You Are What You Eat (and then some)

Doing things different is hard. That's probably why we often don't.  I've said it before, and I'm saying it again- I refuse to be a robot, with my actions dictated by my programming.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

For me, the true act of resistance, the really radical thing any one of us can do is to question everything, starting with our own selves. So often we define ourselves by our preferences.  How many times have you said, "That's just me, that's just who I am." Poppycock. There are a precious few of us who are self realized, and those people shirk the concept of "I' entirely. I'm not suggesting that, though- its too extreme for most of us, slugging out our daily lives and trying to be the best and most helpful versions of ourselves.

If you are what you eat, then you are what your taste buds tell you. Your tongue DEFINES you. Try that on for size.

In my life, as in most people's, my relationship to food is defining. For anyone new to this blog, let me give you an example. I have always hated water, and preferred cokes. I hated vegetables. I loved processed foods and fast food. Since I never gained weight, I never thought much about it- and you know as well as I do that weight is a much bigger motivator for people changing their eating habits than health. Sad but true. So for me, I wasn't motivated to change, and more than that, I enjoyed being a food brat. I thought it was funny to eat Kraft mac and cheese every day for lunch, to drink 5 cokes a day, a steak for dinner, and 10 cookies with milk before bed and a big chocolate-y coffee drink for breakfast. But when I started to look at my own resistance to even considering eating more like a GROWN UP, I had to admit, I was stuck. I was rigid about it, I wasn't going to listen to anyone who might suggest I try to drink more water, or eat some veggies. I wasn't going to listen, and I didn't listen. I was stubborn as a mule. And I know many other mules, and I know how they feel. To question our food preferences strikes at the heart of our identity.



Word up, yo

I've come a long way in a short while, if I do say so myself. However, this isn't really about me. I offer myself up as a guinea pig of sorts- this blog inspires me to continue because it might, it just might, help someone else make some better choices. Its a self fulfilling prophecy in the most positive of ways. I just know that if I can do it, you can too, no matter who you are. You have to figure out your 'why'. Mine is entirely a socio-political statement. Health was never a selling point for me, nor weight loss. My reason is entirely this- there are evil corporations that are poisoning our food sources. They seek to dominate the world food supply- and when they do, they will dominate the world. Companies like Monsanto and Bayer are killing our bees, tearing up rainforests for palm oil production, and are genetically altering our food. They feed us crap in bright packaging and we eat it. Every cent I don't spend on processed food is a cent they don't get, and every time I buy locally grown, I am supporting farmers, freedom, and the future of the planet. That is what inspires me now, about all choices I make- but it started with food, and now its taking over everything. That is why I call it a revolution- it is a personal revolution, it is a radical move to question your own proclivities and to alter your own internal system.

I am not sure if this is an ad for Coke, or a warning against it.

My new challenge? WATER. Drinking water and cutting back on Cokes (maybe even cutting them out completely- maybe). I didn't think I was ready for this, and it wasn't even really a decision I made consciously. I just chose other things besides Cokes to drink for the past two days. This might be the first time since I was 10 that I have gone two whole days without a Coke. I'm 44. 34 years. That sounds appalling, but its the truth. Coke was my water. So when I say- "If I can do it, you can too", this exact scenario comes to mind. If I can let go of a 34 year long love affair with Coca Cola, then for sure you can let go of whatever you think you never will.

So I am on day two. I am not telling myself I will never have a Coke again, but I can tell you this- the last few cokes I had, I questioned myself. I thought, "Is this really a good taste? Do you even like this?" And I found that the real answer, behind the knee jerk answer, was no, not really. Its too acidy, too sweet, leaves a strange after taste. So I asked myself what I did like about it, and really I just like the carbonation. Those bubbles are what I am after. I have been drinking sparkling water instead, and there isn't anything I don't like about it.  I love this clip, below- this guy makes a pretty good point. In Mexico, high fructose corn syrup is illegal. And yet you can't even drink the water in Mexico- so even with their standards, high fructose corn syrup is not allowed. And that is the main ingredient in my favorite drink. We all know how a nail will dissolve in it. And even this isn't as compelling as the dictates of our taste buds.

Our taste buds control us. I want to propose that our taste buds make emotional connections that could be entirely based on lies. Or, our taste buds lie- and they are very, very compelling.  When I do what my taste buds tell me, I am the worst kind of robot. I am letting little bumps on my tongue define a large part of who I think I am. I am letting the food corporations manipulate my taste buds into manipulating me. That makes me a big meat puppet. No thank you. I'd rather OCCUPY MYSELF! I will figure out who I really am, what I really like and want in my system, and consider the needs of the future of this planet when making my own authentic choices.

When you come right down to it, its really a trip to start dismantling your preferences. In so doing I have discovered that I also really don't like my Kraft Macaroni and cheese. Or American cheese, or white bread. Or hot dogs. I might not even really like gummy bears, but that's another blog entirely. These past two months of eating fresh food, locally grown food, I have discovered a world that was right there all the time, at which I scoffed. I actually like green food. I even kind of love it.  I like fruit! Water isn't so bad, either. I have cut back on red meat to the extent that I have had it twice in two months instead of every night. I will not ever eat fast food again, ever. Who the hell am I anymore?  Its crazy, but its oh so good. And in taking on this shift in my eating life, it has taken root in other areas. I  accept no substitutes, I don't seek cheap thrills. I am not about to drink the Kool-Aid.  I want an authentic experience in all aspects of my life. I am learning that the old adage is true, after all- we really are what we eat. Damn it all to hell- I hate it that they were right all along. Pisses me off to no end! It is a supreme insult to my inner brat to accept defeat, but the brat has run the show long enough. Its just not that cute anymore.

So- for those of you, who, like me, have a hard time with drinking water, there are some great apps out there-

Google play Water APPs

iphone water APPs

And just to remind us all about the magic of water, and its ability to display the consciousness that it is-

And finally, if you are a water drinker, try to avoid water produced or bottled by Nestle. The CEO of Nestle thinks that people are 'entitled' about water, and that water needs to be privatized. Screw that guy. Learn about water- its not all the same. And try to buy those 5 gallon bottles with a little spigot to keep in your fridge and get yourself a cool water canteen or sport bottle and refill as needed for the day. No need for all the senseless waste produced by all those water bottles!

OCCUPY YOURSELF!

xoxo,

 

Ashley Dane

Designer Bee Hives

And Why Shouldn’t You Have A Swank Gadget For Keeping Bees At Home?

Honeybees are on the decline. Urban beekeeping could help.

 

Five years ago, honeybee colonies started dying off. No one knows why. Some theories point to the impact of pesticide use or the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, which is transmitted by a Varooa mite. Whatever the cause, it’s bad news for bees and the crops they pollinate. Oddly enough, bees are doing better in cities than in the countryside--which may shed light on the cause of their disappearance--and some urban dwellers have begun keeping bees to help stem their decline. Seizing on the trend, Philips recently unveiled an at-home hive, allowing anyone--anyone, that is, who isn’t deathly allergic to bee stings--the ability to harvest fresh honey from their window.

The concept is part of the Dutch electronic company’s Microbial Home design, an eco-system concept unveiled at this year’s Dutch design week. (Click here for an earlier post on the kitchen component, which is powered in part by human poop.) Pressed against an opening in a window, the Urban Beehive splits the difference between inside and out, with a flowerpot and entry passage outside and a tinted-glass shell, filled with honeycomb frames, inside. Honey can be harvested by releasing smoke into the hive and opening the top cover.

Beekeeping is still illegal in many cities. New Yorkers are in luck; the city legalized the practice last year, and beekeeping classes are available here.


Borrowed from this website- ://www.fastcodesign.com/1665353/and-why-shouldnt-you-have-a-swank-gadget-for-keeping-bees-at-home

Bees In Crisis/ Greenpeace

So I am totally borrowing this blog from Greenpeace. Mostly because it says so much, and for me to try to figure out a way to say the same thing with different words seems like a waste of time. That, and I am learning a new recipe for the next blog, and I am not gonna tell you what it is until I taste it. What I will tell you is that I am craving a Coke, and a pizza, and that is not what I am about to eat. I also need to groom my yorkies. And I am on the last episode of Mad Men. That is my Wednesday evening for you. Enjoy this re-post of a really insightful article, which was sent to me by my good and soulful friend Darkbloom.

 

If you, dear reader, are in LA, there is a Honeylove urban beekeeping event on July 21. Go to the honeylove website. I will be there!

 

BEES IN CRISIS

 

Save the Bees!!!!

 

 

"In the last four years, the chemical industry has spent $11.2 million on
a PR initiative to say it's not their fault, so we know whose fault it is."
― Jon Cooksey, writer, director: How to Boil a Frog.

The honey bee, responsible for 80 percent of pollination worldwide, is disappearing globally.

Why and why do bees matter?

This is no marginal species loss. Honey bees – wild and domestic – perform about 80 percent of all pollination worldwide. A single bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers each day. Grains are primarily pollinated by the wind, but the best and healthiest food – fruits, nuts, and vegetables – are pollinated by bees. Seventy out of the top 100 human food crops, which supply about 90 percent of the world's nutrition, are pollinated by bees.

We know what is killing the bees. Worldwide Bee Colony Collapse is not as big a mystery as the chemical companies claim. The systemic nature of the problem makes it complex, but not impenetrable. Scientists know that bees are dying from a variety of factors – pesticides, drought, habitat destruction, nutrition deficit, air pollution, global heating, and so forth. The causes of collapse merge and synergise, but we know that humanity is the perpetrator, and that the two most prominent causes appear to be pesticides and habitat loss.

Worker bees (females) live about 6 weeks in summer, and several months in the winter. Colonies produce new worker bees continuously during the spring and summer, and then reproduction slows during the winter. Typically, a bee hive or colony will decline by 5-10% over the winter, and replace those lost bees in the spring. In a bad year, a bee colony might lose 15-20% of its bees.

In the US, winter losses have commonly reached 30-50% and in some cases more. In 2006, David Hackenberg, a bee keeper for 42 years, reported a 90% die-off among his 3,000 hives.US National Agriculture Statistics show a honey bee decline from about 6 million hives in 1947 to 2.4 million hives in 2008, a 60% reduction.

The number of working bee colonies per hectare provides a critical metric of crop health. In the US, among crops that require bee pollination, the number of bee colonies per hectare has declined by 90% since 1962. The bees cannot keep pace with the winter die-off rates and habitat loss.

Pesticides and bees

Biologists have found more than 150 different chemical residues in bee pollen, a deadly "pesticide cocktail" according to University of California apiculturist Eric Mussen. The chemical companies Bayer, Syngenta, BASF, Dow, DuPont, and Monsanto shrug their shoulders at the systemic complexity, as if the mystery were too complicated. They advocate no change in pesticide policy. After all, selling poisons to the world's farmers is profitable.

Furthermore, wild bee habitat shrinks every year as industrial agri-business converts grasslands and forest into mono-culture farms, which are then contaminated with pesticides. To reverse the world bees decline, we need to fix our dysfunctional and destructive agricultural system.

Solutions exist

Common sense actions could restore and protect the world's bees.

1. Ban the seven most dangerous pesticides
2. Protect pollinator health by preserving wild habitat, and
3. Restore ecological agriculture

Ecological farming is the over-arching new policy trend that will stabilise human food production, preserve wild habitats, and protect the bees. The nation of Bhutan has led the world in adopting a 100% organic farming policy. Mexico has banned genetically modified (GM) corn to protect its native corn varieties. In January, eight European countries banned GM crops, and Hungary has burned over a 1,000 acres of corn contaminated with GM varieties. In India, scientist Vandana Shiva and a network of small farmers have built an organic farming resistance to industrial agriculture over two decades.

Ecological, organic farming is, of course, nothing new. It is the way most farming has been done throughout human history. Ecological farming resists insect damage by avoiding large monocrops and preserving ecosystem diversity. Ecological farming restores soil nutrients with natural composting systems, avoids soil loss from wind and water erosion, and avoids pesticides and chemical fertilisers.

By restoring bee populations and healthier bees, ecological agriculture improves pollination, which in turn improves crop yields. Ecological farming takes advantage of the natural ecosystem services, water filtration, pollination, oxygen production, and disease and pest control.

Organic farmers have advocated better research and funding by industry, government, farmers, and the public to develop organic farming techniques, improve food production, and maintain ecological health. The revolution in farming would promote equitable diets around the world and support crops primarily for human consumption, avoiding crops for animal food and biofuels.

How can the US learn from Europe?

In Europe, Asia, and South America, the annual die-off lags behind the US decline, but the trend is clear, and the response is more appropriate. In Europe, Rabobank reported that the annual European die-offs have reached 30-35% and that the colonies-per-hectare count is down 25%.

A European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) scientific report determined that three widely used pesticides – nicotine-based clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiametoxam – pose "high acute risks" for bees. The nicotinoid pesticides – used in soils, on foliage, and embedded in seeds – persist at the core of the toxic pesticide cocktail found in bee hives.

A Greenpeace scientific report identifies seven priority bee-killer pesticides – including the three nicotine culprits – plus clorpyriphos, cypermethrin, deltamethrin, and fipronil. The three neonicotinoids act on insect nervous systems. They accumulate in individual bees and within entire colonies, including the honey that bees feed to infant larvae. Bees that do not die outright, experience sub-lethal systemic effects, development defects, weakness, and loss of orientation. The die-off leaves fewer bees and weaker bees, who must work harder to produce honey in depleted wild habitats. These conditions create the nightmare formula for bee colony collapse.

Bayer makes and markets imidacloprid and clothianidin; Syngenta produces thiamethoxam. In 2009, the world market for these three toxins reached over $2bn. Syngenta, Bayer, Dow, Monsanto, and DuPont control nearly 100% of the world market for genetically modified pesticides, plants and seeds.

In 2012, a German court criminally charged Syngenta with perjury for concealing its own report showing that its genetically modified corn had killed livestock. In the US, the company paid out $105m to settle a class-action lawsuit for contaminating the drinking water for over 50 million citizens with its "gender-bending" herbicide Atrazine. Now, these corporate polluters are waging multi-million-euro campaigns to deny responsibility for bee colony collapse.

In May, the European Commission responded, adopting a two-year ban on the three necotinoid pesticides, and later added the non-neonicotinoid fibronil. Scientists will use the two years to assess the recovery rate of the bees and a longer-term ban on these and other pesticides.

Meanwhile, the US dithers and supports the corporations that produce and market the deadly pesticides. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to allow the use of neonicotinoid pesticides, in spite of a US Department of Agriculture report warning about the dangers of the bee colony collapse.

Also in May, US president Obama, signed the now infamous "Monsanto Protection Act" – written by Monsanto lobbyists – that gives biotech companies immunity in federal US courts from damages to people and the environment caused by their commercial compounds.

Feral Swarms of Bees need Love, Too!

After my first close encounter with bees, I want more. For me, there are two things going on here- one is that I want to help the bee population. By helping the bee population, we help the earth's population. And secondly, I just get a buzz off the bees. (Pun intended, and I promise to keep it to a minimum.)

Being so near the bees afforded me an opportunity I have never had; namely, to get close and watch what it is they actually do. I haven't gotten close enough to see the pollen sacs on the back of their legs filled up- that's how they get it back to the hive. I haven't seen the worker bees at the hive greet the incoming honeybees who land at the entrance to the hive, and do this thing almost looks like they are patting them down. I didn't know that all the honeybees are basically female- all except for the drones. Drones are male, and are not loyal to a queen as the rest of a hive are. Drones can show up one day, and hang out for as long as they want, as long as they 'service' the queen. They can stay as long as they want and aren't expected to do anything except please the queen so she can reproduce. That is how they get to also mix up their genetic gene pool. So they come and go, and don't do anything except have sex. There are only a handful of them per hundreds of female bees. It is an entirely matriarchal society, and I had never gotten to see a queen, or a drone, until I went to the Honeylove mentoring day.

God Save the Queen! We mean it, man!

It is said that when the bees 'get you', you kind of start getting obsessed. It doesn't make sense in a lot of ways- you can't talk to them or cuddle them or have a relationship in any sort of tangible way- the relationship seems to be more of one with yourself and what the hive represents or amplifies for you. I think its awe inspiring, really, to see all the organization and community, the commitment to the whole, the loyalty to the queen, the perfection of the honeycombs and that it all results in something that was, for thousands of years, the sweetest substance available to man. I love that bees contribute so much to the well being of all life on earth. That is why the next thing I have to do is to learn how to go catch a feral swarm of bees. I will be joining some other bee rescuing people in the near future to learn how to do it. And then there has to be a sanctuary to relocate them, like Honeylove's two sanctuaries in Moorpark and Topanga Canyon. We hope that soon, the laws in LA will change to allow for beekeeping in urban areas. Until then- well, I might indulge in a little guerilla beekeeping. Maybe.


I am also inspired by the act of bee keeping in a revolutionary sense. It is in the best interest of the food corporations to see the bees die. If they die, then we become dependent on them as our primary food source. And if we depend on them, we pay our hard earned dollars for their GMO crap that compromises our immune systems. We become weaker and sicker and dumber. If you have ever read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, that society bred certain castes of people for certain tasks by altering their genetic codes.  People who were in mines were created to be shorter, with short legs and strong arms. So in this New World Order we are fast approaching, the foods from the GMO tainted crops could create a lower class of people and eliminate the middle- both financially, and constitutionally. There will be the rich- who will be the healthiest and smartest class,  as they will be the only ones to be able to afford the rare and precious natural foods that support brain health and physical well being, while the lower class eats food that makes them dumber and weaker. Dumb them down and they won't question their lives. Weaker so they don't have the energy to do anything but work to buy the tainted food and come home and plug into the internet. They will eat the food that makes them weak and sick, and slave to pay for insurance premiums that they must have due to their weakened immune systems. The lower class will simply be slaves that don't realize they are slaves, doing all the labor so the rich can enjoy being rich. Sort of like in Hunger Games, all the outlying colonies slaving to provide the rich with food and coal and the like, all held in place by the games. As long as you keep them entertained. Its like the blinders on a horse-  they will remain docile and go willingly as long as they don't know what is exactly going on.

Me and bees, June 2013

Food is the entry point into this New World Order. The corporations who control the world's food sources will control everything.  And water, too, which was brought to public attention by the recent quote from Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck that he believes there should be no public water, that all water sources should be privatized. He believes that people feel too entitled about water.  What if that happened? Nestle is a HUGE company, they make billions selling bottled water. Its not out of the realm of possibility that it could happen. Its not out of the realm of possibility that all the bees could die, that Monsanto and Syngenta and Bayer could dominate all world food sources, that Nestle could own the rights to all water. What then?

This is more devious, more insidious than even using religion to control the people. That used to work for, say, the British to control their empire, or the Roman Catholics- it works inside a given system where there is one prevailing religion, and it has worked for thousands of years. But now, on a global scale, there are too many. Religion can not control the globe. But those who control the food and water supply- that's a different story.

So back to the bees. Part of my love for them, besides the elegance of their community, is this. By loving them and helping them, and teaching others to do the same, we fight the system that is threatening to enslave us. Bees thrive in cities best due to there being less pesticides. So it stands to reason that if more people would give space in their back yards or their roof tops for a few hives- and I mean people all over LA, all over California, all over the US, all over the world- then we can keep the bee population healthy, and the natural food growing. The next step is we have to grow what food we can and eat it, or buy local, instead of shopping at the major grocery stores. We can stop buying any brands with GMOs. This is a capitalist society- we have more power than you realize. They need us to spend our money on their products to survive.

How is your American Dream holding up?

Many people won't. They are simply too inured in the McHappy Life to consider a lifestyle change of this nature. They think this is folly, and it only serves their apathy to be cavalier about it. Or they think it won't happen in their lifetime. Or they think its a bunch of hippies with conspiracy theories messing with the American Way. So many people have agendas to stay comfortable and simply can't be bothered- I hope you, whoever you are, reading this, are not one of those people, or if you are, you are considering making some changes. Please look at your life, do some more research on what GMOs are, talk to others about it. We need you.

This is why I say this revolution begins in the kitchen. We stop supporting the food corporations. We become responsible for what we eat and feed our kids and where it comes from by buying local as much as we can, and using the lists of brands to boycott when we shop. If you are bold, you can look into beekeeping. You don't get stung- you wear a suit, and they don't need much maintenance- they know how to live without you, they just need safe places to do it. As for water- there are companies that will come put a water filtration system in your house- we use Advanced Pure Water, and it amazing, alkaline water. These are things that anyone and everyone can do, every day, in their own homes. And the more of us that do it, the less power they have. We don't need to riot in the  streets- we can riot on our facebook pages, we can wage war in our kitchens, we can enlist our friends and family into the cause- we don't need to campaign- we just need to talk about it.

Here is one way that bees are different than most humans- when someone threatens the well being of their community, they will die to defend it- since they always die after they sting someone, and they only sting when threatened. Most humans will not rise to the occasion. Most will turn on the TV, or browse facebook, or do anything to avoid this reality because it asks them to DO something. Don't be a zombie! OCCUPY YOURSELF!!!!

The zombie apocalypse is already upon us