Thank you for the article, it looks like there is a lot in the way of getting a clear picture of how much plastic additives and their leaching impact health, but I do think plastic additives have been clearly shown to be toxic and bad for the health. I always feel it is ironic when "BPA-free" is used as marketing, as it isn't disclosed what other additives they might be adding to that particular plastic, even if it doesn't use BPA (or whether the plastic even would have had BPA in the first place).
Oh wow, yeah - the sample size is small but if I were playing devil's advocate (which apparently I'm doing here, lol), while the correlation seems clear the cause could still be some other common root cause - maybe the same reason they have a diet heavy in plastics is separately why they had worse health outcomes, so it would be nice to reproduce this correlation and try to control for demographic differences, etc.
Still, if they can find a causal mechanism that explains how the microplastics are playing a role, that will be huge. It certainly seems like good enough evidence to be wary of microplastics.
Your comparison to cigarettes is apt, especially the way that the industry manipulated the public. I also agree that there is sufficient evidence to decrease microplastics, I just look forward to that causal mechanisms being discovered that demonstrate the ways they harm us.
So unless someone is trying to argue that microplastics found in the clog didn’t help contribute to the clog to any degree it’s clearly having a bad effect on the body.
Yes, I would assume that the presence of the microplastics in the plaque is not contributing significantly to the accumulation of the plaque or the development of the heart disease, since it is the plaque accumulation that causes the heart disease and the presence of microplastics is more like the presence of other bioaccumulators in higher-trophic organisms (like vitamin B12, mercury, or strontium-90).
I do agree this is like talking about the toxicity of the stainless steel of the knife found in someone's heart - clearly the problem here isn't the material of the knife and whether it is toxic, but the fact that someone was stabbed. Likewise, the problem is the accumulation of the plaque and the heart disease that follows - the focus on the microplastics is irrelevant except that it is concerning if we later find out microplastics are causing disease.
The only reason I'm focusing on whether the microplastics are indeed toxic or not is because that is a big claim, and if found to be true would be really big news. It sounds like that hasn't been demonstrated yet, though I want to look at the link zero_spelled_with_an_ecks sent, it looks like the article talks about leaching from microplastics that may have more clear health impacts.
I don't mean to be nit-picking, in university classes professors have discussed microplastics like in the context of agriculture and food-supply and my professors basically said the science is not out yet about what the effects of microplastics are, even if everyone felt they were probably bad there wasn't evidence yet as to how they were bad. I couldn't tell if the headline was implying there was a breakthrough in the science, and looking now it just seems like there hasn't been one and it's just more of the general sentiment that plastics are probably bad.
Have to sign in to listen on Youtube as "age verification".
Have to sign in to listen on Piped.video to prove I'm not a bot.
Guess I won't listen to it. :-(
Right, but PFAS isn't even plastic, it's a chemical used as a coating to make things like take-out containers waterproof. PFAS is its own environmental catastrophe, but it doesn't relate to whether microplastics are toxic.
Plastic itself isn't toxic, in fact plastic is biochemically inert (not a source, but further reading on Wikipedia). Various additives to plastic have been shown to be toxic, but those are less relevant to discussions of accumulating microplastics in the body.
Some contexts would be more likely to have negative health impact from microplastics, like when there are larger particles of plastic in the air that factory workers get in their lungs, maybe those particles could cause mechanical damage to the lungs that lead to cancers or other conditions.
That is speculative, and it shows we need more studies to find ways that microplastics impact health, but the title is a little misleading characterizing plastics as toxic in the context of microplastics in arterial plaque, since that is not demonstrated to pose a health risk (even if we all agree it is concerning and may pose some kind of health risk we aren't yet aware of).
This just shows the plastic is found in the arterial plaque, not that the plastic has a toxic effect on the body.
EDIT: The article in question did find a correlation with the presence of microplastics in the plaque and worse health outcomes compared to those without microplastics detected in their plaque:
In this study, patients with carotid artery plaque in which MNPs were detected had a higher risk of a composite of myocardial infarction, stroke, or death from any cause at 34 months of follow-up than those in whom MNPs were not detected.
I totally could be wrong, but I thought when they discover microplastics cause some kind of health condition that would be huge news.
Searching around, I found this article talking about the known toxic effects of additives like BPA: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7920297/
But I don't think that demonstrates the toxicity of microplastics accumulating in the body.
This article had more promising citations to follow-up on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microplastics_effects_on_human_health
It says the plastic pollution in the clogged arteries are toxic, is that true? It was my understanding that they don't actually know what effect the plastics have on the body, and people just assume the effects are bad (not unreasonably).
Are you in the U.S.? You can try to research the speech therapist to see what their credentials are, it's not uncommon for a speech therapist to get licensed as a speech language pathologist. The point is that you want to see someone with some training, not just a coach for example.
You might start by seeing your primary care physician and asking for a referral. The doctor is used to sending people to other specialists and may have a name on hand already.
James Herriot's books are pretty clean and SFW (like All Creatures Great and Small), but they are also wholesome. They are auto-biographical stories about being a vet in a rural part of north England. He stretches the truth to make a good story, so I would consider them mostly fictional.
Each chapter is relatively stand-alone, which would work with the context of people coming and going - they might get a little slice of the book, but it won't matter that they weren't there for the rest of the plot.
It just seems like a good author for the general public.
You could also play popular science books, like those by Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home, and A Walk in the Woods are all great).
Something educational, uplifting, and/or wholesome seems like a good context for the general public, especially public transportation.
How does this help? Vivian didn't say she remembered being four and not saying those things, she said when she was four she clearly wasn't going around miming gay stereotypes like Elon Musk claims, because no four year old is:
- picking out clothes for their parent and describing the outfit as "fabulous"
- enamored with musicals and the theater
Vivian's point is that these are not behaviors typical of a four-year old. The person whose testimony would be valuable is her mother's and nannies' who actually were there when she was four years old (unlike Elon Musk).
I think you missed the part where he wasn't around when she was four years old. How does he know what she said when he left her to be raised by her mom and nannies?
Even if camp has a history of being looked down upon (particularly in the mid-20th century), that view is a bit outdated as postmodern artists have long incorporated camp and kitsch into those same elitist contexts that previously rebuked it.
Art history and shifting attitudes towards camp aside, it doesn't seem like the context of Vivian using a descriptive term like camp to point out the almost excessive artifice in Elon Musk's made up stories is intending to denigrate the lower classes, even if for some people "camp" carries some classist associations.
It is good to be sensitive to classist attitudes, but it seems a bit weird to call it out in this context, especially considering the power dynamic of the context where Vivian, the victimized trans daughter, is standing up to her father, Elon Musk, literally one of the richest people in the world.
Never got comfy, even now it varies how the pronouns strike me. Sometimes it makes me feel so happy, other times it draws attention to gender in a moment when I wasn't expecting and that can feel like a cold bucket being thrown on me.
Voice training can be really challenging, even with a supportive environment. Have you listened to Selene's clips on size?
https://selenearchive.github.io/
That's a good place to start, as resonance is probably the most important factor in changing how your voice's gender is perceived.
You are going through a difficult time now, but it won't always be like this - I wish you the best as you get through these challenges!
looks delicious - I've never heard of lodeh, is it this Indonesian dish?
https://www.nyonyacooking.com/recipes/the-best-sayur-lodeh-vegetables-in-coconut-milk~SMijNnrFRE
congrats!
yeah, I did a double-take too, I assumed OP was AFAB
EDIT: for context, this person's photo looks a lot like a person I know IRL who is AFAB (the face, hair, etc.).
I don't think its too spicy, I just think it isn't very smart or strategic.
The ACAB crowd obviously doesn't love Harris precisely because she's a cop, but as Transient Punk pointed out, the ACAB crowd didn't choose Harris and don't represent most of the Democratic party, who skew right-wing. (Whereas the back-the-blue types overlap much more with uncritical enthusiasm for Trump, who they see as an innocent man who has been wrongfully convicted by a corrupt and politically motivated justice system.)
The Democratic coalition made up of progressive, leftists, and more right-wing liberals holds together by pragmatically overlooking these divisions and cooperating against the even-further-right, and this meme sows division right before a major election where Democrats are divided (e.g. over Israel) and having a hard time unifying.
In that sense this meme will get a reaction, but again not because it is spicy but because it is divisive.
oh wow, that's maybe even more awkward; did you ever talk to her about how it made you feel?
souvlakis
Made souvlakis on the grill. Tofu & red onion kebabs, tzatziki sauce, pita bread, gold potato fries, tomato, lettuce.
Marinade for tofu was red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and fresh mint & oregano from the garden. Pressed the tofu then put in marinade for a few hours.
Then I put the tofu on skewers with red onion and grilled them: https://imgur.com/a/1kiMvfE
Tzatziki sauce was made with Kite Hill Greek-style yogurt (which IMO isn't rich enough, I would have made my own cashew based yogurt from scratch if I had the extra time). Also included minced garlic cloves, minced fresh dill and mint, coarsely grated cucumbers that were salted and then squeezed with a towel to remove liquid, and some lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper, etc.
Pita bread was made with freshly milled wheat berries (hard white, soft white, hard red, einkorn, and spelt berries). Also used a pre-ferment to reduce the amount of yeast I needed. Also cooked those on a cast-iron in the grill, which worked well.
A lot of work, but quite delicious.
What all have you been cooking recently?
made crunchwrap supremes over the weekend
ingredients:
- beyond beef with onions & taco seasoning,
- nacho cheez (homemade, the base is cashews, potato, and carrot),
- pickled onion,
- pickled jalapeno,
- lettuce,
- tomato,
- flour burrito tortilla,
- fried 6" corn tortilla for tostada, and
- homemade cashew sour cream.
recipes to get you going the right direction (not all are vegan):
- https://minimalistbaker.com/5-minute-vegan-cashew-queso/
- https://www.food.com/recipe/copycat-taco-bell-seasoned-beef-537562
- Joshua Weissman
For the sour cream, I put 1 cup cashews with 1 TB vinegar (preferably something like sherry vinegar, ACV works too), maybe 1/4 tsp of salt (to taste), and enough water to get to the desired consistency ("as needed"). Blend in a high-powered blender like a Vitamix until smooth.
Can also inoculate with a yogurt culture and skip the vinegar and then ferment it if you have the time (use a yogurt maker and instructions, then ferment longer for a more sour flavor).
Habituation and how to change your inner voice
Hi, just wondering if anyone else has a similar struggle as me.
Sometimes when I'm thinking in my mind, I have a voice (I know not everyone experiences this, but it sounds common enough) and this "inner" narrative voice has habituated to a masculine sounding voice.
I have noticed when I'm feeling connected with my gender and it's easier to stick with a feminized voice when speaking aloud (i.e. to others, not internal), my internal voice is likewise easier to be subconsciously feminine as well.
Some days I have a really good gender day and I wake up the next morning and my mind has reverted back to that masculine-sounding voice in my head. This isn't necessarily inherently distressing as much as it can feel invalidating or make me feel doubt and cognitive dissonance, like I am not a valid woman because my unconscious has this masculine voice, or the internal masculine voice makes it harder to feel authentic using my feminine voice. Some mornings I try to consciously make it sound more feminine and that is helpful, but some mornings it can feel overwhelming or difficult to constantly correct that masculine voice, and the practice becomes a bit like when I try to use my feminine voice with others - an exercise that makes me feel inauthentic, fake, performative, and anxious.
So far the only real solution I have to these dual problems of habituation (for inner voice and outer) is to just keep trying and persist. I have a tendency towards perfectionism, which makes me feel constantly like I am failing, and this can lead me to feel less motivated to keep trying. However, I am continuing to make an effort. I find having a weekly speech therapy appointment keeps me engaged in that process, and from letting it drop due to other pressures. It also usually makes me feel extremely affirmed, as my therapist is much happier with my progress than I am, and this usually results in finding using my femme voice easy and natural (though usually this only lasts the rest of the day, again, sleeping seems to reset everything and the next morning I wake up with a masculine voice again).
Was wondering if anyone else has habituated their inner narrative voice, how long it took for them to do that (or if they just stopped noticing or it became less relevant?), and if anyone has tips for overcoming the anxiety of using your voice in everyday situations.
I feel like forcing myself over and over into the situations has been effective in reducing how anxious I feel. Over time it has gone from feeling like I almost physically couldn't do it and a rising panic sensation to now it just feels like a bit of performance anxiety right before and I usually slip into it without too much issue - though sustaining it over a long period when speaking a lot can be challenging, and how anxious I feel seems connected to how confident I feel in my gender.
So to summarize, things that have worked for me:
- noticing masculine inner narrative voice and willfully feminizing it in my head when I notice
- persisting in forcing myself to feminize my voice at work and in public full-time, even when it is terrifying and just continuing to get regular exposure and ignoring the anxiety that is there
- building confidence in my gender with styling my hair, wearing jewelry, putting on makeup, wearing feminine clothes, etc. help a little with getting on-board with using a feminine voice (I think of it as I have to pass to myself before I feel like I can try to pass with others, so finding ways to look more like your gender to yourself to build confidence will help with using your voice)
Wondering if anyone else has experiences to share or advice.
Thank you!
stable, consistent dose leading to tolerance / downregulation?
Hi!
tl;dr after injecting the same amount of estradiol valerate (subq) for a month or so, I started to experience more dysphoria and signs of testosterone (esp. mental) started to come back. Any reason this might be?
Longer version / details:
I injected 5 mg (0.25 mL) of estradiol valerate subq into my thighs every four days for a while, and for a couple weeks I started injecting into my abdomen instead to avoid blood supplies.
This dose seemed like more than enough. In the past 3.4 mg every 3 days gave me blood estradiol levels of ~350 pg/mL at trough. Recent labs showed 5 mg every 4 days had ~300 pg/mL at trough for me, which was lower than I expected.
It's a good level, but I was having weird dysphoric experiences that commonly happen when my hormones are out of wack (usually when I'm taking too little estrogen). Things like really doubting my gender identity, depression (lack of motivation, lethargic), anhedonia (little pleasure, flat affect, often leads to craving short-term reward behaviors). Physiological signs of T were not as evident in this case, and the dysphoria was not as severe as in the past when my estrogen was too low. Still, it seemed a lot like my estrogen was too low.
I increased my dose to 5.4 mg and the dysphoria went away within a day and I felt amazing and continued to feel amazing. I intended to switch to 5.4 mg / 4 days instead, but on day 3 I could feel my hormones coming down and trusting my experience I injected 5 mg a day early with the intention of trying 5 mg / 3 days (which is a lot more than I have taken before in terms of what this should do to my overall levels). Still not sure what I will do next. Part of me wants to stick with a 4 day cycle to keep lower peaks and to minimize overall levels (out of principle, I know injecting is not as risky as oral routes).
I'm trying to figure out why a stable dose that seems so high and was for the most part effective would suddenly not be "enough" (assuming that's indeed what's happening).
For context I'm close to 4 months on HRT, I took bicalutamide for a bit but stopped because I don't think it helped my mental symptoms and that's the most important therapeutic goal for me with taking HRT. I switched to monotherapy after 2 months which is when I started the 5 mg / 4 days.
I've heard sometimes the body can go through phases as it adjusts to estrogen early in HRT, so maybe this is just one of those lurches or adjustments?
Anyway here are some guesses I came up with:
- I gained some weight (like 15 lbs), some maybe I need a little more EV than before?
- injecting into abdomen depots the oil differently than the thigh, so maybe I am seeing a slower or lower circulation of EV (or alternatively a much faster circulation that is causing a crash earlier?)
- maybe the estrogen receptors are downregulating due to taking too high of a dose too regularly? (I see lots of debate about whether this is a thing, mostly people on Reddit rejecting the idea that this has any clinical relevance.)
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has suggestions.
Thanks so much!
What does "non-binary" mean?
Non-binary seems like it could have several non-compatible meanings, so I wanted to list some of those meanings and see if there are any others out there I don't know.
One way I could think of non-binary is as being a kind of third gender category, like there are men, women, and non-binary people. In this sense of non-binary a butch woman who considers themselves a woman would not be non-binary because they are a woman.
Sometimes non-binary is used like "genderqueer" is sometimes used, as a generic description of anyone who doesn't fit perfectly in the narrow confines of the binary genders (i.e. men and women). In this sense a butch woman could see themselves as a woman, but also as genderqueer and non-binary, as they do not conform to binary gender norms for women.
Another way non-binary seems to be used (related to genderqueer in its historical context) is as a political term, an identity taken up by otherwise cis-sexual and even cis-gendered people who wish to resist binary gender norms and policing. In this sense even a femme cis-sexual woman might identify as non-binary. Sometimes this political identity label might come with a gender expression that cuts against the gender expectations for the assigned sex at birth, but it doesn't have to. (I recently met two people whose gender expressions matched their assigned sex at birth but who identified as non-binary in this political sense.)
I was wondering what other meanings of non-binary are out there, and how they are commonly used.
Note: gatekeeping what is "really" non-binary seems pointless to me, since I agree with Wittgenstein that "language is use".
I know people get heated about policing what a word means (and I am guilty of this myself), but in the interest of inclusion, pluralism, and general cooperation in our community I think we can find a way to communicate with overlapping and different meanings of a shared term.
caesar salad pizza
More photos of the pizza being made: https://imgur.com/a/npeE1e8
based on this recipe (not intended as an endorsement):
https://www.eatfigsnotpigs.com/chicken-caesar-salad-pizza-vegan/
toppings:
- herbed compound butter (fresh parsley, minced garlic, oregano)
- tomato slices
- red onion slices
- mozz.
- breaded and fried tofu (as a kind of chkn)
- caesar salad dressing (mayo, cashew cream, mustard, capers, parm, lemon juice)
- lettuce
- parm
- bacon bits (used this recipe)
how to cope mentally during gaps in HRT
I recently had an injection that seemed to go wrong (CW: blood, I inject EV subq and I hit something like a capillary, there was a lot of blood and it bruised badly afterwards). Within a couple days I felt unusually dysphoric as a result of what I assume was a failure for the oil to depot and slowly release over time.
I get these "dysphoric thoughts" that maybe the estrogen is causing the problems, that I don't have objective proof that I'm trans, etc. Lots of doubt, paranoia, and increasing amounts of anxiety and irrational fear (about transition, but also in general, e.g. thinking spiders are in my bed), and I start to experience depression and anhedonia (things aren't as pleasurable, everything feels pretty flat emotionally, I just feel "bad").
Of course when I inject again and it goes well, I feel much better and I forget about these problems.
I was just wondering if anyone has advice on how to deal with dysphoria when there are gaps in the HRT. Obviously in the long term, surgery will fix the hormone issue and I suspect that will fix this problem. Until then, though, I am stuck in a rather fragile place where I feel normal (even good, even amazing) when my estrogen levels are high and suppressing my testosterone. Any small slip in that and I barely function as a person.
Before HRT I would just do whatever I could to increase mental well-being:
- physical exertion (aerobic exercise, weightlifting, etc.)
- going outside and getting sunshine
- keeping up with hydration
- keeping good sleep hygiene (sleeping enough, going to sleep at the same times, etc.)
- meditation every day
But now it feels harder for me to "bootstrap" when there are gaps in HRT and my hormones aren't right, it's like I'm no longer used to how hard it was before.
Anyway - any tips or thoughts, would like to hear other's experiences.
breakfast pizza
Toppings:
- tofu scramble (pressed tofu blocks broken up and flavored with black salt, turmeric, onion & garlic powder, nooch, smoked paprika, black pepper; allowed to sit in the fridge for a long time to absorb the flavor; then pan-fried with onions)
- spicy beyond breakfast sausage
- some violife "feta" cheez (tasted like the mildest goat cheese, could sub with Miyokos cashew mozzarella, or go with a cheddar cheez)
- bacon bits (I was going to use Horray foods bacon but ran out, so I made some roughly based on Pot Thickens's recipe)
- extra nooch for cheezy flavor
- slices were garnished with green onions
Sauce was a sausage gravy, basically I made a roux with flour and Melt vegan butter, soaked cashews and blended them with a high powered blender into a cream, added maybe 1 tsp of white miso paste and maybe a few TB of mushroom powder and a 1/2 tsp of Better Than Bouillon no-chkn bouillon. Slowly incorporated broth into the roux until it formed a paste, then I added the cream. I cooked up a single patty of Original Beyond Breakfast Sausage and broke it into pieces and then incorporated that into the gravy.
The crust was made out of freshly milled whole wheat (I used spelt, hard red winter wheat, and soft white wheat berries) and used a sourdough starter. I also subbed a Dos Equis beer for the water (just trying to use it up) and that added some flavor.
This pizza was much, much better than I expected. Far exceeded expectations. I had never heard of a breakfast pizza before, apparently it's something people get at gas stations? Either way, this pizza is a winner.
Next time I plan to use omelette toppings, like:
- spinach
- black olives
- tomatoes
- avocado
- bell pepper
- mushrooms