New Mural

Catch the new wall painting on the northeast corner of Fraser and Broadway. It depicts a scene that is more or less patterned after the False Creek area looking north towards the Science World geodesic dome. I saw three women working on it a couple of weeks ago but did not have my camera with me. The colours are more pastel than the one a block away at Prince Albert and Broadway. I hope this one, too, will be respected by the local taggers. Anyone with a picture of this mural, please post a link in the comments section.

Plant symbiosis

Sometimes when I walk around the neighbourhood, I see what I call "plant friends" - plants that seem to have established a friendly symbiosis with each other. There's an example of this just east of the southern end of North China Park. A very big tree in front of that blue house with purple trim seems to be something like a locust tree, with long compound leaves, but growing right out of it are well developed limbs of both a maple and something that appears to be a cherry tree.

Tai Chi resumes at Mt. Pleasant Neighbourhood House

Tai Chi/Chi Gong classes resumed last week at the Mt. Pleasant Neighbourhood House (Broadway at Prince Albert - 1 block east of Fraser). They are weekly from 10:30 to 11:30 am. $3 per lesson, drop-in fee is extremely reasonable. Instructor is Lyla Yip, a well known Tai Chi practitioner in Vancouver and also a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Doc Yip is one of the models even for a tai chi sculpture group being planned for one of the Vancouver parks.

The basic version of Tai Chi taught in this class is "24 steps," a short form in the Yang style tradition. However, the class also includes a smattering of whatever will be good for our health or what Doc Yip is learning in her own Tai Chi studies - so, sometimes we work with fans, or sticks, or we "do the bear."

First time tai chi people are welcome as well as those with experience, and all ages can attend. I myself have studied off and on for about 8 years and while I am not by any means skillful, I've gotten a lot of enjoyment and much improved my balance, both physical and mental.

This class is one of the hidden treasures of Mt. Pleasant. It could use up to 3 or 4 more regulars before it becomes too full for the room, so please come on down.

Vitamin D you can get for free

Recently someone told me you can't get your vitamin D from sunlight if the sun is coming through glass. I looked this up online, and according to this site only about 5% of the Vitamin-D-forming UV-B form of ultraviolet light makes it through a pane of glass.

UV-B is also filtered out by the angled sun slanting through more of the atmosphere, so that it's really only possible to make much vitamin D through sun exposure if you go out in the direct sun between 10 am and 2 pm. (The source didn't say if this was standard or daylight time!) You should also expose as much of your skin as you can on this walk, to give more of your skin a chance to do the job. If you expose 85% of your skin, basically, go out in a bathing suit, you can pick up about 4000 international units, which is good. The darker your skin, the more sun time you need. And the oilier your skin, the more D you make and absorb (so all this bathing probably really does weaken us).

So, the dogs are right when they nag me to go for a walk in the middle of the day. We should all be out taking the sun - like "Englishmen" - around lunchtime. Then, you can eat some D-bearing foods for lunch, like egg yolks, shellfish, oily fish, organ meats, menudo and insects (so, don't throw away the worm!).

Not getting enough Vitamin D can cause lots of problems, and is suspected as the reason that MS (multiple sclerosis) is so much more prevalent in northern latitudes than farther south.

See ya in the park! Wreck beach, anybody?

Alcohol addiction and nutrition

Years ago, I studied with biochemist Roger Wiliams at The University of Texas. Williams was the discoverer of pantothenic acid, and already a respected professor emeritus in the 1970s. The course was called Biochemical and Physiological Bases of Individual Human Differences.

One of the things I learned was that people's need for various nutrients varies tremendously. Williams did experiments and discovered that rats deprived of nutrients would drink alcohol, but those that were fully nouristed lost interest. He developed a nutritional supplement to try to cover the nutritional bases of people who had unusually high requirements for nutrients.

He made two mistakes in promoting this discovery. The first was that he wrote a book stating that people who took this formula did not need to go to Alcoholics Anonymous. AA attacked him with such a vengeance that he recalled the copies of his book, because, he said he had been too arrogant. He had looked only at the physiological and not the psychological side of alcoholism.

The other error Williams made was that he gave the formula for these vitamins away free to several pharmaceutical companies. What this meant was that no company had a unique stake in promoting it to the public.

Back in the 70s, the formula was available from General Nutrition Centers in the US. I had a friend who gave these vitamins to her elderly mother, a lifelong alcoholic, and she reported that her mother spontaneously stopped drinking for the last years of her life.

I also started buying the formula for my lover. She stopped drinking completely for years, and then began drinking occasionally socially without falling back into binging. When GNC stopped making the formula, she changed to other daily vitamins, and soon went back to binging severely on alcohol.

For about a decade after Roger Williams's death, the Clayton Foundation at The University of Texas promoted information about alcoholism and nutrition. Through them I found that the Bronson company was producing the vitamins under the name Insurance Formula. For a while they seemed to have stopped making it, but they are now making an "improved" formula that still credits Roger Williams:

http://www.bronsonvitamins.com/1B/vitamin-mineral-insurance


I gather there might be a supplement being produced by the Lilly company used in alcoholism recovery, including by the US military, but I haven't been able to get any details.

There's a tribute website about Williams by Donald R. Davis of the Biochemical Institute that is incomplete as to listings of Williams's work.

After much difficult searching online, I found this page that has a version of the Roger Williams formula that you can try yourself:

http://www.doctoryourself.com/alcoholism.html

The author tells an anecdote very similar to the ones I mentioned - of a woman who was able to stop drinking completely and then drink occasionally while on this kind of supplementation.

I am going to copy the relevant portion of the text below, in case that site shuts down.

Here's the "doctor yourself" formula info:

There is a proven nutritional treatment for alcoholism," I said. "Roger Williams, PhD, a chemistry professor at the University of Texas and former president of the American Chemical Society, has written extensively on the subject. His work dates from 1950 to the mid-seventies."
"What does he recommend?" Betty said.
"Megadoses of vitamins and an amino acid called L-glutamine." I stood up and walked over to a bookcase, pulled down a couple of references, and returned to my squeaky brown swivel desk chair.
"Here we go," I said. "You might want to write this down. Thousands of milligrams of vitamin C a day, in divided doses; all the B-vitamins, especially thiamin, in a B-complex supplement, five times a day; and about three grams of L-glutamine. This, a general good diet, with an avoidance of sugar, is essentially it. ...

There is some more about the formula later on the page:

vitamin B-1 supplements are essential. And to get maximum results, additional nutrients must also be provided in abundance through supplementation.
Which ones, specifically?
1. Vitamin C to saturation (on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 mg per day and more). ...

2. B-complex (comprising 50mg of each of the major B-vitamins, 6 times daily). Extra thiamin and extra niacin may be helpful. Unlike drugs, the B-vitamins work best together.
3. L-Glutamine, (about two or three thousand milligrams). Decreases physiological cravings for alcohol.
4. Lecithin (2 to 4 tablespoons daily). Provides inositol and choline, related to the B-complex. Lecithin also helps mobilize fats out of the liver.
5. Chromium (at least 200 to perhaps 400 mcg chromium polynicotinate daily). Chromium greatly reduces carbohydrate mis-metabolism, and greatly helps control blood sugar levels. Many, if not most, alcoholics are hypoglycemic.
6. A good high-potency multi-vitamin, multi-mineral supplement as well, containing magnesium (400 mg) and the antioxidants carotene and d-alpha tocopherol.

That site is by Andrew Saul,author of the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works.

Now, here is another item I found online and have lost the link for:

Vitamin supplements for alcohol withdrawel and anxiety

---------------------------------

I wish I would've had this information handy in my first 30 days! Be aware that many of these supplements are harmful to your liver when combined with booze!!

Many alcoholics are deficient in B vitamins, including vitamin B3. John Cleary, M.D., observed that some alcoholics spontaneously stopped drinking in association with taking niacin supplements (niacin is a form of vitamin B3). Cleary concluded that alcoholism might be a manifestation of niacin deficiency in some people and recommended that alcoholics consider supplementation with 500 mg of niacin per day. 4 Without specifying the amount of niacin used, Cleary's preliminary research findings suggested that niacin supplementation helped wean some alcoholics away from alcohol. 5 Activated vitamin B3 used intravenously has also helped alcoholics quit drinking. 6 Niacinamide-a safer form of the same vitamin-might have similar actions and has been reported to improve alcohol metabolism in animals. 7

Deficiencies of other B-complex vitamins are common with chronic alcohol use. 8 The situation is exacerbated by the fact that alcoholics have an increased need for B vitamins. 9 It is possible that successful treatment of B-complex vitamin deficiencies may actually reduce alcohol cravings, because animals crave alcohol when fed a B-complex-deficient diet. 10 Many doctors recommend 100 mg of B-complex vitamins per day.

Alcoholics may be deficient in a substance called prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and in gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), a precursor to PGE1. 11 In a double-blind study of alcoholics who were in a detoxification program, supplementation with 4 grams per day of evening primrose oil (containing 360 mg of GLA) led to greater improvement than did placebo in some, but not all, parameters of liver function. 12

The daily combination of 3 grams of vitamin C, 3 grams of niacin, 600 mg of vitamin B6, and 600 IU of vitamin E has been used by researchers from the University of Mississippi Medical Center in an attempt to reduce anxiety and depression in alcoholics. 13 Although the effect of vitamin supplementation was no better than placebo in treating alcohol-associated depression, the vitamins did result in a significant drop in anxiety within three weeks of use. Because of possible side effects, anyone taking such high amounts of niacin and vitamin B6 must do so only under the care of a doctor.

Although the incidence of B-complex deficiencies is known to be high in alcoholics, the incidence of other vitamin deficiencies remains less clear. 14 Nonetheless, deficiencies of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and vitamin C are seen in many alcoholics. While some reports have suggested it may be safer for alcoholics to supplement with beta-carotene instead of vitamin A, 15 potential problems accompany the use of either vitamin A or beta-carotene in correcting the deficiency induced by alcoholism. 16 These problems result in part because the combinations of alcohol and vitamin A or alcohol and beta-carotene appear to increase potential damage to the liver. Thus, vitamin A-depleted alcoholics require a doctor's intervention, including supplementation with vitamin A and beta-carotene accompanied by assessment of liver function. Supplementing with vitamin C, on the other hand, appears to help the body rid itself of alcohol. 17 Some doctors recommend 1 to 3 grams per day of vitamin C.
Kenneth Blum and researchers at the University of Texas have examined neurotransmitter deficiencies in alcoholics. Neurotransmitters are the chemicals the body makes to allow nerve cells to pass messages (of pain, touch, thought, etc.) from cell to cell. Amino acids are the precursors of these neurotransmitters. In double-blind research, a group of alcoholics were treated with 1.5 grams of D,L-phenylalanine (DLPA), 900 mg of L-tyrosine, 300 mg of L-glutamine, and 400 mg of L-tryptophan (now available only by prescription) per day, plus a multivitamin-mineral supplement. 18 This nutritional supplement regimen led to a significant reduction in withdrawal symptoms and decreased stress in alcoholics compared to the effects of placebo.

The amino acid, L-glutamine, has also been used as an isolated supplement. Animal research has shown that glutamine supplementation reduces alcohol intake, a finding that has been confirmed in double-blind human research. 19 In that trial, 1 gram of glutamine per day given in divided portions with meals decreased both the desire to drink and anxiety levels.

It's raining food in Mt. Pleasant

If you look around the neighbourhood, the last few weeks have been full of edible goodies on trees, shrubs, and vines, and it's not over yet. Fruit I have personally eaten in the last two weeks grown VERY locally includes apples, blackberries, plums, raspberries, and salal. I've been looking up to see if Mahonia (a.k.a. Oregon grape) is edible. It can be somewhat toxic unless fully ripe, from what I see here. Best to wait until after a frost or two.

While you're looking for wild food, note that the fall crop of dandelion leaves are very tender and only mildly bitter. I have added them and also the pretty abundant chickweed as ingredients in soup. There are also new, tender shoots of lemonbalm, which is a good tea or a nibble for your nervous system.

Mint is abundant, too, in places where runoff collects, but it's almost too strong this time of year. Nettle also loves damp places, and it's still around. Don't touch the green plant, harvest with gloves or tongs; then either cook it - makes a good soup green - or dry it in a paper bag and use for a nourishing tea throughout the year.

STAND for Housing on Saturdays

There's a great video of Stand for Housing on Facebook, posted by Julius Fisher of Working TV: http://www.new.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=13692872503

Below is a list of locations around Vancouver of people who have committed to bear silent witness to the need for action on affordable housing in this city. Looks like it should be possible to organize another of these - or several - around Mt. Pleasant. If interested, contact the organizers and get on the list.



From: info@citywidehousingcoalition.org

CITYWIDE HOUSING COALITION

Immediate Release
6 March 2008
Vancouver, BC CANADA


STREET-CORNER "STANDS" FOR HOUSING
Continue this Saturday and next

Neighbourhood housing activists will again stand on Vancouver street
corners, Saturday March 8 for one hour, 1-2pm, with banners and
wearing vivid blue scarves. They'll be calling attention to federal
and provincial failures to build permanent social housing, and the
City of Vancouver's proposed abandonment of deals with Concord
Pacific for affordable housing in downtown condo towers.

STANDers will also be paying respects to the hundreds of dead and
dying homeless men, women, and children- victims of legislated
poverty and government neglect in BC and Canada. In Vancouver they
populate our streets and lanes, huddle in parks and encampments, burn
to death in doorways, are crushed in back alley garbage bins.

Ten "STAND for Housing-Homes for All!" sites have been confirmed for
this, the third of four weekly Stands:
- Main St. & 33rd Avenue (Kia Salomons and Community Advocates
for Little Mtn)
- Main St & King Edward (Ned Jacobs, Mary Ann Code, and CALM)
- Arbutus & King Edward (Homeless Nation and Random Acts Of
Kindness -RAOK)
- Broadway & McDonald (Candace Simmonds and Kitsilano CHC)
- Heather & 6th Ave (Rider Cooey and False Creek neighbours)
- Commercial & 1st Avenue (Anna Truong, Dave Diewert & Streams
of Justice)
- Cordova & Gore (Anne Kennedy and St James Social Gospel
Coordinating Group)
- Oak & W 49th Ave (Leslie Kemp and Unitarian Church Social
Justice Cttee)
- Commercial & Broadway (Lauren Gill, Homeless Nation and RAOK)
- Burrard & Nelson (Bobbie Phillips and the St Andrew's-Wesley
Homelessness & Mental Health Action Group)
- [Christ Church Cathedral, Georgia & Burrard, will resume next week.]

Some STANDs for Housing will pause over the Easter Break, Friday to
Monday March 21-24, then continue, calling for substantial funding to
be dedicated by federal, provincial, and municipal politicians to
building new, permanent, low- and welfare-rate housing. Using the
surplus billions in the prosperous economies of Canada and BC to
build the full spectrum of housing for all citizens is the primary
mechanism by which homelessness must be defeated.

The public and media are invited to join us at any of the above
locations. The idea of the STAND is based on the moving example of
the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, whose children were "disappeared"
by the military, 1976 to 1983. They stood every week in a city
square wearing white scarves until the generals capitulated. The
scarves became an international "brand" for protests against unjust
and inhumane governments.

--30--

Contact: Rider Cooey 604.872-1382
False Creek Organizer
Citywide Housing Coalition