DianneGardner's Journal, 23 July 2016

I love your drive!  

Screaming Libertarians aren't too bad, screaming Conservatives, they're just screamy, though I do have to give Ted Cruz a grudgingly and reluctant thumbs up for sticking it to Donald Trump at the RNC. You eat a lot of potatoes, would you consider those primary to your way of eating, and if so what would be your secondary choice if you wanted to take a temporary break from spuds? 

grits..brown rice..Suzie's Quinoa cakes...these are very good... Yes Cruz made an interesting choice...either political genius or suicide..he did stick it nicely to Trump.."vote your conscience"...boy..that pissed people right the hell off.. 

I've never liked Ted Cruz, he exemplifies everything abhorrent about the far right, he's the Frank Burns of the GOP, but, he's a skillful politician who really knows how to work a crowd, particularity his constituency here in Texas. Grits, brown rice, and quinoa, those are great choices, I'll have to creep your food diary.  

when I take a break from spuds I miss them..the day feels incomplete..may be because I am low in potassium all the time..and all taters are high in potassium..plus they are just very satisfying...I do think the reason its so hard for people to embrace diets that just do not fit them very well but ostensibly are "good for them" is that there are psychological/physiological reasons that are so subtle that we can not well quantify them...I really do well on a vegan diet...other people find it to be just completely unworkable..and intolerable..they constantly feel a profound sense of deprivation..that may be as much physical as mental...although as a "true believer" and evangelist for my food plan now, I struggle to accept that...:) ..am sure you get that...lots of true believers on this site..whatever their plan of choice...we are all pretty vociferous...a good thing..I love people with opinions...:) 

I will remain silent on my thoughts on Ted Cruz. But we are close in our opinions. Am social liberal/something of a fiscal conservative. I think government has many proper roles. I highly value transparency in how things are done at all levels of government. Lots of back room deals in my local city government even though we have a Sunshine Law in Florida. Also.. Many who supposedly despise government yet love SS, Medicare, and disability..not getting that..those programs work very well in mu opinion..I hate Big Pharma and wish we could lower all drug prices....and while not a religious person believe we must do for the least of these.  

I differentiate between mainstream "conservatism" and my own particular beliefs that are conservative in nature with the word "conservationism", subtle but important difference, making me a conservationist, not a conservative, a Liberal Conservationist, at that. The GOP isn't fiscally conservative, not in the sense that they wish to get the government out of debt, pundit Grover Norquist summed up the "conservative" view of government when he quipped, "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." And of course the implication being replace essential government services with privatization. a wholesale bad idea. But I digress, I could go on at length about the current state of the body politic.  

We hold many many of the same opinions...so never had my food plan "creeped" before..is that similar to being stalked? I come from a long line of committed political junkies..Mama had planned to be a journalist..but not a good gig for ladies in the 50s who had become single mother's after no count husband abandoned her and impossibly cute child (Dianne) for wife #3. But we were avid Democrats..my mom was raised by man who thought FDR saved his business and the country... 

Just a cursory browse of your food journal, nothing invasive. Conservatism as a political philosophy is destined to fail because it's basically the resistance of progress.  

Funny, how Phil and I think very much alike. Grover Norquist is worse than Trump. Ted Cruz is worse than Trump. And Trump is awful. Government declines in size with everything else. We can't live without government, and the economy can't exist without government. Just a fact of life. I hate, that one party puts a gun to our head, and says vote for us, or else, we will do nothing, but let the middle, and lower class economy die, because we control congress.  

I actually like potatoes with out all kinds of stuff added to them. A baked russet potato without anything on it tastes excellent to me. Sometimes I'll add some pepper, rarely do I add salt to anything, but that is about it for the most part. I have avoided them for quite some time as they are "starchy" carbs, but now I use them in my post work out meals.  

Nice to hear about an opposite approach that's working so well. Gotta love those spuds! -Just can't mix it with the bacon approach and still lose fat! :) 

Food plan would love to be examined in detail. What always distresses me is I see a high level of added fats to most of the plans I see here. Hard on the coronary arteries and slows weight loss. Makes joints less mobile. Fat scares the hell out of me with what I believe to be true of cardiac disease. Dr Esselstyn's research and longitudinal studies at Cleveland Clinic really scared the hell out of me. I do not want to ever have a cardiac Cath, a stent or truly God forbid a bypass. Fat free vegan is working very very well in my family. 

I hope some here will Google Dr John McDougall's The Starch Solution, his website with approved foods, all whole vegan foods with no added fats, and Dr Caldwell Esselstyn's ground breaking work, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. All can be Googled. I have a 6 year history with these concepts, they are prom in Forks Over Knives which many have seen and in The China Study. I believe one day we will all eat this way, particularly as my generation, baby boomers, began to suffer all the bills that result from a high fat, high meat diet. I was born in 1947..pushing 69 hard. Am thin and fit. Most my age are not. Please friends at least take a look at these concepts especially if you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, are on meds, cannot easily work out or walk very far. I can walk a half marathon. I have no joint pain. And Dianne is old now. Pretty good recommendation for the fat free vegan food plan.