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Forks Over Knives: Movie Review

Monday, September 5, 2011

I watched this movie last night and honestly, it should be required viewing for every student in America and suggested viewing for every adult in America.

This movie shows how you can prevent and heal heart disease, diabetes, and cancer all with a whole foods, plant based diet.

So, do I think diet can cure everything?  No.  Do I think this can cure or prevent every kind of cancer?  No.   However, why not use it to heal and prevent what you can with it?  Our incredibly excessive consumption of animal products, sugar, and animal proteins in America is killing us.   Period.

And here’s the good news, this movie shows with scientific data how you can actually reverse heart disease.  You can rebuild the walls of your arteries, decrease inflammation in the heart and overall body, and rebuild how efficiently blood flows through your body all with diet.  Plant consumption heals and regenerates your body.  So even for people who have had multiple heart attacks and bypass surgeries, it’s not too late to start.

I can tell you from my own experience that although I have more to do yet with my diet change as I have not cut out sugar or dairy, I have cut down on them and notice that from being a vegetarian and green juicing I have a million times more energy and mental clarity than I did before.  And my digestive systems works really well now.   So, even with some modest changes in my diet I am seeing good results.

Check it out.  It may save your life.

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Heading Out West

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Yuppers, we are moving.  From East Coast to West Coast. All the way.

Why are we moving?  Well, Don got his dream job and is already there and loving it.  And I really miss the West Coast, the way of life out there, my friends from growing up there, etc., etc.  So, off we go!

To say that I am excited would be an understatement.  However, there is a lot of work to do here before we go and it’s all on me.   Ughh.  But, it’s worth it.

Westward ho!

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Setting Limits

Monday, August 29, 2011

photo credit:  Brian Cameron, 2008

Well, getting back into a routine is proving to be a tad more difficult than I hoped it would be.  And the struggle can be felt throughout the land.   Setting limits.  Limits are not what Rye always likes but are what he desperately needs.  And so we set them.  And we follow through with them.  And we get some pull back.  And some push back.  Until we all understand each other and are clear on what is acceptable and what is not.  When we can see friends and when we cannot.  What work we must get done and what work won’t be left undone. And we are getting there.

But it’s not easy.

One thing I have learned in raising Rye…I need to be flexible.  But not overly flexible.  Because this kid is very strong willed and can try to run you over like a dump truck to get what he wants.  If you let him.  That said…This is my house.  With my rules (well, ok, Don and I but Don is traveling for the next few weeks so it’s just me) .  And I can bend with you to accommodate your needs.  And I can be very understanding, to a point.  In the end, though, it’s my way or the highway.

Oh, yes. That’s right, Rye.

Miss Percy P is back in town and school is in session.

Love it or leave it.

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Back To School

Thursday, August 25, 2011

We started back to school today.

I’ll admit, it was a bit rough.  It’s hard to go from having fun all of the time to doing schoolwork.  But, we did it.  And we came up with a system for our daily routine going forward that I think is going to work for both of us.

Although we are behind in math and still doing a 7th grade curriculum, much to my delight I gave Rye an assignment to write an essay (paragraph) about why education is important and I could not believe the paragraph he wrote!  It was great!  Our tutor is making great strides with him on writing and it’s great to see!

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Hello August

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Well, gosh, I haven’t been much for blogging lately.  But we’ve had a really busy July!

Things that have been happening:

* Rye turned 14.  He had a good birthday.  We went camping per his request and he brought a friend.  Then when we got back home he and that friend and some other friends went and had pizza and went bowling for a party [sans parents, of course.  We are at that age now].   We did have an issue with the camping with Rye ‘hearing’ a bear at night and he barely got any sleep so it worked out that we only stayed one night.  I’m not sure what the deal is with camping and him hearing things but it always seems to happen, even when he is stable.

* I started back up a business I had a few years ago and plan to do it part-time this year.  We are still going to homeschool but I think Rye and I  have the routine down a little better and we are also participating in a co-op so that should give me a little more free time.  And honestly, I miss working.  Not working 9-5, per se, but working in my own company.  I miss the interaction with other adults working in the real world talking about things other than our kids.  I’m really ready to get back to that.  I miss it. I hope I am able to do it effectively and homeschool.  I guess we’ll see.

* Rye started football.  He has missed quite a bit so far due to attending camp but I think they are still going to let him play.  He is now, as of his 14th birthday,  6′2″ and 210 pounds.  He’s big.  And strong.  He is not quick and he hates running and hates the conditioning required to play but he does like the way it feels to be in shape and he likes being a part of a team.  And he really likes the coach of this team (and football coaches can be really great or real nightmares).  For Rye, the coach makes all the difference.  They either get him and can work with him and be patient with him and bring out his best- or they can’t.  And don’t.  And we’ve had both.  When the coach does not get him, it never works.  Yelling at him and screaming at him cannot shame him into participation.   Luckily this coach is very good and very effective but also very silently confident and mellow, so it works.

* Rye went to church camp and did ok.  It was for a week and he seemed to really like some parts of it and didn’t like other parts.  But I was proud of him for making it through as he is not a hugh fan of overnight camps.  Apparently he was so much bigger than the other boys there they sometimes had issues with some of the games (trust circles, etc) as no one could hold him to reciprocate but, oh well.  They usually just paired him with an adult – although apparently he was bigger than most of them as well.  He did have one counselor who used to play college football tell Rye he should come play for his alma mater, although we still have 4 years to go for that.   I do think it helped him feel a little less embarassed for his size though.  Middle school is not really the time kids want to stand out for any reason.

He seems to have learned a lot at the camp.  He told me that his relationship with God is the most important relationship in his life (which I think he already knew but it never hurts to reinforce it).  He also was able to tell me about certain parts of the bible and how God came to the world, etc.  He then informed me that I had sent him with an inferior version of the bible so they gave him a better one that is easier to read and understand.  Go figure.  He gave me a vivid, literal description of hell which frankly creeped me out a bit as I don’t really believe in heaven and hell in the super literal sense so I have mixed feeling about that.  I guess we’ll have to address that at a later date.  He did tell me that the people were really nice but really, really Christian and maybe a little too Christian for him.  That cracked me up.  I guess church camps can be a bit of a mixed blessing.   But I am glad he went.

* And Don has been busy with his job.  He seems to be enjoying it and is working hard and has been traveling a little so he enjoyed that.

* We are still juicing almost every day and I am still a vegetarian.  As time goes one it is getting easier to make meals now and we are learning how to incorporate me not eating meat and Don and Rye still eating meat.  It’s working.

And, I’m sure there’s more but that’s enough for now!

______

Today’s juice:  spinach, cilantro, peach, cucumber, celery, carrots

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Stability and Emotional Maturity

Monday, July 25, 2011

I’ll tell you, this has been quite a summer for us.  Rye is doing really well.  If you didn’t know him well or he didn’t tell you (he’s very open with telling people he is bipolar), you would have no idea that he is bipolar.

He is that stable.

One of the things I have noticed recently is that due to the long length of stability he has had now (almost a year) in conjunction with growing a little older, he has really matured emotionally.  And he has become so much more independent this summer it is incredible.  He takes his meds on his own even while he is away at friend’s houses, he is not scared to go away with kids he does not know (summer camp), and he went on a trip to New York with Don by themselves and he loved it.  Seemingly he didn’t miss me at all.  This is a far, far cry from where he was a year ago when he was unstable and would barely leave my side.

I’m happy for him.  Very happy.

Looking back I can say there was a point last year when I wondered how independent he would ever be.  I was scared.  And saying this is odd because he was very independent as a young child.  Fearless, really.  All through elementary school he was very outgoing, perky, lots of fun to be with, everyone’s friend.  And then came middle school and the bipolar really set in and that all went to hell.  Well, no, I take that back.  When he was manic he was fearless too but that was in a different way.  A destructive way.  A scary way.  And then there was the mood swings, and the rages, the crying, the suicide threats, and the hallucinations and the thought disturbances.  I honestly didn’t know if we would ever make it out of that.

And yet,  here we are.  In a place I never thought we would be just one year later.  He is now himself again, like a more mature version of the boy he was before the bipolar emerged.  He is back to good.

Will this last? Who knows.  No one can predict.  But I can say I am glad for this time.  Glad for him to get a taste of independence and self confidence after having been so unstable.  Glad for him to have the opportunity to take ownership of his need to take meds and need to monitor himself some (he tells everyone he is around that he is bipolar and has to take his meds).  Glad for him to tell his doctor everything that is going own in his own words and work together with his doctor to get what he needs.  Glad for him to mature emotionally and see what it feels like to be ‘him’ again, only better.  Older, stronger and more capable.   To have control of himself, his emotions, and his life.

And the best part?  Now, going forward, in times when he does become unstable [and chances are most likely he will have these times throughout his life] he will know.  He will know what stability feels like.  He has this experience under his belt and will know that although he may be struggling at that moment and he may be out of his mind at that moment, stability is achievable for him.  He will know somewhere within himself what he is striving for.

And this is it.

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Summer of ‘11

Monday, July 18, 2011

Well, we are full in the swing of summer here.  It’s really nice.

And we finally have our pool to pretty, blue, and swim-able.  Even nicer.

Overall, things are going well.  And I guess I’ve gotten so relaxed I haven’t been blogging much.  I don’t know.  Maybe I just needed a break from the blogging for a while.

But Rye is doing really well.  He is having a blast hanging out with his friends this summer and really going full-hog on the redneck thing.    They are very “Dukes of Hazzard’, for sure.  Some of them even drive and have cars, making the whole thing all the more authentic.   The only challenge at this point is making sure Rye takes his meds regularly as he is gone a lot and spending the night at friend’s houses a lot.  But I’d say overall he has been really responsible about it.  So, I can’t really complain.

So far this summer Rye has done a few different day camps and in a few weeks he heads off to church sleep away camp.  And although at the beginning of the summer I was a bit concerned about this, he now seems to have morphed into quite the independent being so I have no concerns at all now.  I know he’ll be fine.

And, I guess that’s about it for now.

Gotta get back to the pool!

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Start Juicing, Start Feeling A Lot Better!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

photo source

So, a few weeks back when I went back to being a vegetarian, I also started juicing every morning.  I watched the following movies and videos:

Fat, Sick And Nearly Dead

Life Regenerator  (these are free and ongoing videos on YouTube and the guy is fun to watch and has a lot of recipes)

Food, Inc.

Foodmatters

And I decided it was time for a change.

Now, Don and I juice every morning and Rye juices almost every morning he is here (it’s summer and he is out and about a lot).  We make our juices approx. 80% vegetables & 20% fruit.   After only a few weeks, I can’t tell you how much better we feel.  Don and I both notice we have an incredible amount of energy, the endorphins are pumping big time, we don’t feel sluggish or depressed, we are clear headed and more productive, and our systems are completely regular (these juices will clean you out and completely regulate your GI tract).

As far as the actual juicer, we use a Jack Lalanne Juicer.   It works fine.  We rinse it after every use but only put in the dishwasher once/week.    We use this one because this is the one someone gave us for free (they bought it and never used it).    I saw one at Costco the other day for about $90.

I think it took about a week of daily juicing to really feel the effects.  But we are all hooked now.

And, you may say to yourself that isn’t it expensive to juice?  It can be but isn’t it expensive in so many ways to take RX meds for everything when body can so often heal itself?  And there are ways to work around the expense.  We use a lot of celery and kale and carrots, which aren’t too expensive.  We bought a 10 pound bag of carrots for like $6.  And use whatever produce is in season and it will cost a lot less as well.

Give it a try!  You won’t be disappointed.

______

Today’s juice:  kale, celery, peach, lime, carrots

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Vegetarian, I Am

Friday, July 8, 2011

photo source

Well, we’ve had a lot going on here this past week [all good] and I haven’t been able to keep up to blog!  Anyway, one thing that’s happened in the past week or two is that I have gone back to being a vegetarian.  When I was in my late teens and early 20’s I was a vegetarian for years.  And then, for whatever reason, I got off it.  And stayed off.  But you know, I am older now and started feeling really yucky, sluggish, weighed down, etc. In looking for an answer, I watched a bunch of documentaries on food and the healing power of food and how food can also make us sick and I thought it was time to go back to less animal products and a more plant based diet.  So, here I am.

I will say, I am not a vegan.  I am no where near the point where I could give up all animal products.  Nor am I sure I’d want to at any point in the future.  And I still eat some fish.  But, I am green juicing now every morning and eating about a million times better than I was a few weeks ago so these are all steps in the right direction.  And I’ve got Don and Rye juicing too so that helps them as well.

Today’s juice:  spinach, cucumber, celery, apple

Here’s to our health!

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Our Personal Beast

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Rye is amped, amped now that summer is in full swing.

Yesterday he had the far away eyes and crazy talk that we have not seen in a while.

It is a challenge.

Thank God for this beast.  He is short and spectacular.

He keeps me sane, grounded, and smiling.

I love him so.

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Dr. Stuart Kaplan: Childhood Bipolar Disorder vs. ADHD

Monday, June 27, 2011

photo source: Dr. Walter Freeman performing a lobotomy, once hailed by The New York Times as the modern miracle treatment for mental illness

_______

As for Dr. Stuart Kaplan and his Newsweek article, here are my thoughts.

Thank you Newsweek Magazine for your cutting edge journalism and breaking scientific studies but Dr. Kaplan is about 20-30 years late to this party.   Childhood bipolar disorder exists.   Is it common?  No.  Is it overdiagnosed and overmedicated in very young children?  Possibly.  But does it exist?  Yes.  And you don’t need an MD or a PhD to figure this out.  Ask any large group of adults with bipolar disorder when their symptoms began and many will tell you in childhood.  Period.  And most of these adults wanted help as children but no one believed them thanks to people like  Dr. Kaplan, propagating the idea that their symptoms were all phony or should be chalked up to something else.   Many of these children attempted suicide.   Some completed their suicide attempts and are no longer around to tell their stories.

Children with ADHD and/or ODD (and is this, ODD, really even a diagnosis?  people aren’t just assholes for no good reason, there is an underlying mood component to this) don’t experience psychosis.  They don’t experience visual and/or auditory hallucinations, they don’t experience incapacitating depression or attempt suicide, they don’t become homicidal, paranoid, delusional, experience thought dysfunction, hypersexuality, and on and on.  And the idea that we can fix these symptoms with stimulants as you would use to treat ADHD ??  Yikes.  There could not be a worse path to take.

And, as for bipolar disorder being trendy. When did this happen??  I can tell you from personal experience, tell people your child is bipolar and about the last response you will get is…’cool!   How can I get on that train? ‘

I know about 5 kids (children and teens) in total with bipolar disorder in our entire community.  And all of them have a direct biological relative with bipolar disorder.  In contrast, 1 in 10 kids now are diagnosed with ADHD.   Teach in any school in America and at least 10% (and sometimes up to 25%) of your class with be on stimulant medication.  Now that is trendy.  And sad.  You can’t tell me that 10%-25% of American children as young as 5 years old need to take speed to function and learn.

Ring, ring…

Dr. Kaplan, the 1980’s are calling and they want your professional opinion on childhood bipolar disorder…

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