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contact us Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Keith Waller Assistant Editor Sara Gurgen Design & Production Kristina Parella Stephen Gray-Blancett Advertising Sales Keith Waller Johnathan Johnson Accounting and Billing Johnathan Johnson To contact Natural Awakenings Grand Strand Edition: 5335 North Kings Hwy Box 307 Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 Phone: 843-497-0390 Fax: 843-497-0760 GSPublisher@NaturalAwakeningsMag.com www.GrandStrandHealthyLiving.com
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What if food were simple, fresh and contained only a few food ingredients, and not the multitude of additives to color, preserve, texturize, flavor and otherwise cover up poor quality? What if livestock raised for food was healthy, due to the proper and ethical care of the animals, and not simply made fat using drugs and chemicals in a diseased environment? It would seem like an impossible dream to some of us. It can be very disheartening when legislation to require labeling of products, like recent efforts toward GMO labeling, is soundly defeated, and, instead, we end up with legislation that jails whistleblowers or anyone revealing cruel or dangerous practices in a food facility or factory farm. It has become illegal in our own country to tell the truth about a product or operation if it harms the profits of a powerful corporation. But in the more egalitarian European Union, many food additives are banned, GMO foods are labeled, and farm animals are not given growth hormones or medically unnecessary antibiotics. Achieving this kind of market standard in the U.S. is unlikely at best, since our belief that the right to the profit of a very few trumps the right to health, a clean environment and the well-being of the natural environment for the rest of us. The alignment of a wealthy few with the power of the government that was once meant to be of and by and for all of us has become a danger to our health. The European Union has many of the same foods we do, made by the same companies, with comparable quality, but without the additives. Clearly it’s possible, and costs only pennies more to the shopper but millions more in the scale of multinational corporations. If money is all that some see or hear, perhaps that is how we all should speak if we want that very small percentage to take notice. If we choose to only buy those foods or food products we know are healthy, and withhold buying unhealthy foods, perhaps we can make the marketplace change without legislation. If we only buy pasture-raised, ethically managed animal products from local farms maybe we can make a change. If we reject the status quo American health business and the pharmaceutical industry for a state of fitness and wellness, perhaps they will hear us. Will it work? Of course it will. It already is working. The profits of companies that make corn syrup and chemical-sweetened carbonated water, with no nutritional value whatsoever, are down, and investors have taken notice. Fast food restaurants have begun announcing the elimination of some of the unnecessary additives to their foods, like Subway, Pizza Hut, Chic-Fil-A and others. Major processed food producers are reducing salts, colors, preservatives, and added sugars and fats because consumers are choosing to buy healthier products. Health food stores aren’t the mom and pop corner store now, they are the mass market supermarkets. And they’re very successful selling the better foods we’re looking for. Until we can regain control of a government that serves the people and not just corporations, the best power we have to make change is with our wallets. Buy carefully, buy better, and buy locally from vendors you know and trust. This month is our Food and Garden Issue, and I hope it offers a little joy and a little useful information that will bring the life in your garden into the life in your kitchen. Be well.
Natural Awakenings is printed on recycled newsprint with soybased ink.
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