I’ve been watching the circus surrounding the health-care debate and thought to put my in my two cents. First things first, we are not having a discussion about health-care in America, we are having a discussion about disease-care.

If you want health-care, the question is how empowered are you to take matters in to your [...]]]> I’ve been watching the circus surrounding the health-care debate and thought to put my in my two cents. First things first, we are not having a discussion about health-care in America, we are having a discussion about disease-care.

If you want health-care, the question is how empowered are you to take matters in to your own hands? The issue is health-care, not insurance, not bottom line, not how much it costs to have procedures done to you once you’ve gotten ill or had an accident.

What kind of insurance policy to you have in life to promote your own health-care?

These are the basic insurance policies you need for your health.

1. Education
Do you educate yourself about your body and its needs? Did you know that 75% of all Americans cannot name and locate their organs? Did you know that 43% of Americans suffer from common gastro-intestinal disorders? We are talking constipation, abdominal pain or discomfort and bloating. Did you know that most of these are easily rectified with simple dietary changes, yet are the beginning of many diseases?

2. Exercise
Do you actually take the time to exercise? You don’t need run marathons but you do need to move every day. Our bodies are built to move. We are not meant to be sedentary and automate every action. Throw away your remote controls America at least for turning on and off the TV and changing the channels. Don’t look for the closest spot, just park and walk. I know most of my readers are beyond the basics but this is the message we should be hearing about health-care, not about violence at town hall meetings.

3. Rest, Relaxation and Sleep
Did you know that sleep and sleep-related problems play a role in a large number of human disorders and affect almost every field of medicine? For example, problems like stroke and asthma attacks tend to occur more frequently during the night and early morning, perhaps due to changes in hormones, heart rate, and other characteristics associated with sleep. Sleep also affects some kinds of epilepsy in complex ways.

Overworking, over worrying and stressful lives help create sleep dis-functions. Create a practice during your day to dump, or download the problems and bring your mind to a still point.

4. Cleansing programs
You wash the outside of your body everyday but have you given thought to the insides?
How your body processes your food is more important than what you put into it. Yes it is important to provide your body with clean food, water and nutrients. But if your body is not processing the things you put in it, you might as well be adding clean water to mud. You still get mud.

These are the first 4 steps and there are many more.

Start with this type of insurance policy. This type of health-care will eliminate 75% of all diseases. Unfortunately this is not part of our political discussion. Demand of yourself that you will create your own health-care policy and stick to it. Perhaps if each of us as individuals maintain ourselves then we can say good bye to expensive treatments to treat simple issues. Our current disease-care system will shrink and become affordable.

Living a healthy life is dependent upon what you put into your body as well as what you think about the food you put in your body.  Financial worries can cause indigestion and dis-ease. Eliminate the stress of choosing between healthy food and finances by becoming informed.

Many people are choosing to be frugal yet [...]]]> Living a healthy life is dependent upon what you put into your body as well as what you think about the food you put in your body.  Financial worries can cause indigestion and dis-ease. Eliminate the stress of choosing between healthy food and finances by becoming informed.

Many people are choosing to be frugal yet still want the benefits of organic foods.  The Environmental Working Group has been monitoring food and has been putting out this report since 2000.  The Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides features the fruits and veggies with the most and least pesticides.  The updated lists helps you compare the best organic fruits and vegetables for your dollar, if organic isn’t available or affordable.  Not only are the lists in a printable form but you can also download the application to your iPhone so you can have it with you when shopping.

Please remember that you never want to buy food that are genetically modifies or GMO’s.  Unfortunately in the US the manufacturer’s are not required to label GMO products.  Certain European countries have a ban on GMO foods. In the US there are some companies that are labeling their food “non-GMO”  please be sure to choose these over other foods.

The key foods to buy organically grown and/or manufactured from organic ingredients are:

• Heavily treated produce and meat
• Leafy greens
• Frequently eaten foods
• Wheat, Rice and Corn – buy as non processed and organic as possible.

Milk is a common source of the herbicide atrazine (a known endocrine-disrupter) and the growth hormone rBGH which has been genetically engineered to boost milk production.  Again choose milk that is organic and/or rBGH free.

Eggs

Eggs are one of the more bio-available proteins especially for growing folks, pregnant women, and those needing a protein source, especially if you digest them well and aren’t allergic to them. They have many nutrients that feed the body tissues, the sexual glands, sperm and eggs, and hormones. However, eggs are typically produced in factory farms where the hens often live in crowded, unhygienic conditions.  Our best egg option is organic eggs, which are now becoming more available. The next best option is free range.

Meat

Buy free range and organic meat.  Farm animals are fed pesticide laden foods but they also are given high dosages of antibiotics, which is one of the causes of the super bugs we see today, which cannot be treated with regular antibiotics.

Baby Foods
Whenever feeding an infant, we want to make sure we do not stress their sensitive and vulnerable systems with chemicals. I suggest a completely organic diet from the first feedings at about six months through age two.

Shop Locally
Ideally, it is healthiest to eat foods grown and cultivated near our area and in the season they are harvested. Seasonal eating is one of the keys to a balanced and wholesome diet. These foods are the freshest, often the most economical, and usually less treated, even non-organic, because they don’t need to be protected for shipping long distances.

These are some other ideas for frugal healthy choices:

• Comparison shop the organic sections of a number of stores
• Buy locally produced foods. They have less pesticides.
• Farmer’s markets have great seasonal produce.
• Join a community supported agriculture farm.
• Order bulk and dry goods on internet.
• Save your organic dollars for the freshest foods. For things that you don’t use that much or for refined foods, buy the less expensive conventional product.

Ideally, our entire diet could be made up of wholesome, healthy organic and clean foods but sometimes that is simply impossible or stressful to do so. Taking the stress out of eating is just as important as eating healthy food.  So what happens if you don’t have this information at your fingertips when you are at the store shopping?  You can always test for foods using muscle testing.

Overall, it’s important to eat healthy to Stay Healthy!  Enjoy what you do choose to consume.

Rethinking Food Sources – Lessons from Swine Flu Outbreak

No, I’m not renaming it to “Lessons from H1N1 flu, Mexican Virus, North American influenza or novel flu virus”.  Changing the name removes us from responding to the issue properly.  It is clear that the flu outbreak was caused by conditions in hog CAFO (confined animal [...]]]> Rethinking Food Sources – Lessons from Swine Flu Outbreak

No, I’m not renaming it to “Lessons from H1N1 flu, Mexican Virus, North American influenza or novel flu virus”.  Changing the name removes us from responding to the issue properly.  It is clear that the flu outbreak was caused by conditions in hog CAFO (confined animal feeding operation).  CAFO is another nice acronym removing us from the reality of the operation.

Back to the topic of the blog.  I was living in Northern Westchester, NY in the early 90′s and was in desperate need of organic foods.  I had become convinced that organic foods would help maintain and improve my health. Unfortunately at the time it was very difficult to find organic foods outside of the “city” or in “enlightened” places.  Some of the health food stores carried organics but they were extremely expensive and the selection of fresh foods were almost non-existent.  This was before places like Wild Oats and Whole Foods were popular.

Photo by Daniel Morrison

I joined a group that would go around and petition grocery stores to carry organic foods.  Occasionally people would sign a petition but mostly we got friends and family to speak to the managers of the stores.  We said to them, we like shopping in your store but you are not serving our needs.  We would like organics here and we promise to continue shopping and telling our friends.  At first the managers thought we were nuts but eventually one or two of them listened and started buying a few organic products.  They realized that they could get a premium price for the food and the food would fly off the shelves.  We voted with our wallets and loyalty.

The smaller health food stores started to clean up their stores to attract more customers as well.   They could service their clientele with excellent customer service and health expertise.  Today almost every large grocery store chain has an organic section and so do the big box stores.  You, as a consumer knows that there is some sort of standard when you find a label that has an official seal saying its organic.  You have control over what you eat, if you buy organics and if you read your labels.

Unfortunately labels have become inadequate.  Certain industries  and companies (Monsanto) have used their money and connections to excuse Bovine Growth Hormones (RgBh) and genetically modified foods (GMO’s). Many people have gluten allergies which are which exempt from labeling.  Glutens are just as dangerous to people with Celiac disease as are sugars to a diabetic.

A recent food hazard of melanin in our food system came from China killing off our pets & sickening our children.  Now we are seeing deaths from unhealthy raising of animals and unhealthy/unclean processing of foods.

You have choices.

1. You can raise your own food.
2. Go organic and buy from only trusted local sources.  These solutions are not comprehensive, as we are learning from this swine flu epidemic that you can be as organic as you want and still catch the flu because your friend went to Mexico on spring break. The concept of “All is One” is becoming very real and you can no longer isolate yourself.

Become Pro-Active

1. You can go to your grocery store and ask for labeling of the produce and meat for country or state of origin.
2. Put your money to work buy choosing foods that you know exactly where they came from and what’s inside them, not just based on fats calories and cost.

This is only part of the solution, our world is so intertwined that our companies go to other countries to raise and process foods in countries that don’t have the same standards of regulations that we have.  Some processed food ingredients come from so many different countries you could get frequent flier miles off them.

Go Global

1. Use your network.  Do you have family in Mexico, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe? Talk to them.  Have your family vote with their wallets in other countries, demand proper labeling, so they can make choices about what they put into your body.  If you are reading this you are a member of the largest consumer group ever with more buying power than the largest corporation.  It may take time but the supermarkets will listen.

Rethink your food choices, right now it takes effort but in the future it will be effortless.