The Beautiful Truth

"The blueprint for our future, cancer, is a bio-code gone wrong, and it's delighted by what we do to feed it." - The Beautiful Truth

Last night I watched an eye-opening documentary called The Beautiful Truth (thanks to Netflix), which centers around the Gerson Therapy of healing your body through natural foods. The film discusses many food-related topics such as MSG, aspartame, mercury used in dental practices, genetically-modified foods, and fluoride additions to water supplies that are all legal and all carcinogens.

MSG is marketed as a flavor enhancer and added to more processed foods than you'd like to hear. It has been studied numerously with results indicating it causes brain damage, endocrine disorders, retinal degeneration, behavior disorders, learning disabilities, reproductive disorders, obesity and more. Notice MSG isn't labeled on our foods? There is an organization combatting that problem, Truth in Labeling.

The dangers of aspartame poisoning have been a well guarded secret since the 1980s. Aspartame is a true toxin. No other food can be provided as a comparison to the toxic nature of NutraSweet. Upon closer examination, the available research revealed that the manufacturer (Monsanto) and the FDA are manipulating the public into thinking that aspartame is safe. It is not. There are over 92 different health side effects association with aspartame consumption. Watching this segment almost made me throw-up considering I am a huge Diet Coke addict- I'm switching to home-brewed iced tea, which will also lower my carbon-footprint of plastic bottles. It will not be easy, but it will be worth it.

There are over 1,000 tons of mercury in American's mouths thanks to the American Dental Association. Mercury is the most poisonous non-radioactive metal and it was used as fillings. Although it is not currently in use, it is not being removed either. It has been proven that dental hygienists suffer from very high rates of infertility. It is scary to think that the air quality at the dentist office could be toxic with mercury and not regulated.

Isn't it crazy that large pesticide/herbicide companies now control a majority of food supply? Well, to clarify, processed food supply. Monsanto and ConAgra are just two of the companies that are monopolizing seeds through patents (which should be illegal) and genetically altering non-toxic foods into becoming toxic. Corn, soy and cotton are among the most genetically-modified crops.

A doctor researched dental hygiene among native cultures and found no cases of tooth-decay until the cultures were exposed to processed foods like refined sugar and white flour. We now add fluoride to our water supplies, yet ingested fluoride has never proven to prevent cavities, only topical fluoride.  Cities like Juneau, Alaska are now repealing the practice.

It was an eerie feeling watching and learning that our food is contaminated to the point it is killing us. I have seen it before in documentaries like Food, Inc., but I have never seen it compared to disease this significantly. I understand it is a documentary making a point, but the point is evident everywhere. The cure for many of our most-threatening illnesses is to mindfully eat sustainably/organic/non-toxic foods. There is simply to much money to be made by the food and drug corporations and to too much money used to steer politicians into not taking action. It is horrifying to think about.

At times I get anxiety going to the grocery store because it seems like there is nothing to eat. It's not true, it just takes more preparation, awareness, and sadly, money, to find. It helps to shop at a farmers' markets or stores that focus on natural and organic options. Our mindsets have to change from quick and ready to slow and thoughtful food decisions. There are many useful sites to find a farmers' market near you, like Local Harvest.

The Beautiful Truth left with a message of hope. There are solutions and cures already available, we just have to use them.

I'll leave you with the trailer to the movie. It would be a wise-spent hour and a half:

Obselidia at The Ashland Independent Film Festival

Originally posted on The Southern Oregon Wine Blog, I feel it is worthy to share with more people! 

This weekend was the epitome of spontaneity and that means many blog posts are coming out of it.

On Friday we pulled up the schedule for the Ashland Independent Film Festival, saw a 12 o'clock showing, got in the car making it just in time to be let into the Varsity Theater to see Obselidia.

Synopsis: Believing he's the last door-to-door encyclopedia salesman in the world, George decides to write The Obselidia, a compendium of obsolete things. George believes that love, among other things, is obsolete. In his quest to document nearly extinct occupations, he befriends Sophie, a beautiful cinema projectionist who works at a silent movie theater. Sophie believe that nothing is obsolete as long as someone loves it. When they interview a reclusive scientist who predicts 80 percent of the world's population will be obliterated by irreversible climate change by the year 2100, the two must fact the question, if the world is going to disappear tomorrow, how are we going to live today?

I couldn't have written anything I agree with more than this review from Variety, "From the striking title cards to the beautifully composed visuals and unusual collected items that litter the protagonist's home, Obselidia has the look of a hand-crafted piece, something meticulously sculpted or painted in an artist's studio."

After the showing, Diane Bell, writer and first time director, got up in front of the audience for Q&A. Previously a yoga instructor in Barcelona, Diane moved to Los Angeles to pursue writing. After feeling dissatisfied writing Hollywood horror movies, Diane started working on Obselidia with inspiration from encyclopedias and climate change. Filmed in 17 days, on an extremely low budget of $500,000, and casting literally off the LA street, Obselidia was a Sundance Film Festival selection. This showing in Ashland is only the second festival the movie has been involved in, but plans to participate in film festivals in Texas, Florida, and in Diane's home of Edinburgh, Scotland are next up for the indie film. Hopefully the film gets picked up so more can enjoy its message, but if not, Diane and her husband, Chris Bryne, talked about taking the film a more viral route.

While leaving the theater, a woman asked me what movie I saw and I responded with my favorable recommendation of Obselidia and how impressed I was with my first visit to the film festival. She too saw the film and said it was movies like that which bring her back year after year to the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Next year, attending the film festival will not be a spontaneous event in my Friday, but rather a planned out trip to catch as many wonderful films as I can.

Obselidia will have one last showing at the festival tonight at 6 p.m. I cannot urge you enough to go see it. For more information go to http://www.ashlandfilm.org/.

If you miss its last showing tonight, or want to follow Obselidia success, join the facebook fan page.