Wow......well, I've decided that if I'm going to continue blogging something has to change. I'm devoting 100% of my eating habits & life to the diet but hardly any of my computer time. Funny thing is, I'm on the computer a lot! I think I get "stage fright" as in "Oh but I have nothing interesting to say" or "but I can't talk about that, they want to hear about food." Well, if I try to blog daily or even weekly, like I'm supposed to, I don't think it will be a problem. So, starting today, I'm going to try to give you all a break down of what I'm eating & any news of my personal life if there is any. SOunds simple but why did it take me this long to figure it out?

First of all, I was extremely busy this October. I had the huge LIRR test where I had to write out 50 out of 151 definitions verbatim, word for word. Of course, no one knew what one's those would be so I had to study like crazy for 4 weeks. One "and" written down instead of an "or" & the whole answer would be wrong - that's 2 points. Less than an 80% & you fail, you don't get to continue with the training & no LIRR assistant conductorship for you! Good news is, I passed! Got a 98%. So now my only pain is finding shoes for the classes b/c there's all these regulations working for the government & even though I'm not on a train yet, none of the shoes I own meet their stringent regulations. SOOOOOOO ANNOYING!!!! Well, I do love shopping so it's not that big a problem.

Let's see here, Sunday night, not so good diet wise. My salmon sausages from Whole Foods had too much pepper in them. So, I had an all wheat organic english muffin w/ earth balance & blackberry jam instead. The O thought the salmon was out of this world though. :-) Later at the party, I had half a cup of coffee & half a cup of Dunkin Donuts vanillia chai tea mixed. Definately too sweet & I'm sure the milk wasn't soy or rice. I had a donut w/ orange frosting too. & a piece of BANANA (AVOID for A cake a friend made. It's so hard to not hurt people's feeling when they've gone to a lot of trouble & eat healthy.........It wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't go to DD afterwards. The pumpkins we carved at our friend's house came out really well! Mine's the bat if you want to take a look at the link here....(just cut & paste if it's not working) http://69.114.110.218:8084/bolo/albumItem.php?albumID=47

The morning got off much better today with a Quercetin vitamin after my lemon water. (Quercetin is best on an empty stomach, just like the warm lemon water) Half an hour later for breakfast, I had two egg whites w/ mozzerella cheese & 2 slices of manna bread - all beneficial. Then I put some DELICIOUS spread on the toasted bread, both from Whole Foods. One extremely tastely & spicey one is the Horseradish Cheddar by Trempherbe made in Maine. It does have vinegar as ingredient 6 as well as the ambiguous "spices" as ingredient 9 but it sure is tastey & Horseradish is beneficial for us AB's. Hopefully the avoids are small enough amounts to not slow down my metabolism too much or agglutinate that many cells :-) Everything in moderation as Dr. D says (as well as several others...:-D)

The second spread was a black olive spread which I'm hoping are Greek olives since those are neutral for AB's as opposed to all other olives which are avoids. It says on it "Imported Delicacy from the Adriatic - Olives for this paste are found exclusively on the island Solta." Sounds Greek to me! The bigger letters in green say Dalmatia Black Olive Tapenade made of Ground Solta Red Olives, Sea Salt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that they are made of the big greek olives b/c it sure was tastey this morning!!! Certainly gave me a jump start!!!

Then I had a tiny bit of water to wash down my North American Pharmcal Blood Type vitamins. & a piece of celery while I've been typing this. Dr.D's vitamin's are FANTASTIC!!! I'll have to write more about them tomorrow.

Guess it is time for a knee(s) update. After our previous trip to Fairbanks last March, my knees were so badly swollen that they were very painful to the touch. The knee joints continued to hurt for a full month. It was shortly thereafter that I began getting prolotherapy shots once a week in each knee for six weeks. At the end of the six weeks, there was much improvement. I was able to do some things that I hadn’t been able to do for a long time. Unfortunately, my ligaments are still not holding well, so some of the activities I’d planned on doing were not to be done. Sad!

Well, I am very pleased to announce that I did much walking and climbing stairs during this trip! This time, my knees did not swell! I was not in pain! I am happy that those shots did what they were supposed to do. Hopefully, someday my ligaments will tighten and then I’ll really be able to ride a bike (well, maybe and not head for the trees) or do stair climbing a lot easier. I have been walking (primarily at the store) for about half an hour at a time and my knees haven’t bothered me at all, either! Thank you, Dr. Huffman!

Have you seen the Alaska Airlines 737 jet painted as a salmon? It is really beautifully done. Well, we flew on that flying fish from Fairbanks to Anchorage. The plane continued on to Sitka and then Seattle. Everybody that sees that salmon-thirty-salmon jet will be reminded of Alaska’s wild caught salmon. That is a great advertising scheme.

It’s been cold this week with lows in the teens, clear skies, and daylight under nine hours! Yes, winter is here. I had to add insulated underwear to my wardrobe to wear under my skirts. I could (and will probably do so soon) wear slacks, but I’m going to try to hold off for a while, yet. Today was probably the last time I’ll be wearing my loafers. My feet got really cold. Now, it’ll be walking shoes or boots. Loafers are so much easier to remove. I really hate wearing shoes at all. Those beautiful seal skin moccasins I bought in Fairbanks will be great to wear inside once the floor stays cold. Mukluks are okay for ice and snow, but I don’t have any of them now.

I’ve been enjoying listening to my Mind Aerobics CD’s, especially the one for stress reduction. Even the boys are enjoying that one! They mellow out and sleep well.

I’ve also been making some extremely healthful smoothies with a flax seed oil & cottage cheese blended base that is just super. I blend that with a banana, some frozen berries (or tropical fruits), and either sparkling water or a complimentary fruit juice. I’m hoping that the addition of the flax seed oil will really help keep us all healthy throughout the long winter months ahead.

In our absence winter arrived at home. When we stepped off the airplane last night, there was a film of ice covering the ground. The boys had already told us about and inch or so of snow received a couple days earlier. Although today’s temperature was up to 40 degrees, the snow is still on the ground. Guess winter has begun. We’ll be snow-free in about 5 to six months. We were also at 9 hours 19 minutes of daylight today. Still losing over 5 minutes of daylight a day.

The community of Fairbanks really worked hard to make the AFN (Alaska Federation of Natives) convention a success. There were people at the airport to greet us, Army personnel worked as security at the convention center, while other’s worked around the center. There were also free shuttles to and from the hotels, shuttles to various restaurants, on and on. After the banquet, there was a fireworks display! My favorite hospitality memory is of the Fairbanks’ Chief of Police at the Athabaskan Fiddlers Dance. He wore a full police uniform on top of which he wore a beautiful, beaded, moose-hide vest. He danced until closing with many different older women. He has a beautiful sense of cultural sensitivity and is truly loved by the community!

While there, and the reason for our trip, my husband was honored with the President’s Award for Public Service. That recognizes an Alaska Native who has demonstrated dedication, competence and sensitivity in the area of public service. This award recognizes individuals who have promoted and assisted in the development of their community, or whose accomplishments and leadership qualities have most directly affected and benefited Native peoples.

We were able to visit with several of his family members, too. It was good to spend time with those we rarely see. One cousin brought some baleen from Barrow for us, but then we didn’t get things coordinated enough to actually get it. Although I tried to get her by phone, I was never successful. I guess she had to take it back to Barrow. Maybe next time. Another cousin is a dog musher and it never fails to surprise me how his dog yard is always immaculate! He has 50+ adult race dogs and over 30 pups, now. Sunday, after attending church services we visited with his brother and family at their new home which is several miles back on an ice-covered road in North Pole. It’s actually only a few miles from Santa’s House.

I did buy a couple real treasures during the convention. One is a CD of several gospel hymns sung in the Inupiat (northern Eskimo) language (Barrow). I first heard those versions while there at a whaling festival several years ago. It is special to hear favorite hymns sung in words of another culture. The other item I bought was a beautiful, beaded. pair of sealskin moccasins for only $100.00! I know my feet will remain toasty warm this winter and for many more Alaskan winters to come!

There were people there from all over Alaska. Remember, Alaska is 1/5th the size of the continental US and has more coastline. There are 12 regional corporations (a 13th comprises Alaskan Natives not associated with the other 12, such as those living in the lower 48). There are many different languages and dialects (80+) that are spoken here. Some of the elders do not speak English. Communication is sometimes difficult, but the spirit of the native community is strong and good. I’m always thankful when we have an opportunity to refresh ourselves with the culture and spirit.

Food wise the trip was pretty much a disaster! I’d forgotten just how much wheat and pork there is out in the ‘real’ world. The banquet, however, had a fairly compliant meal (for us Os). There was a nice salad, filet mignon, fresh steamed spinach, and a vegetable combo with shrimp. Of course the dessert was wheat and sugar. Fortunately I was so full I didn’t have to eat any of that!

Music: Depeche Mode ~ Playing The Angel (Awesoem new album. Very nicely crafted)

Mood: Nag Champa and Sage

G'day gang. Just spent the better part of the day accomplishing menial chores and reading up on the atrocities of our government, the Federal Reserve, and the AMA and Vaccine pushers... Really heartening stuff! Nothin' says lovin' like an all out expose of the moneyed vultures that control our lives! Anyway... How's about a good natured blog? Eh?

I'm continually adapting my eating style to my lifestyle... As of late I really haven't needed or wanted much of a breakfast... I do some Noni(unrated) juice mixed with other berry juices, a Tbsp. of the extra Virgin coconut oil (avoid), maybe a 'lil nutritional yeast, perhaps a bit of miso, always a big cup of tea. I've been using Collinsonia (Stone Root) Pau d'Arco, peppermint, green chai, green jasmine, Echinacea, ginseng (all types as well as Eleuthro)... Whatever floats my boat... Organic and Fair trade when it's available. If you're ever lookin' for obscure herbs like the ones I steep, try asking your health food store professional to order you some from a company like Frontier Herbs, or whoever else the order from... Good tea means good health... Right?

Lunches are usually really simple too. As of late I've been having the same things over and over, just rotating them up a bit... A can of organic pinto, black, or refried beans mixed with any good extra virgin oil, apple cider vinegar (avoid), some sorta seaweed (kombu, wakame, hijiki, kelp, dulse, etc. All full of iron, iodine, calcium, and VERY alkaline!), and a smattering of beneficial seasoning make a fine meal. I've been using Ghee, coconut (avoid), olive, hazelnut, toasted pumpkin seed, hi lignan flax, hemp seed (unrated), sesame and toasted sesame, and grape seed (unrated) oils... Good stuff. I need a LOT of fat in my diet to digest and "function" properly... Total Vata type if your in to Ayurveda.

Other days for lunch I'll do these cool Alp Snack Hemp seed Bars that have dried fruits and almond in them... One is made with dark chocolate. All the proceeds from these go to Hemp Advocacy. Something I'm VERY passionate about... If you've never researched the environmental and economic benefits of hemp, DO IT! I'm sure you'll run into all the horrid cover ups and conspiring done by major corporations (Big Oil, Du Pont, The US Government, etc.) to make it a crime to grow it too... Happy reading, and, if you vibe with it, join the good fight!

Oh yeah... I'm ranting again... So I take two of these delicious healthful bars, put some ghee and maybe some Herbamare on 'em (weird, aint I!?) and have those with some Imagine portabella mushroom soup or perhaps some Amy's or Walnut Acres Split Pea Soup. Good lunch. Occasionally I'll have the soup and instead of the bars have a bag of Pumpkorn toasted pumpkin seeds (fabulous and very beneficial!) the Original Variety have a bit of black pepper, but they make a mild variety with only garlic powder as a seasoning for us sticklers... Other days I like to jam on these awesome flax crackers by Glutino, they make an apple cinnamon, an original, and a tomato (avoid for secretors) onion kind... They're friggin' awesome and they'll rock your world when dressed properly. I like to smear them with almond butter, peanut butter, ghee, miso, or whatever else you have around... Or just use the things as a spoon to eat your dinner... Ha ha... Good stuff....

Of course some days I cook a bad ass vegetable stir fry or something else vegetable based, but the veggies usually dominate dinner and days off, when I actually have time to prepare them. I simply don't digest raw vegetables very well... For now... Gotta do more liver flushes... Been a long time. Too long. To make up for the lack of fresh produce, I used to juice, now, out of lethargy, I take about ten spirulina tabs a day, and have a piece of fruit at around 11am, an hour and a half or so before I eat lunch.

Oh yeah... These lunches I make? I usually just leave them in Tupperware in my car until I take my lunch break at about 12:30... Works for me... Ha ha... I'd rather eat lukewarm food than cold food (maybe not the safest according to your friendly local health inspector), and I'm sure as hell not using a cancer box... I mean... A microwave...

Dinner is a veritable rainbow of colors and flavors for me. I LOVE to cook, especially for other people. But... 'Tis a blog for another day.

I have been on the porcine thyroid product for about 3 weeks now and have been amazed at the changes:

1. Sleep is good, but I don't need 9 hours a night. I sleep around 7 hours and wake up feeling refreshed and rested. I used to sleep 9 hours with naps in the evening and would still feel exhausted.

2. Skin: dry areas have cleared up and bumps on back of arms are smooth. My cracked ugly heels are smoothing out even without the use of cream!!!

3. Digestion has improved. I used to take mega doses of vitamins and now I am down to normal amounts. When T3 doesn't get to the cellular level body temperature drops and enzymes don't work very well. Enzymes are used in digestion, so many of the nutrients my body required weren't being used properly, so I started using more to compensate.

4. Muscle Aches have disappeared. I love sports and exercising, but since I was a teenager, after exercising or going through a stressful time, my muscles would ache for days and I would need to lie in a hot bath to relieve the pain. I thought the pain was from all of the sports related injuries I had, but as I found out, it is a common symptom of hypothyroid. I no longer limp when I get out of bed in the morning and the chronic neck and shoulder tension has been about 95% relieved. No more golf elbow or throwing shoulder !!!!!

5. My Weight. As a child, I was always skinny until I turned 12 and went through puberty (estrogen sky rocketed) In one summer I put on 20 lbs and went from a AA cup to a C cup (age 14). Not only that, but every cycle I would put on 2-5 lbs and lose all but about 1/4 - 1/2 lb. I would exercise like crazy and literally eat about 900-1200 calories a day and then lose 1/4 lb in 2 weeks. Even with the blood type diet, I still had to be extremely careful in order not to put on copious amounts of weight. I could only eat 2 meals a day with no snacks and absolutely no wine of any sort. With the thyroid meds, I have lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks without even trying!!!! I still am controlled about my food and exercise, but I don't have to be fanatical.

I am losing the spare tire around my upper abdomen that mysteriously appeared after my appendix operation and my lean body weight is going up. In the past, when I would start to exercise with weights and cardio, my lean body weight would drop and my fat would go up, my coaches and trainers would think I was lying about what I ate because in theory this shouldn't happen.

6. My Cycle: I have experienced a 30 day cycle for the first time in my entire life!!!!!

I am so thrilled my 33 year search for answers to all my little symptoms is over finally, I have the energy to get on with everything I need to do now.

On a side note my Pfaff sewing machine I bought when I was 15 years old with my first paycheques finally died 1 month ago. This machine got me through design school and actually was used occasionally in my factory for 15 years. Most home machines don't work 8 hours per day 2-3 days per week for 30 years, so it served me well...I bought a brand new Pfaff and I have found a new love. I sewed a couple of shirts, finished some quilts and altered some pants over the past week. No threads have broken, no flying needles, perfect tension, I love sewing again!!!!

If anyone wants to buy a sewing machine, I would highly recommend anything by Pfaff!!!

We drove to Anchorage on Wednesday to do a bit of shopping and squeeze in another pre-winter outing. There were a couple items I needed to buy for my studio and jewelry making which was a primary reason for the trip. Also, the nearest full-service health food store is there and some recipes I want to make require ingredients not found locally. Of course, we made a stop at Wal-Mart, ate dinner at Royal Fork (which at least gives me a chance of eating foods that are somewhat compliant), and drove back home. It’s just our regular 340 mile round-trip in a day.

On the drive up, we counted Trumpeter Swans. Two weeks ago we counted about a dozen and this week, 84. Last year at this time we counted over 120. There weren’t very many babies this year, less than 2 dozen. One family, however, was very successful with 5 babies keeping the parents very occupied. Within a few days they will finish gorging themselves, group together and head south.

I was feeling under the weather when I woke on Wednesday morning, but did not let that keep me from the trip. I was really feeling puny by the time I drove into the driveway. We bought gas for $2.54/gallon in Anchorage (price war). My husband cleaned the windshield and headlights. About 40 miles south of Anchorage we made our bathroom and refreshment stop. Other than a couple “out houses� this is the only bathroom for the next 120 miles. As we were leaving, we discovered a headlight was out. There was no place to pick up a new one, so we just came on home. As the traffic was very light, I was able to use the high beams for most of the distance. Then, as luck would have it, while about 50 feet from our driveway, a police officer turned on his lights! Fortunately, there was no problem! I love our small community.

As we were leaving Anchorage, I called the boys to tell them the buffalo stew cooking in the crock pot would be finished and for them to dish up. I didn’t tell them to be sure and stir the ingredients first. When we came in, I went to dish some dinner up and all that was left were root vegetables and broth! Apparently, they ate buffalo cubes and greens for their dinner, as those were the top layers. At least it was very good for them.

Well, I’ve been languishing with the crud now for three days. The fever is almost gone. About six hours ago, I felt like I might live! There is hope for the future.

On Thursday, my husband and I will be flying to Fairbanks to attend the Alaska Federation of Natives conference. We’ll visit with many of his relatives from the interior villages and Arctic coast. This conference consists of Alaskan Indians, Eskimos, Aleut, Haida, and Tlingket peoples’ and corporations. The 12 regional corporations were developed during the Alaskan Native Land Claims Settlement Act and partly explain why there aren’t reservations in Alaska. Anyway, they have a big business meeting once a year. There will be lots of good “native� foods to enjoy, lots of people with whom to reacquaint ourselves, and a special activity. I’ll let you know the rest of the story after we get back early next week. Till then…

Oh, so much has gone on since the last blog. Where to begin.....

Well, last weekend, I completed a very random crock pot recipe. Grubster bought some turkey so I browned it up and mixed it in with all sorts of root veggies: turnips, parsnips, fennel, garlic, carrots, celery, mustard, turmeric, a little tapioca. Seems like I'm missing something....oh yeah, a little soy sauce, butter, ginger. In a separate pot: wild rice with blueberries, apples, walnuts, cinnamon, maple syrup. Yum!

The crock pot stuff had kind of a funny smell to it. I can't figure out which veggie or was it the meat was giving off the smell but I'm going to have to slightly alter the mix next time. Grubster loved it all though!

We went to an apple orchard the next day. It was fun to pet and feed the goats minus the goats trying to eat my jeans as well as my polar fleece sweater (trying to tell a goat that polar fleece isn't good for it is pointless). We didn't actually pick the apples because most were already picked. We took half a peck each of Honeycrisp and Sweet 16s. Have you ever had those Sweet 16s? They are SO sweet! Before getting there we had already eaten apples on the way to the orchard from Whole Foods. Then we had their apple oatmeal cookies.

We then completed our journey with a drive through Stillwater (beautiful!) and then back to my neck of the woods. During the journey my friend Megan called and left a message saying she had "something to tell me." When I called her back, she told me the good news! I knew it! She got engaged!!! I'm so happy for her! She and her man have been together a little over three years. We were together at the Quest the night she met him and I knew from that day on they'd be an awesome couple! In fact, when he was driving us to his friend's house that night/morning and I discovered they both had a huge love affair with Dave Matthews music, I made Megan switch seats with me (I had been riding shotgun at the time and she was in the back) because I knew deep down this was a match! Long story, but you get the picture.

Back to the weekend journey....

Needless to say, the next day with all those apples plus the healthful leftovers, we both reported healthy fiberous, um, movements. You know, the kind the natural health experts describe as ideal in textbooks. There is definitely something to be said about that old wives tale, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away."

Strangely, I totally neglected that colon/liver cleanse I had been doing. I think I'll pick up the remainder of it later in the fall. It was really going well for me! I feel like I have a lot more energy now!

My biggest dietary snafu lately has definitely been loads of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. You see, upon becoming a homeowner suddenly all these coupons and magazine offers come my way. One of them was from Whole Foods with a $5 off coupon for groceries as well as a BOGO coupon for Ben and Jerry's. Well, the thing is that I got THREE of these postcard coupons in the mail. One was addressed to me, one addressed to the previous owners, and one was accidentally placed in my box meant for a neighbor down the block (shhh, don't tell!!). Yes, that's what the post office gets for messing up my mail. Me. With lots of ice cream. Oh, don't get me started on the USPS. I keep getting tons of the previous owners' mail! Some of it was first class that REALLY should have been forwarded! They were getting upset, too! Hmmm...I'd hate to know how much mail from my old address isn't reaching me! Well, the mailpeople at my old apt complex seemed pretty ept so I have a feeling that most of it is reaching me! As as for the junk mail, I'm not missing it!

Hmmm..what else? Got a random call on Tuesday from Jim (the other MN blogger) telling me that he's in town for the NIN concert at Excel Engergy Ctr at St. Paul. That silly boy. He should have called earlier! I totally would have joined him for some good veg. Oh well. It won't be the last time.

I had a number of tests performed, one of which was bone mass. To all the naysayers of eating too much protein...hah is what I say...my bone mass is that of a 20 year old woman with absolutely no signs of osteo!!!

I had a vistor ask if I had signs of adrenal fatigue. I was indeed checked for it but he took my lying down blood pressure and then my standing up blood pressure (if you have adrenal fatigue, the standing up should drop dramatically) He said I was ready to sprint when I got up which is a good sign. He also explained Type A tend to suffer from Adrenal Issues and Types O's from Thyroid.

I took the iodine and tyrosine for 1 month. I also went off progesterone. I went for a follow up exam and found nothing had changed. He then explored my "female" history and we went through the miscarriages, heavy periods and estrogen dominance. He also did a depression test (happy as a clam). He decided to start me on a synthetic thyroid med (can't get Armour in Canada). Within about 3 weeks of taking the med, my thyroid started to ache and not much relief from the muscle pain and fatigue so I went to see him again.

In the meantime I had read up extensively on thyroid and estrogen. I found out that excess estrogen binds to T3, the active thyroid hormone and renders it useless. Taking T4 doesn't help as the body knows it is producing enough T3 from the T4, so the T4 is not being used.

SO HERE IS THE TAKE HOME NUGGET!!! When women lose body fat, excess estrogen is released which binds with T3 which in turn lowers metabolism and slows weight loss to nothing. (Are you listening Edna).

As luck would have it, my doctor had attended a thyroid conference a few weeks before and he had already made the decision to put me on porcine thyroid extract with T1, T2, T3 because he thought the excess estrogen was causing my problems not an underactive thyroid. He found a compounding pharmacy to produce the standards he required. I started taking 120 mg per day.

So one month later:

-muscle aches are gone

-skin is clear and soft

-fatigue has disappeared (nor more after work 2 hour naps)

-pulse has gone up to 60!!!

-exercise is a joy

-periods have gone from 10 days to 4 days!!!!!!!

-PMS is a memory

-achilles reflex is coming back to normal

-morning headaches are relieved

Part 3 to follow on weight .....

A new Blog! Sweeeet! Well, well... What to blog ABOUT?! I know... Anything!

So...

I got the new Sigur Ros CD today, entitled, Takk. VERY cool. One of my favorites for sure. They're an Icelandik group with really mellancholy, ethreal, magical songs with very few lyrics (all of wich are in Icelandik anyway). I love it to death. If you're going to take me up on the recomendation, which I suggest you do, get the second and third CD's. The second is simply titled, "()"... That's right... "()" lol. It's a great disk. Ever seen the Tom Cruise flick Vanilla Sky? If you answered yes, than you've inadverdantly listened to Sigur Ros already. The scene where the "cat's outta the bag" on the roof top with "Tech Support" has a wonderful Sigur Ros song in the backround. Beautiful song... That's how I "discovered them..." Check 'em out!

I've also been on a massive "Live" kick lately... Great band. Lot's of Throwing Copper, Secret Samadhi, and The Distance To Here. Three more albums I highly reccomend.

What else you ask? Well... Let's see... errr... hear: Elliot Smith is in the player as of late, lots of Beck (specifically Midnight Vultures, Mutations, and Sea Change), The Smashing Pumpkins are liberally sprinkled in, Danny Elfman is in the mix (composer for all of Tim Burton's films, ex-frontman of Oingo Boingo, haha), Underworld (Dirty Epic Cowgirl) Too lazy to blog about music any longer... What about Food?

Well... Food indeed. Been eating lot's of weird and wonderful food. Been cooking alot, mainly Italian, Thai, and Asian influences. Still Vegan baby. Gotta love it. I've recently quit wearing leather as well. Quit leather shoes, belts, gotta getta new hemp wallet as that's next to go... Just feels right to me. Really into the sweatshop free stuff, and all natural/organic fibers, especially HEMP! Get some!

Oh yeah, Food... Here's a breakdown of the food I've been eating a lot of lately. Lot's of Full Circle Organic refried beans, black beans, and pinto beans. Yum! One of the FEW things I'll actually eat out of a can. That and pumpkin... Oh yeah... And Organic Coconut Milk (avoid!). That said... Lot's of dessicated organic coconut, Organic full-fat coconut milk, and LOTS of organic extra virgin coconut Oil, all avoids I know, but I just feel better on the stuff. Eat at your own risk.

What else? Dark Chocolate! Roll up with the Dagoba Eclipse Bar. only 8 grams of organic sugar in the whole bar... I'll let that slip by most days. Hell yeah! 87% pure cocao, so... Be careful...

Hemp seeds! Hemp Bars! Hemp seed oil! Oh yeah! Another food I absolutley feel better on. Manitoba Harvest makes the Hemp seeds and oil, you can also get it from Rawganique (sp?).

The hemp bars are made by Gertrude and Bronner's. You know... Bronner's magic soap? Anyway, it's called ALPSNACK. I LOVE THEM! I eat then near every day. 4 flavors that I know of, good for most types and subtypes. Google 'em, order 'em, tell your natural food store person about 'em. Get 'er done.

Let's see... I've been eating a lot of green and red peppers too... Dig it. Lot's of Sesame Ezekiel bread with whatever artesian oil suits my pampered fancy (haha). Toasted pumpkin seed oil, hazlenut oil, sesame/toasted sesame oil, olive oil, flax, hemp, etc. Season it up, yo!

Nut and seed butters... Tahini, macadamia nut butter, hemp seed butter, peanut butter, almond butter, etc.

Raw and Roasted almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax, sesame, and hemp seeds.

Brocccoli, peppers, onions, fresh garlic, carrots, salads of romaine, spinach, and spring greens, lot's of mushrroms lately too. Portobella and domestic mainly. Gotta love the Reishi mushroom in a capsule though. Holy immune boosting monosacharides, Batman! Can you say, Glyconutrient? lol

Two more avoids I've been hittin' heavy. Apple Cider Vinegar, and Umeboshi Plum vinegar... Again... I just feel better with these foods on the scene.

Wine and Saki in moderation as well. Evaluating their place in my diet as I write this...

Been having Reiki, Cranial Sacral, and "light activation" treatments done... Vey cool. Call it what you want... To each thier own.

I've also been doing a bunch of research on Sun gazing and , of all thing, Urotherapy lately (freaky, eh?)... Look 'em up.

Peace. I wish you all the strength to summon the grace you need to live and love the present. ~ James

P.S. Fear not! No attempt to correct spelling errors, bad grammar, spelling structure, or the thoughtless and random captilization of words has occured here! Bless your hearts.

Fall: a very short period of time in Alaska. About a month ago I wrote that we were experiencing the beginning of fall. We are now experiencing the end of fall and the beginning of winter. After a lovely couple weeks of vibrant gold leaves brightening the landscape, we are now seeing bare branches. The temperatures have fallen to the 40’s during the day and near-to-below freezing at night. Daylight continues to decrease by over 5 minutes a day. Tomorrow we will have less than 11 hours of daylight.

We drove to Anchorage last week for a “before winter comes let’s go somewhere” day. We saw that the trumpeter swans are beginning to appear as ponds and lakes as they ready themselves for the long flight ahead. We saw about a dozen. If we were to go back today, we’d see quite a few more. A year ago next week, we counted over 100 with most of them in one area. It snowed a couple days later.

We also saw a very sad sight. A moose had bogged down in the clay in the inlet after the tide went out. Moose don’t usually wander onto the tidal areas. It is deadly when the tide comes back in.

Many of you already know that we have a variety of resident animals. My personal pets are birds and a dog, Muppet. The twins love reptiles and unusual bugs. We’ve got quite a few of them from turtles to snakes and scorpion to tarantula. This week, Justin, brought home another snake, a Burmese python. To make a long story short, I startled it when it was going into an area it wanted to explore. As I started to pick it up, it flipped back and bit me between the thumb and forefinger. They have a lot of teeth! It was a quick bite, but did leave teeth marks. I washed the wound well and then, as always, applied some noni juice. Within seconds the stinging was gone and by morning, the wound was just a light red. You could see the mouth-shaped wound yesterday, but now the evidence is nearly gone. I do believe that good nutrition plays an important part in how fast our bodies heal.

I’ve started revamping some recipes to reduce the fat and sugar content. Our favorite Pineapple, Carrot, Walnut and Raisin cake was made using ½ applesauce and ½ cup oil instead of the 1 cup oil or butter. Then, I replaced about 1 1/2 cups of sugar with ½ cup frozen apple juice concentrate and ½ cup sugar. The result was a lighter textured, less sweet cake with wonderful flavor, too. I think Ill keep this method as the primary recipe. More alterations to come!

Well, I have had quite the journey this summer. I heard of a physician who specializes in nutritional medicine earlier this summer. I was told he was very thorough in his examinations. After my “near death” experience last year with a ruptured appendix, I decided mainstream docs were not in my best interest so I decided to give him a try.

My initial exam was over one hour long and he found my heart rate was extremely low, 49 bpm, and my electrocardiogram showed an interesting pattern only found in trained athletes (he is a winter biathlete). I told him my athletic career was more of soccer mom and not trained athlete. With that he decided to do a symptoms test of hypothyroid symptoms. I had no Achilles tendon reflex, my skin was dry and flaky and I had over 20 signs of low thyroid. We had a discussion on blood tests, and I said I had been tested numerous times for thyroid and every time everything came back normal. He said thyroid blood tests were a shot in the wind, but he still tested them and he relied more on physical symptoms.

He indicated that my appendix was a sure sign of lack of Vitamin A which is also a sign that somehow the thyroid hormones were not getting the job done. Vitamin A needs thyroid hormone to be active in the immune system.

We also spoke about the precursors of Thyroid Hormone:

Iodine + Tyrosine = Thyroid Hormone

I have a huge craving for salt which is iodized in Canada and I had been taking Tyrosine supplements. The doctor sent me home with Iodine and instructions to take my armpit temperature during the first 2 days of my cycle…more to follow.