Thistle Dew Nutrition

Please see my new site at LadyHawk

2007-10-03T11:34:00.000-04:00

Hello all,

Please join me at my new blog site. I've officially opened LadyHawk Nutrition and this has led me to start a new blog (still in Blogger) using that name.

Please read my new blog at: http://ladyhawknutrition.blogspot.com/

Please take time to visit me at my website: www.ladyhawknutrition.com

Thank you all for your support!

Maggie

Can't stop from saying "I told you so!"

2007-07-24T08:57:00.000-04:00

While sitting in my family room last night, doing Sudoku puzzles and watching the news I had this overwhelming desire to shout out “I told you so!”
OK, I know that’s just not nice, but I feel so much better now.
And here is WebMD’s report on the same, um, report:

July 23, 2007 -- Drinking just one soft drink a day -- whether diet or regular -- may boost your risk of getting heart disease, a new study shows.
That is because a soda habit increases the risk of developing a condition called metabolic syndrome, according to the new research, and that in turn boosts the chance of getting both heart disease and diabetes.
"Even one soda per day increases your risk of developing metabolic syndrome by about 50%," says Ramachandran Vasan, MD, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study, published in the July 31 issue of the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.
To be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, three of five criteria must be met: a large waistline, elevated blood pressure, elevated fasting blood sugar, elevated fasting triglycerides, or reduced HDL or "good" cholesterol.
"This study adds to the wealth of scientific evidence that sugar-sweetened beverages increase the risk of metabolic syndrome," says Vasan. Already, he says, the rise in sugary drink consumption has been linked to the epidemic of obesity and diabetes among children and teens and to the development of high blood pressure in adults.
Even after adjusting for intake of fat, fiber consumption, total calories, smoking, and physical activity, he says, there was still a link between soft drink intake and metabolic risk factors.
To read the entire WebMD article please click on this link:

http://www.webmd.com/news/20070723/1-daily-soda-may-boost-heart-disease?page=1

And so many of you are wondering how sugar-free soda’s can affect these results? There are two theories that I know of, and probably more theories, and they might both be factors. First, as the WebMD article goes on to say (if you click the link and read the whole thing) drinking sweet beverages, whether they have calories or not, might condition the drinker to crave more sweet foods as well. This goes hand-in-hand with what Dr. Russell Blaylock writes about in his book “Excitotoxins”; that except in Type I diabetics Aspartame actually tricks the brain into telling the body to express Insulin even though there isn’t any sugar in the system, thus lowering your blood sugar and making you hungry and craving sweets to raise it back to normal levels again.

So what do we drink? The same stuff we’ve been drinking for a thousand years: water, beer, wine, milk, fresh juice (in moderation) and many different kinds of unsweetened teas.

It's a "dirty" job but...

2007-05-02T16:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I’ve been trying to climb the Mt. Baldy steps about twice a week, and I still have to get there this week and it’s Wednesday already! Actually, I thought today was Thursday until about 10:30 this morning and can you imagine my wide eyed disappointment when I was told it was only Wednesday? I just HATE when that happens.

Anyhoo, I decided that all of those steps were actually working on making my gluteus maximum more firm, if not smaller, and that I now needed to devise a similar (read “free and somewhat rewarding) exercise regimen for my upper body. I was provided the answer last night while I drove into my garage, where at the end of my driveway there is one very large pile of sand and another very large pile of black dirt that my Dear Husband had a friend deliver. D.H. said he was helping the guy out, and that the guy was supposed to return with a tractor of some sort to bulldoze and grade the sand and dirt into a lovely space ripe for gardening. This last part apparently never happened.

But there I stood last night, enjoying the spring weather, looking outside my garage door and admiring (cursing?) those two 5 foot tall x 10 foot diameter piles of dirt. Which needed to be shoveled. By my weak armed crooked backed body. Voila! There is my free and rewarding upper body workout!

I let the kitties outside and grabbed the shovel and panted and puffed for about 20 minutes and thought “Boy, that’s a great workout and I should be able to get these piles under control in about 20 more workouts!” Then I stepped back and took another look and realized that I might be more like 80 more workouts. Pumpkin and Scootie just ate grass and paid little attention to my efforts.

I hope I get done before it gets too hot outside in August.

On top of Old Baldy

2007-04-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

So I’ve been sitting on my fat a$$ all winter. I have got exactly NO exercise since November, and I enlisted the motivational help of my Very Good Friend Molly to help me. We made an appointment with each other to meet Tuesday night at 5:45 pm in Saugatuck at Mount Baldy. Mount Baldhead is a big white ball that we erected by the armed forces in the 1940’s (I think) as a radar and observation tower, and is today only used as a tower to house weather cameras for local television stations. Why did we meet here? Because there are 282 wooden planked steps to the top of the hill where the ball is perched, and it’s a serious workout with a breathtaking view when you’re done.

The 282 Steps of Doom!

The rewarding view of downtown Saugatuck and the Kalamazoo River from the top of the steps. Woo Hoo!

Tea Time

2007-03-27T09:56:00.000-04:00

You-all should know by now how I feel about soda pop. Nasty! And not the Janet Jackson kinda nasty, which is really a lot of fun. Am I showing my age?

What to drink instead? Tea! Chamomile after dinner, rooibos flavored with Jasmine, Green tea flavored with citrus or ginseng, gunpowder, dragon pearls, white Darjeeling, black tea with real dried cranberries, or my personal favorite that instantly transports me to a hot August day south of Tokyo, Japan: Hojicha.

More and more trials and tests are coming out reporting on how healthy both black tea and green tea is for you. White tea and the specialty teas like rooibos are also great for your health, but they don't have the money behind them to sponser thoses expensive tests and trials. Who cares? We humans have been drinking tea as long as we have been boiling water!

Tea bags are easy and help to control the mess of loose leaf teas, tea balls work OK, but to get the most from your tea you should let the tea leaves “breathe” or rather, float around to their hearts content for a few minutes. A wonderful tea company called Adagio Teas has come up with the perfect answer; the InginuiTea. (Man! I wish I could come up with great names like that!)

For between 10¢ to about 15¢ per cup it’s so much more affordable than sodas or specialty coffees, is natural, some of them have a little natural caffeine in them, and they have many dozens of non-caffeinated teas to choose from. If you want more information here is a link to their website or else you can click on the box in the margin to receive a $5 coupon, which will usually more than pay for your ground shipping charges.

Enjoy!

Stop eating my herbs!

2007-01-15T13:52:00.000-05:00

There are two young female deer that live in the woods that my house is in the middle of. I don't call them "my woods" because I figure that the deer and the squirrels owned it before I did. They go by my front door every afternoon, then walk down my driveway.

This particular deer seems to have a fondness for my parsley and my sage. Notice how they are *MY* herbs. Luckily I grew enough to share.

The real reason for the poor economy

2006-11-10T13:29:00.000-05:00

I got Ron one of those big back-pack leaf blowers for his birthday last spring, and I love it! I think he's used it twice, and I use it all the time. I cleaned out the gutters last Sunday, then I "raked" the leaves off the deck, patio (under the deck), and all around the house in about 3 hours. It used to take me 3 weekends! When I was done all I could think about is how we are loosing jobs NOT because of outsourcing, but because of gadgets like this leaf blower. I imgined that when I'm old I'll probably still be using it instead of hiring a couple of neighbor boys to rake for me. Then I thought about how that stinking leaf blower is also probably the cause of the obesity problems we Americans are having. Blame everything on the leaf blowers!

Don't get me started on the ozone layer...

I crack myself up.

Transparency

2006-11-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

Transparency in science refers to proving that scientific studies are not paid for by companies that would benefit from the studies leaning towards their own gain. I know this is a long article, but it should be common knowledge and it isn’t. I have highlighted some of the most important notes.

11/6/2006 - In the food and nutrition world, science is king. So when journals do not force scientists to fully disclose financial support and potential conflicts of interest, they are not helping anyone.Science is an open-ended pursuit with hypotheses gaining or losing credence based on additional studies. But when journals publish articles from researchers who do not divulge potential conflicts, they are complicit in distorting the evidence and affecting the reader's ability to judge the reliability of science overall.

The seed for this comment was planted months ago at the announcement from the Journal of the Medical Association (JAMA) that all authors submitting manuscripts to JAMA are now required to report all potential conflicts. Such measures were already in place at JAMA since the early 1980s, but some researchers were not disclosing every little bit of information because they didn't think that their past and present funding from big business represented a conflict.
One such example that prompted Catherine DeAngelis, JAMA's editor-in-chief, to act was when researchers reporting on a potential link between migraines and cardiovascular disease (CVD) failed to mention they had received money from big pain-killer makers.

The authors, from Harvard no less, felt that previous relationships with manufacturers of products that are used in the control and management of migraines or CVD did not constitute a conflict of interest. DeAngelis rightly disagreed and the Harvard authors subsequently disclosed all non-federal relationships, which read like a who's who of the world's biggest chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

Such situations are also found in the food and dietary supplements industries.
Take the glucosamine/chondroitin sulphate study published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in March that reported the supplements were effective for moderate-to-severe osteoarthritis pain, a point that was down-played by the authors and in an independent editorial by Dr. Marc Hochberg from the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
NEJM requires full disclosure and we discover in the small print that both the authors and Dr. Hochberg have received money from pharmaceutical companies who produced anti-arthritis drugs. Is it any wonder that the findings that were played up were pharma-centric?
The other journals must now follow the full disclosure lead of these big journals and introduce such measures. Many already do, but many others do not.

Recently the Journal of the American College of Nutrition published a supplement on salt intake, with many of the articles down-playing the risk of excessive salt consumption. Supplements to this journal, we later found out, do not undergo normal peer-review proceedings. No conflict of interest disclosures were presented by the authors, although it turned out later that some have been or still are consultants to the salt industry.

No disclosure - Why?

It is outrageous that after all the knocks that peer-review has suffered in recent years - from made up results in The Lancet to fake cloning in Science - that the journals are not demanding full disclosure, whether they are in a regular issue or a supplement - they're still published under the name of the journal and therefore benefit from its reputation.

With so much research now funded by for-profit companies, industry has a key role to play in ensuring the integrity of publications, but the push itself, particularly when research in not funded by companies whose products are being tested, must come from the journals themselves.

Industry can help by suggesting that researchers presenting research funded by companies should be published in journals that demand full disclosure, or insist on full disclosure in other, less stringent, journals.

But transparency does go beyond the journals. Companies should also refrain from publicizing unpublished research, which undermines their credibility - why hasn't it been published in a peer-review journal? What's wrong with letting some other experts take a look at the data?
A survey released in July by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), which found that one in six of the nearly 1,000 FDA scientists who responded said they had their work manipulated or suppressed in favour of industry. This is a massive problem and until it is addressed on a worldwide scale, the seriousness of some journals will remain questionable. It's time that everyone started cleaning up their act.

If science is king, then transparency is the key to the kingdom.

Stephen Daniells is the Food Science Reporter for NutraIngredients.com and NutraIngredients-USA.com. He has a PhD in Chemistry from Queen's University Belfast and has worked in research in the Netherlands and France.

Diet is "Die" with a "T"

2006-11-01T14:26:00.000-05:00

Monday, two days ago, I found some health notes whilst perusing through my old Franklin Planner. I noticed that I weighed exactly 22 pounds less 10 years ago than I do today. Twenty two pounds! That’s a nice tidy 2.2 pounds per year average growth. I was not happy.

So yesterday I decide to go on a diet, and I’ve decided to slightly limit my carbohydrates and begin a serious exercise program. You-all must realize how much I hate to exercise. Truly. I hate going to gyms, mostly because it takes longer to change my clothes before and after working out than it take me to work out. Why do people do that? Also, I don’t ever want to spend $250 on a matching spandex outfit just to feel “in”.

I do have about $500 worth of equipment in a storage room in my basement, including Weider Universal Gym, a used punching bag, a stepping machine that I bought for $75 and isn’t worth $10 because I HATE IT but I refuse to buy a “good” one for $1000, and a Gazelle™ kinda-running machine that I actually like to use. I have one old paint-spattered radio with tape-to-tape recording capabilities that I listen to the local “old time” rock station on (read 70’s and 80’s, and even some 90’s rock). I keep thinking that if I put an old TV down there it would help, but I know it won’t.

Labor Day I did start climbing the 282 steps up a forested sand dune in a local park (Mt. Baldy to you locals) and it went great: I went at least 2 times a week for about 6 weeks. Then it stopped due to some consistently rainy weather. I felt great while I was doing it though.

If anyone has any helpful suggestions for exercise motivation I’m open to them all!

I probably should also confess that I have had no less than 4 meals today, and it’s only 2:00. I had cereal for breakfast (carbs), we had guests in the office today and they brought bagels (carbs), a baked potato and chili for lunch (carbs), and I’m eating yet another bagel as I type this (carbs). How am I doing? Don’t you dare answer that!

I miss my Vernors

2006-10-10T10:04:00.000-04:00

A while ago I ranted about how the potassium in soda is bad for you. I didn’t look it up, but I think I specifically stated that the phosphorus replaces the calcium in bones, making them weak. I actually didn't know that only colas had phosphoric acid, as explained below. Here is a study that I found at www.nutraingredients-usa.com that helps to prove my point:

10/6/2006 - Women who drink four or more cola beverages per week have a higher risk of developing the bone disease osteoporosis, finds a new study, landing another blow on fizzy drinks makers.Regular cola consumption was linked to lower bone mineral density in all women studied, regardless of other factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and calcium intake, researchers found.
Low bone mineral density increases the risk of osteoperosis, also known as brittle bone disease.
The news is another hammer blow to soft drinks makers, already struggling against falling fizzy drinks sales as consumers shift to healthier, non-carbonated beverages.
The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, used dietary questionnaires from more than 2,500 people who were part of an osteoporosis study in the US. Their average age was around 60 years.
The results were similar for regular, diet and decaffeinated colas. “The more cola women drank, the lower their bone mineral density was,” said Katherine Tucker, the lead researcher and from Tufts University.
Men appeared to be unaffected, despite drinking slightly more cola per week on average.
Suspicions on what may cause cola to damage bone density initially rested on an ingredient called phosphoric acid. Tucker called for more controlled studies on this.
“Physiologically, a diet low in calcium and high in phosphorus may promote bone loss, tipping the balance of bone remodeling toward calcium loss from the bone. Although, some studies have countered that the amount of phosphoric acid in cola is negligible compared to other dietary sources such as chicken or cheese."
Another reason researchers suspected phosphoric acid was because it is not generally present in non-cola beverages. Other fizzy drinks that were not cola-based did not appear to affect bone density, the study found.
Cola drinks Coca-Cola and Pepsi remain two of the biggest-selling soft drink brands in the world. Cola made up more than 70 per cent of fizzy drinks consumed by those taking part in the recent osteoporosis study. Consumption of carbonated soft drinks, although now stagnating in mature markets, rose by 300 per cent in the US alone between 1960 and 1990.

Pumpkin Update

2006-10-06T16:37:00.000-04:00

So I cleaned out the litter box this morning to get a good read on the status of poor Pumpkin’s bladder. Last night I could only find a bunch of little clumps that were made up of 2-3 drops of urine in the clumping kitty litter. Pumpkin’s little drops were very easy to tell apart from the almost half cup size balls that Scootie makes.

This morning’s “Pumpkin clumps” were now quarter sized, but not very deep: They were flat like pancakes (or quarters I suppose) instead of round like balls. Still! I’m delighted to get quarters out of her!

I’ll be keeping a close eye on her all weekend and let you know what happens. If everything turns out OK I would like to write it down in a letter and mail it to my vet for his reference in the future.

Animals Amaze Me

2006-10-05T14:46:00.000-04:00

I just am amazed at animals. Again. Last night I noticed my almost 17 year old female cat, Pumpkin, going in and out of the cat box. After studying this for about 10 minutes I realized that she had to pee, but only a few drops were coming out each time. I assumed she had a bladder infection.

By then it was 6:30 at night and my Vet’s office is only open late on Tuesdays, so I called their number to get the number of the vet on-call, then I called that number which had an answering service that took what seemed like an hour to tell me everything I didn’t need to know, and finally gave me the cell phone number of the Vet on-call. So I called that number and got a very nice man who I swear was cooking something that sizzled in a skillet and probably smelled very good, and I told him that I was a client at the Animal Clinic, that I had a 17 year old female cat that was frequently using the litter box with only scant water, and should I bring her in or could it wait until morning? We decided that since her kidneys weren’t sore (I massaged her back around where her kidney were and she didn’t hiss or anything) and I couldn’t find her bladder, so it must be fairly empty, and she simply had an “irritated bladder” and it could wait until morning.

I called my Vet this morning and spoke with an intern or nurse about it and they suggested that I either bring her in overnight to try to get a urine sample from her, or I bring home a tin pan and some black plastic pellets for her to use as a litter box and I lock her in a small room until she pees in it to get a urine sample. People, I’ve tried this before and it don’t work. And why would I want to put an already sick old cat in a cage at the vets overnight, or in a closet for hours or days (because I’m tellin’ ya they never use that stupid fake litter box, they would rather hold it in for days)?

So I asked if we confirmed that it was a bladder infection would they treat her with antibiotics? Yes, they would. Well, the last two times I gave Pumpkin antibiotics she was cured of the first infection, but came down with a secondary infection that was worse. I decided that as long as it’s true that female cats almost never have a complete blockage, which both vets confirmed, I would try something else for a few days first.

So I fell back upon my herbal roots (pun intended). I looked up every herb that might help and wrote down a list compiled from three books that I keep in my office/office (not my home/office):
* Marshmallow
* Uva Ursi (a.k.a. Bearberry, I have some growing in my flower garden)
* Horsetail
* Asparagus (yes, the vegetable, and specifically the water left over after cooking it)
* Barley tea
* Corn Silk (yes, it actually is the silky tops of an ear of corn)
* Dandelion (Good for so many things)
* Catnip, but not very strong
* Couch grass (This is the thick clumps of grass that you pull out of your nice thin Kentucky Blue lawn)
* Parsley (I have this in my herb garden)
* Juniper (I can't imagine a cat eating something that tasted like Gin: yuck!)
* Chamomile

Also listed:
* Vitamin A and other antioxidants (Cat’s and dogs love Vitamin A soft gels because they are usually in fish liver oil. I'll give her some when I get home tonight; I snip a slit in one end of the softgel and she licks it as I squeeze it out. Don't give them too much, it is possible to overdose on Vitamin A)
* Magnesium and potassium

Next I went through our sample stock here at work and “borrowed” a sample of Uva Ursi and of Corn Silk powder, and I took them home at lunch time. I got home and first went outside to snip some catnip, parsley, and Uva Ursi leaves. I left these on the floor near the front door, but she wasn’t interested in any of them: even the catnip! Next I put some leftover onion and artichoke pizza in the toaster oven to warm up for ME, and ground up an old cranberry tablet one of the girls at work gave me, and put a pinch of it in their drinking water. I then opened up the bag of Uva Ursi and Pumpkin sniffed at it for a few seconds and turned away. Then I opened up the bag of Corn Silk powder and she lit right up! She actually licked it off of my finger! I sprinkled some next to her food dish and she licked it off of the surface until the dryness of it made her make funny faces as she licked the roof of her mouth. Even Scootie, my other cat, liked it and ate a little of it.

Woo hoo! Isn’t it amazing how animals know what is good for them and what they need? I’m so stoked! I’ll keep giving it to her as long as she’ll take it, and I’ll watch her cat-box habits very closely for the next week or so. If it works out very well I might write my vet and give him the suggestion of Corn Silk for urinary tract relief.

The Death of Twiggy

2006-09-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

I took the entire article below from CNN.Com:

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) -- The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has caused outrage among modeling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues.
Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.
Organizers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.
But Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modeling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.
"I think its outrageous, I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer," said Gould, Elite's North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models.
Madrid's regional government, which sponsors the show and imposed restrictions, said it did not blame designers and models for anorexia. It said the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy body images.
"Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk," said regional official Concha Guerra.
The mayor of Milan, Italy, Letizia Moratti, told an Italian newspaper this week she would seek a similar ban for her city's show unless it could find a solution to "sick" looking models.
Quality, not size
The Madrid show is using the body mass index or BMI -- based on weight and height -- to measure models. It has turned away 30 percent of women who took part in the previous event. Medics will be on hand at the September 18-22 show to check models.
"The restrictions could be quite a shock to the fashion world at the beginning, but I'm sure it's important as far as health is concerned," said Leonor Perez Pita, director of Madrid's show, also known as the Pasarela Cibeles.
A spokeswoman for the Association of Fashion Designers of Spain, which represents those at Madrid fashion week, said the group supported restrictions and its concern was the quality of collections, not the size of models.
Eating disorder activists said many Spanish model agencies and designers oppose the ban and they had doubts whether the new rules would be followed.
"If they don't go along with it the next step is to seek legislation, just like with tobacco," said Carmen Gonzalez of Spain's Association in Defense of Attention for Anorexia and Bulimia, which has campaigned for restrictions since the 1990s.

Yet another nail in the soft drink coffin

2006-08-30T09:40:00.000-04:00

I'm just sayin'...

But I do realize that the big picture is that the pesticides are from local ground water. This means that all East Indians in the area where the companies are getting their water are drinking ground water that already has these high levels of pesticides. Sigh.

New Delhi, Aug. 9 - India's southern Kerala state on Wednesday banned the Indian subsidiaries of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo from manufacturing and selling soft drinks, news reports said.
Several Indian states have banned the sale of Coke and Pepsi at schools and colleges after a New Delhi-based research body claimed they contained high levels of pesticide residue, but Kerala was the first state to impose a ban on production and sales across the board.
Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan, the state's elected head, told reporters that the decision was made based on a recommendation of the leftist coalition that governs Kerala.
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) could not be reached immediately for comment.
Last week, the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi said last week that it found pesticide residues in samples of Coke and Pepsi that were 24 times above the limits set by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
The center said it carried out tests on 57 samples taken from 11 soft drink brands made by Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India and found a "cocktail of three to five different pesticides," all apparently present in groundwater used to make the drinks. Both companies have denied the charges, saying the soft drinks they manufacture and sell in India "comply with stringent international norms and all applicable national regulations."
**********
Cochin, India, Aug. 23 - A southern Indian state said Wednesday it will not reverse its ban on the production and sale of soft drinks such as Coke, Pepsi and Sprite, even though the federal government has dismissed allegations that they are contaminated by high levels of pesticides.
Earlier this month, Kerala banned the production and sale of drinks made by the Indian subsidiaries of Coca Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. after the Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi said the levels of pesticides in the drinks made them unsafe for humans.
But federal Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told Parliament Tuesday that his ministry found the center's data flawed.
Still, authorities in Kerala insisted the state's ban stands.
"Repeated studies have proved that the colas are not good for health. So we have banned them for people's welfare," said P. K. Sreemathi, Kerala's health minister. "Our decision is final ... We will enforce it strictly."
Six other states have banned the sale of the soft drinks in government-funded schools, colleges and hospitals since the center disclosed its findings earlier this month. Kerala, where Coca Cola and Pepsi both have bottling plants, is the only state to enforce a total ban.
Indian states have broad autonomy to make their own health and education policies, and they cannot be overruled by the federal government. Before the government said the center's data was flawed, Coke and Pepsi challenged Kerala's ban in the state's High Court. The case is scheduled to be heard Thursday.
These articles were taken from www.flexnews.com and they got them from Dow Jones Wires.

90%

2006-08-21T09:44:00.000-04:00

"Life is 10% of what is dealt to us...90% of what we do with it..."
Anon.

An old gentle woman who I met in St. Louis, Missouri once told me “You only regret what you don’t do.” I have applied this to every aspect of my life, and although I am exhausted as I am writing this, I am glad to know that I have really packed a lot of life into the past 10 days.

Do you have any regrets? Think about it. Are any of your regrets things you did, or are they only things that you didn’t do? Get out of the house, get out from in front of that T.V., go to the gym, write a book, take a class at the local community college or the local craft store, invite your friends over for dinner, Get your MBA, fly to a warm sandy place for the weekend, or spend the afternoon drinking tea in one of those over stuffed chairs at Barnes and Noble.

List of things to do before we die

2006-08-09T14:13:00.000-04:00

I’ve always had a list of things to do before I die, and in that light I am completing the below meme for your information. Go ahead and copy it onto your own blog, or better yet start you very own “List of things to do before I die”.

Life's to do list - Completed items are bolded

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink (there were only 6 people)
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive (I might have to add this one to my list)
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula (um... no)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it (almost every day)
09. Hugged a tree (regularly)
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (on Lake Michigan, same thing)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (I went swimming next to an iceberg. Darn tootin’ it was cold!)
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon (I do plan to do this someday soon)
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse (It was the dog races, but I’m counting it)
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight (I live in Michigan, silly)
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb – (I've held a baby horse -- does that count?)
33. Seen an eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking (still do)
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (that would be really hard)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment (this happens to me daily, mostly as a feeling of appreciation, not just happiness. I feel sorry for those who don’t.)
39. Had two hard drives for your computer (a few years ago)
40. Visited all 10 provinces or all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk (and it was reciprocated)
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (In The Bahamas)
44. Watched wild whales (In Alaska)
45. Stolen a sign (no, but my brother has)
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing (But there is a wall downtown that I want to try before the end of summer)
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving (Aunt Lou prohibits me)
51. Visited Ireland (12 of the best days of my life!)
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan (twice, once for 93 days, 3 days past my visa)
55. Milked a cow (would like to)
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero (I collected comic books since 1970)
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers (At least I don’t think so)
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business – (In process, and hope to have it done by early next year)
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites (In Ireland)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for 6 hours straight (I only lasted about 3 hours)
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days (No but I’ve gone on a 3 day fast a few times)
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest (Won 2nd and 3rd many times)
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo (no comment)
81. Rafted the Dead River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand – (And I wasn’t drunk)
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship (I’m not really a cruise kinda girl)
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (Japanese, but not fluently)
95. Performed in aisles at Rocky Horror. (Put your hands on your hips…)
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (And to get away from a man)
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge (I walked the Mackinac bridge which is longer!)
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking (Again, almost daily)
103. Had plastic surgery (Again, no comment)
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback (Mike Van Dis, sobbing, while having drunken flashbacks of dropping napalm bombs in Vietnam.)
108. Piloted an airplane (Co-piloted them though!)
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth (a horse)
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone (But I was too young to remember)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced (but I’ve been considering it for years)
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (All three)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild – (mmmm. Morel Mushroom and Swiss cheese omelets)
118. Ridden a horse -- and fell off (Broke an arm and got a concussion)
119. Had major surgery (Does a C-Section count?)
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (But I looked down over the edge at all the other nuts down there)
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents (on my list)
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat (No, but I've had Buffalo and Moose often)
127. Eaten sushi (about once a week)
128. Had your picture in the newspaper (A couple of times: it's a small town)
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about (They said I did but I’m not sure it stuck)
130. Gone back to school (Hope to have my Doctorates the end of this year)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach (What?!?!?!)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey (not all the way through)
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read their books.
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (Rabbit, duck, shrimp, dungeonous crab, and fish.)
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office (Also on my list of things to do)
140. Written your own computer language (but my oldest boy did/does)
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (Easy to do once you figure out what your dream is)
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care (just a year ago)
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head (came close though)
149: Caused a car accident (and I don’t tailgate anymore)
150: Saved someone's life (but I have Red Cross training if the opportunity arises)

Vacation Reciprocal Theory

2006-06-28T16:57:00.000-04:00

It seams to me to be that we would be able to take many more vacations and much higher quality vacations if it weren’t for my Vacation Reciprocal Theory. This theory goes like this: When you have time for a vacation you seldom have money; and when you have disposable income you rarely have time to enjoy it in the form of a vacation. I have been pondering this theory for over a decade now and I have yet to find that we have both time and money to enjoy a vacation that is actually wanted. Usually we compromise, go for a long weekend instead of 2 weeks, go “up north” instead of Florida, and how many times have I promised myself “next year we’ll go to (fill in the blank)”.

Last summer my husband said that we were GOING to go to Colorado for at least two weeks in 2006, trailer our motorcycles (yes, I have my own) and ride around the Rockies until we just couldn’t take any more of the beautiful-ness. Now he’s building 3 houses and can’t go anywhere longer than a 3 day weekend until something like OCTOBER. Yup. Sure. I actually to feel quite sorry for him about this, because he is quite stressed, and could use a good respite.

You see, the Vacation Reciprocal Theory is rearing it’s ugly head at us right now, but for opposite reasons. He is working his tail off (no time for a vacation), busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking contest, and making a good bit of money (can afford a vacation). Me: not so much. It’s slow season at the cube pharm, (yes I mean Pharm, as in pharmaceutical company) so I have lots of time, but still not really a lot of money because we have it all put into a Spec house that we are trying to sell. Time for a vacation, no money, and no Honey to share it with.

Yeah, I know. You-all are feeling SO sorry for me right now.

Herbal Beers

2006-06-15T09:25:00.000-04:00

Please let me know your esteemed opinions on this most recent brain fart I’ve had. Really, I’d like to know if you think this is a good idea!

Herbal beer! Drink you way to health!

For instance:

Ginger beer, with just a bit of mint and maybe some lemon to help with digestion. This would be especially good to drink with a heavy dinner.

Mullein beer that you could drink when you have a chest cold because it might help break up the mucus.

Raspberry leaf beer, which we could also add some raspberry flavor to, and make in a nice light or white beer for ladies with “female problems”.

Bilberry beer for people who bruise easily, or have circulation or eye problems.

St. John’s Wort Beer so that we’re happy drunks! It would be especially good in January through March when the winter is getting us down. I wonder if we could even add a little bit of Vitamin D to it specifically for the mid-winter blues.

Echinacea Beer to help give our immune system a boost.

Yohimbe beer for male virility. We’d put that in a good porter. (That should be a top seller)

And my opus: Dandelion beer, because it’s used to promote a healthy liver! (HAHAhahahahahaha! I crack myself up!)

Snacks

2006-06-13T09:27:00.000-04:00

Snacks are snacks. Snacks are not meals. Think of snacks for what they are: a way to keep your blood sugar level nice and even, to prevent it from getting too low, so that you don't gorge yourself when you finally do get to sit down to eat a meal (preferably not sitting in a car).

Things happen when your blood sugar gets too low: your body starts pumping out glycogen (instead of insulin) which uses your storage spaces (fat) for the production of energy in your cells. At this point you’re probably thinking “cool!” But there’s more to it than that. Have you ever noticed that when you’re hungry, or even when you’re not really hungry, but you’re tired and you need a little boost, you are also kinda cranky and aggressive, and you can’t seem to focus your eyes, or you have the attention span of a gnat? It’s at this point that your pituitary and hypothalamus kick other glands into action, and they all work together to give us a kind of “fight of flight” mental attitude. This could have acted as a good response a thousand years ago, when a hungry man was exhausted, but he was ornery enough to hunt and kill just about anything that had the bad luck of crossing his path.

That being said I’d like to get back to the “snack is a snack” thing. If you eat the average maintenance diet of 2400 calories a day, then each of your meals should be around 800 calories. That’s not a lot of food, but keep in mind one crispy chicken club sandwich at McDonald’s is 680 calories. (I looked up a Whopper, but Burger King no longer makes it easy to look up nutritional info. If I remember right they were over 800 calories). A Snicker's bar is 280 calories. Anywho, what I’m getting at is DON’T make your snack a meal. Make it just enough to “tide you over”.

ALSO: healthy snacks take forethought. I know it’s easier to go to the snack machine and grab a bag of chips, but that’s 85¢, and the apple in your desk drawer cost you a quarter. I’ve tried to keep the fact that the items below need to be taken to work with you, so I’ve included as many as I could that don’t need refrigeration. You may also want to invest in some reusable little cups with snap on lids, you know, like Tupperware or something. This will prevent you from eating a whole bag of something by limiting your snacks to what can fit in the little cup.

Here goes:

If you’re craving salt:
Olives
Pickled asparagus out of the jar
Artichoke hearts on rye crackers
½ cup Guacamole or salsa
Any nut butter, including almond butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter, and macadamia nut butter. Go ahead, eat it off the spoon.
Crabmeat salad (please make sure it doesn’t have sugar or MSG)
Salami, summer sausage, or similar Italian meats

If you’re craving sweets:
Grapes and Stonybrook vanilla yogurt (any fruit except bananas can be used)
5 Panda brand black licorice chews
3 “coins”/pieces of Droste’s brand dark chocolate Pastilles®
A cup of applesauce or fruit (not fruit "in syrup")

Other good stuff stuff:
Cole slaw, preferably fresh.
A big chunk of hard yellow cheese.
A hard boiled egg.
A Wasa cracker with either nut butter or hummus spread thickly on it.

The best tip of all: NUT’S a.k.a. You are what you eat. Always keep a bag of nuts in your desk drawer or locker, or even your car. It doesn’t matter what kind of nuts, don’t get caught up with how many fat grams are in those cashews. You’re only going to eat a handful anyway. Get them in the shell (so they are fresher and you eat them slower) or shelled, raw or roasted, salted or unsalted. Just PLEASE don’t get the flavored or honey roasted kind since these usually have a lot of hidden sugars, artificial garbage, and MSG on them.

Try to mix it up: have yogurt this week, almonds next week, hummus the following week, licorice the week after that… etc. I’ll try to post other snack ideas once in a while as I get inspired.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!

2006-06-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

I’m supposed to get my order of organic live herb plants today. I ordered them from this place: http://www.greenmountainwebworks.com/weedfarmherbs/index.php and I’m gonna have so much fun this afternoon and tomorrow figuring out where to plant them all. Woo hoo! I got full sun plants, and part shade plants, and tall and short plants, and I think I’ll have to move the iris’ from the middle of my little flower garden to that I can put my giant purple thistles there instead, and… well, you get the picture.

I’m so excited I could almost pee my pants. Work? Today? No, I think I’d rather go blogging to take up the time.

Start the day off right

2006-06-02T10:33:00.000-04:00

Eat Breakfast. You’re mom and grandma were right. If you want to lose weight and be healthy eat breakfast. If you eat breakfast you’ll have the energy to make it through the gauntlet of work to lunch without any physical or mental breakdowns; you won’t be as likely to have a sugary snack mid-morning, and you won’t feel like gorging yourself when you finally do make it to lunchtime.

Here is a list of good breakfast choices:

Cold Cereals:
My favorites: Nature’s Path ® brand Optimum Zen with cranberries and ginger.
Kashi ® brand Autumn Wheat.
Other lower glycemic cereals:
Kellogg’s ® All-Bran ®
Muesli
Kellogg’s ® Special K ®
And pretty much anything made by Kashi®

Tip #1: Eat it with whole milk, not 2%, low fat, or no fat milk. The Whole milk will satiate you better and longer without many more Calories or much more fat. We’re all about satiety here!
Tip #2: Eat it out of a coffee cup, not a bowl. A serving size of cold cereal is ¾ to 1 cup, so if you’re filling a huge bowl with 2+ cups of cereal it’s cheating.
Tip #3: You know better than to put ANY sugar on your breakfast.

Hot Cereals:
Oatmeal. Now the question was asked if there was a difference between instant oatmeal, 5 minute (regular) oatmeal, and the little packet of flavored oatmeal. Well, ask and you shall receive, although you may regret it. The glycemic index of old fashioned oatmeal is 58, steel-cut oatmeal is 52, and instant 1 minute oatmeal is 82! That is when you have the actual serving size, and make it with water. What about those cute little packets of instant oatmeal? All the sugars and flavorings of the little packets drives the GI number for those easy gems right through the roof. My GI Values book didn’t even list that one.

Eggs: Eat eggs every time you can. Eat them for breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, midnight snack. They are GOOD FOR YOU, they will NOT raise your cholesterol levels, they might even help lower your bad cholesterol, they are an excellent source of protein, minerals, and enzymes.

Cooking a two egg omelet is quick and almost as fast as cooking two eggs over easy. Just whip the eggs in a bowl with a fork, throw in a pan with a little bit of butter, wait 30 seconds, which is enough time for you to get any of the following out of the fridge to put in your omelet: black olives, chives, mushrooms, avocado, and/or cheese. I plan to post more omelet suggestions on my recipe blog soon.

Sausage, bacon, ham, etc.: The protein and fat in these breakfast meats won’t go to your hips unless you eat them with carbohydrates (hash browns, toast, croissants, etc.), so their good in a no-carb low GI way. But remember that they are chocked full of sulfites and sulfates, and ultimately these things are bad for you. My suggestion: It’s fine to have them once a week or so, especially if you’re not having sulfated meats at other meals.

Next we’ll discuss tips on healthy snacking at home and at work. I know; I’ve been promising this for a while now, but I’ll really try to get it done soon.

Why Artificial Sweeteners Don't Work for Weight Loss

2006-05-18T10:57:00.000-04:00

Why are artificial sweeteners bad? I won’t go into a tirade on how they are synthetic, and I won’t cite all the reports on the internet from people who blame any number of their ailments on them. The problem with artificial sweeteners is that they MAKE YOU HUNGRY. Yup, it’s true. And here’s why:

Every time you eat any kind of carbohydrate your blood sugar goes up. This tells your pancreas to make insulin to bring it down. Although artificial sweeteners don’t have any calories, they do trick your pancreas into making insulin, which brings down your blood sugar.

Case in point: It’s 3:00 in the afternoon and you’re starting to drag, and instead of grabbing a Snicker’s bar (or insert your favorite afternoon snack here) you grab a diet pop, or a stick of sugarless gum, or some sugar free Jell-O, thinking this will tide you over until supper. The reason you got the mid-afternoon munchies is likely because you had a high carb lunch, let’s say Sweet and Sour Pork, and your pancreas has been working on that since noon, and has completed it’s job (maybe too well). So right then your blood sugar is a little low and you drink that diet pop. This doesn’t raise your blood sugar one bit, but it does signal the pancreas to get to work, which sends insulin into your blood stream lowering your blood sugar levels even more. Then you wonder why you’re so tired, hungry, and cranky when you get home after work, assuming you didn't break down and have that Snickers bar after all.

FYI: Type I diabetics don’t have to worry about this effect of artificial sweeteners because their pancreas is incapable of making insulin at all.

I’ll write on some snacking alternatives for you-all in a couple of days.

2006-05-01T16:20:00.000-04:00

I've said before that knitting is cheaper than therapy. Well, kitties are also cheaper than therapy, as are pets in general.

Here is a gratuitous cat photo, case in point.

I just noticed the similarities between the words "knitting" and Kitties". Very interesting...

Forgive me.

2006-04-07T10:16:00.000-04:00

I know! I know! It’s been like two months since I’ve had time to post. So spank me. Please?

Really though, I work at a company that imports vitamins and “stuff” (yes, I’m a legitimate drug importer), and December thru May is our busy time. Why? Because people don’t eat as well in the winter time, they get less exercise, they eat and drink too much during the holidays, and want to diet after New Years’, and it’s cold and flu season. All good reasons why we sell more vitamins and “stuff” in the winter.

So I’m sorry, but I just haven’t had enough time to sit at my desk, eating my leftovers, and write you love notes. I do have lots of things to write on, including: water, arthritis, asthma, and massage. So please be patient with me.

Thanks!

Cheaper than Therapy

2006-02-09T09:21:00.000-05:00

There is a book that I want to read. It’s called “Cheaper than Therapy: Joy, Healing, and Life Lessons in Fiber” by Annie Modesitt. I want to read it, but I have class books to read first. I now have a stack of books that I want to read as soon as my schooling is done, but that’s a year away and the books they are a-stacking. This particular book teaches us that knitting, crocheting, and other yarn/fabric/needlework is good for our heads. It’s good for our hearts too.

I find myself pacing the house looking for something to do in the evening. I can’t read anymore, my eyes are tired, my soul is tired, but I’m too antsy to sit and watch TV. So I try to watch TV, but at almost every advertisement I get up to wash the dishes or fold laundry or clean a spot on the floor or write a shopping list…

In years past I have learned may hobbies to help me unwind: crocheting, card games, crossword puzzles, needlepoint and cross stitch, stained glass windows, Tae Quan Do, motorcycle riding, painting, among other things. They keep me sane, especially in the winter time. I learned how to knit last summer and now I can sit through a whole hour of CSI while knitting a scarf and matching hat for my favorite waitress, or while knitting a teddy bear for my co-worker who is due in a month. I am then calm by the end of the night, and I have a feeling of accomplishment.

I have always believed that hobbies are an important part of everyone’s life. I never trust somebody who tells me they don’t have any hobbies. Watching TV is not a hobby. Raising children (or raising husbands) is not a hobby. Drinking is not a hobby. A hobby is something that puts you into a different part of your head than you are usually in at work. If you’re a contractor you shouldn’t have woodworking as a hobby. If you’re a mother of teenagers then Soccer shouldn’t be your hobby.

And the best hobbies, in my not so humble opinion, are those that allow you to create something; have something to show when you’re done. Playing cards, gaming, and crossword puzzles don’t give you anything to hang on the wall or give as Christmas gifts when you’re done. Hopefully they do get you interacting with other people, which is good, but all you have to show for yourself at the end of the day is that you’re a winner (or a loser).

And not all hobbies are expensive. It can take less than $10 to start knitting:
Skein of Red Heart Yarn: $1.99
Pair of nice bamboo #8 needles: $4.50
Having the old lady in the yarn department of your local Hobby Lobby, Michaels, or small town yarn store show you how to cast on: Priceless.

Are you cooked yet?

2006-02-03T13:11:00.000-05:00

Three university students on the way to a civil service examination stopped to buy refreshments from an old woman who sold pastries. One scholar was calm and quiet while the other two argued over literature. The woman asked where they were going, and the latter two told her. “You two won’t pass the exam,” she said, “but the other man will.”

The results turned out just as the old woman predicted, and the two who failed went back to find the woman and ask her if she knew some mystic art to predict the outcome. “No,” she said, “all I know is that when a pastry is thoroughly cooked it sits there quietly, but before it’s finished it keeps making noise.”

2006-01-23T14:35:00.000-05:00

OMG! I just took this European Color Quiz that tells you your own personality. I'm just letting you know that this thing hit my personality RIGHT ON THE HEAD. I'm just sayin'.

My results follow, and you can take the quiz by clicking on the link at the end. By the way, it's brutally honest!

ImaginaryMaggie's Existing Situation
Willing and adaptable. Only at peace when closely attached to a person, group, or organization on a which reliance can be placed.
ImaginaryMaggie's Stress Sources
Wants a partner with whom she can share fully in an atmosphere of cloudless serenity, but her compulsion to demonstrate her individuality leads her to adopt a critical and demanding attitude. This introduces discord and leads to alternating periods of drawing closer and drawing apart, so that the ideal state she desires is not allowed to develop. Despite the urge to gratify her natural desires, she imposes a considerable self-restraint on her instincts in the belief that this demonstrates her superiority and raises her above the common herd. Discerning, critical and particular, having taste and discrimination. These qualities, combined with her tendency to judge things for herself and to express her opinions with authority. She enjoys the original, the ingenious and the subtle, striving to ally herself with others of similar taste who can help her in her intellectual unfolding. Desires admiration and the esteem of others.
ImaginaryMaggie's Restrained Characteristics
Egocentric and therefore quick to take offense.
Circumstances are forcing her to compromise, to restrain her demands and hopes, and to forgo for the time being some of the things she wants.
ImaginaryMaggie's Desired Objective
Intense, vital, and animated, taking a delight in action. Activity is directed towards success or conquest and there is a desire to live life to the fullest.
ImaginaryMaggie's Actual Problem
Takes a delight in action and wants to be respected and esteemed for her personal accomplishments.
ImaginaryMaggie's Actual Problem #2
Wants to act freely and uninhibitedly, but is restrained by her need to have things on a rational, consistent, and clearly-defined basis.
Take the ColorQuiz yourself right now!

Success of Sweets

2006-01-18T14:47:00.000-05:00

Kellogg’s is being sued for advertising “junk food” to children, specifically to children under 8 years old. Senator Tom Harkin has also warned the advertising sector about this, accusing them of much responsibility for the obesity dilemma in the US. He is threatening to push through legislation to that effect. (Although visions of Hell and snowballs come to mind for actually getting it passed).

· According to University of Illinois researchers, nutrient-poor high-sugar products dominate advertising aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11, with 78% of the food advertisements going to these types of foods.

I think this has been the case ever since there has been advertising on TV! And these people sound surprised?

But again, do we blame the Ad Agencies for our obesity? How about the food companies who make highly processed non nutritive foods for pennies and sell them for dollars. Are they to blame? Or McDonalds? Please!

We, as Americans, are stupid about nutrition. We don’t teach it in school, although we used to. It was a 1 hour class in 6th grade. We spent more time on sex Ed. Our parents got the same education, as did our grandparents. How can we blame ourselves?

If we want to get healthy there is nothing left to do but buckle down and teach ourselves. That’s not easy, and it’s very overwhelming when you are offered the hundreds of volumes available at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com on the subject.

So what do you do? Save yourself lots of time a even some money by hiring a nutritional professional. Someone who has already read all of the best books on the subject, so you don’t have to, and can honestly/actually help you to change you life.

Gluttony Revisited

2006-01-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

So I went to the Doctor last Thursday just for my annual checkup and “female stuff” and was told that a virus that I had a year ago and got rid of 6 months ago is “Starting to come back”. *expletive*

So I went to the Dentist last Friday just for my annual checkup and teeth cleaning and was told that I have a cavity. I told the dentist, who is my neighbor and who I’ve known for almost 30 years “you suck, but I still love you”. He charged me $123 for the checkup and the cleaning, and then I was told that I had to come back in March for the filling and that it would cost me $170. They made me sign a waiver noting that I KNEW that it would cost $170 and I wouldn’t argue about it later. I told the dentist and the hygienist that the cavity was probably caused by all the chocolate and garbage that I was eating around Christmas. *Double expletive*

I have an Optometrist appointment on Wednesday. I’m afraid to go. I’m seriously thinking that if do not cancel this appointment they’ll tell me I have cataracts or glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy or something terrible like that. Ghaa!

Good Mind Set

2006-01-13T09:58:00.000-05:00

Written by Jakusho Kwong

“People want so much. We want to be someone else. “I want to be stronger.” “I want to be more directed.” “I want to be superwoman.” But it’s not possible. You must accept your condition. But “accept” is active. Who you are is active. Passive acceptance – that’s the immobile, inanimate Zen. It’s not the Zen I’m talking about. There’s passion here. Spirit for the quest. This is important: the sincerity of our quest and how we go about it. It’s a long path. Are you prepared? Do you want to walk on this path? Don’t think about it too much. Just walk! C’mon, let’s go! That’s Zen.

A Gentle Introduction to Massage

2006-01-11T13:38:00.000-05:00

The History of massage:
We can find traditions of massage from all areas of the world, and from the indigenous peoples on every continent, including the South Seas Islands, New Zeeland, South East Asia, China, Korea, Japan, India, Turkey, Europe, and Central America. “Western massage tradition can be traced to ancient Greek and Roman practices as developed over the centuries in Europe and North America.” (Tappan & Benjamin, (2005) p. 6) People have been writing about massage for thousands of years; a clay tablet was found in Sumer dating from 2100 BCE, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine circa 500 BCE, and we even have writings by Hippocrates, who lived from 450 to 377 BCE. (Tappan & Benjamin, (2005) pp. 20-24) In Europe in the 1800’s there was a large movement towards “Nature Cure”, with literally dozens of Nature Doctors, Naturopaths, and other healers discovering and using many methods of treating disease, and it seems all of them used some form of massage. (Kirchfield & Boyle, 1994) Modern massage can largely be attributed to two men: Pehr Henrik Ling (1776-1839) of Sweden who introduced what is commonly known as the Swedish Movement Cure, and Johann Georg Mezger (1838-1909) from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Tappan & Benjamin, (2005) pp. 25-27) Today massage is enjoying a revival largely due to the popularity of health spas, gymnasiums, and all-encompassing beauty salons. There is also an attitude in the world today of health by prevention of disease, which includes good eating habits, exercise, and stress reduction.

The Philosophy of natural health and massage:
Natural health (Naturopathy) should be primarily thought of as a system of learning how to live well so that we do not get sick, or if we are sick to learn how to live well to allow our own bodies to regain health. These teachings can include how to eat/drink well, and the self discipline to refrain from eating unhealthy foods; physical manipulations including exercise, massage and acupressure, bathing and water treatments, and even learning how to be aware of our own body; supplemental nutrition including herbs, homeopathic remedies, and vitamin and other nutraceutical supplements; mental, emotional, and spiritual exercises; and discovery of external stressors such as toxic workplaces or homes, or an unsuitable family life.

“According to Oriental medicine the causes of disease fall into three categories: internal (the emotions), external (the weather), and other causes such as germs or poisons, trauma, diet, and the effects of drugs.” (Jarmey & Tindall (1991), p. 18) Massage addresses so many of the causes of disease, including stress, poor circulation, poor body awareness and poor self esteem, and toxic waste build-up in the body tissues.

The Benefits of massage:
Massage is especially well suited for retention of good health and for a return to health from illness for many reasons: “We have learned that one of the primary causes of chronic disease is the accumulation of waste matter and systemic poisons in the tissues of the body. These morbid encumbrances obstruct the circulation, interfere with osmosis and prevent the normal activity of the organs of elimination, especially the skin. The deep going massage, the squeezing, kneading, rolling and stroking, actually squeezes the stagnant blood and morbid accumulations out of the tissues into the venous and lymphatic circulation, speeds this return circulation, charged with waste products and poisons, on its way to the lungs and other organs of elimination and enables the arterial blood with its freight of oxygen and nourishing elements to flow more freely into the less obstructed tissues. Through manipulation of the deeper tissues draws the blood to the surface of the body, and in this way greatly facilitates the elimination of morbid matter through the relaxed and opened pores of the skin.” (Lindlahr (1975) p. 252).

Even something as quick and simple as a foot massage can bring relief and increased circulation to the entire body. There are reflexes present in your hands and your feet that travel up through your spine and nervous system, and are in this way connected to the organs and the rest of the body. Because we confine our feet in shoes the vast majority of the time, these reflexes do not have the chance to work their way out like they did with our bare footed ancestors. Most people will find tender spots in their feet, and reflexology can be used to work these areas. “At the present time the assumption is that this tenderness is caused by the irritation of crystalline deposits in the area of the nerve reflex of any affected part and that this tenderness is brought about by improper circulation of the fluids to and from the feet relative to the capillary system.” (Ingham (1938) p.7)

What to expect in a massage session:
We will start with a short discussion about what kind of massage you are looking for, what you want to get out of massage, and whether or not you have any conditions the should be known by me before we begin. The massage table is in a library room, and I will leave you for a few minutes to undress and get between two sheets, face up, with your knees over the pillow that is placed there. Most people are comfortable with taking off all of their clothes except for their underpants.

We will start the session with you face up, and I will begin with a gentle massage to the scalp, face, ears, and neck. Then we move to the tops of the shoulders and upper chest, then the right arm and hand, and then the left arm and hand. I’ll move to the upper and lower legs and spend a lot of time on your feet.

Then I’ll hold up the top sheet as in a “tent” and use my hips to hold the edge of the sheet to the table while you roll over away from me so that there is no chance of embarrassment. Put your face in the face cradle, and you can either have your arms up and resting on an arm rest placed below the face cradle, or keep them by your sides.

Now on your back I will massage the backs of your thighs, calves, and heels, and if you are comfortable will also massage the sides of your hips. Finally we will spend lots of time on your back, working on acupressure points, sore spots, releasing tension, and general relaxation. We will finish up with some light superficial rubbing for a relaxing end to your experience.

References:
Tappan, Frances M. Benjamin, Patricia J. (2005) Tappan’s handbook of healing massage techniques. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Lindlahr, Henry & Proby, J. C. P. (Ed.). (1975, latest reprint 2002). Philosophy of natural therapeutics. Essex, England: Daniel.

Kirchfled, Friedhelm & Boyle, Wade. (1994) Nature Doctors: Pioneers in Naturopathic medicine. East Palestine, Ohio: Buckeye Naturopathic Press.

Ingham, Eunice D., with revisions b Byers, Dwight C. (1938, revised 1984). Stories the feet have told thru reflexology. Saint Petersburg, Florida: Ingham Publishing Inc.

Jarmey, Chris, and Tindall, John, (1991) Accupressure for common ailments. London and Stroud: Gaia

Gluttony

2005-12-27T15:06:00.000-05:00

There are 10 people in my office. This holiday season, like so many in the past, we were inundated with food baskets and huge boxes of chocolates. On December 23rd there were no less than 2 baskets full of “processed cheese spreads”, crackers, cookies, candies, grossly over Sulphated meats in different shapes and sizes, among other tidbits; only one large jar of mixed nuts; and there were five large boxes of chocolates. Five. Large. Boxes. And to my hips’ dismay the biggest one was DARK chocolate from BELGIUM. All this for 10 people.

Lord Help Me.

So Christmas Eve dinner is always spent at my brother-in-law’s house, and while talking on the phone to his wife Kay she asked me if I thought it would be OK if she made Belgium Waffles for dinner that night. (What’s with the Belgium thing again?) “Sounds great!” came out of my mouth before I could stop it. So after consulting my bathroom scale I asked her if I could “do” Christmas Eve Lunch, so that I could make something a little healthier for us to eat. Everyone came to my house for lunch.

I got up early and made home made egg-bread sticks and soup. Beef stew with about a dozen fresh veggie in it including potatoes, onions, garlic, summer squash, mushrooms, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrots spices and one bay leaf. I may be missing an item or two. Everyone loved it, and when my nephew asked “what’s this?” it was discovered that beets won’t actually kill him.

Then a few hours later we were gorging on hot artichoke-spinach-cheese-dip, tomato aspic, and Belgium waffles with our choice of strawberries, cherries, blueberries, or a tropical mix that Kay came up with. Denise made a Bailey’s Irish Cream cheese cake from scratch for desert, and we all got comfortably sleepy.

The next day at 2:00 was the typical Turkey and Ham and pot luck dinner at the out-law’s house. Great fun, too many people, and everyone had seconds and thirds.

Ron and I skipped breakfast Monday morning and had breakfast for lunch out with a friend. When Ron came home later last night for dinner I had taken all of the left over raw veggies and threw them on top of a green salad along with hearts of palm and black olives. I chopped up some potatoes and leeks and a few of the lighter colored veggies and made my Potato Leek soup (see recipes page). Ronnie just “maowed” on the salad, mumbling something around the summer squash about how great it was, then congratulated me on the soup and thanked me for serving it hot and lumpy (not cold and pureed the way the French do it) just the way he likes it.

I think we were both deprived of some good old fashioned simple veggies. I’ve had enough rich food to last me a month. Oh goodie! Here come New Year’s Eve! Ugh!

Gift Certificates

2005-12-22T14:38:00.000-05:00

Yeah for me! I sold 3 gift certificates for one-hour massages so far this year for Christmas presents. I already have one appointment for the day after Christmas, and a fourth person who introduced me to his wife a “That lady who does massages!” I think he was hinting to her about a Christmas gift too.

My “master plan” is to use the more generally acceptable practice of giving massages to get people into my house, then through the honest Q and A phase about health, illness, injury and contraindications involved before each massage perhaps introduce them to the idea of coming to me as a Naturopath.

Many people in the general public are comfortable with the idea of massage and understand what it offers. Once they are on the table getting a massage the topic of their health often comes up. At which point in time I can suggest the options available for prevention and the possible causes to these health problems. I hope to have a shelf in my massage room/library with Luyties homeopathic medicines and Standard Process and MediHerb products on it. This should also be a good conversation starter.

I’m a salesman in my “day job” and I hate the pushy sales people that I refer to as “used car salesmen”. I don’t like the idea of promoting myself, and I think that this is a very good way to go around that.

Spamalot

2005-12-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

Due to a large number of “Spam” comments on my blog I thought it best to turn on an anti-spam word verification step for my commenters. I feel rotten about this, especially since most of my comments come from my two best friends, and I truly love getting comments from them, and I truly don’t want to make it more difficult for them, but what’s a girl to do?

A New-Fangled Diet Plan

2005-12-04T09:48:00.000-05:00

Here’s a new idea for a diet plan: Eat slower.

Yes, it’s that simple. Almost without exception all of the people that I’ve known in my life who have “weight problems” eat fast. And by fast I mean instantly. They sit down to eat (or stand, or drive, or lay on the couch) with one thing in mind; applying food to their faces. They don’t enjoy the flavor of the food, or the conversation of friends, relatives, or co-workers. They don’t enjoy their surroundings, or the music playing, or the program on T.V.

Even if you’re eating at your desk at work you can eat slowly. Force yourself to do it. Take a bite and read today’s post at your favorite Blog. Take another bite and click on www.thecrochetdude.blogspot.com. Read it for a while and chuckle. You can at least grin while chewing. I even laughed up green tea through my nose while reading one of his posts, so be careful! Stop eating for a few minutes and click on www.crazyauntpurl.com. She’ll be your best friend in four paragraphs. Eat a few more bites and look out a window. Stop eating while writing down your shopping list on a post-it note. Take a few more bites…. You get the idea.

When you eat fast:
* You can get much more food into your stomach before your brain knows that it’s full.
* It puts a lot of stress on your stomach, gallbladder, liver, kidneys, and pancreas.
* Although you may disagree with the following statement, you can NOT be enjoying the actual food. You might be enjoying the carbohydrate “high” you can get from eating this quickly, but I’ve watched my Grandpa eat so fast that there was no possible way that he could even taste his food.
* Talking and laughing are excellent added ingredients to food. They add oxygen to the food in your stomach and actually help the digestion process.
* Although about 80% of the people in the world will get a hiatal hernia in their lifetimes, it is more likely that you will get one, and get it earlier in your lifetime, if you eat too quickly. (Note to self: post on hiatal hernias later).

When you eat slowly:
* Your stomach and all of its corresponding organs have time to process the food correctly.
* You assimilate more of the nutrients in the food.
* Your pancreas can process the sugars and carbohydrates more efficiently, and you are less likely to get Type II Diabetes.
* With just a few bites of food in your stomach your sympathetic nervous system can tell your brain it’s no longer hungry within 5 or so minutes. This is why many “diet” pills work best when taken 30 minutes before a meal. (I don’t think any diet pills will ever help anyone lose weight long term.)
* You can truly enjoy the flavors, textures, surroundings of each meal. Enjoy SOMETHING while you are eating, which is why the experts say to not eat in your car (at least play nice music) or while watching the T.V. news (watch “Sunrise Earth” on cable if you can).

Garfield the Cat once said “Diet is one letter away from Die”. Well I say “Fast is one letter away from Fat”.

And one last note: Be thankful. I don’t care if you say a prayer before each meal, but at least be grateful for the food in front of you. Even if it’s a Whopper value meal, be grateful for the life of the cow that the beef came from; be grateful for the perfect amount of salt of the French fries (or those disgustingly wonderful onion rings!); be thankful for the sweet nectar of the cola washing down the sesame seeds; be thankful for the little bit of vegetable matter that makes us justify the whole meal as not a total loss of health food dignity.

Vacations and Birthdays

2005-11-17T16:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm on my way to Florida for a two week vacation. One of two things is going to happen: #1) My parents have a computer and I can get on-line, so I will actually have lots of time to write and post to this blog that has until now been quite neglected, or #2) My parents don't have a new computer and this site will continue to be neglected.

Wish me luck!

BTW: I'm going to spend my 40th Birthday (gasp!) on Key West eating, drinking, and shopping my way from one end of Duval Street to the other. Lordy how I love being old enough to afford to do that!

Thank a veteran

2005-11-11T09:47:00.000-05:00

Today is Veteran's day. Seek one out and thank him. Nothing can get a grown man to choke up faster than a simple sincere "Thank You!" I have handed out thank you cards to veterans that were made by elementary school children and one of the oldest, crustiest of them all sat down and cried. He said he had never had anyone thank him for his service.

In the weeks and months to follow, if you get the chance, thank another veteran.

More on the evils of Soda Pop

2005-11-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

(Disclaimer: This is not posted with MJS in mind.)

Now this is what I’m talking about! Soda pop is bad; not just because of the huge amount of sugar (read as empty calories) or artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners, or the caffeine, but the bubbles. Honestly, it’s the phosphorus used to make the bubbles that are so bad. Please read below from www.nutraingredients-USA.com:

The study, published Wednesday in the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA), found a link between regular consumption of fizzy colas, including diet varieties, and increased risk of hypertension.

"Researchers from various institutions, including Harvard School of Public Health, surveyed 155,594 women, with no recorded hypertension, over 12 years.
They had intended to examine links between caffeine drinks and hypertension generally, but said that, over the long-term, they found “strong evidence to refute speculation that coffee consumption is associated with an increased risk in women”.
Yet, the good news for the beverage industry was quickly dashed by new fears over fizzy colas.
More than 30,000 of the women were diagnosed with hypertension at the end of the 12 years. “We speculate that it is not caffeine but perhaps some other compound contained in soda-type soft drinks that may be responsible for the increased risk in hypertension,” said the researchers, warning this could have a “considerable impact on public health”.
Hypertension is recognized as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke and congestive heart failure.
Around 50m Americans, almost one sixth of the US population, are thought to have hypertension and the number is increasing, according to JAMA."

The author is Chris Mercer, writing for BeverageDaily.com

Why can’t they take the next step and admit it’s the phosphorus? Sounds funny, doesn’t it? But they make all sodas with phosphorus, and phosphorus and calcium fight each other for the same places in the body, especially in the bones. Because when someone consumes too much phosphorous it kicks the calcium out of our bones and settles right in. You can easily see that this could cause osteoporosis and other diseases of the bones, but a lack of calcium in the body is also strongly linked to hardening of the arteries, plaque build-up, high blood pressure, and stroke.

Quoting one of my favorite authors, Elson M. Haas M.D. (Excerpted from Staying Healthy with Nutrition: The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine, Delstial Arts): “When the diet is high in phosphorus, we can lose extra calcium through the urine, resulting in calcium being pulled out of the bones. Phosphorus is very plentiful in meat foods and is of particular concern in soda pops that have added phosphoric acid (phosphate). This phosphorus-calcium imbalance may lead to kidney stones and other calcification problems, as well as increased atherosclerotic plaque. This issue is fairly complex and is under investigation.”

I need to mention that phosphorus is not bad for us, and we do need it as much as we need calcium to be healthy. It’s just it is so easy for us to drink/eat too much of it that we have mineral imbalances which leads to poor health. For a very well written article on the subject go to this link: http://forums.obgyn.net/endo/ENDO.9808/0477.html

I shouldn’t write this but… If I were a conspiracy theorist I would wonder if Pfizer and Merck were paying off Coke and Pepsi for the favor of causing so much prescribe-able disease.

Food Combining, or not.

2005-11-08T15:44:00.000-05:00

Food Combining is one subject that I don’t know much about, but as far as I can see this is one subject where a little bit of information can be helpful, and probably isn’t dangerous. So, here goes…

The general idea behind food combining is that different foods are digested and assimilated at different speeds in our stomach and digestive tracts. Also, different digestive enzymes are produced at different times in our bodies, and each one is made to digest different foods. Theory #1 is that we should eat foods in groups depending on how easily they are digested and by which digestive enzymes.

· Do not drink any liquids before, during, or after a solid food meal. This one trips me up a lot. How do they categorize soup?
· Eat all fruits separately. Do not eat any fruit with other types of foods because they are the most easily and quickly digested. This is especially true regarding melons, and you might as well throw tomatoes into this group too.
· Divide the rest food types into meats/proteins, carbohydrates, and vegetables. This is confusing because many vegetables are considered carbohydrates, and the die-hards won't combine protiens with fats, among other minutiae. From these three food groups you can eat any two at a time: Meat and carbohydrates, meat and vegetables, or carbohydrates and vegetables. Real serious food combiners separate cooked and raw vegetables.

This theory effectively throws the idea of a “square meal” right out the window. Nothing could be worse for the OCD Food Combiner than setting a plate of pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, beans, and cranberry sauce in front of him. No wonder why they sell so much Alka-Seltzer during Thanksgiving weekend!

So if you have a salad for lunch either put beans and croutons on it OR put meat and cheese on it, not both. Don’t eat raw tomatoes with your salad, or just about anything else for that matter, because they are too acidic. You can have steak and a potato for dinner OR Steak and broccoli, not both. You can have rice with protein or nuts (no veggies) OR rice with veggies (No protein). Get the idea?

Well, I just read this web page and realized that it is SO VERY MUCH more complicated than I realized: http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLifestyle/Food_combining.htm

After reading a small portion of this site I realize that my old theory of eating 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day is a great way to live. That way you can have a fruit meal, a whole grain meal, a vegetable meal, a protein meal, another grain or vegetable meal, and a dessert (of course!). I just can’t image how Obsessive-Compulsive the guy was who came up with this. I have to say though that they are completely correct in how the digestive enzymes work in the body, and that this type of diet would most probably correct gas, digestion, irritable bowl, and ulcer problems in those people who have these diseases because of years of excessive food intake.

I don’t think food combining as a weight-loss diet is a good long-term plan. Not only is it difficult to sustain long term, but like the now defunct Atkins diet, it is missing too many of the nutrients it proposes are assimilated better through eating this way.

More later on my 6 meals a day program.

Essential Holiday Sauce

2005-10-24T13:41:00.000-04:00

Please check out the Essential Holiday Sauce on my recipe page (link below left). It's, well....Essential for your holiday cooking.

Coffee, or lack thereof.

2005-10-19T10:53:00.000-04:00

I’ve been getting a lot of comments on my fingernails for about a month now, because they are absurdly long, strong, and beautiful. I haven't even been painting them because they are a nice un-stained color. I’ve always had nice fingernails, but they are growing so fast, and not breaking. At first I thought they were just having an end-of-the-summer growth spurt, and told people that they would dry out and start breaking again once we turned the heat on in the house. Well, the heat’s been on for 3 weeks, and my nails still look great!

I even took some old nail polish off my toenails, and noticed a difference. I’ve had 3 toenails with that white fungus “stuff” under them for about 5 years now. I’ve tried anti-bacterial liquids, and years of Tea Tree Oil, always wearing socks, wearing no socks, and many other things that have been suggetsed to me over the years, with no effect. My mother has the same thing, so I didn’t think there was much to do about it, and it didn’t hurt anything but my vanity.

Well now I think the fungus may be growing out of my toenails! That will take months to make sure, but I’m hopeful.

What does this have to do with today’s title about Coffee? I was talking about my fingernails to a co-worker who was receiving a back-scratch from me at the time, and I realized that my fingernails (and toenails) started growing so well very close to the time that I finally quit drinking coffee. Yes, giving up coffee wasn’t as hard as giving up soda pop since I substituted Adagio loose leaf tea for the coffee, but I did it! (By the way, loose leaf tea is SO much better than tea bags, and I STRONGLY suggest at least looking at www.adagio.com. If you want a $5 gift certificate, post a comment to that effect below and I will arrange it. Also check out their “Ingenuitea” brewing cups.)

If this lack of coffee does work on my toenails I’m going to suggest it to a friend of mine who’s MD has been wanting to surgically remove all of his toenails due to the fungus “stuff”. Wish us luck!

The times they are a-changin'

2005-10-12T17:04:00.000-04:00

Is anyone else out there sick of the changing world? My friends are sick, or worse: dead, other friends are having babies, others are moving, Things at work are changing, my body is changing (damn hormones!), my car is falling apart with only 55,000 miles on it, the weather is changing (but I still love autumn), and don’t even get me started on “Natural Disaster Burnout”. And then there is the war, and since I've travelled a lot, I think I can understand "The Big Picture", but what about that exit stratagy? And when is the stupidity of almost every African country going to stop? When are they going to grow up and run a country like a country, instead of a private play ground?

Comments please? Anyone else feeling like this?

Fuoride = Rat Poison

2005-10-10T10:16:00.000-04:00

It dawns on me that many of you don’t understand the danger of Fluoride. Mono Fluoride Sulfate is used in toothpaste and city water supplies to prevent cavities; its very close cousin Fluoride Sulfate is an effective Rat and insect poison. Mono Fluoride Sulfate is allowed in very small quantities in our toothpaste and water, as stated in the article below. Fluoride Sulfate is much more dangerous, and the EPA is allowing it in foods that are eaten in large quantities at the same levels allowed in toothpaste, which we assume is spat out. Where do they find these morons who work for the government?

Answer: The person(s) who allowed this were most probably “paid off” by Dow to push this through before anyone could properly research it and stop it. Or more likely were promised a job at Dow in a year or two. ~sigh~

Fluoride in your eggs?

2005-10-05T08:08:00.000-04:00

Please take a moment to read the below news story on the poisonous amounts of fluoride that our government has allowed in the dried eggs that are served in most schools and institutions across our country. I have posted it in its entirety and with permission from its publishers at www.foodnavigator-usa.com.

Public health bodies slam new fluoride tolerance levels
By Anthony Fletcher

Environmental organizations claim that new food tolerances for the fluoride-based pesticide sulfuryl fluoride could be potentially damaging to public health.The new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tolerances were requested by Dow AgroSciences following the firm's expansion of its pesticide sulfuryl fluoride - trade name ProFume – which is used to fumigate food processing facilities and storage areas.
The product targets stored product pests, as well as those insects that may be transported from the field on food commodities. But some environmental groups argue that the new levels are potentially dangerous.
Indeed, the Environmental Working Group, Beyond Pesticides and the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) said that the maximum legal limits for the fluoride-based pesticide in foods have been set at levels that dwarf the amount allowed in tap water.
For example, the EPA is allowing 900 parts per million (ppm) of fluoride in dried eggs, as opposed to the maximum 4 ppm allowed in tap water. One third of the nation's eggs are sold and consumed in dried, reconstituted form.
The groups also noted that 900 ppm set for dried eggs is extremely close to that used in toothpaste (1,000 ppm), a level that is considered toxic if consumed in greater than pea sized portions.
“How can the EPA consider 900 ppm in eggs safe, while the Food and Drug Administration directs parents to call poison control centers if their children consume more than a pea sized portion of toothpaste with fluoride at 1,000 ppm?” asked Paul Connett, executive director of FAN.
“Unlike toothpaste, eggs are meant to be eaten, not spat out.”
It isn't just powdered eggs that could contain dangerous but legal levels of fluoride under the new regime. Fluoride Action Network (FAN) researcher Chris Neurath claims that all processed foods will be allowed 70 ppm fluoride residues, including everything from breakfast cereal to cake mix.
“Wheat flour is allowed up to 125 ppm,” he said. “For comparison, the maximum level of fluoride allowed in drinking water is 4 ppm and the natural level of fluoride in mothers' milk is approximately 0.008 ppm. The potential for a significant number of acute poisoning cases every year is very real.”
Dow AgroSciences however believes that the establishment of new accepted fluoride levels is great news for millers and food processors. ”With the label amendments and additional tolerances, ProFume brings unprecedented flexibility and effective, reliable control of stored product pests to more markets segments and broadens its use pattern,” said Drew Ratterman, marketing specialist, Dow AgroSciences.
“We appreciate the continued support of many throughout the industry during this registration process and are pleased to be able to offer a product that meets their fumigation needs.”
However Richard Wiles, senior vice-president of the Environmental Working Group (EWG,), contends that EPA is relying on outdated science to support this increase in fluoride exposure.
“In our view [the EPA] has not discharged its legal duty to thoroughly consider the effects of fluoride on infants and children, from all routes of exposure, based on a thorough review of the most recent peer-reviewed science,” he said.

Here is the link to the original page: http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=62899&m=1NIUo04&c=cxhcutjoqtvahda

Related News:
Calls for FDA to introduce tea fluoride safety standard
Instant tea contains harmful fluoride?
Fluoride food and beverage database created

3 New Recipes!

2005-09-27T10:32:00.000-04:00

Please check out the three new recipes on my recipe page! Just click on the “Recipe” button down on the left of this page. Enjoy!

Mix it up!

2005-09-07T17:19:00.000-04:00

Mix it up! It is proven that we adults become allergic to the things that we are most in contact with; and this is especially true with foods. If we eat too much peanut butter we become allergic to peanuts, if we have a house full of cats as children it’s likely we will be allergic to these wonderfully aloof creatures as adults, if we love Italian and Mexican foods we may become allergic to tomatoes, if we eat roast and potatoes every day of our lives these things become allergens. You get the idea.

So mix it up! Have Sushi for lunch and Italian for dinner on Monday, and Russian soup (borscht) for lunch Tuesday, and lamb roast with green beans for dinner that night. Wednesday is Chinese veggies in husin sauce with brown rice for lunch, and Hamburgers on wheat buns with baked beans with onions and molasses in them for dinner. Thursday try cold potato-leek soup in chicken stock (recipe to follow) for lunch and fried halibut fingers with sweet corn for dinner. Friday let’s have chicken molé for lunch and a coconut shrimp salad for dinner. Since we won’t have time to cook on our usually busy Saturday, I’m planning… You got it… LEFTOVERS! Of which you should have plenty of by now. Since we will have time to cook on our lazy Sunday, let’s go all out, invite the neighbors over, take out a 2nd mortgage and cook up some paella for an early supper.

My Goodness, I’m tired just thinking about cooking all that food… And hungry! It certainly makes me wish I could do nothing but cook in my little kitchen all day long.

More things to make you hungry:
Bouillabaise
Pancakes with fresh crushed raspberry sauce on them instead of syrup
Fresh baked egg bread, braided
Tenderloin (beef, pork, elk, or moose) on the grill, sliced thinly on buns, served with fresh made cabbage salad.
Oatmeal with peach slices and yoghurt
Fresh fish with Bahamas style peas and rice (recipe to follow)

Doctor Massage

2005-08-23T15:38:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday I went to the doctor for a check up, and everything is great with me. But she had just moved, and looked stressed, so I asked her if she had a couple of minutes to tell me about it. She started telling me ALL about it right away, and as she was talking I motioned for her to sit in a chair, and I started to massage her shoulders.

By the time we were done she refused to charge me the co-pay, and made an appointment to have me massage her that Saturday morning at 9:30 am. I charged her $40, and she left a $10 tip, and she asked if she can do that every Saturday morning. Doing some quick mathematics in my head I said "yes!" She is also going to convince her husband, another doctor, to have my massages.

Then Ron and I were at Clearbrook (a local golf course and grille room) for a night cap Thursday night and we were telling the bartender about it. I happened to be sitting next to a very intoxicated OBGYN, who had had a very "bad delivery" that day, and she said that she would also love to have me give her massages.

Think of the shoes I can buy!

The causes of dis-ease

2005-08-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

Allopathic medicine (what most people think of as “regular” doctors and medicine) appears to work because it relieves the discomfort of symptoms quickly. When in pain or discomfort people like to have quick relief; it’s human nature. However, relief from symptoms does not mean that a cure has been performed. Often in Allopathic practice the patient is palliated with medicine that causes the symptom to be ignored by the body, as in pain and antacid medicines, or the illness is suppressed but not cured, as is often the case when antibiotics are given. In almost all cases the doctor will diagnose a disease, and then prescribe a chemical/drug to combat the symptoms of the disease, while completely ignoring its initial cause. Worse cases are regularly performed when antibiotics are given to children with viruses, which are not influenced by these drugs, simply to make the parent feel better, or worse, to make the parent feel better. Many of the drugs that are prescribed by allopathic doctors have a short term positive response, with the symptoms returning with a vengeance after the drugs have worn off. One can observe this in any manner of drug, from pain medications, to antibiotics, to antacids, to coffee, and even in Homeopathic medicines. There is an action, followed by a re-action. Take the example of coffee: The action is stimulation, the reaction is lethargy.

Naturopathy works because it refrains from suppressing acute disease by use of drugs. According to Naturopathy, suppression of acute diseases is the cause of chronic diseases. When we live our lives simply and in moderation, by eating natural whole fresh foods, getting plenty of rest, and working our minds and our bodies without over-stressing them, we are healthy. According to Naturopathic philosophy we should be able to keep healthy as long as we keep our bodies toxin free.

There are three causes of disease, and these causes work at the cellular level. One cause is interference or obstruction of the connection between the cells of the body and the central nervous system. Another cause is an accumulation of waste and morbid matter on a cellular level, in the blood, in the lymphatic system, as well as in the organs of elimination (bowels, kidneys, lungs, skin).The third cause is nutrition, whereas good nutrition facilitates good blood, lymph, and other body fluids, while poor nutrition facilitates a buildup of morbid mater and waste materials in those fluids. According to the theory of nature cure, the cause of disease is the accumulation of morbid matter and toxins in the body. The body then proceeds to eliminate these accumulations, and we are distressed by the symptoms of this elimination, which takes the form of any number or combination of discomforts.

Please do not confuse symptoms with disease; a disease is a name attached to the cause and/or the aggregation of the symptoms (if the cause is unknown), while symptoms are the bodies’ eliminatory reaction to the disease. Disease is simply a lack of health. The simplest way to prevent disease is to prevent introduction of un-natural, inorganic chemicals and product into our bodies. Once again, only put natural whole foods into your body to achieve health.

Texas Travels

2005-07-27T15:15:00.000-04:00

I just spent this past Monday in Houston, and Tuesday in Dallas. Yes, I was there on business; who would go to Texas the end of July if it’s not for business?

Although I am a small town girl, and never got much out of big cities, I have to say that I like Houston. Good food, clean streets, a well engineered highway system, good art, very nice people, and everyone I met had a smile for me. Also, and this may be strange to say, but every bathroom I went into was clean, nicely decorated, and most of them had a sitting area with furniture. This is simply not found in the North.

IAH airport could use some lessons in forethought and planning. It’s simply too big and not well thought out for each addition. Did you ever see a house that had three or four additions, and each section had a different roof line, different shingles and siding colors, and all the windows were different sizes and shapes? That’s kinda how I felt in the Houston Airport. The best example is that “Terminal C” has at least 4 wings on it. Shouldn’t they then be called Terminals Ca, Cb, Cc, and Cd at that point?

I wasn’t nearly as impressed with Dallas/Fort Worth. The cities were still rather clean, and the highway system was still fairly easy to maneuver around, even though there are as many exits to the left of the freeway as to the right, so you are forced to drive slowly in the middle lane just to be prepared. But Dallas/Fort Worth seems to be stuck in the 80’s. It’s like they were great twenty years ago, and they just don’t want to let go of those good times.

Each building was very well designed and built (about 20 years ago), very well furnished, with styles and high class brands from the 80’s like LeBarge and Laura Ashley, and people (especially women) still wear clothing and hair styles from the 80’s. I can honestly tell you that I have not worn a hair “scrungie” in public since 1992, or a banana clip, and I saw both of these hair decorations in abundance in Irving (between the two “big” cities). It's time for D/FW to move forward in the style department.

That’s my rant for today.

Mid July Ramblings: Tincutres

2005-07-21T17:04:00.000-04:00

I can’t believe it! It is just so simple, which is why they call Herbalists who make their own herbal concoctions “Simplers”. I’ve only made three batches of tinctures, but it is so simple that I can’t wait to make more!

The first two batches were Dandelion Tincture. This is made by gently pulling whole dandelion plants up by the root while they are healthy and in full yellow bloom. You then clean them and cut them up as small as you can. I have a special wooden cutting bowl that I use that is called a mezzulina that comes with a curved blade that fits nicely into the bowl. It’s especially designed to chop herbs. Some people even put their raw fresh herbs in a blender to get it really small, but that’s a little too violent for me.

We then put the Dandelion “Mash” into a Ball jar, tap it a couple of times on the counter, then pour just enough 100 proof vodka up to the level of the mash. Seal the lid and shake vigorously. Shake it at lease twice a day for 14 days and filter it through some unbleached muslin cloth into an amber bottle with a glass dropper on it.

So my husband asked me what its good for and I read out of one of my many herbal books “colds, flu, gallbladder problems…” and it’s apparently very good for your liver. He laughed so very hard at that. “Let’s take Dandelion Tincture that’s made with one-hundred proof vodka for our livers! That’ll go over well with the alcoholics of the world!”

And it doesn’t taste too good either. I think it tastes “Green”, and some of my friends tried it after a dinner party, some other descriptions included “bitter”, “like blue-green algae”, and one old sailor claimed he needed to lick his rear end (he used a different word) to get the taste out of his mouth! Then he had some more.

A couple of weeks ago I realized that there is Poke Weed or Poke Root growing wild all along my driveway. I guess I had never noticed it before, but it intrigued and inspired my that day. So I am currently making a Poke Root Tincture. Why? Poke Root has been used historically by European Americans and Native Americans for many serious conditions including Breast Cancer, other forms of cancer, and has been shown to help clean out the lymph nodes. I hope to list some book references in the near future for your further reference.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Fresh Poke Root is poisonous and can be very dangerous. Do not ever take this without consulting a doctor or practitioner who has experience with it. That being said, it needs to be taken in very small doses.

Poke Root is also in both the internal and external Hoxsey formulas. To learn more about those products you are welcome to Google search the name Hoxsey, and especially look for anything written by or about Mr. Kenny Ausubel. Needless to say, I look forward to seeing the end result of my third batch of tincture.

Once a year...

2005-06-17T14:04:00.000-04:00

Once a year, or maybe twice, everyone should have nothing but fresh homemade strawberry shortcake for supper. When the local road-side fruit markets are selling fresh strawberries, just picked this morning, buy a whole flat of them. Pay extra for the ones that were picked today, or better yet, take a child or grand-child along with you to pick your own.

Make biscuits from scratch; it takes 10 minutes to stir it together and 10 minutes to bake. This is less time than it will take to go into the grocery store to buy biscuits or pound cake, cheaper, you have all of the ingredients in your house already (if you’re not a bachelor), and there are no artificial ingredients or preservatives. I’ll post my mother-in-law’s recipe on my “Recipe Page” in a few days. Cut the biscuits in half, spoon in the fresh mashed up strawberries, put the top of the biscuit on top, then more strawberries, and Whipped Cream is optional (also on Recipe Page).

Make extra biscuits so that you can have more for breakfast.

Once a year, or twice a year, in August when the local corn is ripe and picked daily, and you can almost smell it from your car when you pull into the roadside market, have nothing but Sweet Corn for dinner. Eat it until you groan with contentment.

Once a year, or twice if you like, have nothing but fresh blueberry pancakes (or shortcake) for breakfast. Put mashed blueberries on top of the pancakes that you have already put blueberries into. Put them in yoghurt.

You get the idea. You don’t have to have a square meal every day. When food is fresh, just hour old, gorge on it. I like to think of it as excess in moderation. And as long as it is fresh it is guilt free.

Mid June Ramblings: Soft Drinks!

2005-06-15T14:03:00.000-04:00

One of the simplest things that we “Average Americans” can do to become healthier is stop drinking soda pop. Stop drinking regular soda pop, diet, sweetened iced teas, sweetened and flavored waters, and anything else in this category.

I did it in 2003 and I have to admit that it was almost as hard to do as quitting smoking cigars (I never had a cigarette, but I used to smoke the occasional Black and Mild pipe tobacco cigar). I had been drinking diet pop (as we mid-westerners say it) since the late 1980’s when I found out I was hypoglycemic, and quit eating and drinking sugar, which was MUCH harder to do than quitting cigars.

Soft drinks, regular or diet, are bad for you. Regular pop has an average of over 3 Tablespoons of sugar in each can. Would you sit at your kitchen table and eat 3 Tablespoons (not teaspoons!) of raw sugar? Come on now! And Diet pop is nothing but artificial colors and flavors and sweeteners. No nutritional value, and it makes your liver and kidneys work way too hard to separate the chemicals from the water.

Don’t drink it with meals. If you’re drinking pop along with a meal, as is forced upon us in every restaurant in the country, food combining teaches us that we shouldn’t drink any liquids with our meals anyway; it is too difficult for our stomach and small intestines to work on solids and liquids at the same time.

If you’re drinking it for the caffeine and sugar boost, stop it. You are grossly mistaken about how this works. All “uppers”, like caffeine, sugar, amphetamines, and others, have a short-term action of increasing the metabolic rates of the body. When this action/effect wears off, the body has an equal and opposite re-action that suppresses our metabolic rates. Caffeine and sugar actually make us more tired than we felt before we consumed them.

Alternately, when we take suppressants, after they wear off we feel more energetic. This is why giving barbiturates to ADHD children makes them worse. It may work for a short time, but after it wears off they have re-acted" to a more agitated state than before. Also, these children almost always have sleep disorders and extremely poor eating habits. I’m sure that we will go into more detail later.

But back to today’s sermon: Stop allowing “pop” culture and advertisements to brain wash you into choking down soft drinks. I promise that once you’ve stopped drinking this garbage, not only will you feel better, but you’ll be amazed at how much heavier your wallet will be for not spending $2 for a bottle of chemicals that cost the bottler less to fill than it did to print the can.

Amen.

Hearing loss from ear infection

2005-05-24T16:33:00.000-04:00

Let’s talk adult ear infections. Over the past two years I have met many adults who have been told that they have permanent partial or complete hearing loss due to what should have been a simple ear infection.

I find this very hard to believe.

The anatomy of this problem is that there has been extreme pressure on the inner ear from infection of the Eustachian tube, and this results in nerve damage. Often, this comes about when a person with a head cold/ear infection gets on an airplane and has the additional stressor of a lack of air pressure to exasperate the problem. Even so, the damage should be reversible.

First, the Eustachian tube and surrounding lymph system would need to be “cleaned out”. NOT, I repeat, NOT by use of steroids or antibiotics. Neither of these types of drugs helps clogged Eustachian tubes or clogged lymphatic systems. As a matter of fact I have asked each of the people I’m thinking of, and they all had both hormone/steroid shots and multiple rounds of antibiotics. I would like very much to hear from anyone who was helped in this condition by either of these courses.

But cleansing these systems is tricky, takes a lot of rest, water, good food, time and patience.

But what about the nerve damage? Well, I’ve talked to a neurosurgeon at Loyola University Hospital near Chicago (in 1996), and he said that nerves do grow, but very slowly, at a rate of about ¼ inch per month, depending on the health of the person. This is hopeful news.

I am still a student, as is noted in my heading. I am still working on all of the intricate working of the human body, and will surely come back to this subject in the future.

As a child I myself lost most of my hearing due to multiple ear infections and broken ear drums. I had my hearing checked December 2004, and was informed that it was excellent. With good nutrition and no additional harm due to loud noises (from music or work) or infections, I am personal proof that your hearing can be restored.

Shopping List

2005-05-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

Below is a shipping list that I have given my friends as a guide to healthy eating. It’s hard enough to look at every label, and produce doesn’t even come with labels! I hope you find this list makes your life a little easier and healthy:

· Nuts, unsalted, un-roasted, best still in the shell.
· Plain old fashioned oatmeal. NOT the stuff in the single serve package that is more sugar and artificial ingredients than oatmeal. Add a pat of butter, salt and molasses.
· Brown rice, or a blend of brown and jasmine rice.
· Stonybrook Farms brand vanilla yoghurt. Eat it with fruit juice sweetened jam, in Pancakes instead of milk ( ½ yoghurt ½ water) for tangy pancakes, or many other baked goods.
· Molasses. Trust me. Use it in baked beans or on top of oatmeal.
· Whole grain Wheat Thins™, Triscuits™, etc. (plain flavored).
· Whole grain bread, like 12 grain, 8 grain, almond, Indian, etc.
· Plain popcorn, NEVER microwave type. There are reports that the goop they put in the packages for microwave use causes pancreatic cancer.
· Panda ™ Brand real black licorice. Licorice originally had real licorice root in it, and according to numerous publications this herb is one of the best digestion aides available.
· “Better Than Bouillon” brand broths, including beef, chicken, vegetable, and mushroom, among others.

Produce:
· Fresh Ginger root
· Avocado
· Fruit, especially berries.
· Onions and garlic, always have them in your 'fridge, fresh and whole.
· Asparagus (The only good source of the amino acid l-Asparagine).
· Even in my small town (1500 people) grocery store we can get organic lettuce, cauliflower, mushrooms, broccoli, and many fruits. Buy organic, it's worth the 15% mark up.

Mid April Ramblings

2005-04-20T17:39:00.000-04:00

More and more people are asking me how they can eat better, and my stock answer is "learn how to cook!" They don't generally like that answer, or else they give me one of those "deer in the headlights" looks.

OK, then cook better. For instance, if you're having hamburgers and baked beans, sauté an entire onion in the bottom of the pot that you're going to cook the beans in, drain most of the sauce out of the can of beans, put the beans in the pot right on top of the sautéed onions, and add a few tablespoons of Molasses to that. Yummy and delicious! I make this recipe every year for my in-laws (average party is 40 people) and they always ask what my secret is. You can also add a can of black beans, or some other type of beans that you like, just to mix it up a little bit.

When you're making tacos add a nice fresh onion, a clove of fresh garlic, black beans, salsa, diced tomatoes or avocado, and black olives. Any of these things make your tacos better for you, and when it's right in with the meat it's not as messy to eat.

Instead of store bought soup try this: Start with 2 cups of chicken broth made with "Better Than Broth" brand chicken broth. This stuff really is great, and if you compare the label with any other brand you'll be amazed! Yes, it's about twice the price, about $5 instead of about $2.50, as I explained to a lady in the grocery store who was wearing a $5000 wedding ring and wouldn't spend that much on her family's health (Vary frustrating!). But it is so much better for you.

To this simmering broth add one cut up onion, two pealed and cut up potatoes, 1/3 of a small head of cabbage, cut into strips, and 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar, with sea salt to taste. Serve with fresh sourdough bread.You don't need to be fancy.

A perfectly healthy dinner is a couple of lean steaks on the grill (not charred) with steamed broccoli or asparagus. Simple! Don't get all wrapped up in the "square meal". It's been found too hard for your stomach to digest all those different kinds of food at one sitting. So just eat two kinds of food at each meal. Once you get the hang of it you'll see that it's easier to this way, and by the end of the day you'll usually have all the right food groups covered.

Get cooking!

Mid March Ramblings

2005-03-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

Lesson number one: learn how to cook! And there are lots of reasons to learn.

First: Fresh food tastes better than pre-packaged chemical laden "nourishment".

Second: It's MUCH less expensive, and a little time in your kitchen will save you more money than you are prepared to believe.

Third: The more processed and aged a food is, the less nutrients it has in it. It is easily proven that the older a food is, the fewer vitamins are in it, and any processing pretty much wipes out any nutrients in the food.

Fourth: It's fun! No, really it is. OK, when you have time, it fun!

Fifth: To those of you who tell me "I'm too tired to cook", my response is "The more natural, whole, fresh foods you eat, the more energy you will have." If you don't believe me on this point, give it a try for 10 days, or watch the movie "Super Size Me". It's a very entertaining movie, besides being an educational documentary.

Mantra #1: "If the human race has been eating something for thousands of years, and it was good for us then, it will be good for us now." In later posts I will attempt to convince you to begin eating like your ancient ancestors ate. I will also give you easy, whole-family pleasing recipes. I am not a vegetarian (see mantra #1 above), however many of my recipes happen to not have meat in them, but do have other forms of protein.

Thistle Dew Nutrition

2005-02-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

This site is operated by a perpetual student of Natural Health. I hope to have my Doctor of Naturopathy degree by the end of 2006, at which point in time I can prodly "hang my shingle".

This blog is set up to promote and teach the ever-changing and never-changing ideas of natural health through knowledge of self and nutrition: What you put in must come out, or else there is trouble!

* more later *