Looking together in the same direction.

Looking together in the same direction.
Sea otters hold hands while they sleep so they don't drift apart.

by my favorite poet, Mary Oliver

"Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it."

Mary Oliver


Monday, March 31, 2014

"The canary in the coal mine is dead."



     The wind gusts were ferocious all last night....80+ mph.  They kept me awake much of the night wondering if my house would blow away with me in it, not an impossibility these days.  A glance out of my windows this morning confirmed branches down but the trees appear intact.
     I re-read the book "Flight Behavior" by Barbara Kingsolver for a book club I have started attending. It is a fictional account of one family, the plight of monarch butterflies, and global warning.  It was a scary read.  Kingsolver, a novelist, started her career as a biologist and scientist.  She conveys well the problems of global warming.
     She said,  "the canary in the coal mine is dead".  "There is no life raft, you're just freaking swimming all the time."
     It reminded me of the Butterfly Effect of chaos theory.  Per Wikipedia:

 The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane's formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks earlier. 

     If tiny effects, such as a butterfly flapping its wings, can cause such huge effects, what happens when huge changes take place, such as extinction of the butterflies?  Like I said, it was a scary book.




Lovely days don't come to you,
you should walk to them...
                Rumi


Sunday, March 30, 2014

Where do you get your calcium?


     The second most irritating question asked of vegans after "where do you get your protein?" is "where do you get your calcium?"  Here is a great article explaining the calcium myth, and why more is not better.

http://www.plantbasedpharmacist.com/2014/03/the-calcium-myth-more-is-not-better.html




Saturday, March 29, 2014

The healthiest diet....Real Food


     Science compared all the diets out there and the winner is Real Food.

"A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention."

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/science-compared-every-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/


  Diet du jour

Friday, March 28, 2014

Difficult to make out, I know


     Here are 14 deer walking across the street in front of my dog and me.  It is not a great picture, but it was hard to keep Charleigh quiet and get out my cell phone before they all ran away.  This is more evidence that spring is on the way, although the winds were bitter cold later.  These deer are the reason I can't have a nicely landscaped yard....they eat it all.  They are worth it, though.



I know this all too well.


   

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

No spring skips its turn...



     After several cold days, spring should be back today.  I walked Charleigh in the South Valley and we were fortunate to see 3 elk.  They must be migrating down from the mountains to wherever they summer. Here are 2 of them.
             



Here are a couple of interesting medical news bits I found fascinating.  


First, an article in Medical News Today showing that much of our healthy bone structure is actually comprised of a shock-absorbing goo.


Next, a video on dietary intervention to slow the growth of cancer.  There is great background information. 


(email subscribers must go to the blog to view video)

Friday, March 21, 2014

Why we are what we eat



     Dr. Michael Greger has a series of videos on turmeric and cancer cell death.  However, in the following video (the first 1 min. and 40 sec.), he has a wonderful simple explanation of why we are what we eat.
     The human body is made up of 10-13 trillion cells, almost all of which are rebuilt every 100 days.  Since the human body is made up of air, water, and food, we really are what we eat (drink and breathe).
     Remember that every 3 months your cells are all new, and they are built upon the food you take in. Healthy food and healthy cells, it is a continual ongoing process.



Friday thought for the day.....

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Cranes






"Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form."
~Rumi
 —



Maybe as a magical dragon.  Thank you, Alex.  I love my blue dragon.





Dragon quote

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Running with a leprechaun



Just be yourself.


     This reminds me of my Grandma Petersen.  She always used to tell me to just be myself.  She was a wonderful Grandma. But first you need to figure out who you are. That is what this journey is all about.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Complex Carbohydrates and weight








     And how could I forget.....Happy St. Patrick's Day!


                                email subscribers to blog must go to blog to view video...thanks


Sunday, March 16, 2014

A gorgeous day.....it feels like spring


     My running injury is healing at last thanks to lots of rest and stretching. The sun is shining.  I have miles and miles of things to do before I sleep.  I feel energized to start doing them.  So look out Sunday, here I come.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Antibiotics....the fat drug


     Here is a link to an absolutely fascinating New York Times article about antibiotics and what they do to humans, not just to livestock.  It never fails to amaze me what research was/is considered ethical.....antibiotics were fed to Guatemalan school children, to Florida "mentally defective" children, and to Navy recruits in the 1950's.  Of course, the humans put on fat just like occurs in livestock.
     As I have mentioned before, our cells are 90% bacterial, 10% human.  We are symbiotic organisms.  As the article concludes:  "In the meantime, we are faced with the legacy of these drugs — the possibility that they have affected our size and shape, and made us different people."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/opinion/sunday/the-fat-drug.html?smid=tw-share&_r=3

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Meat is the new tobacco

Today is another Medical FYI day.


                   Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine


     Two new research studies show that too much protein in middle age is as bad as smoking.  Both studies were reported in the journal of Cell Metabolism.  Here is the link from Medical News Today.

 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/273533.php


     Sorry about not blogging lately.  I am still recovering from the same running injury.  I took 4 days off from all forms of exercise, even stretching and foam rolling, deciding on my own that if something hurts, I shouldn't be doing it.  I think I have turned the corner.  I started stretching, strengthening, and foam rolling again yesterday.  I won't try running again until all soreness is gone.  I did a short run/walk last Saturday which really set me back.  I learned my lesson this time.  Of course, I am grumpy living the life of a couch-potato.
Plus, unfortunately, I want to eat everything in sight and have been.