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Okay, this is not taking place during the Lincoln City part of the vacation, but I wanted to post something about how cool that town is - the Finders Keepers glass float event here (click on the Finders Keepers icon upper right): http://www.oregoncoast.org/pages/floatfest.html I recently purchased a piece by one of the participating glass blowers. Very nice. A reason in itself to revisit Lincoln City during the off-season.

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That's one of my favorite ones!

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Arame, wakame, sea palm and dulse coming your way! I soak the first 3 before using them but eat the dulse as is. Enjoy!

Here's a suggestion: You may want to bring a plastic or paper bag to put your shoes in if you walk on the beach with them on. Sand in your luggage sucks. And definitely bring a light jacket or sweater. We were on the coast last week and the wind was a bit chilly when walking into it.

! sk.

I'm sending a rather large pan of lasagna with Potter tomorrow. In case the instructions get lost, here they are: Remove from refridgerator for 2 hours prior to heating (preheat oven to 350 degrees). Remove plastic wrap (under foil) before heating. Leave foil on for heating but try to tent it a bit as the tomato sauce can start to erode foil with prolonged contact. Heat for at least one hour and 15 minutes. This is larger than most of my lasagna pans, so I'm not sure about the time. If it gets close to room temperature before heating then 75 minutes should be about right. If you try heating it straight from the fridge it will not turn out right. Ingredients: Tomato sauce, puree, whole tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, basil, mint; Pasta; Tofu with miso, nutritional yeast, Veganrella, Follow Your Heart Mozz; Spinach, vegan pesto; TVP sauteed with minced onion, thyme and mushroom stock, olive oil All ingredients organic and local where possible. Enjoy!

Congratulations!

Since you asked about the negative side effects - here's my opinion and I know some of you won't agree. I won't fast unless I want to risk losing muscle mass, which I don't. I also have no desire to flood my bloodstream with all of the free radicals and toxins that will be released from stored fat and muscle while denying my body of the very nutrients that would help protect against free radical and toxin damage (i.e. the anti-oxidants, phytochemicals and whatever protective substances we don't even have names for that are in plant foods). Nothing like putting your liver into overdrive and giving it no protection. And keep in mind that you will be depriving your body of water soluble vitamins as you need to ingest them daily (they're not stored like the fat soluble ones). I don't believe that your organs rest during fasts. Certainly your liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, skin and adrenal glands don't rest - which is really fortunate or you'd die. Even your stomach, pancreas and intestines still function when not digesting food. It's great that people can function and even feel well or exceptionally well when fasting. That is a wonderful survival mechanism. But feeling good isn't reason enough for me since I also feel really good sometimes when I'm eating something that is decidedly bad for me. And before someone brings up how animals fast when they're ill, let's remember that no animal fasts when it's well - except human animals, historically for religious or spiritual reasons. Just my opinion. If you're healthy enough to fast for a week and think the benefits outweigh the risks - then do it.

Flanders, you make some very good points and we could debate this topic until we put every forum member to sleep. Since we'll be meeting in a few weeks, we can pick this discussion up in person if we so choose. Although I'd rather just enjoy your company.

Your body converts all excess calories (be they from carbs, protein or fats) into fat for storage.

Dr. Pink, don't be worried if your skin turns orange after eating too many carrots - it's harmless. There is a pre-cursor to vitamin A in carrots and your body will not convert more than it needs. I can't remember what the color change is exactly but I do know that it's harmless and temporary. Formed vitamin A, such as that found in liver and other animal products or vitamin pills, can be toxic if ingested in large enough quantities.

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Depending on the source, essential body fat for males is 2-4%. That means essential for normal physiological functioning. If you are under 4% then perhaps you're at less than essential for your body and it's effecting your immune system functions. Please consider that if you were to become hospitalized right now for an illness or a traumatic injury, you might not be fed anything for days or even a week depending on your level of consciousness, needed operations or other reasons. You do not have any storage fat so you would probably die when your body uses up the small amount of essential fat you have for energy. As stated before, even competitive bodybuilders remain at essential levels for 1 to 2 weeks at a time. The only people I can recall who have stayed that low for longer periods are either ill or imprisoned. It's not healthy.

On your first question, people consuming acid-forming foods and then suffering from more osteoporosis than vegans (?) would be a correlation at best but certainly not a causal effect. Therefore, I can't explain it any more than inner city children having a higher asthma rate than children in suburbs - is it pollution, poverty, diet, etc.? On your second point, I believe that some studies have been done related to food intake and mineral excretion - I just don't know of them off-hand and haven't read any recently. If medical studies somehow prevent showing what really happens then let's look at the non-medical studies that show what really happens. But I don't know of any studies that look at enzyme survival. However, it's not important because plants have enzymes for their purposes and we have enzymes for our own purposes. I won't get into a long discussion of enzymes because we all can google the word enzyme and read as much as we like. It's important to know the basics. Our bodies are constantly making certain proteins known as enzymes that act as catalysts (ie, they make something happen). We don't have a limited reserve like female eggs in ovaries. They are constantly being made. There are enzymes in our red blood cells, at our neuromuscular junctions and in our gastrointestinal tracts, to name a few. Even if plant enzymes could aid in human digestion, then what proof is there that a feedback system exists to stop the saliva, stomach, pancreas or small intestine from producing certain enzymes based on foreign plant enzymes being present (which are not isolated and therefore not readily identified until digestion of the food begins)? What do these plant enzymes do? They are obviously the catalyst for some chemical or biological reaction by definition. Are we to believe that every raw plant food contains the same type of enzymes that aid in human digestion? We've identified the human enzymes of digestion. We have names for them, we know what acid range they work in and we know what compounds they break down into smaller compounds. I have yet to read about specific plant enzymes that have specific activity in the human digestive tract. Instead, I only read about "enzymes" as if that's to explain everything. Sorry I got off track, Flanders. The whole topic of plant enzymes makes me crazy when I'm not laughing at it. I have yet to read a raw food or live food book/website that comes even close to explaining the "benefits" of plant enzymes in an educated manner. Arrgghh. I have to go now and get off my soapbox!

Thanks, Josh. I do bite my tongue (or keyboard) most of the time because I don't have the time to thoroughly research every murky topic that comes up and I don't like to answer things off the cuff (I have a compulsive need to know that I can back up everything I say with a reference). Also, we don't have all the answers to everything, so who am I to tell anyone what to believe. That said, some members seem to have a need to believe what they assume to be true about human physiology and "mainstream medicine" no matter how absurd it appears to someone who has studied those things. So I appreciate your comment but I try not to get into some discussions unless an opinion is requested. So this thread was perfect!

It would be almost impossible to determine if eating acidic vs. basic foods cause any long term health problems. The reason is because so many things affect the acid balance in the human body. The main regulator of acid/base balance is the kidneys. The kidneys work to balance the blood pH by retaining or excreting charged electrolytes/minerals/compounds in the blood stream (including potassium, sodium, calcium, bicarbonate, urea, uric acid, amongst others). You can make your bloodstream temporarily more acidic by holding your breath and basic by hyperventilating. If you chronically hyperventilate or hypoventilate then your kidneys will correct any change in your blood pH over time. Antacids change your stomach pH, different drugs effect the retention and excretion of electrolytes, poor kidney function effects acid/base balance - and the list goes on and on. When someone dies of an acid imbalance in the body it is not chronic (because your kidneys don't allow an imbalance) but sudden. The things that cause death due to blood acidity are things such as hypovolemia (massive bleeding or shock), kidney failure, septicemia (severe blood infection), ingestion of certain toxic substances, etc. Eating acidic foods will not change your blood pH but MAY change what your kidneys excrete or retain. I'm not sure what studies have been done to show if certain minerals are retained/excreted related to ingested foods. About stomach acid and "live enzymes." There is no proof anywhere that you can use a plants enzymes to digest it rather than your own enzymes. Indeed, your stomach acid will neutralize any enzyme on contact due to its low pH. Your body uses HUMAN enzymes to break down food. And your body continues to produce digestive enzymes, red blood cells, white blood cells, etc. so long as you are alive. You don't "run out of enzymes and then start aging" any more than you run out of red blood cells and then die. Thanks!

I don't recall reading that SeaSiren stated a stroke had been ruled out. And I can tell you that I have never heard of stress or repressed feelings causing the symptoms she described. Give her a break. She told us that she has her way of dealing with her feelings. That sounds like a lot of people who don't then have stroke symptoms. If she had gas pains could this also be blamed on repressed emotions? Get real. SeaSiren, After speaking with another physician friend (ooh, bad, I know because he doesn't believe that repressed feelings are the cause, instead of like, mini blood clots) we started to wonder if your doctors considered any cardiac dysrhythmias or valvular problems. Either could cause micro emboli that would give the symptoms you described. An echocardiogram is one diagnostic test for valvular problems and a 24 hour halter monitor test can usually pick up rhythm problems. Neither, however, rules out vasospasm. I read your first post about "after ruling everything else out" but it wasn't a very thorough rule out diagnosis in my opinion, and I never did read a diagnosis. I know a lot of people who don't handle stress in a "healthy" way (who decides what's healthy anyway?) and they haven't had your sypmptoms. Please don't internalize this and think that your thoughts or actions or lack of actions have in any way caused this. I truly hope you do not experience any more symptoms. Sorry if I've upset any of you but I cannot stand to witness someone being "blamed" for their illness when I know that there actually are things beyond our control. Perhaps age and medical knowledge does that for you.

Thanks for the update! Glad to know your health doesn't resemble your sister's so it doesn't look genetic. If your CT scan was negative then it looks like there's no permanent damage (great) but the etiology has not been discovered (not great but not unusual). There are a few things that can cause stroke or transient ischemic attacks (which is what yours sounds like). There can be a blockage in the brain arteries, similar to blockages in the heart. There can be blockages that come from other areas of the body (embolus) such as blood clots, plaques, fat embolus (usually during an operation involving large bones), air (also during operations). Another cause can be vasospasm of arteries in the brain - similar to the young, healthy person who suffers a heart attack but has arteries clear of plaques. An artery or vein that bleeds in the head or a tumor could also cause this but would have been discovered on CT scan most likely. Certainly, there may be other causes but I'm pulling this from the top of my head and my experience from way back in the Neurosurgical ICU. Unfortunately, it can be a long process to discover the underlying etiology and can also cost a lot of money for tests. I cannot imagine how frustrating this is for you. I hope you find an answer soon and do not have any more symptoms. As this has happened once, you may want to consider a medical alert bracelet and/or keep something in your wallet that identifies the possibility that you may be experiencing a stroke if you are discovered symptomatic while away from friends/family. This card should also direct that you be taken to the nearest emergency room that has a brain attack protocol - not every ER has the ability to treat brain attack and the first few hours are the "golden" hours of treatment. Not to be an alarmist, but I would certainly know where the nearest capable ER is if I just had your experience. I hope to god you never need to use one again. You're in my thoughts.

Is this drive for the time spent in Lincoln City only? Can we have some contact with whoever is doing the cooking so we can match our donations to the planned meals? I ask this because as someone who cooks in many different vacation homes, I am often missing one ingredient that I wish I had brought from home. Also, instead of donating miscellaneous items from our cupboards, it might make more sense for us to donate food that is already prepared an just needs to be heated (unless raw). For instance, I would be willing to make a lasagna or two. Someone might be willing to make hummus, etc. Just some thoughts.

If you want insights on that link, I would say that agave nectar is too new to all of us to give an educated response. I use it but would not be surprised if someone told me I was paying for colored corn syrup.

Don't forget sprouting! We did it all winter when we lived in a less temperate zone.

I could teach a small class on seitan making technique. Additionally, I could teach a class on making tofu (not really worth the effort when we have it available fresh in this area). If anyone is interested in making "traditional" cream sauces I am also able to teach how to make nut cream. Additionally, if anyone is interested in making raw lasagna, August is the season when I start making that. If anyone wants to learn how to can dried beans or veggies, I could teach that. Also, how to make fruit jam or preserves, especially low sugar varieties.