Re: The Health Thread

[Flames]

Regarding caffeine/coffee...can't quit. Tried to quit for several days, and my brain didn't even feel connected to my body. I guess its an addiction I've got to live with.

[tgII]

I started drinking this coffee, and like holy smokes, drinking anything else
would be like drinking rancid water.

Javita

[quicksilvercrescendo]

Even better coffee...from the deep, dark cavernous piles of elephant dung brought fresh to your cup and then to your lips...

http://www.cnngo.com/bangkok/drink/why-worlds-most-expensive-coffee-comes-elephants-butt-426056

Personally, I can't drink coffee because one cup hits me like speed that lasts all day and into the night affecting my sleep.
I get all hyper and jittery soon after drinking a cup and unless I am going to punch a heavy bag for an hour or do wind sprints there is no way for me to burn off that extra energy so then I start to pace without that physical outlet with that kind of jolt.
Green tea has significantly less caffeine and for me is still a boost, but one that I can handle. So a cup of green tea every once in a while is all I need for a pick me up.

Coffee is one of the most heavily pesticide sprayed crops so anything other than organic may be exposing you to higher pesticide levels and perhaps in countries with looser laws and rules about what can be sprayed. So I recommend organic for this reason. Freshly grinding them yourself contributes to better taste and reduced rancidity.
The press method seems to be a low cost, simple method of making a good cup of coffee. As some commercial coffee filters can be contaminated with industrial-production chemicals.

Avoid drinking in the p.m. hours if you have problems with sleep quality or nervousness issues.

One cup a day, without sugar, for a person under 200 lb. bodyweight is therapeutic. That is a measuring cup being one cup, not some huge coffee mug counting as one cup.
If over 200 lbs. bodyweight, then two measuring cups, without sugar, but drink them at least two up to four hours apart so the body has time to metabolically process the first cup can also be therapeutic.

And it is good to take a day here and there with no coffee or caffeine at all.

This reduces dependence and addiction. But also, a small amount of coffee dilates the blood vessels, moves the bowels and provides a good source of stimulating energy in the morning or just after an early lunch meal. More than this and the body responds in the opposite manner, you still get the jolt, but blood vessels will first dilate and then constrict causing the physiological reaction of...hypertension. Over time this can cause actual medical hypertension and is the reason why people feel the way they do when they try to quit, with clouded thinking or headaches and all those other withdrawal symptoms.

But I think I have gone into detail regarding this with an earlier post, so I shall...cease and desist.

[Sputnik]

Thanks for the good tips QSC, I think I might be driking too much coffee simply due to habit, but lately I had some sleeping problems, maybe because I drank more and more. I will try the green tea or maybe hot chocolate.

[Flames]

I like to drink tea too, usually iced tea. A good combo that I make is spearmint, orange peel with spices, and green tea, with a slice of lemon. Sometimes I'll add some Stevia. I like my tea just like I like my coffee... thick and muddy.

[KapitanScarlet]

Ive been drinking approx 3 cups coffee daily and about 4 cups tea , and i still sleep very well , BLACK (:
The shit im drinking is nescafe dolce-gusto Lungo using one of those high pressure dispensers, it tastes great but theres probably some shit involved in its production , i must check that out
Thats good data about the caffeine(i think you did a good post on that before ) and pesticides qsc, i will keep that in my awareness now and gravitate to organic where possible

[quicksilvercrescendo]

Also, if you live in cold winter weather then you can perhaps increase the minimum amounts, according to bodyweight, by one more cup a day.
The acidifying effect of food and other substances taken internally to a slighter degree more are actually promoted when you live in an area with long, cold, dark winters.

If you are consuming more than three or four servings of caffeine laden beverages a day, everyday...then you are perhaps testing the limits when it comes to the diuretic effect and the proper hydration of your cells...the brain, nervous system, organs and skin will be the first to feel this effect, hypertension response related to the nervous and cardiovascular system, metabolic effects by overstimulating the secretions of the adrenal glands which tends to be a game of diminishing returns after several years, and opening oneself to dependency or addiction.

I really like the smell of coffee brewing as it has a very relaxing effect, like vanilla, chocolate-cocoa butter, cinnamon and bread baking.
These smells are actually more powerful than any medical aromatherapy concoctions designed for instilling well-being.

In my massage and bodywork room I keep six large naturally scented (as some can smell awful and "chemically") vanilla candles. I never have to light and burn them, but just let them sit in the windows gives a slight, pleasant odor to the room and they last for years just sitting there. I don't use lighted candles in my healing space because they suck up oxygen...and are a fire hazard as I now rent at a commercial property location.

When doing deep bodywork where oil or cream is not a desired lubricant, I use pure solid cocoa butter just for minimal lubrication for deep myofascial work. This smells just like chocolate and people really like it and continue to smell it on themselves long after their session.

[Flames]

Thanks for all the info, QSC. Speaking of massages, I've never had a professional massage before.

[quicksilvercrescendo]

What to look for when choosing a massage therapist.

Does the state in which you are located actually have licensing requirements?
Some states don't have any educational or licensing requirements so anyone with a weekend seminar can say they do massage.
You want a therapist who has completed at least a 500 to 600 hour course. Otherwise you may have to search a bit more for a quality therapist and service in your area.
Friends, family, co-workers or other health care providers in your area can sometimes be a good referral source.
The states with the highest educational requirements and the most professional oversight are New York, Florida and California.
A therapist with a minimum of three, or better yet, five years of experience will also help to better guarantee a skilled and positive experience.
Also someone who is delivering their work more in a medical context, with experience or who is working with doctors, chiropractors and-or physical therapists.

The buzzwords as to the type of techniques and methods to look for are...
deep tissue massage
myofascial release
trigger point therapy
neuromuscular therapy

After getting three to six one hour duration sessions of this type of massage work over a six to twelve week period, then the body will be significantly loosened compared to how it was before.
Cost for quality work is about $75 per hour. If you can get a doctor or chiropractor to prescribe it for you as a medically necessary treatment for a physical condition then insurance may help cover some cost should they approve to cover massage.

Then, right after following your last scheduled massage, one should now focus their time and money and go to a competent chiropractor who uses, and can effectively execute, the Gonstead technique. This, and the use of an X ray, will help determine if there are any misalignments in the spine. For a relatively problem free spine, three to six visits may be all you need. For problems that are more severe deviations or have been in the body for a long time then 12, to 24 visits total spread out over a one month to three month period may be necessary...depending in the examination and Xray findings. If the chiropractor does not use Xray, then go to someone else. You are not just looking to get rid of pain and stiffness, but to actually get the entire spine in a better alignment so it is in a healthier position to keep it from becoming sore or stressed.
An initial exam, X rays and first adjustment is probably about $100 to $125 at the most.
Each visit for an adjustment after that usually only takes ten to fifteen minutes of time and is usually $30 to $60 dollars. If you are going to have to go several times, like over a dozen to resolve the problem, then maybe you can work out a lesser price per visit with the chiropractor because of the volume of visits you will be requiring. A cash fee is usually less than what they would charge an insurance company. Many insurances reimburse somewhat for Chiropractic.

After this is resolved with a chiropractor, I would look into now focusing time and money on getting ten sessions of Rolfing Structural Integration type work.
This type of work is highly transformative.
About $120 per hour. And sessions are not to be scheduled more than 2 weeks apart from one another. So when you decide to do this it is best you commit to the first three specialized sessions. Great benefit is recognized at this point, but you want to at least do the first three sessions...don't stop it short as it can leave you more unbalanced posturally than when you started. If the first three are to your liking then you can do the next seven as well and take the whole process to completion.

During all of this progressing from one type of therapy to another in this sequence, one should take up stretching using good technique and light hatha yoga to further keep the body flexible pain-free and as a tool to maintain the changes this type of bodywork creates in the body.

Then I find that if I do stretching once a day with short sessions, or at minimum three to five times a week with longer sessions, that my body is in a totally new place than it ever could have been with other methods.

Then a maintenance schedule of 2 to 4 massages a year and perhaps 4 to 6 chiropractor visits a year keeps things in order and running quite smoothly...as long as you are doing your stretching, walking regularly and any other low-impact type exercises.

All of these things complement one another and this sequence only builds and compounds the benefits of each when pursued in this order.
Money and finances are an issue, but you have to make yourself your top priority.

I know plenty of people who would buy a new flat screen tv, smartphone, eat out regularly, buy and smoke weed, or buy a new car, instead of a good used one, than to thing to justify actually putting that money into themselves and their own body.

From here one could then delve into revisiting any of these therapies only when you feel they are needed.
I would now, at this point of transformation, also now consider trying a couple sessions of Craniosacral therapy. This type of work is made much more effective when you have had all this other stuff I recommended done to the body first.
About $75 per hour....and a session usually takes ninety minutes.

From there, if curious and open-minded, one could try to find those that do energy work as if they are legit and you experience results...the body will now be in the best place and most receptive state to determine if it actually does transmit benefit to the organism.
Energy work includes acupuncture from a doctor of Chinese Medicine. This is the only type of licensed person I would allow to do acupuncture on me and they must use pulse and tongue diagnosis as part of their evaluation, anything less is usually not to balance the whole chi system but only for muscle and joint pain. They should also be familiar with Chinese herbs that may be recommended to balance your system.
Fees vary regarding this, but probably in the realm of $50 to $75 with the higher end being for the initial evaluation.

From their energy work gets a bit more challenging and dicey to find those that perhaps can effectively lay on hands, do chakra work or psychic-spiritual healing, and all that other type stuff because there is quackery, fraud, well-intention but misguided individuals, some are far too New Agey or using methods that just do not work well. There are times where one can find an effective person in this area, but it is rare. I rarely pursue anything in this realm as it is also a very personal space to have someone work on you on a spiritual level. Polarity therapy and Zero Balancing has attempted to create a good system and make legit this type of work, so one may have a better chance of finding a positive experience with that type of therapist. But there are gifted people in this area no doubt, you just have to realize the difficulties in advance one may have to encounter during this journey. But sometimes if you relax and meditate and ask, during your search, for the best type of therapist, doctor or healer that is best for you to be presented to you as a result of your efforts...and do this with some relaxed focused repetition, then this can help manifest someone positive and effective.

[highnoon]

http://chastity.com/chastity-qa/homosexuality/homosexuality/whats-wrong-with-gay

How can people say that homosexuality isn't natural?

Many people define what's natural by whatever they feel. If they feel an attraction to something, then they assume it must be good and natural. That's our culture in a nutshell: If it feels good, do it. But, my attractions do not determine the morality of my actions. For example, a husband might be attracted to his secretary, but this "natural" feeing does not make it good to cheat on your wife.

I discussed the morality of homosexual actions in a different question, so let's just look at how "natural" the act is. When I use the term natural, I'm referring to the design that can be found within nature. For example, it's natural for a plant to live in sunlight. If it's put in the closet, it will probably die, because that is not the natural environment in which it should live. When things are put in their natural place, and follow the design with which they're made, they thrive. When this natural law is violated, things go awry.

To see how this plays out in our sexuality, examine how a man's body works with a woman's in the sexual act.

First of all, consider that a man's body really doesn't make sense without a woman's body. The same goes for her. The two compliment each other. For example, the sperm and the egg serve no purpose in isolation from each other. Yet, everyone on the planet is here because of the union of the two.

To get more technical, a man's sperm is foreign to a woman's reproductive system, and the natural response of her body is to treat them as foreign bodies that should be fought off. To do this, the woman's body would normally use lymphocytes to attack the foreign body in order to keep the womb healthy. But there's a substance in a man's sperm cells and semen that tell the woman's immune system to not attack. Also, the alkaline nature of semen buffers and converts the acidic nature of the female reproductive tract, thus allowing the sperm to travel safely to the egg in order to fertilize it. Meanwhile during the marital act, the couple is face to face, and eye to eye.

It has also been found that much of the sperm and seminal fluids that do not fertilize the woman are absorbed into her womb, and actually nourish it with the prostaglandins, and prepare it to bear forth the life of the same genetic type of sperm, so that if and when a baby does later implant into her womb, it will be a healthier pregnancy. If she has multiple sexual partners, or uses barrier methods of contraception, the pregnancy is more likely to be difficult because she has a higher risk of preclampsia. There is not only a built-in design for sex to be heterosexual, but for sex to be monogamous.[1]

However, if two men have anal sex, since the sperm are designed to inhibit the immune system, it may actually increase their odds of developing anal infections, and contracting diseases such as HIV. The sperm are wasted, and serve no purpose. Overall, the body suffers great harm. For example, homosexual men are more likely to have anal cancer (from HPV),[2] which infects over 90 percent of HIV-positive gay men and 65 percent of HIV-negative gay men.[3] They are also at increased risk of hepatitis[4] and throat gonorrhea.[5] They're ten times as likely as heterosexuals to get syphilis,[6] which then makes them two to five times as likely to get HIV.[7] They may also suffer from what's commonly called "Gay Bowel Syndrome," where bacteria from fecal matter enters the digestive system, and may cause a host of health problems.[8] Homosexual men are most at risk for getting HIV,[9] and now half of all new AIDS cases were reported among young homosexuals.[10]

Lesbians are also at risk, because most of them have had sex with other males, and because they often engage in sexual activities with other women that can transmit STDs such as HPV.[11] They're also likely to have more sexual partners than heterosexual women. The Washington Blade, which is a pro-homosexual newspaper, reported that "a large proportion of 'lesbian' women reporting sex with (often high risk) men."[12] One study also reported, "the median number of lifetime male sexual partners was significantly greater for WSW (women who have sex with women) than controls (twelve partners versus six). WSW were significantly more likely to report more than fifty lifetime male sexual partners."[13]

When a woman is bisexual, she is more likely to become infected with an STD than heterosexuals.[14] The Centers for Disease control affirmed that bisexual men were a bridge for infecting women with HIV.[15] Even lesbian relationships that are "exclusive" carry a great risk of STD transmission because they "were significantly more likely to report past sexual contact with a homosexual or bisexual man and sexual contact with an IDU (intravenous drug user)."[16] The journal Sexually Transmitted Infections studied the medical records of 1,408 lesbians, and found that they were at a much higher risk of certain STDs, like "bacterial vaginosis, hepatitis C, and HIV risk behaviors in WSW as compared with controls."[17]

Now, these health risks do not prove the immorality of homosexual actions. Rather, they are an indication that this is not the way our bodies are designed to work. The exclusive use of sexual activity for heterosexual monogamous couples may sound narrow minded, but that's simply the way that our hearts and our bodies are made.

[quicksilvercrescendo]

I have a close friend who is a gynecologist.
He says, based upon what he sees daily, is that even hetero high class educated women come in with all kinds of STDs.
He is single and rarely has sex.

Since 1990 I have never had sex with a woman without showing her my two latest STD medical tests (spaced six months apart to guarantee accuracy in HIV detection due to its incubation period)...and then she must show me hers...and if she didn't have one...then she needed to get one before I stick anything in her.
That is just the way I roll in that regard.
STDs are some serious shit and I don't mess around with taking any chances...it is like Russian roulette and people are generally..."skanky".

[tgII]

I brought this over from the Russian Thread because it is related after discovering the
Russians are going to prevent American produced beef and pork from being imported
into Russia because of Russia's concern the chemical additive ractopamine is fed to
American produced cattle and pigs.

In addition to that though, this is another negative on the meat industry in America
known as "blading" and "needling" of beef to tenderize it. The problems arise because
there is concern these tenderizing techniques in automated industrial meat factories
are subjecting people to E. coli bacteria and other dangerous pathogens.

So, not only is American beef and pork laced with a toxic chemical called Ractopamine,
there is the additional risk of being subjected to E. coli bacteria and other potentially
dangerous pathogens.

The Beef Industry’s Deadly Secret: “Blading” And “Needling”

I went over to Liveleak to see if I could come up with any videos of an automated
beef or pork processing plant and found the following video.

Automated meat butchering. This is high tech butchering and very surreal to watch a
fully automated robotized machinery slicing meat. An unthinking completely detached
highly efficient machine that does only one task: butcher meat.

Very eerie in one sense; like watching the movie The Terminator redacted:

Automated Butcher

[tgII]

WARNING: Monsanto.

Another win for Monsanto. It looks like Monsanto's herbicide Roundup completely
fucks up the gut in humans.

Roundup Herbicide Linked To Overgrowth of Deadly Bacteria

If you don't already know what Monsanto has its corporate hands into, review Wikipedia's
write-up on this massive corporation. Its reach is everywhere.

[tgII]

"To my Japanese corporate customers, my apologies, I didn't
realize the Japanese were aware of my efforts to reduce the
population through vaccinations."

Microsoft Japan “Convinces” TV Station To Remove Segments Covering Gates’ Population Control Activities

[quicksilvercrescendo]

The automated butcher looks far more cleaner and efficient than any operation I have seen where more humans are used with knives or man-operated machines.
Night crews usually come in at night with steam and chemical foam cleaners to sterilize it all for the next day's production.

[quicksilvercrescendo]

[KapitanScarlet]

More than ever, people have to be more vigilant in whats passing into their digestion system under the guise of nutrition, the diabetic industry has gone into ultra mode which means they are commited at a level of production that must have customers , this MSG shit looks like its designed to help that statistic along , This Shits in almost everything these days

MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is a common food additive and an addictive slow poison. It is associated with hyperactive behavior in children, obesity, seizures, headaches and dozens of other subtle or not-so-subtle symptoms that many people experience.
MSG is not required to be labeled as such in many instances. But it is added to thousands of processed food items. It is even added to Tim Horton’s and other popular coffee drinks! At the end of this article are labeling tricks to look for to find out if a food contains it. Also included are several other websites with more information.
MSG AND OBESITY
This is a true story about MSG and weight gain.
“John Erb was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called "The Slow Poisoning of America".
In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies.
No strainof rat or mice is naturally obese, so the scientists have to create them. They make these morbidly obese creatures by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates; causing rats (and humans?) to become obese. They even have a title for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats"”.
MSG SOURCES
MSG is in most every processed food product. Examples include Campbell's Soups, Hostess Doritos, Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals and Kraft salad dressings, especially the 'healthy low fat' ones. Items that don’t have MSG marked on the product label often have something calledHydrolyzed Vegetable Protein', which also contains MSG. Other common names are 'Accent', 'Aginomoto’ and 'Natural Meet Tenderizer'.
Restaurants. Most fast food and chain restaurants use MSG in some form in prepared dressings, sauces, spice mixes and other items to entice the customers.
Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy's, Taco Bell are just a few of the ones that use it. Others are TGIF, Chili's, Applebee's, Denny’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
ADDICTIVE EFFECTS
According to researcher John Erb, MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body. Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG at: http://www.msgfactscom/facts/msgfact12.html explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more. A study of the elderly showed that people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobby group says eating more benefits the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us? 'Betcha can't eat just one', takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight?
The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added.
Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday. The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. Indeed, they claim it's safe to eat in any amount. How can they claim it safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies concerning the adverse effects of MSG? It is obvious the FDA is not concerned with our health, no matter what the television news reports.
HIDDEN NAMES FOR MSG
Foods always contain MSG when these words are on the label:
MSG
Gelatin
Calcium Caseinate
Monosodium glutamateHydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP)
Textured Protein
Monopotassium glutamate
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein (HPP)
Yeast Extract
Glutamate
Autolyzed Plant Protein
Yeast food or nutrient
Glutamic Acid
Sodium CaseinateAutolyzed Yeast
Foods made with the following products often contain MSG:
Malted Barley (flavor)
Flavors, Flavoring
Modified food starch
Barley malt
Reaction Flavors
Rice syrup or brown rice syrup
Malt Extract or Flavoring
Natural Chicken, Beef, or Pork, Flavoring "Seasonings" (Most assume this means salt, pepper, or spices and herbs, which sometimes it is.) Lipolyzed butter fat
Maltodextrin
Soy Sauce or Extract"Low" or "No Fat" items
Caramel Flavoring (coloring)
Soy Protein
Corn syrup and corn syrup solids (some companies use another process to make their product, saying it is MSG free)
Stock
Soy Protein Isolate or Concentrate
Citric Acid (when processed from corn)
Broth
Cornstarch
Milk Powder
Bouillon
Flowing AgentsDry Milk Solids
Carrageenan
Wheat, rice, or oat protein
Protein Fortified Milk
Whey Protein or Whey
Anything enriched or vitamin enriched
Annatto
Whey Protein Isolate or Concentrate
Protein fortified "anything"
Spice
PectinEnzyme modified "anythng"
Gums
Protease
Ultra-pasteurized "anything"
Dough Conditioners
Protease enzymes
Fermented "anything"
Yeast Nutrients
If this list seems daunting, that is because it is. This is one reason to stay at home for meals or only frequent quality ethnic restaurants and avoid all the chain restaurants. I know this is a tall order for many people, but I do it myself with ease. It is just a good habit that takes a while to establish and then it is easy.The hardest thing is when friends want to go to their favorite fast food place, or even regular restaurant like Denny’s. so go once in a while and order vegetables and hamburger. Stay away from salads with dressings and the ketchup and relish likely are chock full of MSG and other chemicals as well.
Another option is to meet friends elsewhere, something that I now prefer very much. Eat at home, have people to your home or make sure if you go to their house that they don’t douse the food with sauces that almost always contain lots of sugar and MSG as well.
For more information about MSG, there is a book entitled Battling the MSG Myth,. It will simplify your life by giving in depth facts about the hidden sources the common foods in which it is found and how to avoid it.
References
1.http://www.naturodoc.com/library/nutrition/MSG_poisoning.htm
2. The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity, Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA, Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.

[quicksilvercrescendo]

If one is not allergic or hyer-sensitive, as is the case with all things eaten, certain natural glutamates like in soy sauce, rice and barley malt may actually be beneficial to the brain.

But the processed stuff is to be avoided.

Consider natural glutamates in small amounts to be like a medicinal herb, whereas industrially produced MSG is like a pharmaceutical drug that understates any dangers because of huge money behind the industry.

[Flames]

Hey QSC. What is your take on wheat? Lately, I've been hearing all sorts of bad things about wheat.

[quicksilvercrescendo]

I eat very little wheat, but I will elaborate further in another post concerning grain consumption and wheat.
There is a trend lately with the anti-carb, anti-grain, anti-wheat paleolithic diet followers and this is becoming more popular.
They, in my opinion, are correct in some ways and incorrect in others.
But I will elaborate further when I have a bit more time.

Most grains were traditionally eaten after fermentation as this breaks down gluten and removes naturally occurring chemicals in grains that are not suitable for humans. But now most recipes don't call for this.
And if one does not have the time to ferment grains, the soaking for long periods is quite effective, yet many recipes now no longer even call for soaking. It is best to at least pre-soak and then incorporate long duration cooking times as well.

For me, from my research, the best grain that is in seed form and not sprouted for most people to consume is organic brown rice.
Once brought to a boil I like to slow cook it at a very low simmer so it takes about an hour and twenty minutes to cook. This is a much longer time than most recipes or bags of rice have on the cooking directions. But this makes it more digestible. Cooked this way it is the only grain that requires no pre-soaking to neutralize phytates, as brown rice really does not have any, and brown rice has no gluten.
In my opinion brown rice is the most suitable of all the grains when chosen to be eaten in seed form.

Second place grain is millet. But this one requires some pre-soaking but has no gluten.
Third place quinoa, but it is very important to soak as it has phytates and saponids which must be neutralized, but has no gluten.
Fourth place oatmeal, but has small amount of gluten although gluten free varieties are available and requires soaking and better with a long cooking time.

There is a highly nutritious African grain called Teff which seems to be worth a try but I can't buy it locally and it too requires soaking and is traditionally eaten fermented as to make it more digestible and lower phytate content.

Anything other than these grains mentioned all other grains fall into a separate category for me that I try to consume less often.

For dietary high-fiber carbs I eat a lot of organic brown rice dishes, potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams. Try to get this stuff organic.

Eating flours from grains has some extra drawbacks which I will elaborate upon later.

[Flames]

Great. Thanks for your input, QSC. Wheat seems to be in just about everything (at least in this country).

[Flames]

It's that time of year, Winter. It's been impossible to get adequate sunlight, as it's just cloudy every damn day, and gets dark around 4 pm. I can feel the Vitamin D deficiency in my bones. It's interesting to see how weather not only effects people's moods, but their very biology itself.

For whatever reason, it seems that I'm a lot more sensitive to this, than the people seem to be around me. My doctor said he could tell I was V-D deficient by just looking at me. I'm on Vitamin D-3 supplements, but it doesn't seem to be an adequate replacement for natural sunlight (that doesn't exist).

[quicksilvercrescendo]

There is far too much reliance upon wheat in the diet and far too much reliance on corn to feed ruminant livestock.

No one ever has to worry about becoming deficient or losing out on anything nutritious by cutting out wheat. You can get what it provides from other sources.
It is just mostly a taste and convenience factor when it comes to wheat.
Many are even slightly allergic and I have read that there is some mechanism that makes people want to crave foods they may actually be allergic to.

I can no longer eat store bought bread of any kind as it makes me gag. Even if it is good quality whole grain bread. Industrial mass-produced bakery bread is like packing material and lacks character.
So I make my own bread, hamburger rolls and everything made from flours, grains, nuts and seeds at home.
The taste is so much better that I get more psychologically satisfied with the experience that I actually require eating less.
And when you have to make it yourself, as it is labor intensive, you naturally eat less as well.
I may use a yeast culture, but I try to use the lacto-fermentation methods of getting dough to rise. The use of yeast was another convenience factor that may have some negatives to health. Sourdough is my favorite when it comes to taste anyway.
It is the quick, convenient availability of such foods that contribute to their over-consumption which then taxes the body.
Eighty percent of what I see in the grocery store I ignore and don't even touch...my shopping trips are quite selective and short.

Having moved from sunny south Florida to Norway seven years ago, I was concerned about the vitamin D issue as Norway has long dark periods in the winter and short summers.
Dietary vitamin D is good, but may not in every person make up for a lack of sunlight.
But it takes time to become truly deficient in vitamin D.
I had asked my doctor about this especially concerning foreigners from the middle east and Africa that are asylum seekers in Norway and how vitamin D deficiency manifests in these people who are used to sunny weather.
She commented that if not originally deficient before coming to Norway, and not have included any dietary vitamin D to compensate for the change, it can take them about three years before they show physical signs related to vitamin D deficiency.
And this usually starts with complaints of joint pain, particularly in the knees.
If you don't allow yourself to become deficient in the first place, then dietary sources of vitamin D can usually carry you from one spring-summer to the next without ever having a problem. But once deficient, some type of light therapy is also usually needed with diet to overcome the deficiency, get back to normal levels, and then from there one can maintain by supplementing with good fish oil and eating a bit more fish. Which some immigrants don't do when they change to a different climate.
This would be done with a round of tanning bed exposures. Some high cost, better quality tanning beds are now actually providing pretty decent light and reducing some of the harmful rays. It depends on the bulbs they use. So you don't have to use them to get the much desired tan which is sun damage, but just to get adequate light exposure for a period until vitamin D levels are in the normal range. Then one can probably use them considerably less.

[tgII]

Wheat is in everything. Disgusting.

What is a good source of Vitamin D and magnesium? Starting to pick up a lot of sub
space chatter on the value of magnesium in the diet.

[Flames]

Seems like I'm already doing a lot of things right. I have a 10,000 LUX light therapy unit I have been using for a few years now. To be honest, it doesn't seem to do much for me anymore. I mean, it does kind of brighten your mood a little, but nothing much.

I had blood work done a year or so ago, and it revealed my Vitamin D levels were low, the doc recommended D-3 supplements, which I have been taking for a long time. My dad was recommended actual prescription Vitamin D last year. Maybe it's a hereditary problem as well?

I have been taking Krill Oil for Omega 3 supplementation for 5 years. I have been eating/juicing vegetables for 2 years, I think. I have a hard time remembering time on an accurate basis for some reason. Remember when I had that meltdown when my blender broke down?

You may be right about the tanning bed thing. I have read that in order to get the most efficient Vitamin D is through light in the skin. Does that sound right? I'd feel kind of gay about going to a tanning saloon, actually. So... But thanks for all of your advice.

Looking forward to Summer.

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