USDA Organic Is NOT Necessarily Organic

We recently began buying Cascadian Farms organic granola cereals and granola bars for our kids, so they had some quick breakfast and snack options that were GMO-free. I don't know what made me look the other day, but I read the ingredients of the "USDA certified organic" chewy chocolate chip granola bar. It contains soy lecithin. Since I was relatively certain that it wasn't GMO-free soy, or it would probably cost an even more ridiculous amount of money, I Googled. Sure enough, the USDA allows GMO soy lecithin in certified organic foods. It's in almost all of our Cascadian Farms cereals and granola bars (the others contain maltodextrin, which is also garbage), so we're done with Cascadian Farms. I'm also 100% done trusting the USDA and anything labeled organic, because evidently, food only needs to be 95% organic to be labeled organic. Nothing with even a trace of Monsanto's toxic soy in it should EVER be called organic, or consumed by any living creature, human or otherwise.

 I'm ANGRY. GMO soy and corn is exceedingly dangerous to human health. It reminds me of the whole trans fat debacle of the early 2000s; the USDA says you can label a food 0G of trans fat even if it has some in it, as long as it is at a certain (still hazardous) level. You have to read labels and be sure it doesn't say hydrogenated or shortening. That's pretty straightforward by comparison to this GMO nightmare. Most people are not very educated about soy in general, don't realize how toxic it is, nor how many things it is in. Most people will look at "USDA organic" and not even bother to read the label; they're counting on it, and they even got me for a few months.

We're being lied to and poisoned against our will, some of us despite our best efforts to make healthy choices for ourselves and our families. And this administration wants to attack Syria because they're chemically poisoning THEIR OWN PEOPLE!? Does anyone else see how ironic this is? But there is money in GMOs. There is money in war. If anyone thinks it is about human rights, you're asleep.

Recommended reading: 
GMO Awareness
http://gmo-awareness.com/2011/05/05/is-organic-always-gmo-free/

Organic Consumers Association
http://www.organicconsumers.org

Recommended viewing:

The World According to Monsanto (Netflix, YouTube)
The Future of Food (Netflix, YouTube)

Recommended action:

Visit Cascadian Farms on Facebook and let them know what you think of them allowing GMO poison in their foods.
https://www.facebook.com/CascadianFarm

Learning On The Go

Today, we took PE class to the beach.  Little G is waist hooping like it's his job, and my sweet Reezle is just behind him practicing her halos.  I'm really impressed with their skills, and glad they enjoy hooping so much.  It's wonderful exercise, and I've noticed a difference in G's motor skills since he's begun hooping almost daily.

We grabbed a local map (Little G has been absolutely obsessed with the K12 map Reezle received with her 3rd grade curriculum because it's much more detailed than the K-2 maps), and took History and Geography on the road.  The kiddos read road signs and told me where they thought I should be going.  I won't be letting them navigate just yet, but it was fun anyway.  It gets them familiar with what signs are for and what the various different ones mean.  Social studies?  Anyway...

We did math at the mall, where we made a quick stop to get a "special treat" (candy from a local chocolatier) and check out the Halloween decorations.  The kiddos used division to figure out how many pieces of candy we would each be able to have if we all got equal portions.  They also used addition to estimate the cost of the Halloween decorations mommy, um, kind of splurged on.  What can I say?  We all love Halloween.  A lot.

We even worked in some OT. Little man was doing some great work with balancing. Too bad he wasn't quite as coordinated with running; he took a flying dive into a pile of gravel and got a stone embedded in his palm. He's got a nice hole to show for it, but he didn't shed a tear. Tough guy! I'm not ashamed to admit I probably would have cried! Ha!

Miss Reezle, as we were leaving one of our stops, said, "I sure wish I could use the camera and take some pictures."  I had two options; I could hand over my cell phone and let her take some low-quality snaps that would be heavily blurred once I started driving, or I could ::gulp:: hand over my Rebel and let her click to her heart's content.  Her interest seemed very genuine, and she's mentioned taking photos a lot lately, so I let her use my baby, er, camera. Ha!  She handled it with great care and took some really great pictures!  The one of her sparkly shoes wasn't exactly the most brilliant of all, but it was fun and cute, and something about it made me smile.  Maybe it was just the ability to see from her perspective, if just one little thing and only for a moment.

Based on her interest and some of the really good shots she captured today, I think it might be time to give her my SX20 to tote around when she goes out. Maybe I'll even try to find a fun little padded case so she can carry it safely around. Her birthday is coming right up!

As for me, I'm exhausted.  Sleepy time!

Bones

My Little G sure does love bones. He studies his human body book like it's his job, is fascinated with my skeletal anatomy app on my iPad, owns a whole bunch of books on the skeletal system and wears lots of "skully" clothes. He also enjoys drawing bones.

He tells me he is going to be an Anatomist or a doctor when he grows up, and randomly shares all kinds of facts about bones with me. "Did you know that babies are born with more bones than adults have? Do you know why? Did you know that bones are the frame of your body, and they also have something inside them called marrow?" Heh. I love his dedication to his interests.

Whole

I'm a bit of a hyper-organized person. This might sound awesome, but sometimes it really isn't. Instead of streamlining my life, it tends to get in the way of things. Take, for example, the fact that I love to write. I love to write about homeschooling, hooping, healthy living, gardening, attachment parenting, meditation, natural medicine, books, and all sorts of things. Problem is, the part of my brain obsessed with categorizing things to the point of insanity would lead me to believe that all of my interests need to be blogged about separately.

After a great deal of thought on this, I've come to realize that all of these things are about us, our life, our interests, and our activities. There is more to life than just homeschooling (though we love it and it is a big part of our lives), more than just exercise or hooping, healthy eating or natural remedies. Life is a whole, comprised of many parts. With that in mind, it seems much more reasonable to have a blog which reflects more parts of the whole. So, there will be some changes to my little blog. I'm kind of excited about this, especially with summer fast approaching basically here.

Speaking of whole, I've decided it is time to clear the garbage out of out cupboards and get back to the whole foods lifestyle I've recently (admittedly, somewhat shamefully, definitely regretfully) parted with in favor of quicker, sweeter, saltier, "convenience" foods. What's not so convenient is feeling like garbage all the time, which I do. My goal is to adopt a completely plant-based diet for myself and my children. My family has a long history of autoimmune diseases. I believe that how we eat is the defining factor in whether those switches get flipped. Since my children are already showing signs of autoimmune disease (my son developed psoriasis at age 4, and my daughter experiences weather-related joint pain), I believe this is not something that can wait.

I will have much more to say on these and many other topics as my blog develops into more of a whole picture of our interests and goals. I'm no expert on the whole foods, plant-based diet - but I'd like to be. Hopefully blogging through my journey will keep me on track, and maybe even help others who are also considering making similar healthy changes.

Thanks for reading along!