Updates, Cholesterol and Saturated Fat and other news.

Since my last post, I have made a few changes in my life.  First, I have decided to take some time off from school and explore more of my options, and I moved in with my sister who I hadn't seen for eight years.  It has all been so wonderful, and I feel good about my decision and I think it was a really smart move for me. We get along really well (disregarding the usual sister-sister, "but I want to wear that!" spats) and I have been able to share and talk about nutrition with her and talk all about my philosophies on life and child rearing.

Now, I don't have any children of my own, but I just love to read about baby/child care.  It is one of those things that I just love to do, I can't explain it. At my sister's apartment, we bet baby magazines for some reason -- neither of us know why they are being sent -- and just reading through them is horrifying!  This is what these magazines think parenting is all about?!

 I am really trying to be fair, but I find it really difficult to find anything of substance.  I like the stories that the mom's tell, and the adorable baby pictures, but other than that, its nothing more than pure propaganda. How?-- the countless pictures and adds for baby formula or baby foods, the ridiculous materialism that saturates each page, the shallow nutrition advice.  Do you really need a $500 crib, or a pacifier, or the latest baby-genius concoction?  How about something organic. No, I don't mean the label that means virtually nothing now.  I am speaking of something real.  How about stories about mothers who garden and produce their own food.  Maybe some anecdotes about how a mother, instead of getting the latest stroller, buying a sling. 

I just want stories of that show mothers getting in touch with their feminine essence.  I want to read about a woman who rejected pain-meds during her child birth because she knew what she could do and she knew what was best for her. I want to hear stories about how father's masculine essence was tapped to aid him in being a father.  I want stories about the best stroller or the best car for a growing family, and read stories about people doing different things. 

And the nutrition advice. I think that was a typo actually, because their "advice" on nutrition is really a recipe for cavities and poor development.

Healing our Children, this is an absolutely wonderful book!  It ties in enlightening insights on our world and our reality with the wonderful work of Weston A. Price, forming a beautifully informative and enjoyable reading experience. I don't want this to sound like an ad for the book, but I am really impressed with it.  It has parenting advice that works, and that is a breath of fresh air.

I usually read bits of this book at a time, picking and choosing different sections I think are really good and important.  I love how this is a real book about real nutrition, not the politically correct, saturated-fat-is-bad vitriol that permeates other books and magazines. 

Which brings me to my next topic.  While searching through my email, I came across an article from Everyday Health about saturated fats.  I perused it, and I have since made plans to cancel my subscription.  The regurgitated propaganda information was just more of the same, "don't eat eggs, don't eat liver." The article actually starts off with "According to the American Heart Association..." that is the first clue that we should just close the browser and tab.  I, unfortunately, continued forward, and I was just disgusted. 

I know, this is how the world works.  The guys with the most money get to put out whatever garbage they want, wrap it in a pretty package, and sell it to the public. I haven't forgotten that we are a money driven society where the only thing that matters are how many Ben-Franklins you can pile up, but sometimes I hold out hope that maybe there will be a glimmer of truth that shines forth so that the majority can learn about true nutrition, and what life is all about: family, love, and good health.

I guess I shouldn't hold my breath.

Personal confessions

Sorry it has been so long. I often think about this blog, what to write about, different experiences I've had, etc., but it is just so hard for me to get on and publish anything. It has a lot to do with the fact that I am currently working two jobs in order to meet my school bills, all the while trying to live as naturally and environmentally as possible. Add on top of that, trying to do homework!

Another thing that has kept me away are personal issues that have been plaguing me. A few months back, I had denounced the practice of circumcision as a brutal practice that needs to be immediately stopped. Well, I have also since lost my faith in the God I was taught to believe in. I am also dealing with bits of depression about my current circumstances, and how I often feel powerless, and not in control of my life.

I feel as though I have been on auto-pilot since I was sixteen, doing and saying all the right things just to make those around me happy, often telling myself that it is okay that I am so miserable because everyone else is happy. Well, since then, I am now a twenty year old college student who feels her life is not her own, and that she has no say in what she wants.

At any rate, I think I am going to slow down a bit after this semester, and take a year off, just to live. Universities can be empowering and stifling at the same time. I feel as though I haven't lived. I don't have a lot of experiences, and I just want to live. A lot of people around me just want me to go to school, not spend time with my friends, get a degree and begin work. How sad that is?--just trudging through life, doing what every one else wants you to do.

In recent months, I have come to realize just how sad I was, and that I was leading such a complacent life, with very limited experiences. I am desperately trying to change that, and I am contemplating taking up farm internship positions so I can travel, meet new people, and enjoy new surroundings. I want to just break out and do something. Anything.

I mean, those who say they know best for me would have me waste my youth, trapped in a tv-induced trance on a beautiful Sunday, instead of interacting with outsiders or experiencing anything. That is not a life, that is a disgrace.

I feel like I am surrounded by stifling people who want me to be nothing more than their trophy and prize. I am not a 16", bronze decoration, meant to sit on a mantle. I am a person, with thoughts, feelings, hopes and dreams. I have a mind, my own mind, and that is what they want to strip away from me. They told me that I don't have my own mind, and that I should have the mind of Christ, which is to obey and honor your parents. Please, pardon my french but Fuck that! I will not be a drone. I will not just relive the lives of those before me. This is my journey through life, and I intend on experiencing it.

I started trying to lead a more happy life by attending an event for Local Farmers and food producers in the Western Pennsylvania area yesterday. I had a lot of fun. I was able to talk with a few of the local food producers in my area, and gain some insight into farming in Pennsylvania. I was happy to see a lot of people in attendance, and that a lot of people were wanting to buy more local foods.

I talked to a representative of the Food bank, who shed some insight on the growing number of families in the Western Pennsylvania-area who need assistance buying food. I had volunteered a couple times for the food bank, and it was really true what she said--in one night, we served food to 700 families! So many people in need, it just makes me even more passionate to learn about sustainable food systems and spreading the word. Luckily, people are beginning to realize just how important sustainable, compassionate and environmentally-friendly food is to all of us.

That's it for now, folks. Thanks for listening to my rant, and allowing me to shed some emotional baggage that has been weighing me down for years. It is not all off, but I am starting to become a better person.

Circumcision: a complete 180

Okay, so after doing a lot of research, I have become passionately anti-circumcision, in all its forms. I know a year or so earlier, I caused a small stir on my blog because of my espousal of so-called "holistic" circumcision. I have since reversed my position, and I am now patently against circumcision, no matter the "reasons" people give for mutilating their sons.

Having said that, I have found a wonderful website that dispels the propaganda of this victorian practice, called Circumstitions. It is a wonderful site that gives a heavy dose of reality.

When you really think about it, all of those arguments that pro-circumcision people use don't really make any sense. I mean, if a foreskin was a harmful thing to have that should be removed--very painfully I might add-- in infancy, then why are men born with one? How can it be cleaner to remove an organ that nature has bestowed upon males (and females really, since the clitoral hood is very similar to the male foreskin). And really, what is cleaner? Is it supposedly less bacteria? With all the new information that has been discovered about bacteria and how people actually need bacteria to survive, I don't even think that argument relevant. Because there is less bacteria, does not mean that it is cleaner. We need to get away from this idea--an idea that is a result from our modernized society that demonizes anything natural, including organs-- that our bodies are somehow dangerous for us that we need the good ol' doctor to come and take away the "useless" parts. Everything on our bodies has a purpose, and if we let nature take its course, that purpose will be fulfilled.

Like all other unnecessary surgical procedures such as apendectomies, tosillectomies, and what ever other organs people these days desire to remove, this must be stopped! I mean, not too long ago, it wasn't considered ludicrous to remove part of people's brains through lobotomies in order to "cure" their mental problems--the medical knowledge we have gained has somehow given us this idea that we to start removing organs because we are supposedly more enlightened now.

One poster, correctly, criticized my support for so-called holistic circumcision. I am glad that poster criticized me as they did, because it prompted me to seek out the real truth behind this procedure: it lit a fire under me, and forced me not to complacently and blindly accept the falsehoods that purported by the American Medical Machine.

I feel like boys today are being attack from all sides: vaccines that predominantly affect them, plastic products that will affect their fertility, and a general attitude that being a boy is some how bad. That is not to say that girls are treated with the utmost respect, but the environmental changes that we see today are affecting boys in a very profound and dangerous way, and, in effect, our future. Now, I am not saying that pollution does not effect girls negatively, in fact I think it is effecting girls in a way that has not been reported on yet (and I have my suspicions that all of these feminizing hormones work to contribute to estrogen dominance in girls).

It seems like in society today, men are portrayed like sex-hungry, dumb, and abusive creatures, without souls and hearts. There are so many negative attitudes towards boys in movies, television, and music that I think we are conditioning a whole new generation to just value the opposite sex for nothing more than mere satisfaction of primal urges.

Like I said before, it is time to resurrect the image of males in general, and to stop casting them into categories. I think we can start that by stopping circumcision. I mean, in the website, some women even described the natural male penis as gross looking and disgusting! Any way, I know that when I have children, my sons will most certainly NOT be circumcised. I will leave them as nature has intended them to be. I know beforehand, when I was on the dark side (pro-circumcision), I cited religious arguments to sustain my position. I can no longer use that as a reason to destroy my future son's body, and I won't use that as a reason. After watching an actual circumcision I cannot reconcile within my heart to do something so dastardly to a newborn, and I cannot conceive how any one else can do that to their kids. Even then, my heart was torn apart by this commandment and by the prospects of having to do this. But I won't. It is not my son's choice to do this to himself, so I won't start off his life on such a bad foot!

We are in the 21st century, it is time to move on from this truly barbaric practice.

G-20 protest post

Okay, in Pittsburgh, the City where I live, the G-20 summit was held last week. It was a very interesting experience. There were so many police officers. . . Now, I am a student at the University of Pittsburgh, but I do not live on campus, so I did not witness the protests and riots on Thursday and Friday nights. I have heard from friends who live on campus what happened. In short, police were tear gassing students and were shooting them with rubber bullets. I watched youtube videos of the event and was really upset at what I saw. Here are some videos,








Truly disturbing! I usually try and stay away from political posts, but since this happened in my hometown, I feel the urge to represent what I saw happen.

Swine Flu scare

I have been watching these videos on youtube about how ridiculous this whole 'swine flu' thing. Here are some of the interesting videos:


and this one:



Very interesting stuff.

Patrick Swayze died...

It is so terrible to hear that Patrick Swayze died after going through the traditional methods of cancer treatment. I cannot help but think that if he, or any of the celebrities who died from cancer-related treatments, would still be around if maybe they looked at their options, or new that there were other options.

Had he known that there are ways to combat cancer, would he have employed them? I mean, even if you know that there are different ways of doing things, these days you have to be made of a steel countenance and really be rooted in your convictions. Without proper support of those around you, you are pretty much pressured into doing things the 'normal' way. I guess that is a topic for another time.

He brought happiness to millions through his movies, and he left behind a legacy that will not soon be forgotten.

Natural news has a wonderful article on him:http://www.naturalnews.com/027030_cancer_chemotherapy_Patrick_Swayze.html

Its been forever!

Wow, my last post was in March! It has been really difficult for me to post new things up here because school and work have taken up the majority of my time. I am trying to get to a place where I can post more frequently though. I guess I need a lesson in time management.

Since March, I have been trying to incorporate more natural and healthful foods into my and my family's diet. It has been a struggle but I think it is working. What I am most proud of is that I have really been doing a lot of reading! I am more than half-way through Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and I have a lot of books about natural health, gardening (which I am so very excited for!) and other health topics. I feel like I have grown so much and have learned so much over the summer that I can really help people and provide answers.

One thing that I am really getting into is pregnancy nutrition. I really hope to get the brewers diet book, because I have only read a little about it but it will be really helpful to me and other if I can get it. The price is a bit steep on Amazon, but it is definitely worth the price.

I mentioned earlier about gardening, I found this website that I really think sells good seeds. This site is called Non-hybrid seeds, and it looks really good! I plan getting seeds from here at some point in time! I really want to start a garden in Spring 2010, and I am gonna get my seeds from here. I will add it to my website list.

I also came across this story on science daily about how cigarettes contribute to MS (multiple sclerosis), pretty interesting stuff.

Until next time (whenever that is)!