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

My Epic Soy Post

This topic came up several places recently, so I felt the urge to share my own thoughts here on my blog. Soy. One of the first things people might think of when considering making the switch from a diet that includes animal products to one that is plant-based is soy. We hear a lot of things about soy, and soy has made its way into just about everything processed that we eat. It is often touted as being healthy, with claims that it can protect against certain diseases. This is perhaps the best example I can think of where a very small piece of truth has been expanded, warped, and taken almost completely out of context.

First, let's take a look at where these claims come from. Asian diets, which include fermented soy products like soy sauce and tempeh, have been linked to lower incidences of certain diseases. The soy that is touted as healthy here in the United States is not the fermented variety and does not offer the same health benefits. In fact, unfermented soy can actually be quite detrimental to our health.

Unfermented soy, the kind which is found in soy milk, soy-based ingredients in processed foods, and other soy substitutes, contains phytochemicals and can disrupt the normal functions in your body to the point of ill health by mimicking naturally-occurring estrogens in the body (among other things). Our bodies, for optimal health, need to maintain a balance of the right hormones. A disruption in this balance can lead to estrogen dominance, which can lead to a whole host of symptoms, diseases, and disorders. This can be especially problematic for children and people who already suffer from certain symptoms and diseases.

In addition to the health concerns soy poses all on its own, there is the additional issue that biotech corporation Monsanto controls more than 90% of the soybeans in the United States, and you really don't want to consume anything that Monsanto has their hands in at all. I strongly encourage you to Google Monsanto, or better yet - watch Food, Inc., for there is far too much for me to cover here but much you need to know. You can check out a soy-related clip from the documentary here.

That said, I have personal experience with the deleterious health effects of consuming soy products, which is why I feel so compelled to share my thoughts on soy with others. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to eat healthier. I planned to move toward a more plant-based diet and eliminate all, or nearly all, animal products from my diet. Soy seemed the common-sense choice. I had not researched it, and at the time I still relied heavily on what appeared to be "common knowledge" about things like soy. So I went to the supermarket, bought myself a bunch of soy milk, soy protein bars, and other soy substitutes. I truly believed, based on advertising about this wonderful, amazing soy that was in everything, that I was doing something really good for myself and my family.

It wasn't long before I started to feel like my body was going crazy. I kept with the dietary changes, including lots of soy, thinking that maybe I was just detoxing from my previous diet or adjusting or something; but I only got worse. So I did what we all do: I Googled my symptoms, of course! One of the first things that came up was dietary soy intake, as it apparently mimics estrogen in the body. Woah.

I immediately stopped consuming soy and started checking labels for it. It took a couple of months for my body to get back to normal, but it did. Meanwhile, I was utterly astounded at how many products contain soy! It's not easy to avoid for those who eat a lot of processed foods. I'm hoping that soy will get the kind of attention that trans fat and HFCS (high-fructose corn syrup) have received so that manufacturers will start scaling back on its use in their food products. I also really wish that advertising would be more honest, but I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Be well!