Moving Strongly Forward

Cancer

Three of my friends have died from cancer in the last two years - one of them this week. Two of my friends were under 40 and one was in her early 70s. Two of my relatives have died from cancer in the last two years. One was in her mid-40s and one in her 60s.

I have blogged about cancer, the deadly treatment that Western Medicine as a whole offers to cancer patients, and more successful alternatives. Now I am recommending Suzanne Somers’ book Knockout. She has written a powerfully effective book that that brings forward the true cancer healers, many of whom are MDs. These healers have thrown standard care in the dumpster. They do have the strong track records for preventing cancer deaths and restoring quality of life without the devastating effects of standard care.

Cancer is a hugely growing problem in America and around the world. In the early 1900s, 1 in 8000 Americans were diagnosed. Today it is almost at 1 in 1.5 people. Literally almost everyone you know will be diagnosed with cancer. It doesn’t have to be that way. Cancer can be prevented in many instances and successfully managed or cured in many others. A few hours with Suzanne Somers’ Knockout could make all the difference.

A Tribute

She is beauty, grace and strength. She fought hard to maintain this life, but she was spiritually at a higher level and able to accept what her life brought her. Now she is free of her struggles and on to another amazing adventure. I am grateful to have known her for the short time I did and I am grateful that she was my friend. She infected all around her with her love and warmth.

Smiles and love to all.

Your Health is In Your Gut

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I frequently mention the Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet (GAPS) by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, MD. This diet helps with so many more ailments than the title suggests, such as diabetes, high blood, arthritis, and premature aging. The GAPS book is not the easiest read and hearing the arguments presented from different healers helps grow understanding of the importance of gut health and how we can have a healthy gut.

Dr. Mark Hyman, whom I am going to meet in about 10 days, has written another great article regarding gut health. His book, The Ultramind Solution, is very well written and goes into much more detail about gut health. If you need extra motivation feed yourself well and treat yourself well it is worth the read.

Here is the link to Dr. Hyman’s article:  5 Steps to Kill Hidden Bugs in Your Gut That Make You Sick.

Is Your Diabetes Drug Deadly?

Yesterday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) put some restrictions on the heart attack causing diabetes drug Avandia. This is an absurd decision showing how much Big Pharma owns our government. Europe had the nerve to outright ban this killer.

It is worth reading the entire New York Times article about the FDA’s decision to allow some continued Avandia use, but here are the first few paragraphs if you are in a hurry:

WASHINGTON — In a highly unusual coordinated announcement, drug regulators in Europe and the United States said Thursday that Avandia, the controversial diabetes medicine, would no longer be widely available.

The drug’s sales will be suspended entirely in Europe, while patients in the United States will be allowed access to the medicine only if they and their doctors attest that they have tried every other diabetes medicine and that patients have been made aware of the drug’s substantial risks to the heart. Patients now taking Avandia may continue to do so.

The Food and Drug Administration’s decision shows that the Obama administration is taking a harder line on drug safety issues, even in the face of scientific uncertainty. Along with its announcement, the agency for the first time immediately posted on its Web site internal memorandums from top staff members that in some cases offered entirely contradictory advice. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the agency’s commissioner, said that passions within the agency had run high on the Avandia decision.

“As F.D.A. commissioner, my job would be infinitely easier if we had consensus and full scientific clarity,” she said.

Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist whose studies highlighted Avandia’s heart attack risks, said that the decision brought an end to “one of the worst drug safety tragedies in our lifetime,” adding that it was “essential to fully investigate what went wrong with the regulatory process to prevent this type of tragedy from endangering patients in the future.”

One study estimated that from 1999 to 2009, more than 47,000 people taking Avandia needlessly suffered a heart attack, stroke or heart failure, or died.

The decision on Avandia signals a new era in the treatment of diabetes, a disease that is reaching epidemic proportions in much of the industrialized world. Because of Avandia, the F.D.A. announced in 2008 that it would no longer approve medicines simply because they help diabetics control blood sugar levels — the standard for more than 80 years. Instead, the F.D.A. now insists that drugmakers conduct trials lasting at least two years to show that their medicines do not hurt the heart and that they improve the quality or length of diabetics’ lives, far tougher tests.

The Avandia story also begins a new and unsettling period for pharmaceutical companies because Avandia’s risks became known only after Dr. Nissen analyzed data from clinical trials that GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of the drug, had been forced to post on its Web site as a result of a legal settlement. Such public postings are increasingly the norm, which means that drugmakers can no longer easily hide or control scientific information about their medicines.

What should you do? Take charge of your health. If you are suffering from Type II diabetes, chances are good that you can at least free yourself from medication if not cure diabetes outright if you take charge (see this post: Diabetes Victory). Here are few posts I wrote previously for perspective on how you can control your health and life: Lunch Meat and Bacon the SAD Way (aka Promoting Diabetes and Alzheimer’s),  With Every Bite You Eat… and  A Corollary to “Every Bite You Eat”.

What does taking charge look like? Changing what you eat and monitoring the results with your healthcare provider. Taking this healing journey with the health of a good complementary and alternative medicine doctor is helpful. Here is a post regarding how to find one: How to Choose an Alternative or a Complementary Medicine Practitioner. Here is A Friend’s Life Changing Journey with Food if you want to see what starting this journey can look like.

What should you eat? Get rid of the processed food, most carbs, including grain, sweeteners, potatoes, dairy (except certain cheeses and milk that you ferment into yogurt and kefir) and beans (except navy, lima and green). Drink lots of homemade bone broth, as shown in these videos:

Written Instructions for More Info

Bone Broth Part 1

Bone Broth Part 2

Bone Broth Part 3

You will be pretty much following Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride’s Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet.

Broth deserves a special mention. It is an amazing, anti-inflammatory, soothing, nourishing, detoxifying food. To learn more, read this post: Be Free of Food Cravings

Whether or not you are struggling with diabetes, are you ready to take your health to the next level? The information above will get you there.

Plastic Containers and Food Storage

Which containers are safe? This article from Women’s Day gives a fairly decent outline and recommendations, although it falls short: Plastic Containers for Food Storage. I like it because it is aimed at more mainstream people than myself so maybe it will be more readily acceptable and a good article for sharing.

Now for my three food storage plastic rules.

1. I only use plastics when a glass container is not feasible.

2. I only use plastics that are numbers 2, 4 and 5 for food storage.

3. When using a plastic for food storage, I line it with natural wax paper. I don’t really trust any plastic to be in contact with food.

Regarding water, I prefer reusable plastic BPA-free Nalgene  bottles. That way I control the water that is used and the way it is stored. I don’t trust store bought bottled water for several reasons.

1. Disposable bottles can be heated and cooled during transport and storage, degrading the plastic and releasing chemicals.

2. Disposable bottled water is likely not well filtered and my home filter does a better job.

3. Perhaps most important, disposable plastic water bottle drinkers are helping to accelerate the destruction of the earth. The amount of waste they cause from their production to disposable is earthshaking. There are many articles documenting the problems with disposable water bottles, so just do a search or take a quick look at this one: So What's the Big Deal with Plastic Water Bottles?

What about stainless steel water bottles? For my family, the cost of stainless steel exceeds the benefit, as we believe a properly cared for Nalgene (cleanliness and no temperature extremes/dishwasher) is as safe and much less costly.

Diabetes Victory

I helped someone earlier this year with a serious spike in his Type 2 diabetes. He has been plagued by diabetes for about 30 years, which is the norm for the males in the family. Fortunately, he has managed it fairly well until stressful events caused it to spike exceedingly high. Insulin injections were about to be prescribed, much to his great concern.

I convinced this person to try a change of diet. With the guidance of my Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Ken Morehead, this person changed his diet and took some supplements, including cod liver oil, as recommended by Ken. Within two weeks he was out of the danger zone and by week four his blood sugar was normal. Normal. He hadn’t had normal blood sugar in over 30 years.

This person did an excellent job following the food plan, and when he strayed it was very clear what foods caused the spike in blood sugar. While his blood sugar has crept up (not dangerously) because he has loosened up on his eating, he knows what he needs to do to bring it back down. He is successfully managing his diabetes. Ken and I feel that he could cure his diabetes, but he doesn’t desire to do the finishing work. This is fine, as everyone has their own journey, and this person is happy with where he is.

So what did he do? He pretty much followed the Gut and Pshcyology Syndrome (GAPS) diet, with the exception of one slice of rye bread and an apple each day. For snack he ate almonds. Each person is different and diabetes can be a very individual disease, but cutting out the inflammation causing foods as recommended by GAPS is certainly helpful.

What was another factor? Belief in wellness. This person did not have much belief that his diabetes could be turned around, but Ken and I did. It is important for a healer to have belief, especially when the patient doesn’t. It was fun to watch this person’s outlook change as his diabetes improved daily. Heavy skepticism changed to belief. Does it get any better than that?

If you are struggling with a health challenge, healing food and belief in wellness are two keys to changing how you live your life, and a fantastic health practitioner will help you accelerate your recovery.

The Great Egg Recall and the Little Farmer

What a horror this egg recall is. It highlights the complete fiasco that is our mass production industrial food system. The Wall Street Journal has a number of great articles regarding the recall and some important things you should know. For example, Grade A eggs are not what you think. To learn more, read this: 'Grade A' Egg Stamp Isn't What It Seems. To learn about conditions at one of the plants at the center of the recall, read this: Flies, Birds, Mice Found at Egg Plant.

Where do you turn for safe food when the industrial farms and government aren’t keeping you safe? The small farmer? I would like to give that an unqualified, absolute yes. I believe that many small farmers are truthful and ethical in the raising and selling of their food. But not all of them are.

Take for instance Rainbow Meadow Farms (RMF) in Snow Hill, NC. I bought eggs and meat from them weekly for over two years. I paid premium prices for this supposed pasture raised, antibiotic-free, hormone-free food. Then I took a tour of RMF. I was in the pasture with the egg laying chickens. I picked up the eggs. Those eggs didn’t look like the eggs I was purchasing from RMF at the farmers market. A few other things seemed off to me as well, so I started to investigate and made my concerns known to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (DACS). Between their investigation and mine we uncovered lots of things, but I will stick to eggs for now. DACS found that RMF was purchasing cage-free eggs from an egg service and then repackaging them without the necessary government approvals/authorizations. Cage-free eggs! My ethical concerns aside (I want eggs from happy pastured chickens), cage-free chickens are not pasture raised. They live in cramped conditions where disease spreads, requiring the use of antibiotics. The eggs aren’t as nutritionally healthy as pasture raised. These eggs should be less expensive than what I was paying, as they are less costly to raise. To be fair, I do think that RMF also sold the eggs from the pasture, but I sure didn’t receive them often.

So what did RMF do? They repacked the cage-free eggs and passed them off as their own without the needed government authorization. There are many problems with this. First, the health concern, especially in light of this egg recall. By repacking eggs, there is no way to track the eggs in case they are recalled. Purchasers are completely in the dark, as they think their eggs are from RMF.

Second, RMF broke the law. They did not have the government authorizations and inspections that are required when repacking. Unfortunately, it seems that the government is unable to punish them, as there is only one egg inspector in all of North Carolina and he can’t be at every turn overseeing their every move in order to gather the needed evidence.

Third, as stated in the Wall Street Journal articles above, egg inspection doesn’t always mean a lot.

Fourth, I and many, many of my friends paid premium prices for a substandard product. I may just ask for my money back for the sake of going through the motions, but with the amount of deceit I uncovered regarding this farm, I don’t expect to succeed. Who knows, though, they could turn over a new leaf.

What are you supposed to do?

1. Purchase from a farmer that is excited to have visitors at any time with no notice.

2. Walk the pasture and ask to see all of the pasture where the chickens are feeding.

3. Ask to see the chicken feed and its label. Make sure that antibiotics are not in the feed.

Transparency is the key. RMF put on a good show when I visited, but they did not satisfy these three steps. I tried to visit prior to the RMF farm tour but was gently rebuffed each time. If only I would have forced the issue. It would have saved my friends and me a lot of money.

Reflections – Lots of Them

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been. My doc helped me conquer my insomnia (thanks to employment uncertainty), my violently unbalanced mother died leaving me a huge mess to deal with, I had my first real cold in two years, my back ached worse than ever, I hadn’t worked out in two weeks, my body odor was wretched and I felt tired and achy. I was also on the GAPS Diet during this time, which contributed to my tiredness, aches and body odor, since the timing of all this craziness coincided with an expected GAPS detox. Geez!

Today is a different story. My cold has broken, my energy is improved, my body odor is gone, my back has stopped hurting almost magically and a groin injury is greatly reduced. The back and groin improved literally over night, thank goodness. Thank you Dr. Natasha and your GAPS Diet.

Now for my next conundrums. I am blocked when it comes to cooking in order to stay on GAPS. We have been on for three weeks and Colson and I have experienced improvements, with his stuffy nose diminishing and my aches and pains greatly reduced if not gone. I know that GAPS is good for us, but I don’t want to make the food. I guess I should listen to my body and make some changes.

Here is my problem. I know that grains and beans cause inflammation. Inflammation causes pain and other problems. Check out this article by Dr. Tom Cowan, MD for more information about grain and the problems it can cause: A Holistic Approach to Cancer.  

I know that wheat bothers me. It is proven each time we go on GAPS and then have pizza. Last night we had pizza thanks to my great big cooking block. It was a fairly decent pizza as pizzas go, and I had only two small/medium pieces. True to form I felt lousy. I was bloated and I had a headache for about a half hour.  Given that bread brought me extra weight and aches over the summer, I think that will stay out of the diet for now.

What am I bringing in? Rice, beans and some corn tortillas. Because I forgot to order raw milk (used for kefir smoothies) I am envisioning some oatmeal in the next two weeks too. These foods feel right. But what to do about the inflammation that I know they cause? Maybe for me it really is just the wheat. I haven’t tried avoiding just wheat when off of GAPS, but that seems to be the new experiment.

One more thing. This discussion from the Diane Rehm Show on NPR was very helpful to me: Dr. Herbert Benson: "Relaxation Revolution". I had been trying to meditate my way out of insomnia (a pattern I developed in grad school), but was failing. Thanks to my doc I now fall asleep while meditating. That still isn’t the solution, though. I heard Dr. Herbert Benson, MD on Diane Rehm, and he recommends taking meditation another step. First meditate to clear and relax the mind. Then meditate on a point in your life when you were healthy and not bothered by what is troubling you now.

Dr. Benson’s approach has been great fun and my sleep is deep and healing! I have relived my time at Lake Superior State College for ten minutes every night. It is a beautiful campus, and my room had a view of Lake Superior. Every night after studying I would go to the pool and swim a half hour, come back, read a little for leisure and fall asleep in my cozy dorm room. Every day I experienced amazing snow falls (so much snow!), amazing cold, and amazing beauty and peace. I used to go stand at the edge of the lake as it entered the Sault Locks. Sometimes the snow was waste deep and it took a bit of work to cut a path. It was incredible there at night. According to Dr. Benson, I should expect that I am rewiring my brain to get back to that healthy and peaceful state. Hopefully this approach is helpful to you too.