Can You See My Grin?

Today, I went to my post box and discovered a card from a special friend. My smile lightened my step as I went forward to my little shack in the woods. Once I got home and opened the envelope to find a treat from one who could least afford it, I was elated. It is amazing to feel so uplifted! Such a small thing, others would say, but I know how much it means to receive this unexpected present. The least I can do is say THANK YOU!

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On Liberals' Proposed National Food Policy

Don't be fooled by the big numbers. Here's what the Liberals propose to be included in their national food policy as reported by the CBC:

* $50 million to improve food inspections and ensure imported foods meet domestic standards
* $80 million to promote farmers markets and local food
* $40 million to help 250,000 low-income children get healthy food (my emphasis)

Let's look at that last one, shall we?

Any program has administrative costs, so it's not clear that the entire $40 million would go to 250,000 children. However, let's assume it does.

The numbers reduce to this: $160 per year per child, or $13.33 per month, or 44 cents per day.

Wow.

Food costs are higher where people of low income live. Most of us haven't the means - a vehicle or bus fare - to get to where the bargains are. We must walk everywhere or transport ourselves in a four-wheeled scooter (if we're so fortunate to have one and live in a building that provides plug-in facilities). If we've a scooter, then accessibility to, from and in stores becomes a further barrier.

How much do you suppose someone can buy for 44 cents in a neighbourhood where there's only one grocery store and accessibility for people with disabilities is an issue?

Here's another bone to pick. Children under a certain age don't have income. Their parents or guardians do.

You can bet that hungry children have even hungrier parents. Parents will deprive themselves first of food before they'll let their children starve.

Politicians and poverty activists should stop the "child poverty" crap. Because you can't lift a child out of poverty unless you treat the whole family - hell, unless you treat the whole community.

Incidentally, by the time the Liberal plan would come into being, inflation would have eaten up all or a good chunk of that 44 cents.

[Cross-posted at economicus ridiculous.]

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Feeding Yourself on a Dollar a Day

So two teachers in the USA set about doing an experiment to see if they could eat on less than $1.00 per day for 30 days. Then they published a book about it.

They needn't have bothered.

This is old news for anyone who lives in my peer group of income. I live like that all the time and have detailed on economicus ridiculous the struggle to eat nutritional food and still stay healthy. What differentiates those in true poverty from those merely experimenting are certain assumptions: that one has a car for toodling around to get the best deals and in bulk; a fully equipped kitchen; a garden or balcony or other area from which one can grow one's own food and the tools with which to do it; and so on.

In Canada, income in the lowest decile category demands no more than a $1.00 day spent on food. So let no one suppose there's no poverty in this country. It's all around us.

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New Year's Resolution.

Yes, in this news, vegetarians fare better.

Anyone thinking that vegetarian diets were risky was told otherwise when the Dietitians of Canada and the American Dietetic Association issued a joint statement in June.

After reviewing the most current science, the report concluded that a well-planned vegetarian diet is healthy for people of all ages, including infants, children, teenagers and pregnant women.

What's more, vegetarian diets were linked with better health, including leaner bodies, lower cholesterol levels, reduced risk of heart disease, and lower cancer rates.

Roughly 4 per cent of Canadian adults follow a vegetarian diet, a number that's expected to increase over the next decade.

Not so those who seem to eat more than enough.

Obesity rates climbed for both men and women – today, 18 per cent of men and 16 per cent of women are obese. The highest rate of obesity (22 per cent) was among 55- to 64-year-olds: 24 per cent of men and 21 per cent of women.

New Year's resolution: Eat more vegetables!

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Visiting the Food Bank

Went to the food bank for the first time two weeks ago. Had been putting off this visit for the past eight years, during which my household income from self-employment was at or below the poverty gap. Disabilities prohibit regular employment.

In Canada, the poverty GAP hovers around the lowest decile (i.e., 10th) income category, while the poverty LINE marks the lowest quintile, or 5th, income category. In other words, the poverty measure almost exclusively used in this country is Statistics Canada's Low Income Cut Offs (LICOs), which divide the income from all Canadian households into five groupings.

Since the LICOs are the same across the country, there are some communities in which residents living at the poverty line, as opposed to the poverty gap, are experiencing no real hardship. Certainly that had been the case in this community. Recent economic development in the form of a huge big box boom - thanks to business-friendly municipal councils - has resulted in a rapid increase in rents and other household costs. That has made living at or below the poverty gap even harder.

Anyway, my visit to the local food bank was only to get bread, which is free to anyone who walks in off the street. One doesn't have to apply for this food assistance, which is why I didn't get anything but bread. Have felt too embarrassed and intimidated to go through the application process.*

With bread prices more than having doubled over the past year, I'd stopped buying it. Was nice to have bread again and I'm grateful to local grocers for supplying it to the food bank.

I just wish our grocers wouldn't send ALL their day-old bread to the food bank.

It used to be that bread and other foodstuffs, like ripe fruit and veggies, was available at half price for customers to purchase. Now, either you must pay the full price for fresh bread or go to the food bank to get day-old bread for free.

There's no longer an in-between option for low-income shoppers. This suggests that it's not just the recession contributing to a surge in food bank use. It's also changes in local practices made in response to the existence of food banks, such as the removal of shopping alternatives for people of low income.

* For example, do applicants to the food bank have to be on government financial assistance? If not, must they reveal everything about their personal finances, backed up by bank statements, copies of their rental agreement, etc? All this can be enough to keep some people away, despite their need for help.

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Bossy, The Cow

We all seem to have an image of Bossy, the milk cow, placidly chewing her cud in a field of vibrant green grass. This is the cow we all get our milk from, carefully raised on the local farmer's field. Isn't it?

The reality of cows bred for milking is far different. This video may be an extreme example of cruelty, but it is more common than we want to believe.

The dairy industry's standard forms of cruelty also led to suffering for these cows. In order to make milking easier, cows' tails were amputated by tightly binding them with elastic bands, causing the skin and tissue to slowly die and slough off and leaving the animals unable to swat away flies, which, in addition to tormenting the cows, also led to the spread of disease. Tail-docking is unnecessary and cruel, which is why it has been condemned by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Milk produced for human consumption comes at a high price: to the cow. First they must breed and produce a calf at least once a year to maintain their milk flow. They are dosed with numerous drugs. They often do not see the light of day, as they are continuously kept in filthy barns. The calves they bear become the tender veal we find in our grocery stores. Torn from their dames almost as soon as they're born, they are put in small corrals in the dark for a short time before they are slaughtered then rendered into human food.

As I haven't had milk since I was a teenager, I am always appalled when I encounter just what takes place in agri-business today.

I choose, instead, to drink an almond beverage, rich in protein, calcium and a small amount of easily digestible fat.

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Crazy for Raw Food

Yep, after twelve years as a vegan I've begun eating living food. That is raw, organic food only. First to go was morning coffee, which resulted in a three day headache. Next was the one slice of whole wheat bread I consumed with tofu, garlic and tahini, which I haven't missed at all. And finally, the steamed vegetables, hot bean recipes and other specially planned menu items that were favorites on my list for an early evening meal. So far, so good.

The raw food diet has been around for a long time.

The raw food diet, though new to many, has history on its side.

It started with the ancient Greeks," says Cousens. "After studying for a time with the Essenes-an ancient Jewish sect of ascetics and mystics - Pythagoras, the sixth century BC philosopher and mathematician, returned to Greece as a believer in live foods. And according to Herodotus, the father of history, the Pelagasians lived to be around the age of 200 years on a diet of raw foods.

Dr. Max Bircher-Benner read Pythagoras' work, decided to heal himself and used raw foods in his Swiss clinic in the 1890s, His contemporary, Dr. Max Gerson, used raw foods to core Albert Scbweitzer of diabetes. He also cured Schweitzer's wife of tuberculosis of the skin. Then there was Dr. Edmond Bordeaux Szekely, who ran a live food clinic in Mexico from 1937 to 1970. People have used this diet for literally thousands of years."

Not everyone agrees that eating only raw food is good for you.

Long term, the raw diet may have questionable benefits. The same Journal of Nutrition study that touted the heart-health benefits of dining raw also found that study participants had increased levels of homocysteine due to vitamin B-12 deficiency. Further, a Washington University study found that people following a raw food diet had lower bone mass, although apparently healthy bones.

Critics of raw foodism also warn against a host of nutritional deficiencies including low calcium, iron, protein, and insufficient calories. They point out that while it’s true some enzymes are destroyed when food is heated, the body in fact produces and uses ample digestive enzymes on its own. Further, cooking can actually make certain nutrients easier to absorb, as with the beta-carotene in carrots. As Bronee points out, “Not all cooked foods are created equal. There’s a big difference between deep fried and blanched.”

I am enjoying the change. My body is responding well. I am sleeping better; my hormones are fluctuating less; I'm losing a little weight; the urge to snack on sweets in the evening has disappeared and my emotional health is improving. Not only that, I find my food bill has dropped a couple of dollars a day. What could be better than that?

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Prices of Food Staples Soar

On January 27 this year, I mentioned that the price of a single loaf of (whole wheat) bread, previously the least expensive in the store and made daily by a local grocer, had risen over the previous six months from $0.89 to $1.39. That same bread today is ON SALE for $2.00, which means this single staple food has gone up, over a 15 month period, by over 225 percent.

Among the ironies: the price of a 5 kg bag of whole wheat bread flour has remained constant over the same period. It can be purchased - on sale, at this grocer or regularly, at another store beyond walking distance - for $10.

Thanks to friend Daphne, I acquired a used bread maker awhile back. Now I make my own bread. But with all food staples going up, including rice, whose price also has more than doubled, now I'm thinking of cutting out all grains except my morning oatmeal. A large bag of that, for the time being, continues to sell for less than bulk price. (You really have to watch those bulk prices. They're frequently double the prices for the equivalent packaged product.)

It no longer makes sense, in other words, for the traditional staples to be considered, well, 'staples'. It now makes as much sense to make lettuce or other leafy green wraps, instead of bread sandwiches, and for this vegan to use low-cost legumes or pulses (e.g., I can get green lentils here for $2.10/kg) instead of rice. And I've already latched onto Daphne's idea of sprouting my own food, including from those same green lentils. My first batch is sprouting as I type.

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Mushrooms

It's highly unlikely to see mushrooms in the summer season around here, but the past weeks a few brave specimens have popped up around the boles of a number of the larger evergreen trees. Their arrival indicates that rain is on the way, for reasons still unknown to mycologists.

Agaricus Agustus, also known as 'The Prince' is a highly-prized edible variety, if you can get to the mushrooms before fly maggots invade their tender flesh. They are a relative of the kind you find in some grocery stores, sought by food junkies.

Seeing these large-topped fungi prompted me to grab my camera and put pen to paper.

Woodland Den

The ground surrounding this wee cottage
Are strewn a minefield of mushroom montage
Each step set anywhere must first explore
The delicate condition of the forest floor
For fungi frolic rain plashed and cool
A few pretentious, more yet minuscule

They burst the earth in hues abundant
The odour off them robust and pungent
Therefore, place your feet so gently when
You go strolling in this woodland den.

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Meat-Free Monday

Okay, Okay, I know I go on a LOT about a meat-free diet, but the proof shows up in our bodies. Eating without ingesting animal flesh is definitely beneficial to our health.

[T]he fact that eating meat leads to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and lethargy, I'll skip extended analysis of these facts, other than to say: When Johns Hopkins, Columbia, the American Dietetic Association, and dozens of other health organizations argue that the less meat you eat, the better off you'll be, it's worth listening to them.

To get you started, two well-known Public Health schools in the USA are promoting a Meatless Monday campaign. It is a positive step in the direction of overall health for each individual and the entire planet.

[S]cientists tell us that if all Americans switched from eating chickens and pigs to eating beans and grains for just one day per week, that would stop as much global warming as if everyone in the U.S. shifted to ultra-efficient Toyota hybrids (which is the weekly equivalent of using 12 billion fewer gallons of gasoline). Of course I have to point out the obvious: If we all stopped eating animals completely and shifted to vegetarian foods, that would save 84 billion gallons of gas per week (and all the troubles that go with that kind of consumption).

Today is Monday. Today is the day to eat a meat-free diet. If you have already committed to one-day-a-week of meat-free eating, now is the day to add another. Your body will thank you, Mother Earth will thank you and all the animals that were not slaughtered to supply you with their flesh will thank you.

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So, You Wanna Eat Meat?

Our long evolution from primate to man has shown that humans are herbivors. And the science is there to prove it. Our bodies are not equipped with large fangs to rip flesh from bones, our hands are not (and never have been) designed to catch and kill prey and our large intestine does not provide for easy passage of ingested flesh.

Don't take my word for it. Read what the professionals have to say.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine President Dr. Neal Barnard says in his book, The Power of Your Plate, in which he explains that “early humans had diets very much like other great apes, which is to say a largely plant-based diet, drawing on foods we can pick with our hands. Research suggests that meat-eating probably began by scavenging -- eating the leftovers that carnivores had left behind. However, our bodies have never adapted to it. To this day, meat-eaters have a higher incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other problems.”

In fact, our hands are perfect for grabbing and picking fruits and vegetables. Similarly, like the intestines of other herbivores, ours are very long (carnivores have short intestines so they can quickly get rid of all that rotting flesh they eat). We don’t have sharp claws to seize and hold down prey. And most of us (hopefully) lack the instinct that would drive us to chase and then kill animals and devour their raw carcasses.

We seem to be hung up on the idea the we HAVE to eat meat! This is learned conditioning which is continually reinforced in our society.

Top nutritional and anthropological scientists from the most reputable institutions imaginable say categorically that humans are natural herbivores, and that we will be healthier today if we stick with our herbivorous roots. It may be inconvenient, but it alas, it is the truth.

Be brave, folks, break through your conditioning; do some research; get out the alternative cookbooks; enhance your health and that of our little blue planet by eliminating flesh from your diet today.

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Tweeting on Hunger Awareness Day

The conversation began with Michael Shapcott reminding the Twitter-sphere that it's National Hunger Awareness Day. The following shows that I am not, contrary to my own previous declaration, finished with poverty activism.

michaelshapcott National hunger awareness day today in Canada: More than 700,000 forced to use foodbanks monthly http://tinyurl.com/msjtll

tidewaters RT @FrancescaBG : RT @michaelshapcott : 700,000+ use food banks monthly http://is.gd/MruG | That # misleading. Many poor won't use food banks.

michaelshapcott Just back from Commons committee hearings on poverty: Everyone is polite - what we need is political commitment, timelines, targets, $$$

tidewaters RT @michaelshapcott : Just back from Commons committee on poverty: Everyone is polite <= Have had it w/ "polite"; it often cloaks patronizing

michaelshapcott RT @tidewaters : RT @michaelshapcott : 700,000+ at food banks | # misleading. Many poor won't use food banks// This is very sad and very true

tidewaters Grocers in my community donate ALL day-olds/off veggies/etc to food bank. Leave nothing 4 poor who won't use food bank. ...Cont'd

tidewaters Cont'd... Grocer policy 2 send all old fd 2 fd bank sends msg: If UR poor, U must use food bank. Treats all poor alike. Limits our choice.

FrancescaBG @tidewaters it's a paradox,I've gotten hampers for families who just can't imagine going themselves to a FB

tidewaters @FrancescaBG It's complicated. For many, it's about privacy, self-esteem, not wanting 2b object of charity, wanting 2 do 4 self...

tidewaters @FrancescaBG Or 2b seen as begging. A WISE storyteller: "I did all kinds of begging when I was growing up: Pls don't hit me, pls love me..."

tidewaters @FrancescaBG Cont'd WISE storyteller: "Pls look at me as a person. Now I won't beg for anything." Like many WISE ST's she exp. child abuse.

Moral of the story: To be at the mercy, charity or behest of the Other can be more than a person can do. Personal histories can impair the ability to trust or to seek help in ways seen as appropriate or fitting by supporters (and even many challengers) of the status quo. One must constantly check one's assumptions.

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Well, that was a Bust

We're baaaaack!

As I'd written the day of our departure, Daphne and I were excited about attending the Canada Social Forum, which was held in Calgary May 19th to 22nd.

It will not only be an event with lots of opportunities for networking and inserting our persnickety views, it will also be four days and three nights of getting spoiled!

Yea, well, not so much on the networking or the spoiling, but we did inject our persnickety views in a decidedly loud, direct manner on Thursday morning. By that point, with neither of us having slept well and the censors in my head gone on vacation, we didn't so much express as vomit up what we'd been trying to keep down. May write about this later; am still too angry and disillusioned to do it now.

As for the "nutritious and bountiful food," that was a bust.

Daphne and I are vegans. We'd indicated such in our registration info. The organizers at the on-site check-in gave us little cards with "Vegan" and our names on them; we were to give these to the wait staff at the hotel who would fetch our specially prepared vegan meals.

Such a system was not in place for the continental breakfasts, which consisted of sugary muffins and cakes, jams and butter. (Yours truly doesn't respond well to sugar.) Although we asked for them, no bagels and peanut butter were provided for two out of the three breakfasts; on the last day, bagels were included, but again no peanut butter. On that last day, the omnivores got protein - scrambled eggs; the vegans didn't. Of the two lunches to be provided by the hotel, the first came to us without a protein component - no tofu or lentils or chick peas or other legumes.

In other words, out of the five meals prepared for us by the hotel as part of the event, three lacked the necessary protein component of a vegan diet. This is not unique to this event or to the Hyatt Regency in Calgary. This has been our experience at every hotel we've stayed at in the past several years - in Vancouver (3), Whitehorse, Kamloops, Toronto and now in Calgary. Doesn't matter how fancy the hotel; their highly-paid chefs appear to be unaware that vegans need protein as much as omnivores do.

We don't fault the organizers for the food situation. They did their part and they provided us cash to pay for the suppers and travel-day lunches not included as part of the event. The fault is with the people at the hotel who were in charge of meal preparation. As usual, the least-paid staff, those serving the food and taking care of the rooms, performed their tasks in exemplary fashion.

Part 2 - Ocean's rant.

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Now Eat Your Greens

Locally grown food is a commodity everyone says they want. People tell me they don't mind paying a few extra coins to purchase freshly harvested, organic produce.

In the Cowichan Valley, there are a burgeoning number of hard working farmers busily raising animals for food, establishing vineyards and orchards, planting beds of luscious edible plants and tending colourful flower gardens. All with the intent of sustaining themselves and providing an alternative to the mainstream food supply.

You'll rarely find this type of fare in the usual places. You may have to seek them out at the weekly Farmer's Market, roadside stands, directly from the farmer, or in special stores that cater to consumers who want only the best locally grown organic produce.

Too much trouble? It is well worth your time and the small extra cost to invest in your health, the environment, in supporting the grower and in encouraging local food sustainability.

Now, eat your greens!

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Guest Post: Walls

The following is by guest writer Deb Maike, who Daphne and I are hoping will soon join us on a regular basis. After reading her post, you'll understand why.

I was in Berlin in the fall of 1984 visiting a friend. The Berlin Wall, erected in the 60s still split the city in two; the forces of France, America and the Soviet Union were very present; the ravages of WW2 still evident. A modern, diverse, artistic city existed in West Berlin; the East grey, dark, depressed and denied the freedoms known to their surrounding neighbours. Gaby took me to see the Wall; tall and imposing grey concrete; Furry Freak Brothers graffiti added ‘colour’. Twenty feet in front of the real wall was a fake wall used for filming movies; pristine and blankly reflective of the monster behind it.

At this time in history another wall was being constructed in Soweto; another situation where locking out freedoms and throwing away the key seemed to be the most appropriate action.

Since those days both walls have come down; creating their own new set of problems but allowing the freedoms required to overcome the obstacles. In this day of international, speed-of-light communication between the ‘people’ a change for the better has occurred. It is increasingly difficult to put up and maintain walls; political walls; societal walls; religious walls; ethnic walls; ‘you name it’ walls, as awareness of injustices rises and gives voice to these unacceptable circumstances.

Yet, walls still exist. In Belfast peaceful, until lately, since ‘the Troubles’, there are still walls that separate Catholic from Protestant neighbourhoods in the city. While they claim to have put aside their differences, the very existence of this physical reminder continues to support and reinforce the lie they purport to have overcome.

Then there is Jerusalem; another religious, ethnic wall has been built; more neighbourhoods divided; more of the common folk divided by political machinations.

As long as these physical reminders of the principles of ‘divide and conquer’ continue to exist and, worse yet, be built, the efforts of individuals to break down barriers of a greater magnitude are diminished; barriers to education, equality, food security, housing, clean water and personal safety; barriers to basic human rights.

As long as greed exists, walls will exist. As long as we continue to support capitalism, walls will exist; as long as we continue to ignore the impoverished in our own communities walls will exist.

As with Berlin and Soweto, walls can come down but it takes the efforts of the many to survive the consequences and build the alternatives. Belfast has a perfect opportunity; Jerusalem, a harder nut to crack.

Canadians are great at deluding themselves into believing we have a ‘perfect’ country. We have an opportunity to be that exalted place but we first need to address the barriers which exist within our own borders; the same barriers of exclusion, poverty, clean water, ethnic discrimination, religious affiliation, gender equality and access to education that we want for the rest of the world. In these difficult economic times the greed of the few still determines the circumstances of the many.

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Meat = Meat

I often hear people say they are eating a healthier, more environmentally conscious, animal friendly diet by omitting "red" meat from their diet.

Eating an animal's flesh is eating meat. Period.

All aspects of large scale animal farming degrade the environment and debase the lives of animals raised as food for humans.

On the issue of global warming, all animal agriculture is a nightmare, relative to producing grains and beans. In a 400 page report from the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organization, Livestock's Long Shadow, scientists conclude that the business of raising animals for food is responsible for about 18 percent of all warming -- in fact meat causes about 40 percent more warming than all cars, trucks, and planes combined.

That is in part because turning animals into meat requires many stages of (energy intensive and polluting) production (i.e., transporting feed, animals, and meat; running feed mills, factory farms, and slaughterhouses; refrigerating carcasses during transport and in grocery stores -- chickens are at least as energy consumptive as cattle for all these stages), compared to plant foods.

Environmental Defense calculated that if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads. Imagine if we dropped all meat from our diets altogether.

And it's not just global warming, of course: In a story about chicken waste pollution, the New York Times reported in November that "[a]lthough the dairy and hog industry in states near the bay produce more pounds of manure, poultry waste has more than twice the concentration of pollutants per pound." I assume that's in part because poultry are given a lot more drugs than pigs and cattle -- because they're kept in even worse conditions and thus require more drugs.

The benefits of eating meat to our health are dubious, at best.

...the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health leads the "Meatless Mondays" campaign, which is supported by 28 other public health schools. Their goal is to cut Americans' meat-consumption, in order to lessen our risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and so on. And of course, they rightly impugn all meat, not just "red" meat.

The choice to end eating meat from our diet will help the planet recover, enhance our health and reduce animal cruelty.

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One Day Wonder: Without Meat

Kathy Fretson complied a list of statistic showing the benefits of choosing to leave meat out of our diet for one day only.

According to Environmental Defense, if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads

And if Canadians did the same thing?

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Where's The Beef?

As a vegan I am intensely interested in how others embrace this diet in their daily life and was delighted to find this story about a vegan body builder.

The 41-year-old is irrepressibly handsome, with a mayoral smile, shaved head, and tiny triangular tattoo under his left eye. At 6 feet, 190 pounds, he's "still in the baby stage"; he hopes to gain another 25 pounds. After a four-year hiatus from bodybuilding, he's spent the last seven months resculpting his musculature—all on a diet of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, legumes, and lots of soy protein.

I'm impressed!

Keith Williams is not alone in advancing the vegan cause. Seems there are quite a number of athletes embracing a vegan way of being.

These individuals and other vegans are showing that humans can exist and excel on a plant based diet. Which is a good thing, in my books.

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Recession Tips?

Stories are beginning to appear about how to navigate through the looming recession. This one, about past due-dates on food, showed up on CBC.

....with the recession biting your budget, you're hesitant to put any more pressure on your bottom line by throwing out something that might have some value.

It is more about labelling on prepackaged items like meat, dairy and medication.

It is legal to sell products in Canada that have passed their best before date as long as it's still fit for human consumption and is not labeled, packaged, treated, processed or advertised in a false, misleading or deceptive manner. Retailers aren't allowed to tamper with the best before date.

It sure doesn't have much to do with saving money in a pinch. If we are going to "cut back" to deal with lower incomes, food purchases ought to be the last to be curtailed.

I would suggest that recession tips start with changing our consumer habits. Forget the hot tub, the new 40-inch LCD flat screen TV and all things wanted over needed.

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Good News-Bad News

The good news is about bananas.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose. Combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Bananas aid in fighting depression, reduce symptoms of PMS, morning sickness, heartburn, hangovers, constipation, anemia, stress, nerves and will alleviate the sting of a mosquito. And they are relatively inexpensive to buy.

Now for the bad news.

Below the headlines about rocketing food prices and rocking governments, there lays a largely unnoticed fact: bananas are dying. The foodstuff, more heavily consumed even than rice or potatoes, has its own form of cancer. It is a fungus called Panama Disease, and it turns bananas brick-red and inedible.

There is no cure. They all die as it spreads, and it spreads quickly. Soon -- in five, 10 or 30 years -- the yellow creamy fruit as we know it will not exist. The story of how the banana rose and fell can be seen as a strange parable about the corporations that increasingly dominate the world -- and where they are leading us.

What a sad state of affairs!

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