>>Valley Patriot>>
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(02/06/07)
Random Thoughts
NECC Prof. Mark Palermo
 I
haven’t had a steak in thirty years. I was in Saint
Louis, Missouri in May 1977 when I had my
“slaughterhouse experience.” What I saw,
you’ll never see on TV. It is true what they say.
Even a few moments witnessing the screaming, crying
animals in their death agony leaves a mark on one’s
soul that is difficult to ever erase. Many vegetarians
have been made from this experience. I did eat meat very
sparingly after that, but I could never again enjoy a
meat-based diet. The Yiddish writer, Isaac Singer, was
once asked if he was a vegetarian for health reasons. He
answered, “Yes, but not my own health, but for the
health of the animals. For these noble creatures, every
day is Treblinka.” I am glad the experience
happened. I am 56, and the way I want to get old is
by being more conscious, not less.
Most people don’t want to consider vegetarianism,
and I don’t blame them. For so many people, life is
stressful; fighting traffic, enduring boring, meaningless
jobs, paying bills, etc. One of the few pleasures people
have is a nice meal at the end of the day- maybe roasted
sausages or a steak smothered in gravy. In my case, I
love good food, but I have never felt deprived eating
foods like eggplant parmigan, Spanish rice and beans with
fried plantains, lentil stew, delicious falafel
sandwiches, and so on. With so many great food choices,
why eat animals?
But my motivation is more than just pity for the animals.
I am very, very choosy about the food I put in my mouth.
I read labels and check ingredients. I refuse to
drink tap water because of the deadly fluorides and
cancer –causing chlorine. I never go back to a
restaurant if I get an MSG headache from eating there.
If guests in my home leave diet drinks containing
aspartame in my refrigerator, I dump them down the drain
after they leave. (the diet drinks, not the guests!) I am
one of those guys. But I am not a Fascist about it. I
like coffee, sweets, and of course beer and wine- W.C.
Fields said, “Never trust a man who doesn’t
drink.”
Americans are mostly unconscious about food and the role
it plays in health. When is the last time your doctor
asked you about your diet? So I got the idea for this
article when a fellow teacher gave me a lemon square at
Christmas. While I was grateful because my friend’s
intent was from kindness and consideration, one look at
the ingredients told me the faux lemon square was toxin
in a box. Not that there’s anything unusual in this.
It is typical of so many processed foods sold
in supermarkets, sometimes even health food stores, which
are not fit for human consumption.
To prove my point, here are the ingredients, which are
listed on the box: we start with the requisite enriched
flour and corn syrup ( AKA white sugar- and plenty of
it). There’s hydrogenated beef tallow, otherwise
known as rendered beef lard, then some hydrogenated
soybean and cottonseed oil. ( They have to hydrogenate
the stuff? Isn’t there enough cholesterol already?)
This tiny 4-ounce “pastry” contains a
staggering 390 calories and 36% of a day’s allowance
of artery-clogging saturated fat. They should include
coupons inside- good for discounts on coronary
bypass surgery. Then there’s modified food starch,
salt- and plenty of it- in case you need to elevate your
blood pressure. Natural flavors- often a euphemism for
brain cell-destroying MSG. But there’s more: diastic
malt powder, (yum) mono and di-glycerides, agar,
artificial colors #6 and #5 (chemotherapy anyone?),
sorbitan, and last but not least, Polysorbate 60! (Bon
apetite!) But the most surreal part of this faux food
concoction is the brightly colored lettering on the
happy, little box which boldly announces, “Real
Fruit Filling,” yet no fruit of any kind is listed
among the ingredients!
An Arab student once told me a beautiful saying from her
culture, which I remember today, 20 years later.
“Health is the crown over one’s head that only
sick people can see.” If you have ever been gravely
ill, you know what she means. So I believe if God has
blessed you with a healthy body, you show respect for it.
The body is a temple, not a toilet.
Am I being too severe? I don’t think so. Over a
million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year.
Many of them will end up enduring chemo, radiation,
surgery, and walking around sans breasts,
testicles, vocal chords or wearing colostomy bags. The
average teenager eats a pound of sugar a day. Diabetes
and heart disease are in epidemic proportions. Gee, I
wonder why. Do you suppose at least part of these health
problems have anything to do with the food we eat?
Mark Palermo is a professor at Northern
Essex Community College in Haverhill and is the past
vice-president of the faculty union. You can email him at
markpalermo@lycos.com.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The February 2007
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2007, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 10,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
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Beach, and Lowell.
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