Be a good animal

     John J Kelley died recently (1930-2011).  He was a famous runner and coach.  He won the 1957 Boston Marathon, competed on 2 US Olympic marathon teams, and later coached runners, including the runner Amby Burfoot, the Runners World editor-at-large.
     Amby spoke at his service and summarized John J Kelley's beliefs:

Live simply.  Desire little.  Conserve as much as possible.

Play hard.  But always play fair.

Bask in the infinite beauties of each new day.  The sunrise.  The sunset.  The thick, disorienting fog of summer.  The cold, piercing hailstorms of winter.

Be a good animal.

Pick up a handful of rich, black earth.  Bring it close to your face.   Behold the miracle in your hand.

Read, sing, dance, explore, and dream.  Always keep dreaming.

Ask not what your world can do for you.  Ask what you can do for your world.

Gather family, friends, and community around you as often as possible to form an ecosystem where all take care of each other.

But also leave time and space for yourself to practice the personal reflection and renewal that we each need every day.

Lastly, and most importantly:  Love all living things.  Love all living things.  Love all living things.


     There could be no better prescription for living a good life.  John J Kelley had his priorities straight. 

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     Also interesting is a youtube video about fruitarian ultrarunner Matt Arnstein.  He has been a fruitarian for 3 years.  In the video he talks about being fruitarian while running and completing the Leadville 100 Ultramarathon and then winning a marathon 2 days later.  Impressive

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0j8NUFEJqI

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Man, - despite his artistic pretentions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.   (author unknown)

Where the hell is Matt?

     Matt Harding has been an internet sensation for years, but I just saw this video for the first time this morning.  Much better late than never.  Watching it makes me very happy!

     The first video is from 2008:
                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

     If you enjoyed that, this video is from 2006:
                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4

     And also, 2010:
                            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22yXljU4NfA

     I love the joyful connectedness of people from around the world and the reminders of the beauty of our planet.

"You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth."
                                William W. Purkey

A loyal friend.

       www.well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/a-dog-at-the-funeral-captured-on-video/

     This is sad, but a blog worth reading.

Recombobulation

     We flew in and out of the Milwaukee Airport last week.  After going through their security, we saw this sign over the chairs where you re-don your shoes, belt, watch, wallet, etc.   The ensuing chuckle made going through security a little easier and offered a bit of amnesia about the whole embarrassing full-body scan.
     Maybe we should redo our homes and add recombobulation areas....places to gather together the scattered fragments of our souls after hectic days, to regain our sanity,  to add perspective and to smile again.

Have you tried complementary medicine?

     75% of healthcare workers have used some form of alternative/complementary medicine as compared to 63% of Americans in non-healthcare fields.  This is according to the National Health Interview Survey done in 2007, results being published in the Journal:  Health Services Research.  This is interesting to me as none of Dean's doctors ever suggested any type of complementary treatments to his chemo/radiation.  Doctors and nurses are using this for themselves, however.
     It is a reminder that we are responsible for our own health and healthcare, and must become knowledgeable consumers. 

     Another interesting news bit:  the University of North Texas opened a strictly vegan cafeteria this year, the first mainstream university in the nation to do so, to provide for a student body whose tastes are growing increasingly diverse and to respond to an overwhelming student demand for meatless meals.  This is great news.

Becoming a steward of life.

     Today I read an interesting blog about "the spirituality of veganism" by Sarah Taylor at http://www.vegsource.com/     She feels that for whatever reason people become vegan,  eventually they notice the preciousness of life and they become stewards of life.  They find God through choice of diet...."we see it in the eyes of a cow, feel it when we pet a sheep, hear it in the peep of a baby chick.  And we know we have come home, to a place where love is at our core." 
     Ahimsa is an important tenet of Indian religions.  It means to do no harm to any living thing.  Reverence for life is at the center of Buddhism, as well.
     I haven't found God through diet, but I firmly believe in living a life of compassion. It feels right, it feels peaceful, and it does feel like coming home.  I am angered with and increasingly disappointed in people who explain away their complicity in cruelty by saying they like the taste of meat.  What could have caused that kind of a disconnect in their humanity?  Ignorance is no excuse;  possibly it is selfishness....not caring about animals, the planet, other people on the planet, or future generations, even their own future generations.  
     There is a documentary called "Earthlings" which can be viewed at http://www.earthlings.com/  I could only watch parts of it as the real-life violence is sickening.  It shows actual footage of factory farming, puppy mills, and the treatment of animals in this world.  It should be required viewing for all who eat animal products.  If people then still feel the need to eat animal products or dairy it gives us true measure of their character, or lack thereof. 
     18% of college students polled last year were vegetarians, as compared with 3.2% of the general population.  This does give me hope for the future of our planet.  Hopefully receiving a college education has the desired effect of teaching students to research facts and think for themselves, and then to act accordingly, whatever the reason:  health, environment, or compassionate treatment of animals.
     I haven't been able to view the new documentary "Forks over Knives" as of yet, but I was able to skim through the companion book.  There is a quote by Rip Esselstyn.  He feels that within ten years there will be a stigma attached to meat similar to the one against smoking today.  He thinks we are approaching a point close to where we were with tobacco back in the 1950s.  He even suggests having meat-eating and non-meat-eating sections in restaurants where the poor people in the meat-eating sections will look just as pitiful as the people in the smoking sections of public places today, smoking their brains out, looking unhealthy and unhappy.
     This tipping point cannot be reached too soon.


"All truth passes through three stages.  First, it is ridiculed.  Second, it is violently opposed.  Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."    Arthur Schopenhauer

"Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who could not hear the music."  Angela Monet

Families...can't live with them, can't live without them.

     Aren't families a fascinating social structure?  Their interworkings and politics never fail to amaze me; yet the bottom line is that you can always (hopefully) fall back on them in times of direst need.  Also, it is comforting to be around people you resemble and who knew you when....who share your ancestry.
      My brother and I were talking about this last night....how our family of 6 siblings has changed over the years and what we thought about our family back in our naive youth compared with how it has turned out in adult reality.
     We both thought we had a close-knit family when we were young. Now some of us are growing apart.  I wonder if that is common for other families?  Is it the way of the world?  Is it physical distance or time constraints in our every busier lives?  When we are all retired will we reconnect, or will everyone's travels just take them on visits to their own children?  How long will some of us even live?  We didn't reach any answers, of course, but agreed it is important to try to keep in touch with this next generation, at least the members of it that want to keep in touch with us.
     I bring this up as we will be busy with family the next few weeks....family visiting us, us visiting family, more family visiting us, us visiting more family. It will be interesting to see how it all turns out.
     Do I worry about some of my family?  You betcha...all the time.  But we are all adults, all have our own way to make in this life.  You have to learn to let go of those things out of your control and make your peace with them;  also, to keep your kids and grandkids close to your heart. 

The Fountain of Youth isn't on TV

     Researchers at Canada's McMaster University have found an elixer of youth...the anti-aging powers of vigorous aerobic exercise.  They genetically altered mice to age quickly.  Some were put on a treadmill for 45 minutes for 3 times a week;  the control group were left to lead a sedentary life.  After 5 months the sedentary mice were nearly immobile and had gray and thinning fur.  The active group had bright and shiny coats and bustled about their cages.  Apparently exercise has a restorative function on the mitochondria (the power generators) of cells.  As we get older, mitochondrial DNA mutates and causes aging.  Exercise can reduce and even reverse this process of DNA mutation and the graying that comes with it.

     A large study done at Taiwan National Health Research Institutes published in the medical journal Lancet found that just doing 15 minutes of moderate exercise daily could add 3 years to your life.

     A study done at the University of Queensland found that one hour of TV viewing for adults over age 25 can shorten the viewer's life by 22 minutes, about the same effect as smoking 2 cigarettes.  The viewer could have an 8% greater risk of dying by watching one hour of TV per day.  Watching 6 hours per day averages a 5 year shorter lifespan. This study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

     There is a mitochondrial theory of aging.  "Aging is a disease.  The human lifespan simply reflects the level of free radical damage that accumulates in cells.  When enough damage occurs, cells can't survive properly anymore and they simply give up." 
     The food we eat is converted to usable energy in our cells'  mitochondria.  Aging is the slow oxidation (rusting) of our body's cells by oxidants.  We can slow down oxidation by eating more anti-oxidants.
     Many anti-oxidants cannot penetrate cell walls to reach the mitochondria; however our body makes a detoxifying enzyme called superoxidase dismutase which does.  How do we boost this enzyme activity?  Research done last year comparing omnivores versus vegetarians showed a 300%  increase in expression of the superoxide dismutase gene in vegetarians.  (see Nutritionfacts.org.,  Mitochondrial Theory of Aging).


     These are just a few facts to store up in the back of my mind for those upcoming wintry days when I don't want to exercise...to just den up under a comforter with comfort foods until spring.  It is pretty basic.  We need to exercise and eat a vegetarian, high anti-oxidant diet to save our mitochondria and lengthen our lives.  Oxidation of cells is like rusting.  We rust as we age unless we do something about it. 

"If you rest, you rust."   Helen Hayes
  

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons." Ruth Ann Schabacker

     Monday I returned to the open space park near our home, this time with camera, but I encountered no rattlesnakes to show you.  I did notice more native plants exhibiting their late summer/fall colors in my quest to start experiencing each summer day...my way of untying the ribbons.

     First up is the stately Mullein,  some were easily 6 feet tall.  I like how they frame the red rocks (snake habitat).  To the right is Gayfeather.  They are blooming everywhere.  I tried growing them in my garden but the rabbits ate them to the ground.

     This is the omnipresent Rabbitbrush.  It is a modest wallflower of a shrub until late summer when it explodes with golden glory.

"Poppies...poppies.  Poppies will put them to sleep."

     There were acres of white prickly poppies abloom.  I have never noticed so many.  The Wicked Witch of the West must have been referring to these, my pretty.

"I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one."
     Edna St. Vincent Millay

"A day without laughter is a day wasted." Charlie Chaplin

     I thought we could all use a break after yesterday's seriousness.

     How many vegetarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb? 
     I don't know, but where do they get their protein?

(If you don't find that hysterical, then you aren't a vegetarian.)

     How many meat eaters does it take to change a lightbulb?
     None, they would rather stay in the dark about things.

Have a great day.

Are you a good ancestor?

     "Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors."     Jonas Salk

     What will you answer when your grown grandchildren ask you what you did to prevent the crises of global warming and world starvation?  Have you thought about it?  Will you be able to answer honestly that you did something? 
     In this country we grow our food, live, and eat unsustainably.  Fossil fuels and water supplies are finite, but you'd never know it to observe how we waste them.  The world population by 2050 is estimated to increase to 7.5 to 10.5 billion people.  How will we feed them all?

 Here are what people wiser than me have said:

     "Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances of survival for life on earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."     Albert Einstein

     "In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."     Iroquois Confederacy Maxim

     "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."  Native American Proverb

     "I have no doubt that it is the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as sure as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized."     Henry David Thoreau

     "The time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they now look on the murder of men."  Leonardo da Vinci

     "Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution.  Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."  Thomas Alva Edison

     According to Stanislaw Lec, "Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty."  Will you be one of those snowflakes in the upcoming avalanche?  Thomas Paine said:  "Lead, follow, or get out of the way."  I am asking you to lead; if you are unable to lead, then follow the ideals of the wise people above; and failing that, at least get out of the way.
     Today, look in the eyes of your children and grandchildren, consider their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.  Every day make your choices based on the effects they will have on the survival of the next seven generations.  Together we can make a difference.
 

Rattlesnakes, bears, and vitamin D....Oh, my!

     "How did it get so late so soon?  It's night before it's afternoon.  December is here before it's June.  My goodness how the time has flewn.  How did it get so late so soon?"  Dr. Seuss

      I recently noticed that autumn is upon us and that I have not experienced the joys of summer as much as I should, so I decided to run/walk in the county open space park near our home today.  This is how I encountered a rattlesnake.  It was sunning smack in the middle of the trail and like every other rattlesnake I have ever encountered, would not move for anything.  This one didn't coil or rattle, just watched me wherever I moved.  I have heard they are more afraid of us than we are of them, but I sincerely doubt it.  They are kings of the trail, and they know it. Maybe it was just sluggish as it was morning or because it had just eaten....it did look pretty fat.  Luckily, this year the county has mowed down the tall grass beside the narrow single-track trail so I felt safe venturing off  trail and making a wide berth around said snake.  I'm sorry I didn't remember my camera (or my cell phone for that matter, don't tell Dean, but I did have I.D. so at least they could have identified the body, right?).  There are some red rock formations in this park where thousands of rattlesnakes den up over the winter, thus there are a lot of them to encounter during the warm seasons.
     After returning home while watering flowers, I noticed my birdfeeder was ripped apart and lying on the ground.  The steel shepherd's crook we hang it on was bent over double.  THE BEARS ARE BACK!  I guess that's it for feeding birds this season.
     You have probably read the research headlines lately that 3/4 of American teens and adults are deficient in vitamin D.   I have been really curious and suspicious about why this is.  Granted, we all wear more sunscreen than previous generations, but they wore long sleeves, long pants, and big hats year round to avoid the sun....at least my ancestors from the Mid-West did.  According to the Institute of Medicine, it only takes ten minutes of sunshine on your skin a day to trigger adequate vitamin D production.  Surely, most of us get at least that.
     A new study done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center showed that overweight/obese women losing 15% of their body weight had significantly increased vitamin D levels in their blood.  Vitamin D is stored in the fat deposits of the body.  They theorize that trapped vitamin D is released with weight loss.  Could it be that vitamin D levels are deficient in Americans because 65% of us are obese or overweight and have trapped our vitamin D in our fat cells?
     Another thing affecting vitamin D levels is our diet. (refer to "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.)  Vitamin D made by our skin or from the food we eat travels to the liver where it is converted to a storage form metabolite....it is stored in the liver and in body fat.  When the body needs vitamin D, some of the storage form travels to the kidney where it is converted to the active form of vitamin D.  Diet can affect how much of this active form of vitamin D is produced.  Animal protein foods and excess dietary calcium significantly lower the amount of active vitamin D made by the kidney.   
     Some wonder if vitamin D deficiency causes obesity, others wonder if obesity causes vitamin D deficiency....it is a chicken or the egg, which came first, kind of koan.  It seems simple to me that it doesn't matter.  We, as Americans, are too fat and eat too much meat and dairy.  We need to work on those problems by eating a plant-based diet and exercising instead of treating the symptoms with increased vitamin D supplementation.
     I don't mean to sound preachy.  When I say that we Americans are too fat, I do mean we.  I fall into the overweight category on the BMI (body mass index) table, as does Dean, although he is closer to normal than I.  We continue to work on it.
     Enjoy the rest of your summer...my how the time has flewn.
    
    

Heroes

     There is a woman I know who is my hero.  She is teamed with the first service dog Dean and I helped train.  He is absolutely the most awesome dog.  She is an absolutely awesome human being.  She is mostly confined to a wheelchair due to mobility issues.  Her husband died after the same accident that injured her.  Her kids are now grown.  She lives alone with her awesome dog.
     Despite all this, and this is the important part:   she absolutely loves, loves, loves her life, her dog, her home, her family, her friends.  She is the most positive, funny, outgoing person I have ever met.  She is hard to keep up with.  She is a hero, although she would never admit it.
     My parents are also my heroes.  They are like Aesop's tortoise and hare.  One burns white hot and tries to be everywhere all the time, but tires out.  The other moves forward at a steadier pace.  They each march to the beat of a different dummer, but they balance each other and are imperfectly perfect together.  It took me decades to figure that out.
     There are so many heroes in our lives if we just stop to consider them.  Christopher Reeve said that "a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."  Today's world does present overwhelming obstacles.  
     According to the dictionary a hero is someone who is brave, courageous, has strength of character.  I think it is someone who tries, and keeps on trying.  It is the effort involved that makes the hero, not necessarily the results.  Last is just the slowest winner as long as you stay in the race.
     Who are some of the heroes in your life, and why?  Think about them a while.  Meanwhile, just keep moving forward, one step after the other.  There is a Buddhist proverb that states:  "if we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep walking."

"Everything can be taken from a man or woman but one thing:  the last of human freedoms--to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."  Victor E. Frankl

"As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary."  Ernest Hemingway


 

I'm Late, I'm late, I'm late. (White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland)

 
   It is a beautiful hot August Sunday, so we got out early to hike at a local state park.  It was a shock to note that the seasons are changing.  It seems that once again we must hurry, hurry to enjoy this season before it ends.  The fall asters are abloom.  The mountain mahogany bushes are sporting their feathery seeds.  Chokecherries have set their ruby fruits and the gambel oaks, their acorns.  Summer is on the wane.  We must get out there and enjoy it while it lasts.

"There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after the winter."     Rachel Carson

All is well.....

Dean had his first oncology follow-up CT scan this week.  The results were great.  Next CT won't be for 6 more months.  It is what we expected, but a relief to hear anyway.  All is well on the war on cancer in our household.

The gravity of the situation

     I just finished reading "Packing for Mars, The Curious Science of Life in the Void" by Mary Roach.  It is an entertaining but informative look at the weird but very human problems associated with space travel and how NASA is dealing with them.  What and how to eat and drink at zero gravity, zero gravity elimination, and B.O. are all covered, among other things.  And all of it is simulated on earth.
     She made a point that really struck me as fascinating, so I will quote a couple of paragraphs:
    
     "Gravity is why there are suns and planets in the first place.  It is practically God.  In the beginning, the cosmos was nothing but empty space and vast clouds of gases.  Eventually the gases cooled to the point where tiny grains coalesced.  Theses grains would have spent eternity moving through space, ignoring each other, had gravitational attraction not brought them together.  Gravitation is the lust of the cosmos.  As more particles joined the orgy, these celestial blobs grew in size.  The bigger they became, the bigger the pull they exerted.  Soon (in a thousands-of-centuries sort of way) they could lure larger and more distant particles into the tar pit of their gravitational influence.  Eventually stars were born, objects big enough to pull passing planets and asteroids into orbit.  Hello, solar system.
     Gravity is the prime reason there's life on Earth.  Yes, you need water for life, but without gravity, water wouldn't hang around.  Nor would air.  It is Earth's gravity that holds the gas molecules of our atmosphere---which we need not only to breathe but to be protected from solar radiation---in place around the planet.  Without gravity, the molecules would fly off into space along with the water in the oceans and the cars on the roads and you and me and Larry King and the dumpster in the In-N-Out Burger parking lot."

     She makes a good case, don't you think?  Gravity is practically God.

I'm happy to report that my inner child is still ageless. (James Broughton)

     Happy birthday to me!  Being 60 turns out to feel just like being 59, or 49, or 29...except maybe achier.  Six months of blogging have come and gone so, as promised, it is update time.
     I bestow 5 well-deserved stars on my forehead for maintaining plant-based, whole food, vegan eating with gusto.
     I award myself 3 stars on the forehead for regular exercise--my Achilles' Heel.  I did exercise 3-6 times/week but could, should, and will try to do better and to diversify.
     A side benefit--I have lost 24 pounds in 26 weeks without dieting or feeling hungry, so I must be doing something right. 
     None of the above is earth shattering, but I will take it.
     My Plan:  Continue on with this experiment of one and together we will see what happens.

"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come."  Shakespeare (Merchant of Venice)

                                                                         8-2-11

                                                                          2-2-11

U.N. urges meat and dairy free diets

     http://hpjmh.com/2011/07/31/u-n-urges-global-move-to-meat-and-dairy-free-diet/

     If you needed more reasons to change to a vegan diet, please read the above link.   A report by UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) states that as the global population grows to 9.1 billion people by 2050, diets rich in meat and dairy are unsustainable.  Unfortunately, as developing nations become more affluent they opt to eat more meat and dairy, as we do.
     Did you know that agricultural water use accounts for about 75% of total global water consumption; industrial use accounts for about 20%, and the remaining 5% is used for domestic purposes.  Most of those crops being irrigated are to be fed to animals.
     I have read that the average American uses 106 gallons of water a day; however if they eat a quarter pound hamburger that day, they use 3106 gallons of water!
     If health reasons haven't caused you to decrease or cease your animal product consumption, maybe the environment will.  You can't call yourself an environmentalist and eat animal products.