beta 101 - part 1
I make tea in a big, condensed batch, which I keep in a large jug in my fridge. I use green decaf and green tea only. I always add two other ingredients, after the brewing is all done: Ginger, and Apple Cider Vinegar. (This started off as faux-wassail, where additional ingredients can be added: lemon/orange/lime, clove, nutmeg, etc). Ginger is good for nausea and stomach woes, (in moderate amounts), and cold/throat trouble. Apple Cider Vinegar is good for several things...
ACTIVE, home-made apple cider vinegar, (ACV), is good for gut biota. ACV is also good for joint pain and arthritis, general health, and for losing weight - although I am not sure if the ACV needs to be active for these - probably. Finally, ACV is good for people w/ CFS, and other chronic fatigue illnesses, because it contains malic acid from apples, (which is also sold in stores as an expensive supplement). Malic acid is a known aid for people w/ CFS, as it brings energy to the mitochondria, (and muscles and nerves). Tea containing some ACV gives an added boost, in addition to the anti-oxidants and the caffeine. I often drink this tea alongside sunflower seeds, which have salt, magnesium, etc., which also help for energy.
I've made a second batch of tea, this time around. I will be using that for my first foray into the serious brewing of Kombucha, (which is not entirely w/o risk). (This next is not actually the brewing stage but the fermentation stage).
Yesterday, I cooked yam for the first time in years. I salted a little, and added no extra sugar. Yams are right in beta carotene, other nutrients, phytoestrogens, and sugar. I have learnt that sugar is bad for CFS, joint, and just about everything. So, I was wary. (I recently tried to ferment canned yams along with their sugar syrup, but I fear it might have resulted in some wood alcohol, which eventually can cause blindness).
Later that night, my brain was in a near state of ecstasy! Was this because of the nutrients? Was I having a sugar rush? Or was I feasting on the phytoestrogens? All things considered, if I kept along this path, it was possible that I might, one day, become a big fat orange woman.
Well, when I woke up this early morning, I knew what had happened. The sugar had fed the yeast and/or/ergo my CFS, such that I was now in a mild state of dementia. Not good. But, I may have a few things to say re: Alzheimer's, etc., soon, so let this stand as a lead-in, for now. Sugar. Cell dysfunction. Constricting small blood vessels. Reduced oxygen. Congestive heart difficulty. Immune system hyper-activation. Dysfunctional proteins...
My dog has been acting old lately, a little. Sometimes unsatisfied - because, despite my care, he hasn't been living a wild and crazy life, unlike me. He gets rice in his food, and I gave him a little bit of yam yesterday. It may be that he has some kind of slight sugar of dementia problem. Carnivores, though, generally don't get prion diseases... Which reminds me...
I was reading about Sapiens, Neandertal and Denisovans. People in the region around New Guinea have a somewhat higher degree of inheritance of both Neandertal and Denisovan genes. Oddly, though, in general, Neandertal genes are more associated with the brain, whilst Denisovan genes are more associated with the body. This is hugely interesting in itself. But, I also thought this...
The highest incidence of Neandertal brain genes are in aboriginal New Guineans, some of whom were once known to practice the ritual of eating the brains of dead relatives. Isn't that cute? Neandertals were not known to be cannibals but probably did resort to cannibalism when pushed to the wall by climate and Sapiens. The long-shot question is: Did this 'religious' practice of brain-eating derive from Neandertal?! Strange.
By eating each other's brains, these N.G. tribes once suffered a high incidence of Kuru*, a degenerative brain disease caused by prions. Prions are contorted proteins that spread by coercion or conversion, (like a religion!), and are only destroyed through heat equivalent to that on the surface of the sun. It has always been a big question of mine as to how these prions get started, as if they are viri made of protein - or is there something more? Is there some pathology occurring at the genetic level which innitiates these horrible fires of madness? (And, does Neandertal genetics have anything at all to do with this?)
* - Kuru is not an invasive weed that has blanketed the South. Nor is it a psychedelic tea.
A study has just concluded that Alzheimer's is a prion disease. So, that is where I am going with this...
Isn't it neat how this post comes around full circle? There is method to my madness.
WIKI-
In 2009, researchers at the Medical Research Council discovered a naturally occurring variant of a prion protein in a population from Papua New Guinea that confers strong resistance to kuru. In the study, which began in 1996,[24] researchers assessed over 3,000 people from the affected and surrounding Eastern Highland populations, and identified a variation in the prion protein G127.[25] G127 polymorphism is the result of a missense mutation, and is highly geographically restricted to regions where the kuru epidemic was the most widespread. Researchers believe that the PrnP variant occurred very recently, estimating that the most recent common ancestor lived 10 generations ago.[25][26]
Of the discovery, Professor John Collinge, director of the MRC's Prion Unit at University College London, has stated that:
It's absolutely fascinating to see Darwinian principles at work here. This community of people has developed their own biologically unique response to a truly terrible epidemic. The fact that this genetic evolution has happened in a matter of decades is remarkable.
- John Collinge, Medical Research Council
The findings of the study could help researchers better understand and develop treatments for other related prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease[24] and Alzheimer's disease.[27]
ACTIVE, home-made apple cider vinegar, (ACV), is good for gut biota. ACV is also good for joint pain and arthritis, general health, and for losing weight - although I am not sure if the ACV needs to be active for these - probably. Finally, ACV is good for people w/ CFS, and other chronic fatigue illnesses, because it contains malic acid from apples, (which is also sold in stores as an expensive supplement). Malic acid is a known aid for people w/ CFS, as it brings energy to the mitochondria, (and muscles and nerves). Tea containing some ACV gives an added boost, in addition to the anti-oxidants and the caffeine. I often drink this tea alongside sunflower seeds, which have salt, magnesium, etc., which also help for energy.
I've made a second batch of tea, this time around. I will be using that for my first foray into the serious brewing of Kombucha, (which is not entirely w/o risk). (This next is not actually the brewing stage but the fermentation stage).
Yesterday, I cooked yam for the first time in years. I salted a little, and added no extra sugar. Yams are right in beta carotene, other nutrients, phytoestrogens, and sugar. I have learnt that sugar is bad for CFS, joint, and just about everything. So, I was wary. (I recently tried to ferment canned yams along with their sugar syrup, but I fear it might have resulted in some wood alcohol, which eventually can cause blindness).
Later that night, my brain was in a near state of ecstasy! Was this because of the nutrients? Was I having a sugar rush? Or was I feasting on the phytoestrogens? All things considered, if I kept along this path, it was possible that I might, one day, become a big fat orange woman.
Well, when I woke up this early morning, I knew what had happened. The sugar had fed the yeast and/or/ergo my CFS, such that I was now in a mild state of dementia. Not good. But, I may have a few things to say re: Alzheimer's, etc., soon, so let this stand as a lead-in, for now. Sugar. Cell dysfunction. Constricting small blood vessels. Reduced oxygen. Congestive heart difficulty. Immune system hyper-activation. Dysfunctional proteins...
My dog has been acting old lately, a little. Sometimes unsatisfied - because, despite my care, he hasn't been living a wild and crazy life, unlike me. He gets rice in his food, and I gave him a little bit of yam yesterday. It may be that he has some kind of slight sugar of dementia problem. Carnivores, though, generally don't get prion diseases... Which reminds me...
I was reading about Sapiens, Neandertal and Denisovans. People in the region around New Guinea have a somewhat higher degree of inheritance of both Neandertal and Denisovan genes. Oddly, though, in general, Neandertal genes are more associated with the brain, whilst Denisovan genes are more associated with the body. This is hugely interesting in itself. But, I also thought this...
The highest incidence of Neandertal brain genes are in aboriginal New Guineans, some of whom were once known to practice the ritual of eating the brains of dead relatives. Isn't that cute? Neandertals were not known to be cannibals but probably did resort to cannibalism when pushed to the wall by climate and Sapiens. The long-shot question is: Did this 'religious' practice of brain-eating derive from Neandertal?! Strange.
By eating each other's brains, these N.G. tribes once suffered a high incidence of Kuru*, a degenerative brain disease caused by prions. Prions are contorted proteins that spread by coercion or conversion, (like a religion!), and are only destroyed through heat equivalent to that on the surface of the sun. It has always been a big question of mine as to how these prions get started, as if they are viri made of protein - or is there something more? Is there some pathology occurring at the genetic level which innitiates these horrible fires of madness? (And, does Neandertal genetics have anything at all to do with this?)
* - Kuru is not an invasive weed that has blanketed the South. Nor is it a psychedelic tea.
A study has just concluded that Alzheimer's is a prion disease. So, that is where I am going with this...
Isn't it neat how this post comes around full circle? There is method to my madness.
WIKI-
In 2009, researchers at the Medical Research Council discovered a naturally occurring variant of a prion protein in a population from Papua New Guinea that confers strong resistance to kuru. In the study, which began in 1996,[24] researchers assessed over 3,000 people from the affected and surrounding Eastern Highland populations, and identified a variation in the prion protein G127.[25] G127 polymorphism is the result of a missense mutation, and is highly geographically restricted to regions where the kuru epidemic was the most widespread. Researchers believe that the PrnP variant occurred very recently, estimating that the most recent common ancestor lived 10 generations ago.[25][26]
Of the discovery, Professor John Collinge, director of the MRC's Prion Unit at University College London, has stated that:
It's absolutely fascinating to see Darwinian principles at work here. This community of people has developed their own biologically unique response to a truly terrible epidemic. The fact that this genetic evolution has happened in a matter of decades is remarkable.
- John Collinge, Medical Research Council
The findings of the study could help researchers better understand and develop treatments for other related prion diseases, such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease[24] and Alzheimer's disease.[27]