Hello My Name is MicroBiome: How Bacteria is Life

Taking the Time to Get To Know Your Micro-biome can be just as important if not more important to living healthfully as understanding what food you eat day to day, and/or where it comes from. NPR reports scientists are learning that microbiomes have major influence on nearly every aspect of the world, including health, agriculture and the environment. As most of us have already heard, “imbalances in our gut microbiomes, for example, have been linked to a laundry list of health issues, including obesity, colon cancer and autism.” 

Researchers at Tufts University say, “food is an avenue for larger goals of trying to better understand microbial ecosystems, or microbiomes, which are found everywhere, from your gut to the oceans.” Makes sense then why last year, Barack Obama actually launched the National Microbiome Initiative, a half-billion-dollar plan to study the microbiome.

“Trillions of microbial cells inhabit the human body, outnumbering human cells by 10 to 1, according to some estimates, and growing evidence suggests that the rich array of intestinal microbiota helps us process nutrients in the foods we eat, bolsters the immune system, and does all sorts of odd jobs that promote sound health. A diminished microbial ecosystem, on the other hand, is believed to have consequences that extend far beyond the intestinal tract, affecting everything from allergies and inflammation, metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity, even mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.” – NY Times, A Gut Makeover

How Are Snap Cuts Affecting Americans by Modern Farmer

The president’s proposed budget requires states to pay for a portion of SNAP costs,  currently, the federal government provides 100 percent of SNAP funding. “This cataclysmic change to the structure of the program would lead states to cut benefits and eligibility in good times, and would eviscerate SNAP’s ability to respond to economic downturns,” said Jim Weill, president of FRAC, in a statement released after the administration announced proposed SNAP cuts. – FRAC Weekly Digest

Sen. Gillibrand Visits Olean Farmers’ Market, Attacks Trump Budget’s Proposed Food Stamp Cuts by Olean Times Herald

Last week, U.S. Senator Gillibrand, D-N.Y., visited the REAP Olean Farmers’ Market in upstate NY, to urge her fellow senators to reject Trump’s budget proposal to cut SNAP funding by more than $190 billion over the next 10 years. She stated that nearly 44 million Americans on SNAP, including 3 million New Yorkers, “need SNAP to put food on the table for their families during these tough times because, frankly, wages are too low and they need SNAP to fill in the gaps.”

Victory for Standing Rock  by the Indigenous American

“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a significant victory today in its fight to protect the Tribe’s drinking water and ancestral lands from the Dakota Access pipeline. A federal judge ruled that the federal permits authorizing the pipeline to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, which were hastily issued by the Trump administration just days after the inauguration, violated the law in certain critical respects.”