Dear Friends,

I am not one to watch Reality TV, but last Sunday night I checked out ABC’s new reality series: Jamie’s Food Revolution. It was the promos that made me very interested to watch this show—the topic is right up our alley. I am very excited about what Jamie Oliver is all about. I hope these few clips will peak your interest. As we all know, it all comes down to education.

Jamie brings the kind of in your face spunk and heart that it will take to bring about change in our eating patterns that has so sickened the modern world.

Who is Jamie Oliver?

They call him the UK Celebrity Chef. In this very brief clip one of his major accomplishment, getting UK officials to allocate $1 billion to improve the UK’s school luncheon program, is sited—the UK’s Feed Me Better healthy school luncheon program. This is all in response to the fact that over 25% of the UK’s children are overweight.

To see what an absolutely outspoken character he is check out these clips: EU Fudge and Jamie consulting UK officials on the UK involvement in the EU.

Finally regarding Jamie’s background before we bring him to America, the following New Zealand TV station interview shows his garden and his home turf. You will see clearly what he is promoting.

Now Jamie has come to America to educate parents, children and communities about food and obesity. For 18 months he traveled around the U.S. researching our eating habits. For the launch of his campaign Jamie choose Huntington West Virginia—with the dubious distinction of being the unhealthiest city in America

We’re in a situation now where weight and extreme weight and heart disease is the biggest killer in this country today. It’s not murder, it’s not crime — it is heart disease. … And I hope I cause trouble by saying that it [unhealthy eating] is child abuse.

So Oliver decided to take matters into his own hands, all with the hopes of creating a positive chain reaction across this country. He shot a six-part reality series, “Jamie’s Food Revolution,” airing on ABC over three months. He challenged the residents of Huntington to change their minds, their habits and the contents of their refrigerators.

This clip presents excerpts from the first show that was aired this past Sunday. It speaks for itself—Jamie’s Food Revolution: Huntington, West Virginia.

How do we change America?

In England Jamie is known as the naked chef, not because he is naked, but because he wants our food to be—free of additives, fake flavors, processed foods….He wants everyone to eat food that is fresh, pure, unadorned. In one amazing part of the segment above, he asks a class of Huntington’s elementary school kids as he shows them a bunch of real live ripe tomatoes still on the vine, to identify the vegetable. Nobody could answer! When he asked them if they know what ketchup is—they all raised their hands.

Jamie Oliver is using the reality show format to change a community, and therefore a nation, with changes that we know must be made in our food system. He is using a media that many of our citizens view and he is putting out a truly uncompromised message about the desperate problem we have created with our eating habits and our present food system. He uses humor, irreverence, emotion, candor, graphic illustrations to make his points. He has put forth clear goals for Huntington to achieve, goals for all to see and to identify with, and to take pride in as their community demonstrates to all that they can be a winner.

We know that change has to happen in all segments of our society in regards to food and eating habits, but what could be a more appropriate place to start than in our school lunch programs.

As Jamie says in the above clip about his food crusade:

The story about Huntington is wanting to clean up the horizon of food and that is schools and supermarkets and restaurants and the fast food industry. This isn’t about Huntington it is about the whole of America.

The key is to teach people how to cook with real food. If you feel comfortable about putting the pan on the griddle and put little bits and pieces of chicken [and fresh vegetables] and know what spices and oils to use to make it taste heavenly, often you can save money….It really is a transition from highly processed foods to real foods.

God bless Jamie Oliver.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

The Therapeutic Foods Chromium, Bio-organic with Beet, is the same exact product with a more accurate descriptive name! As you know with our product labeling we like labels to say exactly what the product is. Using bio-organic in the labeling of our chromium is much more description—the beet in the product is organic and the ligands on the chromium ion are organic molecules derived from the nucleotides of brewers yeast—hence, bio-organic. This process gives us a chromium molecule that is extremely small less than 800 daltons and is water soluble and highly bioavailable—roughly three times more efficient than picolinates and polynicotinates of chromium in lowering blood sugar levels.

The Last Quiz Answer: This gorgeous creature is of course a giraffe from Tanzania. The average mass for an adult male giraffe is 1,200 kilograms (2,600 lb) while the average mass for an adult female is 830 kilograms (1,800 lb). It is approximately 4.3 metres (14 ft) to 5.2 metres (17 ft) tall, although the tallest male recorded stood almost 6 metres (20 ft). Within a few hours of being born, calves can run around and are indistinguishable from a week-old calf; however, for the first two weeks, they spend most of their time lying down, guarded by the mother. The young can fall prey to lions, leopards, spotted hyenas, and wild dogs. Only 25 to 50% of giraffe calves reach adulthood; the life expectancy is between 20 and 25 years in the wild and 28 years in captivity.

Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Helsing Farms sent out their first Spring email encouraging us to sign up: “Small shares cost $26 per week, though you will receive an additional 10% in free produce over the course of a 18 week season. A small share generously feeds 2+ people. Each week from mid-June to mid-October you will receive a pre-packaged box of season vegetables, fruits and herbs all grown organically here on our farm. Our produce goes from our field to your table in less than 48 hours.” Sounds good doesn’t it? Last year was wonderful with Helsing. We are signing up again. How about you, have you tried a season of using a CSA in your area?

Dear Friends,

Film Inc.’s chapter entitled Hidden Costs interviews Gary Hirshberg, CEO of Stonyfield Farm. The topic is the future of organic farming. Hirshberg points out numerous organic companies, still using their old names, but in fact are now owned by much larger companies. He mentions Tom’s of Maine’who is now owned by Colgate. (Colgate!) Bert’s Bees is now owned by Clorox. Kashi is now owned by Kelloggs (the world leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods). He comments on several other organic companies—one owned by Pepsi and the other by Kraft. Big corporate conglomerates buying their way into our industry. Does that concern you? It does me.

Hirshberg started his enterprise with a seven cow farm and by 2008, 25 years later, Stonyfield had become the third largest yogurt brand in America, and the most profitable. That same year Stonyfield was acquired by Groupe Danone, a $23 billion food conglomerate. Hirshberg continues to run Stonyfield as its CEO. He speaks of the reasons for selling 85% of the Stonyfield shares to Danone, and why selling to a large corporation can be a good thing for the global environment and humanity.

We learn from Hirshberg that organics have been growing 20% annually. And that it is one of the fastest growing elements of the food industry! Gary reflects that early on, as a biologist, it was obvious to him that business was the source of what was destroying this world. But he has had a major change of heart since those early years and now feels that business can be our savior against global warming. But is it possible that the people who are destroying the world can also be the saviors? They have the power, but do they have the heart? What would it take? Listen to what Hirshberg says and think this through:

We are not going to get rid of capitalism. Certainly we are not going to get rid of it in time to arrest global warming and reverse the toxification of our air, food and water. We need to be much more urgent than that. If we are just going to buy from companies that are within 100 miles of us we are never going to get there.

We need to not be David fighting against Goliath. We need to be Golaith.

The large companies don’t grow organically. They grow by acquisition. Coke, Pepsi, Kelloge—they are not walking, they are running to the organic food business.

Hirshberg doesn’t have enough film time to fully clarify his points, but what he seems to be saying is that we are not going to reverse the wrongs that have been perpetrated by the transnational corporations by making them the ultimate evil, and by only supporting the small local companies— but that we need both. We need all people whether they are working for the large conglomerates or not, to become environmentalists at heart. Can an individual keep such ideals as environmental quality, sustainability, and social equity alive while entrenched in the corporate machine? An important question that was put before Hirshberg is whether the organic companies that have been acquired by larger companies keep their soul—the M.O. that made them succesful? His answer is that “The jury is out. Let’s put it that way.” Not too reassuring.

But, Hirshberg continues with his apologetics on behalf of the useful power of the big corporations. In the clip below we meet Tony Airoso, Wal-Mart’s Chief Dairy Purchaser,who is coming to the Stonyfield Farm for the first time.

Airoso explains: “Actually it is a pretty easy decision to try to support things like organic based on what the customer wants. We see that and we react to it. If it is clear the customer wants it, it is easy to get behind it.”

Hirshberg concludes his remarks by saying that when he runs into his old environmental friends many of them are horrified by the kind of company that he is keeping these days. But when I explain what the power of one [organic] purchase order from Wal-Mart is in terms of not pounds but tons of pesticides, tons of herbicides, and tons of fertilizers not used on our environment—they have second thoughts.

I have second thoughts, and am still suspicious. I am not convinced that Gary had made the right decision. I needed more information about him. This is where the book, Food Inc. comes in—it provides a compilation of essays written by various luminaries in the organic food industry with Gary Hirshberger’s being one of them. I read his article entitled, Organics—Healthy Food, And So Much More. It was well written. I’ll share with you a couple of paragraphs.

…organic isn’t just about food. It’s a much more expansive way of thinking that embraces cyclical, nonlinear resource use, where waste from one activity becomes food for another. It honors natural laws, and it abhors the mindless dispersal of toxic chemicals. Cheap substitutes don’t work. That’s why you  can’t replace organic farming with chemical farming and  expect anything but depleted oil, poor crops, and unstable  prices.

All of humanity ate organic food until the early part of the twentieth century, yet we’ve been on a chemical binge diet for about eighty years—an eye blink in planetary history—and what do we have to show for it? We’ve lost one-third of America’s original topsoil; buried toxic waste everywhere, and polluted and depleted water systems, worsened global warming and exacerbated ailments ranging from cancer to diabetes to obesity.

This is not airy blather touting the tofu way to happiness. I see organic as part of a philosophy of wholeness, the science of integration, the need to keep nature humming as the interdependent web of life. Organic is also a pragmatic state of mind, offering real antidotes to society’s assorted ills and errors. It backs a sensible farm policy that protects not only family farmers, but also the health of all Americans—when you eat better, you are better.

Organic methods of agriculture can help stabilize fuel prices and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. They can lead to true national security, which, in turn, fosters planetary security. By using less fossil fuel and chemicals, and by trapping and building carbon in the soil instead of in the atmosphere, organic farming is a crucial WME (weapon of mass enlightenment) in humanity’s now-or-never fight against the air pollution that causes global warming. In short, there’s nothing “alternative about organic.”

I would say Gary establishes his credentials quite well in these four elegant paragraphs as a right thinking crusader for saving our biosphere. This is the kind of person we want infiltrating the corporate power establishment. Gary’s bottom line thesis is that we vote with our dollars, and therefore don’t vote for big corporations when they produce non-organic. But it is enough??

I am reminded of another powerhouse activist whom I wrote about in our August 28th, 2009 newsletter (found in our Publishing Blog Archives on the Bioimmersion Home Page)—Howard-Yana Shapiro PhD. He is a master gardener and the co-author of a phenomenal book titled Gardening For The Future Of The Earth. He not only created a master piece, showing us how to create a bounty in our own backyards, but he also created the largest organic seed company in the world—Seeds Of Change. However, after a little over a decade, he sold his seed company to the Mars Company. You know, the one that produces M&Ms and Snickers, etc. He is now their global director of plant science and external research.

If you’re interested in the future, scale is one of the things that’s critical. I am interested in not having any hungry people in the world. I am interested in changing the lives of as many people as possible. (Yana Shapiro PhD)

My conclusion: For business people, money speaks in the loudest of voices. But I think that behind money we need the correct values and attitudes. Can we truly affect big corporation? Not if the only thing that will change them is consumer demand. They need to understand what they are doing to our world—the pain and destruction they are inflicting for gaining more money. Although I would like not to demonize those who have the power—the reality is that power has not been used to affect real change by too many of the large corporations. But to infiltrate all sectors of human life with the message of organic, sustainability and equity for all is smart! Gary Hirshberg and Howard Shapiro are two of our best embedded agents for change and working for the organic cause.

As Gary Hirshberg points out: every time we purchase something—we are voting with our dollars. Wal-Mart didn’t decide to go organic because they had a sudden transformation of corporate culture, at least not yet, but realized that this was what an increasing number of their customers wanted. It was a good business decision. But again, it is about making money, not doing the right thing. Yet a move like that by the world’s largest retailer can make major changes in our farming system. It comes back to the fact that the most important leverage point that we have to achieve our organic goals is to educate the masses. If everyone stops buying industrial pork or chicken, and insists on using purchasing power to buy organic—the changes we desire can become a reality. Let’s educate!

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

The Therapeutic Foods Platform

For the past four years, since we developed the Therapeutic Foods Line, I have been consistent with my consumption of our different products. One thing that I have noticed is that I have been free of the yearly colds and flues that hit most people once or twice a year.

Here is my typical routine: Upon getting up each morning before my run I take.

• 1 heaping tablespoon of the Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula (good American bugs and fiber)
• 4 capsules of the Cruciferous Sprouts Complex (cruciferous vegetables)
• 1 capsule of the Wild Blueberry Complex (Purple berries)
• 1 capsule of the Cranberry Pomegranate Synbiotic Formula (good Bulgarian bugs, their metabolites and red berries)
• 2 capsules of the Fructo Borate Complex (supporting healthy bones and joints and hormones)
• 1 capsule of the Chromium BioOrganic (supporting blood sugar utilization)

I don’t just take one of the Therapeutic Foods daily, just as one wouldn’t eat just one food every day. In fact I move around amongst our synbiotic formulas—taking the Beta Glucan for a week or two, then switching to the Original Synbiotic or the No. 7. The more you consume the greater will be your body’s response and benefits derived.

The Last Quiz Answer: This gorgeous creature is an impala. This particular impala is in a bit of an urgent situation, as it is part of a herd of impalas that are surrounded by a pack of Wild Hunting Dogs—Africa’s most efficient hunters. Their favorite food, the hunting dogs that is, is impala. At this moment she is surveying her escape route, which direction to run. Impala can reach speeds of approximately 50 to 56 mph to escape their predators. She got away!

Well it is that time again, time to plant the Spring garden. This is year two for me at our condo complex. Last weekend I poured on the compost, kelp meal, lime, alfalfa meal and some vegetable fertilizer—all organic of course and I will plant next week early Spring crops of lettuce, spinach, arugula, peas, etc. I give you the total list next week, but here is a picture of our prepared 9ft by 15ft plot, waiting for the seeds and baby starter plants .

Dear Friends,

Have you seen the Academy Awards this past Sunday evening? Food Inc. was nominated for an Oscar in the category for best documentary. And, rightly so. Have you seen it yet? We truly need to utilize this fantastic tool that has been placed in our hands.

Over the last three weeks I have been asking many health professionals if they’ve seen Food Inc. Surprising, few have. But even with those who did, just a handful have fully realized the transformative educational tool this film is designed to be.

So bear with me one more week as I dive back into these materials. My purpose is to inspire you to look more closely, to look deeply into them. You’ll need three things—the DVD Food Inc., the Discussion Guide and the book Food Inc. The Discussion Guide is downloadable through The Center For Ecoliteracy. When you click on The Center’s link wait a moment for the frame to rotate to the picture of a cow. When that frame comes up click on it to download The Discussion Guide—a teacher’s guide to the real story behind food.

In The Guide’s introductory remarks, Zenobia Barlow, Cofounder and Executive Director for The Center For Ecoliteracy, says:

Dear Educator,

Food, Inc. presents the challenges posed by our current food system. It also offers hope. As an educator, you play a vital role as communities address the issues facing them today. You challenge your students to think critically and to grapple with complex questions. You inspire them to become engaged citizens and help them gain the knowledge and skills they will need in order to develop sustainable solutions. I believe that you will find Food, Inc. and this companion discussion guide to be valuable tools. This guide is designed to support you and your students in exploring the profound impacts of daily actions. It is a learning aid that demonstrates how to make choices that promote well-being by honoring nature’s ways of sustaining the web of life.

The Center for Ecoliteracy is dedicated to schooling for sustainability. I hope that you will look to us as a resource. Through our initiative Smart by Nature, we offer guidance and support for school communities, from designing curricula to examining the ways in which schools provision themselves and use energy and resources. I invite you to consult our website, www.ecoliteracy.org, to learn more about our publications and programs on a wide range of topics, including school food, gardens, campus design, and curricular innovation.

Thank you for all that you do to educate students about creating sustainable communities.

Many of you have kids or have patients with kids, and these materials can motivate kids like none I’ve seen. There are several reasons for this. One, is the is the power of the DVD itself. Viewing it in bite sized segments (by choosing a particular chapter) keeps the attention and focus sharp. Two, each chapter is accompanied with a well-designed lesson plan that you will find in the Discussion Guide. Plans that would take teachers hours to design! And three, the Discussion Guide promotes and teaches one how to use the Socratic teaching method. This is critical if one truly wants to get kids involved in the thinking process. The Center for Ecoliteracy is one of the world’s leading institutes for teaching Systemic Thinking and the Socratic Method. They have arranged their Discussion Guide around these transformative principles. For this reason alone these material are worthy of your serious attention.

This week I want to share with you another chapter from the Food Inc—this segment is called: Unintended Consequences.

In this 13.56 minutes long segment, the focus is on one of the unintended consequences of our current food system: the occasional contamination of the food supply and the very real risks presented to the population. The film puts a face on this problem by interviewing the mother of a toddler who died from E. coli contracted from eating a hamburger.

The chapter describes how feeding cows corn—a cheap and abundant crop because of subsidies—has increased the incidence of E. coli, since corn raises the level of E. coli in cows’ guts.

This section of the movie, as you can imagine, is very emotional for it is presented by Barbara Kowalcyk and Patricia Buck, Kevin’s mother and grandmother, who have worked for years to pass the Meat and Poultry Pathogen Reduction and Enforcement Act, or “Kevin’s Law.” This bipartisan bill was designed to increase the USDA’s authority to set and enforce food safety standards for meat and poultry.

“During the Bush administration the chief of staff of the USDA was the former chief lobbiest for the beef industry in Washington DC. The head of the FDA was the former executive vice president of the National Food Proccessors Association. These regulatory agencies are being controlled by the very companies that they are supposed to be scrutinizing.” (Food Inc.)

“In 1972, the FDA conducted approximatley 50,000 food safety inspections. In 2006, the FDA conducted 9,164.” (Food Inc.)

“In 1978 there were thousands of slaughter houses. Today we have 17.” (Food Inc.)

“Our regulatory agencies have become toothless and that is how the industry wants it.” (Eric Schlosser, Fastfood Nation)

Beef Production Inc. (BPI) in South Sioux City, NE. is one of our nations handfull of beef processing plants. It is one of the biggest.

A view from the inside.

“Food processing plants have become bigger and bigger and are perfect for taking bad pathogens and spreading them far and wide.” (Food Inc.)

“The hamburger of today has pieces of thousands of different cattle ground up in the one hamburger patty. The odds increasing exponentially that one of those animals is carrying a dangerous pathogen.” (Food Inc.)

In light of this higher risk of contamination, the film shows meat packers taking such measures as using ammonia to cleanse meat meant for human consumption.

“The hamburger meat filler is in 70% of the hamburgers is the country.” (spokesperson for BPI, Food Inc.) Their goal is to be in 100% of hamburgers in America within five years. He concluded his remarks by proudly saying, “Our meat processing plant is a marriage of science and technology.

The BPI manager/spokesperson is correct. The plant is a marvel of modern industrial engineering. However, the fatal flaw is the error that modern science has been encumbered by—the lack of systemic thinking. The very weakness that we in the holistic medical community can offer a solution for. As Michael Pollan says:

If you take feed lot cattle off of the corn diet and give them grass for 5 days, they will shed 80% of their E.coli in their gut.

But the industries approach when it has a systemic problem like that is not to go back and see what’s wrong with the system. It is to come up with some high tech fixes that allow the system to survive.

Each year approximately 325,000 Americans are hospitalized and 5,000 die from food-borne ilness. Like two year old Kevin in the film, many are stricken by Escherichia coli 0157:H7. This deadly strain was first found in 1982 and has been traced to ground beef, sausages, unpasturized milk and cheese, unpasteurized apple and orange juice, alfalfa and radish sprouts, lettuce, spinach and drinking water.

Verocytotoxin producing Escherichia coli, such as E. coli s0157 are emerging food borne pathogens worldwide. They are responsible for a range of illnesses in humans from mild diarrhea to hemorrhagic colitis and hemolytic uremic syndrome in humans.

The solution? Become a gentle activist: watch the movie, have it available for others to watch, support stores and farmers that produce and offer organic foods, and speak to your children’s teachers about the movie and the educational materials.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

Bifido longum was found to neutralize E. coli. Oral administration of B. longum exerts marked inhibitory effects on ulcerative colitis in mice. Administration of methotrexate to rats on an elemental diet results in severe enterocolitis and death. Lactobacillus plantarum, an integral part of the healthy gastrointestinal micro ecology, provided therapeutic benefits to help in the recovery from enterocolitis. L. plantarum reduces the number of infections in patients after liver transplantation. L. plantarum fermented oat given to healthy volunteers significantly reduces the gut content of potentially pathogenic microorganisms such as Enterobacteriaceae, S. aureus and enterococci.

In pulling together our American collection of probiotic organisms that are in our Original Synbiotic Formula, Beta Glucan Synbiotic Formula, High ORAC Synbiotic Formula and the Triple Berry Probiotic we had protection against these pathogens in mind. Read our monographs on these products, found within the Library tab on our home page. Our most extensive disease is found in our Original Synbiotic Monograph. Perhaps read that one first.

The Last Quiz Answer: This beautiful creature is one happy pig, living on an idealic organic farm in the Shannandoa Valley of Virginia. It is raised free ranged, with no hormones, or growth promoting antibiotics. It is raised with lots of love. As you watch the chickens, cows and pigs moving about on this iconic, totally organic farm, the farmer reflects on industrial farming and the food it produces. He says, “We are willing to subsidize the food system to provide the mystic of cheap food when actually it is very expensive food. When you add up the environmental costs, the societal costs, the health costs, the industrial food is not honest food.” [And, it certainly is not cheap food].

Discovery in legumes could reduce fertilizer use, aid environment (March 10, 2010) – Escalating use of nitrogen fertilizer is increasing algal blooms and global warming, but a recent discovery by researchers could begin to reverse that.

Dear Friends,

Let me ask you a question—What is the factor most associated with developing diabetes?

23.7 million Americans had diabetes in 2009, costing the healthcare system $165 billion. But, a study released recently by the University of Chicago predicts that by 2034 the nation’s diabetes cases will double to 44.1 million with the cost of treatment at more than $336 billion.

Remember in last week’s Newsletter we discussed the superb educational documentary Food Inc. It was, in fact, created for that purpose—to educate and rally young and old, rich and poor to make the effort to change our present failing food system. We talked about the film being divided into 12 chapters, and that each chapter is accompanied by a downloadable Discussion Guide. Perfect for an educator.

This week I will give you a taste of Chapter Four—The Dollar Menu: Should access to healthy food be a right for everyone?

Take a look at this picture from the movie- Food Inc. These are people, from low income families in a nutrition class at the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, giving an affirmative answer to the question—How many of you have three members in you family who are diabetic?

What is going on here?

Here’s another fact for you. This segment from the movie starts out with a Mexican American family of four—a father and mother and two girls. They are at a drive-in-window of a fast food restaurant. The father orders:

5 Rodeo Cheeseburgers- $5.00

2 Chicken Sandwiches- $2.00

2 Small Sprite- $2.00

1 large Dr. Pepper- $1.60

Subtotal- $10.60

Tax- .88cent

Total- $11.48

As is typical with Mexican American families, they work long hours at two or three low paying jobs. They leave home at 6 am and get back home at 9pm—they must eat on the run. The movie shows them together going to the supermarket, pricing out produce such as broccoli verses the much less expensive snack “foods”. It asks the question why can one buy a double cheeseburger for 99 cents, and yet, you can’t buy a head of broccoli for that? The answer to this question is government subsidies.

The movie then features an interview with Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) describing subsidies.

We skewed our food system to the bad calories and it is not an accident. The reason these calories are cheaper is because those are the calories that are heavly subsidized. This is directly tied to the kind of agriculture we are practicing and the kind
of farm policies we enact.

All those snack food calories come from the commodity crops—wheat, corn and soy. By making those calories really cheap, poor families can afford them….We are hard wired to go for salt, fat and sugar. These things are very rare in nature. Now sugar is available 24-7. High fructose corn syrup and refined carbohydrates leads to these spikes of insulin and gradually a warring down of the system where by our body metabolizes
sugar.

Let’s discuss subsidies briefly.

Our government sets or makes policies deciding who gets subsidies. Farmers then respond to those crops they can make the most guaranteed money on. Thus highly subsidized crops like corn, wheat and soy are focused on. This creates a chain reaction throughout the food supply industry.

The meat in McDonalds hamburgers is fattened on corn, the most highly subsidized crop in America. A report from Tufts University clamims that the American beef industry saves some $562 million a year, on average, by fattening cattle on subsidized corn. Total subsidies to corn topped $4.6 billion in 2006. (The Value of Nothing, Pub. 2010, by Raj Patel, p. 44)

Food companies use these commodities, corn, wheat and soy, to make hydrogenated oil, and high fructose corn syrup. The lowest cost options at the grocery store are often those made up of refined grains with added sugars and fats. The main reason these products are cheap is that they contain one or more subsidized ingredients. Nearly all processed foods contain high-frutose corn syrup. (FOOD, INC.—the movie)

We are complicit in the problem, as these are our tax dollars that they are using. What is the driving force that decides how farmers can make money? Follow the Farm Bills’ policies the government enacts. Follow the machinations of Congress. See below The Green Facts. Let’s get involved.

Now back to our Mexican American family. The father of this family is a diabetic and his eye sight is failing as a result of the disease. Much of their income is spent on his medications. Most of his income is derived from driving, which is now becoming questionable because of his poor eyesight.

As you know well, diabetes is now affecting children in epidemic proportions. One in three Americans born after 2000 will contact early onset diabetes. Among the minorities the rate will be one in two. Now back to the top and my question for you—What is the leading predictor for aquiring diabetes? The answer is—Income Level.

Isn’t it time we factor in the true costs for our country becoming a fast food nation—the cost to our national health, the cost to our environment, the cost to the poor? Who pays the cost for this bad food? We all do! Who reaps the profits? A handful of large multinational corporate conglomerates. It is time to take action at the governmental policy level, to set the rules so that our food supply system operates sustainably, enhances environmental quality and delivers healthy food to all.

Sincerely yours,

Seann Bardell

BioImmersion.com

Clinical Note:

If one can afford just one of the Therapeutic Foods Formulas to support their health, which one would we suggest? Of course it depends on what issues the patient is dealing with, but the Number 7 Systemic Booster powerfully supports major systems in the body! Including the endocrine system and the body’s efficient utilization of insulin. We have received postive reports from doctors who are using it for many reasons, including the treatment of diabetes. Check it out.

The Last Quiz Answer: This beautiful creature is a Mongolian Wild Camel. As a safeguard against its extinction, the Wild Camel Protection Foundation (WCPF) has established a captive wild Bactrian camel breeding program in Mongolia, the only program of its type in the world. The Mongolian Ministry of Nature and the Environment (MMNE) supports this initiative and has made land available near the Great Gobi Specially Protected Area ‘A’, the only natural habitat of the wild Bactrian camel in Mongolia.

The immune system of a single humped, dromedary camel is beginning to yield amazing secrets. For example, an increased ability to resist certain types of diseases including diabetes through the consumption of camel milk.

Scientists have every reason to think that a detailed study of the immune system of the wild Bactrian camel will yield scientific discoveries which will be of benefit to the whole of mankind. For example, how is it that the wild Bactrian camels survived 43 atmospheric nuclear tests and are still breeding naturally without any recognizable deformities? How has the wild Bactrian camel managed to survive on salt water that the domestic Bactrian will not drink?

Reminds me of the wonderful benefits from animals highlighted in Dr. Eric Chivian’s amazing book—Sustaining Life- How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity (See Jan. 6th, 2010 Newsletter in our Archives).

Everything you thought you knew about organics is about to change. If the USDA and Monsanto get their way, organic integrity is about to go the way of the dinosaur.Once again, the organic industry is under assault. This time the USDA is determined to let Monsanto ride roughshod over common sense environmental rules that would protect organic farmers from having their crops contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds. Tell Secretary Vilsack that Monsanto’s GMO alfalfa cannot be allowed to undermine the organic industry. Comments are due by close of business on Wednesday, March 3rd. So please ACT TODAY: Click here Food Democracy Now!