Tag: ” WISE TRADITIONS

Interesting Information: The Scandal of Infant Formula – Weston A Price

Interesting Information:  April 21, 2016

The Scandal of Infant Formula

If you know anyone feeding a baby infant formula, please try to get this information into their hands.

What industry has put into infant formula is one of the huge scandals of our time.

Here’s the opening bit:

Infant formula lacks many key substances for development and growth. If a key nutrient is missing or not available, the body cannot adequately accomplish the task. • Infant formula is primarily composed of sugar or lactose, dried skim milk and refined vegetable […]

Source: The Scandal of Infant Formula – Weston A Price

PS:  BE SURE TO SCROLL WAY WAY DOWN TO SEE WHAT THE DANGERS OF SOY INFANT FORMULA ARE.

 

The Weston A. Price Foundation is an invaluable source of information on the nutrients in food, disease, etc.  They have “no dog in the hunt” in the sense that their sole purpose for “being” is to try to get really good, science-based information into YOUR hands/mind/body.  The scientists in their group have great credentials for what they study–among them are many biochemists who specialize in the relationship between food, medicines, and the chemistry of the human body.

Also, The WAPF has solid guidance on what is good to feed your children, like alternatives to industrial dried infant fourmulas.

 

 

Interesting Information: Bill Hyde: “The Real Cost Of Real Food”

Interesting Information:  January 13, 2015

“The Real Cost of Real Food”

When Bill Hyde, PhD, retired from academia, he and his wife bought a seven-acre farm outside of Denver, Colorado.

In the Summer 2014 issue of The Weston A. Price Foundation journal, Wise Traditions,” Hyde walks through what it takes to put one dozen eggs into someone’s hands.  He considers ALL of his expenses–which is something industrial egg providers do not do in order to price their eggs.  For one thing, industrial egg providers do not have to pay for the “soil, air, and water deterioration and pollution that their farm practices create.”  Nor for “remedying the health problems of farm workers and consumers caused by eating and contacting these so-called foods.”  Further, they get breaks through tax policies that favor them, and small real farmers do not.

Hyde’s list of BEFORE PROFIT expenses includes buying and raising the chick (5 or 6 months until they start to lay), shelter and a yard, mobile tractor, feed, utilities , labor, packaging of eggs, transportation, cost of land, and chicken supplies–all of which adds up to $11.52 for a dozen eggs.

Think how we use eggs today.  They’re so cheap and so available all the time (did you know chickens don’t ordinarily lay in the winter months??? or that they are SO NOT vegetarians) that we don’t value them AT ALL.  (Yes, I’m screaming at how we take eggs so for granted.)

But, but, these commercial eggs are OLD when you get them (45 days or more is ok with our government organizations), are made by hens fed inferior food, and made by hens that are terribly mistreated.  (I dare you to watch one of those videos of a commercial layer hen operation.)  That’s why the yolks of a commercial chicken are pale, pale, pale yellow–hardly distinguishable from the white.  A REAL egg yolk is bright pumpkin orange.

Again, as it cannot be said enough, REAL farmers who husband the land and their animals get very, very little support from our nation.  That’s US folks.  Hyde says the following:

Incidentally, I do not believe my situation is unique. In talking to a variety of small farmers, CSAs, and farm co-ops, I have not found one that did not (1) inherit their land, (2) receive grants, (3) use volunteer labor, (4) have a spouse or partner with a real job, or (5) have a day job themselves. While it shows resourcefulness to patch together whatever is necessary to keep a farm operating, my point is that I don’t think it constitutes a viable long-term model for feeding our nation real food.

 And they sure don’t get what the food should cost.

And that’s where a set of statistics is important to understand.  The United States has the lowest food costs in the world…  Today, the average food costs are between 7 and 8 percent of income.  In 1970, average food costs were between 17 and 22%.  As a young married, we were told to allow for 25% on average for food.  Meanwhile in 1970, health costs were from 3 to 7%.  Today they are from 16 to 17%.   Bad food that’s tainted, poisoned, and has no nutrients and fake foods that are artificially flavored and engineered to appeal to your taste buds are making us sick.

So, yes, pay more for real, clean food and pay less in medical costs.  And, taking a longer view, strive to leave a viable world for the next generations.  What we are presently doing is not sustainable.

The Real Cost Of Real Food | Weston A Price.

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: David Perlmutter, MD, with Kristin Loberg: Grain Brain

Books, Documentaries, Reviews:  May 15, 2014

Sylvia Onusic’s Review

of

David Perlmutter, MD, with Kristin Loberg

Grain Brain

 

First, Dr. Sylvia Onusic is a Board Certified and licensed nutritionist AND has a PhD in Public Health education.

Dr. Onusic reviewed Perlmutter and Loberg’s book Grain Brain in the Winter 2013 Wise Traditions, the journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation:  Grain Brain – Weston A Price Foundation.

Dr. Onusic gives the book a qualified “thumbs up,” and in the review surfaces the problems she finds within its pages–such as not addressing “the importance and role of healthy carbohydrates in the diet, especially those prepared in ways which enhance their nutrient absorption by soaking and fermenting.”  Or, addressing that “old forms of wheat such as spelt and kamut do not contain the high levels of gluten that modern hybrids do” and that fermenting grains can make them acceptable to those with gluten sensitivities.  Or, the importance of raw milk and its products.  Or, that he claims that DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) made from algae is a “source equal in value to cod liver oil.”  But DHA from algae is man-made, while cod liver oil is a natural source of DHA.  Additionally, algae DHA has a record of causing digestive upsets.  ANd he neglects to explain that while vitamin D is important, it needs to be used with vitamins A and K, as “all three are needed together.  (Cod liver oil contains all three.)

I was intrigued with the discussion of specific foods that “cross-react” with gluten (producing the same reaction).  They include coffee, chocolate, and non-gluten containing grains.  PEG, polyethylene glycol, found in many personal care products is also cross-reactive with gluten.  PEG is found in the gallon of bowel prep used for a colonoscopy and can cause “inflammation which shows up in the test results.”

Also interesting:  “Modern foods contain up to forty times more gluten than traditional grains, and modern gluten can be addictive.”

But, she also says the following:

Grain Brain is a good read packed with a great deal of knowledge related to reviews of the latest research in current nutrient brain-related issues, as well as good detail on gluten sensitivity, celiac disease, testing, cholesterol and fats, and hormones related to inflammation and obesity.  The book continues to enjoy phenomenal success on a number of New York Times best seller lists.

Caesareans and Breast Feeding and food sensitivities:

Research shows that babies born through caesarean section have a higher risk of developing ADHD because they miss out on the probiotic inoculation that babies normally receive when passing through the birth canal.  Breastfeeding is also important in that it may dampen later immune response to gluten and the development of food sensitivities.

Gluten sensitivity can be tested for at Cyrex Labs or Entero Labs.  (I used Entero.)

 

 

 

Interesting Information: Thinking About Ancient Grains

Interesting Information:  May 1, 2014

Ancient Grains

 

I love grains.

Who doesn’t?

But I try not to eat very many of them because they cause all kinds of trouble–indigestion, stomach aches, creaky joints, and terrible diarrhea.  Clearly they were part of what went wrong with my system that caused me to start having allergic reactions to foods so that I was passing out in a split second whenever I encountered something my body decided was poison.  Clearly grains were a part of the “leaky gut” problem so prevalent in America today.

A few years back,  I had Entero Labs do a full fecal testing for gluten intolerance and genetic gluten issues.  I have a double copy of a “gluten intolerant” gene–which means that BOTH of my parents had it.  And, indeed, my dad died with dementia, probably caused by malabsorption issues–particularly of the B vitamins which are instrumental in mental health.

This genetic factor also means that ALL of my siblings have this gene.  One of my sisters had herself blood tested at a local hospital (which can often throw false negatives and depends on how the doctor orders what to be tested)–and she did show a gluten allergy.

She misses grains, too.

As noted on this blog before, grains are as addictive as crack cocaine (that’s only partly meant to be funny).  And my sister and I both slip in and out of eating “just a tiny bit” of grains.  She does not touch gluten.  I sometimes try.  But, the problem with gluten intolerance is that only the tiniest bit can cause inflammation and pain and digestive troubles once more.  And the other problem is that substituting other grains is not a great strategy either–as none of these grains is likely properly prepared.  Many are highly processed and useless in terms of nutrients.

So, with that in mind, I have to say I did enjoy Natalia Adarova’s  very interesting article in the Winter 2013 journal of The Weston A. Price Foundation, Wise Traditions:  “Northern Roots of the Ancient Grains” (32-36).

Adarova begins by discussing the ancient roots of humans’ consumption of grains in Russia/Eastern Europe and how powerfully represented the growing, harvesting, and cooking of grains figured in the local cultures.  For instance, Adarova notes that while  the commonly accepted dates for grain consumption by humans was 10,000 years agom evidence at the Kostenka paleolithic camp shows that “grains were already used in a very sophisticated manner some seventy thousand years ago as it is thought that Kostenka camp belongs to that period.”  But human consumption of grains predates even this particular camp:  “In fact, grains have probably been foraged since the dawn of Eurasian man, thought to appear three hundred to four hundred thousand years ago on the Eastern European plain–which interestingly coincides with the warmest interglacial period in the history of Earth” (33).

So, why are so many people–including me–having so much trouble with grains today?

I know already–and have written about these issues on this blog–that modern grain has been hybridized so that it contains new ingredients that mankind has not eaten before the early 1950s.  And, I know, too, from the work of Luise Light, which I have also written about here on this blog, that as a culture we eat way, way, way too many grains every day.  (Light’s panel of scientists recommend 2 to 3 servings, with 2 servings for women and 3 for very big men, and a serving being 1/2 cup, which translates to ONE piece of toast.)

But Adarova surfaces additional reasons why “modern” bread is a problem:

Modern bread sold at the stores can hardly be called “bread” at all.  A quickly risen product of the instant gratification age, made from genetically altered grains in order to yield higher and faster crops, grown in poor soils, stripped of any nutrients and full of harmful additives, is a far cry from the food that nurtured thousands of generations.

Ancient peoples fermented grains to remove phytic acid–which grains used to avoid being eaten and which prevent proper absorption of nutrients in humans:

Preparation of traditional Russian sourdough bread was a complicated art and science.  Dough had to be fermented only in oak barrels using a triple leavening process.  The dough was considered a living substance, almost a creature, hence during the leavening and baking it was prohibited to curse or act aggressively–an action thought to negatively affect the rising process.

Fermenting and sprouting both increase the nutrient load in the grain–and these ancient peoples used both methods.

And here’s new information I had not really considered before:  our modern diet of processed food does not properly feed our gut flora and fauna–which makes it really hard to digest bread/grains:

“An apple a day” is the new health recommendation picked up by the Russians, who in ancient ties normally reserved apples for cattle and horses in the bad harvest years; the older recommendation was “a glass of kefir a day.”  Besides genetics, which is an architectural blueprint, the second most important thing we inherit is our parents’ shared microflora.

Since ancient times Slavic people considered the abdomen as the epicenter of the mystery of life.  the word “abdomen” and “life” are synonyms in the Russian language.

Ancient Slavs knew that gut flora can either be your friend or your foe.  They knew that flora could be transferred and could quickly turn pathogenic if handled incorrectly.  Kissing strangers was prohibited and has never been used as a greeting.

Adarova notes that the “old rules” mandated that one eat animal fat with grains:  ” `You can not spoil kasha with too much gutter’ is an old Russian saying, hinting at the importance of this ingredient in grain consumption.  Russian sourdough was always consumed with a thick lalyer of butter, a widespread tradition in other parts of Europe as well.  Animal fats lubricate the gut protecting it from fiber damage while maximizing the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients” (36).

Finally Adarova points to the detoxifying effect of consuming clay and notes that a number of European bread recipes (Italy, Sweden) call for the addition of clay.  Apparently, ancient grain storage involved clay-lined and clay-sealed pits that kept grains viable for a hundred years.

Here’s the url if you want to read the whole of this very interesting article:   http://www.westonaprice.org/traditional-diets/northern-roots-of-the-ancient-grains

 

PS:  The nightly “news” I watched last night–to see our local weather–contained a story about how doctors were recommending MORE FIBER.  Please take a look at my Mainely Tipping Points essays on added fiber.  Too much fiber is a real problem and most of us get plenty of fiber already.  Too much fiber causes constipation…  And the types of fiber recommended are really hard on the body.

 

 

Books, Documentaries, Reviews: Sally Fallon Morell’s Thumbs Down Review of Robb Wolf’s THE PALEO SOLUTION

Books, Documentaries, Reviews:  January 28, 2014

Sally Fallon Morell’s Thumbs Down Review

of

Robb Wolf’s THE PALEO SOLUTION:  THE ORIGINAL HUMAN DIET

 

In the fall 2013, in Wise Traditions, the journal of The Weston A. Price Foundation, Sally Fallon Morell gives Robb Wolf’s version of the Paleo diet a THUMBS DOWN.

Why?

Here’s Morel’s summation:

The fact is, while The Paleo Solution diet contains plenty of meat, it is just another version of food puritanism–a diet so lean, dry and deficient that it is impossible to follow and bound to lead to health problems.  No “paleolithic” or traditional culture ever ate this way, and we shouldn’t either.”

One problem Morell has is that Wolf, while saying that saturated fat has been demonized, stresses monounsaturated fats and LEAN meat–which can lead to something called “rabbit starvation“–characterized by, writes Morell, “muscle wasting, lethargy, diarrhea and eventually death if one relied too heavily on lean game animals such as rabbits”–which is what Morell claims Wolf’s diet does.  

Morell notes that Artic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who described rabbit starvation, noted that “primative peoples never ate lean meat”:  “according to Stefansson, the diet of the Eskimo and North American Indian did not exceed 20 percent protein, with the remaining 80 percent of calories, as fat.”  (Wolf cites Stefansson’s work.)

Saturated fat is where the fat soluble vitamin A resides.  Morell writes:  “Our bodies need saturated fat in large amounts–to build cell membranes (which need to be at least 50 percent saturated to work properly) and to support hormone formation and the immune system.”

Morell notes that there are two major dangers with Wolf’s “Paleo” diet.  First, the  high protein content and the recommended 2,000 to 5,000 IU of Vitamin D daily can rapidly deplete vitamin A in the body–which sets in place a serious health situation.  Second, the deficiency of saturated fat combined with low consumption of carbohydrates means the body cannot use carbohydrates to compensate for the lack of saturated fats.

Morell claims that Wolf’s stance on grains and nuts/seeds is inconsistent.  Grains are not ok, but nuts/seeds are–based on Wolf’s understanding of the role of palmitic acid.  Yet both grains and nuts/seeds contain palmitic acid writes Morell.  And she undertakes a very nuanced discussion of palmitic acid that more or less refutes Wolf’s claims that it is dangerous.  (Recent research also refutes the connection of palmitic acid and heart disease.)

Nor can Morell find a problem with raw milk or dairy from raw milk–which Wolf forbids.  Morell sites a number of nomadic people who thrive on dairy–an argument I’ve always found persuasive.

Wolf claims lacto-fermented foods contain too much salt and are not worth the hassle–which I’m sure represents a misunderstanding of these super foods.

So….

I personally liked–as I wrote some time back–Wolf’s attempts at showing how nomadic paleo peoples fared better healthwise than settled agricultural peoples.  And, like Luise Light’s work, I think we are eating waaaayyyy too many grains every day.   And there may be a problem with modern wheat.  But there are a lot of other grains…  We do need to prepare them properly.

I like the focus Paleo Diets have put on eating traditionally–as many of the traditional foods have been demonized or lost.  Since moving to Maine and getting back in touch with traditional foods, I have held a place for saturated fats, raw dairy, fermented foods, and good meats in my diet.  I also eat a lot of vegetables, avoiding the starchier ones except as treats, and I have a genetic gluten intolerance gene, so do better avoiding gluten.  And when I eat too many gluten-free substitutes, my joints start hurting.

As I’ve written before, when a group starts to take a diet out of its context (macrobiotic, Mediterranean, Paleo), not all of the parts translate–and we just get an Americanized version that’s something new again.  What Wolf has done is to not really lose his fear of fat…

Morell takes on a client  Wolf describes:  Charlie, who is trying to follow Wolf’s diet, but is listless.  What does he need to eat?  Charlie is suffering from rabbit starvation on Wolf’s diet, writes Morell.  And,

The truth is, his diet is terrible.  Desperate for fats, his body craves sugar.  His paleo diet has depleted him of vitamin A, needed for mental function and the formation of stress and sex hormones.  Poor Charlie needs more than blackout curtains [for dark, to sleep]–he needs rich, nourishing foods including butter, cream, bone broths, properly prepared grains, organ meats and cod liver oil.  Raw whole milk before bedtime is a wonderful, soothing food to induce sleep.  Calcium and tryptophan in milk help the body manufacture sleep-inducing melatonin–but Wolf insists we can get all the calcium we need from vegetables and fruit.

There’s more, of course.  If you’re interested, you can read the review for yourself.

http://www.westonaprice.org/thumbs-down-reviews/the-paleo-solution-byrobb-wolf

Interesting Information: 7.83 Hz, and Sleep in the Quiet Dark

Interesting Information:  December 8, 2013

7.83 Hz, and

Sleep in the Quiet Dark

I used to fuss at my younger son and his wife all the time about the sleep monitors they have in their babies rooms.  The older child, especially, is a very light sleeper.  To give her comfort, they also keep a night light on.

But I’ve given up.  And they do have to live their lives in their own way.

Nevertheless, like many of my generation who grew up without much technology, I’m worried about the overload of radiation in our world today–from cell phones, baby monitors, microwaves, wireless transmitters of all sorts (computers, Smart Meters, radios, etc.), the machines at the airports.  It’s a growing list.

I myself cannot sleep with lights on around me.  The fire alert contraption on the ceiling near my bedroom door–meant to show me where the door is in the case of fire–seems at night like a strobe light.  I covered it with several coverings of masking tape.  But I can still see it once my eyes get accustomed to the dark, and one of these days, I’m getting on a ladder and putting MORE tape over it.  The light from the clock or from the plug strip in my room or from the phone–I block or cover them up.  Then I get, blissfully, dark.  Then I have only the monthly full moon and the countless bright winter stars to thwart my sleep.

Am I nuts?

You can watch Resonance:  Beings of Frequency for free at https://vimeo.com/54189727 (James Russell and John K. Webster Directors, Patient Zero Productions).

And below you’ll find the review of this DVD from Tim Boyd in the Spring 2013 issue of Wise Traditions, the journal of The Weston A. Price Foundation.

Seems that 7.83 Hz is the resonant frequency of the earth–and as such is the frequency at which the alpha waves of our brains resonate.  If that frequency gets interfered with, ill health follows.  Reviewer Tim Boyd notes that if you put a cordless phone in a bee hive, the bees leave.

Be sure to read the paragraph on dark and wireless devices and melatonin production.

Resonance: Beings of Frequency PDF Print E-mail
Written by Tim Boyd
Tuesday, 23 April 2013 20:05
book-thumbupResonance: Beings of Frequency Directed by James Russell and John K. Webster Patient Zero Productions Available for free viewing at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/resonance-beings-frequency/When you have a sphere within a sphere and an electromagnetic field, that arrangement creates a frequency. For at least a few centuries most of us have known that Earth is a sphere and it is surrounded by a larger sphere we call the ionosphere. Using that information, Winfried Otto Schumann calculated the resonant frequency of the earth as 7.83 Hz. I know what you’re thinking. Why would anyone care? It turns out that alpha waves generated by the human brain resonate at about that same frequency. It also turns out that when researchers constructed an underground bunker completely shielded from those waves and put test subjects in that bunker, they discovered that was bad for human health.

Other experiments with DNA in water showed that DNA strands communicate with each other at about the same frequency. Life in general seems to be tuned to 7.83 Hz. In our current era we are now adding an unprecedented amount of other electronic frequencies and noise to the environment. Between radio transmissions, cell phones and other wireless transmissions, it is becoming almost impossible to detect the Schumann resonance around big cities.

There is reason to believe this is having adverse effects on human and animal life. When cordless phones are put in a beehive, the bees don’t return. When natural electromagnetic fields are disrupted by things like cell phones or cell towers, birds and bees are no longer able to navigate. There may be other factors involved but this appears to be a significant factor in the decline of many species of birds and insects. In human populations, cancer clusters have been noted around cell phone towers.

Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant that regulates the immune system. It is produced by the pineal gland when it is dark. That is why you need to sleep in complete darkness to get the benefits of any melatonin. There is now evidence that melatonin production is disrupted by other forms of radiation besides visible light, particularly from wireless devices.

There have been a number of studies showing problems with cell phone radiation. There have also been many studies claiming that there is no problem. When you look at who carried out (or paid for) the studies showing no problem, it is obvious that the sponsor of the study had a vested interest in finding nothing. This video also points out that there is no effective government oversight or regulation of all the new phone technology. It is almost amusing when people are shocked by this fact. Large corporations control the governments of the western world. How much genuine regulation do you expect? All of this is more bad news for cell phone lovers. This one gets a thumbs UP.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2013.

Interesting Information: Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Interesting Information:  December 8, 2013

Vitamin B12 Deficiency

 

My father’s body stopped being able to use the B12 vitamin in his later years–which is a malabsorption issue.

He got B12 shots, but he slipped into dementia (not Alzheimers) anyway a few years later.

The Spring 2013 issue of The Weston A. Price Foundation’s journal Wise Traditions, Nutrition and Behavior, discusses at length the connections between human violence and other behavioral issues and the lack of nutrients–vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and so forth.

Sylvia Onusic, PhD. CNS, LDN, in “Violent Behavior:  A Solution in Plain Sight” (Wise Traditions, Spring 2013) discusses the lack of B12.

Here’s the link:  http://www.westonaprice.org/environmental-toxins/violent-behavior-a-solution-in-plain-sight

Here’s what Onusic said about the lack of B12:

Vitamin B12 deficiency has a well-known correlation with mental disorders, including irrational anger.  A higher incidence of low B12 is found in mental patients than in the general population.  Deficiencies cause mental symptoms ranging from poor concentration, depression and severe agitation to hallucinations [citation here].  Deficiencies are caused by pernicious anemia, an autoimmune condition; they are also found in vegetarians and vegans, those with low animal protein intake, and individuals with leaky gut.  Drugs including anesthetics can deplete B12 [citation here].

My dad, as I said above, had some sort of malabsorption going on.  He was thin as a rail though my mother, a great cook, fed him very well.  He took a boat load of drugs for allergies and asthma.  (We know now that most food allergies and asthma can be associated with foods and an impaired immune system–not to mention all the chemicals washing over our world these days.  My dad lived across the road from an agricultural field that held skull-and-crossbones signs at its four corners.)  He probably had leaky gut…

Anyway, this article is interesting…

And gives us a lot of information to contemplate.

 

 

Interesting Information: Vaccines In Your Body: How They Really Work (Or Don’t)

Interesting Information:  December 4, 2013

Vaccines In Your Body

How They Really Work (Or Don’t)

I’ve looked for some time for a simple explanation of how vaccines work (or don’t) in your body.

Shane Ellison, also known as The People’s Chemist, explains in his Over-The-Counter Natural Cures that vaccines come through the “back door” of the body–through a puncture wound–which breaches the body’s first line of defense:  the skin.  Vaccines are supposed to “trigger” the immune system, but because they are entering the body through the back door, “they fly below our immunity radar, rendering many of them ineffective” (96).

Ineffective at least in part means a short shelf life.  I’m beginning to read that drug companies and most doctors are realizing that vaccines have a limited range of effectiveness–maybe up to two years.  So now, in my opinion, they have a conundrum:  should they recommend booster shots,  a practice that would mean more money, but which would certainly increase the harm from vaccines, which could result in everyone stopping drinking this particular koolaid mixture, which would mean no money.  I’m betting they will play around the edges of keeping the status quo.

But what goes on inside the body once a vaccine has entered it? 

Why is the vaccine response ineffective?

I finally got my answer in an article by Thomas S. Cowan, MD, in the Spring 2013 edition of The Weston A. Price Foundation’s journal, Wise Traditions.

The link:  Preventing and Treating the Flu – Weston A Price Foundation.

Dr. Cowan explains that we have two immune systems:  the cell-mediated or Th1 (thymus derived) immune system and the Th2 immune system which targets extracellular (outside the cell) infecting agents (like worms) or foreign proteins and which “produces antibodies that call for a killing response before the offending agent gets into our cells and makes us sick” (50).

Dr. Cowan explains that the Th1 system is intracellular (inside the cell):

It primarily works through the production of white blood cells that essentially digest and then excrete cells (for example, in our throat or bronchial tubes) that have been infected with a virus or bacteria.  The consequences of a cell mediated response, that is, the digestion and excretion of dead and infected cells, are what we call sickness.  In other words, fever, rash, cough, mucus and so forth are not caused by the virus but by the body’s response to the virus.

When you get a naturally occurring infection “both immune systems respond, first the cell-mediated to clear the virus, then the antibody or humoral system to make antibodies to remember what happened so our cells don’t get infected with the same pathogen more than once.”

The degree of “severity of any particular illness is a function of how many cells are infected and the strength of our cell-mediated response.”  And, “whether we get repeated sickness is related to whether we can make an effective antibody response.”

So, and this part is important, if we have a strong immune system, we throw off infection quickly and gain immunity to that infection/illness for life.

Dr. Cowan writes that “the cell-mediated exercise is largely responsible for immunity to cancer, auto-immune disease and other chronic conditions.”

So, vaccines “deliberately” try to “bypass the cell-mediated immune system and only provoke a humoral response.   And Dr. Cowan notes with sly humor that “if a vaccine provoked the cell-mediated immune system, it would just make us sick and no one would agree to them.”

And, so, vaccines shift us into “what is called a Th2 dominant mode, an imbalance in which the humoral immune system is too strong and the cell-mediated immunity is suppressed.”

Here’s the kicker:

This leaves us with no avenue to clear the poisons that we have just been injected with from our tissues; it leaves us with chronic inflammation as our bodies struggle to clear these inflammatory toxins, such as mercury, formaldehyde and dead viruses, and an increased susceptibility to chronic disease.  An overactive humoral immune system often leads to auto-immune disease, where the humoral immune system attacks our own tissues.

Dr. Cowan goes on to name sugar and refined carbs as trouble in that they “blunt the immune response and should be avoided as much as possible.”

Dr. Cowan discusses preventative and helping strategies, like cod liver oil and elderberry extract.  For more detailed advice and remedies you many want to keep on hand, you can read the article for yourself.

Some questions to ponder:

If vaccines are hobbling the normal working of our immune system function, could that help account for the horrific rises in cancer?

Heavy metals like mercury and aluminum damage the brain–do vaccines set in place future cases of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s?  Especially if the body can’t clear these toxins properly?  Neurological diseases are also on the rise…

Interesting Information: Did You Know?

Interesting Information:  Did You Know?

Did You Know?

 

That SOY is being added to Whole Foods chicken, duck, and goose liver pates?

 

Yep!  Soy Protein Isolate (SPI)–which is a highly processed, industrial food which, according to Kaayla T. Daniel in THE WHOLE SOY STORY, is full of toxins and carcinogens.

Why?  To pad the real ingredients in order to make more money.

 * * *

 

Here are some other surprising places soy is found.

Celestial Seasons Teas (some) contain soy lecithin.

Vaccines can contain soy adjuvants.

Instant Oatmeal (which is a poor food choice to begin with) can contain SPI, partially hydrogenated soy oil (a trans fat) and high fructose corn oil.

Soft drinks (Mountain Dew Squirt, Fanta Orange, and other citrusy sodas) can contain brominated vegetable oil (first developed as a flame retardant)–which works to emulsify the citrus-like flavors.

Artificial fire logs and soy candles can put soy into the air you breath-which is a serious issue for those with soy allergens.

Corkboards and floor mats.

Meltaway cupcake liners.

Coated cast-iron cookware.

The takaway here:  keep reading labels as they change all the time.

This information was taken from “Soy Alert!” in the Summer 2013 “Wise Traditions,” the journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation–and was written by Kaayla T. Daniel.  This journal is fully available on-line.

Turkey Tracks: 100 Watt Light Bulbs vs. (ugh!) CFLs

Turkey Tracks:  July 15, 2013

100 Watt Light Bulbs vs. (ugh!) CFLs

I just bought 20 100-watt light bulbs on Amazon.

They are gone, gone here in Mid-Coast Maine.

I hate the new CFL bulbs.  They don’t have much light.  And it’s a weird feeling kind of light.

So, imagine my delight to see John Moody take on this subject in the Spring 2013 Wise Traditions, the journal of The Weston A. Price Foundation:  “Let There Be Dark:  Turning Off the Dangers of CFLs.”

John Moody is a Kentucky farmer with kids, a “beautiful wife,” chickens, a huge garden, and is an administrator for the Whole Life Buying Club and has written THE FOOD CLUB AND CO-OP HANDBOOK.  In other words, he’s a regular guy who just started poking around to learn about the new CFL lightbulbs that he, too, dislikes.

Moody notes that the phase-out of the incandescent bulbs (the 75 and 100-watts are virtually gone) has destroyed many American businesses.  The CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) is made in China.  And it was “known to have significant issues even before rollout.”

What issues? Oh, there are many.  We can go so far as to say we have been lied to and “managed” with regard to these bulbs.

The CFL bulbs contain mercury vapor–which is a real problem if you break one. 

Breaking one of these in a small closet is a real catastrophe!  “In the hour immediately after each breakage, the team recorded mercury gas concentrations near the bulb shards between 200-800 ug/m3.  For comparison, the average eight-hour occupational exposure limit allowed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is 100ug/m3” (http://www.nebi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2535642).

Moody notes that Wikipedia states the following:  “Compared to general-service incandescent lamps giving the same amount of visible light, CFLs use one-fifth to one-third the electric power, and last eight to fifteen times longer.”  Moody notes that “unfortunately, researchers and reporters have shown that these claims are at times wildly false and inflated.”

CFLs do not produce the same amount of light–even after they warm up.  It takes two of them to equal the fire-power of the incandescent bulbs.  And they cost more–as much as FOUR TIMES more.  And, that’s the key to understanding why this change has occurred. 

Nor do they last eight to fifteen times longer than the incandescent bulbs.   The act of turning them on and off diminishes their lifespan.  And think how many times you go into a room and turn on and off the light switch before 10 minutes are up:  the bathroom, a closet, the kitchen for a drink, etc.  Only about two percent of these bulbs are recycled.

So, the CFL bulb doesn’t provide light, it takes 10 minutes to warm up to provide its inadequate light, it burns out with use, it’s FOUR TIMES more expensive, and it’s dangerous to dispose of safely.   Hmmmmm.  Do bear in mind this outcome is exactly how the so-called free market works when it is unfettered from the real needs of people and communities.  CFLs bring in more money.  Period. 

In addition, many people don’t like the light–they say it gives them headaches, causes eye strain, etc.  Turns out the coating on the bulb wears thin, which allows a harmful light that causes damage to eyes and skin.  In short, they are unhealthy. 

Amazon’s price is going up as the stock goes down.

Act now.

You might think about writing your congress people too.