The Low Density Lifestyle Book is Here and On Sale for the Holidays!!

Just in time for the holidays, and to help you, your friends and your family live a healthier and happier life, from now until Dec. 31, the Low Density Lifestyle book and ebook are on sale!

When you buy one copy of the Low Density Lifestyle book at the regular price of $19.95, you will get a second copy free! And the ebook, normally $12.95, is on sale for $9.95.

Don’t delay – get your copy now, and make your holidays a Low Density Lifestyle one! Just scroll down to the order info below and you’ll be able to make the purchase.

Get your copy now of The Low Density Lifestyle, in book or ebook format!

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Download and read a free sample excerpt from the book by clicking here:

Low Density Lifestyle Book Excerpt

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The Low Density Lifestyle is the revolutionary new book by Dr. Michael Wayne, author of the groundbreaking book, Quantum-Integral Medicine: Towards a New Science of Healing and Human Potential.

The Low Density Lifestyle is experiencing and living in a more relaxed, less stressed, and calm, clear and focused manner on an everyday basis. It is also a way that can lead you to better health and happiness, along with living a more fulfilled and enlightened life.

This is a book about many things—health, wellness, happiness, fulfillment, doing what you love, movement, being a creative thinker—but at the same time, it’s about one thing: living to your maximum potential.

The goal with this book is to help you become a more complete human being. We are meant to live a healthy life, a more fulfilled life, a conscious life, and a more awakened life—this is what it means to be a complete human being.

And this is what is meant by living a Low Density Lifestyle: it is a model for living.

Get your copy now, and get ready to change your life!

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Download and read a free sample excerpt from the book by clicking here:

Low Density Lifestyle Book Excerpt _____________________________________________________________________

The Store:

To order, click on the Add to Cart button underneath what you would like to purchase and then just follow the simple instructions. Except for The Low Density Lifestyle book, all other orders are digital, which means they can be instantly downloaded:

***To order a signed copy of the book, the cost is $19.95 + shipping (enter your country and zip/postal code to find out shipping costs):

Our holiday sale: Now through Dec. 31, for each copy of the book you buy, you will get another copy free! Just click on the button below, fill out the info, and we’ll take care of the rest!

***To order the instant download ebook, the cost is $12.95:

Our holiday sale: Now through Dec. 31, the price of the ebook is $9.95. Just click on the button below and fill out the info and you’ll pay just $9.95!

***In addition to the book, we now have available a variety of special reports, each for $5, and each instantly downloadable!:

***Special report #1:What is Chinese Medicine and How Can It Make You Become Healthier? (10 pages) $5

***Special report #2: The Top Herbs for Healing and the Top Ten Herbs for Stress Relief (9 pages) $5

***Special Report #3: How to Live a Low Density Lifestyle: The 12-Step Guide (6 pages) $5

***Special Report #4: How To Be Happy: 7 Steps to Help You Get On the Path of Doing What You Love and the 12 Secrets to Happiness (9 pages) $5

***Special Report #5: How to Develop Your Creative Intelligence and Vision: Do You Have What It Takes To Become A Visionary? (10 pages) $5

***Special Report #6: The Truth About Artificial Sweeteners and Why They’re Bad for Your Health (11 pages) $5

***Special Report #7: Stress and Relaxation: 10 Warning Signs You’re Stressed Out, and 30 Ways to Relax (8 pages) $5

The Innate Healing System

Over the last few weeks, I’ve written articles on some of the oldest forms of healing, methods that really are at the root of all healing methods.

These articles were on spiritual healing and on shamanism.

These healing approaches were predicated on helping the person to heal themselves. They were used to facilitate and activate the innate healing system that all of us have within.

The progression of medicine over the eons is based on this concept: everyone has a healing system, and it just needs to be maximized. All natural approaches have started with this basic premise, and have worked from there. All the modalities and disciplines used by the various natural healing approaches have this in common – they work at stimulating the body’s own reservoir of healing.

Modern medicine has gotten far away from this essential truth. It is a technological bioscience, and doesn’t recognize that people have great capacities of healing. To recognize that fact, that people can heal, a doctor would have to take the time to listen to a person, to get to know them, and then to give thought as to the proper treatment approach – and this approach would not just be writing a prescription.

It could incorporate nutrition, exercise, rest and stress management – the whole of the person would be looked at, from diet, lifestyle, emotions, attitude, spiritual health, the energetic body, and so on.

Working at this level is how the innate healing system can then be mobilized.

Bernard Lown, M.D., is the author of the book, The Lost Art of Healing: Practicing Compassion in Medicine. Dr. Lown is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

In The Lost of Healing, he wrote:
“Our health care system is breaking down because the medical profession has been shifting its focus away from healing, which begins with listening to the patient. The reasons for this shift include a romance with mindless technology, which is embraced in large measure as a means for maximizing income.

“Since it is uneconomic to spend much time with patients, diagnosis is performed by exclusion, which opens floodgates for endless tests and procedures. Malpractice suits should be viewed as mere pustules on the physiognomy of a sick health care system. They are not what ails medicine in the United States, they are the consequence.

“The medical care system will not be cured until the patient once again becomes central to the doctor’s agenda.”

Another physician who was a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer, born in 1875 and who died in 1965, practiced medicine in his native Germany and in Africa. He was fully schooled in the virtues of helping the innate healing system. He said:

“Each patient carries his own doctor within him. They come to us not knowing that truth. We are at our best when we give the doctor who resides within each patient a chance to go to work.”

In case you were wondering, Dr. Lown won his Nobel Peace Prize in 1985 for his work at trying to end nuclear war; Dr. Schweitzer was awarded his Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life,” and the different ways that he manifested and expressed that.

Over the days and weeks to come, this series on Healing will take a look at different modalities and disciplines whose aim is to activate and cultivate the innate healing system.

I invite you to read along as I delve into these.

Health is the Greatest Wealth, Part 1

The first wealth is health. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Please keep in mind the distinction between healing and treatment: treatment originates from outside, whereas healing comes from within. – Andrew Weil

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, and in the cause and prevention of disease. – Thomas Edison

As of today, we begin a new series, shifting the focus from sustainable/green living, which was the topic of the last series, to health.

Health is the greatest wealth, but it seems to be a commodity that, while much in demand, is hard to grasp. Everyone wants to be healthier, but the way most people go about it, is hard to attain.

In the U.S., medical costs are skyrocketing, as are insurance premiums. At the same time, all that money spent is not doing much good in helping people become healthier; sickness rates across the board keep going up, up, up.

The U.S. medical system is a sick care system, not a health care system. It knows nothing about how to help people live healthier lives; it is all about trying to arrest illness – and at that it’s not doing a great job.

And so, over the next few weeks, I’ll be talking about health and how to be healthier in a variety of ways.

I’ve discussed on these pages many times the importance of a whole foods oriented diet, one that’s not heavy in animal protein.

Eating well is the foundation for being healthy, but the cultivation of overall good health and wellness includes other factors, and is ultimately about developing the right approach and mindset. If you do that, good health becomes easy to achieve and maintain.

Being in good health allows you to easily live a Low Density Lifestyle, while being in ill health is not conducive to it. Unfortunately, most people are walking around in poor health, and are taking medications in order that they can function, be productive and carry on in their daily routine.

Medications have a number of inherent problems, and do not help to restore health. All they do at best is arrest symptoms and keep you functioning. They can cause side effects that range from mild to severe, can be toxic to the liver, can depress the immune system and can lead to other long-term health problems.

The key to developing good health is empowering yourself and being proactive. If you are not feeling well, this is a signal from the body that something is amiss. If you learn to listen to what the body is saying, and take that message to heart, you will start becoming healthier.

One of the inevitable side effects of a High Density Lifestyle, which is a lifestyle of high stress, is illness. Just the stress of living this way will sooner or later catch up to you.

But if you start listening to you body, you will start to understand when the body is telling you that you are overtaxed. Instead of rushing to take a drug for the symptoms you are experiencing from living a High Density Lifestyle, if you learn to slow down, that by itself may do you wonders.

Now, I’m not saying that you should never take a medication—there are times when they are necessary, but they should only be seen as a bridge, a temporary remedy while you work on the permanent solution.

The great majority of people seek out a doctor when they are not feeling well, with the hope that the doctor will have the answers. But did you know that most physicians are immersed in a High Density Lifestyle? A study published in the September 2008 medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine found that when physicians are in medical school, 50% suffer from burnout and 10% consider suicide.

If this is what they go through when they are trained, how can the profession be of help in understanding how to help a person get off the treadmill of a High Density Lifestyle?

I’ll continue in this vein tomorrow, talking about health and how to achieve it.

Ok…So What the Heck is a Low Density Lifestyle?

Having started the new year off with poetry – which was the nature of all the articles last week, from the poetry of David Tucker, to Susan Jefts, to the odes to the New Year, and finally, to the poetry of Leonard Cohen, I will be beginning a new series, on Longevity, in just a couple of days.

But first, we interrupt this message to give you an important message from our sponsors…

Ok, it’s not exactly from our sponsors, the message is from me. You see, it’s almost a year now since I started the Low Density Lifestyle website. I’m starting to do radio interviews, and here’s the schedule of them; and my book The Low Density Lifestyle will be coming out in the near future; but…

People still want to know, What the Heck is a Low Density Lifestyle?

The concept is amazingly easy to grasp, but allow me to explain it to you…

Have you ever had a time in your life when everything seemed to be going just right? When everything flows and you feel like you’re clicking on all cylinders? Maybe it was when you were on vacation, or when you did something you felt passionate about. Maybe it was when you were absorbed in nature, listening to music, or perhaps even in the middle of a crowded city street.

Ultimately, where you are when you experience this isn’t so important, because in the end it’s really a state of mind.

This state, which occurs when your body, mind and spirit are in such resonance that you feel like you are in the zone, is called a Low Density Lifestyle.

When you are living this way, you are living in a more relaxed, less stressed, and calm, clear and focused manner on an everyday basis. It can lead you to better health and happiness, along with a more fulfilled, successful and enlightened life.

When you live a Low Density Lifestyle, you have less density, rigidity and tension in your body, mind and spirit—this means there are fewer blockages obstructing the dynamic flow of energy circulating throughout your body. You are more fluid and flexible, and less inflexible, rigid and uncompromising.

Paulo Coelho, the author of The Alchemist, said, “Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.”

In essence, this is the formula for living a Low Density Lifestyle: if you let go of your densities and rigidities, and overcome your blockages, you will be like a fountain. You then become a circuit of energy, flowing infinitely, much like an unimpeded electrical circuit in which the electricity freely courses throughout.

How do you achieve a Low Density Lifestyle? Like anything in life, it takes a commitment, but the investment you put into it in terms of time and energy pays itself back with tremendous dividends.

You can start just by doing some simple things—eat more vegetables, grains and whole foods, and less animal foods; turn on some music and let go, moving and swaying to the beat as you feel it move through you; stop doing the same routine that you always do, instead doing something different everyday.

For instance, brush your teeth with your right hand if you always brush with your left, or sleep on the other side of the bed, or take a different route to work.

Make room for quiet time everyday, whether via meditation, walking in nature, or sitting quietly in your living room; and say “yes” instead of always saying “no.” See the Jim Carrey movie “Yes Man” to help guide you.

I have put together a 12-step guide to living a Low Density Lifestyle, which explains how to do it.

If this 12-step guide sounds complicated or overwhelming, let me distill it down to its essence: a Low Density Lifestyle is about being fluid and flexible of mind, body and spirit. From that starting point, all the benefits—better health, happiness, self-mastery, more joy and passion, fulfillment, success and inner peace—ensue.

Ultimately, the key to fluidity begins in the mind. How unbending are you in your beliefs? Are you a flexible thinker or someone who can be stubborn and dogmatic? Even if you eat the best vegetarian diet in the world, if you do it out of a rigid and holier-than-thou sense of what’s right, you may be doing more harm than good.

Now I’m not saying not to eat well, because that is an important component; however, a fluid and flexible mindset is what’s most important. It’s really the most important aspect to living a Low Density Lifestyle.

If you don’t live a Low Density Lifestyle, you may find yourself trapped in a High Density Lifestyle, a realm in which the burdens of stress and feeling overwhelmed can lay heavy on you and cause you to feel dense, tense and rigid.

If you feel heavy, and weighed down in your body, mind and spirit because of stress, poor eating, lack of exercise, a rigid belief system, unethical behavior, or a negative world view, then you are caught in the treadmill of a High Density Lifestyle. Billions of people on this planet are now caught in the trap of a High Density Lifestyle, and the increasingly fast-paced lifestyle of the modern world is to blame.

According to a survey by the American Psychological Association, in 2008, more people reported stress-related physical and emotional symptoms than they did in 2007, and nearly half of adults said their stress has increased in the past year.

A High-Density Lifestyle causes people to become physically ill, as well as mentally, emotionally and spiritually dense and rigid. This is evidenced by many of the common ills plaguing people today—weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and numerous other chronic and degenerative health problems.

So which would you rather live? A Low Density Lifestyle or a High Density Lifestyle? I think the choice is obvious. I invite you to be a part of a Low Density Lifestyle world.

And if more people lived a Low Density Lifestyle, we could then imagine the question, What Would a Low Density Lifestyle World Look Like?

A Voice of Sanity in a High Density Lifestyle World

In a world in which people are stressed to the max, feel overwhelmed, and are caught up living a High Density Lifestyle existence; and in a world in which things seem topsy-turvy and what is wrong is right and what is right is wrong, voices of sanity are desperately needed.

That’s why we need people who live a Low Density Lifestyle to speak out and to be bold with their vision, because they are the voices of sanity, and the voices to lead us out of the wilderness.

And that’s why I’ve had this series on What Would a Low Density Lifestyle World Look Like? - to inspire the Low Density Lifestyle folks to help point the finger to the way to live a sane existence.

In the above video, you can see the actor Woody Harrelson’s poem Thoughts From Within set to music and images. In the poem he speaks simply, clearly and eloquently to help us understand how we’ve lost our way.

Woody is giving a Low Density Lifestyle perspective to a High Density Lifestyle world. Perspectives like these are voices from the wilderness, voices of clarity. They shine a light to help us see through the darkness of a High Density Lifestyle existence.

Woody Harrelson, best-known as Woody on the TV show Cheers, but also star of many well-known movies, including Indecent Proposal, Wag the Dog, and The Messenger, lives a Low Density Lifestyle. He’s a peace activist, a vegan – in the recent film Zombieland, when the script required him to eat a Twinkie, he replaced it with a vegan-faux Twinkie made from cornmeal – and in October 2009, he was conferred an honorary degree York University for his contributions in the fields of environmental education, sustainability, and activism.

I hope you enjoy the video and it inspires you to become a voice of sanity in a High Density Lifestyle World.

Stress: A Major Cause of Obesity

I’ve been writing on the theme of obesity for the last few weeks, and will wrap this series up tomorrow. (It’s a short week, what with the Thanksgiving holiday, and so tomorrow’s article will be the last for this week.)

I’ve written about many causes of obesity – diet, chemicals in foods, sugar/high fructose corn syrup, cars.

Another cause of obesity, and a major cause at that, is stress.

Stress is a major cause of living a High Density Lifestyle, and a major cause of obesity – that’s why I’ve said throughout this series that being obese can get you trapped in the treadmill of a High Density Lifestyle.

What is it about stress that leads to obesity?

There’s two main reasons: behavioral and physiological.

Behaviorally, stressed-out people will often eat even when they’re not hungry – this is known as stress eating or emotional eating, and the food choices made are usually not the wisest.

Physiologically, there’s a few factors that lead to obesity. One factor is cortisol and cortisol-induced insulin.

When faced with a stressful situation, the body triggers the stress response, the fight-or-flight response. This leads to the secretion of cortisol, adrenaline and other stress hormones along with an increase of blood pressure, breathing and heart rate.

The natural stress response is usually short-term and self-regulating. When the threat is gone, the body returns to normal. As cortisol and adrenaline levels drop, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure, as well as energy levels return to their baseline levels. Other systems inhibited by the stress response return to their regular activities.

The natural stress response goes awry when stress is constant and excessive. In today’s society, most people are inundated with overwhelming stress. For those constantly dealing with excessive and chronic stress, the body’s fight-or-flight response is constantly on. In turn, the resulting stress hormones released are chronically high.

Chronically high levels of cortisol plays a big role in the development of obesity.

Cortisol helps the body handle stress, so when stress goes up, cortisol also goes up. Cortisol stimulates fat and carbohydrate metabolism during stressful situations. This leads to increased blood sugar levels required for fast energy. In turn, this stimulates insulin release which can lead to an increase in appetite.

When the immediate stress is over, cortisol lingers to help bring the body back into balance after stress. One of the ways it gets things back to balance is by increasing appetite to replace the carbohydrate and fat used for the flight or fight response.

The problem is that in today’s society, stress-causing situations — such as traffic jams or computer malfunctions — don’t require the body to use up a lot of energy. So, cortisol ends up causing the body to refuel after stress even when it doesn’t really need to refuel. This excess fuel or glucose is converted into fat, resulting in increased storage of fat.

What makes matters worse is that cortisol-induced high levels of insulin also leads to increased production and storage of fat. This means that exposure to chronically high levels of cortisol and cortisol-induced insulin are major main reasons why stress can lead to increase in body fat and obesity.

Another physiological reason that was found recently for why stress leads to obesity is a molecule that the body releases when stressed called NPY (neuropeptide Y). NPY appears to unlock certain receptors in fat cells, causing them to grow in both size and number.

NPY was discovered by researchers during an experiment in which stressed and unstressed mice were fed either a standard diet or a high-fat, high-sugar, “comfort food” diet.

As expected, the mice on the high-fat, high-sugar diet gained fat while those on the standard diet did not. But researchers found the stressed mice on the high-fat, high-sugar diet developed more body fat than the unstressed mice fed the same diet.

The good news of all this is that stress-induced obesity can be overturned by the learning of simple stress management techniques.

And for that matter, diet-induced obesity can be overturned by the learning of better food habits.

So there is hope!

Baby We Were Born to Run (Barefoot)

You remember Bruce Springsteen’s classic song “Born to Run?” Of course you do. The chorus of the song had the lyrics, “Baby we were born to run.”

I’ve amended it to include the word “barefoot.” Cause baby, we were born to run barefoot.

Children don’t think twice of running barefoot – it just seems like the natural thing to do.

And let the truth be told – it is. You could also say it’s the Low Density Lifestyle way to run.

Which means we were not born to run with the latest in foot apparel. Yes, you can now ditch your Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Converse, Saucony, etc. Just think of the money you will save.

The reason I say this is that a growing body of research says that barefoot is the way people should run. And so, many runners are doing it.

Strong evidence shows that thickly cushioned running shoes have done nothing to prevent injury in the 30-odd years since Nike founder Bill Bowerman invented them, research says.

Some studies show that running in shoes may increase the risk of ankle sprains, plantar fasciitis and other injuries. Runners who wear cheap running shoes have fewer injuries than those wearing expensive trainers. Meanwhile, injuries plague 20 to 80 percent of regular runners every year.

Chris McDougall, who is featured in the above video, and is the author of the recent book Born to Run, goes further. “If this were a drug, it would be yanked off the market,” he said of running shoes.

McDougall, as he states in the above video, says that years of running in shoes caused him injury, and it wasn’t until he started running barefoot, after learning of a tribal people in Mexico that did this, that his problems cleared up.

“People have been running barefoot for millions of years and it has only been since 1972 that people have been wearing shoes with thick, synthetic heels,” said Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University.

Lieberman’s research into human and early hominid fossils suggests that the human body, including the foot, is well-adapted to long-distance running without shoes. He theories that early humans didn’t need speed so much as endurance — just enough to run down herd animals until they collapsed from overheating.

He’s sure that running barefoot or with minimal footwear is the way to avoid injury. After all, we evolved without shoes.

“If a third of runners had gotten injured in the Paleolithic era with runner’s knee or plantar fasciitis, you can bet that natural selection would have weeded them out,” Lieberman says.

If you’re interested in trying out barefoot (or nearly barefoot, meaning very thin soled shoes, such as flip flops) running, here’s a common sense approach to beginning, as it may take your body a little while to get used to it.

Start slow, with quarter-mile runs at most, and build up very gradually.

Listen to your feet. Don’t try to run with the same gait you use in shoes — shorten your steps and land on the forward part of your foot.

Keep your head up and your body vertical. Your feet should be hitting the ground almost directly underneath you, not in front of you.

Keep barefoot running to no more than 10 percent of your weekly regimen, especially at first.

If you’re running completely barefoot, run on a mix of soft and hard surfaces to give your feet time to toughen up.

Finally, don’t try this if you suffer from diabetes or another condition that would affect your ability to feel and respond to sensations from your feet.

“Like any part of your body, you have to build up very, very slowly,” says Lieberman. “If you really pay attention to your body and build up slowly, you’ll be fine.”

If you would like to know more about barefoot running, check out Barefoot Ken Bob’s website.

And of course, it would be remiss of me if I didn’t end with the Boss doing Born to Run.

10 Herbs That Are Good For Stress

Stress is such a major component of so many people’s lives – most people are stressed out to the max.

Stress is not good for the health, as it can cause many health problems. It does not allow you to experience healthy living. And it will also keep you in a High Density Lifestyle mode.

Everyone has stressors of one kind or another in their life. The key is to manage stress and channel it. Yoga, meditation, exercise, walking in the woods, and journaling are some of the ways to enjoy some stress relief.

There are also herbs that can help you manage stress. Here are a few of the herbs for stress relief:

1. Licorice Root contains a natural hormone alternative to cortisol, which can help the body handle stressful situations, and can help to normalize blood sugar levels as well as your adrenal glands, providing you with the energy necessary to deal with the stressful situation at hand. Some claim licorice stimulates cranial and cerebrospinal fluid, thereby calming the mind.

2. Passion flower is considered a mild sedative and can help promote sleep. Passion flower also treats anxiety, insomnia, depression and nervousness.

3. Kava Kava, an herb from the South Pacific, is a powerful muscle relaxer and analgesic. Kava Kava is also effective at treating depression and anxiety associated with menopause.

4. St. John’s Wort has been used medicinally since Hippocrates time. Even during the Renaissance and Victorian periods it was used for the treatment of mental disorders. Though it presents itself as an unassuming, flowering perennial, St. John’s Wort was shown to be more effective than Prozac, according to a recent study, in treating major depressive disorders.

5. Lavender is effective at reducing irritability and anxiety,

promoting relaxation, a sense of calm and sleep. It is also a powerful anti-bacterial agent, and can work to balance hormones and stimulate the immune system.

While lavender can be consumed in a tea, it may work best as an essential oil that is breathed in by way of a diffuser or, in the case of stress and sleeplessness, an eye pillow.

6. Valerian calms people who are agitated, but stimulates those who feel fatigued, according to one Italian study. During World War II, the British used Valerian tincture to treat nerves shattered during bombing raids on London.

7. Ginseng and Siberian Ginseng can help you handle stress by sedating or stimulating your central nervous system, according to your body’s needs. Studies conducted in China showed that Ginseng also increases your brain’s utilization of amino acids, which is important because when you are under stress, your body uses more protein than usual.

8. Schizandra has a regulating effect on the central nervous system. Studies show that this herb quickens responses and makes people more alert while actually stimulating the nervous system. A 1983 study conducted in China showed that Schizandra relieves headaches, insomnia and dizziness and calms a racing heart. It has also been reported to control anger and aggression.

9. Skullcap was originally a Native American herb traditionally taken for menstrual problems. Today, it is mostly used as a tonic and sedative for nerves in times of stress. It helps to support and nourish the nervous system, and calms and relieves stress and anxiety. It can also be used when stress leads to muscular tension and pain.

10. Lemon Balm has a long tradition as a tonic remedy

that raises the spirits and comforts the heart. It is widely valued for its calming properties. 17th century British writer John Evelyn wrote that Lemon Balm “is sovereign for the brain, strengthening the memory and powerfully chasing away melancholy.”

So there you have it – 10 herbs that can help you with stress and calm your spirits. These are all great tools to manage stress, give you stress relief, and help assist you in living a Low Density Lifestyle.

Let others know about this article by posting it on Twitter! It’s easy – just click on the “tweet it” button below.

Not Everyone is Happy with the White House Garden

In yesterday’s article, I told you about the White House organic garden in detail. I showed you the plans for the garden, and highlighted 10 vegetables and 8 herbs that will be grown in the garden.

The plan for the garden is to educate children and the general public about the merits of healthy eating, and to be able to feed the residents and guests of the White House with locally grown food.

It’s such a great thing, and whatever your political thinking, it’s hard to find fault with creating an organic garden at the White House. As I showed you in the other day’s article, the White House has a longstanding tradition of growing vegetables.

But there is a group that has gotten their knickers in a twit over the White House garden. It is a group that needs to learn some stress management techniques and also how to manage stress, because they are too deeply immersed in a High Density Lifestyle, and it is causing them to have tunnel vision.

The group that is foaming at the mouth about the garden is called MACA, which stands for Mid America CropLife Association. MACA is made up of former executives from Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and DuPont Crop Protection.

In case you’re not aware of whom these companies are, they are deeply entrenched in agribusiness and manufacture pesticides and fertilizers, and also are involved with bioengineering as it applies to farming.

Because MACA feels threatened about all the good publicity organic gardening and farming is getting of late, they decided they needed to retaliate and sent an email to Michelle Obama. They also then forwarded the email to many others. In their letter they made the case for chemical farming and urged Michelle Obama not to solely rely on organic methods to grow the White House garden.

They really need to take a deep breath and learn some stress management techniques so that they can manage stress better. It is really unfortunate when groups like this that are so embedded in a High Density Lifestyle can’t see beyond their own self-interests.

Accompanying the email that MACA forwarded to others was an introductory message. This is what it said:

Did you hear the news? The White House is planning to have an “organic” garden on the grounds to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the Obama’s and their guests. While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made Janet Braun, CropLife Ambassador Coordinator and I shudder. As a result, we sent a letter encouraging them to consider using crop protection products and to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire U.S. economy. Read below for the entire letter.

And here is the entire email letter they sent to Michelle Obama and then forwarded around:

March 26, 2009

Mrs. Barack Obama
The White House
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mrs. Obama,

We are writing regarding the garden recently added to the White House grounds to ensure a fresh supply of fruits and vegetables to your family, guests and staff. Congratulations on recognizing the importance of agriculture in America! The U.S. has the safest and most abundant food supply in the world thanks to the 3 million people who farm or ranch in the United States.

The CropLife Ambassador Network, a program of the Mid America CropLife Association, consists of over 160 ambassadors who work and many of whom grew up in agriculture. Their mission is to provide scientifically based, accurate information to the public regarding the safety and value of American agricultural food production. Many people, especially children, don’t realize the extent to which their daily lives depend on America’s agricultural industry. For instance, children are unaware the jeans they put on in the morning, the three meals eaten daily, the baseball with which they play and even the biofuels that power the school bus are available because of America’s farmers and ranchers.

Agriculture is the largest industry in America generating 20% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Individuals, family partnerships or family corporations operate almost 99% of U.S. farms. Over 22 million people are employed in farm-related jobs, including production agriculture, farm inputs, processing and marketing and sales. Through research and changes in production practices, today’s food producers are providing Americans with the widest variety of foods ever.

Starting in the early 1900’s, technology advances have allowed farmers to continually produce more food on less land while using less human labor. Over time, Americans were able to leave the time-consuming demands of farming to pursue new interests and develop new abilities. Today, an average farmer produces enough food to feed 144 Americans who are living longer lives than many of their ancestors. Technology in agriculture has allowed for the development of much of what we know and use in our lives today. If Americans were still required to farm to support their family’s basic food and fiber needs, would the U.S. have been leaders in the advancement of science, communication, education, medicine, transportation and the arts?

We live in a very different world than that of our grandparents. Americans are juggling jobs with the needs of children and aging parents. The time needed to tend a garden is not there for the majority of our citizens, certainly not a garden of sufficient productivity to supply much of a family’s year-round food needs.

Much of the food considered not wholesome or tasty is the result of how it is stored or prepared rather than how it is grown. Fresh foods grown conventionally are wholesome and flavorful yet more economical. Local and conventional farming is not mutually exclusive. However, a Midwest mother whose child loves strawberries, a good source of Vitamin C, appreciates the ability to offer California strawberries in March a few months before the official Mid-west season.

Farmers and ranchers are the first environmentalists, maintaining and improving the soil and natural resources to pass onto future generations. Technology allows for farmers to meet the increasing demand for food and fiber in a sustainable manner.

* Farmers use reduced tillage practices on more than 72 million acres to prevent erosion.
* Farmers maintain over 1.3 million acres of grass waterways, allowing water to flow naturally from crops without eroding soil.
* Contour farming keeps soil from washing away. About 26 million acres in the U.S. are managed this way.
* Agricultural land provides habitat for 75% of the nation’s wildlife.
* Precision farming boosts crop yields and reduces waste by using satellite maps and computers to match seed, fertilizer and crop protection applications to local soil conditions.
* Sophisticated Global Positioning Systems can be specifically designed for spraying pesticides. A weed detector equipped with infrared light identifies specific plants by the different rates of light they reflect and then sends a signal to a pump to spray a preset amount of herbicide onto the weed.
* Biogenetics allows a particular trait to be implanted directly into the seed to protect the seed against certain pests.
* Farmers are utilizing 4-wheel drive tractors with up to 300 horsepower requiring fewer passes across fields-saving energy and time.
* Huge combines are speeding the time it takes to harvest crops.
* With modern methods, 1 acre of land in the U.S. can produce 42,000 lbs. of strawberries, 110,000 heads of lettuce, 25,400 lbs. of potatoes, 8,900 lbs. of sweet corn, or 640 lbs of cotton lint.

As you go about planning and planting the White House garden, we respectfully encourage you to recognize the role conventional agriculture plays in the U.S in feeding the ever-increasing population, contributing to the U.S. economy and providing a safe and economical food supply. America’s farmers understand crop protection technologies are supported by sound scientific research and innovation.

The CropLife Ambassador Network offers educational programs for elementary school educators at http://ambassador.maca.org covering the science behind crop protection products and their contribution to sustainable agriculture. You may find our programs America’s Abundance, Farmers Stewards of the Land and War of the Weeds of particular interest. We thank you for recognizing the importance and value of America’s current agricultural technologies in feeding our country and contributing to the U.S economy.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

Sincerely,

Bonnie McCarvel, Executive Director
Janet Braun, Program Coordinator
Mid America CropLife Association
11327 Gravois Rd., #201
St. Louis, MO 63126

Nice job, MACA. They really know how to keep people living the High Density Lifestyle. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you would file this under The Empire Strikes Back (is that Darth Vader I see in the horizon, getting ready to land his ship on the White House lawn?)

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How Well Do You Sleep?

Now, She is a Great Sleeper! Do you sleep as well as that?

(Please note: YouTube has embedded ads in the video. If you don’t want to see them, below the video on the right it says “Ads by Google” and then there’s a little box with an “X” in it. Just click the “X” and it will shut off the ads.)

One of the signs of being stressed out is not sleeping well. Sleeping well is crucial to relaxation, stress management and healthy living.

Many people have trouble sleeping. They use all kinds of sleep aids/medications to help them. But taking drugs for sleep is not an answer if you’re interested in health and wellness. The answer is learning good stress management approaches.

Do you have trouble falling asleep, or do you have trouble staying asleep? If so, the stress if getting to you.

If you want to have stress management and experience stress relief, then review the articles on 30 Ways to Relax Part 1 and Part 2. The suggestions on ways to relax are also relevant for ways to help you sleep.

The ideal is to sleep like a baby. To hit the pillow and be out like a light. Then you know you have no worries, you have good stress relief techniques, and you’re well on your way to healthy living.

Sleeping well also keeps you in the land of The Low Density Lifestyle.

If you want to see some really good sleepers, see the video above and check out the pictures below for some uncanny good sleepers.

Nighty-night to all!! See you in the the land of dreams!

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