Magical Mystical Country Creamer

Continuing in the vein of the mystical in the mundane, I encountered some real magic the other day. My 12 yo niece (who became vegetarian at age 4 when she found out that meat came from animals) was making a “milkshake” the other day. She was using something called “Country Creamer” since there wasn't any milk in the house. When I scoffed at the idea of making a milkshake with creamer, my niece exclaimed “It's Trans-fat free and sugar free!” I laughed in disbelief. “No, it is. It says so right there!”, she exclaimed pointing to the carton.

Thinking she was joking, I said, “Where?” and picked up the carton. I started reading the ingredients outloud, “Water, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean and cottonseed oil. High fructose corn syrup, sodium caseinate (a milk derivative*), dipotassium phosphate, mono and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate. (*not a source of lactose). Then in bold print: 'contains milk'.” I didn't know if the “contains milk” point was a warning or an announcement.

“Where”, I exclaimed, “where's the milk? It must be in the caseinate, I guess.” I said to my niece, “No, it's not fat free and sugar free... it's full of corn syrup!” “Uncle Rob! It is so sugar free... look there!” she said... and pointed to the “Nutrition Facts” table on the carton. Sure enough, it said 0 grams of sugar! And 0g of Trans Fat. It did have 1.5 of total fat... nothing much. My jaw dropped.

I wondered in amazement at how this corn syrup laden cocktail could be sugar free. Now this is truly magic!

Meanwhile my nephew pulled out the mint, cookies-and-cream frozen yogurt. I considered indulging in some. Then I read the label: nonfat milk, sugar, cultured nonfat milk*, corn syrup, cookies (sugar, wheat flour, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oils, cocoa processed with alkali, corn syrup, corn flour, corn starch, chocolate, salt, sodium bicarbonate, natural & artificial flavor, lecithin), maltodextrin, calcium carbonate, cellulose gel, cellulose gum, mono & diglycerides, polysorbate 80, carrageenan, oil of peppermint, blue 1, yellow 4, vitamin A (*contains active yogurt cultures). I laughed at this magic... this stuff was more like milk and corn syrup with a dash of active yogurt culture! My mind went into shock worse than that from a cold mouth of ice cream at the thought of people who bought frozen yogurt thinking it was somehow healthier than ice cream.

Turns out the ice cream may have been the “healthiest” thing in the bunch made out of primarily milk and corn syrup.

My sister arrived home and was dismayed to learn that the Country Creamer wasn't cream and milk.. which is what one might assume “half and half” type products were. She happened to have another product other than “country creamer”, which called itself “half and half”. It's first three ingredients were nonfat milk, corn syrup, and cream. My sister was shocked to learn it wasn't simply milk and cream! She exclaimed, “I didn't know I was buying sugar or corn syrup!”

I grimaced at the thoughts of countless people buying these products, assuming they were simply milk and cream. I thought of all the diabetics who buy these things are are getting corn syrup without realizing it. Even sadder because the sugars somehow don't register on the nutritional labels. I thought of all the people thinking that this frozen yogurt was somehow healthier than ice cream. Reading juice labels makes me wonder how the FDA defines natural, fruit juice, and no additives. If you read your juice bottles, you will find it hard to avoid corn syrup. No wonder diabetes and obesity are burgeoning statistics. In researching proper water intake and hydration, I learned that drinking soda and juices is a major source of empty calories.

I thought of how these western products may someday overtake the third world, and how that might affect their health. Thailand and India already love their white sugar. Carnation sweetened condensed milk is quite popular in the street vendors of Thailand. In the Himalaya, a traditional soup was made with homemade noodles out of local grain flour. I noticed that in my recent trip I rarely found the homemade noodles in the soup... more often it was those little packets squiggly instant noodles. The homemade noodles fill me up... but those packaged ones don't stick to my ribs at all. Still, much of the diet in India and Thailand seems to be what I would consider “whole foods” made of fresh vegetables, meats, and whole grains. Corporate manufactured goods have made a few inroads with noodles and sauces, but the local vegetable and meat vendor still provide most of the food stuffs.

I don't know how I got started reading labels. I vaguely remember my mom telling me to check the salt and/or sugar contents on canned corn years ago. Somewhere along the line, I got so I always read the ingredients and nutritional content of whatever I buy. Somewhere I heard corn syrup wasn't so healthy and soon discovered that if you ruled out msg, excessive salt, sugar, and corn syrup, you would not buy much processed food. Even the “health food”, new aged vegetarian, and “organic” products are often full of “cane juice” or organic sugar. With the current understanding of fats, you might throw out the hydrogenated fats, and that would likely discard most of the grocery store. A year or two ago Hannaford Grocery started rating foods with a 1,2,3 star system according to the healthiest foodstuffs. It was quite admirable, as it pretty much dismissed the majority of the products they sold as being unhealthy! About the only thing that was considered healthy was fresh fruits and vegetables. I think pasta was neutral.

I thought everyone read the labels! I mean to me it's common sense. I want to know what I'm buying and what I'm eating. I learn interesting things about soymilks for instance. Filtered water is often the first ingredient. Second can sometimes be sugar or cane juice. Or it might actually be soybeans. I usually go for the brown rice syrup sweetened ones. Sometimes they are 80 cal/serving and other times up to 120 cal/serving. Some have more protein than others. So sometimes the bargain brands are just watered down! I especially enjoy reading the ingredients on things that say “just like Mom used to make”. They usually have something like modified food starch (which I've identified as a taste I don't enjoy), or di-postassium something or other that I never saw in my Mom's pantry.

I don't know how the FDA comes up with it's definitions. I read the ingredients on so called “natural” products and find things I wouldn't consider natural. Like cellulose in pre-grated Parmesan cheese; it keeps the bits of cheese from sticking together. I imagine cellulose also grates ones digestion! I've heard that “farm fresh” eggs can be up to a year old. I saw some goldfish crackers that said “natural”. They don't seem like natural fish to me! The flour in them is white and full of chemicals. Then they have baking powder, too. “natural” to me conjures images of whole grains, and simple foodstuffs. On a broader scale, it makes me think of things I could just pluck from the earth, though I am much too jaded now to expect that.

It's like the diaper service truck I saw that said “good for the Earth!” Like a truck and linen diapers somehow pamper Mother Earth? Now walking out and planting a tree, that might be good for the Earth! But extracting metals and chemicals to make laundry machines and soaps, and trucks and petrol, then burning coal to make electricity to pump the water out of the earth and spin the dirty diapers round and round, draining the soiled water into the ground, and bake them til they are toasty dry, to put them on junior's bottom? That's “good” for the Earth? I guess I'll go have a baby so I can help the Earth out! I know it's better than plastic disposable diapers. Just like “natural” gold fish are relatively closer to something that I might be able to produce on a farmstead.

I heard once that if you want something to have lots of flavor, you need salt, sugar, or fat. I don't think that's true. Look at a garden ripe tomato! But take a cardboard, factory farmed tomato, bred for storage and shipping qualities, and picked green, and you'd better add something to it! And so the food manufacturers do. If you ever take a break from processed foods, and reduce your salt, and sugar use, you will find that when you re-enter the world of processed food all you taste is salt or sugar. If you read the labels you will find, that the salt free things are laden with sugar, and vice versa. At first it will taste horrid to you. But if you keep at it a couple days, the processed stuff will taste normal to you. Plus they tend to be addictive... so you eat more and buy more. Ever wonder why it's hard to stop eating that bag of chips? There is even some evidence that corn syrup with it's empty calories keeps us hungry for more (http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/fructose_dangers.html and http://www.newstarget.com/003002.html)

Not that I put much stock in the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA )since I heard it was based on what fattened rats up in laboratories (lately I read that it's recommended levels... not optimum levels), but if you look at (RDA) and the serving sizes of your chips or cookies, you will find you can easily get all the fat and salt you need, quickly! Not to mention, the serving sizes often have no comparison to how much people actually eat. If you really want your dose of salt, read the label on tomato and vegetable juices!

What gets me is things like why do they add sugar to raisins? I love plain raisins. They are naturally sweet. Like adding sugar to sweet potatoes. You take a perfectly good food, and smother it's flavor. Well, I'm afraid I know part of the answer. In vegetable seed production, it's known that shipping quality and storage life are inversely proportional to flavor and nutrition. Further studies have shown that chemically produced vegetables are less tasty and nutritious than their organic counterparts. And because our nation is addicted to having seasonal vegetables and fruits in all seasons from all corners of the world, no doubt the flavor is sacrificed. In other things, like peanut butter, the manufacturers sell off the highly valued peanut oil, and replace it with cheap hydrogenated fats. Americans can stuff themselves full of cheapened foods.

I don't really understand why the people making this stuff make it like that. Do they really think it good? Tasty? Healthy? Are they that callous? I guess I can understand if they really believe in their product. Like my sister told me of a major multivitamin that was reported to be un-assimilateable because of the binders. Why does the company sell that stuff? Don't they care about their customers.

I try to love what I eat. I realize that in the quantum paradigm I have some stories about food that may not serve me. And yet I feel like I usually feel better and things taste better if they are more simple and closer to whole, natural, identifiable ingredients. On one hand, I feel like if someone is vibrating in Unconditional Love and Joy, and really loving their boxed, manufactured cream pie that's full of some of DuPont's best chemicals for better living, then that's fabulous! They will live a long and healthy life. But if you are not believing in what you are eating, and you are not feeling well, maybe reading the ingredients and choosing things differently will help you feel better.

I'd rather have real cream, fat yogurt, and milk, than processed additive laden 0 trans fat mumbo jumbo. I do like yogurt, but am amazed at how hard it can be to find yogurt. The low fat stuff is full of chemical fillers, and often hydrogenated something or other. The fruit flavored yogurt is full of sugars or corn syrup. Give me the cream on top yogurt that is pure any day! It tastes real! Somewhere I read a few years ago that the homogenized fats simply pass right through the intestinal walls into the bloodstream, while the natural fats are too big and slide right through the body. And gee when I get some “real” ice cream or yogurt, it is satisfying.

A few years ago I learned that Celtic sea salt has the same mineral content as blood. Compare that to iodized table salt (sodium chloride). I was told that table salt strips minerals out of the body. Celtic sea salt is pricey, but it does taste different... more fulfilling. I compare how I feel when I eat a bunch of cheap chips versus homemade popcorn with Celtic sea salt... the Celtic sea salt feels better to me.

A couple of years ago, I went camping with some friends and was shocked at what they purchased in the grocery store. I would say we are shared similar political convictions, favoring sustainable, small scale growth. For me, a trip to the grocery store is about nurturing myself, and trying to support sustainable businesses. It is a form of political action. My friends went willy nilly through the store loading the card with cheap foods. I have a system. I read labels. I avoid msg, hydrogenated fats, sugar, corn syrup, excess salt, and corporate conglomerates. I read the price. I compare the quality and quantity of calories per dollar.

They picked out a some noodle soups, 10 for a dollar. I found some that were three for a dollar, minus the msg. Later I got a headache. I told one of my friends I thought it might be from msg. He looked at me, Mr. Empowerment, and said, “I am surprised at you. For someone so empowered, you have a lot of negative stories about food!” For several years I have pondered that. On one level, it is true. Ram Das' guru ate a sheet of LSD with absolutely no effect. The last couple of years I have attempted to transcend my food “issues”... to eat what comes my way. Yet in my travels I have found that I look young for my age and am quite healthy relative to other people. I have tried to trek and travel when conditions seem less than ideal. I have tried to pray my body into hydration, and nutritional bliss. I think what I have found is it doesn't work. That it is perhaps easier to just drink more water or eat more appropriately. And yet, I will admit that I believe that if I were truly vibrating at my highest frequency, I could transcend perceived water and food needs. The challenge is what to do when we aren't feeling that vibration?

I've run across similar challenges in other paths. At one point, I realized that if I truly wanted to live sexually transmitted love and joy, perhaps I ought throw away condoms. At one point, I realized that if I truly wanted to trust a loving universe and ingest only love, I ought to throw away my water filter and bottled water. It is the same with foods. The resolution I came to for such things was to be in the moment. If the room was vibrating in total love and I had no fear of STD or HIV, then, sure, throw away the condom. But if the back of my mind was more in the front and loaded with fear and worry, then keep the condom.

The water snook up on me. A few months ago I sat in a room in Rishikesh. My stomach upset, I popped a mint-gel cap in my mouth and realized I had no drinking water. My throat began to burn from the mint. Yet I was in the midst of a mystical state. My body vibrated in energy. I didn't want to run out for drinking water. A bottle of sacred water from the Ganga in Varanasi sat on my altar. A voice said, “Drink the Ganga water!”. I thought, “no way.” Then before my eyes flashed the vision I had held for myself to laugh at the idea of the loving Earth poisoning us with water. I realized that this was indeed the time to try it. I knew it was OK. Because I was in such a state that I had little doubt. I was feeling the energy of the Universe. I drank some Ganga water. I was fine. My stomach upset cleared.

And so it is with food. If you are happy and healthy, don't bother changing what you are doing! If not, you can change your attitude through meditation, or change your body with your food choices.

I sit and write this. I want to throw out my food judgments. I realize what I want to focus on is Being the Vibration. And yet there seems a dilemma in that. Making food choices that suit me can carry me into the Vibration from the ground up. Making mind choices, and Meditating can bring me there from the Spirit down. We cannot depend on outside sources for our joy, and yet sometimes they can catalyze us into our joy.

The secret is to be Present. Perhaps in one moment, the corn syrup product is the thing to eat... and another moment it may be the pure cream. You can take in the corn syrup and pray it perfect for your body...you can love it. And you can also make other choices in other present moments.

And now back to our regular feature... the Country Creamer! I am truly amazed at how the Country Creamer can be full of corn syrup and yet contain “no sugars”! That is a modern miracle! Truly more mystical than my wildest Reiki session!

Enjoy what you eat! And read the labels if you dare! Be Mystical. Be Sensible. Be Either. Or Both!!!

Food Vitality - LOVE!

When I used to farm, seeds formed a major focus of my endeavors. In farming and gardening, it is common knowledge that seeds have a vitality. For many plants the newer the seed, the more vital. A packet of 5 year old seeds could be worthless. The seed storage conditions impact the vitality greatly: cool dry temperatures being the best.

I think the vitality issue carries right over into food. Oils can go rancid in a few days. Vitamins, minerals, and subtle biochemistries can change within a short time from harvest. In sweet corn, for instance, sugars change to starch during storage. Other crops, such as potatoes and winter squash store well for a longer period of time. Processing can affect storage characteristics. Dried sweet corn or popcorn for example will keep better than fresh sweet corn. Yet, grinding corn into cornmeal exposes the grain particles to air and reduces shelf life. Many flours and grains are processed to take the vital/vulnerable nutrients out of them and increase shelf life.

Modern vegetable hybrids are chosen for storage and appearance characteristics which are inversely proportional to flavor and nutrient content. Chemically farmed vegetables have less nutrients/minerals than vegetables grown in rich, balanced organic soil. Take a handful of humusy soil and think how much is going on there, compared to an aquarium like hydroponic medium. Pesticides kill life and reduce the complexity and richness of the plant environment.

Our modern American life favors quantity over quality. Mega markets offer us great quantities at a low price. I was reading that a major superstore was offering a gallon jar of pickles for $3! Who eats a gallon of pickles? Our pantries burgeon with bulk packaged cheap foods. When I lived in San Francisco, I was fortunate to have a local grocery where I could buy bulk items... meaning I could take what I needed from a bulk bin and pay wholesale price. I could buy a table spoon of cardamon. This saved me money and kept my food fresh. No five year old tins of herbs and spices in my pantry.

Living in East Coast suburbs lately has left me more dependent on chain stores and corporate chains. Marketers have picked up on the perceived lack of time in our lives and offer produce pre washed and chopped to bits in plastic bags. Whole carrots are virtually obselete, along with heads of lettuce, and bunches of greens. Sometimes they coat these chopped up bits with preservatives which may contribute to food allergies.

I feel a certain void with all this prepackaged, processed food. I've been trying to wrap my head around it. I know on one hand that freezing and refrigeration preserve things and some nutrients. And yet there seems some quality that lacks in a frozen burrito compared to a fresh made one. Even dried beans cooked fresh seem to have something over canned beans.

I see how easy it is to buy cheap food and store it in the pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. It's easy to eat a complete diet of food a year or more old! Without any standard of freshness we can't tell the difference. Enough salt, sugar, hydrogenated fat, and corn syrup can mask anything and make it all taste the same.

In the quantum paradigm, I wonder if it's all in my head? a victim of my own food wisdom and judgments? and yet I feel a difference in my body based on what I eat. I think of Ram Das' guru who ate a sheet of LSD and remained unaffected. And I think of my body and the glee it felt after eating raw food meals prepared by a chef and friend of mine. And then there are times when I've eaten frozen pizza or hamburgers and chips with such glee and run up mountains.

Probably when I've truly been happy and hungry, it hasn't mattered so much what I eat. And yet other times what I eat can fuel my appetite and happiness.

I think it can all be summed up in food vitality. There is life force and chi in our food. You can see it in the vibrant green of spinach out of the garden, and you can it's lack in year old frozen spinach quiche. You can feel in in viable almonds, and note the subtle difference in flash pasteurized almonds. I think there are subtle chemical compounds that are beyond the vitamin mineral contents determined by turning something to ash.

And on the other side, there is LOVE. The Love or lack of love that go into the food along it's path from garden to mouth. That Love can transmute a whole angry chain. A loving chef can transmute even lackluster ingredients into pure prana. And the lustful eater can transmute the whole food chain if their love is pure.

I think of the animals and plants that (in the empowerment paradigm) have chosen to give their lives for us. If we eat them with shame, fear, ingratitude, then we have not honored them at all. If we eat something with the consciousness that it will make us ill, then we are doing ourselves an injustice. Regardless of whether that plant or animal was raised in torturous conditions or at the hands of loving care givers, the final person in the chain has the ultimate say.

The single most important thing you can do with your food is Love it and be Grateful for it!

That can transform everything along the food chain. That is why the diet craze is so flippant in the effects of a given diet. Dieters are merely loving themselves by feeding themselves according to some plan that makes sense to them. There is great difference between eating fast food fries made by an frustrated worker with an acknowledgment that you know that food is not healthy for you, and eating homemade fries made with love from potatoes you believe are healthy for you. And even then, there is a difference for someone who loves their fast food fries without shame, guilt, or belief in their potential harm.

One of my friends gets acupuncture weekly and his acupuncturist got after him to change his diet. My friend, instead of changing his diet, took the approach of trying to love what he eats and eat what he loves. At his next acupuncture appointment, his acupuncturist thought he had changed his diet!

Our reality and science is confused as our quantum consciousness realities overlap with the cultural whims of the day. We see 30 yo smokers die from cancer while some 100 yo smokers survive. To confuse matters more, there is even evidence that newer generations are more resilient, more adapted to the chemical conditions of the times. Some people thrive on raw food, others on vegetables, others as omnivores, others on virtually all meat diets.

I find I feel and enjoy best eating the most "whole" foods I can. Sometimes I prefer cooked foods, other times not. I like most of my food to be something someone's great, great grandmother would recognize as food. I prefer the freshest least processed ingredients. I avoid corn syrup, white flour, and white sugar like the plague. And yet I try to let myself live and enjoy where I am. A scoop of ice cream doesn't bother me. A steak doesn't bother me. But eating steak and ice cream everyday I feel throws me out of balance.

The bottom line for me: eat vital food. The vitality can come from you, or the food, or both. Love what you eat, and eat what you love.