Times when I read things, I come upon something where I like its meaning but I am not quite sure why I like its meaning and I wish to know, so I find myself doing little searches in which it can be explained to me more.

So, in reading this article, http://organictobe.wordpress.com/2007/07/29/otobe-organic-food-news-links-no-fluff-72907/

I liked this reference,

“The country gentleman, who keeps a close watch on his backyard vegetable patch, already had adopted some of the principles of biodynamic, a form of farming in which livestock are treated with homeopathic remedies rather than antibiotics, and astronomical calendars and signs of the zodiac play a role in determining when to sow and harvest crops.”

and my search in understanding it more led me to this article,

http://www.dearbrutus.com/the_lunar_rhythm.html

in which I liked this meaning somewhat :),

“Humankind has been putting most of its energy for the past ten thousand years into developing mind (Mercury principle) at the expense of intuition (lunar principle). It has been developing reason at the expense of joy. And one way of getting back to the original feeling of joy is to tune into the moon once again. How precisely one does this is irrelevant, so long as one is putting energy into the project and is serious in one’s efforts to live life by the lunar rhythm. The idea is to go wherever there is joy, and to do whatever is joyous. We’re not trying to recapture the feeling of the last few thousand years of hunting just prior to the invention of agriculture, because that period was a bummer. We are not going back to a primeval state of humanity just because it was a primeval state of humanity; but because there was joy there. By living your life according to the moon, you’ll automatically recapture a lot of this joy in your everyday life. You can make what to other people would seem a sterile, boring routine into a fulfilling life of joy, just by tying all your activities to the moon.”

Yet another link….to another

http://my2point2cents.wordpress.com/2007/07/26/cure-for-cancer

http://www.depmed.ualberta.ca/dca

Two more links..

and more…. recently it seems I am linking a lot :) I think it is because I wish to have things I come across in what I currently read about in one place, this and I have just realized how to show links too, without the need to copy and paste so that they are easier to get too in case others would like to read them as well. I hope too, that in posting these links, that I have not misused them or posted any that I was not supposed to, and if I have then I would not mind being told I did so.

This article..

http://www.nwnp-global.com/docs/ND%20April%20Article.pdf

led me to this..

http://my2point2cents.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/some-positive-spin-on-the-sun/

which led me to this..

http://dragonphoenix.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/applying-chinese-medicine-to-agriculture

Food Miles

Again from the tag/organic I came across this blog,

http://organicresearcher.wordpress.com/

and I have become curious as to what will be decided, in this entry.

http://organicresearcher.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/british-organic-food-miles-debate-arouses-kenyan-farmers-fury/

Another link..

to things I still read about, about nutrition and raw food. I like articles that seem to wish to just give information genuinely.

http://www.beyondveg.com/cat/frank-talk/index.shtml

http://www.beyondveg.com/index.shtml

Immune system

Some other articles that I came across when reading about raw-food that I used to give not much thought to,

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/immune.htm#a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immune_system

but I think now or I am more aware now, that what is most important as far as our health goes, is that we keep a very strong immune system and we must become more intuned with our bodies so that they are able to tell us what they need. For me, I experienced this intuneness when eating only raw-food for a while.

I have a little book called Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko that I just started reading but I really like what she says in it so far. She explains why she thinks greens are the most essential part of human nutrition, so this is where I am at the moment in my raw-food journey. :)

I come across pictures all the time that I find beautiful, some I save because I wish to try and sketch them in my practicing of sketching :). I have never really thought of what draws me to them only that they create such strong feelings of something inside myself when I look at them.

I realized though, after reading an entry from a blog named The Naked Soul,  http://tobeme.wordpress.com/2007/07/11/believing-in-the-invisible why this certain picture might have done so.

I am using a different way of scanning since I needed to reformat my computer and I cannot find all my discs as yet, but I do like how it turned to grey :), and I know it still needs more practice but I do not mind how it is for now.

I have been following links in the tags organic recently and the first one I came across was one that asked if there should be a new definition for organic. I made a reply about what I thought organic meant and I have been thinking about it more since and would like to write what I think organic is here as well. There is a definition that I really like when I think about organic, it is “simple and healthful and close to nature”. I think about the foods of just maybe 50 years ago as organic and I think about the farmers who care enough for our land, by not stressing it and allowing it to to do its natural work and for their animals welfare as organic too. I think of our bodies when I think of organic and I think we must return them to this way, so that we become more intuned. I think of the term organic as caring and trust and I do not think a label or certification can be put on this and if we are able to, we must find it ourselves.

I came across this website too, http://smallfarms.typepad.com/photos/farmers/index.html

from this entry in the tag/organic.

http://organictobe.wordpress.com/2007/07/07/organic-agriculture-is-our-first-medicine/.

There seems to be such a glow or happiness in the faces.

Evolution

Evolution is technically defined as: “a gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex or better form.” As it is most famously used, “evolution” is the process by which an organism becomes more sophisticated over time and in response to its environment. The Theory of Evolution is currently the most popular concept of how life reached its current state. Evolution as a biological mechanism is driven by natural selection. This theory is favored by many scientists to explain phenomena in nature, so much so that it is generally assumed as factual in most studies.

I think about evolution at times, I remember once a conversation about our food with the many pesticides drugs and hormones that it is being treated with and thinking well this is what is out there and our bodies will adapt to survive in the long run, it is almost like we are in a process of a testing stage, especially with the new genetically modified food. But I no longer think this, I think if this way continues that yes, we will eventually adapt, but I wonder what our bodies will become like and to me they will not be natural at all.

Charts

Some charts I have saved that list vitamins and minerals and the food sources for them. There is something I like about charts, maybe it is because I can print them then read them and see what to add to my food intake on a daily basis. I make smoothies twice a day and most times I just throw in a bunch of these vegetables and fruits, blend them and drink them :).

I think what I was looking for, when I came across these charts, was if we were able to get our essential vitamins and nutrients in eating only raw foods, to know for myself and for it to make sense to me. There are a few I am not sure of as yet, vitamin b12 is one so I do still eat wild salmon when I find I crave it.

One thing I found out about our vitamin b12 is that it occurs naturally in the soil and on the surface of unwashed fruits and vegetables, so more reason to try and keep our soil good. I worry about protein too sometimes, so I eat almonds for now until I find out more about it.

http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/vitamins-nutrition-chart.html

http://www.jtcwd.com/vegie/nutrition/facts.html

http://www.modernwife.com/healthy.html

http://www.whfoods.com/nutrientstoc.php

http://www.homeoint.org/site/ahmad/vitamins.htm

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/nutsseeds.html

http://www.healthalternatives2000.com/minerals-nutrition-chart.html 

Organic

http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-206

From the above article all that I read makes so much sense and are all important reasons to support the ones that are true to organic farming. #9 and #4 especially to me as it is reason enough to help restore our lands to the way they used to be. I hope, if those that are able to buy organic do, that one day this way will become the way of all farming practices again.

9. Promote Biodiversity
Visit an organic farm and you’ll notice something: a buzz of animal, bird and insect activity. These organic oases are thriving, diverse habitats. Native plants, birds and hawks return usually after the first season of organic practices; beneficial insects allow for a greater balance, and indigenous animals find these farms a safe haven. As best said by Aldo Leopold, “A good farm must be one where the native flora and fauna have lost acreage without losing their existence.” An organic farm is the equivalent of reforestation. Industrial farms are the equivalent of clear cutting of native habitat with a focus on high farm yields.

4. Build Healthy Soil
Mono-cropping and chemical fertilizer dependency has taken a toll with a loss of top soil estimated at a cost of $40 billion per year in the U.S., according to David Pimental of Cornell University. Add to this an equally disturbing loss of micro nutrients and minerals in fruits and vegetables. Feeding the soil with organic matter instead of ammonia and other synthetic fertilizers has proven to increase nutrients in produce, with higher levels of vitamins and minerals found in organic food, according to the 2005 study, “Elevating Antioxidant levels in food through organic farming and food processing,” Organic Center State of Science Review (1.05)

For produce, I follow this guide below and I shop at the local farmers market during the spring and summer months when it opens here.
http://www.foodnews.org/pdf/EWG_pesticide.pdf

For meat that I make for others at times, I am lucky enough to have farms that follow the standards of long ago practices where the farmer has high standards for his animals welfare and a family run market that cares only to carry these types of products near.

I can no longer look at meat in the grocery stores now without feeling ill, I think of how the animals were raised, how big the wings of chicken look, so full of growth hormones and the stress hormones they must have released during their lives because of the way they were treated and that our bodies must absorb when we eat this meat and I have grown sensitive to the way it smells as it is being cooked.

I want to write about raw food and what led me to it so maybe July will be dedicated to this. :). The raw-food way of eating has become very important to me and is so much a part of my life and mind now that I wish to post here why this is so. This idea to write about insights and experiences and especially about this subject came from another blog I have been reading by rubyshooz at http://rubyshooz.wordpress.com

I must talk about cancer a touch first, for this is what began my journey towards it.

My first awareness of cancer was when my grandmother died from this. I was about 14 or 15 and I remember my mother being very sad. We did not talk about it much and to me at the time it was something that happened to people when they got older.

My second experience with cancer was when I was about 21. I was living on my own by then and wanted to go on a trip. I went to the doctors to have my yearly physical, to make sure all was well before traveling and was told they thought I had cancer. So instead of going on the trip I was hospitalized for two weeks while tests were run and at the end of which I was due for a full colostomy. My parents came up to be with me, I know they were really worried but I remember not being so, I remember even then I had this strong sense of fate, that what was to be, was meant to be and I just really wanted to get out of the hospital so I could go on my trip.

The morning of the surgery I was taken in, fully expecting to wake up with this little bag attached to me that I would have to get used to but when I woke up from the anesthetics I was told the surgery was not done, that it was not necessary, that another doctor had been called in at the last minute who said it was not cancer.

My parents said it was the prayers of many of my relatives that were answered, and I do believe this too. I did not go on my trip but one my aunts sent me the tiniest littlest bikini to wear :) and I think I was more excited about this than the fact of not having cancer.

I did not really give cancer much thought after this, or not consciously anyways, but I knew it ran in our family and that I was to continue with yearly checkups.

My next direct experience with cancer was around seven years ago when my mother developed it. I try to remember what I felt when I first heard she had this, I cannot remember, only that I really really wished to hug her.

My mother and my father decided to treat the cancer with chemotherapy, which later led to radiation, and we were all hopeful she would be the one that would become cancer free. I remember thinking during this time of treatment, when the cancer would return after a remission, that there has got to be an alternative way of treatment, in the back of my mind there was something there about something, but I could not pinpoint it. This was the time too when I began to slowly start to research cancer using the internet. I wanted to know the causes, the cures, the treatments available. I did not come across alternative ways of treating cancer as yet, but I did begin to see little blurbs which related the nourishment of our bodies with the disease.

A year after my mother died, our dog Shadow developed lymphoma. It seemed to happen overnight with him. It began when I noticed his bark was not right, that when he did bark it seemed to hurt him, like he had a sore throat. The same week during one of his walks I noticed he could barely keep up, his energy seemed so low and he yelped a touch when I needed to put the lead on him. I brought him home and massaged his neck and it was then I felt two little lumps.

We took him to his veterinarian who confirmed that he did have lymphoma, and that it was so aggressive he would only have 2 or 3 months to live if we did not treat it with chemotherapy. I was not ready for this, for Shadow to leave us, and agreed to the treatments but began again to research cancer, looking only for the alternative ways of treating it instead of the conventional ways, using in my search words like diet and cancer. It was then that I came across raw foods, not for us as humans to eat as yet, as it still meant raw-meat to me, but as a way to feed Shadow, a way to help him in his fight against his cancer. As I researched it further I realized that raw-food did not mean only raw meat, it meant all food groups that could be eaten without being cooked.

Shadow did not take well to the raw meat, it made him very sick to his stomache and I stopped feeding this to him only days after I began. I asked his vet about it and she recommended that I don’t feed him this as well. That it could contain parasites and bacteria that might make him more ill. She did though recommend another food that was geared to dogs with cancer but I was not convinced raw-meat is bad for animals, it just was for Shadow at the time.

Shadow went through his treatments, he had good days and bad but I noticed how the drugs he was taking were affecting him. He began to get very swollen due to the prednisone, his breathing became very labored, his eyes were not calm anymore. He hated going to the vet and I began to hate taking him there. I kept looking up the side affects of the drugs and did not like what I was reading. I was given one to adminster and was warned to wear the rubber gloves that came with it. It was a pill that he was to sallow and I thought, oh my, this is not supposed to touch my skin, yet it would go through Shadows body. When I was told the cancer went into remission, I decided I would begin trying the alternative ways I was reading about, the detoxing of his body, the building up of his immune system, adding greens and fruit to his diet, but the cancer returned fast weeks after stopping the chemotherapy and I did not get a chance to help him. It is this that I feel the most sorry about.

Sometimes I feel that I was meant to discover rawfoods, that through my mother and my dog I was led to this, if only to know what to do if ever I developed this or even as a way to prevent it from happening. I even find myself mentioning raw-food to others at times who have cancer, just so they know about it and can research it. This wanting to tell others stems from my wish that I had known about it when my mother went through this I think.

An article, below, that I came across makes so much sense to me, this alone made me wish to research what optimum nutrition really can be, how it can fight not only the disease of cancer but many other ailments as well.

http://www.chiro.org/nutrition/FULL/Beating_Cancer_With_Nutrition.shtml

In my next entry here I think I will write what I have come across about raw-food, the vitamans and minerals that are found in such. I know this might seem like old news to many that study nutrition, but to me, who only two years ago had to look up our five basic food groups, it is all so new and interesting.