Wood For Dinner? No Thank You - EDITED AND REPUBLISHED

Below is my original post from 11/28/11
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Rant alert.

I'm not even sure what to say about this article.  Our friendly FDA, out to protect us.  There is a push to have vitamin supplements only available by a doctor's prescription, but it's ok to eat wood?  I think I'd rather have less fiber.  Last time I checked, I wasn't a beaver.

15 Food Companies that Serve You "Wood"

If anyone has a counterargument or good side to this article, I would love to hear it.  Hopefully, I'm overreacting.

Rant over.
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Dec. 3, 2011 edit

Well, I guess there is no question regarding how I feel about the FDA.  The question is, why did I have to push my views on you, the reader?  Why didn't I just say, "Here's an interesting article, see what you think?"  It didn't feel quite right to publish that post, and I'm sure it didn't feel great to read it either.

While reading "Ensouling Language, on the Art of Nonfiction and the Writer's Life," by Stephen Harrod Buhner tonight, a chapter caused me to rethink this post, along with many other aspects of my writing.
Buhner writes, "We all have hidden baggage inside us, unexamined beliefs, attitudes, and orientations of mind we have internalized...  Discovering, understanding, and deciding what to do about that hidden baggage is an inescapable part of our maturing.... Everything that you have not self-examined will eventually show up in your work...."

It's quite obvious I have some beliefs and attitudes showing up in the work begging to be examined.  Which led me to the question, "Why am I writing in the first place?"  The answer I came up with - "To help people be happy and healthy."  By doing what?  Conforming to what I think is the only way to be happy and healthy?  I'm not even so happy or healthy myself right now (another post), so how can I help someone else if I can't help myself?

It was with that question that it all fell into place.  I'm writing to help me.  To examine my hidden baggage, my judgements, my ego.  My attitude that I know what's best for everyone.  One side effect of my continued spiritual growth has been my increasingly quick urge to judge people.  Self reflection is definitely required to address that unwanted aspect of myself, as well as my feelings about issues that really fire me up, like the FDA.

Until I take care of some of this baggage, I will never be able to write in an unbiased manner. Writing to help myself grow and evolve feels selfish, but it is the only way I can move forward and eventually help others.  I will never be able to help anyone else, which I so desperately want to do, until I help myself.  I've said that over and over, and I think I am finally starting to understand.