In case you missed it, The President’s Cancer Panel (made up of respected mainstream scientists not “crunchy” people like me) recently released a landmark report entitled “Reducing Environmental Cancer Risk: What We Can Do Now” . The 240 page document sounds a major warning bell about the impact of environmental exposures on cancer risk. Definitely not relaxing bedside reading, but if you want to scare the crap out of some kids (or adults) while sitting around a bonfire, it would work well for that.
So what did it say? Well I don’t want to be smug or self-righteous here- okay maybe I do a little- but basically, it tells you to be an Organic Janet. The Panel strongly advises that action be taken at the consumer, industrial, and governmental levels to reduce the risks of cancer posed by chemicals in our food, air, water, and products, as well as from radiation exposure. Read the rest of this entry »
Aside from the curious notion of eating cheese that comes in a squeezable bottle – and I grew up in the Midwest where spray can cheese was an acceptable food group- can Cheez Whiz and other processed foods actually cause depression? A new study in the British Journal of Psychiatry says yes. And is yet another reason to consider adopting a whole foods diet. Not a “Whole Foods” diet as in the store, but a “whole foods” diet as in foods in their whole natural state, not processed, no additives, artificial colors or flavors, no synthetic emulsifiers or stabilizers, and definitely no ingredients with numbers in them.
The study, which followed the diet of 3500 middle-aged people over a 5 year period, found that those with a diet high in processed foods had a 58% higher risk of depression than those who ate mostly a whole foods diet. This result came as no surprise to me. I personally saw my own bouts of depression and irritability disappear when I “got off the stuff”. And by the stuff, I don’t mean drugs or alcohol. I mean the pop-tarts and the chips, the frozen dinners and the take-out, the sub sandwiches and…the list goes on. Read the rest of this entry »
