Battered Birds and Fish Fatalities

In case your New Year’s resolution was to avoid all news media, you should know that as the year turned to 2011, approximately 5,000 dead Red-winged Blackbirds, starlings and grackles fell out of the sky in Beebe, Arkansas. About the same time, around 100,000 young drum fish washed ashore on the banks of the Arkansas River. And on January 4, two million dead juvenile spot fish floated to the surface of Chesapeake Bay.

Of course, once you have a few articles on a topic, many more are sure to follow. Similar events that may have escaped notice a few weeks ago are suddenly headline news:

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What Should We Then Eat? (Part 1)

What should we have for dinner?

I never realized what a significant question that is… or how fraught with danger. If you read (and believe) the media, health hazards lurk at every turn; environmental disaster hinges on my choices. I could even destroy the lives of workers I’ve never met, should I make my food decisions irresponsibly. How in the world does anyone with any scruples determine what to eat?

In an effort to sift through the hyperbole and discover what is actually worth our time and energy, I have been reading extensively both online and in actually print-on-paper books. Now I want to pass along what I’ve learned. Hopefully it will save you  time and money, and assuage your conscience at the same time.

Today, I want to consider the health aspects of our food choices. (I’ll cover the other issues in later postings.)

We all “know” that some foods are beneficial, while others will cut us down as we chew. Sausage and pepperoni pizza? Bad. A huge slab of caramel-topped cheesecake? Must be bad! Bran muffins? Supposedly good, except that they’re full of white flour, fat and sugar, which is bad. Apples are generally considered good (except for the pesticide load on the non-organic ones), as is broccoli, spinach, and sweet potatoes. While we may not always make the sensible choice, at least the options are pretty clear.

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