Dying To Be Healthy

 I thought Jack LaLanne was going to live forever. 

In fact, he said he couldn't die because people would want to know why he died when he was trying to set an example of living a long healthy life. 
I believe in some of his principals for a healthy lifestyle; 

and the ones, I believe in, I don't always follow.

He was against dairy products and I eat dairy like it's my lifeline. 

He said, "If it tastes good, spit it out. It's not good for you." Obviously, he did not enjoy eating healthy foods; 

but since his father died of a heart attack at age 58; he was willing to sacrifice eating tasty foods to live longer. 

Eating healthy foods is an acquired taste. It doesn't come naturally.

Now that my husband and I are forced to eat healthier; that is, if we want to see the sun rise; we have limited eating 

some unhealthy foods; such as hot dogs, french fries and red meat.  

Every time we go to Home Depot and smell that greasy burger frying on the grill just outside the entrance, it takes us 

back to the good old days when we were not aware of the health hazards of clogged arteries.

I say, "That smells so good. All that grease." And then we laugh. We lost that "acquired" greasy taste; although, not the love of burgers.  

Occasionally, we will have an organic burger or bison burger.

I agree that processed foods with extra sugar, salt; and other, health destroying additives to natural foods will eventually kill us, including the foods that are genetically engineered.

Whenever I hear the increase in birth defects, ADHD, and Autism

I think it might be mass production of ready-made processed foods. 

I believe that any long term artificial additive to the 

human system can effect a human; one way or the other.

Doctors and Society chastise mothers when they drink alcohol while pregnant. Yet, Society and the medical community don't come down hard enough on the food industry for the same sins

of creating unhealthy conditions by processing 

unhealthy food.

"...LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia at his home on January 23, 2011. 

According to his family, he had been sick for a week, but refused to see a doctor. 

They added that he had been performing his daily workout routine the day before his death..." 

There is a blood test that I heard about that can give you the 
approximate age you will DIE; that is, if you don't get hit by a 
car or get a disease.  It can't determine if you will die healthy 
or decrepit. 

I believe we all have a DNA Time Clock in our body. 

That's why, I believe that George Burns could live to be 100; in 


spite, of the fact, he always smoked cigars and drank 


whisky. That's why, I believe that Bob Hope could live to be a 


100 and his wife,Doris,105. 

In spite, of living healthy and having a DNA Time Clock, a person can always get a disease.

Steve Jobs, Apple genius, ate all kinds of veggie, organic foods during his life. He ended up with cancer anyway.

.."In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer,^[114]  and in mid-2004 he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas.^[115] The prognosis forpancreatic cancer is usually very poor;^[116] Jobs stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.^[115] Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for mainstream medical intervention for nine months,^[6] instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Dr. Ramzi Amir, his choice of alternative treatment "led to an unnecessarily early death".^[114] According to Jobs's biographer, Walter Isaacson, "for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer -- a decision he later regretted as his health declined."^[117] "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic.... 

Even my husband said he would never rely on health foods alone, without surgery or chemo, to stop cancer. 

LaLanne's DNA Time Clock kicked in at age 96.  He probably knew it and refused hospital care.  Although, healthy eating, possibly, prevented him from getting a heart attack like his dad's. His older brother died at 97. Was he on the same diet? 


Steve Jobs died at 56 from a disease, in spite of his health foods; but he refused the medical care he needed that could have prolonged his healthy lifestyle. 

In spite of all our health consciousness, there is no magic formula for living a longer life; maybe a healthier life; but no guarantee that it will be a diseased free, or injured free, life.


Living healthy will not help us make the correct medical decisions that could save our life; so we can reach our DNA Time Clock.


I think Jack LaLanne reached his DNA Time Clock at 96.

He successfully reached his goal because he lived the way he wanted to live up until the end. 

7 Ways To Protect Yourself from Contaminates

WINE-ING On My Blog

Limestone caves transformed into wine cellars. Tunnels ran between all the Chateaus and were later sealed to keep out unwanted guests.

 

The limestone tunnels: storing aging wine

Visiting Chateau Beau Sejour-Becot Winery above  GroundChateau Sejour-Becot

First fermenting stage:  7 weeks in the Vat 
 

Limestone cave: Grapevines roots coming through from above Beau Sejour-Becot vineyard


Chateau Fonplegade uses Oak Vats instead of Stainless Steel 

French Oak Barrels at Beau Sejour- Bocet: 18 months fermenting


Another way of turning the barrels 
for sediment extraction Chateau Fonplegade

American owned Chateau Fonplegade:  the driver and  I

Tasting the Wine while it ferments

So I am in France with my husband on his business trip; mainly for the sake of touring the Bordeaux Chateaus for their wines. The same wines, we discovered, that we can buy at our local Wine Exchange store near our California home. What a surprise!! 
When the wine label says: made in Bordeaux, France, it's really true. It doesn't mean: Ma and Pa's backyard vineyard.
So we went all that way to France to learn how they made our neighborhood wine.

Most the wineries, although lovely landscapes with old Chateaus, basically use all the same modern processing methods.
We visited 5 factories with lines of  stainless steel vats and only "French" oak barrels.
The Chateaus are residences and off limits in our tours.  We only visited the outer, more modern and remodeled, buildings that housed the production line. All the factories were spotless when the work was done.

Every winemaker has a slightly different technique, but all the same time period for harvesting and fermenting. There is only a 2 week harvest period in the Fall; with an exception for this year when they harvested a 3rd week. The weather rules. The French are not allowed to irrigate.

From what I gather from the fermenting process: after the sorting and stem removal, the grapes are mixed with yeast; some wineries add sugar; others use the sweetness of the grape. Once in the vat, the grapes are monitored from a computerized board showing the fluctuating sugar and alcohol levels during it's first 7 weeks of fermenting with skins and seeds. The next step is to separate the juice from their skins and seeds by siphoning the juice out and into small French oak barrels that are lying sideways in rows. The oak barrels add flavor while continuing to ferment for 18 months. During this time, the barrels are turned every 3 months to release the sediment which is extracted by siphoning out the juice first from the barrels.  One very simple traditional technique used in the final stage of clarifying the wine:  3 or 4 beaten (now pasteurized) egg whites are quickly mixed into the fermented wine while in the barrels. The heavier egg whites drop through the lighter liquid wine, to the bottom of the barrel; cleaning out the remaining sediment (making the wine shiny, as one young Frenchman told us). Some winemakers use a more modern filtering method.

The grape skins and seeds, remaining in the large vats are taken out and squeezed in a press, to release the remaining thick, cloudy more flavored juice of the grape. It is measured by taste and added to the first extracted juices from the vat, already in the barrels. This gives the wine added body and flavor.
Different varieties of fermented grape juice are blended later: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, etc. I noticed the more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend, the milder and heavier the wine which is my preference.

Then it is bottled.

Presto!

Some traditionally old 1900- 1800 Chateau wineries are owned by Americans or investment companies; mainly insurance companies.
The Chateau Beau Sejour-Becot winery in Saint Emilion, belongs to a 4th Generation, the great grandfather dying last year. We were escorted by a friend of a friend who took us down into the limestone caves under their modern factory building where the oldest wines were stored over the years.
Really creepy. I actually thought I would start running and screaming at any moment through the cave, possibly getting lost, during the tour because it was so dark. It was a spidery dungeon. 
But the wine bottles have to be in a dark and cold place for the preservation of the wine. At least it was dark enough so I couldn't see the spiders.

The wine cellar cave is the remains of the limestone cave era when they dug out the stones for building their Chateaus and Cathedrals. At that time, the winemakers realized that the limestone caves added to the flavor of their wines because their vineyards were growing on top of the caves.  The limestones caves would not hold water in the ground for the grape vines; thereby, starving the grapes of water to make them concentrated with more flavor. The grapes were smaller; and not saturated with water which resulted in plumper grapes with less flavor. 
The wineries that are not located above the limestone have more sandy soils; and therefore, a different methods of concentrating the grape juices. They plant grass between the rows of vineyards which competes for the water; thereby, starving the grapes vines.
One vine will produce 1/2 bottle of wine to get the concentrated amount needed.

Interesting that the French are not allowed to irrigate the vineyards; leaving it to Mother Nature. Yet they are allowed to force feed their ducks. I guess it would sound worse if they let the ducks starve, instead of the grapes.

An American couple own the Chateau Fonplegade and have been buying and selling French wineries for years in the area.

With the influx of new owners, the wines are still very much under the control of the French wine industry.  The top classified wines must be grown, harvested ( 2 weeks), fermented (Vats: 7 weeks; barrels: 18 months) and bottled on the same vineyard.  Unlike the wines in the States, French winemakers cannot transfer any grapes or equipment across vineyard property lines. They only use French Oak barrels; never American oak because it adds a different taste to the wines.

The best wine is considered to be the one that lasts the longest in the bottle. As it matures, the flavor changes in the bottle every year; so whatever year you open a 30 year wine, the flavor will always be different from year to year up to 30 years when it has reached it maturity age. The science, we are told, is so exact that they know how long the wine will last.

Of course, they will try to sell us the most expensive wine that will last 25 to 30 years. And of course, I tell them that the best wine is the one I can drink now, since I may not be around in 25 years.
They could sell me a wine that I can drink today that was bottled 25 years ago, but there are too many inexpensive wines that are just as good since there are not that many ways to change the flavor of wine since the process is restricted to strict wine laws.  It's not like they could add piss to it.

I always ask, "Was it a good year?" When the wine was bottled. The weather, in that year, would be an indicator. The year is on the bottle. 
I was told by the person pouring the wine that it was  not  a good year  that we were tasting; although it tasted o.k. to me.
 
The way my taste runs, the high value wines had too much acidity; and therefore, I went for a lower grade that was milder. If I want acid, I can always drink fruit juice with a splash of vinegar.

My philosophy, when tasting wines, is to buy what I like and not what is advertised as the best grade of wine because it is an acquired taste; and naturally, a connoisseur of wines will have an acquired taste that is far beyond my experience.
I know from past experience that when I drank a better grade of "acidity" wine, I could get drunk enough to enjoy it. 

Cheers! 

 Margaux, France 
http://www.frenchscout.com/types-of-red-wines
http://www.wineloverspage.com/cgi-bin/quest/ga.cgi?q=14

The Wine Advocate Vintage Guide (as of 6/30/2011) 2010 - 1970 
Wine Glossary
http://www.erobertparker.com/info/rparker.asp

Getting Fired

My daughter called, early California time, " Mom, something terrible happened to me."

She said, "I was fired!"

They were rather heartless in the way they told her to leave, although not fired, as she was never hired. I reminded her that she was done with her nonpaying Internship last week and they needed to bring in new Interns.

She now has graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and should get her certificate in November. She can now look for a full time paying job.

Due to her mental illness and having been so lost in mental facilities for years, she had lost some of her confidence. Now she is forced into the working world. I completely understand that feeling.

I was definitely clueless with no confidence on how to maneuver through the work force. Although, my daughter is more fragile than I, at this point in her life; and she is always second guessing herself.  She calls me several times a day to reconfirm her decision.

I told her that getting fired is not always a bad thing; it can be the best thing to happen to her when she is not listening to her gut feeling. She sensed her Internship had ended when they started giving her errands that were not related to her skills. Her employers are not sophisticated when it comes to terminating Interns and they had told her to just " stop coming to work."  Although the school's criteria for an Internship is 6 weeks, there was no date specific in writing. 

There once was a time when I thought getting fired was horrific. Now, I wished I had gotten fired on the first day; even better, NEVER HIRED in the first place.  I thought a job would turn into a career once I found the right niche. Finally, I just resigned myself that God put me on the wrong planet because I never did find that niche; but it was because I did not listen to my gut feelings.

Maybe we should use our gut feeling in work situations. You know that saying: The writing is on the wall. I never paid attention to the wall, although I knew it was there.

That psychology test I took in college brings back memories of using my gut feeling.  

The professor thought he would have some fun by giving us a test on traditional beliefs.  Comments we had heard from our parents or relatives while growing up.

Realizing all the beliefs on the quiz sounded familiar because they were well worn, my gut feeling told me that they were either  'all true' or 'all false.' 

At the end of the test, the professor asked the class, "How many of you believe 5 of these beliefs are true out of the 25?" Some students raised their hand. He continued questioning the class, changing the possibilities. Students continued to raise their hand.

Watching this process, only reconfirmed my gut feeling: all the beliefs were either true or false because he did not single out any one belief as being true or false.

I was the Only One in class who raised my hand when 
he asked, "Who thinks these beliefs are All  True?

I was the only student that answered every statement consistently.  Consistently wrong,  according to the professor.

It was more important for me to stay true to my convictions (gut feelings) by marking 'true' down the line on every statement.  Why wouldn't these 'traditional beliefs' be TRUE at some point in Time? Why would someone repeat something for hundreds of years if there wasn't a smidgen of truth.  Maybe, they didn't and still don't have the science to prove it; so it becomes a belief.  Maybe, we are living in a matrix society ( an organizational structure in which two or more lines of  communication may run through the same individual.) in which we realize we come from the past and these 'traditional beliefs'  did help us into the present.

I believe in guardian angels. They help me drive my car because I am not mechanically apt. There is no scientific proof they exist.  It's my gut feeling and it works for me.

Relying on a pay check, also, puts us in a position to accept abusive behavior and emotional stress when our gut tells us we should leave that material security for our emotional security.
While I tell my daughters that they need to work, I also tell them that they should not tolerate abusive behavior in their work environment.

Incivility is rising: "In August, there was a flurry of press coverage around what the American Psychological Association deemed as an increase in “workplace incivility,” or a form of organizational deviance characterized by behaviors that violate respectful workplace norms – aka rudeness. 

Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate’s Civility in America 2011 poll reported 43 percent of Americans as saying they’ve experienced incivility at work, and 38 percent as believing that the workplace is increasingly disrespectful.  Sixty-seven percent of respondents cited a critical need for civility training. 

Being fired, I learned over the years can be an opportunity to advance out of a hostile environment or an opportunity to find the right career. We are often tied to that feeling of security: a pay check; in spite of our emotional well being or gut feelings. My daughter's gut feelings were well sounded, but she ignored them, also. She wasn't growing, but becoming stagnant in that environment after 6 weeks and it was time to move on.

Kristine brushed herself off and hit the sidewalks handing out her resume to chefs who worked at popular restaurants in NYC. The pastry chef at Gotham restaurant asked Kristine if she wanted to intern or have a job. Kristine told her she wanted to intern to see if she could handle the hours. For 2 days, 12pm to 10pm; and one day from 6pm to 1am she will follow the pastry chef and work. She called us in France to say, "that job kicked my ass." She made lots of rolls and
pie crusts. Sunday, a day off, she took a knitting class.
Although she is fearful she may not be able to handle the work load, she is busy staying  active which keeps her out of the park, smoking. She sounds upbeat. 

As I write this, I know our government 'sucks' at creating jobs and I am waiting for 2012 when we have another government that is more responsive to the lack of job positions in the country.  In the meantime, you may not want to be fired until then.  Just a gut feeling I have. 

You may want to read: “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t.” 

 After reading the reviews, this book doesn't give solutions, as much as educating you on what "assholes" sound like in the workplace; and maybe, you could be one, too; but the point is: be aware of your environment and how it can harm you emotionally.

5 Ways to Stop Self Guessing Yourself

1. Test them against your values.
So many times we have to make decisions without a framework and no way to judge between two choices.  When faced with a tricky decision it’s often a good idea to line up your choices and ask “Which one of these most honors the things that mean the most to me?”
The decision that’s most in line with the things that mean the most to you – your core values – will be the best decision for you.  That might not be the simplest or most practical, but because it fits with who you are and what’s most important to you it will always be the best decision for you.
2. Trust your gut.
When I was growing up I used to love rainy Sunday afternoons watching Columbo, especially the bit at the end where he’d sidle up to the Bad Guy, say “Just one more thing” and then proceed to blow apart the bad guys alibi.  Just brilliant.
What Columbo had bundles of was a great trust in his intuition.  In every episode, from the very moment he first meets the bad guy, he knows ‘whodunnit’ – and he always trusts that.
So look at what your intuition tells you is the ‘right’ decision for you.  Forget about all the “What if’s” and the myriad, tiny details – what is your gut telling you?  Listen to your intuition, it knows what it’s talking about.
3. It just doesn’t matter.......
It’s easy to get wrapped up in second guessing yourself, going round in circles and over-complicating things, when – if you get right down to it – it just doesn’t matter. Going round in circles is only going to make you dizzy, so stop it.  Ask yourself this question – if your future happiness wasn’t dependent on your decision (and it isn’t, by the way), which way would you go?
4. Have enough information.
Go and get the facts before you make a complex decision.  By all means weigh up the pro’s and con’s so that you can get an understanding of what’s behind a choice.  But be careful – there’s a huge difference between knowing enough to make a choice, and knowing everything to make a choice.
When you feel yourself pursuing every fact or every piece of information before you make a decision, stop yourself.  Ask “What do I really need to know to make this decision?” and focus your efforts on getting the best information relatively quickly, rather than pursuing all of the information you could get your hands on given a longer period of time.
5. Respect your doubts.
We all naturally shy away from change, and we’ve developed a whole bunch of tricks that make it easy for us to avoid making decisions and stay exactly where we are.  That part of you is often called the “Gremlin”, and it’s the part of you that would rather avoid making decisions altogether rather than run the risk of making a bad one or screwing up.
Your Gremlin is not the same thing as having doubts, which are valid concerns about a possible course of action, or reasonable concerns about what might be in store. Your doubts can help you prepare for change and get ready for what could happen.
Your Gremlin is adept at feeding on your doubts and using them to get you to stay put, so knowing the difference between your Gremlin and your valid doubts helps you clarify what’s real and what’s imagined, what’s relevant and what’s irrelevant.