I stopped eating conventional red meat about 7 years ago (by conventional I mean from a producer that I cannot know, i.e. Tyson).  When mad cow disease (aka: BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, CJD) became an issue, I decided that I did not want to have my brain turn into mush, and that I would rather not eat beef.

But I LOVE A GOOD HAMBURGER AND STEAK, so that led me on a quest to find great beef products produced by farmers and ranchers that I trusted.  Luckily, in Colorado, there are several.

In a recent article I found on Mike Callicrate’s No-Bull website, it became apparent, again, that many people in the United States are still eating and cooking meat that is subpar and even dangerous.  Being a food-snob myself, I still refuse to eat beef from even nice restaurants because they are usually not tasty and the meat comes from huge food conglomerates that use growth hormones, large amounts of antibiotics, and new drugs like Optiflex and Zilmax, which (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION) can have untested and could have unknown results on the body of a human being.

Do you ever feel like a guinea pig?  That is because if you are not becoming more aware of your food supply – YOU ARE.

Never has it been more important to be more sustainable – find ways to purchase food from local farmers and ranchers who you trust, and grow your own food.

Read more about what is happening to beef HERE!

- Tisha Casida

Come and check out the great lineup of vendors that we have for the 2nd Annual Loco for Local Evening Farmers’ Market at the Arts Center in Pueblo, Colorado.  We have delicious local food, music and entertainment, as well as local arts!

Check out the entire event-flier HERE—>>> L4L 2010_Event Information_5.9.10

Here are our vendors to-date:

Some of our readers know (but certainly not everyone), that the reason that I started That’s Natural! in the first place was because of how sick I got from what I believe to be exposure to pesticides as a child growing up on a small farm in Southern Colorado.

Pesticides, especially those containing organophosphates, are incredibly unhealthy.  It appears that the pesticides act on the same brain chemicals that are related to ADHD, in this particular instance.

Many pesticides are neuro-toxins, or they affect the nervous-system of the pests that they are targeted to kill.  Although most of these pesticides have been approved for use, there is really no telling how dangerous they are in minute quantities over a period of time or as they interact with other chemicals that a human may be exposed to.

How to alleviate concern of exposure?  KNOW YOUR FARMER.  Period.  Find out who is growing your food.  Even if the food is natural or organic – KNOW THE FARMER, KNOW THE COMPANY.  Trust no one and be an avid consumer.  Your health is depending on it.

Read the whole article HERE.

- Tisha Casida, Publisher

Wow, this health care reform bill is exciting, such big changes to our health care system. OH wait it really seems to be a reform for better ways to pay for insurance, not to really improve our Health and wellbeing. I am not sure, nor is any one else, what this reform will truly bring, we can theorize and debate until we are blue in the face, but the truth is we will not know how it will truly work out until it is implemented in to our lives. Then we will know. One thing I do know is that to really reform our health care system, we need to start at home, “We The People” are the only ones that can really improve our health care.

We need to start at home, we need to make the effort to make positive changes in our health and create a Wellness System not, a wait-until-you’re- really-sick system. What if we used our wonderful technology as the emergency backup system for our health and we depended much more on natural means for maintaining our heath? Mankind has used natural healing since he has been on earth, it obviously works, we are here. Ancient man has survived unbelievable health concerns and for the most part he only had the human touch and his healing intentions to help him get through it. Those benefits are still here today, most likely called alternative/complimentary medicine, (a more natural way of healing and maintaining our health). What if we all used all the natural sources of healing first, then if needed progress to the use of our modern technology.

Read the whole story on Page 7 of That’s Natural! Quarter 1, 2010 – here:  http://issuu.com/ThatsNatural/docs/tnq1_2010_web

She helps guide you into meal-planning for the entire week, and teaches you how to take RESPONSIBILITY to feed yourself and your family in a NUTRITIOUS and AFFORDABLE fashion.

Her interview can be found on the “Health & Wellness – Introduction” Talk-Cast at the bottom of this blog!