Category: Interesting Information

Information I want to share in a non-essay form

Interesting Information: Amy Myers MD: The Functional Approach to Preventing the Flu

Interesting Information:  October 15, 2014

The Functional Approach to Preventing the Flu

 

In Camden, Maine, today, there were signs advertising flu shots outside the grocery store and the drug store.

So, it’s “flu shot” season again.

Flu shots are BIG business and enormously profitable.

 

Amy Myers MD is part of the growing movement toward functional medicine–which seeks to find the causes of illness rather than just treating symptoms.

I signed up for Dr. Myers’ blog posts.  Today’s was on the flu shot.

Take a look?  Take a look BEFORE you get a flu shot.  Please.  For one thing, you can see what’s in the flu shot before you allow those ingredients into your body.

Amy Myers MD.

If this link does not work, paste the one below into your browser:

http://www.amymyersmd.com/2013/10/10/functional-medicine-approach-preventing-flu/

Documentary Review and Interesting Information: Bought Movie: Your Health Brought To You By Wall Street

Documentary Review and Interesting Information:  October 14, 2014

BOUGHT

Your Health Brought To You By Wall Street

 

Take a minute and preview this trailer for BOUGHT.

Why?

If we do not collectively understand what has gone radically wrong in our so-called “democracy,” we cannot possibly take the grassroots steps needed to begin to fix it.  Those steps are always going to involve making different consumer choices, beginning with the choices that impact our health the most drastically.

Science is no longer the arbitrator of what is good for human health.  The market–industry–corporations–has replaced science with their need for profits.  They’ve co-opted our regulatory and legal structures so that they are now toothless.

Well-being doctors are caught in “kool aid loops” produced by industry that does not allow conflicting information into the loop.  Doctors are tied to one-size-fits-all “standards of care” that they pretty much have to practice if they want to keep their licenses. Most docs have no nutritional training whatsoever, so do not understand the roll good, or bad, food plays in human health.

Jeff Hays is a respected and award-winning film maker.

Bought Movie | Jeff Hays FilmBought Movie | Your Health Brought To You By Wall Street.

Many of us are sick.  It’s time to make changes.  Start with understanding the problems.

 

PS:  the DVD will be coming out shortly.

 

Interesting Information: Vandana Shiva is One of My Heroes

Interesting Information:  October 9, 2014

Vandana Shiva is One of My Heroes

I’ve been catching up on back issues of YES! magazine.

There is a thought-provoking article written by Vandana Shiva in the Winter 2013 issue of YES!

As always, YES! makes all its content available to you free online, and the url to this article is at the bottom of this blog post.

Here, Shiva is telling us about the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth, initiated by Bolivia.

 

When nature is a teacher, we ­co-create with her—we recognize her agency and her rights. That is why it is significant that Ecuador has recognized the “rights of nature” in its constitution. In April 2011, the United Nations General Assembly­—inspired by the constitution of Ecuador and the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth initiated by Bolivia—organized a conference on harmony with nature as part of Earth Day celebrations. Much of the discussion centered on ways to transform systems based on domination of people over nature, men over women, and rich over poor into new systems based on partnership.

The U.N. secretary general’s report, “Harmony with Nature,” issued in conjunction with the conference, elaborates on the importance of reconnecting with nature: “Ultimately, environmentally destructive behavior is the result of a failure to recognize that human beings are an inseparable part of nature and that we cannot damage it without severely damaging ourselves.”

AND, a bit more on the concept of “separatism,” or man being separate from nature, a belief which allows us to plunder the earth without regard for how that plundering affects all of us in the long run:

As philosopher and historian Carolyn Merchant points out, this shift of perspective—from nature as a living, nurturing mother to inert, dead, and manipulable matter—was well suited to the activities that would lead to capitalism. The domination images created by Bacon and other leaders of the scientific revolution replaced those of the nurturing Earth, removing a cultural constraint on the exploitation of nature. “One does not readily slay a mother, dig into her entrails for gold, or mutilate her body,” Merchant wrote.

Vandana Shiva: Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Forest by Vandana Shiva — YES! Magazine.

Interesting Information: EPA Approves ‘Agent Orange’ Deadly Duo Poison. Take the Factory Farm Free Pledge!

Interesting Information:  October 9, 2014

EPA Approved “Agent Orange” Deadly Duo Poison Yesterday

 

It’s interesting news, but very, very sad.

This vote shows the degree to which our country is owned by corporations.

It is beyond unconscionable that any sane body of people would approve these poisons for our food chain.

Take a look:

EPA Approves ‘Agent Orange’ Deadly Duo Poison. Take the Factory Farm Free Pledge! : Conscious Life News.

Turkey Tracks: “Cherry Tomatoes,” a poem

Turkey Tracks:  October 8, 2014

“Cherry Tomatoes,” A Poem

 

I met Jeanine Gervais on the windjammer J&E Riggin this summer.

We were/are both writing/literature teachers at local colleges/universities.

Since the windjammer trip, we’ve been writing back and forth on email, daily.

Here’s the poem Jeanine sent me yesterday.  It really hit home as I had just been out in my own “mid-October” garden, picking cherry tomatoes.  She wrote it herself, of course.

Enjoy!

 

Cherry Tomatoes

My back bends to pick cherry tomatoes

strung like pearls on winding branches

buried amongst rotted vegetables

blackened leaves

the garden in mid-October a shambles.

Cherry tomatoes hidden under

leaves like umbrellas

protected from wind and cold

holding steadfast, saying

Don’t forget me! Don’t forget me!

I am here. I am strong.

Jeanine H. Gervais

October 7, 2014

Interesting Information: Do YOU Have Acid Reflux or Heartburn?

Interesting Information:  October 5, 2014

Do YOU Have Acid Reflux or Heartburn?

 

My cousin Johanna Sweat posted Dr. Mark Hyman’s video on curing heartburn and acid reflux on Facebook in the past few days.

Dr. Hyman is part of the growing movement called “functional medicine”–which seeks to determine the CAUSE of health problems and to cure the cause, rather than treating the symptoms, usually with drugs–like acid blockers used to treat heartburn and acid reflux.

Dr. Hyman has excellent medical credentials and connections, by the way.   He is the new director of The Cleveland Clinic Center For Functional Medicine, for instance.

In the video below, which I hope you will watch, whether or not you have acid reflux or heartburn, he explains that the acid blocker medicines are (1) very powerful, (2) have serious and dangerous side effects, and are (3) a creature of Big Pharma’s profit drive and are NOT AT ALL about your health.  Too many doctors are prescribing these drugs instead of figuring out what the real problem is–which is part and parcel of why our medical system is so broken these days.  As I’ve said before, doctors are caught in what I’m calling a “kool aid” loop where they are captive by Big Pharma information and where contradictory information is simply not getting to them.  Often, our government regulatory organizations are part of this problem as the foxes own the chicken house.

Having said that, I have done other posts on new information coming out now about acid reflux/heartburn and the acid blockers.  There is at least one well-researched book, for instance.

Diet, of course, is one underlying cause of acid reflux/heartburn, but Dr. Hyman also points to other causes  for which one can be/and should be tested.  And it is very clear that another underlying problem is NOT ENOUGH STOMACH ACID, rather than too much–particularly as we age.   You might have a common parasite that is causing the digestive issue.  Or you might have gut issues that include the overgrowth of certain organisms–which can be cured with diet changes.

Do take time to watch, ok?

3 Simple Steps to Eliminate Heartburn and Acid Reflux – Dr. Mark Hyman.

Book Review and Interesting Information: MERLE’S DOOR and PUKKA’S PROMISE

October 2, 2014

 

MERLE’S DOOR and PUKKA’S PROMISE

Sometime over the summer, I downloaded an audio book from my local library–which taps into the whole Maine downloaded books system–called MERLE’S DOOR by Ted Kerasote.

(I listen to audio books while I quilt these days in lieu of listening to Podcasts about the state of the world since I’ve decided there isn’t much I can do about any of the grim news that assaults us daily.  This “news break” has been such a gift!)

I knew nothing about either this book or Ted Kerasote–just thought I’d see what this book about a dog was like.

MERLE’S DOOR is a charming book about a man and a stray dog who adopt each other and become fast friends:  brothers, really.

Kerasote lives near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and is a devout outdoorsman and naturalist.  Merle was more than happy to accompany him on hikes, bike rides, camping, skiing, and so forth.  And Kersote allowed Merle to have his own independent life, coming and going through his own door, as much as was possible, which was a lot in a small rural community in Wyoming.

When Merle died at about 13, Kerasote was devastated to lose this friendship.

Kerasote knew he would try to replicate the friendship he had with Merle, and he eventually does so with Pukka (pronounced like hockey puck).

But, first, he does a lot of research, including interviews with university research vets, on how to best extend a dog’s life in today’s times, and PUKKA’S PROMISE contains this cutting age information.

IF YOU HAVE A DOG OR WANT TO GET A DOG PUKKA’S PROMISE IS A MUST READ since much of the information in this book HAS NOT TRICKLED DOWN TO YOUR LOCAL VET.

IMG_0385

Kerasote starts with how to best pick a dog in this era of massive and rampant inbreeding–which is resulting in malformed dogs with all kinds of genetic structural issues that will shorten your dog’s life and cost you a boatload of both emotional angst and money.

Here are some quick highlights:

Should you spay or neuter?

No, spaying and neutering removes the dog’s body’s ability to produce the sex hormones which are crucial to good health.  The adrenal glands simply cannot make up the needed sex hormones.  Dog cancer is one result.  Other diseases are as well.  Tubal ligations, vasectomies, and hysterectomies all serve the same purpose, are much quicker, and, obviously, are cheaper.  Best of all is to leave the dogs intact.  Dogs today don’t run wild through neighborhoods, and females only come into heat twice a year, which can be effectively managed.  It is interesting to note that in Europe, dog owners do NOT automatically spay/neuter their dogs and things have not gone to hell in a handbasket with regard to unwanted puppies.

There are alternative arguments, and Kerasote covers them.  So, the reader walks away with a foundation for any future decision making regarding a new puppy.

What about vaccines?

Ted counted up all the vaccines given to Merle over his 13 years, and it came to about 70.  So, he sets about determining which ones might actually be useful and settles on 4 that are spread out over time:   rabies, parvo, distemper, and adenovirus-2.  He also uses titers to check for vaccine effectiveness rather than mindlessly revaccinating.  As with humans, vaccines can be dangerous for dogs.

What about heartworm meds?

For the past three years, I have nearly killed my aging dogs with heartworm meds.  It took me two years to connect Reynolds’ dire reaction to the heartworm med I gave her in the spring when mosquitoes were just coming out.  We are talking paralysis, foaming mouth, no eating for days with very little drinking of water, for days my having to carry her outside so she could try to pee.  We are talking one sick dog who took a long, long time–most of the summer–to heal.  TWICE, much to my shame.  Then this spring, it happened to Penny, who has a cast-iron stomach.

Kerasote notes that the heartworm parasite in mosquitoes has to have an outdoor temperature above 57 degrees to proceed with its life cycle and it still has to bite your dog to infect him/her.  If the temps drop, even for a few hours, the cycle cannot continue. If you live in parts of the United States that are consistently hot, heartworms are a problem, but they might also be dealt with by giving your dog two yearly treatments–September and December–rather than monthly treatments–since it takes several months for heartworms to develop in a dog.  Bear in mind that the American Heartworm Society that makes treatment recommendations has eight out of ten sponsors that are Big Pharma!

What about ticks and fleas?

You take a huge risk with the available treatments that include pesticides–for you and for your dog.  There are safer ways to cope, and Kerasote lists them.

What to feed:

After a lot of research, including visits or attempted visits to dry dogfood makers, Kersote decides that there is no dry dogfood that is healthy.  Kibble is grain based, and dogs don’t eat grain.  He opts for a type of raw food/cooked food diet for Pukka.  He fed Merle a combo of dry dogfood and raw bones, and noted in retrospect that Merle did have diet-related issues.

There is also a fascinating section on “shelters,” which can actually be massive kill zones.

Sooooo.  I, obviously, highly recommend this book.

 

 

 

 

Interesting Information: Homemade Laundry Soap Update

Interesting Information:  August 21, 2014

Homemade Laundry Soap Update

 

In a nutshell, it’s really good.

I like it a lot.

See the recipe elsewhere on the blog.

I’m not so crazy about the smell of it, but it CLEANS!

And its CHEAP!

superlaundrysauce1

Interesting Information: Mercola on “15 Healthiest Foods to Stock in Your Kitchen Year-Round”

Interesting Information:  July 28, 2014

Mercola on “15 Foods to Stock in Your Kitchen Year-Round”

 

Here’s a nice post from Mercola:

15 Healthiest Foods to Stock in Your Kitchen Year-Round.

 

I do have some comments though:

The organic coconut oil you buy also needs to be UNREFINED and UNHEATED.  I buy mine by the case from Wilderness Family Naturals as it is WAY cheaper than a little jar in the store.  (You can buy less than a case OR sell some of your case to friends.) AND, don’t forget red palm oil, which is another really healthy oil–though it is more delicate than the very sturdy coconut oil.  (See blog post on red palm oil.)

Himalayan Salt is probably a good choice.  Grey-colored moist Celtic Sea Salt is another.  And I use our locally made Maine sea salt, which is also just dried from sea water.

Canned salmon.  Sorry.  Not for me.  There is no way to get around the fact that all big fish are now loaded with mercury.  And canning takes a lot of the “oomph” out of anything as it is heat-processed.

Whey protein.  Mercola does specify that one should use a minimally processed whey, which means it’s a powder.  Nope.  Not for me.  It’s still PROCESSED.  And one should be able to get plenty of protein without eating a processed food.  Plus, you are not eating a whole food, but one you’ve split into parts.  OK, so I drip out some whey protein to use to culture mayonnaise  and, sometimes, my lacto-fermented foods.  But, mostly, I just eat the whey in the whole-milk yogurt I eat pretty much on a daily basis.

Interesting Information: BIG NEWS: Feds Finally Release Burzynski Cancer Cure Treatment

Interesting Information:  July 28, 2014

BIG NEWS

Feds Finally Release Burzynski Cancer Cure Treatment

 

I’d be willing to bet that none of you were aware of the news that Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski recently won another legal (and moral and ethical) round in our government’s war against his many-times successful cancer treatment.

I’d be willing to bet that many of you have never heard his name.

Yet, his work is important, exciting, real, should be celebrated, and is, instead, a huge threat to the $$$$ of the established cancer industry–you know, that industry that has failed to “cure” cancer in the past 50 or so years.

Burzynski’s treatments are NON TOXIC (for the most part–sometimes he combines them with some chemotherapy) and have been, as near as I can determine, the most successful with brain tumors–which is a good thing since we’re about to have an epidemic of brain tumors from cell phone usage according to the experts who have been studying this issue for some time now.

 

Here’s Jeffrey Phelps, writing in The Examiner:

 

But once again, another huge victory against the medical establishment for a Houston-based doctor that has been using a breakthrough technology he invented to literally cure cancer on many occasions, who for all-intents-and-purposes should be a household name by now and an easy Nobel Prize winner, is instead nowhere to be found, as if it never even happened.

That’s because Dr. Stanislaw Burzynski and his cancer-curing discovery, “Antineoplastons,” including a remarkable, relatively new gene-targeted therapy, threatens the very way of life to which the Western medical cancer and sick-care industry has become accustom. Raking in billions a year off of the desperate backs of people suffering from debilitating and deadly diseases in which the Western medical industry does not truly want to find a cure.

What’s really terrible, but predictable in our industry/profit-driven society, is the collusion between the greedy and the FDA.  At the same time the federal government and the state of Texas medical folks were trying to not only shut Burzynski down but to send him to jail, they were trying to steal his work.  Here’s Phelps again:

Because even as the skeptics and trolls do everything they can to shoot down the discovery on every single article and video released in support of the technique’s proven successes, for reasons that include the subconscious fears of real answers to questions regarding why this treatment isn’t already widely used, if it truly didn’t work better than what Western-trained doctors are still being forced to do, then why did the agents of deceit in the US government, BigPharma and related individuals collude with one of Burzynski’s own research scientists to file 11 different patents on the very same, non-toxic, Antineoplastons AS2-1 medical technology? #6,037,376, #5,635,532, #5,605,530, #5,852,056, #5,654,333, #5,661,179, #5,635,533, #5,710,178, #5,843,994, #5,877,213, #5,881,124. Only failing to accomplish the patent hijacking after a Grand Jury acquitted Burzynski of any wrongdoing, during the establishment’s 4th and most recent attempt to put him in prison for the very same technology they were trying to patent.

There are TWO documentaries telling this sorry tale:  Burzynski 1 and 2.

Part of the tale is that Burzynski has had to defend himself in the courts at his own expense–while the deep pockets of industry and the government mounted charge after charge against him.  HE HAS WON EVERY SINGLE TIME.

 

Feds finally release Burzynski cancer cure treatment – National Holistic Health | Examiner.com.

Health Freedom Alliance » Feds Finally Release Burzynski Cancer Cure Treatment.

 

Here’s an article from 2011 on one of the more recent attacks on Dr. Burzynski.

Breaking News: Outrageous New Attack on Dr. Burzynski—New Action Alert! | The Alliance for Natural Health USA.

And, here’s an article on how the mainsteam media, in this case, USA TODAY, attempted to smear Dr. Burzynski.  Note that when industry and the status quo control the media, this kind of event is possible.  Dr. Burzyski attempted with great politeness, according to this story, to give USA TODAY some data on his revolutionary treatment, but they refused to print it.

Exclusive: Inside USA Today’s Smear Campaign Against Dr. Burzynski | The Alliance for Natural Health USA.