Comfest

Being at this years Comfest (the Columbus Ohio Community Festival - America's largest annual free music event. sg), dubbed "Handmade and Homegrown since 1972", was a great experience. It was truly amazing to see how our community has grown.

The "Healing Zone" schedule was packed. Practitioners from a wide variety of healing disciplines shared their knowledge and insights.

Master Wu, exemplar of the ancient Chinese shamanic tradition, gave presentations on several subjects including "Tiger Qigong", "The Book of Changes" ("I Ching") and Chinese calligraphy.

For my part, I delivered a short program entitled "Our Corporate Food Suppliers: Are they Really Out to Kill Us, or Does it Just look That Way?"

Many thanks to all those who came out to listen to me rant. I hope you all were able to take something of value away with you.

If you missed it, here is a transcript. I will get the accompanying materials posted ASAP.

Thanks,

Dr. G

Introduction

Hello Columbus!

I am Dr. Sandy Golenberg. I am a chiropractor and I practiced here in Columbus for fourteen years but now reside on 40 wooded acres in Athens county, Ohio.

We’ve come here today to talk about health.

Our own health, the health of our community and the health of our mother Earth.

The corporations that currently feed us are, in reality, poisoning us, poisoning the Earth and starving the farmers who actually grow the foods that are Agra-business’ raw materials.

Those of you who have read the program already know that my topic is “Our Corporate Food Suppliers: Are they really out to kill us or does it just seem that way.”

Legally the difference between murder and manslaughter is intent. This distinction, however, means nothing to the victim. This sums up the way I feel about our industrialized food supply.

I support those who use legal, political and civil means to enforce corporate responsibility. I think it is more important, and more beneficial to the individual, for each one of us to vote with our food choices, our food dollars.

Companies tend to be sensitive to consumer trends. Of course, most often they respond with remarketing, repackaging and other such superficial changes to the products that the public objects to.

The Giant food corporations also use their economic and political clout to create laws that severely limit the consumers ability to protest, or even be aware of, their un-natural and unhealthy food production practices.

[see: FDA Documents Show They Ignored GMO Safety Warnings]

After all, corporations are legally responsible only to the interests of their shareholders. They owe no obligation to the well being of their customers, neighbors or planet.

Big Agra, Bad for the Consumer

For over 75 years now we have known about the health consequences of the “Western diet”.

Dr. Weston A. Price, a Cleveland dentist, documented this in his ground-breaking book Nutrition and
Physical Degeneration:

A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets
and Their Effects
. Published in 1939 it is still available and can be downloaded for free. (See “Food Safety References”.) His work was substantiated by the work of British doctor Denis Burkitt, Albert Schweitzer and others.

What they found was that consumers of the Western diet suffered staggeringly high rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, stroke, appendicitis, diverticulitis, ulcers, hemorrhoids and tooth decay when compared to various primitive cultures.

They saw a consistent and progressive pattern of disease wherever the Western diet displaced the native diet. First came obesity, followed by type 2 diabetes then high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart disease.

Dr. Price found that the various native diets he examined averaged 10 times the amount vitamins A and D as found in the Western diet.

He noted that the natives needed no dentists.

The current Columbus Yellow Pages has 63 pages of dentists!

History

During World War II the US developed a huge munitions industry. This industry produced prodigious amounts of nitrate-based explosives and also did extensive research into chemical weapons, nerve gases and such.

At the close of that war, a war in which eleven million American troops took part, this huge industry was converted to the production of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

Thus was born an agricultural system based on oil, chemicals and expensive machinery - a system that promoted monocultures of field corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat.

A system controlled in large part by a handful of companies. (Of the 25 wet mills in the US almost all are run by just two companies, Cargill and ADM.)

As industrialized agriculture became dominant, rates of heart disease, cancer and diabetes rose. Today nearly ¾’s of all US deaths are from heart disease, cancer, and our health care system itself. (See “Estimated US Mortality Rates”) Heart disease and cancer claim around 3500 US lives each day or close to 50% of all US fatalities.

The good news is that much of the biochemistry underlying these conditions can be reversed by reverting to diet similar that of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. (See Paleo Diet Information under Web Sites on the “Food Safety References” sheet and “Guidelines for Reducing Inflammation with Diet and Supplementation”.)

We will talk more about that in a few minutes when I go over “Action Steps You Can Take”.

Our Dangerous Diet

While experts disagree as to which specific factors are most involved, three main factors are at work.

1. Food Additives (See “Food Additive Safety, from the Center for Science in the Public Interest” http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm.)
1. A Chicken McNugget has 38 ingredients!
2. GMO’s (Genetically modified organisms)

(See handouts.)

3. Diet High in Carb’s and grain fed meat and dairy. (See “You Are What You Eat” and “Toxic Foods”.)
1. The average American consumes one ton of corn each year!

Big Agra, Bad for the Farmer

Our current, corporately controlled, system:

· Starves the farmer as it fattens the processors and distributors.

· Is capital intensive.

· Displaces local labor while enriching distant investors.

· Depletes the soil, which is the farmer’s most valuable asset.

Big Agra is Bad for the Earth

20% of our petroleum use goes for the production and transportation of our food.

A wet mill, the source of almost all of our processed foods and animal feeds, uses 10 calories of fossil fuel for every food calorie produced.

Each feedlot steer (aprox. 1200 pounds) requires 35 gallons of oil.

Our system fosters the loss of bio-diversity.

It spreads pollution on many levels:

· Biological

o Breeds novel pathogens

o Genetic pollution from GMO’s

o Breeds super weeds and super pests

· Atmospheric

o Greenhouse gasses

o GMO Pollen

• Water
• Pesticide and herbicide residues

- GMO’s triple herbicide use

- Hormone and anti-biotic residues

- Approximately 70% of antibiotics used in the US are given to farm animals

Action Steps You Can Take

(See “Recap” and “Local and Grass Fed vs. Organic”)

Our bodies function best on a diet of:

-Fruits

-Nuts

-Vegetation

-Creatures that ate the same

· Local and organic is best.

· Free range – grass fed meat, poultry, eggs and dairy.

· Vegetables, raw (live) and lightly cooked

· Nuts, un-roasted. (Pre-soaked is even better)

· Oils: Use

- Virgin Olive Oil

- Virgin Coconut Oil

- Butter, from grass fed cows/goats

Eliminate processed and refined foods.

If it is not local, range fed or organic, read the label!

Beware of seductive packaging, green labels and the words natural or healthful.

i.e. The Fare Trade label is internationally recognized and backed by an independent organization. The Rainforest Alliance, on the other hand, is an industry-backed organization whose standards are not only vague and lax but are also poorly enforced.

Avoid GMO foods. (See “July 24, 2003 shopping list…” and GMO crops currently on the Market…”.)

Author Michael Pollan gives these recommendations.

• Eat Food
• Food that your great grandmother would recognize.

• Mostly Plants

• Not too much

Thank you very much for your kind attention. Here’s wishing you a healthful life and a healthful planet.

Fever

Following my last post I received this question from a concerned mother. "What should we use for fever if not aspirin?" 

I was just then leaving for a seminar on vaccines and neurobiology so, I went to an herbal medicine site and copied off some information on feverfew and sent it out. 

As I was driving up to the seminar location I realized I had been hasty and had issued a typical allopathic response. 

Allopathy, meaning against or opposite of the suffering, is the philosophic basis of establishment or "industrial" medicine. 

 A more appropriate, that is holistic, response would have been "Why would you want to bring down a fever?" 

Unless a fever is spiking or over 104*F there should be no reason to try and bring it down. 

Fever's usually run between 100*-102* in viral infections. This the temperature at which TH1 immune cells produce interpheron.  Lowering body temperature would therefore make it more difficult for the body to deal with the infection. A typical result would be the prolongation of the illness. 

Fevers related to bacterial infection usually run a bit higher at 103*-104*F. 

The key for care is to insure adequate hydration and rest.   Reassurance and diversion are also called for in the care of children. 

Also, cells are more susceptible to viral infection if in an acid state.  Meats and grains tend to induce acidity.  Fruits, nuts and vegetables tend to induce alkalinity.  Nuts are great sources of proteins and good (anti-inflammatory) fats.

So, no cake, cookies, sweets or meats while the child is sick.

 

Swine Flu

I am not sure why this virus is being hyped the way it is but, if you recall the last swine flu epidemic, the disease killed one but the hastily prepared vaccine killed 39 and paralyzed something like 500.

 

In it's current form this virus produces mild to moderate symptoms and is only truly dangerous to infants and the infirm.  In fact it may be best to get this flu now in order to build immunity for the possible mutation of this "factory farm" bred virus into a lethal form

 

The symptoms and discomfort associated with flu are due to inflammation.  I recommend proteolytic enzymes like Bromelain, taken 2 hours after each meal and the herbs ginger and turmeric.  The science on these is overwhelming and they are readily available at health/whole food stores and at some pharmacies.

 

This is from Public Citizen's health site:

 

Swine Flu: Important Advice from WorstPills.org

As of the end of April 2009, swine flu (H1N1) had sickened almost 100 people in the United States. While it’s normal to be anxious about the spread of this disease, taking medications to prevent or treat the disease without having a full understanding of the medications’ side effects could have a serious impact on your health. The most effective ways to avoid any infectious illness are safer and cheaper than any medication. To avoid disease, the CDC recommends:

- Washing your hands or using hand sanitizer frequently

- Avoiding sick people and surfaces that they have touched, sneezed or coughed on

- Not touching your nose, mouth or eyes

Warning: Aspirin and Reye’s Syndrome

Patients under the age of 40 who are experiencing flu-like symptoms need to be extremely careful not to take aspirin.  (The key here is not taking aspirin with a fever. sg)

Taking aspirin will increase the risk of contracting Reye’s syndrome, a rare but often fatal disease that causes brain and liver damage.

First things first.

As a physician my primary concerns are twofold.  They are dis-ease and premature death.

Shockingly, our industrialized health care system has been identified as our nations number one killer.  Legal drugs by themselves have been rated number three.  

Still, it is disease and discomfort which drive these people into the health care system.  And, it can be argued that the diet provided by our industrialized food supply system is a major cause of death and disease.

Excluding health care, our leading killers are reported to be heart & vascular diseases, stroke and cancer.

I believe that current research shows inflammation, our bodies primary defense mechanism, to be at the root of these killers as well being involved in a host of other less lethal health scourges including arthritis, chronic pain syndromes and neuro-degenerative conditions.    

In future posts I will outline our approach to achieving and maintaining health, vitality and longevity through diet and supplementation aimed at de-flammation.