Life is Healthy

Ruh-roh…My food budget is going to need a slight adjustment again since I discovered a new website that I’m sure will get more than a few orders from me in the coming weeks.

What Republic of Tea did for my tea shelf, so, too (I’m pretty sure), will My Spice Sage do for my spice rack – which is actually not a rack, but two shelves of spicy goodness. 

Several recipes from three of my favorite food bloggers - Kalyn’s Kitchen, A Veggie Venture, and FatFreeVegan - call for spices I can’t get here in my little town. Basil, oregano, garlic powder, pepper, even garam masala…sure. We’ve got lots of that here. But Smoked Spanish paprika? Vindaloo curry? Chipotle pepper flakes? Nope. Not that I’d expect them to carry black lava sea salt or za’atar, but our WalMart doesn’t even carry fat-free sour cream anymore, or even Spike Seasonings, which I don’t understand.

In the summer, I buy fresh herbs at our farmer’s market or raise them myself, and I love that our “health food” store carries a variety of organic dried spices. But the specialty spices are harder to find. Enter the Internet. I ordered smoked paprika, hot curry and a ground pepper today on My Spice Sage. They ship for a flat $4 rate…not bad…AND they send a free sample of some spice with each order. Apparently I’ll receive vanilla bean pods. What will I do with them? I’m not sure yet, but if you have suggestions, please let me know.

I’ve said before that the best part about eating vegetarian is that it challenges me to try way more new recipes and combinations than I did when I ate meat. I’m sure if I eat meat again, I’d do the same kind of foodie exploration, but it took that plunge into vegetarianism to shake up my culinary rut.

For instance, because I watch my sodium intake and in an attempt to mimic seasoned salt without the salt, I came up with this blend: 1½ t each of chili powder, paprika, onion powder and garlic powder, ½ t turmeric, ¼ t ground pepper, and 1½ t celery seed. I’ll back off on the celery seed next time because it’s a little overpowering. I use this mostly on roasted Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes.

I also make Italian seasoning that I use in soups and sauces. It’s easy and cheap since I have all the ingredients anyway. Mix in a grinder (or use a mortar…sadly, one of the kitchen gadgets I don’t own) the following ingredients: 3 T each of dried basil, dried oregano, and dried parsley, 1 T garlic powder, 1 t each of onion powder, dried thyme and dried rosemary, and ¼ t each pepper, sage, fennel seed and red pepper flakes. Store in an airtight container for up to six months.

I love Emeril’s Creole Seasoning. Mix 2½ T paprika, 2 T each of salt and garlic powder, and 1 T each of black pepper, onion powder, cayenne pepper, dried oregano and dried thyme. Store in an airtight container. I use it in rice recipes, crab and salmon cakes, and one of Larry’s favorites: catfish nuggets.

My friend Katina makes a ROCKIN’ spread for all types of burgers (including the veggie and bean kind!) or wraps. Mix 1/3 C light or fat-free Miracle Whip, ¾ t paprika, ¼ t each of cumin, garlic powder and lemon juice, 1/8 t each of cayenne pepper and oregano, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sweetener or sugar.

My spice obsession will not drain the bank, but two shelves may not be enough space in the upcoming months, now that I’ve discovered My Spice Sage.

What are your “must have” spices?

Ditch those fad diets, lose weight and keep it off permananently. This book was just discussed on the View today and it is a sane and best way to eat. The emphasis is on eating high-fiber, filling foods and not worrying about carbs, fats or calories.

See the Amazon reviews for The F-Factor Diet.

See a list of ten high fiber foods here.

When I was a senior in high school, I became friends with some Swedish exchange students – Per, Henrik, Charlotta and the guy who asked me to prom, but I said no because I wanted to go with Per, but he didn’t ask and so I went to the drive-in with my girlfriends instead. What was his name? That’s going to make me nuts today.

Anyway, it was a Friday night and we were all going out. I thought I was supposed to pick up Per at his host family’s house. I arrived, knocked on the door, and heard, “Come in!” I walked in to find his host parents engaged in *ahem* full-on amorous activity.

I didn’t hear “don’t.” They had yelled, “DON’T come in.”

Oops.

Claire uses the word “don’t” a lot, particularly when talking to (well, yelling at) her baby brother. “Don’t play with that, Luca Man!” “Don’t touch my blankie!” “Don’t look at me!” Don’t, that that context, is such a negative Nelly word. But when used in its cautionary and instructive context, it’s one of the more important words in our vocabulary.

Here are three “don’ts” I’m striving to live by:

1. Don’t stray from the moment

I have a bad habit of wishing time away, especially when I’m on the elliptical or hungry and waiting for the microwave to heat up my food or waiting for an auction to end on eBay.

I was really bad about it when I was losing weight. I made a spreadsheet predicting where my weight “should” be weeks and months in the future based on my average pounds lost per week. Every week I couldn’t wait to get to the next week. Every month I couldn’t wait to get to the next month. In the future I’d be smaller and I was convinced smaller was better. All living in the future did, though, was waste a lot of moments that I’ll never get back. Moments when I could have really gotten to know (and more importantly, APPRECIATE) myself at each weight.

I’ve done a lot of reflecting on this since making goal, and while I certainly have come to appreciate the person I was at 300, I wish I’d – in the moment – appreciated who I was at 265, 209, 172, etc. My impatience gets me nowhere. A minute will pass whether I’m impatient or serene. Ergo, don’t stray from the moment.

2. Don’t take your body for granted

Jon Kabat-Zinn once said (and I’m paraphrasing): If you’re breathing, you have everything going for you. Our bodies are pretty amazing, at any size or fitness. But I often fall into the mind trap of lamenting what my body can’t do rather than what it can. Or, when it can do something, not remembering there will be consequences if I overdo it. And when do I overdo? Either when I’m attempting to show off (the gym is really bad for that) or when I conveniently forget I have limitations. (Arthritis? What arthritis?)

This “don’t” reminds me of a lovely song by Toad the Wet Sprocket called “I Will Not Take These Things For Granted.”

I’m listening
Music in the bedroom
Laughter in the hall
Dive into the ocean
Singing by the fire
Running through the forest
And standing in the wind
In rolling canyons


I will not take these things for granted



3. Don’t offer unconstructive criticism and don’t wait until tomorrow to make things right if I fail at Don’t 1 and Don’t 2.

I’m the queen of self-flagellation, although I have come a long way and am much more mindful when I’m being a total bitch to myself. (So manybe I'm no longer the "queen" but a maidservant...LOL) I don’t treat myself half as badly as I used to. That’s a HUGE step forward for me.

I need “don’t” in my life. Don’t keeps me on the straight and narrow. And, if heard and paid attention to, can prevent me (and amorous couples) from a whole lot of embarrassment, too!

***************************
FYI: Lynn’s Weigh is on Facebook! If you’d like to join our group, click here and become a “fan.” Every day I post a question or topic that we chat about throughout the day, and readers post questions to me and other readers, too. It’s a fun way to stay in touch.

Also, check out my latest blog on Refuse to Regain, “No, thank you. I stay here.” I’ll mark my 3-year maintenance anniversary in a few weeks and I reflected on how maintenance changes year to year. Would love to hear your feedback!

The benefits of corn oil keep rolling in. In a new study by Stephen Freedland's group at Duke, feeding mice a diet rich in butter and lard didn't promote the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells any more than a low-fat diet (1).

Why do we care? Because other studies, including one from the same investigators, show that corn oil and other industrial seed oils strongly promote prostate cancer cell growth and increase mortality in similar models (2, 3).

From the discussion section:

Current results combined with our prior results suggest that lowering the fat content of a primarily saturated fat diet offers little survival benefit in an intact or castrated LAPC-4 xenograft model. In contrast to the findings when omega-6 fats are used, these results raise the possibility that fat type may be as important as fat amount or perhaps even more important.

The authors seem somewhat surprised and pained by the result. Kudos for publishing it. However, there's nothing to be surprised about. There's a large body of evidence implicating excess omega-6 fat in a number of cancer models. Reducing omega-6 to below 4% of calories has a dramatic effect on cancer incidence and progression*. In fact, there have even been several experiments showing that butter and other animal fats promote cancer growth to a lesser degree than margarine and omega-6-rich seed oils. I discussed that here.

I do have one gripe with the study. They refer to the diet as "saturated fat based". That's inaccurate terminology. I see it constantly in the diet-health literature. If it were coconut oil, then maybe I could excuse it, because coconut fat is 93% saturated. But this diet was made of lard and butter, the combination of which is probably about half saturated. The term "animal fat" or "low-omega-6 fat" would have been more accurate. At least they listed the diet composition. Many studies don't even bother, leaving it to the reader to decide what they mean by "saturated fat".


* The average American eats 7-8% omega-6 by calories. This means it will be difficult to see a relationship between omega-6 intake and cancer (or heart disease, or most things) in observational studies in the US or other industrial nations, because we virtually all eat more than 4% of calories as omega-6. Until the 20th century, omega-6 intake was below 4%, and usually closer to 2%, in most traditional societies. That's where it remains in contemporary traditional societies unaffected by industrial food habits, such as Kitava. Our current omega-6 intake is outside the evolutionary norm.

Quick post (a blog is forthcoming...hopefully tonight) to let ya'll know (because I'm sure you've been checking ALL DAY) that the winner of the Slim & Tone Pilates is reader Maya! Congrats to Maya and a big THANK YOU to all of you for your emails and comments.

Next to be reviewed: "Dance Off The Inches: Striptease Workout with Megan Armond." Cassie will be reviewing this one, too, along with a few comments from her "old but still got it a little bit" mother. This review will (probably) be posted next Friday (March 5). It'll be a fun one, I assure you.

While the change is unlikely to affect a lot of smaller bloggers, it has caused concern from larger bloggers, particularly those who use Blogger for photo blogs or blogs that are image-intensive, such as celebrity fan bloggers.

Many of the Blogger users who found their blogs suddenly altered to display only a couple of posts per page blogged about the new Blogger Auto Pagination feature in order to complain about the change. According to some of the more vocal bloggers, they were able to email Google and work with them to modify their blogs so the Auto Pagination feature doesn't affect their blogs. If you use Blogger and dislike the Auto Pagination feature, be sure to contact Blogger support and voice your concerns.

Has the new Blogger Auto Pagination function affected your blog or any of the blogs that you read? Leave a comment and share your experiences.

Related Articles:

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Another disaster: Rescuers evacuate the body of a landslide victim from the ruins of buildings in Ciwidey district, West Java, Indonesia, Wednesday. Days of heavy rain prompted the landslide Tuesday afternoon at the mountainous tea plantation, killing over a dozen people and destroying scores of homes. AP/Irwin Fedriansyah

Antara News, by Andi Abdussalam, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 16:12 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Health authorities in many parts of Indonesia have alerted their respective communities to the threat of dengue fever in the current monsoon season (January-March) with the disease having already killed tens of people and infected hundreds of others, mostly in East and West Nusa Tenggara provinces.

According to ANTARA reports, at least eight people had succumbed to the disease in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and over 570 sufferers had to be hospitalized in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) while in West Java`s Taskimalaya, local health officials have declared dengue outbreaks a pandemic.

Dengue fever cases have also been reported happening in other provinces such as East Java, North Sulawesi and Kalimantan.

The most affected province is West Nusa Tenggara. Since January, a total of 571 people had contracted the disease. Luckily however, no death has been registered in the province.

"The 571 patients are recorded in 10 districts," said Dr Ida Bagus Jelantik, head of West Nusa Tenggara Disease and Environmental Control Office said.

NTB`s provincial capital of Mataram saw the biggest number of patients reaching 368, followed by West Lombok 52, East Lombok 46 and West Sumbawa 31 cases. Other cases were found in Central Lombok, Bima City, Sumbawa, Dompu, North Lombok and Bima.

In East Nusa Tenggara province, dengue fever has killed at least eight patients. The number of people who died of dengue fever, rose from five in January to eight.

The latest two deaths this weekend were Maria Tiara (9 months old), and another infant at Kobatoma village, Titehena sub district, East Flores District, NTT, Dr Stefanus Bria Seran, head of the NTT provincial health service, said. The seven fatalities were all children, he said.

Dengue fever has affected eight districts in NTT, including East Flores, Sikka, Kupang, Belu, Ende, Alor, and Nagekeo districts. In Sikka, there have been 251 cases of dengue fever, Kupang 279 cases, Belu 32 cases, Ende six cases, Alor eight cases, and Nagekeo six cases with two children had died.

The East Nusa Tenggara authorities have declared the dengue fever outbreak in Kupang city and Sikka District as extraordinary happening.

In East Java, dengue fever has claimed the lives of at least 9 patients in Mojokero, Madiun and Kediri.

In Mojokerto district alone, dengue fever killed four resident. The dengue virus has also infected 125 other residents, Head of Mojokerto`s Disease Prevention and Surveillance, dr.Benhardy, said. "The only sub-districts which have remained free from the dengue fever attacks are Pacet and Trawas," he said.

The number of cases tended to keep increasing during the rainy season. Last week, victims were recorded at 110 patients but this week the number had increased to 125, he said.

"Learning from last year`s experience, despite the end of rainy season (in April), the dengue fever will remain possible until May or June," he said.

In Kediri, the dengue fever had also killed at least two people last week. The victims were identified as Lorde Bintang S. and Anggoro. While in another East Java`s town Madiun , dengue spread had also killed three people.

"Over the past two months, dengue has infected 66 residents, three of them had died," Head of Madiun`s Disease Prevention and Surveillance office, Sulistyo Widyantono, said.

Dengue fever last year killed only two victims in the January-February period. But last year, the number of dengue patient in the same period in this city reached 193.

In the meantime, the West Java district of Tasikmalaya`s health authorities have declared dengue fever cases a pandemic in three subdistricts during the ongoing rainy season.

The dengue fever-affected subdistricts were Tawang, Cihideung and Cipedes, Head of Tasikmalaya`s disease surveillance and environmental health, Hasni Mukti, said here Tuesday.

"Most of the dengue fever patients were found in the three subdistricts," he said. In January 2010, there were 97 dengue fever cases in the three subdistricts. The number was higher than that of the same period in 2009, which was recorded at 93, he said.

Mukti said the health authorities found 1,100 dengue fever cases in the regency last year. January, February and March were the peak months of this Aedes mosquitoes-caused disease.

The subdistricts of Tawang, Cihideung and Cipedes had been the dengue fever endemics since 1997 because majority of the patients were from there out of 10 subdistricts in Tasikmalaya, he said.

In other West Java town of Cimahi, residents were warned of the danger of dengue fever out break, pending the peak of the rainy season in February and March 2010.

"The peak of the rainy season may occur in January, February to March this year, during which dengue cases may increase during that time, and the general public had been urged to watch it out," Deputy Director of Cibabat general hospital Huzen Rachman said.

According to the Cibabat hospital, in mid-December 2009 there were 45 cases per day, which in mid-January 2010 increased to 60 per day. Cases in Cimahi in 2009 reached 2,026, with seven deaths, while in 2008 the cases reached only 1,250 with six deaths.

Death cases in dengue outbreak in the current rainy season are also found in Kalimantan.

In South Kalimantan provincial capital Banjarmasin, four people died of dengue infection since January this year. All of the death victims were infants or children under five years old, according to the head of South Kaliantan Health Service, Diah R P.

In Central Kalimantan, five have died of dengue fever. "The death cases happened after the extraordinary happening was declared early last month," Wineini Marhaeni Rubay of the Central Kalimantan Health Service said.

In the meantime, in Manado, North Sulawesi, a total of 40 patients have been affected by the spread of dengue fever while in Ambon, Maluku Province, a five year old child has also died of the disease.

Each winter around this time, I start getting bored with my fitness regimen. I can’t do much outside so cardio machines, Thera-Band and free weights are my only exercise friends.

Or are they?

Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to try a new fitness video every week or two. Not only will I try it, I’ll post a review and give you a chance to win it! (Yes, I’m dragging ya’ll along on my “spice of life” campaign.)

Having said all that, however, I’m not the one wrote today’s review of “Element Slim and Tone Pilates with Kara Wily.” My daughter Cassie, mother of my g-babies, was crazy about this video and so I thought I’d let her tell you what’s up.

First a little info about Cassie: She’s 25 years old, 5’8” tall, 145 pounds. She’s in the process of losing weight, down 30 pounds since Luca was born in May and eyeing 135 if her body will let her. She joined a gym when Luca was 3 months old and works out there when she can, usually 4 or 5 times a week. If the kids are well behaved at the gym daycare, she can get her cardio and strength training done in 45 minutes to an hour. Cassie also likes to use fitness DVDs at home (Claire “helps”) and that’s why I’ve asked her to review this and future workouts. I’ll throw my two cents in as well. Just not this time.

Here’s Cassie’s review.

“Element Slim and Tone Pilates with Kara Wily” (approx. 40 minutes long)

Rating: ***** of ***** stars. LOVED IT!
Difficulty: **** of ***** stars.
Presentation: **** of ***** stars. Unless you’re familiar with Pilates, you will need to be able to see the screen to follow, which can be difficult since this is a very fast moving exercise. I recommend watching it first prior to actually performing it.
Benefit: *****of ***** stars. I felt it working with every exercise. This is going to be a DVD I’ll keep around for the long haul.

I think of Pilates as Yoga on speed. While it still requires using your breath and centering, it is more fast-paced and has a cardio benefit.

“Slim and Tone Pilates” is wonderful for intermediate to experienced Pilates users. I felt every exercise and got a full body workout without feeling completely winded and exhausted at the end. It was also nice and short so I could get it in during the kids’ naps.

“Slim and Tone” uses a voice-over format, with the instructor performing just the movements. This allowed for much more fluidity with the exercise as a whole. This format works well for me since I’m familiar with Pilates and don’t require extra explanation of the movements. That’s why I recommend beginners watch it and perform the moves a few times to get familiar with the flow.

Each movement is performed only a few times, enough to feel it working, but not enough to exhaust the muscles. The rowing series is a very nice yet different exercise that uses both core and arm strength and flexibility. When preformed correctly, and you use your own resistance, it works the arms in such a unique way – I felt it working my deltoids, triceps, forearms and the muscles of the upper back (especially those along the bra line.) It’s a very refreshing movement.

I’m not as flexible as I once was, but by the end of the video I had much more movement because of the constant stretching throughout the workout. Also, the breathing instruction was great for extending my flexibility.

The jumps and leg lifts at the end really completed the exercise. It felt like all my stretched out muscles got a good shake out.

One downside, if you have weak knees or wrists, this will be a little more difficult for you. I found the six pushups required at the end were next to impossible since my muscles were surprisingly weak.

Overall, though, the workout was so fun that I hardly realized I was working hard. I didn’t once look at the clock or wonder when it would be done. I felt relaxed, rejuvenated and ready for my day after completing this exercise.

I know I’ve implied that “Shape and Tone Pilates” is probably not for beginners, but I’m afraid that by saying that, you might be timid to try it. I think if you’re new to Pilates, I’d just recommend watching it a few times and taking your time to stop and watch while going through the movements the first few times. Please don’t be intimidated or frustrated by the movements. This isn’t an exercise that will be mastered after a few times, it will take months of practice. This requires a lot of flexibility and for some people that doesn’t come naturally.

I also feel that if done often, this will show quick results. I have since done this DVD three times and already notice a difference in my flexibility and strength in my back and spine.

Now for the giveaway part: To enter the drawing to win this DVD, leave a comment or send an email to lynnbering@verizon.net and let us know if you’ve ever tried Pilates before. We’ll draw a random name and announce a winner on Thursday, Feb. 25!

On Sunday, two of my humans and I went to a very special birthday party.

There was cake.


The birthday girl turned 17.


She looked very pretty.


A good time was had by young and old (I thought S. was a little too cuddly with that puppy).


It was fun to be at a party.

According to the Jakarta Red Cross’s fundraising figures, the capital’s less-affluent residents are more charitable than the moneyed.

Rini Sutiyoso, general secretary for the aid organization, said on Tuesday that of the more than Rp 12 billion ($1.3 million) it collected in 2009, about three-quarters came from low- to middle-income donors.

“I am very happy to announce that the total funds raised for 2009 have increased 13.8 percent from the previous year to Rp 12.43 billion,” Rini said, adding that the fact that 73 percent of the amount they raised in 2009 came from the lower-income brackets marked a new development for the organization.

Economically challenged East Jakarta raised the most for the Red Cross, contributing Rp 2.97 billion, while the Thousand Islands pitched in the least with Rp 34.3 million.

East Jakarta raised 18.6 percent more than last year, said Fajar Panjaitan, chairman of the Red Cross 2009 Fundraising Committee.

The Red Cross’ fundraising is usually through purchase-points, where people can buy donation coupons for Rp 500, Rp 1,000, Rp 2,000 and Rp 5,000. To be fair, this year they are planning to give the wealthy more opportunities to show their generous side.

“For our 2010 annual fundraising, which will start in September, we are going to target high schools, shopping centers, malls and universities with more than 20,000 students,” she said.

“For next year the Red Cross is going to increase the coupon value, and we are going to open 10 outlets at malls and shopping centers,” she said, adding that the Indonesian Red Cross was planning to open another 100 separate outlets throughout the country.

Governor Fauzi Bowo, who said he was pleased with the results of the fundraising, suggested a review and consultation with professionals in order to increase the Jakarta Red Cross’ appeal to other economic groups.

“We should also think about signing a memorandum of understanding with broadcast companies, such as private television and radio companies, to extend our reach, and also with the Jakarta chapter of the Moslem Charitable Donation Board [Bazis] to increase the effectiveness of the synergy in channeling the funds to those who need them most,” he added.

PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol was the highest contributor among state-owned enterprises, while the top donor among government institutions was the Basic Education Unit at the Jakarta Education Office. The Indonesian Association of Movie Entrepreneurs (GPBSI) was the largest private donor.

Hello all. Well, I'm going to the doc again today. I think I'm having migraines. My symptoms: bad headaches, nausea, swirling lines and flashing lights before my eyes. Sick. Just plain sick.

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 02/23/2010 11:30 AM | Jakarta

Customs office at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta announced Tuesday that they had arrested an Indian national for allegedly smuggling seven kilograms of ketamine into the country.

Gatot Sugeng Wibowo, the Customs office chief of investigations, said Tuesday that the suspect, identified as Najamudeen Kamaludeen, had been arrested on arrival on a Singapore Airline flight on Monday afternoon.

X-ray scanning found that the suspect had hidden the drug under 10 wooden picture frames and six leather bags.

Earlier this month, customs officer at Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali, arrested a 35-year-old Indian national for allegedly carrying 9.8 kilogram of ketamine inside a water heater.

Ketamine is an anesthetic used for animals and humans, but its psychedelic side effects make it a popular recreational drug.

From a paper based on US NHANES nutrition and health survey data (1):

During 1999–2000, the diet of a large proportion of the U.S. population did not contain adequate magnesium... Furthermore, racial or ethnic differences in magnesium persist and may contribute to some health disparities.... Because magnesium intake is low among many people in the United States and inadequate magnesium status is associated with increased risk of acute and chronic conditions, an urgent need exists to perform a current survey to assess the physiologic status of magnesium in the U.S. population.

Magnesium is an essential mineral that's slowly disappearing from the modern diet, as industrial agriculture and industrial food processing increasingly dominate our food choices. One of the many things it's necessary for in mammals is proper insulin sensitivity and glucose control. A loss of glucose control due to insulin resistance can eventually lead to diabetes and all its complications.

Magnesium status is associated with insulin sensitivity (2, 3), and a low magnesium intake predicts the development of type II diabetes in most studies (4, 5) but not all (6). Magnesium supplements largely prevent diabetes in a rat model* (7). Interestingly, excess blood glucose and insulin themselves seem to reduce magnesium status, possibly creating a vicious cycle.

In a 1993 trial, a low-magnesium diet reduced insulin sensitivity in healthy volunteers by 25% in just four weeks (8). It also increased urinary thromboxane concentration, a potential concern for cardiovascular health**.

At least three trials have shown that magnesium supplementation increases insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant diabetics and non-diabetics (9, 10, 11). In some cases, the results were remarkable. In type II diabetics, 16 weeks of magnesium supplementation improved fasting glucose, calculated insulin sensitivity and HbA1c*** (12). HbA1c dropped by 22 percent.

In insulin resistant volunteers with low blood magnesium, magnesium supplementation for four months reduced estimated insulin resistance by 43 percent and decreased fasting insulin by 32 percent (13). This suggests to me that magnesium deficiency was probably one of the main reasons they were insulin resistant in the first place. But the study had another very interesting finding: magnesium improved the subjects' blood lipid profile remarkably. Total cholesterol decreased, LDL decreased, HDL increased and triglycerides decreased by a whopping 39 percent. The same thing had been reported in the medical literature decades earlier when doctors used magnesium injections to treat heart disease, and also in animals treated with magnesium. Magnesium supplementation also suppresses atherosclerosis (thickening and hardening of the arteries) in animal models, a fact that I may discuss in more detail at some point (14, 15).

In the previous study, participants were given 2.5 g magnesium chloride (MgCl2) per day. That's a bit more than the USDA recommended daily allowance (MgCl2 is mostly chloride by weight), in addition to what they were already getting from their diet. Most of a person's magnesium is in their bones, so correcting a deficiency by eating a nutritious diet may take a while.

Speaking of nutritious diets, how does one get magnesium? Good sources include halibut, leafy greens, chocolate and nuts. Bone broths are also an excellent source of highly absorbable magnesium. Whole grains and beans are also fairly good sources, while refined grains lack most of the magnesium in the whole grain. Organic foods, particularly artisanally produced foods from a farmer's market, are richer in magnesium because they grow on better soil and often use older varieties that are more nutritious.

The problem with seeds such as grains, beans and nuts is that they also contain phytic acid which prevents the absorption of magnesium and other minerals (16). Healthy non-industrial societies that relied on grains took great care in their preparation: they soaked them, often fermented them, and also frequently removed a portion of the bran before cooking (17). These steps all served to reduce the level of phytic acid and other anti-nutrients. I've posted a method for effectively reducing the amount of phytic acid in brown rice (18). Beans should ideally be soaked for 24 hours before cooking, preferably in warm water.

Industrial agriculture has systematically depleted our soil of many minerals, due to high-yield crop varieties and the fact that synthetic fertilizers only replace a few minerals. The mineral content of foods in the US, including magnesium, has dropped sharply in the last 50 years. The reason we need to use fertilizers in the first place is that we've broken the natural nutrient cycle in which minerals always return to the soil in the same place they were removed. In 21st century America, minerals are removed from the soil, pass through our toilets, and end up in the landfill or in waste water. This will continue until we find an acceptable way to return human feces and urine to agricultural soil, as many cultures do to this day****.

I believe that an adequate magnesium intake is critical for proper insulin sensitivity and overall health.


* Zucker rats that lack leptin signaling

** Thromboxane A2 is an omega-6 derived eicosanoid that potently constricts blood vessels and promotes blood clotting. It's interesting that magnesium has such a strong effect on it. It indicates that fatty acid balance is not the only major influence on eicosanoid production.

*** Glycated hemoglobin. A measure of the average blood glucose level over the past few weeks.

**** Anyone interested in further reading on this should look up The Humanure Handbook

I'm currently reading Dr. Staffan Lindeberg's magnum opus Food and Western Disease, recently published in English for the first time. Dr. Lindeberg is one of the world's leading experts on the health and diet of non-industrial cultures, particularly in Papua New Guinea. The book contains 2,034 references. It's also full of quotable statements. Here's what he has to say about obesity:

Middle-age spread is a normal phenomenon - assuming you live in the West. Few people are able to maintain their [youthful] waistline after age 50. The usual explanation - too little exercise and too much food - does not fully take into account the situation among traditional populations. Such people are usually not as physically active as you may think, and they usually eat large quantities of food.

Overweight has been extremely rare among hunter-gatherers and other traditional cultures [18 references]. This simple fact has been quickly apparent to all foreign visitors...

The Kitava study measured height, weight, waist circumference, subcutaneous fat thickness at the back of the upper arm (triceps skinfold) and upper arm circumference on 272 persons ages 4-86 years. Overweight and obesity were absent and average [body mass index] was low across all age groups. ...no one was larger around their waist than around their hips.

...The circumference of the upper arm [mostly indicating muscle mass] was only negligibly smaller on Kitava [compared with Sweden], which indicates that there was no malnutrition. It is obvious from our investigations that lack of food is an unknown concept, and that the surplus of fruits and vegetables regularly rots or is eaten by dogs.

The Population of Kitava occupies a unique position in the world in terms of the negligible effect that the Western lifestyle has had on the island.

The only obese Kitavans Dr. Lindeberg observed were two people who had spent several years off the island living a modern, urban lifestyle, and were back on Kitava for a visit.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a scholarly interest in health and nutrition, and somewhat of a background in science and medicine. It's extremely well referenced, which makes it much more valuable.

Jakarta Globe, February 22, 2010

An Indonesian court on Monday approved the extradition to Australia of a man wanted on drugs charges there.

Timothy Geoffrey Lee, 45, was arrested on the resort island of Bali last month at the request of Australian police, officials said.

“We accept the request from the Australian government... to extradite Australian citizen Timothy Geoffrey Lee,” judge Daniel Palitin told Denpasar district court.

Lee, who also holds a British passport, is wanted over the alleged possession of chemicals used to make methamphetamines linked to a multi-million-dollar drugs bust in New South Wales in 2006.

The suspect will be held in Bali’s Kerobokan prison until President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signs off on the extradition request and a date is fixed, prosecutors said.

AFP

For months I’ve been saying I’m going to clean out the CD closet. We only call it the CD closet because it’s shorter than saying CD/DVD/VHS/vinyl(as in ALBUMS)/g-baby’s toys/computer bags/aerobic steps/hiking polls closet. Although it measures no more than 3 feet by 3 feet, it holds a lot of stuff. Too much stuff. Thankfully some bug crawled up my bum yesterday and made me attack and conquer the chaos.

Maybe I was channeling Henry David Thoreau (“Simplify, simplify!”). Maybe I was just tired of wanting to hear that one song by that one group and being too lazy to look for it, opting instead to give iTunes $.99 to download a song I already owned. I’m on a no-credit-card budget now and my financial life is transformed. Ergo, money is very motivating.

So yesterday I thinned the herd, downsizing our collection by a hundred or so. No more “Borat,” “Harry Potter,” the colorized version of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Todd Rundgren or my various movie soundtracks and greatest hits of the ‘70s collections. I asked Larry to go through the closet to cull his own CDs. He gave up a few and agreed with all but two of my choices to ditch. Alas, he kept his Doors collection, Billy Joel’s “Storm Front” (seriously?), every Mahler symphony known to humankind, and his one lone Grateful Dead CD. I guess it’s only fair. I kept my Barry Manilow CDs and Abba “Gold.”

What I like the most about this process is that I have a better handle on what I own. As much as I try to not have it, I still hang on to a lot of clutter. How many boxes of old dishes live in my basement just in case one of our kids or friends’ kids need them or we buy a second home…like that’s really going to happen before the dishes we use now are replaced? Is it necessary to hang on to every towel that has lived beyond its usefulness because it might make a handy rag? How long do I hang on to that box of tofu in the back of the cupboard just in case I get a craving? Craving tofu hasn’t and will not ever happen.

Simplifying the closet clutter was also a journey of discovery. I completely forgot we had the Beatles’ “Let It Be…Naked” CD. And I got a huge kick out of finding my two Sass Jordon CDs and remembering how back in the early 1990s I wanted her feet. I still do! Check out the bling! I want toes and ankles like that. (Her voice is awesome, too. Check out “Racine” and “Rats” if you like throaty, bluesy female voices.)

I remembered, too, that in reducing physical clutter, I always reduce emotional clutter. And when I reduce emotional clutter, the things that really need my attention more readily come to the surface. I sometimes fear a clear head, though, and find comfort in hiding in the clutter. I also get caught up in the whole idea that more is better.

Take blue cheese dressing, for instance. I love blue cheese dressing. I haven’t had it in ages because its calories were always a waste of my food time. But I really, really wanted blue cheese dressing last week. I went on an Internet search and found two low-fat recipes – one very simple, one more complicated. Which one did I try first? Of course: the most complicated one. The one with the most ingredients. Why? Because more is better! I mean, it called for Dijon mustard, tarragon vinegar, this spice, that spice…yadda, yadda, yadda. It HAD to be good because it was the most complex. So I made it, tried it, and dumped it in the garbage. It had none of the flavors I cherished in blue cheese dressing. None of the original, authentic zing. None of the “This reminds me of ______” meal.

As I studied the next recipe – the one that got rave reviews, by the way – I thought, How could four ingredients – sour cream, buttermilk, blue cheese and garlic – satisfy my taste buds? Where’s the flair? Where’s the “secret” ingredient that would make this dressing a cut above the ordinary? Turns out the flair and secret were in its simplicity. I made it, tried it, loved it, ate it again today, shared (reluctantly) with Larry, and will eat it again tomorrow. Simple was fabulous.

Simple IS fabulous. Less is more.

And less means Mama might earn some new workout shoes because I threw a few of our more notable CDs on eBay. Hopefully I’ll have a little mad money at the end of next weekend. Not to mention, a clean, neat, uncomplicated closet. One I won’t lose Claire in as she searches for her crayons. One that I can go to when I want to hear THAT Beethoven concerto or watch THAT Fleetwood Mac concert or upload THAT ZZ Top song and not pay iTunes for the privilege.

Not to mention what simplifying and getting “naked” do for my head. That I can’t sell or purchase on eBay.

Farmers spreading fertilizer on a rice field in Kediri, East Java.

Nusa Dua. As Indonesia hosts an international meeting on toxic and hazardous chemicals here, a nongovernmental organization said on Sunday that an increase in the country’s pesticide use had resulted in the poisoning of farmers.

That claim was made by Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) in its latest report, “Asian Regional Report on Community Monitoring of Highly Hazardous Pesticide Use.” The report was released before the 11th Simultaneous Extraordinary Meetings of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions, which opens today and runs through Wednesday.

The study was conducted in 2008 in collaboration with local partner organizations from eight countries — Indonesia, Cambodia, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam — with 1,304 farmers as respondents. It found that 66 percent of the active ingredients in pesticides used on vegetables, cotton, paddy rice and other crops were highly hazardous, according to PAN International classification criteria.

In Indonesia, the study was conducted by Gita Pertiwi, a green group focusing on pesticide issues. The group interviewed 100 farmers in Wonosobo, Central Java, in 2008.

Rosanna Dewi, executive director of Gita Pertiwi, said all of the respondents said they had suffered health problems, ranging from mild headaches to fainting and diabetes.

“All of the respondents, 39 females and 61 males, have found themselves manifesting symptoms caused by pesticides, from nausea and headaches to more serious problems like diabetes and cancer,” Rosanna said.

She said blood tests performed by health agencies had confirmed that 90 percent of the farmers had been poisoned by pesticides. She added that the problem was exacerbated by the rise in the different types of pesticides used in the country.

“In 2008, there were 1,702 kinds of pesticides [in Indonesia] coming from 353 companies. But now we have 1,822 from 273 companies,” Rosanna said. “The reason the numbers keep increasing is that [farmers] are tempted by rewards for buying certain products, for example, offers of a hajj trip.”

She added that farmers received little information on how to safely use of the pesticides.

“Based on FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organization] standards, [farmers] should wear gloves, long sleeves, plastic coveralls and a hat, but they’ve always said it was too hot,” she said, adding that women should not be allowed to spray pesticides because it put them at risk of reproductive health problems.

Rosanna said the herbicide Paraquat continued to be used in the country, mostly on palm oil plantations.

“The substance is already banned based on the Rotterdam [Convention], but unfortunately we have not ratified it yet. It is very effective in killing weeds, but it can cause cancer much more quickly than other substances,” she said, adding that the Agriculture Ministry issued a ministerial regulation in 2007 that said only certified farmers could spray Paraquat.

PAN AP executive director Sarojeni Rengam said governments should phase out hazardous pesticides and phase-in non-chemical pest management approaches.

“Support needs to focus on the investigation, education and promotion of agro-ecological practices, biodiversity-based ecological agriculture and integrated pest management,” Rengam said.

The well-known doctors start off with a two-week plan that they say will take up to 2 inches off your waist. That waist measurement is what they say people should be focusing on. That's because weight stored around the waist is the biggest predictor of obesity-related health problems. (The ideal waist measurement, they say, is 32 1/2 inches or less for women, and 35 inches or less for men.) What secret dieting weapons do they share? One is the permission to stop beating yourself up when you slip  something they say is an inevitable part of the process. The key is to get back up and do a "You-turn," as they call it, rather than slide back into a pattern of unhealthy eating.

They suggest changing your environment instead of trying to fight hardwired behavior. For example, choose a fish restaurant rather than a burger place when eating out. Keep fruit in your pantry instead of chips. When the urge to overeat strikes, head out the door for a short walk and contemplate what's driving the cravings. And consider your friends' habits, which can influence your own. Meet friends for breakfast at a juice bar rather than the pancake house. Schedule a walk instead of coffee and dessert.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Tempo Interactive, Friday, 19 February, 2010 | 20:25 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: About 9,5 kilograms of methamphetamine had been seized by customs officials at Soekarno Hatta Airport and one Iranian arrested in the biggest drug bust at the airport to date, authorities said on Friday (19/2).

The drug came in on February 12th through Etihad Airways' EY 472 flight cargo from Teheran, packed in about eight packages of marble home decorations. But the bust was not made until an Iranian picked up the packages at the airport on on February 18th.

A local aviation company PT JAS according to authorities handled the ground and cargo service for the packages.

Head of the Enforcement and Investigation Section of the Customs Office Gatot Sugeng Wibowo said 9,56 kilograms of methamphetamine found stuffed inside the marble decorations with a total weight of 1,200 kilograms.

Baduri Wijayanta Head of the Soekarno-Hatta Customs Office said it was the biggest drug smuggling scheme through cargo in the history of the Customs Office, estimated to worth around Rp20 billion.

Authorities have detected the drugs since its arrival and began to watch closely on every Iranian arriving at the airport. Five days after the packages arrived an Iranian arrived on a Qatar Airways and came to claim the package on February 17th.

The suspect identified as Mehdi Tajbakhsh Valadi could not complete the pick up on the same day as he was in short of cash, and returned on Freburay 18th to complete the pick up.

Methamphetamine is a category I drug under Indonesian law which bears a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison or death penalty for cases involving more than five grams of the drug.

JONIANSYAH | AYU CIPTA

Mathilda isn’t fancy. No pedigree. She’s old and has cysts and a limp, and she sheds mercilessly twice a year. She’s had four encounters with skunks and hates that we bathe her when she rolls in deer poop.

Mathilda can’t intellectualize pain, but when her joints are out of sorts, she doesn’t berate herself or call herself old or lament the fact that she’s not a puppy anymore. Most important, she doesn’t ignore her pain and continue to romp and play like she doesn’t hurt. She takes it easy, goes out when necessary, and let’s our other dog know she can’t play. When he nudges her, she nips to let him know she hurts and can’t play right now.

If you read my last blog, “Choosing The Baby Over The Blackberry,” you know my beloved Pearl (that's Pearl in her "bra")took a trip to the bottom of the tub when G-baby Luca went head first into G-baby Claire’s bath. Luca was fine and, surprisingly, so was Pearl after spending 24 hours drying out in a bag of rice (my genius daughter’s idea).

It wasn’t Pearl’s first encounter with H20. When Claire was 9 months old, she used Pearl as a teething ring. Pearl needed a night to dry out before she could work again. Last month, Pearl fell out of my purse and into a snow bank. It took my husband and I 15 minutes to find her, calling her number over and over to hear her ring – faintly – so we could find and rescue her.

Pearl isn’t fancy. She doesn’t have a full QWERTY keyboard, her paint’s chipping, and she’s very sensitive. Just ask the folks I’ve butt dialed. But Pearl’s like a Timex watch. She takes a licking and keeps on ticking. It just sometimes takes her a few days to get back to normal.

Unlike Mathilda, it’s often hard for me to acknowledge that I have arthritis, particularly when it interferes with how I want to pick up and hold my grandchildren. If you’ve ever had a hangover, you know what I’m talking about. You know while you’re taking back that fourth, fifth and/or sixth drink you’ll pay the price the next day, but you’re having so much fun that you don’t stop. When Claire says, “Uppie, Grammy!” I pick her up. When Luca hangs on my leg and looks up at me and smiles, I pick him up. It’s fun!

“I’ll be fine,” I tell myself, even as my shoulders and wrists moan in protest. “I’ll take a few Advil.”

But arthritis (like food) doesn’t understand ignorance. It doesn’t recognize impatience or appreciate that I want the freedom to interact with Claire and Luca on MY terms. (Or in the case of food, to eat the way I want to without consequence). Arthritis (and food) does what it does, and what it did to me this week is give me a case of tendonitis and bursitis. Doc shot the shoulder up with cortisone, told me to ice it twice a day and to lay off strength training until I see my (beloved) physical therapist next week.

You’d think after all these years, after all the times I’ve been down this road, that I’d have learned my lesson. God knows you’ve read me bitch about this subject ad nauseum. But like getting real about my weight and health when I was 300 pounds (and ALL the times I lost weight before), getting real with arthritis is taking time and a whole lot of introspection. I needed a dose of reality (and a massage and a visit to the chiropractor and several Advil) to get my head on straight again. At least until the next time.

Oh to be more like Mathilda and Pearl! Both behave within the parameters of their abilities. While on a walk, Mathilda doesn’t think, “Hey! There’s a creek and steep embankment that come hell or high water I’m going to run through and climb because I want to and to hell with the pain!” No, she lumbers along and takes in the odors near the ground and enjoys what she can without hurting herself. Pearl (despite her careless owner) shakes herself off, dries out, and goes back to functioning the best way she can given her circumstances.

I’m not old. I have arthritis. Arthritis, like weight, isn’t a personality flaw. It doesn’t reflect who I am and it isn’t something I chose to have. I suspect this reality will take even more time than I realize to completely accept and incorporate, but hey, I lost weight…I can lose the “Oh, I’m not in pain!” attitude, too.

One final photo. The weather’s been tough for many of us and it’s easy to miss the beauty that’s in the snow and cold. It’s gone now because it was above freezing today, but look what grew on the lilac bush outside my bathroom window. I like to think it’s a tropical bird – a gift from the universe to say, “Hey, sorry about all the winter blech.”