The Omnivore’s Dilemma Part 8 of 10: USDA and Organic Rules
Since 1990, the definition of organic has been manhandled by the USDA, more specifically by the many lobbyists.  In 1997 the USDA released a watered down set of standards that defined organic food that allowed genetically modified crops, irradiation, and sewage sludge with the idea that the government wanted to impose a lighter regulation on the industry.  However, the “organic movement”, or little organic, pitted against the “organic empire”, or big organic,

The Omnivore’s Dilemma Part 7 of 10: Industrial Organic
Rather appropriate that we are talking about food on Thanksgiving Day:  Hope I don’t ruin any meals! When we walk the aisles of Whole Foods, a romantic notion swirls in our brain that the eggs spawned from “cage-free vegetarian hens” or the heirloom tomatoes from Capay Farm, “one of the early pioneers of the organic movement”, would give us a heady concoction of civility, health, and well, organic-ness to our lifestyle.  In short, that we were makin

The Omnivore’s Dilemma Part 6 of 10: Joel Salatin & Polyface Farms
We now leave the world of industrial foods to go organic.  But are we?  Well, that is more complicated than one or two sentences can convey.  So let’s take a look at famed Virginia farmer Joel Salatin and his Polyface farms.  If you ask Salatin who raises chicken, pigs, cattle and varied vegetables and crops what kind of farmer he is, he will say that he is a “grass farmer”.  In essence, he is paying homage to the power that grass has on

The Omnivore’s Dilemma Part 5 of 10: Republic of Fat
What is very interesting is that a couple hundred years ago when our founding fathers brought forth a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, they also brought forth a ton of booze.  That’s right.  Pollan shows how up until about the time of prohibition (and perhaps thereafter for a while as well), we were inundated with cheap corn whiskey, so that typical Americans drank alcohol for breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Mindfulness Mondays 26: Trials & Tribulations
Many times we are very much fearful of the future trials and tribulations or we are held in the grip of remorse and regret about our previous trials and tribulations.  I oftentimes work with my patients who are ravaged more in their heart than on their faces with previous cosmetic surgery work.  Yes, truly sometimes the work is obviously unfortunate that the individual looks quite distorted and unnatural.  However, more often than not, the scar that is left is mor