Rather Be Healthy

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7 “FATTY” Foods that Can Help You to Get a Flat Stomach (some of these will surprise you!)

Healthy fats

7 “FATTY” Foods that Can Help You to Get a Flat Stomach (some of these will surprise you!)
These 7 shocking Fatty (but healthy) super-foods can actually help you to burn body fat faster!
By Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist
Author of the best-seller — The Truth about Six Pack Abs
At this point, the anti-fat propaganda has died and almost everybody understands by now that eating fat doesn’t necessarily make you fat. In fact, it’s absolutely imperative to get enough healthy fats in your diet to keep your hormones balanced, blood sugar under control, and prevent cravings. Here are 7 examples of “fatty” foods that can actually HELP you to get lean…
1. Super Dark Chocolate (at least 72% cacao content or higher) – It might not be a secret anymore, but yes, dark chocolate (NOT milk chocolate) can be a very healthy food, even though it is technically calorie dense.
However, I would contend that dark chocolate can actually HELP you to burn off more body fat if you’re the type of person that has a sweet tooth and likes to eat a lot of desserts. In this case, just 1 or 2 small squares of dark chocolate can many times satisfy your sweet tooth for only 30 or 40 calories as opposed to 500 calories for a piece of chocolate cake or a piece of pie.
Also some brands of dark chocolate that are in the mid 70’s in % cacao content or higher, can have a fairly high ratio of fiber content (I’ve seen some brands have 5 grams of fiber out of 15 grams of total carbs per serving), and relatively low sugar content compared to the amount of healthy fats. In fact, that’s one of the “tricks” I use to select a good quality chocolate… I look for more total fat than total carbs (or about the same number of grams of each).
The importance of that fact is that it means many dark chocolates will not greatly affect your blood sugar and will have a fairly blunted blood sugar response compared to other “sweets”.
In addition, dark chocolate is also very rich in healthful antioxidants, including a powerful compound called theobromine which has been shown to help lower blood pressure and have other health benefits. The fat content in a good dark chocolate should come solely from the natural healthy fats occurring in cocoa butter and not from any other added fats. Any chocolates with added fats or other additives will generally not be as healthy.
The reason I say to choose dark chocolates with at least 72% cacao content is that the higher the % of cacao, the lower the % of sugar. However, this does mean that any chocolate over 80% cacao content will generally start to get a more bitter taste and have very little sweetness. If you like this type of taste, then the higher % cocao, the better. Otherwise, a good 75% dark chocolate is in my opinion an almost perfect combination of lightly sweet with a rich chocolate taste. Just remember to keep those daily quantities of chocolate small as it is calorie dense!
You can also reap the benefits of the antioxidants and fiber without all of the calories by using organic unsweetened cocoa powder in your smoothies or other recipes.
2. Coconut milk, coconut flour, and coconut oil — Coconut milk and oil are great sources of a super healthy type of saturated fat called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), including a component called lauric acid, which is a powerful nutrient for your immune system, and is lacking in most western diets. In addition, MCTs are readily used for energy by the body and less likely to be stored as body fat compared to other types of fats.
Along with coconut milk and coconut oil as healthy fat choices, we’ve also got coconut flour as a healthier flour option for baking. Coconut flour is an extremely high fiber flour alternative (almost ALL of the carbs in this flour are fiber and not starch!). Coconut flour is also VERY high in protein compared to most flours and is also gluten free!
Just beware that if you’re going to use coconut flour for baking, it absolutely NEEDS to be mixed with other flours as it sucks up moisture like crazy… I’ve made delicious baked goods by mixing coconut flour with almond flour and quinoa flour in equal parts, and adding slightly more liquid ingredients than the recipe calls for.
3. Grass-fed (pasture-raised) butter — yes, delicious smooth and rich BUTTER (real butter, not deadly margarine!)… It’s delicious, contains loads of healthy nutritional factors, and does NOT have to be avoided in order to get lean. In fact, I eat a couple pats of grass-fed butter daily and maintain single digit body fat most times of the year.
There’s a lot of confusion about this topic… in fact, I just saw a TV show today that was talking about unhealthy foods and one of the first things they showed was butter. It just shows that the majority of the population has zero idea that butter (grass-fed only!) can actually be a healthy part of your diet.
In fact, there’s even ample evidence that REAL butter can even help you to lose body fat for a couple of main reasons:
a. Grass-fed butter is known to have high levels of a healthy fat called CLA, which has been shown to have anti-cancer properties, and also has been shown to help burn abdominal fat and build lean muscle.
b. Grass-fed butter also has an ideal balance of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids (unlike conventional grain-fed butter) which helps fight inflammation in your body, and can help balance hormones.
c. The healthy fats in grass-fed butter also contain MCTs, which help to boost your immune system and are readily burned by the body for energy. The healthy fats in grass-fed butter also help to satisfy your appetite and control blood sugar levels, both of which help you to stay lean!
If you have a hard time finding a grass-fed butter at your grocery store, Kerrygold Irish butter is one of my favorites, and even though the label doesn’t clearly state “grass-fed”, the cows are 100% grass-fed on lush green pastures in Ireland. It’s one of the richest butters in color that I’ve seen, which indicates high levels of carotenoids.
4. Whole Eggs, including the yolk (not just egg whites) — Most people know that eggs are one of the highest quality sources of protein. However, most people don’t know that the egg yolks are the healthiest part of the egg… that’s where almost all of the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants (such as lutein) are found in eggs.
In fact, the egg yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids. Also, the protein of whole eggs is more bio-available than egg whites alone due to a more balanced amino acid profile that the yolks help to build.
Just make sure to choose free-range organic eggs instead of normal grocery store eggs. Similar to the grass-fed beef scenerio, the nutrient content of the eggs and the balance between healthy omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids (in excess) is controlled by the diet of the hens.
Chickens that are allowed to roam free outside and eat a more natural diet will give you healthier, more nutrient-rich eggs with a healthier fat balance compared with your typical grocery store eggs (that came from chickens fed nothing but soy and corn and crowded inside “egg factories” all day long).
5. Grass-fed beef or bison (NOT the typical grocery store beef!) — I know most people think that red meat is unhealthy for you, but that’s because they do not understand how the health of the animal affects how healthy the meat is for consumption. Keep this in mind — “an unhealthy animal provides unhealthy meat, but a healthy animal provides healthy meat”.
Typical beef or bison that you see at the grocery store is raised on grains, mainly corn (and to some extent, soybeans). Soy and corn are NOT the natural diet of cattle or bison, and therefore changes the chemical balance of fats and other nutrients in the beef or bison. Grain-fed beef and bison is typically WAY too high in omega-6 fats and WAY too low in omega-3 fats. In addition, the practice of feeding cattle corn and soy as the main portion of their diet upsets their digestive system and makes them sick… and it also increases the amount of dangerous e-coli in the meat. This is not the case with grass-fed meat.
On the other hand, grass-fed beef from cattle and buffalo (or bison) that were raised on the type of natural foods that they were meant to eat in nature (grass and other forage), have much higher levels of healthy omega-3 fats and lower levels of inflammatory omega-6 fats (that most people already eat way too much of) compared to grain fed beef or bison.
Grass fed meats also typically contain up to 3 times the Vitamin E as in grain fed meats.
In addition, grass-fed meat from healthy cattle or bison also contain a special healthy fat called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in MUCH higher levels than grain-fed meat. CLA has been proven in scientific studies in recent years to help in burning fat and building lean muscle (which can help you lose weight!). These benefits are on top of the fact that grass-fed meats are some of the highest quality proteins that you can possibly eat… and this also aids in burning fat and building lean muscle.
Grass-fed meats are a little harder to find, but just ask your butcher or find a specialty grocery store and they usually have cuts available. I’ve also found a great site to order grass-fed meats online and have gotten to know the owner of this company well, and they are dedicated to the quality of their foods.
6. Avocados — Even though avocados are typically thought of as a “fatty food”, they are chock full of healthy fats! Not only is this fruit (yes, surprisingly, avocados are actually a fruit) super-high in monounsaturated fat, but also chock full of vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients, and antioxidants.
Also, in my opinion, guacamole (mashed avocados with garlic, onion, tomato, pepper, etc) is one of the most delicious food toppings ever created, and you can be happy to know that it’s also one of the healthiest toppings you can use on your foods. Try sliced avocados or guacamole on sandwiches, burgers, eggs or omelets, on salads or with fish, or as a delicious side to just about any meal.
The quality dose of healthy fats, fiber, and micronutrients that you get from avocados helps your body to maintain proper levels of hormones that help with fat loss and muscle building. Also, since avocados are an extremely satiating food, eating them helps to reduce your appetite in the hours after your meal. Say goodbye to junk food cravings and bring on that fat burning! I personally eat anywhere from a half to a full avocado DAILY and it only helps to keep me lean.
7. Nuts: Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachios, Pecans, Brazil Nuts, Macadamias, etc — Yes, this is yet another “fatty food” that can actually help you burn belly fat! Although nuts are generally between 75-90% fat in terms of a ratio of fat calories to total calories, this is another type of food that is all healthy fats, along with high levels of micronutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Nuts are also a good source of fiber and protein, which of course, you know helps to control blood sugar and can aid in fat loss.
Nuts also help to maintain good levels of fat burning hormones in your body (adequate healthy fat intake is vitally important to hormone balance) as well as helping to control appetite and cravings so that you essentially eat less calories overall, even though you’re consuming a high-fat food. My favorite healthy nuts are pecans, pistachios, almonds, macadamias, and walnuts, and by eating them in variety, you help to broaden the types of vitamins and minerals and also the balance of polyunsaturated to monounsaturated fats you obtain.
Try to find raw nuts instead of roasted nuts if you can, as it helps to maintain the quality and nutritional content of the healthy fats that you will eat.
Also, try to broaden your horizons beyond the typical peanut butter that most people eat, and try almond butter, cashew butter, pecan butter, or macadamia butter to add variety to your diet.
One of the little “tricks” that I’ve used with clients when trying to cut down body fat is to have them eat a handful of nuts such as almonds or pecans about 20 minutes before lunch and dinner. This ends up being a perfect time to control your appetite before lunch or dinner and helps you to eat less overall calories on that meal.

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Drug research, even from clinical trials sponsored by the federal government, is routinely suppressed

Help us persuade Congress to reform the agency with our Action Alert!
Drug research, even from clinical trials sponsored by the federal government, is routinely suppressed, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), an international peer-reviewed medical publication. The study found that less than half of all NIH-funded clinical drug trials were published in a medical journal within two and a half years of the trial’s completion—with fully one-third of trial results remaining unpublished even four years after the trial. Why? Because the drug manufacturers didn’t like the data.
One example cited in the study was the FDA-approved diabetes drug Avandia, which in 2007 was found to increase heart attacks and cardiovascular deaths—even though the drug’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline, had known about the risk before the drug was approved. The BMJ study found that 35 of the drug’s 42 clinical studies had never been published, and were obtained only because a court case required the pharmaceutical company to turn over the data.
Not only does this irresponsible practice harm patients, it also increases healthcare costs. Eugene Carragee, a Stanford University orthopedic surgeon and editor-in-chief of the Spine Journal, spearheaded an unprecedented independent analysis showing that the medical device manufacturer Medtronic—not to mention a circle of orthopedic surgeons who received millions of dollars in royalties from the company—systematically failed to report serious complications with Medtronic’s bone-growth stimulating back surgery device known as Infuse. The results of a crucial clinical trial of the product were not published until nearly five years after the trial had to be halted because unwanted bone was growing around the spines of the trial volunteers.
For two years, Schering-Plough, the maker of the popular cholesterol drug Vytorin, sat on the results of a clinical trial showing that the drug provided no benefit in improving artery health. During that time, the drug was heavily marketed to consumers in TV ads; the marketing was only halted in 2008 after a congressional investigation was launched.
In 2003, a clinical trial of Multaq, a drug that treated cardiac arrhythmias, was stopped because more patients who were getting the drug were dying than those who received a placebo—though the study results weren’t published until five years later. Even so, the drug was approved by the FDA in 2009 as a treatment for atrial fibrillation in certain patients—just not as a means to reduce deaths!
Why does FDA approve drugs whose data have been suppressed by the manufacturer? Is it because FDA depends on Big Pharma for its budget—and needs drug companies to hire former FDA employees. The Wall Street Journal reported that FDA advisers, in a recent vote, said the benefits of four popular Bayer AG birth control pills outweigh the blood clot risk. What the FDA didn’t disclose is that three of the advisers have had ties to Bayer, serving as consultants, speakers, or researchers!
Despite the FDA’s bias in favor of drugs and against supplements, there are tremendous shortages of some drugs (though no shortage of supplements—so far!). This drug shortage prompts some hospitals to engage in price gouging, so a drug that usually costs $26 is being offered for $1,200. Moreover, the FDA artificially inflates drug prices—especially generic drug prices, which should be far lower than they are—as we have reported previously.
The shortage in the US drug market also makes foreign counterfeit drugs more popular. Recently, some 65 million counterfeit pills were seized in China; no word yet on how many of them had already made their way to the US.
If this is the way FDA oversees dangerous drugs, what will happen if we give them the same authority over supplements? It’s not just that the agency doesn’t have the knowledge to properly oversee supplements—they also don’t have the capacity. If they can’t keep up with the hundreds of drugs already under their purview, how will they cope with the thousands of supplements on the market? One way, of course, is for them to drastically reduce the number of supplements that can be marketed—one inevitable result of the NDI draft guidelines that we have been campaigning against.
There must be sincere and honest people working for the US Food and Drug Administration, but it is currently being run in a corrupt and incompetent way. It desperately needs to be reformed. Please help us in our ongoing campaign to overhaul the agency by signing our petition to Congress. As we say in the petition, “Everything about the FDA must be taken apart, reviewed, redefined, and re-created so that it supports, not obstructs, the mission of advancing medical science and vibrant good health for all.” Please take action today!
Click the link above to go to the Action Alert page. Once there, fill out the form with your name and address, etc., and customize your letter. We have a suggested message for you, but please feel free to add your own comments to the letter.
We’d also love to hear your comments about this article—just add your thoughts below—but remember that the messages below are only seen by our ANH-USA readers and not Congress, the FDA, etc.

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Synthetic Vitamin E is Problematic, so Why Did they Use it? Because its petro chemically derived and it makes big profits.

Story at-a-glance
• According to a recent study, men taking 400 IU’s of vitamin E per day increase their risk of prostate cancer by 17 percent. However, what media reports fail to address is the fact that the vitamin E used is a synthetic, petrochemically-derived form of vitamin E that has known toxic effects
• Beware that many tocopherols, the generic term for more than seven types of vitamin E, are extracted from genetically modified plants such as GM soy
• Another recent study claims that dietary supplements are associated with an increased mortality in older women. However, this observational study, based on self-reported use of supplements over a 22-year period, contains many serious flaws and has been grossly misrepresented by conventional media
• The timing of the media hype over these flawed studies conveniently coincide with the FDA’s plan to amend the definitions for new dietary ingredients (NDI’s) and Senator Durbin’s proposed legislation, S.1310: Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011, which treats vitamins as if they’re drugs
By Dr. Mercola
Over the past several of weeks, the media have gone wild over studies allegedly showing that vitamins have lethal consequences.
Again and again, journalists who are clueless about health have misled readers while catering to the interests of Big Pharma and their hired lackey, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Will Vitamin E Increase Risk of Prostate Cancer?
Back in 2009, the initial report of the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) found “no reduction in risk of prostate cancer with either selenium or vitamin E supplements but a statistically non-significant increase in prostate cancer risk with vitamin E.”
Then came the recently released update, which allegedly shows that high doses—400 IU’s a day or more—of vitamin E may increase your risk of prostate cancer by 17 percent.
According to CNN:
“Based on the results of this trial, [the researchers] suggested that men should have a serious conversation with their doctors about whether taking vitamin E supplements is a good idea.”
However, there’s a glaring problem with this finding, which has been completely overlooked by conventional media, and the researchers of the study itself.
For some reason, many fail to appreciate that there are usually major differences between natural nutrients and their synthetic counterparts.
They simply do not have the same biological effects, and this appears particularly true when it comes to vitamin E.
Synthetic Vitamin E is Problematic, so Why Did they Use it?
In this case, the vitamin E used was all rac-α-tocopheryl acetate—a synthetic petrochemically-derived form of dl-alpha tocopherol, which has known toxic effects. GreenMedInfo.com has a listing of published research relating to the many ill health effects related to this compound. The Toxicology Data Network also lists numerous health problems related to synthetic vitamin E at various dosages.
Unfortunately, most studies investigating vitamins use synthetic versions. On the one hand this is good, as synthetic vitamins in general have overwhelmingly been shown to be largely harmless. However, studies such as this one—and the journalists reporting on the findings—can also do great disservice by failing to specify that the results pertain to petrochemically-derived vitamin E. The study says absolutely nothing about the health effects of natural vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol).Part of the problem with synthetic alpha tocopherol is that it depletes gamma tocopherol.
As explained in a recent article by Life Extension:
“In 1997, we announced that taking only the alpha tocopherol form of vitamin E displaces critically important gamma tocopherol in the body. By displacing gamma tocopherol, we feared that high doses of alpha tocopherol could increase cancer risks.
In fact, three years after Life Extension’s first warning, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health released the results of a huge study (10,456 men). The findings showed that men with the highest gamma tocopherol blood levels had a fivefold reduction in prostate cancer risk. This same study showed that selenium and alpha tocopherol also reduced prostate cancer risk but only when gamma tocopherol levels were high. Confirmatory studies document higher levels of gamma tocopherol to be strongly associated with reduced cancer risks.
While both alpha and gamma tocopherol are potent antioxidants, gamma tocopherol has a unique function. Because of its different chemical structure, gamma tocopherol scavenges reactive nitrogen species, which can damage proteins, lipids, and DNA.
… The fact that supplementation with isolated, synthetic alpha tocopherol depletes plasma gamma tocopherol levels means that the researchers who designed the SELECT trial created a biological catastrophe… The fact that higher prostate cancer rates were observed in the group overloaded with synthetic alpha tocopherol in the SELECT trial was predictable and expected based upon fundamental facts Life Extension understood more than a decade ago.”
I believe Life Extension is correct in their evaluation of this study: it was designed to fail in order to protect the financial interests of the cancer industry, which thrives by providing very expensive toxic drugs, radiation, and surgery.
Did You Know? Some Vitamin E on Market May be Genetically Modified
Another risk factor of vitamin E supplements and foods fortified with vitamin E relates to the fact that it may be derived from genetically modified (GM) plants. The chemical name for vitamin E is “tocopherol.” Tocopherol, which is the generic term for at least seven different types of vitamin E, are naturally formed in a variety of plants.
Tocopherol can be produced either by chemical synthesis, or by extraction from:
• Maize
• Soy beans
• Cotton seed
• Rice
• Wheat germ oil
The problem is that a large majority of these plants are now genetically modified—at least in the U.S. In Europe, foods and supplements containing GM-derived vitamin E must be labeled as such. The U.S. however, does not require genetically modified foods and products to be labeled, so there’s no telling what you’re getting. Unfortunately, verifying the non-GM status of tocopherols is particularly challenging as many companies that control the supply of vitamin E collect plant oils from commingled sources.
Are Dietary Supplements Risky for Older Women?
Another recent study is being reported as having found that dietary supplements are associated with an increased mortality in older women. However, this is yet another example of a flawed study being further misrepresented by poor journalism. First of all, this was an observational study based on self-reported use of supplements over a 22-year period—it was not a rigorous trial. Supplement use was reported three times, six years apart. Now, ask yourself, how accurately would your own recollection be of what supplements you’ve used over the past six years? Furthermore, the data collected was rather generic—there’s no telling whether the supplements used were high- or low quality; synthetic or whole-food based, for example.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
“The research did not explore whether supplements contributed to the causes of death among the women … [I]t could reflect the possibility that the women who took … supplements were more likely to be sick from other causes and died from their underlying disease.”
And there, in a nutshell, is the problem with the way this study is being reported in many places. That same Los Angeles Times article, for example, quotes a dietician arguing that the research “bolstered arguments against using supplements”. Other articles have made similar claims.
But the study does no such thing.
It’s quite possible that the people studied who were sick were trying to help themselves by taking supplements, and hence this group was biased towards being sicker. An almost identical study could be done associating frequency of visits to the doctor with increased risk of death. But you can bet that few in the media would jump the conclusion that doctor visits are deadly … even though such a statement would not be entirely untrue.
Was the Data Manipulated with Preconceived Bias?
But there’s more… Upon closer review, it seems the researchers went to great lengths massaging the data to reach their own preconceived conclusions. As explained in a recent article by Alliance for Natural Health:
“Dr. Robert Verkerk, our scientific director'[s]… analysis reveals, among many other interesting points, that all of the data was “adjusted” by the authors using methods of their own choice. If you look at the study itself, the first thing you see is an adjustment for “age and energy”… After this adjustment, vitamins C, B complex, E, D, as well as calcium, magnesium, selenium, and zinc all appear to add to years lived.”
So, after that first adjustment, several supplements added to longevity. Next they “adjusted out” other lifestyle factors, which then resulted in most supplements contributing to earlier death. According to Robert Verkerk:
“It must be born in mind that this is an observational study where lifestyle factors, which are known to have a far greater influence on survival outcome than typical vitamin and mineral supplementation, have been ‘adjusted out’. Before this data massage process has occurred, the findings are quite different, and appear to have been largely ignored by a mass media ever keen to find ways of damning supplements to appease their pharmaceutical industry advertisers…
This is what the study actually found before the data were adjusted… Supplement users were significantly (statistically) more likely than non-users to:
Be non-smokers Be more educated (graduates) Have lower risk of diabetes mellitus
Have a lower body mass index (BMI) Have a lower mean hip-to-waist ratio Be more physically active
Ingest fewer calories Consume more protein Consume less total fat
Consume more polyunsaturated fatty acids Consume more fruit Consume more vegetables
Consume more whole grain products
Frustratingly, the authors don’t tell us how these supplement users fared over the years. However, we can assume it’s quite likely that they did rather better than the non-users, and that’s why the researchers have left us only with adjusted data that’s meant to have removed the influence of these all-important lifestyle factors.”
Interestingly enough, and quite tellingly, the authors did NOT make any adjustments for drug use, despite the fact that many drugs are highly toxic and may contribute to premature death. And many who are sick take both drugs and supplements in an effort to maintain health and treat their disease. As stated by Life Extension:
“[T]he authors admit they did not factor in the increased intake of dietary supplements that occur in response to the development of symptoms or diagnosis of serious disease. Stated differently: If a woman was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer and began ingesting 40 supplements daily, but died six months later, she would have been counted as being a heavy supplement user who died prematurely.”
Smells Like a Ruse to Justify New FDA Safety Regulations…
If you ask me, the timing of these studies hitting the news couldn’t possibly be more convenient. Last month, I wrote a couple of articles about the FDA’s latest plan to effectively eliminate many commonly used supplements by amending the definitions for new dietary ingredients (NDI’s) and retroactively applying them to products already on the market. You can read the FDA Draft Guidance on New Dietary Ingredients (NDI’s) here. (A detailed analysis of the FDA Draft Guidance is also available.)
This proposed mandate goes hand-in-hand with S.1310: Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011, introduced at the end of June by U.S. Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois). This legislation is, using the words of Byron J. Richards, “an alarming regulatory nightmare that is trying to treat vitamins as if they are drugs.”
The open comment period on the FDA’s proposed guidelines will expire on December 2nd, and I for one would not be the least surprised if the studies discussed above will be used as justification for driving through Durbin’s legislation and the FDA’s amended NDI definitions. After all, if they can sway public opinion once again into thinking that supplements can KILL you, then people will support the idea that we need to treat supplements like drugs and require them to undergo the same detailed and costly kind of testing.
This is ridiculous, as vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements have a tremendously safe track record. Meanwhile, drugs are known to cause well over 100,000 deaths per year when taken as prescribed, and two million more suffer serious side effects. For comparison, look at:
• Statistics available from the U.S. National Poison Data System, which covers acute poisonings: In 2007, 1,597 people reportedly died from drugs. Meanwhile there was not one single fatality caused by a vitamin or dietary mineral supplement that year
• CDC mortality data for 2005: Prescription drugs killed more than 33,500 people that year, second only to car accidents. That same year, the American Association of Poison Control Centers reported 27 deaths that were associated with dietary supplements (one of which was reportedly due to Ephedra; the herbal supplement banned the year before for being too dangerous. In 2005, low-dose Ephedra was also subsequently banned).
Yet, Durbin and the FDA want you to think that they’re just acting in your best interest. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Up to this point, the FDA has had to prove a supplement unsafe in order to take action against it, but now they want the supplement industry to prove the safety of what in many cases amount to food, before they can reach the market. Now, since dietary supplements are not patented drugs with outrageous profit margins, very few supplement makers will be able to afford the required safety studies, which could run in the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars per ingredient. Furthermore, the manufacturer is not the only one that would have to seek approval—every distributor that wants to use the NDI would have to file a separate NDI application.
By adding this extremely costly testing and approval process, small and medium sized supplement companies will be eliminated, which in turn will drive up costs while at the same time reduce your access to historically safe nutritional products. The end result is that fewer people will use supplements to improve their health; driving them back into the extremely profitable fold of conventional medicine and drugs.
So, Will Your Supplements Kill You?
Vitamins and minerals are essential for life. However, never in the history of man has the human body ever needed synthetic chemicals. And therein lies the crux of the matter. Most studies evaluating the health effects of vitamins investigate the synthetic versions, which in many cases are more similar to drugs than they are to food. And secondly, studies can be manipulated in any number of ways to come up with an end result that serves a particular agenda. The two studies discussed above are perfect examples of both of these problems.
Making matters worse, the media conveniently and consistently fails to report on rebuttals explaining the technical and statistical reasons why a study is invalid.
Common sense however will tell you that you cannot kill yourself with nutrition, per se.
That said, it’s certainly possible to go overboard with supplements and push your health in the wrong direction by creating nutritional imbalances. It’s important to understand that taking mega-doses of vitamins or minerals over extended periods of time, especially synthetic ones, can have serious health consequences.
Ideally, you’ll want to get the majority of the nutrients you need from your food, which means you have to eat whole, preferably organic foods—not processed foods fortified with synthetic vitamins and minerals! Depending on your health status, you would then evaluate whether or not you might need to take a supplement to help address a particular health problem or counter any particular deficiency in your diet.
Examples of supplements I believe most people can benefit from, simply because it’s very difficult to get enough of them from your diet, include high-quality omega-3 and probiotics. If you cannot get sufficient amounts of sunshine and don’t have access to a safe tanning bed then an oral vitamin D3 supplement would also be in order.
In conclusion, Michael Long, ND sums this whole issue up rather nicely:
“Even with totally irresponsible use, you would be hard pressed to be killed by your vitamins… In truth, studies are published every day showing the safety and health promoting effects of vitamins, especially when used responsibly (i.e. used for a specific purpose, after objective testing showed a deficiency), and according to the evidence.
If you want to focus on something that will actually kill you, open your medicine cabinet and look at the drugs that stare back at you. Close to 1 million people die in North America every year as a direct result of adverse effects from prescription drugs. The safety record of pharmaceutical drugs is not even comparable to vitamins.”

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Did You Know…
…that 3 natural extracts may hold the key to stopping inflammation—a major cause of many serious health problems—from diabetes to cancer, as well as visible signs of aging?
Scientists at Kingston University in London, England say they were “astonished” recently by the power of 3 natural extracts—white tea, witch hazel, and rose—to stop destructive inflammation. Their exciting study results were published in the December 2011 issue of the Journal of Inflammation.
“For thousands of years people used natural remedies to try—and sometimes succeed—in curing their ailments and preserving their youth,” said Professor Declan Naughton, from the University of Kingston’s School of Life Sciences. “Now the latest research we have carried out suggests a number of naturally-occurring substances may offer the hope of new treatments to block the progression of inflammation.”
Inflammation—”The Secret Killer”
That’s exceptional news considering that inflammation has been confirmed to play a major role in the initiation and development of numerous serious diseases, including:
Cancer
Diabetes
Arthritis
Neurodegenerative conditions
Heart disease
Pulmonary problems
Inflammation has also been implicated in premature aging and early death. “Inflammation is a secret killer—helping arrest its development, or being able to stop it from happening at all, would clearly be of benefit,” Professor Naughton explained.
Of 21 Plants Tested, 3 Stood Above the Rest
The research team tested 21 plant extracts for evidence of their ability to fight cancer and prevent aging. Of the 21 extracts, white tea, witch hazel, and rose stood above the rest, and white tea above all showed outstanding results.
“Indeed, it appeared that drinking a simple cup of white tea might well help reduce an individual’s risk of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, or even just age-associated wrinkles,” Professor Naughton said.
Based on such promising lab results, the team took their research a step further and attempted to replicate the results in human skin cells. “As the largest organ in the body, the skin provides a barrier against UV radiation, chemicals, microbes, and physical pollutants,” said study co-author, Professor Tamsyn Thring.
“Challenges like this can contribute to both inflammation and skin aging. [W]hen inflammation starts—be it a simple cut to a finger or in an arthritic joint—the body starts producing a compound called interleukin 8, which helps the process along. We began wondering if there was a way we could switch that signal off, thereby blocking the inflammation’s progress.”
The researchers tested the extracts for their ability to suppress the “rogue enzymes” and oxidants (also known as free radicals) that cause inflammation and age the skin. They used 3 different concentrations of each extract:
==> White tea (freeze dried powder)
==> Witch hazel (dried herb)
==> Rose extract (in a medicinal tincture form)
The team was amazed to see how well the various concentrations worked to suppress inflammation. Additional future studies will help determine the best way to use these extracts—both preventively and in the treatment of various ailments.
Meanwhile, you may wish to incorporate these extraordinary remedies into your health and personal care routines.

Natural health practitioners use all 3 of these plants for both internal and external applications, but cautions apply. For example, experts warn that standard commercial formulations of witch hazel contain a type of alcohol not intended for human consumption, and thus should never be used internally.

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The Happiness Diet by Tyler Graham and Drew Ramsey, MD

Written by Tim Boyd

March 27 2012

The Happiness Diet: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain, Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body
by Tyler Graham and Drew Ramsey, MD
Rodale Books, 2011

Scattered throughout this book are the top hundred reasons to avoid processed foods. And that is the short list. Reason number one points out that castoreum, which is used as a flavor enhancer in puddings, candies, and some frozen dairy desserts, comes from beaver anal glands. I think I’ll pass on dessert. Reason number thirty-nine reports that eight ounces of packaged macaroni are permitted by law to contain four and one-half rodent hairs. Who comes up with this stuff? Not three hairs, or five, or even four, but four and one-half. Do inspectors actually count hairs in macaroni? What if the hair is not from a rodent? Are all rodent hairs the same length? If not, how do you know whether you are looking at a third of a hair or two thirds of a hair? Never mind; I digress.

There is some interesting history in this book. Dr. John Pemberton was injured in the American Civil War and became addicted to morphine. He developed an elixir to cure his addiction and called it Pemberton’s French Wine of Coca, made from Bordeaux wine and extracts of coca leaf and kola nut. When Atlanta outlawed alcohol, he replaced the wine with sugar water and called the concoction Coca Cola. In 1915 it came in a six-ounce bottle. Now we have a portion size called “Big Gulp” in which you can almost swim. These changes to the kinds of foods (I use that term loosely) available have a lot to do with the reason why mental depression is at an all-time high in the U.S.

We get more history in the following pages on the development of Crisco and how the essential nutrient called cholesterol came to be framed as public health enemy number one. Then there is the story of pesticides being developed from the toxic by-products of the oil industry. One of the first was produced by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company and was called Flit. The illustrator for the Flit ad campaign was Theodor Geisel. He achieved greater fame later when he wrote children’s books like Green Eggs and Ham under the name of Dr. Seuss.

It makes perfect sense that inundation with fake foods and toxic chemicals would have a detrimental effect on mental health. So what advice do Graham and Ramsey have? They recommend eating foods with key nutrients that promote good mental health, including vitamin B12, vitamin A, vitamin D, minerals, cholesterol and fats. I think they’re on to something. They do a good job of explaining why vitamin B12, cholesterol and saturated fat are particularly essential, and recommend getting all these nutrients from real food, not pills.

The importance of animal fat is emphasized in more than one section in this book. Good fats found in whole milk, butter, eggs, and meat are promoted repeatedly. If you want any serotonin (the “feel-good” hormone) in your brain, you want cholesterol. Today the average American suffers the double whammy of toxic food-like substances in the commercial food stream along with aggressive propaganda to scare us off all the good brain foods. Actually there are other whammies, but don’t get me started.

There is a good chapter on decoding food packaging labels. The label “natural” has no real meaning in the food industry. Our authors properly point out that you even have to be wary of the “organic” label. Trans fats are still alive and well in processed foods everywhere, and in some cases are being replaced with interesterified fats, which are probably as bad. After sections on meal plans and recipes there is a bonus chapter on the top hundred reasons to avoid supplements which is worth a look. That is followed by an appendix defining the various kinds of fats. All of this adds up to a thumbs UP.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2012.

About the Reviewer

Tim Boyd was born and raised in Ohio, graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in computer engineering, and worked in the defense industry in Northern Virginia for over 20 years. During that time, a slight case of arthritis led him to discover that nutrition makes a difference and nutrition became a serious hobby. After a pleasant and satisfying run in the electronics field, he decided he wanted to do something more important. He is now arthritis free and enjoying his dream job working for the Weston A. Price Foundation.

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Study: EPA-approved GMO insecticide responsible for killing off bees, contaminating entire food chain
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Early last year, leaked documents obtained by a Colorado beekeeper exposed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) illegitimate approval of clothianidin, a highly-toxic pesticide manufactured by Bayer CropScience that the regulatory agency knew was capable of killing off bees (http://www.naturalnews.com/030921_EPA_pesticides.html). Now, a new study out of Purdue University in Indiana has not only confirmed, once again, that clothianidin is killing off bees, but also that clothianidin’s toxicity is systemic throughout the entire food chain, which could one day lead to the catastrophic destruction of the food supply.

The study, which was published in the online journal PLoS ONE, investigated the various methods and routes by which a class of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, which includes clothianidin, are harming honey bees. They discovered that both clothianidin and thiamethoxam, another component of neonicotinoid insecticides, persist in “extremely high levels” in planter exhaust material produced during the planting of crops treated with these insecticides, which runs contrary to industry claims that the chemicals biodegrade and are not a threat.

The research team also found neonicotinoid compounds in soil, including in fields where the chemicals were not even sprayed, as well as on various plants and flowers visited by bees. Based on their analysis, the researchers involved with the study determined that bees actively transfer contaminated pollen from primarily neonicotinoid-treated corn crops, and bring it back to their hives. The bees also transfer neonicotinoid compounds to other plants and crops not treated with the chemicals, which shows just how persistent these chemicals truly are in the environment.

You can read the entire report for yourself at the following link:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3250423/?tool=pubmed

“This research should nail the coffin lid shut on clothianidin,” said Laurel Hopwood, chairwoman of the Sierra Club’s Genetic Engineering Action Team, who is petitioning the EPA to finally ban these chemicals after years of needless delay. “Despite numerous attempts by the beekeeping industry and conservation organizations to persuade the EPA to ban clothianidin, the EPA has failed to protect the food supply for the American people.”

Without bees, which are now dying off at an alarming rate due to exposure to clothianidin and various other insecticides and fungicides, one third or more of the food supply will be destroyed, including at least 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables that rely on bees for pollination. This is why Dr. Neil Carman, Ph.D., scientific advisor to Sierra Club, has put out a call for the EPA to immediately ban the use of clothianidin and the other neonicotinoid insecticides for the sake of protecting the food supply from irreversible destruction.

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Sources for this article include:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3250423/?tool=pubmed

http://iowa.sierraclub.org/Agriculture/agriculture.htm

Take Action: Tell EPA To Ban Bee-Killing Pesticide

http://www.naturalnews.com/030921_EPA_pesticides.html

Before you read the following article on autism I’d like to point out some very important information that will contradict the crap being told to the American public.

Firstly….Mercury is the most toxic non radioactive substance on earth and it is still being placed into the teeth of millions of people every year.

An amalgam filling being placed today consists of Mercury, Copper and Silver, 33% of each. When you chew, brush your teeth or drink hot drinks you stimulate the release of Methyl Mercury which when in vapor form will enter your blood stream via the most sensitive parts of your body, the insides of your cheeks and under your tongue.

Methyl mercury is 100 times more toxic than mercury, your blood is divided into red and white cells, within the red cells is hemeglobin which carries oxygen or oxyhemeglobin to enable the organs to function.

Methyl mercury doesn’t want to wander aimlessly throughout the body, it will reside in a filter organ such as the liver, kidney, heart or brain.

Now the relevant organ will not function correctly, it will not do the job it was designed to do, it will not cleanse your body, it will not provide oxygenated cleansed blood, it will not funtion the way God designed it to do.

If the filter organs didn’t become the home for the methyl mercury there is holding or catching point for mercury, in the woman it’s the uterus and the man the sperm. Oh what does this mean, well it means that when a man and woman have sex the clild is created from mercury contaminated sperm in a mercury contaminated uterus.

Do you think that this has anything to do with the rise in autism….
It makes a lot more sense than the absolute garbage being pushed at the American public by the CDC and big pharma and the AMA and ADA.

Wake up America…

CDC: 1 in 88 Kids Has Autism; Docs Debate Cause

By LAWRENCE BORGES, M.D., ABC News Medical Unit

March 29, 2012—

One in 88 children is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, by age 8, according to a study released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a rate that has risen far above the 2006 estimate of 1 in 110.

But experts remain locked in debate about whether these numbers tell the whole story.

The CDC report, which analyzed data from 2008, indicates a 23 percent rise in diagnoses of ASDs over a two-year period.

The news could be most alarming for boys. The study reports that on average 1 in 54 boys was diagnosed with autism, compared to only 1 in 252 girls.

But what this rise actually means is still a mystery. Some doctors contacted by ABC News believe a broader definition of autism has contributed to rising rates.

“I think it has to do with changing diagnostic criteria, including mine over the years which have made me label many more children as being on the autism spectrum than say 10-20 years ago,” said Dr. Isabelle Rapin, professor of pediatrics and neurology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “Not only physicians, but parents, teachers, therapists and the public are much more aware of the symptoms of autism, and I suspect some may apply the diagnosis based on one symptom, which is inadequate.”

Dr. Lisa Shulman, also at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, echoed this concern.

“Over the years, children with autistic disorder remain a relatively small group in our center,” said Shulman, director of Infant and Toddler Services at Einstein and an associate professor of pediatrics. “It is the group of children with milder social-communicative impairment and without a large array of mannerisms and atypical interests consistent with an ASD diagnosis that has increased significantly.”

The data was collected by The Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring network, an organization funded by the CDC to track autism rates. For this report, the ADDM reviewed medical records of 8-year-old children from 14 different areas across the country.

The study focused specifically on 8-year-olds because most autism spectrum diagnoses are made by the time a child reaches their eighth birthday. The signs of autism are often seen much earlier, however. Some experts believe that the first hints of abnormal behavior can be seen as early as 6 to 12 months.

“If parents suspect something is wrong with their child’s development, or that their child is losing skills, they should talk to their pediatrician or another developmental expert,” said Rebecca Landa, director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md., in a news release. Landa has published a list of 10 infant behaviors to watch for that may herald a developmental problem.

Still, experts say that parents need not start analyzing their babies just yet.

According to the CDC, a child should only be diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) if they meet criteria for one of three diseases outlined in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, commonly referred to as the DSM-IV.

These are Autistic disorder, Pervasive developmental disorder — not otherwise specified, or Asperger disorder. Generally, the CDC describes them as, “a group of developmental disabilities characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication and by restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior.” The CDC has also published extended definitions for these disorders online.

A proposed change for the upcoming fifth edition of the DSM would include Asperger disorder as a sub-category of Autistic disorder. It is not known how this change might affect autism reporting in the future, but research is under way to answer this question.

Autism Cases Rise; Overdiagnosis, or Something Else?

But as for the new research, the CDC was quick to caution that these results may not be applicable to the whole country, as data from only certain sites around the nation was collected. This means that the CDC report relies on the records of many different providers across the country.

Numbers aside, scientists are still searching for what causes autism in the first place.

David Amaral, director of research at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute and past president of the International Society for Autism Research, suggests that this new CDC report “will continue to fuel concerns that environmental factors, which are perhaps largely unidentified, may be increasing the prevalence of autism.”

In particular, when asked about vaccines — which have been a lightning rod for some advocacy groups in past years — experts are quick to point out that studies have shown no connection to autism.

“As we know from political campaigns, stating a claim repeatedly can lead to a public belief in the concept since these conclusions are not always based on rational thought processes but also on emotional thinking and preconceived notions,” says Dr. Max Wiznitzer, associate professor of pediatric neurology at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

“It is clear that more parents are asking questions about vaccines and autism … with most being reassured when given accurate information and being allowed to be part of the decision making process.”

And some doctors said the increase in mild cases being identified may have a silver lining for parents.

“A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is no longer the ‘kiss of death’ it used to be,” Rapin said, adding that in some situations, “parents are often eager for the diagnosis because services may be better than for other disorders.”

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Mercury:
This is a subject very close to my heart, because it was exposure to mercury that changed my life and not in a better way, no, it was mercury that contaminated me and lead to Multiple Sclerosis which I’ve had for fourteen years.
Source:
All fish, in fact anything considered a food that comes from the ocean, think about it, apart from being the biggest cesspool in the world it is also the holding point for all mercury secreted from manufacturing plant, incinerators, collieries and volcano’s.
The greatest source of mercury is through dental amalgams.
Medications-diuretics, preparation H, contact lens solution, occupational exposure-felt, adhesives, fabric softener, manufacturers of paper.

Symptoms:
This affects many organs and systems of the body. Neuromuscular diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis.
Most mental illness
Hair loss
Ataxia
Birth defects
Depression
Dizziness
Hearing loss
Insomnia
Migraine headaches
Mood swings
Nervousness
Numbness and tingling in arms and legs
Pain in limbs
Rashes
Tremors
Vision loss
Muscle weakness.

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Lead: Lead arsenate and other pesticides, tap water (especially from wells with lead soldered pipes or other contamination) some hair dyes and some lipsticks, leaded glazes on ceramic plates from other nations, manufacture of batteries, mine smelting industries, cigarette smoke, food cans soldered with lead, lead-based paints, colored inks.

Symptoms: lead has over 100 symptoms.
Abnormal brain function
Blindness
Convulsion
Deafness
Dyslexia
Encephalitis
Epilepsy
Insomnia
Multiple Sclerosis
Muscular Dystrophy
Parkinson’s disease
Vertigo
Arteriosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
Colic
Constipation
Weight loss
Spontaneous abortions
Infertility
Hypothyroidism
Cancer
Diabetes
Hypoglycemia
Anxiety
Poor concentration
Mood swings
Nightmares
Psychotic behavior
Alopecia

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