Meditation

What is meditation? 

Meditation is a simple and easy way to help reduce stress and relax. Meditation is a method that has been practiced for thousands of years by many cultures and religions.Originally it was used as an intellectual enlightenment to better understand mystical and sacred forces of life. Now it is generally used as a relaxation and stress reduction method. While doing meditation is produces a state of relaxation that helps you focus your attention and eliminate the busy thoughts that get jumbled in your mind causing you stress. This process helps enhance emotional and physical wellness. 

Is it the same as yoga?

Yoga is considered a type of meditation that focuses of exercises that help with flexibility. 

How do I meditate? 

Ways to meditate can include:

• Guided meditation. Sometimes called guided imagery or visualization, with this method of meditation you form mental images of places or situations you find relaxing. You try to use as many senses as possible, such as smells, sights, sounds and textures. You may be led through this process by a guide or teacher.
• Mantra meditation. In this type of meditation, you silently repeat a calming word, thought or phrase to prevent distracting thoughts.
• Mindfulness meditation. This type of meditation is based on being mindful, or having an increased awareness and acceptance of living in the present moment. You broaden your conscious awareness. You focus on what you experience during meditation, such as the flow of your breath. You can observe your thoughts and emotions but let them pass without judgment.
• Qi gong. This practice generally combines meditation, relaxation, physical movement and breathing exercises to restore and maintain balance. Qi gong (CHEE-gung) is part of traditional Chinese medicine.
• Tai chi. This is a form of gentle Chinese martial arts. In tai chi (TIE-chee), you perform a self-paced series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner while practicing deep breathing.
• Transcendental meditation. You use a mantra, such as a word, sound or phrase repeatedly silently, to narrow your conscious awareness and eliminate all thoughts from your mind. You focus exclusively on your mantra to achieve a state of perfect stillness and consciousness.
• Yoga. You perform a series of postures and controlled breathing exercises to promote a more flexible body and a calm mind. As you move through poses that require balance and concentration, you're encouraged to focus less on your busy day and more on the moment. 

 Does it have any health benefits? 

The emotional benefits of meditation include:

• Gaining a new perspective on stressful situations
• Building skills to manage your stress
• Increasing self-awareness
• Focusing on the present
• Reducing negative emotions

Meditation and illness

Meditation also might be useful if you have a medical condition, especially one that may be worsened by stress. While a growing body of scientific research supports the health benefits of meditation, some researchers believe it's not yet possible to draw conclusions about the possible benefits of meditation. 

Some research suggests that meditation may help such conditions as:

• Allergies
• Anxiety disorders
• Asthma
• Binge eating
• Cancer
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Pain
• Sleep problems
• Substance abuse

References:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/stress-management/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858

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What are GMO's

You may have heard the term GMO floating around on the news or in our grocery stores. GMO’s stands for genetically modified organisms. These foods do not contain DNA from a second species, which is a common myth. These organisms usually have an existing trait modified to reduce or improve a specific phenotype. A phenotype is a characteristic that can be observed, like color or shape. The DNA of these organisms is altered in a lab and then reintroduced back into its species. The changes made to certain foods are made to either improve or reduce a specific phenotype. Some examples are vitamin A enhanced rice, herbicide resistant corn, and drought tolerance plants.

What are the benefits of Genetically Modified foods?

            Genetically modified foods have resulted in many benefits for farmers and consumers alike. They also show much promise in ensuring adequate food supply for our booming population in the next 50 years.

• Pest resistance: The most common reasons for loss of crops are pests. To prevent these losses from happening, farmers routinely use a great deal of chemical pesticides on their crops. These pesticides can pose potential health hazards to consumers if ingested from the crop or run-off into the water supply. It can also cause harm to other aspects of the environment. Growing foods that are genetically modified (GM) help remove the need for chemical pesticide use and consequentially reduce the cost of bringing the crop to market.
• Herbicide tolerance: Weeds are a common obstacle when growing crops of any sort. It is not cost effective to remove them by manual labor, so most farmers spray large amounts of different kinds of weed killers (herbicides). Which can be both time consuming and expensive. Crop plants that are resistant to a specific weed killer would allow the farmers to only need one powerful herbicide to take care of the weeds. One such crop that was created was a strain of soybeans by Monsanto that are resistant to Roundup. The crop needs only one spray, which reduces production costs and limits harmful environmental effects.  
• Nutrition: Malnutrition is a common issue for impoverished people. For example, a typical staple food of impoverished people is rice. GM rice contains additional vitamins and minerals and is used to combat blindness due to Vitamin A deficiency in third world countries. This golden rice is also being developed to have an increased iron content these people can consume vitamins and minerals that this food would normally not contain.

Are GM foods safe?

• Allergenicity: Unexpected allergic reactions in children are the main concern when it comes to GM foods. Many children have allergies to peanuts and other foods. New genes in plants may create new allergens to those that are allergen susceptible. More research is being done to prevent possible harm to consumers with food allergies.
• Unknown health effects: There have been studies which involve rats and butterflies that have shown to have harmful effects on them. Science critics however, have deemed these studies flawed as the GM foods used in the studies were never intended for human or animal consumption. Besides the possibility of allergenicity, GM foods are believed to pose no risk to human health.

According to the USDA as of 2012, 88% of corn, 94% of cotton, and 93% of soybeans are genetically modified.

How are GM foods regulated?

There are three agencies that are responsible for the regulation of genetically engineered organisms. They provide guidance relevant to experimental testing, approval, and commercial release of GMO’s. They are the following:

• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS): is responsible for protecting the US agriculture from pests and diseases. Their regulations place procedures for obtaining permits and notifications before introducing crops that are regulated in the U.S. Once they have received regulation status the organism no longer requires review for movement in the U.S. http://www.aphis.usda.gov/biotechnology/regulations.shtml
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): They are in charge of conducting risk assessments on pesticides that could pose harm to human health or the environment. They also establish tolerance and residue levels for various pesticides that can be applied to crops while their growing and remains after being processed. They sometimes will make visits to farms and ensure compliance to the regulations. Farmers that have B.t.corn, must have a license and grow 20% unmodified corn along with it. http://www.epa.gov/
• Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA): The CSA states that, “Companies working to create new GM foods are not required to consult the FDA, nor are they required to follow the FDA's recommendations after the consultation.” http://www.fda.gov/

GM foods are not required to be labeled and is only done voluntarily by agribusiness industries. In the future if consumers show a preference for labeled foods might encourage labeling of GM foods.

References

Michael, W. (2007). Genetics 101. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

USDA. (2013, 12 30). United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved from Biotechnology Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&navid=AGRICULTURE&contentid=BiotechnologyFAQs.xml

Whitman, D. B. (2000, April). Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful? Retrieved from CSA Discovery Guides: www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php