Pasta Is Done When You Throw It Against The Wall . . . And It Sticks

Hungry for a baked potato? Stab some holes in a spud and microwave for 10 minutes. How about some blueberry muffins slathered in margarine for dessert? Grab a box from aisle five.

If you’re wondering, I’m summing up my culinary education from birth to eighteen for you here. Ahem. 

Learning to cook real food was not something that happened gradually for me. One day I can’t even look at the bones from the my extra spicy Wingstop order, the next I have fish heads in my cabinet . . . and they are looking at me!

But Oh, I Had Motivation

Tens little finger and ten little toes to nuzzle and squeeze and kiss and coo over. I wanted a BABY. . . and a baby was the last thing I could have. Blood tests revealed that years of lowfat dieting had lowered my cholesterol to nearly undetectable levels – lower than those long distance runners who don’t get periods. It’s embarrassing to admit now, but when I first heard the numbers I thought it was a good thing! Um, no. Cholesterol is necessary for producing the hormones that sustain a pregnancy, she told me. Fine, then. I went home and drank 8 oz of olive oil straight. (Do not ever do this! You will puke for 10 hours!)

I wanted cholesterol. I wanted a baby. I wanted my horrible acne, acid reflux, anxiety and chronic exhaustion to just GO AWAY. I wanted all of those things and more, but what I NEEDED was real food. So, with Nourishing Traditions in hand, I hacked away at my old food habits until every single one was gone. No one else I knew was eating this way and honestly I kind of felt like the unibomber while concocting ferments in my kitchen. It was hard. And frustrating. And because of all the failures I had to throw out, it was expensive too.

And If I Were On That Journey Today . . .

It would be totally unnecessary.Truth is, the nourishing lifestyle is NOT complicated, but making the transition on your own can be. As much as I would like to invite each of you into my kitchen and show you firsthand what a rich experience traditional cooking can be, I simply can’t. Maybe if we get our dream house I can invite some of you, but not the ones that live in Belgium ; – )

If you’re muddling through the transition to real food and don’t want to wait for my new kitchen, Jenny at Nourished Kitchen is enrolling now for her updated and fully revised How To Cook Real Food eCourse complete with 45 video tutorials, over 100 recipes, worksheets to help you develop your own recipes, tips for sticking to your budget  and lifetime access to all teaching materials. This is the most comprehensive Nourishing Traditions-style cooking course I have ever seen. She’s even added a class on grain-free cooking for those of us who have abandoned bread and all it’s cohorts.

Interested?

You can check out the course details here and here. The class is $199, but by registering before September 15th at midnight you’ll save $50, which drops it to $12.50 a class.

UPDATE: Hey! Jenny  just sent me an email offering Mommypotamus readers a $25 discount IN ADDITION to the $50 early bird price PLUS a 3 month subscription to her meal planning info. Thats $105 in discounts! The discount code is MOMMYPOTAMUS

Or you can go here to sign up!

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Silly Me!

In yesterday’s post on cultivating your child’s inner foodie I forgot to mention one of the BEST ways to get them to eat their greens: Make a Wild Salad! You get to go outdoors, eat good food, identify plants, “cook” together, experience new flavors – all in one salad bowl!

All you need is whatever you would normally put in a salad – tomato, cucumber, avocado, and pecans are some of my favorites. Hard boiled eggs are good, or bits of real bacon are also great! You can have some lettuce on hand in case you don’t gather enough wild leaves, or if you want something familiar to blend in with the new flavors.

To Your Normal Salad Fixin’s, Add Some Wild Plants!

Here is a list, with photographs, so that you can go out and collect with confidence. You can find these plants in your yard, around woodsy edges of a playground, or any other public park/nature trail that hasn’t been sprayed with pesticides/herbicides. Please keep in mind (and teach your children) three important rules about collecting wild food:

1. Always ask permission before you pick a plant, just like we ask permission before we play with our friend’s toys. Asking permission shows respect for the plant, and reminds us that we do not “own” nature: we live together here. When the plant says you may, don’t forget to say thank you! Remember that this plant is alive, and when you pick the leaf, the plant is sharing its life with you.
2.  Only take a small amount from any given area. You need to leave enough plants there to grow and go to seed so that more will grow next year, and you need to leave enough leftover for the animals to eat. Perhaps you agree that you will only take one leaf off of any given plant, or one flower for every five flowers that you see. This will help keep your harvest sustainable!
3. Never take the strongest, largest plant from a patch. That plant is the grandmother plant, and she is the “backbone” of the whole clump. To keep the whole patch healthy, take only a small amount, and allow the strongest plant to remain untouched.

 Now, Go Out And Collect!

Dandelion

Slightly bitter, but delicious, and abundant! Dandelion provides many minerals, improves digestion, and aids in kidney function.

Possible look-alikes are Chicory or Wild Lettuce, both edible. Chicory is good for your liver, though Wild Lettuce is a bit more bitter.

Violet Leaves

Slightly sweet, and extra fun because they’re heart-shaped! Violet is good for a heathy immune system. (Possible look-alike – Garlic Mustard. Edible, and delicious!)

Sorrel

“Irish Clover” – each of the three leaves is a perfect little heart. Sorrel has yellow flowers and a wonderful sour taste that kids seem to love. If sorrel grows near you, it’s sure to be a favorite!

Henbit or Ground Ivy

These two plants are related, and you may have one or both growing in your area. They’re members of the mint family, and although they don’t taste like peppermint, they are delicious! You can eat the leaves and the flowers, and even the stems if you’d like some crunch! (Possible look-alike – Deadnettle, also a edible mint family plant)

 Lamb’s Quarters

Frequently referred to as the single most nutritious plant known! They grow everywhere – even in the desert – and have a pleasant mild taste. Often called “Goosefoot” – the leaves look like goose foot prints, and often have a bit of white “dust” on the baby leaves.

Toss everything in a bowl and savor the flavors AND the moment . . . your kids are going to remember this forever!!!

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What Is The #1 Most Important Key To Health?

Genetics? No, food! That’s my own professional opinion, of course! I have had clients walk in with cervical cancer, with auto-immune disease, with all manner of illness, and in some cases the *only* thing we changed was diet! Although many doctors and certainly mainstream culture will tell you that food doesn’t really have an impact on illness – recently I even saw an article in a popular health magazine, written by an MD, claiming that sugar has no effect on children! – in my experience, it is the single biggest factor in a client’s recovery.

But why wait till we’re adults? We can teach children about good food choices – and believe it or not, they will listen! Begin now to teach your children to avoid sugar and to abhor processed foods. How? Knowledge! Knowledge is power, even when you’re five.

This is not my leg!

In my family, we tend towards varicose veins. But varicosities are not necessary just because my mother has them! I’m only 37, but my legs are veiny enough that even my daughter, when she was five, could see that it wasn’t healthy. (I have since had a lot of luck in resolving my varicosities – you can read about it here).

Since varicose veins go along with “thick blood” – which is nothing more than saying a person eats too many sweets and carbohydrates – they become a very visible lesson for my daughter. I can explain to her directly that her food choices will impact whether or not her legs look like mine. Hereditary illnesses don’t *have* to be hereditary – so explain to your children that they can avoid the illnesses specific to your family by choosing to skip the corn dogs.

What are good food choices? Well, to put it very simply, good quality meat, vegetables, and fruit. Make sure to get good fats – olives, avocados, high quality animal fats, and coconut are some good choices. Avoid processed, packaged food, sugar, anything made with flour, and “fake” fats such as corn oil or soybean oil. (What do I mean by “fake”? Well, if I give you an ear of corn, you can’t give me corn oil – they need solvents and factories to get that oil out. But if I give you an olive, no problem. Stick to fats that don’t require technology.)

So now you have the Why and the What – here’s the How:

To nurture your child’s inner foodie, start at the beginning: head to your local grocery store or farmer’s market – together. Make thoughtful food choices together. Talk about what would be healthy. Plan a meal. Even if your family has previously been a take-out family, you can still do this!

Start on a day without other commitments: a Saturday or a Sunday may work best. Buy foods together, and agree ahead of time that you won’t buy anything in a package. You can find a recipe before you go or just be inspired while you shop – whatever you’re more comfortable with. Make sure to get plenty of vegetables, some good quality meat, and fruit for desert. It’s ok if this shopping trip takes a long time: the journey is the destination!

Once you get home, cook your food together! It doesn’t have to come out perfectly – it’s a good thing for children to see adults make mistakes and learn from them. If it doesn’t come out well, make some notes about what you would do differently next time. Make sure to spend plenty of time talking about your commitment to eating healthy, whole foods – even if this is a new commitment for you! Not only will your children benefit from watching you grow and change, but they’ll help keep you honest too.

But what if your child is a picky eater? Well, to great extent, allowing your child to help pick out the foods will help. After that, here are some more suggestions:

• Play flavor games – Teach your kids that flavors are not “good” or “bad” (or “yucky”!) – give them other words such as “strong” or “pungent” or “intense”. Pick one night a week for the whole family to experience a new flavor – just as an appetizer before the meal. Maybe you’ll try fresh sage leaves, or a bit of horseradish, or an exotic fruit. Make sure to include a full range of flavors in your flavor exploration, so that your children don’t always expect flavors that don’t appeal to them. Share your experiences together as a family – what did everyone think of the flavor? Where do you feel it on your tongue? Does it taste like anything familiar? There are lots of things you can say without saying “I like/hate this”.
• Don’t provide alternatives – Instead of making a separate “kid friendly” meal, let your child eat what you are eating (although if it is quite spicy-hot, you might want to give them a milder version before you add all the spices). Make sure to plan some elements of the meal that will also appeal directly to them, so that everyone at the table has something to enjoy.
• Plan meals together – Perhaps each member of the family chooses a dish for the meal. Take turns for who will chose the entree and who will choose sides. Sure, you’ll end up with some very eclectic dinners, but you’ll be giving everyone at the table a chance to share something that they like. If your children are older, they can even be responsible for preparing their dish!
• Run out of foods you want to avoid – Your children have certainly already had the experience of “oops – we ran out of X”. And they also have certainly seen you forget something that should have been on the grocery list. Use that to your advantage now! It’s ok if they’re disappointed, and you can even apologize – while you’re offering them a healthier option! After a while, they’ll either figure it out, or they’ll forget. Either way, it will give you a breather in the moment when they’re asking for their Crunchy Cocoa Corns.
• Get Creative! – Is your son a fan of dinosaurs? Then serve brontosaurous burgers for dinner! Save bones from chicken legs, and the next night, mold ground beef around them to that their “hamburgers” have a bone sticking out! Let them smear it all over with ketchup. In fact, if you have the time, go ahead a make a caveman costume he can wear to dinner. Is your daughter into princesses? Give her a fancy plate with the foods you want her to eat arranged in a fancy way, and let her wear a fancy dress and tiara to the table. Let her drink from a fancy teacup or a wine glass. Or tell them they have to eat the meal, but they have the choice: eat with fingers, or toes? (They’ll only choose toes once – it’s really too much trouble!)

Any of these ideas will absolutely be more work than what is required to serve chicken nuggets (even the organic kind). And on top of work, and the laundry, and soccer practice, and guitar lessons, it might feel like Just Too Much™. But it’s a short term investment for a very large long term payoff. Take a month, plan ahead just a bit, put off some projects, and remind yourself that you’re asking for some pretty big changes from your kids, it’s ok for you to give them a little something silly in return. And if that’s not feasible, then make changes one at a time! Or pick one night a week to be “Healthy Food Night”… Anything you can do to get the ball rolling will make a difference!

How do you encourage healthy eating in your home???

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If You Think Kids Are Asking Hard Questions Now, Just Wait

Biotech companies are actively working toward a world in which we will have to explain the reason potatoes glow in the dark when they need watering and why pigs have cowhides. Oh yes, these have really been attempted, as has the strawberry/fish combo from the title!¹ As you read this they are dicing and splicing dozens of species for new crops, even new animals, for you to help your children grapple with.

Did I say just wait? I meant DON’T WAIT. Most of us know that GMO genes are drifting into organic fields. We know that when we buy corn, sugar, canola, or soy that it is most likely contaminated. But as I learned when I began researching for my guest post at Food Renegade, there is more to the story.

Genetic Pollution: Biotech’s Dirty Little Secret

“Tweedle dee dee! Tweedle dee dee! The fly has married the bumble bee!,” sings my three year-old.

That’s ridiculous, I tell her. What’s next, the dog runs off with the squirrell and the cat pines hopelessly for the badger? We have laws against these things, little miss. Natural laws that protect the integrity of a species’ genome.

Unfortunately, biotech firms don’t think the rules apply to them. They’re using genetic material from pathogenic viruses, genetic parasites and bacteria to breach the hull of the genome, so to speak, and infect it with alien genes.

Problem is, once these pathogenic viruses, parasites and bacteria have the ability to penetrate genomes, they can do it again . . . to you.

The constructs are designed to break down species barriers and to overcome mechanisms that prevent foreign genetic material from inserting into genomes.

. . .These constructs are introduced into cells by invasive methods that lead to random insertion of the foreign genes into the genomes (the totality of all the genetic material of a cell or organism). This gives rise to unpredictable, random effects, including gross abnormalities in animals and unexpected toxins and allergens in food crops.

. . . transgenic DNA – the totality of artificial constructs transferred into the GMO – may be more unstable and prone to transfer again to unrelated species; potentially to all species interacting with the GMO.

Open Letter from World Scientists to All Governments Concerning Genetically Modified Organisms, (emphasis mine)

 

Horizontal gene transfer is likely to spread antibiotic resistant “marker” genes that could render infectious diseases untreatable, a generation of new viruses and bacteria that cause diseases, and harmful mutations which may lead to cancer. Here’s what they’ve got cooking in current field trials:

• Corn engineered with human genes (Dow)
• Sugarcane engineered with human genes (Hawaii Agriculture Research Center)
• Corn engineered with jellyfish genes (Stanford University)
• Tobacco engineered with lettuce genes (University of Hawaii)
• Rice engineered with human genes (Applied Phytologics)
• Corn engineered with hepatitis virus genes (Prodigene)

Of course, Monsanto said this genetically modified material is safe because it is killed on contact with stomach acid. So no problem, right? Yeah, we’re seeing it in the bloodstream of pregnant moms and their unborn babies.

What about cooking? Would that help? “Plant DNA is not readily degraded during most commercial food processing. Procedures such as grinding and milling left grain DNA largely intact, as did heat-treatment at 90deg.C [194 degrees Farenheit]. Plants placed in silage showed little degradation of DNA, and a special UK MAFF report advises against using GM plants or plant waste in animal feed.” ²

Not only that, but studies show we don’t even have to EAT the stuff to have it scramble our DNA. “In commenting on the FDA’s document, the UK MAFF pointed out that transgenic DNA may be transferred not just by ingestion, but by contact with plant dust and air-borne pollen during farm work and food processing. ³

Can We Trust Monsanto’s Safety Record?

Agent Orange: “Essentially it’s so safe you can drink it”(4)

Vietnam’s victims of Agent Orange, 2007. Photo: Merle Ratner

Glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) has a history of “safe use for over 30 years in more than 130 countries.” Any evidence to the contrary is merely a “variation.”

Glyphosate associated birth defect published at The Ecologist

There is “no rational reason” to warn the public of the health effects of PCB’s. And the increased IGF-1 levels in rGBH-treated milk are perfectly safe, too. Mmm hmmm, right.

When I see these children, I see not just their physical struggles, but the recklessness that allowed it to happen. Although it is painful I choose to witness it . . . to allow these images to wash over my mind as I stand at the Home Depot counter deciding whether to spend the afternoon pulling weeds or just buy a bottle of Roundup. Was it necessary to post these images to make my point? I’m not sure. All I know is we cannot hide these realities in asylums and dark corners of third world countries we never visit.

Co-Existence Is Not Possible

Despite what they say about buffer zones and containment, cross-pollination between GMO and organic varieties is inevitable. In 2004, citizen groups tested nearly 20,000 papaya seeds on the island of Hawaii. Half of the seeds were genetically modified, even though 80% were taken from organic farms that were not supposed to be GMO.¹

FindYour Inner Erin Brockovich

You may be standing knee-deep in laundry right now, or trying to figure out how to defrost and roast a chicken in half an hour, or wondering if I’m about to ask you to join Greenpeace and chain yourself to to the doors of a pro-rGBH dairy (please don’t). You may be thinking you don’t have time for this, and I don’t blame you.

But here’s the thing: Monsanto is ready to roll out plums, rice, cauliflower . . . everything really. And believe it or not, most Americans have NO IDEA.

In a 2010 survey taken by the International Food Information Council, only 28 percent of respondents knew genetically modified foods were sold in stores.

It’s Independence Week here in the United States . . . a celebration of the charter of the Declaration of Independence. I’m on the hunt for sparklers and the perfect GAPS friendly banana cream pie, but I’m also planning to declare my own independence, too.

If some people are allowed to choose to grow, sell and consume GM foods, soon nobody will be able to choose food, or a biosphere, free of GM. It’s a one way choice, like the introduction of rabbits or cane toads to Australia; once it’s made, it can’t be reversed.

Roger Levett, “Choice: Less can be more”, Food Ethics, Vol. 3, No. 3, Autumn 2008

The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that doesn’t require labeling of GMO’s. “If companies say genetic engineering is fine, then OK let’s label it and let the consumers make their own decisions,” said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist at Consumers Union, which produces Consumer Reports. “That’s what all the free market supporters say. So let’s let the market work properly.“

Here’s what you can do to declare food freedom from your living room, or kitchen, or wherever you happen to be right now.

Raise awareness. Only 28 percent of people know GMO’s are sold in stores, so let’s educate our family and friends by sharing articles on Facebook, talking over dinner, etc.

Support Truth In Labeling

Download the Non-GMO Shopping Guide . . . and use it!

How Will YOU Declare Independence This Week?

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Aquabounty, the biotech firm that spent 15 years and $60M creating GM Atlantic Salmon, is up a creek without a paddle. Better them than one of their fish, which could devastate natural populations if they ever happened to mix.

In an amendment to the 2012 Farm Bill, the U.S. House of Representatives moved to ban the sale of GM Atlantic Salmon. It’s just a draft and hasn’t been voted on yet, but it signals a shift away from blind acceptance of GM foods.

Six Fish ~ Skewed Studies

Earlier this year expert testimony from Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen revealed Aquabounty’s negligence toward human and environmental health. Only SIX FISH were studied for health effects, and Hansen believes there is significant evidence they  manipulated data to “prove” there is “no significant difference” between wild salmon and GM salmon. Haven’t we heard that before?

Potential Allergic Response Cited

This is HUGE, because it is an acknowledgment of one of the most basic flaws of genetically modified foods. Proteins that were not allergenic, when spliced into the genome of a different organism, can become so.

Indeed, a 1996 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that people who were allergic to Brazil nuts were also allergic to soy beans that had been implanted with a Brazil nut protein. There is also some evidence that even proteins don’t usually cause allergies can become allergenic when they are moved to a new food. A 2005 Australian study found that mice who were fed peas containing a typically non-allergenic protein from kidney beans experienced allergic reactions.

 

Are Genetically Modified Foods More Allergenic?

So, what do we know about the allergen potential of GM salmon specifically? Not much, because the research is skeletal at best.

[A] number of consumer, health, and environmental groups say that neither AquaBounty Technologies nor the FDA has enough evidence to ensure the public that the fish—which wouldn’t have to be labeled as genetically engineered (GE) on supermarket shelves—is safe for people or the planet. Consumers Union senior scientist Michael Hansen called the company’s food safety tests “woefully incomplete,” and the group pointed out that the FDA approval panel is mostly comprised of GE cheerleaders, with no fish ecologists or allergists. Why’s an allergist important? Because the company’s own tests suggest that the new salmon could be much more allergenic than regular salmon.

In order to understand the allergy tests, a bit of backstory on how AquAdvantage salmon are made is necessary. First, genetic engineers create a “diploid” fish, meaning like people, it has two sets of chromosomes. Then, to make the final market product, they add genetic material from other fish and breed a new salmon with three sets of chromosomes—a “triploid” female that can’t reproduce. AquaBounty researchers compared the allergenicity—or potential to cause an allergic reaction—of a control group of salmon to both the genetically engineered diploids and triploids. They found that the diploid salmon were 40 percent more allergenic than the control, while the triploid group was 19 percent more allergenic.

AquaBounty says that the triploids’ allergenicity level wasn’t statistically significant, and although the diploids’ level is significant, it doesn’t matter because only triploids will be sold. But Hansen of the Consumers Union finds a few problems with this argument. For starters, the test wasn’t double blind, meaning the researchers knew which fish were part of which test group. Second, the sample size of triploid fish was tiny—only six fish in all. Third, although AquaBounty is going to try to turn all its market-bound fish into triploid sterile females, the process isn’t perfect, and some 5 percent could end up as the more allergenic diploid.

 

Are Genetically Modified Foods More Allergenic? (emphasis mine)

Allergies are not merely an inconvenience. They create stress and inflammation in the immune system, which can result in many serious conditions.

About Those Mutant Diploid Fish

You know, the ones that will happen because the process isn’t, ahem, “perfect”?? They are NOT sterile, which means that if they escaped they could breed with wild salmon. Scary thought.

As I Told The Senator Today . . .

The House may be finalizing the 2012 Farm Bill early next week. If you don’t want to leave this victory to chance a call to your senator/representative supporting this ban wouldn’t hurt. The number for the Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121. Just ask for your Representative’s and Senators’ offices and they’ll patch you right through. Then when your hubs gets home try to work this phrase in, “as I told the Senator today . . . ”

Are you excited about this or what?? Yay for small victories!!

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I am two snapshots away from completing a project eight months in the making. In about thirty days I’ll be ready to push. Yes, I’m having a book baby. Similar Posts:

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Behold, SALTY blueberry preserves.

Fig Walnut Canapes a là Locker Room Funk

Chicken Liver Paté – I practically had to dump that bottle of port in to make this one edible. Kind of defeats the purpose, huh?

An experimental chevré frosting that went baaaaad (pun intended)

All of these failures occurred within the last month. That’s why when people tell me I’m a good cook I have to disagree . . . I’m just a persistent one.

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A Corny Story

Apparently I forgot a category in yesterday’s poll (which is still going on btw!) . . . “investigative journalism of controversial topics.” Thanks, Whittney! So here I am, reporting to you live from the potamus family living room, where just moments ago I looked outside and confirmed this groundbreaking, nutcracking story. Before you start shouting at your screen, I know I am not a journalist. Let’s have some fun, though.

The farmer grinned as he told the visitor, “Watch this!” He called his pigs, which ran frantically towards him to be fed. But when he scooped out corn and threw it on the ground, the pigs sniffed it and then looked up at the farmer with confused expectation. The farmer then scooped corn from another bin and flung it near the pigs, which ran over and quickly devoured it.

The farmer said, “The first corn is genetically engineered. They won’t touch it.”

Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, in an article for The Hippocrates Health Institute

When I first read this I thought “nice way to make a point!,” but I didn’t really believe it. I mean sure, every day there is more research indicating that genetically modified crops (GMO’s) cause infertility, infant mortality, immune dysfunction, allergies, accelerated aging, organ damage, stunted growth, and death¹. But surely the pigs didn’t figure it out before we did. Um, yeah . . . and it’s not just the pigs.

The Washington Post reported that laboratory mice, usually happy to munch on tomatoes, turned their noses up at the genetically modified FlavrSavr tomato. Scientist Roger Salquist said of his tomato, “I gotta tell you, you can be Chef Boyardee and mice are still not going to like them.” The mice were eventually force fed the tomato through gastric tubes and stomach washes. Several developed stomach lesions; seven of forty died within two weeks. The tomato was approved without further tests.

Between the Chapters: The Wisdom of Animals

Cows, pigs, elk, deer, raccoons, squirrels, rats, and mice all share the same aversion to GMO’s, says Smith. I had to see this for myself, so decided to experiment on our backyard squirrels.

Katie and I created a mini-snack bar on the fence by the pecan tree where the squirrels hang out. Our menu consisted of organic corn from Whole Foods and some “all natural” corn from Kroger.  GMO’s are dumped into our food supply without any labeling so I couldn’t be sure about the “all natural” corn, but since about 85% of the corn grown in the U.S. is GMO I thought it was pretty likely.

While we were filling the containers Katie tried to eat the Kroger corn and I totally flipped out. Protective much?

Snack bar open for business!!!

For the first couple of days I ran out every morning to see what was happening. Nada. Although the squirrels took a few polite nibbles, they didn’t seem interested so I pretty much forgot about it. Two months later I found this.

Thanks . . . But NO Thanks

Just a few kernels were left in the organic container, but after some curious nibbles the squirrels turned tail and ran from the GMO stuff. Although they wouldn’t comment, I think they read that study where the third generation of hamsters fed genetically engineered soy suffered slower growth, a high mortality rate, and a bizarre birth defect: fur growing in their mouths. Many also lost the ability to have pups, too.

Or maybe they picked out the roughly 15% that wasn’t genetically modified. Who knows??

Either way, I hope I’m not the only one that thinks we should take a hint from the Potamus family squirrels. If you’re not quite convinced, check out this video. I used to think the war was already lost, but I was wrong. We do not have to accept GMO’s as a fact of life. Although it takes a moment to get interesting, Jeff’s comments on the tipping point were surprisingly optimistic. Check it out!

For info on how to avoid GM foods, check out The Non-GMO Shopping Guide, especially the section on invisible GM ingredients.

Note: Thanks to a reader I learned after posting this that a smaller percentage of sweet corn grown in the U.S. is GMO than, say, field corn. I cannot say for sure that this corn was genetically modified.

Resources:

Animals Don’t Want To Eat GMO’s, So Why Are We?

Top 10 Reasons To Label GMO Products

What you need to know about GMO’s

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