Th Co-operator | November/December 2022

cooperator

Board Corner

Dear Fellow Member-Owners,

The fall season means many things: warm spiced fall food, turning leaves, and election season! You’ve probably been hearing about the important upcoming Federal, State, and Local elections. But did you know that our Co-op also conducts an election this season and that your participation is needed?

As a member-owned democratic business, the election of your Board of Directors is the easiest and most impactful way for you to a ect the future of our Co-op. When you vote in our Co-op’s election, you’re making your voice heard by electing Board Members who champion your vision for our Co-op’s future. The Board of Directors represents you in decision-making about important Co-op topics that craft our Co-op’s identity and ensure we have a vibrant place to continue shopping. In the coming years, the Board will lead the Co-op through challenges, including growing and expanding to new premises, achieving livable wages for all sta , adapting to our changing climate, and navigating a food a ordability crisis.

We have an incredible slate of 12 candidates running for the Board to ll ve open seats (as well as one open sta -only seat that is democratically elected by the sta ). There are several ways you can get to know your Board Candidates:

• Visit the Co-op’s website

• Pick up a Board Candidate Packet at the Customer Service Desk

• Look for Board Members and Candidates tabling in front of the store in the coming weeks

Once you’ve decided on your votes, you can cast your ballot online or pick up a ballot and cast your vote at the Customer Service desk. Voting is open now through November 27, so make sure to cast your ballot soon! The ve candidates that receive the most votes will be seated at the December Board meeting.  Cooperatively,  The EEFC Board of Directors

some Thoughts on Holistic Health from Jackson, EEFC Supplement Buyer

• Look at your hand as a reminder of the top five — vitamins, minerals, amino acids, good fats, and good drinking water; it is optimal to get these from your diet. Along with these come sunlight and good bacteria.

• If you don’t have trace minerals or electrolytes, you won’t be able to produce amino acids, and without amino acids, your fats won’t have what they need to bond to; if you don’t have fats, you don’t have hormonal production. It’s thinking holistically that you can get your best results.

• Sunlight and bacteria! Besides getting Vitamin D from the sun, you are also getting infrared exposure, which will produce melatonin and help regulate sleep, among other things.

• Sleep! When the sun yields to the moon, serotonin yields to melatonin. Melatonin isn’t just responsible for helping us sleep, it is also a precursor to glutathione production. Glutathione is your liver and respiratory system’s most vital antioxidant. So in terms of recuperation from respiratory infections — namely Covid — having sufficient glutathione is a big one. If your stress levels are high and thus cortisol levels are high, that blocks something called adenosine from being produced, which gets into the blood and signals to the pathway that it’s time to shut down for the evening. Without this, your body will not know it’s tired.

• Stress reduction! If you reduce stress, you reduce excessive cortisol production, which is an immunosuppressant.

• High doses of antihistamines can help lessen the inflammation and fallout that happens post-Covid. One of the best natural antihistamines is quercetin. This can be found in apples, radishes, and capers, among many other fruits and vegetables.

Your main viral replication inhibitors are:

Vitamin A, D, C, Zinc & selenium

Adequate amountsin your body makeit much harderfor the dead virusto latch onto theproteins in yourcells and hotwirethe energy; you’reslowing that down.

• If you lose your munitions to fight disease and virus — Vita mins A, D, C, Zinc, Selenium — your body will suffer. If you think holistically, you will be in much better fighting shape. We are universes inside and out. If we don’t work in harmony with what good bacteria needs, we will lose beneficial bacteria and gain pathogenic bacteria.

• Think of the gut as the primitive brain: -The workers in the factory are probiotics -Their tools are enzymes

- The environment is hydrochloric acid -The cleaning agent is digestive bile

• If you don’t have the correct insulation — the mucosal lining — there will be breeches. They start as ulcers, which you won’t have if you don’t have too much stress or corrosive chemicals in the diet.

• When a fever develops, if it is accompanied by a sore throat, pink eye, ears over waxing, etc., this indicates a break-in. Listen to what your body is telling you. If your body is going through a fever and it’s not something that’s happening for days and days, allow it to work its way through. Just know that if you have a fever, you most likely will be sweating, and if you are sweating, you are losing potassium, magnesium, and chloride (i.e., electrolytes). So you will have to replenish these. It’s worth investing in around $15 of electrolytes versus ending up in the ER having to pay much more to replenish the same things.

Vitamin D is fat-soluble and influences hormonal regulation, which is key.