Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Fool Whip

You can call it “Dessert Topping,” “Cool Whip,” “Whipped Topping,” or whatever you like. I call it Fool Whip. Here are the ingredients of one such product found in our local market:
• Water
• Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil
• Corn Syrup
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Sugar
• Partially Hydrogenated Coconut Oil
• Sodium Caseinate
• Artificial Flavor
• Polysorbate 60
• Sorbitan Monostearate
• Guar Gum
• Xanthan Gum
• Soy Lecithin
• Glycerine
• Beta Carotene
• Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil

Anything “Partially” hydrogenated is “Completely” detrimental to health. Food Villains take a cheap fat like palm kernel oil that has been extracted using gasoline-type solvents and then proceed to make it even more toxic. It is placed in a vacuum and thickened with hydrogen atoms by means of a metal catalyst, usually nickel. Nickel is another story in itself, a very poisonous metal used by scientists to induce pancreatic cancer in test animals. The process is very similar to the one used for making plastics, so that the partially hydrogenated oils are close relatives of the tubs they are sold in.

At my Supermarket Survival classes, I illustrate the nature of this food fraud by using a doll. Normally, both of Dolly’s arms are extended in front, which portrays the healthy form of fats, or the “Cis” configuration. (Think of the word Scissors, and how both tines of the scissors must be on the same side for the tool to work properly.) To achieve the “Trans” form, I must break the doll’s arm to make it go across the (glycerol) backbone. (The prefix “trans” means across.) This is what is done to the fat used in the Fool Whip.

As you can see, the hydrogenation process “breaks” the oil that goes into food. Any food that is broken on the molecular level produces food that is also “broken,” and since we are what we eat, we become “broken,” too! This is all too evident with the prevalence of heart disease, high cholesterol (due to the inflammation these oils cause), diabetes, immune system dysfunction, and even mental disorders.

This particular product also contains Coconut Oil and Soybean Oil, both of which have been abused by the same process. Coconut Oil has been much maligned, but it is actually a healthy saturated fat as long as it is consumed in its original state. Soybean Oil, and also the Soy Lecithin, is not to be trusted. It most likely comes from a genetically-engineered (GE) source, meaning allergies and other health sorrows.

The corn used in the Corn Syrup and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) are likewise to be suspected from GE sources. Splicing DNA from diverse species is not only war against the Creator, it is agri-terrorism. This is not the same as hybridization, which is mixing varieties of apples to get better apples. When you eat GE food, you may be consuming entirely new forms of bacteria, viruses, and other life that have never been seen on earth before. Because a GE plant cannot be recalled once it has left the laboratory from which it was spawned, and because the USDA is so non-committal in its monitoring of ambitious patent-holders, and because the industry (read: Monsanto et al, the same corporations who brought us Agent Orange) can’t be trusted when it comes to the choice between your health and billions of dollars, for these reasons and more, GE foods may mean famine in our future.
Ever try to buy HFCS? You can’t, because it is only available commercially. But here’s how it’s made, just in case you feel up to it: Take the GE corn and manipulate it with an enzymatic isomerization process to get powdered cornstarch. (Did we learn how to do “enzymatic isomerization” in Home Ec class?) Then you process this to get glucose, then process the glucose to get fructose. Mix that with some corn syrup, and Voila! You have a cheap sweetener that you can sell to conscience-less Food Villains who will use it in thousands of products that will cause millions of people to experience hundreds of diseases.

Sodium Caseinate and Artificial Flavor (go ahead, ask your grocer where these guys are found) are hidden names for MSG, that flavor enhancer extraordinaire that explodes brain cells, causes grotesque obesity, migraine headaches, joint pain, vision loss, and lots of other misery.

Polysorbate 60 may sound familiar. It is a thickening agent found in number of cosmetics and personal care items. It’s been around since the 1950’s, and so have the concerns for its safety. Some scientists argue that it causes changes in tissues, sex organs, liver, and kidneys—oh yes, and tumors.
Sorbitan Monostearate (SM) is pronounced by the FDA to be non-toxic (as long as it doesn’t exceed 0.4% of the weight of the finished topping), but diabetes expert Thomas Smith (Insulin: Our Silent Killer) recommends that anyone with blood sugar issues avoid all foods with forms of sorbitol. SM is made by combining stearic acid with sorbitol. Hmm. I can’t help but wonder what would become of the consumer if, God forbid, a dosage of 0.5% got into a batch. Naw, I’m sure that could never happen.

Don’t Let Your Pie Go Naked

Okay, so what now? Shall our guests be disappointed with unthinkable topless pies? Never!

Find yourself three ingredients: Cream, vanilla, and maple syrup. The best cream is farm-fresh and comes from grass-fed cows not given hormones or antibiotics, and for which you will have to do some searching. But I guarantee you such divine goodness is available, right here in Central Texas. Go to the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association to find Local Food, or check out my favorite source for Real Milk and Dairy, Texas Cheese in Schulenburg. Do not fear this delicious real food! Studies show that people with low cholesterol die young, and the true threat to the Ticker is the aforementioned refined, hydrogenated anti-food.
Next, get some real vanilla, not the imitation wannabe made from wood pulp. Not just a flavoring, true vanilla comes from orchids and is used in hundreds of applications, from medicine to aphrodisiac. You will know you have the real thing when you get to the checkstand. Yes, it is pricey, but oh so worth it. Costco has real Madagascar vanilla for $5.99/16 oz.

And the last item is a sweetener. I prefer maple syrup, but will also use agave. These are real sweeteners that are actually beneficial, containing some minerals and other nutrients like polysaccharides that enhance cell communication. Agave, which comes from the same plant as tequila, has certain compounds that relieve pain (I heard that snicker! Yes, of course, enough tequila will do the same job).
Chill a glass bowl and the beaters of the mixer. Just before serving, take the cream from the fridge and start whipping. Add a chug of vanilla and a blob of maple syrup. You really can’t mess it up, even though slick marketers want you to think this is difficult and that you are stupid and incapable of making a no-brainer like whipped cream.

Real Whipped Cream for Real People, and Fool Whip for --well, let’s be kind. After all, it is Christmas.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

November is American Diabetes Month

In 1880, only 2.8 people in 100,000 had diabetes. Heart attacks were rare. People ate sugar, molasses, lard, suet, butter, eggs, cheese, and red meat—and they did NOT have the big D. Today, we are told to eat “healthier” foods like artificial sweeteners, margarine, egg whites only, no-fat cheese and low-fat milk, and to abstain from red meat—yet, there are now 7,001 people per 100,000 with D. If our great-grandparents’ diet was so bad and ours is so good, why do we have 25,000% more D than they had?

Did you notice the one thing in common with modern foods? They are all manufactured in some way! What used to come from the farm and be minimally processed is now making many wealthy—and others very sick. Clearly, to return to single-digit D statistics, we need to return to the old-fashioned foods of yesteryear.

Where to start? Throw out the REFINED OIL. Cottonseed, corn, soy, canola, safflower, sunflower oils—known as “salad” or “polyunsaturated” oils—are extracted with solvents, then bleached, then deodorized. They are lifeless, except for calories. Further, the clear bottle allows light to increase their rancidity, and the longer they sit, the more xenoestrogens—hormone disruptors—they absorb from the plastic. Liquid oils gum up receptor sites and insulin cannot get the sugar into the cells. In the 1920’s Dr. Sweeney produced Type-2 D in his medical students simply by feeding them a diet high in vegetable oils for just 48 hours! Hydrogenation and partial-hydrogenation further contort these oils into plasticized molecules that can only be called ‘food’ by the wildest stretch of imagination. Heart disease, skin cancer and –gulp!—wrinkles are attributable to these oils.

Shop for real butter (I prefer Central Market Organic Butter; Land O’ Lakes may contain growth hormones). Choose foods with high Omega 3, which acts like WD-40 on those stuck receptor sites: Wild-caught fish, walnuts (excellent for D for many reasons), grassfed beef, flax seeds, hempseeds, and even the humble weed purslane. The Life Emporium has unrefined coconut oil, a very tasty and healthy choice for diabetics and those wishing to lose weight. Coconut oil boosts the thyroid for incredible energy and stamina; kills fungus which all D have.

Above all, avoid “DIET” foods. Aspartame is a drug that poisons every metabolic system of your body, causing weight gain, depression, anxiety, sexual dysfunction, MS, leukemia, lymphoma, brain tumors, and YES, even causes diabetes! Diabetics are especially at risk from its diabolical effects of vision loss. Sold as NutraSweet or Equal (blue packets), it’s in 1,000’s of foods. Sucralose, marketed as Splenda, is chemically the same as pesticide (just think “DDT-Lite”), and it raises Hemoglobin A1c levels AND calcifies kidneys. Acesulfame potassium (K) can cause mammary tumors. High fructose corn syrup reduces your minerals, increases insulin resistance and triglycerides. Better sweetener choices include stevia, Erythritol, Just Like Sugar, agave, and raw honey.

Diabetics have a critical need for minerals. Bieler’s Broth is a soup full of minerals that will help reduce blood sugar. Really works! Come by for the easy recipe. Want to learn more? Sign up for a Grocery Store Tour. For $45, you get a 2-hour, personalized class for you and up to three friends. Bring your shopping list and Granny Good Food will show you safer, healthier choices. Call The Life Emporium for reservations at 398-7800 or (951) 505 5696. Day or evening tours available.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Would Jesus drink moonshine?
Granny Good Food and Grandpa went to church a few weeks ago at a local Lockhart place of worship.

Alas, we were appalled to discover that many of these beautiful, Godly people are drunkards. The irony is that these people are very strict in their doctrine and would never touch a glass of wine or bottle of beer. They have no clue that they are as addicted as the Saturday night souses they try to save from their sins.

Walking into the Sunday school room, there were about 15 people. To GGF’s horror, six of them had not only their Bibles, but large bottles of Diet Coke to sip on during the lesson.

So where’s the alcohol, you say, and why are they drunkards?

Diet Coke contains aspartame. (Not to pick on Coke, it is in Diet Pepsi and most all diet sodas.) The aspartame molecule is made of phenylalanine (50%), aspartic acid (40%), and methanol (10%). The methanol is wood alcohol, which is one of the deadly components found in cheap moonshine.

Testing for FDA approval of aspartame was done on monkeys. Now monkeys can handle copious amounts of methanol, whereas humans can tolerate ethanol. Switch it around, and the monkeys given small amounts of ethanol become deathly ill and humans ingesting methanol become very toxic. Vision is damaged or lost and nervous system impairment including neurosis, learning difficulties, memory lapses, headaches, dizziness, nausea, and digestive disturbances occur.

Perhaps worst of all, methanol is addictive. Very addictive: 20,000 times more addictive than the ethanol found in those sinful Budweiser-type brews.

Dr. H.J. Roberts, a medical doctor and outspoken foe of aspartame, wrote in The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients in January 2000 of his many experiences with addicted patients. Recovering alcoholics said they felt worse after avoiding aspartame than (ethanol) alcohol; parents spoke to him of their children’s wild behavior if denied diet soda or other foods with aspartame; and women, who seem to be more affected, told of the headaches, dizziness, and irritability they endured when giving it up.

“Persons consuming large amounts not only may suffer aspartame disease, but also have difficulty stopping them because of violent and prolonged withdrawal reactions…the hallmark of addiction,” says Dr. Roberts.

Some argue that common foods have methanol, and that the methanol in aspartame is the same as that found in tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables. This is a big fat lie, disseminated by industry to unwary and gullible folk. Real food has fiber and a complete spectrum of amino acids, not isolated and genetically engineered such as found in the aspartame molecule.

When the methanol is broken down in the digestive tract, its metabolites include formaldehyde and formic acid. If you are not a corpse, it is in your best interest to avoid all forms of formaldehyde (including that found in your flu shots). Formaldehyde is in the same class of chemicals as cyanide and arsenic, and a Class A carcinogen. It causes genetic damage in extremely small doses. Prospective fathers can damage their future offspring by drinking diet soda. Formaldehyde damages the nervous system, as well as the liver, kidneys, and brain. Some may feel a burning sensation or a bitter taste; that is the methanol breaking down into formaldehyde.

Many Texans are familiar with another metabolite of methanol: formic acid. This is the element that puts the “fire” in the bite of a fire ant. Formic acid is also found in bees and wasps. If formic acid will do such damage on the OUTSIDE, what kind of destruction is going on in the INSIDE when aspartame is taken in? Many people have told me of the pain in their muscles and joints that disappears when they give up the diet soda.

Diane Fleming is a Christian woman not unlike many of the ladies we met that Sunday. Today she is doing 30 years in a Virginia prison for killing her husband by allegedly spiking his Gatorade with methanol. She is innocent, but the jury was ignorant of the murderous nature of methanol. Her husband Charles was an aspartame addict, and it cost him his life. The methanol found in his blood came from the packets of Equal he constantly used to add sweetness to his sports drinks.

When Granny Good Food, waiting for an opportune moment, finally shared the gist of the above information with these brothers and sisters, what do you think their reaction was? Did they realize the error of their ways, and throw the evil brew in the trash where it belongs? Did they say, “Tell us more, and how can we help these bodies that are made in the image of God to heal from our presumptive sins?” Did they, in theological parlance, “repent”?

Nay.

With the exception of one man, they sat there, poison in hand, and drank while Granny Good Food tried to save their lives. One out of the six immediately took it off the table and appeared glad to hear the Good News. The masses will hear, but only a few will listen.

Would Jesus drink moonshine? Wine, yes. Moonshine, no. And definitely not Diet Coke.

Granny Good Food

PS We’re still looking for a church…
Lipton, Luzianne and Losers

Granny Good Food believes that Texans do not have blood. There is sweet tea, tea, or Big Red coursing through their veins.

Surprise, Texans also have joint pain, knee pain, back pain, elbow pain and hip pain. Stiff and achy all over. Hard to get up out of the chair to get a refill. Oh yes, and ranked 12th in national obesity, we heard this week.

Problems Plen-tea

Pain, obesity, and tea. So what’s the connection?

If you drink tea, you’ll be a loser. You will lose cartilage (a form of collagen), that cushy connective tissue between bones, discs in the spine, in the elbows, and hips—basically all those places that hurt. In fact, your ‘arthritis’ may not be arthritis at all, but merely an overindulgence in the brown brew.

Tea will also cause you to become hypothyroid and you may lose your waistline, hair, eyebrows, memory, sex drive, and mind, as well.

Ladies, if you consider that your breasts are also connective tissue, you may think twice about indulging in copious cups, lest your “cups” begin to sag. The collagen under the skin is what keeps us looking young, but certain elements in tea destroy it.

Tea and Fluoride

The reason tea causes so much misery is because of its fluoride content. In fact, tea is one of the foods highest in fluoride. Chemically speaking, the fluoride is a halogen, in the same class as bromine, chlorine, and iodine. The iodine receptors get displaced by these other halogens, and the thyroid is unable to function properly. The vast amounts of sugar added to the tea pile on further insult to the endocrine system, specifically the adrenal glands.

FYI, Bromine is found in commercial breads, non-organic strawberries, Mtn. Dew and brominated vegetable oils in citrus-type drinks. Chlorine treats municipal water, but is also found in the sugar substitute sucralose, sold as Splenda.

Tea is also high in aluminum, which enhances the fluoride’s effects. If brewed with sewer water—I mean, city water, then there is the additional fluoride from that source.

Sure the Chinese drank green tea for centuries, and it does have some good nutritional properties. Today’s environment, though, loads the tea up with even more fluoride through air and water pollution. The inclusion of sea foods that contain copious amounts of iodine is a protective factor that compensates for the fluoride in tea.

Fluoride: Politically Protected Pollutant

The Suits selling fluoride to our local water districts won’t breathe a word of it, but the truth is that this same substance being dumped into our water under the guise of being good for our teeth is as toxic as lead and arsenic, is a byproduct of the fertilizer or aluminum industries, and is nothing more than a protected pollutant.

Granny Good Food, being mostly Libertarian with a sprinkle of Jacksonian democracy, will not discuss here the ramifications of a government allowed to medicate its people en masse via its water supply, but suffice it to say that in addition to destroyed connective tissue, brain damage is a very real complication of fluoridated water. This may explain how such noble concepts as inalienable rights to life and liberty continue to be flushed with every fluoridated glassful that goes down the sink.

Fluoride Damage Doesn’t Take Long

Back to the cartilage problem. Granny Good Food has seen first-hand that tea has the amazing power to eat up cartilage in a short amount of time. Grandpa started visiting the Sonic to quench his thirst, ordering tea with the small bits of crunchy (fluoridated) ice, and within a few weeks, his elbow was very painful. Upon touching it, one could feel that the bone had much less cushion, and it was basically bone rubbing bone. After reminding Grandpa that the Prophetess has no honor in her own domain, she had mercy and fixed him up. More on that after one more story.

Shortly after Grandpa’s episode with pain and tea, a mother told me of her 14-year old son whose knees she had to bandage because his cartilage disappeared within a six-month period. This mom shared how they had decided to give up soda and drink tea, and they also made it with tap water. As if this wasn’t enough, this poor kid’s stupid dentist gave him fluoride drops for receding gums. (This is for free: fluoride does not stop receding gums; try vitamin C and Co-Q10). It was a triple whammy. Tea, fluoridated tap water, and fluoride drops. Bam! No more knees!

Repair and Restoration

Copious amounts of gelatin and chicken soup did the trick for Grandpa. Now this was no ordinary chicken soup, and definitely not the usual gelatin from the box with the Red #40 and sundry other nasties. Granny Good Food opened no cans in its preparation. She took whole chickens, put them in the crockpot, added several tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, and cooked and cooked. At the end of the day, the pot was full of minerals that the acid had pulled from the bones, as well as gelatin.

A faster way to get some collagen, but not necessarily easier on the chompers, is to chew the gristle from the end of chicken leg bones.

We used Hill Country Fare Unflavored Gelatin mixed with some fruit juice, about one packet per cup of liquid. This was a very firm gelatin, able to be eaten by hand and convenient to grab as a snack. Gelatin sold with FD&C colors, sugar, or aspartame are not fit for consumption.

Supplements that help are glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate, MSM and vitamin C. Just use water to wash them down, not tea.

Children Need Good Food, NOT Vaccines

 Granny Good Food does not believe in vaccines. 

 She believes that children should eat whole, vital food and play vigorously in the sun without xenoestrogenic sunscreen and drink lots of pure, unmedicated water (read: not fluoridated) and get tucked into bed early with warm hugs and a cool story from Mom or Dad to strengthen their immune systems and protect them from disease. 

 Despite the lies and damn lies (GGF refrains from using strong language, but in the case of the drug industry, just can’t help herself) of Big Pharma, Big Brother, and Dr. Allopath (aka your family doctor who goes to lunch with the Big Pharma Bimbo Babe sales rep), there is no proof that vaccines are either safe or prevent disease. There is, however, incontrovertible evidence that poor nutrition is fertilizer for disease. 

 Let Granny Good Food explain what she means by “poor nutrition.” Perhaps many of her readers would paint the mental picture of a child scavenging through urban dumpsters or contending with other stick-children for a bowl of thin gruel and some bagged U.N. rations, washed down with some parasite-laden, foul liquid from the local water hole. Let not her readers’ minds wander to a far away place with naked brown children surrounded by legions of flies. 

 Come along with Granny Good Food to the repository of the filthiest, most toxic food the world has ever known, food that is destroying the health and future of children, making them weak and ripe for conquest, or at least, frequent customers of aforementioned Big Pharma. Finding “poor nutrition” is closer and easier than you think, and finding malnourished youngsters is not hard either; you can hear their asthmatic lungs gasping for breath or see them waddling along, chips and soda in their chubby, flaccid grasp. 

 Dear Reader, open your eyes. This is your local supermarket and you are looking into the faces of hungry, overfed American children. 

 Do not look to vaccines to protect a child whose diet is replete with over 5,000 sources of aspartame, a deadly drug that was laced into the world’s food supply by acts of treason and sedition, not science. Their chewing gum, yogurt, cereal, candy, vitamins, fruit drinks and juices are lowering their seizure threshold, putting holes in their brains, and making them blind and addicted to the methanol component of the aspartame molecule. 

Oh yes, and the depression that aspartame causes will undoubtedly put many of them on a prescription for anti-depressants—a cruel irony, considering that SSRI’s and other neuroleptic medications contain—you guessed it, aspartame. 

 Do not look to vaccines to compensate for the 152 pounds of sugar that the average child will consume every year, the other white drug that kills more people than cocaine and heroine combined. A body full of sugar is a Welcome sign to all sorts of nasty microscopic bugs and viruses – including those incipient in the vaccines themselves. 

 Do not look to vaccines to undo the damage from bleached, deodorized, rancid, polyunsaturated refined oils that pollute their bloodstream with cancer-causing free radicals, prime them for diabetes with sticky, insulin-resistant cellular membranes, and rob them of the antioxidants that would protect their tender skin from the sun’s burning rays. 

Failure to give children real foods like non-rBST butter and beef fat will deplete their adrenal glands of the raw material needed to make hormones for growth; their brains will not be able to assimilate any essential omega 3 fats that happen to find their way into the body; and their hearts will not have a critical source of energy in times of stress – like when the body is fighting disease. 

 Do not look to vaccines to help the child whose milk and beef are shot full of genetically-engineered growth hormones and antibiotics. Leukemia and lymphoma will kill them before pestilence gets the chance. 

 Do not look to vaccines to safeguard the child from chemical additives and preservatives, most of which are made from ingredients that belong in their parents’ car engine, not their young bodies. FD&C colors like Red #40, Yellow #5 and #6, Blue #1 and #2, and Green #3 are petroleum based additives that cause learning disabilities, behavioral changes, headaches, and immune system suppression. BHA and BHT (the “T” stands for the solvent Toluene) line the bags of their cereals and are incidental ingredients in the vitamins A and D used to fortify their milk. 

TBHQ is in the oils used to cook their French fries and those yummy fried onions that go on top of green bean casseroles. Infant mice exposed to these chemicals in the uterus had abnormal brains and behavior changes, including increased hyperactivity, sleeplessness, poor grooming habits, decreased reflexes, aggression, and severe learning problems. Thank goodness for Ritalin, Ambien and federal Title X money for Special Education! 

 Do not look to vaccines to prevent grotesque obesity from MSG, monosodium glutamate, and its 40-plus hidden sources. MSG is injected into certain rats at birth to fatten them up for medical experimentation; most vaccines for children also contain MSG, so tell Granny Good Food again how children injected with MSG will not get fat or how they are not being treated as mere lab rats? MSG explodes brain cells, causes sluggish speech, difficulty concentrating, mood swings, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue, and poor memory—just for starters. One bag of Doritos contains 10 forms of MSG; ALL canned soups and those cheap, just-add-water ramen noodles in a Styrofoam cup have several forms of MSG; now, how many Rx meds are your little ones on? 

 In fact, do not look to vaccines for health at all. Nor expect that stuff on the shelves of the supermarket that looks similar to food will provide nutrition to a growing young body. The best defense against disease is a healthy immune system nourished by real food. See sites like http://www.thinktwice.com/ for reasons to avoid vaccines and http://www.westonaprice.org/ or http://www.feingold.org/ for ways to feed your children with Food for Living People.

The Ugly Truth about Food that Nobody Heard

One of Granny Good Food’s favorite heroes (besides Grandpa) is Robert W. Young. Chances are you never heard of him, as he is a humble government employee who probably sits in a boring cubicle most days. GGF does not know if he can see through walls like Superman or if he has Spidey senses, but this man can sure see through corporate bovine-recycled-grass and is blessed with common sense.

If you eat any food with soybeans or soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil or any corn product, cottonseed oil, or drink milk that is not organic, consume any food with “enzymes” like breads and bakery items, beer, fruit juice, or cheese, you need to know about Mr. Young and what he did for you.

Who is Mr. Young?

Mr. Young is the Assistant Inspector General for Audit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and author of Audit Report 50601-8-Te that was released December 2005, “Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Controls Over Issuance of Genetically Engineered Organism Release Permits.”

This man takes his job seriously. Like the prophet Nathan before sinful King David, he wags his honest pen in the face of the slothful, incompetent imbeciles who have failed miserably in their responsibility of checking the ambitions of mad scientists, greedy corporations, and corrupt politicians with the chains of the law.

It has been almost three years since the report was released, so have you heard about it? Did you hear of people being fired for failure to perform their jobs with due diligence? Or being indicted for criminal endangerment of the environment and our health? Have you heard of sweeping changes being made at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and USDA due to the historical revelations contained in this report?

No, except for a few Internet sites and the Des Moines Register and the Honolulu Advertiser, this disturbing report was relegated to the Annals Of Ignored Truth.

If Donald Trump had employees who performed like this governmental agency that holds the power of life and death over the entire food supply, they would hastily and forthwith be terminated. If the Constitution were applied properly, these ignoramuses would be charged with treason and made an example of to the fullest extent of the law, as most certainly imperiling an entire nation’s source of food and life is an act of war.

The GE approval process in a nutshell

A little background before jumping in to the details of this chilling report. There are two ways of getting approval to grow genetically engineered food. The first is the more common method called notification, and this is for introducing ‘familiar GE plants that do not present novel plant pest risks.’ The second is a permit, reserved for plants that are considered more dangerous, like those that produce pharmaceuticals or industrial compounds, or those with human genes.
While the notification process has eligibility and performance standards, the permit process has none; permits are approved on a case-by-case basis. This means, plainly, that the most dangerous GE crops are approved arbitrarily at an inspector’s whim. Are these inspectors honest and beyond temptation, even though they are in contact with the world’s most powerful Agri-Pharm and biotechnology corporations on a daily basis? We should certainly hope so.

Where, oh where, are the mutated crops?

Mr. Young writes:
“Since [1986], the USDA has approved over 10,600 applications for more than 49,300 field sites. …we are concerned that the Department’s efforts to regulate those crops have not kept pace... …We found that APHIS, the USDA agency that oversees biotechnology regulatory functions for the Department, needs to strengthen its accountability for field tests of GE crops. In fact, at various stages of the field test process—from approval of applications to inspection of fields—weaknesses in APHIS regulations and internal management controls increase the risk that regulated genetically engineered organisms (GEO) will inadvertently persist in the environment before they are deemed safe to grow without regulation...

…We found…that APHIS lacks basic information about the field test sites it approves and is responsible for monitoring, including where and how the crops are being grown, and what becomes of them at the end of the field test.”

… Of primary concern, the precise locations of all GE field test sites planted in the United States are not always known.”

Did he just say that the government does not know WHERE the GE crops are planted, WHAT is being planted, and WHERE they end up?

Inspections with a phone call

More of the Audit Report:

“Before approving field tests, APHIS does not review notification applicants’ containment protocols, which describe how the applicant plans to contain the GE crop within the field test site and prevent it from persisting in the environment. Instead, APHIS allows notification holders to provide the protocols verbally if their field test sites are selected for inspection. Since notifications comprise the vast majority of field test authorizations, this policy undermines both the field test approval and inspection processes.”

Did we just read that our government allows the planting of genetically engineered crops, whose safety is unknown, without a WRITTEN plan for keeping those crops from contaminating anything planted around them, or the entire environment, for that matter? And did Mr. Young just tell us that inspections are done with a phone call?

Dangerous crops left to wind, birds, gleaners

Have you ever wondered what happens to GE crops after the trial? Don’t ask APHIS who is supposed to track the disposal of these potentially lethal products! Note that these are the permit holders, the higher-risk category which includes drugs, industrial compounds, and even human genes!

“At the conclusion of the field test, APHIS does not require permit holders to report on the final disposition of GE pharmaceutical and industrial harvests, which are modified for nonfood purposes and may pose a threat to the food supply if unintentionally released. As a result, we found that two large harvests of GE pharmaceutical crops remained in storage at the field test sites for over a year without APHIS’ knowledge or approval of the storage facility.”

Mr. Young continues to blast APHIS for many other violations, including failing to file progress reports late or not at all, not sufficiently documenting the scientific basis for approving applications, not tracking information during the field tests, including the results of the tests.

Lies, cover-ups, ineptitude

This comedy of errors would be funny if life and death were not on the line. The APHIS and its two units responsible for the inspection program, Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) and Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) make the Three Stooges look like a funeral requiem with their farcical pretense to work at protecting us all from famine. BRS is supposed to be management and PPQ labor, performing the actual inspections; but Mr. Young found that BRS “does not have a formal, risk-based process for selecting individual sites for inspection,” nor does PPQ “complete all of the inspections BRS requests, including…pharmaceutical and industrial crops.” So, they do what is expected of government agencies when the light shines in the dark: They lie. “We found that PPQ did not inspect all test sites five times during the 2003 growing season, as APHIS has announced to the public.”

Even when inspections do get done, it is likely that they will not be recorded. Mr. Young and his team found 11 violations that had been reported to BRS but had not been entered into the compliance infractions database. The same sad state of affairs had been discovered 10 years before, and to date the APHIS continues “to lack an effective, comprehensive management information system to account for all inspections and their outcomes.” Bottom line? “…No assurance that the highest risk field sites are inspected.”

Those of us who spend thousands yearly on home, car, and liability insurance will be horrified to hear the next revelation. Agri-Pharm corporations are not required to provide proof of financial responsibility in case of a catastrophe. “USDA [read: Joe Taxpayer] may have to bear the expense of removing GE material from the environment in the event of an unintentional release.”

By now, the myth of a highly efficient governmental agency diligently guarding us from dinnertime dangers has been busted. Now let us consider the fields themselves. Approved applicants (and we’ve seen how hard that is to get) “sometimes allow harvested crops to lie in the field test site for months at a time, their seeds exposed to animals and the elements.” The Audit team found a regulated edible GE crop, which had not been approved for human consumption, “growing where they could easily be taken and eaten…”

The Audit team’s very obvious conclusions were that “GE crops and harvests –especially those developed for pharmaceutical and industrial purposes—must be carefully regulated…APHIS’ current regulations, policies, and procedures do not go far enough to ensure the safe introduction of agricultural biotechnology.”

Common sense spurned

Recommended changes included documenting WHERE the crops are planted, even logging GPS coordinates (what an idea! Technology can find lost pets or stolen cars, why not potentially fatal food); obtaining the applicants’ scientific protocols; documenting what is done with drug crops AFTER the experiment; requiring the applicants to provide proof of financial responsibility.

Common sense requests, right? APHIS did not think so; check out their arrogant, self-serving responses:

“…APHIS disagreed with recommendations associated with obtaining notification applicants’ scientific protocols for conducting field tests, reviewing these protocols by biotechnologists, and distributing these protocols to PPQ officers to use in conducting inspections of field sites under notification.

APHIS also contends that the current system of performance–based regulatory standards for notifications is effective at protecting the American agriculture.

Lastly, APHIS did not agree with developing policy guidelines for restricting public access to edible regulated crops when conducting field tests and with developing policies and procedures for selecting specific field test sites for inspection based on risk.”

Mr. Young’s Office, thank goodness, has the last word--


“By not obtaining copies of the protocols, APHIS is relinquishing its regulatory responsibility in favor of self-certification by the notification applicants—namely, the applicants merely certify in their notification applications that they will meet the performance standards.” (What he wanted to say: As a matter of fact, we believe that the Fox has guarded the Hen House long enough! And no, we don’t think that letting multi-national corporations certify the safety of their own products is a good idea.)

“APHIS’ strategic plan states that its mission includes protecting human health and safety. The edible GE crops under APHIS’ jurisdiction are regulated and, therefore, we believe that access should be controlled. Edible regulated GE crops cannot be grown without restrictions and should not be available even for unauthorized human consumption, while still regulated.” (What he wanted to say: Do your job, you jerk!)

Now, if we could just get Mr. Young and his Audit team over to the Federal Reserve…

The Grocery Store Blues

Aspartame will fry your brain,
MSG will do the same.
Some fats heal,
Some fats kill.
Growth Hormones will make you ill.

HFCS in all you drink,
Just pour it down the kitchen sink.
Ask for water
When you eat,
You won't get fat and you can think.

Just say NO to bleached white flour
Eat whole grains and you'll have power.
Choose organic
Grown with love,
And you won't get poisoned like a bug.

Nitrates, nitrites, BHT—
Eat hot dogs and sick you’ll be.
Red, yellow,
Green, and blue
FD&C means “Not for you.”

Beware the circled flower green,
Irradiation'll tweak your genes.
Enzymes gone,
Food's been nuked,
Choose "Radura" and you will puke.

Biotech and Starlink corn,
What sorrows wait the babes yet born.
Franken Foods,
GMO,
If God didn’t make it, let it go.
Markets: Then and Now

When I was a girl, you got food from the grocery store, and then got your medicine from the drug store. Today, there are drug stores inside grocery stores. This is not a coincidence. If you eat just anything off the shelves without doing your homework, you will need medicine.

Caldwell County apparently uses a lot of medicine, with 14,159 of the 36,523 residents having asthma, emphysema, bronchitis, heart disease, and diabetes.[1] That’s a whopping 39% sick people in this county!

This blog will expose the food fraud and venomous vittles that are sabotaging our health and stealing our future.

Consider the differences between today’s market and the one your mother or grandmother shopped at. First of all, yesterday’s market was small, not like today’s that are practically cities under one roof. One of the oldest grocery stores in Lockhart was the Montoya Family Market on Neches St. You could probably fit four of those in a Pac ‘n Sac, yet they met the needs of this community. How was this possible? Simple—they sold real food that had minimum ingredients and maximum nutrition.

Let‘s look at breakfast. The Montoyas did not have to make room for dozens of boxes of colored, puffed, extruded, sugary – but ah, yes, enriched – breakfast cereal. They sold Quaker oatmeal, maybe some Alber’s grits, and possibly Kellogg’s or Post Corn Flakes. Aisles full of ready-made tea, bottled coffee, fruit juice in frozen or powdered or bottled forms were yet a twinkle in the chemist’s eye. The shopper had the choice of Lipton or Maxwell House and of course, brewed it fresh at home. Fruit juice meant that someone got up early and squeezed the oranges. Pop Tarts were called toast, and eggs were sold in the shell, not separated in little cartons to get rid of the evil yolk.

Thirsty? Add up the square footage required for the dozens of brands, flavors, and varieties of the humble cola. It was Coke, Pepsi, 7-Up, or maybe Bubble-Up. The closest to a Red Bull or Monster was the aforementioned coffee/tea/soda. Kiddies, this may shock you, but water came from the faucet or hose, was not medicated per government mandate with waste offal from the fertilizer or aluminum industries, and certainly was not bought from the grocery store!

This blog will open your eyes to see how far we have strayed from real food, and how we have been brainwashed by slick marketers and yes, enticed by our own laziness, to surrender our health to chemicals and convenience. Mother, no child has a Ritalin deficiency! Doctor, you know that there is no medical test for bipolar disorder! Young Lady, stop using that microwave and learn to cook! Young Man, pack your lunch, don’t buy that 99-cent heart attack!

I promise that I will step on toes, make someone mad, and go from preachin’ to meddlin.’ Change is painful, but not as hard as living with debilitating illness or without our loved ones.

[1] American Lung Association, http://lungaction.org/reports/sota07_county.html?fcc=48055
The Life Emporium Mission Statement

“Expose, Equip, Encourage”

The first recorded question ever asked by mankind is “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer is an emphatic, YES!

The purpose of The Life Emporium is to serve our neighbors, to be a keeper or protector of our brethren, by providing accurate and current information about foods and health in order that they may be equipped to make informed decisions that respect the Creator’s sacred gift of life and support optimal health of body, mind, and spirit.

The Life Emporium will accomplish this mission by a three-fold strategy:

· Expose the devitalized, denatured, and often toxic wares found on grocery shelves through Supermarket Survival Classes and Food Demo Classes, guest speakers, frequent movies.

· Equip people with knowledge of traditional foods and methods of preparation, while restoring the practice of lost home arts like lacto-fermentation. This knowledge will be based on the time-proven research of leaders who have blazed the trail for us, such as Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Francis Pottenger and currently Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon.

· Encourage the application of knowledge through Counseling and Coaching on a personal level. On a community basis, support the establishment of Farmer’s Markets and the practice of obtaining traditional foods from local, organic sources.


For truth, health, and prosperity,

Granny Good Food
A Bit of Math

There were three Indian squaws. One slept on a deer skin. One slept on an elk skin and the third slept on a hippopotamus skin. All three became pregnant and the first two each had a baby boy. The one who slept on the hippopotamus skin had twin boys. This goes to prove that the squaw of the hippopotamus is equal to the sons of the squaws of the other two hides.