Just joined the Advocacy Campaign Team at farmsanctuary.org.  Here is just one of the issues they are about:

Sentient Beings

"Many people have experienced the love, companionship, and joy of sharing their home and lives with an animal such as a dog or cat. But what many people don't realize is that all animals, including those used for food production, are just as sensitive, loving, and capable of suffering pain as our beloved companion animals.

Turkeys, chickens, cows, pigs, and other farm animals are sentient beings, no different from a dog or cat in their needs for comfort, companionship, food, water, and shelter. Yet, in the U.S. farm animals are treated horribly. They are kept in tiny cages or crates their entire lives, unable to walk, stretch their limbs, or even turn around. They are denied wholesome food and natural interaction with other members of their species. In fact, agribusiness treats these animals merely as tools of production.

If dogs, cats, or parakeets were treated the same way as factory-farmed egg-laying hens, pigs, or veal calves, those responsible would face animal cruelty charges. However, most states' anti-cruelty laws specifically exclude animals used in agricultural production.

The pain a pig feels is no different from the pain a dog feels. All animals, even those raised for food, are sentient beings, and deserve to be protected from cruelty. As philosopher Jeremy Bentham said, "The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But, can they suffer?" Please join the campaign to have farm animals recognized as sentient beings in the United States, as has been done in Europe, and visit www.sentientbeings.org for more information."

From Farm Sanctuary (http://www.farmsanctuary.org):
"Factory farming is an attitude that regards animals and the natural world merely as commodities to be exploited for profit. In animal agriculture, this attitude has led to institutionalized animal cruelty, massive environmental destruction and resource depletion, and animal and human health risks."

The Meatrix - a cartoon, which is easier to watch, but still informative:
http://www.themeatrix.com/inside/
 
For more information on what you can do, visit:
http://www.tribeofheart.org/index.htm

What can you do to help end factory farming forever?  Please do what you can.  Don't get hung up on what you can't do. 

Yesterday I signed up for classes at a Dahn Yoga Studio here in Atlanta, and wanted to share this great resource:

http://www.dahnyoga.com/

"Practitioners often begin a Yoga exercise class with a specific health goal in mind, such as increasing flexibility or reducing tension. However, it is not unusual for them to soon report additional benefits they had not anticipated such as improved sleep, reduction in food cravings, or an overall sense of well-being. In addition to the physical benefits of yoga, you may also experience enhancements to your mental and emotional well being."

TMJ (tempora-mandibular-joint disorder) - here's  what works for me:

- night guard from dentist (plastic thingy that you wear at night in your mouth to prevent grinding your teeth)

- hot compresses over the painful area

- stop using cell phone - it seems to really aggravate symptoms,  creating earaches and TMJ.  I've used a headset succesfully too,  although an earbud probably just channels the radiation into the  ear (not good).

- passionflower tea for the pain.  you can buy  it in the health food store, and I'd use 2 teabags to make a strong  brew and drink 2 or 3 cups.  it's non-addictive, and considered  safe for long-term use as a sedative, painkiller, muscle relaxer...

According to The Record, Mom did know what she was talking about:

"Eat your spinach."
How many times did you hear that while growing up. Or the vegetable may have been broccoli, green beans, squash or peas. In any event, mom was once again proven right, according to new research on vegetables and aging.
The study, conducted by the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center, found that eating vegetables appears to help keep the brain young and may slow the mental decline sometimes associated with growing old.
Older people who ate more than two servings of vegetables daily appeared about five years younger at the end of the six-year study than those who ate few or no vegetables.

From: Alliance for Natural Healthhttp://www.alliance-natural-health.org/index.cfm?action=news&ID=234

In my work as an IT and business consultant, I can see the results of the hostile environment in which IT consultants and contractors often work.  Hostile to the body that is.  Ergonomically incorrect chairs, fast food, disdain for human needs, constant travel for some, all lead to burnout and predictable health problems.

So what's a person to do?  Here are a few tips for staying healthy on the high-pressure job:

- Take adequate breaks (especially from close work) - once every hour get up and walk around, go talk to someone, find reasons to move, take a walk, jump up and down a few times.  Any and all of these can increase circulation and breathing. 

- Learn exercises you can do at your desk (for example, Ten Ways to Exercise at Your Desk)

- Adopt a practice such as Qi Gong, Tai Chi or Yoga to keep your spine flexible - Qi Gong is my favorite exercise - low impact, fun to do, painless - flexibility helps your body absorb the impacts and stresses of daily life.

- Take a healthy lunch (or eat out healthy) - Thai food is often light, healthy and digestible.  For a new definition of healthy eating (taken from ancient wisdom - what's old is new again...) check out Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, "challenging the diet dictocrats" - backed up by solid research. 

- Drink soothing herbal teas to reduce stress and the possibility of inflammation (aching joints and back) - Passionflower vine is my first choice, although there are many herbal blends on the market that can help, and the fluids help you stay hydrated too.  See Traditional Medicinals for a good brand.

- Learn to meditate to help keep you calm, focused and centered - adopting a daily practice of meditation can lower blood pressure and improve many health markers.  It slows and deepens your breathing and pulse, while increasing available oxygen in your system.  And going deep into meditation can put you in touch with sources of inspiration and give you access to your own internal reserves. 

- Drink plenty of water and make sure you take in enough salt - dehydration contributes to problems from aching joints to high blood pressure.  most of us don't drink enough water to stay hydrated and with today's low-salt diets, we sometimes forget salt is absolutely needed by the body to function properly. 

- Slow down!  In Grayton Beach, Florida, a vacation spot, there's a sign at the end of the road that reads "Slow down - you've arrived!".  You've arrived - you got the job - sometimes the best way to keep it is to pace yourself - take time to think - pause - dare to be a heads-up consultant rather than a heads-down drone.  Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, kept a sign in his office displaying one word:  THINK!

Last weekend's CFSA Conference on Sustainable Agriculture heard a lot about this issue, as reported by the Organic Consumers Association:

"BOYCOTT THE SHAMELESS SEVEN--ORGANIC OUTLAWS LABELING FACTORY FARM MILK AS 'USDA ORGANIC'

While USDA bureaucrats drag their feet on closing key loopholes in national organic organic standards, retailers, wholesalers and major “organic” brands are continuing to sell milk and dairy products labeled as "USDA Organic, even though most or all of their milk is coming from factory farm feedlots where the animals have been brought in from conventional farms and are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.

The Organic Consumers Association is expanding its boycott of Horizon and Aurora organic dairy products to include five national "private label" organic milk brands supplied by Aurora, as well as two leading organic soy products, Silk and White Wave, owned by Horizon's parent company, Dean Foods. Its time to turn up the heat on the "Shameless Seven.

While thousands of organic consumers and a number of natural food stores and cooperatives have joined the boycott, major national large grocery retailers have ignored the boycott. "

USA Today brings us the arguments for and against putting unlabeled cloned animanls into our food supply.  What will they think of next?