I don't recommend doing trance work with the use of herbs, however, I do know people who have successfully done so. One thing I know is that they NEVER did this alone. There was always someone there with them, not under the influence, to take care of them.

I think you'll like Christopher's books and cds. Later, you'll find that Scott has some good books on magick and herbs.

I have no problem with eating meat I just want them to treat the animals humanely while they're alive.

Right. I feel the same way. Humans are predatory animals and that means we consume other animals. The problem is the conditions that these animals are kept in which is very often inhumane or at least over crowded. The slaughter aspect is pretty difficult to watch because they do know. Also chicken farms can be quite horrible and sometimes they use lights on the hens to force them to lay all winter long. Its worth it to spend the extra money in the store for the free range eggs or raise your own. Half a dozen chickens will give you plenty of eggs for yourself and you can even give some away. Not everyone can keep chickens of course if you live within city limits. Im just saying if you can, they are easy pets.

I buy my eggs from a woman who raises chickens locally. I hate what happens to the poor chickens on commercial farms.

I tried to go vegan for a few months but it was hard to find food. We only have one grocery store here and the produce department sucked.

So I ended eating too many carbs (sweets and breads) and that is not good for my physical make up. I got stiff and slow and felt like I was 70 years old. I could not loose weight.

Then one day I smelled a hamburger cooking and I knew what I had to have. I was starving for meat.

So I did the Atkins diet for three months and lost 30 pounds but I could not stay on that either. My body craved grains and bread.

I think the best way to eat is a little bit of everything you crave. But for me I have to stay away from too much sugar and carbs or I will not loose a pound.

Me too! Plus I'm anemic so I can't do vegetarian. And, carbs and sugar make me fat. I have to eat a fairly balanced diet with good proteins, whole grains and veges. I feel better and my weight doesn't vary.

Yeah I think I might have a tendency towards anemia also and that might be part of the problem when I have tried to go vegetarian and then started to have blood cravings. Ya know how your body will actually crave what it needs? I know that if you go on a vegetarian or vegan diet you have to be very careful that you are fulfilling the other vitamin and mineral supplements and also amino acids and people dont always do that or they get hungry so they over compensate on sugar and carbs. Too hard on the pancreas and can cause an overproduction in insulin. You gotta be careful. I am finding a healthy diet that is varied and exercise is fine as I get older. No complaints. Also, the less processed foods you eat, the better off you will be.

If all you did was avoid processed foods you'd be three steps ahead of the game. It's hard though because life gets so busy and it's so easy to use them.

I once had a roommate that had gone the organic raw route. She wasn’t a fanatic about it and would eat just about anything in social situations and when raw foods weren’t available. But for the most part her diet was about 95% raw foods. Most people when they hear that think of eating only whole fruits and vegetables. But there are a surprising amount of recipes available that simulate all types of “normal” foods.

But the main purpose and requirement of the raw diet is to retain the enzymes. And the enzymes can only survive in temperatures that are well below the boiling opint of water. So anything that has been pasteurized is out.

But even so, there were some foods that surprised me. For example, she found a sweetener that was like corn syrup but was made of the cold pressed extract of a cactus. And she made a dessert that was like ice cream or frozen yogurt, but was made from nothing but frozen fruit and pine nuts.

I don’t know a lot about it other than the emphasis on preserving the enzymes. She told me that one of the main reasons is that when we are young, the body manufactures its own enzymes, but as we get older, eventually the body stops manufacturing them so we need an outside source.

I don’t know if all that’s true, but I do know that she was 60 years old when I last saw here and I don’t think I’ve ever met a 40 year old that was any healthier or younger looking.

Personally, I'm with Ruth. About the best I seem to be able to achieve is to limit the processed foods.

Yeah me to and honestly sometimes I will just want like a Fish fillet from McDonalds. I have not had one of those in years but something might trigger a craving. If I decide I really want something like that, I wont deny myself. Its just so oily and then normally i dont feel so great afterwords. But you never think that way while in the midst of craving something.

When I was living a 'back-to-basics' lifestyle I had a huge garden and grew just about everything I could order from a Gurney's seed catalog.

At that time I was pretty close to being a pure vegetarian. Although I did have chickens, and so I ate lots of eggs. I also ate a chicken from time to time, but not reqularly.

I also had bees and used honey in place of sugar all the time.

I'm sure I could do without meat and not truly miss it.

I eat meat a lot now. But this is mainly because meat dishes are simply easier to prepare for the most part. Especially being that I have a gas grill.

It easier to just plot a couple of pork chops on the grill than to cook up a rice stew for example.

Also I buy frozen dinners a lot and they are hard to find without meat. And finally I eat at fast food joints a lot, (too often actually) and they too don't have much on the menus that isn't meat-based.

I think if vegetarian meals were easier to come by I might be more inclined to eat less meat, or even do without it altogther.

From my point of view, meat meals are just easier to come by and prepare. That's truly what drives me to eat meat more than anything else.

Just plain laziness.

I think the main health problems associated with a diet high in animal flesh or excess protein is triglycerides, cholesterol and colon blockage. If you eat a lot of meat like more than three times a week, Ive heard juice fasting for about 48 hours is good to clear some of that. They sell all those cleansing powders and stuff in the health food store. As long as your weight to height ratio is okay, its probably fine. Meat is easy but so are soups and things. The fast food you really want to avoid because it is generally like more fat in one meal than you required allotment in a week or something ludicrous like that. Men have a slightly higher fat requirement but not much higher.

Everyone is different. If your GP says you are fine, then you probably are. I gauge it by how I feel. Of course you can probably have cancer and feel fine for a long time before it is properly misdiagnosed.

November 4, 2008

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tuesday

Election Day (US) and my sister's birthday

Waxing Moon ~ Moon Sign: Capricorn (Moon enters Aquarius - 7:01 P.M.)

Moon Phase: First Quarter

Color: Maroon

Incense: Cinnamon


(From Llewellyn's 2008 Magical Almanac)

I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween.

When did they start allowing the imgage tag?

It's cool, but at the same time it can be a nightmare for a dial-up user if too many posters start posting images in every post.

Abra,

PA was a big battleground state. They just had your governor on and he was saying that Palin and McCain had been down there so long, they were thinking of charging them a state tax. Little good it did them. All that campaigning but they went blue. Yaa!

I'm not even watching or listening to the progress. I'm confident that Obama will win.

Although, I must confess that I will be in total awe of the intelligence of Americans when Obama wins.

It will restore my faith in humanity as a whole.

I went out to the voting sites today and noticed that in my area they are almost empty!

That's GREAT! Because I live in an area that is strong for McCain, but clearly the people aren't bothering to vote.

Good for them!

It was probably the suburbs of Phili and Pittsburgh or what not. Who cares. They went Democrat. I guess PA historically has gone Republican so thats why McCain really wanted it. Didnt happen. NH is the same way and they also went blue. NH can kind of go either way but PA is more electoral I think.

Yeah Obama gots it.

Oh and under 1 oz of weed is no longer a criminal offense, but a civil. See its already chaos.

Looks like I'm coming to New Hampshire with my weed.