A few days ago I wrote, “I … have realized that the myth that we need high protein levels to thrive is just plain wrong. That could be propaganda from the meat industry!”

It is great to feel vindicated when you hold a unpopular viewpoint. It happened to me yesterday when I found these articles:

Vegetarian low protein diet could be key to long life
Secret of a healthy old age may lie in right balance of proteins

As suspected, the mad rush to consume protein via meat, dairy and protein powders is just plain misguided. I feel great using vegan protein sources including peanut butter and legumes, and using the Diet for a Small Planet techniques of mixing vegan proteins. Try peanut butter mixed with rice syrup for a sweet snack, or a combo-plate of rice, potatoes and lentils (my current favorite.) There’s plenty of protein to be had without doing anything unnatural, like killing an animal.

I honestly believe that killing animals to eat their meat is the original sin.

This month I’ve cut my food budget to five dollars a week. This is totally going to change the way I eat. Already I’m running out of things I’m used to eating. The Clif Bars, at $1.50/day, went first. Also the hard candies I was buying to entertain myself with – they’re gone, which is a good thing because I realized they were made with corn syrup which is one of the greatest blights on humanity.

I ‘m getting to the point where I may soon be able to see real life. By this I mean that by having bad food habits I’ve been in a deep canyon all my life. By eliminating certain foods I will be able to emerge from that canyon into a better environment which will include clearer consciousness, greater insights, and other spiritual gifts which at this time I have no knowledge of.

It is a tragedy of this century that food manufacturers have placed most of humanity – especially Americans – into this canyon of ignorance because of two main influences. (1) Bad eating habits based on processed and poisoned foods, and (2) Learned helplessness. By that I mean we have learned to be dependent on large manufacturing industries for our food and jobs and without them we would be helpless – and the jobs are just about gone. What will happen if the economy pulls the food off our grocery shelves too? How many of us will be able to adjust and find ways to get enough food to live on?

I’m just guessing – but if 10% of Americans know how to garden and preserve food and are prepared and ready to do so, and the other 90% are dependent on food manufacturers for processed foods including breakfast bars and cereals, canned foods, imported coffee and tea, potato chips, mayonnaise and other condiments, store bought bread and pasta, etc, not to forget the incredible bottled beverage industry… if 90% of Americans are dependent on all this JUNK FOOD then what will happen if your NWO overlords decide to pull all that off the grocery store shelves – or if/when the dollar is devalued to the point where you can’t afford to buy a can of beans because it costs $100 and your unemployment check was just spent on rent? And those who eat meat – who are still convinced they can’t live without it – if you can’t get that, are you prepared to go out and kill something – a rat perhaps – then skin it and eat it? I mean, bletch! I personally cannot stand the thought of eating meat and have realized that the myth that we need high protein levels to thrive is just plain wrong. That could be propaganda from the meat industry!

The point here is that if you are not able and ready for a self-sustaining lifestyle you’re likely to suffer including watching your children starve to death before you do – like those families in Africa. Do you really think the world didn’t have enough food to feed them? I think they could have been saved if it were not for greed of food barons in other lands. Surely there’s a better way to manage the food resources of this planet.

All this to say – I hope you are ready to be part of the small percentage of Americans capable of being self-sufficient and able to eat during the recession years. Are you ready? I’m not, but I’m working on it.

These days of spending only five dollars a week on food have opened my eyes to some amazing revelations. For example, food addiction. I am actually having withdrawal symptoms as I wean myself of first one food then another. It distresses me to think that the economy could get so bad that entire families would be deprived and going through the same thing I’m going through now.

Now keep in mind, my challenge here is to buy no more than $5.00 worth of new food weekly, but I still have my stored food to eat. I also have a devoted boyfriend who gifted me with three items in the past two weeks. (1) Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, (2) tortillas worth over $6.00, and (3) a bunch of bananas. I must have pigged out on the tortillas because they are gone already, and this was a big thick bag. I will not replace them. I’ve decided to eat the filling alone —- or maybe make tortillas once a week as I still have flour.

The ice cream comes in a very small pint container. I decided to eat only ½ scoop daily. The last few days I’ve combined that with strawberries that I took from my freezer. So, I have plenty to eat – but I’m not eating what I’m used to, and there’s where withdrawals come in as I’m forced to make little dietary changes. Last night I did EFT for “food addictions” and it helped me feel a lot better.

So that’s the report for now. I’ve allowed myself one $5.00 shopping trip so far and that was spent on an onion, tomatoes, green pepper, candy and … I think that was all. The candy is gone now and won’t be replaced. This week I’ll resist tortillas and go for fresh veggies … especially potatoes and carrots as I’ve now run out of all that was in my garden except for one stray carrot I found in the garden today that I’ve now pulled with glee. It is in my kitchen veggie box. Next time I make steamed rice and lentils and veggies I’ll use it.

Onward toward the light and toward freedom from dependence on food manufacturers. Wish me luck and prepare yourselves for hard times ahead, because they are coming . The American dollar is worth less all the time. Please watch this video and stay informed.

Movie produced by George at Inflation US

I’m wondering how many of the people reading this blog are vegetarians. Are you one? And if not, do you want to become one?

I just found a web page about making the transition - Becoming Vegetarian: “Life” Without Meat - which may help anyone thinking about dropping meat from their diet.

It mentions soy. I personally am no longer using soy because most soybeans are now genetically modified. Too bad so many store-bought vegetarian foods are formulated with soy. I stick to plain homecooked food most of the time… beans and rice, burritos, pasta, rice and veggies, soup — simple things like that.

If you are a vegetarian, please tell us what your favorite food is!

Today someone reading my post about cinnamon and honey weight loss tea asked whether it would be safe to use during pregnancy. I looked through my herbals and found a recipe for easing pregnancy, which uses cinnamon, so that indicates to me that cinnamon could be safe for pregnant women (and their unborn dear ones.)

From John Lust’s herbal, The Herb Book: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to More Than 500 Herbs:
This is said to prevent nausea and miscarriage. It is also for reducing labor pains and increasing milk production.
1 part cinnamon
5 parts blackberry leaves
5 parts milfoil
10 parts raspberry leaves
Steep 1 teaspoon in 1/2 cup boiling water. Take 1/2 to 1 cup daily in mouthful doses.

Note that there’s to be NO OVERDOSING… which is what I need to address concerning the cinnamon and honey diet. Though the cinnamon may be safe in normal amounts, drinking large amounts might not be safe during pregnancy. Plus, I wonder about the wisdom of trying to diet during pregnancy. This is something a pregnant woman should definitely discuss with her physician.

In addition, you should be aware that there are certain herbs intentionally used (by some) to terminate pregnancies. Here’s the list of common herbs a pregnant woman should avoid:

Angelica
Birthroot
Blue Cohosh
Brooklime
Bugloss
Cotton Root Bark
Ergot
Golden Seal
Ground Pine
Juniper
Male Fern
Motherwort
Mayapple
Pennyroyal
Potassium Permanganate
Rue
St. Johns Wort
Savin
Tansy
Thyme
Valerian
Yarrow
This information is derived from two sources, Herbs & Things - Jeanne Rose’s herbal, and Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs.

All these are likely to cause abortion to occur. DON’T try this at home! I’m against abortion in general so I’m hoping this won’t be taken by anyone as a way to terminate a life. I put the list here for the benefit of herb-using women who want to preserve their pregnancies.

This list of herbs said to ease childbirth comes from John Lust’s The Herb Book:
Althea
American Spikenard
Bennet
Birthwort
Black Cohosh
Blind Nettle
Blue Cohosh
Cannabis
Columbine
Comfrey
Common Groundsel
Cotton
European Ragwort
Flax
Garden Raspberry
Garden Violet
Goat’s Rue
Horehound
Iceland Moss
Lady’s Mantle
Pansy
Primrose
Ragwort
Shepherd’s Purse
Silverweed
Spikenard
Squaw Vine
Wild Red Raspberry
Wormwood

NOTE - some of these are mentioned on the ‘do not use’ list… I’d especially avoid Blue Cohosh! Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs says it isn’t safe to use.

And about the Wormwood - I wouldn’t use that either. I know that too much of that is a danger.

Personally, I’d stick to something simple like Raspberry Leaf Tea which is well-known to be good for pregnancies.

Jeanne Rose wrote: “Raspberry leaf tea has been used for hundreds of years by women throughout their pregnancy to ease the pains of labor, to prevent miscarriage, and to increase the milk supply. It was mentioned by Pliny in his medical botany books. For the tea: one ounce of the leaves is steeped in twenty ounces of water for fifteen minutes, strained, and drunk - at least two cups per day. The leaves are also used as an astringent for diarrhea, as a gargle for sore mouths, and as an infusion to wash external ulcers and wounds. The berries are excellent eaten during a bout of diarrhea.” - Herbs & Things, page 100.

Also, note on the list of herbs that ease pregnancy, Cannabis is listed. This is Marijuana.. which is, in my opinion, a miracle healing herb… but I recommend that mothers do NOT use it during pregnancy or at any other time. The reason is that use of Marijuana is cause for child welfare agents (CPS or DHS social workers) to take children from their mothers. Especially during pregnancy, this is a real danger. I have met a young woman who used Marijuana to ease birth pains, who never got to take her child home from the hospital because THC was found in her baby’s urine. You will notice, if you give birth in a hospital, one of the first things they do is slap a urine sack on the infant to collect urine for drug testing. YES, this is true! And babies with any kind of drugs in their system are taken away from their parents. So DON’T use Cannabis/Marijuana while you’re pregnant. It just isn’t safe. If you use it you might need my other site: Fighting Child Protective Services CPS False Accusations, and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone.

One more very important thing! Use moderation, no matter what herb you choose, whether you’re pregnant or not. Too much of any herb can be dangerous. If you’re not certain a herb is safe, ask your obstetrician or (if you’re breastfeeding) your pediatrician.

Here are the links to the herbals I used for this post:

Transitions, part three

Those of you who have given birth probably remember that the final part of labor is called the transition. I remember it well. I learned the Lamaze method for my first labor, did a refresher course for the second and third, and winged it for the last two. I did pretty good at controlling my response to pain during all five labors, except during that last part - called the ‘transition’. That was when things got rough. That was the only time I couldn’t stop myself from screaming due to overwhelming pain.

Transitions can be like that. If it is a difficult transition, something bad is happening that we’re reacting to by changing. For example a person might need to declutter their home, but if motivation is lacking, the house may stay messy for years. Then one day a child protective services caseworker might show up a the door and threaten to remove all the children. Now that’s something worth screaming about. Suddenly the parents go into hyperdrive and clean up their mess. They toss all the bric-a-brac and open the windows to let fresh air in. Life is better, but it took some terrible impetus to force change.

Transitions are often that way. We are getting so much stress from the way things are, we feel forced to change the conditions under which we live.

That’s what happened to me this time. My pants were getting tighter. Heaven forbid! I don’t mind buying new clothes, but not in a larger size! Besides, I want my health. I need it.

I put myself in health recovery mode, shut down my metabolism with the Lemonade Diet, and forced myself to reset my system. It had to be done.

Now I’m grateful to get a vegan sandwich… after ten days with nothing but lemonade and tea. To indulge in an apple rather than a slice of cheese seems luxurious, and altogether more clean than sticking more mucus into my body, especially after I went to so much trouble to get rid of it.

Transitions can be painful, but they are also bountiful. Just like in childbirth, where the worst pain gives forth the much-desired and longed for child, my food transition, ten days of fasting, has given forth a healthier and much more satisfying and healthy diet.