Gut to Brain Connection Confirmed on MS – and Oh yeah, Happy Halloween! :-)

Hey there, everybody.

I’m still alive. Still here. Been on G+ a lot. Been on Facebook. Been in the real world. Haven’t been here, which isn’t very fair to either of us, readers. Sorry about that.

Lots going on! I started the Paleo Diet about a month ago, as well as starting a new medicine, both changes have had some profound effects on my health. New doctors are almost always good! Fresh eyes!

In other awesome news, scientists think they figured out another component to what causes MS!

Natural Intestinal Flora Involved In The Emergence of Multiple Sclerosis, Study Finds

The most pertinent part of the article reads,

“The scientists are certain that the intestinal flora can also trigger an overreaction of the immune system against the myelin layer in persons with a genetic predisposition for multiple sclerosis. Therefore, nutrition may play a central role in the disease, as diet largely determines the bacteria that colonise the intestines. “Changing eating habits could explain, for example, why the incidence of multiple sclerosis has increased in Asian countries in recent years,” explains Hartmut Wekerle.”

(emphasis added by me)

It’s because of the change in my eating habits that I’ve been having fewer simple partial and absence seizures, I believe. I did, for a while, have more mood swings which I hear is common when overcoming addiction to wheat. (Yes, I said addiction. I’m not ashamed to admit to a past as a whole-grain w/ low-fat cream cheese bagel-biter.) I do wonder if I ought to be taking a probiotic and if so, which one.

Anyway, I’ve signed up for NaNoWriMo, so the month of November is all about a story I will write. I’m pretty sure it’s time to get back to translating the Tao de Ching as well. I at least owe y’all (and me) another chapter.

I hope everyone remembers to have some silly fun today/tonight and to be safe. I had a lot of fun carving my jack-o-lantern yesterday and will try to remember to put up a picture soon of our pumpkins lit up when I take it this evening.

Chapter 30: To be In Need of Military Protection

With Reason’s guidance,
the leader of people
does not approve of maintaining
a well-trained and powerful army
seeking to dominate
all the land under heaven.

Its work is easy to reciprocate.
A military division actually lives where
brambles and thorns are born.

A great and powerful army will,
simply by its mere existence,
leave behind inauspicious years in its wake.

One who acts benevolently and virtuously, does
Good, but not more; not daring to take power.
Good, but not to gain esteem in the eyes of others;
Good, but not to make another look bad.
Good, but not prideful or arrogant.
Good — without needing proper (or any) recognition afterward.

Goodness, Benevolence, Virtue: these things cannot be forced.
(Because they are strength/force/hardness’s equal and opposite characteristics!)

This is the way things have always been.

To speak of immorality,
that which is not of the way of Reason,
one should be early to stop.