Dear Family,

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius--and a lot of courage--to move in the opposite direction.”

—Albert Einstein

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Jemmerisms:

“It's hard to think when you're frustrated.”

“Can you make my pants un-side in?”

“I made the purple one by _squeezing_ [the pipe cleaner]--I wanted to make a tyrannosaurus rex, but then it turned into a snowman, and then it turned into a People-Boat."

Dear Family,

“...With a long and slender body
And the sweetest softest hands
And we'll blow away forever soon
And go on to different lands
And please do not ever look for me
But with me you will stay
And you will hear yourself in song
Blowing by one day

“Oh, hold me like a baby
That will not fall asleep
Curl me up inside you
And let me hear you through the heat...”

--From “Gypsy,” by Suzanne Vega

(This song always makes me want to cry--it's so sweet and her voice is so silvery and I guess I just like it a lot.)

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Jemmerisms:

http://tuberose.com/Adrenal_Glands.html

If you think the adrenal glands are small and boring body parts, then you should check out this article. I don't agree with authors' ideas on treatment specifically, but this is a fascinating article if you suffer from any of the many symptoms of adrenal fatigue, or fatigue in general.

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http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-neuroscience-of-gut

Yet more fodder for fascinating discussions at the dinner table: “The Neuroscience of the Gut. Strange but true: the brain is shaped by bacteria in the digestive tract...”

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"I came into veganism believing all the propaganda saying that animal products were unhealthy, unnecessary and environmentally unfriendly. And for about five years, it seemed to be true...until we were faced with undeniable proof that something was wrong. My oldest daughter's teeth began decaying rapidly at age 17 months, and she presented with a classic case of 'baby bottle mouth' even though she'd never had a bottle in her life..."

Toraji writes about her subsequent and successful approach to halting and healing her daughter's tooth decay using a nutrient-dense, traditional foods' diet.

By the time Gerald was 10 years old, he suffered from terrible gastrointestinal symptoms, and serious depression. He was alcoholic by age 14, and suicidal and a drug user by age 18. "It's amazing," he says, "that I made it to age 20, and got sober in Alcoholics Anonymous. Depression lingered in the background for all the years I was sober in AA (till March 2009, when I began the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD))."

"And then: 36 hours after removing grains, beans, potatoes, and sugars (including milk sugar) from my diet...I was returned to myself. It felt like I was taken back to a fork in the road that I faced when I was just 4 years old and carbohydrate maldigestion took over my life. It was like having strong memories return as the result of some odor that you haven’t smelled in years.

"The spectre of depression that had haunted me from my earliest childhood memories vanished without a trace, never to return, not even for one moment. It’s like I can’t be depressed even if I try! That was 28 months ago..."