The Documentary Marathon: Food, Inc. & The Omnivore's Dilemma

"You vote three times a day."

If you want better quality food for everyone in our country, make a vote that counts and buy locally grown, organic foods. I am writing that up front, because if you read nothing else, I want you to read that. I used to think I couldn't make a difference in the quality of our food, but I realize now that if the demand is greater (i.e., if everyone buys more food grown without pesticides, that is not genetically modified, or not raised in abominable conditions), then we can literally change what is sold in our supermarket.

Now the true beginning.

The other major documentary that we have watched lately is, of course, Food, Inc. It came out long enough ago that I have had it out from the library a few times and just couldn't bring myself to watch it. I finally got up the gumption to just...see what there was to see about how our food was really produced. I am a little bit of a bleeding heart about animals and the pain and trauma they go through, but specifically in factory farming, so...I wasn't excited to watch this movie at all.

But since I'm all interested in food and how it is NEGATIVELY affecting my body, I figured it was high time to watch this one. In no particular order, these are the things I remember strongly. :) So you might want to watch it for yourself since my memory isn't always the sharpest!

Genetically Modified Organism (or G.E.-Genetically Engineered) Crops: One thing that really stuck out to me (that I have blogged about before) is just how much GMO foods might be screwing with our bodies. This documentary kind of goes hand-in-hand with The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan. Mr. Michael was a part of the documentary and, now that I look back on the movie, it kind of follows the book pretty well.

In any case, the discussion about GMO seed was poignant to me because a) GMO seeds are becoming more and more prevalent and b) it appears that GMO stuff (corn and soy, to name the biggest GMO crops) are causing more allergies. My personal theory is that our bodies can tell that it's not getting corn as nature intended and creates antibodies against corn. Makes lots more sense why there are so many allergies these days and why I seem to have a particular aversion to corn.

This reminds me of a doc I saw who swore up and down that my body couldn't tell the difference between the T4 hormone my body makes and the Synthroid that was made in a lab; funnily enough, studies show that if you take Synthroid for your whole life, you're more likely to end up with osteoporosis. Huh. So right now, companies that produce GMO seed and the farmers who are literally stuck growing it are saying, "Oh, no, this is just like regular corn, your body can't tell the difference, it still has all the same nutrients, plus the ones we added!" Apparently our bodies can tell the difference.

Food Science kind of pisses me off. We're not solving word hunger with it, we're just giving a few corporations an even bigger profit margin.

There is a lot of controversy about the labeling of GMO products--whether we should or shouldn't. Right now, companies that use, say, corn seed that makes its own pesticide in its own cells DOES NOT have to be labeled. So unless it says non-GMO, you won't know.

Unethical Corporations: I think I may have accidentally covered this up there. I am not anti-corporation, per se, nor am I anti-capitalist. But if any company or business is acting unethically and getting away with it, yeah, that pisses me off. In this documentary, Monsanto (a giant GMO corn seed seller) comes off as pretty unethical. They are the mighty Goliath pushing around our nation's farmers. Some farmers who desperately want to grow organic, non-GMO corn have great difficulty doing so because the freaking WIND blows Monsanto seeds into their fields and legally Monsanto can sue for that.

KickAss Farmer Dude: This guy owns a place called Polyface Farm. I linked it here because the dude who runs the farm (Joel) is so freaking awesome. I was blown away by him because based on appearance and his 80s brand glasses, you'd think he'd be a really poorly spoken country bumpkin, but he isn't. He is a farm-reformist. He is a revolutionary.

Joel has a fully functioning farm (that is, they grow more than one crop and have more than one animal) and he believes in giving cows grass and 'processing' his own meat. The chickens he raises and slaughters are treated well, fed well, and slaughtered so quickly and cleanly that I know they weren't as scared as a factory farm chicken. My friend (who is almost a vegetarian) went so far as to say that he made her want to slaughter chickens! The USDA (or whoever pretends to be in charge) threatened to shut him down because his chickens were slaughtered in the 'open air' and could be contaminated. So nice to know that they prefer our meat be killed on an assembly line in a giant shed and then washed in ammonia and chlorine.

He even goes so far (in the book, Omnivore's Dilemma) as to say that the big 'organic' grocery stores are crap because they have industrialized and gotten away from what it really means to be 'organic'. Food, Inc. is worth watching just for this dude.

Stonyfield Yogurt Dude: The reason my husband and I liked this guy is because he was very practical. He was a hippie commune guy who basically decided that he needed to compete on a bigger level and show people that organic could be done in a big, successful way. And he did it. His yogurt is in Wal-Mart, because Wal-Mart recognized the demand for an organic yogurt brand. If people will buy it, they will stock it. Wal-Mart got rid of the hormone-treated cow's milk simply because no one wanted it. So....remember, you vote at least three times a day.

Peace Lilies, Palm Trees, and Ivy, OH MY!

A few weeks ago my son's skin was breaking out--a rash and full-blown eczema. I take this a sign that something is irritating my son's immune system, either inside of him or outside of him.I wasn't sure what was causing it, but he also started coughing. My husband heard the cough and immediately said that our Dear Son had the signs of early asthma!

So, as I am wont to do, I tried to figure out how we could prevent full-blown asthma. I started cleaning more, keeping the pets out of the house more, and I am trying to narrow down any allergens for him. I bought him a humidifier and an air purifier just to give him the BEST air in his room ever.

In the course of my Googling, I found out that ordinary old house plants can work as humidifiers and air purifiers. !? What?! How cheap! How green! How wonderful! No filters to replace, no mineral cartridges to buy, and no bacterial gunk to clean out of the tank. Some plants can even clean mold and chemicals out of the air.

Here is the link that Zach and I liked the best, which sites the top 10 air purifying plants as determined by NASA: http://webecoist.com/2009/04/08/air-purifying-plants/. HGTV has also jumped on the houseplant bandwagon--they quote the same studies.

We were going to buy a new humidifier for the winter for our own bedroom, but instead we bought a giant Areca Palm from Lowe's for $15 and it does the job, plus it's purifying the air! I'm totally impressed by....nature.

Also an update--no tree nuts = a happy me! I am now wondering how much better I would have felt if I had cut out tree nuts before! I have been going back through my food diaries to see if I had nuts around some of the other foods I thought were allergens to me--corn, strawberries, even wine....and it turns out I eat a lot of nuts. Keep you all posted as I try some things over again with tree nuts out of the picture...

Nuts!

Today I went to see my Cool Acupuncture Guy again. This past week has been a little weird because after being hyperthyroid, now I really seem to be swinging back into the hypothyroid phase. Luckily, CAG seems to think this is normal and expected.

But after eating gluten or whatever was on those dastardly fries, I was feeling even worse---ringing in my ears, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, and just generally being tired. Oddly enough the arthritis part wasn't that bad. In any case, I made a new (and somewhat unfortunate) discovery about two days ago. I'm going to skip my sob story (just this one time) and say that I feel much better when I don't eat tree nuts.

I really like walnuts and pecans and hazelnuts so I eat them pretty often. I couldn't figure out what was making me feel sick because SO MUCH is already cut out of my diet. But yesterday (after a whole solid day of the Big D), I didn't eat any nuts at all. And voila, normal trips to the bathroom! A miracle!

On the upside, peanuts are really legumes and so far don't appear to cause any ill-effects. So, there's a positive to go with my negative.

CAG said that now that my body is starting to heal  we can start to help my thyroid dig itself out of the hole my body has scared it into. He means two things by my body starting to heal--one is that based on my blood tests and mostly good feeling, it seems like my immune system is calming down and two is that I don't have diarrhea as much!

Here is a summary of my appointment with CAG today:

*He said that he thinks my whole body is deficient. Not just one part of me, but my whole me. He used some Chinese terms that I don't fully understand--my Yin is deficient, my Yang is deficient, and so is my Chi....all of me is suffering.

*He made a fancy Chinese herbal solution for me to take for the next month. I asked what was in it and he started speaking Chinese.

*He said that I should continue to use Thyroxal every day (unless I feel sick, then suspend taking it for a bit) and ClearVite every day or as needed. To me, ClearVite is a miracle because it calms my tummy and my immune system down quite a lot!

*He looked at my tongue and could tell some crazy shit about my body. I will not divulge any details. But if I won't publish it on the Internet, it must be personal because I am pretty much an open book. ;)

*I asked about staying away from 'goitrogenic' foods (and similarly, nightshades that might cause arthritis) and he said that from the way he was looking at it, it wasn't the food itself that was the problem, it was my body's reaction to that food. So, another way of saying that is that my thyroid isn't malfunctioning because my thyroid is broken, my immune system is ATTACKING it. So goitrogenic foods (unless they also happen to be foods that 'upregulate' my immune system) aren't the problem, because my thyroid isn't the main problem.

I would like to take a short intermission to point out that he is looking at my body as a whole instead of as a bunch of small parts. The other docs I have seen were looking solely at my thyroid, even though all agreed that I had an autoimmune problem. Instead of trying to fix the immune system (which they see as unfixable), they just tried to alleviate symptoms of a thyroid hormone deficiency. I'm hoping this Chinese, whole-body approach WORKS!

The Documentary Marathon: Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead

If you couldn't tell, DH and I have been going on a Documentary Marathon purely based on what Netflix tells us to watch. Trusting a computer motherboard with our viewing choices has been working out pretty well so far! Next up--Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead. It goes hand-in-hand with Forks Over Knives in that it's mostly about eating MORE VEGGIES. In this case though, the food isn't necessarily 'whole', but pulverized into a super-nutritious juice.

Summary: A guy from Australia decides to go on a juice fast (which isn't really fasting, in the starving sense of the word), cleanse his body, and regain his health.

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

This documentary was good in the sense that it inspired my husband and I to basically eat more fruits and veggies, in the form of a liquid or a smoothie if need be. It's hard to eat a bunch of veggies and fruits in one sitting, but it's easy to eat an apple, celery stalks, half a cucumber, half a personal-size watermelon, pineapple, two radishes, and a bunch of kale in ONE smoothie. (I have to rethink which veggies I add since I have recently realized that some veggies--kale--actually inhibit my thryoid gland function.)

One thing I really enjoyed was that this guy took his juicer on a road trip throughout the United States. He actually tried to encourage people to eat more veggies, asked them all sorts of questions to get them thinking about their nutrition, and generally made friends with everyone he saw. All in all, I liked him because he was congenial! And his accent was wicked cool.

The filthy rich guy who made the movie had a skin disease (chronic urticaria, read--hives, but an inflammatory, autoimmune version) that doctors prescribed pills for and, as Western doctors do with autoimmune problems, said that there was nothing else to be done about it. Autoimmune problems are seen as an irreversible process that sometimes 'flares up' and sometimes goes into remission. Nutrition really isn't brought up as a possible cause to the problem or as a possible solution.

In any case, this Australian dude radically changed his diet and his urticaria is gone. What that says to me is that many of our inflammatory, autoimmune diseases might be preventable, reversible, and temporary.


The coolest part of this documentary to us was how it ended up being twice as long as planned just because a trucker who weighed like 400 pounds also decided to do the juice fast! And now he is well on the way to being a slim guy, a better father, and a man unafraid of public speaking. That last bit was really inspirational because you see this obese man go from ashamed and fearful to confident and extroverted. The dude was sharing his juice with fellow vacationers.

I have been trying to hunt down a used juicer on Craigslist and eBay--so is everyone else in America. If anyone had good intentions about juicing and just doesn't use it, please give it to me! I have seriously been blending stuff up and then straining it....tediouser and tediouser.

Good Times Deliver Bad Times

On Sunday night I decided to eat Good Times fries--no batter, just regular fries I thought. But since Sunday night I have had (TMI! If you don't want to hear about my innards...don't read any further) horrible bloating, discomfort, and yes, the big D for diarrhea.

I warned you, I'm sorry if you didn't want to read that. ;)

Today I have finally started to feel better, but I am a little frustrated. With myself and also with Good Times, because none of their ingredient information is available online. Sure, I can find plenty of places that purport to have their nutrition facts, but I really don't care about how much fat is in their fries. I want to know what I ate!

The wild fries (the battered ones, the ones that I am going to just assume are not gluten-free) are sometimes fried in corn oil. If the fresh-cut fries are fried in the same oil...? They'd not only be fried in CORN but also would have wheat all over them as well.

In any case, if you have read the Backstory part of my blog, you know that the blood test for Celiac Disease was negative, but also that the blood test is only 85% accurate. (I mean, some people who legitimately have Celiac Disease have a negative blood test.) I hope I put that information in the Backstory, otherwise you, Dear Reader, are poorly informed.

In any case, if the blood test is insufficient the only other bona-fide Western medicine way to see if one has Celiac Disease is to have an endoscopy and take a biopsy of the small intestine.

I don't really want a biopsy.

I am going to call something that acts like Celiac Disease and feels like Celiac Disease, Celiac Disease. But because it's not official, I'm going to call it "Wheat-Gives-Nicky-Diarrhea-Disease". So, when someone asks why I have a restricted diet, I'll say I have "W.G.N.D.D." and then maybe look embarrassed so they won't ask me anymore questions. ;)

Do I need to be sedated, knocked out, and biopsied to know that gluten and corn give me the shits? Hell no!

The weirdest part is that I called Cool Acupuncture Guy to see why I still had arthritis on this herbal stuff and in the course of our conversation, he said that on Sunday night he had also had fries, also tries to avoid gluten, and is also currently having diarrhea.

Probably my high point today. :) I get to lament my diarrhea with someone!

Update--I got the Good Times ingredient list! Fresh cut fries are just potatoes and salt, but they fry those along with everything else they make.....hmm.....

When Good Advice Conflicts

I have been thinking lately how confusing my life has been lately, at least in terms of what to eat.

I want to avoid foods that I might have a sensitivity to, like corn and wheat. It's also not a bad idea to avoid the common allergens, like milk, tomatoes, peanuts, and soy.

I want to avoid foods that are 'goitrogenic', or hinder the thyroid's ability to make thyroid hormones. This might include soy, cruciferous veggies (broccoli, kale), peas, radishes...everyone's list on which foods are goitrogenic. Some people also think that cooking these foods makes them less goitrogenic, but some people disagree and just think you should avoid them altogether.

I want to eat 'warm' foods and avoid 'cold' foods, like my acupuncture guy tells me. I am still a novice at understanding which foods fall into which category. Apples are cool, watermelons are cool, but ginger, sweet potatoes, and lamb meat are all warm.

I want to eat more "whole, plant-based" foods, as raw as possible, to get their maximum benefit of nutrients and enzymes. Eating foods just blended or juiced up is eating them 'cool' though, which the acupuncturist does not recommend. Eating foods more 'whole' is supposed to be great for helping your body heal, but for me it seems to depend on the food itself and how much fiber (from the skin of the fruits and veggies) gets in the juice.

I want to avoid foods that might exacerbate arthritis and inflammation, like tomatoes and all those nightshades. But eggplant is on the list of things that won't hurt my thyroid.

I want to eat herbs and foods that are anti-inflammatory, like fish and turmeric.

It doesn't take a genius to see that all of this 'good advice' conflicts. I have more trouble than most people do when I'm staring into the pantry. Even more confounding is when people disagree about which foods are this or that and how to prepare them and what's best for who and when. I'm having trouble finding common ground in all these schools of thought.

Therefore, I am going to attempt a Venn diagram to help me figure out which foods I cannot eat.

It doesn't matter that you can barely see this because it's confusing as hell. I didn't even include the 'whole-foods' business because basically Chinese medicine and a whole foods, plant-based diet conflict greatly. Eating warm Chinese foods also conflicts with the arthritis foods--most of the foods that might cause arthritis (peppers, eggplants) are WARM and are foods that the acupuncture guy told me to eat.

In short....I'm confused. Anything in moderation?

The Documentary Marathon: Forks Over Knives

I would never have thought I would seriously be considering a Vegan diet. But after watching Forks Over Knives, I'm a whole heck of a lot closer to considering it. So is my Dear Husband, which is saying something for a man who loves his meat and potatoes.

Forks Over Knives basically proposes that people would benefit from a "whole food, plant-based diet." The documentary shows evidence that animal products in general are contributing to the high rates of not only cancer in our country, but heart disease, diabetes, etc. etc. If you don't read this whole post, read just the next few sentences.

If you think a Vegan diet is just crazy and drastic, and that it would be easier to take a pill, consider that heart-bypass surgery is also drastic and a little crazy. The other thing to consider is that a pill isn't reversing any process you've got going on, it's just masking the symptoms.

A woman in some other documentary I've recently watched (they're all starting to run together...maybe Food, Inc.?) basically said they could either pull the money together for her husband's medications (diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol...) or they could spend money on better foods.

The problem with this trade-off is that the medication is not actually healing her husband in any way. His bad diet and poor lifestyle choices will continue to drive his body towards deterioration and eventually he'll need surgery or more medication or both. On the other hand, eating better (like A LOT better, like not eating fast food or processed foods and chowing down on the plants) will actually help his body and probably let him take less medication. And this will cost them less money in the long-run.

Here is my slapdash list of high points from this movie:


*Calcium: This was hard for me to swallow. (I never noticed how many of our idioms are food-based until now...) The documentary basically points out that America, with it's big push for eating milk and other dairy products, still has some of the highest rates of osteoporosis in the world. If it were true that calcium protected us from bone-calcium loss, wouldn't we have the lowest rates?

I don't understand all of the science, but there is evidence to show that the brand of calcium that comes from cows isn't easily accessible to our body. In fact, our body has to take calcium from our bones to utilize the calcium coming from the milk. Duh, this obviously isn't good for us.

Several sites mentioned this phenomenon, but here is a good one because it also tells you what you should eat to get more calcium; it's from the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, Calcium and Strong Bones. This article (aimed at doctors, no less) says that a Harvard study of 12,000 women showed that women who drank less milk had fewer fractures than those who drank more milk. WTH? That's not what we've been brainwashed to believe.

I'm at a place where it makes much more sense to eat spinach and broccoli and whatever other veggies have calcium because there is no downside to eating a crap-load of vegetables. There's never a study that says "Oops, we messed up, eating lots of servings of vitamin-rich veggies every day is actually a bad thing." It doesn't happen. So, while all these different pills and diets have their trends and popular-streaks...I see no inherent trendiness in just plain ol' eating more vegetables and fruit.

*Protein: I'm going to summarize this. As you have probably heard, eating a lot of meat gives you lots of protein, but it is also hard on your body. Your body needs a lot of energy and metabolizing magic to process meat. Meat can also contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.

But if you eat a grain and a legume/cruciferous veggie (like broccoli or cauliflower), you also have a perfect protein chain that your body can easily utilize, but without any negative side effects. So, rice & beans, rice & lentils, quinoa & broccoli....all of those combos would give your body all the protein it needs.

The documentary points out, then, two big lies from our society: that you NEED to eat meat to get protein and that you NEED to eat dairy to get calcium (and more protein). What is really frustrating to hear is that, once again, big agricultural corporations and lobbyists are pulling some strings here. The Food Pyramid changes based on who is giving the FDA and the USDA more money and that is a little discouraging.

*Rip: This guy is the creator (well, it was really his dad's idea) of the Engine 2 Diet. This dude is impressive because he challenges the notion that a 'real man' has to eat meat. He is a ripped, bad ass fireman who can pull himself up the pole. :) He put his whole firehouse on a Vegan diet and they're still ripped. (Pun not intended!) Rip is coming out with a whole line of Vegan foodstuffs in the near future.


*The Vegan UFC Guy: This dude is also amazing because, um, he is a UFC fighter and he is a Vegan. He's a walking contradiction. But again, he makes the real-life point that you can be healthy, buff, and amazing without eating animal products. Look at those washboard abs! Built on no meat, no milk, no cheese....

 
*Ruth: The 70-year-old cancer-survivor/marathon runner.

This woman rocks my socks off. She was told when she was 40ish that she had a nasty case of cancer and that she would die. Instead, she became a Vegan and still runs marathons, bikes, and is just as much of a bad ass as the UFC guy today. She doesn't have cancer anymore and she runs circles around all her peers who are medication and cane dependent. Doesn't everyone want that for themselves in their old-age?

*Letting Your Body Heal Itself: The coolest thing for me is to see that eating well can give your body the tools and building blocks to do some serious healing. It makes too much sense that giving your body processed, GMO, crap-food would NOT aid your body in its processes, from healing, to sugar metabolism, to cleaning itself out. Several patients who had already had bypass surgery (some more than one surgery!) switched to this diet and were able to reverse heart disease. Why is this not recognized as a cure?! Drug companies can't make enough money off of people eating vegetables all day long, that's why.

What has really got me interested in all this is that my body is being sick NOW. Most of bus don't suffer the ill-effects of our diets and lifestyle choices until later. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I am suffering now and trying to change my health now.

After we watched this documentary, we really recommended it to my parents (because I would love nothing more than to see my dad OFF all these medications). My dad sent me a text that basically said "I'm going to drastically change my diet!" which is amazing. I feel like I am living in the Twilight Zone. None of us are going to become strict Vegans overnight, but I think we'll all try to eat less animal products and eat more plant products. Why the hell not? Fruits, veggies, grains, seeds, and nuts are all awesome for us.

Chinese Herbs Gots Balls!

It was about a week ago that I went back to my Cool Acupuncture Guy and said, "Hey, I feel like crap again, what do I do?"

Before that, I had been off of ANY thyroid medication for a month or so. After a week I have started to feel much better. CAG actually said it was fine to let my body detox from the fake hormone I was taking. Here is what I'm doing right now:

*Still not eating wheat, corn, and minimizing how much milk, soy, eggs, and peanuts I eat. I had some tomatoes and things were surprisingly fine, a little of milk didn't hurt, and neither did a tiny bit of soy.

*Juicing/Blending up a bunch of good things! We have started throwing things like kale, cucumber, celery, radishes, and fruits into a blender and just drinking it. Sometimes it tastes amazing (and I write down the concoction) and sometimes it tastes just okay. But I know that both DH and I feel great with so many veggies in our bodies.

 *I take Thyroxal (it has a bunch of minerals, vitamins, and a tiny bit of cow thyroid) and something else I have no hope of ever pronouncing. The bottle says "Six Flavor Teapills" in English. The CAG said that these pills are given over in China regularly for people who have high-stress lifestyles to help balance their adrenal system out. Weirdly, they are in tiny ball form. So, before I left the office at my last appointment, CAG actually said something like "Just take 12 balls, two times a day." And because my husband and I are juvenile, we smirked a little before realizing that no one else thought it was funny to have balls of medicine.

*Sometimes I still take herbal supplements like turmeric, green tea, ginger, milk thistle and cinnamon (all anti-inflammatory, all warm things, good for people with hypothyroidism). I don't take a selenium supplement (supposedly good for people with thyroid issues) because there is already selenium in my Thyroxal.

*I am still encouraged by the fact that my anti-TPO antibodies are going down. That means that one of the thigns I am doing (or not doing, like avoiding wheat) is working for my body. The inflammatory process that created those antibodies is...calming down a bit.

Right now, I do not have arthritis. Right now, I do not feel so tired that I want to lay down all day long. Right now, I am pretty optimistic.

Why I Won't Let My Husband Drink Moo Milk

It's really hard for my husband not to drink milk. One of the first phrases he ever spoke was " 'Unt Milk."I know that he loved milk so much as a baby that he drank it all the time.

Fast forward about 23 years to when we had our firstborn son. After a year of nursing (actually, a little earlier), we promptly gave him whole cow's milk, as our Pediatrician recommended and as everyone around me was doing. From about 12 months to 18 months, our son was plagued with eczema, a constant runny nose, and a lot of random puking.

It wasn't until a friend noticed that I even considered it was more than a hair-trigger gag-reflex. We were on our way to the library and he puked for umpteenth time all over himself and his car seat. I texted my friend to complain. Her reply was something innocent like: "Have you considered that he might have some sort of food allergy? That's what it sounds like to me..."

Now that I know that I have a whole slew of food 'sensitivities' and autoimmune issues, this seems like the obvious conclusion. However, at the time, I was deceptively healthy.

I went straight home and did some research on food allergies and talked things over with DH. We took him off of milk and haven't gone back since. His eczema has cleared up and he stopped puking pretty much right away. For us, that was pretty powerful evidence that cemented our decision.

Fast forward through some more research, my own personal milk abstinence, and you reach a time (now) when my husband isn't even allowed to drink Moo Milk either. It seems there is some scanty evidence that early exposure to cow's milk might contribute to Type 1 Diabetes. Did you know that Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder? Did I mention that I have autoimmune disorders? Hopefully you can understand why I'm trying to be a Nazi about what my kids eat.

Check out this study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition called Nutrition called Infant Feeding and the Risk of Type 1 Diabetes. "Prospective birth cohort studies show that the first signs of β cell autoimmunity may be initiated during the first year of life. This implies that risk factors for β cell autoimmunity and type 1 diabetes must be operative in infancy."

There is a further study that confirms not only that predisposition to type 1 diabetes happens early, but that it is linked to exposure to cow milk. Click to read this article: "New report claims cutting cow's milk may reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes". Here is more a jargon-filled, scientific version from the source: More Evidence Links Cow's Milk to Type 1 Diabetes.

Basically, exposure to cow's milk early on creates antibodies against milk protein. And whatever triggered the body to make those antibodies (something in the body identifies it as an intruder) also triggers the body to make more antibodies against other things, even good things.

In what I have been going through lately, some surmise that my body doesn't like corn, for example, and has created antibodies against it. These antibodies get confused and end up attacking actual organs from me, thinking they're doing the right thing and protecting my body. In any case, this has already happened to my husband's pancreas.

In Forks & Knives, a documentary we watched recently, we also realized that some people even believe that milk is so far from what a human body needs that it is actually detrimental for our health. That it increases our risk of cancer and, due to a complex process of how our body metabolizes food, actually depletes the calcium from our bones. If milk were truly linked to building stronger bones, wouldn't America have lower rates of osteoporosis than other, non-milk-dependent countries? We don't.

Since I have cut off my husband and my children from cow's milk, he has lost weight and his diabetes numbers have improved. We're hoping that his health (and everyone else's) only gets better with the other positive changes we are trying to make.

I Haven't Always Been Crunchy...

I have been thinking lately how crazy and weird it must seem to people that I am always writing, posting, talking, or thinking about things like nutrition, medicine, agriculture, etc.

The reason for my sudden interest in all things herbal, medicine-y, healthy, nutritional, etc. etc. is because I got sick. Worse, I am sick with some sort of ill-defined autoimmune melange of symptoms that aren't bad enough for Western medicine to really care and were horrible enough that I bascially stayed inside all day. Diarrhea, arthritis, and fatigue will do that to you...

In any case, I remember those not-so-long-ago days when I ate whatever I wanted and loved every bite. Gooey, caramelized cinnamon rolls, those super-sweet frosted cookies from Wal-Mart, fast-food, delivery pizza. Yum. I even remember eating popcorn (oh, the horror) with wild abandon, which I can no longer do. Something changed drastically after I had my last baby. Even though the process was started earlier (arthritis is weird for a 24-year-old), it was a second baby, moving, and living with my in-laws that really kicked my butt.

My neighbors know we don't drink cow's milk, but probably don't realize that it wasn't always that way. We try to buy organic produce but I used to buy whatever produce Wal-Mart had on hand. I don't eat wheat or corn now, but that's only because numerous bouts of DIARRHEA kind of put me off of those staples.

In any case, I feel that there is good reason for me to care about what we eat, where it comes from, how it's processed, and how our bodies react to it.

Recently my son has had a nasty, nasty outbreak of eczema. After much head-scratching and deducing, we realized that peanut butter was the likely culprit this time. It was starting to clear up and today I let him have a bunch of cheesy pizza--renewed outbreak. To me it's a simple solution--he doesn't get to eat peanut butter or milk. At least, not any significant amount of it.

I know that some people think that eczema isn't a big deal and that he might grow out of it. What I have learned recently, though, is that eczema is an indicator of some inflammatory process. What worries me the most isn't the eczema, but the internal process going on that could be setting my son up for some more serious health concerns later on. Inflammation can lead to everything from arthritis to diabetes, after all.

In any case, I have solid proof that the attention we're paying to our diet is doing us good--my husband's A1C (some fancy indicator of diabetic health) is going down and he is losing weight. Success!

Officially Off The Deep End

Today I went to the Cool Acupuncture Guy again! I am officially hypothyroid right now, so I was eager to see him. He is treating me TOTALLY differently than a Western doctor would, so here's the rundown:

*I got a surprise acupuncture treatment! Seriously, I didn't know he was going to do that until he started sticking needles in me. But it was a good nap.

*He felt my pulse for a looong time and eventually told me that he thought I had not only a Yang Deficiency (of which hypothyroid is a part...) but a Yin deficiency causing just general imbalance and dischord. This is crazy talk compared to the doctor-talk we're used to. But I'm willing to give it a try because the theory behind what he's saying makes sense to me.

*Now I'm taking not only Thyroxal (kind of for hypothyroidism, mostly for thyroid support) and ClearVite, but also some Chinese herb that is supposed to support the adrenals. They're little round pellets and I am supposed to take 12 of them, 2 times a day.

*I am still staying off of any foods that might cause my body to become inflamed, i.e. anything I'm sensitive to. CAG seems to think (and so far I agree) that food is a big trigger for me.

*CAG reiterated that he was trying to treat my immune malfunction, not the symptoms of hypothyroidism. The theory is that by giving hypothyroid patients Levothyroxine, we're just treating the symptoms of a larger problem.

*I also am currently wearing an herbal poultice on my c-section scar! Supposed to help blood flow to that area and help it heal better. I smell all minty because of it, which I guess isn't a bad thing...but also CAG smeared it all over my jeans on accident. Whoops.

I am supposed to go back in 2-4 weeks, depending, and I'm hoping that this works. I'm officially off the deep end because I am not taking or doing anything that a Western doctor recommended, except I am still keeping a food journal!

I Feel All Warm & Tingly!

I don't know if you had picked up on that, but the unknown does make me anxious.

Today, after so single-mindedly choosing to wait to talk to the Cool Acupuncture Guy on Monday, I suddenly felt bad enough that I thought I might take one Thyroxal pill just to see if it made me feel better. I was really tired again, full of arthritis, irritable (just ask my family), and depressed. I had trouble focusing. (Don't worry, right now I feel fine...) All of these things are symptoms of hypothyroidism, so I started freaking out and wondering if I should just take something already!

The problem is that once I take it, I don't want to just stop taking it again because then I'd just be perpetuating the roller coaster ride I'm on.

Because it's the weekend and I can't talk to ANYONE, I decided to do a little research on what Chinese medicine says about hypothyroidism. Frankly, it boggles my mind that I haven't done this before. CAG hasn't let me in on what herbal concoction he plans on giving me, he just wanted me to have a stable diet and maybe take Thryoxal. He's a 'don't-worry-about-the-big-picture" sort of guy. I have had other doctors tell me that and I realize now that knowing what the steps are in the process is comforting to me.

I found a very informative book at the library and supplemented with online sources.

If you've read the Background Story, you know that I did got to one other acupuncturist. Reading things online brought back something she recommended--eat warm foods. In Chinese medicine your body is divided into Yin and Yang. If my understanding is correct, hypothyroidism is a Yang Deficiency, and to restore balance (I guess to bring back the Yang?!), you eat warm things, like physically warm food, but also 'warm' herbs like ginger and cinnamon.

What I have read also says that Hypothyroidism is split into different categories in Chinese medicine:

1. Spleen-Kidney Deficiency
2. Heart-Kidney Deficiency

This page lists the symptoms of Spleen-Kidney Deficiency:

"...lassitude; sleepiness; poor memory; dizziness; ringing in the ears (tinnitus); weakness of the lower back and knees; aversion to cold; dry skin; dry hair; constipation; edema; impotence (men); irregular periods (women); pale, puffy tongue body with tooth marks along the edge; white, sticky tongue coating; and a pulse that is deep and thin or deep and slow."

(Lassitude is "A state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy." I definitely had to look that one up.)

Another site  says that "Spleen Qi Deficiency is marked with fatigue, weakness of the muscles, sweating without exertion, dampness, coldness, poor appetite, loose stools, bloating, nausea, indigestion, and pale complexion."

In any case, I have had or have most of those symptoms. I asked several M.D.s why, if I had hypothyroidism (associated with-sorry-constipation) I had the big D? No one gave me a sufficient answer. Mostly they were confused.


But this stuff makes sense to me so far because I'm living it. Yesterday I had a lot of raw veggies (cold foods), guacamole (still cold...), and cold juices....and I felt like crap the whole day.

I'm only just starting to understand this 'Eastern' medicine business, because it's completely weird compared to Western medicine. I'm hoping that if I stick to the little bits I've read online, I'll feel well enough to not break down and take something until I talk to the Cool Acupuncture Guy on Monday. Patience is not my strong suit.