the REN DAO Wellness Center Blog

1/9 – Energy & Light Healing Celebration w/ Peter Goldbeck – Saturday, 2:00pm to 4:30pm
1/29 – Acupuncture Happy Hour – Friday 4:30om to 7:30pm
2/6 – Aerobics Dance & Exercise Class – Saturday 11:00am to 12:00pm
2/14 – Valentine‘s Day Partners Yoga Class – Sunday 7:00pm to 8:30pm
2/26 – Acupuncture Happy Hour – Friday 4:30om to 7:30pm
2/28 – Eighth Intra-Dojo Martial Arts Workout – Sunday 11:30am to 2:30pm

News and Events

Happy New Year! To help you prepare for a healthy and abundant 2010, the REN DAO Wellness Center is offering special New Year’s Wellness Assessment and Energy Balancing Acupuncture Sessions. You will receive a holistic health and nutrition consultation, a Chinese astrology energy assessment and an energy balancing acupuncture treatment. The RDWC will offer this New Year’s wellness special from now until January 31^st, for the price of 75 dollars. To take advantage of this special, please download and fill out our Health History Form. When you call to make your appointment, please know your birthday, time of birth and place of birth (this is needed for the Astrology assessment). Get your new year started right.

We have added an additional Kids, Teens Karate class, which will meet Saturdays, 12:30pm to 1:45pm. Our Iaido / Swordsmanship class has moved from Saturday to Friday evening, 6:00pm to 7:30pm. On days we have Acupuncture Happy Hour, the Iaido class will start an hour later.

We are taking appointments for Community Acupuncture. Please email us or call for more information or to schedule an appointment.

1/09 - Energy & Light Healing Circle w/ Peters Goldbeck - Saturday, 2:00pm to 4:30pm
Please join us for our first Energy and Light Healing Celebration of the year. This session will help center, balance and unify your sense of well being as well as open your energetic awareness. You will share in a group energy healing and will receive an individual healing and energy balancing treatment. You will also receive Peter’s special energy activation which will empower your healing abilities.

Those who’ve already received an activation will receive a booster activation resulting in increased sensitivity and healing ability. Please bring one or two crystals or oils for activation.

All in all it will be a whole lot of FUN!! Peter’s January Events schedule.
Suggested Donation: 15 dollars.

1/29 - Acupuncture Happy Hour – Friday, 4:30 to 7:30pm
Don’t Distress, De-stress! Joins us for an Acupuncture Happy Hour. Enjoy a 30 to 45 minute relaxing bliss filled ear acupuncture session, relaxing music and soothing tea.

RSVP is encouraged, but not required. Please call 914-548-7585 if you’d like to attend or if you have any questions. Bring a friend, co-worker, family member too.
Suggested Donation: 15 dollars.

2/6 – Aerobics Dance & Exercise Class – Saturday 11:00am to 12:00pm
Looking for a local fun dance and exercise class to help boost you metabolize and get you back in shape? Try our Aerobic Dance & Exercise Class. This class is open to persons of all levels of fitness and will focus on the needs of older adults and those whom have not exercised regularly in the past.
Suggested Donation: 10 dollars.

2/14 – Valentine‘s Day Partners Yoga Class – Sunday 7:00pm to 8:30pm
The Ren Dao Wellness Center will be hosting a special Valentine’s Day Partners Yoga Class. Couples that attend the class will have the opportunity to experience gentle yogic stretching, synchronized deep breathing, meditation and deep relaxation. This one of a kind class will be held on Valentine’s Day, February 14^th from 7:00-8:30 PM. For more information or to sign up for this class please calls 914-424-2298 or go towww.yogajanetraining.com.

2/26 – Acupuncture Happy Hour – Friday, 4:30pm to 7:30pm
Don’t Distress, De-stress! Joins us for an Acupuncture Happy Hour. Enjoy a 30 to 45 minute relaxing bliss filled ear acupuncture session, relaxing music and soothing tea.

RSVP is encouraged, but not required. Please call 914-548-7585 if you’d like to attend or if you have any questions. Bring a friend, co-worker, family member too.
Suggested Donation: 15 dollars.

2/28 – Eighth Intra-Dojo Martial Arts Workout – Sunday 11:30am to 2:30pm
The REN DAO Wellness Center will be hosting it’s Eighth Intra Dojo Martial Arts Workout.
Head instructors from the various school training at the center will be sharing their techniques and experience. List of some of the styles that will be presented:
San Yama Bushi Ryu Jujutsu.
Bujinkan Taijutsu.
Nisei Goju Jutsu & Karate.
Kumite Ryu… and more.

Join us for a spirited martial arts experience. All styles and experience levels welcomed. Please RSVP before February 22^nd.
Suggested donation: 20 Dollars.

12/12 - Energy & Light Healing Circle w/ Peters Goldbeck - Saturday, 2:00pm to 4:30pm

This month we are happy to finally have Peter Goldbeck back at the RDWC and to host his Energy and Light Healing Celebration. Peter has been very busy down at the A.R.E. in Manhattan where he is a frequent lecturer and runs regular Healing Celebrations, Level 1 through 3 Reiki classes and gives private reading. He hosting of a week Internet radio show.

Peter’s Enery and light celebrations will help center, balance and unify one’s sense of well being as well as open up one’s awareness. This will include a group healing as well as individual healings, enrgery balancing / clearing and an energy activation (an ATTUNEMENT) which will empower one’s own healing abilities.

Those who’ve already received an activation will receive a booster activation resulting in increased sensitivity and healing ability. Please bring one or two crystals or oils for activation.

All in all, a whole lot of FUN….. A Healing Celebration!!

Sugested Donation: 15 dollars.

Last month I posted a few items on the genetically modified (GM) food industry. It would be safe to say that 75 to 85 percent of all processed foods contain or were processed with genetically modified ingredients.

These products entered the markets with no testing for environmental impact or consumer safety.

In the European unions all GM containing products must be labeled as such. In America, labeling is voluntary and up to the manufactures discretion. Hence, here in America GM foods and products are not label GM. Manufactures know their consumers, given a choice will choose (like their European counterparts) non-GM products.

Consumers should demand proper and accurate food labeling. Consumer pressure got Trader Joe’s, Whole Food’s and Wild Oat’s to commit to stop using GM ingredients. Consumer pressure in Europe got GM containing products labeled. We can do this here. The Center for Food Safety has an ongoing supermarket activism campaign we all should think about taking parting in.

Links to the Center for Food Safety articles on Supermarkets and GM Foods:

Shoppers Guide – Supermarkets and GM Foods

Supermarkets and GM Foods Flyer (pdf)

Supermarket Activist Kit (pdf)

About a year ago I wrote about food labels. This was after a friend bought a jar of imitation honey they thought was real honey. A few weeks ago it was me who got duped. In a rush, I bought a jar of dry roasted peanuts without fully reading the label. Whether intentional or not, product labels, ingredient list and nutritional fact labels can paint an inaccurate picture of whats really in the package.

This year, the REN DAO Wellness Center participated in a Halloween celebration organized by Lucy Moreno for kids in her Greyston Community Gardens Project. We gave the kids a karate class, then I spoke briefly about healthy foods and snacks. I like to emphasize eating more whole foods and less processed foods (with added sugars etc.) We ended by having the kids participate in making a healthy trail mix snack (with Chex cereal, raisins, peanuts and pretzels). The kids then when to the Groundworks Science Barge to crave pumpkins and to the Buena Vista community garden to watch a movie.

Halloween celebration went well, the kids enjoyed the trail mix. It wasn’t until the following day when I ate some of the nuts by themselves that I realize something was strange. At first I thought, “Man, these are some tasty nuts” (in my best Samuel L. Jackson voice). Then I realized the nuts actually tasted sweet. I had feed Lucy’s kids (and parents) salted dry roasted peanuts laced with sugars, MSG and favor enhancers.

The peanuts were Target’s store brand, ‘Market Pantry Dry Roasted Peanuts’. One would expect that the jar should contain only dry roasted nuts. Below is the ingredient list:

Obviously these nuts are mis-labeled. They are Salted Flavored Dry Roasted Peanuts. A Shoprite’s store brand, labeled ‘Unsalted Dry Roasted Peanuts’, accurately listed only peanuts on their ingredient list.

Click on image for full size.

Umami is a taste humans and animal can sense on special taste receptors on the tongue. Umami is not a distinct flavor but more like a quality. It can be described as savoriness, brothy or meaty. Umami taste receptors are stimulated by freely occurring glutamic acids (an amino acid) or salts of glutamic acids (called glutamates) in foods we eat. Glutamic acid and Glutamates in foods appear to enhance the flavors of foods and make them taste better.

Glutamic acid is a non-essential amino acid and is common in meats, meat stocks, cheese and other protein rich foods. Glutamic acid can be isolated from protein sources for use as a flavor enhancer, the most common being monosodium glutamate (MSG).

MSG was first isolated and mass produced in Japan from Kombu seaweed in the early 1900’s. Currently in America, MSG is derived from protein rich bacteria grown on a sugar or starch medium. The proteins are extracted and split (autolysis) to isolate the glutamic acid. Yeast high in proteins can also be cultivated and processed in a similar fashion to isolate their amino acids (yeast extract). Proteins from grains, vegetables and beans can also be sources of glutamates (hydrolyzed soy protein).

Many processed foods have little flavor or loose there taste after the manufacturing process. Vegetarian based processed foods (especially meat substitutes) can be bland and do not have the expected taste. Adding MSG and other flavor enhancers to processed foods make them taste more acceptable.

Some people are sensitive to glutamates and exhibit various symptoms after ingesting them and MSG has taken most of the heat for this. So food manufactures are using glutamates from other sources to obtain the glutamate flavor enhancement while removing MSG from label.

Food designers are excited about new yeast extract products coming onto the market as they are more versatile. They enhance flavor like MSG but at lower concentrations, can add distinct flavors (like roosted chicken) or mask bitterness or sourness. Food designers use these to reduce added MSG, salt and sugars while providing require taste and flavor.

Even though glutamic acid based flavor enhancers can be listed as natural ingredients, they are highly processed manufactured chemical, much like high fructose corn syrup, and processed white oils (like Canola). Flavor enhanced processed foods are not going to go away, so it is best to avoid processed foods or read the food labels carefully.

The term Natural Flavor now appears frequently on food labels. But what is it? The FDA has defined ( CFR - Code of Federal Regulations Title 21, item 3) ‘Natural Flavor’ or ‘Natural Flavoring’ as any added ingredients, derived from a natural sources, to add flavor vs. nutritional value. Artificial flavors have the same chemical makeup as their natural counterparts but are make from man-made chemical.

FYI, Artificial sweetener are man-made chemicals that do not exist in nature.

Unami

Hidden Sources of processed free glutamic acid (authors of this site are heavily biased against MSG)

Extracting Yeast Flavor Advantage

What’s Natural

What is the difference between artificial and natural flavors?

Would you intentionally eat a genitally modified food? Would you know how to identify one? Would you benefit from eating a genitally modified food?

The acronyms GMO (genetically modified organism), GE (genetically engineered) and GM (genetically modified), commonly refer to living organisms (plant and animal) that have had parts of their genetic structure (DNA) changed. A genetically modified organism has genes from another organism, spliced into its gene structure to express or enhance a desired trait. Traditionally this was done through conventional breeding techniques but these methods are time consuming and mostly limited to similar species. With genetic engineering, genes from any living organism can be mixed. Today, genes from bacteria toxic to insects are inserted in corn to produce corn that produces its own pesticides.

In the late 1990’s genetically modified foods started to appear in supermarkets. One of the first, a GM tomato, received poor public acceptance and was removed from the market. Now the market is dominated by GM corn, soybean (and products derived from corn and soybeans), cottonseed (cottonseed oil) and rapeseed (cannola oil). They entered the market silently, with the approval of the USDA, EPA and FDA, without going through any testing for environmental or consumer health safety. With heavy lobbying by the major chemical and seed manufacturers, the FDA ruled labeling of GM foods should be voluntary. In America, no foods containing GM ingredients, byproducts of GM material or processed with GM materials are labeled to inform consumers.

There are no definitive numbers, but roughly 75 to 85 percent of processed foods in American supermarkets contain GM ingredients.

Data from the USDA Economic Research Service, Percentage of GM Produce Planted in the United States:

                          2000 2009 Types

Soybean           54      91       HT

Cotton              61      88       HT, BT, Stacked

Corn                 25      85       HT, BT, Stacked

HT = Herbicides-tolerant only

BT = Insect-resistant only

Stacked = Both Herbicides-tolerant and Insect-resistant

75 percent of canola planted in North America is GM (data from Wiki GMO, sources and date for data not listed). America is not a major producer of canola oil but Canada is, contributing 20 percent of the worlds Canola crop. 74 percent is exported and America is Canada’s largest canola consumer.

If a processed food contains corn, cotton seed oil, canola oil, or soy or any by-products of these, it is probably GM. If you drink soda with high fructose corn syrup, it is probably made with GM corn. If you drink diet soda sweetened with aspartame, the aspartame may be derived from GM bacteria. If you buy Canola oil as a less expense alternative to olive oil, it most likely comes from GM seeds. All meats, poultry and farmed fish in supermarkets were probably fed GM feed. Farmed fish may be GM’ed. Pigs, cows and beef may contain GM growth hormones. Vegetable oils used in restaurants (especially fast food places) use a blend of corn, cottonseed, canola or soy oils which are mostly GM oils.

The answer to big profits and market domination for Monsanto, is blowing in the wind.

Flowers from the rapeseed plant (actually a weed) produces a large quantity of seeds that have a high oil content. This oil has been traditionally used for centuries, but is unsafe for animal or human consumption. In the early 1970’s, Canadian plant breeders bread a rapeseed plant extremely low in erucic acid and gluconsinolates, the seeds toxic components. These plants paved the way for the edible rapeseed oil market. Canola is not a true biological plant species, it is a trade name. It stands for “Can” (for Canada) and “ola” (for oil low acid). The internationally regulated definition of canola is rapeseed oil having less than two percent erucic acid and less than 30 umoles glucosinolates. Only oils meeting these requirements can use the trade name “Canola”.

Monsanto has the patent on Canola seeds resistant to its highly profitable “Roundup” herbicide. Well, one day, on the way to market, some of these seeds took flight, got wind and propagated non-Monsanto, non-GMO canola farms. Unsurprisingly, Monsanto found these fields and sued the farmers for patent license infringements. Canadian courts ruled in favor of Monsanto. Farmers were forced to pay settlement fees, destroy their non-GMO seed stocks and buy Monsanto’s seeds and herbicides. Here in America, Canola is not a major cash crop, most of our canola oil is exported from Canada. But Monsanto has received approval from the USDA to commercial grow it’s GMO Alfa and GMO sugar beets here. Grassroot consumer organizations stood up and sued the USDA. As a result the U.S. District Courts reversed USDA approvals for both GM Alfa and sugar beets, on the grounds that no testing was done to show the environment impact of growing these corps and insure there are no issues with cross-contamination to non-GM corps.

Getting products containing GMO’s labeled should be a primary goal of every consumer. We need to know what is in the foods we are purchasing and eating.

As a side-note; when doing web research, it is important to watch the release dates on posted web sites. The GMO industry is dynamic and fast moving. When I started my research, I found articles stating GM wheat was being readied for market, Monsanto has since dropped release of this product. I found articles stating GM sugar would soon hit the markets only to read the District Court recently halted commercial planting of GMO sugar beets. The news still buzzes about terminator seeds (the USDA shares the patent for this technology . Monsanto has presently stated it will not use this technology.

Over forty GM plant based food variates have received approval from the USDA and FDA to be grown commercially. Many more have been developed and not commercialized.

Below is a list of some of the GM foods that have come onto the market:

Rapeseed / Canola – Genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides.

Honey – Bees may produce honey from nectar collected from GM corps. Europe has banned Canadian honey because Canadian bees may collect nectar from GM rapeseed flowers.

Cotton - Considered a food because of its edible oil.

Rice - Genetically modified to increase Vitamin A content. A GM rice containing human genes is being grown to harvest proteins to be used to treat infant diarrhea in developing countries.

Soybean

Sugar cane - Made resistant to certain pesticides. Received poor consumer acceptance and may be off the market.

Tomatoes - Made for a longer shelf life and to prevent a substance that causes tomatoes to rot and degrade.

Corn and Sweet Corn

Potatoes - Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody varieties.

Flax – received poor consumer acceptance and is off the market and possibly no longer grown.

Papaya – Genetically modified to be Ringspot virus resistant.

Squash - Some zucchini and yellow crookneck squash are also GM but are not popular with farmers.

Tobacco -The company Vector has a GM tobacco being sold under the brand name Quest® cigarettes. It is engineered to produce low or no nicotine.

Meat - Meat and dairy products usually come from animals fed GM feed.

Peas - Genetically modified to produce pesticide proteins.

Vegetable Oil - Most generic vegetable oils and margarines used in restaurants and in processed foods are made from GM soy, corn, canola, and cottonseed.

Sugarbeets – Recently lost approval for commercial growing.

Dairy Products - About 22 percent of cows in the U.S. are injected with GM bovine growth hormone (rbGH).

Vitamins - Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is often made from corn, vitamin E is usually made from soy. Vitamins A, B2, B6, and B12 may be derived from GMOs. Vitamin D and vitamin K may have “carriers” derived from GM corn sources, such as starch, glucose, and maltodextrin.

Genetic Engineering and bio-tech companies are also creating crops that produce harvestable proteins. These proteins would be engineered to make pharmaceuticals, to create human vaccines and industrial enzymes or reagents for chemical and food manufactures. GM bacteria are also being engineered for similar purposes.

Adapted from the following sources:

 http://www.disabled-world.com/fitness/gm-foods.php

http://westernfarmpress.com/news/08-25-rice-nervous-GMO/

http://www.copperwiki.org/index.php/Genetically_Modified_Fruits

http://truefoodnow.org/campaigns/genetically-engineered-foods/ge-crops/pharmaceutical-crops/

http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/BiotechCrops/

www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Foo-Hea/Genetically-Modified-Foods.html

http://truefoodnow.org/campaigns/genetically-engineered-foods/ge-crops/

http://www.saynotogmos.org/

In China years ago, the family doctor was a central figure in a village. He knew everyone, young and old, and everyone knew him. He was paid a small fee so long as the villagers remained healthy and illness free. If someone did became ill, the doctor did not receive compensation again until they had recovered. In the village, it was in the doctor’s best interest to pay attention. He would take note of subtle changes in individuals or events that could potentially become a problem and intervene before it could manifest or require great effort to manage.

In modern times, we need to be this kind of doctor for ourselves. We should pay attention to our bodies, our dietary needs, our stress levels, and our need for rest and relaxation. We should pay attention to those little aches and pains and other subtle messages our bodies leave us. We should heed these messages and take action as necessary. We should get our annual checkups, physicals and other clinical test. We should take advantage of the great wealth of knowledge available from our health care providers, from the internet and in print. And we should take every opportunity to maintain a positive outlook and a balanced lifestyle.

As with the village doctor, the payoff is in prevention and in being proactive. To the happy and grateful villagers, it does not appear as though the doctor is doing much at all. Actually, he is mindfully working at it every day.

A night out with your partner or spouse may be going to seeing a movie, going to a concert, or maybe taking a walk, having some ice cream. You can also choose to take a partners yoga class together.

During a partners yoga class you and your partner do yoga poses and meditate together. At time partners may be assisting and supporting each others yoga poses or engage each other together to do poses which can only be done as a pair. Couples doing yoga together helps enhance partner trust, communication and personal connection all while getting a great workout.

Yoga teacher and instructor Jane Foody will be holding her next Date Night Partner Yoga Class September 9^th at the REN DAO Wellness Center in beautiful Downtown Yonkers. This 90 minute class is great for people of all sizes, ages and experience levels. Please dress comfortable and bring a yoga mats if you have.

The class is $30 per couple or $25 if you sign up with another couple! Visit: http://www.YogaJaneTraining.com/Date_Night_Partner_Yoga.html to sign up and learn more about this special date night!

As a mother of 3, I can honestly say that I have learned something valuable and important from each of my birthing experiences. With my daughter’s birth nearly seven years ago, I learned that regardless of whether you are birthing for the first time, labor can progress VERY quickly. Hospital staff may say “you will never make it without drugs”, “you will be in labor for hours”, however our bodies are uniquely designed to birth our babies without unnecessary medical interventions. My daughter was born natural two and half hours after I arrived at the hospital. I pushed three times!

My first son, born in 2005 was also a hospital birth and also progressed very quickly. My labor with him was two hours from the time I arrived at the hospital. While I was able to have a natural, drugfree labor and delivery again, this birth was not without unnecessary “routine interventions”. Despite the fact that I did not labor long, they performed an amniotomy (artificially ruptured the amniotic sac) with an amniohook (a long, crochet-hook like instrument with a hooked end). I was not allowed to get up and use the bathroom, so they put a catheter in, and when it came time to push, I was forced to lay flat my back, which I believe prolonged this part of my labor. While I did not push for a very long time, I found it considerably harder

to birth my son in this position, which works against gravity. After this birth,my husband and I decided if we were going to have more children in the future we would look into finding a great midwife and opt for a home birth.

When we found out we were expecting our second son, we began searching for a home birth midwife in our area. I came up with nothing. I was extremely disappointed at the lack of resources in my immediate area. I did not let this deter me. Eventually we found a wonderful midwife in Teaneck, NJ, by the name of Sakina O’Uhuru. We had to travel to find her. We are in Westchester, NY. But I was adamant on having a positive birth experience this time around. The limited resources and information in my area led to me to take a course to become a certified childbirth educator. I found that the hospitals in my area had very high C-section rates and I attributed this to unnecessary medical interventions. I took the childbirth educator course on-line through the Aviva Institute during my third trimester of pregnancy and all of the information that I attained was a God-send.

On August 18th, 2008 we had our home birth with my midwife, husband, and mother in attendance. My two older children were sleeping in their bedroom. This labor lasted longer than my previous two , about 12 hours. I realized that if I had I been in a hospital setting, without the comforts of my home, the freedom to move around, get in the shower/tub, eat and drink with the support of my midwife and family the experience would have been a profoundly different one. Most women get to a point in labor when they feel they just “can’t” anymore. Birth is going to happen regardless. Having my mom by my side supporting me and my midwife affirming that I was doing a great job, made all of the difference in the world! This is when I became aware of the importance of having a doula attend your birth. While my mom is not a “doula”, she has birthed four children naturally. She provided excellent support with life experience because she had been there before.

Currently I am taking a course to be a certified birth doula through the Aviva Institute, because I feel it will be a great addition to the childbirth education courses that I am offering in my community. My main goal is to arm women with knowledge and empower them by reaffirming their faith in their body’s abilities to birth their babies naturally, in a comfortable setting, surrounded by supportive, attentive, and positive people. The moments after your baby is born, holding them in your arms, having the option to breastfeed right away, and bond are priceless. These factors make all the difference in the birth experience for the mother and the ultimate outcome of the baby.

Article by Nubia Bowman a Certified Childbirth Educator and Certified Birth Doula. She will be giving a free workshop on the “Benefits of Childbirth Education & having a Birth Doula present during your labor and delivery” at the Yonkers Riverfront Library August 26^th at 6:30 pm. She can be reached at nubowman@yahoo.com or www.birthfromtheearth.vpweb.com.