This week is food allergy awareness week. Life-threatening allergic reactions to foods have increased by five times over the last decade, according to an analysis of private insurance claims by FAIR Health, an independent nonprofit that collects and analyzes data on privately billed health insurance claims.
For twelve years, we’ve been telling the stories of families who have lost their children to this life-threatening condition. It was twelve years ago, this week, that we launched AllergyKids. A few days before the site went live, we heard from a father who had just lost his 13 year old girl. These deaths are preventable, and every time I meet with these parents, my heart breaks even further. Again, these deaths are preventable, and these parents have suffered such incredible and unnecessary losses.
For the month of May, we are running four stories, and few have impacted us like that of Oakley Debbs. I recently met his amazing mom and dad at an event for End Allergies Together. Their strength is phenomenal, their love so fierce. We recently put together this Q&A.
Please take the time to read it and share it. Every child counts, and we have to stand together to say #NotOneMore.
Q. Your amazing boy was an athlete. Like many kids with allergies, he also had asthma. The reactions can very much look the same in the beginning. How can we know what we are looking at? What signs would you now look for?
Yes Oakley was an amazing Athlete. He excelled in almost any sport he tried. Oakley’s favorite sports were soccer, flag football, tennis, swimming , skiing, boogie boarding etc. Its hard for me to say what I would look for now if Oakley had an anaphylactic reaction. The symptoms we saw that night was a stomach ache and vomiting of clear liquid. I would recommend epinephrine way before any symptoms occurred. If you know an allergen has been ingested I would be proactive and not wait for any symptoms it might be to late by then.
Q. You brought to my attention that the ambulance did not have an EpiPen in it when it arrived for Oakley. Those seconds matter so much, and as a mother, it is shocking that this is the case in light of how many children and adults now have food allergies. What advice would you give to parents waiting for the ambulance?
Actually the ambulance did have epinephrine. The first responder was a policeman and he was completely ill prepared to deal with any life threatening situations. The policeman didn’t even do CPR to Oakley. My mother in law did it. My advice is when you call 911 administer the Epinephrine right away and let 911 know that the epinephrine has been administered.
Q. Oakley has a sister that is now without her brother. When we talk about these children, we often forget that there are siblings whose lives are also forever changed. What has been the most help to your daughter through this?
Olivia says she struggles every day with the loss of her twin brother. Nothing really helps except for keeping her super busy. Olivia is excelling in sports all varsity this year and she has achieved first honors as well. Olivia relies a lot on her friends and Oakley’s best friends spend time with her too.
Q. Talk to us about the Red Sneakers!
Red Sneakers for Oakley:
Red sneakers were my son’s, Oakley Gage Debbs, favorite shoes to wear. Red Sneakers for Oakley Is a food allergy awareness organization. We provide education awareness programs for the schools. Some of our goals are to change the laws, provide Epipens or other auto injectors next to defibrillators in institutions throughout America and around the world.
We encourage mindfulness for allergy families by the simple act of wearing RED SNEAKERS and posting it on social media to help spread awareness. We ask schools to host a red sneakers day which basically is a dress down day by wearing red sneakers, or red shoe laces, shirts etc. as long as it is red.
RSFO has a website, redsneakers.org. There’s lots of information on our website.we are partnering with other organizations as well.
Q. What one thing does your family want to see changed to honor Oakley’s legacy?
My family would like to have a Law: THE OAKLEY LAW. All institutions and first responders should have epinephrine auto injectors and they should be trained in understanding and recognizing anaphylactic.
Jake Bailey is your average teenager who went to the dentist, and then his life changed forever. In this speech, he shares hard-won wisdom on the importance of gratitude.
Listening to him reminded me of this quote by Mary Oliver: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life.”
It’s a five minute watch. Share it with your kids and anyone you love. It is such a powerful and important reminder.
I’ve met a lot of doctors in my work, and I have enormous respect for so many of them. But none have married the principles of Western medicine with integrative care quite as beautifully as my dear friend, Dr. Frank Lipman.
He’s my go-to whenever I have a question for family or friends. Based out of New York City, but from South Africa, he brings a global view to our health crisis and what we can do to maintain and regain our health.
Inspired by the thousands of patients he has worked with over the last four decades, his new book, How to Be Well: The Six Keys to a Happy and Healthy Life, is the distillation of all the wellness wisdom his Health Coach team have shared with their patients about how to create lasting energy, wellness and vitality.
I mean, as someone who just celebrated her 47th birthday, who doesn’t want that!?
The book is, however, anything but a look back. And if you know Dr. Lipman, he is anything but boring. He is dynamic, passionate and so purpose driven that it’s contagious!
This book is about creating wellness now in a world where the odds can feel as though they’re increasingly stacked against living a healthy life.
He talks about how he is seeing a rising tide of ever younger patients with debilitating digestive issues, metabolic imbalances, chronic fatigue and auto-immune problems, as well as waves of people in their 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s who feel as though they’re aging way too quickly, dealing with memory and energy issues far too early in the game.
And with practical hands-on tips and profound wisdom, he has distilled this down into 6 key steps we can all take.
You will want to grab a copy of this book. It’s practical, not preachy, full of medically sound advice and a gorgeous gift.
And for those commenting on Facebook, we will be giving away a copy here, too!
Yesterday, our oldest child celebrated her 18th birthday. I lay awake last night, thinking about how much the world has changed since she was born in the year 2000.
One of our biggest worries then was “Y2K”. The fear that computers worldwide were going to lock up and shut down. We stocked water, food and much more, anticipating the possible implosion of the internet. It’s almost funny now to think about, except it is not.
As I lay there last night, I thought about the world that our four kids now live in. A world in which they watch their friends’ parents die of cancer, take care of those at school with life-threatening food allergies, and practice lock downs.
It’s that last part that kept me up last night.
In the wake of the Florida shooting, I checked in with each of our four children individually. There is no handbook for this. There is no, “How to Parent in the Age of Mass Shootings” guide.
Each child shared different concerns. I asked if the school acknowledged the shootings, “Only the big ones, Mom,” was the answer.
Only the big ones. That got me. That there were qualifiers on these shootings. Some worthy of a moment of silence at school, others not.
My first response after the shooting in Florida on Valentine’s Day, which was also Ash Wednesday, was to contact my Senators’ offices. I’ve already heard back with meetings scheduled. My 18 year old is coming with me.
But it wasn’t enough. I spoke with my parents, Dad is a hunter in Texas, a gun owner, and has been his entire life. Like almost all Americans, he has no problem with background checks, 95% of Americans support them. He does not want access to assault rifles. He served in the U.S. Army, and the stories he shares of those times have never once touched on the death or injury he saw. Not once in my 47 years have I ever heard him talk about it.
Without saying a word, he told me everything I needed to know about what he’d seen and experienced, what it did to him.
And as I lay there last night, I wondered what happens to a generation of children in lockdown drills with moments of silence each week for school shootings. What happens to their hearts, their souls? How do they survive emotionally? Do they desensitize? Shut down? Numb it somehow? Will they be able to talk about it with their children?
I don’t have the answers or know exactly how to deal with it, other than to put that love into action. I try to role model that for the kids, our oldest has now written both Senators, too. But how to deal with it emotionally? What happens to their hearts?
Once again, we are running a real time experiment on our kids.
The only thing I know to do is to make home a safe place. Safe to live, safe to come home to, safe to express all concerns and fears.
Because lock down drills and moments of silence weren’t part of our childhoods. The moment of grief that I remember the most vividly that came even remotely close was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. We were in Biology class, and the teacher who told us was also the football coach. He could barely keep it together.
How are the teachers keeping it together?
As Moms Demand Action and other organizations expand into the incredible leadership role we are seeing, the students are, too. As Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action wrote yesterday, ” This moment feels different. So many new voices are speaking out. In a little over a week, than 115,000 people reached out to Moms Demand Action wanting to volunteer — including at least 8,000 students, who will become the first Students Demand Action volunteers. More than 70,000 people have made donations. And nearly 1.2 million people signed up to learn about the gun violence prevention movement.”
I’ve spent the last 20 years in the the food industry, and the last dozen or so specifically working to protect children. Far more bullets than peanuts are killing children in the classroom, and it has me deeply reflective on what to do next. A growing number of moms are running for Congress, and though many ask, that is not my path. Supporting them, however, very much is.
Democracy doesn’t work without us. And we have to move beyond what the internet first enabled, a type of slactivism, petition signing and check writing. We have to get out of our seats and put love into action.
I remember how intimidating that felt when I first contacted a Congressman’s office about a food labeling bill, requesting a meeting. But in hindsight, that fear was misguided. Inside of all of those offices are young Americans, eager to be part of meaningful change.
It is easy to forget that we are writing the history books in real time every day of our lives. But it’s important to remember: We can be bystanders or up standers. There are so many opportunities to participate.
And as I continue to work to protect the health of our families, and the health of children, I will also support more women and more moms who are running for Congress. I will support the voices brave enough to speak with sincerity and passion, to put their hearts on display for the world to see, because that is what will move us forward, and I will work to get the dark money out of politics.
In the words of Marjory Stoneman Douglas:
“Be a nuisance where it counts. Do your part to inform and stimulate the public to join your action. Be depressed, discouraged, and disappointed at failure and the disheartening effects of ignorance, greed, corruption and bad politics—but never give up.
For the sake of our children, who only represent 30% of the population, but 100% of our future, we can never give up
“The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason for hope.”
Let’s help create a future that our children will be proud to share.
We’ve highlighted the work of Rick Friday here before, the renegade cartoonist who was fired from a newspaper for speaking truth to power. Thankfully, for all of us (except the multinational ag corporations), he got his job back.
This morning, he posted this on his Facebook page. What happens when there are no farmers left? And if less than 1% of our farmland is organic, we end up importing the food that Americans want to eat. Food security starts with farmer security. And right now, as big ag reports record earnings, farmer are killing themselves in record numbers. The suicide rates of farmers is more than double that of our veterans, and an opioid epidemic is running rampant on farms.
Something is going to give, and Rick Friday chimes in with this take:
“Monsanto marks record sales and gross profit in seeds and genomics segment in fiscal year 2017.
U.S. meat processor Tyson Foods Inc. reported higher earnings for the fourth quarter on Monday, November 13, 2017, as lower costs to buy cattle feed boosted profit margins in its beef and chicken businesses.
Cargill’s earnings were up across four segments—meat, food ingredients, grain and oilseeds, and financial services. 2017 earnings up 50 percent year-on-year on broad gains.
Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced increased third quarter 2017 financial results with quarterly net earnings of $47.5 million, up from third quarter net earnings in 2016 of $8.1 million.
Meanwhile, down on the farm…….”
And he attached the image above.
It’s food for thought. We have to #rethinkfood and protect our farmers. Our food system and health depends on them.
The last few weeks, I’ve been in meetings with multinational companies who are now responding to the changing needs of American families. They recognize that demand for organic is no longer a fad or a trend and that consumers want transparency and to know what is in their food.
Organic is not a trend, because cancer, food allergies, diabetes, autism and Alzheimer’s aren’t trends. Inside all of these multinational companies are people who have family members and loved ones who are struggling with health issues. They know that the statistics are real.
So the personal is becoming the professional which is becoming political, and as these brands realize that less than 1% of our farmland in the U.S. is certified organic.
But the politics around food aren’t divided along traditional lines. Cancer doesn’t care if we are Republican or Democrat, autism, diabetes and Alzheimer’s don’t either. Health conditions are impacting all of our families, regardless of what side of the aisle we are on. And the line that has divided many companies between conventional and organic is blurring, thank goodness.
Perhaps one of the most remarkable examples of this is what Kashi is doing. They were acquired by Kellogg’s several years ago and largely left alone out in California, where they drove a revenue increase of 42% to $600 million in sales. Disaster only struck Kashi when Kellogg’s tried to re-engineer Kashi’s DNA, relocating the company’s headquarters to Michigan, changing the decision-making process and more. Sales tanked, morale plummeted, and the expression “to get Kashi’d” became something that no company wanted to experience in the acquisition process.
But inside of Kashi was a woman who stayed the course. She arrived in 2002, when the brand was still true to form, and she held onto that DNA despite the efforts to change it. As Kellogg’s realized their mistakes, they sent Kashi back to California.
A few years ago, under the leadership of this woman, the Kashi team contacted me after I’d been making a lot of noise about the fact that so many households are now buying organic, and that in spite of that, less than 1% of all U.S. farm acreage is organic. Those numbers don’t add up for any CEO responding to consumer demand, so the quick solution many companies turned to was importing organic ingredients. This hit me as a lost opportunity for American farmers. Why not grow it here?
So rather than wait for the government or the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association (which was fighting its own consumers in the GMO labeling debate) to do it, Kashi implemented a program to grow more organic in the U.S., to support American farmers in that transition rather than import it.
I’ve been asking the Kashi team for an update for the last few months, as I adore market-led solutions and specifically the fact that theirs enlisted the consumer. Well, the update finally arrived. This hit my inbox this morning:
Kashi unveiled that with the support of consumers, it will source Certified Transitional ingredients from more than 4,200 acres of U.S. farmland – a 400% increase since the Certified Transitional program started in 2016. Participating farmers have received more than $1 million to support their transition from conventional to organic.
“We’re proud to support thousands of acres of U.S. farmland transitioning to organic through the Certified Transitional program since its inception in 2016,” said Nicole Nestojko, Kashi Sr. Director Supply Chain & Sustainability. “When people enjoy a bowl of our new Cinnamon French Toast cereal – or any Certified Transitional product – they are helping increase the amount of organic farmland in the U.S., one box at a time.”
Growing the Organic Market
Despite double-digit growth in consumer demand for organic foods each year since the 1990s, organic acreage has not kept up.[1] According to the USDA, less than one percent of U.S. farmland is certified organic.[2] While farmers increasingly recognize the benefits of certification, converting fields from conventional farming methods to organic takes at least three years and is no small feat. During the three-year transition, farmers use organic practices requiring increased investment but aren’t paid organic prices.
Inspired to help farmers meet rising demand for organics, Kashi partnered with leading organic certifier Quality Assurance International (QAI) in 2016 to create Certified Transitional, a protocol that creates a new way for farmers to command slightly higher prices for their crops in transition during the three-year period – giving them the financial assurance they need to make the switch from conventional to organic. QAI led the development of the label, with support from agricultural suppliers, a global environmental NGO, organic experts, farmers, retailers, distributors and food brands.
QAI owns and manages the Certified Transitional protocol, which is available for any crop and brand that sources agricultural ingredients, including food and beverage.
Certified Transitional Farmers Received $1M in Premiums Made Possible by Kashi
Through the program, Certified Transitional farmers have received more than $1 million in premiums to support their transition to organic since 2016. A total of 15 farmers have supplied Certified Transitional ingredients from farmland in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming.
By purchasing Certified Transitional products such as Cinnamon French Toast cereal, Chewy Nut Butter Bars and Dark Cocoa Karma Shredded Wheat Biscuits, consumers are voting with their dollars to help support farmers transitioning their land to organic.
“I like to consider myself a ‘conductor in an ecological orchestra’ because it’s important to me to ensure that all unique parts of the farm are working together in harmony,” said Eric Thalken, president at Burkey LLC, who supplied corn for the new Cinnamon French Toast Cereal. “That’s why I’m transitioning to organic – to ensure I conduct my farm in the most sustainable tune.”
These are the types of solutions that we can bring to the marketplace in real time, without waiting on the government. They are driving changes for our farmers, creating economic opportunities and jobs, which is a win win for the farm economy and U.S. economy. I sincerely hope that other companies will follow.
The picture above is from LivingMaxwell.com and taken at Expo West 2017. We are looking forward to seeing more solutions from companies on the trade show floor in a few weeks.
In 2014, I wrote an article questioning the lack of vision and leadership at the Grocery Manufacturers Association. “Is the Grocery Manufacturers Association a Relic?” I asked. Some CEOs were shocked by the audacity of that question. To me, it was so obvious that the organization was failing its members by not addressing the changing needs of consumers or the changing needs in the supply chain for its member companies. It was stunning to me that no one had asked questioned them.
In the last few years, a growing number of companies in the Grocery Manufacturers Association have announced that they are not only dumping artificial ingredients from their products but also buying into the free-from and organic movements. It is a growing trend in the face of consumer demand.
#dumpthejunk has become the rallying cry, as a growing number of consumers call on companies to remove artificial ingredients, as we find ourselves reading labels because of diabetes, food allergies, ADHD and so much more.
So why is this happening on a one-off basis? Why didn’t the Grocery Manufacturers Association give its members the heads up? Why are these companies slowly peeling off these ingredients one by one in a slow and often reactionary process? It’s death by a thousand cuts.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association is the voice of more than 300 leading food, beverage and consumer product companies, but will it be a relic of the 20th century? With Campbell’s announcement yesterday, the answer is “yes.”
A question that is starting to pop up is: Is the Grocery Manufacturers Association still delivering value to its members? Would members be better served by forming a new organization? What if a new group started? Let’s just hypothetically call it the Food Production Association, and its mission was to meet the needs of companies in the 21st century?
A look back at the history of the Grocery Manufacturers Association suggests this might be a good idea.
But do 21st century consumers actually turn to this organization today or is it a relic of the 20th century? And is it an advocate for its members?
The organization’s website goes on to say:
“A vital role of GMA is to serve as a central resource for our members, providing industry model practices and a means for collaboration between members, retailers and service providers on important challenges and opportunities facing the industry.”
The organization may have done that twenty years ago, but is it still doing that today?
The landscape of health has changed, and it is changing the landscape of food. Today, the rates of diabetes is skyrocketing, 1 in 4 children has a chronic condition, 1 in 13 children has a food allergy, 1 in 10 has asthma and 1 in 68 has autism, with cancer now the leading cause of death by disease in American children. The rates of these conditions are escalating, and parents are reading labels.
Did any of us expect motherhood or fatherhood to look like this? Not at all. No one would choose autism, life threatening food allergies or cancer. No one. But we find ourselves face to face with these conditions every day. It is changing so many things in our lives, and it is changing how we approach the grocery store.
Some companies want to spend millions of dollars debating how we got here. Parents don’t have time. Their hands are tied managing these health conditions. CNN/TIME reported that the additional costs of raising a child with food allergies is $4,200/year. Consumers want transparency and denying them basic information about what is in the food we are feeding our loved ones is out of touch.
Over the last year, more than 60 state laws have been introduced to label genetically engineered ingredients in foods. Consumers know about it, companies know about it. Companies inside the Grocery Manufacturers Association are producing product lines without these ingredients, and those product lines are profitable pieces of their portfolio. One look at the success of Kroger’s Simple Truth, “free-from” line demonstrates what a brand can do when it removes additives, GMOs, high fructose corn syrup and more.
Consumers want “free-from” food. It’s not about debating the “how” or the “why” we got here. It’s about meeting her where she stands in the aisle of the grocery store, holding onto a child with diabetes or food allergies, or shopping for parent with cancer.
Everyone is recognizing the need for food free from artificial ingredients. Panera Bread recently announced that they are pulling these ingredients from their products, Target’s Simply Balanced committed to removing genetically engineered ingredients by the end of 2014, and Kroger is seeing record earnings growth with its Simple Truth product line, free from artificial ingredients and genetically engineered ingredients. The brand went from $0 to $1 billion in revenue in two years. The CEO of Kroger has repeatedly called it “a bright spot” in the company’s earnings reports.
So if companies that are dumping the junk are being rewarded by both consumers and the stock market, shareholders and stakeholders, what purpose does the Grocery Manufacturers Association serve by getting in the way of that? Is that in the best interest of its members?
As the Association spends record amounts filing lawsuits against the state of Vermont which has just taken a big step towards bringing transparency to its food system for its consumers, you have to wonder if this is money well spent for its members. What if instead, these members decided to leave the organization and start another one, one that truly met their needs in the face of changing consumer demand and the changing health of American consumers. Or what if some got aggressive and filed a “loss of business” lawsuit against it given the decline that companies like Kellogg’s are seeing in sales and the resulting employee layoffs as they entrench on the GMO labeling issue?
21st century families want free-from food. It isn’t complicated, and shareholders and stakeholders are rewarding the companies that understand that and are delivering products that meet that need.
They’re not debating the science, they’re not filing lawsuits, they are simply meeting us where we stand: in the aisles of the grocery store shopping for the 1 in 3 American children that now has allergies, asthma, ADHD or autism. They are building a new food economy, becoming icons for the 21st century consumer, making the Grocery Manufacturers Association look like a relic of the 20th century.
The $2.1 trillion food, beverage and consumer packaged goods industry employs 14 million U.S. workers. As consumers opt out of food loaded with artificial ingredients, demand is growing. From 2013-2018, demand for organic is expected to grow 14%, but in the United States, less than 1% of farmland is under organic farm management which means that we have to turn to countries like China and Romania for non-GMO or organic food. We are literally outsourcing that entire economic opportunity. It is not in the interest of our food companies, our families or our farmers.
If the Grocery Manufacturers Association was true to its mission it would meet the 21st century consumer where she stands, and it would be addressing this supply chain issue for its members. But it’s not.
As it stands, it is quickly becoming a relic of the 20th century, opening the door for another industry organization to form.
Can you imagine if Kroger, Target, Campbell’s, Nature’s Path, Annie’s, Costco and other food companies joined together to form the Food Production Association whose mission was to build out a clean and safe food system and to secure the supply chain for 21st century families? Instead of channeling member dollars into lawsuits, it could grow the base of US farmland under organic management, so that we don’t outsource this economic opportunity for our companies, farmers and country to our trading partners.
Cancer, autism, food allergies and other conditions we are seeing in the health of our loved ones are not “trends,” neither is the demand for transparency. American consumers have a right to know whether the EPA regulates their corn as a pesticide or not. Sixty percent of the world’s population has been given that right.
Imagine an organization for the food industry that actually focused on securing a non GMO supply chain for American companies, rather than fight this shift in consumer demand and outsource this economic opportunity to China and Romania. Here’s what a logo might look like. It’s food for thought.
Waiting for one year to end and another to start is how a lot of people are feeling right now. But that is tempting fate.
You can line up a list of the things that went wrong in 2017 and come to the conclusion that life couldn’t get much worse.
If you think just a little bit, you will remember those you lost this year: the people you love who also lost people they love, the friends who have seen friends die, the sisters who lost brothers, daughters who lost fathers. Lives ended, as every year does.
But here we are writing this, so in the words of Mary Oliver, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
For some reason, new year’s resolutions tend to center around weight loss. I hate that. Too many of us once let a scale dictate whether or not we were going to have a good day or a bad one. One number defined a mood, and it is a complete waste of energy. Instead of focusing on what you can lose, focus on what you can gain—like a day spent doing something you love with someone you love, a day not ruined by a number.
So rather than focus on the things to steer clear of in 2018, here are a few things to add, 1+8 things, so here you go:
Water. Can not emphasize this enough. It impacts everything from your mood, to concentration, to digestion to how your skin looks. Hydrate. It will do more for you than you could ever imagine.
Move. I don’t care if it’s dancing in the kitchen with your kids, walking a dog, doing the plank for 45 seconds, move that body you have. A friend lost his legs in a freak accident. Live everyday on yours while you can. None of us know what is coming at us.
Hand write notes. In 2017, I committed to hand writing a thank you note each week to a person who impacted my life, a teacher, a friend, a mentor or just someone who made my heart expand. The joy that came from writing those notes, the appreciation, boomeranged. The receivers would reach out (who mails hand written notes anymore?). It is an awesome practice to start.
Unplug. In this hyper speed, 24/7 news cycle with social media hacking at our brains, find a few minutes each day to unplug. Maybe walk without the device (radical!) or take a class that doesn’t allow them (pretty much, all classes!) and just try to exist without the added techno limb.
Supplement. Sadly, our soil sucks. It’s in terrible shape. As a country, we decided to maximize yields at all costs, which means we soaked our soil in pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, so many sides that it is no longer healthy. Not an insurmountable problem, but as we work on regenerative ag, supplement. My partners have some of my favorites: MegaFood Daily Turmeric Boost, Natural Vitality CALM Magnesium and My Kind Vitamin C, Bs and more. Consider adding supplements to your daily routine until we turn around this chemically intensive ag system.
Call someone you love. A lot of friends have lost family members and friends in the last year, so pick up the phone and call someone you love. Start the convo with, “I only have a few minutes, but wanted to check in and say hi…” It doesn’t have to be an hour or even a half an hour. Pick up the phone and let someone you love hear your voice and listen to theirs. Time is fleeting.
Schedule your checkups, and do not forget the dermatologist. This year has been my year of reckoning after growing up in the sun and on beaches. Get into the dermatologist. It’s fast, painless, and a few stern words now can save you from stitches or surgery later.
Plant something. Start with a tomato plant or basil plant or anything simple in a pot. Learn how to grow something, the patience and skills will serve you in so many aspects of life.
Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. All too often, we wait for the perfect weight or time or confidence level or moment to let someone we love know that we love them. Don’t wait. Now more than ever, the most important thing that we can put into the world is love. So do your thing. Love big.
If 2017 is any indicator, 2018 is going to be crazy, too. You have to put on your oxygen mask first before you can effectively help others. So buckle up and take care of you, in order to take care of those and all that you love. The world needs you in it.
So I watched Part 2 of Rotten about food allergies. And I have some questions. So I’ve put them into the production team and am waiting to hear back.
I adore Ming Tsai, truly love that man. I was just with him in his restaurant, Blue Dragon, in the fall. If you are ever in Boston, please eat there. And I bow down to the families who came forward for the film. That half of the segment is incredible.
But boy, does the other half come across as a pitch for peanut farmers, and I have serious questions as to the funding and a BIG ASK.
Why no allergist? No allergist interviewed in the section? Why no discussion about the ways that the farmers farm? No discussion. None. It’s a pity party there. And that is a peanut problem.
The film paints a very clean picture of peanut farming, with beautiful green fields, and a dad and daughter. I mean, let’s pull those heart strings for these two. And as someone who is named after a farmer, I bow to the farming efforts.
But to fail to highlight exactly how peanut farming happens? The record amount of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and other methods used to grow those products? The crop rotation that can occur with genetically engineered cotton? One of the most highly polluted crops? To not bring that discussion into the microbiome discussion is irresponsible.
Most of the peanuts consumed in the U.S. are now one of the most pesticide-contaminated snacks we eat. The USDA Pesticide Data Program found 8 pesticides on peanut butter. Piperonyl butoxide was found 26.9% of the time.
According to the National Pesticide Information Center, piperonyl butoxide is considered a possible human carcinogen based on limited evidence of cancer in laboratory animals. Piperonyl Butoxide (PBO), a highly toxic substance that causes a range of short- and long-term effects, including cancer and adverse impacts on liver function and the nervous system, is one of the most commonly used synergists in pesticide products. Synergists are chemicals added to pesticide formulations to enhance the toxicity of the active ingredients.
According to farmers, “Peanuts are raised in the part of our country where peanuts are a rotation crop with cotton. Most of the cotton is glyphosate tolerant and receives numerous glyphosate applications per year. Glyphosate severely damages the beneficial microorganisms in the soil. This leads to an increase in the population of opportunistic or bad organisms in the soil. The bad organisms cause an increase in the number of diseases that will adversely effect the peanut crop. This leads to an increased use of insecticides and fungicides on the peanut crop. It is common to see a conventional peanut crop sprayed with some type of pesticide every 8-10 days during the growing season.”
It is also incredibly irresponsible to solely focus on peanut here when the number of deaths due to milk allergy are exploding. It has me wondering if perhaps the dairy industry is going to fund the next food allergy film with idyllic pastures of cows rather than the CAFO’s that are now part of industrialized dairy?
Are we allergic to food or to what’s been done to do?
And when a doctor is paid mightily by Mylan and fails to disclose those payments prompts parents to reach out, it leads to some big questions?
So that is my peanut problem.
What money was behind this film? Still waiting to hear back.
It’s easy to be misled in this space. Many of us entered into it optimistically, only to realize just how much money is flowing through non-profits and doctors’ offices, without full disclosure. When critical conversations are muted, it’s important to remember what Enron once reminded us to do, “Ask why.”
Life can get absolutely crazy, especially if you have kids. On top of that, it’s the holiday season and the daily headlines may have you asking what is happening to our world!
The ninja skills required to coordinate the moving parts of a house full of kids, a spouse, a career, some advocacy work and keeping up with the headlines require an incredible focus. On top of that, if you are a parent, you know that you can not afford to get sick.
I didn’t always operate this way. I lived on diet soda and fat-free food (if you can call it that) for years. I had a tendency to run hard, play hard and drive myself straight into the ground. I’d crash. Total wipe out.
And then when the health of my kids were hit with different health conditions, conditions now impacting so many children today, I had to reassess. I had to keep my family healthy, and I could not afford to go down.
My background is finance and motherhood. I was a straight A, MBA number cruncher. I knew nothing about food and began reaching out to doctors, pediatricians and dietitians to learn.
There have been a lot of things that have surprised me along the way, but I think one of the most surprising things continues to be that some of the easiest solutions are right in front of us. Things like reducing exposure to pesticides, artificial dyes, GMOs, since we don’t know the long-term impact.
But one day, sitting in the pediatrician’s office, he asked, “Do you guys take magnesium?” We were there because one of the kids was dealing with a bullying situation at school, and the stress was high.
“No, why?” And he started listing the benefits and the fact that 80% of Americans could be deficient.
“How did this happen?” I asked, thinking about my 104 year old grandmother. He wasn’t sure, so I got digging into the research.
It turns out that current industrial agricultural methods take from the soil more than they give.
It turns out that current industrial agricultural methods take from the soil more than they give. Monoculture (growing the same crop year in and year out, which depletes the soil of nutrients), synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and aggressive tilling further deplete minerals and trace elements from the soil and leave it vulnerable to erosion. This means much of the produce that we eat today has fewer nutrients than before these methods were utilized. In other words, this new way of farming stripped our soil. The word is “chelation”. And chemicals like glyphosate strip away key things like copper, zinc and magnesium. No one knows this better than Dr. Don Huber, a professor emeritus and retired military colonel who bravely spoke out on this.
As I dug into the research, I learned that a carrot you eat today can have 10 to 25 percent fewer vitamins and minerals than a carrot did twenty-five years ago.
And magnesium is one of those minerals that has been depleted. And it’s an important one.
True to form, I thought, “If magnesium can truly do all of this, why isn’t everyone talking about this? And how have I never heard of it?”
Because unfortunately, not enough docs get enough nutrition and this training (launching the industry for registered dietitians).
And here’s what I learned.
Every day, hundreds of complex chemical reactions occur in your body—and helping to regulate more than 350 of them is the hardworking mineral Magnesium.
Most of us are woefully deficient in this powerhouse of a mineral. Some doctors estimate that 80% of Americans aren’t getting enough magnesium. According to the National Institute of Health, an adult body contains approximately 25 g magnesium, with 50% to 60% present in the bones and most of the rest in soft tissues.
According to Dr. Frank Lipman, “Every day, hundreds of complex chemical reactions occur in your body—and helping to regulate more than 350 of them is the hardworking mineral Magnesium. Keep magnesium levels high and you’ll help protect your body against heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, type-2 diabetes, migraines, insomnia and depression.”
Shoot! Who wouldn’t want that?
So where to find this magic mineral and which company makes one of the greatest? (Take a peak here!)
