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Freedom
From Illness:
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November 2020 | |||||
Welcome to the monthly Freedom From Illness
wholistic newsletter from Russell Louie and Margaret Auld-Louie at Optimum
Choices. To receive this newsletter by e-mail or to unsubscribe, see the footer
at the very bottom. Contents
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Current NewsPet Food RecallsThe pet food recalls continue. FDA Alert: Certain Lots of Pet Food from Multiple Brands Recalled for Aflatoxin. From the FDA website: specific pet food products manufactured by Sunshine Mills under several brand names, may contain unsafe levels of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is produced by the Aspergillus flavus mold, which can grow on corn and other grains. At high levels, aflatoxin can cause illness and death in pets. Symptoms may include sluggishness, loss of appetite, vomiting, jaundice (yellowish tint to the eyes or gums due to liver damage), and/or diarrhea. In severe cases, this toxicity can be fatal. In some cases, pets may suffer liver damage but not show any symptoms. Brands include, Family Pet Meaty Cuts®, Heartland Farms®, Champ®, Field Trial®, Good Dog, Hunter’s Special®, Old Glory®, Paws Happy Life®, Pet Expert, Principle, Retriever®, River Bend, Sportsman’s Pride®, Sprout®, Thrifty®, Top Runner® or Whiskers & Tails. For a complete list, with Lot Numbers, go to the FDA web page: Sunshine Mills, Inc. Expands Previously Announced Voluntary Recall of Certain Pet Food Products Due to Potentially Elevated Levels of Aflatoxin. Want to avoid all these recalls? The best "wholistic" suggestion to prevent danger to your pet is -- STOP feeding dry kibble pet food. In our "wholistic" opinion, dry kibble pet food containing grains is the least nutritious form of food to feed a carnivore. It is nutritionally equivalent to feeding meat-flavored cookies to your child. Furthermore, a majority of all pet food recalls is with dry food. Canned food, freeze-dried food and raw food have a much lower percentage of recalls. For the latest recalls, go to: Dog Food Recalls or FDA website To read more on our "wholistic" philosophy on pet food, go to the following links:
Pet Food Recall For a very revealing report on pet food, click the link:
What Pet Food Companies
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Neo Was Rightby Russell LouieWhile I am not a Buddhist, the more I live under COVID-19 rules, the more I practice Buddhism to stay sane, healthy and happy. In the beginning of the first Matrix movie (circa 2199), the protagonist, Mr. Thomas Anderson, is a computer programmer by day and a hacker, named Neo, at night. Mr. Anderson's material day world as a computer programmer is all an illusion created by the Matrix (AI or artificial intelligence). In reality, most humans exist in pods, intravenously fed by the machines who harvest their energy to survive. Morpheus infiltrates the Matrix and meets with Mr. Anderson/Neo. He offers Neo a blue pill if Neo wants to go back home to continue his life as a computer programmer or a red pill if Neo wants to experience the underground world in Zion, with other unplugged humans (from the Matrix), to find out what reality is all about. Neo chooses the red pill to get out of the programmed Matrix (day world) and go to Zion. Living during the COVID-19 pandemic is much like making this choice. We can choose to believe in the ever-evolving COVID-19 medical science, look out for the common good of all by giving up some personal freedom and take COVID precautionary measures seriously to avoid the spread of COVID-19 that would overload our healthcare facilities and shut down our economy again. Or we can choose to get our "science" from social media, believe in conspiracy theories, exercise our political freedom to do what we personally feel like and disregard all COVID-19 rules and precautions. Some people view The Matrix as a Buddhist allegory, where the material world is an illusion, with human beings defining their reality through their own suffering and misery. Just like in Buddhism, I see the different realities as illusions according to what I want to believe. As is Buddhist practice, I have learned to avoid suffering by letting go of my attachments, such as having things done a certain way, on time, as they used to be, as I want them to be and material desires, to maintain my sanity and be happier, in spite of all the COVID bad news. So, what is the holistic answer to thriving in the pandemic? Here are several analogies. Looking at Nature, animals instinctually know not to poop in their own den. Our dog would not poop in our yard but it was fine to poop in someone else's. Yet humans feel it is OK to pollute the water they swim in and must drink, the land upon which they grow food and the air which they must breathe. The antagonist in The Matrix, Agent Smith said: "Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops an equilibrium with the surrounding environment. But you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease. A cancer of this planet. You are a plague." Agent Smith is telling us we need to change our behavior in order to survive. I saw life before COVID-19 revolving around the following priorities and values:
COVID-19 is offering us a chance to change this downward-spiraling scenario. Based on Agent Smith's quote above and my "wholistic" perspective, human life could not continue using these same priorities/values and survive. Morpheus explains to Neo, "If your mind can see past the programmed rules of the simulation (illusion), you will not be limited in speed or strength of the program." Neo trained himself to have powers and create solutions beyond what the Matrix program offered. We must do the same by holistically educating ourselves to survive. Neo (anagram for The One) was right, he showed us our happiness is all a state of mind (our choice) and depends on whatever we believe, not the illusions in the material world. If we cling to our attachments in the material world, we will only create more suffering and misery. We must train ourselves to stop looking to the "experts" (doctors, veterinarians, politicians, leaders, bosses, etc.) for all the answers and look within ourselves instead. If we educate ourselves beyond the current "Matrix" of thinking, we can create new solutions to not only survive but thrive during the COVID-19 pandemic. That is Optimum Choices' mission: To educate others on their holistic options for people and pets so they can achieve Freedom From Illness. Try this new "wholistic" paradigm of thinking:
We might as well adjust and get used to living
in this new "matrix," otherwise our time left (as an individual and a
race) will be shorter. |
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