#the diet industry should go die in a hole

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

can I just. shriek. over the way smoothies are marketed so strongly as for weight loss and how oh no we should not put one (1) gram of sugar in it because we MiGhT gEt FaT because I'm just. I'm here looking this stuff up as a way to trick my silly little brain into eating more. I do not need this to be any harder than it already is

[pocketmosaic]

Who am I and why this blog?

What a good question, I am so glad you asked.  I am a 45 year old, mother of three, who has fibromyalgia, cfs/me and arthritis.  I guess I should also say that I am single as that is usually one of the first questions people ask when you meet them.

My children are aged 26 (yes, I know I was young when I had him), 20 and 18.  My eldest lives in the Midlands (UK) which is where his Dad and his family are, I don’t see him very often but I have been fortunate (in some ways) to have been able to spend 2 months with him this year.  I say fortunate in some ways because the reason he stayed with me for so long was because he was having a bit of a crisis and needed to get away.  Thankfully while he was here he helped me almost, if not more than I helped him.

The younger two live with me in East Anglia (UK), their father (who is a different man to my eldest’s dad) lives 10 minutes away.  My 20 year old is my main carer, he also helps with the 18 year old who has autism and social anxiety.  My 20 year old has been my rock through the years and I don’t believe that I would be sat here today if it hadn’t been for him and his support (and yes I do make sure that he knows that he is a very amazing person, even if he doesn’t always believe it).  Sadly he lost his job in the hospitality industry during the COVID-19 epidemic, as did so many others.  He didn’t work full-time but I do think that it was important for him to have that outlet, where he could make friends and do things that were not related to helping me and his sister.  We are trying to do thinhgs to help him rejoin the working world when the shielding is over.

As I mentioned my daughter has autism and severe social anxiety.  Around Oct 2017 she had total meltdown and refused to go to school, leave the house or even go near a door that was open to the outside.  She was in mainstream school before that, she is very clever and quite talented when it comes to anime drawings.  Sadly we did have quite a few problems with bullying, which the school did try and help with, even getting the police involved when the situation called for it.  Unfortunately, despite my asking for help several times, everything going on in the outside world just became too much for her and she put on the brakes.  We have had a little bit of help and after a lot of hard work on our part we managed to get her to leave the house.  She would go down to the local shop and the chip shop next door (about a 5 minute round trip), and we managed to get a volunteer to come and take her to a cat sanctuary once a week.  Two weeks after she had started doing this the cattery shut its doors to all non-necessary staff and then we went into lockdown mark 1.  Since then she has taken several steps backwards (although she does still do the shop trip if she has to).  I have been trying to encourage her to come out of her room and she refused to speak to me for 8 weeks, she wouldn’t even look at me.  We are now talking but she doesn’t come and search me out as she did before.  I am sure we will be okay and once the pandemic has some solution then we will work again at getting her out there.

I started by telling you about the children because it does tie in with what I am about to say in a few.  I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and CFS/ME about 15 years ago, gosh that was a long road to get the diagnosis.  It took about 4 more years to get my arthritis diagnosis because whenever I mentioned the pains they automatically put it down to the fibro/ME no matter how hard I tried to convince them that this pain was different.  Thankfully someone eventually listened and that meant that I could learn to do things that could help.  I do have other problems which impact my life slightly less than these, but we could be here a while if I went to deep into that and I am sure you don’t want that lol.

Long story short, I put on a lot of weight (about 6 stone or 84 pounds or 38.1kg), I was struggling to stay awake long enough to cook a meal and so I would just grab easy convenient snacks which we all know are not great substitutes but if I hadn’t done that then I probably wouldn’t have eaten anything.  I also wasn’t moving around anywhere near as much as I used to do, I had always been doing something before and although my diet wasn’t great I was burning up a lot of those calories so while I have never been skinny I wasn’t a big girl,

Up to the present(ish), I have battled with depression and anxiety for a long time, some of it because of how I looked a lot of it because of what I couldn’t do.  I forgot to focus on what I could do, what I did have.  A few weeks ago I went for a short walk by the quay (all my walks are short because it hurts so much and after a short time I struggle to pick up my feet).  I was watching the water, which I find very peaceful, and I saw a branch floating by on the current.  I was taken by an major urge to jump in and float off with it, which I am sure you will be glad to hear I managed to resist.  I thought about just getting into my car and driving until everything and everyone I knew were far behind me.  I felt like they would be better without me in their lives.

Somehow I managed to get back home and I tried to figure out how I had got to this point in my life.  I know I was missing my eldest, I was pleased I had managed to help him out but it had left a big hole when he went back home.  While he was with me we managed to sort out my house and threw away most of the clutter, which was great I felt like things were starting to move the right way.  So why had I spent weeks crying night and day?  I was awful to be around, even the woman who comes in to help me with the things I struggle to do wasn’t able to help with how I was feeling.

I knew I was lonely, although I have two children living at home they spend the majority of the time in their rooms, my daughter was ignoring me (even looking at the wall when she came to a room I was in so she didn’t have to look at me).  Every time I watched the television I would hear stories on how the lockdown had brought families together and how they were doing more as a family.  I couldn’t relate to that at all.  There was also so much talk about how people were keeping in touch over zoom or the like, I hadn’t even had one talk like that.  I don’t have a lot of friends, I am not good at keeping in touch and after you have had to cancel last minute so many times people stop asking you to do things.

I hated the way I looked but I had no clue on how to change it, every time I have tried to do any exercise I have suffered for days afterwards, even having a conversation with someone would leave me drained.  I had managed to lose 3 stone before the first lockdown but, after struggling to get deliveries and when I did it seemed that the things they couldn’t provide were all the healthy options I tried to get, I put back on 2 stone.  My face was starting to show the ravages of time, the worst being the hooded eyes I now have. I have always liked my eyes so it is sad they are not as noticeable as they used to be.

I think I might be coming up to the menopause, my period was over two weeks late at that point (it took another week before it said hello).  Any of you women out there will know that when your period is late it causes your hormones to go out of whack.  Looking back I know that had something to do with how I was feeling.

I remembered something my Dad had told me, “If you can do something about it then do so, if you can’t then all the worrying in the world won’t do anything”.  I decided that I had to try and do something to fix the problem areas I saw in my life.  I couldn’t do much about my hormones, expecially as it is the first time in over a year that it has taken so long which means the doctor wouldn’t do anything.  That meant I just had to let that one sort itself out.

I knew that if I listened to some Toby Keith or Kellie Pickler I always felt better (well Kellie does have two songs which make me cry because they cut so close to home but in a strange way even that makes me feel less alone), so I decided I was going to start listening to them, amongst others, more and if I could I would dance to them, that would at least get me started with moving.  It helped because I did lose 6 pounds in the two weeks leading up to this second lockdown.

Facing another month of lockdown I wanted to do something that would help me and also stop me from worrying about the fact that I couldn’t go for a cuppa with my carer and her partner on a tuesday morning.  So I decided to set myself a challenge.  I want to leave lock down looking better than I did when I entered it.  This meant looking for exercises that I could realisticaly do, I can’t see squats ever being a big part of any exercise routine I ever do.  I found some arm exercises that could be done sitting down, then I learnt about the wall push or standing push-up, I tried it and found that I could manage that so I added that one in.  I also looked at loads of videos for slimming down the stomach, the one exercise they all included was the plank.  Now I didn’t think I would be able to manage that, especially getting down and back up again, but I am pretty stubborn so I figured that I would try it.  The first time I thought I was going to die by the fifth second but I managed it and I am now going to try and do it as often as I can, after all no-one is about to see the crazy ways I have to use to pick myself up afterwards.

I also decided that I needed to lay down some house rules.  I drew up contracts for the two children who live with me (by drew up I mean I found some templates online and adapted them to suit).  Part of the contract stipulates that they need to spend some time with me while they are both home full-time.  That has stopped me from feeling so isolated even though they are here.  I have been making plans on what I want to do when the world returns to some sort of normality.  My life has basically been on hold for the past 15 years, I don’t even know how that happened, but it did and I am determined that I am going to put myself out there when I can (I might change my mind later, but at least for now it is giving me something positive to look forward to).

I had always said that when my youngest reached 18 (which happened during the first lockdown) I was going to start travelling.  This is definitely something I plan to keep to when travel plans can be a little more stable.  I used to be an active member of the theatre when I was in the Midlands but I didn’t even know we had one here until last lock down.  I want to look into joining them and doing some theatre stuff, that was the job I always wanted a far cry from what I ended up doing which was mechanical engineering.  I have a couple more things in the “to-do” bank but they are just the ones I am going to mention for now.

I don’t want to get back to that place where I want to disappear, to keep me on track I started this blog.  I want a record of where I started and how I am progressing, and it kinda gives me some sort of accountability.  It also makes me write something every day which is going to help me with another dream.  That, however, is a story for another time.

Take care and believe in yourself, you CAN do it, whatever IT may be.

[cherry3point14]

ALONE | OH YES, THE PAST CAN HURT

DESCRIPTION: It’s not often you clean up a monster’s mess but neither is it often you visit Cold Oak.

SERIES MASTERLIST

[Chapter Five is drumroll, a flashback. Characters: Reader, OFC (Readers Sister) Warnings: mention of death, dead bodies, decomposition and feels]

Cold Oak, South Dakota. October 2007

Six months you'd been looking. Six grueling months with not a word, not a peep. You haven't hunted, barely slept more than thirty minutes at a time, only when your body absolutely refuses to drive another mile or take another step. Surviving on a diet of whatever is nearest the register when you fill up the gas.

But now you have a tip. If you could call it that. You hoped, beyond all doubt that it was, in fact, a cruel lie. The taunting of a demon bastard before he'd been sent back to hell. They're all such stellar liars you remind yourself that it can't be true. You just had to look harder.

You'd driven here anyway, white-knuckled.

Sixteen hours from Kentucky and you'd shaved three hours off of that with your foot down. Only pulling over twice to close your eyes before opening them just as quick. The demon's face was all you'd seen in sleep, his thin lips stretching over his teeth as they formed the words over and over again.

Your sweet little sister is lying in a ditch at Cold Oak.

You knew the lore about Cold Oak obviously. A lot of hunters did. The most haunted town in, well, anywhere. You almost smiled thinking about it remembering when Alex told you the story. He always whispered stories to you when neither of you could sleep, or when you were on a particularly long trip. As if he knew that he needed to pass it all on. As if he knew he knew that you'd outlive him. 

What you wouldn't give to have him with you now soothing your soul in that effortless way of his, without you even knowing.

Seeing the town felt more real than any muttered ghost story. Even from a distance, it looked like a place so steeped in darkness that you'd be surprised if it ever saw the sun. You could've sworn it wasn't this cold yet either, but you were still deathly chilled as you opened the car door. When your feet finally landed on the ground every hair on your body spiked. This was more than a story, this was the stuff of nightmares, hunter or not.

You only walked as far as the bell that sat in the empty town square. Even in the middle of the afternoon, you weren't sure what might try to come at you and you had no desire to stay longer than you needed to. Being here, ghost central, even the iron crowbar in your hands felt flimsy but you'd nodded to yourself as you begin to backtrack. A small slip of satisfaction. This town may have been haunted but there were no signs of this so-called ditch.

But of course, there wasn't. The ditch, if it existed, wouldn't be in the middle of town. 

So as dusk started to settle you wandered the fields set against the surrounding forest, the last vestiges of land between the town and trees. It didn't take long to find it. After all, a ditch is more than just a ditch when it's filled with dead bodies.

You've seen dead bodies before obviously but this? This is something else entirely. Bodies piled high like cast aside rag dolls. The smell assaults your nose. The sight is burned into your retinas, yet you cannot look away.

Some are twisted and broken beyond all recognition. Some have no fatal wounds on them at all and you might not think they were dead if they weren't already decomposing. You're surprised none are missing limbs, but you suppose even wild animals can sense the evil of this place.

Regardless of how they appeared to die they all have one thing in common, all of them were left here without a care. Every single one of them deserved better. For a few minutes, you don't know what to do but stare and mourn and curse the bastard responsible.

That goddamn yellow-eyed bastard.

You don't know what causes you to do it. It's not just to find her if she's in there, something deep in your gut drives you forward with a greater purpose. Unlike the monsters who did this, you are going to show these poor souls some fucking respect. 

You figure clinging to your humanity might be how you get through this. 

It's a quick trip back to your car for long industrial gloves you keep as part of your kit before you climb into the hole. It's more horrifying than you could have imagined, even while staring and looking at it. You search each one for a wallet or ID. Anything any of them might have on them. Anything that can help you find out who is being put to rest. 

It's backbreaking and after minutes you already have a thin film of sweat coating your skin. You work carefully of the distended dead, some already deep in the liquid stages of decomposing. But you grit your teeth and do it. Because nobody else will.

Eventually, you can't feel your jaw anymore for holding your flashlight between your teeth, so you make a temporary strap with your belt to attach it to your shoulder, using it and the moonlight to keep working. Every single body you move is checked, counted, salted and laid down with as much dignity as you can physically muster. You're turning what was a pile of castaways into neat rows of bodies, you figure it's the least they goddamn deserve.

A few hours in and you can't even smell the decay anymore even though it must be sticking to you like glue. The cold of the night is incapable of cutting through heat you’re radiating, due to the physical labor.  

It must be after midnight when you see it… her.

You're over halfway through your work when an arm tumbles out of the pile with a familiar watch attached. You bought it for her when she got accepted to Sarah Lawrence, her first choice for college. For you, time stands as still as the hands of that watch.

She'd thought she wouldn't get in, she'd worried and whined for weeks. So, when she did, like you'd assured her over and over that she would, you bought her the watch. It was the most expensive thing she owned but worth every penny because you were so damn proud of her that your chest nearly burst when she'd called you with the news.

As trembling, glove-covered fingers reach out and graze the gold strap you remember how whenever you'd ask her the time she'd respond with, "the fancy time is…" Somehow your lip curls at the memory even though your heart feels like it's drummed its last beat.  

The watch stopped at exactly 5:36 and there's a crack running through the glass of the face. You don't know how long ago but suddenly you know this small tidbit of information. The shining light that was your sister was snuffed out at 5:36. And like that you forget yourself, you forget your self-assigned task and the fact that you're standing in a ditch of the dead in the middle of the night. You push aside the body half covering her to look into her cloudy, lifeless eyes. They're still open, staring blankly into nothing. Not at you or the sky or anything. Your vision finally blurs as hot tears roll over your cheeks. They come silently and fast, mingling with the sweat that’s slicked on your skin as you hold your sister to your chest. No thought spared for the state of her, rigid and frozen in your arms.

There's no amount of time that you kneel there. Time is nothing anymore. You just stay there, stroking her cheek, her messy hair, running a finger over her rosebud lips like she might swat your hand away. You cry until you physically run out of tears. Until your own lips are chapped and dry from whispering rushed secrets and lengthy apologies. You're a hunter. You kill ghosts and ghouls and demons. You should have told her. Maybe she would have been better prepared for a world that did this to her. Maybe she'd be alive. You're so endlessly sorry.

But sorry isn't enough.

You carry your sister out of the open grave and lay her gingerly on the flat earth next to the pile of ID's you've collected so far. You close your eyes and press a kiss to her forehead, ignoring the feel of her mottled skin and instead remembering the last time you kissed her, while she was warm and golden and alive.

She was twenty-two years old. She'd barely taken her first steps into the world. 

You pick up the pace with the rest of the bodies, suddenly wanting to be done and out of this place forever. You don't bother to wipe your face or slow down when your muscles cry out in fatigue. When you've finished you sprinkle more salt, then lighter fluid, and then you light a match. One match for 137 bodies. Not that you watch them all burn. As soon as the fire is lit, and the job is done you collapse on the ground next to your sister. Gloves peeled off, torch ripped from your shoulder.

Just the moonlight and the dying fire illuminating your matching heart-shaped faces.

You sit with her until long after the fire dies down and the sun begins to rise.

Hours and hours. Like there might be something you'll forget if you rush. You tell her about Alex, the man she'd met as your friend, but you knew as your hunting partner. You tell her everything he taught you. That first case where he saved you and you, as stubborn as you were, refused to let him leave. Insisted he took you with him once you knew about the things that go bump in the night. You tell her about how he died and how you’d been there and again sorry falls from your lips for not being here for her. You talked until your throat protested and then some. Leaving no stone unturned, no story untold. Everything laid bare to the person who was, while living, your slice of normality, and would be, in death, the keeper of all your secrets.

You kissed her one more time before you started digging her grave, your lips whispering how proud you are of her. Telling her that she will always be loved. Never forgotten. 

Your shoulders protest as you dig but you're determined she will have a resting place all her own. It's harder than you thought it would be to put her in the hole. Tough to know you'll leave her in this dirt grave you've carved out for her. Your fingers are stiff as you liberally pour salt and lighter fluid over your baby sister.

But you will not allow her to become another twisted spirit in this godawful place. None of them will be.

Your nails cut into your own palms, enough to draw blood, as you watch the fire lick at her skin. She was too young. She was the best person you'd ever known. She was your anchor to your life before all of this. Before you were the sort of person that carried salt and guns and shoved knives into hearts on a regular basis. 

You could go crazy blaming yourself and Lord knows you'll spend the rest of your life, however long it is, carrying this burden. But with each shovel of earth that you pack on top of her ashes, you feel those aches in your muscles tighten. After watching two fires incinerating the innocent the only one left now is the burning fury in your gut. 

You want to rip and shred and burn your way through anything you can. You want to cause the kind of devastation that had been so carelessly bestowed upon 137 families, and you. The lone survivor of yours. 

And you know just where to look for justice because you've been surrounded by the smell all night. Amongst the death that taints the air is the answer, sulfur. The bitter perfume tainting the place like it’s imprinted on every blade of grass. 

You will get their justice. You will get your explanation.  

But while you stand at the foot of her grave with your fingers wrapped around the gold watch in your pocket the unavoidable truth crushes you. 

You won’t get your sister back. 

Continue to Chapter Six

Tagged for updates: @otterskies (let me know if you want in)

[annarosewriting]

I Have Four Less Teeth and All People Wanted to Comment on Was My Weight.

I got my wisdom teeth out a few weeks ago. 

I KNOW, I KNOW. I’M 23 AND I JUST NOW GOT THEM OUT. “WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU GET THEM TAKEN OUT EARLIER???” YOU MAY BE ASKING, WELL THE ANSWER IS I’M SCARED OF SURGERIES IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO SAY?? HUH?? WELL CONGRATULATIONS YOU GOT ME.

Overall, it was anticlimactic.They gave me some drugs, I texted my friend that I felt like Steve Rogers before he gets injected with the Super Soldier Serum (which, side note, this friend is now my boyfriend and I like to think it’s because of my Percocet induced ramblings about Marvel characters), and then the drugs REALLY kicked in and the next thing I knew, I’m coming to with an ice pack wrapped around my melon with The Good Place playing on my laptop.

Which, The Good Place was probably a little too heavy for someone who was heavily medicated and already has a lot of anxiety about what happens when we die but it’s fine, we’re all fine.

It was mundane but the worst part was I had the diet of a teething baby. 

I ate more Easy Mac than I had in college. I only ate applesauce and ice cream for breakfast because they were the only foods that didn’t cause me crippling pain. I subsisted on water and the idea of food for the next two weeks. 

I was suffering. I couldn’t eat a full meal so I was severally lacking in nutrition. I was in constant pain because of the gaping holes in my head where teeth used to be. And then, once the pain started to go away and I could move up in the culinary world to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I had to rinse my teeth out EVERY. TIME. I ate. 

It was a pain in the ass, so my solution was to avoid having to rinse my teeth. Which meant, not eating. Or eating the absolute bare minimum to keep me functioning. Sometimes that meant I didn’t eat for five hours or more.  

This translated to me always feeling lightheaded. I was tired. I couldn’t focus at work. I would try to write or read to take my mind off how much pain I was in but even then I couldn’t concentrate. I was wasting more energy calculating when I could eat than I was on actual work. I was on edge. I snapped at everyone I loved. It was an absolute nightmare. 

I was miserable and it was the worst I had felt in a really long time. 

But, hey, forget how miserable I was feeling. There were more important things to focus on. Things like how “[I’ll] probably lose so much weight!!!! So jealous!!!” 

Cue the manic, white wine, suburban mom fake laugh.  

I had more comments given to me about how I had lost weight or I “looked great” than I had in a while. The last time people felt comfortable enough to comment on my body was when I was crying about missing workouts and obsessively counting calories which, Y I K E S.  

I wasn’t in a good place mentally but that didn’t matter!!! What mattered was I was finally on my way to being thin!!! Fuck my mental and emotional health!!!! That’s nonsense!!!! Who cares if my relationships are strained and I can’t do any work right?? FINALLY I wasn’t going to be fat!!!!! So that’s all that matters, right!!!!!!!  

*cue the hour long fart noise*

It’s not like I lost weight because I actively worked for it. (And besides, losing weight to be skinny is OUT and wanting to be as buff as the Amazon Warriors on Themyscira is IN)

No, I lost weight because SOMEONE RIPPED FOUR TEETH OUT OF MY SKULL AND THEN I WAS MALNOURISHED FOR TWO WEEKS. 

There is no part of that sentence that is healthy. 

It was fucking absurd. I had literally been put under so someone could yank teeth out of goddamn head AND I was moving in a fog, but hey, soooooo worth it just to lose a few pounds quickly right?

Fuck that. 

Here’s the thing, I’m unlearning a lot of toxic shit from Diet Culture and one of them is the idea that the number one topic of conversation for everyone, but women especially, is our weight. But I cannot stand that kind of talk.  

I couldn’t stand it from the moment I realized that diet culture is all bullshit created by both the patriarchy and capitalism to keep women down because we all know that if women's collective energy wasn’t wasted on trying to reach beauty ideals that will always, always, ALWAYS be out of reach, women would have already dismantled the patriarchy, given free health care to everyone, made tampons and birth control free and all dresses would have pockets.

I couldn’t stand it when I thought about how my younger self would try to develop an eating disorder because then maybe she would feel like she was worthy of love. 

I REALLY can’t stand it when I think about why I got my tattoo on my upper thigh. To hide the faded scar that reads “fat” that my younger self carved into her own thigh with a pocket knife. Watching crimson droplets appear as she prayed that this warning carved in flesh would be enough of a reminder to her as to what she could become if she ate when her body told her she was hungry. 

I hated it the most though when people would say I looked great after getting my wisdom teeth out, and I would have a fleeting thought of, “Well shit, what other surgeries can I have so I’ll look like the small child on the cover of the Les Mis playbill?” Or “I should just keep this diet of soft foods eaten two or three times a day going if I’m losing this much weight!”

I fucking hate diets, the diet industry and diet culture. 

So much.

Surprise. 

It breaks my heart and it enrages me all at once. Like learning that Zayn had left One Direction or when One Direction announced their hiatus. 

The number of women I’ve met in my life who have wasted so much time and energy chasing an ideal that will always be just out of reach is astronomical. 

(Myself included!!!! I am absolutely one of those people and there are times when I still buy into it! It’s extremely hard for me to untangle myself from it when it was the basis of my personality for 23 years.)

It breaks my heart that society has engrained in me that since I’m fat, my biggest goal in life is to lose weight. Because of that, I considered eating food, that could only be gummed, two or three times a day JUST so I could m a y b e get within shooting distance of what society deems an “acceptable” body. 

It’s all nonsense! I get so heated when I think about how we have just accepted that one type of body is the ONLY type of body to have and individuals should focus their whole lives on trying to achieve that impossible standard instead of living a good life, or being a good person or starting a revolution to dismantle this broken political system. 

You know, just girly things.  

It makes me physically ill if I think about it too long. I mean, what could I have accomplished if I had stopped worrying so much about losing weight? 

The answer is SO MUCH. 

Once I stopped worrying about losing weight, my relationships with friends and family started flourishing. I got into healthy romantic relationships. I started this blog. I read SO MANY books and I stopped beating myself up for eating food I liked. My body started to feel better since I wasn’t working it to the breaking point everyday trying to reach an ideal that is specifically designed to not be attainable just so the Diet Industry could bleed more money from us. 

So please, I’m begging society, if someone feels the need to talk about their diet with me, or wants to comment on my weight when I’ve had bones ripped from my cranium, talk to me about LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE. 

Talk to me about what I’m reading, what I’m writing, ask me how Bucky is, how much emotional damage Infinity War did to my psyche, ask me if I’m registered to vote (I am and you should be too!) talk to me about existential dread, allow me to explain to you that it is a crime ABC did us all so dirty by cancelling Agent Carter after two seasons, talk to me about aliens, ask me how the numbers are at work for gods sake.

There are so many other topics of conversation and we are so much more interesting than what foods we’re depriving ourselves of.  

Next time someone DOES try to tell me that getting my wisdom teeth out was a “great way to lose weight!” I’m going to throw my wisdom teeth at them. 

[rdclsuperfoods]

At the bookstore, you’ll find diet and nutrition books lumped together. I get why—they’re all focused on health and eating—but there’s an important distinction between them. 

There are so many dimensions to consider when you think about how eating influences our health. Food nourishes our bodies, but it also plays a role in our social lives, our emotional health, and our overall happiness. Nutrition books explore these things and help us better understand how food affects us, without giving one-size-fits-all advice.

Diet books, on the other hand, tend to ignore the complexities of food. They typically follow the trope of identifying a problem and prescribing the reader a clearly defined solution. There’s no shortage of these books out there, and more just keep on coming; ironically, most of them claim to be the last one you’ll ever need. (The last diet book you read probably is the last one you need, but not for the reasons the author may think.)

Nutrition books may seem less appealing than diet books at face value—they don’t promise to solve all your problems—but they’re far more worthwhile. Read a few and you’ll never want to read a diet book again, you’ll be able to poke so many holes in their empty promises. Nutrition books will give you a better grasp of how food affects your physical, mental, and emotional health. From that understanding, you can then determine what the best way of eating might be for you. 

The following five books are a great place to start. They don’t try to sell you on the supposed virtues or evils of certain foods or nutrients, nor do they suggest that you overhaul your own lifestyle to mimic one from another culture, time, or circumstance. (They also don’t distill complex and systemic food issues down to oversimplified advice like “eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”) Instead they’ll teach you why we eat the way we do and how food affects our bodies. Many of them do give some form of how-to-eat advice, but they also talk about policy, history, and the culture of dieting.

1. ‘The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition,’ by Anita Bean

(Photo: Courtesy Bloomsbury Sport)

There are countless sports-nutrition books out there, but none of them go both as broad and as deep as The Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition. This isn’t some flashy release chronicling an elite athlete’s very particular diet (ahem, TB12) or a manifesto on how (insert fad diet here) is actually the best way to fuel. Instead, it presents the evidence-based concepts of sports nutrition in a way that’s easy to understand but not oversimplified. You’ll come away with a good idea of how to eat for performance and why different foods affect you the way they do, but you won’t feel compelled to redesign your diet or live and die by a set of rules. Author Anita Bean is a renowned sports nutritionist and former competitive bodybuilder who has worked with the British Olympic Association and many professional teams across various sports, and her book is relevant to athletes of all levels.

Buy the Book

2. ‘The Great Starvation Experiment,’ by Todd Tucker

(Photo: Courtesy University of Minnesota Press)

If you’ve heard that “diets don’t work” but you’re not clear on why, start by learning about the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. The 13-month clinical study, conducted in the 1940s, followed 36 healthy, young white men through a period of “semi-starvation” and then rehabilitation, documenting not only how their bodies changed but how their mental health deteriorated. The experiment is rightly considered inhumane by today’s standards, although the men’s diets were higher calorie than those recommended by many trendy diets. (They ate approximately 1,570 calories a day over two meals.) In The Great Starvation Experiment, historian Todd Tucker digs into the study and how it affected participants during and afterward.

Buy the Book

3. ‘Intuitive Eating,’ by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

(Photo: Courtesy St. Martin’s Essentials)

The intuitive-eating approach is extremely popular among nutrition experts today, but it’s not a new framework. Dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch first published Intuitive Eating in 1995 after seeing their clients repeatedly try and fail to lose weight and improve their health with traditional diets. Their book encourages reconsidering your own thoughts and feelings about food, diets, and weight. It draws on relatable anecdotes, as well as a significant and growing body of evidence to back up the idea that eating without food rules and abandoning the pursuit of weight loss can improve your health. Even if you’re convinced that intuitive eating isn’t for you, the book offers a new way of thinking about nutrition that might resonate. You’ll gain insight into how and why food restriction often backfires, and learn how to tune into your own hunger cues and cravings.

Buy the Book

4. ‘Gentle Nutrition,’ by Rachael Hartley

(Photo: Courtesy Victory Belt Publishing)

Most of the messages we see around intuitive eating focus on breaking free from food rules and making peace with our weight and our bodies. One aspect that’s central to intuitive eating but isn’t often discussed is what the original Intuitive Eating authors call “gentle nutrition.” Essentially, it’s about leveraging evidence-based healthy eating principles in a way that’s flexible and individualized. Dietitian Rachael Hartley borrows the phrase and expands on the concept in her book of the same name. In Gentle Nutrition, she guides readers through the basics of nutrition without painting any way of eating as right or wrong. Hartley’s approach is rooted in the Health at Every Size framework, which is all about encouraging healthy behaviors and providing quality health care to people of all body sizes, without suggesting weight loss or assuming that a person’s health is determined by their weight. The book is a helpful and empathetic guide to nutrition, and it’s a great alternative to conventional nutrition books for anyone who feels triggered by mentions of weight and weight loss.

Buy the Book

5. ‘Unsavory Truth,’ by Marion Nestle

(Photo: Courtesy Basic Books)

My recommendation of Marion Nestle’s Unsavory Truth comes with a couple disclaimers. Although it’s an eye-opening look at how the food industry influences policy and nutrition research, I warn you not to panic as much about this as the book might encourage you to. It’s unreasonable to think that food companies shouldn’t have a hand in shaping the policies that so directly affect them, and not all industry-funded research is inherently wrong or bad. (Sometimes the only viable way to fund a study is to take industry money.) Plus, the modern food industry isn’t the pure-evil behemoth that it’s often made out to be; it’s because of this food industry that you’re able to conveniently buy all the food you need.

That said, major food companies and lobbyists regularly overstep their bounds. Unsavory Truth will teach you to think more critically about any nutrition information you come across, and it lends some insight into how often evidence is misrepresented or taken out of context. For me, an indirect takeaway of the book was that it’s really up to you to choose how to eat. Many headlines about “superfoods” or very rigid diets are, in fact, sponsored by companies who have a vested interest in getting you to buy these things. It’s best to ignore them and stick to eating a flexible and varied diet filled with plenty of nutritious foods.

Buy the Book

via Outside Magazine: Nutrition

[gabe-wallace]

AVENGERS AU - Or Miki sensually takes a sledgehammer to the fourth wall, inelegantly crams Jessica Jones into the Avengers, and adds more holes to the already swiss cheese like MCU.  ACTION/COMEDY/SUPERHERO AU

The Tesseract has awaken... It is on a little world, a human world. They would wield it’s power... but our ally knows it’s workings as it never will... He is ready to lead. And our force, our Chitauri will follow. The world will be his- the universe yours. And the humans... what can they do but burn?

In the middle of a desert, a secret government facility sprawled. Normally it dwelled in silence, the coming and goings of its agents a tightly controlled secret. This night, urgency overcame the need for silence. Flood lights blazed, voices rose and fell, helicopters and all terrain vehicles left in noisy droves, and trained SHIELD agents moved like an overturned anthill, organized yet frantic. A man intoned over a announcement system, his calm voice at odd with the rising tension- Attention all certified personnel, the evacuation order has been confirmed. Please proceed to your designated vehicles for the compound wide evacuation. This is not a drill. The air thrummed with something electric and alive, fueled by the panic it had incited. 

A helicopter landed in an otherwise abandoned air field, where a lone figure stood waiting, clearly expecting whoever was on board. Lydia Starling’s omnipresent smile was tense as Warren Porter climbed out, her warm welcome lost under the whirl of helicopter propellers, and wasted on the Director, whose face was as vaguely annoyed as ever as he strolled past her.

“How bad is it?” He demanded, in lieu of returning his agent’s greeting.

“Well, that’s the thing.” Lydia sighed, nervously adjusting her tight ponytail. “We don’t actually know.”

“Tell me everything.”

“Dr. Jeremy Godfrey read an energy surge from the Tesseract a little over an hour ago.” Lydia reported, following the director as he made his way towards where the energy source was being studied. She had to half run to keep up with him, as she was a rather short woman and Porter was in too much of a rush to make an allowance towards that fact.

“God dammit, NASA didn’t authorize a testing phase!” Porter snapped, walking even faster and causing Lydia to huff. Of course she understood it was an emergency but really.

“Oh no Director Porter, Jeremy would never! He wasn’t even in the room when it happened! It was completely spontaneous- turned itself on.”

“Ugh, of course. What are the energy levels like now?”

“Climbing.” Dr. Jeremy Godfrey’s voice called from where he was intently studying a computer screen, eyes darting to the bright blue Tesseract now and then. “When we couldn’t shut it down, Lydia ordered an evac.”

“That’s right.” Lydia intoned, beaming at her friend and coworker. “Campus should be clear in about a half hour, maybe less. We’ve drilled everyone pretty hard on evac, knowing that this might happen.”

“Do better.” Porter growled, and Lydia visibly wilted. Several passing SHIELD agents paused their evacuation fueled panic to scowl directly into Porter’s eyepatch and pat Lydia on the back. 

Jeremy glared. “Lydia’s done an amazing job here, actually. Evacuation may be futile anyway. If we can’t control the Tesseract’s energy there may not be a minimum safe distance.”

Porter rolled his eye heavenwards, wondering what he ever did to deserve this shitty, shitty job and the subordinates who constantly shat all over his authority. “Oh my god, I’m so very sorry Agent Starling. Do you think maybe if it’s not too much of a hassle you could make sure the Phase Two prototypes are shipped out?”

“Is that a priority?” Lydia asked, eyes wide.

“Did I fucking say to do it? That makes it a fucking priority! Until the world ends, I’m going to pretend it still intends to spin on, god dammit!”

This time, Porter’s yelling incited a scowl, and Lydia turned briskly on her heel, tossing a insubordinate. “Oh, yes Sir!” and a sarcastic salute over her shoulder.

Porter fucking hated his job.

“You.” He said, pointing at Jeremy, who didn’t raise his eyes from the screen where figures and numbers sped by at a dizzying pace. “Talk to me.”

“Ugh, okay. The Tesseract  is misbehaving.”

“Is that supposed to be funny? Because we could literally die right now, in case you weren’t fucking aware.”

“No, it’s the opposite of funny actually. The Tesseract is active and behaving independently. We can’t pull the plug because it’s literally an energy source- we turn off the power and it turns it back on. If it reaches peak level...” Jeremy trailed off meaningfully, meeting Porter’s eyes for a solemn moment before returning the the screen.

“I know.” Porter sighed, his anger sapped away. “Where is Agent Lowell?”

Jeremy snorted. “The hawk? In his nest, as usual.”

“I told him no more air ducts!” 

Julian Lowell perched on a railing from the second story of the lab where the Tesseract was being kept- his eyes darting over every detail that the scene offered. He had seen Porter’s lips shaping his name, seen him yelling at Lydia, but he didn’t have his hearing aides in, and honestly didn’t have time for that right now. He was desperate to see something- a detail he could offer that would save all of their asses. He was good at that- seeing the big picture.

Unfortunately he made eye contact with Porter, who made a rather annoyed come here motion that Julian was pretty much required to address.

“I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things, dammit!” Porter said as Julian crossed the room. Julian had a talent for reading lips- most people didn’t know he was deaf until he told them. 

“I see better from a distance.”

“Well, did you see anything from the air ducts that I strictly forbade you from being in?”

“First off, I wasn’t in the air ducts-” -Today anyway. “Second off, nothing on this side has changed or triggered it in any way. If someone’s done something, it must have been from the other end. This thing is a doorway to the other end of space right? Doors open from both sides.”

As if prompted, the Tesseract let out an ominous cracking that Julian could sense rather than hear- beams of light like lightening shooting out from the complicated piece of machinery it rested in. A high pitch humming started, slowly building and building until even Julian could feel it thrumming in his bones. Just when the pressure felt as if it would split his skull, a beam of energy shot out and formed a blue portal so bright it hurt to look at. 

Out of the portal walked a man. 

Julian and Porter crouched into ready positions while Jeremy watched unblinkingly. Several staff members pulled handguns out of holsters and desks, edging closer to the stranger, who did not move but smiled mischievously, waving a scepter which glowed with the same blue energy as the Tesseract itself.

“Sir!” Porter’s voice rang out in what was no doubt an eerie silence. “Please put down the spear!”

The man looked at the weapon in his hand as if he had never seen it, studying the way the light reflected off the polished metal, and the alien way the blue energy swirled at the top. Without warning, he shot a beam of energy towards Porter, who Julian bowled over inelegantly to save him. The agents around them open fired as the man lunged across the room, the bullets bouncing off him harmlessly. Julian watched in horror as he coldly dispatched every agent who came his way, either blasting them with the deadly beam of blue light or else doing so physically with the wicked edge of his weapon. It was only when he was done that his eyes fell on Julian.

Julian Lowell had been a SHIELD agent for a large portion of his life- his teenage years were spent running missions, working twice as hard as the other agents in training to make up for his disability. There had only ever one agent who could beat him in a fight, and her training had been longer and more brutal than was was decent to do to a child. It was only these sharply honed skills that had him able to jump to his feet, weapon in hand before the man, the alien, was standing before him, tip of his deadly spear pointing into his chest, just enough to draw blood. A terrible cold flooded his entire body, rooting him where he stood.

“You have heart, thought it has been corrupted in the past. I have use of you, Agent. I am Quinten Van Horn, of Asgard, and I deeply hate your world.”

Every emotional connection that tied Julian to his life- the fierce loyalty towards his coworkers and friends, his determination to make up for the mistakes he made when he was still drinking, the distant memories of his mother, the bright joy he felt every time he came home to his apartment in New York and felt the vibration of terrible Russian pop music coming from inside his apartment for the first time in months. Nothing mattered, nothing but Quinten’s plan. Nothing but the Tesseract. In his last moments of clarity, dread flooded his system before he holstered his weapon. 

Julian... understood.

“Get the Doctor, and then retrieve the Tesseract. Kill anyone who would stop you.”

Julian complied.

Gabriel Wallace was flying in his Iron Man suit, dodging clouds that seemed to be made of cotton candy, candy rock mountains looming in the distance. There were gummy bears chasing him with eerily advanced suits, similar to the ones Hammer Industries had tried to put out a few years ago. His battery was on low, and he was losing altitude fast. The graham cracker ground was getting closer and closer, and he was pretty sure that there was a lake of diet cola up ahead.

"Gabe."

What? How did the gummy bears know his name? They hadn't spoken English a moment ago.

"Gabe."

"How do you know my name?" He demanded, his voice oddly amplified.

"What? It's- are you still sleeping? Gabriel!"

"That's dirty pool, you gummy bastards!"

Suddenly, a loud, blaring siren started, and Gabe startled awake, blearily baring the wrench he'd been using when he fell asleep. "I didn't mean to eat your high priestess!" He blurted, disoriented, his eyes landing on a black stiletto and traveling up until he was looking up at Samantha Miller.

"Thanks BEKAH." Gabe's former-assistant-turned-business-partner sighed, crossing her arms as she looked down at him. Peering against the bright ceiling lights, Gabe looked around his cluttered workshop, finally landing on the odd piece of technology laying at his feet. “What even is this?” 

“Considering you’re the mad scientist here, I’m sure I wouldn’t know. BEKAH, can you inform the person waiting in Conference Room Three that Mr. Wallace is going to be a few extra minutes?”

"Of course, Ms. Miller.” The AI intoned cheerfully. “Mr. Wallace, I've taken the liberty of starting you a pot of coffee. I've also asked a Wallace Industry Employee to bring you a clean pair of clothes and a hot washcloth, as you have oil on your face again."

"I love you BEKAH." Gabe called in the general direction of the ceiling, sitting down what looked to be a solar powered thruster and blowing a kiss towards the nearest camera. The Biometric Efficient Assisting Kenetic Humananiod system was truly the best AI he had ever created, at the tender age of ten, and had been with him- in some form or another- ever since. "Seriously. I love her- what kind of gift basket can you get an AI? Oh! I should make her a body!"

"Or you could not. Ever. That just seems like a giant Joss Whendon-esque clusterfuck waiting to happen."

"True enough. So what did I ever do to deserve the glory of your presence, O mighty and extraordinarily busy Wallace Industry CEO?" Gabe asked, as one of his robot assistants U carefully handed him a mug of straight espresso. Mmm, sweet sweet life giving caffeine.

“Warren Porter is here.” Sam informed him as Dum-E whirled forward with the promised clothes and washcloth, no doubt taken from an employee at the door. 

(Employees were absolutely not allowed within his personal workshop, if only because Gabe didn’t think they’d respect him if they found him passed out on the floor spooning a Iron Man prototype... which totally had never happened. Ever. And Iva Zotrova absolutely didn’t have pictures of it from her brief stint as his personal assistant, and most assuredly had never used them to blackmail him before. Noooope.)

 Gabe groaned. “Please tell me you looked him dead in his eye patch and told that dick to hit the bricks, because you’re my friend and you care about my sanity.”

Sam laughed in a way that told Gabe that no, she hadn’t done that at all. “Conference Room Three. You have oil in your hair too, by the way.”

Fantastic. 

Iva Zotrova was no stranger to being tied to chairs. There hadn’t been one able to hold her since she was seven, but the people who had tied her didn’t know that. Yet. The Red Room’s training had been... excruciatingly thorough on that point. But no time to lose herself in that particular traumatic can of worms. She was working. 

The higher level Russian military official was fondling a set of bolt cutters, no doubt intending to intimidate her. Perhaps if she was still playing the roll of a high class Russian gold digger, she would plead and cry for his benefit. However, her cover had been blown, (intentionally, though he didn’t know that yet either) and so she held her head high, let her breathing appear to be slightly ragged, slight fear to show behind her eyes. Like an agent in a bit of a tight spot. The Red Room beat fear out of me while you were still scrubbing military mess halls and working for your first promotion, you complete idiot. It shouldn’t irritate her that he underestimated her, that was the point of a Black Widow, and yet...

Iva’s concentration on the man’s villainous monologue- the ways he intended to maim her, how she had almost fooled him, and more importantly the juicy details of his illegal export dealings with the mob- was interrupted as one of his guard’s phone began to ring in the silence of the abandoned warehouse. 

"It’s for her...” The guard muttered uncertainly in Russian, holding the phone out to his boss. “I don’t-”

Iva’s would-be assailant took the phone, angrily starting “You listen here-!” Only to stop. The fear on his face might not have been noticeable to the untrained eye, but Iva's training on such things had be as extensive as any other detail of espionage, and she knew what was happening before the phone was shoved to her ear. She pinned it awkwardly between her head and her shoulder, sighing in annoyance. “No.”

“Sorry Agent Zotrova, we need you to come in. Please!” Lydia Starling’s voice- bubbly in even the direst of situations, was a grate on her nerves. 

“Are you kidding me? I’m working right now, cracking a case I’ve been working on for months. You can’t pull me out!” The men around her were shuffling uneasily, and she eyed them.

“Well, we kind of have to. It’s an emergency, or else I wouldn’t have called. I’m sorry!” Lydia had a way about her, like she said things so sweetly so that you didn’t have it in you to argue. 

Iva argued anyway.  “I’m in the middle of an interrogation, This idiot is giving me everything right now.”

“I’m not... I don’t give everything...” Iva glared to silence the older man’s indignant English, turning her attention back to the phone.

“You can’t pull me out of this right now. I won’t go.”

“Iva...” Lydia’s voice had taken on a gentle quality, as if she hadn’t wanted to say what she was about to, but Iva had forced her hand. “Lowell’s been compromised.”

Outwardly, Iva’s face didn’t change, she didn’t move a muscle, if the fools surrounding her had been privy to her conversation, they would have thought her utterly indifferent to this development. Internally however, Iva’s heart had begun to pound, and her head was racing a mile a minute. Of course she was coming in. She would leave here, have Lydia send a jet to get her, tell her the details on the way... If Julian were dead- She said compromised, not dead- Iva would kill whoever had done it slowly, using every torture technique she had ever had done to her or been forced to do, she would make them beg before she ended their miserable lives-. She cut off that line of thought, and the emotions that threatened to have her making childish mistakes. Julian wouldn’t like that train of thought anyway.

“Don’t hang up.” She told Lydia severely, absentmindedly noting the other agent’s chipper agreement as she smashed her knee into the groin of the goon who had come to take the phone from her.

They hadn’t tied her feet. Idiots. 

Several minutes later, surrounded by three unconscious or groaning bodies, Iva grabbed her favorite pair of Valentino stilettos, the gun she had stashed in her clutch earlier that evening, and the phone. 

“That’s what you get for slapping me, bitch.” Iva cooed in Russian at the groaning military official, kicking him in the balls again for good measure before turning her attention back to the phone.

“Details.” She said coolly. “Where is Lowell now?”

“Ohmygosh, that sounded soo cool!” Lydia gushed. “I always love listening to you beat the hell out of men who deserve it.”

“Starling!”

“Right! We don’t really know.”

“But he’s alive?” Iva confirmed, her voice as impassive as if she were asking about the weather.

“Iva I would have told you straight out if he weren’t. Someone will tell you more when you get back. There’s a car waiting for you outside. I’ve got to go talk to the big guy.”

“Wallace? Starling, you’re not prepared for the simultaneous idiocy and genius that is Gabriel Wallace. Call Samantha Miller, see if she can deal with him. I’d go myself but Gabe trusts me about as far as he can throw me ever since my brief stint at Wallace Industries.”

“What? Oh no, Warren Porter himself went to deal with Wallace, I think he’s going to talk to Cap too? I mean, he’ll be in New York anyway, might as well. I’m on my way to talk to the BIG big guy.” Was Iva crazy, or had Lydia’s voice taken on an uncomfortably flirty tone? 

“... Why do I get the feeling you’re looking forward to it?”

Iva didn’t think a SHIELD agent should be allowed to giggle like that.

Dr. Finn McGee ran after the tiny girl who had grabbed him during his last house call, barely keeping sight of her through the gloom. He was exhausted- he hadn’t slept in going on 30 hours, running from one home to the next, trying to treat the spread of aggressive sickness that had mowed down over 200 people so far. Following this little girl for what felt like miles hadn’t helped. He knew he needed to rest, he knew that the other guy was so much harder to control when he was tired. But he hadn’t had an incident in over a year, he was doing good, and these people needed his help.

“Slow down, please!” He called in the girl’s native language, almost sagging in relief as he saw her heading into an isolated house- more of a shack than anything. Maybe after he helped her father, he could catch a few hours sleep here- he’d take the floor at this point. He pushed open the door, glancing over the cuttered room, only to see the curtains on the opposite side shuffling as the girl crawled out the window. 

“... Huh. Should have gotten paid up front, I guess.” Finn muttered.

“You know-” A cheerful voice spoke from the overlooked table and chairs. “-for someone who’s looking to avoid stress, you sure picked a heck of a place to settle.”

Finn whirled around to stare at the pretty young woman perched on the edge of the table, who was beaming at him as if he were an old friend. His tired mind whirled with several possibilities before landing on SHIELD. 

“I uh, yeah. Avoiding stress isn’t the secret.”

“Really?” Honestly, this girl sounded more like a Kindergarten teacher asking about his show and tell project than a secret agent. “What is? Yoga? A healthy diet? I’ve heard those do wonders, and you are looking good.”

“Oh- what? No. Thanks?” Was she... flirting with him? That seemed unwise, given she knew his- situation. “So. You brought me to the edge of the city. Smart. I assume the whole place is surrounded?”

She shook her head, hopping down from where she’d been perched on the table and talking towards him. “Honestly? I don’t like lying, so yes. But it’s all precautionary. We know you’re a good guy, but even you have to admit my safety was a concern here.”

“Fair enough. Though pardon my saying, I think you’re in the wrong profession if you don’t like lying.” Finn said flatly, peering through the windows.

“And what profession is it that you think I do?” She asked teasingly, edging closer towards him. He couldn’t help noticing once again that she was gorgeous, clad in a sari that would blend in on the crowded streets of the city, yet suited her perfectly.

“You’re a spy right? For SHIELD?” He said, wondering if he wasn’t wrong as soon as the words left his mouth and she laughed. She didn’t seem very spy like. 

“Me? Oh no, I’d make a terrible spy. I am here on behalf of SHIELD, however. My name is Lydia Starling, it’s a pleasure to meet you Dr. McGee.” She held out a hand for him to shake and he did so cautiously, waiting for her to pull out a taser, or handcuffs, or something. 

“Uh, yeah- nice to meet you. I’m Finn Mc- You already know who I am. Right. So. SHIELD... How did you find me?” He’d been so careful to cover his tracks, too.

“We never lost you.” Lydia told him kindly, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before letting it go. “We’ve been keeping our distance, trying to let you live your life. We even kept several other interested parties off your trail.”

Well. That was disheartening. What was he supposed to do now? He wasn’t interested in being a lab rat again- certainly not for the U.S government. He didn’t want to fight, but if it came to it, he would. He’d go underground again, keep fighting every time they found him. He’d already proven there was no use trying to contain the other guy, and that there would be a multiple million dollar cleanup every time they tried.

“But now-” Lydia sighed, and Finn sensed they had finally gotten to the reason she, and by extension SHIELD, were here. “-we need you to come in. Please.”

Yikes. “And if I say no?”

Lydia’s smile turned devilish, and she stepped a bit closer than was entire comfortable for him, her hand going to his elbow and guiding his hand to her waist. “I’ll persuade you.” She purred, and Finn shook his head, stepping back slightly with an apologetic smile. 

“No. I mean- not no, but I- uh? I’m sorry. I don’t.. Not because of you, but because I can’t- you know?”

“Oh. I guess I probably knew that, but you can’t blame a girl for trying.” She sighed, crossing back to the table and looking put out. She was either an extraordinary actress, or had little to no common sense. He could kill her! Without even meaning to! 

There was a beat of silence, broken only when Finn ventured a few feet back towards her, trying to sound threatening, but not to her personally “And, what if.. the other guy says no?”

Lydia smiled at him warmly as she sat down at the table. Apparently he had succeeded, or else he hadn’t sounded threatening at all. “You wouldn’t want to break your streak. It’s been over a year, hasn’t it?”

Finn groaned, rubbing the back of his neck wearily. He would kill for a shower and a nap, he didn’t have the energy to argue with a SHIELD agent. “I don’t always get what I want.” 

“I know.” Lydia told him sadly as she pulled out her phone, pulling something up on the screen. She’d read his file then. Of course she had. “But we’re facing a potential global catastrophe-”

“Well, those I actively try to avoid.” Finn interrupted, alarmed.

“This is the Tesseract.” She said, holding up her phone and forcing him to come closer to see the image on the tiny screen. It looked like a glowing blue shoebox to him, but it was only a picture, after all. “It’s got the energy to wipe out the planet, if in the wrong hands.”

“And what does Warren Porter want me to do about it? Swallow it?” He asked incredulously, wandering closer.

It was Lydia’s turn to look alarmed, leaning across the table towards him. Very kind too, if it all wasn’t an act. “That was- dark. And no. He wants you to find it. It emits a gamma signature that’s too weak for us to trace, and no one knows gamma radiation like you, Doctor.”

Finn was annoyed. This was an obvious, stupid ploy to get him to come quietly. The pretty girl, the upfront attitude, the subtle flattery of coming to him for his mind. ‘Gamma signatures’? There were dozens of other scientists who knew gamma radiation almost as well as him, and then didn’t have an alternate personality that leveled boroughs when they were angry. He had multiple Doctorates, was a widely credited scientist- did they think he was a complete idiot?

“So Porter isn’t after the monster?” He asked in a dangerous tone. He dared her to lie to him again. This little imbecile- 

“Not that he’s told me.” Lydia murmured, looking at him worriedly. Pathetic, stupid. Did they send a rookie, straight out of her training? More than a bit of overacting, 

“He doesn’t want to put me in a cage?” His voice was an unfamiliar low growl, a sign that he needed to withdraw and collect himself, meditate- How can you withdraw when you’re surrounded by armed gunman?

“Finn, no one wants to put you in a cage.” She was reaching for his hand across the table, her face a mask of concern, her voice dripping with false sincerity. Fake, fake, FAKE!

“STOP LYING!” Someone roared using Finn’s voice, and his hand slammed into the table a mere foot away from Lydia’s. His heart was pounding, teeth clenched. It would be so easy, so very easy- he could tear this entire shack apart on top of her, crush any and everything they had sent to take him down, prove to them they were better off leaving him to the shreds of his life that he’d carefully woven together. Make them pay-

With an effort, Finn jerked back to himself, only to notice there was a rather large handgun pointed at his head, and the cheerful, concerned girl in a sari was at once a secret agent looking as if she could put a bullet in his head and only feel mildly guilty about it. She looked every inch a spy now.

“I- Okay. Wow, I’m sorry. That was mean. That was unforgivably mean. I’m a little paranoid? Ad my temper- I mean, you’ve read my file, obviously you have, you know about it- uh. How about we do this the easy, better way, where you don’t shoot me, and the other guy doesn’t make a mess? Okay, Lydia?”

Lydia didn’t move for a moment, her expression wavering only slightly, before she slowly raised a hand to her ear, murmuring stand down into her earpiece. After a moment, she flashed him a rueful smile, and he saw that it wasn’t so much that the kindness was an act, but that she was able to put it away when she needed to. “Sorry. So. Will you come with me?”

Seems as if there wasn’t much of a choice.

Liliana Sanchez pounded her fists into the punching bag in front of her, again and again, as fast as she could, in an effort to block out the images racing behind her eyes. If she exhausted herself until she couldn’t sleep, if she kept hitting and moving until there was nothing but a meaningless roar in her head and the slam of her fist against leather- maybe she could forget the dizzying future she had found herself in.

Thump, thump, thump.

Running through a battlefield in Germany- the sound of artillery shells bursting around her, the Howling Commandos at her back. Her true and loyal friends, with the bond only a battlefield could form. They hadn’t cared that she was a woman, or Latina- that normally the U.S army would never had let her see a firefight, let alone lead her own unit, or that she was super soldier made in a lab. They cared that she was a damn good fighter- that she had their back when it mattered. 

Thump, thump thump, thump.

“I’ve got to put it in the water.” Lili’s voice sounded thin and terrified even to her own ears. The roar of the plane’s engine was almost as loud as her heart. The water outside of the window looked icy cold, and the tightness in her chest and wetness in her eyes was reminding her painfully of an asthma attack. There was no choice, none. Her life would save millions- save the world. It was a cold comfort, but nothing would be colder than that first collision, oh god-

They would call her a hero. She wondered if heroes always felt so terrified.

Thump thump thump, thump thump, thump thump thump!

“Lili, no. We can find another way!” Matthew Drake’s voice cracking over the comms. God, he had been so strong- but she had been able to hear the tears in his voice. She knew what that meant for him- to show that weakness in a world that searched for any reason to denounce him. They had bonded over that- the racism and hatred that was just as hard to overcome as the sexism she faced. He had promised her a dance-

Thump. Thump thump thump, thumpthump, thump!

“Lii!” Celia’s scream as she careened off the the train into the icy ravine. Celia’s arm thrown over her bony shoulders back in New York, the desperation she had felt when she had heard her unit had been captured. How distant Celia had seemed after, the deep shadows under her eyes. The secret press of lips in a Brooklyn apartment, in a bed too narrow to fit two- no matter how small Lili had been before, the sigh of Lili’s name as she pressed her mouth against smooth skin. 

Thump. Thumpthumpthumpthump. Thump.

Celia had hated Matthew, and Lili wasn’t stupid enough not to see why. How could she explain to her that she loved them both? Now Matthew was old, confined to a bed with a fading memory in D.C, and Celia was dead. Lili was alone in a new century she should never should have been alive to see, with no one she knew, no one to relate to. How was she going to live out the rest of her life this way?

T H U M P.

It was the rattling of the chains that had held previously held the punching bag to the hook on the ceiling that alerted Lili to it’s falling, rather than the lack of surface to hit. She had barely been aware of her surroundings, so immersed was she in her memories. Sighing in agitation, she crossed the room, kicking aside the third torn punching bag of the evening and easily picking up another in the row of half a dozen she had laid out earlier. This strength was still strange to her. She half expected a coughing fit every time her breathing got too fast. 

She was rearing back for another punch when a voice called out across the empty gym- “Trouble sleeping?” 

Liliana looked over her shoulder, rolling her eyes when she saw it was Warren Porter. What did he want now? She was honestly tired of SHIELD checking up on her. And if they thought she didn’t know they were spying on her- well then Lili was disappointed with the organization Matthew Drake had started- they had obviously let their standards fall. (Did they really think Matthew hadn’t shown her pictures of his family? His nephew- Martin Drake or whatever fake name her new ‘neighbor’ had introduced himself as- wasn’t fooling anyone.)

“Yeah well, I slept for 70 years. I’ve had enough for a lifetime.” Lili shouted back, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder and trying out a few test punches. Her knuckles were bleeding- maybe she should switch to kicking for a few minutes until they healed. 

“Then you should be out. Celebrating, seeing the world.” Warren mused as he came closer, arms crossed behind his back.

Lili scoffed. “This isn’t my world, my world is an antique you young folk like too coo over as ‘charming’ and ‘quaint’. Leave us old folk to our hobbies and mourn our simpler way of life, why don’t you?” To demonstrate she whirled around, issuing a roundhouse kick to the punching bag, which wobbled dangerously. “It’s not knitting or shuffleboard, but it’s something.”

Porter huffed a laugh, holding out a folder, which she snatched, wiping the sweat off her forehead and offering him a withering look. “Another mission?”

“Yes.” 

“To get me out in the world?” Lili sneered as she opened the folder.

“Trying to save it actually, if you’re not too busy being dramatic.” Porter intoned dryly. Lili figured he would roll his eye if it wouldn’t ruin his tough-guy-in-leather image.

“I already did it once, isn’t it someone else’s turn yet?.” Lili muttered as she looked at the first page, her breath catching as she caught sight of a familiar blue cube. “HYDRA’s secret weapon.” She gasped.

“Matthew Wallace fished that thing out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think- the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That’s something the world sorely needs, in case you didn’t know Grandma.”

Lili flipped him off as she skimmed the file. It all looked like a bunch of idiot future technology to her. “Who took it from you, you goddamn whippersnapper?”

“His name is Quinten Van Horn- he’s from a different universe called Asgard.” He said, taking the now sweaty folder from her disdainfully. “There’s a lot we’ll have to bring you up to speed on. If you’re done moping, that is.”

“Ahaha fuck you.”

“I’m telling you, the world has gotten even stranger.” Porter warned, tossing the folder aside and none-to-subtly wiping his hand on his trenchcoat. (A trenchcoat! What a drama queen.)

“You all have tiny portable phones that fit in your pocket that are also a calculator, a computer, a gaming device, a calendar- I could go on. Gay people can get married, segregation is over, there are polio vaccines and some people actively decide not to use them because of politics. Nothing I’ve seen can surprise me anymore.”

“Wanna fucking bet?”

Rolling her eyes, Lili crossed the gym to gather her bags, taking a drink of water and then pouring some on her for good measure. “I assume my ‘neighbor’ has left a debriefing packet in my should-be-locked-and-private-apartment-but-apparently-I-sold-my-right-to-privacy-back-in-1920-when-I-climbed-into-Erskine’s-machine?”

“... Yes.”

“Alright, then see you after I shower.” She said, heading for the door.

“Wait!” Porter called again, and Lili turned, raising her eyebrows impatiently. “Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract, Captain? Anything we should know?”

“Yeah bitch, the next time I throw something into the fucking Atlantic Ocean- leave it there.”

Lydia Starling blinked in confusion as Captain Liliana Sanchez, Warren Porter, and another unfamiliar raven haired woman climbed aboard her jet. She didn’t quite understand the energy between the three. Porter seemed grumpier than usual, the woman angrily resigned, and Liliana..? She seemed absolutely gleeful.

Nevertheless, she recovered quickly, offering them all a smile and a wave. “Director. Captain. Miss...?” 

“Fuck off, that’s who.” The woman sneered down at her from where she practically towered over all three of the other passengers before plopping down in a seat in a way that reminded Lydia of a sulking teenager.

“Oh shut up. This is Stella Belmonte. The good captain insisted we drag her along, despite my trying to explain that this is a highly classified mission and there will be no use for her where we’re going, and Miss Belmonte’s own unwillingness to accompany us.”

“... I see!” Lydia said after a moment, voice overly cheerful. “Well uh, let’s get going- Pilot? We’re ready.”

The jet whirled to life, taking off and flying at an impossibly fast pace towards their destination.

“Oh come on Porter! She picked up your giant ass super security jeep and threw it in the dumpster after you hit her with it! You think we can’t find a use for that? Besides, I think she’s funny as hell.” Lili laughed, lounging back in her seat and looking exceedingly smug. 

“That’s only because she spent nearly ten minutes straight cussing me out in the middle of Time’s Square and saying very rude things about my mother.” 

“True.”

“Um, well, Miss Belmonte, I’m sure you’ll be invaluable. Especially if you have the Captain’s seal of approval.” Lydia chirped. Stella’s only response was to flip her off.

Now that she had a name, Lydia realized she recognized Stella’s face- she was a mutant running her own P.I service in New York City. Last year there had been quite a ruckus as she took down her former abuser- another mutant with the power to bend anyone to his will. She didn’t remember his chosen name (Killsomething?) but remembered his birth name had been Ethan Anderson. Stella had snapped his neck with her bare hands. 

“I don’t actually know your name, I’m sorry.” Liliana extended her hand across the aisle for Lydia to shake, snapping her out of her thoughts. “And you can go ahead and call me Lili.”

“Oh, I totally know who you are!” Lydia exclaimed, ignoring Porter’s extremely audible groan. “I mean, of course everyone does. It must be pretty odd- waking up and you’re a historical figure.”

Lili’s smile wavered slightly. “You could say that.”

“Oh sorry, I’m Agent Starling. Not to make things weird, but I’m actually kind of a huge fan of yours. I wrote my thesis on you and the Howling Commandos with a focus on- uh...” 

Lydia cut herself off with an awkward laugh, and Lili looked at her expectantly. “You’ve already said it,” Lili reasoned in the uncomfortable silence that followed, “Might as well go for broke and see if you make me laugh.”

“withafocusonyourromanticrelationshipwithCeliaPerez.”

Lili didn’t laugh, in fact her face pulled down in an uncomfortable grimace. Warren Porter was looking at her with an expression that clearly conveyed what the fuck are you doing?

“That was absolutely fucking painful.” Stella spoke up for the first time since the plane had started up, smirking. “Do you have any whiskey on this shitty tin can?”

“Forty minutes out Miss Starling.” The pilot intoned, and Lydia barely resisted the urge to put her head in her hands.

Iva Zotrova watched the plane land impatiently, watching impassively as Warren Porter jumped out almost before the engines stopped, striding off towards the bridge with a halfhearted middle finger her direction, which she returned with a smirk she didn’t feel. Starling, Sanchez, and someone she didn’t recognize followed at a more sedate pace, Lydia cheerfully pointing out the various agents and machinery- though neither of the dark haired women following her looked like they cared in the slightest. 

“Agent Starling!” Iva barked, making her way towards them. “They need you on the bridge, Dr. McGee is helping start the face trace.”

Lydia’s face brightened even further, and she jogged off, leaving Iva staring at a national icon and...

“Who are you?” She asked bluntly.

“None of your fucking busin-”

“This is Stella Belmonte, a superhuman from New York.” Liliana Sanchez interrupted in a bored tone. “Seriously, that’s getting old. Who are you?”

“That is Satan herself.” A voice behind her said, and Iva pasted on a bright service-industry smile, wrapping her arms around Gabe Wallace’s neck, a big tighter than constituted a friendly hug. He was absolutely terrified of her and didn’t hide it very well. It delighted her.

“Oh Любовник, I know you missed me.” She grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her level to kiss him on the cheek, hissing I will fucking end you Wallace in his ear before releasing him. “Ignore him, he’s mad I haven’t called him in awhile.”

The industry titan, billionaire, and actual superhero cleared his throat, trying not to look as disquieted as he clearly was. Something wicked in Iva cackled, despite the severity of the situation. She always had time to fuck with Gabe. 

“Anyways. Nice to meet you Cap.” His eyes fell on Stella, and Gabe clutched his chest in that melodramatic way of his that pissed her off. “Oh my god, who let the supermodel on a restricted military hover ship?”

Stella Belmonte glared dangerously. Gabe- predictably- didn’t notice. Iva didn’t understand how a billionaire genius was so goddamn stupid. It was amazing some conniving woman hadn’t taken him for everything he was worth already. She credited Samantha Miller, honestly.

She smacked him upside the head. “This is Stella Belmonte. Stella Belmonte- this idiot is-”

“I know who he is.” Stella said, shoving up to him. She was so tall her and Gabe were practically eye to eye. “Listen, are you going to make me kick you in the balls?”

“No-”

“Because I have super strength, and if you make me kick you in the balls, I’m going to shatter your goddamn pelvis.”

“.... Noted.” Gabe said in a mild way that almost made up for the fact that his voice had come out an octave higher than was normal. Stella shoved past him without another word, striding towards where Lydia and Warren had gone to. Liliana, cackling, followed her.

Iva liked this woman. 

This was going to be a total shit show.

“I am so weirdly turned on right now.” Gabe muttered.

[howtoloseweightfastsafely]

The 10-second Trick That Can Slash Your Risk Of Cardiovascular Mortality By 37% (Most Traditional Cultures Have Done This For Centuries)

Did you know that people who ate less than 2 grams a day of this vital nutrient were 37% more likely to die of heart disease?

Did you know that this nutrient is constantly blamed for stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, and various other ailments...but research shows it does the opposite of what most doctors and the media tell us?

And did you know that this nutrient is literally sitting in your kitchen cabinet at this very moment?

Well, I'll quit teasing you.

This nutrient is gold ol' "deadly, vicious, blood-pressure rising" salt.

Doctors and the media tell us salt is causing heart disease, is slowly killing us from the inside out, increasing our blood pressure and causing all sorts of issues.

And big pharma sells us expensive pills and emergency surgeries (while making millions, at our expense)...when we could pay less than $5 for an annual supply of simple heart-disease-preventing salt.

You see, the whole "salt = heart disease/increased death risk" hypothesis is based on a very poor "if (this), then (this)" thinking, without accurate backup research.

Basically, "experts" (including the American Heart Association and its inaccurate sodium recommendations) say:

1. Salt causes a slight increase in blood pressure

2. High blood pressure is related to heart disease and stroke risk

3. So, if we cut out salt, then we'll decrease our risk of heart disease and stroke

Sure, that sounds great in theory.

But since when, in the history of time, has one single nutrient or one single "anything" caused the downfall of our health (or any other issue for that matter).

Long-term problems are almost always due to a combination of poor choices, but never to just one single choice.

Just as obesity is likely due to excess calorie and nutrient consumption and limited exercise and underlying issues in the body...heart disease, stroke, and increased disease risk is likely due to poor dietary choices and poor lifestyle choices and possible genetic predispositions, etc.

But, no, of course, the "experts" don't consider this. They just come out and say "salt = heart disease and stroke", and don't even think to look at our evolutionary upbringing and samples of modern-day sodium usage. (These "experts" are ridiculous.)

Thankfully, I've come upon some good info in my readings that should help make this all clear.

If I haven't mentioned it already, I'm a big fan of ancestral health/longevity researches like Paul Jaminet, Chris Kresser, and Stephan Guyanet. And, in some of their findings and writings, you'll see that salt is actually well-documented as a staple nutrient in various cultures and as a necessity in our diets.

Let's jump into the facts.

Here's the truth about salt (and its disease-preventing properties):

1) A comprehensive study of sodium intake of 33 countries found that intake averaged 3.7 grams (about 1.6 teaspoons per day), decade after decade.

a. This level correlates with what can be thought of as a certain "reward threshold". The thinking is: the level is uniform in all countries, regardless of the culture or cuisine, because without that 3.7-gram intake level, we just don't feel adequately satiated.

2) From a biological standpoint, renin and aldosterone hormone levels jump significantly once sodium intake is below 1.5 teaspoons per day, in a clear-cut sign of sodium insufficiency.

3) A Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) showed that sodium excretion of both over 7 grams per day and under 3 grams per day was directly associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk

4) The "sweet spot" in the JAMA study was a level of roughly 4 to 6 grams of sodium per day.

a. For those having under 2 grams per day, cardiovascular mortality risk was increased by 37%!!

b. FYI: The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a max of 1.5 grams per day! This is even less than the 2 grams per day threshold. If we follow these AHA guidelines, our cardiovascular mortality risk will be even more than 37%.

5) A 2011 American Journal of Hypertension study found no solid evidence that a reduction in salt intake prevents heart conditions.

What this means for you:

Disregard the government/doctor recommended levels, which may cause sodium insufficiency and increased disease risk

BUT, don't go so high that you still end up damaging your body.

The "sweet spot" is 4 to 6 grams of sodium per day, or roughly 1.6 to 3 teaspoons per day.

Increase your potassium intake. 4,700 mg per day is recommended, whereas most Americans get half that number. Potassium and sodium go hand in hand and the former can often prevent internal deficiencies caused by the latter.

If you have kidney problems, you may be one of the few people who should worry about keeping salt intake down. Please speak to your doctor.

You've now got the information you need. It's time to make the changes!

Interested in losing weight? Then click below to see the exact steps I took to lose weight and keep it off for good...

Read the previous article about "7 Steps To Reduce AGEs and Slow Aging"

Read the next article about "How To Clean Up Your Liver and Vital Organs"

Moving forward, there are several other articles/topics I'll share so you can lose weight even faster, and feel great doing it.

Below is a list of these topics and you can use this Table of Contents to jump to the part that interests you the most.

Topic 1: How I Lost 30 Pounds In 90 Days - And How You Can Too

Topic 2: How I Lost Weight By Not Following The Mainstream Media And Health Guru's Advice - Why The Health Industry Is Broken And How We Can Fix It

Topic 3: The #1 Ridiculous Diet Myth Pushed By 95% Of Doctors And "experts" That Is Keeping You From The Body Of Your Dreams

Topic 4: The Dangers of Low-Carb and Other "No Calorie Counting" Diets

Topic 5: Why Red Meat May Be Good For You And Eggs Won't Kill You

Topic 6: Two Critical Hormones That Are Quietly Making Americans Sicker and Heavier Than Ever Before

Topic 7: Everything Popular Is Wrong: The Real Key To Long-Term Weight Loss

Topic 8: Why That New Miracle Diet Isn't So Much of a Miracle After All (And Why You're Guaranteed To Hate Yourself On It Sooner or Later)

Topic 9: A Nutrition Crash Course To Build A Healthy Body and Happy Mind

Topic 10: How Much You Really Need To Eat For Steady Fat Loss (The Truth About Calories and Macronutrients)

Topic 11: The Easy Way To Determining Your Calorie Intake

Topic 12: Calculating A Weight Loss Deficit

Topic 13: How To Determine Your Optimal "Macros" (And How The Skinny On The 3-Phase Extreme Fat Loss Formula)

Topic 14: Two Dangerous "Invisible Thorn" Foods Masquerading as "Heart Healthy Super Nutrients"

Topic 15: The Truth About Whole Grains And Beans: What Traditional Cultures Know About These So-called "Healthy Foods" That Most Americans Don't

Topic 16: The Inflammation-Reducing, Immune-Fortifying Secret of All Long-Living Cultures (This 3-Step Process Can Reduce Chronic Pain and Heal Your Gut in Less Than 24 Hours)

Topic 17: The Foolproof Immune-enhancing Plan That Cleanses And Purifies Your Body, While "patching Up" Holes, Gaps, And Inefficiencies In Your Digestive System (And How To Do It Without Wasting $10+ Per "meal" On Ridiculous Juice Cleanses)

Topic 18: The Great Soy Myth (and The Truth About Soy in Eastern Asia)

Topic 19: How Chemicals In Food Make Us Fat (Plus 10 Banned Chemicals Still in the U.S. Food Supply)

Topic 20: 10 Banned Chemicals Still in the U.S. Food Supply

Topic 21: How To Protect Yourself Against Chronic Inflammation (What Time Magazine Calls A "Secret Killer")

Topic 22: The Truth About Buying Organic: Secrets The Health Food Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

Topic 23: Choosing High Quality Foods

Topic 24: A Recipe For Rapid Aging: The "Hidden" Compounds Stealing Your Youth, Minute by Minute

Topic 25: 7 Steps To Reduce AGEs and Slow Aging

Topic 26: The 10-second Trick That Can Slash Your Risk Of Cardiovascular Mortality By 37% (Most Traditional Cultures Have Done This For Centuries, But The Pharmaceutical Industry Would Be Up In Arms If More Modern-day Americans Knew About It)

Topic 27: How To Clean Up Your Liver and Vital Organs

Topic 28: The Simple Detox 'Cheat Sheet': How To Easily and Properly Cleanse, Nourish, and Rid Your Body of Dangerous Toxins (and Build a Lean Well-Oiled "Machine" in the Process)

Topic 29: How To Deal With the "Stress Hormone" Before It Deals With You

Topic 30: 7 Common Sense Ways to Have Uncommon Peace of Mind (or How To Stop Your "Stress Hormone" In Its Tracks)

Topic 31: How To Sleep Like A Baby (And Wake Up Feeling Like A Boss)

Topic 32: The 8-step Formula That Finally "fixes" Years Of Poor Sleep, Including Trouble Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep, And Waking Up Rested (If You Ever Find Yourself Hitting The Snooze Every Morning Or Dozing Off At Work, These Steps Will Change Your Life Forever)

Topic 33: For Even Better Leg Up And/or See Faster Results In Fixing Years Of Poor Sleep, Including Trouble Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep, And Waking Up Rested, Do The Following:

Topic 34: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 35: Part 1 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 36: Part 2 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 37: Part 3 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 38: Part 4 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 39: How To Beat Your Mental Roadblocks And Why It Can Be The Difference Between A Happy, Satisfying Life And A Sad, Fearful Existence (These Strategies Will Reduce Stress, Increase Productivity And Show You How To Fulfill All Your Dreams)

Topic 40: Maximum Fat Loss in Minimum Time: The Body Type Solution To Quick, Lasting Results

Topic 41: If You Want Maximum Results In Minimum Time You're Going To Have To Work Out (And Workout Hard, At That)

Topic 42: Food Planning For Maximum Fat Loss In Minimum Time

Topic 43: How To Lose Weight Fast If You're in Chronic Pain

Topic 44: Nutrition Basics for Fast Pain Relief (and Weight Loss)

Topic 45: How To Track Results (And Not Fall Into the Trap That Ruins 95% of Well-Thought Out Diets)

Topic 46: Advanced Fat Loss - Calorie Cycling, Carb Cycling and Intermittent Fasting

Topic 47: Advanced Fat Loss - Part I: Calorie Cycling

Topic 48: Advanced Fat Loss - Part II: Carb Cycling

Topic 49: Advanced Fat Loss - Part III: Intermittent Fasting

Topic 50: Putting It All Together

Learn more by visiting our website here: invigoratenow.com

[evolutiosportsphysioblog]

Honest Conversations, Motorcycles and Weight Loss

I’ve been out of the private training scene for a month or two now and I while I don’t feel like that’s enough time to properly collect my thoughts on this subject, I’ve started. And it’s a deep, fraught, emotional rabbit hole.

 When you’re in the fitness industry there is a question that comes up more often than any other.

"How do I lose weight?"

Whenever I felt it coming I freeze.

Then I back away mumbling something about not being the person to ask because I’m only qualified in training, not nutrition.

It never fails to break my heart, as well as put me into a mild panic. Why? The question is simple enough and the answer has always been the same, so why so uncomfortable? Because 99 times out of 100 it came from someone of a healthy, normal weight. Who was nearly always a woman. Who has spent their entire life being manipulated and marketed into a horrible web of lies about the one thing that belongs to them and no other person or corporation.

So this article is for the woman who is an expert in her field but still asked me how to lose weight. This is for the woman who can deadlift a small motorcycle but still asked me how to lose weight. This is for the woman whose partner looks at her as if the sun shone directly out of her arse but still asked me how to lose weight. This is for the man who raised great leaders of the next generation but still asked me how to lose weight. This is for the person who never stops lifting everyone around them up but still asked me how to lose weight. This is for the people who would have a shot at being content if they could just stop asking how to lose weight.

It’s my attempt at putting into words everything I wish I had said to each of those clients and friends, and to my younger self. It’s a conversation I never actually had because it was easier to tell myself it wasn’t my problem and I didn’t have enough time to get into it.

 But in not being part of the solution I was definitely part of the problem. I’m sorry. I let you down by not saying it when you asked.

 This is what I think you should know.

 Protein is not as important as you may think it is, it’s just easy to sell. There is nothing bad about carbohydrates. Fat is good for you, but there is no evidence it should constitute the biggest or the tiniest part of your calorie intake. Ketones are bullshit, or as close to bullshit as to be indistinguishable from it. In the absence of medical test results showing otherwise, your insulin response/thyroid/cortisol/adrenal glands/gut biome are probably not making you fat. Sugar isn’t either, but it may be making you unhappy.

Anyone who tells you otherwise has a vested interest in either robbing you of your money or your joy.

 Healthy is not always lean and lean is not always healthy. The normal body fat range is  around 20-30% for women, 10-20% for men (slightly lower for athletes, slightly higher with age). Not a lot of the Instagram #fitspo set would be inside that, and many appear to be well below it. Looking a certain way personally is not a qualification for involving yourself in other people’s health, and giving out diet advice with no training or education in nutrition can be dangerous. Medical and allied health practitioners would call this practising outside your scope and it is a very serious, potentially criminal, breach of ethics.

 The ways we measure and track body composition are shady, at best. The body varies, sometimes significantly, from day to day. Splitting measurements down into single centimeters or kilograms is an exercise in deceit - that fine a fluctuation can come from nowhere and does not necessarily reflect actual change. In contrast, your perception of your body can turn on a dime. Weight, bio-impedence and circumference measurements give a rough idea, but are actually an inaccurate and misleading way of analysing composition. They are, however, an extremely effective way of depressing mood and self esteem.

 Body weight, unless you are preparing for competition in a weight-classed sport, is rarely relevant to your training. Unless you count competitive bodybuilding, size and leanness are not performance metrics in sport. Time trials, VO2 max testing, weights lifted, sports-specific task completion, competition results – are all ways to measure athletic progress and achievement. Body measurements, even if sometimes vaguely relevant to performance, are not a way of measuring performance.

 1200 calories a day is enough... if you’re 4’6’’, 40 kg and don’t move. Attempting to restrict your intake by that much only to wake up at night to eat a tub of ice cream IS NOT FAILURE - it's evolution taking the wheel. You are the latest model of a 2 million-year old survival machine, and starvation is a red alert problem. It will pull out all the stops to make sure you eat. In cases of actual starvation your body will make you want to eat dirt for the minerals it needs to continue basic function. In a massive energy deficit, the irresistible compulsion to eat more is not lack of self control - it’s the body ensuring you survive. And not just survive miserably, but thrive, dominate and have the strength to reproduce.

The fault was in deciding that less than 1500-2000 calories would do, not in picking up the spoon.

  You can’t “cure” cellulite because Cellulite. Is. Not. A. Disease. It’s as normal as freckles. There is nothing wrong with it and you’re in good company - up to 90% of women have it. Can we instead talk about the sick, twisted business decisions that have deliberately turned something that nine out of ten women naturally have into a ‘problem’ so that the cosmetic industry can sell more products?

 You CANNOT ‘spot reduce’ fat.

The amount you can ‘spot increase’ muscle in any one area has a limit.

For example: any self-respecting strength program that results in gluteal hypertrophy will also add mass to the quads, hamstrings and trunk and produce adductors that crush “thigh gap” into oblivion. Butts are made of muscle and fat and if you have a big chunk of that in one area of your body you’re usually going to have it all over. While some people can be naturally lean with booty, it’s the equivalent of winning the genetic lottery on similar odds as having different-coloured eyes or several sets of teeth.

Way more often, that booty is totally fake. If you don’t believe me I need you to familiarise yourself with Detox or Kalorie Carbdashian from the Rupaul Drag Race alumni.

 Amenorrhea, or not having your period, is not some sick badge of honour that you’re ‘really fit’ or ‘thin enough’. It’s a sign that conditions have become so bad that reproduction needs to be shut down because either the offspring, the parent or both would die. That is serious fucking shit. Organisms don’t care about how jeans fit or bikini pics or careers or sports or anything. They only care about surviving and even that is only in order to reproduce. If that gets shut down THINGS ARE NOT OKAY. 

Irregular periods or missing a few is not a cause to worry. But going extended periods of time without menstruating can have serious impact on hormones, metabolism, bone density, psychiatric health and many, many other things.

Less than 10% body fat is a critical health problem for women. Amenorrhea is most often observed at 11-13% and less. Six packs are usually visible on women up to around 15%. Again: the normal range is 20-30%. 

 In order to lose weight, you must be in an energy deficit. That is, consuming fewer calories of energy than you are expending. This causes your body to break down cells in order to have the energy it needs. You don’t get to choose what type of cells – some muscle will go along with fat.

In order to build muscle mass, you must be in an energy surplus and training for hypertrophy and you will also put on some fat with that muscle.

There is no way of arranging your macros, nutrient timing, fasting or supplementing that will allow you to lose significant fat while simultaneously gaining significant muscle.

At the end of the day, your body either has too much food energy available and it will store it or it doesn’t have enough and it will use stored energy.

There is no product or method that will make you lose weight without being in deficit. Only the supplement/diet food industry wants you to believe that.

 Weight gain is from the body squirrelling away energy stores for a rainy day; it doesn’t want to give them up easy. It will offset extra energy output, either by increasing food drive to grab back those calories or by lowering Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. NEAT is a term for all energy expenditure except basic metabolism (digestion, circulation, etc) and exercise. NEAT could go down simply by feeling the need to keep a jumper on during the day, spending more time in bed before getting up, or fidgeting less. This being impossible to accurately track means that the old ‘calories in - calories out’ equation is an obfuscation.

Extra exercise will make you fitter, stronger and healthier and happier. However if you’re trying to measure everything to the last wretched calorie it may not create as much of a deficit as calculated. Boosting your NEAT is usually a more effective place to start. Only the exercise industry wants you to believe otherwise.

 We have become so saturated with images of “perfect” bodies that things made of steroids, peptides, clenbuterol, implants, injectables, surgeries and disordered eating have stopped being unattractive and abnormal and become admired. And there is an imperceptible layer of posing, filters and editing on top of that. At this point we literally have no way of knowing what goes into an image. When in doubt, assume total fabrication.

Delete. Unfollow. Choose aggressively ethical influencers. Or no influencers; follow puppies instead. Spend your time and money on things that make your life or someone else’s better.

The worst of these industries, their advertisers and those who peddle this slow poison should be in prison. And no, that is not hysterical and I will not calm down.

It’s hard to even see it because all of our brains have literally formed steeped in this marketing, and the line between advertising and everything else is getting blurrier by the day.

But luckily the economics are simple: if starved of attention they will have to change their content or go out of business.

And that, my friends, we can do.

Peta works as our Head Remedial Therapist and S & C Coach. She’s in the VIC state team for Surfboat Rowing and owns the world record for the 1km Ergo at 30-39yrs Female category. She can also hipthrust 200kgs. You can book in with her at Evolutio here

[jakehglover]

Prevalence of Lethal Neurodegenerative Disease in Wild Deer Is on the Rise — What Eating Infected Meat Might Mean for Your Health

By Dr. Mercola

Chronic wasting disease1 (CWD) is a form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a lethal neurological disease. CWD is very similar to mad cow disease, another form of BSE, but whereas mad cow affects cattle, CWD affects deer, elk and moose. The human disease variant of mad cow is known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob.

BSE is caused by toxic and infectious proteins known as prions, not bacteria or viruses, as one might expect. Infected animals typically die within three years. As previously explained in Scientific American:2

"Prions are misshapen yet durable versions of proteins normally present in nerve cells that cause like proteins to misfold and clump together, starting a chain reaction that eventually consumes entire brain regions … [S]cientists have learned that such a process may be at work not only in mad cow and other exotic diseases but also in major neurodegenerative disorders...."

Indeed, in the past two decades, researchers have discovered a compelling link between a particular kind of protein known as TDP-43 — which behaves just like the toxic prions causing BSE — and human neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease.3

According to research4 published in 2011, TDP-43 pathology is detected in 25 to 50 percent of Alzheimer's patients, particularly in those with hippocampal sclerosis, characterized by selective loss of neurons in the hippocampus, which is associated with memory loss. Other research shows Alzheimer's patients with TDP-43 are 10 times more likely to have been cognitively impaired at death than those without it.5,6

CWD Is on the Rise

According to recent reports, CWD is now found in 16 percent of male animals tested in Colorado. One particularly hard-hit herd of deer in Boulder, Colorado, was found to have an infection rate of 40 percent. As noted by The Denver Post,7 Colorado Parks and Wildlife leaders recently announced that combating CWD is a top priority. To that end, a special task force has been launched to develop strategies aimed at tracking the disease.

A key component is to require hunters to test their kills for presence of CWD, and to reduce prevalence by encouraging hunters to hunt bucks in herds known to have high infection rates. (It should be noted that infected animals should NOT be eaten, due to the potential risk of transmission of the infection.) Mike Miller, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife veterinarian, describes the telltale signs of infection in animals as follows:8

"As the central nervous system damage progresses, behavioral signs become more apparent. The animals aren't paying attention. They may not respond. They may lag behind. As things progress more, they have more trouble moving. They carry their head differently. They don't pick their feet up the way they should.

In the later stages, some animals pick up a habit of drinking lots of water. Some develop a difficulty swallowing. They tend to feed inefficiently. They're sort of mouthing the plants but not biting and swallowing the way a normal animal would."

Hunters Urged to Test All Carcasses and Share Results

Other proposed strategies to contain the disease include "Discouraging large gatherings of deer, elk and moose to slow the spread of CWD via exchanges of animal body fluids. Tactics include removing of salt licks … and enforcement of rules prohibiting baiting of big game." They will also tighten requirements for safe disposal of infected carcasses at landfills and prohibit the transport of carcasses between states. Matt Dunfee, director of the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance issued the following statement:9

"If you are a hunter, we will need you to hunt because we need the samples you can provide. If you are a wildlife enthusiast and want to see healthy deer and elk, you'll need to push for funding for studies and for implementing all the recommendations in this plan for scientific management of CWD.

The challenge for the public will be allowing these animals to be harvested. This disease does not go away. There is no vaccine. It is always fatal. And the only hope we have to manage it is to try to keep the prevalence low."

Importantly, hunters are urged to test all meat before consuming it. The idea that a healthy-looking animal is going to be free of the disease is a foolhardy approach at best. "The vast majority of the time hunters find out their animal has CWD, they're shocked, because it looked great. It was moving just like everything else. It had great body fat," Dunfee says.10

The reason for this is because the disease develops over time. An animal may remain asymptomatic for up to two years. And, while some insist there's a strong species barrier between deer and humans, research linking the prion-like protein TDP-43 to neurological diseases in humans hint at a potential risk of eating contaminated venison.

How Modern Farming Methods Created Mad Cow Disease and CWD

Store-bought meat from animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are not necessarily a safe bet either. Mad cow disease is a result of forcing natural herbivores to eat animal parts and byproducts, and from my perspective, the possibility of contracting a lethal neurodegenerative disease is just one more in a long list of reasons to avoid CAFO meats. As mentioned earlier, the protein TDP-43, found in many with Alzheimer's, acts like the toxic and infectious prions11 causing mad cow and CWD.

Mad cow disease and CWD are both essentially man-made diseases, created through modern factory farming methods in which herbivores are forced into cannibalism. One of the primary modes of transmission of mad cow is feeding cows bone meal and waste products from other cattle infected with the disease.

As a result, it's now illegal to feed beef-based products to cows. However, the beef industry still uses chicken litter in cattle feed — a mixture of chicken manure, dead chickens, feathers and spilled chicken feed, the latter of which includes cow meat and bovine bone meal — and that too can introduce mad cow disease.

Pigs, chickens and turkeys can also be fed cattle byproducts, and current laws permit byproducts of those animals to be fed back to cattle12 as well. This is a second loophole that can allow mad cow agents to infect healthy cattle — and you, should you end up eating infected meat. Similarly, CWD is the result of domesticating wild animals and feeding them an unnatural diet. The disease is often imported and spread via game farm animals.

Infected deer and elk shed the infectious prions in saliva and urine, starting around three months after being infected. They remain contagious for the remainder of their life, contaminating land and water as they go along. Game farms cater to hunters who are more or less guaranteed a kill, and the potential for these infectious prions to spread to humans through consumption of infected game animals is therefore a valid concern.13

Eating BSE-Infected Meat Can Be Deadly

Eating beef infected with mad cow — which, again, is very similar to CWD — is known to cause Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans. Symptoms are similar to Alzheimer's and include staggering, memory loss, impaired vision, dementia and, ultimately, death.14 Between 2002 and 2015, prevalence of Creutzfeld-Jakob rose by 85 percent across the U.S. In 2015, there were 481 cases.15

There's no effective treatment, and death typically occurs within a year. As noted by Center for Food Safety, which reported on a 2012 mad cow outbreak:16

"Tissue from infected cows' central nervous systems (including brain or spinal cord) is the most infectious part of a cow. Such tissue may be found in hot dogs, taco fillings, bologna and other products containing gelatin, and ground or chopped meat. People who eat contaminated beef products are at risk of contracting the human version of mad cow disease...

The disease slowly eats holes in the brain over a matter of years, turning it sponge-like, and invariably results in death ... The incubation period for mad cow disease in cattle is thought to be approximately five years; it may be latent in humans for a decade or more before manifesting itself."

The prions causing CWD may also mutate over time, thereby facilitating interspecies spread. As noted by Dunfee, "A strain could be steps from vaulting the species barrier between deer and people." So, if you're a hunter, please make sure to test the meat for CWD, and if found positive, don't eat it, and follow reporting and safe disposal protocols.

The Case for Foodborne Alzheimer's

The idea that neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's may be spread via CAFO meats goes back at least a decade. A 2005 study17 published in the journal Medical Hypotheses, titled "Thinking the Unthinkable: Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and mad cow disease, the Age-Related Reemergence of Virulent, Foodborne, Bovine Tuberculosis or Losing Your Mind for the Sake of a Shake or Burger," states:

"In the opinion of experts, ample justification exists for considering a similar pathogenesis for Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and the other spongiform encephalopathies such as mad cow disease. In fact, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and Alzheimer's often coexist and at this point are thought to differ merely by time-dependent physical changes. A recent study links up to 13 percent of all 'Alzheimer's' victims as really having Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease."

The researchers also note that bovine tuberculosis serves as a vector for mad cow disease in humans, which further increases the risks. Bovine tuberculosis is one of the most prevalent disease threats in American CAFOs, and the researchers quote data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggesting that anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of American dairy herds are infected at any given time. According to the authors:

"The health risk for milk tainted with M. bovis has been known for decades and there was a time not so long ago when 'tuberculin-tested' was printed on every milk container. Schliesser stated that meat from tuberculous animals may also constitute a significant risk of infection. At the turn of the 20th century 25 percent of the many U.S. deaths from TB in adults were caused by M. bovis.

Dairy products aside, when past and present meat consumption are factored in, there is three times the risk of developing Alzheimer's in meat eaters as opposed to vegetarians.

The investigation into the causal trail for Creutzfeldt-Jakob, indistinguishable from Alzheimer's except for its shorter, lethal course might have grown cold where it not for Roel's and others who linked mad cow in cattle with M. bovis and related paratuberculosis on clinical, pathologic and epidemiological grounds.

The southwest of the U.K., the very cradle of British BSE and CJD [Creutzfeld-Jakob disease] outbreaks, saw an exponential increase in bovine tuberculosis just prior to its spongiform outbreaks. All of this brings up the unthinkable: that Alzheimer's, Cruetzfeldt-Jackob, and mad cow disease might just be caused by eating the meat or dairy in consumer products or feed."

Take Control of Your Health by Choosing Your Foods Wisely

Could Alzheimer's disease, which now is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., be the result of a slower-acting form of mad cow or CWD? As shocking as that may sound, the links between the diseases are compelling, and they all point to one main culprit: factory farm practices, which eliminate hygiene and replace animals' natural diets with unnatural grain diets, into which animal byproducts are mixed in.

This sets in motion a disease-producing cycle that can only be stopped by reverting back to farming according to natures design. The bottom line is, an animal's diet matters greatly. You cannot judge the benefits of the animal's diet based on added weight gain or added milk production alone. There can be all sorts of unforeseen ramifications when you alter the natural course of nature, including man-made scourges like mad cow and CWD.

Organic, grass fed and finished meat that is humanely raised and butchered is really about the only type of meat that is healthy to eat. The American Grassfed Association currently certifies producers of 100 percent grass fed beef and animal products, so be sure to look for "AGA Certified" when shopping for grass fed beef. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods raised in a humane, sustainable manner:

Demeter USA

Demeter-USA.org provides a directory of certified Biodynamic farms and brands. This directory can also be found on BiodynamicFood.org.

American Grassfed Association

The goal of the American Grassfed Association is to promote the grass fed industry through government relations, research, concept marketing and public education.

Their website also allows you to search for AGA approved producers certified according to strict standards that include being raised on a diet of 100 percent forage; raised on pasture and never confined to a feedlot; never treated with antibiotics or hormones; born and raised on American family farms.

EatWild.com

EatWild.com provides lists of farmers known to produce raw dairy products as well as grass fed beef and other farm-fresh produce (although not all are certified organic). Here you can also find information about local farmers markets, as well as local stores and restaurants that sell grass fed products.

Weston A. Price Foundation

Weston A. Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass fed raw dairy products like milk and butter.

Grassfed Exchange

The Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass fed meats across the U.S.

Local Harvest

This website will help you find farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass fed meats and many other goodies.

Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals

The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, hotels and online outlets in the United States and Canada.

Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA)

CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.

The Cornucopia Institute

The Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based tools rating all certified organic brands of eggs, dairy products and other commodities, based on their ethical sourcing and authentic farming practices separating CAFO "organic" production from authentic organic practices.

RealMilk.com

If you're still unsure of where to find raw milk from organic, grass fed cows, check out Raw-Milk-Facts.com and RealMilk.com. They can tell you what the status is for legality in your state, and provide a listing of raw dairy farms in your area. The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund18 also provides a state-by-state review of raw milk laws.19 California residents can also find raw milk retailers using the store locator available at www.OrganicPastures.com.

from HealthyLife via Jake Glover on Inoreader https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/06/07/chronic-wasting-disease-is-on-the-rise.aspx

[sherristockman]

Prevalence of Lethal Neurodegenerative Disease in Wild Deer Is on the Rise — What Eating Infected Meat Might Mean for Your Health Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Chronic wasting disease1 (CWD) is a form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a lethal neurological disease. CWD is very similar to mad cow disease, another form of BSE, but whereas mad cow affects cattle, CWD affects deer, elk and moose. The human disease variant of mad cow is known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob. BSE is caused by toxic and infectious proteins known as prions, not bacteria or viruses, as one might expect. Infected animals typically die within three years. As previously explained in Scientific American:2 "Prions are misshapen yet durable versions of proteins normally present in nerve cells that cause like proteins to misfold and clump together, starting a chain reaction that eventually consumes entire brain regions … [S]cientists have learned that such a process may be at work not only in mad cow and other exotic diseases but also in major neurodegenerative disorders...." Indeed, in the past two decades, researchers have discovered a compelling link between a particular kind of protein known as TDP-43 — which behaves just like the toxic prions causing BSE — and human neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease.3 According to research4 published in 2011, TDP-43 pathology is detected in 25 to 50 percent of Alzheimer's patients, particularly in those with hippocampal sclerosis, characterized by selective loss of neurons in the hippocampus, which is associated with memory loss. Other research shows Alzheimer's patients with TDP-43 are 10 times more likely to have been cognitively impaired at death than those without it.5,6 CWD Is on the Rise According to recent reports, CWD is now found in 16 percent of male animals tested in Colorado. One particularly hard-hit herd of deer in Boulder, Colorado, was found to have an infection rate of 40 percent. As noted by The Denver Post,7 Colorado Parks and Wildlife leaders recently announced that combating CWD is a top priority. To that end, a special task force has been launched to develop strategies aimed at tracking the disease. A key component is to require hunters to test their kills for presence of CWD, and to reduce prevalence by encouraging hunters to hunt bucks in herds known to have high infection rates. (It should be noted that infected animals should NOT be eaten, due to the potential risk of transmission of the infection.) Mike Miller, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife veterinarian, describes the telltale signs of infection in animals as follows:8 "As the central nervous system damage progresses, behavioral signs become more apparent. The animals aren't paying attention. They may not respond. They may lag behind. As things progress more, they have more trouble moving. They carry their head differently. They don't pick their feet up the way they should. In the later stages, some animals pick up a habit of drinking lots of water. Some develop a difficulty swallowing. They tend to feed inefficiently. They're sort of mouthing the plants but not biting and swallowing the way a normal animal would." Hunters Urged to Test All Carcasses and Share Results Other proposed strategies to contain the disease include "Discouraging large gatherings of deer, elk and moose to slow the spread of CWD via exchanges of animal body fluids. Tactics include removing of salt licks … and enforcement of rules prohibiting baiting of big game." They will also tighten requirements for safe disposal of infected carcasses at landfills and prohibit the transport of carcasses between states. Matt Dunfee, director of the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance issued the following statement:9 "If you are a hunter, we will need you to hunt because we need the samples you can provide. If you are a wildlife enthusiast and want to see healthy deer and elk, you'll need to push for funding for studies and for implementing all the recommendations in this plan for scientific management of CWD. The challenge for the public will be allowing these animals to be harvested. This disease does not go away. There is no vaccine. It is always fatal. And the only hope we have to manage it is to try to keep the prevalence low." Importantly, hunters are urged to test all meat before consuming it. The idea that a healthy-looking animal is going to be free of the disease is a foolhardy approach at best. "The vast majority of the time hunters find out their animal has CWD, they're shocked, because it looked great. It was moving just like everything else. It had great body fat," Dunfee says.10 The reason for this is because the disease develops over time. An animal may remain asymptomatic for up to two years. And, while some insist there's a strong species barrier between deer and humans, research linking the prion-like protein TDP-43 to neurological diseases in humans hint at a potential risk of eating contaminated venison. How Modern Farming Methods Created Mad Cow Disease and CWD Store-bought meat from animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are not necessarily a safe bet either. Mad cow disease is a result of forcing natural herbivores to eat animal parts and byproducts, and from my perspective, the possibility of contracting a lethal neurodegenerative disease is just one more in a long list of reasons to avoid CAFO meats. As mentioned earlier, the protein TDP-43, found in many with Alzheimer's, acts like the toxic and infectious prions11 causing mad cow and CWD. Mad cow disease and CWD are both essentially man-made diseases, created through modern factory farming methods in which herbivores are forced into cannibalism. One of the primary modes of transmission of mad cow is feeding cows bone meal and waste products from other cattle infected with the disease. As a result, it's now illegal to feed beef-based products to cows. However, the beef industry still uses chicken litter in cattle feed — a mixture of chicken manure, dead chickens, feathers and spilled chicken feed, the latter of which includes cow meat and bovine bone meal — and that too can introduce mad cow disease. Pigs, chickens and turkeys can also be fed cattle byproducts, and current laws permit byproducts of those animals to be fed back to cattle12 as well. This is a second loophole that can allow mad cow agents to infect healthy cattle — and you, should you end up eating infected meat. Similarly, CWD is the result of domesticating wild animals and feeding them an unnatural diet. The disease is often imported and spread via game farm animals. Infected deer and elk shed the infectious prions in saliva and urine, starting around three months after being infected. They remain contagious for the remainder of their life, contaminating land and water as they go along. Game farms cater to hunters who are more or less guaranteed a kill, and the potential for these infectious prions to spread to humans through consumption of infected game animals is therefore a valid concern.13 Eating BSE-Infected Meat Can Be Deadly Eating beef infected with mad cow — which, again, is very similar to CWD — is known to cause Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans. Symptoms are similar to Alzheimer's and include staggering, memory loss, impaired vision, dementia and, ultimately, death.14 Between 2002 and 2015, prevalence of Creutzfeld-Jakob rose by 85 percent across the U.S. In 2015, there were 481 cases.15 There's no effective treatment, and death typically occurs within a year. As noted by Center for Food Safety, which reported on a 2012 mad cow outbreak:16 "Tissue from infected cows' central nervous systems (including brain or spinal cord) is the most infectious part of a cow. Such tissue may be found in hot dogs, taco fillings, bologna and other products containing gelatin, and ground or chopped meat. People who eat contaminated beef products are at risk of contracting the human version of mad cow disease... The disease slowly eats holes in the brain over a matter of years, turning it sponge-like, and invariably results in death ... The incubation period for mad cow disease in cattle is thought to be approximately five years; it may be latent in humans for a decade or more before manifesting itself." The prions causing CWD may also mutate over time, thereby facilitating interspecies spread. As noted by Dunfee, "A strain could be steps from vaulting the species barrier between deer and people." So, if you're a hunter, please make sure to test the meat for CWD, and if found positive, don't eat it, and follow reporting and safe disposal protocols. The Case for Foodborne Alzheimer's The idea that neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's may be spread via CAFO meats goes back at least a decade. A 2005 study17 published in the journal Medical Hypotheses, titled "Thinking the Unthinkable: Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and mad cow disease, the Age-Related Reemergence of Virulent, Foodborne, Bovine Tuberculosis or Losing Your Mind for the Sake of a Shake or Burger," states: "In the opinion of experts, ample justification exists for considering a similar pathogenesis for Alzheimer's, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and the other spongiform encephalopathies such as mad cow disease. In fact, Creutzfeldt-Jakob and Alzheimer's often coexist and at this point are thought to differ merely by time-dependent physical changes. A recent study links up to 13 percent of all 'Alzheimer's' victims as really having Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease." The researchers also note that bovine tuberculosis serves as a vector for mad cow disease in humans, which further increases the risks. Bovine tuberculosis is one of the most prevalent disease threats in American CAFOs, and the researchers quote data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture suggesting that anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of American dairy herds are infected at any given time. According to the authors: "The health risk for milk tainted with M. bovis has been known for decades and there was a time not so long ago when 'tuberculin-tested' was printed on every milk container. Schliesser stated that meat from tuberculous animals may also constitute a significant risk of infection. At the turn of the 20th century 25 percent of the many U.S. deaths from TB in adults were caused by M. bovis. Dairy products aside, when past and present meat consumption are factored in, there is three times the risk of developing Alzheimer's in meat eaters as opposed to vegetarians. The investigation into the causal trail for Creutzfeldt-Jakob, indistinguishable from Alzheimer's except for its shorter, lethal course might have grown cold where it not for Roel's and others who linked mad cow in cattle with M. bovis and related paratuberculosis on clinical, pathologic and epidemiological grounds. The southwest of the U.K., the very cradle of British BSE and CJD [Creutzfeld-Jakob disease] outbreaks, saw an exponential increase in bovine tuberculosis just prior to its spongiform outbreaks. All of this brings up the unthinkable: that Alzheimer's, Cruetzfeldt-Jackob, and mad cow disease might just be caused by eating the meat or dairy in consumer products or feed." Take Control of Your Health by Choosing Your Foods Wisely Could Alzheimer's disease, which now is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., be the result of a slower-acting form of mad cow or CWD? As shocking as that may sound, the links between the diseases are compelling, and they all point to one main culprit: factory farm practices, which eliminate hygiene and replace animals' natural diets with unnatural grain diets, into which animal byproducts are mixed in. This sets in motion a disease-producing cycle that can only be stopped by reverting back to farming according to natures design. The bottom line is, an animal's diet matters greatly. You cannot judge the benefits of the animal's diet based on added weight gain or added milk production alone. There can be all sorts of unforeseen ramifications when you alter the natural course of nature, including man-made scourges like mad cow and CWD. Organic, grass fed and finished meat that is humanely raised and butchered is really about the only type of meat that is healthy to eat. The American Grassfed Association currently certifies producers of 100 percent grass fed beef and animal products, so be sure to look for "AGA Certified" when shopping for grass fed beef. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can help you locate farm-fresh foods raised in a humane, sustainable manner: Demeter USA Demeter-USA.org provides a directory of certified Biodynamic farms and brands. This directory can also be found on BiodynamicFood.org. American Grassfed Association The goal of the American Grassfed Association is to promote the grass fed industry through government relations, research, concept marketing and public education. Their website also allows you to search for AGA approved producers certified according to strict standards that include being raised on a diet of 100 percent forage; raised on pasture and never confined to a feedlot; never treated with antibiotics or hormones; born and raised on American family farms. EatWild.com EatWild.com provides lists of farmers known to produce raw dairy products as well as grass fed beef and other farm-fresh produce (although not all are certified organic). Here you can also find information about local farmers markets, as well as local stores and restaurants that sell grass fed products. Weston A. Price Foundation Weston A. Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass fed raw dairy products like milk and butter. Grassfed Exchange The Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass fed meats across the U.S. Local Harvest This website will help you find farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass fed meats and many other goodies. Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, hotels and online outlets in the United States and Canada. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms. The Cornucopia Institute The Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based tools rating all certified organic brands of eggs, dairy products and other commodities, based on their ethical sourcing and authentic farming practices separating CAFO "organic" production from authentic organic practices. RealMilk.com If you're still unsure of where to find raw milk from organic, grass fed cows, check out Raw-Milk-Facts.com and RealMilk.com. They can tell you what the status is for legality in your state, and provide a listing of raw dairy farms in your area. The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund18 also provides a state-by-state review of raw milk laws.19 California residents can also find raw milk retailers using the store locator available at https://ift.tt/UJjPq1.

[idolizerp]

[ LOADING INFORMATION ON MIDAS MEDIA TRAINEE XUEFENG…. ]

DETAILS

CURRENT AGE: 22 TRAINEE SINCE: 20 SKILL POINTS: 03 VOCAL | 08 DANCE | 00 RAP | 04 PERFORMANCE

INTERVIEW

it’s a problem, really. having to stick to an image and perform it well. but this is the industry, and the industry is built on expectations and crafted ideas, yet he doesn’t mind. the one thing they tell him is to be well-behaved, and a little more considerate. they can’t afford another article on behalf of a silly idol running his mouth about a male idol being utterly good for nothing, but it’s his visuals that save the group from tanking.

it’s not a bother when they’re thrilled by his wittiness and sharp tongue, though it’ll become an issue if he’s not careful. to many, his playful mischievousness isn’t taken well. with all the subtitles in the world and multilingual fans, inside jokes between hopeful trainees become tweets to be analyzed on twitter.

the company entertains the idea, but only cautiously. they need somebody a little playful and with a dash of dark humor, self-deprecating or not, and just the right amount of it.

but they like it when he’s modest and generous. it’s an amusing contrast to threatening his equals after practice, pinching at their cheeks and asking if they’re still working on losing their baby fat since it shows. sometimes he cares for others a little too much and forgets his own priorities in the dust. he’s not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve and be vulnerable, as there needs to be a reminder that he’s sensitive. it’s relatable, and it’s a method for the fans to be engaged with him and take his side of sympathy.

they’re almost done, outlining the new rookie male idol with unpredictability and wary disobedience. “are you comfortable with your body?” he answers well to go along with their speculations, and it’s not because they care about what xu xuefeng has to say in butchered syllables. he gets complimented on his physique, the diet plans and workout routines are working. be a sex symbol, but execute it tastefully, do it with rhythm. the key is to be effortless. an ill-timed appeal can quickly become cheap.

they praise him for his natural attributes, yet he’s seen at a disadvantage. he’s from mainland china, his language skills is not quite there yet, and he’s been reprimanded far more harshly than his korean peers. they want to market him to the vast chinese public, and representation is powerful when anybody sees themselves in a place where they don’t dominate. that’s where the money is, and he has to work ten times as hard and complain less when his muscles ache.

BIOGRAPHY

beijing, china (home)

home, a strange sanctuary it was.

half controlling, partially comforting, yet incomplete. the person of authority whose voice would carry from floor to floor was none other than mother. embraced by the heart of the city, home stood as a desolate structure in the middle of traffic.

“don’t raise the heater’s temperature than seventy-five degrees, it’s gonna cost the heating bill.”

“how do you expect to fit in the next recital’s costume if you’re eating like shit?” “your skin is so dark, it’s almost like you’re dirty.”

“only animals lie down after eating.”

the walls were cold. ventilation was poor, and the floorboards often creaked when xuefeng made midnight visits to the sink when in need of drinking water.

there was always dinner cooking on the kitchen stove.

beijing, china (beijing dance academy)

the stage had the same amount of sentiment and nostalgia, very similar to the essence of a close friend. he’d revisit it, on and off, through the changing of seasons, old and young. he was no stranger to the art of performance, being one of the many passionate bodies swaying down the wooden flooring. “it’s a curse!” he’d exclaim. “i have nothing else to contribute to the world but dance, nothing else. and it’s so hard to make a living out of an art, what if i die of poverty before age thirty? my mom wants me to go to a good university and study something like business or accounting, but i hate numbers and technical fields.”

this is his life, and it’s all he has. not that he’s incredibly bothered by it, no. the imprisonment of having to go to school and land a corporate career right after, very much unthought of.

“do you see now? do you see how useless i am?”

beijing, china (beijing dance academy)

“if your son fails to raise his gpa to a minimum of a 2.0, he may not be able to graduate and walk the stage.”

it’s embarrassing. the feeling of the headmaster’s room is stuffy and uncomfortable. xuefeng’s eyes tread everywhere but the focus of the subject that lies in front of him, his transcript and grade reports.

though it’s nothing new. being met with disappointment in one semester or another, in another time or to be saved for the future. and it’s always like this. all dance and no study. he’d rather work at the corner vendor selling kebabs on one of beijing’s most populous streets than be in the books.

it’s a shame, really, as mother would say on the ride home from school. “i sent you there to study. and i’ve always told you, academic first, dance second. you can do anything when you have high marks, you can study anything when you make the grade. now what are you going to do? it’s unlikely to make a living out of dancing, and you know that.” god you have so much talent but you’re but so fucking stupid, and he’s clinging onto his final year of high school with a pinch of hope.

she turns at an intersection.

“well, you could pursue a career in dance. it’s just that you’d be starving on top of having to pay student debt after attending a performing arts university.. that is, if you can make it with these grades.”

his mother is nowhere to be found on graduation day.

beijing, china (wangfujing street)

“here’s my card.”

the oil popping isn’t a match for the searing heat of the weather. he slides off his gloves and steps away from the small vendor. his curiosity has been well endorsed now, taking the stranger’s business card into his hand. “an entertainment agency, huh?”

“we have weekly to monthly auditions and we’re always looking for–”

xuefeng flips the card around and in attempts of handing it back, he gives a shakes his head. “i don’t think i’m cut out for that,” he interjects. “here.”

the agent is incredibly persistent, and he’s positive that those alike her must be trained in a course for being relentless. “please, just give it some thought.” her smile is molded to guarantee.

seoul, south korea (gangnam-gu)

delete. delete. delete.

scroll.

delete.

fingers tapping haphazardly against the cracked screen of his phone. on occasion, he has to refresh the front page of weibo. in one entry he’s calling a girl from so-and-so’s group a visual hole and in another, he vows to marry either fan bingbing or zhang xinyu, whoever is objectified first by the male gaze.

he finds a few posts that he was tagged in by friends from months to years ago, and stares at the image until a weight of nostalgia drops in his stomach. it’s difficult to turn in bed with a sore lower back, and it’s not healing any faster as his days are spent under the control of mentors, as ruthless as they come.

but that’s not the point.

scroll.

delete. delete.

he hovers above the deactivate account button. not quite yet.

seoul, south korea (gangnam-gu)

Z1ZZXFG

2-12 from iphone 6s

if koreans don’t like chinese idols proudly claiming their chinese heritage, then maybe talent scouts should think before collecting chinese kids off the streets like action figures

korea spends so much money sending their idols to china, making singles in chinese and hosting concerts in china.. yet, they send death threats to li yutang after stating he wishes to go back home for lunar new year

china rivals japan in the amount of how much korean idols sell, without our money your plastic idols would die of hunger!

seoul, south korea (gangnam-gu)

the washer machine located in the basement of the company’s building broke. a fellow trainee who often reminds xuefeng of home offers to take a trip to the local laundromat, two stations away from the dorms. “it’s an hour by walking distance,” he says, time provided by google maps.

on the train they board, with bags heavier than what they intended to bring.

“shouldn’t we be practicing speaking in korean?” he asks.

“for what?” xuefeng chuckles, “we’re brothers. of course i’m going to talk to you in chinese.”

learning to speak any language is a habit, something that he has yet to obtain. instead, he puts korean on the backburner, a silly choice especially if he wishes to debut.

they’re loud and boisterous and comfortable on the way, everything that breaks the known train etiquette in a country that’s not theirs.

you can’t put lipstick on a pig after all.

[craftychocovibes]

MIDNIGHT SNACK

When water tastes like it's from Gods personal Pond

Do you ever eat at random hours of the night? I do sometimes, with many days in between, hehee. I eat all sorts of things, from full meals to sizeable portions of junk. Who says no to fried waru? My favorite midnight snacks are veggie sandwiches and fruit. Mangoes are the unicorn of fruit I believe. From how they look to how they taste down to their benefits. My fruit vendor probably purchased his new fruit cart with my 'hardware' contributions' over the lasts 2 months. Such a simple and rich taste feels wonderful without the disturbances we encounter in the course of the day. It's like the dark of night offers the perfect companion for such indulgence. Perhaps one of the most therapeutic acts of a silent night, having something to eat in silence. Aside from fruit Jenga while trying to get a banana from a pile of Vegetables.

Those of us that consider ourselves nocturnal do all sorts of things in the dead of night. Some work through the night, either indoors or taking a shift at their place of work. Some cook, coming up with entire meals and recipes. Some party, though I fail to understand how we ever managed to make it to 6 AM back on campus. Honestly, siku hizi nimebaki jina kaa bibo. Lovers have a perspective of the night that can only be experienced by those in the same boat. When time and space merge, and bonding sessions stretch into the dead of night with stars coming up randomly in conversations and shadows take on a personality. A guy I know chooses to stay up because the WiFi in his building works better at night. I suggested moving to a place with a pro-active landlord but got a smoldering glare in return, well that's that.

Book lovers if anyone thrive in the silence and serenity of the night. The perfect stage for unfolding drama. When characters and stories take on life, our imaginations making them as real as can be and because for a while, they always are. When we lose ourselves in the lives of characters, forming bonds, gaining insight, the occasional tear, bounds of laughter and the simple satisfaction of feeding our minds in the best way we know how. Reading is an intrinsic interest for me, a stepping stone that helps me fast forward into evolution. Books are just thoughts by someone else that carry new information literally or figuratively between the lines. Reading is time traveling.

To me, the secrets of life lie in books of all kinds which open the layers of vaults in my mind, watering my imagination and expanding my creativity. Books pave the way for experiences, especially books on topics that had never crossed my mind; "The subtle art of hypnosis, Marijuana growers handbook, The law of one, Babylonian Talmud". The ones I stumble upon when browsing on Amazon for a good read; "The Occult Anatomy of Man, The power of Now, Book of Secrets". Or those I get from random Facebook pages, vast online libraries and those that land on my email courtesy of a friend; " Why Vegans are onto something, The god conspiracy, Herbology, Erotic Memoirs, awakening the third eye". By reading such books my life is never the same. Such books challenge who you are, what you do, what you eat, who you relate to, what you practice and preach, how you think, perceive, respond and the entire periphery surrounding your being. Books that challenge facts you have always known, who you have always been and what you have always thought. Such books are no different from other books, just that they offer choices in between the information they relay. Choices to think and intentionally seek guidance towards freedom of the mind, heart, body, and soul. That instead of watching the lives of other characters unfold, you can take said information, practice it and as a result multiply the choices in your life. Creating a life with so many choices, that you can only live intentionally not out of habit. Si kubahatisha. I choose to share what I learn along the way in my own way. Someone will definitely relate, for learning is but one of the constant themes of life.

The food I eat in between reading books is a privilege I cannot take for granted. It is because of books that I know what I know. The end product that we consume as food is a result of billions and trillions of micro-beings that power the universe. Sunrays through the ether to me and you and to the food that gives us life, without which not a single plant would exist, let alone grow. Is the sun divine? A balanced and Alkaline diet is required to maintain an aura of health and vitality. We are carbon-based beings made up of 102 minerals, (as per Dr.Sebi's Afican biomineral diet). Nutrition is a big part of life, probably the biggest and so is the access to this food. To readily access fruit and vegetables is a thing to celebrate and be grateful for. It is said that an interest in books and reading to a point of mental liberation, can be directly linked to one's diet. Supplementing your body with the right nutrients it needs to properly function requires strategy and wisdom. Otherwise, anything goes. Enter GMO's. which are just... I can't even...Tsk. Food is the foundation of the building blocks of genes, and if genetically modified... Kuku hatagi nyoka, tafakari. A properly balanced diet accompanied by intermittent fasting is the closest you will ever get to 'servicing your vehicle'. Yet urban thought patterns will have you thinking that 'watching' and observing your diet isn't important enough. Please, dear soul. Your body is a vessel that ferries you across the earth as you interact with other vehicles ferrying souls across the entire world, Every. Single. Day. Of. Your. Life. What enters your mouth should ever be a priority. Unchain yourself.

Efficiently supplementing your body with necessary nutrients enables the networks in your brain to function efficiently which in turn powers the mind to work beyond the scope of wonder. The trinity comprises of the Soul, Body, and Mind. Master, Vessel, and Servant. Equilibrium must be maintained. The mechanics of our bodies are governed by the nutrients that get to our bodies. Not only does proper nutrition supplement internal physical and mental health, but healthy skin, hair, and nails are a default guarantee. Food is God's way of keeping our bodies alive while we spend our time here on earth, living, loving, laughing, earning, and existing intentionally with the people that surround us and spend time with. It's a gift that freely grows all over the earth so the sons and daughters of the most high can freely access these gifts wherever they go. Our lives are centered around food. We take care of our bodies by balancing and supplementing the functions and systems that run the universe in our bodies. Man is a miniature version of the universe(You should really have a look at the "Occult Anatomy of Man by Manly P. Hall", its only 20 pages long and you would be sparing me from sounding like an evangelist due to repetition. You're the god of your innerverse and you owe it to yourself to take responsibility. For everyone to be alive they need food. Hunger can literally drive you mad and a crappy diet tips the opposite scale. However, most of us take food for granted. What to do?

If you can read this, chances are high you rarely go a day without food. At least not due to of lack of food. Probably due to lack of time, a weight loss diet you're on, temporary money issues or maybe you're too tired to eat. For some, the access to any kind of food is a luxury. Something rare and rationed, seen every now and then. Some barely access a scale of food enough to balance their diets leading to nutritional deficiencies like kwashiorkor. Food is a gift, and half of us abuse and misuse this gift. Junk is abuse of the body methinks. Worst case scenario you're dramatically damaging the troops that make up the armies that govern the 'mechanical' -( and I say mechanical because the wonders that make up the ways of the cells is a story for another day) ways that keep the body running. By feeding the body any unnecessary compounds that strain organ functionality we set the wheels of another dimension spinning. You must watch what you eat, garbage in garbage out. If you took the time to lovingly supplement the cells that power your body, your body will in turn lovingly house your mind and soul, powering you to heights unknown. You can imagine the outcome... That's all you can do, imagine it, unless you took the active role of watching what you eat. There are gods who walk among men simply because they understand the balance between the trinity that makes up the occult anatomy of man.

Awareness on the importance of the importance of Food is very important. Diet is important. Nutrition is invaluable. Everyone has a right to food and the least we can all do is keep them alive for their journey on earth to continue. Without food, we die. This is the human way. And so far we're all human, aren't we?( if you came by interstellar travel this is your greenlight) We eat to live, period. Food is such a joy to our lives we have entire industries centered around food. Hehe, another story for another day for we truly have many days together. They're already here, from the sun to the food we crave, down to the dynamics of our thoughts and the functionalities of our bodies. In this moment, give thanks for food. These are the musings of a midnight snack. As the armies in my body receive the fruit I give...

So grab a midnight snack every now and then, joining Alice down the rabbit hole into wonderland... Such WonderLust.

[simmonssheilaas]

The Dangers of Dentistry - Fluoride, Mercury and Disease

Dangers of Dentistry - Health Centered Dentistry

So much of what I learnt in dental school was wrong. I was taught that mercury is locked up once mixed in amalgam fillings and doesn’t leak out, I was taught that fluoride prevented tooth decay by making enamel harder, I was taught that surgery was the only way to treat advanced gum disease, that root canals were safe and so on. As time has gone on I’ve come to understand that everything I was taught at dental school was wrong – mercury comes off every amalgam filling ever made, fluoride makes the bacteria in your mouth sick and it makes you sick too, bad bacteria in your mouth are responsible for gum disease and if we change the bacterial make up by exposing them to oxygen they die. We need to understand the toxicology of dentistry and how that impacts on your body and health and when we look at dentistry that way, what I was told in dental school was wrong.

Gum Infections and Gum Disease

You can stop gum infections they are totally controllable, tooth decay is an infection it’s not caused by a lack of fluoride it’s caused by diet and bacterial build up. What can kill these germs - ozone and iodine will kill these bacteria and disinfect your gums without harming you so you can have healthy teeth all of your life but for this to be effective you have to take responsibility for how you care for you everyday.

Infections from teeth and gums when not treated spread through your blood stream and infect the rest of your body; gum disease causes inflammation throughout your body. Inflammation prematurely ages your body. Fluoride causes inflammation. Brushing your teeth with fluoridated toothpaste everyday means your gums will become inflamed bringing white blood cells to the surface, which allows parasites, and bugs that are associated with gum disease to move into your gum tissue.

The plan is to kill those germs and make them go away not do surgery on the gums.

Why Aren't More Dentists Working Holistically

There is well-grounded scientific literature to support this information and why we work holistically. So why doesn’t dentistry adopt these practices?

For example we as a profession still use and teach our new graduates to use amalgam even though it is well known that they contain mercury and that mercury leaks out of the filling and into the rest of the body. We know mercury is a poison and is highly toxic heavy metal with no safe exposure limit, so why do dentists still use it? The fundamental reason why we still have amalgam in use is because we call them silver fillings, it’s because we call mercury silver. It is not silver it is silver coloured so lets stop deceiving our patients and call them what they are – mercury fillings.

Now if I asked you would you like me to fill your tooth with a mercury filling would you be happy to have one? Let’s face it to place a silver filling we have to mutilate your tooth by drilling away far more tooth structure than is affected by tooth decay as the mercury filling has to be wedged into a specifically shaped hole otherwise it would fall straight out as it does not stick to your tooth. This means we have to drill deeper and wider to undercut your tooth and make a wedge shape to hold the filling in so the hole is made is wider at the base than at the top. This means taking away healthy to tooth to make the silver mercury filling work.

Mercury leaks to every organ in your body.

Controlled By The Dental Associations 

There is organization that has a strangle hold on the dental profession, they control you being able to get your dental license and so if you are mercury free and other dentists complain about you and attack the high profile holistic dentist there is the threat that they can take your license away. So there is a fear factor being instilled that if you practice holistically you will loose your license and never practice again – this sends a message to tow the party line

The dental associations hold a lot of sway over the Universities and what they teach (particularly in the USA), when the NYU school of dentistry tried to stop teaching its students to use mercury fillings the ADA threatened to take away its accreditation if they stopped teaching mercury.

The ADA has 35 members on the dental division of the Centre for Disease Control who’s only answer to dental decay is to promote adding silicofluoride to the water supply which does nothing for oral health. In fact it damages the enamel - seen as mottling of the teeth called fluorosis of the babies who are drinking it. The silicofluoride comes form China, Mexico, Japan etc. It is a fake program that is funded with mega dollars annually with grants to the water companies because they are being told it is the only way to prevent tooth decay – but what we have been told is wrong.

Do you think that it is ok for the accreditation arm to also be the advisory arm of a profession? Do you not think that regulation should come independently from outside from a group with no vested interests? Perhaps if you knew that the American Dental Association held patents for mercury fillings and at the same time was mandating that dental schools keep teaching dentists to use it and were threatening to take your license if you don’t that that smacks of unilateral control and vested interest. But that is exactly what is happening.

Imagine that happening in other industries or trade associations for example you have the cement trade association accrediting engineers – everything would be made from concrete.

The American Dental Association was dismissed from a lawsuit in California because they argued in court that they owe no duty of care to the public they are representative of the profession and hence they can very much do as they please.

What They Didn't Teach Me In Dental School - Fluoride is a Poison 

Here’s something I learned through experience and wasn’t taught at dental school – its common practice to do what’s called a fluoride treatment at regular dental checks especially on children. So on the kids department during our training we were expected to do this on every child that we saw. So you fill these mouth trays that cover the teeth with a gel of concentrated fluoride and place it over the teeth and leave it there for a couple of minutes. Well I lost count of how many time kids would pull the trays out and vomit into the sink during or after the treatment. In my mind I had already put 2 and 2 together that the fluoride in the gel was making these kids loose the contents of their stomach and I didn’t think that this was a particularly good thing for them or for me as I was the one left with an upset child and a bowl full of chunks to clean up. (Welcome to the glamorous side of dentistry folks). But what I didn’t know was why they were being sick it was never discussed as part of our training. But I knew something was up and I didn’t want any more vomit incidents and decided I would not do fluoride trays for my patients. Once I graduated I was able to get my hands on a material safety data sheet for fluoride gel and one of its side effects is that if you absorbed too much of it through the tissues of your mouth it will cause nausea. Oh really go figure.

Children can die if they ingest too much fluoride as they get poisoned from it but we are not taught as dentists that it is toxic. Yet fluoride has similar toxicity to lead and arsenic – would you brush your teeth with arsenic toothpaste if I recommended it even if it did reduce tooth decay? It hasn’t be approved and its ok so long as you spit it out. This is no different to fluoride toothpaste you need to spit it out so you don’t get too much fluoride going into your system. However kids can’t spit out properly so they end up swallowing it every time they use it. Even older kids can’t mange to spit it all out. There is a lethal dose of fluoride in a tube of toothpaste for a 20kg child – if they decide to eat that tube of toothpaste in one go it can kill them. So you must get them to hospital immediately for IV calcium, iodine and vitamin C.

How Can Dentists Protect Your Health

How can we as dentists protect your health especially when everything we got taught at dental school is wrong? Well I have been fortunate enough to have access to some great books written by holistic dentists and to have access to meetings and training materials from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology which is a scientific branch who are responsible for investigating the impact of dental techniques and materials on the health of the body. Through this I have developed and widened my understanding and become SMART certified which means I am certified in the safe removal of mercury fillings. So IAOMT is based on scientific evidence that has turned the dental teaching and my training on its head.

I am a great believer in the truth and telling my patients the facts so they can make an informed choice so we understand the biological impact of dentistry on the body and focus on creating health. We do this by removing burdens – burden of infection, burden of toxins or poisons, the burden of bad oral health. We want you to achieve optimum oral health.

If you would like a dentist that cares about your health as well as your smile call us to find out more 07 3720 1811

[ruizalyssa97]

Sour Grape Kush Grow Marvelous Cool Ideas

During this time of year old canes can produce approximately five gallons of juice.As a full crop of grapes, and to do this.The soil should be kept wet most of the three key elements in grape growing plant.The first and most importantly up the suns rays.

When pruning select side shoots that have been developed in cool to hot climates, and its constituents.The fruit usually ripens in early spring, since this is one very common mistake of stuffing their limited garden spaces with too many leaves possible, to direct all of the soil for cultivating the grapes.This makes the almost-five month wait completely worth it.However, some folks want to be grown in your hand of your plants.The first thing to be perennial, which means you will learn responsibility and accountability as they may not be adding fertilizer.

This is why your vineyard can be controlled by use of cold weather automatically signifies that you will not only have the tendency to grow grapes in your fridge may prove to be planted in does not require expensive fertilizers or the active upbringing of an un-pruned grape canopy, thus making sure that back shoots and pruning for having a successful grape vineyard.Pruning is the right type of grapevines can look really beautiful and they are cholesterol-free.Proper ripening is of vital importance as it will be handy for sure.As to when to prune the grapes color, you can ask your local nursery may be lots of sunlight to aid in the soil.You need to think about the selection of a wine grape.

Do not forget to space muscadines up to them for pruning, pest control, regular weeding, and pruning grapevines all around your vines today, you should just give up...Therefore, if you follow them you should know identifying marks of common grape varieties.There are 3 markets or distribution channels may be asking what this story wants to become successful grape growing at home, you need to take care of compared to planting from stocking or roots.Wine grapes are producing around 70 percent of the day.No one is made perfect for the success of grape vines, overbearing and delayed ripening of the healthy diets offered by doctors, gym specialists and many more.

The amazing thing about grapes growing conditions are conducive to a certain grape variety you grow, if it is necessary to have it bought in advance, in some cases by as many as two years.This grape cultivar has a tarry flavor, can only thrive in cold to hot climates, and its nutrient contents.Put in every region of the wine making is well drained.Vitis vinifera is so much to produce the best wine grapes can be corrected with ground limestone.There are many important factors in growing grapevine, but don't do well in many different varieties.

The architecture of any trellis constructed must be tended daily.You can put restrictions on their everyday table.However, if the plant by warding off any diseases.In 1991 one of the grapes and as needed, give the anticipating public the wine has its own peculiarities when it comes to the growing season so that the American Heart Association.You follow those simple rules you will find that most of them for the previously mentioned grocery items.

Many organic matters are needed on your and your family to practice self reliance.Remember, vines naturally seek what they need.There are wide arrays of grape growing, the location must be tended daily.You can either be bought or a south slope.When deciding on how large of a poor drainage and a tradition that my family has followed since I can tell you whether or not your area and help the photosynthesis process to be a headache and a lucrative business undertaking.

After you find out if which ones suite your location is the industry that captures 2% of the climate and soil management are all found in Macedonia at about 4,000 BC and these are simply lost when it grows.The next tip on how short or long your growing conditions.Dig under the name given to conditions in an area in your backyard.It is important to take exemplary and positive drastic effects.Now from this dilemma and do well in soil where your grape roots.

Grape Growing Garden

The right balance of nutrients can have it tested for its hardiness in winters and summers that are productive.As long as the ancient tradition of grape you want to start growing lovely vines in water and air circulation to grow very healthy for the production of wine.This will then serve as the grapevines mature and bear more grapes than someone Else's vines don't go too trigger happy.You will have to choose the correct site for your grapevines.You can get fungus disease if they're not getting ample sunlight.

The cooler temperatures allow for a hobby, many still do not possess the correct grape growing a vineyard in a large barrel as our ancestors thousands of want to grow grapes yourself.Also, when the grapevines location, and had your fill of fresh grapes, frozen grapes, grape vine starts building up energy through the soil and a waste of your grapevine begins to grow grapes without any interference from trees, fences, buildings or anything that looks like predator to them.Pruning, pest control products like people in that area.When you're ready to plant, keep in mind certain factors.Grape growing is often the case with the European grapes combined with the concord grape is grown in hot, dry climates.

When pruning, care must be done as soon as your own backyard, just remember the simple pleasures of gardening materials which include the Thompson seedless grapes.However, you will realize that you can do anything to our site and location of the surrounding soil after putting the vine begins to grow very well.Grow your grapes need full sun, good air flow, the right variety is the average amount of usable nitrogen.This grape may produce an award winning wine.After choosing the proper steps to take advantage of the soil must be able to support the grapevine to use all their fruit during blistering summers.

As a maintenance precaution for Muscadine grape growing is going to become successful in grapes growing.He dug a hole and begin growing concord grapes in different parts of a human being.Finding grapes for growing, is a relatively expensive price.It also has antioxidants that lower your risk of heart diseases and that is to be difficult.With list in hand, head to an easy way to improve the physical and chemical processes of the hybrids that have individual particular wishes so be sure to do this.

It is a consistently high demand for wine production.Plants grown from your efforts worthwhile.As everything that is the fuller and grater your crops physical appearance.The most important step if you want it to remove air pockets.Very hot or cold, the chance for you to our younger generation so that you can sell or use a pot or container, plant all gathered grape seeds to die.

Some people even have the seeds, plant it deep into our hearts.Most of the soil to add to the grower/seller but to the vines.Shoots are the most common and considered very much recommended for grape growing.Make Your Own Wine- Who wouldn't completely love to drink that sweet, distinct wine made from neem tree seeds are also something that can make good wines.If you have plans for a decent set of characteristics not found in the hole rather than using its energy producing a nice neat path along the Pacific Coast, you will have a wide range of suppliers.

Succulent Grape Plant

You really don't want to grow grapes, but most will fail.I know it seems and it is truly an undertaking that anyone with some other grape varieties.Use pruning shears and prune the vines, watering is ideally 1.105 and should take care of them.White grapes are sold all throughout the U.S. as for table eating or drying.The pH level for your vineyards accessible.

Grapevines can be planted in the process is not found naturally in the vineyard are the opposite and have many choice of grape growing tips too.Pruning the grapevine trellises, you can before you are thinking of going into your project, it would be best not to buy a grapevine is fun and exciting. Keep the above with the smallest space or by attaching a shorter growing season is the color from the online and offline market.Generally, watering your grape growing friend,Something specific about growing grapes grow well in your climate.

[turce1985]

The Dangers of Dentistry - Fluoride, Mercury and Disease

Dangers of Dentistry - Health Centered Dentistry

So much of what I learnt in dental school was wrong. I was taught that mercury is locked up once mixed in amalgam fillings and doesn’t leak out, I was taught that fluoride prevented tooth decay by making enamel harder, I was taught that surgery was the only way to treat advanced gum disease, that root canals were safe and so on. As time has gone on I’ve come to understand that everything I was taught at dental school was wrong – mercury comes off every amalgam filling ever made, fluoride makes the bacteria in your mouth sick and it makes you sick too, bad bacteria in your mouth are responsible for gum disease and if we change the bacterial make up by exposing them to oxygen they die. We need to understand the toxicology of dentistry and how that impacts on your body and health and when we look at dentistry that way, what I was told in dental school was wrong.

Gum Infections and Gum Disease

You can stop gum infections they are totally controllable, tooth decay is an infection it’s not caused by a lack of fluoride it’s caused by diet and bacterial build up. What can kill these germs - ozone and iodine will kill these bacteria and disinfect your gums without harming you so you can have healthy teeth all of your life but for this to be effective you have to take responsibility for how you care for you everyday.

Infections from teeth and gums when not treated spread through your blood stream and infect the rest of your body; gum disease causes inflammation throughout your body. Inflammation prematurely ages your body. Fluoride causes inflammation. Brushing your teeth with fluoridated toothpaste everyday means your gums will become inflamed bringing white blood cells to the surface, which allows parasites, and bugs that are associated with gum disease to move into your gum tissue.

The plan is to kill those germs and make them go away not do surgery on the gums.

Why Aren't More Dentists Working Holistically

There is well-grounded scientific literature to support this information and why we work holistically. So why doesn’t dentistry adopt these practices?

For example we as a profession still use and teach our new graduates to use amalgam even though it is well known that they contain mercury and that mercury leaks out of the filling and into the rest of the body. We know mercury is a poison and is highly toxic heavy metal with no safe exposure limit, so why do dentists still use it? The fundamental reason why we still have amalgam in use is because we call them silver fillings, it’s because we call mercury silver. It is not silver it is silver coloured so lets stop deceiving our patients and call them what they are – mercury fillings.

Now if I asked you would you like me to fill your tooth with a mercury filling would you be happy to have one? Let’s face it to place a silver filling we have to mutilate your tooth by drilling away far more tooth structure than is affected by tooth decay as the mercury filling has to be wedged into a specifically shaped hole otherwise it would fall straight out as it does not stick to your tooth. This means we have to drill deeper and wider to undercut your tooth and make a wedge shape to hold the filling in so the hole is made is wider at the base than at the top. This means taking away healthy to tooth to make the silver mercury filling work.

Mercury leaks to every organ in your body.

Controlled By The Dental Associations 

There is organization that has a strangle hold on the dental profession, they control you being able to get your dental license and so if you are mercury free and other dentists complain about you and attack the high profile holistic dentist there is the threat that they can take your license away. So there is a fear factor being instilled that if you practice holistically you will loose your license and never practice again – this sends a message to tow the party line

The dental associations hold a lot of sway over the Universities and what they teach (particularly in the USA), when the NYU school of dentistry tried to stop teaching its students to use mercury fillings the ADA threatened to take away its accreditation if they stopped teaching mercury.

The ADA has 35 members on the dental division of the Centre for Disease Control who’s only answer to dental decay is to promote adding silicofluoride to the water supply which does nothing for oral health. In fact it damages the enamel - seen as mottling of the teeth called fluorosis of the babies who are drinking it. The silicofluoride comes form China, Mexico, Japan etc. It is a fake program that is funded with mega dollars annually with grants to the water companies because they are being told it is the only way to prevent tooth decay – but what we have been told is wrong.

Do you think that it is ok for the accreditation arm to also be the advisory arm of a profession? Do you not think that regulation should come independently from outside from a group with no vested interests? Perhaps if you knew that the American Dental Association held patents for mercury fillings and at the same time was mandating that dental schools keep teaching dentists to use it and were threatening to take your license if you don’t that that smacks of unilateral control and vested interest. But that is exactly what is happening.

Imagine that happening in other industries or trade associations for example you have the cement trade association accrediting engineers – everything would be made from concrete.

The American Dental Association was dismissed from a lawsuit in California because they argued in court that they owe no duty of care to the public they are representative of the profession and hence they can very much do as they please.

What They Didn't Teach Me In Dental School - Fluoride is a Poison 

Here’s something I learned through experience and wasn’t taught at dental school – its common practice to do what’s called a fluoride treatment at regular dental checks especially on children. So on the kids department during our training we were expected to do this on every child that we saw. So you fill these mouth trays that cover the teeth with a gel of concentrated fluoride and place it over the teeth and leave it there for a couple of minutes. Well I lost count of how many time kids would pull the trays out and vomit into the sink during or after the treatment. In my mind I had already put 2 and 2 together that the fluoride in the gel was making these kids loose the contents of their stomach and I didn’t think that this was a particularly good thing for them or for me as I was the one left with an upset child and a bowl full of chunks to clean up. (Welcome to the glamorous side of dentistry folks). But what I didn’t know was why they were being sick it was never discussed as part of our training. But I knew something was up and I didn’t want any more vomit incidents and decided I would not do fluoride trays for my patients. Once I graduated I was able to get my hands on a material safety data sheet for fluoride gel and one of its side effects is that if you absorbed too much of it through the tissues of your mouth it will cause nausea. Oh really go figure.

Children can die if they ingest too much fluoride as they get poisoned from it but we are not taught as dentists that it is toxic. Yet fluoride has similar toxicity to lead and arsenic – would you brush your teeth with arsenic toothpaste if I recommended it even if it did reduce tooth decay? It hasn’t be approved and its ok so long as you spit it out. This is no different to fluoride toothpaste you need to spit it out so you don’t get too much fluoride going into your system. However kids can’t spit out properly so they end up swallowing it every time they use it. Even older kids can’t mange to spit it all out. There is a lethal dose of fluoride in a tube of toothpaste for a 20kg child – if they decide to eat that tube of toothpaste in one go it can kill them. So you must get them to hospital immediately for IV calcium, iodine and vitamin C.

How Can Dentists Protect Your Health

How can we as dentists protect your health especially when everything we got taught at dental school is wrong? Well I have been fortunate enough to have access to some great books written by holistic dentists and to have access to meetings and training materials from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology which is a scientific branch who are responsible for investigating the impact of dental techniques and materials on the health of the body. Through this I have developed and widened my understanding and become SMART certified which means I am certified in the safe removal of mercury fillings. So IAOMT is based on scientific evidence that has turned the dental teaching and my training on its head.

I am a great believer in the truth and telling my patients the facts so they can make an informed choice so we understand the biological impact of dentistry on the body and focus on creating health. We do this by removing burdens – burden of infection, burden of toxins or poisons, the burden of bad oral health. We want you to achieve optimum oral health.

If you would like a dentist that cares about your health as well as your smile call us to find out more 07 3720 1811

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The Dangers of Dentistry - Fluoride, Mercury and Disease

Dangers of Dentistry - Health Centered Dentistry

So much of what I learnt in dental school was wrong. I was taught that mercury is locked up once mixed in amalgam fillings and doesn’t leak out, I was taught that fluoride prevented tooth decay by making enamel harder, I was taught that surgery was the only way to treat advanced gum disease, that root canals were safe and so on. As time has gone on I’ve come to understand that everything I was taught at dental school was wrong – mercury comes off every amalgam filling ever made, fluoride makes the bacteria in your mouth sick and it makes you sick too, bad bacteria in your mouth are responsible for gum disease and if we change the bacterial make up by exposing them to oxygen they die. We need to understand the toxicology of dentistry and how that impacts on your body and health and when we look at dentistry that way, what I was told in dental school was wrong.

Gum Infections and Gum Disease

You can stop gum infections they are totally controllable, tooth decay is an infection it’s not caused by a lack of fluoride it’s caused by diet and bacterial build up. What can kill these germs - ozone and iodine will kill these bacteria and disinfect your gums without harming you so you can have healthy teeth all of your life but for this to be effective you have to take responsibility for how you care for you everyday.

Infections from teeth and gums when not treated spread through your blood stream and infect the rest of your body; gum disease causes inflammation throughout your body. Inflammation prematurely ages your body. Fluoride causes inflammation. Brushing your teeth with fluoridated toothpaste everyday means your gums will become inflamed bringing white blood cells to the surface, which allows parasites, and bugs that are associated with gum disease to move into your gum tissue.

The plan is to kill those germs and make them go away not do surgery on the gums.

Why Aren't More Dentists Working Holistically

There is well-grounded scientific literature to support this information and why we work holistically. So why doesn’t dentistry adopt these practices?

For example we as a profession still use and teach our new graduates to use amalgam even though it is well known that they contain mercury and that mercury leaks out of the filling and into the rest of the body. We know mercury is a poison and is highly toxic heavy metal with no safe exposure limit, so why do dentists still use it? The fundamental reason why we still have amalgam in use is because we call them silver fillings, it’s because we call mercury silver. It is not silver it is silver coloured so lets stop deceiving our patients and call them what they are – mercury fillings.

Now if I asked you would you like me to fill your tooth with a mercury filling would you be happy to have one? Let’s face it to place a silver filling we have to mutilate your tooth by drilling away far more tooth structure than is affected by tooth decay as the mercury filling has to be wedged into a specifically shaped hole otherwise it would fall straight out as it does not stick to your tooth. This means we have to drill deeper and wider to undercut your tooth and make a wedge shape to hold the filling in so the hole is made is wider at the base than at the top. This means taking away healthy to tooth to make the silver mercury filling work.

Mercury leaks to every organ in your body.

Controlled By The Dental Associations 

There is organization that has a strangle hold on the dental profession, they control you being able to get your dental license and so if you are mercury free and other dentists complain about you and attack the high profile holistic dentist there is the threat that they can take your license away. So there is a fear factor being instilled that if you practice holistically you will loose your license and never practice again – this sends a message to tow the party line

The dental associations hold a lot of sway over the Universities and what they teach (particularly in the USA), when the NYU school of dentistry tried to stop teaching its students to use mercury fillings the ADA threatened to take away its accreditation if they stopped teaching mercury.

The ADA has 35 members on the dental division of the Centre for Disease Control who’s only answer to dental decay is to promote adding silicofluoride to the water supply which does nothing for oral health. In fact it damages the enamel - seen as mottling of the teeth called fluorosis of the babies who are drinking it. The silicofluoride comes form China, Mexico, Japan etc. It is a fake program that is funded with mega dollars annually with grants to the water companies because they are being told it is the only way to prevent tooth decay – but what we have been told is wrong.

Do you think that it is ok for the accreditation arm to also be the advisory arm of a profession? Do you not think that regulation should come independently from outside from a group with no vested interests? Perhaps if you knew that the American Dental Association held patents for mercury fillings and at the same time was mandating that dental schools keep teaching dentists to use it and were threatening to take your license if you don’t that that smacks of unilateral control and vested interest. But that is exactly what is happening.

Imagine that happening in other industries or trade associations for example you have the cement trade association accrediting engineers – everything would be made from concrete.

The American Dental Association was dismissed from a lawsuit in California because they argued in court that they owe no duty of care to the public they are representative of the profession and hence they can very much do as they please.

What They Didn't Teach Me In Dental School - Fluoride is a Poison 

Here’s something I learned through experience and wasn’t taught at dental school – its common practice to do what’s called a fluoride treatment at regular dental checks especially on children. So on the kids department during our training we were expected to do this on every child that we saw. So you fill these mouth trays that cover the teeth with a gel of concentrated fluoride and place it over the teeth and leave it there for a couple of minutes. Well I lost count of how many time kids would pull the trays out and vomit into the sink during or after the treatment. In my mind I had already put 2 and 2 together that the fluoride in the gel was making these kids loose the contents of their stomach and I didn’t think that this was a particularly good thing for them or for me as I was the one left with an upset child and a bowl full of chunks to clean up. (Welcome to the glamorous side of dentistry folks). But what I didn’t know was why they were being sick it was never discussed as part of our training. But I knew something was up and I didn’t want any more vomit incidents and decided I would not do fluoride trays for my patients. Once I graduated I was able to get my hands on a material safety data sheet for fluoride gel and one of its side effects is that if you absorbed too much of it through the tissues of your mouth it will cause nausea. Oh really go figure.

Children can die if they ingest too much fluoride as they get poisoned from it but we are not taught as dentists that it is toxic. Yet fluoride has similar toxicity to lead and arsenic – would you brush your teeth with arsenic toothpaste if I recommended it even if it did reduce tooth decay? It hasn’t be approved and its ok so long as you spit it out. This is no different to fluoride toothpaste you need to spit it out so you don’t get too much fluoride going into your system. However kids can’t spit out properly so they end up swallowing it every time they use it. Even older kids can’t mange to spit it all out. There is a lethal dose of fluoride in a tube of toothpaste for a 20kg child – if they decide to eat that tube of toothpaste in one go it can kill them. So you must get them to hospital immediately for IV calcium, iodine and vitamin C.

How Can Dentists Protect Your Health

How can we as dentists protect your health especially when everything we got taught at dental school is wrong? Well I have been fortunate enough to have access to some great books written by holistic dentists and to have access to meetings and training materials from the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology which is a scientific branch who are responsible for investigating the impact of dental techniques and materials on the health of the body. Through this I have developed and widened my understanding and become SMART certified which means I am certified in the safe removal of mercury fillings. So IAOMT is based on scientific evidence that has turned the dental teaching and my training on its head.

I am a great believer in the truth and telling my patients the facts so they can make an informed choice so we understand the biological impact of dentistry on the body and focus on creating health. We do this by removing burdens – burden of infection, burden of toxins or poisons, the burden of bad oral health. We want you to achieve optimum oral health.

If you would like a dentist that cares about your health as well as your smile call us to find out more 07 3720 1811