On Wednesday, September 9, the Traverse City Record Eagle ran a front page article entitled, “Officials Urge Residents to get Vaccinated,” in reference to both the seasonal and swine flu (aka H1N1.). It states that the following groups in particular get a swine flu shot: pregnant women, people caring for infants, health care workers, children, anyone up to 24 years old, and everyone with certain medical conditions. The CDC’s website, however, says that although people are indeed contracting the virus in the U.S., symptoms tend to be mild and most people recover without requiring any medical treatment.
So why the big push to get everyone vaccinated before the drug has been adequately tested? And especially when the side-effects from the vaccine can be worse than the flu itself? And when the vaccine contains harmful ingredients like mercury and squalene, which has been linked to the development of autoimmune diseases. The word “pandemic,” a term the media loves to use, simply means the flu is occurring on a global scale, but it sends a chill up the average person’s spine and conjures up images of millions of dead and dying Americans a la 1918 pandemic flu. We are, unfortunately, buying into this scare tactic and may even, as a country, put up with mandatory vaccination.
But just how lethal IS this bug, I wondered. Well, according to an MSNBC article dated September 4, the WHO reports that 2837 people have died world-wide since the virus first emerged in mid-March of this year in Mexico and the U.S. So let’s compare this number to some other deadly bugs. In 2007, 270,000 people died from HIV/AIDS. Around 36,000 people die in the U.S. every year from the regular, seasonal flu. 2 million people die every year from TB, and more than 2 million children die each year from pneumonia.
The thinking goes that, even though the number of swine flu deaths isn’t that high, the virus just MIGHT mutate into some hideous, untreatable form that just MIGHT spread like wildfire and MIGHT kill untold numbers of people. Hence the need for everyone to get vaccinated. But what does all this swine flu mumbo jumbo have to do with Oryana anyway, you might ask. And I say, it has MUCH to do with Oryana.
My favorite health advocate, Dr. Mercola, who has a fantastic website and sends out an informative health e-newsletter a couple times a week, says that the best way to protect oneself against swine flu without resorting to possibly ineffective and likely harmful vaccines is by following natural health principles. If food is medicine, then Oryana is the best place in town to arm ourselves with the healthiest available foods to build and maintain our health and keep our immune systems strong so we aren’t vulnerable (or at least less so) to contracting any type of flu virus.
I believe strongly in Oryana’s mission “…to provide high quality food produced in ecologically sound ways at fair value…” Oryana works hard to ensure the quality of the food sold in the store, and goes to great lengths to make sure the products we carry are the best available so that everyone who shops here can have trust in the integrity of what they are buying. We were the first co-op in the country to become a certified organic retailer, which means that we know how to handle organic products so they stay organic and don’t become contaminated by non-organic products; an independent organization inspects us annually to make sure we are following all the organic guidelines. We didn’t have to do this but we felt it was in keeping with our overall philosophy, another indicator that Oryana is the coolest and best place in the region to shop for organic, health-supportive, whole foods, home-made tofu, and lots and lots of great local products. It makes sense to take care of our health by eating right and I’m proud to be a part of such a socially responsible organization.
Will shopping at Oryana guarantee that you won’t come down with swine flu? Of course not. But incorporating whole foods into your diet and learning about them and buying them from Oryana is a big step toward a total health program that helps keep a body strong and better able to ward off infectious disease like the flu. Other helpful factors that Mercola mentions are getting enough vitamin D, exercise, avoiding sugar and processed foods, washing your hands, getting enough sleep, eating garlic, and dealing with stress. And we have our own “Ten Easy Steps” to staying healthy during the cold and flu season which include the above tips, plus: drink anti-viral herb teas such as elderberry or lemon balm, and increase your consumption of dark and rich-colored fruits and vegetables
For more information about swine flu vaccine, here are some great online resources:
The National Vaccine Information Center http://www.nvic.org/
Mercola.com http://www.mercola.com/
