Number Four ©August, 2000 ••••••• Don Harthcock, Editor OpinionSoup may contain language and topics unsuitable for children.
IN THIS ISSUE:
FORGIVENESS - the greatest power
GOTU-KOLA - This is your brain on herbs.
HEALTH CARE - Cattle Call
INOSITOL - Rate it B: a cut above
JETHRO KLOSS - the Stephen King of herbs (he goes on and on and on and on)
KUZU (KUDZU) - "...a vegetable form of cancer" ~James Dickey
LYCOPENE - Pass the ketchup, please!
MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE - another African American
NUTS - to you
OKRA - Scummy, or Slimy?
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
mandala ©2000 One Spirit Project
Oh, what POWER has "Forgiveness!"
In Puck of Pook's Hill (1906) "Children's Song," Rudyard Kipling wrote:
Teach us Delight in simple things,And Mirth that has no bitter springs;
Forgiveness free of evil done,
And Love to all men 'neath the sun!
In the early 1970s, my friend Sue (then my wife) and I helped administer Soma Seminars in Miami for our friends Bill and Ellen, who are clinical psychologists. This was a series of meetings aimed at helping you take personal responsibility for your own actions (and for everything that happens to you, even at the hands of others), and to "listen" to your bodies, which are sometimes "smarter" than Brains. Toward the end of each seminar, Bill would lead the participants in a Forgiveness Ritual, which I will try to recreate for you here.
Because the Forgiveness Ritual is a form of self-hypnosis, first put yourself in a calm environment, free from noises and distractions.
In your imagination, create for yourself a safe space, a secret room, a real place from your memory or an imagined fortress, but essentially a place that is your place, safe from all intrusions and all that is Other. This place is yours alone, and no one else may enter, except at your bidding. No one may discover this place and intrude upon it, because it exists only for you. This is the place to which you may retreat, when you need to be completely left alone. Within this safe place is everything that you need. There are no restrictions on what you may have in this place, because it is yours alone. Now go to the beginning of this paragraph and read up to this point, again.
Now think about what you have read for a few minutes, and take a few more minutes to really do this, before you read any further.
In our childhood, in our teen years and throughout our young adulthood, all of us have had authority figures. These include parents, teachers, ministers, policemen, bosses, other significant adults; all those with authority over us. We all harbor hurts and feelings of being wronged, wrongs which were inflicted by some or all of those whom I have just named.
Go to your safe place.
Now, invite into your safe place all of those people who have inflicted hurt upon you. All of them. Make them line up, in a receiving line, so to speak. They must do as you say; they will not protest.
Now walk down the line, to each one by one; take their hands, look into their eyes, and tell them that you forgive them.
"I forgive you," you must say, to each one.
As you forgive each of these significant authority figures from your youth, they will disappear, until you are the only one left in your safe place.
Now it is time to forgive yourself.
For all the stupid, hurtful things that you have ever done, to yourself and to others, forgive yourself.
Forgiveness takes all the power away from evil deeds.
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- for you and your elephant
Gotu-Kola (Centella asiatica), a low-growing, tropical Asian perennial, can be classified as a primary Brain herb; it is an Ayurvedic herb. A slender plant that flourishes in and near water, Gotu-Kola has been used in Indonesia for centuries. Introduced to Europe in the nineteenth century, Gotu-Kola is now well known in the United States. Jonnie and I take it every day, which is just one of the reasons we are such wonderful people.
Among its multiple uses, Gotu-Kola has been used for hundreds of years in India to improve mental alertness, longevity and memory. Traditional Chinese Medicine uses Gotu-Kola to stimulate the Brain (it is not "a stimulant") and to increase longevity and energy
Basis of standardization for Gotu-Kola is Asiaticosides.
In its natural state, by the way, elephants eat this stuff.
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- Head 'em up! Move 'em out! Doctors are taught in "medical" school how to manage their practices more effectively by spending as little time as possible with each patient.
Do you suppose that underlying the health-care industry there may be an implicit doctor-pharmacist/drug-company interplay that has been created by common knowledge of what bean counters at insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid will and will not pay for? Do you suppose that regard for what is best for any individual may have suffered, in some cases?
Do you suppose that some doctors, in a big hurry to see as many patients as possible, prescribe powerful, expensive medications (or surgery) immediately instead of diagnosing properly, because they want to make more money?
Donny supposes so, and openly accuses them of it!
These sins are the monster children of greed. Did you know that doctors are TAUGHT (in "medical" school) how to spend as little time as possible with each patient, thereby making their medical BUSINESS more profitable?
You may be supporting these wrongs yourself, by being in a hurry. You want to get back to work right away, don't you? Whether you are well or not, you want your SYMPTOMS of illness to go away quickly so that you can hurry back to your job, because you have only so many sick days, if any.
I understand and sympathize, but I urge you to RESIST the assumed powers of insurance companies and employers in dictating your health care. You are citizens of the United States of America, and you have elected representatives in your state and federal government who may be anxious to hear from you. Talk to them!
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- Who knew liver was good for your hair?
An isomeric alcohol found in plant and animal tissue and classified as a member of the Vitamin B Complex, Inositol is involved in the metabolism of fats and cholesterol.
Vital for hair growth, Inositol also aids in Brain cell nutrition. Along with Choline, Inositol helps prevent the accumulation of fat in the Liver.
Along the shady avenues of Life, Inositol is commonly used by drug dealers to cut cocaine. It doesn't affect the cocaine in any way; it's just a relatively inexpensive and difficult-to-detect adulterant which stretches out the coke and increases profits. Of course, Donny has not walked those streets in many years.
Inositol is obtained naturally from brewer's yeast, citrus fruits, liver, meats, milk, vegetables, and whole grains. It is most effective in the presence of the other B-Complex vitamins, especially B-12 and Choline (with which it makes Lecithin).
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- Back To Eden, a masterpiece
An authentic practicing herbalist of great renown for many years, Jethro Kloss nonetheless practiced his art many years ago (Back To Eden's first printing was in 1939). Some of his observations, recommendations and conclusions are, quite understandably, incomplete or even incorrect (lightning, please don't strike!). Conversely, he is frequently brilliant, insightful, and practically perfect.
Understand me: Jethro Kloss is right up there with Andrew Weil, Edgar Cayce and Hippocrates, and he is deserving of respect for the great volume of his work, in my book. Hey, this IS my book!
Kloss's work is in no way denigrated, but rather, is augmented by recent discoveries. It would be worse than foolish to rely on information current in 1939, however; therefore, when there is no modern corroboration, all Kloss references must be considered to be archaic and/or speculative.
Although Back To Eden is definitely a period piece, my hard-copy of its 19th printing (1969) is one of my most prized possessions (thanks, Sue; can you believe I still have this book after thirty years?). I enthusiastically recommend it to you, but be warned that it gushes on for over 700 pages. Click on the pic or any of the blue titles to get it from Amazon.com for $11.96. It is a masterpiece of a kind not seen anymore. Such a masterpiece is deeply personal, or reflects profound personal involvement and commitment to DOING ONE THING and doing it better than anyone else. He didn't get anything off the Internet; that's for sure; he did "borrow" from others, as all writers do.
Modern herbals are much more valuable, as information. Most, however, are written by professional writers with computers, medical libraries, hundreds of easy-access references, and, of course, the Internet.
Back To Eden was written during a time frame that cannot exist anymore, a time free from most of the distractions that you and I endure daily. You might say, without sarcasm, that in his spare time Jethro Kloss didn't have anything else to do. You will not believe the amount of work this man performed, every single day. But, then, they didn't have TV or personal computers or rap music or male sensitivity seminars in the 30s, three of which I'm still doing without.
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- Would you believe there are over 800 Kudzu websites?
Because of the peculiarities of Japanese phonics and phonetics, we Americans spell and pronounce "Aduki" Adzuki. Likewise with "Kuzu," which most of us spell and pronounce Kudzu. Of course, because Japanese is written in the Kanji alphabet, anybody's transliteration into English can be called "correct."
Kudzu (Pueraria lobata, P. thunbergiana) is originally from eastern Asia and Japan, but you will now find it along Mississippi roads and highways covering anything that doesn't move, including trees (which it kills), buildings, abandoned vehicles, hillsides, and perhaps even people reported missing.
Just east of Yazoo City, one fellow's old van, with a For Sale sign inside the front windshield, is completely enveloped in Kudzu, inside and out.
"What about your Kudzumobile, there?" I asked.
"Looks a whole lot better now, don't it?" he observed.
James Dickey has called Kudzu "a vegetable form of cancer."
Kudzu is grown in the East for fodder, forage, medicine and root starch. Its leaves are said to be edible, deep-fried. Kudzu was introduced with great enthusiasm into the South as an antidote to widespread soil erosion, but it is now out of control.
Medicinally, Kudzu is a traditional Chinese remedy for alcoholism, and, believe it or don't, IT ACTUALLY WORKS! It's also great for "the morning after." Some researchers claim that it lessens the intoxicating effects of alcohol and PREVENTS hangovers. Harvard researchers discovered, in 1993, that the whole plant contains Daidzin, a compound that actually reduces the craving for alcohol and lowers the blood level of alcohol already drunk. In China, Kudzu is an ingredient of a morning tea called Xing-Jiu-Ling, which translates loosely to "sober up." Medicinal preparations of Kudzu can be found in Health Food stores, Chinese herb stores, and perhaps in Asian markets.
Considering this news and the fact that imported Kudzu Root Starch is going for about $20 a pound at natural foods retailers (it is a superior thickener, natural cooks report), Donny is looking for an investment partner for marketing this obnoxious weed. In Mississippi, we've got LOTS of it; I kid you not. Come on down and take a look!
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- Try ordering a soyprotein, lettuce and lycopene sandwich.
One of the "new" nutritional research superstars, Lycopene is a carotenoid found especially in tomato sauce and tomato juice.
I've been telling my family for YEARS that ketchup is good for you, and they just laugh. Well, HA! Everyone gives me yucky looks when I snack on unsalted crackers (or matzi) and ketchup, but I say HA! I invented this simple snack in 1976, when I had hepatitis and couldn't hold anything else down. Who knew I was a visionary?
1976 was rather a red-letter year for Donny. Besides the hepatitis / ketchup-and-cracker thing, it was also the year of my divorce, my invention of corn-and-pea salad, and my arrest and incarceration for possession of drugs. Through all of that I was on the Dean's List at Florida International University, but I eventually crashed and burned.
My nephew said, "I don't think I'd'a' told that, Donny."
Well, it happened. I paid the price, and I learned my lesson. May YOU never have to pay such a price, or learn such a lesson. By the way, "I'd'a'" is Southern for "I would have."
Lycopene is what makes tomatoes red. Cooking frees Lycopene from tomatoes' fiber and protein and makes it available for your body's absorption. Further research is ongoing, with exciting evidence being presented that Lycopene may contribute significantly to the prevention of Breast, Colon, Lung and Prostate cancer; also Heart attacks and premature aging. No, you can't take a Lycopene Pill.
Food is funny that way. Alkaloids can be refined from plants to make drugs, both good and bad, but nutrients are not so well understood. The prune constituent that sends you to the bathroom, for instance, only works when it's in the prunes. Tomatoes, believe it or don't, contain THOUSANDS of nutrient constituents; their interaction is mostly unknown.
"So I HAVE to eat spaghetti now?" my fat friend Davíd wanted to know.
"Not by the BUCKETFUL," Donny advises.
"Okay, what I'm getting from you is, a man just needs olive oil, tomato sauce and sex, to be healthy, am I right?" persists Davíd, who could piss off the Pope.
Your favorite pasta with a terrific tomato sauce containing garlic and mushrooms is very good and good for you, but you should keep your portions reasonable and lay off the fatty, spicy meatballs.
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MADAGASCAR PERIWINKLE (Rose Periwinkle, Vinca)
- two paragraphs on Rose Periwinkle, then segue into a Protracted Rant
Catharansus roseus (Vinca rosea) is a perennial plant native to Madagascar, Mauritius and India. Poisonous to domestic animals, it yields an extract used throughout the world to treat cancer. The effects and side effects of Rose Periwinkle are hotly debated. A plant of the dogbane family, Vinca is mildly poisonous. Vinblastine (used in the treatment of Hodgkins' disease) is extracted from this plant; also Vincristine (used in the treatment of leukemia).
You can start Rose Periwinkle from seed; germination occurs after 1-3 weeks, and then the seedlings grow slowly. Put them outside no sooner than 10 weeks after germination, and only after it is very warm. Do not overwater or overfertilize. Put them about a foot apart.
Periwinkle is not the only plant from this geographical area that yields medicine. Citizens of Madagascar and nearby environs are in such dire straits, however, that local forests are being stripped to make charcoal. Untold numbers of medicinal plant species, some possibly with remarkable healing properties, are disappearing from the Earth forever, while we in the West concern ourselves with Kosovo and other European business matters.
P.S. What's the news from Kosovo and Bosnia these days?
"Psst! Psst! Donny, Kosovo and Bosnia are passé now. We're concentrating on Indonesia this week."
Oh. Sorry. Imagine my embarrassment, thinking that we should still be so concerned, just because a couple of months ago it was such a BFD. Sorry.
Donny does not mean to trivialize people's suffering. I'm just pointing out the way our attention flits about, like little butterflies, blown by the media winds. The suffering of those poor people has lessened, but it has hardly disappeared. Consider this: where the New York Times has a Best-Seller list, the collective American Media, including all their consumers, have an undeclared Best-Suffering list.
Now let Donny take this a step further, which you know that I will do.
The people of Iraq have never made our Best-Suffering list, because our government has persuaded us that the people of Iraq are our "enemies." Dear Readers, the children of Iraq are suffering, and their problems are not lessened by our displeasure with Saddam Hussein. The people of Iraq are suffering because of American sanctions, just as the people of Cuba are suffering. But they are not POPULAR, you see? Except with God. God loves all the people of the world, so we don't really have a choice in the matter. Damn the government!
The really Hot Spots as I write, today, are Indonesia and Ireland. A couple of months ago, Mexico and Pakistan were also in the Top Ten. As you are reading this (whenever that might be), do you remember what was so hot about those countries that week?
My friend Charlie thinks that we should annex Mexico and attack Canada just to flex a little muscle, an idea that certainly got my attention.
"Who would stop us?" Charlie wants to know.
"Why would we want to do that, Charlie?" I asked.
"Just for fun!" he said. "We could send all the Yucatanians, or whatever they are, to Quebec and make them speak French! Then we'd make all the Canadian dentists come down here and give us free fillings! I don't know crap about Indonesia, and I can't even SPELL 'Chechnya'!"
Donny reminds you that all his friends are not gardeners and priests. I have my Charlies, too.
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- This is NOT about Jerry Falwell.
When I was a little boy I frequently puzzled over the "Yankee" expression "Nuts to you." I figured it must be filthy, as "nuts" was an unspeakably dirty word. Somewhere along the way I lost interest, and I never learned the meaning. This is the first time I've asked anyone over the age of ten, so tell me: what did it mean?
In ancient Rome, Walnuts were considered to be a Royal Nut, bringing good luck and good health. Score it One Right for the Romans, and see Black Walnut.
Although there has been little medical research on Nuts, they are known to be highly nutritious (albeit fatty), especially in the Mineral and Protein departments. High in Vitamin E and essential fatty acids, Nuts also contain phenols and protease inhibitors, which can block the formation of cancer cells.
Nuts highest in fat are macadamias and pecans, each with over 70 grams of fat per 100 grams of nutmeat. On the low side are chestnuts, with only two grams of fat per 100 grams of nutmeat.
Nut Oils, intensely fragrant, should be used as seasonings, not as cooking oil.* Refrigerate them immediately after opening, or they will become rancid. According to Deborah Madison in her entirely wonderful vegetarian cookbook The Savory Way (Bantam, New York, 1990), American brands of Nut Oil (except Loriva) tend to be over-refined, pale and thin. See Mail-Order/Internet Suppliers; Loriva.
The Savory Way, by the way, is the only one of my 50-odd cookbooks that starts out with a Lovage Sandwich, followed by a Nasturtium Sandwich. Click on the blues or the pic to get it from Amazon.com for sixteen bucks.
*Somewhere, somebody is thinking, "What about Peanut Oil? It's great for deep-frying, at VERY high temperatures!"
Peanuts are not Nuts. They are peas (legumes). Some other "nuts" that are not Nuts: almonds and pistachios (fruits); Brazil nuts and pine nuts (seeds); Jerry Falwell, Trent Lott and Pat Robertson (creeps).
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- I really, really, really HATE Okra.
Donny openly admits to being prejudiced against Okra; I just don't like it. Hibiscus esculentus is one of many African plants to thrive in the New World, especially in the southern United States.
Africans of the Old South called Okra "Gumbo," a word which lives on mainly as the name of a southern dish featuring Okra (and crabmeat and so on; you know, Gumbo). I know that "Gumbo" derives from the Bantu word Ngumbo, but I don't know the derivation of "Okra."
If you've got Okra plants and want a Fall crop of this disgusting, mucilaginous vegetable, trim your plants back to about two feet high in mid-to-late August.
Okra contains carotenoids, B-Complex Vitamins and Vitamin C; its demulcent quality is soothing to the stomach and intestines. I told Jonnie that "demulcent" is just another word for "slimy," so she breaded and fried some for me. I still don't like it. For a party once, I bought pickled Okra and added it to the relish tray, but I didn't eat any.
I once criticized a line of a friend's song that went "I hate Okra 'cause it's scummy."
"Okra is not scummy," I sniffed. "It's slimy."
"You can't say 'I hate Okra 'cause it's slimy,'" he retorted, "because it IS slimy."
That was SO HEAVY, I just said, "OK; scummy, then."
OpinionSoup is published by Don Harthcock. OS#4 ©August, 2000, Don Harthcock & Brian McLeod. Reproduction of any part of this copyrighted publication for commercial purposes is prohibited. Sharing with friends, taping to refrigerators or posting on bulletin boards is cool.
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