http://cinematographique.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/the-hurt-locker-%C2%BD/

The Hurt Locker is fundamentally about boundaries (between worlds) ... for people who learn to live with PTSD, normal is hardly a recognizable or desireable state.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/article1025531.ece

"...He lived in the darkness for nearly three years, the distance between survival and certain death as thin as the wire he wore amid the mob. In the process, he learned that the margin between personal equilibrium and psychological torment could be just as narrow."

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/essays/article1025832.ece

"...You cannot realize a full life until you do something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

AI's and ...

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/aromatase-inhibitors1006

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/tamoxifen

Soy and ....
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/302/22/2437?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=Soy%3A+Safe+and+Perhaps+Even+Beneficial+for+Breast+Cancer+Survivors&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

This excerpt is taken from the cookbook I just downloaded at godairyfree.com by Alisa Marie Fleming.  It's called "The Guide and Cookbook for Milk Allergies, Lactose Intolerance, and Casein-Free Living"




Organic Milk is it worth it?
 
Organic milk is still cow milk. It contains all of the same proteins (i.e. casein), fats (i.e. saturated), sugars (i.e. lactose), and cholesterol that may be problematic for allergies, intolerances, special diets, and/or general health. However, for those who can and do consume even small amounts of dairy, organic milk products appear to be well worth the extra cost. 
 
Milk repeatedly makes the top ten lists for foods you should buy organic, and for good reason. Beyond dangerous pesticides, U.S. Organic Milk is also produced without the use of added antibiotics and hormones. Are hormones and antibiotics in the foods supply a true concern, or has the issue been stretched a bit too far by organic farmers and anti-milk campaigners? I was curious to know, so I pooled together some unbiased facts as evidenced by regulations and scientific studies. 
 
Whether you would like to include some dairy products in your diet, or you could use another reason to go dairy-free, the following offers some important information on hormones and antibiotics in the dairy industry that you may find interesting:
 
Why Dairy Farmers Use Synthetic Hormones…. 
~ Bovine Growth Hormone, or BGH, is a naturally occurring hormone in cows that stimulates the production of another hormone, IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1). IGF-1 in turn initiates the production of milk. 
~ The FDA approved the use of rBGH, a synthetic version of BGH, in 1993. The injection of rBGH into cows has become standard practice on many dairy farms, as it has the ability to unnaturally increase a cow’s output
of milk by up to 20% (according to the rBGH manufacturer). Higher production per cow means a better bottom line for the dairy farmer. 

The Effects of Synthetic Hormone Use on Humans…. 
~ Cows treated with rBGH produce greater levels of IGF-1. In fact, numerous studies have confirmed that cows treated with rBGH produce milk with 2 to 10 times the levels of IGF-1 found in untreated cow milk. 
~ The IGF-1 found in cows is a bio-identical hormone to the IGF-1 produced by humans. 
~ Dairy supporters argue that the IGF-1 in milk is not absorbed into the body; however, the consumption of cow milk has been scientifically shown to increase the serum level of IGF-1 in humans by 10%. In contradiction of their prior claims, the Dairy Council has even utilized a studyconfirming this increase in IGF-1 as a supporting document for bone health. 
~ Higher levels of IGF-1 in humans have been linked to a significantly increased risk of prostate, colon, lung and breast cancer.
 
Other Consequences of Hormone Use…. 
~ Cows treated with rBGH were found to have a 25% increased risk of acquiring an udder infection (mastitis). Other major side effects (as noted by the manufacturer of rBGH) include infertility, lameness, cystic ovaries, uterine disorders, digestive disorders, lacerations, and calluses of the knee.
 
Cue the Antibiotics…
~ An increase in infections results in an increase of antibiotic use, both legal and illegal. 
~ Antibiotic residues in milk may cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals, and may be an important factor in the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria. 
~ Testing for antibiotics is limited in its effectiveness. Mandatory screenings by milk processors are only for a few select antibiotics (while dozens of types are in use). Additional testing is randomized and on more of an “audit” level. 
~ Even for those batches that pass inspection, low levels of antibiotic residues are typically permitted. The effects of these low levels, in addition to the potential antibiotic levels of untested milk, are largely unknown, but greatly feared. 
~ In 2001, 6.7 million pounds of milk were dumped in Minnesota alone due to the detection of antibiotic residue. This was only from the 10% of loads randomly inspected on a quarterly review. You might either be shocked by the idea of how much “tainted” milk may have gone untested and continued on into our milk supply, or by the incredible amount of waste. Waste, which may have potentially negated the “increased
production” from the use of rBGH. And so the cycle continues.

AND HERE IS THE BOOK THAT'S SAVING MY LIFE ... The No-Dairy Breast Cancer Prevention Program: How One Scientist's Discovery Helped Her Defeat Her Cancer by Prof. Jane Plant). 

I thought I wasn't eatng much dairy until i put it all together.  Then I saw a pattern over the last four years.  When I first started getting celliac symptoms and migraines I wasn't doing dairy because I couldn't.  It made me feel much worse.  (I also wasn't doing red meat.)  But two years down the road, I learned what times of the month I could get away with cheating.  I had it down to a science.  I used bifidus infantis to help me digest whatever it was about dairy that was making feel so bad.  And when I was wrong I paid the price in pain, but man, I really wanted to be like everybody else.  It was everywhere all the time!  How could I always be strong?  What was I being strong against?  Why should I change?  I loved butter and dollops of sour cream.

This summer was really stressful and I rewarded myself often with food that I couldn't eat in the past ... ice cream especially.  I ate pizza and rich sauces.  Roast beef found its way onto the menu again.  Lots of burgers disappeared.  I was getting away with murder.  That lump in my breast was growing too.  It was larger than it had ever been and it wasn't changing size anymore.  That was what was so confusing.  Why does that thing change size?  By November I was in big trouble. 

After my second chemo, some more research, a strict diet, and an attitude adjustment, I was looking at this connection again.  My tumor was getting smaller.  While I was reading the book I'm recommending, I ate alfredo sauce from a jar on some veggies for a few days.  What could that hurt?  The lump in my chest grew.  No dairy and beef has passed my lips since and it got smaller again--just in time for my oncologist to measure it and confirm that the cancer was half the size it was six weeks ago.  Pretty direct link, wouldn't you say?  I'm thinking it is.  So I highly recommend this experiment.

Dang full moon keeping me awake like this ... looks beautiful on the snow.  The birds know I'm awake and are starting to sing im the dark.  Shhhh!  They miss me.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WN2-4CP7YVF-2V&_user=1412102&_coverDate=06%2F30%2F1997&_alid=1188794982&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=6950&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=3799&_acct=C000052645&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=1412102&md5=5262e675e74c407a701081052f463ec3

As usual, I did my Heyoka thing and learned about this process backwards.  I work at the library were we have 36,000 journals.  So I'm reading all the time.  I realize that there are probably 150 kinds of cancer and who knows how many causes, but these things seemed to fall in line for me.  A few months ago I discovered I had a 5 cm Invasive ductal carcinoma that hadn't metatisized (beyond ta few lymph nodes) yet but it was getting ready to!  6 weeks and two chemotherapy sessions later it's half gone.  I am very big on using food as medicine.

1.  I was looking at articles on quorum sensing where bacteria scavenge for iron so they can breathe anaerobically. 

"Quorum signaling and iron scavenging are instrumental in virulence, and it seems at least some pathogens have coordinated these important processes through the use of a single molecule with dual functions.  Against a backdrop of ever-increasing antibiotic resistance, insight into integrated systems such as these could prove invaluable.

... Microorganisms secrete a multitude of small molecule natural products.  Probably the most famous of these is antibiotics.  For nearly a century, mankind has manipulated bacteria to produce vast quantities of such molecules for use in the fight against infectious disease.  However, some have questioned whether growth inhibitory concentrations of antibiotics are ever reached in the environment and whether antibiotics themselves could not be better described as bacterial communcation molecules.  Many antibiotics, when given at subinhibitory concentrations, greatly alter bacterial expression patterns while have no effect on bacterial growth --characteristics that are reminiscent of more conventional QS molecules.

... For any population, reaching a high density confers multiple advantages, but is also associated with several costs.  There is inherent safety in numbers, yet if individuals do not work together, competition threatens viability and scarce resources are wasted.  Bacteria at high density are no different.  Thus, the ability to evolve diffusible QS signals that have far-reaching effects in both distance and scope would have been as vital for organisms to compete in a primoridial world as it is today.  In a world initially devoid of oxygen, iron was an abundant primitive terminal electron acceptor for cellular respiration.  The appearance of oxygen introduced the need to solubilize iron oxides and protect against ensuing oxidative damage.  As more species arose, so too did the need to compete with others for metabolites and niches ... It is now known that some bacterial communication molecules do more than just interact with regulatory proteins to initiate changes in gene expression.  They can also sequester limited resources, intercalculate into membranes or kill other organisms.  In this way, QS molecules can have a direct role in community protection and nutrient scavenging.

As research in this area develops, we predict that new meanings for the communication signals will be discovered.  Contextual information can largely affect the interpretation of a word, and thus it will also be important to examine how the environment influences which role of a QS molecule prevails.  Only when we fully understand the nuances of bacterial language will we be able to decipher the message and manipulate bacteria to our advantage."


"More than a signal: non-signaling properties of quorum sensing molecules"
Jeffrey W. Schertzer, Megan L. Boulette and Marvin Whiteley in
Trends in Microbiology, vol 7 no 5

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2.  Then I was perusing articles on avian thyroid development and adaptive plasticity because I discovered the soybean based organic bird food (I wrote, designed, published, and sold a book about it for a veterinarian who sells it worldwide) is a goitrogen.  Farmers use goitrogens like corn and soybeans to fatten up cattle while they're feeding them less.  (Because it turns off their thyroids.)

I was trying to ascertain a pattern among pet birds since veterinarians suggest feeding a pelleted diet (goitrogens) as the primary source of nutrition.  Interesting that the cases they're siting include descriptions of birds who experience obesity first, then hypothyroidism ... like mammals ... like people.  And they point to plant sources of goitrogens as being the most likely culprits.  Anecdotally, parrots (who might have a lifespan of 70 years in the wild) can expect to survive for about 15 years on this diet.

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3.  Shifting the focus back to people, candida hide out in the duodenum and can extend the time a woman's body puts out progesterone before her menstrual cycle (because the fungi proliferate under these conditions).  Single celled organisms can wait to act until they detect enough of their counterparts to have a bigger effect.  It's called quorum sensing.  Can microorganisms affect food cravings?  Can they assert their prime directive and cause their hosts to choose goitrogens?  Some researchers believe that's exactly what they do.  I was seeing a pattern in myself.

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4.  This got me to investigating the link between candida (when it becomes chronic it looks like celliac disease), estrogen dominance, hypoestrogenism, and ultimately cancer based on genetic and environmental weaknesses.  One of the first articles I found on breast cancer is this:

Dietary and stored iron as predictors of breast cancer risk

Increases in risk of breast cancer in successive generations of migrants to the United States from China and rapid temporal changes in incidence rates in China following social and economic changes clearly implicate environmental factors in the etiology of this disease. Case-control and cohort studies have provided evidence that at least some of these factors may be dietary. Iron, an essential element necessary for cell function, has also been demonstrated to have potential carcinogenic and co-carcinogenic activities. Iron overload, which was previously uncommon, has become more common in the United States than iron deficiency and may be increasing in China concurrently with dramatic increases in meat consumption. A case-control study nested in a cohort of women in Shanghai, China, was conducted to evaluate possible associations between risk of proliferative and nonproliferative fibrocystic changes as well as breast cancer and dietary iron intake and plasma ferritin levels. Plasma ferritin levels and reported dietary iron intake were compared in 346 women with fibrocystic changes, 248 breast cancer cases and 1,040 controls. Increasing ferritin levels were significantly associated with increasing risk of nonproliferative fibrocystic changes (OR: 2.51, 95% CI: 1.16-5.45, p trend = 0.04). Similar, but weaker, trends were observed for proliferative changes and for breast cancer. Risk of breast cancer relative to the risk of fibrocystic changes was associated with dietary iron intake in women with nonproliferative fibrocystic changes (OR: 2.63, 95% CI: 1.04-6.68, p = 0.02). In conclusion, this study finds significant associations between iron (stored and dietary) and fibrocystic disease and breast cancer. (C) 2009 UICC

http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.siu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=108&sid=aceff7b0-6507-4d99-827e-e9fb73936bf0%40sessionmgr111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=bxh&AN=BACD200900347791

As shown in Table I, women with NPFC, PFC and breast cancer (with or without proliferative changes) reported lower vitamin C intake than the control women consumption of high iron foods in the progression from fibrocystic disease to breast cancer.

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5.  AND HERE IS THE BOOK THAT'S SAVING MY LIFE ... The No-Dairy Breast Cancer Prevention Program: How One Scientist's Discovery Helped Her Defeat Her Cancer by Prof. Jane Plant).  Three days after my third chemo my tumor is still shrinking dramatically thanks to Chapter 3.

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6.  Holy crap!  I also found stories about how Vitamin C causes your body to dump more iron and the cancer collects it (so it can breathe anaerobically).  Amazingly I found some articles proclaiming that avoiding hemi iron (from meat) and eating non-hemi iron (from plant sources) does the same thing goitrogens do which is to change the type of estrogen that is stored in the cells to estriol.  (Even some popular women's magazines are proclaiming it as gospel and advising their readers to act accordingly.)

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7.  So then we get to Tamoxifen.  A goitrogen.  Goitrogens turn off your thyroid and that leads to other things (except that I already had hypothyroidism, didn't I?)  Oh what a tangled web.  Tamoxifen's good quality is that it changes the estrogen in the breasts to estriol while it lets the estrogen in the uterus stay the same (except that some people get uterine cancer from that.)  So what happens if you're so sensitive to estrogen you can't even do phytoestrogens without feeling bad?  What if you can't take even the lowest dose birth control pill?  What if you get migraines the day your estrogen kicks in during your menstrual cycle?  How are you going to take Tamoxifen?

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8.  So then I researched goitrogens and thyroid and found things like this:

Thyroid hormone is antagonistic to estrogen, so poor thyroid function can aggravate problems that are caused by estrogen.   Reducing the estrogen and prolactin effects and raising progesterone output may be the keys to reducing premenstrual symptoms.   Lowering body weight and stress while improving liver and thyroid function are important considerations in resolving this condition.

 Certain dietary practices help normalize the hormonal activity when applied regularly.  Providing adequate iodine intake for thyroid activity is necessary.   Avoiding daily consumption of goiter-causing raw vegetables from the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, rutabagas, and turnips) improves thyroid output.   Eliminating caffeine, fat, sugar and white flour in the diet and increasing consumption of complex carbohydrates (grains, beans and starchy vegetables) is important.  These changes help maintain blood sugar and energy balance, lower body weight and reduce the metabolic demands on the liver.   The increased intake of fiber from eating whole foods prevents constipation and improves excretion of estrogen adsorption.

http://www.soulconnection.net/quiet_center_of_stillness.html

I followed the thinking outlined in this post regarding sugar, protein, probiotics and digestive enzymes, maintained an alkaline diet, and went back to the oncologist after my first chemo treatment.  She is deliighted.  My tumor has shrunk considerably.  One third of it disappeared in three weeks.

http://biohermit.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/sugar-and-cancer-a-match-made-in-hell/

I read every link on this site and it made all the research I've done up until now make sense in a very delicious way. 

http://www.new-cancer-treatments.org/Articles/CancerDiet.html

If you're going to eat glucose, eat the kind that comes with cancer fighting nutrients.

http://www.cancertutor.com/Cancer/Budwig.html

I ingest coconut water, yogurt and oil in place of cottage cheese because it also fights candida (No dairy) ... but this is the reason I think it helps.

http://www.drkelley.com/CANLIVER55.html

Enzymes, proteins, probiotics ... don't get bogged down ... read from a lot of different sources.  See how it comes together.

Cancer Compared to Diabetes

1. Diabetes is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism due to inadequate production or utilization of insulin. Cancer is a disorder of protein metabolism due to inadequate production or utilization of protein digesting enzymes.
2. Insulin is produced in the pancreas. Protein digesting enzymes are produced in the pancreas.
3. A neurological process controls insulin production. A neurological process controls enzyme production.
4. Diabetes can often be controlled by diet alone. Cancer can often be controlled by diet alone.
5. Diabetes can almost always be controlled by the proper dosage of insulin. Cancer can almost always be controlled by proper dosage of protein digesting enzymes.
6. A diabetic patient can live a long useful life and never die as the result of diabetes. A cancer patient can live a long and useful life and never die as the result of cancer.
7. A diabetic patient must control his diabetes the rest of his life by diet or medication or a combination of both. A Cancer patient must control his cancer the rest of his life by diet and protein digesting enzymes.
8. The diabetic patient and the cancer patient alike must seek professional help to determine and regulate the condition, but it is up to the individual to administer to himself the proper diet and missing medication and/or supplements.

http://www.customprobiotics.com/about_probiotics_a.htm

HOW DO PROBIOTICS WORK?

Probiotics must be ingested regularly for any health promoting properties to persist. It is possible to manipulate the composition of the intestinal microflora in adults through dietary supplementation with probiotics. This concept is gaining popularity throughout the world.

The mode of action of a probiotic may include host microflora modulation, e.g., by improvement of the microbial balance via interaction of orally applied viable microbes with the microflora in the digestive tract lumen, the modulation of host metabolic activities, e.g., by stabilizing digestive enzyme pattern, and immunomodulation, e.g., by activation and regulation of mucosa-associated and systemic immune system responses. These modes of action are also strain-dependent.

The intestinal microflora provides protection against a broad range of pathogens, including certain forms of Clostridia, Escherichia Coli, Salmonella, Shigella and Pseudomonas, as well as yeasts such as Candida albicans.

MECHANISMS OF ACTION OF PROBIOTICS

Antimicrobial Effects of Probiotics.
A.	Modify microflora to suppress pathogens.
B.	Secrete antibacterial substances. Probiotic bacteria produce a variety of substances that are inhibitory to both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. These include organic acids, hydrogen peroxide and bacteriocins. These compounds may reduce not only the number of viable pathogenic organisms but may also affect bacterial metabolism and toxin production. This occurs through reduction of luminal pH through the production of volatile short-chain fatty acids, mainly acetates, propionates and butyrates. And of course, through production of lactic acid (Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus), leading to a reduction in colonic pH.
C.	Compete with pathogens to prevent their adhesion to the intestine.
D.	Compete for nutrients necessary for pathogen survival
	http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Prevention/garlic-and-cancer-prevention How might garlic act to prevent cancer? Protective effects from garlic may arise from its antibacterial properties (17) or from its ability to block the formation of cancer-causing substances (18), halt the activation of cancer-causing substances (19), enhance DNA repair (20), reduce cell proliferation, or induce cell death (10).   http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/causes2.html Cancer is a bacteria?    http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/jan/11/cancer.infectiousdiseases

A pair of ladies came over yesterday who really get birds.  Not that they have any, but it is apparent to all of us standing in the birdroom rubbing birdheads that we all have the same understanding and appreciation of how it all works.  Neural wifi.

I explain to them in an hour what I've learned in 20 years.  Distilled and fine.  Like a 250 year old shot of cognac.  Incredible.  And as and all the sorrow ignites to joy, I revel in the knowing that I have chosen this all along just to get to this moment.  This sharing.  This way of being. 

Heyoka is cozy and sweet taking great pleasure in my caresses and closing her eyes as I touch her.  I explain how opposite she was when I acquired her a few years ago.

Wuji is twisting his head and singing, moving with lighting fast speeds and being gentle simultaneously.  (Which is quite a testament.  Quickly and gently?  Not getting carried away with the excitement of being everything an excited bird can be?) 

He frequently slips his beak under my nose.  I can see the precipice spreading out beneath us on either side.  We're in high country together.  I discipline my mind.  Keep it centered in the moment.   I have no intention of letting either of us fall.  The moment a girl starts wondering what could go wrong she's projected herself into a future where something has gone wrong.  We stay high and sweet.  Show those ladies a little something about telepathy.

Yang stands around on their hands nuzzling them and being the perfect host.

I may not change the world, but I have created an oasis and I'm very happy to share it.  Here in my kingdom.  Where it's all good.

http://www.itmonline.org/5organs/liver.htm

Hun is originally an ancient astronomical term, describing the light of the moon (as opposed to its material body). Just like moonlight is a reflection of sunlight, hun stands for a particular type of consciousness that is reflecting waking consciousness (shen) on another plane. The Neijing comments in its typical terse code: "Hun is that what follows shen going in and out."

Hun can be interpreted as the realm of the subconscious that is particularly active during sleep time. Therefore, all Chinese words that include the character hun describe states of dreaming or trance. As Zhang Jingyue, master physician of the Ming dynasty, put it: "This dim state of consciousness during dreaming, or the elusive visions we see meandering during nocturnal sleep, all fall under the category of hun." Hun, in other words, can be understood as an ethereal type of consciousness which can separate from the body during sleep and interact with other "souls" (as hun is often translated) during this time.

 

 

I had a dream this morning that a powerful master recognized me as one of his greatest loves ... I woke up crying with joy and deep appreciation.  What a cool thing.

http://uk.video.yahoo.com/watch/1598539/5397639