Editors note: This commentary is by Dan DeWalt, an artisan and activist interested in democracy and the Constitution. He writes from South Newfane.

The response from Defense Secretary James Mattis sounded depressingly like every other government response to this intractable entanglement, promising a fresh, frank look at the reconstruction program and a new counter-narcotics strategy. His remarks, along with Trump administration rumblings about increasing troop strength to train the Afghan army up to a level of self-sufficiency, point to a real chance that we will once again escalate our military engagement in Afghanistan and make yet another round of the same mistakes.

What better time than now to read Douglas Wissings new book, Hopeless, but Optimistic, Journeying through Americas Endless War in Afghanistan. Wissing knows the country well, having spent months there on multiple trips since the United States began its military adventures in 2001. His earlier book, Funding the Enemy, tells how the Taliban was able to make use of poorly managed USAID programs to amass money and power, and to take advantage of the U.S. militarys short attention span in Afghanistan and Bush/Cheneys pivot to Iraq to inherit U.S. arms and materiel. In this book, he goes back to see if U.S. interventionists have learned any lessons.

Sadly, they have not.

On page after page, as Wissing travels around the country, we are told how U.S. operatives continue to repeat the same mistakes, leaving a trail of unfinished/sabotaged projects that have no value to the people of Afghanistan. These projects have done wonders for the enrichment of the warlords, the Taliban, and, above all the beltway bandits, as he calls them, the various for-profit reconstruction/development companies that still bilk U.S. taxpayers out of billions of dollars today on poorly planned, uninformed and useless projects designed to win the hearts and minds (WHAM) of the people. However, the only winners are a few well-positioned Afghans leaders and American businessmen, while the losers are everyone one else in Afghanistan, and the American taxpayers.

Wissing points out that after 16 years and more than a trillion dollars, the U.S.-supported central government is weak, corrupt and feckless as ever, while the Taliban once again are regaining territory, influence and power. He points out the sad irony that the Taliban, ruthless and backward as they may be, nonetheless are more efficient, more honest and more true to their word to the Afghan people than any of the central governments that have been propped up by U.S. money and might.

He points out the sad irony that the Taliban, ruthless and backward as they may be, nonetheless are more efficient, more honest and more true to their word to the Afghan people than any of the central governments that have been propped up by U.S. money and might.

His stories of water projects that destroy the water table, agricultural initiatives that were doomed to fail from the beginning, outpost defenses that defend nothing but only make troops vulnerable to attack, are told not by an omniscient narrator, but in interviews with soldiers and aid workers on the ground who have no personal stake in retelling the big lie that government spokespeople are so desperate to maintain. The men and women he interviewed tell their own stories of the situation as it swirls around them, with all the ambiguities, questions and frustration that come from being in an untenable position with an unworkable job requirement.

Wissing embeds with the troops at times. At others, he is on his own, widening his outlook and learning multiple sides of different events and attitudes. When he hears directly from soldiers and Afghans about their plight, we begin to get a real sense of the futility and stupidity of American foreign policy, along with the self-delusion that is necessary for plodding ever onward on the same wrong-headed course.

Hes not encouraging in his assessment:

I know now the American elites didnt want to learn any real lessons, despite their failures to accomplish their stated military, diplomatic, and aid missions. The self-dealing American officials and corporate executives are acting like that is all OK. Lets take the show on the road to the next profitable hot spot. Lets keep on keeping on.

While Mr. Trump may have crowed about draining the swamp, his current crew of geniuses that are crafting military and WHAM policies in Afghanistan and elsewhere are the same old mud- and slime-dripping swamp dwellers that have been feeding from the Washington corporate welfare/military industrial government trough for a long time. Seeing that not even a shovel has been employed to start the drainage, they are safely ensconced to continue to drain our Treasury, while making our troops less safe abroad and leaving us more vulnerable to terrorist attack at home and elsewhere, all for the sake of profit and the illusion of power. Trumps doctrine, as far as it goes, seems to be: Dont do your homework to understand why things are the way they are. Assume American superiority. Lie about the results. And, of course, keep on keeping on, just call it a win.

This administration and Congress wont be interested in reading Wissings book, but we should be. Read it and weep. Then, speak out and stop it from happening all over again. Trump and his allies are feeding us a steady diet of lies and misinformation about many issues. We cannot allow them to use fancy talk to foist further war in Afghanistan upon us.

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Dan DeWalt: Avoiding a repeat of mistakes in Afghanistan - vtdigger.org

If you are looking for a lifestyle and eating plan that improves your health and is easy to follow, the Mediterranean diet is one you should consider. Its not a weight loss diet, rather a way of eating and living.

This monthly column about health issues publishes on Mondays in the Steamboat Today. Read more columns here.

The philosophy of this healthy lifestyle includes eating a variety of mostly plant-based foods in small portions, while maintaining a leisurely mealtime and active lifestyle. It is possible for people to naturally lose weight while following a Mediterranean style of eating, but the health benefits reach far beyond losing a few pounds.

Experts have studied this nutrient-rich dietary pattern ever since the 1970s, when they discovered the low levels of chronic disease and long life expectancy seen in the people in many of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. It is the lifestyle and cuisine from Greece, Italy, Spain and southern France we closely associate with the traditions of eating Mediterranean-style.

The Mediterranean diet starts with a foundation of plant-based foods, then expands. Nuts, grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, olive oil and red wine are all a part of the diet. Adding any one of these foods to your diet is beneficial, but greater health benefits happen when these foods are eaten together.

A Mediterranean-style eating plan is associated with lowering the incidence of Alzheimers dementia, diabetes, cancer and heart disease, as well as reversing metabolic syndrome, a dangerous cluster of three or more conditions that greatly increase the risk for heart disease and diabetes.

To get started on eating a Mediterranean-style diet, following are eight simple steps provided by the Oldways Mediterranean Foods Alliance.

Eat lots of vegetables. From a simple plate of sliced fresh tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and crumbled feta cheese to stunning salads, garlicky greens, soup and stews, healthy pizzas or oven-roasted medleys, vegetables are vitally important to the fresh tastes and delicious avors of the Mediterranean Diet.

Change the way you think about meat. If you eat meat, have smaller amounts small strips of sirloin in a vegetable saut, or a dish of pasta garnished with diced prosciutto.

Enjoy some dairy products. Eat Greek or plain yogurt, and try smaller amounts of a variety of cheeses.

Eat seafood twice per week. Fish such as tuna, herring, salmon and sardines are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and shellsh, including mussels, oysters, and clams, have similar benets for brain and heart health

Cook a vegetarian meal one night per week. Build meals around beans, whole grains and vegetables, and heighten the avor with fragrant herbs and spices. Down the road, try two nights per week.

Use good fats. Include sources of healthy fats in daily meals, especially extra-virgin olive oil, nuts, peanuts, sunower seeds, olives and avocados.

Switch to whole grains. Whole grains are naturally rich in many important nutrients; their fuller, nuttier taste and extra ber keep you satised for hours. Cook traditional Mediterranean grains, such as bulgur, barley, farro and brown, black or red rice, and favor products made with whole grain our.

For dessert, eat fresh fruit. Choose from a wide range of delicious fresh fruits, from fresh gs and oranges to pomegranates, grapes and apples. Instead of daily ice cream or cookies, save sweets for a special treat or celebration.

Karen Massey is a registered dietitian nutritionist and family and consumer science Extension agent with Colorado State University Extension in Routt County. For more information, call 970-879-0825, or email karen.massey@colostate.edu. You can follow Masseys personal food blog at lifeintheboat.com.

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Routt County CSU Extension: Mediterranean diet a lifestyle - Steamboat Pilot & Today

A diet supplemented with soya protein may ease the severity of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis, according to research carried out on mice and cultured human colon cells.

The news comes ahead of World Inflammatory Bowel Disease Day, May 19.

Researchers at Penn State University in the US found that soya protein concentrate had an antioxidant and cytoprotective effect in cultured human bowel cells and moderated the severity of inflammation in mice with induced inflammatory bowel disease.

Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis are two forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), characterised by chronic inflammation of all or part of the digestive tract, generally the intestine, the colon and the rectum.

Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhoea, fatigue, appetite loss and weight loss.

Mice with an induced condition similar to ulcerative colitis were given a dietary soy protein concentrate (12%).

An equivalent amount of other forms of protein was removed from their diet to replicate a more human-relevant scenario.

Both body weight loss and swelling of the spleen improved in the mice.

Whats more, the scientists observed reduced inflammation in the colon and improved gut barrier function.

The researchers consider that the inflammation-moderating effects may be linked to soy protein, but not solely.

In fact, the soy protein concentrate contains 70% protein as well as some soya fibre, which could also have a beneficial effect on the digestive system.

The scientists plan further studies to investigate.

Four million people worldwide suffer from IBD. Both Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis are treated with anti-inflammatory or immunomodulatory therapies or by surgery in severe cases.

The study is published in the Journal Of Nutritional Biochemistry. AFP Relaxnews

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If you have bowel problems, add soya protein to your diet - Star2.com

A ketogenic diet is a low-carb, high-fat diet. Photo Credit: Elena Shashkina/Shutterstock

The following excerpt is from the new bookThe Metabolic Approach to Cancer: Integrating Deep Nutrition, the Ketogenic Diet, and Nontoxic Bio-Individualized Therapies(Chelsea Green Publishing, 2017)by Dr. Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley.

Every organism on this Earth requires food to create energy in order to live and reproduce. Food is the fuel that keeps our bodies driving down the road. All of the energy, genetic instruction and structural and regulating materials for your terrain come from nutrients. Simply put, food and the nutrients obtained from it are required to sustain life. When nutrient levels become deficient, symptoms (such as headaches, fatigue, weight gain, aches and pains) will be followed by disease. Low vitamin D causes rickets, low vitamin C causes scurvy, low folate in a mother results in spina bifida in the child. Without food, we die in approximately 40 to 180 days (this depends on a persons body weight; some obese people have survived and remained healthy without food for over five months!).

With the right foods, we can heal. Its time to start giving credit where credit is due: Certain foods and dietary habits have kept us alive for 2.6 million years. Deep nutrition, a metabolic approach, is the answer to cancer. And where Western medicine is trying to isolate the active forms of food to create synthetic versions able to be patented, we recommend the whole foods and dietary practices, such as fasting, that have sustained us for millennia. Yes, not eating is powerful medicine. All foods contain more than one active ingredient, and we strongly believe in the therapeutic power of synergies.

When sugar, processed grains, soda, preservatives, additives, trans fats, synthetic oils, pesticides, herbicides, genetically modified corn and soy, and junk food are replaced with organic, wild and fermented vegetables, bone marrow and organ meats, healthy fats, specific herbs and adequate hydration, the terrain shifts in a matter of days. Weve seen it happenand tested ithundreds of times during our multiday cancer retreats over the years. Epigenetic markers change, blood sugar levels decline, immune systems are fortified, hormones balance, digestion improves, toxins are removed, and fogs of depression are lifted. When stress, endocrine and sleep disruptors, and environmental and emotional toxins are removed and replaced with peace, purpose, nutrients, nontoxic products, rest, exercise, and healthy relationships, the body becomes incredibly resilient. All these elements are powerful enough to affect DNA, and thats good medicine. Cancer doesnt like that.

Youve heard it before, but it is true: You are what you eat. But we take things further: We are not just what we eat, but what our food eats. When it comes to deeply nutritious foods, the quality of the soil where the food was grown is also essential. When animals are fed toxic diets they become toxic to eat. If you feed animals antibiotics, hormones and genetically modified grains and legumes, they go from being healthy to four-legged Superfund sitesnot to mention propelling antibiotic resistance. The treatment approach we lay out in our book dives deep into food quality and also bio-individuality. There is not, cannot and should not be a one-size-fits-all diet all the time. What you eat needs to change with the seasons, for example, and is largely based on what your genetics can tell us. We look at many nutrigenomic factors (meaning, how our genes affect our foods and vice versa).

We subscribe to the metabolic theory of cancerthe proven fact that cancer cells are fueled by sugar and that altered mitochondrial metabolism is the ultimate cause of cancer. In fact, a December 2016 meta-analysis research paper assessed more than 200 studies conducted between 1934 and 2016 and concluded that the most important difference between normal cells and cancer cells is how they respire, or create energy. Cancer cells use a primitive process of fermentation to inefficiently convert glucose from carbohydrates into energy needed to sustain their rapid growth. But the most important finding is that fatty acids (dietary fats) cannot be fermented by cancer cells, which makes a ketogenic diet the most powerful dietary approach to cancer identified to date. And thanks to more than 100 years of research by the physicians and scientists Otto Warburg, Thomas Seyfried, Dominic DAgostino, and Valter D. Longo, as well as a rising number of others, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that low-glycemic, ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting should be an integral part of an effective anticancer diet program.

We realize there are many people who are drawn to what we are talking about, and others who are not. Our approach aims to empower people. Sadly, many cancer patients spend more time looking at new cars than at their grocery lists. Using diet to prevent and manage cancer requires engagement, and that is not always easy. Conventional medicine, on the other hand, allows the patient to be passivethe doctor performs surgery or administers chemotherapy, and the patient just waits for the test results. In the conventional model the healing, and ultimately the trust, lie with the doctor.

We believe, however, and have seen over and over in our practices, that true healing occurs when the patient is an active participant in the healing process. Our process is for those who are motivated to take charge of their health and willing to make lifestyle changes. Its about getting to know yourself, and maybe changing things you never thought possible. Its about asking questions, and not shying away from answers. Its about undoing the notion that you are a victim of cancer and you have no control over the process. Because you do.

Nasha Winters is the founder and CEO of Optimal Terrain Consulting. She has been working in the health care industry for 25 years and is a nationally board certified naturopathic doctor, licensed acupuncturist, practitioner of oriental medicine and a fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology.

Jess Higgins Kelley is the director of the Oncology Nutrition Therapy Certification Program at the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, Colorado and the founder and CEO of Remission Nutrition, a metabolic nutrition consulting, education and research enterprise. She has contributed health and nutrition articles to local and national publications.

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Growing Evidence Points to a Specific Diet That Can Starve Cancer Cells of Their Prime Fuels - AlterNet

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Climate change is altering the environment in Yellowstone National Park andforcing threatened grizzly bears to change their diet, a new study from UC San Diego finds.

The study published last week in the journal PLOS ONEshows that bears are eating less of theirstaple whitebark pine seeds as consuming more plants and berries as the slow-growing trees decline.

Whitebark pine trees have declined due to an introduced fungal disease called blister rust, and, more recently, to increased infestation by the mountain pine beetle, which is exacerbated by climate change, said study coauthor Carolyn Kurle, an assistant professor at UC San Diegos Division of Biological Sciences. Such declines further highlight the need to monitor diets of grizzlies as the environment continues to change.

Once ubiquitous in western North America, whitebark pine trees have declined in recent decades and are now listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Warming temperatures have led to shorter and milder winters, increasing beetle infestations and further threatening whitebark pine mortality.

Other potential food sources for grizzlies such as trout, deer and elk have also declined in the region.

Lead author Jack Hopkins, a former postdoctoral researcher in Kurles lab at UC San Diego and currently an assistant professor at Unity College, and his team measured stable isotopes found in bear hair and related their abundances to those found in their foods.

Stable isotope analysis is a powerful ecological tool for reconstructing the diets of animals, said Hopkins. Instead of investigating the diets of animals based on whats eliminated (feces), we estimate the importance of major food sources to animals based on whats assimilated into their tissues. Using stable isotope analysis to conduct a retrospective diet analysis can shed light on how animals, such as Yellowstone grizzlies, have responded to changes in food availability on the landscape.

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UCSD: Climate Change Forcing Yellowstone's Threatened Grizzly Bears to Change Diet - Times of San Diego