Some good comments by everyone. Hman, while I agree with some of what you're saying in principle, I may differ on some of the specifics. Namely, I'm not certain Amish ground is all that more productive than those that farm conventionally. I know you live where there are a lot of Amish folk, and they have a reputation of being outstanding farmers, but I wonder if their reputation exceeds its worth. The reason I say that is that although I've no experience with the Amish, I do have experience with the Mennonites. They too, have a reputation as very good farmers. Indeed most have a strong work ethic. However, I used to examine their production records (pig farmers) and while, on average their production was above the mean, it was only slightly so. That improvement seemed to be dependent upon cheap labor (their large bunches of children). In the whole scope of things I'm not sure that agricultural model is the best for the planet (meaning the huge volume of people already on the planet). But like I say, I've little knowledge of the Amish, and even less of their specific farming practices. I will say that there are commercial corn growers getting over 300 bushel/acre, which is very productive indeed. One may think that kind of production is burning out the ground, but it doesn't appear to be so. I've seen some of that good corn ground in IL. It's been farmed for decades and decades, and still the richest looking black stuff you ever saw. I think part of the key is that the land was flat, so in the years where tillage farming was the rule, none of that good stuff was ever washed away. Probably the biggest threat to it is urban encroachment gobbling up that prime land. Keepitlow, Well said. However, I might take issue with the the part that our food quality has declined. This is pretty hard to discuss objectively though, because the word "quality" is so subjective. Additionally, it also depends on what years are being discussed. I'm just about through reading a different kind of American history book. It's the first book of it's kind that I've read. Most history books examine the "important" events of history (i.e. Revolutionary war, Civil war, etc.) and spend little time discussing the day to day lives of ordinary citizens. This book is the opposite. It's spends almost all of it's time discussing daily life, and ignores the "major" events. What I'm coming away with reading this book, is the profound struggle to survive before, and during the early part of the industrial age. This idea of southern plantations with abundance, defining the way of life was not the reality for the most folk. Before the modern industrial age the average American life span was amazingly low, largely due to inadequate and poor food quality. Even in somewhat later times, the food quality has seemed to improve. I remember hearing former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz speak. He gave examples of how food quality had increased since he was a kid (no worms in cereal, no worms in apples). I once read Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle" about the meat packing industry in the early 1900s (actually I didn't finish it, it made me too sad. I may go back and finish it some day). Anyway, that book described conditions of meat packing as so bad, that reportedly Roosevelt was reading the book at his breakfast, and spit a mouthful of sausage across the table. From that book came the rigorous meat packing inspections we have today. This is getting a little long. Better stop here.

Hh- we could eat healthier too. Wednesdays my husband cooks. I don't care what he cooks so long as the three of us eat. So last night was apple cinnamon buckwheat pancakes! My son was thrilled and I feared tonight he'd ask for a repeat, but he shocked me. He has requested mujadarah with a Brussel sprout-apple hash as his side dish! I'm gleefully obliging! The first time he has ever requested sprouts, I'm considering it a win :) I may have a weak sense of smell, but I don't think the saviseeds smell that bad. A slight odor but nothing horrid like kimchi. I had forgotten about the voluntary recall-- thanks for reminding others. I still believe in the company. Annie- A normal person would have to consume a crazy amount of chia seeds or some sensitivities for the issues to occur . I've eaten dry seeds on my salad for 10 years and none of the problems you have described. (now I'll probably be hospitalized for an obstructed bowel over the weekend, perhaps I should knock on wood?) to be fair, I do drink about 10 cups of water a day in addition to eating all the raw veggies and fruit (and their respective water content). So any leaching of water etc would probably be negligible? So very true about conflicting nutrition advice. I read that oped a while ago. I agree with much of the oped but feel he overlooks another culprit: BigFarm. They exert too much influence over research institutions. The universities have 0 incentive to actually conduct blind longitudinal studies as many are subsidized in some way by large agriculture consortiums. Anyway I think it's great you and Kiki are trying to identify foods that do you harm. It should be an interesting experiment. Kiki- how are you doing? Experiencing any cravings or moods from withdrawals of certain foods?

Pesky, I totally agree about the quality of our animal products. It doesn't stop with them though. Grains are said to also not be what our ancestors ate, not good at all these days, even eliminate. Fruits and vegetables have had a lot of their taste and nutrition bred out of them in favor of long shelf life and other more marketable qualities. But I agree, the hormones, antibiotics, living conditions are wretched -- at least lower your intake of the bad stuff. It's just shameful what has happened to our food. But they probably didn't realize it at the time. What really gets me is these natural/organic companies that advertise healthy foods but load them with things like cane sugar. I lump Whole Foods into that group. Soy and corn are other spoiled and contaminated food sources that turn up in so many processed things. I read all labels and try not to buy any of those -- unless I'm desperate for something to eat! Grass-fed beef and organic chicken is easily accessible here, as well as eggs, dairy and other products. At Whole Foods their meats do not have antibiotics or hormones and pasture fed is available (maybe not all types of meat). But gads, that organic cheese I was looking at, the only one available, was $32 per pound. Ain't gonna happen, lol. But I don't eat cheese or dairy often. Organic chicken and grass fed beef is expensive, running about $8 pound for both as I recall -- that would be chicken breast and ground beef. A lot when you can get the regular chicken for something like $3. I have read the GF beef is as healthy as fish. Sure hope, but it unfortunately doesn't have all the flavor grain fed does. So sometimes I just want a disgustingly unhealthy burger! This post was edited by snookums2 on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 21:18

It was really annoying how Candice would purse her lips, esp. with the lipstick applied as it was; but I finally figured out why she did. In later episodes she didn't always make-up like that and I see she had two upper, side teeth that she attempted to hide. : ) Do you remember the actress who played Anne Bolene(sp?) in "The Tudors"? Candice resembled her a lot esp. with the lipstick.