If you support organic seed and organic vegetables – please make your thoughts known to the Oregon Department of Agriculture at http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/pages/canola.aspx – this is the public’s chance to comment.

The following article was published on WillametteLive.com (http://www.willamettelive.com/2013/news/gmos-among-us-big-change-possible-for-the-willamette-valley/)

GMOs AMONG US -Big change possible for the Willamette Valley

By Sarah Epstein

Controversy is heating up over the possible introduction of 2,500 acres of canola to the Willamette Valley.  The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) will make a determination in February on whether or not to change a rule that temporarily put canola growing on hold.   (The public comment period ends on January 25th at http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/pages/canola.aspx).

Organic and specialty seed growers, and opponents of genetically-modified food are opposed; grass farmers, biofuel producers and the ODA support the change.

The reason canola is a GMO issue is that more than 90% of all canola in the United States is (GE), and it is considered inevitable that canola introduced in the Willamette Valley will ultimately be GE, too.

GMO crops are already here.  The valley is “packed with” 5-6,000 acres of GMO sugar beet seed fields, according to Frank Morton, an organic seed grower in the Willamette Valley and founding president of the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association.  “Oregon currently grows about 95% of GMO ‘Roundup Ready’ sugar beet seeds for the United States.  This takes place all around Salem, Albany, [and] Eugene.”

Morton and his constituents are fighting the ODA-proposed canola rule change.  They hope to prevent canola approval because the plant readily cross-pollinates with many other crops and wrecks the seed lines their livelihoods depend on.  Morton says, “Vegetable seed growers around the world have been destroyed by canola; you can’t grow related vegetable seeds in France, Germany, Denmark, and UK any more,” because the lines were gutted by cross-pollination.

On the other side, biofuel producers, who can press canola for their product, say the crop is good for Oregon’s economy.  Grass seed growers, who already have 400,000 acres planted in grass wheat, want to use canola to rotate with their fields.  They have found that canola is an excellent rotation crop, that it produces high yields, requires little irrigation and can be cultivated with the same kind of equipment the farmers already use for their grass crops.

Morton understands why they would take this position.  “The damage goes only one way; canola growers cannot be hurt by those farming other crops, the way we can be by them.  And the effect of canola is permanent; I believe if canola is allowed to establish itself as an industry in the Willamette Valley, that the specialty seed industry will begin a decline that will end in it’s demise.”

The ODA concurs with canola interests.  It points to rules established for the transport and handling of canola seed, contending they are sufficient to prevent “the inadvertent spread of seed or production of volunteer plants.”  It maintains that canola-planted acreage “will not be sufficiently large to harm the vegetable seed industry” and that allowing canola farming will protect farmers’ rights to choose what they wish to grow.

The ODA can make no distinction between genetically engineered crops and other crops, because it considers GMOs a federal matter.  There is no way for ODA to approve exclusively non-GMO canola in Oregon.

Who Regulates GMOs in Oregon, Anyway?

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) does not.  ODA say that genetically engineered food is not within its purview.  It relies on the federal government, stating that “through a strong regulatory framework, USDA [US Department of Agriculture] thoroughly evaluates GM organisms to verify that they are just as safe for agriculture and the environment as traditionally-bred crop varieties.”

In fact, not just one but several federal agencies regulate GMOs in Oregon.  They are:

1) The US Food and Drug Administration, which has primary responsibility for ensuring the safety of any food derived from genetic engineering and for the proper labeling of them.

2) The USDA, primarily through its Biotechnology Regulatory Services, which makes sure GE organisms are safe “through a comprehensive program of rigorous regulatory oversight”.

3) The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which checks the permits and science of entities wanting to develop GMO crops, and,

4) The Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for ensuring that a type of GE pesticide engineered and used in living plants can be safely consumed and safely used in the environment.

GMOs in the United States

While Europe has banned GMO foods, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) believes genetically engineered foods are safe.  The agency supports the notion that GMO foods have what scientists and governments call a “substantial equivalence” to non-GMO foods.  The FDA states that “if a new food is found to be substantially equivalent in composition and nutritional characteristics to an existing food, it can be regarded as safe as the conventional food.”
The FDA bases its position on “scientific principles for assessing safety” developed by several prestigious scientific groups, including the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD.)   In general, each of these entities has determined that GMO food is substantially equivalent to other foods, and equally safe.

However, these entities aren’t completely without reservation.  Although NAS states that “No evidence of human health problems associated specifically with the ingestion of these crops or resulting food products have been identified,” it also says, “there remain sizeable gaps in our ability to identify compositional changes that result from genetic modification of organisms intended for food.”

According to NAS, gaps include its ability to:

• determine the precise chemical structure of more than a small number of compounds in a tissue,

• determine the structure-function relationships between compounds in food and their relevance to human health, and

• predict and assess the potential outcome of unintended changes in food on human health.

And OECD, another of the FDA’s sources, admits in a policy report “… there remains uncertainty about the potential long-term effects of GM food on human health and on worker safety (as a result of exposure during production). “

Meanwhile, The American Academy of Environmental Medicine, (an institution not consulted by the USDA) said in 2009 that, “There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects.”  The organization cites multiple animal studies that show “significant immune dysregulation,” “altered structure and function of the liver,” “changes in the kidney, pancreas and spleen,” and infertility, among many other pathologies.

Opponents of genetically engineered food, noting studies like these, are distressed that bioengineered foods already dominate the American food supply.  GMOs are now in more than 95% of soybeans grown in this country, in 88% of corn, and 95% of the sugar beets.

Because soy (soy sauce, soy milk, lecithin) and corn (corn syrup, lactate, modified food starch) and sugar beets (aspartame) are used in most prepared foods – more than 70% of grocery store foods contain GMOs.

The industry has fought hard to prevent foods containing GMOs to be labeled.  More than 20 states have made efforts to require labeling but so far, biotech companies have prevailed.

The result is that tens of millions of American consumers consume food without any way of knowing it contains genetically modified ingredients.

This story has been corrected: According to the Canadian government (www.hc-sc.gc.ca) GMO foods are not banned in that country.  Also, the labeling of GMO foods in Canada is voluntary.  In Australia/New Zealand (http://www.foodstandards.gov.au,) GMO foods are allowed as well, although they must be labeled.    The author regrets the errors.

Food allergies may count as disability, feds say

By The Associated Press on January 18, 2013

WASHINGTON — Allergic to gluten? What about peanuts? Federal disabilities law may be able to help.

The Justice Department said in a recent settlement with a Massachusetts college that severe food allergies can be considered a disability under the law. That gives those who suffer from such allergies a new avenue in seeking menus that fit their diet. But some say it goes too far.

The decision leaves schools, restaurants and other places that serve food more exposed to legal challenges if they fail to honor requests for accommodations by people with food allergies.

Colleges and universities are especially vulnerable because they know their students and often require them to eat on campus, Eve Hill of the Justice Department’s civil rights division says. But a restaurant also could be liable if it blatantly ignored a customer’s request for certain foods and that person became ill, though that case might be harder to argue if the customer had just walked in off the street and was unknown to the restaurant, Hill says.

The settlement with Lesley University, reached last month but drawing little attention, will require the Cambridge institution to serve gluten-free foods and make other accommodations for students who have celiac disease. At least one student had complained to the federal government after the school would not exempt that student from a meal plan even though the student couldn’t eat the food.

“All colleges should heed this settlement and take steps to make accommodations,” says Alice Bast, president and founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. “To our community this is definitely a precedent.”

Under the agreement, Lesley University says it will not only provide gluten-free options in its dining hall but also allow students to pre-order, provide a dedicated space for storage and preparation to avoid contamination, train staff about food allergies and pay a $50,000 cash settlement to affected students.

“We are not saying what the general meal plan has to serve or not,” Hill says. “We are saying that when a college has a mandatory meal plan they have to be prepared to make reasonable modifications to that meal plan to accommodate students with disabilities.”

The agreement says that food allergies may constitute a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act, if they are severe enough. The definition was made possible under 2009 amendments to the disability law that concerned episodic impairments that substantially limit activity.

“By preventing people from eating, they are really preventing them from accessing their educational program,” Hill says of the school and its students.

Not everyone agrees.

Hans von Spakovsky, a fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who worked in the civil rights division of the Justice Department under President George W. Bush, says the inclusion of food allergies is a major expansion of the disability law.

Von Spakovsky disagrees that food allergies are severe enough to prevent students from accessing education and says the costs could be substantial for colleges that already are battling backlash from high tuition costs.

“I certainly encourage colleges and universities to work with students on this issue, but the fact that this is a federal case and the Justice Department is going to be deciding what kind of meals could be served in a dining hall is just absurd,” he says.

People who suffer from celiac disease don’t absorb nutrients well and can get sick from the gluten found in wheat, rye and barley. The illness, which affects around 2 million Americans, causes abdominal pain, bloating and diarrhea, and people who have it can suffer weight loss, fatigue, rashes and other problems. Celiac is a diagnosed illness that is more severe than gluten sensitivity, which some people self-diagnose.

Ten years ago, most people had never heard of celiac disease. But awareness has exploded in recent years, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear. Some researchers say it was under-diagnosed; others say it’s because people eat more processed wheat products like pastas and baked goods than in past decades, and those items use types of wheat that have a higher gluten content.

Gluten-free diets have expanded beyond people with celiac disease. Millions of people are buying gluten-free foods because they say they make them feel better, even if they don’t have a wheat allergy. Americans were expected to spend $7 billion on gluten-free foods last year.

With so many people suddenly concerned with gluten content, colleges and universities have had to make accommodations. Some will allow students to be exempted from meal plans, while others will work with students individually. They may need to do even more now as the federal government is watching.

“These kids don’t want to be isolated,” Bast says. “Part of the college experience is being social. If you can’t even eat in the school cafeteria then you are missing out on a big part of college life.”

Mary Pat Lohse, the chief of staff and senior adviser to Lesley University’s president, says the school has been working with the Justice Department for more than three years to address students’ complaints. She says the school has already implemented most parts of the settlement and will continue to update policies to serve students who need gluten-free foods.

“The settlement agreement provides a positive road map for other colleges and universities to follow,” Lohse says.

Joan Rector McGlockton of the National Restaurant Association says that restaurants have taken notice of an increasing demand for gluten-free options, “drawing attention to the importance of providing these options as well as the preparation methods involved in serving these options.”

The group has a training program for restaurants so they will know what to do when food allergy issues arise.

Whether the government is involved or not, schools and other food service establishments are likely to hear from people who want more gluten-free foods. Dhanu Thiyagarajan, a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh, says she decided to speak up when she arrived at school and lost weight because there were too few gluten-free options available. Like Lesley University, the University of Pittsburgh requires that on-campus students participate in a meal plan.

Thiyagarajan eventually moved off campus so she could cook her own food, but not before starting an organization of students who suffer from wheat allergies like hers. She says she is now working with the food service at the school and they have made a lot of progress, though not enough for her to move back on campus.

L. Scott Lissner, the disability coordinator at Ohio State University, says he has seen similar situations at his school, though people with food allergies have not traditionally thought of themselves as disabled. He says schools will eventually have to do more than just exempt students from a meal plan.

“This is an early decision on a growing wave of needs that universities are going to have to address,” he says of the Lesley University agreement.

– The Associated Press

Why give it up?  Well, I realized that I was starting to get bad headaches if I didn’t drink coffee and, worse still, I would get bad headaches a few hours after I had some coffee. The only cure for the headache was more coffee.  Being as I’m not a fan of any form of addiction, I knew I needed to let coffee and it’s hold on me go.

Caffeine is a very potent stimulant.  According to the Mayo Clinic, “heavy daily caffeine use — more than 500 to 600 mg a day — may cause:

• Insomnia
• Nervousness
• Restlessness
• Irritability
• Stomach upset
• Fast heartbeat
• Muscle tremors”

Eliminating caffeinated coffee from my daily routine took about two weeks as I cut down my consumption from 3-4 cups a day to half a cup each day.  Interestingly, I had the worst headaches in the four days where I drank only half a cup.  On my first caffeine free day, I was headache free.

Since going caffeine free, I’ve noticed that I’m calmer, more patient, and less irritable.  I’ve also noticed I feel a lot less anxious in general.  It is an amazingly different world caffeine free and I admit I really noticed the difference in the busy holiday season.  I felt unusually serene through the holidays and that calm has remained with me into the new year.

While I let go of the caffeine, I couldn’t let go of coffee as a beverage.  I enjoy the flavor, the aroma, and the sensation of drinking a hot cup of coffee.  About a week after I had kicked the caffeine habit (and I was coffee free), I discovered that a former co-worker of mine was making and selling organic, fair trade, Swiss water processed decaffeinated coffee at our local market.  I still enjoy my coffee each day, but without the kick.

• In the U.S., per capita consumption of lamb (and mutton) is very low, less than one pound per person, compared to 57 pounds in New Zealand.
• Lamb is high in B vitamins, zinc, and iron.
• Only about 36 percent of the fat in lamb is saturated fat. The rest is mono or polyunsaturated fat, the “good” fat in one’s diet.
• Lamb is one of the richest sources of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). CLA possesses unique and potent antioxidant activity.
  Source – http://www.sheep101.info/lamb.html

Did I mention that lamb tastes great, too?  If you haven’t had lamb or you’re just looking for a really easy way to cook a lamb roast, try the following recipe.

Quick and Easy Lamb Roast

Ingredients:

• 3-4 lb lamb leg or shoulder roast ( usually use a frozen roast)
• 1/2 cup of water
• Crock pot
• Optional – salt, pepper, rosemary

Directions

If using a frozen roast do the preparation first thing in the morning, otherwise do this at noon.

1. Optional – rub salt, pepper, choice of herbs over the outside of the lamb
2. Place lamb roast in the crock pot
3. Add 1/2 cup of water
4. For frozen lamb roast – set crock pot to turn on at noon and cook for 5 hours on low.  For thawed lamb roast – set crock pot to cook for 5 hours on low.
5. After 5 hours of cooking time, remove lamb roast from crock pot.  Let sit for 15 minutes before slicing.
6. Use the juices at the bottom of the crock pot to make gravy.

It wasn’t until this fall when it became our son’s task to take over feeding of the cats that I wondered what goes into their food.  I picked up a can of Friskies and started reading.  Right off I can tell you that one of the main ingredients was wheat gluten.  Wheat gluten?  Really?  Have you ever seen a cat eat grain? Or bread?  Cats are primarily carnivores.  They eat meat.  Sometimes they’ll eat vegetables like pumpkin or beans but that isn’t a primary part of their diet.

Initially my concern about the wheat gluten in the cat food was for the risk of cross contamination.  There was a risk that gluten from the cat food could potentially contaminate other foods in the household just through mishandling.  So I started hunting for a replacement for the gluten filled cat food.   I found two excellent replacements.  In the hard food area I started using Diamond Cat Food from my local pet supply store.  It is gluten free and soy free.  Best of all, the cats liked it.

The search for a replacement canned food was on.  I tried a couple “all meat” cat foods which were both expensive ($1.50-$2/can) and unpopular.  The cats weren’t interested.  In fact, they appeared to prefer their old style cat food. They craved the gooey gluten filled gravy.   I continued to read labels while shopping and found a solution that turned out to be both cost effective ($.69/can) and very popular.  Trader Joe’s brand canned cat food contains meat. In fact, meat is the first ingredient.  It isn’t entirely grain free, it does contain rice, but it is soy free and gluten free.  Most importantly, the cats like it and will eat it. 

Here is another testament to the effect of wheat not just on humans but also on cats.  One of our cats is short and very wide.  He was almost 20lbs when I changed out the cat food.  He couldn’t reach is back leg up to scratch his ear and he had sleep apnea.  We monitored his food closely and he didn’t lose weight.  Sound familiar?  Just like humans who struggle to get to and maintain a healthy weight, our cat was struggling to  get to a healthy weight.

We changed his food and have, in only two months, seen significant changes.  He has more energy, he can reach his leg up and scratch his head, and he sleeps much better.   I haven’t weighed him yet but I estimate that he has lost 2-3lbs and he has gained energy.  He is another example of the power of a gluten free diet.

1. 100% Gluten Free all the time -  I was completely gluten-free this year.  This means I didn’t even get tempted by cookies in the office, bagels at business related events, and I learned to plan ahead or go without instead of giving in.  I also enjoyed amazing extra energy through avoiding blood sugar spikes caused by gluten in wheat products.
2. Chose organic and local products whenever possible - I educated myself about the impact of chosing organic and local products on my health, my community, the economy and the planet and worked toward buying carefully chosen products.  I developed relationships with local producers at our Saturday and indoor market.  Not only did I get great food, I have also learned a lot from these people about where my food comes from.  I also eliminated most processed foods from my diet.
3. Experimented a  lot – Changing my diet to be primarily plant and animal based and eliminating grains taught me that I need to be flexible and open to trying new things.  So I did – new vegetables, new fruits, and new meats including elk, alligator, and just different cuts than I had before.  I continue to be amazed at the amount of amazing variety there is in the world of unprocessed, whole food.

In looking forward to 2013, I’m excited about many new opportunities to continue to explore this amazing world of healthy, whole foods paleo living.  Here are some things I’m looking forward to trying in the new year.

1. My brand new immersion blender - This was exciting addition to my kitchen this holiday season. I’m looking forward to experimenting with this blender while making soups and smoothies.
2. Juice Fasting – I was fascinated by the movie “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and have been researching juice fasts. I’m planning to try one of these this spring.
3. More ways of preparing fruits, vegetables and meats – I’m on the look out for new and interesting recipes.  I have a stack I’m looking forward to trying and I will share the successes.

Happy New Year!

• Every year in America we throw away 96 billion pounds of food.
• One half of all food prepared in the US and Europe never gets eaten.
• The Department of Agriculture estimated in 1996 that recovering just 5 percent of the food that is wasted could feed four million people a day; recovering 25 percent would feed 20 million people. Today we recover less than 2.5 percent.

From “Dive: The Film” http://www.divethefilm.com/facts-about-food-waste.aspx

I started paying careful attention to what I had in the fridge and making an extra effort to use up items before they needed to be disposed of.  As I was doing this, I realized that when I have a solid meal plan for the week, a lot less food is wasted in our home. 

Here are some solid strategies I use to make sure food is eaten and not wasted

1. Plan a week’s meal calendar and purchase the right items for each meal.  Include in the calendar a plan for left overs
2. Keep the refrigerator as clean as possible.  This makes it easier to see items that need to be used.
3. Use up vegetables by juicing them before they go bad.  Any vegetable that isn’t eaten gets juiced.  This includes raddish greens, beet greens, etc. 
4. Have a “leftovers” meal 1-2 times a week where you eat a mix and match selection of leftovers in one sitting.  This is also a great stress reducer since it doesn’t require additional cooking and prep time.

Chicken Rice Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Chicken breasts, cooked and sliced into strips
• Rice paper wrappers (you can get these at Asian food stores, some larger grocery stores will carry them too)
• 1/2 Cucumber, peeled and sliced into strips
• 1/2 Carrot, shredded
• 1/2 Avocado sliced into strips

Directions:

1. Soak the rice paper wrapper in water until it is soft and flexible
2. Lay chicken breast strip, cucumber, carrot and avocado (or any other veggies of your choice) in the center of the wrapper
3. Fold the wrapper around the contents, just like you would a burrito
4. Serve cold or slightly warm with honey mustard dip

Honey Mustard Dip

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup natural, organic mayonnaise (read the label carefully! Avoid added sugar)
• 1/2 TBS Dijon mustard (I like Annie’s Organic Dijon Mustard)
• 1 TBS Honey (I buy locally produced honey)
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy
2. Refrigerate until ready for use

Regardless, the overall cost of food is expected to rise so this year, preparing for winter includes making sure I have stocked up my food stores. I’m working on taking advantage of local resources to enhance my food stores and to do so sugar-free.  

Last weekend I purchased 50lbs of organic apples from a local farmer and processed it all into sugar-free applesauce and home made dried apple rings.  

Tonight I foraged for fresh blackberries along the roadside.  Blackberries are abundant in my neighborhood.  Most of the year they are a total nuisance, but in the few weeks when the berries are ripe and sweet they are an excellent resource for berries to freeze or turn into sugar-free jam.  

Take a look around and see what is available in your neighborhood.  It’s amazing how much fruit I can find growing in and around the area where I live.  In a time when budgets are tight and resources are limited, I see “nuisances” like wild blackberries as an opportunity. 

Basic Pesto

1. Blend in a food processor until finely chopped:
   1 or 2 cloves garlic (mince them first before adding to food processor for best results)
   1 bunch (about 2 cups loosely packed) basil leaves AND tender stems (see note 2).
2. Chop coarsely, then add to blender or food processor
   1/2 – 1 tsp. salt
3. After the garlic, basil, and salt are finely chopped and blended, add:
   1/2 – 2/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts, or other nuts (see note 4), and continue blending until chopped
4. Then, while the blender or food processor is running, slowly add:
   1/2 – 2/3 cup olive oil, until you hear a change in the tone of the motor, and the pesto turns creamy.