PING: Monique

jmcquown wrote:

Karen wrote:

I tell you what, since I started avoiding almost anything that is not
organic I have seen a major improvement (also on Librax still).

(snippage)

I saw Paul Newman on The Tonight Show last week. His daughter (Lisa?)
introduced an organic line of foods as a subsidiary off of his Newman's Own
food line (proceeds of which go to various charities). His daughter
introduced organic dog food. Jay Leno made him a bet of $10 that Paul
Newman wouldn't eat the organic dog food. Paul hesitated a moment, then
grabbed the open can (chicken and brown rice, I believe it was) and took a
spoonful and ate it. He actually looked like he liked it. As they were
cutting to a commercial break, he took another spoonful and was eating it.

I don't know if this proves anything other than Paul Newman supports his
daughters efforts to offer organic dog food, but pulleeeze... I don't want
to see someone eating canned dog food on television! Reminds me of Johnny
Carson begging for Alpo when Ed McMahon used to do live commercials for that
product. I fed my dog Alpo until he was elderly and on prescription food
but I wouldn't have eaten it. Would you (the collective you) eat Fancy
Feast? That stuff is often more expensive than a can of jack
mackerel or
salmon when it comes to the weight of the cans. Come on, folks.

Depends upon what else was available! ;-) Actually, it's
perfectly wholesome food (and, unlike some dog-food, does
not contain ground bone, which isn't particularly designed
for the human digestive system). The fish-flavored ones are
a bit too fishy-tasting for human palates, and the meats are
too bland (although a little salt and a few herbs would
probably take care of that), but if it were served to you
with crackers and a spreader, and you didn't know it was
"pet food", I suspect most of us would ind it perfectly
acceptable.


I have nothing against organic but I'm not going to avoid foodstuffs that
don't use pesticides. I use pesticides in my house when those damned
Palmetto bugs and Wolf crickets wander in from outside. I just make sure it
doesn't affect me and my cats or their food supply.

As I understand it, foods raised without pesticides are free
of pests because of being grown with other foods that repel
the pests that might attack them. Also, sometimes the
pesticides incorporate themselves INTO the food (DDT and
food-fish, for example - one reason DDT is no longer
routinely used).

--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

"Karen" wrote in message
news:2006041320204316807%kchuplis@alltelnet...

Yeah, increasing my fiber has really helped. You know, I discovered I was
eating a LOT of insoluble fiber and not much soluble fiber. So, when I was
sickest, I increased the soluble fiber first and then after a week started
adding the roughage of insoluble fiber back in. This seems to be working
way better. It has taught me I should probably eat some of those things I
was not like bread, pasts, rice. Yams are good too. Benefiber helped as it
is completely soluble and has no taste (yeah!) so you can really mix it in
with anything.

Karen, can you mention a few food items that are high in soluble fiber and
some that are heigh in insoluble fibre?
Which type of fibre are in green vegetables and beans?
Thanks!

Winnie

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...

It's possible, but typically expensive and time consuming. The likely
choice organic foods market in Boulder has the parking lot from hell,
for example, and I'm literally afraid to park there during peak hours.


I am within walking distance to a health food store and it sells organic
foods too. The organic foods market in town is in some obscure places.
Maybe you can find a more convenient health food store to get
organic food instead of going to the organic foods market.
Even some supermarkets carry organic foods now as the demand for
them are growing.


Anyway, I saw a doctor today. She agrees that my symptoms point to
IBS, but she also took blood for a thyroid test and I'm supposed to
give some icky samples to a lab to rule out parasites and whatnot.

She prescribed me an anti-spasmodic (sp?) to try; curious to see if it
will help and how the side effects are. She also mentioned that anti
depressants have been successfully used in treating IBS. That's a
possibility, but one that makes me uneasy.

I can understand that. I was antidepressants once and stopped taking it
before the prescription
was finished. There can be many side effects. Did the doctor say your
symptoms
may be brought on by stress?
If you do want to try a high fiber diet, ncrease the fiber slowly.

Winnie



--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

On Thu, 13 Apr 2006 20:18:39 -0700, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:

I have nothing against organic but I'm not going to avoid foodstuffs that
don't use pesticides. I use pesticides in my house when those damned
Palmetto bugs and Wolf crickets wander in from outside. I just make sure it
doesn't affect me and my cats or their food supply.

As I understand it, foods raised without pesticides are free
of pests because of being grown with other foods that repel
the pests that might attack them. Also, sometimes the
pesticides incorporate themselves INTO the food (DDT and
food-fish, for example - one reason DDT is no longer
routinely used).

minor rant warning
Organic producers / growers *do* use pesticides, it's just that they
use pesticides derived from natural products - e.g. pyrethrum derived
from the pyrethrum plant (a kind of daisy) or garlic, rather than
generated in a laboratory. It is a very common fallacy that organic
means "pesticide free", but it ain't so.

I do, however, strongly agree that the reduction in use (or banning)
of long-term, persistent pesticides and herbicides (like DDT) is a
good thing and we were stupid to have ever used these things. People
will be paying for the use of these poisons for generations to come -
just look at the poor folks in Vietnam who are still suffering the
after-effects of the abuse of the defoliant (i.e. a herbicide) Agent
Orange during the Vietnam war.

Oddly enough, some of these natural pesticides (pyrethrum being a good
example) *can* be more damaging to the local insect ecology than the
nasty laboratory ones that have a more specific action. Pyrethrum is
extremely good at killing insects (unless they develop resistance -
another story), but its problem is that it is very broad in its action
and will kill beneficial as well as pest insects. If you're an
organic or biodynamic farmer and want / need to maintain healthy
population of beneficial insects, which includes pollinators like bees
and predators like ladybirds, frequent spraying the totally natural,
organic and earth-friendly pyrethrum will do more harm than good.
Other pest control methods, like companion planting that Evelyn
mentioned, are more complex to use and require much more time
monitoring both pest and beneficial insect populations, but in a
small-scale operation that doesn't use large-scale monocultures, can
be better in the long run.

rant finished

I suppose that I'd better go out to my veggie patch now and pick off
the cabbage white butterfly eggs that have been laid on my broccoli
seedlings. I only have 8 seedlings, so it's not too much of a chore!
Keeping the kangaroo out of my veggie patch is much more of a
challenge! (they've eaten *all* the leaves off my okra, stripped the
parsley, nibbled most of my chillis, and are having a serious attempt
at my basil - grrrr!).

Gosh, I didn't expect I'd write that much!
Tish

On 2006-04-13 22:36:50 -0500, "W. Leong" said:


"Karen" wrote in message
news:2006041320204316807%kchuplis@alltelnet...

Yeah, increasing my fiber has really helped. You know, I discovered I
was eating a LOT of insoluble fiber and not much soluble fiber. So,
when I was sickest, I increased the soluble fiber first and then after
a week started adding the roughage of insoluble fiber back in. This
seems to be working way better. It has taught me I should probably eat
some of those things I was not like bread, pasts, rice. Yams are good
too. Benefiber helped as it is completely soluble and has no taste
(yeah!) so you can really mix it in with anything.

Karen, can you mention a few food items that are high in soluble fiber and
some that are heigh in insoluble fibre?
Which type of fibre are in green vegetables and beans?
Thanks!

Winnie

This is the list I kept seeing everywhere for soluble fiber so, I
worked off that and added all other fibers back in; seems like most
everything else is insoluble to some degree. But I'm not an expert by
any means. There is very little on this list that I ate befo

As a general rule, the grain and cereal foods at the top of this list
make the safest, easiest, and most versatile soluble fiber foundations
for your meals and snacks.

Rice
Pasta and noodles
Oatmeal
Barley
Fresh white breads such as French or sourdough (NOT whole wheat or
whole grain)*
Rice cereals
Flour tortillas
Soy
Quinoa
Corn meal
Potatoes
Carrots
Yams
Sweet potatoes
Turnips
Rutabagas
Parsnips
Beets
Squash and pumpkins
Mushrooms
Chestnuts
AvocadosBananas
Applesauce
Mangoes
Papayas

*Please choose a baked-daily, high quality, preservative-free brand.
White bread does not mean Wonder.

"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote in message
...
I've been curious about these for a while. Maybe time to check 'em
out.

Anyway, I saw a doctor today. She agrees that my symptoms point to
IBS, but she also took blood for a thyroid test and I'm supposed to
give some icky samples to a lab to rule out parasites and whatnot.


There is a good section on IBS at http://www.drweil.com/u/HC/HCA259/#4
Worth checking it out.

Winnie

She prescribed me an anti-spasmodic (sp?) to try; curious to see if it
will help and how the side effects are. She also mentioned that anti
depressants have been successfully used in treating IBS. That's a
possibility, but one that makes me uneasy.

--
monique, who spoils Oscar unmercifully

pictures: http://www.bounceswoosh.org/rpca

Tish Silberbauer wrote:

but in a small-scale operation that doesn't use large-scale
monocultures, can be better in the long run.

Tish, just wondering what the word "monocultures" means in this context.
Does it mean planting a large area with a single crop, rather than mixing
different ones together?

Joyce

On 14 Apr 2006 05:33:42 GMT, wrote:

Tish Silberbauer wrote:

but in a small-scale operation that doesn't use large-scale
monocultures, can be better in the long run.

Tish, just wondering what the word "monocultures" means in this context.
Does it mean planting a large area with a single crop, rather than mixing
different ones together?

Joyce

I guess I was trying to make the distinction between a market garden
or home veggie patch and the broadacre crops like wheat, cotton and
canola. There is a fair bit of evidence that mixing different crops
or vegetation types (doesn't always have to be crops - can be native
or decorative plants) in small patches means you have fewer pest
problems than having a lot of a single type of vegetation.
Caveat: this is not my area of speciality, it is just something I'm
interested in.

Cheers,
Tish

Tish Silberbauer wrote:

Tish, just wondering what the word "monocultures" means in this context.

I guess I was trying to make the distinction between a market garden
or home veggie patch and the broadacre crops like wheat, cotton and
canola.

I've heard the term before and haven't been quite sure what it means.
Sounds like I guessed pretty much correctly.

Joyce

Tish Silberbauer wrote:
On 14 Apr 2006 05:33:42 GMT, wrote:

Tish Silberbauer wrote:

but in a small-scale operation that doesn't use large-scale
monocultures, can be better in the long run.

Tish, just wondering what the word "monocultures" means in this context.
Does it mean planting a large area with a single crop, rather than mixing
different ones together?

Joyce

I guess I was trying to make the distinction between a market garden
or home veggie patch and the broadacre crops like wheat, cotton and
canola. There is a fair bit of evidence that mixing different crops
or vegetation types (doesn't always have to be crops - can be native
or decorative plants) in small patches means you have fewer pest
problems than having a lot of a single type of vegetation.
Caveat: this is not my area of speciality, it is just something I'm
interested in.

Cheers,
Tish

Yes, that's right, to my understanding too. Monoculture is like acres
and acres of the same thing--that's a paradise to aphids, and other
pests. Organic gardening relies a lot on "companion" crops. Like
planting marigolds with your squash because it repels squash bugs. And
planting lavender and things that attract ladybugs and preying
mantises, so that you'll have them to eat the aphids and bad bugs.
Roses like to have garlic as a "companion".
Companion crops aren't a new fad at all. The Native Americans used that
concept.
Isn't it funny how after all the chemical research to develop the
chemical sprays, all the developing of the technology to have a way to
spray them, some of us like to go back to the way the Native Americans
did it hundreds of years ago.
Sherry