[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 40 (Thursday, March 8, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E492-E493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ADVICE ON HEALTHY LIVING

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ROSCOE G. BARTLETT

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 8, 2007

  Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland. Madam Speaker, thank you for the 
opportunity to share with my colleagues a recent column by a 
constituent that offers timeless advice about healthy eating for 
healthy living.

                 [From the The Tentacle, Feb. 14, 2007]

                 Our Government, Our Health, Ourselves

                         (By Patricia A. Kelly)

       There's a movement underway to ban the use of trans fats, 
     but New Orleans isn't going along. Their chefs don't use them 
     much anyway. They choose real foods, like butter, for their 
     renowned cuisine.
       Eating margarine began during World War II with bags of 
     lard and coloring packets that you mixed in. There was a 
     shortage of butter because of the war. Margarine use 
     continued in my Washington suburban family because of price, 
     I think, and, of course, the government said it was okay.
       I started eating butter when in my 20s. I read something in 
     health food literature that said butter was actually better 
     for you than margarine. Hydrogenated (trans, polyunsaturated, 
     hardened) fats have extra molecules attached to their chains 
     by clever scientists. They are harder for the body to break 
     down than natural, softer, animal fat molecules, or 
     minimally-processed vegetable oils. They are thus more 
     harmful to, and persistent in, the body.
       Of course, the recommendations included other things, but 
     actually allowed in the diet the star of the government 
     nutrition wars--the infamous, then out, now in, but only a 
     little in, egg. Drum roll, please. . . .
       We've been paying taxes for this: for government nutrition 
     experts to tell us that we should be eating margarine; that 
     we should, or should not, eat eggs; that we should only eat 
     special margarines; that we should not eat the margarine they 
     were saying we should eat last week--for the past 35 years, 
     at least. The truth was available to me, a reasonably 
     intelligent person and an ordinary mom of limited means, 
     surfing around in the health food literature, looking for the 
     best way to feed my family. I read it. It seemed logical. I 
     believed it.
       If you eat artificially altered foods, you are taking a 
     risk, because we don't yet know the long term effects, or 
     whether there is alteration in the nutrition available from 
     these foods, or contamination. We do all know how convenient 
     it is for large food producers to grow cornstalks that are 
     the same height, tomatoes that don't spoil, and apples that 
     last, unchanged, for a year in storage. We also know how 
     these wonder foods taste. If you can't remember the 
     difference, go to another country and taste the fresh 
     produce.
       You can fool your vegetarian cow into eating the ground-up 
     bones of dead animals in her feed. That doesn't make them 
     good for her. She's not a vulture. She would never eat them 
     on her own. If you eat her meat, it might not be too good for 
     you either. You might not know this for 20 years, of course, 
     until you get Jacob-Crutchfeld disease, and die horribly. 
     Ground-up bones are really cheap, though, and our 
     government said they were safe.
       Animals raised in close quarters with processed feed do 
     better if they're given antibiotics. You might do better with 
     them, too, if you were standing in your next-door neighbor's 
     poop. Our government says there aren't any antibiotics left 
     in the meat that might increase antibiotic resistance and 
     endanger our population.
       Our government also thinks it is safe to use bovine growth 
     hormone on cows; and I'm sure the cows don't mind tripping on 
     their own udders. We are wondering why so many nine-year-old 
     girls are reaching puberty now, though. I'm sure it can't be 
     due to anything they're exposed to. If you're wondering, just 
     ask our government.
       Logic dictates that, if you eat a balanced diet, you have a 
     better chance of getting the nutrients you need. If you live 
     on sugar and caffeine and fast, high-fat, overly refined 
     foods, your spirit might be happier for the moment, but your 
     body will suffer in the long run. These foods are being 
     advertised to make money, not to help you. Eating less meat 
     and a greater variety of whole plant foods reduces the impact 
     of people on the environment because it takes so much more 
     grain to feed a cow than to feed a person.
       Eating a variety of seeds, grains, fruits, nuts and 
     vegetables increases your chances of getting all the 
     micronutrients you need. Cow's milk is really good for cows. 
     If you eat more calories than you need, you will gain weight. 
     Reading the labels will tell you what's in your food. Nobody 
     reading this column would have any trouble figuring any of

[[Page E493]]

     this out. We don't need to, though. We have the government.
       Don't get me started on HPV vaccine, and how girls mostly 
     get the virus from boys, and boys from girls; but it's only 
     recommended for girls.
       Whatever you do, don't ask my opinion on the recent, widely 
     publicized estrogen replacement study. It reported the 
     outcome of giving a specific combination of mare's urine 
     estrogen/progesterone pill to 64-year-old women who were way 
     past menopause with no prior hormone replacement. Huge 
     numbers of litigation conscious doctors withdrew every form 
     of hormone replacement from virtually all of their female 
     patients because of this one. Our government thought it was 
     safe to take Prempro, and then, suddenly, not safe at all.
       I think it would be a good idea for our government to 
     narrow its focus back to life, liberty and the pursuit of 
     happiness. To me that means keeping us safe and free and 
     unbothered with expensive nonsense, paid for with our tax 
     dollars.
       Maybe our nutrition scientists could spend their time 
     making sure there's no poop in the ground beef, and that the 
     cows are dead before they're skinned. I know I'd sleep 
     better.

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