incipit vita nova

Eat Pastry Vegan Cookie Dough! Nom Nom Nom

Eat Pastry Vegan Cookie Dough is . . . amazing! I got some because it is completely vegan and the non-peanut butter cookie dough is also nut free (for Meredith's boyfriend Tim, who can't eat nuts).

Even if you are not vegan, you will love this delicious, crispy, soft and melting, chocolatey goodness. 

I just bought some new measuring spoons that are ideal for scooping cookie dough. These cookies came out absolutely perfect.

Chef's Jessie & Alfredo are adorable. This product is also great because you can bake a few at a time, and put the dough away for later. It is available at Whole Foods (where I got it) and Mothers Markets (they carry seconds - don't go there). And are you carrying your own bags yet? It's really great, because no more paper or plastic bags piling up for the recyler or whatever!

America Dying of Obesity - Give More Food Stamps!

Here is a candidate for World's Fattest Woman, Suzanne Eman, who is deliberately eating her way to this title, as told to the UK Daily Mail last year.

Suzanne is only 33 years old, and has 12 and 16 year-old sons (pictured with her). 

I can't find a better picture to illustrate the perverse situation that America finds itself in.

Young single mother Suzanne's career path is eating her way to fame, fortune and an early grave, smothered in hundreds and hundreds of pounds of fat and retained water. This young woman who should be at the height of health and well-being has to ride a shopping cart to stock up on the trash that is killing her, one bite at a time.

According to the Daily Mail interview last August, "The unemployed mother - who cannot work because of her weight - claims she stays active by doing simple exercises and having regular health checks."

There's no question that Suzanne Eman receives Food Stamps. The U.S. Congress has been debating the Agriculture bill this week, and it has been little-reported in U.S. media that Congressional Republicans have voted to rein in the explosion in the Food Stamp program that has occurred in the past four years.

This Agriculture bill may be the single biggest reason Americans are slowly dying from inexorable weight gain, rampant increases in heart disease, diabetes, and weight-associated cancers. Eighty percent of the bill is Food Stamps. The other 20% consists of subsidies for Big Agriculture which benefit genetically-modified foods, and the Big Chemical Food Industry.

Those who want to continue the Food Stamp "program" as it has expanded over the past 4 years (70% increase in enrollment, more than 70% in expenditure increase, with 46 million now receiving the benefits) are killers.

Nearly 36% of Americans were obese in 2011 according to the CDC. Not "overweight" - obese. The states with the highest rates of Food Stamp participation also have the highest rates of obesity, and all the related diseases: Michigan and Mississippi (20 and 21%). Vast numbers of studies have been done that correlate "poverty" and "obesity" in the US.

The frequently-given explanations are lies from the 60s and 70s. "Food deserts," etc. Well, these deserts are rich in the foods produced by Big Food, created only by Big Scientific Agriculture.

It's not potatoes, rice and beans making people fat. It isn't inexpensive, starchy food. This isn't the 19th century. Cheetos, Doritos, Coca-Cola, Snickers, Hamburger Helper, Lucky Charms, Captain Crunch, Pop Tarts, Sara Lee, and even Lean Cuisine are the culprits, as well as fast food - plentiful everywhere, and eligible for Food Stamp benefits. These foods are addictive and filled with preservatives, additives, and chemicals. They are created in labs using addictive substances that increase appetite, like dairy derivatives and high fructose corn syrup. Food deserts? We have made it nearly impossible for people to grow and sell real food, while the deadly, addictive, unhealthy foods are everywhere.

So, the US government subsidizes Big Ag and Big Science Lab Food to produce these poisonous, addictive foods. Then it subsidizes Food Stamps and wants to sign up more and more people for them, and give more to each individual receiving them. When the people eat the foods and enter the cycle of food addiction and weight gain, the US government then provides "free health care" of a maintenance nature, up to and including dialysis for kidney failure in end-stage diabetes. 10 and 12 year old children now have heart disease.

So by all means, give more food stamps. Smother people in a hefty coating of fat and poison them with horrific chemical foods. Fail to educate them. Make sure there are no demanding jobs and they get as little physical activity as possible. It would sound like a sci fi apocalypse - but it's real life. 

Oh - and we are borrowing 40 cents on the dollar to make this dream come true. We are excusing this wholesale slaughter of generations who will never know health, never know freedom, and who at age 33, like Suzanne Eman, must ride a "fat cart" to load up on their free, delicious "groceries." Look how happy those two boys look in the picture. We should all feel so proud.

 

Fat & Fatter: BBC Show Airing in US - Exploitive But Informative

A reality show BBC-style, "Fat & Fatter" has been airing on CNBC in the U.S. since March, 2012. I saw the show this evening. It covers the visit of two seriously overweight British teens to the home of a super-obese family in America's fattest state, Mississippi.

As with many shows airing in the U.S. produced abroad, it's hard to find reliable information about who really produced the show. I was able to find out it was a BBC show, and it's been airing around the world for some time, as this 2011 article from Australia shows.

"Fat & Fatter" tells the story of two young British women, Bex and Anne, who are already suffering health problems from their weight, despite both still being teens. The "shocker" is their visit to Mississippi, where they are welcomed with love and enthusiasm by 500+ pound Deloris and her sister, 350+ pound Diane. Deloris and Diane love soul food, all-you-can-eat buffets (of course), barbecue, and basically any unhealthy food they can stuff in their mouths - as long as it isn't a fresh fruit or vegetable.

Much of the commentary on this show comes from health-related weight and fitness coaches. Deloris, the larger of the two sisters, is not only life-threateningly obese with a terrible diet and obvious food addiction, she is so inactive that she has not walked to the mailbox for over 10 years, and drives the 160-yard distance to her younger sister's home.The last scene in the show is the two teens encouraging Deloris to walk the shorter distance to the mailbox. 

The second-to-last scene is the one where the interaction between food sensitivities and food addiction is most obvious. Many traditional medical practitioners don't believe in food sensitivities, despite European research that shows a connection between food sensitivities, excess weight gain, tissue inflammation and insulin resistance (known to be a precurser of diabetes - which Deloris and all of her deceased relatives had). The girls had already gone to speak with another super-obese Mississippi resident whose diabetes had led to kidney failure and dialysis. The woman warned the girls to lose weight, telling them that if they did not, they would end up on dialysis, like her, or worse.

By the poor eating habits, food addiction and diabetes, it was easy for me to predict that Deloris and Diane weren't just super-size overeaters, they were in the grip of food allergies and sensitivities, and their terrible effects. "False appetite" in addition to inflammation (water retention - i.e. "puffy face," and at larger weights, puffy everything, including internal organs) was obvious in every scene. Family pictures showed that the two women weren't always so large. The British teens, Bex and Anne, were increasingly appalled by the overwhelming nature of the eating habits and health problems of their Mississippi host family.

But the food addiction/food sensitivity connection was slammed home in the episode, when Bex & Anne went shopping and prepared a healthy meal for Deloris and Diane. Deloris' facial expressions and obvious distaste at the normal, healthy food, which included lemon chicken breast, sliced tomatoes and other fresh vegetables, without fried coating, cheese sauce, etc. showed that it had been year upon year since a non-sensitivity food had passed through her lips. "It's like I'm in the hospital eating a diabetic meal," she said.

Uh-huh. 

What I have to say probably won't be any help to someone weighing over 500 pounds, in such an extreme grip of the vicious cycle of food sensitivity and addiction as Deloris. It might help her sister Diane, and other friends and relatives.

One of the most common food sensitivities and allergies is dairy. It's a certainty that nearly all African-American adults are allergic/sensitive to dairy. This is different from "lactose intolerance." It is a longer-term, longer-acting allergic reaction to one, or both, of the proteins found in cow's milk (and other milks - goat milk too). Gluten is also a common sensitivity, with many different associated health problems. 

One of the main ways these sensitivities, which get worse as we grow older (this is why kids can drink lots of milk with no ill effects, and few people over age 40 can), lead to weight gain, is the "false hunger" and cravings the foods cause. The only way to stop the hunger and cravings, and stop the taste for unhealthy food that is actually poisoning our bodies, up to long-term damage like diabetes and liver disease, is to cut it out: completely.

After only a few days off dairy, chances are that the healthy meal that Bex and Anne prepared would taste 100 times better to Deloris than it did. Once off the allergic/problem-causing food (and dumping dairy is hard - wheat and gluten, even harder), other foods taste much, much better. The false taste appeal of high-fat, high-sugar fried food is replaced by a more normal appetite for normal portions of proteins, fruits and vegetables, and whole grains (I'm not gluten free).

You know. The diet they say is good for us to eat.

A wise Yogi once said "Food is the most powerful drug you will ever put in your mouth." I hope that if Deloris is still around to read this, she will know that this is not her fault. There is very little education on this cause of overeating, weight gain and health devastation. Foods that many people are sensitive to, or outright allergic to, perversely are the most-appealing, causing extreme cravings, false appetite that leads to tremendous overeating, and a masking of real, healthy appetite for healthy foods and normal portions. Dairy is the most common and among the least recognized as a problem among the general population, followed closely by wheat/gluten sensitivity. These two together are probably the source of 90% of the weight gain and uncontrollable overeating of unhealthy foods out there today.

And Bex and Anne? No more Crumble Puds, Cadbury, Cream Biscuits or clotted cream.

Jokerz Vegan Candy Bar (Like Snickers, but Better)

It had to happen sometime! A truly delicious vegan candy bar! Go Max Go makes vegan versions of many different popular types of candy bar and I bought Jokerz and Twilight this evening. I have already consumed the Jokerz bar, which is similar to a Snickers bar . . . but get this! It's better!

The bar is a very solid rectangle, and feels heavier and longer than a typical Snickers bar. It has soft caramel, nougat, plenty of peanuts and a nice chocolate-y coating made with rice milk (it's not too thick or too thin). The caramel is chewy and has a great flavor with the peanuts. Overall, there's a balance of textures, with a slight honey flavor (no actual honey) in the nougat. 

One of the hardest things about giving up dairy was giving up candy made from caramel and nuts. I've seen the Go Max Go candy bars at Whole Foods a couple of times and passed them by due to the disappointing nature of other vegan candy I've tried.

No disappointment this time! The bars are anywhere from $2.49 to $2.99. The Jokerz bar had 280 calories and there are no dairy or animal ingredients in it of any type. It is completely cruelty free! The Twilight bar is still waiting for another day. It has nougat and the coating and is nut free for those allergic to nuts, and I think it's a vegan version of a Milky Way.

Now . . . get this! They're coming out with vegan peanut butter cups called "Cleo". Cannot wait!! I almost ate a mini-Reese's at Easter. Almost. Did not eat. I will buy Cleo as soon as I see it in the store.

You Get the Face You Deserve at 50 Part 2

All this means is - by the time I'm 60, I'll be walking around with a Trader Joe bag on my head.

Another unretouched photo, but this time, I do have on makeup.

Important things to do to avoid carb face . . .

 

see below . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I know. Not fair. But I noticed this today - conservative writer Jonah Goldberg, who is 7 years younger than me, looks like a walking heart attack. Jonah was making negative statements about young voters recently, which is why I noticed him.

This is either too much wine and cheese, or too much wine, cheese, scotch and cigars, too little water, too little exercise, too much junk food - possibly too many Whoppers (and I don't mean the malted milk ball type - although those are plenty bad too) and just too much bad.

Our American diets make us like this. Sluggish, bloated, the whole 9 yards.

As most who read here know, I am opposed to cosmetic surgery (and have crooked teeth). I do have sun-damaged skin but it doesn't show too much. 

No dairy, minimal gluten, no junk food. Plenty of water, plenty of fresh air, plenty of exercise, plenty of sleep. Focus on lean protein, and any type of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Buy local whenever possible. Avoid processed foods. Avoid stress when possible. Be happy every day. Life is good!

If I Don't Graduate From High School, What Will Happen?

If students fail to complete high school and receive their diploma, many bad things will happen to them. Nationwide, about 70% of high school students do graduate, while 30% fail to make the grade.

Over the course of their lifetimes, high school graduates earn as much as twice as those who drop out. A little-addressed fact of government spending and deficit reduction are the estimated savings in government aid if large numbers of dropouts complete their high school education. As much as $1 trillion over a decade could be saved if 700,000 of today's dropouts could be convinced to stay in school and finish.

The dropout problem has been going on for years. In 2006, the Los Angeles Times covered the graduation of the class of 2005 at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, where less than half of the 1,100 freshmen who entered four years earlier ended up graduating. Instead of pat excuses, the article covered the factual reasons for dropping out. Some students failed to pass classes, being pushed from grade to grade, but without credits to graduate. Eventually, they were sent to alternative or adult school, but most just dropped out.

Other young women became pregnant and dropped out to have their babies and start life as young mothers on aid. Only 40% of teen mothers end up getting their high school diploma, according to the March of Dimes.

After going down for a number of years, the birth rate among teen mothers started to increase again in 2006. Almost 89% of teen girls who had not had a baby graduated from high school or received a GED. Only half of teen moms went on to get a diploma or GED.

Anywhere between 60 and 75% of babies born to teen moms live in poverty. 

How about other stuff? Like . . . incarceration?

A 2009 study sponsored by the Center for Labor Market Studies found that male high school dropouts had a 68-times (not percent - TIMES) greater chance of going to jail or prison than did men who had a 4-year college education. Nearly one out of 10 male high school dropouts is incarcerated in America. If, as a young student, a lot of these guys thought they'd get "freedom" by dropping out to do whatever they felt like doing each day, the freedom wasn't long-lived. They traded a classroom for a jail cell.

Many people think that the failure of the educational system is so widespread, we may have doomed an entire generation to nowhere lifestyles. Young men who don't graduate from high school are likely to have very low earnings and can easily end up incarcerated. Young women who don't graduate from high school are likely to find themselves and their children living a life of poverty and deprivation.

When does this start? Most kids who drop out do so between 8th and 9th, and 9th and 10th grades. But problems start at a much earlier age. A 2009 report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that if children aren't reading well by the end of third grade, they are much less (75%) likely to graduate from high school than those who are reading well.

According to results of the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test, a stunning 83% of children in low-income families, and 85% of children attending school in high-poverty areas nationwide failed to test as "proficient" in reading. The lack of proficiency was across the board, in large cities, rural and suburban areas. Half of these children couldn't even score at a "basic" reading level.  

So, here are some facts that high school dropouts can look forward to:

1. Lifetime earnings will be about half of those who graduate from high school.
2. Three quarters of the single mom high school dropouts will live in poverty, and their children will, too.
3. Young men who don't graduate from high school have a one in ten chance of being incarcerated . . . on any given day. They are 68 times more likely than male college graduates to serve time in prison.
4. One third of high school dropouts will be obese.
5. Three quarters of high school dropouts cannot even serve in the military to get GI benefits. They are either too unfit physically or too poorly-educated to qualify for military service.

So, we have a generation of parents who has now raised children who are too fat, too poorly-educated and too incapable to do anything but sit at home, or pursue activities that land them in jail or prison. Whose fault is it? If you're in high school and reading this for a report, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. You may be a teen, but you can take charge of your life. Don't be a statistic. Don't drop out of school.

Teacher Abuse Linked to Autism, Aspergers

I watched a non-autism related abuse video about a North Carolina teacher screaming at students this a.m. I only watched half the nine-minute video and in this brief period, heard the teacher shriek at the top of her lungs six times, and bang either a desk or book for emphasis. Her point? No criticism of President Obama. Trouble was, she had introduced the topic of the Mitt Romney bullying allegations and the students had been asked to discuss that. That's not really a fit topic for high school "discussion," whether or not the class is in civics, history or heaven knows what else. Maybe even homeroom or English! How about science or math? Sure! Topic of the day: Trash Mitt Romney at length and add "You WILL not disrespect the President!!!" Lesson of the day: "My teacher can't control herself."

Many comments on YouTube videos of teachers misbehaving are from students saying, "You think that's bad? You should see/hear  ___________________________[fill in the blank - their district or school]."

Last month, the story of 10 year-old Akian Chaifetz hit the news.

According to his father, Akian was always happy and pleasant, but from the first week that he attended school in New Jersey, he came home with reports that he was violent, hitting other students and the teacher. For the better part of a year, Akian received behavior therapy, and was never violent with the behaviorist: only in his self-contained class. All of the students in Akian's class had autism and couldn't tell parents or others what was going on. Akian's father Stuart put a tape recorder on Akian on February 17, 2012, which brought home hard evidence of abuse against Akian on the part of his teacher and aides. "Shut up!" the teacher screams. The rest of the unprofessionalism is appalling, beginning with "I'm doing the happy dance -- I had a bottle of wine with my girlfriend last night and no dinner." Isn't that what parents expect any child to be greeted with at the start of their school day?

Is Akian's situation unique? Doubtless, the New Jersey schools will say it has never happened before, and would never happen again. With today's journalistic commitment to excellence, these repeated assertions on the part of individual districts will always go unchallenged, and nobody's really putting them all together or looking at a pattern. YouTube has over 1,000 videos of "teachers yelling at students." The majority are real, not satire. Many aren't just the always-popular teacher-meltdown/destroying cell phone scenes. They feature teachers verbally abusing developmentally-disabled or special-needs children.

In 2008 in Indiana, New Albany/Floyd County kindergarten teacher Kristen Woodward was suspended (and eventually allowed to resign a year later) for telling 5-year old Gabriel Ross he was "pathetic, ignorant and self-absorbed," finally getting the other kindergartners to say in unison that they did not want to be Gabriel's friends or be around him. Ms. Woodward's union defended her to the bitter end, stating she had "tried everything" and the student had given "trouble" all year, rolling on the floor, kicking and biting.

First, he's five. Second, Gabriel appears to have been somewhere on the autism spectrum.

What level of training did this kindergarten teacher have that indicated that calling a 5 year old autistic child "selfish," "self-absorbed," and "pathetic," and singling the child out for the ridicule and ostracism of his peers was a good thing to do? With a reported 13 years of experience, this teacher had no indication that a five year old with special needs might not be able to help some behaviors and could not be "shamed" into stopping them by such abusive tactics?

In the case of Akian Chaifetz, a happy child, upbeat child with special needs was bullied and abused for months by teacher and complicit aides, exhibiting violent behaviors for the first time as a desperate form of self-defense. Reports now indicate that as many as one in 100 children has some form of autism or Aspergers Syndrome. Gabriel Ross, at only five years of age, was presented as such a problem child by the teacher's union and problem teacher in Indiana, that the teacher's only resort was abusing the child with adult language and singling him out for ostracism and bullying.

Is this new? Hardly. When I was between 6th and 7th grade, I went to summer school at Clement Junior High, not my "normal" junior high. I don't know if it was increased enrollment or other pressures, but on the first days of school, I was singled out by a teacher similar to these abusive teachers and placed in the "special-ed" class.

That summer probably gave rise to a lot of the stories I've written as an adult. I didn't learn much in terms of facts or school work, but I did learn, and have never forgotten, what it felt like to be in the "special-ed" class. The actual special-ed teachers in this class were young, enthusiastic teachers who wanted to work with special-needs kids, so no one was abused in this class. They quickly recognized I was far from "special-needs," so I became like a junior aide. I helped the other students with physical and learning tasks throughout the summer and made friends with kids I was unlikely to ever have talked to had this not happened.

I certainly know what it felt like to be singled-out for no reason. I was embarrassed, ashamed, and could not believe somebody was saying I was "slow" or "special needs." To this day, I don't know what inspired the teacher who placed me in that class to do so. I believe I was talking too much or behaving in an overly-exuberant way. I was probably messing around and being rambunctious with some of my friends from our girls softball team, who did go to that school and were the only kids I knew there. The teacher who did this to me was very much like the YouTube abusive teachers, yelling, berating, using inappropriate language, and singling out students for other kids to abuse/harm.

You might think that teacher unions and all the good teachers out there would be outraged that this type of behavior persists more than 30 years later. You might think that; I couldn't possibly comment.

Baby Avery Gene Therapy: More Real Every Day

People have learned about Spinal Muscular Atrophy through the amazing story of beautiful baby Avery Canahuati and her mom & dad's Bucket List for her.

Little Avery passed away April 30 at only five months old. One of Avery's Bucket List wishes was to raise $1 million for Dr. Arthur Burghes/Kaspar Labs to continue gene therapy research to cure Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a genetic condition that causes poor muscle tone, breathing and many other physical problems. This terrible disease took Avery's life at only 5 months of age. 

For those of you who've never read anything I've written (which I am pretty sure includes 100% of my relatives, including my daughter - but not all of my school friends, and I don't just mean Grad School!) the type of gene therapy the doctors are working on is similar to the gene therapy that was good from "Perfect Stranger," a short story I published in 2006 that is now being reprinted in bioethics and literature textbooks. It is 5,000 words long and takes about 10 minutes to read. Gary, the father in the story, decides it was right to cure his baby Denny's heart defect before birth, but all the rest of the treatments Denny had? You'll have to read the story . . .

 

"I'm Not Just the Fat Girl"

For some reason this a.m., looking into the false information that "Marilyn Monroe was a size 16," I came across Chrissy, the author of All My Jiggly Bits, and wanted to share her mini-documentary and some of her great thoughts on being a person.

In the film, Chrissy shows footage from a trip to Ecuador and says that while there, she realized that our concerns in America today are pretty unimportant compared to what people confront in Ecuador. She realized while there that she was "not just the fat girl" and that her change began when she returned home and realized she was with people, her family and friends, who loved her just the way she is. When she was younger, Chrissy said

. . . I hated who I was, I hated how I looked, I hated how I felt . . .

She no longer feels that way, and feels great about herself, which is how she should!

It's a pretty easy way to put someone down -- just call them fat. Most famously, the false information that Marilyn Monroe was a "size 16" or "fat" was put about by Elizabeth Hurley, who very clearly was trying to make herself feel better at a dead woman's expense by saying that she thought Marilyn "looked fabulous," but that she would kill herself if she was that fat.

I just found the great retort to these ill-advised comments: "Most of us would kill ourselves if we were as talent-free as Elizabeth Hurley."

Marilyn's official measurements - 35-22-35, are most certainly not "fat" and Liz Hurley might have 3/4 inches smaller hips, but did not ever have a 22 inch waist. As costumes collected by Debbie Reynolds (also a tiny lady) were auctioned off last year proved, few, if any of the old Hollywood costumes were anything approaching a "size 16" or "fat," and waist measurements ranged from a mind-boggling 18 inches to 23 inches at the largest.

Here is Debbie with the famous Marilyn Monroe Seven Year Itch dress - yep, there's the waist of a total fatty right there, all right. That is all justification for all the massive amount of mis- and dis-information about Marilyn's size, from Liz Hurley idiocy to Roseanne Barr justifying being the size of two Marilyns put together. This dress sold at auction for $4.7 million, by the way.

What is true about Marilyn and the older generation of starlets isn't that they were "bigger" than today; far from it. They were much more petite, as people were in general just as recently as 50 years ago. By the way, there's a controversy as to whether this dress is "the dress" or not.  Hm!

As to the "What size was Marilyn?" controversy, the last word is probably "Marilyn was comfortable with who she was, and we should be, too."

No one is ever "just the fat girl" or "the skinny girl." We are greater than the sum of, or the appearance of, our parts! We should all be so fortunate as to have more than 12 inches of difference between our chest, waist and hip measurements, as Marilyn did. Take that, Liz Hurley, and I wouldn't say anything negative about you in any way, if you hadn't tried to tell lies about Marilyn (a 22 inch waist categorically cannot be "fat" - nor are Marilyn's hips "huge").

Almond Dream Bites: Yum!

Vegan, dairy-free and delicious: Almond Dream Bites will even make ice cream eaters happy! I LOVE almond milk of all types, and Almond Dream bites are a great new ice cream product from the makers of the delicious Almond Dream milks of all flavors, sweetened and unsweetened. These are light, not overly sweet, and have a delicious dairy-free, vegan dark chocolate coating.

Dark chocolate does taste better! Much fewer calories per serving than the similar ice cream product - tastes great, pretty good for you (not an every day treat).