I just read this article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17127617"Men may not become extinct after all, according to a new study. Previous research has suggested the Y sex chromosome, which only men carry, is decaying genetically so fast that it will be extinct in five million years' time. A gene within the chromosome is the switch which leads to testes development and the secretion of male hormones. But a new US study in Nature suggests the genetic decay has all but ended."Well, I see this is as both good news and bad news. : - )Ya-can't-live-with- 'em- but-ya-can't-live-without-'em kind of thing. So while I know I'll sleep better at night knowing that the likelihood of men vanishing in 5 million years may no longer be a real threat, it made me think - not for the first time - honestly, at this rate, we're not going to have to wait 5 million years for men to be destroyed. We're doing a pretty adequate job of it right now. How many boys now have autism, ADHD, other developmental issues? In autism, the going rate is boys to girls = 4:1, but I'd guess the actual statistic is much higher. In ADHD, it's 3:1. How many overweight children will grow up into obese adults, who die early of diabetes and heart disease? And obesity in children has that same 3:1 ratio, boys to girls. If we don't do something now to clean up our food and our environment, we won't have to wait a few million years to find out whether or not boys will become extinct. And as much as I can't understand why they will walk around a laundry basket planted in the middle of the stairs, rather than pick it up - I'd prefer to keep them around for awhile.
This morning I was asked, by Brian, the owner of BlogEngage, to enter a guest blog into his latest contest. "What's a guest blog?" I wrote back. Now, how embarrassing is that?! Brian has infinite patience it seems, and explained to me that it entailed me writing a post on his blog. The entry needed to be about marketing or blogging - and seeing as I've been on a crash course about this very subject these last few weeks, since the work on this new site began, I thought I would give it a try. So, now I need you all to go read it, vote for it, love it, Tweet it, Friend it, Like it, forward it and do whatever else you can think of to tell the world it's the single greatest blog post you've ever read. And when I win the contest, I will use the money to cook you all a ketogenic, SCD legal, casein and gluten free, low phenol something-or-another.Check it out at: http://www.blogengage.com/blogger/metamorphosis-or-how-i-became-a-marketing-butterfly/ Thanks everyone!Sponsors of the contest: The Current Best of the Guest Blogger Sponsors     
I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day (maybe that's bitter grapes, seeing as I have been single for years! Ah me!), but still - I've decided to take some time today to write about things I love.
Well, some things are obvious. I love my sons. I love my parents and my family. I love my friends, the New York Yankees, mushrooms, dark chocolate, science fiction and eating. The list goes on.
And I love the Specific Carbohydrate Diet - and Elaine Gottschall, whose work saved my son's life.
Before SCD, I spent every day mopping up diarrhea and vomit. My son ran around the house like a lunatic, never sleeping, smashing things to pieces and screaming...and screaming...and screaming...and screaming. And screaming. I couldn't just sit - ever. I had to chase him around and around, trying fruitlessly to comfort him, wiping up bodily excrement from him, from my clothes, from the floor. Our lives were lived in hell. (...)
A very dear friend of our family's, my Dad's oldest and closest friend, was diagnosed 4 months ago with glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of brain cancer. The prognosis is very grim. These last months, I have felt helpless - desperate to do SOMETHING.
Then, several weeks ago, in my daily researches, I came across a reference to the use of the ketogenic diet in brain cancers and immediately did a search on PubMed. Sure enough, up popped a whole bunch of references, and what I discovered is that cancer cells cannot use ketones for fuel. Starving them of their one source of fuel - glucose - may definitely help keep tumors from regrowing. (...)
Today I became a real blogger. How do I know? Because today I registered on two blog registration sites with a bunch of other hardcore bloggers, who actually know what they're doing. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, actually, for two reasons: firstly, I figured out how to put buttons to these sites on this page all by myself (so you can all enthusiastically vote for my posts). (Look at the bar on the right - See Scribnia and Blog Engage buttons.) Buttons make the blogger, I always say. Secondly, the owner of Blog Engage, as it turns out, already followed my blog. How's that for a small world story?! (...)
I just finished reading a fascinating article (reference above, authors R. Frei,R. P. Lauener,R. Crameri,L. O'Mahony). There are a few particular points in it that really struck me:
a. "[Asthma, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis] affect 15-25% of Western populations, and their prevalence has increased dramatically over the last few decades." That is in INCREDIBLE statistic! Think how many millions upon millions of people are affected, with numbers still rising. We are doing something terribly wrong...
b. "Accumulating evidence suggests that certain bacterial strains may provide protective signals, while other bacterial strains may stimulate aggressive and damaging immune responses...." Very, very true. I see the evidence piling up daily for IBD and autism, but also for other chronic immune system illnesses ranging from asthma and allergy, as in this article, but also multiple sclerosis, etc. (...)
- Firstly, welcome to my new and improved website. I intend to start blogging on a more regular basis, so please, check back frequently.
- It now been 3 ½ months since I started Alex on our ketogenic experiment. I am now starting several clients on the diet as well. Is it helping? I am not sure, but since I committed to it for 6 months, I intend to stick with it that long. Alex’s response to it is muddled by another situation that has arisen. (Isn’t it always that way?!) That is, I (correctly, as it turns out) diagnosed him with cluster headaches. The diagnosis was subsequently confirmed by a neurologist, and Alex’s response to the serotonin-agonist pain-killing migraine medication, sumatriptin, provided the final confirmation. Cluster headaches, as I found out when I looked it up (seeing as Alex’s episodes of screaming occurred in bunches), are considered the worst possibly headache. In fact, they are also called “the suicide headache” for self-evident reason. Alex also has what are called “intractable” cluster headaches, meaning that – while most people have months off in between clusters – his never go away. Alex has these headaches one to five times per day, nearly every day…and has had them for years.
Why did it take so long for anyone (me and his many doctors) to figure it out? Mainly it is due to Alex’s inability to express himself. However, with is new IPad, communication has become markedly better and he’s hitting that “I have a headache” button for all its worth. Secondly, cluster headaches are rare. Thirdly, I believe his doctors fell into that all-too-common mistake of crediting his “tantrums” to his autism. It was the old, “He’s screaming because he’s autistic” error. I remember that one only too well from Alex’s earliest days: “He has profound diarrhea and vomiting because he has autism.” Not, “He has colitis.” Or better still, “He has autism because he has vomiting and diarrhea and colitis.” (...)
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