Richard’s Holiday Headlines!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! The best I can offer you is what I have found to be true from experience and study over the past year. Hope there’s something you find of value and in any case all the best to you and yours!


“Your Body’s a Toxic Waste Dump!”

Clean up now with these easy tips!

You may be quite satisfied with the way you are, or perhaps you’ve tried, but having slipped back on more than one attempt, find it futile try again as I did for many a year. But if you’d like to try again I offer these tips, which I GUARANTEE will show immediate benefits. Then, upon seeing and feeling results of more energy, less weight and higher spirits you may be emboldened to stay the course! What I most enjoy are the beaming replies from those who actually tried these tips and saw immediate success. Again, I GUARANTEE you quick and positive results!

A) AVOID like the plague these toxins:

1) ASPARTAME (Nutrasweet, Equal) and Sucralose (Splenda). They affect your neurology AND make you GAIN weight! Quit all DIET DRINKS, SUGARLESS GUM and the like and I GUARANTEE you will feel better, lose weight and have more energy…WITHIN ONE WEEK!

2) TRANS FATS—anything with hydrogenated or “partially hydrogenated” oils. Regular peanut butter, crackers, tons of processed foods and most restaurant food have it. This stuff stays in your body, makes you fat and lethargic and clogs your arteries. READ LABELS, ask restaurants and popcorn makers what oil they are using. For years I had heard of the dangers of “trans fats” but assumed they were overblown and in any case found the foods worth the risk. But after discontinuing them I can tell you that I miss them not in the least!

B) REPLACE the above with whole foods—foods with as little processing as possible. The book “Eat right for your Blood Type” lists foods that are beneficial, neutral and harmful for you depending on your blood type. I circled the beneficial ones THAT I LIKE and try to avoid those in the harmful category. So peanuts, broccoli, grapefruit, soy products, spelt flour are beneficial and I happen to love them. Coffee and Maker’s are on the avoid list, but alas, I consume them too! (Is this what the saying “it’s all good” refers to?)

The key is to EAT HEALTHY FOODS THAT YOU LIKE and eat them in abundance!! For instance, I eat 8 ounces of nuts a DAY**, but I also gave up ALL MEAT (beef, chicken, pork, fish) so I get my protein from nuts. Forget about healthy foods you don’t like, there’s plenty that you do or will enjoy eating.

I felt as though my body was a toxic waste dump before I gave up these poisons. I had the “aspartame puff” of fat on every inch of my body, even though I ran 2 miles a day. Within 2 weeks of this dietary change I saw results and 5 months later had lost 35 pounds.

“Plant Fat Good, Animal BAD”


**REMEMBER—PLANT FAT IS NOT THE DANGER—ANIMAL FAT AND TRANS FATS are the KILLERS!

TO REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON DIET DRINKS—
Dilute half a can of REGULAR Coke e.g. with half a can of COLD carbonated water. Unless you are a diabetic you are much better off with sugared drinks than the Nutrasweet or Splenda ones. BEST of all, just drink WATER, or TEA. If you must use sweeteners, try STEVIA, or turbinado sugar, even molasses or honey.

D) MYTHBUSTERS:

1) Eating late at night is NOT a problem. If really doesn’t matter when you eat, weight gain is more dependant on DAILY TOTAL CALORIC INTAKE. Thus, to LOSE WEIGHT, 1) AVOID the above toxins AND 2) keep calories under 1500 per day. To maintain weight eat 2000 calories with moderate exercise (walking 2 miles/day).

2) Low carb diets mean STARCHY carbs, highly refined flour, breads and potatoes, not fruits and veggies. However, as my own very high starchy carb (WHOLE GRAINS ONLY, however) can attest to, you need not sacrifice starchy carbs to lose weight!

I think these Atkins-type diets are harmful for the long term and ultimately will fail you. If you stay off the toxins above, keep your calories under 2000 a day and exercise a little—just walk a mile or two a day—you will not gain weight, you will have more energy and feel much, much better—I GUARANTEE IT!

3) Fat is NOT bad (see above), but any animal or manufactured fat (trans fats) ARE bad. I gave up all meat, and truly don’t miss it at all. I feel better, NEVER have indigestion AND I don’t have to take a cholesterol pill anymore. But you need not give up meat if you at least give up trans fats and artificial sweeteners, just cut back. Of course with anything other than organic chicken you are also ingesting tons of hormones and possibly a fowl with the built up neurosis of living its whole short life literally on top of and beneath THOUSANDS of its other defecating, pecking brethren in wire cages. Y-C-C-H-H-H!


“Soy & Spelt & Rye—OH MY!”
“and God said, Look! I have given every seed-bearing plant and fruit tree for your food.” Gen 1:29

[NOTE: This biblical verse is just a coincidence, NOT the reason for my food choices]


E) MY FAVORITE FOODS: (a partial list)

1) Sprouted SPELT bread, double toasted, one slice slathered with VEGENAISE (made with grapeseed oil, brown rice syrup and apple cider vinegar it tastes better than mayo and NO CHOLESTEROL!) and mustard then topped with soy bologna or ham, maple flavored eaten like a slice of pizza—this is the best, simplest food that brings me more pleasure than the finest meals out that I have ever eaten.
2) Indian buffets—vegetable masalas, sag (creamed spinach dish)
3) Middle Eastern buffets—tabouli, hummus, baba, mjadara (a lentil dish)
4) Tofu based salads, either curried or Greek salad style—from Good Foods co-op, Lexington
5) Chopped broccoli, cauliflower, green/red pepper and cabbage salad, with vegenaise and/or oil and vinegar –from Good Foods Co-op.
6) Celentano brand frozen eggplant parmegiana vegan (no dairy or meat).
7) Green Guru brand frozen Indian tofu maneer
8) Morningstar or Boca veggie burgers
9) Many fruits and veggies especially apples, grapefruit, cucumbers, mini-carrots, raisins
10) NUTS about nuts—peanuts, cashews especially. The BEST that I’ve found: peanuts-Planters, dry roasted, lightly salted 20oz for under $3; cashews-Planters 21 oz WHOLE cashews for $6.99 AT TARGET, the best quality and most for your money cashews you will find! Forget cashew “halves and pieces” as they don’t taste the same as whole.
11) PLANTER’S trail nut mix “Nuts & Raisins” you can find at Walgreen’s or Rite-Aids. THESE ARE AWESOME!
12) Mini carrots with hummus drizzled in olive oil and paprika
13) CEREAL MIX: Health Valley Oat bran flakes cereal, Uncle Sam’s with mixed berries, Bulk granolas and messily from Wild Oats—ALL WITH SILK BRAND UNSWEETENED SOYMILK—I GUARANTEE you will like this better than milk. Remember—cows wean their young OFF their milk when they reach a certain age, so why do WE continue drinking milk long past childhood? Oatmeal is great as well.


ONE FOR THE ROAD--- Meditative WALKS are great for your body and mind. Just think about NOTHING, and concentrate on your breath—the feeling against your nose when you inhale and exhale as you walk THINKING ABOUT NOTHING. Find a park if you can, but walk like this for 30 minutes. It’s the best thing you can do FOR YOU!

“Flyboys—Movie of the Year!”

ENTERTAINMENT:

A. MOVIES—the sleeper great movie of the year is FLYBOYS, set in France during WWI. I tell you, the storyline and dialogue is perfect, no superfluous or forced dialogue, phenomenal cinematography, great acting from unknowns, heartwarming, tragic and uplifting---SEE IT!

MY uncle Willie can be seen clearly ushering Bobby Kennedy around Eastern Kentucky in BOBBY, a good movie in its own right.

B) SHOPPING

I get a kick just viewing all the goods out there and analyzing just HOW they came to be. From conception, to design and execution each and every product is a culmination of lots of people from lots of lands, all made possible by the progression of each human generation standing on the shoulders of the one that preceded it. What we get for what we pay is so very great indeed if you really think about it!

QUESTION OF THE YEAR: “IS THE EARTH WITH EVERYTHING ON THE SAME WEIGHT AS IT WAS THOUSANDS/MILLIONS/BILLIONS YEARS AGO, OR HEAVIER OR LIGHTER?”



PET PEAVES:

A. WEATHER REPORTING—I like it cool, thus I immediately change the dial when the weather people wax on about “o-o-o-o-h, it’s going to drop down to 40, but then it will turn better, warming up to near 70! 70 degrees is better…IN DECEMBER?! No way. All they ever like reporting is warm, rising temperatures and sunny skies, but let it hit 90 for a month straight without rain, then they START to sing a different tune. They should do as Joe Friday on Dragnet—just give us the facts, DON’T EDITORIALIZE!!! We can determine if we like what’s here or coming, they have no business making our judgments for us. I don’t bother with weather anymore, I get it online or not at all—it’s here like it or not!


B. INCONSIDERATE DRIVERS (like me, although less than I used to be as I am more conscious about it). You know, you’ll be driving down a thoroughfare and a car/SUV at the side street will zoom out darn near right in front of your approach!! Then as you slam the brakes you’ll note them gunning at full blast as if to say, “see, there was plenty of room for me to go.” As I say, I’ve done it too. Not using use turn signals is another annoyance.

C. Undue adulation for athletes or any human: Fireworks and circus histrionics at UK games are annoying and counterproductive. Indoors, the smoke may in fact be harmful, but for me and those around me it is certainly annoying. And showering such adulation on any human, much less young men who are playing a game, is plain inappropriate. Oh, and it doesn’t help at all in their performance as UK has lost more home games than ever the last few years since they’ve instituted these shenanigans.

D. Disease inventing OR inducing DRUG CO. COMMERCIALS!

The typical ad: “Suffering from smockeroporitis? Try Saforu—it works!” Visual: Middle aged couple in slow motion walking amidst blooming cherry trees, hand in hand, she cupping the back of his head as he looks in her eyes with a contented smile, Big Chill music in background. Then the last 80% of the commercial with THESE warnings: “Don’t take Saforu if you’re menstruating, taking vitamins, supplements, aspirin, grapefruit juice, broccoli or Sanka or doing lawn work. In any case Saforu may cause shortness of breath, rheumatism, lockjaw or mild stroke-like symptoms.” Ending--CLOSE-UP VISUAL of Couples kissing, “Ask your doctor if Saforu is right for you!”

My favorite is the Cialis commercial that ends with “if you experience an erection for more than 4 hours call your doctor immediately.” YEAH, RIGHT! Heck, I’m calling my buds, every girl I’ve ever known—especially those single and in the immediate vicinity--but no way I’m calling’ a doc!

“Mother God, Comfort us”

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION NUMBER ONE is to see more of God’s reality. And since God is all, God is woman as much as man, yet I have always said and envisioned God as Him. I will now endeavor to envision God as Mother. While still a mystery, my hope is God will help me get a little closer to the Her truth.

Anyway, I am a very lucky guy. I appreciate your friendship and look forward to the new friends I’ll make in the coming year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! RFD 12/31/06

Jesus, Mary and Joseph—illegal immigrants in the land of Egypt

Immigration controversy during Christmas seems so out of place. After all it is the season we celebrate the birth of Jesus, whose very life defined charity, mercy and love. Yet the timing could not be better for there are parallels between the nativity story and today’s hottest issue that can enlighten our path.

You see, Joseph, Mary and Jesus were themselves immigrants. They fled to Egypt to escape the murderous clutch of King Herod, who was looking to kill baby Jesus, the newborn king about whom the wise men had spoken.

This begs the question: What if the Egyptians had treated Jesus like some would today’s immigrants who are here without proper authorization? They’d have sent them packing back to Bethlehem, in Judea, where Herod would have killed him.

Never would we have known about Jesus, God’s shining example of how we should order our lives. No Prince of Peace, no shepherds or silent nights, no peace on earth, good will to men. No reason and thus, no season.

Earth would be a more hard-hearted orb, one with less mercy, less justice and no concept of forgiveness, redemption and eternal life. And while ages upon ages of human-caused misery attest to the distance we still have to go it would have undoubtedly been even farther without Jesus’ leadership.

This is not to minimize or ignore the problems associated with newcomers to our country, documented or not. Yet they also contribute mightily to the ever-growing quilt of America. The good far outweighs the downside. And after all, if you were drowning and about to be saved by an immigrant, would you stop and ask to see their papers?

Surely we can fashion policies consistent with Jesusian principles, chief among them the precedence of the Golden Rule over any man-made political boundaries. Steps along this higher path might include some of the following:

1) A guest worker program,
2) A requirement for employers of undocumented workers to enlist them in this program, collect payroll taxes and otherwise pay and treat them as our law demands for citizens;
3) A track to citizenship for those working and obeying our laws, including education and indoctrination on the rights and responsibilities of living in America;
4) Bi-lingual education only as a means to learning English.

We are able to celebrate God’s greatest gift because of the welcome reception given Jesus by the Egyptians. We can do Jesus no greater honor than to similarly treat the newcomers in our midst.

And by so acting with the faith we profess we will fulfill the true spirit of Christmas.

Richard F. Dawahare 12/5/06

The Assassination of America

I must share the flood of emotions upon seeing “Bobby” today, the movie about Robert F. Kennedy and the day he was assassinated. First, there was the image from my youth of the Kennedy brothers, the very embodiment of humanity’s ideal. My Uncle Willie, the mayor of Hazard (and a proud Republican, but NOT in today’s ideological sense of partisanship, see below), in addition to teaching me about Churchill, Roosevelt and Khrushchev gave me a commemorative coin stamped with JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, rather what you can do for your country.”

Then November 22, 1963. The third grade teacher was called away then came back crying and told us we’d be going home early as President Kennedy was shot. It was a cold, gray late fall day, the kind all such seasonal days were back then, before we ever heard of “global warming.” The neighbor boy and I would feign shots at one another in our front yard, keeling backwards as we shouted “SPY!” My parents were visibly upset, but as kids we did not sense the utter destruction of hope, of purity of thought and purpose that was to befall the idealist followers and believers of JFK’s mighty vision.

That Christmas came, and a few more, before the full fruits of a disillusioned generation blazed its way across the TV screen and headlines. Pinko protestin’ hippies, all of em drugged out on LSD or marijuana were, in my mind, evil, bad, the antithesis of “apple pie and Chevrolet.”

I had heard something about another Kennedy, Bobby, who was running for President. I had little inkling then of all that he stood for: a nation united by compassion, charity and justice. The morning of the first day of summer vacation my parents had a shocked glaze as they came out of their bedroom: young Bobby’d been shot, shot by someone called Sirhan Sirhan, which seemed then and seems even now so surreal.

The movie brought all this back to me, but then something truly awoke me. UNCLE WILLIE! As mayor of Hazard he ushered Bobby around the Eastern Kentucky’s coal fields, meeting the poorest of America’s poor, so Bobby could see first hand Appalachian poverty. There he was in the actual footage, with his brown hat and thick black glasses of the day Uncle Willie hosting Bobby Kennedy, which was old news to me as I’ve seen the black and white photo Uncle Willie was always so proud of. http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2004/08/when_kennedy_ca.php

The thing is this: compassion, the idea of using tax dollars, our pooled resources, to alleviate others’ suffering is neither a Democratic one nor a Republican one. My uncles, my dad, all favored such action, and they represented both parties. Politics back then was more gamesmanship than the ideological fight (to the political death) end that it has become today.

Hope died that June day with Bobby’s death and America has never truly recovered. It is partly why we are constantly wondering how we drifted away from what we wistfully recall as the good ol’ days, when there was honor, modesty and deference—to the government and to each other.

Instead we’ve allowed the airwaves to be as polluted as our skies with trashy programming and even trashier, and evermore dishonest, so-called news and comment shows. Irreverence is the new standard in entertainment, in news reporting, and in politics. We flail about helplessly, unable to stop our slide down the slippery slope of self-justification that has made us sacrifice any claim America once had to moral leadership.

Decent Americans feel it and see it yet feel powerless to change this sense of hopelessness that has its roots in those Kennedy assassinations. We still see no way out.

Worse, we’ve mostly stopped searching.

Rfd 12/17/06