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Factory Farming

The big names in American agriculture would like you to believe that your strip steak, salmon filet, scrambled eggs and bacon came from healthy, happy animals raised on good, old-fashioned family farms. But, as more Americans are coming to realize, behind those perfectly cellophane-wrapped meats, bright white eggs and plastic milk gallons are tales so gruesome and downright shocking that it’s a surprise Hollywood has yet to make it a movie about it.

“It” is agribusiness, the term given to describe the mass production of meats, poultry, fish, eggs and milk in America today, and it’s the topic of Ken Midkiff’s new book, The Meat You Eat: How Corporate Farming Has Endangered America’s Food Supply — a book that absolutely every American who values their health, eats meat, believes in humanity, and/or values our environment should read!

If you’ve never heard about the unethical conditions and extreme environmental toll of factory farms or the many unsavory and dangerous additives to mass-produced meats and animal products, then be prepared for a huge wakeup call when you read this important book. And for those who have, this book will open your eyes to the real problem at hand-large and incredibly powerful corporations who are in control of the food supply-and offer you a solution that you can really use.

Unsavory Mass Farming Statistics … Did You Know?

* About 70 percent of all antibiotics and similar drugs produced in the United States are given to livestock and poultry?

* Arsenic and selenium are sometimes added to livestock feed to stimulate appetite?

* Sanderson Farms, a chicken plant that is ranked 24th on the EPA’s list of the largest polluters in the country, and whose Web site says, “100% Chicken. Naturally,” released 2,195,343 pounds of toxic wastes into neighboring waterways?

* 3% of U.S. farms generate 62% of all agricultural production?

* An average farmed salmon steak contains nearly 10 times more toxic PCBs than a wild salmon steak?

The message of “The Meat You Eat” comes through loud and clear: Large corporations have taken over the production of food in America and, unless we get control back to the small farmers who take pride in producing healthy food from happy animals, our food supplies, our environment and our own bodies will suffer.

It is quite apparent that Ken Midkiff has done extensive homework on the topic (and, as he is the Sierra Club’s Clean Water Campaign Director, has access to some “insider” facts), as this book is not a “rant” but instead is supported throughout by researched insights. Here are just a few of the examples that Midkiff cites:

* In McDonald County, Mississippi, where 13 million broiler chickens and hundreds of thousands of turkeys are produced, every stream is on a government “impaired water body” list.

* The smells coming from one hog farm, with some 80,000 hogs, in Missouri forced many residents to buy air conditioners because they could no longer open their windows for fresh air.

* School officials in an Ohio-town that’s home to a chicken plant with 15 million chickens struggled just to keep flies away from students.

Clearly the environment cannot take too much more of this abuse before permanent damage sets in, but if this is the damage being done to the environment, imagine the damage being done to our bodies. Animals on factory farms — this includes cows, pigs and fish — are not raised to provide healthy food sources they’re raised to make the maximum amount of money possible.

Maximum profit is why they are fed sub-par foods like grains, pumped full of antibiotics and hormones to fend of the diseases that fester in the large warehouses and make them grow quickly. Maximum profit is why they are raised in toxic environments full of animal wastes and chemicals, and then sometimes, as in the case of milk and some eggs, are pasteurized or heat treated to kill off dangerous pathogens (that are there in the first place because the conditions are so toxic).

In the end, as Midkiff makes clear in “The Meat You Eat,” the animals suffer, the environment suffers, and the health of you and your loved ones suffers.

Let’s Give Our Kids a Chance

At this rate, it seems that factory farms will soon make family farms a thing of the past, and our children and generations to come will not have access to the clean sources of food that many of us took for granted.

Farmland

One of the best parts of “The Meat You Eat” is a resource section in the back to find small, sustainable farmers in your area. These are the types of farmers that the big corporations draw pictures of on their product labels; the real “family” farms that our society is forcing into extinction. There is a listing for every state.

Aside from being free of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides and other chemicals, animals that are raised on pasture, or on small, sustainable farms are happier and healthier:

* Factory-farmed cattle fed grains are more susceptible to E. Coli and other bacterial infections

* Meat from pasture-raised animals is lower in calories and “bad” omega-6 fats and higher in “good” omega-3 and CLA fats

* Eggs from poultry raised on pasture have 10% less fat, 40% more vitamin A and 400% more omega-3

* Factory-farmed animals live in highly stressful and inhumane conditions, making them predisposed to illness and food-borne pathogens

No matter what your personal political affiliation, SixWise.com urges everyone to take the time to read The Meat You Eat — it’s a quick read (the chapters are even broken down into easily manageable sections titled Big Pig, Big Chicken and Big Egg, Big Milk, Big Beef and Big Fish), an important read, and one that can help lead to a positive transformation in both a big-picture and personal sense.

“We have given up to the agribusiness corporations a crucial part of our responsibility as human beings and we must now think of ways to take it back.”

- Wendell Berry, from the Foreword

From the FREE SixWise.com e-newsletter, the Web’s #1 most read newsletter with original articles in all 6 areas of life leading to complete wellness.

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The conditions for breaking a world record are never perfect, but I wish they could sometimes be just a little less imperfect! On the other hand, having to face the added challenges may be a good thing - they compel you to intensify your determination and concentration. I know in my case, at least, the obstacles certainly make my prayers to God considerably more fervent!

A few months ago, I was invited to participate in the Impossibility-Challenger World Record Games in Munich, Germany, to be held in November. I thought about trying to improve my time for skipping a marathon, but eventually opted to attempt bettering the time for running a mile while balancing a full pint glass milk bottle on my head. The current record is 9 minutes and 24 seconds. Although this event sounds silly (the distance version of this record was first established by a clown), it actually requires tremendous one-pointed focus. At no time can the bottle fall off your head, and if the bottle starts sliding, you can’t use your hands to adjust it. Instead, you must gently jerk your neck to reposition the bottle and do this without breaking stride. Also, in my case, since my head is not flat on top, I have to keep my noggin tilted to maintain a level surface and try to run as fast as possible in this awkward position. It is not a pretty sight!

Obviously, since so much of the ability to balance the bottle resides in the neck, the worst thing that could happen while preparing for this event would be to get a sore neck. Well, two weeks before the Munich Gamesno, I didn’t injure my neck, but I developed a strained calf muscle (from too much rope jumping), which is almost as bad. The key to good milk bottle racing is to reduce the bounce in your stride as much as possible. This is best accomplished by keeping a low center of gravity and vigorously pushing off with your feet, using your calves. With a week to go, there was not much improvement in the calf department, so I unwisely decided to brush up on another feat I’ve been working on - keeping the most 20-ounce beer glasses stacked up in a massive tower balanced on my chin for 10 seconds. My friend Bipin and I had a strenuous practice, which ended when the 60-pound glass tower came crashing down to the ground. My hopes for breaking the milk bottle mile came crashing down along with it, because suddenly I realized my neck hurt when I turned my head.

There was not much point in going to the Games, so I called the organizer, Anke, to explain the situation. Fortunately or unfortunately, when Anke answered the phone, she was so enthusiastic, I just didn’t have the heart to break the news to her. Well, I thought, if the track condition is good and if it isn’t too windy, maybe I can salvage this thing. Wind is a bottle balancer’s worst enemy. A strong wind causes the precariously perched bottle to shift in unexpected and unpredictable ways. But when I inquired about the weather, Anke effused, ” Oh, you’ll love it, the weather is perfect for running - cool and windy!”

I decided to take up the challenge anyway, despite all the problems. As long as my power of concentration was good, maybe I could still do well. I boarded Lufthansa, flew through the night and arrived in Munich on Saturday, November 7th, hoping to catch up on my sleep later on so I could be sharp for the event the next morning. However, at midnight, after only a 3- hour snooze, I jumped out of bed, totally awake and tuned in to New York time. Finally, at 8:30 a.m, having spent a sleepless night, I began to feel really light-headed and exhausted. That was the good news. The bad news was that my event was scheduled to start in one hour!

I focused on a photo of my spiritual teacher, Sri Chinmoy, and tried to meditate for all I was worth. To my immediate relief, it worked! I felt deeply tranquil; I could almost touch the sea of inner peace that descended into the room. My troubles vanished, and when I arrived at the track and planted the milk bottle full of organic milk on my head, I was in another zone. With the German T.V. cameras rolling and the small crowd of spectators full of expectation, the official timers called out, “On your mark, get set, go!” I took off like a rocket and within 20 steps the bottle fell off my head!

That was not only embarrassing, it was downright distressing. I confidently yelled out, “Don’t worry, it sometimes takes time to warm up, I’ll try again”. But in my own mind I’m thinking, “Wow, I hope that doesn’t happen again!” I refilled the bottle, the timers repeated their lines, and this time everything just flowed. The neck, the calf, the wind, the lost sleep, even the frost on the track, faded into a gentle current of peace that just carried me along with it. As I rounded the first turn of the second lap, the bottle started to slide off, but I was able to rebalance it. On the third lap, I felt my calves getting a little tired for just a moment and, as I rounded the turn on the final lap, I was able to quickly banish the disturbing thought that if I dropped the bottle now, I would have to do the whole thing all over again!

The officials announced that the time was 8 minutes 27 seconds (8:27), and cheers erupted from the sidelines. I was thrilled and amazed. The time was almost a minute better than the previous record but, for me, there was a deeper significance. Sri Chinmoy was born on August 27th (8/27). In the end, after all the trials and tribulations, I couldn’t have planned a better result even if I had tried!

Ashrita Furman has the record for breaking the most Guiness World Records (119) Ashrita also currently has the most records still standing - 44. Ashrita lives in Queens, NY where he is the manager of a Health Food Store. He has been a student of Sri Chinmoy for over 30 years.

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