photo credit: flickr, Charles Williams

Practitioners of meditative disciplines like yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong and many of the world religions have espoused the numerous benefits of being in a natural altered state.  Several studies have been done that attempt to figure out what happens biochemically in individuals that meditate.  The net result is that it works.  Some of the more pertinent benefits that relate to us wage slaves day laborers are better mood, increased energy, controlled breathing, enhanced immune system, and deeper relaxation (among many others).  With the constant bombardment of daily stress, who wouldn’t want to be zenned out without the need to turn to alcohol or drugs?

Well, as it turns out there is another pretty significant benefit of meditating.  In addition to stress, pain management plays a key role in coping day to day for many folks.  The easiest and most popular treatment is drugs, in all its legal and illicit incarnations.  However, a first of its kind study conducted by Dr. Fadel Zeidan of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine proves that meditation has serious merit when trying to manage pain.  Only 15 patients were studied, so more comprehensive research has to be done to arrive at anything conclusive.  However, according to Dr. Zeidan, there were significant reductions in pain ratings when compared to other studies that involved pharmaceutical drugs, placebo pills and even hypnosis.  Even more interesting is the fact that patients did not have to be highly trained to experience these results, unlike other meditation modalities that can take weeks to achieve a level of proficiency.

As you may know, our bodies are very good at adapting to synthetic drugs.  If you’re a regular user, this is why you end up needing to increase your dosage for the same effect as time progresses.  It’s also extremely dangerous if you or a loved one are of child-bearing age.  And, the risk of liver toxicity is a well known side effect.  Compare that to zero negative side effects of meditation along with better results and the choice seems clear, even if it’s not as convenient as popping a pill.  I’ve always been a huge advocate of letting your natural painkilling endorphins do their thing.  They do work if you give them a chance.  Couple that with meditation, and you should be able to clean out your medicine cabinet in no time.

The study appears in the April 6 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Source: Huffpost

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photo credit: flickr, Sheep purple

How many times have you gone to your doctor with a standard ‘cold’ and have been prescribed a dose of antibiotics?  For a long time, that seemed to be the de facto treatment protocol for a patient that visits their doctor looking for relief.  The immediate irony in this is that most common colds are actually viral in nature (rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, etc.) and are virtually unaffected by antibiotic drugs.  Sometimes, secondary bacterial infections can occur, but it’s definitely not the norm.  In case you’re not aware, antibiotics are used to eradicate bacterial infections.  However, they are indiscriminate as they wipe out all the bad and good bacteria in your body.

At this point, there are two issues: 1) Doctors are unnecessarily overprescribing antibiotics, 2) Antibiotics kill good bacteria, which can compromise your immune system and make you susceptible to other pathogens (eg – have you ever had a yeast infection after a round of antibiotics?).

(Sidenote: Prescription drugs in general are abused.)  Wait, it gets better.

Factory farming is a process that multinational agriculture conglomerates use to grow the cheapest crop or bring livestock to market in a timely fashion (you know, to maximize profits and all that corporate mumbo jumbo).  The problem with this is that the animals on these large farms are fed grains leftover from other manufacturing processes as opposed to their natural feed.  They are also not allowed to roam freely in their natural habitat, which means they stay couped up in close quarters with other animals.  This recipe is a breeding ground for disease, and because they are so close together, the diseases can proliferate pretty quickly.  As you might have guessed, sick meat isn’t good business for these factory farms.  To combat this, they started using antibiotics to stave off any potential outbreak.  This continues as the status quo today.  While no official studies have been conducted, some scientists believe that traces of these antibiotics are still present in the meat when it arrives at your local supermarket.

By now, you’re probably asking “What’s your point?”  I’m glad you asked that because it means that you’re paying attention (and you’re still here).

As you may know, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) has been in the news the last several years because patients admitted to hospitals all over the country have literally been dying because their bodies have become resistant to the current antibiotic drugs that are used today.  As a result of the over prescribing and residual traces in factory farm meat, antibiotic resistance is a real threat.  Don’t get me wrong, antibacterial drugs have merit in acute cases such as injuries or surgery.  The problem is that by the time some patients reach this point, their bodies are already resistant (as is normally the case as our bodies adapt to synthetics drugs), so they succumb to preventable bacterial infections in the hospital.

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm that cases of infectious diseases that should be responding to antibacterial drugs are on the rise.  The only thing missing now is the causal link between the drugs and human resistance.

Facts:

• Antibiotics are over prescribed
• Antibiotics are pervasive in factory farming
• Resistant strains of bacteria are becoming a big problem

Essentially, you have two options: 1) Only use antibiotics when absolutely medically necessary, 2) Consume antibiotic and hormone-free meat every chance you get.  While there are no official studies that have followed a resistant strain of bacteria from farm to fork, overwhelming evidence exists.  Feel free to wait for multinational agribusiness and Big Pharma to lobby Congress and publish their own studies refuting this claim, despite the obvious conflicts of interest.  But if you wait, your cells will continue to evolve and this includes developing resistance to certain drugs.  As we all know, Mother Nature is unforgiving if you make bad decisions with your health.  And, we only get one chance to get it right.

The choice is yours.

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The person who is leading this investigation in Europe is Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, a German-born physician and chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Health Committee.  Specifically, he is holding a hearing this week to ascertain if Big Pharma used its considerable global influence to convince the W.H.O. to lower the alarm threshold and essentially scare countries into buying absurd amounts of the vaccine (incidentally, these same countries are trying to sell of the surplus).  Apparently, this hearing is going to be held in secret for obvious reasons.  With billions of dollars in profits at stake and medical ethics in short supply for the five manufacturers (GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis and CSL Ltd.) of the poison vaccine, it’s easy to see how and why this could happen.  It’s a classic case of “problem, reaction, solution”.

Proving that the Big Drug Cartel and the W.H.O. colluded to propogate fear for vaccines will be a daunting task, to say the least.  Drug companies’ reach is far and wide, but their close ties with large media conglomorates is one of their most insidious connections.  According to a very in-depth article on Infowars (Sherry Kane), “PharmaMedia” will not let this investigation see the light of day.  James Murdoch (son of Rupert - CEO, News Corp.) is the chief executive of News Corp in Europe and Asia, and was appointed non-executive director at GlaxoSmithKline.  Thomas Glocer (CEO, Reuters) has been elected to Merck & Co.’s board of directors.  Admittedly, these loose associations are circumstantial, so the burden of proof falls on Dr. Wodarg.  However, I always say ‘follow the money trail.’  I wouldn’t be surprised if these guys made a significant amount of coin as the stocks of drug companies shot up.

Additionally, one need to look no further than local and national media coverage on this story.  Because of the hype surrounding swine flu, it’s only natural to think that similar attention would be given to allegations of this magnitude.  Real coverage has been relegated to Youtube and online radio.  Perhaps this story isn’t as important as following the “Jersey Shore” cast or Simon Cowell moving on to greener pastures.  In a fair world, everyone who was saturated with propaganda about the swine flu would be aware of the charges.  These days, it seems that whoever writes the check gets to decide what fair is.

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The Basics

Of all the pillars of wellness, nutrition is probably the most dynamic (at least on the surface).  And by “dynamic”, I mean that what we consider nutritious is in a constant state of flux.  Additionally, technology and bio-engineering continue to afford manufacturers “creative license” when producing our food and beverages.  All of this adds up to some very unhealthy (and sometimes toxic) products in stores.

Despite all that, the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Certain nutritional principles stand the test of time, regardless how convenient, inexpensive and tasty food becomes.  Fresh vegetables, water, fruits and high quality protein (wild game, fish, nuts, etc.) remain the currencies of wellness.  In ancient times, there were no labs to process food or supermarkets to sell it.  The were no convenience stores, restaurants or fast food drive-thrus.  Our ancestors were responsible for their own food procurement.  So, much of their physical activity came from survival – eat or die.  And according to archaeological evidence, their diet primarily consisted of fruits and nuts.  Meat and fish came later as they discovered ways to catch/kill their prey.  About 10,000 years ago these hunter-gatherers became farmers as the rise of agriculture began to take hold.  The world changed forever as they were able to cultivate a dependable food source.

By most accounts, the “diseases of affluence” that are so prevalent today were virtually non-existent back then.  There are advocates who propose that we adopt a similar lifestyle to our hunter-gatherer ancestors.  Actually, there are diets (Warrior Diet, Paleo Diet, Intermittent Fasting, etc.) built around this whole concept.  Genetically and nutritionally, this is how our bodies were meant to eat.  But alas, times have changed a little since then with things like commutes, work, soccer games, karate practice, (did I mention work?) all dominating our daily schedules.  Plus, it’s not all that practical to chase a chicken around your yard every night for dinner.  So, the key is to find a way to meld the best of these two lifestyles.

From Grain To Grocer

Arguably, the best and worst thing that has happened to food is capitalism.  To be honest, I’m by no means an economic expert, but I really can’t think of a better economic system where consumers dictate market conditions (that’s the theory, at least).  However, free markets are not without fault.  The profit motive plays a part in virtually every decision a business makes.  Unfortunately, this profit motive morphs into greed more often than not, which means the greater good often takes a back seat.

Unscrupulous multinational agribusiness and meat packers wield enormous influence on the whole food chain, thanks to their powerful lobbyists.  From grain to grocer, these companies have adulterated our food in unthinkable ways.  Huge marketing budgets are absolutely necessary to create an “all natural” or “healthy” image (commercials trying to prove that point or farm image on the product).  But, don’t be fooled.  Growth hormones and antibiotics added to our meat insidiously affect our health.  Factory farming has led to deplorable and inhumane conditions for animals (videos and documentaries illustrate this better than words ever could).  For those who couldn’t care less about the welfare of your meat before they’re slaughtered (full disclosure: I am an omnivore), ponder this: the close quarters in which animals live has a direct correlation to pathogenic bacterial (e. coli) outbreaks that you see on the news.  A handful of companies control the vast majority of farms in this country, which means their power base is highly centralized.  They’ve industrialized the farming process (factory farming) to the point where animals are essentially given steroids and grains to fatten them up and reduce the time it takes to mature.  This is not healthy meat that these manufacturers are bringing to market.  And, I haven’t even touched on the environmental impact.

Crops are really no better.  Large agriculture conglomerates have gotten legislation passed that has enabled them to patent life.  Essentially, this means that they own the rights to most of the seeds used to grow most of our vegetables, so they can basically do what they want to these seeds and the farmers who try to use their own.  And, they have.  Crops have been manipulated at the genetic level (aka: GMO – genetically modified organism) and are treated with a cocktail of synthetic chemicals such as fungicides, herbicides and pesticides.  To be fair, the jury is still out on GMOs, but the other aforementioned chemicals can have serious, negative long-term affects on your health.

By now, you’re hopefully probably asking yourself “shouldn’t the government be regulating all of this”?  The folks who run agencies like the FDA and the USDA reads like a who’s who from these same companies I just mentioned.  Basically, there’s a revolving door between those companies and our government agencies.  So, I’ll let you come to your own conclusions (but, you don’t need to be a CSI investigator to figure it out).

And all of this is really just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  Of all these questionable unethical practices, the “coup de grâce” is convincing everyone that these problems don’t exist.  I encourage you to read everything with a healthy dose of skepticism, and do your own research.  This is the only way to educate and empower yourself, which is how we unify, organize, and fight back by getting legislation passed.

But, I digress lest the Food Libel gestapo come looking for me.

Standard American Diet (S.A.D.)

From farm to fork, our food is literally being hijacked and poisoned without our knowledge.  And to make matters worse, multinational food companies invest absurd amounts of money in R&D to make food as addictive as illicit drugs.  Studies show sugar and fat work on the pleasure centers of the brain responsible for releasing endorphins.  Sugar and simple carbohydrates are especially dangerous.  An alarming portion of our daily diet comes in the form of some version of a simple carb – white bread/dough, snacks, sodas, juices, desserts, etc.  In small amounts, these foods are not ideal, but they’re not all that dangerous either.  The problem is that the term “small amounts” is about as foreign as Aramaic for most Americans.  In a culture where bigger is better and more is virtuous, it’s hard to dial down cravings.  From super big gulps to super sized meals, we are being bombarded with some of the unhealthiest food choices EVER created.  Our bodies were not designed to consume these types of food.

The main problem with consuming large quantities of simple carbs over a long period of time is your insulin response.  Every time you eat something, your digestive sytem breaks down the food constituents into three main macronutrients – glucose (sugar), lipids (fat), and amino acids (protein).  During sugar metabolism, your pancreas produces a huge spike of insulin that shuttles glucose to your liver and muscles for later use, where it is stored as glycogen.  (Note: sugar and processed carbs are both broken down to glucose and thus are metabolized the same in your body).  After about 30 minutes, your blood sugar dips leading to irritability, fatigue and even more cravings.  Problems arise when, after several years of this roller-coaster high carb diet, your cells shut down after being inundated with insulin for such a long period of time.  This is the beginning of Type 2 diabetes, but is also the beginning of your problems.  Inflammation is an even bigger, and more life-threatening problem.  It can manifest itself in various forms, from arteries to joints.  Consuming a highly processed carb diet has been linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer, stroke and a host of other autoimmune diseases.  So, buyer beware.

Don’t get me wrong, glucose (along with the other macronutrients) is necessary for survival.  As a matter of fact, your brain uses about 100 grams, on average, per day just to function.  You’ll need even more if you live an active lifestyle.  But here’s the rub, millions of Americans eat way more than 100 grams of sugar daily and do virtually nothing physically active (walking to the car or pressing the button on your remote don’t count).

Large food companies (Big Food) use three criteria to bring their products to market – taste, convenience, and price.  Believe it or not, seemingly harmless corn plays a central role in all of this.  Derivatives of corn can be found in almost every packaged and processed food on store shelves.  From the well known high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to lesser known maltodextrin, corn is the veritable chameleon of food ingredients.  Government corn subsidies allow these companies to manufacture food with corn derivatives (e.g. – highly processed carbs) below cost, thus bringing them to market at a desirable price point for many consumers.  But, what’s the hidden cost?

In addition to the myriad of health problems for adults, children seem to be the unknowing victims of this whole mess.  Predatory marketing and foods littered with almost every unhealthy food constituent imaginable has led to soaring rates of child diabetes, cholesterol and obesity.  When I was growing up playing actually meant engaging in physical activities like baseball, basketball, tag, swimming and the like.  These days powerful gaming consoles and computers have reduced all of that to “virtual activity”.  Crappy diets and lack of movement seek to afflict our children with a lifetime of diseases.  Some experts have projected that, unless things drastically change, this could be the first generation that doesn’t outlive their parents.  You can actually start to see this come to fruition with folks (average Joes/Janes and celebrities alike) dying in their 30s, 40s and 50s…way too early.  And those that don’t go that route, end up with a list of preventable medical problems, which forces them to become a lifetime customer of Big Food’s cousin, Big Pharma.

Are you starting to get the picture yet?

What Can You Do?

• Healthy food is your right.  Educate and empower yourself.  I hope to have a small (or large) part in that.
• Eat more vegetables, and be creative.  Colors are important in nature, the same is true with vegetables.  So, mix it up.
• Support farmers and restaurants that absorb higher costs for more wholesome food options.
• Buy local and organic.
• Drink more water.  Don’t worry about reverse osmosis or filtered or whatever at this point (unless you’re so inclined).  Even tap water is better than soda.
• Move something.  Shake something.  Lift something.  Do something.
• If you eat meat, look for free-range, hormone and antibiotic-free choices.  Ask for wild fish…avoid farm raised fish, if possible.
• Eat smaller portions.  Food either goes to waste or to your waist.
• Set a healthy example for your kids.
• Write/call your local politicians and demand legislation that puts the onus on multinational companies to bring higher quality food to market.  Make them step their game up. Change WILL come…it’s the essence of free markets and democracy.  There is strength  numbers.

Health is a pay now or pay later game.  Healthier food choices will cost a little more, but the potential trade-off is a vibrant, healthy life, free from the shackles and crushing debt caused by being a life-long customer of pharma cartels, hospitals and insurance companies.

Food can be your medicine or your poison, you decide.

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• It does not offer effective viral protection- Numerous studies (independent of pharmaceutical cartel influence) have been conducted regarding the efficacy of flu vaccines and the consensus is that they are largely ineffective in children, adults and the elderly.  There are two types of flu vaccines: trivalent inactivated (injectable, needle) and live attenuated (intranasal, FluMist).  The shot is “inactivated” because it does not contain the live virus.  An attenuated nosespray essentially contains a very weak flu antigen.  Both versions basically fool the body into thinking that the actual virus is present.  In response to this, your body produces antibodies for future protection.  According to the CDC, the seasonal flu shot is effective “in about 70%-90% of healthy persons younger than 65 years.”  This is somewhat misleading.  I’ll address exactly what “healthy” means in a minute, but if you parse this data, one can clearly see that the vaccine is effective in people who most likely have a very strong immune system already and would probably be  better off without it.  Folks with compromised (sickly, elderly) or undeveloped (infants, children)  immune systems have the highest risk of succumbing to the secondary complications of the flu, but this demographic is curiously not cited in the CDC statistics.

• The vaccine is not as safe as officials claim - Earlier this year, the W.H.O. declared a worldwide H1N1 pandemic.  Fears about a more severe outbreak prompted drug manufacturers to rush production of a new vaccine (operative word – rush) in anticipation of the fall and winter seasons.  Not only were the untested vaccines pushed through to the marketplace, but the dangerous preservative thimerosal has been included in most versions of the vaccine (read more about the dangers of thimerosal).  Other jeopardous components include squalene and aluminum.  Even the well tested and supposedly safe seasonal flu vaccine can lead to serious health problems: click here and here.  Knowing that the H1N1 vaccine hasn’t been as rigorously tested, are you willing to take the risk?

• H1N1 is not more deadly than seasonal flu- On average, the seasonal flu kills approximately 36,000 people nationwide each year.  This is obviously a lot of deaths that largely go unreported or buried under “Balloon Boy” and “Jon and Kate” headlines.  H1N1 isn’t more deadly per se, but since the last outbreak occurred in 1976, most young people have not been exposed, and subsequently don’t have the antibodies in their immune system to mount a defense.  The next logical question is – why are these deaths even happening?  A largely unknown (and unnecessary) fact about influenza is that the vast majority of deaths are not from the actual virus, but from secondary complications (eg – pneumonia).  So, a person with a fully functioning immune system should be able to fight the flu without a vaccine.  And don’t be fooled by medical personnel saying that “healthy” people are now dying from H1N1.  I’ve discovered that the status “healthy” is used very loosely, and often times,  it does not necessarily equal a heathy immune system.  In general terms, ”healthy” is used by medical professionals to describe someone who has basic health indicators in a normal range (blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, etc.), so take it with a grain of salt when you hear it.

• Vaccination is not your only option- If you’ve read some of my other articles, you know my approach to wellness and prevention is to let food be your medicine, exercising, reducing your toxic load (drugs, chemicals, etc.) and avoiding unnecessarily invasive medical procedures.  Our bodies, down to the cellular level, have a symbiotic relationship with the environment around us.  Consequently, if you feed those cells the right nutrients, you will thrive on many different levels.  Your immune system stands to gain the most from this mindset.  When you provide your immune system with proper nutrients, it will thrive.  To this end, the first thing you must do is drastically reduce or eliminate junk food from your diet.  Organic vegetables (and to a lesser extent some fruits), spices (garlic, oregano), clean water, lean meats (wild, free-range, hormone-free) are good starter options.  Supplements like Vitamin C and D3 (avoid synthetic D2), herbs like astragalus, echinacea, oregano oil, and especially black elderberry all have a tremendous effect on your immune system, when used in conjunction with a whole-food based diet.  Online scams abound these days with dubious cures, inferior supplements and dangerous herbs.  So, do your research and make sure to buy from a reputable manufacturer.  Read more about boosting your immune system here.

Don’t be fooled by the rampant fear-mongering perpetuated by the profit-drive pharmaceutical industry.  The media get their information from doctors and health officials who inevitably get their information from the drug companies (or biased studies funded by them).  There’s a lot of money at stake, so there’s a vested interest in keeping the public in the dark about natural ways to fight illness.  Do yourself and your family a favor, and educate yourself about all the options available before you blindly subject yourself to the vaccine (or any, for that matter).  If, after all your due diligence, you still decide to go with the vaccine, at the very least you made an informed decision.

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In the same vein as the cocaine vaccine study, trials have begun to develop a vaccine which would prevent relapses in smokers.  NABI Biopharmaceuticals located outside of Washington, DC was awarded a multimillion dollar grant to continue research on an anti-nicotine vaccine.  It works just like the cocaine vaccine in that antibodies are produced that prevent nicotine from entering the brain.  This in turn inhibits the high smokers get from cigarettes.

I have personally known cocaine and nicotine addicts.  There are three main issues I have with these vaccines:

• Vaccines must be administered on a schedule to remain effective.  Keeping addicts motivated to adhere to this schedule may present long-term problems.
• As with most pharmaceutical medicines, side effects have yet to be evaluated and could very well prove to be more dangerous than cocaine or nicotine.  Time will tell.
• And my biggest problem, by far – Our medical system continues to propagate the “cure in a pill” mentality, making Big Pharma cartels obscenely rich while ignoring the root cause of disease.  This approach leads to lifetime patients/customers for Big Pharma, but never really addresses the core issues.  These illicit drug vaccines do not address the confluence of issues that lead to abuse in the first place – family, depression, health, money, etc.  This is admittedly much more time-consuming and more difficult to address, but the trade off is well worth it.

Source:

National Institutes of Health

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