Thursday, September 29th, 2011
12:30 -12:40 p.m.

KVOI 1030 AM

I was a guest on the Buckmaster radio show with well-known Tucson host Bill Buckmaster explaining how our food has changed with the introduction of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and genetically modified foods, “The Future of Food” movie showing that the GMO Free Project of Tucson is holding that evening, and our online Eat GMO Free Challenge that starts October 1. Visit the Buckmaster Show website. After the show, listen to the podcast of the program and advance it to 29:11 to listen to the ten-minute interview with me.

To participate in the Eat GMO Free Challenge and learn practical tips on how to slowly but surely take GMOs out of your diet, visit the GMO Free Project of Tucson website every day during the month of October.

Copyright © 2011 Melissa Diane Smith

by Melissa Diane Smith

The GMO Tipping Point Network of Tucson, a chapter of the Institute for Responsible Technology’s national Tipping Point Network, has joined forces with the GMO Free Project of Tucson, an already established non-profit group, to more efficiently hold events, use social media, educate people, and lead the non-GMO movement in Tucson, especially before and during Non-GMO Month this October. Numerous public events, including public showings of two different movies – “Deconstructing Supper” and “The Future of Food” – in September will be held, as well as our main event online, an Eat GMO Free Challenge on the GMO Free Project of Tucson Facebook page during October.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

Did you know that shortly after the devastating earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, Monsanto gave a “gift” of 475 tons of genetically modified (GM) corn and vegetable seeds, and poor farmers in Haiti banded together, protested against that gift, and burned the seeds? Why would poor Haitian farmers facing hunger burn seeds that would produce food in such a hard-hit area? Because they learned enough to know that they don’t want genetically modified foods. And why do Americans know so little that most repeatedly eat these foods and most don’t even know what GMOs means?

Those are some of the topics covered in a new GMO Film Project now in production by award-winning documentary maker Jeremy Seifert. Watch a clip of it below.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

(Opinion) – On August 2, the same day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reopened a public comment period on “gluten-free” labeling, ABC ran a segment on its Nightline program on the gluten-free diet. With the title “Gluten-Free Nation,” you would think the piece would cover the real reasons why the gluten-free diet has become such a phenomenon: that many people, not just those with celiac disease, are gluten intolerant and that removing gluten from their diet relieves symptoms and ailments far better than any type of medical treatment. That’s because many people’s conditions are, in fact, diet-induced from eating gluten that makes them sick.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

I am a strong believer in the benefits of lifelong learning and so is Catalina Foothills Community Schools in Tucson. That’s why I have signed on with them to teach two different gluten-free classes in September and a beginning class on GMOs in October, which is Non-GMO Education Month all around the country.

The classes I will be teaching are:

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by Melissa Diane Smith

(Opinion) – After four years of inactivity on the matter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reopened a public comment period for its proposal about labeling foods as “gluten-free” and said it aims to publish a final rule and start allowing official gluten-free labeling in the third quarter of 2012. Members of the gluten-free community around the country are excited about this development with many thinking gluten-free labeling approved and monitored by the FDA will automatically protect them from unwanted exposure to gluten. But will it?

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Would you like to learn more about both healthy gluten-free eating and why and how to avoid genetically modified (GM) foods? Would you like to have lunch at a restaurant with clearly labeled gluten-free options that also doesn’t use genetically modified crops such as corn, soy, or canola in its salads, appetizers and entrees?

Both things are possible when you join me at “Going Against the Grain for Health,” a Gluten-Free/Non-GMO Education and Lunch Event at Opa! Restaurant, 2990 N. Campbell Ave., Suite #130, on Saturday, July 23^rd. Early seating starts at 10:40 a.m. and my talk begins at 11 a.m. The talk will be followed by a question and answer period and a book signing of both my gluten-free books, Gluten Free Throughout the Year and Going Against the Grain. Lunch will start around noon.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

There have been some disappointing developments against the people’s movement that is opposing GMOs (genetically modified organisms found in foods such as corn and soy). Mainstream media tends to cover that news, but there’s rarely-covered positive news to report. More people are waking up and banding together, and good things in the battle for protecting our food supply that you probably don’t know about have been happening recently. The following are victories and positive, hopeful developments that just might indicate a tipping point of rejection against GMOs in our food supply.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

The hottest story in tennis and perhaps all of sports right now is Novak Djokovic who has had a spectacular record of 43-1 up to this point this year, winning the Australian Open and six other tournaments, and losing only to 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals of the French Open. With win after win and a few key victories over the world’s No. 1 player Rafael Nadal, Djovokic became the No. 2 men’s tennis player in the world this spring. Many factors have been attributed to the dramatic transformation in Djokovic’s play – including a change in racquet, a change in motion on his serve, and a change in confidence – but perhaps the most notable is his change to a gluten-free diet.

Because of the no-gluten diet, “I have lost some weight but it’s only helped me because my movement is much sharper now and I feel great physically,” Reuters quotes Djokovic as recently saying.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

There are good reasons for men to pay attention to symptoms early.

Every single person I meet or hear about with gluten intolerance is female. I feel like the only guy who has it, writes one man on a celiac forum. Do men really have gluten intolerance far less often than women, or do they pay less attention to symptoms that are common signs of gluten intolerance?

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