Consumers May Have the Last Laugh on Big Agriculture

A few days ago, the Senate voted 71-27 against an amendment to the Farm Bill that would have allowed individual states to decide whether or not to label foods as GMO.  So far, only VT and CT have voted to do so.  The fear is that Monsanto, empowered by the recent Supreme Court decision to allow them to do pretty much what they want to individual farmers that dared to defy the monopolistic company, will sue any state that would try to label genetically altered foods.  The Sanders Amendment would have given states the federal immunity to choose their own course of action.  I guess our senators don't want to allow the states any more autonomy than they already have, which, to some, isn't very much.

While this action, or inaction, may be somewhat depressing, don't despair; technology is coming to the rescue.  In the very near future, consumers will be able to run their own tests on foods for the presence of environmental toxins, GMOs, pesticides, food safety and more, using their hand held smartphones or other devices (which we know shouldn't be kept on by our bedsides at night).  Every single human being in this world, no matter where he/she lives, carries in their bodies about 700 contaminants including, pesticides, pthalates, benzenes, parabens, xylenes and many, many more carcinogenic substances.  These poisons affect our well being, health and fertility...all of which will affect our succeeding generations.  It it high time we try to rescue ourselves and our children and their children from this chemical nightmare that is being inflicted upon us all.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne researchers have developed a cradle and application that uses a phone's camera and built-in processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses and other molecules.  Smart phones have very powerful computing capability and imaging.  The cradle created by the team contains a series of optical components, lenses and filters, normally found in much larger and more expensive laboratory devices.  A photonic crystal is at the heart of the biosensor.  It is like a mirror that only reflects one wavelength of light, allowing all other wavelengths to pass through without affecting the crystal.  When anything biological attaches to the crystal, such as proteins, pathogens, cells or DNA, the reflected color will shift from a shorter wavelength to a longer one.  The entire test takes only a few minutes.

The researchers are working on an iPhone cradle and hope to have one developed for the Android applications by next year.  It is relatively inexpensive, right now.  If this is mass produced, the cost will decrease even more.  Other such devices are also being developed.  One such device contains non-radioactive detection chemistry that is able to identify single-copy genes in transgenic plants, making them suitable for GMO detection.  If you'd like to read the entire article, this is the url:
http://preventdisease.com/news/13/052613_Consumers-Will-Soon-Have-Devices-In-Their-Hands-To-Detect-GMO-and-Toxic-Foods.shtml?utm_source=052613&utm

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And the Children Shall Lead Us

There have been many voices calling out about the dangers of EMFR (electomagnetic frequency radiation) that is emitted from all electronic devices....cell phones, I-Pads, Blackberries, routers, computers, cell phone towers....on and on.  The industries that support these devices have turned a blind eye to the growing evidence of the negative effects they have on us.  In fact, when presented with such evidence, they simply react the same way many people do who don't like what they hear--they ridicule, rationalize and ignore.  Now, however, a group of 9th graders have conducted an experiment that some European scientists have found interesting and valid.

In a school in North Jutland, Denmark, five girls noticed that they were having problems sleeping at night and concentrating in class.  They all slept with their mobile devices on, next to their beds.  They decided to see if these radiation emissions might be affecting them and, if so, would have any affect on plants.  This was an inspired choice because plants do not succumb to the nocebo or placebo effects.  The nocebo effect occurs when a sham stimulus creates a negative outcome vs. the placebo effect causing a positive outcome.  Since the school didn't have the money to underwrite an experiment testing the effects of radiation, the girls decided to use seeds...cress seeds, specifically.

They took 400 cress seeds (aka watercress), divided them into 12 trays and put 6 trays in one room and 6 trays in another containing a router (this emits the same radiation levels as a cell phone).  Both rooms had the same temperature, amount of sunlight and the seeds were watered exactly the same.  The girls watched and recorded the progress for 12 days.  The results were astonishing...the unexposed cress plants were green, luscious and healthy; the exposed plants had either not grown at all or had mutated and died.

The experiment caught the attention of  Professor Johanson from a university in Stockholm.  He was most impressed and is considering recreating the girls' study in a lab with his research colleagues.

So far, I have not heard about this study on any of the news media outlets in this country.  Maybe, it's too trivial a study to be reported.  Maybe, we don't believe that children have a legitimate voice. Maybe, our cell phone industry has a vested interest in not acknowledging the possibilities of this study.  I don't know for certain.  What I do know is that these findings, once understood, are ignored at our peril.

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Playing the Odds: Is This How we All Live Our Lives?

Last week, Moore, OK, was nearly completely devastated by a F5 tornado.  Within hours, critical comments began filtering into the news reporting, with the all-too-frequent, "Some are saying..." statements about how they should have had safety shelters.   The mayor was asked why the schools had none. His reply was that, on any given Spring day, there was only a 1-2% chance that Moore would be hit by a tornado.  Moore played the odds and lost.  

That got me to thinking.  How many of us live our lives playing the odds, too?  I'm not necessarily talking about odds concerning how much money we are willing to pay for our safety, whether it's how we protect our beaches and homes against hurricanes or how much we're willing to pay extra in taxes so we don't end up crashing into the rivers below the hundreds/thousands of decaying overpasses and bridges all over this country.  No, I'm speaking about the everyday choices we make and how we come to those decisions.  What facts do we acknowledge and what facts do we ignore?  Do we make fear-based decisions or do me make fact/logic based decisions?  Do we base our choices on the present, only, or do we base them on the possible long term consequences they may bring?  Whether we acknowledge it or not, these everyday choices are based on odds:

How long can we eat the less expensive, conventionally grown food before the chemicals harm us?
How long can we drink unfiltered water before the heavy metals and other poisons sicken us?
How long can we eat conventionally raised meat before we are struck by the next bacterial outbreak?
How much junk/processed food can be ingested before we, or our children, are diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease?
How many years can we take medications before the side effects cause more problems than they supposedly help?
How long do we endure the pain before we decide to do something other than take pain killers?
How long do we ignore the anguish of others before their sadness turns into rage that is turned against us or our children?

The choices are never ending.  Before we turn a critical eye outward, perhaps it would be more helpful if we hold ourselves more accountable.  Are we willing to try?

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Neuroplasticity or You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

The field of neuroscience is truly exciting.  Because of incredible advances in the field of brain mapping, we now know that many of the "facts" that we thought were true about brain development and how we learn are no longer valid.  Because of the horrific number of brain injuries to our servicemen and women caused by IED's these past 10+ years, medicine has been forced to spend a tremendous amount of time and money developing the technology and protocols for effective treatment.  That has resulted in a new understanding about how we learn and how we can re-learn and possibly re-invent ourselves.

Knowledge:         
      Information or knowledge is what we begin to accumulate and process from the moment of birth.  As we learn new information, our brains begin laying down "tracts" or pathways so that we may start applying what we have learned and modify our learning/behavior to create new and more enriched....

Experience:
      Without experience, we would not be able to understand how to apply the accumulated information.  With experience, comes...

Emotion:  
      Emotions are the end product of experience.  How do we respond when our parents first tell us, "No," when we do something contrary to their approval?  Emotions are mitigated by powerful chemicals that are emitted in response to fear, anger, hate or love.  It is at this level that we can become easily damaged by our experiences.  For those who have experienced emotional/mental trauma, this is where they become, "stuck," no matter the age.  If damage occurs in childhood, the person stops being who he was, stops developing emotionally, continues developing physically and becomes what John Bradshaw terms, "a child adult."  In normal development, the result of our intentional actions should produce a new experience with a new emotion.

Understanding:  
      Consciously understanding how we created that new experience is fundamental to the processing of our emotions.  When we understand why and what we felt and how we created that new experience based on the memory of what we learned and did, we begin to embrace....

Wisdom:  
      Wisdom is the conscious understanding of how we can create any experience at will.  We don't have to think the way someone else taught us, but we have the ability to think for ourselves.  We can create what we want to be, what we want to see and what we want to happen.  Wisdom can also result from a negative experience.  We have the ability to understand what we did to produce that outcome, so that we don't keep repeating the action or event.  Again, emotions can interfere with our ability to identify our participation and responsibility for those undesirable experiences.  

Evolution:      
      Evolution is the wisdom that we have acquired from understanding the emotions we have created, based on what we have learned, processed, understood and experienced.

I underlined, "emotions," so we could see just how important they are to every step of our learning process that makes up who we are.  It simply doesn't work when someone tells us to, "get over it," when we are emotionally traumatized.  This is why, I believe, there are so many of our service people committing suicide everyday.  This is why we are stuck repeating the same nonproductive behavior, year after year.  This is why we are a nation that has become "hooked" on anti-psychotic medications.

The brain has the ability to re-pattern itself and heal.  As we become more familiar with how we learn, then we can begin to relearn and reprogram ourselves to change any unproductive or undesirable behavior.  I can recommend two tremendous books on this subject:

Spontaneous Happiness by Andrew Weil, MD and Evolve Your Brain by Joe Dispenza, DC.

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The Art of Being Present or Can You Change Your Brain?

We've been reading some very interesting books concerning the elasticity or neuroplasticity of the brain.  We are just beginning to understand how information is recorded and stored in our central nervous system.  That's what got me to thinking about how our behavior fundamentally affects every particle of our experience.

Last week, I was watching the Boston local news station (I don't know why, but I find the Boston CBS news so much more interesting than the Providence CBS news.)  that was covering a story about a group of people who had decided to walk the Boston Marathon route in a one month tribute to those injured in the bombing.  I'd estimate there were about 12-15 people walking, with a lead car and a rear car protecting them from traffic.  I thought, "That's really a nice gesture these people are making."  As I watched the coverage, I noticed something interesting.  Approximately 6-8 of the people were either talking on their phones or texting while walking.  I will admit that this was only a 10 second glimpse but it got me to thinking.  I wondered if any of these people were even aware of their surroundings.  Did they hear the birds singing or the sounds of traffic;  did they notice the light breeze on their faces; did they smell the blossoms or did they even notice the warmth of the sun?  Did they for a moment consider their purpose of how they, acting in concert as a group, could help those who were injured? What kind of energy might they have generated had they been present in the state of compassion and love?

I also watched an episode of, "Ask This Old House," last week.  Richard Trethewey was demonstrating the new technology of a state-of-the-art thermostat.  It was capable of "reading" your house temperature preferences by recording when and what settings you chose at any particular time.  That way, you'd never again have to make any adjustments to your thermostat.  This instrument was capable of automatic pattern recognition...interestingly enough, so is your brain.

Just like the thermostat, the brain has laid down neural tracts (or patterns) that we have designed by our behavior and choices.  That allows us to go about our day without always consciously participating in our activities.  We can be outside without ever truly interacting with our environment, just like we can be conversing with someone without really listening or actively interacting with that person.

 Many of us can go through our days, weeks or years without truly being, "present." We believe what we believe because of how and what we have been taught.  This has formed our perception of who we are, what we do and why we do it.   We can miss so much that experience has to offer, but, more importantly, we have the opportunity to change what we do not like.  We can change how we think in order to change what we do and who we are.  Tomorrow, I'll talk about how we can all begin to change the evolution of self.

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Adaptogens and Acne

Acne is defined as hair follicles that are plugged with oil and dead skin.  This is due to excessive sebum (oil) production, abnormal hair follicles and a particular bacterium, propionibacterium.  These bacteria cause a stimulation of pro-inflammatory lipases, causing inflammatory cells to efflux into the hair follicles, resulting in papules, pustules, nodules and cysts.  Basically, the body's inflammatory and immune responses are over-stimulated and imbalanced. 

It's possible that genetics may play a role in acne and hormonal imbalances do appear to cause changes in the symptoms, but diet and weight control have been ruled out as having any affect on the symptoms or their relief.  Traditional medical treatment includes topical salicylic acid to oral corticosteroids for non-hormonal acne and oral hormone therapy with antibiotics or topical benzoyl peroxide for hormonal acne.  Side effects can run the gamut of dry, chapped skin and lips to severe headaches, and, "adverse psychiatric events."  Such clinical descriptions for what may result in life-altering problems.

While I would agree that cutting out greasy, fast foods and chocolate have not relieved the symptoms of acne, I would not agree that changes in diet have no effect on acne's symptoms.  What do we know about acne?

It is associated with changes in the body's inflammatory and immune responses.
Inflammatory responses are at the foundation of systemic imbalances.
Systemic imbalances are caused by intestinal inflammation which, in turn, impacts neurons.
Neurons carry all information via polypeptides, including altered or imbalanced information.
Normalizing the body's inflammatory response, via normalizing the gut, is essential to homeostasis.


Diet plays an essential role in how our body responds to stress.  Inflammation is the body's way of responding to excessive stress.  Botanical herbs, certain supplements and foods can all be a part of a whole body approach of nutrient support for those with acne.

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If You Use Mouthwash, You Might Wish to Reconsider

The chairman of the Australian Dental Association's therapeutic committee and associate professor of oral medicine at Melbourne University, Professor Michael McCulloch has said that the alcohol in mouthwashes, "...increases the permeability of the (oral) mucosa to carcinogens..."  Acetaldehyde,  a toxic by-product of the breakdown of alcohol, accumulates in the mouth while using the mouthwash.  According to the professor, he says that he sees people with oral cancer who have no other risk factors than simply using alcohol-containing mouthwashes.

Bad breath does not come from bacteria that form in the mouth.  It comes up from the stomach.  We've had many patients complaining of breath odor that have eliminated the problem through dietary changes.  We also recommend the use of a colloidal silver rinse as an effective mouth rinse.

Any significant odor, whether it be bad breath, body odor, gas or bowel odor, is the result of systemic imbalances and needs to be addressed as such. The fundamental problem is coming from what one eats and drinks.  Unpleasant odors are the body's way of telling us that we need to change our ways.


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Adaptogens and Allergies

One very important characteristic of adaptogens is that they help regulate the immune and nervous systems.  They are unique in the way they are able to protect the mitochondria from stress-induced damage.  This is very important when considering treatment options for allergy symptoms.

Many people think that they suffer from allergic reactions to foods, drugs or environmental substances.  In reality, only 6% of young children and 3.7% of U.S. adults have true food allergies.  That's because true allergies result from an abnormal immune response.  That immune response is qualified by the presence of abnormal amounts of IgE.  This is an immunoglobulin that is normally occurring in mammals.  But, when elevated bloods levels occur in response to an oral food challenge, we see that food-specific IgE binds to mast cells, causing the signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction or antigen-antibody response.  IgE is a major player in Type 1 hypersensitivity which manifests in allergic diseases, such as allergic asthma, allergic rhinitis and food allergies and allergic conditions such as anaphylactic reactions to drugs and bee stings.

Most of the symptomatic population has non-immune food sensitivities or intolerances, not allergies.  Many people are sensitive/intolerant to lactose, caffeine, gluten, sulfa drugs and other substances.  This is an important distinction because that can change how successful we can be if the symptomatic patient is willing to make a lifestyle change.  Non-immune food intolerances result from enzyme deficiencies in the small intestine.  As such,  specific adaptogens, dietary changes and certain supplements can make a world of difference in the sufferer's quality of life.  We have seen patients who have been willing to take the time and make the commitment to changes in their diet and life style.  The result has been that they have been able to experience a more enjoyable life.

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Adaptogens vs. Pharmaceuticals for Our Health

I've decided to write a series concerning the difference between adaptogens, aka medicinal botanicals, and prescription medications in our health care choices.  We really are so fortunate that we have  many intelligent and informed scientifically trained individuals who are able to offer us clear and viable alternatives from which we may choose.  The science of medicinal botanicals predates modern medicine by millenia, yet many of us still don't understand the value of herbal alternatives in relationship to other medicines. 

 "Adaptogens influence many organs or body systems (non-specific) and acts by increasing resistance of the organism to a broad spectrum of adverse biological, chemical, and physical factors.  These substances help modulate system function and maintain homeostasis."

Most master herbalists prefer to use wild grown herbs as they offer the maximum medicinal value because they are not cultivated.  If those aren't available, the closest and best choice is harvesting the herbs from organic herbal farms.  Bioactivity of herbs is dependent upon many factors:  when the herb is planted and harvested, the type of soil in which it is grown and how it is processed.  The herbs that are offered by pharmaceuticals, mass producers, such as Wallmart or Walgreen's, or even health food stores have little in common with their organic counterparts and are a waste of money.  Through research, we have found that tinctures or liquid herbal preparations are the most easily assimilated, if they are grown and harvested properly.  Herbs that one purchases online or in stores have been sitting on shelves for far too long to be of any real benefit, especially powdered herbs.  There are only a few organic herbal farms who employ herbal masters that offer medicinal botanicals that are truly beneficial.  That is why when people take Echinacea, for example, for a cold, that it frequently doesn't work well...they haven't taken a bioactive form of the herb and, thus, it is "dead" and useless.

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A Simple way to ID GMO foods without the label...check the UPC!

Here is an easy way to check whether or not the fruits and vegetables you're buying contain GMOs....


Organically
5 digits
Starting w/ no. 9

Conventionally
4 digits
Starting w/ no. 3 or 4

Genetically Modified
5 digits
Starting w/ no. 8

Now remember, this is NOT the 'serial-code' that's scanned by the clerk. It is a sticker, not a permanent label in the case of apples and the like. Some things like celery or lettuce will have the same classification printed on the cellophane.

Basically, do not buy/eat food that has a five digit code starting with 8 because that indicates it's GMO. So what you SHOULD look for, is a four digit code, unless your buying from an organic store (in that case, there is no need to identify is there?)

Meat and poultry have no such UPC labels and, as of this time, you have no way to accurately identify them as "GMO safe."  As for fish, just remember to buy wild caught and you'll be fine.

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How Insurance Really Works

I'm sure that, by now, you all have either read or heard about how your physical location determines how much hospitals and doctors charge for any of their services.   I'm not sure if it came as a surprise to you, but, we in the health care field have always known about this.  If you are interested in the whole report, you can read it here:  http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/index.html

The reason this affects us all is that the amount an insurance company is charged for any procedure determines your insurance rates, including your deductible and copays.  Employers have been charged an ever-increasing amount for their employees premiums and have had to find ways to cut those costs.  The easiest way is to offer plans with very high deductibles and plans that don't pay out very much, making you pay more out of your pocket.

The first thing we all need to remember is, that when it comes to gambling casinos and insurance companies, "The house always wins."  Look at the most expensive buildings in any city; they are the bank and insurance headquarters.   That should tell you something.  So, when it comes time to choose what health, car, house or life insurance you're going to pick, keep that in mind.  The insurance companies are betting that you won't die, won't get really sick and won't have a costly car accident.  Most of our insurance decisions are based on the opposite: fear of all of the above.

 Statistically, if you are under 45, your most significant health problem would involve a car accident.  My bet is that everyone of you or a family member has been in a car accident at some point in time.  However, how many of you had medical coverage (especially for those of you in RI) at the time?  In RI, it is not mandatory to have medical coverage and most of the people from here who have come into our office for care, weren't covered.  Here is something some might not know.  For the price, medical coverage through your car insurance offers the best bang for your buck.  Please, check out your car insurance to see if you have medical coverage and how much you have.  Remember, statistics say that you or a family member will have a car accident at some point.  I'm also betting that most of you are medically under insured....only $5K or $10K per accident.  Five thousand will get you a ride to the hospital, X-Rays, ER care and a few weeks of therapy, if you're lucky.  We have $25K of medical coverage and paid a whopping $9.00 extra per year over the $10K premium price.  You'll have to shop around for an insurance company that even offers a $25K option...Progressive does not; Traveler's does.

Additionally, you'll want to check if you'll have to pay a deductible and copay for your medical benefits if you're in an accident.  Honestly, I had never heard of such a thing in our 25 years of practice, but, thanks to Warren Buffet and Geico, that's now a possibility.  One of our patient's had a very unpleasant surprise when her insurance company told her that after all her therapy.

I guess my point in writing this piece is to awaken all of us to the need to be smart and involved consumers when it comes to insurance.  The house might always win in the end, but, in the short term, I like to think that we can at least break even.

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Is our Health Care System based on Health or Something Else?

According to Andrew Weil, MD, our system of health care is based on "sickness care," in this country. I would have to say that I agree with him.  Last week, I talked about the infant mortality rate in the US in comparison to the rest of the world.  Now, it appears that we have an even worse standing when it comes to same-day infant death rates...we rank number 68 in the world.

“The United States has the highest first-day death rate in the industrialized world. An estimated 11,300 newborn babies die each year in the United States on the day they are born. This is 50 percent more first-day deaths than all other industrialized countries combined.”

The article goes on to speculate as to why this is:  we have a higher teenage pregnancy rate than other countries, we have a high pre-term death rate, we have poverty and racism, and, my favorite, it's our politics and culture.  Really?  And, there are no politics, culture, poverty, racism, teenagers getting pregnant and preemie problems in, oh, Egypt or Peru or any of the other 66 countries that do better than we in this category? 

I can think of a few other ideas that might be affecting our health care system.  One would be that we don't all have equal access to basic health care.  This doesn't just apply to the "usual" groups that we think about...the poor or the young or the disenfranchised.  This also applies to those with insurance:  ridiculously high deductibles for office visits,  requirements by insurance companies that each visit be "approved", mountains of paperwork just to get a simple lab test done,  uncooperative insurance adjusters,  claim denials and pre-certifications that appear to be designed to delay or discourage care and, best of all, lack of choice as to what kind of care and/or doctors patients may choose.

 If there is a failure of our health care system (I would advocate there is by looking at the statistics), then, whom do we hold responsible?  Unfortunately, I don't see any changes coming anytime, soon.  We have allowed ourselves to accept the "sickness model" for health care that Dr. Weil talks about.  We take pills for every ailment under the sun, only to suffer the unintended consequences that foreign chemicals eventually cause. We choose to adopt the reactive,  "if I have no symptoms, I'm okay," approach to health instead of a proactive, preventative approach.  I guess that might come from the, "better living through chemistry," model of German chemical companies of the 19th century, which were the forerunners of modern pharmaceuticals.  Until the model changes, the results will stay the same.  Remember Albert Einstein's quote: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result."
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Yet, Another Problem Associated with Sleep Deprivation

If you remember, in some of my past blogs I addressed some of the health issues that face people who don't get enough sleep and proper sleep.  Now, a new study out of Denmark attributes low sperm count to sleep deprivation.

The study suggests that a full 20% of men have both reduced sperm counts and malformed sperm.  Some 953 men, mostly in their twenties, were asked about their sleep patterns and also had tests run on their sperm.

"In general, the worse that men slept, the poorer the quality of their semen was. For instance, the men who had slept the poorest had a 25 percent reduction in sperm count, and had 1.6 percent fewer sperm that were morphologically normal, compared with men who reported low levels of sleep disturbances. The researchers accounted for factors that could affect the results, such as men's alcohol consumption, smoking and age."

Achieving delta sleep appears to be the common thread through all of the studies I have read concerning the affect of poor sleep on a myriad of health conditions.  And, to make things worse, many turn to prescription or over the counter medication to help them sleep.  The problem is, medication does not allow us to achieve delta sleep, so it really isn't helping a sleep deprived nation; one might argue, it's making things worse.

We've found that those whom we've seen who are suffering with insomnia and stress are significantly helped by neuro-physiological rebalancing.  Understanding the neuroplasticity of the brain has been the key to effective treatment.

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A Few Tips for You to Look and Feel Younger and Healthier

A couple of months ago, I was introduced to someone with the following words, "This is Dr. Hersh.  She's older than she looks."  I have to admit to being taken aback for a couple of seconds.  Was this a backhanded compliment or was it this person's statement of fact?  I also asked myself why this person would say this as part of an introduction.  After further reflection and listening to the ensuing conversation, I understood the motivation and felt a bit better.  One might say that it was better than her saying, "This is Dr. Hersh.  She's younger than she looks."  Additionally, I've had a every hairdresser over the years ask me what I did that made my hair so thick and shiny.  So, I thought I might write down a few things I've done and learned along the way.

1.  I don't smoke.  I also have never been exposed to second hand smoke for more than a passing moment.  The poisons sprayed on tobacco as well as the tobacco, itself, are the most damaging chemicals that we can inflict upon ourselves.  Once inhaled, the chemicals are transported to every cell of our body;  the cellular damage is irreparable.  

2.  I eat an organic/natural diet and cook and bake from scratch.  I eat no pre-packaged, prepared foods, at all.  I was listening to an interview by the author of a new book about our eating habits.  The book is titled, "Cooked."  The writer states that the average American who prepares the meals for their family spends only 23 minutes a day in meal preparation and cooking.  Fifty percent of our diet is prepared meals...by that he means restaurant or fast foods or packaged foods.  This means that the average American diet primarily consists of sugar, bad fats, poor quality foods and salt.  

3.  I do not drink alcohol.  Moderation, here, is the key.  One serving of wine or hard liquor will not damage the body.  The problem is, what is "one serving?"   Also, did you know that wine can have up to 80 additives/ingredients in it and not have to have them listed on the label?  I recommend if you are going to drink wine, make it organic.  Those wine glasses that are used in bars and restaurants are usually not small glasses.  Most of them hold 8-12 ounces of liquid.  Also, most people don't just have one glass, either.  Too much alcohol puts a strain on our liver and our whole body.

4.  I use only organic body products.  If you read the labels on lotions, hair products, deodorants and facial products, they are mostly chemicals.  These chemicals are absorbed through our skin and, again, force the liver to work overtime to try to detoxify our bodies.

5.  I use only plant based household cleaners.  America's Test Kitchen did a study on the cleaning ability of petroleum based and plant based cleaners.  It was 401, Pine Sol, Clorox and similar products vs. Seventh Generation and others.  The hands down winner, based on germ killing percentage, ability to clean, lack of residue and zero streaking was, "Method."  This is a plant based cleaner that I love...it really does clean beautifully and doesn't leave any streaks on glass.  I also  recommend Seventh Generation; it works well, too.  A clean house has no smell, except, maybe, for those lovely flowers from the garden (or some yummy homemade food).  

6.  I don't drink sodas or anything containing phosphoric acid, refined sugar or caffeine.  I eat no red meat and eat no animal based protein at least 3 days a week.  In an earlier blog, I went into the specifics of a healthy diet in more detail...including water intake, proportionality of foods and the importance of decreasing the amount of gluten and dairy we eat.

7.  I mitigate stress with meditation and my gym ball.  Gardening, bird watching and walking all help, too.  I take pro-biotics everyday to mitigate any systemically caused stress.

The one thing that all these steps have in common is: Eliminating aging foods and activities.  The more successful we are at doing that, the healthier we'll be and, I guess, the younger we'll look.

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Spectacular Slide Show of a Rare and Beautiful Place

http://slideshow.nbcnews.com/slideshow/news/ecuadors-yasuni-national-park-51138297/

This is the url that I highly recommend you take a few minutes from your busy schedule to peruse.  These are some of the most beautiful pictures of rare and spectacular animals and sights that one can ever see.

PBS did a special on the Harpy Eagle, the rarest and largest of the world's birds of prey.  The picture doesn't quite do justice to the size and power of this eagle.  Its talons can literally kill a man with one swipe.  It eats howler monkeys.  Quite a bird.

I hope you all enjoy this slide show as much as I.

An Attitude Change in Some MD's

The following article was sent to me by Dr. Raymond and I thought it intriguing enough to send it along to all of you.  To me, it shows that the field of health care is expanding in thought and deed.  I like this very much.

Belief Relief: Imagine That?

Patri­cia L Ray­mond MD FACP FACG

Med­ical per­son­nel find it hard to believe in treat­ments that don’t empha­size med­ica­tion diet or exer­cise.  We have a hard time with pre­scrip­tions for the unseen.  After all, what would be the dosage, or the mil­ligram strength?  And what might the side effects be?  How might you treat an overdose?

 Albert Ein­stein, one of the most noted thinkers of this cen­tury, reminds us that “Not every­thing that can be counted counts, and not every­thing that counts can be counted.” In other words, we in med­i­cine need to get over ourselves.

 In over two decades of research on spir­i­tu­al­ity and health, 84% of the stud­ies were asso­ci­ated with a clin­i­cal ben­e­fit to the par­tic­i­pants.  Over 60 med­ical schools now have the spir­i­tu­al­ity pro­gram in their med­ical train­ing.  Here are five dif­fer­ent spir­i­tu­al­ity pre­scrip­tions that you should dis­pense to your patients.

• Think about it,
• Write it down,
• Pass it around,
• Get on your knees,
• Smile

 Think about it

Every­one says “Don’t just sit there, do some­thing,"  when it should be “Don’t just do some­thing, sit there!” Stud­ies on med­i­ta­tion have shown effect in dis­eases as var­ied as pso­ri­a­sis, heart dis­ease, and chronic pain syn­dromes.  At UCLA Med­ical Cen­ter, med­i­ta­tion tapes when pre­sented to patients with hyper­ten­sion yielded a 73% reduc­tion in med­ica­tion with 50% of the patients being able to stop med­ica­tions altogether.

 Write it down

Jour­nal­ing has been found to have a strong influ­ence on patient’s health.  A study by Smith in the Annals of Inter­nal Med­i­cine revealed pos­i­tive results that lasted long after the study was com­pleted in patients with emphy­sema and rheuma­toid arthri­tis.  In this study, the patients were instructed to jour­nal for fif­teen min­utes a day about their con­cerns and fears about their dis­ease.  The pos­i­tive effects of jour­nal­ing were doc­u­mented on both pul­monary func­tion tests and on blinded eval­u­a­tion by a rheuma­tol­o­gist, respectively.

 Pass it around

Altru­ism has the abil­ity to make you healthy. In a study done by the­ Uni­ver­si­tyof Michi­gan, 1200 retirees were eval­u­ated.  1/3 of these retirees donated time to char­i­ta­ble orga­ni­za­tions or activ­i­ties.   Those who donated 40 hours per year to a sin­gle cause were 40% more likely to be alive at the end of the eight year study.  How­ever, if they par­tic­i­pated in sev­eral projects, which totaled up to 40 hours, they saw no such ben­e­fits.  Thus, be altru­is­tic, but be ded­i­cated to a cause.

 Get on your knees

Did you hear the joke about the dyslec­tic agnos­tic insomniac?

He would lay awake at night won­der­ing whether there was a dog.

Don’t won­der any longer.  Wor­ship does help pro­long your lives.  A study done at Duke Uni­ver­sity revealed that peo­ple aged over 64 who attended to church weekly were 46% less likely to die than irreg­u­lar atten­dees over the six year study. It has also been found that patients who lack social par­tic­i­pa­tion or reli­gious strength are at a higher rate of com­pli­ca­tions and death post car­diac surgery.  Blood pres­sure, lung dis­ease  and heart dis­ease have all been found to be inversely related to par­tic­i­pa­tion in reli­gious activ­i­ties.  Even more amaz­ing are the stud­ies on dis­tance prayer which show that peo­ple of var­i­ous reli­gions pray­ing for you with­out your knowl­edge can have an impact on your well being.

Smile

You must embrace the world.  Stud­ies at the Mayo Clinic indi­cated that pes­simists had increased risk fac­tors for pre­ma­ture death, lower over­all level of health, more use of med­ical resources, and higher med­ical costs.  An amaz­ing fact from Inter­nal Med­i­cine News indi­cated that pes­simism wors­ened pul­monary func­tion tests, with pes­simism show­ing the equiv­a­lent to a twenty pack year smok­ing history!

 Choose the Pollyanna pre­scrip­tion.  Find some­thing good in every bad event.

Now, if we could just get more than 60 medical schools to teach this, I believe there would be a much better chance to reduce the astronomical costs of health care in this country.  However, I must admit that I am skeptical that busy medical doctors will, as a whole, adopt this emotionally-based approach to patient care.

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"The Business of Being Born"

I was reading an article about how the American College of Obgyn has decided to, "...respect the rights of women to choose,"  to have home births with a midwife.  While that statement doesn't appear to be earth shattering, it does indicate a present shift in the official and immovable stance against home births.

The evolution of home births has certainly not been in a straight line.  I've been watching a PBS series titled, "Call the Midwife."  It is based on the experiences of a midwife in 1950's London set in the poorest part of the city.  I am amazed at the attitudes of the medical profession at that time.  The expectant women were seen only by midwives for their monthly appointments.  The births were attended by midwives and the doctor never attended unless a problem arose that the midwives were unable to handle.  Wow, what a difference, today.

Modern Western Obgyn's have been emphatic that women must have their children in a hospital, "just in case."  Midwives have been relegated to the fringe and, on the whole, are disrespected by the medical establishment.  However, there is a movement afoot that has forced the official position to change to that of the opening quote.  Home births are on the rise, especially among Hispanics,  having increased by some 39% over the last decade.  So, has the opinion of the Obgyn's changed because they see home births as "safe" now,  or has women's choice forced that change?  How much of a role have economics played in this official change of heart?

The decades-old argument made by Western doctors is that infant mortality has decreased dramatically because of modern medicine and women having children in a hospital.  While no one would argue the point that the lives of many, many babies and mothers have been saved because of modern techniques, let's look at the world wide infant mortality rate statistics to see how accurate that intractable philosophy has been.

What country would you guess has the lowest infant mortality rate?  The U.S.?  Sweden?  Holland? No.  Maybe, we're not number one, but, surely, we're in the top 5?  No.  The top 10?  No.  Here's another question.  Which of the following countries has a higher infant mortality rate than we?  Brunei, Cuba, Croatia, Cyprus,the Czech Republic, Slovenia or Singapore.  The answer, none of the above.  All these countries have a lower infant death rate than we.  In fact, Singapore has the lowest in the world.  The United States ranks #34!  Why don't we find that astonishing?  Why do we insist that we are the "best" when it comes to health care?  Maybe, we all need to begin to rethink that assertion.  I do think we are among the most innovative countries when it comes to technological medical advances.  However, I would argue that giving birth is not a medical condition and, therefore,  does not warrant further technological advancements.

The movie," The Business of Being Born," explores all these ideas and I would recommend it to any woman who is pregnant or considering starting a family.  Women need to empower themselves and to make their own decision as to how and where to give birth.  Of course, they should discuss their options with their doctor, but, in the end, they should make the decision based on information, not fear.

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