Raw Honey: Final Draft

          What is raw honey? Why is honey that is labeled “Raw” more expensive than the honey you buy at the store? What is so special? These are all common questions that people have about raw honey; they are all about to be answered.

           There is no real definition of  raw honey, but it basically means that it is not pasteurized. So what does pasteurization mean? Here is what Emi Higashiyama from Empowered Sustenance says: “When honeybees are at work, their collective body temperature rises and consequently warms their work area – that is, the honey. The temperature of an active hive, therefore, is about 95ºF (35ºC), and the honey is stable and “alive” – or rather, the enzymes in honey that give it the nutritional and beneficial qualities are alive. As long as the temperature of honey does not significantly rise past 95ºF/35ºC, the honey has not been pasteurized.” Anything past 95ºF is pasteurized. But according to Honey Bee Suite, the hive doesn’t stay warm. They believe the cluster (bees) will keep themselves warm, but they don’t try to keep the whole hive warm. Here is what they said: “One beekeeper in France measured the temperatures in his hive when the outside air temperature was 44°F. He measured 95° in the center of the cluster, 71° immediately above the cluster and 52° in other empty portions of the hive. Other beekeepers have found similar temperature gradients.” So according to Honey Bee Suite, honey in a hive, is (depending on where the cluster is) colder than 95°. Sometimes it’s as low as 52°.

           There is a mistake a lot of people make. In their desserts, some people in replace of sugar, will use honey. Sometimes, if a recipe calls for cooking or boiling down the sugar, which in their case, honey, they will boil down the honey; most of the time, over 95°. What happens to honey when it is heated over 95°F? It becomes pasteurized and ruins the enzymes in the honey. If you're going to boil down your honey, you might as well buy pasteurized honey. You would be wasting your money if you bought raw honey and boiled it down. 

           What is the point of buying raw honey? What is the difference between the two? Why don’t people who buy raw honey just buy pasteurized honey? Raw honey is a nutritious food that has many natural vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other essential natural nutrients in it. When you pasteurize honey, it kills all of these healthy nutrients. According to Hive and Honey Apiary, pasteurized honey is almost just as unhealthy as refined sugar. Unfortunately, most people like pasteurized honey because of its looks. Pasteurized honey looks crystal clear, clean looking. Most people have never even heard of raw honey. Some people spend a lot of money on raw honey because they want the minerals that are in raw honey.

Okay, and what is the point of pasteurizing? If it takes all those nutrients out, why do they pasteurize it? Who invented pasteurization?  Pasteurization started when they began the new way of raising animals and growing food.  For cows, they started putting them in little pens and feeding them GMO corn. The cows became unhealthy and started producing dirty unhealthy milk, thus having to start pasteurizing it. For land, they starting clearing the land with only dirt. Dirt is a living organism and should be covered; whether with sticks, rocks, wood chips, or leaves. When you don’t cover the ground, the dirt loses its minerals and becomes dry. They also began growing the same crop every year on acres of land and spraying it with chemicals, including flowers. For the bees, they spray them with a bee smoker and according to Wikipedia, is filled with chemicals when collecting the honey to calm them down. They also feed them high fructose corn syrup; the bees become unhealthy from all the chemicals and corn syrup and get sick. When they go out to collect pollen, all of the flowers are also filled with chemicals. All of these chemicals make not only the flowers but the bees, sick. When they invented this new way to raise animals, all the milk, honey, etc. that the animals were making, were bad and dirty because the animals were sick. Everyone was becoming sick from eating it so a man named Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization. Pasteurization not only takes out the nutrients, which was not his ultimate goal, but to kill the bacteria. The bad bacteria was the source of the problem that was making everyone sick. So Louis Pasteur decided that he was going to invent a way to take out that bacteria, both good and bad, just to be safe. So that’s when he invented pasteurization.

But if milk, honey, etc. has both good and bad bacteria, isn’t the bad bacteria going to

make you sick if you don’t pasteurize it? Even if the cows are healthy, they’ll still have bad bacteria in them, right? True, everything has good and bad bacteria in it, but so long as the bees, flowers, cows, etc. are healthy, the good bacteria will overpower the bad bacteria. Then you will get the good bacteria that your body needs, plus the nutrients that your body also needs. Have you ever heard that honey helps burns? The reason why is because the good bacteria that is in the honey helps fight the infection. So when you buy pasteurized honey, since there is no bacteria, good or bad, that honey does not help the infection. If anything, it can make the wound worse if it is not 100%. And if it is 100% honey, but still pasteurized? It doesn’t do anything.

           So if unpasteurized honey (and all the other foods) are so important, why do they not just take better care of the animals so they don’t have to pasteurize the food? Because it’s cheaper and easier. They started this new method of raising animals and growing crops because they believe it’s cheaper than having to own acres of land for the cattle to graze on, or it’s easier to spray the bees to calm them down because it’s faster than going slower to let the bees move out of the way and to calm down.

           So you talked earlier about how high fructose corn syrup makes bees sick, what do you feed them if not high fructose corn syrup? Just corn syrup? Sugar water? Corn syrup is not any better than high fructose corn syrup. Sugar water is better, but it can still make the bees sick. Here is what you should do. Don’t feed them at all. Here is what Mother Earth News says about feeding bees: “Over the years, I’ve discovered that my bees know how to feed themselves and are healthier and more productive when I don’t interfere with their nutrition by feeding them  quickly when artificially fed, but then are addicted to feeding. When the beekeeper quits feeding them and the bees must forage on their own, the momentum and any jump on the season are lost.” This shows that bees get lazy when fed and they also are unhealthy. The honey also tastes better in general when they go get their own food. I also recommend that, at least in the winter, you leave a little extra honey so that if the bees can’t find any flowers, they have some honey to feed on.

           What if you get honey that isn’t raw? Is it still 100% honey? Even though the bees are probably fed high fructose corn syrup and the honey is heated above 95ºF, is it still 100% honey? Most honey is 100% honey, but according to Food Safety News, most honey isn’t honey. They say that if honey contains absolutely no trace of pollen, the honey isn’t real. It is a sweetener, but it is not honey. Here are some of the brands they mentioned that are not real honey: American Choice Clover Honey, Archer Farms Organic Blossom Honey, Busy Bee Organic Honey, CVS Honey, etc. What do you mean, not real honey? Honey is a sweetener made by bees. It has nutrients in it and should contain at least a little pollen. Even raw honey contains a little pollen. When you heat the honey at a really high heat, it takes out the nutrients and pollen, thus making it a sweetener. No longer honey, just a sweetener that is almost like refined sugar.

           Unpasteurized or raw honey does not mean unfiltered honey. Here is what Crystals Raw Honey says about filtered honey: “Filtered honey is honey that has been literally sieved to remove anything suspended or mixed up with the honey. The stuff typically removed includes pollen grains, pieces of beeswax, propolis, air bubbles and even the occasional wing or two of a bee that got caught up in the bee harvesting moment.” Okay, so filtered honey is okay, right? I mean, what’s so special about unfiltered honey? As long as the honey is raw and the bees feed themselves, we’re good. Well, in order to filter honey, you have to heat it up. As I mentioned earlier, honey can still be raw as long as you don’t heat it above 95ºF. But even at 95ºF, honey is still partially cooked. So how do get all the stuff out of the honey if you shouldn’t filter it? You don’t; a bee wing in the honey is actually rare, the pollen grains are good for you, a little piece of beeswax here and there won’t do anything to you, nor will you taste it. I personally think that honey tastes better with the pollen grains still in the honey.

           Okay, so honey should be raw, unfiltered, honey and the bees are supposed to go collect their own food. Where do you get honey that meets all these requirements?  To go find honey with all those requirements is rare. It is possible but rare. I would say just do the best you can. If you can only find raw honey, then great! Get that! If you can find raw and unfiltered honey, even better! If you can find someone who sells honey that meets all three requirements, awesome! 

Raw Honey

Raw Honey

           What is raw honey? Why is honey that is labeled “Raw” more expensive than the honey you buy at the store? What is so special? These are all common questions that people have about raw honey; and they are all about to be answered.

           There is no real definition of  raw honey, but it basically means that it is not pasteurized. So what does pasteurization mean? Here is what Emi Higashiyama from Empowered Sustenance says: “When honeybees are at work, their collective body temperature rises and consequently warms their work area – that is, the honey. The temperature of an active hive, therefore, is about 95ºF (35ºC), and the honey is stable and “alive” – or rather, the enzymes in honey that give it the nutritional and beneficial qualities are alive. As long as the temperature of honey does not significantly rise past 95ºF/35ºC, the honey has not been pasteurized.” Anything past 95ºF is pasteurized. But according to Honey Bee Suite, the hive doesn’t stay warm. They believe the cluster (bees) will keep themselves warm, but they don’t try to keep the whole hive warm. Here is what they said: “One beekeeper in France measured the temperatures in his hive when the outside air temperature was 44°F. He measured 95° in the center of the cluster, 71° immediately above the cluster and 52° in other empty portions of the hive. Other beekeepers have found similar temperature gradients.” So according to Honey Bee Suite, honey in a hive, is (depending on where the cluster is) colder than 95°. Sometimes it’s as low as 52°.

           There is a mistake a lot of people make. They will buy raw honey and then cook it in their desserts, etc. to replace it from sugar. When you cook honey any higher than 95°, it becomes pasteurized and ruins the enzymes in the honey. You might as well buy pasteurized honey if you’re going to heat the honey over 95°.

           What is the point of buying raw honey? What is the difference between the two? Why don’t people who buy raw honey just buy pasteurized honey? Raw honey is a nutritious food that has many natural vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other essential natural nutrients in it. When you pasteurize honey, it kills all of these healthy nutrients. According to Hive and Honey Apiary, pasteurized honey is almost just as unhealthy as refined sugar. Unfortunately, most people like pasteurized honey because of its looks. Pasteurized honey looks crystal clear, clean looking. Most people have never even heard of raw honey. Some people spend a lot of money on raw honey because they want the minerals that are in raw honey.

Okay, and what is the point of pasteurizing? If it takes all those nutrients out, why do they pasteurize it? Who invented pasteurization?  Pasteurization started when they began the new way of raising animals and growing food.  For cows, they started putting them in little pens and feeding them GMO corn. The cows became unhealthy and started producing dirty unhealthy milk, thus having to start pasteurizing it. For land, they starting clearing the land with only dirt. Dirt is a living organism and should be covered; whether with sticks, rocks, wood chips, or leaves. When you don’t cover the ground, the dirt loses its minerals and becomes dry. They also began growing the same crop every year on acres of land and spraying it with chemicals, including flowers. For the bees, they spray them with a bee smoker and according to Wikipedia, filled of chemicals when collecting the honey to calm them down. They also feed them high fructose corn syrup; the bees become unhealthy from all the chemicals and corn syrup and get sick. When they go out to collect pollen, all of the flowers are also filled with chemicals. All of these chemicals make not only the flowers, but the bees, sick. When they invented this new way to raise animals, all the milk, honey, etc. that the animals were making, were bad and dirty because the animals were sick. Everyone was becoming sick from eating it so a man named Louis Pasteur invented pasteurization. Pasteurization not only takes out the nutrients, which was not his ultimate goal, but to kill the bacteria. The bad bacteria was the source of the problem that was making everyone sick. So Louis Pasteur decided that he was going to invent a way to take out that bacteria, both good and bad, just to be safe. So that’s when he invented pasteurization.

But if milk, honey, etc. has both good and bad bacteria, isn’t the bad bacteria going to

make you sick if you don’t pasteurize it? Even if the cows are healthy, they’ll still have bad bacteria in them, right? Ture, everything has good and bad bacteria in it, but so long as the bees, flowers, cows, etc. are healthy, the good bacteria will overpower the bad bacteria. Then you will get the good bacteria that your body needs, plus the nutrients that your body also needs. Have you ever heard that honey helps burns? The reason why is because the good bacteria that is in the honey helps fight the infection. So when you buy pasteurized honey, since there is no bacteria, good or bad, in the honey, that honey does not help the infection. If anything, that honey can make the wound worse if it is not 100% honey. And if it is 100% honey, but still pasteurized? It doesn’t do anything.

           So if unpasteurized honey (and all the other foods) are so important, why do they not just take better care of the animals so they don’t have to pasteurize the food? Because it’s cheaper and easier. They started this new method of raising animals and growing crops because they believe it’s cheaper than having to own acres of land for the cattle to graze on, or it’s easier to spray the bees to calm them down because it’s faster than going slower to let the bees move out of the way and to calm down.

           So you talked earlier about how high fructose corn syrup makes bees sick, what do you feed them if not high fructose corn syrup? Just corn syrup? Sugar water? Corn syrup is not any better than high fructose corn syrup. Sugar water is better, but it can still make the bees sick. Here is what you should do. Don’t feed them at all. Here is what Mother Earth News says about feeding bees: “Over the years, I’ve discovered that my bees know how to feed themselves and are healthier and more productive when I don’t interfere with their nutrition by feeding them  quickly when artificially fed, but then are addicted to feeding. When the beekeeper quits feeding them and the bees must forage on their own, the momentum and any jump on the season are lost.” This shows that bees get lazy when fed and they also are unhealthy. The honey also tastes better in general when they go get their own food. I also recommend that, at least in the winter, you leave a little extra honey so that if the bees can’t find any flowers, they have some honey to feed on.

           What if you get honey that isn’t raw? Is it still 100% honey? Even though the bees are probably fed high fructose corn syrup and the honey is heated above 95ºF, is it still 100% honey? Most honey is 100% honey, but according to Food Safety News, most honey isn’t honey. They say that if honey contains absolutely no trace of pollen, the honey isn’t real. It is a sweetener, but it is not honey. Here are some of the brands they mentioned that are not real honey: American Choice Clover Honey, Archer Farms Organic Blossom Honey, Busy Bee Organic Honey, CVS Honey, etc. What do you mean, not real honey? Honey is a sweetener made by bees. It has nutrients in it and should contain at least a little pollen. Even raw honey contains a little pollen. When you heat the honey at a really high heat, it takes out the nutrients and pollen, thus making it a sweetener. No longer honey, just a sweetener that is almost like refined sugar.

           Unpasteurized or raw honey does not mean unfiltered honey. Here is what Crystals Raw Honey says about filtered honey: “Filtered honey is honey that has been literally sieved to remove anything suspended or mixed up with the honey. The stuff typically removed includes pollen grains, pieces of beeswax, propolis, air bubbles and even the occasional wing or two of a bee that got caught up in the bee harvesting moment.” Okay, so filtered honey is okay, right? I mean, what’s so special about unfiltered honey? As long as the honey is raw and the bees feed themselves, we’re good. Well, in order to filter honey, you have to heat it up. As I mentioned earlier, honey can still be raw as long as you don’t heat it above 95ºF. But even at 95ºF, honey is still partially cooked. So how do get all the stuff out of the honey if you shouldn’t filter it? You don’t; a bee wing in the honey is actually rare, the pollen grains are good for you, a little piece of beeswax here and there won’t do anything to you, nor will you taste it. I personally think that honey tastes better with the pollen grains still in the honey.

           Okay, so honey should be raw, unfiltered, honey and the bees are supposed to go collect their own food. Where do you get honey that meets all these requirements?  To go find honey with all those requirements is rare. It is possible, but rare. I would say just do the best you can. If you can only find raw honey, then great! Get that! If you can find raw and unfiltered honey, even better! If you can find someone who sells honey that meets all three requirements, awesome! 

Monoculture VS. Diversification (Final Draft)

         What is the difference between monoculture and diversification? Monoculture is a company or farmer that only grows one type of food; for example, large fields of only cotton, or own hundreds of cows on little land, feeding them all corn. Most of those cows can only move a few steps at a time, or can’t move at all! Diversification is a farmer who grows multiple kinds of foods. For example, a vegetable garden full of different kinds of vegetables. Or that puts cows out on acres of land, and giving them the freedom and food they need.
         Monoculture has so many effects on nature. Bees are one of them. Did you know that bees not only pollinate flowers, but all sorts of plants, crops, etc.? Just like flowers, that is what keeps those crops alive and healthy. They go around to multiple kinds of plants and collect the pollen from each kind of plant/crop. This includes apples, almonds, oranges, pumpkins, etc. How would you feel if you had to live on only one kind of food? Say, apples. All you had to eat was apples. Apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All day, every day. How would you feel? You’d probably get sick before long, and you’d get tired of eating apples. Why would you get sick? Because apples only have so many nutrients that your body needs before it says, enough, no more apples. That’s exactly how bees feel with monoculture. They go to pollinate this big field of crops, and what do they find? A huge field of the same food, for miles and miles. It isn’t before long that bees become sick from that crop and die.
         People claim that monoculture makes farming easier and cheaper. A couple farmers will own acres of apples, and a couple other farmers will grow cotton, etc. Since all plants normally need to be taken care of a different way, doing monoculture makes it easier. All they have to do is take care of one plant, but doing that affects the crop that the farmer is growing. When a farmer grows the same crop over and over again each year, the soil starts to lose all of its nutrients which makes that crop lose its nutrients, which makes us lose our nutrients when we eat it. When you plant a crop, it gives the soil some nutrients, and it takes some nutrients. But if you plant that same crop the next year, it gives the same nutrient and takes the same nutrient. Soon the soil loses all its nutrients that the crop is taking, leaving the crop and the soil unhealthy. Now you might be thinking, wait, but didn’t farmers plant potatoes in a field and only potatoes? Yes, but the next season they plant something different in that same field in order to balance the number of minerals. That’s the problem with monoculture. It plants the same plant over and over again in that field, never switching it out with another plant. 
         Diversification is basically the opposite of monoculture. The animals get the space and food they need to keep them healthy, plants are mixed in a garden, sharing minerals. People say it costs too much to own that much land for a couple cows or to feed cows something other than corn. They say it takes too much time to own a garden, but I think that it’s worth the time and money; to keep the animals and yourself healthy. 
         One of the ways you can support diversification instead of monoculture is to find a farm and visit the farm. Are the animals out on land? Or are they trapped in a little pen or stall? Are there acres and acres of land of the same crop? Or is it a garden of multiple kinds of food? If the farm looks like what it should, start buying products from that farm. It’s okay if you get your milk from a different place then you get your vegetables. I get my milk from a lady who leaves her cows out grazing 24/7, but I get my honey from somewhere different. Another way you can support it is you can go to a farmers market and ask to visit their farm. There are multiple ways you can stop supporting monoculture and start supporting diversification. Even making one little change at a time can make a big difference. Think about where you get your food, what can you do to make a difference?

Monoculture VS. Diversification (First Draft)

     What is the difference between mono-culture and diversification? Mono-culture is a company or farmer that that only grows one type of food; for example, large fields of cotton only. Or that own hundreds of cows on little land, feeding them all mostly corn. Most of those cows can only move a few steps at a time, or can’t move at all! Why? Because there is simply not enough space the farmers put them on. Diversification is a farmer who grows multiple kinds of foods. For example, a vegetable garden full of different kinds of vegetables. Or that puts cows out on acres of land. Giving them the freedom and food they need. The old fashion way is what some people call it.

     Monoculture has so many effects on nature. Bees are one of them. Did you know that bees not only pollinate flowers but all sorts of plants, crops, etc.? Just like flowers, that is what keeps those crops alive and healthy. They go around to multiple kinds of plants and collect the pollen from each kind of plant/crop. This includes apples, almonds, oranges, pumpkins, etc. How would you feel if you had to live on only one kind of food? Say, apples. All you had to eat was apples. Apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. All day every day. How would you feel? You’d probably get sick before long, and you’d get tired of eating apples. Why would you get sick? Because apples only have so many nutrients that your body needs before he says, enough; no more apples. That’s exactly how bees feel with monoculture. They go to pollinate this big field of crops, and what do they find? A huge field of the same food, for miles and miles. It isn’t before long that bees become sick from that crop and die. 

     People claim that monoculture makes farming easier and cheaper. A couple farmers will own acres of apples, and a couple other farmers will grow cotton, etc. Since all plants normally need to be taken care of a different way, doing monoculture makes it easier. All they have to do is take care of one plant. But doing that affects the crop that farmer is growing. When a farmer grows the same crop over and over again each year, the soil starts to loose all of its nutrients which makes that crop loose its nutrients, which makes us lose our nutrients when we eat it. When you plant a crop, it gives the soil some nutrients, and it takes some nutrients. But if you plant that same crop the next year, it gives the same nutrient and takes the same nutrient. Soon the soil loses all its nutrients that the crop is taking, leaving the crop and the soil unhealthy. But now you might be thinking, wait. But didn’t farmers plant potatoes in a field and only potatoes? Yes, but the next season they plant something different in that same field in order to balance a number of minerals. That’s the problem with monoculture. It plants the same plant over and over again in that field, never switching it out with another plant.

     Diversification is basically the opposite of monoculture. Some people call it the old fashion way. The animals get the space and food they need to keep them healthy, plants are mixed in a garden, sharing minerals. People say it costs too much to own that much land for a couple cows or to feed cows something other than corn. They say it takes to much time to own a garden, but I think that it’s worth the time and money; to keep the animals and yourself healthy.

     One of the ways you can support diversification instead of monoculture is to find a farm and visit the farm. Are the animals out on land? Or are they trapped in a little pen or stall? Are there acres and acres of land of the same crop? Or is it a garden of multiple kinds of food? If the farm looks like what it should, start buying from that farm. It’s okay if you get your milk from a different place then you get your vegetables. I get my milk from a lady who leaves her cows out grazing 24/7, but I get my honey from somewhere different. Something else you can do is go to a farmers market and ask to visit their farm. There are multiple ways you can stop supporting monoculture and start supporting diversification. Even making one little change at a time can make a big different. Think about where you get your food. What can you do to make a difference?

First Water Kefir!

I just recently started growing water kefir a few days ago and everyone is loving it! 

• I started by pouring my kifer grains into a quart size mason jar.
• Then, I add 1/4 cup organic sugar.
• I fill the rest of the space up with filtered water.
• I let it sit for 24-48 hours (depending on how fast your grains eat the sugar). 

• Once your kefir is ready, you strain the water into another jar and add your favorite flavors! (My favorite is 1/3 cup strawberry puree and 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice. Thank you Sister Scholes for recommending that!)  
• (As for the kefir grains that now should be in a jar by themselves, repeat same process as above)
• Once the flavors are incorporated, pour your drink into a sealed bottle. This will make it carbonated like soda.

• Let the drink sit for 8 hours or so.

                                                                            Enjoy!

P.S. I actually shared this with a friend and she liked it so much she asked for seconds! That's why I love water kefir. It has natural probiotics in it, yet it's not something you have to learn to love. You just love it!

American Diets VS. Traditional Diets (Final Draft)

        
        Most Americans choose taste and flavor over health. They think the best foods are fast foods and snack foods, and they think that prescription drugs make them healthy again. Most Americans are not aware that most foods are Genetically Modified. These are some of the reasons so many Americans are sick. According to Washington Post, three in five Americans are taking a prescription drug. That's nearly sixty percent of Americans and the highest it's ever been. In the 1800s, prescription drugs have never been this popular, nor as addicting. Another thing that didn't even exist until 1992; it didn't become popular until 1994, are Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). GMO can be done multiple ways, but the most popular way is injecting chemicals into fruits, grain, vegetables, and other foods you grow. The third thing that changed from the 1800s to 2016 is the amount of sugar we eat. The way we eat today and in the 1800s changed tremendously.

        Doctors claim that drugs can be dangerous if not prescribed by them, as said on National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD). “Taking prescription drugs not prescribed to you by a doctor or in a way that hasn't been recommended by a doctor, can be more dangerous than you think. In fact, it can be fatal.” As I do agree with this, I also disagree. True, drugs are dangerous when not prescribed by doctors, but I think drugs are also dangerous when they are prescribed by doctors. Dr. Mercola stated: “The side effects of prescription medication can be horrific. Is it really worth taking medication if the cure is worse than the disease? Here are side effects that come with many prescription drugs currently on the market: Drainage, crusting, or oozing of your eyes or eyelids, swollen, black, or "hairy" tongue, blue lips or fingernails, extreme fear, purple spots on your skin, coughing up blood or vomit that looks like coffee grounds; congestive heart failure, etc. This is only a partial list of the potential side effects of prescription drugs. There are, unfortunately, many more out there.” Even if you only taking the amount your doctor instructs you, prescription drugs are very dangerous and have scary side effects. As Dr. Mercola, said, Is it really worth taking medication with all the side effects? I couldn't find any resources on how popular medication was or how often it was used in the 1800s, but I can bet that it was not used as often as it is today. It was used only when truly needed. There are times when you truly do need that certain drug your doctor prescribes to you, but I'd say 80% of the time you actually do not. I would try doing natural cures, such as herbs; which were used in the 1800s, natural minerals, etc.

        GMO is extremely harmful to everyone and everything. To the plants, bugs, animals, us, everyone. Dr. Axe stated: “Based on results shown in animals, it appears GMO foods pose a huge health concern for numerous reasons: Increase in allergies, problems with the endocrine system, disorders of the reproductive system, increase in aging symptoms; this is just the tip of the iceberg.” Most foods have GMO injected into it. This includes fast foods, snack foods, packaged foods, even fruits, and vegetables. GMOs are not safe. According to ehow.com, a post on GMOs claims: Some GMOs grow and ripen faster, allowing farmers to grow more crops throughout the year, increasing their income while keeping prices lower for consumers. An article published in June 2014 in "PLOS Biology" reports that plants could be engineered to make more of their own nitrogen, requiring less fertilizer. This would reduce the cost to grow food and reduce damage to the soil caused by fertilizers.” This is a lie. Dr. Mercola once said that on a Hawaii island of Molokai, “a nearly 2,000-acre test for a facility for Monsanto sits, air, and water quality are horrendous and there are reports of deaths, infertility, uncontrolled cross-pollination, bloody skin rashes, asthma and pesticide contamination in the groundwater.” GMOs do not help the environment. Dr. Mercola also said, “The reality is that GM farming practices are not sustainable, which virtually guarantees future crop collapses and subsequent famine. Nor are farmers able to save their seeds due to patent infringement and poor fertility in the seeds." GMO does no good to the people or nature. Only for Monsanto, the company that invented GMO. It gives them control and money from farmers and people.

         I'd say that 99.9% of Americans love sugar. I can't think of anyone who doesn't. And it's okay to have a sweet tooth. The problem is, America is eating way too much sugar. According to Washington Post, the average American eats over 100 grams of sugar per day; approximately 150 pounds of sugar per year! Most Americans are not aware that sugar is in almost everything they eat. Bread is sweeter than before; all the cereals, processed foods, and even toothpaste is sweetened! Most of it isn't even real sugar. Back in the 1800s, they ate approximately nine pounds of sugar per year. It jumped from 9 pounds all the way to 150 pounds. Plus, the treats they ate were made with honey, molasses, and other natural sweeteners. Americans eat fake sugar, most of it made with GMO corn (high fructose corn syrup, etc.) Most people know that sugar creates diabetics, etc. The reason why they eat it is because of addiction. Sugar is extremely addicting; this I know from personal experience. I also know that if you do go off sugar for a couple weeks, it won't be as addicting anymore. Once I went off of all refined sugar for a couple of weeks then one week I decided I would try a homemade cookie. It tasted terrible. I tried a store-bought cookie. It was even worse. All my friends were wondering why I wasn't eating any cookies and I explained to them that it didn't taste good. They were shocked. I really wasn’t craving refined sugars. In fact, I wanted an apple right there and then. My friends thought I was crazy and my leader thought it was, well, interesting. I just smiled politely and nodded. My friends asked me over and over again if I was sure I didn't want a cookie. It wasn't tempting at all. In fact, I was getting annoyed that they kept asking me if they could get me a cookie. I really didn't want a cookie. Even I was surprised with myself. The point it, refined sugar doesn't really taste good, it's just addicting. You can try to eliminate all refined sugar by switching over to natural sugars; soon your cravings for refined sugars will go away.

        In conclusion, the 1800 diet was more different than todays. People were more aware of what they were eating and thought health was more important than taste. These days, America is the opposite. Most people are unaware that GMO is in, according to Center for Food Safety, ninety-two percent of our food in America; they are unaware that sugar is in so many food products. If you truly would like to be healthy, try eating the foods they ate in the 1800s. I can guarantee you will have some sort of result.

Argumentive Essay: American Diets VS. Traditional Diets (1800s)

Most Americans choose taste and flavor over health. They think spending a little over a dollar for a dozen eggs, or spending two dollars for a gallon of milk is normal. They think the best foods are fast foods and snack foods. Most Americans are not aware that most foods are Genetically Modified. It is one of the biggest reasons so many Americans are unhealthy.

There has been a 45% increase in grain consumption. Americans now eat approximately 200 LBS of grain per year. The problem is, flour is not the same as it was in the 1800s. In fact, flour these days has 30% fewer minerals than grain used to have. White flour, which is the most common flour used, is void of nutrients. There is almost nothing good about it. Some people buy whole wheat bread which isn't any better because all they have to do is put a little wheat flour in it and fill the rest up with white flour to call it “Whole Wheat Bread.” Joel Salatin gives good advice in his book, “Folks, this ain't Normal.” He says that if you leave food out for 24-48 hours and it doesn't rot, stale, or sour, it's not real food. Americans think it's normal to leave bread sitting out at room temperature for weeks, but it's not. Back in the 1800s, the women made the bread (with real flour) early in the morning and by night the bread was eaten. They would make bread almost every day, just enough for it to be eaten that same day. If they were to let the cooked bread sit out for 24 hours, maybe even less, it would go sour, because it's real food. 

I'd say that 99.9% of Americans love sugar. I can't think of anyone who doesn't. And it's okay to have a sweet tooth. The problem is, America is eating way too much sugar. According to Washington Post, the average American eats over 100 grams of sugar per day! Approximately 150 LBS of sugar per year! Most Americans are not aware that sugar is in almost everything they eat! Bread these days are way too sweet. Americans think this is normal, but it's not. All the cereals, processed foods, and even toothpaste is sweetened! And most of it isn't even real sugar. Back in the 1800s, they ate approximately 9 LBS of sugar per year! It went from 9 LBS to 150 LBS! This is a huge jump for the amount of sugar we eat. Plus, the treats they ate were made with honey, molasses, and other natural sweeteners. Americans eat fake sugar, most of it made with GMO corn (high fructose corn syrup, etc.) 

 

Medications are another reason why Americans are unhealthy. In fact, some doctors don't immunize their children because they've seen the side effects it gives to people. Don't take medication unless you absolutely have to. Immunizing a joke. So is the flu shot. I've actually seen more people catch the flu when they get the flu shot than when they don't. Another thing I don't understand is chemotherapy. Why do doctors think chemotherapy cures cancer? Because it doesn't. In fact, it makes cancer worse. It kills both good and bad cells, and guess which cells come back first? You guessed it; bad cells. Almost everyone that has gotten cancer, when it goes away, it almost always comes back. Now, what really causes cancer in the first place? The food you eat. The sugar, the GMO, fast foods, candies, all those foods that you love, is the number one reason for cancer. You can prevent it by making food from scratch (and make sure the ingredients are GMO-free), buy organic fruits and vegetables, and avoid vegetable, canola, and soybean oils. Why? Because 90% of it GMO and it's highly processed. The most common medication is antibiotics. What do you do if you have an ear infection? Get antibiotics. What do you do if you have a stomach bug? Get antibiotics. What about any other forms of sickness? Antibiotics, antibiotics, and antibiotics. It's the only thing doctors can recommend for you if you're sick. But do antibiotics really work? Antibiotics can't identify which bacteria is good or bad, so it kills all of them. Bad bacteria comes back first and takes over, causing more infections in the future. There are other ways to heal sicknesses. For example, herbs, essential oils, homeopathics, colloidal silver, and many other ways. Now don't get me wrong. Doctors have saved people's lives. For example, they have made people start breathing again, etc. But for all those little things, little sicknesses, there is no reason to go to the doctor when you can heal yourself, just like they did in the 1800s with oils and herbs.

Americans eat their food having no idea that it's Genetically Modified. They claim that they're able to grow more food. I can bet you that they don't know that people who work with Monsanto wear big, full suits to protect them from the chemicals that their pouring on the food you eat. Or that in the white house, they don't eat GMO food because they know how bad it is for them. The reason why they made Genetically Modified foods, is so that Monsanto can patent the food. Back in the 1800s, most people had their own gardens. They would buy their wheat from a local farmer who grew non-GMO wheat. In fact, Genetically Modified didn't start becoming popular until 1984. So it didn't even exist in the 1800s! And as for fruits, it wasn't very common to eat fruits unless it grew in their area (they didn't ship fruits from one state to another). The most popular time people ate fruit were for the holidays. 

 

In conclusion, life was a lot healthier back in the 1800s. No GMOs, no medications, no fake sugar, and a very simple life. Wouldn't that be great if America could be like that today? 

Resources:

Mercola.com

DrAxe.com

UncleWileys.com