Extremely important topic on food.

[Nosferatu]

If you haven't seen the documentary "Food Matters" you need to watch it now.

The idea portrayed in this documentary but followed by many is that you are what you eat.

Basically the only possible cause for depression or sickness is because of malnourishment and the toxins in processed foods. And the fact that eating all organic and vegetarian with large doses of vitamins can prevent and reverse major diseases like cardiovascularcardio disease, cancer, diabetes, but the studeies are suppresed. Basically most Americans are so malnourished because they eat nutrient deficient fast food and chemical filled addicting supermarket food. The body need vitamins and minerals found in raw plant food, not cooked and microwaved food that had no low nutrition in the first place. Also meat is a horrible source of protien compared to whats out there, soooo inefficient and dumb. Your not supposed to get tired in the evening and hardly be able to get through work without ten cups of coffee a day. I'm energetic from 6:45 in the morning till 11 at night and dont drink cafffiene and vape ALL day. No come downs no tired sick feeling like I used to be no random periodic depressions. I'm happy and clear minded all day now and have twice the energy and twice the looks. Go organic and mostly vegetarian and eat no ingridents ou cant understand. Shop at Trader Joes or the farmers market or any local health food store, the prices are even better these days. Stop supporting these companies killing millions a year, lets put em outa business! Eat natural!

It also talks about big pharmas role in all this. Well they obviously rely on having patients, to sell their mostly bogus medicine to. So we're a bunch of malnourished fat Americans that in turn then get sick and need medicine for our disorders that "miraculously" pop up. Its so interesting to know that depression is caused from a deficiency in certain vitamins, and how it can easily be cured, along with being overweight, having ADHD, and so many other "disorders." Also the medicine is never a cure, you usually need it for the rest of your life, its keeping you a patient. This movie talks about the importants of eating naturall and using all herbs for ailments and you will have double the energy and never have to worry about sickness.

Its streaming on Netflix: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Food_Matters/70123196?trkid=2430625#height1703

Another great one: The Future of Food: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Future_of_Food/70038794?trkid=2361637#height1671

 

[Nycdeisel]

Interesting, I think I will see that movie, having now heard about it a few times.

 

[Human Bean]

not sure what it is that causes this but it also makes us age faster. and addicted to it

 

[WatTyler]

Go organic.... Stop supporting these companies killing millions a year, lets put em outa business! Eat natural!

I've got to disagree slightly, I'm afraid. I agree about the processed foods aspect, but not so sure about the social/humanitarian righteousness of a wide move to organic production- if we all change there will be no real drive for food production technology development, except perhaps under 'foreign aid' programmes. I'm a complete hippocrite though, as I too don't trust many of the technologies pushed upon us and sometimes buy organic .

My line of work is kind of marine environmental management and it touches a lot on sustainability issues and food security. Food security is going to be a massive issue for the upcoming generations, maybe even in our lifetimes, and on a global scale (although at this stage we can already see that it is the distribution of food, rather than it's production, that is the primary global issue). (I also guess the US are fairly robust in terms of food production capacity?, but it won't be isolated from the global impacts.)

The way I see it is that we have a finite quantity of food production land, and an exponentially increasing population. As a planet we can certainly free up more land for agriculture, but at the expense of precious natural habitats and species (such as rainforest, for example), which I also believe we should protect. Ultimately our agricultural production capacity is far more limited than our long term demand for it.

I don't think that the solution to this issue is to abandon hundreds of years of development of food production technology in favour of organic production. In terms of the supply and distribution problems that we have to face as a global community I don't feel it can provide the answers long term. I know that there are arguments from the organic movement that such production methods can meet intensive longer term demands, but I say that the finite potential of these methods must be realised and eventually we will have to think smarter than mother nature if we are to avoid a Malthusian catastrophe. Longer term we have to focus research into the most efficient methods of food production and ways to augment the production capacity of the land we do have access to.

That's about saving, maintaining and improving lives, rather than killing millions a year.

Sure, sometimes it's not always done right, and the motives of greed and profit can skew research and applications of technology. And misused fertilisers and pesticides are incredibly damaging to the wider environment as well as human health. But that doesn't mean that we must ignore this need for this approach on principle. Rather than wash our hands of a technological approach towards food production and divert our spending money towards potentially less efficient practises, I feel we should be striving to make it better, safer and more effective. If we in the West do not do this, the price for will be paid first by the poorer nations (to a greater extent than already). But ultimately also by us or our descendants. (see Ester Boserup's writings for some intersting theory on all of this)

I like the organic movement as a choice- it is the food I would rather eat. But at the end of the day that's what it is- a very privileged choice. It's often taken as the moral/ethical high ground. I guess I'm questioning that and whether it is actually the socially righteous choice, and whether we should carry the same awareness of it as an indulgence as we do when fulfilling other selfish desires, like big cars.

But at the end of the day I do finish up thinking 'fuck it, I'm here to enjoy myself'. Life is not sustainable what's best for my own 'sustainability' is inherently not best for global sustainability (or my own happiness and enjoyment for that matter), and so I should take the morally sound option and just die? Relieve myself of all this guilt!

 

[Nosferatu]

WatTyler I see what you mean, but thats not the main problem. The FDA and EPA are allowing things to be put in food that help no one and dont better the world, all they do is kill and weaken people. They are suppressing studies that prove vitamins and a healthy diet can reverse diseases we are told are permanent. Why, because then we dont need their medicine. The FDA was basically inflitrated by the Pharmaceutical company, they provide half their funding. So the studies done by their scientist, are very shady, and they are putting stuff in food that should be unheard of. It simply is poison. Big Pharma wants this because in turn it gets them more sick, malnourished people who need to rely on medicine to feel normal, when their diet would fix everything. Yet the FDA doesnt see nutrition as a factor, they refuse to. So their is no good side to this. The companies that control our processed food have been bought out and are adding so many addictive "artificial flavors" to food these days it should be considered genococide. Watch this movie and see how many lives will be saved if every one floowed the info, yet of course like you said we are already overpopulated.

And these chemicals not only affect you physically, they ruin your brain. Why do you think most kids have "ADD" and rising depression, why are we being taght what used to be elementary math in 12th grade now. Something is wrong and its because MOST AMericans are malnourished and living at 50% their potential. There is no justification for this, millions die a year so these companies can continue to profit. It can and will come to an end when enough people realize they want ot eat real food, not Mcdonalds. Because wether you know it or not, what you eat controls your conciousness and perception, I would argue to the extent cannabis does in the long run. I used to be a daily fast food eater and now understand why I used to be unable to lose weight and was always depressed, anxous, weak, confused, and tired. I was filling my body with bad, nutrient deficient, artifical, chemical ridden fuel, hmm maybe thas why.

 

[Nosferatu]

And if you are here "to enjoy yourself", see how much better life is when you go healthy, its night and day. Theres no enjoyment in the feeling you get from junk food, ONCE you rid your body of the addiction to it, that is.

 

[WatTyler]

WatTyler I see what you mean, but thats not the main problem.

Indeed, I apologise, it was slightly OT relating to food production rather than processing. It's just an issue I sometimes have with the organic perspective that I haven't yet got my head around fully.

Incidently we have a jumped up little TV chef in the UK called Jamie Oliver who had some success with the UK government in getting school meal content improved and serving natural, local, unprocessed foods. I didn't realise, but what we feed our kids in school today is so much less wholesome than when I was at school.

He's a preachy knob, but I do agree with his objective here.

He's trying to do a similar thing in America. I doubt you will have heard of him as I think he's more of a celebrity on this side of the pond, although maybe you have. But anyway, it's interesting seeing the problems he's been having trying to get US authorities to be open to the concept of unprocessed school foods in the show screened here. Since the first show I think he was also trying to roll it out in California, but the authorities are a bit reticent http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...will-not-be-televised-in-schools-2206340.html You've got to wonder why the organisational resistance to improving the foods of our children? he encountered the same thing at first I think in the UK, although I think he had the public profile to beat it. Don't know about in the USA.

(edit: looks like he had a tv show in the US about this? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodandd...Jamie-Olivers-American-TV-show-flounders.html )

 

[Nosferatu]

I just heard of this guy how weird. I see what you mean on the organic perspective, but in the end its more about eating right than only organic. You would still be much healthier and clear minded even if you ate healthy and got the right nutrients and enough of them, even if not organic. So its mainly about how most people are malnourished, and when you are malnourished you cant thrive physically, mentally, or spiritually.

 

[Silver420Surfer]

Cool post, Nosferatu!!

My wife has really opened my eyes to alot of what you say. All I can say is that I have 2 of the healthiest, happiest young boys because of what she DOESN'T put into their bodies. That also includes big pharma. We had a hard time finding pediatrician because they all want to pump in a bunch of unnecessary drugs into them for every little thing. Example, my oldest (5 now) had a earache/ infection, of which there is no "pill" to take to make it go away, but boy they sure wrote out the script for antibiotics real fast. Why? It wouldn't help the ear infection. But they will fill my son with that crap to make a buck. Nuff ranting here.

 

[biojuggernaut]

very very interesting

 

[herbgirl]

I've not seen this one, but the books Food, Inc. and Fast Food Nation really changed my way of thinking about what we eat. Having to read every. single. label. and actually know what all that crap is for my son's various food allergies for a period of time was eye opening to say the least. Not that we don't default to hot dogs and chicken nuggets periodically like most busy families do, I just try very hard to keep that type stuff out of the house so I have no choice but to cook a real meal, not just heat up something from a package.

this is exactly why i am growing as much of my own organic food as possible this season. i find that when i eat crap (heavily processed) i feel like crap and my depression gets worse. i also don't want to feed my family dead food either. I have 90 containers (some pots, some cat litter buckets and some plastic safety deposit box inserts, my son's old crib pieces are serving as trellises - my neighbors tolerate this hillbilly foolishness due to the free veggies lol) drip irrigated with well over 200 fruit & veg. plants. planning on getting chickens (if i can convince the neighbors to not tattle on me - chickens are no no on less than an acre in my county - i'm sure fresh eggs will keep them quiet) and more plants next year. all on a rowhome's corner lot of less than 1/10 of an acre. and I'm not done yet - i want the lawn GONE!

i make almost all my foods from scratch for this reason as well. if i want to make a jam without a ton of sugar or HFCS, i can. My own bread without BHT or other additives, beef stock not from a can or box or even worse concentrate! I even use recipes for things most people get from packages because so many of the ingredients in those packages are not good for you. it is time consuming, my friends do tease me about it - but i feel it's important to our health so I make time for it. i also do quite a bit of preserving, freezing and drying whole pure foods. The money savings by doing this yourself is tremendous and gives a wonderful sense of self satisfaction. Cracking open a jar of pure applesauce or strawberry preserves that you picked and processed months earlier is very rewarding. Even something as simple as going from boneless, skinless chicken breasts injected with salt solution (3.29 lb) to whole chickens not injected with solution (.89 lb) and cutting them up (and convincing your kids that they are chicken 'cicles because they aren't used to the bones) can make a huge difference.

still looking for an affordable source of pastured beef and pork, chicken, eggs and dairy (raw milk oh my) but until then it's meats not injected with solutions from the warehouse club etc.

Taking the steps to prepare and eat real food takes time, but it has helped us to stay healthier and get sick less in the long run it's worth it. I want my boys to have the advantage of a well nourished body and mind in this competitive world. It seems that many of their fellow classmates are slaves to the school's version of food (edible food like substances) for breakfast and lunch either because the parents don't know how bad it really is or just don't care. Actually, i got the stank eye from some parents when i complained to the school about the selection of universal breakfast items including donuts and pastries every day. - to elementary age kids. They are concerned that this 'universal breakfast' will be taken away and they will actually have to be responsible for feeding their kids breakfast. Yet they have taken away my right as a parent to keep junk food away from my boys by making it so that if he chooses not to participate in universal breakfast he is either late to school or gets alienated for being the boy with the tofu mom who won't let him eat that crap all the time. *SORRYFORTHERANT*
anyway,
Jamie Oliver came to Huntington, WV, USA to a school in a county with the highest obesity rate in the state and tried to get them to prepare real food for the kids. I think the show was called food revolution? He made a valiant effort, but got nothing but heavy doubt and resistance. The cafeteria ladies only know how to heat up food, not cook it and the cafeteria manager was freaking out about the raw chicken in her kitchen. (REALLY LADY? IT'S A FUCKING kitchen) Until attitudes about 'cheap food' and what it does to you change, and marketers stop telling parents that juice, froot loops or pop tarts are a good source of *real* fruit, our society will continue to be fat and sick.

 

[Human Bean]

hey a lil off topic but could you guys help me out a bit? i need to GAIN weight. what should i be eating? i just have a high metabolism. but i should also eat more times a day

 

[Nosferatu]

hey a lil off topic but could you guys help me out a bit? i need to GAIN weight. what should i be eating? i just have a high metabolism. but i should also eat more times a day

Eat 6 meals a day or so and try to eat a lot of protein at the beginning of the day. You might as well gain muscle weight not fat weight so work out also. Eat pasta and bread and stuff like that. Since you have a fast metabolism you can probably afford to eat some organic chicken or turkey if you so like to get some fatty protein also. Unless your TOO skinny though whats the problem? I dont know why people have a fascination with being big. I wish I was in your boat instead of having to constantly try to stay skinny.

 

[Nosferatu]

I've not seen this one, but the books Food, Inc. and Fast Food Nation really changed my way of thinking about what we eat. Having to read every. single. label. and actually know what all that crap is for my son's various food allergies for a period of time was eye opening to say the least. Not that we don't default to hot dogs and chicken nuggets periodically like most busy families do, I just try very hard to keep that type stuff out of the house so I have no choice but to cook a real meal, not just heat up something from a package.

this is exactly why i am growing as much of my own organic food as possible this season. i find that when i eat crap (heavily processed) i feel like crap and my depression gets worse. i also don't want to feed my family dead food either. I have 90 containers (some pots, some cat litter buckets and some plastic safety deposit box inserts, my son's old crib pieces are serving as trellises - my neighbors tolerate this hillbilly foolishness due to the free veggies lol) drip irrigated with well over 200 fruit & veg. plants. planning on getting chickens (if i can convince the neighbors to not tattle on me - chickens are no no on less than an acre in my county - i'm sure fresh eggs will keep them quiet) and more plants next year. all on a rowhome's corner lot of less than 1/10 of an acre. and I'm not done yet - i want the lawn GONE!

i make almost all my foods from scratch for this reason as well. if i want to make a jam without a ton of sugar or HFCS, i can. My own bread without BHT or other additives, beef stock not from a can or box or even worse concentrate! I even use recipes for things most people get from packages because so many of the ingredients in those packages are not good for you. it is time consuming, my friends do tease me about it - but i feel it's important to our health so I make time for it. i also do quite a bit of preserving, freezing and drying whole pure foods. The money savings by doing this yourself is tremendous and gives a wonderful sense of self satisfaction. Cracking open a jar of pure applesauce or strawberry preserves that you picked and processed months earlier is very rewarding. Even something as simple as going from boneless, skinless chicken breasts injected with salt solution (3.29 lb) to whole chickens not injected with solution (.89 lb) and cutting them up (and convincing your kids that they are chicken 'cicles because they aren't used to the bones) can make a huge difference.

still looking for an affordable source of pastured beef and pork, chicken, eggs and dairy (raw milk oh my) but until then it's meats not injected with solutions from the warehouse club etc.

Taking the steps to prepare and eat real food takes time, but it has helped us to stay healthier and get sick less in the long run it's worth it. I want my boys to have the advantage of a well nourished body and mind in this competitive world. It seems that many of their fellow classmates are slaves to the school's version of food (edible food like substances) for breakfast and lunch either because the parents don't know how bad it really is or just don't care. Actually, i got the stank eye from some parents when i complained to the school about the selection of universal breakfast items including donuts and pastries every day. - to elementary age kids. They are concerned that this 'universal breakfast' will be taken away and they will actually have to be responsible for feeding their kids breakfast. Yet they have taken away my right as a parent to keep junk food away from my boys by making it so that if he chooses not to participate in universal breakfast he is either late to school or gets alienated for being the boy with the tofu mom who won't let him eat that crap all the time. *SORRYFORTHERANT*
anyway,
Jamie Oliver came to Huntington, WV, USA to a school in a county with the highest obesity rate in the state and tried to get them to prepare real food for the kids. I think the show was called food revolution? He made a valiant effort, but got nothing but heavy doubt and resistance. The cafeteria ladies only know how to heat up food, not cook it and the cafeteria manager was freaking out about the raw chicken in her kitchen. (REALLY LADY? IT'S A FUCKING kitchen) Until attitudes about 'cheap food' and what it does to you change, and marketers stop telling parents that juice, froot loops or pop tarts are a good source of *real* fruit, our society will continue to be fat and sick.

Nice post and never worry about what people say to you or your "tofu kids" at school. They'll be the confident healthy ones in high school and those "bullies" will be fat and weak and your kids will get all the chicks(or guys) and the tides will turn.

 

[Silver420Surfer]

Great rant herbgirl!!!
We'd love to have "your kind" living near us down here in FL, but it sounds like WV needs some more peeps like yourself to "re-educate" the masses. We get the same, in not worse "stink-eye" here down south as well. It seems the more you try to wean yourself from bad foods and the resulting bad medicines you are given to counteract the bad food, the weirder looks get. My wife schools the kids at home but my oldest goes to a co-op school once a week as well. Most of the courses are based on the Montessori school, I think, my wife is really the WonderWoman, I just learn from her and try not to sneak the boys to many reese sticks(my weakness), and ice cream(their weakness). Herbgirl --your posts lead me to believe you are a wonderful human being, who in turn is an even greater MOM. Your kids sound as lucky to have their mom as mine are. I hope you had a great Mother's Day!!

Maybe we'll get a "Healthy Living" section here at FC. I would seem right since so many are here for healthier methods of using mj. I know nowhere near what Nos, or Herbgirl do, but I like learning and applying it to my life.

 

[Human Bean]

hey a lil off topic but could you guys help me out a bit? i need to GAIN weight. what should i be eating? i just have a high metabolism. but i should also eat more times a day

Eat 6 meals a day or so and try to eat a lot of protein at the beginning of the day. You might as well gain muscle weight not fat weight so work out also. Eat pasta and bread and stuff like that. Since you have a fast metabolism you can probably afford to eat some organic chicken or turkey if you so like to get some fatty protein also. Unless your TOO skinny though whats the problem? I dont know why people have a fascination with being big. I wish I was in your boat instead of having to constantly try to stay skinny.

thank you ill try this out. yes im too skinny. well, i just need some meat or fat on my bones lol its muscle but not alot of fat. its not the best as im super light. havent weighed myself in years but i was never 120 so i have YET to reach that and im 19 and 5 foot 6. i was 116 117 at age 16 i dont think its gone up much even though i work out a bit.

thanks again ,

 

[Nosferatu]

Your metabolism will slow as you age probably. In the mean time if your eating all organic healthy food eat as much as you fucking can. Were led to believe were fat because of how much we eat, but thats only partially true, you wont get obese eatinga vegan diet even if you eat like nonstop. 3 meals a day is BULLSHIT and keeping people malnourished. You should munch light all day. Get the energy as you spend it. Dont stock up then use it all then crash then need more. Kinda like vaping. Use less but more often for the most balanced buzz all day and with no comedowns.

 

[Elluzion]

I like to consider my self somewhat well versed when it comes to the topic of "Food". I have realized what many people haven't. That we are connected to our environment, and mother nature is here to provide us with everything we need to survive. Nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, algae, seaweed. Everything! All our essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals, lipids, proteins, carbohydrates. It is all here in front of us, and what do we do? Tear it down, PROCESS it, re-package and re-sell it. Why damage all this amazing food we already have here on this earth. Our food is like the cannabis plant. It was put on this earth for a purpose, and that purpose was to provide healing and health to us. Everything here has a purpose, however, we have a choice with how we choose to interact with these things. You must be ready for these interactions, and I think that our society today is being blinded by the media and bullshit and FORGETTING THEIR TRUE HUMAN SENSES, and that is our INTERACTION with PEOPLE and our ENVIRONMENT.

Also, eating vegetables and fruits is AMAZING for your skin and overall well being. I FEEL energized and connected to the earth, no stomach aches or, like anything you would get after a double double hamburger that didn't do you well anyways.

Do the right thing, eat from the earth, vaporize cannabis, discover what YOU need to see in this world, to unlock the TRUE secrets to the universe and realize our TRUE connections here on this earth.

 

[charliedontsurf]

I'm an extraordinary food Nazi myself and consider myself easily within the 95% percentile on diet quality.

It's amazing what some people will shovel into themselves. I do disagree that fully organic production of food is necessarily what we should be focusing on, but there are clearly "line in the sand" issues with health and food which were crossed 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 years ago, and now on a daily basis. Stuff like HFCs and fractionated palm kernal oil and stuff like that which exists purely for the convenience of the manufacturer and seller and takes NO account of the health or the happiness of the consumer. It again "crosses a line" at a certain point where it becomes almost criminal, or certainly unconscionable, to sell that stuff to you fellow men.

 

[Nosferatu]

Yeah and the Organic qualifications are kinda loose in ways, but you get the point. Organic, natural, nutritional, what ever you wanna call it eat clean chemical free food

 

[herbgirl]

Nos, luckily my son is a confident and kind young man and i'm sure the 'tofu mom' stuff is kinda from my imagination, we don't even eat tofu - but still!! His friends laugh when he tells them that pop tarts are junk food. It's not that i never allow junk food, i just won't keep it in the house. our junk food is wheat thins or granola bars.
He seems to be fine socially so far, the kids actually like me because i bring in butterfly chrysalises to all the classes and my hair is always brightly colored - now it's teal -the kids love that! I'm considering using that to my advantage. I'd like to help them start a school food garden started next year, but i am still making the right connections.

yes, I agree, my boys will be healthy and strong inside and out and the bullies will be weak of body and especially mind.

Silver Surfer, I do think a healthy living forum would be great. After all, we are all here for vaping, something that is healthier than the norm.

 

[VapeOnline.com]

I like the idea of starting a school food garden, now if the politicians and the like would get out of the way then maybe that idea could really go somewhere. I know at the college level there are several agriculture classes which actually spend their time cultivating crops, I wonder what happens to that food?

 

[weedemon]

watch it for free online here: http://divxonly.com/documentary/food-matters-2009/

 

[aesthyrian]

Some of the crap people shove down their throats is unbelievable, and way more dangerous and irresponsible than our beloved Marijuana. So why can people eat toxic food and petroleum based artificial flavors, colors, and those horrible preservatives(TBHQ anyone) yet if they want to get high off some weed they are a criminal? That hypocrisy alone drives me crazy, but if you try to politely inform anyone about any of this they usually just get overly defensive. Fact is, learning and especially making a life change is just to much damn work for most Americans. Ignorance is bliss in this country, and plentiful at that.

It's absurd. I have only seen Food Inc. and that was years after I became a vegetarian, but the impact was just as hard. I will add this to my instant queue, you can never learn too much about what you put in your mouth

 

[mudstar]

On a similar note, has anyone heard of the book (the detox program of the same name) CLEAN by Dr. Alejandro Junger?? People interested in detoxing specifically and healthy eating in general should check it out. It has changed my life for sure. Looking and feeling amazing after following the program for the last month...

At any rate, cool info on the flick, and anyone into that should check out CLEAN by Dr. Alejandro Junger...life changer.

Cheers,
mudstar