Whew!!  The holidays "roared in" and "roared out".  It was fun but I'm ready for a holiday from the holidays.  I try so hard to keep up with having something fresh to "chew" on here at Food For Thought.  If you've read any of my previous posts, you probably know that I strongly encourage all food consumers to take a personal initiative to educate yourself and those in your own circles and to take every opportunity to engage the food production industry with your own food activism.  I came across a good site that offers those kinds of opportunities.  I hope you'll give it a look and pick a link that you can give some attention.  It's the voice, vote and dollar of the food consuming public that will change the quality of food that we are offered in the general marketplace.  Remember, many people do not have the education or the means to affect such a change.  If any of us are blessed to be in a position where we can say or do something, I think it becomes our responsibility to do so, otherwise, we will continue to become a failing nation of underachievers and malcontents and poisoned/poor quality food could be a significant contributing factor.  (Poorly nourished children have a full range of mental/physical maladies due to improper nutrition.)  Better food = better health.

The "seeds" we plant today are the "harvest" of tomorrow!

http://my.cspinet.org/site/PageServer

Bon Apetit!

New food term - "nanomaterials", doesn't it sound delicious?  It sounds like something a robot would eat, if you ask me.  But, no, thanks to the "new food" science, which some people like to call "Frankenfoods" (because they are reminded of Frankenstein), we now should be worrying about the little microparticles that can possilble do HUGE damage to your body's physiology.  And, trust me, that is something you don't want to hurt. 

I thought this was an interesting quote from the link I'm sharing in this post:
"In contrast to FDA's approach, all food ingredients that incorporate engineered nanomaterials must be submitted to regulators in Canada and the European Union before they can be marketed."

When I read of situations where the FDA is NOT regulating something that is a true health concern to every man/woman and child, like GMO's or nanomaterials but that they are having people arrested and taking their farms because of raw milk, I really want to cry.  Would someone like to give their thoughts on how they perceive the FDA to be, or not to be, actually protecting our food safety issues????

Bon Apetit!

Here's the link on the nanomaterials:  http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/12/caution-urged-with-nanoparticles-in-food/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=111206

What a honey of a mess!  It's getting so complicated in the food markets to know what you are REALLY eating, or not.  If you like honey, or if you are just interested on how complicated and tricky food distributors/producers can be......check this article out:

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/

Alot of people are totally unaware of the controversy regarding raw milk vs. pasturized milk.  Raw milk is illegal, just like cocaine, marijuana, and so on.  So, why?  Is it true that pasturized milk is the better, best and the only acceptable way to drink milk.  Many people think not and it's very important for you to do your own research and find out why this controversy exists.  Some people believe that pasturization destroys the nutritional integrity of milk and we, in fact, need the nutrients that are being destroyed for optimal health.  I've included a very interesting article about some mothers who took action regarding the issue of raw milk being illegal.

http://www.naturalnews.com/034027_raw_milk_protest.html

Bon Apetit!

I found another one so I can't resist passing it on so that I can do my part to educate others as to the controversies regarding GMO's.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/why-arent-g-m-o-foods-labeled/?ref=geneticallymodifiedfood


Bon Apetit!

Something that tastes good!  But, really, "good" is not one of the specific taste sensors that we have to determine if something "tastes good".  So, what do we have to work with?  Chef Roland has told me that people "eat with their eyes first" and that's why presentation is so important.  However, I thought it would be fun just to offer a little science lesson about our 'tasters' and how they work for us.  I took the link from Wikipedia and if you don't like the information there, try putting in a search yourself for "how do we taste" or something similar.  You'll get a whole host of links to choose from.  It's amazing how many 'taste' there are that I just wasn't aware of there being.  If you have children, or just want to entertain yourself, you might go through your frig and cupboards and conduct your own little bit of research and see how many items you can catagorize.

Bon Apetit!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taste

Have you ever heard a person go on about how "good" a chocolate cream pie with tons of 'whipped cream' tasted?  Or, how delicious was the fried chicken that grandma made?  We really have to realize that we do, in fact, eat many different types of food and many of them we consider good and delicious when, in fact, they are poisening our physical body and causing all sorts of health problems, both major and minor.  In addition, whether or not we realize there is a health problem, we often don't realize that we could, in fact, be having better body/mind performance if only we ate food and exercised with that being our end goal.  I'm as guilty as the next person.  However, as I learn more and more about the body/mind/food connection, I can't help but maintain that there are many good & delicious 'tastes' that will appeal to our personal preferences but it's as we become more knowledgable as to the nutritional content of what it is that we are eating and how it affects our body/mind performance, we will become increasingly more mindful of what it is that we are eating and what is involved in the production of those food items.  With that knowledge, we then become better able to participate in the production of that food and/or help to monitor and control what is put on the market for human/animal consuption, rather than naively believing that the corporate food industry has our best health in mind.


Given my 'soapbox' launching of my post today, I'll just say I found a little link that gives some simple information regarding 10 different nutrients and tells what they are, why they are beneficial and where we can look to add them to our eating pleasure.

Bon Apetit!


http://fitbie.msn.com/eat-right/tips/10-super-nutrients-flat-belly?GT1=50008

I can only apologize for not attending to my blog lately.  We are dealing with many issues related to my parents' health and keeping up with managing their affairs.  It's a bit distracting from all the other things I would like to be doing.

Chef Roland is keeping quite busy working with a local non-profit in developing their baking/culinary program for rehabilitating persons.  It's an awesome program.  We have managed to work in a few outside projects and I will hopefully have pics up soon.  In addition, we will be involved in some private culinary classes, some culinary presentations and helping with our church to develop their concept for gardening/culinary/food preservation classes.  Though we live in a very rural area, I can't believe how many opportunities keep popping up in the most unexpected places. 

We are also looking at the possibility of collaborating with two local venues to present culinary classes to our immediate community, with the idea that we will possiby start our own small cooking school nearby.  Lots going on.

In the meantime, I am persisting to find what I can regarding the GMO/hybrid/Mansanto connection.  I hope you find the link I've included to be interesting regarding an article that ran in the NYTimes.  As you read the article, especially take note of the reference to how Mansanto is brought into this article.  I really wish their could be some kind of public pressure that could be organized and brought to bear on Mansanto and the FDA.  Any political activists reading this???

I would love to hear back from some of you as to what your thoughts are on this most important subject of GMO labeling. 


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/why-arent-g-m-o-foods-labeled/?ref=dining

Bon Apetit!







 

We all LOVE good food and it's that love that usually causes us to seek out everything 'food'.  We love to look at the pictures, we're enthralled with the foodie programs and one of our greatest trophies is to say we ate with some pretigious chef or at in an exclusive restaurant.  We're movitvated to spend that little extra to buy the best, when we can.  Writing this post, I'm hoping to really bring attention to the 'other side' of good eating, our bodies need us to seek out and ingest key foods so that our body can run as efficiently as possible and do it's job to keep us healthy and functioning at our best.  I try to read over articles regarding health maintenance and it seems that two subjects keep coming up in a variety of illnesses and health issues, "inflamation" and "immunity".  I encourage you to do a little web surfing and see for yourself how important it is to tend to these two items regarding your own health and see how you might incorporate some healthy personal choices to raise your own level of health.

I've included a link that focuses on boosting your immunity through specific foods and some simple 'tricks' you can do that will boost your immunity so that your immunity can do a better job keeping you well, especially through the cold and flu season.

Bon Apetit!
http://co101w.col101.mail.live.com/default.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0

I couldn't resist putting up another blurp regarding food politics.  Most everyone knows what a 'player' is, especially in the dating world.  Well, there's an old saying about 'odd bedfellows' or one that talks about 'birds of a feather flock together'.  The point I'm trying to make is that when a person hears or reads about a particular subject, especially when it's relative to food issues, you should take a minute to look at the bigger story.  As it's said, "there's two sides to every coin".

Maybe you've seen an article here or there or heard someone talk about drinking raw milk?  I hope that, as subjects like this come up, we make the effort to understand why it's a very important issue and who all has a vested interest in this question and what do they get, depending on the answer of whether or not to make it illegal.  Yes, raw milk can become a 'controlled substance' if we allow this to happen through our apathy.

I encourage you to read a little deeper into the issue and decide for yourself.

I've included a link to introduce you to the controversy and to help get you started into your own research to get the truth on the issue of raw milk:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/15/the-war-over-raw-milk.aspx

Bon Apetit!