Re: Re: Please: Source for raw unsulfured unfumigated nuts & fruits OFF list

[Guest guest]

Joyce,

Off list because it's not DMSO.

I've lived in the inner city for nearly 30 years. Worked with social

service agencies nearly as long. Do not pity me; my neighbors and I

are not poor. Nor are most of the persons served by social services.

Oh, they lined up around the block to get the Thanksgiving handouts

from the food banks a couple of weeks ago but that's because it's their

choice to do so. Where there is poverty, the choice to take a handout

or pay for cable TV does not exist. Where there is poverty the choice

to let people who are generous pay for your "babies" or to learn to do

your own fingernails/hair/oil change, etc does not exist. Where there

is poverty you cannot choose to live alllllllllllllllll in one apt

above the restaurant/grocery/nail shop. These people have choices and

they make them. That's not to say we should not be charitable but the

food choices, the information choices are just that: choices. In this

country, USA, ignorance is a choice, thus far.

There are a few exceptions--very old, immobile people and children who

are dependent--otherwise, it's all a matter of priorities.

If you cannot make soup unless it comes out of a can; food stamps will

not cover your needs nor that of your family. Same for oatmeal,

cookies and venison. And, you cannot convince a 45 year old grama who's

trying to feed grand kids that she can't cook. She raised her family

and did "fine" (even tho' she now has her grankids). She thinks she

knows about bargains and about nutrition and is rarely teachable. The

goal of most is to "get on disability" because then there's income with

no effort. And it's terribly important to get there now that welfare

requires an attempt at work. Education for people who know it all is

very difficult. They have to do what the doc says and have trouble

choosing between a prescription and pop.

On my walks after a food distribution day I find food that requires

preparation/cooking dumped--the whole food, not the boxes of stuff with

preservatives; broccoli, beans, fruit, cauliflower, frozen turkey and

venison. The bread distributors end up putting the whole-grain high-end

stuff in the dumpster because there's sooo muchleft over and the poor

only want the sweet stuff and the fake white stuff or the artificial

wheat stuff. Yes, they're not always organic whole foods but these

folks refuse to avail themselves of the nutritous stuff that's

available and they don't keep gardens. The starter plants always are

mostly left behind. They even grumble about fresh cut christmas trees

because they get a voucher instead of being delivered to their door

like all those guilt gifts. (You don't want me to get started on

Christmas charities.)

Now then, not everyone who uses a food bank fits that stereotype but

then, those people will never admit to being poor because they are not.

They may never be able to buy organic but they do know how to cut the

spots out of apples for applesauce. They're thrilled with a

pomegranate. They take the soy oil but never deep fry anything to

minimize harm. They can't afford free-range meat or find raw milk so

they find ways to minimize damage and maximize nutrition. They read;

they learn; they make choices too.

These people are not poor; they make poor choices. Don't let the media

fool you.

Off the soap box now. Saralou.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm..............Overall,

the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air

conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and

a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV

reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain

medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his

own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the

past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's

life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire

poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/bg2064.cfm..........As a group, America's poor

are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consump­tion

of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and

middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended

norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income

children and have average protein intakes 100 percent above recommended

levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, supernour­ished and grow

up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the

GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II..............

Joyce wrote:

Hi ... Thanks for all the responses. The reason I want the

unsulfured

also is to use bits of, for instance dried fruit, in my kefirs and do

not want the sulfites/sulfurs ?? killing their beneficial

microorganisms. Thanks to all the regulations it is increasingly

difficult to find unadulterated/altered food products for

economical

prices. I really pity the poor inner city people. How any of them

survive with the foods economically available is almost a mystery ...

but the diseases, disorders, and conditions they then end up with are

a pharmaceutical manufacturer's dream and the people's nightmares!

Thanks again, Joyce