How healthy is that bowl of spinach?

How healthy is spinach? Healthy! It is loaded with antioxidants, it's anti-inflammatory and filled with fiber and vitamin A. For more information go to 11 Health Benefits of Spinach.  But did you know that a bowl of spinach from 1957 requires 51 bowls of spinach in 2009? Read on to learn more - it's quite interesting!

Last spring I had the pleasure of listening to an amazing speaker, Peter Greenlaw, lecture about 'Toxicity in America'. Peter is an Information Junkie like me, but he has the scientific background and data to back it up. It was extremely interesting and fact filled. I thought I would share a few insights with you... 

Peter asked us, "How bad are things?" We so often hear people talking about how buying organic really isn't any better (in most cases it is much better), or you see ads (paid for by the corn industry) talking about how high fructose corn syrup is no different than sugar (it is) or companies trying to 'greenwash' their products to tap into the 'natural' market that they are realizing is so lucrative (Aveno). Peter wanted to paint a picture of how things are and I must say that my Mum and I sat there speechless. 

Here we go...

~ 1 million people die of cardiovascular disease each year. In 1923 less than 3000 people did.

~ Breast Cancer Stats: 1990 - 1 in 15, now - 1 in 8, 10 years from now - 1 in 3. In 1930 the cancer stats were 1 in 10,000. 

~ In a report to the US Senate in 1936, it was reported that American soil had become “almost void of trace minerals” due to the use of pesticides and herbicides, and the fact that farmers no longer rotated their fields. Today, in 2009, the problem has only been exacerbated, and America is considered to be the most overfed and undernourished society on the planet. 
In fact, our food supply is so nutritionally bankrupt that it would take about 12 apples in 2009 to equal the nutrition in just one apple from 1976. The nutrition in a bowl of spinach from 1957 requires 51 bowls of spinach in 2009. 

Some of these numbers have gone up due to population growth, better detection, etc. but it does make one stop and think, "Could we be contributing to it? Or could we help prevent it? Personally, I believe both. The choices we make affect our bodies, minds and spirits. 

So what can one do? Get informed...make better choices...read labels...demand consumer rights for things such as labeling GMO's. Eat local, eat seasonal and make things from scratch. Chicken soup from a can is not the same as your Grandmother's!