot get educated, then they will have no footing on which to begin a better and fairer living standard than their parents had. While compared to these third world countries' young, our kids mostly only require the will and direction to get a basic high school diploma or perhaps a technical or university education.

Poverty is a rut that can be impossible to climb out of without help.
Why must there be this terrible imbalance of a world of overabundance and wastage, and a world of misery and hopelessness?

Everyone knows something of the hardship and inhumane conditions in which so many others live. Some do not, or are just unconcerned; "it's of their own making." But it is not a newborn child's desire to wear rags, live in a shack, go hungry all day, be sickly and perhaps die young.

Yet for most of us who are not poor in well established societies, there is ample money floating around even with the financial setbacks of recent years. We still eat well, have comfortable homes and many frivolous possessions.

There is something seriously lacking in the connection between these two worlds.

Generally we don't relate. Why not?
Popular conversations aren't about the needy and desperate, the slums and the desperation. The talk around the office and with friends and neighbors is about entertainment, sports, politics, and the latest need-to-buy purchases. These topics are interesting and popular as they are encouraged on us by the media which, over many years have been busy designing our social characteristics, in the name of commerce. Very convincing and constant merchandising only encourages us further down a path of self interest.

We are too wrapped up in our own lives of having plenty, and yet still not enough. We are addicted; we want better and more with no end in sight.

Media need fixing with more government funded, commerce independent, public broadcasting. We, and particularly our kids, need to have less of the brainwashing that dilutes our finances and our apathy to all the people of the world.

Is taxation a solution?
In a first world country taxing the rich more and the poor less will alleviate its internal poverty immensely. For a world wide solution tax again may be one solution. So many do not contribute to charities because they have simply not thought much about it, or have not got around to taking a few minutes to help. A general charity tax levied on citizens' incomes would create funds both for their neglected and for those of the world. Aid for the poverty-stricken would then be mandatory and would come from all who were able to contribute in taxes.

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Photo source
Resources: Global Issues Always a comprehensive and enlightening source for poverty and social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all.
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Selling Bad Health to Kids

Only in a mean society.

The marketing of cheaply produced, unhealthy junk food to kids is another blight on our prosperous society. It does not make sense: advertising and selling food products that are known to cause health problems later in life - directly to children.

How is this acceptable to caring people?
Where has the corporate friendship and ethic gone?
Why aren't governments more concerned about kid's lives?

I do not believe that the fault lies entirely with parents. Partly because they may have been brainwashed too, after many years of being subject to the massive corporate persuasion efforts. But the finger is commonly pointed to moms and dads, especially by business when confronted about their crude marketing tactics. Parents should know all about unhealthy food choices and the grief that can follow later in life, and they should educate their kids. But there are armies of advertisers with a wide ranging supply of tricks to conscript tots and teens to a life of poorer health with such as diabetes and stroke.

This is free enterprise but it is a flawed and cruel system if it can be used in this way. Allowing big business to reap profits from promoting product sales that knowingly cause personal harm should be severely restricted or made unlawful. But the will of politicians does not seem to be there. There is always the commercial connection popping up when there is discussion about troubling situations and government's lack of positive action on an issue.

Governments and corporations of this era will not be looked upon favorably in the history books.

Picture the big juicy burger with added cheese and dressing, or a tall, icy, sugar laden refreshment - appearing repeateadly during youth and child TV programming.

How about the cereal aisle in the supermarket, cartoon alley easily gets the attention of the little ones.

The continuous efforts of marketers are coming through strongly to kids and adolescents via many hours of watching TV or surfing the internet. The cleverly designed ads also show up in print, on buses, food packages, clothes, toys, and wherever it will get good exposure to children. The young will eat it all up; they don't have the experience to know better. They are ripe picking!

With all the finely tuned slick methods marketers use how easy can it be for parents to compete with the onslaught on their young loved ones? Even with good intentions there is peer influence, all the other kids are into it. Yes it is possible but difficult, and requires serious effort.

The emphasis and pressures that corporations put on kids for current and future sales revenue is by far a most lucrative selling technique that many companies now rely on. Catch the kids young and hold them for life. Establishing brands for food, clothing and tech gadgets at an early age can last a lifetime - very profitable and increasingly popular with the big manufacturers.

Sugar, salt and fat, the big bad three in food, they taste good and bring in lots of money. These ingredients and other additives can be very unhealthy when consumed in excessive amounts, yet they are very commonly over used in packaged foods and in restaurants, especially fast food outlets. They can be there to preserve product or simply to enhance taste.

The junk food industry has produced an epidemic of childhood obesity and other serious ailments. Even with food related health problems now well known they keep rising as the greedy efforts to market and sell more continues. It is the most 'rewarding' strategy used for increasing profits now and well into the future. But why isn't this a crime?

And where is there a balance? Campaigns for healthy eating exist but big money is not behind them, it is directed to the merchandising strategies that make the quickest profit. One suggestion is make unhealthy food costlier through taxing, and good food cheaper with subsidies. But why is there no action?

Free enterprise needs adjustments to fix this and provide our kids, future parents, a life free of avoidable sickness.

Speak of it when you can.

A few resources.
There are numerous related posts on this site.

The FCIC has a nice site with informative articles: The Road to a Healthy Life. These are the basic guidelines for eating a healthy diet and being physically active and may be viewed online and downloaded from the Internet. Topics include:
Go back to your roots: Eat all types of healthful food each day!
Food groups, using the Nutrition Facts label.
Nutrition and calories count! How many calories do you need?
Physical activity, food safety, and more.

A Scripps Research Study Shows Compulsive Eating Shares Same Addictive Biochemical Mechanism with Cocaine, Heroin Abuse.

Short url to this page http://goo.gl/Qe0Et
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Deceptive Food Labels

Does that package label mean what it seems to mean? Maybe not!

The words and images on a product label can be the difference between a sale and a pass on to another product on the shelf. And so the competition has been on - to create a better designed label that will appeal and convince. Some very imaginative and sly plays on wording and images are used to trick the shopper and make a sale.

Basically, emphasize and exaggerate that which will appeal and camouflage or hide unfavorable facts. It is very important for consumers to examine what is clear, vague or hard to read on a label, and to analyze the wording.

A non-food example is a package of containers that has a large 8 on the package. But you do need to look closely to see that it's not 8 containers but 8 pieces, 4 containers and 4 lids. There are lots of examples of this popping up all over the stores.

But Food is of the most concern because it so directly affects our health.

Some major food producers have been successfully sued for deceptive labeling but it is difficult because they work very cleverly within existing laws. But deceptive food labeling is there with lots of foxy ways to display and sell a product that turns out to be not what it seems to be.

Small print is a handy tool for deceiving buyers. Ingredients lists that are long might mean that there are numerous things there that you do not want to be consuming. If you take the time to read the small print you might just pass on it, and so the small letters. Although sometimes with too many words there just isn't enough room for regular size. Ingredients are usually listed in descending order of predominance by weight. Check out the list and all the tiny words before you buy.

The marketing of juices has brought out some creativity in labeling. A mixture of water, sugar and juice can be called Juice Fantastic, Juice Shangri-la and such. MADE WITH PURE JUICE does not indicate how much pure juice it contains! 100% Juice Blend: CRANBERRY. The two brands I've used have the main juice ingredient listed as GRAPE.

100% pure jam sounds pure but 100% jam does not mean 100% fruit. Does the jam recipe that is used contain excessive non-fruit ingredients such as sugar?

Very common is the bold declaration of a single healthy aspect which will downplay the unhealthy ingredients. There are so many examples of this but one that is very popular right now is the large NO TRANSFAT. It can be loaded with unhealthy saturated fat, salt and sugar but it has NO TRANSFAT. NO SUGAR ADDED does not mean unsweetened and might contain other sweeteners or taste enhancers.

Some breads contain a variety of additives but it's not very obvious when printed on the clear part of the packaging in small letters. Do they not want us to read this?

And how about those little symbols that look remarkably like the Health Check logo of the Heart and Stroke Foundation?

15.4% LESS SALT could still contain excessive amounts.

PRODUCT of CANADA. Does not mean that is was produced, processed, packaged and distributed in CANADA. Some food products pass through several far away countries on the way to market.

There are so many examples of food labels that can fool consumers and buyers should beware of exactly what labels say and what they do not say.

The bottom line: if you care about your health and what you are eating analyze what's written on the label.

Related Social-Fix food articles  -  short url to this page http://goo.gl/pvfzr

Food: Labels-Ingredients-Additives

Do you know what you are eating?

More and more people are examining the food that they shop for and making decisions not to purchase the products that appear unhealthy to them. There is much to be concerned about as the use of additives has become so widespread in the manufacturing of food products.

Additives are used to increase profit by reducing production costs in various ways, extending shelf life, enhancing flavor (salt, sugar and fat taste good). There is reason to worry about additives, such as chemical colorings which improve the looks but are feared by many to have bad side effects in the quantities consumed.

And so more of us are interested in expanding our knowledge about the food we eat. Should a consumer be required to research and determine which ingredients and products are harmful? Shouldn't manufacturers under government pressure be prohibited from marketing that which is unhealthy?

But which of those strange ingredients in food packages are somewhat unhealthy or outright harmful? If not in small amounts perhaps grouped with other products containing similar chemicals and accumulated over time? There is information out there but we have to look for it and make our own determinations in order to protect ourselves.

When and why I committed to reading food labels.

It was a late November when I entered a supermarket and was met with a huge display of mincemeat pies. I grabbed one. These were Christmas pies already, what was I not thinking!

Later as I munched on a wedge of this very tasty pie I read the label's ingredients list. Along with the basics for mincemeat pies were . . . . natural and artificial flavors, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, potassium sorbate (preservative), carame (color),cellulose gum, mono and diglycerides,sodium citrate, palmitate, sulfur dioxide (preservative), mononitrate, propionate (preservative).

It's scary when I consider the contents of some food products I have eaten for many years. But better late than never and I now avoid products with ingredients having unfamiliar names or that I consider unhealthy. I read all Nutritional and Ingredients lists on all packaged food before purchasing.

NOTE on LABELS: The large print colorful portion of the label is designed to entice the shopper!! The wording can be confusing and very deceptive. Read the small print and look for trickery with words, exaggerations, and cunning.

A few selected consumer resources on ingredients and additives on food labels.

Reading food product labels that are mandated by your government is a must if you are interested in your and your family's health. The Nutrition Facts label is quite clear in presenting these important health related details but some interpretation is likely required.

How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label includes details on The Nutrition Facts Panel: serving size, calories, nutrients, daily values, trans fats, protein, and sugars.

How are ingredients listed on a product label?
All food manufacturers are required to list all ingredients in the food on the label. On a product label, the ingredients are listed in order of predominance, with the ingredients used in the greatest amount first, followed in descending order by those in smaller amounts. The label must list the names of any FDA-certified color additives (e.g., FD&C Blue No. 1 or the abbreviated name, Blue 1). But some ingredients can be listed collectively as "flavors," "spices," "artificial flavoring," or in the case of color additives exempt from certification, "artificial colors", without naming each one. Declaration of an allergenic ingredient in a collective or single color, flavor, or spice could be accomplished by simply naming the allergenic ingredient in the ingredient list.
Read more on color additives, childhood hyperactivity, natural and artificial ingredients, low-calorie sweeteners, added vitamins and minerals.

The Food Intolerance Network has independent information about the effects of food on behaviour, health and learning ability in both children and adults. The site contains comprehensive information on a wide range of additives. There is information about the effects of food on behaviour, health and learning ability in both children and adults. Also over forty Factsheets answer many questions directly and a step by step guide to getting started and keeping going with Failsafe eating

Confused about Best Before Dates? Difficult to understand Julian, or impossible to read? You are not alone. FoodiePrints: "Such is not surprising considering that food producers have reportedly been less than forthcoming, regarding information on food packaging, especially when it comes to nutrition. "
Explanations, images and resources about Best Before Dates.

The unhealthy truth: how our food is making us sick.
Robyn O'Brien's delvings have led to her being called the 'Erin Brokovich of the food industry' because she exposes the hidden dangers in the apparently 'safe' ingredients we feed our children and families.
A topical and interesting read.

Preservatives and Food Additives to Avoid from The Cancer Dietician
"Shopping was easy when most food came from farms. Now, factory-made foods have made chemical additives and preservatives a significant part of our diet. People may not be able to pronounce the names of many of these chemicals, but they still want to know what the chemicals do. More importantly, which ones are safe and which are poorly tested or possibly dangerous."
more . . .

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World Trade: Fair Trade?

The expanding world trade engineered by large corporations has generated much wealth. Big business has benefited greatly, along with their home countries and their consumers. But the globalization of trade does not always significantly improve the lives of workers in developing countries. Desperately needing income they often work excessively in difficult and unhealthy conditions at very low pay.

And so the rich-poor gap continues to widen as corporate machines, with supportive governments, keep the momentum to improve their economies.

This world's unbalanced distribution of wealth and poverty sorely needs fixing. There are some things we can do as individuals like donating to charities. This is too often put off until later or perhaps forgotten.

Another way we can help those in the developing countries is by getting involved.

Discussions on the social ills associated with commerce and consumption and the hopes and expectations for a more equitable world would include the topic of Fair Trade.


What Is Fair Trade?
The New American Dream: "Fair Trade is an international trade model that aims to build just, equitable and sustainable business practices by linking producers in developing countries directly to purchasers in the global north. Fair Trade purchasers work directly with cooperatives and other small scale producers, eliminating the middlemen present in conventional trading and ensuring that producers receive a higher percentage of the price.

The Fair Trade movement was developed as a means of holistically addressing inequities in conventional development and trade models. In addition to setting a minimum floor price for commodities, which aims to cover the cost of production and cost of living in a local context, Fair Trade aids producers by requiring fair labor conditions, safe environmental practices, and fostering community development. The Fair Trade principles, to which all producers, importers, and exporters must adhere to receive certification, include:

Fair Prices: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price, plus a premium for certified organic products. Artisans and producers of non-commodity items are guaranteed a living wage in the local context.
Fair Working Conditions: Laborers are guaranteed safe and healthy working conditions, a living wage, freedom of association, and opportunities for advancement. In particular, women’s leadership and participation in cooperatives is encouraged. Human rights and child labor laws are enforced and upheld to the most stringent standards.
Direct Trade: Fair Trade importers purchase directly from farmer and artisan cooperatives, thereby building long-term relationships and sustainable business practices.
Transparency: All Fair Trade businesses are open to public accountability and must maintain records of their environmental and business practices.
Democratic Organizations: Fair Trade supports cooperative systems in which each producer is a stakeholder in the business, participates democratically in decision-making, and benefits equally from generated revenue.
Community Development: A “social premium,” a set sum given to the cooperative for each Fair Trade item sold, is invested in a business or organization in the local community democratically selected by the cooperative.
Environmental Sustainability: GMOs and certain agrochemicals are strictly prohibited, and organic practices are encouraged and rewarded. Fair Trade producers are also required to adhere to practices that maximize use of raw, sustainable materials, and promote water and soil conservation, reforestation, species diversity, and environmental education."

There's much more to read about Fair Trade practices and products with related resources for the Conscious Consumer Marketplace at The New American Dream.

GMO Genetically modified organism

For years we've had to be concerned or worried about the growing use of additives in the foods we eat. Preservatives, taste and growth enhancers, and pesticides are widely used in the production of food. Sometimes it is proven that a certain widely used chemical is unhealthy but it is too late for some.

There is an everlasting effort by corporations competing for our money. This leads to research and innovations in the way food is grown and manufactured.

One such innovation of more recent years is GMO: Genetically modified organism.

GMO is making dramatic changes in the way food is grown, much of which is unknown by the general public.

Globalization101.org provides some insight on the topic.

GMOs: Different Schools of Thought
Highly Dangerous: Tinkering with Nature

Opponents of GMOs make three main arguments against their production. First, they argue that GM foods might be unhealthy. While they have not been linked with harmful effects yet, GM foods are relatively new and should not be available for human consumption they say, until additional research proves beyond a doubt that they are harmless.

A handbook prepared by the Consumer's Choice Council (CCC), a non-governmental consumer advocacy group, asserts that, "as a result of altered regulatory functions, GMOs may exhibit increased allergenic tendencies, toxicity, or altered nutritional value.…These risks are compounded when a GMO product is released into an uncontrolled environment. The interaction of GMOs with other complex biological systems, such as the human body or natural ecosystems, cannot, in many cases, be anticipated or fully tested before commercial release."

The second major objection to GMOs is that they can endanger biodiversity. Genetic mutations are a natural part of life. Some people worry that creating certain species to emphasize particular traits undermines the natural, mutation-driven evolutionary process.

Read more on this topical subject including The U.S. and EU: Different Approaches, The Debate over Labeling, and Questions for Discussion: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: Globalization101.org.
Article source (Visited on 27 November 2008). Globalization101.org is an Internet resource offered by the Levin Institute to promote a greater understanding of globalization.


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Healthy Food Guide

Artificial flavors, preserving agents, sweeteners, saturated fat; these foods may be well preserved, a convenience to prepare and tasty, but what are they doing to consumers' health?

There are lots of persuasions pushed our way to buy food so much of which is unhealthy - but profitable to sell. If we are the least concerned about a longer and healthier life for ourselves and our kids, we need to learn more about the food we eat.

To help make wise food choices the recommendations in Canada's Food Guide would be a good start.

A Site preview - worth the visit for healthy food information.


Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide

Meet your needs for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients.
Reduce your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain types of cancer and osteoporosis.
Contribute to your overall health and vitality.

A Food Guide Serving is simply a reference amount. It helps you understand how much food is recommended every day from each of the four food groups. In some cases, a Food Guide Serving may be close to what you eat, such as an apple. In other cases, such as rice or pasta, you may serve yourself more than one Food Guide Serving.

Food Guide Basics
How much food you need every day
What is a Food Guide Serving?
Make wise choices
Physical Activity
Enjoy eating

Take a step today
Have breakfast every day. It may help control your hunger later in the day.
Walk wherever you can – get off the bus early, use the stairs.
Benefit from eating vegetables and fruit at all meals and as snacks.
Spend less time being inactive such as watching TV or playing computer games.
Request nutrition information about menu items when eating out to help you make healthier choices.
Enjoy eating with family and friends!
Take time to eat and savour every bite!

Read more about . . .
Recommended Number of Food Guide Servings per Day
What is one Food Guide Serving?
Oils and Fats
Make each Food Guide Serving count…
Satisfy your thirst with water!
Advice for different ages and stages…
How do I count Food Guide Servings in a meal?
Eat well and be active today and every day!

A chart shows how many Food Guide Servings you need from each of the four food groups every day.

For more information, interactive tools or publications, visit Health Canada’s Food Guide.
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Junk Food, Obesity, Kids

It's been both puzzling and upsetting for many years to see ads, logos and fun attractions used to entice children into wanting and consuming unhealthy junk food. Through heavy and shrewd marketing it spreads throughout the world. For profit.

What will a generation yet unborn say about society at our time in history, about this and other negatives programmed into the public at large?

Will corporate managers, governments, or the public shoulder most of the blame for doing this to kids?

While people have a choice and make the final decision to purchase and consume a food that might be harmful, there has been too much persuasion to do so. The methods used have been varied, clever and intensive, and so much of it unethical. It appears business has been allowed to use exaggerated or misleading statements, omissions of important facts and always-in-your-face marketing to old and young alike.

The three fast or packaged food ingredients of salt, sugar and fat are generally known to be unhealthy in excessive amounts. But they are good tasting and profitable. Preservatives and taste enhancing additives are also widely used today and have raised many concerns about overuse.

Food and Pesticides

Like many others I've become very concerned about the safety of the food that I have been eating. Reading a long list of unfamiliar chemicals on a food package is worrisome. And that great tasting lunch had me drinking a gallon of water later.

There is also much concern about farm products, with the use of growth enhancements and pesticides raising awareness these days.

Pesticides in particular scare me. While it could be argued that a certain pesticide is unharmful when used in the prescribed amounts, what are the possibilities that it is used excessively to increase revenue? Or that it is used combined with other pesticides that have similar side effects?

Food News from the Environmental Working Group asks

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2005. A detailed description of the criteria used in developing the rankings is available as well as a full list of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been tested.

Read more . . . and check out the full list of 43 Fruits & Veggies from Onions and Avocados to Apples and Peaches.

EWG is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food.

Anti-Wrinkle Treatment

The New Anti-Wrinkle Treatment
by Mary Desaulniers

We are bombarded on all fronts with new anti-wrinkle treatments and new sophisticated skin regimen that are supposed to take years off the face—microdermabrasion, botox injections, face lifts and laser resurfacing. More than ever, we are harnessing the powers of technology to create a Brave New World of ageless boomers. And while I have no objections to wanting to look young (who doesn’t), I do think that being young is more a state of mind than a state of “looks.” Looks can be artificially manipulated; a state of mind can only be cultivated.

Even the word “cultivation” tells us that the process of staying young takes time. And time is something our society seems intent on making dispensable. Yet the best things in life take time. Think of your children through the lenses of the family album; it is the changes tabulated in those pictures that make them so rich in character and experience now. Time deepens the experience; time ages the moment by filling it with layers made accessible through memories. Without time, we are like ants—filled only with a pale and surface instant. Living the moment is a call for cultivating the layers of time within the moment.

And so with the face; the layers of time that wrinkle a face are tributes to its resilience. It has weathered the helter-skelter twenties and it has survived the frantic pace of the thirties (when most of us had full time jobs and children). The marks of having lived a life rich in love, struggles, failures and successes are written all over our faces and it is these we need to embrace because they are not signs that we need anti-wrinkle treatments, but signs that we have struggled, we have loved and we have lived. They are the marks of a life that is extraordinary in its ordinariness.

These marks on our faces are not the things we need to fear; they are not the signs of age. The signs of age that we need fear are those that speak of a life unlived—a terrified urgency to keep everything as is, a fear of learning new ways of thinking, new ways of doing things, a fear of going beyond right and wrong, or more specifically, a fear of understanding the world and its events from the heart without the prescriptive lens of right and wrong, a fear of change, of investing heart, mind and soul into someone or something lest it goes “wrong,” a fear of making mistakes, of having to start all over again because those mistakes showed you a new and different path, a fear of pitting yourself against the wisdom of the ages because you have a need, a passion to find out for yourself what is right for you.

I have seen age in twenty-something eyes and endless youthfulness in people over 70.

So what are my anti-wrinkle treatments?

1.Find something you love and pursue it to the end. Ignore all nay-sayers; just follow your heart.

2. Begin each morning and end each day with exercising your mind; a half hour or twenty minutes of meditation on all that is right in your world and what you have to be thankful for.

3. Cultivate the long-term vision; see the layers of possibilities within each moment in time; with such long-term vision you will never be unsettled by an individual event because you are open to what it will bring in its wake.

4. Eat healthy foods and exercise; a strong body will empower your sense of self so that you can sustain the courage to do what is right for you.

5. Honor yourself and honor the world and all that lives, breathes, moves in it (including rocks, trees and skies).

6. Honor your desire which is a calling for change. Most people dread change and end up on the sidelines wishing wistfully for something better. They have not learned to honor their desire. Desire as Dr. Lee Pulos states in “The Biology of Empowerment,” ”is the purest of potential seeking manifestation or change.” Be open to change.

Last but not least, know in your heart that you will have no regrets because being young is knowing that you can start all over again.


A runner for over 30 years, Mary is interested in the relationship between physical exercise and the creative self.
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