Archive for the ‘Food-Nutrition-Health’ Category

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Gathering Summary: Homemade laundry soap and GMO discussion, with Sheree Tompkins, 022713

Saturday, March 2nd, 2013
Laundry Soap Ingredients and Equipment

Laundry Soap Ingredients and Equipment

by Catherine Haug, March 2, 2013

Photo, right, of ingredients and equipment, by S. Tompkins

This was our first event at a new venue: the Crestview Senior Housing Clubhouse. We all sat around a big table while Sheree demonstrated how to make laundry soap at another table.

This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable pdf file: Gathering Summary: Homemade Laundry Soap and GMO Discussion, with Sheree Tompkins, and in her handout:  Homemade Laundry Powder or Liquid, by Sheree Tompkins

We took turns grating the bars of soap into a bowl, and passed around the finished product so all could see that it looks like. Sheree also brought a jug of liquid soap that she made from her powdered mix, and a bucket of liquid soap that she made by a more direct method (not mixing up the powder first) to show us what the gel mixture looks and feels like when scooped up in a ladle.

Cora Reynolds, a 97-year old resident of the housing complex shared with us how she used to make laundry soap bars when she lived in North Carolina, in the  old days before her community had electricity.

Then Sheree joined us at the big table to share GMO handouts and to talk about the Non-GMO Tipping Point Network of which she is the coordinator for NW Montana.

Read on for more detail about the presentation and discussion. (more…)

Posted in Gathering Summaries, GMO, Home & Ranch, Kitchen Hints | 2 Comments »

Demonized foods: truth or lies?

Saturday, February 23rd, 2013

by Catherine Haug, February 20, 2013

Mainstream media and even your doctor tout certain foods as ‘good for you’ and others as ‘bad for you,’ but is there truth in their admonitions?  Mercola and several other health sites (1,2,6) have recently identified 10 or so foods that are popular in the media as either good or bad for health, and then discuss the truth (or lack thereof) of the assertions. I’d like to focus on a few of these; call them my ‘nutritional pet peeves.’

Demonized:

  • Eggs
  • Fats, especially saturated fats
  • High protein diet, especially animal protein

Praised:

  • Milk
  • Vegetable oils (soy, canola, etc.
  • High-carb diet

Read on for discussion and detail on these food issues. (more…)

Posted in Cat's Fats, Food-Nutrition-Health | 2 Comments »

Hersheys uses GMO ingredients in their chocolate products

Sunday, February 10th, 2013

Frankenfood

by Catherine Haug, February 8, 2013 (image, right, used by permission from the Organic Consumers Association)

Do you eat/drink Hershey’s chocolate products? Do your children or grandchildren? If so, you might want to retying this. How about Dagoba, which is now owned by Hersheys. From the Organic Consumers Association:

“The Hershey’s kisses and chocolate bars sold here in the U.S. are loaded with cheap genetically modified beet sugar and genetically engineered soy lecithin. And where does the giant chocolate maker get its cacao? From regions where child labor and workers’ rights abuses run rampant.”

If this disturbs you, consider signing on to boycott Hershey’s. Go to Sweet Revenge: Boycott Hershey’s and Dagoba (1) to read more and sign the petition.

Dagoba may not (yet) be using GMO sugar and lecithin, but it is now owned by Hershey’s, so they will feel the pain if the boycott of Dagoba and other Hershey’s products is widespread.

Read on for more on GMO sugar beets and GMO soy and its byproducts; and for more about why you should be concerned about GMO. (more…)

Posted in Food-Nutrition-Health, GMO | Comments Closed

Breaking our addiction to plastic everything

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

by Catherine Haug, February 9, 2013

Ever since I learned how to make plastic in college organic chemistry class; ever since Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin was advised , “One word:…Plastics” in The Graduate, I’ve been cautious about my use of, and exposure to plastic. It hasn’t been easy. Plastics are everywhere, and very beguiling.

They are in our carpets and rugs; our toothbrushes; shopping bags; food storage containers and wrap; food; blankets, sheets, and towels; purses, wallets, backpacks, lunch boxes; grocery bags; milk jugs, pop bottles, liquor bottles; dishes and drinking glasses; eyewear; wigs; yard tools, lawn mowers, leaf blowers; automobiles; shoes and boots; clothing and decorator fabric; furniture; building materials; water and sewer pipes; appliances; wall paint; picnic supplies; children’s toys; bicycles; sewing machines and supplies; thread, yarn, string, rope; electrical wiring; playground equipment; landscaping materials. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

It seems we cannot do without them. But……life as we know it cannot last much longer, with them. They pollute our oceans; kill our seafood and disrupt the sea food chain. They pollute our groundwater and the soil that grows our foods. They disrupt our hormones – especially in the womb – so that many children will grow up to be sterile. They affect gene expression.

Plastics require a lot of energy – fossil fuel energy – to be made from precious petroleum or foods like corn and soy. There is only so much fossil fuels on the planet, and plastics are chewing up more than half of our annual fuel consumption, when you consider the raw materials and fuels to make them, fuels to transport them, fuels to haul them to the dump and bury them there.

Addicted to Plastic (Documentary)

View the free 90-minute film on YouTube: Addicted To Plastic- Documentary.

Then read on for some suggestions to minimize our use of plastics. And send me your reuse/repurpose plastic ideas for publication on this website. (more…)

Posted in Ecology, Health, Home & Ranch, Recycle, Repurpose, Simplify | Comments Closed

Free screening of “Genetic Roulette” film

Friday, February 8th, 2013

by Catherine Haug, February 8, 2013

The Institute for Responsible Technology is offering another chance to view the film, Genetic Roulette – The Gamble of our Livesfor free, through February 10, 2013.  From the IRT Website: ‘[This film] was just awarded the Top Transformational Film of 2012 by AwareGuide! More than 15, 000 people from 50 countries voted for 30 films, including three on this year’s Academy Award shortlist. But Genetic Roulette was the “clear winner” by a wide margin.’

The film is 1 1/2 hours long and well worth the watch – especially when it’s free. But you only have a few days to take advantage of the free offer.

>> Go to Genetic Roulette Free Screening to view. <<

Posted in Food-Nutrition-Health, GMO | 1 Comment »

Learning from your grandparents could save your life

Sunday, February 3rd, 2013

by Catherine Haug, February 3, 2013

As a kid, I used to follow my Dad around the house and yard, watching (and little did I know, learning) what he did. My Dad was in his 60s; when he retired, he became the homemaker and my Mom became the provider, managing our bar. Having been a bachelor until 1946 (he was 55),  he only knew homemaking the old-fashioned way that he had learned from his Victorian-era parents.

It turns out, these were things that made for a rich and healthful life, and if we would return to at least some of these old-fashioned ways, our lives would be richer and more healthful, according to Dr. Alexandra Carrasco. Read on for more. (more…)

Posted in Community, Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health, Gardening, Health, Home & Ranch, Shop Local, Uncategorized | Comments Closed

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