10 ESSENTIAL MUSCLE MASS GAINING TIPS

I'm trying to gain weight and muscle and am trying this program: I am 5'9" and 11 stone now, and aim to be 14stone in 3 months (without getting fat!) I will keep you posted with progress:

update on 30th march
not doing too well - strained back and neck lifting heavy weights and couldnt stand the wey protein powder - now trying anabolic diet (high fat - low carbs) and lifting weights slowly - more news soon...

10 ESSENTIAL MUSCLE MASS GAINING TIPS (by Anthony Ellis in IronMagazine.com)

Ten tips to help you gain rock hard muscle mass. Now there are many other things that you can do to help you build mass, BUT these 10 things are the bare essentials. In other words, they are absolutely necessary for a successful program.

1. Weight Train

Weight training involves the use of equipment that enables variable resistance. This resistance can come in the form of "free weights" like barbells and dumbbells, machines that use cables or pulleys to help you lift the weight and bodyweight exercises like pull-ups or dips.

For anyone trying to gain muscle, several things must be done. One is to train with heavy weights. By heavy I mean a weight that is challenging for YOU. The average guy in the gym usually works with a weight he can lift for 10-15+ reps. For mass gaining purposes, this is too light. Using an appropriate weight, you should only be able to do 4-8 reps. That's it! Using heavy weights and low reps puts your muscles and nervous system under much more stress than using lighter weights for many reps. This added stress causes the involvement and stimulation of more muscle fibers, which will cause rapid muscle growth.

For maximum muscle gain, the focus of your workouts should consist of free weight exercises. Not machines or bodyweight exercises. This is not to say that you should not use machines or bodyweight exercises, but they should not be the focus of your training. To get an effective, muscle blasting workout, you must stimulate the most muscle fibers as possible, and machines do not do this.

2. Eat More Calories

The most important thing that I cannot emphasize is that you need to eat to gain weight. You need to eat like you've never eaten before. If you are not eating enough calories, you will NEVER gain weight, no matter what you do. In order to build new muscle, you must eat more calories than your body burns off, creating what is called a caloric surplus. To gain mass, you should strive to eat around 18-20 times your bodyweight in calories. The extra calories will be used by your body to repair muscle tissue that is damaged during the heavy workouts, and to build new muscle.

Now, when I say eat, I do not mean just anything. All calories are not created equal. In other words, some types of calories are not equal to others for gaining muscle. For example, if I said that you need to eat 2,000 calories per day to gain weight, and you eat 4 bags of potato chips each day, do you think you would gain muscle? Not likely. The majority of your weight would be fat. Why? Because potato chips, like most processed junk food, contains empty, totally nutritionless calories. These foods do not provide you with the correct nutrient breakdown essential for gaining muscle.

3. Eat More Protein

Without protein, your body will not be able to build new muscle. Years ago, a higher carbohydrate and lower fat diet was the rage, recommended by professional bodybuilders and trainers. They claimed that this was the only way to eat for muscle gain. Unfortunately, the only people gaining muscle on that type of diet were a genetically gifted few. The rest just got fat.

Carbs serve mainly as energy for the body, while protein provides the necessary amino acids to build and repair muscle. For muscle growth, carbohydrates are not as essential as protein and fats. High quality protein, which the body breaks down into amino acids, should be the center point of all your meals. There are many studies that show intense exercise increases demand for amino acids, which support muscle repair and growth. To build muscle, you should try to get at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight.

Whether you believe it or not, the fact is: High protein diets build more muscle when incorporated with intense training. Low protein diets do not. Period. Only protein can build muscle. Carbohydrates and fat cannot.

4. Eat More Often

To gain weight, you will be eating a large amount of calories. Unfortunately, your body can only assimilate a certain number of calories at each meal. For our purposes, eating three meals per day is not beneficial. If you had to eat 3,000 calories per day, then you would end up eating 1,000 calories at each meal. The average person can only use a portion of those calories. The excess will be stored as fat or removed from the body.

To enable your body to actually assimilate and use the 3,000 calories you will ingest, you have to reduce your meal size and increase your meal frequency. Splitting your calories into smaller, more frequent portions will enable food absorption and utilization of nutrients . I always eat six meals each day, evenly spaced out at three-hour intervals.

My goal is to provide my body with constant nourishment throughout the day. So if it typically takes about 2.5 hours to digest most meals, want to be eating another meal just as my last meal is leaving my stomach. I do this because my body is constantly in need of nutrients to repair itself. I do a lot of damage during my workouts and completely stress my system. My body is trying to "adapt to the stress," but in order to do this, it needs consistent fuel.

If I ate only three meals per day, then my body would be without nutrients for about six hours between each of those meals! This is unacceptable for skinny guys. Without food, your body will quickly begin to breakdown muscle tissue for energy.

5. Eat More Fat

If you want to gain muscle mass, you must eat enough dietary fat. Dietary fats play an essential role in hormone production, which in turn is responsible for growth and strength increases. I have never gained muscle on a low fat diet, though many people still believe that eating fat makes you fat. This is absolutely false. In fact, there is a very popular muscle gain diet that been around for years, called the "Anabolic Diet" that requires you to eat only fat! Butter, bacon, and heavy cream are all on the menu. Though quite extreme, this diet does work.

Most people are overweight because of a diet high in simple carbohydrates, not from eating fats. If your diet is too low in fat, your body will actually make a point to store any fat it gets, because it doesn't know when it will get more. A low-fat diet will also lower testosterone levels, something we do not want when trying to gain weight. Studies have shown that dietary fat has a direct relationship with testosterone production. An increase in dietary fat intake seems to bring on an increase in testosterone levels. The inverse is also true. A decrease in dietary fat intake is usually accompanied by a decrease in free testosterone levels.

However, you don't want to increase your intake of saturated fats. Saturated fats are what cause disease and coronary problems. Though you will always have some saturated fats in your diet, your main focus should be to increase your intake of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs).

EFAs are unsaturated fats that are necessary for thousands of biological functions throughout the body. Because they cannot be manufactured by the body, the must be provided by your diet. These fatty acids not only help increase testosterone production, but they also aid in the prevention of muscle breakdown, help to increase your HDL level (good cholesterol) and assist in hormone production. To get your recommended amount of EFA's, I recommend supplementing your diet with either Udo's Perfect Oil Blend (which combines omega- and omega-6), or Cold-Pressed Flaxseed oil (which is mostly omega-3).

6. Drink More Water

To make sure that your muscles stay hydrated, you must drink plenty of water. Dehydration can happen easily if you train hard. A dehydrated muscle, takes longer to repair itself than one sufficiently hydrated.

Drinking a sufficient amount of water not only increases your vascularity (more visible veins), but it will also help to quickly remove toxins from the body. Protein generates metabolic waste products that must be dissolved in water. Without enough water, the kidneys cannot efficiently remove these wastes.

7. Take a Multi-Vitamin

There are many supplements and specific muscle gain enhancing products that I recommend using in my book, but I have to remember that this is only the 10 most important elements of a successful mass program. So, I have to keep this brief and to the point. All of the other products will help, but they are not essential. So, I will only touch on two vitamins supplements.Multi-Vitamins and Antioxidants.

If you want to gain muscle, you must make sure that you are not deficient in any vitamin, mineral or trace element that your body needs. I know many people are going to disagree with me, but I believe that in this day, we absolutely need to supplement our diet with vitamins and minerals. I know that those who are against using vitamins are going to say that if we "just eat a balanced diet. . . ", You know the rest.

Well first, eating a balanced diet is easier said than done. America is the most overweight country in the world. Most people don't even know what a "balanced" diet is. Balanced with what Experts will continue to spout, "eat a balanced diet," while Americans feast on nutritionless fast food and sugar.

8. Take Antioxidants

An antioxidant like Vitamins A, C, E, Glutathione, Glutamine, and Selenium are essential in preventing free radical damage, which is accelerated after the heavy trauma of weight training. Antioxidants protect other substances by being oxidized themselves. Here's a good antioxidant blend that I also use.

9. Rest More Often

Rest is the most overlooked "skinny-guy secret". If you don't rest, you won't grow. Simple as that. Your body does not build muscle in the gym, it builds muscle while resting!

The key to successfully gaining weight is eating enough calories, training hard and then resting. No diet adjustments will make up for lack of rest. If you train hard in the gym, then you should be resting your muscles as much as possible. If you do not give them time to rest and repair, you will not grow. Period.

10. Be Consistent

O.K., so you want the secret to gaining muscle mass fast? Well, here it is: CONSISTENCY.

You can have the best diet, the best training schedule, join the best gym that has the best equipment, but without consistency it's all worthless.

Over the past 3 years, I've talked to hundreds of people who have successfully transformed their physique. Though most of them trained in totally different ways, there was one common denominator that appeared throughout each success story:

Day in and day out, they followed their pre-determined plan, consistently, without fail.

You must find the determination and drive within yourself to consistently put one foot in front of the other and see this through. If not now, then when?

"You never know what you can do, until you try to do more than you can." - Tony Blauer

Man saves own life by meditating

A construction worker buried alive for two hours in Ningbo, China, survived by meditating and slowing his breathing. Wang Jianxin, a buddhist, should have died within five minutes, reports the U.K. paper the Mirror- march 7th "I knew the air wouldn't last, so I made myself relax and concentrated on my breathing by meditation," says Jianxin. "It was very still and quiet down there. I was surprised at how easy it was to focus my mind and achieve inner calm, even though I believed I was facing death." Do you know anyone who has overcome a grave situation via meditation?
also see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3497087.ece
see also research on lowering high blood pressure through transcendental meditation

5-HTP and depression

Depression: Drug-Free Ways To Alleviate Depression By Boosting Levels Of The “Feel-Good” hormone - seritonin:

Often when people complain about “feeling depressed”, it means they’ve had a bad day or are feeling temporarily down. However, as a medical condition, depression is quite different.

It can leave you feeling constantly sad and empty, pessimistic about the future, unable to enjoy things that once gave you pleasure, tearful and unable to cope. It can also disturb your sleep patterns and cause marked changes in your appetite. All of these symptoms can soon fill you with despair and paralyse your ability to get on with life.

Apart from being triggered by a bereavement, redundancy or illness, the cause of depression is still unclear. One of the most probable scientific explanations is a deficiency of neurotransmitters in the brain, particularly of the “feel-good” hormone serotonin.

Normally, optimal amounts of serotonin flood your brain’s tissues and synapses (cell connections), which helps regulate your moods, feelings of well-being and many emotional responses. So, it follows that if your body produces too little you can soon start to feel low, which can eventually progress to full-blown clinical depression if left unchecked.

You should see your doctor immediately if you are severely depressed or experiencing suicidal thoughts, as you could benefit from medication. For sufferers with mild to moderate depression, natural approaches may offer a better choice to help overcome the problem, as anti-depressants can cause serious side effects.

For example, commonly prescribed SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), such as Prozac, can cause stomach upsets, indigestion, skin allergies, headaches and anxiety. More disturbingly, they’ve even been linked to increased suicidal tendencies in some people, especially among children and adolescents. To date there have been 90 legal actions brought against the pharmaceutical companies which manufacture antidepressants.


5-HTP, a mood-elevating natural supplement, can help lift you out of depression
While this remedy can help keep depression at bay, it’s important that you consult your doctor before taking as it can have side effects if mixed with other antidepressants or medication.

Numerous clinical trials have studied the efficacy of 5-HTP for treating depression. One compared it to the antidepressant drug fluvoxamine and found 5-HTP to be equally effective (Psychopathology 1991; 24:53-81). Scientists also examined research from around the world on the use of 5-HTP in treating depression and found that: “Of the 17 reviewed studies, 13 confirm that 5-HTP has true antidepressant properties” (Neuropsychobiology 1988; 20: 28-35).


The recommended dosage for 5-HTP is 50mg to 100mg taken three times a day.

eat up the chocolates

Good News for Chocoholics
A great deal of evidence has emerged linking the consumption of chocolate to
improved cardiovascular health, insulin sensitivity and energy levels. A new study
has linked a preference for chocolate over other treats to better overall health and
psychological well- being in old age.
The study involved an analysis of data collected via questionnaires from 1,367 male
subjects, from a variety of backgrounds, born between 1919 and 1934. Confectionary
preferences were determined, and those who reported no confectionary consumption
were excluded from the analysis. Men preferring chocolate had lower body mass index
and waist circumference, and they also reported more exercise and better subjective
health. Importantly, indicators of psychological well-being were consistently better
in those preferring chocolate. Chocolate consumers were found to be significantly
less likely to experience feelings of loneliness, and far more likely to feel happy
and make plans for the future. Chocolate consumers also scored higher on a measure
of depression.
The authors concluded that in “this socioeconomically homogenous male cohort,
chocolate preference in old age was associated with better health, optimism and
better psychological well-being”. This study is a fascinating addition to the
body of evidence indicating that chocolate consumption can be beneficial to health.
Click here to view the study abstract.
So what’s in chocolate?
Cocoa beans are a rich source of flavonoids. Flavonoids are chemicals found in
plants that act in the body as antioxidants (substances that neutralise damaging,
reactive toxins known as free radicals). The particular flavonoids of interest in
cocoa are called catechins and
epicatechins. Dark chocolate with a high cocoa content is densely packed with these
powerful substances. Indeed, it has a higher Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity
(ORAC - a measure of a food's antioxidant power) than foods such as green tea,
blueberries and prunes. Dark chocolate also contains high levels of the vital
minerals magnesium, iron, potassium and chromium.
It is important to choose high quality dark chocolate (absolute minimum 50% cocoa).
It would appear that milk proteins have the capacity to bind to flavonoids; thus
milk chocolate will not provide the benefits to health associated with chocolate
consumption.
Chocolate does contain a modest amount of caffeine – approximately 20mg in a 30g
bar – however, compared to coffee the amounts are very low (an average cup
contains about 115mg) and are not detrimental to health.
Chocolate is a high calorie, high fat food so keep portions moderate, but do not
feel guilty as you tuck in – the major fatty acid in cocoa butter is a saturated
fat called stearic acid, which is known to have no effect on serum cholesterol.
So when you want to eat something indulgent, reach for a healthy chunk of dark

Do You Really Want Fluoride Added to Your Tap Water?

The current Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, has announced plans to add fluoride to
the UK Water Supply in a bid to improve dental health in the UK.
Stuart Jeffery, health spokesperson for The Green Party pointed out that “Besides
the reality of negative health effects, this is an issue of medical ethics.
Fluoridating water is essentially medicating people without their permission, and
the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine distinctly states that
individuals have the right not to be medicated without their consent."
In regards to the cause of poor dental health he said, "Poor dental health is a
complex public health issue. The root causes are poor diet and inadequate dental
hygiene. Typically, the government seems more concerned with dangerous knee-jerk
action and to be seen 'doing something', rather than confronting the real causes of
the problem," adding that "While we continue to feed refined sugar to our children
in schools, efforts to reduce tooth decay will be in vain."
"Fluoride is a known poison if ingested over a long period of time, even in small
daily doses. Its consumption has been linked to a range of medical afflictions
including severe skeletal problems, fluorosis (discoloration of the teeth),
osteosarcoma (a rare form of bone cancer) in boys, and problems affecting the
central nervous system," said Stuart Jeffery.
The Green Party concluded, "We want to see a programme of education for children
and adults regarding proper dental hygiene and a healthy diet, a health warning on
all sources of fluoride intended for human consumption, and a ban on the
fluoridation of drinking water."
Yet again, it seems the government are in danger of simply sticking on a (dangerous)
band-aid to solve a problem, rather than dealing with the root cause.

Want to prevent colds? Start exercising

A long-term moderate exercise program can reduce the risk of colds among older women, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

In the first randomized clinical trial to investigate the impact of moderate physical activity on the common cold, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that post-menopausal women who worked out regularly had about half the risk of colds as those who did not exercise.

"There has always been this anecdotal evidence, and some small studies, suggesting that with moderate exercise you can improve your immunity," said Cornelia Ulrich, lead author of the study published in the American Journal of Medicine.

"Our study ... is the first time that a rigorous trial showed that the number of colds can be affected by exercise," she said in an interview.

The study involved 115 overweight, post-menopausal women who had not been exercising before the trial.

The group was divided in two, with half the women assigned to undertake a moderate exercise program of 45 minutes a day, five days a week. The other half were told to take part in once-weekly, 45-minute stretching sessions.

The exercisers were told to do moderate physical activity such as walking on a treadmill, cycling on a stationary bicycle or rapid walking outside.

Over the course of a year, the women filled out questionnaires every three months to report the number of times they had allergies, colds or other problems.

The study found that over 12 months, the risk of colds decreased modestly in exercisers and increased modestly in the group of stretchers.

The researchers found that the ability of moderate exercise to ward off colds seemed to increase over time. In the last three months of the study, the group of women who were only stretching were three times as likely to catch a cold as those who were exercising regularly.

The study did not reach any conclusions about the benefit of stretching but said that regular cardiovascular exercise was

most beneficial.

"With regards to preventing colds, it seems you really have to stick with exercise long term," Ulrich said.

The results were seen as important in understanding the health benefits of exercise, Ulrich said.

"It may apply also to other age groups, it may apply to men," she said. "In the past, immune studies have been quite consistent among men and women. I wouldn't expect that to be different."

Pfizer Is Sued Over Lipitor

Pfizer Is Sued Over Lipitor Marketing
By DAVID ARMSTRONG
December 20, 2007; Page B5

A former Pfizer Inc. official in a lawsuit accused the company of illegally boosting sales of its top-selling drug Lipitor through an elaborate campaign of misleading educational programs for doctors.

Jesse Polansky, claims that the educational campaign was a key part of a marketing strategy that "led thousands of physicians to prescribe Lipitor for millions of patients who did not need medication" and could be harmed by overly aggressive treatment.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in February 2004. It was immediately sealed to allow federal prosecutors time to decide if they wanted to intervene in the case. In August, the government said it wouldn't intervene, lifting the seal. Pfizer was served a copy of the suit yesterday, according to Dr. Polansky's lawyer, Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.

The failure of the government to intervene may signal that prosecutors are skeptical about the merits of the case. The government hasn't intervened in other cases which led to huge fines against drug companies. One example is another case involving Pfizer, this one for the off-label marketing of Neurontin.

Pfizer said, "We believe this case has no merit. Furthermore, after reviewing the allegations in this complaint, the government declined to intervene in this action... . Pfizer does not condone the off-label promotion of our products. We believe that our sales and marketing practices are solely based on our prescription information as approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

Dr. Polansky was Pfizer's director of outcomes management strategies from 2001 to 2003, and his responsibilities included reviewing some of the marketing materials for Lipitor and other Pifzer products. He says he was fired by Pfizer after complaining about marketing he considered to be improper. Dr. Polansky now works as the senior medical officer for Medicare in a unit that investigates fraud and abuse at the big government health insurer.

The suit seeks compensation for Dr. Polansky as a whistleblower under laws that could give him a share of money recovered for any overpayments made by federal health-insurance programs.

Lipitor, a type of cholesterol treatment known as a statin, is the world's biggest-selling drug , with sales of $13.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health.

The allegations against Pfizer echo concern elsewhere that continuing medical-education programs for doctors are often sales pitches for "off-label" uses of drugs. A congressional committee this past summer said it was concerned there was little oversight of these programs -- where doctors are often wined and dined -- or enforcement when companies use them as marketing tools.

Pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from marketing drugs for indications other than what the FDA approves them for, although doctors aren't prohibited from prescribing them for unapproved uses. Independent educational programs can discuss off-label uses that aren't FDA approved. But Dr. Polansky's lawsuit charges that the Pfizer-funded programs weren't independent.

The Lipitor educational programs were run by companies paid by Pfizer through "unrestricted educational grants," the lawsuit says. It alleges that the educational programs were integrated into the marketing plan for the drug, citing an internal Pfizer marketing plan for Lipitor with a page titled "Medical Education Platform Supports the New Positioning."

Among other things, Dr. Polansky says Pfizer wanted to extend Lipitor use beyond the indications found on the drug's label by targeting people at moderate risk of developing heart disease or having a heart attack. He said the educational programs for doctors deliberately misrepresented the drug's label to encourage Lipitor therapy for people in the moderate-risk category who didn't need the drug.

In his suit, Dr. Polansky also said the Pfizer programs included deliberate misinformation promoting the idea that kidney-disease patients may need to be treated with statins. While kidney disease is recognized by some doctors as a risk for heart disease, it isn't part of the federal guidelines that factor into Lipitor's approved use.

The Magic of Appreciation

if your feeling down - this works better than drugs!

The Magic of Appreciation
by Lynn Grabhorn

There are only three states of being we run around in all day long. If we could be even a little more aware of which one we're wearing during each moment of the day, we'd have a big leg up to changing our vibrations.

Victim Mode
This is the oh-dear-they're-doing-it-to-me-again-and-there's-nothing-I-can-do-about-it frame of mind where we go nowhere but around in negative circles, forever magnetizing the same old same old.

Flat-Lining Mode
In the Flat-Lining Mode, we're neither down nor up, just bumping along on second-rate gas. We're not flowing our energy to anything, and surely not attracting anything. In Flat-Lining we're not only living the results of our own erratic flowing of energy, but that of everybody elses. (Like attracts likes, remember?) Very unpleasant! And what most of us do most of the time.

Turned On Mode
Now you're up! You're on! Your high frequencies are no longer attracting the negative vibes of others. You're fueled with the pure positive energy of well-being, vibrating in harmony with your Expanded Self, flowing positive energy out and pulling positive events in while being wrapped in unsurpassed safety and security.

Victim Mode, Flat-Lining, or Turned On, we will always find ourselves in one of the three. Our goal, of course, is to make it the Turned On Mode as often and as long as we can, which is why we look to the high, high energy of appreciation.

The vibration of appreciation is the most profoundly important frequency we can hold, for it is the closest thing to cosmic love that exists. When we're appreciating, we're in perfect vibrational harmony with our Source energy, or God energy -- call it what you will.

You can jump-start it, or you can jam straight to the feeling, it makes no difference. What's important to know is that one minute of flowing the intense energy of appreciation overrides thousands of hours spent in Victim or Flat-Lining Modes.

But take care! No fair just thinking appreciation. That won't wash. Thinking is out, feeling is in. You can't just make a decision that you're going to appreciate something and let it go at that. There has to be that surge of significant emotion flowing up from the depths of your being for this to work.

But neither does that mean you have to have just been saved from a life-threatening incident by 911 rescue workers to feel deep appreciation. In fact, flowing appreciation is really no big deal. You can flow it intensely to a street sign if you want. Don't laugh, I do that all the time stay in shape. Like any skill, flowing energy requires constant practice, and there's something so absurdly satisfying about flowing buckets of love, adoration, and appreciation to "SLOW: MEN AT WORK." I flow it to stoplights, billboards, birds overhead, a tree stump, a dead animal, a winter storm, and of course, to people.

Sometimes in the supermarket I'll pick the meanest looking low-life I can find and just open up and douse the unsuspecting soul with the highest vibration I can muster. Maybe it's appreciation, maybe it's honest-to-God love. One time I did that to a scroungy old biddy who looked like she'd rather eat me than let me pass. I blasted her, and in that very moment she wheeled around, searching angrily for whatever she felt hit her, while I smiled back in pure innocence.

That's my "Hug-A-Bum" game where I envision me and a perfect stranger on the street (or wherever) rushing into each other's arms like we were old best friends who hadn't seen each other for ages. You start with acceptable "targets," like someone you wouldn't mind sitting next to at a lunch counter if you had to. Then you move up, bit by bit, to targets that are increasingly difficult for you socially, until finally it doesn't make any difference what kind of slobs they are.

You just see -- and deeply feel -- the two of you joyfully recognizing each other and flying together in this gigantic bear hug as profound love surges between you. I don't know how many people I've done that with while walking down a street, and watched them turn around to look for whatever it was they felt.

The vibration of appreciation is also the highest, fastest vibration we can use for attraction. If we would shoot appreciation at anything and everything . . . all day long . . . we'd be guaranteed to have heaven on earth in no time, living happily ever after with more friends, more money, more beautiful relationships, in total safety, and closer to the God of our Being than it's possible to fathom.

_______________________

Reprinted from Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting: The Astonishing Power of Feelings by Lynn Grabhorn.

Anti-depressants have 'little effect' - university study

I saw this on the BBC website:

"New generation anti-depressants have little clinical benefit for most patients, research suggests.

A University of Hull team concluded the drugs actively help only a small group of the most severely depressed.

Marjorie Wallace, head of the mental health charity Sane, said that if these results were confirmed they could be "very disturbing".

There seems little reason to prescribe anti-depressant medication to any but the most severely depressed patients
Professor Irving Kirsch
University of Hull

The researchers accept many people believe the drugs do work for them, but argue that could be a placebo effect - people feel better simply because they are taking a medication which they think will help them.

In total, the Hull team, who published their findings in the journal PLoS Medicine, reviewed data on 47 clinical trials.

They reviewed published clinical trial data, and unpublished data secured under Freedom of Information legislation.

They focused on drugs which work by increasing levels of the mood controlling chemical serotonin in the brain.

These included fluoxetine (Prozac) and paroxetine (Seroxat), from the class known as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), alongside another similar drug called venlafaxine (Efexor) - all commonly prescribed in the UK.

Te number of prescriptions for anti-depressants hit a record high of more than 31 million in England in 2006 - even though official guidance stresses they should not be a first line treatment for mild depression.

There were 16.2m prescriptions for SSRIs alone.

The researchers found that the drugs did have a positive impact on people with mild depression - but the effect was no bigger than that achieved by giving patients a sugar-coated "dummy" pill.

People with severe symptoms appeared to gain more clear-cut benefit - but this might be more down to the fact that they were less likely to respond to the placebo pill, rather than to respond positively to the drugs.


Dr Tim Kendall, deputy director of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Research Unit, has published research concluding that drug companies tend only to publish research which shows their products in a good light.

Dr Andrew McCulloch, of the Mental Health Foundation, said: "We have become vastly over-reliant on antidepressants when there is a range of alternatives.

"Talking therapies, exercise referral and other treatments are effective for depression.

"It is a problem that needs a variety of approaches matched to the individual patient."

Benefits of Intimacy in Marriage

Studies show that marriage offers many benefits. According to Olson and Olson (2000), "Married people tend to be healthier, live longer, have more wealth and economic assets, and have more satisfying sexual relationships than single or cohabiting individuals. In addition, children generally do better emotionally and academically when they are raised in two-parent families" (p. 3).

The physical benefits are widely supported by research. Several recent studies, for example, found heart benefits that are particularly dramatic for men. At Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, researchers assessing the marital intimacy of 10,000 married couples asked the husbands: "Does your wife show you her love?" The husbands who answered yes reported having significantly less chest pain within the next five years than the men who answered no (Ornish, 1998). In another study of 119 men and 40 women, Yale scientists found that husbands who reported feeling loved and supported by their wives had less artery-blockage than those who did not (Ornish).

the barnum effect by forer

The Barnum Effect

In the late 1940s, psychologist Bertram Forer published an eye-opening study that he called a "demonstration of gullibility" (Forer 1949). After administering a questionnaire to his introductory psychology class, he prepared personality sketches. For example: "Disciplined and self-controlled outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations."

Forer asked the students to rate their own sketches for accuracy. The students gave an average rating of "very good." More than 40 percent said that their sketch provided a perfect fit to their personality.

The results seemed to show that Forer's personality questionnaire possessed a high degree of validity. However, there was a diabolical catch: Forer had given all the students the same personality sketch, which he manufactured using horoscopes from an astrology book. The students had gullibly accepted this boiler-plate personality description as if it applied to them uniquely as individuals.

Although the statements borrowed from the astrology book were seemingly precise, they applied to almost all people. Following the eminent researcher Paul Meehl, psychologists now call such personality statements "Barnum statements," after the great showman P.T. Barnum who said, "A circus should have a little something for everybody" (he's also credited with, "There's a sucker born every minute").

As Forer had discovered, people tend to seriously overestimate the degree to which Barnum statements fit them uniquely. For example, students in one study who were given Barnum statements disguised as test results responded with glowing praise: "On the nose! Very good"; "Applies to me individually, as there are too many facets which fit me too well to be a generalization."

P/H balance and wheat grass

Maintaining a balanced pH level in the body is paramount for good health.
Ph which stands for potential of Hydrogen is the ratio measurement for acid to
alkaline. This is the same in all matter soil, plants and animals. The perfect
pH level for humans is 6.8–7.2. By maintaining this level range, the trillions
of cells in the body are free to absorb the vitamins and minerals at a optimum
performance and properly excrete the waste. When our diets include higher
amounts of fat, sugar, proteins with starch the body becomes more acidic and
the cellular waste will ferment and not exit properly. Stress is also a major
factor.
A lifestyle of exercise and proper diet along with a form of relaxation such
as meditation, will improve the pH level greatly. Cereal grasses, such as
wheatgrass, are one of the most alkalizing foods available. Improvements
can be observed almost immediately. Cancer cells will not grow in an
oxygen rich environment and a balanced pH. This is according to Professor
Otto Warburg who won the Nobel Prize in 1931 for this discovery.

nutrition - fats - myths and facts

Myth: For good health, serum cholesterol should be less than 180 mg/dl.
Truth: The all-cause death rate is higher in individuals with cholesterol levels
lower than 180 mg/dl. (Circulation. 1992;86(3):1026-1029.)

Myth: Animal fats cause cancer and heart disease.
Truth: Animal fats contain many nutrients that protect against cancer and heart
disease; elevated rates of cancer and heart disease are associated with consumption
of large amounts of vegetable oils. (Fed Proc. 1978;37:2215.)

Myth: Children benefit from a low-fat diet.
Truth: Children on low-fat diets suffer from growth problems, failure to thrive &
learning disabilities. (Food Chem News. 10/3/94.)

Myth: A low-fat diet will make you "feel better . and increase your joy of living."
Truth: Low-fat diets are associated with increased rates of depression,
psychological problems, fatigue, violence and suicide. (Lancet 3/21/92;339.)

Myth: To avoid heart disease, we should use margarine instead of butter.
Truth: Margarine eaters have twice the rate of heart disease as butter eaters.
(Nutrition Week. 3/22/91;21:12.)

Myth: Americans do not consume enough essential fatty acids.
Truth: Americans consume far too much of one kind of EFA (omega-6 EFAs found in most
polyunsaturated vegetable oils) but not enough of another kind of EFA (omega-3 EFAs
found in fish, fish oils, eggs from properly fed chickens, dark green vegetables and
herbs, and oils from certain seeds such as flax and chia, nuts such as walnuts and
in small amounts in all whole grains). (Am J Clin Nutr. 1991;54:438-463.)


Myth: Low-fat diets prevent breast cancer.
Truth: A recent study found that women on very low-fat diets (less than 20%) had the
same rate of breast cancer as women who consumed large amounts of fat. (NEJM.
2/8/96.)