Tom's Blog on Life and Livingness
According to Dr. Rick Cohen, a renowned Duke University MD, there are three common “micro-plastic foods” quietly poisoning Americans.
They’re found in everyday meals, and the worst part?
They’re packed with invisible fragments of plastic that can…
Spike heart attack risk by 450%
Accumulate inside your brain
Potentially damage every organ in your body
Highest risk foods:
Table Salt
Food Microwaved in Plastic
Shellfish
Plastic Bottled Water
Carrots
What is considered a weed to some may be a powerful medicine to others. Valued in many cultures worldwide, this herbaceous succulent provides an array of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It’s omega-3 content rivals any other green land plant and often grows almost uncontrollably
Walking like an Egyptian was something the Bangles taught us, but if we wanted to eat like the Egyptians it would include the addition of purslane. Common purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is often overlooked as it sprawls out of sidewalks, driveways, and is considered a pesky weed to many gardeners. But this superfood has been cultivated for over 2000 years and has an extensive culinary and medicinal history. Purslane is a creeping plant that forms an intricate branching mat over large areas of ground. With leaves that are round, green, and have a waxy appearance, purslane belongs to the succulent family. The round stem stays fairly close to the ground and varies in color. Once you are able to identify purslane, you will be surprised at its ability to thrive in some of the harshest growing conditions.
Perhaps its ability to thrive in stressful environments is part of what makes this plant so beneficial. Purslane contains an impressive amount of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an essential omega-3 fatty acid. In fact, it ranks near the top for omega-3 concentration amongst the green leafy land plants. With the growing demand for omega-3 supplementation and a dwindling wild fish population, purslane offers an abundant and cheap alternative.
One hundred grams of fresh purslane leaves (one serving) contain about 300-400 mg of 18:3w3 [alpha-linoleic acid]; 12.2 mg of alpha-tocopherol; 26.6 mg of ascorbic acid; 1.9 mg of beta-carotene; and 14.8 mg of glutathione. We confirm that purslane is a nutritious food rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants.” [Simopoulos AP, 1992]
Aside from omega-3s, this weedy warrior contains vitamins A, C, and E, magnesium, potassium, iron, manganese, and protein. With its nutrient-dense constitution, this plant can provide a plethora of health benefits.
https://nexusnewsfeed.com/article/food-cooking/powerful-and-proliferative-the-formidable-purslane/
RFK Jr. is pulling back the curtain on a reality that could shake the pharmaceutical industry to its core: mental health isn’t just about brain chemistry—it’s about what we eat.
“There are studies coming out of Stanford and Harvard that show a lot of mental illness, including anxiety and depression, are related to food… Food is medicine. By changing your diet, you can lose some of those diagnoses,” Kennedy explained to Fox News Host Sean Hannity.
Kennedy says this problem isn’t happening everywhere. In the U.S., about 40% of adults are obese, while in Japan, the number sits at just 5%—and they live about seven years longer on average.
The problem? The poison in our food. Over 1,000 ingredients banned in Europe are still allowed in America’s food supply.
“We are letting down these kids. And there is a moral issue here… it’s a financial issue. Health care costs are going to sink us. And the only way that we’re going to solve it is by changing what we eat,” Kennedy said.
America’s food system is making people sick, and Big Pharma is cashing in on the consequences. The good news is that RFK Jr. is raising awareness, and some restaurant chains are taking notice and making real changes.
Steak ’n Shake, for example, has ditched seed oils in favor of beef tallow for frying their food, a move that aligns with Kennedy’s push to eliminate harmful industrial oils from our diet. Sweetgreen has pledged to remove seed oils entirely from its menu, opting for healthier alternatives like avocado oil. Outback Steakhouse is also reportedly reevaluating its ingredients in response to growing consumer demand for cleaner food.
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/rfk-jr-exposes-truth-could-bankrupt-antidepressant-industry
Amazon forest felled to build road for climate summit.
Destroying the village in order to save it. by John Leake
As a lifelong environmentalist (I founded the first high school environmental club in Texas in 1986), I have long found the modern Climate Cult to be one of the most corrupt, hypocritical, self-serving parcels of mercenary frauds operating in a world that is full of such cabals.
The BBC’s report that a four-lane highway is being constructed through the Brazilian rainforest to provide a transportation artery to a forthcoming “Climate Summit” vexed me, but didn’t surprise me. As BBC reported yesterday.
A new four-lane highway cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest is being built for the COP30 climate summit in the Brazilian city of Belém.
It aims to ease traffic to the city, which will host more than 50,000 people – including world leaders – at the conference in November.
The state government touts the highway’s “sustainable” credentials, but some locals and conservationists are outraged at the environmental impact.
The Amazon plays a vital role in absorbing carbon for the world and providing biodiversity, and many say this deforestation contradicts the very purpose of a climate summit.
Note the Orwellian humbug that the highway is “sustainable”—an epithet that is applied to every mercenary scheme masquerading as environmental initiative.
https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/amazon-forest-felled-to-build-road
The following passage is an excerpt from my new best-selling book, Reclaiming Reality: Restoring Humanity in the Age of AI. You can learn more about the book, listen to the podcast based on the book, and purchase the book at ReclaimingReality.com.
I also have a podcast episode this week on this chapter that you can listen to here.
In the bleak twilight of the 20th century, as communist regimes tightened their stranglehold on Eastern Europe, two Czech visionaries—Václav Benda and Václav Havel—emerged as defiant architects of hope. Their homeland, Czechoslovakia, languished under the boot of Marxist-Leninist dogma, where dissent was crushed, truth was criminalized, and the human spirit was suffocated by ideological conformity. Yet in this spiritual desert, Benda, a Catholic philosopher, and Havel, a playwright steeped in existential humanism, kindled a revolutionary flame: the parallel polis, a subterranean society operating beyond the reach of the Party’s omniscient gaze. This was not mere resistance—it was a metaphysical insurgency, a reclaiming of human dignity and transcendent truth in a world enslaved to materialist lies.
Benda, drawing from his deep Christian convictions, framed the parallel polis as a covenantal counter-reality—a network of shadow institutions where faith, family, and freedom could flourish. Charter 77, the dissident manifesto he helped draft, became its beating heart, uniting theologians, artists, scientists, and laborers under a common creed: loyalty to conscience over ideology. Meanwhile, Havel’s Civic Forum weaponized culture against tyranny, staging plays that unmasked the regime’s absurdities and publishing samizdat literature that circulated like sacraments among the oppressed. Underground theaters became cathedrals of truth; clandestine seminars functioned as seminaries for the mind.
Theirs was a rebellion as spiritual as it was political, rejecting the regime’s claim to omnipotence by asserting the irreducible sovereignty of the human soul. The risks were mortal. Informants lurked in every apartment block; secret police files bulged with the names of “subversives.” Benda faced interrogation and imprisonment, his children harassed for his “crimes.” Havel, whose essays dissected the moral bankruptcy of totalitarianism, cycled in and out of prison cells. Yet their movement thrived precisely because it operated in the cracks of the system—decentralized, adaptable, and rooted in the non-negotiable truths the regime could not eradicate: the authority of natural law and the promise that lies, no matter how institutionalized, inevitably crumble before reality.
The parallel polis was not a retreat but a reconquest. Catholic priests celebrated Mass in living rooms, reviving a Church the state had tried to erase. Homeschooling networks preserved history and philosophy from Marxist revisionism. Printers, hidden in basements, produced Bibles and Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, texts that armed the mind against propaganda. This was nation-building in miniature—a testament to the irrepressible power of communities grounded in truth. When the Velvet Revolution toppled the regime in 1989, it was not through violent revolt but the quiet collapse of a system whose legitimacy had long been hollowed out by the parallel polis’s relentless witness.
Today, as the West succumbs to the Globohomo Regime—a new totalitarianism draped in rainbow flags and digital surveillance—Benda and Havel’s blueprint demands revival. The tools have evolved: encrypted messaging apps replace samizdat mimeographs; homeschooling co-ops leverage online curricula to bypass woke indoctrination. Yet the strategic imperative remains unchanged: construct parallel institutions that operate by Kingdom ethics, not state decrees. Imagine decentralized cryptocurrencies freeing commerce from ESG tyranny, or mesh networks hosting uncensored sermons and scholastic debates. Picture homeschooling collectives raising a generation fluent in Scripture and natural law, or underground media empires producing films that glorify Christendom’s heroes rather than deconstruct them.
The parallel polis’s genius lies in its duality—it is both refuge and beachhead. It preserves the faithful during cultural dark ages while training them to reclaim occupied territory. As Benda argued, such structures are not “apolitical” but metapolitical, shaping the moral imagination of societies before they even grasp their own enslavement. The early Church understood this, turning Roman households into cells of resurrection hope. We must do likewise, building banks, schools, and media that answer to Christ alone.
Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray play a married couple in an argument with pantomimed action and classic music “dialogue”. No cue cards, no teleprompters, and no second takes – legendary funnyman Sid Caesar pioneered live television sketch comedy with his 1950s sitcoms “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour”.
Scientists have developed a revolutionary skin-like hydrogel that can heal wounds at an incredibly fast rate. This advanced material is designed to repair 90% of a wound within just four hours and achieve full healing within 24 hours. The hydrogel mimics the properties of human skin, providing flexibility, strength, and rapid self-repair. Researchers believe this breakthrough could transform wound care, reducing healing times and lowering the risk of infections. It has potential applications in treating burns, surgical wounds, and injuries. This innovation could significantly improve medical treatments, offering a faster and more effective solution for skin regeneration and recovery.
In the face of all these toxic assaults, you need a secret weapon–so I will give you one right now: bitter foods. Besides being the antidote to “sweet addiction,” bitters are an important but forgotten detox food and it’s beyond time to bring them back! A surprising number of your favorite foods are classified as “bitters”–artichokes, asparagus, grapefruit, and dandelion tea, and even coffee and cacao.
One thing making bitters such a nutritional boon is that they help restore gallbladder, and even more importantly, healthy bile flow. Gallbladder disease is often a symptom of a more serious problem: congested bile. The reason so many people are losing their gallbladder is they’ve developed thick, sludgy, congested bile that literally mucks up the works. Why is bile important? It’s a crucial detox vehicle–and hardly anyone is talking about it!
Can a plant’s “waste” parts potentially fight cancer?
In a groundbreaking discovery, scientists from Tennessee State University have revealed that sweet potato leaves and stems—parts we rarely see in grocery stores—might be powerful weapons against cancer.
Extracts from two varieties—All-Purple and Carolina Ruby—tested on human breast and lung cancer cells uncovered incredible results. The All-Purple leaf extracts demolished breast cancer cell growth by 76% at minimal concentrations. Meanwhile, Carolina Ruby extracts showed even more impressive results against lung cancer cells, stopping their growth by a whopping 96%. Perhaps most exciting? These natural extracts sometimes outperformed tamoxifen, a common breast cancer drug.
While these cancer-fighting parts are commonly used in some Asian and African cuisines, Western agriculture typically discards them. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the untapped potential of plants we thought we knew everything about.
https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-025-04770-9
Living directly across the park from the fish market as I do I vary my salmon intake from the more frequent John West canned to the very occasional New Zealand farmed. Because Peters only sell the NZ salmon by the whole fish, I have that only on special occasions, like when my son and daughter’s families also want some.
I had heard about the different omega-3 fatty acid content between varieties but had no specific so I thought to ask www.perplexity.ai the following question.
“I have heard that there is less omega-3 fatty acids in Tasmanian farmed salmon than there is in New Zealand farmed salmon and they are both less than wild-caught Alaskan salmon. My guess is that John West canned salmon probably fits in between the NZ and the wild caught but I do not know the percentage or amount difference between each. Can you provide a table that shows the amount of omega-3s for each of the above four categories of salmon?”
The answer surprised me!
Based on the information provided in the search results, I can create a table comparing the omega-3 content of different salmon types. However, it’s important to note that the exact amounts can vary depending on factors such as diet, environment, and processing methods. Here’s a table showing the approximate omega-3 content for the salmon types mentioned:
| Salmon Type | Omega-3 Content (per 100g) |
|————-|—————————-|
| Wild Alaskan Salmon | 1500-2000 mg |
| New Zealand King Salmon | 1533-2000 mg* |
| John West Canned Salmon | 436-1481 mg** |
| Tasmanian Farmed Salmon | 717-1533 mg |
* The exact amount for New Zealand King Salmon is not provided, but it’s described as having the highest omega-3 levels among salmon species.
** This range is estimated based on different John West products mentioned in the search results.
It’s worth noting that wild Alaskan salmon generally has higher omega-3 content compared to farmed varieties due to their natural diet and active lifestyle. New Zealand King Salmon appears to be an exception among farmed salmon, with omega-3 levels comparable to or potentially exceeding wild-caught varieties.
Tasmanian farmed salmon still provides a significant amount of omega-3, with 150g serving providing 279% of the recommended daily intake of omega-3.
The omega-3 content in canned salmon can vary widely depending on the specific product and processing methods. John West canned salmon products fall within a broad range, with some products providing similar omega-3 levels to fresh salmon, while others contain less.
It’s important to remember that all these salmon types are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, and the choice between them may depend on factors such as availability, cost, and personal preference.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/i-have-heard-that-there-is-les-pbu.PegCRaCiACknqUdVBQ