Rebuild from Depression Blog

This is the first Rebuild news digest, covering topics related to food, health, and depression.

The Mouths of Babes
The New York Times reports that meaningful parents buying organic cereal for their children are providing a less nutritious product because organic cereals are not fortified and enriched with dietary nutrients. Read more.
Note to parents: there is a reason cereal is fortified in the first place. Instead of buying the box, save some money and make your own porridge, experiment with egg dishes, or go the European sandwich route for breakfast.

As evidence that lawyers should not make our nutritional decisions, Attorney Anne Noyes questions legislating school lunches in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Children and adolescents who have low-fat diets often suffer from depression, fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, hormonal imbalances and (for young women) loss of menstrual cycle," she writes. Yes, we need fats to keep our brains healthy. The problem for her argument is that the particular fats we need are not present in cakes, donuts, and cookies. I also know of no study suggesting that any of us are suffering from sugar-deficiency health consequences. More.

For more on the school lunch debate, Senator Tom Harkin introduced a bill that would affect what schools can sell in vending machines. The devil's in the details as they say. More.

The Rich Get Richer
Supplement users have better diets than non-supplement users. Read more. The rich get richer, though we are all still poor in magnesium, supplements or no. Be careful about getting too rich, by the way. Note most male supplement users consume too much zinc and iron, both depression-fighting minerals if you are deficient. Both are toxic at high levels.

Some people are apparently getting nutrient supplements in enhanced water. Generally supplementation is healthful, but products like enhanced water could end up with questions similar to the current folic acid fortification program, discussed at our website and in the news.

Fight Depression, Build Health
Science Daily reports on a recent JAMA study on the link between Omega 3 fatty acids and diabetes. There is strong evidence that Omega 3 fatty acids help depression as well.

Food Watch
It's not a depression buster if it has E.coli 0157:H57. Beef, high in vitamins and minerals, is a bad idea if it's laced with pathogenic bacteria. Order the steak, pass on the burger, or acquire your own meat the old-fashioned way. Read more on the recent beef recall.

Organic Mega-Dairy Aurora threatens to sue industry watch-dogs. Read part of the battle at Chews Wise. For this writer's commentary, visit the Ethicurean for "Aurora Confession."

Moms and Babies
One in seven of us will face depression in pregnancy or postpartum, a new study says. Yale expert suggests the reasons are either hormonal or due to psychological adjustment. He forgot the fact that in no time in life is our nutrient requirement so great as it is in pregnancy or breastfeeding.

We hear often that the diet of the mom affects the offspring. The diet of the pregnant cow can affect her calf too. If there were assessments of cow mental states, their pregnancy diet would probably affect their postpartum mood as well. Ranchers in Virginia are talking about how to get their herds through the winter on a low feed supply and the implications for the in utero calves. More.

The biggest threat to our home here in the Sequoia National Forest is a forest fire. I post about my property clearing "exercise" on occasion. My work continues on these five acres. We have been lucky this season. We got through one more season it would appear. We are not threatened here by the October Santa Anas like southern California is. July and August heat are our biggest enemies.

Not to be overly grim, just to be realistic about our circumstances, the fire season ending for us about now puts us a season closer. Forestry people here continue to say "It's not a matter of if but when." I do not let this fact cause me fear and dread. I use the information to take some control over our lives by doing things such as brush clearing. I have used it to face another of my big fears - chainsaws. I had not touched on until this past February when I received it for my birthday. This is a big step for a person who grew up in the era of the movies "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Some of you know what I am talking about. ;)

This topic is obviously on my mind because a good friend lost her house on Lake Arrowhead yesterday. Her family is safe and had about ninety minutes to evacuate. She has been spear-heading our high school reunion planning and that reunion happens in about ten days. She actually put the table decorations for the reunion in her car but lamented that she forgot her reunion dress. She was obviously the right person to take charge of the reunion for both her planning abilities and her attitude.

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Thanks for reading.

Thanks for putting up with my madness. ;)

I think this is deserving of a party.

Back in September of 2006, California agencies began a recall of Organic Pastures raw dairy products. I was a big supporter of the dairy at the time, kept drinking the milk we had in the house, and *still* have a gallon of it in my freezer. After a recall of a couple of weeks, the dairy held a press conference at the farm where the most interesting assortment of people showed up to offer support. Not to disappoint, my hippy mom and I showed up with some of the recalled milk and about two gallons of mountain blackberry water kefir in our cooler. We had a great time visiting with other lovers-of-homemade-brew and swapping recipes over plastic cups filled with blackberry kefir.

At the time we didn’t actually think that product from the dairy made anyone sick. We were told the children had eaten spinach and that the pathogens in the childrens’ stools didn’t match each other. If you read this blog regularly, you probably know that I’ve come around to a different view of the recall. None of the children ate spinach involved in outbreaks that same summer. Five of the six children did have matching pathogens. The pathogen was never isolated in the sixth so while it didn’t “match,” it didn’t “not match” either. While we could quibble about the extent of the evidence, it appears far-fetched (and verging on “nutty”) to suggest that the outbreak was caused by spinach.

My perspective has changed but I certainly remember that day nearly two years ago that we hung out at the dairy and had a really great time, celebrating that the milk would be flowing again.

I’ve been thinking about that day today because of a video just posted on YouTube of a boy, Chris Martin, who was in the hospital while we drank blackberry kefir and celebrated the re-opening of the dairy.

It bothers me a great deal now that we did nothing for the families involved in the outbreak. I’d like to think I’m the kind of person who helps other people, but it was not even a topic of discussion at that press conference or in our own house in the weeks before or after. It really shouldn’t have mattered what caused the illnesses. Families in stress need help and we offered nothing.

An article in the North County Times described the help that the Martin family received while their son was in the hospital:

Mary said many neighbors and friends helped the family out by getting their car fixed, taking care of their dog, picking up their mail, patching up their fence when heavy winds blew through, doing the couple's laundry and keeping their pool clean while the two were in the hospital with Chris.

Thank goodness the Martins had people to help them get through those eight weeks. Giving our own blood, after all, might have suggested that we thought the milk caused the illness. It surely would be a shame to appear generous.

The irony is that people in the raw milk community have shown their generosity on other occasions. Organic Pastures managed to raise money just after the outbreak for what it called People Powered by Raw Milk (PPRM). If memory serves, they raised upwards of $30,000 to change the political climate for raw milk in California. They raised much more a year later after AB 1735 made it through the Governor’s office despite the stated goal of PPRM. They spent the money on lawyers and a lobbyist to un-do the effects of AB 1735.

With all of the money our movement is good for, we should probably do a bit better on the fundraisers for sick people, the casseroles, and the blood drives. How raw milk drinkers got sick shouldn't matter.

Diets of teenagers have likely never been particularly good. I remember leaving my junior high campus with my blue "off campus" pass to purchase the a soda and fried burrito at Elmer's Drive-In. It cost a whole buck. A friend of mine didn't have a pass, so I forged one for her and she spent a whole buck as well. In high school we left our law-breaking ways behind but I do remember eating a package of Zingers for lunch one day (like a Twinkie with frosting).

Today is no different except perhaps that the average American diet is so abysmal that the average American teenage diet looks like an abomination of nature. When I went back to my hometown after a decade of being off in college and graduate school, I happened into town during the lunch hour. The quick stops along the main drag in Delano had turned into lunch providers. Students exited with half-gallon sized soda pops and those "Big grab" bag of chips, chips designed to be eaten by one and yet should not be considered food.

I was appalled and mentioned it to my father who was still teaching high school at the time. "Breakfast is a big soda and a donut," he responded. There was a small donut shop just off campus to tempt students on their way to school in the morning.

Inside the campus fence offered some temptation. That is where I purchased the Zingers after all. The lion's share of campuses have had soda machines, some have snack machines as well, in addition to the food prepared in the cafeteria itself.

Here in California last year, a new law went into effect monitoring those on-campus vending machines. They have limits on calories, fat, and sugar that any particular item in the machine can have. The law also allowed only juice, milk, and electrolyte drinks to be sold, causing an uproar with companies providing sodas. A new law was passed in August clarifying some elements of the original law. Even though peanuts, for instance, are exempt from the calorie/sugar/fat requirements (perhaps because it is an actual food, bless its heart), you can't cover it with chocolate and get around the calorie/sugar/fat requirements. You can't turn milk into a sugar drink, call it "milk," and avoid those same requirements.

Good for California.

Certainly students are plagued by obesity and later diseases with abysmal diets. They are plagued by depression as well. Depression has increased in every new generation in this country. Diets of chips, donuts, and soda pop do not help: at a minimum they displace actual foods in our diets that contain nutrients depressed people tend to be deficient in.

Now if students could just be convinced not to buy the donuts off campus...

Technorati Tags: depression, foods that fight depression, teen nutrition, Rebuild from Depression, school lunches

One thing is for sure: tomorrow in the United States, about a half of us will read the headlines and suffer minor depression. My political science friends and general news junkies will suffer a bout of "What in the world will I do now?" after watching the show for nearly two years. What a let-down it will be to move on to such topics as, well, we'll have to figure that out tomorrow. The current state of the economy is certainly in the mix of news to watch, but what would that topic do to our mental health?

This situation actually reminds me of a comment an Undergraduate professor made to me far too many years ago. I had just finished with a big event in college, was in her class, and probably looked like I could be knocked over with a feather from exhaustion. She asked what I would be doing next. I gave her a blank stare. She said, "This is sort of like postpartum depression. You spend nine months carrying a baby, give birth, and then say "Now what?" I must contact her to let her know that's not at all what postpartum depression is like. Hopefully too all of our angst tomorrow over today's decision and over the question of "What's next?" will be minor like mine was in college.

To get one last little Election '08 fix we are actually venturing out to my father's house. He has this fancy new technology called "satellite T.V." When he turns on his television set he gets channels. We get "snow," something I have found does not suck my time like those new-fangled channels do. I would consider eating popcorn for the occasion, but it's a cruel thing when your pop is on a low carb diet. I would also consider hot toddies and use the current rainstorm as a veiled excuse for them, but someone once told me that I probably shouldn't get drunk while pregnant. We're really limited here without high-carb snacks and hard liquor, but frankly our potential case of mild depression tomorrow may be better if he don't throw a hang-over in on top of it.

For my part, I am not sure whether I'll be more surprised by an African American president, a woman Vice President, or Indiana going Democratic. It also looks like I may well be changing some summer plans since friend was planning to be married this summer here in California may need to go with a "Plan B." Chickens of California will likely be free to flap their wings with Prop 2 and, in their honor, we just acquired twenty-five chicks to provide us with an abundance of quiche this spring. I must get a picture while they are in their super-cute phase.

In any case, I hope you are not one of half the nation experiencing minor depression tomorrow, particularly if you and I agree on politics because, of course, that would mean I will be facing it too. ;) Remember too that alcohol is a depressant and though I'd be right there with you if I were not in a family way, I can take the high road today and say that it's best to say "No."

Technorati Tags: depression, politics

First, my apologies to you if you face that minor depression today as a result of last night's news. If it's any consolation at all, just about everyone here in this part of the Sequoia National Forest looks a little blue today. I expect that McCain got a very large portion of the "forest cowboy" vote, but of course their voting preferences are so obvious that they wouldn't even make a decent dis

sertation in political science.

Coming from a political science background, I was holding my breath on the political psychology issue so much discussed in the campaign: that voters might get in that voting booth and, in their private cubby, vote for the white guy because he's white. That would have been deeply depressing and it is, instead, such a wonderful relief to have evidence that this country is changing for the better. While Obama didn't do well in some southern states, it wasn't clear that it was a race issue. And frankly, having spent five years living in southern Indiana, the fact that Obama won Indiana's electoral votes is some pretty solid evidence that race was not a key factor.

It is a great day.

On California issues, the forest cowboys didn't do well here on the Rotten Egg Initiative either. With over 60% of the vote, chickens in California will now be able to stretch a leg and flap their wings in between their daily egg laying. Poor pregnant sows looking for a little bit of lower back pain relief or feeling the pain from sleeping on their left side all night long might get to shift their over-sized bodies a bit more throughout their pregnancy. (To be honest, I have no idea how pregnant sows feel. I suppose I am projecting a bit here at 34 weeks into my own gestation cycle.)

The cowboys are pleased with Prop 8, however, the gay marriage initiative. Lesbian and gay partners here in California had about six months to tie the knot. All knots tied in those six months appear to still be tied. All knots planned to be tied in the future may well not be unless legal battles undo last night's vote. Dollars-to-donuts, a summer wedding I'm attending may not be accompanied by a legal document.

Our local State Assembly race went Republican (Connie Conway) which is not a big surprise since I expect my husband and I together make up about 20% of the Democrats in the district. Conway is a friend of a friend, so I am pleased to have one degree of separation from my state rep.

The real action was in the neighboring Assembly district, Nicole Parra's seat. Parra was the author of AB 1604, a raw milk bill that lived for about three minutes in January of 2008. Her heart-felt speech lambasting California regulators over the previous AB 1735 is memorialized on YouTube. The bill with legs, however, was written by Dean Florez and lived for about four months before being vetoed by the Governor. Florez and Parra are Kern County Democrats, legendary for their family feud. Parra's term was up, she was term-limited out, decided to leave politics, and Florez's mother decided to run for Parra's open seat. Deciding to burn all bridges with the party, Parra actually backed the Republican who had a bloody battle with her in a previous election. Right now it looks like Republican Danny Gilmore won by only 2500 votes (51.7%). County Democrats will forever blame Parra for the loss.

I expect there are many Democrats in Kern County today and forest cowboys all over with a mild case of depression. If that's you, get some good sleep, sleep off the Jack, and perhaps double up on your vitamins for a day or two.

Technorati Tags: Dean Florez, Nicole Parra, politics, raw milk

Not a lot happens here on the the southern edge of the Sequoias National Monument. The local beef cattle population far exceeds the human and the local dairy heifer population is by far more notorious than any human inhabitant. The knotty-pine paneled bar down the road finds itself home to darts, pool, and a good, old-fashioned ass whoopin' on occasion. If the United States still has a frontier, this might be it. If you are looking for a place to grow your own or a culture of rugged individualism, this may be the place for you.

If there is any order or structure at all here on the edge of civilization, it exists at about 11:20 AM every weekday when an assortment of characters gather at the post office waiting for the day's mail. The post office is where we call if we need to know when the electricity will be back on, when the road will be plowed, or who fathered whose child. I guess it should be no surprise that the post office was also the center of the Obama inauguration here this week.

Mail carrier Angela, who drives through a dozen other Podunk towns and services a whole lot of rural mailbox routes, made Obama cupcakes on Tuesday for the big day. Here in the Sequoia National Monument we don't need to compete with Obama gingerbread cookies or the Haphazard Gourmet Girls' "Sarah 'You Can't Blink' Palin Cupcakes." We just like to eat.

Behold the Obama "You can only help us if you can find us" Cupcake wrapped in institutional cupcake paper. The Obama flag uses left-over file folder labels and a toothpick flag pole stolen from a local cowboy restaurant. Asked her budget for the project, someone overheard Angela say, "About what's left in Sacramento."

From the heart of a state whose coffers will have less than mine in about a week (and that's saying something), we're already adapting here in the Sequoia National Monument.

Technorati Tags: dairy, Haphazard Gourmet Girls, Obama, Obamafoodorama, politics, Sarah Palin

As many as 3% of consumers may like their milk raw, a growing trend that has spurred federal legislation to allow raw milk to cross state lines. As demand grows, we have seen an increase in raw milk blogs, regulatory action in states such as Connecticut and California, and even an increase in raw milk conferences and conference panels. A problem with the raw milk discussion in general is that it remains polarized. Of the two prominent raw milk symposiums so far this year, one was made up exclusively of raw milk opponents and sponsored by the International Association for Food Protection and the other was made up exclusively of raw milk advocates.

A third symposium, in planning since the summer of 2008, is noteworthy in having a raw milk consumer on the panel. Called “The Raw Milk Conundrum,” the American Veterinary Medical Association will host the symposium this summer in Seattle. The panel includes regulators from the CDC and FDA, Californian’s favorite love-to-hate dairy safety expert Michael Payne, notorious food safety lawyer William Marler, Barfblog’s Doug Powell, and one raw milk consumer: me.

With social science background and interest in the philosophy of choice, I am charged with presenting an even-handed paper on raw milk choice appropriate for a scientific meeting. To that end, I am conducting a survey on raw milk consumer information and need your help.

If you consume raw milk and live in the United States, please take this survey. It should take only ten to fifteen minutes to complete. The survey will close April 30. The paper will be available later this fall.

Take the survey now.

Technorati Tags: Barfblog, raw milk, William Marler

My first clue about the importance of the last twenty-four hours was Thursday at a doctor's office in Fresno. I saw the headline:

"Outreach efforts have been used to help region prepare for Friday."

I was reading below the fold, below the main headline, with a picture of a clerk in Best Buy.

"Oh my goodness," was my first thought, "have I missed the news of a massive storm coming to the region? Has Best Buy run out of flashlights? Will I get home on time? Am I ready?"

Add this new life stress to the really important projected crash of all things Twitter.

A major regional storm AND the Twitpocalypse?

How would I survive?

A flood of anxiety rushed over me in that doctors office. I took a breath and turned the newspaper to reveal the headline:

"Are you ready? The move to digital TV."

There would be no tornado, no major earthquake, no tsunami. The world is going digital. How would we get by?

As I lay down to sleep last night I did wonder what this morning would bring: television and twitter-land chaos might leave me out of touch with the world.

I woke this morning and stumbled to the television set, blurry-eyed. I pressed the power button. Blue snow appeared on the screen. Could it be a sign of the Apocalypse? Could it be that we have no reception at all here in the Sequoia National Forest?

I wondered if I should Tweet just to try my luck. With a total of fourteen followers as of this morning, you have to wonder If a tweet falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, would it sound anything like the Twitpocalyse?

In the meantime, I opened Facebook and realized that in my Apocalyptic concerns I forgot about what was really important: the run on Facebook usernames.

Facebook.com/ Amanda.Rose could have been mine, but I missed it. By this morning in my post-Apocalyptic household, I could have been "Amanda.Rose2" or "Amanda.Rose3." I settled for my long-time email handle, amgrose, an anachronistic monument to 8-character email addresses given to me nearly two decades ago.

Technorati Tags: Digital TV, Facebook, Amanda Rose, Twitpocalypse, Twitter

There is a story in the news today that is really too horrible to repeat but I thought I would write something briefly about postpartum psychosis. I would really discourage people from searching for the story.

In my first pregnancy I did actually believe that my baby was "infested" with demons. I had someone pray over them to remove them but do not remember being satisfied that they were exorcised. It was only years later in reading accounts of postpartum psychosis, thinking back on those days, and thinking to myself "you know, there wasn't a whole lot of evidence for that demon thing," that I realized that my view of the world, which I held so firmly to be true, really wasn't true at all. You simply live in another reality.

I know this is a natural health website and seeking help from mental health professionals and taking pharmaceutical drugs is anathema to many people who read this blog. However, the infanticide story that is in the news is a reminder that there are things far worse than Zoloft. I realize that a famous case involved a mom on psychiatric medication but my core point is that we need to find some way to become stable first and then do what we need to do to get better from that point.

Any approach that helps you become stable is good. You need to be monitored closely until you become stable.

In my second pregnancy I actually arranged for the director of a county mental health agency to serve as my personal case manager. I knew if things got real bad, I would get conventional psychiatric treatment. I look back on those psychotic moments with my first baby and I know that what very likely makes me different from people who have made the news is simply dumb luck. I was lucky with my first child that in response to a supposedly demon-infested baby, I attempted to have him exorcised. It could have been far worse. There is really no particular reason it wasn't.

Technorati Tags: postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, Zoloft