Nutrition - Renegade Lunch Lady

Link to Ann Cooper at TED

Ann Cooper, the “renegade lunch lady,” is the director of nutrition services for the Berkeley Unified School District in California, and she is trying to change the way we feed kids in school in America. Feeding children nutrient-rich foods is essential for good health and optimal brain function, and good nutrition starts at home.

Cooper has completely overhauled the Berkeley school lunch program to include locally grown, sustainable, organic foods. And she advocates that other school districts can — and need to — make similar changes. How? Follow her to the FarmToSchool program. And Chef Ann Cooper's site is here.

Just for fun... a clip from FAME, the "Hot Lunch Jam".

Gluten, as in GLUE

Interesting article on the role of the foods we eat as cause of inflammation, disease, disability, mental disorders - and death.
Dr. Mark Hyman in Huffington Post
Dr. Hyman's website is here.

White Bird

Birds are symbols of the spirit,
and white birds represent the soul.

This video with the music of the Incredible String Band expresses the sorrow and loss of soul that can come from the use of drugs - and the joy of recovery. In two parts.

If you are an "accidental addict" looking for information about withdrawal from psychotropic medications, please see our links in the right hand column. And take comfort - the journey is not easy, but it is worth it!

Social Utility: How Much Are Grandma and Grandpa Worth?

By Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of EXCITOTOXINS - THE TASTE THAT KILLS
A thought-provoking essay. The ideas presented here apply to any individuals who are older, disabled or different.
Link
Are the prime beneficiaries of sacrifice of today's "useless eaters" not persons, society in general or even the State - but Corporations?

Trailer from LOGAN'S RUN, a 1976 sci-fi film set in a dystopia where aging persons are culled - at 30:

More on the "old killed for benefit of young" debate in the arts is here.

Another way to profit from the elderly: Retired Texas couple held in care as "incompetent" while guardian and state clean out their assets.
News link

Humor: Help Dr. Frist Find His Lost Kitty!

Link to spoof

Bill Frist medical experiments controversy

HCA scandal (Forbes)


Is your health insurance making you feel like a cat in a cage?

How Pharma Giants are Getting Rich by Calling Our Life Problems Medical Disorders

Voodoo diagnostics are major mojo for pharmaceutical corporations - and the pshrinks who prescribe.

In 1994, the DSM-IV was published to considerable acclaim, with a text revision released in 2000. A quick glance through its list of contributors is revealing. As was reported in a 2006 study, lead-authored by Lisa Cosgrove of the University of Massachusetts, 56 per cent (95 of 170) of the researchers who worked on the manual had at least one monetary relationship with a drug manufacturer between 1989 and 2004. Twenty-two per cent of these researchers received consulting income during that period, and 16 per cent were paid spokespersons for a drug company. The percentages are even higher – 100 per cent in some instances – for researchers who contributed to the manual’s subsections on psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. While Cosgrove and her coauthors were not able to determine the percentage of researchers who received funds from the drug industry during the actual production of the DSM-IV, the chorus of protest that arose following their paper’s publication was telling. “I can categorically say,” roared the DSM-IV’s text and criteria editor, Michael First, “that drug-company influence never entered into any of the discussions, whatsoever.”

Images: Dr. John Dee, Elizabethan alchemist and magician, above; and cartoon, The Money Demon, below

The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Guide to Historical Records

"...this book will no doubt prove an invaluable resource to researchers undertaking comparative studies of the pharmaceutical industry, the history of medicine and the retailing of medical drugs." Google Books Link

Ay-yup. Have a carrot and sit and read for a spell. Or if you would prefer carrot juice, read Dr. Andrew Saul's how-to juicing hints here.