The Veggies Amass

I'm back from a trip out of state and now am also back on the raw vegetable diet. You should know that I am not keeping to this diet all the time. When people visit or family wants to go out to eat, I go and eat whatever is on the menu. So this raw veggie diet is really my mainstay and the more I stay at home, the more I keep to it and the better I feel.

More energy, weight loss and my outlook is truly on the upswing.

So here is another photo of what I put in the VitaMix. New additions include bell pepper, asparagus, two whole large carrots and lots more crushed flax seeds.

This is my biggest yield of juice yet but it was so good that I drank all 2.5 20 ounce glasses full. The zucchini was wonderful and the bell pepper gave the mix some real fresh flavors.

As you can see, flax seed is all over. The daily recommendation is one level scoop but I put in two very large heaping scoops. By that afternoon, it had already made it through my digestive system. So that's saying a lot for fiber!

I also added almost a whole banana, which I have really laid off of. The viscous sweetness of the juice was coming from the bananas and so I have omitted them from the juice. Another reason why I have laid off on the bananas is because so many of them are greenish when I pick them up from the market but when I take them home, they don't ripe properly.

So, as you can see, these bananas are in various stage of post-picking ripeness. Some suggest that this is nothing more than the fruit rotting off of the vine. So be it. But when I would leave them at home, usually in a bag to promote "ripeness" or "rottenness" as the case may be. But they bananas remained green with slight yellowing that produced an odd and almost nauseating color.

If I bought Del Monte bananas this has not been a problem. But the Chiquita bananas are refusing to yellow. And so I have been a little wary of the Chiquita brand. So I did some research and found out that the company that labels their bananas, "Chiquita" have been involved in property acquisition in unethical ways.

But this banana, which I picked up at a Starbucks, was yellowing just the way bananas have done so since I was a boy. None of this odd greenish yellowish color.

So I went online and found the following:

• 
  

  Gene technology: aims in research and development

  Agronomic traits

  Disease resistance

  • Fungal resistance: with gene technological concepts, a resistance to the Black Sigatoka and Fusarium wilt has been produced in the banana. These fungae are pathogenic agents of the two most important banana diseases. With conventional breeding resources, an improved resistance is only achieved with great difficulty.
  

  • Viral resistance: to the Banana Bunchy Top Virus or the Banana Bract Mosaik Virus.
  

  • Bacterial resistance: in Uganda research is being done with gene technological modified bananas that show a resistance to Xanthomonas campestris. The bacterium activates a leaf wilt and causes profit cuts of up to 90 per cent.
  

  Resistance against pests

  • Resistance to nematoden: for this purpose, cystatin genes are inserted into bananas. Cystatin inhibits active agents that nematodes produce in order to penetrate into the banana stalk. Thus, it prevents oviposition.
  

As you can see, genetically modified (gmo) bananas are quite common. What are we to do? Shall we all plant our own gardens and therefore eat only organic foods? What about the seeds? After all, genetically modified foods are propagated by the seeds, yes?

Or are these single generation plants?

If you would like to read further, check out these links:

          GMO Database
          http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/plants/20.banana.html

          GMO Plant List
          http://www.gmo-compass.org/eng/database/plants/

          Genetically Modified Organisms
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism

Prepare to be freaked out.