Fasting

After I watched this video, in which this M.D. (Nephrologist) explains why “eat less, move more” diets don’t work and why intermittent fasting does, I ordered his book which I’m avidly reading.

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Fun with Extra SCOBYs

Kombucha needs Camellia sinensis to be properly nourished.

That means black, green, white, and/or oolong teas. Flavored teas, such as Earl Gray, Red Zinger or Chai, often contain antipbacterial essential oils that may damage the kombucha culture, so avoid using them for your main brew. Strongly smokey teas such as Lapsang Souchong, while they won’t technically damage the culture, are not considered a good flavor match by most brewers.

SCOBYs grow baby SCOBYs.

In the past, I’ve puréed the extras in water and fed them to the garden. But I just tried brewing a batch of kombucha with herbal teas. It’s so delicious!

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate has a number of health benefits, leading certain people I know (me) to think it’s a good way to have a guilt-free sweet treat.

But according to Consumer Lab, even a relatively small serving daily can easily put an ADULT over the safe limit for CADMIUM, a toxic heavy metal that accumulates and hangs around in the body doing mischief for YEARS.

Resistant Starch: Reheating Makes It Even Better For You!

When certain starchy foods, including pasta, potatoes and rice, are cooked and then cooled, the digestible starches convert to resistant starches via a process called retrogradation.

Resistant starch is REALLY GOOD FOR YOU. Many studies in humans have demonstrated that consuming resistant starch improves insulin sensitivity, lowers blood sugar levels, reduces appetite, and has numerous benefits for digestion.

Human Health BEGINS with Gut Health

If you’ve got an hour, this is a good video. Dr. John Bergman, D.C., talks about Leaky Gut Syndrome … what it is, what causes it, what cures it.

Interesting points I noted while watching …

• The sympathetic part of the nervous system controls “fight or flight” while the parasympathetic part controls “rest, digest, and repair.” I’ve heard those words in the context of stress control, but didn’t really understand what they meant. It’s actually quite simple!
• A researcher Bergman cites suggests that things like vaccines, antibiotics, pesticides, and stress, only INDIRECTLY cause problems, like autism, which are now epidemic in our culture. The DIRECT problem they cause is gut dysfunction, which in turn causes all the other stuff.
• This makes total sense to me. There are pounds of beneficial bacteria and yeast living on the lining of a healthy gut. These probiotics interact with the Central Nervous System and also make up 80% of the human immune system. So duh … if you mess up the gut biome, you will in turn mess up your physical, mental and emotional health!
  

Resistant Starch 101

Resistant starch reaches the large intestine undigested, where the friendly bacteria can eat it and grow stronger and more numerous.

The friendly bacteria that eat resistant starch excrete short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, which is the preferred fuel of the human cells that line the colon wall.

The short-chain fatty acids that aren’t used by the cells in the colon wall can travel via the bloodstream to the liver and other parts of the body where they have various beneficial effects.

STUDY: Probiotics Reduce Negative Thinking

New research finds that probiotics can reduce negative thoughts.

Research from the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition in The Netherlands has determined that one’s gut bacteria affect negative thinking, which is defined as a spiraling of thinking that takes a person from one negative thought to the next.

The research studied 40 healthy people for four weeks. The group was split into two groups. One group was given a probiotic supplement each day. The other group was given a placebo for the same period. This was a triple-blind study.

After the four weeks, the patients were tested for negative thinking and cognitive reactivity for moods of sadness. The researchers found a significant reduction in negative thinking among the probiotic group. They also had lower cognitive reactions to sadness compared with the placebo group.

Source:

• http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/probiotics-reduce-negative-thinking

 

Bits & Bytes

AUSTIN MAIL BOMBS: A fifth package has exploded, this time at a FedEx facility about 60 miles southwest of Austin. Thankfully, it was on an automated conveyor belt and noone was injured.

• https://www.statesman.com/news/local/package-believed-bound-for-austin-explodes-fedex-facility-schertz/qhEzri65hMilAAp6xEJvFI/

PRO-LIFE: Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant today signed a bill banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. This is the earliest such law in the U.S. and will surely be tested in the courts.

• http://www.lifenews.com/2018/03/19/mississippi-governor-pro-life-bill-banning-abortions-after-15-weeks/

REPENTANCE: Powerful pro-life testimony by a former abortionist. “I don’t believe a woman can remain unscathed after killing her child.”

• http://www.lifenews.com/2018/03/19/former-abortionist-i-murdered-more-people-than-ted-bundy/

PATHETIC: The Dominicans who run Providence College have refused to condemn the thugs who have threatened and harassed a student for affirming Catholic teaching on marriage. All they’ve done is move the victim to new housing in an undisclosed location!

• https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-college-silent-on-student-threatened-with-gay-rape-for-posting-bul

JESUS: A low budget, independent, Christian message film is outperforming an expensive, highly touted, big studio production about a high school boy ‘coming out’ as gay. In their first week-ends, I Can Only Imagine took in about $14 million while Love, Simon took in about $12 million despite opening on 800 more screens.

• https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/tired-of-lgbt-messaging-movie-fans-flock-to-christian-films1

INSOMNIA: “Scientists are beginning to suspect there is a strong, if as yet unproven, link between gut health – the diversity and well-being of bacteria in the stomach, small and large intestines – and sleep health.

• https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/mar/19/is-your-gut-keeping-you-awake-at-night

COMMIEFORNIA: Los Alamitos, a small Orange County, California, town has decided to opt out of the state’s new sanctuary laws, which keeps cities and towns from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

• https://twitchy.com/bethb-313034/2018/03/20/theres-sanity-left-in-commiefornia-conservatives-applaud-town-rejecting-states-sanctuary-laws/

Diet and Drugs are the Problem, Not Guns

This article is worth reading in full.

Excerpt:

The Los Angeles Probation Department, after reviewing the evidence in Alexander Schauss’s Diet, Crime and Delinquency has banned candy, soda, chocolate, sugar and refined flour products from its juvenile centers. Schuss says “…when a person is placed on a good diet, at least it gives him or her the chemistry to respond to direction, information and education. There have been a lot of programs, a lot of studies, and not one of them has failed to show substantial results.“

• https://drcarolyndean.com/2018/02/diet-and-drugs-are-the-problem-not-guns/

Balancing Calcium and Magnesium

Calcium and magnesium must be kept in balance for proper cellular function to occur.

Animation demonstrates the interaction of calcium and magnesium at a cellular level.