Cilantro Pesto!!!

Last week, we had a family party and served “make your own soft tacos,” (or “taco salad” for those who avoid wheat/carbs.)  It was a big hit for everyone, from Nanny (grandma) to baby cousin, Tommy.

But, we forgot to serve the cilantro L Luckily, I discovered it before it went bad, and decided to make some pesto with it.  It is so delicious; I am eating it by the spoonful, but will be serving it this weekend over fish or on black bean pasta. It will be a good spread on bread, instead of mayonnaise, in a turkey sandwich too.

My favorite thing about cilantro is that it is a chelator. It binds with metals and escorts them out of the body.  So it is a great thing to have with large fish, like tuna, sword fish, or sea bass, because it will chelate with the mercury from the fish and remove it from you!

Ingredients:

Big bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems

¼ cup olive oil (make sure it is REAL 100% olive oil. I get non gmo project verified or organic to be safe.)

½ tsp Himalayan pink salt

1 cup toasted pine nuts

You can include cheese, like parmesan; I didn’t because I thought I would freeze the pesto…. but there is no way it will last long enough to bother freezing!

Whirl it in a blender or food processor, until it is a smooth paste. 

Some interesting Facts about FLUORIDE that you might not know:

This essay was written and compiled by the ConnFACT board of directors.

ConnFACT (Connecticut Families Against Chemical Trespass) is advocating to have the mandate to fluoridate water lifted, so that towns can choose for themselves if they want to fluoridate the water.

1)  Fluoride is the ONLY chemical added to our water for the purpose of medical treatment.  Fluoride is NOT an essential nutrient.  

2)  The dose cannot be controlled as fluoride goes to everyone regardless of age, health or vulnerability with no warnings.  Infants, young children and people with kidney issues & thyroid issues are at much higher risk than others.  http://fluoridedetective.com/kidneys/ ,http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/fluoride-and-your-thyroid/. 

3)  The level of fluoride in a mother's breast milk is very low.  Essentially a bottle fed baby consuming fluoridated water can get up to 200 - 300 times more fluoride than one who is breast-fed. In 2011, NY State Health Dept warned mothers against using fluoridated water for bottle fed babies.   

4)  The fluoride added to our water is a toxic waste product (pollution) that we are buying from the phosphate fertilizer industry, not the pharmaceutical grade fluoride that is in other dental products.  These companies would actually have to pay to dispose of this waste, if water companies were not purchasing it.   http://www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/Pages/FluorideandWaste.aspx

5)  There has never been a single randomized clinical trial to demonstrate fluoridation's effectiveness or safety.  Dentists along with the CDC make the claim that fluoridation is "one of the top public health achievements of the 20th century."  But ask them for the studies that PROVE this to be the case. A 2007 review in a British Medical Journal reveals that there is a lack of strong evidence showing the effectiveness of fluoride's benefits for dental caries  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2001050/. 

Furthermore, a study that tracked fluoride exposure among 600 children in Iowa in 2009 showed there is no significant link between fluoride exposure and tooth decay.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19054310   

6)  In 1999, even the CDC acknowledged that the mechanism of fluoride's benefits is topical, not systemic.  So why are we all forced to drink fluoride in our water?  Do we ingest shampoo to clean our hair?  Here are some studies that indicate fluoride's main benefits are topical:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17333303, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15153698, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10086928, 

7)  Data from the World Health Organization shows that tooth decay is no lower in fluoridated communities versus non-fluoridated communities.  http://fluoridealert.org/studies/caries01/ 

8)  In 2010, the CDC reported that 41% of adolescents had dental fluorosis, a mottling of tooth enamel, which may be an indicator of wider systemic damage from children being over-exposed to fluoride.  http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db53.htm 

9) Fluoride may damage the brain – recent studies from China and a Harvard meta-analysis funded by the NIH conclude that water fluoridation significantly lowers IQ in children and should be considered a neurotoxin.  Very recently (in the spring of 2014), Dr. Philip Landigran, the Director of the Children’s Environmental Health Center at Mt. Sinai, and a Professor from Harvard, added fluoride to the list of top neurotoxins as noted here in a prestigious medical journal.  Here is an abstract of the study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24556010.  And here it appears in The Lancet  http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(13)70278-3/abstract.  There was a lot of press given to this finding.   http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/item/18324-top-medical-journal-labels-fluoride-a-neurotoxin, http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/the-toxins-that-threaten-our-brains/284466/,   http://massreport.com/researchers-at-harvard-reveal-10-toxins-that-are-causing-adhd-autism/.

10)  There are plenty of risks with fluoride when ingested.  These risks include lowered thyroid function, skeletal fluorosis, bone damage and possible links to bone cancer.   http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/12/06/why-water-fluoridation-continues.aspx?e_cid=20141206Z1_PRNL_art_1&utm_source=prmrnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20141206Z1&et_cid=DM61638&et_rid=753841154

11)  Low income families are penalized by fluoridation as their nutritional status may not equip them with the ability to handle fluoride like those with stronger nutritional status.  Furthermore, they are often unable to pay for filtration systems or bottled, purified water.  How are they to avoid fluoridated water when feeding bottle-fed babies?  http://fluoridealert.org/issues/ej/ 

12)  As key health studies have not been conducted, more scientists, doctors and dentists are questioning and opposing the practice of fluoridation.  So why aren't we using the precautionary principle with fluoridation?  This review article in The Scientific World Journal does a great job outlining the human health effects of fluoride.  http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2014/293019/ 

13)  More communities in North America and the world are opting to get the fluoride out of their water.  Since 2010 over 50 communities in North America have rejected water fluoridation.  http://fluoridealert.org/content/communities_2010/   Also, earlier this year, Israel banned fluoridation for the entire country.  http://www.newsweek.com/israel-has-officially-banned-fluoridation-its-drinking-water-267411. 

14)  Dentists can certainly make the claim that people should come in for topical fluoride treatments and/or use fluoridated toothpaste IF the fluoride is removed from our municipal water.

15)  There are more dentists today who question the practice of fluoridating our municipal water although most still buy into the ADA's claim that water fluoridation is "the greatest public health achievement of the 20th century."  This is based on information from 60 years ago.  Here is an article written in a journal by a dentist and Principal Dental Officer who was a very strong advocate for fluoridation and had even published articles about the great benefits of fluoridation, who now admits that he was wrong.  http://www.slweb.org/colquhoun.html   Do the risks outweigh the benefits?  It is estimated that only 2% of our municipal water is used for drinking purposes and with that there is extremely limited topical exposure of the teeth…does it really make sense, and is it ethical, to fluoridate our municipal water?

What Lies Ahead as Biotech Prepares to Take Over the World's Food Supply

19 years ago, the biotechnology industry took control of the major US cash crops, including, corn, soy, canola, and sugar beets.  94% of those crops grown in the U.S. are now genetically engineered to be tolerant of Roundup (glyphosate), filled with Bt Toxin (which makes a worm's stomach explode) or both.

Recently, GE russet potatoes and apples were approved by the USDA - the agency that oversees agriculture in the United States, to keep our food "safe."

Now, more than ever, we need to get labeling laws passed.  The presence of these foods is expected to grow dramatically!

Here is a list of GMO crops being developed: apples, barley, bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, cherries, chili peppers, coffee, cranberries, cucumber, flax, grapefruit, kiwi, lentils, lettuce, melons, mustard, oats, olives, onions, peanuts, pears, peas, persimmons, pineapple, popcorn, radishes, strawberries, sugar cane, sunflower, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, walnuts and watercress.(1)(2)

19 years ago, internal scientists in the FDA noted that genetic engineering may introduce new toxins and allergens. Their observations however, were suppressed by FDA administrators (2). Without labeling, it is impossible to track any possible impacts on human health, and once these breeds are out they can't be recalled. For these reasons and many more, it is imperative now, more than ever, that we demand GMO labeling. As more farmers hear these demands, and as consumers boycott GE food, we will stop the proliferation of these new "items" into our food supply by chemical companies. This experiment on our bodies and especially our children's bodies, will only stop if we demand labeling and push the market to respond to our preferences. Don't expect your federal government to do it for you; your health and best interests are not as important as corporate profits and the economy.

Sources:
1) Dagoberto, Martin,  Citizens For GMO Labeling, "A Case for Urgent State Action on Food Labeling Transparency," March, 2015.
2)  Sesana, Laura, "EPA raises levels of glyphosate residue allowed in food,"  The Washington Times, July 5, 2013.