Shrimp: Buyer Beware
A few days ago I had some shrimp from a large local retailer and about 6 hours later developed GI symptoms of bloating and diarrhea
Seemed consistent with toxicity and food poisoning and then by chance, even though not looking for it, the next day encountered some interesting information about the shrimp industry
Buyer Beware
Shrimp from an energy science view is a great animal food can be used for all energy patterns, in moderation for Pitta Kapha and all the time for Pitta Vata and Vata Kapha
But in my chance encounter with an article from the Nutrition Research Center it's estimated that possibly 90% of shrimp in the market come from polluted waters and in order to reduce the toxicity, antibiotics and pesticides are used in the shrimp farms The source of shrimp for the US may be from farms in eastern Asia, particularly China
In other words the quality control of these shrimp farms is highly suspect and deserves our attention
Consumer Protection
Fortuanately individual companies in the shrimp industry are publicizing their farming methods and letting the consumers know that their open water techniques of farming are caring for the animal product they send to market
But even better companies such as Whole Foods are taking an active role in ensuring not only that the products they carry in their stores are quality, go a step further in delivering that information to the consumer who's interested, and investigate if the farming techniques are in compliance with green standards
Freshwater Shrimp
There is even a US association to support the growth of the freshwater shrimp industry and support quality control measures
From an energy science nutritional perspective freshwater fish are balancing for all energy patterns so they are an excellent animal food source On top of this freshwater fish are as good a source of the important omega 3, 6, and 9 fatty acids as seafood and certainly would be easier to farm and harvest
What To Do
So from my food poisoning experience there has come for me some real value It might have not been the shrimp that caused my transient upset but the probability is fairly high
But this serendipitous journey has led me to understand the vagaries of food production and the potential health hazards particularly around industries that are not responsible
A few suggestions for shrimp purchases
Question the source of where the shrimp come from
Buy when you can from reputable market places
Consider freshwater shrimp or fish
Ciao until next time To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Is The Biological World Flat?
Let's pretend for a moment that we live in 1469AD in a coastal village named Lisbon You have this great all around brother who is a man of the seas
You'd take walks along the beach with him and look out over the ocean and muse with each other, "I wonder if what everybody says is true, I mean that the world is flat. That's what the paintings depict That we might sail to the edge of the table and go into an abyss"
Well, Chris didn't think so He used to say(in Genoese, of course) "That's garbage! Academic scholars since the Greeks have refuted that, but people hold onto myths like that for long periods of time"
Myths Die Hard
Astonishingly the flat earthers continued the belief well into the early 20th century and there are still splinter groups around Even though centuries of observations and experiential data support the spherical earth, a myth can continue
This flat world mythical experience is akin to our current scientfic understanding of the human biology People have written since BC times that the mindbody is an energy field and even gave names to this field, prana, chi, qi, ru, ruha
Then there were quantum field theorists and physicists at the turn of the 19th century led by Einstein who changed the way we viewed the universe
But quantum field theory seems so distant, remote, and impersonal to our everday activities A scientific disconnect, if you will, from us as biological beings and the world as we know it from a scientific point of view
For us it seems the analogy is clear The scholars from the Greeks to the 20th century said the world was spherical yet people held on as flat earthers
Today we see a similar issue Scientists tell us that we are biological energy fields yet there is no room for such nonsense in our thinking
It Changes Everything
As we have discussed earlier there are many benefits by adopting a different biological model which embraces the simultaneity of energy and matter field biology
Let's review some of them
A true system of prevention of disease
An understanding of how disease occurs in the human physiology
Billions of dollars in savings from errant matter science biological probings
Support and guidance for matter field scientific study
Understanding of the experiential observations of current human disease
A better more complete nutritional model
Billions of dollars in savings from more appropriate use of pharma(drugs)
Changing Our Biological Model
There is a disease called Not Knowing That You Don't Know(NKTYDK) It's a fatal disease of the mindbody It's one thing to not know a fact that can lead to a different outcome but it's quite another to not know that you're incorrect
I believe in order to change the way we view ourselves we'll have to overcome this NKTYDK disease And there will just as in earlier times a lot of controversy because as Columbus encountered the world was obviously flat
So here's to rebellion and upsetting the biological model's status quo, business as ususal It's comforting but not very evolving and certainly not health promoting
Happy Independence Day(asserting your own) To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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The Passion of All Passions
There's a lot spoken these days about seeking your passion, developing your passion, living your passion In other words living life with purpose
Passion is like an insatiable furnace that has to be fed "Feed me, feed me", it says
So today I'd like to address this passion from a health perspective
Health as a Passion
What? Health and passion? I believe we're all interested in living a healthy life Right? It's hardwired into us from birth as an aspect of survival of the species So it would be natural if we would be passionate about our own survival
"I eat healthy" What does that mean? Who say's what's healthy? An individual decision, I suppose, but a casual personal observation, but health passion would require of us asking some hard questions about our so called healthy choices
But perhaps there's interference?
Passionate Health Questions
I think that when we are passionate about our health it means that we'll do anything to make it happen We'll go to any lengths to make sure that our health is optimal So ask yourself these questions(no right or wrong answers and you won't be graded!)
Will I spend any amount of money and forego any extraneous expenses(movies, gas, treats, vacations, etc) to further my health?
Do I continue to seek out different informaton to evolve my health?
Am I healthier in my mindbody physiology today than I was yesterday, last month, last year?
Do I regard aging as a fictional event?
Whe I wake up in the morning do I think about the health of my mindbody first and the future events of the day second?
Do I consider exercise a barometer of health? (ie if I'm able to run, swim, bike, or climb Mount Everest then I'm healthy) If so, why and who says?
Misdirecting Our Passionate Efforts for Health
You see it's all about the distractions of life and day to day activities that divert our attention away from our health passion
Today the matter science(molecular study) as typified in nutrition directs our attention away from the salient aspects of personal health We become so focused on the molecules in foods(including vitamins and supplements) that we miss the greater issues of lifestyle
It's as if we are indulging on the small things rather than stepping back and looking at the greater picture
Feeding the Furnace
From my own experience and what I have encountered with patients is that we have to first start the furnace of health passion
Like anything else this expects some form of commitment on our part
Passionate about health implies that there is a willingness to step outside the box, to encounter new information, to try new things on, in order to make health a priority
We don't really speak to this in our culture, perhaps becasue as we've said earlier, this survival thing is hardwired and so we just assume that it's part of our lifestyle But I think not
Passionate About Our Lifestyle Choices
So simple things first Come hell or high water we chose the following choices
Lights out by 10:30pm
Up at 6am
Favor foods that briing about balance
Build a churan to enhance digestive fire
Now you're stoking the furnace!
Ciao with passion To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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Leisure Food
“For diet, conventional wisdom often recommends ‘everything in moderation,’ with a focus only on total calories consumed,” says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and lead author of the study. “Our results demonstrate that the quality of the diet — the types of food and beverages that one consumes — is strongly linked to weight gain.”
This most recent nutritional study brings up for us some food for thought(no pun intended)
Leisure Food
There are foods that we use as comfort or snack foods that come up for many in the process of daily activities that create a sense of equanimity From an energy science view these foods will promote the sweet, sour, and salty tastes as they reduce the Vata energy pattern
As we have talked about earlier these foods calm the physiology but for those people who have prominent Kapha mindbody energy pattern, these foods will produce weight gain in a hurry since the same sweet, sour, and salty tastes provoke Kapha producing congestion
Matter Science Nutrition
The Harvard epidemiolgical and nutritional study on the use of potato chips and carbonated drinks as they are related to weight gain comes up with no real suprise to us
There is the typical quantitative matter science ho-hum measurement issue that is replete in the nutritional information these days Calorie laden data points to make the point that potato chips and carbonated drinks lead to weight gain Yawn, tell me something new
But.....
Nutritional Medical High Priests Are On To Something
What seems to be most interesting about this article is that for the first time the word "quality" is now entering the nutritional vernacular Calorie quality versus calorie quantity
Now not to say that such thinking suggests a change in the matter science nutritional establishment's way of doing things But it does suggest researchers are now thinking that the quality of foods is important
The Basis of Energy Science Nutrition: Quality
The fundamental difference between the matter and energy science disciplines is that one deals with the quantitative(measurement in calories) and the energy science deals in the qualitative(energetically what are the tastes)
Taste patterns are composed of fundamental vibrational frequencies and are 10 basic pairs(hot/cold, soft/hard, gross/subtle, dry/rough etc) These vibrational frequencies are the footprints of the subtle biological energy field So the hot quality of sour and salty balance the cold of Vata producing calm in the mindbody physiology
Nutritional Self Medication
Seeing the mindbody as a vibrational energy field as well as the foods that we take in gives us an insight as to how foods can become medicine
Whether we consciously understand it or not, we self medicate with foods The mindbody is searching for food that when ingested medicates the physiology to give it a sense of peace and tranquility in the apparent buffeting outside reality indicative of our above research study
To those who consciously chose foods according to their mindbody makeup, hats off to you for you represent less than 1% of the world's population
For those who don't, perhaps consider this food for thought(pun intended)
Later To health as a Skill Love DrBill
This brings up the issue of calorie quality vs. calorie quantity:
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Lifestyle Coaching: Some Caveats
Lifestyle is the buzzword these days as how to effect change and hence health in one's life
I think that there are some important aspects before you decide to jump into this type of work of getting a coach to help you along your road to improving your health
Choose the Philosophy First
This blog is to introduce to those who are interested in a different way of seeing the human biology and its physiology
The mindbody is both a matter and an energy field So the coach who has a matter(molecular) way of seeing the mindbody will carry that into all the information delivered
The deeper reality is that the mindbody is an energy field as well and since all disease begins in the energy field it would behoove those interested in disease prevention to embrace a coach who knows energy science work as well
This kind of guidance can only be obtained in one who understands the core philosophy of the energy sciences When is the best time for the biggest meal of the day, what's the best time to go to bed, what's the best time to wake up in the morning? These questions seem to be unrelated to nutrition to the casual observer but play a big role in grounding a solid system of nutrition
Such basic lifestyle choices presently advocated in the matter science world are not grounded on us a being part of Nature but rather a collection of molecules that has somehow learned how to think
Then the Coach
Having had dealings with many consultants over the years I have come to realize that the coach is only as valuable as how focused I am with what I want to accomplish
Once I have chosen the health philosophy first now I'm ready to "hire" my coach but I think here we should be focused on what we are hoping to get from the coach
Is she going to support me about getting up in the morning? And what does that support look like?
Willingness to Move On
I've also learned that at times when needs are not being met that it may be ready to move on That in some way you have to reassess what your needs are That perhaps what you thought was what you needed is not where you want to go
It's at this juncture of reassessment that you can get a better perspective of what needs to be done to improve your health Maybe just practicing for a year what you have started with the coach is appropriate and sufficient Because everyone moves on their journey of health at their own level of comfort
Have a great weekend To health as a Skill Love DrBill
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