Want to be a superhuman? Here

topic posted Sun, April 12, 2009 - 8:09 PM by  megan
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This is some seriously interesting stuff!
Read my article to find out the secret:
www.examiner.com/examiner/...-Heres-how
posted by:
megan
Los Angeles
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  • Re: Want to be a superhuman? Here

    Wed, April 22, 2009 - 10:17 AM
    nice. . .but living in the USA you also need to learn what specific foods there are that fight the growth of tumors, for example. . .such as organic tomatoes, basil, red kidney beans, etc etc etc.

    something to note also, is that many of the foods or supplements on your list are quite expensive and only available in health food stores. .

    if you eat wisely you can boost your health and longevity without breaking your budget too badly.

    moving out of a congested city with smoggy air is a good start. making your own sprouts and planting fruit trees in your yard, if you have one. fresh organic fruit is loaded with valuable nutrients. and don't forget a good quality yogurt! one that is high in bifidum, such as Nancys. .

    and then. . .there is addition by subtraction. .
  • The secret to being human and happy

    Wed, April 22, 2009 - 11:57 AM
    No, I have no interest in being "superhuman" and am pretty sure the world would be a better place if people focused on being human and not trying to have more and secret powers that make them "more" than human.

    Really, why would anyone in a grow organic tribe be interested in being a Frankenhuman when we don't grow Frankenfood? Why would we want to take artificial nutrients when we eat real food with real nutrients?

    Is spam megan's secret ingredient for magically making people "superhuman"?
    • Re: The secret to being human and happy

      Thu, April 23, 2009 - 3:40 AM
      did you read the list? doesn't sound like it.

      Frankenfood refers to food that has been genetically engineered.

      The nutrients on Megan's list are all bonafide excellent natural foods, which we all would benefit from, although my comments are that there are more mundane and less expensive foods that should be on that list. .
      • Re: The secret to being human and happy

        Thu, April 23, 2009 - 9:15 AM
        Lorenzo - She was simply advertising products she's promoting - imported products - and herself. The post's spam. It's not about growing anything (organic or otherwise), it's about promoting "superfoods" and being "superhuman" not about being naturally human and eating organic foods one grows oneself (or that are grown locally). Really, this is no different than cosmetic or other advertising that is designed to denigrate being natural in favor of promoting vanity and being "superhuman" by consuming their products (or, swallowing the belief that being human just isn't good enough and only "superhuman" will do). It promotes an artificial and mythical ideology of nature rather than embracing and respecting nature. Not to mention that it is no different at all than the marketing techniques and myths used by Big Food. The "superfood" industry is no different than Big Food, just like the vitamin and supplement industry is no different than Big Pharma. They're all industries that are about profit (it's no coincidence that David Wolfe is a protegé of Anthony Robbins).

        Besides, she didn't promote non-GMOs or eating organic - just the usual roster of raw "superfoods" peddled by importers. You don't really have any way of knowing if the imported Goji berries are GMO or organic, who's being exploited growing them, what kind of environmental costs are entailed, etc. All things that I would think would be of concern to people truly interested in growing organic.
        • Re: The secret to being human and happy

          Thu, April 23, 2009 - 6:34 PM
          okay. .
          • Re: The secret to being human and happy

            Fri, April 24, 2009 - 5:14 AM
            Or maybe Megan is simply sharing the writing she does for the Raw Food Examiner because she thought some here would find it of interest and has no ulterior motive.
            • Re: The secret to being human and happy

              Fri, April 24, 2009 - 5:43 AM
              OK....... i'm a superfoodie, so i thought the post interesting and read the information. I don't think it's fair to suspect gmo's in the superfoods on the list, there are not always organic. If we are going to import and export items, superfoods are a much better medium of world trade than 99% of the junk we ship around the planet. I love quinoa because it is complete protein and easy to digest and i am not going to switch to a local alternative that i would not function as well on. I love goji berries but they are expensive as heck, so i planted the seeds and guess what, they grow fairly easily.

              I think nettles are a superfood ( this does not mean it is necessarily a good idea to plant them in your yard!!) , and the mulikhya or whatever that i posted about a while back, and paw paws and a whole lot of things that we can grow. I'm very much interested in gardening for nutrition. I hope we discuss these things more, and will try to do my part towards this.

              I can't see where megan is selling much besides free information, and i suspect she is doing this more for love and less for money.
              • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                Fri, April 24, 2009 - 6:28 AM
                Hey, if she was posting about growing food or in any way acknowledging and participating in this tribe - and not just promoting herself and products in an impersonal manner - I'd have no objection. If wil or another member of the tribe started blogging and promoted it, I'd think it was totally cool and legit. People's attachment to the idea of superfoods aside, this seems to be a total spam and run (no mention of organic OR growing). Superfoods seem to be all about MLM and hype for the most part (which is not to say that certain foods aren't great sources of particular nutrients) and the site itself seem to be one big advertisement trying (rather poorly) to present itself as equivalent to about.com (it's promoting new brands of alcohol too so is hardly a raw food site!). None of it's particularly credible.

                wil, I'm not against fair trade or eating quinoa, I'm just wary of the North American tendency to latch onto the latest "superfood" trend for a particular item - that's almost always as promoted by Big Food as it is by MLM schemes and involves Americans making lots of money (usually by exploiting people and the land elsewhere, and often involves deception about the true origin of a product). It's like how biofuels are creating more starvation and destroying forests but because North Americans want them to ease their guilt without changing destructive habits and can ignore the reality of how unsustainable they really are and how it's actually taking food out of people's mouths - not superfoods just basic foods needed to survive. Of course, superfoods are selling memes wrapped around immortality and perfection (that innately denigrate what it is to be human). I'm curious wil, you seem pretty down to earth, are you trying to be superhuman?
                • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                  Fri, April 24, 2009 - 8:35 AM
                  Yoga i think the way to superhumanhood.....more or less. The amount of energy it takes to get the energy out of the food is the critical factor in raising energy and consciousness levels , and condensed nutrition of superfoods is very helpful. This can be critical when dealing with awakening energy systems. I totally agree with the mtm hype charges.........but my system runs a lot better on these new fuels than on traditional foods....actually ,. these are the more traditional foods and i think more the future diet of humanity than the crap that is in supermarkets. Some of these foods contain very interesting micro nutrients and are as much medicine as food. I judge them by their effect on me, and some of the superfoods don't do much, but others i've found very helpful.......quinoa for instance, and barley juice powder amongst others..........i also eat a lot of weeds and mustard greens and that sort of thing though, and really hate that there is this trendy yuppie upscale and most of all expensive kinda ethos developing around super foods.

                  These are just old and trusted friends of humanity that have not been valued in modern times as much as their quality recommends that they should be.
                  • This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.

                    Re: The secret to being human and happy

                    Fri, April 24, 2009 - 9:06 AM
                    wil - To each their own, I'd be more impressed if people worked on being honestly human first! :-) Though with all the marketing pressure to be superhuman by consuming/using certain products from all sides (mainstream, alternative, religious, secular, etc), I can see why people don't think being human is good enough or even worthy of loving or being loved. If humans could accept and approach being human animals with love and compassion for ourselves and each other (and all other animals that we share the world with), the world would be a very different place.

                    Heh, I eat quinoa but I just consider it nutritious food. I also eat rice and beans and consider it food not a "superfood". The whole "superfood" meme (live forever, don't age, be "superhuman", be an alpha human, etc) really reminds me of cosmetics advertising in many, many ways since it appeals to many of the same insecurities and vanities. Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to live a long and healthy life - and I do understand that as we get older death looms larger so wanting more and better time is totally understandable - it's just that I'm getting a bit sick of what a cash cow it is and how much hype, disinfo and magic bullets (it's a "secret") there are involved in marketing immortality to our aging population. (Ultimately it's more likely that life extension will come out of a lab in the form of being able to manipulate gene expression or the biological underpinnings of aging. Of course, that comes with a whole slew of ethical issues and is only likely to be available to those who can afford it.)

                    It seems that maybe you're looking for or claiming something metaphysical in regards to superfoods rather than something physical (such as nutrition). If you don't mind my curiosity, what's wrong with being human from your perspective? What do you believe "superhumanhood" looks and feels like? How is it different than being human?

                    Anyway, glad you've found something that feels like it's working for you and that makes you feel good. Ultimately, I suspect that joy is the most important aspect in not only living a long time but actually having a good experience of life. And, yes, nutrition does play a role in how well our bodies support happiness so I'm not dissing the role of nutrition at all, just questioning the whole imported "superfoods" hype which removes us once again from the natural to the supernatural (and, of course, Frankenfoods are also supernatural). My question is, what's wrong with just being and eating naturally?
                    • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                      Fri, April 24, 2009 - 10:25 AM
                      I'm not at all into the live forever, never age thing. Never been to a health spa and am not sure what they are. Never been in a hot tub for that matter. I think you are lumping too much with the superfood meme.

                      We have a lot of potential as humans we do not fulfill as of yet. Better nutrition is a key part to reaching our potential. Broadly put, we need to eat much less and what we eat needs to be higher quality. Superfoods are an important part of that equation and should not be associated only with rich yuppies in antiseptic environments.

                      When i was younger, i ran on corn and beans just fine, but now quinoa seems to agree with me a lot more. It is hard to grow here, but i will try again. I think there is tremendous potential in developing new strains of chenopodium that cross the very closely related quinoa, lamb's quarters, and chenopodium berlandieri or pitseed goosefoot which was one of the first crops developed by eastern native americans 4k years ago when agriculture developed here. I also think goji berries are a good crop for here as well as some of the other superfoods. I very much welcome the attention that folks are paying to this, even if they are rich yuppies from antiseptic environments.

                      So i see superfoods as natural and simple and more or less the opposite of frankenfood. Too damn expensive though.
                      • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                        Fri, April 24, 2009 - 12:56 PM
                        wil - I'm not lumping those things in with the superfood meme, it's the people promoting it that are. The very term "superfood" is a marketing term to begin with! I agree that eating well (and getting exercise) are important to staying healthy and enjoy quinoa, I just see it as nutritious food and not something with magical or "super" qualities.

                        Also, it's worth pointing out that just because people who live in the land of Goji berries live long lives it doesn't mean that the Goji berries are actually the key factor that contributes or causes the longevity. Just like blueberries aren't magic even though they're quite tasty and high in certain nutrients. It's the hype and marketing I object to, not the food itself. Particularly since people who sell superfoods are often selling the same myths as Big Food.
                        • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                          Fri, April 24, 2009 - 4:58 PM
                          One party really pushing some of these are people who are trying to change land use patterns in areas of the world where forests are threatened. I knew about this connection for several superfoods, and realized i was ignorant of the production of some of the rest. Googling around for info, if found several pages pushing sustainable acai berry farming, including the following ( i think) which i thought a surprisingly good read!!!

                          Acai Berry Facts

                          The acai berry is a production most as diminutive as a grapevine and crapper be institute predominantly in Brazil, specially in the Amazon rainforest. The acai berry has slightly inferior mag than a grape. In fact, exclusive 10% of the production crapper be thoughtful as berry; the another 90% of it are mostly cum and pit. The berries are existence harvested by grouping in the Brasil location and are existence utilised as food, most especially as conception of their breakfast. It is a super conception of the fasting of grouping experience in the Amazon area. solon than that, the acai berry is also an essential healthful plant. For cardinal of years, grouping of the Amazon hit utilised this production to aid the more ordinary ailments; it is modify said to be conception of the region’s folklore.

                          The acai berry prototypal started to acquire popularity in of metropolis de Janeiro, a land that is thousands of miles absent from the Amazon rainforest. The acai berry and its derivatives crapper be utilised to augment workouts and is specially adjuvant in active activities. This is because the acai production is famous to be a rattling trenchant forcefulness booster. Just recently, the acai berry has also been gaining popularity in whatever another countries as well. In America, welfare in this production has been crescendo in the media, based by scrutiny professionals, scientists, and nutritionists. They hit been insane most the whatever upbeat benefits of the acai berry, its nutritional qualities, and its coefficient loss aiding properties.

                          The acai berry has been dubbed as a “superfruit” or a “superfood.” This is because the antioxidant properties of the acai berry are unsurpassed by whatever another production in the world. In truth, no production ever comes near to the liberated immoderate conflict knowledge and the turn nutritional continuance of the acai berry. It is said to include not exclusive the maximal turn of antioxidants than whatever another presented fruit, but the acai berry reportedly contains the most sort of assorted types of antioxidants and the most turn of proportionality of whatever presented antioxidant in digit fruit. Besides the antioxidant elements, the acai production also contains the flourishing fats (monounsaturated fats), iron, fiber, and paraffin acids.

                          However, there is digit difficulty with the organisation of the acai berry, despite its progressively broad obligation worldwide. The production spoils rattling easily – mostly meet digit period after harvesting. As the berry spends instance soured the tree after harvesting, the fast fall of the production makes it retrograde such of its nutritional noesis and the antioxidant contents. This is essentially the think ground you can’t encounter it on groceries in the United States or anywhere else. However, the manufacturers are today progressively uncovering structure of envelopment and commerce acai berry products, specifically for those coefficient loss watchers. One of the processes that is existence utilised today to preserves the acai berry is to do freeze-drying of the production correct on the place of harvest. It is then kept on a icy land until it is delivered to the processing existence or another markets. This impact ease does not keep every the essential nutritional qualities of the production but at small it is making it marketable. Much ease needs to be unnatural most the acai berry and it module sure be scrutinized on a such large bit these reaching years.

                          www.zimbio.com/Acaiberry/...BERRY+FACTS
                          • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                            Sat, April 25, 2009 - 5:53 AM
                            wil - No doubt there are some ethical superfood farmers and marketers but I've found people who sell hype around one aspect of a product often do the same around others (unregulated capitalism tends to screw with people's ability to maintain integrity, it's not a sustainable environment for sustainability or integrity). The idea that antioxidants are somehow magic and consuming them in high quantities is unquestionably good is also purely marketing at this point. The science on antioxidants is still young and divided - as usual the food and supplement industry who market antioxidants selling are distorting the actual science. And, of course, new discoveries are often hyped in the media by university PR departments in a way that privileges the marketing over scientific caution.

                            Er, the article you posted reads like it was mangled in Babelfish! Looks like Babelfish ate it up and then spit it out in the "crapper"! ;-)

                            Of course, at the end of the day it's your body and your choice what you do with yourself. If you feel that you're getting a benefit from consuming certain things then that feeling is itself a benefit :-)

                            Purely as an aside, it seems to me that the more, more, more is better idea that's so prevalent in the US ties in very much with the idea of constant expansion and growth that is at the conceptual core of capitalism (kind of like a tumor on the planet!). By capitalism I don't mean trade, which isn't innately capitalist, but the idea that we need to always produce and consume more to "support" the economy, that growth is always good and profits must always increase, etc.
                            • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                              Sat, April 25, 2009 - 7:43 AM
                              market socialism is what we need. .
                              • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                                Sat, April 25, 2009 - 8:04 AM
                                Lorenzo - It seems to me that we need to step away from the ways we've been conducting business and our lives - and running our societies/nations - to consider things other than just the bottom line and what various manufacturers and marketers can "get away with". The "wealthy" world is in the process of imploding under the weight of our own greed for incessant growth and profits, it's unsustainable in the current form.

                                Certain more ephemeral things that are important to people at large need to become part of the balance sheet - things like pollution/ecology/long term environmental consequences, mental/emotional and physical health of the population (aka "us" or "the masses"), fairness,quality of life/happiness, etc. It's been shown that once we move beyond Maslow's basic needs, increased wealth doesn't equate to increased happiness (or even health or quality of life). While certainly some people have excellent quality of life in North America, there are very basic quality of life issues in the US that are integrally related to industry and the insistence on exponential growth in terms of both marketing/advertising and manufacturing/pollution/worker exploitation/etc. In the US, industry is much more powerful and smart about lobbying the government - look at all the astroturf "activism" that constantly shows up on tribe for a small example - than people are. It's not that "the masses" or large groups of citizens can't actually exert power, it's just that these days it's very easy for corporations/PR agencies and the military-industrial-congressional-complex to subvert and manipulate popular opinion and they do. I suspect the next few years are going to be very, very interesting as well have to settle down to making do with what really exists rather than living high off the imaginary future hog that may or may not ever exist.
                                • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                                  Sat, April 25, 2009 - 8:34 AM
                                  On a related note, I highly recommend the recent PBS Frontline documentary on water....

                                  www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/f...dwaters/view/

                                  And, yes, it does have quite a lot to do with growing organic and sustainability. No matter how we try to shut out the world and keep ourselves safe in our cars and gated communities - be that be Fortress North America or some prefab "luxury" housing complex - we're all part of the natural world whether we like it or not and that means we're all connected. (Leaving aside, for the moment, the fact that we're social/group animals that don't live in isolation so we've evolved to be connected and influenced by each other - which, of course, is why advertising is so effective.)
                              • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                                Sat, April 25, 2009 - 5:13 PM
                                Just wondering what that might look like, Lorenzo. Care to elaborate?
                                • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                                  Sat, April 25, 2009 - 7:17 PM
                                  the best ideas from other democratic socialist nations, and some from capitalist safety net nations as well.

                                  we should have a strong and vibrant economy where entrepreneurship and hard work are well rewarded and where small and medium sized businesses thrive, but where large corporations don't throw their weight around, but instead exist to serve the public good.

                                  common models would be worker collectives, consumer cooperatives and large scale enterprises that are coordinated by a redefined commerce department that operates much like Japan's MITI. . .

                                  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MITI

                                  i think we need to move away from the marxist leninist definition of socialism and look more to what the alternatives are as embodied in part in the scandinavian nations, for example. both the right and the marxists would like you to believe that soviet style marxism is the only definition of socialism, but that is quite untrue. .
                                  • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                                    Mon, April 27, 2009 - 5:16 AM
                                    Thanx for the info.

                                    I suspect we should terminate this portion of the discussion now, however, as it is far removed from growing organic....though I'd be interested in a tribe that discusses this sort of thing if you know one.

                                    Off to read the link........thanx again!
                            • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                              Sat, April 25, 2009 - 9:08 AM
                              Apples, oranges and bananas all have big trouble as crops. Also other crops that we have been relying on. Selecting clones for size and sweetness for centuries has produced less nutritious fruits for one thing, but a far bigger problem is that they have lots and lots of insect, fungal and bacterial enemies. Bananas as we know them likely to go extinct. Their production is centered around huge mega farms and factory owned plantations that pay very low wages and have kinda low environmental consciousness. There are lots of ancient crops that have more nutrition and greater resistance to far fewer pests!!! Their growing and distribution is much more in the hands of poor farmers and cooperatives. Cocoa for instance a great example
                              www.cocoatree.org/lifeonaco...helife.asp
                              with production all over the world by small farmers and needs the shade of overstory forest trees.....trees like:
                              www.theequilibriumfund.org/page.cfm
                              These nuts were once staples of mayan agriculture and diet, and are also being marketed as superfood by folks trying to get them to have a better diet and agricultural practices ( these are not good!) and also earn them a decent living by protecting forest systems instead of destroying them! With superfood after superfood i think you will find that production is far less damaging than production of oil crops or coffee or tea as they are now grown for instance. We eat too much here, and would do with eating much less and the food being much more nutritious. That's my assessment of the situation anyway.

                              There are fruits for american farmers too. Blueberries have only been in cultivation about a century and have very few pests. I think that likely why their nutrient content higher than average too. Hemp seed is a superfood, and cotton that it's fiber replaces our heaviest user of pesticides by far while hemp easy on land and doesn't need spraying with anything.....but this is another topic. Paw paws are most totally completely excellent and are a superfood and another understory tree.

                              Chia is a totally awesome food source!! I had a hard time taking it seriously because of the chia pet thing....but that was not fault of the seed and it is amazing source of energy while being highest thing going in omega 3's ( something i know nothing about) i just know what a good food source it is for me!!! also how far how few go!! Higher quality just means you need less and that has good effects through my system and the world's commerce and agricultural systems as well. I totally see this as a macro organic agriculture issue!!! These crops, whether in temperate or tropical climate, need less in the way of pesticides and have by far the most potential for development of new crops with even more benefit.

                              So i see these in a different light, fifi, and welcome a certain amount of the hype as advertising that is driving the herd in the general direction that i want to see it go....to be frank about it. I see common cause in all this aplenty, lots of synergy, and allies every where i look.





                              So i see this as all part and parcel of a

                              • Re: The secret to being human and happy

                                Sat, April 25, 2009 - 9:20 AM
                                Yeah part and parcel to everything...ha. anyway, i reckon i'm such a superfood zealot that i even like superfood spam. I thought the whole local examiner phenomena was interesting too, and new to me. These just local enthusiasts not marketing scams.

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