WEB POSTED 03-13-2001

You Still 'Are What You Eat'!!!

A retired cardiologist was recently quoted as stating, "We need to eat food like our ancestors did�from the farm directly to the table." Dr. L.T. Bhramdat told a gathering of farmers in O�Neill, Nebraska, "That�s food without chemicals, additives, colors, artificial flavorings and synthetically added vitamins and minerals." He identified such food as "the best health insurance policy one can have."

Recent articles in the news bulletin entitled "FEATURETTES For Editors", published by North American Precis Syndicate, also emphasize the need to alter our diet, and indicate that many are doing just that. One NAPS article points out that more Americans are going meatless, and reports that the sale of meat substitutes reached $250 million in 1998, and is fast approaching the $1 billion mark. The same article quotes an American Dietetic Association position paper as reporting that, "Scientific data suggest positive relationships between diets containing vegetables and reduced risk for several chronic, degenerative diseases and conditions, including obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and some types of cancer." The bulk of most meat substitutes are made up of plant protein, and are lower in fat, higher in fiber and have no cholesterol. Another article in a NAPS paper recommends eating "9-10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day; 2-3 servings of low-fat or fat free dairy foods a day, 7-8 servings of grains and grain products, such as bread, rice or oatmeal a day and 2 or less servings of meat, poultry or fish a day."

At least they are headed in the right direction, but they have not quite arrived. Writer Lance Gay, in the March 2 edition of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, wrote an article headlined "STORE CHICKEN FILLED WITH DEFECTS". It begins with the statement that, "Almost 40 percent of the chickens heading to supermarket shelves from model plants last year were contaminated with sores, scabs and other �defects� that should have been detected on the processing line, internal Agriculture Department documents show." Such defects, stated the writer, included: "39.8 percent were found defective with sores, scabs, bruises or other processing defects; 18.8 percent were found contaminated with material from the chicken�s digestive tract; 98.8 percent had other defects involving feathers, hair or oil glands that weren�t properly removed on the process line."

While a Food Safety and Inspection Service representative refused to comment on these findings, Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Consumer Federation of America�s food policy institute, said the survey shows "troubling quality control problems", and concluded that, "None of us want pus and sores on our chicken."

In Europe, experts from the Scientific Committee on Food, sponsored by the European Union, as well as from the Committee on Animal Nutrition, have issued reports indicating, "ON THE HEELS OF MAD COW FEARS, NOW IT�S THE DIOXIN IN THE FISH".

It seems to be getting clearer and clearer that my lifelong friend, Dick Gregory, has the right idea when he states, in slightly less polite terms, that he doesn�t eat anything that has a bowel movement.

Maybe we�ll get to this again�especially from a Biblical point of view.