By Melissa Diane Smith

As concern about GMOs grows nationally, three Tucson businesses have decided to stop serving some genetically modified ingredients.

(See the first printing of this article by me with photos that appeared in the September/October 2014 issue of Edible Baja Arizona magazine.)

In 2012, shortly before The Loft Cinema was scheduled to screen Genetic Roulette, a documentary about the health risks of eating foods that contain laboratory-created genetically modified organisms (GMOs), it began selling organic popcorn popped in non-genetically modified canola oil.

“We wanted to offer the healthiest possible popcorn that we could,” said Zach Breneman, the deputy director of The Loft. “I think it tastes better, too.”

(more…)

Below is a reprint from a question Melissa answered in Better Nutrition magazine.

Q: What is the most common mistake people make on the gluten-free diet?

A: For people who are just beginning the gluten-free diet as well as those who have been on the diet a long time, the biggest mistake they make is over-relying on manufactured processed foods instead of eating naturally gluten-free whole foods such as vegetables and fruits.

Highly processed “gluten-free” food products set people up for health problems in three different ways. The first way is, ironically, by those products sometimes being contaminated with unwanted gluten. Even though gluten-free grains and and flours are naturally gluten free, these foods are often processed in the same facilities – and with the same equipment – as the gluten grains wheat, rye, and barley, where they can inadvertently pick up gluten.

(more…)

by Melissa Diane Smith

Recent news and telling signs that more people are moving away from genetically modified foods

For 20 years, most Americans have been in the dark about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and the foods that contain them. But that is changing. Growing numbers of people are learning that we are the first generation to have these untested, unlabeled substances imperceptibly (yet pervasively) hidden in our foods.

(more…)

by Melissa Diane Smith

This article is based on a presentation I gave to the Southern Arizona Celiac Support group entitled “It’s Gluten Free, but Is It Healthy?” in January.

The gluten-free diet is one of the most talked-about and followed diets these days for good reason: It’s the nutritional answer for the growing number of people who realize they are gluten sensitive. It’s the best example we have of food as our best medicine. The vast majority of people who are gluten sensitive have experienced the amazing feeling of having longstanding bothersome or even debilitating symptoms dramatically improve or completely go away when they eliminate gluten from their diet.

(more…)

by Melissa Diane Smith

Whether you are aware of it or not, powerful multinational corporations have been exerting undue influence over government and elected officials, and gradually hijacking and taking control of our food system in ways that profit the corporations and sabotage our and our planet’s health. Increasing numbers of people are learning this, getting angry, and taking action against it, and an unprecedented food fight is currently taking place in this country that literally will decide the future of our food.

I wrote about this a few years ago, but it is a message that some people weren’t ready to focus in on then so it bears repeating. What follows is a slightly updated reprint of an article, “An Independence Day Message: Fight for the Right for Real Food,” that I wrote two years ago.

(more…)

If you’re a little confused about nutrition, you have a right to be: Much of what we’ve been told about nutrition is just plain wrong. I plan to set the record straight in my author talk, “Going Against the Grain of What You Think You Know About Nutrition,” at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 12, 2012, at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., in Tucson, Arizona.

(more…)

by Melissa Diane Smith

More dog and cat owners are tossing out conventional kibble and feeding their pets against the grain.

A few years ago Melissa McLean Jory’s dog Fairbanks was so sick he couldn’t even lift his head off the ground. After he was diagnosed with autoimmune conditions and severe intestinal problems, Melissa, a nutritionist who has celiac disease, became convinced that Fairbanks had gluten intolerance, too. She shifted him to a completely grain-free diet, and Fairbanks regained his weight and health fairly quickly. Now, if Melissa gives him a dog biscuit that contains gluten (found in wheat, rye and barley), her dog immediately experiences health trouble, such as gastrointestinal problems, skin rashes, and reduced energy. “I believe without the dietary changes, he wouldn’t be here today,” Melissa says.

(more…)