Wow, what a strange episode we have for you tonight! As you'll see, it was a really bizarre day here at Pure Jeevan. Wendi's out of town with her friends Rawbin and Jeff (owner of NaturalZing) helping NaturalZing with their booth at the Green Festival in Washington, DC. Too bad she's away; she missed opening the mail today and seeing a highly unusual letter from the Department of Homeland Security! The topic? Well, it turns out Pure Jeevan is under governmental surveillance -- and our chief surveillor, one "Larry Ferguson," actually decided to introduce himself and make some comments about our Bananas episode (which we hadn't even released yet!). Sounds highly unusual, I know. But, he was actually doing us a favor. Take a look (vid shows me reading part of his letter, then the banana episode proper):
As you heard, Larry writes: "I believe your viewers deserve to know, for example, that bananas have roughly 100 calories each, are high in Vitamin C, and fiber. You might also want to mention that they contain considerable levels of B6, which is good for metabolic functions as well as nervous and immune systems. B6 also helps you produce antibodies to fight diseases and plays a strong role in brain function and even maintaining hormonal balance. Your body can't store B6, btw, so you need to get it every day. Of course, most people will know already about the great potassium levels in bananas. Potassium is great for controlling blood pressure and certainly reduces risks of heart problems. Bananas also contain manganese, which your viewers probably already know about after your persimmons video."
While it's always a bit discomforting knowing you're being monitored by the government, I have to admit that Larry's remarks are welcome here. (I scanned his entire letter, in case anyone's interested, btw.) It saved me mucho time in having to research the nutritional aspects of the banana.
In any case, I wanted to again thank Shelley from the Pittsburgh Raw Food Meetup group for her highly enthusiastic guest appearance on this episode of Know Your Food! Shelley's a talented raw food prep artiste; her collard wraps w/ tahini-lemon dipping sauce that day were spectacular.
Recipes!? Oh yes, almost forgot... Let me just pop over to the world-famous All Raw Directory (a free community-run resource brought to you by Pure Jeevan) and see if I can find some great raw application for the banana... ?Hmmm, how about Chocolate Banana Almond Butter Pie by Raw Goddess ? Sounds pretty delicious to me! (And, wow, there's a TON of raw food porn on her site!)
Finally, I find it fitting to dedicate this episode to Mr. Pete Vincent, a British raw foodist whose universal avatar features the banana. Hopefully any humor herein might give him a chuckle.
Original Comments
Below, we have included the original comments from this blog post. Additional comments may be made via Facebook, below.
On November 8, 2008, wrote:
Oh my! I'm so glad I popped over and saw this. I think you have a very funny friend!!! With suspicion, I looked at the letter. Did you see the phone number! !? Haha. LOL'ing here! Try asking for Jenny ?? Get it? I think you have a retaliation to plan. You should be able to figure it out, eh? There weren't too many people there at the end when that video was shot. By the way, it wasn't ME!!! It had to be someone you and Wendi know very well!!!!
On November 8, 2008, wrote:
I think I have a good idea who it is, Shelley... It would have to have been someone AT the party, someone with an odd sense of humor, someone diabolically clever and, judging from the sheer eloquence displayed in the prose, someone no doubt highly charming (LOL). Best, -Jim
(ps Glad you picked up on the Jenny Jenny reference. Comic beauty often lies in the peripheral details, I think.)
On November 8, 2008, wrote:
Ah, you're having way too much fun over there! Too funny. Maybe you should try adding some cooked foods to your diet! :-)
On November 9, 2008, wrote:
LOL, My son works for HLS......but it wasn't me!
Let's go banana's with bananas!
On November 12, 2008, wrote:
great video! i luv bananas...
On November 12, 2008, wrote:
nanas are the best fruit ever! and they make the day, the best day.. you know the rest: wink!
love deb
On November 13, 2008, wrote:
I just found out why organic bananas have the plastic on the ends of the bunches and the regular ones dont. Turns out that when they cut the regular bananas off the large bunch, they dip the ends in a fungacide to keep them from having problems. Since they cant do that with organic bananas they cover the ends with the plastic wrap. Hummm, think I will stick to the organic. Dont they feed off that end ?
On November 27, 2008, wrote:
Cindy,
That's really interesting about the ends of the bananas being dipped in a fungacide if they aren't organic bananas. I say it's interesting because sometimes when I get organic bananas (this only happens with organic Dole bananas), the very top of the banana has a strange taste. I usually take the upper part of the banana off, feed it to my dog, and then eat the rest of it. These are ogranic bananas, ones with the plastic and organic label, but it makes me wonder if there's something deceptive happening. :-/ I prefer organic bananas from Ecuador because they are so sweet and don't have that starchy texture that may other varieties do.
Thanks for telling me this!
Lots of love to you,
Wendi
XOXOXO
On September 26, 2010, wrote:
ok...you are kidding right, I am from Canada and I love your site. (I am subscribed). Anyway, you are joking about that surveillance thingy, right
That can't possibly happen. You are hilarious and I was thoroughly stumped for a second or two...We can be gullible, dear jim, but you took my conspiracy operating mind for an exfile run...love it...I'll be back
Ramona
On September 26, 2010, wrote:
LOL... glad you liked that episode. I'd forgotten about that one! It's absolutely true, though... Here in America, all subversives (meaning, anyone into natural health) is assigned a surveillor. And, they're really nice people (and well educated!). (Okay, okay... it was a joke.)