Category Archives: dis-ease

“Healthy” from the Plate of the USDA

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Guess what?! U.S. Department of Agriculture food pyramid has gotten a makeover!

MyPlate is the colorful, new, in your face, pay attention to me ad campaign! MyPyramid, the prior ad campaign, was based on the Food Pyramid, and like Madonna or Britney, it was just time for a redo.

Statistically, we as a nation are not getting healthier, we’re getting sicker. So, it’s time to wake up the public — we are in crisis!

Yep, we are a fat, overweight, diabetic bound, heart diseased, downward spiraling nation of fast food ad campaigns that scream louder than the USDA food pyramid, MyPyramid or MyPlate ever could: CRISIS!!

Wait, maybe the USDA and lobbyists in Washington are in cahoots? No!? They have our best interests at hand, right?! Think again! Take a look at the plate. Here sits this bright, beautiful plate, telling us what we need to know as a nation to keep ourselves and our family healthy. What’s a mom to do?! READ the labels. Take responsibility for your own opinion, your own health and the health of your family.

Yes, there is some really great information to be gleaned from MyPlate.gov. Vegetables, Grain, Fruit, Protein and Dairy. We all need to eat our vegetables! Greens, specifically, actually lots of them! (For this I give them 5 stars, as it’s the largest section on MyPlate).

But, as Dr. Andrew Weil has so aptly pointed out in his blog post, they make no distinction is made between fruit juices and fruits.

Protein comes from MANY sources and guess what?! Grains and greens have protein. So do nuts, beans and legumes. It’s not all about animal proteins. MyPlate misses bringing awareness to these other sources of protein, BUT it does not push the over abundance of animal protein it used to! Dairy, low fat precisely, is not necessarily healthier for you than full fat. In fact in the Dec. 21, 2010 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, it shows that there is a natural substance in dairy fat, (trans-palmitoleic acid), that may substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

What is missing from the plate is, water (ah…not in the glass!). Water is the basis of true health and wellness. You can live without food for weeks, but you can’t live without water for more than 3 days. We NEED water to grow, just like plants.

Watering yourself creates homeostasis, health. It also:

Detoxifies
Acts as a natural hunger suppressant (want to loose weight?!)
Moisturizes the skin
Aids in digestion and prevents constipation
Gets rid of headaches and helps with reduction of migraines
Acts as the transportation system for everything that enters your body
Is the elixir of youth! And,
Hydrates you!

Take a look at your plate and then take a look at MyPlate.gov. It’s about getting yourself educated, demanding real information about what you and your family need to ingest. MyPlate.gov is an opinion by the USDA, not a decree. Follow your own instincts, get educated. The government is tied to the big pharmaceutical companies, beef, poultry, dairy, grain, soybean and corn lobbies at the expense of our health as a nation. The thinking is if we keep people sick, we can keep big pharma happy! The beef, poultry and dairy industry needs to be kept happy too. Let’s not forget the GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) Monsanto monster corn, soybean and grains. Just so you know, Monsanto develops and markets genetically engineered seed and bovine growth hormone, AND is extremely aggressive with it’s litigation, political lobbying practices, seed commercialization practices and “strong-arming” of the seed industry! So, let’s make sure Monsanto is kept happy.

What Would Make Me Vaccinate Again

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What would make me vaccinate my kids or myself again? Maybe somewhere very, very hot freezing over? Recently, on one of my favorite Facebook groups, Anti-Vaccine – Natural Immunity Network, I came across the following blog post by Darlene Franco of Life on the Franco Farm, that got me curious enough to click and read. It was titled 6 Points I Would Have to Believe Before Resuming Vaccination, and initially, I got all kinds of, what, who, why!@%# But, I took a deep breath and opened my mind, just in case there was something that I was missing.

In hindsight, I now recognize that my middle child suffered at the tender age of one from his vaccinations and I just didn’t get it until my oldest had a reaction to a DTap booster in 6th grade. All of which weighs heavily on my heart, so the thought of vaccinating again is untenable to me. So, thank-you Darlene for a well-researched post and the permission to share it this very important October month of Vaccine Injury Awareness, and everyone else, please read on to see if the 6 points supported my decision to end vaccination or not…

6 Points I Would Have to Believe Before Resuming Vaccinations

I have conversations frequently with people who ask about all the “good things vaccines have done”.

Common statements I hear:

  • Vaccines have saved untold millions of people.
  • Infectious DISEASES (they’re not just childhood illnesses anymore) are deadly, untreatable, and rampant.
  • The ingredients are in such small amounts they can’t possibly be harmful.
  • The FDA, CDC, etc.. are there to protect us.
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That’s fine…it truly is a personal choice to vaccinate, and I respect your decision to vaccinate just as I hope you respect mine to decline them. My own research has debunked many of the long-held and unchallenged beliefs concerning vaccinations.  Vaccinating my children would demand all suspension of my critical thinking and common sense.   Here are 6 points you would have to convince me of before I’d ever consider resuming vaccinations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

In order to for me to vaccinate my children, I would have to:

1. Believe that vaccines are 100% effective, yet the CDC acknowledges they are not.  Far from it.

– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep;53(18):389-92– 2004- 5-14

In Michigan in 2003 there was a chicken pox outbreak. Vaccination was verified for 485 students, resulting in a vaccination coverage of 95.7% (485 out of 507).

– http://www.nvic.org/vaccines-and-diseases/Rotavirus.aspx

According to the CDC in 1999, rotavirus was causing 20 to 40 infant deaths annually in the US when the first rotavirus vaccine, RotaShield, was introduced. It was estimated that about 50,000 hospitalizations occurred in the US because of severe diarrhea and dehydration. Today, even though almost all US infants receive vaccines for rotavirus, and despite efforts to improve the management of childhood rotavirus-associated diarrhea, hospitalizations of children in the U.S. with the disease have not significantly declined in the past two decades: the CDC says rotavirus infection is still responsible for an estimated 400,000 doctor visits; more than 200,000 emergency room visits; and 55,000 to 70,000 hospitalizations in the US.

A case-control study has shown that 41 percent of meningitis occurred in children vaccinated against the disease. The vaccine’s protective efficacy was minus 58 percent. This means that children are much more likely to get the disease if they are vaccinated. ~ JAMA, 1988, Osterholm et al., 260: 1423-1428

2. Believe vaccines do not contribute to the spread of these illnesses, yet the CDC acknowledges that they do.

– http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol6no5/srugo.htm
Vaccinated adolescents and adults may serve as reservoirs for silent infection and become potential transmitters to unprotected infants (3-11). The whole-cell vaccine for pertussis is protective only against clinical disease, not against infection (15-17). Therefore, even young, recently vaccinated children may serve as reservoirs and potential transmitters of infection.

3. Believe that vaccines are 100% safe and do not cause encephalopathy and other complications, yet the US Vaccine Injury Compensation Court has paid out over $2 BILLION to families with vaccine-injured children.

http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/statistics_report.htm

http://www.ebcala.org/areas-of-law/vaccine-law/analysis-finds-evidence-of-autism-in-many-vaccine-injury-cases

“The Committee has set forth Comment K in this bill because it intends that the principle in CommentK regarding ‘unavoidably unsafe’ products, i.e., those products which in the present state of human skill and knowledge cannot be made safe, apply to the vaccines…” ~ http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf

– Vaccines can cause death in Immunocompromised Individuals
“The administration of vaccines presents a problem in children with immune defects…No live virus vaccines should be given since there is a risk of causing disseminated infection that may be fatal. Even with killed virus vaccines, the patient will not make antibodies in response to the injection.”

Essential Pediatric Allergy, Asthma, & Immunology ~ Raoul L. Wolf, pp. 159

4. Believe that vaccines are produced for the improvement of our health, yet the manufacturers are SO concerned about our health, that they include this disclaimer on every vaccine package insert, “_________ has not been evaluated for its carcinogenic or mutagenic potential, or its potential to impair fertility.” http://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm101580.pdf (page 6/13)

They also use pesticides, components of antifreeze, excitotoxins, known endocrine disruptors, and formaldehyde – why? If our children drank these components, we would call poison control. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-1.pdf

5. Believe that these infectious illnesses – each and every one for which there is a vaccine – are highly contagious, deadly unless vaccinated against, with no effective natural remedies, and that permanent immunity is inferior to vaccine-induced inflammatory responses. If that were the case, the human race wouldn’t have made it this far. You and I would not be here because previous generations would have died out. Knowledge is power.

A chance my child could have serious convulsions after the DTaP vaccine? 1 in 1750: American Academy of Pediatrics. Pertussis. In: Peter G, editor. 1997 Red book: report of the Committee on Infectious Diseases. 24th ed. Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of Pediatrics; 1997. p. 394-407.

A chance my child could die from pertussis? .00011%. http://www.exemptmychild.com/56401/56690.html

6. Believe that pharmaceutical companies, the CDC and the FDA truly have our best interests at heart.

i. Congress’s 1986 Vaccine Injury Act removed parents’ right to sue in state/federal court, protecting vaccine manufacturers from liability, and created a special vaccine court that could accept/reject claims at its leisure http://www.nvic.org/injury-compensation/origihanlaw.aspx

ii. BRUESEWITZ v. WYETH - US Supreme Court decision upholding the 1986 “unavoidably unsafe” language.  Parents do not have the right to sue a vaccine manufacturer – even if catastrophic side effects result from their unsafe products.  http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf

iii.  Johnson & Johnson “cozy” relationship with FDA http://www.seattlepi.com/health/1500ap_us_jj_recalls_congress.html

iv. Avandia and the FDA http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/health/06fda.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1181134287-GoZ27pFnLfDZW+O8VgbuHA&oref=slogin

v. Vioxx and FDA http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/8625

vi. Bayer and Factor 8 – http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/22/health/main555154.shtml

vii. Menaflex Knee Implant Approval (admitted undue influence from Congress)- http://documents.nytimes.com/f-d-a-review-of-the-regen-menaflex-device#p=1

viii. FDA/CDC cover up actual swine flu numbers http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/11/24/Superstar-CBS-Reporter-Blows-the-Lid-Off-the-Swine-Flu-Media-Hype-and-Hysteria.aspx

ix. The FDA approves a non-existent product from a fictitious company http://gaia-health.com/articles351/000378-system-sting.shtml

Then they came for me…

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Alright now, attention America, and the rest of the world. We are all one. We are one continuous, collective energetic being. Past, present and future co-existing simultaneously in the time space continuum. Also, the evil you see? Well, that’s all just a reflection of some part of ourselves. Awful to contemplate, isn’t it? Well, actually, it’s not, when you realize that gives you the ability to CHANGE things.

Here’s the thing, the world is UPSIDE down. Good is bad, right is wrong, nothing makes sense. It’s gotta stop. History has this eerie way of repeating itself, like a giant Groundhog Day movie (youngsters, look up Bill Murray). Time to change it up and stand united on the GOOD side!

Let’s take a moment to remember an old poem that originated with Martin Niemoller in Germany in a speech he gave in 1946:

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

So, as a member of the human race, do we not bear the responsibility and share the guilt for allowing these things to happen? Consider this:

First they came for the raw foodists

and I did not speak out

because I ate cooked foods.

Then they came for the organic farmers

and I did not speak out

because I ate conventional produce.

Then they took anyone who didn’t want to get scanned with radiation and patted down at the airports

and I did not speak out

because I have to fly for work and I was afraid I would lose my job, and I didn’t want to embarrass the kids in the airport and I was afraid.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Think it can’t happen again? Think it can’t happen in America? Think again. It’s happening right now. In California, where 3 people have been jailed for conspiracy and mislabeling cheese and operating a buying club called Rawesome Foods and running a place called Healthy Family Farms and for conspiring with the Weston A. Price Foundation representative who advocates eating natural healthy foods. These people are taking the first wave for us, they need our support, our vocalism. They are having their businesses destroyed, their stock ruined, their futures compromised. But they are our futures, too. We can not be complicit in the demise of our freedom and the wealth of America. A friend of mine informed me of what demise really means:

Demise is an Anglo-Norman legal term (from  French démettre, from Latin dimittere, to send away) for a transfer of an estate, especially by lease.

Therefore, the demise of America means that we are allowing the transfer of our power, our rights, our wealth, our health, our future and the future of our children. Who exactly is on the receiving end of this transfer? And why would we allow it? STAND UP NOW AND TOGETHER, there is no more time to wait.

Action items:

  • Support the Weston A. Price Foundation, sign up for their newsletter, make a donation, whatever
  • If you’re in LA, go to the peaceful protests being organized for these victims of our government, check Natural News for videos and information
  • Stop purchasing anything GMO or non-organic
  • go to your local farmer or farm stand or market instead of the big chains
  • do not allow your Fourth Amendment rights to be usurped, when you fly, and every other moment of the day

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Get it? You’re the person, being searched and seized, and violated, and what is the probable cause? Huh? There is no cause, it is the merely the demise of America…and we’re letting it happen.

 

Statin Therapy Decreases Heart Function

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Statin therapy decreases myocardial function. That is the result of a study conducted by the Cardiology Division of the Department of Medicine, Michigan State University. Although statins have been found to create a more “favorable” lipid profile, when the heart muscle is tested with echocardiography with strain imaging, they are also found to be associated with myopathy, muscle weakness and in rare cases, rhabdomyolysis. They did not see differences in myocardial function when Doppler imaging was used.

So first let’s talk about what a “favorable” lipid profile looks like. The Mayo Clinic sets forth the following guidelines:

Cholesterol levels are measured in milligrams (mg) of cholesterol per deciliter (dL) of blood in the United States and some other countries. Canada and most European countries measure cholesterol in millimoles (mmol) per liter (L) of blood. Consider these general guidelines when you get your cholesterol test (lipid panel or lipid profile) results back to see if your cholesterol falls in an ideal range.

Total cholesterol
U.S. and some other countries Canada and most of Europe
Below 200 mg/dL Below 5.2 mmol/L Desirable
200-239 mg/dL 5.2-6.2 mmol/L Borderline high
240 mg/dL and above Above 6.2 mmol/L High
LDL cholesterol
U.S. and some other countries Canada and most of Europe
Below 70 mg/dL Below 1.8 mmol/L Ideal for people at very high risk of heart disease
Below 100 mg/dL Below 2.6 mmol/L Ideal for people at risk of heart disease
100-129 mg/dL 2.6-3.3 mmol/L Near ideal
130-159 mg/dL 3.4-4.1 mmol/L Borderline high
160-189 mg/dL 4.1-4.9 mmol/L High
190 mg/dL and above Above 4.9 mmol/L Very high
HDL cholesterol
U.S. and some other countries Canada and most of Europe
Below 40 mg/dL (men)
Below 50 mg/dL (women)		 Below 1 mmol/L (men)
Below 1.3 mmol/L (women)		 Poor
50-59 mg/dL 1.3-1.5 mmol/L Better
60 mg/dL and above Above 1.5 mmol/L Best
Triglycerides
U.S. and some other countries Canada and most of Europe
Below 150 mg/dL Below 1.7 mmol/L Desirable
150-199 mg/dL 1.7-2.2 mmol/L Borderline high
200-499 mg/dL 2.3-5.6 mmol/L High
500 mg/dL and above Above 5.6 mmol/L Very high

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that a triglyceride level of 100 mg/dL (1.3 mmol/L) or lower is considered “optimal.” The AHA says this optimal level would improve your heart health. However, the AHA doesn’t recommend drug treatment to reach this level. Instead, for those trying to lower their triglycerides to this level, lifestyle changes such as diet, weight loss and physical activity are encouraged. That’s because triglycerides usually respond well to dietary and lifestyle changes.

*Canadian and European guidelines differ slightly from U.S. guidelines. These conversions are based on U.S. guidelines.

I would tend to say that these numbers are a bit strict, all things considered. My father lived through the period of time when fat was the ultimate villain, red wine was evil, margarine was the best thing going, and SnackWell cookies were created to save the day with their fat free ways. He died. And it wasn’t pretty. It took years of medications, statins, blood pressure drugs, beta antagonists, hospital stays, surgeries, tests, angioplasties, loss of circulation until he couldn’t walk, heart myopathy that eventually led to congestive heart failure and a hospice death in my arms at home. No one should have to live or die that way. I created Holistic Health Insider to help people avoid just that scenario. And now on to the infamous LDL.

There was also a recent study done at Texas A&M University and published in the Journal of Gerontology showing that LDL cholesterol is not necessarily the villain we make it out to be. LDL delivers the HDL to our tissues which require cholesterol to function.

“And the more LDL you have in your blood, the better you are able to build muscle during resistance training.”

This is why one of the most dangerous side effects of statin use is muscle damage. Lowering your LDL and overall cholesterol levels impacts muscle repair and function and even impacts our brain’s ability to produce serotonin. Look at the effects of low cholesterol on the brain:

Some studies have found that cholesterol is important for the production of serotonin, a chemical in the brain that at low levels is associated with depression. Men with naturally low cholesterol levels also have low serotonin levels. Some evidence has reported a link between natural low natural cholesterol levels and negative emotional states, including depression. Some studies have even reported a higher rate of deaths from suicide, accidents, or violence, which could be related to negative emotional states. The following are some examples of such studies from About.com:

  • In one study male psychiatric patients with cholesterol below 160 mg/dL had twice the normal rate of suicide and elderly men with low cholesterol levels had three times the normal risk of depression.
  • In a large 2001 Swedish study, violent behavior was linked with naturally low cholesterol levels.
  • A 2000 study of patients with depression and bipolar disorders found lower cholesterol levels during specific manic or depressive episodes. The study suggested that mood states might produce low cholesterol levels, not vice versa.
  • A 2001 study reported a modest increase in deaths from suicide, accident, or trauma in people who lowered their cholesterol with diet or with non-statin drugs.
  • People with overall cholesterol levels below 180 mg/dL may be at risk for hemorrhagic stroke (which is bleeding in the brain), particularly if they also have high blood pressure.

So again, the most important thing to do when assessing cholesterol is not necessarily immediately trying to lower it, but more importantly, figuring out why the cholesterol profile is not optimized, including triglyceride levels. Often, consumption of carbohydrates, such as bread, pasta, rice, grains, potatoes and definitely junk food, is the culprit. It’s not the fats, not even the saturated fats, if they are in the form of coconut oil, avocados, or grass fed beef. It could even be an underlying condition that is causing inflammation that your body is responding to with cholesterol production, acting as a band aid of sorts on the ruffled vascular condition and therefore building plaques.Dietary strategies are the most effective way to optimize your cholesterol and triglyceride profile.

So the last question to be answered is why the overwhelming use of statins? Maybe we should ask the thieves at Big Pharma. Creating drugs that we don’t need , to treat conditions they make up, to conjure side effects that they have another drug to treat. What would we do without them? Maybe it’s time to find out!