03.05.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments at 1:20 pm by Administrator
As part of my interest in centenarians, I thought I’d take a moment to recognize a couple centenarians who recently made the news. The first one is Judge Wesley Brown.
One of the amazing things about this man is that at age 102, he’s still going to work every day! From watching his videos it’s obvious he’s still very lucid and mentally with it. Just another testimony to the fact the it is not automatic that with age comes mental decline.
The second centenarian that hit the news recently is a woman who passed away at 100. Her name was Grace Groner. An although the reason she hit the news wasn’t due to her centenarian status, but rather her large financial contribution to a school, my main interest was that she was a centenarian.
Here’s the link with Diane Sawyer telling Groner’s story. I wish they would have touched on some info regarding Groner’s age and health, but I guess that wasn’t the interest of their story.
So far what stands out to me from reading of the various centenarians is to continue to remain active, not only physically, but mentally as well. There really does seem to be something to using the brain as a form of brain exercise that helps preserve youth and/or vigor. This encourages me to continue hitting the books and learning, learning, learning, and exploring no matter how old I am.
Marlakins
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03.01.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, History at 8:33 pm by Administrator
While we were in the Philippines we had the opportunity to visit some bookstores. One bookstore I particularly liked is called Fully Booked on Fort Bonafacio High Street. One thing I noticed there is that they seem to have a better selection of history books dealing with Asia than the bookstores I normally visit here in Los Angeles (which is understandable). There are several that I hope to be able to read, and so in the meantime, I copied the names of some titles that I want to look for later. One book, in particular, caught my attention which was called NHK-TV “Takaimura Criticality Accident” Crew, A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness.
Prior to my AA diagnosis, I was relatively oblivious to the toxins and other health hazards we are exposed to daily or as a matter of routine. As part of my quest to recover from AA, I tried to read up on various health and healing modalities. As a result, I learned about many hazards to the human body among them is radiation.
I have come to be staunchly against nuclear power because of the sheer dangers it poses to human health. What I’ve learned about radiation exposures is frightening. The power of radiation to literally destroy our bodies from the very cell structure is unbelievable. It wasn’t until I was diagnosed with AA and learned and experienced the “weird” and frightening things that can go wrong with the body did I appreciate the dangers of radiation. Unlike other toxins, our bodies don’t detox radiation. The damages radiation cause remain once it has inflicted its damage and continues to damage as it reduces the ability of healthy cells to replicate and changes healthy cells into free radicals that in turn damage more healthy cells. This is not to mention the nuclear wastes created that do not go away for centuries. Among the things I didn’t agree with Senator McCain during his Presidential run was his assertion that we should build “40″ more nuclear power plants! No way would I ever vote for someone like that. And I wasn’t too happy that Obama also didn’t want to rule out using nuclear energy and now recently even proposed a couple new plants in Georgia. Grrrrr.
Anyway, back to the purpose of my post. . . when I saw the title regarding “radiation sickness,” I wanted to read A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. I got a copy of it last Saturday and finished reading it yesterday, Sunday. It was a quick read, but very informative. Basically, it’s the detailed story of the worst nuclear radiation accident in Japan’s history at a uranium processing facility in Takaimura. It was not a nuclear power plant like Three Mile Island or Chernobyl, which is dangerous enough, but a “processing” plant. I had wondered why I had never heard of it before, but it could have been because it happened around the same year and time I got diagnosed with AA and I was likely no longer keeping up with current events. Even so, it’s a wonder that I’ve only learned about it about 10 years after the fact. Makes me wonder about the quality of our news outlets when something so horrific is ignored or blacked out. Anyway, what happened was on September 30, 1999 two employees were filtering and pouring uranium solution into a tank when they inadvertently caused criticality. They heard a loud “smack” accompanied by a blue light known as the Cherenkov light. At that instant, neutron beams, the most powerful form of radioactive energy, pierced through their bodies. They didn’t know it at the time, but at that moment, in a matter of seconds, their days were numbered. They were dead men although they looked fine.
One might ask who in their right minds would work with such lethal substances? Well, sadly there are some, but even more disparaging is that others work with them because they do not fully understand or appreciate the dangers. Such was the case with Hisashi Ouchi, the employee who received the highest dosage of radiation that day. In the book it states that while in the hospital and still able to speak (during the first week), he was said to be very cheerful and calm. If that wasn’t enough of a tip that he didn’t quite understandwhat was in store for him he actually asked the nurse if it was possible for him to develop leukemia later. . . oye. . . In short, this guy didn’t have a clue and didn’t have time to develop leukemia. His body basically deteriorated from the inside out with each passing hour and day. The medical community did their best to deal with all the damage occurring in Ouchi’s body, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing in the medical arsenal could save Ouchi from the grueling fate he was dealt from that moment of radiation exposure. Organ after organ failed as the radiation damage ripped through his cells. When Ouchi finally died and the coroner first beheld his body, the coroner could not contain his astonishment. Here’s an excerpt from page 119:
“At first glance, Ouchi’s body was bright red, as if he had been scalded. But it differred from burnt corpses whose entire bodies were pitch black. The front side of his body, where he had apparently been irradiated, looked severely burnt. No skin remained on this side and it was smeared in blood. The back side was entirely uncolored and the skin appeared normal. There was a distinct border between the irradiated and untouched areas. Misawa had never seen such a body. . .
“. . . Organ alterations which he had never seen appeared before Misawa’s eyes.
“The intestines were swollen and looked like a writhing serpent. There was 2,040 g of blood in his stomach and 2,680 g in his intestines. It was obvious that the gastrointestines had not been functioning.
“Every mucus membrane in his body had disappeared. In addition to the mucus membranes in the intestines and other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, mucus membranes in the trachea had also disappeared.
“Hematopoietic stem cells that ought to be in the bone marrow could not be found either. [Neither Ouchi's or his sister's transplanted cells] Areas with active cell division are known to be sensitive to radiation and susceptible to damage. Tissue such as mucus membranes and bone marrow had been severely damaged.
“What most astonished Misawa was the muscle cells, normally thought to be the least susceptible to radiation damage. Ouchi’s muscle cells had lost most of their fiber and only the cell membrane remained.
“There was only one organ with vivid red muscle cells which had remained intact.
“It was the heart.
“Only the muscle cells of the heart had not been destroyed.”
Death by radiation exposure is no cake walk. There is much pain and suffering involved.
Shogo Misawa, Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Tsukuba was the lead coroner who dissected Ouchi’s body. His philosophy regarding dissection is that no one wants to be dissected, but his job is to carry out forensic autopsies. So it’s up to him to listen to what each body is trying to tell them. As a coroner, his task is to observe and record what they see and lend their ears to that person’s voice. Misawa thought that from the pitiful condition of Ouchi’s body it appeared that Ouchi had lived with all his might. And from Ouchi’s heart, the only internal organ that remained vividly intact, Misawa said he received Ouchi’s message that he wanted to continue living. Another message the Misawa believes he received from dissecting Ouchi’s body is about radiation. Misawa is quoted on page 121:
“I think there was one other thing that Mr. Ouchi wanted to tell us. It was about radiation, something invisible and without smell that most people don’t consider a risk. But look at what it did to me. Why did I have to change so much? I was so young, why did I have to die? I want everyone to think about this. Looking at his heart I couldn’t help but think: That’s Mr. Ouchi’s message.
“As an expert witness, Misawa is usually not permitted to give the details of an autopsy. However, he felt compelled to transmit the message he heard from Ouchi’s body.
“Radiation damage destroys the human body from the inside out.
“The effect of radiation had extended to every corner of the body.”
I highly recommend reading A Slow Death: 83 Days of Radiation Sickness. Especially in light of the current push to revive nuclear energy we all must educate ourselves so that at least if we choose for or against nuclear power, it will be an educated choice. The consequences are too severe to remain willfully ignorant.
Marlakins
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02.22.10
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Historical Trivia, Playing the Tourist at 10:10 pm by Administrator
To continue on with my travelogue, after we left Hidden Valley in Laguna and arrived in Manila we decided to go to Marikina and visit Auntie Nora, Ophi, Cynthia, and the Cainta property. We really wanted to visit to check out Cynthia’s roof as it was damaged from the recent flooding there in Marikina. Since we were heading there, we decided to pop into the Cainta property so that I could see it. Mom and Dad called up Auntie Lits and Uncle Al and we stopped off to eat first before heading the the lot. Turned out that the place we went to eat was Kapitan Moy, Daddy’s old school. This is the school my dad went to when he was about 12 years old and just before WWII broke out in the Philippines. He was actually in this building when the first air strike flew over Marikina, Philippines.
Today this building is a restaurant with rooms available for rent for various functions. We really couldn’t see much downstairs as the rooms were closed off, but I could tell some of the rooms were banquet rooms. We did eat at the little restaurant towards the back of the lower level, which looked like this from the inside.
Inside the small restaurant there was an old piano, which Mommy started to play. There were no other patrons in the restaurant at the time so we asked if it was okay for Aaron to try the piano, too. They were all very nice and didn’t mind at all. Here’s Aaron playing on their piano.
I sat there eating and listening to Aaron play when I told my dad, “Bet you didn’t think years ago when you were here at school at 12 years old that one day your ‘grandson’ would be playing the piano downstairs, huh?” Ha! Yeah, we all had a little chuckle at that, then I asked where dad’s classes were held. Apparently, they were upstairs.
We asked one of the restaurant workers if it was possible for us to look at the second level of this building because my dad said it was upstairs where his classes were held. The restaurant worker was nice enough to ask the guard to unlock the door and let us see the second floor. First you walk up through this door from the first level.
Then make a sharp left and walk up these steps.
Through those doors at the top of the steps was where my dad’s classes were held. My dad said that they have taken all the room partitions down and now it’s just one big room. This is what the second floor looks like today with Mom, Dad, and my youngest son, Aaron standing in the middle.
Although the building is no longer a school, at least is has a plaque that explains that this building was once a school for making shoes. Marikina was known for their shoes and my grandfather was a shoemaker. He taught all his sons how to make shoes and apparently, he also sent them to a school that made shoes! Or at least the founder of the school made shoes. Here’s the sign in Tagalog.
After we visited Auntie Nora and the rest of the clan, we all decided to visit the Cainta property. Here’s a pic of all of us there.
And then we took a pic along side their church van. Apparently, one of my cousins is married to a pastor, and since there were so many of us going and couldn’t all fit in one vehicle, they took their church van.
I’ve never been to their church, but if they’re anything like my other cousins on that side of the family, then I’m guessing they’re pentecostal. The rest of my family are basically Catholics. I think I only know of “one” aunt who is born again Christian in the sense that she is no longer Catholic and she doesn’t believe in praying to the saints. Her kids (my cousins) don’t get her, heheh.
Anyway, after that we went shopping. . . oh, and one other pic I wanted to share is this lot right next to ours that had these interesting chicken coups. Very simple, but pretty effective. I liked how each chicken had it’s own place and enough grass around it. Check it out.
Okay, that’s the end of that day. The next couple days we spent shopping, getting ready for Bangkok, and visiting with relatives.
Marlakins
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02.21.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments at 3:56 pm by Administrator
In addition to natural health issues, Brian and I have long been interested in self sufficiency. We’ve thought of how nice it would be to be able to have our own farm, but let’s face it, I don’t see us moving to a farm any time in the near future. The more feasible possibility for us is “urban farming.” What we have tried instead have been small scale things like growing some organic veggies in the backyard as well as raising our own rabbits and chickens at one point. We decided that the rabbits were not the best nutritional source, and the chickens needed more space than we had to offer to make it worthwhile. The largest animals we could “squeeze” into our backyard would be pigmy goats, but you don’t want to have only one as they’d get lonely. So those weren’t good options for us. Not to mention that we live in an area that’s not zoned for farm animals. . . BUT I will say that I did enjoy having the chickens. Their eggs were yummy, and they were kinda cute to watch roam around the backyard. I got a kick out of how they are creatures of habit and would come back like clockwork to roost in the same spot every night. The drawbacks were the lack of space, which in turn made it a challenge to keep the flies at bay. The manure created by both the rabbits and chickens were fantastic for our veggies, but again we had to be very diligent to keep the flies under control. Also, the chickens were so aggressive with scratching and digging for worms and bugs that they could quickly tear up our garden if we didn’t fence them off. I still remember how our artichoke grew like crazy with the rabbit manure, and I really felt like I was walking in the land of the lost with how big they got. But those days are passed, although our interest in health issues and sustainability have remained.
Fortunately of us there are many innovative people who have inspired us such as Joel Salatin with his pastured animals as well as Bill Mollison, father of permaculture. Now, once again we have been inspired by another possible adventure in health and sustainability–aquaponics or aquaculture promoted by Will Allen. I know that Brian has been eying this guy for a while, but now after reading Eating Animals, I have been disturbed about how fish are harvested from the oceans. Apparently, many current fishing practices today have been destroying our oceans with their 30 mile trawl fishing nets and lines and other methods, which have been destroying coral reefs (the habitats for a diverse number of sea life, which without they can not survive) and killing many other sea life indiscriminately as they also get caught up in the nets. Therefore aquaculture is starting to look very appealing to me and tempting to try on a small scale for our family. Check out this video.
The founder of Growing Power is Will Allen. For more information, check out his blog at http://growingpower.org/ Very cool stuff!!! It’ s not just about raising fish, but also about using edible plants to help filter the water and sustain the fish.
I remember visiting the home of one of my classmates in high school. They were Chinese, and in their backyard they had pigeons in cages. That was the first time I’d ever seen pigeons in cages before. And being young and naive, I didn’t even stop to wonder why they had them. Years later I realized that there are some Chinese dishes which feature pigeon. I am happy to know that there are people even in the urban areas who are innovative and brave enough to take on urban farming. Brian and I have considered the possibility of raising quail and even crawfish before, but we never got into it. Now another interesting possibility is fish. . . hmmmm.
Marlakins
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02.17.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, cooking, food and restaurants at 12:40 pm by Administrator
A few years ago I watched a video series called, Jamie’s Kitchen. IIRC, it was a six part series of students going through chef’s school hosted by Jamie Oliver. I found it to be very interesting, and also thought it was very gracious of Jamie to sponsor these kids and help them become professional chefs.
Apparently, Jamie’s love for food and helping others didn’t stop with helping some students become professional chefs. Recently I found a video of him speaking at a TED conference discussing the importance of teaching children about food and how it’s so important that this be done because of the rising obesity rates here in the U.S. Obesity, Jamie points out, is linked to so many health issues that it must be addressed. His contention is that our society has been so removed from basic cooking skills that many of us don’t even know what foods are. . . for example he showed a short clip wherein he showed small children various veggies and they didn’t even know what they were! The idea is if we don’t know what things are, we won’t eat them. Conversely, we need to know what exactly we’re eating in all our processed, packaged foods. Education, he believes, is the key and as a result he has opened free cooking lessons at a facility in Virginia.
For anyone interested, here’s the link to Jamie’s presentation.
We need more people like Jamie. Thanks, Jamie, for your inspiration, dedication, and heart of gold.
Marlakins
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02.03.10
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Playing the Tourist, food and restaurants, knitting and crocheting at 8:22 am by Administrator
Since everyone officially decided against going to Sabong to see the underground river, we decided to go into town the next day to see what’s there. We were told that it was about a 15 minute ride in the tricycles. Daddy decided that his back could handle that, so the lady who coordinated the tours and activities called up three tricycles to take us into town. Aaron and I shared one tricycle. 
It’s a little easier going over the bumps in one of these, but it’s also a lot dustier. No matter,when in Rome. . . In about 15 minutes we arrived at Narra’s town center. 
Many things were sold here such as veggies, meats, and fish. They also had other goods like clothing and house supplies. There was also rice and breads. This is part of the fresh meats section . 
And here are some of the dried fishes. 
I was also able to find some nice sarongs for a good price (half of what they charged for them in Bohol last year!) This is a pic of one of them. 
Then Mommy started her usual “hurry, hurry, let’s go now.” So off we went back to the resort for our lunch, which I ordered a soup called “binocoy,” a Palawan specialty. We had tasted it the night before, and wow, was it good! I’m hoping to try to figure out how to make it once we get back home. Binocoy (and I’m not sure of the correct spelling) is a chicken soup with cyote, finely chopped ginger and other veggies served in a young coconut. I’m guessing that there’s also a tad of chili pepper to give it a little zing. Here’s a pic of what it looked like. 
After lunch I suggested that my parents go for a nice massage treatment at the resort’s spa. It didn’t look like much from the outside. . . 
But when we entered, we found that it was very cute in there! The atmosphere was very relaxing! They had little structures for the different treatments. Here’s a pic of their wet exfoliation room. 
Actually, off to the right are the showers, the curtain to the left is the sauna, and the room straight ahead is the wet exfoliation room where two people can be treated at once. This is what the tables looked like. 
I had to take a pic of this without Mom and Dad there because while they were having their treatment Mommy said if I took a picture of her there she’d break my camera or my head, whichever was easiest, ha ha! Basically, the way the treatment worked was they ran warm water under the top mat so that you’re lying in warm continually flowing water. During that they rub pureed cucumber all over you, then ground rice, and then finally shaved coconut. They let me watch the process, and in so doing I got so tempted that I decided to have a treatment, too (as did Auntie Lits and Uncle Al). While we lined up for our treatments, Aaron and I waited in one of their waiting areas. Of course, I had to knit. . . 
From where I sat, this was the view. To the left of the pic is their jacuzzi area, and the structure behind the trees just to the right is their reception area. 
To the immediate left of where I was sitting was the dry massage area. It’s elevated and open. Mommy allowed me to take a pic of her and dad here. I stood below the stairs when I took this picture. The nice thing about this set up is the weather was so nice that it was especially pleasant and peaceful to have a massage out there. They also had very calming music piped in. The massage was done using pure coconut oil. The girls took their time, and the total time given to each of us for both the exfoliation and massage was two hours! Oye! 
That’s Mommy getting pampered, and Daddy’s on the left getting pampered by another masseuse. When it was my turn I had to hold myself back from groaning out loud in pleasure, ha ha ha! The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was extremely relaxing, and having a massage at the same time was just heavenly! The stiff neck I developed on the way into the resort left me after this massage, and I awoke the next morning feeling very refreshed and limber. Okay, so once again, I’m out of room for pics, so I’ll continue on another post later. However, tomorrow I’m probably not going to be able to post, then the following day we’re headed off to Bangkok where I’ll be offline for four days. So I’ll try to update in about 5 days with the last part of “Palawan Ho!” when we get back to Manila. Toodles, and take care! Marlakins
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01.05.10
Posted in Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Historical Trivia, food and restaurants at 8:28 pm by Administrator
The first book I’ve finished reading in 2010 is Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I assumed before I read the book that it was going to be an appeal to become vegetarian, and for the most part, it is. Being that I’ve already gone down that road before, and due to health reasons I found that my body works better when consuming some animal products, I had no intention of going back to veganism. However, I still wanted to read the book because I thought it might have more information that I had not be aware of. And that has been the case. Thus I’m happy that I’ve read the book because it was informative, and Foer didn’t come across as beating in down our throats that we should all be vegetarian. Rather he tried to give the viewpoints of both vegetarians and ominvores, which I appreciated.
So what did I learn from this book? Well, first of all my diet choices have been primarily formed around health issues. So I’ve been concerned with cleanliness and nutritional value. Secondly, I have been concerned with our environment and excessive chemical uses and genetic engineering because that also results in affecting our health. While I had known that animals in factory farms are not in the best of health, and thus not the best source of high quality, clean nutrition, I had not really considered their “suffering” aspect of it. I’m not really talking about the fact that animals have to be killed to eat them, but rather their treatment before they’re killed. As a Christian, I have great respect for what’s written in the Bible. The Bible doesn’t prohibit eating meat from animals, and even encourages it in Genesis 9:3-4 when God discusses with Moses what he can eat after the flood:
“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.”
There are many other examples from both the Old And New Testaments that allow eating animal products. Even Jesus eats fish and feeds it to the multitude. But on that same note, the Bible does address the welfare of animals. Proverbs 12:10 states:
“A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
I believe some vegetarians will say that it’s not right to kill an animal just to eat it and that killing it in itself is cruelty. Judging from the Bible, I don’t agree with that because God commanded and required animal sacrifices and Jesus also clearly ate meat. If any one of us is righteous, Jesus would definitely fit the bill. He was not cruel, and thus the mere eating of animals is not a cruel act.
It was also mentioned in Eating Animals that the conditions of factory farms and slaughterhouses promotes violence and disregard for animals. While I can believe that may be true under the current conditions of the factory farms, I don’t believe it is necessarily true for all methods of killing animals for food consumption. Otherwise I don’t think God would have commanded that animals be sacrificed or that livestock be provided for the many feasts that the Israelites held several times each year. God clearly wants us to be good people, not violent mad men. And so God lists many things that we must do to be good people, and nowhere does He state that we should not kill animals for food because it makes us violent. But I do appreciate that Foer describes the violence committed against many hundreds of factory farm animals because honestly, I had not really taken much time to consider their plight. I am disturbed at how many slaughters don’t go as smoothly and painlessly as possible, but I was horrified to read that many of the workers were just downright violent with the animals and literally physically torturing them by beating them and stabbing and slicing them while alive for no apparent reason than that they are frustrated with the animals. I also knew that the living conditions of factory farmed animals were atrocious, but I had no idea of the extent to which the animals suffered in those conditions. From reading war books and realizing the devastating health effects of poor nutrition and living conditions for people (civilians and prisoners of war), I can now understand a little more the extent of suffering factory farmed animals are forced to endure. And it is heartbreaking.
Foer doesn’t only expose the problems with factory farming of land animals, but he also touches upon sea animals. Our family generally purchases wild-caught seafood because we have wanted to avoid farmed fish because they are also fed antibiotics and questionable feed, not to mention many farmed fish like salmon are genetically engineered. We’ve done this for about the past 8 years now after we stopped being vegetarian. But Foer points our that in trawling for specific fish many other hundreds sea life species not intended for food are dragged up and killed in the process. I had heard about how some fishing operations drag net that are about 35 miles long, but naively, I didn’t even “think” what that meant for all the various sea animals in those 35 foot nets’ wake. Again, it’s heartbreaking and disturbing to me. I know from reading older sailing books that our oceans were once more heavily populated with sea life. The accounts of sailors back in the 1500 and 1600s comment on that and had impressed upon me while I read those stories. So to know that our current methods of fishing are seriously depleting our oceans of fish is disturbing.
So what does this all mean to me? Should I go back to being a vegan? From learning the hard way, I see that my body really does much better with some animal products. I personally believe that anyone with a blood condition like I had should have some animal products for optimal health. I know that vegetarians claim that we don’t need animal products to be healthy, but my experience has shown me that animals are the best source of B12. Plant sources of B12 are analogs and thus can actually deplete our B12 stores. B12 is essential for blood production in our bodies, and it’s likely God knew this and thus allowed man to eat animals after the flood. It may have been that before the flood we didn’t need animal meat, but it seems our living conditions must have changed after the flood, which may have required eating animal meat to keep us healthy. Consider the animals in the wild how they also eat other animals. Eating other animals is essential for some of their survival. And example of this is a story I read in Weston Prices’ book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, about lions in captivity. He wrote that the first lions in captivity would fail to thrive, and they were unable to breed. In order to understand this an man observed the lions in the wild and found that when the lions killed it’s prey, the first thing they would eat was the liver. From that observation, liver was fed to the lions in captivity and they subsequently thrived AND were able to reproduce. Obviously for lions liver is required, and liver doesn’t grow on trees or any plant. There are other aspects of plant vs animal nutrients, but that would be for another post. The bottom line is that I don’t think that everyone can thrive well being vegans. I know my health was not optimal that way, and there are likely many others like me.
In the end, I do appreciate Foer’s book. I like how he writes about the importance of social eating. That has been a big issue when I had originally gone vegan, then back to meat products, but all organic. What we eat has been, at times, a very touchy and uncomfortable subject for me because there always seems to be someone not happy or offended that we won’t eat certain things. And at times it has been frustrating for me that not more places offer organic fare. So now I have more to consider, more to weigh on my conscience. While I don’t think, for health reasons, that I will stop eating animals, I think I am going to be more conscientious and perhaps cut down on my animal consumption. The year has just begun. Let’s see how it goes.
Marlakins
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09.22.09
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 7:09 pm by Administrator
This morning I saw the title of an article which stated that a 79-year-old Japanese man won a body building contest. I tried to click onto the link, but my state-of-the-art computer refused to cooperate. Apparently it was a video that just kept loading and loading. All I saw were the comments that he looked really good.
I’ve had an interest in centenarians and aging ever since I read Genesis because I was always fascinated by the accounts in the Bible of how certain people lived to be 900 years old. Noah was said to be around 600 years old during the flood and from reading the genealogies in the Bible, there were many more who lived to be at least that old. I know there are those who don’t believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, but I do. And as a result, while our current life expectancy is around 70-80 years old or so, I believe that our bodies were designed to live much, much longer. So I wanted to see this 79-year-old body builder.
I didn’t find the video or picture of this 79-year-old body builder, but I did find some other interesting videos of very fit older people. I will say that it was very encouraging to see these people, and I am now inspired to make a bit more effort to do some weight training. I admit that I don’t enjoy exercise just for exercise’s sake. I’m one of those people who have to be going somewhere to walk, not just to walk for exercise. And so just sitting there lifting weights feels like a waste of time to me. However, I guess I should try to incorporated some weight training in my daily routine since I’m no spring chicken and aging and osteoporosis could be just around the corner for me, yikes! So with that thought, I found some women body builders who I find inspiring. Check out this 78-year-old-woman!
What great skin tone! I thought the saggies were inevitable, but she looks pretty darned good. . .
If that wasn’t encouragement enough, I found another woman aged 86 who also looked great. Check her out.
This reminds me of the story in Genesis when the Pharaoh spotted Abram’s wife, Sarai, and wanted her as one of his women. I mean at the time the Bible describes her to be about 100 years old! Yet, she still looked good to the Pharaoh. I figured Sarai was obviously not aging the way we do today. Times have changed. . . But seeing these body builder women gives me a glimpse of how the human body is really capable lasting longer in a more healthful or youthful condition than expected.
And then I also found this cute video of a 98-year-old man. I love the way he’s spending his time, particularly with the children. What a wonderful way to live.
Now I am inspired. There were more videos at YouTube of other fit elderly people, so that’s very encouraging. Hmmm. Between household chores, errands, preparing food for the fam, and knitting I’ll have to find some time to work in weight training. How else can I last long enough to see and “carry” me grand babies that I keep dreamin’ ’bout? Hmmm. Maybe I’ll start by lifting my iron skillets while stir frying, heheheh.
Marlakins
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08.22.09
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 9:02 pm by Administrator
I’ve been trying to keep up with the currently proposed universal health care issue. While I am concerned about it because I personally prefer less government involvement, if possible, I understand the argument that as our health care system stands today, changes sure could be helpful. Being that I’ve personally experienced a life-threatening disease, I know how expensive medical payments are and can be. It’s not unheard of for people to lose all their life’s savings even while having medical insurance coverage. I will never forget receiving a bill for a three weeks’ supply of Desferal totaling $8,000 because my medical insurance claimed that they did not cover the pharmacy that was supplying the drug. That was only a fraction of my medical expenditures. Fortunately for me, that would have been a “temporary” situation, but I know there are many, many others who are blood transfusion dependent for life who will require life-long treatment of Desferal or Exjade or other iron chelating agents in addition to blood transfusions and other medical assistance. How can they afford this without help? I recall one of my relatives in the Philippines needing a blood transfusion while hospitalized and since their medical system is different from ours (people there generally pay out of pocket if they are fortunate enough to be able to do so), my cousins had to “buy” the blood “first” before they could transfuse my aunt. And I know that a unit of blood can be quite costly, not to mention a unit of platelets, immunoglobulins (I know of a patient who used this and told me they billed her insurance $40,000 for one bag of IVIG), and other blood products.
At the same time, I try to pay attention to the other side of the argument even to the extremes such as comparing Obama to Hitler because of his support for health care reform. Personally, I think that’s going way overboard. First of all, it’s not like all countries who have gone the way of universal health care or some form of it have gone the way of Hitler. I recall watching Michael Moore’s movie, Sicko, and I did think he brought of up some good points. I knew that not only Canada and the UK has nationalized health care, but also France and Italy. It made me wonder what other countries have universal health care. A Google search brought me to this article dated July 5, 2007 titled What Countries Have Universal Health Care? Below is a map from that article which shows in blue which countries currently have universal health care or some form of it. The countries listed are: Afghanistan*, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cuba, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq*, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Click onto the map to enlarge.
So I ask myself, have all these countries gone to hell in a hand basket because of this socialized program? I have heard people claim that people from all over the world come to the United States for advanced treatments for various illnesses. But didn’t Farrah Fawcett go to Germany looking for alternative treatments for her anal cancer? Evidently, she did not find what she was looking for here in the U.S. and sought care elsewhere. Notice that Germany is on the list who practice some form of universal health care. Obviously there is more to consider here.
So in light of these arguments and to settle in my mind whether the Obama/Hitler comparison has any merit, I have reserved a copy of his book, Audacity of Hope. I know that before Hitler’s rise to power he already had ideas of a superior race. I have never heard Obama claim such a thing. The issue of superior race is the hallmark of Hitler’s notoriety. How about euthanasia? My understanding is that euthanasia was practiced here in the U.S. before Germany did so. Thus I want to read Obama’s book to see if he has any references to that. I have seen some YouTube videos trying to insinuate that Obama is a racist, but from the quotes given, I did not see them that way. I think reading those quotes in their proper texts might shed more light on Obama’s intent with those comments. Just merely stating that there are noticeable differences between ethnic groups isn’t racist, but merely stating an observation. It’s quite different to claim differences, than to claim that those differences mean that one group has the right to dominate another group or that one group has the right to eliminate another group based on there inherent racial qualities. So we’ll see.
Regarding Obama’s stance on abortion, personally, I don’t agree with it. However his argument that he wouldn’t want his daughters to carry a child resulting from rape was the very argument one of our good, Christian friends had. Not to mention names, but this Christian is one of the very few who we feel have an understanding of the Bible close to ours. He did not outright say that he was for abortion, but rather found it extremely difficult to know if he would or could stand the idea that his daughter would have to carry and give birth to a child resulting from rape. And this is from a good Christian man whom I greatly respect. Of all our Christian friends, he is one that I am sure of his salvation and has an extremely good and kind heart and a good grasp of the Bible. Yet, he falters on this issue. So I am reluctant to believe, solely on that example, that Obama is an evil man because of his stance on a very touchy aspect of the abortion debate. I would need to know more.
So while I am cautiously watching the progress of this health reform (because I think Big Pharma is really screwing us as the system currently stands, but I’m not one to fully trust my health care on the government either), that’s a little more of my 2 cents for now on the health care issue. I’m sure there will be more to follow later. . .
Marlakins
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08.15.09
Posted in Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 8:08 pm by Administrator
The other night I dreamed I was trying to figure out what was going on with the national health care proposals. The funny thing was that I knew it was a dream while I was dreaming it. I was going over points and thinking, “Well, that part seems okay. Or, I can see a problem with that part. . . “ And at the same time I was telling myself, “Marla, you have to wake up and do a proper search and read what the actual proposals are instead of trying to weigh the value of the health care proposals from your head/imagination.” Then I woke up and realized I’m likely being bombarded with so much news that I’m now dreaming about it, while at the same time finding it particularly difficult to figure out what’s true or not despite all the crazy news we’ve been getting.
I’ve been trying to listen to both sides of the health care reform argument. I can see pros and cons to both sides, and while the big issue these days seems to be “rationing” health care, I’m concerned about being “over treated.” I can appreciate that people want and need health care coverage, but at the same time, there are a few of us out here who don’t want to be forced to take vaccines or mammograms, or other so-called “preventive” measures (because I personally don’t believe in them), nor do I want any social service “visits.” It’s one thing to say that you’ll have medical coverage “if” you need it, but another thing to insist on “well-doctor check ups” or enforce “mandatory” health care coverage. It would be nice if there was an option for levels of treatment like for accidents vs. disease care. If I were to contract a disease, I want to have the option of going to a naturopath or other alternative doctors and practitioners even if it means paying out-of-pocket. What I haven’t heard discussed so far is whether any of this health reform will affect our ability to seek out alternative practitioners. Will our “choices” of health care be limited? And can people who choose not be be insured continue to be uninsured if they so choose without being penalized for it?
One thing that seems unnerving to me is that the health care reform bill is 1000 pages long. What that seems to indicate is that there is much more involved than just who flips the bill. And while I cringe at the “death panel” debate (because I do think that it’s a good idea to have end-of-life “discussions to know what the patient and family want, and not as intent to pull the plug on grandma), there obviously will have to be some decisions regarding what is covered and what is not. If I want a filling, will is be a mercury amalgam or another material? Do I have a choice?
Another angle being discussed is reforming the actual health care, not just the availability of drugs. Easier access to doctors doesn’t necessarily translate to better health, but rather just makes it easier access to drugs and medical procedures. If we are truly interested in “health,” then we need to reform our understanding of what health is, how to maintain good health, and how to naturally regain health if it starts to fail. We need better access to better quality foods, cleaner environment, better working conditions.
I’m not completely against “some” government intervention because I realize that there are people out there who really do need some help, and what is government for but to help advocate for the needy. There are situations wherein some people need real help such as accident victims who become disabled by paralysis or children born with handicaps such as mental retardation or other physical disabilities. I do feel that it would be good to have some government assistance in those respects, “if” needed (some people have enough funds to take care of their own). However, I like Ronald Reagan’s suggestion about government assistance for health care. That is, he suggested that the federal government could allot a certain amount of money for each state, and then from there let each state decide how to distribute the funds. That way there would be more options for people. More heads getting together to make these decisions and if one state decision is not acceptable, then a person can appeal to another state. This would give more opportunity for checks and balances. I dislike the way people are screaming socialism because it’s so much more complicated than that. Our fire department, library services, police force, and even military are social programs. Our roads and dams are a result of social programs. It’s the infringements into our personal lives that are where lines need to be drawn on social programs, not just all social programs.
I know there’s so much more to consider about this new health care bill, so may add more of my 2 cents later on. There was portion on the bill that mentioned all doctors were to be paid the same. . . wow, that sounds a bit too communistic to me. . . although it might help to ensure that those who seek work in the medical profession really are interested in helping with health care and not just going into the field for money. Still, that just doesn’t sit right with me at the moment.
Marlakins
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