Every Saturday is a celebration at the Pilgrim Church on Columbia
Road. From 12 noon to 1:30 PM, they serve a 100% free and a 100% nutritious
lunch consisting of salad, fruit, veggies, a main course and a dessert.
On this particular Saturday, Feb 25, it was cold and blustery outside but inside the Pilgrim Church was serving lunch
and teaching and demonstrating about healthy eating as part of its Winter Health Fair. Shortly after the community guests
took their seats, the Pilgrim Church gave a presentation about the
overabundance of sugar in the normal diet - sugary foods that are
pushed by the food industry, presented by the local small grocers and
then consumed by the unassuming YOU.
The Pilgrim Church Winter Health Fair practiced what it preaches.
Step 1. Listen and learn
Step 2. Follow the teaching (practice)
Step 3. Enjoy the results - a healthier life - and repeat.
By 12:15 the assembled throng was listening to the "wise elders"
preaching the gospel of healthy food - predominantly sugar-free. Then
the South Congregational Church of Concord New Hampshire and the City
Mission Society served the food that the church had been preparing
since the wee hours of the morning.
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 Luncheon menu
click to enlarge
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The food was great - fresh fruit, green salad, spaghetti and meatballs,
veggies and a dessert. The meal was doubly delightful as the
wonderful singers and musicians from the Randolph Tabernacle Choir
entertained.
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Much of the shocking, comparative information about the deadly sugar
foods is found in a brochure prepared by the Jamaica Plain Youth Health
Equity Collaborative and distributed by Pilgrim Church to the
attendees. What it shows is that there are two Jamaica Plains.
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A wealthier Jamaica Plain where drinks like Teenies are shunned and not available to the general public
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A poorer section where Teenies are the (poisonous) drink of the day
How many Upham's Corner neighborhoods are there - healthy and unhealthy?
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The healthy Upham's Corner - Consumers are informed and moderate their diet to focus on healthy food
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The unhealthy Upham's Corner - Consumers are
uninformed. Thirsty? Just grab the cheapest drink that will
satisfy the thirst (a green/yellow/red Teeny - all artificial colors
and flavors)
Did you know:
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Drinking one Tropicana Topical Fruit Fury Twister
is the same as consuming two (2) 7-ounce canisters of Reddi-Whip
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One can of Arizona Kiwi Strawberry has the sugary equivalent of seven bowls of Fruit Loops
These shocking statistics are more aptly described as disgusting:
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Who in their right minds would consume two canisters of Reddi-Whip in one sitting?
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Who would eat seven bowls of Fruit Loops in the course of one week, let alone compressing the consumption into one sitting?
Yet we so benignly pick up the Tropicana Tropical Fruit Fury Twister or
the Arizona Kiwi Strawberry drink and chug it down like it was nothing.
Open the Winter Health Fair Brochure
- Learn about healthy food alternatives
- Learn about the difference between the healthy and unhealthy neighborhoods.
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To put it in perspective, think "poison."
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Would you drink bleach?
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Would you swallow motor oil?
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How about some shampoo?
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Or a can of RoundUp?
Rational people do not swallow poisons or any form of liquid that is
not safe for consumption. Yet we are most willing to take into our bodies
manufactured concoctions consisting of:
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Delicious artificial flavors
- Beautiful artificial colors
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Dissolved sugar that rots the teeth and contributes to weight gain and diabetes
Imagine a witch's cauldron from MacBeth with eye of newt, toe of frog,
tongue of dog, toad, fillet of a fenny snake, lizard's leg, baboon's
blood and more. It would be healthier to consume the witch's stew than to down a sugar
drink.
So why are companies like Tropicana and Arizona making money?
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The can is pretty.
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The advertising is convincing.
- Sugar is addictive and difficult to say "No" to, difficult to "go cold turkey"
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The sudden rush we get from "thirst" to "thirst quenching" says it all
Must be good for you! Think again. The birds of the air,
the animals of the forest, the roots of the ground do not go begging
for sugar sweet drinks and food, and neither should YOU and neither should I.
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Turning to healthy food is pretty simple. If it did not grow from
a plant or a tree, if it is processed food, consider not including it
in your diet.
Another helpful rule is this: Stay clear of the three "whites" -
salt, sugar and flour. All three of these are highly processed
and that is what makes them dangerous. Easy to concentrate but
more importantly, we are not consuming them as they appeared in
nature.
For example, sugar cane is completely different from sugar which is
extracted as a relatively pure product from what nature presents.
Sugar cane is a highly complex set of nutrients, all of which enter the
body as a system. Sugar enters the body as a refined
chemical.
If you must include processed food, for example, cereal,
be sure to read the label.
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How many grams of sugar?
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How many grams of fiber?
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How many grams of protein?
- Does it have corn syrup - high fructose corn syrup? Stay away from all such products.
Read a lot of labels and you'll begin to get the picture.
Choose
to eat foods at home that you have cooked yourself. If you do go
out to eat, choose a down-home cooking restaurant - no fast food.
Too expensive? Not really. Just how expensive is your
health and your life?
Finally, plan to come to Pilgrim Church every Saturday, 12 noon to 1:30
PM. You can't beat the price. Pilgrim Church works in
cooperation with the Boston Public Health Commission and guarantees to
serve you the healthiest foods.
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