"What studies exist on gynostemma all seem to have looked at effects in cell cultures and on rodents (i.e. rats and guinea pigs). No human trials. Given the problems that have surfaced on closer examination of some "traditional Chinese medicines", I'm not sure I'd want to be a human guinea pig for gynostemma." On the contrary, the Chinese have done all the field trials you could want on this. Jiaogulan tea is quite popular in the areas of China where people have enjoyed extreme longevity (100+) for centuries. Now, while that doesn't PROVE Jiagulan is good for you, if it was toxic it's unlikely regular users would live LONGER than average. Remember that most clinical trials in the USA are done for profit, pure and simple. Come up with a new cholesterol drug you can patent, and you'll get your study. But imagine this: someone decides to do a clinical trial to prove that drinking distilled water is good for you. They spend 50 Million dollars proving this. Now, they publish their results. How do they make their money back? The water market is already saturated, so to speak. Making money selling water usually requires fringe science claims that the water has been 'de-polarized' by spinning in a centrifuge for ten hours. Not kidding, BTW. So, the only studies you'll see on "wellness" items are going to be smaller, University studies. It's surprising even ginseng attracted enough attention to be studied, much less exotics like Jiaogulan.

What I'm now wondering is whether home-grafted tomatoes that use a rootstock that's tolerant of blights would be worthwhile. So, of course, you'd have to know which ones are! **** The word blight is totally non-specific as you know. ( wink) Almost everyone in this thread is talking about foliage diseases as far as I can tell and with two exceptions that I know of, both commercial varieties and with minimal EB tolerance, there are no tolerant varieties out there in terms of known varieties that everyone agrees on as to Foliage disease tolerance.Ja, I said everyone or at least several to many folks having the same experience which is difficult to determine. I think it's good to remember that the fungal spores and the bacteria that can cause foliage diseases are egalitarians at heart and will land on the foliage of ANY variety without respect to race, religion or political affiliation. LOL And no two seasona are the same in terms of the presence of those foliage pathogens in air, rain or dust. A person may grow a variety for one season and note that it's either tolerant or not to this or that foliage disease, but that's just one season. If the same variety is grown for many seasons and other varieties are coming down with this and that, then that's much more meaningful, as pennyrile noted above with his Indian Stripe selection. Anney, I can't see doing any grafting to help prevent foliage diseases. maybe some systemic diseases depending on what the problem is every year in a certain area with systemic diseases, and depending on the specific root stock seeds that are purchased, which aren't cheap, mind you, b'c it just wouldn't help b'c the foliage is still out there and susceptible to the bad guy spores and bacteria that drop in for a visit from time to time from season to season or in any one season. About the only observation I have made is that PL varieties, for me, are more tolerant of both fungal and bacterial foliage diseases. Near the end of the season my RL's may be struggling but the PL's almost always do much better. And with the non-stop rain and cool weather where I grow my tomatoes here in the NE it's looking like I may not get much fruit production at all. Here it is almost August and no blossoms, no fruit set yet. They couldn't go out earlier b'c we had two frost in June/ And then there's the Late Blight issue to be faced as well here in the NE. Quadruple Sigh. Carolyn

I shouldn't be such a whiner when I think of all you have to do Tricia! You're definately in my thoughts and prayers, I know this has been a rough time, I wish you didn't have to go thru this! I can't have chili powder, even mild, right now. Later, as I add things, probably if it doesn't cause a problem. I can eat red bell peppers, (you know, the most expensive ones!), so I may try my hand at roasting some, since the canned ones I usually buy have preservatives which are off limits now. Tonight for dinner I had some soup that was a POOF that was a riff on risi e bisi and Italian wedding--ham, peas, spinach, carrots and celery and caramelized onions (yes, I know but I made it before all this started) with Israeli style cous cous pilaf thrown in for the starch. Mostly OK ingredients. I was still hungry so I had an almond butter and honey sandwich on whitebread toast. I have to get rid of this great sourdough sprouted wheat bread BF brought me, because no sourdough either! I'm finding out all kinds of interesting things. Like a mail order source for tamari without gluten, it's made from rice and adzuki beans. I think I am going to order some of that since I actually might eat it on its own merits. I also discovered that I can use "amchoor" to add tartness, which is a bitter mango powder and I actually had some leftover from when I was on an Indian food kick. BF is kidding me incessantly, "Now you have to eat like me." It's actually the Standard American Diet--meat, mild dairy, starches, plain vegetables, fat, and sugar! The only thing missing is caffinated beverages and soda pop! Yes Beverly, it could be worse because I too think salt would be very hard for me to do without. I have decreased my salt over the years, but I find it difficult to go real low with it. Of course maybe that's coming down the road, lol!

Interesting stuff about Activia, Lydia! No, I wasn't eating it, and yes, I have a problem with dairy, so I don't drink milk. It's not a digestive problem, though; I'm allergic to a protein in milk. I don't eat cheese either, but that's because I have to avoid saturated fat. Funny, I was taking l-lysine just before this happened. I felt sick on Thursday, and had trigeminal neuralgia. I thought it was warning me of a herpes simplex outbreak, and started pushing lysine immediately. The symptoms went away, so I thought the lysine had worked. Then on Saturday I came down with the fever. Yes, my yogurt is definitely real. I was buying plain, non-fat Dannon or Greek yogurt, in quarts. I'm an inveterate label reader. BBoston, your experience really does sound similar (except for the "both ends" part). Like I said, if things haven't drastically improved by Monday, I think a visit to the doctor is in order. I tried to last until 4:00 without eating, but couldn't do it. I just had some food and am waiting for my blood sugar to rise. It's an awful feeling when it gets terribly low. So I'll go to the reception, bringing the food and wine, and if it turns out that I'm unable to stay, so be it. I gave it my best shot.