Movie: Genetic Roulette

Posted on by
2

I have to confession to make. While I suspected that there were Bad Things about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), especially the food we eat, I never looked into the issue in any real detail. So when I cam across the website for the movie Genetic Roulette the other day, it caught my attention.

So imagine my surprise to find that the full length movie was available on-line!

We watched it the other night and were treated to a well assembled movie showcasing the basic information about GMOs, how government regulation (at least in this country) is non-existent, and the apparent effects of high-GMO diets on both lab animals and real read-blooded humans.

Let’s just say it’s not a pretty story. But it definitely makes you think harder about the rise of inflammatory related chronic diseases, food “allergies” and immune disorders.

Unsurprisingly, the advice that you walk away with is:

  1. don’t trust the government to keep our food supply healthy
  2. don’t trust big companies to keep our food supply healthy
  3. eat organic, whole, unprocessed and unmodified foods as much as possible

There are some pretty interesting parallels between the behavior changes humans (especially children) and animals when they’re on high-GMO diets (as many unknowingly are nowadays, thanks to a lack of regulation and labeling laws).

A few places in the film felt highly speculative (lacking good scientific basis), but the speakers did not use language which tried to trick us. I’m sure some of this is due to lack of information, funding, and research. But there’s clearly an element of wishful thinking (wanting to draw connections between various observations that haven’t really been tested yet). Thankfully, the majority of the film was on pretty solid ground and was definitely informative.

I definitely recommend watching it if you’re curious about GMOs and our country’s apparent resistance to regulate them in the least.  It may also be worth buying the full DVD to support the movie and get the other bits of bonus material that come with it. It looks like it contains more of the hard science and references.

After watching this film, you’ll come away with a new-found “respect” (and by respect, I mean disgust) for Monsanto and their influence on our government policy.

Homemade vs. Store Bought

Posted on by
Reply

We make the vast majority of our own food these days. I guess that makes us bad “consumers” but we’re generally trying to avoid store bought “processed” foods. When some people hear the term “processed foods” they wonder what that really means? Does it mean you can’t use machines to sort your apples and peaches? No, not really. Processed food is food that is made in a factory and includes a lot of ingredients that you’d never use in your own kitchen.

To get an easy comparison between homemade foods and their store-bought processed counterparts, check out Ingredient Overload: Store-Bought vs. Homemade. What you’ll see is that the factory-made “food” typically contains twice as many ingredients (often more). And, if you spend a few minutes and try to actually read the labels and identify the additives, you’ll realize that you don’t know what most of them are–let alone why they’re there.

Most of them are there to increase shelf-life and make food easier to transport. Some of them are there to artificially enhance the food’s flavor (either so you’ll eat more or to cover up the lack of flavor present without the additives).

Which would you prefer? Which is going to be healthier for you in the long run?

Opportunities to Learn for FREE!

Posted on by
Reply

An imporant healthy habit, as discussed in the Longevity Project, is lifelong learning.  Today there are several opportunities to pick up new skills and learn new subjects online.  Over the past year, Jeremy and I have found several resources to learn and actually receive a completion certificate from top universities for free.  Subjects include (but are not limited to) business, finance, nutrition, the sciences, engineering, programming, history, math and philosophy.

Check out the links below and see if there may be something worth your time. :-)

Coursera:  https://www.coursera.org/courses

MIT Open Courseware:  http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Deer Carnage, or Why You Need a Wire Fence

Posted on by
Reply

Having a garden in the Sierra foothills is an interesting give and take with Mother Nature. Consider the following:

  • we have abundant sunshine and warm days but little rain, so we need a drip irrigation system
  • the hills and pine trees make our yard very scenic, however it was a challenge to find some reasonably flat land with good sunlight for our garden
  • we have tons of wildlife, so bees readily find our crops and pollinate them, but there are deer out there every night wanting to eat our plants

That last point was driven home a bit over a month ago. I ventured down to the garden while Kathleen was out of town and immediately found something wasn’t quite right.

Deer Got The Fence

Yeah, the plastic “deer resistant” fence had been broken right near a post and at least one of our “furry friends” had managed to feat upon our plants.

Deer Chowed the Peppers

What was once a bunch of nicely growing pepper plants had become mere green sticks overnight.

Deer Eaten Berry Plants

And our previously amazing tomato forrest was quite leafless and barren down low. The berry plants looked even worse!

Needless to say, I spent some time patching it up that night and we were thankful they left most of the tomatoes in place. Given sufficient time, light, and water they had a good chance of recovering and continuing to produce.

The next day I picked up Kathleen from Nevada and, after arriving home, she headed down to the graden to see the damage for herself. And wouldn’t you know it? The deer had broken in again!

Clearly we needed to take things up a notch or two. So I orded three fifty foot rolls of the tallest wire fence that we could get at Lowe’s. Kathleen picked it up that afternoon and we installed it that night.

It’s been a bit over a month now and the garden has been deer-free. Many of the plants have recovered and some are even producing new fruit. As long as the cold nights hold off long enough, we still expect to have a pretty good (though not great) harvest this season.

Lesson learned: Deer will chew through plastic fence to get to your garden. Use wire fence. There a are a few more pictures available if you’re curious.

Paleo Friendly Thai Beef Soup Recipe

Posted on by
Reply

Tonight, we had an awesome Paleo friendly Thai beef soup. The recipe was inspired by our original Thai Chicken Soup Recipe and also the ingredients we have had on hand.  One of the key ingredients is our homemade beef broth which was made from the bones of the cows at Mourning Dove Ranch.  For weeks this summer, Jeremy has been making many batches of this fresh broth.  The aroma from this process has made both of us salivate as we think of grass-fed steaks!  Another inspiration has been the ingredients from our garden.  We are growing Thai basil, lemongrass and habanero in our grow camp.  Finally, the Paleo friendly part comes from our Swiss chard that we grew in the spring and the we preserved by blanching and freezing in early summer.  We tried Swiss chard in chicken soup and were struck by how the texture and taste of the chard seemed surprisingly similar to traditional noodles used in beef and chicken soups.  I knew we had an unbeatable combination to work with.

Ingredients include:

  • 2 lbs. stewing beef
  • 6 cups of homemade beef broth
  • 4 cups filtered water
  • 1 cup of frozen Swiss chard
  • 1 cup of chopped carrots
  • 1 cup of chopped celery
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 3 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
  • 1 cup Thai basil
  • 1 cup cilantro
  • 1/4 cup of minced lemongrass
  • 2 habanero minced
  • sea salt

Add the broth and water to a soup pot. Bring it to a simmer on the stove. Add the stewing beef. Let them cook for 20 minutes or so. Add celery and carrots.

In a pan, brown onion and garlic with coconut oil. Add the mixture to the soup.

Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes more. Stir occasionally. Add habenero, and lemongrass.  Add frozen chard.  Add sea salt to taste.

Serve this in large bowls. Add basil and cilantro.

We enjoyed the spices and heat of this modified Thai dish.  Try it tonight.

Book Review of The Luck Factor

Posted on by
3

Several weeks ago I found the book “The Luck Factor” on Jeremy’s bookshelf.  He mentioned that it was insightful so I decided to read it, curious about what it might say.

The author, Dr. Richard Wiseman, has formal training in psychology and magic.  His unconventional nature led him to study the subject of luck in a way nobody had before.

As with The Longevity Project, Wiseman conducts a series of interviews with thousands of people who consider themselves as lucky, unlucky or neutral.  From each set of interviews, he finds trends in participant stories and then hones in key trends among the habits, thinking, and behaviors of each of these groups.  In addition to in-person, phone and written interviews, he conducts experiments to check on the consistency of trends.  From this, he finds the key factors of luck.  They are:

  • Maximize your possible opportunities.  This can be done by extending your network and spontaneously starting discussions with new people anywhere you are.  Have a relaxed attitude about life.  Lucky people are open to new experiences.
  • Listen to your luck instinct.  Wiseman warns against attachments.  Lucky people see what is actually in front of them.  They live in the present and not the past.
  • Expect good fortune.  Lucky people continue to attempt to achieve their life goals even when the odds are stacked against them.  Failure doesn’t stop them.  Positive expectations motivate them to take control of their lives.  Lucky people expect their interactions with others to be positive.
  • Turn bad luck into good luck.  Lucky people see the silver lining and expect that things will work out.  They also tend to learn from their mistakes.

Also similar to the Longevity Project, readers can take quizzes to assess if they have the traits of a lucky or unlucky person.  Wiseman provides tips on which behaviors and thoughts the reader should change to potentially change their fortune.

This book was a quick read and provided helpful reminders on key behaviors that are lucky (and healthy).  Before reading this book, I thought of myself as neutral.  While reading the book, I realized I have many of the traits and behaviors of the lucky population (even if I haven’t won the lottery).  Upon reflection, I have been lucky.

My Latest Bood Test Results

Posted on by
2

After more than a year of eating a lower-carb, high fat and protein diet, I got a regular blood panel as part of my annual physical. And while I’m probably not going to post the report PDF that I got via email, I will quote the summary that came in the email.

- Your blood glucose (sugar) and electrolytes are normal, and your kidney function tests are all perfect.

- Your screening test for diabetes shows that your hemoglobin A1c (a measure of average blood sugar) is in a healthy range.

- Your lipid panel (a.k.a. cholesterol) results are good. In particular, your triglyceride level is excellent; your HDL (“good cholesterol”) is superb (the higher this number, the better); and your LDL (“bad cholesterol”) is in safe territory. (Considering your low risk for coronary heart disease and stroke, we’re happy with any LDL under 160.) Based on these results, you can wait until your next physical exam before getting rechecked.

I guess there’s something to this way of eating, huh? :-)

And what is “this way of eating” about? Well, I’m not as strict as many people, but I do avoid processed foods as much as possible (including most wheat products) and try to eat locally grown/raised whole foods as much as possible. I skip the sugar and sweet stuff as much as possible (the only exception being fresh fruits).

Of course, feel free to poke around our site and read more about it.

And, in case you forgot, Kathleen had good news on her blood tests too.

Dr. Oz Discusses Functional Medicine

Posted on by
Reply

Recently, I saw an episode on Dr. Oz that surprised me.  It discussed doctors who work in the area of functional medicine.

This episode surprised me since the show usually discusses unusual foods and treatments to alleviate specific aliments.  Instead of providing a clear picture of how to obtain and maintain good health (in general), it makes good health appear complicated and confusing.  In addition, it doesn’t help that the show’s sponsors sell sugar-laden cereals and other very unhealthy processed foods!  OK- enough of my griping about Dr. Oz.

Functional medicine has many similarities to holism philosophy and it is very different from conventional medicine.  Rather than treating the symptoms of disease, it seeks to find and treat the root causes.  The experts of functional medicine featured on the show cite malnutrition and toxicity as the two main culprits causing disease. In addition, the doctors iterated that “food is medicine”.  This is similar to Hippocrates famous quote: “Let thy food be thy medicine”.  They work with patients to optimize their diets to eliminate processed foods, sugar and carbohydrates and to integrate healthy fats and proteins.  The doctors work with patients to solve digestive problems that can inhibit the absorption of nutrients and expelling of toxins (also known as leaky gut).

Another significant distinction between these two types of medicine is that conventional medicine identifies patients as either sick or healthy.  Functional medicine treat health as a wider spectrum extending from optimal health to various levels of degraded health and then to sickness.

Finally, functional medicine views the body as one integrated system.  Conventional medicine treats organs seperately and are divided by medical specialties.

The following links from the Dr. Oz website provide additional information about this field:

 

Healthy Pickle Recipe

Posted on by
Reply

This summer, we are growing heirloom cucumbers known as lemon cucumbers.  As you might expect, they look like lemons but taste similar to traditional cucumbers.  We planted just one plant this year but now have dozens of these ready for picking.

As with other summer vegetables, they come in waves and do not last long in the fridge to eat with salads so I looked for ways to preserve them.  I found a wonderful and healthy pickle recipe in Nourishing Traditions that converts this summer vegetable into a healthy probiotic.  This recipe is also quick and easy to make.

Ingredients include:

  • 3 lemon cucumbers sliced with a 1/4 inch thick
  • 2 tablespoon of chopped fresh dill
  • 4 tablespoons of whey
  • 1 tablespoon of mustard seed
  • 1 cup of filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon of sea salt

A note on making whey:  Leave raw milk at room temperature for 1 to 4 days until milk solids separate from the semi-clear liquid (aka. whey).  Separate the whey from the milk solid by pouring the mixture through a cheese cloth.

In a bowl, add all ingredients.  Fold the mixture.  Then place in a clean wide mouth quart-sized jar.  Make sure that the vegetables are covered with fluid.  The fluid level should be one half of an inch from the top of the jar.  Close the jar lid tightly and let this sit at room temperature for 3 to 5 days.  Then move to the refrigerator for long term storage.

We have had the pickles by themselves and on top of grass-fed burgers.  We like the taste.  They have the taste of a dill pickle but are soft (not crisp like store-bought pickles).  You can use the same recipe to make pickles from other types of cucumbers (sliced or whole).

Enjoy!

Lembert Dome and Dog Lake

Posted on by
1

A few days ago, I decided to head back to Tioga Pass and hike Lembert Dome and Dog Lake.  I first did this hike when I was twelve years old and remembered hiking the last few hundred feet on a hot day in the middle of the summer.  I remembered the crisp blue sky and the whiteness of the dome but I forgot about the dramatic 360 degree panoramic view.

I first headed up to Lembert Dome from the Stables parking lot.  As with other hikes in the Tioga Pass area, there are wonderful mountain views as you climb.  The hike starts at about 8600 feet and climbs 900 feet.  As I hiked upwards, I saw several families with small kids.  This reminded me that this was a moderate hike.

The last part of the Dome hike is over the domes of granite.  It is steep but the granite is rough so it is easy to maintain traction.  The force and the whistling of the afternoon mountain winds are more noticeable at the top of the Dome.  Also, the winds and cloud cover helped keep temperatures comfortable.

The view from the top is one of the best in Yosemite National Park.  You can see an unobstructed 360 degree panoramic view.

That day, the weather was fair with both dissipating and building cumulus clouds.  Sometimes, Jeremy and I have been on top when there was thunderstorm activity off in the distance.  This was very beautiful, too.

On the way back to the Stables, I stopped by Dog Lake.  The water was calm and reflected the mountains in the background.