USDA Part 2, Bullies and "Flaxers"

I had to revisit the topic of the USDA and suspect I will do so again.  It's been an intense week for me, and I think some of it has to do with the after-effects of watching the first 10 minutes or so of the film "Earthlings".  I'm going to have a post about that important film in the future, when I am able to finish viewing it.  I was too upset over the first 10 minutes of the film to continue, but I do know that part of being responsible and empowered will include finishing that film.  Anyway, it has left me a bit raw and maybe defensive and quicker to jump to things like 'bitch slapping' the USDA.

Enter Dr.William Harris, Dr. Michael Klaper and John Robbins to my psyche rescue.  I've watched several videos on youtube of Dr. Harris' (amazing man...80 year old who sky-dives among other things.... see him here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSuvTn6Yv_8 - Note:  this provider, Supreme Master TV is highly religious and a little quirky, but very much peace and love which I needed healthy doses of this week.  I recommend you watch part two of this series as well.  In that, you hear Dr. Harris' rules for eating:  If it doesn't have fiber, don't eat it.  If man made it, don't eat it.  Love it!) 

I also watched Dr. Michael Klaper's lectures (early and more recent ones); here is the link to Part 1 of his early series, Foods that Kill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG_tn3KAXNE&feature=related. 

In Dr. Klaper's later lectures, 2009 in Australia, there is an underlying calm and hopeful measure to his voice about the future of mankind and the crucial role that vegans will play in it.  It was quite uplifting to hear this gentle man's take on what often seem to be over-whelming challenges and his ability to look past all that is wrong with our modern society and see the good.

Enter John Robbins.  Seriously, this man is my hero.  I am reading his book "The Food Revolution".  This is the Robbins of Baskin & Robbins fame who left it all behind to pursue a more earthly (and non-animal product) existence. The quiet and controlled way that he gets the vital messages of the unsustainability of current agriculture and its devastating effects to our health and the planet is beyond admirable.  Even Ghandi would be proud.

Which brings me back to the USDA.  I realize that part of my journey to a healthier me, is learning how to deal with the various frustrations and indignities of this world in a non-violent, non-aggressive yet EFFECTIVE manner.  I hereby take back my rude BITCHslap to you, USDA and politely tap you on the shoulder with an organically-grown cotton-gloved hand and ask that you reconsider your very own Mission Statement, per usda.gov:

We provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science and efficient management.

I don't think you are using the best available science OR efficient management when you view the massive amounts of resources that are skewed to special interests (i.e. Big Beef, Big Dairy-got osteoporosis??).  And wouldn't 'sound public policy' include the most effective ways to prevent heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and cancer? With diet-related health issues now beyond epidemic proportions, we definitely need some leadership! Tom Vilsack is our current Sec. of Ag, and I think that'll be a good place for me to start asking some POLITE questions.
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I've been pondering the topic of bullies.  Do you have any bullies in your life?  Do you know anyone who does?  I do.  I've come to recognize some bullying behavior of people in my life.  Some of these people, it is impossible (or rather impractical) for me to simply disregard & I've run out of cheeks to turn, so, the universe has given me yet another 'learning opportunity' to develop into someone who can and will stand up for myself.  I believe this is intimately connected to my own self-esteem and it is funny how now that I am taking care of myself physically, these other areas have become like blaring neon flashers.

Bullying can be defined as:  repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's/group's power over another person/group.  This can be done socially or physically and creates an imbalance of power.  (U.S. Dept. of Justice).

Also:  persistent, unwelcome behavior;  unwarranted or invalid criticism, nit-picking, fault-finding.  Humiliation.  Some bullies are arrogant or narcissistic.  They are unwilling/unable to recognize the effects of their behavior on others.  They don't want to know any other way of behaving.  And there are even serial bullies, who have to have someone to bully.  (UK National Workplace Advice Line).

Hmmm.....Interesting and I think the USDA might fall into this category as well.

For me, and the bullies in my life, I am trying to effect change in a gentle manner.  Reading so much of John Robbins' work and falling back on other works I have read (Eckhart Tolle, George Leonard), I'm reminded of the power of water, running softly over stone, yet cutting its own way thru the stone, by persistently staying on its course, or, if need be, going around the objects that won't yield to its presence.

The great LaoTzu quote:  Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water.  Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it.  So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful.

I'll have to fall back to my resolutions this year and PRACTICE this method of reacting.  It'll definitely be a challenge for me.
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"Flaxers".

I have been reading yet another book (I love hitting Half-Priced Books and clearing them out of their vegan cookbooks....usually there are only one or two and are less than $10.).  I found two raw cookbooks and have been researching the whole raw foodist movement with some interest.  Fresh, The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook, by Sergei and Valya Boutenko, is a fascinating account of this brother's and sister's and their family's health problems and how they resolved them and attained good health through eating raw foods.  I decided to try their recipe for Golden Flaxseed crackers.

I dug out my dehydrator, cleaned it up and was good to go.  It turns out that raw foodists don't necessarily (at least some) not cook at all, but are trying to consume food that isn't heated above 118 degrees to avoid breaking down enzymes and other valuable nutrients.  Thus the instructions in the cracker recipe to dehydrate the mixture at 110 deg.

3 C golden flaxseeds, ground
2 large red bell peppers
2-3 cloves garlic
1/4 C raisins
1 t sea salt
1/2 t ground cumin

Grind seeds in Vita-Mix or coffee grinder and transfer to bowl.  Blend remaining ingredients in food processor and mix with flaxseeds.  Spread mixture onto dehydrator trays and dry for 16-20 hours at 110 deg. 

Viv, my superstar Vita-Mix, processed the seeds up very well and I just added the other ingredients into the blender and processed that way.  At this point I lost my enthusiasm for my dehydrator and instead spread the mix on parchment paper on a baking sheet, made score lines and put in a low temp oven (around 200 deg) and baked for at least a half hour...I wasn't paying too much attention--American Idol was on-- :-).  I checked it a couple of times and left the sheet in longer as the crackers were still very flexible, so probably it was more like 45 mins.  I ended up turning the oven off and leaving the sheet in the oven overnite as the crackers still seemed very soft to me.

I absolutely LOVED these crackers!  I was going to call them "Brackers" as they seem part bread, part cracker, but settled on Flaxers.  I did sprinkle the top with coarsely ground Himalyan salt...just a very small amount; I'm phasing salt out or at least cutting it down to minimal amounts.  These went fantastically with the last of my tomato-squash soup....yum, yum.  I can see just endless variations on this recipe; throw a couple of shallots in there, or some dill.  Many options.

I only made up half the recipe amount as I have had quite a few recipe failures of late, and that can be discouraging.  I made the Black Beans in Red Velvet Mole from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Appetite for Reduction book.  I found it to be completely inedible.  I'm not sure what type of tastes a person would have to have to eat this, but it wasn't for my palate.  I also tried a miso dressing, will have to find which cookbook that came from....not for me as well.  Like Edison said, when you make a mistake, you really don't make a mistake, you just eliminate an option (I'm paraphasing), so I will chalk it up to that.

Even with my mistakes, my food program is going well, and I'm down another pound this week; thank you, Joel Fuhrman!  Now I will work on my self-assigned homework to be more like water and to not become a bully myself in my efforts to create change.

Sue, like water...if only a trickle, in Ohio

Managing the Difficult via the Easy

My goals for 2011 are a bit different from prior years. Instead of doing the specific goal-listing e.g. lose 25 pounds (although that is actually a mark I would like to hit this year :-), I've chosen to go for concepts or ways of being instead, reasoning that if I follow these basic tenets, the specific goals will come in line.

So far I have come up with: consistency, focus and simplicity. (I'm tempted to add more, but then that kind of undoes number 3 :-).

I was happily working on consistency and going through my day-to-day reveling in the notion that if only I would do all the things I do so well SPORADICALLY on a CONSISTENT basis, that all would be well, when it hit me: I AM consistent. I am consistently INconsistent! I tend to flitter and flurry in fits and starts energetically diving into a project with 150% earn-a-Girl-Scout-Badge enthusiasm only to burn out a few weeks later and not accomplish what I originally set out to do. I am surrounded by incomplete projects and enterprises that are a reflection of my consistency.

So, I thought...well, I just need to FOCUS. Focus...what a great word. Implies power and determination and stick-to-it-tiveness. That's what I need...MORE FOCUS! So I set out and work on the here and now only to find my focus drifting once again and here I go off into fits and starts.....just in a more determined fashion.

I stop and think....I will always be a grasshopper at this rate and never snatch the pebble from the master's hand if I don't get a grip on this....and the solution presents itself. What I need most, is practice. How many things in our lives have we EVER become great at or even marginally competent at without PRACTICE. Practice makes perfect has been drummed into our heads from an early age. Learning to walk, writing cursive, driving a car....everyone expected and allowed for us to have practice, and lots of it. Cursive writing, for example....do you remember the reams and reams of specially lined paper and hours spent learning to master the skill and then more time developing one's own style? No one would have expected us to just pick up a pen and be a master at that skill without YEARS of practice!

I reflected on the philosophy of one of my favorite authors and horsemen, Mark Rashid (I highly recommend all his books to horse people or not), about how we have 24 hours a day to practice proper breathing and also all the other hours in the day that we are not with our horse to practice various aspects of being a better leader and so on. All of this time we can use to our advantage to train ourselves.

I began to see all the opportunities throughout my day to practice the type of consistency I want in my life....to practice greatness on a small and doable level. For example, following through with putting the laundry away right away instead of plopping it on the bed to handle later. Or any number of very small actions that can be taken throughout the day to practice being thorough. I reason that, like my horsemanship skills, these things when practiced will bleed over into the larger and more challenging aspects of my life that I want to change.

I remembered some quotations from the great Lao Tzu: "Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small," and "Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy".

So, I guess I will go ahead and add one more word.....PRACTICE.

Sue, practicing in Ohio