The Omnivores Dilemma

Ok...I know...I know...it seems like lately all I do is book reviews. Well here is another one. I have to say though I keep picking books that are somewhat depressing. This book is no different. It really gives you pause to consider how corporate greed and circumstance have turned an ordinary vegetable...corn...into a commodity and the creator of not only horrible stuff like high fructose corn syrup but toxic waste from all the cattle that are fed some version of corn. Practically everything you eat if it's processed or comes from a cow is made from corn. What I found out is that corn-fed beef is actually not nearly as good for you as grass fed beef. But you have to go to Argentina to find that. Why has this happened? Well it's a combination of subsidies that have been given to farmers since the 50s and the fact that they can now grow a tremendous amount of corn and have to keep trying to grow more of it because the more they grow the more the market is glutted and the price goes down...so they have to in order to stay afloat. So now we are awash in corn. And we have to come up with ways to use it. And we have. Who wins? Not the farmers...they are making a pittance...but the big conglomerates that make everything from plastics to ethanol to the lovely HFC I mentioned earlier that is so bad for you. What can you do? Read! Read all the labels on the packages of food you buy. Don't buy processed food. If you read a label and have no idea what the ingredient is...it is corn...

After reading this book, I'm considering going vegetarian. Or going to Argentina where at least I know the beef is good for you.

A Lonely World

As I read more of the book "Healthy at 100" and ponder the chapters about the protective health effects of love and family I can't help but wonder what has happened to our world. A world where many of us live alone or are divorced and may have one or more children in our care. Where old people are left to die in nursing homes. A place where many of us will never know what its like to live in real community. One where no one ever moves and you know all of your neighbors. One where people really care and stop by just to say hi. One that only a few in this country still know well; the Amish and Orthodox Jews.

How far has progress taken us except away from our families and ultimately from ourselves. I've lived for 28 years away from my family of origin. Have these all been lonely years? I have many people I call friends and I feel fortunate for that--but its not that the same as having them close at hand. Willing to stop by just to see how you're doing. They like I have incredibly busy lives. Even with husbands and children many feel the same sense of disconnection I often feel. The phone is only a poor substitution.

How can we be "Healthy at 100" if we live isolated lives. A part of me wants to go live in a place where "everyone knows your name" and yes "knows your business". Because that's the kind of person I am. I'm a connector. Today I had an idea. Instead of Big Brothers and Sisters; why not Little Grandchildren for those who really need grandchildren. As a single woman with no children, I don't look forward to my elder years. How can I when I fear being alone with no one to come visit me. I will need to adopt grandchildren just so I can have that privilege or have "Little Grandchildren" that will come to my side. Or perhaps, just perhaps I'll go live in Okinawa where elders are still treated with respect and people still live well to a ripe old age because they feel useful.

How to Get People to Eat More Veggies

So I've been thinking about our health care crisis and what we can do to fix it. As I mentioned in an earlier blog I'm currently reading Healthy at 100 by John Robbins. There is study after study about the benefits of eating a healthy diet and exercising to prevent chronic disease. Even if we start late we have a greater likelihood of living healthy, vigourous lives into old age. So how to we get Americans to eat more and exercise more?

One way I thought of getting people to eat more vegies is to utilize the Flexible Spending Account not only as a way to get a tax break on health care costs not covered by our insurance plans, but also there should be a way that we can use these cards to buy vegetables. Of course this doesn't ensure we will eat them but it would give us some incentive to buy them. We should also be able to use these cards at our farmer's markets and CSA's (CSAs are those farms that deliver fresh vegies to your house).

And while we're at it why not be able to use these cards to pay our monthly dues at fitness facilities.

Giving a tax break to those who are tryng to eat right and exercise only makes good practical sense.

So listen up Presidential Candidates...have you thought of this one?

Living to 100

I'm reading the latest book by John Robbins (same guy who wrote Diet for a New America). I just started it and I'm anxious to see what I have to do to live to 100...oh by the way the title of his new book is "Healthy at 100: How you can --at any age--dramatically increase your life span and your health span". The first 2 chapters talk about people who live in mountainous regions and live to be 100 or close to it but live vigorously into old age. Hiking and dancing and just loving life. It made me what to go live among the goats. They also treat their elders with respect. The older you are the more respect you get. In fact older people often inflate their age due to this fact. So heres a new idea for retirement. Instead of moving to Florida or Palm Springs, move to Abkhasia in the Caucacus and then you can be assured of the good life...just don't plan on any golf games or sitting watching the tube...you'll be out their working and tending the goats for sure.

Stock Market Woes

OK...so my friend Ralph who is a financial planner warned me about 2 months ago that the stock market was going to tank. Did I listen? Of course not. I had been looking at my porfolio anyway since I moved some of my 403Bs over to one Fidelity plan instead of having them in 3 different places. I even talked to my fidelity person and my brother and was going to move a good chunk into a money market since I'm 75% in the stock market. Did I do it? No! What an idiot! Now yesterday I talked to my father and he said not to do anything. Nothing. Shum Davar! "You not retiring for many years!" Although this is true...the last time the stock market tanked it took several years to get back to where we were and my friend Ralph said that I may never get back there. Oy! What's a girl to do...I guess I should listen to my friends and gut next time. So often in life we know we should do something "now" and we don't. We know we should make a change, but we sit on it. Similar to my career woes, where I knew that a change was needed but instead I did the safe thing and took a job. Most people would say that was the prudent thing to do. Perhaps it was. I know that if I hadn't and with the stock market taking a tumble I'd be dealing with a father that would be freaking out because I wasn't working. Sometimes you just have to go for the safe thing and save the scarier things for later. Maybe I'll go bungee jumping.

Getting Along with Co-Workers

One of the biggest areas of job dissatisfaction is the inability to get along with co-workers. Often this stems from our own insecurity and jockeying for position. How people treat each other in the workplace also has a lot to do with the organizational culture. If you work in a place where the boss doesn't treat people well or where the boss is insecure and lets people do and say whatever they want, then very likely this will trickle down to his/her employees. A lack of trust develops between people, factions develop, etc, etc. I've recently experienced both situations. Can you do anything about a work situation in which the boss treats others poorly or is a poor manager? Well you can certainly look elsewhere for work, which is probably the best recommendation because no workplace can operate effectively with a boss like this for very long. But you can also get to know your co-workers and treat them with the utmost respect, avoid gossiping, and keep your nose to the grindstone so to speak. I for one decided that leaving was the only was that I could do it...I don't have a very thick skin. In my new job I've been put in a situation where I got a job over the person I'm working the closest with and she has had to orient me. I've been honest, straightforward, and where there were areas of work that were unclear I've suggested going to the boss together to clear things up. I think this has worked well. Of course this being said, I've only been in the position for 2 weeks. We'll see how this all plays itself out in the weeks to come.

Regaining Our Connection with Nature

Although I decided to go to a teaching tonight instead of choir, it was great because the first thing we learned was that Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (he was a hassidic rabbi that was totally into the environment) said that each living thing has it's own song. The rabbi gave the example of a turtle that travels thousands of miles to it's destination. How does it know where it's going? The idea is that in nature animals know their own song, it's only people that have to discover it. I thought this was a profound idea. And, if you look at native cultures who live much closer to nature they we do they are much more tuned in to the earths rhythms and songs.....Aborigines...songlines...Native Americans....and the Bushman....who hearing tapping and can go across the desert by following some inate message. I highly recommend 2 books if you care to learn more about Bushman. A Story Like the Wind and A Far Off Place.....by the same author.