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I began changing my diet in high school when I discovered that I was severely hypoglycemic. After years of American junk food and bad eating habits, my blood sugar levels had dropped to 43/100 (under 40 would mean hospitalization). I was very surprised by this discovery as I had been a sports addict, from basketball, to baseball, to American football. I thought I was healthy. However, I was increasingly getting more blackouts and went to see a general physician. Basically, he said that I was getting too much sugar and not enough protein. As an oblivious meat eater, I thought my protein was covered. I began to research different forms of protein online and found that protein in meat is derived from the plants eaten by the animals. I made the transition to a plant based diet and within 2 months the hypoglycemia had all but vanished. My blood sugar level went up to 76.
I also noticed simple improvements, like eliminating milk, which improved my complexion. I was wonderfully surprised when changing my food choices actually worked for me. The information was readily available by reading about other people’s diet. It was one health benefit after another as I experimented with different people’s advice on self-improvement. It was less trendy back then, but I was motivated more by feeling better when I got it right.
Today, we face additional food challenges…paying attention has become critical. It would be great if mankind simply evolved by doing what is in our best interests. But, this is not likely as life is more complicated than that. For example, let’s examine the many chemicals that are added to our food. Adding chemicals to food during production helps keep the costs down for businesses during the various steps taken to reach our table. I found an excellent article, found on the Vital Earth Minerals website located (here), that opens a safety debate:
“Chemicals create mutations through chromosome damage, interfere with immune system function, and have been shown to cause a multitude of serious health conditions. Even if all of the food additives used in our foods were safe individually, rarely does any processed / convenience food have only one additive in it. And nobody knows the effects of the many different additives when they are assembled together in a single product. There are literally thousands of various and potentially dangerous combinations.”
I suggest that you read the entire article. It will certainly make you think about a rapidly growing problem, from one hardly recognizable just a few years ago. I would be a vegan and prefer to eat raw/living foods for this reason alone. There are other reasons. Realistically, the only way to consistently assure healthy food in our homes is by growing and preparing our own food. That is not very likely for most of us. Maybe science will prove that food chemicals are not that dangerous or that fewer chemicals will be needed in the future. If you insist on gambling with your diet please remember to fully consider the odds. You will be betting against the “profit and loss” sheets of most food production businesses.
It does not appear to be a lack of science that perpetuates the problem. It appears to be the lack of public inquiry, or people’s outrage against this treachery, that is missing. In a brief search for the culprit you may gloss over the nearly silent FDA and USDA regulators and land squarely on the “profit motive” of big business. Is there ever going to be a point at which agribusiness will “cross the line” in it’s pursuit for profits because it adversely effects the health of its consumers? What is that line? In fairness, I am certain that the FDA will argue that it defends the American food supply every single day. But, the FDA and other government agencies are limited in the duties they perform. I can just hear big agribusiness saying that I need to be specific and show examples of these claims. It would probably take me forever to find an example of overreaching by the industry. NOPE !!!, it took 2.3 seconds according to my search engine timer. I found an article dated October 11, 2008 (here). This article entitled: 
“Monsanto-Backed State Bill Seeks to Outlaw rBGH-Free Lable Claims on Milk Products”, informs the reader that agribusiness giant Monsanto (the drug’s manufacturer) has lobbied the Indiana house of representatives to pass a Bill that would PROHIBIT the dairy industry from labeling their products as being “rBGH-free”. Despite the claims of the Bill’s critics, that the public prefers to avoid the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) in their dairy products, HB 1300 will be voted on in the House. The Hormone is used to vastly increase the amount of milk produced by the injected cows. This should prove to be an interesting battle between those farmers who make more money by producing more milk and those farmers who advertise a hormone-free product. Sadly, this also makes a competition out of the consumer’s right to know what is in their dairy products and Monsanto’s “bottom line”.
I am a vegan to simplify knowing what is good for me. It keeps me searching the blogs constantly to be informed about my food choices. “Live, and let live?”…good luck.
I read desperate comments left on blogs that reflect a growing frustration from people who have learned the importance of growing your own vegetables, but lack the skills to do it. Don’t worry, you have a great idea and there IS help available. Your frustration stems from the rapidly disappearing, or dare we say –nearly lost, skills that were taken for granted on the “family farms” of past generations. So, where in the world could the average person start from scratch and learn to “grow like pro”? Try Missoula, Montana.
I recently spoke with Tim Hall, the community garden director of the Garden City Harvest program located in the western Montana town of Missoula. He told me an amazing success story about a program started in 1996, growing vegetables on a small plot of land that ballooned into a sprawling network of vegetable gardens supported by the entire community. You can find out more about this program through their website located at: http://gardencityharvest.org/index.html. Tim says they offer garden-growing help to everybody that participates in any of the four programs within the Garden City Harvest organization. According to the website, the help comes from: different grants, foundations, local schools, the Courts, a supporting staff, a board of directors, local businesses, private donations, local buyers (shares), volunteers and others. The help goes to: students –for class credit, local food banks, volunteers (paid in-kind for their work), low income recipients and others in an effort to meet the goals of GCH’s mission statement:
Garden City Harvest’s Mission Statement:
1. Provide high quality food to low-income people.
2. Offer education and training in ecologically conscious food production.
3. Use our sites for the personal restoration of troubled youth and adults.
The mountain of work to coordinate all of these different interests seems to be a daunting task. However, over time, the pieces have fit together perfectly to form a truly “win-win” program that could easily be the right model for future growers of local vegetables. The hard-to-get resources of seeds, tools and plots of land have already been found and organized for the participants, together with a two-way communication system that provide answers for the participant to the never-ending questions about growing. Credit goes to the hardworking staff made up of dedicated and passionate people like Tim. To those of us who worry if it is even possible to grow our own vegetables, once we choose to do so, the answer is a resounding “YES”. People like us are doing it right now, even as we read this blog.That is proof that it can be done.
For others of us who are already growing vegetables; by learning from parents, are self-taught, or have found help, take at look at this model – it works. Many frustrated people need a helping hand from you that have gained the experience. You may be pleasantly surprised by the benefits of helping. After all, “you reap what you sow”, right?
I came across another trailer for a raw documentary but with a slightly different premise. It is called Raw 2 Raw Vegan about a vegans journey into raw food. I would definitely like to see the film but it seems like it would be quite difficult to market this film to the general public. In the trailer, this problem is especially evident since the person undergoing a raw transformation says he is feeling unwell about his new raw diet. It is all just speculation at this point, so I will try to reserve further judgement until I have seen the film.
I have been very much into raw food for the past 5 months ago and have been interested in exploring the idea more with film. However, like films about veganism, most of the raw films that are available are documentaries. That said, there seems to be quite a few decent raw food documentaries coming out recently. Here are some trailers of a few:
Crazy Sexy Cancer
Raw for 30 Days
Supercharge Me
And, a possibly excellent doc in the works: