Newsletter - April 4, 2023

Dear friends,

We share some thoughts on the tsunami  of ultra processed foods. Ultraprocessed foods are among the worst things you can eat. Consuming this heavily processed junk food takes a toll on your whole body, including your brain. Research published in Journal of the American Medical Association,  Neurology demonstrated that consuming ultra processed foods such as breakfast cereal, frozen foods and soda could lead to cognitive decline and increase your risk of Alzheimer's.Another study has linked ultra processed foods to early death.

The big guys have put ultra processed foods on the school lunch line. There is going to be a surge in ultraprocessed food in school lunches beginning in the 2023–2024  school year. Kids will get their pizza and chicken nuggets but at a fearful cost; they may be sabotaging their future health by consuming them.

We follow with a tone poem on fake meat and those who think it  will “save the planet” by permitting  animals to be removed from agriculture.

We conclude with a call: It behooves us, the descendants of the Greatest Generation to emulate them.They planted 18 million Victory Gardens here during the second world war. We urge you, dear friends, to plant  Victory Gardens, this Spring. We shall come through and build here a garden for the American spirit.

We follow with a magnificent video, “You Must Sow these Seeds in April” wherein Ben with Growveg, streaming with aliveness as usual, guides us in starting a Spring garden.

Next, Dr. Mark Hyman leads us in preparing a delicious Kale Salad. What could be more nutritious?!

We close with a discussion of a peer-reviewed paper published in BIO-Complexity, Bristol University wherein engineering professor Stuart Burgess explains “Why the Ankle-Foot Complex Is a Masterpiece of Engineering and a Rebuttal of ‘Bad Design’ Arguments.” Brian Miller has previously covered Professor Burgess’s arguments in a lecture, but these are framed as a response to arguments from intelligent design critics. They claim that the human foot-ankle complex is sub-optimal because it reflects an unguided process where evolution attempted to convert a skeletal structure adapted for quadrupedal locomotion to bipedalism. Burgess argues in response that the ankle-foot complex “show a very high degree of complexity and fine-tuning” and “masterful engineering.” Moreover, “Engineering insight reveals a close relationship between form and function in the ankle, a relationship seen in its multiple bones and the layout of those bones” and the “five midfoot bones are needed to form the optimal kinematic and structural interface between the hindfoot and forefoot.”

Burgess observes that many who have studied the foot without a preconceived bias have recognized its “excellent design.” He quotes Leonardo da Vinci who called the human foot “a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art,” and more modern researchers who observe the “nearly effortless human gait” or who note that various foot structures “work in perfect synchronisation” because it is “superbly constructed for ambulation.”

Please accept our best wishes to you and family for good health, prosperity and success,

Jesse Schwartz PhD
President
Living Tree Community Foods

In a peer-reviewed paper published in BIO-Complexity, Bristol University engineering professor Stuart Burgess explains “Why the Ankle-Foot Complex Is a Masterpiece of Engineering and a Rebuttal of ‘Bad Design’ Arguments.” Brian Miller has previously covered Professor Burgess’s arguments in a lecture, but those are framed as a response to arguments from ID-critics such as Jeremy DeSilva and Nathan Lents. Those critics claim that the human foot-ankle complex is sub-optimal because it reflects an unguided process where evolution attempted to convert a skeletal structure adapted for quadrupedal locomotion to bipedalism. Burgess argues in response that the ankle-foot complex “show a very high degree of complexity and fine-tuning” and “masterful engineering.” Moreover, “Engineering insight reveals a close relationship between form and function in the ankle, a relationship seen in its multiple bones and the layout of those bones” and the “five midfoot bones are needed to form the optimal kinematic and structural interface between the hindfoot and forefoot.”

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