Posted: Apr. 22, 2017 6:05 pm

When I was a kid, I wanted to be ... I don't know that I had any one career in my mind. I went through several phases from wanting to be a teacher, a nurse, an astronaut and a zookeeper among other things.

What would you rather be doing right now? I'd rather be somewhere on a beach with my family, relaxing and reading a book.

Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone that ... I'm a rather shy person. I really don't like talking in front of large groups of people. I'd rather listen.

Other than your wedding day and/or the birth of your children, what was your proudest moment? I'm always proud when I see my loved ones succeed.

It really stinks when ... people do something mean. I don't like to see people get their feelings hurt or bullied. Another pet peeve is when people tell you they will do something and then don't follow through.

What word in the dictionary would your face be next to? I don't know that I'm the right one to ask this, but here goes. I try to live by the Golden Rule and treat others as you would like to be treated. So I do try for kindness.

I always laugh when ... I hear my kids laugh. It's contagious.

Invite any three people, living or dead, to dinner. Who are they? I would invite Abraham Lincoln to dinner. I've always been interested in his life, and I would love to hear the story of his life from him. I would also invite one of our founding forefathers. I would love to hear the thoughts and goals they had for the country when they founded it and to hear what their thoughts are on how things are in this day and age. I guess a third person would be Marilyn Monroe. I don't know why, but she fascinates me. I would love to hear the secrets she has to tell.

At the end of a really long day at work, I like to ... listen to good music and zone out on the way home. Then when I get home, kick my shoes off and relax for a few minutes.

I would drop all my plans tonight if I had the chance to ... go to a white, sandy beach.

If someone gave me a million dollars, there is STILL no way I would ... leave my family and friends behind and forget about them.

America should be more concerned about ... There are so many things that are great about our country, but there are also things we need to be concerned about. We really need to make sure we are taking care of our elderly and our children. The elderly made this country what it is, and the children are our future and will make this country what it will be. It seems like the first programs that are cut are always the ones that affect the elderly and the children.

We also need to take better care of things in our own country rather than worrying so much about fixing others. For instance, we always want to help people who are hungry in other countries (who doesn't want to help someone in that situation?), but what about the people/children in our own country who are starving and homeless?

I'm OK if there's ever a national shortage of ... blankets and sheets. Of course, my husband will say it's clothes and shoes.

When I'm on the internet, I always go to ... I don't really get on the internet a lot.

What is the most useful piece of advice you have ever received? I don't know who told me this, but I think the best advice is to do unto others as you'd like done unto you. Always try to treat others how you want to be treated.

When I'm cruising down the road, I'm likely listening to ... It depends on my mood. Sometimes it's pop, sometimes country. Occasionally I relax to soft classical music and sometimes classic rock.

I always get sentimental when ... Babies and baby animals always bring out my softer side. I also get sentimental at times when some of our residents reminisce with me about their lives.

The older I get, the more I realize ... you never know from day to day what life will bring you. You just have to roll with the punches, do the best you can and enjoy as much as you can.

If I had one "do-over," I would ... go further with my education right after high school.

My favorite item of clothing is ... I don't really have a favorite item of clothing.

If I've learned anything at all ... it's you are never done learning. I continue to learn new things almost every day.

Cindy Gilbert, 44, is the admissions director at Good Samaritan Home and has worked for Good Sam for 26 years. She grew up in Quincy and the surrounding area. She married her high school sweetheart, Geoff, and they have two children, Nate and Natalie.

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Your Turn/Cindy Gilbert - Herald-Whig

Nearly a year ago, I received a phone call in my office from Sean Muldoon, chief ingredient officer for Papa Johns Pizza. Sean explained to me that Papa Johns was interested in sourcing organic vegetables for its world-famous pizza.

The conversation continued and evolved through several meetings between my team, the Papa Johns staff, and even Papa John himself (John Schnatter, the founder, chairman and CEO of Papa Johns Pizza).

Through the partnership, Papa Johns is launching a pilot program for its Lexington, Kentucky, market, using organic vegetables sourced from Green Bean Delivery for pizza toppings. Those organic vegetables include Roma tomatoes, green peppers, yellow onions and mushrooms. While most people might think the sloganBetter ingredients. Better pizza.is no more than marketing fluff, Papa Johns stands true to its promise and continues on its quest for a clean label.

I could see Papa Johns commitment toward this goal the second I entered its corporate research and development center.

The pizza familys test kitchen demonstrates a timeline of events for how its better ingredients have evolved over the years to now include antibiotic-free chicken for pizza toppings and poppers, cage-free eggs and menu ingredients without MSG, high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, artificial flavors and synthetic colors.

This is a bold and significant move, as food-service businesses have largely ignored the organic and all-natural marketplace, despite the industrys continued growth and demand from consumers. Many buyers are tricked into thinking convenient food cant possibly be grown using sustainable methods, and furthermore, that the sustainable-food industry cant support the weight of everyday American diets.

However, leaders in the food-service industry, such as Papa Johns, are starting to change the trend of conventional convenience, and their competition is paying attention.This same phenomenon has been present in grocery stores for nearly two decades, and it has proven there is real opportunity in tried-and-true growth in healthy, all-natural and organic food.

The worlds largest food companies have been forced to reinvent the very brands and product ingredients that drove their profitability for decades because of consumer demand for cleaner foods. Grocery stores have also changed. They are now stocking their shelves with all-natural and organic products. This natural progression is starting to take place in the food-service industry, and its only going to continue to grow.

For all of you who have worked so hard to create this positive change in our food system, I commend you. Farmers, farm-to-table chefs and food entrepreneurs have created brands of integrity that have helped cultivate change and put hope back into our food system.

The organic and all-natural food industry has grown year after year and is showing no signs of slowing down. One thing is certain: The consumer will create the demand, and the farmers and food companies will fill the supply. Choose wisely, even when eating conveniently. Your food dollar matters.

__________

Ewer is CEO of Green Bean Delivery.

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EWER: Organic produce gets a piece of the pie - Indianapolis Business Journal

The Big A: Experts from the University of Texas suggest feeding young children Organic foods whenever possible to limit their exposure to pesticides.

Adults should make their primary goal to eat healthy in general.

Add Organic foods as the food budget allows. Some Organic fruits and vegetables are only a bit more expensive than non-Organic varieties, so focus on them.

Patronize your local Farmers Market, often Organic fruits and vegetables are less expensive there and direct Farm to Table!

Look for foods on which Organic has the most impact.

Generally, produce that you peel before eating will have less pesticide residue so it makes more sense to spend money on organic cherries than on organic bananas, Yes?

Limiting exposure to pesticides is Key, add taste to the idea of putting fewer chemicals in the soil, that may influence you to go Organic and eat Real Food, eat it raw when ever possible.

Good health is a personal decision.

Eat healthy, Be healthy, Live lively

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Choosing Real (Organic) Food - Live Trading News

Programs for beginners to meditation and Shambhala as well as seasoned meditation practitioners.

Wednesdays(WESTSIDE Center/Mar Vista).Topics by week(look for Westside: TALK)

Thursdays(EAGLE ROCK Center / Northeast LA). Topics by week(look for Eagle Rock: TALK)

(7.30pm 9pm)

Listen to a dharma talk by Shambhala teachers. Free meditation instruction for those who wish. This evening gathering is open to all, for beginners to meditation and Shambhala teachings as well asseasoned meditators in other meditation traditions. Join us! Learn more

Freemeditation group sittingand meditation instruction available for those who wish. No reservations nor prior experience necessary to attend. Welcome!View Open SittingSchedule and Meditation Group Locations

All Day Meditation Retreat,third Sunday of every monthat Westside Center;(9am 5pm).Childcare offered to families with children. Learn more

Second Tuesdays(7:30-9pm) &Last Saturdays (6:30-8pm) at theEagle Rock Center.We welcome meditators of color to practice together in an open and supportive community.We seek to voice and explorethe personalchallenges that people of color face in a safe space.On the cushion, we foster a deep friendship with ourselves and our fellow practitioners. Off the cushion we seek to meet the world with a greater confidence in our basic sanity. Learn more

Mondays atWestside Center&Fridaysat Eagle Rock Center;(7.30pm 9pm):A group for anyone in their 20s and 30s who is interested in learning and experiencing the benefits of meditation and socializing other like-minded individuals.Learn more

Mondays, 7 pm (Eagle Rock)

Tuesdays7:30 pm (Westside)

Yoga is so much more than just about the physical; it is a tool to unite body and mind with our true nature andwillprepare us to sit more comfortably in our meditation practice. Join us weekly at our two Los Angeles centers for weekly Yoga. Open to all. Learn more

Wednesdays at Eagle Rock Center (7:30 pm to 9 pm)

Ameditation and sharing support group with the purpose of bringing together the practice of meditation, the Shambhala and Buddhist teachings, and the Twelve Steps of Recovery with the goal of integrating the basic sanity of the Dharma and the basic goodness of meditation with our commitment to abstinence. We welcome all those who wish to share in these common interests. Learn more

The Healing Circle: First Saturday of the month (10:30am 1:30pm), Eagle Rock Center

Creativity Lab: Second Saturday each month, alternating between the Westside and Eagle Rock Centers;(11am 1pm). Open to all. No art experience or meditation experience necessary!

Family Groups:Third Sunday each month(1pm 2:30pm), Eagle Rock Center.New families welcome!

View all

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Meditation, Buddhist Classes, Free Weekly Programs | SMCLA

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Sixth-graders in Penny Seiferts class are used to solving problems, but this 90-minute class is a little unique.

Throughout the week, students will spend a few minutes meditating.

"People really love it, like they enjoy it, 6th-grader Mason Opitz said. Every time she says we're doing it, I'm like yes!"

This is the first year Turner teachers are doing trauma training.

What trauma training is is it allows staff to have a new outlook on how they interact with students and how they approach students. A lot of our students go through what I would never have experienced and cannot relate to, Seifert said.

She said meditation was mentioned to her from the school counselor as a way for students to deal with trauma.

She said it'd be a great way to do Mindful Minutes, where we just take 10 to 15 minutes out of the day and just relax and let the kids just kind of turn their brains off, she said.

For this new initiative called Mindful Minutes, Seifert uses the fitness app called Aaptiv.

I use Aaptiv in my own life; I use it for running, she said. I tweeted it out, and said hey I'm using Aaptiv for this and within hours, they called me and said we want to know more, we want to know what you're doing.

Aaptiv gave complimentary memberships to the school, providing all the teachers a chance to bring meditation into their classrooms.

Thats what we are aiming to do, is really serve as a greater support in anyone's general wellness, Aaptiv Marketing and Communications Director Clara Artschwagersaid. I think what Penny did and how she introduced it to the students to serve as an amazing example of that and that's what inspired us really to extend the complimentary memberships to the school because we hope it carries just that much value to them too.

Students listened to words of affirmation as they meditated.

It makes you feel good about yourself and about others, 6th-grader Phoebe Ramirez said. Some people just think that they're not loved, some think that they're not cared about and they really are.

This is the first year Turner has used the app. Seifert said she plans on implementing this for years to come.

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Turner Sixth Grade Academy practices meditation to deal with ... - KSHB

Today, there is a greater need than ever to understand the importance of physical fitness in life, thanks to the sedentary lifestyle most of us have had to adopt due to professional reasons. Staying active and keeping your body functioning at a healthy level are of the essence.

Hitting a gym is always an option. But not everyone is comfortable with the intimidating aura of a gymnasium hall crammed with weight training and cardio machines. If you are that type, the good news is that there are machine-free gyms now operating across Delhi and NCR. The idea is to find alternatives to the old indoor excercise template and pay extra attention to free-hand workout.

Virendra Raj Singh never thought that he would come up with something like this until he set about bringing a change in this machine dominated industry. A model by profession and a certified trainer from the American Council on Exercise, Singh always focused on the natural way of attaining ones dream physique. When I was training myself, I realised that most of the gyms focused on marketing, commercialisation and membership selling, and hardly paid attention to the fitness regime. Their entire mission was to make quick money even if they have to compromise on their clients health. Also, when I was working as a trainer, I did not have the freedom to work and was to abide by certain rules and regulations of the place. I wanted to introduce manual training as I am against unnecessary use of machines. So, I was considered rebellious as I was against the management. People have forgotten that the famous Dara Singh trained himself naturally when there were no machines. Natural training is the best training, says Singh.

He opened his gym, called Strength Box, in Model Town in North Delhi in November 2016, aiming to introduce new concepts and ideas when it comes to physical fitness. Initially for the trainer, it was a challenge to attract new clients without flashy equipment and heavy machines in place. It worked in our favour as we are doing something very exclusive and more effective than machine workout. And therefore, people wanted to give it a try at least. Here, you are using your body as your own machine, exercising in a right way. It is the most natural way to lose weight and gain muscles. We use only those machines which are very, very essential to use in any workout. We dont do major workouts on machines. I train people through bodyweight and free weight workouts, says Singh.

Explaining the basics of bodyweight training and free weight workouts, Singh says, Free weight means when you use weights in your hands, shoulders to do an exercise. These weights are not assisted by machines. Bodyweight means when you are not working with any external weight but using your own body weight to work out. Machines are not compulsory.

Another fitness studio, called MADFIT Personal Training & Group Workout Studio, in Delhis Chattarpur Extension, is working on the same principle as Singhs Strength Box. Manish Ruhail, the owner of this studio says, Even though I understand the importance of equipment and why they are necessary for a lot of exercises, I opted for a machine-free fitness centre because machines bind us. Not only do they take a lot of space, they also restrict the number of exercises one can do on specific equipment. On the other hand, freestyle equipment take less space and allow us to move freely.

But for Ruhail, the challenges were of another order.The difficulty was to educate people as not many understand the meaning of functional training and know how it can help in achieving your fitness goals. The basic difference between bodyweight training and weight training is how one provides resistance to his muscles.In weight training, one increases the resistance simply by increasing the weights we put into use. However, in calisthenics (bodyweight training), we manipulate our own movements using the principles of angular training by using our own bodyweight. Use of minimal equipment or maybe even none is recommended most of the time, says Ruhail.

Similar ideas are espoused byAnand Nagaich, of Go Fitness Academy, Janakpuri. Nagaich, who is the master trainer and educator here, says, We wanted to give something which was absolutely different for people who are actively involved in the fitness circuit. We completely respect conventional gyms and weight training, but bodyweight training is something we believe can train people to become more functional and better prepared for day-to-day challenges in life. We need to agree upon one thing, that maximum movements we do during our active period of the day are done using our bodyweightitself and the rest of them are easily managed because you are still lifting/pushing or pulling significant amount of weight in bodyweight training.

Today, there are only a handful of such gyms in the national capital, but the demand for them is on the rise. We do think that that lots of people are still unaware of the benefits and effectiveness of calisthenics (or bodyweight training), and so yes, the circuit is still a bit bent towards weight training. Nevertheless the shift is happening now and people are opening up to the new regimes as well, says Nagaich.

In contrast to traditional gyms that dont provide a variety of exercise options and offer monotonous workouts, these machine-free gyms regularly endorse Tabata training whichis a high-intensity interval training workout, featuringexercisesthat last for four minutes pikes, planks, high lunges, high knees, push-ups and many which could be an entertaining and effective means to losing weight.

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Machine-free gyms setting new goals for fitness freaks - The Sunday Guardian

Deep in the gong The Olympian A small 2012 study by the National Institutes of Health found that people who practiced meditative chanting scored twice as well on a mental health assessment as those who simply listened to relaxing music. Balch, who's been playing gongs ever since ... and more »

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Deep in the gong - The Olympian

Imagine getting into shape without a gym.

It's a tempting prospect.

No annoying music blasting at you. No hassle getting to the gym when the weather's bad. Plus, you get to head home from work or school and work out in your comfy home.

You can also just take your phone, loaded with fitness apps, and head to the park, on your own, on a sunny day.

Sounds great, right?

Good news first: Thanks to apps and YouTube videos, you have a million workout options that do not involve the gym.Most of these options are free. Some of them are fun.

Now here's the bad news: Many of them are not fun.

The challenge: Finding the ones that are.

There's an art to an exercise video. Just as at the gym, the workoutshould be challenging, but not brutal. If it's brutal, you might force yourself through it once, but it'll be tough to get yourself to face it again.

Psychology-wise, the gym has a plus.You're cheered by seeing the instructor, and the rest of the class, sweating along with you. A video is different. How do you know that instructor is doing all these exercises all at once? Videos can fib.

An app can work as an exercise buddy, bugging you to get up and take a walk. But it's easier to ignore than a human being. Working out with an app or a video, you're not accountable to anyone but yourself.

I tried to rely on them for a month to see how it went. I ended up sneaking in a few visits to the gym, because sometimes I found myself shirking my virtual trainers.

I also discovered, though, that if you're disciplined, and keep your sense of humor, these electronic workouts can be a big help. Do it faithfully, and you can feel yourself growing stronger from day to day.

Here are some free optionsto try.

Pedometer

Many smartphones have a pedometer app automatically. Mine didn't, so I got one called, well, Pedometer. I use it to shoot for the recommended 10,000 daily steps. This thing is iron. It has never failed me.

Human

This app aims to get you to spend at least 30 minutes on your feet, which it calls your "daily 30." It will wheedle, "How about an afternoon walk before dinner?" Or "Let's go around the block." Or simply, "Let's get up." Get to your Daily 30, and it heaps praise on you. "You're making other people jelly." Once, it said simply "Goodness."It also lets youstackyourself up against active people near you.My main rival isHoward, the guy I married. He installed Human (human.co) when I did and naturally, is always ahead on the leader boards. I've had a few technical problems with the app.Otherwise, it'samusing and encouraging. Ithas encouraged me to walk when I otherwise would not have.It maps your walk,ingeniously, over grids of Buffalo streets. When it says, "Stretch your legs," it's hard to argue.

BeFiT

This network of YouTube videos offers over 600 workouts. Many of them are the loud,fat-blasting, pound-it-out variety, some led by TV fitness guru Jillian Michaels. Buta few are unusual. And BeFiT (youtube.com/user/BeFit) offers a definite change of pace inan extensive series ofBallet Beautifulworkouts, led by Mary Helen Bowers. She trained Natalie Portman for "Black Swan," which is recommendation enough for me. Try the Ballet Beautiful Blast for when you don't have much time. I can't sum up her style better than one person did in the comment section: "Everything's white, there's relaxing music playing in the background, she's so calm, talking gently and then there's me. DYING."

Blogilates

An app and a YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/blogilates) thatstars Cassey Ho, who is funny, bubbly and cute. She emails you calendars, too, with exercises specified for every date. The workout I tried was just too grueling too much squat, squeeze, lunge, crunch, over and over. Aren't crunches outdated? Didn't they decide that planks are better? But she makes you laugh at the same time. Good for those days after you ate those wings and wish you hadn't.

Boho Beautiful

These are a couple of hippies on YouTube (youtube.com/user/cexercize), Mark and Juliana,who lead you through yoga and Pilates workouts.Apparentlythey got married in a flower child wedding, sold everything in their Toronto apartment and are now bumming around the world. They've got it all figured out, and their pep talks about gratitude and mindfulnesscan get a little annoying.But the workouts are fun. They are broadcast from breathtaking locales, from the tropics, where they did yoga among elephants,to Canada'sBanff National Park, whereJuliana did Pilates by a frozen lake.You have to wonder if it's all fake, and they've been in Toronto all along. But you're entertained, and you get in a workout, with a minimum of the New Age proselytizingyou sometimes have to put up with in a gym yoga class. Juliana is beautiful and nice, and you can tell yourself thatwith a little more work, you might be able to look like her.

eFit30

This "online gym" (efit30.com) is a favorite of mine because it features teachers from Australia and South Africa. I love their accents and also their humor. "Clear a space on the floor and let's get started," is whatone Pilates instructor, Angela, typically tells you. And: "Tighten your butt, need I say more?" There are a lot of yoga videos, too, for every level. They work you out without killing you and, again, without that New Age stuff. (Why do so many yoga teachers have to ask me to set an intention for my practice? My intention is to look like a supermodel.)

Kristin McGee

I like videos filmed in pretty locales, so I can forget that I'm in my cluttered living room.So I was happy when I found a video (kristinmcgee.com) showing a tall, lean woman working out in a lovely, candlelit lodge.Mistake! Ten minutes later, I was exhausted. Keep going, I told myself.And I did all through this hour-long video. When I could get up, I read some of the video's comments. That was when I learned who my trainer was Kristin McGee, a celebrity trainer. "This woman is not normal," someone had commented. "I almost broke my legs." Someone else had written, "OMG I think I just died." Icould honestlyhave typed: "LOL me too."But that candlelit lodge was pretty,and there was enough variety in the workout to make me want to try another one. Plus, I like a challenge.I'll be back. McGee has her own YouTube channel (youtube.com/user/kristinmmcgee) with a wide variety of workouts and stretching videos.

PopSugar Fitness

This offers a dizzying variety of YouTube videos (youtube.com/user/popsugartvfit). The trainers chirp things like, "Another day in paradise!" and "Get ready to burn it up!" And I feel cool seeing videos with titles like "5 Moves to Add To Your Urban Run" (not that I run), "5 Boxing-Inspired Moves For a Flat Belly," and the one I ended up settling on, "30-Minute Fat-Frying Bikini Body Workout." The fat-frying workoutwas kind of brutal, sure. But the trainers on this site have a way of keeping you laughing. I also like that whatever workout you want short, long, beginner, advanced, cardio, Pilates, anything it's here.

Sworkit

This is an app (sworkit.com) that lets you build your own workout. They give you mini-videos of various exercises,incorporating strength training, cardio and yoga. You choose the number of minutes you have, and tell it which part of your body you want to work on. It's pretty no-nonsense, and it doesn't coach you, but it's easy to use, and you get to watch a human being albeit a very fit human being doing the exercises. And itdoes make the most of your time.I liked the Dive Bomber Push Up. I never thought I could do push-ups, but I could do this one because it's that flow you do in yoga, going from Down Dog down to Up Dog and then back again. Wow, look at me! Suddenly I'm fit.

Well, more fit than I was, anyway.

Exhibiting rare will power, I decided to take on a 21-Day Pilates Challenge from Boho Beautiful, listed up above. It is anchored on a grueling 30-minute long Pilates session, which you perform many times over the course of three weeks. By now I have it pretty much memorized. "Hold that leg. Do not let it drop. Breathe. You can do it. Awesome. Awesome, guys! Now we're going to move that leg around in a circle..."

"Ow," I kept saying through gritted teeth. "Ow ow ow ow ow." But I kept at it. I also made sure to do other videos prescribed in addition to that one, with such titles as "Define Your Abs" and "The Waistline Crusher." Hey, it's all free! And after a few days, the ab stuff wasn't as bad. The leg stuff took longer, but two weeks in, it was less excruciating. I didn't lose any of the 10 pounds I was trying to lose. But things started feeling different.

Day 16 brought a payoff. Two weeks before, I had recklessly bought a dress that was too small for me."I'll diet into it," I had told myself. Yeah, right.

Just for the heck of it, I tried on this dress and it fit!

It had to have been this challenge. I hadn't made any other changes in my life. Other things fit better, too in some cases, dramatically. Thank you, Boho Beautiful! Thank you, Refresh! Thank you, technology! And now, it's back to the mat.

I still have four days to go.

email: refresh@buffnews.com; mkunz@buffnews.com

Twitter: @BNrefresh, @MaryKunzGoldman

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Gyms not your style? Shape up with an online workout - Buffalo News

By Mischa Popoff | April 21, 2017

Opinion

And By Jay Lehr

President Obama tripled the budget and staffing at the offices of the USDAs National Organic Program (NOP), only to see American organic acreage flatline during his tenure.

The $9.1 million might seem like a rounding error for Washington D.C. But what 43 organic staffers actually did during Obamas tenure will surprise you. Did they weed out fraud, make organic food better and encourage more domestic organic production? Sadly, no, no and no.

Organic imports from countries like China and Turkey grew steadily during Obamas years, a trend that, not surprisingly, coincided with increased incidents of organic foodborne illnesses. Alas, Obama tripled the NOP budget and staffing, but failed to require field testing.

Roughly 40 percent of the organic food sold in America tested positive for prohibited pesticide residue during Obamas years, in two separate studies by the USDA. Just 0.7 percent of American farmland is organic, but organic sales accounted for 4 percent of total food sales, more than five times the amount of land under organic management. This means American grocery retailers now rely on imported organic food somewhere around 80 percent of the time.

This tripling of NOP budget and staff did absolutely nothing to help American organic farmers. In fact, it hurt them.

Worse than this embarrassing organic trade imbalance is the fact that organic foods accounted for a whopping 7 percent of all food recalls in America last year, almost double what one would expect according to organic sales and 10 times what one would expect from Americas flatlining organic acreage.

Meanwhile, organic inspections and certifications all occur independently of these 43 federal organic staffers. People are often surprised to learn that the USDA does not employ any organic inspectors. Staff only keep an eye on those that do by randomly auditing files generated by USDA-accredited certifying agencies, most of which are private certification businesses. These certifiers number just 80, and employ just 160 independent organic inspectors on contract. They pay the USDA for the privilege of being audited. So, what was $9 million spent on every year? And, again, what did these 43 people do every day they went to work?

The 160 inspectors working for 80 certifying agencies. Together they account for all oversight of every American organic farm, processor, distributor and broker/trader, including the importation of certified-organic goods from abroad. Theyre being overseen by 43 federal staffers? Yes. Thats the sum total of it.

Miles McEvoy, Obamas man in charge of Americas organic program, claims the increases were necessary to ensure the integrity of the USDA-certified organic label. But with organic food recalls and imports both going up, and the number of American organic farmers and acreage flatlining, it would appear McEvoy was totally, completely and undeniably wrong. Yet, he remains in command at the NOP.

Only organic end-products are tested under McEvoy, and just 5 percent of the time at that, and only for pesticides, not for pathogens from manure, thus accounting for the organic industrys shamefully high record of foodborne illness outbreaks. Costs of this pesticide testing are, again, covered entirely by the private sector. Many farmers make use of manure, but usually not on crops for human consumption. Only in the organic industry is manure routinely applied to fields used to grow food for humans, a practice which can be detrimental to human health, sometimes permanently, when manure is not fully composted.

And yet, the only across-the-board organic testing in Americas multibillion dollar organic industry is for GMOs, even though no one anywhere in the world, not human or animal, has ever fallen ill from consuming GMO foods. Costs, again, are borne entirely by you guessed it the private sector.

So where did all that money go if not to field testing? Perhaps to fund the hundreds of anti-modern-farming NGOs that run a constant barrage of anti-GMO, anti-pesticide, anti-fertilizer, anti-animal-confinement campaigns? On that question, there are two more troubling points to make.

First, many of the 80 certifying agencies that grant USDA organic certification to farmers, processors, etc., receive anywhere between 1.5 percent to 3 percent of gross revenue from their clients. This royalty from an industry worth roughly $46 billion a year more than Major League Baseball has proven highly lucrative just for doing paperwork. And people from these agencies, and sometimes the agencies themselves, can be found at the forefront of anti-modern-farming campaigns throughout all 50 states. Certifiers only collect royalties on shipments they approve, while being left to decide whose products theyre going to test for pesticides, just 5 percent of the time. No wonder so much organic food is being imported, with an astonishing 40 percent of it testing positive for prohibited pesticides, and with so many cases of organic foodborne illness.

Second, it turns out $9.1 million per-annum to run the office is just the tip of this organic iceberg. Another quarter of a billion $256 million to be exact was spent by the Obama Administration on subsidies to the American organic industry.

So, if American organic farm acreage flatlined over the past eight years while organic food recalls went up, along with imports, in a nation that has exported food throughout its history with one of the worlds top food safety records, what do we call this? This profligate spending not only failed to deliver, but delivered precisely the opposite of what anyone who works for a living expects from Washington.

Make no mistake. This was not simply a case of yet another program gone awry in the nations capital. The price tag for Americas new F-35 fighter is, unfortunately, a typical example of such incompetence and waste. But if the F-35 flew backwards instead of forwards, and Obama knew about it for the past eight years and funded it anyway, thatd be fraud. Fraud against American organic farmers, American consumers of organic food, and taxpayers.

Lets hope the next administration fully reverses this trend.

Editors note on the authors: Mischa Popoff is a policy advisor at The Heartland Institute, and is the author of Is it Organic? The inside story of the organic industry. Jay Lehr is the Science Director at the Heartland Institute and is the author of more than 1,000 magazine and journal articles and 30 books.

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In his new book The Science Of Enlightenment, the meditation teacher Shinzen Young claims that if you meditate for a few minutes a day, youll double your lifespan. There are two obvious possibilities here. One is that hes a charlatan. The other is that hes talking in an annoyingly metaphorical way, as when certain new age authors claim that you are the universe, which may be true in some sense, but isnt much use when youre trying to get out of a parking ticket. Actually, I think neither applies. I think he might be right. Bear with me.

If youre older than about 25, youll be familiar with the way time seems to speed up as we age. Thats probably because we encounter fewer novel experiences, so with less information to process, we pay less attention; and, in recollection, the months and years feel shorter. You can test this: just recall a recent time when you did expose yourself to lots of novelty. A five-day trip I made to Sweden last year still feels like a substantial episode in my life, but the five days either side of it have evaporated, lost to memory for ever.

The usual advice, to slow time down, is to have more exotic experiences. But few of us can spend more than a fraction of life visiting mind-blowing foreign lands; if you have a job, or kids in school, much of life will necessarily be routine. Yet, as Young points out, theres another option: what if you could increase the attention you paid to every moment, no matter how humdrum? The result would be the same: experiencing each moment with twice the usual intensity, your experience of each moment [would be] twice as full as it currently is, he writes. So any given period of time would seem to have lasted twice as long. Well, meditation certainly improves concentration. And, now that Young mentions it, the meditation retreats Ive done do seem, in memory, far longer than a few days each.

You might object that this is exactly the annoyingly metaphorical talk mentioned above. Youre not really living longer. Or are you? When we say we want to live longer, we surely dont care about the numbers on our birthday cards. We mean precisely this subjective sense of a long, full life, of expanses of time spent with those we love, or on work we enjoy. In the only sense that actually matters, then, a life to which you paid twice the attention would indeed be twice as long.

Moreover, citing psychology research, Young argues that high concentration is intrinsically rewarding, independent of what youre concentrating on. If you could fully focus on the sensations of any given experience, rather than being lost in thought about it, youd never suffer, he insists. (On those retreats, I found the searing pain in my legs eventually became a merely interesting combination of hot and cold sensations.) In short: concentrate better and youll have a happier, longer life without needing to alter your circumstances or life expectancy. After all, isnt it weird to yearn for more years when youre not even fully showing up for the ones youve got?

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Want to live twice as long? Meditation might help - The Guardian