It sounds like we should all just live on a ranch together where everything is like a fairytale. Perfectly organic, natural, and acne-free!
I'm up for that. Or what I'd rather do is to move to a small town that needs saving. I think I'd be really useful with the ideas. And if we can get people to think more like a community pulling together we can find ways to do things where everyone can get by on less money yet live better. Have you all heard of Braddock PA? Like that, but not so far north. If anyone here knows of such a town in somewhere more like Tennessee, let me know.
Somewhere around Asheville, North Carolina would be good for that. In fact there are already a lot of communes and intentional living communities there. It's a pretty awakened area in a lot of ways.
Yeah, I've spent some time browsing for one of those, but most of those are going to be too new-agey for me. Braddock, on the other hand, is a town that once had 50,000 people and now has like 5,000. It obviously needs to do a lot of adapting. It has tons of cheap real estate to repurpose. They are trying to attract artists to the cheap real estate and I have several ideas to cater to them.
One of the ideas I have is to buy one of those old town department stores and turn it into a marketplace for both food and arts and crafts. Because Braddock doesn't have a grocery store which I gather is getting to be a common problem in small towns. And I would have a resale shop with the usual housewares and clothes, but also with things I fixed up/made over. And with things artists might use in their mixed media work. There's a resale shop here in Houston that caters to artists, but I was disappointed in it. It was mostly garbage. I have cooler things in my garage, like some vintage wallpaper and upholstery and lamp parts. And they were making 'beach glass' in a rock polisher to sell for rather a lot of money, but they were using thin plate glass. I would collect thick jars and bottles for it.
And then I'd do special projects for the town to say enhance education, beautify the town, make it more walkable, a better gathering place etc. Because apparently I know one thing few people seem to know. How much better and more upscale and cared for places look with trees. I see so many shopping centers, parking lots, streets and whole towns that would look so much better and less rundown with trees. If it were up to me, everything ugly would have to have trees and other vegetation shielding it. and I would of course make most of those fruit, nut and wildlife supporting trees, shrubs and vines.
Ironically, the small town where my mother lives has an empty department store building for sale just like I had in mind, with second story space for loft apartments which I have ideas for as well. But it's a thriving town so the building isn't as cheap as I'd want. They have pretty much all they need, including a health food/coop. Plus it's way too far north. And there's a desperately rundown town here on the coast with a really cool town center with a big Mexican style plaza, pretty much all abandoned while restaurants and other businesses open up scattered on the various highways all around.
There is a website/blog I subscribe to about saving Rural America but they are based in Nebraska and are focused on the Midwest. I either want to go east or to California or maybe New Mexico. But that's what I'd like to do. We need to stop moving to mega cities and stay in smaller cities and towns where it's more possible to supply local quality food.
You know the show, the Fabulous Beakman Boys, or something like that? Apparently that's what they've been doing. They bought this big estate in some dying town and began finding ways to keep it alive. I don't know all that much about it and the show, like all reality shows, focuses on them being stupid. But apparently they raise goats and sell the milk to a local who makes goat milk soaps sold online/mail order and her business employs a couple people and keeps the post office going which employs a couple people and so on. I'd like to do something like that although I'd like the results to be more valuable then more goat milk soap in the world. I'd like them to mean better food, less pollution, less wasted energy, less garbage, etc.
Ooh. That reminds me of an example of what might be one of my 'special projects'. Half the small towns around where my mom lives are all on dammed rivers with hydro-electric power plants that they no longer use. Once the town got too big or the people got too used to wasting tons of electricity, they all started buying it from some big, probably coal-fired plant producer instead. But why? If we can put solar panels on our roof and plug into the grid and sell back excess energy produced, why can't the town plug their hydro-electric dam into the grid?
I also wouldn't mind doing this somewhere in Central America. Ironically, I used to be married to a Honduran and Honduras has a lot of potential as an underpopulated country. And now that we are divorced, my ex-husband is getting involved in things like this. But as someone who is pretty much only interested in technology, he isn't as useful at it as I would be.
Since few people have any idea.
I'll start with the amount of sugar people eat now days.
Supposedly, the average American today consumes over 70 grams per day. And I think that's low considering how much is in a soda that people might drink multiple times per day, on top of what they eat.
Also, I've read that the USDA recommends people limit their sugar intake to 40 grams per day. The CDC recommends you limit it to 25 grams per day.
There's 39 grams of sugar from HFCS in one can of Coke.
If we got our sugar only from fruits and vegetables like we are meant to, we'd consume more like 15 grams per day.
And the USDA is not looking out for your health! They are a much bigger advocate for the sugar and corn growers than they are a protector of your health. And the CDC is a member of our medical 'we can treat everything with a drug' establishment.
And then there's the added problem of most of that added sugar coming from High Fructose Corn Syrup. The switch to HFCS in commercial products is where our health issues really took off. Note that HFCS has only been around 1 generation. A sickly one.
And then there's the complete lack of understanding about what consuming any high glycemic meal, drink or snack does to you. It's not just about the calories. It sets all kinds of badness in motion. It screws up your hormones and causes subclinical inflammation that is the root cause of most of the diseases this sickly culture suffers from. Including acne. And it ages you.
Hi Alternativista,
I am currently trying to control my hormonal cystic acne with a diet change of no gluten and low sugar intake. I have also eliminated all dairy from my diet. I noticed that you listed zinc and b complex vitamins as supplements that you are taking. Can you tell me what brands you use?
Thanks.
Hi Alternativista,
I am currently trying to control my hormonal cystic acne with a diet change of no gluten and low sugar intake. I have also eliminated all dairy from my diet. I noticed that you listed zinc and b complex vitamins as supplements that you are taking. Can you tell me what brands you use?
Thanks.
Those are supplements I took, years ago now, that were the first thing that I ever noticed helping my grotesquely oily skin and acne. But then diet changes cleared my skin. But it was in a 'stress' formula by naturemade or the Walgreens storebrand equivalent.
Preschoolers are filled with so many cavities, dentists have to anesthetize or give them anti-anxiety drugs to fill the half dozen or so.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_248.pdf
http://www.newser.com/story/141172/dentists-see-rising-tooth-decay-in-preschoolers.html
Teeth are the first sign of health problems too. I thought the way I ate when I was young was bad, but I never had to have a root canal. I remember having an extremely deep cavity to the point where I needed a metal filling. Back then, I thought metal fillings were so cool looking. I knew a kid who had like 12. He looked like a robot when he smiled. When you're 6 years old, looking like a robot is pretty cool.
Seriously though, that really sucks to read. There is a shit ton of misinformation out there in the mainstream regarding food. Parents will think they're doing all they can, but things will most likely get worse if they don't get the right information.
Article citing the various reasons we are deficient in magnesium from farming methods causing depleted soils, to harvesting, storing and preparation methods to other things we do to ourself like use/consume flouride and soft drinks.
http://www.westonaprice.org/vitamins-and-minerals/magnificent-magnesium
See also the thread on the various things they are doing to our food these days. http://www.acne.org/messageboard/index.php/topic/296302-farm-subsidies-genetic-modification-other-things-they-do-to-our-food/
This isn't just about how bad our food is, but how an important part of our food supply is doomed.
Oceans on Acid: Seawater Worst in 300 Million Years
There's fresh evidence that sea life is in danger. A new study finds the world's oceans are turning acidic faster than at any time in the past 300 million years -- a period that included four mass extinctions of species. That spells trouble for corals, crabs, urchins, oysters and others losing the ability to grow the protective armor they need to survive. The change affects other creatures up the food chain, including fish, sea otters and even people.
The research, published in the journal Science, says that while past spikes in carbon dioxide levels that have turned the ocean acidic were driven by volcanoes and other natural causes, the latest disastrous shift in water chemistry is because of human pollution. Every day, 22 million tons of the CO2 we spew into the air are absorbed into our oceans. "If industrial carbon emissions continue at the current pace," one researcher says, "we may lose organisms we care about -- coral reefs, oysters, salmon."
Read about the study in The Christian Science Monitor and learn more about the Center for Biological Diversity's work to stop ocean acidification.
Article citing the various reasons we are deficient in magnesium from farming methods causing depleted soils, to harvesting, storing and preparation methods to other things we do to ourself like use/consume flouride and soft drinks.
http://www.westonapr...icent-magnesium
See also the thread on the various things they are doing to our food these days. http://www.acne.org/...do-to-our-food/
This is why I take a Mg supplement. Something like 60%+ of the US is deficient.
Mercola article on arsenic in our food. cites studies saying American-grown rice is very high in arsenic for 2 reasons- 1) Rice is good at absorbing naturally occurring arsenic from the water and 2) In the U.S. rice is often grown in land where they formerly grew cotton which was sprayed with pesticides containing arsenic.
"But it's too expensive!"
*Neglects cost of dining out often, buying soda/coffee, price of prescriptions for health problems that can be eliminated/controlled through diet & lifestyle*
Something I was thinking about speaking with one of my old professors, perhaps there's a bit of a biological basis as to why my generation is mostly bad with these kinds of choices. The frontol lobe doesn't finish developing until mid 20s ish, and it may play a pretty big role in rational decision making. I imagine neurotoxins in foods don't exactly help either.
"But it's too expensive!"
*Neglects cost of dining out often, buying soda/coffee, price of prescriptions for health problems that can be eliminated/controlled through diet & lifestyle*
Something I was thinking about speaking with one of my old professors, perhaps there's a bit of a biological basis as to why my generation is mostly bad with these kinds of choices. The frontol lobe doesn't finish developing until mid 20s ish, and it may play a pretty big role in rational decision making. I imagine neurotoxins in foods don't exactly help either.
Yes, I read the National Geographic article on the teenage brain. Amongst other things, they are less likely to be concerned with consequences and they are much more concerned with approval of their peers (not that we didn't all know that). There are some reasons why these traits were an advantage once.
Problem is, people don't get much better later. Possibly at least partly due to the bad diets that not only don't fulfill nutritional needs, cause harm.
The amount of prescription drugs the average person takes these days is incredible.
Here is a chart by age range and state. http://www.stateheal...p?ind=268&cat=5
The below Mercola articlecites national averages of
> 65 - over 31 prescriptions per year
19-64 - 11 prescriptions per year
< 19 - 4 prescriptions per year
And these are primarily for lifestyle and diet caused diseases.
And the FDA is planning to make many more prescription drugs OTC to make it easier for everyone to get them. Which most people will consider to be a good thing. Because a lack of drugs or access to drugs is what's wrong with our health... http://articles.merc...20326_DNL_art_2
For some people it really is too expensive. I try to eat as well as I can on a vegan diet but the area I live in does not have many options, local organic produce, deals in farmers markets, etc. I don't drink soda or coffee or eat out really ever. I'm a student and it's hard. Not everyone is just making excuses, fyi.
For some people it really is too expensive. I try to eat as well as I can on a vegan diet but the area I live in does not have many options, local organic produce, deals in farmers markets, etc. I don't drink soda or coffee or eat out really ever. I'm a student and it's hard. Not everyone is just making excuses, fyi.
I don't think anywhere in this thread is a claim that everyone is sickly because they don't eat organic and local. Or anything that's blaming the people who have nothing around them except a convenience store and a McDonalds. Although, that is yet another example of how incredibly bad our diets have become.
This thread is about how incredibly bad the average diet is. Not about how the average diet isn't perfect.
Congratulations on not drinking soda though. That puts you in the minority.
For some people it really is too expensive. I try to eat as well as I can on a vegan diet but the area I live in does not have many options, local organic produce, deals in farmers markets, etc. I don't drink soda or coffee or eat out really ever. I'm a student and it's hard. Not everyone is just making excuses, fyi.
Things will change over time, just keep supporting organic, natural whole foods and buying all you can. My hometown used to have NO organic food available. I moved out to the east coast to a much more "awakened" sort of area a few years ago. You can get anything here, all of it organic. And I got used to that so I've always been nervous about going home to visit because of the lack of food choices (because of my health conditions I'm not willing to eat very much conventional stuff, my body cannot handle it). But the last time I went home I was SO pleasantly surprised. The stores are now carrying a lot more organic produce, as well as gluten free options.
So have faith. My hometown is a small, not very awakened sort of community. If it's happening there, it's happening everywhere, it's just going to take time. And the more people who buy and support organic and whole foods, verses living off ramen noodles, the more options there will be.
Don't worry about the money. Just make food a priority and do whatever you have to do. If it means not buying clothes that month, taking one less class, going out one less time for a movie or coffee or whatever, just do it. Quality food is your number one priority in life. Without it, nothing else is going to matter much in the long run.
For some people it really is too expensive. I try to eat as well as I can on a vegan diet but the area I live in does not have many options, local organic produce, deals in farmers markets, etc. I don't drink soda or coffee or eat out really ever. I'm a student and it's hard. Not everyone is just making excuses, fyi.
Yes, not everyone is making excuses, but unfortunately most people are - which is why the thread is about general trends among populations, the average person basically. Too often students use financial aid to get new electronics, I'd be interested in seeing some figures on how many Apple products are purchased on the taxpayers dollar, but there's a good bit of anecdotal evidence. TVs, gaming consoles, expensive sneakers, it's honestly sickening how people's priorities can be - the entitled consumerist college student far outnumbers the fiscally responsible college student like yourself. Roughly 20% of students in a classroom on my campus will have a Starbucks beverage pretty much daily, for example.
"Researchers from Canterbury Christ Church University have found that smokers are more likely to stop because of anti-social attitudes towards them than from fear of ill-health."
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-social-smokers.html
Trying to get my hands on the study to check out their methods. If it's solid, it's honestly not that surprising. I want to get more research on cultural normativity and enforcement, it's so fascinating just going around on a daily basis and observing how people challenge what isn't the norm. I hardly ever talk about nutrition irl, and the few times I have was when friends/family came up to me to talk about how the eggs I was eating where going to spike my cholesterol, or my kale chips were weird, how meat is bad, I should have jamba juice, etc. 
Have you all heard the news about autism rates in the United States rising? They say now one in every 88 8-year-olds has autism. One in every fifty-something for boys. Adds to my puzzlement that so many people want to keep churning out so many kids. and the rates seem to be similar in the UK, Canada, Australia, etc.
In the seventies it was more like one in a thousand, which is also about what it currently is worldwide, but that would be partially due to a lack of diagnosis. Just like some of the increase is due to increased diagnosis and expanded definitions. But I bet they diagnose it just fine in France where they have what is often considered the best health care system in the world. And where they've found the rate to be about 5 per 10,000 people. And lower in Germany. http://sfari.org/new...cross-the-globe
One theory is that poor gut flora, inherited from parents, makes the kid vulnerable to the mercury or whatever it is in the vaccines that people think cause austism.
The people dying to feed you:
http://www.alternet....gX_NRX&rd=1&t=5
Highlights:
every year farmworkers are dying from thirst and heat exposure due to inadequate water and shade.
Great post alternativista. Screw the FDA/USDA and their corruption. They could give a f--- less about our health. Same goes for the medical industry (with occasional pioneers who actually are trying to inform people of this) I truly fear that americans are doomed to being reliant on prescription drugs/FDA/USDA/medical industry in order to fix their health issues.
And as someone commented earlier, people react to you as if it's a conspiracy theory. That's how much trust they have in our corrupt FDA/USDA/med industry. Such an important issue, yet so easily shrugged off
Sleep deprivation is adding to the metabolic syndrome epedemic.
http://www.medpageto...Disorders/32130
High sugar diets lacking in good fats could be making us stupid.
Bah, it gets me pretty sad honestly, not much I can do to help out my nieces and nephews who are already prediabetic. What's worse is that their parents, my siblings, know that the sugar is bad, but still buy soda. Then they complain about how expensive healthy eating is, but still buy a bunch of pizza, donuts, and ice cream. At this point I'm just trying to get them to stop with all the high sugar food, they already shop at places like Trader Joe's and the farmer's market I go to. All these habits are taking a toll on them, my 9 year old nephew already has blackheads and whiteheads, and so do all his older siblings. It's nuts.