Today's Path

Changing Behavior 2012 Style - The Easy Button!

2012-01-22T00:02:00.001-06:00

Here we are a few weeks into a New Year, supposedly a significant one, filled with AWAKENINGS and I've heard a lot of people saying they were going to start new things, do things better, or more often, or change it up altogether. Just wondering if anyone has taken on new things, changed it up or....?

There is a neat principal for changing I thought I would share called the Start/Stop principal. I read about this in The Road to Optimism by Dr. J. Mitchell Perry.

As Perry says most people are dissatisfied with certain behavior patterns they have. When they want to change, they concentrate on trying to STOP and existing behavior, which, of course, makes them concentrate on that very thing.

What you say (even to yourself) affects how you feel, which affects how you think. Perry calls this the Behavior Triangle. Having been there a lot myself I'd like it to the Bermuda Triangle - somehow things disappear - like my intentions!

Say you want to quit worrying. One reason it's so hard to change from worrying to something else is because you are focused on stopping the behavior, most likely with no substitute in mind. Which will be easier for you - to stop worrying or to learn how to relax?

Write down Behavior A (the on-going issue) that you want to Stop.

Then write down Behavior B that you want to Start (this is the replacement action).

Your focus should then become centered on Behavior B and nothing else - forget about A!

I tried this with a few minor things over the last few weeks and it really works well. It is so positive and thinking or even talking to yourself in positive tones makes you feel good! When you feel good you have more success, more self-confidence and things flow so nicely, don't they? Seems like an Easy Button to me - how about you?

The Quack Attack - Pt. 2 of Cancer Summit

2012-01-15T01:48:00.001-06:00

This may not seem like a connection to the last blog, but in fact there was much discussion about all this. I'd read a book before this conference which spoke about the situation brilliantly so I thought I'd share "The Assault on Medical Freedom" by P. Joseph Lisa. I did a google search to see if the author was still alive or if he'd been "accidentally eliminated" from this earth for his expose. Glad to say as of this writing I believe him to be alive. The phenomenal progress happening OUTside of conventional medicine is happening despite our government trying to make it all just go away.

As I wrote last week, there are many alternatives but you have to hunt them out. There are no research grants from the government, no fund raising "for the cure" for any of these people. Doesn't that just seem wrong? Well here's some background for you. I think it's important to know about this and it will surely explain a lot - like why you never hear about the cures that are going on everywhere.

The author of this book investigated the AMA - which led to a revealing association between that supposedly revered association and the government, and Big Pharma - all being hell bent on eliminating ANY and ALL "competition". Their thinly disguised measures (thinly because he did find the connections right there in the AMA files) on the surface appear to be working for the public good by eliminating "Quacks" but when you read thru this book you quickly see that their interpretation of "Quacks" include chiropractors, naturopaths, holistic practitioners and any and all "alternative" medicine practitioners. That's their "A" list. Nutritionists (gulp, like me) are heading up the "B" list. Swell.

A review from Health Freedom says: "The AMA first launched a campaign to rid the country of quack remedies at the turn of the century. At that time there were no controls for fraudulent labeling and deceptive ads. We need to know, however, that since the early 60's organized groups have worked overtly and covertly to unfairly destroy beneficial alternative practices. This has been documented by P. Joseph Lisa in his book, The Assault on Medical Freedom (1994). He describes the pervasiveness of an ongoing campaign which began in 1963, when the AMA's Board of Trustees established the Committee on Quackery, headed by Doyle Taylor. He details the formation and functions of the Coordinating Conference on Health Information which paralleled the AMA group.

Now this part gets REALLY interesting. The participants in this group were the AMA, American Cancer Society, American Pharmaceutical Association, Arthritis Foundation, Council of Better Business Bureaus, National Health Council, FDA, Federal Trade Commission, US Postal Service, and Office of Consumer Affairs. "

When you hear on the news "independent studies done on such and such" they are more than likely done by the "independent" set ups the AMA has scattered across the country. They are all being funded. By whom, you ask? Guess.

Enormous funds from Big Pharma keep this whole witch hunt going. And not surprisingly it was revealed that none other than the American Cancer Society itself contributes millions, if not billions, trying to wipe out any and all competition. Kind of sick? They SHOULD be contributing millions to the alternative folks who are actually helping people!

There are always on-going, world wide fund raisers continually to raise funds by the ACS to supposedly fight cancer, walk for cure, ad nauseum, when, in fact, so much of this money is being secretly funneled to the REAL cause, wiping out competition. This is so wrong. People participate in raising funds supposedly for a darn cure. Where is a huge chunk of money going? To wipe out the cancer industry's competition!

Cancer is a big business. Think for a minute if natural cures, with no side effects and little expense, were made mainstream available what a terrible blow this would be to the overall economy affecting Big Pharma and the ACS and the entire medical community. There is a huge, huge, campaign going on by all of these "members" rather secretly to make damn sure this never happens. There are natural cures for cancers but the network working to eliminate or suppress this from being accepted and getting out to the people who need it is extremely powerful and well rooted. Not to mention the billions they control to do it!

They did such a terrific job in Tennessee to eliminate naturopaths, actually targeting them, discrediting them, and intimidating the patients who went to them that few even exist in the state anymore. The author writes: "There isn't one single aspect of the alternative health-care system this is not currently under attack from this massive campaign to eliminate competition from the health-care marketplace. Some targets are receiving high priority than others, but in the end they are all being targeted by this complex web of vested interests.

The modalities, treatments, products, services, practitioners, and manufacturers being used in the practice of health alternatives are in fact slated for extinction by the very nature of this campaign. The many lists of alternatives that are in circulation are being used to direct attacks upon them by government agencies. These lists have been put together for the sole purpose of targeting those listed for elimination."

I don't know if any of this bothers you at all, but it makes my blood boil! I am sure there are a few likely "quacks" out there --- just as there are bad doctors --- that we may need a bit of protection from. Silly things being sold as "cures" are rampant on the Internet as well. Common sense (which admittedly is not a common denominator in all humans) should be enough protection for those in possession of it. I don't want the government "protection" shutting down alternative doctors or yanking away my supplements, both of which they are currently working on doing!

The further absurdity of this -

"We have the federal government involved in co-funding a campaign against alternatives with the very industry that SHOULD be policing, the pharmaceutical industry. We have the federal government working with people who are avowed enemies of the alternative movement. We see these spokespersons presenting training seminars and lectures at insurance industry conferences, joint government conferences, and health-care professional conferences (AMA attendees of course) influencing their audiences against the alternatives.

We see massive computer systems set up to link private groups with government and insurance industry outlets to spread their propaganda against the alternative movement.

We see practitioners, clinics, health food stores, multi-level sales companies, product manufacturers and distributors all being targeted by this campaign. The result has been raids, seizures, embargoes, bad publicity, de-licensing, the destruction of businesses and the disruption of lives - all in the name of "public service".

Who is really being served here, the public interest.........or the VESTED interests?

The Quack Attack. It is not what they want you to believe it is! I have lost many precious people in my life to cancer. A few I encouraged with all that was in me to seek alternatives rather than let the chemo kill them, but to no avail.

I respect any one's right to contribute to the fight against cancer by buying pink ribbon things, do walks,races or whatever. If you are one of those people please realize that most of the money raised is going to fight the cancer industries competitors and less for their "cure". I know this is an ugly fact and I hate it, really I do, but perhaps a good wake up call is called for? In fifty years they have no cure? If you listen to the AMA there is no cure - but medication - for diabetes, heart disease and other diseases.

Really? These diseases are are being eliminated in the alternative world. Heck, watch Biggest Loser! The contestants there get off of their drug arsenals as soon as they learn to eat right and exercise! Cures without pharmaceuticals right there on prime time tv! Is anyone really paying attention? These folks arrive with a shoe box of meds. They learn about nutrition and exercise, and leave The Ranch without pills and without obesity - changing their lives to healthy all-around forever.

So when you hear attacks on the media about alternatives, or have your doctor just roll his eyes at you when you bring up the subject of supplements/diet instead of drugs, just remember this article.

As for me, I will leave the quacks to the ducks.

Global Cancer Summit - Curing Cancer - Doctors You Should Know Pt. 1

2012-01-08T01:12:00.003-06:00

In fall I attended the Global Cancer Summit and heard talks from doctors and experts from all over the world that are making significant progress in curing cancer - far more than the pathetic advancements we have had in our "research" and "war on cancer" with conventional therapies. I have literally notebooks of notes. So many of the presenters shared their beliefs and strategies to deal with cancer and I was overwhelmed by the commonality. Because of this, I decided to give you an overview, rather than quote each of the doctors/practitioners.

A brief background of the group of doctors/practitioners presenting lets everyone know they have ALL been researching for 20-30 years. Highly credentialed, and quite a few "crossing over" from the conventional medical world into the alternative/holistic due to utter frustration with the systems in place - i.e. "the industry".

First of all, almost without exception, all said the causes of cancer are being ignored by the government and doctors don't inform people either, whether they are aware of prevention or not. The agencies that are supposed to protect US are protecting the INDUSTRY, the cancer industry. Many of the speakers shared their incredulity that out of the trillions of dollars spent in 50 years, the best the cancer industry can say is they have had success treating testicular and childhood leukemia. My comment on that would be these doctors should get a share in all the millions/billions of contributions for their OWN research - what do you think? Give everyone a shot at the cure(s)?

It is so very wrong that in conventional therapies, they totally ignore nutrients and supplements. Integrative medicine uses both! It is the best of both worlds.

In Germany there is a blood test to determine exactly what therapy works. It is very specific targeting. There was a story about a man from the U.S. going there for the blood tests - the test results said that to treat (cure!) his prostate cancer, he actually needed the chemo that is used for ovarian cancer treatments. The doctors here in the U.S. would NOT do this because it doesn't follow their "protocol" which is like a cookbook, I guess. God forbid anyone think outside the box! Needless to say this man went back to Germany for treatments - and was cured of his cancer.

With integrative treatments, the tendency is to use very low dose chemo and high dose nutrients. (This was also addressed in Suzanne Somers book "Knockout" which is a MUST read for anyone with cancer!) Food is very critical. Starving the cancer of acid, which aids your own immune system to save you.

Almost without exception the presenters at this conference believe that the use of chemo only is medieval and very destructive. The test in Germany shows that sometimes chemo can be used beneficially but only - repeat only - in low doses and with the emphasis on nutrition, pumping the body with nutrients that substantially eliminate the horrific side effects of high dose chemo only.

Burton Goldberg mentioned that cancer centers are built by nuclear plants. Known as the Tooth Fairy Project, babies teeth were tested for radiation - there is a lot of info on the net about this. I'm not sure this is relevant to my blog, but it is interesting if you care to research this on your own. I'm sure we are exposed to far more icky stuff than we think we are and it is all around us, and in our homes, not to mention our diets, eh?

There was total confirmation of what I've read so much about already, that is, by the time you have a diagnosis of cancer you have already had it for 10 years.

Diseases can be reversed with alternative medicine. Drugs and conventional medicine ignore what caused the disease. The lymph system is our garbage removal system which drains the poisons and helps us to detox. The liver is the main organ responsible for detoxification and to detox the liver, nothing works better than coffee enemas. (Wow, I love coffee but never thought about THIS! It is a common thread with all the doctors I heard speak, many integrating coffee enemas into there therapies. Detoxing the liver is very important, with or without cancer.)

I learned about "electrodermal screening" devices to diagnose where the disease is and it tells what nutrients to take, or vitamins. This is used more in homeopathic and Chinese medicine. You can find videos on YouTube that show how this test uses acupuncture meridians to assess what organs or areas of the body are not functioning, and then the doctor will give you the remedy to help this. Often this is used for cancer patients to help with their recovery, but not as the only "cure". It's more of an additional boost for healing.

We have cancer cells in us all the time and normally our immune system will go after it. What sets it off and out of control is poor nutrition or exposure to toxins which weakens the immune system so it cannot do battle with the cancer cells. So that made the entire group huge advocates for PREVENTION. The use of good water, no plastic bottles, sauna's for detoxing, eating organic foods, no fluoride and all the other "stuff" you read about here on Today's Path.

Interestingly, the genetic element regarding cancer makes only a 5% contribution - not nearly enough to explain the outrageous "epidemic level" we are experiencing today. It's clearly about the food we are eating; it's about the chemicals in our environment. It's the environmental toxicity - we've been exposed to thousands of chemicals that haven't been on this planet before a hundred years ago. The body has a twenty-five-thousand-year-old genetics and doesn't really have a mechanism for getting rid of a lot of these chemicals - toxins, plastics, hydrocarbons and pesticides - that we have in our bodies. As a result, there develops an accumulation of these toxins - including that we have styrene and phthalates from Styrofoam and plastic bottles. Plasticizers are in the food wraps, plastic water bottles, new car smell, all that's phthalates.

Cancer is an epidemic and it boils down to a mixture of poisons in the environment and poisons in our food, coupled with genetics. But how do you explain that many, many women are getting breast cancer with no family history of breast cancer? It's obviously toxicity from pharmaceuticals, technology and the environment.

There are many, many causes of cancer and it's a multifaceted activity that goes through years and years of changes in the body. We are not eating properly, nor are we aware of the damage caused by eating chemically-laden foods, plus we have a tremendous amount of stress in our lives. But know this --- many of these things you can regulate yourself.

Ahhh, there it is - prevention! We can wake up and start eliminating our risks right now! I try to give you info here all the time - do you pass it along? Do you do your own health research?

In the end, I was very encouraged at the success rates of these doctors - which they openly compared to the conventional treatment. Very little, if any, side effects from any of their treatments, even the low-dose chemo - and cure rates that should make people stop already with the pink ribbon contributions and fund these people!!!

Here is a short video of Burton Goldberg talking about his film, which I intend to get for my library. His research into alternatives is quite substantial. He has also published "Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide", which has become the bible for alternative medicine laypeople and practitioners everywhere.

To highlight each person I heard would be two dozen blogs - I'll spare you that.
But if you, or someone you know could benefit from my list of names/websites for more information, just pop me an email. I'm always happy to share.

Natural Alternatives - Housekeeping Like Grandma

2012-01-01T13:57:00.000-06:00

I had the pleasure (and work!) of setting up a new kitchen at the lake house last summer and an opportunity presented itself to make some changes. I had a large box filled with all the cleaning supplies I used to have under my old kitchen sink to unpack. It weighed a ton for one thing, so schlepping it up from the basement I got to wondering just what all was IN this box and did I really need it all?

Since I've been making changes in eating, cooking, and shopping, this was another area, cleaning supplies, to "clean up". How did all these cans of sprays and things become so necessary? I don't even want to get into what's IN them - chemicals I can't pronounce! So I did a little re-visiting the past - it really IS useful to have memories and experiences that go back to the day before all this crap was invented!

How did grandma clean the bathtub without Scrubbing Bubbles? Poor grandma! It's not as if we lived in filth before all these convenient cleaning supplies were created in some science lab. The house was spotless, there were no odors that required Fabreez or carpet freshners. Getting back to those simpler days, there weren't aisles full of this new "modern" stuff in the grocery stores either.

So I did a little research and found that baking soda has a huge range of cleaning possibilities - so does vinegar, lemon and corn starch. Amazingly, no other chemical additives necessary! My NEW under the sink cabinet is practically empty now - gone is the myriad of plastic bottles of spray this and that, and spray cans of more stuff!

What I remember from childhood -

We used Ivory Soap - bar soap - to wash our hair. The "creme rinse" was vinegar diluted in a pitcher of water. My hair was so shiny - and no, it did not smell like salad dressing! The vinegar got rid of the soap and left you with a good pH. Not having "products" in your hair, you didn't need to wash it that often either. Oh the money I can save on hair products alone. When I think of what I have probably spent over the years on all this "stuff", I seriously wonder just how necessary any of it is. I'm not quite ready to pitch my favorite organic lavender shampoo but I sure can eliminate some products. Ching ching!

Baking soda cleaned sinks, polished pots and pans.

Lemon can clean bread boards, cutting boards and freshen up stinky garbage disposal drains.

Fels Naptha bar soap (you can still buy this today!) is THE most excellent pre-laundering stain remover. It works great on grass stains, baby formula, grease, blood, you name it. I've been using this for 40 years - never falling for the Spray N Wash or similar stain treatment products. I swear if Fels Naptha can't get the stain out, nothing can!

When I was on-line looking for more at eartheasy.com or greenlivingideas.com
I also looked up what I might use to kill off huge piles of ants that make sand circles in my lake house yard the size of cow piles! And guess what is non-toxic (for my dog and the lake's sake) that does it? Are you ready for this? GRITS. The instant variety. I usually leave nature to do its thing but if you walk into one of these piles, well, it's most unpleasant! Ants eat the grits and sort of explode. Ok, not pleasant if you are an ant, but it was a non-toxic of dealing with piles of them and the only thing that worked.

And you may think I'm nuts but I am making my own laundry detergent - and it works great! You can find the recipes on eartheasy.com - it is worth it to me just to know what is IN the darn stuff I use anymore. It's not a big deal since I make five gallons at a time. I add drops of lavender essential oil - it's very subtle but quite nice.

I absolutely love those micro cloths for dusting. Wet one, wring it out til it is barely damp and go at it. No more dusting sprays like Pledge or whatever.

Not sure in terms of dollars and cents what I am saving - it's not really about the money although since switching to all organic everything, I'd like to think I've made up the difference. My food bills are not higher so in my non-accountant-type mind, it's a wash. Needless to say, my house is clean without chemicals.

Are you doing anything like this in your house? Will you try to cut down on the chemicals you use? Maybe starting the year off with trying some non-chemical experiments would be a great way to embrace 2012?

(I've had technical difficulties with my blog on magnesium totally disappearing so I'm running this for the week rather than stressing out about what the heck happened here!)

2012 - Embrace the Light!

2011-12-25T01:42:00.001-06:00

It doesn't matter if you don't believe in astrology. I'm not out to convert anyone but rather share some very interesting interpretations on today's chaos in the hope that you might find something in this helpful or comforting.

Recently I listened to a fascinating talk by Elizabeth Jones on Healing With The Masters. Twice. It was that good. I thought I'd share how an astrologer is looking at 2012. I've read/heard so many "takes" on the whole 2012 issue, from doom and gloom, to the end as we know it --- thought it was time for a little more positive look at what Jones says this is all about.

Uranus is squaring Pluto now. This is chaos alright but it is intended to help us. Uranus is the Great Awakener. It's energy stirs up and challenges "the norm". This is not fun or comfortable. But according to Jones this breakdown is meant to be a breakTHRU, both societal and individual. This light is getting stronger and accelerating so we need to be open to seeing what is being revealed to us, like it or not.

This planetary energy brings about a crumbling in things we believed in - like stuff from 20 or 30 years ago just isn't true for us anymore. This is a confusing time because the way we've doing things is getting so shook up. She said the whole "Occupy Wall Street" issue is a prime example of this. (Reminds me of how food isn't the same as it used to be either - sorry, couldn't resist!)

Pluto is also challenging the norms - telling us the "system" isn't working, the premise we operate from isn't working and this also stirs up the unconsciousness in us.   Time to wake up! We must face what we have been doing and how it is NOT working for us and Pluto helps with this transparency. We are seeing this in banking, government and etc. and we do not like it! (No kidding, huh?) (Oh yes, here again, how about we need some transparency in labeling?)

So this squaring of the two planets is bringing us light to see, whether we like it or not. She compared this to taking a flash light into your basement and finding yuck there, or mice, or critters that shouldn't be there. We see them, don't like them, and almost wish we hadn't gone down there at all! We see stuff there that is not "normal" but we cannot fight with what this light is showing us. Denial sure won't help, will it? (Ok, I know I'm not the most popular blogger out there cuz I say stuff you really don't want to hear but hey, somebody (ME) is trying her best to shove some light on your food, drinks, pills etc)

If you are feeling turmoil, be it internal or external turmoil, this is being accelerated for a purpose. That purpose is to awaken us. It's very much like the collective awakening in history when it was "discovered" that the world was not flat. This light is coming to take us to our next evolutionary level in much the same way the no longer flat earth theory did. It had to be mind-blowing, but there was a purpose to learning the truth.

Maybe we don't understand things but we can feel them. We are getting a chance to see the light and how it can assist with changes. The light is also there to tell is whatever is occurring in our lives right now is not ALL that we are! We are more.

The light is with us to take away negatives and closemindedness. It is clearing and it is healing. With embracing this, rather than digging in our heals to fight the changes coming, we will have a greater understanding and more AHA moments. Our hearts are being ignited. This light will bring us more compassion the more it accelerates.

Having said that, bringing the light doesn't necessarily bring you what you think you want so it was advised that we be open.   Just as the cautions about not praying for a specific outcome, or being careful what you wish for, ask for light for the best possible outcome.  Being a co-creator with our own light will help us.

So will Neptune, which is providing us with help for surrendering to the process as it's energy opens understanding in the spiritual realm. This trio then, the Uranus squaring Pluto, and Neptune in Pisces is creating great light for our awakening. We can see what has been going on all along because this is raising our frequency, according to Jones.   It is NOW the time to let go of our expectations that the "systems" in place will save us from anything. This is our wake up call - light provided from a divine source. Jones says we should make a mantra of asking for light as it will help us on all levels, physical, mental and emotional. She said we will do well to look forward to this, run along side of our challenges. It is a dance! It's challenging but in a good way.

Jones suggested we do meditations asking for the light - or at least ask for it whenever we have a problem, and as a last thought at night before we go to bed. In the program I listened to, she did a meditation for everyone about it and it was awesome. I cannot begin to tell you the peace that came over me.

For all the 2012 stuff I've heard about, I really liked this astrological approach by Jones. It was filled, for me at least, with hope. Hey if that light is here to help things, I'm glad of it! Bring it on! We already know that change makes most people uncomfortable. Maybe we need to get over that - it sounds self-involved rather than changing for the collective good, doesn't it?

Well I can testify that this light has hit me, challenged me, personally, and has been for some time as I "discover" the faith I had in "systems" (like government, Big Pharma and the money trails, the FDA, the food supply, on and on ad nauseum) has crumbled to bits. Nothing is as it seems and it is time to let go of  previous beliefs and blind faith in the systems. I seem to be hooked on broadcasting all the untruths, trying to help people see that we are in deep do-do if we continue to blindly accept what we are being told about so many things. I am encouraging people to wake up and boy that doesn't always go so well. I've made my positions so obvious to people I know who are resistant to changes or even hearing about how they should make them. It is more often resisted than accepted - I get a lot of excuses and but.......but....and the subject gets changed, not the thinking or behavior. I guess it is what it is. I've learned to put the duct tape on for friends and family. That's why YOU get it all right here!

I tend to write about things you probably don't want to know about a lot (sorry if you think this has been negative) and I realize - hearing Jones talk about this - after hearing this talk I think I will start believing that I am sharing my light, which really makes ME feel better, I don't know about you all.

May the Light be embraced and lead us all to a healthier, happier 2012! Thank you ALL for being loyal readers. I hope to see you all back for more in the New Year!

Cheetos and a 30-Day Challenge

2011-12-18T01:29:00.023-06:00

I'm watching 60 Minutes and the segment is about flavoring - the artificial kind. They create memorability in taste. They admitted that "addiction" is a good word to describe how they formulate these artificial flavors. They want the taste to hook you, but then the taste has to disappear so you want more, another drink, another cookie, just for that first "buzz" of flavor. It is their job to make fools of us and profits for them. Of course I'm talking about them being all the food companies out there that hire these "taste" experts and fabulous chemists. Food thru chemistry. Somehow we are leaving God out of this. Perhaps this time of year, when everyone is clamoring to put Jesus in the Season, this is also a good time to think about what we are eating. Would HE eat it? Hmmm. Ponder it.

The interviewer said that Europeans look at Americans, and the obesity that is so outrageous here today and the Europeans really don't want to become like us. Europeans have also united to ban genetically modified foods (GMO's) from their countries. Seems to me if you want to eat healthy, you move to Europe? Or we can stay here but read labels for a hobby? It's a shame it has come to this. Land of Plenty, it is. Land of Plenty of fake Phudes!

So you add up our falling for artificial ingredients and you watch what people put in their shopping carts, and you see how the Europeans have a real case. The sad truth about it most of the weight problem in this country is because of the these phenomenal chemists who create flavors. These flavors are created. They aren't real. Unless you think in some delusional way that artificial means natural or real. Artificial means created in a lab with chemicals.

What are Cheetos? Just what ARE they? People who love them, really, really love them. There is an addictive quality to artificial food (phude) that most people are so involved with, they probably could care less that they are eating chemically designed nothing. And they cannot seem to stop. They want that flavor, come hell or high water they want that taste.

I work with clients who confess these addictions. The very thought of them not being able to ever eat Cheetos again sends them into depression. Seriously. It may not be Cheetos, it could be any processed snack phude. The very nature of being addicted to something and then having to quit it is tough.

I battled with nicotine addiction for years - quit annually, several times. I DO understand addiction. It wasn't lectures, it wasn't doctors warnings, it wasn't a family begging me to stop. It was education. It was understanding what the chemicals were doing on a cellular level in my body. I wasn't any different than the folks out there that KNOW they shouldn't be eating this crap - but they just keep doing it. So I do understand.

But there comes a time for everyone - you must be told there is no Santa Claus. Bummer. Pretty devastating for a little kid. And now here I come telling you most of what is on the market in the name of food is phude - not real and definitely destructive. Bummer.

Think back to being told the truth about Santa. You eventually got over it. You knew it was too good to be true, right? I mean gee it'd have been NICE to keep the Santa showering you with whatever you wanted. But hey, we are adults. There is no Santa. And there is no nutrition in fake food. Cheetos are not cheese puffs. Cheese does not puff! Cheese does not crunch! Doritos are not flavored with cheese but some powdery stuff they made in a lab to taste like cheese. How can we be so addictive to stuff that isn't even real?

I have a dear friend who's neighbor used to be a high mucky muck with Kraft. He took an early retirement because he was suffering from the stress of guilt. He KNEW what they put in the foods. He KNEW the games they were playing, dangerously, with unsuspecting people's health. The stories he told at a gathering recently made everyone positively ILL. He actually is looking for a new job but not in the food industry. He knows it isn't just the chemists at Kraft. They are everywhere.

Boy do we ever need to wake up!

It's the holidays and parties and lots of food time. Can you do it? Can you eat only REAL stuff? I know this is the most temptation most people have all year long, isn't it? Well then, how about we start a challenge. Beginning on January 1st - can you pledge to eat nothing with artificial flavoring for 30 days? It will mean you have to read labels. Let's see how many of you will sign up - leave a comment and let me know if you are willing to join in this challenge.

In the meantime, just know............somebody is watching you eat those Cheetos at the party. Would He/She eat it? (Choose your own guilt giver)

Take the 30-Day Challenge!

Migraines? A New Approach Without Drugs

2011-12-11T07:22:00.000-06:00

I receive a newsletter regularly from APFA (American Fitness Professionals and Associates) where I took classes for one of my certificates. They ran this article recently and I thought I would share it. I have worked with several people that have migraines, and while we have made changes in their food choices with remarkable success, this is something additional to integrate into lifestyle changes.

(Reuters Health) - Regular aerobic exercise worked just as well as relaxation therapy or the antiepileptic drug topiramate in preventing migraine headaches in a Swedish trial.

"This non-pharmacological approach may therefore be an option for the prophylactic treatment of migraine in patients who do not benefit from or do not want daily medication," wrote Dr. Emma Varkey and her colleagues from the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, University of Gothenburg, in the journal Cephalalgia.

Varkey's team randomly assigned their subjects to one of three regimens for three months: aerobic exercise on a stationary bike (40 minutes three times per week), a standard form of relaxation therapy or daily topiramate.

Previous studies have shown that relaxation therapy and topiramate are both effective for migraine prevention, the investigators note in their paper.

The 91 women in the trial were all from a single headache clinic in Sweden. They were between 18 and 65 years old, had neurologist-diagnosed migraine, with or without aura, and got headaches two to eight times per month.

All three treatments reduced the frequency of some women's migraine attacks by as much as three quarters, although the average reduction was more modest.

In an email to Reuters Health, Varkey admitted that she was a bit surprised by the small between-group differences. "Topiramate is a drug of first choice which has shown great effects in studies. It was a bit surprising and very interesting that the change in number of migraine attacks was almost similar in all three groups," she said.

"The only parameter where topiramate was better compared with exercise and relaxation was the reduction of pain intensity," Varkey added. "On the other hand, the non-pharmacological options were free from adverse events and the exercise group increased oxygen uptake, which is very positive."

None of the women in the relaxation group or exercise group reported side effects, but eight women (33%) in the topiramate group did and three withdrew from the study as a result. The most commonly reported side effects of the drug included numbness or tingling, fatigue, depressed mood, vertigo and constipation.

Finding that exercise is not inferior to topiramate as a prophylactic measure is "of great value," the researchers note in their report, because patients often seek non-pharmacological options for migraine.

"From a wider health-based perspective, it should be stressed that patients with migraine are less physically active than the general population, and that exercise has positive effects in terms of general well-being and the prevention of disease," they added.

There will be more studies done, of course, but I found this quite interesting - especially since the results were so positive WITHOUT DRUGS. Studies and discoveries like this one are not usually found on the nightly news, nor do doctors always stay on top of this non-drug alternative treatment.

(I should add that two people I know were previous migraine victims until "cured" simply because they quit drinking sugar-free diet coke, and sugar-free phudes. (I call it phude because it is more chemical than real food. ) Artificial sweeteners may seem like a great idea but they cause a lot of problems because they are toxic. It has also been proven that people do NOT lose weight by drinking diet sodas.)

If you know of anyone suffering with migraines, please send this along to them via whatever social media you use. News like this deserves to get out there to people who need it! There is a link at the way bottom of my blog to send this out to your friends.

Beauty in Your Bones - Osteoporosis Be Gone!

2011-12-03T23:37:00.000-06:00

I know a whole world of beautiful people! They come in all shapes, sizes, ages, educational backgrounds and the one thing they ALL have in common is beauty. I'm refering to their spirits, not their hair or make-up or outfit. I'm refering to their love of life, their zest. It's fabulous!

I can feel all this beauty, or see it in the twinkle of an eye, a smile, hear it in a hearty laugh.

What I cannot see, or hear, or feel, is their bones. What the heck is going on within those bones? Of course I hope it is all good! I can't x-ray the world but I can put a little list together for everyone on how to have beautiful bones!

Do some resistance exercises - either with stretchy bands or weights - look on line for examples (YouTube is great for that) or ask a trainer at your health club if you go to one. If you walk every day, this is not enough, unless you are lifting weights as you walk (few do this). Yoga is great for this and I do love my yoga! If you think it's not a good workout, try it. (Hubs didn't think it was challenging at all until he tried it with me one day - Mr. Gym himself struggled big time, sweat and finally admitted it was a really good workout!)

Simple sugars vacuum the minerals right out of your bones - so watch your sugar intake. There are a lot of reasons to cut back or eliminate sugar altogether, but for good bone health it is critical.

Acid conditions in the body (which you can develop from eating too much meat and/or dairy) will pull the calcium out of your bones to break down the acid. Pay attention to eating a good balance of foods to keep yourself on the side of alkaline rather than acid.

Look up a list on line of alkaline foods - how many do you eat daily? Most people are acid and may not realize it but the acidity is taking its toll somewhere in your body. They say osteoporosis is a silent disease because you don't experience symptomatic pains until it is so advanced you are in major trouble! Please do not accept that crumbly bones is a natural part of aging. That is so not true!

Magnesium and Vitamin D are boosters for calcium. Without those two little helpers, calcium is lacking. Don't fret about it, just eat your greens. Vitamin D should already be in your vitamin regime daily to optimize many things, namely your immune system.

Dairy tends to block energy in the body. Using plant-based proteins like legumes, sesame seeds, greens, sea veggies, quinoa will do a body good! Kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, brussel sprouts - find recipes on line if you don't know what to do with them.

Read Mercola.com - look up his article on The "Calcium Lie" Every Woman Should Know About which is based on the book "The Calcium Lie". Great information!

Another thing before I forget is to make sure you are getting Omega's in your diet - especially Omega 3 - which promotes healthy bones. Fish oil, if you take it, helps. I eat hemp seeds, walnuts and chia about every day so I don't bother with the fish oil pills. Seriously, eating a diet rich in nutrients beats having to take a bunch of pills. And speaking of pills, if your doctor has you on Boniva or one of the "bone building" medications, do some research NOW. Studies are showing they create worse problems down the road.

Do not take this need for beautiful healty bones lightly. There have been many studies scientifically showing that people with the lowest bone mass are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's or dementia. Who wants to sign up for THAT?

I can wish you all healthy bones every day. The only way you will have them, however, is to make sure you're giving your body everything it needs to make them!

Congress, USDA, Pizza Vegetable = Transparent INSANITY

2011-11-27T10:42:00.000-06:00

Did you know that there is such a thing as the American Frozen Food Institute? Seriously, I did not make that up. They have lobbyists in Washington. But the front for them is The Coalition for Sustainable Meal Programs which is funded by corporations like ConAgra. Collectively they are the enemies of healthy school lunches for our children. They argue against serving fruit without added sugar and for retaining the current levels of sodium in school food because, as their website says, "Sodium is an essentail mineral and required for life."
Brilliant. Freaking Brilliant.

Obviously the processed food industry is upset with the proposed improvements to school meals that the nearly ineffective USDA was trying to put through. I say "nearly ineffective" because they have been supposedly "trying" for seven years now to get school lunches healthier. Seven years. But look what they are up against. The industry's lobbyists are flexing their political muscle to get their way.

Now let's see. Who has the most money? The Corporations. And how do they use this money? They "invest" it in Congress (via the lobbys) to see that laws are passed that will allow them to make even more money and more money. What has happened here is Congress has hijacked the USDA's regulatory process to do the food industry's bidding.

Just how bad do things have to get when the USDA gets backed into a corner? Lots of money bad. According to a report on "Grist", "The agency seemed a tad shell-shocked recently when, in defending its proposed rules, it told the Washington Post that keeping pizza in schools won't save any money, as the GOP had claimed."

And so now we Pizza declared a vegetable. I'm sure God is thrilled!

If you haven't wanted to see the money connections to our sorry state of food in this country, here's a flaming example. It makes it pretty easy to understand the games that go on in the name of profits and since this was done in the open by Congress, can you imagine what goes on that you DON'T hear about? Scary!

I'd love to fire the entire Congress. Then outlaw lobbyists.

If, for any reason, you have not seen that corporations and greed/profits run this country and that "they" are in charge of the food supply, time to tune in. This is a blatant example, declaring pizza a vegetable! Childhood obesity rates are soaring. This is what our government does to help? What is your reaction to this insanity?

Quinoa - A Super Wonder Food

2011-11-21T01:22:00.002-06:00

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH) is a super food and I wonder if you have tried it? Easy to cook, (15 min.) it is a powerhouse of nutrition and very versatile. It's gluten-free too! It's great for weight loss and packed in protein. That alone is fantastic because here is a protein that doesn't come from animals or dairy. It is easily digested and it's a complex carb, the good kind, that does not quickly convert sugar to fat - will help you feel full and not upset blood sugar levels. It has been identified as one of the world's healthiest foods - yes I didn't say Wonder Food for nuthin'.

Quinoa, while technically not a grain, is similar to whole grains which have been dmonstrated to reduce high blood pressure, prevent heart failure because they slow the speed of arterial plaque and may even help to remove plaque build up in the arteries. It is rich in magnesium (most people have a shortage of that!) and phytonutrients which are thought to be responsible for protection against a variety of diseases.

The ancient Incas called quinoa "the mother grain" for a reason. The whole food was thought to promote healthy pregnancy, and enhance a mother's milk. Quinoa is rich in the amino acid histadine, which cannot be formed by combinations of nutrients and instead must be provided directly in the diet. Histadine is considered an essential amino acid in children because it is necessary for human development. For children this is a great food, in lieu of rice when they start eating solids because it has better nutrients. It is almost always organic, full of fiber, iron and calcium.

The Incas also found that only quinoa was powerful enough to sustain their bodies and provide them with the stamina, strength and energy required to perform endurance activities. (Sounds good, doesn't it?) The Inca armies would march for days - even weeks - at altitutdes about 12,000 ft. consuming absolutely no animal protein. Their only source of nutrition and energy cam from a mixture of quinoa and fat which they called "war balls". I guess this was probably more effective than MRE's of today's armies!

There are times, when I stumble across things like quinoa, that I wonder why we don't pay more attention to GOOD foods, the power foods, that were so life-sustaining to ancient cultures. This is one of the best in terms of non-animal, gluten-free protein! We could do well to farm it here as it is so easy to grow in marginal conditions but most of the quinoa here comes from South America.

If we want to get really technical about quinoa, although it appears a grain it is actually the fruit of a broadleaf plant in the same family as spinach and beets and is classified as a "pseudocereal". It is higher in calcium and iron than either rice, corn, wheat, barley or oats.

You can find quinoa in most grocery stores today, without having to go to Whole Foods or speciality health stores. It comes in boxes in a a variety of colors - red, black, white or golden. I haven't noticed any taste difference so the color is strictly your preference as the nutritional values vary so slightly it's not a worry. Quinoa flakes can be used instead of oat flakes but are harder to find. Quinoa flour is also available, and most often has the same fine texture as regular all-purpose flours. I bought some but have yet to try it for baking anything. Let me know if you have and share your experience.

Quinoa is small, like a coucous, fluffs up when cooked and it's really kind of cute. Use it in place of rice and pastas - it's great as a base for casseroles, added to soup, salads or even eat it as you would oatmeal, with fruit and nuts. You can cook up a batch of it - it keeps in the fridge about a week - and use it in by itself for cereal or add to your dishes all week.

I bought a quinoa cookbook (just because I'm a book hog) but there are tons of great recipes on line and I tend to use those more. I hope if you haven't made friends with the little quinoa, that this post will encourage you to try it. It's a powerhouse, a super food, quick and easy to cook, inexpensive and versatile. A wonder!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

p.s. Wednesday of this week I will be guest posting on a cool website Telling It Like It Is - stop by http://www.tellinitlikeitis.net

Apples - Weight Loss, Fiber & Nutrient-Rich Gems!

2011-11-14T00:48:00.001-06:00

Indeed apples are an adventure in goodness - yet how many do you eat in say a week? That old addage "An apple a day, keeps the doctor away" is not nonsense. They are filling, satisfying and they are great for weight control and adding fiber to your diet. Depending on their size they range from 50-80 calories.

What's so fun about this commonly found fruit is the variety in them. If you haven't gone beyond the "Red Delicious" then I encourage you to experiement. There are different degrees of tartness and crispness that are so much more flavorful than the Red Delicious. Try Gala, or Fuji. My favorite is in season now, Honeycrisp - love those! I buy tons of them and de-hydrate them for later. The Granny Smith (green) apples have the least sugar, so if you are going thru any stage of cancer - you must eliminate sugar totally. If you are going thru a sugar de-tox, and eat no sugar at all, they will taste surprisingly sweet to you.

If you are watching your weight, calories and fiber - any or all of those - you can't beat apples!

You get fiber from the pectin in the apple. It helps to lower cholesterol and helps to stablize blood sugar - linking it to a lower likelihood of insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. This pectin also has the effect of reducing your appetite by making you feel fuller longer.

You get quercetin from apples as well. That is a potent anti-inflammatory and natural antihistamine. That makes it a great food to consume for heart disease prevention. It is a great nutrient for dealing with cancer. Studies have shown that children who consume apples frequently have lower rates of asthma and adults may benefit by improved allegery symptoms.

Apples also contain polyphenols, another potent anti-oxidant. Polyphenols are also found in red wine and green tea, all found to be beneficial and associated with lower cancer rates, better heart health and enhanced immune function.

Since the peel of the apple contains so many of the goodies, try to buy only organic apples so you can rest easy on the pesticides/fungicides - otherwise you should use a very good fruit/veggie wash that will get rid of some of that yuck. Organic is best really. It's worth it to know you aren't getting something "else" in the bargain price of conventionally grown. Apples on one of THE most heavily contaminated foods out there so keep that in mind. Besides, if you are buying apples for snacks instead of processed snack foods, the increased price in the organic apples all evens out in the end. Get all the benefits without the poisons!

Apples for snacks are wonderful, since they are so filling and low in calories. But think out of the box. Throw apples in salads. Put diced apples on your oatmeal. Serve apples sliced on a plate with a bit of cheese perhaps along with a soup dinner in lieu of a salad altogether.

I think I may have shared my apple, celery, walnuts salad tossed in a low-fat mayo? Stretch it out for dinner by adding some chunks of cooked chicken. I throw apples in as many things as I can think of, making sure I eat at least one a day somehow or other. Dipping them in a bit of peanut butter or almond butter is a treat. In former days I dipped them in the carmel dip - oh how I loved that - but reading labels cured me. The nut butters are treat enough. My two little dogs LOVE apples. Either fresh slices, or de-hydrated, they will beg for them like dog cookies. Who knew?

I take apples (as well as their benefits) for granted. It wasn't until I had a few weight loss clients who started "dieting" by just adding apples to the daily consumption - rather RE-acquainting themselves with apples so to speak - that I realized this common gem has so much to offer it was worth a whole blog. These people were delighted that an apple snack left them feeling satisfied and couldn't believe they never, or rarely, ever ate apples.

Do share if you eat them or have an outside-of-the-box use for them. The internet is a fabulous source of recipes so just look apples for integrating more of them into your life.

Veteran's Day - A Personal Story

2011-11-10T16:00:00.000-06:00

This post ran on Veteran's Day 2009. I re-run this in honor of all veterans and also to celebrate the end of deployments to Iraq. This is "our" story.

November 11, 2009
This week's post is in honor of Veterans Day - and a special salute to the Veteran in our family, our son ,Garrett , who served for six years in the U.S. Army - first with the 101 Airborne unit in Iraq, and later with the 10th Mountain unit in Afghanistan, as a crew chief on Chinook helicopters.

To ALL Veterans - and their families - THANK YOU! Your sacrifices in your service to this country are SO appreciated. I humbly honor all those who serve, and all the families as well! The recent event at Ft. Hood is devasting and my heart and prayers go out to all those touched by this senseless horror.

Being a military family for six years was not easy. I decided to write a post about it. Then I wondered why? Was it cathartic, healing? I've never blogged about it.. Does it serve a purpose? I debated hitting publish. It is intensely personal and not my "normal" kind of blog post. And yet, something tells me to let this rip. Maybe there is something you need to know - I don't really know.

Perhaps you have not been involved with the military and the emotional cost of the war on a personal level. Perhaps you only see news bites of the departures and arrivals of soldiers. Perhaps this WILL serve a purpose - maybe you may reach out and hug that neighbor who's son is deployed. Maybe you will offer child care, or cut grass/shovel snow for the gal down the street raising her kids alone for a year while her husband is gone.

It is not for me to be attached to the outcome. It is pouring out of me at this time for some reason I do not need to know. This is the story of one day. There are thousands of stories out there. And many tears.
I will never forget February 26,2003. Or the following good-bye day.

My son, Garrett, called at 7:30 a.m. from Ft. Campbell, Kentucky to say he was leaving for Iraq the next day so we had less than 24 hours to go say goodbye to him. We knew this was coming. He told us to be on alert for his call since early January. It is a 7 hour drive to Ft. Campbell from our house. I sent a text to my daughter at school, called my husband at work, arranged for pet care, and the three of us deployed out of here, hastily packed for a quick overnight trip, by 10:00 am.

The drive down was a blur of thoughts and knitting needles furiously creating an afghan to keep my hands busy, and to keep me from jumping out of the car, truth be told.

Garrett enlisted right after 9-11, at age 19 after one year of college at an aviation school. I begged him not to go. I knew there was going to be a war. I tried to tell him at least to go into the Air Force (aviation!), not the Army, four years, not SIX. I lost that battle too. He signed up for six years with the Army. The die had been cast. War was coming, I knew it, and he would be going. I planned a good-bye party for him before he left for basic training. I was planning this as I attended the memorial for my best friend's daughter. She was in the Pentagon plane! The grief was so compounded. I tried my best to be supportive for my son's decision tho my heart was breaking for my friend, and selfishly for me at having to give up my one and only son to godonlyknew WHAT. It would be war. I couldn't help feeling the memorial I was attending as a friend grieved the loss of her eldest child was practice for me.

The conversation in the car driving down there for the three of us was interrupted with one or the other of us crying and wondering how in the hell we can do this. How do you say goodbye? This isn't a son leaving for college. This is a son leaving for a war! Where do you find the courage for war?

Especially this war. Iraq? Aren't we looking for Bin Laden in Afghanistan? Isn't that where the "bad guys" are that pulled off the 9-11 disaster? Iraq? Invading that country for what??? To find weapons of mass destruction we were being told.

My mind flipped back to Viet Nam. The war for........what the hell was that about? Keeping South Viet Nam from the Communists we were told. I spent 3 years at Fort Rucker, Alabama with my first husband. We saw friends leave and never come back. We saw some come back without wholeness. We saw some come back mental messes. Yes. We saw. We saw families fall apart with grief and despair. We were treated like villians, spat on and viciously verbally abused when we went anywhere off-post. If anyone in town saw me driving our car with an Army sticker from Ft. Rucker on it, I was considered one of "them", the bad guys. If my then-husband was with me, it was worse!

And now I'm going to go say goodbye to my son. My son. My only son. His entire childhood flashed through my mind, every detail of it, every laugh, every adventure, every tear. He's going off to some country that has weapons of mass destruction, godonlyknows what else, and I have to say goodbye. I didn't know HOW. HOW does a mother who has protected her child for his entire life let him go to war?

Our arrival at Ft. Campbell, the home of the 101st Airborne, was in time for dinner. We joked. We took pictures. We filled him with a great steak dinner. Mom's do that. They feed their young for voyages, adventures, long trips. I was feeding him for war. It felt awful. I couldn't eat. I was too busy choking on tears that I couldn't show. Not now. Not at dinner. We stayed together until nearly 11pm. and arranged to meet at 3 am. for "deployment". The army sets crazy times for things. Crazy times, crazy lines. Hurry up and wait is the theme.
Our hotel was on the opposite side of town. We were lucky to have a room at all. Ft. Campbell was sending over 20,000 troops out. There were other families in town to say goodbye too. I stayed in my clothes. It was only three hours and I really did not sleep. No, I was busy. I was telling myself how brave we had to be at 3 am. We shouldn't have bothered with a room at a hotel at all. We three laid on the beds in our clothes. We didn't speak. But we didn't sleep.

At 3 am. we picked him up at his barracks, loaded a ton of gear into our car and drove to the airfield. There were huge containers for the gear - all with numbers on them. Garrett found the one he was assigned to and put most of his bags into it. Then we went into a building and waited in a long line. It gave him the opportunity to introduce us to a lot of his friends. We were all faking socialability - nervous laughter and a tight grasp on the inner emotional turmoil, lest it spill out.

"What's this line for?" I asked.
"Paperwork", he said. It was then that he told us about the preceding days. He made out a will. He took out more life insurance. He left it all to us. WHAT???? I have no idea how I kept from fainting.
After nearly an hour, we left to go to another building. Another long line.
"What's this line for?" I asked.
"Meds." he said.
They distributed ziplock bags full of medications that were to be the LIFE-saving antibodies against the various chemical attacks they may encounter - small injection meds, all color-coded. He and a few friends were looking at them.
"Is the purple one the one for anthrax?" one asked.
"No. That's the orange one." said another.
" The orange one is for..........."

"Good God," I said "Don't you guys KNOW???"
They all laughed. Nervous laughter.
"Don't worry, Mrs. B, we'll get a refresher course on this stuff on the plane" I was told.

Well that sure made me feel better now, didn't it? We left that building for another one, another line. I noticed walking over to the third building that the sun was up now. Hours were passing by, tick-tock, tick-tock. Was I really awake or is this a nightmare? Time to move to yet another building. Another line.

"What's this line for?" I asked. "Rifles." he said.
I gulped, swallowed hard, told myself to breathe.
Rifles. Nothing like seeing your son in combat camo being issued a rifle. My heart stopped. I had a policy when I raised this child. No guns. He never had one til he turned 16 and bought a beebee gun in Wisconsin to do target practice on the old shed at the lake house. I remember teasing him and calling him our G.I.Joe back then. He was a sharp shooter. Who knew? It didn't surprise me to learn he'd become a certified sharp shooter in the Army.

As we left that building and headed toward the airport hangar with his friends I over-heard them grousing about the rifles, how they were in bad condition, probably they would work or no, you don't think this is jammed?! I didn't need to hear that. My tears were in my throat! My husband and daughter holding my hands as we walked, all of us squeezing our fingers trying to find an ounce of strength to give one another. It wasn't there. We were collectively crumbling.

We walked into a huge hangar with hundreds and hundreds of people, some in groups with families, others just groups of friends. It was eerily quiet for that many people. Very hushed. I looked around at the faces. I sensed something palpable in the air. And then it hit me. It was the unmistakable smell of fear. I saw it on the faces, though the soldiers were all trying to be brave. I saw it in their eyes. They are leaving for an invasion of a country with potential deadly stuff in the air, for which, of course, they are "prepared" with their color-coded crap nobody knows for sure what is what! Stay calm.

There was an announcement we had 10 minutes until the soldiers were to be in formation and all civilians had to leave. I was numb. I couldn't see well at this point thru the tears that had welled up in my eyes. Inside I was SCREAMING - this is insane! These soldiers are being sent to a potential desert slaughter with chemical warfare! What is the war about? Why are we doing this? They are going to the wrong place!!! They are CREATING a war - what????

I was snapped out of it. My son came up to me and gave me the hug of his life. I blubbered. I hugged him back with all my might. "You be safe now," I choked out between the tears. "Please come back to me!" I whispered in his ear. It was out before I could bite my tongue. He backed away from the embrace so he could get something out of his pocket. His cell phone. He gave it to me. "I had it turned off at 6 am. this morning. It's on suspension. Pay the bill when it comes, ok? Oh and here..." he reached in his other pocket. "You take real good care of my baby. I know you can handle driving it home , just watch yourself, mom, the engine is NOT your mini-van. I trust you." he tried to smile but his chin was quivering.

This was huge. The two things this kid of mine never shared. His phone and his car. Nobody drove his car - ever. He stripped himself of himself in so many ways - and became what? A soldier? I knew in my heart I was losing a huge part of my son that day. He would not come back. This was the official ending of his childhood. I could no longer protect him. He would have experiences there that would change him forever.

"Mom, promise me you won't protest this war! I know you and I know you don't think this invasion is the right thing to do. But it is! I hafta go protect you and everybody."

I could only nod my promise. I could not speak. I wasn't sure at that moment if I was even breathing! He was spouting the party line because he HAD to. He had to believe he was being ordered to do the right thing. I know if he didn't believe that he would not have gone at all. None of them would have. It was all over the faces, the fears, the doubts, the resigned cooperation in their tones.

I heard other soldiers whispering amongst themselves -

"Wow, this is it, isn't it?"
"Well, are you ready?"
"Do you think you could actually kill somebody?"
"Let's get this overwith!"
"I wish to hell my family was here!"
"I'm telling myself this is just another drill........"
"Do you think we'll win?"
"I think we are going to the wrong country."
"Are you sure we'll be ok?"

On the way out of that hangar, my daughter, husband and I gave hugs to as many soldiers as we could. I had several hug the breath out of me, crying on my shoulder and murmuring "Thank you!" "Thank you for coming." "Thank you for the hug, I needed this!" They looked so young! It ripped my heart into pieces. Several guys asked me to pray for them.. One guy gave me a letter to mail to his parents, the envelope tear-stained. I went to the ladies room quickly. In there I was hugging too. Young girls (wives?) crying, shaking, other moms who, like me, fell apart. We hugged. We were all family that day. We understood each other without speaking one word. It was a hug of acknowledgment on the deepest level I've ever known.

If I am shattering your illusions of our soldiers being infused with whoop-ass for this invasion, too bad! There may have been a few - but I sure didn't see any happy, let's-go-get-em faces that day. Anything BUT! You may see news clips on tv of departing units but unless you are there, and saying goodbye, you have NO idea of the collective emotional toll filling the atmosphere.

I clutched the car keys Garrett gave me and began the numb, yet hysterical, search in the parking lot to find his car. My daughter and I were to drive it all the way home, following my husband. I saw the "remnants" of his last few days in the car. It smelled like him. I sat in the driver's seat for what seemed to be hours, crying, wondering what on earth would become of him. I knew I was not alone. Other families were there, just as hysterical as I was. Kids saying goodbye to their daddies, young women pregnant and terrified, wives, husbands, all sharing in this moment of fear and tears. It was the single most heart wrenching experience of my life.

I will write "the rest of the story" - the turn-around, and what the nod of promise created and how I ended up meeting Oprah. It's all good, not to worry. My story is nothing compared to others! This story is not about just me - I wrote it for all the moms who have lived through this day but cannot write about it.
(You can find part 2 my 2009 Nov. archives if you want)

HUG a Veteran today!!!!! It's not about politics - it's about human beings! A special hug and shout out to Garrett! (I know, mom is a mush - get over it!)

Doctors, Science and OMG Truth?

2011-11-06T00:32:00.003-05:00

I read a newsletter written by a medical doctor, Dr. Mark Hyman. He is so refreshingly honest about the medical professional I am frankly surprised they haven't kicked him out of the tightly monitored AMA, who, God Forbid, would ever allow a doctor to espouse natural alternatives!

I thought I would share what Dr. Hyman has to say about doctors.

"Your doctors think they make decisions based on medical evidence. But they don't. In fact, half of medical evidence is hidden from your doctors. And the half that is hidden is the half that shows drugs don't work! The bad news is that drug companies are not policed by the FDA the way they should be. A drug should be proven both effective and safe BEFORE it is prescribed to millions of people."

He went on to say that there is a dangerous collusion between drug companies and our government agency, the FDA, which he says should stand for "Federal Drug Aid".

One example he gave was the cholesterol-lowering drug Zetia, which actually causes harm and leads to faster progression of heart disease. Sure it lowers your cholesterol, but at what future cost to your health?
There is a $40 billion dollar cholesterol drug industry. That alone raises my eyebrows. When there is that much money involved, how honest are these companies anyway? Rather narrow minded if they cure the cholesterol but kill you anyway. Reminds me of chemo, but that's another blog.

Dr. Hyman said doctors (and thereby most of the public) have been brainwashed to think that cholesterol is the cause of heart attacks even though half of all people who have heart attacks have NORMAL levels.

"You see, the FDA approved Zetia without any proof that it lowered heart attacks or reduced the progression of heart disease. The drug was approved solely on the basis that it lowered cholesterol. Yet Zetia was given to 5 million people - and made the drug companies $5 billion a year. That's almost $14 million a day! And once Zetia was approved, its makers had to incentive to prove it actually did what it was thought to do (as advertised) lower heart attacks.

They dragged their feet doing the studies and then released the negative data (which they did only under pressure from news agencies and Congress) after a long delay. Wouldn't you drag your feed too if you were making $14 million a day?

But the FDA had the negative data on Zetia - and it didn't speak up. The data that was withheld proved that Zetia did not reduce heart attacks but actually INCREASED fatty plaques in the arteries, despite lowering cholesterol.

Researched is flawed. What gets studied depends on who is funding it. Since the drug companies fund most of their own research, other therapies that work better - like natural alternatives, nutritional therapies will never get funding. Then the drug companies are aided by the FDA which suppresses, hides and doesn't publish negative studies.

Doctors, patients and the media believe they have the whole truth. Truth? Who paid for it?

I hope YOU won't pay for it. If you are taking any drugs for some condition your doctor believes you need them for, I urge you to spend a little time doing some independent research. Don't find out on tomorrow nights Nightly News that they have "recalled" the drug you are taking because of too many people dying from it.

There is another very similar example with antidepressants, which is starting to come to light. More than half of all the studies on these drugs were never published (they were negative of course) and this gave doctors a false sense of effectiveness of using them to treat depression.

Doctors mean well. They are working with drugs, however, and the doctors are not being given all the information they should have before passing it along to you. Even though they THINK they know all, the real truths about these tests for safety and effectiveness are manipulated. This is done not for your benefit but to line the coffers of the drug companies themselves. Vested interest, not public interest.

If you are taking meds, check them out thoroughly yourself. I would never advise anyone to just stop taking what they are taking but to do the work to research just what the history and facts are about whatever that drug is. The time you spend researching could save your life.

As a postscript to this - If you ask your doctor about "safe alternatives" you will probably be told there are none. Conventional medicine (sadly) will never recommend nutritional therapies or vitamin therapy when they can write a presciption. It's the system. It won't change unless there is a huge revolt and with the pill-popping apathy in this country, it is not likely to happen.

I just finished attending (via internet) the World Cancer Summit - so amazing I have a notebook full of notes. I'll share more later but there are many doctors using "integrative" therapies that are as individualized as your fingerprints with outstanding success without patients loosing hair and experiencing terrible side effects. Amazing!!!

The Gooey Ick of Self-sabotage - Getting Unstuck from Your Past

2011-10-31T01:24:00.001-05:00

We have habits and beliefs that do not always serve us well. Thought I would start November out with a video from a Dr. Wayne Dyer interview about looking at things differently. It's a new season, hardly my personal favorite, so since I cannot control this weather and being stuck inside makes me more introspective, I thought I'd do some mental house cleaning. Hope you'll join me!

Making changes in our perceptions (and beliefs) could really help to get us unstuck, help us move along in the direction we say we want to go in but often we don't - things happen, we slip into our past thinking and beliefs and before we know it - bam! Those old habits/beliefs are all gooey and we feel stuck. Or worse yet, we may have the icky feeling of hopelessness. I love the way Dr. Dyer explains how we need to leave "our stories" (the past) behind us.

And what does this have to do with health and wellness? Absolutely everything!

Flu Shots, Colds and Imaginary Friends

2011-10-27T00:52:00.001-05:00

Boy oh boy, they are hawking those flu vaccines now - it's "that" time of year. I haven't had one since the 70's when I actually GOT the flu from the darn vaccine. Enough. I swore them off long before I learned how really worthless they are, and in fact, learned the harmful effects.

While the annual flu vaccine is touted as the "best" way to avoid catching the seasonal flu, what many fail to realize is that there's virtually NO good scientific evidence to support it. Again and again, the Cochrane Database Review—which is the gold standard for assessing the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of commonly used medical interventions—has concluded that flu vaccines do not appear to have any measurable benefit either for children, adults, or seniors. (taken from Mercola.com)

An article on Natural News tells the long term effects of flu shot toxicity in your body - not pretty - but you can read it here: http://www.naturalnews.com/033891_vaccines_delayed_injury.html
Briefly, the toxins in the vaccine can build up over time to substantially increase the odds that Altzheim's will be in your future.

As if that isn't enough, this year they have a super one for seniors - four times the "protection" they say. It's an ugly experiment where once again people are used as guinea pigs and given false assurance they will not get sick if they get one. From what I have read, this one has even more side effects too. Such a bonus! Especially when it doesn't work to prevent the flu in the first place.

Truth be told, if you have a very healthy immune system, you should be able to ward off viruses and not buckle to your bed. Counting on your imaginary friend, the flu shot, you have also increased your toxicity levels. The binders in those shots are mercury, thimerosol (yes they quit using it for awhile but it's back in again) and other contaminants you really do not want circulating in your body.

It's painful to go grocery shopping because I have so much duct tape on my mouth and my filters turned on to keep quiet. Gallons of milk (not organic) packages of hamburger buns (fluff filler with NO nutritional value whatsoever), prepackaged lunch meat and hot dogs (nitrates anyone?) huge bags of chips, corn chips and cookies - it's all to much to see. People consuming diets like that will definitely get any colds or viruses that are floating around. There is nothing in a typical grocery cart that is full of anti-oxidants and nutrition to keep a body well. This really matters! OMG - where are the food police when you need them? The typical diet does absolutely nothing for your immune system. I know I harp on this a lot, but with good reason. People may know in their hearts they should "eat better" but wow, to actually make the changes? Not so much.

And I wonder how many people actually use the disinfectant wipes for their carts that are offered at the doorway into the store?

I saw on Dr. Oz an experiment they did to show how far a sneeze travels. It was enough to make me want to wear a full helmet! Twelve feet or more - think about that.

We went to see the movie "Contagion". I've never had the habit of touching my face a lot with my hands, but if you do, go see that movie. Washing your hands in the restroom does no good unless you use the towel you dried your hands with to also open the door to get out. That handle on the door is full of the bacteria of all the people who did NOT wash their hands. Comforting, eh? I don't know how we are supposed to be watchful of terrorists if we can't even keep ourselves germ free - we aren't watching what we are doing at all!

Here is an except from Dr. Mercola's site on washing hands - the information might surprise you!

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

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

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

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

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

(I won't elaborate on the dangers of triclosan right now, but it should be on a list of toxins that you avoid! Read your labels. I discovered a wonderful shea butter soap that leaves my hands soft in lieu of the anti-bacterial soaps I had by every sink in the house.)

I may sound a bit germophobic to you, I don't think I am. I call it "preventative-wise". Between making sure my body gets what it needs to stay healthy and being cautious in public places I manage to not succumb to whatever yuck is "going around". Just that phrase is silly. It will "go around" until people start getting smarter or watch that movie for a jolt on how careless they are. Seriously. Your body WANTS to survive - just give it what it needs - not caloric content devoid of nutrition.

Preventative care for avoiding colds/flu according to Dr. Mercola, and several others in preventative medicine, amounts to increasing Vitamin D levels, decrease or eliminate sugars (esp. fructose) get regular good sleep and exercise, eat nutritionally to boost that immune system. I would add, of course, keeping your hands clean.

(By the way, drowning yourself in orange juice at the first sign of a cold isn't wise - it's sugary. Try lots of water, a vitamin C pill and herbal teas like ginger that will make you sweat. Good old chicken soup, preferably home made with lots of garlic and pepper is an excellent tonic. It actually thins the mucus associated with colds - it is not an old wives tale that it is good for you. The canned soups will not be as beneficial as home made, but if it's all you have, add generous amounts of pepper and garlic to it. Stay away from milk and dairy which will only add to the congestion.)

Take control of your health. You can do this! And remember - The only benefit of flu shots is found in the bank accounts of the pharmaceutical companies. As for imaginary friends, just keep that friend healthy!

You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney

2011-10-24T08:59:00.014-05:00

Expectations. You know how we aren't supposed to have those? I thought I'd sworn them off. I hate that bummed out feeling when things don't go the way you wanted, or assumed, they would go.

TLC Book Tours told me about this book, "You Are Not So Smart" - with the cover advertising:
Why you have too many friends on Facebook
Why Your Memory is Mostly Fiction
and
46 Other Ways You're Deluding Yourself

Don't ask me why, but I thought it would be a giggle. I "expected" a lighthearted look at human behavior. We are creatures of habit, quite delusional at times, and capable of escalating drama to insane levels. Some comedians make a living by entertaining us with stories that show ignorance and we laugh ourselves silly - it is great fun!

So here was the expectation (bad on me) and the fact is this book was written by a self-described psychology nerd (from the back flap on the book, I am not making this up). The author did copious amounts of research on studies, all of which aim to prove the title - you are not so smart. I give him kudos on that. He made his point. He does well showing the negative aspects and endless delusions of our thinking and behavior.

I'm sure everyone could find themselves in this book because McRaney was quite thorough in his research. The fallacies and biases to our thinking alone were half of the book. It comes as no surprise to know how twisted up our thinking can be. It would have been better (in MY opinion) if it was either handled in less serious manner or if we were told how to cure ourselves of the delusions. But then, part of this was my expectation haunting me. I wanted this read to be fun! The book as a whole was like a manual of defining all the broken things, expounding on brokenness and moving on to another broken thing, all based on scientific research. No fixes. No suggestions.

This approach left me wanting. If I can't laugh about how dumb we are, then perhaps offering solutions to our ignorance would be nice.

What you ARE given (repeatedly) is the admonition that: you are not so smart. Good to know? Keeps one humble? Derails your self-confidence? Plants negativity deeper? Not sure this is necessary. Seems to me people are all too capable of bashing themselves to bits without any assistance. I think more people would benefit from a way to increase their self-confidence. Universally there can be an obvious disconnect between what we KNOW and what we DO. While learning how to navigate through life, I would like to believe that people really do learn things, especially from their mistakes. Perhaps citing so many studies done with college students is a bit of a disconnect for seniors who do not think like college students?

Ayn Rand's philosophy was that the masses are ignorant. You can see proof of that, handled humorously on Jay Leno's "Jay-Walking" adventures where he asks random people on the street questions that everyone "should" know the answers to - and they don't - to see there is a large, ignorant bunch of random people walking the earth.   The questions Jay asks deal with facts, history, recognizing (or not) famous people, vocabulary, geography and so on.  Cures for this ignorance would be more reading and schooling and paying attention to current events. But maybe a lot of people don't care about knowing "stuff"? One can only wonder.

This speaks to factual knowledge . The studies McRaney used to make his point that you are not so smart oddly looked only at stupidity and not brilliance. He might just be guilty of the same confirmation bias he wrote about. Look hard enough and you can find confirmation of your beliefs. If one is hell bent on proving a point, however cynical and negative that point might be, well you can find "studies" to prove just about anything.

The chapter on Groupthink started off with the statement "When a group of people come together to make a decision, every demon in the psychological bestiary will be summoned." This I love! Yep. Sounds like our Congress and Senate to me!

My reaction to this book could be more generational dissonance and disappointment in the lack of A. Humor and B. Remedies. Other things made this less than a pleasurable read, like the negatively expressed feelings on synchronicity in this book, implying anyone buying in to it is not so smart. Really? If it does no harm and if people find joy in this, isn't it rather a slam on their joy? I'm sorry but I don't see the point of making people feel dumb for having fun with this.

There is so much beauty in the world and in people. Our brains are limitless in what we can do with them. I thrive on learning the possibilities. It was tedious reading for me, spending time picking apart and analyzing to death our every thought for an entire book. Unless, of course, you are trying to help people with guidance on how to improve.  If you do happen to pass any of the quizes in the book, well, you will have to applaud yourself because you get a "you are not so smart." from McRaney regardless.  Rather alienating? What's the point of that?

If you are a psychology student, or a researcher of vocabulary to define thinking/behavior, there may we a wealth of help in this book. Other than that, I just don't know. It has been hard for me to find positives in what I consider to be a very negative approach. We humans don't come in perfect packages of brilliant proportions - that's a given. I am as flawed and deluded as anyone. I'm happy, love my life and all the people and opportunities/possibilities in it! If this is totally delusional and irrational, then sign me up for more of it!

I guess I judged this book by it's cover - expecting humor - and I was wrong. Bad on me. Maybe I'm not so smart?

Cantalope, Listeria and What They Don't Tell You!

2011-10-16T01:07:00.047-05:00

Another food-borne illness is in the news. Consumption of cantaloupes from Colorado have made thousands ill and killed others. They report this alright but give no information on what to do if you have one of these melons in your fridge. They tell you nothing about listeria itself (except to scare you) nor is there any talk about where it comes from, how to prevent yourself from getting it, or just how the hell it might have contaminated the Colorado fields of cantaloupes.

If you have a cantaloupe at home, the listeria is found on the outside of the "skin". You get it when you cut the melon - it spreads on the knife to the inside. Washing the outside of the melon with alcohol will kill the listeria. You can find that information on the web but sadly not on the news where they would do well to be a bit more responsible with their reporting and include some help for consumers, that goes beyond their scare tactics, don't you think?

If you recall, earlier this year it was spinach, then lettuce. It's always something. And yet what do "they" tell us? Very little. They blame it on the "insufficient" washing in the pre-shipping packaging. It's either e.coli, salmonella or listeria. We never had these outbreaks prior to the 1970's. Anyone wonder why?

I'm not alone in the theory that our contaminants in the produce fields are the direct result of run off from CAFO's (Concentrated Aminal Feeding Operations) nearby. The CAFO's are notorious for polluting rivers and streams. If you haven't seen videos on these CAFO operations, you should. It may be enough right there to give up meat entirely or at least go organic.

I do remember reading AFTER the spinach fiasco that further investigations actually did blame the contamination on a nearby industrial-sized animal farm. Heavy rains in the area months before helped to spread the poo (so to speak) downhill into the spinach fields. Hence, my theory that this cantaloupe thing will eventually (if they LOOK) be tied in to the same thing.

One reason they don't make a bigger deal out of this pollution is that they don't want you to be too aware of CAFO's in the first place. Meat comes from the grocery - never mind how it got there! Just eat it! The conditions in CAFO's are deplorable, disease is rampant, bacteria thrive there despite all the antibiotics given to the poor sick animals because they can become resistant to it, or morph into a new strain - the possibilities for contamination are endless.

Here's a dandy fact I found:

"The more than 295,000 beef cattle on industrial feedlots in Weld County, Colorado produce as much untreated manure as the sewage from the New York City and Chicago metro areas combined."

This is just the cattle. There are hog farms (they aren't really farms) and chickens "farms" as well. That's a LOT of poop. These animals also receive humongous doses of anti-biotics and hormones which can cause anti-biotic resistant strains of viruses we can end up with and doctors cannot always treat!

Here's what Ronnie Cummings of the Organic Consumers Assn. has to say:

"Greenwashing CAFO products as "natural" or "local" is a major source of profits for Wal-Mart, Cargill, Conagra, Perdue, Land O' Lakes, Kraft, McDonalds, KFC, Monsanto and chemical/GMO farmers and ranchers.
… These animal factories, where GMO feed and drugs are force-fed to most of the nation's livestock and poultry, are not only poisoning consumers, but are also generating massive amounts of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases, especially methane, which is 72 times more destructive per ton than CO2. Methane (CH4) pollution is responsible for approximately 14% of human-induced global warming.
… Millions of consumers are still in the dark about how "conventional" foods - especially the cheaper brands of animal products, processed, fast, and fake foods - are produced."

Here's what I found on listeria:

Listeria can be found in soil, which can lead to vegetable contamination. Animals can also be carriers. Listeria has been found in uncooked meats, uncooked vegetables, fruit such as cantaloupes,^[4] unpasteurized milk, foods made from unpasteurized milk, and processed foods. Pasteurization and sufficient cooking kill Listeria; however, contamination may occur after cooking and before packaging. For example, meat-processing plants producing ready-to-eat foods, such as hot dogs and deli meats, must follow extensive sanitation policies and procedures to prevent Listeria contamination.^[5] Listeria monocytogenes is commonly found in soil, stream water, sewage, plants, and food.^[6] Listeria are responsible for listeriosis, a rare but potentially lethal food-borne infection. The case fatality rate for those with a severe form of infection may approach 25%.^[7] (Salmonella, in comparison, has a mortality rate estimated at less than 1%^[8]). Although Listeria monocytogenes has low infectivity, it is hardy and can grow in temperatures from 4 °C (39.2 °F) (the temperature of a refrigerator), to 37 °C (98.6 °F), (the body's internal temperature).^[6] Listeriosis is a serious illness, and the disease may manifest as meningitis, or affect newborns due to its ability to penetrate the endothelial layer of the placenta.^[7]

^{I think we aren't supposed to know about these CAFO's and their polluting everything. We are just expected to go to the grocery store, stock up on meat - especially when it's on sale - and eat this as if there is no tomorrow..............only there IS a tomorrow.}

^{Have you cut back on your meat consumption? Here's a brief intro film on CAFO's - I know this seems off topic but I feel everything is connected - sadly. Not to mention, if you don't know where your meat is coming from, you need to know!}

Real or Fake?

2011-10-09T01:36:00.001-05:00

In this day and age we are being challenged to see truth - or what is really real - on every single front, every single day. Is it real, or fake? Geniuine or counterfeit?

There was an article on Natural News, written by Mike Adams, recently talking about fake versus real. Here is a snipet of that:

The Counterfeit Culture

The Federal Reserve is in the business of counterfeiting money.
The mainstream media is in the business of counterfeiting news.
The pharmaceutical industry is in the business of counterfeiting medicine (Biopracy! They are stealing molecules from nature then counterfeiting their own patented variations.)
The medical schools are in the business of counterfeiting medical degrees. (When a doctor graduates from medical school, he still knows virtually nothing about nutrition.)
Doctors are in the business of counterfeiting false medical authority.
The mega-sized food corporations are in the business of counterfeiting food. (Processed cheese food product, anyone?)
The global consumer product companies are in the business of manufacturing counterfeit consumer products such as "baby oil" (which is really a petroleum product).
Social networks like Facebook are in the business of counterfeiting friends. (Please LIKE this article, okay?)

And then there is this - After drug companies took the lovastatin out of red yeast to make their statin drugs, they proceeded to get the FDA to say that red yeast products are counterfeit statins and should be banned.

Man, how twisted! Sometimes what is going on in this "real" world is more comical that the sit coms on TV!
Is there any way on God's earth we could get back to real things that matter? Or at least the truth.

I would love to go shopping and find Made In USA labels again. Speaking of China, if you consume fish, find out where it comes from since 70% is being imported from guess where - and also there is some pretty scary counterfeit honey (yes, honey!) that has come into this country from guess where and it is not even real honey. Seriously.

Anything you would like to add to this? Have you discovered fakes in your own life lately?

Your Medical Mind - Review of New Book

2011-10-02T01:50:00.004-05:00

"Your Medical Mind - How to decide what is right for you" by Jerome Groopman, MD and Pamela Hartzband, MD. arrived in my mailbox, compliments of TLC Book Tours.   At first I wondered if I wanted to pursue reading this since the typical medical model is not one I'm warm and fuzzy about. But I sat down on my chaise, rainy day at the lake, and jumped in for a read. It was so well written I liked it!

I enjoyed the stories of patients, varied in their diseases, and all going through the process of making decisions about their treatment options. I appreciate doctors who encourage people to think for themselves and I love it when people DO.

The authors were honest and frank about some doctors seeing patients as "blank slates" for the doctor to impose his singular favorite treatments.   That attitude is not in the best interest of the patient. The authors even referred to a "creeping paternalism" with doctors attitudes. I think of it more as creepy, not creeping. It's always been there and it is huge. Lucky is the patient who can find a doctor (other than the authors) who doesn't have a bit of "tude" when it comes to advising patients without a certain arrogance. Perhaps some of that comes from dealing with people who are so health illiterate (or intellectually challenged shall we say?) that it is more impatience than arrogance?

The authors told how doctors take histories of patients, and while this imparts good information, they do not pursue diets in details for nutritional deficiencies. If a patient says they eat a healthy diet, that's enough for them. Seriously? Most people do not even know what a healthy diet consists of!

I've had people tell me they eat healthy and that was only because they had a salad with dinner several nites a week, and they drank orange juice! That was IT.  Others consumed horrendous amounts of protein, some consumed massive amounts of carbs, all thinking they were eating healthy. Taking a person's word for it, that they eat healthy, is akin to the FDA believing the drug trials the pharma companies give them for approval are in fact thoroughly, genuinely honest. Rather biased?

What doctors don't know about nutrition is criminal. They treat symptoms with drugs instead of being trained to recognize vitamin deficiencies, or how dietary changes can eliminate some symptoms entirely. They get some slack on this because the drug industry and AMA would eat them alive if they suggested a vitamin/supplement/herb in lieu of prescribing a drug. (See book "Assault on Our Medical Freedom" for this unhealthy connection) I personally work with clients who think they are eating healthy foods but once they fill out my diet forms I can see in an instant what nutrients are missing or what they are eating too much of, not enough of, etc. and all of this has an enormous effect on how they feel and/or what weight problems they have.

Quite a bit of discussion on statins with some of their patients. (Do Susan's think alike?) My doctor and I have had a decade of talks about this. He wanted me on them. Told me it would take a Herculean effort to lower it myself. I love a challenge. Meet Hercules! 60 pts of cholesterol down via diet and exercise. We had a similar thing with Boniva, which I refused to take. My last bone scan was remarkably improved so he was glowing and said "See, the Boniva worked!" I smiled. No. It didn't. I didn't take it but again did my own thing, naturally.

My point is not about me but in general how medical doctors could - IF they were trained in diet and nutrition and not threatened with expulsion from the AMA - used supplements/diet to treat patients without drugs. When I first found out that MD's get next to zero training in vitamins, minerals and herbs (decades ago) I was appalled. I still am! So many prominent doctors have spoken out and switched allegiance to the world of naturals, like Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Mark Hyman, Dr. Mercola - even Dr. Oz. Who knows? Perhaps Drs. Groopman and Hartzband will be next?

Although they only mentioned this briefly, there was an acknowledgment that some MD's take advantage of the "incentives" offered by the pharmaceutical companies, which to me, makes them just legal drug pushers, period.  Take a doctor on incentives and a health illiterate patient and you have enormous profits for the drug companies, a sorry combination of greed and ignorance. Is this people-care?

The authors also classified people as believers or doubters, maximalists and minimalists - with stories about each so you could figure out which you identified with the most. I can see where this is helpful and these two doctors obviously respect a patient's right to be any and all. They are, sadly, not the average doctor out there. (Note to authors: You are gems!)

One of the best benefits of this book is to help people see the importance of doing their own "due dilligence", becoming more active and responsible with the medical decisions they face.  That, to me, was the underlying theme.  How frustrating it must be to treat people who do not take any responsibility for their treatment choices - there are always choices - but people who take the pills, no questions, no involvement in their care, that's just astounding to me.  Call them "sheeple"? The sad fact is, when you ask most doctors about "other alternatives" besides drugs or surgery the majority will tell a patient there ARE NONE. Sadder still, people believe this!

In the end, they write about the 60% of people now choosing to go to alternative medicine these days. Yes indeed!  Those numbers makes me cheer. One would think that with percentages like that, the medical community would start to wake up and realize they are NOT practicing people-care at all, but rather the same close-minded routines they were taught in medical school.    If, (huge if) present-day health care was really working for people, why is our health care system such a mess? Why are there so many sick people? Why haven't diseases been eliminated by teaching prevention, putting more emphasis on food/life choices? Biggest why of all - why is there such a campaign afloat to trash the importance of nutrition, vitamins and herbals that it is ignored completely in a doctor's education?

In a perfect world we would marry alternative/holistic medicine with conventional medicine and really truly be in this for the people, and not the money. This would require the AMA, FDA and Big Pharma to let go of their control of medical doctors. That's just not going to happen ---- unless we have a perfect world. Let's all work to make that happen!

My usual disclaimer - I was not paid for this review in any way other than receiving the book to read. I hope the authors and TLC respect the fact that I'm a natural health zealot as much as I respect what Drs. Groopman and Hartzband are doing for their patients.

mind over matter - what do YOU believe?

2011-09-25T01:08:00.001-05:00

Healing - placebos - believing what we are told - wow, watch this video chat between two phenomenal people, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Bruce Lipton!

So what do You think?

I think we need to realize the power of the mind. We can do so much with our brains that we haven't tried yet. I think it's great we have the power - if only we could truly believe that, eh?

Multi-vitamins - Are Yours Safe?

2011-09-18T00:01:00.011-05:00

Yes, of ALL the things to read labels on, it would be your multi-vitamin! There are indeed good guys and bad guys out there. In the name of all that is decent and right in this world one would think we don't need to worry about vitamins. I sure wish the manufacturers would be honest about the contents.

Alas, not so much. So here you will get the truth!

Beware of the following on the label.

Magnesium Sterate - it is a form of stearic acid, essentially chalk! It suppresses natural killer cells which will then cause havoc with the immune system. It also stimulates the gut to form a biofilm (sludge) which is a barrier to the absorption of nutrients. (The gut is where most nutrients are absorbed.)

Titanium dioxide - a totally unnecessary coloring agent that has been shown to cause autoimmune disorders.

Then, Selenium, which is important, is being played around with so check your source! According to Green Med and Dr. Mercola, inorganic selenium may be listed as sodium senenite and/or sodium selenate, both are classified as highly toxic according to the Handbook of Toxicology of Metals and the daily in take of one milligram of selenite can be toxic. Seriously folks, read labels!

Green Med Info writes:
"The selenium that is found in foods like brazil nuts, mustard seeds, and fresh produce grown in selenium-rich soil is infinitely different from the biologically inert forms being put in some multivitamins. In fact, i.e., sodium selenite/selenate can cause cancer, whereas the selenium found within food, or laboratory chelated forms like selenomethionine have all been shown to prevent and combat cancer.

The basic principle that explains this difference is that when you isolate a nutrient or vitamin out of the food complex within which it is naturally found, and where it is inseparably bound to thousands of known and unknown food factors (e.g., enzymes, protein chaperones, glyconutrients, etc.) it is no longer as beneficial to life. This is especially true in the case of vertebrate mammals who are equipped to get their minerals from the plants they ingest or through the biotransformation of inorganic minerals to organic ones by microflora in their gastrointestinal tracts.

The primary reason that sodium selenite/selenate are preferred by some vitamin manufacturers over safer, more beneficial forms like chelated or yeast-grown selenium is because it is more profitable to use raw materials of lower quality."

I personally take some supplements but not a multi-vitamin. From the statistics however, it appears the majority of people who DO take anything (other than drugs) take multi-vitamins with the blind faith that they are consuming valuable nutrients that they are not getting (intentionally or not) from their daily diet. In other words, people eat crap but take their vitamin pill thinking all is well. It sure isn't the way to go to begin with, but taking a vitamin that has proven harmful ingredients REALLY should be illegal.

So when is a vitamin not a good thing? Read the label! If it contains any of the above mentioned imitations, throw it out. If you are low on selenium (which by the way is a great good mood enhancer) try eating a few Brazil Nuts daily. It's better than a pill anyway!

Because SO many people are taking multi's in the good (blind) faith that they are doing something good for themselves, please pass this important information on in whatever social media venue you use. Do it for others - please share!

Willpower - Got Any?

2011-09-12T01:53:00.000-05:00

When TLC Book Tours asked if I'd be interested in reviewing a book called Willpower, by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney I thought how could I ever miss reading THIS? Right? There are days my own willpower is absolutely steel, others when its more like a limp wet noodle. So what gives with this? Is it possible to have some consistency? And what in the heck IS it anyway?

The authors have done incredible research into the whole psychology of this somewhat elusive characteristic. There are so many factors that affect one's willpower and having a bit of clarity now I hope that I have more steel than noodles in the future - or at the very least understand why the steel crumbled and love myself anyway, noodles and all.

Having intense emotions (either anger, frustration, elation, excitement etc) diminish willpower and cravings are felt stronger when we are experiencing these emotions. If we know this ahead of time, perhaps it will help - sort of the way you are walking on thin ice so to speak. Stress also depletes willpower too because under stress we are less likely to be able to control our emotions.

Maybe this is why, in the aftermath of a heated argument we may eat a gallon of ice cream, have a stiff drink, smoke a pack of cigarettes or whatever thing we were intellectually committed to give up. Whoa, what happened to that willpower? Or maybe we are celebrating something and just throw that diet or whatever out the window cuz what the heck, this is special right?

We have limited energy resources it turns out. It takes energy to alter our state of mind or monitor our behavior. It takes a lot of energy to make decisions too. So if we have had a day of decision making (at work, in meetings etc) by the time we leave work we may be plum out of the energy required to have willpower at dinner, or later with late night snacks. So we give in, bash ourselves with guilt and go with the "there's always tomorrow..........I'll do better tomorrow" excuse.

So I looked at my own personal struggles with willpower and sure enough - if I've had a day of a lot of mental activity, writing, working with clients, by the time the evening comes I'm tired, but it's a mental tired like I cannot "think" anymore. If I click that brain off and veg out, well you can talk me into a Dairy Queen sooo easily I am shocked at myself. I know better. I know this is crap. But somewhere in my silly brain it sounds great, and the taste of that hot fudge sundae is immediately available, even before I eat it! Damn! Can't believe I actually ATE that! Seriously. I am bad for my own business. The authors call this the "What the Hell Effect". I have been "depleted" so kiss willpower bye-bye.

The authors said:
"This depletion isn't intuitively obvious, especially when if comes to appreciating the impact of making decisions. Virtually no one has a gut-level sense of just how tiring it is to decide. Choosing what to have for dinner, where to go on vacation, whome to hire, how much to spend - these all take willpower. Even hypothetical decisions deplete energy. After making some tough decisions, rememeber that your self-control is going to be weakened."

Good to know. So what to do about it? Well I never thought that procrastination was something I would want to have, to USE as a help-mate or something but here is the redeeming quality of it.

Delay.

The authors said that occasionally using the "I'll have it later" trick can work for avoiding temptations. "A vice delayed may turn out to be a vice denied." If you tell your brain about this delay thing, you find your thoughts change, as if your brain has accepted this delay and then stops bugging you to go for that forbidden item.

I tried this. Darn it if it didn't work! YES! There really is a time a bit of procrastination can be helpful. Who knew????

Battling with temptations is part of our human experience. No one is exempt from this. And no one explained all this better than these two authors! This book is a rich resource I could never do justice by reviewing it on this blog. But I am SO grateful for the read! The stories on the research that has been done make the read not just enjoyable but exceptionally understandable - easy to relate to all the experiments because we've all been there making decisions all of our lives!

Make a good decision now (don't procrastinate) and get this book!

(My usual disclaimer - I was not paid for this review. I would be happy to link to Amazon but Amazon has kicked out Illinois due to some tax insanity.)

My Naked Face

2011-09-04T02:20:00.001-05:00

Well, ok, not totally naked. But compared to the decades worth of "doing" make up everyday, even if I was going nowhere, or just schlepping kids around, I would never, never, ever, ever go anywhere without my make-up. Blame it on my teen-age modeling days. Whatever. It was habit. I had drawers full of the stuff. Tried every new product on the market.

And when I think of all the money I must have spent over the years, I totally cringe!

I have little in the way of make up today. Last year I was sent a link to SkinDeep.com and that about did it. Turns out there was nary an item in my stash that was not loaded with chemicals, not the good ones (if indeed there actually ARE any!)

I am in love with Argan Oil. Also Grape Seed Oil and Almond Oil.    I use an organic soap and Argan oil. Period. The other oils are wonderful too, and I will add a few drops of Lavender essential oil or Bergamot to make a body "lotion" for the dry days of winter. My skin has never been this soft and smooth.   I attended the Health Freedom Expo this spring and "discovered" shea soaps and oil. Another love!

For sloughing off dead skin I tried an oatmeal and sugar mix I read about on line. (That replaced my exfoliating jar of goop I spent more than a few bucks on.) I even tried the coarse texture of coffee grounds. There are some antioxidant properties that may benefit the skin when applied topically. They have a tightening, lifting and toning effect on the skin - interesting! And supposedly coffee grounds are also used as a natural cellulite treatment.

For a facial mask, try egg whites beaten with a teaspoon of lemon juice - leave it on 15-20 minutes. It tightens and lifts the skin as well and will tighten pores too.

It's been fun trying natural things and I love the idea of recycling the coffee grounds somewhere other than the garden once in a while.  My skin hasn't missed the expensive products and my wallet hasn't either!
Do yourself a favor and check out the website for skin deep to see what yuck are in YOUR cosmetics. Our skin is our largest organ and what goes on it is absorbed into our body. If you get bummed by a lot of the information I've been putting out there, I hesitate to apologize for that. I want you to know the truth about things and like the old saying "The truth hurts" sometimes it does.

The truth about what I've eaten and sprayed in my house, sloshed on my skin, has caused a huge bunch of changes over the last few years. Change isn't easy, and boy do I ever get that!   Unfortunately we simply cannot believe advertising and marketing for our foods or care products. It isn't any ONE ingredient from the lab but a combination that is so detrimental to cellular well being. Make those cells happy and start eliminating chemicals!

Breakfast of Champions?

2011-08-28T01:23:00.001-05:00

There is a great deal of deception involved in the food industry claims. I did a blog a while ago about the fake blueberries in cereal and bagels being nothing more than chemically colored blobs that resembled the blueberry. Shocking as that was, I stumbled on this video showing that "enriched with iron" on the labels of cereals is not what we are led to believe either - not by any stretch of the imagination. Tune in and let me know what YOU think? I certainly have taken enriched foods (which are processed junk that they put godonlyknows WHAT into to "enrich" them) out of the pantry!

I have a lot of technical problems up at the lake so if this video doesn't come up, look up this video on YouTube - Don't Eat Enriched Foods

Donut - Code for DO NOT

2011-08-21T01:40:00.001-05:00

I suppose my neighbor, who owns a Dunkin Donuts franchise will hate me for this but the truth is, while they taste great, there is zero in a donut that is good for you. And that taste comes from fat, over processed ingredients and sugar. The nutrition in it is zip.

I stopped in one day just for a coffee and waited in line watching people order. I can remember the ritual at work years ago, donuts every Monday morning, usually provided by the person who won the football pool or whatever. I snarfed them up like there was no tomorrow. Loved 'em! There IS a tomorrow though. Continual health problems asserted themselves until I had to do something radical - like change my eating habits forever!

So do I miss them? I can honestly say no. But I probably would if I didn't know what is in them. I know what my body needs now,simple real foods, and it is easier to just pass on them altogether. I know eating just one of them will send my blood sugar on a frenzy, my cells don't know what to do with processed stuff so they stick them in fat cells, and in the end I'll need to spend extra time in the gym to burn it off. Not anxious for this, I pass.

The main point of this blog, first of all, is to tell you I wasn't always a nutritional purist. I am darn glad I am now though. Here's why - beyond the obvious health improvements............

Really understand that we are manipulated, a la stuff that is made in laboratories, to become addicted to taste. "Betcha you can eat just ONE" for potato chips mantra and you know that THEY know they can indeed GET YOU.

I was explaining food cravings to a new client the other day. Basically what we crave in junk food that makes it soooo hard to give up is the sugar and chemical additives. We were created to long for strawberries, or apples, or watermelons. That is what your BODY craves. Your head thinks it craves the junk. Make the connection to what cells need - pure food that "God" made - and you are half-way cured. The rest is mental.

I have several people adding veggies and fruits to their diets first before we really get into eliminating the crap they eat. Almost without exception, they are impressed with how satisfying the apple was for a snack for an example. Also realizing that drinking water helps because so often when we think we are hungry a lot of the time a simple glass of water does the trick. We misinterpret signals - we were thirsty, not hungry. Try it!

But if I see you with the plastic bottled water on a daily basis, no, no, no! Get a bottle you can carry and refill and keep it with you. It's cheaper and you aren't one of those people clogging up the earth with all the needless plastic! I wrote a blog on the dangers of this commercial water bottle water a while back. If you missed it, the most dangerous thing is to leave this water unrefrigerated - like in your hot car in a parking lot - because heated, this plastic is way more dangerous by leaching chemicals into your water from the plastic.

In Kevin Trudeau's book, "Natural Cures "they" Don't Want You To Know About" one of his many rants is:
"The food industry, just like the tobacco industry (and I would add drug industry) is hiding a dirty little secret. The food industry is putting ingredients in the food knowingly and on purpose because these secret, and in many cases illegal, ingredients make a person hungry, make a person fat and make them addicted to the food! Now listen and pay attention, because what I am tellling you is one of the biggest news stories of the century! The food industry, and industry of publicly traded companies, is all about the money."

Well no surprise there, is there? They'll put about anything on a label to get you to buy it and they count on the fact that you have no time or interest in actually READING the label of ingredients, not that those are 100% trustworthy to begin with!

Back to the plastic water bottles, which this season many are buying in the greatest profusion --- I wonder --- are the trucks that deliver the water in cases to your store refrigerated? Did you leave the whole case in the car to heat up while you did errands? The opportunities to poison you are certainly out there. No you won't drop dead eating a donut or drinking a bottle of plastic container water, but it will take its nasty toll in your health eventually. Need hormone disruptors? You can only put your cells thru just so much until they collectively - in an effort to keep living - hand you a symptom or two to try and get your attention that they are in trouble. Think not? Then honestly ask yourself if you are in tip top shape healthwise, weightwise, and energywise. If you aren't able to answer yes to those three areas, it is your cells yelling at you, not me. When you are ready to turn things around and if you don't know where to start, visit my webpage www.todayspath.com and send me an email.