T's Tips & Travels

Cloning Food

What will they come up with next?  First, they use waste water and chemicals to grow our food in.  They deplete the soil of nutrients and tell us we need to eat supplements to get our vitamins and minerals.  Don't even get me started on Olestra, Splenda, Saccharin and Equal.  They change the genetic coding of foods to increase their crop size and call it safe.  They subject our meat to radiation to "keep it safe" and won't tell us what meat they are radiating.

Now they are cloning animals and want to introduce them into our food supply, potentially without labeling.  Ethical issues aside, this is madness.  What happened to the days of growing whole food by natural, organic means and selling it to local stores.

Call me crazy but how many ways can the food industry denature food and hope to keep people healthy?  Isn't it enough that many countries won't accept exports of our food supply because of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)?

I seriously question the motives of the FDA as they continually introduce foods made in chemical laboratories into our food chain.  Whose welfare are they looking out for?  The public they are claiming to protect or the big business they are working for.

The solution: Know  your farmer.  Go to your local food cooperative and ask they who they get their meat and produce from.  Educate yourself about where your food is coming from.  Eat local and organic to support your efforts at a healthy long life.

After you are doing that, contact the FDA and tell them what you think.

Link to the FDA's comment site is:

FDA Docket Comments

Written comments may be sent to:
Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

Comments must be received by April 2, 2007 and should include the docket number 2003N-0573.

The Folly of Fighting Nature

This morning I read a disturbing story in our local paper about the recent trend towards eliminating the menstrual cycle in women.  It was a syndicated column and I am sure that many women across the country have read it as well.  The tone of the article gave the impression that our menstrual cycle is nothing more than a monthly nuisance.  The medical community is generously providing several ways to alleviate us of this terrible plight we must endure.

Are they NUTS!?  I can't believe I was reading quotes from doctors who support this insanity.  We need our menstrual cycles.  It defines us as women.  It is a source of incredible power.  Menstruation exists for more than reproduction.  It is a time of cleansing and renewal.  The ebb and flow of our cycle continually reminds us of the movement of life.  Changing your body with artifical hormones and chemicals can do irreparable damage. 

Women are delaying child-rearing in order to have a career.  This trend is leading thousands of women over 35 to risk their lives and health by using fertility drugs in an effort to get pregnant.  Risking multiple births is dangerous for the mother and the child(ren) in an effort to reverse the effects of our natural life cycle.  I believe every woman deserves the chance to be a mother and sometimes no alternative exists but we must ask...are we creating this problem? 

For years we have been told hormonal birth control is fine.  The reality is the medical community admits there is no clear picture of the long-term consequences that come with being on these drugs or what they will do to our fertility or our health.  They are offering these drugs to us so that we can be their guinea pigs.  There is little regard for what it will do to our young women who may one day be childless, forced to fight a battle with infertility and their bodies because they believed the message telling us our bodies are "bad".

Evidently it isn't enough that we are seeing rises in medical conditions and procedures our ancestors knew nothing about.  Total and partial hysterectomies (I can't count on two hands the number of women over 40 I personally know who have undergone this procedure), ovarian, cervical and breast cancer, endometriosis, and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), just to name a few of the more obvious ones afflicting women.  Not to mention the damage we are doing to our liver, thyroid, adrenals and pancreas by altering the hormonal balance in our bodies.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita should be sobering examples of the effect of screwing around with Mother Nature.  It has dire consequences. These are very real examples of how we are destroying ourselves.

At 21, after I decided to go off the pill, I tried Depo-Provera, one of the drugs touted to eliminate our menstrual cycles.  After 9 months without a period, I had gained 20 lbs, lost fists full of hair and had acne covering a better part of my body.  I decided to forgo another shot after hearing these were common side-effects that my doctor never warned me about.  I had my period for 6 weeks straight and I am still trying to repair the damage to my hormonal balance.  The cost of this drug to my health and self-image were not worth that short time of not bleeding. 

Bleeding was once a time women shared with each other and their daughters.  It is a reminder of our unique ability as women to bring forth life.  This is a rare and precious gift we are given.  Yet the medical community and society continues to tell us it is a scorge that we should eliminate and hide at all costs.  This is another means of taking away our power. 

I remember how confident and proud I felt when I took it upon myself to become educated about my menstruatal cycle.  From that moment, I perceived my bleeding with dignity and grace.   The knowledge that I can create, nurture and birth a child, then sustain them through their most formative years in life brings forth a gratitude and awe that words can not describe.

I strongly recommend you and every woman you know read Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Dr. Christiane Northrup.  Learn about how beautiful and amazing your body is and really understand how much power you get from your cycle.  I promise you will never see your body in the same light again.   

Demand your body back.  Stand up for our daughters and remind them how beautiful, courageous and bold they are. 

Peace, Theresa