SpiritDragon

at tenagra.. when the walls fell! LOL - you've taken me back (I don't LOL much so you can pat yourself on the back) Perhaps the Abramsverse is when the walls fell

This led me to the hard sell with the Word of Wisdom on my mission in Utah, with conversations going something like this: Missionary: (after explaining specific points of section 89) So how do feel about the Lord's law of health? Will you take the next step on your journey of following the Saviour by abiding by the Word of wisdom? Investigator: You mean give up my coffee and tea and replace with brownies and cupcakes like the pear-shaped Mormons? Missionary: (yikes) Well you don't have to take on the cupcakes and brownies, but giving up tea and coffee is required to get baptized. Investigator: But I thought you said it was a law of health, so why should I give up tea and coffee if others don't need to give up junk food? Missionary: (carries on as directed by the spirit and so on) This was unfortunately all too real and all too common talking to non-members in Utah. However, I don't want this to be a slight against Utah, but a church culture thing that is common enough it gets noticed. Even where I live now, people suggest we need invite Mormons to functions because they always bring the best baked goods. They lure men to meetings with pizza and women with fudge covered goodness. Doesn't every ward have a "candy man"?... Not what I'd prefer my religion to be known for.

I completely understand that your location and experience is just plain different than mine, but I find this amusing since we have just warmed up this week from a frigid -30 C (-22 F) to a balmy -8 C (~18 F). It was so nice to be outside today while the weather was so pleasant

You're welcome to have at it, but you may find the following of interest: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195666314004000 Supports evidence which suggests that artificial sweeteners may lead to poor food decisions and/or weight gain. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18535548 Earlier study showing the unexpected increased weight associated with using artificially sweetened beverages http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/32/4/688 I'm certainly not here to stop you from enjoying your diet soda, but you might be interested to know that it might actually be sabotaging weight loss instead of helping and that it appears to lead to the same consequences metabolically as if you were consuming sugar. If you prefer not to read articles, here is a video showcasing some research on artificial sweeteners and health: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/does-diet-soda-increase-stroke-risk-as-much-as-regular-soda/

The autism issue is a difficult one because it may very well be that vaccines have nothing to do with it, it may be that vaccines play a role, and it may be that they have everything to do with it. You have to understand that there are many more studies than simply the Wakefield study that have shown issues with vaccines and brain damage that is similar to autism. However, as mentioned previously there is also the issue of trust in what comes out in the literature. It is entirely possible that primary journals don't want to come within 100 miles of anything to do with this issue after the Wakefield fiasco, so studies are either relegated to less prestigious journals where we can smugly look on and say that it's not reputable, or they can be cancelled before being completed if the results aren't favourable. Autism aside though there are concerns with vaccinations such as increased allergies, increased autoimmunity, increased asthma, a temporal association with SIDS, increased hospitalizations following vaccination and of course the very real concern of increased death as seen in the case of the guinnea bissau DPT studies referenced earlier. The fact of the matter is that even if the science satisfied my questions 100% I would still favour others having a decision for themselves.

That is the point - if it should be out of the government purview to control what goes into citizens bodies orally, shouldn't it moreso be untenable for them to have access to what enters bodies via injection? You mean sterilizing obese people with vaccines targeted to do so while they are unaware (I kid, I haven't seen anything convincing that vaccines are used to selectively sterilize anyone, but the fear is out there... and hopefully really just out there)

From my perspective it's all government over-reach and leads to the erosion of belief in science across the board because things get churned out with clear political or corporate bias, probably largely based on who is in power when requests for funding studies take place. It's important to realize that studies that turn out unfavourable results don't have to be published which creates biases in the literature. Consider: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-drugs-studies/unfavorable-drug-studies-dont-get-into-print-report-idUSN1663594120080117 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/17/medical-trial-results-withheld-mps-report It doesn't really take a conspiracy theorist to start to doubt the integrity of scientific findings when that which is unfavorable can be withheld and destroyed. This leaves us with missing information when doing reviews and leads to ongoing inaccuracies. If it happens with drugs, it's not a stretch to imagine it happens with vaccines, climate change and any other issue that may gain political favour by having "science" back it up or may be hurt by "science" disagreeing. Just as I believe that vaccines do help reduce the diseases they are designed to protect against, I do believe climate change is real, and I do believe that eating more veggies and less processed food and less meat is protective against disease, I don't believe the government has any business making decisions about what I put in my body or my family's bodies. I believe carbon taxes and targets are a pathetic attempt to increase taxes by finding something that rallies a particular base, but will do little to change climate patterns. I don't believe people should lose their agency even in the light of scientific consensus.

That sounds right, just as a person not being vaccinated doesn't force anyone else not to be vaccinated. The restriction of freedom comes when the government mandates that you have to feed your kids a certain way. Perhaps it is a certain way that will prevent obesity and diabetes in over 90% of the population, but it gives your kid digestive issues - they had better put up with it for the greater good though. Going along with the idea of freedoms ending when they get to some one else's nose don't you think the same argument could be made that the immunocompromised person has no right to impose a treatment on another because it may be beneficial to them? Perhaps you missed some of the message they were putting forth in the studies. Let me highlight some other points:

I have to say that homesickness is something I have never really experienced and can't relate with. Twice a year phone calls were sufficient and I wouldn't want to trade in my experience sending and receiving letters while I was out there. I would think that this might actually increase homesickness by keeping missionaries more connected to home and less to the work, not that the two need to be mutually exclusive, I just recall missionaries getting a lot more trunky after Christmas and Mother's Day phone calls. Instead of talking about investigators needs and setting up appointments with ward mission leaders the conversations would drift into where they plan to go to school and their mom's apple pie for Sunday dinner what they plan to do with their car when they get home (the one mommy and daddy were buying them for making it two years - gag) I'm not saying it's a bad change, and I support the church leaders on it, but I'm glad it wasn't how things were done on my mission.

For those who can't stand the idea of running or cycling, but like to hit the weight room, here's some relatively good news: https://insights.ovid.com/crossref?an=00005768-900000000-96766 https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(17)30167-2/fulltext https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(17)30877-7/fulltext This one is particularly amusing and makes me want to see the source information to get a better sense of what's going on in the study as it appears to suggest that resistance training alone lowers cholesterol better than when combined with aerobic activity (31-32% compared to 21% reduction) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3906547/ This is a slightly older review of research to date on exercise for cholesterol which shows great benefits of either form of exercise, but no substantial improvement by combining modes of activity. Thus for the cholesterol lowering benefits it may just be that whatever floats your boat is going to help. Although, certain intensities and durations do have more or less impact.

Or will they... https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2668504 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa066082 It sounds more similar than one might think. I bring up obesity because it goes hand in hand with diabetes, heart disease, and many cancers. Ultimately, someone choosing not to vaccinate themselves or their children does not guarantee that anyone will contract said disease, but it increases the odds. Your kid being diabetic increases the odds that mine could become so too, albeit by different means. Either way, if the idea is that it is for the public good - @unixknight's acquaintances's argument is not invalidated. In fact, this very argument (your pet peeve issue doesn't spread to others like my pet peeve issue) may strengthen the case of the hypocrisy by showcasing that people support forcing treatments on others under one set of circumstances, but not under others. It also points out that we just don't know what's coming next. When my wife was young she caught the measles and no one was too concerned back then and surely wouldn't have imagined the witch hunt against people's right to informed consent over treatments for themselves and their children that happens now. Today people may not think that governing how we eat would ever be a thing, but in forty years, who knows, we could be seriously shaming parents for allowing children to become overweight and pushing for them to be removed from custody so they can have a better chance at adopting healthy habits. I doubt this myself, but no one knows the future.

I think within the church the issue for most people would have less to do with the apostles making more than they do, but that it seems to at least on the surface go against what our scriptures teach. Consider: Mosiah 18:26 26 And the priests were not to depend upon the people for their support; but for their labor they were to receive the grace of God, that they might wax strong in the Spirit, having the knowledge of God, that they might teach with power and authority from God. https://www.lds.org/scriptures/tg/ministry-unpaid?lang=eng So to a certain extent I think the fact that church leaders get paid at all seems wrong to people. On the flip side, I can see how they would need to have some money to get by in our society - so what to do? With Stipends being reported anywhere from 90,000 to 200,000 annually though I can definitely see where many people consider that excessive. The average income in my home town is $70,000 according to the most recent census I looked at, and that is skewed upward by the few who have a lot of money whereas most people work full time jobs for quite a bit less. Of course living expenses in Utah are apt to be different and so on - but I totally understand people thinking that the amount is more than just comfortable living expenses. My curiosity is, does this so called pay help to cover things like flying around the world to perform in their callings or do those expenses get sent to church HQ? If they are getting paid amounts that seem high but really just cover the expenses of them performing their callings, I have no problem with that, and I would hope others could see that too. However, if this is in addition to anything else it's admittedly a little troubling based on the idea of lay ministry and priestcraft. Perhaps they wouldn't need to take a vow of poverty, but they certainly don't need to live like kings either.

Women to hold priesthood Baptism by sprinkling Single men allowed to go on missions after age 25 like sisters Shorter garments to coincide with shorter church meetings New youth dress standards to match the new garments more revealing standard Participation in choir required for temple recommend Word of Wisdom to either accept or reject marijuana Church social network app roles out specifically for ministering The passing of a general authority or close family member Ordinances for pets to be more inclusive of "parents" without human children Young Women's President/Relief Society President to conduct worthiness interviews for sisters President Nelson undertaking to translate sealed portion of Gold Plates

Can you supply sources that say as much? I believe they exist, I'd just like to see them. I linked earlier to an article discussing the cave in Cumorah and how it had a vast treasury and so on - unfortunately all of the accounts are second hand, it would have been great to have a first hand account of Joseph Smith speaking of the cave inside the Hill Cumorah where the records may have been kept along with the other things. It seems that the sword of Laban and the Gold Plates were there on various occasions before being taken altogether.

Okay irritable bowels sufferers, did you know exercise has been shown to be helpful for making bowels less irritable? https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1043466617303873 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30232834 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4294172/pdf/WJG-21-600.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/ajg2010480 One of the best endorsements from the studies above states: In fairness, though, the overall quality of the evidence is still considered weak according to the American College of Gastroenterology. https://gastrogirl.com/wp-content/uploads/Ford_et_al-2018-The_American_Journal_of_Gastroenterology.pdf Their statement: My take is that exercise will almost surely help other things at the same time and is unlikely to make anything worse, so why not give it a try and see. I expect that as more research comes to light on this one that the evidence will become more robust in favour of exercise/physical activity helping. Why wait for the research though when going for a walk everyday is free and proven to be beneficial for other health matters as well?

That is ambitious. Have you had any weight rebound yet? A lot of weight lost during illness is from lost water, so as you get your hydration back up to par the weight comes up. If you've been fine for at least three days, your hydration should be back to normal though. It shouldn't even take that long, but I feel like it adds a safety buffer.

While replying to Anatess, I realized that as a group we are down over fifty pounds in the first few weeks of 2019. Great job everyone!

That does create a bit of a dilemma doesn't it. Would it be less depressing to mark down your weight fifteen pounds heavier the week before and show the 15 pound drop, knowing that as it comes up it still represents a drop from baseline? That seems to be the thing to do from my perspective. However, if it is simply the matter of documenting weight increases - period - then I wouldn't be against simply waiting a few weeks to set up your baseline and then working from there. The concern I have with that is that if you have another episode of illness that messes with your weight you're going to be confronted with this again and again, so ultimately it makes the most sense to me to simply document it knowing that it was a temporary weight fluctuation due to illness and not concern yourself too much with the fact that it's going back up to your "healthy-self" weight. Keeping an eye on the left hand column where net weight is tracked you'll still see that you are down from your pre-illness weight even if weekly it goes up for a while. Does keeping an eye on the net weight help the depression factor? It's really up to you what you want to share and when. Whether it's posted or not the weight will do what it will do, but I can understand where you're coming from. What sounds best to you?

This may be of interest to this conversation: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1360&context=jbms I'd love to share some thoughts, but am short on time. Even so I thought I'd share the link in case anyone finds it of value to the conversation at hand.

That's excellent news. I wanted to thank you for updating the spreadsheet too. I see @anatess2 rocked week 6 with some successful behaviours as well. @NeuroTypical, @beefche, @zil I miss your updates. What happened to @carborendum? I can't tag him, and now I see his posts just say guest... has his profile been deleted? We'll miss you Carb, you were great to have around.

Exactly.

Sorry about that, I should have thought that through more carefully before sharing - I just found it out of place and unanticipated. Maybe my gaydar is exceptionally poor, but I felt like it was purely a surprise and entirely unnecessary, it was a frustrating ending to an otherwise fun show.

You may or may not care, but a Roku channel, Inc Family, is one of few places I know of to stream the Rankin Bass animated Hobbit film and it is only available on my Roku, but not my Firetv stick. I am admittedly a touch envious of the amount of free content I understand you get in the States, the Canadian free content is more limited, but still adds value to the Roku for sure.

Do yourself a favour and skip the last five minutes of the last episode of Voltron, you don't need to see Shiro kissing another man. Aside from that I hear you, I currently have Netflix and living scriptures together coming in at around $25.00 per month. I'm not a fan of having to pay that and have often considered cutting them entirely. Sure I'd miss having some shows, but it might also mean I just do other more productive things - what a shame that would be.

Increased fiber and water intake can help with that Okay - in all seriousness, I'm sorry to hear you're going through a rough patch, and I haven't personally shared the same challenges so I don't know exactly what you're going through. I can try to relate with other struggles I've had in my own life and I want to help. If it's okay with you I'll continue to offer suggestions that may be helpful, and when they're not you're welcome to disregard them. I can also forego giving suggestions and work on asking you for the solutions you have inside of you, but may need help coaxing out.