The China Study

I would like to dedicate this post to the book, The China Study, Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health . In my post about Healthcare I included an excerpt from the introduction of this book. I was excited by the introduction alone. The rest this book as been exceedingly interesting. I mostly like it because it taught me a lot about the role of animal protein in our diets and it backs a lot of what I already believe--and have written about here-- about food and health. I understand that following my beliefs doesn't necessarily give these professional opinions validity. However the 30 years or responsible research from which it was based on does. I will always put the heaviest trust in my own experiences, but the findings and conclusions of Dr. Campbell does not flow against what I've already experienced in my journey with food and the trends I've personally noticed in health.

It is clear that Dr.Colin is an independent and critical thinker about the results of science in his studies. He relies more on his findings than the popular attitudes of his prestigious peers or his contrary upbringing(he grew up respecting the dairy farm he was raised on). This to me is key in respecting his conclusions.

So what has this book told me thus far? Among the biggest ideas featured is that our relationship to animal protein and health is often related to chronic and fatal illness. There is a very significant link to animal protein ( in meat and dairy) and cancer growth. This to me is significant. I would describe this relationship like this; Cancer is damage to your DNA caused by a carcinogen, I'll call it a cut on your hand. Animal protein then, is you picking the scab on your hand. In the body this protein hinders our ability to detoxify the carcinogen. The more you do it the worse your cut and infection gets. There is a direct relationship with how much and how often one picks the scab and how much more infected or healed your hand is. Now if you do the right things, like eat whole plant-based foods, then that's analogous to treating the cut and pushing your hand to be whole and healthy. If you do both--treat your hand well and pick the scab--your hand may or may not heal. Even if you have been picking your scab and then stop picking at a point and treat it your hand it would still get better!

This is a bittersweet science to believe in. It's good news for the those who have the ability to change or make lifestyle choices to consume the best foods that are available to them. This however is terrible news for those who don't believe food makes a strong enough difference in how they feel or the effects food has on their health. I grew up in the latter category and I am happy I changed my mind. I am happy for my own health and the astronomically higher chances of good health in the future I have because of it. What I can't do it change the mind's of everyone I love, and maybe I shouldn't. Their experiences should teach them more then I ever could. Reading this book however could be a good idea if you are at all curious about food and health and need science in your decision making.

Apples

I'm kind of a pain when it comes to them. I really want people to eat apples. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of their taste. I used to hate it as a kid when my mom sent me a lunch with a red apple for "dessert" ek! "Unacceptable," I thought. Truth is they do have a bit of sugar in them, but their taste would not compared to the Swiss cake rolls I really wanted.

My relationship(and appreciation) changed when I discovered that I had acquired an unwanted mental, physical, and emotional reaction to coffee. I have an intolerance or allergic reaction that makes me anxious, depressed, and obsessive several hours after I drink coffee or colas. Once I realized this was happening I quit caffeine immediately. It was definitely not worth the buzz, and I never looked back. What was nice is eventually I stopped yo-yoing with the caffeine buzz and crash and I slept better.

I still did have a problem to solve. My diet was still just the usual American fare so I needed a boost for my 4am shifts at work and supplement other times if I didn't get enough sleep. I forget if I was told or I just accidentally just ate one, but I started to notice that eating the previously unacceptable food did me a lot of good. It became my "cup of coffee" whenever I was feeling low energy.

The list of the good things that are in apples is amazing. Patrick Quillian's book that features apples cider vinegar lists all the nutrients(that scientist know of) in whole apples and I counted somewhere in the field of 400 nutrients. Things like furmeric acid, which can help with psoriasis. That's 1 of 400ish that I picked at random. So apples have a ton of good stuff in them and I can feel them working when I chow down. Caffeine usually messes with people. Often there is a wired distracted feeling until it's out of your system and then you crash. This doesn't happen with apples. It's not the same kind of high. The boost isn't as big but it certainly is a huge help. Your brain is actually helped by the food instead of only keeping you awake and because of the carbs your body is just not going to crash like that.

Since this discovery I'm a pretty heavy apple pusher. People that spend the most time around me know if they mention they are sluggish or over tired I will suggest or command that they eat a nice Red Delicious or Fuji(in my experience the redder the better). And if they are smart enough to listen they are happy with the results. Again, I don't really like the taste and maybe you don't, but it's still worth a try...

A Note On Healthcare.

An excerpt from "The China Study" by T. Colin Campbell, PhD

By any number of measure, America's health is failing. We spend far more, per capita, on healthcare than any other society in the world, and yet two thirds of Americans are overweight, and over 15 million Americans have diabetes, a number that has been rising rapidly. We fall prey to heart disease as often as we did thirty years ago, and the War on Cancer, launched in the 1970s has been a miserable failure. Half of Americans have a health problem that requires taking a prescription drug every week, and over 100 million Americans have high cholesterol.

To make matters worse we are leading our youth down a path of disease earlier and earlier in their lives. One third of young people in this country are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight. Increasingly, they are falling prey to a form of diabetes that used to be seen only in adults, and these young people now take more prescription drugs then ever before.

These issues come down to breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This is a problem with our heath care system that needs to addressed much more than all other problems with access. I completely understand that there are very useful technologies and procedures of Allopathic healthcare, a large one being emergency care. For example, if I am hit by a car and break bones, no amount of kale will heal me. I would like my bones reset quickly, which would involve action from a team of doctors, possibly even surgery. While other facets of our current, traditional health care sometimes can help people at the last minute by exposing their bodies to various chemicals, inevitably it can do a myriad of harmful things that may be permanent. And this traditional way of approaching sickness almost never makes determined efforts to change the underlying problem.

I usually want to laugh when I hear about another new whole food that "can help in the fight against cancer." Why? Because ALL plant-based whole foods from the ground do that. Eating the regular diet of white breads, deli meats, a selected few types of veggies sometimes adding acai berries or pomegranate to your diet will not keep you safe from the possibility or cancer. What we need to know is that these fresh whole foods are the primary foods we should be eating. Then, if we choose, we can supplement with convenience foods. Our country's current thought on food and health is backwards. Right now, the idea is to consume whatever is tasty and easy and then go to the doctor when you get to your 40s and fight cancer. Instead, we should educate ourselves on what is right for us and learn to love the foods that have been feeding our species for thousands(or millions) of years now. If we do, we will lead an extremely more vibrant and healthy life while avoiding long stays in the hospital.

I may not know or understand the details of what is happening in Washington right now, but I have a pretty good clue what is going on in people's kitchens, as well as the quality and perspective on health in the doctors office. That's what needs reform. If not I believe that we will be giving a nice hand to nice people for more rat race type drugs, and doing almost nothing to really stop a bad cycle of sickness.

The Pill

(There are hundreds of things to say but I'm gonna keep this short and sad.)

I've never taken it. Maybe it's because I was raised by a woman who was the type to have 4 natural births. Maybe it's because I was raised by a woman who was raised Catholic. My Mom and I never talked about the pill, I think I'm just my mother's daughter. When it came time for it to maybe be useful I still didn't take it. At that point I knew enough about myself to know I was way too sensitive to the stuff I consumed, that I would be a mess from all the hormones. That at the time was all I had going for me. Later on I got the drift on how little drug companies and doctors take responsibility for my health. I also figured I probably couldn't rely on common knowledge to tell me every time something wasn't good for me. I just followed the old physics law/adage; every action has a equal and opposite reaction. The pill is one of these actions. If you are someone who at least understands protests against non-organic foods I would assume you can appreciate my problem with the pill. To me it's the same line of logic.

So my hunch on the fact that it's really dangerous comes from what we can deduce from what most people do know. While taken, it confuses ones body enough into thinking it's pregnant. If taken longer than 9 months at a time it's asking to do something unprecedented for the body. And I don't know anyone that takes a break from it every nine months. External estrogen abuse in women is analogous to external testosterone abuse for men, and for some reason this relationship resonates loudly in culture for men, and almost not at all for women.

Now those are just clues, not good reasons to believe that the pill is harmful. In doing some other light online research I've come across research reports from The Journal of Sexual Medicine. In 2006 they did a study on women taking oral contraceptives. What they reported was that women using the pill had 4 times the amount of SHBG, which is the protein that blocks testosterone from being used. The SHBC stayed twice as high in the women even after they discontinued the pill for 6 months, which was a surprise to the researchers who now have to test to see if the change is permanent. While estrogen is more present in the female body there still is a need for testosterone to keep your hormones in balance. The result, they have said to not having enough of this "unbound" testosterone alone with other hormones in the pill causes a myriad of sexual problems for women including decreased desire, arousal, and lubrication and increased sexual pain. These elements of the pill may also lead to metabolic, and mental health problems. YIKES

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/35663.php

I point that study out to show that there are researchers who know this and somehow this isn't passed on knowledge to the pill consumer(for all I know). The other way I look at it is it just makes sense that pumping your body with hormones will not keep things normal, now or in the long run. It just leads me to think about how breast cancer depends on estrogen levels in the body, why wouldn't an estrogen pill influence that or other cancers women seem to "inherit".

It seems a bit ironic that while many pill users take it early in life to enjoy sex without the consequence of children, they could be taking the fun right out of it for themselves in the long run. That seems a little tragic.

PS the statistic is that 100 million women world wide take the pill.

Antibiotics

It makes me a little nervous. As I grew up I heard more and more concern about over-use or mis-use. When my mom was in charge of my health I went to the doctor a lot more when I was sick with a bad cold or flu. The doctor took 10 minutes with us and then always prescribed an antibiotic or antiviral. We eventually just stopped filling the drugs. Now when I get colds or flu I don't go to the doctor, and I still get better. If I want to get better faster I get rest and eat more vitamins. Seems to work just as well to me... Now I don't know everyone's medical history who may be reading this so I'm not suggesting you follow my example. Antibiotic are definitely needed in many cases(i.e. surgery,) but based on my experience some doctors will order something everytime you come in. Maybe it's based on knowledge or maybe it's based on liability...I can't be sure. Antibiotics have now become a sort of crutch in the population that has inhibited our bodies from evolving with the bacteria. After all our bodies healing from these colds or flues IS our bodies getting strong with the bacteria on it's own. I would worry, but now I found nature(the best chemist) has still got somethings up its sleeve. One I will highlight in this here post; tea tree oil.

At first it to me was kinda freaky. At work when a bottle would break of the stuff you knew it immediately. It has such a strong and distinct odor. It's a kind of smell that someone could really hate. It certainly wasn't pleasant to me at first, but what I found out is the trend in nature that strong sensory stimulates are cues to sit up and pay attention to the pieces of nature that may effect us. I think soon I'll do some research on spices based on this principle. They have enough flavor and smell in a tsp. of spice to change the taste and smell of portions of food meant to feed 2-4 people! There has to be something to that.

Anyway back to tea tree oil. The first time I remember using a TTO product were the cleansing pads for your face. I was usually too lazy to wash my face at night so I figured it may be a way to get around that(btw I still don't wash my face at night and now I don't even bother with the cleansing pads, and I'm really OK with that). It seemed to really help clear up the little blemishes and blackheads I had. I was impressed. Since then I've found many ways to use the stuff instead of an AB. And that's really what TTO is, anti fugal/antibacterial/antiviral. Here are a list of things that you could use TTO instead of a prescription(that maybe harmful or useless).

cold sores

acne

nasal ulcers

dental abscess/toothache pain

sore throat/throat infection

cuts/scrapes/scratches/abrasions

ear infection

boils

ringworm

insect bites

athlete's foot

canker sores

oral hygiene

dandruff

ear mites

fleas

oily skin

blisters

sun burns

warts

rashes

runny nose

asthma

tuberculosis

bronchitis

chicken pox

shingles

measles

flu

strengthens the body's immune system

bad breath

inflamed gums

plaque

yeast infections

Now of course to treat with TTO there are different methods, and they hardly ever involve consuming it. A lot of the time you should dilute the stuff too. Do your own research, but meanwhile maybe pick some up to have on hand instead of some neosporen.

It seems to me that if this stuff has been working for a long time doing these jobs they may also last longer than the AB prescription. And I don't think TTO oil will turn your teeth gray either.

Another side note. It seems to me that there are a lot of antiseptic/antibacterials in nature besides TTO another one being raw honey. I read in my book Garlic, Honey and Apple cider Vinegar that honey has shown to be better at healing small cuts then the dressing they may give you at a hospital.

PS In creating these posts the editor and I talk about many different facets of my arguments and theories. I don't include everything in the interest or keeping it short and sweet. I encourage anyone with questions comments or even rebuttal to contribute these in "comments". I openly admit that I don't have supreme knowledge on any of said subjects, and am very open to learning more.

Azucar

I feel like peoples knowledge on it is almost nill. To me it's very frustrating, all the consumer products, to diets, to replacement sweeteners. We're getting ourselves in a lot of trouble. I touched on sugar in a previous blog post and now I'll go in a little more extensive into this sticky subject.

#1 we need sugar in some form and in fact our body makes sugar every time you eat something. Food is broken down into a sugar called glucose. It's what fuels the cells in our body. It's energy.

#2 If you have too much sugar whether from some pasta converting to sugar or from say high fructose corn syrup it'll eventually end up converted to fat. So even those fat free fruit snacks can cause trouble if you're watching your weight.

That's the pretty simple, maybe common knowledge about sugar. Where I find more people are lost is in the difference between refined sugar and unrefined sugar. Basically refined sugars are sugars without help. Your body needs vitamins and minerals to break down sugar already in food.

So lets say we eat an apple. The apple has lots of sugar in it but God also package the apple perfectly with vitamins and minerals that help you break down and use the sugar stored in it. Fine, the body knows what to do with the sugar when it is equip with all the vitamins and minerals, fiber, and enzymes and are gladly are gobbled up.

But now whats happened is people have isolated, extracted, or refined the sugar out of an apple(or corn) to make fructose. It's just the sugar and since it's only sugar you can put it in other things like gelatin and make a snack you can keep on a shelf for months without it going bad and then sell it. Cha-Ching! Well the problem is that all the great stuff that helps break down and convert the sugar into something good which it was previously made with the apple doesn't exist in the new snack. So what does the sugar do to get metabolized? It takes from your body's store of vitamins and minerals! A big thing sugar needs to break down??.. Calcium. Calcium however is also needed for your bones. Refinded sugar doesn't know this so it starts takin' the calcium that is rightfully your bones and your poor bones suffer. Kind of bad. And really there is a lot of other stuff it uses that could be needed elsewhere, that's just one. It can really overall deprive your whole body.

Refined sugar ..what makes it sticky? It really kind of fools your body or at least starts a bad cycle. If you notice when you eat a candy bar you may get what one calls a sugar high and in fact that's basically what it is. A lot of sugar in the blood. Refined sugar get metabolized faster and effects your energy level quickly. What then happens when it's used up(probably with 40 mins if not coupled with other whole foods or complex carbs) is low blood sugar. The glucose is burned up quickly and then there is nothing to digest. No glucose, no energy. Your body "freaks" and tells you it's uncomfortable with this change and prods you with a little thing called hunger. If there is a bowl of M&M's close by your body, remembering this food produces quick release sugar, will tell you to indulge. You then grab for the M&Ms, and the cycle starts again. What your body wants is glucose but in the throes of a low blood sugar spell doesn't care how. What it would be happier with is a whole food or real meal. A meal that includes starches, protein, fiber, and more vitamins.

And has this ever happened?... You start munchin on a bag of cookies and 10mins later it's all gone?! You haven't even realized and it certainly didn't bother you(yet) that you had eaten so much junk??? Now think how much that happens with fruit or veggies. Not that it wouldn't happen but it does considerably less. Your body recognizes whole foods and knows when to say "OK that'll be enough for now" a little better. I find that the exception to that rule comes when I haven't had a certain type of fruit(i.e. Pineapple) for a long time. And I reason that my body just probably needs something in it that I haven't been getting enough of in my diet.

MSG, not directly related to sugar, but a lot of time you can find them in the same box of processed foods, actually goes a step further and blocks off the part of the brain that signals that you're full. Otherwise I don't think you could eat that much Mickey-D's or sour cream and onion chips.

Remember it like this. Imagine that food is like guests at a pot luck. Generally everyone will bring a portion that will cover the amount of food they'll consume or more. Extra refined sugar foods are the kids, they keeps things fun but show up empty handed. Not only do they partake in the potluck but start to plunder you fridge and cabinet. If you invite too many of these children you'll be left in very bad shape. Invited the foods that have been around for at least as long as human kind, and invite them often.

Fat Head!...And Thats OK

Proportion is everything in a diet and Americans are polarized when it comes to their relationship to fats. So I thought after a interaction with a family at work that it's a good subject to touch on.

The interaction went something like this; A family comprised of a husband, wife, and 11 yr old girl were searching through the bar section. I asked if I could help and they told me they were looking for a bar with low fats. I found them one that had 2grams of saturated fat, but they were still unsatisfied. The bar had a total of 11grams of fat. Too much. Finally the young girl came across the fruit leathers and exclaimed "these have no fat it them!" The family by the way had none of the usual tourist bulge. They looked fit to me so I finally curiously asked, "whats so bad about fat?" The father looked at me as if that were a very dumb question, repeated it back to me in a matching tone, so I shrunk off and let them rejoice in the foods with no fat.

For many reasons I thought this very odd. Is it still common thought that NO fat is good and that eating fat free energy bars is healthy?

I wondered about the motives. The nicer part of me likes to believe they were once a Wall-e sized family who had an ah-ha moment. They decided one day that fat was the enemy, and should be avoided at all costs. Who, through much overcoming and testing of will were able to purge fat almost completely from their diet and still now were only just lingering in between "slim" and "average" weight classes. I show up not understanding this and ask an apparently stupid question with evil motive to change perspective and am deemed idiotic.

Well sinister or not here is the other perspective. Fat is not all bad. It's good. And even needed to make your body work well. What parts? All of them. Your brain is 70% fatty. Fat is used to cushion your organs, absorb vitamins A,D,E,K, hold needed minerals, keep your eyesight, and aid a good immune system. That's a lot of stuff and I'm sure there is more. So never try to cut them out completely of your diet.

And what do we hear a lot lately? Omega 3-6-9s. Getting the right fats is key. So make mental notes(if you can) when you hear about food with these fats in them. Slim down your intake of land meats and dairy because the fats(saturated) found in those are responsible for clogging your heart up and junk like that. They're not even all bad either. We just can easily over do those fats.

My Long, Short History of Food.

If you would have asked me 5 years ago about food the entirety of what I would have told you was I eat what I want when I want and it doesn't seem to bother me. I know that's true for the average American.

My ideas about food changed radically due to a little thing called a fast. I tried doing some small, one day fast. The only thing I could consume during this time was water or unsweetened tea. The Purpose was spiritual but I discovered a little about my physical too. I found out first hand that my body talks to me. I discovered that I craved the strangest things(I thought). I distinctly wanted dry oats during a fast. And my first meal off the fast included strawberries and, just that, dry oats. How boring right? A couple days before that I would have said no thanks to both. But after working some impurities out I now really loved what I was eating. This was my first lesson in eating what my body REALLY wanted.

After that I did longer fasts where I allowed myself to eat, but nothing with meat, dairy, or sugar(I already didn't drink caffeine, but that's another blog)! Yikes! All the good stuff right? Well at first I thought yes. Then something happened. After 3 weeks of literally dreaming of McDonald's cheese burgers something clicked. What was happening was a detox. My body was getting all the bad stuff out. The amazing thing was I started to feel awesome. Really awesome. Mentally and physically. IT was if I was a completely different person. The most outstanding things I noticed was my mood. Constantly in a positive mood, even through some drama. Physically I had a ton ,I mean a ton of energy, never(even with low sleep) groggy. And of course I was loosing weight(which for me wasn't desired especially). But the most profound part of my detox was that my tastes changed. Since it was a fast(not a diet) I was a bit more committed. I rarely cheated, and it made a difference. Week four came and I didn't really want the stuff I had craved a week earlier. I found this most encouraging. I could eat this way and feel this good and not be miserable about it.

I don't know everybody's story of how they try to eat healthier and it just becomes too difficult(it is hard at first). I just know that I don't hear people talk about this phenomenon enough when talking about a desired diet improvement. Your palette will change. If you give what your body wants(or take away the stuff it really doesn't) it'll speak up and change your mind in the end. The misery of giving up junk food will end if you just give yourself a chance. Maybe it would take a week of two longer for someone else but it should happen.

I did find out a sneaky rule of junk food too. Sugar(refined) is a sneaky bitch. It was the hardest to get rid of in my diet. Unlike the other things I rid myself of during the fast your body needs this one in some form. If I let myself get really hungry my blood sugar would drop and I would get frantic and want a quick fix. Whats the sweetest quickest fix? Refined sugar. But it's really quite terrible for you(yet another blog!)! The only way I'd stay comfortable and abide by rules is instead of reaching for the candy bar Id first try an apple or even make a quick meal then see how I felt and if I was a little patient it almost always did the trick. Not that I never wanted a candy bar again but it happened less and less.

Shampoo, a Sham

I was watching an infomercial, for fun, and there was an infomercial for a shampoo. It's sounded legit so I bought some for 25 bucks.

No not really. It just got me thinking about shampoo and whats good for your hair naturally. It also made me a little angry at myself. All this time knowing that additives, preservatives, and pesticides were bad for you and still they were constantly put into food that people really want you to buy(if they're on the other side of the buck), and I never thought twice about picking up shampoo off the shelf? Makers of shampoo put yucky stuff in their products too. How do I know? I can't read any of it. That's it! I can't read it. Anyway, like food I think it's best to go with whole foods or ingredients. I was curious what I would find if I looked up how to make shampoo and I was a little surprised and then I was more surprised when I kept looking around.

I didn't do research about the Chemicals in Shampoo because I just thought that would be boring. I Just looked for home made stuff. There were plenty of websites that had recipes for shampoo that were quiet too intricate for me and my purposes of being low maintenance. Then I found a decent one. The recipe was an eye balled 1:2:8 parts olive oil: castille soap: water. Pretty simple but I found that those proportions left my hair a bit heavy from the oil. yuck. I tried it again with a lot less oil and still it left some residue. So back to the drawing board I went(in the 21 century the drawing board is not used with chalk, it's the computer). I looked around a bit still not wanting anything too complicated. Then I found something else and it really wasn't complicated at all. In fact there was no "shampoo" . no soap. And turns out it works the best! What is this you ask? two things; baking soda and apple cider vinegar!

Here is where I got the directions Click

The wierd part is that ACV really does detangle your hair, and so does lemon juice( I tried that too). Something about the acidity makes the water soft. Go figure...

Well I think I may change over to washing my hair this way. I don't expect everyone would do that but at least know that if you're ever out of shampoo and conditioner you may be able to wash you hair anyhow...

Overwhelmed with Info

Really I am. I've been doing a lot of research(looking stuff up online and reading from one book) and really it's amazing what you can find about natural remedies.

I encourage everyone that reads this to think of a common ailment of theirs ( i.e. canker sore, fatigue, indigestion) no matter how obscure, and instead of popping some prilosec do a quick search like "natural remedies for indigestion". Try one that involves food that you have eaten before then try it when you have an issue. Something I suggest often to people who complain about indigestion is trying Papaya fruit or chewable pill. Everyone that's tried it agrees it works and I can't think of anything wrong with eating Papaya(unless you're allergic). There are other remedies for that like apples cider vinegar I've heard helps too.

Most of the morning I've spent my time on reading up. Currently I'm reading "Honey, Garlic, and Vinegar" by Dr. Patrick Quillian. It was an impulse buy on amazon and after about an hour I'm halfway though it. I'm also in the midst of looking up diet changes that are naturally important for schizophrenia, which my brother has had for years. Obviously this is more severe but I am finding out soooo much. There is a lot people that have already have done research and have experienced better health. It's super cool and overwhelming to see that there is already such a data base out there. Thumbs up for the Internet!

Here is a excerpt from the book I'm reading. More info will come on the actual foods talked about in this book;

" Personal Profile.

A.F. was a young woman in her thirties who had just learned that she had advanced breast cancer. She had 2 young children at home and was not prepared for the doctor's warnings: " Unless you undergo radical surgery, with chemotherapy and radiation therapy, you will probably die with in a year." What could she do? She fallowed her doctor's advice. The therapy did not slow the cancer, which now showed throughout her body, including her spine. "We are going to try a last ditch effort to save you with a radical procedure called bone marrow transplant" her doctor's told her. That aslo was ineffective at slowing the cancer. After 2 years of valiant fighting cancer with every trick in the medical book, AF was told to "get her affairs in order".

She was not a quitter and certainly couldn't see someone else raising her
kids, so she gathered all the information she could find on therapies for cancer that would strengthen her body's natural defense mechanisms. She changed her diet, dropping all animal food like beef and cheese. She went on a serious detoxification program to rid her body of accumulated toxins which drag down the immune system. She changed her way of thinking, eliminating negative thoughts and stressful events. She started taking supplements, including garlic extract. Within 6 weeks, the cancer was gone from her soft and hard tissue-even the bones showed no signs of cancer. What modern medicine couldn't do, nature's simple healing agents could do. AF learned a very important lesson in healing: In order to reverse disease, you must first change the underlying causes of the disease. Drugs and surgery can be temporarily helpful, but do not cure any disease. Only you can do that. "

I've heard other stories like that a bunch of which were in the movie Beautiful Truth, which I recommend also to everyone who is concerned about cancer, healing, and treatments. It shows an alternative appoarch that could be useful. It goes into a few food and drug issues that we encounter in The States and it's simply told and is around 1.5 hours, so not too long either. It also showcase's the Dr. Max Gerson and a book written by him and then later revised by his daughter called the Gerson Therapy. Which would definately be my route for treatment of cancer if I ever found it in me.

What is it Syphilis, Herpes, or a Deficiency?

Canker sores that is... Turns out it's just a deficiency.

I've got them every once in a while ever since I was little. I've always known they were painful but it wasn't till my ex-boyfriends mom accused me of having herpes that I got a little freaked out by them. Turns out what I have is not herpes. Which is good because it also means it's not contagious. What I probably have(since I been tested for HIVand thats a negative) is a folic acid deficiency. So I'll try eating more folic acid in the future to prevent this. They are a pain and last too long. I take L-Lysine(an amio acid) and Alum(directly on the spot) and am not sure it helps.

Herpes caused sore happen on the outside of the mouth. And lots of people get this too without having herpes that appears else where. I guess there is more than one strand of the virus. So don't go assuming anything if you see one on someone, other than it maybe not a time to split a milkshake with them.

Syphilis causes chancres and really is only confused with canker sores or cold sore because of the name. They're not really related or appear on the face.

*most of this info was found here at about.com

Soy and Men

Soy, soy, everywhere, and not a bite to eat...for men that is.

Well, one or two bites wont hurt. It's in everything and it's supposed to be a cure-all right? That's what some people want you to think(especially if they're selling it). To me it's a cash crop. Over grown and over used in our diets.

Well it's a mortal food like the rest of them so it can't do it all, and more interestingly, from what I've read is that men should stay away for the most part. Why? because it has an estrogen mimicker in it, isoflavones. There some studies that say soy will cause enlarged(not greatly) chesticles and maybe some nipple discharge(in very high dosage), and studies that also show men who incorporate soy into their diets have a dramatically lowered sperm count. Now maybe not all men are trying to get some body preggers but it's still a clue to overall health. I would assume, to be safe, that plant based estrogen will do a lot of what your bodies estrogen will do. I don't know too many men who would like more estrogen then they are supposed to have.

This led me to the conclusion that guys should be shying away from things like soy based protein shakes, soy replacement meats, and edemmame. I've read that fermented soy seems to be a bit better, less isoflavones. Fermented soy is stuff like soy sauce, tempeh.

For women I'd think this is probably a problem too because is messes with our homones a lot too, so be conservative about consumption.
Another Dr. talkin about Soy. He talks about other problems. Click.