The Stanford Inn by the Sea - Eco-Lodge & Retreat Center

Introduction: The Mendocino Lifestyle is predominately "green." We define it as an effort to bring thoughtfulness, mindfulness, to the small decisions we make every day. This blog concerns chronic diseases. It is also the story of the former owner of this lodge. We are vegan and adopting a vegan lifestyle is the single most important change one can make toward sustainability. This blog is provides another reason for adopting a vegan lifestyle. In addition, many of our guests have wanted copies of the orginal article written in our newsletter. It is here for them.

Diet and Disease
A close friend died as a result of contracting histoplasmosis a disease endemic to the eastern and central U.S. There, as many as 80% of the people test positive for exposure.

Suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, our friend was treated with infusions of two drugs that suppress the immune system. One of the drugs, Remicade, is known to lower resistance to fungal infections. Reviews of the drug include a warning that where histoplasmosis is common, patients and their doctors must consider the benefits and risks before using it. Coastal California is not known for this disease;however, she went to Mexico where the disease is common.

We wondered if a safer product might have been available to prevent such a catastrophic outcome. We read about aspirin, Vitamin D, and more. But most stunning was the role of diet. First, we learned that most autoimmune diseases can be attributed to diet or at best are exacerbated by diet. Second, the most common culprits are proteins found in foods and their interactions with the human immune system. Clues to the role of diet in a variety of diseases include:

1. Lupus is rare in rural Africa, yet African-Americans have the highest incidence of lupus.

2. Albania, Europe’s poorest country with a poor diet by Western standards, has the longest life expectancy in eastern and central Europe.

3. Further, Albanians living in the southwest who subsist primarily on a diet of fruits and vegetables are half as likely to die from heart attack as their countrymen who live in the northeast and subsist on a dairy based diet.

4. People in Asia and Africa subsisting on traditional diets have a very low incidence of the various forms of arthritis afflicting those on a western diet.

5. Multiple Sclerosis is rare in Asia and Africa; however Asians and Africans who have adopted a western diet are as susceptible as are European

6. Atherosclerosis is rare in populations eating traditional diets in Asia and Africa and, again, Asians and Africans on a western diet are as afflicted as Europeans. Other diseases may very well be the result of atherosclerosis.

7. Finally, long ago Jeff was struck by the diets of various indigenous people he studied as an anthropologist. With the exception of Inuit and some northern peoples, most traditional diets were based on seeds, grains and fruit. For example, the Pomo who once occupied Mendocino County subsisted primarily on acorns supplementing their diet with dried salmon, seaweed (for salt), berries and collected shell fish during their seasonal forays to the coast. For many people, meat was for festivals.

Third, we were impressed by the fact that dietary changes can effectively reduce or eliminate the symptoms of these and other chronic diseases. The implications are enormous. A low fat, whole foods vegan diet will often reverse the effects of Multiple Sclerosis according to Dr. Roy Swank formerly the head of the Division of Neurology of the University of Oregon Medical School. Dr. John McDougal and Dr. Dean Ornish recommend low fat vegan diets for treatment of variety modern afflictions including prostrate problems, heart disease, arthritis, and MS.
The process of how diet contributes to allergies is complex. For those who want to know more we suggest that you check out Dr. John McDougal’s web site – http://www.drmcdougall.com. McDougall provides a thorough documented description of the inflammatory process as well as well documented dietary guidelines.

At the Ravens we are challenging ourselves to develop recipes which enhance the immune system at the same time they satisfy our western tastes.

All material -Copyright - Stanford Inn

We are traveling – first to a wedding in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and exploring vegan restaurants.

Halifax is a wonderful city: youthful, yet graced with stone or brick century old buildings. More than vegan friendly, the city offers several vegan restaurants. Not entirely vegan, but “friendly” Mezza on Quinpool Road is Lebanese/Mediterranean. Our daughter and son were to arrive later in the evening and we decided to try their appetizers. We had a three including Foul Mudammas – a tangy dish of fava beans tossed with garlic, mint and fresh lemon with tomatoes and onions; Vegetable Kebbe - samosa-like with a fried dumpling made with potato and cracked wheat and stuffed with spinach, chickpeas, onion and lemon; and, Eggplant created with roasted eggplant, green pepper, red pepper, onion, garlic, tomato, parsley, lemon and olive oil. Not one of these can be claimed our favorite –each excellent, with wonderful flavors – complementing one another. We chose well. - Joan and Jeff Stanford

It is one our coldest nights this year, it’s late and two raccoons, a mother and her baby, who visit every night, are watching us - or that is our dogs, Gypsy and Murphy who are intently watching them. The stare-off reminds us of our love for animals. We contribute to their wellbeing by not in anyway supporting feed lots, piggeries, over fishing and so on. We eat a whole foods, plant based diet.

It occurs to us this winter solstice that “keeping Christmas” is perhaps easier for us because each day we have to think about what we eat – particularly if we are traveling. Thinking about what we eat reminds us of our commitment to other species; our commitment to supporting sustainable agriculture and it reminds us of our hypocrisy - we wear leather on our feet and leather around our waists. We are not offering you righteousness: Jeff is often angry, blundering into the others’ feelings. But we are offering our experience – that eating kindly benefits us in ways we never imagined. We have more energy than others much younger, we feel energy moving through us, we feel connected to this wonderful earth and we have taken it for granted. We simply have had no need to announce these experiences. Until now.

Now we know that our way of eating has unanticipated benefits from reducing global warming and pollution to averting chronic diseases. With regard to chronic disease, check out http://drmcdougall.com/. John McDougall is a leader in treating a variety of chronic diseases with diet. If you know someone with MS, you might check out Dr. Roy Swank's site at http://www.swankmsdiet.org/ and for specific recommendations regarding heat disease, check out Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn's site http://www.heartattackproof.com/. All three doctors share a passion for healing and found that the methods they had learned often failed to treat more than symptoms. They sought to reverse disease and increase vitality. Although the Dr. Swank and Dr. Esselstyn are now retired, Dr. McDougall continues his practice in Santa Rosa, California.

Follow this blog for additional information regarding the reduction of carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide equivalents by adoption of a vegan, whole foods diet.

"It's a matter of opinion!"

"No it's not opinion! It is a matter of life and death. Death is a fact: it's real. Suffering's real!"

"Well, it's a matter of opinion!"

Three women were in the lobby, two of them proud of their work in sustainable water use.

I said, "There's no greater sustainable action that one person can take than being vegan."

I had no idea what any of them eat. In fact, I knew who they were visiting - a vegan friend of our son.

I had no desire to discuss veganism - I assumed that they were literally living sustainably - for that was their passion.

But the tall one said, "There have to be options!" I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Options?"

"Yeah, options: A middle way!"

"But there's no sustainable middle way," I replied. "And what about the animals?"

"Everybody has a right to their own opinion," another one said, and began walking out of the building.

"Death is not an opinion. Suffering is not an opinion! Death is death! How is that an opinion?!!"

She walked out muttering, "Everyone can have an opinion," unwilling to discuss the issue of her opinion regarding the death of another being.

What I wanted to tell her is that everyone is entitled to opine about what ever they want. But do they have the right to take the life of another being - directly or indirectly? Do they have the right to cause suffering? How do they condemn others for polluting water when they eat meat? Check it out: the greatest source of water polution is the meat industry - the huge pig farms, feed lots, and chicken ranches.

I wanted her to know that it was her choice, not her opinion. I wanted her to know that choice was there, acknowledged or not. And I wanted her to take responsibility for her choice - just simply saying, "I choose to eat animals." It is not an opinion and it is not something that just happens to her. We have to eat and we can choose. This is all about the nature of our existence, of her existence. Choice is an essential aspect of what we are: We are "choosers" and we must acknowledge choice.

Recognizing that we make choices and that each of us is responsible for the choices we make is so difficult for some of us. But it is so necessary - and it's liberating. To look at your own life and grab it making decisions and rejoicing in your ability to choose - this is the nature being human! To hide from our existential nature is also within our nature, but somehow, somewhere we know deeply that we are flawed . And it is liberating to move toward wholeness.

Finally, recognizing that we choose and acknowledging our responsibility for choice is a movement of meditation. It is mindfulness.

Gypsy barely got up. I helped him to the stairs. Before reaching the first step down to the living room, he collapsed, jammed in the stairway. We got him down the stairs. He was in pain and I immediately checked his mouth to see if his gum was pale or that when I pushed against the bone, if the blood returned. No obvious sign of hemorrhaging.

He had been on low doses of aspirin since he hurt himself a month ago. Feeling better and better just before coming-up lame on Monday, he had been bouncing around the Inn and following Dana when she carried food upstairs to the offices. (Dana is the head of Big River Nurseries, the Stanford Inn by the Sea's California Certified Organic Farm).

Gypsy quickly "healed" by giving him a full aspirin tablet each morning and night, but his energy level remained low. Yesterday, Joan took him to Karen Novak, a wonderful veterinarian and animal acupuncturist. Karen found that Gypsy was anemic and told us to take him off the aspirin and then performed acupuncture. Today, Gypsy has noticeably more energy and only evidences pain getting up and laying down.

When Gypsy collapsed Monday, we worried that the cancer which had attacked him last August might have returned. The fact that aspirin eliminated the symptoms suggested that the pain was from ligament damage, arthritis or some other cause of joint inflammation. Karen's acupuncture treatment suggested to her that he was suffering from inflammation in his hip.

He is laying beside me and just woke-up. A couple of other things: he is hungry, happy and remains intensely curious.

Fluffy: Unfortunately most of last month we were also dealing with Fluffy our nineteen year old cat who grew progressively weaker and there was nothing that we could do for him other than hydrate and feed him baby food. Joan was particularly close to this cat, and so, too, Gypsy and another cat - Ginger Cat. Saturday, before Gypsy became lame, Fluffy died. We buried him in the garden and later that afternoon, Ginger Cat was rolling over the grave.

Tonight Ginger Cat is in the Barn. While he was grieving he would not come in.

To avoid disease and middle age weight gain, David Noonan adopted the 28 day program in The Engine 2 Diet: The Texas Firefighter's 28-Day Save-Your-Life Plan That Lowers Cholesterol and Burns Away the Pounds. The diet was developed by Rip Esselstyn to help his fellow firefighter adopt a vegan whole foods diet. Esselstyn has been vegan for more than 20 years and is an athlete and son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, of the Cleveland Clinic, who has long advocated vegan diets for prevention of disease. (Check out Rip Esselstyn's web site http://www.theengine2diet.com/)

Eating a vegan whole foods diet is a credible way to avoid weight gain and disease. Noonan's conversion is hopeful and perhaps he can affect other people. But this happy development may disintegrate like Oprah's brief foray into veganism providing a hiccup in her climb to 200 pounds.

I have noticed a distinct tendency by many people to be self destructive. Whatever diet they try, they go off it. I know this is true - it is true of me. But years ago I realized that I could not kill an animal for food and that it was not ethical to ask another person to do that for me (which made me sort of like a vulture or hyena). I became vegan to avoid adding to animals' suffering. I did it for myself in the sense that I wanted to avoid feeling guilty. I am vegan because I love animals. This is a diet I have stayed on because it isn't just for me! If it was for my health or to lose weight, I more than likely would have given up on it after a few months - like a former cigarette smoker trying just one and starting again.

For Noonan's article check out this link http://www.newsweek.com/id/189291 .

During its reportage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, NBC is covering all thing Canadian and are correctly portraying Canadians as generally polite, reserved, dedicated, hard working and happy. At the Inn some of our fellow workers were talking about how much more friendly Canadians seem to be.

Canadians are not friendlier than Americans. Nor are they more generous. Traveling and living in both countries, my experience is that Americans and Canadians are equally generous, helpful, polite and outgoing. But there is a profound difference.

Canadians are more "comfortable" - I don't know how else to put this.

Thinking about it, their comfort comes from the knowledge that if they become ill, they will not lose their homes because of high medical costs and potential bankruptcy. In Manitoba, where Joan was born and where we both attended graduate school, their version of "universal health care" is paid for from general Provincial revenues. As a Canadian and Manitoban resident I was issued Manitoba Health Services card on January 1, 1974.

Today I am insured with our employees under an Anthem policy with a huge deductible. It is what we can afford. Medical insurance issues occupy considerable staff time just in management alone. And it is very expensive. Twenty-seven years ago, we could afford to insure all of our staff, part and full time, paying 100% of the employee's costs for a low deductible policy. Today, we cannot. We now pay only 50% and only for full time employees. We wish we could pay more and for a lower deductible policy. But to do so requires raising rates, which at this time and in this economy is problematic.

Manitoba's medical care simply eases life. And don't be fooled with regard to claims that Canadians do not get the medical care they need. We have never heard anything like this. Quite the contrary - we have only heard plaudits: People with cancer, heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis - all feel that they received essential, life saving care. If they need a specialist, even in another province, their "insurance" provides for travel and the necessary treatments.

Canadians do have this on us. Americans simply do not have a clue regarding how much easier life is without having to worry about their medical care.