Saturday, March 31, 2012

Tonight at 8:30pm Earthhour..try it, great fun for the family


Dare the World to Save the Planet


We only have one planet. You can help protect it. Participate in the world’s largest single campaign for the planet: Earth Hour. It starts by turning off your lights for an hour at 8:30 pm on March 31, 2012 in a collective display of commitment to a better future for the planet. Think what can be achieved when we all come together for a common cause.





Friday, March 30, 2012

Write your own caption

Found this on the internet....not sure what to think, but a caption contest makes a ton of sense. The winner gets an autographed picture of said caption and a sample bag of Zack Woods Rejuvenation Tea..Contest ends 4/10/2012.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

How Factory Farmers Use the Media To Distort Reality and Make Them Look Good!

From Dr. Mercola (http://www.mercola.com/)
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/28/cafo-vs-organic-farm-environment.aspx?e_cid=20120328_DNL_art_2


Story at-a-glance


The Pork Producers Council has released a video that makes confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) look like idyllic family farms; in reality, these factories are among the most cruel, most polluting and most disease-ridden facilities on the planet

The vast majority of the nearly 66 million pigs raised for food in the United States are raised on CAFOs, where they are subject to mental and physical anguish, not to mention subject to incredibly unhealthy practices, like the administration of low-dose antibiotics and living in their own waste

People living near hog CAFOs are exposed to odorous emissions linked to decreased lung function, cardiovascular ailments, neurological problems, asthma, and premature death; drinking water is also often contaminated by animal waste runoff

Corporate-owned CAFOs have been highly promoted as the best way to produce food for the masses, but the only reason CAFOs are able to remain so "efficient" is because they substitute government-subsidized crops for pasture grazing; many small farms, however, produce their own forage without government assistance

To protect your health, the environment, and animal welfare, support the small family farms in your area, particularly organic farms that respect the laws of nature and use the relationships between animals, plants, insects, soil, water and habitat to create synergistic, ethical, self-supporting, non-polluting, GMO-free ecosystems

Ask Joel....

Joel,
It's green, does that mean it's OK to eat???

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Made from the best stuff on earth!!

Zack Wood Herb Farm
Rejuvenation Tea
Organically certified

Nettles, Peppermint leaf, Rasberry leaf,
Milky Oats, Lemon Balm, Calendula blossom

http://www.zackwoodherbs.com/


Simply the best herbal tea I have tried!

Monday, March 26, 2012

www.hungryforchange.tv


 





Important! Hungryforchange.tv is offering this full and FREE preview for a limited time!



Please tell everyone you know to watch this film in its entirety and be the first to see this new film featuring Dr Mercola! This Free Viewing Ends March 31, 2012!


By Dr. Mercola


Hungry for Change is a 90-minute film from the creators of Food Matters, the documentary that expertly showed the basics of how food is your true medicine and the key to good health.


Hungry for Change continues the story about how you can create vibrant health, abundant energy, and achieve your ideal body weight without dieting.

If you enjoyed Food Matters, you will love this important sequel, as the film's creators expose deceptive tactics the food industry employs, but would rather you not know about… ways they create products that actually CAUSE cravings and keep you coming back for more.


The film features bestselling authors and leading medical experts on the cutting edge of nutritional science, plus several powerful testimonials by individuals who know what it's like to be sick and overweight.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Great Brazilian style seafood stew!

Sopa De Mariscos

Serves 6

1 cup chopped clams in juice
3 Tbsp. olive oils
1 cup onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. ginger peeled and grated
1 jalapeño, seed and finely chopped
1½ lbs. cod or other whitefish, cut in 1 inch cubes
1 lb. large raw shrimp peeled cut in half
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 limes juiced
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 cups vegetable broth
1 14 oz. can light coconut milk
½ cup cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp.salt
- hot sauce to taste
- green scallions chopped, for garnish
2 limes cut into wedges

In a large stockpot over medium-low heat, add oil. Once hot, add onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeño, fish, shrimp, and clams and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until vegetables are cooked and fish is opaque. Add tomatoes with juice, lime juice, and penut butter and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add broth, coconut milk, cilantro, salt, and hot sauce to taste and cook for 6 minutes or heated through. Serve garnished with green onions and lime wedges.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Dog Eats Hamburger!

The Difference

by Andrei Codrescu

There is a new Burger King going up down the street and nobody cares. In a couple of days when it's finished everyone will think it's been there forever. It bugs me for six reasons.

Number one: They kill cows. Number two: The cows they kill graze on the site of murdered forests. Number three: The cows they kill that killed the forests are full of hormones. Number four: The hormone-full cows they kill that killed the forests are full of bad-for-your heart fat. Number five: The bad-for-your-heart hormone-full, forest-killing dead cows are wrapped in bad-for-the-earth plastic and number six: What the hell is a Burger King anyhow?

A burgher is traditionally and originally a tradesman who lived in a city, while a king is an aristocrat. Burghers and kings are traditional enemies, hence the phrase is absurd. I know "burger" is short for hamburger and "king" means nothing in America. Still it bugs me that bad-for-your-heart hormone-full forest-killing cows wrapped in bad-for-the-earth plastic are also linguistically unpalatable. Maybe you can live with that. I can't.

A friend of mine imagined a prison without bars, where you go in skinny and then they feed you so many burgers you can't go out the same door. Who needs bars? We've got Burger King.

I saw a dog the other day eating leftover burger in a parking lot behind another Burger King. Did he know he was eating a cow? Did he know he was eating something ten times bigger than he was? I asked him and he said he knew all that, but he ate it nonetheless because it was free. I then asked a man coming out why he ate at Burger King and he said that it was cheap. And then I heard someone say that the reason we treat animals so badly is because they don't have any money. We treat children badly for the same reason, though we don't eat them.

Perhaps the time has come for animals to get paid for what they do. Perhaps the time has come for us to eat our children. Or maybe we should just tear down the Burger Kings.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Rare bunny crushed to death by cameraman at German zoo

Rare bunny crushed to death by cameraman at German zoo

BERLIN (Reuters) - A fawn-colored baby rabbit tipped for fame in Germany as he was born without ears was accidentally trampled and killed by a cameraman who had come to a zoo to film him, German media reported this week.

I can't believe it. The rabbit was so sweet. It is a huge tragedy," zoo manager Uwe Dempewolf told Bild newspaper.

The rabbit, due to be named "Til", had hopped behind the cameraman during filming in his small hay-strewn stall at the zoo in Limbach-Oberfrohna, and was crushed as the cameraman took a step backwards.

Several German animals have become international celebrities in recent years, including polar bear Knut, who was hand-reared as a cub at Berlin Zoo, and Paul, an octopus who correctly predicted the results of each of Germany's World Cup soccer matches and accurately tipped Spain to beat the Netherlands in the final.

Til's death recalls that of another German star-in-the-making, a squirrel named "Cinderella", who died in 2005 after also being trampled on accidentally by a German television reporter.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Eating Canned Food Shown to be Linked to Heart Disease

Posted By Dr. Mercola March 15, 2012 (http://www.mercola.com/)

If you have high levels of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) in your urine, you may be at an increased risk of heart disease, according to new data from a long-running British health survey.


People who developed heart disease also tended to have higher urinary concentrations of BPA, a somber finding that, while not proof that BPA causes heart disease, raises serious questions about why the chemical is still being so widely used across the globe.

Does BPA Exposure Cause Heart Disease?

Much of the research on BPA -- the ubiquitous toxic chemical used in plastics, canned goods, dental sealants, paper money and more -- has involved animals, leading skeptics (usually those in the chemical industry) to say the effects may not necessarily be the same in humans.

Well this latest study involved humans, and the results still indicated that exposure to BPA may be correlated with an increased risk of heart disease.

Researchers noted the findings mirrored those found in other large health surveys:

"Associations between higher BPA exposure (reflected in higher urinary concentrations) and incident CAD [coronary artery disease] … over ten years of follow-up showed similar trends to previously reported cross-sectional findings in the more highly exposed NHANES respondents."

In the NHANES study, published in 2010, U.S. adults with the highest levels of BPA in their urine were more than twice as likely to develop coronary heart disease as those with the lowest levels.i Those researchers noted:

"Higher BPA exposure, reflected in higher urinary concentrations of BPA, is consistently associated with reported heart disease in the general adult population of the USA."

BPA is so pervasive that scientists have found that 95 percent of people tested have potentially dangerous levels of BPA in their bodies … and heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States. BPA is clearly not the only factor involved in heart disease, but given its widespread use – and the fact that it is even commonly found in the umbilical cords of babies in utero -- any negative impact it makes on human health could prove disastrous.

BPA Also Linked to Obesity, Insulin Resistance, Reproductive Problems …

BPA is an endocrine disrupter, which means it mimics or interferes with your body's hormones and "disrupts" your endocrine system. The glands of your endocrine system and the hormones they release are instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development, tissue function, metabolism, as well as sexual function and reproductive processes.

Some of the greatest concern surrounds early-life, in utero exposure to BPA, which can lead to chromosomal errors in your developing fetus, causing spontaneous miscarriages and genetic damage. But evidence is also very strong showing these chemicals are influencing adults and children, too, and leading to decreased sperm quality, early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles and ovarian dysfunction, cancer and heart disease, among numerous other health problems.

For instance, research has found that "higher BPA exposure is associated with general and central obesity in the general adult population of the United States,"ii while another study found that BPA is associated not only with generalized and abdominal obesity, but also with insulin resistance, which is an underlying factor in many chronic diseases.iii

Plastics are NOT the Only Route of Exposure to BPA …

Many people have stopped carrying plastic water bottles and using plastic utensils and food containers in order to avoid BPA. As public knowledge of BPA in plastics has grown, a slew of BPA-free plastics have also hit the market, making it easier to choose products that do not contain this toxin.

However, wise as it may be to limit your use of plastic products, this will not be enough to protect you from BPA's dangerous effects. BPA is found in the lining of nearly all canned foods and beverages, and it turns out this source of exposure could be increasing your BPA levels alarmingly. In one study, eating canned soup for five days increased study participants' urinary concentrations of BPA by more than 1,000% compared to eating freshly made soup.iv

The researchers believe canned goods may be an even more concerning source of exposure to BPA than plastics, and if the above finding that increased urinary levels of BPA are linked to heart disease are confirmed, it's logical to assume that eating canned goods could increase your risk of heart disease significantly because of the exposure to BPA!

As one of the world's highest production volume chemicals, BPA is incredibly common in food and drinks packaging, as well as in other places you probably wouldn't expect, like receipts. A study in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry found that of 13 thermal printing papers (the type often used for receipts) analyzed, 11 contained BPA.v Holding the paper for just 5 seconds was enough to transfer BPA onto a person's skin, and the amount of BPA transferred increased by about 10 times if the fingers were wet or greasy.

Handling paper currency is another likely route of exposure, as in a study published in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers analyzed paper currencies from 21 countries for the presence of BPA, and the chemical was detected in every sample.vi They also measured the transfer of BPA from thermal receipt paper to currency by placing the two together in a wallet for 24 hours. This dramatically increased the concentrations of BPA on the money, which again suggests that receipts are highly contaminated.

Is it Possible to Avoid Having Your Health Damaged by BPA?

BPA is all around us, that's true, but steps are slowly being made to phase out its use. BPA has been banned in baby bottles in Europe and the United States, for instance, and in response to consumer demand, some companies are also following suit.

It's important to make an effort to support the companies that have already removed BPA from their products, or those that offer products that never contained it (such as baby toys made from natural fabrics instead of plastic). If enough people refuse to buy BPA-containing goods, companies will have no choice but to get this toxin out of their products.

For information on companies that are making efforts to explore BPA-free packaging or have already begun phasing BPA out of their products altogether, see the report Seeking Safer Packaging: Ranking Packaged Food Companies on BPA by the environmentally oriented investment firm Green Century and As You Sow, a non-profit working toward increasing corporate social responsibility. Of course, it's also important to boycott the common sources of BPA that are still in production, such as:

•Canned foods and soda cans
•All BPA-containing plastics
•Certain tooth sealants
•Certain BPA-free plastics (which can contain similar endocrine-disrupting chemicals)
•Receipts and currency (while you can't "boycott" these, seek to limit or avoid carrying receipts in your wallet or purse, as it appears the chemical is transferring onto other surfaces it touches. It would also be wise to wash your hands after handling receipts and currency, and avoid handling them particularly if you've just put lotion or have any other greasy substance on your hands, as this may increase your exposure)

One final tip: certain "friendly bacteria" have the ability to break down BPA, as well as reduce your intestinal absorption of it.vii So one way to help protect yourself from the adverse effects of inevitable BPA exposure is by eating traditionally fermented foods, such as raw grass-fed organic kefir, organic fermented veggies, like sauerkraut or Kimchi, or taking a high-quality probiotic supplement.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Marrakesh Vegetable Curry

Yield 6 servings


Ingredients
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 medium eggplant, cubed
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 tablespoon sea salt
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup blanched almonds
1 zucchini, sliced
2 tablespoons raisins
1 cup orange juice
10 ounces spinach

Directions
1.In a large Dutch oven place sweet potato, eggplant, peppers, carrots, onion, and three tablespoons oil. Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes.
2.In a medium saucepan place 3 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and saute over medium heat for 3 minutes.
3.Pour garlic and spice mixture into the Dutch oven with vegetables in it. Add the garbanzo beans, almonds, zucchini, raisins, and orange juice. Simmer 20 minutes, covered.
4.Add spinach to pot and cook for 5 more minutes. Serve!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A simple yet powerful poem

10,000

Ten thousand flowers in spring,
the moon in autumn,

a cool breeze in summer,

snow in winter.



if your mind isn't clouded

by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.



-Wu Men

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Yeah it is...A great gluten free Hot Breakfast cereal!

Quinoa, Flax, and Chia Hot Breakfast Cereal

Serves 2
2 cups coconut water (or plain water)
1/3 cup chia seeds
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
2 Tbsp flax meal
2 Tbsp shredded coconut
Seasonal fruit, chopped almonds, and coconut milk, for serving (optional)

Bring coconut water to a boil in a saucepan. Add chia seeds and cook, covered, over low heat, 3 minutes. Stir in quinoa, flax, and coconut. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes more. Serve topped with fruit, almonds, and coconut milk, if desired.

Prep tip: Make a double batch in advance and combine all the dry ingredients in a container. When you go to prepare the cereal, add ¾ cup mixture to 2 cups boiling coconut or plain water.

Elizabeth Kaplan is the founder of The Pure Pantry, an allergen-free natural foods company that creates nutritious, great-tasting, and easy-to-use baking mixes. She is the author of Fresh from Elizabeth’s Kitchen: Gluten-free & Allergy-free Recipes. When she was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2002, and subsequently her children were diagnosed with severe food allergies and gluten intolerance, she focused her passion for the culinary arts on gluten-free cuisine. Elizabeth teaches cooking classes that help others transition to a gluten-free lifestyle, lectures on topics related to gluten intolerance, and writes a lifestyle blog in which she shares recipes, nutrition tips, entertaining and travel ideas, and her first-hand knowledge about raising children with food allergies. Her husband and three children all enjoy being her official taste testers for the recipes and products she creates.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Chickpea & Sweet Potato Croquettes

A recipe from a local supermarket, Big Y. A nice alternative and another use for the ever versatile Chickpea. By the way for those of you new to the JWE, the chickpea, garbanzo bean, ceci bean, sanagalu Indian pea, and bengal gram ARE ALL THE SAME THING (Although there are two varieties Desi and Bengali). Stop calling me in the middle of the night with this question...
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
coarse salt to taste
2 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and roughly chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded, membranes removed and minced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
ground black pepper to taste
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 egg
3 Tbsp. Garbanzo flour
1/4 cup olive oil, divided

Instructions:

In a large saucepan over medium heat, add sweet potatoes, garlic and enough water to cover by an inch. Season with some salt and bring to a gentle boil. Let boil for 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender; drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the potato cooking water. Return potatoes, garlic and reserved cooking liquid to the saucepan and mash with a potato masher until almost smooth; place in a large bowl. Add garbanzo beans, jalapeno, parsley, pepper, lime juice, egg and flour; mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Remove from refrigerator and shape mixture into 12 patties. Add 1 tablespoon oil to a large skillet and place over medium heat. Add 4 patties and cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until crisp and golden brown. Repeat with remaining oil and patties. Serve hot.

Monday, March 5, 2012

A new take on the circle of life.

Could it be that vegetables don't want us to eat them?

That they know without them we will  die faster and become their fertilizer?

I say fight back.

I gonna eat them in vast quantities, live longer, and watch them squirm!!!

Fight Back. Don't let the vegetables succeed in turning us into WORM food!!!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Recovering from Peak 8


Matt and I completed the Peak 8 challenge this morning. We jogged about 3/4 of a mile to a nice hill. We alternated running up 8 times for 30 seconds and walking down 8 times for 90 seconds. Hill was perfect. Took pretty much exactly the 30 seconds to climb it at a nice fast pace. How funny is it to try to count 8 trips when your brain is oxygen deprived!

Wasn't as dreadful as we expected, will definitely add it to the program two times a week. Probably do the hill once a week and bike for the other. I guess the track would work also.

The bonus was the dog did it with us.....he loved it! Interestingly it is how he runs on the trails with me. He will sniff around and hang back and then dash to catch up to me......ummmmm. He is a Peak 8 beast for sure! And he knows how to recover properly....as you can see!

Your Opportunity to Eliminate Genetically Engineered Foods from the U.S.

http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem man....

One thing YOU can do to help yourself, your family, your community, and our earth.

•Distribute WIDELY the Non-GMO Shopping Guide to help you identify and avoid foods with GMOs. Look for products (including organic products) that feature the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal to be sure that at-risk ingredients have been tested for GMO content. You can also download the free iPhone application that is available in the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications.


http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/

Engine 2 Mock Tuna Salad

As much as I avoid food knocking off other food...This recipe came from the Engine 2 diet featured at Whole Foods. I was amazed at how good it was despite calling itself "mock" tuna. In my book a food should be proud to be itself and not try to be that which it is not...Feel free to substitute or leave out any ingredients you choose. I ate mine on top of a kale slaw salad.

Servings: 4


Description:

Who knew mashed up chickpeas could taste just like tuna? It's amazing how this sandwich tastes like the real thing.. except with out the fish, mercury, cholesterol and preservatives... It's the healthiest and tastiest TuNo around!

Ingredients:
• 15 ounces chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 whole celery stalks
• 2 tbsp relish (dill pickle)
• Red onion chopped , to taste
• 2 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp vegan mayo (fat-free)
• ½ tsp kelp

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, mash chickpeas with a fork until coarse and no whole beans are left. Alternatively, pulse beans in a food processor a few times -- careful not to puree, and transfer to a mixing bowl. Shred celery with a cheese grater or pulse a few times in a food processor. Transfer to the mixing bowl and add remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. Add more vegan mayo and/or kelp as necessary or desired and black pepper to taste.

Use Nasoya's fat-free vegan mayo or use the fat-free homemade mayo recipe in my cookbook( the Engine 2 diet). Many low fat mayo's, such as Trader Joes brand, are also accidentally vegan but not fat-free. Chef's notes: 1 small dill pickle may be shredded or minced and used in place of the relish. You can also add a light squirt of lemon juice for added flavor.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

A little off topic ?

Question: Colonoscopy without ANY sedation. Anyone ever get it done that way?


Why? Would you ever do it that way again? How was the "discomfort"?

Answer: Yep. I've had five of those.


Actually, I've never had a colonoscopy with sedation. I guess here in Europe they always sedate you. In the US it was never offered to me as an option.

It's decidedly unpleasant, that's for sure. But on a discomfort scale, I wouldn't rate it as difficult as an unanesthetized dental procedure that causes pain. I'm pretty stoic about pain and discomfort. I know everyone experiences and reacts to it differently, and I'm sure you'll get some people reporting that they'd never do it again. But having been through five like this, I would describe a colonoscopy as being (except for a few moments here and there) extreme and unpleasant discomfort, rather than pain. Not as bad as I thought it would be.

Warning: I'm going to get a bit graphic here, in an attempt to answer the question thoroughly, so don't read it further you are squeamish about reading descriptions of unpleasant procedures...

The whole thing usually lasts no more than about ten minutes, I think, although I admit I wasn't ever watching the clock during the procedure. :P

The discomfort comes in the form of strong cramping. In order to get a clear view, they first need to inflate your colon with air. That feels like the most severe gas and bloating you've experienced, although the discomfort is somewhat more widespread than that. Rather than being localized, you experience that cramping sensation throughout the entire length of your large intestine.

For me, it is the kind of pain I can bear and— with a bit of determination— distance myself from. Unlike the throbbing pain you get from something like a wound, or the sudden sharp electrifying pain you might get from a dental procedure, being inflated like an inner tube is a deep cramping kind of pain. I know you can't relate to this, but I'd describe it as menstrual cramps on steroids. Getting through that part of it involved some fist-clenching and teeth-gritting at first. But once the initial big cramp and suprise diminishes, I found I was able to make myself relax some. That takes some mind-over-matter control, but as soon as I did it the cramping started coming and going in waves and was manageable.

It helps that you are laying on your side with your knees tucked up in fetal position while they are doing this. That's what you would most feel like doing in response to such a sensation.

The second part of the discomfort is a little different. It comes from them moving the flexible tube with the camera up along the length of your colon. On the straightaways you don't really feel much. It's more of a vauge, weird wiggling sensation inside your body. But your intestine contains quite a few hairpin turns. So when the device has to go around those sharp narrow corners you do feel it. Each one of those cause a sharper, more painlike cramp. But it doesn't last longer than a couple of seconds. If you have a good, caring doctor doing the procedure, they will tell you when they're coming up on one of those, so you know the cramp is coming. After the first one, know it will end quickly and that makes it fairly easy to get through.

Once they have the thing all the way up to the top, where your large intestine intersects with your small intestine, the worst is over. The way back down isn't bad at all. Plus, I think by that time, your mind and body has found a way to deal with the sensation. You are kind of getting used to the cramping and the bloated feeling, your innards aren't reacting as strongly to being invaded, and it's not all that bad. The main thing you want is for it to be over so they can deflate you again. That bloating is not a nice feeling.

Would I have it done without sedation again? I wouldn't have a problem with that. I probably wouldn't bother to ask for anesthetic if they didn't offer. I know what to expect now, and know I can bear it.

I think the most telling thing is that I didn't have any stronger cringe to the idea when I knew I had to have a second, third, or fourth one. It's no fun, and I of course kind of dreaded the appointment. But not to the point that the thought stresses me. I've been through much more painful procedures that I dread more, including cortisone shots in one of my wrist joints. I'd gladly trade one of those for several colonoscopies. And, although I've never been through the experience, from what people have described to me I am pretty sure that the average childbirth is more painful.

The second most telling thing is that, each time I've had to have one of these, I asked the doctor during the procedure if, when he was done, he'd let me take a look through the camera for myself to see what my insides look like. They always looked at me with incredulity when I requested that. I guess most people don't care to know. They also warned me that it would mean I'd have to bear the discomfort for a little longer. But it was worth it, I tell you! The inside of your colon is... yeah, you're going to think I'm nuts... well, it's actually quite amazing. Even beautiful. It's like a piece of abstract art. You can see bile ducts opening and closing. The surface is a shiny pale pink, full of folds that look like a complex, hilly alien landscape. I'd had intestinal surgery before all of this, and you could see where they had done the repairs. That was interesting, too. For me, the opportunity to see something so unknown, complex, and fascinating that is actually part of my own body made the whole experience less unpleasant.

The best advice I can give you if you decide to have this done without anesthetic is, make sure you like the manner of the doctor who will perform the procedure.

I myself find that a doctor who continues talking to me throughout a procedure like that, explains to me exactly what he's doing, tells me what sort of sensations are coming up, and tells me what he's seeing or looking at, makes the whole thing much much more bearable. And it seems to be over more quickly. I've been pretty fortunate, in that I've had a great doctor every time I've had this done. They were very talkative once they realized that it helped relax me and I was actually interested in what they were doing. I guess not many patients ask them. They seemed happy to discuss it, and even joke about it with me. I think it made the procedure more pleasant for them, too. I mean, let's face it, that simply CAN'T be a fun job on most days.

I hope this helps! Hey, you asked. :-P

Sources: the sage of my resectioned colon

Friday, March 2, 2012

20 Minutes to a new you..Look at what this guy was able to accomplish!

This weekend's challenge- NEW Peak Fitness Program

1. Read the article at Dr. Mercola's site: http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2010/06/26/10-minutes-of-exercise-yields-hourlong-effects.aspx
2. Perform a Peak workout.

or for those who never read directions, a condensed primer (Excerpt from Dr. Mercola)
"     Once or twice a week you do peak exercises, in which you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold for 20 to 30 seconds, and then you recover for 90 seconds.You would repeat this cycle for a total of eight repetitions. These cycles are preceded by a three minute warm up and two minute cool down so the total time investment is about 20 minutes."

"     First of all, please remember that you can perform this with any type of exercise. While having access to a gym or exercise equipment will provide you with a larger variety of options, you don't require either. You can easily perform this by walking or running on flat ground.

     You will certainly want to work your way up to this point, but ultimately you want to exercise vigorously enough so you reach your anaerobic threshold as this is where the "magic" happens that will trigger your growth hormone release.
     Whatever activity you choose, by the end of your 30 second period you will want to reach these markers:
•It will be relatively hard to breathe and talk because you are in oxygen debt
•You will start to sweat profusely. Typically this occurs in the second or third repetition unless you have a thyroid issue and don't sweat much normally.
•Your body temperature will rise
•Lactic acid increases and you will feel a muscle "burn"

     If you are using cardio equipment like an elliptical or bike, you don't need to reach any "magical" speed. It's highly individual, based on your current level of fitness. But you know you're doing it right when you're exerting yourself to the point of typically gasping for breath, after a short burst of activity.
     An added boon is that you'll save a tremendous amount of time because peak fitness will cut your hour-long cardio workout down to a total of 20 minutes or so, including your recovery time, warm-up and cool down.

The actual sprinting totals only 4 minutes!

Here's what a typical peak fitness routine might look like using a recumbent bike:
1.Warm up for three minutes
2.Exercise as hard and fast as you can for 30 seconds. You should feel like you couldn't possibly go on another few seconds
3.Recover for 90 seconds
4.Repeat the high intensity exercise and recovery 7 more times
Be mindful of your current fitness level and don't overdo it when you first start out.

If you are not in great shape and just starting this you may want to start with just two or three repetitions, and work your way up to eight, which is where the magic really starts to happen. You may need to start with just walking and when you do your 30 second bursts your legs would be moving as fast as possible without running - and your arms would be pumping hard and fast.
If you can do a peak fitness workout twice a week, and follow the dietary recommendations I'll go over next, you will increase your production of growth hormone. "