Some of you may not like the ingredients, so sorry if it seems distasteful

• Pork rinds, fried (a.k.a. Chicharrons; 0 carbs)
• Braunschweiger (a.k.a. liverwurst; 3 carb/2oz.)
• Cheese (i.e. Colby Jack; 1 carb/oz)
• Onion slices (0 carb)
• Yellow Mustard (0 carb)

Spread a small amount of Braunschweiger on the pork rind of your choice. Place a bit of cheese on top and add some mustard. Top it off with a tad of onion and enjoy! Yum!

I used to eat Braunschweiger the more common way, with a rye-crisp or some other cracker, if not bread to make a sandwich. If you don’t like the pork rinds, try using the cheese as a bed for the rest. The onion really makes it work…. I’ll work on uploading a pic.

July and August were very busy months for us. July was our busiest sales month ever at Waterbirth Solutions (lots of September babies coming!) and we welcomed our son, Campbell Aaron, to this world on July 19th. All that, and August kind of got away from me w.r.t. posting here. And August heralded the arrival of the Aquaborn Eco Birth Pool into the US market. They are here and in stock at www.waterbirthsolutionsstore.com! Check ‘em out!

PS: I guess I should mention that Campbell was born in water and is (likely) the first baby born in the USA in an Aquaborn Eco Birth Pool… Yay!

Our 2nd child (a boy!) is on the way; he is due in a few weeks. We will be having another homebirth and a waterbirth this time as well, should all go as planned. We used water last time around (September of 2006) and unfortunately the birth was a “dry” one (my wife labored well in the water, but when the pushing began, we needed her out of the tub).

In case anyone reads this and is interested in home or hospital waterbirth (or water birth), please see this website: www.waterbirthsolutions.com. There is also an eStore here for those of you who might be looking for birth pools, supplies, or other waterbirth-related items. We run this business as a means to both educate and serve the home/waterbirth/gentle birth community…. Follow us on twitter (@waterbirthsol); see the Facebook Fan page here!

We carry a full line of waterbirth pools, media, and supplies, including the ::: Aquaborn ::: eco birth pool, the Birth Pool in a Box, and the La Bassine birthing pool.  We also carry supplies for older birth pools like the Gentle Birth Pool and the Aqua Doula Birth Pool. See the website for more info!

You can email us through the website or via this address: info@waterbirthsolutions.com

Cheers!

It is very important to take CoQ10 supplements if you are on statins.

I have been on statins for about 6 months now to treat high cholesterol (also throw in a CRP of 7.5 and my doc said “let’s get it in check now”). I started out at 20 mg of lovastatin (Mevacor) and had good results with no real side effects. This took my chol. from ~280 to ~206 with strong increase/decrease in HDL/LDL, and my CRP went down to 3.8. Yay!

Then after about 3 months, my chol. went up again to almost 300 and my CRP went from 3.8 to 9.0. HDL remained around 50 but LDL went back up to like 160 if I remember my numbers right. Either way, it doesn’t matter because with an extremely high CRP and chol. back up he upped me to 40 mg a day and switched me to simvastatin (Zocor).

After a few weeks of simv., I started getting achy muscles and I recalled this is a possible side effect of statins. I figured, “Oh well. It’s better than a cardiac event….” Then I recalled reading that statins interfere (it’s not a side effect mind you, but an effectof statin use) with the production of Coenzyme Q10, which the body needs and you get from food. It turns out that people in their 20s have adequate amounts of Coenzyme Q10, but geezers like me (okay I’m 42) stop producing it and need it increasingly from diet.  I had been taking it as a supplement for a few years anyway for general health and had recently forgotten to get more after running out. As it turns out, it is very important to take CoQ10 supplements if you are on statins.

Read this article from the University of Marylandand you will see why. Also do a Google search on “coenzyme q10 statins” and read up. Most of the articles agree with the one from UM, except for one crappy one from the Mayo clinic, but read it anyway to be informed of what ignorance looks like. I was especially intrigued to read about the link between Coenzyme Q10 and the creation of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in the body. As a budding botanist in the mid-eighties I learned that ATP is the fundamental energy source in all cellular life, second only to photosynthesis in its importance to Life Itself. Wow. Yeah….Wow. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I read it. Mess with ATP and you mess with everything else.

I am back up to 200 mg CoQ10 a day (take with or after meals that include (OMG!) fat and am hoping to resolve the muscle pain as well as the fatigue I have felt lately since switching to simvastatin. One final thought: make sure you buy quality supplements. Check out consumerlab.comfor an unbiased test report on dozens of vitamin and supplement manufacturers. It’s less than $30 a year and is worth every penny in peace of mind ‘cos these supplements aren’t cheap! You’ll know you are getting value and quality – and your health is worth it, right?

In case you are interested:

Memorial Day in the United States is the last Monday of May, and the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon and then raised to full-staff. Full staff shows that the nation lives, for the flag is the symbol of the living nation.

The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff.

See more here and here.

I don’t see how this stuff gets by supposed professionals. This is from the pga.com website:

Evidently nobody reads this stuff before posting it. I can see how “Zack” can happen; it’s a real name. But htf does “Aach” make it in? Even a pedestrian spell checker like Word 2007 tried to change it to – you guessed it, “Zach.”

I guess the German translation from Google  says it all (the extra “a” is for emphasis one supposes).

<sigh>

Influenza A(H1N1) update from the WHO website as of 2009-04-30.:

In nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to cause infections in humans.

In Phase 2 an animal influenza virus circulating among domesticated or wild animals is known to have caused infection in humans, and is therefore considered a potential pandemic threat.

In Phase 3, an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus has caused sporadic cases or small clusters of disease in people, but has not resulted in human-to-human transmission sufficient to sustain community-level outbreaks. Limited human-to-human transmission may occur under some circumstances, for example, when there is close contact between an infected person and an unprotected caregiver. However, limited transmission under such restricted circumstances does not indicate that the virus has gained the level of transmissibility among humans necessary to cause a pandemic.

Phase 4 is characterized by verified human-to-human transmission of an animal or human-animal influenza reassortant virus able to cause “community-level outbreaks.” The ability to cause sustained disease outbreaks in a community marks a significant upwards shift in the risk for a pandemic. Any country that suspects or has verified such an event should urgently consult with WHO so that the situation can be jointly assessed and a decision made by the affected country if implementation of a rapid pandemic containment operation is warranted. Phase 4 indicates a significant increase in risk of a pandemic but does not necessarily mean that a pandemic is a forgone conclusion.

Phase 5 is characterized by human-to-human spread of the virus into at least two countries in one WHO region. While most countries will not be affected at this stage, the declaration of Phase 5 is a strong signal that a pandemic is imminent and that the time to finalize the organization, communication, and implementation of the planned mitigation measures is short.

Phase 6, the pandemic phase, is characterized by community level outbreaks in at least one other country in a different WHO region in addition to the criteria defined in Phase 5. Designation of this phase will indicate that a global pandemic is under way.

During the post-peak period, pandemic disease levels in most countries with adequate surveillance will have dropped below peak observed levels. The post-peak period signifies that pandemic activity appears to be decreasing; however, it is uncertain if additional waves will occur and countries will need to be prepared for a second wave.

Previous pandemics have been characterized by waves of activity spread over months. Once the level of disease activity drops, a critical communications task will be to balance this information with the possibility of another wave. Pandemic waves can be separated by months and an immediate “at-ease” signal may be premature.

In the post-pandemic period, influenza disease activity will have returned to levels normally seen for seasonal influenza. It is expected that the pandemic virus will behave as a seasonal influenza A virus. At this stage, it is important to maintain surveillance and update pandemic preparedness and response plans accordingly. An intensive phase of recovery and evaluation may be required.

Also see the BBC News site here for updates and a neat map/timeline. Check out the slider at the bottom!

This one is pretty darn good. I recommend to use more mushrooms, and to slice ‘em thin. Also, mix up the varieties a bit: oyster mushrooms, shiitake, crimini etc. Enjoy!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk or half-n-half
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper, ground to taste
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice, fresh
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ½ cup sour cream

Directions

• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 more minutes. Stir in the dill, paprika, soy sauce, and broth. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
• In a separate small bowl, whisk the milk and flour together. Pour this into the soup and stir well to blend. Cover and simmer for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Finally, stir in the salt, ground black pepper, lemon juice, parsley, and sour cream. Mix together and allow heating through, over low heat, about 3 to 5 minutes. Do not boil. Serve immediately.

Ever have a bunch of Windows Taskbar icons (they represent your active windows in the order which they were opened)

and you want to order them in a specific pattern, and then you find that you cannot do this with the Windows XP or similar operating system? Well those days are over! Taskix is the latest improvement to personal productivity and OS satisfaction I have come across. [Aside: It never ceases to amaze me that Microsoft does not add in little enhancements like this to their products, or more appropriately, that they build them in the first place with so little regard as to how people like me actually use them. Sure they will say something like "it's wonderful that developers can write to the Microsoft API to deliver market-driven applications..." yadda, yadda, yadda.]

Nice features include a simple on/off toggle as well as a checkbox to launch it (or not) when Windows boots. 32-bit and 64-bit versions available. Simply download and unzip it; make sure the .exe is in the same path as the .dll. Enjoy and consider donating! 

This is my own take on a classic. Its genesis is from Alton Brown’s show “Good Eats,” though I have made it my own. We love it!

Steel-cut Oats

Ingredients

• 1 cup steel-cut oats (not Scottish or Irish oats as these are a less coarse variation, though they can be used in a pinch)
• 2 to 2 ½ cups water
• 1 TBS unsalted butter (substitute: 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil)
• Salt and other spices, to taste

Preparation

Melt the butter (oil) in a sturdy saucepan over medium heat. Use enough butter to coat the pan, but not so much the oats will sauté. Place uncooked oats in the pan once the butter is melted. Toast for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Adjust heat as needed to attain desired toasting. Add a pinch of kosher or sea salt while the oats are toasting to make this a savory dish.

Once the oats are thoroughly toasted, add the water and bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to simmer. Note: Use 2 cups of water for chewier oats, and 2 ½ for a creamier dish. Stir once or twice and cook until oats have absorbed most of the water. Cooking time should be about 10-12 minutes for 2 C water, longer for more but you can vary based on personal tastes.

Serve as-is or add butter and cream to taste. Add fruit for a nice variation. Yields about 2 ½ cups cooked.