Thoughts on Paleo and Other Health(y) Things

On June 23, I took on the 30 Day Paleo Challenge that my crossfit gym is having.  [And I started crossfit earlier in June.]  The first week was brutal.  I had a massive headache on day 3, but after day 5, my head kind of went back to normal, but thinking is still a bit of a challenge.

But whatever brain power I have left (after using it at work), it got me thinking about food.  Well, being hungry all the time, I always think about food.  But no, seriously, it made me think about how the average Americans "gather" food today and how the foods we eat affects us.

First, to explain a Paleo challenge or a Paleo diet.  In a nutshell, it's a method of eating as if we were almost back in the "paleolithic" era, where humans were just starting to use tools to hunt for food and gather food. Most people also call it the "caveman diet".   Agriculture hasn't been invented yet, so within this diet, there are no grains or even white potatoes.  (Somehow, sweet potatoes are okay, I guess because the sweet potatoes can be found in the wild.)  There are also no legumes (aka beans), as beans can upset your stomach.  There are no dairy products either, as man haven't quite figured out what cows or goats are for.  You're practically eating just meat, vegetables, fruits, and nuts all day long.  Oh, and no sugars, no sodas of any kind (regular or diet), and no artificial sweeteners (not even xylitol or stevia).  But since we're in the modern age, we do use modern things to cook our foods, like pots and pans and ovens.  And the occasional microwave to reheat the food we have just cooked for that week.

The Paleo challenge has been going well so far, apart from the thinking problem I'm having but this final week, I feel better.  I have probably shed 5 pounds by now and an inch or so off my waist as well as other areas of my body.  I feel tired sometimes, but if I get enough sleep, I feel fine usually.  And overall, without the gluten and grains, my joints don't feel as achy or swollen, and my back feels pretty good for the most part (I have back problems - another story to tell)...

So, the little thinking I have been doing during this Paleo challenge:

1. How did we get here?  As a growing nation, I feel the food industry found ways to make food at less cost.  I mean, that is the free market.  Try to make profit.  So many of our food production practices have been grandfathered in from previous regulations.  It's not really anybody faults though... I think back then, especially the early 1900's, America faced an influx of immigrants.  Without really thinking through or maybe just out of plain ignorance, people and scientist tinker with substances to see how we can make a lot of food with the least amount of money.  That's why some of the off-the-shelf food products have chemicals and things we can't pronounced on labels.  Europe, on the other hand, is more conscience of what goes into foods.  A lot of substances in American foods are banned in Europe (maybe except for Great Britain, which shares a lot of the food struggles we have here).

A good amount of foods in America are processed.  Some marketing genius out there has made it so that food not only looks good, but also taste good, and cost less than if you were to buy healthier groceries.  I mean, we're talking McDonald's, Hardee's/Carl Jr, KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc.  Something comes from a box or a can or a fast food place.  Where a few things from boxes and cans are okay, most of it is processed in a factory somewhere and trucked thousands of miles away, or even across the ocean.

Sounds digusting?  I think most of us know about the pink slime nuggets and plastic soy burgers from fast food places.  A lot of us may know about the yoga mat flame retardant substance in most sub/deli breads and even in dough of some pizza chains.

Since even before paleo and even this year, I have slowly steered away from processed foods.  I still crave things like fried chicken, or even Spam (yes, I like Spam, but it's no where near good for you).  Knowing what goes into foods and things in cans and boxes, I try to stay away from these things, and cook most of my foods or eat fruits and nuts for snacks.

2. GMO.  Some vegetables are genetically modified to resist germs and molds, which yields more crops.  That may sound like a good thing.  A lot of plants are spoiled by these bacteria and molds.  But if they can resist germs and molds, can it resist us?  Or a better question, do we resist it as a foreign object?  Do we get enough nutrients from it?  A few articles I have seen so far is that these GMO foods are no different from non-GMO foods when it comes to nutrients.  But from the micro-level, does it change our body chemistry?  There hasn't really been a conclusive study; some of these studies can take 25 years or more, because it takes time, a whole generation, to study people once a food product has entered the food chain.  But many people have linked GMO foods and chemicals to causing cancer.

GMO definitely has taken off since the 90's, thanks to patenting the DNA sequences into the seeds and making these GMO vegetables grow and essentially mass produced crops.  Most notably, wheat, corn, soy, and most vegetables we eat in America are GMO.  That's partly why paleo doesn't allow grains: it's all GMO-ed but also agriculture hasn't been invented yet in the paleolithic period.

From an early age, I stayed away from wheat.  I think because I knew if I ate too much cake and breads, it turns into stored sugar = fat.  Also, cancer feeds off sugar.  Wheat/gluten is also known to make auto-immune disease worst, such as arthritis.

3. Non-organic vs organic foods.  Non-organic foods are foods grown with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.  Organic foods uses fertilizers from actual animals.  Organic foods may not necessarily be non-GMO.

Being in the treatment of wastewater, I actually know where the fertilizers come from.  Can you guess?  Yep, the wastewater treatment plant.  Well, one of a few places, at least.  The fertilizers actually have to go through a regulated process to ensure that the fertilizer is okay for use of growing crops.  In summary, the wastewater going into the treatment plant is all mixed up, it goes through mechanical straining, before a finer product goes through even more clarification, settling, etc.  After that, some of the "filtrates" than go through a chemical process (yes, a chemical process using polymers) to coagulate into sludge, and then the sludge goes through a strained press to "squish the poo".  Then the sludge goes through a drying process, where the final material is the fertilizer.  The polymer chemical has to be food grade and "organic friendly", and the drying process has to be to a science (temp and exposure time in the oven or solar dryer). If it were regular sludge, anything coming out of the strain press is fine.  But the treatment to reuse the fertilizer is regulated.

Although organic foods is not bad, knowing how the plants are fertilized makes me rethink about my decisions on buying organic foods.  Vegetables with pesticides or vegetables fertilized with human poo that has gone through a chemical process?  Yummy...

Conclusion

In these last 3 points, do you ever wonder if America (whether it's a doctor, a nutritionist, a science, the average American), really looked at the regulations and the science behind the food?  What if we didn't use chemicals, GMO and conventional foods?  Would our food cost be the same or would it be as high as organic food prices?

Some marketing genius out there also figured out that organic/natural foods is a premium item.  Why not make money off of it?  Look at Whole Foods.  It's no joke it's nicknamed "Whole Paycheck"; it's quite expensive.  But some organic foods and natural personal care products actually last longer.  The "natural" deodorant (no aluminum, parabens, bad chemicals, etc.) I bought in February, I haven't used it up yet!  It's July folks!  Almost 6 months of using the same stick of deo.

The real conclusion is that Paleo really does work for me but it also made me think about food and health a lot more and how processed foods affect me.  It's the ultimate goal to change your eating habits and eating lifestyle because as Americans, we are overweight and eat too much processed foods.  I felt a lot better and more energetic, after the initial headaches.  Paired up with crossfit, I have been feeling stronger everyday.

The Charlotte of My Youth

Eastland Mall, circa 1980's.  Yes, that's a skating rink inside the mall.

I started writing about being depressed but I think this might be a better topic to blog.  :)

I'm probably one of the few people (of like 2 dozen) who can safely say that I'm from Charlotte and have mostly stayed in the area.  I came to Charlotte as a baby, grew up around here, then Kings Mountain for another 9 years (still relatively close to Charlotte), then went off to college, and back again to the Charlotte area.

Circa 1980 and 90's

Much has change over the 34 years of me being in North Carolina.  I once remember Charlotte being a quaint little southern city.  It was and still is the largest city in the Carolinas but back then, there was no Ballantyne, there wasn't a shopping area near UNC Charlotte (the location of Dick's, Sam's Club, and the old Walmart), there was no Northlake Mall, no I-485, not even Carolina Place Mall in Pineville.  Southpark Mall used to have a Sears and used to be just a regular mall until it went upscale in early 2000.  And speaking of malls, the place to go in the 80's was Eastland Mall.  If you knew how to skate, you can go to Eastland Mall to skate.  But it was also fun to watch the people skate.  

The current Bojangle's Coliseum was the Charlotte Coliseum.  There was no Time Warner Arena, and not even the Bank of America Stadium.  There was no BOA building either or Duke Energy building.  The current Wells Fargo building in downtown Charlotte was the First Union tower (yes, First Union, remember that?).

I moved away from Charlotte in 1989, so much of the 90's, I wasn't in Charlotte.  However, I do remember almost a weekly ride to Charlotte with my parents to shop for Chinese groceries and things.  During this decade, I saw Charlotte grew tremendously.  By the end of the 80's, I-485 was under construction on the south side of Charlotte, between Johnston Road to S. Tryon St.  Carolina Place was newly built and the late 80's Charlotte Hornets already made a home as the first professional sport teams in Charlotte.  (No Carolina Panthers yet...)  During this time, there seem to be a big boom in the financial sector.  Towards the end of the 90's, First Union bought Wachovia but kept the Wachovia name as it had better customer service than First Union.  I think around the same time, Bank of America (from Nations Bank) made its home also in Charlotte.  Then finally, the Carolina Panthers came on board as an expansion team of the NFL.  Charlotte grew in the 90's and became a top financial center in the U.S. next to Manhattan, NY.

This is just a glimpse of Charlotte from the eyes of a child who grew up in and around this city.  I hope to write some more about specific stories, because Charlotte now is not the same as back then.

The Emerging Environmentalist

I find myself with nothing to do this evening, so I packed up my computer and things, and headed to Amelie's... A French Bakery.

I have a lot of great ideas in my head but lately find myself either chicken-out to blog or just too lazy or busy or whatever.

Lately, I have been very interested in environmental causes.  At first glance, you may not think I am of that type.  I don't drive a Prius, or wear hippie clothes, or live in a solar house.  But I am concern about how humans impact the environment, as well as ourselves in how we commute, build and construct, and grow/raise our foods.  Actually, maybe I have always been conscience about the environment since college when I took a class in Alternative Energy and was an admin assistant at the North Carolina Solar Center.

I've Got the Power

I am not quite sure where to start but let's start with this article: Obama touts energy plans.  The drive in the article about Obama is really to encourage people to start NOW; install them now.  Although, I applaud Obama for encouraging others to use solar panels, it's not all that easy.  In the mid-2000's, I learned that photovoltaic cells (aka solar panels) are only 30% efficient.  That means, if the sun light hits at 100% on the cells, only 30% becomes useful electricity.  Now, in just doing a quick search, the cells are now 45% efficient.  Which is a great thing.  But science and engineering still have a long way to go.

I think though Obama does have a point.  The more people are interested, buying solar panels, and paying money, that money can be used to come up with more efficient panels... if the money is handled correctly.  (Yes, that's the kicker.)

So, why are some people driven to look for alternative energy?  Many of our power plants are fueled by coal and fossil fuel.  This fuel, when burn, emits carbon dioxide and other gasses into the atmosphere.  Although carbon dioxide is great for plants, the plants are not as plentiful as before (due to deforestation and farming) and cannot keep up with the load going into the air.  The other gasses becomes trapped under the ozone layer creating a green house effect, while other gasses are slowly eating away the ozone layer.  The other point is that the fuel is steadily running out.  As there are more and more humans everyday, there are also more and more cars and other transportation that uses fuel.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

The circle, of course, keeps circling.  Because of fuel slowly being used through transportation, I applaud the automobile industry in coming up with electric cars and making them affordable in recent years.  However, I sort of have a pain in my heart when I have to tell this story.  Since the early to mid 1800's (yes!), scientists and hobbyists alike tinker with electric cars, trying to make batteries last longer and be more efficient.  Even Thomas Edison knew electric cars will go far!  However, in the turn of the 1900's, gas powered cars made an entrance into the market, where Henry Ford made it even more affordable with making the car on the assembly line.  Today, cars are plentiful every where in the world.  We love the roar of the engine, and the sleek design of the car.  But sadly, cars, especially older cars, emit the bad gasses creating the greenhouse that the world is experiencing today.

This is the Air I Breathe

I have touched a little bit on greenhouse gasses.  Although, I have my own skepticism on how much is really released into the air, it does seem that there has been a lot of climate activities over the past 50 years.  some parts of the world are experiencing severe drought, while other parts are constantly hammered by rain and monsoon.  In my little neck of the world (Southeast U.S.), it actually has been very mild to very cold in the winter.  Where it is hot and dry in one area, must be wet and cold in other areas of the world (the balance of thermodynamics).

I ask myself, "Is this really normal?"  The answer is that, we really don't know.  I am not a meteorologist or a climatologist but in our little bit of existence in this earth's history, it does seem to be an extreme compared to 200 years or 1000 years ago.  Compare to the other major eras of earth's history, there has been major changes only when something drastic happens, like a great tectonic shift, or a meteor hits hurts.

The difference today in our human history is that we are contributing to the green house effect, not earth's molten hot lava spewing ashes into the atmosphere or a meteor that just hit earth.

Food for Thought... Take 2

This is somewhat of a continuation of my last blog on The Human Experience. It's already scary to think that our foods are altered by science.  It's even scarier that even though there are a lot of carbon dioxide in the air from burning fuel, the plants that feed off of it will grow but will not have enough nutrients (see article).  they will grow fast and tall but it will not have time to absorb nutrients from the ground and convert it to helpful nutrient (through photosynthesis).  In fact, what is in our ground?

Credit to Buzz Feed Jen Lewis.  This is not Jim Davis's original words to this comic.  Her article is not even about the environment but I thought this was appropriate and to make a point.

So think about this: genetically altered wheat, being treated with pesticides and herbicides (chemicals), and not having enough water or time to absorb nutrients from the ground (whatever is in the ground) to produce the nutrients we need.

Water Water Everywhere...

Water is very plentiful on earth.  But fresh water is a challenge to find.  Somewhere I heard that by 2050, we will run out of fresh water from our fresh water resources.  Yet, the ocean is plentiful... But with salt water.  What a pity, us humans cannot process the salt in the water, or we would drink from the ocean.

But even ocean water is not all that safe.  Since the time of people, we have been finding and using metals for weapons, aqueducts, tools, machines, behicles, paint, jewelry... and the list goes on.  Metals is found everywhere and it has made impacts in our water resources, especially lead and mercury.

Being in the water industry, this is a challenge to treat water at any level.  Engineers and environmentalists will usually survey water resources before making recommendations on what type of equipment is needed to treat either surface water or ground water for human consumption.  What is in the water?  Soil?  Metals?  Grit?  It gets pretty nasty.

And sadly, the drinking water plant doesn't get rid of it all.  What goes through the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), the end results goes into the lakes, rivers, and streams.  Miles down the river and streams, it then get sucked back into a drinking water treatment plant.  A lot more people are using drugs, all kinds of drugs.  Legal drugs and illegal drugs.  The WWTP cannot handle it all.  It's almost impossible for the WWTP to get rid of all the chemicals through daily sewage.

That's why there are "frankenfish", fishes altered by birth control in the water that didn't get targeted in the WWTP.  The fishes cannot reproduce becasue they are no one or the other... Or they end up to be two genders.  Other microbiological life are dying because of chlorination disinfection (in NC, you have to dechlorinate the effluent water!)

*****
Seriously, folks.  I think I am going to a remote part of the earth, that hasn't been tampered with, and just live there.

The Human Experiment

Since the beginning of February, I started going to a chiropractor.  What I didn't realize is that I will step into a whole new thinking about health, fitness and food (sort of).  In the past few months, I have learned a lot about what my own body could do, and just a vast knowledge of human anatomy, functions, and how food effects the body.

I Got a Backbone

For a while, I wanted to find and go to a chiropractor because of my lower back problems.  Every time I exercise or go for a jog, my body will bounce and cause pain and strain to my lower joints, muscles, everything.  I have this dream to run a marathon but in order to do that, I need to get my lower back checked out.  Regular physical therapy and back stretches were not doing its justice.

I had this routine: jog/exercise.  Stretch my back.  Then go home, ice my lower back.  Ibuprofen somewhere along the way.  Then a nice hot shower for a long time.  Then a heat pad.  Stretch my back.  Then maybe a Icy Hot sticky thing or Icy Hot balm (Ben-gay is the other thing I may use).  Sleep.

Sounds painful, right?  It got so annoying, I finally went to see the chiropractor.

At first, I thought, "He will just take some x-rays and tell me what's wrong... Probably will discover I have scoliosis."  Well, what I learned over the next few weeks was an eye opener.  Our spine, with the right curvatures, can heal and regulate the human body.  My neck was bent the wrong way, my back, although initially I thought it was scoliosis, my Dr. confirmed it wasn't.... To fuel the spinal cord, you have to eat the right kind of foods.  The explanation of how it all works made some sense and fueled my scientific curiosity.  So I began my "human experiment" and started the 40 visit process of getting my back adjusted.  

At first, I felt nothing.  I went to get my back adjusted, hear cracks and pops along my back as he pushes my spine and twist my neck.  Along with the adjustments, I also changed my diet (on that later).  But after almost halfway, I did realize that overall that I felt better.  I can't explain it... Maybe it's energy level, or just being more alert.  My body just feels like it's just running better.  About my 20-24th visit, I had x-rays again and it showed my neck curvature has started to move back to the correct angles.  I thought that was cool.

Food for Thought 

Food is another major component to repairing and fueling the spinal cord.  As taught by my chiropractor and other experts from his office, the right kind of food can help in the aid of re-aligning and putting my spine back into the correct curvatures but also overall help your body operate correctly and possibly lose weight.

It's basically holistic living, consuming organic foods, grass fed beef and free range chickens.  Also as part of this holistic eating, no grains (wheat, rye, barley, rice, corn - all no no's).  You can almost look at this like a paleo diet. Oh, and no pork (article linked on one explanation).  This host of changed to your diet aids in the fueling of the spine and eventually, one can come off of medication (if you are on any).

Taking a more basic, baby-step approach (and not to go completely all out), I thought it would be easiest to eliminate wheat products and corn, sugar, all sodas/carbonated drinks, and some dairy as well.

The wheat was easy.  I always knew I had some reactions to gluten, a wheat protein that is kind of like glue.  So, I never ate a whole lot of wheat to begin with.  The sugar was also easy.  My dad had diabetes since he was in his 30's, so growing up, I never had too much sugar.  Eliminating diet drinks was probably the hardest.  I tend to drink all day long because ... I don't know.  Maybe something active to do besides my desk work.  So, figuring that out was a challenge.  What do I drink?  Ha, water!  And coffee.  And tea.

In substituting the sugar/sweetener I once consumed, I thought I tried organic maple syrup to my hot British tea.  That was surprisingly good.  I still added half & half because that is just how the Brits & Hong Kongers drink it.  I haven't ventured using honey in anything yet.

The other hard thing was using dairy.  I am actually lactose intolerant and for the longest time, I have used lactose free milk in my coffee.  But in one food workshop, they only offered unsweetened almond milk.  It taste amazing in coffee!  So, I end up buying almond milk for at least 2 months.

I think altering the rest of my diet was easiest.  What else did/do I eat?  Well, I am not really an "American food" eater.  I stay away from McDonald's if I can and most other fast food restaurants.  Although I do crave Bojangle's or eat fried chicken tenders.  My taste is very Asian, so I still ate rice and rice noodles.  And potatoes (um, potatoes are Irish, but I ate them).  I eat mostly Asian vegetables and less meat.  I also eat an avocado every morning with an egg sometimes, and nuts in between.

I do not like protein shakes and I do not like to drink my food.  So, I never was on board with that.

At the end of nearly a 2 month experiment on foods, I had a donut.  Yes, a nice, big, sugary donut.  Oh boy... My stomach didn't like it... My back started hurting again.  My "plumbing" was just operating more... I never thought my body would react so adversely to these processed products.  I admit, I still occasionally eat wheat but only small amounts.  I've pretty much stayed away from sugar except for an occasional chocolate.  It was very simple, basic steps I took, but it helped in making myself feel better.

Going the Distance

Exercising is actually also a big part of spinal health, as the thought is that weight lost would take off pressure around the spine, organs and joints.

I actually do love exercising and just being active.  I try to do different things so I won't get bored with just one thing.  Like, recently, I took a gym class called "Insanity" which is a combination of cross fit and aerobics.  The other weekend, I climbed a wall, which fueled my interest to climb.  (I did it once 8 years ago.)  As far as intensity level, I don't tend to go all out but I do keep moving and keep my heart rate up.  And I do regularly try to job at least once a week.  As most of my friends say, "You run faster than the guy on the couch."  I also tried to swim at the local gym as I used to be a competitive swimmer in High School.

As part of the spine correction/adjustment, I bought the homecare kit, which includes a lot of different components to stretch the spinal and neck, and exercise certain muscles to strengthen those areas.  I think for a good 6 weeks, I followed exactly everything but kind of slacked off the past several weeks.  I still feel fine.  Part of the kit, comes with an exercise video called T3.  Now, if you have the activity level as I have above, you might think T3 will be too easy.  It was too easy for me.  I sat and watched the first few sessions.  It was stuff I did when I had a trainer, but my trainer kicked my booty.

My personal thoughts: I have tried to exercise for years to lose weight.  The only thing that I found that actually helped was jogging.  When I played soccer back in high school, I lost 5-7 pounds during the season.  When I jogged last year before my back was hurting really bad, I lost 5 pounds over the course of 6 months.  I have tried functional training, and going back into swimming, and weight lifting, and taking random classes at the gym.

Yep, jogging.  Of all things.  Now, you know why I want my back all better?

Smell the Roses

Like some people who live in the South, I have allergies to flowers in the spring.  Specifically azaleas and dog wood pollen.  I also have allergies to watermelon and most other melons as well.

When I noticed the flowers blooming starting earlier this month, I had no initial reaction.  My eyes were swollen for a few days but afterwards, it disappeared.  If I stay outside long enough, though, I do sneeze a lot.  But I'm not miserable like I used to be.  It was great!  I think I will accredited to the amazing body that have reacted to the spinal adjustments.

Another thing that struck me was colds.  I had at least 1 cold over the last few months, more in February, I think.  I got over the cold in 2 days and with no cold medicines.  I usually suffer for at least a week with cold medicine.  I was very amazed by this.

And a spectacle of things... I felt my eye sight has gotten a wee better too.  I have new glasses but I had to switch back to my old glasses... I really can't see through my new glasses.  And I could barely see out of my contacts!

Some last thoughts...

Some folks going into this program are overweight or obese and are on a cocktail of medications.  Me, I came in only overweight and taking no medications.  Having an Asian diet already going into the program, with only lower back pain, I think I am one of the few who went in with not a lot of problems.  Trying the program for the first 30 days (spinal correction, diet, exercise), I didn't see a big difference in my weight.  Even my Dr. said, the advance plan diet only works on 80% of the people who tried it.  I think in some ways, I was already on it.

I have my own thoughts on weight or body image.  My mom and grandmother were both large women, and given that I am already active and eating alright and not on medications, I haven't let my weight or shape bother me now.  Yes, like all women, I could lose 20 pound but if it's meant to be, I'll lose it somehow.  My body shape hasn't stopped me from enjoying life.  I am where I am not because of my body shape but because of my attitude in life.

Anyways, this human experiment has taught me that I have an amazing body that God has created.  It is a temple and although we may not mean to cause it harm, our body goes through a lot during the course of a lifetime.  As long as we are on earth, God asked us to take care of our bodies but it is a temple and a tool to carry out God's work in the community.

Recently in Science...

Some of you may have been following the series "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson (and interestingly, produced by Seth MacFarlane - yes the guy who created "Family Guy").  It's a very well put-together series of science topics, mixed with theories and imagination.

As a person of science, I really like this kind of stuff.  Since I have watched the first 4 shows (with 9 more to go, I think), it made me rethink a lot of things about science, especially evolution and how the universe was created.

The topic of evolution hasn't really been debated much recently, except for the recent web debate between Ken Ham (Christian who believes in Creationism) and Bill Nye (The Science Guy).  I guess if you have a country invading another country, an airplane disappearing into the ocean, earthquakes and mudslides, there's not much room to talk about much anything else.  

Let's start off with the solar system.  Why does this have anything to do with evolution?  Let me explain... Many years ago, people have thought the earth was flat.  Many scientists proved that this was wrong.  The earth was indeed round.  Then people thought everything revolved around the earth.  The earth is the center of the universe.  And if one was to say otherwise, you were considered a heretic.  You could get kicked out of church. Church people took it seriously.  But there were a few brave scientists that proved that the universe did not revolve around the earth.  And it took many many years and many theorems to be proven true.  Now we know the earth is round and the earth and planets revolved around the sun, and the solar system revolves around a central point in the Milky Way Galaxy.

The key to the last paragraph is that many folks in the church of that time (1600's) didn't not believe God would make the Earth go around the Sun.  Just like today, many people of the church do not believe in evolution.  

But what if I say, "God created Evolution."  What?

In the first two shows of "Cosmos," Dr. Tyson mentioned that being a part of the evolutionary history is somewhat of a spiritual experience.  (I'm not quoting his exact words but this is about the gist of it.)  He explained in many ways that all of life on earth shared a very similar genetic code in DNA and showed even how we can be related to a mushroom.  He even mentioned that even the start of life itself on earth is still a big mystery.  How do atoms and molecules come together and work together to form the lifeforms we have on Earth today?

While I am not an expert in biology and genetics, I am an engineer as well as a Christian.  Sometimes it takes imagination to realize and form a theorem of science that hasn't been thought of before.  And I believe there are many Christian scientists who probably think this way about evolution.

A few Bible verses come to mind, Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8.  "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day..." The content of these verses points out that our lives are very short and we must make use of it to the fullest.  God's days are not like our days.  If you expand that thought for a second, and put it in the content of the beginning of earth, you start to think, "If the 'day' in the Bible's creation story really mean thousands of days, maybe the earth is really 4.5 millions of years old, and not 6,000 years old."  Of course, call me a heretic and throw me out of church!  A "day" is 24 hours, right?

Theory of Relativity.  Now we're going into physics.  Albert Eistein is the grand master of explaining this.  Although my explanation will not do its justice, I will try to say it quite plainly that it's a theory of how space and time are mashed together into a web in the universe; planetary and star objects puts a dimple in this space-time continuum.  What appears to be light-years away, might be just several thousands, and vice versa.  So, how we perceive time may be different in space?  What if space-time was different back in the beginning of the start of the earth?  Was the many gravitational changes throughout the course of the solar system affect space and time and perception of time?

There are a lot of gaps in Evolution but there are also a lot of gaps in the Bible when it comes to Creation.  I think in the United States, people want to sway one way or the other.  Why can't it be both?  Why can't God create the Universe many billions of years ago and have it evolve to what we have now? 

I know the next argument: Where does Jesus fit in?  What about salvation?  Doesn't the story of God creating Evolution make humanity not so unique?  God could have easily made other universes or galaxies; planets and other beings with a similar salvation story.  And why not?  There were mentions in the Bible of odd being coming from the sky (Ezekiel 1 - check it out!  Aliens from space!).

So, I'm not saying anything is true here.  Just my random thought of things lately...