Category Archives: Diet

A Simple, Inexpensive Trick to Cure a Cold

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Each year Americans catch more than one billion colds, making the cold virus the most common infectious disease in the United States.

It accounts for more school absences and missed work than any other illness, and it’s the number one reason people visit their physicians — even though most physicians have little to offer in the form of treatment.

It’s a widespread misconception that colds are caused by bacteria. Colds are actually triggered by a virus, which means if your physician prescribes you an antibiotic, it will be absolutely useless.

More on this shortly, but before I delve into simple prevention and treatment strategies it’s important you know how colds are contracted in the first place.

How Do You Catch a Cold?

The most common way cold viruses are spread is not from being around coughing or sneezing, or walking barefoot in the rain, but rather from hand-to-hand contact. For instance, someone with a cold blows their nose then shakes your hand or touches surfaces that you also touch.

Cold viruses can live on pens, computer keyboards, coffee mugs and other objects for hours, so it’s easy to come into contact with such viruses during daily life.

However, the key to remember is that just being exposed to a cold virus does not have to mean that you’ll catch a cold. If your immune system is operating at its peak, it should actually be quite easy for you to fend off the virus without ever getting sick.

If your immune system is impaired, on the other hand, it’s akin to having an open-door policy for viruses; they’ll easily take hold in your body. So the simple and short answer is, you catch a cold due to impairment in your immune system. There are many ways this can result, but the more common contributing factors are:

  1. Eating too much sugar and too many grains
  2. Not getting enough rest
  3. Using insufficient strategies to address emotional stressors in your life
  4. Vitamin D deficiency, as discussed below
  5. Any combination of the above

Vitamin D Deficiency: Another Reason You May “Catch” a Cold

It’s estimated that the average U.S. adult typically has two to four colds each year, while children may have up to 12! One reason for the widespread prevalence may be that vitamin D deficiency is incredibly common in the United States, especially during the winter months when cold (and flu) viruses are at their peak.

Research has confirmed that “catching” colds and flu may actually be a symptom of an underlying vitamin D deficiency. Less than optimal vitamin D levels will significantly impair your immune response and make you far more susceptible to contracting colds, influenza, and other respiratory infections.

In the largest and most nationally representative study of its kind to date, involving about 19,000 Americans, people with the lowest vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu – and the risk was even greater for those with chronic respiratory disorders like asthma.

At least five additional studies also show an inverse association between lower respiratory tract infections and vitamin D levels, and you can read about them in detail here. But the research is very clear, the higher your vitamin D level, the lower your risk of contracting colds, flu, and other respiratory tract infections.

It’s not surprising, then, that the average American gets so many colds each year, as current guidelines for optimal intake and normal vitamin D levels are far too low — and since most people do not get adequate sun exposure on a daily basis (which is what produces vitamin D in your skin) many are deficient. I strongly believe you could avoid colds and influenza entirely by maintaining your vitamin D level in the optimal range.

How Long Do Colds Last … and How Can You Make Your Cold Go Away Faster?

Most uncomplicated colds last between eight and nine days, but about 25 percent last two weeks, and 5-10 percent last three weeks. Even the most stubborn colds will typically resolve in a few weeks’ time; this is actually one of the ways you can distinguish a cold from allergies.

A cold will last, at most, a few weeks, but allergy symptoms can last all season.

How quickly you bounce back is typically defined by you and your collective lifestyle habits — and this does not mean popping over-the-counter cough and cold remedies or fever reducers. In fact, as long as your temperature remains below 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.9 degrees Celsius) there is no need to lower it.

Cold viruses do not reproduce at higher body temperatures, so a slight fever should help you get rid of the virus quicker and help you to feel better much sooner.

You should avoid taking over-the-counter pain-relief medications as well, as a study showed that people who take aspirin and Tylenol (acetaminophen) suppress their body’s ability to produce antibodies to destroy the cold virus. Aspirin has even been linked to lung complications including pulmonary edema, an abnormal build up of fluid in your lungs, when taken in excess.

You should only use these medications when absolutely necessary, such as if you have a temperature greater than 105 degrees F (40.5 degrees C), severe muscle aches or weakness.

Hydrogen Peroxide: A Simple Trick to Beat a Cold

I don’t advise over-the-counter medications, but one simple treatment you can try that is surprisingly effective against upper respiratory infections is hydrogen peroxide.

Many patients at my Natural Health Center have had remarkable results in curing colds and flu within 12 to 14 hours when administering a few drops of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) into each ear. You will hear some bubbling, which is completely normal, and possibly feel a slight stinging sensation.

Wait until the bubbling and stinging subside (usually 5 to 10 minutes), then drain onto a tissue and repeat with the other ear. A bottle of hydrogen peroxide in 3 percent solution is available at any drug store for a couple of dollars or less. It is simply amazing how many people respond to this simple, inexpensive treatment.

So What Else Can You do to Recover From a Cold, Quicker … and Prevent One in the First Place?

As I said above, the number one way to conquer a cold (or flu) is vitamin D. Vitamin D is an amazingly effective antimicrobial agent, producing 200 to 300 different antimicrobial peptides in your body that kill bacteria, viruses and fungi. So optimizing your levels will not only help send a cold virus packing … it will help ward off cold viruses in the first place.

The best source for vitamin D is direct sun exposure. But for many of us, this just isn’t practical during the winter. The next best option to sunlight is the use of a safe indoor tanning device. If neither natural nor artificial sunlight is an option, then using oral vitamin D3 supplements is your best bet.

Based on the latest research, many experts now agree you need about 35 IU’s of vitamin D per pound of body weight. This recommendation also includes children, the elderly and pregnant women.

However, keep in mind that vitamin D requirements are highly individual, as your vitamin D status is dependent on numerous factors, such as the color of your skin, your location, and how much sunshine you’re exposed to on a regular basis. So, although these recommendations may put you closer to the ballpark of what most people likely need, it is simply impossible to make a blanket recommendation that will cover everyone’s needs.

The only way to determine your optimal dose is to get your blood tested. Ideally, you’ll want to maintain a vitamin D level of 50-65 ng/ml year-round.

For an in-depth explanation of everything you need to know before you get tested, please read my latest updates in Test Values and Treatment for Vitamin D Deficiency.

Dietary Strategies to Kick a Cold

If you feel yourself coming down with a cold or flu, this is NOT the time to be eating ANY sugar, artificial sweeteners or processed foods. Sugar is particularly damaging to your immune system — which needs to be ramped up, not suppressed, in order to combat an emerging infection.

So if you are fighting a cold, you’ll want to avoid all sugar like the plague, and this includes sugar in the form of fruit juice and even grains (which break down as sugar in your body).

Ideally, you must address nutrition, sleep, exercise and stress issues the moment you first feel yourself getting a bug. This is when immune-enhancing strategies will be most effective.

So when you’re coming down with a cold, it’s time to address ALL of the contributing factors immediately, which includes tweaking your diet in favor of foods that will strengthen your immune response. Good choices include:

  • Raw, grass-fed organic milk, and/or high-quality whey protein
  • Fermented foods such as raw kefir, kimchee, miso, pickles, sauerkraut, etc, which are rich in probiotics, or good bacteria. Scientific research shows that 80 percent of your immune system resides inside your digestive tract, so eating probiotic-rich foods, or taking a high-quality probiotic, will help support your immune system health.
  • Raw, organic eggs from free-ranging, preferably local, chickens
  • Grass-fed beef
  • Coconuts and coconut oil
  • Animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil
  • Locally grown fruits and vegetables, appropriate for your nutritional type
  • Mushrooms, especially Reishi, Shiitake, and Maitake, which contain beta glucans (which have immune-enhancing properties)
  • Garlic, a potent antimicrobial that kills bacteria, viruses and fungi. Ideally this should be in fresh form, eaten raw and crushed with a spoon just before eating.
  • Herbs and spices with high ORAC scores: Turmeric, oregano, cinnamon, cloves (for more on ORAC, visit www.oracvalues.com)
  • Make sure you are drinking plenty of fresh, pure water. Water is essential for the optimal function of every system in your body and will help with nose stuffiness and loosening secretions. You should drink enough water so that your urine is a light, pale yellow.

And what about the old wives’ tale of chicken soup for your cold?

Chicken soup can help reduce your symptoms. Chicken contains a natural amino acid called cysteine, which can thin the mucus in your lungs and make it less sticky so you can expel it more easily.

Processed, canned soups won’t work as well as the homemade version, however.

For best results, make up a fresh batch yourself (or ask a friend or family member to do so) and make the soup hot and spicy with plenty of pepper. The spices will trigger a sudden release of watery fluids in your mouth, throat, and lungs, which will help thin down the respiratory mucus so it’s easier to cough up and expel.

Three Cold-Busting Lifestyle Strategies

Vitamin D, check! Hydrogen peroxide, check! Healthy diet, check! We’ve covered several of the primary “weapons” you should have in your cold-fighting arsenal, but there are others, too.

  1. High-Quality Sleep, and Plenty of It Pay attention to how you are sleeping. If you aren’t getting enough sleep, or enough restorative sleep, you’ll be at increased risk for a hostile viral takeover. Your immune system is also the most effective when you’re not sleep-deprived, so the more rested you are the quicker you’ll recover. You can find 33 secrets for a good night’s sleep here.
  2. Regular Exercise Regular exercise is a crucial strategy for increasing your resistance to illness. There is evidence that regular, moderate exercise can reduce your risk for respiratory illness by boosting your immune system. In fact, one study found that people who exercised regularly (five or more days a week) cut their risk of having a cold by close to 50 percent. And, in the event they did catch a cold, their symptoms were much less severe than among those who did not exercise.Exercise likely cuts your risk of colds so significantly because it triggers a rise in immune system cells that can attack any potential invaders. Each time you exercise you can benefit from this boost to your immune system.Ideally, establish a regular fitness program, such as Peak Fitness, now, to help you ward off colds and other illness.However, if you’re already feeling sick don’t overdo it. Over-exercising can actually place more stress on your body, which can suppress your immune system — and you don’t want that either. You might just go for a walk if you are coming down with a cold, or simply tone down your regular workout.Any rise in body temperature will be an unwelcome climate for a viral invader, though, so some exercise is likely to be beneficial.
  3. Address Your Emotional Stress Emotional stressors can also predispose you to an infection while making cold symptoms worse. Finding ways to manage daily stress as well as your reactions to circumstances beyond your control will contribute to a strong and resilient immune system.My favorite tool for this is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), a system that helps balance your body’s subtle energies and repair emotional “short-circuits.” EFT may even help you overcome cold symptoms.

Supplements That Send Pathogens Packin’

Supplements can be beneficial for colds, but they should be used only as an adjunct to the lifestyle measures already discussed.

Some of the more helpful options for cold (and flu) — above and beyond vitamin D — are:

  • Vitamin C: A very potent antioxidant; use a natural form such as acerola, which contains associated micronutrients. You can take several grams every hour till you are better unless you start developing loose stools
  • Oregano Oil: The higher the carvacrol concentration, the more effective it is. Carvacrol is the most active antimicrobial agent in oregano oil.
  • Propolis: A bee resin and one of the most broad-spectrum antimicrobial compounds in the world; propolis is also the richest source of caffeic acid and apigenin, two very important compounds that aid in immune response and even fight cancer.
  • A tea made from a combination of elderflower, yarrow, boneset, linden, peppermint and ginger; drink it hot and often for combating a cold or flu. It causes you to sweat, which is helpful for eradicating a virus from your system.
  • Olive leaf extract: Ancient Egyptians and Mediterranean cultures used it for a variety of health-promoting uses and it is widely known as a natural, non-toxic immune system builder.

Remember This Tip: Wash Your Hands Sensibly

Washing your hands frequently is one of the easiest ways to wipe out germs and viruses and reduce your chances of becoming sickened by them. Thorough hand-washing truly is an important step, as you are at far greater risk of passing on an infection by shaking someone’s hand than even by sharing a kiss.

One report even found that regular hand washing may be more effective than drugs in preventing the spread of respiratory viruses such as influenza.

When you wash up, plain soap and water will do. Do not make the mistake of using antibacterial cleansers, as their widespread use is leading to strains of resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” which cause the ingredients to lose effectiveness for the times when they really are needed, such as for surgeons prior to surgery.

Further, the active ingredient in most antibacterial products is triclosan, an antibacterial agent that kills bacteria and inhibits bacterial growth. But not only does triclosan kill bacteria, it also has been shown to kill human cells.

Antibacterial soaps are also no more effective than regular soaps. One study found people who used antibacterial soaps and cleansersdeveloped a cough, runny nose, sore throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea and other symptoms just as often as people who used products that did not contain antibacterial ingredients. So please avoid making the mistake of using antibacterial liquids and soaps.

Too Much Hand-Washing Can Backfire …

There is another important caveat to remember, and that is your skin is actually your primary defense against bacteria — not the soap.

So resist the urge to become obsessive about washing your hands. If you wash them too frequently you can actually extract many of the protective oils in your skin, which can cause your skin to crack and bleed.

It is rare for a germ on your skin to cause a problem — it is typically only an issue when you transfer that to your nose, mouth or an open wound like cracked skin. So obsessive-compulsive washing can actually increase your risk of getting sick by providing an entryway for potentially dangerous pathogens.

So mild to moderate washing is wise, but excessive washing, especially with harsh soaps, will actually be highly counterproductive.

Avoid the Antibiotics!

More than 300 different viruses can cause colds, so each time you have a cold it is caused by a distinct virus (i.e. adenovirus, rhinovirus, parainfluenza virus, coronavirus). A virus is much smaller than a bacteria; it is a tiny cluster of genetic material surrounded by a protein wrapper.

There are currently NO drugs available that can kill these viruses. Antibiotics, including penicillin, do not have any effect on viruses, but unfortunately have been vastly over-prescribed for this very (useless) purpose. That, coupled with the excessive use of antibiotics in agriculture, has contributed to a steep rise in antibiotic-resistant diseases.

Antibiotic-resistant infections now claim more lives each year than the “modern plague” of AIDS, and cost the American health care system some $20 billion a year!

Further, according to one meta-analysis, the health risk from over-use of antibiotics is also a very personal one, as opposed to simply raising the occurrence of antibiotic resistance in the general population over time.

Whenever you use an antibiotic, you’re increasing your susceptibility to developing infections with resistance to that antibiotic — and you can become the carrier of this resistant bug, and spread it to others.

So please, if you have a simple cold remember that an antibiotic will do far more harm than good.

When Should You Call Your Physician?

Sinus, ear and lung infections (bronchitis and pneumonia) are examples of bacterial infections that do respond to antibiotics. If you develop any of the following symptoms, these are signs you may be suffering from a bacterial infection rather than a cold virus, and you should call your physician’s office:

  • Fever over 102 degrees Fahrenheit (38.9 degrees Celsius)
  • Ear pain
  • Pain around your eyes, especially with a green nasal discharge
  • Shortness of breath or a persistent uncontrollable cough
  • Persistently coughing up green and yellow sputum

Generally speaking, however, if you have a cold medical care is not necessary. Rest and attention to the lifestyle factors noted above will help you to recover quickly and, if you stick to them, will significantly reduce your chances of catching another one anytime soon.

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The Toxin So Dangerous It’s Causing Catastrophic Birth Defects

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Roundup Ready soy is now being cultivated on a massive scale across the globe, along with the exponentially increasing use of the herbicide Roundup. Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” soy beans are  genetically modified to survive otherwise lethal doses of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the company’s herbicide Roundup.

It’s a win-win for Monsanto. But it’s a loss for just about everyone else.

One of the countries most affected by genetically engineered soy is Argentina, whose population is being sickened by massive spraying of herbicides across the country’s Pampas (the country’s “fertile plain”).

Argentina’s Pampas used to be dotted with dairy and vegetable farms, but now, large-scale soybean monoculture blankets most of their cultivated land, making them especially susceptible to the damaging effects of genetically engineered soy. The impact can be better appreciated by considering the following statistics:

  • Soy is the main income source for landowners and the state—soybeans are considered a “gold mine” by Argentinians; soy exports generate 16,000 million dollars a year
  • The area cultivated with soy has reached 19 million hectares, representing 56 percent of Argentina’s cultivated land
  • 98 percent of Argentina’s soybean production is genetically modified.
  • 190 million liters of glyphosate (the active agent in Roundup) are sprayed in Argentina annually, which is leading to not only illness among the population but to widespread deforestation, as trees are among the victims these herbicides leave in their wake of destruction.

Soya burgers are a staple of today’s Argentinian diet. Argentinian children were consuming so much genetically engineered soy that they began developing breasts from the estrogenic effects, before authorities stepped in with warnings. Studies also strongly suggest that the glyphosate that these crops are doused with can cause cancer and birth deformities; both of which are occurring at increasing rates in areas where spraying is done. Sterility and miscarriages are also increasing. Experts warn that in 10 to 15 years, rates of cancer, infertility and endocrine dysfunction could reach catastrophic levels in Argentina. But few people are listening.

“It’s Food for Today, Hunger and Cancer for Tomorrow”

The immediate symptoms are always the same for Argentinian bystanders in the spray zone: dizziness, allergic reactions and itching, mouth swelling, and general malaise that’s similar to the feeling of coming down with the flu. People are warned to stay inside when spraying is underway, but they report getting sick in spite of this confinement.

When those affected visit their physicians, they’re told it’s “all in their heads.” Authorities also turn a deaf ear—as does the government when it’s presented with scientific evidence of the dangerous effects of Monsanto’s products for their people and environment. Fortunately, increasing numbers of scientists are now starting to speak out. For example, the engineers’ school in Santiago del Estero announced that chemicals are causing 100 babies to be born with deformities every year. One of the most influential studies was conducted by one of Argentina’s leading scientists, Andres Carrasco, who works in Argentina’s Ministry of Science.

Andrés Carrasco Attacked for Exposing the Truth

Embryonic specialist Andres Carrasco decided to investigate the health effects of glyphosate for himself after hearing so many reports by desperate peasant and indigenous communities who were suffering from exposure to toxic herbicides. According to Dr. Carrasco, his studies show glyphosate exposure can cause defects in the brain, intestines, and hearts of amphibian fetuses, and these results can be applied to humans. Moreover, the amount of Roundup used on genetically engineered soy fields was as much as 1,500 times greater than that which created the defects.

According to an article in Grain, the biotech industry “mounted an unprecedented attack on Carrasco, ridiculing his research and even issuing personal threats.” In addition, four men arrived unannounced at his laboratory and were extremely aggressive, attempting to interrogate Carrasco and obtain details of his study.

“It was a violent, disproportionate, dirty reaction,” he said. “I hadn’t even discovered anything new, only confirmed conclusions that others had reached.”

The conclusions to which Carrasco is referring are those from independent researchers who have found strong evidence glyphosatecauses the following:

Carrasco’s and others’ work point to the fact that the public, in Argentina and elsewhere, is being subject to a massive biological experiment involving the effects of genetic manipulation of the food supply. Genetically engineered food products have NEVER been tested for safety—so the long-term effects are largely unknown. The warnings science has provided demand a thorough investigation into just how much glyphosate human beings and animals can safely ingest. At present, no such investigation has taken place, and most regulatory agencies choose instead to rely in industry studies claiming glyphosate is safe.

Roundup has been shown to be lethal to amphibians. Are we next? Where is the tipping point for the human race? How much more can we tolerate in the adulteration of our food supply?

Why We MUST Insist on Labeling of Genetically Engineered Foods

Labeling may be the only way to stop the proliferation of genetically engineered foods in the U.S., but simple petitions will likely fail. We strongly support state initiatives, such as California’s ballot initiative to require labeling for genetically engineered foods sold in their state.

Many don’t fully appreciate the strategy of seeking to have genetically engineered foods labeled in California. The belief is that large food companies would refuse to have dual labeling; one for California and another for the rest of the country. It would be very expensive, not to mention a logistical nightmare. To avoid the dual labeling, many would likely opt to not use genetically engineered ingredients in their product, especially if the new label would be the equivalent of a skull and crossbones. This is why we are so committed to this initiative, as victory here will likely eliminate most genetically engineered foods from the US.

Powerful confirmation of this belief occurred in early 2012 when both Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo Inc. chose to alter one of their soda ingredients as a result of California’s labeling requirements for carcinogens:

“Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo Inc. are changing the way they make the caramel coloring used in their sodas as a result of a California law that mandates drinks containing a certain level of carcinogens bear a cancer warning label. The companies said the changes will be expanded nationally to streamline their manufacturing processes. They’ve already been made for drinks sold in California.”

This is a PERFECT example of the national impact a California labeling law can, and no doubt WILL, have. While California is the only state requiring the label to state that the product contains the offending ingredient, these companies are switching their formula for the entire US market, rather than have two different labels. According to USA Today:

“A representative for Coca-Cola, Diana Garza Ciarlante, said the company directed its caramel suppliers to modify their manufacturing processes to reduce the levels of the chemical 4-methylimidazole, which can be formed during the cooking process and as a result may be found in trace amounts in many foods. “While we believe that there is no public health risk that justifies any such change, we did ask our caramel suppliers to take this step so that our products would not be subject to the requirement of a scientifically unfounded warning,” Garza-Giarlante said in an email.”

Learn More about Genetically Engineered Foods

Due to lack of labeling, many Americans are still unfamiliar with what genetically engineered foods are. We have a plan to change that, and I urge you to participate and to continue learning more about genetically engineered foods and helping your friends and family do the same.

To start, please print out and use the Non-GMO Shopping Guide, created by the Institute for Responsible Technology. Share it with your friends and family, and post it to your social networks. You can also download a free iPhone application, available in the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications.

Your BEST strategy, however, is to simply buy USDA 100% Organic products whenever possible, (as these do not permit genetically engineered ingredients) or buy whole fresh produce and meat from local farmers. The majority of the genetically modified organisms (GMOs) you’re exposed to are via processed foods, so by cooking from scratch with whole foods, you can be sure you’re not inadvertently consuming something laced with altered ingredients. When you do purchase processed food, avoid products containing anything related to corn or soy that are not 100 percent organic, as any foods containing these two non-organic ingredients are virtuallyguaranteed to contain genetically engineered ingredients, as well as toxic herbicide residues.

To learn more about genetically engineered foods, I highly recommend the following films and lectures:

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Soda Consumption Dramatically Increases Risk of Stroke and Vascular Disease

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By: John Phillip
Source: NaturalNews.com

Americans drink more than 216 liters of carbonated soft drinks each year, a number that continues to increase at an alarming rate. Many people use low-calorie diet soda in a futile effort to lose weight, yet find that these drinks have the opposite effect leading them to be overweight or obese. The high acid content in most carbonated beverages leaches calcium and other critical nutrients from the bone and tissues, significantly increasing disease risk over years of consumption.

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Instituteand Harvard University have reported the result of a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the first to examine soda’s affect on stroke risk and vascular diseases. Past studies have linked sugar-sweetened beverage consumption with weight gain, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gout and coronary artery disease, but current research has implicated diet soft drink consumption with increased disease risk and weight gain due to depletion of essential minerals.

Lead study author Dr. Adam Bernstein noted “Soda remains the largest source of added sugar in the diet… what we’re beginning to understand is that regular intake of these beverages sets off a chain reaction in the body that can potentially lead to many diseases, including stroke.” Researchers analyzed soda consumption among 43,371 men and 84,085 women over a time span of nearly thirty years. During that time, 2,938 strokes were documented in women while 1,416 strokes were documented in men.

Carbonated beverage consumption associated with a 43 percent increased risk of heart attack

This study emphasizes the inherent risks involved with consumption of sugar-sweetened or no-calorie soft drinks. Sweetened drinks contain high levels of glucose that lead to a rapid increase in blood glucose and insulin. Over time, this results in glucose intolerance, insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. Low and no calorie carbonated beverages contain artificial sweeteners including aspartame, known to overstimulate and excite brain neurons resulting in cellular death.

Further, artificial sweeteners of all types trick our digestive chemistry and hormone balance, leading to weight gain and metabolic instability. Diet soft drinks have also been shown to leach calcium from bones as our body attempts to compensate for the high acidic load delivered from the phosphoric acid content in the drink. The end result is higher risk of osteoporosis, stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Despite the millions of dollars spent by soda marketers to instill the virtues of drinking soda, there is nothing healthy about consuming any type of carbonated beverage. Regarding low calorie drinks, researchers concluded “older adults who drank diet soda daily had a 43% increased risk of heart attack or stroke compared to those that never drank diet soda.” The study did note that drinking coffee was associated with a ten percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those drinking sweetened beverages. Substitute carbonated beverage consumption with an antioxidant packed cup of green tea or coffee to significantly reduce stroke and vascular disease risks

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Vegan Centenarian at 100+ Years Old

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Source: Centenarian Vegan Longevity & the truth

VEGAN CENTENARIAN at 100+ YEARS OLD Credits her Healthy Vegetarian Diet for her Great Longevity

Centenarian Vegan Alive & Well at 108 credits her Vegan Diet for her long healthy life.

A Vegan woman Loreen Dinwiddie is celebrating her 108th Birthday as the oldest in Multnomah County, and may even be the oldest in her entire state.

A centenarian is a person who has accomplished living to over 100+ years old. A SuperCentenarian is the rarest of all, and is a person whose longevity has reached 110 years of age.

Strong and fit, her skin glows and due to her plant-based vegan diet she has hardly any of the wrinkles that you would expect for a person of her age. She eats no meat. And enjoys the wonderful tastes of fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, and plant-based seasonings and spices.

As yet another documented Vegan Centenarian, she attributes her youthfulness and good health to her balanced vegan diet and says it has been instrumental at keeping her feeling youthful and wonderful all these years.

And another woman who stays young because of living on only plants foods:

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The Hidden Reason You Get Flabby (Not Calories or Lack of Exercise)

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Diet myths abound in the health industry, but one of the biggest myths of all is the idea that a calorie is a calorie, no matter where you get it from, or what the chemical or nutritional makeup of it is.

If you care about your health and are truly working to keep your weight down, then you need to know the truth about calories as well as the substances that distort how calories work in your body.

For example, sugar is one of the major health topics in the news these days, with “sugar is sugar” news updates, ads, and counter-ads.

Now, a new video, the “Skinny on Obesity”, presents a chilling awakening on weight, weight gain, and chronic diseases like dementia, cancer, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Watch it, and you may never look the same way at sugar or calories again. Your body actually treats sugar in the same way it treats alcohol and other toxins. This is in large part how sugars can damage your liver and other organs, and why Dr. Lustig refers to sugar as a toxin. I recently wrote about this at length in the article, Is Sugar Toxic?

Obesity Goes Beyond Aesthetics

While many still shrug at the notion of obesity being anything but an aesthetic issue, this simply isn’t a truthful evaluation of the situation. The obesity epidemic threatens not only the health and longevity of a clear majority of people, it also adds a tremendous burden to our health care system. As Dr. Lustig explains in part 1 above, the eight primary diseases related to metabolic dysfunction account for a staggering 75 percent of the healthcare costs in the US.

 These diseases include:

The four diseases listed on the top row are conventionally associated with metabolic syndrome. However, as stated by Dr. Lustig, several other diseases fall within this scope as well—which are listed in the bottom row. He also explains that while obesity is associated with metabolic syndrome and all of these diseases, obesity is not the CAUSE of them; it is simply a marker. Rather, the underlying cause is metabolic dysfunction, and excessive sugar/fructose consumption is a primary driver of that.

According to Dr. Lustig, 20 percent of obese people have perfectly normal metabolic functioning, and the excess weight will not affect their overall lifespan. Ditto for 60 percent of normal-weight people. However, the MAJORITY of obese people—about 80 percent of them—do not have normal metabolic function, and 40 percent of normal-weight people also suffer from metabolic dysfunction, and are therefore prone to these obesity-related diseases… All in all, metabolic dysfunction affects a clear majority of Americans.

But why?

What’s the Cause of Rampant Metabolic Dysfunction?

One dogma that has contributed to the ever-worsening health of the Western world is the belief that “a calorie is a calorie.” This is one of the first things dieticians learn in school. Unfortunately, this is completely FALSE… Another dogmatic belief that simply isn’t true is the idea that obesity is the end result of eating too much and exercising too little; i.e. consuming more calories than you’re expending. This has led to the view that obese people are simply “lazy.”

But as Dr. Lustig points out, there are societal forces at work that go beyond personal responsibility. An increasing number of infants are now obese, and “laziness” is certainly not a label that can easily be affixed to a developing infant.  These societal forces include:

As mentioned in the featured video above, the societal changes over the past 60 years or so have created what amounts to a perfect storm; a confluence of dramatically altered food environment combined with reduced physical exertion and increased exposure to, and consumption of, a wide array of industrial- and agricultural chemicals that have a detrimental impact on the human biochemistry.

Among the dramatic changes to our food supply is the extensive use of sugar, primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is added to virtually all processed foods. And this is where the fallacy of “a calorie is a calorie” comes into play, because a calorie from fat does not impact your body in the same way a calorie from fructose does.

One Calorie Can Be Vastly Different from Another…

According to Dr. Robert Lustig, fructose is ‘isocaloric but not isometabolic.” This means you can have the same amount of calories from fructose or glucose, fructose and protein, or fructose and fat, but the metabolic effect will be entirely different despite the identical calorie count. This is largely because different nutrients provoke different hormonal responses, and those hormonal responses determine, among other things, how much fat you accumulate.

The average American consumes 1/3 of a pound of sugar a day. That’s five ounces or 150 grams, half of which is fructose, which is 300 percent more than the amount that will trigger biochemical havoc. And many Americans consume more than twice that amount! Thanks to the excellent work of researchers like Dr. Robert Lustig, as well as Dr. Richard Johnson, we now know that fructose:

  • Is metabolized differently from glucose, with the majority being turned directly into fat
  • Tricks your body into gaining weight by fooling your metabolism, as it turns off your body’s appetite-control system. Fructose does not appropriately stimulate insulin, which in turn does not suppress ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) and doesn’t stimulate leptin (the “satiety hormone”), which together result in your eating more and developing insulin resistance.
  • Rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity (“beer belly”), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., classic metabolic syndrome.
  • Over time leads to insulin resistance, which is not only an underlying factor of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but also many cancers.

This is why the idea that you can lose weight by counting calories simply doesn’t work. After fructose, other sugars and grains are likely the most excessively consumed food that promotes weight gain and chronic disease. This also includes food items that are typically viewed as healthy, such as fruit juice or even large amounts of high fructose fruits. What needs to be understood is that when consumed in large amounts, these items will also adversely affect your insulin, which is a crucially potent fat regulator. So yes, drinking large amounts of fruit juice on a daily basis can contribute to weight gain… In short, you do not get fat because you eat too many calories and don’t exercise enough. You get fat because you eat the wrong kind of calories. As long as you keep eating fructose and grains, you’re programming your body to create and store fat.

Replacing Sugars with Healthy Fats is Key for Reversing Metabolic Syndrome

I believe there are two primary dietary recommendations that, if widely implemented, could help reverse our current disease trend in short order:

  1. Severely restricting carbohydrates (sugars, fructose, and grains), and
  2. Increasing healthy fat consumption

While health authorities insist that sugar is fine “in moderation,” and that grains are an essential part of a healthy diet and can actually help you prevent heart disease, they fail to take into consideration that:

  1. Fructose is the NUMBER ONE source of calories in the US. An ingredient that is found in virtually all processed foods cannot be considered “moderate.” Even most infant formulas contain the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, which helps explain how six-month old babies can be obese
  2. Refined carbohydrates (breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles etc) quickly breaks down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease known to man, including heart disease

Your Body NEEDS Fats for Optimal Function

Fats in general are considered the dietary villains, especially saturated fat, which many people still claim will increase your risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease. However, this is simply untrue. The only really dangerous fat out there is trans fat (margarine, vegetable oils). Saturated fats are actually vital for optimal health as they are:

When cutting down on carbs, you generally need to increase your intake of healthy (ideally organic, unprocessed and minimally heated ) saturated fats. Both carbs and fats are sources of energy, but saturated fat is actually the preferred fuel for your heart. Another metabolic bonus is that fat does not raise your insulin levels, whereas carbs do.  However, it’s important to recognize the difference between grain carbs and vegetable carbs.

If you want to lower your insulin levels and reduce fat accumulation, reduce the amount of grains and sugars you eat; NOT your vegetables. In fact, you actually need to radically increase the amount of vegetables you eat when you cut grains, as by volume grains are far denser than vegetables. As for healthy fats, good sources include:

Keep in mind that olive oil should not be used for cooking. Instead, use coconut oil for cooking, frying and baking, and save the olive oil for salad dressing.  Another healthful fat you want to be mindful of is animal-based omega-3. Deficiency in this essential fat can cause or contribute to very serious health problems, both mental and physical, and may be a significant underlying factor of up to 96,000 premature deaths each year. For more information about omega-3′s and the best sources of this fat, please review my previous article:Are You Getting the Right Type of Omega-3 Fats?

How Much Fructose is Too Much?

As a general recommendation, I suggest keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day, with a maximum of 15 grams from whole fruit. The table at the bottom of this page can help you calculate your fructose from fruit consumption. However, if you have ANY of the following health issues, then you’ll want to be very careful to limit fructose to just 15 grams per day or less, and this includes fructose from whole fruit. Ideally you’ll want to avoid ALL sources of fructose until your insulin stabilizes, and then proceed with caution.

High uric acid, in particular, is a potent marker for fructose toxicity, so if your levels are above:

  • 4 mg/dl for men
  • 3.5 mg/dl for women

… then you would be wise to avoid all forms of fructose until your levels have normalized—just as you would with high insulin levels. Here’s a quick reference list of some of the most common fruits that you can use to help you count your fructose grams:

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GMO Alert: Top 10 Genetically Modified Foods to Avoid Eating

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By: Aurora Geib
Source: NaturalNews.com

There is a conspiracy of selling out happening in America. Politics and personal interest it would seem determine government policies over and above health and safety issues. When President Obama appointed Michael Taylor in 2009 as senior adviser for the FDA, a fierce protest ensued from consumer groups and environmentalists. Why? Taylor used to be vice president for Monsanto, a multinational interested in marketing genetically modified (GM) food. It was during his term that GMO’s were approved in the US without undergoing tests to determine if they were safe for human consumption.

The danger of GMO’s

The question of whether or not genetically modified foods (GMO’s) are safe for human consumption is an ongoing debate that does not seem to see any resolution except in the arena of public opinion. Due to lack of labeling, Americans are still left at a loss as to whether or not what is on the table is genetically modified. This lack of information makes the avoiding and tracking of GM foods an exercise in futility. Below are just some of the food products popularly identified to be genetically modified:

1.Corn - Corn has been modified to create its own insecticide. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has declared that tons of genetically modified corn has been introduced for human consumption. Monsanto has revealed that half of the US’s sweet corn farms are planted with genetically modified seed. Mice fed with GM corn were discovered to have smaller offspring and fertility problems.

2.Soy - Soy has also been genetically modified to resist herbicides. Soy products include soy flour, tofu, soy beverages, soybean oil and other products that may include pastries, baked products and edible oil. Hamsters fed with GM soy were unable to have offspring and suffered a high mortality rate.

3.Cotton - Like corn and soy, cotton has been designed to resist pesticides. It is considered food because its oil can be consumed. Its introduction in Chinese agriculture has produced a chemical that kills cotton bollworm, reducing the incidences of pests not only in cotton crops but also in neighboring fields of soybeans and corn. Incidentally, thousands of Indian farmers suffered severe rashes upon exposure to BT cotton.

4.Papaya - The virus-resistant variety of papaya was commercially introduced in Hawaii in 1999. Transgenic papayas comprised three-fourths of the total Hawaiian papaya crop. Monsanto bestowed upon Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore technology for developing papaya resistant to the ringspot virus in India.

5.Rice - This staple food from South East Asia has now been genetically modified to contain a high amount of vitamin A. Allegedly, there are reports of rice varieties containing human genes to be grown in the US. The rice will create human proteins useful for dealing with infant diarrhea in the 3rd world. China Daily, an online journal, reported potential serious public health and environment problems with genetically modified rice considering its tendency to cause allergic reactions with the concurrent possibility of gene transfers.

6.Tomatoes - Tomatoes have now been genetically engineered for longer shelf life, preventing them from easily rotting and degrading. In a test conducted to determine the safety of GM tomatoes, some animal subjects died within a few weeks after consuming GM tomatoes.

7.Rapeseed - In Canada, this crop was renamed canola to differentiate it from non-edible rapeseed. Food stuff produced from rapeseed includes rapeseed oi (canola oil) l used to process cooking oil and margarine. Honey can also be produced from GM rapeseed. German food surveillance authorities discovered as much as a third of the total pollen present in Canadian honey may be from GM pollen. In fact, some honey products from Canada were also discovered to have pollen from GM rapeseed.

8.Dairy products - It has been discovered that 22 percent of cows in the U.S. were injected with recombinant (genetically modified) bovine growth hormone (rbGH). This Monsanto created hormone artificially forces cows to increase their milk production by 15 percent. Milk from cows treated with this milk inducing hormone contains increased levels of IGF-1 (insulin growth factors-1). Humans also have IGF-1 in their system. Scientists have expressed concerns that increased levels of IGF-1 in humans have been associated with colon and breast cancer.

9.Potatoes - Mice fed with potatoes engineered with Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki Cry 1 were found to have toxins in their system. Despite claims to the contrary, this shows that Cry1 toxin was stable in the mouse gut. When the health risks were revealed, it sparked a debate.

10.Peas - Peas that have been genetically modified have been found to cause immune responses in mice and possibly even in humans. A gene from kidney beans was inserted into the peas creating a protein that functions as a pesticide.

The GMO link to strange disease

As early as 2008, NaturalNews.com reported about a condition called Morgellon’s disease. The article went on to report the symptoms of the disease as follows: crawling, stinging, biting and crawling sensations; threads or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin; granules, lesions. Some patients report fatigue, short term memory loss, mental confusion, joint pain and changes in vision. Furthermore, there have been reports of substantial morbidity and social dysfunction leading to a dip in work productivity, job loss, total disability, divorce, loss of child custody and home abandonment.

Prior to its reporting, the condition was dismissed as a hoax, but upon further investigation, the evidence pointed out that the disease was real and may be related to genetically modified food.

Despite this link being established, the CDC declared Morgellon’s disease of unknown origin. Worse, the medical community could not offer any information to the public regarding a cause for the symptoms.

When a research study was conducted on fiber samples taken from Morgellons patients, it was discovered that the fiber samples of all the patients looked remarkable similar. And yet, it did not seem to match any common environmental fiber. When the fiber was broken down, and it’s DNA extracted, it was discovered to belong to a fungus. Even more surprising was the finding that the fibers contained Agrobacterium, a genus gram-negative bacteria with the capacity of transforming plant, animal and even human cells.

Morgellon’s disease is not the only condition associated with genetically modified foods. A growing body of evidence has shown that it may cause allergies, immune reactions, liver problems, sterility and even death. Moreover, based on the only human feeding experiment conducted on genetically modified food, it was established that genetic material in genetically modified food product can transfer into the DNA of intestinal bacteria and still continue to thrive.

Heeding the warning

Time and again, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has warned that GMOs pose a serious threat to health, and it is no accident that there can be a correlation between it and adverse health effects. In fact, the AAEM has advised doctors to tell their patients to avoid GMOs as the introduction of GMOs into the current food supply has correlated with an alarming rise in chronic diseases and food allergies.

This should come as no surprise. More than 30 years ago a food supplement called L-trytophan killed 100 people and affected 5,000 to 10,000 more. The cause was narrowed down to the genetic engineering process used in its production. If the symptoms had not had three simultaneous characteristics – namely, they were unique, acute and fast-acting – the disease could never have been identified.

If science could assure us with certainty that serious consequences do not wait for us at the end of the line, it might be to our best interest to let this opportunity pass. Progressive thinking in terms of profit is certainly not wrong. But to brush off precaution on the convenient argument that there is not enough evidence to prove that GM food is indeed harmful is sheer irresponsibility. It certainly is a lame excuse to offer in the event that GM foods are indeed proven to contain health hazards

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Fibroids – What We Can Do About Healing Them

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By Andreas Moritz 

Hi, this is a question with regard to fibroids, what causes fibroids and what we can do about them.

Fibroids basically are deposits or accumulation of dead proteins and I wholeheartedly recommend that we avoid eating cadaver foods that, if they are not properly digested, can lead to accumulation of proteins in various parts of the body.

What happens if you eat a cadaver like a chicken, fish or meat, what happens is that we cannot digest the entire piece of meat, chicken or fish, only a fraction of it and the reason for that is because the amount of hydrochloric acid in our stomach is not concentrated enough to digest the entire piece.

So if you eat a steak, you may digest only 15 to 20 % of that piece of meat, and the rest of it will remain undigested and the heating of the meat, whatever method you use, will denature the proteins, that means rip apart the molecular structure that bonds the amino acids to form those proteins together, and it destroys the three dimensional structure of proteins.

So here you have a huge number of dismembered protein chains that are bits and pieces of protein fragments that somehow make their way into the bloodstream, they are absorbed, and there is some research to show that normally only amino acids can be absorbed, but these denatured proteins they also get absorbed, and that is a major problem for the body, because you cannot really utilize them.

One way to deal with them is to assimilate or accumulate these protein fragments in what is known as the basal membranes of the blood reservoir. And the basal membrane has the capacity to accumulate up to eight times its normal thickness and gather or collect these proteins there, and this stiffens the blood vessels, it makes it dead almost, and it becomes like fibroids tissue.

If that happens in the uterus, for example, you can develop fibroid tissue there, if it happens in the spleen you can develop fibroid tissue, if it happens in the liver then the liver is gathering fibroid tissue. So it doesn’t matter where it is, it could be in the breast, it could be even in the brain.

So wherever these protein fragments make their way through into the system, that when you start collecting dead proteins in the blood vessel wall, and then eventually in other parts as well. Once there is a saturation point reached in the blood vessels, it will also accumulate in the fluid that surrounds the cells and then it can spread almost like wildfire.

So, I suggest avoiding those kinds of foods that can trigger that, and also there is another effect that happens with these kinds of foods, the undigested proteins that are 90 % or 80 % of the meat, chicken, fish that have not been digested will be broken down into waste matter. It’s called putrefaction and the toxins that these bacteria produce will be absorbed by the lymphatic system particularly the part of the lymph system in the belly button area called Cisterna chyli and that will eventually create a blockage, congestion, in that part of the lymph system and that Cisterna chyli vessel has like little roots that go down into the uterus, ovaries, the legs ,and they are responsible for taking up any metabolic waste products and dead cell material that is part of the natural turnover of cells.

You have to understand that the body is turning over thirty billion cells per day and that’s a huge amount of dead proteins that has to be removed on a day-to-day basis. If your lymph vessel is getting congested in the belly button area, in the Cisterna chyli vessel – you will find an illustration in my book “Timeless Secrets Of Health And Rejuvenation” – once that congestion has been there for a considerable amount of time, we are talking about weeks or months or years, then the ability of the uterus, for example, to get rid of the turned over cells will not be there any more and these dead cell materials will accumulate, and so your body will start developing extra tissues in order to accommodate these waste products.

So when these things have occurred, I definitely recommend to change your diet, lifestyle, eating habits, so that your digestive functions are improving.

Liver flushes will of course help to reduce the lymph congestion simply by allowing your body to digest food more effectively and you make less waste products which could once again cause lymph congestion. So by taking care of these basic things, your problems – fibroids – should diminish over time.

The body uses proteolytic enzymes to do that. Once the congestion has subsided then, the body can, once again, digest these dead protein structures fibroids and remove them naturally. If you want to support the body in doing that, sometimes it helps to take a proteolytic enzyme like Seaprose, which is known to be one of the most effective proteolytic enzymes to deal with fibroids and other problems.

But I am always on the caution, I am always in favor of allowing the body to do the job itself, rather than we doing the job for it, because there is a very fine delicate balance called homeostasis and you don’t want to introduce something into the body too long or too much, because then the body will produce less of the same substance, or in this case enzyme, proteolytic enzyme. It’s always best to stimulate the body’s own enzymes rather than just replacing them with supplementation.

So hope this gives you some ideas about fibroid tissues and what you can do about them.

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Ways to take Stress off the Liver for people who have been Paralyzed

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By Andreas Moritz 

This is a question about people that have been paralyzed or crippled, bedridden, whether there are ways to take some load off their liver, because they obviously… one cannot move the body, the body’s ability to rid itself of toxins and waste products is diminished, and the liver tends to be the organ that accumulates toxins and waste matter, often producing intra-hepatic gallstones which is the liver’s way to trap or hold on to toxins and waste products in order to keep the rest of the body from being damaged by them.

The issue is obviously difficult in this case, but there are some methods or approaches that can take the toxic load off the liver and these obviously include a diet that is not contaminating the body. So using organic foods and drinking enough water, which is absolutely important in all ways for detoxifying the body.

So the foods that are best avoided and that are difficult for any person who is paralyzed, is food like meat products – very hard to digest for people paralyzed – chicken, fish, any high protein foods – and foods that are processed, refined, that have diminished nutritious value. So I will go on a vegan vegetarian diet in order to minimize the toxic load on the liver.

Eating healthy fats, fats that have not been processed, refined, that are whole, like olive oil, expeller pressed oils, natural oils that have not been heated. Canola oil is an unnatural, genetically modified oil that must be avoided.

Eating healthy salts so that these are not refined salts, these are natural sea salts or rock salts like Himalayan rock salt, or salt from Utah mountains, beautiful real salts, there is a name for it: ‘Real salt’ but any natural sea salt that doesn’t come from an area of contamination of the sea, these are very, very good salts and they help with the detoxification of the liver as well. Many people reduce salts because regular salts are toxic, they change the blood pressure, they should definitely be avoided, they are very, very harmful for the liver.

Then anything that can support the liver directly like the liver herbs, the tea that I mentioned in my book “The Amazing Liver And Gallbladder Flush”, that is something that helps with a gentle liver detoxification and allowing the liver to remove toxins. Obviously the tea cannot remove the intra-hepatic gallstones that impact the liver bile ducts, and paralyzed people may not be able to do liver flushes. So in that regard, there is some limit to as much a person can do, but again one can regulate the functions in the liver by reducing the amount of toxic foods or harmful foods.

Also, I would suggest to if possible to do either enemas, ideally however doing colonic irrigation or colemas to also reduce the load of toxins that may come from the large intestine because if waste matter is sitting in the large intestine for too long, a lot of toxins are generated by bacteria that decompose the undigested food sitting there for too long, and these toxins they end up going into the liver and then again overtaxing the liver.

So natural ways, whatever works… I have written a book called “Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation” and most of the things mentioned there applied to people who are paralyzed just as much to a person who isn’t paralyzed, such as sleeping regular hours, making sure you go to bed before 10 o’clock, this helps the liver to remain strong because the liver works most during the night time more than any other time in the 24 hour cycle. So between 10 and 2 – that’s when the liver requires most blood, it can get in order to remove toxins from the bloodstream and when you sleep during this time, the liver is able to get that blood from the back of the brain, the digestive system and the rest of the tissues in the body, such as the muscle tissue, and this allows the liver to directly work with the blood, to filter the blood, remove contaminants, so that the next day you have cleaner blood, and you have a better chance of transporting nutrients to the cells in the body which is diminished when the blood is toxic, or has more waste products in it because the liver was not able to remove that during night time. This is very important.

Also, staying or going out in the sun, having someone to take you into the sun, taking the shirt off, very important for people who are paralyzed in order to keep the immune system as strong as possible, so that enough vitamin D can also help with the cardiovascular functions and the nutrient uptake, particularly minerals from the food that the person is eating. So vitamin D is absolutely essential, unfortunately many paralyzed individuals are indoors, they don’t go out, they don’t sit in the sun, they don’t sunbathe, and this is a very detrimental and it prevents the recovery or more speedy recovery from paralysis.

I don’t believe that paralysis is permanent.

In many cases the paralysis has been reversed and people have completely regained the functions of the limbs even though the medical profession and doctors have told them they would never regain functions of their body. So there are examples that paralysis is reversible and this should be an incentive, an inspiration, for others who are also paralyzed to follow suit and do their best to regain the functions, and nature around us has very powerful benefits if we use it to our advantage.

Sunlight, good fresh air, good drinking water, proper hydration – drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water a day and eating healthy nourishing food… this goes a long, long way to strengthen the body and allow the body to repair itself from any damage that may have occurred as a result of paralysis, so that the body can regain strength and start healing itself.

Thank you.

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Risks and Benefits of a Raw Food Diet

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By Andreas Moritz 

Hi, this is a question that I am getting a lot. It’s related to raw food diets.

I have previously, in my book “Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation”, spoken out against a raw food diet for everyone. There are some exceptions where a raw food diet, or mostly raw food diet, is actually pretty good and to say basically that a raw food diet should be eaten by everyone, I am very, very careful saying that because some people can absolutely not digest a lot of raw food, otherwise they develop constipation, or they develop dry skin, severe gastrointestinal bloating, gas and irritable bowel syndrome. So one has to be very careful about who we suggest to go on a raw food diet.

The basic idea is that when you eat foods that are raw, you will get a lot of enzymes and vitamins that are not destroyed through the cooking process and therefore you would benefit far more from eating raw foods, than you would eat from eating cooked foods.

But the equation is not quite as clear as it looks like. Eating raw food, more nutrients, it can mean the exact opposite. For example, raw foods are requiring a lot more breaking down of fiber that may be broken down through the cooking process, but if you have too much of undigested fiber coming through the system and ending up in your large intestine, much of it may be fermented by bacteria that reside there and when they are broken down, this can produce a lot of gas, methane gas and other toxic gases that can be absorbed into the blood and enter the brain, and it can cause brain fog and many other undesirable side effects.

The other problem is that bacteria that decompose those fibrous masses can produce a lot of toxins and these toxins can irritate the gastrointestinal lining and create more problems than you can benefit from by eating those kinds of foods.

The other thing is that cellulose, which is the principle fibrous component that is comprising the cell membranes, the cell wall of vegetables and other grain foods that are raw, in raw form when you cook these foods, this fibrous compound, the cellulose, starts softening up and releases some of the nutrients that are in the cellulose that are embedded there. So you may actually have more access to the nutrients in cooked food than you would have in raw food because it is virtually impossible for the human body to crush these very, very sturdy membranes or cell membranes that are composed of cellulose and therefore the nutrients may, in fact, be trapped inside the cells, because the cell walls cannot be broken down. So as a result you may actually develop a nutritional deficiency if you are purely on a raw food diet, particularly if the raw foods include foods that are very hard to sort of break down, that are easily broken down through heat, but cannot be broken down through mastication.

And if you then say “well, let’s juice these foods, they are just… let’s take them through a juicer and drink the juice…” The problem with that approach is that there are certain substances in the fiber that is actually slowing down the digestive process which in this case, is very good, because if the food passes through the gastrointestinal tract too fast because there is no fiber to slow it down, then the nutrients will not be absorbed properly, they will just rush right down into your large intestine, so that’s one setback with eating too much raw food or drinking the juices.

The other thing is that when you juice your food instead of eating it whole, then you are most likely going to drink the juices rather than keeping it in the mouth and swishing it around for about 20 – 30 times in order to combine it with salivary enzymes. Now, we need salivary enzymes to predigest the carbohydrates contained in these foods, these juices, and if that is not combined with the juices, then these foods may not be digested at all. Instead there will be other bacteria that are known to ferment food such as candida bacteria coming in large quantities and try to digest them, so to get rid of also some of the toxic elements that may be included in raw food.

When people say raw foods cannot be toxic, but that is not entirely true, in fact they can be very toxic, for example eat a potato in raw form, you can be poisoned by it, if you eat beans in large quantities, you can also get poisoned, you can actually die from that. So raw food is not necessarily safe in that form, that’s why countries like India and China and many South American countries have traditionally prepared their food to a point that it loses, almost strips the food of almost all the nutrients, and like when Peruvians used to treat potatoes, they would put them out in the sun, they crushed them, they put them in a solution that would draw acids out of the potatoes, then turn it into a fine powder exposing it to the sun again, adding perhaps some substances, minerals, that would help to reduce the toxicity to actually make the potatoes useful for them, but it would have been a potato that will have very little nutrients left, still the Peruvians were known to be extremely healthy.

So it’s not always related to the nutrients, but also to having foods that are less toxic, because when lot of the antibodies in plants remain in the plants when you eat them, then your body’s immune system may react very strongly against them, seeing them as antigens, and once you have an immune response, it can cause inflammation in the intestine or elsewhere in the body, typically know as an allergic reaction.

So the importance here is to understand that plants contain poisons, these are antibodies, everybody has an immune system and immune system has many different ways of defending the plant from being eaten by predators, or insects, from being damaged, and having these repair and protective mechanisms in place allows the plant to survive, and to thrive, and to spread their species. So these are plant antibodies or enzyme inhibitors or other kinds of toxic substances are ingested by us if we eat raw foods, raw vegetables, in larger quantities, if it’s in smaller quantities there is no problem.

If the vegetables are soft, if they are like lettuce, or avocado, cucumber, and things like that have lesser fibrous compounds in them, that are very juicy and soft, these are fine to eat in raw form as a salad, ideally eaten before lunch meal and that will allow these foods to be digested properly before you eat the cooked food, so always eat the salad first, before the cooked food, because that will prepare the digestive system, and allow the enzymes to be produced, for raw food that may be necessary to take advantage of the nutrients in these softer vegetables.

Harder vegetables should be cooked, not overly cooked. There should still be resistance when you put your fork in it, so that the nutrients are preserved. I personally use waterless cookware, which you can find now everywhere. Do a search on Google, ‘waterless cookware’, you will find many cookware brands out there that help you cook your food in a way that the nutrients, the enzymes, the vitamins, are preserved and not destroyed through high heat procedures like cooking, baking, frying and so on.

The advantage for a so-called Pitta body type eating more raw food in their diet is that raw food has a cooling effect, which for this body type who tends to be hot, tends to have a reddish skin, reddish hair or red hair, tends to have blue eyes, very sensitive to heat, so they need to be in a cooler environment, and also have more cooling foods. So their portion of eating raw foods should be higher than a person that Ayurveda calls the Kapha type or the Vata type, which are the cool types, they both have cool surface temperature of the skin and the Pitta type has hot surface temperature of the skin. The Pitta body type also has the most bile available to digest food and that is very useful for digesting raw foods. The Vata body type and Kapha body types have the least amount of bile and therefore they should not overly indulge in raw foods but choose more of the cooked food variety and there is more information about all that in my book “Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation” where you can see a detailed comparison between raw food diets and cooked food diets and I personally eat a mixed diet.

I do eat raw food, perhaps sometimes I eat like… cucumber and avocado, and some olives with some lemon juice and olive oil in the morning, with some rice cakes or some bread and butter on it, and that makes me happy, or oatmeal which is cooked, or at lunch time I always start with a salad, a mixed salad, and then have my cooked vegetables and some grain foods, and perhaps some lentils and beans or nuts and seeds with my lunch, and in the evening I eat vegetable soup with a little piece of bread with it, and that’s cooked obviously as well.

So having said that, I hope this information will shed a little light on why raw food diets are not good for every person, good for some, not for everyone, and that if you do feel great with a raw food diet go for it, if you don’t, be careful, the signs that you are not digesting raw food is typically bloating, gas, discomfort, feeling sluggish, losing energy and having brain fog, getting headaches, and things like that.

So I hope this will clarify the issue.

Thank you.

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Over 60 Billion Doses a Year and Not ONE Death, But Still Not Safe?

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements have a tremendously safe track record, yet they are often singled out as being potentially dangerous by government agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This – the notion that dietary supplements are unsafe — is the premise behind the FDA’s Draft Guidance on New Dietary Ingredients, which would require the supplement industry to prove the safety of natural ingredients that, in many cases, have been on the market and used safely for decades.

As new research from the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System reveals, there were zero deaths linked to nutritional supplements in 2010, the most current data available.

Zero Deaths Linked to Vitamin Supplements

However, in the FDA’s new Draft Guidance, the FDA is essentially claiming that dietary supplements are unsafe, and implying that in order to “protect consumers” the agency must place a stranglehold on the dietary supplement industry by requesting exorbitant safety testing.

These ludicrous safety thresholds are in excess of those required by pharmaceutical drugs — despite extensive toxicological data showing supplements are far safer than drugs.

The most recent data comes from the U.S. National Poison Data System’s annual report, which tracked data from 57 U.S. poison centers and showed vitamin and mineral supplements caused zero deaths in 2010.

As noted by Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, Americans easily take more than 60 billion doses of nutritional supplements every year, and with zero related deaths this is an outstanding safety record:

“Well over half of the U.S. population takes daily nutritional supplements. Even if each of those people took only one single tablet daily, that makes 165,000,000 individual doses per day, for a total of over 60 billion doses annually. Since many persons take far more than just one single vitamin or mineral tablet, actual consumption is considerably higher, and the safety of nutritional supplements is all the more remarkable.

Over 60 billion doses of vitamin and mineral supplements per year in the USA, and not a single fatality. Not one. If vitamin and mineral supplements are allegedly so “dangerous,” as the FDA and news media so often claim, then where are the bodies?”

In striking contrast, drugs are known to cause well over 125,000 deaths per year when taken correctly as prescribed – yet the FDA allows “fast-track” approvals and countless new additions to the marketplace. So why are dietary supplements on the chopping block?

Why is the FDA Attacking Dietary Supplements That Have Been Used Safely for Decades?

Back in the early 1990s, the FDA threatened the availability of dietary supplements to the point that consumers staged a massive revolt, which resulted in the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA).

The law specifically protects your access to dietary supplements by classifying them as foods, not food additives or drugs, and it grand-fathered in dietary supplements that were already in use as of 1994. Only novel ingredients introduced after October 15, 1994 are required to seek FDA approval.

The FDA’s new proposed mandates directly contradict what DSHEA sought to prevent, and the FDA is using its authority in direct violation of Congressional intent. As explained in an article by Alliance for Natural Health, the proposed regulations turn what was clearly supposed to be a pre-market notification system into a pre-approval system, just like that of drugs.

As a result, dietary supplements that have been freely available for nearly two decades can now be forced off the market until they receive New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) approval. And the NDI approval process is a lengthy affair that may take months or years to complete, and cost a small fortune. Bringing a drug from the pre-clinical (or discovery phase) all the way to market can easily take more than a decade and cost significantly more than $1 billion! This despite the fact that contrary to drugs, fatalities from vitamins and other supplements are minuscule.

According to the 2001 report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), of the substances implicated in fatal poisonings in 2001, 84.6 percent were pharmaceutical drugs, with analgesics being implicated as the primary cause of death in 32 percent of fatalities or 341 deaths. This compares with 0.8 percent for all dietary supplements combined, even including substances such as dinitrophenol, a dangerous (and illegal) substance banned in 1938, as well as the central nervous system stimulant Ma Huang (Ephedra). Interestingly, the anti-asthma drug theophylline alone was responsible for 15 deaths, 66 percent more than all the available dietary supplements combined.

What might make an “old” ingredient “new,” under the new regulation?

The methods of production and extraction, for example … As bizarre as that sounds, the mere fact that a product is being extracted or produced by improved means compared to methods used in the past, could reclassify any grandfathered nutrient as an NDI that would now have to undergo the same type of safety testing and approval process as a drug.

FDA Seeking Outrageous Safety Studies from Tried and True Supplements

In some cases, the FDA will require manufacturers to conduct outrageously expensive studies using absurdly high doses, in some situations multiplied by a “safety factor” up to 2,000-times the recommended dosage on a per product basis. Further, the FDA proposes that new dietary supplement ingredients should adhere to aggressive safety margins, which are typically reserved for chemical compounds known to be dangerous in all but the most miniscule concentrations.

Since food additives or preservatives such as aspartame, monosodium glutamate, and sodium nitrate are known to cause cancer or other severe health problems, the FDA has implemented safety guidelines that limit allowable concentrations of these food additives to levels that are supposed to be physiologically inert.

The fact that the FDA is trying to impose the same limits upon dietary supplements seems to be arbitrary and completely unfounded. In fact, when someone takes a dietary supplement, their intent is to positively affect the structure or function of their bodies in some way — limiting dosages of dietary supplements to physiologically inert levels defeats the entire purpose of supplementation with health-sustaining nutrients.

And, since supplements are not patented drugs, virtually no supplement manufacturers will be able to afford these “safety” studies, which means that many of the nutrients you now purchase at low prices will convert into high-priced drugs, or simply disappear from the market entirely.

The Drug Industry is the Real Safety Threat

While the U.S. National Poison Data System’s annual report showed zero deaths from nutritional supplements, this was not the case for prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The top categories associated with the largest number of fatalities were ALL medications, including:

  1. Analgesics, sedatives, hypnotics, and antipsychotics
  2. Cardiovascular drugs
  3. Opioids
  4. Acetaminophen combinations
  5. Antidepressants

Slightly lower down on the list were more drugs, including muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory drugs, hormones, antacids, anticoagulants, antihistamines and more. Out of a total 1,366 reported fatalities, pharmaceuticals were involved in over 1,100 of these deaths (again, compared to zero for supplements). Keep in mind that this is not an estimate of all the deaths attributed to pharmaceuticals in the U.S., only those reported to 57 poison control centers. The total figure is closer to 125,000 deaths from pharmaceuticals per year.

If you extrapolate this number out over 30 years this is well in excess of 3 million people who died from taking appropriately prescribed legal drugs. It is simply incomprehensible that any rational approach would seek to vilify supplements over drugs when the data in no way, shape or form supports it. The most likely motive for this position is financial greed that can put your life in jeopardy.

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The Beverage that is Even WORSE than High Fructose Corn Syrup Soda

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

When a new beverage comes out advertising “60% less sugar—drink it to believe it”—the challenge is on. Same taste; fewer calories to your waist? Sounds good, doesn’t it?

But before you throw that Pepsi Next into your grocery cart, Fooducate.com suggests you complete the challenge by reading the ingredient label.

There you’ll find that, indeed, the sugar content has been reduced.

But it’s still the second ingredient after water—four teaspoons of it,  in fact, in the form of high fructose corn syrup. The secret to keeping this beverage sweet-tasting, however, comes further on down, in the form of aspartame, acesulfame potassium, and sucralose.

So, really, all that’s changed with this new beverage is that 6 teaspoons of sugar have been substituted with three sweeteners that are even worse. Yes, although I strongly recommend avoiding all soda, you would be far better off with the strictly high fructose corn syrup sweetened version.

Artificial Sweeteners have No Place in a Healthful Diet…

Artificial sweeteners are frequently recommended as a practical way of replacing sugar found in the modern diet. But the research on nonnutritive sweeteners such as these three shows they’re far from healthful alternatives to sugar. (A recent article on HealthyFellow.com lists a few of them as a hand reference .First of all, contrary to popular belief, research has shown that artificial sweeteners can:

  • Stimulate your appetite
  • Increase carbohydrate cravings
  • Stimulate fat storage and weight gain. In fact, diet sodas, which are well-known sources of artificial sweeteners, may actually double your risk of obesity!

So much for being a dieter’s best friend… Furthermore, aspartame (rebranded AminoSweet two years ago)—best known under the names of Nutrasweet and Equal—is believed to be carcinogenic and accounts for more reports of adverse reactions than all other foods and food additives combined.

The artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium (Acesulfame-K) has been linked to kidney problems, and sucralose—best known as Splenda—has been found to wreak havoc with the healthful bacteria in your gut… All in all, I believe ALL artificial sweeteners are bad news for your health.

Why Aspartame is FAR Worse than Sugar

While many of the artificial sweeteners have reportedly similar side effects, aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the FDA. Many of these reactions are very serious, including seizures and death. About 90 different adverse effects have been linked to aspartame, including:

Recent research also suggests diet sodas may increase stroke risk, and according to researchers and physicians studying the adverse effects of aspartame, the following chronic illnesses can be triggered or worsened by ingesting of aspartame:

Aspartame—”A Chemical Poison”?

The book “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” by James and Phyllis Balch lists aspartame under the category of “chemical poison.” While many still refuse to believe that toxic or otherwise health-harming ingredients would be allowed to be used in food manufacturing, the evidence against aspartame and other artificial sweeteners is, in my opinion, overwhelming…

Aspartame is made up of three chemicals:

    1. Phenylalanine (50 percent)—Phenylalanine is an amino acid normally found in your brain. Persons with the genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) cannot metabolize phenylalanine and must avoid it at all costs to prevent the accumulation of phenylalanine in their brain, which can be lethal. It has been shown that ingesting aspartame, especially along with carbohydrates, can lead to excess levels of phenylalanine in the brain even in persons who do not have PKU. Excessive levels of phenylalanine in your brain can decrease your serotonin levels, which in turn can provoke emotional disorders such as depression.
    2. Aspartic acid (40 percent)—According to the work of Dr. Russell L. Blaylock, a professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of Mississippi, there are about 500 scientific references showing that excess free excitatory amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid (about 99 percent of monosodium glutamate (MSG) is glutamic acid) in our food supply are causing serious chronic neurological disorders and a myriad of other acute symptoms.

Aspartate and glutamate act as neurotransmitters in your brain by facilitating the transmission of information from neuron to neuron. Excess aspartate or glutamate in your brain can kill off neurons by allowing the influx of too much calcium into your cells. This influx triggers excessive amounts of free radicals, which kill the cells. The neural cell damage that can be caused by excessive aspartate and glutamate is why they are referred to as “excitotoxins.” They literally “excite” or stimulate your neural cells to death. It is important not to confuse this with the amino acid glutamic acid, which is a normal part of foods and an important nutrient.

    1. Methanol (10 percent)—Methanol, also known as wood alcohol, is a deadly poison. It is gradually released in your small intestine once the methyl group of aspartame encounters the digestive enzyme chymotrypsin. Inside your body, methanol breaks down into formic acid and formaldehyde, the latter of which is another lethal neurotoxin and a known carcinogen, which passes freely through your blood brain barrier to cause brain damage.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), methanol is considered “a cumulative poison due to the low rate of excretion once it is absorbed. In the body, methanol is oxidized to formaldehyde and formic acid; both of these metabolites are toxic.” The EPA recommends limiting consumption of methanol to 7.8 mg/day. A one-liter (approx. 1 quart) aspartame-sweetened beverage contains about 56 mg of methanol. Heavy users of aspartame-containing products can consume as much as 250 mg of methanol daily, or 32 times the EPA limit. Signs and symptoms of methanol poisoning include:

Do Your Own Research, and Know what Side Effects to Look for…

Those who defend aspartame argue that phenylalanine and aspartic acid are a harmless and natural part of your diet. Indeed, both of these amino acids can be found in most of the protein foods you eat.  However, phenylalanine and aspartic acid can only be considered natural and harmless when they are consumed in combination with other amino acids in the correct ratios—NOT when consumed as isolated amino acids… When they’re consumed as free amino acids not part of food, they enter your central nervous system in abnormally high concentrations that can cause your neurons to fire excessively, and potentially lead to cell death as explained above.

Unfortunately, adverse effects are severely under-reported, which makes it far more difficult to get dangerous ingredients like aspartame off the market. When it comes to side effects from drugs and vaccines, a mere 1 to 4 percent of all adverse events are ever reported, which leads me to believe that adverse reactions from other FDA-regulated products, such as aspartame, is likely even lower…

It’s important to realize that in order to truly alert the FDA to a problem with a product they’ve approved, they must be notified by as many people who experience a problem as possible. I strongly recommend learning everything you can about the potential side effects of artificial sweeteners and keep a watchful eye out for adverse signs and symptoms (if you consume them). And if you experience side effects from aspartame or any other artificial sweetener, report it to the FDA.

The FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator page lists the phone number for each state where you can report adverse reactions to any FDA-regulated product.

The following video will familiarize you with some of the side-effects you could encounter if you consume products containing this artificial sweetener. For more in-depth information about the chemical makeup of aspartame and its adverse health effects, please see this previous special report on aspartame. I also highly recommend Cori Brackett’s documentary film Sweet Misery.

How Sucralose Can Decimate Your Health

Sucralose (Splenda) is associated with many of the same adverse effects as aspartame, including:

This site also contains a long list of personal testimonials from readers who have suffered side effects from Splenda. In fact, we have more people on our site that have reported adverse reactions to Splenda than were formally studied in the research submitted for FDA approval! Additionally, and most notably, research published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health in 2008 found that Splenda:

  • reduces the amount of good bacteria in your intestines by 50 percent
  • increases the pH level in your intestines
  • affects a glycoprotein in your body that can have crucial health effects, particularly if you’re on certain medications as it can cause the rejection of drugs such as chemotherapy, AIDS treatments, and treatments for heart conditions
  • is absorbed by fat (contrary to previous claims)

It’s really a toss-up as to which artificial sweetener might be better or worse than the other, but the fact that sucralose can destroy up to HALF of your beneficial gut flora is truly alarming, as these bacteria are a vital part of your immune system and help support your general health—both physical and mental. Many people are already deficient in healthy bacteria due to excessive consumption of highly processed foods (which is why a high quality probiotic is one of the few supplements I recommend for nearly everyone), so just imagine the overall harm that can be inflicted by consuming an artificial sweetener that decimates your gut flora at such a high rate!

Are Your Health Problems Related to Artificial Sweeteners?

Many people belatedly realize they’ve been suffering reactions to one artificial sweetener or another. If you suspect an artificial sweetener might be to blame for a symptom you’re having, a good way to help you weed out the culprit is to do an elimination challenge. It’s easy to do, but you must read the ingredient labels for everything you put in your mouth to make sure you’re avoiding ALL artificial sweeteners.

To determine if you’re having a reaction to artificial sweeteners, take the following steps:

  • Eliminate all artificial sweeteners from your diet for two weeks.
  • After two weeks of being artificial sweetener-free, reintroduce your artificial sweetener of choice in a significant quantity (about three servings daily). Avoid other artificial sweeteners during this period.
  • Do this for one to three days and notice how you feel, especially as compared to when you were consuming no artificial sweeteners.
  • If you don’t notice a difference in how you feel after re-introducing your primary artificial sweetener for a few days, it’s a safe bet you’re able to tolerate it acutely, meaning your body doesn’t have an immediate, adverse response. However, this doesn’t mean your health won’t be damaged in the long run.
  • If you’ve been consuming more than one type of artificial sweetener, you can repeat steps 2 through 4 with the next one on your list.

Let me make it abundantly clear that even though you may not show immediate signs of any noticeable reaction after consuming artificial sweeteners, please don’t make the mistake of telling yourself “they must be OK for me”. I strongly urge you to avoid them at all costs. They are toxic to all humans and will not help you in any way shape or form.  If you would like to sweeten your food or beverages please use a natural artificial sweetener like stevia, Lo Han or xylitol.

Are there ANY Healthy Alternatives to Sugar?

There is enough evidence showing the dangers of consuming artificial sweeteners to fill an entire book — which is exactly why I wrote Sweet Deception. If you or your loved ones drink diet beverages or eat diet foods, this book will explain how you’ve been deceived about the truth behind artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose — for greed, for profits … at the expense of your health.

While excessive sugar consumption (primarily in the form of high fructose corn syrup, which is added to virtually all processed foods these days) is at the root of our skyrocketing obesity and chronic disease rates, swapping sugar/fructose for non-caloric artificial sweeteners is clearly NOT the answer…

So what other alternatives are there? And are any of them safer than sugar/fructose or artificial sweeteners?

One of the best alternatives is stevia; a highly sweet herb derived from the leaf of the South American stevia plant. It is completely safe in its natural form and can be used to sweeten most dishes and drinks. Keep in mind though that if you have insulin issues, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, or if you’re overweight, you’d be best to avoid all sweeteners, including stevia, since any sweetener can decrease your insulin sensitivity. Also avoid stevia-based sweeteners like Truvia and PureVia as they’ve been highly processed and contain only the active ingredient in the stevia plant, which may have unforeseen biochemical ramifications.

Lo han (or luo han guo) is another natural sweetener similar to Stevia. It’s an African sweet herb that can also be used, but it’s a bit more expensive and harder to find.

I do not recommend using agave syrup. This sweetener, which is falsely advertised as “natural,” is typically HIGHLY processed and is usually 80 percent fructose. Likewise, honey is also very high in fructose (about 53 percent fructose), but contrary to agave it is completely natural in its raw form, and has many health benefits when used in moderation.

Another safer alternative to sugar is to use pure glucose. You can buy pure glucose (dextrose) as a sweetener for about $1 a pound. It is only 70 percent as sweet as sucrose, so you’ll end up using a bit more of it for the same amount of sweetness, making it slightly more expensive than sucrose—but still well worth it for your health as it does not contain any fructose whatsoever. Glucose can be used directly by every cell in your body and as such is far safer than the metabolic poison fructose.

Remember, if you struggle with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or extra weight, then you have insulin sensitivity issues and would benefit from avoiding ALL sweeteners. But for everyone else, if you are going to sweeten your foods and beverages anyway, I strongly encourage you to consider using regular Stevia, Lo han, or dextrose (pure glucose), and toss out ALL artificial sweeteners and any products that contain them.

If you’re having trouble weaning yourself off soda, try Turbo Tapping. Turbo Tapping is a clever use of the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), specifically designed to resolve many aspects of an addiction in a concentrated period of time.

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Spike in US Autism Rates linked to High-Fructose Corn Syrup Consumption

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By: Jonathan Benson
Source: NaturalNews.com

A new study published in the journal Clinical Epigenetics reveals that both the Standard American Diet (SAD) and various toxic environmental factors play a definitive and synergistic role in the development of autism. According to the study, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), mercury in vaccines, and agricultural pesticides are among the many cofactors that contribute to the onset of autism spectrum disorders, all of which deserve more attention from health authorities than they are currently getting.

Renee Dufault from the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute (FIHRI) and her colleagues examined how various foods and environmental factors affect the neurodevelopment of children, and particularly how these factors inhibit the body’s ability to eliminate disease-causing toxins and heavy metals from the system. Known as “macroepigenetics,” this comprehensive approach to disease research offers unique insight into how the human body responds to multiple inputs from diet, environment, and genetics.

What the team discovered is that HFCS, for instance, which is a highly-processed chemical sweetener used in many processed foods and beverages, depletes the body of the natural mineral zinc. And zinc, of course, is responsible for cleansing the body of heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium, as well as aluminum and other toxins that are known to disrupt proper brain development.

“To better address the explosion of autism, it’s critical we consider how unhealthy diets interfere with the body’s ability to eliminate toxic chemicals, and ultimately our risk for developing long-term health problems like autism,” said Dr. David Wallinga, co-author of the study and physician at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy(IATP).

You can view the complete study at the following link:
http://www.clinicalepigeneticsjournal.com

HFCS laden with brain-destroying chemicals, mercury

Back in 2009, it was revealed that HFCS is actually a source of heavy metal poisoning as well. The heavy processing required to produce HFCS involves the use of caustic soda chemicals and mercury, two brain-destroying chemicals that end up in the final product fed to millions of American children.

Ketchup, sodas, juice drinks, breads, crackers, cookies, and many other processed food items are loaded with HFCS, and these items are a staple in many children’s diets, including in the meals fed to them at school. So it is no wonder that children’s bodies are being overwhelmed by mercury and other autism-related toxins, which is only worsened by the onslaught of neurologically damaging vaccines, some of which still contain mercury, most of them received throughout their early childhood developmental years.

Besides affecting zinc levels, HFCS in particular has also been shown to deplete the body of calcium and other important vitamins and minerals as well. Without these and other critical nutrients, the body is unable to effectively protect itself against the myriad of toxic exposures it faces every single day, which include pesticide residues found on conventional produce, for instance, or flame retardant chemicals found in bedding and clothing.

“Rather than being independent sources of risk, factors like nutrition and exposure to toxic chemicals are cumulative and synergistic in their potential to disrupt normal development,” added Dr. Richard Deth, another co-author of the study and Professor of Pharmacology at Northwestern University near Chicago. “These epigenetic effects can also be transmitted across generations. As autism rates continue to climb it is imperative to incorporate this new epigenetic perspective into prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies.”

Recent research has also pinpointed the artificial sweetener aspartame and other methanol-producing foods and environmental factors as causes of autism. And the ever-increasing childhood vaccination schedule is also directly linked to a significant uptick in autism rates over the years, even when vaccines that do not contain mercury are used.

Parents will want to proactively protect the health of their children by helping them to avoid HFCS and all products that contain it, and teaching them to eat and enjoy organic, pesticide-free produce and other whole foods. Feeding children “superfoods” rich in vitamins and minerals, and supplementing their diets with brain-boosting nutrient foods like omega-3 fatty acids, spirulina, and probiotics will also go a long way in protecting these young ones from the continuous onslaught of dietary and environmental toxins that are constantly at war with their brains.

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New Study Shows Obesity Rate Is Actually Far Worse than Previously Recognized

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

In the United States, where two-thirds of all states already have obesity rates exceeding 25 percent, and 12 states now have obesity rates over 30 percent, it is shocking to hear that these rates may actually be underestimated.

But this is precisely what new research has revealed.

Body-mass index (BMI), which gauges weight in relation to height and is widely used as a measure of overweight and obesity, is to blame for the flawed assessments.

Are Nearly 60% of Americans Obese?

Researchers compared BMI measurements to body fat percentage (using a DEXA scan, which is a FAR more accurate method to assess body fat percentage) among 1,400 people.

For women, about half of those who were not classified as obese according to BMI were considered obese according to body fat.

Among men, one-quarter of those not identified as obese by BMI were found to be obese by body-fat measures.

In all, nearly 40 percent of participants whose BMI classified them as overweight were actually obese when their percentage of body fat was taken into account.

According to lead author Dr. Eric Braverman, president of the nonprofit Path Foundation in New York City, “Based on BMI, about one-third of Americans are considered obese, but when other methods of measuring obesity are used, that number may be closer to 60%.”

As such, BMI also neglects to factor in how muscular you might be.

Athletes and completely out-of-shape people can have similar BMI scores, or a very muscular person could be classified as “obese” using BMI, when in reality it is mostly lean muscle accounting for their higher-than-average weight.

Dr. Braverman says of BMI:

“Some people call it the ‘baloney mass index.”

Many studies, such as one published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, have found that a high BMI was associated with a lower risk of death, a phenomenon known as the “obesity paradox.” This finding as an example of how BMI is a flawed measurement tool, as it tells you nothing about where fat is located in the body, and it appears that the location of the fat is more important than the amount of fat when it comes to measuring certain health risks, such as heart disease risks. BMI also uses weight as a measure of risk, when it is actually a high percentage of body fat that makes a person obese.

Could Testing Your Leptin Levels Make Your BMI More Useful?

The researchers found that levels of the hormone leptin were strongly associated with body fat percentage, and suggested that testing your leptin levels could therefore be used in addition to your BMI to help get a more accurate picture of your true risk of obesity and related diseases.

The hormones your fat cells produce impact how much you eat and how much fat you burn. One of these hormones is leptin, and leptin sends signals that reduce hunger, increase fat burning and reduce fat storage. That is, if your cells are communicating properly and can “hear” this message.

If you are eating a diet that is high in sugar, fructose and grains, as the sugar gets metabolized in fat cells, fat releases surges in leptin. Over time, if your body is exposed to too much leptin, it will become resistant to the leptin (just as your body can become resistant to insulin). Leptin resistance causes an increase in the visceral fat your body produces. Likewise, it is through an inflammatory process that it’s thought visceral fat causes its damage, and the same diet that makes you leptin resistant will also increase inflammation and body fat in your body. By tending to one factor — diet — you can reduce your risk of both becoming leptin resistant and producing excess visceral fat.

What’s a Better Way to Gauge Your Weight Health than BMI?

Another simple and inexpensive option is measuring your waist circumference, as a thick waist is a well-known sign of a build-up of visceral fat, a dangerous type of fat around your internal organs that is strongly linked with type 2 diabetes, heart disease and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

It is thought that visceral fat is related to the release of proteins and hormones that can cause inflammation, which in turn can damage arteries and enter your liver, affecting how your body breaks down sugars and fats. When your body routinely stores excess visceral fat, you increase your risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, vascular disease, atherosclerosis (hardening of your arteries) and an increased thickness in the walls of your heart.

Your waist size is also a powerful indicator of insulin sensitivity, as studies clearly show that measuring your waist size is one of the most powerful ways to predict your risk for diabetes. Determining your waist size is easy. With a tape measure, figure the distance around the smallest area of your abdomen below your rib cage and above your belly button. If you’re not sure if you have a healthy waist circumference, a general guide is:

  • For men, between 37 and 40 inches is overweight and more than 40 inches is obese
  • For women, 31.5-34.6 inches is overweight and more than 34.6 inches is obese

The other tool, which many experts are now leaning toward as the most accurate measure of obesity, is body fat percentage. As it sounds, this is simply the percentage of fat your body contains, and it can be a powerful indicator of your health. Too much body fat is linked to chronic health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Too little body fat is also problematic and can cause your body to enter a catabolic state, where muscle protein is used as fuel. A general guideline from the American Council on Exercise is as follows:

How to Measure Your Body Fat

Body fat calipers are one of the most trusted and most accurate ways to measure body fat. A body fat, or skinfold, caliper is a lightweight, hand-held device that quickly and easily measures the thickness of a fold of your skin with its underlying layer of fat. Taken at three very specific locations on your body, these readings can help you estimate the total percent of body fat within your entire body.

You can also use a digital scale that determines body fat, which is what I use personally. I use an Eat Smart Precision GetFit Body Fat Scale that I picked up from Amazon for around $50. Currently my body fat measures at 13.5 percent on this scale, although I think it is actually closer to 11 percent or 12 percent. Although many body fat measurements can be inaccurate, they are nearly all more accurate than BMI, and are particularly useful to determine whether you are gaining or losing fat. Although the absolute value may be off, the direction you are going (whether your body fat is going up or down) will be very accurate, and this is an incredibly useful measure of whether you’re nearing your health goals or not.

As I mentioned earlier, a DEXA scan is probably one of the most accurate ways to measure body fat but it is not at all easy to find a center that uses them to measure body fat percentage. There are many DEXA scans out there but most are used to measure bone density. Additionally, a DEXA scan is an X-ray, which will expose you to radiation, and is far more expensive than all of the other methods discussed. For a fraction of the price of one DEXA scan you can pick up an Eat Smart scale and merely step on it each day to monitor your progress.

Remember that it is FAR better to monitor your body fat percentage than it is your total weight, as the body fat percentage is what dictates metabolic health or dysfunction — not your total weight.

Tried-and-True Tips for Reaching a Healthy Weight

Once you review the research, it’s clear that if you are serious about losing weight, you have got to strictly limit the amount of fructose in your diet, as evidence is mounting that excess sugar, and fructose in particular, is the primary factor in the obesity epidemic. So cutting soda from your diet is essential. However many fail to appreciate the importance of cutting out other sources of fructose, including those found in processed foods, fruit juice, excessive fruit and so-called “healthy” sweeteners like agave.

Ideally you should keep your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day and this includes fruits. This is especially true if you have insulin resistance and are overweight, have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol.

For the majority of people, severely restricting carbohydrates such as sugars, fructose, and grains in your diet will be the key to weight loss. Refined carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.

As you cut these dietary villains from your meals, you need to replace them with healthy substitutes like vegetables and healthy fats (including natural saturated fats!). Your body prefers the carbohydrates in vegetables rather than grains and sugars because it slows the conversion to simple sugars like glucose, and decreases your insulin level. When you cut grains and sugar from your meals, you typically will need to radically increase the amount of vegetables you eat, as well as make sure you are also consuming protein and healthy fats regularly.

I’ve detailed a step-by-step guide to this type of healthy eating program in my comprehensive nutrition plan, and I urge you to consult this guide if you are trying to lose weight.

The foods you choose to eat will be the driving force behind successfully achieving your weight loss goals — even more so than exercise. But exercise is still important for weight loss and optimal health. The key to boosting weight loss and getting the most out of your exercise routine is to make sure to incorporate high-intensity, short-burst-type exercises, such as my Peak Fitness Program, two to three times per week. Several studies have confirmed that exercising in shorter bursts with rest periods in between burns more fat than exercising continuously for an entire session.

If you are struggling with your weight, exercise is clearly one of the key factors that can synergize the effects of healthy food choices and help you reach your short- and long-term weight loss goals.

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The Amazing Healing Powers of Cayenne Pepper (Capsicum)

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By: PF Louis
Source: NaturalNews.com

When the famous master herbalist Dr. John Christopher was bothered by stomach ulcer problems as a student, one of his herbal instructors recommended young John drink a solution of cayenne pepper powder in water daily.

At first, Dr. Christopher thought this was a contradiction. How could something so hot help his ulcers? But he bravely took the advice and to his surprise, it did cure his ulcers. Following that experience, Dr. Christopher become a zealous advocate of cayenne for both heart issues and for boosting the efficacy of some of his other herbal formulas.

Christopher has even documented cases where he helped patients come out of heart attacks using only a teaspoon of cayenne powder in a cup of warm water. He isn’t alone; there are several anecdotes of people recovering from serious heart attacks by downing cayenne teas or tinctures.

One of Dr. Christophers interns, Dr. Richard Schulze, ND, MH, took up the cause proclaiming, “If you only master one herb in your life, master cayenne pepper. It’s more powerful than any other.” Both Schulze and Christopher recommend taking a half to full teaspoon of cayenne powder in water two to three times daily as an overall health tonic.

Using cayenne as an herbal medicine or tonic

If you use cayenne, ensure it’s organic. Even organic cayenne is inexpensive and the potential benefits are invaluable. The powder comes from various dried and ground chili peppers, all containing capsaicin (cap-say-sin). The amount of capsaicin is indicated by the cayenne powder’s heat levels, measured in Scoville heat units (SHU) or heat units (HU).

The lowest therapeutic level of SHU or heat units is 35,000. You will often find cayenne powder listed at 40,000, 60,000, 90,000 or 100,000 SHU or heat units. Unless you have a fondness for really hot spicy foods, you may want to start at the 40,000 level. Ultimately, moving up the heat line is recommended for optimum efficacy.

Dr. Christopher liked to use warm purified or distilled water to mix in the fine cayenne powder. One-half to a full cup of water can be used for to mix a half or full teaspoon of cayenne that can be quickly gulped. Allowing the heat to permeate is part of cayenne’s therapeutic value, which a reason why Dr. Schulze disdains cayenne capsules.

Dr. Schulze endorses using a homemade tincture in addition to the cayenne tea. A tincture is easy to carry around and may provide an on-the-spot remedy for heart attack to avoid an ER trip when away from home.

Cayenne’s health benefits

Cayenne powder serves as both a general tonic and a medicine. In addition to potentially helping cease the fatal throes of a heart attack, ingesting cayenne daily also clears clogged arteries while strengthening the whole cardiovascular system and the heart.

It is also a valuable aid for digestion and elimination which can ultimately help heal hemorrhoids and ulcers. Both Dr. Christopher and Dr. Schulze assert that ingesting cayenne powder will boost the potency of the other herbs and supplements you’re taking.

In cayenne studies, scientists have demonstrated an 80% reduction with prostate cancers in mice and in human prostate cancer cells in cultures.The capsaicin in cayenne actually creates accelerated cancer cell apoptosis, or cellular self destruction.

Cayenne pepper contains many beneficial phytochemicals, extremely bio-available vitamins C & E, and minerals, including the vital heart-health mineral magnesium. It cleans the blood, allowing hormonal signals to make their way unimpeded through your system and enhancing the immune system.

You can choose to avoid Big Pharma’s expensive toxic “solutions” for heart and other health issues using all natural solutions like this. Inexpensive, non-toxic cayenne goes well beyond culinary applications.

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Methanol Toxicity from Aspartame may cause Autism, Spina Bifida, Preterm Delivery And More

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By: Jonathan Benson
Source: NaturalNews.com

The issue hardly gets as much attention as it deserves, but the extreme toxicity of the artificial sweetener aspartame is wrecking human health on a massive scale. And in a comprehensive study on methanol, the major alcohol component of aspartame, retired food scientist and Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Nutrition at Arizona State University (ASU) Dr. Woodrow C. Monte explains how methanol toxicity from aspartame and other sources appears responsible for causing autism, spina bifida, preterm delivery, multiple sclerosis, cancer and many other chronic health conditions.

Not tied to the processed food industry or any other corporate player that might taint or bias his findings, Dr. Monte’s interest in the subject of methanol toxicity comes purely from a genuine concern about protecting human health. And his many years of experience studying food ingredients for use in specialized health care food products has afforded him a wealth of knowledge on this important subject that rarely, if ever, gets publicized by the corporately-funded mainstream media.

Methanol, the chemical trojan horse responsible for many modern diseases

In his study entitled Methanol: A chemical Trojan Horse as the root of the Inscrutable U, Dr. Monte evaluates the role that methanol plays in human health. Since methanol is a relatively new addition to the human diet, thanks to processing methods and chemical syntheses that did not exist prior to 1800s, it is vitally important to determine how this chemical substance affects the human body.

What Dr. Monte discovered is that methanol is converted by the body into formaldehyde, a highly toxic substance known to cause cancer in humans. He also uncovered the fact that methanol metabolizes in organs of the body other than just the liver which, based on all available evidence, is directly responsible for causing what Dr. Monte has termed “diseases of civilization” (DOC).

“Methanol is particularly dangerous to humans, more so than any other animal,” says Dr. Woodrow C. Monte on his website WhileScienceSleeps.com. “When humans consume low doses of methanol it is metabolized directly into formaldehyde which is a cancer producing agent of the same level of danger as asbestos and plutonium.”

Where Dr. Monte’s research diverts from the mainstream view of methanol’s toxicity has to do with the way dietary methanol is processed by the body. Rather than dissipate as is widely believed, methanol-induced formaldehyde tends to lodge itself into certain areas of the body that avoid filtering through the liver — and these are the same areas of the body where DOCs tend to appear.

“Once methanol runs the gauntlet of first-pass metabolism, its detoxification is no longer exclusive to the liver,” writes Dr. Monte in his study. “Methanol transports its potential to become formaldehyde past normal biological barriers in the brain and elsewhere that environmental formaldehyde itself cannot usually penetrate … [formaldehyde] can then be produced within the arteries and veins, heart, brain, lungs, breast, bone, and skin.”

Aspartame, a primary source of toxic methanol in the American diet

Where is all this toxic, methanol-induced formaldehyde coming from? It turns out aspartame is one of the primary sources in the American diet today. According to Dr. Monte, every molecule of aspartame, which is also marketed under the names NutraSweet, Equal, Canderel, 951, and AminoSweet, converts into a molecule of methanol when consumed. And in its dry form, aspartame is 11 percent methanol by weight.

This means that people who regularly consume “diet” foods and beverages laced with aspartame are taking in high amounts of a formaldehyde-producing, chemical poison that is drastically increasing their risk of developing chronic illnesses.

“As aspartame eventually became a major source of methanol in the civilized human diet, the incidence of DOC gradually began to rise,” says Dr. Monte’s report. “In addition to aspartame, and canned vegetables, fruits, and their juices, a major source of the methanol entering the modern civilized human body is cigarette smoke, causatively linked to atherosclerosis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other DOC.”

“It is my belief that diet soda has contributed to the rise of breast cancer and multiple sclerosis that has been preceded by the use of Aspartame as a food ingredient in every country that has allowed its use.”

You can view Dr. Monte’s complete study on methanol at:
http://www.whilesciencesleeps.com/methanol/

Helpful tips for avoiding methanol

Avoiding all “diet” and “low-fat” food and beverage products that contain aspartame or any other artificial sweetener chemical is an absolute must for keeping toxic methanol out of your diet. Cigarette smoke, canned fruits and vegetables, smoked meats, and overly-ripe fruits and vegetables are also major methanol culprits that you will want to avoid

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Parsley is a blood purifying superfood

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By: Dr. David Jockers
Source: NaturalNews.com

Parsley is considered the world’s most popular garnish. Parsley was originally cultivated in Europe and the Middle East but has become a staple in American cuisine. This herb has remarkable healing and blood purifying benefits that classify it as a superfood.

Parsley has been revered throughout history and used for both culinary and medicinal purposes. The Greeks made crowns of parsley to bestow upon their sports champions. It was used for the Hebrew celebration of Passover as a sign of rebirth in the spring. The Romans used it to deodorize corpses before funerals.

It contains a unique combination of nutrients that make it a powerful superfood. The volatile oil compounds myristicin, limonene, eugenol, and alpha-thujene have been shown to inhibit tumor cell formation. Additionally, parsley is rich in flavonoids-including apiin, apigenin, crisoeriol, and luteolin that have strong anti-oxidant properties.

Parsley also contains about three times the amount of vitamin C by volume as an orange. Vitamin C is extremely important for healthy immune function and youthful skin & joints. Additionally, it contains carotenoid anti-oxidants lutein and zeaxanthin which enhance eye function and help the body neutralize damage from UV radiation.

Super rich in chlorophyll

Parsley is super rich in chlorophyll, the energy producing substance that gives herbs and plants its characteristic green color. Chlorophyll helps to alkalize the body, purify blood, and form new red blood cells. In addition, the chlorophyll and flavonoids in parsley help to enhance cellular glutathione formation. Higher levels of cellular glutathione allow the body to detoxify and heal more effectively.

Through these properties, parsley is able to improve cellular oxygenation properties. Increased oxygenation = increased cellular energy = increased detoxification & healing mechanisms.

Parsley is a fantastic source of folic acid which is extremely crucial for its ability to reduce homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is an inflammatory mediator that is linked with cardiovascular disease and brain degeneration. Folic acid is also important for pregnant women as it plays a critical role in fetal development. It is also an important nutrient for cancer prevention.

Parsley is also known as a powerful diuretic that reduces blood pressure and enhances kidney function. In particular, parsley increases sodium and water excretion thru urine and increases potassium reabsorption into the kidneys. This is particularly useful for anyone with poor circulation, swelling, cellulite, and other cardiovascular problems.

Juiced parsley is also believed to stimulate uterine contractions during labor. This juice has also been used to enhance skin and hair texture. It is also thought to reduce inflammation and mucous formation throughout the body. This is why many individuals see results using parsley to reduce symptoms of asthma, allergies, bronchitis, & urinary tract infections.

The rich chlorophyll content is also a great body odor and breath freshener. Chlorophyll acts as an anti-mutagen and it reduces odor causing bacteria which are responsible for producing bad breath and body odor. Parsley combines well with garlic and onions and reduces the strong pungent body odor these sulfur rich foods are known to cause.

Parsley dipped in apple cider vinegar is especially useful for reducing body odor and improving digestive function. The natural acids, chlorophyll and enzymes present in this food combination synergize to enhance the intestinal microflora. This is one of the best aids for neutralizing acid reflux, gas and bloating.

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Fast Food not only makes you Fat, it also contributes to Depression

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By: J. D. Heyes
Source: NaturalNews.com

You already know that the McLarge burger you’re stuffing in your face isn’t healthy for you. What you may not know, however, is that all that fast food is doing more than just expanding your waistline – it could be giving you a serious case of depression as well.

A study of some 8,964 people found that eating junk and fast food has a negative effect on mental health.

Some of our American favorites – burgers, pizza, hot dogs – are on the list of fast or non-nutritional foods that contribute to a darker mood. In fact, the study found that people who eat those foods often were 51 percent more likely to become depressed, as evidenced by http://www.webmd.com, among other signs and symptoms.

Even small quantities are bad for you

The study also found that those most likely to over-indulge in such unhealthy fare were single, less physically active, smokers and those who worked more than 45 hours per week.

Researchers, whose data have been published in the Journal of Public Health Nutrition, found that of the nearly 9,000 people studied over a six-month period, 493 were diagnosed with clinical depression or otherwise began taking anti-depressants. People with extremely high or low daily caloric intake, or had obesity-related diseases, were excluded from the study.

Dr. Almudena Sanchez-Villegas, lead researcher from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Grenada, said data found that commercially baked foods produce similarly depressive effects.

“Even eating small quantities is linked to a significantly higher chance of developing depression,” she said. “Although more studies are necessary, the intake of this type of food should be controlled because of its implications on both health (obesity, cardiovascular diseases) and mental well-being.”

Sanchez-Villegas noted that her findings were similar to earlier studies that found a correlation between higher intake of fast food and depression.

Her research supports the results of the SUN project in 2011, which were published in the PloS One journal. That six-month study of 12,059 people found 657 new cases of depression; in all, the study recorded a 42 percent increase in the risk of depression associated with fast food.

Vicious cycle

There are lots of problems and issues associated with poor diets, not the least of which are health problems – obesity, diabetes, cardiac disease, high blood pressure and an increased risk of stroke, to name a few.

But there is an added element of risk for those who seek relief from their food-caused depression by taking anti-depressant medications. That’s because other studies have shownthat taking medications for depression can actually increase depression and suicidal tendencies- a finding that is also backed by theFood and Drug Administration.

“Drug labels contain 70 negative side-effects on average. Even very regularly prescribed drugs can have 100 negative side-effects, with some drugs lurking up around 525 negative side-effects. Suicidal thoughts leading to an increased risk of suicide is just one of those side-effects to look out for, following the very last possible side effects – death,” says a report in Natural Society.

Regarding the apparent link between fast food and depression, researchers aren’t sure if one causes the other, or vice versa. Certainly people who are obese can become depressed about their condition, but it’s not clear if unhealthy diets which are causing their obesity are also causing their depression, say scientists.

What is clear, though, is that a poor diet and increased incidents of depression are related, and that should be just one more reason to drive by the drive-through and get yourself a healthy meal somewhere else

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Research shows Pharmaceutical Side Effects Exceed Adverse Warnings 5X

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By: Paul Fassa
Source: NaturalNews.com

Often no matter how bad you think it is, the reality is worse than imagined. This is the case with pharmaceutical side effects. It’s so bad that even mainstream medical research acknowledges there are more adverse side effects than disclosed.

But their viewpoint still holds pharmaceuticals as the only medicine that works. Nutrition hardly affects health, if at all. Herbs are plants from which labs duplicate active ingredients for synthetic drugs that are the only effective medicines. Homeopathy doesn’t work, etc.That’s the medical monopoly mindset.

A slight crack has appeared in their medical arrogance. Researchers from Stanford Medical School created a couple of data bases that prove there are up to five times more adverse effects from pharmaceuticals than displayed or publicized.

Their research

The Stanford study was reported in the March 14th, 2012 edition of Science Translational Medicine by lead author Russ Altman, MD, PhD and his graduate student assistant Nicholas Tatonetti.

They created a dual data base system to analyze data from the FDA’s adverse event reporting system (AERS). Their premise that safety trials are conducted on the public after a drug hits the market is noteworthy (Stanford report, source below).

They also mentioned that clinical trials for obtaining FDA approval are insufficient for assuming safety for everyone within all situations. However, their viewpoint is still locked into that medical monopoly mindset mentioned earlier.

The Stanford research is an attempt to provide more knowledge for better prescription advice to minimize side effects. But there is no concession to any other modality of medical treatment. In other words, they want to clean up their act a bit, not fold up their snake oil wagons to move on and let others show their wares.

Even cleaning up their act is unlikely

The Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) reported in 1998 that the fourth highest cause of death was properly prescribed pharmaceuticals. Adding those deaths by improperly prescribed drugs puts the death ranking from Big Pharma “medicine” to third place.

These statistics don’t include over the counter drugs. Instead of confronting these statistics, the FDA and AMA engage in marginalizing and suppressing other healing modalities that are safe and effective.

Dr. Ray Strand, author of Death by Prescription explained to Mike Adams in a 2005 interview that the FDA should demand adverse effect reports from medical professionals, the way it’s done in Europe and the UK, and clinical trials should be funded by the government.

Currently, reporting to AERS is voluntary in the USA. Many experts estimate that only five to ten percent of actual adverse effects do get reported. Funding for trials is provided by pharmaceutical companies who pay the FDA for their approval. The very foundation of this system is corrupt.

Oh yes, don’t forget that the USA and New Zealand are the only nations that permit direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising. Also consider how Big Pharma starts wooing and training MDs while they’re still in med school.

So, the Stanford study, while laudable considering it’s from within the medical monopoly system, is based on AERS data that contains a fraction of actual adverse effects. The study also doesn’t address the FDA’s financial angles and conflicts of interest with Big Pharma shills slipping through the government/corporate revolving door.

Nice try guys. It would be better to simply apply anti-trust laws to the medical monopoly, if there are still any anti-trust laws in the books. Allow “alternative” (real) medicine to come to the forefront while your field gets the “quack” flack it deserves.

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Curcumin found to Prevent Brain Degenerative Diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s

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By: John Phillip
Source: NaturalNews.com

Curcumin, the bioactive compound found in the Indian curry spice turmeric and commonly referred to as ‘holy powder’, has been used for centuries in folk medicine to treat wounds, infections, and other health problems. Today researchers are using the power of the evolving science of epigenetics to reveal how curcumin is crucial in the fight against many forms of cancer, as it causes metastatic cells to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis.

Researchers from Michigan State University, publishing the result of a study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry have found that this amazing natural compound is able to prevent the destructive formation of alpha-synuclein proteins that are the hallmark presentation in many neurodegenerative disease such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Curcumin is one a very select group of structures that is able to cross the delicate blood-brain barrier to affect biochemical and electrical activities in the brain. The turmeric derivative has demonstrated the unique capability to prevent clumping or aggregation leading to disease development.

Curcumin aids protein folding to prevent brain tangles and degeneration

The team lead researcher, Dr. Basir Ahmad and scientists conducting the study commented “Our research shows that curcumin can rescue proteins from aggregation, the first steps of many debilitating diseases… more specifically, curcumin binds strongly to alpha-synuclein and prevents aggregation at body temperatures.”

The team used precise lasers to study the split-second formation of proteins known as ‘protein folding’. Normally, proteins are folded at lightning fast speed at the direction of genes and DNA sequences. Damage to DNA caused by poor diet and lifestyle factors from epigenetic alterations results in mis-folded proteins and neurodegenerative disease.

Researchers found that when curcumin attaches to alpha-synuclein it not only stops clumping, but it also raises the protein’s folding or reconfiguration rate. By slowing the speed that the proteins form, curcumin effectively inhibits abnormal protein clumping to prevent tangles and damage to the nerve synapses. Chemical and electrical communications are retained that help to help prevent the early manifestation of Parkinson’s disease.

Curcumin can be added to the diet with liberal use of the Indian curry spice in meal preparation. Many people do not enjoy the taste of curry infused foods. For those individuals, nutrition advisors recommend a standardized supplement (std. to 95% total curcuminoids for maximum bioavailability) providing 300 to 500 mg daily to prevent neurodegenerative decline.

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Natural ways to Get Rid of Wrinkles

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By: Kim Evans
Source: NaturalNews.com

Most people think that once you have wrinkles you’re stuck with them, but there’s actually quite a bit you can do about them. Of course, nutrition and being clean internally are key parts of the equation and it’s not uncommon to find that with tons of juicing, eating lots of uncooked foods from nature and doing plenty of coffee enemas that wrinkles just go away. Actually, it’s a combination that tends to keep us young and disease-free on many levels. However, there’s quite a bit that you can do about wrinkles topically too.

Coconut oil, beet and carrot juice

Coconut oil is a wonderful oil that is known to rebuild our skin tissue and it can be used both topically and internally regularly for the elimination of wrinkles. Coconut oil is both hydrating and rebuilds our connective tissues, and damaged connective tissues are often the cause of wrinkles.

Using a little carrot and beet juice on the skin regularly helps remove wrinkles too and is in fact quite powerful. The vitamin A in carrot juice is wonderful for the skin. Beets are also known to repair our DNA, so using beet juice topically on wrinkle sites is a powerful way to rebuild the damaged skin which often causes wrinkles – possibly by repairing the DNA of the damaged tissue.

Using carrot and beet juice topically with coconut oil also increases the benefits of both. Coconut oil has absorptive properties that help pull the juices into the skin in addition to its hydration benefits. You’ll only need a tablespoon or two of these juices each time and you can drink what you don’t use. You’ll want to leave these juices on your skin for about ten minutes before rinsing them off. You can apply and reapply the juices as they dry, rubbing them in each time.

Exfoliation

After you’ve spent some time repairing your skin with coconut oil and these juices, you’ll want to exfoliate your skin to remove the dead skin. You can exfoliate with a washcloth or you can use the juice of a somewhat unripe pineapple. Pineapple contains the enzyme bromelain which naturally eats away our top layer of skin when applied topically and leaves the new fresh skin underneath. Pineapple juice easily rivals expensive spa exfoliation treatments.

To exfoliate with pineapple juice, just apply some of the juice with a little coconut oil or olive oil and rub it in, reapplying it as needed. After a few minutes of rubbing, you may find that dead layers of skin start to come off in your hands. And after doing this, just rinse and apply a layer of coconut or olive oil to hydrate the skin.

While you may not be able to get rid of all of your wrinkles this way, you might be able be get rid of 50 or 60 percent of them. Of course, the more you do the juices and the coconut oil, the more effective they are.

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Tips for Healing Ear Infections

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Hi, this is a question from a reader who asked what you can do if you have an ear infection. And this is more common amongst children nowadays because of vaccinations. There are studies to show that vaccinated children have 5 times the number of ear infections than non-vaccinated children.

It also happens when a child or an adult eats a lot of sweets, sugary things, soft drinks, which always lead to some form of infection, either in the intestinal tract or in the auditory ducts or in the ears themselves.

The auditory ducts are two ducts that run from the throat all over into the ears and they can easily fill up with bacteria, toxins, waste matter that backs up from the intestines all the way up into the ear ducts and into the inner ears even. And once the contaminants, toxins, waste matter sit there along with the bacteria, there can be an infection and the infection is basically to help digest these contaminants and waste products that have made their way into the ears.

It’s not that bacteria viciously try to infect the lining of the ears or the ear walls, but it’s basically due to the innate instinctive aspect of any bacterium that has destructive properties that is meant to ferment or putrefy or break down waste matter in nature outside of ourselves and also inside our bodies.

Now in order to deal with that, many people take recourse to antibiotics which is a real nuisance because once you have taken antibiotics, you also destroy the healthy, friendly probiotic bacteria population, and according to one new study, this can ruin your probiotic bacteria population for the rest of your life.

So children will not even have a chance to have a proper digestive process for the rest of their lives once they have received just one course of antibiotics.

It’s always good to take recourse to more natural means to deal with that, and research has also shown that antibiotics are not more effective in saving or shortening the duration of the infection by more than half a day. So there is not really much benefit from taking these drugs.

On the other hand, it is better to make sure that the child or adult eats or takes only liquid foods during this time, which are more easily digested. Ideally, drinking lemon and honey water, warm water with lemon and honey, a teaspoon of honey and some lemon juice, which has shown to have disinfecting qualities… the honey is bacteria-static so if you put bacteria on honey, they will die off readily, very quickly.

So gargling with that is also a good idea because some of that will end up moving into the auditory ducts and into the ears.

One can also take a spray bottle, which contains 4% or 3 % of hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide should be applied once every one or two hours during the time of the pain, directly into the ears, spraying it into the ears, one or two sprays in each ear, that will help to clean up or mop up, oxidize the waste products and make it unnecessary for bacteria to decompose these things, and so the infection sometimes subsides within a couple of hours.

This is probably the best advice I can give, besides obviously avoiding food which have lymph congesting effects such as meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, any sugar obviously, which always causes lymph congestion and mucus secretion that can block the auditory ducts and then prevent the proper healing in the ears, the infected ears…

So it’s very important to avoid any artificial means of suppressing an infection, because that leads to repeat infections in the future, and a permanent problem in this part of the body; that is very important because that is where we have our sensory organs, and the sensory organs are essential for living a comfortable happy life.

Thank you.

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Blood In Stools – Chronic Inflammation in Intestines

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Hi, this is a question from Gabby and she is wondering why she has fresh blood in her stool every day.

This is a question that I cannot answer unless someone is examining this properly but when the body, when the large intestine releases blood it usually means there are areas or one area where there is chronic inflammation, where there is strong irritation from exposure to either toxins or there is a polyp that is opening up or there is a hemorrhoid that is not healing and there can be numerous hemorrhoids in the intestines that are hidden, or that are more exposed, so it would be good to check it out and see if there is any of the things that apply.

However, I can tell you that bleeding is not as serious as most people think it is, because bleeding always means that the body is trying to get rid of something that is causing problems in the blood, so if there are blood toxins, the body goes into an involuntary bleeding response trying to get rid of these toxins.

It looks scary perhaps, but it is not as scary as most people are made to believe and not letting in a way, it is a way to clear up excessive Hematocrit values and to get rid of some extra proteins in the blood that otherwise can cause blood thickening and potential damage to the coronary arteries and to the brain.

So I would be very cautious in believing or making you believe that there is something seriously wrong, but if bleeding is consistent it is important to look for underlying causes of what is it that is constantly irritating you, if there is any food that you are eating that has very strong irritating effects, could be beverages as well, soft drinks, it could be animal protein, if you eat meat, that can often lead to such responses, also garlic, if you’re eating a lot of garlic, for example, which can literally irritate and burn tiny little holes into the intestinal wall, there are many things that are… in terms of processed foods… that can cause irritation and toxicity in that part of the body. So it’s good to always look at those.

Also see if the digestion is not working very well, if there is a need for cleaning out the liver so that you release more bile.

Bile has incredible healing properties, it’s not just to carry toxins out of the liver and pass them through the intestines, but also it helps with the digestion of fats, emulsifying of fat, which is necessary to digest carbohydrates and proteins and to absorb minerals. So if there is a lack of bile, you may not be able to neutralize hydrochloric acid that is secreted in the stomach sufficiently enough which then can cause a great deal of irritation in the lower intestines, but that is avoidable by cleaning out the liver and taking care of the food and also the times of eating.

If you eat a lot of heavy foods in the evening or late in the evening, then a lot of the foods will not be digested and it will sit there in the intestine, ferment and putrefy, and release a lot of toxins, as the fermenting or putrefying bacteria are producing these kinds of toxins that can then create inflammatory responses.

So having said that, again I would caution anyone to think that there is something terribly wrong, it just shows that the body is doing the right thing, given the circumstances that we somehow create through our diet and lifestyle eating habits or living habits.

So it’s good to take care of the basic factors of diet and lifestyle before jumping into the conclusion that there is a cancer, tumor or something of that nature, than just doing some experiments to see which kind of foods might be irritating, leaving them out for a while and see if the bleeding continues, before jumping into conclusions of believing that there is something very, very serious.

Thank you.

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Tips for Balancing Altitude Sickness

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Hi, this is question from someone who is wondering if I have any recommendations to avoid or to balance altitude sickness. Many people who are going to places like Peru or to higher regions of mountains where the air is thinner, that means it has less oxygen, and henceforth suffer from altitude sickness which can be severe headaches, shortness of breath, can be poor digestion, many of the functions in the body are diminished when there is not enough oxygen going through the system and reaching the cells.

So, there are a number of things that I suggest in countries that are used to high altitudes and in Peru, for example, I have been there, they will offer you the traditional drink, the cocoa tea that is very, very effective in improving the circulation of blood so that enough oxygen is delivered to the cells.

When I traveled to Peru ten years ago I used that myself and within a day I was basically fine, I didn’t have any negative experiences, however, I noticed that those traveler friends of mine, who were eating meat, they took more than a week to recover, and some never recovered from altitude sickness and they only felt better when we went back down to lower altitudes.

I have been a vegetarian for 40 years and I had really no problem of digesting, and my wife the same. We are both vegetarians, so, the advices, and I have given that advice to others who were meat eaters and I told them to stop eating any animal products for at least 4 to 5 days and then they would also rapidly recover from the altitude sickness.

The reason why the meat or heavy foods are so detrimental for the system when you travel to high altitudes is because the digestive system requires most oxygen, besides the brain, than any other part of the body. And in order to digest food, it really uses up a lot of energy and so, so much of oxygen and glucose get used up by the digestive system and there is just not enough around.

If you eat a lot of meat that requires high energy, amount of energy, to process those heavier foods, then there is not much left for other functions in the body. So these people would feel very low in energy and depleted, and it’s not much fun, even if you go to really beautiful places, it is not fun to drag yourself along because you don’t have enough energy, or if you have splitting headaches.

So I wholeheartedly recommend to do that, avoid any animal products, eat lots of vegetables, drink the cocoa tea, some grain foods, some beans are fine, seeds, salads, fruit, these are all wonderful foods to have when you go into high altitude regions and get, if possible, sun exposure that helps to make your transition to more efficient circulation during those months or weeks that you are living in high altitudes.

UV radiation in high altitudes is very beneficial for keeping infection rates low and to make sure that the immune system stays strong and can protect itself from any bacteria that potentially could cause infections. Because infection can be, infection rates are higher when people move into high altitudes and the water doesn’t boil as well, so any germs that might be in the water will not be killed so you have more than usual numbers of bacteria coming into the body. Again, food cannot be cooked as well and as fast as in lower altitudes.

So once again, keeping the immune system strong is your best bet, otherwise you may go through infections, parasitic infections, bacterial infections, in high altitudes

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Debunking Vitamin B12

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By Andreas Moritz 

Hi, my name is Andreas Moritz and today I would like to debunk some of the myths surrounding the vitamin, the important vitamin B12.

Many people believe that we are as a society, modern society; we are suffering from severe vitamin B12 deficiencies.  And there is some truth to that but not because we are not eating enough vitamin B12 in our food, but because we are not absorbing enough of that vitamin B12. And this can have a number of reasons and these reasons are responsible for the vitamin B12 deficiency that often ends up causing a form of anemia where the red blood cell count diminishes.

Now, we need B12 for basically every function in the body, every single cell requires B12 and if there is a B12 deficiency, we can experience as I said, anemia, we can have pins and needles in our hands, we can have brain and nervous system disorders, the bone marrow doesn’t function properly, we don’t produce enough red blood cells as mentioned, and we can have severe gastrointestinal problems.

Now one of the main reasons why there is such a strong vitamin B deficiency in our society today is because many people have stomach problems, and the reason for that is because we are eating a diet that is no longer in harmony with our body’s requirement for nutrients and for proper digestion. In fact many of the processed refined factory-produced foods are virtually indigestible. They cannot be properly broken down and they interfere with the secretions of digestive juices such as hydrochloric acid in the stomach.

There is a particular organic substance in the stomach, it’s called intrinsic factor, and in order to absorb, to digest and assimilate B12, the vitamin B12, then we need to have that intrinsic factor in larger quantities. If we have a diminished amount of that intrinsic factor, the B12 that we may eat, doesn’t matter through whatever source, including ingested supplements, then we are not going to absorb it, and its going to be useless.

So, the most important thing is to make sure our intrinsic factor in our stomach is produced in the right amounts and that is regulated by what we eat, how well we chew or masticate our food and also a second factor, whether we digest the food in our small intestine.

And that is a very, very important point because when we eat, for example, a very high concentrated protein meal such as lot of eggs or meat or fish and chicken, because we have only the capacity to digest up to 20 % of these foods, the majority of them will become putrefied in our intestines. So when we have undigested protein lingering in our intestinal tract for longer than even a couple of hours, then that disturbs the probiotic bacteria population in our gut, and probiotic bacteria are the principle source of B12 that is typically absorbed at the end of the small intestine in the terminal ileum, and in that part that’s where the B12 gets absorbed into the blood stream and carried to the liver, and the liver is in charge of keeping B12 there, and when required by the cells in the body it will put that into the circulation, into the blood stream, the cells will take it up and it’s going to be recycled in most cases. So most of the B12 is recycled and used for up to 6 or 7 years.

The amount of B12 that we need in our entire lifetime is just as much as a tip of the pinkie, this nail, it’s a very, very small amount, and its quite difficult to get B12 deficiency unless of course we have trouble in utilizing it, and once again that has a lot to do with what’s happening in our digestive system and not necessarily to do with the food that we eat, whether it contains enough B12 or not.

Since the principal source of B12 bacteria, and these are probiotic bacteria, when they die, they release the B12 and it’s been absorbed and utilized, which again is used by the brain and nervous system, the digestive system and the bone marrow, for most of all in order to keep our body healthy, vital and strong.

Now when a person eats a lot of junk food, uses medication, most medication particularly antibiotics destroy the probiotic bacteria population, and eating foods like meat, lot of meat which contains B12 but it cannot really be absorbed properly when the digestion is not working very well, particularly the intrinsic factor in the stomach has been diminished, which does happen when you eat too much protein foods. So there is a lot of to be said about meat being a source of B12, or eggs being a source of B12, or dairy products being a source of B12, that it doesn’t mean that you are going to absorb that.

Many, many vegetables are actually capable of releasing B12 as well and so there are smaller amounts of B12 in these foods such as bananas, green, leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds or leeks, dates, dates are rich in B12, they grown on palm trees, there are beans, there are green beans, oats, carrots, peas and so on.

These are small amounts, but that’s all we need, we don’t need large amounts of B12 that is prevalent in more meat products, but if we don’t digest these meat products up to more than 10 – 15 % then there is just no advantage eating meat products over eating vegetarian foods.

If you are, if you do want to have a higher source of B12, then butter is a good source of that, and I do recommend butter for most people, so that would be an alternative if you are non-vegetarian.

However, once again, the misunderstanding about B12 deficiency comes because we don’t understand how the body produces its own B12, just like cows for example, they don’t have to eat meat or drink other species’ milk in order to produce B12, they derive it from the plant foods, and they are, they don’t have a deficiency. Humans, as long as they eat natural foods, we will also not develop a B12 deficiency.

I personally had severe anemia when I grew up, when I was a child, and my B12 deficiencies stemmed from eating too many dairy products and animal proteins that eventually lead to severe gastrointestinal distress, and rheumatoid arthritis, and arrhythmia, and when I stopped eating these foods, my anemia disappeared, so my face started becoming colorful again, whereas before I was as white as snow in my face and I never had any color in my face. So that shows that the anemia is not necessarily removed by eating animal products. On the contrary, animal products can contribute greatly to a B12 deficiency.

Another misunderstanding surrounding B12 is that when you take a supplement, you think that you are going to absorb it and utilize it, but that is not necessarily so. B12 never comes alone, it always in nature combined with other B vitamins. So when a person just takes a B12 vitamin supplement, it is very, very, very difficult to absorb and utilize because nature didn’t built B12 on its own, or by itself, it always combines it with other B vitamins and other vitamins and minerals and other substances that allow the B12 to be utilized.

So once again, B12 deficiency has nothing really too with vegetarianism. Many, most people who are B12 deficient actually are meat eaters, and not vegetarians. However vegetarians can also suffer from B12 deficiency, it depends on what else they do, if they take medication or if they have used antibiotics in the past, the probiotic bacteria population can be disturbed for many years, and according to new study, actually can cause disruption for an entire lifetime.

One of the best things to do to improve the digestive process is to clean out the liver bile ducts so any accumulation of stones, intra-hepatic gallstones in the bile ducts of the liver inhibit the ability to digest food properly, it interferes with the probiotic bacterial population. Undigested food, putrefying, fermenting food doesn’t matter whether its vegetables or meat products, will lead to diminished absorption of B12 because of the lack of probiotic bacteria which is the major source of B12 in the body.

So I hope that this clarifies the issue, and I can only suggest eat naturally, live in a natural way, expose your body to the sun, B12 absorption also depends on how much vitamin D you have available to keep the digestive system strong and vital, and so when you expose your whole body to the sun on a regular basis, you will also have a higher level of healthy bacteria populations in the gut and have a stronger digestive absorption of nutrients available to you and therefore it is very difficult to actually develop B12 deficiency.

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This Forbidden Indulgence Could Actually Spare You a Heart Attack

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Salt has long been a treasured staple for humans across the globe.

In ancient times, salt was literally worth its weight in gold, as African and European explorers would trade an ounce of salt for an ounce of gold.

Roman soldiers were also paid in salt, hence the modern word “salary” (sal is the Latin word for salt) and the expression “worth his salt” or “earning his salt.”

Far from being harmful, high-quality salt is actually essential for life, but in the United States and many other developed countries salt has been vilified as a primary cause of high blood pressure and heart disease.

These latter claims have failed to be proven conclusively, as have the purported benefits of a low-salt diet.

Now the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) is trying to set the record straight, and has warned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that further plans for salt restriction pose a serious threat to human health.

FDA’s Salt Restriction Plans Could Harm Your Health

In a recently released document titled “Approaches to Reducing Sodium Consumption,” the FDA and the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) cite recommendations to reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg, with a further reduction to 1,500 mg (just over one-half teaspoon) for people who are age 51 and older, African American, or who have hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease (this encompasses about half of the U.S. population).

But as WAPF pointed out, the title of the document implies a determination has already been made that Americans sodium consumption should be reduced, a move that is contrary to scientific evidence.

Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, stated:

“A study from 1991 indicates that people need about one and one-half teaspoons of salt per day. Anything less triggers a cascade of hormones to recuperate sodium from the waste stream, hormones that make people vulnerable to heart disease and kidney problems. This is proven biochemistry. Yet, FDA as well as USDA want to mandate drastically restricted sodium consumption at about one-half teaspoon per day.”

The truth of the matter is that oftentimes sensible advice gets taken to the extreme and ends up being more harmful than helpful. Health officials misguided advice to shun the sun comes to mind, as now we are facing epidemic levels of vitamin D deficiency (the advice should be to avoid sunburn, but regular sun exposure is healthy). Likewise, health agencies’ advice to severely restrict salt may actually cause significant health problems …

Why Your Body Needs Salt

Unrefined natural salt provides two elements – sodium and chloride – that are essential for life. Your body cannot make these elements on its own; you must get them from your diet. Some of the many biological processes for which salt is crucial include:

  • Being a major component of your blood plasma, lymphatic fluid, extracellular fluid, and even amniotic fluid
  • Carrying nutrients into and out of your cells
  • Maintaining and regulating blood pressure
  • Supporting healthy glial cell populations in your brain, which are essential for forming the protective coating known as myelin that surrounds the portion of the neuron that conducts electrical impulses, as well as other vital neurological functions
  • Helping your brain communicate with your muscles, so that you can move on demand via sodium-potassium ion exchange

What else is salt good for? WAPF’s commentary to the FDA further breaks down the importance of both sodium and chloride for body function:

“Sodium plays a critical role in body physiology. It controls the volume of fluid in the body and helps maintain the acid-base level. About 40 percent of the body’s sodium is contained in bone, some is found within other organs and cells, and the remaining 55 percent is in blood plasma and extracellular fluids. Sodium is important in proper nerve conduction, in aiding the passage of various nutrients into cells, and in the maintenance of blood pressure.

Sodium-dependent enzymes are required for carbohydrate digestion, to break down complex carbohydrates and sugars into monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose and galactose; sodium is also involved in transporting these monosaccharides across the intestinal wall. Although salt is the most common dietary source for these essential elements, sodium is also available from various foods that contain sodium naturally.

Chloride ions also help maintain proper blood volume, blood pressure, and pH of body fluids. Chloride is the major extracellular anion and contributes to many body functions including the maintenance of blood pressure, acid-base balance, muscular activity, and the movement of water between fluid compartments. Chloride is the major component of hydrochloric acid, which is needed for protein digestion.

Symptoms of hypochlorhydria (low hydrochloric acid) include bloating, acne, iron deficiency, belching, indigestion, diarrhea and multiple food allergies. Chloride is available in very few foods, and adequate chloride must be obtained from salt.”

Did Salt Get the Blame When Fructose Was Really at Fault?

Many of you have likely heard of the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and which is very low in salt, consisting largely of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean protein, whole grains, and low-fat dairy. This is the diet used in the DASH-sodium study – the ONE study that was conducted to determine whether or not a low-salt diet would control hypertension.

People on DASH diets did show reduced hypertension, but researchers were so eager and personally invested in proving their salt theory that they completely overlooked other factors – like the fact that the DASH diet is also very low in sugar, including fructose.

Hypertension is actually promoted far more by excess fructose than excess salt, and the amount of salt Americans eat pales in comparison to the amount of fructose they consume on a daily basis. I’m convinced that sugar/fructose—rather than salt—is the major driving force behind our skyrocketing hypertension rates. (If you’re struggling with hypertension, you can read my full recommendations for normalizing  your blood pressure).  Blood pressure drops as much in low-sugar studies as it did in the DASH-sodium study, but this fact has been conveniently ignored.

Is Salt Really Linked to Heart Disease?

Last year a meta-analysis of seven studies involving more than 6,000 people found no strong evidence that cutting salt intake reduces the risk for heart attacks, strokes or death. In fact, it was salt restriction that actually increased the risk of death in those with heart failure.

Furthermore, research in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that the less sodium excreted in the urine (a marker of salt consumption), the greater the risk of dying from heart disease. The study followed 3,681 middle-aged healthy Europeans for eight years. The participants were divided into three groups: low salt, moderate salt, and high salt consumption. Researchers tracked mortality rates for the three groups, with the following results:

  1. Low-salt group: 50 people died
  2. Moderate salt group: 24 people died
  3. High-salt group: 10 people died

The risk for heart disease was 56 percent higher for the low-salt group than for the group who ate the most salt! Some studies have shown a modest benefit to salt restriction among some people with high blood pressure, but the evidence does not extend to the rest of the population.

WAPF notes:

“While excess sodium consumption does increase blood pressure in certain sensitive individuals, increased salt intake does not raise blood pressure in most people. In an average population when salt intakes are reduced, about 30 percent will experience a small drop in blood pressure (between one and four mm Hg), while about 20 percent will experience a similar increase in blood pressure.

The remaining 50 percent of the population will show no effect at all of salt intake reduction. In most people, even a significant increase in salt consumption does not raise blood pressure. … While salt restriction may benefit a small percentage of people with high blood pressure, the science shows no health benefits – and significant health problems – due to salt restriction in the majority of the population.”

Dangers of a Low-Salt Diet

The simple truth is, there are very real risks from eating too little salt, and population-wide recommendations to restrict salt intake to very low levels could in fact increase rates of a wide range of diseases. WAPF explains, as reported by Globe Newswire:

“Recent studies show a correlation of salt restriction with increased heart failure and with insulin resistance leading to diabetes. Studies show that even modest reductions in salt cause an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Higher incidence of inflammatory markers and altered lipoproteins are also found by researchers evaluating those on salt-reduced diets. These factors are precursors to metabolic syndrome, which predicts heart problems and diabetes.”

In one study by Harvard researchers, a low-salt diet lead to an increase in insulin resistance, which is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes — and the change occurred in just seven days! Other research has found salt restriction may play a role in:

  • Increased death rates among people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes
  • Increased falls and broken hips, and decreased cognitive abilities, among the elderly
  • Giving birth to babies of low birth weight
  • Poor neurodevelopmental function in infants

There is also a condition in which you have too little sodium. This is known as hyponatremia, where your body’s fluid levels rise and your cells begin to swell. This swelling can cause a number of health problems, from mild to severe. At its worst, hyponatremia can be life threatening, leading to brain swelling, coma and death. But mild to moderate hyponatremia has more subtle effects that you or your health care provider may not even connect with a sodium-deficiency problem, including:

There are other dangers to salt restriction, too, which WAPF outlined in their report — dangers that many are apt to overlook:

  • Chemical salt alternatives: As food manufacturers seek to lower salt levels in their foods, salt substitutes like Senomyx are on the rise. Along with potential dangers from Senomyx itself (which does not require extensive testing and, as WAPF states, “would seem to be nothing more or less than a neurotrophic drug”), it’s possible that eating foods that taste salty but actually do not satisfy our sodium requirements may trigger us to keep eating more and more until these requirements are met … a recipe for obesity in the making.
  • A loss of nutrient-dense foods: Certain nutritious foods, such as raw milk cheese and lacto-fermented vegetables, depend on high levels of salt for production. If salt becomes increasingly restricted, it could harm the production of these nutrient-dense foods.

Some Types of Salt Are More Dangerous

When you add salt to your diet, the type matters greatly. Today’s table salt has practically nothing in common with natural salt. One is health damaging, and the other is healing. Natural salt is 84 percent sodium chloride, and processed salt is 98 percent. So, what comprises the rest?

The remaining 16 percent of natural salt consists of other naturally occurring minerals, including trace minerals like silicon, phosphorous and vanadium. But the remaining two percent of processed salt is comprised of man-made chemicals, such as moisture absorbents, and a little added iodine.

You might be tempted to think “salt is salt,” but even the structure of processed salt has been radically altered in the refining process. Refined salt is dried above 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, and this excessive heat alone alters the natural chemical structure of the salt. What remains after ordinary table salt is chemically “cleaned” is sodium chloride.

The processed salt is not pure sodium chloride but is only 97.5 percent sodium chloride and anticaking and flow agents are added to compromise about 2.5 percent. These are dangerous chemicals like ferrocyanide and aluminosilicate.

Some European countries, where water fluoridation is not practiced, also add fluoride to table salt. In France, 35 percent of table salt sold contains either sodium fluoride or potassium fluoride and use of fluoridated salt is widespread in South America.

More than 80 percent of the salt most people consume is from processed foods. Indeed, there is far too much sodium in processed foods. But you shouldn’t be eating those foods anyway—sodium is just one of MANY ingredients in packaged foods that will adversely affect your health. The salt added to these convenience foods is bleached out, trace mineral deficient and mostly sodium—as opposed to natural salt, which is much lower in sodium.

The more you can move toward a diet of whole organic foods in their natural state, the healthier you’ll be—whether it’s veggies, meat, dairy products, or salt.

Given that salt is absolutely essential to good health, I recommend limiting processed foods (most of which are high in processed salt) and processed salt and switching to a pure, unrefined salt. My favorite is an ancient, all-natural sea salt from the Himalayas. So, generally speaking, it is perfectly fine to salt your food to taste, provided the salt you’re using is natural and unrefined. If you are exercising heavily, or in the middle of a heat wave, you may require more salt than on a cool day when you’re relaxing.

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Processed Meat once again Linked to Huge Increases in Pancreatic Cancer

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By: PF Louis
Source: NaturalNews.com

Daily breakfasts with bacon or sausage are still common for many who haven’t become vegetarians. Just think about the amount of breakfast burritos and McMuffins sold. Indulging in other processed meats such as lunch and dinner sausages, pepperoni pizzas, salami and corned beef sandwiches increases the odds of getting pancreatic cancer.

According to a Swedish epidemiological study conducted by Professor Sussana Larsson at the Karolinska Institute and published in the British Journal of Cancer, just 50 grams a day of processed meat, equivalent to one sausage, increases the risk of pancreatic cancer by 19 percent.

Eating 100 grams of processed meat per day increased the risk to 38 percent, according to the study that included data from 11 trials and 6,643 patients with pancreatic cancer. The importance of this study of pancreatic cancer was emphasized because although it is relatively rare, it has an extremely low survival rate, especially with conventional medicine.

As a result of this study, the UK is officially advising citizens to keep their daily processed meat level at or below 70 grams. Professor Larsson also said that while red meat in general increases the risk of colorectal cancer, there was more of link to pancreatic cancer from processed red meats.

This is not the first such research linking pancreatic cancer to processed meats. Others cite even higher risk percentages. The health ranger explains why processed meats are the worst.

Alternative cancer approaches can handle pancreatic cancer

The high, often rapid mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in conventional medicine motivated Texas small town dentist William Donald Kelley to research and create his own approach for curing his pancreatic cancer.

This was done in three phases: First he realized that a major dietary change was necessary. He avoided red meats, sugar, and processed foods while focusing on fresh whole mostly raw vegetables, grains, and fruits. Then he discovered an early 20th Century Scottish embryologist John Beard’s discovery of curing cancer by injecting pancreatic juices, which contained proteolytic enzymes.

This type of enzyme can burst open cancer cell walls. But they are also used for breaking down tough complete proteins found in meat. So heavy meat eating occupies the type of enzymes needed for any cancer. Kelly found which proteolytic enzymes worked best and added enzyme activators that he observed were lacking.

In order to eliminate dead cancer cell toxins, Kelley added daily liver cleanses with coffee enemas. Then he discovered that a handful of people needed some meat in their diet to complete their cure.

So he created a system of metabolic typing to determine the exact diets cancer patients needed. Eventually his cure rate exceeded 90%, and obviously he had cured himself.

Today, Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez carries on with Kelley’s protocol, albeit slightly modified, in NYC, despite several attempts to shut him down. He and Dr. Linda Isaacs continue their practice with funding from several different sources under the FDA’s Investigational New Drug (IND) and compassionate use guidelines.

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Breast Cancer and Heart Attacks: A Deadly Side Effect of Calcium Supplements?

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Calcium is one of the most popular dietary supplements on the market, largely because of the widely circulated mantra that mega-doses of this mineral are essential for building and maintaining healthy bones.

As a result, many people believe that taking a calcium supplement is a simple way to prevent bone fractures associated with osteoporosis.

What they have not been told is that while you can force increased bone mineral density with calcium supplements, you cannot be sure that this will result in greater bone strength.

Be Careful In Interpreting Bone Tests Results

Bone density, while an excellent measurement of compressive strength, does not reveal tensile strength, i.e. whether or not your bone will resist breaking from being pulled or stretched, as commonly occurs in a fall or similar trauma.

Moreover, “osteoporosis,” as presently defined by bone scans (DXA scan) using the T-score, inappropriately defines “normal bone density” according to the standard of a 25-year old, young adult.

In other words, if you are 40, 50, or even 100, the T-score-based system says your bones are not normal, or even diseased if they are not as dense as they were when you were a young adult.

If in fact they used the age-appropriate Z-score, most cases of “osteopenia,” and many cases of “osteoporosis,” would suddenly disappear because they were inappropriately classified from the start.

Do Calcium Supplements Predispose You to Breast Cancer?

Ultimately, the “calcium is good for your bones” mantra is yet another example of a good theory gone wrong, and represents how broadly deluded the mainstream medical community is about bone health and the nature of osteoporosis, and its highly fabricated twin condition “osteopenia.”

There are actually a number of studies indicating that mass market calcium supplements increase your risk for cardiovascular incidents and other problems, while offering little benefit to your bones. Only because something can increase your bone density: eating what amounts to chalk or pulverized bone meal, or worse, chemicals like the drugs Fosamax and Evista, does not mean this will translate into improved health for your bones, or any of your other organ systems.

Indeed, before jumping off the lemming-like cliff of conventional medical wisdom, consider there is a solid body of research indicating that higher bone density may actually increase the risk of malignant breast cancer by 300% or more! Considering that close to 1 in 4 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lives, with breast cancer top on the list, isn’t the neurotic fixation on increasing bone density with calcium supplements misplaced, especially when it may increase the overall risk of dying from cancer and, as we will see, cardiovascular disease (the #1 killer), as well?

Taking Calcium Might Increase Your Heart Attack Risk

Heart attacks may be caused by supplemental calcium from elemental sources, which include limestone, oyster shell, and bone meal, according to two meta-analyses of available research (a meta-analysis is a review and summary of the results of many clinical studies on the same subject).

The first, conducted in 2010 and involving over 8,000 people, showed that taking this kind of inorganic calcium supplement in amounts of 500 mg or more would increase your relative risk of heart attack by 27 percent.

Critics of the study pointed out that it only looked at calcium supplementation without vitamin D administered at the same time (vitamin D helps you absorb and utilize calcium). However, the second analysis showed that even when co-administered with vitamin D, elemental calcium still increased heart attack risk by 24 percent, with researchers concluding:

“Calcium supplements with or without vitamin D modestly increase the risk of cardiovascular events, especially myocardial infarction … A reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in osteoporosis management is warranted.”

In fact, the second analysis was even more disturbing, as it found the calcium supplementation (in addition to vitamin D) increased the composite risk of heart attack and stroke by 15%!

Calcium Can be Beneficial or Deadly Depending on Where it Ends Up in Your Body

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your body, necessary for not only bone health but also regulating your heartbeat, conducting nerve impulses, clotting blood and stimulating hormone secretions. Your body does not make calcium, and in fact loses calcium daily through your skin, nails, hair, sweat and elimination, which is why you must replace it via your diet.

It has been estimated, however, that your body excretes as little as 100 mg a day, making the current recommendations by the National Osteoporosis Foundation for women over 50 to take 1200 mg a day, a bit troubling.  When we compare our calcium-rich diet to the traditional calcium-poor Chinese peasant diet, which was free of cow’s milk and calcium supplements, approximately 250 mg a day of plant-based calcium was all that was needed to fulfill their bodily needs – and this is a culture with no word for “osteoporosis” in its 3,000+ year old language!

Due to the fact that about 99 percent of your body’s calcium is stored in your bones and teeth, if you don’t get enough calcium, your body will take calcium from your bones to perform necessary functions. This is where the idea that supplementing with calcium could prevent calcium loss from your bones comes from — but it is an overly simplified theory that lacks solid evidence to back it up, especially in Western, modernized cultures which consume unprecedentedly large amounts of dairy-derived, fortification-based and supplemental calcium.

For instance, one 2010 article presented evidence for a total lack of support in the research for calcium supplements reducing fracture risk!

Moreover, in the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, a review tracking 78,000 nurses for 12 years found that the relative risk of hip fracture was 45% higher in those women who drank two or more glasses of milk per day versus those who drank one glass or less. Indeed, in countries where both dairy consumption and overall calcium levels in the diet are the lowest, bone fracture rates are also the lowest; conversely, in cultures like the United States where calcium consumption is among the highest in the world, so too are the fracture rates among the highest (see: The China Study).

The truth is that taking any calcium in excess or isolation, without complementary nutrients like magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K2, which help keep your body in balance, can have adverse effects, such as calcium building up in coronary arteries and causing heart attacks. Even taking calcium with vitamin D does not appear to be enough to prevent these types of adverse effects.

So when you take a biologically foreign form of calcium (such as limestone, oyster shell, egg shell and bone meal (hydroxylapatite), or when your body’s ability to direct calcium to the right places becomes impaired (as when you are deficient in vitamin K2), calcium may be deposited where it shouldn’t be, which can lead to multiple health problems.

Often, much of the burden of removing the excess calcium falls on the kidneys, which is why it has been proven on numerous occasions that calcium carbonate rapidly calcifies arteries in those with compromised kidney function, especially hemodialysis patients.  Calcium deposits are, in fact, major contributors and even causative factors in many conditions, including the following:

Too Much Calcium May Create Mineral Deficiencies that Promote Disease

Robert Thompson, M.D. wrote a book on this subject called The Calcium Lie, which explains that bone is comprised of at least a dozen minerals, and the exclusive focus on calcium supplementation is likely to worsen bone density and actually increase your risk for osteoporosis. Dr. Thompson believes overconsumption of calcium creates other mineral deficiencies and imbalances that will increase your risk of heart disease, kidney stones, gallstones, osteoarthritis, hypothyroidism, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

If your calcium supplement is being turned into “little rocks” that are being deposited in your soft tissues and arteries, you can begin to understand how this could be increasing your risk for a heart attack, stroke or other health condition.

Many believe that arterial plaque is simply a buildup of cholesterol. But in reality, more than 90 percent of these fatty plaques are calcified. Cholesterol is soft and waxy and does not impair the elasticity of your arteries. But calcium deposits are like concrete, “hardening” your arteries and impairing their ability to expand. It is calcium — not cholesterol — that induces arterial stiffness and makes the plaque less stable and more prone to chipping off and subsequently inducing a life-threatening clot.

This is particularly important for postmenopausal women because hormone balance is necessary for proper calcium signaling — directing your body to deposit calcium into your bones. When hormones fall out of balance, this signaling causes calcium to slowly exit your bones and become deposited in your arteries instead. Simply taking a calcium supplement will not solve the problem because if your body cannot direct the calcium to the right spot, it will cause far more harm than good.

Why Vitamin K2 is Crucial if You Take Vitamin D and Calcium …

Vitamin K2 engages in a delicate dance with vitamin D; whereas vitamin D provides improved bone development by helping you absorb calcium, there is new evidence that vitamin K2 directs the calcium to your skeleton, while preventing it from being deposited where you don’t want it — i.e., your organs, joint spaces, and arteries. As mentioned, a large part of arterial plaque consists of calcium deposits (atherosclerosis), hence the term “hardening of the arteries.”

Vitamin K2 has also actually been found to decalcify certain tissues undergoing pathological (also known as ectopic) calcification.

Vitamin K2 activates a protein hormone called osteocalcin, produced by osteoblasts, which is needed to bind calcium into the matrix of your bone. Osteocalcin also appears to help prevent calcium from depositing into your arteries. In other words, without the help of vitamin K2, the calcium that your vitamin D so effectively lets in might be working AGAINST you — by building up your coronary arteries rather than your bones. This is why if you take calcium and vitamin D but are deficient in vitamin K, you could be worse off than if you were not taking those supplements at all.

Food is the Best Source of Calcium

In order for calcium to do your body good, it must be in a bioavailable form and balanced out with vitamins D and K and other important trace minerals, as part of a total nutritional plan.

It’s more likely your body can use calcium correctly if it’s food-based calcium. Good sources include raw milk and cheese from pasture-raised cows (who eat the plants), leafy green vegetables, the pith of citrus fruits, carob, sesame seeds and wheatgrass, to name a few. It’s worth mentioning that the studies done about calcium from dairy products are all done with pasteurized dairy, rather than raw dairy products that have more of their nutrients intact, and this muddies the results of these studies.

Calcium from dietary sources is typically better absorbed and utilized than calcium from supplements, which is why studies involving calcium from natural food sources have shown favorable results, including a 25 percent lower risk of dying from all causes, and a 23 percent lower risk of dying from heart disease.

You also need sources of silica and magnesium, which some researchers say is actually enzymatically “transmuted” by your body into the kind of calcium your bones can use. This theory was first put forth by French scientist Louis Kevran, a Nobel Prize nominee who spent years studying how silica, calcium, magnesium, and other minerals are related and transmutable into one another through low-energy nuclear transformation only found within living systems.

His theory explains how cows and chickens produce far more calcium in their milk and eggs than is found in their diet, or why, workers exposed to extremely high temperatures (130 degrees F) in the Middle East are known to consume salt tablets, which their bodies convert to potassium (as measured by their excreta), resulting in a reduction in their bodily temperature.

Good sources of bone-strengthening silica are cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and a number of herbs including horsetail, nettles, oat straw, alfalfa, and raw cacao, which is also extremely rich in highly bioavailable magnesium.

Dr. Thompson recommends the use of natural unprocessed salt as a far better alternative to calcium supplements because it provides the trace minerals you simply cannot get from food grown in today’s mineral-depleted soils. My favorite source of trace minerals is pure, unprocessed Himalayan salt, which contains 84 elements needed by your body.

The bottom line is, optimize your vitamin D levels through sun exposure and consume a variety of fresh, local organic whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, organic meats and eggs, unprocessed salt, and raw organic unpasteurized dairy, which will give you the bioavailable calcium your body needs along with the trace minerals and other cofactors it needs to be absorbed and properly utilized by your body.

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Did You Know? Nearly All Corn and Soy Products Purchased at Grocery Stores are Genetically Modified and May Place Your Health at Risk

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By: David Gutierrez
Source: NaturalNews.com

More than 90 percent of all soybeans grown in the United States are genetically modified (GM) for herbicide resistance and are consequently sprayed with massive quantities of those toxic chemicals. Fully 85 percent of all corn grown in the country is also genetically engineered, either for herbicide resistance or to produce pesticides within its tissues. Since farmers sell their corn and soy to large distributors who mix the product together for processing, this essentially means that 100 percent of non-organic corn and soy products on the US market are GM.

And since soy and corn derivatives are so ubiquitous in packaged food, the Grocery Manufacturers of America has estimated that as much as 80 percent of processed food on US shelves contains GM ingredients. This includes breakfast cereals and other products labeled “natural” or “all natural.”

GM crops are simply unsafe. They expose people to novel and potentially dangerous allergens and to higher levels of pesticides. Animals grazing on GM crops have died from ruptured internal organs. Yet this is the type of food making up 80 percent of packaged food today, and the only way to avoid it is to buy organic food or grow your own.

Tip: Foods labeled USDA Organic do not contain any substantial level of genetically engineered ingredients, but due to cross-contamination of crops, even organic products almost always contain trace levels of GMOs.

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Fatty Liver Disease – Choline Provides a Nutritional Solution for a Silent Epidemic

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By: Helmut Beierbeck
Source: NaturalNews.com

Fatty liver disease used to be associated with alcoholism, but it is no longer restricted to heavy drinkers. Our calorie-rich but nutrient-poor diet has led to an epidemic of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that tracks our rising obesity and diabetes rates. Autopsies and ultrasound studies have shown that up to 75% of the obese and 70-85% of type 2 diabetics have fatty livers. And the low-profile but essential nutrient choline appears to provide the solution to the problem.

What is NAFLD?

NAFLD develops in two stages. In the first stage fat accumulates in the liver. This fat can come from several sources: free fatty acids released into the blood by fat tissue, lipogenesis in the liver from carbohydrates (especially fructose from HFCS or table sugar), and dietary fats carried to the liver by chylomicron remnants. Fatty liver disease is a silent epidemic because its first stage, fat accumulation, generally doesn’t produce overt symptoms.

Unfortunately, the accumulated fat can be damaged by reactive oxygen species, especially if there is a lack of fat-soluble antioxidants and an excess of polyunsaturated fatty acids vulnerable to lipid peroxidation. Oxidative stress leads to the second stage, an inflammatory response that is made worse by our dietary omega-6 / omega-3 imbalance. The end result of the second stage is scarring and potential liver failure or cancer.

The role of choline in NAFLD

A healthy liver prevents the accumulation of fat and its associated complications by packaging excess triglycerides in very low density lipoproteins (VLDLs) and releasing them into the blood stream. Making VLDL particles requires phosphatidylcholine (lecithin), a choline-containing phospholipid. A shortage of choline prevents the liver from making VLDLs and delivering its fat stores to the appropriate tissues.

Phosphatidylcholine can be made from the precursor phosphatidylethanolamine; choline is simply ethanolamine with three methyl groups at the nitrogen atom. But ethanolamine has to come from the diet as well, and its conversion to choline additionally requires the amino acid methionine, a methyl group donor. For this reason increasing methionine consumption also improves fatty liver disease.

Organic liver, eggs and wheat germ would be the best dietary sources of choline. But liver does not play a significant role in the North American diet, and egg consumption has decreased because of our cholesterol phobia. Not surprisingly then, nutrition surveys show that most Americans consume far less choline than the recommended Adequate Intakes, 425 mg/day for women and 550 mg/day for men.

Choline doesn’t just help prevent NAFLD; it is also needed for neurotransmitter synthesis, cell membrane signaling and methyl group metabolism. Choline deficiency is therefore a major health hazard. We need to increase consumption of this important nutrient, but judging by the obesity and diabetes trends, society isn’t getting any closer to a healthy diet. Supplementation with lecithin is an effective and affordable way to get enough choline.

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Fruit and Veggie Based Diets Reduce Stroke Risk

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By: Michelle Bosmier
Source: NaturalNews.com

Eating lots of fruits and vegetables helps lower the risk of developing a stroke, a new study shows. The new report comes from a team of scientists at the the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and was published in the “Stroke” journal of the American Heart Association.

Fruits and vegetables help elevate antioxidant levels

Statistically speaking, stroke ranks second among the world leading causes of death, right after heart diseases. The experiments were based on data which shows that diets rich in antioxidant foods reduce the risk factors associated with stroke, by inhibiting the process which causes oxidative stress and inflammation. Oxidative stress is a condition that develops when the human body is unable to counterbalance free radicals or mitigate their damaging effects. It is known to be one of the main causes for various health problems, including diseases of the cardiovascular system.

Fruits and vegetables have a high content of powerful bioactive substances with antioxidant characteristics. Flavonoids, vitamins E and C, as well as carotenoids have free radical scavenging abilities, and will help the body fight elevated levels of oxidants. Moreover, they can also prevent the onset of oxidative stress and related problems.

The research was aimed at investigating the relation between Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) and the development of stroke, in both subjects with a history of cardiovascular disease and healthy patients. Total Antioxidant Capacity measures the total free radical reducing abilities of all antioxidant capable substances in the diet. It takes into account not only the levels of antioxidants themselves, but also the effects of the synergistic reactions between them.

The study was conducted on 31035 Swedish women that had no previous cardiovascular issues, and 5680 women who had such complications. The test group was aged 49 to 83 and was based on the Swedish Mammography Cohort, established between 1987 and 1990. The women’s dietary habits were evaluated according to a food frequency questionnaire, which asked the participants to answer how often they consumed certain types of food. Based on TAC levels, the participants were split into 9 groups – 4 groups with a history of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and 5 groups with no previous heart related issues.

More antioxidants equal lower stroke risk

“Findings suggest that dietary TAC is inversely associated with total stroke among CVD-free women and hemorrhagic stroke among women with CVD history,” the scientists explained. Data showed that in the healthy groups, the risk of stroke was 17% higher for the subjects with low antioxidant levels.

The major contributors to antioxidant levels were fruits and vegetables (50%), whole grains (18%) and tea (16%). For the groups with a history of heart problems, participants with high antioxidant levels had a 46% to 57% lower risk of stroke, when compared to the participants with low antioxidant levels.

The results show that in all cases, the women with low antioxidant levels are more likely to suffer stroke. Including healthier, natural foods in the daily diet, such as fruits, vegetables, teas or whole grains will help prevent the buildup of risk factors leading to stroke. “Eating antioxidant-rich foods may reduce your risk of stroke by inhibiting oxidative stress and inflammation. This means people should eat more fruits and vegetables that contribute to total antioxidant capacity,” concluded the science team.

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Low Vitamin D in Children Behind Current Explosion of New Diabetes Cases

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By: John Phillip
Source: NaturalNews.com

Researchers publishing in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism have found that children with low vitamin D levels, especially when overweight and obese, are at much higher risk for developing insulin resistance that progresses to full-blown diabetes by early adulthood. Based on cellular saturation of the vitamin/prohormone, children and adults require higher amounts of vitamin D as body weight increases. The vast majority of children are vitamin D deficient, a problem exacerbated further by additional fat stores. In addition to a healthy lifestyle including plenty of physical activity and proper diet, parents will want to ensure their children reach proper blood levels of this critical vitamin through exposure to the sun or adequate supplementation.

Past research studies have concluded that high rates of vitamin D insufficiency are found most prominently in overweight and obese populations and are linked to dramatically increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. These studies have not explained the mechanism by which excess fat stores and low vitamin D saturation result in chronic disease development and progression.

Low Vitamin D Levels Lead to Insulin Resistance and Diabetes in Overweight Children

Dr. Micah Olson and his team from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center examined the association between vitamin D levels and dietary habits in 498 obese and non-obese children. The researchers checked for levels of abnormal glucose metabolism and blood pressure in the participants. Additionally, the scientists measured vitamin D levels, blood sugar levels, serum insulin and BMI. Study participants were also asked to provide dietary information including daily intake of soda, juice and milk, average daily fruit and vegetable intake, and whether or not they routinely skipped breakfast.

The study authors determined that 92% of the obese children tested had a vitamin D saturation (using the standard 25(OH)D test) below the ‘adequate’ level of 30 ng/mL. 50% of the participants were classified as ‘deficient’ with a level below 20 ng/mL. Dr. Olson commented: “Poor dietary habits such as skipping breakfast and increased soda and juice intake were associated with the lower vitamin D levels seen in obese children.” The study concluded that obese children with low serum blood levels of vitamin D had higher degrees of insulin resistance that played a significant role in the development of Type II diabetes.

New cases of diabetes and prediabetes are now found in young adults and even children at an alarming and increasing rate. This research highlights the connection between low vitamin D levels, excess body weight and diabetes risk, and it underscores the importance of vitamin D blood testing for all children and adults. Alternative health practitioners recommend maintaining a vitamin D level between 50 and 70 ng/mL using the 25(OH)D blood test.

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Watch Out: These Foods Seriously Mess With Your Health

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Nearly all processed foods in the United States contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients, particularly Bt corn and Roundup Ready soy.

These crops and other GM varieties are now planted on nearly 4 billion acres of land throughout 29 countries, as their makers (primarily Monsanto, Dupont, Syngenta) continue to praise their worth.

These companies, which have created patents and intellectual property rights so that they now control close to 70 percent of global seed sales, extol the virtues of GM crops as though they are a panacea for ending world hunger and solving the food crisis.

But in fact, as a new report coordinated by Navdanya and Navdanya International, the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, The Center for Food Safety (CFS) and others, has stated, GM crops are surrounded by false promises and failed yields, to the extent that they are now destroying the food system.

GM Promises Failed to Deliver

Virtually all of the claims of benefit of GM crops – increased yields, more food production, controlled pests and weeds, reductions in chemical use in agriculture, drought-tolerant seeds – have not materialized.

The Global Citizens’ Report on the State of GMOs states:

  • Contrary to the claim of feeding the world, genetic engineering has not increased the yield of a single crop.
  • Herbicide tolerant (Roundup Ready) crops were supposed to control weeds and Bt crops were intended to control pests. Instead of controlling weeds and pests, GE crops have led to the emergence of super weeds and super pests … Herbicide resistant crops such as Roundup Ready cotton can create the risk of herbicide resistant “superweeds” by transferring the herbicide resistance to weeds.
  • Despite claims that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) will lower the levels of chemicals (pesticides and herbicides) used, this has not been the case. This is of great concern both because of the negative impacts of these chemicals on ecosystems and humans, and because there is the danger that increased chemical use will cause pests and weeds to develop resistance, requiring even more chemicals in order to manage them.
  • Monsanto has been claiming that through genetic engineering it can breed crops for drought tolerance and other climate-resilient traits. This is a false promise.
  • Among the false claims made by Monsanto and the Biotechnology industry is that GE foods are safe. However, there are enough independent studies to show that GE foods can cause health damage.

GM Crops do Not Increase Yields

Contrary to promises, GM crops are failing miserably all across the world. The reality simply isn’t living up to the hype of increased yields of healthy crops. After 30 years of GMO experimentation, we have the data to show no increase in yields. On the contrary GM soya has decreased yields by up to 20 percent compared with non-GM soya. Up to 100 percent failures of Bt cotton have been recorded in India.

And recent studies by scientists from the USDA and the University of Georgia found that growing GM cotton in the U.S. can result in a drop in income by up to 40 percent.

You can also read Failure to Yield, a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which reviewed two-dozen academic studies of GM corn and soybeans. What they concluded was that genetically engineering herbicide-tolerant soybeans and herbicide-tolerant corn has not increased yields, and insect-resistant corn improved yields only marginally.

The report notes:

“The increase in yields for both crops over the last 13 years, the report found, was largely due to traditional breeding or improvements in agricultural practices.”

The empty promise of increased yields has continued despite more than a decade of failures! In 1997, the Mississippi Seed Arbitration Council actually recommended Monsanto pay nearly $2 million to three cotton farmers who suffered severe crop losses after the company’s Roundup Ready cotton failed to perform as advertised. And this is occurring not just in the United States but all over the globe.

The Global Citizen’s Report states:

“Although Monsanto’s Indian advertising campaign reports a 50 percent increase in yields for its Bollgard cotton, a survey conducted by the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology found that the yields in all trial plots were lower than what the company promised.”

GM-Triggered Superweeds and Superpests Causing Pesticide Use to Spiral Out of Control

First came Agent Orange and PCBs, and now we have glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s nonselective broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup. Massive acreage of soybeans, cotton, and corn grown in the United States contain the GM Roundup Ready gene — and all of these crops receive numerous applications of Roundup each and every year.

But Roundup is proving to be no match for Mother Nature.

It’s estimated that more than 130 types of weeds spanning 40 U.S. states are now herbicide-resistant, and the superweeds are showing no signs of stopping. In fact, it’s getting progressively worse. Extremely hardy Roundup-resistant weeds are already boosting costs and cutting crop yields for U.S. farmers. And with world food stores already strained, diminished crop production is a serious problem.

The creation of these superweeds is leading farmers to douse their fields with ever increasing amounts of herbicides in a desperate attempt to stop their spread.

The Global Citizen’s Report states:

“Approximately 15 million acres are now overtaken by Roundup resistant “superweeds”, and, in an attempt to stop the spread of these weeds, Monsanto has started offering farmers a “rebate” of up to $6 per acre for purchasing and using other, more lethal herbicides. These rebates offset approximately 25 to 35 percent of cost of purchasing the other herbicides”

In India, Bt cotton sold under the trade name “Bollgard” was supposed to control the Bollworm pest. Today, the Bollworm has become resistant to Bt cotton and now Monsanto is selling Bollgard II with two additional toxic genes in it. New pests have emerged and farmers are using more pesticides.”

The report details how Bt crops in particular are a recipe for the creation of super pests, as they contain added genes for Bt toxins that allow the plants to produce their own insecticides (this Bt toxin, by the way, has been found circulating in the blood of pregnant womenand fetuses). Because the plants release the toxin continuously, pests can actually evolve resistance to it, and farmers still have to use pesticides despite Monsanto’s promises to the contrary. And to make matters worse, other beneficial insects like bees and Monarch butterflies may be negatively impacted.

The report states:

“The primary justification for the genetic engineering of Bt into crops is that this will reduce the use of insecticides. Bt cotton is among the ‘miracles’ being pushed by corporations like Monsanto as a solution to the pesticide crisis. One of the Monsanto brochures had a picture of a few worms and stated, “You will see these in your cotton and that’s O.K. Don’t spray.”

However, in Texas, Monsanto faced a lawsuit filed by 25 farmers over Bt cotton planted on 18,000 acres which suffered cotton bollworm damage and on which farmers had to use pesticides in spite of corporate propaganda that genetic engineering meant an end to the pesticide era.”

Health Problems Already Documented

Scientists have discovered a number of health problems related to genetically modified foods, however these studies have been repeatedly ignored by both the European Food Safety Authority and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). GM foods are typically regarded as equivalent to their conventional counterparts. This, however, is flawed logic because GM foods contain foreign genes that have never before been introduced into the food supply.

The report states:

“The safety debate has been repeatedly suppressed by bad science. One of the unscientific strategies used to extinguish the safety discussion is tautologically define a novel organism or novel food created through genetic engineering as ‘substantially equivalent’ to conventional organisms and foods. However, genetically engineered crop or food is different because it has genes from unrelated organisms – it cannot, therefore, be treated as equivalent to a nongenetically engineered crop or food.

In fact, the biotechnology industry itself gives up the claim of ‘substantial equivalence’ when it claims patents on GMOs on grounds of novelty.”

Science, too, has revealed stark differences. For instance, an analysis of 19 animal studies revealed that nearly 10 percent of blood, urine, organ and other parameters tested were significantly influenced by GMOs, with the liver and kidneys faring the worst.

A separate 2009 Brazilian study discovered that female rats fed GM soy for 15 months showed significant changes in their uterus and reproductive cycle, compared to rats fed organic soy or those raised without soy. This finding adds to a mounting body of evidence suggesting that GM foods can contribute to a number of reproductive disorders, including:

  • Changes in reproductive hormones, such as excessive production of estrogen, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone
  • Damage to pituitary gland
  • Retrograde menstruation, in which menstrual discharge travels backwards into the body rather than through the uterus, which can cause a disease known as endometriosis, which may lead to infertility. The disorder can also produce pelvic and leg pain, gastrointestinal problems, chronic fatigue, and a wide variety of other symptoms
  • Testicular changes, including damaged sperm cells

Another disturbing study performed by Irina Ermakova with the Russian National Academy of Sciences reported that more than half the babies from mother rats fed GM soy died within three weeks, while the death rate in the non-GM soy group was only 10 percent. Additionally, the babies in the GM group were smaller, and, worst of all, could not reproduce. In a telling coincidence, after Ermakova’s feeding trials were completed, her laboratory started feeding all the rats in the facility a commercial rat chow using GM soy. Within two months, the infant mortality facility-wide reached 55 percent…

Of course, in terms of reliability, there’s a big difference between corporate science, which tends to primarily favor and support corporate interests, and independent science, performed without preconceived bias.

Monsanto wants you to simply trust them because they’re “experts” and their industry-funded studies “prove” their GM foods are safe. But these same experts also told you PCB’s, Agent Orange, and DDT was safe, and we now know those claims were far from accurate. The industry will also attack independent researchers who attempt to tell you otherwise. The Global Citizen’s Report states:

“For example, Dr. Arpad Pusztai’s research has shown that rats fed with GE potatoes had enlarged pancreases, their brains had shrunk, and their immunity had been damaged. Dr. Eric Seralini’s research demonstrated that organ damage can occur.  … The Biotechnology Industry attacked Dr. Pusztai and Dr. Seralini and every scientist who has done independent research on GMOs. GMOs cannot co-exist with the independence and freedom of science.”

There are too many health concerns relating to GM foods to list, but some of the most concerning uncovered to date include:

As one of the most credentialed plant pathologists, Dr. Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue University says:

“When future historians come to write about our era they are not going to write about the tons of chemicals we did or didn’t apply. When it comes to glyphosate they are going to write about our willingness to sacrifice our children and to jeopardize our very existence by risking the sustainability of our agriculture; all based upon failed promises and flawed science. The only benefit is that it affects the bottom-line of a few companies. There’s no nutritional value.”

Your Non-GMO Action Plan: How to Say “No” to GMOs

At this point, there’s really no shortage of excellent information on the hazards of genetically modified foods. For more information, I highly recommend Jeffrey Smith’s books, Seeds of Deception, and Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods, which provide overwhelming evidence that GM foods are unsafe and should never have been introduced in the first place. Smith is the executive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, whose Campaign for Healthier Eating in America is designed to create the tipping point of consumer rejection of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) to rid them from our food supply.

Additionally, there are a number of films and videos available for viewing, including:

  • Hidden Dangers in Kid’s Meals, which is a powerful way for parents to get an initiation into the health dangers of GM foods
  • Your Milk on Drugs – Just Say No!, which exposes the dangers of GM bovine growth hormones. Any parent still feeding their child milk from cows injected with rBGH needs to see this film! They’ll never make the same mistake again…
  • Jeffrey Smith’s lecture: Everything You Have to Know About Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods

Since the U.S. government prevents the labeling of GM foods, it’s imperative to educate yourself on what they are, and to help spread awareness on how to avoid these foods. First and foremost, avoid most processed foods, unless it’s labeled USDA 100% Organic.  You can also avoid GM foods that are not found in processed foods, if you know what to look for. There are currently eight genetically modified food crops on the market (plus GM alfalfa is used as an animal feed):

The free Non-GMO Shopping Guide is a great resource to help you determine which food brands and processed food products are GM-free. Print it out for yourself, and share it with everyone you know. If you feel more ambitious you can order the Non-GMO Shopping Tips brochure in bulk, and bring them to the grocery stores in your area. Talk to the owner or manager and get permission to post them in their store.

Additionally, to help you find non-GMO organically grown, wholesome food in your area, check out these helpful resources:

  • Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
  • Local Harvest– This Web site will help you find farmers’ markets, family farms, and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats, and many other goodies.
  • USDA Farmer’s Markets database
  • Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals – The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy, and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns, and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
  • Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) – CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.
  • FoodRoutes – The FoodRoutes “Find Good Food” map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSA’s, and markets near you.

Important Action Item: Support California’s Ballot Initiative to Label GMO’s!

In 2007, then-Presidential candidate Obama promised to “immediately” require GM labeling if elected. So far, nothing of the sort has transpired.

Fortunately, 24 US states have (as part of their state governance) something called the Initiative Process, where residents can bring to ballot any law they want enacted, as long as it has sufficient support. California has been busy organizing just such a ballot initiative to get mandatory labeling for genetically engineered foods sold in their state. The proposed law will be on the ballot for 2012.

Michigan and Washington are also starting similar campaigns.

Since California is the 8th largest economy in the world, a win for the California Initiative would be a huge step forward, and would affect ingredients and labeling nation-wide. Last month, a coalition of consumer, public health and environmental organizations, food companies, and individuals submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General. Now, they need 800,000 signatures to get the Act on next year’s ballot.

I urge you to get involved and help in any way you can.

If you live in California, volunteer to gather petition signatures. If you live outside of California, please donate to help support this Initiative and spread the word to everyone you know in California. Be assured that what happens in California will affect the remainder of the US states, so please support this important state initiative, even if you do not live there!

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Monsanto Defeated by Super Weeds

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

Twenty-one weed species around the world are now resistant to glyphosate, up from zero in 1996 — the year Monsanto started marketing its genetically engineered Roundup Ready crops.

Glyphosate, now the world’s bestselling weed killer and the key ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide, is emerging as one of the most dangerous Monsanto products to date, in part because super weeds are emerging at an alarming rate.

A briefing by GM Freeze noted that in the United States, the worst-affected country (which is not surprising since the U.S. also leads the world in GM crop acreage), 13 resistant weed species cover more than 11 million acres, mostly those planted with Monsanto’s genetically modified (GM) soy, corn and cotton crops.

The weeds are not only making Monsanto’s promises that their GM crops would reduce pesticide use completely laughable — since farmers are being forced to use multiple, and more, pesticides to keep weeds in their GM crops under control — but also are turning out to be a very big thorn in Monsanto’s proverbial side; one that ironically might turn out to threaten the very GM crops that created them.

Investors Warned About Monsanto’s Super Weeds

As GM Freeze reported, one investment company is now advising its clients to sell Monsanto shares because of the company’s problems with weed resistance, which are arguably set to snowball even further out of control in the very near future. Monsanto’s competitors, biotech giants like Dow and Bayer CropScience, are chomping at the bit to take over where Monsanto has failed, and already have released GM seeds with tolerance to multiple herbicides designed to be used on their own or in rotation with Roundup Ready crops in a last-ditch attempt to delay resistance from developing.

(No word yet on how these companies intend to deal with the new generation of super weeds that will inevitably develop in response to the new herbicide cocktail … )

So this dark cloud’s silver lining is the fact that, with super weeds becoming an undeniable threat that can no longer be ignored, the powers that be may be forced to acknowledge that GM crops are not all they’ve been cracked up to be. And Monsanto is also being shaken to its core by the grand scope of this environmental catastrophe.

GM Freeze reported:

“Monsanto is taking the problem of the rapid development of glyphosate resistance very seriously, as it represents a threat to their main sources of income.

… Monsanto has embarked on major changes in weed management in RR crops, which still includes the use of glyphosate on its own, but also in combination with other herbicides. This is increasing herbicide usage on these crops. So instead of the promised decrease in pesticide use on GM crops, the arrival of resistant weeds has resulted in herbicide use increasing on RR crops. Analysis of USDA data has found increases in herbicide use in all the crops where RR maize, cotton and soyabeans varieties dominate.

… Previous attempts to control resistant weeds by increasing the rate at which glyphosate is applied have proved unsuccessful, yet Monsanto appears to have no intention of taking responsibility for the failure of their technology.”

GM Crops Have Failed to Deliver … and That’s an Extreme Understatement

Herbicide tolerant (Roundup Ready) GM crops were supposed to control weeds and GM Bt crops were intended to control pests. Instead of controlling weeds and pests, GM crops have led to the emergence of super weeds and super pests

And despite claims that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) will lower the levels of chemicals (pesticides and herbicides) used, this clearly has not been the case. This is of great concern both because of the negative impacts of these chemicals on ecosystems and humans, and because there is the danger that increased chemical use will cause increasing numbers of pests and weeds to develop resistance, requiring even more chemicals in order to attempt to manage them.

According to Jeffrey Smith with the Institute for Responsible Technology, by 2004 farmers used an estimated 86 percent more herbicides on GM soy fields compared to non-GM fields. Unfortunately, Monsanto’s plan to circumvent the inevitable development of more superweeds is to douse fields with more and more chemicals.

The Institute of Science in Society reported:

“As Einstein famously quoted, ‘no problem can be solved with the same consciousness that created it.’ That is precisely what Monsanto is doing: advocating more and more herbicides to be used. New guidance published by the company to manage resistance includes:

  • The use of a cocktail of pesticides including 2,4-D, prior to sowing crop seeds
  • The production of GM seeds expressing tolerance to more than one pesticide. DuPont has already commercialised seeds tolerant to glyphosate and glufosinate. Monsanto has recently announced an agreement with the German pesticide and biotechnology company BASF to develop crops stacked with glyphosate and dicamba tolerant genes
  • The use of herbicides that remains active in the soil, killing any seedlings as they germinate, including sulfentrozone

The consequences of increasing herbicide use are likely to put the environment and people at further risk.”

Why Glyphosate is a Health and Environmental Disaster

Glyphosate is the world’s bestselling weed killer, and it’s found in more than 30 percent of all herbicides — an extremely disturbing scenario considering the data showing it to be an immense threat to human health and the environment.

GM expert Jeffrey Smith has reported that glyphosate promotes the formation of certain types of fungi that are dangerous to people and contaminate food and animal feed. One such fungi, the Fusarium fungus, has been linked to plague epidemics, cancer, infertility and animal diseases. Residues of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide found in GM food and feed have also been linked to cell damage and death, even at very low levels. Researchers have also found it causes membrane and DNA damage, and inhibits cell respiration.

And in one animal study, rats given 1,000 mg/kg of glyphosate resulted in a 50 percent mortality rate, and skeletal alterations were observed in over 57 percent of fetuses!

Research published last year shows that glyphosate causes birth defects in frogs and chicken embryos at far lower levels than used in agricultural and garden applications.

The malformations primarily affected the:

  • Skull
  • Face
  • Midline and developing brain
  • Spinal cord

Other independent scientific research has also found that glyphosate causes:

Many of these effects were apparent at much lower doses than the typical levels of pesticide residues found in food … Yet despite the evidence of widespread human exposure, which strongly suggests that the precautionary principle should be applied, regulators are turning a blind eye.

Additionally, researchers have now linked glyphosate to Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a serious plant disease, in many fields around the world. Numerous studies have also shown that glyphosate is contributing not only to the huge increase in SDS, but also to the outbreak of some 40 different plant and crop diseases! It weakens plants and promotes disease in a number of ways, including:

  • Acting as a chelator of vital nutrients, depriving plants of the nutrients necessary for healthy plant function
  • Destroying beneficial soil organisms that suppress disease-causing organisms and help plants absorb nutrients
  • Interfering with photosynthesis, reducing water use efficiency, shortening root systems and causing plants to release sugars, which changes soil pH
  • Stunting and weakening plant growth

The herbicide doesn’t destroy plants directly; instead, it creates a unique “perfect storm” of conditions that activates disease-causing organisms in the soil, while at the same time wiping out plant defenses against those diseases. So the glyphosate not only weakens plants, it actually changes the makeup of the soil and boosts the number of disease-causing organisms, which is becoming a deadly recipe for crops around the globe.

On a slightly brighter note, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally looking into the damaging effects of glyphosate on humans and the environment and plans to make a decision regarding its future by 2015. At that time, Roundup could either continue to be used as it is now, be required to have some modifications to its use or be banned from use entirely in the United States.

How to Opt-Out of the GMO Experiment

It’s quite clear that genetically engineered foods are not only threatening the food supply with the creation of super weeds, but they can also pose potentially serious threats to animal and human health when consumed. Fortunately, now you, too, can let your opinion be heard on this issue. Several organizations, including Mercola.com, the Organic Consumers Association, the Institute for Responsible Technology, and the Environmental Working Group, are working to generate a tipping point of consumer rejection to make GMOs a thing of the past.

Here’s how you can get involved:

  • If you live in California and are willing to attend a short training session and then start collecting petition signatures (you will be part of a team of 2-4 people) for the California Ballot Initiative, sign up here. (For more information see: The California Ballot Initiative: Taking Down Monsanto.) Also remember to share this information with family and friends in California!
  • Whether you live in California or not, please donate money to this historic effort.
  • Talk to organic producers and stores and ask them to actively support the California Ballot. It may be the only chance we have to require the proper labeling of genetically engineered foods.
  • Distribute WIDELY the Non-GMO Shopping Guide to help you identify and avoid foods with GMOs. Look for products (including organic products) that feature the Non-GMO Project Verified Seal to be sure that at-risk ingredients have been tested for GMO content. You can also download the free iPhone application that is available from the iTunes store. You can find it by searching for ShopNoGMO in the applications.
  • For timely updates, please join the Organic Consumers Association on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter
  • Look for in-depth coverage of the issue at the Institute for Responsible Technology, subscribe to Spilling the Beans, and check out their Facebook or Twitter.
  • You can also join the Non-GMO Project on Facebook, or Twitter

In the meantime, the simplest way to avoid GM foods is to buy whole, certified organic foods. By definition, foods that are certified organic must never intentionally use GM organisms, must be produced without artificial pesticides and fertilizers and come from an animal reared without the routine use of antibiotics, growth promoters or other drugs. Additionally, grass-fed beef will not have been fed GM corn feed, although now that GM alfalfa is approved, grass-fed will not always mean GMO free.

You can also look for foods that are ”non-GMO verified” by the Non-GMO Project.

Important Action Item: Support California’s Ballot Initiative to Label GMO’s!

In 2007, then-Presidential candidate Obama promised to “immediately” require GM labeling if elected. So far, nothing of the sort has transpired.

Fortunately, 24 US states have (as part of their state governance) something called the Initiative Process, where residents can bring to ballot any law they want enacted, as long as it has sufficient support. California has been busy organizing just such a ballot initiative to get mandatory labeling for genetically engineered foods sold in their state. The proposed law will be on the ballot for 2012.

Michigan and Washington are also starting similar campaigns.

Since California is the 8th largest economy in the world, a win for the California Initiative would be a huge step forward, and would affect ingredients and labeling nation-wide. Last month, a coalition of consumer, public health and environmental organizations, food companies, and individuals submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General. Now, they need 800,000 signatures to get the Act on next year’s ballot.

I urge you to get involved and help in any way you can.

If you live in California, volunteer to gather petition signatures. If you live outside of California, please donate to help support this Initiative and spread the word to everyone you know in California. Be assured that what happens in California will affect the remainder of the US states, so please support this important state initiative, even if you do not live there!

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Avocado Nutrition Facts – Six Things About This Amazingly Healthy Superfood

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By: Tara Green
Source: NaturalNews.com

Beware of popular health myths. For instance, throughout the 1990s and into the first few years of this century, popular health “experts” often warned against eating coconut oil or coconut milk, causing many people to eschew a food now known to offer many health benefits. Another lingering popular health myth warns against avocadoes, which wrongly labels them as a dietary culprit because of their caloric and fat content. Yet, the truth is avocadoes can boost health in at least 5 ways:

1. Protein

Avocadoes provide all 18 essential amino acids necessary for the body to form a complete protein. Unlike the protein in steak, which is difficult for most people to digest, avocado protein is readily absorbed by the body because avocadoes also contain fiber. If you are trying to cut down on animal sources of protein in your diet, or if you are a vegetarian, vegan or raw foodist seeking more protein, avocadoes are a great nutritional ally to include not merely as an occasional treat, but as a regular part of your diet.

2. Beneficial Fats

Avocadoes provide the healthy kind of fat that your body needs. Like olive oil, avocadoes boost levels of HDL (the “good” cholesterol). HDL cholesterol can help protect against the damage caused by free radicals. This type of cholesterol also helps regulate triglyceride levels, preventing diabetes. A study published early this year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that a vegetarian diet, which includes HDL fats, can reduce levels of LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) as effectively as statin drugs.

3. Carotenoids

Avocadoes are an excellent source of carotenoids. Although many people associate carotenoids only with red and orange produce, avocadoes are also an excellent source of this phytonutrient. Avocadoes, also known as alligator pears, offer a diverse range of carotenoids including not only the better known ones such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene and lutein, but also lesser known varieties of this type of phytonutrient such as neoxanthin, zeaxanthin, chrysanthemaxanthin, neochrome, beta-cryptoxanthin and violaxanthin. Every time you consume foods rich in carotenoids, you deliver high quality vitamin A to your body, thereby protecting eye health. Carotenoids also enhance the functioning of the immune system and promote healthy functioning of the reproductive system. Since carotenoids are fat soluble, eating avocadoes optimizes the absorption of these nutrients.

4.Anti-Inflammatory

The combined effect of the deluxe package of nutrients contained in avocadoes offers powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. Avocadoes’ unique combination of Vitamins C and E, carotenoids, selenium, zinc, phytosterols and omega-3 fatty acids helps guard against inflammation. This means avocadoes can help prevent or mitigate against both osteo- and rheumatoid arthritis.

5. Heart Health

The fat content, which causes some uninformed health “experts” to deem avocadoes as unhealthy, actually provides protection against heart diseases. Studies have shown that oleic acid improves cardiovascular health. Oleic acid is the primary fatty acid in avocadoes. Many people now take supplements in order to consume more omega-3 fatty acids to lower their risk of heart disease. Avocadoes are rich in omega-3, delivering 160 milligrams per cup of alpha-linolenic acid.

6. Choosing and Eating

To get the most nutritional value from avocadoes, avoid those which have become over-ripe. You can identify these at the store because they will have dents and feel overly soft when you hold them. A ripe avocado should have no dents in its skin and will feel slightly soft when squeezed. You can also buy unripe avocadoes, which feel very hard when gripped, and permit them to ripen at home. The portion of the avocado closest to the skin is the most dense in nutrients, so be sure to scrape the skin clean before discarding it.

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Doctor Warns: Eat This and You’ll Look 5 Years Older

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By: Dr. Mercola
Source: Mercola.com

In the early 1990′s, soy and soy products exploded onto the supermarket scene with promises of bountiful health benefits.

This “new miracle food,” soy, was supposed to lower cholesterol, take the heat out of hot flashes, protect against breast and prostate cancer and offer a filling alternative to earth-loving vegetarians.

The problem with these claims?

Most of them are false.

Sadly, most of what you have been led to believe by the media about soy is simply untrue.

The sudden upsurge in the recommendation of soy as a health food has been nothing more than a clever marketing gimmick to further reduce the cost and nutritional content of your food.

For you vegetarians out there staring at the screen in open-mouthed shock, fear not.

There are plenty of other healthy vegetarian alternatives, which I will discuss later in this article.

What was once considered a minor industrial crop back in 1913 now covers over 72 million acres of farmland.

But first, let’s examine the dangers and side effects of soy protein isolate and GMO foods.

Soy Protein Isolate — What is It, and How is it Getting in My Food?

The Soyfoods Association of America has a soy protein “fact sheet” defining soy protein isolate as the following:

“Soy protein isolate is a dry powder food ingredient that has been separated or isolated from the other components of the soybean, making it 90 to 95 percent protein and nearly carbohydrate and fat-free.”

Soy protein isolate can be found in protein bars, meal replacement shakes, bottled fruit drinks, soups and sauces, meat analogs, baked goods, breakfast cereals and some dietary supplements.

Bodybuilders beware: because many weight gainer powders, bars and shakes contain this dangerous ingredient and it can cause troubling side effects such as diminished libido and erectile dysfunction — and this is just the start. You’ll find out more about these disturbing health effects later on in this article.

Even if you are not a vegetarian and do not use soymilk or tofu, it is important to become a label reader. There are so many different names for soy additives, you could be bringing home a genetically modified soy-based product without even realizing it. Dr. Daniel offers a free Special Report, “Where the Soys Are,” on her Web site. It lists the many “aliases” that soy might be hiding under in ingredient lists — words like “boullion,” “natural flavor” and “textured plant protein.”

Here are a few other names soy tends to hide under:

  • Mono-diglyceride
  • Soya, Soja or Yuba
  • TSF (textured soy flour) or TSP (textured soy protein)
  • TVP (textured vegetable protein)
  • Lecithin
  • MSG (monosodium glutamate)

Not all textured vegetable protein is made from soy, but a great deal of it is. Lecithin can be made from soy, eggs, sunflower or corn. Be sure to contact the manufacturer to find out which is in your product if the label doesn’t reveal this information.

GMO — Making Soy Even Worse

One of the worst problems with soy comes from the fact that 90 to 95 percent of soybeans grown in the US are genetically modified (GM), and these are used to create soy protein isolate.

Why the genetic tinkering?

Genetically modified soybeans are designed to be “Roundup ready.” That’s right, they are chemically engineered to withstand heavy doses of herbicides without killing the plant! What does this mean for your health and the health of your unborn or yet-to-be-conceived children? Read on.

GM Soy Can Lead to Hormonal Disruption and Miscarriages

The active ingredient in Roundup herbicide is called glyphosate, which is responsible for the disruption of the delicate hormonal balance of the female reproductive cycle.

“It’s an endocrine buster,” says UK pathologist Stanley Ewen, “that interferes with aromatase, which produces estrogen.”

What’s more, glyphosate is toxic to the placenta, which is responsible for delivering vital nutrients from mother to child, and eliminating waste products. Once the placenta has been damaged or destroyed, the result can be miscarriage. In those children born to mothers who have been exposed to even a small amount of glyphosate, serious birth defects can result.

In an excellent summary of glyphosate-related effects by the Pesticide Action Network, Dr. Andreas Carrasco of the Embryology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine in Buenos Aires, simply and expertly explains the serious risks for unborn children exposed to Roundup-laden GMO soy products.

Amphibian embryos were exposed to a tiny concentration of glyphosate (diluted 5000 fold) and showed the following effects:

“Effects included reduced head size, genetic alterations in the central nervous system, increased death of cells that help form the skull, deformed cartilage, eye defects, and undeveloped kidneys. Carrasco also stated that the glyphosate was not breaking down in the cells, but was accumulating.

The findings lend weight to claims that abnormally high levels of cancer, birth defects, neonatal mortality, lupus, kidney disease, and skin and respiratory problems in populations near Argentina’s soybean fields may be linked to the aerial spraying of Roundup.”

The long-term effects of the human consumption of genetically modified soy and soy-based products are staggering.

In April 2010, researchers at Russia’s Institute of Ecology and Evolution of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the National Association for Gene Security found that after feeding hamsters GM soy for two years over three generations, by the third generation, most lost the ability to have babies!  Now, let’s take a close look at some of the health risks to YOU as a result of eating genetically modified soy.

Infertility in Women

Do you want to start a family? Have you had any trouble conceiving, perhaps due to irregular menstrual cycles or endometriosis? Have you ever experienced a miscarriage?

If so, what you’re about to read will shock you.

A Brazilian study published in 2009 looked at the impact of soy on the reproductive system of female rats. Female rats fed GM soy for 15 months showed significant changes in their uterus and reproductive cycles, compared to rats fed organic soy or no soy.

Extrapolating the findings to people, women who eat genetically modified soy products, such as the soy protein isolate in processed vegetarian fare, may be more likely to experience severe hormonal disruptions, including an overabundance of estrogen, a hair-growth stimulating hormone, and damage to the pituitary gland.

According to Dr. Stanley Ewen, the female rats fed GM soy probably had an increase in progesterone, which could cause an increase in the number of eggs released during each ovulation cycle.

You might think this would lead to an increase in fertility. However, as discussed in an article by Jeffrey Smith, women who consume genetically modified soy products are at increased risk for developing retrograde menstruation (the menstrual cycle backs up into the body instead of outward), causing endometriosis, which can lead to infertility.

The consumption of soy protein isolate and other soy-based products can also lead to abnormally heavy or longer menstrual periods. This is called menorrhagia and, ironically, some commercials have been popping up with a new pill that supposedly offers the “cure” for this “mystery syndrome.”

When in reality the real cure for some women is as simple as removing soy and soy-based products from the diet. The negative effects of soy are not restricted to women, however.

Loss of Libido & Erectile Dysfunction in Men

Guys, do you enjoy protein bars or use a weight gainer shake? If so, be sure to read the label to see if the products you use contain any soy ingredients. Did you know that celibate monks living in monasteries and leading a vegetarian lifestyle find soy foods quite helpful for dampening libido?

Another drawback: Soy has also been linked to erectile dysfunction. The two natural drugs found in soy, genistein and daidzein, mimic estrogen so well that they have been known to cause a variety of alarming side effects in men:

  • Breast enlargement (gynecomastia)
  • Decreased facial and body hair growth
  • Decreased libido
  • Mood swings and frequent crying jags
  • Erectile dysfunction
  • Lowered sperm count

For example, one recent study documented a case of gynecomastia in a 60-year-old man as a result of his soy consumption. Another study showed that juvenile rats exposed to daidzein showed impaired erectile function at maturity.

Men, if you’ve experienced one or any of these symptoms, soy could be the culprit. Remove it from your diet, but be sure to consult a trusted physician if your symptoms do not improve or get worse as this could be a sign of another serious condition.

The Healthy Aspects of Soy: Fermented vs. Unfermented

In order to back up the claim that soy is a health food, privately funded “researchers” have been quick to point out that Asians, who consume a diet high in soy, have less risk of breast, uterine and prostate cancer. Unfortunately, they leave out two very important
points:

  • Asians, especially the Japanese, while having a decreased risk of the above-mentioned cancers, have a much higher risk of developing cancer of the esophagus, thyroid, stomach, pancreas and liver!
  • Asians also consume a diet rich in fermented soy, which is the only type of soy to offer health benefits.

The reason Asians have an increased risk for some cancers is the same reason they do not develop others: unfermented soy. The soy marketing and promotion gurus left out this critical piece of information. Would you rather have one cancer over another? Isn’t that like asking whether or not you’d like to be whacked in the head with a two-by-four vs. a wooden stick?

You might be asking yourself what the big difference is between consuming a fermented soy product such as, say, tempeh, vs. tofu or a veggie burger. I’m here to tell you, the difference is night and day.

Unfermented AND fermented soy contains hormonal mimics in the form of isoflavones which can not only disrupt delicate hormone systems in your body, but also act as goitrogens, substances that suppress your thyroid function. When the thyroid is suppressed, a host of health problems result, namely:

  • Anxiety and mood swings
  • Insomnia
  • Difficulty losing weight
  • Difficulty conceiving children
  • Digestive problems
  • Food allergies

And so much more. No wonder soy can lead to thyroid, esophagus and stomach cancer! Unfermented soy is also chock full of phytic acid, an “antinutrient” responsible for leeching vital nutrients from your body. Phytic acid also blocks the uptake of essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc especially.

Now, fermented soy products do provide health benefits.

As I mentioned in my previous article, some examples of healthful fermented soyproducts are as follows:

  • Tempeh, a fermented soybean cake with a firm texture and nutty, mushroom-like flavor.
  • Miso, a fermented soybean paste with a salty, buttery texture (commonly used in miso soup).
  • Natto, fermented soybeans with a sticky texture and strong, cheese-like flavor.
  • Soy sauce, which is traditionally made by fermenting soybeans, salt and enzymes; be wary because many varieties on the market today are made artificially using a chemical process.

For those of you who enjoy tofu, I’m sorry to say it didn’t make this list because tofu is an unfermented soy product.

So, What Are The Health Benefits of Fermented Soy Products?

The claim that soy products can prevent osteoporosis, decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia and protect you from cancer of the prostate, lung and liver is actually true, but ONLY if the soy is fermented.

How?

The process of fermenting soy destroys the above-mentioned dangerous substances, thereby making it fit for consumption. Also, fermented soy products such as those listed above are a rich source of vitamin K2, a vitamin that works in harmony with vitamin D to keep you healthy. Vitamin K regulates your body’s blood clotting ability and helps prevent cancer, osteoporosis and heart disease. And vitamin D is essential to the function of every system in your body.

Warning to Vegetarians about the Risk of Mineral Deficiency

Since phytic acid or phytates sap the nutrients from your body, if you’re eating a vegetarian diet that has replaced meat with mostly unfermented soy such as veggie burgers containing GMO soy protein isolate, you are at risk for severe mineral deficiency.

In addition to this nutrient loss, many processed veggie burgers and the like are packed with harmful artificial flavorings, particularly MSG and textured vegetable protein products to give them their strong “meat” flavor.

What’s even worse is the process soy has to go through to become soy protein isolate. Acid washing in aluminum tanks, which is designed to remove some of the antinutrients (but the results often vary widely), leeches aluminum into the final product. Aluminum can have adverse effects on brain development and cause symptoms such as:

  • Antisocial behavior
  • Learning disabilities
  • Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

As I mentioned in a previous article about soy, this makes processed vegetarian fare more palatable, but far from nutritious. Vegetarians have plenty of options for well-rounded, nutritious meals without needing to eat soy or soy-based products.

  • Beans are an inexpensive, protein-rich food that can be eaten alone, added to salads or served as a side dish. Be sure to purchase organic dried beans and cook them at home to avoid the adverse health effects of eating canned food. Ideally is it also best to soak them for at least 12 hours before cooking them.
  • Nuts are also an excellent source of protein. For optimal health benefits, reach for organic nuts such as almonds or walnuts, instead of overly processed mixed nuts.
  • Quinoa is a gluten free grain that can be enjoyed as a cereal, side dish or added to homemade vegetable stews as a thickener.
  • Flaxseed, which is rich in essential omega 3 fats like ALA, is an excellent source of protein. Add it to salads or sprinkle it over yogurt to infuse your meal with vital nutrients. However, it is important to grind flax seeds just prior to eating them because100 percent of commercially ground flaxseeds are rancid. Hemp seeds are also an excellent source of protein.

Hope for the Lactose Intolerant

If you suffer from lactose intolerance and have been replacing milk with soy, you have three more healthful options: Almond milk, and now hemp milk. All are nutritious alternatives to soy, and almond milk has a richer, heartier flavor. Hemp milk is a very creamy, high protein alternative to soymilk, and it’s easy to blend your own by whizzing up hemp seeds and water in a high-speed blender.

Babies — Birth Control in a Bottle

As stated in a number of previous articles, soy formula is one of the most dangerous foods you can feed your baby!

“In 1998, investigators reported that the daily exposure of infants to isoflavones in soy infant formula is 6 to11 times higher on a body-weight basis than the dose that has hormonal effects in adults consuming soy foods. Circulating concentrations of isoflavones in infants fed soy-based formula were 13,000 to 22,000 times higher than plasma estradiol concentrations in infants on cow’s milk formula.”

What does this mean? Feeding your infant soy-based formula can cause a host of health problems including:

  • Behavioral problems
  • Food allergies and digestive distress
  • Early puberty and fertility problems (including the inability to menstruate)
  • Asthma
  • Precocious puberty for girls and gynecomastia (man boobs) for boys
  • Thyroid disease
  • Cancer

As I concluded in my article on infant formula, babies who are fed exclusively from the breast from birth to six months enjoy health benefits such as:

  • Lower risk of respiratory tract and middle ear infections
  • Lower risk of eczema
  • Lower risk of obesity
  • Added protection against heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and allergies
  • Improved brain function and immune system function

Soy formula is also laden with toxic chemicals such as aluminum and manganese, which can cause both physical and mental health problems, learning disabilities, brain damage and behavioral problems. If, for some reason, you are unable to breastfeed or have adopted a baby, look into these recipes for homemade infant formula.

School Lunch — Children’s Nutrition Left Behind

In order to comply with new US Government standards, soy products are now being used to replace whole, nutritious foods in school lunches. Due to the decreased fat content of soy, it is touted as a healthful alternative to the meat and dairy of yesterday’s hot meal.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Soy added to your child’s hot lunch depletes the necessary nutrients needed for healthy growth and has been linked to learning disabilities. I encourage you to watch this sobering video to learn more about the dangers in your child’s school lunch. Do your children a favor and send them to school with a healthy, home-packed meal.

Senior Citizens — Aging Less Gracefully

According to a study done by Dr. Lon White of the Hawaii Center for Health Research, senior citizens who consumed a lot of tofu in mid-life were more likely to experience accelerated brain aging and a more pronounced loss of cognitive function.

“What’s more,” said Dr White, “those who ate a lot of tofu, by the time they were 75 or 80, looked five years older.”

If you’re heading toward your golden years and are looking to avoid soy protein, become a label reader. Meal replacement drinks like Ensure are filled with soy protein and are best avoided. As you can see, unfermented soy is anything but a health food.

Do your own research, try eliminating it from your family’s diet and judge the results for yourself. Remember, an educated consumer is an armed consumer. Big companies can only produce and sell these harmful products as long as you’re buying them.

Vote with your wallet by spending your money on healthier alternatives!

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The Benefits Of Ghee And How To Prepare It

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By Andreas Moritz

The Benefits of Ghee

Ghee is clarified butter. Although it is prepared completely from butter, its properties, according to Ayurveda, are very different from butter itself. Once of the most obvious differences is that all of the milk protein has been removed. Ghee is pure fat with none of the impurities that may be found in butter. Unlike butter, ghee contains no bacteria and it is not prone to turning rancid, even after storing it for several months outside the refrigerator.

In many cases, ghee is recommended in the diet. It is particularly useful for the Pitta constitution; it helps to digest and absorb food better and makes food tastier, although not everyone will agree. Its benefit lies in the fact that it stimulates AGNI without upsetting Pitta dosha. Also, Vata and even Kapha types benefit from ghee. Unless you have access to an Indian health food store that sells ghee, you will have to prepare it yourself, using the following recipe.

How To Prepare Ghee at home

  1. Place any amount of unsalted butter in a deep porcelain, Pyrex or stainless steel pan over medium-low heat. (Be sure that the butter does not scorch while melting) Allow complete melting to occur, and then reduce the heat to low.
  2. During the next 30-40 minutes, the water in the butter will boil away. (Approximately 20 percent of butter is composed of water) Milk solids will appear on the surface of the liquid and at the bottom of the pan.
  3. Be alert to remove the liquid from the heat as the milk solids turn golden brown on the bottom of the pan. Otherwise, the ghee may burn. At this point, you may notice that the ghee smells like popcorn, and you can see tiny bubbles rising from the bottom.
  4. Strain it while still hot or warm, pouring it through a cotton cloth into a stainless steel or heavy glass container. At this point it is very hot, so you should always be cautious. Another way of doing this is to let the ghee cool down, and then strain it by pouring it through a cotton cloth or a handkerchief directly into clean glass jars or bowls.
  5. Ghee can be stored at room temperature for several weeks, and it keeps indefinitely when kept in the refrigerator. Put a teaspoonful (per person) into food or on food after cooking it. Ghee can be used in the same way as cooking oil, in place of butter, or as a digestive aid dripped over food.

 Note: Caution should always be observed when handling hot liquids. Ghee should never be left unattended during the heating process.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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Chocolate – Facts And Fiction

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By Andreas Moritz

The recent desperate attempt of the food industry to boost sluggish sales of their products, after the dampening effects of the low carb craze, has caused it to heavily invest in serious ‘scientific’ research to prove that their unhealthy products are not just safe, but even good for you. Although hard to believe, chocolate is now being pushed as a health food. Add chocolate to your healthy diet, and your heart health will improve. At least, this is what they are now trying to make you believe.

Apparently, there is a new study that suggests eating chocolate can improve your blood vessel functions. This clearly shows how much the food industry, similar to the pharmaceutical industry, wants you to buy more of their products, with utter disregard to your health.

According to the editors of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (JACN), flavonoid-rich dark chocolate may improve artery flexibility while increasing an antioxidant that may help prevent blood clots. Whereas this is likely, and may be true, the problem with the study is that it didn’t include a control (placebo) group. So there was no one to compare to. Besides, the common chocolate you buy in stores doesn’t improve artery flexibility – it’s the flavonoids in dark chocolate and raw cocoa beans that have this effect. These same flavonoids are also found in apples, grapes, broccoli, onions, berries, and dozens of other foods, some of which the subjects of the study most likely consumed besides the chocolate. Of course, the study was sponsored by a chocolate producer, Mars Candy Company, which was so generous to also supply the chocolates for the ‘study’. If the study has any real value, why didn’t the researchers announce that flavonoids, as found in most plant foods, such as broccoli and fruits, grape juice and, yes, also chocolate, are beneficial for your arteries? But no, they were obliged by their sponsors to announce that ‘chocolate is beneficial for your arteries’. All this is in total disregard to all the other things that are contained in chocolate, that is, lots of sugar, milk, preservatives, coloring agents, artificial flavorings, etc.

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) which is supported by a grant from Mars Inc. has a section on their website titled ‘Chocolate: Facts and Fiction’. Although dietary sugar intake is a big factor for the millions of people who have Type 2 diabetes or peripatetic conditions, the ADA advices, “If you have diabetes, ask your health professional how to incorporate chocolate into your eating plan.” This sounds like ‘sound’ medical advice. I would stay away from any of the ADA’s dietary advice. You never know what kind of sickness you may develop because of it.

The truth of the matter is that real chocolate consists of largely fermented, roasted chocolate beans that are packed with nutrients. The word ‘chocolate’ comes from the Aztecs of Mexico who called it ‘bitter water’. They associated chocolate with the goddess of fertility. It was always used as a beverage, never as a solid food. Its numerous benefits were known to them.

Today’s largely ‘fake’ chocolate consists mostly of cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, sugar, and other ingredients such as emulsifiers that improve smoothness and flavor. The finest plain dark chocolate contains at least 70% cocoa (solids and butter), whereas the most expensive milk chocolate usually contains about 50% cocoa. High-quality white chocolate contains around 30% cocoa. Most mass-produced chocolate contains as little as 7 % cocoa and fats other than cocoa butter. These ‘chocolate’ products have little to do with chocolate because of the low or virtually non-existent cocoa content.

The chocolate that most people consume is relatively inexpensive. Production costs can be decreased by reducing cocoa solid content or by substituting cocoa butter with a non-cocoa fat. The announcement by Mars and other candy producers that ‘chocolate is good for your heart’ applies only to a tiny fraction of the chocolates sold, and therefore is misleading. The health claims made are part of a clever marketing campaign to sell more chocolate of any kind, knowing well that most people buy the cheapest chocolate available. The proclaimed health benefits of chocolate can, however, only be applied to fermented, roasted cocoa beans and the more expensive dark chocolate with mostly natural and healthy ingredients.

Dark chocolate, which has a strong bitter taste, has shown the same blood-thinning benefits as aspirin, but without the harmful side effects and increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Regular chocolate has never shown any health benefits, but lots of harmful side effects, including weight gain and obesity.

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Coconut Oil – A Gift From The Tropics

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By Andreas Moritz

Virgin coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, a proven antiviral and antibacterial agent. It is currently being used in treating AIDS. Monolaurin is a monoglyceride of lauric acid. Lauric acid is also found in human mother’s milk, which makes coconut milk an excellent alternative to milk-formula foods. In fact, coconut milk has been used in the tropics to bring up very healthy children when breast milk was unavailable.

This delicious-tasting oil is not only satisfying to your taste buds, but it also cleanses your colon by gently softening and loosening old fecal material, and helping to remove it without unpleasant side effects. It has a strongly alkalizing effect in the body, which is beneficial for every disease process. The tropical oil has a substance that has been shown to raise HDL cholesterol levels, the good kind, thereby lowering the risk of heart attack.

For those who are concerned about infestation with intestinal parasites and Candida albicans, coconut’s anti-parasitic properties help purge pathogenic organisms by robbing them of their protective coating. A natural anti-yeast treatment, coconut oil has been known for many centuries to prevent yeast infections in women in the Pacific islands. During scientific tests, both capric and lauric acid (found in this oil in very large amounts) were found to be absolutely lethal to all major strains of Candida albicans.

Research comparing Pacific Islanders with people from several developed nations showed that their health was extremely good compared to Western standards. These Islanders had no signs of kidney disease or hypothyroidism that might influence fat levels. There was no hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol). All inhabitants were lean and healthy despite a very high saturated-fat diet from coconut oil. In fact, the population as a whole had ideal weight-to-height ratios as compared to the Body Mass Index figures used by nutritionists. Digestive problems were rare. Constipation was uncommon. They averaged two or more bowel movements a day. Atherosclerosis, heart disease, colitis, colon cancer, hemorrhoids, ulcers, diverticulitis, and appendicitis are conditions with which they were generally unfamiliar.

Coconut oil also assists with dissolving and removing toxins that are trapped in fatty deposits, thereby making fat accumulation increasingly unnecessary (accumulation of fat is a survival mechanism to keep toxins engulfed within fatty tissue). This may explain why this oil helps to build lean muscles. Many body builders, personal trainers, Olympic athletes, and others use it for building lean body mass.

Coconut oil is easily digested, even by weak and compromised digestive systems. It is the only oil that doesn’t require bile to digest it, which makes it useful for those whose gallbladder has been removed. Coconut oil assists with most digestive disorders, such as Crohn’s disease and irritable bowel syndrome. This oil does not require any enzymes or carriers to be transported across cell membranes. Once it has reached the cell interior, it is used for energy. This makes coconut a readily available energy source.

Coconut oil has also been shown to balance hypothyroidism. It is a saturated fat made up primarily of medium chain fatty acids. Also known as medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), medium chain fatty acids are known to increase metabolism, promote weight loss, and immobilize yeast bacteria. If required, coconut oil raises basal body temperatures while increasing metabolism, which is great news for those suffering low thyroid functions, and those afflicted with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Coconut oil is useful for the very young and the very old. It is one of the healthiest and safest oils. Unlike most oils, this one will not oxidize upon heating. This makes coconut oil the ideal cooking oil. With the exception of Kapha types, the average adult can safely include about 3.5 tablespoons of coconut oil per day in their diet. It will not make you fat. But, start out with a low dose until you find out how the breakdown of yeast affects you. Apart from its internal benefits, when applied to the skin, coconut oil will protect from sunburn, drying, chapping and harmful germs.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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Eat Sensible, Stay Healthy

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By Andreas Moritz

It is best to avoid heavy, oily and fried food; aged cheeses; yogurt; onion and garlic, especially uncooked; highly processed and refined foods; fizzy drinks, alcohol, coffee, regular tea; artificial sweeteners; and commercial sugar.

Try to include one or two pieces of fresh fruit per day in your diet. If you use fruit juice, make sure it is freshly prepared and not older than one hour (best diluted with water). Packaged fruit juices are pasteurized, which makes them acid-forming, deprives them of natural enzymes, and depletes the body of important minerals and vitamins. Many brands contain artificial sweeteners, which dehydrate the body and may damage the brain, nervous system and immune system. It is preferable to eat one kind of fruit at a time.

Fruit or fruit juices should always be taken on an empty stomach. Since fruit leaves the stomach within 20-40 minutes without requiring any stomach action, it is important not to eat them with other foods; doing so leads to fermentation, bloating, and even diarrhea. The best times to eat fruit are mid-morning and mid-afternoon, or for breakfast with nothing else.

For optimal digestion, fruit should preferably be consumed when it is in season. When picked too early, they have not reached their natural ripening stage and lack most vitamins and important sugars. They may also irritate the intestinal walls due to their high concentration of antibodies (acting as antigens in the body) and enzyme inhibitors (highly toxic). Once fully sun-ripened, the fruits’ toxins become neutralized. If you find that you have trouble digesting fruit, the reason could most often be that the fruit has been harvested too early.

Since they have a cooling influence, you may want to eat fruits more often during the summer months. They are less suitable during the cold season when we need more warming foods.

The best types of fruit are the ones that grow naturally in your environment. To properly digest fruit from another country, we require different digestive enzymes. We can only produce these enzymes if we have lived there for some time and our bodies have adapted to that new environment.

You may eat soaked dried fruit such as sultanas, figs, dates or prunes, either for breakfast (without other foods) or as a snack like other fruit. ‘Muscle test’ which ones are the most suitable for you! Dried fruits contain enzyme inhibitors, which can make them gas-forming and constipating. Soaking them overnight or for at least a few hours breaks down these natural chemicals and makes them more easily digestible.

Eat 8-12 almonds on a daily basis. This provides vital nutrients to the cells of the body, and particularly to the eyes and bones. Remove the skin by placing the almonds in boiled water for 15-20 minutes. The skins will easily slip off. Soaking them overnight increases their digestibility.

Note: The skin contains harmful acids used to protect the nut from insect attack and fungus. These acids may cause some irritation, or even allergies, in some sensitive individuals.

It is best to avoid leftover foods, with the exception of rice and beans, which you may keep for a day or two and then reheat. Research has shown there are more destructive bacteria in Grandma’s reheated soup than on a month-old kitchen sink sponge. With regard to vegetables, the active life force (Prana or Chi energy) and important enzymes and vitamins dissipate after one hour of cooking them. Frozen food is void of the life force, and thus has diminished nutrient-absorption. Fruit should be eaten only fresh. Microwaves used to cook food cause total disintegration of the food’s molecular structure and destroy its life force. Without its life force, food cannot be digested and assimilated properly.

For deep tissue-cleansing, drink hot (ionized) water frequently: Boil water for 15-20 minutes. Keep it in a thermos flask. Every half hour, take 1-2 sips or more according to your thirst. To have a cleansing effect, the water must be boiled this long and be taken as hot as you would take tea. You may put a small piece of fresh ginger in the flask to improve taste. By boiling the water continuously for at least 15 minutes, large numbers of negatively charged oxygen ions are generated. When ingested by taking frequent sips of this water throughout the day, these negatively charged ions systematically begin to cleanse the tissues of the body and help rid them of positively charged ions – those associated with high acidity and toxins. If you have excessive body weight, this cleansing method can help you shed many pounds of body-waste without any major undesirable side effects. It can be used for any health issue related to congestion in any part of the body.

Avoid ice-cold foods or beverages as they can ‘extinguish’ AGNI, the digestive fire, for many hours. They may also damage the nerve endings of the stomach. A hand, held in icy water, becomes numb. Similarly, cold drinks or food items cause the stomach cells to contract and prevent them from secreting the required amounts of digestive juices. They also make the stomach insensitive to potentially harmful foods or beverages, and effectively disrupt its communication and potential warning signals to the brain. In addition, digestive enzymes require a very specific temperature to operate optimally. By cooling down the enzymes’ environment, their digestive and anti-cancer properties begin to diminish, too, predisposing a person to excessive weight gain and even cancer. Also, the sudden cold influence, as caused, for example, by ice cream or iced beverages, forces the body to increase its internal heat generation in order to compensate for the harmful drop in temperature. This response wastes the body’s energy reserves and may make it feel even hotter and thirstier than before, particularly during the summer period. Foods and beverages that are of room temperature or warm are the most suitable and natural ones for the human body.

Use the spices appropriate for your body type generously. You will find them listed in Ayurvedic food charts. Spices not only enhance the flavor of food, but also contain vital nutrients and aromas that help with the digestion and metabolism of food. People who suffer from low metabolism (mainly Kapha types) can speed up their metabolic rate by as much as 30 percent by using warming or heating spices in their food. Chili peppers or chili-containing spice mixes should be avoided, though, as they affect the chest and cause mucus irritation in the stomach and intestines. If you like food to be hot and spicy, cayenne pepper is the best option.

If available, drink 2 to 4 ounces of freshly prepared carrot juice before lunch. Note: Pitta types should do the muscle test for carrot juice before attempting this regimen, since carrots can increase Pitta.

For one day per week or month, you may want try taking only a liquid diet (soups, freshly made juices, water, herbal teas, ionized water, etc.). Then gradually build up to a normal diet again. This may greatly relieve the digestive system of its daily workload and improve its ability to remove any accumulated toxic waste. Women benefit greatly if they have a ‘liquid day’ about one or two days before the onset of menstruation: this can help to make the menstrual period more comfortable and effective.

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Green Tea – A Tea for Life

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By Andreas Moritz

For more than thirty years, Western researchers have known that the occurrence of solid tumor cancers is far less in countries where populations consume large amounts of green tea. Cultures that are endowed with a long tea tradition have much to contribute to individual and global health. However, this applies only to green tea. Regular black tea, presently very popular almost everywhere, has not much to do with real tea. Real tea is derived from the tea plant Thea sinensis or Thea asoncica, not to be confused with herb teas such as peppermint, chamomile or fennel.

Both black and green teas originate from the same tea plant, but their methods of processing are different. The breaking of the leaves of the plants and exposing them to the oxygen of the air produces black tea. The resulting natural fermentation process destroys the most important biological ingredients of the tea – the tannins. By contrast, during the production of green tea, the leaves are stabilized through exposure to both humid and dry heat. This eliminates fermentation-producing enzymes and safeguards the nutrients.

Due to fermentation, black tea assumes drug-like qualities. Since tannins and other important nutrients are no longer present in the tea, its caffeine appears in free and unbound form. The stimulating effect of the quickly released caffeine causes the addictive effect of black tea. It triggers a ‘fight or flight’ response in the body. Since the body treats the ingested caffeine as a nerve toxin, the adrenal glands naturally respond by secreting the antidote adrenaline. This defense response by the body has a stimulating and enlivening effect. However, as the effects of the caffeine and adrenaline diminish, the body starts feeling tired and may end up exhausted.

Green tea works in a different way. The large amounts of tannins in green tea make certain that the caffeine is taken to the brain in only small and well-dosed amounts, which actually harmonizes the energies in the body. Unlike black tea, the original green version of the tea makes the body’s own energy-use more efficient. This helps the consumer of green tea improve his vitality and stamina without having to experience the ‘up and down’ effect so often accompanied with the consumption of black tea.

The value of tannin has been studied for centuries all over the world. Besides its ability to bind caffeine, it also has healing properties. Green tea is particularly helpful with intestinal disorders and high blood pressure. It has been shown to be 20 times more effective in slowing the aging process than vitamin E. Studies have demonstrated that the success rate of green tea in reducing oxidants in the body (considered responsible for aging) is 74 percent compared to 4 percent with vitamin E. The vitamin C content of green tea is four times higher than in lemon juice and it contains more B-vitamins than any other known plant. This makes green tea useful for facial skin conditions such as rosacea/acne. Apart from drinking green tea, you may apply it directly to the skin before bedtime and after washing your face in the morning.

Since green tea is highly alkaline it naturally helps combat hyperacidity. People who drink green tea also suffer less from arteriosclerosis. It also keeps the blood thin and prevents coronary heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. Furthermore, researchers from the University of Osaka, Japan, have been able to prove that green tea kills microbes responsible for cholera and tooth decay; it also destroys salmonella germs before they even have the chance to enter the stomach. A substance called ‘EGCG’ has been found to retard tumor growth. The Botikin Hospital in Moscow reported that green tea is more effective against infection than antibiotics, without producing any harmful side effects.

Green tea has over 100 ingredients that have been found useful for a number of conditions, it inhibits cell mutations leading to cancer, reduces blood fats, balances serum cholesterol levels, prevents high blood pressure, increases heart efficiency, improves brain functions, enhances metabolism, improves vision, supports secretion of saliva, increases growth of hair, reduces body fat and weight, stimulates digestion and helps clear urinary tract obstructions.

In a study testing the preventative action of green tea, a team of researchers from the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California (U.S.C.) found that green tea prevented breast cancer in women by 30 percent if they consumed about half a cup per day. If they drank more than that, their risk of developing breast cancer was further reduced. Women who regularly drank black tea, on the other hand, didn’t have a reduction in their breast cancer risk. The good news is that this study revealed that you don’t need to drink buckets full of green tea to benefit from it.

The best green tea comes from the Shizuoka area in Japan; it grows organically and has no additives. People living in this area have a much lower cancer rate than those living in other areas of Japan. A reliable brand is Sencha sold by Kurimoto Trading Co., Japan. With over 130 ingredients, it is the richest of all green teas. Other brands are Ocha or Bancha; you should be able to find at least one of them at a good health food store.

Note: The effectiveness of green tea depends on how you prepare it. Take 1½ teaspoons of green tea for 2 cups of tea. Bring water to a boil and turn the heat off. Put the tea into a pot and pour the boiled water over the tea as soon as the water has stopped bubbling. After no longer than 35-45 seconds, pour the tea through a sieve into a teapot, otherwise the tea loses much of its effectiveness. You may use the same leaves a second time by applying the same procedure.

Does Green Tea Contain Toxins?

Some web sites on the Internet claim that tea is very high in fluoride content. Fluoride in tea is supposedly much higher than the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) set for fluoride in drinking water. Another site confirms that information, adding that the typical cup of tea exceeds one milligram of fluoride, which is well over the recommended amount for fluoridated drinking water. On yet another site, it says that fluorine and its compounds in food are entirely different from chemically-produced sodium fluoride. It states that once an element is extracted from the soil and incorporated into plant life, its properties change greatly. All this can be greatly confusing for those concerned about fluoride poisoning.

Yes, fluoride is found in tea and also in mother’s milk. This applies also to areas where there is no fluoride in the drinking water or air. Numerous plants contain naturally occurring fluorine or fluoride compounds. The hideous version of fluoride that is added to drinking water in so many parts of the world is the poison we ought to protect ourselves against. “Fluoride, once touted as an osteoporosis treatment, is, in fact, toxic to bone cells,” says John R. Lee M.D. Thankfully, the American Dental Association, which has for many years been one of fluoride’s biggest advocates, changed course when it alerted its members in 2006 that parents of infants younger than a year old “should consider using water that has no or low levels of fluoride” when mixing baby formula.

If the naturally occurring fluoride in green tea were even remotely toxic (like the fluoride added to drinking water), it would not have shown to have such a wide range of preventive and curative effects. The body’s immune system would reactively respond to it and become weakened in the process, yet quite the opposite is true. Green tea inhibits cell mutation, stimulates digestion and enhances brain functions. Synthetic fluoride has the exact opposite effects.

The fluoride – or fluorine – that occurs naturally in tea and other foods is so volatile that most of it evaporates in the heating process. The synthetic sodium fluoride added to water, on the other hand, remains stable when heated. So the sodium fluoride in your cup of tea is of much greater concern than the natural fluoride in the tea itself. Excessive fluoride intake can lead to hyperthyroidism. If you have been diagnosed with this disorder you should consult with a doctor of Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine or an ND (doctor of naturopathic medicine) who is knowledgeable about nutrition and its effects on the body’s endocrine glands.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

The Bitter Truth – Sweeteners Cause Obesity, Depression, Brain Damage, Etc

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By Andreas Moritz

Sugar is known to ‘improve’ moods for relatively short periods of time. With the help of insulin, sugar increases the secretion of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter of happiness. If insulin secretion fails to occur, happiness remains low. The only way to get out of this situation, it seems, is to eat sugar so that the body can secrete insulin again.

You may believe that the fewer calories you eat, the more weight you will lose. But food manufactures know that the more artificially sweetened foods and beverages you consume, the more you will want their normal sugar-containing foods and beverages as well.

Diet foods and diet beverages have not only contributed to a massive increase in sugar consumption and obesity but also led to an epidemic of depression. I have seen numerous depressed people over the years, a large percentage of whom regularly used artificial sweeteners. By cutting out diet foods and ‘light’ products, they have returned to their normal moods, and they have lost excess weight, too.

Apart from causing obesity and depression, sweeteners have been linked to insomnia, headaches, giddiness, loss of memory, nausea, pre-menstrual syndrome, panic attacks, epileptic fits, and even overstimulation of breast glands leading to breast cancer. Aspartame in particular may cause extensive damage to the central nervous system. Once it has entered the intestinal tract, aspartame is converted into two highly excitatory neurotransmitter amino acids, aspartic acid and phenylalinine, as well as into methyl alcohol (wood-grain alcohol) and formaldehyde (embalming fluid). Wood alcohol is one of the most dangerous substances that result from eating artificial sweeteners.

It may directly enter the bloodstream and move through the brain barrier into the central nervous system where it can influence the neurotransmitters, alter brain function, and cause brain damage. Wood alcohol can cause blindness and formaldehyde can cause cancer. In some cases, aspartame may suppress appetite and ‘kill’ AGNI, the digestive fire, altogether. Both can lead to quick, excessive weight gain. According toConsumer Reports, aspartame has a shelf life of between two and three months. After that, it begins to break down and pose an increasing danger to the consumer. The same occurs when aspartame or an aspartame-containing food is heated.

Aspartame accounts for more than 75 percent of the total adverse reactions to food reported to the U.S. Federal Drug Administration. Hundreds of airline pilots have reported symptoms of memory loss and confusion, headaches, seizures, visual disturbances and gastrointestinal reactions as a result of consuming sweeteners. If pregnant women consume large quantities of diet sodas to avoid weight gain, their placenta may accumulate methyl alcohol, causing mental retardation in the fetus. They also risk maternal malnutrition because of the gastrointestinal problems and diarrhea associated with sweeteners.

Other sweeteners besides aspartame have similar effects. Added to soft drinks, they are now even linked with testicular damage and other key areas of the body. Stimulating the brain of a child with these ‘pleasure-enhancing’ chemicals in beverages will, in some cases, program their senses to look for and use stronger addictive substances such as hard drugs or large amounts of alcohol later in life. The latest sweetener, acesulfame K, may also be carcinogenic, i.e., cause cancer, according a report published in the British Medical Journal in 1996. To avoid serious health problems, it is best to stick to foods and beverages that come from purely natural sources.

A sugar called tagatose is one of the next sweeteners that will be appearing on products labeled under the pseudo-hygienic appellations of ‘Light’, ‘Lite’, ‘Low Calorie’, ‘Sugar Free’, ‘Sugarless’, ‘Low Fat’, or ‘Low Sodium,’ etc.

Hyperuricemia is an unhealthy and unacceptable result from ingesting tagatose. Some researchers believe hyperuricemia is a risk factor for ischemic heart disease, and it has been associated with lipid abnormalities, hypertension, stroke, and preeclampsia. It is an especially hazardous effect with regards to diabetes because hyperuricemia is damaging to the pancreas as well as possibly causing major harm to other organs and systems in the body. Having too much uric acid in the blood predisposes you to developing gout, a painful joint condition.

If you wish to protect yourself and your family from the dreadful consequences of universal deceit and actually benefit from the foods you eat, start with fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes. And be sure to prepare your foods from scratch.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

Cola: Sweet Lies, Bitter Truth

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By Andreas Moritz

What makes cola the developed world’s most popular drink? Wily marketing (some would say big fat lies), for sure. It’s ironic that intoxicating and addictive marketing could contribute to two of America’s most worrying epidemics – obesity and diabetes.

If health experts and doctors could label the contents in a bottle of cola, this is how it would read: Pesticides; carcinogenic preservatives (sodium benzoate); toxic flavor enhancers (MSG); toxic artificial sweeteners in ‘diet beverages’ (aspartame); ladles of sugar in regular beverages (sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup); a neurotoxin (caffeine); unnatural synthetic vitamins in ‘healthful’ products; and scores of class-action lawsuits.

But why do colas make us put on weight? The answer lies in four innocuous-sounding words: high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Present in most soft drinks and processed foods, HFCS is a refined sugar that has one sole purpose: sweetening a product.

While doing so, it adds plenty of empty calories to our bodies (calories that have zero nutrition, unlike natural sugar) and makes you put on weight.

HFCS, the most popular synthetic sweetener and sugar substitute in the US, is made from corn. It is made by using genetically modified enzymes to convert corn starch into glucose, which is then converted into fructose.

It is no secret that HFCS is directly linked to weight gain. Experts also say it is the single-most significant factor contributing to America’s obesity ‘epidemic’. But how exactly does HFCS make you fat? This sweetener piles on the calories, which are directly converted into fat. It also raises the triglyceride levels in the bloodstream.

But there is something more diabolical at work. HFCS fails to trigger the satiety response that kicks in when you eat other foods. Instead, it tricks your brain into believing that the body needs to eat more. In contrast, when you eat carbohydrates that are converted into glucose, the pancreas releases insulin to metabolize the glucose. You also feel full and stop eating.

But when you drink a can of cola, the HFCS does not stimulate the pancreas to produce insulin. It also fails to raise the levels leptin, a hormone produced by the body’s fat cells. When leptin is released into the bloodstream, it acts on the hypothalamus (which regulates energy metabolism) to generate the satiety response. This signals the brain that you have ingested sufficient calories and need to stop eating. HFCS also does not lower levels of ghrelin, a growth hormone that also increases hunger and appetite.

Drinking colas therefore throws your metabolism out of gear and fails to trigger the signals that turn off appetite and control body weight. You therefore tend to crave colas and drink more and more of the deliciously deceptive sweet stuff.

Interestingly, processed food and beverage companies began to replace liquid cane sugar with HCFS in their products in the 1970s, at the same time when America’s obesity problem began to balloon. Researchers say this is no coincidence.

Corn is one of America’s three main crops (corn, cotton and soya) and promoting HFCS kept the farm lobby happy. Statistics indicate that between 1970 and 2000 (average annual consumption of HFCS was 73.5 pounds per person), obesity figures in the US went from 15 percent to engulfing one-third of the population.

Remember, cola, which contains 8-10 teaspoons of sugar or 130-150 calories, is just one of the many sources of refined sugar we ingest. Total the sugar intake of the average American, including refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, and the shocking intake is 142 pounds a year, or roughly 2.5 pounds per week, according to a report by CBS Broadcasting in June 2007. This figure has risen 23 percent in the last 25 years and is a major cause of soaring rates of obesity and diabetes.

The good news is that HFCS is not harmful in itself. This means it does not produce permanent changes in body chemistry, should you halt its intake in time. Hence, should you kick the cola habit, the food cravings it tends to fuel will diminish.

The bad news is that even if you kick the cola habit, HFCS is hard to avoid because it is used in most processed foods. It is cheap, it blends easily with other ingredients, it extends shelf life, it prevents freezer burn, and it keeps bread soft. It is used in ketchup and even low-fat yoghurt!

Over 40,000 different food items now occupy the shelves of modern grocery stores and 98 percent of them have nothing to do with what nature intended us to eat. Our digestive system has no way to make use of foods robbed of their natural, intrinsic life energy or manipulated and processed to the point of uselessness, regardless of the wonderful ingredients listed on their product labels.

If foods are made in a laboratory, as most of them are, you can no longer consider them food. Instead, they have turned into poison. And poisoning our systems starts early in life, when we are children.

Children make up a large proportion of the sugar-consuming population. And childhood obesity figures are equally alarming. Obesity among children aged 12 to 19 went up from 4.2 percent in 1970 to 15.3 percent in 2000 (when consumption of HFCS increased).

Add to this the increasingly sedentary lifestyles among children and it paints an even unhealthier picture. Children spend an average five to six hours a day on sedentary activities, including watching television, using the computer, and playing video games. Today’s children are bombarded and brainwashed with well-crafted TV ads from fast-food chains and other purveyors of high-fat, high-sugar meals and snacks. And being untruthful to lure young addicts is a tactic major cola companies have been accused of time and again.

The bitter truth is that colas, by their very definition, contain significant amounts of preservatives, caffeine, and refined sugar, among other ingredients.

A California study, whose results were released in September 2009, concluded that drinking one or more colas a day increases your chances of obesity by 27 percent. The study also found a stunning 62 percent of adults who drink at least one cola each day are either overweight or obese.

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This is an excerpt from my book FEEL GREAT, LOSE WEIGHT

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

Stimulants Make Strong People Weak

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By Andreas Moritz

All stimulants are ‘sweet’ when ingested but ‘bitter’ in their effects. You can become addicted to them without even recognizing your dependency. If you are used to drinking a few cups of coffee a day, try this: Go on a ‘coffee fast’, which means having no coffee for an entire day, and observe how you feel as the day progresses. After a few hours you may notice a dull sensation in your head and a feeling of weakness and lack of energy throughout the body. Some people develop headaches in the afternoon; others yawn and feel downcast.

These effects may seem to be due to the absence of coffee in your diet that particular day, but it actually reveals the weakening impact the coffee has been having on your heart.

You may argue, “But drinking coffee is normal; everyone does it.” Most people in the industrialized nations will also fall seriously ill at some stage in their lives. For example, one in every two people in the U.S. will develop cancer at some stage of his or her life. This is now considered to be an almost ‘normal’ experience, too.

Stimulants, as contained in coffee, tea and cigarettes, seem to be welcome and fast-acting substances for those who feel the need for a boost of energy, to wake up their mind or to feel more buoyant and alive. But since these stimulants have no real energy on their own, where is the energy boost coming from? Obviously, the body provides it. Stimulants are nerve toxins that trigger a powerful defense reaction in the body. When you smoke a cigarette or drink a cup of coffee or power beverage, the resulting boost in energy occurs because of this immune response. Therefore, the experienced increase in physical energy is actually an energy loss for the body.

Many people now drink decaffeinated coffee in the belief this protects them against the addictive effects of caffeine. Consumer Reports recently tested cups of decaf coffee ordered six of the most popular coffee shops in the United States. A regular cup of coffee has from 85 to 100 milligrams of caffeine, while decaf coffee has from 5 to 32 milligrams of caffeine (about the same amount contained in 12 ounces of cola). In addition to still getting a significant amount of caffeine, drinking three cups or more of decaffeinated coffee may cause an increase in harmful LDL cholesterol by increasing a specific type of blood fat linked to the metabolic syndrome, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2005.

Decaffeinated coffee is made from more acidic beans than regular coffee. These strong acids have shown to increase the incidence of heartburn, osteoporosis, Glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis. Decaf coffee can, in fact, quadruple the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis in three months, compared with people who drink regular caffeinated coffee or tea. In other words, if you feel you cannot do without coffee, it is far better to drink a properly brewed cup of real, unprocessed coffee or better still, healthy organic coffee that is made from real coffee beans and infused with ancient mushrooms, but without unpleasant and harmful side effects of regular coffee. It’s more like a relaxing health drink that boosts immunity.

There are other causes of energy depletion, such as overeating or ingesting unnatural foods. Natural food, although it has a stimulating effect, provides balanced doses of physical energy and helps to support all functions in the body. This kind of natural stimulation maintains physiological balance or homeostasis. Eating too much of any kind of food, on the other hand, causes over-stimulation, and so does regular snacking. Excessive sexual activity, overworking, stress and fear also cause continuous over-stimulation. Thus, the body, in an attempt to deal with the increased demands placed upon it, begins to over-secrete its own stimulants. These are the stress hormones adrenalin, cortisol, epinephrine, cortisone, endorphins, prolactin, etc., which are needed to sustain the body’s most essential activities.

Yet, abusing the stress response day after day and thereby wasting the body’s energy resources take their toll on both the body and the mind. One of the undesirable side effects of excessive adrenalin secretion, for example, is a constriction of important blood vessels, including those that supply the intestines. This greatly diminishes the body’s ability to digest food and eliminate harmful waste products. Consequently, destructive bacteria begin to decompose the waste matter while producing powerful toxins. Many of these toxins enter the lymph and blood. Toxins have a strongly stimulating influence on the body, which may drive a person into a mode of hyperactivity. The body’s energy reserves become depleted further, and a toxicity crisis or acute illness becomes unavoidable. The toxicity crisis can weaken the body to such an extent that it is hardly able to perform. Thus, the body allocates energy only to those functions that are absolutely vital.

Given this condition, feeling faint, nauseous or weak is perfectly natural. This helps the body to preserve energy and use it to break down the toxins and eliminate them from the area of congestion. If the energy-depleting causes are discontinued, the body will regain its balance. But if they are not, the body may enter one crisis after another until the person falls seriously ill. Through constant over-stimulation, even a strong and healthy person may eventually become weak, frail and chronically sick.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

We Are What We Choose To Eat

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By Andreas Moritz

Mankind has managed to produce two basic types of foods i.e. low vibration and high vibration foods. Low vibration foods are those which are processed, refined, preserved, genetically altered, enhanced, flavored, etc. They include all the dead foods (void of Chi or life force), such as meat, fish, chicken, pasteurized milk and dairy foods, canned, frozen, packaged and shelved products such as cold cereals, candy, soft drinks, and most of the other 20,000 or so food products that are on the market today.

Very few foods that have gone through processing have enough life force in them to sustain health and vitality. Chemical additives, as well as added vitamins and minerals, further degrade the food’s ability to maintain balance in the body. Only foods left the way nature created them can be considered high frequency, health-promoting foods.

Food derived from killed animals, birds or fish has the lowest vibration of all because it imbibes the death frequency. It is helping those who eat this type of food to experience the more crude opposites of life, to be grounded on the dense physical plane and to learn about death and destruction. Dead foods further the death experience, one of the most important experiences of all. Isolation, endings, decay, deterioration, etc. all resonate with the fear of death, and these foods allow a person to manifest these qualities in order to live through them and to release them. In many cases, this means actually needing to die physically because of eating these foods. It is not surprising that these low frequency foods are now more and more recognized to be the cause of such killer diseases as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

In addition, every year, 5,000 deaths, 325,000 hospitalizations and 76 million illnesses are caused by food poisoning. That is 34% above what it was in 1948, despite (or rather, because of) all our technology aimed at better food handling. The amount of contaminated food on store shelves has reached its highest level in more than a decade. Parasites enter and thrive in those foods that are basically useless, and many of these creatures are also harmful to the human body. Nature has the tendency to get rid of what is no longer good for consumption; these organisms help to do just that. But since we don’t get the message, we need to learn it the hard way.

Fresh, high frequency plant foods that are not treated or grown with chemicals are rarely visited by disease-causing germs because the plants’ immune system knows how to subdue the intruders naturally. If an organic food is potentially harmful, nature will destroy it before it can reach your mouth.

Just moments before you intend to ingest food, your body knows whether it is old, dead, or contaminated through special ‘radar’ called instinct. You can verify your body’s natural instinct through Kinesiology muscle testing. Your body’s muscles will suddenly turn weak when you look at the food or hold it in your hand. I personally feel moisture appearing on my fingertips when I touch something that doesn’t harmonize with my body, for example, medical drugs.

Most people have subdued their natural instinct or simply choose to ignore it. What eludes the perception of what is happening with our bodies, though, is the real reason why we choose to eat what we eat.

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This is an excerpt from my book LIFTING THE VEIL OF DUALITY

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Switch To A Vegetarian Diet For A Longer And Healthier Life

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By Andreas Moritz

A major study conducted in California revealed that the cancer rate among Mormons, who are known to eat very little meat, was 50 percent lower than that of the normal population. Researchers in an even more comprehensive, carefully controlled study compared 50,000 vegetarians of the religious group, Seventh Day Adventists, with the same number of non-vegetarians of the same age and gender. This study, known as the Oxford Vegetarian Study, produced similar results. The members of the vegetarian group had an astonishingly low rate of cancer of all types, their life expectancy was notably longer, and they suffered significantly less from cardiovascular disease than those in the control group.

Overall, life expectancy ranking of the United States compared with the rest of the world dropped from position 19 in 1999 to position 42 in 2007. The stark increase of obesity and related vascular diseases can be blamed for this trend. And both these chronic conditions are largely caused by the consumption of animal protein. From a historical perspective, the ‘forced’ vegetarianism of the Danes due to the allied blockage of Denmark during World War I, led to a 17 percent reduction of mortality rates in the first year of meat rationing. Norway experienced a similar positive side effect from meat-rationing during the years of World War II (1940-1945). There was an immediate drop in national mortality rates from circulatory diseases during the period of meat shortage. Mortality rates returned to pre-war levels when the population fully resumed meat consumption.

Studies from the University of Belgium that tested endurance, strength and the rate of recovery from physical exhaustion in vegetarians, clearly showed that vegetarians had far superior scores in all three categories. A study at Yale University proved that vegetarians have nearly twice the stamina of meat eaters. Other findings confirmed that during endurance tests, the vegetarians were able to perform two to three times longer than the meat eaters before reaching a point of complete exhaustion. They also needed only one-fifth the time to recover from fatigue after each test than did their meat-eating counterparts.

The common belief that eating meat makes you strong is unfounded and misleading. The super-strong elephant, gorilla, rhinoceros and horse all sustain their great physical strength and stamina by eating only vegetation. Based on present evidence, there is nothing to suggest that meat is beneficial to our health.

The fact that populations like the Eskimos (Inuits) can survive on a meat diet without suffering heart disease is known. However, the Eskimo’s average life span is still not more than 40 years. An important observation has been made relative to the rapid shortening of the average lifetime by Dr. V. E. Levine and Professor C. W. Bauer, of Creighton University, Nebraska, who reported on October 26, 1934: “Due to susceptibility to tuberculosis and other diseases the average life span of the Eskimo of Alaska is only 20 years and their race is doomed to extinction within a few generations unless modern medical science comes to their aid.”

The Masaitribes of East Africa live on mostly cows’ blood and milk, and meat. Their average life span is 60. A typical 45-year-old man looks about 20 to 30 years older. During my many visits to Masai villages in East Africa between 1983 and 2006, I observed that those Masai tribes who have adapted to grow and include fresh vegetables in their diet, look much healthier and don’t age as quickly.

Another major benefit of the vegetarian diet is that, statistically, vegetarians are thinner and healthier. On the average, vegetarians weigh about 20 pounds less than their meat-eating counterparts. According to the U.S. Worldwatch Institute, 1.1 billion people worldwide are underweight, and another 1.1 billion are overweight. In the U.S., 23 percent of adults are obese and 60 percent are overweight. But obesity besets poor countries, too, from Brazil to China. The traditionally ‘lean’ and mostly vegetarian populations in the world are now quickly following in the footsteps of the typically non-vegetarian populations.

Eating meat is becoming increasingly synonymous with a higher standard of living. The country/subcontinent of India, for example, which traditionally has been vegetarian for thousands of years, is rapidly adopting carnivorous eating habits, much to the benefit of that country’s cardiologists and oncologists. (Ayurveda, the traditional medicine of India, was largely responsible for keeping the Indian population vegetarian.) Harvard research has shown that a vegetarian diet also reduces colds and allergies.

Children especially benefit greatly from meat abstinence. Studies show that vegetarian children have better teeth and are afflicted with fewer children’s diseases than non-vegetarian children. They are also less prone to obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

Beer Drinkers, Do You Know Beer Contains Female Hormones That Cause A Beer Belly And Breast Growth?

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By Andreas Moritz

If you have ever had the chance to smell a hops plant, then you know it has hypnotic effects. Harvesting any of the plants of the hemp family can make you quite sleepy. Cannabis, which is used to produce Hashish and Marijuana, is a close relative of hops. The relaxing effect that beer has on the consumer comes from the hops ingredient hopein, among other substances. Hopein is a form of morphine.

With the exception of Muslim countries, beer consumption is legal, yet taking morphine, marijuana, or other hallucinogenic drugs is treated as a criminal act. If a person regularly gets drunk by drinking large quantities of beer, he is not less ‘out of himself’ or physically and mentally incompetent than he would be under drug-induced hallucination.

It would not make a difference whether a hallucinating drug user runs over an innocent pedestrian or a drunk who has had a few bottles of morphine-containing beer. If a person is caught driving while drunk, he will receive punishment by law. If he gets drunk and is not driving, the law cannot touch him. If someone becomes violent under the influence of beer, it is due to reasons similar to a drug user becoming violent under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs.

Apart from their mind-altering effects, hops are known to work as an anti-aphrodisiac, suppressing sexual drive and performance in men. Hops contain the female sex hormones daidzein and genistein, which are generally used to fatten calves, sheep, and chickens. Contrary to general belief, the body cannot utilize any of the numerous calories contained in whiskey or other alcoholic beverages for producing energy or increasing fat reserves.

Beer contains another female hormone, an estrogen, which is also formed in a woman’s ovaries. The typical beer belly and breast growth of a beer drinker is caused by these female hormones and has nothing to do with beer calories.

Besides the already mentioned mind-altering chemicals in beer, the malt in beer also has a substance in it that influences the psyche; it is called hordenin. Hordenin results from the germination of barley and is related to the well-known stimulants ephedrine and mescaline. It also has a strong diuretic effect, which causes frequent urination, especially during the night. To process one glass of beer, the body’s cells have to supply at least three glasses of water. Hence beer can cause severe dehydration such as is typically found among heavy beer drinkers. When the beer drinker’s body signals dehydration, he may be tempted to drink even more beer, which increases dehydration further.

All these factors may result in weight gain, tissue acidification, retention of toxins, and swelling of the body. In addition, if the beer production uses extremely ‘hard’ water, rich in inorganic (metallic) calcium, the result may be a high incidence of kidney stones and kidney problems among beer drinkers. Also, regular consumption of all alcoholic beverages causes gallstones in the liver and gallbladder. Alcohol is extremely acidic which alters the pH of the alkaline bile to the point of thickening, leading to blockage of bile ducts. Thus, alcohol consumption can become a cause for any illness in the body.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

Refined Fats and Oils – Delicious Poisons That Every Diabetic Must Avoid

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By Andreas Moritz

In the 1930s, physicians considered many of our degenerative diseases to be due to a failure of our endocrine system known as insulin resistant diabetes. The severe derangement of the body’s blood sugar control system was understood to be the basic underlying disorder that could manifest itself as nearly any kind of illness. Although there are other reasons for bringing about such a basic imbalance, badly engineered fats and oils are among the most influential ones. Although these fats and oils may be delicious to the taste buds, they act like poison in the body. Their destructive effects lead to severe nutritional deficiencies that prevent the body from coping with the metabolic consequences created by these poisons.

In recent years, there has been a lot of publicity about good fats and bad fats. Although some food manufacturers now claim to be able to keep bad fats out of their products, there are still thousands of common foods that contain them. The fats and oils industry still wants us to believe that the saturated fats are the bad ones, and the unsaturated fats are the good ones. This is blatantly false information. There are many highly beneficial saturated fats and just as many unhealthy unsaturated fats on the market. The only distinction that should be made when judging the value of fats is whether they are left in their natural form or are engineered. You cannot trust advertisements by the fats and oils industry that praise the amazing benefits of their unique flavorful spreads or low-cholesterol cooking fats. Their smart ad campaigns reflect zero interest in promoting your health; they are solely intended to create a market for cheap junk oils such as soy, cottonseed and rapeseed oil.

Until the early 1930s, manufactured food products were very unpopular and mostly rejected by the population because of their suspicion of them being of poor quality and not being fresh enough to be safe for consumption. The use of automated factory machinery to mass produce foods for immense potential profits was at first bitterly opposed by local farmers. Nevertheless, eventually, this resistance broke and gave way to an increasing interest in the ‘new’ foods that no one had ever seen before. When margarine and other refined, hydrogenated products were introduced into the US food markets, the dairy industry was vehemently opposed to it, but the women found it to be more practical than the lard they had been using. Due to the shortage of dairy products during WW II, margarine became a common food among the civilian population, and the commonly used coconut oils, flax oils and fish oils disappeared from the shelves of America’s grocery stores.

The campaign by the emerging food industry against natural oils and genuinely beneficial fats such as the very popular coconut oil became fueled by massive media disinformation campaigns that blamed saturated fats for the wave of heart attacks that suddenly started to grip a large portion of the American population. For 30 or more years, coconut oil was nowhere to be found in grocery stores and has only recently re-emerged in health food stores. Coconut oil and other healthful oils were practically replaced by cheap junk oils, including soy oil, cottonseed oil and rapeseed oil. While coconut fat was still the popular choice, its powerful weight-controlling effects helped prevent an obesity epidemic among the general population. Since eliminating it from the American diet, obesity has become the leading cause of illness in this country and the rest of the world.

If you are suffering from either type diabetes and wish to permanently restore your body’s natural sugar-regulating mechanisms, for a certain period of time you will need to strictly avoid all artificially produced fats and oils, including those that are found in processed foods, restaurant foods, fast foods and are sold as ‘healthy’ foods in grocery stores.

One of the most harmful oils is the genetically engineered Canola oil made from rapeseeds. Rapeseeds are not suitable for human consumption. Produced in Canada (hence the name ‘can-ola’) this renamed, refined rapeseed oil found a huge and instant market in the U.S. during the height of the cholesterol mania (still going on). It is cheap and, therefore, widely used by restaurants and people on a low food budget. The reason for its huge popularity is that it contains very little cholesterol (which can work against the body, for eating low cholesterol foods can dramatically increase cholesterol production in the liver). One of the main problems with this oil is that it should not be heated; yet heating it is a standard practice in the production process, or in restaurants and households. According to a January 26, 1998 Omega Nutrition press release, “heating distorts the omega-3 essential fatty acid found in Canola, turning it into an unnatural trans form that raises total cholesterol levels and lowers HDL [good] cholesterol.”

Japanese researchers found that the life spans of rats fed diets rich in Canola oil were 40% shorter. Experimental rats that were fed Canola oil “developed fatty degeneration of the heart, kidney, adrenals, and thyroid gland.” Canadian federal scientists have spent several years and a lot of money to alleviate fears linking Canola consumption to hypertension and stroke. The Health Ministry in Canada insists that although their tests match the Japanese data, Canola poses no risks to humans. Yet Canola oil consumption has been correlated with development of fibrotic lesions of the heart, lung cancer, prostate cancer, anemia, and constipation. The long-chain fatty acids found in Canola have been found to destroy the sphingomyelin surrounding nerve cells in the brain. Other illnesses and conditions that have been associated with Canola oil consumption include loss of vision and a wide range of neurological disorders.

How can this government be so reassuring when Canola oil has been around for a short number of years and long-term effects may not develop before 3-5 years? Is it not also strange that the FDA allowed the Canola industry to avoid the lengthy and expensive approval process, including medical research on humans? Given the alarming reactions that rats have to Canola oil, could it at least be possible that a certain percentage of heart attack and stroke victims are actually due to regular consumption of Canola oil? Since Canola oil is contained in the majority of manufactured foods, baked goods, frozen foods and restaurant foods, is it any wonder why people are falling ill everywhere, at a rate that is absolutely stunning and unprecedented?

So what do refined and manufactured oils and fats actually do to the body? For one thing, they can cause severe gastrointestinal disturbances. The number of people in the U.S. suffering from acid reflux disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s disease, constipation, colon cancer, etc., exceeds the number of all other diseases taken together. Deep fried foods and other fast foods have become the popular choice of young people, aged 3-30. An ever-increasing number of them develop diabetes.

The high temperatures used in Canola refining and margarine production will damage many of the essential fatty acids, which are much more susceptible to damage by heat than saturated fats. Heat is known to convert many of the unsaturated double bonds to the ‘trans fatty acid’ configuration. Although high-quality essential fatty acids as contained in some of these engineered foods are required for human health, in their damaged or rancid forms they become harmful. In fact, they may trigger powerful immune responses that may lead to autoimmune diseases, such as type I diabetes. The ‘auto-immune’ part of the disease is however just a normal reaction of the immune system to the presence of these poisons that have attached themselves to cell membranes.

In order for cells to be healthy and functional, their plasma cell membrane, now known to be an active player in the glucose scenario, needs to contain a complement of cis type w=3 unsaturated fatty acids. This makes the cell membranes slippery and fluid, thereby permitting glucose molecules to be able to pass through them and enter the cell interior for energy generation. This maintains balanced blood sugar levels. By regularly eating fats and oils that are heat-treated (versus natural cold pressed oils and untreated fats) the cell membranes begin to lose their healthy fatty acids and replace them with harmful trans-fatty acids and short and medium chain saturated fatty acids. As a result, the cell membranes become thicker, stiffer, sticky and inhibit the glucose transport mechanism, resulting in blood sugar rising.

The rest of the body suffers serious consequences of the clogging up of the cell membranes. The pancreas starts pumping out excessive amounts of insulin. The liver starts to convert some of the excess sugar into fat, stored by adipose cells. To get rid of the rest of the sugar, the urinary system goes into overdrive. The body goes into exhaustion due to the lack of cellular energy. The adrenals respond by pumping extra amounts of stress hormones into the blood, creating mood swings, anxiety and depression. The endocrine glands malfunction. Overtaxed by the constant demand for extra insulin, the pancreas fails to produce enough. Body weight may increase a little more each day. The heart and lungs become congested and fail to deliver vital oxygen to all the cells in the body, including the brain.

Each organ and system in the body is affected by this simple dietary mistake. All this and more is what we know as diabetes, an acquired illness that can easily be avoided and even reversed by eating a natural diet consisting of natural, fresh foods that nature so generously provides for us. The idea that we can create better foods than nature does is a fallacy that has turned into a weapon of mass destruction.

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This is an excerpt from my book DIABETES – NO MORE!

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

It Is Important To Maintain The Acid-Alkaline Balance In Our Body

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By Andreas Moritz

Acid-Alkaline Balance

Probably the most important factor to consider in planning healthy and nutritious meals is the acid-alkaline balance in our body.

Relating this to our food intake, natural foods such as fruits and vegetables are predominately alkaline-forming as they go through the digestive process. On the other hand, most animal proteins, processed foods and beverages are acid-forming.

In a healthy body, nature maintains a reserve of alkaline elements, much like a bank account. Under such circumstances, if we eat a meal that is more acidic than alkaline, our digestive processes automatically draw on the reserve of alkaline substances in our body to neutralize the acid-forming foods. But if we regularly eat meals that are overly acid-forming, the alkaline reserve in our body becomes depleted, and our body is unable to neutralize the acids. This is analogous to continuing to write checks off of a bank account without making adequate deposits – the account soon becomes overdrawn.

The greatest cause of disease in the world today is an excess of acid-causing foods in our diet that end up as acidic residues in the cells and tissue. Cancer cells and other degenerative diseases cannot thrive in an environment that is not acidic. Even the common cold virus has difficulty surviving in an alkaline environment.

Whether a substance is alkaline or acidic is determined by its pH (potential Hydrogen). This is a measure of the number of negative ions, which are alkaline-forming, as opposed to the number of positive ions, which are acid-forming. The standard pH scale goes from 1 to 14, with 7 being the neutral point. A substance with a pH of less than 7 is acidic, whereas one with a pH of greater than 7 is alkaline. From an energetic perspective, pH measures how much the negative ions and positive ions push against each other.

Translating this to the biochemical processes that take place within our body:

  • An alkaline-forming reaction refers to any chemical alteration in the body that produces an increased ability to energize the system, and leaves an alkaline residue.
  • An acid-forming reaction refers to any chemical alteration in the body that produces a decreased ability to energize the system, and leaves an acid residue.

If a meal has a perfect balance of alkaline-forming and acid-forming foods, then the alkaline and acids neutralize each other, and the residues will also be pH neutral. One of the problems, however, is that most fruits and vegetables are only moderately alkaline-forming, whereas many of the meat products, processed foods and beverages are extremely acid-forming. So maintaining a balance within our body is not just a matter of the quantity of alkaline-forming food we eat compared to acid-forming food, but also the degree to which the food is alkaline-forming or acid-forming.

The 80/20 Rule

In order to assure that we regularly replenish and sustain our alkaline reserve, the best guideline to follow is the ’80/20 Rule’. This simply means that 80% of the foods we eat should be alkaline-forming, and 20% acid-forming. This rule does not give us license to eat acid-forming foods that may be laden with toxins such as preservatives, artificial sweeteners and other unhealthy additives. But there are certain natural foods, such as cranberries and blueberries that, although acid-forming, can be helpful in keeping our kidneys and bladder clean.

Hydrochloric Acid (HCl)

At this point, a note of clarification may be appropriate. A healthy body produces hydrochloric acid (HCl) that is essential to the digestive process. It is the only acid that our body produces. All other acids are by-products of metabolism, and are eliminated as soon as possible. HCl is the first substance in the stomach that breaks down food so that it can be metabolized. It is also our first line of defense against various destructive microbes that enter the body by way of the food we eat. HCl keeps us alive by helping to maintain a proper alkaline-acid balance, and then it becomes alkaline after its vital job in the digestive process is done.

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This is an excerpt from the book SIMPLE STEPS TO TOTAL HEALTH by Andreas Moritz & John Hornecker

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The Link Between Meat Consumption and Heart Disease

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By Andreas Moritz

To illustrate the development of heart disease from virtual non-existence to being the biggest killer disease, I have used statistical trends describing disease development in Germany – a typical, modern industrialized nation.

In the year 1800, meat consumption in Germany was about 13 kg (28 pounds) per person per year. One hundred years later, meat consumption was nearly three times as high, at 38 kg per person per year. By 1979, it had reached 94.2 kg, which is an increase of 725 percent in less than 180 years. These figures do not include fats. During the period of 1946-1978, meat consumption in Germany increased by 90% and heart attacks rose by 20 times. During the same period, fat consumption remained the same, whereas consumption of cereals and potatoes, which are major suppliers of vegetable protein, decreased by 45%. Therefore, fats and carbohydrates, as well as vegetable proteins, cannot be considered to be causes of coronary heart disease. This leaves meat as the main factor responsible for the dramatic upsurge of this degenerative blood vessel disease.

In consideration of the fact that at least 50 percent of the German population is overweight and most overweight people eat much more meat than those with normal weight do, meat consumption among the overweight must have at least quadrupled in the 33 years after World War II. Being overweight is considered to be a major risk for high blood pressure and heart disease.

According to statistics published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1978, the yearly increases of heart attacks in Western European countries were accompanied by a continuous yearly increase in meat consumption by as much as 4 kg per person. This practically means that eating habits after World War II have shifted from a healthy mixed diet to one excessive in animal protein, but poor in carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables and grains. According to the WHO, fat consumption remained virtually unchanged. Heart attacks and atherosclerosis began to increase dramatically in Germany and in Western industrialized nations soon after the war; today they cause over 50 percent of all deaths.

Although fat consumption among vegetarians is not less than among meat eaters, the vegetarians have the lowest death rates from heart disease.The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that a vegetarian diet could prevent 97% of all coronary occlusions. The incredibly popular high protein, low carbohydrate Atkins Diet and South Beach Diet have the unfortunate side effect of starving a person by clogging up his capillary and artery walls with excessive proteins, and by greatly limiting his fuel intake (carbohydrates). This can certainly make a person lose weight, but not without also damaging his kidneys, liver, and heart. Both the late Dr. Atkins, a heart disease and obesity victim, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, a keen follower of the South Beach Diet and recipient of a quadruple bypass, suffered the consequences of the high protein diet. Millions of Americans are following in their footsteps.

The reason for the virtual absence of coronary heart disease among vegetarians is their low intake or complete absence of animal protein. Fat consumption is, therefore, only an accomplice of the disease, but not its cause. The constantly recycled mass hysteria that believes fat, which is generally associated with cholesterol, to be the main dietary culprit of heart disease, is completely unfounded, outdated, and has no scientific basis.

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This is an excerpt from my book HEART DISEASE NO MORE!

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You may share or republish this article provided you clearly mention the name of Andreas Moritz and paste a hyper link back to the web page

Are We Poisoning Our Children With Food?

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By Andreas Moritz 

Most of us were brought up with the belief that disease is caused by external things. Few people know that germs can only ‘germinate’ in a dead and toxic medium or environment. Parents who see their children go through one infectious illness after another are especially concerned about giving their offspring every possible protection against infectious diseases. Immunization seems to be one way of safeguarding their children’s lives. If their child still happens to ‘catch’ an infection, antibacterial or antiviral drugs are generally considered the best treatment option.

Being so used to blaming external pathogens (disease-causing factors) such as bacteria or viruses for an infection, not many people even consider the possibility that their health problems may have something to do with the food they eat. Could it really be possible that children (and also adults) who suffer from repeated infections are, in fact, only reaping the consequences of being poisoned by such unhealthful products as soft drinks, ice cream, chips, processed chocolate products, candy, ‘light’ foods, ‘fast’ foods, processed breakfast cereals, frozen meals, canned foods, and bottled salad dressings?

Over 40,000 different food items now occupy the shelves of modern grocery stores. Ninety-eight percent of them have nothing to do with what nature intended a human being to eat. Our digestive system has no way to make use of foods robbed of their natural, intrinsic life energy or manipulated and processed to a point of uselessness, regardless of the wonderful ingredients listed on their product labels. If foods are made in a laboratory, as most of them are, you can no longer consider them food. Instead, they have turned into poison. With their immune systems impaired by large amounts of these man-made, acid-forming foods and the chemical additives they contain, children barely stand a chance of fighting off the normally harmless germs that are part of our natural environment.

The situation is worsened if children haven’t been breastfed long enough to build up their natural immunity. Many infants are still being fed commercial formulas, and these contain rancid (oxidized) cholesterol which results from the milk-drying process. The solid foods that most mothers introduce during the first year of a baby’s life are generally sterilized during the canning process, resulting in a total degradation of their original life force. Rancid fat/cholesterol is a cancer-producing substance and the cause of many diseases, including allergies. Several years ago, the British government discovered that nine brands of commonly used infant formula contained potentially harmful chemicals. Formula made with cow’s milk is a product that has been chemically altered in a laboratory. The same applies to both soy-based and protein hydrolysate formulas. There is nothing natural about these foods. Just imagine what feeding lifeless, factory foods to human infants must do to them! How many infants are regularly seen by doctors because of various illnesses? Giving formula to a baby poses a major health risk, particularly because his immune system has not yet fully developed, leaving the infant unable to defend himself against these chemically altered, unnatural foods.

The food that most closely resembles breast milk is coconut milk. Many people in tropical parts of the world have raised healthy children on coconut milk when breast milk was not an option. Unless raised on breast or coconut milk, nearly every child will suffer from some ailment or another.

In addition, an entire cocktail of contaminants and noxious substances may be present in a child’s drinking water, as well as in the indoor and outdoor environment. These may easily suppress the just developing immune system of the child, making him susceptible to a whole range of illnesses. All of this has a great influence on how well a growing child will be able to navigate through the many physical, mental and emotional challenges he may have to meet in his life.

Today’s younger generation is sicker than any generation has ever been before. Schools and colleges feed our children cheap, low-nutrition foods, and the situation at home is not much better. Many diseases that used to strike only the adult population are now commonly found among young people. Would you have believed even 25 years ago that hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and obesity would one day be as common among children as they are today? Childhood obesity increased from 5 percent in 1964 to about 20 percent today – and it is rising. Children spend an average of 5 to 6 hours a day on sedentary activities, including watching television, using the computer, and playing video games. Today’s children are bombarded and brainwashed with well-crafted TV ads from fast-food chains and other purveyors of high-fat, high-sugar meals and snacks. When one totals the sugar intake of the average American, including refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, the shocking intake is 142 pounds a year, or roughly 2 ½ pounds per week, according to a report by CBS Broadcasting on June 17, 2007. This figure has risen 23 percent in the last 25 years and is a major cause of soaring rates of obesity and diabetes. Children make up a large proportion of the sugar-consuming population.

A recent study reported that two-to-six-year-olds who watch television are more likely to choose food products advertised on TV than children who do not watch such commercials. All of this has produced a generation of children who are at high risk for obesity-associated medical conditions. Doctors report a surge in young adolescents who are developing Type 2 diabetes – which can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, stroke, limb amputations, blindness and, of course, a diminished quality of life and shortened life span.

The consumption of foods that are of no use to the body is a major cause of disease, including infection. Meat or other flesh foods belong in that category. When you eat meat, your body can extract only a fraction of the meat’s constituents, and the rest has to be disposed of in different ways. A large portion of the undigested meat protein is broken down by the meat’s own cellular enzymes and also by bacteria present within the intestinal tract.

Heating animal proteins hardens and destroys them. This is called coagulation. For example, a raw egg, which is liquid to begin with, becomes hard when boiled or fried. Its proteins lose their natural three-dimensional structure, which makes them practically useless for the body.

Since decomposed meat cells consist of degenerated and coagulated protein, their putrefaction results in the release of putrescine and cadaverine, which are deadly and highly irritating cadaver poisons. Colorless, foul-smelling ptomaines, produced by the breakdown of amino acids in living and dead organisms, putrescine and cadaverine were first described by the Berlin physician Ludwig Brieger in 1885. The two compounds are largely responsible for the foul odor of putrefying flesh, but also contribute to the odor of such processes as bad breath and bacterial vaginosis.

Other carcinogenic chemicals, such as heterocyclic amines (HCAs), are formed from the cooking of muscle meats such as beef, pork, fowl and fish. Research conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as well as by Japanese and European scientists indicates that heterocyclic amines are created within muscle meats during most types of high temperature cooking. Such powerful poisons alone are enough to leave the body vulnerable to any kind of infection.

In most hospitals, both young and older patients are given meat, such as sausages, eggs, fish and poultry to eat, sometimes on the day after the patient has undergone surgery or other invasive treatments. These procedures cause the digestive system to be at its weakest. The patients’ already strained digestive and immune systems are unable to handle these additional toxins, while also trying to eliminate as much fecal waste from the bowel as possible. Many hospital patients suffer from constipation because of drug treatments, lying in bed all day, or eating constipating foods, such as meat and potatoes. Congested bowels are a highly fertile ground for microbial infection, which is more likely to occur in the hospital environment where germs are present in larger quantities. In essence, hospitals and their diet plans pose a serious danger to people who are already ill.

The life of a sick child may depend on whether he is able to remove most of the decomposing substances in his intestines before they are absorbed into the bloodstream and lymphatic system. If gallstones obstruct the liver bile ducts (now quite common among children, too), the liver is no longer able to remove all the toxins that enter the blood via the bowel; hence ‘food poisoning’ occurs. Most so-called epidemics are in fact forms of food poisoning or chemical poisoning. They occur among people with high levels of toxicity and low immunity, meaning, those who are already ill. Instead of giving hospital patients easy-to-digest liquid foods to eat, they are most often given solid, concentrated foods, such as meat, pork, eggs, etc. This will merely deplete the little energy they have left in them. This energy must now be used to attend to the newly ingested food, when the body should be using its energy stores to overcome the toxicity crisis. An immune system that has already been compromised by a massive influx of toxins is no longer able to effectively ward off bacteria, parasites or viruses. In fact, these germs become the body’s last resort to deal with the toxic load.

A child who is fed meat, eggs and dairy products, including milk, as well as junk food (low in, or void of, nutritional value) is much more likely to develop digestive problems and children’s diseases such as diphtheria, smallpox or septic fever, than a child who eats fruits, salads, vegetables, grain foods, nuts and drinks plenty of fresh water. Most parents feel responsible for the health and safety of their children. By becoming more conscious of their own eating habits, they will automatically want to give their children the best and most nutritious foods and beverages available. This can contribute greatly toward creating a generation of healthy young people who will be known for their absence of illness.

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This is an excerpt from my book TIMELESS SECRETS OF HEALTH & REJUVENATION

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