Health

It’s back, that beautiful, exhilarating time of year.  Fall is always an uplifting time.  It’s when bountiful harvests are reaped and celebrations begin.  The first festive event of the season is Halloween.  There are masquerade parties for the adults and cute little costumes and adventuresome and rewarding trick or treat outings for the children.  What joy!

But why does this joy have to be associated with aggressive moves to kill off our children (or at least cripple their health) with toxic chemicals?

Over 100 years ago knowledgeable observers recognized that sugar is an addictive drug-like chemical substance.  It’s negative impact on brain function was easily noticed in 1915 when per capita consumption of sugar was about 50 pounds, up from five pounds in 1820.  Today science has come a long way and its indictment of sugar (high fructose corn syrup and other forms of sugar) is well documented that sugar is a serious problem for animal body function.  Sugar consumption is now over 100 pounds per capita.

A reader asked what I thought of a recent report which hit all the major news networks.  The title of the report is:  Low Protein Intake Is Associated with a Major Reduction in IGF-1, Cancer, and Overall Mortality in the 65 and Younger but Not Older Population.   Click here to get your copy.

My first thought was:  "What were the animal proteins these people were eating?  Grain-fed or grass-fed?  They are not the same."

Since the report was pretty heady stuff, I searched around and found this interesting comment.

Back in June 2012 I wrote an article titled: “How Dangerous is Your Doctor?”  In it I quoted some mainstream sources, something I rarely do.  Usually I refer to scientists and their studies.  But in this case, the mainstream sources seemed even more relevant because they usually do not rock the boat when it comes to popular nutritional guidelines and health care procedures.  It’s especially true regarding the American Association of Retired Persons ( AARP ).  For instance here is a quote from that article.

I’ll quote the July/August 2011 issue of AARP Magazine, page 22.  “The following four operations are over performed for a variety of reasons: Some are moneymakers for hospitals and doctors, others are expedient, and still others seem to work, at least in the short term.  But evidence shows that all have questionable long-term outcomes for treating certain conditions, and some may even cause harm.”  Below are four operations and I have paraphrased and quoted from the same AARP Magazine article.

What was the first over-performed, questionable operation on the list?

I received an advertising flyer from Consumer Reports the other day.  It was promoting their “Expert * Independent * Nonprofit” newsletter onHealth.  On the front cover of the colorful flyer in lower right hand corner was a box with a nice picture of a flask of oil.  Here’s what it said:

Olive Oil is the best choice for a healthy heart, right?  Then in bold print: WRONG.  Then, I kid you not, it continued with this “analysis.” 

Olive oil is fine if you like the taste, but it’s not the best oil for your health.  That’s because olive oil is low in omega-6.  Better-for-you fats, that are rich in omega-6's include canola, corn, soybean and sunflower oil.

     Generally speaking people are not motivated the same way, many resist change, and many have different expectations for any and all aspects of doing business and what is and is not proper food.  Since we are who we are and we cannot be all things to all people like a Whole Foods Markets, we can't please everyone.  If we tried, we'd go crazy.

     On the other hand, some people welcome change.  For sure, the grass-fed meats from Slanker's, with their bold flavors due to higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and many other powerful nutrients, will never taste like the mass-produced, grain-fed counterparts everyone is used to.  That makes some folks uncomfortable.  Therefore we warn folks about the meats rather than encourage them to buy our meats because they are the world's best, etc., etc.  We tell everyone our meats are simply grass-fed meats.  They are not fancy.  They are not always perfectly tender.  They are just 100% grass-fed meats.  Therefore because of that they offer 100% of the nutrient needs of man in perfect balance in one package.  That makes them the most perfect food.  That's why they are different and people have to adjust to them, because we can't make the meats be something other than what they are.

     Alarmingly, most Americans are not interested in nutrition.  How their food is raised, harvested, and processed doesn't even show up on their radar screens.  For sure they'll refuse to learn about and appreciate new flavors unless it's a "new" potato chip or some such thing.  Since our focus is perfect nutrition and superior health most of our steady customers are also fixated on the same goals.  Therefore those who want fluff over substance usually float off back to the nice conventional outfits who do not ask them to change.

AUSTRALIA:  The failure of the WHO trade talks should prompt leaders to rethink  food and farming practices to combat obesity epidemic, an obesity expert says.

The global obesity epidemic cannot be halted by conventional means and demands a radical rethinking of farming and food production worldwide, a leading scientist warns.

Prof. Philip James, who chairs the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), said that the breakdown of the Doha round of World Trade Organization (WTO) talks on eliminating trade restrictions, offered a new opportunity to totally revitalize the world’s agricultural sector to make it both profitable and healthy.