Swine Flu? Whatever. Part 1

Everyday, people wander into our little health food store and ask us what we are doing for the swine flu. Our first response is always, well, we are not listening to the media. Talk about creating mass fear and instilling a sense of hopelessness in the general population. Nothing like a lot of stress to weaken your immune system enough to get a lot of people really sick.

Honestly, if your body is strong and you have a good immune system, the swine flu is nothing more than a hoax.

So, how do we make sure that our bodies are strong enough?

Start by decreasing your toxic load.

The best place to begin with that task is with what you voluntarily put into and onto your body. Your liver can only do so much, you’ve got to give it a break, help it out. It works so hard for you filtering all of the chemicals that we come into contact with. We have little personal control over what we come into contact with in the environment but we have 100% control over what we eat, what we slather on our skin and how we medicate ourselves (both therapeutically and recreationally).

Let’s start with food.

Start eating as much food that is organic or biodynamic or locally grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers as you can find. Start with all animal products and for produce, the dirty dozen. I actually like to call it the dirty bakers dozen because so many lists do not include potatoes.

Dirty Baker’s Dozen
Peaches
Apples
Bell pepper
Celery
Nectarine
Strawberries
Cherries
Kale
Lettuce
Grapes
Carrots
Pears
Potatoes

“Clean” 15: This list includes many items that I feel are questionable. They are included, I feel because they have a rind or skin on them that is not eaten. The theory is that the pesticide spray stays on the rind and that the rind gets discarded, so that means the fruit or vegetable is safe to eat. They are not taking into consideration that the rinds breathe and are porous so some pesticide can and does seep into the fruit but what I feel is the bigger danger is actually two fold.

1. The pesticides are sprayed everywhere. They get in the soil, mix with the groundwater and are then taken up into the plant and voila end up in the fruit that you eat

and

2. What about the chemical fertilizers that they use on 100% of conventionally farmed crops? All of that ends up in the fruit as well not to mention the damage it does to the groundwater supply and nearby lakes, rivers and streams and the critters that are trying to live there. This is certainly a case where the “KISS” acronym (keep it simple, stupid) really speaks volumes. They think that we are stupid, well; we are not, sorry Monsanto.

“Clean” 15
Onion (grown in the ground…)
Avocado
Sweet corn (100% genetically engineered)
Pineapple
Mango
Asparagus (have you ever grown asparagus? Can you say asparagus beetle?)
Sweet peas
Kiwi
Cabbage (again, cabbage worms and you eat the whole thing)
Eggplant
Papaya
Watermelon
Broccoli (cabbage worms and you eat the whole thing)
Tomato (come on, really?)
Sweet potato (grown in the ground…)

Listen, all of your produce does not have to be 100% certified organic to be safe to eat. Go to your local farmers market and talk with the growers, ask about their practices and you will know if they are growing food that won’t cause a second head to erupt from your neck. Buy from them and buy a lot. Learn to can/preserve the harvest for the winter months.

Eat as local as you can.

Start replacing processed foods with whole foods; eliminate high fructose corn syrup (no matter what the media says, yes it is made from corn, blah blah blah, that does not mean that it is good for you, the majority if not all of it is genetically engineered and it will make your pancreas cry, so cut it out). Limit the refined sugars in your diet. Try sweetening with honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, stevia, dates and date sugar… there are so many possibilities out there that we will explore together here. I love to bake and make goodies; I will show you how to do it without killing yourself. At all costs, avoid any and all artificial sweeteners even the ones that they claim are made from sugar, they are not, it is a lie, it really is.

Finally, make love to yourself by learning how to cook and then do it, often, every day.

Check out these 2 great resources for finding local and safe food!

Organic Consumers Association
Local Harvest

Stay tuned for how not to anger your guts!


Peace and Light,