I've been doing a little research, aided by the book by Bill Statham 'What's Really in Your Basket?'.
A warning - do not read this book if you are looking for some light entertainment. However, do read this book if you wish to avoid the uncertain-effects, harmful or out right poisonous chemicals the food production companies are adding to our food.
For example:
Aspartame (also known as E951), a artificial sweetener and flavour enhancer
This additive is present in artificial sweeteners such as Nutrisweet. It can also be present in low calorie foods, diet drinks, chewing gum, soft drinks, instant coffee and may be added to anything which is sugar free or without added sugar.
The one that is utterly horrifying, when you learn what this substance does, is its presence in medication, including those for children.
Prepared from phenylalanine and aspartic acid, Aspartame breaks down into methanol and then formaldehyde in the body.
In medical studies it has been documented as causing "headaches, depression, anxiety, asthma, fatigue, hyperactivity, MS like symptoms, blindness, aggression, migraine, insomnia, dizziness, irritability, epilepsy, memory loss, seizures - more than 92 in all, NRC, not recommended for women during pregnancy, teratogenic."
O.K. I will admit that I do not know what all of those words mean, but the ones I do understand like blindness and epilepsy do not sound good, in fact they sound out right terrifying. And the companies are putting this stuff in our food!
Since discovering what this additive is and what it does to the human body I have started reading the labels of every soft drink I buy. So far the only lemonade I have found that does not contain this additive is Sainsbury's Own. This is now the only lemonade I will buy. This is not only a health choice, it is a move to force the food companies to remove this chemical from their list of acceptable additives. If more people refuse to buy a product with this stuff in and will only buy the products that are clean of it, then the companies will have no choice but to remove it from the recipes to stay competitive. This is what is meant by 'the power of the people', we do not have to accept that they put this stuff in our food, a simple choice can improve our diets and force the food production companies to do something about their immoral practises.
For the full detail I would highly recommend Bill Statham's book 'What's Really in Your Basket?'. Ignorance maybe bliss but in this case it will also see you poisoned by what you eat.
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Thursday 19 July 2012
Caring About Strangers
Have just seen in the newspapers about the escalating violence in Syria and it reminds me of a conversion I over heard after one of the major earthquakes in recent years. (Is it not sad that there have been so many that I cannot remember which one it was?)
The base line of the argument was 'caring because you cannot do anything else' versus 'not caring because you cannot do anything meaningful to stop the situation'.
To my way of thinking the 'not caring because you cannot do anything meaningful' is the root of much evil in the world. As an Asperger/Autistic I have often been accused of not being sympathetic or sensitive to those around me. This seems to me to be a very hypercritical statement, coming from people who will read about atrocity and disaster in their newspaper and then turn over the page without comment or care.
Yes, I agree, I have had to learn how to be compassionate and I have not always got it right. However, now that I know how to feel their pain as my pain, I do not limit my compassion to only those who I meet every day. Compassion is not an emotion that should be limited to only those within our borders. I will agree that are probably too many immigrants for this country's social structure to cope with. However, I also agree that having a third world in the so called enlightened age is a hypocrisy of democracy and that third world debt is an evil that ought to have been wiped off the books years ago. I can share my apple with my neighbour but my neighbour does not have to be in my house for me to do it.
I cannot do anything materially, finicially or physically to help the innocent people suffering in Syria. However, I can care! I can care that I can't do anything! I can care that people are terrified, are being hurt, are being killed. I can care and is that not better than not caring?
Also there is this, I cannot do anything for the people in Syria but if caring about their plight prompts me to care more for the people I meet in the street, is that not a good thing? Perhaps the world would be a better place if more people cared for those they cannot help and therefore, helped the ones that they can.
The base line of the argument was 'caring because you cannot do anything else' versus 'not caring because you cannot do anything meaningful to stop the situation'.
To my way of thinking the 'not caring because you cannot do anything meaningful' is the root of much evil in the world. As an Asperger/Autistic I have often been accused of not being sympathetic or sensitive to those around me. This seems to me to be a very hypercritical statement, coming from people who will read about atrocity and disaster in their newspaper and then turn over the page without comment or care.
Yes, I agree, I have had to learn how to be compassionate and I have not always got it right. However, now that I know how to feel their pain as my pain, I do not limit my compassion to only those who I meet every day. Compassion is not an emotion that should be limited to only those within our borders. I will agree that are probably too many immigrants for this country's social structure to cope with. However, I also agree that having a third world in the so called enlightened age is a hypocrisy of democracy and that third world debt is an evil that ought to have been wiped off the books years ago. I can share my apple with my neighbour but my neighbour does not have to be in my house for me to do it.
I cannot do anything materially, finicially or physically to help the innocent people suffering in Syria. However, I can care! I can care that I can't do anything! I can care that people are terrified, are being hurt, are being killed. I can care and is that not better than not caring?
Also there is this, I cannot do anything for the people in Syria but if caring about their plight prompts me to care more for the people I meet in the street, is that not a good thing? Perhaps the world would be a better place if more people cared for those they cannot help and therefore, helped the ones that they can.
Tuesday 10 July 2012
Flooding Britain
I don't know about you but I think I have spotted a common theme in all government policies. It appears to me that the common answer that politicians give to the 'What if?' question is 'We sweep it under the rug until it happens.'
Some of you may have read my post earlier this year about Hearthrow Airport being snowed under again. Well it seems to have happened, again, only this time it is just plain rain. The one thing England is famous for, our persistent precipitation and once again it is flooding out swaths of our countryside and towns.
Now, it could be noted that a country that is noted for being one of the wettest in Europe ought to have councils that build drains that can take it. However this is unlikely to happen, even though it is what we pay them for. Instead, for the mentioned above reason, they are going to continued to ignore the problem until it is so obvious that it has become the equivalent of trying to hide an elephant under the rug.
So, what can the ordinary people of Britain do about it? Because I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for the government to do something about it, I hate passing out.
According to research done by the Woodland Trust and they should know their trees, planting a single row of trees down one side of a field will increase the grounds ability to soak up the rain by sixty percent. The more the soil can soak up, the less there is to run away over the soil and flood the dip down the road were the village happens to be. Also, increasing the number of trees planted within a city by five percent, in turn decreases the urban water run off by twenty percent. That seems to me to be a large amount of returns for a small amount of effort.
For those of you worried about subsidence there is apparently no scientific evidence of planting trees causing subsidence. The reason the lovely new concrete front garden subsides is not because of the tree planted the other side of the front garden wall. It subsides because it is a lovely new concrete front garden, which does not allow any water to reach the soil underneath it. Dehydrated soil shrinks in exactly the same manner as a dehydrated cell, which is why gravel driveways do not subside.
So it appears to me that the best way the people of Britain can look after themselves and prevent further flooding is to plant more trees, this having the added benefits of cleaning our air and lowing our stress levels, because what is scientific fact, is looking at a tree for five minutes a day de-stresses you almost as much as an hour in a yoga class. It's a lot cheaper as well.
Some of you may have read my post earlier this year about Hearthrow Airport being snowed under again. Well it seems to have happened, again, only this time it is just plain rain. The one thing England is famous for, our persistent precipitation and once again it is flooding out swaths of our countryside and towns.
Now, it could be noted that a country that is noted for being one of the wettest in Europe ought to have councils that build drains that can take it. However this is unlikely to happen, even though it is what we pay them for. Instead, for the mentioned above reason, they are going to continued to ignore the problem until it is so obvious that it has become the equivalent of trying to hide an elephant under the rug.
So, what can the ordinary people of Britain do about it? Because I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for the government to do something about it, I hate passing out.
According to research done by the Woodland Trust and they should know their trees, planting a single row of trees down one side of a field will increase the grounds ability to soak up the rain by sixty percent. The more the soil can soak up, the less there is to run away over the soil and flood the dip down the road were the village happens to be. Also, increasing the number of trees planted within a city by five percent, in turn decreases the urban water run off by twenty percent. That seems to me to be a large amount of returns for a small amount of effort.
For those of you worried about subsidence there is apparently no scientific evidence of planting trees causing subsidence. The reason the lovely new concrete front garden subsides is not because of the tree planted the other side of the front garden wall. It subsides because it is a lovely new concrete front garden, which does not allow any water to reach the soil underneath it. Dehydrated soil shrinks in exactly the same manner as a dehydrated cell, which is why gravel driveways do not subside.
So it appears to me that the best way the people of Britain can look after themselves and prevent further flooding is to plant more trees, this having the added benefits of cleaning our air and lowing our stress levels, because what is scientific fact, is looking at a tree for five minutes a day de-stresses you almost as much as an hour in a yoga class. It's a lot cheaper as well.
Wednesday 4 July 2012
Moving with Aspergers
O.K. The rest of the family is now talking about it to others so I suppose that I am allowed to as well - we are moving.
On the one hand - great! New house in what looks to be lovely area and a chance to leave the memories tied up in this place behind.
On the other hand - Aah! The current house is a tip, boxes everywhere, packing in progress, trying to work out what can go into storage for possibly six months!
So I am totally up in the air and my head is in a total mess. On top of everything else that I have to try to squeeze into the day (Trike ride to stop my ticker packing in, diary, working on my book and sending off to competitions to try and keep my career a float) I now have to deal with packing and making sure that the dinners get made and the ferret gets looked after. I also had to take the dog for a walk the other day, because the usual walker had totally over done it and had crashed out fast asleep on the sofa.
I am rapidly approaching the point where the amount of work to be done each day is no longer an incentive to get out of bed in the morning, rather it is what is making me pull the covers over my head and do my best to go back to sleep. In a way I am not unsurprised, looking back in my diaries before I packed them up and sealed the box, (one of the advantages of keeping a daily diary) revealed that the last house move took me in exactly the same way. It must be the same instinct that makes a frog cover up its eyes when it sees the approaching ferret - 'if I can't see it maybe it will go away'.
That or I'm on the verge of flinging myself on the floor and having a screaming temper-tantrum. I have done so before and I have found that it gives a huge amount of relief to inner tensions. Not that it does anything for the inner tension of my mother, hence why I'm trying desperately not to do it again.
Can I hold on? Remains to be seen.
On the one hand - great! New house in what looks to be lovely area and a chance to leave the memories tied up in this place behind.
On the other hand - Aah! The current house is a tip, boxes everywhere, packing in progress, trying to work out what can go into storage for possibly six months!
So I am totally up in the air and my head is in a total mess. On top of everything else that I have to try to squeeze into the day (Trike ride to stop my ticker packing in, diary, working on my book and sending off to competitions to try and keep my career a float) I now have to deal with packing and making sure that the dinners get made and the ferret gets looked after. I also had to take the dog for a walk the other day, because the usual walker had totally over done it and had crashed out fast asleep on the sofa.
I am rapidly approaching the point where the amount of work to be done each day is no longer an incentive to get out of bed in the morning, rather it is what is making me pull the covers over my head and do my best to go back to sleep. In a way I am not unsurprised, looking back in my diaries before I packed them up and sealed the box, (one of the advantages of keeping a daily diary) revealed that the last house move took me in exactly the same way. It must be the same instinct that makes a frog cover up its eyes when it sees the approaching ferret - 'if I can't see it maybe it will go away'.
That or I'm on the verge of flinging myself on the floor and having a screaming temper-tantrum. I have done so before and I have found that it gives a huge amount of relief to inner tensions. Not that it does anything for the inner tension of my mother, hence why I'm trying desperately not to do it again.
Can I hold on? Remains to be seen.
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