Betrayal

I like Trader Joe's markets. Their attitude toward customer service is very humanistic, in my opinion. They strive to produce a positive shopping environment and offer affordable food. Good things. So, you might understand my current sense of being betrayed.

I have to read package labels in markets. I have several food allergies and sensitivities, developed after taking multiple chemotherapies for a variety of problems. This complicates my daily life in a fundamental way.

I drink cocoa in the evening. It is one pleasure that has not become toxic...yet. However, I cannot tolerate high fructose corn syrup or additives made from corn. So, I always attempt to buy pure cocoa powder, a simple, whole food.

This week, I wanted to replenish my cocoa supply at Trader Joe's, where I have bought an ethically traded cocoa powder from Colombia in the past. A very good cocoa, actually. The T.J.'s where I shop regularly did not have the familiar brown container. So, I settled for a blue can which says, "Conacado Organic Fair Trade Cocoa". 'No biggie,' I thought, until I got home and remembered to read the label before putting this new product in my cupboard:

"Ingredients: Organic evaporated sugar cane juice (natural milled cane sugar), organic nonfat dry milk powder, organic cocoa powder, organic guar gum, sea salt, organic carob bean gum, organic vanilla bean powder (organic vanilla extract, organic maltodextrin [corn], organic gum arabic)."

In other words, I had been duped. I had not bought just organic fair trade cocoa. I had bought a hot chocolate mix, similar to all the junky ones I could have found on any major grocery chain's shelf. And, it cost me about twice as much as it would have if it had been Swiss Miss. This was a true miss for me. I forgot to read the label...the entire label in Trader Joe's.

I feel betrayed by Trader Joe. I also feel that this product's label is a misrepresentation, a lie, a fraud. It is just one more example of the loss of ethics in business. Had I consumed this product, I would have been ill, probably for days. I doubt Trader Joe or any of his ilk would care.

Libertarians scream about free markets and abolishing all government regulation of business. Well, for their sakes, I hope they fail on their mission. If they should encounter life changes like those I live with every day, they might well be done in by a mislabeled can of cocoa mix. I would not wish this on anyone.

Dieting

This time of year in the Northern Hemisphere triggers dieting in many people. Gym memberships climb. Anticipation of light clothing and bathing suits motivates.

This is a sign of a gluttonous society.

Eating has become a hobby for many and a mindless stuffing of the gut for many others. One problem with overpopulation is the impossibility of providing fresh, healthy food at affordable prices for everyone. Price avocados and you will understand my point.

Whatever your taste, it is important to realize that diet and weight control is simply understood. Physics determine the basic equation:

Calories consumed minus calories expended equal calories used to make body weight, muscle, skin and fat.

Daily balancing of exercise and consumption of food is part of my practice. When eating in relation to activity becomes a habit, weight gain is no longer a problem. Weight loss entails increasing activity while not changing food consumption and gradually reducing it at each feeding.

NOTE: Photo courtesy Peter Petraitis.

Cloning

Science, while disciplined in its methodology, lacks ethical discipline and moderation. This is due to the influence of antisocial capitalism. The pharmaceutical companies of the capitalist world are representatives of the unethical mining of science for absurdly high profits.

Now the food production conglomerates are pushing cloned foods for the same reason. Biodiversity is scientifically proven to be essential for a healthy planet. Yet, so-called scientists are working for these greedy corporations to maximize profits at the expensive of planetary and human health.

Practice often includes resistance to the assaults on the personal and global environment. This takes time, self-education through research, and expense. These expenditures are worthwhile. They serve as a non-violent resistance to the evil of capitalist greed and attempt at control over the human community.

Epicureans

This is a time of obesity in the consumer world and hunger in the laborer world. Is it any wonder that American cable television boasts hour after hour about expensive food consumption and preparation? The elite, who have captured and dominate the international television industry, are obsessed with material pleasure and excess. This is not new, of course, but the elite of today number in the millions. They are served by billions who labor harder and harder as their overall compensation dwindles as a proportion of planetary resources and production. Greed is in. The Epicureans flaunt their devotion to pleasure, while always talking on TV about how they have paid their dues or worked their way up. This is myth in most cases. The masses are lulled into submission with false promises of open access to the upper levels of society drilled into their hypnotized TV-medicated brains. They stuff down their anger with starch and fat. There is no happiness in obesity or hunger. There is ultimately no happiness in attachment to pleasure and excess. There is happiness in the practice of moderation and living to promote economic equality and justice for everyone.