Films are presented by the Nevada City Film Fest and SYRCL

Be sure to visit the Nevada City Film Festival “Pop Up Movie Theatre”
at this year’s Green Life Eco Fest where two days of inspiring,
thought-provoking and entertaining films will be screened.  Located
inside the historic North Star House in one of the home’s grand
parlors, an array of films including “The Story of Stuff” short films,
“Quest for Local Honey”, “Ripe for Change”, “One Day on Earth”, and a
selection of films from the 2012 Wild & Scenic Film Festival will
screen throughout the day on both Saturday and Sunday.

ABOUT THE FILMS

Saturday – 1pm (Running time 63min)
“Quest for Local Honey” – Our Quest is one of finding how humans are
working hand in wing with the bees to create locally focused circles
of economics, sustainable food production while keeping the health of
the hive alive! We are looking at honey bee lore, pollination
projects, inspired beekeepers of all kinds, local honey’s effect on
humans, the bee-human relationship & of course, Bee-Positive efforts
celebrating the Bee all over the United States.  More information
www.questforlocalhoney.com

“Fixing the Future” trailer – In a one-hour PBS special that premieres
Thurs., Nov. 18, David Brancaccio visits communities across America
using innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity in our
new economy.  Fixing the Future teamed up with YES! Magazine to find
useful tools and innovations for communities working to build a new
economy.

The Woolman Semester School student made short documentaries.

Saturday – 3pm (Running time 35 min)
Selections from Wild & Scenic Film Festival - Once the curtain closes in Nevada City, SYRCL shares their success with other organizations
nationwide by packaging the 3-day event into a one-night festival
which visits over 100 communities nationwide. The tour is building a
grassroots network of organizations connected by a common goal of
using film to inspire activism. The festival’s five National Partners:
Clif Bar, Patagonia, Osprey Packs, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, and
Mother Jones have joined together to support this campaign. They help
to bring these inspiring and provocative films to communities across
the country. Enjoy the films!  Program includes “Brower Youth Awards:
Junior Walk”, “Season’s Winter”, “Timber”, “A Liter of Light”, “Corner Plot”,
“Seasons: Spring”, and “Chasing Water”.  More info at
www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org

The Story of Bottled Water (Running Time 5min)
The Story of Bottled Water tells the story of manufactured demand–how
you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water
every week when it already flows from the tap. Over five minutes, the
film explores the bottled water industry’s attacks on tap water and
its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the
mountains of plastic waste it produces

The Story of Electronics (Running Time 8min)
The Story of Electronics explores the high-tech revolution’s
collateral damage–25 million tons of e-waste and counting, poisoned
workers and a public left holding the bill. Annie takes viewers from
the mines and factories where our gadgets begin to the horrific
backyard recycling shops in China where many end up.

Saturday – 4pm (Running Time 105min)
“One Day on Earth” - On November 11th, 11.11.11, across the planet,
documentary filmmakers, students, and other inspired citizens will
record the human experience over a 24-hour period and contribute their
voice to the second annual global day of media creation called One Day
on Earth. Together, we will create a shared archive and a film.
Founded in 2008, One Day on Earth’s first media creation event
occurred on 10.10.10. The collaboration was the first ever
simultaneous filming event occurring in every country of the world. It
created a unique geo-tagged video archive as well as an upcoming
feature film. Together, we are showcasing the amazing diversity,
conflict, tragedy, and triumph that occurs in one day. We invite you
to join our international community of thousands of filmmakers,
hundreds of schools, and dozens of non-profits, and contribute to this
unique global mosaic. One Day on Earth is a community that not only
watches, but participates.  More info www.onedayonearth.org/

Sunday – noon (Running time 20min)
“Story of Stuff” – The Story of Stuff is a short polemical animated
documentary about the lifecycle of material goods. The documentary is
critical of excessive consumerism and promotes sustainability.  More
info www.storyofstuff.org

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC (Running Time 9min)
The Story of Citizens United v. FEC explores the history of the
American corporation and corporate political spending, the appropriate
roles of citizens and for-profit corporations in a democracy and the
toxic impact the Citizens United v. FEC decision is having on our
political process. It ends with a call to amend the U.S. constitution
to confirm that people–not corporations–make the decisions in a
democracy.

The Story of Cosmetics (Running Time 8 min)
The Story of Cosmetics examines the pervasive use of toxic chemicals
in our everyday personal care products, from lipstick to baby shampoo.
The seven-minute film reveals the implications for consumer and worker
health and the environment and outlines ways we can move the industry
away from hazardous chemicals and towards safer alternatives.

The Story of Broke (Running Time 8min)
The United States isn’t broke; we’re the richest country on the planet
and a country in which the richest among us are doing exceptionally
well. But the truth is, our economy is broken, producing more
pollution, greenhouse gasses and garbage than any other country. In
these and so many other ways, it just isn’t working. But rather than
invest in something better, we continue to keep this ‘dinosaur
economy’ on life support with hundreds of billions of dollars of our
tax money. The Story of Broke calls for a shift in government spending
toward investments in clean, green solutions–renewable energy, safer
chemicals and materials, zero waste and more–that can deliver jobs AND
a healthier environment. It’s time to rebuild the American Dream; but
this time, let’s build it better.

Sunday – 1pm (Running Time 90min)
“Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days” is an independent
documentary film that chronicles six Americans with diabetes who
switch to a diet consisting entirely of vegan, organic, uncooked food
in order to reverse disease without pharmaceutical medication. The six
are challenged to give up meat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, nicotine,
caffeine, soda, junk food, fast food, processed food, packaged food,
and even cooked food for 30 days. The film follows each participant’s
remarkable journey and captures the medical, physical, and emotional
transformations brought on by this radical diet and lifestyle change.
We witness moments of struggle, support, and hope as what is revealed,
with startling clarity, is that diet can reverse disease and change
lives.  More info http://www.rawfor30days.com/movie.html

Sunday – 3pm (Running Time 55min)
“Ripe for Change” - California — always a fascinating marriage of
opposite extremes — is at a cross-roads in agriculture. Many
Californians are struggling to fend off over development and the loss
of farming lands and traditions while embracing innovative visions of
agricultural sustainability. Through the “window” of food and
agriculture, RIPE FOR CHANGE reveals two parallel yet contrasting
views of our world. One holds that large-scale agriculture, genetic
engineering, and technology promise a hunger-less future. The other
calls for a more organic, sustainable, and locally focused style of
farming that reclaims the aesthetic and nurturing qualities of food
and considers the impact of agriculture on the environment, on
communities, and on workers.  More info www.snagfilms.com

Gratitude is Good for You

Our world is pretty messed up. With all the violence, pollution and crazy things people do, it would be easy to turn into a grouchy old man without being either elderly or male. There’s certainly no shortage of justification for disappointment and cynicism.

But consider this: Negative attitudes are bad for you. And gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you’re going to get a world that is, well, more mean and frustrating. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks, anything that is going right with the world or your life, and put your attention there, then statistics say you’re going to be better off.

Does this mean to live in a state of constant denial and put your head in the sand? Of course not. Gratitude works when you’re grateful for something real. Feeling euphoric and spending money like you just won the lottery when you didn’t is probably going to make you real poor, real quick. But what are you actually grateful for? It’s a question that could change your life.

Recent studies have concluded that the expression of gratitude can have profound and positive effects on our health, our moods and even the survival of our marriages.

As Drs. Blaire and Rita Justice reported for the University of Texas Health Science Center, “a growing body of research shows that gratitude is truly amazing in its physical and psychosocial benefits.”

In one study on gratitude, conducted by Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., at the University of California at Davis and his colleague Mike McCullough at the University of Miami, randomly assigned participants were given one of three tasks. Each week, participants kept a short journal. One group briefly described five things they were grateful for that had occurred in the past week, another five recorded daily hassles from the previous week that displeased them, and the neutral group was asked to list five events or circumstances that affected them, but they were not told whether to focus on the positive or on the negative. Ten weeks later, participants in the gratitude group felt better about their lives as a whole and were a full 25 percent happier than the hassled group. They reported fewer health complaints, and exercised an average of 1.5 hours more.

In a later study by Emmons, people were asked to write every day about things for which they were grateful. Not surprisingly, this daily practice led to greater increases in gratitude than did the weekly journaling in the first study. But the results showed another benefit: Participants in the gratitude group also reported offering others more emotional support or help with a personal problem, indicating that the gratitude exercise increased their goodwill towards others, or more tehnically, their “pro-social” motivation.

Another study on gratitude was conducted with adults having congenital and adult-onset neuromuscular disorders (NMDs), with the majority having post-polio syndrome (PPS). Compared to those who were not jotting down their blessings nightly, participants in the gratitude group reported more hours of sleep each night, and feeling more refreshed upon awakening. The gratitude group also reported more satisfaction with their lives as a whole, felt more optimism about the upcoming week, and felt considerably more connected with others than did participants in the control group.

Perhaps most tellingly, the positive changes were markedly noticeable to others. According to the researchers, “Spouses of the participants in the gratitude (group) reported that the participants appeared to have higher subjective well-being than did the spouses of the participants in the control (group).”

There’s an old saying that if you’ve forgotten the language of gratitude, you’ll never be on speaking terms with happiness. It turns out this isn’t just a fluffy idea. Several studies have shown depression to be inversely correlated to gratitude. It seems that the more grateful a person is, the less depressed they are. Philip Watkins, a clinical psychologist at Eastern Washington University, found that clinically depressed individuals showed significantly lower gratitude (nearly 50 percent less) than non-depressed controls.

Dr. John Gottman at the University of Washington has been researching marriages for two decades. The conclusion of all that research, he states, is that unless a couple is able to maintain a high ratio of positive to negative encounters (5:1 or greater), it is likely the marriage will end.

With 90 percent accuracy, Gottman says he can predict, often after only three minutes of observation, which marriages are likely to flourish and which are likely to flounder. The formula is that for every negative expression (a complaint, frown, put-down, expression of anger) there needs to be about five positive ones (smiles, compliments, laughter, expressions of appreciation and gratitude).

Apparently, positive vibes aren’t just for hippies. If you want in on the fun, here are some simple things you can do to build positive momentum toward a more happy and fulfilling life:

1) Keep a daily journal of three things you are thankful for. This works well first thing in the morning, or just before you go to bed.

2) Make it a practice to tell a spouse, partner or friend something you appreciate about them every day.

3) Look in the mirror when you are brushing your teeth, and think about something you have done well recently or something you like about yourself.

Sure this world gives us plenty of reasons to despair. But when we get off the fast track to morbidity, and cultivate instead an attitude of gratitude, things don’t just look better — they actually get better. Thankfulness feels good, it’s good for you and it’s a blessing for the people around you, too. It’s such a win-win-win that I’d say we have cause for gratitude.

Follow Ocean Robbins on Twitter: www.twitter.com/oceanrobbins

John Robbins

Author, ‘The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less’

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Why is Coca-Cola often more affordable than clean water? Why are candy bars and cigarettes often more readily available than fresh fruits and vegetables?

If you want to eat healthfully, you have to fight an uphill battle. Why are government subsidies pushing in the wrong direction?

Who would it hurt if we enacted policies that actually encouraged the foods that are healthiest for people and for our world? Who opposes the efforts to make it easier, rather than harder, for people to make healthy food choices?

Government Policy Consistently Favors Big Agribusiness

As I describe in my new book No Happy Cows, agrichemical companies, factory farms and junk food manufacturers are quite happy with things the way they are. Thanks to their lobbying clout, government policies consistently favor the financial interests of these special interests over public health, even though the result is trillions of dollars in additional health care expenses.

Here’s an example: In just the last two years, 24 states have considered legislation that would place a tax on soft drinks. These “soda taxes” would discourage consumption of drinks high in sugar, thus reducing obesity and health care costs. And they would also raise money that could be used to subsidize healthier foods. But in every single state, the legislation has been defeated. PepsiCo Inc., the Coca-Cola Company, and the American Beverage Association have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to determine the outcome.

“In the political arena, one side is winning the war on child obesity,” a new Reuters report on the food lobby begins. “The side with the fattest wallets.”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, perhaps the best-financed lobbying force for healthier food, spent about $70,000 lobbying last year — roughly what those opposing stricter guidelines on sugary sodas in the U.S. spent every 13 hours.

Spending $1 Trillion on the Wrong Things

Next week, the U.S. Senate will begin floor debate on the 2012 Farm Bill, which lays the groundwork for nearly $1 trillion in U.S. government spending over the next decade. Most of that spending goes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP — still sometimes referred to as food stamps), and to subsidies and incentives for farmers.

Efforts to restrict SNAP spending to healthier foods have been fought bitterly, and successfully, by the junk food lobbies.

Meanwhile, the current Senate proposal would give tens of billions of dollars in subsidies to Big Agribusiness, but would give next to nothing to programs benefiting the environment, organic food, nutrition, or small farmers. The food blog Civil Eats calls the proposal an “all-you-can-eat-buffet for the subsidy lobby.”

In a national poll last year, 78 percent said making nutritious and healthy foods more affordable and accessible should be a top priority in the farm bill. But that’s not what’s on the table in this year’s “agri-business as usual” farm bill.

Kari Hamerschlag, Senior Food and Agriculture Analyst for the Environmental Working Group, explains that the current proposal would actually “slash programs for conservation, nutrition, rural development and beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers.”

For example, funding for research in organic farming would be cut to almost nothing, while corn growers, who have received $73.8 billion in subsidies in the last 15 years, would get even more now. Subsidized GMO corn is used to produce cheap high-fructose corn syrup, a substance that even Vice President Joe Biden says is more likely to kill an American than terrorism.

This heavily subsidized genetically modified corn is also fed to livestock in factory farms and feedlots — at unfairly reduced prices.

“Factory farms pose a serious public health hazard, so why are they subsidized by public money?” asks Food Revolution Summit speaker Dr. Neal Barnard. “These facilities pump out high-fat, high-cholesterol meat products and often pollute waterways — yet they also receive generous subsidies under the Farm Bill. We want Congress to stop rewarding facilities that endanger public health.”

These subsidies aren’t just costing U.S. taxpayers and enriching big agribusiness. They are also having a devastating impact on the health of tens of millions of people.

With all that we now know about nutrition, what kind of sense do these government policies make?

Chart courtesy of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines say eating more healthful plant-based foods and less saturated fat and cholesterol helps prevent heart problems and other life-threatening medical conditions.

But 63 percent of the government’s agricultural subsidies for domestic food products in recent history have supported meat and dairy production — the very foods highest in saturated fat and cholesterol. Less than 1 percent of these subsidies have gone to fruits and vegetables.

Food Revolution, Anyone?

The good news is that people are waking up, and you can join in the movement! Increasing numbers of people across partisan lines are calling for government policy to stop supporting the loudest lobbyists, and to start supporting the health of the population. And with the Farm Bill coming up for vote soon, this is a great time to get involved.

1. Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your senators’ and/or representative’s office. Tell them the Farm Bill should invest in food that is healthy for people and the earth. Tell them that instead of cutting support for nutrition, conservation and anti-hunger programs, they should cut crop insurance programs that only benefit the largest and wealthiest agribusiness operations.
2. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is one of many organizations doing brilliant work on this issue in the U.S. Find out more and sign up to take action here.
3. Educate yourself by reading books like No Happy Cows. You’ll learn how to protect yourself in an age of predatory marketing. And your body will thank you for the rest of your life.

John Robbins is the author of many bestsellers including No Happy Cows: Dispatches From The Frontlines of The Food Revolution and Diet For A New America. He and his son, Ocean Robbins, are co-hosts of the 32,000 member Food Revolution Network. He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, the Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award, and Green America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. To learn more about his work, visit http://www.johnrobbins.info.

How to make almond milk

From http://vegan.sheknows.com/2012/03/12/how-to-make-almond-milk/

It’s true: You can buy almond milk in cartons at the grocery store. But making your own almond milk is easy, fun, and, best yet, it tastes ultra-fresh — because it is. We found this awesome homemade almond milk recipe in The Naked Foods Cookbook. Enjoy!

Almond Milk

Recipe from The Naked Foods Cookbook: The Whole-Foods, Healthy Fats, Gluten-Free Guide to Losing Weight and Feeling Great by Margaret Floyd and James Berry. Reprinted with permission by New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Makes 2-1/2 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 cups raw almonds, soaked for at least 8 hours
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 pitted dates

Directions:

1. Using a dishtowel, squeeze each soaked almond to remove the skin.
2. Combine the peeled almonds with vanilla, dates, and 3 cups filted water in a high-powered blender. Puree until smooth.
3. Line a sieve with cheesecloth and strain the almond milk to get rid of any bits.
4. Store in the refrigerator in a glass jar and use as you would milk.
5. You can use the leftover almond bits in a smoothie or in cookies.

(And by hot we mean achieving a hotter basal body temperature.)

Matt Stone will show you how to heal your hormonal problems – lose weight, regain your sanity, and GET HOT.  He’ll be here June 24th.  Read below for Matt’s blog.

The Importance of Metabolism

Metabolism is a word we generically think of when it comes to weight loss. Metabolism, as we know it, means how many calories we burn per day. Metabolism, as I’ve come to understand it, is of course much, much more – and even the word metabolism as it is commonly used is a misnomer.

For example, if you jog for a couple of hours every day this is said to raise your metabolism because you are burning more calories through exercise. This is false. Jogging dramatically lowers metabolism, especially when taken to such excesses – instead it is the Total Energy Expenditure or TEE that is raised by burning more calories through exercise while the basal metabolic rate or BMR drops. If you stop jogging, it is easier to gain fat than ever before because your metabolism has been lowered by this form of exercise. This is just one of the many myths surrounding metabolism. Another is that thin people have “high metabolisms,” which is sometimes the case, and sometimes not the case at all. All different body types can have an underlying low metabolism. You can store excess fat from a low metabolism, or be incapable of building tissue effectively and suffer from muscle underdevelopment and an emaciated or skinny-fat look.

An increasingly popular myth is the idea that it’s good to have a low metabolism – and that if we burn energy more slowly we will live longer. Much of this stems from laboratory research showing that severe calorie restriction (like eating half of what you normally eat) prolongs life in several species like fruit flies, rats, monkeys…

But, like most research, this prolongation of life is taken completely out of context and then turned around and applied to adult humans living and interacting in the real world. It ignores aspects of drastic and game-changing significance like…

1) The only people successful at permanently reducing calorie intake by at least half are those that develop an eating disorder (and dieting at a young age is the top “risk factor” for developing an eating disorder), the deadliest known psychological disease that affects 11 million Americans, mostly young women – and globally has killed more people than the Holocaust.

2) Humans are surrounded by endless abundance and temptation for food, and with real people in the real world, cutting calories by half leads to massive rebound hyperphagia (pigging out – as is seen in yo-yo dieting and every human calorie-restriction trial ever conducted).

3) Calorie restriction experiments are done with animals from birth. This is a hugely significant difference, and the bodies’ of the creatures can develop at a rate that makes the low calorie intake sufficient – but this calorie intake is insufficient and causes rapid degeneration when the calorie level is cut after adulthood has already been reached. Comparing calorie restriction from birth to calorie restriction begun in adulthood is a completely invalid comparison.

4) Calorie-restricted laboratory animals display many characteristics of neurosis, anxiety, and social/behavioral disorders. Thinking that cutting calories will lead to a long and prosperous life in a human is total fantasy that ignores what science has already shown us.

5) A laboratory is a sterile environment, and even if the calorie restricted animals lived longer and did have a verifiably slower metabolic rate (pound for pound I don’t think they do), it’s hard to compare this to the real world. The real world is filled with opportunistic organisms and other pathogens, and a high metabolism controls the strength of the immune system completely. A high body temperature – a result of a high metabolism, protects from invasion just like a fever wipes an infection out. More importantly, it is obvious when looking at the real world what happens when food becomes scarce – famines lead to widespread disease and infection at astronomically higher rates.

The last example we’ll use as a springboard into talking about the critical importance of maintaining the highest metabolic rate that you are capable of maintaining for health, infectious and degenerative disease resistance, fertility and sex drive, muscle mass and energy and vigor, high-quality functionality and longevity, and much more.

For starters, we all want to avoid getting sick. Viruses, yeasts, fungi, parasites, and bacteria surround us, and it doesn’t take much of a crack in the armor for us to succumb to everything from a common cold or sinus infection to something far more serious. The metabolism is more or less the ultimate protection, and having adequate food supplies in nature protects against widespread epidemics of disease in every species, not just humans. However, when a species outgrows its food supply and no longer has enough food to maintain optimal metabolism, the pathogens quickly take over and disease spreads quickly.

This can all be attributed to a drop in body temperature, which systematically slows down many enzymatic reactions vital to maximal immune system potency as well as many other involved factors. In fact, even a simple drop in body fat levels due to inadequate calorie intake (something I argue is fundamentally different from weight loss that is induced without hunger, conscious attempts to restrict calories, or excessive exercise) lowers the hormone leptin – the master hormone well-understood to regulate appetite, metabolism, and immune system potency. It also raises the stress hormone cortisol, the primary aging and immunosuppressive hormone.

Of course, you’re now thinking “outgrow our food supply? Humans clearly haven’t done that!” And you’re right. Food is more abundant than ever, and your typical person is looking to lose fat not gain it. We’ll get to that in a minute, but let’s say for now that you can have a low metabolism because of a shortage of anything, from lack of sleep to lack of certain nutrients – not just overall calories. And on any given day in the United States for example, 45% of the population reports actively being on some kind of diet – which often triggers the same famine physiology as a real famine.

This is of course compounded by the fact that 35% of the calories in the American diet come from fat, 25% from refined sugar, and another substantial amount from white flour, refined corn products, and other foods that have next to no nutritional value. When you get 50-80% of your calories from low-nutrient fat and carbohydrates that have been stripped of all their nutritional content down to a syrup or white powder, developing a subclinical nutrient deficiency over time is virtually guaranteed.

It’s certainly worth pointing out that infectious disease is not just infectious disease unfortunately. In fact, I’m a part of a discussion group hosted by researcher and co-author of The Potbelly Syndrome (a book showing the countless connections between degenerative disease and infectious agents), Russ Farris, and weekly we receive up to a dozen new studies, articles, and press releases showing new connections between various pathogens and seemingly unrelated diseases. The connections between various pathogens and an endless array of autoimmune diseases, cancers, chronic fatigue, autism, and even heart disease and diabetes are becoming increasingly well-understood. Keeping the immune system optimized by maintaining a high metabolism has ramifications far beyond how many times you have to call in sick at work.

In short, my many years of investigative study, conversing with thousands of others, and wrapping my head around the big picture of health has led me down one consistent path. Cellular energy production – what one could call “the metabolism” or “metabolic rate” is central or highly-connected to every known health problem. While raising the metabolism isn’t a cure-all for everything, there is no doubt in my mind that with any health problem, the first line of action in overcoming it is getting the metabolism up closer to its ideal range. More importantly, optimizing and guarding the metabolism is the key to preventing illness of all kinds and living life with the maximum number of optimally-functional and disease-free years.

My general rule is that if you have a health problem and a low metabolism, bring the metabolism up first to see if it improves or eliminates the condition. Regardless of the health problem, I believe there is a urgent need to maximize metabolic output for health and well-being in general, so this needs to be addressed no matter what your health problem may be. If that works, great. If it doesn’t, THEN you seek out alternative treatments, supplements, medication, and other things to control the issue. The worst case scenario is that you end up with a healthier metabolism, notice at least a handful of health improvements, but still have a lingering problem.

In the rest of this report I hope to lay out just a small sampling of health problems and issues that are directly and indirectly related to metabolism to give you a picture of just important it is to keep your metabolism at a high level – and of course guide you towards the information that can help you overcome a sluggish metabolism in the first place, and help you figure out what might have caused your metabolic problems at the core. It’s easy to do by the way, if you like sleeping in and eating lots of good food.

Constipation

This is a very common disorder. Most people who go daily believe they are not constipated, but really if you are straining at all, spending more than 60 seconds on the toilet, shooting pellets that look like deer poop – you are constipated to some degree. Like most things, it’s not black and white where one thing is constipation and everything else isn’t constipation. It’s more like a scale of 1-10. Bowel movements should occur 1-3 times daily, be moist and full – breaking apart when flushed, easy to expel, low in odor, require little wiping, and so forth.

Metabolism controls your bowel transit time, which means the amount of time it takes for the food you ate to come out the other end. A healthy transit time is about 24 hours. The mammal with the lowest metabolic rate is the tree sloth, with a body temperature of 93 degrees F and a transit time of 30 days!!! Lifelong constipation commonly disappears in as little as three weeks when metabolism is brought to the ideal level.

Low Energy/Chronic Fatigue

The sloth is a wonderful segue for this topic, as this hypometabolic creature has extremely low energy levels, low muscle mass, sleeps most of the day, and is well, a sloth! Raising your metabolic rate makes you increasingly less sloth-like. Your energy levels rise, your desire for physical activity rises, the quantity of sleep you need to feel rested decreases, drowsiness after meals disappears, and an increase in overall vigor and vitality is the norm.

Low Sex Drive

The metabolic rate controls the rate at which sex hormones like progesterone and testosterone are produced by the body. The higher the metabolic rate, the greater the sex hormone production. The primary hormone responsible for sex drive is testosterone, produced in the testis by men and in smaller amounts in the adrenal glands by women. Thus, higher metabolic rate yields increases in testosterone where it was previously lacking (in women who produce excess testosterone – PCOS, hirsutism, etc., a rise in metabolism can make testosterone drop back to normal levels due to the rise in progesterone it stimulates), which produces much greater sex drive and sexual performance, as well as ease of building muscle, greater leanness, enhanced athletic ability, and so on.

Amenorrhea/Infertility

Lack of menstrual period, menstrual irregularity and PMS, and female infertility are all generally caused by a lack of progesterone – as in “pro gestation hormone.” During the first half of a woman’s menstrual cycle (start of period to roughly day 14), estrogen dominates progesterone – meaning there is a much higher ratio of estrogen to progesterone in the body. This stifles the metabolism, which is why women’s body temperatures are significantly lower during the first half of the cycle than the second half of the cycle – sometimes by more than .5 degrees F. However, the rise of progesterone stimulates ovulation, a large rise in sex drive typically as well as an increase in vaginal lubrication and other pro-sex changes, and a substantial rise in metabolism.

But this swings both ways. In other words, by raising the metabolism you can raise progesterone. The metabolism controls the rate at which LDL “bad cholesterol” is synthesized into progesterone. When this happens, lack of menstrual period clears up, and does so very consistently. My success with this as far as I am aware is 100%. With this comes improvements in fertility as well as improvements in menstrual symptoms, which usually occur at the end of the cycle if insufficient progesterone is being produced.

High cholesterol/High triglycerides

As I just mentioned, the metabolism controls the rate at which LDL “bad cholesterol” is converted to progesterone. This is true for a lengthy series of hormones (testosterone in men), not just progesterone. Cholesterol in and of itself is a vital substance, that, if merely swept away with a cholesterol-lowering drug can result in many symptoms – most of which can be attributed to insufficient production of these vital hormones. The answer to high cholesterol is increasing the metabolic rate and turning “bad cholesterol” into vital life-giving, rejuvenating, essential hormones associated with youth and strong disease resistance (I received an email yesterday of a young man who dropped his cholesterol from 220 to 156 following my general guidelines with a rise in “good cholesterol,” and he more than doubled testosterone levels). The metabolic rate also controls the rate in which we burn or “oxidize” fats. When metabolic rate is high, triglycerides – blood fats, do not accumulate in the blood. High levels of triglycerides are a prominent risk factor for heart disease.

Heart Disease

Other than the obvious factors listed above, the most successful doctor in the history of medicine at preventing heart disease was a physician named Broda Barnes. Barnes took exhaustive and detailed records of his patients, cataloged them, and reported them in official medical studies that he later documented. His patients experienced more than 90% fewer heart attacks than the general public at his time of practice. Only four of over 2,000 patients that he recorded had a heart attack, and each of these four had something out of the ordinary about them – one patient had only been seeing him for a few months, another had just moved away and had discontinued his treatment. He had this great success by making the metabolic rate the sole focus of his practice, having patients keep track of their body temperatures to make sure they maintained a youthful metabolic rate – thus avoiding an elderly disease. He also treated countless health problems using the same protocol. His book, Solved: The Riddle of Heart Attacks, which was overlooked by a medical community already entrenched in an ineffective war on cholesterol, has never been challenged on the scientific level – nor has his results as a physician ever been matched.

Cancer

Cancer is a disease of impaired cellular respiration. Many have theorized that the one consistent commonality between all forms of cancer is a lack of sufficient oxygen. When oxygen levels are too low, cells cannot burn glucose for fuel normally, and cancer cells form which operate under a more primitive type of cell metabolism – converting glucose to lactic acid in the body. Estrogen is the primary anti-respiratory hormone (particularly the type of estrogen called estrone which is produced in the adrenal glands by both men and women), occurring in significant quantities in both men and women, that chokes off the oxygen supply to cells. Estrogen is opposed by the hormones of youth such as progesterone and testosterone. Of course, the metabolic rate controls how much of the youth hormones are produced to oppose the anti-respiratory estrogen. As metabolism falls in old age, cancer becomes much more likely. Our best defense is keeping metabolic rate as high as possible, which increases cellular activity, respiration, and cellular oxygenation. There is no better defense against cancer than optimizing and guarding a high metabolic rate.

Conclusion

This was just a small sampling of many of the health problems that have close links to the metabolic rate. Others include all forms of autoimmune disease (the metabolism exerts many direct actions over the thymus gland – our immune system central command), which I’ve seen dramatically disappear with a rise in metabolism, allergies and asthma which I’ve seen disappear with a rise in metabolism, sleep disorders, mood disorders, chronic pain, elevated blood sugars or type 2 diabetes, obesity, acne, and countless other issues both minor and major.

While we cannot avoid at least some drop in metabolism as we age, at the very least we can minimize the rate at which it declines. Unfortunately, many accelerate this process with various restricted diets, weight loss attempts, excessive endurance exercise, and many other flawed approaches that slow down the resting metabolism.

The answer is much simpler and easier, and is what most people’s bodies are crying for them to do anyhow. And that is get sufficient rest, sleep, and relaxation for starters and pair that with a superabundance of nutritious foods with an emphasis on eating plentiful amounts of fat, protein, and carbohydrates – and more importantly calories. Top this off by spending sufficient time doing enjoyable activities and strict avoidance of endurance or steady-state exercise.

I promise you that it is literally impossible to live at your highest level of energy, vitality, resilience, happiness, and health unless you have obtained a reasonably high metabolic rate.

For the latest in how to achieve this most effectively, which is an ongoing work in progress as I continue to refine it, visit www.180degreehealth.com.

http://www.macheesmo.com/2011/01/four-homemade-cleaners/

This was easier than I thought it would be.

One of Betsy’s goals for the year was to ditch some of our standard cleaners that we use around the house and make them! Honestly, I was a bit skeptical about this project mainly because I wasn’t sure that homemade cleaners would really get the job done.

And my lovely wife is a bit of a neat freak so there’s no way she would use something that didn’t perform well.

So a couple of weekends ago she went out and bought a few staple ingredients and some empty spray bottles and we spent a few minutes mixing up four different homemade cleaners that have since replaced 90% of the cleaners we use around the house.

For the last few weeks we’ve been using them now and I’ve been so impressed by how well they are working, I thought I’d share them all with you in case any of you are interested in ditching the chemicals.

The Cost of Cleaning. The thing about homemade cleaners is that the initial start-up costs might seem a bit high. A tiny bottle of lavender oil (.5 ounces), for example, will run you $7-$8. But the thing to remember is that for each batch of cleaning solution, you’ll be using literally just a few drops of oil.

I would guess we spent around $30 on our homemade cleaning supplies for these four solutions, but now we have enough supplies to last us years. By the time we run out of lavender oil, for example, our cost per bottle for these cleaners will be reduces to cents.

Basic stuff.

Really Clean Cleaning. After using these solutions for a few weeks, what I’m most impressed with is their cleaning power. They really work. Not only do they work, but I get the strange impression that they are even cleaner than the standard products.

When you clean a counter with the all-purpose cleaner it’s squeaky clean and the whole room smells awesome, not chemical at all. I hate to say this, but having these easily accessible actually makes me like cleaning. DON’T TELL MY WIFE.

My ultimate decision to post on these solutions was just because they worked surprisingly well.

The Basics. Betsy and I did some research on books for home cleaning solutions and I would recommend these two to anyone who wants to learn more:

- Green Clean including vinegar, citrus fruits and baking soda (I guess unavailable for now on Amazon)

- Homemade: How to Make 100′s of Everyday Products

As far as ingredients go, a good number of ingredients you will probably have on hand already at home. Things like vinegar, baking soda, citrus, etc. Those are easy.

The tricky stuff are these items:

Some of these are a bit expensive.

Most of the recipes involve castile soap and a few drops of essential oils. These are the pricey items and the ones that you won’t need to buy very often even if you make a ton of these solutions.

For the recipes I’m giving in this post, you’ll need the below items. You can find all of these at your local supermarket or health food store or you can grab them from Amazon. I’ve included links to the amazon pages.

- Castile Soap – An all-natural soap that’s surprisingly strong. A few drops go a long way. We like the lavender scent, but they have others available.

- Lavender Oil – A natural anti-bacterial oil that smells wonderful.

- Tea Tree Oil – A natural oil that cleanses and disinfects.

- Washing Soda – Sodium Carbonate which is just a strong base that works great as a laundry detergent. It has a million uses around the house.

Mixing the Solutions. If you’re going to do this, definitely buy new, clean plastic bottles. Don’t use old bottles as the trace chemicals in them might react badly.

Also, I’d recommend getting some labels because while they are all different, these solutions all look a bit similar.

The Recipes!

Let’s start with an easy one.

Lavender Anti-Bacterial Spray

- 1 Cup water
- 20 drops lavender essential oil

Easy right?! It’s smells great and lavender is very high in linalool which is naturally antibacterial.

Just a few drops…

The next recipe is the one that we use the most which is the all-purpose cleaner. It’s our daily cleaner now on everything from counters to floors.

One note about this one is that it will bubble A LOT (think high school science volcano) so make sure you leave plenty of room in your bottle for an eruption and mix it over the sink just in case.

All-Purpose Cleaner (Watch out for a reaction! It will bubble a lot.)

- 3 Tablespoons vinegar
- 1/2 Teaspoon washing soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon castile soap
- 2 Cups hot water

I think you can see how little of each ingredient is used for a batch.

All mixed up.

The next formula is the one we use on the stove or any place that accumulates a lot of oil or grease.

Grease Cutter (Note that if you have a good eye, I messed up the label on this one for my bottles.)

- 2 Cups water
- 1/4 Cup castile soap
- 10 drops lavender oil

And finally the strongest of the solutions that we made which is for really scrubbing hard to clean areas like bathroom sinks and mildewed tubs.

Bath, Sink, Tile Cleaner (Again, watch out for some bubbling.)
NOTE: Ideally, mix this one in a SQUIRT bottle, not a SPRAY bottle. It’s pretty thick and almost a paste.

- 2/3 Cup baking soda
- 1/2 Cup castile soap
- 2 Tablespoons vinegar
- 1/2 Cup water
- A few drops of Tea Tree oil

Labels definitely help.

Like I said, we’ve been testing these out for the last few weeks now and I really love all of them. My favorite is the all-purpose cleaner and the antibacterial spray which just leaves everything really clean and smells fantastic without being overpowering.

If you’re looking to cut out some chemicals from your cleaning products and save some money (in the long term), you should try these out!

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival announces their annual Call for Entries

One of the largest festivals of its kind in the United States, Wild & Scenic seeks unique environmental and adventure films that aim to inspire and educate. In 2012, the festival received over 350 entries for a final official selection of approximately 110 films to screen at the opening festival. The Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour then travels to over 100 locations across the United States, offering a selection of approximately 50 films. The On Tour program gives filmmakers a unique opportunity for widespread exposure of their film.

Shana Maziarz, Creative Director
Wild & Scenic Film Festival

Grass Valley, CA. With a special Friday June, 22^nd night Spanish dinner al fresco along with performances by Flamenco guitarist virtuoso Gopal Slavonic and Sambada – a hip shaking samba band. Tickets for the dinner will be available at Briar Patch and on-line at Brown Paper Tickets.  $42.00 for dinner and music not including beer and wine – featuring Lucchesi Vineyards and Sierra Nevada.

This one-of-a-kind event brings together festival-goers with internationally acclaimed speakers, farmers, activists, energy specialists, green builders and green businesses to share the latest information on homesteading, green living, and sustainable communities. GLEF provides festival-goers with essential information to make educated choices when creating a greener lifestyle through hands-on demos and inspiring motivational speakers.

This year’s impressive lineup of speakers includes author Ocean Robbins, founder of YES! (Youth for Environmental Sanity); David Crow L.Ac, author, herbalist, and founder of Floracopeia, Dr. Kevin Danaher co-founder of Global Exchange and founder/producer of the Green Festivals; Alec Loorz, founder of Kids vs Global Warming and one of the leading young voices in the US on the issue of climate change; Matt Stone, 180 Degree Health; Mat Stein – When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability & Surviving the Long Emergency and Allison Cook from “The Story of Stuff” project, Leonard Robinson – Envirobro Radio show host, among others.

In addition to speakers, GLEF features hands-on workshops on everything from  Cob Building and implementing home Grey Water Systems to Bee Keeping, Cooking and alternative health models, Kathy Keville  – A master herbalist and author is a highlighted workshop not to miss.

These workshops are fun, educational and filled with useful how-to tips to save you money, live greener and enjoy the simple pleasures in life.  In the morning festival-goers are invited to celebrate the bounty of the region at the Growers Market and in evenings dance to an exciting hip-shaking lineup of live music performances from Justin Anceta , The Earls of Newtown, Mindfully One, Local, Virgil Shaw, Kaylani and Circle Up! , Beaucoup Chapeaux and Zion Roots.

The entire family is encouraged to attend, with plenty of entertaining and educating activities for children including storytelling, nature walks and the popular Dr. Solar’s Medicine Show, a solar powered gypsywagon that would make P.T. Barnum drool and features an Eco-Themed interactive show. There will also be childcare for a fee provided by Corporate Kids.

Plus enjoy an array of local and regional foods, beer and wine and saunter through the beautiful grounds of the  historic North Star House.

Just one mile from downtown Grass Valley, the North Star House, designed by famed architect Julia Morgan, is the perfect new location for GLEF.  The former mansion of mining barons, the North Star House sits on an impressive estate that includes 14 acres of rolling green hills dotted with heritage Oaks, wild plumb trees and wildflowers.

So join us, get your hands dirty, eat some delicious food, hear some great speakers and get inspired to create change and get involved in your community!

June 23-24, 2012 – 2nd Annual Green Life Eco Fest

North Star House, 12075 Old Auburn Road, Grass Valley, CA 95945

Hours: Friday 6:00pm-10pm (Pre-Sold ticket holders only for dinner – $42.00) Tickets available for band only – 12.00 at show.

Saturday 12-7pm (Get there early and enjoy the Growers Market at 8am) Music til 9PM

Sunday 11am-6pm

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/243377

Keynote speakers – $20/day or $30/weekend

Workshops $5/each or 3 for $12, or $40/weekend

All Access Weekend Pass $50

Read more: Germany Sets New Solar Record By Meeting Nearly Half of Country’s Weekend Power Demand | Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building