Panera Bread has announced that they will be eliminating some of the chemical additives in their food. Additives?
Today, the company publicly published a “No No List” of artificial additives including colors, flavors, preservatives, and sweeteners that are banned from its restaurants as of today in the US (its rollout date in Canada has yet to be determined). The restaurant says it will remove more than 150 ingredients, including aspartame (taken out of Diet Pepsi last month) and azodicarbonamide (aka, the much-maligned yoga mat chemical), as well as old health foes like high-fructose corn syrup and lard. (Also on the list: sucralose, the artificial sweetener replacing aspartame in Diet Pepsi and acesulfame K, the beverage’s other sweetener.)
Click here for the complete NO-NO List from Panera Foods.
Check out this article about Panera’s announcement about taking another step toward ethical meat practices in Forbes Magazine.
Subway Restaurant
Remember the yoga mat incident? Well it looks like Subway has made another step toward helping their PR and announced plans for a significant reduction in sodium at its U.S. stores that could ultimately nudge much of the fast-food industry to follow.
Beginning today, sodium content in Subway’s “Fresh Fit” sandwich line in the U.S. will be cut 28% vs. 2009, when Subway first began to cut salt. And sodium in its overall sandwich line will be cut by 15%, compared with the same period.
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods, a few weeks ago, declared that they will be eliminating the food dye they were using in their Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, the stuff that makes it orange, and replacing it with natural ingredients.
Maybe Kraft is making this move because it’s losing market shareto organic products — although the company still sells half-a-billion dollars worth of the stuff annually.
As it turns out, the famous nuclear-orange color of Kraft’s mac and cheese can be obtained from natural ingredients like turmeric, annatto,and paprika — instead of artificial food dye.
But the BIGGEST news was….ta dah! CHIPOTLE GIVES UP GMOS! The public has spoken. Take that Monsanto who has no problem morally or ethically poisoning the consumer if it can make a profit.
WHAT IS A GMO? (Genetically Modified Organism)
A GMO is created by inserting genes from one species (typically bacteria or a virus) into the DNA of another. This can result in a plant with characteristics that wouldn’t occur naturally, such as producing pesticides or the ability to withstand high doses of chemical herbicides.
Not all GMOs are designed in the same way. Crops can be engineered to do a number of different things. The traits that cause the most concern to agricultural, environmental, and medical experts are:
1. Herbicide Resistance: Plants engineered to survive applications of glyphosate, a chemical that would otherwise kill them.
2. Pesticide Production: Plants engineered to produce insecticidal toxins
(Picture source: Chipotle website)
If you eat processed food, you are more likely to consume GMOs.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have been grabbing headlines in recent weeks, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suddenly reversing bans on one genetically engineered crop after another. The list of genetically modified food ingredients is growing at an alarming rate. And what’s even more disturbing is the fact the USDA seems to have sided with big business in allowing GMO foods to be sold without any labeling whatsoever.
Consumers have been left largely in the dark, unable to make informed choices about buying foods containing GMOs. By some estimates, over 75% of all processed foods sold in the U.S. contain a GMO ingredient. Corn, soy, canola, cottonseed, sugar, beef and dairy products are among the most likely to have been genetically modified.
Scientists, environmental activists, supporters of organic farming and consumers alike are joining forces to protest the USDA’s decisions. Organizations like the Organic Consumers Association, Alliance for Natural Health USA and Say No to GMOs! are just a few examples of those working to fight back against GMOs.
What’s behind all of the outrage and fervor? Here’s a brief overview of the case against GMOs. It’s important to educate yourself now, because the onslaught of approved GMO foods entering our food supply is likely to continue, as the government refuses to acknowledge that they could be harmful.
Why do GMOs exist?
If you listen to the government and the Big Agra companies it supports, GMO foods are perfectly safe, and their benefits include lower cost crops, more productive farms and even healthier foods. But the truth is, genetically engineered plants exist for a single reason — profits. Companies like Monsanto have been known to bully farmers into paying “technology fees” to use their GMO seeds.
In most cases, the reason that seeds are genetically modified is so they plants can withstand massive doses of herbicides and pesticides. And guess who sells these toxic chemicals? The same companies that make the GMO seeds.
Why should you be concerned about GMOs in our food supply?
Genetically engineered plants have had either genes from bacteria or viruses, or genes that make plants resistant to toxic chemicals like the herbicide Roundup — spliced into their DNA. These genes were never part of the human diet until the first GMO plant was created in 1996.
To date, there have been no long-term human safety studies conducted on GMOs. To assume that they are safe defies common sense, as we lack any scientific evidence to prove that they do not pose a threat to human health. In fact, more research points towards potentially harmful effects of consuming GMOs.
The American Academy of Environmetal Medicine (AAEM)’s official position on GMOs is that they “have not been properly tested and pose a serious health risk” and that a more research shows that GMOs are posing a harmful effect to humans.
The Center for Food Safety has launched a free mobile application for smartphones called the True Food Shoppers Guide, a program that allows shoppers to quickly and easily identify grocery items that contain genetically engineered ingredients.
I asked Bobette Stanbridge to be a guest blogger. I can tell just from talking to her that Bobette has had an interesting life; once living in California and then upstate NY and now in Sarasota, FL, where she has a sprawling beautiful home and a large art room where she creates her wonderful paintings and children books: Bunky Books. Http://www.thebobetteartco.com. Here is what she wrote.
You asked me to explain how I got on the path I am on so here goes.
In 1967 the Maharishi came to America to teach meditation. The Beatles had gone to India, met him and sang about him so the young people of the world became interested. My friends and I were on a path to expanding our consciousness and were told that meditation was the way. Everyone was experimenting with mind altering drugs and I was one of the lucky ones who decided that meditation was a good path instead. That’s not to say that I didn’t try them too but I chose to give them up. I think meditation helped me make that decision.
A man named Jerry Jarvais came to UCLA in Southern California to initiate many of us. We were given mantras, which were sounds to use as our focal point in our meditation. Each of us was given our own sound. I definitely felt something when I meditated. I remember going to a group meditation at one of the halls on campus. Everyone was meditating in a large auditorium and I started laughing uncontrollably. I don’t know why but I couldn’t stop so I left. I didn’t want to disturb the otherwise very quiet room of mediators.
I meditated but not regularly for years but was always wondering where God was in all of this. After my son was born in 1974 we moved to Oregon. My husband got a job at the Steamboat ranger station up in the mountains. We moved there since it was 40 miles away from Roseburg, which was the closest city. There I met my friend Cathy who turned me onto the book The Autobiography of a Yogi by my now guru Paramahansa Yogananda. After reading his story I knew he had found God and so I read everything I could that he had written. I have been meditating ever since. George Harrison handed out the book to everyone and Steve Jobs had it given to all of his employees at his funeral. I recommend it to anyone seeking God.
Meditation is amazing. It is very difficult to understand the effects of it because they can be very subtle. One of the things I have become aware of is a sense of knowing. I have quoted the bible but have never read it. I have learned to move energy and have watched burns disappear. I have had my own super natural experiences and even though I have had some very difficult lessons, I have thrived.
A successful life is all about choices. We are always presented with a new experience to which we must respond. It is how we respond that counts. If we experience something that is extremely difficult we can either fold or pick ourselves up and continue on. If we start to get depressed, it is extremely important to fight it any way we can because if we go into the negative it is a path that just gets more negative and we feel bad. When we are positive, we feel good. It’s a harder path to get into the positive once we are in the negative.
Our thoughts are so powerful that they can actually “throw ourselves under the bus” daily. When we let them happen without responding, we will have a life that flows. If we let them direct our actions, we need to think about the consequences before we act. Will the action be something we chose to experience? We have the ability to choose and design our lives but sometimes we let the outside circumstances direct us to a place we don’t really want to be. Do we want to spend our time fighting or grooving? Sometimes the answer is fighting. There is no right or wrong choices. Everything we experience will teach us something.
We are creatures of habit. We do things repetitively by nature and so we would be wise to watch our habits. Habits can become addictions and addictions control us and take away our freedom to choose the habit. When we lose our balance our lives can become quite chaotic. It is a good idea to do things in moderation. We can become addicted to anything. This includes food, sports, hobbies, sex, games, gambling, drugs, alcohol, art, music or having too many babies. Anything that we have to do, takes away our freedom to choose.
I love to create and paint most of all but I choose to balance my activities daily. I write, read, clean, cook, and do many different tasks in between my art. It also helps to have a more balanced perspective. Stepping away from something allows it to be viewed from a different perspective.
We are on this planet for such a short time. What do you want to experience? What do you want to learn? Who is the authentic you? Meditating helps to bring our focus back to ourselves because most of the time we are outwardly focused. We reflect who we are in all experiences that present themselves to us. We are all the center of our own universes and see things from our own perspectives. When we meditate, we shut out the chatter and let our spiritual aspect download a higher perspective. It allows us to have a more intimate relationship with ourselves. It helps us to love ourselves, which is my ultimate goal. Everything we put out we get back. Everything is in equal measure and love is no different. We can only love others in equal measure to the amount we love ourselves and we can only feel love from others the same.
Everything in life has atoms, movement, and consciousness and is alive. It is all a piece of God. Each of us is a piece of the puzzle and therefore important. We are all expressing God. Our job is to love ourselves because if we don’t, we do not love God. I hope that one day all of mankind will be able to love one another. We are all one.
D5 Creation