Why I'm Not a Food Cop

Oct 13th, 2006

When I was growing up in Michigan, my dad worked out of town during the week and got home Friday nights. My mom was a teacher and was quite busy teaching and raising three kids. I remember having scheduled meals only on the weekends–pot roasts, chicken and dumplings, baked or fried chicken and occasionally something awful like liver or chow mein with mashed potatoes.

The first time mom made tacos – probably 1965 or 1966 we had such a laugh. With the first bite, the shell crumbled and the whole thing fell onto the plate. What an odd kind of food we thought it was back then.

I Grew Up on Fast Food, Junk Food, and Cigarettes

During the week, we fended for ourselves. I developed a taste for fast food and snacks. After my school tennis class, I rode my bike to McDonald’s and had a Big Mac, French fries and a chocolate shake. To this day when I eat fast food, that’s still my fast food of choice. Amazing after all these years. That’s why it’s important to pay attention to what we feed our children because many of their lifetime food preferences are formed when they are small.

In college I continued eating fast food, drinking Coke, smoking cigarettes, and eating lots of candy and ice cream. Surprise, surprise, I didn’t like very many vegetables…just corn and potatoes. And peas if I had to. My diet stunk but I remained relatively thin because of my youthful metabolism.

Healthy Eating – the Final Frontier

In my 30’s I got the exercise thing down. See story here. So food became the final frontier. I just didn’t like the way health food tasted. Bluchk! My tastes were trained by what I ate as a child…and much of what I ate as a child and young adult was kinda junky. Changing my dietary habits has been a continuing journey. Ups and downs. You might see me in the grocery store with a low fat, high fiber salad in one hand and a pint of Haagen Daaz in the other. But now I know a lot about what a good diet is and can make great choices (when I want to).

Considering my history of dietary challenges, I don’t have many judgments about food. And when I hear judgments from the food cops, it annoys me–especially if they are commenting on what I’m eating. A macrobiotic chef I know calls milk, cow puss. Now isn’t that a great visual. Makes you want to eat your cookies and milk in the closet. I believe we should all be able to eat the kinds of foods we want once we become adults. No food cops, please.

And it’s extremely wise if the foods we grow to love are also good for us. We can make that transition if we do it gently and consistently. We can nurture and train ourselves into a wonderful, healthful diet. Our own judgment and that of others can slow the process down, so let’s let go of judgment. K?

Plug Personal Energy Drains with Positive Language

Oct 8th, 2006

When chatting via email with a coaching client, Laura, (not her real name) who is having mama drama and relationship and life challenges, I encouraged her to be on the lookout for any negative self-messages about herself or her relationship with others.  

She replied that she wanted to know what I meant by my advice because she really wanted to fully understand all that I was sharing with her.  

She wrote back to let me know that my response blew her away and asked that I share it with all of you. I think I’ll do just that.  Below is what I wrote (names have been changed to protect the innocent):  

Ok, negative messages slip into our conversations all the time.  They become habitual.  I was kind of that way myself today.  I had to have a talk with myself and shape up….and remind myself that I’m a joy container.  It made all the difference. 

So when you find yourself saying “stupid bookcases” and “stupid Peter”…that’s what I mean.  Even though you love Peter and your new bookcases, these little negative elements can undermine you/your relationships in ways you may not realize.  And I don’t really mean “you” because we all do this. 

Also any time you’re tempted to make “stupid Laura” comments or have thoughts like this about yourself or your mom, it has an effect.  As evolving humans, we just need to be aware of this kind of unintentional energy dampener. 

We can do the reverse and make ourselves feel better instantly by looking at life and ourselves with awe.  It doesn’t come naturally for most of us but, it’s worthy work. 

Ring a bell for anyone? Tell me all about it at the comments link below. 

The Great Bird Flu Hoax

Oct 7th, 2006

If, like me, you’ve been suspicious about the truth of the Bird Flu pandemic . . . this book review will be of interest to you.

The Great Bird Flu Hoax: The Truth They Don’t Want You to Know About the “Next Big Pandemic” This book’s true power comes from exposing the hoax perpetrated by the government, the drug companies, the giant food and agri-businesses, and the mainstream media… A hoax that diverts your attention away from the real health and societal crises they don’t want you to know about.

Just some of the issues Dr. Mercola exposes in depth in this book include responsible agriculture, the systematic obliteration of small local farms, inhumane and unethical bird farms and other corporate animal farming, GMOs and big food corporations, pesticides/herbicides versus organics, and pending Big Pharma legislation, which may actually destroy the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution.

Because you can play a crucial role in taking down the perpetrators of these frauds and deceptions, I hope you will check out this book. In this fascinating and well-researched 240-page hardcover book you’ll discover:

- How and why the media has deceived you about the bird flu (and why they’re not talking about the far more serious threats to your health than any bird flu) …

- The real culprit in the spread of bird flu (hint: it’s not the wild or migratory birds that are currently being blamed) …

- Who is really profiting the most from the bird flu panic (you will be quite surprised … and you will learn why they are intent on misdirecting attention away from true public health issues) …

- How you can protect yourself and your family from any disease — even the bird flu — by simply and easily modifying your body’s natural defense system …

- Why any bird flu vaccine is virtually guaranteed to fail (after billions of dollars are paid to certain key pharmaceutical giants just to stockpile worthless drugs) …

- How the bird flu scare is similar to previous alarms that never materialized (remember swine flu, Ebola, West Nile virus, SARS, anthrax and ‘mad cow’ disease?) …

- Find out how major meat and other food producers are using the threat of terrorism to enforce oppressive federal regulations to snuff out their small farm competition (if you allow this to proceed unchecked, you’ll lose your ability to obtain truly healthy meat) …

- The devious “bag of tricks” big corporations use to distort the media (you’ll see how they manipulate your view of reality so they can control your behavior to make the most profit) …

- The one common risk factor that nearly everyone infected with bird flu has (you probably don’t have it, but they don’t want you to know this) …

- How new legislation being pushed through by the big drug companies may be the consumer’s worst nightmare (and may actually destroy the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution) …

- The MOST devious tricks corporations use to distort the media to manipulate your view of reality in their ongoing attempt to control your behavior for THEIR profit – And much, much more …  

Alert: e. coli–getting to the root of the problem

Oct 2nd, 2006

I subscribe to the Organic Consumers Society ezine and this is their take on the spinach contamination problem: 

ALERT: E.COLI–GETTING TO THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM The recent tragic outbreak of E. coli contamination in spinach that has killed one person and poisoned at least 146 others, is being mistakenly blamed, by some in the media, on organic farming practices–specifically the use of animal manure in making fertilizer compost on organic farms. While no conclusive source of the current E.coli outbreak has yet been determined, mountains of E.coli-tainted manure on conventional factory farm feedlots and rainfall-induced agricultural runoff are the likely culprits. Despite this fact, a number of apologists for industrial agriculture continue to attack organic food in the press as “unsafe.”

(To read OCA’s position paper and other in-depth articles on the E.coli crisis go to OCA’s daily news page http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/log.cfm).