I came up with the concept of Organic Lifestyle Magazine about 4 ½ years ago. When I talked about it, people really didn’t get it. “Why digital? No one reads that stuff!” and “Organic lifestyle? What the heck is an organic lifestyle? Like, tree hugging, granola eating stuff? Good luck!” People didn’t think it would be popular. Today is a very different time in some ways. More people than ever care about the environment and health. People are taking interest in self education. People are not so quick to take the word of a so-called expert without doing their own research. I thank Al Gore for getting people interested in protecting our environment, and I thank the Bush administration for making people distrustful of what they are told by government and major corporations like pharmaceutical companies and oil companies. I also thank people like Mike Adams, the Health Ranger at www.healthranger.org, and Graham Hill, founder of www.treehugger.com, for their part in making truthful information so easily accessible on the Internet. And I will go ahead and thank Al Gore again (for those of you who don’t know, he did play a large role in creating the Internet as we know it today). We have a long way to go, but I do see a lot of progress. What if we quit thinking there is only one way to do things? What if surgeons weren’t so quick to take out a kidney? What if medical doctors weren’t so quick to prescribe an antibiotic? What if acupuncturists and chiropractors got together and researched why their methods work for some patients and not for others? What if you were in a car wreck and before you were taken into surgery you were given a massive dose of easily assimilable systemic enzymes and an IV of natural antibiotics, the kind you’d find in healthy supplements? And what if an acupuncture specialist was your anesthesiologist who eliminated or reduced your pain so anesthesia and pain killers weren’t needed? Sound crazy? Unlikely to happen anytime soon? I suppose. But can you imagine it? I have seen a lot of things change in the past 2-3 years, and now I share my vision for the future. Imagine a health industry and a food industry that truly have our best interests at heart. Imagine an open-minded approach that combines East and West, old and new, and all disciplines into a truly holistic approach. Imagine the possibilities.

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

The truth is electric engines are a much better alternative to replace the combustion engine than hydrogen fuel cells. The truth is war is incredibly profitable to the powers that make decisions about whether or not we go to war.

The truth is all of the studies that show global warming to be a hoax are well funded by the companies who benefit from those results. The truth is whether global warming exists or doesn’t exist is not the only issue. We are the stewards of our planet. Protecting our planet and caring for our fellow creatures that inhabit it benefits us in many other ways.

The truth is, to a large extent, major corporations control our government. The truth is hemp could be an incredible source of paper, food, and textiles for us while benefitting our soil and our environment.

The truth is that antibiotics and antibacterial products are doing much more damage to our bodies and to our environment than the bacteria that we fear. The truth is that we need bacteria to survive. The truth is that E-coli and salmonella would not plague us if it weren’t for our grotesque farming practices. The truth is that pasteurization of our food is very bad for us.

The truth is that almost all medications are unnecessary if one leads a healthy lifestyle. The truth is that conventional farming and agriculture are stripping the nutrients from our food while poisoning our bodies and our environment. The truth is that there is a simple cure for cancer, diabetes, and for the many new diseases that did not exist until fairly recently. The truth is that in this country, “the land of the free,” doctors who practice natural medicine are going to jail for curing diseases without the use of conventional medicine.

The truth is that we are brainwashed.

Big business is designed to realize short term, not long term profits. While it can be very profitable to go green or to promote health in the long run, the change requires a massive initial investment and a major shift in perception. Big business is all about returns. Stockholders want profits and they want them now. Profits drive business.

But I see that times are changing. People are waking up. Big business knows that if it doesn’t start making changes, consumers will take their business elsewhere. The truth is most of the large corporations would rather convince us that they’ve changed or that they are changing while they keep doing things their way.

We, as consumers, need to start educating ourselves. We need to vote with our pocketbooks. We need to speak out. Anyone who thinks pasteurization of foods is beneficial is brainwashed. Anyone who thinks the word “refined” on food packaging to be a good thing is brainwashed. Anyone who thinks every visit to the doctor should result in a prescription for antibiotics is brainwashed.

It is challenging to re-educate ourselves. We are bombarded with so much misinformation. When someone asks me questions about health, I often think that my answers are just plain common sense. But as they say, common sense is uncommon, especially when there are so many people who stand to profit from uneducated consumers.

What would you do if you just invested 168 million dollars in a new drug to treat cancer and someone told you that a simple change in diet would eradicate cancer cells? Would you even consider the possibility? If you’re like most people you’d convince yourself it wasn’t possible. But if you did recognize the truth, would you risk that investment? Would you do the right thing?

I’m not saying that all the people in charge of big businesses knowingly hurt us or our planet. I’m not a conspiracy theorist. While many of them knowingly do harmful things for a profit, I believe the majority chooses to remain oblivious, just like the general population.

The truth is times are changing. It’s time to wake up. We’re at a turning point. Let’s be sure we take this opportunity to make things change for the better.

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

Back in March, I was in the checkout line at my local farmers market when the checker asked, “Paper or plastic?”

“Damn it!” I yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. “I forgot my canvas bags again!”

I don’t usually make a scene and I’m normally a very considerate guy. But on that day, I decided the environment took precedence over good manners, and I was willing to embarrass myself. I didn’t care that my car was in a huge parking lot nowhere near the entrance or that several people would have to wait or change lines. It was time to take a stand—to make a change.

I apologized to everyone behind me in line. Then, once again talking loudly enough for all to hear, I declared my intentions.

“I have no choice,” I said, “but to teach myself a lesson. I’m going to go out there in the freezing cold and retrieve my environmentally friendly eco conscious canvas bags! It’s the only way I’ll learn to remember!”

Three steps out, I turned around and walked back in.

Everyone was staring at me.

“The hell with that,” I said. “It’s freakin’ snowing out there!”

Everyone laughed, I think, except the people waiting in my checkout line.

The next time I went grocery shopping I forgot my canvas bags again. To be honest, I still only remember them 10% of the time.

There’s no doubt about it. I’m going to hell.

Not in a handbag, or in a canvas bag, but in a plastic bag that never decomposed.

Welcome. Organic Lifestyle Magazine is not just about food; it encompasses the choices we make each day. In these pages, we explore alternative healthcare; fitness; environmental issues; farming practices (including fair treatment of animals and farmworkers); politics as they relate to organics, alternative medicine, and supplements; and how these issues affect us.

Organic is going mainstream. It’s popular—downright trendy. Even big companies appear to be jumping on the bandwagon. But which ones have our best interests at heart? Which ones are lobbying to change the stringent requirements of the organic label? Which ones have been cited for violations?

Now that you can buy organic chocolate and organic wine, are you wondering why your grocery bill has increased while your health, or lack of health, has stayed the same?

With so many choices from acupuncture to reiki, from glucosamine to probiotics, from grandma’s home remedies to new age wisdom, it’s hard to know what’s best. We’re here to help you make informed choices for yourself, your family, our world, and your lifestyle.

Welcome to OLM!

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

When I go grocery shopping, I feel guilty, especially in the produce section. When I see a bruised apple, I know it’s likely to be thrown away. Those ripe bananas, riper than all of the others, won’t find a home outside a landfill if I don’t adopt them.

Fresh foods are very important to my diet but I, like most of you, want a selection. We want to see a pile of apples, lettuce, grapefruit, and potatoes, and we want to select the best looking ones of the bunch, even though the slightly bruised, more ripened, or discolored could nourish us significantly, not to mention the starving people in Africa. I swear, if I could just figure out a way to do it, I would purchase all the rejected but perfectly good fruit and vegetables and take them to Africa each week.

Our grocery shopping system gives us tremendous selection within a select few varieties, but the system is incredibly inefficient. We waste so much food in this nation. And the produce we throw away, often the perfectly good or slightly imperfect, gets put into a locked-up container awaiting transport to the dump while the homeless get our stale donuts and day old white bread that shouldn’t be called food. It’s the nourishing food that really could feed the hungry that is tossed aside and deemed worthless.

How do we fix this problem? How do we quit wasting food? Or if we are to be realistic and consider American desires, how do we throw away less food and not have to sacrifice our individual convenience or choice?

I do not know the answer. I tell myself I do my small part when I buy the most ripened bunch of bananas on the shelf and eat them all in one day so they won’t spoil.