Rather Be Healthy

Yep, it’s time for yet another pandemic flu drill… “WHO says new bird strain is “one of most lethal” flu viruses,” Reuters1 recently declared.

Every few years, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and related agencies drum up another flu emergency; each promised to be worse than the last, and this year you’re likely to start hearing a lot more about “lethal bird flu” again.

What many don’t realize is that these agencies actually need these faux flu emergencies to practice — to fine-tune their strategies and test the latest disease surveillance systems.

They also need them to justify their own existence, not to mention growth and expansion. As noted in a recent article by Medical News Today2:

“After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the potential threat of bioterrorism, many new advanced systems for disease surveillance and notification have been developed and implemented throughout the world.

The goal of these systems is not only to detect a possible biological attack, but to characterize emerging pathogens so that a public health response can be implemented rapidly.

‘You can’t test these systems on a day-to-day basis,’ says… Michael A. Stoto, PhD… ‘The only way to test these systems is how they perform in a real public health emergency.’

… ‘What really made a difference in 2009 was that people from the US and Mexico talked to each other through a formalized system of communication,’ he says. ‘I think taxpayers and policymakers want to know if the billions invested after 9-11 to prepare for a biological event is paying off. I think the answer is ‘yes.'”

One Profitable Flu Hoax After Another…

So far, these pandemic threats have never been anywhere near as lethal as predicted. Unfortunately, many are still hopelessly addicted to fear, so these dramatic warnings will likely continue to be successful in enabling WHO and CDC health officials to accumulate more power and control.

Hyping fear of microorganisms has already led to an increase in the numbers of state vaccine mandates, which are now threatening people’s health and right to get an education or keep a job.

In recent years, we’ve seen a number of aggressively hyped flu pandemics that were based more on media spin than on hard science and never materialized.

While it’s prudent to be aware that a pandemic involving a mutated, lethal microorganism could occur in the future, what we’ve repeatedly seen is that the possibility has been massively over-sold in the past, allowing drug companies to rake in billions of dollars for fast-tracked, inadequately tested vaccines and other dangerous and/or ineffective anti-viral drugs.

Sadly, each time a greater number of people tend to end up being harmed by the drugs and ”pandemic” vaccines than actually succumb to the viral infection.
•The 2005 bird flu hoax: Headlines warned the U.S. was facing a cataclysmic extermination event, with a projected two million Americans at risk of potentially succumbing to the bird flu. The best case scenario had public health experts warning that the bird flu could kill at least 200,000 Americans. Then, as now, constant references to the tragic 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic heightened the fear factor to a fever pitch, despite the fact that the scientific data did not support any of these hyped claims.

Of course, 200,000 people in the US did not die from bird flu in 2005. The number was zero. I even wrote a NY Times best seller book on the topic, The Great Bird Flu Hoax.

At that time, they mysteriously translated the minuscule number of deaths of bird handlers that had occurred worldwide into an impending extermination-level event from a virus that did not — and still does not — readily spread from birds to humans, nor between humans.

Most of the people who acquire the infection were, and still are, bird handlers in continuous contact with sick birds. How anyone in their right mind could envision similar circumstances among the general population of the United States is a mystery, but it goes to show that it’s unwise to throw common sense to the wind…
•Bird flu hoax repeats: In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, hyped warnings over the bird flu were repeatedly exposed as little more than a cruel hoax, designed to instill fear and line the pocketbooks of industry and various vested individuals.
•The 2009 swine flu hoax: After four consecutive years of bird flu warnings that just refused to come to fruition, the H1N1 swine flu became front-page news again. This turned out to be yet another faux threat that cost tax payers billions for fast-tracked vaccines, which wrought havoc across the world. Ironically, the 2009 H1N1 “pandemic” actually turned out to be one of the MILDEST flu seasons in recent years with a low number of reported influenza-related deaths.

Meanwhile, the fast-tracked 2009 H1N1 vaccine turned out to be the most reactive flu vaccine ever created, harming far more people than the virus itself.
•The dire predictions of 2012: The summer of 2012 was filled with dire predictions of bird flu sufficiently mutating to cause a human pandemic, immediately followed by urgent calls for fast-tracked vaccines.

New Bird Flu Strain ‘One of the Most Lethal’ WHO Claims

If we are to believe recent reports3, a new more easily transmittable strain of bird flu has emerged in China, reportedly killing 22 people since its discovery in March. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson, the strain is far more lethal than another strain of bird flu that has “killed hundreds” since 2003. According to the featured article4:

“The H7N9 flu has infected 108 people in China since it was first detected in March, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Although it is not clear exactly how people are being infected, experts say they see no evidence so far of the most worrisome scenario — sustained transmission between people. An international team of scientists led by the WHO and the Chinese government conducted a five-day investigation in China, but said they were no closer to determining whether the virus might become transmissible between people.

… Another bird flu strain – H5N1 – has killed 30 of the 45 people it infected in China between 2003 and 2013, and although the H7N9 strain in the current outbreak has a lower fatality rate to date, Fukuda said: ‘This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses that we’ve seen so far.’ … Based on the evidence, ‘this virus is more easily transmissible from poultry to humans than H5N1…'”

While each death is tragic, flu death statistics can’t compare to the death toll wrought by pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines. If you want to protect your health, at least compare the odds. In 2009/2010, many who gambled on the fast-tracked pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine sacrificed their health and in some cases their lives to what at final count turned out to be one of the mildest flu seasons in years. An estimated 125,000 people die each year in the US from prescription medications taken correctly as prescribed. And in just six years (from 2006 to 2013), more than 100 deaths were reported after vaccination with the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

No investigation or remedial action whatsoever has been launched by public health authorities in response to these “lethal medicine” statistics. Yet, each time a new influenza virus is identified, we’re supposed to “do the right thing” without asking any questions —meaning, “just get your damn vaccine,” as so bluntly stated by NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman during the 2009 swine flu pandemic debacle. That wouldn’t be such a problematic demand were it not for the fact that pandemic flu vaccines are virtually untested in adequate clinical trials before they are released to the public, and therefore carry unknown risks over and above the “normal” risk you take with any vaccination.

H7N9 Vaccine At Least 6 Weeks Away

To further feed people’s stomach-churning anxiety over potentially lethal bird flu viruses proliferating and mutating, current media articles warn that the remedy, an H7N9 vaccine, is still several weeks away from being developed.

“If the strain proves to be a candidate for a pandemic outbreak, it might be a while before health professionals have a vaccine to protect against the strain, according to Joseph Kim, president of Inovio, a California-based company that is currently in the initial stages of developing an H7N9 vaccine,” US News writes5.

‘The fastest we’d be able to have a vaccine to test in animals for H7N9 would probably be 4-6 weeks from now,’ he says…. Under normal circumstances, the path from animal testing to ‘small scale human tests’ to full approval takes another couple months ‘in an accelerated path,’ Kim says.

But in the case of a pandemic, the animal testing stage is sometimes skipped and the vaccine is immediately used to treat humans. ‘In a pandemic setting, you can potentially grow the vaccine and use them without human testing in emergency cases,’ Kim says.” [Emphasis mine]

And therein lies the rub. Pandemic vaccines are among the most high-profit and low-risk business ventures for vaccine makers. They stand to make billions of dollars in revenue while being completely shielded from liability if the vaccine turns out to be hazardous, like it turned out to be in 2009. Not to mention they save a ton of money on development, since drug companies can duck under FDA standard pre-licensure testing regulations and skip certain types of either animal or human testing—or BOTH! It’s a triple-win for liability free vaccine manufacturers assured of big profits and a risky game of Vaccine Roulette for you.

This macabre situation was created in the U.S. when Congress passed the 2006 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (the PREP Act), which is part of the “Bioshield” legislation Big Pharma lobbied for and was enacted following 9-11 reportedly to address national “biosecurity” concerns. The PREP Act removes your right to a trial jury in a civil court unless you can provide clear evidence of willful misconduct by the vaccine maker that resulted in death or serious physical injury. But first, you must apply for and be granted permission to sue by the DHHS Secretary.

The most problematic aspect of the PREP Act is that it removes all financial incentive to make a safe product in the first place. In fact, vaccine makers now have a negative incentive to test it for safety, because if they are aware of problems, then they could potentially be held liable for willful misconduct! As long as they can prove they “didn’t know” of any problem — a statement widely used during the 2009/2010 season — they will not be liable for damages. Hence it’s in their best interest to know as little as possible about the adverse reactions it might cause.

How to Protect Yourself Against the Flu Without Vaccination

Be prepared to hear more fear mongering about the H7N9 bird flu. In the meantime, I’d like to remind you that a healthy immune system is your best and primary defense against any viral threat. Following these simple guidelines will help you keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you’re far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with. Or, if you do get sick with type A or B influenza, you are better prepared to recover without serious complications—which by the way will give you a longer lasting naturally acquired immunity to the strain of influenza you experienced.
•Optimize Your Gut Flora. This may be the single most important strategy you can implement as the bacteria in your gut have enormous control of your immune response. The best way to improve your beneficial bacteria ratio is to avoid sugars as they will feed the pathogenic bacteria. Additionally, processed foods and most grains should be limited and replaced with healthy fats like coconut oil, avocados, olives, olive oil, butter, eggs and nuts. Once you change your diet, then regular use of fermented foods can radically optimize the function of your immune response.
•Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I’ve previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency may actually be the true culprit behind the seasonality of the flu – not the flu virus itself. This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. Regularly monitor your vitamin D levels to confirm your levels are within the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml.

Ideally, you’ll want to get all your vitamin D from sun exposure or a safe tanning bed, but you can also take an oral vitamin D3 supplement. According to the latest review by Carole Baggerly (Grassrootshealth.org), adults need about 8,000 IU’s a day to reach a serum level of 40 ng/ml. Be sure to take vitamin K2 if you are taking oral vitamin D as it has a powerful synergy and will help prevent vitamin D toxicity.
•Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar impairs the quality of your immune response almost immediately, and as you likely know, a healthy immune system is one of the most important keys to fighting off viruses and other illness. It also can decimate your beneficial bacteria and feed the pathogenic yeast and viruses. Be aware that sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice. If you are healthy, then sugar can be consumed but the LAST thing you should be eating when you are sick is sugar.
•Get Plenty of Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you’re tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night’s Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
•Have Effective Tools to Address Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
•Get Regular Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of responding to infection before it spreads. Be sure to stay hydrated – drink plenty of fluids, especially water. However, it would be wise to radically reduce the intensity of your workouts while you are sick. No Peak Fitness exercises until you are better.
•Take a High-Quality Source of Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
•Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don’t use antibacterial soap for this – antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
•Tried and True Hygiene Measures. In addition to washing your hands regularly, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. If possible, avoid close contact with those, who are sick and, if you are sick, avoid close contact with those who are well.
•Use Natural Immune Boosters. Examples include oil of oregano and garlic. Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, these do not appear to lead to resistance, so they can be used again and again.
•Avoid Hospitals. I’d recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you’re having an emergency and need expert medical care, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds. The best place to get plenty of rest and recover from illness that is not life-threatening is usually in the comfort of your own home.

Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine Exemptions

With all the uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, it’s critical to protect your right to informed consent to vaccination and fight to protect and expand vaccine exemptions in state public health laws. The best way to do this is to get personally involved with your state legislators and the leaders in your community.

THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.

Mass vaccination policies are made at the federal level but vaccine laws are made at the state level. It is at the state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights can have the greatest impact. It is critical for EVERYONE to get involved now in standing up for the legal right to make vaccine choices in America because those choices are being threatened by lobbyists representing drug companies, medical trade associations and public health officials, who are trying to persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public health laws.

Signing up for NVIC’s free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you immediate, easy access to your own state legislators on your Smart Phone or computer so you can make your voice heard. You will be kept up-to-date on the latest state bills threatening your vaccine choices and get practical, useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community. Also, when national vaccine issues come up, you will have the up-to-date information and call to action items you need at your fingertips..

So please, as your first step, sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal.

Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know

If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, please talk about it. If we don’t share information and experiences with each other, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.

I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the “other side” of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.

We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than “statistically acceptable collateral damage” of national one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn’t be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.

Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More

I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:
•NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
•If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
•Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers, school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.

Connect with Your Doctor or Find a New One that Will Listen and Care

If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don’t want, I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination.

However, there is hope.

At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that they’re starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.

So take the time to locate a doctor, who treats you with compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child.

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The formaldehyde level of GMO corn is unspeakable
Comparison of GMO and non-GMO corn – the real statistics will astound you!

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/040210_GM_corn_March_Against_Monsanto_glyphosate.html#ixzz2SWiPpO73

As Monsanto parades their genetically modified seed, throwing it out like candy into the fields, future generations are being subjected to nutritionally void, disease-causing food. As the government protects the GMO industry, with its recent signing of the “Monsanto Protection Act”, the republic’s health interests are being discarded.

A 2012 study, called the Corn Comparison Report, was recently released by Profit Pro and published on the website for Moms Across America March to Label GMOs – a group dedicated to raising awareness about the dangers of genetically modified organisms.

The Corn Comparison Report detailed the nutritional deficiencies of GMO corn compared to regular organic corn. The report reveals the stunning levels of glyphosate in GMO corn and the amount of vital nutrients that have been drawn out.

GMO corn: nutritionally void
The nutrition statistics for GMO corn are bone chilling. Here is what the report indicates:

• Organic corn has 14 ppm of manganese. GMO corn has only 2 ppm.
• Real corn has 7 times more manganese!
• Organic corn has 6130 ppm of calcium. GMO is stripped down to 14 ppm.
• Real corn has 437 times more calcium!
• Organic corn has 113 ppm of magnesium. GMO corn is vacant, with only 2 ppm.
• Real corn has 56 times more magnesium!

GMO corn contains alarming glyphosate levels
The amount of formaldehyde and glyphosate in GMO corn is unbelievable. To break it down, American EPA standards allow glyphosate in water of up to .7ppm. European tests indicate that animals begin experiencing liver damage at .0001 ppm of glyphosate in water. Putting these two statistics together, America’s water levels contain glyphosate that is 7,000 times greater than the amount required for animal liver damage!

GMO corn takes that statistic up yet another notch. GMO corn contains 13 ppm of glyphosate, or the equivalent of 130,000 times more toxicity than EPA water standards!

The formaldehyde level of GMO corn is unspeakable
In a similar study on GMO corn, Dr. Huber found out that animals avoid GMO corn at all costs. When given a choice between both GMO and non GMO varieties of corn, animals always go for the real organic corn. Huber also found out that .97ppm of formaldehyde is toxic to animals. The GMO corn he tried to give the animals contained 200 times that amount!

This begs the questions:

• Why is something this toxic fed to humans?
• Why would humans touch the stuff in the first place?
• Are people devolving?
• Have their instincts been shut down?
• Is their intuition numb?
• Are they distracted by pretty labels and promises of safety?

March against GMOs
Genetically modified organisms are an open invitation to disease, cancer, and infertility. What a person consumes is what they become. Eating nutrient-void, formaldehyde-laden GMO corn is beckoning a disease-ridden population. There is enough evidence out now that explains the horror of genetically modified food. Any corporation that feeds this genetically modified system to the people should be tried for crimes against humanity.

Sadly, Monsanto and other biotech giants may have just been pardoned from their crimes against humanity. Through recent lobbying with the federal government, Monsanto was able to protect their GMO industry and get Congress and President Obama to pass a provision that exempts them from GMO liability. This law was signed into motion on March 26 and allows biotech companies like Monsanto to bypass federal approval tests and plant their GMO crops despite well known health risks. This provision frees biotech companies from their liability to the people and from judicial accountability.

This leaves justice, freedom, and the future of health in the people’s hands.

A worldwide March against Monsanto is scheduled May 25th 1013.
http://occupy-monsanto.com/march-against-monsanto-may-25-2013/

Sources for this article include

http://www.momsacrossamerica.com

http://rt.com/usa/toxic-study-gmo-corn-900/

http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com

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3 Dangerous But Common
Fat Loss Recommendations You Must Avoid

Doctors Don’t Always Know What’s Best … This Amazing, All-Natural Solution Activates the Body’s Fat Loss Mechanism, Suppresses Appetite, and Contradicts Everything You Think You Know About Ridding Yourself of Unwanted Weight

Sometimes, following the doctor’s orders can be deadly. Not only do the 3 most commonly prescribed weight loss plans simply fail to work … but they are also highly dangerous and can even be fatal. If you truly want to rid yourself of excess fat, it’s crucial that you avoid the 3 most dangerous doctor-recommended methods.

Instead, you need to know about a proven, research-backed method that works with your body’s natural design to flip on all your fat-burning switches. Doctors and devotees of standard weight loss methods are astounded by this strategy. It works far more effectively and much more safely than the 3 methods most commonly prescribed by doctors. Furthermore, it costs far less. In fact, it will save you thousands of dollars in medical expenses over your lifetime.

#1: Weight Loss Drugs—The Worst Fat Loss Scheme of All

The single most harmful recommendation you may hear is to use drugs to lose weight. Doctors routinely write prescriptions for expensive weight loss medications in the face of studies showing those same prescriptions cause depression, panic attacks, bleeding, stroke, heart attacks, and worse.

In spite of the proof revealed by scientific studies that document the dangers of these drugs, doctors continue to prescribe them for weight loss. Due to their hectic schedules, doctors have difficulty staying abreast of cutting-edge information. Consequently, drug companies become a top source of information and influence for doctors. Drug companies spend millions of dollars “educating” (that is, selling and bribing) physicians on the promised benefits (all too often false) of their products.

Along with marketing efforts aimed directly at doctors, drug companies also target the general public—you and me. Primetime commercials chant the names of seemingly magical weight loss pills, encouraging individuals to ask their doctors for the drug by name. The fact is, these drugs are dangerous and should be avoided.

But prescription pills are just one of the 3 physician-approved methods of weight control that are both ineffective and could even threaten your life.

# 2: Starving Yourself—The Skinny Lie of Starvation Diets

For many doctors, the first line of defense (even before prescribing) is to recommend cutting your caloric intake. While this may sound sensible, many people can reduce their food consumption below the starvation point without significant results. Even those who initially achieve success using a starvation diet are unable to maintain the results.

Starvation diets are unhealthy and unsustainable. Long-term dieting teaches the body to store fat. While some see initial improvement, starvation dieting is not a viable option. If you need further proof, ask yourself this: how many ‘skinny’ people do you know who don’t eat?

# 3: Extreme Exercise—The Myth of Aerobics

The third method doctors typically recommend to those striving to lose weight is aerobic exercise. This is seemingly the most harmless, but may ultimately be the most deceptive. Aerobic exercise is extremely unlikely to lead to permanent decreases in body fat.

After all, have you ever wondered how it’s possible that you exercise every day, and still can’t shed fat? Traditional cardio routines, such as 40 minutes of exercise 3 times a week, do burn fat, but not in an optimal way. This type of exercise plan may be more advantageous to weight loss than simply sitting on a couch, but not by much.

The truth is that unless you are exercising with perfect form, you will probably trigger something called “the wasting effect” which decreases your muscle mass.

Over time, low-intensity exercise reduces your resting metabolic rate. To your fat loss efforts, this is the kiss of death.

Isn’t it sad that the major roadblock between you and your ideal weight may very well be the lies you’ve been told about the best ways to lose weight? All-or-nothing approaches to diet and exercise crop up daily, each packaged as the ultimate tool. In the end, these fads scramble your metabolism and halt your body’s natural fat burning process.

No matter how much superhuman discipline you summon, the fanaticism will burn you out long before your fat is gone. However, there is a proven recipe for fat loss that sends your body’s metabolism into overdrive—no risky drugs, extreme exercise, or overly restrictive diets required.

Tighten Your Belt While Padding Your Wallet

Using the breakthrough method known as ‘The Kitchen Remedy for Fat Loss’ you can look and feel as if you were one of the lucky, genetically gifted souls for whom weight has never been an issue. Chances are you already have the necessary ingredients on your shelves, but if you don’t, you can purchase them from your grocery or health food store.

Unlike other weight loss remedies, this effective solution rids you of the underlying cause of your weight problems: your desire to overeat.

By making small, maintainable changes, you can join the ranks of the thousands who have melted away fat and rebooted their metabolisms and overall health. Forget about starving yourself, or spending hours sweating on the treadmill. This scientifically proven method relies on two simple ingredients—a spice and a mineral—that cost pennies on the dollar.

Click here to enjoy a free presentation explaining how this specific, laboratory-confirmed spice-mineral combination burns glucose and fuels fat loss—plus dozens more affordable or free ways to begin immediately melting fat permanently. But hurry. This video may not be online for long. Big Pharma has already taken it down more than once because the information it contains is valuable, proven … and entirely drug free! Don’t delay, check out this free presentation now and get the most powerful, proven fat-burning methods available … while you still can

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

Did You Know…

… that fenugreek can help build muscles, burn body fat and protect against type 2 diabetes and heart disease?

Fenugreek is more than just a flavorful spice to add to chicken, curries and salads. It’s been a century-old favorite among ayurvedic practitioners and herbalists for treating ailments from digestive upsets to ED in men. Recent research highlights another benefit of fenugreek—muscle strength… and perhaps a leaner, trimmer figure as a bonus.

Fenugreek’s Muscle-Building Moxy

A study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition shows that fenugreek can increase muscle strength and decrease body fat percentage. For the study, 49 men were separated into 2 groups: The control group received a placebo while the variable group supplemented with fenugreek extract. Both groups underwent a strength-training workout 4 days a week for 8 weeks.

At the end of the study, the men supplementing with fenugreek exhibited a greater increase in lean body mass and a reduction in overall body fat percentage.

Fenugreek’s Diabetes Defense

Studies have confirmed that fenugreek does indeed help defend against and treat Type 2 diabetes. Fenugreek keeps blood sugar levels balanced by slowing the absorption of sugars in the stomach and stimulating insulin. Fenugreek has also been found to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, ensuring added defense against diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. If you are currently taking medication to control or prevent diabetes or heart disease, consult your physician before adding fenugreek to your treatment plan.

Fenugreek’s Hermaphroditic Versatility

Fenugreek offers benefits to both men and women. Rich in saponins—potent plant phytochemicals—fenugreek is thought to stimulate male hormones, thereby treating ED.

Researchers from the Centre for Integrative Clinical and Molecular Medicine discovered that men who supplement with a twice-daily extract of fenugreek over 6 weeks showed a 30% increase in performance in the bedroom.

Fenugreek has long been used as an herb that induces childbirth and promotes milk flow in breast-feeding women. It also helps balance hormones in females, and is renown for its ability to soothe the symptoms of PMS and menopause. Proponents say fenugreek also helps grow new breast cells for fuller breasts.

Fenugreek’s Mixed Bag of Tricks

Centuries of empirical evidence attest to the healing powers of fenugreek. It helps cure digestive problems such as upset stomach, diarrhea, constipation and loss of appetite. Naturopaths commonly treat kidney ailments with fenugreek, which is believed to reduce the presence of calcium oxalate in kidney stones. It also cures more common conditions such as chapped lips, baldness, boils, and mouth ulcers.

You can spice your favorite foods up with fenugreek, which has a similar taste and odor to maple syrup, or you can supplement in extract form. Experts say that fenugreek is safe with no adverse side effects (apart from a possible odor to your urine). Pregnant women should always speak to their health care providers about any supplement or medicine—remember, fenugreek has been known to induce childbirth.

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Exposing Yourself to Light at Night Shuts Down Your Melatonin and Raises Your Cancer Risk

Can reading yourself to sleep or texting into the wee hours of the morning raise your risk of cancer? You bet it can. Exposing yourself to artificial light at night shuts down your body’s production of an important hormone called melatonin.

Melatonin has roles in cancer prevention, strengthening your immune system, and may even slow down cellular aging; in fact, it has been the subject of preclinical research on over 100 different disease applications.1 It’s your body’s “Superhero of the Night,” and light is his number one nemesis.

For the past century or so, the developed world has been performing an open-ended experiment on itself by lengthening its days and shortening its nights in an effort to become a 24-hour per day, ever-productive society.

But light pollution generated by modern technologies is taking a heavy biological toll on humans, as well as other forms of life on Earth.

For more than 200,000 years, humans and other life forms evolved organs that took advantage of environmental cues. We developed a biological clock governed by Earth’s cycles of light and darkness.

Artificial lighting disrupts your biological clock and melatonin production, with unfortunate effects on your health. As Dr. Russel Reiter says in the presentation above, “light may be killing you.”

The Dark Side of Night

In humans as with all mammals, your biological clock resides in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of your brain (SCN), which is part of your hypothalamus. Based on signals of light and darkness, your SCN tells your pineal gland2 when it’s time to secrete melatonin.

Light comes in through your eyes and travels up your optic nerves to the SCN, which is exquisitely sensitive to cycles of light and darkness.

When you turn on a light at night, you immediately send your brain misinformation about the light-dark cycle. The only thing your brain interprets light to be is day. Believing daytime has arrived, your biological clock instructs your pineal gland to immediately cease its production of melatonin.

Whether you have the light on for an hour or for just a second, the effect is the same — and your melatonin pump doesn’t turn back on when you flip the light back off.

Since humans evolved in the glow of firelight, the yellow, orange and red wavelengths don’t suppress melatonin production the way white and blue wavelengths do. In fact, the range of light that inhibits melatonin is fairly narrow — 460 to 480 nm. If you want to protect your melatonin, when the sun goes down you would shift to a low wattage bulb with yellow, orange, or red light. Dr. Reiter suggests using a salt lamp illuminated by a 5-watt bulb in this color range.

The Massive Health Benefits of Melatonin

The hormone melatonin produces a number of health benefits in terms of your immune system. It’s a powerful antioxidant and free radical scavenger that helps combat inflammation. In fact, melatonin is so integral to your immune system that a lack of it causes your thymus gland, a key component of your immune system, to atrophy.3 Melatonin may even have a role in slowing the aging of your brain.

In addition to helping you fall asleep and bestowing a feeling of overall comfort and well being, melatonin has proven to have an impressive array of anti-cancer benefits.4 Melatonin inhibits the proliferation of a wide range of cancer cell types, as well as triggering cancer cell apoptosis (self destruction). The hormone also interferes with the new blood supply tumors require for their rapid growth (angiogenesis).5 Melatonin can boost efficacy and decrease the toxicity of cancer chemotherapy.6

Melatonin May Be Breast Cancer’s Worst Nightmare

Peer-reviewed and published research has shown melatonin offers particularly strong protection against reproductive cancers. Cells throughout your body — even cancer cells — have melatonin receptors. So when melatonin makes its nightly rounds, cell division slows. When this hormone latches onto a breast cancer cell, it has been found to counteract estrogen’s tendency to stimulate cell growth.

In fact, melatonin has a calming effect on several reproductive hormones, which may explain why it seems to protect against sex hormone-driven cancers, including ovarian, endometrial, breast, prostate and testicular cancers. GreenMedInfo lists twenty studies demonstrating exactly how melatonin exerts its protective effects against breast cancer.

But melatonin’s anti-cancer effects don’t stop there. While causing cancer cells to self-destruct, melatonin also boosts your production of immune stimulating substances such as interleukin-2, which helps identify and attack the mutated cells that lead to cancer. Through these dual actions, melatonin delivers a one-two punch! The greatest area of melatonin research to date has to do with breast cancer. Some of the more impressive studies include the following:
•The journal Epidemiology7 reported increased breast cancer risk among women who work predominantly night shifts
•Women who live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime illumination are more likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where nocturnal darkness prevails, according to an Israeli study8
•From participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, it was found that nurses who work nights had 36 percent higher rates of breast cancer9
•Blind women, whose eyes cannot detect light and so have robust production of melatonin, have lower-than-average breast cancer rates10
•When the body of epidemiological studies are considered in their totality, women who work night shift are found to have breast cancer rates 60 percent above normal, even when other factors such as differences in diet are accounted for11

Melatonin Improves Cancer Patients’ Longevity

Glioblastoma is a nasty, aggressive form of brain cancer with a poor prognosis and not much in the way of effective treatments. However, melatonin may offer some hope. In one clinical trial,12 patients with a glioblastoma were given either radiation and melatonin, or radiation alone. Twenty-three percent of the patients receiving the melatonin were alive one year later, while none who received radiation alone were still alive.

Another study found that melatonin reduced the growth of prostate cancer.13 Studies show similarly encouraging results for lung, pancreatic, colorectal and other types of cancer. An article in Life Extension Magazine14 contains a table summarizing studies with one-year cancer survival rates that are vastly improved when melatonin is a treatment modality. Authors of a systematic review of melatonin for the treatment of all types of cancer concluded:15

“Effects were consistent across melatonin dose, and type of cancer. No severe adverse events were reported. The substantial reduction in risk of death, low adverse events reported and low costs related to this intervention suggest great potential for melatonin in treating cancer.”

Due to the strength of the scientific research, in 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a decision to classify shift work as a “probable carcinogen.”16 That puts the night shift in the same health-risk category as exposure to such toxic chemicals as trichloroethylene, vinyl chloride and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). If this isn’t a testament to the importance of melatonin for human health, I don’t know what is!

How to Optimize Your Melatonin Levels

Two common environmental “noise” factors that can make sleep elusive are light pollution and temperature. The following suggestions can improve your sleep hygiene and help you optimize your melatonin production. For a comprehensive sleep guide, please see my article 33 Secret’s to a Good Night’s Sleep.
•Avoid watching TV or using your computer in the evening, at least an hour or so before going to bed. These devices emit blue light, which tricks your brain into thinking it’s still daytime. Normally your brain starts secreting melatonin between 9 and 10 pm, and these devices emit light that may stifle that process.
•Make sure you get BRIGHT sun exposure regularly. Your pineal gland produces melatonin roughly in approximation to the contrast of bright sun exposure in the day and complete darkness at night. If you are in darkness all day long, it can’t appreciate he difference and will not optimize your melatonin production.
•Sleep in complete darkness, or as close to it as possible. Even the slightest bit of light in your bedroom can disrupt your biological clock and your pineal gland’s melatonin production. Even the tiniest glow from your clock radio could be interfering with your sleep, so cover your radio up at night or get rid of it altogether. Move all electrical devices at least three feet away from your bed. You may want to cover your windows with drapes or blackout shades.
•Install a low-wattage yellow, orange or red light bulb if you need a source of light for navigation at night. Light in these bandwidths does not shut down melatonin production in the way that white and blue bandwidth light does. Salt lamps are handy for this purpose.
•Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 70 degrees F. Many people keep their homes too warm (particularly their upstairs bedrooms). Studies show that the optimal room temperature for sleep is between 60 to 68 degrees.
•Take a hot bath 90 to 120 minutes before bedtime. This increases your core body temperature, and when you get out of the bath it abruptly drops, signaling your body that you are ready to sleep.
•Avoid using loud alarm clocks. Being jolted awake each morning can be very stressful. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, you might not even need an alarm.
•Get some sun in the morning, if possible. Your circadian system needs bright light to reset itself. Ten to 15 minutes of morning sunlight will send a strong message to your internal clock that day has arrived, making it less likely to be confused by weaker light signals during the night. More sunlight exposure is required as you age.
•Be mindful of electromagnetic fields in your bedroom. EMFs can disrupt your pineal gland and its melatonin production, and may have other negative biological effects as well. A gauss meter is required if you want to measure EMF levels in various areas of your home.

Should You Supplement with Melatonin?

Current scientific research suggests that melatonin deficiency may come with some profound biological disadvantages, such as higher levels of inflammation, a weakened immune system, and an increased risk of cancer. One of the surest ways of compromising your body’s natural melatonin production is by exposing yourself to artificial light at night — even briefly. Multiple studies have found that night shift workers have higher rates of cancer, particularly breast cancer.

Supplementation may be beneficial but it is FAR more beneficial and certainly less expensive to have your body produce its own melatonin. This way you will get the “perfect” dose of melatonin for you, the “Goldilocks’” dose, not too much and not too little, because your body will use important feedback loops to adjust the dose just right. If, for whatever, reason you are unable to increase your melatonin naturally as described above, they you can consider a supplement, but it would still be wise to continue the listed suggestions.

In scientific studies, melatonin has been shown to help people fall asleep faster and stay asleep, experience less restlessness, and prevent daytime fatigue. Keep in mind that only a very small dose is required — typically 0.25mg or 0.5mg to start with, and you can adjust it up from there. Taking higher doses, such as 3 mg, can sometimes make you more wakeful instead of sleepier, so adjust your dose carefully.

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Clinical Studies

In 1970, investigators at Boston University conducted a small, randomized placebo-controlled trial to determine if tetracycline would treat rheumatoid arthritis. They used 250 mg of tetracycline a day.

Their study showed no improvement after one year of tetracycline treatment. Several factors could explain their inability to demonstrate any benefits.

Their study used only 27 patients for a one-year trial, and only 12 received tetracycline, so noncompliance may have been a factor. Additionally, none of the patients had severe arthritis. Patients were excluded from the trial if they were on any anti-remittive therapy.

Finnish investigators used lymecycline to treat the reactive arthritis in Chlamydia trachomatous infections. Their study compared the effect of the medication in patients with two other reactive arthritis infections: Yersinia and Campylobacter.

Lymecyline produced a shorter course of illness in the Chlamydia induced arthritis patients, but did not affect the other enteric infections-associated reactive arthritis. The investigators later published findings that suggested lymecycline achieved its effect through non-antimicrobial actions. They speculated it worked by preventing the oxidative activation of collagenase.

The first trial of minocycline for the treatment of animal and human rheumatoid arthritis was published by Breedveld. In the first published human trial, Breedveld treated ten patients in an open study for 16 weeks. He used a very high dose of 400 mg per day. Most patients had vestibular side effects resulting from this dose.

However, all patients showed benefit from the treatment, and all variables of efficacy were significantly improved at the end of the trial.

Breedveld expanded on his initial study and later observed similar impressive results. This was a 26-week double-blind placebo-controlled randomized trial with minocycline for 80 patients. They were given 200 mg twice a day.

The Ritchie articular index and the number of swollen joints significantly improved (p < 0.05) more in the minocyline group than in the placebo group. Investigators in Israel studied 18 patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis for 48 weeks. These patients had failed two other DMARD. They were taken off all DMARD agents and given minocycline 100 mg twice a day. Six patients did not complete the study -- three withdrew because of lack of improvement, and three had side effects of vertigo or leukopenia. All patients completing the study improved. Three had complete remission, three had substantial improvement of greater than 50 percent, and six had moderate improvement of 25 percent in the number of active joints and morning stiffness. APPENDIX TWO: Make Certain You are Assessed for Fibromyalgia You need to be very sensitive to this condition when you have rheumatoid arthritis as it is frequently a complicating condition. Many times, the pain will be confused with a flare-up of the RA. You need to aggressively treat this problem. If it is ignored, the likelihood of successfully treating the arthritis is significantly diminished. Fibromyalgia is a very common problem. Some experts believe that 5 percent of people are affected with it. Over 12 percent of the patients at the Mayo Clinic's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation have this problem, and it is the third most common diagnosis by rheumatologists in the outpatient setting. Fibromyalgia affects women five times as frequently as men. Signs and Symptoms of Fibromyalgia One of the main features of fibromyalgia is morning stiffness, fatigue, and multiple areas of tenderness in typical locations. Most people with fibromyalgia complain of pain over many areas of their body, with an average of six to nine locations. Although the pain is frequently described as being "all over," it is most prominent in the neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and back. Tender points are generally symmetrical and on both sides of the body. The areas of tenderness are usually small (less than an inch in diameter) and deep within the muscle. They are often located in sites that are slightly tender in normal people. People with fibromyalgia, however, differ in having increased tenderness at these sites than the average person. Firm palpation with the thumb (just past the point where the nail turns white) over the outside elbow will typically cause a vague sensation of discomfort. Patients with fibromyalgia will experience much more pain and will often withdraw the arm involuntarily. More than 70 percent of patients describe their pain as profound aching and stiffness of muscles. Often it is relatively constant from moment to moment, but certain positions or movements may momentarily worsen the pain. Other terms used to describe the pain are "dull" and "numb." Sharp or intermittent pain is relatively uncommon. Patients with fibromyalgia also often complain that sudden loud noises worsen their pain. The generalized stiffness of fibromyalgia does not diminish with activity, unlike the stiffness of rheumatoid arthritis, which lessens as the day progresses. Despite the lack of abnormal lab tests, patients can suffer considerable discomfort. The fatigue is often severe enough to impair activities of work and recreation. Patients commonly experience fatigue on arising and complain of being more fatigued when they wake up than when they went to bed. Over 90 percent of patients believe the pain, stiffness, and fatigue are made worse by cold, damp weather. Overexertion, anxiety and stress are also factors. Many find that localized heat, such as hot baths, showers, or heating pads, give them some relief. There is also a tendency for pain to improve in the summer with mild activity, or with rest. Some patients will date the onset of their symptoms to some initiating event. This is often an injury, such as a fall, a motor vehicle accident, or a vocational or sports injury. Others find that their symptoms began with a stressful or emotional event, such as a death in the family, a divorce, a job loss, or similar occurrence. Pain Location Patients with fibromyalgia have pain in at least 11 of the following 18 tender point sites (one on each side of the body): 1.Base of the skull where the suboccipital muscle inserts. 2.Back of the low neck (anterior intertransverse spaces of C5-C7). 3.Midpoint of the upper shoulders (trapezius). 4.On the back in the middle of the scapula. 5.On the chest where the second rib attaches to the breastbone (sternum). 6.One inch below the outside of each elbow (lateral epicondyle). 7.Upper outer quadrant of buttocks. 8.Just behind the swelling on the upper leg bone below the hip (trochanteric prominence). 9.The inside of both knees (medial fat pads proximal to the joint line). Treatment of Fibromyalgia There is a persuasive body of emerging evidence that indicates that patients with fibromyalgia are physically unfit in terms of sustained endurance. Some studies show that exercise can decrease fibromyalgia pain by 75 percent. Sleep is also critical to improvement, and many times, improved fitness will also correct the sleep disturbance. Normalizing vitamin D levels has also been shown to be helpful to decrease pain as has topical magnesium oil supplementation. Allergies, especially to mold, seem to be another common cause of fibromyalgia. There are some simple interventions using techniques called Total Body Modification (TBM) 800-243-4826. APPENDIX THREE: Antibiotic Therapy with Minocin There are three different tetracyclines available: simple tetracycline, doxycycline, or Minocin (minocycline). Minocin has a distinct and clear advantage over tetracycline and doxycycline in three important areas: 1.Extended spectrum of activity 2.Greater tissue penetrability 3.Higher and more sustained serum levels Bacterial cell membranes contain a lipid layer. One mechanism of building up a resistance to an antibiotic is to produce a thicker lipid layer. This layer makes it difficult for an antibiotic to penetrate. Minocin's chemical structure makes it the most lipid soluble of all the tetracyclines. This difference can clearly be demonstrated when you compare the drugs in the treatment of two common clinical conditions. Minocin gives consistently superior clinical results in the treatment of chronic prostatitis. In other studies, Minocin was used to improve between 75-85 percent of patients whose acne had become resistant to tetracycline. Strep is also believed to be a contributing cause to many patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Minocin has shown significant activity against treatment of this organism. Important Factors to Consider When Using Minocin Unlike the other tetracyclines, Minocin tends not to cause yeast infections. Some infectious disease experts even believe that it has a mild anti-yeast activity. Women can be on this medication for several years and not have any vaginal yeast infections. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to take prophylactic oral lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidus preparations. This will help to replace the normal intestinal flora that is killed with the Minocin. Another advantage of Minocin is that it tends not to sensitize you to the sun. This minimizes your risk of sunburn and increased risk of skin cancer. However, you must incorporate several precautions with the use of Minocin. Like other tetracyclines, food impairs its absorption. However, the absorption is much less impaired than with other tetracyclines. This is fortunate because some people cannot tolerate Minocin on an empty stomach and have to take it with a meal to avoid GI side effects. If you need to take it with a meal, you will still absorb 85 percent of the medication, whereas tetracycline is only 50 percent absorbed. In June of 1990, a pelletized version of Minocin also became available, which improved absorption when taken with meals. This form is only available in the non-generic Lederle brand, and is a more than reasonable justification to not substitute for the generic version. Clinical experience has shown that many patients will relapse when they switch from the brand name to the generic. In February, 2006 Wyeth sold manufacturing rights of Minocin to Triax Pharmaceuticals (866-488-7429). Clinically, it has been documented that it is important to take Lederle brand Minocin as most all generic minocycline are clearly less effective. A large percentage of patients will not respond at all, or not do as well with generic non-Lederle minocycline. Traditionally it was recommended to only receive the brand name Lederle Minocin. However, there is one generic brand that is acceptable, and that is the brand made by Lederle. The only difference between Lederle generic Minocin and brand name Minocin is the label and the price. The problem is finding the Lederle brand generic. Some of my patients have been able to find it at Wal Mart. Since Wal Mart is one of the largest drug chains in the US, this should make the treatment more widely available for a reduced charge. Many patients are on NSAID's that contribute to microulcerations of the stomach, which cause chronic blood loss. It is certainly possible to develop a peptic ulcer contributing to this blood loss. In either event, patients are frequently receiving iron supplements to correct their blood counts. IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT MINOCIN NOT BE GIVEN WITH IRON! Over 85 percent of the dose will bind to the iron and pass through your colon unabsorbed. If iron is taken, it should be at least one hour before Minocin, or two hours after. A recent, uncommon, complication of Minocin is a cell-mediated hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Most patients can start on 100 mg of Minocin every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evening. Doxycycline can be substituted for patients who cannot afford the more expensive Minocin. It is important to not give either medication daily, as this does not seem to provide as great a clinical benefit. WARNING: Tetracycline type drugs can cause a permanent yellow- grayish brown discoloration of your teeth. This can occur in the last half of pregnancy, and in children up to eight years old. You should not routinely use tetracycline in children. If you have severe disease, you can consider increasing the dose to as high as 200 mg three times a week. Aside from the cost of this approach, several problems may result from the higher doses. Minocin can cause quite severe nausea and vertigo, but taking the dose at night tends to decrease this problem considerably. However, if you take the dose at bedtime, you must swallow the medication with TWO glasses of water. This is to insure that the capsule doesn't get stuck in your throat. If that occurs, a severe chemical esophagitis can result, which can send you to the emergency room. For those physicians who elect to use tetracycline or doxycycline for cost or sensitivity reasons, several methods may help lessen the inevitable secondary yeast overgrowth. Lactobacillus acidophilus will help maintain normal bowel flora and decrease the risk of fungal overgrowth. Aggressive avoidance of all sugars, especially those found in non-diet sodas will also decrease the substrate for the yeast's growth. Macrolide antibiotics like Biaxin or Zithromax may be used if tetracyclines are contraindicated. They would also be used in the three pills a week regimen. Clindamycin The other drug used to treat rheumatoid arthritis is clindamycin. Dr. Brown's book discusses the uses of intravenous clindamycin, and it is important to use the IV form of treatment if the disease is severe. In my experience nearly all scleroderma patients require a more aggressive stance and use IV treatment. Scleroderma is a particularly dangerous form of rheumatic illness that should receive aggressive intervention. A major problem with the IV form is the cost. The price ranges from $100 to $300 per dose if administered by a home health care agency. However, if purchased directly from Upjohn, significant savings can be had. If you have a milder illness, the oral form of clindamycin is preferable. With a mild rheumatic illness (the minority of cases), it is even possible to exclude this from your regimen. Initial starting doses for an adult would be a 1200 mg dose once a week. Please note that many people do not seem to tolerate this medication as well as Minocin. The major complaint seems to be a bitter metallic type taste, which lasts about 24 hours after the dose. Taking the dose after dinner does seem to help modify this complaint somewhat. If this is a problem, you can lower the dose and gradually increase the dose over a few weeks. Concern about the development of C. difficile pseudomembranous enterocolitis as a result of the clindamycin is appropriate. This complication is quite rare at this dosage regimen, but it certainly can occur. It is also important to be aware of the possibility of developing a severe and uncontrollable bout of diarrhea. Administration of acidophilus seems to limit this complication by promoting the growth of the healthy gut flora. If you have a resistant form of rheumatic illness, intravenous administration should be considered. Generally, weekly doses of 900 mg are administered until clinical improvement is observed. This generally occurs within the first 10 doses. At that time, the regimen can be decreased to every two weeks with the oral form substituted on the weeks where the IV is not taken. What to Do if You Fail to Respond The most frequent reason for failure to respond to the protocol is lack of adherence to the dietary guidelines. Most people eat too many grains and sugars, which disturbs insulin physiology. It is important that you adhere as strictly as possible to the guidelines. A small minority, generally under 15 percent of patients will fail to respond to the protocol described above, despite rigid adherence to the diet. These individuals should already be on the IV clindamycin. It appears that hyaluronic acid, which is a potentiating agent commonly used in the treatment of cancer, may be quite useful in these cases. It seems that hyaluronic acid has very little to no direct toxicity but works in a highly synergistic fashion when administered directly in the IV bag with the clindamycin. Hyaluronic acid is also used in orthopedic procedures. The dose is generally from 2 to 10 cc into the IV bag. Hyaluronic acid is not inexpensive, however, as the cost may range up to $10 per cc. You also need to use some caution, as it may precipitate a significant Herxheimer flare reaction. Bibliography 1.Pincus T, Wolfe F: Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis: Challenges to Traditional Paradigms. AnnInternMed 115:825-6, Nov 15 1991. 2.Pincus T: Rheumatoid arthritis: disappointing long-term outcomes despite successful short-term clinical trials. J Clin Epidemiol 41:1037-41, 1988. 3.Brooks PM: Clinical management of rheumatoid arthritis. 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Yu, LP Jr, Brandt, KD, Capello, WN, Oral administration of doxycycline reduces collagenase and gelatinase activities in extracts of human osteoarthritic cartilage, Journal of Rheumatology, 1998, 25(3), 532-535. 202.Tilley, BC, Alarcon, GS, Heyse, SP, Trentham, DE, Neuner, R, Kaplan, DA, Clegg, DO, Leisen, JC, Buckley, L, Cooper, SM, Duncan, H, Pillemer, SR, Tuttleman, M, Fowler, SE, Minocycline in rheumatoid arthritis: A 48-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, MIRA Trial Group, Annals of Internal Medicine, 1995, 122(2), 81-89. 203.Trentham, DE, Dynesius-Trentham, rheumatoid arthritis, Antibiotic therapy for rheumatoid arthritis: Scientific and anecdotal appraisals, Rheumatic Diseases Clinics of North America, 1995, 21(3), 817-834. 204.Wilson, C, Senior, BW, Tiwana, H, Caparros-Wanderley, W, Ebringer, A, Antibiotic sensitivity and proticine typing of Proteus mirabilis strains associated with rheumatoid arthritis, Rheumatology International, 1998, 17(5), 203-205. 205.Yu, LP Jr, Burr, DB, Brandt, KD, O'Connor, BL, Rubinow, A, Albrecht, M, Effects of oral doxycycline administration on histomorphometry and dynamics of subchondral bone in a canine model of osteoarthritis, Journal of Rheumatology, 1996, 23(1), 137-142. 206.Ted R. Mikuls, Rheumatoid arthritis incidence: What goes down must go up? Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2010, 62(6), 1565 – 1567, If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.

By Dr. Mercola

Rheumatoid arthritis affects about 1 percent of our population and at least two million Americans have definite or classical rheumatoid arthritis. This number has increased in recent years, as in 2010 about 2.5 percent of white women developed RA.

It is a much more devastating illness than previously appreciated. Most patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a progressive disability.

The natural course of rheumatoid arthritis is quite remarkable in that less than 1 percent of people with the disease have a spontaneous remission. Some disability occurs in 50-70 percent of people within five years after onset of the disease, and half will stop working within 10 years. The annual cost of this disease in the U.S. is estimated to be over $1 billion.

This devastating prognosis is what makes this novel form of treatment so exciting, as it has a far higher likelihood of succeeding than the conventional approach.

Over the years I have treated over 3,000 patients with rheumatic illnesses, including SLE, scleroderma, polymyositis and dermatomyositis.

Approximately 15 percent of these patients were lost to follow-up for whatever reason and have not continued with treatment. The remaining patients seem to have a 60-90 percent likelihood of improvement on this treatment regimen.

This level of improvement is quite a stark contrast to the typical numbers quoted above that are experienced with conventional approaches, and certainly a strong motivation to try the protocol I discuss below.

RA Can Be More Deadly than Heart Disease

There is also an increased mortality rate with this disease. The five-year survival rate of patients with more than thirty joints involved is approximately 50 percent. This is similar to severe coronary artery disease or stage IV Hodgkin’s disease.

Thirty years ago, one researcher concluded that there was an average loss of 18 years of life in patients who developed rheumatoid arthritis before the age of 50.

Most authorities believe that remissions rarely occur. Some experts feel that the term “remission-inducing” should not be used to describe ANY current rheumatoid arthritis treatment, and a review of contemporary treatment methods shows that medical science has not been able to significantly improve the long-term outcome of this disease.

Dr. Brown Pioneered a Novel Approach to Treat RA

I first became aware of Doctor Brown’s protocol in 1989 when I saw him on 20/20 on ABC. This was shortly after the introduction of his first edition of his book, The Road Back. Unfortunately, Dr. Brown died from prostate cancer shortly after the 20/20 program so I never had a chance to meet him.

My application of Dr. Brown’s protocol has changed significantly since I first started implementing it. Initially, I rigidly followed Dr. Brown’s work with minimal modifications to his protocol. About the only change I made was changing Tetracycline to Minocin. I believe I was one of the first physicians who recommended the shift to Minocin and most people who use his protocol now use Minocin.

In 1939, Dr. Sabin, the discoverer of the polio vaccine, first reported chronic arthritis in mice caused by a mycoplasma. He suggested this agent might cause human rheumatoid arthritis. Dr. Brown worked with Dr. Sabin at the Rockefeller Institute.

Dr. Brown was a board certified rheumatologist who graduated from Johns Hopkins medical school. He was a professor of medicine at George Washington University until 1970 where he served as chairman of the Arthritis Institute in Arlington, Virginia. He published over 100 papers in peer reviewed scientific literature.

He was able to help over 10,000 patients when he used this program, from the 1950s until his death in 1989, and clearly far more than that have been helped by other physicians using this protocol.

He found that significant benefits from the treatment require, on average, about one to two years.

I have treated nearly 3000 patients and find that the dietary modification I advocate, which I started to integrate in the early 1990’s, accelerates the response rate to several months. I cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of this aspect of the program.

Still, the length of therapy can vary widely.

In severe cases, it may take up to 30 months for patients to gain sustained improvement. One requires patience because remissions may take up to 3 to 5 years. Dr. Brown’s pioneering approach represents a safer, less toxic alternative to many conventional regimens and results of the NIH trial have finally scientifically validated this treatment.

The dietary changes are absolutely an essential component of my protocol. Dr. Brown’s original protocol was notorious for inducing a Herxheimer, or worsening of symptoms, before improvement was noted. This could last two to six months. Implementing my nutrition plan resulted in a lessening of that reaction in most cases.

When I first started using his protocol for patients in the late ’80s, the common retort from other physicians was that there was “no scientific proof” that this treatment worked. Well, that is certainly not true today. A review of the bibliography will provide over 200 references in the peer-reviewed medical literature that supports the application of Minocin in the use of rheumatic illnesses.

In my experience, nearly 80 percent of people do remarkably better with this program. However, approximately 5 percent continue to worsen and require conventional agents, like methotrexate, to relieve their symptoms.

Scientific Proof for this Approach

The definitive scientific support for minocycline in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis came with the MIRA trial in the United States. This was a double blind randomized placebo controlled trial done at six university centers involving 200 patients for nearly one year. The dosage they used (100 mg twice daily) was much higher and likely less effective than what most clinicians currently use.

They also did not employ any additional antibiotics or nutritional regimens, yet 55 percent of patients improved. This study finally provided the “proof” that many traditional clinicians demanded before seriously considering this treatment as an alternative regimen for rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Thomas Brown’s effort to treat the chronic mycoplasma infections believed to cause rheumatoid arthritis is the basis for this therapy. Dr. Brown believed that most rheumatic illnesses respond to this treatment. He and others used this therapy for SLE, ankylosing spondylitis, scleroderma, dermatomyositis and polymyositis.

Dr. Osler was one of the most well respected and prominent physicians of his time (1849- 1919), and many regard him as the consummate physician of modern times. An excerpt from a commentary on Dr. William Osler provides a useful perspective on application of alternative medical paradigms:

Osler would caution us against the arrogance of believing that only our current medical practices can benefit the patient. He would realize that new scientific insights might emerge from as yet unproved beliefs. Although he would fight vigorously to protect the public against frauds and charlatans, he would encourage critical study of whatever therapeutic approaches were reliably reported to be beneficial to patients.

Factors Associated with Your Success on this Program

There are many variables associated with an increased chance of remission or improvement.
•The younger you are, the greater your chance for improvement
•The more closely you follow the nutrition plan, the more likely you are to improve and the less likely you are to have a severe flare-up. I now offer the Nutritional Typing Test for free, so please do not skip this essential step.
•Smoking seems to be negatively associated with improvement
•The longer you have had the illness and the more severe the illness, the more difficult it seems to treat

Revised Antibiotic-Free Approach

Although I used a revision of his antibiotic approach for nearly ten years, my particular prejudice is to focus on natural therapies. The program that follows is my revision of this protocol that allows for a completely drug-free treatment of RA, which is based on my experience of treating over 3000 patients with rheumatic illnesses in my Chicago clinic.

If you are interested in reviewing or considering Dr. Brown’s antibiotic approach, I have included a summary of his work and the evidence for it in the appendix.

Crucial Lifestyle Changes

Improving your diet using a combination of my nutritional guidelines, nutritional typing is crucial for your success. In addition, there are some general principles that seem to hold true for all nutritional types and these include:
•Eliminating sugar, especially fructose, and most grains. For most people it would be best to limit fruit to small quantities
•Eating unprocessed, high-quality foods, organic and locally grown if possible
•Eating your food as close to raw as possible
•Getting plenty high-quality animal-based omega-3 fats. Krill oil seems to be particularly helpful here as it appears to be a more effective anti inflammatory preparation. It is particularly effective if taken concurrently with 4 mg of Astaxanthin, which is a potent antioxidant bioflavanoid derived from algae
•Astaxanthin at 4 mg per day is particularly important for anyone placed on prednisone as Astaxanthin offers potent protection against cataracts and age related macular degeneration
•Incorporating regular exercise into your daily schedule

Early Emotional Traumas are Pervasive in Those with RA

With the vast majority of the patients I treated, some type of emotional trauma occurred early in their life, before the age their conscious mind was formed, which is typically around the age of 5 or 6. However, a trauma can occur at any age, and has a profoundly negative impact.

If that specific emotional insult is not addressed with an effective treatment modality then the underlying emotional trigger will continue to fester, allowing the destructive process to proceed, which can predispose you to severe autoimmune diseases like RA later in life.

In some cases, RA appears to be caused by an infection, and it is my experience that this infection is usually acquired when you have a stressful event that causes a disruption in your bioelectrical circuits, which then impairs your immune system.

This early emotional trauma predisposes you to developing the initial infection, and also contributes to your relative inability to effectively defeat the infection.

Therefore, it’s very important to have an effective tool to address these underlying emotional traumas. In my practice, the most common form of treatment used is called the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

Although EFT is something that you can learn to do yourself in the comfort of your own home, it is important to consult a well-trained professional to obtain the skills necessary to promote proper healing using this amazing tool.

Vitamin D Deficiency Rampant in Those with RA

The early part of the 21st century brought enormous attention to the importance and value of vitamin D, particularly in the treatment of autoimmune diseases like RA.

From my perspective, it is now virtually criminal negligent malpractice to treat a person with RA and not aggressively monitor their vitamin D levels to confirm that they are in a therapeutic range of 65-80 ng/ml.

This is so important that blood tests need to be done every two weeks, so the dose can be adjusted to get into that range. Most normal-weight adults should start at 10,000 units of vitamin D per day.

If you are in the US, then Lab Corp is the lab of choice.

For more detailed information on vitamin D you can review my vitamin D resource page.

Low Dose Naltrexone

One new addition to the protocol is low-dose Naltrexone, which I would encourage anyone with RA to try. It is inexpensive and non-toxic and I have a number of physician reports documenting incredible efficacy in getting people off of all their dangerous arthritis meds.

Although this is a drug, and strictly speaking not a natural therapy, it has provided important relief and is FAR safer than the toxic drugs that are typically used by nearly all rheumatologists.

Nutritional Considerations

Limiting sugar is a critical element of the treatment program. Sugar has multiple significant negative influences on your biochemistry. First and foremost, it increases your insulin levels, which is the root cause of nearly all chronic disease. It can also impair your gut bacteria.

In my experience if you are unable to decrease your sugar intake, you are far less likely to improve. Please understand that the number one source of calories in the US is high fructose corn syrup from drinking soda. One of the first steps you can take is to phase out all soda, and replace it with pure, clean water.

Exercise for Rheumatoid Arthritis

It is very important to exercise and increase muscle tone of your non-weight bearing joints. Experts tell us that disuse results in muscle atrophy and weakness. Additionally, immobility may result in joint contractures and loss of range of motion (ROM). Active ROM exercises are preferred to passive.

There is some evidence that passive ROM exercises increase the number of white blood cells (WBCs) in your joints.

If your joints are stiff, you should stretch and apply heat before exercising. If your joints are swollen, application of ten minutes of ice before exercise would be helpful.

The inflamed joint is very vulnerable to damage from improper exercise, so you must be cautious. People with arthritis must strike a delicate balance between rest and activity, and must avoid activities that aggravate joint pain. You should avoid any exercise that strains a significantly unstable joint.

A good rule of thumb is that if the pain lasts longer than one hour after stopping exercise, you should slow down or choose another form of exercise. Assistive devices are also helpful to decrease the pressure on affected joints. Many patients need to be urged to take advantage of these. The Arthritis Foundation has a book, Guide to Independent Living, which instructs patients about how to obtain them.

Of course, it is important to maintain good cardiovascular fitness as well. Walking with appropriate supportive shoes is another important consideration.

If your condition allows, it would be wise to move towards a Peak Fitness program that is designed for reaching optimal health.

It’s Important to Control Your Pain

One of the primary problems with RA is controlling pain. The conventional treatment typically includes using very dangerous drugs like prednisone, methotrexate, and drugs that interfere with tumor necrosis factor, like Enbrel.

The goal is to implement the lifestyle changes discussed above as quickly as possible, so you can start to reduce these toxic and dangerous drugs, which do absolutely nothing to treat the cause of the disease.

However pain relief is obviously very important, and if this is not achieved, you can go into a depressive cycle that can clearly worsen your immune system and cause the RA to flare.

So the goal is to be as comfortable and pain free as possible with the least amount of drugs. The Mayo Clinic offers several common sense guidelines for avoiding pain by paying heed to how you move, so as to not injure your joints.

Safest Anti-Inflammatories to Use for Pain

Clearly the safest prescription drugs to use for pain are the non-acetylated salicylates such as:
•Salsalate
•Sodium salicylate
•Magnesium salicylate (i.e., Salflex, Disalcid, or Trilisate).

They are the drugs of choice if there is renal insufficiency as they minimally interfere with anticyclooxygenase and other prostaglandins.

Additionally, they will not impair platelet inhibition in those patients who are on an every-other-day aspirin regimen to decrease their risk for stroke or heart disease.

Unlike aspirin, they do not increase the formation of products of lipoxygenase-mediated metabolism of arachidonic acid. For this reason, they may be less likely to cause hypersensitivity reactions. These drugs have been safely used in patients with reversible obstructive airway disease and a history of aspirin sensitivity.

They are also much gentler on your stomach than the other NSAIDs and are the drug of choice if you have problems with peptic ulcer disease. Unfortunately, all these benefits are balanced by the fact they may not be as effective as the other agents and are less convenient to take. You need to take 1.5-2 grams twice a day, and tinnitus, or ringing in your ear, is a frequent side effect.

You need to be aware of this complication and know that if tinnitus does develop, you need to stop the drugs for a day and restart with a dose that is half a pill per day lower. You can repeat this until you find a dose that relieves your pain and doesn’t cause any ringing in your ears.

If the Safer Anti-Inflammatories aren’t Helping, Try This Next…

If the non-acetylated salicylates aren’t helping there are many different NSAIDs to try. Relafen, Daypro, Voltaren, Motrin, Naprosyn. Meclomen, Indocin, Orudis, and Tolectin are among the most toxic or likely to cause complications. You can experiment with them, and see which one works best for you.

If cost is a concern, generic ibuprofen can be used at up to 800 mg per dose. Unfortunately, recent studies suggest this drug is more damaging to your kidneys.

If you use any of the above drugs, though, it is really important to make sure you take them with your largest meal as this will somewhat moderate their GI toxicity and the likelihood of causing an ulcer.

Please beware that they are much more dangerous than the antibiotics or non-acetylated salicylates.

You should have an SMA blood test performed at least once a year if you are on these medications. In addition, you must monitor your serum potassium levels if you are on an ACE inhibitor as these medications can cause high potassium levels. You should also monitor your kidney function. The SMA will show any liver impairment the drugs might be causing.

These medications can also impair prostaglandin metabolism and cause papillary necrosis and chronic interstitial nephritis. Your kidney needs vasodilatory prostaglandins (PGE2 and prostacycline) to counterbalance the effects of potent vasoconstrictor hormones such as angiotensin II and catecholamines. NSAIDs decrease prostaglandin synthesis by inhibiting cyclooxygenase, leading to unopposed constriction of the renal arterioles supplying your kidney.

Warning: These Drugs Massively Increase Your Risk for Ulcers

The first non-aspirin NSAID, indomethacin, was introduced in 1963. Now more than 30 are available. Relafen is one of the better alternatives as it seems to cause less of an intestinal dysbiosis. You must be especially careful to monitor renal function periodically. It is important to understand and accept the risks associated with these more toxic drugs.

Every year, they do enough damage to the GI tract to kill 2,000 to 4,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis alone. That is ten people EVERY DAY. At any given time, 10 to 20 percent of all those receiving NSAID therapy have gastric ulcers.

If you are taking an NSAID, you are at approximately three times greater risk for developing serious gastrointestinal side effects than those who don’t.

Approximately 1.2 percent of patients taking NSAIDs are hospitalized for upper GI problems, per year of exposure. One study of patients taking NSAIDs showed that a life-threatening complication was the first sign of ulcer in more than half of the subjects.

Researchers found that the drugs suppress production of prostacyclin, which is needed to dilate blood vessels and inhibit clotting. Earlier studies had found that mice genetically engineered to be unable to use prostacyclin properly were prone to clotting disorders.

Anyone who is at increased risk of cardiovascular disease should steer clear of these medications. Ulcer complications are certainly potentially life-threatening, but, heart attacks are a much more common and likely risk, especially in older individuals.

How You Can Tell if You are at Risk for NSAID Side Effects

Risk factor analysis can help determine if you will face an increased danger of developing these complications. If you have any of the following, you will likely to have a higher risk of side effects from these drugs:
1.Old age
2.Peptic ulcer history
3.Alcohol dependency
4.Cigarette smoking
5.Concurrent prednisone or corticosteroid use
6.Disability
7.Taking a high dose of the NSAID
8.Using an NSAID known to be more toxic

Prednisone

The above drug class are called non steroidal anti inflammatories (NSAIDs). If they are unable to control the pain, then prednisone is nearly universally used. This is a steroid drug that is loaded with side effects.

If you are on large doses of prednisone for extended periods of time, you can be virtually assured that you will develop the following problems:
•Osteoporosis
•Cataracts
•Diabetes
•Ulcers
•Herpes reactivation
•Insomnia
•Hypertension
•Kidney stones

You can be virtually assured that every time you take a dose of prednisone your bones are becoming weaker. The higher the dose and the longer you are on prednisone, the more likely you are to develop the problems.

However, if you are able to keep your dose to 5 mg or below, this is not typically a major issue.

Typically this is one of the first medicines you should try to stop as soon as your symptoms permit.

Beware that blood levels of cortisol peak between 3 and 9am. It would, therefore, be safest to administer the prednisone in the morning. This will minimize the suppression on your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.

You also need to be concerned about the increased risk of peptic ulcer disease when using this medicine with conventional non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. If you are taking both of these medicines, you have a 15 times greater risk of developing an ulcer!

If you are already on prednisone, it is helpful to get a prescription for 1 mg tablets so you can wean yourself off the prednisone as soon as possible. Usually you can lower your dose by about 1 mg per week. If a relapse of your symptoms occurs, then further reduction of the prednisone is not indicated.

How Do You Know When to Stop the Drugs?

Unlike conventional approaches to RA, my protocol is designed to treat the underlying cause of the problem. So eventually the drugs that you are going to use during the program will be weaned off.

The following criteria can help determine when you are in remission and can consider weaning off your medications: *
•A decrease in duration of morning stiffness to no more than 15 minutes
•No pain at rest
•Little or no pain or tenderness on motion
•Absence of joint swelling
•A normal energy level
•A decrease in your ESR to no more than 30
•A normalization of your CBC. Generally your HGB, HCT, & MCV will increase to normal and your “pseudo”-iron deficiency will disappear
•ANA, RF, & ASO titers returning to normal

If you discontinue your medications before all of the above criteria are met, there is a greater risk that the disease will recur.

If you meet the above criteria, you can try to wean off your anti-inflammatory medication and monitor for flare-ups. If no flare-ups occur for six months, then discontinue the clindamycin.

If the improvements are maintained for the next six months, you can then discontinue your Minocin and monitor for recurrences. If symptoms should recur, it would be wise to restart the previous antibiotic regimen.

Evaluation to Determine and Follow RA

If you have received evaluations and treatment by one or more board certified rheumatologists, you can be very confident that the appropriate evaluation was done. Although conventional treatments fail miserably in the long run, the conventional diagnostic approach is typically excellent, and you can start the treatment program discussed above.

If you have not been evaluated by a specialist then it will be important to be properly evaluated to determine if indeed you have rheumatoid arthritis.

Please be sure and carefully review Appendix Two, as you will want to confirm that fibromyalgia is not present.

Beware that arthritic pain can be an early manifestation of 20-30 different clinical problems.

These include not only rheumatic disease, but also metabolic, infectious and malignant disorders. Rheumatoid arthritis is a clinical diagnosis for which there is not a single test or group of laboratory tests which can be considered confirmatory.

Criteria for Classification of Rheumatoid Arthritis

•Morning Stiffness – Morning stiffness in and around joints lasting at least one hour before maximal improvement is noted.
•Arthritis of three or more joint areas – At least three joint areas have simultaneously had soft-tissue swelling or fluid (not bony overgrowth) observed by a physician. There are 14 possible joints: right or left PIP, MCP, wrist, elbow, knee, ankle, and MTP joints.
•Arthritis of hand joints – At least one joint area swollen as above in a wrist, MCP, or PIP joint.
•Symmetric arthritis – Simultaneous involvement of the same joint areas (as in criterion 2) on both sides of your body (bilateral involvement of PIPs, MCPs, or MTPs) is acceptable without absolute symmetry. Lack of symmetry is not sufficient to rule out the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
•Rheumatoid Nodules – Subcutaneous nodules over bony prominences, or extensor surfaces, or in juxta-articular regions, observed by a physician. Only about 25 percent of patients with rheumatoid arthritis develop nodules, and usually as a later manifestation.
•Serum Rheumatoid Factor – Demonstration of abnormal amounts of serum rheumatoid factor by any method that has been positive in less than 5 percent of normal control subjects. This test is positive only 30-40 percent of the time in the early months of rheumatoid arthritis.

You must also make certain that the first four symptoms listed in the table above are present for six or more weeks. These criteria have a 91-94 percent sensitivity and 89 percent specificity for the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

However, these criteria were designed for classification and not for diagnosis. The diagnosis must be made on clinical grounds. It is important to note that many patients with negative serologic tests can have a strong clinical picture for rheumatoid arthritis.

Your Hands are the KEY to the Diagnosis of RA

In a way, the hands are the calling card of rheumatoid arthritis. If you completely lack hand and wrist involvement, even by history, the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis is doubtful. Rheumatoid arthritis rarely affects your hips and ankles early in its course.

The metacarpophalangeal joints, proximal interphalangeal and wrist joints are the first joints to become symptomatic. Osteoarthritis typically affects the joints that are closest to your fingertips (DIP joints) while RA typically affects the joints closest to your wrist (PIP), like your knuckles.

Fatigue may be present before your joint symptoms begin, and morning stiffness is a sensitive indicator of rheumatoid arthritis. An increase in fluid in and around your joint probably causes the stiffness. Your joints are warm, but your skin is rarely red.

When your joints develop effusions, hold them flexed at 5 to 20 degrees as it is likely going to be too painful to extend them fully.

Radiological Changes

Radiological changes typical of rheumatoid arthritis on PA hand and wrist X-rays, which must include erosions or unequivocal bony decalcification localized to, or most marked, adjacent to the involved joints (osteoarthritic changes alone do not count).

Note: You must satisfy at least four of the seven criteria listed. Any of criteria 1-4 must have been present for at least 6 weeks. Patients with two clinical diagnoses are not excluded. Designations as classic, definite, or probable rheumatoid arthritis, are not to be made.

Laboratory Evaluation

The general initial laboratory evaluation should include a baseline ESR, CBC, SMA, U/A, 25 hydroxy D level and an ASO titer. You can also draw RF and ANA titers to further objectively document improvement with the therapy. However, they seldom add much to the assessment.

Follow-up visits can be every two to four months depending on the extent of the disease and ease of testing.

The exception here would be vitamin D testing which should be done every two weeks until your 25 hydroxy D level is between 65 and 80 ng/ml.

Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a hypochromic, microcytic CBC that appears very similar to iron deficiency, but it is not at all related. This is probably due to the inflammation in the rheumatoid arthritis impairing optimal bone marrow utilization of iron.

It is important to note that this type of anemia does NOT respond to iron and if you are put on iron you will get worse, as the iron is a very potent oxidative stress. Ferritin levels are generally the most reliable indicator of total iron body stores. Unfortunately it is also an acute phase reactant protein and will be elevated anytime the ESR is elevated. This makes ferritin an unreliable test in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Physicians Who Use this Protocol

Roadback.org is the oldest organization promoting this work and the one Dr. Brown originally worked with. They are an excellent resource to find health care professionals using this approach.

APPENDIX ONE: The Infectious Cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis

It is quite clear that autoimmunity plays a major role in the progression of rheumatoid arthritis. Most rheumatology investigators believe that an infectious agent causes rheumatoid arthritis. There is little agreement as to the involved organism, however.

Investigators have proposed the following infectious agents:
•Human T-cell lymphotropic virus Type I
•Rubella virus
•Cytomegalovirus
•Herpesvirus
•Mycoplasma

This review will focus on the evidence supporting the hypothesis that mycoplasma is a common etiologic agent of rheumatoid arthritis.

Mycoplasmas are the smallest self-replicating prokaryotes. They differ from classical bacteria by lacking rigid cell wall structures and are the smallest known organisms capable of extracellular existence. They are considered to be parasites of humans, animals, and plants.

Culturing Mycoplasmas from Joints

Mycoplasmas have limited biosynthetic capabilities and are very difficult to culture and grow from synovial tissues. They require complex growth media or a close parasitic relation with animal cells. This contributed to many investigators failure to isolate them from arthritic tissue.

In reactive arthritis, immune complexes rather than viable organisms localize in your joints. The infectious agent is actually present at another site. Some investigators believe that the organism binding in the immune complex contributes to the difficulty in obtaining positive mycoplasma cultures.

Despite this difficulty, some researchers have successfully isolated mycoplasma from synovial tissues of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A British group used a leucocyte-migration inhibition test and found two-thirds of their rheumatoid arthritis patients to be infected with Mycoplasma fermentens. These results are impressive since they did not include more prevalent Mycoplasma strains like M salivarium, M ovale, M hominis, and M pneumonia.

One Finnish investigator reported a 100 percent incidence of isolation of mycoplasma from 27 rheumatoid synovia using a modified culture technique. None of the non- rheumatoid tissue yielded any mycoplasmas.

The same investigator used an indirect hemagglutination technique and reported mycoplasma antibodies in 53 percent of patients with definite rheumatoid arthritis. Using similar techniques other investigators have cultured mycoplasma in 80-100 percent of their rheumatoid arthritis test population.

Rheumatoid arthritis can also follow some mycoplasma respiratory infections.

One study of over 1000 patients was able to identify arthritis in nearly 1 percent of the patients. These infections can be associated with a positive rheumatoid factor. This provides additional support for mycoplasma as an etiologic agent for rheumatoid arthritis. Human genital mycoplasma infections have also caused septic arthritis.

Harvard investigators were able to culture mycoplasma or a similar organism, ureaplasma urealyticum, from 63 percent of female patients with SLE and only 4 percent of patients with CFS. The researchers chose CFS, as these patients shared similar symptoms as those with SLE, such as fatigue, arthralgias, and myalgias.

Animal Evidence for the Protocol

The full spectrum of human rheumatoid arthritis immune responses (lymphokine production, altered lymphocyte reactivity, immune complex deposition, cell-mediated immunity and development of autoimmune reactions) occurs in mycoplasma induced animal arthritis.

Investigators have implicated at least 31 different mycoplasma species.

Mycoplasma can produce experimental arthritis in animals from three days to months later. The time seems to depend on the dose given, and the virulence of the organism.

There is a close degree of similarity between these infections and those of human rheumatoid arthritis.

Mycoplasmas cause arthritis in animals by several mechanisms. They either directly multiply within the joint or initiate an intense local immune response.

Arthritogenic mycoplasmas also cause joint inflammation in animals by several mechanisms. They induce nonspecific lymphocyte cytotoxicity and antilymphocyte antibodies as well as rheumatoid factor.

Mycoplasma clearly causes chronic arthritis in mice, rats, fowl, swine, sheep, goats, cattle and rabbits. The arthritis appears to be the direct result of joint infection with culturable mycoplasma organisms.

Gorillas have tissue reactions closer to man than any other animal, and investigators have shown that mycoplasma can precipitate a rheumatic illness in gorillas. One study demonstrated that mycoplasma antigens do occur in immune complexes in great apes.

The human and gorilla IgG are very similar and express nearly identical rheumatoid factors (IgM anti-IgG antibodies). The study showed that when mycoplasma binds to IgG it can cause a conformational change. This conformational change results in an anti-IgG antibody, which can then stimulate an autoimmune response.

The Science of Why Minocycline is Used

If mycoplasma were a causative factor in rheumatoid arthritis, one would expect tetracycline type drugs to provide some sort of improvement in the disease. Collagenase activity increases in rheumatoid arthritis and probably has a role in its cause.

Investigators have demonstrated that tetracycline and minocycline inhibit leukocyte, macrophage, and synovial collagenase.

There are several other aspects of tetracyclines that may play a role in rheumatoid arthritis. Investigators have shown minocycline and tetracycline to retard excessive connective tissue breakdown and bone resorption, while doxycycline inhibits digestion of human cartilage.

It is also possible that tetracycline treatment improves rheumatic illness by reducing delayed-type hypersensitivity response. Minocycline and doxycycline both inhibit phosolipases which are considered proinflammatory and capable of inducing synovitis.

Minocycline is a more potent antibiotic than tetracycline and penetrates tissues better.

These characteristics shifted the treatment of rheumatic illness away from tetracycline to minocycline. Minocycline may benefit rheumatoid arthritis patients through its immunomodulating and immunosuppressive properties. In vitro studies have demonstrated a decreased neutrophil production of reactive oxygen intermediates along with diminished neutrophil chemotaxis and phagocytosis.

Minocycline has also been shown to reduce the incidence and severity of synovitis in animal models of arthritis. The improvement was independent of minocycline’s effect on collagenase. Minocycline has also been shown to increase intracellular calcium concentrations that inhibit T-cells.

Individuals with the Class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) DR4 allele seem to be predisposed to developing rheumatoid arthritis.

The infectious agent probably interacts with this specific antigen in some way to precipitate rheumatoid arthritis. There is strong support for the role of T cells in this interaction.

So minocycline may suppress rheumatoid arthritis by altering T cell calcium flux and the expression of T cell derived from collagen binding protein. Minocycline produced a suppression of the delayed hypersensitivity in patients with Reiter’s syndrome, and investigators also successfully used minocycline to treat the arthritis and early morning stiffness of Reiter’s syndrome.

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By Dr. Mercola

Do you crack or “pop” your knuckles? Some believe it may cause, or worsen, joint conditions such as arthritis. However, according to the featured research,1, 2 knuckle-cracking does not appear to be a risk factor for osteoporosis in that joint.

About one in five adults, or nearly 50 million Americans, have been diagnosed with arthritis, the most common form of which is osteoarthritis.3

If you have osteoarthritis, the cartilage within your joints is progressively being damaged, and the synovial fluid that keeps your joints lubricated and cushioned is typically reduced as well.

The pain and joint stiffness that you feel is a result of your bones starting to come into contact with each other as cartilage and synovial fluid is reduced, and if you don’t take action, it can become progressively worse until you are unable to carry out your normal daily activities.

In conclusion, the authors stated that:

“Total past duration (in years) and volume (daily frequency ‘- years) of knuckle-cracking (KC) of each joint type also was not significantly correlated with OA at the respective joint. A history of habitual KC – including the total duration and total cumulative exposure ‘does not seem to be a risk factor for hand OA.'”

Twenty years ago, I co-authored a paper titled “Cracking down on ‘neck cracking,’ which was published in the journal American Family Physician.4 In it, I argued that self-manipulation can lead to lax ligaments. Personally, I don’t think it’s wise to crack your joints on a regular basis, even if it doesn’t directly lead to arthritis of the joint. That said, what can make arthritis worse, and how can you address arthritic conditions?

What’s the Difference Between Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Osteoarthritis usually occurs in older individuals, but can also be caused by repetitive stress or acute trauma. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, can affect you at any age, including children. Fortunately, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) is relatively rare.

Understanding the differences between the two types of arthritis will help you distinguish which one you have.

Osteoarthritis – Degenerative joint disease usually affects the distal joints, or the joints at the end of your fingers and toes, not the middle ones. Additionally, it’s not symmetrical, so typically you may have it on just one joint, or on one hand or foot and not the other.

Rheumatoid arthritis – RA, on the other hand, is an autoimmune disease that causes your body to break itself down. Therefore, it tends to be bilateral and symmetrical, meaning it’s the same on both sides of your body. If you only have a specific joint affected on one side of your body, it is far less likely to be RA. It also affects your middle joints, and is associated with joint deformities, especially your hands and fingers. It can be very crippling, and people do die from rheumatoid arthritis, so it’s not something to be treated lightly.

Little-Known Risk Factors for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Osteoarthritis

Recent research5 has identified several lifestyle factors and pre-existing conditions that may increase your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, including:
•Smoking
•Obesity
•Diabetes

As for osteoarthritis, a recent analysis6 found that the greater a woman’s exposure to perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), the greater her risk for developing osteoarthritis. Interestingly, the same correlation was not found in men. It’s believed the reason for this is the impact of these chemicals on women’s hormones. PFC’s are commonly found in nonstick cookware, takeout containers and carpeting, just to name a few.

Even though osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are two entirely different diseases, they can be treated in much the same way as foundationally inflammation as at the core of the pain. So even though osteoarthritis is typically caused by wear-and-tear on your joints due to lifestyle, diet and aging, and rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease in which your body starts destroying itself, you may gain relief from the following treatments regardless of which type of arthritis you have.

First: Basic Lifestyle Changes to Address Arthritis

I believe improving your diet using my nutritional guidelines is crucial for your success. It addresses all of the nutritional guidelines presented in this article, and more. In addition, there are some general principles that seem to hold true for virtually everyone and these include:
•Eliminating sugar, especially fructose, and most grains. For most people with rheumatoid arthritis, you’ll want to be very careful to limit fructose to just 15 grams per day or less, and this includes fructose from whole fruit.
•Opting for organic food, preferably locally grown, and eat your food as close to raw as possible
•Incorporating regular exercise into your daily schedule. Weight training has been found to be of particular benefit for those with rheumatoid arthritis and, contrary to popular belief, if you have osteoarthritis exercise is absolutely crucial to your well-being. Naturally, if you’re in pain, you need to take certain precautions, so for more information on how to adjust your exercise if you have either of these conditions, please follow the links provided

The Importance of Sulfur

Sulfur is just now becoming more widely appreciated as a really critical nutrient, without which many other things don’t work properly, and many are not getting enough sulfur from their diet anymore. Sulfur is found in over 150 different compounds within the human body. There are sulfur components in virtually every type of cell, so it’s extremely important. It plays a critical role in inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, as well as detoxification. Two ways to increase your sulfur intake include:
•MSM, either from food or supplement: A metabolite of DMSO, MSM primarily impacts your health by reducing inflammation. MSM is 34 percent sulfur by weight, but it’s more than just a simple sulfur donor. It affects sulfur metabolism in your body, although it’s still not entirely clear how. Perhaps most important, MSM helps protect against oxidative damage, and is widely used as a supplement for arthritic conditions.

While many opt for a supplement, MSM is in most raw foods, such as leafy green vegetables. Raw milk has the highest naturally occurring content of MSM.

One caveat is cooking and pasteurization. While MSM is stable to extremes of pH and temperature, it volatilizes and turns to gas very easily. It’s also very water-soluble. So when cooked at high temperatures, it simply wafts off in the steam. That’s why it’s easily removed during cooking and processing. Pasteurization cuts the MSM content by approximately 50 percent. So, in order to ensure you’re getting the most MSM from any food, it must be either raw or as minimally processed as possible.

Fortunately, toxicity studies have shown that MSM is extremely safe and can be taken at very, very high doses. Even if you have a very rich diet full of raw vegetables and MSM-rich foods, you can still supplement and not hit that toxicity level. Clinical research studies have found that the effective amounts range from about 1.5 grams to 6 grams. For comparison, intake of MSM from natural sources such as fruits and vegetables would be in the milligram per day range of about 2.3 to 5.6 mg/day.
•Bone broth: Simmering leftover bones over very low heat for an entire day will create one of the most nutritious and healing foods known to man. Make sure the bones are from organically raised animals. The connective tissues are sulfur-rich, and when you slow-cook the bones, you dissolve these nutrients out of the bone and into the water.

You can use this broth for soups, stews, or drink it straight. Remember that the “skin” that forms on the top is the best part—this is what contains the most valuable nutrients, including sulfur, along with healthful fats—so make sure to stir it back into the broth.

Other Important Treatments That Work for Both Types of Arthritis

Almost universally, autoimmune diseases have an underlying vitamin D deficiency. For example, the further you go from the equator, the higher the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis becomes. From my perspective, it is now virtually malpractice to treat a person with RA and not aggressively monitor their vitamin D levels to confirm that they are in a therapeutic range of 65-80 ng/ml. This is so important that blood tests need to be done every two weeks, so the dose (whether you’re using sun exposure or a supplement) can be adjusted to get within that therapeutic range.

It would also be helpful to review my comprehensive list of treatment suggestions for RA. For over 10 years treating patients with RA was one of my interests and I successfully treated a few thousand patients by applying simple effective strategies.

Research has also suggested that vitamin D deficiency may impair your body’s natural protection against the bone changes associated with osteoarthritis.7 Research8 published in 1996 also found that low serum levels of vitamin D were associated with an increased risk for progression of the condition—those with low vitamin D levels had triple the risk compared to those who were not vitamin D deficient. Low serum levels of vitamin D also predicted loss of cartilage and degenerative bony spur formation.

The remedy, of course, is to optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally through appropriate sun exposure.

If you opt for a supplement, keep in mind that you may need FAR higher doses than typically recommended. According to research published by GrassrootsHealth from the D*Action study, the average adult needs to take 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D per day in order to elevate your levels above 40 ng/ml — the bare minimum requirement necessary for disease prevention. As mentioned, if you have RA, you’ll want your levels to be higher than this (within the 65-80 ng/ml range), so you’ll need to have your blood tested and tweak your dose/sun exposure accordingly. Also, if you opt for a supplement, keep in mind that you need to concurrently boost your intake of vitamin K2, either through your diet or with a supplement.

Another primary treatment method for either of these conditions is a high quality source of animal-based omega-3 fats such as krill oil. Omega-3s are an essential component that your body needs to reduce inflammation.

Astaxanthin is another powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidant that could have very powerful benefits in controlling joint pain. I recommend starting with 2 mg per day, but for more serious conditions you may benefit from as much as 10-12 mg per day. If you are on a krill oil supplement, take that into consideration as krill oil naturally contains astaxanthin. Different krill products have different concentrations of astaxanthin, so check your label and adjust your dosage of astaxanthin accordingly.

Optimizing your gut flora is also important if you’re suffering from any kind of inflammatory condition. I would strongly encourage you to eat 4-6 ounces a day of fermented vegetables, which will supply you with about 10 trillion beneficial bacteria. That’s about 10 percent of the total microbial population of your gut, and can equate to an entire bottle of most probiotics supplements. Ideally you should consume them regularly if not daily. The best way to learn how to prepare them properly is to get the GAPS book or listen to my interview with Caroline Barringer.

Two Newer Kids on the Block—Curcumin and Naltrexone

Two additional treatment options deserve mention. The first is low dose naltrexone as an adjunct to help you wean off the nearly universal experience of toxic drugs that most people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are put on. Low dose naltrexone is one of the newer additions to my rheumatoid arthritis protocol, which I would encourage anyone with RA to try. It is inexpensive and non-toxic and I have a number of physician reports documenting incredible efficacy in getting people off of all their dangerous arthritis meds.

Although this is a drug, and strictly speaking not a natural therapy, it has provided important relief and is FAR safer than the toxic drugs that are typically used by nearly all rheumatologists. The other is curcumin—the pigment that gives the curry spice turmeric its yellow-orange color. At a dose of 200mg per day, curcumin was found to relieve pain and increase mobility in patients with osteoarthritis in one study.9 It’s known for its potent anti-inflammatory properties, and the compound has been shown to influence more than 700 genes. It can inhibit both the activity and the synthesis of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and 5-lipooxygenase (5-LOX), as well as other enzymes that have been implicated in inflammation.

In another study10 involving people with rheumatoid arthritis, a highly bioavailable form of curcumin was more effective in alleviating RA symptoms, including tenderness and swelling of joints, than the NSAID drug Voltaren. Not only that, those who were taking the curcumin only actually experienced the most improvement across the board. Along with relieving the most symptoms, the curcumin group had another benefit – lack of any observed adverse effects. No one in the curcumin group withdrew from the study due to side effects, but 14 percent of those in the NSAID group did so.

Several years back, in 2006, another study11 also found that turmeric supplements, which contain curcuminoids, profoundly lessened joint inflammation and destruction, presumably by blocking inflammatory pathways and thereby preventing the increased production of a protein that triggers swelling and pain.

Arthritis is Controllable without Drugs…

Unlike osteoarthritis, which is a degenerative joint disease, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes your body to break itself down – your immune system starts attacking your joints, leading to pain, deformities and a substantial loss of mobility. As a result, it is generally treated with very aggressive medications. In fact, the drugs used for rheumatoid arthritis are some of the most dangerous drugs used in medicine. High doses of prednisone are common, as well as immunosuppressants and anti-cancer agents to treat the severe pain and swelling.

Fortunately, you have many other options. While rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are different diseases, many of the treatments are identical, as discussed above.

Remember, for my full recommendations on how to treat rheumatoid arthritis naturally, please review my rheumatoid arthritis protocol. As for osteoarthritis, by exercising, eating right, optimizing your vitamin D levels and seeking natural, restorative options for pain, you can help to significantly slow down any further deterioration or loss of motion in your joints.

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China food scandal: Rat meat sold as lamb meat

When it comes to lying, cheating, deceiving and scamming people about their food, no country is more accomplished than China, home of the melamine infant formula scandal and foods contaminated with high levels of heavy metals.

Now a new scandal adds one more milestone to the list: Chinese authorities say they broke up a 900-person criminal ring that harvested meat from rats and other animals to be modified and sold as lamb meat. This “rat meat” appeared in markets in Jiangsu province and Shanghai.

Unwitting consumers routinely purchased the meat, not knowing they were eating “rat steaks” at home.

Beyond the obvious gross factor of the discovery, the rat meat used in the scam was obviously never safety tested or inspected. It may have been, like many other foods in China, heavily contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals. Rats, after all, don’t live the cleanest lifestyles.

“Despite years of food scandals — from milk contaminated with an industrial chemical to the use of industrial dyes in eggs — China has been unable to clean up its food supply chain,” reports USA Today.

Here’s why China has an epidemic of food fraud
To date, Natural News is the only publication to tell the full story on why this is happening. Perhaps that’s because I speak a fair amount of Chinese and previously lived in Asia. I know the Chinese and Taiwanese cultures better than most.

And the simple truth behind all this is that China is a nation of spiritually void athiests who have no morals or ethics. Religion is outlawed in China, and as a result there is absolutely no moral compass taught to the Chinese people. I’m not saying organized religion is the answer to all of society’s ills, but at least at a basic level, religion teaches a moral compass that simply doesn’t exist in Chinese culture.

Because of this lack of a moral compass, it is routine in China to find a street vendor of so-called “stinky tofu” (an actual food item served on the street) using sewer water as their water source. It’s routine to find foods from china colored with toxic ink to make them appear more valuable. (For example, sesame seeds are often doused with black ink to sell them as black sesame, which is more costly than white sesame). It is routine for chicken egg producers in China to feed their chickens toxic petrochemical food coloring chemicals in order to alter the color of the eggs.

In China, the idea of killing thousands of babies in order to make extra money on infant formula isn’t even abhorrent. It’s normal. The idea of cheating your customer with fake meat is commonplace. Cheating, dishonest and deceit are the norm — not the exception — in China.

Communist police state
Remember, China is a communist military dictatorship — essentially a police state. They do not have a Bill of Rights. They do not allow freedom of religion or even spiritual practice of any kind. They quite literally arrest, torture and execute people who practice meditation (Falun-Gong) and yoga.

China is a country of tremendous government evil, and that’s exactly where Obama is trying to push America — into a state of moral relativism where those who believe in moral values are attacked, demonized and eventually even arrested. This is why the Pentagon recently announced it will court martial soldiers who profess their Christian faith.

In fact, a top athiest consultant to the Pentagon unleashed an astonishingly evil rant against those of Christian faith that mirrored exactly the kind of condemnation you’d normally hear in China. He said:

“We face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.”

A culture of death and deception destroys every corner of society
I realize that to some readers it may seem like a stretch to go from rat meat in food to a discussion of religious freedom in a police state dictatorship like China, but in truth they are strongly related.

This is about a culture of death and deception. China, after all, is a one-child policy country where millions of baby girls are murdered each year. China is a nation where organs are routinely harvested from political prisoners and where people are routinely tortured and executed for speaking out against their government. If all this information is new to you, that’s because the U.S. press never reports any of these truths about China.

In fact, all the movies produced in Hollywood today are reviewed and approved by Chinese officials before being allowed to be released into U.S. theaters. This includes the new Iron Man movie and World War Z. China now determines what you see in the movie theater, and you’re never allowed to see anything critical of China.

It is no coincidence that this level of deception, destruction and death would creep into the food supply. After all, people who would murder their own baby girls in order to have a son under a one-child policy would think nothing of selling rat meat as lamb meat.

Where there is no moral compass, there are no limits to the indignity and injustice of human behavior.

Where there is a culture of death, deceit, destruction and demonization of morality, you will always find dishonesty in every sector of society: food, finance, government, business, technology, education and everything else.

So don’t be surprised to find China selling rat meat, or rat burgers, or even McRatguts with special dipping sauces made from human feces. In a culture devoid of all liberties, morals, religious freedoms and human dignity, the food supply will inevitably reflect the death and deception that characterizes the culture.

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5 Steps To Looking 10 Years Younger

By Steve & Becky Holman

Did you know that once you hit 40 years of age, whether you’re a man or a women, your body starts aging FASTER than normal? Studies have shown that without the proper nutrients and exercise, your body will age about 6 months EXTRA for every year that passes. Think about that! If you are 40, that means by the time you hit 44 you will LOOK and FEEL 48. And by the time you reach 60, you will LOOK and FEEL 70 YEARS OLD! We see this every day… just look around you.

Did you know that 90% of people over the age of 35 lose enough muscle every year to burn off an additional 4 pounds of body fat? That means you not only lose the only thing on your body that creates shape, tone, and strength—you also gain more fat every year, even if your calories stay the same.

Did you know that all of this is reversible at any age? That there are specific ways to move, eat, and think that tell your brain to STOP this rapid aging process… and even SLOW IT DOWN to the point where you’re aging less than a year for every year? That means you can look younger at 40 than you do at 35… or if you’re like Becky and I, younger at 50+ than we did at 40!

This is not fantasy talk. This does not require a boatload of anti-aging drugs, supplements, or gimmicks. And, this works for anyone, male or female, and works at any age. 35, 45, 55, 65, 75… you name it. The biology is exactly the same.

My years as editor-in-chief at Iron Man Magazine have allowed me to peer into the secret routines of the anti-aging experts. Over the years, both Becky and I have picked up SO many tips, tricks, and strategies that have allowed us to literally reverse the aging process, at least from a cellular level. That means our body’s look, feel, and MOVE younger than our chronological age.

We’ve taught this System to countless men and women over the years, and it always begins with these 5 key principles you must apply in order to STOP the rapid onset of aging that’s going on right now, reverse it, and begin “aging backwards” by restoring your body’s natural youth hormones.

That said, we have to warn you: What you are about to hear may go against all the conventional diet and exercise advice you’ve been hearing. That’s because the world has, to be utterly frank, gone soft! “Core training”, hot yoga, spin classes, tai chí all of these are just fine, but they won’t slow your aging, and they certainly will never shape your muscles or burn off stubborn body fat. No way!

These 5 steps reveal the things you absolutely MUST AVOID if you want to slow the aging process, reclaim your health, and achieve your ideal body.

What you need is a splash of cold water, a touch of Old School, and the honest truth. Sound good? Let’s dive in!

Step 1: Forget Low-Fat Diets

Low fat everything has been the craze now for decades and look around. What has that wonderful bit of advice done for the bodies you see? We’re fatter, sicker, and more addicted to sugar and carbs than any other time in history. And, we’re passing these habits to our kids.

Fats are not to be feared – they’re to be embraced. They do not make you fat; rather, they help your body regenerate your power hormones. Testosterone, the ‘strength’ hormone, for example, is the direct result of cholesterol and dietary fat intake. That’s right: “Cholesterol” isn’t a dirty word! Your body needs dietary fat and cholesterol in order to produce ANY AND ALL vital hormones.

People on low fat diets look drawn, gaunt, and weak. They are often sick, sometimes to the point of literally breaking down. And, they can never just enjoy eating out. Every meal and every gram must be accounted for. Do you really think this will make you younger? Of course not… it will worry you to death if it doesn’t kill you first!

Step 2: Stop Running in Circles

Gym classes can be fun, if you like sitting in one place and torturing yourself. But have you noticed how little people change their bodies in these classes? Sure, it’s good “cardio”, but cardiovascular conditioning can be gained with far less time and effort.

Treadmills, and any form of endurance training (especially running) does very little to help the age reversal process. Many times, these long-duration exercise bouts accelerate the aging process by increasing free radicals. These free radicals are scavengers that prey on your body’s essential nutrients and tissues.

There’s a smart way to exercise… we’ll cover that in a minute. And, what’s wonderful is that it takes you about ¼ the time of traditional workouts. We’ll cover more details on the next page.

Step 3: Stop Blaming Everything On How Old You Are

The guys to the left are not fat because they are old—they’re fat because they eat, think, and move like a fat, old, dying person! Becky and I are both in our 50s—older than the guys in this photo—and I still sport a nice six-pack, and Becky transformed her body from the typical “middle age mom” to a slim, toned, and super-sexy woman who looks 10 years younger. (See the next page for photos!)

Listen: Your body doesn’t own a clock. Studies have shown that men and women in their 90s were able to gain muscle tone in just a matter of weeks of simple weight training. I’ve personally seen men and women transform their physiques at literally all ages—25 to 95!

If you’re around those naysayers who are constantly talking about growing old, all their aches and pains, and how life is just down hill after 40—LEAVE! Surround yourself with positive thinkers who absolutely crave a challenge. A challenge is what keeps you YOUNG, and the best challenge there is happens to be taking control of your health and body.

We’ll show you HOW we do that on the next page.

Step 4: Avoid Chronic Dehydration

Water isn’t just “good for you” — water burns fat. Water suppresses hunger. Water renews your skin. Just drinking 12 ounces of pure water every day can take a few years off your face in a matter of weeks. You’ll also drop fat, have more energy, and save your kidneys and liver from chronic overwork.

When your kidneys are taxed from too little water, your liver has to take over. Now, get this: Your liver is your number one fat-burning organ. Do you REALLY want it processing liquids and toxins rather than BURNING FAT? No way, right? Well, grab a glass of water, and watch the mirror. Within a few weeks, the change to your face and body will be noticeable.

Step 5: Work Out LESS (Yes, Less)

If you don’t work out at all, you’re going to lose muscle tissue every year. That means you’ll get fatter and flabbier each and every year with less shape and more sag. Is this what you desire? No way, right?

Well, the answer is old school resistance training. Here’s the secret: hardly anyone is doing it right!

Becky and I have seen literally thousand of pro fitness athletes train over the years. The ones who looked the best — and that means looked the youngest, most toned, and had the least amount of unwanted fat — were the ones who left the gym while others were still warming up!

Over the past decade, Becky and I have developed a men and women’s workout system that we call F4X Training System. This is a revolutionary way of combining four specific exercises done in literally a matter of minutes. That’s ALL YOU NEED… And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

That’s right: We do not do endless cardio sessions (the F4X Training System is a great cardiovascular workout) and we do not spend an hour a day in the gym. We have a life, thank you. We have kids, and we value being both fit and real people at the same time. The F4X Training System was our personal breakthrough to achieving our ideal bodies, staying in tip-top shape with minimal time, and having a life outside a gym.

WARNING: THIS IS NOT FOR EVERYONE!

We’re not going to lie to you: The F4X System is definitely not for everyone. For example:
If you enjoy spending an hour a day working out, this is NOT for you (and good luck with those free radicals!)
If you think you can “spin” or run your way to a younger, time-changing body, have at it… this is not for you.
And, if you are not prepared to work very, very hard for a very short period of time, this is not for you.

We’re not going to lie: F4X is hard work — anything that produces this kind of radical age-defying result will never be a walk in the park.

However, it’s FAST it’s EFFICIENT and it’s SAFE. Fair enough? Hey, if you’re looking for an EASY way out, then Google “Pipedream Workout” and maybe you’ll get lucky. If you want results that have stood the test of DECADES, then read on.

You MUST be okay with brief bouts of old-school-style hard work. If you are, here’s a routine you’ve never seen before, AND you will get in and out of the gym in RECORD time.

If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.