It isn't groundbreaking to any thinking cognizant American. BUT, for the FDA it's GYNORMOUS

Couple days ago I wrote about how Almonds have now made it to the FDA 'Healthy" list. Not a bad thing. Probably from some corporate pressure, not saying which big Blue colored Diamond rated corporation that ten years ago got the FDA to change their rules for selling RAW almonds and thus put very nearly every other almond processor out of business. But that's the FDA's function, to do the bidding of BIG AGRIBUSINESSES and BIG DRUG COMPANIES. 

Well, that's what their function appears to be. Creating rules and procedures that protect the population from unsafe drugs, bad food manufacturing processes, and to be guardians of the health of all America might be their stated purpose, the reality is far far different. And I write about their failures all the time here on this blog. But for now, I want to congratulate the FDA for, well, for taking a step forward. The latest Dietary Guidelines came out a couple months ago. And they are a RADICAL change from the previous ones. In the past, the guidelines were drafted to ensure that the powerful food manufacturing corporations were happy. Concessions to each industry, making sure that processed foods were included. And in fact were placed with greater emphasis than real whole foods. 

This new Guide, is a departure from those concessions. It doesn't go quite far enough, however it's a start. You can take a look here (FDA Food Guidelines)  It's a hundred and forty-four pages of concepts that actually are a bit innovative for an agency that has never once done something like this. And by that I mean that this one time, the FDA has stated nutrition and health are closely related. Page 21.  They also tell us that we should 'limit calories from added sugars'. Page 33. Now, they also tell us to limit intake of transfats. The FDA earlier this year came out and declared that in two more years, transfats will no longer be allowed as an ingredient in any foods. Well, that's not true. Most manufacturers can petition to continue using the stuff and it probably won't make much difference, they will fill the shelves of stores much as they do now. But the FDA did finally admit they are not healthy. The Guide also tells us that we should consume low fat dairy products and/or soy. That was the seventies belief, and so much research is out now regarding how soy products are not in anyway healthy. But then soy is the third largest agricultural commodity in the US, so there's that concession.

The Guide also explains that you should eat grains, and at least fifty percent should be whole grains.

Then there are a couple of declarations that are just, well, weird. Page 35. "Nutritional needs should be met primarily with food"  This is a jab at the supplement industry. The FDA wants to control, sorry, REGULATE the supplement industry in a very bad way. And realistically, that isn't a bad idea, there has been some independent lab testing done of herbal stuff that was quite revealing. Hint hint, Large Arkansas Chain and some corner drug store brands that had little to none of the advertised herbs within the packages. Buyer Beware. And you get what you pay for. So, well, the advice is just odd. 

Page 44. Coconut oil and palm oils are not considered oils because they contain high levels of saturated fat. However the FDA says Canola, Soy other oils should be a part of your diet. Up to 27 grams. Daily. Really, CANOLA is toxic. But, it is the fifth largest agricultural commodity in America. Big bucks there. And then there is that saturated fat thing, these new guidelines tell us that we should be eating 26 ounces of meats, every week. TWENTY-SIX OUNCES!!!  And meats, all contain saturated fat. The really big thing that I don't understand is that same page 44 at the bottom is the statement that "Fats provide essential fatty acids and Vitamin E"  This one just makes me think that these provisions were added to keep the processed oil manufacturers happy. Because there isn't a single one of the oils they recommend, except olive oil, that contains much of the needed fatty acid, DHA. They all have ultra high levels of Omega-6 and low levels of the necessary Omega-3s. Read a bit about those here (the Omegas) Now I would like someone to please tell me how humans evolved needing processed plant oils in their diet in order to live. They are bad for humans, they should all be avoided at all costs, and especially, canola. Well, soy, corn, cottonseed, peanut, and well, all of them. The Guide describes how the Omegas comprise the polyunsaturated oil group. And that they are essential. We need to eat polyunsaturated fats to live. It's as if these people that wrote this Guide have not ever looked at the definitions of Omega fats, let alone the research defining how the body deals with the fats that are consumed. Yes, it's true we need Omega-6 fats, but you can get by with tiny amounts in your diet. And they will be a part of most of the vegetable material that you eat. And Omega-3 fats are the ones responsible for good health. Too many of the 6's and they outstrip the healthy aspects of the 3's. Processed oils contain HIGH amounts of Omega-6 and low amounts of Omega-3. The opposite of what you need for optimum health.

And just because back in the fifties one researcher, Dr. Ansel Keyes did a very poor job of assessing the effect of saturated fat on health, the world has taken those old worn out and outdated concepts as gospel. And the new research is showing that saturated fats are in fact healthy. Well, way way better than processed oils. But not a lot of money to be made telling the truth to anyone. 

Well, page 55. The Guide then tells about the Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian lifestyle. Man, why do the Feds push soy products. We know they are anti-nutritive, meaning they block the absorption of vitamins and minerals. They are extremely high in Lectins, which are toxic, and they have compounds that mimic human hormones. Not a good choice for anyone. EVER. And blah blah blah, I get the idea that none of these authors of the Guide have ever met a vegetarian. What would they do with someone that's a Vegan, that's beyond my guess. It must be the concept that Americans think for themselves and only eat real food and forgo the non-nutritive, convenience, chemical laden plasticized food that is manufactured for the sole purpose of keeping the agribusiness engine finely tuned to makiing money. Lots of it. 

Anyway, I gave up trying to read anymore than the first 70 pages of the new Guide. There is some pretty interesting stuff there. And the push toward Americans eating "Healthier" foods and living "Healthier Lifestyles" is a first for the FDA. Generally they tell us all to eat sugar, Crisco, Coke and Gatorade with every white flour white rice meal. So, for that, I applaud the FDA. 

They have just got a long long long way to go before they are even close to defining what is healthy, and what isn't.

Yep

Almonds are now considered HEALTHY. Or so says the FDA

LThe SCARY part of that title is that up until last month, the FDA has considered almonds as being, 'Not Healthy'. On September 17 just a bit over a month ago, the FDA published new rules over what they have defined as being, 'Healthy'. And the usage of that terminology in any labeling. Let's not forget that the FDA are the ones that took over 50 years to determine that transfats are 'Not Healthy'. Despite over 50 years of definitive research showing how horrific ALL artificially made transfats are to the human body. So that begs one to ask the question, 'What is the role of the FDA anyway?'

They do have a mission statement. FDA Mission   Personally I think they have failed at just about all of what they profess to be doing. But, that's just me. I mean 175 medications recalled and removed from the approved list after serious incidents, deaths and horrific complications became too great. Taking drug manufacturers to court for violating FDA regulations, including falsifying data to get drugs approved, and then fining those drug companies 20 billion dollars in total; is too little, too late. The FDA had approved each and every one of those 175 drugs to begin with. Inspections of imported food products are at an all time high of 2% of total imports; and of those inspected, over 80% are rejected for contamination, spoilage or other problems. The other 98% are on store shelves. addendum (I was called out on this and am now revising this by telling you it's 80% of fresh foods that are rejected. The number is not so high for seafood, hard candies and spices) The list of chemical additives used in the food-like substance manufacturing process is now over ELEVEN THOUSAND different chemicals. And of which over 700 are known carcinogens. And there is no way of knowing if that number is greater because so many have never been tested for toxicity or carcinogenicity. No, the FDA is not in any way shape or form fulfilling their Mission. My favorite example of FDA failure

The list of failures is endless. The FDA tells us the term Natural can be used on any product really. FDA Guideline. Then the FDA further defines the use of the word Natural by saying pesticides and other contaminates are fine and dandy FDA Further Guide to Natural So where does that leave the food processors that actually make real food that is NATURAL? Well, at a competitive disadvantage.

Then the FDA has somewhat stricter rules about using the term Healthy FDA on Healthy

I haven't figured that one out. 

Realistically the FDA had to revise the rules that Food and Food-like Substance Manufacturers utilize in labeling of their products as "Healthy". The revisions were needed because the FDA recently published their ALL NEW and IMPROVED DIETARY GUIDELINES FOR AMERICANS for 2015-2020. Which you can read here. Dietary Guidelines. And it is long, full of some interesting changes that the Feds recommend, and yet, doesn't do enough. Not anywhere near enough. It is recommended that Americans reduce their intake of sugary drinks, and reduce their intake of saturated fat. See page 14 of the pdf at the link above.

It isn't enough. But then big business controls what the FDA does and doesn't do. And the FDA in setting "Guidelines" can only recommend. There is no action taken other than tiny things like this change in the status of almonds going from "Not-Healthy" to their new status of "HEALTHY". The reason for the change--

• Foods must meet the “low fat” requirement (<3 g fat per serving) or total fat per serving must be primarily comprised of mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Mono- and polyunsaturated fat content must be declared on the Nutrition Facts Panel.
• Foods must contain at least 10% of the Daily Value for vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein, fiber, potassium or vitamin D. If using potassium or vitamin D to substantiate, the amount per serving must be declared on the label.

 Almonds haven't changed at all. It's the perception of their inherent nutrient density that has changed. And certainly for the better. That isn't in dispute. It's the whole concept that the FDA uses to create food guidelines without actually using available data and research showing the world just how horrific processed foods are. Ever since the inception of the program, the food pyramid, the FDA has bowed to the wishes of food manufacturers and changed what humans NEED to be healthy to include food-like substances that make manufacturers healthy. Profit wise. And at the expense of the health of Americans. You can read about the first "Food Pyramid" here.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad thing. It's just like all the other failures of the FDA, it's too little, too late.

Yep

What would Woody Allen say if he really looked around in the future?

The future of food:

What a future we have in store for us all. Great things, flying cars, supermen and women, interstellar travel and wondrous monumental technological innovations. Or, depending on who you listen to, a world that has little life left on it, nuclear winter, or even blazing heat having killed off most of the life. And all a result of human intervention. 

Who knows what tomorrow brings.

Woody Allen made a movie with my secret crush Diane Keaton long ago called Sleeper. Nerdish Woody wakes up 200 years in the future, and the world is very different. Cigarettes and chocolate are good for you. And the Orgasmatron is the most popular entertainment around. Well at least to Woody anyway. Time alone where he can think of post pubescent Korean girls.

I want to explore that world a bit more in depth. Given the path that America, and the international corporate system of the manufacturing of food like products have begun to follow. And the technology that has developed to accomplish what just might be, our food future...

I wake up, after having been accidentally frozen in liquid nitrogen in a bizarre calamity that would, well, make anyone laugh. Hey, it's me, a lot of weird crap has happened to me. The year is 2266, I was out of touch for 250 years. The company owners, give me an apology, and register my thumbprint so I can live, at their expense, for a while anyway. I have a young secretary assigned to me to help, at least until I can acclimate to the new world. I am sort of hungry, so we go out and find a diner. There in the front counter space are two huge blobs of quivering fleshy looking mounds. The counter man barks at us, "Hey we got the finest Chicken Little in the city. What you want us to make for you. Or maybe a little Beef Supremo. Just look at healthy they both are, tell me which you want."
My guide tells the man two sandwiches, Chicken Little. The man behind the counter slices off two hunks of the quivering flesh and tosses them behind him onto the hot griddle where they sizzle. We stand at the counter and watch as the sandwiches are made. Once finished, we sit at a booth near the back of the diner.

"What was that?" I ask
"The greatest technological innovation ever! Just think, when scientists were able to genetically create a living piece of flesh, it made it possible to feed a nutrient based solution to the living material, it grows and becomes real living chicken or beef."
"No pork?"
"This diner is Kosher."
That made sense, my people persevere. "So what's this green stuff on the sandwich, it isn't lettuce."
"Well Mr. Marshall, when the corporations assumed control of the world some 200 years ago, Bayer, our Almighty Guardian," and here she bowed her head in a religious sort of gesture, "outlawed all plants except those needed to create our foods we have today. Now days, the only things growing on the planet, outside the few remaining acres of forest preserve in San Francisco, are corn, wheat, soy, cotton, beets and canola. Every single thing that we consume can be artificially manufactured from those basic ingredients. Life is ever more wondrous than ever before."

I know it sounds like an impossibility, but think about it. 
This scenario is in fact, the goal of every CEO of every one of the food like substance manufacturing corporations, the CEOs of every agrichemical corporation, and every politician as well. That's because when the takeover happens, the politicos will already have structured a deal with their corporate rulers to ensure they live high on the hog and not have to worry about anything.

Like they do now.

Yep

Flu Vaccines A reprint

I don't do this often, but I found this to be pretty spectacular. So this woman gives very credible arguments for not getting the flu vaccine. It's a multi multi billion dollar business with no viable efficacy. It's never been proven they work. Read it, it's very well done.  And wait, look, there are initials after name. Some think that's more important than anything else in the world.

Flu Vaccines Part I

 by Pamela A. Popper, Ph.D., N.D.

 

 

 

It’s fall, the time when health authorities, medical doctors, and government officials start aggressively promoting flu vaccines for everyone. My advice - just say “no.”

 

Marketing the flu vaccine to the public requires a lot of misrepresentation, which includes overstating the incidence and risks associated with the flu. The flu virus is constantly present and does not make a brief appearance during “flu season.” Influenza is often confused with influenza-like illness (ILI) which can result from 200 viruses in addition to influenza A and B.  These viruses produce the same symptoms as flu, which include fever, headache, aches, pains, cough, and runny noses, making it impossible to distinguish between the two without diagnostic testing. An individual is seven times more likely to have an influenza-like illness than influenza, but ILI is rarely serious.

 

Nonetheless The Centers for Disease Control promotes flu vaccines, stating, “Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different, and influenza infection can affect people differently. Even healthy people can get very sick from the flu and spread it to others. Over a period of 31 seasons between 1976 and 2007, estimates of flu-associated deaths in the United States range from a low of about 3,000 to a high of about 49,000 people.”[i]  But on another page of its website, the agency states, “CDC does not know exactly how many people die from seasonal flu each year.[ii] In other words, the CDC aggressively promotes a solution for a problem that it cannot quantify.

 

What can be more easily quantified is risks associated with the vaccine. On several occasions, flu vaccine programs have been terminated due to side effects. In October 1976, The National Influenza Immunization Program (NIIP) started with about one million vaccinations per week, and grew quickly to four million per week. But within only two months, ten states had reported cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to the vaccine. In December 1976, the program was discontinued.

 

By January 1977, more than 500 cases of GBS had been reported. Some patients recovered completely, some partially, and 25 people died. The NIIP determined that the risk of developing GBS within 6 weeks was 10 times higher for those receiving a flu vaccine than for unvaccinated people. While this should have been the end of promoting population-wide vaccination for flu until safety could be established, flu vaccine promotion programs continued. In 1992, 1993, and 1994 flu vaccines again were shown to increase the risk of GBS.[iii] [iv] [v]

 

As of November 2013, there were 93,000 reactions attributed to flu vaccines reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) including 1,080 deaths, 8,888 hospitalizations, 1,801 disabilities, and 1,700 cases of Guillian Barre Syndrome.[vi]

 

According to data from the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the flu shot is the most dangerous vaccine in America. During one reporting period, out of 134 cases settled before the court, 79 were due to the flu shot, and these included three deaths. While the most common injury resulting from flu shots was Guillain-Barre syndrome, others included acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, transverse myelitis, shingles (herpes zoster), neuropathic demyelination, seizures, neuropathy, brachial plexopathy, rheumatoid arthritis, optic neuritis, and Bell's palsy.[vii] 

 

The adjuvants in flu vaccines, which include mercury (25 mcg), formaldehyde, polyethylene glycol, egg protein, polysorbate 80, MSG, pig gelatin, and antibiotics are equally concerning. Between 2009-2010, fetal deaths reported to VAERS had increased 4,250% just with the addition of Thimerosal to flu vaccines.[viii]

 

Just as concerning is the efficacy (or lack of efficacy) of the vaccine. A Cochrane review analyzed the impact of flu vaccines on healthy adults including pregnant women and newborns by looking at 90 reports of 116 studies that compared flu vaccines to placebo or no intervention. Combined, the studies included close to ten million people. The group concluded that 40 people would have to be vaccinated to prevent just one case of influenza-like illness (ILI), and 71 people have to be vaccinated to prevent one case of influenza. The vaccine had no effect on the number of working days lost or hospitalization rates. The vaccine also had almost no effect on pregnant women or their newborn babies. Live aerosol vaccine was similarly useless.[ix]

 

In another review, Cochrane reported that flu vaccines were not effective for the elderly either.[x]

 

Cochrane conducted a similar review to evaluate the efficacy rates (defined as prevention of confirmed influenza), effectiveness (defined as prevention of influenza-like illness), and adverse events of influenza vaccines in healthy children. The review included 75 studies and showed:

• Six children under age 6 have to be vaccinated with live attenuated vaccine in order to prevent one case of flu.
• In all of the studies, there was no useable data for children under the age of two.
• For children age two or younger, inactivated flu vaccines were no more effective than placebo.
• In order to prevent one case of influenza in children over the age of six, 28 children need to be vaccinated, and eight need to be vaccinated to prevent just one case of influenza-like illness.

 

The researchers found “no evidence of effect on secondary cases, lower respiratory tract disease, drug prescriptions, otitis media… (only) weak single study evidence of effect on school absenteeism and caring parents from work.”  In other words, the children had almost no reduction in risk of developing the flu, flu-like illness, or of developing complications from flu. The vaccine was shown to be almost worthless.

Side effects were noted, however, and some were serious such as narcolepsy and febrile convulsions.

 

The researchers expressed surprise that the current recommendation is to vaccinate healthy children starting at 6 months of age in the U.S. and several other countries based on such limited evidence, and advised that research is needed in order to identify all potential harm resulting from flu vaccines.

 

Just as important, researchers identified issues concerning study design, funding, and scientific misbehavior. The Cochrane group reported that industry-funded studies showed more positive results than those funded with public money. They reported that “An earlier systematic review of 274 influenza vaccine studies published up to 2007 found industry-funded studies were published in more prestigious journals and cited more than other studies independently from methodological quality and size…the review showed that reliable evidence on influenza vaccines is thin but there is evidence of widespread manipulation of conclusions and spurious notoriety of the studies. The content and conclusions of this review should be interpreted in light of this finding.”[xi]  Translation:  lots of misconduct is required in order to report conclusions that support flu vaccines.

         

Even the package inserts on the vaccines state that they are not effective. For example, the package insert for FLULAVAL 2013-2014 formula for Influenza subtype A viruses and type B virus states, “…there have been no controlled trials adequately demonstrating a decrease in influenza disease after vaccinations with FLULAVAL.[xii]

 

Next week, flu vaccines for pregnant women, healthcare workers, and widespread misbehavior in promoting flu vaccines.

---

[i] http://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/keyfacts.htm

[ii] http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/us_flu-related_deaths.htm

[iii] Lasky T, Terracciano G, Magder L, et al. “The Guillain-Barré syndrome and the 1992-1993 and 1993-1994 influenza vaccines.” NEJM 1998;339(25):1797-802.

[iv] Schonberger L, Bregman D, Sullivan-Bolyai J, et al. “Guillain-Barre syndrome following vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization Program, United States, 1976–1977.” Am J Epidemiol  1979; 110(5):105–23.

[v] Geier M, Geier D, Zahalsky A. “Influenza vaccination and Guillain Barre syndrome small star, filled.” Clin Immunol 2003;107(2):116-21.

[vi]  https://vaers.hhs.gov

[vii] http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/data/index.html

[viii] https://vaers.hhs.gov

[ix] Demicheli V, Jefferson T, Al-Ansary LA, Ferroni E, Rivetti A, Di Pietrantonj C. “Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy adults.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2014, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD001269. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD001269.pub5

[x] Rivetti D, Jefferson T, Thomas R, Rudin M, Rivetti A, Di Pietrantonj C, Demicheli V. “Vaccines for preventing influenza in the elderly.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;(3):CD004876.

[xi] Jefferson T, Rivetti A, Di Piettrantonj C, Demicheli V, FerroniE. “Vaccines for preventing influenza in healthy children.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev August 15 2012 www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2289594

[xii] http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM112904.pdf

First you have to take a leek. Bless us Oh Great One, Julia Child

I first heard that joke when Julia Child had one incarnation of her television cookery show or another. I believe it was back in the seventies, it was so clever, she was so deadpan. I often think she had no idea what the connotation was to which the public attributed her comment. she didn't need to know, it boosted her to ever greater fame. Julia Child, Superstar. how can we honor her memory. 

By taking a leek.

I often make little mini muffin sized either cheesecakes that are savory, or like these, crustless quiches. I'm not eating a

lot of flour products of late, just having trouble getting real organic wheat berries. I have been reading a lot about how much glyphosate (Roundup weed killer) is used on wheat grown in the US. Sad, but most conventional wheat growers spray glyphosate on their crops in order to facilitate faster more consistent harvest. Glyphosate is now estimated to be sprayed on over 93% of wheat. And the worst part is that it's sprayed just a few days before harvest. Glyphosate has a nineteen day half life in moist soil. Once sprayed on wheat kernels, it stays there right through the manufacturing process and is a main source of contamination of wheat products. I'm not the first to draw this conclusion, that people aren't allergic to wheat or gluten, they're allergic to the crap sprayed on the wheat. (NCBI Library on the subject, my favorite Fed thing, a repository of knowledge)

Some things won't change, I will still eat bread that I grind the wheat myself after having bought the wheat kernels as certified organic. It's just expensive, and hard to find. Austin had a great food selection, Phoenix, not so much. But I try.

Anyway, I took a leek, cut the green part off, sliced in half and washed the sand out. Cut into slices with half a red onion and sauteed in a bit of organic butter and some olive oil. Added some nice white wine and let that evaporate off. Then beat four eggs with a half cup sour cream. Now, I grated some Asiago cheese (GOTTA LOVE HARD

CHEESES) I just read about a Norwegian study that showed the benefits of eating hard cheeses in raising good HDL cholesterol which helps to prevent heart disease. Rubbed a bit of butter around the cupcake tin and filled with the leek mix and some cheese. Then poured in the egg mix and topped with a little more cheese. Baked at 350 for about 25 minutes and they

were brown, puffy and smelled fabulous. I let them sit on the counter for a bit, maybe twenty minutes or so. Then just use a knife to loosen the edges and pop them out. 

I then made a Waldorf. So good. Organic apples are in season at the farmers markets now. So this is all organic, sliced celery, black grapes (sorry, from Winco)((they carry a lot more organic of late)) a red onion, and a diced apple. And a few pecans from Picacho and mix

all together and coat with yogurt with just a touch of honey.  

The picture at the top of the page shows an eighth of a cantaloupe. Sadly this is the last of the REAL summer melons. Local Cantaloupes are done for the season. You can buy melons at the grocery stores. But they are sad Sad SAD. If you have never had a real picked when ripe cantaloupe then you have no idea what you're missing. Grocery store melons are picked when hard, shipped for who knows how long, and have little flavor. And little resemblance to real melons. I eat a lot of melon in the summer. It's worth a drive to the farmers market just to pick them up. And the variety of other melons, amazing. Orange flesh Honeydew are my favorite.

Yep

Why I don't go to dentists. Or how I learned to save the world and love the bomb

Few will recognize the Dr. Stangelove reference. So be it. Few have the same odd sense of humor I have. Few are reading this because they want to know why....

I gave up drinking sugary sodas back in the late seventies. By that time, I had had 4 cavities and one eventually rotted and caused the tooth to die precipitating a root canal and crown. I chose a gold crown, cuz it was cooler looking. Then, I went every two years after marriage, but I stopped as there were no problems and I adopted the dental regime of my paternal grandfather. The man was a horrific human, bigoted, opinionated (he gave new definition to that term) and just an all around obnoxious person. But he did have nice teeth in his nineties. He brushed with peroxide and baking soda. I started that as well and found no need for dentists. 

But, one time, some thirty-one years after the affixing of a gold crown onto my tooth, the crown came off. I went to the dentist and requested that they apply their special glue and for me the world would be a better place. Nothing ever works out the way one wants it to.

I get into the chair, the technician, a very attractive blond with a winning smile and incredibly over whitened teeth. She takes a probe and begins to insert it between the tooth and gum on the front row of my bottom teeth. I grab her arm and tell her to stop. I don't want that. She tells me the purpose is to determine how much room there is between tooth and gum and what might become of my teeth should there be excessive gaps. I asked her not to do that, and to proceed with the X-rays as I had thought that was the reason why she had come in. That's what the receptionist told me would occur first. She sighed, then took the pictures. I waited, and eventually the dentist came in. 

Slipping the X-rays into the viewer, he starts off by telling me there are gaps in the area between the gums and teeth and this will necessitate a cleaning and planing of the area below the gum line. Four visits to complete all the work, financing available. I ask him where the gaps are. He then takes a closer look at the pictures and points to the two front teeth where the technician had poked the probe in. I pointed this out, I said there only seem to be two teeth where this has occurred, and the gap was caused by the probing and luckily there are no other gaps as I stopped her at two. 

My dentist was silent, but only for a moment. Well now let's look at what's going on here then, he began. We need to grind down those sharp edges and build up some areas so we can get a good impression for a nice porcelain crown there. And we need to work on that little caries there and we can always grind out those other three old cavities and get new porcelain crowns to replace them. And I think we need to remove your wisdom teeth, once that's done you'll have a lot more room in there and we won't have any more problems like this in the  future.

I was actually a little dumbfounded. I had no idea that my mouth was in such poor shape as I have never had any problems in the past thirty-one years. So I stopped the dentist and said, all I want is to have the gold crown glued back on. That's it. OH NO!!!!!  You can't get that done, the base of the tooth has actually rotted a bit and the areas where the crown was attached are gone. There needs to be a tremendous amount of work done to prep your mouth in order to get this to work and not cause any troubles in the future. 

Why do I need the wisdom teeth pulled? To give you more room. The teeth help me chew food, they are not giving me trouble, never had. Why would I put myself through anything to achieve a result that is without any realistic benefit. More room is pretty abstract. Again, silence. But only for a moment. I need to get the other cavities taken care of, crowns are much better than fillings, the root planing is a necessary procedure, the small caries (which is a depression in the upper left front molar and has been there for decades) needs to be drilled out and a crown made. And the wisdom teeth is a normal procedure with lifelong benefits.  And he jumped up and as he left he told me the technician will help with scheduling all the needed work. 

I got up and left. They mailed me a bill for over six hundred dollars. I never paid it. That was fourteen years ago. To this day I have a gap between the molars on the lower right side where a gold crown used to be, but of which I now carry said crown around in my wallet. A souvenir of sorts. I don't drink soda. That right there causes more dental problems than anything else in modern life. I gave up most sugary things long long ago. And of recent years, I gave up all sugars and all processed foods. And that has helped the bone degeneration caused by the intervention of modern medical practitioners that used drugs to treat symptoms and never actually ever attempted to learn the real reason why I was sick. They didn't really care, it wasn't their life they were practicing on. 

So, I drink a pot of coffee a day. I smoke cigars. And my teeth are pretty white. Not like the fancy TV models, but white. I don't have dental problems, I don't have tartar buildup. I don't eat the foods that cause them. And I never use fluoride toothpaste, it says right on the label, don't swallow. If you do, call the poison control center. The tooth gap only bothers me when I eat nuts. And for the most part, my life is a lot better off with out having had to go back and spend a fortune on work that did not need to be done. Oh Dr. Strangelove, what have you taught us over the decades?


Yep

Spur of the moment cooking - - Why NOT? you can do it also, it's Fantastic!!

Criminy, it's been weeks since I posted anything about food. It's the heat. That's a lie. It's actually my relationship problems. Seems to be a theme in my life, me and women blowing me off from a date made at their invitation. Oh well, no more beer filled evenings, I have got to get my life on track and priorities straight. Sort of stopped working on the business plan and realistically, stopped just about everything. All done, this is something I cooked this morning and it was fantastic.

Super easy, and wondrously spectacular. Stuff in the fridge and from the cupboard. Easy peasy. Just sliced a Yukon Gold potato into pretty thin slices. (You just have got to have a very sharp knife to do this. Or mandolin) ((perhaps I should do an article about how to sharpen knives -Yes-No))

So I took three potatoes and sliced them, a large leek and sliced it as well. Then a green pepper and cut the sides off and cut the sides into thin slivers. Sliced 4 scallions and chopped some cilantro. Then broke three eggs into a bowl and beat them well with a quarter cup Marsala and a half cup of sour cream. Melted a couple tablespoons real

organic butter in a saute pan and added a tablespoon olive oil. Then made a ring of potato slices. Next comes the leek. (Do you know how to make any dish that contains a leek? Well according to Julia Child, First you have to take a leek) Then pile on the pepper, sliced scallions and cilantro. Pour the egg mixture over it all, top with some grated cheese and then another

layer of potato. Drizzle some olive oil over the potatoes and add lots of black pepper. Continue to cook on the stove for about ten minutes, then put in the oven and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes. I like a bit of browning, so I then put it under the broiler for a few, just until browned. 

 

 A nice lunch meal. And no meat.

Yep