The tongue drive

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

All creation amazes me, and I marvel especially at intricacies of the human body. Many advances in research, that take their cues from the way the body works and build on a good thing, also intrigue me. I am fascinated by this piece I read in "The Discovery Files" (that informs interested readers of projects funded by the government's National Science Foundation, found at http://www.nsf.gov/news):

“Now there's another way the tongue may provide a moving experience, as well as open the lines of communication for patients with spinal cord injuries or other disabilities.
It's the tongue drive, developed by engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
A tiny magnet, smaller than most tongue-piercings, is attached to the tongue. It turns the tongue's movements into command central to direct a computer cursor, or even a motorized wheelchair. The magnetic signal is picked up by sensors inside a mouth brace, or on a headset worn by the patient.
What makes this device particularly useful is that the tongue is controlled directly by the brain -- and generally remains functional even when the patient has suffered severe spinal cord damage or neuromuscular disease. The next step is having people with disabilities test the system.
Mobility, communication, freedom. For many, these may be right on the tip of their tongue.”

Maysam Ghovanloo (right) points to a small magnet attached to graduate student Xueliang Huo's tongue; picture from, and for more go to
http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/tongue-drive.htm

Going local, part II

“The three basic components of responsible eating are to favor
food grown in an environmentally responsible way,
delivered with minimal petroleum use,
in a manner that doesn’t exploit the farmers.” -Steven L. Hopp

Following are some suggestions Steven Hopp gives for going local (mind you, not going loco, but for buying local):

- Begin by visiting a nearby farmer’s market to see what’s available. Ask questions: likely you will learn about locality, the size of farms, whether organic (even if not certified, many small market growers have assumed sustainability as part of their identity).
Buy a good supply of what you can use.

- Visit the grocery store with these few general rules that may help:

* If items are available regionally, and are in season, get them from a farmer or ask a grocer to obtain them from a local source.

* Do as much as possible of your own cooking or preparation. Make meal plans for the seasons, rather than starting with a recipe and having a treasure hunt for its ingredients.

* Food processing uses energy in two main ways; (1) extracting, dicing, mixing, and cooking the ingredients; (2) transporting each individual ingredient. Products with fewer ingredients have probably burned less gas….

* For fresh fruits and vegetables, consider travel distance. On an autumn trip to our grocery I found apples grown in a neighboring state (North Carolina), Washington State, and New Zealand. That choice is easy. If we lived in Oregon, that would be a different easy choice.

* Consider how you feel about using energy to move water. All fresh produce contains a lot of it. Apparent differences between more and less juicy items can be deceiving; watermelon is 92% water; cucumbers 96%; tomatoes 95%, while on the firmer side, carrots are 92%; peppers 94%; and broccoli 91%. All watery. If you care about this, when considering world travelers, favor dried fruits or vegetables, dried spices, nuts, coffee beans, dry beans, and grains.

* If produce or a processed item needs to be refrigerated (or frozen), energy was used to keep it cool from its point of origin to you. How can you tell? It’s refrigerated (or frozen) in the store!

*Should you buy industrial organics? By shifting to organic methods, corporate farms are reducing the pesticide loads in our soil and water, in a big way. This should be one of many considerations, along with everything listed above. - Steven L. Hopp, p 348-249 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

I'm off to the local farmer's market.
[pictures are from Northfield's own farmer's market]

Going local, part I

“…a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet.”

That is the assertion made on the front cover of the book, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. The case was made for me. From the book, I’ve learned some fun facts that are slowly starting to affect my food choices.

Steven L. Hopp, who teaches environmental studies at Emory and Henry College, has blurbs throughout the book. Here’s one (that is also excerpted at http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com):

“Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen – about 17 percent of our nation’s energy use – for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use. Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other equipment all use petroleum. Even bigger gas guzzlers on the farm are not the machines, but so-called inputs. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers.

But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one fifth of the total oil used for our food. The lion’s share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your plate. Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1500 miles. In addition to direct transport, other fuel-thirsty steps include processing (drying, milling, cutting, sorting, baking), packaging, warehousing and refrigeration. Energy calories consumed by production, packaging and shipping far outweigh the energy calories we receive from the food. ..

If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels.

Small changes in buying habits can make big differences.”
- Steven L. Hopp

Walking into best thoughts

“In one study, participants who had heightened activity in a region of the brain associated with a positive attitude produced greater amounts of flu antibodies. Another study showed that people with sunny dispositions churned out more antibodies in response to vaccinations.” – Health magazine, p 82, September 2008

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from illness.
I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it."
- Soren Kierkegaard...as quoted in Silent Sports August 08

Ordinary life

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life – and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Romans 12:1, The Message paraphrase

Declining estradiol

Estrogen has been on a steady decline for a little while, but recently my levels dropped significantly more due to a bilateral oophorectomy (what a word, huh? In layman terms, we’re talking both ovaries removed).

So I’ve been reading up on estrogen. There are three main forms of estrogen: estrone, estradiol, and estriol. Deborah Blum does succinct work of describing estrogens in her book Sex on the Brain: The Biological Differences Between Men and Women. I quote from her work:
“Men make estradiol (mostly by enzyme conversion of testosterone, not only in the brain but in other cells, including fat, skin, and blood). Women make all three estrogens. Each is concentrated in a different part of he body and has its own place in the female life cycle.
The estrogens vary only slightly chemically; each has the same basic carbon-ring structure but a different number of oxygen and hydrogen molecules attached. Estradiol, made mainly in the ovaries, is the primary estrogen. It starts slowly rising in girls at about age eight. It continues to rise until puberty, starting about age 11, when it helps induce the menstrual cycle. It remains dominant until menopause, with one exception – pregnancy. During pregnancy, estradiol production shuts down. In its place, the placenta makes estriol, which stays high until a baby is born. At that point, estradiol kicks back in.
As you might expect, then, estrone is the primary estrogen of menopause. As the ovaries shut down production of estradiol with the onset of menopause, the fat cells start making estrone (although, as with men, women’s skin and blood cells can also make estrogens). The production of estrone, though is far less intense.” (p 191-192)

Today, with my estradiol levels at an all time low, I am preoccupied with the connection between estradiol levels and brain function.
One large survey, cited in Blum’s book, looked at 8,877 residents of a retirement community in Southern California.
“Two researchers from the University of Southern California, Annlia Paganini-Hill and Victor W. Henderson, examined the nature of the deaths of those residents, concentrating specifically on those who had suffered from senile dementias and those who had not. They found that among the women who died, those receiving estrogen therapy had a 30 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s. A 1996 study found that even one year of estradiol supplements after menopause lowered the risk of Alzheimer’s…
What is it about estrogens that might buffer the brain so well and, by their decline, leave it so vulnerable? Animal research indicates that estradiol improves blood circulation in the brain, keeping up the health of neurons. The hormones also appear to stimulate nerve cell growth and branching in the exact regions of the brain so damaged by Alzheimer’s. For example, it appears that estradiol fosters the growth of neurons within the hippocampus, the region of he brain so closely associated with learning, memory, and spatial reasoning. Brain-imaging show that most Alzheimer’s patients suffer visible damage in the hippocampus – an erosion of the synapses that allow one neuron to talk to another.” (p 201)

But, there are discrepancies among authorities.
“Because of possible harm in some areas and lack of a demonstrated benefit in others, we have concluded that combination hormone therapy (estrogen & progestin) should not be prescribed at this time for older, postmenopausal women to maintain or improve cognitive function,” says Judith A. Salerno, M.D., M.S., Deputy Director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [from http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may2003/nia-27.htm].

I am fully aware that cognitive function is just one piece of the puzzle. With the body so complex, decisions of intervention, especially with synthetic substances, are also complex.
I stand open to input if anyone wants to throw in their two cents.

[My two recent losses:
1. ovaries (mentioned above),
2. the regular presence of my dear daughter
(all the best to you, Rebekah!)]

Soul and path

We recently said goodbye - again - to our daughter whose path has taken her to Central America. In a newly refurbished blog where she will keep loved ones updated, she references some thoughts (in title and focus of blog; follow 'Other Bloggers' link "Rebekah's blog") of Kahlil Gibran:

Say not, "I have found the path of the soul."

Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path."

For the soul walks upon all paths.

Though I'm not sure just what Gibran meant (some say that is the mark of good "art" - when recipients can interpret it according to their own lenses?), I am drawn to these words. I think of the beauty of our individual experiences - of our own path and soul. I think too of experimentation with and respect for various paths, and of our interconnectedness with another soul as they walk their path.

In your meeting of soul and walking on your path, may there be blessings.

More than once a week

I no longer hate going to the grocery store. I used to – it was a grueling task with four young children, but even without the kids it was never on my favorite-things-to-do list. To not internally grumble whenever doing the food shopping, I determined to intentionally express thanks.

“Thank you God that I have a car for transport and legs to walk into the store; thank you for money to buy what we need, thank you for family to love and buy food for, thank you for such a varied selection,”

etc. That helped; still, once a week is all I can seem to muster up the gratitude for around grocery shopping. Reading that it’d be considerably better to get fresh produce more than once a week is hard to swallow. But, I just may have to change my ways.

Here’s the research behind the reason to make a change:

“The vitamins and minerals in fruits and vegetables begin to diminish the moment they’re harvested,” says Geri Brewster, R.D., a wellness consultant at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, New York. That means the longer you store produce, the fewer nutrients it will contain.
- After about a week in the fridge, for example, spinach retains just half of its folate and around 60 percent of its lutein (an antioxidant associated with healthy eyes), concludes a study in the Journal of Food Science.
- Broccoli loses about 62 percent of its flavonoids (antioxidant compounds that help ward off cancer and heart disease) within 10 days, according to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
“You’re better off buying smaller batches at least twice a week,” says Brewster.
If you can’t shop every few days, pick up frozen produce. These fruits and veggies are harvested at their peak and are flash-frozen immediately. Because the produce isn’t exposed to oxygen, the nutrients stay stable for a year, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis. Just be sure to avoid frozen products packed in sauces or syrups. These additions can mean extra calories from fat or sugar, and sometimes they’re high in sodium as well."

- From http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/9-most-common-kitchen-mistakes-healthy-women-make
a WebMD Feature from "Shape" Magazine

Sacrifice of thanksgiving

This morning as I lay in bed, even though feeling some pain from an outpatient surgery yesterday, I felt grateful. Whether I experience great times or tough times I want to cultivate a "sacrifice of thanksgiving." Psalm 116:17

For some years upon awakening in a funky mood, I repeated a verse to myself: "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24). I was impressed when I learned awhile back that the verse speaks of Jesus' rejoicing in the midst of facing the rejection of his people; He was "the stone the builders rejected..." (Psalm 118:22). I want to follow His example and offer thanksgiving in whatever the situation, knowing that God will do something cool. [That stone the builders rejected "has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes" (Psalm 118:22b-23).]

There is much to appreciate, whether or not there is pain or rejection. To name just a few good things that come to mind at the moment: a body that heals, comfortable bed and restful sleep, care and prayers of friends, meals shared, love that prevails, amazing days.
My thoughts go to this well-known poem:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any -lifted from the no
of all nothing- human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
- e. e. cummings

Morning hopes

A Morning Offering

~
All that is eternal in me
Welcomes the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate
May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers
To break the dead shell of yesterdays
To risk being disturbed and changed
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.
~
- John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

“There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear.” – I John 4:17

Pretty close to true

I often feel like I know pretty close to nothing, and that’s pretty close to true. But rather than get discouraged, I keep telling myself to simply enjoy what I do know and can learn, and capitalize on other’s exploration of informational resources. One ‘boss’ friend pointed me to a good post (and yet another good resource he directed me to is at http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com!) awhile back referred to Mark Sissan’s Daily Apple 4 June 2008 “Definitive Guide: The Primal Blueprint” blog post [http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-primal-blueprint/].

Sissan compares what kept our ancestors healthy to what will keep us healthy. Here’s his “Primal Blueprint” list of behaviors that shaped our current genome, and will keep us living well today --
1. Eat lots of animals, insects and plants.
2. Move around a lot at a slow pace.
3. Lift heavy things.
4. Run really fast every once in a while.
5. Get lots of sleep.
6. Play.
7. Get some sunlight every day.
8. Avoid trauma.
9. Avoid poisonous things.
10. Use your mind.

A couple of fun ‘facts’ I noted in reading Sissan’s post --
* Intense anaerobic sprint bursts several times a week…” (he suggests, for example, six or eight short sprints up a hill, on the grass, at the beach… or repeated intense sessions on a bicycle) “…increase HGH release (HGH is actually released in proportion to the intensity, not the duration, of the exercise).”
[That is simply said as #4 above. And why might it be desirable to have higher levels of HGH (human growth hormone)? “Research indicates that by increasing the natural amount of HGH in the system, the body may be able to reverse some symptoms associated with aging, like weight gain, loss of lean muscle, wrinkles, bone density, sexual drive and more.” from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hgh.htm. Note the use of “may be able to reverse…”]
* Sissan speculates that the reason we have a sweet tooth today is “an evolved response to an almost universal truth in the plant world that just about anything that tastes sweet is safe to eat.” [#9].

So, in partial conclusion, move fast occasionally and enjoy what is sweet. I think I can do that.

Just as

“…and there I am, open to everything, making nothing of anything,
and everything is just as it is.”
– Gerald May, The Wisdom of Wilderness

Whatever produce

It’s squash and zucchini season, and of course I want to make good use of whatever produce grows on the garden vines. Cold zucchini soup sounds good. I just found a few recipes online that I’ll try out.

“Studies show that a green salad or bowl of broth-based vegetable soup before dinner can fill you up and help you eat less”

(please take this statement with a ‘grain of salt’ – in attempting to track down the source, I went from WebMD to various online links, to Royalty Drug & Pharmaceutical Care, Inc. {what? a pharmaceutical company?}; I decided it wasn’t worth any more minutes to find the true origin).

So maybe it’s a double benefit whammy: using up vitamin-packed produce AND eating less. That would be the hope!