Foodgasmic

Well after approximately 125mm (5 inches in the old scale) of rain in two days, the sun is now shining and not a cloud can be seen in any direction. All weather warnings have been cancelled and now we enjoy the biting heat of the sun and the oppressive humidity as all that dampness evaporates into the atmosphere.

I spent the morning making up the dog's food and had to take the pedestal fan into the kitchen because I was dripping with perspiration!

Today's doggy concoction was made up of 2kgs beef mince, 2kgs chicken mince, 1 ox heart, 4 leaves of kale, 4 leaves of silverbeet, half a large pumpkin (cooked), 2 carrots, a big bunch of celery leaves, half a cup of plain greek yoghurt, 3 eggs (shells and all), 1/4 cup coconut oil, 4 T cod liver oil, 2 T turmeric and 1 heaped teaspoon of spirulina.

Everything in this mix is raw except for the pumpkin and all the veggies are blended because it's easier for the dogs to digest and get all the nutrients that way.

So I mixed up the minces together in a giant baking dish and then blended everything else in the blender, which took about four loads. I poured everything over the mince and then mixed it all together by hand. I got 13 containers each with 500g in them, so the dogs get approx 170g each per meal.

I haven't actually calculated the costs, but I do know that it's cheaper than feeding just plain mince or meat and also cheaper than the (supposedly) good quality dog biscuits that we were buying. It takes about an hour to make up, put into the containers and then clean up. I have to do that once per fortnight, but I think it's worth the effort.

Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon, Adoring Husband had to travel out of town for a SES meeting with some people of importance, so we decided to have our main meal for lunch. We had lamb rack with roasted veggies.

The lamb was seared in a hot pan and then placed on a bed of onion slices and popped in 200C oven for thirty minutes.

I sprinkled the vegetables (fresh beetroot, zucchini, carrot and sweet potato) with Himalayan salt and cracked pepper, placed some garlic cloves between them and tossed some fresh sprigs of thyme over the top. They roasted for 40 minutes in the same oven. I took the meat out to rest for the last ten minutes that the veg cooked.

I always bake on baking paper and I brushed it with coconut oil for the veg.

It looked so good on the plate, that I forgot to take a photo because I just wanted to eat it! I drizzled balsamic vinegar over the vegetables and crumbled a little feta cheese on top. Delicious!

I currently have a big batch of chicken stock brewing in the slow cooker and it smells great!

Tonight we will be enjoying dinner at a friend's house. There will be twelve of us and I'm really looking forward to a nice friendly and relaxed social atmosphere with some of my favourite people.

Right now, I think I need a nana nap.

Nite all.

Old Fartism

At the risk of being labelled an 'old fart', I would just like to question the content of some of the most popular TV series' over the past few years.

I must admit that of all of the shows that I am about to list, I only watched one episode of 'The Good Wife' and absolutely NONE of the others.

I have heard a LOT about these shows from the people who I know that watch them. I have read a 'little' about each of them and I did some research on them tonight, checking out IMDB and looking at each of their websites (if they had one) and looked at some reviews.

• Penny Dreadful
• American Horror Story
• Sons of Anarchy
• The Leftovers
• The Affair
• Boardwalk Empire
• Scandal
• Revenge
• How to Get Away With Murder
• Hannibal
• House of Cards
• Mad Men
• The Good Wife
• Orange is the New Black
• The Walking Dead
• Game of Thrones
• Dexter
• Breaking Bad

These shows regularly show graphic physical violence, sexual assault and rape, domestic violence, murders, revenge killings, kidnappings, carjackings, fraud, corruption, theft, break and enters, drive-by shootings, drug use, extra-marital affairs, serial killers, cannibalism, poisonings, high speed car chases usually ending in exploding vehicles and death, and then there are the zombies, vampires, demons, ghosts, wolves and other supernatural beings, all of whom have their very own brand of everything that I've already mentioned.

People of all ages are thoroughly enjoying these shows and discussing them with enthusiasm on social media and looking forward to the next episode or the new series with impatience.

Has everybody become numb to the moral issues involved here? They see it every day on TV and then when it happens in real life, they brush it aside and rate it of little importance. Or they make the obligatory "Oh how horrible" comment and then it immediately disappears into the dark recesses of the mind, to be stored with all the other "horrible" memories that no longer pack a punch.

I don't understand how people can 'enjoy' these shows. How they can warm to the evil characters and root for them .. even have crushes on them. It seems that everyone is getting sucked into the mindless vortex of twisted violence on their screens.

Anyway, I just wanted to get that off my chest. It's been bothering me for some time.

Meanwhile I've had a busy day cooking. Firstly, Zucchini Noodles with Avocado Cream Sauce and you can find the recipe here.

I added 2 Tablespoons of Greek Yoghurt and 1 Tablespoon of raw honey to the sauce. I added 2 chopped bacon rashers and half a sliced onion to the zucchini (I fried it off in duck fat first). It was delicious!

Then I cleaned out my fridge in preparation for our first FROG box of the year which was full of Paleo fruit and vegetables, all of it absolutely beautiful.

It's been raining all day, quite heavily for most of it, so I have a couple of loads of washing hanging all over the house and I also got some more of my essay done and I'm feeling good about my progress with that.

More cooking at dinner time. I invented a Chicken Coconut & Lime dish with Cashews and then cleaned up afterwards as Adoring Husband headed off for his first night back for regular SES training nights.

I'm sad to say that I just watched Lleyton Hewitt lose his second round tennis match, in five sets to the German player, Benjamin Becker. He won the first two sets so easily and then all of a sudden Becker found form and Lleyton had no answers. It's Hewitt's 19th consecutive year playing in the Aussie Open and hopefully he'll be back again next year for his 20th.

Now I'm excited to watch another Aussie, Samantha Stosur, play in her second round match. Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!

Nite all.

A Gutsy Person of Interest

There are so many stories of health improvements and healing through the Paleo Way lifestyle and I never tire of reading the success stories of hundreds, if not thousands, of happier healthier people.

Whenever I read about someone suffering from a particular disease, I do a google search to see how many stories I can find of people who have either improved or cured the same disease through diet. It's almost always Paleo, but sometimes it's just removing gluten, or just dairy or just discovering an allergy to nightshades or some other food/chemical/additive etc.

Today, I read a story about a young person suffering from Crohn's Disease, which is a debilitating illness.  Some of the symptoms I have embarrassingly dealt with myself, through my gluten intolerance, but Crohn's is a very nasty disease with all of it's symptoms together in full force and I am grateful that I don't suffer from this terrible condition.

After I read about this young person, I did my usual google search and found a blog called Gutsy by Nature written by a young woman in northern Virginia in USA who suffers from Crohn's Disease and how she is healing herself using the Paleo Way lifestyle. Through her blog she is diarising and monitoring her progress and hoping to eventually help others suffering from this condition.

She does state that changing to the Paleo Way has not 'cured' her, but her symptoms have been overwhelmingly alleviated and even the readings in her Crohn's medical tests have improved so dramatically, they are most often showing in the 'normal' range.

I have read most of it and it's an interesting read.

There are a lot of interesting reads out there about people who, in desperation, because they cannot get relief or answers from their doctor, have reversed or cured their medical conditions just by changing their diets. Conditions from eczema to migraines to psoriasis to diabetes to heart disease to Crohn's Disease and even cancer.

Perhaps once each week, I can share a story in here, or provide a link so that you can choose to read it if you like. I find anecdotal evidence so much more interesting than any other types of evidence. Real people sharing their stories, their hardships, their break throughs .. always eye opening and sometimes inspiring.

Two things that I enjoyed in Facebook today ...

Nite all.

Joke Joyce

This is hilarious and I just had to share it!

An 83-year-old man was requested by his doctor for a fertility test as part of his regular physical exam.

The doctor gave the man a jar and said, “Take this jar home and bring back a sample tomorrow.”

The next day the old man reappeared at the doctor’s office and gave him the jar, which was as clean and empty as on the previous day.

The doctor asked, what happened and the old man explained. “Well, doc, it’s like this–first I tried with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but still nothing. Then I asked my wife Martha for help. She tried with her right hand, then with her left, still nothing. She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth out, still nothing.

We even called up Edith, the lady next door and she tried too, first with both hands, then an armpit, and she even tried squeezin’ it between her knees, but still nothing.”

The doctor was shocked! “You asked your neighbor?”

The old man replied, “Yep, none of us could get the jar open.”

And another for a quick giggle ...

Some food for thought (pardon the pun) ...

Heart Disease became a problem approximately a hundred years ago.

The obesity epidemic started around 1980 and the type 2 diabetes epidemic followed soon after.

These are the biggest health problems in the world today, and it seems pretty clear that diet has a lot to do with them.

For some very strange reason, the health authorities started blaming them on foods like red meat, eggs and butter.

We’ve been eating these natural foods for thousands of years, while these health problems are relatively new.

Doesn’t it make more sense to suspect all the new stuff instead, like processed foods, added sugar, refined grains and vegetable oils?

Blaming new health problems on old foods simply doesn’t make sense.

Finally, as I write this, the weather around us is sounding very threatening. I've been watching the BOM all day (as I do) and the storms started out as tiny specks, but have joined together and grow bigger with every hour that goes by. They change directions, then split up, then join back together .. very unpredictable.

It appears to be long way from me, but the edge is only about 20 kms away and I can definitely hear it making it's presence felt!

The blinds are closed and the TV volume is up! I can still feel the vibration of the rumbles though lol.

I'm wondering if, maybe when I've finished my Nutritional Medicine course, I might study Meteorology! My obsession continues.

Nite all.

My Idea of Heaven

I think this is my second favourite time of the year.

The Australian Open Tennis Championships began today.

There are 20/20 cricket matches and one day cricket matches for the next few weeks too.

My favourite time of the year is June when firstly, it's Winter and we experience lovely cool weather, secondly, State of Origin football is hitting it's peak and finally, Wimbledon Tennis Championships are on.

The Aussies have had a fairly successful day with most of them winning their first round matches. I am watching Nick Kyrgios playing at the moment, but I'm not sure if I'll see out the match. I will go to bed soon and fall asleep to the sound of tennis racquet hitting tennis ball.

I'm happy with some good study time today.

I also phoned Vegan Chickie today and got to speak to my little Chicklet, which was lovely.

Then this afternoon I could hear and feel some rumblings becoming louder in the background as I was listening to study videos through my earphones. When I checked the Bureau of Meteorology rain radars, and then looked out the front windows, this is what I found...

It looked very intimidating and I don't mind admitting that I put my camera bag in the wardrobe and put my mobile phone on charge, expecting the worst.

Luckily, there was not a lot in it.

It was originally part of a very big storm system coming from the south. It broke away and came in our direction, while the bigger one hit Maryborough bringing strong damaging winds and some flash flooding and then it moved on to The Bay. I don't know if they experienced any damage there.

We got some good heavy rain and lots of noise, a few wind gusts .. just enough to put me a little on edge, but it didn't eventuate to anything much, thank goodness.

This photo was taken just outside our front door.

Usually, when there is a storm about to hit, I like to pull the blinds closed and turn the TV up, because, to me, ignorance is bliss, but Adoring Husband decided that for today's storm, it would be a good idea to open the blinds and turn the TV 'off' ... then, in the middle of the storm, he decided to leave me alone in the lounge room and he went to bed!

I made sure he suffered for it later.

He was called out on SES duties after the storm to chainsaw a fallen tree, so lucky for him, he missed out on the bulk of my 'storm wrath'!

Right now, there are big storms to the north and to the south, but I don't think any of them will get close to us. We should get a peaceful night of sleep.

Nite all.

Stupid Stupid Stupid

If you're having a quiet day, here is some reading material for you to peruse at your leisure. Just a few interesting stories about Drs who misdiagnose .. both on purpose and accidentally.

Stupid Dr #1

Stupid Dr #2

Stupid Dr #3

Stupid Dr #4

Stupid Dr #5, 6 & 7

Stupid Dr #8

Stupid Dr #9

Australian medical truths

Australia has the highest rate of medical error in the world according to the World Health Organisation :-

18,000 people may die every year in hospitals through preventable medical negligence in Australia.

50,000 people suffer from permanent injury annually as a result of medical negligence in Australia.

80,000 Australian patients per year are hospitalised due to medication errors.

All this time, I thought the USA had the most medical stuff ups!

So, my advice is .. ALWAYS get a second opinion before undertaking invasive treatment for any condition or disease. Even if you've had the same doctor for a million years.

Better yet .. aim to make yourself the healthiest version of you, build up the strength of your immune system and avoid having to make any major decisions about repairing your health.

Just sayin'

Here is my photo for the 'Colourful' challenge in the flickr group this month.

Nite all.