Schedule of Activities,
loaded with positive news our community can really use...
Sunday November 16, 10:00AM Why "Ethical Eating" Now?
UU Church of Neshoba, 7350 Raleigh-Lagrange Rd. Cordova, TN 38018
Viewing of "True Cost of Food" and "My Friends at the Farm".
Short and child friendly informative videos.
The General Assembly of UU's selected the "ethical eating" for the next two-year study.
The forum will discuss why this topic is important now.
To be held every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month
Sunday Nov 23, 1:00PM - 4:00 Thanksgiving Feast and Festivities
Our 3rd Annual Vegetarian Group Celebration
Location and details will be announced soon.
Saturday Dec 6 , 2:00PM Monthly Meeting Luncheon and Social at India Palace Restaurant
1720 Poplar Ave, Midtown (West of McLean, near Evergreen St. and Circuit Playhouse) (tele: 278-1199).
Lots of veggie options are offered at this Midtown institution.
Try the vegetable curry, the dhal soup, or the extensive buffet.
Our New Monthly Meetings will be held: 1st Saturday of every month starting about 2:00
They will be a luncheon / social & planning get-together.
Locations will vary between restaurants that cater to vegetarian and vegan food choices.
New Member Drive - Can You Help ?
Every one of us, knows someone who would benefit from joining our
Food Awareness group email list. We are starting up a 3 month
new member drive to grow our community.
Each member is requested to find at least one new person to join us,
by submitting their email address to:
Memphis@FoodAwareness.org
No dues, no hassle. Grow our strength and capabilities by getting
the word out, please!
Assure prospective new members that we keep their email address
confidential and don't send out more than 1 or 2 emails per month.
Let them know that we provide useful info from a wealth of sources
and offer community outreach programs, free informative literature,
opportunities to help our community and planet, and to have fun !
Prizes for Growing Our Group
The 50th new member to join via this 3 month membership drive,
will receive a $50 gift certificate.
The member who sponsors the most new members at the end of
the 3 month period by Feb 1st, wins $100.
They will receive an award at an upcoming event.
Progress & Good News Updates Follow – cheer up, …
October was a VERY active month for us involved with providing talks and
also handing out lots of free literature at events such as:
RACE for the CURE Against Breast Cancer (we handed out over 2,000 flyers!)
Heart Walk at Shelby Farms (handed hundreds of flyers)
Student Health Fair Day at U of M, (2nd annual event - set up a table for 4 hours)
World Food Day at U of M, (Vaughan was guest speaker invited by Dietetic Dept Chair.)
Whole Foods Enviromental Day ( set up a table with global warming link info to livestock production)
Activist Outreach Opportunities of the Month !!!
Physicians Committee on Responsible Medicine Initiates An Important
Attempt to Ban Processed Meat for School Children
http://PCRM.org
Hot dogs, bacon, and other processed meats have been shown to cause colorectal cancer,
according to scientific experts around the world. Yet hot dogs are still widely consumed—
and made available to schools as a commodity food.
The Cancer Project recently launched a major campaign against processed meats, starting with schools this
spring. Staff nutritionists conducted an analysis of the prevalence of processed meats in 29 large school districts
in 23 states and the District of Columbia, showing that most school menus are packed with processed meats.
In fact, 16 of the 29 districts received a failing grade.
The Cancer Project is also leading a grassroots effort to reform federal food policy. The Child Nutrition Act,
which determines what foods are served in the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs, is up
for reauthorization next year. The Cancer Project supporters have attended USDA listening sessions around
the country to ask for improvements to these food programs.
Thousands of The Cancer Project members and supporters have also signed a grassroots petition to
USDA Secretary Ed Shafer asking him to act on The Cancer Project Petition.
You can sign here:
http://support.cancerproject.org/site/PageServer?pagename=usda_national_school_lunch_program_petition&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr001=9vo1wxjem3.app6b
"Skinny Bitch" is Recommended Reading:
This New York Times best selling book titled " Skinny Bitch ", provides motivational eating info.
I read some scary info about all artificial sweetners from the New York Times
best selling book titled " Skinny Bitch ",
an excellent motivator book to eat healthy and control your weight.
The chapter titled, "Sugar is the Devil", concluded that fruit and natural sweetners are okay.
Refined sugar is not. Artificial sweetners should be avoided.
Aspertane and other artificial sweetners commonly found in "Diet Drinks", etc
There is a host of warnings and controversy about the FDA being inept and/or unduly
influenced by politicians via lobbyists to approve many artificial sweetners that may in fact be harmful.
Aspertane was denied for FDA approval the first 8 times!!! It may take years before the smoke clears
and credible info straightens this mess out. In the meantime, protect yourself by selecting as foods
and drinks that are as natural as possible.
Remember this haunting quote from Herbert Lay, former Commission of the Food and Drug Administration:
"The thing that bugs me is that people think the FDA is protecting them. It isn't.
What the FDA is doing and what the people think it's doing are as
different as night and day."
(ref: NY Times Bestseller, Natural Cures, by Kevin Trudeau, back cover)
To see some warnings about artificial sweetners:
http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/dangers.htm
http://www.wnho.net/aspartame_imminent_health_hazard.htm
http://www.nutrition4all.co.uk/article.html http://aspartame.worldwidewarning.net/
"Diet For A Poisoned Planet " by David Steinman - more valuable info from a good book:
A commonly used herbicide, glufosinat has been detected in water and food supply is and is known to cause
hormonal and brain damage. The book estimated that over 95 percent of all toxic chemicals in food come
from meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. It's reported that the Food and Drug Administration discovered that bacon
had 40 different pesticide contaminants, baloney and other lunch meats had over 100 pesticides and
balloons and hot dogs had 123.
Typically meat contains 14 times more pesticides then plant foods and dairy as five times more.
The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan
Selected as one of the ten best books of 2006 by the New York Times.
Written by a professor of journalism at the University of California at Berkeley.
Following is some general info related to this ground-breaking study.
Corn-ification of Food
The elephant inside our food system and even beyond is corn. Its presence is pervasive
and dominant. It is an integral part of industrialized agriculture and the industrialized food chain.
Processed food relies heavily on corn. Take a look at any wrapper or can and see for
yourself. Cows fatten up on corn. It contributes to obesity in humans. And growing it?
Not so good. It consumes prodigious amounts of fossil fuel energy. We’ve gone from
using photosynthesis and nature in growing corn, to using energy for fertilizers, pesticides
and food processing that also depletes nutrients.
Our UU Church Ethical Eating Group watched a video called “King Corn” that describes
the crazy and harmful excesses of corn use in today’s agriculture and food industry.
It’s all about low-cost YIELD using genetically modified corn and chemicals
(herbicides and fertilizers) that enable about 10K pounds of corn per acre of land.
But the environmental toll is horrible in the long term. This type of corn is not even
edible until it’s extensively processed to break it down into it’s derivative parts.
It’s used at about 50% as feed for factory farmed animals, some for ethanol and
some for corn syrup sweeteners among many other things. An herbicide ironically
named “Liberty” is used to kill weeds in the corn fields but the corn strains are
genetically modified to withstand the herbicide.
More reasons to eat more of a plant-based diet
Grass-fed cows typically would take several years to grow to a weight suitable for using
for meat. But confined cows that are corn-fed, put on weight quicker so they can be
taken to slaughter within 6-8 months. Because cows evolved eating grass and hay,
the corn doesn’t digest well in their systems and it raises their stomach acid levels
causing a condition known as acidosis, which can become fatal. To combat the effects,
these cows are typically fed massive doses of antibiotics. Just a reminder about the
over-use of antibiotics on livestock. It’s estimated that in one year, livestock in the
U.S. uses 26 million pounds. Only 2 million of which is to prevent active infections.
Human usage of annually was 3 million pounds. Overuse of antibiotics is leading to
pollution and new germ resistances.
Going for a garden burger is sounding better all the time !
Remember, if you change one persons eating habits toward reducing meat consumption -
you have accomplished something to positively impact that person and our entire planet.
Hope you can join our efforts toward making the world better !
You CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE - one meal at a time.
It's satisfying and fun.
Best wishes,
Vaughan & Your Food Awareness Team of Caring Volunteers
http://FoodAwareness.org
email: Memphis@FoodAwareness.org tele: 901 737 2595
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