Number Eleven ©October, 2000 ••••••• Don Harthcock, Editor OpinionSoup may contain language and topics unsuitable for children.
"The crone is the maturing of the feminine, in both men and women. Here, there is no concern with power, nothing left to lose. The crone finds herself a tuning fork among others, bringing them into center." ~Marion Woodman
IN THIS ISSUE:
VOTING - Do it for Uncle Jim.
QUERCETIN - Queer who?
RDA / RDI - antiquated / useless
STREWING HERBS - Whew! Honey, time to muck out the house!
TYROSINE - Fire up some Dopamine!
UNDISCOVERED / UNEXAMINED - Life is worth living!
VITAMINS - You gettin' any?
WAXED PRODUCE & FRUIT - Danger, Will Robinson!
YAUPON - This is not about Walt Whitman.
ZINC OXIDE OINTMENT - popular with beach freaks
None of the statements made in this publication have been evaluated by the FDA, nor is that likely ever to happen. This publication is not meant to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Since this publication is not intended to be diagnostic or prescriptive, the authors assume no responsibility for any adverse reactions resulting from the use of any information contained in it.
Personal From Donny
My father's brother Jim was (really) crazy as hell. He got married for the first time at the age of 65, then started dressing weird, wearing sunglasses indoors, talking too fast, and smoking cigars. Less than a year later, he died (I think it was the clothes).
Being a tad bit eccentric myself, I have a lot of great memories of this uncle, mainly because unlike the rest of my father's fairly straightlaced family, Jim just didn't give a shit. I have always admired that in a person, so long as it didn't involve cruelty or violence or any other bad stuff. It's the only thing I ever liked about Janis Joplin.
My mother believed Jim's cornbread wasn't done in the middle, and virtually everyone said he was "tetched," but I'm sure he wasn't stupid (he did giggle quite a bit). He made it through World War II, after all, and that required at least a little sense (and a lot of luck), I'm pretty sure. Or maybe he was never sent into battle, being so crazy; I really don't know.
The one really STUPID thing Jim ever said to me concerned the first presidential contest (1952) between Dwight David Eisenhower and my father's choice, Adlai Ewing Stevenson. Jim liked Stevenson better, also, but he told me he voted for Eisenhower. He swore me to secrecy (you didn't tell people who you voted for, those days, but I was just a kid).
Well, brother, he told that secret to the wrong kid. At the ripe old age of ten, I was incredulous (and angry; this treason cost us two votes, I told him...the one he gave Eisenhower and the one Adlai didn't get). How could he vote for a Republican in the first place, I wanted to know. And why would he vote for Ike when we were all Madly For Adlai?
Listen to me now; pay attention. Jim said that since Eisenhower was sure to win, he went ahead and voted for him because he didn't want to "lose his vote." I was astonished, even at that tender age, because it was such a stupid thing to say.
"No, you didn't lose your vote, Uncle Jim," I told him. "You threw it away."
Well, here it is 2000, and I have a serious request to make of you. Instead of obeying the pollsters and jumping on either the Gush or the Bore bandwagon, won't you please vote for your actual candidate of choice? If you actually prefer Gush or Bore, well, OK. But if you like Harry Browne, vote for him. If you like Ralph Nader, as I do, VOTE FOR NADER / LADUKE! If you like Pat Buchanan, go sit in the corner and think about it some more.
Although it is almost certain that either Gush or Bore will be the next President (I think it will be Bore), I believe that Nader is the best candidate for the job. Therefore, I will use MY vote to express that belief; win, lose or draw. I will do it in memory of Uncle Jim. I will never tell my nephews that I voted for Bore because I "didn't want to lose my vote."
P.S. In paragraph two, above, I refer to my father's "fairly straightlaced family." Actually, they were only RELATIVELY fairly straightlaced. In fact, all the boys (except Jim) made and sold whiskey during Prohibition, and some of them went to jail for it, unlike Joseph Kennedy (another Irish bootlegger but a better businessman). Jim could never get the hang of making whiskey, and he hardly ever drank (when he was drunk you couldn't really tell, except it make him giggle a little more and fall down). My father (a recognized Master Moonshiner) and all of his brothers spent years running from "Revenuers" (Daddy's favorite comic strip was Snuffy Smith).
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- Bet you $5 your doctor never heard of it!
Quercetin (related to Rutin) is a powerful antioxidant flavonoid and anti-inflammatory substance which has been researched extensively. Supplements of this non-Citrus, bio-active bioflavonoid are derived (isolated) from blue-green algae. Quercetin is also obtained naturally from apples, black tea and onions.
Increasing your intake of foods high in Quercetin will significantly lower your risk for heart disease, treat abnormal capillary fragility, increase circulation of your blood and production of bile, and lower cholesterol. If you opt for supplements, at least 35 mg/day is recommended.
Bioflavonoids are glycosides found as the pigments in barks, flowers, leaves, rinds and seeds of numerous plants, usually in close association with Vitamin C. These two powerful antioxidants provide protection to plants, helping them weather potentially harmful variations in rainfall, sunlight, temperature and wind velocity. Bioflavonoids are also important for human health but cannot be manufactured by the body; they must be obtained either from food or supplements.
Quercetin has been the subject of many scientific reports throughout the world. Through a unique synergistic relationship, Quercetin and Vitamin C both improve the efficacy of the other. See Vitamin C.
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- Doctors don't know; doctors don't care.
RDA means Recommended Daily Allowance, a term which has been (not-entirely) replaced by RDI, Reference Daily Intake. These terms, as you know, relate to nutrients.
Government-established RDIs are far too low, especially in relation to nutrients-as-medicine (a place where your government refuses to go). Knowing that RDIs are too low, consider this: many people don't even get the RDIs from their diet.
Doctors are not sufficiently trained in nutrition, nor do they want such training. Both the U.S. Food & Nutrition Board (who fought among themselves for five years before finally establishing RDIs, in 1989) and the medical community at large, embrace the out-of-date notion that a "normal, balanced diet" is all a person needs, nutritionally. This obdurate point of view really has no place in medicine, but it is strongly upheld by medical schools and their sponsoring pharmaceutical companies, who also have a heavy hand in schooling your doctors. The public-at-large does not know and does not care to know the extent to which medical schools are subsidized by drug companies.
To teach medical students merely that deficiency in Niacin causes pellagra, and that the cure for pellagra is Niacin, seems to me an idiotic course if you do not include adjunct information on the many other therapeutic and preventive uses of B3 in dosages exceeding RDI. Yet the USFNB and many doctors continue to be inflexible, insisting that RDIs and deficiency diseases should be the only concern of nutritionists.
This position is untenable and worse. It is UNCONSCIONABLE. It is DEPLORABLE. It is the Nth Degree of health-care ignorance, and it is the reason that many doctors give me the Red Ass. See Red Ass.
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STREWING HERBS (Aromatic Herbs)
- Great-Great-Grandmother of Aromatherapy
bedstraw photo courtesy weed science society
In medieval times and earlier, most residences had dirt floors, and all houses stank. I mean, STANK! Many houses had various unwashed animals right in there with the unwashed people, and a general lack of hygiene prevailed. Also, Pine-Sol® had not yet been invented. Therefore, various Aromatic Herbs were strewn about and packed into pillows and bedding, to make the place smell better.
Some Strewing Herbs (esp. Mugwort and the other Artemisias) were used for their known ability to repel fleas, rats, and other vermin. Additionally, some herbs were strewn for magical purposes, to avert enchantments, evil spirits, and attacks by Vikings (the true male ancestors of many blonds and red-heads of Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland).
General filthiness prevailed in those ancient days, along with a lack of knowledge of how diseases are caused and spread. Of course, this led to many plagues, including The Black Death (Bubonic Plague, carried by fleas that live on rats), that wiped out half the population of Europe. Jerry Falwell would probably tell you that this was God's punishment on them for some imagined transgression (payment for transgressions being the main money-maker of his religion). The ancient Hebrews are the origin of this belief that disease is caused by sin, and this ignorant line of thinking survives with the ranting of un-holy pedagogues. Regardless, ignorance and poverty are still the true causes of much disease.
Eventually, Strewing Herbs were used for many purposes, just as they are today, for wreaths, garlands, potpourris, and so on. Most of us use Strewing Herbs every day, whether we realize it or not. The ancient Strewing Herbs are the direct and indirect precursors of Aromatherapy, as well as the widespread use of incense, aromatic candles, and commercial air-fresheners.
Crones and Hags, practitioners of Wicca whom the Christians would, in ignorance, attempt to eradicate, made herbal knowledge a big part of their life's work. Knowledge of Strewing Herbs (and all herbal knowledge, actually) was exclusively the domain of women.
Public interest is somewhat the same today, as you can see by checking out the web rings to which this site belongs; I'm one of very few guys. Of course, there are MANY male herbal experts, today: Jim Duke, Andrew Weil, Michael Tierra, Michael Moore and Many Others who will be miffed because I didn't mention their names.
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- Be all that you can be!
Tyrosine, an amino acid, is a precursor of Dopamine, Epinephrine, Melinin and Thyroxine. It relieves anxiety and depression.
A high-protein meal such as shellfish is recommended if you have an important task or meeting coming up that will require mental agility and concentration, and I'll tell you why. The digestion of protein sends Tyrosine directly to your brain, where it is converted to Dopamine and Epinephrine, chemicals that will let you be all that you can be, brain-wise. Tyrosine also comes in capsules. See Shellfish.
CAUTION: AVOID TYROSINE SUPPLEMENTS IF YOU SUFFER FROM HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.
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- "The Past is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." ~Don Harthcock
In the Bible, Ecclesiastes the Preacher says, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun." (Chapter 1, Verse 9)
Plato said, "The life which is unexamined is not worth living."
In 1945, when Donny was only three years old (imagine!), Henry Miller said, "The new always carries with it the sense of violation, of sacrilege. What is dead is sacred; what is new, that is, different, is evil, dangerous, or subversive."
On the lighter side of Undiscovery, Donny offers the following poem:
THE UNDISCOVEREDI take much longer than is necessary
Arranging the clothes on my clotheslineSometimes I stand back and stare at them
(I know they are gossiping)My friends all laugh about this
I'm eccentric, and they love meBut secretly
I knowI am the undiscovered
Great Conceptual Artist of our time
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- "I don't believe in all this Vitamin-pill taking." ~my niece
"Any of various fat-soluble or water-soluble organic substances essential in minute amounts for normal growth and activity of the body and obtained naturally from plant and animal foods." This is the American Heritage Dictionary's sparse definition of Vitamin, and it's a pretty good one (you should get this dictionary; I think it's very good). The word "essential" is what distinguishes Vitamins from other nutrients. A Vitamin is a nutrient that you can't do without, simply put.
The only part of this definition with which I disagree is the phrase "in minute amounts." This has been the position of the medical community for many years, and the minute recommended amounts (see RDA/RDI) of some Vitamins is, in my non-medical opinion, far too low. The "RDA as Gospel" mind-set is what prevents many doctors from believing that nutrition plays a major role in preventing or curing diseases. Many physicians firmly believe that as long as you have "an adequate diet," you need have no further concern about Vitamins. If your doctor has told you something similar to this, get another opinion.
Read The Nutrition Desk Reference by Robert Garrison and Elizabeth Somer (Keats Publishing, 1995) and related Keats books. If you are a reader and you are interested in nutrition, squeeze in some non-fiction health material somewhere in there between your doses of Tom Clancy and Stephen King. Shop my Bibliography & Recommended Reading section. At 58, I am still the perennial student, and I alternate fiction and non-fiction.
Although you may spend a gazillion dollars on Vitamin supplements if you wish, the best way to get the Vitamins you need is in the foods that you eat. You shouldn't need to take Vitamin and Mineral supplements if you have a hip and healthful diet and are not ill, but if you do need them, they're everywhere. And be mindful of the sad fact that many of our plant foods are not as nutritious as they used to be, due to the depletion of our agricultural soils.
I told one of my relatives last week that many foods are not as healthful as they were when she was a little girl, and she said, "Well, I just don't believe in all this Vitamin-pill taking."
"Honey," I responded, "it's not a religion."
Vitamins B and C are water-soluble, which means they are excreted in urine and need to be replaced daily. The other Vitamins are fat-soluble and can be stored in the body. Many nutritionists warn of possible toxic levels of some fat-soluble Vitamins, especially Vitamin A, which can damage your liver. Donny believes that Vitamin A Toxicity is rare, and that such warnings are overdone. See Vitamin A.
Some drugs can interfere with the absorption of Vitamins; these include alcohol, antibiotics, contraceptives, diuretics, laxatives, steroids and sulfa drugs. Aging can cause your body to absorb fewer B Vitamins. There are many substances which assist your body in absorbing Vitamins; such information is spread throughout this work.
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- Oh, just look at those big, beautiful, shiny apples!
Fungicides are commonly combined with the wax which you see covering certain foods in produce sections of supermarkets. These fungicides are used to keep the food from spoiling, and they can give you cancer. Wax also locks in pesticides, yet I know people who will buy only the "shiniest" apples.
Organically-grown produce will never "catch on" in depressed areas where people traditionally live at or near a poverty level of income. Also, a lot of folks are incredibly naive about "what the government will allow."
I tell you: for economic reasons, "the government" will allow almost any damn thing. Believe me, when it comes to agriculture, Big Brother is not watching. Agribusiness is just like any other business in America: they really don't give a damn about the public. You've got to scream to the government to get anything done, and even then, you are still dealing with people who really don't give a damn about the public.
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- English Holly's country cousin
This evergreen Holly tree (Ilex vomitoria) of the southeastern United States is popular for landscaping and hedging. It has dark green leaves and small red or yellow fruit. If you are wondering how it got the disgusting name "vomitoria," try eating a couple of the fruits (berries) or make the mistake of making its medicinal tea from fresh instead of dried leaves. In about fifteen minutes you will have no doubt. Some of the young horticulture students at Mississippi State University call this small tree Ilex barfatoria.
Birds love this tree, especially when it is pruned for hedging, as escape cover. I don't know if they eat the berries, and I don't know if they make birds barf. Can you picture it?
An infusion of the dried leaves yields a bitter tea, an ancient "Indian" remedy for coughs, colds and rheumatic pain. The name "Yaupon" is derived from the Catawba Yapa. See Dahoon. See English Holly.
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- "Mommy, look at all the people with white noses."
Also called Chinese White or Zinc White, this compound can be seen every day in South Miami Beach and on cruise ships; it is used to prevent sunburned noses. As a salve consisting of about 20% Zinc Oxide with beeswax or paraffin and petrolatum, it is also used in the treatment of various skin disorders.
OpinionSoup is published by Don Harthcock. OS#11 ©October, 2000, Don Harthcock & Brian McLeod. Reproduction of any part of this copyrighted publication for commercial purposes is prohibited. Taping to refrigerators, posting on bulletin boards & emailing to friends is cool.
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