A Healthy Diet and GMOs

Since I am focusing on nutrition right now, I am going to be discussing GMOs. In light of my latest newsletter where I focused on the benefits of soy milk, I would like to add up front that the soy milk I referenced in particular is made from soybeans that are not genetically altered. Silk®Brand Soy Milk boldly states this fact on each carton so that consumers can know what they are getting.

GMOs are genetically modified organisms that have been added to our food supply for the last 15 years. Most of us unknowingly ingest GMOs every day in processed foods. There is a growing contentious debate as to whether GMOs are safe and healthy, or not.

Genetically altered foods are engineered to produced more; they are supposed to contain more nutrients, resist insects and plant diseases. If I was a farmer and only cared about my bottom-line, I would be very enticed to take this route, and it appears that many have. Listen to this – these foods can grow in droughts, floods, and even in extreme temperatures where normal crops would never survive.

A recent report stated that in America 85% of corn, soybeans, sugar beets and canola are grown from GMO seed. To date, only crops have been approved by the FDA.

Soon, however, they may give the ”green light” for the genetically altered animal. Think about this: farm-raised salmon that has the ability to grow four times faster than traditionally farm-raised salmon. “The Bionic Fish” – sounds like a new movie title!

A House Agriculture Committee member strongly supports GMOs, as does the U.S. Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, and all three government agencies that regulate these products. They all say growing crops this way is safe. However, other research provides evidence that this food can increase allergic reactions, resistance to antibiotics, problems to the productive system, accelerates aging (who in their right mind wants that?!), and can cause damage to the immune system.

Some successful organic farmers are rejecting GMOs, stating that it fundamentally violates the very pattern of the natural food chain. A senior analyst for the Center for Food and Safety cited being worried about the disruption of cross-pollination, and the adverse affect it is having on the honey bee colonies, which are vanishing at an alarming rate.

In other words, it takes bees to pollinate crops so they will grow. Bees don’t know how to differentiate between natural crops and those that are GMOs. They can contaminate a natural or organic plant after pollinating a crop that has been grown from GMO seed. That problem aside, the bees themselves are also obviously being devastated systemically by this process as well.

It looks like we are headed for a showdown between GMO crops which, in my objective opinion, are really just fake food compared to the old fashioned crops of the past, which we now call organic. And we wonder why there are so many people who are getting sick!

Remember: Say yes to GMO-free! Support your community and buy from local farmers.