Opus 2017-130: Healthy Insights: Metabolism, part 4 of 5

I have a simple question for those who are diet gurus with the answers to long healthy lives:

If what we eat is so unhealthy, why are we living longer?

Here is a paragraph from the beginning of the book,

“We are asking more of our bodies than at any other time in the history of civilization.  We ask them to live on food that is of a much lower quality than ever, thanks to all the chemical additives, preservatives, and processing.  We pump ourselves full of sugar and artificial sweeteners, hormone-riddled dairy products, and foods like wheat and corn and soy that are so genetically modified, it is a wonder we can even digest them.  We live in a world that with deleted soil, polluted air, and water teeming with environmental chemicals.  We eat and drink from plastic containers that leach even more chemicals into our foods and drinks.  And, we live with great amounts of often crushing, overwhelming stress.”, p. 13

You have all seen the lists of things that are bad for you.  I am willing to accept that to be true.  I am also aware that the last time I did a number 1 or a number 2 I witnessed my body getting rid of a lot of things it could not use.  Number 1 gets rid of toxins.  Number 2 gets rid of leftovers.  Factor in the reality of sin and its effect on the natural processes.  Some people have issues with salt.  Some don’t.  We have a growing number of people who react to peanuts.  We have a lot of people worried about gluten and a few that actually have a problem with it. 

The simple truth is that for most of us what we have is working just fine.  We eat too much and move too little, granted.  That is not the fault of the food, it is the fault of the foodees.  The concept is slothful, sluggard, or, dare I use the word, laziness.

(Proverbs 21:25 KJV)  The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.

If you feel better about life eating only organic, free range egg whites, go for it.  I have the same regard for people who eat sushi and menudo.  Liberty is wonderful so let me enjoy my corn on the cob, BLT and hamburgers.

Pomroy, Haylie.  The Fast Metabolism Diet.  New York:  Harmony, 2013.

To be concluded...

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-129: Headlines: The Payoff

I am sure you have heard about Barak Obama getting almost half a million dollars for one speech.  Now I see a headline that he has another on his schedule.  How do we respond?

First, as a capitalist who believes in free enterprise, I say, “Go for it!”.  I congratulate him.  We all need to seek the greatest return possible for our skills and contributions.

Which brings up a second response.  Just what are his skills and contributions?  He is an ex-president.  He has never done much of anything except write books about himself and read a Teleprompter.  What make a speech by Barak Obama worth $400,000?  What does he have to sell?  What did he already sell?  If the money is for a great speech I would suggest that the judgement of our business leaders is questionable and the stock holders need to have a quick meeting.

I know I would not pay 25 cents for his books at a yard sale.  What does he have on these bankers that they offer up this kind of a payoff?

CIA are you listening?  NSA are you awake?  Follow the money.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-128: On the Street: Security

I am not paranoid.  I know they are out to get me.  I just don’t know who “they” are or when they will show up.  With that in mind there are certain precautions I take.

I don’t give out my e-mail or SSN unless I have to.

I never open attachments from untrusted sources.  My definition of “trusted” is narrow.  Not all my friends are considered trusted when it comes to attachments.  I usually don’t open unsolicited e-mails.  If I have a password I never put it on automatic recall.  What is the point of a password if it does not engage?

I lock my doors as soon as I get in the car and I lock my car as soon as I get out.

I lock the door to my home and check the doors each night before I go to sleep.

I look in dark corners when I leave home for work.

Stairs are starting to be a warning to “wake up”.  I don’t have trouble getting up and down.  What happens is that my automatics don’t work as well as they used to.  I just need to focus a little bit and I will be okay.  I have gone down hard several times and so far have not major injuries.  It has always been because I am in a hurry and not thinking.  Sooner or later God is going to get tired of catching me.

What am I missing?  The list is too long, you say?

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-127: Healthy Insights: Metabolism, part 3 of 5, Organic Starvation

I have read or skimmed my share of diet books.  They all claim to be the answer you have been waiting for.  They all claim it will work for everyone.  Most claim it will be easy and painless.  They lie.

One of the questions on my grid of diet analysis is, “Could a person of limited means who works long hours and has a big family have a hope in doing this?”  There are certain concepts that keep coming up in the current crop of books:  Organic, free range, dairy bad, wheat bad, sugar bad.  This one also assumes we are going to have an exercise program that involves vigorous cardio some days and yoga others.  What you have described is a life style that can only be achieved by the rich and the famous.  It is a statement of the elites.  It requires money and leisure.

I have no problem with you if you want to eat organic.  Go for it.  Make someone rich if you can afford it.  My income says I can’t afford to pay the price for the exclusive brands and special labels.  There is a reason why much of the world lives on grains and beans.  They are cheap, easy to store and keep you alive. 

Organic is wonderful if you are the lord of the manor and have enough peasants to do the hard labor to produce it and half starve eating the leftovers and half rotten produce.  The world would quickly starve to death if everyone tried to live organically.  I would guess that the Little Fat Guy in North Korea eats very well as his people starve.  That is the model that the elites are after.  The lower classes are just there to serve the elites anyway.  What they don’t see is that eventually they will run out of peasants to starve or the peasants will pull a French Revolution on them.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-126: The Next Goal of the Class Warriors

I am feeling like a prophet.  I believe that one of the changes we are going to see in the near future is the federal government taking away the tax deduction for home mortgages.  The leaches in Washington are looking for any changes they can make that will give them more money to pass to their cronies. 

I was listening to a podcast called Uncommon Knowledge.  Peter Robinson was interviewing an economist who was supposed to be conservative.  In the course of the interview the economist talked about how the home mortgage deduction only benefitted the rich with their big homes.  It would only be fair to the general population to take it away.  This is classic class warfare.  This is another example of someone disguised as a conservative pushing to move more power to the hands of the elites by making it harder for the common man to get ahead and gather wealth.  He may even believe he is conservative but this is “blame the rich” stuff.

Why do I say this?  The home mortgage deduction is the same for everyone.  It is not graduated like the income tax or capped like social security deductions.  Untold millions of Americans with moderate means find that it is the difference between owning a home or living in an apartment.  It helped us when we were living on one salary.  It is helping my children as they buy their first homes.  I must admit that at this time I do not have any mortgages so taking away the deduction would not hurt me in the least. 

What about the rich?  If you take away this tax break they will simply find another way around it.  They will put everything in a trust.  They will play all kinds of legal games.  They will lease instead of buy, just like they do their cars.  I don’t even know how but I know what. 

Could I go for getting rid of the deduction?  Not in that form but I would be willing to look at a flat tax or some other approach.  Whatever we do we need to stop listening to the people who blame the rich for the problems of the poor.  I continue to notice that every student at my school has a phone that is more expensive to buy and operate than the one I own.  I see the secretaries and janitors drive newer cars than I do.  We have a security guard who says he has 100 pair of shoes and I doubt if any of them came from the thrift store.

Give the poor the opportunity to become wealthy by removing the roadblocks not making them more dependent on government.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-125: Healthy Insights: Metabolism, part 2 of 5, Calories Lie

The central point of “The Fast Metabolism Diet” is that we can speed up our metabolism by eating the correct way.  That is an hypothesis I am willing to investigate.  So again I pick up the book and start looking for principles that might make sense.

The author spends a lot of time “debunking” other plans and theories.  I always read these passages with my long range radar on.  When they say startling things I sit back and think and then see how it is applied.  One statement that got my attention was,

“Calories are a lie.” page 22 

That came as a surprise to me because calories are simply a matter of physics.  She admits that but goes on to say that you don’t need to count calories because they are not important.  Just follow her plan and you will be satisfied, have food left over, and lose weight painlessly.

I glanced at her diet plan and almost laughed.  Dinner for one day is something called “Chicken and Barley Soup”.  Sounds good to me but that was the total meal.  I looked up the recipe and did a little math.  I did not go OCD just for this.  I already have a simple spreadsheet for counting my calories every day.  I simply plugged in the ingredients.  My calculation is that one portion of the recipe is 467 calories.  According to the recipe, a portion is three cups.  On the daily page you are told to eat 2 cups.  It comes to about 308 calories for dinner.  If you are a 105 pound woman that might make it for you but I would never call it easy or painless.  Anyone would lose weight eating in these quantities.

So far I am not a convert to the new program.

Pomroy, Haylie.  The Fast Metabolism Diet.  New York:  Harmony, 2013.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-124: Healthy Insights: Metabolism, part 1 of 5, Guru or Not?

I was talking with one of “my” doctors and he was giving me advice on weight loss and diabetes.  The only problem is, he is a podiatrist, not an internist.  I have a lot of respect for him and understand that he still knows more than I do.  So I listen.  He recommended a couple of books to me.  The first he identified as “Fast Metabolism”.  At the library there were several with that phrase in the title by the same author.  I began to get the impression this was an ongoing series and I was supposed to buy them all.  Only one was on the shelf, so I check it out.

Pomroy, Haylie.  The Fast Metabolism Diet.  New York:  Harmony, 2013.

The doctor said that the key to weight loss and health was speeding up our metabolism.  That makes sense to me because that thought had already occurred to me.  I examined the book with an open mind.  Keep in mind that in my world view an open mind is always skeptical and engages its gestalt.  Thinking is not taking one piece of See’s candy and assuming that anything brown and bumpy is dark chocolate peanut clusters.  Thinking is wondering how adding cummin to a recipe will change the interaction of the flavors. 

So I read and keep my mind engaged.

I have read enough diet books to recognize a diet guru when I meet one.  This book quickly made it clear that I was walking with a diet guru.  The first clues were the cover.  It promised me I could “lose up to 20 pounds in 28 days”.  I would be impressed but I am not looking for a quick fix of water loss and an empty digestive tract.  I do not believe you can safely lose 20 pounds in 28 days, not and keep it off. 

The second clue on the cover was the statement that I could “eat more food & lose more weight”.  It reminds me of people who walk carefully down the sidewalk avoiding the cracks because they don’t want to break their mother’s back.  I also stopped believing in the tooth fairy at a very young age.

Strike three was in the back where I was invited to visit the authors web page where I could go shopping with her.  $$$.

At this point I have put the book down several times but I keep thinking there will be something of value.  I am not going to buy into her diet plan but she might have some insights of value.

To be continued...

homo unius libri