Tag Archives: Health

Why Can’t Texas Cash in on the Marijuana Bonanza?

April 18, 2013

I rail against my native state Texas for the wellspring of stupid politicians we have been seeing over the last few years but the state does have some economic benefits for its citizens. So why can’t they see the financial gold mine that other states are beginning to realize by legalizing pot?

In a depressed economy where politicians are unwilling to raise taxes to pay for vital social services and equally vital infrastructure, you would think they could get beyond outdated taboos and unreasonable fears to find the necessary resources to sustain such services. There’s a natural product out there that’s been around for centuries that suffers from this stigma. One that not only has medicinal benefits to it but when properly regulated could reduce crime and prison populations while generating revenue to put people back to work in construction and the essential public services of education, law enforcement and firefighting services.

Marijuana has long been the victim of social biases that prevents its entry into the market place along the lines that alcohol and tobacco have. The alleged “evils” of marijuana have always overshadowed its economic value. The hemp cultivated from the Cannabis plant has the ability to produce seed foods, hemp oil, wax, resin, rope, cloth, pulp, and fuel.

movie poster for “Devil’s Harvest”, a 1942 film about an investigator who goes after the people who are corrupting the nation’s youth by spreading the weed of Satan–MARIJUANA!!!

There are, like any controversy, pros and cons to marijuana’s use as a euphoric substance. But before we tackle the facts and myths about marijuana lets come to terms with two arguments that hang over the use of any drug.

The Social Stigma of Marijuana

Any mind-altering chemical can impair judgement where some choices under the influence could jeopardize your health and well-being. But if the effects of the buzz that marijuana gives you was the only reason to prevent legalizing it, then alcohol and caffeine would have to be banned as well as other controlled substances (and some not so controlled) that currently make million$ for chemical and pharmaceutical companies.

There’s also the point of view that getting high in any fashion seems unnatural and thus unnecessary. Only weak-minded people want to get high, or so the argument goes. Yet natural states of high are built into our physiological system so that argument has little merit. Socially acceptable highs that don’t consist of controlled substances are the high we get from sugar and food. Getting “high on Jesus” or the high we get from winning a competitive sporting event are responses that many promote, not condemn.

There will be a propensity to induce this natural high, even by artificial means, to reduce the ill-effects of stress in today’s world where depression is reaching epidemic proportions. Alleviating excessive stress is necessary for sound health but not everyone can attain a state of nirvana through exercise and yoga therapies, not to mention the time it takes to achieve these states by using such tactics. Life styles that develop and sustain healthy diets, exercise, 7-8 hours of sleep and are filled with healthy doses of sex and genuine love for other humans, usually avoids the need for getting high from manufactured sources. But finding such ideal conditions in today’s fast-paced world has become more a thing of the past.

I don’t dispute that natural processes have advantages that unnatural measures haven’t but I am only making the point that getting high is not an innate evil and avoiding it is not necessarily something that should be done at all costs. Making marijuana illegal is not going to stop anyone who wants to try it. It does increase the risk of providing a product that has unsafe levels of THC, not to mention other toxic elements that get picked up through the less than ideal conditions of growing, harvesting and handling it from producer to consumer.

Considering the Facts

So, considering these two overarching points let’s look at the myths and facts on marijuana put out by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), that governmental agency that currently supports what most assume is the general consensus of the American people.

Myth #1: Marijuana is harmless

This is a straw man that of course can easily be knocked down but is not a myth that anyone sensible would argue. Depending on where they got their marijuana, what one’s existing health conditions are and the frequency they use it, marijuana like anything else can be harmful. Drinking too much water can be fatal. Too much Jesus and too much Mohammad can and has been fatal since the days of the Crusades. Too much food or the wrong foods can be fatal. So suggesting that proponents of legalizing marijuana are claiming that the weed is harmless is simply a red herring that ignores the caveats that apply.

One of the claims the ONDCP makes here is that the health threat is greater based on “the fact that the marijuana available today is more potent than ever”. The potency currently is regulated by drug lords whose sole aim is to make it more addictive and thus more profitable. When licensed pot dealers who are regulated by U.S. inspectors meet standards that control potency, where this is a threat, it then becomes contained. But how big of a threat is this really?

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) notes that “Although marijuana potency may have increased somewhat in recent decades, claims about enormous increases in potency are vastly overstated and not supported by evidence. Nonetheless, potency is not related to risks of dependence or health impacts. According to the federal government’s own data, the average THC in domestically grown marijuana – which comprises the bulk of the US market – is less than 5 percent, a figure that has remained unchanged for nearly a decade.”

Myth #2: Marijuana is not addictive

I can personally vouch for this but again that doesn’t mean this applies in all instances. The government claims that “recent research shows that use of the drug can indeed lead to dependence. Some heavy users of marijuana develop withdrawal symptoms when they have not used the drug for a period of time.”

The key term is “heavy users”. According to the DPA “a federal Institute of Medicine study in 1999, fewer than 10 percent of those who try marijuana ever meet the clinical criteria for dependence, while 32 percent of tobacco users and 15 percent of alcohol users do.”

Perhaps the best argument that disputes the government’s claim about marijuana being addictive is that studies have found that addiction is not the result of some external substance. It’s a neurological disorder, making addiction a health problem. Ten kids can meet after school and smoke a joint but none will become addicts unless their brain isn’t wired properly to prevent this health defect.

In his book Clean, David Sheff takes an in-depth look into the causes of addiction. Though he finds that teens are especially prone to drug use and more likely to become addicted the earlier they start, any addiction that does occur “is almost always a symptom of another illness like PTSD, depression or obsessive disorder that likely doesn’t get treatment during any recovery program”.

Myth #3: Marijuana is not as harmful to your health as tobacco.

This would only be a fact if the average pot smoker toked as many joints a day as the average smoker. At the height of my smoking days I would consume two packages a day of cigarettes. During this same period I may have had inhaled a total joint in one week’s time. I know several people who smoked at least a reefer once or twice a day, everyday. I’m pretty sure that most smokers I was acquainted with smoked at a bare minimum 10 -15 cigarettes a day.

The ONDCP actually makes this case for me when they point out that “regular use of marijuana appears to be at least as damaging as regular use of tobacco”. These are their words, not mine. Notice they say regular use of marijuana, not the casual users or infrequent tokers. And then they fall short of any absolute by stating that this “appears” to be the case.

This entire argument should be pretty much dismissed because beyond the ONDCP’s claims based on a 1990 study entitled “Pulmonary complications of smoked substance abuse” and published by the Western Journal of Medicine, there is a more recent one from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and University of California at San Francisco, that finds “Occasional marijuana use does not appear to have long-term adverse effects on lung function. In fact they found that “cigarette smokers saw lung function worsen throughout the 20-year [study] period, but marijuana smokers did not. “

Myth #4: Marijuana makes you mellow.

Yes it does but it can also make you anxious and if you are prone to violence without ingesting marijuana, guess what? You’re going to be even more so at a heightened state induced by smoking the weed. Again, potency levels can be in play here but the research the ONDCP claims, regarding violence levels and marijuana use, doesn’t make us aware of what the behavior traits prior to smoking marijuana are of the “kids who use marijuana weekly” and who they found to be four times more likely to be violent than non-users.

“According to that study, incidences of physically attacking people, stealing, and destroying property increased in proportion to the number of days marijuana was smoked in the past year. Users were also twice as likely as nonusers to report they disobey at school and destroy their own things.” Was this a pattern of behavior prior to smoking weed and was weed the only drug being used here? What was the mental health state of these individuals? We don’t know any of this because the ONDCP fails to make such correlations.

Myth #5: Marijuana is used to treat cancer and other diseases.

This is another straw man created by anti-marijuana supporters and is mentioned in the ONDCP’s report. What supporters of medicinal marijuana claim is that it has been proven helpful for treating the symptoms of a variety of medical conditions. Big difference between implying that it directly “treats cancer” and treating “symptoms of cancer”. In its report the ONDCP does state “that THC, the primary active chemical in marijuana, can be useful for treating some medical problems. Synthetic THC is the main ingredient in Marinol®, an FDAapproved medication used to control nausea in cancer chemotherapy patients and to stimulate appetite in people with AIDS. Marinol, a legal and safe version of medical marijuana, has been available by prescription since 1985.”

It further claims that marijuana as a smoked product has never proven to be medically beneficial and sites a 1999 study from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that “concluded that smoking marijuana is not recommended for any longterm medical use, and a subsequent IOM report declared, “marijuana is not a modern medicine.” Yet Several state legislatures appear to have found sufficient evidence that disputes this claim along with the testimonies of many cancer patients who smoke the rope to alleviate their pain symptoms. It also ignores the fact that Big Pharma gets a cut in the legal sale of Marinol® In those states that have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes patients are allowed to grow their own and thus save the expense of a drug store purchase.

What really caught my eye is the ONDCP’s claim that “medicines are not approved in this country by popular vote. Before any drugs can be released for public use they must undergo rigorous clinical trials (emphasis mine) to demonstrate they are both safe and effective, and then be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Our investment and confidence in medical science will be seriously undermined if we do not defend the proven process by which medicines are brought to market.”

The image of the FDA as one that looks out for the interests of American consumers has been seriously tainted over the last few decades. So-called “rigorous testing” is often nothing more than those tests that the companies themselves have done and submitted to the FDA for review. These tests are then signed off on by FDA officials who are under pressure from corporate friendly directors often appointed by conservative administrations. One WSJ report noted in the case of Menaflex, a new device to treat knee injuries, that “some senior FDA staff members complained in documents that the handling of Menaflex, made by ReGen Biologics Inc., shows how political and industry pressure can influence scientific conclusions.”

The deaths of some 60,000 people occurred when the FDA failed to do due diligence with the reports from Merck with their nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug,Vioxx, after it was discovered that they “were developed by the company’s marketing department, not its scientific department.”

So until the FDA can be shown to once again serve the public’s interests rather than pharmaceutical lobbyists, we needn’t feel intimidated by the ONDCP’s claims about “our investment and confidence in medical science” is being undermined regarding medical marijuana. For more on the FDA’s recent history for easy approval on pharmaceuticals read, The Problem with Fast-Tracking Drug Approvals: Pharmas Fail to Follow Up

Addendum, Ad nauseam

The remaining five myths posted on the ONDCP’s web page are equally filled with vagueness and misinformation or inadequate information. Comparing marijuana’s use to the Ecstasy drug is an irrelevant apples to oranges comparison. And if the main reason the government feels that someone’s marijuana use is hurting those other than users because of the “violent” nature of marijuana trafficking, then it only seems reasonable that we remove this problem by taking it away from unregulated drug lords.

Not only do we remove the violence but we control the conditions its grown under and processed for sale. The money we save decriminalizing it by removing it from court dockets and emptying prison space will be additionally enhanced by the tax revenue we garner from its legitimate sale. Then of course there is the additional jobs benefits this new business creates.

Underage kids are no more likely to get their hands on it as a legalized substance than they are in its current state. Even the ONDCP admits that “if kids want marijuana, they can find it. More than half (55 percent) of youths age 12 to 17 responding to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2002 reported that marijuana would be easy to obtain. The survey indicated that most marijuana users got the drug from a friend, and that almost nine percent of youths who bought marijuana did so inside a school building.”

But here’s the clincher that ONDCP makes. “[N]early 17 percent of the young people surveyed said they had been approached by someone selling drugs in the past month. In the 2000 survey, more than a quarter of 12 to 17 yearolds (26.6 percent) reported that drugselling occurs frequently in their neighborhoods”.

It only seems logical that the need to “push” marijuana in locations where kids gather is because there are no legal outlets that can be monitored for underage sells. Strict regulation and monitoring of known suppliers in a legal environment diminishes, if not removes, this vulnerability to our nation’s youth.

Reality Check

Let’s be clear here though. Like any controlled substance there are hazards that can occur. Abuses in all aspects will prevent a scenario where those who shouldn’t have access to marijuana are unable to do so. Like smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and eating unhealthy foods, parents and society have an obligation to provide accurate information and utilize all resources to educate our kids about marijuana smoking. Proper education is something we are always obligated to do despite any industry’s effort to circumvent such education to protect their profits.

Rather than using science to appeal to their intellects we will fail as we currently have to prevent inquisitive kids from trying something that society considers taboo. Taboo not for the right reasons but for the fairy tales we tell them that discredits our authority in their eyes once they discover that they won’t grow horns from its use. There’s nothing to prevent concerned citizens to diligently educate kids about marijuana as they do other drugs, especially alcohol, in a child’s formative years; in their homes, their schools, churches and youth clubs.

If a child or young adult then makes the choice to use pot, then clearly there are drivers there that not even attempts to banish its access will stop. Throwing them in jail may have a “scared straight” effect but it will also give them a criminal record that will follow them in their early attempts to seek gainful employment and could even associate them with a true criminal element that may carry on once they’re no longer incarcerated

Once we resolve to act like intelligent adults not motivated by irrational fears, then we can take control of a product that has too long been socially demeaned and its users relegated to a criminal icon. We remove the stigma and the legal costs that takes this thing out of the dark shadows and make it a profitable source of revenue that creates jobs and funds for the essential public services that the anti-marijuana crowd seem all to willing to cut taxes for.

Now if only these facts will penetrate the thick skulls of the ideologues and bible thumpers here in Texas we may solve our budget issues they created in the first place.

The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying to Keep Marijuana Illegal

Wednesday, 02 May 2012 08:59

Posted by lbwoodgate in Economy, Social Discourse, Texas/Local stories Tags: Cannabis, Controlled substance, economic and social benefits to legalizing pot in Texas, Health, legalizing pot, Marijuana, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Social stigma, Texas

7 comments

To Meat or Not to Meat

February 21, 2013

As I announced last week I have made a change in my life that I expect will vastly improve my health, which in turn should reduce my health care costs. It’s a change in diet that will also reduce my carbon foot print since all meals will be plant-based. The amount of carbon-based fuel to process meat and dairy is quite excessive and the manure from large animal factories adds significantly to CO2 levels in the atmosphere. To me it’s a win-win-win situation but when presented to friends and relatives, I become something of a pariah to them. Or so it seems.

Eyes roll at the mention of a meatless, dairy-less diet and I am considered a prime target for an intervention, much like someone who has been swept up by a godless cult and who people fear will proselytize their children. I can deal with that for the most part because I am older and care less now about what most people think. One of the few gifts with aging is that you no longer feel motivated to “fit in” with things that are often based on traditions and custom which most people know little about.

I thought I would have a difficult time removing steaks and fried chicken from my menu. I was used to making either a ham, turkey or pastrami sandwich with cheese and chips each day for lunch. Every Sunday I would make a special breakfast of two eggs, sausage or bacon, hash browns and an english muffin. I love chocolate chip cookies and any kind of cake, both accompanied with a cold glass of 2% milk. But this transition has been made easier by a strong personal will to make it happen and the fact that plant-based substitutes exists to fill the void (for the most part anyway) where meat and dairy once reigned.

There are of course those who will insist that such a diet goes against mankind’s “natural” instincts. I am always willing to listen to such arguments but thus far I have found none that provide enough substance to override my decision. One such argument is the paleo diet. A diet that includes meat, dairy, vegetables and fruit but no grain.

This diet is supposed to represent the eating habits that our earliest ancestors lived off of during a period that preceded recorded history.

The paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet), also popularly referred to as the caveman diet, Stone Age diet and hunter-gatherer diet, is a modern nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of agriculture and grain-based diets. In common usage, such terms as the “Paleolithic diet” also refer to the actual ancestral human diet. SOURCE

Recent supplemental information also suggests that modern diets which include a lot of carbs are the cause for a spike in dental problems following the advent of farming. Researchers, through the examination of 34 prehistoric human skeletons from northern Europe, have determined that the “DNA trapped in the tartar [of these pre-historic skeletons] reveals that the meat-dominated, grain-free diet of the hunter gatherers gave our ancestors much healthier mouths”.

Published in Nature Genetics, the research shows declining oral health can be pegged to major changes in the way humans lived and ate, with the start of farming in the Neolithic age and the industrial revolution being key turning points.

The arrival of farming in Europe about 8000 years ago and the industrial revolution in the 1800s each increased the amount of refined carbohydrates and sugars humans consumed, which led to our mouths being dominated by cavity-causing bacteria. SOURCE

These arguments present a dilemma for someone who has concluded that meat and dairy contribute significantly to heart disease and many cancers. But when you look beyond the claims of such pronouncements there is room to be skeptical. In fact, it is presumptuous to suggest that reverting to eating habits that have disappeared over time will serve as example of how we need to eat today.

No doubt that the modern diet with its processed foods loaded with various kinds of sugars, especially the proliferate use of corn-based, hi-fructose syrups, have a debilitating effect on our physical and oral health. Few would argue with this but few would also make the necessary changes to eliminate these items from their diet. Eating habits that existed from birth are not easily overturned.

But the notion that meat and dairy are still essential to a healthy diet will be even more difficult to overturn. And any arguments that suggest early man benefitted from such meat-rich diets will ensure even deeper entrenchment for those whose consumption of oil and fatty meat diets is self evident in the layers of skin hanging from their frames. Yet, if we compare the caveman diet with modern man we will find that trying to replicate this in our time will actually do more harm than good.

The fact that a diet with casein, the protein found in most dairy products, is related to heart disease and animal proteins that are high in saturated fat cause cancer is pretty much indisputable. The exhaustive research by the pioneers of a plant-based diet, Drs. T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr. have demonstrated this.

A study that gives greater credence to these findings showed that when Nazi Germany occupied Norway their troops depleted Norwegian livestock, leaving the native population to survive on a plant-based diet. During this roughly 5-year period of time heart disease among the Norwegians dropped dramatically then rose again to pre-war levels after the occupation of their country ended in 1945, where meat once again dominated their diets, as the graph below shows

Add to all of this the findings that lower heart disease rates in Kenya and Papua New Guinea exists where meat is not part of their diets and you have even greater credibility to the premise that fewer diseases will be found in cultures who eschew meat, unlike most people in western cultures.

So what makes the claims of the paleo diet supporters weak along with the notion that current diets heavy laden with carbs are detrimental to good oral hygiene? Seems like a no-brainer to me. We’re not prehistoric humans any longer.

In most contemporary western cultures people live longer as a result of better health care services. But even these lives are cut shorter due to diets that bring on heart disease, cancer and diabetes from obesity. Unlike our early farming ancestors we have ample water supplies with fluoride in them and are better educated about oral hygiene, thus diminishing the threat of dental problems resulting from a high carb diet.

Eating large amounts of meat in a single sitting isn’t unhealthy either when you’re not sure where your next meal is coming from. Cavemen pretty much had to walk, or in some cases, run, in order to find sources of animal food. It may have been days before ample supplies were located, killed, dragged back to camp, skinned and prepared to eat. This expended a lot of energy and prevented fat from meat and dairy getting stored up in our guts and butts. Unlike today’s human, there was no supermarket or convenience food outlet to run down to when an empty stomach sent signals to your brain that is was time to feed it.

Our lifestyles are different today and there are countermeasures to offset the ill-effects that come from more sedentary behaviors. But even though we may live longer, those who eat meat and dairy along with processed foods, do so less vigorously and by spending a larger portion of their income on health care to offset the damage done to their bodies that comes from eating food sources conducive to damaging vital body organs.

I don’t mean to come across as some idealist nor as someone whose own life reflects the advantages of a plant-based diet. I haven’t been at it long enough. I still add a slice of cheese to some of my lunch meals and have yet to eliminate the high-cholesterol Sunday breakfast, although I have replaced the meat sausage with plant-based patties.

I suspect I will have bouts of craving animal food for some time to come. It was the same when I quit smoking in 1980. For at least a decade after I would have the occasional urges to light up. I don’t know how many times I would sit up in the middle of the night after having a nightmare where I visualized myself sucking down that soothing smoke from choice tobacco products.

Our bodies don’t forget easily the life it has become accustomed to. Like the amputee who still dreams that he has all of his appendages and for the longest time keeps reaching across to scratch an itch on his opposite forearm that’s no longer there, the mind acts as if nothing has changed until enough time has elapsed and it conditions itself to the current reality. It is also this way I figure with people who cast a doubtful eye towards me when I inform them I have sworn off meats and dairy. It just doesn’t register as a something that “normal” people do.

Maybe not. But a year or two from now if I’m down some 40 pounds to my ideal weight, sleep all night without pharmaceutical aids, haven’t seen a doctor for any reason, and experience more energy than I have in the last twenty years, then in all likelihood, everything else being equal, it’s probably safe to attribute the change to a different approach in how I feed nutrients to my body.

Maybe then those who would have plotted to pack me off to a rehab center will be less resistant to ignore the benefits of making such a simple but life-altering change. Then again maybe not and the bane of living a longer, healthier life will be standing by the grave sight of those friends and relatives, watching their casket being lowered six feet into the earth.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Food and healthy eating Tags: cancer, diabetes, Food, Health, heart disease, Meat, meat protein vs. plant protein, Nature Genetics, obesity, paleo diet, Paleolithic diet, plant-based diet, stone age diet, T. Colin Campbell

28 comments

An Epiphany on Healing Our Chronically Ill Society

February 11, 2013

There is an incredible gap between thinking about drug-based health and food-based health around the world. Conventional wisdom has failed to show the importance in developing and using nutrition as a concept to maintain health and prevent disease.

The answer to what ails us has been here since day one

I have had two life-altering experiences that have allowed me to enhance two of the three elements that encompass a holistic lifestyle - Mind, Body, Spirit. The two that focus on the mind and spirit occurred almost simultaneously as I engrossed myself in academics at a time when my generation in the early 1970‘s was also looking for deeper spiritual realities not associated with institutional religion.

To many, as it was to me in my earlier days, this will come across as hippy, eastern mysticism crapola. I was raised in the South, – Texas to be specific – and as a conservative Catholic who feared God and hated communist I was a perfect patsy for the anti-liberal crowd that was slowly emerging in my part of the country at the time. The glory days of FDR were slowing fading into the sunset as Kennedy would be the last progressive president to win the electoral votes of the Lone Star state.

My tour of duty as a Marine in Vietnam opened my eyes to the ugliness of war and gave me a greater appreciation for the life we come face to face with every day. Death all of sudden was something more real to me than it had been as a carefree adolescent. There was the short period of time following my discharge from the service and upon entering college that simply served as a period to drink as much alcohol and smoke as much dope as I could and lay with as many women who were also wandering aimlessly in search of some kind of fulfillment.

I’m not sure what drove me to enter college. I was a mediocre student in high school before I dropped out in my junior year to join the Corps. But I was sold on the idea that furthering my education would open some doors for me and prevent me from getting stuck in a life where spinning your wheels in a job that led to nowhere was commonplace.

Enriching my understanding of the world outside my small community filled a void that had been had been there for some time. My association with more diverse, learned people than the crowd I grew up with introduced me to new themes and perspectives that struck a chord that had been lying inert within me too long.

The works of Emerson and Thoreau tapped a metaphysical nerve and pushed me to challenge traditional notions of religion. I struggled with this for years but once I got past the barriers that orthodoxy builds in our lives and punishes us with guilt, I found a new freedom that I never new existed. I became fully cognizant of the scriptural notion of leaving childish things behind. For me this included the tired old concepts of conventional religion.

Growing mentally and spiritually is supposed to be an ongoing process and entails getting passed established customs and rituals embedded into our psyche at very early ages. I don’t think we are capable of reaching a final point where we can honestly say, “I’ve made it! I’m here!” without setting limits for ourself. If we come to some point where we are asking “Is this all there is”, then I think we have given up rather than reaching the true limits of our being.

My Eureka moment has finally occurred about the final leg of a holistic life

And yet, the third leg of this holistic approach regarding the body has evaded me until just recently. Through various sources I have discovered that the health of our body also requires getting past arcane notions. Keeping in mind my upbringing was in Texas, we were big meat eaters. In fact the only time we didn’t have meat as a part of the main course for dinner was on Friday’s.

Canon law to this day still requires Catholics to abstain from eating meat on Friday. It wasn’t until 1983 and the implementation of canon 1251 that some other food ”as determined by the Episcopal Conference” could serve as a substitute for red meat. It came too late for me however to replace Friday’s fried salmon patties my mom would always mange to over cook in lard.

We have evolved as a consumer of foods that are quick and easy and ever so tasty. Yet for all of the proclaimed benefits from such a diet we have deprived ourselves of something that literally can prevent illness and disease. Like sheep led to their slaughter we have bought into the notion that the modern meat-based diet and processed foods fulfill the essential needs for good health and long life. I have become convinced that nothing could be further from the truth.

There have been a few instances in the near past where I have crossed paths with people in real life and through media sources that have raised the prospects of living purely off of a holistic plant-based diet. One of the more prominent documentaries I had seen to that point was The Gerson Miracle. But these sources somehow were unable to penetrate that thick layer of time-honored beliefs that assured me meat and dairy products, at some level, were part of a requisite diet.

Like the ideas planted in my youth that put God, flag and family as the quintessential pattern of thought for my life, the food pyramid that insisted only meat protein and the vital nutrients in dairy products were conducive to a healthy lifestyle were equally ingrained within my knowledge base. It was believed that being a vegan was for limp-wristed types who wanted to undermine our traditional way of life.

What finally got me past this corporate propaganda was a series of documentaries that displayed stunning research in a fashion and language that was easy to comprehend. For someone like me who was willing to push the envelope on conventional beliefs it was easy to shut out the objections to a purely “vegan” diet and listen to alternatives. These alternative eating habits were not new but merely something that’s been lost over time and which enabled earlier generations to avoid the health issues we are experiencing today as a society.

Based on research by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D and significant others, meat and dairy products, which contain casein, a carcinogen found in animal based proteins, are strongly tied to high rates of heart disease and most cancers.

WHAT!!!!

It may or may not surprise you to learn that meat and dairy, organic or conventional,

contain naturally occurring steroids and hormones, which can promote cancer growth.

animal protein, fat, and cholesterol (even nonfat/skim milk contains cholesterol) all contribute to heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, and other major chronic disease

What made this an epiphany for me was not so much the obvious health benefits of a holistic plant-based diet but that it was a diet that needn’t include meat and dairy protein. We have all been raised with the idea that, A) Protein is a vital nutrient, and B) it’s only found in meat. Protein is indeed a vital nutrient but what’s not common knowledge is that meat isn’t necessarily a primary source for protein. The beef industry in this country has a long tradition of promoting this ideal.

I could sit here all day and give you all kinds of data to support the hazards of a meat-based diet, which includes dairy products. But I’d rather you be convinced by the documentary that turned that dormant light on and finally completed the third leg of a holistic life for me – the Body.

It’s called Forks over Knives. The film and its follow-up documentary, Forks over Knives: The Extended Interviews will blow your mind when you discover that by eating a plant-based diet you cannot only halt the conditions of heart disease and cancer but can actually reverse them. Both Netflix and Hulu have these in their inventory

Think of that. The number one and two killers of people in the U.S. – heart disease and cancer – can virtually be eliminated by changing how we eat. Then there are of course the positive results that such a diet will have on reducing obesity in this country and its serious side effect, diabetes. One health report even shows that there are significant links between a meat-based diet and high rates of Alzheimer’s.

Leading Causes of Death

(Data are for the U.S. and are final 2010 data; For the most recent preliminary data see Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2011 [PDF - 1.7 MB])

Heart disease: 597,689

Cancer: 574,743

Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 138,080

Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 129,476

Accidents (unintentional injuries): 120,859

Alzheimer’s disease: 83,494

Diabetes: 69,071

Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,476

Influenza and Pneumonia: 50,097

Intentional self-harm (suicide): 38,364

Source: Deaths: Final Data for 2010, table 10 [PDF - 3.1 MB]

Faced with the prospect of deteriorating health as I age alongside the rising costs of health care, I am profoundly disturbed that the health care institutions in this country have not been more supportive of a plant-based diet. It is one thing to discover how meat and dairy products can contribute significantly to poor health to all populations and another not to act on that in a manner that would reduce and likely eliminate the threat of diseases that plague modern man. It raises the question that asks, “Who do these people really serve”?

The meat and dairy industry in this country have spent a fortune on marketing and paying to influence the USDA to promote their products. I cited one example of this in an earlier post of mine – Kowtowing, Cow herders and Cow Paddies. In his informative piece at HuffPo, Nil Zacharias demonstrates how difficult it will be to overcome the powerful monied interests that represent the meat industry.

Thanks to the blog CountingAnimals.com, we now have hard data to … [show that] the meat industry has the big guns (i.e. more cash) … [to fight a] a propaganda war for the hearts, minds and taste buds of the American public.

The results of their analysis are captured in the graphic below, which helps visualize the scale of the difference between the dollars spent on promoting meat and the dollars spent on advocacy of farm animals. In the figure below, each red circle represents a meat-promoting entity, with the area of the circle being proportional to just the annual advertising or promotional expenses of that entity. Each green circle (you’ll need a magnifying glass to even see most of them) represents an animal advocacy organization engaged in promoting plant-based eating or meat industry reform, with the area of the circle being proportional to the total annual expenses of that organization.

SOURCE

There is a culture in this country that is deeply entrenched and ensures that all of us and our children will incur ill-health for decades to come. This revolutionary and liberating knowledge about plant-based diets will be attacked by this culture because there are billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs that are at stake here.

Yet the well-being of our families and the planet itself demand that we start turning the corner on food sources that shortens our lives, increases our health care costs and destroys our vital resources of water and clean air.

Don’t let the image of a plate full of “rabbit food” substituting a meat and dairy based diet weaken your resolve to change over. There are many websites where you discover how to make plant-based recipes that resemble those meat-based dishes we have all come to love. They can be equally satisfying by enhancing them with health beneficial spices and just as filling.

Check out the recipes at the No. 2 Engine Diet website for plant-based meatloaf, lasagna and burgers, to cite just a few examples of what they offer.

Here’s an enchilada dish you’ll find on the Engine #2 Diet website. It has all the protein you’ll need and there’s not an ounce of meat in it

“Eat to live, don’t live to eat.” ― Benjamin Franklin

Posted by lbwoodgate in Food and healthy eating Tags: Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Food, Fors Over Knives, Health, holistic approach to life, ill effects of dairy and meat, Jr., M.D, meat mased diet, Nutrition, plant-based diet, T. Colin Campbell, vegan, vegan diet

25 comments

The Future of Technology and the Junk It Creates

June 11, 2012

Technology is always advancing and making life easier, safer and healthier but there are often unexpected consequences that come with progress.

THEN …

Maxwell Smart’s shoe phone

… And Now

Today’s latest version of the hand held phone

Fellow blogger Ron Byrnes over at his Pressing Pause website had an interesting post about futuristic products. The products were on a list in a NY Times magazine article entitled “32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow”. After reviewing the list I thought I’d share some thoughts on some of these and then make a point about one of the consequences of building a better mousetrap.

From the technology that gave us video games and the resulting sedentary lifestyles that ruin our health comes a product intended to get us back into the game, so to speak.

There’s the underwear “embedded with electromyographic sensors that tell you how hard you’re working your quadriceps, hamstring and gluteus muscles.” This information can be sent to your computer or Ipad with the intent to motivate you to get off of your dead ass when you see how flabby and weak you’re becoming. Though this has great benefits for athletic and healthy-minded people, it is less likely to be used by those who really need some motivation to lay the video games down and get outside, absorb some natural Vitamin D and improve muscle tone from reality based games.

However, regardless if you exercise or not, a recent study shows that because most people’s muscles are inactive about 70 per cent of the day, health issues can still result. Moving about is key here. If you routinely engage in daily fitness training but have a job that keeps you behind a desk all day you are not much more likely to improve muscle tone than a gamer who moves a round quite bit between games.

Another inspired idea on this list is the adaptive cruise control (A.C.C.) — which automatically maintains a set distance behind a car and the vehicle in front of it. The idea is to prevent people from running up on someone’s tail during peak traffic times, only to hit their breaks when they get to close which has a domino effect on those behind them. Voila! Unnecessary traffic congestion. Cars installed with the ACC device keeps drivers evenly paced and avoiding tapping the brakes allowing motion to remain constant and smooth. Of course this doesn’t prevent someone from yelling obscenities at the slower driver, so the next futuristic device could come into play here - the Speech Jammer.

When the Speech Jammer is aimed at someone screeching expletives or other nonsense “it records that person’s voice and plays it back to him with a delay of a few hundred milliseconds. This seems to gum up the brain’s cognitive processes — a phenomenon known as delayed auditory feedback — and can painlessly render the person unable to speak”.

This device however may have the potential for even greater abuse. Something tells me an insensitive husband might use this device inappropriately when his wife is laying her heart out about their relationship. A likely news headline could read, “Husband killed by spouse with speech altering device”.

The last innovation I wanted to bring attention to on this list is the idea of play ground equipment that pushes the envelope for kids. If they are the type that you’ve finally gotten off of the video games and outdoors, this may prove to be too much too soon. On the other hand, it could resemble some of the fantasy landscapes that challenge them on their video screens. Leif Kennair and Ellen Sandseter’s ideas suggest that “instead of short climbing walls, there should be towering monkey bars. Instead of plastic crawl tubes, there should be tall, steep slides. And balance beams. And rope swings. The rationale is that the more we shield children from potential scrapes and sprained ankles, the more unprepared they’ll be for real risk as adults, and the less aware they’ll be of their surroundings.” This may be especially beneficial to kids who are raised in violent, dysfunctional homes.

However, I’m not sure such suggestions will find acceptance amongst over-protective parents who currently armor plate their kids when riding bikes or skate boarding. Then there are the insurance companies and city attorneys who will want to protect themselves and block such efforts.

Where does all that technology go when it becomes unwanted and outdated?

Technological advances are harbingers of man’s evolution. Each new creation pushes us toward a future where some idealistic life will no longer experience suffering and pain or want. From one perspective it also shows how our lives seem to fall short of some sense of perfection The notion that the grass is always greener over the hill is dangled before us. Our humanity tends to become less evinced by physical interaction, customs and spirituality and more played out in what we possess in material terms.

Any invention that improves our life however isn’t always for the better. The ideas above are attempts to adapt to lifestyles that have made our lives more challenging from previous technology like video games, TV’s and automobiles and the manufacturing processes that produce such goods. It’s a junk-in/junk-out cycle. For everything we create to make life better or more fun we have to offset the negative side effects with other new technology. Ultimately though, most of this consumption to make the new technology wounds up depleting the limited available resources we have on this finite planet, tossing them when we tire of them into already overloaded landfills.

Innovation however need not always deal with consumption and waste. A partial solution to this may be along the line of thinking of Harvard bioengineer David Edwards. David has devised a way to convert foods into shell-like containers and films that he calls Wikicells. Wikicells are edible packaging for food items like the skin of an apple that can be washed and eaten along with the contents or disposed of like an orange peeling that’s biodegradable.

Similarly a biodegradable casket or burial shroud will break down quickly and harmlessly become part of the earth, an economical and practical solution as land for cemeteries are becoming less available. In one year, “22,500 cemeteries across the US buried 827,060 gallons of embalming fluid, 104,272 tons of steel, 2,700 tons of copper and bronze, 30-plus million board feet of hardwoods and 1.6 million tons of concrete. In purely ecological terms, how we bury our dead is unsustainable.”

Clearly we need to look beyond our urge and need to find new and better ways to improve the quality of life on our planet for all people by insuring that what we do create doesn’t rapidly deplete resources and inundate habitable areas with vast quantities of waste that will prevent future generations from living the life most of us have enjoyed.

Posted by lbwoodgate in People, Religion/Science Tags: a consumptive society, adaptive cruise control, biodegradable products, future technology, Health, landfills, recycleable packaging, speech jammer, Television, video games, waste and waste by-products

11 comments

OBESITY

May 3, 2012

art is courtesy of Hans Neprud

In 1966 when I joined the Marine Corps at 17, I was about 5’9” and had a BMI (Body Mass Index) number of 19.9, weighing 135 lbs. I wasn’t that far off from being considered underweight, which calculates at a BMI of less than 18.5. For the next 15 plus years, following my marriage and raising two kids, I stayed within that normal BMI weight range, somewhere between 18.5 and 24.9. Today, at 63, I weigh 220 at 5’ 10” with a BMI of 31.6. A measurement that depressingly puts me into the category of obese, which is anything over 30.0.

Though it shouldn’t have, this information caught me off guard. I knew I was overweight and I was consciously trying to lose it. I’ve been eating right more than before and I walk about 2 miles religiously everyday – rain, snow or heat. The result has been nearly a 20 lb. weight loss yet, as indicated above, I still fall within that “obese” range. A recent Reuters article informs us that as a nation we are more fatter than was previously thought:

The percentage of Americans who are obese (with a BMI of 30 or higher) has tripled since 1960, to 34 percent, while the incidence of extreme or “morbid” obesity (BMI above 40) has risen sixfold, to 6 percent. – SOURCE

I went to a site like this one and put in my own height/weight information to discover I was not merely overweight any more, but officially “obese”. I and millions like me are succumbing to a disease that apparently is now worse than what smoking contributes to. The irony here is perhaps not lost on many who, like myself, when you quit smoking, find other habits to compensate for the psychological “pleasure” loss that you had when inhaling large amounts of nicotine. For most of us that translates into eating more. I quit smoking in 1980 and within a couple of short years I was inching over that 24.9 BMI limit for normal weight.

At age ten, I was more anxious to gain weight than I was about losing it.

This weight increase is not only creating a poorer quality of health for me and others who hit the high BMI ranges, but it puts a burden on economic costs, negatively impacting our society by wasting resources that would be better spent on improving our quality of life. The Reuters report I read with this information points out that this added weight not only increases health care costs for everyone, including those of normal weight, but greater amounts of fuel are required with all forms of transportation necessary to carry the heavier weight loads. This is negatively impacting our need as a nation to reduce our need for foreign fuel sources which approximately 75% comes from. The fact that our own supplies are limited doesn’t help either.

Here are some of the other relevant data pointed out in the article:

Employers can charge obese workers 30 percent to 50 percent more for health insurance if they decline to participate in a qualified wellness program.
Compared to non-obese workers, obese men take 5.9 more sick days a year; the most obese women, 9.4 days more.
Obesity-related absenteeism costs employers as much as $6.4 billion a year
The very obese lose one month of productive work per year, costing employers an average of $3,792 per very obese male worker and $3,037 per female. Total annual cost of “presenteeism” due to obesity: $30 billion.
The obese are less likely to be hired and promoted than their svelte peers are.
Lower productivity on the job from obesity can result in reduced wages

It appears that the consequences of weight gain are so serious that action on a grand scale needs to take effect but can we force conditions on people to lose and monitor their weight without incurring the wrath of those who are already on the war path about “government over reach”? Yet it seems necessary that people in positions of leadership will have to weigh this issue relevant to certain economic needs. For example, allowing for broader girths, door sizes in public buildings will likely need to be widened as well as the seating in venues that accommodate large crowds like stadiums and concert halls.

One way we can deal with this disease is to recognize that it is indeed and illness that sheer will power alone cannot prevent. Eating has become a substitute for many people to replace pleasure losses that used to come naturally as a result of family and financial stability, good health and personal achievements.

According to Dr. Nora Volkow, who is head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, eating disorders arise when we substitute food for those more healthy acts that release dopamine.

“Dopamine so happens to be one of the main chemicals regulating pleasure centers in the brain. And as such, it’s therefore the mechanism by which nature motivates our behavior. At the most basic level, dopamine has saved us from extinction by making the key elements for survival of the species – food and sex – pleasurable. Dopamine sends signals to receptors in the brain saying: this feels good.

It just basically stimulates release of dopamine. And the more they release, the more they want the food. We always say, “Well, why do we have a problem with obesity in our society?” And I said, “My God, we’re surrounded by stimuli with which we’re conditioned. If you like hamburgers you may see that McDonald’s yellow arches and then dopamine goes inside your brain and you want it. And you don’t know why you want it.” SOURCE

Some entrepreneurial practices in this country may be detrimental to our own self-interests

As stress is introduced into our lives the dopamine rush we used get from happiness events like playing team sports, youthful romances and getting our first car becomes weakened as we assimilate into a 5-day work week, the less romantic give and take of marriage, especially with kids, and the financial responsibility incumbent upon us to maintain a home and be a good provider for our family.

The natural pleasure we derive from eating was part of that lifestyle that kept us alive and active as we hunted or grew our own food, provided shelter we built ourselves and traveled by means that didn’t come with a combustible engine; rewarding activities capable of generating a supply of dopamine to the system. With today’s abundant free time and easy access to today’s processed food with its more addictive ingredients, food becomes an easy and unhealthy source for dopamine rushes. Combine this with a lifestyle where we no longer expend any quantifiable energy to go from point A to point B thanks to the automobile and where outdoor activities are replaced by video games and on-line social interaction, then it becomes apparent why obesity has become the number one health threat to us all.

Elders like myself lose the energy necessary to engage in those activities that generate a release of “feel good” dopamine. Unless we are among those late in life with a healthy metabolism rate that prevents fat build-up in our bodies we are subject to faster weight gain not only from a lack of physical activity but from the wrong kind and amounts of foods. Eating is one of the few things left we are still capable of doing to elicit a shot of dopamine from the brain.

But unlike a young friend of mine I work with at the catering service, weight is less a concern for me relative to my looks. I’m more focused on health considerations; staying healthy and avoiding costly medical expenses that could put my wife and I in a serious financial bind. With Renee, however, age 25, her biggest concern is how her obesity affects her self-esteem.

Like me, Renee struggles with her weight

“My obesity has caused depression about myself, and thus had an affect on my relationships with my husband, family, and friends”, ” she tells me. For the last 2 or so years since I reached “obese” on the scale, I have found that it has effected my self esteem most. I have told myself I’m concerned about my health, but when it boils down to it, I’m more concerned about how ‘fat’ i look in my clothes, in the mirror, etc. But I do believe this is a common problem among women-which is a whole other topic in itself.”

Recently Renee discovered that a close family relative on her Mom’s side had been diagnosed with diabetes. “This makes for four people who have or have had diabetes on that side of the family. So, my new concern is developing into a worry for my future. I would not only like to feel better about myself, but I am ready to begin a healthier lifestyle that will keep me away from further disease”.

Though Renee is obviously an adult, researchers have recently found that childhood diabetes , a condition of obesity, is on the rise in this country and the experts say when the weight goes on too early in life, it is that much harder to get it off and keep it off.

Each year, more than 3,600 American kids are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a chronic condition once reserved for overweight adults. And in half of those kids, traditional treatments don’t work, a new study found.

The fact that kids are developing early stages of obesity tells us that they too are using food to replace that dopamine shot lost as a result of unstable family situations. Over the last 30 years as the income disparity in this country has grown with stagnant or even decreased wages, more families today are experiencing economic conditions that get negatively played out at home. Children also seem to be experiencing an increase in threats from bullies and predatory pedophiles, all of which makes them more conducive to excessive and unhealthy eating.

Then and Now: In 1980 I was still within a normal weight BMI. Today bad eating habits have taken their toll.

The added pressures we all face today, adults and children alike, along with a more sedentary lifestyle makes us the most susceptible generation to kill ourselves off with an unhealthy oral gratification to satisfy a natural urge intended to keep us alive.

I’m not advocating governmental policies that restrict our choices of what to eat. But it only seems practical that we should be able to rely on government agencies who gather relevant data and distribute it to the public in a vigorous manner so we can make sound, healthy choices. Such information should compete with the private sectors marketing techniques and timing that encourages bad diets or behavior.

I’m sure there will an uproar by many businesses and their corporate-friendly cronies in local, state and federal legislatures who will bemoan the fact that this will hurt profits. But it should be the purpose of a representative government to enable all constituencies. Not just those who are more capable of filling campaign coffers each election cycle. In the true spirit of capitalism, entrepreneurs should be doing what helps their self-interests in ways that consumers see them as being helpful to them at least as much as they are to their investors.

It seems clear though that even if our government sought ways to reduce these risks on our behalf it would most likely fail unless each of us come to grips with why we eat in excess of what we need. We somehow need to find a way to circumvent the ease of using food to generate a state of pleasure we derive for doing those things that serve to sustain us. Unless we do, more and more of us will depart this world sooner than we should from our obesity. The only thing we can hope for if we don’t is that we die long before we incur a huge medical bill that our families will be left to deal with.

Posted by lbwoodgate in Health Care Reform, People Tags: BMI, Body Mass Index, diabetes, dopamine, elder health, Health, living less healthier lives, National Institute on Drug Abuse, obesity in kids, pleasure-driven behaviors

16 comments

“Hey! I Worked Hard For This Look”: No Shame In Growing Old

February 16, 2012

Time is a gift to us all and the condition we find our bodies in at the end of our time is not to be disdained but displayed proudly.

The aging transition

I find it somewhat sad and disconcerting that after acquiring abundant wisdom and a sense of well-being as we age how some want to conceal or ignore the physical markings on their bodies it has taken all those years to acquire. Sure, I’d love to always have well-toned muscle tissue, smooth skin and thick hair, but humans are not figures in a wax museum. We needn’t be ashamed of the more rough and wrinkled countenance that comes with aging. The wear and tear that frequently starts showing up extensively as we hit our 60’s and beyond are signs that we have weathered what life has thrown at us.

It’s odd how our society values the experience that comes with time but not necessarily the package it comes in. It isn’t easy for most of us to accept the slow deterioration of our once strong and youthful bodies and even in death some of us it seems are still unwilling to be portrayed as an elder person.

Take for example the photos of those I found here on the obituary pages of my local newspapers. This seems to be the norm nowadays. We are seeing fewer pictures of the deceased as they were just a few short years before their death at 60, 70, 80 and older, replaced instead by those taken at a time in their life when they were just married, out of college or beginning their first jobs decades ago. Do the children of the deceased do this, wanting to view their parents forever young and submitting these photos for everyone else to share in? Or is this a final request by the people themselves before passing on? Wanting to be remembered in their youth as if to say the rest of their life has no value.

This isn’t an angry old man’s diatribe against today’s youth. If I could gain it all back through some concoction or time machine I wouldn’t hesitate to do so. But we haven’t been dealt such a hand, nor or we likely too.

The journey towards our “senior years” has left us with the effects our efforts have had on our bodies. Our wrinkled skin, bulging midline, slightly stooped demeanor and thinning gray hair are emblematic of our ability to survive a life where many of our friends, relatives and acquaintances haven’t; either dying from childhood diseases, crime, wars, domestic abuses, highway accidents or some catastrophic event like floods, tornadoes and fire.

We have also survived our own foolish choices that often had physical consequences detrimental to long term health or squandering our time and resources with little consideration for the future. Somehow we always thought we had time to overcome these misguided actions.

But it is time itself that teaches us if we allow it and with time comes the slow erosion of physical attributes. Our culture is so obsessed with avoiding this inevitability that we throw good money at commercial products that promise us youthful appearances. For those who can afford it (and many who really can’t) there are now thousands of cosmetic products and numerous surgical procedures available to postpone the effects of time. The waste of resources for this vanity too often forgets that diet and exercise, not creams, tummy tucks and face lifts, will ease us into an older age where we can still be active and useful.

Life's experiences are etched into our faces

There’s no denying that I would like to remain forever young but that is an age old fantasy that we all share and one that snake oil salesmen keep exploiting to relieve us of our hard-earned income. I’m not ashamed of how time has changed my physical appearance. Looking “hot” and stylish no longer consumes my time and money and I am better for it. I worry less and my self-esteem is at an all-time high.

Longevity is not something to fear. It is an award I have earned for successfully reaching an age that often eludes many other people. On other days, those same obituary pages will also have death notices for people who died long before their time.

I may not be able to read the street sign less than 50 feet away without prescription lenses anymore but I can see the future much clearer than someone who has few life experiences and no sense of history. Many my age can’t compete with today’s youth on the athletic fields, pools and courts but we can coach and advise them to help them find their strengths in order to be the best they can.

Still an honest mug, even at 63

The package may have withered over time but the contents are still viable and can benefit those who have yet to live life as fully as I have. The superficiality of a youthful appearance has its time and place in our lives and on occasion I find myself reflecting back on those times. But when I die I want people to see me for what I have become, and that entails a veneer that exemplifies the journey of a long, experiential life that cannot be completely duplicated by any other human being

Posted by lbwoodgate in seniors/aging Tags: aging, Death, elders, growing old respectfully, Health, honoring the aged

23 comments

Thank God for Science

April 20, 2011

Some Forms of Stress and Cynicism May Be Life Extenders

A new study that followed the activities of 1500 Californians over 80 years has drawn some interesting conclusions from the findings. A couple of the more surprising results of the study is the view that not all stress is bad, in fact it may be beneficial for longer life, while the “what-me-worry?” crowd may be more predisposed to an earlier death than those who are not.

“The Longevity Project” was a joint effort by psychology professors Leslie Martin and Howard Friedman that gathered data from the late Stanford University psychologist Louis Terman and later researchers who had been monitoring 1,500 bright children, beginning in 1921 from the time they were 10 years old. The findings tend to debunk some of the axioms many have been living by and if Martin and Friedman’s findings are valid, some of us may have shortened our lives by subscribing to such beliefs.

The first shocker was that stress in and of itself is not always a threat to good health necessarily if it is related to a job, hobby or other activities that you essentially find rewarding.

As it turns out, there’s good stress and bad stress. If you’ve got a job where your boss is out to get you or you’re experiencing sexual harassment, that’s bad stress. But if your stress arises out of a job that you love, then the stress won’t hurt you, Martin says. In fact, some of the people who lived the longest were those who were completely absorbed by their careers, working long hours. The key to good job stress is to find work that engages you and makes you feel productive. SOURCE

The other startling revelation from the study is that happy-go-lucky types are less likely to live longer. That bubbly personality type at work, family gatherings or church socials are more susceptible to an early death because their optimism may evolve from ignorance and over-trusting. This used to describe my life in a much earlier time but I think I can safely say this not my state of mind anymore.

“People tend to think of cheerfulness as good, but we found exactly the opposite,” Martin says. “Cheerful kids lived shorter lives. That was a big shocker.” Overly optimistic people tend not to be as careful as those who have a more serious take on life. “If you’re one of those people who expects things will always turn out great, you may benefit from listening to the perspectives of others,” Martin says. “Awareness is a key component. And being a little more prepared and a little more risk-averse.”

So the key here, for me at least, is to worry less about the stress energy from expressing my political views I blog on and to continue to be a charming, elderly cynic. This alleviates an underlying concern I’ve had to a degree that I perhaps am, 1) too zealous in projecting my views among friends, acquaintances and especially family and 2), that I was becoming too much of a grumpy old man. Thank God for scientific research that removes self-doubt.
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For those who are elderly and single but have a pet, there’s an eye opener too in this study for you that could make a difference in your healthy longevity. Check out what this is in Linda Carroll’s MSN report, “Cheery people die sooner, and more longevity secrets.”

ADDITIONAL READING:

The Longevity Project: A New Way of Thinking About Healthy Life Extension

Posted by lbwoodgate in Our crazy and wonderful world, People, seniors/aging, Social Discourse Tags: cheery people, cynic, elderly, Health, Howard Friedman, Leslie Martin, Lewis Terman, longevity, longevity project, Stanford University, stress, stressful life, Workplace stress

5 comments

Death and Health Care Costs

March 23, 2011

Taking a rational look at one to alleviate the burden it imposes on the other.

I read an interesting piece on Tax.com by economist Martin A.Sullivan. Sullivan has served as an economist for the U.S. Treasury Department, the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, and a major accounting firm. He was addressing the issue of health care costs in this country and it’s effects on our long-term budget issues. Though I would take issue with his statement that “every expert will tell you that government-funded health care is THE cause of our long-term budget problems” I found his argument compelling regarding the need to address high medical costs as it relates to keeping people alive at all costs, especially the elderly.

The technology we have achieved today, including pharmaceutical advances, has enabled the mortality rates of developed nations to reach historical lows. Data from the Congressional Research Service for the National Center for Health Statistics shows that on average Americans are living 30 more years than our ancestors did a century ago. Women live longer on average at 80.1 years while men go to their graves around at 74.8 years of age. If you reflect on this momentarily and then add to it the fact that the largest elderly population in our history is reaching that pinnacle of life, there becomes a real, though unpleasant, consideration we face as a nation in terms of sustaining life to the detriment of our economic survival.

Our health issues increase as we age and that means in our capitalistic society that unless you are comfortably wealthy your ability to pay for the medicines and treatments that prevent your health from deteriorating rapidly will seriously be jeopardized if your income is inadequate. That would include a vast majority of us. Without access to all that the “the greatest health care system in the world” has to offer, many of us will die sooner than those who can afford it.

Herein lies the crux of Sullivan’s argument and one that may have you angrily rejecting it at first. Being that most people’s financial status is not going to change significantly, should these costs be imposed on the general population even though it could slow economic recovery for decades? That of course is an ethical question that various representatives of society need to confront. Younger people would be inclined to reject such expenses while many of the elderly could make legitimate arguments to the contrary.

At age 62, I am closer to that point in life where there is less future to plan for and more time to consider what sort of legacy I would like to leave behind. Sullivan points out in his article that the “fear of death” is a factor that motivates many decisions on this issue and this fear is exploited wrongfully by perhaps both sides of the political spectrum to further their agenda.

Both sides however agree that life is precious and has great value, but that it all comes to an end sometime. That is a reality that as far as I can see will never change, nor do I think it should. Egad, do we really want to live forever even if we are as healthy as an adolescent? Life for the most part becomes boring, simply because we can’t refresh it as Lucy Whitmore did in the excellent romantic comedy “50 First Dates”. Not everyone has the financial resources either to fulfill expensive “bucket list” wishes but even if they did, those would soon be fulfilled and the mundane routines of living would still be confronting us.

So what are we left with here? From my perspective we first need to overcome our fear of death. A list of these fears are found in an article by Angela Morrow, RN, who suggests that there are such things as “good deaths”; deaths that are made “more difficult to achieve when death is feared — an important reason to try to face the fear and perhaps overcome it.” Of the six types of death she mentions the one that applies to me is the fear of pain and suffering.

I no longer worry about an afterlife. I kind of hope there is one but nothing like the fundamentalist view of a heaven where a scornful God sends you to the fires of hell for rejecting church doctrine. I am content with the fact that we all may simply be nothing more than worm food when our time ends. I don’t worry either about how my death will affect loved ones I leave behind. I feel certain they will overcome their grief in short order and go on to live their lives meaningfully – or not. But I do fear a slow agonizing death from Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

Life is meaningless I believe if it lacks the ability for one to live independently, without unbearable pain, and still have significant amounts of control on how and where we live. I think public funding should be required to keep all people alive to the point they can function with this bare minimum requirement. Beyond that, I think we should have the option to remove ourselves from medical life support paid by others so we can pass onto the other life if there is one and eliminate the financial burden we impose on our family, friends and community.

The only thing I would fight for is a socially acceptable means of painless euthanasia in order to remove the fear of pain and suffering. Surely this would be a cheaper public expense than the long-term health care many endure now.

Sarah Palin and her ilk may fear the imaginary “death panels” they have conjured up but I fear more the simple-minded notions of such people who feel it is their moral duty to keep us alive at all costs until the capacity of medical science can no longer do so. They may have some sort of delusion that only “God can end a life” but in the case of people who are enduring enormous pain, will no longer be able to change their own clothes or clean themselves after relieving their bowels or bladder, or simply have lost their mental faculties to do more than ambulate from one area to another, death would be a welcome reprieve.

As a society, we need to get past a moral indignation about allowing the critically ill to die and address our fears about death. It’s not a thing that can be easily dealt with and of course the “only God can take a life” crowd will fight it despite the fact that they wish death on many of their adversaries. But not only are we asking those who are at death’s threshold to live beyond their desire to do so, we are asking those who will survive them to suffer for years the economic hardships they will endure in their noble but ineffective attempts to preserve a life at all means.

THOUGHT FOR A SUNSHINY MORNING
Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
It costs me never a stab nor squirm
To tread by chance upon a worm.
“Aha, my little dear,” I say,
“Your clan will pay me back one day.”

How to Cut Health-Care Costs: Less Care, More Data (time.com)
Active Euthanasia: Dying With Dignity
Life expectancy rising in Europe despite obesity issues; Britons live longer than Americans (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
Denounced As “Death Panels,” Funding For End Of Life Counseling Makes A Comeback (outsidethebeltway.com)

Posted by lbwoodgate in Economy, Health Care Reform, People, Religion/Science, seniors/aging, Society and Politics Tags: Congressional Research Service, death panels, economic hardships from health care costs, God, Health, Insurance, long term health costs, National Center for Health Statistics, Politics, Sarah Palin

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Taliban Tactics Being Used on Women in South Dakota

February 19, 2011

Midwest style of Sharia Law in the “Mount Rushmore State”?

Conservative Christians are quick to condemn Muslim law that suppresses the women in Afghanistan and other Muslim nations around the world, but when they seek to enforce similar heavy-handed measures they are seen as serving the spiritual needs of their community and “a need to protect the pregnant mother’s interest in her relationship with her child and her health”.

Anti-abortionist legislators in South Dakota are pushing a bill, HB 1217, that requires a woman to be counseled at a religious affiliated center before a doctor is allowed to perform a state approved abortion. Creating the illusion that women may be coerced into having an abortion, fundamentalist activists have pressured their state representatives to side step the existing law that allows limited abortions and impose a restriction that they hope will prevent choices women make regarding unwanted pregnancies

“In search of an answer to a non-existent problem, anti-choice legislators are proposing that before all women undergo an abortion, they need to be evaluated for signs of coercion” reports Robin Marty in a recent AlterNet article And according to the anti-choice politicians, the best person to make the final decision about the woman’s mental state isn’t a physician, a psychologist, or even a certified counselor. No, instead she should be evaluated by a paid employee or volunteer at one of the state’s anti-abortion, primarily Christian-based crisis pregnancy centers. (Will Draconian South Dakota Force Women to Visit Religious Pregnancy Centers Before Abortions? by Robin Marty, AlterNet.com, 2/18/11)

One similarity between South Dakota’s HB 1217 and restrictions on women in Afghanistan is where women in Afghanistan are “not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone”, an inconvenience for many men that would lead to illnesses remaining untreated for the women. Check out the full list of restrictions imposed on Afghani women here. Is the hypocrisy missed on conservatives who support this bill by coercing young ladies to attend these “counseling” centers to make sure they aren’t being coerced to have an abortion?

The Taliban impose their rule through their interpretation of Sharia law which is part of the Muslim’s religious faith. The South Dakota bill HB 1217 that requires women seeking an abortion to first attend a christian-based counseling center before a doctor can approve an abortion is a weak attempt to disguise a religious connection between the law and the views of many fundamentalist Christians.

HB1217 was preceded by an even more draconian bill that opened the door to make murder justifiable homicide for anyone who “killed” a fetus, a law clearly aimed at abortion clinics and the doctors who served them. Fortunately that effort was defeated but only, some think, to propose what supporters view as the less offensive HB 1217 bill.

There of course is a world of difference between what the Taliban impose on their women and what is going on in South Dakota but I would suggest, as do conservatives when they fear any attempts to alter their traditions or conventions, that one small change can become a slippery slope to further changes.

More Anti-Abortion Crazy from South Dakota [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] (scienceblogs.com)
“South Dakota bill could justify killing abortion doctors” and related posts (personalmoneystore.com)

Posted by lbwoodgate in Religion/Science, Society and Politics Tags: Abortion, AlterNet, Christian, Crisis pregnancy center, Health, National Abortion Federation, South Dakota

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How Can You Appeal a Hospital or Nursing Care Facility’s Decision to Prematurely Release a Patient?

January 27, 2011

One of the dilemmas we face in our society today is the high costs of medical care. Unless you are amongst the wealthiest 5%, more than likely you have limited coverage purchased from the health insurance industry depending on what your premiums are; the higher your premium, the more thorough your coverage.

In less than 10 Years, AMERICA will Spend $1 o...

Image by Leader Nancy Pelosi via Flickr

Obviously those with lower premiums have high deductibles and less coverage and are subject to earlier discharges from medical facilities they’ve been admitted to because their insurance benefits cannot cover the medical expenses necessary to treat them completely. It is often the goal of medical administrative staff and insurance providers to have patients discharged whose high dollar care cuts into their profits.

Those most likely to find themselves facing early discharge are low-income patients like many seniors whose only means of medical insurance is through Medicare. Medicare pays a flat rate to hospitals based on what the procedure is. If that institution is able to provide the service at a rate below Medicare’s rate they make a profit; if not they take a loss. It is when these rates no longer sufficiently cover the costs of medical care or when insurance providers are unwilling to continue coverage that forces budget-focused administrations to pressure doctors and other medical staff to find reasons to discharge these patients earlier than their conditions necessitate.

Quality Improvement Organization contractors (QIOs) are hired by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to address such abuses. They are available free of charge to patients who feel their early discharges are based on monetary concerns rather than sound medical decisions. Such organizations, like the Health Services Advisory Group, Inc. serve their clientele “by providing quality expertise to those who deliver care and helpful information to those who receive health care services.” They are but one element in a Medicare peer review organization mandated by federal law that insures patients receive “quality, access, timeliness, and appropriateness of care” from the facility their doctor has admitted them to.

The Medicare patient, upon learning that they are being discharged before they feel they should, is required to state their views to hospital staff. If their protestations are ignored then the patient can appeal their decision and should contact a QIO authorized by CMS as soon as possible, giving them the details about their pending discharge. Under the law Medicare will continue to pay for hospital care until the issue is resolved one way or the other.

Once the patient files an appeal through a QIO the medical facility must present the patient with aDetailed Notice of Discharge to justify their actions. The hospital or care facility is also required to send the patient’s records to that QIO for review in helping them form an assessment. Usually within a day of receiving all of the pertinent information from the patient and care facility, the QIO will make a determination and transmit this information to all parties by phone and in writing.

If the QIO agrees with the patient then the hospital is obligated to continue its care for them and will continue to be paid by Medicare at the rate they originally accepted the patient at. If they rule in favor of the care facility then they will only continue covering a patient’s stay until noon of the day following their decision. Most states have laws set up to protect elderly patients, on Medicare or low-cost health insurance plans, from unreasonable discharges by licensed medical care-giving facilities. Each patient or their family should be familiar with their rights to appeal a decision for what they feel would be a premature discharge before or shortly after a hospital or nursing care facility admits them.

If a transfer from a nursing facility doesn’t pose a physical threat to a patient they are allowed to transfer patients for the following reasons only:

1. Medical care the resident requires cannot be provided in a nursing home setting.

2. The resident no longer needs nursing home care because the resident’s condition has improved.

3. The health or safety of other individuals in the home is endangered.

4. In the case of a self-pay patient, the resident has not paid for care at least fifteen days.

5. The home plans to cease operations. (SOURCE)

All appeals with patients, whether on Medicare or private coverage, must file their complaints within 10 days of being advised of their discharge (though exceptions up to 30 days can be made). Unless it is an emergency situation nursing facilities must give you or your guardian, “a written notice, at least 30 days, and no more than 60 days, before a transfer or discharge from one facility to another.” This written notice must contain information that provides the facilities reason for the discharge or transfer, dates, location to where patient will be moved, your legal rights and the details necessary to file an appeal, including the name, mailing address and telephone number of Long-term Care Ombudsman.Without these specifics it is unlawful to take action to discharge and relocate a patient from their originally assigned facility.

Patients and their families should contact the local offices of their state’s Public Health Department to assist them in protecting their rights as a patient. Half of all elder abuse cases reported are related to a failure to fulfill a care taking obligation. Health care fraud and abuse are often perpetrated by unethical doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and other professional care providers. Knowing your rights on what constitutes a legitimate cause for being discharged or re-located to another care provider should be at the top of any one’s list that has a loved one subject to these conditions. Proper care should not be short-changed because profit-motivated facilities or insurance providers want to game the system to their advantage.

RESOURCES:

ElderCare Expert Bolg

Health Services Advisory Group

Posted by lbwoodgate in Health Care Reform, seniors/aging Tags: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Elderly care, Health, Health care, Health insurance, Insurance, Medicare, Nursing home

3 comments

Tag Archives: Health

To Meat or Not to Meat

This diet is supposed to represent the eating habits that our earliest ancestors lived off of during a period that preceded recorded history.

Add to all of this the findings that lower heart disease rates in Kenya and Papua New Guinea exists where meat is not part of their diets and you have even greater credibility to the premise that fewer diseases will be found in cultures who eschew meat, unlike most people in western cultures.

So what makes the claims of the paleo diet supporters weak along with the notion that current diets heavy laden with carbs are detrimental to good oral hygiene? Seems like a no-brainer to me. We’re not prehistoric humans any longer.

An Epiphany on Healing Our Chronically Ill Society

Based on research by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D and significant others, meat and dairy products, which contain casein, a carcinogen found in animal based proteins, are strongly tied to high rates of heart disease and most cancers.

WHAT!!!!

It may or may not surprise you to learn that meat and dairy, organic or conventional,

contain naturally occurring steroids and hormones, which can promote cancer growth.

animal protein, fat, and cholesterol (even nonfat/skim milk contains cholesterol) all contribute to heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, and other major chronic disease

I could sit here all day and give you all kinds of data to support the hazards of a meat-based diet, which includes dairy products. But I’d rather you be convinced by the documentary that turned that dormant light on and finally completed the third leg of a holistic life for me – the Body.

Yet the well-being of our families and the planet itself demand that we start turning the corner on food sources that shortens our lives, increases our health care costs and destroys our vital resources of water and clean air.

Check out the recipes at the No. 2 Engine Diet website for plant-based meatloaf, lasagna and burgers, to cite just a few examples of what they offer.

“Eat to live, don’t live to eat.” ― Benjamin Franklin

The Future of Technology and the Junk It Creates

OBESITY

“Hey! I Worked Hard For This Look”: No Shame In Growing Old

Death and Health Care Costs

Taliban Tactics Being Used on Women in South Dakota

How Can You Appeal a Hospital or Nursing Care Facility’s Decision to Prematurely Release a Patient?

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Tag Archives: Health

There are, like any controversy, pros and cons to marijuana’s use as a euphoric substance. But before we tackle the facts and myths about marijuana lets come to terms with two arguments that hang over the use of any drug.

The Social Stigma of Marijuana

Considering the Facts

So, considering these two overarching points let’s look at the myths and facts on marijuana put out by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), that governmental agency that currently supports what most assume is the general consensus of the American people.

Myth #1: Marijuana is harmless

Myth #2: Marijuana is not addictive

The key term is “heavy users”. According to the DPA “a federal Institute of Medicine study in 1999, fewer than 10 percent of those who try marijuana ever meet the clinical criteria for dependence, while 32 percent of tobacco users and 15 percent of alcohol users do.”

Myth #3: Marijuana is not as harmful to your health as tobacco.

Myth #4: Marijuana makes you mellow.

Myth #5: Marijuana is used to treat cancer and other diseases.

The deaths of some 60,000 people occurred when the FDA failed to do due diligence with the reports from Merck with their nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug,Vioxx, after it was discovered that they “were developed by the company’s marketing department, not its scientific department.”

Addendum, Ad nauseam

Reality Check

Now if only these facts will penetrate the thick skulls of the ideologues and bible thumpers here in Texas we may solve our budget issues they created in the first place.

This diet is supposed to represent the eating habits that our earliest ancestors lived off of during a period that preceded recorded history.

Add to all of this the findings that lower heart disease rates in Kenya and Papua New Guinea exists where meat is not part of their diets and you have even greater credibility to the premise that fewer diseases will be found in cultures who eschew meat, unlike most people in western cultures.

So what makes the claims of the paleo diet supporters weak along with the notion that current diets heavy laden with carbs are detrimental to good oral hygiene? Seems like a no-brainer to me. We’re not prehistoric humans any longer.

Based on research by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D and significant others, meat and dairy products, which contain casein, a carcinogen found in animal based proteins, are strongly tied to high rates of heart disease and most cancers.

WHAT!!!!

It may or may not surprise you to learn that meat and dairy, organic or conventional,

contain naturally occurring steroids and hormones, which can promote cancer growth.

animal protein, fat, and cholesterol (even nonfat/skim milk contains cholesterol) all contribute to heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, and other major chronic disease

I could sit here all day and give you all kinds of data to support the hazards of a meat-based diet, which includes dairy products. But I’d rather you be convinced by the documentary that turned that dormant light on and finally completed the third leg of a holistic life for me – the Body.

Yet the well-being of our families and the planet itself demand that we start turning the corner on food sources that shortens our lives, increases our health care costs and destroys our vital resources of water and clean air.

Check out the recipes at the No. 2 Engine Diet website for plant-based meatloaf, lasagna and burgers, to cite just a few examples of what they offer.

“Eat to live, don’t live to eat.” ― Benjamin Franklin

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America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians

Bet on solar power

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