Being a healthy eater requires you to become both educated and smart about what healthy eating actually is. Being food smart isn't about learning to calculate grams or fat, nor is it about studying labels and counting calories.
Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate eating, consisting of healthy meals at least three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many different types of foods, not limiting themselves to one specific food type or food group.
Healthy eating is a way of life, something that you can do to enhance your body, your health, and your lifestyle, every day, not just during a "diet." If you've thought about making your life better, healthy eating is the place to start.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Fluoride Treatment... This Test Will Reveal if it's Harmful
As a parent, you want to do what is right for your child. Then why not trust your own eyes? Test the situation yourself.
If fluoridation is the correct thing to do, then this test will help to ease your fears. If it is not correct, this test may confirm that, too. In any case, living without fluoride for a week or even a month is not going to hurt anybody. If it is truly preventing cavities, your child will not suddenly develop even one due to the lack of fluoride for just one week, or even an entire month.
The test? By now you have probably figured it out: No flouride for at least a week.
To be certain that fluoride is removed as completely as possible from your diet, or your child's, be sure to monitor the diet religiously for the test period, whether you choose to try it for one week or one month.
Eliminate local drinking water and use either distilled water for drinking and cooking, or find bottled water which you are sure contains no fluoride. Also eliminate soda pop, fruit juices made from a concentrate, mouthwash, tea, fish, and of course, toothpaste. If you cannot find fluoride-free toothpaste, use baking soda.
Now watch your child closely for changes in personality, sleep habits, energy levels, appetite, mental acuity, skin condition, headaches, stomach aches, etc. Basically what you will be watching for is whether any problems disappear.
Don't start staring at your child on the first day. This could make them nervous and color your view of their reactions. Besides, it's too soon to notice anything. Wait a week, then stop and think about the above characteristics. If you are doing this for a month, take a look every week.
If you see absolutely no differences, then drop it and go back to what you were doing before. But watch to see if any changes occur then, too. If not, you may feel fluoride is not a threat in your life. Do what you feel is right.
But if you do see changes after eliminating the fluoride, it is possible this substance is responsible. To test that theory, return to the old routine and watch even more closely to see if symptoms return. If they do, remove the fluoride again. If they again disappear, you can be certain that fluoride is the culprit.
If you decide you now want to permanently eliminate fluoride from your lifestyle, you have to be diligent in selecting consumable products. It can be quite a challenge to find foods, drinks and oral hygiene products that do not contain fluoride.
Good luck.
If fluoridation is the correct thing to do, then this test will help to ease your fears. If it is not correct, this test may confirm that, too. In any case, living without fluoride for a week or even a month is not going to hurt anybody. If it is truly preventing cavities, your child will not suddenly develop even one due to the lack of fluoride for just one week, or even an entire month.
The test? By now you have probably figured it out: No flouride for at least a week.
To be certain that fluoride is removed as completely as possible from your diet, or your child's, be sure to monitor the diet religiously for the test period, whether you choose to try it for one week or one month.
Eliminate local drinking water and use either distilled water for drinking and cooking, or find bottled water which you are sure contains no fluoride. Also eliminate soda pop, fruit juices made from a concentrate, mouthwash, tea, fish, and of course, toothpaste. If you cannot find fluoride-free toothpaste, use baking soda.
Now watch your child closely for changes in personality, sleep habits, energy levels, appetite, mental acuity, skin condition, headaches, stomach aches, etc. Basically what you will be watching for is whether any problems disappear.
Don't start staring at your child on the first day. This could make them nervous and color your view of their reactions. Besides, it's too soon to notice anything. Wait a week, then stop and think about the above characteristics. If you are doing this for a month, take a look every week.
If you see absolutely no differences, then drop it and go back to what you were doing before. But watch to see if any changes occur then, too. If not, you may feel fluoride is not a threat in your life. Do what you feel is right.
But if you do see changes after eliminating the fluoride, it is possible this substance is responsible. To test that theory, return to the old routine and watch even more closely to see if symptoms return. If they do, remove the fluoride again. If they again disappear, you can be certain that fluoride is the culprit.
If you decide you now want to permanently eliminate fluoride from your lifestyle, you have to be diligent in selecting consumable products. It can be quite a challenge to find foods, drinks and oral hygiene products that do not contain fluoride.
Good luck.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Appendix Finally Found Useful?
The latest news is that the appendix, believed for centuries to be useless, is finally earning status as a real organ. It was a headline story on Yahoo news, just yesterday! (http://www.yahoo.com/s/1119597)
Researchers say they have identified certain potential functions of this "vestigial" organ, so classified by none other than Darwin himself, still revered as the father of the theory of evolution. And still revered as an authority! How many more of his theories must be debunked before that changes? Who knows... but that's another story, for another day, another web site, or another belief system. It doesn't matter.
The idea now is that the humble little appendix used to be more useful in days gone by to store bacteria that could help protect one's system in a world full of horrible infectious material... all cleaned up now, of course. (Believe that?)
The Industrial Revolution changed the world, and now, according to current thinking, we just don't have all that garbage around us, threatening our health. And in keeping with that idea, the appendix no longer has enough to do, so it sits quietly, doing little or nothing, until we might need its services. Trouble is, with its life of ease, it's become lazy and shrunken and now may not be up to the demand it used to handle, much like a healthy, well-muscled football player who has retired and gone flabby.
Well, this is just another chapter in the story of medical arrogance, in my opinion. As a chiropractor for more than 35 years, I can tell you that it's always been the opinion of most alternative health professionals that everything that appears in a normal, healthy body is there for a reason... even the appendix. Only medical arrogance proclaims uselessness when they can't explain something. In typical fashion, if the big shot docs can't find a function, then it doesn't exist.
Natural healers, on the other hand, don't know all the answers either, but we are content in knowing that everything is here for a reason, and as stewards of others' health, it is our responsibility to help our clients and patients recover and maintain their best health in order to foster their best functionality... even for organs and processes we may not fully comprehend.
The medical theories are full of holes, too. The assumption that our modern lifestyle has been cleaned up is a bit off the mark. How about those folks in Third World countries who are suffering because of poor sanitation due to Western influences that completely changed their native habitats? They contract some of the most horrific tropical diseases from being unprotected in environments that aren't exactly clean. I'll bet they have "useless" appendices, too. Or, why don't they have big fat busy ones?
When exactly did our lives become so easy? I know a lot of peole who aren't lying around sipping pina coladas and feeling so good. I hear there are still some slums in the big city, too.
Oh, life has changed, all right. Some things are worse... pollution, shrinking resources, adulterated food, chemical composites called food, genetically modified "food," enormous increases in drug use (legal or not), and adulteration of our internal and external environments with radiation and so-called remedial chemicals (such as fluoride).
None of those things have changed the basic condition of the appendix as we know it today. They might, in another 80 million years of evolution, but I don't think we're going to be here... unless our "leaders" stop ruining the planet. Again, another story, for another day....
But yes, the appendix is there for a reason. I knew that.
Researchers say they have identified certain potential functions of this "vestigial" organ, so classified by none other than Darwin himself, still revered as the father of the theory of evolution. And still revered as an authority! How many more of his theories must be debunked before that changes? Who knows... but that's another story, for another day, another web site, or another belief system. It doesn't matter.
The idea now is that the humble little appendix used to be more useful in days gone by to store bacteria that could help protect one's system in a world full of horrible infectious material... all cleaned up now, of course. (Believe that?)
The Industrial Revolution changed the world, and now, according to current thinking, we just don't have all that garbage around us, threatening our health. And in keeping with that idea, the appendix no longer has enough to do, so it sits quietly, doing little or nothing, until we might need its services. Trouble is, with its life of ease, it's become lazy and shrunken and now may not be up to the demand it used to handle, much like a healthy, well-muscled football player who has retired and gone flabby.
Well, this is just another chapter in the story of medical arrogance, in my opinion. As a chiropractor for more than 35 years, I can tell you that it's always been the opinion of most alternative health professionals that everything that appears in a normal, healthy body is there for a reason... even the appendix. Only medical arrogance proclaims uselessness when they can't explain something. In typical fashion, if the big shot docs can't find a function, then it doesn't exist.
Natural healers, on the other hand, don't know all the answers either, but we are content in knowing that everything is here for a reason, and as stewards of others' health, it is our responsibility to help our clients and patients recover and maintain their best health in order to foster their best functionality... even for organs and processes we may not fully comprehend.
The medical theories are full of holes, too. The assumption that our modern lifestyle has been cleaned up is a bit off the mark. How about those folks in Third World countries who are suffering because of poor sanitation due to Western influences that completely changed their native habitats? They contract some of the most horrific tropical diseases from being unprotected in environments that aren't exactly clean. I'll bet they have "useless" appendices, too. Or, why don't they have big fat busy ones?
When exactly did our lives become so easy? I know a lot of peole who aren't lying around sipping pina coladas and feeling so good. I hear there are still some slums in the big city, too.
Oh, life has changed, all right. Some things are worse... pollution, shrinking resources, adulterated food, chemical composites called food, genetically modified "food," enormous increases in drug use (legal or not), and adulteration of our internal and external environments with radiation and so-called remedial chemicals (such as fluoride).
None of those things have changed the basic condition of the appendix as we know it today. They might, in another 80 million years of evolution, but I don't think we're going to be here... unless our "leaders" stop ruining the planet. Again, another story, for another day....
But yes, the appendix is there for a reason. I knew that.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Amazing Human Machine
The most amazing machinery in the world isn't a nuclear reactor, an electron microscope, or the next space vehicle. It is the human body.
We don't even have to know how it works for it to function correctly and smoothly... as long as we don't interfere with the normal processes that make life possible. If this weren't true, then human life would have died out with the cave man, if not sooner.
Now that a lot of time has passed and humans have become smarter, we do know a lot about our bodies.. how and why they work, and, especially important at times, how to fix them when necessary.
Unfortunately, along with that recent knowledge has come arrogance. People designated as "doctors" think they have all the answers and are the only humans among us who are qualified to fix each other. They even think they are the only ones who can, and should be allowed to, discuss human functionality. If a so-called "lay person" learns anatomy and physiology from a book, it's not good enough. Only "real" doctors can read medical books and understand them. Didn't you know that?
Learning about the body doesn't make it function; however, "doctors" want to have that control. God-like creatures that they think they are, they *must* exert this control and squash anyone who threatens or questions it.
The body is a self-repairing, self-aligning organism that can take care of a wide array of problems that occur while moving about through our different environments.
Break a bone... it knits back together. We can help that process by making sure the ends are aligned and that the area is immobilized during the healing process, but we can't make the cells do what they must do. We can stop them, and people often do, but the healing function is automatic, and internal.
Running a fever? Time to "burn off" a germ, perhaps. It's the built-in, natural way to do that. There weren't any anti-inflammatory berry bushes around during the early days of our kind. Or perhaps there were. It's probably lost information now, though.
The point is that our bodies can and do, and always have been able to, heal themselves, whether we know what we're doing or not. In fact, not knowing can be the best approach, so we don't get in our own way to restore our health. History is replete with stories, now laughable, of "experts" of the times inflicting popular remedies of the day that resulted only in hastening one's death. Sadly, that still happens.
The problem now is that humans have gotten so smart they think they know it all and have decided that any expression of healing has to be stopped. Why? Because they are so smart they interpret some healing activity as disease or sickness.
Why aren't we allowed to have a fever? Why can't muscle spasms be handled correctly? And lord help you if you sneeze.
To get a feel for how bad this has become, just watch television commercials. No matter how one feels, there is a drug for it, along with a brand new name for the condition to give it credence and official status as a disease.
Even feeling too good must be a disease, as they have drugs for that, too. It was called manic-depressive in the old days, now known as bipolar disease. Too happy? Take this drug. Depressed? Take this drug.
Legs feel restless? Here's a drug.
Sneezing is a very normal bodily response to clear respiratory passages, but sneezing is not allowed anymore. It's not bad enough that you need to be blessed to survive one, but nowadays, sneezing is considered the onset of a cold or something worse... but who knows what? Kill it before it multiplies.
Coughing? Not allowed. Headaches? Not allowed. Never mind that they are symptoms of an underlying condition. Turn off the alarms to put out the fire?
You're only allowed to live a dull, lifeless, robotic physical existence. Anything less or more requires a drug.
We don't even have to know how it works for it to function correctly and smoothly... as long as we don't interfere with the normal processes that make life possible. If this weren't true, then human life would have died out with the cave man, if not sooner.
Now that a lot of time has passed and humans have become smarter, we do know a lot about our bodies.. how and why they work, and, especially important at times, how to fix them when necessary.
Unfortunately, along with that recent knowledge has come arrogance. People designated as "doctors" think they have all the answers and are the only humans among us who are qualified to fix each other. They even think they are the only ones who can, and should be allowed to, discuss human functionality. If a so-called "lay person" learns anatomy and physiology from a book, it's not good enough. Only "real" doctors can read medical books and understand them. Didn't you know that?
Learning about the body doesn't make it function; however, "doctors" want to have that control. God-like creatures that they think they are, they *must* exert this control and squash anyone who threatens or questions it.
The body is a self-repairing, self-aligning organism that can take care of a wide array of problems that occur while moving about through our different environments.
Break a bone... it knits back together. We can help that process by making sure the ends are aligned and that the area is immobilized during the healing process, but we can't make the cells do what they must do. We can stop them, and people often do, but the healing function is automatic, and internal.
Running a fever? Time to "burn off" a germ, perhaps. It's the built-in, natural way to do that. There weren't any anti-inflammatory berry bushes around during the early days of our kind. Or perhaps there were. It's probably lost information now, though.
The point is that our bodies can and do, and always have been able to, heal themselves, whether we know what we're doing or not. In fact, not knowing can be the best approach, so we don't get in our own way to restore our health. History is replete with stories, now laughable, of "experts" of the times inflicting popular remedies of the day that resulted only in hastening one's death. Sadly, that still happens.
The problem now is that humans have gotten so smart they think they know it all and have decided that any expression of healing has to be stopped. Why? Because they are so smart they interpret some healing activity as disease or sickness.
Why aren't we allowed to have a fever? Why can't muscle spasms be handled correctly? And lord help you if you sneeze.
To get a feel for how bad this has become, just watch television commercials. No matter how one feels, there is a drug for it, along with a brand new name for the condition to give it credence and official status as a disease.
Even feeling too good must be a disease, as they have drugs for that, too. It was called manic-depressive in the old days, now known as bipolar disease. Too happy? Take this drug. Depressed? Take this drug.
Legs feel restless? Here's a drug.
Sneezing is a very normal bodily response to clear respiratory passages, but sneezing is not allowed anymore. It's not bad enough that you need to be blessed to survive one, but nowadays, sneezing is considered the onset of a cold or something worse... but who knows what? Kill it before it multiplies.
Coughing? Not allowed. Headaches? Not allowed. Never mind that they are symptoms of an underlying condition. Turn off the alarms to put out the fire?
You're only allowed to live a dull, lifeless, robotic physical existence. Anything less or more requires a drug.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Is Menopause a Disease?
Since when did menopause become a disease? It's a natural event in the life of a woman, and always has been. If it becomes problematic, the most common reason is that something in the body has gone out of balance. Adding drugs to the mix doesn't achieve balance.
Drugs have become the panacea for the treatment of all things that don't feel good. If anything hurts, take a drug. If you feel blue, take a drug. If you feel "too good," must be bipolar... take a drug. Legs feel funny? Take a drug. Can't sleep? Take drug. Can't wake up enough to focus on anything? Stomach acid? Bowels clogged? Losing hair? Depressed? Can't get pregnant? Don't want to get pregnant? MENOPAUSE? Take a drug.
If you want to normalize a normal physiological function, there are natural things you can do. You don't have to poison the body with chemicals that were never meant to be in there.
Quick story: When I was in chiropractic college, in my 20s, an older female student entered that time of life called menopause. She was miserable. But instead of taking drugs, she visited our on-campus clinic every day and received daily chiropractic adjustments, plus some nutritional counseling. She not only lost a little weight, but her menopausal miseries disappeared.
I never forgot that, and when that time of life arrived for me, I did not rush to the M.D. to get some hormones. I visited a chiropractic colleague and received spinal realignments several times a week. As a result, I never suffered anything more serious than a few overheated nights, but nothing like night sweats. I had some of the typical hot flashes during the day, but they didn't last long. And I never had any cramping or bloating or any other things I'd heard women complain about.
And, as a practicing chiropractor myself, I helped many women in my age group work their way through a more normal menopause.... without drugs!
It can be done, but few will look into it. It's not very lucrative for the medical profession to promote natural healing.
Drugs have become the panacea for the treatment of all things that don't feel good. If anything hurts, take a drug. If you feel blue, take a drug. If you feel "too good," must be bipolar... take a drug. Legs feel funny? Take a drug. Can't sleep? Take drug. Can't wake up enough to focus on anything? Stomach acid? Bowels clogged? Losing hair? Depressed? Can't get pregnant? Don't want to get pregnant? MENOPAUSE? Take a drug.
If you want to normalize a normal physiological function, there are natural things you can do. You don't have to poison the body with chemicals that were never meant to be in there.
Quick story: When I was in chiropractic college, in my 20s, an older female student entered that time of life called menopause. She was miserable. But instead of taking drugs, she visited our on-campus clinic every day and received daily chiropractic adjustments, plus some nutritional counseling. She not only lost a little weight, but her menopausal miseries disappeared.
I never forgot that, and when that time of life arrived for me, I did not rush to the M.D. to get some hormones. I visited a chiropractic colleague and received spinal realignments several times a week. As a result, I never suffered anything more serious than a few overheated nights, but nothing like night sweats. I had some of the typical hot flashes during the day, but they didn't last long. And I never had any cramping or bloating or any other things I'd heard women complain about.
And, as a practicing chiropractor myself, I helped many women in my age group work their way through a more normal menopause.... without drugs!
It can be done, but few will look into it. It's not very lucrative for the medical profession to promote natural healing.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Alternative Health - the Propaganda
Anyone born in the last 100 years or so has been exposed to medical propaganda, in an attempt (mostly successful, by the way) to force everyone to believe that allopathic medicine is the only effective way to treat disease.
Of course, "treat" disease is the operative word (pun intended) for allopathy. Anything natural, which allopathy is not, is about preventing disease in the first place, because the primary interest is in promoting Health, not disease. Allopathic medical practitioners are lost without something to treat. The concept of prevention is beyond their realm of understanding.
Allopathic care depends completely on identifying an enemy so they can fight it with a "cure." And all maladies have to have names so they can look them up in their catalogs of drugs.
That's why I call today's medical care a "catalog practice." If it's not in the catalog, they don't know what to do.
Just watch the commercials on television. It seems that every few weeks someone comes up with a new "disease" so they can sell a new drug.
Remember, in allopathic medicine, you can't sell a drug for something unless it has a name. This allows it to be cataloged and charged out on insurance billings. And those companies wouldn't pay any attention to a treatment that doesn't have a code number so they can look it up in their own catalog and agree or disagree with a price.
How about "RLS," Restless Leg Syndrome? Or here's a new one: Nonrestorative Sleep. And how about Dead Jaw Syndrome? Or PAD (Peripheral Artery Disease)?
Sure, you may suffer from any of these groupings of symptoms, but to call it a disease is extremely questionable. And to cover it up with a drug is even worse, especially since most of these problems are caused by drugs in the first place.
Amazingly, most people don't even expect their allopathic doctor to fix anything. As long as it has a name, they're happy. I've even heard people say, "Well, at least now we know what it is!" Somehow, this satisfies them.
Of course, "treat" disease is the operative word (pun intended) for allopathy. Anything natural, which allopathy is not, is about preventing disease in the first place, because the primary interest is in promoting Health, not disease. Allopathic medical practitioners are lost without something to treat. The concept of prevention is beyond their realm of understanding.
Allopathic care depends completely on identifying an enemy so they can fight it with a "cure." And all maladies have to have names so they can look them up in their catalogs of drugs.
That's why I call today's medical care a "catalog practice." If it's not in the catalog, they don't know what to do.
Just watch the commercials on television. It seems that every few weeks someone comes up with a new "disease" so they can sell a new drug.
Remember, in allopathic medicine, you can't sell a drug for something unless it has a name. This allows it to be cataloged and charged out on insurance billings. And those companies wouldn't pay any attention to a treatment that doesn't have a code number so they can look it up in their own catalog and agree or disagree with a price.
How about "RLS," Restless Leg Syndrome? Or here's a new one: Nonrestorative Sleep. And how about Dead Jaw Syndrome? Or PAD (Peripheral Artery Disease)?
Sure, you may suffer from any of these groupings of symptoms, but to call it a disease is extremely questionable. And to cover it up with a drug is even worse, especially since most of these problems are caused by drugs in the first place.
Amazingly, most people don't even expect their allopathic doctor to fix anything. As long as it has a name, they're happy. I've even heard people say, "Well, at least now we know what it is!" Somehow, this satisfies them.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Alternative Health... It's All Backward!
In my opinion, what is known as "alternative health" today should be mainstream, while traditional allopathic medical care should be relegated to alternative status. In other words, things are backward.
For all the time humans have been on this planet, food was organic (no chemicals, radiation or genetic modification to make them grow bigger or faster to facilitate profits). Plants provided a large part of any "drug" treatment, and of course, pollution was seldom an issue. At least not significantly until the Industrial Age began.
Well, everything changed in the last couple hundred years, with the most drastic and worst changes taking place in the last 100.
Sure, many things are better: discovery of germs so we can deal with that, the "aha" awakening that cleanliness did more for the eradication of certain diseases than any vaccines, pills or potions, and the vast new knowledge of physiology and anatomy, along with the technology that allows better treatment of injuries and birth defects.
Certainly the medical profession has made huge strides in disease classification, identification and description, but it's all off balance. Many of them are virtually clueless about how to prevent or treat disease, naturally or any other way. They are all about covering up symptoms, not addressing causes. They are about sickness, not health.
For all the time humans have been on this planet, food was organic (no chemicals, radiation or genetic modification to make them grow bigger or faster to facilitate profits). Plants provided a large part of any "drug" treatment, and of course, pollution was seldom an issue. At least not significantly until the Industrial Age began.
Well, everything changed in the last couple hundred years, with the most drastic and worst changes taking place in the last 100.
Sure, many things are better: discovery of germs so we can deal with that, the "aha" awakening that cleanliness did more for the eradication of certain diseases than any vaccines, pills or potions, and the vast new knowledge of physiology and anatomy, along with the technology that allows better treatment of injuries and birth defects.
Certainly the medical profession has made huge strides in disease classification, identification and description, but it's all off balance. Many of them are virtually clueless about how to prevent or treat disease, naturally or any other way. They are all about covering up symptoms, not addressing causes. They are about sickness, not health.
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