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There are supplements at the health food store, such as red yeast rice and niacin, that supposedly lower your cholesterol. Supposedly they don't lower your cholesterol as much as the statins, but then statins can have nasty side effects. Good luck!

"Eating a diet without fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, pulses or nuts deprives the brain of the essential vitamins and nutrients needed to regulate it."

This recommendation is the same old low-fat politically correct stuff. Dr. Scharzbein, author of the Scharzbein Principle (hope I'm spelling that right), thinks that the problems people are having with depression are due to a lack of protein and healthy fats. Note that neurotransmitters are built from amino acids, i.e. protein. So a better recommendation might be to eat more meat, olive oil and dairy products from pasture fed cows.

When I cut wheat out of my diet, my hay fever disappears.

"So, what happens is that over time the "bad" kids avoid the school and the "good" ones gravitate to it."

Or, maybe he's actually changing some attitudes of what could otherwise be "bad" kids. If I'm remembering correctly from the special, the kids gain admission to the school through a lottery; so from the beginning, a big deal is made of the school, and the kids know they're lucky to be there. Students were interviewed and they believed that their school was much better than the public schools. That has to affect their performance.

I googled the principal, Ben Chavis. See article: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/12/16/MNGAKG93SS1.DTL

Apparently he's doubled scores in five years, reaching 880 out of 1000 on a state test. And yes, he's a hard ass.

"Well, the point I was trying to make was that since the curriculum, teaching methods, the philosophy, and standards are uniform and nationalized, then parents putting their children in a private or a charter school as opposed to the traditional public school really makes no difference. You're getting the same services no matter what building it's delivered in."

What Stossel tried to show that this is not the case in countries where the children's school money follows the children. Instead, the schools have to please the parents or lose the business, and they have many varied programs. Belgium was just one example.

"It starts from two great myths about education. First, that "all children can/will learn" and that "schools hold the primary responsibility for student learning."

Stossel interviewed a principle who is succeeding in an underprivileged area and he said just the opposite. He bragged that he could take the poor, single-parent kids and have them outperforming the rich kids, and spend less money doing it. And apparently he's actually doing it.

Re your #4. The parent did teach her son how to write his name--she just couldn't understand why the school hadn't done it.

I was told that the power is sent to the grid, and the electric company pays the home owner for the power generated during the day. Then the home owner pays for the power used during the night. The net result is positive for the home owner, but small in comparison to the cost of the system. (I think they said it paid for itself in ten years?)

Also, if I install a solar system, I want to be able to avoid blackouts (in a suburb of Los Angeles, we've been having short, 20 to 30 minute outages every three months or so), so what's the point?

I think the system they're talking about is not independent. You're still on the grid, just sending electricity to the electric company during the day (which they pay you for). If the power goes out, yours does too.

The independent system is more expensive and takes lots of maintenance (or so the salesman told me five-ten years ago).

The one time I dealt with an outsourced customer service line, that is exactly how I was treated. The young man on the phone was soooo condescending.

Pride cometh before a fall.

Is this a way for Clinton to plant the idea that he actually did something to battle al-Qaeda--a lie wrapped in a truth, which will be allowed to fly because it supports rendition of terrorists?

I have an ad in front of me for Oregacyn by North American Herb & Spice (mountain-grown wild oregano), which states "human cold virus--100% kill; bird flu virus--99.0% kill; flu virus--99.9% kill (in vitro in 20 minutes)." States "peer reviewed science." (Not that you would necessarily get the same results in your body that you would in a test tube.)

Hello...most people are without God. "Narrow is the path that leads to salvation and few are those that find it." However, most people are not shooting people in cold blood.

In Ecclesiastes, the Bible tells us not to be too good or too wise. I think you're taking your interpretation of scripture a little too far out there.

"Far too many people forget that there but by the grace of God go they."

This guy shot a man in the back twice as the man pleaded for his life, and then bragged about it. He murdered a man, wife and child in cold blood. Do you honestly think most people would do that?

"I don't know where he was with God near the end of his life but I hope and pray that he put his trust in the Lord and found his way home."

No one can be 100% sure, but he was unrepentant to the end, and he was quoted as saying, "I'm not guilty. I'm not culpable." Very high odds that he's in a hot place right now.

I'm not gleeful, but I'm grateful that a person who committed such evil deeds met his justice (25 yrs later than he should have).

"Maybe you should start LISTENING, stop DENYING, making excuses, close mouth and start moving butt."

I just told you that I walk morning and night, and that I used to walk 2 hrs a day. What part of that don't you comprehend?

"Lol. But, if I read you right, and I think I do, you will come up with MORE excuses, more explanations of how it's all the type of carbs/proteins you eat, your sensitivity issues and the "right" diet for your unique metabolism."

I'm not making excuses -- I've already lost weight eating lower carb.

"You will NOT discuss anything like self-discipline, eating fewer calories of a NORMAL pyramid diet and NOT, definitely NOT exercising. You will NOT go down that road."

The self-discipline comes in getting ride of grains and sugars. I walk morning and night. Didn't you read in my earlier post, that you responded to, that I used to walk 2 hrs/day?

"And so, you will continue down the same ole road you are on now--and not change."

I already did change, and I lost weight.

"So, go ahead. Don't listen; go sit on your sofa and have a bag of double chunk chocolate chip cookies, with Diet Pepsi, of course. Bon apetite! Then, go watch T.V. for the rest of the evening."

I don't eat chocolate chip cookies or diet drinks. I watch maybe 45 minutes of TV a day: Your World with Neal Cavuto.

"By the way, I am also a Republican in California. :o) I like our governator. You might ask HIM how to lose weight. He will tell you the same thing I just did...and then you will argue with him too. Oh well."

Actually, how much carbs you can handle varies with your metabolism, your age, and your activity level. At this point, the governator may be leaning towards a lower carb diet as well. When he was younger and spending hours working out, I'm sure he could have eaten all the carbs he wanted.

Maybe you should stop YELLING and start listening.

"Going on a low-fat and high carb diet was stupid. Where was your "common sense" in choosing this?
Meat is ENERGY. Of course you would be exhausted!
You should eat the SAME thing you would normally eat, BUT less of it. Got it? FEWER calories, not different ones, just FEWER! Why do you insist on missing the point? Lol."


I did eat meat. That wasn't the issue.

I didn't need to eat the SAME thing I normally ate. I lost weight when I cut grains and sugars from my "normal" diet, and I probably consumed more calories because I ate more fat. But I still lost weight.

If I had already been eating the right diet for me, yes I could have just eaten less. But then again if I had been eating the right diet for my metabolism, I wouldn't have put on the weight in the first place.

Why do you insist on missing the point?

No...it's not necessarily a lack of discipline. For example, if you tried to put me on a low-fat, high-carb diet, within about three days I would feel sick and exhausted (I've tried them). If someone like me goes off such a program, it's good common sense, not lack of discipline.

Another example is that I used to walk almost two hours a day because I did dog rescue and I had up to five dogs to walk (and for various reasons I had to walk them two by two). Anyway, I did this for a number of years and lost no weight, even though I was overweight. Then, I cut way back on grains and sugars, and I slowly lost 20 pounds with no dieting or extra effort.

Calories in/calories out are not the only things that effect weight.

"They aren't eating less and less, unless they consider 3 calories as a reduction in food intake. If they say that and still gain fat, then one of three things is happening:

1. They are exercising NOT AT ALL. Which means that their eating less isn't catching up with the non-exercising."


They were eating less and less. What happens when you diet is that your metabolism slows down, and every time you diet, you slow it down a little more. I also suspect that they started out with slower than average metabolisms. (Metabolisms can vary by as much as 800 calories/day for the same size person.) So...after a lifetime of dieting, their bodies have adjusted and now require that they diet permanently. (Aren't our bodies amazing!!)

You're right that they don't exercise. They're both older and back in the day, women were told to diet--sweating was for men. I only know one of them now, and I think her hip is in too bad a condition to exercise (except maybe she could work on a stationary bike?), but if she could, I think that would help her problem a great deal. The problem is, she has repeatedly lost 100+ lbs by dieting alone, so she doesn't think she needs to exercise.

There is also a big difference between how people's bodies respond to fat and carbs. That's why there's the Atkins diet, the Pritikin diet, and the Zone diet, and people who do well on each of them. People who stick to your program probably do well on it, and the people who drop out may be doing so for reasons other than just "lack of discipline."