Friday, November 22, 2013

The China Study....(.less cancer and disease on plant food diets)

currently reading but cant wait to share.......

This is not a new book..copyright 2006. In fact  I bought it a few yrs ago and it sat on my bookshelf until liz mentioned she was reading it and asked me  if I wanted to read it too. (We started a little book club to read the same book at the same time..fun mother-daughter sharing as we both love studying nutrition. In fact all of us (katie, liz and me) have the same cookbook- pink edition of Better Homes and Garden Cookbook to share recipes..fun fun) Sorry for the digression....

"The inescapable fact is that certain people are making an awful lot of money today selling foods that are unhealthy. They want you to keep eating the foods they sell, even though doing so makes you fat, depletes your vitality and shortens  and degrades your life. They want you docile,compliant, and ignorant. They do not want you informed, active, passionately alive and they are quite willing to spend billions of dollars annually to accomplish their goals." Food buyer beware..is what I would say to you all!!

This  book has amazing research based,documented  nutrition facts about DIET AND DISEASES. It is written by T Colin Campbell and research done jointly  through Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine....a massive study of diet, lifestyle and disease.  It gives "overwhelming statistics for the case of  a vegetarian diet as the foundation for a healthy lifestyle". But it goes father than that with its documented studies and research. It links almost all diseases to animal products diet of meat and dairy...yes that means heart disease, Diabetes, High blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, bone health, auto-immune diseases, even Alzheimers ,vision,brain and kidney health and yes all types of cancer. America has the highest cancer death rates in the world and it because of our western diet based on meat and dairy. In his research of over 16 yrs, he proved  "People who ate the most animal based foods  got the most chronic diseases....people who ate the most plant based diets were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease."

Dr Colin started his career in Veterinary medicine and actually was doing graduate research originally in "animal nutrition"....he was attempting to improve our ability to produce animal protein, the cornerstone of what I was told was good nutrition". He was on the "road to promote better  health by advocating the consumption of MORE meat, milk and eggs" and "after a childhood of growing up on an American farm as a child and and was happy to believe that the American diet was the best in the world".He later did research in third world countries to study to study the role of  nutrition and protein in the development of cancer and "what as found in the research was shocking........that low protein diets inhibited the initiation of cancer and  low protein diets also blocked subsequent cancer growth".They also found  "Casein found in cow's milk protein promoted all stages of  the cancer".What  was also found through the research was that " the safe protein came from plants". Plant  proteins were found to protect the body from cancer  and even heal  the  body with cancer. So starting his career to promote animal protein actually gave him these shocking scrince based facts of how animal protein promotes disease while plant proteins inhibit and heal disease!!!This is why after four decades of  scientific research,education and policy amking at the highest levels in our society he now teaches a course at Cornel university on "Vegetarian Nutrition" and offers a Certificate  program of three classes in "Plant Based Nutrition" thur eCornell. I am definitely looking into taking this course and getting certified in my retirement!!What is more important than our health???? Nothing except faith and family..so my education continues.....

Hope you enjoyed learning about this amazing nutrition info.. I wish everybody could read this book and have less disease in their lives...We need to be  teach and eating by example for  our children and grandchildren so they can have healthy, happy futures.....It will be a lifestyle change, but isn't our health and old age worth it!!!! For me... I am in month 4 of being a vegetarian and altho I slip back a bit now and then when traveling, I am making great progress to find tasty, healthy alternatives to meat and dairy...It is possible!!! Now if I could just kick that white sugar habit of german donuts...hehe

Happy reading..and here's to a healthier you and me!!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The RAVE diet and Lifestyle by Mike Anderson

Just found this book on Amazon when looking up another. It is a book unlike no other diet book as it is not just about healthy weight loss but also about preventing disease through a plant based low fat diet,especially...cancer,heart disease, diabetes,high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity and other disease prevention.Half of the book is recipes...even how to make your own dressings,chart of which seasoning go best on which foods,substitutes for refined products like white flour, sugar and oils and plant  proteins, and making healthy fast food at home. It dispels  the myths of the high protein or low carb diet as healthy!

First wake up call is how it talks about the only way to prevent disease is by building up a healthy immune system  through a low fat plant based diet ,as no Rx or therapy can cure anything. "Even chemotherapy( as I suspected) ,cannot cure cancer just extend life for a few yrs. (usually up to 5 with re occurrence). Most cancer patients in this country die of chemotherapy. Chemotherapy does not eliminate breast,colon or lung cancers.The cancer industry has made peoples lives miserable by putting them thru surgery,chemotherapy, radiation and other invasive treatments and created a living hell for patients through nausea,vomitting, infections and damage to their internal organs while pocketing billions of dollars, and after all this treatment they have not extended the lives of their patients" (beyond 5 yrs. without re- occurrence or death)."  With a plant based low fat diet   and exercise cancer can be prevented, reversed and  even eliminated!!!!!

This is a book that tells you the reality thru science that Drs., the government and food manufacturers will not share with you as it would put the medical profession  and the big business of RX drugs and big AG  out of business."The meat and dairy industries are a huge part of our economy. They contribute mass amounts of campaign finance in very successful efforts to purchase politics. The politicians think this is good as it not only allows them to get re-elected but also because the food industries employ people which helps to keep our  economy going.So these politicians continue to subsidize these industries, that would in fact go bankrupt with out these subsides. And consumers love their meat and politicians love the money they get from big agri business.The only way we are going to make Americans eat healthy food is by letting the free market determine the price of food and that means taking away all subsidies received by the food industry by voting for campaign finance reform." So it's all about food and politics folks ,not about health at all.

The  realities are as follows: " nutrients from animal foods( meat and dairy)grow cancer and  nutrients from plant food shrinks cancer. Cancer is very rare in cultures that primarily eat low fat plant based diets (there is 120 times less  incidence of  prostrate cancer  in china than the USA). The more animal protein you eat ,the more you impair your body's natural defenses against cancer."( And this applies to many other diseases as well!) Also. "fish based diets promote heart disease due to the high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat, as well as a rise in blood cholesterol levels( as with pork and beef).Testing fish from usa rivers  found contamination by estrogen mimicking chemicals that promote breast cancer growth" as well as mercury and pcbs contamination . In addition high fat levels of fish and fish oils suppress the immune system."

 Most nutritional studies  look at a small part of health not inclusively about you as a healthy person and diets aim for weight loss( healthy or unhealthy) with no eye on disease prevention except for the big obvious like less fat means less weight  means better health. This book/ health diet  looks at all of your body and function and disease prevention ESP cancer and heart and all related ones.

Some of the main points are :
* the food pyramid on the RAVE diet starts with organic foods and exercise at  the bottom( most important item followed by low fat veggies ( largest quantity),then fruit ,  then beans,peas,lentils and soy and lastly nuts and high fat fruits and veggies(like
*" cooking  and baking without oil" mean you can use: water ,broth apple juice wine or vinegars to sauté ;and applesauce, or  puréed fruit like bananas to bake
*making food taste great with seasoning vs buying chemical ladened prepared foods
* making your own condiments and salad dressings  to eliminate the bad oils  by  using vinegars, vegetable juice ,seasonings, lemon juice,mustard, molasses etc....
* no white flour means using: WHOLE  grains like  oat, wheat, barley, rice, and whole wheat pasta, or potatoes
*no white sugar means: using maple syrup, honey etc... for sweeteners
* if using soy: buy whole vs refined or just elimate soy all together
* it means cooking like our grandmothers with fewer more pure ingredients..( yeah for less food in our pantries and less trips to the grocery store!!this is just what I have been interested in !!)

Th RAVE diet stands for and has four simple principles:
No Refined foods( see list below)
No Animal protein(that means meats ,fish and dairy )
No Vegetable oils
No Exceptions and Exercise

This is an amazing book that comes with a DVD and I for one believe its contents and will try to modify my diet to gradually reach for this disease prevention lifestyle. (For me the lack of dairy is harder than the lack of meat but with all things starting slow and using less will be the start.) They say it takes about 3 weeks or 21 days for your body to get used to this kind of eating  and which will give you results you will feel and see.

Before you get turned off from the elimination part of this diet,know that they have documented  many people with these diseases actually getting cured from re occurrence with this diet if followed fully, but if they slipped backwards disease returned. It DOES fill you up and there are few limits of quantity as all good stuff for your body. (I personally am on a mission to discontinue all packed and canned  foods so it fits in with my belief that additives and preservatives and chemicals in our foods, cleaning products and personal use products are giving many cancer, heart disease, diabetes,obesity ,high blood pressure and high cholesterol.)

Other important bits of info from this book are:
*What are refined foods...they are simple carbohydrates that include elimination of white  foods like white and wheat flour,white sugar,white rice ,white pasta,and  white bread, french fries,any cake or pastries,soft drinks( pop), chips of any kind, and junk food. (Most fast food is in this category especially the buns). "Sadly about half of the total calories in a typical American diet are rom refined foods that are lifeless imitations of the vibrant products found in nature..stripped of fiber,vitamins,minerals, antioxidants, devoid of nutritional value,wreak havoc on our health ,do not satisfy hunger and generally Do Not Require Teeth To Eat Them (haha...this  should have given us a clue as to their nutritional value).Annually Americans spend 90% of their food budget on refined products."  ( For me it goes further than this as any product hat has more than five ingredients i will not buy and esp none that list  a chemical , corn ,or sugar or refined ingredient as the first item when listed which of course means the largest quantity in that item.) 
 *Each and every minute an immune cell is made by what we eat.
 * A deficient diet means a deficient immune system.
*Within the next five years cancer will surpass heart disease as the number one cause of death in the America."

When people talk diet my motto is just eat half of anything but it goes beyond quantity to balance and quality. With all the GMO(genetically engineered food )out there that BIG  AGriculture is producing so yields are bigger, we are surely going to see the rise of disease. Isn't it a wonder why Europe has banned these GMO foods from their countries but America continues to allow and hide these origins of food from the American people!!! Apparently Europe truly cares about the health of their people ( perhaps due to social medicine in these countries?)vs.  America caring more about corporate profits, (as most food in the USA comes from about 5 big food companies under alot of different labels)!!

Well there is so much more .I recommend buying this book for yourselves as such a good resource for food shopping and cooking.  Here's to your good health and Bon Appetite!!





Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Pure Scum..The Left-out,Right-brained,and the Grace of God

 Sorry I haven't posted in a long while...very busy with family  this past year.

Well I just finished reading a book called "PURE SCUM: The Left-out, Right -brained, and the Grace of God"(IVP books Inter Varsity Press). It was written by my daughter's pastor in Denver, Mike Sares .

It is a  very  transparent  personal, readable story about a faith journey through vocations,
 trials , family, finances and people , both supportive and not along the way.

It is a reminder that God takes us on a journey... on HIS  timeline, and what we gain along this path is valuable and essential to where it is God wants us to be. We grow up along the way, adding to our skills, friendship and faith understanding. The road can break us down to build us up. This is about the human journey and the choices WE make as well.  It also talks of the role of the church and its sense of community and how we need to keep re-examining this to best meet the needs of the people we serve in and out of our church doors.

Scum of the Earth Church in downtown Denver has made a commitment to open its doors to all people  and to keep shaping and changing to meet the needs of those who enter there. It is a refreshing and important way to view the role of the church and to introduce  Jesus to all and support people along the way in their life and faith journeys. Scum's mission statement is:
"We strive to be a church that recognizes  its need for a savior".

I feel it is blessing for Katie ,our daughter, to be part of such a vibrant breathing church community. where she has a place to continue to grow in her life/faith journey and with an abundance of faith based friendships that add much joy  and support to her life.

I would recommend this book to anybody at any age and at any level of faith ,as it talks about all those ages and stages of faith, and most of all it talks about the joy of letting yourself experience all the life and faith roads along the way to growing up to be who  God  wants us  to be.

As a person who really values Jesus in her life, I must say it is always a pleasure to read about another's faith journey as well as hearing  deep thoughts about the faith life  and what the bible says to support it,  for myself  as I continue my  faith walk at age 60.

My favorite quote from the book comes toward the end in the chapter called "Carried":
"Often  we meander through life or think we know which way to go, but is valuable only for a season, the force of God's Spirit lifts and carries us in HIS own direction. It is his great LOVE for us that accomplishes this."

I have felt this in my own life in  a number of surreal experiences I have had and opportunities that God has created for me... like  teaching in Africa...it was a great great, life changing  experience and blessing. Now when  I  look back  , I see and know that it was perfect timing  and that I needed all the skills along the way and Gods Grace to do this....a great blessing indeed!!





Tuesday, November 20, 2012

The Time Keeper

On my 13 hr drive back from working on the Rosebud Reservation for three weeks, I picked up this four hour  "book on tape"/audio book, at Cracker Barrel restaurant( do you know you can purchase a book on tape from CB for rent of $3.94 per wk- you pay full purchase price when renting but get it refunded with return-  and return it to ANY  CB in ANY state?! I rented mine in Sioux Falls SD and will return it to Gurnee IL when i get home). I usually do this for the middle of my trip home as it makes the hours of driving fly by!

The book The Time Keeper by one of my favorite authors Mitch Albom is another keeper!! I love his writing , so rich in character and story development, Once you start at Mitch Albom book you cannot put it down, and in this case cannot turn it off your CD player!!

The  story revolves around three sets of characters...an ongoing saga of a snippet into their lives...all struggling with time.The characters are: a rich man dying of cancer, a young high school girl struggling with acceptance and identity and a historic man who invents time keepers but is vanished to a cave for not trusting in Gods timing.

It is a rare glimpse into how we all view time and how we choose to use each precious day we are given or how we can fritter it away with little thought.

The older and the deeper my faith grows in my daily walk i have come to trust fully in Gods timing in life and death so this book was especially great for me to read. Its funny how even my prayer life has changed about this full trust in Gods timing. I no longer pray for specifics but rather for peace and patience for those in need as God knows best and I  believe everything happens in HIS timing. I don't choose to second guess him by asking for what I want for myself or others but rather that HE be with us in times of trial or worry. It is such a comfort to know God is in control and I will not second guess that.

Anyway....if you love a good story that reflects on real life and faith  with imaginary characters you will love this book. I think I will look into giving this as a gift book to friends and family!! Stop reading...go get it thru Cracker Barrel for an audio book for your holiday travels  or  betterworldbooks.com for a hard copy for a great read!! ENJOY!!

Monday, August 13, 2012

Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

Out Live Your Life by Max Lucado

I recommend ANY of  author Max Lucado's books for anyone looking to read nonfiction Christian books of inspiration. He writes for the common man...so readable.....so inspirational!!

I just started this book but did not want to wait to recommend it to delay your finding it!!
After reading just one chapter i was enthused, impressed and energized, amazing!!( I read books out of order...that's how i read nonfiction..by interest and passion...so often reading numerous books at the same time....works for my bipolar personality...he he).

I chose the chapter that's called, "Don't Write off Anyone"(thinking of a friend i made while working on the Rosebud Reservation, as i go back in November this year). It is difficult befriending someone who struggles with alcohol addiction...it tests my faith and endurance and i must admit i had to pull back a bit as overwhelmed...but want to stay supportive of this person, so i read on!!

This book is written to inspire ALL of us to live our faith in real ways and with loving real people.
It is about walking our faith into the real world not just worshiping and reading the bible for ourselves. The whole point of this is to inspire us to be the real Christians IN THE WORLD outside ourselves to love others!! He uses biblical  characters and stories to set the stage for these chapters of inspiration.

This book is such a fast read...Max writes in short chapters that help engage us and allows for short pauses in life when we can pick up one of his books to read a chapter, digest it and use it in life, even before finishing the book!!He is so understandable and practical that you almost feel foolish not to be encouraged to act out our faith with real people beyond our families, and our church family.

Its a great book to get re-energized in our faith, can be re-read and re-read,  and to eventually  passed on to others when done. It would make a great  birthday or Christmas book to give as a gift.

Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy this quick read to uplift you and bring out your energy and creativity for loving the others Jesus puts in your path!!

ps all author royalties from the sale of this book go to World Vision and other faith based compassion ministries....so your purchase of this book is also a donation to those in need...a good start in living this mentality!!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Embracing the Heart, Engaging the Mind

The full title of this book is:


Embracing the Heart, Embracing the Mind
-Universal Stories of Resilience/65 Stories with Commentary by Joseph R Dunn, PH.D.


The author is a PHD in Psychology with masters degrees in Psychology AND Theology!! This is a book with both the human and faith responses. They are stories of wisdom. They are also stories of discovery, solutions and survival for the "ups and downs" of life. These stories are from around the Globe and have been passed down from generation to generation and told in many cultures. I collect multi-cultural story collections and will add this one to my library!


I have only just read a handful of the 50 stories offered but was so impressed with it that i re-ordered multiple copies to give as gifts. I just gave one for a high school graduation gift. It is the type of book you do not want to read through fast...rather savor the wisdom each story offers. I look forward to reading through it this summer. Another great summer read!! The stories are short and have commentary after each so real "food for thought". The eight story chapters have the following titles: Assessing Treasure, Touching and Transforming Relationships, Accepting Reality and Serenity, Choices: Changing what you can, Judicious  Decisions, Stories of Folly, Addressing Anger, and Resourceful Solutions. Its Great!! I think i found it by browsing a catalogue from Alibris( cat #9780578011561), they also have a website of course .The publisher is Psychology Etcetera Press (PsychEtc.com)
Enjoy!!

Daughters by Design by Paula Jarot

We met this mission couple that live and teach in Thialand and vacation in Wisconsin each summer and we have become friends. This book was written Paula, the mom of two Cambodian orphans that are now fully adopted and American cirtizens. This book is a great read...short readable chapters about the difficult path of adopting older children from Cambodia. I especially loved following how the girls personalities developed with the transition to a real family from an orphanage and to western living.The paper trail was extreme and only a woman of faith could endure it!! It is a story of fierce love and trust in the Lord!!


You can order it through Wine Press Publishing 2011 and comes quickly in the mail( disreagrd the warning on USA delivery). Enjoy!!