My Thoughts On What Car You Drive

My brother was venting about what business is it of the President what kind of car he drives.

My wife is nervous about getting a chip implanted into her skin, and she shudders when she hears some things the President says because she is currently reading Ayne Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."

I panicked when Clinton gained office because he and his health care aspirations were so radical and unwanted to me.

In hindsight, Clinton left a footprint, but he didn't roll any boulders. To do any damage, a president must be political and compromise. They all will have their personal quests that they must seek to be true to themselves, but these will fail. Such as that great idea Forbes had of a flat tax (never mind that he didn't win office) which never would have made it into law. G. W. Bush seemed to love his idea of assistance to church charities but didn't seem to have much support. The pet ideals these individuals try to champion never fly in this country (that could change if we keep going down hill). But the general posture they carry day to day while in office, the political compromises they are able to coax toward their general philosophy as they do their job are the things that leave a mark and add sand to the castle. In this sense, the more bland they are, the more time they spend doing actual work and the less championing of new ideas, the more dangerously effective they will be. Like G. W. Bush, perhaps. Or Reagan.

So someone like Obama with lotsa fresh ideas (shall we say) isn't any more threat than what incremental things he accomplishes behind the scenes (he does things like that - have you noticed?). Pay no attention to his speeches (he's good at that). Worry about what he did an hour before or after. I celebrate his fresh ideas and his speeches and the fact that he can gain office and preach to and counsel us, his people. To me, that is what a president is for. If I were President, I would promote my radical ideas and give lots of fireside broadcasts, telling the people what I think they should be and do. And I would give them encouragement. I have often thought of this and the good effect it would have if done according to the Spirit. And the more a president is out promoting his great ideas, the less time he has to sneak around behind the curtain. So bully for whatever he says on TV, etc. Good for him.

Relatively speaking, Mr. Obama cannot do damage or make change any more than you or I; he is in the same ballpark: he is a human being, an American citizen, not a god or a devil. In the final analysis, damage to our country and our world (or any significant change for the worse) will come not because of a Mr. Obama or a president, but because the mass of people across the land shirked individual responsibility.

One of those individual responsibilities is to speak out in answer to your President's speeches.

It's the people, not the president or the congress. To some extent, it is Hollywood.

If there is a utopian society in your future you will need to have been a good citizen to become a part of it. So be a good citizen even if the whole world has already gone to pot or you will be shut out. And don't cheat on your taxes because you can. Your integrity is worth more than all the money you could ever acquire. Don't sell it for $200.

Randy Abbey

I always think of my brother in law, Randy, when I come across written gems, particularly if they come in the form of a news headline.

Here's one from a bread wrapper I noticed yesterday (the gem, I fonted bold):

OUR PROMISE

Nothing less than 100%. The Nature's Pride Promise. Every single slice (hey - what if you double them up?) of Nature's Pride bread is baked the way Nature intended.

Now, the fact that 'Nature' is capitalized, I could take that to be a reference to the baking company, not the un-perverted flow of things. If that is the case, then never mind. But if they mean 'nature' in the general sense, it is funny, since by definition, bread is the product of significant processing. Humor evaporates when you explain it, but I have to tell you, I had a good long laugh when I read this wrapper.

While I'm at it, let me show you a great example of poor (but funny) professorship writing (but by no means the worst writing I have seen coming from an engineering or science Phd - not by a long shot): "Although a time-varying system without nonlinearity is still a linear system, the analysis and design of this class of systems are usually much more complex than that of the linear time-invariant systems." It could have been said, "The analysis and design of time-varying systems is usually much more complex than time-invariant systems, even if linear."

Various

Breakfast today knocked my socks off, spun me around and ..... Well, not really, but it was that good! So I had to tell you about it -

Cameo apple, asparagus and collard, sunflower seeds, corn on the cob all together and topped off with chocolate. Also had a dash of brewer's yeast. I would have had them all raw, but the asparagus and corn happened to be cooked. Wow - chocolate sure goes great chasing sweet corn!

Ladies, I wasn't trying to (unfortunately), but since stopping peanut butter and cheese this past week, I have lost so much weight, I can tell just by feeling my spare tire area or by looking in the mirror. I did it just because I had the notion it might be good for me. Too bad I wasn't looking to lose weight. But hey, why don't you do the same??

Wow, collards and asparagus go good together!

A couple of days ago, I felt my sugar was certainly a little high. Normally, I would have jogged it off and not checked it, but I was so beat, I just checked it and it was 163. Then I jogged it off. Been feeling great otherwise. But boy, the better I eat, even within my own standard, I am seeing huge differences in how I feel. For instance, if I eat the most perfect things all day and do everything perfect and raw and superfood, etc. and then break one of my little rules, like eating after 6 pm or having just a little more sunflower seed than I knew I needed, or if I don't really need to exercise to get my sugar down but I do anyway (which makes a positive difference), wow, what a difference it makes. Like I have known for a long time, as told me years ago by Jim Wells, when you're fine tuned, you are sensitive.

Diet Controlled

Uh-uh.

I explained it all in the posting, "Food Issues."

But people don't take the time to think and realize the distinction, so I am working on a concise one-liner to help educate. I will make the attempt here, and as time goes on, I will edit and revise my one-liner:

No, not diet controlled. Cured through proper diet; not controlled through prescribed diet.

OR I was thinking about something like: Not diet controlled; pancreas controlled.

Still Shooting

I took 2 units yesterday and today just in order to eat some almonds because I was trying to avoid peanut butter but wanted some nuts and almonds was all I really had.

But I still had a rough day today; sugar was a little high despite the shot. It may have been stress, not just almonds. I'm not sure. Then tonight I took 3 more units, which was too much because now my sugar is dropping like a rock.

You Can Quote Me

You need check no further than the hospital menu to see whether the hospital is a place where you get well.

All that research and practice into pills and machines, and a gratuitous nod to nutrition. How can you call yourself mainstream? How can you say you are trying to find a cure? Have you looked under the bed? Did you check your other pocket?

Chocolate Spelled Out

Hey, it should be apparent if you have been reading all I've written about unsweetened baking chocolate, but I thought I had better spell it out in its own little post:

A friend recently described her reaction to the stuff this way: it is so bitter and nasty that I cannot even taste any chocolate.

How true, how true. My dad used to eat the stuff plain after dinner before he discovered dry corroded nippy cheddar cheese, which he switched to, explaining that the two delights tasted exactly the same. It's hard to tell when one is bright orange and the other a dark brown, but he may have been correct. But I digress. I used to dislike the stuff; it did not taste at all like chocolate, the bitter was so overpowering.

You get used to it until, not all the time, but much of the time, depending on how hungry you are and how primed you are for chocolate, it does taste just like chocolate, even without the sugar. Be that as it may, I am not here to urge anyone to get to that point. My point today is that you can eat it sweet and get that chocolate taste regardless - without sugar. The chocolate taste comes out, just as it ever did (even if you are not accustomed to eating it but with sugar) eaten with fruit or squash or stuff.

You don't need to mix the chocolate with the fruit. Just have them both. Fruit with chocolate - unsweetened. Doesn't have to be "sugar." Then you get your beloved chocolate, same fix as ever, AND you get your fruit (or squash or .....) done! Isn't that keen??

I swear, this is going places. And I won't get the credit. I am not the only one anyway. Anyway, you see, you do not need processed sugar or its substitutes.

Again

Hopefully, before I run out of titles for these, I'll have gotten under control.

I need to stop telling people I'm off insulin at all because whenever I do, I take a shot right soon after.

So I didn't check my sugar tonight, but I took 3 units.

It's been like, super good then (click) super stupid then (click) super good then (click) super stupid.....

I tell people I have lately been trying to eat nothing but super food - raw. Except my meat and cheese. But fact is, I sometimes eat too much cheese and I still of course cannot always stay away from peanut butter, which probably is not a super food (even if it contains something I crave, for the most part it's probably not doing me good) and definitely not raw. So today I was contemplating, maybe I'll do better even, if I quit peanut butter and steamed cheese altogether.

Any road, I am definitely better than I was a few weeks ago - I mean my body is healed better. Even when I need a shot, it's like 8% of what I would have needed then under the same circumstances. I believe that in the long haul, I will get to the point of complete healing - that is, I believe the longer I eat right and stuff, the more actually cured I will be. It only makes sense because look at me now: this is the longest and the best I have done; what I have consequently received is a proportionate decrease in the diabetic condition. If now is any indication, I should be able to get a whole lot better and lose more susceptibility by doing even better longer.

Later that night (like 3 am): I dunno. I checked my sugar because it still felt a little high, long after the 3 units. It was 149. So I suddenly decided to eat some cheese and cooked beans and onions and cream and take 3 more units. I won't make an attempt to analyze. One thing I know from today, that I already knew, you cannot be full and needing to get up from the table and start in on the watermelon instead - not without a shot.

Andate

Had a perfect day and then went and botched it all for little or no reason after 9:00 pm. Sugar 236. 2.5 units.

Moichido Update

Ate a lot and took a little help tonight: 2 units.

Yet Another Update

The next day, Thursday, was okay but I think my sugar was a little high and it was a somewhat stressful and extraordinary day. But I did okay. Then, Friday, I had a really great morning and was telling some family members how well I was doing (like most of Wednesday) and then that very evening I got overly tired and stupid and ate tons of cooked beans and corn and my sugar went up to 281. I took 4 units. The very next evening, I more or less did the same thing and took 3 units but then my sugar was low all night - too low, but I was asleep; woke up with a headache. Then yesterday yet again I was distracted and eating crazy and took 3 more units. So I went about 2.5 weeks without needing insulin, but have to say I'm back on it - but only because I stopped being careful and started eating frivolously if not stupidly. I don't seem to be any worse though, and should be able to pick up where I left off and not need any further insulin.

Update

This morning I was going to ride my bicycle over the hill 15 miles to the dentist in Pittsburgh. I was fixing a bicycle for this purpose and running a little late, so to get off on time, I didn't prepare for such a ride as I normally would. I ran off without my hat and with my pants falling down and I totally skipped breakfast (I normally like not to carry food when I go to Pittsburgh but rather have some juice n'at before I go). But I threw 2 apples into my pack as I left, which I ate on the way back, at about noon. I got home at about 2:00 pm.

Naturally, I was weak and hungry. Normally, this is a bad situation: hungry, worn out, afternoon and not eaten all day. It normally spells eat a lot and super spike your sugar.

Well, I ate all I wanted of everything I wanted and got all my strength back and my sugar didn't go high at all. Not a bit. Didn't do any exercise afterward. No sugar. No hunger. No munchies. No discomfort from eating too much, yet I most certainly did not undereat. No nuthin.

But I sure am starting to eat differently, even for me: I was eating collard leaves like they were hot cakes. I was having yellow yeast on them. I had some other things too, but yellow yeast on collard leaves was a good discovery. The way I ate though, normally would have spiked my sugar, believe me. Oh, and I never test my sugar or take a shot without telling you, but I will spell it out here that I did not test my sugar. It was too certain to waste a test strip. No question, there is something going on here. Like never before, since I was diagnosed in '96. Not at all like ever before.

Later that night: I had a lot of confusion going on during my evening and ended up eating a pretty weird supper and going high. Took a little walk with the dog and then fell asleep and when I woke up about midnight, my sugar was 179 and I took 2 units. Pretty stressful night and bad food.

Thanks Mom and Dad

I must publicly thank my parents for getting onto the non-toxic and natural wagon decades before I was born. To help put it into context, Dad was born in 1912, Mom just a few years after. I was born in 1960. I tasted my first pizza (free sample from a lady in the grocery store) when I was in grade school. Didn't really have any more until high school, and then not much. I had my first hot dog at the age of eight, my fourth at the age of 10 or so. I have had one glass of Coke. Never any Pepsi or other cola. I have never had an asprin. I took half a Tylenol when I was about 26 and had a severe flu. I have had a few of those since then, but not lately. At our house, there was never ketchup. The ice cream was home made with honey. We never ate any pig. We didn't eat casseroles or cakes. What people call banana or zucchini bread, we called cake. The only junk food we had around our house regularly (in more recent years) was all-natural peanut butter and white bread from the store. The white bread was not too popular.

Thank you for shopping every week and avoiding every can and bag with ingredients you could not read and know what it was.

You bought cans of things, mostly for the sake of food storage or travel, but thanks for putting fresh produce on the table for the most part, all those years, and as often as possible, that of our own picking from the vine and tree.

Thank you for never providing us with frozen food.

Thank you for never providing us with any preservatives.

Thank you for making sugar strictly a special occasion.

Thank you for not giving us money. The penny-candy and gum we came by was from money on the sidewalk we sometimes came by - or bummed off a friend. We had to save up for months to go somewhere like McDonalds or DerWienerSchnitzle (or however you spell it).

I wish you had known the devastating effects of white flour but thank you for the continuous supply of bread, mush and other delights that came from FRESH-ground wheat.

Thank you for trying to hide the sugar, mom. Dad would have simply thrown it out and never bought more.

Thank you for never buying harsh chemicals for any reason; thank you for never spraying or spreading on our lawn or in our yard.

Thanks Dad, for getting on the neighbors' cases whenever they tried pouring anything into the irrigation ditch.

Thanks, Dad: you didn't ever know the harm in working unprotected with asbestos, lead and gasoline, but you had the sense to control chemicals the best way you knew how. You didn't just throw it about the way many of your generation did.

Thanks for never bringing any detergents into our home.

Thanks for the bar of soap: always Ivory, Sweetheart or Lava.

Thanks Dad, for washing your hair with bar soap and never putting any lotion or other remedy on your skin. You died formaldehyde free, I expect.

Thanks for never taking a pill. Well, Mom took vitamin pills, but still. Thanks for teaching us how to deal with pain and let it slip away. Thanks for teaching us to go to bed when ill.

Dad, thanks for showing us the very best and only truly effective and spiritually satisfying acne medicine: wash your face and leave it alone. It took me 40 years to get the hang of it, though. After 40 years, I finally threw it all up to God in utter despair - whatever happened on my skin was in His hands; I wasn't going to even pay any more attention to it. Only then did my skin have a chance to heal and become normal.

Thanks for always doing everything the hard way or the cheap way. We never had a concept that this was a hardship or deprivation. I always saw it as for the sake of toughening ourselves up, including the women and children - why would anyone ever be interested in anything else?

Thanks for sunbathing regularly.

Thanks for virtually raising us out of doors.

Dad, thanks for always eating everything alone, and enjoying it so intensely - even though you grew up eating pretty darn fancy.

Mom, thanks for teaching me to garden. Thanks for growing up poor, in the country; I always used to feel sorry for you because you had precious little candy or other treats, just a garden where you could go steel a raw carrot or turnip. Not sorry now.

Mom, thanks for showing us how to pray and know everything would be alright.

Dad, thanks for teaching us to relax and not worry about things that didn't matter, things we weren't sure existed and things we could do nothing about.

Thanks for considering getting a TV only to be set up outside and then never getting around to it. We finally got one after I was 21 or thereabouts. Thanks Dad, for never watching TV for more than 30 seconds, and then only if a movie you had seen before 1952 at a theater or a favorite actor from those days was on and caught your attention as you passed through the living room. You'd always say, Boy, that was a great show! as you walked out after such a pause. Thanks for all that, even though I feel I personally have watched as much TV as anyone nonetheless. There is a quality we enjoyed in our home, and I in my own at times, that is not attainable with a TV in the house - even if the TV is off in a basement room or stored away in a box in the attic. We are even further from said quality now that computers in the home have all but made TVs obsolete (I personally expect TV to become obsolete in 5 years. That's just what I expect, not that I care or have a theory. But I will note that no one forsaw the quick extinction of the electric computerized typewriter that occurred in > 5 years time. I was an engineer at IBM's largest typewriter plant in 1988 and no one expected that plant to be sold off as soon as it was - no one had a typewriter anymore after what: 1994? 1993?). Still, maybe not; the computer is a little different in that it is not so totally passive: you can watch movies and do mindless things, but you are the programmer so there is some control. You don't just turn it on and let it take you away for an indefinite amount of time. Two things never hooked me at all (never had the patience for or got any enjoyment out of either one - not one iota): Web-surfing and video/computer games. So in a way, computers bother me less - unless I see my son spending his life in front of one.

Thanks for taking off your glasses, decades before I was born, and learning to see well (and pass the driver's eye exam, Dad) without them. I sometimes need and appreciate my glasses now, but the attitude of gratitude, confidence, peace and relaxation I gained from learning the Bates method remain with me. And I haven't had a headache in 30 years or more because of it.

Thanks for the hip thing, Mom. For showing us how to wait on the Lord, and how to have faith. Thanks for confidence in Him to remove the disease from throughout your body; if it had only been your hips, you may have had them replaced, but it was all through you, you knew. Thanks for the pure desire to be touched by Him and for the feeling that it was best to be all better rather than just a band-aid from Man.

Thanks for making your conversation, your private thoughts and your judgement about other people just like your food, your home and your Bates practice.

Thanks for truth.

Thanks for gratitude.

Thanks for faith.

Thanks for thrift, respect and generosity.

Thanks for natural.

Thanks for clean and neat. Even though your clothes were many decades old, everything at our house was always clean and neat and as often as practical, made of wool, cotton or leather. The same is true of me today.

Mom, thanks for mopping the floor on your hands and knees and making me do it too. I use a mop handle now, but mopping floors is one of my favorite things to do. Thanks for all the dandelion and star of Bethlehem digging. That's another one of my favorite things now. Now I eat the dandelions. These days, most of our neighbors don't even know what we are all doing out on the ground all day - especially the younger ones who never held a dandelion digger in their hand.

Thanks for all the cheap rich togetherness.

Meat and Dairy

A word about vegansim and vegetarianism. I did some reading to see if there were any solid reasons for either or both and found that the Gerson people assert that it is necessary to overcome cancer, but I didn't come up with any clear or compelling reasons for myself to abstain from meat or dairy.

However, I make it clear that I do not disbelieve them insomuch as for curing disease. The scriptures direct that the sick who have not the faith to be readily healed should be given "mild food." I would not argue with any of the Gerson Cure.

But I have not tried the Gerson cure myself.

And to me, it is a cure, not a normal regular diet.

The vegan roots of some Gerson heirs are in the Bible, yet to me the verses they quote do nothing to eliminate the verses I found in the same book that tell us to eat meat. Then I have my understanding of modern scripture that says to eat meat - sparingly (Doctrine and Covenants, LDS canon). Top it off with the simple fact that you can't get needful B vitamins naturally without it, and I find no reason to abstain from meat or dairy.

To explain the last sentence, it is my understanding that vegans get their B12 from nutritional yeast, as a major source. To me, if you stretch just a little bit, you can consider it natural to eat husbanded fungus as a staple. But it is my understanding that the yeast only contains B12 because it has been added - like the Vitamin D in your milk! That is why I said you can't get needful B vitamins naturally without animal sources.

What about the fact that meat stays several days in your intestines and rots while it's in there? What about it? If that's what it is supposed to do, then it should do it. Based on the scriptures, I know it should not do whatever it does too much or too regularly. But whatever it does, telling me it "rots" or "stays too long" does not show me the harm. Finally, how do you know how long it stays in MY intestines? Are the data representative of people who have been eating properly? I don't know. But the time it spends and how much it "rots" are moot if you can't show me what it does to me.

I have noticed a stark difference in my blood sugar wellness between consuming excess dairy and meat and not consuming an excess. Makes a huge difference. I have not noticed any difference in wellness between going vegan for a few months and just eating prudent amounts of meat and dairy.

I have developed a dislike for butter, having pretty much quit the use of it. I prefer coconut oil and seeds. I didn't like too much butter as a kid, I recall.

I find that when we are out of raw milk and I drink straight raw cream, I do harm. But if I drink whole raw milk without taking any of the cream out, I'm okay. But normally, I only drink the raw milk after removing most of the cream.

Don't bother telling me it's not natural to drink milk from a cow by asking me how often I see people out sucking on them. After all, didn't I say I drink it straight from the cow? [just kidding]

How do I eat meat sparingly or properly? I eat natural meat that ate and lived naturally - at least as naturally as the livestock before 35 years ago. Then I eat it plain and alone. Having done all this, I follow my appetite. Having eaten my plants simple, whole and raw, my body tells me when it wants some meat simple whole and - oops, I don't eat raw meat too often. But I'm shooting for 100% raw dairy and I sometimes like raw eggs.

End of April Update

To reiterate, the point of this blog is to help others, who may want to try, with encouragement - knowing that there's a guy out there who actually loves eating whole and simple and raw and whose diabetes (and other ailments, such as inflamed joints and asthma) have been reversed.

The last several days, I have walked around in a cloud of euphoria because my feet felt so good. It's like you had a headache for 12 years that sort of got better and worse and better and worse but never went away until this week and now you are like, Wow - so this is how it used to feel!

And to be able to go through my day and just eat when I'm hungry, and not have to bother with the injection routine or the burden of Having to run when I'm done, yet having my feet and my lips feel great without them. And my fingers and all my blood vessels.

But please do not think these things come just from eating the way you were supposed to in the first place. They come from your Father in Heaven because of Jesus Christ and because of what you do toward them. Like yesterday: I was painting the outside of the house. I worked steadily all morning. Just as I was putting on the last few brush strokes, it started to sprinkle (on me, but the place I was painting was protected from rain as long as the wind didn't blow much). Just as soon as I went in to paint the rest, which was under a porch roof where the rain could never get me or what I was painting, it began to pour. It has been pretty much raining ever since and looks like it will keep it up for the foreseeable forcast. And the wind did not blow. This kind of thing is what makes me feel close to my Father in Heaven. This and feet that don't just have a bad feeling turned off, but a good feeling turned on too.

Speaking of what comes and why, it came very clear to me the other day, why I love my Father in Heaven: I love Him because of the way He gives me things for my having done good. Especially the big (for me) sacrifices. I haven't much analyzed this (how and why this is what makes me love Him), but I am certain of it. The other day, it came clear to me certain blessings I have been given were because I did certain things, and I knew which ones.

As indicated in the April Meals post, I have been off of insulin injections (by necessity, not by design) for a couple of weeks and do not have to exercise right after I eat anymore. Also, I have been eating even more raw vegetables and less nuts and dairy and such. And have not struggled to stop my meals after the main course or two, to avoid the "extra little something" - but still kind of graze a bit too much sometimes, yet even then my sugar doesn't spike like it used to. I quit bread and stix altogether; I only eat sprouts of spelt barley and millet. I don't miss anything at all. Not ever hungry at all - except during the time it takes me to walk to the kitchen and eat. I am totally satisfied all the time. I quit taking my ogliofructose complex multi-vitamins because I did not like the mix of what they include. I still take my supplements: Vitamin E, lipoic acid and Provex CV (grapeseed extract), and brown and yellow yeast. The brown yeast is what I consider my chromium supplement. I have been eating plenty of meat and dairy. I am anxious for the day I finally get around to making my own cheese so I can have it raw, same as my milk. Raw milk cheese tastes way better; I don't know why it's not more prevalent. It sure is expensive. Even pasteurized cheese costs too much.

May Meals

1st

Last night I sat a little too long at the table and had a little something extra, plus it was late and I went right to bed. So this morning, I woke up with relatively numb feet and not feeling good. I checked my sugar to see how high I needed to come down from: It was 124.

3rd

I had another insulin shot - first one since I last reported - last night. 3 units. Had been partying I guess. Was up to 236. Partied again today; didn't exactly eat just things you could not say were empty calories. Did one story, read a story to the babies. When I was done and acting a bit sleepy, the baby said, "Dad, it's time for you to go to sleep on the couch." Then she curled up beside me and I went to sleep for a couple of hours. Then I was still feeling sugary and I ran up the hill. Came back and checked my sugar: 126. Still, gut feels a little bad.