Opinion by Abby Block, certified Holistic Health Counselor
"Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food,” Hippocrates proclaimed. If only modern day healthcare professionals would act according to this credo. It’s simple, logical, and practical. Nutrition has long been cultivated throughout time, across continents, and within all cultures, as an instrument for vibrant health, harmony, and happiness. America is onto that notion, but in many ways we lag behind.
Unfortunately our health care system here is based on the premise of curing sick people rather than keeping healthy people free from illnesses. “Health insurance” ensures nothing. Around the world and years back, healers were paid for the health of their patients, not the sicknesses. They worked for free when someone was sick. Now that’s real health insurance.
Somehow, somewhere along the line we allowed the healers in our culture to escape accountability, and look what’s happening today. Obesity. Cancer. Depression. Root canals. Prescriptions. Heart attacks. According to a recent lecture I attended by Dr. Andrew Weil, doctors in the U.S. are not required to study nutrition. They receive absolutely no training whatsoever on what it means to eat a balanced meal. A good number of them possess a dreadfully limited understanding of that which makes us healthy. These are the trusted professionals that we turn to for nutritional and health advice!
(Before we proceed, let’s take a moment to appreciate doctors and all that they do for us. The health care system is the challenge here, not doctors themselves.)
Even if our MDs were trained in nutrition we’d still be left in a predicament, for an overwhelming amount of contradictory nutrition information is available to us. Joshua Rosenthal, founder of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, reminds us that nutrition is the only science in the world in which every single theory can be proved both right and wrong. For instance, I know many people who’ve lost weight and kept if off by following the Atkins diet, but I’ve also encountered some whom have followed the very same diet and gained weight. Likewise, there are those who thrive on eating exclusively raw foods while others consuming the same fare lose hair, or get sick. If this is really the case, and if our doctors can’t tell us what to eat because they receive no training in it, how do we as individuals figure out what is the right way to eat?
The first thing to keep in mind is that there is no one correct way to eat that works for everyone. Each of us has our own unique biochemistry that is very specific to who we are on any given day. Depending on our heritage, geography, lifestyle, activity level, metabolism, body type, blood type, and personality type, there are a seemingly infinite number of variables to consider when choosing what to eat. Additionally, the changes in seasons as well as what’s on the agenda for the day are critical deciding factors to be considered in meal planning. What you need to eat to be creative for a day is very different than what you need to eat before speaking publicly. What you need to eat while living in Brooklyn is not necessarily the same thing you’d need to eat in rural Maine.
The second gem of nutritional wisdom is to eat good food. Good food not only means vegetables, fruit, whole grains, healthy fats, and the appropriate proteins, but also good energies. Granted, the foods in the food chain are what sustain us in the traditional nutrition model, but it’s also vitally important to recognize the significance of eating good “primary foods”. Primary foods consist of family, friends, spirituality, relationships, career, exercise, interests and passions. These are the elements we absorb to give us real energy and vivid life force. Love, deep connections, and strong desires provide the best fuel for our bodies to function. When one of these areas of primary foods is deficient, it’s more of a challenge for the body to operate optimally. In the same respect, if diet is out of balance, having solid primary foods at an ideal level is difficult.
Take a moment to think for yourself. Which area of your life do you need to improve upon- primary or secondary foods? What small step can you take to begin this change?
Nutrition is not rocket science; health is not complicated. The foods we eat, whether they are seaweed, gumdrops, or a good book, become our bodies and our minds as we absorb them, thus affecting our actions and thoughts. Next time you get a cold, try taking a heavy dose of extended laughter. Or how about snacking on a hug?
Abby Block is a fully certified Holistic Health Counselor.
Contact abby@nourishing-arts.com
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Northside. Southside. Safe Side.
Crime prevention and protection
Opinion by James Gregg
My long-standing policy when it comes to law enforcement officials is to avoid all contact at any cost, period. Sometimes however, policies must be amended.
Certainly, within the five short years of my Brooklyn residency a myriad of crime related stories have come to my attention. Living in Downtown Brooklyn as a college student, a friend of mine was shot in the cross fire of a gun fight that resulted from a craps game gone south.
In Fort Greene a close friend was robbed on Clinton Ave. at gunpoint for $10. Another close friend and I witnessed the shooting of a local barber in broad daylight. The shooter could not have been older than sixteen.
Williamsburg, unfortunately, has proved to be no different. Police recently shot two men on a busy street, stabbings seem to be a pretty regular occurrence, while a female friend I know was robbed and beaten. And, as if all these personal dealings were not enough to change the way I view my community and borough, I can now say that crime has permanently changed the way I think.
On an early morning in late May I had the unfortunate experience of being mugged. Four masked men grabbed me from the behind, threw me on my back, gave me one good shot to the face (breaking my nose), cut all four pockets of my pants and removed the contents. All of this took place in a window of time that could not have been longer than 30 seconds.
I was one block from the front door of my apartment. All they got was approximately $5, a dead cell phone and a brand new Pirates hat (which, if I had not had two blood-red black eyes, would have seemed ironically comical).
For a few days I didn’t really think that this would change the way I think and the way I navigate my neighborhood. But now, I am concerned about where I am at all times, day or night. I wonder if my attackers see me on a daily basis, look me in the eye or even say hello.
I never contemplated the scope of what something like being mugged even is. Mentally, the stress spills over into countless situations. The mugging completely halted my daily life. The processes of canceling old and reopening new bank accounts, canceling old and applying for new credit cards, ordering a new cell phone and the chilling inconvenience of having to get another new drivers license are all amazingly time consuming. And since it is impossible to bartend with two black eyes, I couldn’t work for roughly a week and a half.
All the changes that have taken place in my life since that night and my utter dismay at the inefficiency of local police prompted a decision to look into the crime statistics for Williamsburg. Not surprisingly, Williamsburg’s North/South divide is reinforced by the police’s precinct districting. The 90th precinct covers the Southside up to North 1st Street. North from North 1st Street the district is that of the 94th precinct.
Anyone who frequents both the North and South sides of Williamsburg can tell you that there seems to be far less law enforcement actually taking place on the Southside. Regardless, a quick visit to www.nyc.gov can substantiate that claim.
The website breaks down crime statistics into several ways. Information is available for the city in general, for each borough, for sections of each borough, or by precinct. Statistics come out weekly and are compared with the statistics from 2 years back, 4 years back, and 12 years back.
The week that I was mugged 4 robberies, 4 felony assaults, 8 burglaries, 10 grand larcenies, and 9 grand larceny autos were reported to the 90th precinct. Total reported crime on the Southside was up 16.67% from the same time last year, up 2.13% from 2003, up 8.04% since 2001 and down 56.08% from 1993.
In the 94th precinct 3 robberies, 3 felony assaults, 4 burglaries, 4 grand larcenies and 5 grand larceny autos were reported. The total crime is down 24% from the same time last year, down 6.74% from 2003, down 1.1% from 2001 and down 72.87% from 1993.
In the 94th precinct 19 crimes were reported total, whereas, in the 90th a total of 35 crimes were reported. For this particular week the Southside is only three crimes short of doubling the crime rate of its northern counterpart. The numbers are almost doubled across the board going all the way back to 1993.
In 1993 there were 9 murders in the 94th precinct. In the 90th precinct there were 22. In 2001 the 94th precinct saw four murders. The 90th saw 13. Last year the 94th precinct had 152 robberies whereas there were 438 in the 90th. In the same year there were 73 felony assaults in the 94th precinct. The 90th saw 185. While the pattern is not applicable in every category, an obvious trend is evident. The total number of crimes on the Northside in 2004 is 986. The total number of crimes on the Southside in 2004 is 1,960.
Going by the statistics it is obviously much more dangerous to be living south of North 1st Street. Additionally, it appears that it has been that way since the CompStat program was put into place. This rouses several questions as to what exactly can be done to reduce crime on the Southside. I am told that the most effective way to assist the police is to actually report crime when it occurs. But based on the numbers that does not seem to be dong much to change the situation.
To be fair, crime is down in both precincts when compared with 1993. It is down 70.09% in the 94th precinct, to be exact, and down 58.75% in the 90th precinct. However, that does not explain why the current numbers are so drastically different. And since I was told by a police officer that the police would not be catching my attackers on the day that I reported the mugging, I have to say that I do not foresee rapid change in this long-standing trend.
For anyone who has had the misfortune to be attacked or robbed I now have an understanding with you that I did not previously share. For those who have been lucky enough not to have had something of this sort occur, I suggest thinking about what is required to maintain that prevention. And, generally, I think it is important to simply be involved in your community and taking steps to learn how to be safe. Making this neighborhood safer does not equate to gentrification or luxury high-rises, it equates to active citizenship and an investment in the community as a whole.
To learn more about how to protect yourself or to report a crime call the 90th precinct at 718.963.5311 or the 94th precinct at 718.383.3879 visit them on their website www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/pct090.html or www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/pct/pct094.html
