Monday, March 31, 2008

Food Allergies

Knowledge about food allergies seems to be increasing these days. Someone told me that one of the reality shows is going a celebrity edition in which the celebrities donate their winnings to their charity of choice - and one is donating to food allergy research, because his daughter had terrible food allergies! I thought that was fantastic, not only because of the donation, but also because just by saying that on the show, it increases people's awareness that they, too, might have a food allergy.

So many people are affected by allergies, sensitivities and intolerance to foods and food groups that I'm surprised people don't accept this more readily. But I also know that food is a sacred cultural and emotional prerogative that can be extremely difficult to change. I did find something that can help, though: Living Without, a magazine for people living with food allergies. Looks like it might have interesting articles, references and recipes!

My advise for the general, healthy public is to diversify your diet. I think much of our modern problems with food stem from increasingly limited food stuffs that we eat - the most common food allergens, including wheat, corn, soy and dairy, are extremely hard to avoid because they are in almost all packaged foods. Try increasing your diet diversity by adding different fruits, vegetables, whole grains and seeds. Look up recipes online using ingredients you've always wanted to try.

Happy eating!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Drugs in the Water Supply

This Associated Press article sites pharmaceutical contamination of drinking water. Though there are no accepted standards for testing pharmaceutical contamination or the removal of such from drinking water, reverse osmosis filtration is a possibility. Yet another good reason to purchase and maintain a great home water filtration system. As a consumer and rep for Multi-Pure, I quote their recent press release:
"Multi-Pure has led the industry in introducing new technologies to address emerging contaminants found in our nation’s water supplies... Since 1970 Multi-Pure International has been an industry leader in high performance drinking water filters for home or office. Multi-Pure was the leading developer of carbon block water filters and was the first manufacturer to gain NSF Std. 53 certification for the reduction of many contaminants such as Lead, PCBs, Arsenic V, and Toxaphene."
Who pays for research into testing for pharmaceutical contaminates in pre- and post-treated water? Who pays for research into the effects of long-term low dose exposure to these contaminants? Who provides restitution to the habitat and humans injured as a result? Certainly not the pharmaceutical industry at the heart of this problem. Who pays so that this problem remains buried for years?