Ethanol: License to drink and drive?

In the process of undergoing my much awaited detoxification this summer, I began breaking down the possible causes why I had mood swings, skin breakouts and low energy levels lately. I got to the bottom of it really fast. The culprit seems to be the kind of food I was ingesting lately. Every time I eat out, I end up feeling rotten afterwards because of the quality of food I was taking in. Food is cooked in a way that just looks lifeless. No wonder people get sick.

I was in Manila lately. I woke up early one morning and eagerly waited for the sunrise from a high-rise building, hoping to get a better view. I looked out the window and saw some clouds and thought it was foggy. My roommate told me that it wasn't fog but smog. I was bummed. No beautiful sunrise and a fake fog.

In the effort to promote clean air and fuel efficiency, bio-diesel takes the spotlight amid rising oil prices. Sources of fossil fuel are dwindling. More people are looking for alternative sources of fuel and it is found right in our kitchens and gardens.

Ethanol is made by fermenting and distilling starch and sugar crops like corn, wheat, potatoes, sugarcane, fruit and vegetable waste and even marijuana! Ethyl alcohol is the active ingredient in beer, wine and spirits not to be confused with the poisonous methyl alcohol made from wooden substances.

Since ethanol is a high octane fuel, it burns slowly, resulting to lesser engine knocking. Adding ethanol instead of lead to gasoline "oxygenates" the fuel, so that it burns more completely and reduces climate-changing carbon in the atmosphere that causes smog and respiratory ailments. By using ethanol, we are delaying the depletion of our ozone layer giving us time to enjoy our vitamin Ds.

We can do our share of added-value agriculture by making our own ethanol fuel from the crops we grow, thereby sustaining local jobs and the local economy. It requires less energy to produce ethanol and the energy it yields is twice the amount. It just sounds too good to be true. Maybe genetically modifying these crops to grow to their potential won't be too much of an issue since we won't be consuming them as food. There are people who produce bio-diesel in their own backyard and while they're at it, they get to enjoy their beers as well.

The by-products of processed ethanol are then recycled into livestock feeds, compost and fertilizer. Besides, there will always be an issue on food shortage for starving people because of the growing population and the forming of poor eating habits that do not pay attention to the value of nutrition. Think of the huge amounts of waste the commercial food-processing by-products and cooking oil dumped in sewers and landfills as people rely on the convenience of fast-food.

In the event of promoting wellness, people and automobiles are going "green". Maybe, one of these days, they'll come out with flavored ethanol so that vehicle emissions may serve as aromatherapy to pedestrians. Oxygenation is the key to life. The more oxygen intake, the better we feel, the clearer we think. Let's start the habit of consuming more oxygen-containing food like fresh fruits and vegetables. Cooking at high heat causes these live enzymes to deteriorate therefore depleting our food of the nutritious vitamins we need. Cooking oil heated at high temperature causes it to change its molecular structure thereby increasing the toxicity upon ingesting in our system. Let's just be practical and stop wondering where cancerous stuff comes from.

We make an effort in maintaining our cars; let's do the same for our bodies.

So what are you running on?

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