Applebee's: Don't Get Stung

You are literally taking your life into your own hands when you eat out in most chain restaurants across America.  But that statement has little meaning since too many of us out of convenience eat out.  If you must, then go with caution.  Honor your good health.  You cannot afford repeated overdrafts on your account of good health.

Last night I met up with some friends, and they wanted to grab some dinner at Applebee's.  Not my favorite place, because the food and the atmosphere are so commercial, but not the worst either . . . or so I thought.  I ordered a sirloin steak with shrimp.  And a Newcastle beer.  I took only a few sips of the beer and left it.  I knew, too, that the shrimp would be farm raised; all of the shrimp in restaurants is farm raised.  One of the friends ordered a spinach cheese dip with tortillas.  All of the corn in the US is genetically modified, so I do not even touch the chips.  I looked at them.  But my guest, friend wanted me to try the spinach cheese dip.  I thought cheese and spinach, what could go wrong?  But God knows what else is in that dish or what was used in its preparation.  I tasted one, and it tasted like a lab . . . not a Labrador, but a laboratory.  It was empty of flavor and spice.  No pungent bite back from sharply aged cheese or anti-oxidant, invigorating kickback from the spinach the way that you might detect the smell and the tastes of the earth in a bottle of wine.  None of that.  The food was dead.  So in addition to sabotaging my gastro-intestinal health, I derived no enjoyment from the taste of the food.  But my guests went after it, mixed it, sampled it, and ate it.

Then the dinners arrived.  My steak was plated with a few sliced rose potatoes and a frozen broccoli and carrot mix that was microwaved.  It was prepackaged food.  Again, dead food.  No flavor.  Flavor is an indication of nutrient dense, anti-oxidant rich foods.  No taste means no nutrition.  Will you get full?  Oh, sure.  Quicker than you might expect because it is Frankenfood.  I finished my steak and the tiny shrimp that surrounded it.  Even before I got home I was beginning to feel the neurotoxic effects of the food.  I became a little light-headed.  My patience short-circuited.  By the time I got home I went for the fish oils that I have in my freezer, ate an apple alternating it with peanut butter then cream cheese and drank some instant coffee.  These revived me somewhat.  I went to work on a small project.  Then called a friend.  It wasn't until 12am that I finally got to bed.  My dreams were harried.  Running from people shooting after me.  I woke at 4am, grabbed some coffee, an apple, and some coconut oil and tried going back to sleep at 5:30am.  A guy was ferreting through the trash bin in the Shakey's parking lot.  He found a few and began flattening them with a pop! at 5:30.  The popping shattered the quiet and the promise of more sleep.  I got up, got dressed, and went out for a walk.

Here are a few pics of that morning.

Exercise: The Elixir of Health

Exercise is elixir of health.  No food, no anti-oxidant, no vitamin, no leafy green vegetable or healthy fat will invigorate or boost you almost immediately the way exercise can and will. A walk around your neighborhood will raise your mood.  So, walk.  If you must, walk.  So, walk you must.

If you want more bang for your buck, then climb.  Go for a short hike.  One immediate benefit of exercise is that it will elevate your mood so that you can be more productive.  Pick a local foothill with a gentle grade and walk it.  Another benefit of a hike is that you get out of the hubbub of the city.  You step away from the confines of your computer.  You breathe.  You climb.  You smell the flowers.  The wild ones are incredible.

Joel Salatin: Food Production Is Out of Sync

Jazzy Ginger

"Eat functional foods" was the command from Dr. Barry Sears of the Zone Diet.  Though I don't follow the Zone Diet, I thought that Dr. Sears advice was invaluable.  At least for me, facts don't always speak for themselves.  What is a functional food?  I drink coffee.  In my mind, it's functional: I drink it for a boost.  I eat eggs.  In my mind, their function is to power me through the morning.  I eat green leafy vegetables.  I eat them to get enzymes in me to help digest my heavy protein diet.  Each food already has a function.  Certain foods are good for this, certain foods are good for that.  What I want to know is which foods are best for the gut?  That depends.  What do you want your gut to do?  Purge?  Be less irritable and settled down?  One food that ranks high in soothing the gut is ginger root.  Another, which I heard about just tonight, is cabbage juice.  I'll write about that later after I try it.


And by ginger, I don't mean ginger snaps.  Skip the ginger candies.  Ixnay on the sweetened ginger drinks, eh.  But the raw ginger root.  Remember, food is serious stuff.  The best way to consume this is in tea form.  Easy to make.  Slice a few discs of ginger, place them in a pan of water, and boil.  And you've got refreshing hot tea.  I love coffee.  I love it as a stimulant, but despite all of the evidence to the contrary it is not so healthy for your gut.  It may have anti-oxidants but it doesn't have gut-heatlhy properties the way that raw ginger root does.  You will find the ginger tea a pleasant substitute, particularly if you are trying to recover from gut problems.  And what are these gut problems?

Leaky gut is one.  What is a leaky gut?  It's where your intestinal lining becomes more porous and toxins from the intestines spill out into the blood stream.  I had this once.  The toxins stained my lower legs with red blotches.  A regimen of antioxidants fixed that.  If you get leaky gut, try this.  I've heard all kinds of ways to describe the stomach, one, as the second brain that signals a "gut feeling," which may be an idiomatic that really expresses a visceral thought.  I'd read recently that your gut has several neurotransmitters in the tissue.  That's kind of brainy.  In fact, something I found just recently and very interesting was that there is an organ called the abdominal aorta.  An aorta in the stomach.  Talk about a vital organ!  Your heart has aortic valves.  Your stomach does too.  Go figure.

 

Eczema is a symptom of a leaky gut, which just goes to show you how gut health is implicated in so many other ailments and areas of your body.  Writing on eczema, Carolanne Wright, a contributor over at Mike Adams, says that more than likely it is caused by a leaky gut. 

In addition to healing a leaky gut, ginger tea, according to this article, enhances your mood, the same thing that you expect from your hot coffee, yet it provides the following benefits:

1. Impedes Motion Sickness: Have a quick cup before traveling to keep the sickness and headaches at bay.
2. Combats Stomach Discomfort: Great for digestion and aiding the absorption of food.
3. Reduces Inflammation: Can ease joint inflamation and helps ease the joint soreness.
4. Fights Common Respiratory Problems: Perfect for fighting off coughs and colds.
5. Encourages Normal Blood Circulation: Not only does the drink help blood flow, it also can stop excessive sweating and fever.
6. Remedies Menstrual Discomfort: One tip to relieve menstrual pains is to place a hot towel drenched in ginger tea on your stomach.
7. Strengthens Immune System: Packed with antioxidants, it is a sure start to better health.

8. Relieves Stress: Even one sniff of the drink can improve your mood.

RAW GINGER
It is known that raw ginger contains "chemicals that work in a similar way to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen and aspirin. . . . The studies showed daily ginger intake reduced the exercise-induced pain by 25 per cent. Heating the ginger had no effect."

Ginger is good for arthritis.