77 Mini Self-Assessments For Better Nutrition & Health

Food Fight #48

There are many check-ups we must do ourselves. Many are useful as basic reminders to guide us back on track. Each question/answer can serve as an early indicator of an area for possible improvement. Some questions may not be appealing; but hey, we're all adults. The sooner we get used to performing these mini self-assessments, the sooner we can make adjustments to our overall quest for better nutrition and health.

To benefit the most, consider each response before moving to the next question. It would also be useful to write down responses and then go back and circle areas that require attention.

1. Is nutrition my main priority?
2. Am I drinking mostly water?
3. Is my urine clear or almost clear?
4. Am I resting or sleeping when I feel tired?
5. Do I wake up naturally?
6. Do my bowels move every day?
7. What am I eating to cause my solid waste to smell like death? Eating lifeless fake food causes unhealthy internal conditions and creates odors. This imbalanced internal environment leads to dis-ease. The body is not at ease because it is under stress from not getting what it needs.
8. Does the majority of my daily intake come from plants?
9. Am I eating enough food that has only been cooked by Mother Nature? Fruits are the most common foods eaten this way but so should vegetables. How do we think humans prospered before the use of fire? Cooking is not necessary to the degree we think.
10. Does my flatulence flat out stink? However common this is, it ain't normal. See #7.
11. Do I realize fiber in plants also feeds the good bacteria in my colon? When they are fed, they release clean gas. In other words, daily odorless gas is a good sign and vice versa. Having no gas is a bad sign.
12. Since there are 168 hours in a week and I work 40 hours, what happens to the other 128 hours? 128 hours equals five, 24 hour days plus an additional 8 hours.
13. Do I use time to sit down, shut up, shut out and open up?
14. Am I making myself the priority?
15. Am I in rhythm or in a routine?
16. What can I do well if I am not faithful to it?
17. Am I more excited about the possibilities on days I don't have to go to work?
18. When I put my energy into something or someone, what am I getting in return?
19. Am I underestimating my worth?
20. Am I listening to my body?
21. Am I studying and practicing in the areas I wish were better?
22. Am I listening to my spirit?
23. Am I feeding my spirit emotional soup?
24. What am I thinking?
25. Am I wasting what I can't make while making what I can't take?
26. Am I eating food or simply edible stuff?
27. In my revised plan for success do I plan to self-assess?
28. Do I realize nutrition is the key to success?
29. Am I eating what helps me live and heals or what keeps me alive and slowly kills?
30. Am I making a difference with what makes me different?
31. Am I doing myself a favor only focusing on flavor?
32. Am I using the advantage of intuition?
33. What am I going to change?
34. Am I doing what needs to be done?
35. Is what gives me security, secure?
36. Am I doing anything that defeats my purpose?
37. What am I putting on my body that is getting into my body?
38. Am I aware what I put on my skin gets into my body?
39. Am I doing what it takes to get good cells or only to get good sales?

Self-commitment loves self-assessment. Though health is not usually approached in this manner, it is still imperative our bodies, minds and spirits receive rest and nutrition. When they don't, they are under stress. As long as this imbalance exists these parts of us remain in a constant state of stress because they are always playing catch up. As long as we continue to live this way, our minds, bodies and spirits never get a chance to move beyond where they are or heal.

40. What am I breathing?
41. What am I exposing my spirit to?
42. Do I realize pain is a warning sign, including headaches?
43. Am I feeding my spirit?
44. What am I fighting?
45. Am I fighting outside of myself more than inside myself?
46. What am I exposing my mind to?
47. Have I identified my enemies?
48. Does my cognition also depend on nutrition?
49. Am I looking for monetary proof before I pay attention to the truth?
50. Am I enjoying myself, me and I?
51. What am I a faithful servant to?
52. Am I feeding dysfunction?
53. Am I absorbing sunlight?
54. Am I doing all I can before looking elsewhere?
55. Do I realize the Doctor ordered food for the body, the soul and the mind long before any other prescription?
56. Do I realize body, mind and soul all eat the same things?
57. Am I eating what I was created to eat?
58. If I don't have what I want is it because I don't get it?
59. Am I learning?
60. Am I going with my flow?
61. What is my flow?
62. Am I living to maximize income or optimize living?
63. How much of my resource time do I spend with other aspects of nature?
64. How often do my body, mind and spirit get together and do something?
65. Am I eating fresh whole foods?
66. Am I growing any of my own food? One seed, one spot or pot.
67. Do I consider meat a requirement and salad optional?
68. Do I fully understand the powers of food?
69. Am I my weakest link?
70. Have I decided to go through the process to get to success?
71. What is feeding my emotions?
72. Am I moving towards balance?
73. Am I still trying?
74. Have I spoken each of my purposes out loud?
75. Am I aware imbalance in any area is an early warning sign of failure?
76. What am I waiting for?
77. Do I believe in myself?

Though not of the most common type, these self-assessments are necessary. They only require (1) paying attention to ourselves, (2) truth and (3) willingness. Hopefully we've written down the answers and can keep them and/or this list in a place for easy review (bathroom, refrigerator or at our fingertips whenever we may have some idle time).

Related: Epilogue: Back To Plan A

Federal Reserve Loans to LIBOR Rigging: Robbing people to pay Paul with scandals, bank fines & flagrant fouls. How God blesses UBS & the rest

On December 11th, HSBC Holdings Plc pled guilty to money laundering and agreed to pay $1.92B to the U. S. This scenario sounded familiar.

Past and current news flashed between temporal and frontal lobes as if I was watching a basketball game of fast breaks with a lot of turnovers. Action went from one end of the court to the other and there was no time to check the score. “Why is HSBC a part of my memory? Is this one of the banks that received money from the United States?”

The answer is yes. Per Bloomberg.com, the U. S. Federal Reserve, loaned HSBC and other banks and companies millions and billions of dollars at very low interest rates.

Some of these borrowers were involved in the LIBOR rigging scandal. Per Bloomberg.com, “More than a dozen banks altered submissions used to set benchmarks such as the “London interbank offered rate” [LIBOR] to profit from bets on interest-rate derivatives or make the lenders’ finances appear healthier.”

Following is a small sample of the banks that received money from Federal Reserve emergency programs from 2007-2010 to help them through a financial crisis still affecting smaller businesses and individuals.

Now, for various reasons, several of the same banks are being investigated and fined. These amounts are not inclusive of everything a single bank may have borrowed or been fined. In some cases, the amount is higher. Although several banks received loans and fines from other countries, this data only includes the U. S. portion unless specified.

Money Laundering

HSBC Holdings Plc borrowed an average daily balance of $500M for 324 days. They were recently fined $1.92B. Their profit this year is estimated at $15.3B.

HSBC also plea bargained for a deferred prosecution agreement. Per Bloomberg.com, “In a deferred prosecution agreement, the government allows a target to avoid charges by meeting certain conditions -- including the payment of fines or penalties -- and by committing to specific reforms, either under the guidance of a monitor, or the creation of an internal compliance panel.”

In other words, we won't prosecute you further if you pay a relatively small amount of your ill-gotten gains, change some policies/procedures and then monitor yourself.

Violating U. S. Sanctions

ING Groep NV borrowed an average daily balance of $1B for 323 days. They were fined $619M for violating sanctions against Iran and Cuba.

Standard Chartered Plc borrowed an average daily balance of $800M for 462 days. They were fined $667M for violating sanctions against Iran.

Mortgage Violations

Credit Suisse Group AG, borrowed an average daily balance of $13.3B for 386 days. They were fined $120M for SEC home loan violations.

Deutsche Bank AG borrowed an average daily balance of $12.5B for 439 days. They were fined $202M for civil claims against their MortgageIT Unit.

LIBOR Rigging For 6 years (2,190 days)

Barclays Plc borrowed an average daily balance of $19.1B for 724 days. They were fined $371M. It has also been proposed Barclays pay a $470M fine for manipulating electricity markets.

UBS AG borrowed an average daily balance of $13.9B for 435 days. They were fined $1.2B. Per Bloomberg.com, “The fines, in total, amount to less than three weeks revenue at UBS, based on figures from 2011.” The settlement included criminal charges against two former traders as sacrificial scapegoats. UBS was fined an additional $48M for letting unauthorized trading go undetected.

Extra Info & Analysis

After the loans above and several hundred billion more in loans to numerous other banks, the U. S. Federal Reserve netted only $13 billion in interest and fee income from these loan programs from August 2007 through December 2009.

It appears the largest fines relative to the amount borrowed were due to violating U. S. sanctions. This means the U. S. is more interested in punishing you for not helping them bully and choke another country than the U. S. is interested in punishing you for financial crimes. Even though Senator Charles Grassley is calling for criminal charges and labels the HSBC fine as a “spit in the ocean,” nothing more will be done since a slap on the wrist is the standard procedure to punish without pain. No pain, no change.

Monitor the news for more investigations and fines and compare to this interactive list from Bloomberg.com. Money will continue to pass back and forth between the same hands. The only thing that changes is the ruse to continue the transfer of wealth from taxpayers to the financial industry. In the meantime, taxpayers continue to face difficulties as a result of this financial crisis.

Summary of Shenanigans

First the U. S. loans millions/billions for a year or more at low rates.
Next, the banks invest the money for a higher return
At the same time, the banks commit other financial crimes
Last, the U. S. takes a little back via fines, spreads it to a few agencies and States and then all of the above is considered justice served and over.

If this was a basketball game, the statistics would record each of America's taxpayer-funded loans and subsequent pitiful bank fines as an assist and a no-look pass, which of course is backwards. The spectators would see each occurrence as a flagrant foul between two, without an ejection, which of course, is against the rules.

Wait! The United States did eject a player from the game. In 2012, “U.S. regulators revoked the registration of Toronto-based brokerage Biremis Corp. and barred its founders from the securities industry for failing to supervise traders who engaged in a manipulative practice.” This is same failure several of the above banks are guilty of yet they are still in the game playing with other people's lives and money.

Related: Crime Defense 101: Inherent Rights – Doing The Right Thing

---

More On The UBS Mess

UBS is the largest Swiss bank. The loans from the U. S. helped UBS, the Swiss government and its people. The U. S. provided an average of $13.5B for 435 days. The highest outstanding balance was $77.5B. The Swiss government separately loaned UBS $7.1B. You can see the imbalance. Why is America doing more for the Swiss than the Swiss government?

To make up for this imbalance, when it comes to LIBOR and unauthorized trading fines, the U. S. is due to receive the lion's share of $1.25B ($1,000 million plus $250 million) compared to the Swiss only getting $0.04B ($40 million). Hmmn!

The U. S. loans were from August 2007 thru April 2010. During the middle of this, in February 2009, UBS agreed to pay $780M to avoid U. S. prosecution on charges that it helped thousands of wealthy Americans evade taxes using the infamous Swiss bank account. “UBS is one of the world’s largest managers of private wealth assets.” It is the rich people's bank of choice, capitalism and democracy. To answer the question raised two paragraphs earlier, America's main focus was to help the rich not the Swiss people; America's main purpose was to help out a government that has helped the rich hideout for so long. God Bless UBS & The Rest!

Epilogue: Back To Plan A

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

Transforming and being transformed are encoded into every dimension. Every molecule understands Plan A and that they are part of the most abundant natural resource – spiritual nutrition.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Due to a malfunction in a seam of transition, a prodigal child, barely able to count and without knowledge of self, fought for all other wealth. Somehow the child established kingdoms and a node, all built with war chests acquired by any means necessary including a blank conscience to cover acceptable loss.

During this reign of error, there was no harmony because there was no homogeneity of history, as far as origin was concerned. There was no homogeneity as far as living rights were concerned. There was little nutrition.

Billions drowned on dry land because they were thirsty and hungry. Many efforts to help amounted to thimblefuls because they picked people up without dealing with why they fell down. Some elected to help but voted against it, then gave without teaching, offered answers but not solutions, provided assistance from Point A to Barrier B and insisted people help themselves while ignoring those who worked against them. Much was appreciated but the Band-aids kept coming off.

Reports and tallies to the prodigal saint told a different story and were published as is. There were enough needs to keep everyone from focusing their energies getting to the bottom of why. Citizens simply adjusted to imbalance. Some waited for the unseen and settled for the evident. Others chose the recent over the ancient. Both chose their own detriment. Contradictions became okay, especially the emboldening of excess which all the major problems depended on. In fact, most of the negative things affecting humanity were traced to a crisis of conscience – a malfunction due to a lack of nutrition.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Yet, as soon as some begin to take steps towards nutrition, their molecules begin to revive, collect themselves and regain their sensing. They begin to remember. Then, True To Their Word feeds them intuition and wisdom. Poverty becomes clarity and they finally realize, monetary cost is a monetary loss but opportunity cost is an irreplaceable loss. The more they review human history and reorient their subconsciousness, the more they understand. All it takes is will, a free resource issued at birth.

Many more begin counting all their resources and abandoning other measures of success. And through the spirit being, a life of meaning follows, according to plan. The host of voices grow and blend into a cadence already in progress - elements forming numbers in Divine Order counting all things from 1 to 11 to 22 to perfection.

Day 10: Rhetorical Learning Demands A Recount

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

During this last phase of the most recent Dark Age, humankind's turn under modern terms is on expected fade. The most rhetorical of all telling reminders is this: We are not supreme beyond our minds. This is the answer we already know the questions to. Who's in charge? Where is the power?

Humans cannot create Spirit life or Earthly life. We cannot create any of the fundamental components for us to exist or continue to exist.

Even now numerous things such as bacteria, insects and plants are more prolific and dominant than us. These “germs,” “pests,” “weeds” and “invasives” are trying to teach us who's boss. They point elsewhere. We have yet to fully embrace the equally formidable powers of sun, wind and water for examples. We continue to try to work against these resources. When they live up to their greatness, we label them as violent forces and try to stop them from doing what they were sent here to do.

We continue to lose these battles and continue to waste the power of diverse talents and teachings. For instance, in the blink of the sun's eye there is enough energy to meet the entire world's energy needs for a year. Many of us have heard of the 99% versus the 1% but in a true show of greatness, the sun is over 99% of the total mass of the solar system. All the other planets and celestial bodies are less than 1%. This makes Earth, miniscule indeed. Where is the power? Wait! Our solar system is just one of countless solar systems in the universe. Even the sun itself is quite miniscule in relation to the whole.

Here we are, one species among several million in a tiny Earth and tiny solar system but without respect or reverence for the entirety who put this together and holds this together which makes living possible for little ol' me and you.

Yet, an encompassing perspective is covering Earth. The peace of three millennial yesterdays is headed this way; but first the upheaval, then the fulfillment. Earth is continuing to transform as it always has. Mother is guiding homeward those who follow her voice.

The current interglacial optimum is receding. Settings are being adjusted. Climate is changing as it always has. The conditions for living fully have not changed – synchronization with natural systems. Though current adults may escape the full effects of this shifting, our children and grandchildren likely will not. As always, there will be new mountains and new valleys. Land and sea will return and reclaim. Those who know themselves and the land will be the seeds who will sprout true leaves.

Have we taught our children how to survive on their own or have we taught them how to survive together? The better lives we are preparing them for will be as useless as technology without an energy source. Those better lives will deteriorate like goodliness and physical health in modern times if our children are not learning themselves and natural ways. The only time we have is the choice we now face. Will we count ourselves in or be counted out?

Day 9: Harmony Is Energy Conservation

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

“Try to become something that you're not and lose the essence of who you are.”
- - Dumb Donald (Fat Albert, the movie)

Energy is an essence of life. When something runs counter to the spirit, we feel physically, mentally and spiritually drained. It literally sucks the life out of us. This happens frequently when we are out of our element. We are out of sync as the compound element of spirit, body and mind when these three are not simultaneously in the place they should be.

For many, work is a culprit that depletes energy on all levels. “All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.”* Work that is in keeping with the spirit is an energizing feedback loop.

Another culprit that saps energy is an incompatible relationship. This can be with a family member or someone who really is not a friend. The basic problem is one or both people are not in a proper relationship with themselves. As a result, trying to be in sync is subject to many difficulties. These experiences, especially with grown folks, are draining.

A third energy trap is when we meet someone, become “romantic,” and often become family members. Sometimes, rather than putting efforts towards personal growth, a lot of energy is put into a romantic relationship with expectations that go beyond what any grown up relationship is able to provide. Romantic love is not a substitute for personal growth. It is not a source of security or a guarantor of love & happiness.

We can stop wasting energy by focusing on our personal trinity and feeding them accordingly. Mind, body and soul will help us become our next best friend. We will be able to transcend man, woman, self-sabotage and anything that is human-defined and human-confined. We will live in the world and the universe. We will begin to have spirited conversations revealing possibilities beyond ourselves and beyond the human species. We will honor our responsibility to the universal ecosystem - the resonating connection our spirit being wants to be in tune with.

Human animals will never attempt divine things unless the divine is nurtured within them. The only example of harmony we have that blends massive amounts of diversity is the Divine Order. If we are ever going to achieve harmony, this is the blueprint. The universal ecosystem is the trueprint for success. Anything that runs counter to this is wasteful.

Nothing becomes high just by simply holding it high. We must stop talking about global this and that while performing nationhood atrocities all over the map. We must abandon lipservice to the Golden Rule while those with the most gold, rule or those who deem themselves golden, rule. We must stop reciting parables if we're not going to learn the lessons. We must stop trusting our Deities will change things for us while we remain the same. We must stop fighting for specific rights by ones and somes and not for inherent rights of everyone, including little ones, elderly ones, sick ones, stumbling ones, veteran ones, disabled ones, natural disaster ones, systemically disenfranchised ones and those under institutional attack.

Once we begin using nutrition as the solution, our essence, which is energy in harmony, will be much easier to achieve and cheaper because we won't be wasting energy.

*Ecclesiates 6:7, KJV of the Jewish-Christian Bible

Day 8: Human History Is Revealing & Healing

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

"A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture [and] affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself."

When he made this statement, Malcolm X spoke on several levels, perhaps without knowing. This statement is appropriate to individuals, groups and humans in total.

If we really mean what we say about tolerance, compassion, diversity, legality, constitutions, sensitivity training and all such concepts that indicate inclusiveness then all that is taught regarding human history must be inclusive of what took place.

For the human race, it stands to reason, if we have one beginning, there is one overall history. If we have one beginning, there is also one transcending. Spirit beings move towards this wholeness because it releases inner peace, thus outward peace. Human beings who are rising in self-knowledge move away from a fragmented, partitioned mindset and towards a more cohesive existence. Only by spirit will people become unified. This awareness springs up in season like steady progress.

One of the main inhibitors of humanity's growth has been the devaluing of humans and other life. In 1614, Captain John Smith describes the people he met when he first reached the “New England” area of America as “a goodly people.” He did not call them "savages" or anything that lessened who they were. Even between Christopher Columbus and Herodotus they praised people from Ethiopia, Khemet/(Egypt), Dominican Republic and from San Salvador; an island of the Bahamas. These goodly people shared among themselves and with newcomers.

Honesty and truth are energizing. Mind-centered living, having cut itself off from learning, must look elsewhere. This elsewhere is overindulgence of one or more basic senses. In the case of history, the overindulgence of pride and desire have caused other knowledge to be either left out or plagiarized.

Based on the histories told by various branches of the family tree, it sounds like everyone with their separate Divinities and culture, simultaneously sprang up on Earth and each developed their own root system with all the basics for survival and civilization. These separate, different Gods and Higher Powers couldn't afford separate Earths for themselves and their separate people. After realizing they had to share Creation space, they agreed on natural laws of the ecosystem but not on rules of living for human interaction. Even so, not one of these Higher Powers opted to separate their people by having them live underwater, underground, breathe carbon dioxide or have incompatible reproductive systems.

This ill-logical notion of human history grates the senses with no other purpose but to annoy angels attempting to reorient this recent ball of confusion back towards fusion. The notion of separate histories turns the world counter to the Pangaea - the one continent that existed in the beginning. Evidently people must think the heavenly host heard on high is singing different songs in different choirs with different directors. I don't think this is what is meant by Psalm 100:1 that says “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.”

As long as we continue to keep up the historical, religious and geographic differences that claim we are fundamentally different and do not share a common beginning and ending (historically, earthly and spiritually), then the noise of strife, suffering, brutality, callousness and abuse will continue to dominate the Dark Age that exists today.

Truth is, every branch of the human family comes from one rootstock. Historical representations that deny or ignore this fact, fuel superiority, hatred and disparities. This type of education is not the key to success for humanity to fulfill itself.

First history must be revealed, the good, bad and ugly. Then and only then is the healing of the human race possible. A good place to start are basic facts like Queen Mothers Ardi, Lucy and Eve. If we don't start tens of thousands of years ago, current perception of history will never match reality and expectations of inclusiveness will never match outcomes.

"Of all our studies, [human] history is best qualified to reward our research."
- - Malcolm X

“There is nothing new in the world except the [human] history you do not know.”
- - Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States

Everyone is included in this summary of recent history by W. E. B DuBois, “The White Masters of the World.” Note: It may be helpful to print this article or copy, then paste special as unformatted text into a word processing program and increase the font.

Day 7: Love & Happiness, Ready Or Not?

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

Love and happiness are basically the same thing. The real pursuit of either one is an internal experience. This experience is anchored to the ideas and standards we set, respect and connect with.

Mind-centered living comes with the ability to care for another deeply but since it does not involve the entire self, how can connecting with another spirit occur? How can self-love blossom if the entire self is not considered worthy of respect? Personal connection only comes physically, mentally and emotionally while the search for satisfaction is ongoing. It is never found. Souls have no chance of mating.

As always we must align spirit, body and mind, nurture ourselves with food, pursue purpose with passion and improve self-awareness. Once these pieces are on their way together, love & happiness become possible.

Love is an enhancement. It's way up there above deep desire, devotion, affection and emotion. Love is entire. Because love is the whole shebang, it retains all of its faculties. It doesn't lose its mind or go blind. Love does not cause us to abandon the path to our better selves because love and happiness emanate from a spirit trying its best to express its fullest from the Highest.

The combination of dedication, devotion and determination directed towards making ourselves better is the epitome of love making love and a hallmark of happy people everywhere.

Many of us want to reach places far from where we are but we don't have the time, patience or energy to travel the learning process to get there. We prefer to be swept off our feet and carried or we trade newfound time, patience and energy to earn money to purchase our way to love & happiness.

The reason we live and breathe must not be for imitators of love & happiness. It's Day 7 and, by now, we should be getting the sense, that perhaps, we're not making the most of what we've got. If we've followed this series we should have encountered a few reminders of how we can give ourselves a better chance to reach our goals by using all available, mostly free resources.

Hopefully we will stop hiding from what we are seeking and take more steps towards our potential. Now is the time to decide whether we are ready or not for love & happiness.

Related: Holy Words Of Love
What Do I Need In Order To Heal?

Day 6: Intuition & Wisdom AligningWays Of Knowing

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

Intuition is a precursor to wisdom. Both are thoughts from the spirit mind who pass into the basic mind to bring us awareness and knowledge. We must practice listening and practice following intuition first. We must progress through levels of intuition before we can graduate to earn degrees of wisdom.

Intuition is the milk; wisdom is the meat. Intuition is the elementary to the secondary; wisdom is the undergraduate to the expert. Intuition goes from hint to taste to piece; wisdom goes from small portion to meal to feast. Intuition is instant perception; wisdom is the alchemy of awareness, it must be coaxed forth.

Wisdom is not human intelligence at all. The basic mind is usually the apprentice to the omniscient mind. Wisdom is spiritual fruit cultivated from natural intelligence in universal light. Wisdom is grown in spiritual soil.

Mind-centered living's attitude of, “not trying to hear that” locks itself out of access to wisdom. It also rarely follows intuition preferring to give itself the benefit of the doubt rather than accept the fact that something other than the human mind could know something the mind doesn't.

This is clearly evident when the intelligent build yet destroy habitats/homes, health and natural resources. The mind-centered take aim at rights and turn them into privileges. On the other hand, the intuitive and wise, when they construct, they do so with Creation in mind. When they destroy they take aim at privileges and practices that prey upon the body, mind and spirit.

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7 KJV Bible)

It takes more than “early to bed and early to rise” to be wise. We must strive towards our better selves. Wisdom requires us to analyze experiences and information. Once we place these thoughts into our basic mind, we must listen for the spirit mind's response. We must listen with all senses. Often, this process, even as it relates to the same experience and information, takes time, quietness, stillness and more living.

Sometimes we can sense a general spirit response in our body. Positive or negative feelings come over us or in a part of the body (usually heart, chest, lungs, throat, head, stomach, back, legs, muscles). Here is where we must be careful. Sometimes this feeling is telling us what is good or bad for us and sometimes it indicates an area where we need to grow.

Intuition and wisdom require us to make changes. In our quest to become better listeners and followers of spiritual guidance in the form of intuition and wisdom, we will learn more about ourselves and how to be a human being and spirit being simultaneously without compromise. Since both intuition and wisdom require us to grow and keep growing, our lives will get better because we are devoting our resources to changing for the better by moving towards alignment.

Once again, food, a resource, plays a major role in our ability to make use of the powers of intuition and wisdom plus have that love & happiness we seek.

Related: Spiritual Nutrition Makes A Difference

Day 5: Choosing To Succeed Or Fail

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

The spirit doesn't live in the center of the chest. The spirit is in every cell just as oxygen, water and protein. Each of these living elements contribute to health and success. Each cell also contains spiritual genetics inherited from parents and ancestors plus each cell has a mind and memory of its own. All these things: cells, bodies, minds, thoughts, memories and spirits all need the energy and nutrition we can only get by eating food.

Physical Food

One way to feed all these parts at once is by eating physical food. Physical food (solid and liquid-water) also includes the amount of rest we get, the air we breathe and sunlight. Simply making better and better choices on what we allow into our bodies helps the trillions of cells in our bodies become stronger. This will also improve our minds by helping our brains function better. What we are trying to accomplish will become easier simply because we are functioning better. This will also help our spirits because the spirit, just like anything else, cannot thrive where there is disease or it is not being fed.

Mental Food

Another way to feed body, mind and spirit at the same time is by eating mental food. Mental food comes from our thoughts, introspection, reflection, what we read, what we watch, what we listen to, who we talk to, what we talk about, what we study, what we are taught, what we practice, what we investigate, what we analyze, critical thinking and more. Mental nutrition improves the mind (mental health) and also helps the body and the spirit.

Spiritual Food

Spiritual food is another way to get nutrition. Some of the ways to get spiritual food have been listed on Day 3: Spiritual Nutrition Makes A Difference. We can also get spiritual nutrition from work, relationships of all types and from quietness and stillness. Spiritual food is the most abundant natural resource. The only limit to receiving spiritual nutrition is the degree to which we commune with natural things. When the spirit is receiving food, the body and the mind are also benefiting.

Choosing Success Or Failure

The only way to succeed or fail three ways at the same time is when we choose what to eat. When we are younger, we don't have a choice, but each day we get older the choice in all areas becomes more and more something we control. When will we make the necessary adjustments to what we control? Everyone has choices, even those in prison and in other limiting situations.

Success or failure does not depend on money. Money is a temporary placeholder for the value of natural resources. Success or failure depends on how well we use available resources. That depends on choices. Choosing to eat more food is a resource available to everyone.

Just to be clear, every time we eat something physically, mentally or spiritually, we are choosing to succeed or fail.

Related:
Spiritual Plans, Mental Strategies, Emotional Needs & Physical Nutrition

Day 4: Organized Religion & Nutrition

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

Because we are spirit beings, our natural inclination is towards the Greater and Higher Source of our birth. We have a need to be connected. This need is greater on the spiritual level than it is on the social level. This is of no surprise since we are mostly spirit anyway. One way we seek spirit connection is through organized religion. Unfortunately what we mostly get is human-manipulated rules and regulations rather than natural laws and personal growth. The tuition for these teachings is our resources. We also choose to give up our individual ability to sense what is true in the world. We settle for becoming afraid of spirituality. This chokes off the purifying streams trying to reach our consciousness. Similar behavior is displayed in cults and country-sized culture clubs.

Religion of this type does not insist upon the universal, the ecosystem or the natural world as primary. The temple body, temple mind and temple spirit are not seen as sacred. It encourages adherence to non-spiritual governments, cultures, societies, traditions, customs, practices and norms. It allows Church to be separate from State. Furthermore, it's okay to go for a free-for-all capitalism, vote for a not-for-all nationalism and praise a come on y'all institutionalism to freeze your mind and your free will with indoctrination aka education consisting of a preset programming of information as opposed to self-familiarization for optimization of individualization, thus harmonization.

Based on modern societal results, most religions are obviously serving lifeless stuff to hungry spirit beings. This has left the world malnourished of the healthy kind of extremists who are guided by the spiritual ascension of love. The spirit must be fed even more than the body. This is of no surprise since our spirit portion is larger than our physical portion. We're never going to get enough food by eating a few times a week.

If this lack of nutrition wasn't true, based on the number of religious followers in the world, spirit beings would have long since mustered the energy and chased those crazy bad guys out of town. They would have either beat them down, prayed them down or at least stopped voting for them. Believers would have gotten rid of all the laws that infringe inherent rights at home, next door and abroad. Believers would not allow money to be the power or businesses and special interest groups to dictate society.

Clearly, the largest organized religions, and several smaller ones, are not feeding the flock proper nutrition or leading them to green pastures according to The Plan For Globally Getting Along. These religions merely promote the belief in something greater and an afterlife instead of insisting on devoting life to manifesting the greater in personal, societal and country behavior. Rather than lead society towards fairness, big religion serves as a broken moral compass leading folks off a spiritual cliff.

By many accounts, half the people on the planet follow one of two religions. Both of these religions, including a few others, have a lot of explaining to do based on the nations they dominate and the injustice these nations take part in. If there was going to be a glaring light of justice anywhere wouldn't it permeate these places? If these nations are abiding by higher principles, then evidently some people have no Higher Power on their side and those who do, use theirs to beat up the others. This type of behavior disgraces the idea of what Divine is and what Love is. The behavior of the majority of the followers makes these Supreme Beings out to be cosigners to crimes and criminals themselves. This makes success a supreme contest any way you look at it.

It's more than frustrating that we needlessly suffer so many inequities when so many of us believe in the Highest yet continue to retreat to the Lowest uncommon separators such as money, country, skin color, politics, gender, age, religion, denominations, and other affiliations/designations.

Back to the plan that is excellent and simple. Nutrition is salvation.

Day 3: Spiritual Nutrition Makes A Difference

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

”Spirit being” may sound new age and fanciful but the spirit is not some far out abstract even though it is groovy. It is not a fabrication of the imagination. Forget all those television and movie representations of what the spirit looks like. We are living souls pure and simple. The exact form is changeable.

Along with the divine essence that makes up the spirit in humans, there is also water, air, carbon and other elements the spirit consists of. These same kinds of elements are part of the physical body also. The spirit is able to merge with us because it possesses complementary properties. Each person is basically the compound element of spirit, mind and body. This is the personal trinity.

Food also has the same properties as our bodies and spirits – so it can merge with each in a healthy way. Food is a child of Universe and Earth just like each of us. This is why food contains physical nutrition for the body and spiritual nutrition for the spirit. What is food for one part of the personal trinity also feeds the other two parts.

Food for any living organism comes from its natural habitat. Only the natural contains the elements necessary to sustain the natural. Spirit beings are no exception. This is why our spirits feel renewed and recharged when we are communing with other aspects of the natural world including other people who are behaving naturally. Creation feeds Creation.

Food and nature are sources of spiritual nutrition. We can also get spiritual nutrition by merging passions, purposes and gifts; by honoring our shared existence with other aspects of Creation; by giving/receiving encouragement and appreciation; by having conversations; by learning human history and by interacting with cool people. This last part must include both feminine and masculine energies.

Spiritual nutrition includes anything wholesome. Spiritual nutrition feeds the spirit, thaws the lock of logic and helps us evolve to using the best of spirit and mind. This also prepares us to use the body to the best of its abilities. Whatever we endeavor, food makes us better. What we feed ourselves matters. Nutrition is the difference.

“A man won a fight with one arm. His spirit told him, his mind showed him how and his body delivered.” - - Noah in Gladiator (1992)

Day 2: Reintroducing The Spirit Relationship

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

More than flesh and blood and more than human beings, we are spirit beings in Earthly form. We are souls with bodies not bodies with souls.

If our Higher Parents are spirit then all brought forth by these Spirits is also spirit. Since same begets same and every seed after its kind; then, more than the sum of our thoughts, we possess spirit consciousness just as surely as anything else but to a much higher degree.

To illustrate this point, consider the following ratio for starters.

Spirit 75%
Mind 5%
Body 20%

Although these numbers are by no means accurate, they can help us get a better feel for how significant our spirit portion is.

Because we're aware the mind and body exist and need to be fed, we at least feed them something. On the other hand, since we are mostly unaware how much of us is spirit, this aspect gets neglected, thus little to no food. Our spirits must be really hungry!

Now, is another chance to feed ourselves. Doing so will lead back to getting to know ourselves and towards other healthy relationships so as not to be among those who starve in the midst of plenty.

Day 1: Mind-Centered Living & Disability

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

“I”m scared!”
“Of what?”
“I don't know, that's what's so scary!”*

A lot that has to do with scariness in life comes from the mind that tries to know it all, do it all and be in charge of everything. This is impossible for the mind to accomplish on its own. As a result, when a person is mind-centered, what the mind can't know, can't do and can't control, the mind fears because the mind has more faith in itself than anything else. Existence is limited to what the mind can handle.

If living was supposed to be a mind dominated experience, we would be one big mind of intelligence, reason and logic. The body would adapt to be smaller and less significant than it is today. It would become an appendage merely to carry around the mind/brain/head. All of the capabilities of the body would be diminished. Only those that help supply information and physical nutrients to the brain would be needed. Sensory input would be solely for the mind's benefit. Even now, the brain consumes more than its share. The brain is only 2% of body mass but uses 20% of the body's oxygen and energy. If the mind was supposed to function as a control freak dictator, it would definitely use a whole lot more.

On its own, the mind is a circular lock of logic. Despite its recent rise to dominance in our lives, logic that supersedes all else, is an inhibitor that locks down the mind and thus shuts down growth. Superficial is the mind without its spirit being lead counsel. Mind-centered living is superficial living.

The mind-centered have a self-concept we are mostly logical, thinking intellectual beings. We believe we are the sum of our human-taught information. Thinking is rigid. In order for a new idea to get in, it must cut through frozen locks of logic. To mind-centered people, this feels like our entire being is under attack from an idea. It feels like our safe cognitive shell is being cracked. This is why we defend our thinking to the death because we believe we must in order to save our lives. We live in fear. Today and the here now are the only things that matter. There is no learning from the past, thus only feigned concern for the future. We have no concept of our far greater spiritual aspect. All that exists is ill logic. This is mental illness masquerading as the superiority of a species. This is scary.

To keep from coming to this realization and scaring ourselves, we mind-centered folks have a preventive measure - a trump card that's sorta like a shield and a weapon. Research and experts are used bravado-style to shout down the sensibilities of the intuitive self. This is confirmation bias.

Unknown to the mind, winning these battles increases susceptibility to gullibility. This makes thinking for oneself a major illusion of mind-centered living. We trick ourselves. Since this mindset makes us think we are already in control and thinking for ourselves, then investigation, analysis, examination and critical thinking regarding “what is what” seems redundant, without benefit and unnecessary. When we take a mind-centered approach, we disable ability.

---

Related: Meet the Spirit of Goodwill band — a unique assembly of singers and musicians who live with varying degrees of physical and mental disability and a fierce drive to improve.

(Note: Just in America alone, there are 54 million (17%) people with disabilities and 1 billion in the world 14% or 1 in 7 and many more unaccounted for).

*Opening conversation is between Me, Myself and I.

The Eve: Conversation, Expectation, Perfection

10 Days Of Upheaval & Fulfillment

And the Highest Of All gave them numbers. For a while they counted along but grew weary when they realized everything must be counted. They began counting less of the Highest Quality and more of their own making. They were so busy counting congratulations and the taken for granted, they forgot to count the One Giver and remained unaware of how close they had been and now were so far away from perfection.

“It has been weeks and I am rested. What should I write now? Reveal to me what you have in mind.”
”Since you asked, consider upheaval and fulfillment.“
“Hmmn, that does sound good.”
[Silence]
“Lord, will people understand it?”
”Will you understand it and do you understand me?”
“Hopefully, a little bit, wait!”
[Silence]
“But I've never done this before.”
“Neither have we. Follow the process listening lays forth.”
“Who am I to know these things?”
“I know you can grow.”
[Silence]

Many things were explained in those moments. We held each other and moved around the universal. Introductions were made without sound, not even the sound of thought. It was renewing. And now I repeat this teaching: The shift from 12 to 21 is near completion. First 9, then 9+1, then 10, then 10+1, next comes 11 and then perfection.

How Controversy Comes Of Age

Controversy comes of age when a topic has either of the following characteristics and is widely circulated:

1. Someone presents the complete or partially opposite view. For some reason, this creates doubt that is supposedly impossible to figure out. Doubt favors what is already being done.

2. One or more “expert” people somehow considered worthy of listening to, make statements that don't agree in part or in whole on a topic. This is usually accompanied by pieces of paper claiming testing, research and studies. This suggests objectivity. This creates uncertainty. Uncertainty favors more experts, more research and more money.

Treating a topic from an overriding perspective of controversy is like self-administering coercion. Believing something is a controversy predisposes us to believe things, against intuition and against reason. It makes us believe two alternatives have equal validity and therefore should be given equal consideration.

Treating a topic from an overriding perspective of controversy creates a midrange between truth and lies that expresses itself as “we don't know” or “we can't be sure” culture. This is a no man's land where no critical thinking or no spiritual listening takes place.

When a controversy is claimed to exist, it is being used as a tool to maintain that which is false or to get others to entertain that which is false. In the meantime, a few profit while many are harmed.

The word, “controversy” by itself does not imply drama nor does it mean a topic to avoid. Controversy simply means one viewpoint is different from another.

Sometimes differences are left alone as matters of personal choice while others are elevated to the level of dispute. Whether personal or not, some viewpoints are absolutely true or false. What makes controversy the counterproductive concept it is today is its emotional component that attaches us to the topic. Emotion tends to inhibit the chance for properly assessing alternatives. It tends to override the spirit mind. This excessive amount of emotion simply gets the blood racing and wants what it wants irrespective of personal and universal detriment.

Controversy comes of age when we don't.

Related: Financial Information Sources, Gaming The Economy & Our Education

A String Of Surprisingly Good Data From U.S.

The following is the complete text from a TD Economics Report dated November 2, 2012 regarding The Employment Situation Report - October 2012 from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. All statements below are from TD Economics.

Data Release: U.S. job growth accelerates in October to 171K. However, unemployment rises to 7.9% on rebounding labor force participation.

U.S. non-farm payrolls rose by 171K in October, well above the median consensus estimate of 125K. Private sector hiring expanded by 184K, also ahead of expectations for 123K. On the downside, after three months of increases, government payrolls resumed their decline in October, falling by 13K.

Revisions added an additional 84K to payrolls, with September’s previous reading of 114 jobs revised up to 148K. The revision to August was even better, from 142K to 192K.

Goods-producing employment rose by 21K supported by strong growth of 17K in construction employment and a 13K rise in manufacturing employment. Markets had been expecting a decline of 5K.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% from 7.8%. However, the details aren’t as bad as the headline. Household survey employment rose by 410K, but was outpaced by 578K growth in the labor force. The labor force participation rate rose to 63.8% from 63.6% a – its highest level since May.

Average hourly earnings were flat in the month, below expectations for a 0.2% gain. Average weekly hours also fell slightly to 34.4 from 34.5 in September.

Key Implications

Despite the rise in the unemployment rate, this is a very good report. The pace of payroll growth beat even the most optimistic analyst’s estimate and revisions show a much healthier pace of job growth over the past three months than previously reported. Having said that, today’s report was also a reminder that even with relatively strong job growth, improvements in the unemployment rate could be harder to attain, especially as labor force participation also rebounds.

Ignore the naysayers, the U.S. economy is showing incredible resilience in the face of significant challenges. Despite acute uncertainty over the fate of the fiscal cliff and a struggling global economy, America continues to generate jobs at a respectable pace. In fact, this report adds to a string of surprisingly good data from U.S. consumer spending, confidence, manufacturing and the housing market.

While analysts rightly focus on the downside to U.S. growth come the New Year, there is also an upside. If Congress can avoid the fiscal cliff, the prospects for job growth next year appear very good. With a housing market in repair, consumer confidence rising and credit growth improving, the stage should be set for jobs to take off. The fact that businesses are continuing to expand even with huge fiscal uncertainty means that once this cloud lifts, the pace of job creation has lots of room to accelerate. Even with some fiscal drag next year, we expect job growth to exceed 200K a month by the second half of next year.

James Marple, Senior Economist
416-982-2557

DISCLAIMER
This report is provided by TD Economics. It is for information purposes only and may not be appropriate for other purposes. The report does not provide material information about the business and affairs of TD Bank Group and the members of TD Economics are not spokespersons for TD Bank Group with respect to its business and affairs. The information contained in this report has been drawn from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. The report contains economic analysis and views, including about future economic and financial markets performance. These are based on certain assumptions and other factors, and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. The actual outcome may be materially different. The Toronto-Dominion Bank and its affiliates and related entities that comprise TD Bank Group are not liable for any errors or omissions in the information, analysis or views contained in this report, or for any loss or damage suffered.

Voting Perspectives

Have we forgotten the U.S. government is basically the Executive (President & his cabinet), Legislative (Congress) and the Judicial (Courts)? It is Congress who must pass laws first. It is the combination of Congress and the President who are responsible for getting things done. See,”Guide To The Federal Government.”

To stop all the nonsense about who did or didn't do what, it would behoove voters to vote for one party for all offices, a straight ticket federally and locally. Doing so also in the midterm election would then leave no wiggle room for the incumbent and no room for false accusations from the challenger.

This should help even the most uninformed voter know which Party is better for all citizens and is better to fashion America into being a better person and neighbor. If voters are using decency as their criteria for voting, then gaining a broader perspective by opening our minds to the opinions of the rest of the world is in order.

Romney, The Republications, The Tea Party Fraction and the Business Mob are very scary to most of the world that sees the world in living color. Most Americans who aim to vote Romney and company into office will not be spared the results of another regressive rampage packaged as progress. There's simply not enough room in the 1% for everyday people and never will be because equality goes against capitalism. Yet, too many of these same people seem on track, to cut off more body parts to spite their face in this race.

Even so, under no scenario should Americans attempt to slough things off on Presidents, Congresses or governments at any level without also taking more personal responsibility. Not just during the singular acts of elections but by participating in the daily fashioning of the society we want. For the most part, voters allow most things to slide then feel vindicated by voting. Then we sit back until another election and hope that the vote alone will do all the work for us. This is full-grown immaturity.

Personal Finances

For those of working age, the economy is closely aligned with their standard of living. What is not bantered about in the reliably over-trusted media is that the standard of living for workers is inseparably linked to the worker's standards for voting which is based on the worker's standard of thinking which may or may not be based on the worker's acceptance of a Higher Power that promotes peace on Earth and goodwill towards all living beings.

Wanting to be employed is a good thing. Employing critical thinking is another. Americans find it difficult to realize that if a candidate says one thing for forever and then changes position as an election approaches, then it is questionable whether or not this newly adopted position will be maintained after the election. View the video, ”Mitt Flop Romney versus Mitt Flop Romney”

If we don't employ critical thinking, and instead continue to use a media manipulated mentality fueled by fear and hate dominated emotions, then a coin toss approach to vote would deliver a greater degree of accuracy over time and save the world a bunch of resources wasted on campaigning that counts on absentee awareness.

Selected quotes from previous posts.

Societies where the best of everyone is put to betterment's use. This will only happen by learning and voting for those people whose thinking is to help as many people as possible.

[White collar crime is] voting for discrimination by voting for those who discriminate.

This means, any State that disrespects the inherent rights of anyone and anything for more than one voting cycle, only does so because the majority of its voters personally believe it is okay.

Keep considering all candidates fairly and voting for those who believe in fairness.

President Obama, I Am Responsible For The Economy

America has an economy driven by individual consumption. Compared to times past, individuals are not spending as much due to fearfulness called uncertainty. Individuals impact their own uncertainty when they choose their spending, choose their fears and choose their voting. This means individuals choose a large portion of the state of the economy.

I'm Not Convinced

Individual consumption represents two-thirds of the economy. Generally speaking, unemployment is 8% which means 92% are employed. The 92% who are employed can increase spending but don't due to fear associated with somebody else not having a job. Huh?

By the way, the unemployed are doing their part because, the unemployed spend a greater amount of the money they get than those employed.

Back To Unemployment

It is a false belief that the unemployment rate is the primary indicator of economic progress. The unemployment rate never reaches zero. For many decades, it has averaged 5%. This means, right now, there is only 3% more unemployment than usual. This does not cause economic havoc. This kind of thinking is similar to stubbing your toe and then believing you can't move.

Who Else Is Responsible?

If banks were to lend the money the banks were given and are still getting, the economy would be better. If banks gave people the breaks and assistance they were given, small businesses could get loans and homeowners would be given at least 6 months moratorium on their long term rental contracts and not have to fight for modifications.

Besides banks, other types of businesses want certainty but are unwilling to hire in advance of demand since their profit motive has nothing to do with their patriotic mumbo jumbo. Despite all the incentives, tax breaks and stimulus laced with taxpayer dollars provided to them, businesses will not temporarily and knowingly permit lower margins to help inject life into the economy by hiring in advance of demand which would create more demand, more confidence in individuals and more spending. Instead business citizens choose to overwork employee citizens and underpay newly hired citizens. It seems like it's not only what individuals do but also what banks and other businesses do that is a self-fulling economic prophecy – not one person's economic policy.

The Impact of Confidence & Other Factors

Per a 9/27/11 TD Bank Financial Group's "Economics Analysis," the U.S. economy in the first half of 2011 was hit by a myriad of negative shocks from extreme weather and rising gas prices to supply chain disruptions from the Japanese disaster. Now, in the second half of the year, a crisis of confidence – caused in no small part by the inability of policymakers in Europe or the United States to propose adequate solutions to their respective debt crises – has taken hold. So, while corporate profits are at near-record highs, the economy is teetering on the edge of a renewed recession." [This is a reminder that some businesses have not been suffering during recent years as much as they'd like everyone to believe. It is also a reminder that confidence has a significant impact on the economy than just the unemployment rate alone.]

President Obama Is Responsible

He believed that what he meant by “change,” individuals did also. He believed change was part of the value system of those who voted for him. Knowing that change is never a straightforward process, not within any individual dealing with the things the individual controls and not within a nation, President Obama still believed those who voted for him were on the same page. President Obama is responsible for depending too much on the belief of millions of individuals. It is more likely individuals will maintain the status quo of their character than maintain any resolve towards change especially when their actions and reactions seem to indicate they believe it's another person's job to make change happen for them.

I Am Responsible

I am responsible for things I control. As far as I can tell, that begins with a value system. A value system made of individual choices that should work together, like a personal ecosystem. Making those choices often requires tuning in to gut instinct to guide me which way to go. It does not depend on listening to speaking contests between presidential candidates. By focusing on the value system I have in place, I realize all my choices and anything I do becomes a vote for who I am.

Additional Reading: President Barack Obama's Job Evaluation
Republican Hostages: President Obama & The Economy
President Obama, One Out Of Four

Fiber: Fact & Feeling - Food Fight #21

Food Fight #21

All plants contain fiber.

Fiber does not come from anywhere else.

Fiber is in roots, stems, leaves, flowers, blossoms, fruit, fruit skin, vegetables, vegetable skin and seeds/nuts/beans.

Fiber is the cheapest preventive medicine in the world.

Lots of fiber each day keeps the doctor away!

Fiber to eat used to be widely available in forests and fields near our homes, thus free.

Plants are manna nourished from the heavens.

Controlling your food supply is self-control.

A little fiber history. As usual what we should be doing in this life is following more original practices from our birthplace than from the birthplace of capitalism and its henchman – marketing.

Nutrient Content: Organic versus Unconventional

Food Fight #47

Nutrients in plants are obtained mainly from the soil. Soil acquires and produces plant nutrients as part of ecosystem processes.

In recent times, not only have unconventional farming methods disrupted natural ecosystem processes, disruption has also come from the way humans view and interact with the rest of their natural world siblings. These approaches have diminished soil vitality making soil little more than a plant holder.

Under these circumstances and mindset, in order to get plants to grow, the manual addition of nutrients is necessary – mostly in the form of fertilizer which is mostly commercially made, fake nutrients. (Nutrients are supposed to come through the presence and processes of living and nonliving organisms)

To keep plants from getting eaten by other living organisms, commercially made poisons are needed because the natural controls of those organisms have been exterminated or drastically reduced by out of control humans.

Before human achievement exceeded its sensibilities and before we became self-defeating victims of our behavior and before we became commercialized children of the farm, the ecosystem was 100% natural. Since 100% is all there is, when the unnatural enters to any degree, the natural is reduced and the other way around. To grow food using practices out of sync with the ecosystem is to introduce the unnatural and reduce natural elements, natural soil viability, natural soil fertility and natural nutrients.

Organic versus Unconventional

No plant growing in unnatural conditions will have the nutrients it should – even though it appears as expected. As usual, appearance is a notorious deceiver.

Organic growing practices respect the soil by working with the natural laws of the ecosystem. Every year food is grown in respected soil, the natural increases and the unnatural decreases. Sickness and cancer causing toxins decline and healthy nutrient content increases. Working with the life-bearing and life-giving soil increases its quality of life; therefore, what grows out of this soil has higher quality, both qualitatively and quantitatively. What grows out of this type of soil becomes more like food in its essence and therefore coincides with our body processes and supports health in the direction away from healthcare crisis.

When it comes to nutrient content, organically grown has no competition. There is nothing healthier or tastier than the natural goodness of food from a healthy ecosystem. No further study/scientific research/testing/expert analysis is, or has ever been, necessary. All that's needed is for individuals to remain natural learners - observant, reasoning and respectful.

See Also:
Health & Nutrition: Information Stupid
Food Fight 6: The Quick Fix
Self-Maintaining Plants & Gardens
Living Instinctively, Pollination, Nectar, Pollen
Growing Food: Green Thumb Not Required But Three Things Are. Food Fight #51 – Another Grown-Folks Misconception

Republican Hostages: President Obama & The Economy

Senator Mitch McConnell maintained that the Republicans’ number one goal remains the defeat of President Obama in 2012. In an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News, McConnell was asked about a charge made by Democrats that the Republicans are purposefully sabotaging the economy for political gain in 2012. McConnell at first seemed to admit the charge, saying “Well that’s true” before going on to claim that Republicans want to fix the economy first. Click here to read entire article. Click here for brief video commentary

Americans should have been outraged at this statement/behavior but were not and are still not.

In the October 2012 issue of Vanity Fair, Michael Lewis said President Obama badly underestimated, how little it would cost Republicans to oppose ideas they had once advocated, merely because he supported them. Obama thought Republicans would pay a bigger price for inflicting damage on the country for the sake of trying to defeat him.

If Obama Is For It (Jobs & Economy), Republicans Are Against It

Michael Lewis also stated, in foreign dealings, the Russians play the role that Republicans currently more or less play in his domestic affairs. The Russians’ view of the world tends to be zero-sum: if an American president is for it, they are, by definition, against it.

On September 13, 2012, The Republicans got angry at Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for trying to stimulate the economy. Click here to read entire article.

Again, this clearly shows the Republican only concern since 2009 has been the 2012 election. When they got the opportunity beginning in January 2010, Republicans have been Obstructionists. (See “President Obama: One Out of Four)

Who Blames Hostages?

We can free ourselves and the economy from being held hostage with choices that gives citizens in the 99% a chance. If we vote for a Republican president and vote for Republican congresspersons, we are excusing Republican criminal behavior and setting the country and ourselves up for even more.

Meat Additives: Carbon Monoxide Injected

Food Fight #46

According to the US EPA:

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless and toxic gas...The effects of CO exposure can vary greatly from person to person depending on age, overall health and the concentration and length of exposure.

Of course, this is true of all poisons/toxins/carcinogens.

Meat is injected with carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is used in food packaging systems, mainly with fresh meat such as beef, pork, and fish and refrigerated meat products to keep them looking fresh. In 2006, The US House of Representatives drafted HR 5991 to stop this poisonous practice but the bill went nowhere fast.

In beef, per the FDA:

The Carbon monoxide is dissolved in a brine/marinade solution that is injected into beef muscle parts that are vacuum-packed, and prepared for case-ready marketing...The amount of the brine/marinade injected into the meat will be limited to 27.8 percent by weight. As usual, the US EPA, FDA, USDA and CDC all claim this is safe directly or by posing no challenge.

According to The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR):

The effects of exposure to any hazardous substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed, personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are present.[my emphasis]

First of all, this means the effects of a toxic substance changes depending on the other chemicals in what you eat or drink or other chemicals already present in your body. The accumulated effects of one toxin or several toxins is mostly overlooked by government regulators.
Secondly, this means when agencies declare something as categorically safe for everyone, they far exceed their predictive abilities and overlook what the EPA admits in the first paragraph above; however, despite some people having no known reaction and many having delayed reaction, it is far more accurate to say something is categorically unsafe when it conflicts with natural law and systems. Poisons conflict.

Per Radford University:

Anything ingested may be absorbed into the blood and cause systemic poisoning. Oral toxicity is generally lower than inhalation toxicity because of the relatively poor absorption of many chemicals from the intestines into the blood stream... Ingestion of chemicals may occur from eating contaminated food...[my emphasis]

Bottom Line

Carbon monoxide binds with another chemical pigment in meat and stabilizes the color. This also makes this new combination of chemicals able to remain intact during the cooking process.

According to the National Capital Poison Center, “food products” are listed as a common poison. This is not the same as food poisoning. Food poisoning is listed separately. In other words, it is common for poison to be found in food.

Do not be deceived that the method of exposure, inhalation (breathing) versus ingestion (swallowing) makes a toxic substance, safe – that by eating it we can breathe a sigh of relief.

Carbon monoxide is not needed by the body. Anything the body doesn't need in the first place is toxic to biological processes and therefore subject to affect any part of the body and many parts of the body.

Meat is expensive in more ways than one. It comes with the additive expense of carbon monoxide. For more information on hazardous chemicals in your food see:
A List of Foods Containing Carbon Monoxide

Nutrition Labeling Inconsistencies, FDA & USDA Breaking The Law Consistently
Herbivores, Pollen & Complete Protein: Omnivore & Carnivore Behavior Not Required
Sweet Corn, Neonicotinoids, Allergies, Informed Consent, Occupy Movement & Patriotism

President Obama, One Out Of Four

Obama Only Had One Year

1. January 2009, Obama took office.
2. By December 2009, just ll months later, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Healthcare Reform) was written and passed by the Senate. This legislation that supposedly couldn't be done was done expediently. Since that time Republicans/Tea Partiers have given higher priority to repealing or watering down this legislation designed to help people rather than working together to help the economy which would also help people.
3. 2009, The financial crisis was addressed. The previous president (Bush) inherited a (Clinton) surplus and helped turn it into a deficit and profits for the obesely rich.
4. 2009, Obama submitted Sonia Sotomayor, as the first Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court. This appointment was confirmed.
5. During 2009, Democrats have a majority in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Things got done.
6. January 2010, impatient voters who expected an economic miracle in just 12 months, began to change their minds. These voters elected a Republican to fill the Senate seat of Ted Kennedy. This caused Democrats to lose their filibuster proof majority. This majority meant relatively smooth passage of legislation and appointments. Democratic Senators fell from 60 to 59. One election in Massachusetts, affected everyone nationally. Every elected official, local, country, and state, influences things nationally because it tells national/federal officials about the core, heart and ideological beliefs of their constituencies. It tells US congresspeople what they can and can't get away with based on how people are voting at every level.
7. April 2010, Deepwater Horizon/British Petroleum/Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill which had several effects on the economy.
8. July 2010, Wall Street Reform was passed (Dodd-Frank Bill)
9. September 2010, Small Business Jobs Act signed into law, the most significant piece of small business legislation in over a decade.
10. 2009-2010, two wars are still going on and being dealt with.
11. 2010, last combat troops leave Iraq.
12. 2009-2012, there is still a global financial/economic crisis which has aftershocks on the American economy.
13. 2010, Russia & America sign agreement to reduce nuclear weapons.
14. November 2010 (midterm elections), Voters continued to be impatient plus they listened to Tea Party Republicans which caused the Democrats in the Senate to drop further from 59 to 53. Also, the Democratic majority was lost in House of Representatives, ensuring more difficulty in getting things done.
15. 2011, Civil unrest in Alkebulan (Africa) and southwest Asia plus revolutions and disagreements with countries about their nuclear program causes fear, oil supply disruptions, economic uncertainties and aftershocks. Country after country in Europe experience financial turmoil which affects the United States.
16. March 2011, Japan Earthquake Tsunami
17. August 2011, The Debt Ceiling Debacle. An emboldened Republican/Tea Party infused Congress dickered over passing unemployment extension and payroll tax cuts and extending the debt ceiling which had always been a bi-partisan, routine issue.
18. 2011 Osama Bin Laden assassinated.
19. 2009-2012, Republicans are busy changing voter eligibility laws all over the country -ensuring any signs of a democracy will be stopped.
20. September 2011, President Obama proposed the American Jobs Act which included 447 billion to stimulate the economy. This bill has since been resisted by enough members of Congress to stop it. This is where the jobs are, on the desks of Republican/Tea Party members of Congress.

Many who are dissatisfied with President Barack Obama state they expected more change in 4 years. President Obama and the Democrats accomplished a lot before the hostile Congress members took office after November 2010 and the Senate majority started to erode in January 2010.

President Obama and the Democrats accomplished a lot during unprecedented global economic turmoil and military turmoil.
Within 12 months of taking office, as early as January 2010, President Obama no longer had the support of the American people and then in November 2010, he no longer had the majority support of the people or Congress. President Barack Obama really only had one year to get things done.

Additional Reading: President Barack Obama's Job Evaluation

Unbreakable Evolution: Higher Purpose Coming Out

Food Fight #45

The scariest thing is not knowing why you're here – Elijah, aka Mr. Glass, in the movie “Unbreakable.”

Everything has multiple higher purposes. A higher purpose extends beyond self. It has primary responsibility to the universal ecosystem. You were born of this system. The core of your being wants to be synchronized with it. This is the source of peace, harmony, balance, happiness and health.

There are many things you can enjoy doing and even do well, but doing something well doesn't make it a higher purpose. Emerging from the soul into consciousness, higher purpose has more to do with the instinctive self and less to do with the thinking self.

A higher purpose is not to provide a living for yourself (food, clothing & shelter). The Creator has already seen to this with a bountiful natural world. You can educate yourself how to make use of these abundant blessings. When resources, passions, talents, skills, abilities and gifts are overly consumed with “making a living,” via an economic system rather than the ecosystem, there is little consideration for much else, especially one's higher self. You spend most years, expending energies seeking the certain by way of the uncertain. The Employer of Elements has taken care of the basics for you, given you a head start to living, so you can focus more on the unique things you were born to bring into existence. It's up to you to use what is freely given and not want for that which is not. It's up to you to choose which system to have the most faith in and be more faithful to.

Instead of “How are you doing?” or “What are you doing?” consider, “Who are you being?” Are you in sync with your spirit's urging? This urging is calling you to duty. It's the call of your spirit wanting to come out to help.

Are you pursuing those things you innately sense you were born to do? The core of your being needs to be synchronized with these things. Each higher purpose is a soulmate. When you do not hold its hand, announce your engagement, pledge wedded vows to it and live as one, this lack of attention and commitment allows other things to come between you and your higher purpose. Self evolution stops which leaves lingering yearnings despite other accomplishments. You live with hunger for life pains due to a spirit not getting its full fill meant as its purpose.

The degree to which you align yourself with your higher purposes is the degree to which you will transcend, be transformed and caught up in a rapture here and now. Your higher purposes are catalyzing nutrients, without them, personal resources are unlikely to be put to best use. Your higher purposes are natural light to guide and energize growth. Your higher purposes are lamps unto your feet for taking the next step. Evolution simply means taking the next step along any path that strengthens or connects you to the spiritual aspect of your being.

Despite the physical package you are in, you are mainly a spirit being. If the Higher Power is spirit then all brought forth by this Spirit is also spirit. Spirit is all. All is spirit. So, to be all, you must be in step with your spirit. To give all you must give your spiritual self. You must be in connection with the radiant energy direct from the power source - the energy to evolve. When you do not break from this eternal/internal truth, you know why you're here. You become unbreakable because you cannot be separated from your power.

Related:
Whatever You Do, Think Again!
Passion – Let It Go
Opening The Gift of Childhood
Real Pursuit of Happiness
Living Instinctively, Pollination, Nectar, Pollen

Herbivores, Pollen & Complete Protein: Omnivore & Carnivore Behavior Not Required

Food Fight #44

Honeybees Are Herbivores

Honeybees only eat food from plants – nectar and pollen. We readily accept as fact that pollen is a protein source for bees. We don't wonder if pollen from every plant contains protein. We don't wonder if some pollen contains partial proteins and other pollen contains the rest, making it necessary for bees to combine pollen to get complete protein.

Pollen stored in a bee hive is called “bee pollen.” A lot of pollen, before bees touch it, is said to be an allergen to humans; but in the hives of bees, pollen somehow becomes a complete food - a superfood that is like a natural multivitamin for humans. How did nutrient variety get into protein-packed pollen but not into the rest of the plant? Are bees working magic or, are the scientists we listen to? Is pollen really super – far superior to roots, leaves, fruit and seeds or is it super-stition?

What Does This Mean For Human Herbivores?

Pollen contains plant protein sufficient for small bees. Humans also need protein. If tiny bits of pollen has such a variety and range of nutrients, including complete protein, then how much nutrient content is really in other parts of plants humans are supposed to eat? Did the Supreme Being make it easier for honeybees to get proper nutrition than for humans? Could it be other parts of plants, just like pollen, are capable of providing nutrients we need when plants are grown as intended and consumed as intended?

Follow The Feeders

Elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, zebras, moose, deer, buffaloes, camels and horses are some of the biggest herbivores and all grow to be big, strong and muscular eating only plants.

Why do many people believe humans must have animal protein or that animal protein is an all-in-one easy and best way to get protein? How did we come to believe we must know specific combinations of foods and consult charts to eat smart? This is a recent belief and seems incompatible with the ability of humans for tens of thousands of years to survive, grow and develop minds, bodies and babies.

Humans Are Omnivores For Emergency Purposes

Eating insects and animal flesh is not a requirement for humans to thrive. On the other hands eating plants is a requirement. This means, though we have omnivorous capability, only one portion of this ability is absolutely necessary for optimal health. Humans are predominantly herbivores (just like primates) with the ability to eat insects/meat as a survival advantage. Humans are gatherers then hunters, eating mostly what can't move and little of what tries to elude.

All Herbivores Eat Vegetation & Vegetables

All plant material falls into the general category of “vegetation.” Though vegetation is often thought of as the foliage/leaves, every part of every plant is vegetation – from the root to the fruit including plants that grow on, in or under water.

As humans, we've named some of the vegetation we eat, “vegetables.” In essence, humans and any other living organism that eat any part of a plant is not only eating vegetation but also eating vegetables. All types of trees, bushes, shrubs, grasses, “weeds,” fruit and seeds are vegetables.

Bees or insects eating pollen or deer, rabbits and insects eating the plants we cultivate, are simply eating vegetables they are supposed to eat. They are seeking and finding all the nutrients they need including complete proteins in plants. They are modeling the instinctive behavior we'd be wise to re-tune to – filling our stomachs with more just-picked vegetation and less flesh.

Related: Living Instinctively, Pollination, Nectar, Pollen
Carbohydrates: Treat Yourself Right To Plants, Food Fight #36
Food | About Eating Plants For Life, Food Fight #53