Day 17--GMO--- God Move Over!!!  Really????

Actually, GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms. “God Move Over” is a phrase that health experts use to get our attention about what is going on today in the crops of some of the good foods that God made for our enjoyment. So the powers that be are saying," God move over, we know what is best". When God said, “man shall not live by bread alone”, I think we can assume that He is saying that bread is good for us. I know in Biblical times there are many, many references to bread, wheat, and grain and it was obvious that it was a healthy staple. GMO’s are relatively new today, but man began changing Biblical bread in the 19^th century.  Men began to refine the wheat and bleach the flour in such a way, that the previous brown bread was now white bread. Since this was a lengthy, more expensive process, it became a food for the rich, and the dark colored bread became the bread of the poor. Eating white bread was a sign of prosperity. Now that trend has reversed itself, because whole wheat bread is generally higher in price. Whole wheat in itself is a lot healthier, but that is not the whole story.

Now, bread has gone to a different level by genetically modifying the wheat. Now genetic modification in itself is not all bad. We have been able to improve ( I guess) some plants---and we would know them as hybrids such as hybrid corn, hybrid roses, etc. But in the 1990’s, wheat took on a different spin. The genetic modification included a change that had an effect on our health. Farmers began to spray the wheat with a harmful chemical called glyphosate---it is the active ingredient in Roundup from Monsanto. They would spray the glyphosate immediately before the harvest to get a start on next year’s weeds but they also found out that when you expose the wheat to glyphosate, it actually releases more seeds.  Now that is a WIN-WIN for the farmers---no weeds and higher profit. Always follow the money trail when marketing decisions are made.  Larry's daddy had a saying that we quote quite often in our family as a joke, but boy does it contain a lot of truth. He would say. "Just remember--- everyone's goal is to get the money out of your pocket and put it in their pocket". Sorry I got sidetracked!!!! But I think that is funny (and true). Back to the wheat. Isn't it ironic that the ryegrass, that is a major problem for wheat growers has been found to be a beneficial plant? It helps to rebalance the soil after the wheat harvest. I'm telling you God is smart. I hope you are seeing this. Genesis says that God saw everything that he had made, and it was VERY GOOD!!!!
So what is the health issue?  The glyphosate gets in the grain that makes the bread and when you eat the bread and any other products that contain grain, the glyphosate toxins get in your body. And many of the processed foods that we eat are in the SAD---Standard American Diet, contain wheat and wheat by-products. So we are consuming a lot of  toxins and our body is in a war to get them out. When it cannot get them out it turns to "dis-ease". Our body is not at "ease", and if it is not "at ease" long enough, we go to the doctor and he gives us a name for it---cancer, diabetes,---you get the picture. Now  we know that our body is designed to fight some toxins, but not toxic overload and that is what we have with the SAD diet.  Wheat is in a large majority of the processed foods we eat---the packages and bags. And to make it worse, the same thing has happened to corn, sugar beets, soy, canola and alfalfa---and coming soon experts say--GMO grass. So now we are breathing and walking on toxins. I challenge you to find any processed food that does not contain some form of the above mentioned GMO products. The labels do not say those exact words but will use words that are associated with these ingredients like,  enriched flour, whole grains, gluten, or in the case of corn, corn syrup and corn oil. It also may just say vegetable oil and not actually mention corn. But it is everywhere.

Since the rampant use of glyphosate (half a billion pounds since they 1990), autoimmune diseases and diseases related to the gut have skyrocketed. Celiac, which is an immune reaction to eating gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye) used to be rare, but is becoming common. And gluten sensitivity describes the majority of people today and it is going to get worse. I look around and I see very few healthy people. Cancer touches one out of three women and two out of three men. The World Health Organization declared glyphosate as a 2A carcinogen (capable of causing cancer). Is it any wonder that cancer stats are up? So here is the short of it. Our gut is bombarded with toxins from bad foods, medicines, antibiotics, glyphosates, preservatives----anything that is not a natural food that your good bacteria recognizes, and it develops “leaky gut”. So what leaks out----anything that the body cannot use---- toxins and particularly cancer causing substances that travel to all your organs in the bloodstream. Scary---right???

It was a wake-up call to me, when I began to analyze my diet. Now I didn't eat all of these foods every day but these are the foods from which I chose:


Breakfast: Biscuits, toast, grits, pancakes, waffles, bagels, pop tarts, cinnamon rolls, cereal---May I say wheat?  Now I was blessed because I had a husband that ate these things but he also insisted on eggs, and some kind of meat. So we had somewhat of a balance.
Lunch: A sandwich with two slices of bread or a bun and chips.  If I had a salad I would have croutons and crackers----are you recognizing wheat????
Dinner: Rolls or bread of some type with meat and vegetables. Or I might have a whole meal of mostly wheat---spaghetti, or something served over noodles, but I can guarantee you that there was wheat involved.
When I saw the amount of wheat products I as consuming, I knew I should be concerned. I did not want "dis-ease". I wanted a life of health and vitality, and I found out it was possible. On my search to heal my GERD, I found out that there were actually people out there who had bucked the modern day trends and found health ---without the use of medicine---and they were living the dream and sharing it with others. One particular health coach I like has not been to a doctor in 40 years, he is in his 70's, and he puts me to shame with the amount of vitality he has. And that is just one---there are thousands. Yep, they are a little weird in some cases, and not afraid to try the unconventional, but they reap the benefits. And I want them too.


Was it an overnight process for me to stop eating all foods that I knew contained these toxins? No!!!  Will I ever eat them again? Yes!!! ( in moderation and mosly on special occasions). Last night at my granddaughter's birthday party I had a piece of her birthday cake and other celebratory foods that I will probably not see until the next birthday I attend.  Remember this is a journey and I was addicted to refined carbohydrates----breads, sweets, fried foods, fast foods, everything in the SAD diet. Remember, all refined carbohydrates (GMO or not), eventually turn to sugar. So eating bread is eating sugar and I love bread. I have heard from dieticians and health experts that it is harder to get off sugar than it is cocaine. I’m not familiar with cocaine, but I know about sugar and it had a hold on me. I was so quick to judge "addicts". How could they intentionally ruin their bodies, their health and their families? I had names for them---alcoholics, drug addicts, chain smokers, etc, and I cut them no slack. I heard a man  put it very harshly when he was trying to get a message across to teenagers and he phrased it this way, "Why are you slowly committing suicide"???  I couldn't forget these words.  So the word "addict" took on a different meaning. I was addicted to acid blockers---tums, Tagamet, you name it. I was addicted to anti-histamines, aspirin, anything that artificially eased my pain. Thankfully I had not bought into prescription drugs that people get on and literally take for the rest of their lives. And I was there and heading there strongly with--not prescription drugs, but over the counter drugs that are very toxic. 

So I fight the battle to shop the perimeter of the grocery store. Kind of like--- out of sight, out of mind. I don't go into the middle aisles at all except to look for a particular product that I have to have.  But I can honestly say this, the more I eat the raw and slightly cooked fruits and vegetables, the less I crave the sweets and the salty snacks. In fact I crave the good stuff more, and it is not hard to eat the hamburger without the bun, and give up bread with my meals.  And the more energy I have and the better I feel, the more motivated I am to do it right. I just got tired of aches and pains, and being tired when there was really no reason---sluggish I called it. And worse still, I blamed it on "getting old" and not the unhealthy choices I was making. So I encourage you to examine and make wise decisions.

Right now we are not warned enough about what is in our food. There is legislation trying to get all GMO foods labeled as such. There is certainly more pubic awareness of this than ever before, but Monsanto is BIG-BIG business, and millions of those dollars are handed to the politicians that make those decisions (follow the money, remember). So what can little old me do? I have decided to choose non-GMO foods when I have that choice, buy organic when I can, fill up my little box garden with veggies that I grow without fertilizer or pesticides, ask questions at farmer's markets about how they farm, thoroughly wash my fruits and vegetables, and try to get the message out to any who will listen. I know it seems like a feeble attempt on my part, when I could get involved in the legislative process. I am leaving that up to the real health nuts but in the meantime, I have peace with my decision.