What Are We Eating?
by Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

I am so tired. I am tired of all the lying, the cheating, the greed, and the suffering I have to witness daily as I strive for increased awareness and struggle to feel connected to the natural world. I am tired that we have to fight for peace, for the truth, and for our health and safety. Sometimes I wish that a business or corporate leader would just come out and say "yes, I know that this ingredient will harm you - but I don't care." I would sure respect them more.

Resignation and indignation rule our land. Problems seem so complex that is feels impossible sometimes that there can be any hope of resolution. We seem so dependent upon sensory verification of collapsing ecosystems and damaged air and water that as long as the few feet of ecosystem around our bodies is OK, we feel safe enough to drive our car to the health food store to buy that packaged "all natural" product. Profound personal behavioral change seems so daunting that it is easy to rationalize that we are doing our part by throwing our cans and bottles into the recycling bin. But it is just not enough.

Slaughterhouse abuses continue - live pigs are hung by their back legs and plunged into scalding water and still conscious cows are cut from end to end. Over 120 million children under the age of 5 die worldwide every year just from diarrhea from bad drinking water.

It all feels so overwhelming, I know. How can we all make profound changes in our lifestyles when every corner of the corporate culture tells us everything will be OK? I have reflected on many techniques for doing this, but I am thinking more and more that starting with what may be the most personal set of choices we can make - our food choices - may be the right place to begin. I think it could be argued successfully that EVERY environmental and social dilemma has a connection to the way we manufacture and prepare food. And every deceitful practice of our corporate culture is represented in the food industry. However, we can choose not to participate.

Are you a meat eater who is thinking about buying a turkey for Thanksgiving? Do you think you are doing your part by getting your family a fresh, farm-raised bird, free of hormones and additives and displayed proudly in the health food store. Well, think again if you think you are buying a fresh dead animal. The word "fresh" says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can be applied to a bird carcass that has been stored at 26 degrees Fahrenheit or above! Water freezes at 32 degrees F. The California poultry producers staged a protest of these rules last year at a bowling alley where they used birds stored at 26 degrees F for balls. This was not exactly respectful of the dead creature, to be sure, but highly illustrative of a maniacal redefinition of a word.

Pepsi is introducing new soda, called Pepsi One. This diet beverage, designed to taste better than Diet Pepsi, will contain a new artificial sweetener called acesulfame potassium, or Ace-K, that will be mixed with the already infamous aspartame. Even Mexico City, possibly the dirtiest city on Earth, insists that products containing aspartame carry a warning label because of brain cancer fears. This potentially carcinogenic ingredient joins an already infamous list in Diet Pepsi that includes

• phosphoric acid, an acid sequestering agent that is used to clean glassware in chemical labs,
• citric acid, which is actually a general term for a variety of additives. It is a colorless solid found in plants and animals (you don't know which from the label), and
• caramel coating, a color prepared by an ammonia process and associated with blood toxicity in rats (and you thought it was candy, I'll bet).

Diet Pepsi can, however, dissolve a rusty nail in a matter of hours.

When you see a label that says "No MSG Added, Contains special high flavor yeast; hydrolyzed protein," it is a lie. Hydrolyzed protein contains MSG.

Think you can eat all you want of a "calorie-free" food item? Well, maybe not. The Food and Drug Administration's rules say that " the caloric value of a product containing less than 5 calories may be expressed as zero or to the nearest 5 calorie increment. Foods with less than 5 calories meet the definition of "calorie free. . ."

Considering "fat free" potato chips containing Olestra? The warning label says it all: "Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools. Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients."

Do you need to stay away from dairy products because of health or because of your beliefs? If it says "nondairy," does it mean no milk? Not necessarily. Certain products claiming to be nondairy, such as some coffee whiteners, soy cheese, and non-dairy butter substitutes contain a milk derivative called caseinate. This is also the prime ingredient in white glue.

The Food Marketing Institute says "it is impossible — no matter how high your quality standards are — to guarantee ground beef is free from harmful bacteria."

So how do we use this awareness? If we become very aware of what we put into our bodies and refuse to buy the processed foods and the foods derived from the obscene suffering of other creatures, then surely the world will change overnight. If we accept that "leather" is animal skin and a sign of cruelty, then we are closer to being very honest with ourselves. You see, we have so many opportunities, yet we often speak in absolute terms such as "I need" or "I must have" or "I can't live without." What if instead, we tried, just for a little while, saying "I don't need it" and "I can't have it" and "I must live without it?"

Someone told me once that the beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right name. And maybe it would also be wise to remember that we are what we eat.

RESOURCES

1. Read the FDA's food labeling guidelines.
   
   
2. Read about the grain industry's opposition to labeling for MSG.
   
   
3. Get help understanding the toxic dangers from artificial sweeteners.
   
   
4. Learn about many toxic substances in food at the Holistic Healing Web Page.
   
   
5. Even The Food Marketing Institute will tell you of the dangers of ground meat.
   
   
6. Find a helpful glossary of food related terms.
   
   
7. Learn about food additives from the International Food Information Council, a propaganda organization for food manufacturers. Their information site is there to calm our fears, but I think you will agree they only serve to indict themselves further.
   
   
8. Learn about what some of the crazy claims on food labels mean
   
   
9. Boycott the products of companies contributing to these problems. Find out what boycotts are going on now from the Boycott Action News site.
   
   
10. Learn about the issues with genetically engineered foods.
    
    
11. Explore vegetarianism with EarthSave.
    
    
12. Learn about Veganism, the next step after vegetarianism.
    
    
13. See a new way to perceive the food groups.
    
    
14. Keep your eye on corporations through Corporate Watch.
    
    
15. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Tell them to resist pressure from industry and make the FDA stop the lying. If you know your Zip code, you can find them or you can search by state.
    
    
16. Learn about the issues. Seek out books on the subject. A good source for used (and new) books is Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon where you will find a wonderful alternative to the massive chain bookstores taking over the market.
    
    

[Jackie Giuliano, Ph. D., can be found in Venice, California, realizing he accidentally ate some casein the other day. He is a Professor of Environmental Studies for Antioch University, Los Angeles, and the University of Phoenix Southern California Campuses. Please send your thoughts, comments, and visions to him at jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his web site at http://deepteaching.com]