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- From: "Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>
- To: <dmnorton@royaloakfarmorchard.com>, "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible
- Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:53:52 -0500
| Another shocker a year or so back was my discovery 
of two theories for the origin of the polio epidemic.  One was DDT, and 
comments from some people that it struck some families that used a lot of 
DDT.  We all know it went around in the summer, when pesticides would have 
been used.  The other was the fad for taking out kids tonsils.  
Apparently someone checked and those kids who'd had their tonsils removed were 
more likely to have suffer nerve damage.        I wonder about 
the long term effects of new products or widespread changes occur in 
the American diet or lifestyle.  For example, they found in the 40's that 
the chemical used to bleach flour caused convulsions in dogs.  They 
switched to something else.  I have never read what that something else 
was, but I have wondered if it or other chemicals used on wheat and flour, or on 
corn, could be behind big "epidemics" of health problems.  
I suspect so many people of having gluten intolerance like myself, 
that I wonder if it was always that common.  My ancestors are from northern 
Europe where wheat didn't grow especially well, so they ate more rye or barley 
with less gluten, or oats with none.  Then they came here and lived on corn 
for a few generations.  In the 40's the 
wheat breeders changed the wheat, bringing in a lot of Russian germplasm and 
bringing the gluten content way up.  Then Americans stopped eating as much 
locally grown produce and started living on packaged foods, including a lot more 
wheat products.      Remember the beta carotene 
craze?  The actual studies merely showed an inverse correlation between 
cancer rates and carotene intake.  Now, I ask you, who eats the most 
carotene in America???  I'll tell you who.  
Gardeners.  There's not much in fruit, but lots in green and 
yellow veggies.  So if the gardeners get the least cancer, does that tell 
you that beta carotene is their secret?   I think not.  More 
likely it's because the food is fresh, it's got at least a little 
more trace minerals in it than grocery food,  and because by 
golly we grew it so we're going to eat it and we are NOT going to call 
out for a pizza.  Gardening stops cancer in much the same way 
that wearing a bra for more than 12 hours a day causes breast 
cancer compared to wearing one less than 12 hours.  (I really 
thought about that one.  Who takes their bra off at the end of the 
workday?  Women who are going home.  Of those who keep it on, a 
higher percentage are eating out after work, and/or are more vain, 
using more chemicals on their skin, nails and hair. )  Donna 
 P.S.   I personally believe that 
gardeners live longer than other people because in the winter, when other old 
people are depressed and dying, the gardeners open their seed catalogs and pure 
summer sunshine radiates out from every 
page.   | 
- 
            
            [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible,
            halegp, 04/19/2008
- Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible, mangodance, 04/19/2008
- 
            
            Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible,
            Donna &/or Kieran, 04/19/2008
- 
            
            Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible,
            Sonja & Raymond Barker, 04/20/2008
- Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible, Amanda Emily, 04/20/2008
- 
            
            Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible,
            dmnorton, 04/20/2008
- Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible, Donna &/or Kieran, 04/24/2008
 
 
 
- 
            
            Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible,
            Sonja & Raymond Barker, 04/20/2008
- 
            
            Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible,
            dmnorton, 04/20/2008
- Re: [NAFEX] Organic or Sensible, Donna &/or Kieran, 04/24/2008
 
 
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