The Many Shades of Green

By Susan Lutz

Here’s a surprising list of the things I think should stay out of our mouths. It began with just three, but I had to add a fourth most people wouldn’t even imagine on the list. The mouth is a magical, marvelous contraption. We sing. We speak. We eat and ingest delicious, sweet, bitter, salty, and surprising treats. It’s time to look a little closer at how we use this wonderful instrument and what we put in it that impacts our health.

1. There’s just no way to make a case for all that sugar we put in our mouths. The sweet taste is undeniably addictive. Once our taste buds get a hold of these little crystals, we get hooked like, well, a drug. A quick internet search opens a wealth of papers, videos, articles, and studies on the negative impact of sugar. One lecture on sugar by Robert Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics Endocrinology, struck a chord with audiences. Now viewed almost six million times, he speaks to the “evils” of too much of a good thing, sugar, and not enough of what we need, fiber. Sugar messes with insulin and has been found to cause cancer. The alkaline chart shows us that sugar is highly acidic, and this creates a much bigger issue as it is found in so much of our food. It’s worth exploring. I’ve watched loved ones kick cigarettes, but not sugar. Even Gandhi struggled with this one. When I eliminate sugar, I feel better, and I don’t crave sweet things. Then I fail. And then I try again. It’s never too late to quit.

2. Artificial Sweeteners. I really want these to be good for us. Considering all the problems sugar presents, it would be nice to be able to have sweets that don’t crush our health. However, artificial sweeteners don’t seem to be the answer. No longer a side view of the all-natural-organic world, conventional medicine recognizes the dangers of artificial sweeteners. Diet soda is making headlines as a contributor to weight gain, not a means to slim down. These sweeteners taste bad when I put them in my mouth. I taste chemicals. There are alternatives, though most things sweet tend to stress the body’s inner eco-balance. I’ve used stevia for a long time. Maple syrup adds taste for kids. I know some people that love using agave. Nothing’s perfect, but this one’s easier than sugar to eliminate.

3. High Fructose Corn Syrup. Wow. It’s amazing this stuff’s still on the market, but the reach of corporations into our food shelves is long and wide. Many packages now print large messages exclaiming the joy of not having high fructose corn syrup in their products. Consider it the evil cousin of sugar. Read about some of the information concerning health issues of ingesting this, and you’ll be better off for it.

4. I thought I’d stop at #3, but as I watched a child (mine) put his fingers in his mouth, I was reminded of how awful the habit is. Our nails harbor a shipload of bacteria, nestled and ready to launch once we offer them the warm, wet opening of our mouth. If the nail rips, we can pick up bacteria in the skin. We contract warts due to HPV infections. And, it’s not just the mouth. Touching the face with our hands allows bacteria to find entryways into our system. Most of us do it without thinking. It’s easy to see how we could get wildly obsessive about germs. Doorknobs, cell phones, railings, and just about everything we touch probably, under the right conditions, transfers bacteria. Instead of worrying and hiding in the house, it’s easier to work on breaking the habit of touching our face and mouth (and don’t forget the ears). And wash those hands! Plain soap will do. No need to wash them every five minutes. Wash after bathroom use, before eating, and maybe after riding the mass transit or shopping. By keeping those active hands and fingers away from our mouth, we keep the spread of disease down for others and ourselves.

The choice we make with our food directly impacts our health and quality of life. Eating smart and being conscious of our health habits enables us to think clearer, act with compassion and intelligence, and reduce illness. Connecting sugar and sweeteners to a big picture seems perhaps weird, but every choice connects us to a better version of ourselves, thus allowing us to help the planet and others, not hurt it.

By Susan Lutz

New theories are always popping up to propose better methods for managing our bodies. We’ve watched the diet cycle blow in with the newest scientific data only to blow out again. Diets create a problem the minute they start because they are a one time solution. Changing the way we eat is the bottom line of changing health.

The “alkaline diet”, as it’s commonly known, lures a lot of people into the idea that having high pH levels will eradicate disease and sickness and improve overall health. Stars picked up on this way of eating and it’s been all over the media. As with any diet or change in eating habits, I’ve found that failure comes around just as I probably make strides.

I learned about maintaining a higher pH level from an acupuncturist when treating health issues for one of my children. This was way before it became trendy. I implemented as much green eating as I could, and there were definitely results. I took green seriously. Eating agendas look great in the beginning: new, colorful, and full of spark and promise. However, it gets tough when the sugar cravings kick in. With kids it’s even tougher.

Undertaking a strict alkaline way of living probably won’t work for kids unless you have a lot time to spend at home chopping and blending and creating cute food that contain all of the necessary green foods. The alkaline approach does make sense, but ultimately it’s stressful to keep up. So I’ve found some tricks to keep up the green, despite my off days.

Here are a few things I do to keep our green going:

1. Juicing – fresh vegetables in the morning. Very light on the fruits and almost all veggies starts the day with a green blast. My kids look forward to it.
2. Lemons – a great way to alkalize the body and help out during the day. I can drink it straight; my kids get Stevia.
3. Chlorophyll – yes, that chlorophyll. They’ve bottled it. It’s touted to have many benefits such as controlling hunger, easing Candida, and keeping the body’s pH balance in line. It comes in so many forms; choose tablets, liquid, and even mint-flavored.
4. Blue-green algae – touted as a super food. Some are wild for this food. It’s chock full of green, even protein. Again- choose pills or powders.
5. Seaweed – Many to choose from and most are very high in alkaline such as wakame or dulse. I slip them into smoothies and salads.
6. Sea salt – water can be enhanced super quickly into a higher alkaline drink by adding a bit of sea salt. Makes the water taste better, too. (And kids don’t even notice it!)

Even those who regularly utilize alkaline/acidic information debate over which foods are alkaline and by how much. Some say to stay away from most fruit while others disagree. Most agree on the foods rated highest, such as cucumbers and meat. The idea is to maintain about a 7.5 level for optimum health. Health opinions differ, stating that our body keeps track of its own pH level. It’s easy to get a box of pH strips to test your current level. Those that argue for the alkaline diet say that if we don’t give our bodies enough green, our body takes it from other places. Proponents of the alkaline way of living recommend eating 70-80% alkaline.

As with any diet, many are for it and many are not. I do not see the alkaline way of living as a “diet” but rather as a way of living. If I were able to maintain the strictest aspects of the diet, I’d be thrilled. But I live in the real world; I get hungry, have a limited budget, and only so much time. Eating green, in almost all diets, seems to be the key to good health. Choosing more organic, fresh, and less-cooked foods can only help your health. It gives you a chance to live longer with a greater quality of life. Implementing these practices over time and deeply changing how we eat as a community will benefit a green world on the inside and the out.

 

 

By Susan Lutz

We think we know what’s in our body. The tissue, the bones, the blood, but what else hides beneath the epidermal? Most likely, if you exist on this planet, your body holds more than a few toxins. Even if we eat organically and live mindfully in a place where the water is good and the air is fresh, toxic chemicals sneak into our systems somewhere along the way.

There are a number of interesting videos that quickly explain the extent of these toxins in our blood. In longer format, Bill Moyers reports on the subject in a two-hour documentary called Trade Secrets, which investigates the impact of toxic chemicals on the public’s health. In the documentary, Mr. Moyers subjects himself to a blood test. The results show that out of 150 industrial chemicals, Moyers tests positive for 84. Included in that list are PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides such as malathion and DDT. Most of these chemicals didn’t exist 50 or 60 years ago. And their presence in the human body is difficult even for researchers to explain. A short excerpt of this segment talks about the results and what they mean to the human body.

Over a decade later, a Swedish family undergoes testing. They decide to participate in an experiment to see how eating a conventional diet has affected their chemical make-up. The testing revealed that their urine samples contained substantial amounts of insecticides, fungicides, and plant growth regulators in their systems. Then the family cleaned out their shelves and replaced their food with only organic. They were tested again after two weeks. The results were stunning−almost all the pesticides disappeared. The study was conducted by The Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Both groups and researchers brought up an important point: What is the effect of all of these chemicals acting together? No one really knows. We’re guinea pigs in a corporate experiment of making things for a profit, quickly and with very little accountability to what it’s doing to our bodies, our society, and the environment. I’ve got a mouth full of mercury. Though I’ve had most of it removed, there’s still metal bored into my jawbones from old root canals. What it’s doing to me, I have no idea.

We don’t have to walk through the puffs of toxic smoke to get the chemicals into our system. They linger. Bite into a bright, shiny apple, and it seems perfect. But the chemicals are there, lurking at the cellular level, waiting to change yours. Awareness also changes us at a deep level if we let the information in. With care, we can begin to inform others and teach our children that there’s another way, the right way, to feed ourselves and care for our planet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB6fUqmyKC8

By Susan Lutz

In Reno, Nevada, what was worn and old is finding a way to live again. Patagonia sells what we don’t want and fixes what we already have.

Watching the world buy and buy and buy, including myself, I wonder where it stops. Do we need six jackets; five fleece pullovers? I struggle with what to buy every time I go to the grocery store. I cringe at the site of a box store selling cheap goods, but find myself inside them when I promised myself I wouldn’t go in. How do we get out of the lure of buying stuff we don’t need? How do we buy, better?

Patagonia is a company I’ve always admired, watched. In 2012, The Wall Street Journal did a piece naming Patagonia’s Founder, Yvon Chouinard, “America’s Most Unlikely Business Guru.” The company makes profits. He wrote a book called, “The Responsible Company: What We’ve Learned in the Last 40 Years” that lists ways for companies to make money without harming society and shifting to paradigms to become responsible business in our time.

The company has been posting ads to not buy their jacket. A ploy? Sales have gone up. People are buying Patagonia. Are they just buying into a sleek advertising campaign? The company says it doesn’t want you to buy jackets if you’re fine with the one you’ve got. They want to repair clothing you’ve bought from Patagonia and make it last. How does a company not sell new things and make money?

In an interview with Inc.com magazine, Chouinard explained that he really wants people to think twice about buying anything, “Do you really need it, or do you just want it?…I know it sounds crazy, but every time I have made a decision that is best for the planet, I have made money.”

Buying stuff we don’t need is a problem most of us suffer from. I buy shirts I probably don’t need and can’t wait to chuck in my old phone for a new one. Selling something to someone that they don’t need, well, that sounds like what consumerism is all about, what business is based on. But isn’t that the problem? We buy more than we need; we short circuit and get quick energy when instead we could have put off that quick fix for the more sustainable energy, for more long-term satisfactions in life: more quality time with our families, writing that novel we’ve always wanted to, or going for a hike up the trail when we feel the calling.

Patagonia takes their repair shops on the road. They’ll sew ripped pants and revitalize a worn out zipper on a jacket. One employee said in a PBS New Hour Interview, “I’m going to tell you the truth, OK? When I first started here, I was excited. I’m going, ooh, Patagonia, man, they got good stuff. I bet they got a good employee discount. But after I went on the Worn Wear tour, I have changed my way of thinking. I’m only going to buy what I need.”

Of course, if you’re a first time buyer to a Patagonia product, the company wants your business. They provide jobs and that’s how the economy survives. The model of consciousness is what makes the difference. Capitalism might be a fine way to do business if the environment is the first to benefit in the profit column. There’s enough for everyone if we treat the planet, the customers, and employees with dignity and respect.

By Susan Lutz

We watch the news in shock. We watch the news in horror. We watch the news, and then go back to our business. We see the terrible things done to others in the name of religion, rights, or self-interest. But we have to go back to work. We have to feed the kids when they come home from school. We shake our heads. We forget. But those stories live on. We must learn to forgive, yet never forget. Here’s a follow up to a few stories we’ve seen that haven’t yet gone away.

 

The Lion.

Weeks after the beloved lion, Cecil, was killed by a dentist from Minnesota and poachers he hired, the headlines give way to bigger stories. But the story lives on. Zimbabwe wrestles with the intense issue of hunting their animals. Some claim the bounty helps conservation, others demand laws are changed. The president of Zimbabwe made a statement that the he blames “vandals” for killing Cecil, and also called for his people to take responsibility for the protection of their national treasures and resources.

Conservationists say they knew Cecil the Lion would most likely die at the hands of a hunter. The line between safety and potential death is literally often a line such as a railroad track or long stretch of line with no fencing. The issue of poaching, animals, money, safety, human rights, and animal rights are a hard mix to settle through in a country with so many living in poverty, so little resources.

Teams of people work to keep poachers on the right side of the track, monitoring and helping understaffed patrol officers find, catch, and prevent poaching. One group of women in South Africa head out at night and take huge risks to monitor and alert officials to potential poachers, all for about $250 a night. Their story was reported by PBS:

“They use a vehicle at night because it is far too dangerous to come out on foot. But there are still threats…. Poachers are usually heavily armed. All of the women admit it wasn’t easy in the beginning….”

The issue lives on for those fighting for animal rights. In St. Paul, Minnesota, a mural will be made from people standing in an outline of Cecil the Lion to keep the awareness heightened about the issue. The organizer, an artist, Kevin Foley:

“We want to harness the energy of this shameful incident for something good…for increased awareness, for meaningful action and involvement, and to preserve and protect this world’s declining wildlife.”

It’s going to be harder to get those trophies back to American soil. Delta Airlines joined other airlines in the transport of the dead animals.

The accused hunter, Walter Palmer is back in the news as recent photos of him also taking, illegally, a black bear from Wisconsin in 2006.

 

The Dark.

The Dark Act will move on as law if we let it. The bill passed the house, and will slip through the Senate if we don’t act to remove the darkness. The Cornucopia Institute reports that The Dark Act will prevent information about our food from getting onto the labels and leave us with unwanted food on our tables.

 

And Following Suit.

I walk away from the news, often shaking my head and wondering what in the heck can I do? I have to run to the grocery store, clean the bathroom, and walk the dog. The action I take every day in those errands, in my conversations, in my consciousness does keep the issue alive.

Contacting a Senator is easy. I’ve done it. They are accessible. They’ve also responded and gotten back to me. We love social media, so let’s use it to LIKE ideas that propagate peace, kindness, and solutions, not hate.

We can’t compare the lives of lions to the lives of people. It’s like saying we love people more than we love the earth or sharks or food or the stars in the sky. All of everything matters. We can’t have people without the earth to walk on. Without sharks, the oceans will die. We have to suit up every day; turn every conversation around to find the good instead of whining about what irks us.