Category Archives: Mrs. Cog’s Corner

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Wellness and Health

From Mrs. Cog's Corner

As I strive to become more self sufficient I think it is safe to say that the future of trustworthy and/or affordable healthcare is precarious at best for many individuals. And as is the case with the current state of the global financial structure, regarding health and wellness I constantly ask myself "What can I do to be less reliant, or better yet not at all reliant, upon such an unstable system?"

Much to my delight and shock, after several years of ongoing study I have hit upon solutions to many viable alternatives that humans have successfully used for thousands of years before the founding of 'modern' Western medicine. Much of this ancient wisdom originates in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurveda from ancient India and certain Native American practices which all clearly sought to help a person become whole in order to heal rather than to treat the individual as dis-eased parts.

In addition to such ancient truths as 'you are what you eat' and 'food is medicine', an ever increasing number of modern scientific studies have revealed (although severely downplayed by Big Pharma) that a pleorthera of natural, inexpensive and obtainable substances and practices work to keep us truly healthy as well as to treat and even reverse many adverse conditions and diseases.

My purpose in posting this information is to share what I am learning so that you, the reader, may choose to investigate further and on your own if an idea appeals to you. Many of these concepts and methods were completely new to me and I am very happy to share what I have found.

Please join in the discussion because your wisdom is valuable and most welcome. After all, we are all in this together.

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Crazy For Gluten Free

From Mrs. Cog's Corner

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. It is becoming increasingly common for people to discover they cannot properly digest and tolerate modern day gluten. The controversy rages between two polarizing extremes of benevolent intentions to better feed the world with hybrid grains versus the anti-GMO, health conscious consumers who claim gluten in this form is poison. More and more studies come out confirming the latter and recently, many doctors have joined the chorus to proclaim gluten is not good.

A few years ago, our teenager returned home from traveling for several weeks complaining of ongoing stomach aches. After observing her for a several days we became increasingly alarmed. When trips to the local doctor, an Urgent Care facility and finally a large prestigious hospital some distance away brought no answers, it was clear the doctors were indeed "practicing" medicine and throwing darts at the board. Many tests, guessed diagnoses, specialists and tears later, we still had no answers.

Finally, out of the mouths of babes... the child herself suggested that since I had several aunts and uncles who'd tested positive for Celiac's that perhaps she was gluten intolerant. Upon removing any and all wheat from her diet, she began to feel better within days. The following week, she felt better than she had felt in a long time.

This began an education for our entire family on multiple levels. Not only did we become informed as to why gluten made our kid sick, but we learned many times gluten intolerance creates symptoms other than digestive problems and we were actually lucky that her belly hurt and that directed us to look at her diet. After further study, it seems modern wheat poses multiple health risks and problems for most people whether or not the connection is ever made to gluten in the diet.

But we learned other valuable lessons too. Many people do not believe that she HAS a "gluten sensitivity" because the experts cannot prove it so with a test. Only one out of fifteen people who have a gluten sensitivity actually test positive for Celiac's disease (if the doctor even thinks to run that test). In most cases, there is no test other than to stop consuming it and watch the results. It was yet another alarming wake up call showing the dependence upon authorities to tell people what to think instead of thinking for ourselves.

Here is some of the most relevant information I found about gluten in our diets. Whether or not you have identified this as a problem, or just want to keep your body in the healthiest possible state, more doctors are sounding the alarm that modern wheat is like a poison because in it's genetically modified state, our bodies recognize it as a foreign invader.

Read more:

Those people are often told it's all in their heads after testing shows up negative. But traditional gluten intolerance blood testing looks for only one of six polypeptides in wheat, gliadin. There are five others: wheat germ agglutinin, glteomorphin, gltueinin, prodynorphin, and omega gliadin. Any one or a combination of these five can cause anyone to have reactions to wheat. Read more: Six signs you may have gluten sensitivity and not know it.

Either you have celiac disease, in which case even a small amount of gluten will send you running to the bathroom in three seconds flat, or you don't, and you can chug down beer and bagels without fear. This "all-or-nothing" view has led to some doctors telling patients that suspect they're sensitive to gluten but test negative for CD that they're simply imagining an affliction that doesn't exist. It turns out those doctors are wrong. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kresser/gluten-intolerance_b_2964812.html

How do you recognize the symptoms of gluten intolerance? Research indicates that sensitivity to gluten, whether mild forms of gluten intolerance or the more serious celiac disease, affects approximately 15% of the U.S. population. Are you one of these people? http://glutenfreenetwork.com/symptoms-treatments/gluten-intolerance-symptoms-how-do-you-know-if-gluten-is-making-you-sick/

The idea that gluten and carbohydrates are at the root of Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression, and ADHD has now reached millions of people. It is the basis of a number-one bestseller written by a respected physician. What is it worth? http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/12/this-is-your-brain-on-gluten/282550/

It raises a crucial question: Just why is wheat such a ubiquitous ingredient in so many foods, from ice cream to French fries? That’s easy: Because it tastes good and it stimulates appetite. You want more wheat, you want more of everything else to the tune of 400 or more calories per day. More calories, more food, more revenue for Big Food. Wheat is not in cucumbers, green peppers, salmon, or walnuts. But it’s in over 90% of the foods on supermarket shelves, all there to stimulate your appetite center to consume more . . . and more and more. http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2011/07/wheat-belly-frequently-asked-questions/

To find out if ANY food is gluten free:  http://www.gfoverflow.com/

And about the NEWEST GMO wheat?: Experts warned that eating the wheat could lead to significant changes in the way glucose and carbohydrates are stored in the human body, which could be potentially deadly for children and lead to serious illness in adults. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/04/23/gm-wheat.aspx

As usual, corporate interests are taking advantage of a problem that was created by…you guessed it…corporate interests – back when they toyed around with wheat and irrevocably changed it to the toxin being sold today. Now they are “solving” the problem by charging quadruple for processed items that don’t contain government subsidized wheat, and they are taking advantage of people who’ve become ill from eating their previous incarnations of processed foods. http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/how-to-go-gluten-free-without-contributing-to-the-billion-dollar-big-food-rip-off-02222014

Please continue reading and let us know your thoughts, tips and recipes.

Going Gluten Free

Gluten Free Recipes

Mrs. Cog's Corner

Paradigm Shift

From Mrs. Cog's Corner

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. Teilhard de Chardin(1881-1955)

From a  letter to my adult daughter:

Think of a Paradigm Shift as a change from one way of thinking to another. It's a revolution, a transformation, a sort of metamorphosis. It just does not happen, but rather it is driven by agents of change.

Anybody who has an insatiable sense of curiosity is well on their way to seeing there is something big going on underneath the surface of the reality we appear to live in. It is much more than financial ponzi schemes by the central banks and control freaks deciding what is best for us who are running the governments. People everywhere are going through a transformation. When approached with change many people will dig in further to their "beliefs" and teachings because authority figures have validated these ideas. To question your own beliefs would mean you must examine yourself inside and realize you have not verified much of anything, only accepted what you have been told. Often it is too much for the modern day ego to bare. This is why so many people are in denial. It is the reason they are called sheep, because they will act as a herd and follow the group-think, right over the edge of the cliff sometimes.

 For those bold enough to seek answers, it is a process that expands itself. One question leads to ten more and so on... before you know it, you may find yourself questioning everything. This happens differently for each individual who is finding their own path. Let me give you an example. I was a bit freaked out over the tightening control over the citizens of the United States by the government. I read many theories as to their motivations, plans and actions. This led me to many sources including stumbling upon the information that private companies report weather modification techniques to the government each year. WHAT? They are knowingly modifying the weather? Why? How? This led me to researching chem-trails. When the airplane in the sky has an exhaust that disappears not far behind it, that is a "contrail." That is normal. When the exhaust lingers and plumes out across the sky, that is a chem-trail and it has the ability to change the weather. It appears, from paying attention on the interwebby, that most of the world is experiencing periodic chem-trail spraying. It scared me at first, because there are theories (loudly proclaimed) that the agenda was to poison thus depopulate the earth. But I pushed through my fear and kept digging. I found a theory that may make much more sense, but opened a Pandora's box. 

It appears that the earth is indeed experiencing extreme climate change, not from human causes like the carbon agenda would have you believe. Chem-trails may be a way to keep the earth's atmosphere stable during this time. There are changes going on in the solar system, and all the planets are changing. Many of the planets and/or their moons are experiencing volcanic and seismic activity, several have actually changed their rate of rotation, their tilt and possibly their orbit. Not only that, it appears there is a growing body of theoretical physicists and other scientists who have discovered the sun doesn't even work like we (as per the academic scientists) thought and no, it isn't going to blow up or snuff out any time soon (lol). These same scientists who are now thinking "out of the academic box" are putting together evidence that these changes have happened before and earth and its occupants have survived. Hey, somebody call and cancel Doomsday?" But really, all of a sudden, it puts a whole new perspective on what we might consider our top priorities without locking us into believing any one thing. It allows us to remain flexible and try to become better informed.

This is but one example of the things you might find by asking questions and NOT BELIEVING ANYTHING but considering everything. If you really do want the answers... you must consider it all. You don't have to decide if you "believe it" or not. A belief weighs us down like a stone. Thoughts we consider are as light as a butterfly or a feather. You have the ability to carry many many more of those than rocks.

Fear is the driving force that makes people not look. We have been conditioned to be afraid of the unknown. It is fear that keeps us from asking better questions. But remember that better questions will give us better answers.