Political Influence on School Lunch: Fixing the Mess

POLITICAL DIMENSIONS

At the outset, altering school environments appears a quick solution for the obesity problem; however, it is not to discount the community and government aspect of the ecological model. It is arguable that public policy at the federal, state, and local levels wields equal if not greater influence over the decisions that schools and districts make in terms of the physical education and school meal programs. The presence of competitive foods (Mellow, M, Pomeranz, J,& Moran, P, 2008) is also becoming a debated public health topic. As most students attend public schools, and public schools are directly influenced by government funding and policy, the fundamental role of the government is not to be downplayed.

When it comes to physical education, the United States has no law requiring physical education to provided to students, nor are there or have there been incentives for districts to offer physical activity programs. (Story, 2009) Existing legislation, such as Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, promotes the equal access of girls and boys to existing programs in districts. (Story, 2009) The No-Child Left Behind Act, 2001, is criticized for its exclusion of physical and health education from school subjects to be graded for achievement (Story, 2009) Thus, many schools in the U.S. simply do not have the incentive to make physical education periods mandatory for students. NCLB does, however, have the Carol M. White Physical Education Program division that offers grants for school programs. This requires districts to overcome more bureaucratic hurdles in order to get the funding they need for programs that may help the children they service.

Second, many assert that the US Food Environment simply must be improved at federal and state levels both inside and outside of schools. The US government allots money in the form of subsidies to the meat, dairy, corn, and wheat industries while awarding very few subsidies to fruit and vegetable farmers (Rampell, 2010). The allotment of subsidies simply does not reflect the nutritional needs of human beings. Processed foods made of subsidized corn and wheat are artificially cheap, vegetables appear artificially expensive in the eyes of those who do not understand the political environment of food in the United States. (Kenner, 2008) As inflation affects food prices, fruits and vegetables continues to become more expensive, while the price of corn and wheat products has actually decreased. That is, corn-syrup sweetened sodas and cookies made of flour. Restructuring the federal subsidy system will make the budgeted $2.47 (Story, 2009) per “free” school lunch meal go much farther in purchasing healthful foods.

Finally, competitive foods are an issue unique to the US school meal system in that they are not regulated to the same standards of nutrition content as subsidized meals unless they are being sold during meal time. This is according to a 1970 amendment to the Child Nutrition Act. (Mello, M, Pomeranz, J,& Moran, P, 2008) School districts accept contracts with large food and beverage companies in order to support their programs. The formal policy described by Mello’s article is the non-policy of food and beverage giants choosing the path of “self-regulation” which does not serve the interests of the public when their products contribute to the public health risk that is childhood obesity.

On Depression, Anxiety, and Inflammation (LINK)

Human Interleukin-10, Wikimedia Commons

Yoon, S.I., Logsdon, N.J., Sheikh, F., Donnelly, R.P., Walter, M.R. Conformational changes mediate IL-10R2 binding to IL-10 and assembly of the signaling complex. J.Biol.Chem. , 2006

an anti-inflammatory human cytokine (the bad guys that make you feel sick when you catch a virus or your immune system is active) I was under the impression that cytokines are always bad guys in excess, but as with everything in the human body, it's all about a balance. Fascinating character, can't explain it better than wikipedia so I suggest you check there if you're interested.

Looking at it isn't gonna change your life, but for me it was nostalgic to look at the pig-tail "alpha helices" Doesn't look like there are any beta sheets going on... hummm (= __ -)

Not much to note. I get to keep working because I told my story and they took me at my word which is a relief because I do not want to have to scan a bunch of documents from doctors (getting the documents is enough of a struggle and doctors are busy enough... all the bureaucratic stuff must certainly be a hindrance to the overloaded system)

Tutoring was fun today. Slept ok. Slightly rough start but did ok and didn't feel like my mouth was going numb when I was trying to tutor today... no anxiety but I think I definitely have a 5-HTP related headache today and feel drugged, sleepy, and achy. Made it through my test but my head was hurrrrr-ting. Not a migraine or anything, I think it's definitely a side effect of the 5-HTP and all 5-HTPs little helpers (taurine, magnesium). Lunch and drinking water definitely HELPED with the headache. So adequate food and water is definitely a must while I'm on this stuff...

The things they do not take you in biology. I cannot tell you the degree of how exothermic or endothermic the binding of a protein to a cell receptor site is (I don't really care) but I'm definitely getting fluent at reading articles... and kind of feel a nostalgic sort of pangs when I read articles (such as the one linked below) and I see little protein model depictions... nostalgic pangs for biology class... it's too bad they make it so damn hard for people to succeed. And the immense frustration I feel that that is what science must be about... who cares if you can understand the bigger picture, if you are interested in specific research questions that are relevant to the times and needs of society... why should potential pioneers be turned away and disenfranchised because they do not fit into the painful molds that university's create to measure success? I've learned more in outside reading than I have ever learned in a lecture hall. Perhaps the base of my difficulty focusing on the subjects is my disinterest in what they force me to learn. And it's not even disinterest but I think the pressure and inflated importance placed on test performance... I can try to understand the abstract concepts or I can drill my faculties down to naught studying what feel like relative frivolities that show up on tests. Absolutely maddening to do 67 work when you feel like you have understanding.

http://intelegen.com/nutrients/natural_support_for_depression.htm

Very interesting article... interesting that historically anti-depressant herbs... and even modern remedies... act as anti-inflammatories in the body. I do believe in the neuro-immune research that is coming out that is showing a lot of how vaccines do damage is getting somewhere. And don't even get me started on the environmental-endocrine hypothesis. And excitotoxins. I'll try to avoid falling into putting stock in conspiracy theories... (neither of the above mentioned are [conspiracy theories], although they can certainly lead one to think they are) but many do comethe notion (in error) that progress is positive and that the latest and greatest can't possibly pose to mind. I like to think the only evil thing at play here is man's despicable love of money...

Again I was actually able to tell something of a story in my blog today. It must mean that something is getting better.

Spoke too Soon

***

Well, seems like I spoke to soon yesterday. It was nice to have the brief moments of clarity... and then the feelings came over me all of a sudden at just about the time I got off the computer. Some things are starting to come into place for me... fear of MS or a brain tumor is lifting... but I definitely think there is something neurological to all of this.

I suspect dysautonomia. It's a confusion in the autonomic nervous system. That means things I used to take for granted, say, being able to wake up with a general idea of how I would feel throughout the day, and even the next day, are no longer guaranteed. Also why I have attacks of strange feelings that can be mistaken for anxiety. And of course, worrying about all of this certainly results in feeling anxious.

I found this website:

http://www.dynakids.org
There are great articles in the resources section.



It's a little suspicious that with the exception of the Yellow Wiggle, all the affected there are pubescent girls and young women. Perhaps it has something to do with the developing female hormones and... childhood/young adult vacs...

My mother had similar although not as debilitating symptoms at my age.

Flares/Initiation of the disease are set off by a variety of factors, including viruses and chemical exposure. No surprise considering that I had a viral illness then was shot up with 3 vaccines containing neurotoxic activated aluminum... in conjunction with viral particle nasties, MSG, Polysorbate and other roach killers. ANYWAY this current flare followed an effort by a naturopath to get my immune system moving... and then it was going-going-gone... I had a bad seasonal flu virus... and the diet change. Had also been doing saunas and mineral baths that may have pulled some minerals out of my system, temporarily overloading it with prior stressors.

Things that make disorders in the dysautonomia family better? Well, salt (minerals), lots of water (i.e., enough blood pumping through the veins) Most people don't see improvement on the allopathic "medications." So here's to weathering this storm. Hopefully it will be over soon.

It's Friday and I feel regretful that I have not hung out with my friends but once this term when my friend invited me to his birthday party dine-in at his place. That was fun. Everyone's been busy. Can't blame people for not wanting to be around me.

I could ask my Dr. to tilt-table test me... but this test has been sufficiently completed at the dentist's office. Twice I visited the dentist this year. The first time I remember when I was tilted back I was fine, and then immediately I had the strangest feeling come over me. Like a panic attack, but for no reason. I am not afraid of the dentist. I sort of groaned a little because I wanted more than anything to sit up... hell... go ahead and perform the procedure but the position was killing me.

And then, the next time I visited the dentist this year (the filling wasn't perfect on my bite and I was getting holes in my bottom tooth) the exact same thing happened, luckily it was a shorter procedure.

And laying down in bed, especially if my pillow is not big enough, is often an ordeal. I'm not going to deny that there isn't a definite anxiety component to this BUT I do know there is something more than anxiety alone at play here. And don't try to tell me its some kind of mistaken notion. Thanks to this flare up I've got to go back to all the "cognitive behavioral" stuff... trying to turn my thoughts around. And I guess even take celexa again (although if my problem is with blood pressure I don't know how that would do anything to help.) My blood pressure is consistently low low low at the drs office and my heart rate always consistently high high high.

Why couldn't it just be something simple... like a broken arm... that people know how to fix...

My horoscope is right. The change has to be inside of me.

On Mercury Detox

LINK: http://www.ultrawellness.com/blog/mercury-part-ii

Good website detailing mercury detox protocol. I'm not about to do anything by myself because I'm afraid there will be further exacerbations. Same for anyone out there looking for help. Don't do it alone. Anything is worth a try. First stop: building up my nutrition. Kinda tough now because I have no appetite. It really feels just like when I got sick in summer 2007. I remember I would have fitful, very scared nights. I feel tremendous guilt for putting my host families through that. On top of that, whatever is going on with my system has my hormones really out of whack and I have all the symptoms of PMDD. Seeing my PCP on Monday but pretty sure I'll just get sent out with a perscription for allergy med and SSRI... good thing I'm also seeing someone who might be interested in doing some functional analysis. It's a mystery.

Hopefully I'll go back to my normal level of sub-functioning soon and no permanent damage is being done. Toxicities can mimic MS... and perhaps MS is a misdiagnosed form of environmental toxicity. Just a theory that should be investigated. Anyway, the point is people have exacerbations but there are also pseudo-exacerbations. Once the inflammation goes away, given time and extended periods of health, the brain has the proven ability to regenerate and heal itself, or redirect messages through areas of the brain that are not damaged. If damage occurs in the spine the same flexibility isn't there...

Gee I wish this is what they taught in biology class. I would have got better grades. But when I was in biology class we were learning about the amino acids (yay histidine... histamine.. all this stuff...) but I didn't get far enough to study how it all actually worked.

Ingredients in the Vaccines I had prior to everything changing:

Gardasil: (from link http://www.offtheradar.co.nz/vaccines/52-gardasil-ingredients.html) Dang that off the radar site is good. It also makes sense with the link I posted yesterday about why putting histidine in with all these toxins is simply not a good idea.

Aluminum 225mcg

Animal and human studies have shown aluminum can cause nerve cell death and that vaccine aluminum adjuvants can allow aluminum to enter the brain, as well as cause inflammation at the injection site leading to chronic joint and muscle pain as well as fatigue.

Sodium Borate 35mcg

This is the main ingredient in Boric Acid. Powdered Boric Acid is often used to kill cockroaches. Sodium Borate is now listed as a dangerous poison. Symptons of Sodium Borate poisoning are very similar to many of the side effects being reported with the Gardasil vaccine.

Polysorbate 80 50mcg

Although Polysorbate 80 is a food additive that enables solubility of flavouring oils with water, injection is quite different. Polysorbate 80 injected into prepubescent rats caused a rapid growth of reproductive organs, but growth was abnormal and the rats were sterile, unable to have children. When used intravenously with vitamins it has been known to cause anaphylactic shock. According to the Polysorbate 80 MSDS, it may be a carcinogenic, (cause cancer), as well as a mutagenic, (birth defects).

L-histidine 0.78mcg

L-histidine is an essential amino acid which is a precursor to allergic reactions. It stimulates the inflammatory response of skin and mucous membranes (one possible cause of the allergic reactions reported). It is also responsible for forming metal bearing enzymes (such as the toxic metal storage protein metallothionein). Metals such as zinc, copper, and nickel are transported by binding to L-histidine and the binding is essential for excretion of excess heavy metals. Many parents of autistic children are quite familiar with Metallothionein and MT deficiency.

Sodium Chloride 9.56mcg

Common salt

Yeast Protein 7mcg

This is a hidden form of MSG, as it creates synthetic free glutamic acid in the processing, which in simpler terms is MSG. Most vaccines contain some hidden form of MSG (eg hydrolysed gelatin) as this feeds the live virus.

Menactra:

5oo mcg Aluminum

Hepatitis Vaccine:

Formaldehyde. 2.66 mcg

Couldn't really find the ingredients for the other two vaccines. They're pretty well hidden. It doesn't look like I was exposed to Thimerosal but I'm sure I was as a child as I made it through all the scheduled shots without issue. Just need to keep telling myself that I have recovered from this before therefore I should be able to recover from this again. 頑張ろうね。