I like "The China Study" book, since I took both biochemistry and organic chemistry in college, and it's written by a biochemistry professor. But for an easier read, I recommend "The anti-cancer diet" by a French doctor and scientist, M.D., Ph.D. who did research on brain-cancer and ironically, he also had brain-cancer, from growing up in France, being exposed to the corn-field sprayed with chemicals. It has 601 five-star reviews on Amazon. I read that book more than decade ago, he talked about how sugar accelerates the growth rate of cancer, and how certain vegetables shrink tumor.

http://www.amazon.com/Anticancer-A-New-Way-Life/dp/0670021644

Will have to dig up the other book written by a doc. who became a vegetarian to treat his own cancer. I was in high school when I read that book, it's the easiest-to-read and most interesting, the others are way-too-long.

Thanks Straw about the making things beautiful comment! Maybe I should start eating peanut butter again. Good job on getting rid of your skin rash!! I know how annoying that can be. My hands use to crack and bleed every winter, and they'd itch like crazy. But since I'm on the Omega XL, they don't do that anymore.

Thank you for the prayers. I really appreciate it.

Jim, thank you for sharing your story, even though you don't like to dwell on it. It really helped me to get some more balance over my eyesight. I'm praying for you and your wife.

Carol

Today I don't have photo's...I have a story to share...

I hope you'll be able to open these links....and I hope this touches you as it touched me...

http://delightmakers.com/news/wild-elephants-gather-inexplicably-mourn-death-of-Elephant-Whisperer/

and just more info on him, the Elephant Whisperer. Also saved the animals in the Baghdad zoo at the time of the Iraq war 2003.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Anthony

Thinking of you (all of you and your families), and keeping you in my prayers....

Carol, that surely is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen, you are so creative, I ADORE the colors and can imagine what it must look like in real life....

Wow that is a great looking quilt Carol! I bet they take awhile to make alot of detailed work... :-)

My mom just called and said her neighbors 3 year old little girl had a stroke...Her name is Cameron... My wife and I was floored! Cameron is in our prayers!

Took these photos at the front of house the trees are changing there leaf color & dropping leaves...Some people even though they have perfect vision never seem to notice gods beauty all around them...And I was one of those people years ago... Now I try to find the beauty in everything God created...

Took this pic at the back of house:

Jim, it is sooooooooooooooooooooo awesomely unreal beautiful where you stay...............

It looks like something out of a fairy tale...you are so fortunate.....

I absolutely LOVE that yellow bus...and the Fall colors...

Yes, God is all around us, and in all of us......how blessed are those that can see Him everywhere

how terribly sad to hear that a 3 year old child had a stroke.... I have never heard of that happening before.... She will also be in my prayers Jim....

I'll show you guys a picture of my just finished quilt after Christmas - it's a present for my youngest daughter. It's totally different. I'm not the type that can follow patterns and make a quilt that has a definite pattern to it. I just hand sew fabric together. I can't even use a sewing machine. :)

Jess - thank you so much!! I really am surprised myself, cause I am really, really, really bad at sewing. This is just so easy. You draw lines on the fabric. You sew along the lines. Ta dah!!! :) And then people who see it, think I'm a sewing genius. But I'm actually the worst sewer you'll find. :)

Jim - yeah, they take awhile, but I do it while I watch t.v. So it's just something to keep my hands occupied, so I don't eat while I watch t.v. It's pretty expensive though.

Good grief!!! A three year old child had a stroke??? What in the world?? Poor little girl. I'll be praying for her too.

Yes, I agree with you about finding the good, the beautiful, the wonderous in life. Life is a gift. For however long we are here, let's revel in it. Let's swim in colors, jump for joy, and throw rose petals in the air. Amen. :)

Carol

Yes we are praying for 3 year old Cameron... She is in a major hospital in Pittsburgh Pa.

It all started when she had a very high fever our local hospital could not get the fever under control so rushed her to Pittsburgh... Pittsburgh hospital got the fever under control and was going to release her when suddenly she had a stroke. The one side of her body she can not move now...

Carol: I would love to see more quilt from you .. THANKS. it's a testimony of how we can make something beautiful out of what's given to us.

I'll be praying for that precious 3-year old girl. My Dad had a stroke when he turned 70, but he recuperated 80% and lived up to 84 year-old. He exercised daily while praying the rosary beads .. thin & fit when he died.

Dr. Atkins, the founder of high-protein diet, was 6 feet tall, 200 lbs., and died at 72 while slipping on ice. But his medical records showed "Atkins had a history of myocardial infarction (heart attack), congestive heart failure, and hypertension (written "h/o MI, CHF, HTN"). In contrast, Dr. Colin Campbell, author of "The China Study" is still alive, skinny & fit at 81 year old. Dr. Campbell is the nutritional biochemistry professor at Cornell University .. he became a vegan after his oversea research on cancer.

We spend $$$ on meat since my kid had just turned 13, and needs protein to grow taller. But in 5 more years, when she reaches adult-height, we'll cut-down the meat, and more beans. I like cold weather since it's perfect for bean-soup. The link to the French scientist "Anticancer book" on Amazon is worth looking, it lists the fruits and veggies to fight cancer, esp. turmeric and curry for brain-tumor. Agree on that. It's really hard to find a NOT-hot curry powder, we get ours from "The Spice House". When I have curry food, my brain "sings", it's an exhilarating feeling, similar to "runner's high". Peanut-butter quenches all cravings (including sweets), and curry is for the brain to feel good. Most curry-powder are either too hot, or too weird (even from ethnic stores). The curry from "The Spice House" is just the right blend for kids to like, and their Salmon spice is out-of this world. I tried at least 4 different sea-food blends before, they all are blah. But with the salmon spice from the "Spice House" BEAT PENZEY spices. A good spice helps with eating fish more often.

We joined Sam's club just for the produce and the frozen seafood, and the RAW nuts. As the bees decline, the cost of RAW nuts are outrageously high.

Here's a testimony from a reader of "The anticancer diet" by David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., Ph.D. See below Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Anticancer-A-New-Way-Life/dp/0670021644

Life changing for me

By Ellen Marsh on February 12, 2011

"The German biologist Otto Heinrick Warburg won the Nobel Prize in medicine for his discovery that the metabolism of malignant tumors is largely dependent on glucose consumption. (Glucose is the form of digested sugar in the body.) In fact the PET scan commonly used to detect cancer simply measures the areas in the body that consume the most glucose. If a particular area stands out because it consumes too much sugar, cancer is very likely the cause."

I never thought I could kick the sugar habit, but after the first two weeks it wasn't hard. I found substitutes to feed my sweet tooth - berries, fruits, cinnamon, stevia, and baker's chocolate (which is unsweetened) with any of the above.

September 24, 2015 - It has been almost six years since my original diagnosis. My latest MRI scan shows no tumor growth. The tumor is now 1.5 x 1.2 cm (down from 5.1 x 5.9 cm in 2009). I still eat an anticancer diet (very low in sugar, high in green vegetables). I've changed my lifestyle in other ways too, but diet and supplements are key components for me. 1. The diet works.
My MRI images show a dramatic decrease in the size of the brain tumor even after I completed a year of chemotherapy in January, 2011. Tumor size went from 5.1 x 5.9 cm in 2009 to less than 2 x 3 cm WITHOUT SURGERY." By Ellen Marsh on February 12, 2011, see Amazon link below for her testimony:

http://www.amazon.com/Anticancer-A-New-Way-Life/dp/0670021644

A trick to kick the ice-cream habit is to freeze grapes, or sweet-bing-cherries, and suck on them. it's way-better than fresh. We use to pick sweet-cherries in Michigan and freeze them .. and eat them frozen solid. I have a sour-cherry tree which I froze the fruits, then I dip the frozen fruit into honey and suck on that. YUM, don't even miss ice-cream. I don't like grapes, but frozen grapes is very yummy compared to fresh.

we are so fragile...I feel so sorry for that little girl and her parents....my heart goes out to them...to you also Jim - your wife, and Carol...

How is your daughter Strawberry Hill? Is she feeling better?

Carol...I cannot beLIEVE you do this without a machine??????????????

Your'e HOT! can't wait to see the quilt you just created for your daughter...!!!...and it does not sound easy to me, I can't even imagine doing that...when you said - draw the lines and sew them together...I can't figure out how to do that....just trying to imagine how to do that - and suddenly it feels like I have 50 clumsy fingers...

About the bees...I found this very interesting site about why they might be busy declining...

'In addition to intensive manipulations, the beekeeping industry, to make profit, has demanded “better bees.” Artificial queen raising over the past 120 years has selected from the “best” – the same queens that take risks and make brood at an opportune time before a honey flow who would starve the following year when that honey flow never arrives. The result is queens that lay eggs all the time to grow hives that can be constantly split – this is needed today to support a farming system that demands so much from our bees. Exposed to pesticides and malnourished, individual bees do not live long and must be replaced. These hives go backwards without a flow, either nectar or artificial stimulation – usually corn syrup for carbs and soy flour for protein. Many individuals makes for parasites and diseases, and the need for chemical treatments. Welfare bees. Somebody sunk their battleship.

The beekeeping literature of 100 years ago is full of observations of disease and prophesies for the bees to come. Perhaps the earliest prediction of the collapse we are seeing saw by early queen-raiser Henry Alley in the 1880s when he said one day inbreeding will cause all breeding of bees to cease.'

http://anarchyapiaries.org/hivetools/node/30

Tomorrow I'm getting peanut butter...I've been counting the hours.... :-)))

and this time I'm staying away from the cupcake shop...

Good info Straw!

Interesting about the bees Jess!

I try to eat right these days but I do splurge once in awhile...

I only eat a tub/box of ice cream maybe 2-3 times per year so that's not too bad...

Enjoy your peanut butter and walk briskly past the cupcake shop Jess...lol

Oh, Jim, that is so harsh. Poor thing. Poor parents.

As to the bees, that is really interesting information. I love reading about bees.

Seriously, Jess, if I can do quilting, anyone can do it. I remember in high school sewing classes, I had to make a stuffed snake animal. I cried over it. I actually got my sister to do it for me. I can't sew anything. But I can do this quilting by hand. :)

Straw, you have a brain tumor too??? This is bizarre, that out of Sam, Jess, Carol, Straw, and Jim (5 people!!), two of us have brain cancers. Did the two of you use a lot of chemicals in your earlier rose growing?? What horrible odds. I'm so glad that your cancer has shrunk. My goodness.

Praying for you all.

Carol

Carol, Straw, Jess, Sam my brain tumor is NOT cancer... Its just in a location that they can not operate due to expected complications. Right now its giving me tunnel vision.. IF it grows larger than I will lose the use of the left side of my body. If that should happen I would probably consider letting them operate.

If the brain tumor stays the same size from now onward then I'm good except for tunnel vision...

JESS: thank you for the info. about bee-decline .. so sad about chemical-spraying. My daughter is doing great, the school psychologist will help her with writing under pressure for her gifted English-class. I'm putting more flax-oil in her food, she's quite happy.

CAROL: I don't have a brain tumor ... the excerpt about cancer shrunk is written by an AMAZON customer named Ellen Marsh on February 12, 2011.

http://www.amazon.com/Anticancer-A-New-Way-Life/dp/0670021644

Since this thread is about eating toward health, I include books written by docs and testimonies on Amazon about cancer/tumor. I DON'T HAVE BRAIN TUMOR, but I need to lose 20 lbs.

While walking today I had a discussion with a neighbor about how ALKALINE our tap water is, pH over 8.6. I once posted a link on calcium and magnesium levels across cities in U.S.A, and all (except Hawaii) have high levels of calcium and low levels of magnesium in tap water.

Prairie-North in Canada tested her water pH, and was surprised at how alkaline it is. Municipals add calcium hydroxide in tap water, that raise the pH, plus this type of UNSTABLE calcium binds with potassium & phosphorus in soil, prevents roots & blooming.

http://www.mgwater.com/mgrank.shtml

Hartford CT has 1.6 magnesium 8.1 calcium 2.80 salt

North Chicago, with a calcium of 37, magnesium of 1, and sodium of 8 in my tap water.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1495189/table/tbl2/

For Massachusett , it's 5 for calcium, 1 for magnesium, and 16 for salt in their tap water.

Cancer strikes my neighborhood, but mostly men: the guy across the street has prostrate cancer, the guy behind me has kidney cancer. Another male neighbor died of brain cancer. Dr. Willett explained in his book "Eat, Drink, and be healthy" why calcium affects men more adversely than woman.

THERE'S A STRONG LINK BETWEEN CALCIUM INTAKE AND PROSTATE CANCER .. The chairman of Harvard Medical School who wrote the book "Eat, Drink and be Healthy" cited at least 5 separate studies that linked calcium to prostrate cancer in men. From WebMD: "

Sept. 3, 2008 -- Men with high-normal levels of calcium in their blood may have an increased risk for developing fatal prostate cancer, early research suggests.

Men in the study with high-normal levels had a threefold greater risk for fatal prostate cancer later in life than those with the lowest average calcium levels (but still within the normal range)."

The sugar-link to cancer applies to benign tumor as well, here's an abstract entitled " A Low Carbohydrate, High Protein Diet Slows Tumor Growth and Prevents Cancer Initiation"

http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/71/13/4484.full

THANK YOU, Jess, for your wonderful suggestion about iced-tea instead of juice (high in sugar). I bought Stash Meyer-Lemon tea, YUM!! don't miss juice at all. That tea is made out of rosehip, lemon, and lemongrass. I tried at least a dozen varieties of Stash tea, and Meyer-Lemon is best.

Besides INCREASING the growth rate of tumor and cancer, sugar also affects the eyes. Here's from WebMD: "

July 13, 2007 -- Eating lots of sugary, starchy foods may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration (AMD), America's top cause of vision loss.

That news appears in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

AMD typically starts late in life. It affects the retina, located in the center of the eye. AMD can cause vision loss.

Previous research shows that diets rich in antioxidants might help prevent AMD.

The new study adds one more diet tip: Go for carbohydrates that don't make your blood sugar spike quickly. Doing so might help prevent AMD, note the researchers. Nearly 4,100 U.S. adults aged 55-80 took part in the study. They completed dietary surveys and had their eyes checked for AMD."

http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/macular-degeneration/news/20070713/high-sugar-foods-may-affect-eyesight

For plant-foods highest in proteins: peanuts and quinoa lead the pack. Anyone tried quinoa before? I keep buying it, and never cook it, and it goes stale. An excerpt from below link:

http://gentleworld.org/10-protein-packed-plants/

"Quinoa is a perfect protein and the king of all grains. It has the highest percentage of protein content at 16 percent per volume! This means that a measly ¼ cup (dry) quinoa has 6 grams** of protein.

Health Benefits of Quinoa:

• Magnesium: Relaxes muscles and blood vessels, which can help regulate blood pressure.
• Manganese and copper: Both work as antioxidants to protect the body from free radicals.
• Lignans: A phytonutrient found to reduce the risk of heart disease as well as certain types of cancer.

Quinoa is also a good source of iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, vitamin E, selenium, manganese, tryptophan copper, phosphorus and more."

http://gentleworld.org/10-protein-packed-plants/

• No preservatives, additives or colourants
• Made with organic rose water & raspberry juice

I have tried this - only once - very expensive, but with organically grown roses I am sure it'll be easy to make oneself...? It is mind-blowing delicious... Add only a small amount to water in glass with ice.

made with rose water and raspberries, but I'm sure any berries will be a good substitute...? - Or even, no fruit added, only the rose cordial in iced water? :-)

I have tried Quinoa , but I enjoyed Buckwheat more, also contains lots of proteins...cook it like rice....still firm but not hard or mushy...or add a bit to stews...also keeps well in fridge if there are left-overs.

Quinoa is also much more expensive here than Buckwheat.

Here are a few Quinoa recipes

http://greatist.com/eat/breakfast-quinoa-recipes

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/quinoa

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_quinoa_recipes

but there are many more in Google

Nutrition Facts

Buckwheat

Amount Per 100 grams1 cup (170 g)1 cup (170 g)Calories 583

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 3.4 g

Saturated fat 0.7 g

Polyunsaturated fat 1 g

Monounsaturated fat 1 g

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 1mg

Potassium 460mg

Total Carbohydrate 72mg

Dietary fiber 10mg

Protein 13g

Vitamin 0

Vitamin C 0

Calcium 1%

Iron 12%

Vitamin 0%

Vitamin B-6 10%

Vitamin B-12 0%

Magnesium 57%

How to make your own rose water:

Pour lukewarm water over petals. Cover and let stand for 24 hours. Strain, squeezing the petals as hard as you can muster. Add the second quart of petals into the rose water.

another version:

Rose petals are edible. In Bosnia (and many other countries) they're used for making cordials and jams. Only non-hybrid roses can be used, as only they have specific smell / aroma. Red roses give beautiful refreshing drink, while white roses are mostly used for jams.

Ingredients: (for 1L of cordial)
6 large red roses (petals only), quickly washed in cold water
1 1/2 tsp citric acid granules (from your supermarket)
a 500 ml jar with lid
water
1 1/4 cup sugar + 1 cup water (for syrup)
Method:
Place rose petals into a jar, sprinkle citric acid on top and pour water to the top. Close the lid, shake jar well until citric acid solved. Place jar into sunny spot for at least 48 hours.
After 2 days, strain water with rose petals into a bottle. Boil sugar with 1 cup water and let it cool slightly. Pour it in bottle with rose water and shake well. Keep refrigerated. Use as cordial.
Note: If you boil strained petals with 1/2 cup sugar (6-8 minutes in microwave), you'll get rose jam!

http://jasnaskitchencreations.blogspot.co.za/2013/05/rose-petal-cordial.html

I am sure the sugar can be replaced with Agave or Stevia?

thanks so much for the encouragement Jim, I'll be RUNNING past the cupcake store...and Carol, nope.....you have no idea how good you are with sowing...I would never be able to do that.... :-)

Thanks again Strawberry Hill for that valuable info on unstable calcium, and what it does to us and our roses....also the sugar....

Something else that's been popping up in the news that causes cancer is GM foods.

http://www.ewg.org/agmag/2015/03/monsanto-gmos-and-cancer-risk

http://undergroundhealthreporter.com/genetically-modified-foods/#axzz3peSdMSzf

(many more sites plus CNN reported about this as well)

Another good reason to only grow Heirloom veggies...at least they can be harvested and will grow again when you plant them, whereas GM seeds can't. Heirloom veggies are also much more tasty and stronger, more pest resistant than GM's.

'The interesting thing about GMO seeds is that gardeners are not able to save the seeds after harvest and must buy seed every year from large seed corporations, such as Monsanto.'

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/25/grow-heirloom-seeds/

Threats to food security and local livelihoods

Despite claims by GM lobbyists that GMO's are the answer to world hunger, their companies so far have only proven to contribute to it. GM seeds provide a limited benefit to large-scale industrial farmers by allowing them to mechanise more and reduce labour costs (at the cost of systematically destroying their soil). For the vast majority of farmers on the planet, however, GM methods are more expensive, less productive and locally inappropriate to their sustainable small or medium-scale systems.

Threatening Plant Dioversity

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) threaten plant biodiversity. Planting GM crops is not a question of choice: once they are planted somewhere, crops elsewhere become contaminated by them. This could be especially disastrous for organic farmers.

For example, although it is illegal to grow GM maize in Mexico, in 2001 researchers found that traditional maize varieties grown by farmers in two remote Mexican states had been contaminated with GMOs from GM maize. There are thousands of varieties of maize in Mexico. If contaminated by GMOs, these precious indigenous varieties would be irretrievably lost.

Putting an end to Seed Saving and Sharing

The majority of farmers in developing countries struggle to afford even the most basic inputs (seeds, fertilisers, etc). Their survival depends on the age-old practices of selecting, saving and sharing seeds from one year to the next. GM crops do not allow farmers to do this.

By patenting GM seeds and their associated technologies, biotech corporations will consolidate their already worrying control over the world food market. They will exercise a monopoly over what we eat and what we plant – with devastating effects, particularly in developing countries, for food security (people’s ability to have access to safe and nutritious food at all times).

Health Issues

Although the goal of GMO crops is to make them less susceptible to pests, more resistant to drought and stronger overall, the actual result is that stronger pesticides will be needed for the stronger weeds and disease, just as overuse of antibiotics has created stronger strains of disease in humans. Do we really want stronger pesticides to be used on the food that we eat?

Despite claims by the biotech corporations as to the safety of their products, there are many documented health risks. See Seeds of Deception - Genetic Roulette for more information.

Monsanto

Most of the worlds GMO or GE products are produced by Monsanto, the biggest biotech company in the world. If you have any doubts as to just how insidious and dangerous Monsanto and their GMO products are, we would strongly urge you to watch this video:

http://www.organicseed.co.za/content/8-what-are-gmos

Jim - oh that's much better then. Still scary though. :(

Straw - I'm glad you're alright!! I've got you beat though, I should lose 70lbs!! :)

I've cooked quinoa before. It's quite good. I added raw cauliflower to it - and put some sort of seasoning on it. Can't remember how I made it. My family didn't like it, so I stopped making it. But I liked it.

Carol

I love Jess' links to quinoa recipes. THANK YOU, Jess for buckwheat's nutrient-analysis. Agree with Carol that quinoa is hard to like. I boiled it once before and it was bitter & stinky ... maybe too stale.

I posted on GMO foods in cooking forum & this forum before, and some Monsanto promoter came in to argue, but Dr. Henry Kuska stepped in to stop them.

1. Here's one quinoa pilaf recipe from Jess' links, but I'll use buckwheat: "Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil and some seasoning. Roast for 15 min.
2. Heat the remaining olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion, celery, cumin and garlic, then season to taste. Fry on a medium heat for 10 mins until golden. Add the rice, quinoa, dill and stock. Cover with a lid and cook for 12-15 mins or until the rice is soft. Add the tomatoes and pine nuts, and gently stir through. Serve with white fish or a green salad."

That sounds like a great tasting and good for you recipe. I will try that with fish and salad. Thanks Straw.

I think this recipe is simply a must...will definitely try this myself...it sounds so delicious, thanks Strawberry Hill...

Yes, I agree on the taste of Quinoa.... :-) also I found it didn't keep well in the fridge like buckwheat did...

I have my peanut butter...plus a whole big bag of pecan nuts... :-)

I also have my gypsum and more sulfate of potash.... the previous bags were finito..

wonderful thing that Dr. Henry Kuska stepped in, I would love to read his comments Strawberry Hill...I saw now that he is also a rose expert?

something else...I quickly checked how much I am over-weight....

40 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! definitely NO MORE CUP CAKES FOR ME....(!!!!)

:-)

Jess: you got the 2 best things: peanut-butter and pecan nut. Pecan is so good with pumpkin pie .. it's our traditional pie for Thanksgiving, coming in November. How do you eat your pecan nuts? I roast mine in oven with honey on top, let the graze dry, then mix in cranberries for snacking, or top my cereal with that.

Last month I told my daughter, "You can't expect the teacher to give you an A, when you don't give something too, such as working-hard. It's like a fat person sitting on a sofa, stuffing his/her mouth with chips, while praying really hard that God please help with weight loss." My motto "God only helps those who do their best to help Him." To rephrase, "God only help us when we DO everything within our power to help Him to achieve our goals."

I realize the above when "Chicken Soup for the Soul" extended the dead-lines for submission of Angels-stories .. there's a shortage of real-life stories. It's because angels don't come unless it's an emergency ... when we are powerless to do anything on our own, such as being pinned down under a heavy car.

Below is a bouquet picked today, Oct. 26, pink Radio Times has a strong Old-Rose scent (Damask). White is Mary Magdalene, purple is William Shakespeare 2000:

oh how beautiful..... I have no words to describe your roses.............how do they manage to bloom in the icy temperatures you are having now already?

I read Chicken soup for the soul for the very first time only a few months ago and it was exactly that- chicken soup for the soul...I loved reading that book. I started with one chapter and before I knew it I read the whole book...are you submitting a chapter?

I eat my pecan nuts raw - out of the bag...without anything added ...not the world's best cook ... :-)

but tomorrow hopefully I will make salad with thinly sliced cabbage and some raisins added along with the raw pecans...and the rest...celery etc..the way you eat yours sounds so appetizing....makes me feel hungry (again) just by thinking about that... and the pumpkin pie.........(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) (never had any but it sounds like something straight out of heaven!)

Glad you got your peanut Butter Jess since you been looking forward to it so much... :-)

JESS: Pumpkin pie is a Thanksgiving Holiday-tradition. The 1st Indians aka "Mr. Squanto" fed American Pilgrims with pumpkins. My American History knowledge revolves around Squanto and the Lone Ranger ... just love that name. Ha! Ha! Thanksgiving is when we stuff ourselves like turkeys with yummy food. Sam can enlighten you about Thanksgiving later.

Great link below on serious tips to lose weight: I agree with their 4 tips: Don't drink your calories, Weigh yourself weekly, and Eat mindfully, and limit your choices. When I was 97 lbs. (9 years ago) I spent lots of time eating, like chewing on salad like the one you described (cabbage, nuts, celery, etc.) .. plus eating 2 apples a day, plus carrots, plus peanut-butter sandwich

When I gained weight that's when I was too busy to chew RAW produce, just guzzle juice, and eat fast-food. The SLOW-WAY to eat is the healthiest, slowly peel an orange takes 15 min., versus 2 sec. guzzling down juice. My sister argued that FAST PRESSURE COOKER makes the most delicious food. I spent $$ buying the latest Pressure-cooker and IT RUINED THE TASTE OF everything: all the flavors became stinky & texture became mushy.

But I love my slow-cooker (Crock-pot), it makes the most flavorful soup. Below 10+ tips to lose weight is worth reading, from Google News today:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tips-losing-weight_562e8606e4b00aa54a4ab51b

3 year old Cameron had a really bad strain of the flu which is what caused her stroke.

Cameron is out of ICU and into a regular room... She can not use the left side of her body and is starting rehab...

Jim: I will be praying VERY HARD for that precious 3-year old Cameron. We are so lucky to be healthy .. we can't take our health for grant.

This is such terrible news Jim.... I am praying for this little girl ALL the time...

There is a wonderful homeopathic remedy which (I think) should be in everyone's 1st aid kit:

OSCILLOCOCCINUM by Boiron.

I took this for the first time more than 25 years ago when I was under huge pressure and came down with the worst flu ever - exams-stress...

this started making me feel stronger and better 2 hours after I took the first capsule. It's a small little tube that you break open and you throw the tiny pellets under your tongue and let it melt. there are 6 in each box. You can use half of each tube if you'd like, it is a little expensive but outweighs the costs of seeing a doctor plus buying the expensive prescribed medicine by far.

I never ever had flu again afterwards. I buy one box each year before winter starts and use the whole box as a immune booster.

many thanks for being happy with me about my peanut butter... :-)

and thanks so much Strawberry Hill for the tips on loosing weight I will study that site and try to keep to it....

I just remembered this, about Buckwheat - it actually makes one loose weight! Sometimes I wonder how I can forget stuff like this....????!!!!

http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/natural-foods/natural-weight-loss-food-buckwheat-ga.htm

http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/amazing-benefits-of-buckwheat-for-skin-hair-and-health/

http://www.diet-health.net/diet/72-buckwheat-diet-takes-down-to-12-kg-per-week.html

Went for an hour and a half walk today with the dogs. I jogged until I got tired (not very far), then I'd walk, then I'd jog a bit more. Now that the weather is getting cooler (5 C (41F)) during the day, I can walk a bit more. I'm in shorts and a t-shirt, and everyone else has coats and mitts. I need the coolness to exert myself. I don't walk all summer, just too hot.

Straw - I love your posy!! I've always wanted Radio Times. Yours looks wonderful!! So pretty!!!!! I want one!!! :)

Well, I'm (or rather my husband is LOL) putting my roses in the garage either this weekend or next. It's supposed to snow on Monday. Hopefully not too much.

My daughter, Holly, attended awards night for History students at the U of Calgary today. She won three awards:

1. United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada History Prize -

- Offered annually to a student with the highest standing in a Canadian History Course.

2. Big Rock Brewery Scholarship

- Offered annually to a student with a declared Canadian cencentration with one course in Western Canadian history and academic merit.

3. Maggie Osler Memorial Scholarship in History

- Offered annually to a continuing undergraduate student entering third or fourth year in the Faculty of Arts, majoring in History

- she won this one last year too.

So I'm very proud of her!!! Thank you for your prayers for her!!

I'm still praying for this little girl too. Must be scary for her and for the family.

Carol

DOUBLE WOW Carol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the walking - that's a loooooooooooong walk...............congratz on that......(I'm humbled....)

and wow wow wow many congratulations with all the awards that your daughter won....

beYOND stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and in the meantime...I'm dreaming about pumpkin pie.... :-)

ps...good luck with the winter at your doorsteps everyone...I'll be sending warm vibes from Africa...stay cozy and warm....

hahaha...I started panicking when I realized I'm 20 lbs (correction: 44 lbs - I keep thinking in terms of kilograms...) overweight and quickly did a search to find out just how bad 20 (44!!!!!!!!!!! jikes!!!!!!!!!!) extra pounds are and found this wonderful article...made me feel a lot better about myself :-) - BUT - I'm still going to try and get rid of it the healthy way, as suggested by Strawberry Hill...(not feeling THAT great after realizing my mistake...gotta loose those pounds....)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-houghton/overweight-and-obesity-th_b_779446.html

Glad that OSCILLOCOCCINUM by Boiron works great for you Jess!

I usually eat a whole pumpkin pie about this time of year than will not have any until next year... Same with drinking a quart of eggnog around Christmas...

Carol, great to hear you took a nice long walk and the dogs got some good exercise also! :-) Congrats to your daughter Carol!

Snow usually doesn't start steady here until mid December then afterwards up until mid March or later...

This new report about meat just came out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/health/report-links-some-types-of-cancer-with-processed-or-red-meat.html?_r=0

Carol: I'm happy and proud for Holly. Autistic children are VERY SMART, and VERY GIFTED.

Jess: I was puzzled by the 40 lbs. mistake too, I saw your hand in one of the pic., it's a slender hand. I'm happy that it's only 20 lbs., due to the kilograms conversion. Twenty pounds is easy to lose. It took me 6 months to lose 20 lbs. when I had the time to eat salad & apple & carrot & exercise. Then I got busy & get into fast-food & IV myself with juice ... and gained back 20 lbs.

WEIGHT-LOSS is a life-long-habit to MAINTAIN, rather than a goal to achieve. People achieve that goal, go back to the old habits, and re-gain all-over again.

Jim: Thanks for that link on processed meat, I read the entire article. I wish it would say how many people were involved in that study, or how many test-subjects.

Re-post info. from Huffingpost on tips to lose weight:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tips-losing-weight_562e8606e4b00aa54a4ab51b

"Aim for 20 to 35 grams of fiber a day from plant foods, since fiber helps fill you up and slows absorption of carbohydrates. "

Portion control: Popular “100-calorie” food packages do the portion controlling for you

Eating mindfully means giving full attention to what you eat, savoring each bite, acknowledging what you like and don’t like, and not eating when distracted (such as while watching TV, working on the computer).

Chew slowly, and savor each bite: Keep in mind also that the most pleasure often comes from the first few bites of a food; after that, it’s the law of diminishing returns. Thus, you should focus on those first few tastes of chocolate, cake, or other indulgences, as this may be enough to satisfy.

Get protein in all meals: Some research suggests that distributing your protein throughout the day also helps in weight loss, rather than eating the bulk of it at, say, dinnertime. According to a 2015 paper in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition, higher-protein diets that include at least 25 grams of protein at each meal may reduce appetite and thus body weight, compared with lower-protein diets.

Limit variety at meals. Don’t drink your calories. Allow for (controlled) indulgences. Consider weighing yourself regularly—at least once a week." Huffington Post Tips.

**** From Straw: I agree with the above. My lowest weights were achieved when I snacked on high-fiber & high-protein cereal with soy milk ... with at least 35 gram of fiber per day. Also at least 25 g. of protein for each meal, be it peanut-butter or eggs for breakfast, beans for lunch, or fish/meat for dinner.

I gained weight whenever I forget to weigh myself at least once a week.

Really love their tip of " Keep in mind also that the most pleasure often comes from the first few bites of a food; after that, it’s the law of diminishing returns." So true, I really enjoy the first 4 bites of peanut-butter toast, that's all I can remember ... the rest was just to fill my stomach.

Dolly Parton stays slim with her life-long habit, she eats 3 bites of a yummy food, and NO MORE. Practice portion-control is actually fun, once it becomes a habit. So proud of myself last night, I had a sour fruit, so I grabbed a fig-bar, took 3 bites, it was too sweet ... Instead of finishing that, I told myself "You don't have to eat that, you can give it to God." So I wrapped the rest and put away, GREAT FEELING! It felt good to be in control over a piece of junk, and turning something over to God, rather than torturing my body with that.

William Shakespeare 2000 rose lasts very long in the vase, pic. taken Oct. 26. It has 3 more buds ready to pop. Austin roses can take light frost well, but hybrid tea like Stephen Big Purple ... that has 3 frosted blooms .. too blah for pics. I would recommend W.S. 2000 over Radio Times for the pot. Both are cold-tolerant, but Radio Times is a thorny monster, and W.S. 2000 is 1/5 the size:

Burning bush in my garden, that turns deep-red in late fall. Note the 2 pots to root rose-cuttings under the bush. I sent all my rose-rootings to a friend in a warm climate, right before frost in Oct. 16. The biggest rooting was achieved with 3 part sand to 1 part potting soil, plus a bit of Jobes NPK 2-7-4 with microbes, plus gypsum mixed in.

Lots of snapdragon flowers in my garden as of today, Oct 27. They bloom until hard-freeze in mid-Nov, when the ground freezes. They re-seed themselves for next year. I don't have to re-plant them whatsoever, so they are perennial:

Nice burning bush and Snapdragons Straw! And rose bouquet!

This thread is getting long. For the next month I still pray for that 3-year old girl Cameron to recover 100% from her stroke. She has a much bigger battle to face than our "over-load" or "overweight". I start a new thread to continue our journey of healthy eating & enjoying roses, entitled, "10/27/15: Tips & recipes & thoughts to healthy life and healthy roses"

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3466695/10-27-15-tips-and-recipes-and-thoughts-to-healthy-life-and-healthy-roses

Hi everyone :-)

nope, I really am 44 lbs over weight - that's 20 kg's...sounds so much less when you say 20 kg's... haha...

I love the colors of your Burning Bush and lovely Snap Dragons...WS2000 is a stunner!

Maybe I should buy a real oven and make myself some pumpkin pie...that sounds so delicious....I love pumpkin....

in the meantime, I continue with my prayers for all of you, your loved ones - all the sad, abused, tortured and neglected animals in this world...and the little girl Cameron...