Raises concerns about food and health, changing patterns of growing food and lifestyle choices. Offers helpful suggestions on ways to make better food and health choices.
Empowering Communities: Food Donation NGO Making a Difference
Is our food safe to eat?
1. Is Our Food Safe
to Eat?
Presentation by This Green World
Visit us at http://thisgreenworld.com
2. Is Our Food Safe to Eat?
Is the food you feed your children safe to eat? How important is the answer
to this question? Would the answer change your shopping or eating habits?
3. The Products of Industrial Farming
People don’t like buying and eating industrialized food that has been
sprayed with pesticides and prepared with hidden chemicals, but they put
up with it.
4. The Food Is Cheap, Isn’t It?
Processed food and junk food is cheap. It keeps you alive. If the cheap food
leads to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, or dementia sometime down the
road, well, isn’t that a risk worth taking?
5. When Are Food Risks Okay?
We all eat some unhealthy, risky foods. Food risks are only okay if we know
we’re taking the risk and as long as we have a choice and an alternative.
7. Change in Crops
Crops grown today are not the same as those our grandparents ate. We have to
deal with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), pesticides, added chemicals
and industrial processing.
8. Environmental Toxins + Poor Diets = Breakdown in Health
Toxins in our soil and water compromise our immune systems. Poor diets
further break down health and lead to chronic diseases.
+ =
9. Chronic Diseases only Get Worse
Chronic diseases are debilitating, often mysterious in their causes, and difficult
to treat. These diseases appear slowly and progressively get worse.
10. Risks of Chronic Disease
Common forms of chronic disease are obesity, diabetes, heart disease,
autoimmune disease, cancer and dementia. They are all to some extent
preventable.
11. 5 Causes of Chronic Disease
Chronic disease is the result of a perfect storm of related causes. Five of the
most important of these causes are:
1.Vitamin D deficiency, too little Omega 3 oil, magnesium, and other vitamins
2.Industrial pollution, acid rain, mercury off-gas from burning coal
3.Poor nutrition, unbalanced diet
4.Stress, lack of exercise, sedentary lifestyles
5.Pesticides used on or in food, GMOs, hidden chemicals in processed food
12. Food Addictions
Modern fast foods are highly addictive. Advertisers condition us to view junk
food as a treat, as a personal freedom, an indispensible part of a dynamic, active
lifestyle—all of which is untrue.
13. Poison In, Poison Out
The truth is: poison in, poison out. As our health deteriorates,
so does our quality of life.
14. Optimal Health
Optimal health, achieved by sensible eating and regular exercise, allows us to
feel great and to thrive on the positive emotions that come from feeling great.
15. For Some, Health Is Not a Priority
Giant food corporations, food boards and the medical system—none encourage
optimal health: we have to take it upon ourselves.
16. Ask questions, seek info
How was your food made, what chemicals are in it, what
pesticides were used? What is its nutritional value?
What You Can Do
17. What You Can Do
Eliminate or reduce the “white poisons”
Sugar, pasta, bread, rice and other high carbohydrate foods elevate
the body’s blood sugar. Over time, high blood sugar leads to diabetes,
heart disease and cancer.
18. What You Can Do
Confront food addictions with nutrition
Addictions to sugar and wheat provoke cravings that cannot be
overcome by mind alone. Addictive chemicals like gliadin in wheat
induce cravings for sweet and make us feel always hungry.
19. What You Can Do
Replace sugars and carbohydrates with nuts and oils
Try replacing wheat products with almond and flax recipes. High
carbohydrate foods are replaced with nuts, fish, cheese, coconut oil
and olive oil.
20. What You Can Do
Establish a support network
Any change in diet requires personal resolve and support from
friends. Advice from nutrition councilors may also be necessary.
Share recipes and food information, join cooking and gardening
workshops.
21. What You Can Do
Boost your immune system
Vitamins, like D3 and K2, as well as Omega 3 oil and magnesium,
boast the body’s immune system to help counteract toxins in the
environment. Be sure to take enough.
22. What You Can Do
Get outdoors, get some sun
Vitamin D is produced in the body through exposure to sunlight (without
sunscreen). Dr. Michael Holick recommends that people protect their faces,
but expose other areas of the body for 20 minutes a day from 10-2 pm. In
Canada, there is not enough sunlight in winter months, so Vitamin D must
be taken as drops or tablets.
24. What You Can Do
Plant a garden
Grow some of your own food. Take pride in preparing delicious,
healthy meals. Through your garden, learn about plants and
soils, and develop skills you can share with others
25. How we change the
system
Buy and grow healthy food, support the producers of healthy food
Every time we step into a grocery store, café or farmers’ market, we
vote with our wallets on the standard of food that’s acceptable to us.
Buying industrial food sends out the wrong signals. Instead put your
dollars toward a viable alternative solution.
26. How we change the
system
Organic health, organic change
We change the world by changing ourselves. Food products and habits
are lifestyle choices that have profound effects on personal health and
community well-being.
27. How we change the
system
Healthy Food = Positive Emotions
As we eat better, we feel energized and are able to share positive
emotions that lead to trusting relationships.
28. How we change the
system
Vote for food and soil protection
A carbon tax, pesticide bans and proper food labeling are important political
issues. Without clean water and land, we can’t grow healthy food.
29. Info on Healthy Food
Research into healthy foods is a wise investment. Here’s a few places to start:
The World’s Healthiest Foods by George Mateljan. His website posts useful
resources such as a list of 100 highly nutritious foods.
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php
Dr. Mark Hyman. Ultra-Prevention: The Six Week Plan that Will Make You
Healthy for Life, 2003. His weekly column for EcoWatch covers many food
topics. http://ecowatch.com/author/dr-mark-hyman/
Dr. Robert Lustig. Sugar: The Bitter Truth, 2009 http://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM
(over 5 million views on Youtube)
Dr. Michael F. Holick. The D-lightful Vitamin D for Good Health, 2014
http://youtu.be/Lvogqa3BWVE
Dr. William Davis. Wheat Belly Total Health, 2014
10 minute interview with Dr. Davis http://youtu.be/DfY0qnH-m8I
Green Medicine blog, http://www.greenmedinfo.com