Big Drug Companies vs. Cancer

     All of the big drug corporations are waging a race to find new treatments for cancer. The problem is that they are NOT seeking cures. Treatments that extend life and put more money in their pockets is what they want. It's simple economics. If  they cure the disease, there is no more need for their products. No need = no customers.. No customers = no profits. The truth is: cancer is not only curable, but it is also preventable.
     We have been brainwashed by these companies to believe they, and their drugs, are the only solution to a problem that has been growing over the last half century by leaps and bounds. America and the world has been getting sicker because of a diet our physiology is not designed to handle. The Standard American Diet, SAD, is devoid of real nutrition.
     One hundred years ago, before the era of the big factory farms that produce most of what we eat, people ate fresh food that was in season and preserved by home canning or fermenting what they grew in their own gardens or bought from local farmers at small groceries or markets. They knew what was going into their meals because Mom cooked it, and she would never put in anything that would harm her family.
     Now, that has changed. Everything is pre-packaged in cans,jars and boxes and ready-to-eat by a quick cooking on the range or in a microwave oven. These products are loaded with preservatives and sold in plastic containers that can leach chemicals into the food. They are loaded with sugars and starches that can be easily converted into sugars and high heat processed in ways that destroy the vitamins and minerals which they originally contained. As a result, we eat empty calories that contain little nourishment.
     There is healthy food still available, but it is sometimes out of reach of the average family. People joke about kale and other leafy greens, but they are nutritional powerhouses. Foods of this sort have many cancer fighting micro nutrients in them, and can be prepared easily and economically into delicious recipes that your family will love.
     Big Drug, Big Food, and Big Chemical have joined together in order to ensure Big Profits, and you are reaping the results of what they sow in Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Alzheimer's, and a plethora of other maladies. We, as a nation need to take back the control of our food supply that is at the heart of the problem.
      More on that , later.

The results are in

     A few days ago I posted that I believed I had an indoor air quality problem involving formaldehyde at my apartmrnt and had ordered a kit for testing it. I receieved the testing kit later that day, but I had to wait a day before testing as I was tied up with some important issues that had to be addressed One of the problems eith the testing procedure was the necessity to turn oiff oll air conditioning, fans, etc., for one to two hours prior to the test. There could be no air movement or the test could be skewed.
     I ran the test exactly as the instructions directed, and the results showed that the air in my apartment is at the upper limit for formaldehyde allowed by law which means I have no legal footing proceed with any action against either the builder or the management company. My question is: what is the long term effect on my health living in this environment. My other concern is whether the test was as accurate as it  could have been. My reasoning for this is there appeared to be less of one of the ingredients than required. There were two liquids and a powder involved. One of the bottles appeared to have leaked out some of its contents, Perhaps that could have affected the results. I can't go back to the manufacturer of the kit as they are in China and all of the writing on the box is in chinese.
      I am going to see if I can get an answer from the people from whom I bought it. Hopefully, I can get a knowledgeable answer from them. Otherwise, I shall have to try another option. Possibly a new kit and another test, or a different test altogether.. We shall see.
   

Indoor Pollution: Is it affecting you?

     Most people never think about the quality of the air insde their home until something happens to make them do so. Waliking in from outside and smelling yesterday's fried fish or noticing the aroma of a vase of fresh cut  flowers that your spouse put on the dining room table. In my case, it was when my doctor told me there was formaldehyde in my blood, and she wanted me to take a low dose medication as a precaution to protect my liver. This upset me,because I had managed to improve my health to the point I no longer took any medicines,
     The announcement on the news that Lumber Liquidators, a flooring retailer, was in troible because of laminate flooring they got from China having concentrations of formaldehyde many times the Federal limit was like an alarm bell sounding in my head.. My apartment is in a brand new building with laminate flooring in the kitchen and wall to wall carpeting throughout.  Some carpet adhesives also contain formaldehyde.  I had noticed as I worked in my kitchen that I developed a runny nose after being there for awhile. When I leave the kitchen, the problem stops. A little research showed that formaldehyde vapors attack the mucous membaranes, and, when I questioned my doctor, she said it has to be ingested to show in the blood.  Duh! Isn't breathing ingesting?
     I have not determined if the formaldehyde in my blood is caused by my apartment's environment, yet. But that is soon ro change. I spoke to an environmental testing company, and they said it would cost me $400 to have them do the test. Being on a fixed income and not having money to spare, I went online and found several home testing kits with huge price ranges. I found one I could afford and ordered it. I have, also, asked my doctor to order the same test for me that had discovered the problem originally. I want to have it done before my next visit that is two weeks away.
     Several other people of my acquaintance in the apartments where I live have expressed similar complaints about the way they feel while in their homes. It is easy to dismiss these as the complaints that old people always seem to have, but what if there is a valid reason for them that is going undiagnosed. I will see how the test tutns out in my case, and if it is negative, I shall persue it no further. However, if it is positive, I shall encourage those others to do the same test in their areas. Stay tuned for further developments.

Whyizzit that "Healthy Cooking" recipes have to contain so many outside the supermarket ingedients?

I have an even dozen cookbooks and health related books that contain recipes for delicious meals that the writers claim are easy to make in a short time. However, when one looks at the ingredients list, you find stuff used in the recipe that even the most exhaustive pantry would not contain. I always wonder, "If I leave this out, will it change the taste very much? Will it ruin the dish? Is it rteally necessary, or is it just something thrown in to get you to buy a product that the author promotes on his/her web site?"
     As a result, I have passed over the majority of the recipes I have even if the flavor profiles appeal to me. If I like a particular combination, I may try my own spin on it using most of the ingredients and proportions in the recipe. I believe a recipe is not a scientific formula and should contain only what it really needs. Most people's palates are not so sophisticated that they need a bunch of exotic ingredients that cannot be reasonably found on the shelves of most grocery stores. If yours is, go for it!
     Not everyone lives within a few miles of a health food store or farmers market though those things are beginning to proliferate. I am seriously considering a cookbook of my own based on what I have just said. If a book tells me to incorporate an ingredient for a specific purpose like boosting its fiber content, can't I use some leftover quinoa instead of the more exotic (and expensive) fiber powder. Doesn't that do the same thing? Does it affect the taste? Maybe it does, but is it enough to ruin the recipe? Not if the other ingrdients have strong flavor profiles.
     The way I see it, the problem is that people do not have the cooking skills that were required a few generations back. Fast food and packaged junk have become a way of death promoting easy-way-out living.  Since I know how to cook, I can freely make substitutions without drastically changing the taste of whatever I am cooking. Americans need to get back to basics and learn how to cook.

My friend Kevin

The old saying is: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink." That pretty well describes my relationship with Kevin. Here is a guy who is 15 years younger than me who has had multiple heart attacks, stents implanted, and with a pacemaker that recently saved his life yet resists living a healthy lifestyle. He is overweight, diabetic, and determined not to make any significant changes. His cardiologist has told him to move, but his fat ass stays glued to his chair or he lays in bed. He treat the insulin needle that he injects into his stomach as the magic solution to his excesses.
The most frustrating thing about him is that he is extremely intelligent and knows what I have tried to get him to do is only in his best interests. I have begged, cajoled, and pleaded with him to do something by way of exercise and diet, but it simply fails to have any effect. I thought that the heart eproblem that put him in the hospital a week ago would have awakened him, but I can see no difference. I am at my wits end! He is my friend, and I don't want to lose him, but neither can I find a way to motivate him. I realize that he has to come to that conclusion on his own. If a near fatal heart episode didn't do it, what chance have I?

I exercise, why can't I lose weight?

I have been asked that question numerous times by friends who know I have lost 130 pounds and am continuing to lose even more. Many of them are fairly active people who exercise faithfully believing that is the answer. The truth is all the exercise in the world is not going to take off an ounce, if you don't eat right.
     The Standard American Diet is stacked against us. Americans, for the most part, have fallen prey to the slick advertising that convinces us that one packaged product or another is going to give us the healthy nutrition we want by putting it first into the microwave then into our mouths. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have heard the LOW FAT mantra for decades, and the simple truth is we need fat in our diet. Our cells are made of fat, including cholesterol of which our brains are made. What we don't need is sugar in any of its many forms which packaged foods producers put in to replace the fats they have removed. When they take the fat out, they take out the flavor, so they use sugar to put flavor back in.
     Sugar is twenty times more addictive than cocaine and works on the same receptors in our brains as the drug. That is why the cravings for sweets and starches are a by product. Our primitive ancestors only got sugar one way. By eating natural sources like fruits and berries. And it was a seasonal thing. Those items were only available during the limited growing season that produced them in the area in which they lived. Not so today. Fruits, even exotic ones, are available all year long through international transportation. But fruits are good foor us, isn't that so? Yes, fruits can give us needed vitamins and minerals,fiber, and phytonutrients if they are eaten in their natural form, not made into fruit juice drinks sold inbottles. They can be as bad as soft drinks that are loaded with sugar, or even worse, High Fructoe Corn Syrup.
     The biggest culprit is high fructose corn syrup that is cheaper than sugar and twenty times sweeter. That is why it is used extensively in the soft drink and fast food industies. Did you knw that sugar and salt are added to the french fries you get at the local McDonalds or Burger King? Did you know that they have scientists working for them to find new combinations that will act on the addictive areas of our brains so we will get a high when we eat their laboratory created concotions and lure us back for more. The fast food industry is not alone. General Mills, Kraft, Post, and every other  manufacturer of packaged trash you find on super market shelves does the same thing. Why do you think our children are becoming obese at earlier and earlier ages. Why is ADD and ADHD on the rise. Add in Autism and food allergies and the picture becomes more clear. Do you think the cause might be their constant diet of quick and easy foods we shove in front of them? Perish the thought!

Appalled by St. Jude Chidren's Hospital Ad.

Don't get the wrong impression. I was not angry with St. Jude's about the content of the ad, but that the ad was necessary at all. It showed a number of children who had lost their hair due to chemotherapy and had an unhealthy pallor to their skin. What pissed me off is that the suffering and pain these innocents and scores more like them have to undergo because the food supply in the USA is so toxic that it is making everyone sick, not just those poor children. St. Jude Hospital is worthy of my support, which I give gladly, and yours, too. 
      The science has been around for decades that the food that is reaching the shelves of local groceries is contaminated with every kind of poison imaginable. Herbicides, pesticides, heavy metals and molds are inserted into the food supply because of the way the farming is done on factory farms that produce the majority of what we eat. 
      Chemical companies, like Monsanto, one of the worst of a bad lot, patent seeds that are genetically engineered to withstand massive doses of the herbicide Roundup ( that incident-ally conains the same chemicals that made up Agent Orange of Viet Nam era infamy). It is sprayed on wheat, corn, and a plethora of other crops that go into our food supply either directly or as livestock feed that is eaten by cattle, pigs, and chickens. Even organic farms are affected by overspray and wind drift, so no really safe food is a rarity. 
     Parents who think they are providing wholesome, nurishing food to their kids are un-knowingly poisoning them. The public has been lied to so often that it now believes the lie to be the truth. A tactic used extensively by Adolph Hitler. The only way to defeat the conglom-erates that control the food chain is to not support them by buying the trash they are supply-ing.  Skip the sugar laden boxed breakfast cereals and fix them some oatmeal or bacon and eggs. At least you will know what they are eating. The next time you think about stopping at McDonalds or Burger King for that easy way out for you by buying dinner on the way home from work, ask yourself, "What kind of meat is in this? How much salt? How much sugar?" before you do. Save your kid's life.