Page 5 - Fall2010
P. 5

Letters









                  organic foods—USDA extension work-  chemicals parading as food that is de-  ers to drink lowfat or skim milk, or tell
                  ers are instructed to say that organic is  void of nutrients is “the safest food in the  a group of teenagers not to eat too much
                  merely a niche marketing tool denoting  world,” the agency lacks the track record  red meat but to choose lean chicken or
                  no inherent quality differences from  and credibility to take it upon itself to  turkey instead, or tell a pregnant woman
                  conventional agriculture.          impose or decide for anyone else what  with gestational diabetes to limit her egg
                      This claim could be true for people  to eat. The USDA should only ensure  yolks to one or two a week, or tell a dia-
                  who  don’t  care  whether  their  food  that people have a manageable access to  betic that she can eat pancakes as long
                  is  laced  with  endocrine-disrupting  the information and be fully informed.  as she uses artificially-sweetened syrup
                  chemicals such as atrazine, which is  But this will not happen unless enough  and margarine, or tell me to get a ninety-
                  definitively linked to disfigured frogs; or  people demand it. So that should be part  pound eighty-five-year-old woman some
                  who don’t worry about the use of bovine  of our strategy.              lowfat cheese because the doctor has her
                  growth hormone (BgH) in conventional     A Maryland legislative commission  on a lowfat, low-cholesterol diet.
                  dairy cows, which so overloads the cows  adopted this approach in a 1995 compar-     These are things I have witnessed as
                  their udders drag on the ground and the  ison of holistic medicine with allopathic  a dietitian. All are the result of the idiotic
                  cows develop infections that lead to  medicine, based on documented reports  Dietary Guidelines that has everyone in
                  higher levels of antibiotic administra-  in mainstream medical journals. The  fear of saturated fat.
                  tion. Some mothers do not want their  senator who chaired the commission              Pam Schoenfeld, RD
                  sons consuming dairy products with this  told me how the conventional doctors       Mendham, New Jersey
                  artificially injected female hormone.  on the commission were trying to gut
                      USDA should ensure that the infor-  efforts to include documented findings  FOOD NOT EDIBLE
                  mation is there for those who want it.  favoring holistic modalities. So she ex-     I work as a dietitian in a large prison
                  Instead of one-size-fits-all guidelines,  tended the commission for a third year  hospital. This is a hospital that cares for
                  the USDA should post all of the testi-  and used that time to create a chart that  prisoners in the southeast who are too ill
                  mony and the accompanying research,  speaks for itself: six disorders broken  to live in the prison, mentally or physi-
                  and let people decide for themselves.   down into four categories with side-by-  cally.
                      The  USDA  could  simplify  the  side comparisons of the two modalities     I am not allowed to give the prison-
                  information in the form of a chart that  regarding costs, side effects, efficacy  ers more food, even if they are extremely
                  highlights the main components of each  and outcomes. In every category, the  underweight or losing weight. If some-
                  identified diet, summarizes the claimed  holistic treatment outperformed the al-  one is losing too much weight, I am able
                  effects from the diet (pro and con), and  lopathic option. By putting the findings  to add some awful corn syrup-based
                  includes some  of  the supporting re-  in the form of a chart, the comparisons  “health shakes,” that is all. The food is
                  search. The agency could host a website  are clearly described, and the outcomes  not edible. Most of it is processed, cold
                  that provides the public with a complete  are readily apparent and undeniable.  and very often premade and frozen.
                  resource list for each diet.                            Alyce Ortuzar     Snacks  twice  a  day  include  nu-
                      Given  the  USDA’s  support  for             Well Mind Association  trigrain bars, chips or snack crackers.
                  concentrated  animal  feeding  opera-            of Greater Washington  A  large  food  management  company
                  tions (CAFOs) despite their unsanitary               Ashton, Maryland  handles food service at many prisons,
                  conditions and unhealthy animals, for                                  and is for profit.
                  irradiation to try to make these con-  IDIOTIC GUIDELINES                  Strangely,  the  hospital  is  never
                  taminated products safe to consume,     I would be so happy if I never again  surveyed by Joint Commission or the
                  for cloned products parading as food,  had to hear a dietitian or a USDA-trained  Department of Health for quality of care
                  and for telling the American people that  nutritionist tell a class of kindergarten-  as other acute care or long term care

                  FALL 2010                                  Wise Traditions                                            5
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