I do have a gluten intolerance. Yes, some professional gave it a name and labeled it a "disease", and I've read articles calling it "debilitating" (can't find the article to cite it now... will add it later if I can find it).
Having a gluten intolerance is not all that bad, especially in recent years with the explosion of gluten-free food on the market. Before there were a variety of gluten-free breads, cakes, and other bad-for-you goodies available, what did people like me do? Eat normal food. O_O No, really we do. Diets for gluten intolerant individuals who choose to avoid highly processed foods include vegetables, fruits, meats, dairy, and nuts. You know: what a normal individual should eat anyway.
But *gasp* where are the carbohydrates?! Well, they are already listed as vegetables, fruits, and also found in dairy. What many people do not realize is that carbohydrates are found in many food, not just refined wheat, rice, and potato products. If you count your caloric intake for the day, let's say for a mildly active medium sized woman, then around 1500 calories are needed. After eating about 6 servings of vegetables, 4 fruits, 3 meats, 3 dairy, and topping it off with some nuts as a snack, you will feel very full. Refined carbohydrates are simply not needed. Is anyone in the corn, wheat, rice, or potato industry going to tell you this? No! They want their profits high and always going up.
Is the switch-over to gluten-free eating a bit difficult at first? Yes. Do you get use to it fast? Yes. I won't lie, sometimes there is nothing more in the world I want than a brown sugar cinnamon Poptart. Does the craving pass? Always.
So to all those who think that having a gluten intolerance is a debilitating disease, try talking to people with a gluten-intolerance first before making snap decisions about their life style.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 9, 2011
NY and DC 9/11 Threat: Real?
Let me say first that I am not a conspiracy theorist and I do not believe that anyone is "out to get me". I am patriotic, believe in my country (yes, the United States of America), and wish the best for the US people.
Now, I would simply like to ask you whether you believe the reported threat on NY from Al-Qaeda is real or fake.
This could quite possibly be a real threat from that terrorist group and the US government is doing all they can to find and stop another tragedy in this country from happening. Obvious reasons being: the anniversary of 9/11/01, the lack of other major successful attacks by terrorists and their desire to keep people afraid/extract revenge on the western world, revenge for killing Osama. If the US government and agencies involved (like the CIA) are doing their job wonderfully, then updates of planned attacks and that they were stopped should be all that the American people hear about. The problem then is that people might think there is no problem in the first place. If the government and agencies have something slip by them and another attack happens, then the finger pointing starts about who's fault it was and that not enough is being done.
One might also argue that the government is trying to "pull wool over our eyes". An update on the government stopping terrorists? We're number one! We're number one!... It could be to bolster support for the US government or the current political office. Everyone likes to hear about how we're winning, right? Also, fear is a great tool for keeping people in line. Citizen who are afraid and thinking about a possible attack might be less likely to read/care about news involving loss of jobs, agricultural problems, riots in Great Britain over citizen's view of their unfair treatment, and loss of oil due to the conflict in Libya. Could this also be justification for a more military controlled state? Are people slowing being conditioned to passively accept random searches, invasive scans, random phone taps? This has been said before; if one is willing to give up freedom for security, then we shall get/deserve neither.
Please, by all means go read articles about the update:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14857416
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE7877S220110909?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/nyregion/biden-describes-bomb-threat-as-security-is-increased.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion
and more! Go search around and see what you can find. Go the the "conservative" sites and read their opinion. Go to the "radical" sites and read their opinion. Finally, form our own opinion and express yourself in an intelligent, articulated manor.
Now, I would simply like to ask you whether you believe the reported threat on NY from Al-Qaeda is real or fake.
This could quite possibly be a real threat from that terrorist group and the US government is doing all they can to find and stop another tragedy in this country from happening. Obvious reasons being: the anniversary of 9/11/01, the lack of other major successful attacks by terrorists and their desire to keep people afraid/extract revenge on the western world, revenge for killing Osama. If the US government and agencies involved (like the CIA) are doing their job wonderfully, then updates of planned attacks and that they were stopped should be all that the American people hear about. The problem then is that people might think there is no problem in the first place. If the government and agencies have something slip by them and another attack happens, then the finger pointing starts about who's fault it was and that not enough is being done.
One might also argue that the government is trying to "pull wool over our eyes". An update on the government stopping terrorists? We're number one! We're number one!... It could be to bolster support for the US government or the current political office. Everyone likes to hear about how we're winning, right? Also, fear is a great tool for keeping people in line. Citizen who are afraid and thinking about a possible attack might be less likely to read/care about news involving loss of jobs, agricultural problems, riots in Great Britain over citizen's view of their unfair treatment, and loss of oil due to the conflict in Libya. Could this also be justification for a more military controlled state? Are people slowing being conditioned to passively accept random searches, invasive scans, random phone taps? This has been said before; if one is willing to give up freedom for security, then we shall get/deserve neither.
Please, by all means go read articles about the update:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14857416
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE7877S220110909?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/nyregion/biden-describes-bomb-threat-as-security-is-increased.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion
and more! Go search around and see what you can find. Go the the "conservative" sites and read their opinion. Go to the "radical" sites and read their opinion. Finally, form our own opinion and express yourself in an intelligent, articulated manor.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Roasting your own coffee beans
After requesting a free sample of green coffee beans from coffeeproject.com (great site!), the shipment arrived about ten days later. The envelope contained a small ziplock bag of green coffee beans and instructions on how to roast them on the stove top without any special equipment.
The amount of coffee beans sent was perfect for the first time roasting and will be just enough for one brewed cup. The instructions were easy to follow and suggested the roated beans sit for one to three days before use.
Once they are made into a lovely cup of coffee, I'll let you know how it went!
Roasting my own coffee beans seems like it will be an enjoyable hobby and will hopefully produce a better tasting coffee than the junk that Americans are sold in stores. I certainly plan to use The Coffee Project as my source for starting up, as their website is user friendly and they are willing to send a free sample of their product to let you try it first.
The amount of coffee beans sent was perfect for the first time roasting and will be just enough for one brewed cup. The instructions were easy to follow and suggested the roated beans sit for one to three days before use.
Once they are made into a lovely cup of coffee, I'll let you know how it went!
Roasting my own coffee beans seems like it will be an enjoyable hobby and will hopefully produce a better tasting coffee than the junk that Americans are sold in stores. I certainly plan to use The Coffee Project as my source for starting up, as their website is user friendly and they are willing to send a free sample of their product to let you try it first.
New Research!
For the most part, all my work with the iron-reducing bacteria is done/put on "hold". Instead, I'll be working on an electrowinning project and a gold mining project. Fun, right?
Progress for the electrowinning is slow going due to the long run times for the current set-up and the majority of my time going to the other project. There are many direction to take with this project and shows much promise.
The gold mining project is going fairly quickly now that we have a reliable lab (Wyoming Analytical Labs) to send samples to until we get our equipment up and running. We have sent out a total of about 28 samples already with two more going out today. There are about four experiment represented in those sample and should tell us quite a lot about what direction to take after analysis of the data.
More detail on the projects? Nope. Have to remain vague due to the novelty of the research and one of the project being funded by a company. When I publish my dissertation, you can read all about it. ;)
Progress for the electrowinning is slow going due to the long run times for the current set-up and the majority of my time going to the other project. There are many direction to take with this project and shows much promise.
The gold mining project is going fairly quickly now that we have a reliable lab (Wyoming Analytical Labs) to send samples to until we get our equipment up and running. We have sent out a total of about 28 samples already with two more going out today. There are about four experiment represented in those sample and should tell us quite a lot about what direction to take after analysis of the data.
More detail on the projects? Nope. Have to remain vague due to the novelty of the research and one of the project being funded by a company. When I publish my dissertation, you can read all about it. ;)
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