Los Angeles Times - Fish oil, rich in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids and derived from oily fish such as tuna, salmon and mackerel -- is already recommended by the American Heart Assn. to help prevent cardiovascular disease. It has been shown to reduce blood triglyceride levels and slightly lower blood pressure, lowering the risk for heart attacks and strokes.

Perhaps a complete diet overhaul -- difficult though that may be -- would be a better strategy. The Mediterranean diet, named for the region in which it originated, has many anti-inflammatory features.

Celebrate local food, community, and culture as we highlight 13 community gardens and urban farms in Greater Cleveland on this year’s Urban Harvest Garden Tour. Bring your family and friends and discover what community gardeners and urban farmers are doing to transform our neighborhoods and our lives. (Now with a bicycling option!)

If you know someone who is tempted to believe the misinformation advertising campaign about health insurance reform going on now, a campaign likely financed by your health insurance dollars (if you have health insurance), send them this link to the Obama administration's recently posted "Reality Check" below. 

Of course the anti-health insurance reform campaign is wrapped up in anti-Obama, anti-government and pro-racism sentiment so someone who believes the misinformation is not likely to change through viewing this link.

Find the initial story, these comments and active links plus more at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111721651

All of the comments below had at least 11 recommendations by readers.

Grant Hurlburt (granth70) wrote:

While I was sitting behind Food On The Move, at St. Clair and East 140th, where a friend works, I noticed a pear tree in the lot next door, full of rippening pears. While the lot is well tended, and does not appear "vacant", the lone pear tree is the only occupant. And nobody seems to notice it is there, despite its bounty of free food. There are 100s of pears on the tree - in a market, they would be worth $100s. This lot could contain dozens of pear trees - perhaps 100s - producing $10,000s in income for the owners and those who tended them.

“The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite”
Amy Goodman interviews Dr. David Kessler on Democracy Now!
 

How will the 2010 census define our country? Is it time to change the way we census the United States?

 From August 12-14, Mayor Frank G. Jackson will host a three-day summit, bringing together a diverse group of people vested in and dedicated to Cleveland to use their vast knowledge and imagination to create an action plan for building a green economy for Cleveland’s future. This summit will be facilitated by Dr. David Cooperrider of the Fowler Center for Sustainable Value (my teacher, advisor, mentor and friend) at Case Western Reserve University, my alma mater (x2).

Sometimes there's no bigger impact than hearing from City leadership itself.  There is no excuse not to apply and attend - to have your voice heard, and to make a difference !   Come help us.

The Raw Story - US obesity rates grew 37 percent between 1998 and 2006, pushing obesity-related spending up another 40 billion dollars a year, according to the study published by Health Affairs. "The medical costs attributable to obesity are almost entirely a result of costs generated from treating the diseases that obesity promotes," said lead author Eric Finkelstein, who heads RTI International's Public Health Economic Program. "Obesity will continue to impose a significant burden on the healthcare system as long as obesity prevalence remains high."

I got a call last weekend that one of my best friends from high school, Rene Apel, died last Saturday in California where she had transplanted herself soon after high school.  I kept in regular touch with Rene, and when in California would visit with her.  She died from complications of breast cancer that she had treated for in 1993.  Her ultimate cause of death was acute leukemia, occurring after years of continuing chemo treatments that neither shrunk the tumors in her upper torso, nor allowed them to grow (probably brought on by aggressive radiation treatments in 1993.)

Providing health care for all is a complicated situation. An area that needs much more discussion and advocacy is how well people take care of themselves. An old housemate of mine, Jeremiah Sable, is a primary care physician in another state. He entered the field enthusiastic to bring good health care to poor people. And he grew skeptical over time. He told me, "Even though they are told by their doctor how to become healthier many people do not change their ways and grow unhealthier." 

I wish I could put this book in the hands of every American.  

So I went to see Food, Inc. at the Cedar Lee with a full house of foodies on Monday night. I recommend the film. It features Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser and Joel Salatin and other well known (to foodies) folks. I had received an email invite from Brad Masi and I went with my farm collegues. After the show there was a panel. Brad was on it and some guy (who's name I cannot recall from Whole Foods) and Warren Taylor of Snowville Creamery in Pomeroy, Ohio. Warren was awesome.

Yesterday, I happened to be off (I work Saturdays), so I got to take it easy and enjoy the sights and sounds of Cleveland.  Here are a few images from the Ingenuity Festival, to Tregoning Gallery (featuring the wonderful Matt Dibble), and, finally, to Sokolowski's University Inn.  A great day in the city.

Since our founding, in 2004, REALNEO has become a groundbreaking free, open source social network of global interest – recently recognized as one of the top networks of our type in the country, by the Knight Foundation.

In 2008, the members of REALNEO.US formed REAL COOP, an Ohio legal cooperative, which now owns and operates REALNEO.US and REAL.COOP. We are unique in the world of social computing, and a global innovator in the evolution of information systems.

From the REALNEO.US homepage:

Thanks to Laura McShane for posting this morning a comment linking to Will Allen's "Good Food Manifesto" on his Growing Power blog. I, and millions of other people, became aware of Will last Sunday, when he was featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine article "Street Fighter", but folks who follow local foods best practices surely knew of Will long before.

As I've mentioned previously, many of my six years with REALNEO to date have been spent in pursuit of a core research question - that economic development and community development can become equated under a frame of quality of life and place enrichment.  This has been proposed previously and backed by many of my theoretical pieces.  Now, as I shift to operationalization of the theory, it becomes more important to request feedback and input from the variously communities