Fundamental Transformation of the Republic

As some may recall, when Barack Obama was running for president in 2008, he promised to “fundamentally transform” our country. Many cheered, but few asked what that meant…exactly. Some were concerned because they understood that “fundamentally transforming” a country means changing its very foundations. Further, it assumes there’s something “fundamentally” wrong with the original foundations.

I contend that we are already fundamentally transformed, and have been for some time. 

I know... what am I doing talking about politics on a food blog? Well, this is the “other stuff” that I occasionally can’t resist…and I promise, the next post will be about food. Please check back next week.

Those of you who know a little bit about American History may recall that our Founders gave us a Republic with a federal system in which the States were sovereign and very limited powers were assigned to the federal government—the States retaining all the rest to themselves and the People (see the 10th Amendment). Those limited authorized powers can be found in Article 1, Section 8 of our Constitution, and I highly recommend that every American read it periodically.

You will notice in that fairly short list of powers there is no authority for such federal programs as the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, FEMA, HUD, the FCC, the FTC, the EEOC, the FDIC, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, or a host of other agencies that have evolved over the last 100 years to create the bloated system we know as the Federal Government. Check this site out for an itemized list of federal departments and agencies. And yet it continues to push the limits of its authority, congress after congress, year after year, law after law.

America is being crushed under the weight of our federal government. Our current president believes that the role of government is to manage the lives of its people. Unfortunately, most of our elected officials agree. Not only have we had presidents over the years issuing unconstitutional executive orders and empowering their administrative departments to impose upon the citizenry unconstitutional and burdensome regulation, but Congress, regardless of which Party is in power, continually passes unconstitutional laws…and to top it off, we have a Judiciary that doesn't even understand the Constitution it has sworn to uphold. So much for checks and balances. 

Our problem is not limited to Democrats or Republicans. It is systemic, and rooted in a general lack of understanding of the form of government under which the United States was formed. Americans, over the past fifty years or so, have grown to expect the government to take care of their needs. Many believe that the federal government has some kind of obligation to take care of them during a disaster, when they lose their job, when they get old, when they get sick. This thinking was foreign to our Founders, who believed that those things were the responsibility of individuals through self-reliance and acts of charity. Our Founders believed the role of government – federal or otherwise – was to ensure its individual citizens the liberty to pursue the life of their choosing, and laws should be designed only to prevent others from infringing upon ones right to do so. 

In the shadow of the oppression of Great Britain, the architects of our new government took pains to minimize the potential power of a centralized government. The United States was organized to give the States sovereign power limited only by its citizens, and the federal government very few specific limited powers over issues that affected all the states equally (the general welfare).

Somewhere along the way, that changed. The change was gradual, but it was fundamental. Today we have a federal government whose goal is to dictate every aspect of every American’s life—from education to health care to employment to housing. We can’t travel from one city to another without being searched and manhandled by a federal agent. The federal government has made it its business to provide health care to the masses and will fine you if you don’t comply...and call it a tax! States that stand up to the federal government are regularly sued by the Department of Justice.    

Not only have we lost many of our liberties, we’re also in grave economic danger. The nation is wallowing in debt. We have a $16 trillion deficit and a citizenry that believes it’s okay to continue to spend money on a host of federal programs and activities-- even if it means borrowing money from our adversary, China. The government says they have to raise our taxes so they can pay down the debt, but instead of paying down the debt, they find new ways to spend the new revenue. 

It’s time to wake up and remember our foundations. States must take back their sovereign reigns and force the federal government back into its cage—that cage is the Constitution. Believe it or not, the final arbiter of whether or not a law or federal activity is constitutional is not the Supreme Court—it is the State. Every state has the inherent right to determine the legitimacy of any federal law by virtue of the fact that it was the States that created the federal government and set its boundaries…not the other way around. A good resource to learn more about this is the book Nullification: How To Resist Federal Tyranny In The 21st Century, by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

As we approach another opportunity to elect those who will “rule” over us, I urge you to give careful consideration to the state of our Union. There are no perfect politicians, but we must choose among those available.

Choose carefully, because (as we've been told again and again) elections have consequences. America cannot survive long by taxing the wealthy to pay for social programs. We must, as a country, figure out how to wean ourselves off the social programs and go back to a People who believe in self-reliance. 

There is no government on the face of the earth that can take care of its people. That's God's domain.

Government's proper role is to provide an environment that promotes a stable, lawful society so that its citizens can care for their own needs, unencumbered. Government does not create wealth, it reduces wealth. It takes from those who produce by means of taxation. It does not "invest" money, it spends money--usually with little or no accountability on programs and services of its own making. The more money it takes from its citizens, the less prosperous the nation will be. The less prosperous the nation, the less tax revenue there is… Whether you’re the tax payer or the receiver of government services, it’s a vicious cycle doomed to ultimate failure (historic examples abound). A prosperous nation can only be had by limiting taxation to its smallest possible level. And that will never happen until the federal government returns to its constitutional boundaries.

So... go to the polls and vote. But first take off your blindfold and do your research. And then choose candidates who understand and support the fundamental foundations of our Constitutional Republic. 

God bless!  And may God bless America.

Super Easy Awesome Rosemary Beef & Rice

Rosemary Beef & Rice with Roasted Delecata Squash

Ingredients:

• Beef stew bone (grass-fed)
• Splash of organic apple cider vinegar
• Large organic fresh rosemary sprig
• 3 Lg. cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• Handful of fresh chives (or about 2 tsp. dry chives), or 1 small onion, quartered
• Salt & Pepper
• Sprouted organic rice* (brown or mixed)

Preparation:

• Take the stew bone out of the freezer and throw it into a large crock pot. Cover with water, add a splash of apple cider vinegar (pulls nutrients out of the bone) and cook on low overnight. 
• In the morning, add rosemary, chives, and garlic. Cover and continue to cook on low through the day. 
• About an hour before dinner time, turn off the crock pot, remove the stew bone into a large shallow bowl or glass casserole. Carefully remove the meat (which should be falling off the bone) shred it with a fork and put aside. Let the bones cool and then give them to your dog. 
• Strain the broth through a fine sieve, measure out two cups into a medium (2 – 3 qt. stainless steel pot) and put the remaining broth aside to cool. Add the shredded beef, 1 cup of sprouted rice*, a tsp. of salt and pepper to taste, and bring to a boil. 
• Turn the heat to low, cover the beefy rice mixture and simmer according to the instructions for the rice you use. At the end of the cooking period, remove from heat, keep covered and let sit about ten to 15 minutes. 
• Stir and serve (sprinkle a little fresh minced parsley on top for color).

Total prep time – 20 to 30 minutes.

* For this recipe, I used a mix of TruRoots sprouted rice trio, organic wild rice, and organic jasmine white rice... but any rice will do-- keep it organic for good health.

I've made this recipe twice now. The first soup bone I used had much more meat on it. This time, not so much, but still enough to make a pretty meaty dish for two people-- with left-overs. The recipe lends itself to easy adjustment for any number of servings. Use enough broth for the standard rice recipe and add another half cup for moisture.

If you want a lot of broth, just use a bigger crock pot and more water to cook the bones. With my smallish pot, I ended up with about a quart of broth over and above the amount needed to make the rice dish-- it's going in the freezer for another day.

Why use sprouted rice? Sprouting (or germinating) the rice kernels releases dormant enzymes, softens the bran layer making it easier to digest, and neutralizes phytic acid in the grain. Phytic acid inhibits nutrient absorption, which is why it is referred to as an "anti-nutrient." Any grain or bean will be more healthful if it has first been sprouted... for all the same reasons.

The final comment I want to make on this recipe is that you will notice a layer of beef fat on your broth. Don't panic. Contrary to popular belief (based on...well, a popular belief), beef fat is not unhealthy. We've been sold a bill of goods, as they say, and made to believe that saturated fat is horrible and will harden our arteries, possibly before we finish our dinner.  As a matter of fact, it is quite healthy and should not be avoided. Beef fat is about 50 to 55 percent saturated fat, about 40 percent monounsaturated, and about 3 percent polyunsaturated. 

Saturated fats are important to cell and bone health, and they enhance the immune system. It is actually the polyunsaturated fats, the ones our health and nutrition "experts" keep telling us to eat, that contribute to a large number of disease conditions including (but not limited to) heart disease and cancer. One reason for this is their unstable nature. They go rancid quickly and break down under exposure to heat and air, releasing free radicals. Free radicals, as we all know, cause all kinds of mayhem in the human body and are to be avoided at all costs. Here is an interesting look at vegetable oils, many of which are high in polyunsaturated fat. You can also find a wealth of trustworthy information on the Weston A. Price Foundation's website regarding healthy fats and other nutrition topics.

A very important thing to keep in mind, though, is to make sure your meat is grass-fed (on clean, pesticide-free grass). Not all meat is created equal! Beef that is raised in a industrial feed lot will be saturated (pun intended) with antibiotics, growth hormones, and genetically modified grain loaded with toxins. Yes, you definitely want to avoid THAT kind of meat.

Enjoy!

A common sense look at GMOs, Prop 37, and personal responsibility

If you live in California…or even if you don’t… you've probably heard about Prop 37, a state initiative Californians are gearing up to vote on in November that will, for the first time in this country, address the issue of labeling GMO-containing food products. And, of course, GMO (for you cave-dwellers) means genetically modified organism.

There's a huge fight in progress on the issue, for obvious reasons-- there's simply no more room on food labels. And besides, Monsanto, the biggest genetic modifier in the business, is against it, along with every other major food and chemical manufacturer in this country... and they're spending lots and lots of money to convince everyone it's a bad idea. Granted, food manufacturers already have to disclose every molecule in their product, and then spell it out in actual English words. (Example from a milk carton: "Contains milk.") But this idea of disclosing whether or not a product contains a manipulated step-sister of an actual food...uh, we don't need to know about that...nope, not a problem...it's exactly the same...just buy it and don't think about it too much.

May I draw your attention to the rink. 

In this corner, we have the Supporters--the Pro-Prop 37 folks. Main argument:  Consumers have a right to know what's in their food. Label it already!

In this corner, we have the Opposition--the Anti-Prop 37 people. Main arguments:  (1) Labeling is expensive - it will increase the cost of food; (2) The Proposition is poorly worded and there are too many special interest exemptions; and (3) Law suits will abound - everybody will be suing manufacturers and grocery stores.  It will be a nightmare.

Now for some common sense.

No doubt all of this will occur if the proposition passes. Americans over the past 50 years or so have morphed into the most litigious society that ever lived. It's our way. We've become a nation of victims. The "lawsuit" argument falls on its face because Americans will always find something to file lawsuits about.

Now for the "special interest exemption" argument-- right off the bat, it’s exempting “certified organic” foods.  Not sure what that’s about, unless a label of “certified organic” already requires no GMO ingredients. According to BallotPedia.org, the bill

"Exempts foods that are: certified organic; unintentionally produced with genetically engineered material; made from animals fed or injected with genetically engineered material but not genetically engineered themselves; processed with or containing only small amounts of genetically engineered ingredients; administered for treatment of medical conditions; sold for immediate consumption such as in a restaurant; or alcoholic beverages."

Frankly, I agree with the "poorly worded" argument. Just the exemptions above have guaranteed that GMO ingredients will continue to be hidden in food even after expensive labeling takes effect. (I can hear it already..."It's not my fault - I didn't know there were GMO byproducts among the seventy-two ingredients.") The devil is in the details, as usual. 

Lawmakers these days seem incapable of writing simple, easy to interpret laws, probably due to the fact that if ordinary people could understand them, we wouldn't need lawyers. How hard is it to write a common sense regulation? “Foods with genetically modified ingredients must be labeled as such.” There, problem solved in 10 words.  

Let's tackle the "cost" argument. Yes, the new rules that result from passage of this initiative will raise the cost of food, but the question should be, “will the benefits of labeling outweigh the cost of labeling?” The answer to that question depends on whether or not you believe that eating food that has been genetically modified is dangerous to your health.

So let's look at that. What exactly are Monsanto and others doing to the plants that has so many worried? Dave Murphy, founder of Food Democracy Now!, explained the problem in a Huffington Post online article dated October 15. The "ag biotech" industry has genetically engineered two traits into GMO plants. One makes it herbicide tolerant, allowing the plant to survive massive doses of chemical herbicides. Those herbicides are then absorbed into the plant and eventually end up on your plate. The other genetic modification actually turns the plant itself into an insecticide with genetically engineered poison in every cell of the plant. When the bug eats the plant, it dies. (A little helping of insecticide, anyone?) And as usually happens when scientists attempt to play God, there are unintended consequences...things like super weeds and super bugs that become resistant to the engineered plant-- leaving us with all of the poison and none of the benefits. So what do they do? Repent and put things back the way God made them? Not on your life. Instead, they come up with an even more toxic solution.

The newest effort is a cryptically named variety called 2,4-D corn. This, from an April article, again in the Huffington Post, by Andrew Kimbrell, Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety describes this new product:

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is currently deciding whether or not to approve an application by Dow Chemical for its controversial genetically engineered (GE) corn variety that is resistant to the hazardous herbicide 2,4-D. 2,4-D and the still more toxic 2,4,5-T formed Agent Orange, the defoliant used in the Vietnam War."

Are we beginning to understand why the big agricultural and chemical companies are opposing Prop 37? (Check out this list of donors.) We may as well be asking them to put a skull and crossbones on the label.

Prop 37 represents the first major bump in the road for the GMO industry, and they're doing everything they can to defeat it. The opposition trumpets that there’s “no proven health risk” to GMO food, but in all fairness, their buddies at the FDA signed off on genetic modification without ever requiring long-term testing for health risk. This is another fine example of who the FDA serves, and it isn't you or me. In what universe should anyone assume that a plant that has been saturated with a chemical herbicide or turned into an insecticide is somehow safe for people to consume? These are toxins designed to kill living things. And yet the FDA has assumed exactly that. From a FoodProductionDaily.com 2006 article, “The FDA has not found, and does not believe, that new plant varieties under development for food and feed use generally pose any safety or regulatory concerns.”

It shouldn't surprise anyone that the first long-term study using GMO corn by an independent (non-industry) research group has produced some troubling results. In a recent French study that fed Monsanto corn to rats over two years, a significant majority of the animals developed cancerous tumors and organ damage on fairly small amounts of it.

One of the biggest complaints we hear about the free market is that big business is evil and gets away with murder...and sometimes that's true (read about the Fluoride Deception). But when industrial sins are at their worst is when they are protected by government. Since the 20th century, it's become an even greater problem because most research is funded by either industry or government. In such an environment, deception thrives. Add to this an unfounded trust in government and research, and you get GMO food on your table and fluoride (one of the most poisonous substances in nature) in your drinking water.

So how do regular people fight against Industry and Government that are devoid of moral bearings? With initiatives, however imperfect, like Prop 37.

Common sense tells us that if genetically engineered products are good and safe, their inventors shouldn't be afraid to slap the little GMO seal on the front of the food label with pride. At the very least, genetic modification ought to join that growing group of allergens that must be disclosed on every processed food. I don't know about you, but I happen to be allergic to poison.

The bill isn't a cure-all for sure. A GMO labeling law would solve many of the difficulties we now face trying to source out the healthiest foods, but such laws can only do so much. They can't solve the problem of fraud. There will always be companies that disregard the laws of the land and market products with false information—“honey” made of corn syrup, “extra virgin olive oil” spiked with soy or corn oil, and “organic” products made from genetically modified soy bean components.

But a law requiring companies to disclose when they have fundamentally transformed a natural organism will at least give us all the opportunity to make a choice about what we will eat. We can't make intelligent choices without information.

As ever, it's up to us to read labels.  But even then, don’t expect “natural” from manufactured foods… even the ones you get from your local “health food” store. If you want pure food, the only way to be sure you're getting it is to buy from a farmer you know or grow it yourself. If a product has a label, it is processed to some degree and there is a chance it will have an ingredient in it that is less than desirable  Grocery markets are businesses, not your mother. They exist to act as a middle-man moving goods from the original manufacturer to the consumer while making a profit in the process. There are many markets who claim to provide all-natural food, such as Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. But even they will stock foods based on their definition of what's natural and healthy -- not yours.  Every trip to the market should be an exercise in caution. Ultimately we are responsible for the choices we make.

For MY money, labeling is worth the cost. The world will go on, and Monsanto is not likely to go out of business over it. There will be a ridiculous number of people that will continue to "drink the kool-aid" even when it's labeled ... I mean, really, have you seen the ingredients in Kool-aid?! People are still consuming soft drinks laden with high fructose corn syrup in spite of the fact that this ingredient, linked to obesity and diabetes among other ailments, is clearly listed on the container. People still eat cookies and margarine full of transfats, a substance linked to heart disease, even though the package is clearly labeled. And people will knowingly consume genetically modified foods because long-term effects are akin to mythology. The manufacturers and their marketing masters will continue to convince the majority that 2,4-D corn is just another "variety" for a long time to come.

But those of us who care about what we eat will have a better chance of avoiding the scary stuff.

Labeling is just plain honest behavior. Is that too much to ask? We shouldn't need a law to make it happen. But if you live in California, do us all a favor and vote YES on Prop 37. Maybe the rest of our States will wise up and follow your example.

Beware the Frankenfood Drinks

If your kids are in little league, watch out for the drug-pushers.  I’m not talking about illegal drug-pushers, though you should watch out for them too… I’m talking about the folks that are passing out free samples of synthetic food like this one (Muscle Milk).

The other day one of my coworkers who knows my affinity for natural foods brought me an interesting specimen...it was a bottle labeled "Muscle Milk" with the curious subtitle, "contains no milk." It was empty because his eight-year old son had consumed it all at softball practice. Where did he get it? Free sample bottles were given out to everyone at the practice. What's wrong with that, you may wonder? Muscle Milk is a protein drink designed to help weight trainers build muscle. Does anybody think it's a good idea for kids to gulp it down like chocolate milk? Apparently some folks do... for instance, the ones manufacturing it. Frankly, I question whether it's a good thing for weight-training adults to drink this stuff.

So what's in Muscle Milk anyway? 

"WATER, CALCIUM SODIUM CASEINATE AND/OR MILK PROTEIN ISOLATE, AND/OR MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, BLEND OF VEGETABLE OILS (SUNFLOWER AND CANOLA OILS), ALKALIZED COCOA POWDER [for the chocolate stuff] MALTODEXTRIN, CRYSTALLINE FRUCTOSE, POTASSIUM CITRATE, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS, CELLULOSE GUM AND GEL, SOY LECITHIN, MAGNESIUM PHOSPHATE, MEDIUM CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES, MONOSODIUM PHOSPHATE, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, CARRAGEENAN, TRICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, ASCORBIC ACID, SALT, FERRIC PYROPHOSPHATE, DICALCIUM PHOSPHATE, SUCRALOSE, VITAMIN E PALMITATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHOLORIDE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE RIBOFLAVIN, CHROMIUM CHLORIDE, FOLIC ACID, BIOTIN, POTASSIUM IODIDE, CHOLECALCIFEROL, CYANOCOBOLAMIN."  

(Forgive any typos that may have occurred in this list...even my spell-checker doesn't recognize most of these words!)  In layman's terms, this drink consists of water, sugars, cocoa powder and synthesized protein, vitamins, and minerals. Pardon me for a moment, but WHERE IS THE FOOD?! 

Here's another example... A couple months ago, a man stopped into my workplace and left us with ten or twelve little two-ounce bottles of 5-Hour Energy drinks... to try absolutely free.  Drug-pushing?  I don't very often watch commercials, thanks to the wonderful technology of DVRs that let you fast-forward through them all.  But this one snuck up on me and caught my attention. "Do you know what 2:30 in the afternoon feels like?" it asks. Well, if you're eating the Standard American Diet, you're probably dead on your feet by 2:30, as the ad implies.

We've been conditioned by the media, the government, and the medical establishment to believe that low-fat, high carb diets are the most healthy. Our meals are top-heavy with processed foods and high-fructose drinks (which, sorry to say, includes fruit juices).  And most Americans eat an enormous amount of sugar. Such a diet leaves the body malnourished and tired.

In his book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Weston Price documented what it takes to be strong and healthy (and have good teeth, to boot)-- in a nutshell, foods rich in fat-soluble vitamins (like vitamins A, D, and E). Native populations eating traditional foods were found to consume at least ten times the levels of fat-soluble vitamins of those eating western processed foods (p. 247). Here's one of many examples he witnessed ( in the high-altitude region of the Andes mountains near Cuzco), "The Indians of this region are able to carry all day two hundred to three hundred pounds, and to do this day after day. At several of the ports, these mountain Indians have been brought down to the coast to load and unload coffee and freight from the ships. Their strength is phenomenal." 

Unfortunately, foods rich in fat-soluble vitamins don't come from a bottle or a can or a box labeled "heart-healthy." They come from nature-- vegetables raised in good mineral-rich soil free of chemicals; meats raised as God intended in fields and pastures, not crammed into a barn, fed corn and meat byproducts and injected with hormones and antibiotics; dairy products that haven't been pasteurized to death. These foods are not cheap and they're not convenient, but they deliver (and they taste a lot better, too!)

Frankenfoods like Muscle Milk and 5-Hour Energy Drinks are counterfeits. Be careful about drinking them, and be especially careful about feeding them to your children. They aren't food. At best, they are fake (synthetic) vitamins laced with mild drugs (caffeine).

And when the pushers come and offer you a free sample... just say No, thank you.

The Value of Testing

What’s wrong with me? … a rhetorical question—please don’t answer, even if you think you know.

For the past year or so, I've felt that something is not quite right. I've been complaining of low energy, poor concentration, memory problems, and leg cramps, among other things. My quest to discover the cause of my less than stellar health has taken me in many directions. I've looked at mineral deficiencies, vitamin deficiencies, heavy metal toxicity, and even yeast overgrowth—all of which can display many of the same symptoms. Trying to clean out my body and balance my vitamin and mineral levels has often felt like a wild goose chase. The supplements I take every day would fill my mother’s old button box and be nearly as colorful! There have been improvements here and there, but things are still not quite right.

Finally, I have decided to seek the advice of a medical doctor—but not just any medical doctor. I wanted one who understands and appreciates the value of natural healing. It was my chiropractor who referred me  to a “wellness” practitioner I will call Dr. B, a young physician who is just starting her own practice. Dr. B is board certified in Family Medicine and Integrative Holistic Medicine. I made the appointment and went in to see her.

So far we've spent roughly two hours (over two appointments) discussing my state of health (an amount of time roughly equal to the actual face-time spent with all the other doctors I've seen over the past ten years or so). At the initial visit, Dr. B recommended that we actually do a blood test to see where my levels are with vitamins, minerals, and metal toxins...since those are the things I've been concerned about. What a novel idea! And last week I got the results.

To my surprise, my body is not reeking with heavy metal toxins, as I feared it was—in spite of my many mercury-laden fillings, though I did show a surprisingly high level of cadmium.  Surprising because cadmium toxicity is typically connected with smokers, and I've never smoked or spent a lot of time around smokers. My toxic load can be managed by a mild detox supplement that will help my body clear the unwanted metals gently over a few months. 

But the other surprise was that I am deficient in potassium.

  Dr. B:  Did you start on a multi-vitamin as I recommended?

  Me:  Yes! (smile)

  Dr. B:  How much potassium is in it?

  Me:  3 mg.

  Dr. B: That’s pathetic (paraphrased).

 (There’s more potassium than that in one bite of banana. Why do they bother?)

Let’s talk about potassium. This little mineral is critical to cell health. Potassium is one of the four electrolytes—it has electrical properties when dissolved in the blood, and is essential for conducting nerve impulses. Potassium assists in proper muscle contraction (hence the cramping when there’s not enough of it). It’s important for energy metabolism and regulates the transfer of nutrients through the cell membranes. In addition, potassium, in conjunction with sodium, helps to maintain fluid balance in the cells—potassium maintains fluid inside the cell walls while sodium controls fluid levels outside the cell walls.

Some of the symptoms of potassium deficiency are muscle cramps, fatigue, mental confusion, abnormally dry skin, bowel problems (both diarrhea and constipation), high cholesterol levels, low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, and in extreme cases, heart attack.

So how did I get deficient in potassium? Probably by following a Candida-killing diet devoid of fruit. (This is what happens when we get our doctoring off the internet.) The good news is that correcting the deficiency is as simple as adding foods rich in potassium back into the diet.

The moral of the blog-post story is this: when it comes to health, don’t mess around. It’s tempting to think we know what we’re doing because we researched the topics thoroughly…and by thoroughly, I mean at least two whole articles off the web. My next lab test (coming up later this week) will screen for Candida yeast overgrowth. Do I really have a problem with it or have I mis-attributed my symptoms? I will find out, and when I do, my doctor and I will discuss a treatment plan that will tackle the problem effectively. In the meantime, I have reverted to a more balanced diet that includes fruit and other potassium-rich natural foods. 

And did I mention that dark chocolate is an excellent source of potassium?  (Sigh.) I’m feeling better already.