writing from
Scars Publications

Audio/Video chapbooks cc&d magazine Down in the Dirt magazine books

 

This writing was accepted for publication in
the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book
Invisible Ink
cc&d (v248) (the January / February 2014 Issue)




You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:
order ISBN# book


Invisible Ink

Order this writing
in the book
a New Pen
the cc&d
Jan. - June 2014
collection book
a New Pen cc&d collectoin book get the 394 page
Jan. - June 2014
cc&d magazine
issue collection
6" x 9" ISBN#
paperback book:

order ISBN# book

Yoga, Yoghurt and My Feet in the Indian Ocean

Janet,

    So here I stand in the Indian Ocean pondering the food choices I’ve made in my life. My feet sandy and wet after doing some sun salutations and vinyasas on the beach at sun rise. I hope I didn’t look to ridiculous doing that but what the hell, I’m in India on the beach and it may be my only chance to do this in my life. Oh, freshly made plain yoghurt is amazing here, sweet with only a hint of the sourness of fermentation.
    Oh, the next day as I watched the sun rise and the city come alive from my hotel window I saw other people were out on the beach doing yoga. Maybe I didn’t look so ridiculous after all.
    It all started innocently several years ago when I met you on a train bound for Palos. Little did I know that my life was about to take a turn for the better and we would be married a little over a year later. Amazing what a six pack of Old Style and a couple cans of Foster’s Lager can do to bring two people together. You were a vegetarian and I was not. I know you cut me some slack because I was a hunter and had gone through the whole process of killing a butchering and animal. I understood what it meant to eat meat and that it didn’t just come from the butcher at your local grocer. Even so, you would tell me about the health benefits of not eating meat. But it wasn’t just the health benefits that caused you to become a vegetarian, you decided that you could not kill an animal and that you did not want to pay someone to do it for you.
    It was during one of these conversations (the ones about the ethics of killing an animal for food rather than abusing it for eggs or milk) that I admitted to you, and possibly myself, that every time I killed an deer a little part of me died and I felt sad. You know, they are beautiful animals. I told myself that this animal had lived free and this was a better life to lead before ending up on my table than the life of a penned steer or pig. It seemed more natural than buying something from the grocery store. Ted Nugent now males a living selling this idea.
    Then, about two years ago, I started to get indigestion and GERD. I went to the doctor and was prescribed Omeprazole. Joy! I could eat and drink again without getting sick. After a few months of this, taking a medication for my stomach, one for migraines and a third to keep my heart from racing I decided to quit taking the meds, one at a time. I stopped the Omeprazole and the GERD came back. Then I started eliminating things from my diet. Remember when I was going to give my Single Malts to my brother in law because they were giving me indigestion? Well, I gave up the whiskey but I still had indigestion. Ok, what about beer, then wine, then no liquor at all for a few weeks and still I was getting indigestion. Hmm... must be something I’m eating. I eliminated spicy foods, but the indigestion did not go away. Okay, time to start drinking again and eating salsa.
    What next...? I thought about the propaganda film “Forks over Knives” and how they talked about the benefits of a plant based whole foods diet. I had argued with you that although it was very much pro vegan that one of the doctors never really said eliminate meat. He only spoke of our excess consumption of beef that was poorly fed with grains and food pellets rather than grass. So I eliminated beef from my diet. After a couple weeks the indigestion went away. Then we went to our nephew’s wedding and I had a small piece of beef. You said, “don’t do it, it’ll make you sick”, but I did anyway because this would either confirm or reject the null hypothesis – beef makes me sick. Well, in about two hours my indigestion came back. Well, I thought, I guess it’s time to give up beef.
    Eat meat get indigestion, don’t eat meat, don’t get indigestion. I then decided to drop another medication. Metoprolol, which was prescribed to me after a diagnosis of supraventricular tachycardia, was to go next. It’s been months since I have taken one of those pills and I haven’t had a single event. Could it be that the beef was causing this? Maybe not the meat itself but the industrial production practice of injecting beef and dairy cattle with hormones? I don’t know, but for me not eating meat seems to have worked.
    Then I heard that my father has Alzheimer’s. This gave me a new perspective on things. I already knew that certain things you eat can inhibit dementia. If that’s the case maybe other things can be a catalyst. Since Alzheimer’s is sometimes hereditary, and his sisters had it, this was time for action. I started investigating foods that could inhibit Alzheimer’s and those that may cause it. It turns out that the people of India have some of the lowest rates of dementia on the planet. What do they eat, not cows, not pigs, but lots of spices.
     I went to the web and typed in a simple search term, “beef Alzheimer’s”. One of the first things to turn up was a study on the National Institute of Health’s web site that found a correlation between the consumption of beef and Alzheimer’s. It turns out that too much saturated fat can contribute to plaques forming on the brain. In fact people who eat beef throughout their life have three times greater rate of Alzheimer’s than vegetarians. It went further stating that this may also include cows’ milk products. Maybe you were making the right decision... turning away the bottle as an infant. Of course you still like your deep dish pizza. Later you gave up beef because of high cholesterol.
    Maybe another wise choice in the battle against dietary brain damage?
    I know you are probably thinking I told you so. Anyways, it appears that there is evidence that Alzheimer’s is triggered in some people due to a misfolded amino acid that in most people cannot pass through the blood brain barrier. Apparently this amino acid problem occurs much more frequently in grain fed beef than in grass fed beef. This mutated amino acid, can pass through the blood brain barrier and attach itself to neurons. When this happens it becomes a crystallization point for the formation of plaques on the brain. There is another name for these mutated amino acids – prions. Prions have been identified as the cause of mad cow disease, Cruetzfeldt-Jakob disease and now possibly Alzheimer’s.
    When I mentioned recently that the rate of Alzheimer’s is so much higher in beef eaters than in vegetarians I was questioned as to whether other factors were ruled out. Let’s examine that for a moment... do you eat beef, if yes then you are in the risk category that is three times as likely to get Alzheimer’s as vegetarians. Is more discussion necessary? Maybe there is a lifestyle difference between beef eaters and vegetarians. While I may have thought at some point in my life that vegetarians live a mysterious lifestyle apart from “normal” people thirteen years of marriage to a veg has changed that perception.
    Back to that study...
    It seems that confining cattle in a small area and stuffing them with GMO corn feed has resulted in an increase in the rate of bovine para-tuberculosis. This bug, while thought to be inert in humans may be the culprit in getting this whole brain degeneration process started. This virus is found in an estimated 20 to 40 percent of the US dairy herd according to the USDA despite nearly a century in trying to eradicate it. Makes you want to go out and get a beef-shake. Where isn’t it found in such high numbers? Vegetables.
    It’s funny, I’m sitting in the International terminal at Chennai next to a stand named “Chicago Crust... it’s all about pizza”. What do they sell? You guessed it, samosas, pakoras aloo bonda, etc... and vegetarian pizza, not deep dish but thin crust like New York pizza. I tried the mushroom veggie Pizza – it was thin and flimsy like New York style, except it had no sauce.
    I guess my body has told me I’m better off without meat. Speaking of which, I talked to a person at work today who told me they know of a child whose ADHD was cured by eliminating meat from his diet. So maybe it is better to eat a vegetarian diet. In fact, unless you make sure your milk and cheese is organic then you are probably better off eating a vegan diet. One thing, I think I’ll never stop eating chicken or fish every once in a while but as for beef and pork, it looks like I’m done with them. So I guess in the future I will be trying hard to eat close to the source and have a plant based whole foods diet.

-- John



Scars Publications


Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.




Problems with this page? Then deal with it...