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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2012)
in other words march13 2012 Natural Path to Health: Nutritional Statistics By Dr. Carol McIntyre This past Monday, March 5th, I gave my first of many free health lectures at our own Vernonia Community Grange. Although the turnout was small, the message was well received. Many good questions were asked and comments made. There was also discussion about what other topics were of interest for future lectures. I spoke about some key points of basic nutrition. There is a government website that, to my surprise, is actually a nice guide for very basic nutrition and proper eating habits. The PDF from that website can be found at: http:// health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2010/ DietaryGuidelines2010.pdf. For those of you who need to have a reference, this is an OK place to start. Statistics compiled on this site were published in 2010. I would like to share some of those with you. First, from the US census bureau, the current population of the USA is 313,142,327 people with a net gain of 1 new person every 15 seconds. That is over 300 million people and growing. Now for the statistics. There are 81.1 million Americans with cardiovascular disease or 37% of the population. Hypertension is measured separately showing that 74.5 million or 34% of Americans have been diagnosed. Even worse, 36% of American adults have pre-hypertension, bringing the total count for some level of hypertension to an astounding 70% of Americans! Diabetes comes in at a staggering 24 million people, with 11% of Americans ages 20+ having diabetes. This statistic does include both type 1 and 2, but the majority of the cases recorded are type 2 diabetes. Again, as with cardiovascular disease, there are an additional 78 million American adults who are pre-diabetic. This brings the diabetic total to 102 million people or 1/3 of our entire population! Keep in mind that childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes are on the rise as well and these cases are not included in these statistics, so the number is actually even greater than 1/3 of the population. This chart comes directly from the government PDF I mentioned earlier in my article: These statistics show that since the 1970’s our rate of obesity in the USA has almost tripled! Another alarming statistic is that 32% of Children ages 2-19 are overweight with 17% of them being obese. Weight is measured on the scale of BMI (body mass index) and anything between 25-29.9 kg/m2 is considered overweight, with anything over 30 considered obese. There are also statistics on cancer, showing that 41% of Americans will be diagnosed with some 15 type of cancer in their lifetime. Osteoporosis is also very prevalent, with 1 of 2 women and 1 of 4 men over the age of 50 having a fracture related to poor bone density. Most of our bone density is built before the age of 20, so it is very important for our children to eat well. From the current stats, I do not feel this is happening. Beyond the stats, while giving my lecture this past Monday, I asked my audience what they thought the % of children was who were considered overweight and/or obese. Do you know what their guesses were? 54%, 36%, 70%!!! Yes! Unfortunately, they look around and see many children that are overweight right here in our beloved town of Vernonia, but we can change that. It is imperative that we address these chronic health issues now. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and osteoporosis are all influenced by proper diet and physical activity. Americans have become the proverbial ‘couch potato’ and because of that, we are the unhealthiest developed country in the world with the highest levels of chronic disease. As a Naturopathic doctor and practitioner of Chinese medicine I aim to help people get back to the basics and eliminate chronic disease. It can be done! We just need to get back to the basics… Join me for my next health lecture at the Vernonia Community Grange on April 2nd at 7pm. Thank you~ Be Well. The Gun Doctor: Firearm Maintenance – Part 3 By Wolfgang Rotbart In this article, I will go into a bit more depth regarding firearm maintenance. Just realize these are general instructions and there are many varieties of firearms out there and so this cannot possibly cover all models and types. One of the most basic cleaning operations is bore cleaning. Lead, copper and powder residue are deposited every time a gun is fired. This is especially a problem when using unjacketed bullets. Unjacketed bullets will have a dark gray (lead) color as opposed to the reddish- orange of a copper jacketed bullet. An extremely dirty bore can actually become an obstructed bore and cause severe damage to you, bystanders, and your firearm. For decades the bore cleaner of choice has been Hoppe’s #9 and it works quite well when used as directed. I must admit that I have a special fondness for the aroma of #9, but as I stated in the last column, it does pose risks if not used according to directions and with the proper safety gear & procedures. Also, the bore must be cleaned very well afterwards, as Hoppe’s is mildly corrosive. To clean the bore, first “clear the firearm”. I will use this term a lot, so I want to explain it in some detail. Clearing a firearm consists of absolutely, positively ensuring the firearm is unloaded. I use the following procedure. Remove the magazine if applicable. Open the bolt and pull it all the way to the rear and remove (bolt action), field strip the action (pistol or semi-auto rifle or shotgun), operate the opening lever (hinge action shotgun, rifle or pistol) or open the cylinder (revolvers) and remove any rounds. Visually and tactilely, verify the chamber is empty, there is no magazine in place and there are no rounds in the firearm. I also say out loud “visual, tactile, visual, tactile” as an added aid. Remove all live ammo from the room where you will be working. Now you are ready to clean the bore. There are several types of cleaning rods most of which you use to push a patch through the bore. However, a few types are pulled through. Whenever possible, clean a firearm from the breach, or rear, end. The area where the bullet exists, the crown, is very sensitive to even a miniscule amount of damage and this can lead to very poor accuracy, so be careful in this area. Usually, I start with a cotton patch to clean out the big chunks and then switch to a wire brush that is the correct size for the caliber or gauge. Wet the wire brush in your choice of cleaner and run it through the bore several times to ensure the entire bore is soaked. Depending on how dirty the bore is, you may need to let it soak 15 minutes or even overnight. Next, run the brush through the bore several more times and switch to a cotton patch. These are generally in two sizes and may be either round or square. The patch is run through the bore with a “jag” or a “slotted tip/loop”. The jag has a pointed tip on which you center the patch and then run it through the bore. For a slotted tip/loop, thread the patch through the loop and use. These also come in different sizes for specific calibers or gauges. I prefer a jag, as it is quicker to use. Run the patch through the bore, the turn it over, repeat, put a new patch on and repeat until the patch comes out clean. Use a small flashlight or other light source to illuminate the bore and visually verify the bore is clean and free or any obstructions, rust or pitting. Most bores will almost be a mirror finish. Finally, depending on your mechanical skills and familiarity with the firearm, disassemble the action to where you feel competent and clean the action using an old toothbrush or similar. Many folks use a solvent such as acetone to clean out the inaccessible places. Personally, I use Simple Green in hot water. It is much safer than a solvent and requires no rubber gloves or safety gear. Brush the parts in the solution, let them soak for 15 minutes or more and then brush again and dry the parts thoroughly and quickly. For smaller parts, I put a piece of newspaper in the toaster oven tray, set the temperature to 200° F. for 10 minutes or so and stay in the kitchen with it the entire time. I can’t recommend this method for safety reasons, but it works for me. Regardless, ensure the parts are completely dry and apply a light coat of a good grade of gun oil. Make sure to check the trigger group and safety to see if there is any sign of a dried oil/grease build up as this can cause extremely serious safety malfunctions. If there is, sometimes it can be removed by soaking in a solvent; other times it will need to be completely disassembled. Normally, a gunsmith should do this as it is very easy to reassemble a trigger group dangerously incorrect or you may not be able to get it back together again. As for a good gun oil, most any of the ones made especially for firearms should work well. Personally, I use a product called Gunzilla and in the interest of full disclosure, I am a dealer for this product. I like it for several reasons: It is made from plants and is non-toxic, has a very mild odor, works very well as a bore cleaner, gun lube and rust preventive, does not dry out and become thick like a grease and does not attract dust like petroleum-based oils. Also, it cleans the bore and removes light rust in an entirely different manner than other products that dissolve the foreign material. Gunzilla works by penetrating under the foreign material and lifts it off the base metal. So, instead of two or three gun cleaning products, I only have one to keep up with. If you would like more information on performing these tasks, please contact me and I will be glad to be of service. I welcome ideas for topics for these articles. Please email them to: Wolfgang@WolfgangTheGunDoctor. com or call me at 503-429-7342 10:00 – 5:00 M – F Wolfgang Rotbart is an AGI- certified Master Gunsmith and a NRA- certified Basic Pistol Course Instructor. He works as a gunsmith and as an Oregon Concealed Handgun Safety Course Instructor. You may visit The Gun Doctor website for more information at: http://www.wolfgangthegundoctor.com/ Vernonia’s Voice is published twice each month on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday. Look for our next issue March 27th. Silkscreen printing Printing while you wait for small orders Vinyl lettering and heat transfers Teams, groups, special events Hoodies, dress shirts, aprons & more No order too large or too small No set-up fees 711 Bridge Street, Vernonia (503) 433-4278 kavila@kaptanskraft.com
