January 16, 2021 – Remembering Our History in Order to Forge Ahead
Health, Happiness, Humanity
First, a brief update from me to you.
A lot of things are changing for me right now. I’m taking these changes as gracefully as I can, but it is hard, it is stressful, but I’ve been encouraged by a few close friends to remember my potential, my goals, and also my values.
I am here to help, as best as I can, each day, with the life I have to live. And it’s with love and compassion, righteous indignation that I write to you this Saturday, January 16, 2021 as we will soon be taking our American holiday for MLK day on Monday. How will your day look like on Monday, will you be taking time to reflect, to remember, and reconsider what our future looks like? Dr. King was famously known for having a strong vision, a diligent mission, and had high hopes to change the world for the better. I’ll also be talking about sugar, diabetes, slavery, and more. It’s a deep one this week!
What are your goals for this week, this year, this decade? How can you be part of a happier, healthier future for you, your family, your friends, your community and your special, unique circle of influence?
Let’s dive into this week’s newsletter… it’s from the heart.
What a Time it is in America…
For the last 60+ years we have seen a roller coaster of emotions and human rights promotion and degradation.
Many, and I mean many people are still enslaved by these substances today and it breaks my heart. It leaves them stuck in a mindless cycle of self-depreciation, self-deprivation, poor self-esteem, poor self-worth, poverty, sickness and disease. I’m frustrated and fed up with the lack of leadership and oversight for these factual issues that thinkers and leaders, researchers and doctors know about today. Why can we not step up to disintegrate the vice grips placed on our fellow humans, why can we not work to restore a more benevolent future?
Jumping up and down and all around from one generation to the next. The impacts of our long history of America still exists today and we, purposely cannot forget our past in order to promote a better more equitable and equal future for all into the future.
One of the most impactful moments of my life was whenever I was in first grade and began reading a book and biography report on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I have no doubt the impact that this book and this point in time in my life truly shaped the way I think and feel about my fellow humans, regardless of color, race, ethnicity, any external showcase. Dr. King holds many powerful quotes throughout his life, most notably one of my favorites describing how “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only love can do that.”
I would have to agree. I also believe that we are called to love, as human beings we are called to love one another abundantly and endlessly throughout the time and breath that we have on this planet. As we reflect each January 18th on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I am always reminded of the impact he has made in our history, and honestly my own life as an individual. I asked and wonder what would’ve happened if I had not received his character for my book report in first grade.
In hopes to spark more interest in our history, I would like to take this time this week to allow us to remember what peace and communion really look like. I would like for us to remember many other areas of our history in order to help us forge a new more prosperous future.
And as you know I am a health professional, a registered dietitian with an interest in functional medicine, holistic medicine, and just overall natural healing of the human body mind and spirit.
With this in mind, I can’t help but remember the history of American slavery, and the impact it made for American plantations, and the farmland of the Americas. Three of the most abundant crops grown for wealthy profits in the new land were tobacco, sugar, and rice.
Leaving aside rice for another time, let’s focus on the topics of tobacco and sugar. And yes, they impact our mind, body, spirit…
In all areas of life and wellness including our mental health and emotional health physical health spiritual health and social health.
You see, these crops were built in the new land for a more prosperous future for white folk, so to speak. These crops require a hard labor, extensive time, and treacherous working conditions pressured onto the backs of slave labor in America. Many African slaves were brought to the new land in order to be workers, that is to work the plantations for sugar and tobacco.
More than 1 in 3 adults have prediabetes today. Can you imagine what life is to come for our children? Will every child today grow up to be an adult with diabetes and obesity? Why are the rates for these terrible chains on human flourishing so abundant in America (and other Americanized) countries today? – What do you think?
And you know, things are not all that different today. We still have many people enslaved by things like sugar and tobacco. And in fact, you may not know this, but sugar and tobacco have had a long relationship, a maleficent marriage. Some even say sugar changed the world. I would agree it has, indeed.
Scary Hidden Sugar - Learn What's Hiding In Your Food
(one of the most provocative, honest and scary videos showcasing the impact of sugar on our kids, in under 2-minutes.)
GREED
With selfish gain at the forefront of our minds, the white folk enslaved black folk and it became incredibly wealthy through the cultivation and selling of sugar and tobacco. And as you may know, tobacco has shown to cause cancer as well as many other health issues, including problems with different forms of tobacco like chewing tobacco as well eroding teeth and gums.
Likewise, another crap, sugar, causes many problems in our modern world as well. With greed at the forefront, both tobacco and sugar have been sold to the lowest class, marketed for instant gratification and who’s to profit?
More of the white folk…. And what percentage of white vs. black folk are dealing with complications of sugar and tobacco…?
African Americans or a much greater risk for things like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and more. One can easily imagine how a long life of poverty and inequality could lead someone to cheap materials such as sugar and tobacco that provide
Little help in the long term, but a quick fix for making someone feel at least a little bit better for only a short time.
Many people have written on the impact of slavery in America, and it’s something that we can never forget. We can also not forget the fact that African Americans are still enslaved today by the same crops that they were forced to plant and harvest years ago. African Americans are more likely to be targeted by highly processed food companies, especially those loaded with sugar fat and salt which we know are detrimental to our health and lead to things like diabetes and obesity.
Dr. Robert Lustig’s great work to help tell the truth.. I love his work.
Sugar – the Bitter Truth; Dr. Robert Lustig, (his presentation, a great film you can watch!)
Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth About Sugar, (his book)
The Hacking of the American Mind - The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains
Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine
(website here – learn more)They are also more likely to be targeted by cash advance programs, convenient stores, and other quick-fix and cigarettes Acacian schemes that disenfranchise individuals in the long term from any opportunity for self -advancement, autonomy, or any chance to rise out of poverty.
We know that the toxic chemicals and processing used with tobacco is highly addictive and marketed to children, teens, (doctors in the past) and young adults even more than your standard American, especially so for BIPOC communities.
Atrocious Inequities Take Advantage of People.
They are also more likely to be targeted by cash advance programs, convenient stores, and other quick-fix and cigarettes Acacian schemes that disenfranchise individuals in the long term from any opportunity for self -advancement, autonomy, or any chance to rise out of poverty.
We know that the toxic chemicals and processing used with tobacco is highly addictive and marketed to children, teens, (doctors in the past) and young adults even more than your standard American, especially so for BIPOC communities.
Estimated age-adjusted prevalence of diagnosed diabetes by race/ethnicity
and sex among adults aged ≥18 years, United States, 2013–2015
The effects of the sugar and tobacco industries are heavily weighed into the realms of mental health, poverty, and disease. It’s no coincidence then that we see such similar marketing schemes and effects from both substances. For almost a hundred years the medical and research community has been investigating the impacts of sugar and yes, even tobacco.
I’ve included a few helpful reads on the history and relationships of sugar, sweeteners, sickness, and slavery below.
Sweet Deception - Why Splenda, NutraSweet, and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health
You can even grab the Kindle version for less than a morning coffee, ($3.50)
Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills
(also available for audio CD)
The Stevia Deception - The Hidden Dangers of Low-Calorie Sweeteners
But, rather than informing the public on all the problems, death and disease these products cause and honestly addictive habits of these harmful substances, what instead has happened is a long history of small profit winners with many losers, massive marketing campaigns for misinformation, making people think they are safe and okay, pleasurable, and even virtuous.
“Be a prestigious doctor, smoke a Camel.”
You see,
Sugar and tobacco are addictive, they are harmful, and they have always had a dark and mysterious history together, funding research with misaligned values, ensnaring world leaders and promoting their products without regard for human health. [The Case Against Sugar, Gary Taubes] – review in NY Times. Full book for your reading pleasure.
“To raise awareness and help people with prediabetes know where they stand and how to prevent type 2 diabetes, CDC, the American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the American Medical Association (AMA), partnered with the Ad Council to launch the first national public service advertising (PSA) campaign about prediabetes. These humorous PSAs in English and Spanish encourage people to take a short online test at DoIHavePrediabetes.orgexternal icon to learn their risk. To prevent serious and costly diabetes complications, states are working with CDC to improve access to diabetes self-management education (DSME), with an emphasis on DSME programs that meet national quality standards.”
Many, and I mean many people are still enslaved by these substances today and it breaks my heart. It leaves them stuck in a mindless cycle of self-depreciation, self-deprivation, poor self-esteem, poor self-worth, poverty, sickness and disease. I’m frustrated and fed up with the lack of leadership and oversight for these factual issues that thinkers and leaders, researchers and doctors know about today. Why can we not step up to disintegrate the vice grips placed on our fellow humans, why can we not work to restore a more benevolent future?
Are we just going to sit around all day, continue to think there is no harm in sugar and tobacco while our neighbors, friends and family members continue to walk each day enslaved, set up for failure, set up for sickness, addiction, death and disease – mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically?
It’s astonishing and remarkably disgusting to see the ill-effects of our American (but it’s not just America, it’s across the globe that humans act in a similar way) history, enslaving certain groups, creating bold borders, leaving some in the shadows while others can remain in the comfort, warmth, and delight.
As you can tell from reading so far, I am very passionate about this issue. I could explain more, but instead what I would rather do is encourage you to consider embarking on your own personal journey of self-discovery, to remember our past in America and embrace a more equitable future. I encourage you to take your journey with grace and self-compassion, without shame or guilt but with interest and motivation to be part of a future world filled with love and light, not darkness and hostility or hatred.
I encourage you to read up, listen in, and dive deep into your history to learn more about where we came from, the social and physical constructs we still have today that keep us broken and disorderly misunderstanding one another. I hope and pray for our growth together, to bridge gaps, breakdown historical boundaries, borders and simply come together with broken hearts and broken spirits to embrace one another more, acknowledging we’re all in this together and we simply cannot continue to live distant and disparate as we have before.
Here’s the podcast I listened to that catalyzed this entire article if ou can believe it!
(Dr. Joseph Mercola interviews Gary Taubes about sugar industry manipulation or fraud)
With Love and Kindness, I send you off to listen and learn, to love and to grow yourself and the beautiful impacts you can make in your own circles of influence. We can all make a difference; we can all play a part in this. We all have a life and legacy to live… write one that’s worthy of reading and potentially powerful enough to inspire a first-grade student picking up a book about your life.