Saturday 29 December 2007

iodine deficiency linked to endometriosis

"Geographic differences in the rates of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer appear to be inversely correlated with dietary iodine intake. Endocrinological considerations suggest that a low dietary iodine intake may produce a state of increased effective gonadotrophin stimulation, which in turn may produce a hyperoestrogenic state characterised by relatively high production of oestrone and oestradiol and a relatively low oestriol to oestrone plus oestradiol ratio. This altered endocrine state may increase the risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. Increasing dietary iodine intake may reduce the risk of these cancers."

1: Lancet. 1976 Apr 24;1(7965):890-1. Links Dietary iodine and risk of breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancer. Stadel BV.

blogs of note

* Tacky Christmas Yards
* "Do You Speak English?" Radio Show
* Local Girl's day in pictures
* Santa Claus Blog
* Creative Archive
* Living In a Toxic World
* Animation Backgrounds
* Flawless Beauty
* One Pic a Day
* Charlotte Rose
just add: .blogspot.com

Friday 28 December 2007

sweeteners for new year

just got this letter from an aquaintance. We leave you to make your mind up about it!

Community service announcement Subject: SWEET, BUT POISON - A MUST READ This is a MUST READ, I hope you are not addicted to diet coke and sodas as well as sugar sweetners, In October of 2001, my sister started getting very sick. She had stomach spasms and she was having a hard time getting around. Walking was a major chore. It took everything she had just to get out of bed; she was in so much pain. By March 2002, she had undergone several tissue and muscle biopsies and was on 24 various prescription medications.

The doctors could not determine what was wrong with her. She was in so much pain, and so sick.she just knew she was dying. She put her house, bank accounts, life insurance, etc., in her oldest daughter’s name, and made sure that her younger children were to be taken care of. She also wanted her last hooray, so she planned a trip to
Florida (basically in a wheelchair) for March 22nd. On March 19 I called her to ask how her most recent tests went, and she said they didn’t find anything on the test, but they believe she had MS. I recalled an article a friend of mine e-mailed to me and I asked my sister if she drank diet soda? She told me that she did. As a matter of fact, she was getting ready to crack one open that moment.

I told her not to open it, and to stop drinking the diet soda! I e-mailed her the article my friend, a lawyer, had sent. My sister called me within 32 hours after our phone conversation and told me she had stopped drinking the diet soda AND she could walk! The muscle spasms went away. She said she didn’t feel 100% but she sure felt a lot better. She told me she was going to her doctor with this article and would call me when she got home. Well, she called me, and said her doctor was amazed! He is going to call all of his MS patients to find out if they consumed artificial sweeteners of any kind.

In a nutshell, she was being poisoned by the Aspartame in the diet soda… and literally dying a slow and miserable death. When she got to
Florida March 22, all she had to take was one pill, and that was a pill for the Aspartame poisoning! She is well on her way to a complete recovery. And she is walking! No wheelchair! This article saved her life. If it says ‘SUGAR FREE’ on the label; DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! I have spent several days lecturing at the WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE on “ASPARTAME,” marketed as ‘NutraSweet,’ ‘Equal,’ and ‘Spoonful.’ In the keynote address by the EPA, it was announced that in the
United States in 2001 there is an epidemic of multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus

. It was difficult to determine exactly what toxin was causing this to be rampant. I stood up and said that I was there to lecture on exactly that subject. I will explain why Aspartame is so dangerous: When the temperature of this sweetener exceeds 86 degrees F, the wood alcohol in ASPARTAME converts to formaldehyde and then to formic acid, which in turn causes metabolic acidosis. Formic acid is the poison found in the sting of fire ants. The methanol toxicity mimics, among other conditions, multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus. Many people were being diagnosed in error. Although multiple sclerosis is not a death sentence, Methanoltoxicity is!

Systemic lupus has become almost as rampant as multiple sclerosis, especially with Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi drinkers. The victim usually does not know that the Aspartame is the culprit. He or she continues its use; irritating the lupus to such a degree that it may become a life-threatening condition. We have seen patients with systemic lupus become asymptotic, once taken off diet sodas. In cases of those diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, most of the symptoms disappear. We’ve seen many cases where vision loss returned and hearing loss improved markedly. This also applies to cases of tinnitus and fibromyalgia. During a lecture, I said, “If you are using ASPARTAME (NutraSweet,Equal, Spoonful, etc) and you suffer from fibromyalgia symptoms, spasms, shooting, pains, numbness in your legs, cramps, vertigo, dizziness, headaches, tinnitus, joint pain, unexplainable depression, anxiety attacks, slurred speech, blurred vision, or memory loss. you probably have ASPARTAME poisoning!”

People were jumping up during the lecture saying, “I have some of these symptoms. Is it reversible?” Yes! Yes! Yes! STOP drinking diet sodas and be alert for Aspartameo n food labels! Many products are fortified with it! This is a serious problem. Dr. Espart (one of my speakers) remarked that so many people seem to be symptomatic for MS and during his recent visit to a hospice, a nurse stated that six of her friends, who were heavy Diet Coke addicts, had all been diagnosed with MS. This is beyond coincidence! Diet soda is NOT a diet product! It is a chemically altered, multiple SODIUM (salt) and ASPARTAME containing product that actually makes you crave carbohydrates. It is far more likely to make you GAIN weight! These products also contain formaldehyde, which stores in the fat cells, particularly in the hips and thighs. Formaldehyde is an absolute toxin and is used primarily to preserve”tissue specimens.”



Many products we use every day contain this chemical but we SHOULD NOT store it IN our body! Dr. H. J. Roberts stated in his lectures that once free of the “diet products” and with no significant increase in exercise; his patients lost an average of 19 pounds over a trial period. Aspartame is especially dangerous for diabetics. We found that some physicians, who believed that they had a patient with retinopathy, in fact, had symptoms caused by Aspartame. The Aspartame drives the blood sugar out of control. Thus diabetics may suffer acute memory loss due to the fact that aspartic acid and phenylalanine are NEUROTOXIC when taken without the other amino acids necessary for a good balance. Treating diabetes is all about BALANCE. Especially with diabetics, the Aspartame passes the blood/brain barrier and it then deteriorates the neurons of the brain; causing various levels of brain damage, seizures, depression, manic depression, panic attacks, uncontrollable anger and rage. Consumption of Aspartame causes these same symptoms in non- diabetics as well.

Documentation and observation also reveal that thousands of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have had complete turnarounds in their behavior when these chemicals have been removed from their diet. So called “behavior modification prescription drugs” (Ritalin and others) are no longer needed. Truth be told, they were never NEEDED in the first place! Most of these children were being “poisoned” on a daily basis with the very foods that were “better for them than sugar.”

It is also suspected that the Aspartame in thousands of pallets of diet Coke and diet Pepsi consumed by men and women fighting in the Gulf War, may be partially to blame for the well-known Gulf War Syndrome. Dr. Roberts warns that it can cause birth defects, i.e. mental retardation, if taken at the time of conception and during early pregnancy. Children are especially at risk for neurological disorders and should NEVER be given artificial sweeteners.

There are many different case histories to relate of children suffering grand mal seizures and other neurological disturbances due to the use of NutraSweet. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to convince people that Aspartame is to blame for their child’s illness. Stevia, which is a sweet herb, NOT A MANUFACTURED ADDITIVE, helps in the metabolism of sugar, which would be ideal for diabetics. It has now been approved as a dietary supplement by the FDA. It is known that for many years the FDA outlawed this true sweet food, ” due to their loyalty to MONSANTO Chemical Company.” Books on this subject are available: EXCITOTOXINS: THE TASTE THAT KILLS written by Dr. Russell Blaylock (Health Press 1-800-643-2665) AND: DEFENSE AGAINST ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE- written by DR H. J. Roberts, also a diabetic specialist.

These two doctors will soon be posting a position page on the Internet with case histories on the deadly effects of Aspartame. According to the Conference of the

American
College of Physicians, “We are talking about a plague of neurological diseases directly caused by the use of this deadly poison.” Herein lies the problem: There were Congressional Hearings when Aspartame was included 100different products and strong objection was made concerning its use. Since this initial hearing, there have been two subsequent hearings, and still nothing has been done. The drug and chemical lobbies have very deep pockets.

Sadly, MONSANTO’S patent on Aspartame has EXPIRED! There are now over 5,000 products on the market that contain this deadly chemical and there will be thousands more introduced. Everybody wants a “piece of the Aspartame pie.” I assure you that MONSANTO, the creator of Aspartame, knows how deadly it is. And isn’t it ironic that MONSANTO funds, among others, the American Diabetes Association, the American Dietetic Association and the Conference of the American College of Physicians? This has been recently exposed in the New York Times.

These [organizations] cannot criticize any additives or convey their link to MONSANTO because they take money from the food industry and are required to endorse their products. Senator Howard Metzenbaum wrote and presented a bill that would require label warnings on products containing Aspartame, especially regarding pregnant women, children and infants. The bill would also institute independent studies on the known dangers and the problems existing in the general population regarding seizures, changes in brain chemistry, neurological changes and behavioral symptoms. The bill was killed. It is known that the powerful drug and chemical lobbies are responsible for this, letting loose the hounds of disease and death on an unsuspecting and uninformed public. Well, you’re informed now! YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW!

Next Page »

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Sunday 23 December 2007

Does flouride cause cancer?

"Of all the conditions caused by Fluoride, Cancer is the most life threatening. Adding Fluoride to the water will, according to extremely conservative projections, increase cancer deaths in the UK by at least six people per day. To put it another way, every four hours of every day someone will die from cancer caused by Fluoride. This means that, of the people living in the UK today, at least 100,000 will die of cancer caused by adding Fluoride to the water. Studies show Thyroid cancers increase by up to 400%, bone cancer in young men is increased and there is an overall increase in cancer of 5% in water Fluoridated areas compared to non-Fluoridated areas. Dr Dean Burke, former chief scientist with the National Cancer Institute in the USA, testified before Congress that "Fluoride causes more human cancer deaths and causes it faster than any other chemical I have ever come across". Even if Fluoride was effective, this alone is too high a price to pay. The fact that Fluoride does not work and causes so much other damage to people turns tragedy into obscenity."

from Dr Munro-Hall (dentist)
http://www.positivehealth.com/article-view.php?articleid=1439

mercury causes autism - new research

Blood Levels of Mercury Are Related to Diagnosis of Autism: A Reanalysis of an Important Data Set
M. Catherine DeSoto, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa,
cathy.desoto@uni.edu

Robert T. Hitlan, PhD

Department of Psychology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa

The question of what is leading to the apparent increase in autism is of great importance. Like the link between aspirin and heart attack, even a small effect can have major health implications. If there is any link between autism and mercury, it is absolutely crucial that the first reports of the question are not falsely stating that no link occurs. We have reanalyzed the data set originally reported by Ip et al. in 2004 and have found that the original p value was in error and that a significant relation does exist between the blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, the hair sample analysis results offer some support for the idea that persons with autism may be less efficient and more variable at eliminating mercury from the blood.

Key Words: autism • mercury • environmental health • neuro-toxin • neurodevelopment •

erectile dysfunction

Erectile Dysfunction (ED) and KST (Koren Specific Technique)

"I am a chiropractor who went thru a pretty nasty divorce a few years ago. Since then
I've had a roller coaster ride with being able to obtain/maintain an erection. I
have tried many different chiropractic techniques. acupuncture, meditation, EFT,
supplements, hypnosis, ED meds. All of these provided mixed, inconsistent, temporary
results. After one KST adjustment my body released the emotional blockage that had
lead to my "issue." I feel like myself again! I highly recommend every chiropractor
find out more about KST." Name withheld by request

Watch FREE Koren Specific Technique (KST) videos at www.teddkorenseminars.com."

Thursday 20 December 2007

more on radical honesty

Think about how much less confusion there would be in the world if everybody was upfront and honest about their feelings!
Radical Honesty is not just about not lying, it is about telling people exactly how you feel about them. This does not mean just the bad stuff, the good things too. If people got told on a daily basis that they are amazing people, and they are loved, and they are truly cared about, it would truly be a better world. Who could kill themselves if there are being told they are loved every single day. How can you worry about telling somebody you care about you dont like there outfit, when you would also be telling them how much they mean to you. Think about all the people you have ever thought were your friends who you later found out dont like you. You could constantly surround yourself with people who love and respect you and you love and respect back. No more heartbreaks and no more high school drama. Sure it might cause a small amount of conflict at first but that is irrelavant to goal. If all of society was radically honest, people would get over being offended. After a certain amount of insults, it just wont matter, they just wont give a damn anymore. And it is not like their self esteem would be affected by this, like it would be now, because of all the compliments they are getting. Everybody in the world have other people who care about them, if they know it or not. And a lot of people dont know it, which is the problem.

Is the world ready for “Radical Honesty”?

Esquire has a hilarious and insightful article on “Radical Honesty” — a “movement” to tell the truth, the complete truth, all the time:

The movement was founded by a sixty-six-year-old Virginia-based psychotherapist named Brad Blanton. He says everybody would be happier if we just stopped lying. Tell the truth, all the time. This would be radical enough — a world without fibs — but Blanton goes further. He says we should toss out the filters between our brains and our mouths. If you think it, say it. Confess to your boss your secret plans to start your own company. If you’re having fantasies about your wife’s sister, Blanton says to tell your wife and tell her sister. It’s the only path to authentic relationships. It’s the only way to smash through modernity’s soul-deadening alienation. Oversharing? No such thing.

Wednesday 19 December 2007

high blood pressure? eat up your porridge!

Eating wholegrain oat cereal every day could help cut blood pressure or reduce the need for blood pressure medication, according to researchers from the US.

Writing in the April issue of The Journal of Family Practice, lead researcher Joel J. Pins of the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis said that his team had seen a substantial reduction in bad cholesterol levels in patients given oats over a six week period.

Some 45 volunteers with high blood pressure were fed a daily dose of 137 grams of oat cereal, containing around 12 grams of total fibre and six grams of soluble fibre. A separate group of 43 patients with the same symptoms were given wheat cereals with total fibre of approximately 3 grams and soluble fibre of less than 1.1 grams.

A total of 73 per cent of the participants eating oats every day were able to reduce their blood pressure medication, Pins said, while their total and LDL ('bad') cholesterol levels dropped by 15 and 16 per cent respectively over a 12-week period. Patients' blood glucose levels also improved significantly.

The results were far less impressive for the patients eating the wheat cereal. Just 42 per cent of that group were able to cut their blood pressure medication, and they showed no significant reduction in cholesterol levels.

Pins noted that once the patients stopped eating the oat cereal on a daily basis, some two-thirds of them were forced to return to their original blood pressure medication after six weeks.

A different study, also carried out by Pins and his colleagues in Minneapolis, focused on a smaller group of 18 people with untreated high blood pressure. They too were fed an oatmeal diet and showed a significant reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The control group, which this time was fed a normal diet, showed no such improvements.

see also www.patlife.hometead.com

health searches on internet

Health-care related topics are reported to be one of the most researched topics on the internet, especially when one suspects they have symptoms of a particular disease or condition. A brief scanning of today's health related news returns headlines related to carcinogens, bird flu, cancer risks, over-the-counter drug safety questions, prescription medication safety concerns, breast cancer and chemotherapy, vaccine recalls, reports of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in hospitals, and stories of mercury found in eye products like eyeliner and mascara. Nearly every major media web site features at least one health section that provides original health-care related content, or aggregates syndicated content from other popularly known health resources.

Tuesday 18 December 2007

Iodine Deficiency - An Overlooked Contributor to Obesity?

An Overlooked Contributor to Obesity?

by Rachel Olivier, MS, ND, PhD

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 2 billion people worldwide are deficient in iodine


Thyroid hormones are known to affect obesity and lipid disorders, and one often-overlooked component in this equation is iodine deficiency. Obesity and metabolic syndrome are increasing dramatically worldwide, contributing to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, as well as other obesity-related endocrinopathies.

Dietary iodine is recognized as an essential nutrient, as it is necessary for the synthesis of the thyroid hormones thyroxin (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), both of which are required for normal thyroid function. The dietary reference intake for dietary iodine, as dictated by the World Health Organization, is 90 µg per day for children 5 years of age or younger, with an increase corresponding to age: 120 µg/day for children 6 to 12 years, 150 µg/day for adults, and 200 µg/day for pregnant or lactating women.1
Worldwide Deficiency

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 2 billion people worldwide are deficient in iodine. Included in this figure are an estimated 285 million school-age children with iodine deficiency. In the United States, iodine status is considered marginal at best, within the range of 100 to 199 milligrams per liter. However, in some parts of the world, iodine deficiency remains a significant health problem.2,3 Added to insufficient intake is the recurrent exposure to the halogens chlorine, bromine, and fluoride, which also contribute to deficiency.

Of the dietary iodine intake, approximately 80% is sequestered by the thyroid gland, which uses it for the synthesis of thyroxine, via the sequential addition of four iodine molecules to the amino acid tyrosine.4 In addition to the thyroid, other bodily tissues also concentrate iodine, including the salivary glands, the gastric mucosa, choroids plexus, the lactating mammary gland, and the ovaries. Consequentially, as a result of decreased iodine status or deficiency, thyroxine cannot be made, which may ultimately result in thyroid dysfunction and subsequent weight gain.

Since thyroid hormones affect many bodily functions, including muscle, heart, liver, kidney, and the developing brain, optimal status is crucial for favorable health in all age groups.5 In one study with morbidly obese patients, a high degree of subclinical hypothyroidism (19.5%) was observed, with subjects having elevated levels of T3, T4, FT3, and TSH.6 There is also evidence of a significant correlation between the metabolic syndrome, of which symptoms include abdominal obesity and insulin resistance, and thyroid dysfunction, both of which contribute to cardiovascular disease.7

Iodine deficiency manifests as a variety of illnesses, collectively termed iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), which results when iodide intake is less than 20 µg per day. With iodine deficiency, an increase in serum TSH, and a significant decrease in both serum T4 and free T4, have been noted. These observations have been correlated with marked thyroid histological alterations, including "cylindric epithelial cells, diminution or absence of colloid and dilatation of blood capillaries."8 In moderate iodine deficiency, the thyroid gland, under the influence of thyroid-stimulating hormone, hypertrophies to concentrate iodide in itself, resulting in a colloid goiter. Most of these cases remain euthyroid.
Iodine and the Thyroid

The pattern between thyroid diseases and iodine intake is distinctly correlated, despite the absence of marked disease patterns, including cretinism and endemic goiter.9 Depressed iodine status has been correlated with elevated serum TSH, and it is an indicator of an insufficient T3 receptor saturation. Additionally, iodine deficiency affects brain development, which is particularly important in young children and adolescents. Given the increased obesity level in children, iodine status is a crucial consideration. An elevated serum TSH is an indicator of a potential risk. An elevated serum TSH, along with a normal serum T4 and T3, is an indication of subclinical hypothyroidism, while overt hypothyroidism is associated with an elevated TSH and a low T4, along with variable levels of T3.10

A 64% reduction in plasma thyroxine has been confirmed with iodine deficiency.11 Despite the consumption of iodinated salt, iodine deficiency disorders continue to exist, and goiters are still endemic in many populations.10 Sari et al have evidenced a "positive correlation between thyroid volume and body weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, and weight circumference," along with a positive correlation between TSH and both body weight and body fat.12

In children and adolescents, goiter/hypothyroidism, impaired mental function, retarded physical development, and an increased susceptibility of the thyroid to nuclear radiation are correlated with a dysfunctional thyroid. Considering the marked increase in childhood obesity, a nutritional deficiency in iodine should be addressed. Implications of thyroid dysfunction in adults include goiter/hypothyroidism, impaired mental function, spontaneous hyperthyroidism in the elderly, iodine-induced hyperthyroidism, and increased susceptibility of the thyroid to nuclear radiation. Consequently, the spectrum of IDD includes serious complications. Of these implications, brain damage and irreversible mental retardation in children are considered the most significant disorders induced by iodine deficiency.13
Supplements Available

Liquid iodine
Liquid iodine from Biotics Research supplies 75 µg of iodine, while Liquid Iodine Forte supplies 150 µg of iodine.

Although iodine deficiency has been addressed via the widespread application of public iodine supplementation programs, including the iodization of salt, in many regions of the world iodine deficiency remains a public health concern. Consequently, supplemental iodine represents an optimal approach to deficiency. Various forms of supplemental iodine are currently available—including liquid and tablet forms—both of which consist of potassium iodine or iodine derived from food sources such as kelp.

The earliest form of potassium supplementation was that of Lugol's solution, first made in 1829 by the French physician JGA Lugol. Lugol's solution is composed of 5% iodine along with 10% potassium iodide, with a final concentration of 130 mg/mL iodine.14 Iodine derived from kelp offers a natural alternative to supplementation. However, concerns with kelp-derived iodine should be considered, specifically with the knowledge that they are typically heavily contaminated with heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, and mercury.

It has been noted that "more attention should be devoted to heavy metal levels in kelp, particularly where they may play a role in a subsistence diet."15 In some species of kelp, as much as 65.5 parts per million arsenic has been extracted.16 The FDA tolerance level on arsenic is 2 ppm in kelp-containing products.17 Additionally, as a result of herbal kelp supplementation, arsenic toxicity has been reported, which was alleviated once supplementation was ceased.18 A preferred form of supplementation is the use of liquid potassium iodine. This form of supplementation has shown much promise, as it is well absorbed and offers a broader dosing range, as dosage adjustments are easily implemented to corresponding iodine status. Furthermore, considering the fact it has little taste and odor, liquid potassium iodine can readily be administered to all population ranges, including infants, children, and adults. More importantly, no risk of heavy metal contamination exists, as it is not derivated from souces with known contaminants, such as sea vegetation.

Determining iodine status in overweight patients offers a valid and theraputically beneficial approach toward deficiency. It has been noted that the benefits of iodine therapy far outweigh the risks induced by excess iodine.19,20,21 Continual monitoring along with the use of an easily regulated source of iodine offers a definitive approach toward the ultimate goal of adequate iodine status. Additionally, correcting the iodine deficiency plays an important role in optimizing thyroid function, and in turn may be an important factor in weight reduction.

Rachel Olivier, MS, ND, PhD, is physician advisor for Biotics Research Corp. Contact her at ROlivier@bioticsresearch.com.
References

1. WHO global database on iodine deficiency. Geneva: World Health Organization. Available at: www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA58-REC1/english/WHA58_24-en.pdf. Accessed June 27, 2007.
2. Utiger RD. Iodine Nutrition – More is Better. N Eng J Med. 2006;354(26):2819-2821.
3. Boyages SC. Clinical Review 49: Iodine Deficiency Disorders. J Clin Endocrinol Metab.

see link :

www.ultraherbal.com

www.patlife.homestead.com

ct scans cause cancer?

CT (computed tomography) scans are the cause of up to 2 per cent of all cancers. The effect could be far worse among children, who are more sensitive to irradiation.

The scans, which seem to especially cause cancers of the lungs and colon, produce a radiation dose similar to that of the atom bombs that were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Each scan produces a radiation dose of around 15 mSv in an adult, and 30 mSv in a newborn child, and as standard treatment is for two to three scans, the overall dose reaches 45 mSv. Survivors of Nagasaki and Hiroshima were exposed to doses slightly below 50 mSv.

Around 11 per cent of all CT scans are carried out on children to determine if they have appendicitis, and researchers fear that, even if they do not develop cancer immediately, they are still at greater risk as adults as their radiation load continues to increase.

In the US alone, 62 million scans are performed every year, mainly to check on seizures, chronic headaches and trauma, an extraordinary increase since 1980 when just 3 million scans were performed.

Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center in New York base their cancer estimates on radiation exposure from survivors of the atomic bomb blasts, and from a major study into the health of 400,000 workers in the nuclear industry.

They also reckon that up to a third of all CT scans are unnecessary or could be replaced by safer technology such as ultrasound.

If that’s so, it means that 20 million adults and 1 million children are unnecessarily irradiated every year in the US – and also being exposed to the risk of cancer.

(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2007; 357: 2277-84).

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Is This The Slimming Secret Of The Stars?

Imagine this: an organic pill that kills the appetite and attacks obesity. It has no known side-effects, and contains a molecule that fools your brain into believing you are full.
The Hoodia cactus plant
Image©Pure Hoodia
Are you fascinated by how the stars manage to stay so very thin? I’ve regularly come to the conclusion that after all the personal training, liposuction, colonic irrigation, nips, tucks and what not, there must be a little extra assistance at hand. And I’m not talking about the class A kind that celebrities so often get caught snorting.

Then I stumbled across a couple of articles reporting that the likes of Nicole Richie and the Desperate Housewives stars are apparently getting a little helping hand from a little-known South African herb called Hoodia. According to one of Nicole’s pals (who spilled the beans to More magazine) the tiny starlet once confessed: "Hoodia makes you look hot in low-cut tops and backless dresses. It’s good for me - the bushmen have sworn by it for hundreds of years and that's good enough for me."

Hoodia comes from an ugly-looking cactus that thrives in the high temperatures of the African Kalahari dessert. The San Bushmen of the Kalahari, one of the world's oldest and most primitive tribes, have been eating the cactus for thousands of years. They use it to stave off hunger during long hunting trips and to keep their youngsters’ cravings at bay when food is in short supply.

But how does it work? Well, here’s the science bit: there is a part of your brain called the hypothalamus, and within that mid-brain are the nerve cells that sense glucose sugar. When you’re full, the cells tell the brain that your blood sugar levels are good and there is no need to eat more food for now. Hoodia causes these cells to send the same message to the brain. So, the nerve cells are firing as if you were full, but you’re not. And you’re not hungry either.

Hoodia takes years to mature and so to protect it, pharmaceutical giants who are keen to manufacture the plant as a slimming aid to the western world have begun growing it across huge plantations of the South African desert.

The bio-pharmaceutical company Phytopharm, based in Cambridge, has been routinely testing the plant and has isolated a previously unknown molecule in it, which it has christened P 57. The molecule has been patented by the company but the cactus itself, being a living plant, cannot be.

What happens if you eat the cactus itself?
The Hoodia cactus at two years growth
Image©Pure Hoodia

The BBC sent a reporter to the Kalahari desert to test the benefits of this wonder-herb. Tom Mangold tucked into the raw Hoodia cactus, which he described as "a slightly unpleasant-tasting, fleshy plant", eating a piece about half the size of a banana. So did his cameraman. On their four-hour drive back to Capetown, both of them felt good and neither of them thought about food. “Our brains really were telling us we were full. It was a magnificent deception,” says Tom.

Neither of them wanted dinner, and the next day neither of them wanted breakfast. Lunch was eaten with little pleasure, and their appetite did not return fully until 24 hours had passed.

On reading this report, I couldn’t resist trying Hoodia. I’m a big fan of the GI Diet, simply because it lets you eat lots and feel full without putting on weight (well, if you’re ‘good’, that is). I wondered if trying this new wonder herb would help to curb my appetite a little in order to shift a couple of extra pounds before the Christmas parties get into full swing. I spoke to James Leon, who owns the Pure Hoodia company here in the UK, and ordered myself a sample.

James discovered Hoodia when he was at a rural trade fair in South Africa about 12 years ago. He now buys direct from the South African farmers who he established a direct link with.

“I really like it because it’s a herb and therefore natural,” says James. And while many other Hoodia suppliers choose to mix up the Hoodia herb with things like green tea or chromium (which is said to boost the metabolism), James says it’s perfect in its natural form and he likes to keep it that way.

Hoodia may take a few days to start taking effect and the recommended dosage may be anything from one or two capsules a day for people who only have a little to lose, to around six for a 25-stone man. “People may already have a suppressed appetite before they notice any weight loss,” says James, who explains that to lose 1lb of fat, a person must burn up 3,500 calories, which can take a while. “But today someone who started taking Hoodia at the beginning of October emailed me and said they’d lost a stone,” he added proudly.

It is entirely up to the individual if they wish to continue using Hoodia when they’ve reached their target weight. James tends to find that people may contact him to buy a two or three month supply, then they stay at their target weight for six months, before coming back later when the weight starts to creep back on.

“People eat for different reasons, and if it’s out of boredom or because they’re unhappy, then maybe Hoodia might not be the right thing for them in that instance. But for those who want to lose weight and are prepared to stick to a diet, or cut back between meals – it can be very helpful,” says James. “We sell thousands of pots a month, which is based on the fact that we have a good product and a good customer service. I’m usually the one who answers the phone.”

We put Hoodia to the test
Nicole O'Neil
Image©James Hopkirk

I tried Hoodia over a two-week period and found that taking it twice a day did help to reduce my appetite. There were a couple of particular instances on my way home from work when I felt absolutely ravenous and decided to try one of the capsules. Within about ten minutes the hunger had subsided. That’s not to say I didn’t want dinner when I got in, but I possibly ate less than I might otherwise have done.

In another instance on a Friday evening when I was about to head home via the chip shop after a night with friends at the pub, Hoodia came to my rescue again. And I was pretty pleased with myself when I woke up the next morning.

While I was running my Hoodia test, I didn’t feel as though I was eating a lot less than usual and yet I did manage to lose 2lbs over two weeks. At certain snack times I was less hungry and didn’t really think about food. But that said, Hoodia doesn’t take away the appetite completely, which can only be a good thing. Not eating all of the necessary vitamins and minerals will obviously always be detrimental to one’s health. But using a herb to simply help to curb the appetite can’t be bad, can it?

Hoodia has few known side effects at the moment. But it might be worth mentioning that a report in the New York Times claims there may be unwanted effects on the liver, caused by other components in Hoodia which cannot easily be removed from the supplement. While this has yet to be proven, further tests are needed before the full-known effects of the extract are completely understood.

But lawyer to the San tribe’s South African lawyer Roger Chennells believes Hoodia is the answer to obesity in the West, and for his people, the end of poverty in the Kalahari desert. He told the BBC: "The San will finally throw off thousands of years of oppression, poverty, social isolation and discrimination. I envisage Hoodia cafes in London and New York,” he says. “Salads will be served and the Hoodia cut like cucumber on to the salad. It will need flavouring to counter its unpleasant taste, but if it has no side effects and no cumulative side-effects, this is where we’re going."

As for whether Nicole Richie and the Desperate Housewives cast are using the herb to keep their frames stick-thin, I couldn’t possibly say. But what I will say is, if they are, they must be using a very strong dose to make their appetites so very small. To me, Hoodia seems more like a herbal diet supplement to aid healthy eating, as opposed to the pharmaceutical slimming drugs that speed up the metabolism and can keep their users awake at night. And if it is proven to have no side effects and help out obesity, that can surely only be a good thing.


hoodia - weight loss herb: www.ultraherbal.com

more good news on statins

In the Journal of Pathology 210: 94-102, 2006, Draeger A and others of the University of Bern, Switzerland reported that statin therapy induces ultrastructural damage in skeletal muscle in almost every patient and often without myalgia.

Draeger’s group did skeletal muscle biopsies from statin treated and non-statin treated patients and examined them using electron microscopy and biochemical approaches. They reported clear evidence of skeletal muscle damage in statin treated patients despite their being asymptomatic.

Although the degree of overall damage was minimal, it was the characteristic pattern of damage, including rupture of critical structures that caught the attention of the investigators. These findings support the hypothesis that statin induced cholesterol lowering per se contributes to myocyte damage and suggests further that it is the specific lipid / protein organs of the skeletal muscle itself that renders it particularly vulnerable.

Friday 14 December 2007

Quintin (Quentin) Wilson - Top Gear celebrity advocates chiropractic

BBC’s ‘Top Gear’ celebrity has been a huge advocate of chiropractic since his son who was diagnosed as having autism made a ‘miraculous’ recovery after a visit to a Chiropractor.
In the Daily Telegraph Dated Thur 26 May 2005 Quentin said "I'm startled by the difference in Max(his son) before and after chiropractic. He has gone from being labelled autistic and needing a classroom assistant to becoming an active and feisty seven-year-old in mainstream education". They were at the point of putting Max on Ritalin, the drug that is used to treat children with ADHD when they had an "almost surreal" revelation. At a birthday party Max had "done his usual trick of sitting under the table for 2 hours". He met a mother who'd been observing Max and she thought he should go to see her chiropractor as she suspected an imbalance in his skeleton. Although very sceptical the Willson's took him for care and they remember the gentleness of the first adjustment as "it was just a flicking of the bones around the neck and shoulders," said Quentin, but that night, Max slept continuously until morning for the first time since his birth nearly 5 years previously! His speech eating and abilities quickly improved

"This is the unimpeachable testimonial of a man who did not believe in it. We have to raise awareness," said Quentin "because it worked so thoroughly for my son and changed his life and ours. If I can help just one child that's going through what we went through then that's my reward."

Tuesday 11 December 2007

Berry juice shrinks prostate tumours in rats

Berry juice shrinks prostate tumours in rats
7th December 2007,


A cocktail of exotic berry juices has been found to slow the growth of tumours in mice with prostate cancer, Australian scientists say.

Researchers at the University of Sydney are moving to test the commercially available juice concentrate on humans after good results in the laboratory.

The team found they could reduce the size of tumours by 25 per cent using Blueberry Punch, an antioxidant cocktail containing more than a dozen extracts, including berries, citrus, grapes, olives and herbs.

The product is based on foods recognised to have antioxidant qualities and similar attributes to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Dr Jas Sing from the ANZAC Research Institute and Dr Qihan Dong from the Bosch Institute studied the effect of the beverage on both cancer cell cultures and mouse models that mimic human prostate cancer.

“After 72 hours exposure to increasing concentrations of Blueberry Punch, prostate cancer cells showed a dose-dependent reduction in size and viability when compared with untreated cells,” Dr Sing said.

“After feeding mice a 10 per cent solution of the punch for two weeks, we found the tumours in these mice were 25 per cent smaller than those found in mice that only drank tap water.”

magnesium

Magnesium is a structural component in the bones of our skeletons; along with calcium and phosphorus, it is one of the most important minerals in the bones - so make sure you get anough of it folks!
Bone mass contains more than half the magnesium content of the human body, and magnesium plays a decisive role in protecting our bones and keeping them healthy. Among its roles is the activation of alkaline phosphatase (an enzyme which mineralizes calcium in the bones).
Poeple who suffer from a low bone mass have a magnesium deficiency, not a calcium deficiency !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( How come this is rarely taken notice of?)
In fact, it has been found that giving magnesium to women receiving hormone therapy raises their bone mass levels by 11% (J of Nut Med 1991). Furthermore, magnesium has been found to be of importance in balancing the hormones PTH and calcitonin. It is generally considered that the ratio between calcium and magnesium should be 2 units of calcium per unit of magnesium.

Magnesium is to be found in the red blood cells, muscles, soft tissues and nerve cell fluid. It helps the body keep a normal pH level (7.35-7.45) in the extracellular fluid. In addition, its antacid properties help to balance the basic levels of various substances in the body.

Magnesium is involved in approximately 300 enzymatic processes in the body. Accordingly, abnormal magnesium levels in the blood may cause a variety of problems, such as irritability and a tendency to anger,(road rage sufferers take note) restlessness, fast resting pulse, muscle tremor, hypertension, confusion, disorders of the carbohydrate metabolism, and difficulty in building the DNA and RNA protein structure (together with vitamin B6, which is required for all protein building and decomposition). see other articles on this site for best sources of this magic mineral..

The body is a self-healing mechanism.....

I like this statement form Dr Jerry Tennant - inventor of the 'biomodulator'
(my sentiments entirely):
"The body is a self-healing mechanism. It is designed to heal. What happens when you cut your finger? Without any conscious effort, it mends and heals. We believe that all other conditions in our bodies will heal, given the proper raw materials. There is no silver bullet for any chronic condition or disease. One must systematically turn on the brain's neurochemicals, activate the pituitary that activates the endocrine system that controls the rest of the organs. Then one must clean the liver and gall bladder and get it able to eliminate toxins. Most of these vasculitis syndromes are due to toxins that the liver can't excrete. Then you must supply the body with total nutrition so it can rebuild itself. You must also educate the patient so they will stop poisoning themselves and remove dental toxins. Traditional medicine suppresses the inflammation caused by these toxins with oral cortisone and immuno-destructive drugs."

http://gordonbrenzil.com/tenninterview.htm

Saturday 8 December 2007

aother statin experience

Fran said...

My husband's cognitive ability has also been adversely affected by 8 years of statins. First was Zocor, then Lipitor for about 5 years. Lipitor 10mg was increased to 20mg and that seems to be the impetus of cognitive decline, including several bouts of TGA. Statins were stopped over 3 years ago, memory improved for a time, but both short term and long term memory are affected now. The closest definition for his current condition is a class of dementia called: confabulation. When he recalls an event his brain fills in anything missing. Those experiencing confabulation aren't really aware they are 'filling in the gaps', but those around notice that details don't match-up. Very frustrating for both parties.

We are retired and in our early 60's, a time when we should be enjoying our retirement. I feel our lives as we knew them before statins, have been stolen from us.

Dr Duane Graveline's book, "Lipitor - Thief of Memory" is how we linked statins to memory loss, but unfortunately, we found out after too much damage was done.

Fran

26 November 2007 21:11

Friday 7 December 2007

mineral wraps for weight loss

One of the more popular methods of reducing unwanted inches is through mineral body wraps. “Impurities and toxins can inhibit weight and inch loss. Mineral wraps are designed to remove impurities created from food, beverages and medications that the body can’t process,” states Teresa Leonard of Suddenly Slender You. “Over time, internal waste, chemicals, stress, medication and pollution in our environment overload body systems and cause water retention and soft spongy cellulite-ridden tissue. Our minerals and proven wrapping techniques compact and firm the body quickly.” The mineral wraps (the actual ingredients are top-secret) contain food grade inorganic minerals and distilled water. What kinds of results does this proven technique generate? “We utilize a nineteen point body measuring system and take before and after measurements. A six to twenty inch loss can be expected after the first treatment,” says Teresa. The system works best if clients get wrapped two to three times a week, based on their personal goals.” Regular clients can expect to maintain and improve inch loss results with regular wraps. As with any weight and inch loss program, mineral wraps are not the only key to long-term results. “Lifestyle changes, when combined with mineral wraps provide optimal results,” says Teresa. “Taking the proper supplements, eating right and exercising are vital to the total success of any weight loss program.” Teresa adds this valuable tip: “Drink water and lots of it.”

Wednesday 5 December 2007

chiropractic saves taxpayer £30 million

CORPORATE CHIROPRACTIC

In 1998, the Gonstead Clinic UK was asked by Sir Paul Condon, then the Commissioner of Police for The Metropolitan Police Service of London (MPS), to develop and introduce a pilot study to determine if Chiropractic treatment could save the MPS money and get the injured officers back to work sooner.

It is well documented in the scientific literature that chiropractic treatment for musculoskeletal and neurologically related conditions such as: neck, shoulder, arm, back, hip, and leg pain is very effective for the acute injury sustained within four weeks.

Our study not only correlates with the findings published within the scientific papers regarding acute injuries, but also was seen to have a similar effect on the chronic back and neck pain cases i.e. Injuries sustained from four weeks to twenty years plus. There are few, if any, studies published that demonstrate the effectiveness of chronic injury management by any medical treatment. Therefore, the data that we accumulated is very exciting from a scientific standpoint as well as a practical and financial view for the corporate workplace.


END OF STUDY STATISTICS TOTALS %

1. Number of patients treated from 01-10-98 to 31-03-99 115

2. Number of patients with the injury less than 4 weeks 30 26.1

3. Number of patients with the injury greater than 4 weeks 85 73.9

4. Number of satisfied chronic patients 72 84.7

5. Average number of treatments per case 10.7

6. Average cost per case £304.00

As seen above, the chronic cases represent 74% of the pilot study. Even though this study and the above data represent a small sample group, it is these chronic cases which clearly are the candidates for early disability retirement. It is important to note that it is the acute cases if misdiagnosed or treated unsuccessfully, become the chronic statistic. The early retirement option, as well as the number of days lost due to sickness per year, is a tremendous cost to both the MPS and industry alike.

In brief, the clinic treated 115 officers, all of whom would have been discharged on early disability retirement costing the taxpayer £30 million. Within an average of 10 visits, chiropractic treatment utilising the Gonstead Method managed to get 113 of the 115 back to full duty. The Gonstead Clinic was awarded the contract in 1999 to present, and has been keeping the MPS well ever since.

chiropractic saves taxpayer £30 million

CORPORATE CHIROPRACTIC

In 1998, the Gonstead Clinic UK was asked by Sir Paul Condon, then the Commissioner of Police for The Metropolitan Police Service of London (MPS), to develop and introduce a pilot study to determine if Chiropractic treatment could save the MPS money and get the injured officers back to work sooner.

It is well documented in the scientific literature that chiropractic treatment for musculoskeletal and neurologically related conditions such as: neck, shoulder, arm, back, hip, and leg pain is very effective for the acute injury sustained within four weeks.

Our study not only correlates with the findings published within the scientific papers regarding acute injuries, but also was seen to have a similar effect on the chronic back and neck pain cases i.e. Injuries sustained from four weeks to twenty years plus. There are few, if any, studies published that demonstrate the effectiveness of chronic injury management by any medical treatment. Therefore, the data that we accumulated is very exciting from a scientific standpoint as well as a practical and financial view for the corporate workplace.


END OF STUDY STATISTICS TOTALS %

1. Number of patients treated from 01-10-98 to 31-03-99 115

2. Number of patients with the injury less than 4 weeks 30 26.1

3. Number of patients with the injury greater than 4 weeks 85 73.9

4. Number of satisfied chronic patients 72 84.7

5. Average number of treatments per case 10.7

6. Average cost per case £304.00

As seen above, the chronic cases represent 74% of the pilot study. Even though this study and the above data represent a small sample group, it is these chronic cases which clearly are the candidates for early disability retirement. It is important to note that it is the acute cases if misdiagnosed or treated unsuccessfully, become the chronic statistic. The early retirement option, as well as the number of days lost due to sickness per year, is a tremendous cost to both the MPS and industry alike.

In brief, the clinic treated 115 officers, all of whom would have been discharged on early disability retirement costing the taxpayer £30 million. Within an average of 10 visits, chiropractic treatment utilising the Gonstead Method managed to get 113 of the 115 back to full duty. The Gonstead Clinic was awarded the contract in 1999 to present, and has been keeping the MPS well ever since.

Friday 30 November 2007

no thought for the day

... from Hui Neng
A.D. 637-714:

"In the midst of all good and evil not a thought is aroused in the
mind- this is called 'Za'.

Seeing into one's self-nature, not being moved at all, this is
called 'Zen'."

and from the Bible:

"Be still and know that I am God".

Monday 26 November 2007

cure for insomnia

Did you know that a recent study funded by the National Institutes of Health
found the popular prescription sleep aids will get you an average of
only 11 minutes extra sleep.
So Americans are shelling out $4.5 billion each year for little more than ten minutes
of extra sleep.

what works for me:

lie in bed and think/remember everything that happened in the day in reverse order - after a few minutes i am asleep! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (so boring!) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Saturday 24 November 2007

another experience with statin drugs

This was a comment to my previous posting 'an alarming experience with statins':

"Thank you for posting Dr. Graveline's experience of Transient Global Amnesia caused by Lipitor.

My own husband had multiple witnessed episodes of Transient Global Amnesia while taking Lipitor at only 10 mg/day.

Further, the Lipitor left him with profound short-term-memory loss. He started on Lipitor at 50 working as a corporate CEO. By the end of 4 years on Lipitor, at the lowest dose, his short term memory was measured at below the 1 percentile. He literally could not remember to the end of a sentence over 5 words. Keep in mind that "What do you want for dinner?" is a six word sentence - an beyond his ability to process, thanks to the Lipitor damage. He also developed aphasia, the inability to recall words, which prevented effective communication.

In addition he was left with Lipitor-caused mitochondrial damage, muscle pain, muscle wasting, chronic fatigue, peripheral neuropathy, and chronic insomnia.

A full DECADE after starting the Lipitor, he remains disabled, unable to function in his former capacity, or any other.

Extensive testing has eliminated all other possible causes - it was the Lipitor that destroyed his quality of life".

22 November 2007 17:50

Magnesium oil - powerful form of magnesium

The Following are Excerpts taken from Transdermal Magnesium Therapy Book
by Mark Sirus, O.M.D.

What is exciting about this form of magnesium is that it is easily absorbed into the body through the skin and is delivered directly to the cellular level, thereby completely bypassing the body's natural rejection of magnesium as is so often experienced with oral supplementation. There are no reactions of nausea or diarrhea, and yet, the magnesium levels in the body can be significantly increased in this manner.

Some of the conditions magnesium may be useful in treating or preventing are:

Aging Aggressive Behavior

Alcoholism Alzheimer's Disease

Arrhythmia Asthma

Attention Deficit Disorder Autism

Brain Damage Cancer

Cerebral Palsy Cerebrovascular

Chemical Sensitivity Chronic Fatigue

Cluster Headaches Constipation

Cramps Diabetes

Fibromyalgia Fluoride Toxicity

Head Injuries, Central Nervous System Injuries

HIV, AIDS Heart Disease. Heart Attack,

Atherosclerosis, Cardiovascular Disease,

Hypertension Kidney Stones

Lou Gehrigs Disease (ALS) Migraine Headache

Menopause Symptom Multiple Sclerosis

Mitral Valve Prolapse Peripheral vascular disease

Osteoporosis Premenstrual Syndrome, PMS

Psychiatric Disorders Repetitive Strain Injury

Rheumatoid Arthritis Sickle Cell Diseas

SIDS Sports-related problems

Stroke Stress

Stuttering Tetanus TMJ

Stress begets stress. The lower your magnesium level, the lower your threshold for new stress - thus, you become increasingly more sensitive - more adrenalin, greater magnesium loss, greater sensitivity, etc. Soon the intracellular magnesium level is no longer 10 times that of serum and the cells are in a chronic state of hyperexcitability. anxiety, irritability, anger, depression and mood swings are
just the tip of the iceberg of magnesium deficient symptoms.
THESE ARE JUST SYMPTOMS!

Attention Deficit Anxiety Confusion

Diarrhea or Constipation Fatigue Faintness

Depression Intestinal Problems
Hyperventilation Insomnia

Muscle Cramps Muscle Tightness

Muscle Twitches Pain

Poor Memory Seizures

Excerpts taken from Magnesium Deficiency in "Holy Water, Sacred Oil" by Dr. C. Norman Shealy, M.D., PhD (available at Amazon )

magnesium and cancer

Magnesium stabilizes ATP , allowing
DNA and RNA transcriptions and repairs.

There is a power and a force in magnesium that cannot be equaled anywhere else in the world of medicine. There is no substitute for magnesium in human physiology; nothing comes even close to it in terms of its effect on overall cell physiology. Without sufficient magnesium, the body accumulates toxins and acid residues, degenerates rapidly, and ages prematurely. It goes against a gale wind of medical Science to ignore magnesium chloride used transdermally in the treatment of any chronic or acute disorder, especially cancer. (magnesium chloride is from Sea Salt )

Magnesium repletion produced rapid
disappearance of the periosteal tumors.

Aleksandrowicz et al in Poland conclude that inadequacy of Mg and antioxidants are important risk factors in predisposing to leukemias. Other researchers found that 46% of the patients admitted to an ICU in a tertiary cancer center presented hypomagnesemia.

Wednesday 21 November 2007

an alarming experience with statins

Transient Global Amnesia – A Side Effect Of Statin Treatment

Duane Graveline, MD, former NASA Astronaut, USAF Flight Surgeon, Space Medicine Research Scientist, Family Doctor. 4414 Cormorant Ln., Merritt Island, FL 32953.

Try to imagine the complete inability to formulate new memory. This condition is known as transient global amnesia, now known to be associated with statin drug use. My first encounter occurred six weeks after my annual astronaut physical at Johnson Space Center. Despite regular exercise, weight maintenance and proper diet my total serum cholesterol had risen to 250 mg and the recommendation of the flight surgeons there was to start Lipitor, 10 mg daily. My wife noticed me walking aimlessly about the yard after my return from my usual walk. I did not know who she was and would not enter our house. Our family doctor referred me immediately to a neurologist and finally, in the office of the neurologist, my senses returned to normal. Following a negative MRI the following day, the diagnosis of transient global amnesia was made. I discontinued Lipitor because I suspected it was the cause.

At my next NASA physical I was assured that statin drugs do not do this. Reluctantly I started again with 5 mg, daily, one-half my previous dose. Six weeks later I descended again into the black pit of amnesia, this time for an extraordinary 12 hours. In addition to the mainly antegrade amnesia which characterized my first attack, this time I had a retrograde element all the way back to my high school days. Gone was my medical school training, USAF flight surgeon career, my marriage and four children and even my selection as scientist astronaut. Again the same doctors made the same diagnosis, transient global amnesia. Again I stopped Lipitor on my own knowing it was the cause but I was the only one convinced.

Several months later I got in contact with the statin drug study at UCSD's College of Medicine. There, Dr. Beatrice Golomb reported she had several cases just like mine. A few days later, thanks to the Graedons of the radio program Peoples Pharmacy, thousands of case reports of memory dysfunction started flooding in from patients across the country, all with the same common thread - association with statin drug use. And the amnesia is just the tip of the iceberg of the true incidence of memory impairment associated with Lipitor, Mevacor and Zocor. For every case of amnesia, thousands of cases of extreme forgetfullness, incapacitating confusion and profound disorientation have been and are being reported. Neither patients nor doctors are aware of this side effect.ng lipids. The role of inflammation and stress

..and more about statins from:

Paul Rosch; MD, FACP, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, New York Medical College, President, The American Institute of Stress, Honorary Vice President, International Stress Management Association, 124 Park Ave.Yonkers, NY 10703, USA.

1. Increased dietary fat intake does not significantly elevate cholesterol or lipid levels.

2. Elevated serum cholesterol and/or other lipids are not the cause of coronary heart disease.

3. Statins can have significant side effects that have been overlooked or deliberately suppressed. In addition to rhabdomyolysis and liver dysfunction, these include: muscle pain, weakness and fatigue and biopsy evidence of myopathy and tendinopathy in the absence of elevated CK, memory loss, global amnesia, difficulty in sleeping and concentration, erectile dysfunction, problems with temperature regulation, difficulty in managing diabetes, and peripheral neuropathy.

4. All statins have been shown to be carcinogenic in experimental animals in dosages that approximate those given to patients. Although the lag time between exposure to a carcinogen and clinical detection is often a decade or more, a disturbing increase in breast cancer has already been reported in the CARE trial as well as certain skin malignancies in the simvastatin trials. Statins could initiate and/or accelerate malignant growth by a) blocking the production of Coenzyme Q10, which has been shown to have anti-cancer effects; b) stimulating the growth of new blood vessels that malignancies require to promote their propagation; c) decreasing the cytotoxicity of natural killer cells; d) blocking the production of squalene, an intermediate cholesterol metabolite with anti-cancer activities in animal studies and currently used as adjunctive therapy in treating cancer; e) reducing the production of DHEA, which has been shown to have anticancer and immune stimulating effects in experimental studies.

5. Cardioprotective effects are seen regardless of baseline cholesterol or LDL levels or the degree to which they are reduced and are achieved far too rapidly to be due to lowering LDL. If statins worked by lowering LDL one would expect to see dose-response relationship, which has not been demonstrated in any statin trials. Cardioprotective effects are seen in the elderly where LDL or other lipids are not a risk factor for coronary heart disease and in the HPS study statin treatment also prevented ischemic stroke although high LDL is not a risk factor for stroke.

6. There is abundant evidence that reducing inflammation, thrombotic factors and endothelial
damage may explain the statin effects. For example, in the CARE, the outcome was related to the degree of inflammation but independent of any lipid response.

7. Most coronary events are not due to progressive blockage of a vessel by gradual accumulation of lipid material but to thrombosis and disruption of an asymptomatic fibrous plaque with minimal protrusion. Human atherosclerotic plaque bears little resemblance to experimental atherosclerosis in animals force-fed high-fat and high cholesterol diets, but has all the hallmarks of an inflammatory response to infection and there is considerable evidence to support such an etiology, particularly for chlamydia pneumoniae. Homocysteine, angiotensin II and a host of inflammatory agents have also been implicated.

8. Therefore, the current therapy goals of lowering LDL to arbitrary levels are not only inappropriate but also dangerous, since this will only lead to larger doses and more side effects.

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2003/12/05/statin_drugs_memory_loss.htm

Tuesday 20 November 2007

my burning desire

My burning desire is to help people to be well by giving them the tools and responsibility to succeed. I fervently believe that ‘Only Nature Heals' and my job is to assist practically in promoting health.

Monday 19 November 2007

cholestoral -lowering drugs bad for health

More from Al Sears MD:
'cholesterol-lowering drugs are bad for your health. Yet according to
another new study, doctors still just arent getting it.
Even worse, many
doctors continue to dismiss the warning signs when their patients
complain of dangerous side effects. Theyre just not
listening.
Researchers at the
University of San Diego recently surveyed 650 patients taking
cholesterol-lowering drugs like Lipitor, Zocor, and Mevacor. The point
of the study was to find out how their doctors responded when they
reported having bad reactions.1
The results were
disturbing, to say the least. Forty-seven percent of
participants suffering from muscle or brain-related problems reported
that their doctors brushed their complaints aside.
Fifty-one
percent of patients with nerve pain said the same thing. Overall,
thirty-two percent of patients with a variety of complaints reported
that their doctors immediately ruled out the possibility that they
could be related to statin drugs.
And, the San Diego
researchers concluded that the pharmaceutical companies who make these
drugs were getting the word out about their dangers
(probably because of fear of legal repercussions). The doctors simply
weren't listening. And in the majority of cases, it was
the patient, not the doctor, who initiated
the discussion about possible side effects.
For my part,
I'm going to continue doing what I've been doing for many
years - warning anyone who will listen to avoid statin drugs. Not only
do they fail to address the real cause of heart disease
(which isn't high cholesterol, by the way) they hurt
instead of helping and can actually be fatal.
The list of statin
drugs side effects is long and frightening. Here are just a
few:

Inability to concentrate
Confusion
Amnesia
Disorientation
Shortness of breath
Fatigue
Nerve pain
Muscle weakness
Depression and other mood
disorders
Impotence
Lowered sex drive
Weakened immune system
Liver damage
Rhabdomyolysis (painful
bursting of muscle cells)
And death

With risks like
these, you have to wonder why so many doctors remain in the dark.
Statins remain blockbuster drugs - 12 million Americans are
currently taking them.
One reason may be
that the mainstream medical community continues to focus on
cholesterol as the chief culprit behind heart disease. There's
no doubt statins lower LDL cholesterol,
The problem is,
cholesterol isn't the problem. It may surprise you to learn that
75 percent of heart attack victims have perfectly normal cholesterol
levels.
The fact is
lowering your LDL cholesterol doesn't protect you from heart
disease. You want to raise your HDL, the good kind. As
long as your HDL is high - around 85 -; there's
no reason to worry about your LDL levels.
You can boost HDL
levels naturally and safely. One clinically proven way is to get more
lean meat in your diet
But if you're
on statin drugs and decide you want to stay on them, make sure your
doctor is responsive to your questions and listens to your reporting
of potential side effects. Take the lead in conversations about
possible side effects and dangers.
And if he or she is
like the doctors in the study and just doesn't listening to you,
find a new doctor.
To Your Good Health,



Al Sears, MD

more weight loss secrets

Celebrities work hard to stay in peak shape for the camera. Many have their own personal trainers while others are following a strict diet with plenty of exercise.

* Oprah Winfrey used the “Total Body Makeover” from personal trainer Bob Greene.

* Lauren Graham does four-mile runs on the treadmill.

* Kristie Alley lost more than 50 pounds on the Jenny Craig plan.

* Jennifer Garner of Alias enjoys martial arts workouts and….

* Halle Berry follows a nutrtition and fitness routine known as 5-Factor Fitness.

Celebreties such as Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore, and Meg Ryan follow the teachings of Hollywood’s most sought after fitness expert: Michael George. In fact, Michael has helped sculpt some of the best bodies in Hollywood.

However, his programs are certainly not for the weak of heart. To get an actress ready for the big screen, he perscribes a strict diet, five days of weight training per week and six days of cardio.

Like many of today’s nutritional experts, he promotes eating five small meals per day versus two or three large meals. By eating every three hours, the metabolism is put into overdrive, helping the body to burn fat at an optimal level.

Other fitness celebrities swear by the power of Pilates. Rebecca Romijin is one of them. In fact, she’s been doing Pilates for the past seven or eight years. She also works the treadmill and the elliptical machine for about 40 minutes each.

Julia Roberts shed much of her extra weight after pregnancy with regular Pilates workouts. Other celebrities using this incredible workout routine include Madonna, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Anniston and many more.

One of the most popular celebrity fitness trainers is Kathy Kaehler, who has trained the likes of Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Ellen Degeneres, and others.

To get Julia Roberts ready for her role in America’s Sweethearts, Kathy designed a program centered around strength training, Yoga, and Pilates.

Kathy Kaehler also helped Drew Barrymore get in peak shape for her role
in Charlie’s Angels.

Although exercise is certainly an important part of staying in peak shape. You will never reach your fitness goals without proper nutrition. While starring in the popular TV show “Friends”, Jennifer Anniston chose the Zone Diet to look her best on screen.

The Zone diet was created by Dr. Barry Sears and promotes eating a ratio of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fat. He advises you choose low-starch fruits and vegetables as your carbs and lean protein sources as well as healthy fats. Pork and red meat are certainly not on this menu.

So, do these whole foods and healthy portions work? I’d say so, and I think Jennifer would agree, along with other celebrities who have used this diet, including Renee Zellweger and Cindy Crawford.

However, keep in mind that not every body is the same. Some have a lower tolerance of carbohydrates and may have to limit their carbs more than
others. The key is finding out what works for you and forming good habits that last a lifetime.

see Celebrities work hard to stay in peak shape for the camera. Many have their own personal trainers while others are following a strict diet with plenty of exercise.

* Oprah Winfrey used the “Total Body Makeover” from personal trainer Bob Greene.

* Lauren Graham does four-mile runs on the treadmill.

* Kristie Alley lost more than 50 pounds on the Jenny Craig plan.

* Jennifer Garner of Alias enjoys martial arts workouts and….

* Halle Berry follows a nutrtition and fitness routine known as 5-Factor Fitness.

Celebreties such as Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore, and Meg Ryan follow the teachings of Hollywood’s most sought after fitness expert: Michael George. In fact, Michael has helped sculpt some of the best bodies in Hollywood.

However, his programs are certainly not for the weak of heart. To get an actress ready for the big screen, he perscribes a strict diet, five days of weight training per week and six days of cardio.

Like many of today’s nutritional experts, he promotes eating five small meals per day versus two or three large meals. By eating every three hours, the metabolism is put into overdrive, helping the body to burn fat at an optimal level.

Other fitness celebrities swear by the power of Pilates. Rebecca Romijin is one of them. In fact, she’s been doing Pilates for the past seven or eight years. She also works the treadmill and the elliptical machine for about 40 minutes each.

Julia Roberts shed much of her extra weight after pregnancy with regular Pilates workouts. Other celebrities using this incredible workout routine include Madonna, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Anniston and many more.

One of the most popular celebrity fitness trainers is Kathy Kaehler, who has trained the likes of Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Ellen Degeneres, and others.

To get Julia Roberts ready for her role in America’s Sweethearts, Kathy designed a program centered around strength training, Yoga, and Pilates.

Kathy Kaehler also helped Drew Barrymore get in peak shape for her role
in Charlie’s Angels.

Although exercise is certainly an important part of staying in peak shape. You will never reach your fitness goals without proper nutrition. While starring in the popular TV show “Friends”, Jennifer Anniston chose the Zone Diet to look her best on screen.

The Zone diet was created by Dr. Barry Sears and promotes eating a ratio of 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fat. He advises you choose low-starch fruits and vegetables as your carbs and lean protein sources as well as healthy fats. Pork and red meat are certainly not on this menu.

So, do these whole foods and healthy portions work? I’d say so, and I think Jennifer would agree, along with other celebrities who have used this diet, including Renee Zellweger and Cindy Crawford.

However, keep in mind that not every body is the same. Some have a lower tolerance of carbohydrates and may have to limit their carbs more than
others. The key is finding out what works for you and forming good habits that last a lifetime.

herbs may also help:see

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weight loss secrets of the stars

Here are some of the diet secrets of seven women celebrities.

1. Jennifer Aniston
The star of the phenomenal television show Friends not only mesmerized audiences with her adorable comic sense and her famous hairstyle, she was also known for having one of the sexiest bodies in Hollywood, as she appeared in countless magazine covers. To stay trim, Jennifer follows the 40:30:30 diet method. The diet consists of:

40% Low glycemic carbohydrates
-Foods such as beans, fruits and vegetables, legumes

30% lean proteins
-Tofu, fish, chicken, turkey, beef and low fat dairy products

30% essential fats
-nuts and seeds, fish and olive oils

It is essential that every meal should contain macronutrients to attain the balance of hormones and maximum weight loss.

2. Kate Hudson
The daughter of actress Goldie Hawn gained 60 pounds during her pregnancy, which she needed to shed quickly before commencing on her next film. From her previous eating plan, she switched to a higher protein diet. She consumed high protein meals in smaller portions, and she combined this diet with an exercise program that includes weight training and cardiovascular workouts. After getting a lot of flak because of her post-pregnancy figure, Kate removed all that baby weight in only four months and has gained abdominal muscles that gained the envy of many in Hollywood.

3. Oprah Winfrey
As one of the most successful talk-show hosts in the world, there is no question that Oprah needs to maintain her physical appearance for her millions of audiences. Known as one of those celebrities who are constantly battling weight gain, she has recently toned up her figure and has never looked figure in age 50 by combining a regular exercise regime and diet plan. Oprah works out five days a week, spending 30 minutes on the threadmill and doing free weights. Her eating plan consists of legumes, fish, nuts, fruits and vegetables, chicken and dairy products that are lowfat. She limits her consumption of white sugar and flour. Oprah also credits her trim figure to her habit of not eating anything after seven in the evening.

4. Gwyneth Paltrow
A lot of people may find it hard to believe that the perpetually slim Academy award-winning actress actually needs to diet. Gwyneth actually follows a healthy eating plan that resembles Oprah’s, avoiding sugar and white flour. She usually follows a macrobiotic diet, eating foods like vegetables, brown rice, and lean meat. She also eliminated dairy from her diet, and does yoga everyday.

5. Madonna
The pop star known as the Material Girl has always flaunted a body that is to die for, and has become a true fitness paragon over the years. She keeps herself in tip-top shape by having Ashtanga Yoga, and follows a strict diet that mostly shuns junk foods. She adopted a macrobiotic eating plan that includes organic foods rich in lean protein.

6. Claudia Schiffer
The German supermodel eats salad and steamed vegetables for dinner and eats only fruits before the afternoon. While on locations, she prefers to eat black grapes and drinks tomato juice and herbal tea.

7. Christie Brinkley
Long-time supermodel maintains her good looks by being a vegetarian. She does not keep junk foods of any kind inside her home to make sure that she does not eat them when cravings occur. She snacks on sweet potatoes in place of candy bars, and she adopts a liquid juice diet when she needs to slim down fast.

8.Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton doesn't seem to follow the normal Hollywood trend of eating low calorie food, training with weights or cardio workouts for fat loss. No, Paris is really on her own program when it comes to diet and exercise. Paris says, "I eat at McDonald's or Taco Bell." What does Paris Hilton drink? "I hate the taste of alcohol," Paris says. "When I'm drinking, I'm drinking Red Bull."

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leaving babies to cry causes long term emotional problems

The Australian authors of Helping Your Baby To Sleep (Finch Publishing), Anni Gethin and Beth Macgregor, argue that controlled crying is detrimental to children and can have serious long-term effects.

Gethin, a health social scientist, and Macgregor, a psychologist, draw heavily on attachment theory showing the importance of secure parent-child bonding.

The authors say that when infants are left to cry for long periods, they become more and more despairing until they reach a state of "learned helplessness". They stop trusting their parents, the precious bond is broken and the child is at risk of developing emotional and social problems, including depression, later in life.

"Depriving a baby of parental care and contact at bedtime does not teach a baby independence," the authors say. "Instead he learns that his parents cannot be relied upon to provide comfort and reassurance and so gives up calling for help."

The book also refers to recent research that shows an infant's brain is flooded with toxic hormones following stressful situations, and that repeated trauma can damage neural pathways.

The book is bound to cause debate, especially as controlled crying is recommended by many early childhood nurses and well-known parenting authors.

Slovenia's president cures himself of cancer

From The Times
November 15, 2007
All hail the mystic President
Slovenia’s President is a recluse. Told he had cancer, Janez
Drnovsek moved alone to the woods and embraced his inner
spirituality. His Government despises him but he is a hero to his
people

Martin Fletcher

It is not often that you ask a European head of state whether he
has gone loopy, but in the case of Janez Drnovsek, Slovenia’s
reclusive President, the question seems almost unavoidable.

Bald, monkish and skeletally thin, Drnovsek has abandoned his
capital for a mountain retreat. He no longer speaks to his
Government. He boycotts state occasions, and disappears for weeks at
a time. He has turned vegan, talks like a New Age mystic of his quest
for “higher consciousness” and “inner balance”, and communicates with
the Slovenian people through books on spirituality. He set out to
tackle the problems of the world from a country smaller than Wales,
and has become a champion of progressive causes.

It is an astonishing transformation for a man who, as Slovenia’s
Prime Minister from 1992 until he was elected President in 2002, was
regarded as a dull, grey technocrat. It was triggered by the prospect
of imminent death. In 1999 he found that he had kidney cancer and, in
2001, that the cancer had spread to his liver and lungs. His doctors
said his condition was incurable.

Any serious illness comes as a shock, but “the shock can be
beneficial because one is caught in patterns of behaviour and somehow
you do them mechanically and without really thinking about them. You
do like others do,” Drnovsek explained in the course of a two-hour
interview with The Times– the first he has given in months. “When you
are confronted with the perception of the end of your life, it’s an
opportunity to look at things from a different point of view, to
change priorities and establish a distance to this daily existence
and all these material developments that you are taught are so
important,” he said as he sipped black tea in his office.

He accepted that some people thought that he had gone crazy, but
was not perturbed. They do not understand, he said in soft, heavily
accented English. “Why should I worry what people of this level of
consciousness should say or think about me? This is so irrelevant.”
He used a Chinese philosopher’s tale to illustrate his point: “The
frog in its well was convinced that this well was the whole world.
And then came a turtle from the sea. The turtle told this frog that
there was a big ocean and the well was nothing. The frog said: ‘OK.
This turtle is crazy’.”

In fact, most Slovenians have grown very fond of their singular
President. Despite – or perhaps because of – his eccentricities he
will complete his term of office next month as one of the most
popular figures in his country.

Drnovsek is an erstwhile banker who won his nation’s respect – if
not its affection – by helping to negotiate its peaceful secession
from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, and then steering it from
communism to democracy and membership of the European Union and Nato.
As late as 2000 – one year after he had a cancerous kidney removed –
The Economistdescribed him as a “singularly uncharismatic . . . poker-
faced trimmer” whose preoccupations were growth and stability. It
quoted him saying, glumly: “People demanded vision. I hate vision.
The cemetery of history is full of visionaries.”

Drnovsek says that his conversion from conventional politician into
“Slovenia’s Gandhi” – as one commentator has dubbed him – was
gradual, and he adopted a low profile as he fought his illness. He
abandoned conventional medicine because his doctors told him that
they could not cure him. He dabbled with Indian and Chinese healers.
He gave up meat, dairy products and alcohol in favour of organic
vegetables and home-baked bread. He fasted for days at a time. He
also sought to nourish his soul, leaving Ljubljana for a remote home
set in beautiful beech forests south of the Slovenian capital. He
lives there alone, reading and writing, without so much as a
television for company since his dog died. He says modern man has
lost contact with nature, but it is “very beneficial for health, for
body but also for soul . . . Somehow we can purify ourselves of all
negativities that are concentrated in towns and urban centres where
there is all this activity and stress.”

The new Drnovsek began to reappear on the public stage in late
2005, but more in the guise of national guru than president. He cut
his staff. He quit his centre-left political party and launched the
Movement for Justice and Development that was open to “all people who
wish to change the world for the better”. He became a champion of the
environment, animal rights and the oppressed, and afierce critic of a
political class that is, he says, concerned only about power and
image. “If only we had a candidate like Drnovsek, or even a shadow of
him, the world would quickly become less intolerable,” gushed
Brigitte Bardot in the midst of the French presidential election.

Drnovsek travelled around the country. He was photographed wearing
a crown of leaves. He published books entitled Thoughts on Life and
Awareness and The Essence of the World that are found in the
spirituality – not politics – sections of Slovenia’s bookshops. He
wrote a monthly advice column in a popular women’s magazine, and a
blog in the name of “Janez D”, whose subjects ranged from diatribes
against pesticides to apocalyptic warnings about climate change – he
says that humanity has perhaps 20 years left to save itself.

Drnovsek also began to intervene in international affairs in a way
that infuriated Slovenia’s new conservative Government. He upset
nearby Serbia by supporting independence for Kosovo. He visited
Jerusalem, where he urged the Israelis to talk to the newly elected
militants of Hamas, and Sri Lanka, where he tried to meet Tamil Tiger
leaders. In China he defied the authorities by visiting Tibet. He
went to India for a conference on spirituality, and to Bolivia for
Evo Morales’s inauguration as that country’s first indigenous
president “after 500 years of colonialism and neo-colonialism”.

His most ambitious undertaking, however, was a one-man drive to
resolve the Darfur conflict that ended with the detention of his
envoy and the nonappearance of Sudanese and rebel leaders at a
Ljubljana peace conference. It was an embarrassing episode, and he
admits that he was probably naive, but says that he felt morally
obliged to try to stop the suffering. While international diplomats
were living in luxury hotels, earning fat salaries and indulging in
endless talks, people were dying, he says. “I thought somebody had to
do something to wake up everybody.”

By the summer of 2006 Drnovsek had exhausted his official budget,
and the Government seized the chance to ground him by refusing
further funds for his “exotic activities”. He was forced to cancel a
state visit to Spain and an appearance at the UN in New York, and
grew ever more scathing in his denunciations of the Government.

Drnovsek has described Janez Jansa, the Prime Minister, as the
“Prince of Darkness”. He disagrees with nearly all of what the
Government does, and accuses it of moving towards a “kind of
totalitarian system” by curbing the independence of the media. He
stops only marginally short of saying that it was unfit to assume the
EU’s rotating six-month presidency on January 1. “I will say nothing.
I’m still President of this country,” he replied when pressed.

Drnovsek has now abandoned his conflict-resolution efforts. He
tried his best, but was dismissed as “this crazy Slovenian
President”, he says. “I came to the conclusion that the only way to
change the world is to change the consciousness of as many individual
people as possible, and then the pressure on politicians will
increase to act differently.”

He has once again become an absentee President. He spurns official
receptions. He boycotted Slovenia’s National Day celebrations in
June. “ At a certain level of spirituality . . . it becomes more
difficult to do these things of this material life,” he says. “You
feel the ephemerality of everything, and if you know your activity
will have no real effect, you become more selective about what you do
and what not. I still have activities, but practically I stopped all
unnecessary political activities – those involved with other
politicians.”

He vanished entirely from June until mid-September, and failed to
greet Romano Prodi, the Prime Minister of Italy, when he visited
Slovenia in August. Drnovsek said that he spent some of that time
visiting monasteries in France, tapping into the “positive energy”
that monks had built up through centuries of prayer.

Drnovsek has infuriated the Government, but his people have warmed
to his evident humanity. His books are bestsellers, and while a few
of the Slovenes I approached in Ljubljana’s central market said that
they found his conduct embarrassing, many more expressed support and
affection for their unusual President.

“He’s a good and wise man,” said Katja Berlinc, a 21-year-old
theology student. “He’s great. He’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’
s not afraid of anything,” said Asim Begtasevic, who runs a flower
stall. “He stands for basic moral values,” said Sasho Adamich, a
young TV assistant. When a former lover revealed that Drnovsek had a
19-year-old daughter, it only boosted his popularity.

All this infuriates his critics inside and outside the Government.
“Nobody dares to question Drnovsek’s conduct or his travels because
of his illness, and because he was some sort of hero of the
transition to democracy,” says Janez Markes, the editor of the
newspaper Delo.

Drnovsek’s colourful and controversial presidency is drawing to an
end. He is not seeking reelection, and the charming old streets
beneath Ljubljana’s castle are awash with posters of the more
conventional politicians fighting to replace him. He is not planning
any great farewell when he steps down. He is not concerned about his
legacy or image. He accepts that a certain amount of ridicule is the
price to be paid for stepping outside the political system, and he
certainly will not mind the anonymity. “I don’t have worries. I don’t
have fears. I don’t have wishes. I’m very calm.”

Drnovsek also has one incontrovertible riposte to those who say he
went loopy. Against all odds, and in defiance of every medical
prediction, he has not died in office. Indeed, he now claims to be
cancer-free: “I am completely healed. I am cured of everything. I can’
t prove it beyond being alive. I don’t need confirmation from a
doctor. I just know.”

Saturday 17 November 2007

Acupressure is the Mother of Acupuncture

Acupressure is the application of pressure to the body to affect the flow of energy (Ki) in the 12 meridians according to the principles of Oriental medicine. It is widely practised in China where more emphasis is given to a person’s responsibility for their own health than it is in the West, and is often used as a self-help treatment.

Mother of acupuncture
Acupressure is believed to be the ‘mother of Acupuncture’ in that it predates the use of needles to stimulate the body’s energy flow. It has the same principles as Acupuncture, but the pressure is applied directly to the Acupoints of the body mainly by using the hands, fingers, thumb or knuckles and sometimes by using a smooth, blunt object.

Meridians
Stimulation of the body’s meridian system by touch is perhaps one of the oldest healing systems, and many other therapies use Acupressure techniques including Parsons Acupressure Technique, Shen Tao, Jin Shen, Do Jin Shen, Qigong, Shiatsu and Tuina.

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Thursday 15 November 2007

weight loss miracle plant?

On November 21, 2004 CBS correspondent, Lesley Stahl reported on 60 Minutes that a strange little plant, Hoodia Gordonii,"... is a natural substance that literally takes your appetite away. "According to CBS, "Scientists say that it fools the brain by making you think you're full, even if you've eaten just a morsel."

Now, word of this amazing plant is spreading like wildfire across the country and taking the consumer market by storm. Many are calling the discovery of Hoodia Gordonii the breakthrough of the decade.
IF ONLY YOU WEREN'T SO DARNED HUNGRY ALL THE TIME...

It's true that you eat for a lot of different reasons, but feeling hungry can drive you to distraction. You know you should stick to your diet (what ever the current one is), and you know when you're eating more than you need. But, what can you do about always feeling hungry? It's just not fair.

Hoodia Gordonii Plus might just be the answer you're looking for. Combined with a sensible food program, exercise routine, and drinking plenty of water, Hoodia Gordonii Plus makes your efforts to regain your slim body easier and faster.

If you aren't hungry all the time, you won't be tempted to snack between meals, and you'll easily say "No," to second helpings. You'll find it easy to push away from the table feeling completely satisfied.
WHAT IS HOODIA GORDONII?

If you missed the 60 Minutes program, the program described Hoodia as a small, succulent plant that grows only in the remote region of the South African Kalahari Desert. There, the indigenous San Bushmen have eaten the plan for centuries, to stave off hunger during their long and arduous hunting trips.

This small plant looks like a dill pickle with spines on it. It grows slowly in its harsh environment, and takes four or five years, or more, before it is ready to harvest.

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, joined forces with the South African San Council. They agreed to work together on the usage of indigenous plants for the benefit of both parties. They also committed themselves to the conservation of natural resources.

Because of tremendous worldwide demand for the Hoodia plant, it has become endangered by over-harvesting. Now, certification is required to prove that the product is authentic Hoodia Gordonii.

Real Hoodia Gordonii only grows in the semi-arid desert of South Africa – not in China, or Mexico, or the United States. With Hoodia Gordonii Plus you can be assured of getting the real, organic Hoodia ingredient

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Sunday 11 November 2007

hypo-active thyroid?

Nearly 11 million of us have a hypo-active thyroid, and Hypothyroidism is linked to obesity and high cholesterol..
According to the Mayo Clinic "women, especially those older than 50, are more likely to have hypothyroidism than men are. Hypothyroidism seldom causes symptoms in the early stages, but over time, untreated hypothyroidism can cause a number of health problems, such as obesity, joint pain, infertility and heart disease".

Television talk show host and actress Oprah Winfrey said a thyroid condition slowed her metabolism and caused her to gain nine kilos.

"My body was turning on me," Winfrey, 53, says in the October issue of O, the Oprah Magazine. "First hyperthyroidism, which sped up my metabolism and left me unable to sleep for days. Most people lose weight. I didn't."

Winfrey says she then experienced hypothyroidism, which slowed her metabolism and made her constantly sleepy.

An exhausted and stressed Oprah Winfrey discovered the condition after finishing taping of her shows in May. She took a month-long break in Hawaii to regain her health.


Hypothyroidism, also called under-active thyroid, is a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone to regulate the needs of the body. Even though it’s linked to many of our modern day ills, many of us are unaware that our thyroid may be the culprit. Hypothyroidism is often misdiagnosed by doctors, because the symptoms are so diverse and vary with each person. Sometimes doctors attribute your symptoms to other causes.

Think back to those years when you felt fabulous! You had energy to burn, passion for living, and a feeling of vitality that carried you through the day and night. You were feeling great.
Did your “get up and go” just get up and leave?

Are you one of those 11 million people thinking, “I guess I’m just getting old,” and wishing it weren’t true? Do you feel blue and depressed? Is your skin is dry? Do you have brittle hair? You don’t understand why you’re gaining weight, and your hands and feet are always cold.
According to the Mayo Clinic, these are all symptoms of hypothyroidism.
I have teamed up with Ultraherbal, a leading herbal supplement company, that has developed 'Thyromine' - an all-natural thyroid supplement that works with your body’s own systems to help the thyroid produce the right amount of hormone for every day needs. Thyromine also contains a source of iodine from nori seaweed - available here: