The Four Lost American Ideals

I strongly suggest everyone wander over to the American Preppers Network page and read this.

Also, watch this:

We Live in a Sick Society , Part 1

I went to a lot of schools as a kid. Around a dozen different elementary schools, a couple of middles/junior high, but fortunately, only one high school.
In all that time, I never once met a child with a severe allergy. You know, the "if little Billy eats one peanut he will die" allergy. Only one child in elementary school died. She was in a car wreck.
In high school, I knew perhaps 2 kids that died. Both accidents.
Also, in all those years, besides not knowing anyone with an allergy, I also only met precisely one child that had diabetes and that was in high school.Never met a kid with cancer in any of those schools, either. There was no such thing as ADHD, ADD, hyperactivity, etc.
Similarly, I knew a lot of older adults growing up. I knew ONE adult with diabetes. She still bought a box of Girl Scout cookies from me, though. Shortbread trefoils. Said her dog liked them.
I lost all my grandparents by the time I was 21. Two to cancer, two to heart attacks. None of them were young and while they were alive, all of them lived active lives and were not plagued with myriad physical ailments. (Well, except for my paternal grandmother...if you asked "How are you? she would start with her gallbladder operation in 1957 and work her way up from there. She died while  in her 90s.)

Now, go turn on a t.v. for an hour or read a medical page online or open a newspaper.
Ads for medications for ailments that were unheard of 40 or 50 years ago. "Cancer clusters" in various areas of the country. One out of four boys being medicated for "ADD" or "ADHD". Advertisements for diabetes meters and test strips, advertisements for drugs for eczema, psoriasis, heartburn, nail fungus, arthritis, etc. All, of course with the warnings spoken sotto voce (or written in very fine print) about the side effects...some of them potentially fatal.

How did we get here? What happened?
How did America get from a healthy, vibrant society to a sickly, medicated, sick one?
I put part of the blame on food, another part of it on Womens Lib and the feminist movement, and the rest on corporate America and the medical profession.
Let me break that down:
1) We don't eat healthy. We (as a society) have become dependent on highly processed food, microwave meals, fast foods, etc. We expect a "quick fix" for everything. Spend two hours preparing lasagna from scratch? NO WAY! Just pop some frozen lasagna in the microwave and TA-DA, dinner is served! Ever read the ingredients on that package of frozen lasagna? Let's put it this way, if you can't buy each of those ingredients off the shelf at your grocers, or grow them yourselves, you shouldn't be eating them!
Fast food? How about TOXIC food? I have worked at all of the major fast food places in the US, and frankly, I will not eat at any of them. I know what goes in their food. I have even worked at a cattle ranch that was under contract to one of the major fast food places...and I know the hormones and other chemicals that go into those cattle.
We also eat WAY too much meat. Meat consumption in this country is absolutely at ridiculous levels.
I love a good steak as much as the next person, but we should take a cue from Thomas Jefferson who  advised using meat as a condiment. We eat a lot of curries, soups, stews and stir-fries here. I can stretch a half pound of meat (before cooking) to fix a hearty satisfying meal for five people! We also eat "dinner salads" some nights or I use eggs as a base for a meal, making an omelet or souffle.
Sugar consumption of highly refined white sugars and High Fructose Corn Syrup is also WAY too high.
When I was a kid, an orange, some grapes or a banana was a "treat". Apple cider, apple juice, orange juice or a cold glass of milk was a beverage at the table. Kool-Aid once or twice a week in summer. Now kids stuff themselves with candy bars, chips and sodas. Parents excuse buying it by saying "But Billy/Susie won't drink anything else!" Oh, yes they will! We are cutting our soda consumption drastically here. First we cut it down to half of what we normally drank (which was WAY too much). Then we cut it in half again. Next week we will be getting a Soda Stream and will no longer buy ANY sodas. We'll flavor our drinks with spices and fruit juices and sweeten them with raw sugar or honey.
Our portion sizes are WAY too big. Go into any restaurant and order a meal. The amount of food they pile on a plate is astounding. Even at home, most of us have gotten used to huge portion sizes. We need to cut down on the size of our portions. I started using a dessert plate as my dinner plate. It fools the eye and makes you feel as if you have eaten more than you thought.

2) On to the Feminist/Womens Lib movement. Look, I believe women can and should do whatever they want in today's world. But I think it has gotten too extreme. Watch commercials...happy kids and moms at McDonalds. Happy family at Chuckie Cheese's. Happy kids and husband wolfing down moms choice of frozen dinner.
Yes, women got out of the kitchen...and nutrition for their families took a nosedive.
The last 20 to 30 years has seen a brainwashing of society in this country. We have been told that daycare is just as good as a mothers care, that fast food is a great replacement for a home cooked meal, that frozen foods ARE a home cooked meal, etc. They haven't told us about all the communicable diseases young children pick up in daycare from the other kids and caregivers. They haven't (until recently) warned us about all the fats and sugars in fast food and frozen dinners.
Women were told that what their mothers had done was "not enough" but now, women could "have it all".
Yes, as the song said "She could bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never let you forget you're the man". But that's not how it actually happened. A hot breakfast, lovingly cooked by Mom?
Nope, cold cereal it is, maybe a Pop-tart or two. No home packed lunch. School lunch would be fine. Dinner? Mom is exhausted so she stops and grabs a bucket of KFC and a couple of 6 packs of sodas.
I know, I was there once myself. I worked, not to "fulfill" myself but to support my kids.  I didn't enjoy working outside the home, but it was a necessity. I always tried to fix dinner for them, I am glad I did that, at least.
I know a lot of working moms that read this may be pissed at me right now. That's okay, I really don't mind.
I would ask those of you that are married and/or have a partner that works to figure out something.
Do you PAY to work?
Add up each of your work expenses separately. Include clothes you have to buy for work, commuting costs, eating lunch out (if you do), paying for daycare or a babysitter. Every single cost. By the way, both you and your spouse should add in the daycare/babysitter costs on both your work expense costs. I'll explain why in a minute. Now, when you get done, subtract that amount from your TAKE HOME  pay.
If you are in the red, i.e., bringing home less than you are spending for your job...you need to quit your job. Otherwise, see who actually brings home the most and figure out if you can make it on their salary alone if you have kids that would benefit by having a stay at home parent. If you BOTH have to work to make ends meet, that is understandable in today's economy. Just come up with sensible guideline for your diet and your kids diets.
Now, I know that some women out there have their jobs because they have a passion for their work, and that is wonderful. But, please, try to do it without cheating your child (or yourself!) of proper nutrition. No fast food or frozen dinners...plan ahead and maybe involve your kids in helping you make meals for the week on the weekend and have frozen meals that really are home made!
Keep your fridge stocked with snacks that you WANT your children to eat. Fresh fruit, carrot sticks, celery sticks, etc. A good idea is to get small tupperware type containers and fill each with snacking yummies that are easy for kids to make their own little snacks out of.  Similarly, you can use the small containers for dry, non-refrigerated snacks and designate a "snack cabinet" . Make good choices there, too. Dried apple slices, raisins or other dried fruit.You don't have to buy all "health foods", but try to give children better choices.

If you are on your own and have no kids and only cook for yourself, maybe make healthy cooking a hobby! Spend a Sunday afternoon teaching yourself to bake whole grain bread from scratch...then use that bread to make sandwiches for your lunches during the week. Invest in a crock pot if you don't have one and start a nice stew or soup before you leave for work in the morning...arrive home to a wonderful home made dinner!
Eat more salads. There is some evidence that shows a raw diet can slow or even reverse diabetes and other obesity related illnesses.

Tomorrow, Corporate America, Corporate Agriculture and the poisoning of America....

Diet Can Prevent Diabetes, Heart Attacks and Cancer...

I have been thinking a lot about my health, my fellas health and the health of others I care for.
This morning I watched a great documentary...it is almost 2 hours long, but well worth the watch! I found it on Hulu. It is called Chow Down (just click on the name to go watch it!)
Watching that documentary has made me even more determined to get a good garden going this spring and providing healthy food for my family here.My fella (like most American men) is of the opinion that unless there is a juicy slab of meat on his plate, dinner has NOT been served! I am going to have to convince him and the kids that having a meatless meal is NOT torture! I do have them eating salads about twice to three times a week now, thank goodness. I probably won't be able to switch them completely to a meatless diet, but perhaps I can get them to view vegetables and fruit as friends and not enemies!
Just to open your eyes a bit more...think about this....the US is considered the richest, most powerful nation on earth, yet we are NOT the healthiest!
I ended up going to Wikipedia looking up diet, longevity, cultural diets and a slew of other food related topics and found this:

Rank by UN member state	Rank by entity	Entity	Overall life expectancy at birth	Male life expectancy at birth	Female life expectancy at birth
-	1	Macau	84.36	81.39	87.47
1	2	Andorra	82.51	80.33	84.84
2	3	Japan	82.12	78.8	85.62
3	4	Singapore	81.98	79.37	84.78
4	5	San Marino	81.97	78.53	85.72
-	6	Hong Kong	81.86	79.16	84.79
5	7	Australia	81.63	79.25	84.14
6	8	Canada	81.23	78.69	83.91
7	9	France (metropolitan)	80.98	77.79	84.33
8	10	Sweden	80.86	78.59	83.26
9	11	Switzerland	80.85	78.03	83.83
-	12	Guernsey	80.77	77.76	83.88
10	13	Israel	80.73	78.62	82.95
11	14	Iceland	80.67	78.53	82.9
	15	Anguilla	80.65	78.11	83.26
	16	Cayman Islands	80.44	77.2	83.72
	17	Bermuda	80.43	77.65	83.26
12	18	New Zealand	80.36	78.43	82.39
13	19	Italy	80.2	77.26	83.33
	20	Gibraltar	80.19	77.3	83.22
14	21	Monaco	80.09	76.3	84.09
15	22	Liechtenstein	80.06	76.59	83.53
16	23	Spain	80.05	76.74	83.57
17	24	Norway	79.95	77.29	82.74
	25	Jersey	79.75	77.23	82.46
18	26	Greece	79.66	77.11	82.37
19	27	Austria	79.5	76.6	82.56
	28	Faroe Islands	79.44	77	82.05
20	29	Malta	79.44	76.95	81.47
21	30	Netherlands	79.4	76.8	82.14
22	31	Luxembourg	79.33	76.07	82.81
23	32	Germany	79.26	76.26	82.42
24	33	Belgium	79.22	76.06	82.53
	34	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	79.07	76.69	81.57
	35	U.S. Virgin Islands	79.05	76.02	82.26
25	36	United Kingdom	79.01	76.52	81.63
26	37	Finland	78.97	75.48	82.61
27	38	Jordan	78.87	76.34	81.56
	39	Isle of Man	78.82	75.86	81.93
28	40	South Korea	78.72	77.45	82.22
	41	European Union	78.67	75.54	81.97
	42	Puerto Rico ( US)	78.53	74.85	82.39
29	43	Bosnia and Herzegovina	78.5	74.92	82.34
	44	Saint Helena	78.44	75.52	81.5
30	45	Cyprus	78.33	75.91	80.86
31	46	Denmark	78.3	75.96	80.78
32	47	Ireland	78.24	75.6	81.06
33	48	Portugal	78.21	74.95	81.69
	49	Wallis and Futuna	78.2	75.22	81.32
34	50	United States	78.11	75.65	80.69
35	51	Albania	77.96	75.28	80.89
	52	Taiwan	77.96	75.12	81.05
36	53	Kuwait	77.71	76.51	78.95
37	54	Costa Rica	77.58	74.96	80.34
38	55	Cuba	77.45	75.19	79.85
39	56	Chile	77.34	74.07	80.77
40	57	Libya	77.26	74.98	79.65
	58	British Virgin Islands	77.26	76.03	78.55
41	59	Panama	77.25	74.47	80.16
42	60	Slovenia	76.92	73.25	80.84
43	61	Czech Republic	76.81	73.54	80.28
44	62	Georgia	76.72	73.41	80.45
	63	French Polynesia ( France)	76.31	73.88	78.86
	64	Northern Mariana Islands ( US)	76.71	74.26	79.29
	65	Netherlands Antilles ( Netherlands)	76.65	74.03	79.09
45	66	Argentina	76.56	73.32	79.97
46	67	Saint Lucia	76.45	73.78	79.27
47	68	Uruguay	76.35	73.1	79.72
48	69	Saudi Arabia	76.3	74.23	78.48
49	75	Poland	76.28	73.12	79.44
50	70	United Arab Emirates	76.11	73.56	78.78
51	71	Mexico	76.06	73.25	79
52	72	Tunisia	75.78	73.98	77.7
53	73	Paraguay	75.77	73.19	78.49
54	74	Brunei	75.74	73.52	78.07
55	76	Dominica	75.55	72.61	78.64
	77	Turks and Caicos Islands	75.42	73.12	77.83
56	78	Slovakia	75.4	71.47	79.53
57	79	Croatia	75.35	71.72	79.18
58	80	Qatar	75.35	71.66	77.14
59	81	Ecuador	75.3	72.37	78.37
	82	Aruba ( Netherlands)	75.28	72.25	78.38
60	83	Bahrain	75.16	72.64	77.76
61	84	Sri Lanka	75.14	73.08	77.28
	85	New Caledonia ( France)	74.98	71.99	78.12
62	86	Lithuania	74.9	69.98	80.1
63	87	Antigua and Barbuda	74.76	72.81	76.81
64	88	Macedonia	74.68	72.18	77.38
	89	West Bank	74.54	72.54	76.65
	90	Cook Islands	74.22	71.46	77.13
65	91	Oman	74.16	71.87	76.55
66	92	Algeria	74.02	72.35	75.77
67	93	Mauritius	74	70.53	77.65
68	94	Maldives	73.97	71.78	76.28
69	95	Barbados	73.94	71.65	76.26
70	96	Serbia	73.9	71.09	76.89
71	97	Suriname	73.73	71	76.65
	98	American Samoa ( US)	73.72	70.8	76.82
72	99	Dominican Republic	73.7	71.88	75.6
73	100	Solomon Islands	73.69	71.14	76.37
74	101	Lebanon	73.66	71.15	76.31
75	102	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	73.65	71.82	75.54
76	103	Venezuela	73.61	70.54	76.83
77	104	Jamaica	73.53	71.83	75.3
78	105	People's Republic of China	73.47	71.61	75.52
79	106	Hungary	73.44	69.27	77.87
	107	Gaza Strip	73.42	71.82	75.12
80	108	Malaysia	73.29	70.56	76.21
81	109	Saint Kitts and Nevis	73.2	70.33	76.25
82	110	Thailand	73.1	70.77	75.55
83	111	Bulgaria	73.09	69.48	76.91
84	112	Seychelles	73.02	68.33	77.85
85	113	Estonia	72.82	67.45	78.53
86	114	Colombia	72.81	68.98	76.76
	115	Montserrat	72.76	74.74	70.68
87	116	Armenia	72.68	69.06	76.81
88	117	Romania	72.45	68.95	76.16
89	118	El Salvador	72.33	68.72	76.11
90	119	Latvia	72.15	66.98	77.59
91	120	Egypt	72.12	69.56	74.81
92	121	Brazil	71.99	68.43	75.73
93	122	Turkey	71.96	70.12	73.89
94	123	Uzbekistan	71.96	68.95	75.15
95	124	Samoa	71.86	69.03	74.84
96	125	Morocco	71.8	69.42	74.3
97	126	Cape Verde	71.61	68.27	75.05
98	127	Vietnam	71.58	68.78	74.57
99	128	Nicaragua	71.5	69.35	73.75
100	129	Palau	71.22	68.08	74.54
101	130	Marshall Islands	71.19	69.15	73.34
102	131	Syria	71.19	69.8	72.68
103	132	Iran	71.14	69.65	72.72
104	133	Philippines	71.09	68.17	74.15
105	134	Federated States of Micronesia	70.94	69.06	72.93
106	135	Trinidad and Tobago	70.86	67.98	73.82
107	136	Moldova	70.8	67.1	74.71
108	137	Indonesia	70.76	68.26	73.38
109	138	Peru	70.74	68.33	68.88
110	139	Fiji	70.73	68.18	73.41
111	140	Tonga	70.73	68.18	73.41
112	141	Belarus	70.63	64.95	76.67
113	142	Guatemala	70.29	68.49	72.19
	143	Greenland ( Denmark)	70.07	67.44	72.85
114	144	Iraq	69.94	68.6	71.34
115	145	India	69.89	67.46	72.61
116	146	Kyrgyzstan	69.43	65.43	73.64
117	147	Honduras	69.4	67.86	71.02
118	148	Tuvalu	69.29	66.99	71.7
119	149	São Tomé and Príncipe	68.32	66.65	70.04
120	150	Ukraine	68.25	62.37	74.5
121	151	Belize	68.2	66.44	70.05
122	152	Kazakhstan	67.87	62.58	73.47
123	153	Turkmenistan	67.87	64.94	70.95
124	154	Mongolia	67.65	65.23	70.19
125	155	East Timor	67.27	64.92	69.75
126	156	Bolivia	66.89	64.2	69.72
127	157	Guyana	66.68	64.09	69.4
128	158	Azerbaijan	66.66	62.53	71.34
-	-	World	66.57	64.52	68.76
129	159	Papua New Guinea	66.34	64.08	68.72
130	160	Bhutan	66.13	65.33	66.97
131	161	Russia	66.03	59.33	73.14
132	162	Grenada	65.95	64.06	67.85
133	163	The Bahamas	65.78	62.63	68.98
134	164	Nepal	65.46	64.3	66.67
135	165	Tajikistan	65.33	62.29	68.52
136	166	Pakistan	64.49	63.4	65.64
137	167	Nauru	64.2	60.58	68.01
138	168	Vanuatu	63.98	62.37	65.66
139	169	North Korea	63.81	61.23	66.53
140	170	Comoros	63.47	61.07	65.94
141	171	Burma	63.39	61.17	65.74
142	172	Yemen	63.27	61.3	65.33
143	173	Kiribati	63.22	60.14	66.45
	174	Mayotte ( France)	62.91	60.65	65.24
144	175	Madagascar	62.89	60.93	64.91
145	176	Cambodia	62.1	60.03	64.27
146	177	Botswana	61.85	61.72	61.99
147	178	Eritrea	61.78	59.71	63.9
148	179	Equatorial Guinea	61.61	60.71	62.54
149	180	Haiti	60.78	59.13	62.48
150	181	Mauritania	60.37	58.22	62.59
151	182	Bangladesh	60.25	57.57	63.03
152	183	Ghana	59.85	58.98	60.75
153	184	Benin	59	57.83	60.23
154	185	Senegal	59	57.12	60.93
155	186	Togo	58.69	56.56	60.88
156	187	Kenya	57.86	57.49	58.24
157	188	Guinea	57.09	55.63	58.6
158	189	Laos	56.68	54.56	58.9
159	190	Côte d'Ivoire	55.45	54.64	56.28
160	191	Ethiopia	55.41	52.92	57.97
161	192	The Gambia	55.35	53.43	57.34
162	193	Democratic Republic of the Congo	54.36	52.58	56.2
	194	Western Sahara	54.32	52	56.73
163	195	Republic of the Congo	54.15	52.9	55.43
164	196	Cameroon	53.69	52.89	54.52
165	197	Gabon	53.11	52.19	54.05
166	198	Burkina Faso	52.95	51.04	54.91
167	199	Uganda	52.72	51.66	53.81
168	200	Niger	52.6	51.39	53.85
169	201	Burundi	52.09	51.2	53.01
170	202	Tanzania	52.01	50.56	53.51
171	203	Sudan	51.42	50.49	52.4
172	204	Namibia	51.24	51.61	50.86
173	205	Rwanda	50.52	49.25	51.83
174	206	Mali	50.35	48.38	52.38
175	207	Somalia	49.63	47.78	51.53
176	208	South Africa	48.98	49.81	48.13
177	209	Guinea-Bissau	47.9	46.07	49.79
178	210	Chad	47.7	46.67	48.77
179	211	Nigeria	46.94	46.16	47.76
180	212	Zimbabwe	45.77	46.36	45.16
181	213	Afghanistan	44.64	44.47	44.81
182	214	Central African Republic	44.47	44.4	44.54
183	215	Malawi	43.82	44.07	43.57
184	216	Djibouti	43.37	41.89	44.89
185	217	Liberia	41.84	40.71	43
186	218	Sierra Leone	41.24	38.92	43.64
187	219	Mozambique	41.18	41.83	40.53
188	220	Lesotho	40.38	41.18	39.54
189	221	Zambia	38.63	38.53	38.73
190	222	Angola	38.2	37.24	39.22
191	223	Swaziland	31.88	31.62	32.15

Did you happen to see where the United States was on that chart?

We are NOT Number 1!