Expeller Pressed

It turns out you can simply expeller press rapeseed and all the rest and get the oil, which is what I presume most of the producers do who stock the shelves at the health food store. But it will take some research to find out for sure, and how much of it. I bet if I simply walk in to the food co op and ask what percentage of prepared foods that contain vegetable oil are 'process and chemical free,' I will get a quick answer.

The Good and the Bad of Genetic Engineering

In reading up on genetically engineered canola oil, I learned that a former classmate works for Gentech, a company born of one of the original genetic engineers. Gentech uses genetic engineering for pharmaceutical (wow, spelled that one right on the first try! Since spell checkers, I have learned I am not a great speller. I usually try at least 5 times to get the checker to agree with me and I usually have to give up and go look it up. Before spell checkers, I could usually spell anything) purposes. Then I learned that my external insulin is a product of genetic engineering. I don't know what life would be like if I had to use the old insulin from pigs they had to offer before this new stuff that I use, but I understand it didn't work as well. And I know that without insulin shots of any kind, I would be dead. So I am glad to have my humalog, but I see no need to re-engineer my food, thank you. So as with any other new development (e.g., television, computers, ICEs, etc.), good and evil will come of genetic engineering, and those who try to stop its perpetuation will fail. In saying this, I am making the simplistic assumption that my Type I diabetes is a natural anomaly, not caused in the first place by GMOs or the things of similar spirit provided by the make-a-buck food industry. But I never think about what may have caused my diabetes. I only thank God for being mindful of every little chemical reaction that takes place in my body and for standing at my shoulder through it all. In my first year or two of having the condition, I had looked forward to being completely cured and at times thought that it had already happened. But having had it 17 years, and learning and growing from it that long, although I wouldn't mind being cured now or any time future, I realize I would not trade the experience of having diabetes for anything. I thank God I was not completely cured overnight as I had initially hoped. Just like, I suppose, the old man who stood up in the back of the church during a discussion of the hardships endured by the handcart pioneers that apparently had been not worth it at best, and gave the discussers a whole new perspective. He told them he would not trade his experience because without such an extreme test, he could not have come to know God the way he did. I may have mentioned this before, but I saw a similar thing in my mother with her arthritis, and in other folks as well. My mother was good before the arthritis. No one on Earth would have given her significant constructive criticism then. But she was a better person and more glad after she went through the whole trial because she had more faith - more than she ever could have known without arthritis. I am glad she went through it, having observed a beautiful woman transform into an angelic one. I obtained the large part of my own faith from what spilled over her brim. So you see, it wouldn't directly matter to me how or why I 'got sugar.'

The Pup

Our dog was born about the same time as our 14-yr old son. The baby boy would curl up inside the curled up dog and they would sleep together like that. So my son doesn't know what it's like to have his dog pass on. Well, we thought that time was coming pretty near. The pup has tumors hanging from his chest and his hind ankles are weak so he had for the most part stopped walking and he was starting to look pear-shaped. Due to the difficulty of moving him around, and other things, we had gone a while without washing him. So here's this bleeding, bloated, grundgey dog who just sleeps and eats and we were preparing for a new phase. But then I decided to 100% take him off of dog food. He lost his fat middle. Then I gave him a bath. Wow. New dog. Now he is walking around more and he looks, smells and feels great to the touch. Here's what he eats now days: Twice a day, at the same times, 5 or 6 oz of raw chicken or beef, bones and all (please don't come and arrest me), an occasional raw beef soup bone for the teeth, Melaleuca dog treats, 16 oz. of fresh (what most people call raw) organic milk with about 4 tb of Gayelord Hauser brewers yeast mixed in (which he really loves), sometimes a baked sweet potato, sometimes some eggs, raw or otherwise, an occasional peanut butter or cheese treat. He is an 80-lb Black Lab / Pitt Bull mix. The Gayelord Hauser is imported by Modern Products, Inc., Mequon, WI, 53092, www.modernfearn.com. On this new fare, he acts a lot more content and satisfied after his meals, even though he still would eat more if you gave it to him. But I don't give him more. There isn't anything in this list that he doesn't really love, and there isn't anything I know of off this list he does love. Oh, and sometimes he likes to have a nice little carrot. Whoops, oh yes - he also likes fish of any sort. He gets that too. He has never had any hip problems. It may be due to most of his life we fed him solid gold dry dog food which is supposed to be good for that. His first few years, he was highly allergic to corn, rice, etc. But in recent years, having less income, we found he could eat anything and not have a skin problem so we were feeding him just any cheap dog food for a while. At first when I took him off, I was feeding him anything I could think of that was not dog food, so I was making him a shake in the blender that included grollet. But then I asked myself why am I feeding my dog un-digested grain? I'm not a dog food company! And I stopped doing it. He sort of likes grollet, but unless I blend it up, it just goes right through him. I don't give him any anymore. It amazes me that even at his age now, no matter how much tartar he gets on his teeth, or where he gets it, all I have to do is give him one bone and it's all cleaned off. So he's never had a tooth problem either. Good dog, Shea. Other than the normal amount of play, eating and sleeping, this dog has throughout his life been fixated on one or two things: bunching up into one ball with the whole family (which includes family prayer - he has become very reverent and pious), and finding new people that could potentially pet him. I find that rather interesting because I know some dogs who are equally fixated on spending their waking hours looking for another dog or a person to challenge and attack. We have a couple of those next door. It is especially interesting because our dog was a rescue, having been caged and abused his first 6 months or so. We buy a half a side of grass fed beef every other year. I forgot to order it this last time, but normally, we ask for the stuff they normally throw away, for the dog.

VegaOil

Until yesterday I had always let talk of the various kinds of fats and oils run over my head like the adult voices you hear in Peanuts animations. Today I know what my parents must have known in the 30s when they banned vegetable oil - especially hydrogenated - from their home, that it is a highly processed food, except in the case of pressed coconut and olive. My first thought was, here vegans are protesting HFCS and GMO and then they start having to decry soy, and now VEGETABLE oil in general??? How ironic is that? I admit, I was born yesterday when it came to this. I suppose a good number of vegans knew this before yesterday. Still, how do you explain that the best source of vegetable-oil-based foods, such as mayonnaise, chips, soups, breads and prepared foods is a health food or organic store, where everything is supposed to be organic and natural?? That seems pretty ironic. I always went there mainly for the produce, not the chips and burritos. I did fairly often buy their bread though. Speaking of bread, now we know one more reason behind my finding that all store-bought bread is bad. It's been a long time since we used to make our own bread. When I made it, it contained no oil or butter or olive oil. (And absolutely never any honey. What a dumb idea, that whole wheat bread has to have honey in it no matter what. Psshhh.) Anyway, Keep It Simple, Students.