Goodbye Forever, Cheerios. Just Say No to Glyphosate!

Though I am a Leo, my chart is chock full of Virgo. Years back the grain turned on me, that is to say I developed a very strong gluten intolerance. My genes don’t show any evidence for Celiac disease so I am in the somewhat new category of ‘non celiac gluten intolerance’.

I avoid all gluten and dairy which seems to keep migraines, joint pain and all kinds of malaise and brain fog at bay. But in the back of my mind I always wonder, why is this so?

This week I think I have finally found an answer that makes sense. It makes so much sense in fact, that it has awakened a somewhat dormant side of my Virgo energy. It has awakened my genuine care for agriculture, and an awareness of how closely this ties to my future and the future of humanity.

Her name is Dr. Stephanie Seneff. For the past several years she has dedicated her time to researching and exposing the dangers of the world’s most popular pesticide, Roundup. Roundup’s active ingredient is called glyphosate and it deals a deadly blow to plants by disrupting an important enzyme and pathway. Monsanto has assured this to be safe for humans because they state that we do not possess this pathway. But Dr. Seneff points out that our gut microbiomes do have this enzyme, and we use this enzyme to make essential amino acids that are incredibly important to many biological processes in our bodies.

This spoke loud to me.  The Virgo in me was all ears.  Of course this makes sense.  We are part plant. We are more microbe than human. There is no divorcing our lifeline from the earth. If we poison the earth we poison ourselves. The question becomes, where do we draw the line?

We are in fact more plant than human. Microbes outnumber human cells 10 to 1.

Glyphosate is implicated in the rise of these strange gluten and dairy intolerances, drawing attention to the smoke not the fire. This nasty chemical causes leaky gut by destroying the integrity of the intestinal lining.

GMO foods are engineered to resist the roundup, therefore they can be soaked in this poison and not die. What we are left with is poison on our plates and on our children’s plates! If the GMO food was grown organically this wouldn’t be so bad, but the problem is they are made to resist this weed killer, and therefore they get saturated in glyphosate.

Cheerios was the innocence of my childhood breakfasts, and that of my son’s. After reading that it consistently tests sky high for glyphosate in the trash it went. The innocent breakfast world of Cheerios went with it. The innocent Cheerio breakfast world was a place where our government cares about healthy breakfasts for our children. I realize now that in this country, that world is a lie.  Despite countless lawsuits against Monsanto for the many maladies associated with Roundup (autism and cancer to name a couple), the government is doing nothing to stop this. How many more lawsuits will it take before it will be labeled a poison like lead?

Virgo’s strategy is simply to respect the earth and our bodies which are of the earth. Eating organic food is not only the answer for your health and the health of your family, but it is also the answer for the health of the future of humanity.  As informed individuals it’s time to turn our backs on these toxic farming methods.. ‘Big pharma’ walks hand in hand with ‘big farma’. Our health in the US should be far better than it is, with all the money that goes into it. But we are poisoning ourselves. We are buying poison at the store and serving it up.

If I can help spread the word with this post it will be the least I can do.

As my son and I seek out small independent organic farms near us on our drives I am reminded of another Virgo gift: leisure, that is to say the simple leisure to be drawn out of going about our daily affairs.  We dole out the old fashioned basket. We drive along sleepy roads with autumn leaves fluttering in the sunlight. I now feel more connected to the food, through flavor and meaning. My microbes no doubt feel this too.

Next year I want to finally try and grow something myself. Because now, I finally have the perspective I need to truly listen to my gut, and honor its wisdom.  

Cheerio, Cheerios! Hello dirt!

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Virgo: what a difference a day makes

Each sign of the zodiac has it’s guideline-oriented gifts as well as it’s “watch outs”.  The gifts are often ignored in poor Virgo, so today we are going to explore them and give them there full dues!

Always smart to begin in the body.

Virgo is associated in the small intestine (the gut).  This is the central location of the MICROBIOME, a truly fascinating subject.

Microbiota are the trillions of bacterial organisms that live within our body.  The whole community of these bacteria is called the microbiome.

These microbial cells even outnumber our human cells, so we might be MORE microbe than we are human!

The weight of all of these microbes together weighs about 3 pounds, the same amount as our brain!

The microbial genes in our body outnumber our own DNA genes by 100 to one!

We are covered head to toe with these microbes, but the vast majority of them are in the gut.  The gut-brain is truly a second brain as it’s many neurons that are embedded in the lining of the gastrointestinal system are influenced by the same neurotransmitters of the brain itself.  The brain influences the gut-brain and vice versa.

For example a nervous though that arises in the brain can cause butterflies in the gut.  On the flip side the gut will majorly influence the brain’s mood as it’s microbes produce many neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and GABA.

So how is the archetype of Virgo so important with the human microbiome?

For starters, Virgo is associated with diet.

The word “diet” is derived from the Greek word “diaita”, which means “way of living“.  It points more towards a daily way of life than a strict code of food groups.  Hence, Virgo is also associated with daily work and routine.

Here is what I find interesting:

The average lifespan of a microbe is only 20 minutes.  Each day, each meal, each food we eat is an opportunity to nourish our humble microbes.

Most people are familiar with probiotic foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut that encourage gut health, but less familiar is the very important prebiotic food group.

Prebiotic foods, like bananas, onions, leeks and asparagus,  are a type of starch that doesn’t break down as quickly and thus survives further down the digestive track to nourish the beneficial bacteria.

Interestingly enough, wheat, the grain always depicted with the Virgin, is a prebiotic food.

In North America, wheat makes up 70 percent of a person’s prebiotic food intake.

With wheat feeding the microbes and the microbes being what we mostly ARE, the phrase “staff of life” begins to take on a deeper resonance.

The Greeks and the Romans knew Virgo as the goddess of wheat, or the harvest.  This is a humble goddess who dutifully tends to the needs of the land.

What needs to be tended in order to grow good crops?  The soil of course!  And what do we find in the soil?

Our friends the microbes!!

There is a saying that real farmers grow soil and not crops.  The microbes in the soil help decompose organic plant matter and then recycle them to be used as plant energy with nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen.

Chemical fertilizers cause bacteria to die and supply the nitrogen and phosphorus directly.  Biofertilizers, as used in organic farming, do not supply chemicals in favor of using our live microbial friends to do natures work.

With modern agriculture techniques such as chemical fertilizers and genetic engineering, the healthy microbes of our soil has taken a beating.  The soil of the earth is the same concept of the lining of our guts.  Both need healthy microbes to be honored as they truly do run the show.

The grains that used to be the staff of life are turning on some of us (myself included!) and causing all sorts of immune issues.

No wonder gluten free diets are becoming so popular!

But we can still turn to the Virgin for guidance in these matters.

Virgo is humble and would never seek to dominate her sacred soil with the use of chemicals or genetic engineering.

So for those of us who seem to react poorly to modern wheat we must strive a little harder to incorporate the dietary lessons of the Virgin.

Virgo needs us to respect and nourish our humble microbes!

Incorporate prebiotic food everyday as a way of life!

Get dirty as it improves our skin microbiome!

A little food each day that nourishes are microbes.  A little prebiotic food everyday goes a long way to improving our health.

Improving the gut improves our mood and improves our brain which improves our decisions which improve our lives!

Virgo takes small steps.

Until next time!

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