You Will Be What They Want You To Eat

Posted on July 24, 2024 by marcia

Control the Food and you Control the People

by Meryl Nass

July 16, 2024

Dear Friends,

There is an apochryphal phrase that, despite its disputed source, probably everyone can agree with: “Control the Food and You Control the People.”

Our grandparents and great grandparents produced much of their own food in their gardens or on their farms. Food choices in stores were limited, with little frozen food available and fewer fresh and canned foods for sale.

In 1850, 64% of American workers worked on farms.¹ In 1900 there were still 6 million US farms, with an average size of 150 acres.² By 1920, 30% of US workers still did farm work.³ But after World War 2, the US government adopted policies to reduce the number of farmers and expand the size of farms–for more efficiency, it was said.^{4 5 6} Today, only 1% of Americans work on farms⁷ and the number of farms has dropped by 2/3.

Most US farmland belongs to farms that are over 2,000 acres in size, or more than 3 square miles. But along with efficiency came worsening food quality. The so-called “Green Revolution” allowed farmers to apply chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides while ignoring the overall fertility, quality and texture of their soils. Depleted soils subsequently produced less nutritious foods, while accumulating low levels of neurotoxins and carcinogens.

Decades of consolidation of food production, processing and distribution has steadily increased the size and power of a small group of global agricultural corporations. Most of those companies are in turn members of the World Economic Forum (WEF) or its Food Action Alliance, and they are wielding unelected power to influence food production and distribution in the name of climate change, sustainability,⁸ health, and equity.⁹

For example, the WEF had this to say about food systems in 2022:

“In the face of volatile global shocks from conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and extreme weather events, it has become more urgent than ever to transition food systems to a net-zero, nature-positive infrastructure that nourishes and feeds everyone.¹⁰

Net zero means “removing an equal amount of CO2 from the atmosphere as we release into it.”¹¹ This has never been accomplished by any food system, and the implications could drastically reduce the food supply–yet it is said to be the reason we must change the way we produce food.

The WEF and other international entities have recently increased the intensity of this concerted push, most visibly in policies targeting the reduction or elimination of livestock and related farming activities.

Climate change as a justification to attack food production

Advocates of climate change urgency have steadily honed their concerns about agriculture. The WEF boldly proclaims:

With the food system responsible for a third of overall global CO2 emissions, attention on ‘climate-beneficial’ foods has been slowly but steadily increasing.

The US EPA disagrees with the WEF that agriculture plays such a large role in global CO2 emissions.¹² Nor are the many CO2-lowering effects of regenerative agriculture (like sinking CO2 into the soil from the air) mentioned as offsets.

Organic and regenerative agriculture, in which topsoil is rebuilt through composting, “green manure” plantings that enrich the soil, and good forestry practices, can sequester more CO2 in the soil and trees than is lost through other agricultural processes. These could potentially achieve ‘net zero’– and increase the production of more nutritious foods and healthier soils, but are not being touted as solutions. One must ask then, is the goal really “net-zero” or is there another goal?

Numerous international agencies and NGOs have converged to accuse cows and farming of harming the climate. They offer technological rescues, to be provided by corporate WEF members. These include the United Nations Environment Program and AIM for Climate.

Like carbon dioxide, methane is a greenhouse gas that is said to contribute to global warming. Over 150 nations have signed the “Global Methane Pledge” to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030¹³–and some are reducing dairy and beef cows because the gas produced in their intestines contains methane. (Humans also expel methane.¹⁴) Methane is released naturally from cracks in the earth, as well as from fracking and oil drilling–which were recently shown to release 5x as much methane as earlier estimates suggested.¹⁵ But it is the gas produced by cows that is the current target for methane reduction.

Issues that have not been satisfactorily addressed include:

whether our methods for measuring temperature in comparison to past decades provide accurate comparative results,
how the doomsday targets for temperature and CO2 were arrived at,
how members of the IPCC, an unaccountable body responsible for climate targets and projections were selected and retained,
since scientists worried about a coming ice age during the 1970s, doesn’t that suggest considerable changes in climate (both up and down) over relatively short periods of time,
what is the evidence that increased heat and increased CO2 are dangerous when both contribute to increased growth of plants,
while it was claimed that sea level rises would be catastrophic, what we are seeing in fact is evidence of small changes in sea level in both directions.

Health

WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that “a transformation of the world’s food systems is needed urgently, based on a One Health approach that protects and promotes the health of humans, animals and the planet.” We all want to protect animals and environment, as well as our own health, but it seems the obvious way to do that is to address the evils of factory farming and excess chemical additives used for crops and livestock, rather than a major transformation of what we eat. Consuming large amounts of insect proteins, or lab-grown ‘meat,’ for example, will have unpredictable effects on health. Do we really want to perform these experiments on billions of people at once?

“One Health” is also being used as the justification to vaccinate fur farm workers against bird flu in Finland,¹⁶ even though there have been no human cases in Finland, the disease does not spread person-to-person, and everyone in the US who has developed bird flu in the past 2 years has had an extremely mild illness: conjunctivitis +/- symptoms of a cold. None were hospitalized or died. The excuse is that vaccinating people will allow continued farming of mink and foxes, which were culled last year due to alleged bird flu infections. Here is how Finland’s health department draws from “One Health” to wordsmith the need to give experimental vaccines, never before tested in humans, to farmworkers in expectation that an outbreak of bird flu might occur:

“This issue must be evaluated within a framework which considers the intricate interplay between the environment, animals, and humans. Recognising this interconnectedness and the vast array of environmental impacts of human activity is crucial, and our protective measures should consider the overarching goal of maintaining and enhancing planetary health.”¹⁷

Equity

Equity is repeatedly embraced as the justification to change the way food is allocated. The roster of corporate players at AIM for Climate proclaims “Diversity, gender equity, and inclusion are critical to the success of the mission.” But real equity is allowing people to choose the food they eat, without interference, rather than restricting populations from accessing the foods they prefer and imposing new foods on them.

Animal Rights

The World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) joined the plan to balance environmental demands against human needs for food through adherence to the loose “One Health” approach. At the same time, WOAH admits, “More than 75% of the billion people who live on less than $2 per day depend on subsistence farming and raising livestock to survive.”¹⁸

The world’s largest food producers, processors, and retail sellers are joined with governments and NGOs through the WHO, UN, WEF, and a plethora of interconnected organizations. Yet all these supposedly charitable organizations have become focused on reducing or eliminating livestock, despite the fact that the poorest peoples as well as the wealthiest rely on livestock for meat, dairy and for enriching the soil. The multinational organizations and food conglomerates want humans to convert to a state-specified diet comprised instead of synthetic meats, insects, and other novel food products manufactured by these companies, which have not previously been known for their concerns about our health.

Many question whether a group of global industrialists and politicians have either the expertise or desire to “improve the state of the world,” but there is no question that the proposed intention is to consolidate and control food production and distribution, thereby improving the state of member corporations’ profits. GMO crops and related chemical applications will be increased under the pretense of climate rescue, and synthetic meats will be favored in government food programs. Even more small farms will be shuttered.

This coordinated justification for global/government food control is presented in the name of sustainability, reducing global temperature, improving animal welfare, nurturing human health, and improving equity. However, there is no evidence it does even one of these things.

We do not intend to allow a small group of globalists to control global food production and thereby achieve control of the population.

This is why Door to Freedom will place a major focus on turning this agenda around. We will encourage government (at all levels) to support small farmers rather than industrial giants, to improve animal husbandry practices, to incentivize enhancing the soil and to achieve a much healthier food supply for all.

Our methods include education, policy development, and working for change at all levels of government. We will use the same strategy we used to stop the WHO’s agenda. Basically, once people understand what is happening and what is at stake, they refuse to go along–whether they are citizens or political leaders.

Our first large project will be a 2-day Symposium September 6-7 (online only, and I put in the wrong dates earlier) titled The Attack on Food and Agriculture, 2nd Annual. Please join us, support us, and work with us to heal our food systems and our planet.

My best wishes,

Meryl Nass, MD

from: https://merylnass.substack.com/p/control-the-food-and-you-control?publication_id=746368&post_id=146736206&isFreemail=true&r=19iztd&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

If You Are What You Eat, Then What are We?

Posted on June 11, 2024 by marcia

Episode 460 – The Future of Food

by Broc West | Jun 11, 2024 | Podcasts, Videos | 2 comments

We all know the problems of the modern factory farming system. But, as bad as things are, they’re about to get even worse. New technologies are coming online that threaten to upend our understanding of food altogether. Technologies that could, ultimately, begin altering the human species itself. This is The Future of Food on The Corbett Report.

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TRANSCRIPT:

If it is true that “you are what you eat,” as the old adage has it, then what does that make us?

As consumers of heavily processed, chemically treated, GMO-infested gunk, we in the modern, developed world have solved the problem of hunger that plagued our forebears since time immemorial by handing our food sovereignty over to a handful of corporate conglomerates.

The result of this handover has been the creation of a factory farming system in which genetically engineered crops are doused in glyphosate and livestock are herded into tiny pens where they live their entire lives in fetid squalor, pumped up with antibiotics and growth hormones until they are slaughtered and shipped off to the supermarkets and fast food chains.

There are plenty of documentaries and exposés detailing the dangers of this industrial farming system that we find ourselves beholden to. Any number of activists ringing the alarm about these problems. Numerous campaigns and marches organized to raise awareness about these issues.

Yet still, nation after nation gets fatter and sicker as traditional diets based on fresh produce sourced from local farmers are displaced by the fast food pink slime sourced from the industrial farms of the Big Food oligopoly.

But, as bad as things may be, they’re about to get even worse. As crisis after crisis disrupts the food supply, the “solution” to these problems has already been prepared.

New technologies are coming online that threaten to upend our understanding of food altogether. Technologies that could, ultimately, begin altering the human species itself.

This is your guide to The Future of Food. You are watching The Corbett Report.

Food As A Weapon

So what is food, anyway?

To a normal human being whose head is screwed on straight, that sounds like a dumb question. Food is fuel for the body, obviously.

To read the rest of the transcript, go to the source: https://corbettreport.com/future-of-food/

Dr. Mercola with Catherine Austin Fitts Dealing with Financial Control

Posted on March 25, 2024 by marcia

The Great Taking

Analysis by Dr. Joseph Mercola

Central bankers and other globalists have carefully planned the coordinated takedown of the financial system using highly sophisticated strategies, including the manipulation of derivative markets. Whatever securities you believe you may own, you’re not the actual owner of, and when the derivative markets collapse, everything can be taken from you
While Webb’s work raises serious concerns, there are other more pressing issues that need our attention. Priority No. 1 is ensuring we have control over our financial transactions. We need to help state legislators to protect financial transaction freedom
North Dakota has a sovereign state bank, and the Florida State Legislature is getting ready to introduce legislation for state banking in the state of Florida. All states need to do this, as it’s one of the primary ways to protect the financial freedom of all citizens
Priority No. 2 is building and securing food freedom, and No. 3 is transparency and education. We need to educate people about the severity of what’s coming, so that we can, en masse, begin to make different choices

The video above features repeat guest Catherine Austin Fitts, a finance expert, and founder and president of the Solari Report. She’s one of the wisest persons out there when it comes to understanding finances and how to protect your wealth in the face of this global wealth transfer.

We also discuss the work of David Webb,¹ a former hedge fund investor and a good friend of Austin Fitts. He has written a book called “The Great Taking,” available for free as a PDF from thegreattaking.com, as well as a documentary by the same name, available on CHD.TV, Rumble and YouTube.

Webb’s book and film detail how the Federal Reserve influences financial markets, and how its money creation has outpaced economic growth of the U.S., which is a huge red flag indicating that the velocity of money (the rate at which money is circulating through the economy) is collapsing. In short, a major financial depression is at hand, and when it all falls apart, we will lose everything.

A Financial Coup Is Underway

Webb reveals how central bankers and other globalists have, for at least five decades or more, carefully planned the coordinated takedown of the financial system using highly sophisticated strategies, including the manipulation of derivative markets.

Whatever securities you believe you may own, you’re not the actual owner of, and when the derivative markets collapse, everything can be taken from you. At the end of it all, you truly will “own nothing,” as predicted/promised by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

But there’s more. In her annual wrap-up, Austin Fitts reviews what she calls “The Many Great Takings,” because Webb only describes one of them. Wealth is also being stolen from us in dozens of other ways, and we need to understand them all if we are to protect ourselves with any amount of success.

“My focus is hugely on remedies, not problems,” Austin Fitts says, “and when it comes to remedies, you want to make sure you sequence your remedies against the enemy’s various tactics. So, sequencing is very, very important when it comes to remedies.

The important thing to understand about the great taking is that the World Economic Forum has told you what they’re planning: It’s 2030 and you have no assets. So the question is, exactly how are they going to strip you of your assets?

What David is talking about is stripping you of your securities, but you need to worry about far more than just your securities. You need to worry about your bank, which he touches on and does a very good job of describing some of the history around banking. You have to worry about your real estate. You have to really worry about your precious metals and other currency alternatives.

You have to worry about your business and your local investments and then yes, you have to worry about your securities. David is focused on just securities, which is why we did this section called ‘The Great Taking’ that goes through everything.”

Top Three Priorities

While Webb’s work may raise serious concerns, there are other more pressing issues that need our attention. Priority No. 1, according to Austin Fitts, is ensuring we have control over our financial transactions. Her focus for 2024 is therefore to help state legislators in the U.S. to work with banks and citizens within its jurisdiction to protect financial transaction freedom.

“That’s where pushback is critical,” she says. “If they can get financial transaction control then they can take everything, and I mean, everything, including your children …

If you dive in and look at the terms and conditions that some of these payment gateways are asking for now … you’re giving them permission to go into your bank account and take everything. It’s frightening.

So, the No. 1 thing to remedy against is financial transaction control. If you go to Solari, we have something called a financial transaction freedom memo. Print it out and start looking at all the things you can do to protect yourself from somebody controlling your financial transactions.

If they get that, The Great Taking is on. They take everything — real estate, securities, everything. So first and foremost, don’t worry about your securities. Worry about your banking and your transactions.

The second Great Taking is … food and health. The push to control the food system is on because to control financial transactions, they also need to control food because, if you can get your food and energy outside the banking system, you can survive without their banking system. This is why we cannot allow a 100% digital financial system.

The third Great Taking I’m concerned about is the real estate, because we see an extraordinary move being done to take control of the land, the real estate, including farmland, which is very much related to the food.

There are all sorts of games that can be played with the banking system to default people on their mortgages, and of course, interest rates and inflation are part and parcel of that.”

As noted by Austin Fitts, the process of reducing the homeownership rate has been going on for decades. It’s related to monetary policy, because inflation has doubled the average payment on the median-price home in America over the last four or five years alone. So, the younger generation is being completely wiped out and cannot afford to buy homes.

It’s also related to another Great Taking, which is the fraudulent inducement of student loans. Most of the big banks are paying close to zero percent for their capital, while students with loans are paying 5% to 9%, and those with credit card debt are paying 17%. “It’s an extraordinary differential in the cost of capital that’s literally engineered into the system in a very unfair way,” she says.

A System to Rob Us of Our Security Assets

Austin Fitts goes on to review Webb’s background, and how he came to the discoveries he made. In summary, financial regulators have created a way, through the custodian system, of robbing 100% of the security assets as a senior creditor, most likely through a default of derivatives.

Austin Fitts is not overly concerned about this, though, because while Webb believes a legal pathway has been created through the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), Austin Fitts and her experts don’t think it’ll stick. “We are still looking for a UCC expert who can figure this out,” she says.

What Webb has proven, however, is that there has been an extraordinary effort by the financial regulators to assert control of ALL collateral. Austin Fitts believes this was done to keep the financial bubble going.

“The reason I’m not worried about a grab of the securities in the near future is because I think the way you grab assets is by getting financial transaction control to the banking system,” she says. “Once you have that, you can do everything. You can take 100% of the assets, including securities. So, I think financial transaction control is coming faster.

I think in terms of sequencing, a grab of all the securities is not near. What David would say is, if they get themselves in a corner, they have to do it. My feeling is they have so many ways out of a corner, it’s not necessary. What they’re going to do is what I’ve seen them doing, which is pushing for financial transaction control.

But here’s what’s great about David’s research. No one goes through the bother of doing what they’ve done if there’s integrity in the system. I think David has proven, yet again, that the financial system is lacking integrity and is engineered to benefit a few at the expense of the many.

The other thing I thought was very good about his book was, he describes the game in terms of insiders and outsiders to the banking system through the Great Depression — how your bank could fold; you lose your deposits, but you’re still liable for your mortgage.

And of course, that’s how you get people’s real estate. You abrogate your income obligations to them, but then you hold them accountable for their debts.”

There’s No Safe Harbor for Anyone

It’s telling that Webb started this journey because he was trying to figure out how to protect his own family’s wealth only to, in the end, realize there is no safe harbor, not even for a financial insider like himself. The system is completely rigged from every angle. The sober realization is that there’s no getting away from this Great Taking.

We must face it head on, and do the work necessary to change the system so that it protects everyone. Part of that work is to make our political representatives understand what is happening, and that it is in their own self-interest to protect financial freedom.

Many of them are extraordinarily wealthy, and they too stand to lose everything if they don’t take action. They’re not insulated from this Great Taking. Like Webb discovered, there’s no safe harbor for them either. Webb’s contention is that the situation is salvageable, but we do need some kind of reset.

Just not The Great Reset the globalists have planned. One possibility would be to implement a small tax on digital transactions, like a fraction of 1%. The revenues generated from that transactional fee could fund the government, doing away with income taxes, provided we don’t have to engage in international wars.

Top Three Financial Drains

According to Austin Fitts, the top three things that are draining our wealth are:

Tyranny
The use of environmentally damaging processes like industrial farming instead of regenerative farming, the hardware required for the control grid and the electromagnetic field radiation that goes with it
The control of innovation, which prevents cost savings

All three of these are alterable. We can eliminate these financial drains, but we can’t start there. First, we need to secure our financial transaction freedom, because everything basically hinges on that. If we lose that, we’ve already lost everything else.

Three Basic Action Items

Again, be sure to download Solari’s financial transaction freedom memo. It details the problems, and the solutions. “Do what you’re comfortable doing,” Austin Fitts says.

“One is using cash. And when you use cash, start talking with local businesses and find ways of interacting locally that will give you more local resilience. And of course, the big one is food, because I don’t know a way of getting food that is safe, other than knowing where it’s coming from and knowing the people who are producing it …

The third thing you can do is to bring transparency, and this is really important. If you go to Solari, we’ve put together a list of short videos on CBDCs and financial transaction freedom. The first one is the one-minute video of the head of the BIS basically saying we can make the rules centrally and enforce them centrally with CBDCs.

The second one is Neel Kashkari, head of the Minneapolis Fed, one of the 12 Fed banks, saying ‘I can see why the Chinese would want this because it gives you complete surveillance and control. But why would Americans ever let this happen?’ If it’s so bad that one of the Fed presidents is telling you you don’t want it, that’s very helpful.

Then we have Bo Li [deputy managing director of the] IMF talking about the programmability of money, so if they decide you can only eat bugs and no pizza, your money will only buy bugs. And then the last one is Richard Werner talking about a top central banker telling him that CBDCs, ultimately, will be a chip that they want to put in your hand.

We need to tell people what’s going on and help them understand how serious this is, because it’s hard for many to fathom that somebody would want that kind of complete control. With AI and software, you can deliver that kind of complete control.

With a very short video, one minute or less, people get it. And that’s the point at which you can turn to your state legislators and your state banking association and say, ‘OK, what are you guys going to do to make sure I don’t end up like the Tennessee truckers?’

What’s very interesting … the states have the power to assert complete sovereignty over the money and the cash flows within their area, and to protect them. Now, they haven’t done it. And one of the reasons they haven’t done it is the Treasury and the central banks have been very good at making it financially attractive to buy into the federal system.

[Eventually], it’s going to be more important to be sovereign and free than to get another $2 billion in education — an education that requires you to teach your kids how to be sex slaves.

So, one of the things you can do bring transparency, but start working with your bankers, with your State Bankers Association, your state legislators, and encourage them to take the steps. And if you look at the Financial Transaction Freedom memo, we list all the different things that a federal legislator can do.”

Why We Need Sovereign State Banks

North Dakota already has a sovereign state bank, and the Florida State Legislature is getting ready to introduce legislation for state banking in the state of Florida. Tennessee is looking at ways to create independent payment systems, and is in the process of starting a Bullion Depository and authorizing their treasurer to start buying gold and silver.

These are just some of the strategies that can, and need, to be implemented by all states. As noted by Austin Fitts, “The only way I can protect my individual sovereignty is if my state protects my financial sovereignty.” And states can do that by implementing sovereign state banks that are not tied to the central banking system.

“If you have a sovereign state bank, what that means is, your citizens are paying taxes into your accounts, and you have the ability, working with the state banks and credit unions and financial institutions, to keep the transactions going so that the Treasury or the central bank can’t lock you down or shut you down.

I mean, that is amazing. If you also have a bullion depository, then you’ve got gold and silver reserves and that makes it easier for other people in the state to have a depository they can trust, and that means they can start doing transactions with gold and silver, particularly if you take the sales tax off.

Tennessee has taken the sales tax off golden and silver. And there’s a big squabble now — several states have put in bills making gold and silver legal tender, but do it in a way where the Feds can’t charge capital gains, so that you can use gold and silver as currencies locally. It’s a great way to start a local currency.”

A Building Wealth Reset

In conclusion, what we need to do, first and foremost, is to regain and safeguard our control of our financial transactions. Next, we need what Austin Fitts refers to as a “building wealth reset,” a reset of the financial system that allows us to build both living equity (health) and financial equity.

And we can do that. While it may seem as though we’re on a speed train headed for a brick wall, and that we have no way to get off, that may simply be an illusion. We probably have far more choice than we think.

“During my litigation [against the government], I had many different attorneys, and they would surround me and say, ‘You have to do this, you have no choice,’” Austin Fitts says.

“And I would say ‘I refuse. I’m not going to do that.’ That’s a choice. And then, what would happen? Suddenly, an option would open up that wasn’t there before. In other words, my refusal to go down the pathway that I had no choice created a new choice.”

Remember that as you move forward. Refusing to be part of the system may seem impossible, but the very act of making the choice to refuse may be the very thing that opens up brand new possibilities and options. Certainly, there are paths to victory, beginning with getting state leadership to get onboard with sovereign state banking.

from: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/03/24/david-webb-the-great-taking.aspx?ui=f460707c057231d228aac22d51b97f2a8dcffa7b857ec065e5a5bfbcfab498ac&sd=20211017&cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art2HL&cid=20240324_HL2&foDate=true&mid=DM1547304&rid=2077843189

Watch What You Eat

Posted on March 29, 2023 by marcia

Doctor Warns that Our Food System Is Causing a ‘National Emergency’

March 27, 2023 Tucker Carlson

Is the food we’re consuming slowly killing us? Dr. Mark Hyman explains how many American foods have become a detriment to our health and could be the source of chronic diseases. Dr. Hyman said that 93.2% of Americans have insulin resistance, pre-diabetes or poor metabolic health that precedes many serious diseases. He explained that the food system is biggest killer on the planet and the main culprits are sugar, carbohydrates and processed foods. He said that for every 10% of calories consumed from ultra-processed food, the risk of death goes up by 14%. The American diet is 60% ultra-processed food, and for children it is 67%. Eleven million die globally from bad food.

Dr. Hym

Learn more at Dr. Hyman’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@drmarkhyman/videos

from: https://needtoknow.news/2023/03/doctor-warns-that-our-food-system-is-causing-a-national-emergency/

Fewer Pollinators = Fewer Crops

Posted on July 30, 2020 by marcia

Posted by Julie Celestial on July 30, 2020

Crop yields for major crops such as apples, blueberries, and cherries across the U.S. are being limited by a lack of pollinators due to the decline of the wild bee population, according to new research, which was the most comprehensive study of its kind. Researchers noted that as most of the world’s crops depend on honeybees and wild bees for pollination; declines in both populations also raise a concern about global food security.

“We found that many crops are pollination-limited, meaning crop production would be higher if crop flowers received more pollination,” said senior author Rachael Winfree, a professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

The research is said to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date.

“We also found that honey bees and wild bees provided similar amounts of pollination overall,” she added.

“Managing habitat for native bee species and/or stocking more honey bees would boost pollination levels and could increase crop production.”

Pollination by wild and managed insects is crucial for most crops, including those essential for food security. In the U.S., the production of crops that depend on pollinators produces more than 50 billion dollars a year.

Recent evidence shows that European honeybees and some native wild bee species are declining. Scientists gathered data on insect pollination of crop flowers and yields at 131 farms across the U.S. and British Columbia in Canada.

Image credit: Flickr

The yields included apples, highbush blueberries, sweet cherries, tart cherries, almond, watermelon, and pumpkin. Crops that showed evidence of being limited by pollination were apples, sweet cherries, tart cherries, and blueberries, indicating that yields are lower than what they would be with full pollination. Wild bees and honey bees provided the same amount of pollinations for most crops.

The yearly production value of wild pollinators for all seven crops was approximately 1.5 billion dollars in the U.S. The value of wild bee pollination for all crops dependent on pollinator would be much greater, the researchers said.

“Our findings show that pollinator declines could translate directly into decreased yields for most of the crops studied.”

The results indicate that adopting practices that conserve wild bees– like enhancing wildflowers and using managed pollinators other than honey bees– may possibly boost yields. Meanwhile, increasing investment in honey bee colonies would be another alternative.

Reference

Crop production in the USA is frequently limited by a lack of pollinators – Reilly, J. R. et al. – Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences – DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0922

Abstract

Most of the world’s crops depend on pollinators, so declines in both managed and wild bees raise concerns about food security. However, the degree to which insect pollination is actually limiting current crop production is poorly understood, as is the role of wild species (as opposed to managed honeybees) in pollinating crops, particularly in intensive production areas. We established a nationwide study to assess the extent of pollinator limitation in seven crops at 131 locations situated across major crop-producing areas of the USA. We found that five out of seven crops showed evidence of pollinator limitation. Wild bees and honeybees provided comparable amounts of pollination for most crops, even in agriculturally intensive regions. We estimated the nationwide annual production value of wild pollinators to the seven crops we studied at over $1.5 billion; the value of wild bee pollination of all pollinator-dependent crops would be much greater. Our findings show that pollinator declines could translate directly into decreased yields or production for most of the crops studied, and that wild species contribute substantially to the pollination of most study crops in major crop-producing regions.

Featured image credit: Flickr

from: https://watchers.news/2020/07/30/bee-population-decline-threatens-major-crop-yields-in-u-s-and-global-food-security/

Food, Nutrition, & Inner Knowing

Posted on November 28, 2015 by marcia

Originally published on Kelly Brogan MD.

With nutrition and wellness information omnipresent, it is important that we follow our inner guide and discover what works for us as individuals.

Forget about the Glycemic Index

We are so saturated with information. With stimulus. With advice. With authoritative edicts on health. A chain of gurus have come before me seeking to guide patients into the light of wellness. People are blinded by it, however. They feel confused, skeptical, and disenfranchised. And then they default to consensus and conformity around FDA standards of disease-care. There is a better way.

It involves awakening your inner guru. Getting in touch with your own inner compass.

This is necessary because there is no one just like you out there. No one has walked your path, accumulated your exposures. Grown and changed in response in quite the same way.

Modern medicine doesn’t acknowledge the vital importance of biochemical individuality. About how we are a unique collective of organisms, an ecology within that is connected to an environment without like a snowflake in a winter sky.

So, it only stands to reason that we would interact with our environments uniquely, and support ourselves through nature in a personal way. Nutrition is, perhaps, our most intimate dance with the living ecosystem of this planet.

Weston A. Price tried to tell us about individualized diets. Francis Pottenger tried to tell us about individualized diets. Dr. Nick Gonzalez tried to tell us about individualized diet. They were, in many ways, speaking a Truth that we weren’t quite ready to receive.

This is because we have been programmed, for decades to believe in an automated universe – one that could be explained neatly through scientific cause and effect – and one that interfaced with our robotic bodies in predictable ways. In this model, nature is “mostly stupid” as Alan Watts would say, in that it could be easily mastered and put in its place of subservience. Germs are tedious annoyances out to get us. Diseases are mistakes. Medications and vaccines are applied to one and all. And food is caloric fuel for our body machines.

When you look at food as part of our relationship with the living world beyond our skin, you understand that it is information, energetic, and complex in ways that we don’t have mechanisms to understand. This is why reductionist concepts like the “glycemic index” have always struck me as a misguided construct.

Now we have a brilliant study, perhaps one of the first of its kind, that decimates this false flag of nutrition consciousness. Published in Cell, an Israeli group of researchers followed 800 people with a prescribed diet for one week, assessing biological parameters from blood sugar to their microbiota. What they uncovered was a clear signal of Truth: the same foods affect different people differently!

Even obese, diabetic patients following formal dietary recommendations for a “healthy diet” found surprising information on the effects of foods such as tomatoes on their blood sugar. Of course, we know that there is more to the benefits of a diet than its benevolent relationship to blood sugar. We know that microbiota have a meaningful role in the metabolism and impact of foods on the body, and that food can directly impact the microbiota, enhancing strains required for its digestion.

We also know that the autonomic nervous system and associated individualized differences in pancreatic innervation can dictate whether one person thrives on a high carb (whole food) diet and another tanks on it. I’ll never forget the feeling of shattered nutrition dogma when Dr. Gonzalez discussed with me a patient of his whose insulin-dependent diabetes had resolved on a prescribed high carb vegetarian diet complete with multiple glasses of carrot juice daily. (We will be publishing this case soon!)

In summary, the Cell article authors state:

“Measuring such a large cohort without any prejudice really enlightened us on how inaccurate we all were about one of the most basic concepts of our existence, which is what we eat and how we integrate nutrition into our daily life.”

Because nutrition is one of the most basic concepts, our confusion is emblematic of how far we have come from intuitive living. This is why, the most profound healing involves a transformation of consciousness, a reclaiming of agency, a connectedness to the inner and out communities we thrive with, and a relationship to intuition.

I ask my patients, after 30 days of a whole foods, organic diet, to begin to observe their preferences for pastured red meat, fruit, and leafy greens. This observation requires mindfulness around eating and a daily practice of meditation (even a couple of minutes!) to clear the clutter so that you can actually feel what is best rather than reacting from your head. Because you are your own best healer.

from: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/heard-glycemic-index-forget-about-it-1?page=2

TIps on Using Peels, Leaves, etc.

Posted on August 17, 2015 by marcia

Seeds, Shells and Skins: Can I Eat Them?

Posted on August 17, 2015 By The Alternative Daily

For many middle-class families, choosing to eat well is a financial decision as well as a health decision. When fast-food chains offer 99-cents meals and buying produce for a home-cooked meal can cost a lot more than one dollar, convenience and cost make fast food a colossal temptation. So how can you get the most out of your produce? Well, one way is to use all of the plant, instead of letting it rot or throwing a lot of it out. It may surprise you to discover that most seeds, skins and greens inside and surrounding a plant are actually edible. Here we will show you how to stop throwing money down the drain and maximize the potential of your produce.

Peels

How often do you throw away the peel of your oranges after eating the fruit? Did you know that you can use the zest to sweeten curries, salads and muffins? The same is true with lemons and limes. Lemon zest is great for adding a fruity acidity to meals and for heightening flavors. Lime zest is especially good in Latin cuisine. You can even make candied fruit peels by taking a lemon, lime or orange peel and boiling it in water with organic cane or coconut sugar.Skins

Most people know that you can eat apple or pear skins, but what else can you eat? Peach, pineapple and apricot skins are high in vitamin C and are safe for regular consumption. Watermelon rind is also really good for you. It’s very tart, but contains high amounts of the amino acid citrulline, which can boost blood flow, reduce blood pressure and promote overall cardiovascular health. Mango skins should also not be tossed out. They are high in antioxidants and phytochemicals. Peanut skins are also high in antioxidants and can improve cardiovascular health. Vegetable skins that pack a punch of nutrition include sweet potato skins, yellow squash skins and zucchini skins.

Seeds

Pineapple seeds are relatively small and can be eaten. When making a smoothie, many people will spit out the blackberry seeds. Resist the urge and you’ll reap the benefits from omega-3 fatty acids, protein, fiber, carotenoids and antioxidants. Watermelon seeds are also high in nutrients, including zinc, fiber, vitamin B, beta carotene, lycopene, iron, protein, phosphorus, potassium and unsaturated fats. Cantaloupe seeds have been enjoyed as a healthy snack in Iran and China for centuries. They are high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, zinc, phosphorus, manganese, and vitamins A, B6, B12, D, E and K. Next time you roast pumpkin or spaghetti squash, save the seeds and toast them later.

Shells

Kids that are raised to eat healthily often enjoy picking peas from their pods, but did you know you can actually eat the pods? Snap peas and snow peas are both podded legumes that can be eaten whole. Broad beans and their pods can also be eaten whole. Almonds are another plant-based protein that can be eaten whole. When almonds are green and covered in fur, you can eat the whole thing, including the shell. Another protein that you can eat whole is the hemp seed. You can buy them shelled for a softer, nutty texture, or enjoy them whole and reap the benefits of the added crunch and fiber.

Greens

When people think of leafy greens, they typically think of the conventional lettuces available in the supermarket. Little do they know how many nutritionally-dense greens they are throwing away. The tops of carrots, sweet potatoes, celery and leeks are packed with vitamins and minerals.

You can easily save money by making a salad with these or adding them to a stew. Leek leaves help prevent oxidative damage to our cells. Carrot tops are high in vitamins A, B6, C and K and are loaded with minerals as well. Sweet potato greens are harder to come by in a grocery store, but if you grow sweet potatoes, eat the greens too.

Squash leaves are also often neglected. Celery greens are perhaps the easiest to incorporate if you love celery. That’s because the greens actually taste like celery too!

Stalks

On the flip side, many people will only use the greens on the ends of some foods and throw away the stalk. Parsley and cilantro are delicious greens that are used in many Latin and Mediterranean dishes. Unfortunately, the stalks are often thrown out when they also contain the same nutrients and flavors as the leaves. Broccoli and cauliflower are other examples.

People love the florets but are less enthusiastic about the stalks, which contain the same vitamins and minerals as the florets. If you don’t like the texture, soften them up by boiling them, steaming them or adding them to a soup or stew.

Wasting food is wasting money. Thinking outside the box can help you find new ways to get the most out of your food so you can save money and live better. What are some ways you have thought outside the box when preparing produce? Share your ideas below.

— The Alternative Daily

from:

Ladies – Get Back to Yourselves!

Posted on June 28, 2015 by marcia

18 Ways Women are Disconnected from Themselves

We live in a society where our relationship to things outside of ourselves seems far more important than our relationship to ourselves.

We pride ourselves on our families, our jobs, our labels and our outward expressions in the world. Not only do these matter, but they can often be sincere expressions of who we really are.

However, for most women our connection with ourselves often comes last, if it even exists at all. As we wake up each morning and catapult ourselves into the busyness of our days, we carry very little regard for the many ways we disconnect from ourselves.

Our connection with ourselves best serves as the foundation of our lives, with all else extending from there. We are the source from which our own life unfurls from.

The following are 18 ways many of us dampen, cut off and even destroy a connection with ourselves. My guess is that we are all on this list somewhere, my hope is that by reflecting on ourselves we will begin to transform the disconnection into a connection.

1) Being everywhere but here.

Presence is that thing we don’t often use even though it’s always available to us. Worry, fear, and our projection of the future tends to disconnect us from the experience we are having right now. Come back as often as you can by simply saying, “this moment.”

2) Our relationship to our body.

The body in which you exist is beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, it is sacred. Many of us have been disassociated with our bodies or associated only in a painful way. Sometimes we can feel as though our bodies are letting us down. But more likely we are letting our bodies down, by undervaluing our body or obsessing over it. Embodiment is the connection. Live within your body.

3) Being a spinster with sleep.

Sleeping is a daily gift of restoration and our time of dreams. We must make our sleeping hours sacred, giving ourselves just what we need to wake rested each morning.

4) Making food a fool.

Rushing food, under eating, over-stuffing, following the “best” way to eat. etc. Food is very simply our fuel. When we fill our gas tanks we don’t put $1 in there because we’re worried the car will be too heavy, and we don’t keep filling the tank until the gas flows over because we are trying to soothe and distract the car from its feelings.

I’m not trying to sincerely compare our bodies to a car; I’m just making the point that we are far more complex than a vehicle—we have a spirit, emotions and a worth that can’t be destroyed. Food is fuel to help our bodies both survive and thrive. The food our body requests may not look like the diet we think we need to eat. It looks like giving our bodies what they need. It looks like hydrating completely. It looks like eating just what you need to feel satisfied. And it looks like leaving rigid behind.

5) Missing the importance of menstruation.

Our menstrual cycles are incredible revealers of our health, our moods and our burdens. Our relationship with menstruation can reveal our relationship with our bodies. Our cycles are cyclical gifts to help us rest, restore and release each month. Learning to appreciate this mini rhythm of nature that lives inside of us can do wonders for connecting us to ourselves.

6) Hormonal birth control.

Our bodies, when hormonally balanced, are a biological beauty. Taking artificial hormones each day to trick our bodies into pregnancy does such tremendous damage to our body’s wisdom. It creates an artificial atmosphere, hides the symptoms that reveal imbalance and damages the natural rhythm of a woman’s body.

7) Trying to prove our worth.

Worth is inherent. There is no one to prove anything to. We really are enough exactly as we are.

8) Prioritizing things that are not important to us.

Walk through your day in your mind. So much of it is filled with the tidyings and necessaries of life—so much so that we often don’t get to the things that are most important to us. What’s interesting is that if we start our days with what is most important, then we often store up excess energy that can easily and lovingly guide us through our day as we tend to the more mundane tasks of life.

9) Not being smart with our smartphones.

We have addicted ourselves to these mini computers that we never leave at home, never turn off, and sleep with next to our beds. For most people, their smartphone is the very first thing and the very last thing they look at each day. We are so fascinated with other people’s lives that we forget to connect with our own. First place to smarten up? No phones in our bedrooms!

10) Being way too hard on ourselves.

Watch, for one day, and notice how many times we tell ourselves we could have done something better, faster, wiser or sooner, or that we should have done something.

11) Not giving ourselves what we need.

For most women, we come last. We meet the needs of everyone else and if we have anything left over we guiltily share it with ourselves. Not such a great equation.

12) Interrupting intuition.

Let go. Let go. Let go. Controlling cuts off that part of ourselves that communicates with our inner knowing.

13) Not following the rhythms of nature.

As women we are intricately connected to the rhythms of nature. As mentioned above, menstruation is a monthly expression of that rhythm in our body. Spending time outdoors is critical to ground us and connect us with the vastness of our existence. Get outside to connect with the messages nature will give you and the energy she will fill you with.

14) People pleasing.

Look at the calendar and to-do list for the week and notice how many things are on there to please someone else. Make adjustments and fill those spots with a few things to please yourself.

15) Perfectionism.

Sigh. The biggest and most challenging disconnection we battle. It feeds many of the other things listed here. It is soul sucking, anxiety inducing, and the quickest way to live a life half-assed.

16) Staying too safe.

We get so comfortable with the way life is and settle in deep to the safety of being there. This has no choice but to stunt and drown dreams—often the very things we’d hear an urging to do if we were connected with ourselves.

17) Seeking balance.

Balance is a fallacy. You cannot find it because it doesn’t exist. At least not in the sense we are seeking it. We cannot, nor ever will be able to, give an equal amount of time to all the things that are important to us. Life is much more complex and beautiful than that. We must live life so fully that giving equally to it all doesn’t matter because we give so completely to what matters at the moment.

18) Limiting joy.

Too many of us are not making time for the thing that most lights us up. Why does joy get put last? Because we are so disconnected with ourselves we don’t realize the value, the importance and the sacredness of ourselves and how necessary joy truly is to our well-being.

Source: “18 Ways Women are Disconnected from Themselves,” from elephantjournal.com, by Falan Storm

Photo credit: Mizrak/Flickr Creative Commons

– See more at: http://theunboundedspirit.com/18-ways-women-are-disconnected-from-themselves/#sthash.nFczompR.dpuf

Amy’ Kitchen Recalls

Posted on March 25, 2015 by marcia

Amy’s Kitchen Recalls Popular Foods Due To Health Risk. Here’s How To Know Which Products Are Infected

Amy’s Kitchen, Inc. has volunteered to recall roughly 74,000 cases of products identified by the code dates and manufacturing codes listed in this notice. Amy’s Kitchen was notified by one of their organic spinach suppliers that Amy’s may have received a batch of spinach infected with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. Consuming food with the presence of this bacterium can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in mostly children and the elderly. In fact, 20-30% of infections are reported to result in death. Infection can also cause serious pregnancy complications such as miscarriage and stillbirth.

The products were distributed nationwide in the U.S. and Canada. Amy’s is not aware of any illness complaints at this moment and is taking these steps as a precautionary measure due to the recall notice they received from their supplier.

Customers who have purchased the products identified in the chart below are urged to dispose of them or return them to the store where they were purchased for an exchange/full refund. Customers may also call Amy’s Kitchen at (707) 781-7535 [Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. (Pacific)].

Sources: Amy’s Kitchen, PR News Wire

from: http://www.realfarmacy.com/amys-kitchen-recalls-popular-foods-due-health-risk-heres-know-products-infected/

Decoding the “Sell By”/”Use By” Dates

Posted on September 6, 2014 by marcia

What the Dates on Your Food Really Mean

By Daniel Faris

Posted Friday, September 5, 2014

In today’s society, our grocery stores have become a means for obtaining more than just common food. The grocery store is, in fact, a place of competition: of store against store, brand against brand and, strangely enough, labels against the consumer.

Of all the messages we receive during our time at the grocery store, which are, admittedly, more like bombardments on our neurological processes, there is one message that tends to call to us more insistently than the rest. It’s the message that dictates how and when we consume our food, dispose of our food, and come back to the store to replace our food.

Think about it: the expiration date, sell by date, manufactured on date, etc., can stand as the deciding factor between taking that scoop of mayonnaise and using it on your deli sandwich or throwing the whole container in the trash.

What Your Labels Aren’t Telling You

The truth, however, isn’t exactly in the label. Recent studies from the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, in conjunction with the Natural Resources Defense Council, suggest that the dated imprints on our food labels are one of the leading factors in food waste in America. According to the study, a misinterpretation of the expiration dates on food is causing Americans a loss of both money and provisions – provisions which, if used correctly, could have helped in the fight against hunger.

What this means for you as the consumer is that the date on the package is merely a guideline to be used to help you determine the freshness and longevity of the product. It does not mean that the egg carton that has yesterday’s date on it needs to hit the trashcan instead of being used.

Decoding the Terms

As the dates on your food are not strictly regulated, except in the case of baby formula, many of the terms that companies tend to use can seem to contradict one another or get muddled into a transmogrification of food terminology resembling an alien script that no one can hope to decode.

So, to help you decode, here are a few of the most common terms and what they really mean:

Sell by – If you see “Sell By” on a food carton, recognize that this date is meant more for the store carrying the product than for you as the consumer. The date refers to the last day that the product should be placed upon the shelf as required or requested by the manufacturing company. It doesn’t mean that the product has gone bad or is no longer safe to consume. However, your best bet is to simply reach for the product in the back, as most stores tend to place the newest batches behind the ones with upcoming sell by dates.
Best if used on or before – Dates with this terminology are, in many cases, flexible. All this means is that the quality of freshness in taste and consistency that the manufacturer wants to provide to the consumer is at its peak if used on or before that date. The product is still safe for consuming after the date, but the consumer may notice a slight alteration in the taste of the product. Something akin to an A+ going to an A or A-.
Use by – The “Use By” date is another quality control measurement that is determined by the manufacturer. It is, as you may have guessed, the final date that the company wishes the food to be consumed by to retain their level of desired quality. It, too, has nothing really to do with the safety of consuming the food after that date.

To further help you decipher when and how to safely consume your food, check out this great article from Star Lawrence at WebMD. Lawrence does an excellent job going through expiration date terminology in more detail, as well as explaining food safety tips and how long items generally last once you’ve purchased them.

In short, the dates on your food have very little to do with any sort of federally regulated safety requirements or health care laws, but instead refer to what companies have determined to be the best “shelf life” of their product in terms of consistency in taste and freshness.

By being aware of the varying terminology, American consumers can greatly decrease confusion resulting from expiration dates and can become more efficient in their consumption, thus providing America with lower costs in food waste and production.

from: http://blogs.naturalnews.com/dates-food-really-mean/