Rather Be Healthy

The global March Against Monsanto happens tomorrow! Nearly three hundred cities will host what’s sure to be hundreds of thousands of protesters and activists around the globe who are taking a stand against Monsanto and GMOs.

YOU can join in the activities, too! Check this site to see if there’s a march planned near you:
http://occupy-monsanto.com/march-against-monsanto-may-25-2013/

And learn more about the event at this FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto

Here are my top 10 reasons to attend the March Against Monsanto!

#1) There will be tons of press coverage, so your voice will be heard
It’s hard to get your voice heard these days. But now’s your chance! Bring your protest sign, wear a shirt with a message, speak to news crews or even give a speech to the audience. This is your chance to have your voice heard on an issue of crucial importance to the future of life on our planet.

#2) Send a powerful message to Monsanto that their corporate evil will not be tolerated by the people of the world
Beyond the media watching this event, Monsanto will also be very closely monitoring what happens. (Look out for “Monsanto spies” at every event!)

When you show up and march with determination and passion, you help send a message to Monsanto that they will never stop the resistance against GMOs. We want to tell them they should find a way to transition out of the market while they still have time. Let Monsanto know that We the People won’t tolerate their genetic poisoning of the planet and the food supply!

#3) Learn more about GMOs and why they’re so dangerous for life on our planet
By attending these rallies, you’ll also learn a huge amount of valuable information about GMOs and why they’re so dangerous to us all. You might even learn something so powerful you feel compelled to share it with others.

And that’s how this works: Gathering knowledge and sharing it with the people around you so that they, too, can learn to avoid GMOs. Let knowledge be open-source!

#4) Listen to great speakers who share a message of inspiration and solidarity
At every city, speakers will be sharing their wisdom and rallying the crowd with inspiring, informative live speeches. Listen to these speakers and you’ll learn a lot!

#5) Meet and interact with like-minded people
Want to meet informed, intelligent, health-conscious people who aren’t dumbed-down like everyone else? Meet them at the March Against Monsanto!

Think about it: What kind of people come to these marches? The top 1% of the most informed, “awake” and environmentally-aware individuals on the planet. That’s my kind of crowd!

#6) Send a global message to food retailers that they should drop GMOs
Food retailers will also be watching this event, and as more and more people protest GMOs, more pressure will be placed on retailers to either label GMOs or drop them altogether.

And that’s what we want! At minimum, we want mandatory GMO labeling across the board. That way, shoppers can make an informed choice of what they’re buying at the grocery store.

#7) Get some outdoor exercise while joining a noble cause
Joining the march will give you a fantastic opportunity to get some healthy exercise while marching for a worthy cause. It’s not every day that you get to march with a group of fun, intelligent, informed people who truly represent the future of humankind (because they care about genetic integrity).

If for no other reason than this, join the March Against Monsanto and enjoy the stroll!

#8) Raise your spiritual karma score by standing up for universal justice
Need a little help in the karma realm? Marching against evil is always a good thing; especially when you’re taking a stand for universal justice: food freedom, farm freedom and the integrity of seeds on our planet.

The time to do something good is now!

#9) Show off your cool protest sign!
Bring an awesome protest sign and show it off to the crowd! I’ll be marching with my own sign, and I can’t wait to see what everybody else comes up with, too.

Make your sign large enough to be easily read in photos and news cameras. If your sign is awesome enough, it will get major play on the ‘net!

#10) Be part of a truly grassroots, non-hierarchical, non-centralized global protest
This entire event has come into existence organically, with no central planning or coordination. I don’t even know who put this together in the first place. And it doesn’t matter, you see, because as long as we each continue to do our part on this, we can feel hugely rewarded in knowing that millions of other people are also doing their part for the same common goal: the global outlawing or labeling of GMOs.

Join us in this march for the sole reason that it is the right thing to do. Become part of a peer-to-peer, decentralized movement of justice against a terrible evil that threatens our planet. Feel the power of the People as you join in this meaningful, grassroots effort to banish corporate evil from our food and farms.

Learn more:

http://occupy-monsanto.com/march-against-monsanto-may-25-2013/

https://www.facebook.com/MarchAgainstMonstanto

http://www.march-against-monsanto.com/

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

Are America’s Nutrition Professionals in the Pocket of Big Food?

Can you rely on the government to provide objective, health-promoting dietary advice via the food guide now known as MyPlate? The short answer to that question is “No.” The reality of how government bows to food-industry interests is shocking, and most certainly plays a role in the obesity epidemic.

How about registered dietitians (RDs)? Surely you can trust their advice? After all, their specialty is nutrition and food science.

Disturbingly, a recent report exposing the deep conflicts of interest between the processed food industry and the trade organization for food- and nutrition professionals in the US shatters any illusion you may have had that RDs are the go-to source for well-researched, science-based nutrition advice that will improve your health…

The report, aptly titled: And Now a Word from Our Sponsors… Are America’s Nutrition Professionals in the Pocket of Big Food?1 is written by Michele Simon, who has practiced public health law as long as I’ve been doing this site — about 17 years.

Many of you may not be aware that public health law even exists as a specialty, but it does. Michele has been a real white-hat advocate for public health, developing strategies to fight corporate tactics that deceive and manipulate you.

Michele’s motivation for entering into public health law began with her own foray into eating a plant-based diet and learning more about the impact of nutrition on health.

“I realized that there weren’t many people at that time making the connection between what we eat and our government policies,” she says. “I look at the politics of food and then apply my legal background to expose the various ways the industry influences our government policies and so forth.”

Her most recent exposé involves the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (formerly known as the American Dietetic Association), and the corporate politics involved in making public dietary recommendations.

It all began with people sending her photos of all the big junk food companies exhibiting their wares at the Academy’s annual meetings, showing her there was a problem going on. Two years ago, Michele decided to investigate the situation, which turned out to be an eye-opening experience:

“You walk into this expo show floor, and you think you’re in the wrong place. You think you can’t possibly be in a nutrition conference. It actually looks like one big junk food expo,” she says.

“After that first year of writing about it (an article on the influence of the various presenters there), I took a much deeper dive over the last six months or so to really uncover exactly how these relationships work between the major junk food companies and this very influential trade group.”

Why are Dietitians and Nutritionists Sponsored by Junk Food Companies?

As Michele discovered, food companies like Coca-Cola, General Mills, Nestlé, Kraft, and all of the major junk food purveyors buy sponsorships to be at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ annual trade organization meetings. They typically end up having the largest booths on the expo floor. Besides showcasing their food products, they’re also allowed to sponsor or hold educational sessions at the meeting.

According to Michele, Nestlé paid $50,000 for the benefit of doing a special session in which they talked about optimum hydration, for example.

“It’s probably no coincidence that Nestlé is also the largest bottled water company in the world,” she says. “So, it’s basically a pay-to-play operation, where these companies pay big money. In exchange, they also get to teach registered dietitians (RDs) for continuing education units.

So, the RDs who are there to make sure they get their continuing education units can do that by learning about optimum hydration from the nation’s biggest bottled water company. And that’s just one example.”

Coca-Cola also sponsors ongoing educational webinars year-round. So, to get CEU’s, registered dietitians can be “educated” by Coca-cola on the virtues of aspartame, for example, and that sugar in children’s diet is okay “in moderation.” According to Michele, these ongoing integral relationships between major food companies and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (which is the nation’s largest trade group organization of food and nutrition professionals) represent HUGE conflicts of interest.

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics represent 74,000 of the nation’s health professionals whose job it is to help Americans to eat right. At each annual meeting, as many as 13,000 registered dietitians are in attendance.

“Some have been in the profession for a while. Some are students – young and impressionable. This is a huge meeting that happens every single year, where these companies get to show off their latest, slightly-better-for-you junk food, and teach these RDs [about nutrition],” she says.

Americans are Clearly Being Given the Wrong Message about Nutrition

Most physicians, as most people reading this know, don’t receive much training in nutrition, if any. So typically, a physician who is really busy in his practice and doesn’t feel it’s worth the time, effort, and energy to counsel his patients on nutrition will refer them to an RD, and then assume that their patient will receive the correct and proper advice, seeing how the RD is trained, licensed, and attend continuing education.

It’s a “a nice loop,” as Michele says, where corporate interests massively undermine and manipulate any real knowledge of what it takes to get healthy, in terms of the foods you eat. Clearly, the dietary advice Americans get is fatally flawed.

A staggering two-thirds of Americans are overweight, and about one-quarter to one third of adults are in the obese category. This in turn drives skyrocketing diabetes rates. According to the latest report from the American Diabetes Association,2 an estimated 22.3 million people were living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in 2012, up from 17.5 million in 2007.

The food industry is quick to point out that the choice is always yours — they’re not making you buy something you don’t want. They also want to blame the obesity problem on people’s unwillingness to exercise. However, when the largest junk food manufacturers on the planet are the ones teaching dietitians about nutrition and what makes for a healthy diet, clearly the food industry carries a much larger burden of responsibility than these companies are willing to openly admit.

As little as 25 years ago the public was still being told smoking cigarettes was perfectly harmless, and many believed the propaganda. Since then society has paid the price for that fraudulent piece of misinformation. What you’re seeing now is the next phase of this sad trend, where food manufacturers, trade groups, lobbyists, and government are in cahoots to deceive you for profit, without regard for your health.

Many are now well aware of the influence of the drug industry on our health care system, but food companies are equally as powerful and pervasive and perhaps even more pernicious in their influence on people’s health, because more often than not it’s your food choices that produce the disease. Besides overly generous helpings of sugar, more than 3,000 food additives — preservatives, flavorings, colors and other ingredients — are added to foods in the United States. Many of these additives are banned in other countries, and many others, including aspartame, have never been properly tested for long-term safety.

Who is Educating Dietitians on What You Should Eat?

Major food companies that have a close and cozy relationship with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics include:
•Nestle
•Coca-Cola
•Kraft
•PepsiCo (the nation’s largest food company, which beside soda also owns Frito-Lay — the largest snack food company — Gatorade, and other junk food brands)
•ConAgra (one of the biggest processed food companies)
•General Mills (purveyor of “candy cereals” aimed at children) and many others

For the past 12 years the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has been a significant sponsor as well, as has the National Dairy Council. Even fast-food companies like McDonald’s are represented at the annual meetings.

“They want to make sure that they’re being viewed as a good-for-you fast food company. So, at their booth, they would be sampling salads, smoothies, and oatmeal,” Michele explains.

“[Food companies] are basically trying to use these [nutrition] professionals to carry their message to their clients. That’s the name of the game here: To make sure the next time an RD talks to a client, they’ll say, ‘Gee, you should really try this better-for-you, Baked Lays potato chips, because it has a few less grams of salt or fat.’ It’s to make sure that RDs are recommending these still highly processed, nutrient-deficient junk foods to their clients.”

The same goes for hazardous food ingredients like aspartame. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has adopted the position that artificial sweeteners are okay. Based on these conflicts of interest between major food companies and the trade organization for dietitians, it’s no stretch to imagine that this stance is connected to the fact that Coca-Cola Company is the one educating dietitians about aspartame!

“Of course, there are many independent-minded, scientifically trained RDs who are able to ferret out the good information about these types of products. There are many RDs, in fact, that have rejected membership in the academy, mostly because of these relationships,” Michele says. “The problem really lies with the leadership of this organization and the fact that they’re putting their stamp of approval on these types of webinars and companies that obviously are contributing to the very problem that the profession is trying to address.”

Concerned Dietitians Band Together to Fight for Reform

Michele’s report3 was released in January. Not surprisingly, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics was none too happy about it.

“They engaged in what I would call typical industry tactics such as shooting the messenger,” Michele says. “They made me the problem as opposed to my criticism of them. They said that I was biased and I had an agenda. And then they accused me of inaccuracies. This went on for several weeks, where they claimed there were inaccuracies in the report without naming them… Then they finally came out with this supposedly damning list of inaccuracies, and there really weren’t any! They were just arguing with me over opinion-related matters such as whether a field trip to Hershey’s was a legitimate way for RDs to earn continuing education credits.”

The good news is that in the wake of her report, a group of RDs have formed a more formal organization called dietitians for Professional Integrity, aimed at pushing for more transparency and independence from industry.

You can see corporate interests reflected in a number of illogical stances the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has adopted. As a general rule, the Academy shies away from taking any stand that may upset their corporate sponsors, such as not marketing junk food to children or supporting GMO labeling. This is particularly befuddling considering the fact that while corporate sponsorships do bring needed funds to the organization, these sponsorships only account for five to 10 percent of their reported income. The rest comes from membership dues. So it seems they could easily make up that revenue from some other source.

“That really does raise the question: what is going on here?” Michele says. “Is there something deeper to these relationships? Is it just this philosophy? In any case, if your organization can only survive by taking money from the likes of Coke, Pepsi, and McDonald’s, then I think maybe it’s time to really rethink your mission and whether you should be in existence at all.”

Dietitians’ Trade Group Seeks to Censor Nutritional Advice

Then there’s the issue of the Academy’s questionable attacks on people’s right to freely talk about nutrition. Last year, the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition, a state chapter of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND), threatened legal action against a blogger for writing about the paleo diet without being a registered dietitian.

An internal document suggested the agency was forging ahead with a “strategy for gaining legal control over the term “nutritionist,” as a path to limit competition for its members, against competing types of nutrition counseling.” In other words, the Academy only wants you to be able to get your nutritional advice from one of their conventionally trained registered dietitians, who have undergone the nutritional brainwashing revealed in Michele’s report.

Other health experts such as your chiropractor, naturopath, personal trainer, or any number of other contacts in your life who may have amassed personal experience in their lifetimes, including yours truly, would not be allowed to share nutritional advice, should the Academy get its way. Considering the very obvious industry connections revealed by Michele’s report, this would be an absolute disaster — it would be nothing less than a monopoly on bad advice. But it sure would protect the processed food industry that is increasingly being scrutinized for its role in demolishing the health of the entire nation…

Teaching Advocates to Effectively Counter Corporate Tactics

Michele now has a couple of other reports in the works, including one on the dairy industry. She’s also hoping to develop stronger ties with various health advocate groups to work together on countering the corporate tactics that are currently misleading the masses.

“I have a whole new talk I’m doing now that looks at how the food industry lies, and how it engages PR professionals — really unpacking the types of messaging that the industry engages in [during] these policy battles,” she says.

“I feel there’s a role for assisting people who advocate – policy makers or whoever is going up against the industry. What I envision from my long-term plan is workshops, trainings (training the trainers), and really thinking about countering corporate tactics as a legitimate field of study, even for academics, and also as a specific skill… really building the skills of advocates and countering corporate tactics, exposing the front groups, exposing the PR, exposing everything the industry is doing, so that you can be better equipped when you start down the road [of advocacy].

… It’s not enough to just expose the problem. It’s not enough to do research reports on yet more marketing-to-children problems. I’m so tired of reports about this problem. We know this is the problem. Let’s get smarter and more strategic about how to counter the industry and how to beat them at their own game. That’s where I feel like there’s just a tremendous opportunity.”

Where Can You Find Truly Unbiased Nutrition Info?

Such changes are certainly desperately needed, because so many people’s lives and the quality of lives are at stake. There’s simply no doubt that health is being sacrificed for corporate profits.

Do you want some nutrition advice that isn’t influenced by corporate agendas? The easiest way to optimize your health is by focusing on WHOLE, unadulterated foods, meaning foods that have not been processed or altered from their original state. Such “real” foods like those you can find at a local farmers market are not the subject of commercial jingles or billboards, but they are the types of foods that will properly nourish your body and support your health.

You can find more examples of real, healthy, non-corporate food in my free nutrition plan. Also, I hope you’ll take the time to learn more about Michele Simon’s work by visiting her web site, EatDrinkPolitics.com.4

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

Growing evidence is reporting that cancer is a metabolic disease characterized by cellular mitochondrial respiratory insufficiency. Cancer cells can only survive and thrive off of glucose and amino acid fermentation. A ketogenic cleanse has been proposed as a means of starving off cancer cell development. The ideal fuel source for the ketogenic cleanse is extra-virgin coconut oil with its powerful immune boosting properties.

Famous cell biologist Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells have altered metabolism and are unable to produce energy through normal cellular respiration. The Warburg effect is the observation that these cells drive all of their energy from a process that depends upon sugar called glycolysis and they produce high levels of lactic acid as a result.

Mitochondrial damage and genomic instability
The mitochondria can become damaged from exposure to environmental toxins, various viruses and chronic inflammatory processes within the body. When this happens, the mitochondria will often lose its ability to produce energy through cellular respiration. The respiratory insufficiency leads to altered metabolic function and the dependence upon glucose and amino acid fermentation to produce energy. This process also results in genomic instability and mutant DNA formation.

Normal cells have relatively low rates of glycolysis and derive most of their energy through aerobic metabolism of pyruvate in the mitochondria. Studies have demonstrated that cancer cells have lost their ability to produce energy through the process of aerobic metabolism even when oxygen is plentiful. These cells depend upon rapid glycolytic processes for all their energy demands. Fast growing metastatic cancers are seen to have glycolytic rates up to two hundred times higher than normal tissues.

Cancer cells need sugar
Dr. Thomas Seyfried has expanded upon Warburg’s theories to show that cancer cells can produce energy through glucose and amino acid fermentation. In order to drive enough sugar to run their metabolic systems the cancer cells upregulate insulin receptors and contain ten times more than normal cells. This allows them to gobble up glucose and other nutrients from the blood stream at an accelerated rate.

The metabolism of fatty acids results in ketones that normal cells can utilize but cancer cells cannot. These ketone bodies provide a great anti-inflammatory fuel source for the body that also starves the cancer cells from their nutrient demands.

Ketones fuel normal cells and starve cancer cells
Dr. Seyfried’s research has shown that optimal blood sugar levels for cancer starvation are between 55-65 mg/dl and ketone levels should get up over 3mM and stay under 7mM. This is done through a process of fasting and fueling with healthy fat sources without any carbohydrates for a period of three and up to ten days. Fast growing metastatic cancer should go the full 10 days on the cleanse if possible.

Coconut oil contains a wide array of small and medium chain saturated fats that the body metabolizes very easily for energy production. Coconut oil is also rich in the immune boosting lauric acid which is converted in our body to monolaurin.

Monolaurin contains extraordinarily powerful anti-biotic, anti-viral, and anti-fungal properties. Unlike man-made anti-biotics and anti-virals these fatty acids pose no danger within our bodies. This is especially helpful since individuals with cancer have dysbiotic guts that are contributing to the chronic inflammation that may have caused the genomic instability to begin with.

Coconut Oil Cleanse
Take 2 tbsp of coconut oil every 3 hours during the day (8-10 tablespoons daily)

Drink about a gallon of clean water with anti-oxidant extracts (fresh lemon, turmeric, chlorophyll, apple cider vinegar, fermented herbal extracts, etc.)

Use natural herbal laxatives and probiotics to ensure proper bowel elimination

Sources for this article include:

http://www.naturalhealth365.com/food_news/ketogenic_diet.html
Seyfried, Thomas. Cancer as a Metabolic Disease. John Wiley and Sons Publishing, 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warburg_effect

http://www.naturalnews.com/029841_coconut_superfood.html#ixzz2R6johKaQ

About the author:
Dr. David Jockers owns and operates Exodus Health Center in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a Maximized Living doctor. His expertise is in weight loss, customized nutrition & exercise, & structural corrective chiropractic care. For more information go to www.drjockers.com To find a Maximized Living doctor near you go to www.maximizedliving.com Dr. Jockers is also available for long distance phone consultations to help you beat disease and reach your health goals

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

Spring cleaning is not just for your home or yard or car. It’s time to clean out the body as well. And there are several foods that are seasonally appropriate for the task.

For maximum results, invest in a juicer. Juicing gives you maximum nutrition and enzyme potential with minimal digestive effort. The better juicers are masticating single or double auger types. They extract the juice without injury or excess enzyme-destroying heat and discard the pulp.

One doesn’t need to go on a strictly juice fast to gain benefits. Studies have shown juicing three times a week while maintaining a mostly organic solid food diet augments those dietary benefits significantly.

Shop around for masticating auger juicers. They range from $250 and up and usually have long-term warranties.

A few worthy items for spring detox
Dandelion leaves can be used in salads or added to a mixture of other veggies and an apple to offset its bitterness. Organic dandelion leaves can be purchased by the bunch at most decent markets that offer organic foods. Very few have the access to wild harvesting the weeds safely.

Dandelion has been used for ages to detox and fortify the liver. In addition to its proven empirical or anecdotal track record, modern Western studies have confirmed dandelion’s efficacy. Its extracts are used in many liver supplements.

Kale is an alkaline-producing leafy green. Some find it rather bitter for using in salads or steaming. Ayurvedic medicine preaches the virtues of adding bitter-tasting foods to our normally sweet and salty conditioned taste buds as a healthy contrast.

But kale can be juiced easily, and adding carrots and an apple with any normally bitter-tasting veggies does soften it up sufficiently. Just make sure the kale is organic or local without agricultural chemical applications.

Artichokes appear on most nutritional spring detox lists. They help digest fats and excite the liver’s bile production. They aren’t raw food or juicing items, but the prepared and bottled artichokes can be a part of any salad mix you invent.

Raw organic sesame seeds can be sprinkled on salads or cottage cheese to help protect the liver, especially from the ravages of alcohol and acetaminophen OTC (over-the-counter) Tylenol and other generic pain relief versions.

Ayurveda recommends a tablespoon of sesame seeds with an equivalent amount of raisins as a daily treat that also enhances intestinal lining villi repair to improve digestive food absorption and reduce gastrointestinal inflammation of all sorts.

Broccoli sprouts greatly enhance broccoli’s benefits. They are rarely sold sprouted, but you can purchase the seeds at some stores or online and sprout your own. Adding those sprouts to salads and sandwiches gives you even more protection against cancer then broccoli provides.

Greens in general should be increased also. Chard, leafy lettuces other than the iceberg variety, and broccoli should be increasingly consumed during springtime. They can all be used raw in a variety of salads to your liking.

Chlorophyl is a vital source of magnesium, the master mineral involved with over 300 cellular metabolic functions. Cellular mitochondria, where energy is produced, crave chlorophyl.

Speaking of chlorophyl, don’t forget chlorella. It’s not just a supplement. It’s a single-celled food that helps detox while providing cellular nutrition.

Add cilantro to your daily three to five grams of chlorella for a great mercury detox combo. Cilantro can be juiced or added raw to prepared foods or salads.

Don’t forget to drink more pure water. If it’s purified by reverse osmosis, replace lost minerals with a liquid mineral supplement or a pinch of pure sea salt.

Sources for this article include:

http://fitbie.msn.com/slideshow/5-foods-your-spring-detox

http://www.drvita.com

http://www.mindbodygreen.com

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

In the early 1900s, the grasslands of the southern US plains were rapidly plowed up and turned into wheat fields.

The ramifications of this wheat boom can still be felt today, as wheat (along with corn and soybeans) remains one of the most common crops grown in the US. In fact, wheat, along with corn and rice, make up 60 percent of human caloric intake1 — a dietary shift that is contributing to the rising rates of insulin resistance and its related chronic degenerative diseases now plaguing many developed countries.

These “amber waves of grain” had another unforeseen effect as well, an almost “other worldly” manmade disaster known as The Dust Bowl, which is chronicled in the PBS film.

The Worst Manmade Ecological Disaster in American History

In the early 1900s, farmers swarmed the southern Plains to take advantage of cheap land offers, even though the area – with its high winds, hot summers and frequent droughts – was not well suited for agriculture. During World War I, in particular, wheat was a sought-after commodity. With wheat prices soaring, and promises from land developers that “rain follows the plow,” farmers quickly turned millions of acres of grasslands into wheat fields, paving the way for what would be one of the worst manmade disasters ever recorded.

As History reported:2

“When the drought and Great Depression hit in the early 1930s, the wheat market collapsed. Once the oceans of wheat, which replaced the sea of prairie grass that anchored the topsoil into place, dried up, the land was defenseless against the winds that buffeted the Plains.”

“Black Blizzards” Crossed the Plains

As the natural winds that cross the Plains picked up the dry, plowed-up soil, dense clouds of dust called “black blizzards” covered the region in an unprecedented years-long “storm.”

The Dust Bowl film includes interviews with 26 survivors of these black blizzards, who describe in vivid detail how the dust-filled winds could easily blister your face and carried with them an indescribable feeling of evil.

The dust killed crops and livestock and led to dust pneumonia (called the “brown plague”), bronchitis, coughing, asthma and shortness of breath in those living in the region. With no way to farm and conditions that at times made it treacherous to even venture outside, many were forced to abandon their homes and flee to safety. The worst of the storms reportedly occurred on April 14, 1935, dubbed “Black Sunday.” On that day, a cloud of dust crossed the region that literally turned day into night.

According to the film:3

“Once the winds began picking up dust from the open fields, they grew into dust storms of biblical proportions. Each year the storms grew more ferocious and more frequent, sweeping up millions of tons of earth, covering farms and homes across the Plains with sand, and spreading the dust across the country. Children developed often fatal “dust pneumonia,” business owners unable to cope with the financial ruin committed suicide, and thousands of desperate Americans were torn from their homes and forced on the road in an exodus unlike anything the United States has ever seen.”

Static Electricity, Plagues of Grasshoppers and Jackrabbits

The dust clouds themselves weren’t the only hurdles faced by those living in the Dust Bowl. Static electricity also became a major problem in the region, such that “blue flames leapt from barbed wire fences and well-wishers shaking hands could generate a spark so powerful it could knock them to the ground.”4 People driving through the region had to resort to dragging chains from their cars so the static electricity wouldn’t short out their engines.

The ecological disruption, meanwhile, impacted other species as well, unleashing plagues of jackrabbits and grasshoppers across the Plains. History reported:5

“If the dust storms that turned daylight to darkness weren’t apocalyptic enough, seemingly biblical plagues of jackrabbits and grasshoppers descended on the Plains and destroyed whatever meager crops could grow … Thick clouds of grasshoppers — as large as 23,000 insects per acre, according to one estimate — also swept over farms and consumed everything in their wakes.”

About eight years went by before the drought finally ended, saving the Plains from turning into an arid desert, and by the 1940s wheat prices were once again on the rise. A drought in the 1950s once again brought back dust storms to the region, but the damage was minimized by farmers using conservation techniques, as well as 4 million acres of government-owned land that had been restored to grasslands.

Could the Dust Bowl Happen Again?

As we once again struggle with droughts and the laws of nature continue to be manipulated by industrial farms and genetic modification, we could once again be brewing a dust storm of epic proportions … or another manmade ecological disaster that has never before been seen.

While many farmers in the Plains states now rely on irrigation from the Ogallala aquifer to water their crops in times of drought, this underground water reserve is in danger from overuse and, by some estimates, may only be able to keep up with water demands for another 25 years. There are many other warning signs that the poor farming practices being used today could backfire in the form of major environmental disasters as well …

Soil is actually depleting 13% faster than it can be replaced, and we’ve lost 75% of the world’s crop varieties in just the last 100 years. Over a billion people in the world have no access to safe drinking water, while 80% of the world’s fresh water supply is used for agriculture.

The Dust Storm May be One of the First Consequences of Monoculture

Monoculture (or monocropping) is defined as the high-yield agricultural practice of growing a single crop year after year on the same land, in the absence of rotation through other crops. Corn, soybeans, wheat, and to some degree rice are the most common crops grown with monocropping techniques. Monocultures are detrimental to the environment for a number of reasons, including the following:
•It damages soil ecology by depleting and reducing the diversity of soil nutrients
•It creates an unbuffered niche for parasitic species to take over, making crops more vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens that can quickly wipe out an entire crop
•It increases dependency on chemical pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
•It increases reliance on expensive specialized farm equipment and machinery that require heavy use of fossil fuels
•It destroys biodiversity

Monoculture also was responsible for creating the Dust Storm, as wiping out the natural grasslands of the Plains to plant unprecedented amounts of wheat disrupted the entire ecosystem of the region, with disastrous consequences.

It’s imperative to understand that agriculture is a complete ‘system’ based on inter-related factors, and in order to maintain ecological balance and health, you must understand how that system works as a whole. Any time you change one part of that system, you change the interaction of all the other components, because they work together. It is simply impossible to change just one minor aspect without altering the entire system, which is exactly what happened during the Dust Storm.

Farming Destruction is Occurring Around the World

Areas around the globe have already experienced their own versions of the Dust Storm, fueled by similar assaults on the land. For instance, several thousand years of relentless grazing of domestic animals on mountainous slopes in China left nothing but barren ground. Rains that may have restored the land erode it instead, carrying fertile topsoil down the hillsides, effectively removing any chance for new growth to emerge. On the Loess Plateau in North-Central China, millions of tons of powder-fine silt were swept down into the Yellow River, not only obstructing its flow, but causing massive flooding and the river’s new name: China’s Sorrow.

Likewise, centuries of over-intensive farming in Ethiopia have destroyed nearly every inch of vegetation, leaving wide swaths of bone-dry desert. Heavy flooding has etched deep gullies into the land, sweeping topsoil downward and away with nothing to halt its progress. With not even a drop left for farmers to water their crops, their animals or themselves, the ensuing drought and famine has been catastrophic.

What is encouraging, however, is that both of these regions can give us hope, as they serve as models of how whole ecosystems can be restored through sustainable agricultural practices.

By allowing the land to rest, grasses and other plant species thought to be extinct have re-emerged. In Ethiopia, villagers have planted indigenous trees and vegetation, transforming the severely eroded terrain. Rainfall now absorbs into the ground, feeding a clear stream that flows year-round, aided by the cover of dense vegetation. This has saved the region from desert-induced annihilation and instilled hope for a future of continued sustainability, a lesson that needs to be learned around the globe.

Grazing Livestock to the Rescue?

I was so inspired by the video that I will actually be visiting the Allan Savory Institute in Boulder at his annual conference next month and very much look forward to it. In the TED Talk above, Allan explains how we’re currently encouraging desertification, similar to what nearly occurred during the Dust Bowl. Savory believes the best way to not only stop desertification, but also reverse it, by dramatically increasing the number of grazing livestock.

According to Savory, rising population, land turning into desert at a steady clip (known as desertification), converge to create a “perfect storm” that threatens life on earth. Desertification has long been thought to be caused by livestock, such as sheep and cattle overgrazing and giving off methane. But, according to Savory, we have completely misunderstood the causes of desertification. We’ve failed to realize that in seasonal humidity environments, the soil and vegetation developed with very large numbers of grazing animals meandering through. Along with these herds came ferocious pack-hunting predators. The primary defense against these predators was the herd size.

The larger the herd, the safer the individual animal within the herd. These large herds deposited dung and urine all over the grasses (their food), and so they would keep moving from one area to the next.

This constant movement of large herds naturally prevented overgrazing of plants, while periodic trampling ensured protective covering of the soil. As explained by Savory, grasses must degrade biologically before the next growing season. This easily occurs if the grass is trampled into the ground. If it does not decay biologically, it shifts into oxidation — a very slow process that results in bare soil, which then ends up releasing carbon.

Savory has developed a holistic management and planned grazing system that is now being implemented in select areas on five continents. In one area, increasing grazing cattle numbers by 400 percent, planning the grazing to mimic nature, and integrating the cattle with local elephants, buffalo and giraffes, has achieved remarkable results. I encourage you to view the video, because seeing is believing.

In the US, where corn and soy — much of which are genetically engineered — are rapidly overtaking native grasslands, a return to smaller-scale agriculture, complete with grazing herds, may be necessary for creating a more sustainable food system. Following Savory’s strategy, large herds could be moved across areas in planned grazing patterns, which would be beneficial for the environment, the health of the animals, and subsequently the health of humans consuming those animals.

Permaculture: Working With Nature to Prevent a 21st-Century Dust Storm

Geoff Lawton introduced the permaculture concept in Australia, where rebuilding functional ecosystems from the ground up restores them to their fullest potential. It can create an agricultural heartland even in the desert in as little as 3.5 years, including being fully self-sufficient year-round, cycling its own nutrients without the need for irrigation or artificial fertilizer.

“Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how to design natural homes and abundant food production systems, regenerate degraded landscapes and ecosystems, develop ethical economies and communities, and much more. As an ecological design system, permaculture focuses on the interconnections between things more than individual parts.”6

Virginia farmer Joel Salatin is a living example of how incredibly successful and sustainable natural farming can be. He produces beef, chicken, eggs, turkey, rabbits and vegetables. Yet, Joel calls himself a grass-farmer, for it is the grass that transforms the sun into energy that his animals then feed on. By closely observing nature, Joel created a rotational grazing system that not only allows the land to heal but also allows the animals to behave the way the were meant to — expressing their “chicken-ness” or “pig-ness,” as Joel would say.

Cows are moved every day, which mimics their natural patterns and promotes revegetation. Sanitation is accomplished by birds. The birds (chickens and turkeys) arrive three days after the cows leave — via the Eggmobile — and scratch around in the pasture, doing what chickens do best.

No pesticides. No herbicides. No antibiotics. No seed spreading. Salatin hasn’t planted a seed or purchased a chemical fertilizer in 50 years. He just lets herbivores be herbivores and cooperates with nature, instead of fighting it. It’s a different and refreshing philosophy.

Instead of making $150 per acre per year from a crop that produces food for three months, but lays fallow for the rest of the year, he’s making $3,000 per acre by rotating crops throughout the year, thereby making use of his land all 12 months — and maintaining its ecological balance at the same time. This generates complementary income streams while protecting the land from ecological disasters like that felt by the southern Plains.

You Can Start in Your Own Backyard!

If we learn just one thing from the Dust Bowl disaster of the ‘30s, it should be that humans can only push nature so far before it pushes back with a vengeance. Wayne Lewis, one of the Dust Bowl survivors, speaking from experience, said:7

“We want it now – and if it makes money now it’s a good idea. But if the things we’re doing are going to mess up the future it wasn’t a good idea. Don’t deal on the moment. Take the long-term look at things. It’s important that we do the right thing by the soil and the climate. History, is of value only if you learn from it.”

You might not be able to singlehandedly prevent history from repeating itself, but you can make a difference now for yourself, for your family and for your community that might have residual effects by:
•Growing your own vegetables is an increasingly popular concept for thousands of Americans. It can help you save money, involve everyone in the family and help create a store that can last through the winter.
•Organic gardening isn’t something extra you do – in fact it’s quite the opposite. It’s what you don’t do that makes the difference: no chemicals, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides on your plate! When you take control of what you eat, you’ll naturally enjoy better health, ensure and protecting future generations.
•Composting is another way to make what you already have work for you in the future. Save those scraps, from eggshells to coffee filters, and use them to feed your vegetable garden.

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Eating Peppers May Reduce Parkinson’s Risk by 19 Percent

Surprisingly, despite the dramatically increased risk of cancer and related adverse health effects associated with smoking cigarettes, smoking has actually been found to be associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system.

The most obvious symptoms of Parkinson’s are movement-related, e.g. shaking and rigidity. This apparently beneficial link with smoking is often attributed to the nicotine in cigarettes, which is thought to have a potentially neuroprotective effect.

Certain foods contain natural amounts of nicotine, including peppers, which researchers recently found may also reduce the risk of Parkinson’s.

Eating Peppers May Reduce Parkinson’s Risk by 19 Percent

Peppers are a member of the Solanaceae family of vegetables, informally known as nightshades, which also includes tobacco, tomatoes and potatoes.

Upon analyzing the vegetable consumption, tobacco and caffeine use of nearly 500 newly diagnosed Parkinson’s patients as well as a group of healthy controls, researchers found that eating peppers – but not other vegetables in the Solanaceae family — was associated with a 19 percent lower risk of Parkinson’s.1

The association was strongest among those who had never smoked. Researchers said in a statement:2

“Similar to the many studies that indicate tobacco use might reduce risk of Parkinson’s, our findings also suggest a protective effect from nicotine, or perhaps a similar but less toxic chemical, in peppers and tobacco.”

Parkinson’s disease is a neurological disorder in which neurons in a region of dopamine-producing cells within your brain known as the substantia nigra, required for normal movement, begin to die.

As a disease that currently cannot be cured, prevention of Parkinson’s disease is crucial. Eating a varied whole-foods diet that includes healthful veggies like peppers appears to be one simple way to lower your risk, especially since a lack of folate is also linked to Parkinson’s (and veggies are the only source of this important vitamin; most vitamins contain the semi-synthetic analog known as folic acid).

Caffeine, Omega-3 Fats and Other Dietary Strategies to Help Prevent Parkinson’s

In addition to dietary nicotine, dietary caffeine, such as that from coffee, has also been linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s. One study even found that the daily caffeine equivalent in two to four cups of coffee may modestly improve Parkinson’s movement symptoms.3

Caffeine, which is doparminergic (stimulates dopamine release), may be one reason why green tea has also been linked to a lower Parkinson’s risk, although one study suggested that it’s green tea’s polyphenols that offer neuroprotection that might benefit Parkinson’s patients.4

Another important consideration are animal-based omega-3 fats, which may protect against Parkinson’s by preventing the misfolding of a protein resulting from a gene mutation in neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s.5 Animal-based omega-3 fats contain two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. Most of the neurological benefits of omega-3 oils are derived from the DHA, which is one of the major building blocks of your brain.

About half of your brain and eyes are made up of fat, much of which is DHA — making it an essential nutrient for optimal brain function. Your brain activity actually depends greatly upon the functions provided by its outer, fatty waxy membrane to act as an electrical nerve-conduction cable, so adding omega-3 fats to your diet, via wild-caught fish or a supplement like krill oil, is important.

Vitamin D and CoQ10: Two Nutrients for Parkinson’s Protection

There is a correlation between insufficient levels of vitamin D and the development of early Parkinson’s disease. It used to be thought that vitamin D deficiency is a symptom of Parkinson’s, but recent research squarely implicated vitamin D deficiency as one of the causes of Parkinson’s.6

The best way to optimize your vitamin D level is through midday sun exposure or a safe tanning bed as that virtually eliminates any risk of overdose. As a very general guide, you need to expose about 40 percent of your entire body to the sun for approximately 20 minutes between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm, or until your skin turns the lightest shade of pink.

If you’re using an oral supplement, recent studies suggest adults typically need about 8,000 IU’s of oral vitamin D3 per day in order to get serum levels above 40 ng/ml. However, remember that if you take oral vitamin D, you also need to boost your vitamin K2, either through your food choices or a supplement, as this will prevent soft tissue calcification. You can find more details on optimizing your vitamin D levels here.

Another often-overlooked nutritional consideration for Parkinson’s is the antioxidant compound coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), levels of which are often low in people with the disease. One study found that the progression of Parkinson’s disease was significantly slower in people taking the highest dose of CoQ10.7 If you’re taking statin cholesterol-lowering drugs, this issue is particularly important as these medications deplete your body of CoQ10, among over 300 other statin linked adverse health effects, making supplementation with CoQ10 (or ideally, the reduced form, called ubiquinol) important.

Environmental Toxins Likely Play a Role in Parkinson’s Development

The risk of Parkinson’s disease clearly increases with exposure to certain environmental toxins. For instance, neurotoxins like pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are substances that have been shown to cause disruptions and/or damage to the neurological system, including your brain. Rotenone and paraquat are two specific pesticides linked to an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, and both are lipophilic, meaning they resist breaking down in water and accumulate in your fat. Both are also known to cross your blood-brain barrier.

Even ambient exposure to pesticides has been found to increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease “considerably.”8

Exposure to industrial solvents, including TCE, a common degreasing agent and dry-cleaning chemical, is also linked to Parkinson’s disease,9 further strengthening the link between this disease and environmental toxins. Along with avoiding the use of solvents and pesticides in your home and garden, eating organic foods as much as possible will help you avoid unnecessary exposure to chemicals like pesticides.

This is all the more important today considering that glyphosate-based herbicides such as Roundup have also been linked to Parkinson’s-related disorders, and these chemical residues can be found in virtually all food containing GMOs.10 Another important and often-overlooked risk factor is “silver” amalgam dental fillings, which contain mercury. Mercury becomes a biochemical train wreck in your body, causing your cell membranes to leak, and inhibits key enzymes your body needs for energy production and removal of toxins. Mercury toxicity can lead to major inflammation and chronic illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease.

Lifestyle Changes are Important in Preventing Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease is still classified as idiopathic, meaning it has no identifiable cause. However, just as researchers identified that eating peppers may be able to lower your risk, and pesticides and other environmental toxins have been shown to increase your risk, there are steps you can take to modify your risk of this disease. To recap some of the most important, as well as add a few additional recommendations:
•Avoid pesticide and insecticide exposure (as well as exposure to other environmental toxins like solvents)
•Exercise regularly. It’s one of the best ways to protect against the onset of symptoms of Parkinson’s disease
•Get plenty of sunshine to optimize your vitamin D levels
•Eat more vegetables, which are high in folic acid
•Make sure your body has healthy levels of iron and manganese (neither too much nor too little of either)
•Consider supplementing coenzyme Q10 or its reduced form Ubiquinol, which may help to fight the disease

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Skin Cancer is a very big problem nowadays, and a big emphasis is put on using sunscreen and protecting your skin. Did you know that there is a nutrient that acts as an internal sunscreen?

It also lends itself to numerous other skin health benefits such as wrinkles, age spots, and dry skin.

For years now, we have known about naturally occurring pigments called carotenoids and how they help protect our skin and give it that healthy look. There are actually hundreds of carotenoids, but we tend to focus on only a couple such as Beta-Carotene.

These naturally occurring carotenoids protect organisms such as plants from damage by light or oxygen. They also give vegetables and grasses their wonderful red, yellow, and orange colors.

When we eat those vegetables, we absorb those same carotenoids that have been protecting that vegetable. The benefits of these are then passed along to us and they help to protect us from the damage caused by sunlight.

One carotenoid that has been gaining a lot of steam, thanks to numerous clinical studies, is something called Astaxanthin. It has numerous other benefits such as eye health, immune system booster, reduce inflammation, etc., but we won’t discuss those today.

What is of interest today is its ability to provide protection from the sun, and potentially reduce the signs of aging.

Why we haven’t heard much about this nutrient until recently is because it isn’t easily obtainable. The two main sources of this nutrient comes from the microalgae that create it and a few marine life that consume this algae. That marine life is krill, salmon, and some shellfish.

We know that beta-carotene, lycopene, and other carotenoids are strong nutrients that help protect our skin, but astaxanthin is significantly more powerful. The benefits are free radical activity that protects your body from oxidative damage and oxidative stress.

When it comes to free radical activity, astaxanthin is more than 50 times more powerful than beta-carotene and more than 10 times more powerful than vitamin E.

Another very powerful benefit is that astaxanthin crosses the blood brain barrier, which very few nutrients are able to do. Beta-carotene isn’t able to do this so this allows astaxanthin to provide an anti-inflammation benefit to your eyes, brain, and reduce your risk for various eye diseases.

The Facts Behind The Power Of Astaxanthin

A research study was conducted by an independent research lab to measure the skin’s ability to resist UVA and UVB light before and after astaxanthin supplementation. What they found was that when the subjects took 4mg of astaxanthin per day for only 3 weeks, there was a significant increase in the amount of time for UV radiation to start damaging the skin.

Other studies, including the one published in the Journal of Dermatological Sciences, have shown that astaxanthin has been able to protect against changes in DNA that were the result of ultraviolet light.

A third study, conducted in Japan, looked at women who consumed 2mg of astaxanthin daily for 4 weeks. What surprised them was that after only 2 weeks, the women’s skin had improved on multiple levels; and, after 4 weeks, there was continued improvement.

Some of the benefits were: increased skin tone and elasticity, and smoother surface and better moisture.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you stop using sunscreen and doing what is necessary to protect yourself from the sun’s harmful ways, but why not boost your internal sunscreen protection and improve numerous other health markers that astaxanthin can provide.

WARNING: Don’t Be Fooled By Synthetic Forms Of Astaxanthin. Only Use Natural Forms Of Astaxanthin >>

References:

Modulatory effects of an algal extract containing astaxanthin on UVA-irradiated cells in culture Nicole M. Lyons, Nora M. O’Brien * Department of Food Science, Food Technology and Nutrition, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland Journal of Dermatological Science 30 (2002)

http://www.cyanotech.com/pdfs/bioastin/batl33.pdf Clinical Trial Indicates Sun Protection from BioAstin

Yamashita, E. (2002). “Cosmetic Benefit of Dietary Supplements Containing Astaxanthin and Tocotrienol on Human Skin.” Food Style. 21 6(6):112-17

http://www.fujihealthscience.com/study-references.html

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Is Sun Exposure Really “Deadly” as the Media Would Have You Believe? Or Can Regular Sunshine Give You a Better Body and Health?

-the sun’s “deadly rays” or “healthy rays”?

One thing that never made sense to me over the years was how the media and other sources have always tried to portray sun exposure as “the sun’s deadly rays”. It’s as if they would have you believe that we need to live in caves and never see the sun to prevent cancer and stay in good health.

But this is absurd if you think about it… the sun is THE provider of all life on earth. Without the sun, everything on earth would die.

Throughout the majority of human existence (with the exception of the last few decades), humans have always spent more time outdoors than indoors. Nowadays however, most of us are trapped inside offices all week long and might only get out into the sun once a week, if that.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research over the last couple of years regarding sun exposure, cancer, vitamin D levels, etc. This subject of the sun and natural production of vitamin D can fill entire books, so I’ll try to summarize my opinions and what I’ve learned in the past few years through a lot of my reading.

Don’t worry, I’m not ignoring the fact that overexposure to the sun CAN cause problems, including cancer… but we need to also consider the fact that underexposure to the sun can have problems as well.

Let’s look at a few points to consider:

1. Non-consistent sun exposure and infrequent SUNBURNS is the major cause of damage to the skin and increased risk of cancer… Think about your typical person that sits inside an office all week long without ever seeing the sun, and then gets FRIED at the pool or the beach on the weekend. THIS is where the damage occurs.

2. Regular consistent small amounts of exposure to the sun (without burning) can actually have a protective effect on the skin, increases healthful Vitamin D levels in the body, and can improve mood, help depression, and dozens of other benefits. Each individual’s skin pigmentation determines what amount of sun exposure they can safely obtain without doing more harm than good.

For example, a very fair-skinned person with a far northern heritage might only be able to get 10-15 minutes of sun exposure over the majority of the body during peak hours before it does more harm than good. However, someone with darker skin and a heritage that originated closer to the equator might be able to get much longer periods of regular sun exposure without doing more harm than good.

3. Increasing Vitamin D levels from regular small doses of sunshine can actually decrease cancer risk. Vitamin D itself has been shown to have a protective effect through various processes in the body.

4. This one is interesting and deserves some thought — According to Dr William Grant, a Vitamin D researcher, cancer rates in those living at high latitudes (farther north) such as Iceland are approximately 4 TIMES the cancer rates of those living at lower latitudes (closer to the equator) in the tropics.

Hmm, yet those people living in the tropics are getting MUCH higher levels of those so-called “deadly sun rays”… but they are also producing higher levels of protective Vitamin D on average too.

5. Vitamin D is actually produced into a hormone in our bodies and regulates hundreds of processes in the body, and is WAY MORE important to almost every single aspect of your health than most people realize. There is even evidence that due to the regulation of so many hormonal processes in our bodies that can be affected by Vitamin D, producing enough Vitamin D in your body can even help with fat loss, muscle building, blood sugar control, and hundreds of other factors.

6. It is hard to obtain enough Vitamin D from dietary sources alone (egg yolks, organ meats, and fatty fish are good sources, but still relatively small). The best utilized source of Vitamin D is what we produce in our bodies from moderate regular sun exposure over large portions of the body without burning. It’s vitally important to note that the UVB rays are only strong enough to trigger vitamin D production in your body mid day if the sun is at least approx 30 degrees above the horizon in terms of height in the sky. Of course, this is the exact time that well-meaning, but uneducated “health experts” erroneously tell you to stay out of the sun.

UVB rays aren’t strong enough in the early morning or late afternoon to trigger vitamin D production, so you must get moderate exposure over large portions of your body for small amounts of time (10-30 minutes depending on skin pigmentation) in the middle of the day to reap the benefit of Vitamin D production.

7. An antioxidant-rich diet can help to protect the skin (to an extent) from damage if you get too much sun exposure. This means that getting lots of antioxidants from things such as various teas (green, black, white, rooibos, yerba mate, chammomile, etc), various berries, fruits, vegetables, beta carotene, nuts, olive oil, etc, etc can help to protect your skin. Make sure to pick up some Prograde Longevity – a super high ORAC antioxidant blend that I take to help increase my antioxidant levels in the body.

8. Another point that proves that irregular burning is the major cause of damage and not regular small doses of sunshine… Rates of skin cancer are typically higher in areas of the body that get irregular sun and occasional burning as opposed to areas of the body that have received consistent sun for your entire life.

Notice how more cancer is often found on the back and chest (places that get irregular sun and more burning) vs the back of the neck or the forearms (which get consistent regular sun for most people our entire lives). There are exceptions to everything, but this seems to be a common trend.

9. I’ve come across studies over the last few years that indicated skin caner rates are higher among indoor office workers compared to outdoor workers. This is yet another interesting trend… it basically supports the conclusion that being underexposed to sunlight most of the time (working inside an office all week long) and then getting infrequent overexposure to the sun is a lot more problematic compared to an outdoor worker that gets regular daily sun exposure.

Of course, the indoor worker can always avoid this problem by getting outside for 10-20 minutes daily during breaks to get those protective small daily doses of sunshine that we’ve been talking about here.

10. Think about this issue in terms of common sense — Don’t you feel a heck of a lot better and more energetic when you’ve at least gotten out in the sun for 20 or 30 minutes in a day rather than being stuck inside all day?

So what’s the best way to do this in a healthy way while minimizing sun overexposure risk?

a. In the winter in northern latitudes (above approx South Carolina latitudes in the US), your vitamin D levels may fall to dangerously low levels if you go for several months without getting any sun. In winter, since your body will not be producing enough Vitamin D from the sun, you need to make sure to increase your intake in your diet… as I mentioned, fatty fish, egg yolks, and organ meats are some of the best dietary sources of vitamin D, but still generally don’t increase your body’s vitamin D levels that much.

I like to take a small amount of daily cod liver oil in the deepest months of winter to make sure my Vitamin D levels don’t go too low. You also need to be careful not to take too much cod liver oil though as some scientists believe that excessive amounts of cod liver oil can give you overdoses of vitamin A.

Also, the source of vitamin D used in VGF-25 whole-foods based vitamin is a good natural form of vitamin D derived from fish liver oil. I would use this daily to make sure that your vitamin D levels are adequate, even in summer months, if you don’t get daily sun exposure in the summer.

b. In the spring, try to start with just small periods in the sun such as 10-15 minutes/day over large portions of your body (not just your hands and face). The more skin surface exposed to the sun, the more vitamin D that your body will produce. Make sure to try to NEVER get a sunburn! Gradual small doses of sunshine over a large part of your body almost daily helps your body produce the most beneficial and protective Vitamin D levels.

c. Avoid extended periods of overexposure to the sun on large portions of your body… If you’re going to be out for several hours or an entire day in the sun, you’ll still need to make sure to cover up appropriately (based on your individual skin pigmentation and sensitivity) to prevent burning and skin damage… remember that we’re talking about regular small doses of sunshine that is beneficial, not entire days out in the sun without covering up.

Warning about sunscreens:

I would caution against relying heavily on chemical-based sunscreens as most of the chemicals used in sunscreens are potentially carcinogenic and are also known to be estrogenic, as they absorb through your skin and into your body. If you’re going to use a lotion based sunblock, you’re best bet is a natural form that uses zinc oxide or titanium dioxide… These are natural sunblocks that don’t absorb into your skin, but rather sit on top of the skin’s surface and block the rays. This is a big difference compared to the harmful chemicals that are in most sunscreens and can absorb through your skin (various benzones, homosalate, etc). If you want to read more about the dangers of chemical sunscreens, this article will help.

d. Load up on antioxidant-rich foods such as various teas, fruits and veggies, berries, etc daily to help prevent free radical damage and protect your skin.

I think one of the most powerful and synergistic antioxidant blends available is here if you want some extra insurance on antioxidants.

e. Lastly, I’m not a doctor, so many of the points in this article are my opinions based on years of reading and research. Make sure to consult with your doctor on your individual health characteristics and how this relates to sun exposure and vitamin D.

f. Also make sure to read this article, as it shows a way to eat a nutrient for “internal sun protection” which can allow you to stay in the sun longer without damage to skin.

Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer

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Factory food companies commonly use chemical preservatives, anti-microbials to mask inferior meat

After intense lobbying by Kraft Foods Global Inc. and Kemin Food Technologies, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), has agreed to reverse existing regulations that prohibit the use of three toxic meat preservatives.

According to Courthouse News Service (CNS), sodium benzoate, sodium propionate, and benzoic acid will now be permissible for use in preserving and treating meat and poultry products, despite having been previously banned. FSIS has long been of the persuasion that major food corporations would attempt to use such additives to “conceal damage or inferiority in meat and poultry,” but the agency’s view has apparently changed.

After Kraft submitted its own company-funded trials claiming that the three preservative chemicals are allegedly safe, and that they supposedly cannot be used to disguise sub par meat and poultry products, the USDA suddenly changed its mind about them. This is all according to its mouthpiece, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which made the announcement recently about the change.

“Kraft submitted data collected from its in-plant trials and from scientific studies that show that these substances do not conceal damage or inferiority, or make products appear better or of greater value than they are under the proposed conditions of use,” says FSIS.

Factory food companies commonly use chemical preservatives, anti-microbials to mask inferior meat
This is a nice story, but according to admissions made by both Kraft and Kemin, use of these additives will indeed be used to disguise inferior meat and poultry products. According to CNS, the two companies admittedly petitioned FSIS to allow use of the chemicals in liquid form to kill pathogens like Listeria monocytogenes, which typically only exist in tainted meat derived from factory farms.

Industrial agriculture is a filthy business, especially when animals are involved. Rather than have access to pasture and the outdoors, cows and chickens from factory farms live most, if not all, of their lives in confinement, where they wallow in their own feces, and sometimes even in the rotting carcasses of other dead animals. As a result, such animals become ill, and their systems infected with harmful pathogens that must be eliminated before human consumption.

The reason companies like Kraft and Kemin exist and thrive is because high-profit factory farms exist and thrive. And the only way these food corporations can “safely” sell their factory-farm food products to the public is to kill it, sanitize it, and smother it in antimicrobial agents like sodium benzoate, sodium propionate and benzoic acid.

So to claim that their goal in seeking approval for the three chemicals is not to conceal second-rate meat products is simply a lie. Low-grade meat products from squalid factory farms have to be disguised, otherwise the public would never purchase them.

Beyond this, the chemical substances in question are not even safe. Sodium propionate has been linked to causing gastrointestinal upset and respiratory problems, while sodium benzoate can cause DNA damage and promote the formation of cancer cells. And benzoic acid, which is often added to processed foods, can promote the development of asthma and hyperactivity, particularly in children.

“The continued ingestion of certain chemicals has been linked to cancer, fatigue, memory-impairment, imbalanced motor-function, diabetes, thyroid problems, confusion and far more,” says Creative Bioscience about food preservatives and additives. “Such food additives can stunt or stall weight loss and even cause more pounds to add on.”

Sources for this article include:

http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/12/55664.htm

http://creativebioscience.com

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As Natural News readers know, we recently announced the availability of Clean Chlorella and explained how it was cleanest chlorella on the planet. Today I’m happy to share with you the actual lab test results which have now been repeated across multiple production batches. These results show the astonishing cleanliness of Clean Chlorella.

Why does this matter? Most chlorella is contaminated with trace levels of lead, arsenic, aluminum or cadmium. Our previous round of lab tests showed that chlorella from China was the most polluted, and that mirrors the truth about many other foods from China which are also heavily polluted with lead, arsenic, cadmium, etc.

We also showed that certified organic chlorella is no cleaner than non-organic chlorella when it comes to heavy metals. That’s because the USDA organic seal does not, in any way, regulate the level of heavy metals present in foods. A food produced in China (or anywhere else) can be USDA certified organic and still contain alarmingly high levels of mercury and other heavy metals.

That’s why we spent a considerable amount of time — maybe a year or so — searching for the cleanest chlorella on the planet. We found two sources that were the cleanest. One was from South Korea and the other from Taiwan. In our lab tests, chlorella from China was the most polluted, and chlorella from Japan was somewhere in the middle. Taiwan produced the cleanest organic chlorella, and South Korea produced the cleanest conventional chlorella.

Click here to see the chlorella available at the Natural News store.

Lab test results
Here are the lab tests from our Clean Chlorella:

Sensitivity: All tests have a detection limit of 0.01 ppm (parts per million). This is equivalent to 10 parts per billion or 10 ppb. (For a refresher, one-billionth of something is a thousand times smaller than one-millionth of something. So, in other words, 1000ppb = 1ppm)

Precision: This ICP-MS system has a precision level of low ppt (parts per trillion) to high ppt. There is some variation on actual numbers depending on the metal.

These tests were conducted in an ICP-MS system: Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Digestion was by high pressure microwave digestion running at 30 bar. Calibration was run against standard QC matrices.

ICP-MS is orders of magnitude more precise than the older lab equipment often used by food companies to test for contaminants. The range of detection on this ICP-MS is nine orders of magnitude! (If you’re not sure what that means, just trust me that it’s really impressive.)

Laboratory results on Natural News Clean Chlorella:

Lead (Pb) None detected, in other words < 0.01 ppm Arsenic (As) None detected, in other words < 0.01 ppm Cadmium (Cd) None detected, in other words < 0.01 ppm Mercury (Hg) None detected, in other words < 0.01 ppm Aluminum (Al) 0.697 ppm, in other words < 1 ppm These results are astonishing. There is nothing cleaner in the world of superfoods. In fact, these are the lowest levels we've seen in ANY superfood, including spirulina, blueberries, seaweed and other items. Click here to view the chlorella products available now at the Natural News store. We invite anyone in the industry to test our chlorella and reproduce these results for yourself. If you do pursue this, make sure you know what you are doing in terms of handling samples, because merely touching the sample vessels can contaminate them with detectable levels (ppb) of metals that are present on your skin. In fact, if you run these tests in a lab that has aluminum edging of the ceiling tiles, microscopic flecks of aluminum can fall from the ceiling directly into the sample vessels, producing a false aluminum reading. Typical chlorella products test at much higher levels In our previous tests, here are the levels of contamination we found in chlorella from China • Aluminum: 29 ppm • Arsenic: 0.89 ppm • Cadmium: 0.17 ppm • Lead: 0.27 ppm • Mercury 0.00 ppm Aluminum is the most common of these metals in chlorella. Aluminum is very difficult to avoid because it is common in soils plus it falls out of the sky (chemtrails). This is why any chlorella grown in outdoor pools will be contaminated with some level of aluminum. Average Aluminum contamination of chlorella by country of origin • China = 29 ppm • Japan = 16 ppm • Taiwan = 7.6 ppm • Korea = 0 ppm* See more details on this analysis at: www.ChlorellaFactor.com Article continues below, after this infographic... How is Clean Chlorella so amazingly clean? This astounding purity of the Natural News Clean Chlorella is achieved by growing the chlorella in an indoor "greenhouse" type of environment where every input is controlled under laboratory conditions. All the water used to grow the chlorella is subjected to ultra high purification. The air that circulates in the growing areas is highly purified to eliminate airborne contaminants. On top of that, all the inputs that are "fed" to the chlorella are also rigorously tested for contaminants. This process is very expensive to construct, but it produces the cleanest chlorella grown anywhere on the planet. This chlorella is cleaner than "organic" chlorella! We challenge anyone in the industry to produce a cleaner chlorella. We also encourage everyone in the industry to publicly release their metals test results and show their customers what they're really buying. Why heavy metals are so toxic What's the big deal about eating heavy metals? The scientific literature is well populated with studies showing the toxic side effects of high levels of heavy metals contamination: • Lead = Retarded brain function, neurological disorders, stunted brain development in children. Gastrointestinal damage, stupor, slurred speech, bluing of gums, aggression in children. • Cadmium = Permanent kidney damage as well as neurological damage. Half-life in the human body is 25 years or so and is extremely difficult to eliminate from the body. Poisons the liver. Causes cancer. Destroys bone health. • Arsenic = Headaches, confusion, convulsions, vomiting, hair loss, liver damage, kidney damage, leading to coma and death. • Mercury = Extreme neurotoxicity, causes permanent brain damage and may be linked to autism. Causes permanent damage to kidneys and lungs. • Aluminum = Dementia, Alzheimer's and neurological disorders. Alzheimer's victim's brains are often found, post-mortem, to contain unusually high levels of aluminum in the "plaque" deposits. Also, even worse, these metals interfere with the absorption of important nutrients. Mercury, for example, interferes with the absorption of selenium and blocks the methylation cycle that's crucial for cellular energy and DNA repair. Cadmium competes with potassium, etc. Of course, eating even the most polluted chlorella won't cause acute metals poisoning just by itself, but what concerns me is the long-term bioaccumulation of heavy metals from multiple sources. It only makes sense to keep your diet as free from these heavy metals as possible. This is especially true when you understand that many people are taking chlorella precisely to clean up their diet and even help support the elimination of contaminants from their bodies. Get some Clean Chlorella now. On a personal note I was visiting an environmental testing lab just yesterday where they were running four ICP-MS systems, plus some new high-end ultra-trace mercury detection systems. The lab was amazing, with autosamplers and workstations running everywhere. They were using hot block digestion for most materials, as this lab was running mostly seawater samples for the petrochemical industry, so they didn't need the high pressure microwave systems that we use for food samples. I was chatting with one of the lab technicians about the speciation of aluminum -- something that apparently nobody does in the entire industry -- and he said, "Aluminum is in everything." I replied, "Yeah, I know, especially food. Why do you think that is?" He smiled and replied, without even a hint of sarcasm, "Because it falls out of the sky 24/7." Yep, even these lab techs know the truth about chemtrails spraying and the "geoengineering" of our planet! But that's another story altogether... On another personal note, when we first published our story about the lab tests of chlorella sources, we got threatened by one of the companies who claimed we should stop talking about metals contamination in chlorella. They hilariously claimed their chlorella contained "ZERO" metals, and they said if we didn't stop talking about it, they would take some sort of action against us. The problem with their threat is that the laws of physics don't lie, and when we run your dirty, polluted chlorella through ICP-MS, we don't just sit around and make up the numbers. Those numbers are produced by the laws of physics, and you can't argue with the laws of physics, especially when the machine are calibrated so frequently. Your chlorella is what it is. I don't make up the numbers, I just run the tests and report them. If you're not happy with how polluted your chlorella is, then maybe you should clean up your s##t and stop using contaminated inputs for your chlorella farms. (And stop lying to your customers about how your product is so clean and pure.) If you like what you read, please consider donating to help support my blog, even as little as $5 will help.