Anyone improving his or her diet and exercise plan, or resorting to alternative medicine?

I have been doing muscle testing with my boy -- his body isn't a fan of the whole wheat bread we bought, although he has cravings for it, and sugar is not my friend -- and am wondering what the health care, food processing and pharmaceutical industries would look like if we ate just what gives us energy and didn't consume food our bodies don't want. Note I'm not making any diet dictocrat statement here: if your body is weakened by grains or fruits, don't eat grains or fruits. If triple-processed newfangled soy products mess with your fertility, restrict soy to the traditionally fermented miso, natto and tempeh.
There are bodies that can live well without meat and dairy, but not every body can. Apparently there's at least one person whose body does well on hot fudge sundaes: in my opinion you are indeed blessed if your body can make good use of such a delectable treat!

I saw that the American Academy of Family Physicians announced its partnership with the Coca-Cola company. I want to see how they jointly spin the value of 39g sweetener (or sugar, if you drink Mexican Coke) for a body taking at most 2000 calories a day (US Department of Agriculture recommends no more than 40 grams of refined sugars daily). Or share the health benefits of aspartame. Maybe there's someone out there whose body can handle daily sugar intake in excess of 40g. I'm going to try testing my friends.

Me, I'm using stevia and honey to sweeten my beverages (tea, morning cup of joe). Hubby bought some agave syrup. I know the stevia and agave syrup are refined, but I gotta start somewhere. I can judge and work on only my own food choices.

I'm thinking no matter where you are on the topic of health care reform or what your body recognizes as energy-giving foods, as a consumer you undoubtedly want to spend less, and you trust your body and mind enough to let it make correct decisions for you, or learn more about self-insuring preventive maintenance to keep the bills down. The "weaken the nutritive value of food--sell it to the masses--tell them it's good for them--watch them get diabetes and cancer--tell them it's genetics--maintain immunity from liability suits" schtick shouldn't work.

An online acquaintance cried foul on Chase Manhattan raising her APR on her credit card to 30% "for no reason" (i.e., no apparent fault of her own; there are at least three reasons why Chase would raise her APR outside of any personal fault: because they can, to make up for lost profits as they are forced to comply with new credit card legislation, and to offset the losses of former irresponsible and fed-up customers).

credit card legislation + Bank + TARP funds = punished customers

If credit card interest = $0.00, account = closed

If credit card interest < $0.01, annual percentage rate = annual percentage rate + 6.50

If credit card interest > $1.00, annual percentage rate = annual percentage rate + 12.00

In honour of yesterday's World Food Day, I gave $50 to Hopelink and $25 to US UNICEF. I expect to have lots of soup this week to compensate, tardy as I was to order the month's supply of beef. Split pea soup, tomato/red pepper, chicken noodle, Good Friday vegetable soup and beet borscht.

Monday October 19 is Meatless Monday in southwestern British Columbia, Bellingham (Washington state) and other places. We'll probably recognize Meatless Monday with udon soup with tofu and wakame.

first, is BCA month in the U.S. just about American Cancer Society appeals, fun runs, and pink ribbons?

I'm asking because, better late than never, I am raising my awareness of breast cancer prevention. Ounce of prevention being a pound of cure, and probably much much cheaper than cancer treatment.

So here's what I'm doing -- instead of a mammogram I am opting for thermography. I have read some of William Dufty's Sugar Blues (did you know he was married to Gloria Swanson? And he wouldn't have written the book if her first words to him weren't "Don't touch that poison!" -- I am paraphrasing). I have also just learned about Christina Pirello, Ann Wigmore and other people who've recommended different or traditional diets.

What I'd like to know is, among the breast cancer survivors, who's made long-term or permanent lifestyle changes (diet, exercise or eliminated/reduced environmental contaminants from their habitat) and who hasn't?

Link du jour - Cancer-influenced dietary changes

I would want to know because the women I know who've had breast cancer don't say to me things like "I shoulda taken more Vitamin D" or "I cut refined sugar and flour out of my life and my cancer's never come back". I think women and men (Richard Roundtree and Peter Criss are men who've had breast cancer) would want to know how to reduce their risk, right?

Oh hey, in my quest to learn something new every week about breast cancer prevention and treatment, I learned my home country actually has a higher mortality rate per capita than does my host country. Living closer to the Arctic Circle doesn't seem to be much of a factor: Sweden and Norway have comparatively low cancer mortality rates compared to the Netherlands and Denmark.

...who was wearing a yellow motorcycle jacket with reflective striping. Sorry to say that apparently the safety design doesn't work during the daylight.

It irks me when people with supposedly "green" methods of transit do dumb things to endanger themselves or others in traffic. Maybe they're trying to be greener by reducing the population.

Although I have considered buying a Prius I understand they are very quiet vehicles and extra attention on behalf of driver, pedestrians and people sharing the road with the Prius is required to avoid collisions. A cyclist was killed in a collision with a Prius on a residential street: the Prius driver didn't see the cyclist and the cyclist couldn't hear the Prius.

Not that I'd excuse inattention among all drivers, but with old trucks, rattling diesel-run VW machines and bikes with loud pipes, one can at least hear them coming. Some pedestrians wear reflective striping and bright colours so we can be seen by traffic. When the visibility strategy fails, how can pedestrians protect themselves? I understand also that not every driver puts on headlights at dusk or at night: what are some good ways for pedestrians to see vehicles driven by people who don't want to be seen?

...does anyone else ever get frustrated with the lack of choice in specific products and wonder why, in a densely populated country, they can't get what they want?

(Me, I want bulk chlorella powder or tablets and non-HFCS soft drinks with fewer than 40 grams of sugar. My brother is going to send me some from Japan, in return for the ancho and chipotle powder that is ultra-accessible even thousands of miles from the US/Mexico border...)

I also wonder why there is so much variety in shampoo/hair products...

Fresh Picked Seattle-- a local blog dedicated to fresh, inexpensive healthful food. Found it while scrounging for quickie online notes from anyone who may have gone to the Oct. 8 Recessionomics lecture I missed.


Grocery Shopping Helper -- if you have the time and thought to write down where your most frequently purchased items are at the supermarket, you can generate a grocery shopping helper that allows you to zoom with your basket or cart to your chosen item. Watch out for the mobility scooters!

The Museum of History and Industry in my fair city is having an event tonight on the thrift of the 1930s, 1940s and 1970s.

Recessionomics: Tips for the Thrifty from the 1930s, 40s, 70s and Today
Health, Money and Home
Thursday, Oct 8, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
In the first of this four-part series, historian Roger van Oosten examines where we stand in the current recession, and suggests no-nonsense tips for moving forward. Guest experts share advice on how to manage health care on a budget, money hacks for squeezing out the last penny, and making sensible financial decisions on a daily basis.
Suggested $7 donation or simply Pay-What-You-Can at the door!

I want to go, but last night my son KNELT to beg me to go to his Open House school night. I sat out of the PTA Fall Potluck, although I did contribute some truffle brownies, and he felt I should have gone. Maybe we can do something bad like spring $$ on Ezell's, go early to his school thing, and then catch this stuff. Why can women not adapt to motherhood by cloning or having extra limbs?

Several readers have likely seen the New York Times article about Samantha Smith, the children's dance teacher who ate an Angus Beef Patty with Bacon and Cheese, processed by Cargill, and had food poisoning so awful she was in a coma for nine weeks (doctor-induced, to stop her convulsions) and became a paraplegic.

I had stopped buying commercial meat, except for the Public Market or local butcher shops, two years ago, without knowing of Ms. Smith's horrific experience. My fear that companies don't fess up to unsafe additives or practices until hundreds of thousands of people get sick or die, combined with Food Labeling laws that allow food manufacturers and processors to limit listing ingredients to what they want the customer to know, led me to limit my supermarket shopping. Now I find that Costco has its own meat processing plant so its private label ("Kirkland") products have stringent safety standards, although they probably don't control for what the animals and birds eat before they get slaughtered. Still, better than Cargill's shoddy food safety practices. In a deregulated market a company can get away with pretty much anything. I might try buying meat again from Costco, although we've had some success opening up our protein choices to include more fish and chicken. Once a month, though, my iron needs replenishing, and a 6-8 oz. steak from a pasture-fed martyr does the job nicely.
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Eight-Week Home Cure

I am eager to try this. Slowly we are changing our house so it more closely resembles a restful retreat. Now it looks like all three of our ADD-afflicted minds exploded. It's the Toxic Brain Dump. We've replaced our child's curtains that he's had since infancy with blackout shades, my husband has painted most of downstairs, and we're visiting the dump to discard our accumulated waste. Soon I hope to suppress or eliminate the bioelectronic urge in my head to borrow 18 books, 3 DVDs and 2 CDs from the library. I think my brain must be bulimic. Gorge Gorge Gorge info and new ideas. Hwaaaaaaaugh: no nutrients (good ideas put into practice) stay in the head.
I am hoping to stick with the Green Cure, like I hope to start a novena and a regular exercise program.

Slowly coming along to organizing. I may be able to plan dinner entrees by the week. One complication/pitfall I have is that some seafood I like to buy demands to be prepared/cooked as soon as possible, so I am unsure about buying mussels, for example, on Saturday and waiting until Tuesday to fix them. Yet mussels and clams can be economical and very nutritious: Vitamin C, iron, phosphorus, Omega-3 fatty acids, manganese and Vitamin B12.


Reading a great book on parent-child attachment relationships by a psychologist and a physician, both from Vancouver: Hold On to Your Kids. I recommend it for people with kidlets or planning to have kidlets. It's made me reflect on our attachment behaviours, and has given me new ideas for corrective, natural discipline.

Snarkiness is not productive. It might be counterproductive. Take for example an anti-tax commercial in which a woman opens the hatchback of her new Subaru and her three children help collect the groceries. She's talking about how she has to watch her pennies these days, yet she buys high fructose corn syrup filled carbonated drinks in two-litre bottles, resting singly in double-bagged flimsy plastic bags.

Gee, every place *I* shop at in Washington state gives me at least a five-cent credit for bringing my own bags. I must be better at watching my pennies.

I am watching my pennies these days, but I'm not about reducing the nutritional content of what I buy for my family or demanding that I remain ignorant about how manufactured or refined sweeteners jeopardize my family's health over the long term because if I and millions of other families learn something, I might not be willing to support the food processing companies by buying their products, and then the terrorists would win. Oops, the snark got out.

Sparkling water with a slice of fruit or some fruit juice mixed in would be better than cheap HFCS. I wouldn't even give that to the food bank. I bet Amy Dacyczyn of The Tightwad Gazette wasn't about feeding her six kids HFCS either. Essentially the actress who is playing a mother is mouthing dialogue scripted by PR personnel working for food processors. Average working class concerned consumers they are.

I could be snarky about HFCS, but if I wanted truly to make a change, I'd be letting people who don't like economic subsidies or free rides, or who don't want their taxes to subsidize people who make unhealthy food choices know what I know, so they can campaign and inform and inspire change. I'd do some cost and nutrition comparisons between HFCS-filled pop (or soda) and water, and let the income-challenged make decisions. I know that I needed information before I could change my food habits: my mom's deathbed plea for me to switch to relatively non-toxic (tomatoes are nightshade plants and have toxins, but man oh man I love them) natural foods was enough for me. Not everyone is as "lucky" as I to be orphaned early, and I doubt snark-filled diatribes of self-righteousness will have the impact that offering self-empowering information as a caring gesture would. I think showing consumers how small investments can pay off later is really the best way to go. People need to see a better way, and maintaining good health at low cost is a non-partisan issue that should have broad support.

Another case: I have a bicycle. I should ride it, but I don't, because I am afraid of drivers who text or talk on the phone while they're moving on the road (I don't mind when they've pulled over and stopped the car). I don't know how to avoid inattentive drivers: I wish they could flash some sign on their vehicles like "I'M CHOOSING TO PAY ATTENTION TO MY PHONE RATHER THAN THE ROAD -- TAKE A DETOUR" when their phones are in use. Being on the road with them as a scooterist or motorcyclist is scary enough. As a bicyclist, I have no gear. The best I can do is wear neon or reflective material, but what good is that when people aren't paying attention to the road? Yet I am getting messages all the time locally to choose bicycling. Why not make it safer for me to bicycle? Some cities are progressive enough to have bike-only lanes. I'd rather ride a bus because I probably won't get badly hurt by an inattentive driver. How do you inform the driver: "Excuse me, I gotta end this call. Someone's placing a HANG UP AND DRIVE bumper sticker beneath my windshield wiper."

I'd like good healthc. I am learning something new often enough to make significant changes in my diet. I don't at all assume I have the perfect diet and lifestyle, but look for ways to improve. I am displeased, yet better off for learning that the Gayelord Hauser product "Vegit" I had used for ten years has hydrolyzed protein, which has monosodium glutamate, an excitotoxin. When the Vegit runs out, I'm relying on the sea salt and kosher salt as substitute for my decade of taste excitement. I am not happy about my prescribed medications falling off the Preferred List of my husband's HMO next year. I'm not happy about paying more, but I'd be okay about making a political stand like ordering from a Canadian pharmacy. I will only allow corporate interference in my life when it's in MY best interest, and not the interest of corporate shareholders.

Okay, our own situation is compromised, but not terribly. I'm doing well with beans, dried peas, grains and vegetarian entrees.

Here's the conundrum: My brother and his wife are expecting in 4.5 months. Yay, and sugoi, right? I sent a little gift to the sister-in-law, or imoto-san.
They live in the second-most expensive city in the world. My brother lives on contracts. Utilities, transportation, clothes, everything is expensive there. Birthing is not covered by health insurance. They can expect to pay, without the benefit of epidurals or painkillers, slightly less than what we were initially charged in 2001 when I gave birth (and I had a jetted tub, excellent food, my own room, and painkillers. It was a rock star experience, complete with vomit but no groupies or Chivas Regal).

They have 500,000 yen saved so far and they fear they can't save an additional 300,000 yen. My sister-in-law will not ask her parents, who live nearby, but my brother has never had a problem asking me for money. So he did.

He is already working long hours, and his wife is too far along to start looking for a job (although, when I was as far along as she, I STARTED a two-year contract).

For me, the best options look like this:
1. Start two novenas: one for my brother to get more money through private lessons or a job in the United Arab Emirates paying much more money; one for me to get a FT/perm job paying over $65K/year, both by the end of October. I know the divine essence doesn't work on my schedule, but I'm willing to extend deadlines.

2. Find some way to leak news of my brother's predicament to my family and to his in-laws. I could get someone to write in Japanese. Offer to match yen/dollars. I may be my brother's closest surviving relative, but I am not his legal guardian.

3. Tell him no.

4. Fix my finances and see what I can give.

I don't know if Japan has installment plans for childbirth services. It seems to me that any uninsured hospital costs over 500,000 Yen should be allowed installment plans, but I don't live in Japan.

update: I did give money when I visited in February, BUT -- I was a guest and they were saving me at least 100,000 yen by letting me stay with them; in Japan I'm SUPPOSED to give money to the couple getting married as a relative and as a guest; I made my sister-in-law embarrassed and uncomfortable I agreed to my brother's request to buy them some specialty food.