Check out Jon Stewart's rant on this "pandemic"- I agree completely!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/28/snoutbreak-09-the-daily-s_n_192151.html
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Size Really Does Matter!
Now, regardless of where your mind went, what you thought of when you saw the title for this newest post, what I was referring to is food portion sizes.
I started an experiment some months ago, to really pay attention to the size portions I was eating. I was curious about this because I see so many clients who have weight concerns. So I decided to check the portion sizes of everything I ate. My goal was not to loose weight, but to find out how we can be tricked in to eating way to much at one sitting.
The result of this experiment was that I lost 10 pounds. I also became very aware of what others were eating, I found myself staring at other diners when I ate out, watching with fascination as they loaded up on huge mounds of food. I wondered if they knew that a plate the size of a hub cap covered with food was enough to feed a family of 13.
I really did not change what I was eating, just how much. It's tricky, because when you check things like those little serving bags of chips you get with a sandwich when you order out, you find that the tiny bag has two servings in it. Look at a mounds bar and you find it's not one, but two servings. A serving of cereal is 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup, depending on the brand. Put it in a bowl and 1/4 of a cup of cereal looks like just enough to feed one mouse. A serving of cheese is just a couple of ounces, which again, looks like enough to feed a mouse.
It reminds me that some theories on how to eat right would say that we are born to eat a hand full of food at a setting, and some would say that eating less calories extends your life. Now I can definitely hold a pie in one hand, but I don't think that is what they meant.
I found that eating one person portions satisfied my hunger, but it returned sooner than I expected and I added a few meals a day to my regular 4 meal schedule. I still lost weight. Maybe this meandering will come in handy for someone out there. I know that people tend to start thinking about loosing weight in the spring, which is a good time to do it because you really don't need that winter fat to keep you warm anymore. Add that to the fact that the dreaded bathing suit weather is just around the corner and you get a big handful of motivation to go with you little hand fulls of food.
So now I'm wondering, who came up with the big gulp? Who invented the double cheese burger with bacon? Who decided that plates at a restaurant should be the size of a 50 gallon barrel top? And how did we all get tricked into thinking that is how we should eat?
It brings to mind a dear friend, who had traveled the world as the wife of a Ambassador of a large county. She was in the US after many years away, and commented on how easy it was to find food here. Any time of day or night she mused, all you have to do is hit the nearest quick stop and load up. She thought 24 hour diners were amazing and the selection at the grocery store was mind boggling, all of which we Americans take for granted. To her, it was easy to see why the obesity rates are so high here. She assured me that the whole world was not like that.
Thinking about loosing weight? Next time you look at your full plate, imagine you are a mouse, and eat what you need to feel full, because I can assure you, size matters.
I started an experiment some months ago, to really pay attention to the size portions I was eating. I was curious about this because I see so many clients who have weight concerns. So I decided to check the portion sizes of everything I ate. My goal was not to loose weight, but to find out how we can be tricked in to eating way to much at one sitting.
The result of this experiment was that I lost 10 pounds. I also became very aware of what others were eating, I found myself staring at other diners when I ate out, watching with fascination as they loaded up on huge mounds of food. I wondered if they knew that a plate the size of a hub cap covered with food was enough to feed a family of 13.
I really did not change what I was eating, just how much. It's tricky, because when you check things like those little serving bags of chips you get with a sandwich when you order out, you find that the tiny bag has two servings in it. Look at a mounds bar and you find it's not one, but two servings. A serving of cereal is 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup, depending on the brand. Put it in a bowl and 1/4 of a cup of cereal looks like just enough to feed one mouse. A serving of cheese is just a couple of ounces, which again, looks like enough to feed a mouse.
It reminds me that some theories on how to eat right would say that we are born to eat a hand full of food at a setting, and some would say that eating less calories extends your life. Now I can definitely hold a pie in one hand, but I don't think that is what they meant.
I found that eating one person portions satisfied my hunger, but it returned sooner than I expected and I added a few meals a day to my regular 4 meal schedule. I still lost weight. Maybe this meandering will come in handy for someone out there. I know that people tend to start thinking about loosing weight in the spring, which is a good time to do it because you really don't need that winter fat to keep you warm anymore. Add that to the fact that the dreaded bathing suit weather is just around the corner and you get a big handful of motivation to go with you little hand fulls of food.
So now I'm wondering, who came up with the big gulp? Who invented the double cheese burger with bacon? Who decided that plates at a restaurant should be the size of a 50 gallon barrel top? And how did we all get tricked into thinking that is how we should eat?
It brings to mind a dear friend, who had traveled the world as the wife of a Ambassador of a large county. She was in the US after many years away, and commented on how easy it was to find food here. Any time of day or night she mused, all you have to do is hit the nearest quick stop and load up. She thought 24 hour diners were amazing and the selection at the grocery store was mind boggling, all of which we Americans take for granted. To her, it was easy to see why the obesity rates are so high here. She assured me that the whole world was not like that.
Thinking about loosing weight? Next time you look at your full plate, imagine you are a mouse, and eat what you need to feel full, because I can assure you, size matters.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I have an Idea...
I saw an article recently that was describing a recent poll that found only about 40% of Americans live in the area that they really want to live in. ONLY 40% of people live where they want to! This I find appalling. And considering I'm one of the 60% who do not live where they want to, it's even worse.
I won't go through the whole long story , suffice to say I moved to a place that does not suite me so well, thinking it would be a short stay. I'm still thinking it will be a short stay, but in the meantime, it's a challenge. It turns out, I'm not alone. 60% of people, either by choice or unfortunate incident- or sheer luck of the birth, are sweltering in the Florida heat when they would be happier in the cool rocky mountains, are shoveling snow when they would rather be sweeping sand, are crowded by trees when they would rather be in the wide open desert, or maybe they are choked by the activity in a large city, when they would be happier in a small town, or they are dying of boredom in a small town when they would flourish in the big city.
No wonder then, that we have so much crime, so much violence, so much escapist activity going on here. No wonder there are so many people finding relief through drugs, alcohol, tobacco and TV.
I have an idea, I think it might help. Right now the government wants to throw some money at all our problems. Right now a lot of people are out of work. I think they should give relocation relief money to anyone who applies.
Let each person decide where they want to live based on their own criteria for what makes them happy, rather then where they can get a job, or where their family settled 3 generations ago, or where they went to college and never had the means to move away from. Let each person decide where they want to live, and help them move there before we start throwing money at work programs. Once everyone shuffles around to their ideal location, the face of the country is going to look much different. Some places may gain a lot of population, some may loose. Once we see the results of this stirring of the melting pot, we can decide where to use the relief money to create more jobs, based on the new demographics.
I suggest this because if we just start creating jobs with out asking people where they want to live, we are going to end up with a lot of people moving to get employment, and possibly a lot of people moving to places they would not be happy. Ultimately, that is going to add to our demise as a nation. I just think we should do it the other way around, let people decide where they want to live, then make work for them. The happiness this creates could reverberate through generations.
I wonder, if we all lived in the area we think we would be most comfortable in, what would our culture look like. Would some of our problems go away? Would we be less inclined to indulge in unhappy behavior like addictions? I think so. Now, don't get me wrong, some people will just take their problems along with them, and some people will never be happy, no matter where they are. I do think though, that waking up, looking out the window and seeing landscape you love, or a town that fits you goes a long way in making a person feel good about themselves, and their life. And I do think, as a nation, and for the mental health and happiness of individuals, that is just what we need right now. A lot of people waking up feeling good about themselves, going about their new jobs in a environment that makes them feel buoyant every time they look out the window or step out the door.
I won't go through the whole long story , suffice to say I moved to a place that does not suite me so well, thinking it would be a short stay. I'm still thinking it will be a short stay, but in the meantime, it's a challenge. It turns out, I'm not alone. 60% of people, either by choice or unfortunate incident- or sheer luck of the birth, are sweltering in the Florida heat when they would be happier in the cool rocky mountains, are shoveling snow when they would rather be sweeping sand, are crowded by trees when they would rather be in the wide open desert, or maybe they are choked by the activity in a large city, when they would be happier in a small town, or they are dying of boredom in a small town when they would flourish in the big city.
No wonder then, that we have so much crime, so much violence, so much escapist activity going on here. No wonder there are so many people finding relief through drugs, alcohol, tobacco and TV.
I have an idea, I think it might help. Right now the government wants to throw some money at all our problems. Right now a lot of people are out of work. I think they should give relocation relief money to anyone who applies.
Let each person decide where they want to live based on their own criteria for what makes them happy, rather then where they can get a job, or where their family settled 3 generations ago, or where they went to college and never had the means to move away from. Let each person decide where they want to live, and help them move there before we start throwing money at work programs. Once everyone shuffles around to their ideal location, the face of the country is going to look much different. Some places may gain a lot of population, some may loose. Once we see the results of this stirring of the melting pot, we can decide where to use the relief money to create more jobs, based on the new demographics.
I suggest this because if we just start creating jobs with out asking people where they want to live, we are going to end up with a lot of people moving to get employment, and possibly a lot of people moving to places they would not be happy. Ultimately, that is going to add to our demise as a nation. I just think we should do it the other way around, let people decide where they want to live, then make work for them. The happiness this creates could reverberate through generations.
I wonder, if we all lived in the area we think we would be most comfortable in, what would our culture look like. Would some of our problems go away? Would we be less inclined to indulge in unhappy behavior like addictions? I think so. Now, don't get me wrong, some people will just take their problems along with them, and some people will never be happy, no matter where they are. I do think though, that waking up, looking out the window and seeing landscape you love, or a town that fits you goes a long way in making a person feel good about themselves, and their life. And I do think, as a nation, and for the mental health and happiness of individuals, that is just what we need right now. A lot of people waking up feeling good about themselves, going about their new jobs in a environment that makes them feel buoyant every time they look out the window or step out the door.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Your Brain in a Nutshell
On Tuesday November 18th I was musing on the idea of being able to catch non-productive or unhealthy thoughts as they arise and realize them for what they are and let them go. How do we do this is the question I posed. Well, I’ve been doing a little research on that very topic so I can enlighten you while you waste your boss’s time reading blogs and having that extra cup of coffee before you really get to work.
I picked up this fascinating book called “Train Your Mind Change Your Brain” by Sharon Begley (with a foreword by His Holiness The Dalai Lama). This book is touted as a “groundbreaking collaboration between neuroscience and Buddhism”. Before I go any further I should warn you that I think physics textbooks are entertaining. I also think scientific experiments are engaging. I love to learn how people learn about all kinds of interesting things.
I’m about half way through the book now, and it’s all about the ways that the brain can grow and change, even after your body is fully grown. It’s called brain plasticity, and it’s all the rage among neuroscientists, even though just a few years ago the concept of brain plasticity was laughed right out of all the best scientific journals. This is a good example of how narrow minded science can be, the people who are supposed to be discovering new things often don’t even want to talk about new things!
Previously it was thought that you are born with a bunch of brain cells, you grow a bunch more when you are a baby learning all kinds of new things, you start to loose brain cells when you become an adolescent (maybe they are transformed into excess hormones), and this loss continues through young adulthood (accelerated greatly by your choice of recreational chemicals), and speeds up as you age until you eventually die with a shriveled up brain the size of a walnut.
Now however, it has been proven that this is not true! No, science has traveled into the unknown to prove that you only loose all those brain cells if you don’t take care of them, nourish them and invite them to grow.
Now I’m not going to tell you the whole story, read the book if you want that, but I will tell you there are dozens of experiments detailed so the reader sees the progression of one theory to the next and the amazing discoveries that first led researchers to imagine the brain was actually adjusting its cells, functions and usage, based on the persons activities.
I will throw this little bit of information out at you: voluntary exercise on a regular basis makes your brain grow. Bad news for couch potatoes I know. And I say voluntary because the experiment looked at brains of mice who exercised for fun (turns out mice love to run on those little wheels you see in gerbil cages), and brains of mice who were forced to exercise ( picture a white coated lab tech holding a mouse at gun point and forcing it to lift weights) actually, that is not how they did it, I won’t go into the details, but bottom line, the voluntary mice grew to be much smarter.
Now skip ahead to the part on applications for humans and we find that people with obsessive compulsive disorders can be trained to watch their thoughts as the compulsions come and rationalize what these thoughts mean, and how they arise from a chemical imbalance rather than being an intrinsic part of the person and sure enough, after they practice for a while, the obsessive behavior patterns lessen and disappear.
So dear readers, this takes us right back where we started. When you are in a situation that causes thoughts of anger or anxiety to arise, if you try to look at the thoughts and analyze them before you react, your brain will actually learn from what you just did, add more brain function resources to repeating this task in the future, and make it easier for you to do this again.
See? You are not alone! Your brain is helping you! You can learn to think before you react. You can become the type of person who is able to react with compassion rather than anger. You can learn to put that wave of anxiety to bed and think calm healing thoughts even when the going is rough.
Now, I’m sure as I get further into that book I will learn lots of tid-bits about how the process is actually done, but for now, I will just share how I think it might be done.
Next time someone you know acts like an ass and you start to get mad- catch the mad feeling. Stop for a moment and ask yourself what am I feeling? Acknowledge your feelings, then ask yourself if you can imagine any reason that person might be acting like such an ass.
Maybe they had a worse day then the one you are having. Maybe someone they know died, or left them, or is in the hospital, or is missing. Maybe they got fired, divorced or a speeding ticket on the way to work. Maybe they are hungry, hung over or really mentally unstable. Maybe they are all kinds of bad things you can imagine.
Now, this does not excuse them, but it does give you an opportunity to say to yourself- I’m glad I’m not like that. I’m glad I don’t have any of those horrible imagined problems they have. I’m gonna shine that on. I’m not taking the bait. I feel sorry for that ass. They must be having way bigger problems than I have. (if nothing else they have a big problem because they are such an ass no one likes them), Than you can ignore their assy-ness, or ask them if they are OK, or maybe even ask if here is some way you can help them because they are obviously having a bad day.
The same steps can be used for anxiety. When you feel it coming on – Like the Obsessive Compulsion disorder patients,( which, by the way, OCD is an anxiety problem,) you can say to your self- I’m feeling anxiety. This situation is a real ass, but it won’t help for me to be an ass back. Let me just calm down. This situation will soon change. (here’s where that Buddhist concept of impermanence comes in real handy), If I just remain calm and take steps to peacefully resolve this situation things are going to change. My anxiety does not change any thing, things just change.
Now, according to this research I’ve reviewed, if you just keep practicing this over and over it will become easier. From the looks of the news headlines, you may be getting a lot of practice, and this skill is going to become very valuable in the coming months.
I picked up this fascinating book called “Train Your Mind Change Your Brain” by Sharon Begley (with a foreword by His Holiness The Dalai Lama). This book is touted as a “groundbreaking collaboration between neuroscience and Buddhism”. Before I go any further I should warn you that I think physics textbooks are entertaining. I also think scientific experiments are engaging. I love to learn how people learn about all kinds of interesting things.
I’m about half way through the book now, and it’s all about the ways that the brain can grow and change, even after your body is fully grown. It’s called brain plasticity, and it’s all the rage among neuroscientists, even though just a few years ago the concept of brain plasticity was laughed right out of all the best scientific journals. This is a good example of how narrow minded science can be, the people who are supposed to be discovering new things often don’t even want to talk about new things!
Previously it was thought that you are born with a bunch of brain cells, you grow a bunch more when you are a baby learning all kinds of new things, you start to loose brain cells when you become an adolescent (maybe they are transformed into excess hormones), and this loss continues through young adulthood (accelerated greatly by your choice of recreational chemicals), and speeds up as you age until you eventually die with a shriveled up brain the size of a walnut.
Now however, it has been proven that this is not true! No, science has traveled into the unknown to prove that you only loose all those brain cells if you don’t take care of them, nourish them and invite them to grow.
Now I’m not going to tell you the whole story, read the book if you want that, but I will tell you there are dozens of experiments detailed so the reader sees the progression of one theory to the next and the amazing discoveries that first led researchers to imagine the brain was actually adjusting its cells, functions and usage, based on the persons activities.
I will throw this little bit of information out at you: voluntary exercise on a regular basis makes your brain grow. Bad news for couch potatoes I know. And I say voluntary because the experiment looked at brains of mice who exercised for fun (turns out mice love to run on those little wheels you see in gerbil cages), and brains of mice who were forced to exercise ( picture a white coated lab tech holding a mouse at gun point and forcing it to lift weights) actually, that is not how they did it, I won’t go into the details, but bottom line, the voluntary mice grew to be much smarter.
Now skip ahead to the part on applications for humans and we find that people with obsessive compulsive disorders can be trained to watch their thoughts as the compulsions come and rationalize what these thoughts mean, and how they arise from a chemical imbalance rather than being an intrinsic part of the person and sure enough, after they practice for a while, the obsessive behavior patterns lessen and disappear.
So dear readers, this takes us right back where we started. When you are in a situation that causes thoughts of anger or anxiety to arise, if you try to look at the thoughts and analyze them before you react, your brain will actually learn from what you just did, add more brain function resources to repeating this task in the future, and make it easier for you to do this again.
See? You are not alone! Your brain is helping you! You can learn to think before you react. You can become the type of person who is able to react with compassion rather than anger. You can learn to put that wave of anxiety to bed and think calm healing thoughts even when the going is rough.
Now, I’m sure as I get further into that book I will learn lots of tid-bits about how the process is actually done, but for now, I will just share how I think it might be done.
Next time someone you know acts like an ass and you start to get mad- catch the mad feeling. Stop for a moment and ask yourself what am I feeling? Acknowledge your feelings, then ask yourself if you can imagine any reason that person might be acting like such an ass.
Maybe they had a worse day then the one you are having. Maybe someone they know died, or left them, or is in the hospital, or is missing. Maybe they got fired, divorced or a speeding ticket on the way to work. Maybe they are hungry, hung over or really mentally unstable. Maybe they are all kinds of bad things you can imagine.
Now, this does not excuse them, but it does give you an opportunity to say to yourself- I’m glad I’m not like that. I’m glad I don’t have any of those horrible imagined problems they have. I’m gonna shine that on. I’m not taking the bait. I feel sorry for that ass. They must be having way bigger problems than I have. (if nothing else they have a big problem because they are such an ass no one likes them), Than you can ignore their assy-ness, or ask them if they are OK, or maybe even ask if here is some way you can help them because they are obviously having a bad day.
The same steps can be used for anxiety. When you feel it coming on – Like the Obsessive Compulsion disorder patients,( which, by the way, OCD is an anxiety problem,) you can say to your self- I’m feeling anxiety. This situation is a real ass, but it won’t help for me to be an ass back. Let me just calm down. This situation will soon change. (here’s where that Buddhist concept of impermanence comes in real handy), If I just remain calm and take steps to peacefully resolve this situation things are going to change. My anxiety does not change any thing, things just change.
Now, according to this research I’ve reviewed, if you just keep practicing this over and over it will become easier. From the looks of the news headlines, you may be getting a lot of practice, and this skill is going to become very valuable in the coming months.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Challenged to Do Nothing
Ok, it's the end of the weekend and I have to share with you what I spent the weekend doing. Nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, but no work. Now, If you have been reading like a regular you know I spent July 4th weekend sitting and trying to reclaiming my own rhythm. This weekend I tried another experiment. What if I did just nothing all weekend? How would it feel? Could I do it? Would the world end if I didn't get anything done? Would my job suffer if I didn't do any work?
This experiment turned out to be much more difficult than I thought it would be. For those of you who know me, you know I have been self employed for what, almost 20 years? Yes, just about that and during that time I have spent at least a few hours almost every weekend doing something work related. I know, it's really sick, but I'm just trying to get over this illness now. It's hard for me not to think about the files that should be notated, the deposits to make out, the advertising to renew, the up coming challenges of business in today's economy. It's difficult for me to set it all aside and just have a weekend. But hey, I'm determined and you know, when I get something in my head I'm going for it.
Any-hoo, I didn't do diddley squat this weekend. I "frittered" away my time, but I had to really concentrate to accomplish that. I had to be ever vigilant because my natural instinct is to do. I'm just learning to be.
I sat in the sun and listened to Eric Clapton, increasing my tan lines. I went to a classic boat show with a friend and her two adorable boys. I sat reading a novel. I played with the computer, searching things like crop circles and stone rings in Miami and ancient maps that show the new world, made before the new world was discovered. I got on youtube and watched Chris Griscom and Marianne Williamson.
I played with the cats. I experimented with some line drawings for a kids book I'm working on. I rode my bike, a new distance record for me, really it's not that far, just a few miles but farther than I had been riding! I polished my toe nails and went to margaritaville. I sat and watched the cats sleep. I sat and watched the clouds roll by. I sat and watched the breeze flutter the leaves of my grape vines. I sat.
I didn't do a darn thing that was work related all weekend. Hurray! I did it! It was a challenge, my mind kept going to what "needed to be done" and I kept saying "not right now, I'm doing nothing". I had to keep reminding myself that I was suppose to be a slacker all weekend. That it was OK to be lazy, after all, it was the weekend. In our culture, the weekend is time off, right?
I hope you had a weekend full of a whole lotta nothing. The world will not stop spinning if I take time to just relax and make some time for me. Thank Heavens! Same for you.
This experiment turned out to be much more difficult than I thought it would be. For those of you who know me, you know I have been self employed for what, almost 20 years? Yes, just about that and during that time I have spent at least a few hours almost every weekend doing something work related. I know, it's really sick, but I'm just trying to get over this illness now. It's hard for me not to think about the files that should be notated, the deposits to make out, the advertising to renew, the up coming challenges of business in today's economy. It's difficult for me to set it all aside and just have a weekend. But hey, I'm determined and you know, when I get something in my head I'm going for it.
Any-hoo, I didn't do diddley squat this weekend. I "frittered" away my time, but I had to really concentrate to accomplish that. I had to be ever vigilant because my natural instinct is to do. I'm just learning to be.
I sat in the sun and listened to Eric Clapton, increasing my tan lines. I went to a classic boat show with a friend and her two adorable boys. I sat reading a novel. I played with the computer, searching things like crop circles and stone rings in Miami and ancient maps that show the new world, made before the new world was discovered. I got on youtube and watched Chris Griscom and Marianne Williamson.
I played with the cats. I experimented with some line drawings for a kids book I'm working on. I rode my bike, a new distance record for me, really it's not that far, just a few miles but farther than I had been riding! I polished my toe nails and went to margaritaville. I sat and watched the cats sleep. I sat and watched the clouds roll by. I sat and watched the breeze flutter the leaves of my grape vines. I sat.
I didn't do a darn thing that was work related all weekend. Hurray! I did it! It was a challenge, my mind kept going to what "needed to be done" and I kept saying "not right now, I'm doing nothing". I had to keep reminding myself that I was suppose to be a slacker all weekend. That it was OK to be lazy, after all, it was the weekend. In our culture, the weekend is time off, right?
I hope you had a weekend full of a whole lotta nothing. The world will not stop spinning if I take time to just relax and make some time for me. Thank Heavens! Same for you.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Just Say No to Prescription Drugs
Last night I spent some time looking at a popular women's magazine. I like to take a look through one now and then, examining the ads to see what people are falling for, um, I mean consuming. It keeps me up to date on what my clients may be eating, drinking, buying and following as part of current popular culture.I also peruse a few other magazines on a regular basis, for the same reason. I want to know what my clients are thinking about.
This magazine had a full page ad on the dangers of teen agers taking prescription drugs for the purpose of getting high. The ad states that 19% of teens have abused prescription drugs to get high. Under the statistic screaming headline it says: Talk to your kids about how dangerous it can be.
The magazine is full of colorful two page layout highly attractive ads for prescription drugs. It has ads for all kinds of ailments and the drugs that are going to save you from these ailments. It has all kinds of photos of people looking all happy because their doctor prescribed some pills for them. This magazine touts the advantages of popping pills. Many of the ads use scare tactics. If you don't take this, you might die from this! In fact, you might be dieing right now! Go ask you doctor for this drug!
33% of those ads are for prescription drugs specifically for kids.
How crazy is that? Am I the only one confused by this? Does this magazine have a split personality? Is the average consumer that stupid? How do we expect kids to stay off drugs if we start giving them daily medications when they are just little kids?
Why are drug companies allowed to advertise like that? How much would consumers save on prescription drugs if the drug companies did not spend billions on advertising and you heard about drugs that you really did need only by speaking with your doctor?
This magazine had a full page ad on the dangers of teen agers taking prescription drugs for the purpose of getting high. The ad states that 19% of teens have abused prescription drugs to get high. Under the statistic screaming headline it says: Talk to your kids about how dangerous it can be.
The magazine is full of colorful two page layout highly attractive ads for prescription drugs. It has ads for all kinds of ailments and the drugs that are going to save you from these ailments. It has all kinds of photos of people looking all happy because their doctor prescribed some pills for them. This magazine touts the advantages of popping pills. Many of the ads use scare tactics. If you don't take this, you might die from this! In fact, you might be dieing right now! Go ask you doctor for this drug!
33% of those ads are for prescription drugs specifically for kids.
How crazy is that? Am I the only one confused by this? Does this magazine have a split personality? Is the average consumer that stupid? How do we expect kids to stay off drugs if we start giving them daily medications when they are just little kids?
Why are drug companies allowed to advertise like that? How much would consumers save on prescription drugs if the drug companies did not spend billions on advertising and you heard about drugs that you really did need only by speaking with your doctor?
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Marshall Tucker, Pooped Shrimp, and a Lot of Fine Wine.
I recently attended our local food festival. There is no doubt this town loves to eat, we have very high obesity rates here. People try to blame it on the winter weather but I know that’s just a load of crap. Come on people, just say no to eating like hogs and leave the weather out of it. These festivals are springing up all over the country, apparently we are not really obese enough as a nation, we have to add some more food. The object of the festival is to stand out in the sun, drink beer and wine, rub elbows with lots of strangers and eat, eat, eat.
I’ve been to such events in the past, and I hadn’t planned on attending this year, until I saw the entertainment line up- 37 vineyards represented in the wine tent and The Marshall Tucker Band headlining the stage events.
I called a friend and suggested we slide on down to catch Marshall Tucker, and try our luck at finding a local wine we had not already discovered. She agreed that after thirty years it might be interesting to see what Marshall Tucker was up to these days, and she enthusiastically agreed that the local vineyards could benefit from our expert opinions on their products.
We got there, found parking (Thank You God!) and found the event three times larger than it had been the last year. Besides twice as many food booths, a whole new section had been added. Vendors. Tents of hats and clothes and sunglasses and jewelry. Apparently when you are over eating and guzzling beer in the hot sun, you want to look good. It was a food festival for heaven’s sake, do we always have to be multi tasking? Do we have to shop too? Can’t we just eat?
We made our way to the wine tent and dug in because of course, we have our priorities straight. The lines were long, but a little polite elbowing and pushing and we managed to circle a few times drinking 237 thimble size samples of wine. We were soon one sheet short of three sheets to the wind. We tried white wines and red wines, sweet wines and dry wines, and even wines made of strange things like honey and raspberries. We finally made a landing at one winery that had some really fine semi-sweet whites and a few sweet grapy reds. We shelled out the big bucks for a couple of glasses of our favorites and wandered over to the food alley.
The food alley was packed. I mean sardine like packed. I was shocked, it was already after eight and nobody in this town eats after six, so I figured we were a shoe in for a short wait in any line we liked. But no-the whole town was on a carbohydrate bender. I searched high and low for any food that I could get in the next five minutes, (the wine made me hungry!) and finally settled on Polish food, which I guess, has a terrible reputation, because there was no line! It suited me just fine, I love good kraut and they had some tasty potato and egg pierogies that were not only vegetarian, but one of the few foods in sight that was not deep fried or barbecued black.
Meanwhile my friend, determined to get something called popped shrimp, (or was it pooped shrimp?) was being crushed in the swell of humanity floundering around in front of the shrimp booth. Apparently those shrimp are a popular item because there was a near riot when one of the booth’s employees hung a sign saying “sorry, no more popped (or was it pooped?) shrimp”. The Outrage! My poor friend and her 534 good friends in line had to settle for something a little more tame, just plain shrimp.
While my friend was still in line, still waiting for a few crumbs of what ever they had left, I began to take a closer survey of our surroundings. The wine tent stood where it had for the last few years, the food alley looked the same, only longer. I realized the main stage was not in sight. What the heck! Then I noticed the normal every- year-in- the- same- place line of porta potties was missing as well. Something was just not right here. This called for some investigation. I looked at the guy standing to my right in the crowd, shrimp in one hand, beer in the other, quickly alternating left, right, left, right, left right to his mouth. Sauce dribbled down his chin. I asked what the hell they did with the stage. He nodded up the street and continued his wolfing and guzzling.
My friend finally made her way back through the crowd. She looked like she had been front and center stage at a Van Halen concert. Believe me, I know, I’ve been there. Her hair was a mess, her clothing rumpled, her sunglasses crooked, her face flushed from the lack of oxygen. She was hunched over her little boat of shrimp, just trying to get someplace with enough elbow room to get shrimp from boat to mouth. Luckily she had left her wine glass with me when she entered the fray, I stood on the sidelines and managed not to spill a drop in spite of the pushing and shoving going on around me.
While she consumed her catch, I watched the crowd. I immediately noticed the lack of lipstick. At first I thought it was a fluke, maybe everyone had eaten so much their lips were faded. Then I looked closer, no, no that wasn’t it. Some of these ladies had no lipstick on, but many of them had lipstick the color of their lips. I was standing there wondering if I stood out like a lighthouse on a foggy coast, me with my bright red lipstick. Even the hookers were not wearing colorful lipstick. They were, however, wearing some really bright shoes, short skirts and miniaturized shirts. I came to the conclusion that this lack of lip color must be some odd cultural phenomena that I was uniquely unaware of.
Fed and watered, my friend informed me it was time to take our rightful place at the stage so we wandered through the crowd in the general direction of the afore nodded to new stage location. I informed my friend that the porta potties were missing. This brought an unexpected yelp of dismay and a string of cussing. Apparently she was in need. We agreed they had to be there somewhere, and began to diligently search in every nook and cranny of the crowded street. We tried the side streets, we tried behind the trucks, we tried behind the stage- oh! We found the stage! We wandered to and fro in vain and finally agreed, the porta potties were missing. Now normally, this would not have been a dire emergency, however, after consuming about a gallon of wine each, nature was calling.
We figured an emergency like this required expert help so we finally found a group of police officers standing around, hand on belts, scanning the crowd looking for purse snatchers, staggering drunks and all sorts of seedy characters. I approached and got their attention by yelling “I need help” in a high, off key, whiny, legs crossed voice. They snapped to attention, hands grabbing nightsticks and guns and handcuffs. “The porta potties, I yelled, someone has stolen the porta potties!”
Honestly, I was relieved by their bewildered looks. I knew if there had been a porta potty heist, they would have been informed already. They looked at each other, bewilderment turning to grins. I was visibly shaken and they seemed to find that funny, as they all, in perfect synchronization, pointed down the one street, off to the side, we had not checked. Right there, not a block where we all stood, was a row of porta potties so long it seemed to disappear into the night.
For the first time that evening, lady luck was with us. There were no lines. We finished our business and headed back to the stage area, threading ourselves through the crowd as far as we could go. It appeared that the food booths must have closed because every one of the estimated thirty thousand in the crowd was now right in front of the stage. Mt friend, who is on the short side, had a brilliant idea and suggested we go stand behind the lighting platform. There was a wide swath of open pavement there because the platform stood at about the height of the normal adult human.
Which I am. Which she is not. She was just the right height to stand tall and look under the platform which gave her a full, un-obscured view of the stage. About that time the band came on and I thought, what the heck, if I remember correctly, I’m gonna be dancing anyway. And dance I did. Those Marshall Tucker boys, even at their advanced ages, still had what it takes to get the crowd moving. They played a few old favorites, then they got down to some really fine jammin’.
They were tight, tuned and on the spot fantastic. If you get a chance to go see them this summer, go.
If you are old enough to remember when they were famous you will remember the pied piper flute playing that winds its way through many of their tunes and has the ability to take your mind away. My friend and I both fondly remembered times long ago, LP’s spinning, kicking back, sparking the LC, ( as I’m told is the current vernacular) and wasting away the afternoon listening to those Gainesville guys.
At one point I noticed a woman dancing in the crowd, tie died T-shirt, gray hair, granny glasses and Birkenstocks. She had to be 70. She had that far away look in her eyes of someone who never quit sparking the LC. She probably listened to them before they were famous. I watched a small group of hip-hopping gang bangers come up behind her and start dancing around, making fun of her. But ya know, it wasn’t long before they were caught up by the pied piper and in stead of making fun, they were just dancing away down the same path as that old woman.
The pied piper isn’t picky though; anyone with an open ear can hear the path and follow it off. The kids had to be all of 15 to 17 years old, and I bet they had never even heard of The Marshall Tucker Band before. I bet they didn’t know the band was named after a high school gym teacher the band members all disliked, although they might have appreciated that. I’m pretty sure they would have appreciated all the sparkin’ the LC that has occurred everywhere the pied piper has played.
That was my favorite scene from the whole day. I stood and watched as really good music made a bridge between two worlds.
The band quit way too early, on account of the town having a curfew for loud music. I was appalled that the curfew would apply to an event like this. Apparently it’s OK to be a glutton, drink in the streets, and shop ‘till you drop, but none of this dancing and listening to a loud band past
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Just What I Needed
Ah the universe - an amazing, responsive, pliable, stretchy, fibrous coat of energy that surrounds each of us with infinite possibility. I've heard it responds to our every thought.
I was thinking about my plot for a horror story (see last post) when I was called to speak to college students at a large university. The topic was alternative health care and it was encouraging to hear these youngsters talking about Barbara Brennan, (search amazon "Hands of Light") Reiki, Aromatherapy, chakras and all that. A fair share of them said they learned it from their mothers, the other half said they were from, or had lived in, California.
They all were pretty clear on the fact that the food should be natural, pharmaceutical drugs were not good and alternative healing is cool. Whew- maybe there is hope for us after all.
I was thinking about my plot for a horror story (see last post) when I was called to speak to college students at a large university. The topic was alternative health care and it was encouraging to hear these youngsters talking about Barbara Brennan, (search amazon "Hands of Light") Reiki, Aromatherapy, chakras and all that. A fair share of them said they learned it from their mothers, the other half said they were from, or had lived in, California.
They all were pretty clear on the fact that the food should be natural, pharmaceutical drugs were not good and alternative healing is cool. Whew- maybe there is hope for us after all.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
My Plot For a Horror Story
I drifted into the movie rental store yesterday. This is not something I do very often, as my local library carries a wide selection of slightly outdated but still excellent films. I ended up being a bit disappointed in the amount of horror and violence apparent in the selections available on the perimeter of the movie rental store. It has been a while since I rented and something seems to have changed. What happened to romantic comedy, family films, heroic adventure and film noir intrigue? Now we have guts, violence, guts, sex, and more guts.
There were way to many people on DVD covers screaming in anguish, cowering in fear and running for their lives. There were hideous monsters, horrible machines of torture and unidentified slimy things. There was way to much blood and random body parts being served up for our entertainment. I felt like I had to cross myself and next time I go in that store I’m wearing a garlic necklace. Who the heck is renting all this stuff and where are their parents while they are watching it? Who the heck is making all this stuff and how could they make a living like this and frankly, why would they want to? Haven’t they heard about that quantum theory that goes like this: You are what you eat- oh, wait , wrong one- this is it- Your life becomes like that which you focus your attention on.
After a close to complete circuit around the store I had zeroed in on two possible films for my evenings entertainment. There were a few others I thought might be good, and I made a mental note to check the library for them. Then I got to the A’s (I started with the Z’s) and my choice was clear. I ditched the romantic comedy starring nobody we know and the adventure starring nobody we know either.
I rented American Gangster, purely for aesthetic reasons, I mean Russell Crowe of course. Not that Denzel Washington is anyone to sneeze at, he was looking very fine too.
The story is a true one, about the corruption that comes with drugs and big money. The US military was flying heroin in from Asia during the Vietnam War. Yes, the US military! They stashed it in coffins along with our fallen soldiers, and you can’t tell me the brass didn’t know. The cops were protecting the drug kings, and in doing so earning their big money payola. People were dying right and left from these drugs but that didn’t seem to matter. Oh, except of course to the one good cop and his newly formed DEA buddies.
It just illustrates how large organizations can become involved in corruption, how the people who are suppose to be protecting you are not always doing that, what some people will do to protect their ass- ets, and how expendable people can be when there is a product like drugs that can make big money for some unsavory types.
I recommend the film, a little violent but very well done and full of aesthetic value.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on my own plot for a horror story. A what if, if you will. It’s been rolling around in my meandering mind for a few weeks now, growing and changing. Now, anyone who knows Stephen King is welcome to pass this on to him, I don’t care if he steals my idea and makes it a best seller because it sure would be nice to see the story in print.
The story goes like this:
What if there was, say, a country full of abundance, a population full of bliss who could afford many luxuries? What if they all seemed happily occupied by their jobs, homes, electronic gadgets. What if all looked normal on the surface but something was terribly wrong? Part of the horror is in the realization that what looks normal may not be. Like Invasion of The Body Snatchers- nobody was really sure who was real and who was a monster! The setting for the story is rather normal feeling. Just homes in a town in a state in a country where the “everyday normal” stuff is happening. It all looks so serene.
What if at a very young age, all the people were injected with something that they were told would keep them healthy, but in reality, made them start to get sick? What if their bodies were having bad reactions to the injections, but the reactions didn’t show up right away in most people, so there was no way to know? What if parents were told this was the way to protect their kids, and the “Evil Empire” made the stuff by the bazillions of doses so there was plenty to go around and people had money so they didn’t mind paying to protect their kids, in fact, they were happy to do it. The parents had no idea what was in the injections.
What if when the people got sick, they were convinced that another injection or pill or potion would make them well, so that’s what they did. There were all kinds of drugs available, always a new remedy to give the ever increasing sick population. People were eating multiple pills, multiple times a day, and were all happy because they thought it would keep them young, alive, well. Meanwhile the “Evil Empire” was making huge fortunes off the drugs sold to the happy population.
What if the people were being exploited and didn’t even know it? What if they were fooled into thinking everything was normal? Like in Soylent Green! Remember that movie? Soylent Green, which was set in 1999 by the way, depicted a society where nothing was as it seemed and people were a commodity. What they were eating was in fact, each other – Oh the horror!
What if, in my horror story, the whole happy-go-lucky population was being farmed? The Evil Empire has turned the whole society into a farm full of people they could make sick. The people who were being farmed and made ill, would pay to get something that was supposed to make them well. The people spent their whole lives toiling away in their abundant society just so they could pay to be well. They spent alarming amounts of time in the horror of illness, disease and symptoms created in their bodies intentionally by the “Evil Empire”- Oh the horror!
What if the body farm includes a prison with out a cell? A prison of trip after trip to small cubicle offices where “smart guys” poke and prod with instruments and then give the people pills to take, pills that get rid of one symptom but cause another, which necessitates another trip to the cubicle?
What if some other unsavory types, like food producers, wanted a piece of the action, and teamed up with the “Evil Empire”? What if they introduced the prosperous population to all kind of designer foods that were really sweet, bright colored, full of chemicals, foods that looked and tasted good? BUT- what if all that food did was increase the chance that the population was going to get sick and need more drugs from the big drug kingpin- I mean- “Evil Empire”?
What if the population became suspicious and insisted on someone to oversee the safety of the drugs and food? They design a regulatory body to ease their minds and protect them from harm. What if the population doesn’t know that the regulatory body is on the take! Gasp – oh the horror! The regulatory body is protecting the Evil Empire and in doing so, they get their payola! They make huge amounts of money! They become rich and powerful!
I know, it all sounds far fetched, but doesn’t it make a good horror story?
Think of the horror as parents watch their children become introverted and silent after an injection, the horror of having a child born with no arms-just hands stuck to shoulders, waving in the breeze like five fingered wings, after the parent took a drug to stop the nausea of pregnancy. Think of the children being drugged as young as a few years old, and the horror of the parents when they find the number one side effect of this drug they have given their child is, in fact, suicide. Think of the horror of the parents when they find that a drug they gave their child so he could breathe better had turned his bones into spongy soft sticks that break all the time.
Think of the horror of masses of people with hearts that don’t work right, extreme body fat, blood sugar problems, breathing problems, sleep problems, attention problems, arthritis, pain, pain and more pain! They are trapped into being dependent on the “Evil Empire” and they don’t even know it! Think of the horror of a population of people getting old, but they can not die because the “Evil Empire” keeps feeding them stuff to keep them alive- but not well. As long as they are alive and sick, they are cash cows for the “Evil Empire”.
Most horror stories have an underdog- so in my story that would be the few people who figured the whole scheme out and refused to take part. They didn’t get the injections, they didn’t go to the cubicles, they didn’t take the pills, and they didn’t eat the foods that were enhanced. They, of course, were shunned and lived as outcasts on the edge of society. The “Evil Empire” said they were crazy, and most of the population believed it. They would pass their truth on to those who might listen, but few listened. They had to be careful what they did and said so the regulatory body would not hunt them down and stone them to death or shoot them in the head, which is what happened to the people in that other movie based on a true story, “The Constant Gardener”.
My God! I have an imagination don’t I? Scary isn’t it?
There were way to many people on DVD covers screaming in anguish, cowering in fear and running for their lives. There were hideous monsters, horrible machines of torture and unidentified slimy things. There was way to much blood and random body parts being served up for our entertainment. I felt like I had to cross myself and next time I go in that store I’m wearing a garlic necklace. Who the heck is renting all this stuff and where are their parents while they are watching it? Who the heck is making all this stuff and how could they make a living like this and frankly, why would they want to? Haven’t they heard about that quantum theory that goes like this: You are what you eat- oh, wait , wrong one- this is it- Your life becomes like that which you focus your attention on.
After a close to complete circuit around the store I had zeroed in on two possible films for my evenings entertainment. There were a few others I thought might be good, and I made a mental note to check the library for them. Then I got to the A’s (I started with the Z’s) and my choice was clear. I ditched the romantic comedy starring nobody we know and the adventure starring nobody we know either.
I rented American Gangster, purely for aesthetic reasons, I mean Russell Crowe of course. Not that Denzel Washington is anyone to sneeze at, he was looking very fine too.
The story is a true one, about the corruption that comes with drugs and big money. The US military was flying heroin in from Asia during the Vietnam War. Yes, the US military! They stashed it in coffins along with our fallen soldiers, and you can’t tell me the brass didn’t know. The cops were protecting the drug kings, and in doing so earning their big money payola. People were dying right and left from these drugs but that didn’t seem to matter. Oh, except of course to the one good cop and his newly formed DEA buddies.
It just illustrates how large organizations can become involved in corruption, how the people who are suppose to be protecting you are not always doing that, what some people will do to protect their ass- ets, and how expendable people can be when there is a product like drugs that can make big money for some unsavory types.
I recommend the film, a little violent but very well done and full of aesthetic value.
Meanwhile, I’ve been working on my own plot for a horror story. A what if, if you will. It’s been rolling around in my meandering mind for a few weeks now, growing and changing. Now, anyone who knows Stephen King is welcome to pass this on to him, I don’t care if he steals my idea and makes it a best seller because it sure would be nice to see the story in print.
The story goes like this:
What if there was, say, a country full of abundance, a population full of bliss who could afford many luxuries? What if they all seemed happily occupied by their jobs, homes, electronic gadgets. What if all looked normal on the surface but something was terribly wrong? Part of the horror is in the realization that what looks normal may not be. Like Invasion of The Body Snatchers- nobody was really sure who was real and who was a monster! The setting for the story is rather normal feeling. Just homes in a town in a state in a country where the “everyday normal” stuff is happening. It all looks so serene.
What if at a very young age, all the people were injected with something that they were told would keep them healthy, but in reality, made them start to get sick? What if their bodies were having bad reactions to the injections, but the reactions didn’t show up right away in most people, so there was no way to know? What if parents were told this was the way to protect their kids, and the “Evil Empire” made the stuff by the bazillions of doses so there was plenty to go around and people had money so they didn’t mind paying to protect their kids, in fact, they were happy to do it. The parents had no idea what was in the injections.
What if when the people got sick, they were convinced that another injection or pill or potion would make them well, so that’s what they did. There were all kinds of drugs available, always a new remedy to give the ever increasing sick population. People were eating multiple pills, multiple times a day, and were all happy because they thought it would keep them young, alive, well. Meanwhile the “Evil Empire” was making huge fortunes off the drugs sold to the happy population.
What if the people were being exploited and didn’t even know it? What if they were fooled into thinking everything was normal? Like in Soylent Green! Remember that movie? Soylent Green, which was set in 1999 by the way, depicted a society where nothing was as it seemed and people were a commodity. What they were eating was in fact, each other – Oh the horror!
What if, in my horror story, the whole happy-go-lucky population was being farmed? The Evil Empire has turned the whole society into a farm full of people they could make sick. The people who were being farmed and made ill, would pay to get something that was supposed to make them well. The people spent their whole lives toiling away in their abundant society just so they could pay to be well. They spent alarming amounts of time in the horror of illness, disease and symptoms created in their bodies intentionally by the “Evil Empire”- Oh the horror!
What if the body farm includes a prison with out a cell? A prison of trip after trip to small cubicle offices where “smart guys” poke and prod with instruments and then give the people pills to take, pills that get rid of one symptom but cause another, which necessitates another trip to the cubicle?
What if some other unsavory types, like food producers, wanted a piece of the action, and teamed up with the “Evil Empire”? What if they introduced the prosperous population to all kind of designer foods that were really sweet, bright colored, full of chemicals, foods that looked and tasted good? BUT- what if all that food did was increase the chance that the population was going to get sick and need more drugs from the big drug kingpin- I mean- “Evil Empire”?
What if the population became suspicious and insisted on someone to oversee the safety of the drugs and food? They design a regulatory body to ease their minds and protect them from harm. What if the population doesn’t know that the regulatory body is on the take! Gasp – oh the horror! The regulatory body is protecting the Evil Empire and in doing so, they get their payola! They make huge amounts of money! They become rich and powerful!
I know, it all sounds far fetched, but doesn’t it make a good horror story?
Think of the horror as parents watch their children become introverted and silent after an injection, the horror of having a child born with no arms-just hands stuck to shoulders, waving in the breeze like five fingered wings, after the parent took a drug to stop the nausea of pregnancy. Think of the children being drugged as young as a few years old, and the horror of the parents when they find the number one side effect of this drug they have given their child is, in fact, suicide. Think of the horror of the parents when they find that a drug they gave their child so he could breathe better had turned his bones into spongy soft sticks that break all the time.
Think of the horror of masses of people with hearts that don’t work right, extreme body fat, blood sugar problems, breathing problems, sleep problems, attention problems, arthritis, pain, pain and more pain! They are trapped into being dependent on the “Evil Empire” and they don’t even know it! Think of the horror of a population of people getting old, but they can not die because the “Evil Empire” keeps feeding them stuff to keep them alive- but not well. As long as they are alive and sick, they are cash cows for the “Evil Empire”.
Most horror stories have an underdog- so in my story that would be the few people who figured the whole scheme out and refused to take part. They didn’t get the injections, they didn’t go to the cubicles, they didn’t take the pills, and they didn’t eat the foods that were enhanced. They, of course, were shunned and lived as outcasts on the edge of society. The “Evil Empire” said they were crazy, and most of the population believed it. They would pass their truth on to those who might listen, but few listened. They had to be careful what they did and said so the regulatory body would not hunt them down and stone them to death or shoot them in the head, which is what happened to the people in that other movie based on a true story, “The Constant Gardener”.
My God! I have an imagination don’t I? Scary isn’t it?
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Homeostasis- just another name for balance.
I’ve had a lot of responses to my article on death, most of them going to my e-mail rather than the comment section.
Most of them have been questions like- is this fiction? No
Are you kidding? No
And I've had a bunch of comments like this: I thought you were so healthy!
Well I am! If I wasn’t we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.
I know you are brain washed by the medical profession, but really guys, what do you think being healthy is?
Don’t kid yourself- You have 9 gazillion cells in your body ( actually, it's aprox. 70 trillion cells). It’s a very complex system. Do you think it’s always running perfectly in a ”healthy” person? Nope, it's not. At any moment there are dozens of things going wrong.
To begin with, Your cells are constantly dieing, and your body replaces them. In fact, 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced each year, the stomach lining replaces its cells every 15 minutes, the heart replaces its cells every 120 days and 8 million red blood cells are produced by the bone marrow every second.
Add to that the fact that invading bacteria and viruses are constantly replicating, and your cells are killing them in a never ending battle. Cells are mutating constantly and your body is destroying them. Your blood pressure and temperature are fluctuating and your system brings them back to normal. You add to much acid to your stomach, and your body neutralizes it. Your genetic code predisposes you to all kinda health problems, and , as you age, more genes are damaged. It never ends, something is always going wrong in your body.
IF your body is achieving balance or homeostasis, it does so because it’s healthy. A healthy body is one that takes cues from it's environment, adapts to stress (biological stress is called illness or injury), and returns to normal. If your body is healthy you do not need to add chemicals (drugs) to achieve this return to homeostasis.
At this point, my mind meandered on to artificial intelligence, and the similarities.
We started thinking of AI as a model of biological systems, but, because most people now days understand computers better than their own body, we can turn it around and look at the way biological systems (our bodies) are like AI.
AI was meant to be a “thinking machine”. It would be able to take a certain amount of information from it's memory and from the environment and calculate from there. This process meant that the AI would learn and grow on its own, and remain in balance.
Now, the thing is, it seems to me that AI is modeled not so much after the human mind, but after the body. The body is constantly taking information from the environment, processing it and making adaptations with in its self to achieve balance, or homeostasis.
If your body is healthy, it does this, even in the most stressful situations. With out the use of chemicals. Take the common cold for example. You have a response to invading bacteria that includes a fever, runny nose, coughing and sneezing. All of these symptoms are ways that the body fights bacteria. If you are healthy your body exhibits all these symptoms, overcomes the bacteria, then returns to normal in a day or two. Or, if you are not healthy, you have to dose yourself with lots of over the counter drugs, you suppress the symptoms, and it takes you forever to get well.
When I was in the hospital, I refused all drugs. My body had a serious malfunction, and it regained balance on its own. That’s what I call very healthy. Health doesn't mean never being sick. Health means being able to regain homeostasis, even after incredible stress, with out outside intervention.
Now, I'm going to take even better care ( more exercise, more rest) of my body, so it remains healthy. I hope you do the same, so when a serious malfunction in your biological system occurs, you are healthy enough to regain homeostasis, just like I did.
Most of them have been questions like- is this fiction? No
Are you kidding? No
And I've had a bunch of comments like this: I thought you were so healthy!
Well I am! If I wasn’t we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.
I know you are brain washed by the medical profession, but really guys, what do you think being healthy is?
Don’t kid yourself- You have 9 gazillion cells in your body ( actually, it's aprox. 70 trillion cells). It’s a very complex system. Do you think it’s always running perfectly in a ”healthy” person? Nope, it's not. At any moment there are dozens of things going wrong.
To begin with, Your cells are constantly dieing, and your body replaces them. In fact, 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced each year, the stomach lining replaces its cells every 15 minutes, the heart replaces its cells every 120 days and 8 million red blood cells are produced by the bone marrow every second.
Add to that the fact that invading bacteria and viruses are constantly replicating, and your cells are killing them in a never ending battle. Cells are mutating constantly and your body is destroying them. Your blood pressure and temperature are fluctuating and your system brings them back to normal. You add to much acid to your stomach, and your body neutralizes it. Your genetic code predisposes you to all kinda health problems, and , as you age, more genes are damaged. It never ends, something is always going wrong in your body.
IF your body is achieving balance or homeostasis, it does so because it’s healthy. A healthy body is one that takes cues from it's environment, adapts to stress (biological stress is called illness or injury), and returns to normal. If your body is healthy you do not need to add chemicals (drugs) to achieve this return to homeostasis.
At this point, my mind meandered on to artificial intelligence, and the similarities.
We started thinking of AI as a model of biological systems, but, because most people now days understand computers better than their own body, we can turn it around and look at the way biological systems (our bodies) are like AI.
AI was meant to be a “thinking machine”. It would be able to take a certain amount of information from it's memory and from the environment and calculate from there. This process meant that the AI would learn and grow on its own, and remain in balance.
Now, the thing is, it seems to me that AI is modeled not so much after the human mind, but after the body. The body is constantly taking information from the environment, processing it and making adaptations with in its self to achieve balance, or homeostasis.
If your body is healthy, it does this, even in the most stressful situations. With out the use of chemicals. Take the common cold for example. You have a response to invading bacteria that includes a fever, runny nose, coughing and sneezing. All of these symptoms are ways that the body fights bacteria. If you are healthy your body exhibits all these symptoms, overcomes the bacteria, then returns to normal in a day or two. Or, if you are not healthy, you have to dose yourself with lots of over the counter drugs, you suppress the symptoms, and it takes you forever to get well.
When I was in the hospital, I refused all drugs. My body had a serious malfunction, and it regained balance on its own. That’s what I call very healthy. Health doesn't mean never being sick. Health means being able to regain homeostasis, even after incredible stress, with out outside intervention.
Now, I'm going to take even better care ( more exercise, more rest) of my body, so it remains healthy. I hope you do the same, so when a serious malfunction in your biological system occurs, you are healthy enough to regain homeostasis, just like I did.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Four Pawed Purring Turban
I think there are two types of people in the world, those who love cats and those who don't.
Just like there are two kinds of people when it comes to living in the southwest desert. there are those who arrive, are enchanted ( the light, the vastness, the colors!) and vow to never leave; and those who arrive, start to whine (there's no green, it's to hot, it's to dry, my wood furniture is cracking , I miss the rain, I found a 5 inch poisonous millipede in my bathtub. whine!) and can't wait for the economy to pick up "back east" so they can go home.
But I confess, I digress.
If you are one of those who have not yet been enchanted by cats, let me clue you in. Research shows cats heal! Yes, hallelujah, praise the lord and be healed.
Apparently someone asked these questions- why do cats ( from the big wild cats to the smallest domestic) purr when they are sick and injured? Aren't they only supposed to do this when content and relaxed? And then they set about figuring out why.
You can read the whole story here:
http://www.animalvoice.com/catpurrP.htm
In a nutshell folks it says that the frequency of a cats purr aids in tissue healing and increases lung function. This is not really that far out, I mean , for years the medical profession has been using electrical frequency to repair and build bone cells.
So the researchers took it one step further and asked, if the purr helps heal the cats injuries, can it heal someone who hears the cat purr? The answer? Yes. So now you can buy a CD with the sound of a cat purring to listen to when you are sick or injured. Personally I would rather have my very own cat purring in my ear.
I was thinking of this as I lay in bed and listened to the cat who was wrapped around my head. Now, if you are a cat person you know it's not unusual to find a cat wrapped around your head. In fact, for years it was thought that a cat could steal your dreams by wrapping around your head, but I haven't found that to be true. Maybe it just allows them to listen in.
If you are not a cat person, it might seem a little odd to wake with a four pawed purring turban, but believe me it's worth every nip on the nose, lick on the eyeball and little paw in the ear. I've got no problem with picking a cat hair outta my eye lashes now and then, or waking up and finding my pillow is under the cat instead of my head. It's worth it to awake to the healing purr of a cat.
I always take a moment to just press my ear against him and listen. I let my mind find the vibrational frequency and my breath find the rhythm of his purr. I may not be sick or injured, but hey, a little healing vibe can't hurt, and it's a relaxing and comforting way to start the day.
So I was thinking, isn't this a really good, scientifically proven example of the way nature heals? Maybe those feline worshiping Egyptians were right after all, maybe cats do have incredible powers we haven't fully realized.
Even if you are not hep to the new age lingo and theories of energy and chakras and all that, I'm sure you have heard at least a whisper of what the new quantum physics tells us about this energy field we live in. There is energy all around us, and everything is connected, right? And maybe nature was designed or evolved to give us everything we need. We just have to listen.
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