Osteoarthritis Laser Therapy Treatment Case Study

Beth was a 45 year old lady who came to me with severe osteoarthritis in both of her feet and ankles. It would flare up every few weeks. Sometimes in the left foot, sometimes the right. It only seemed to affect one side at a time! There seemed to be no reason for the flare ups. Beth tried many different diets. She was extremely conscientious with her food choices every day. She tried a whole regime of supplements. Nothing helped.

The only thing that would decrease her pain was Prednisone. She took it when the pain was severe. She noticed that her voice would be hoarse and she also had severe heartburn when taking the drug for more than 1 or 2 days. Her doctor made her aware of the long list of side effects of Prednisone. Things like weight gain, eye problems, osteoporosis, to name a few. Beth decided she didn't want to take drugs if there was another way to deal with her pain.

Often it was so painful that she couldn't walk at all. She used a moon boot when the pain was moderate, but when the pain was severe she had to use a knee scooter to be able to get around at all - even in her home. Even when the pain was mild, her ankles were weak. She had to walk slowly, even on a flat, level surface. Going up or down stairs was a challenge because she felt like her ankles would collapse easily. She almost fell down stairs a few times when there was no handrail. She used to play tennis each week. Now running or playing any kind of sport was out of the question. Even a 20 min walk would cause the pain to flare up. She had to buy special shoes that cushioned the normal impact of her foot striking the ground.

Beth had to organise her life around her feet! Things most people take for granted like going shopping had to be carefully managed so she could do short walks, rather than long ones.

She came to me to try laser therapy. Initially there was no noticeable improvement. We did 2 treatments 1 week apart and she felt no change. She decided to stop treatment.

The laser treatment Beth received involved her sitting in a chair. I would put the laser on multiple areas around her feet for about 3 minutes in each spot. It took about 30 minutes to cover both her feet and ankles. The laser is painless and all she felt during the treatment was the pleasant warmth of the treatment.

After about 6 months her situation was no better. She returned to the clinic and we started doing 2 treatments a week for 6 weeks. She noticed her ankles were a little better when going down stairs. There was less weakness and she had much more confidence when walking. She could walk faster than she had for years. The low level pain didn't change, but she had no flare ups in the first 6 weeks.

We continued the 2 treatments per week for another 6 weeks. By the end of the second 6 weeks, the low level pain had almost gone. She could walk up and down stairs with confidence, and best of all she had now gone 12 weeks with no flare ups!

We continued with weekly treatments for another 9 weeks. By the end of this, Beth felt her feet were back to normal. She had no pain and could walk in regular shoes. She even tried a short run and had no issues. This was in 2019 and I haven't seen Beth since, but I have seen lots of her friends and work colleagues.

Organic Food, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Organic food is food that has been grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers. It has no genetically modified components.

In principle, I would say that organic food is better than conventionally farmed produce. I do buy organic food myself. However, there are some caveats.

• Getting organic certification is expensive and so it can be out of reach for small farmers. So there are some small farmers who produce chemical free food but don't have organic certification.

• What happens to your produce after it leaves the farm? Fruit and veg can potentially be in cold storage for 9 months or more. It looks good and tastes OK but how much of essential nutrients like Vitamin C actually remain? It does vary but for example Vitamin C in an orange degrades significantly in a matter of weeks. So if you buy an orange that's been in cold storage for months, the chances are that it has little or no vitamin C left, regardless of whether it's organically or conventionally farmed.

• Is your certified organic produce really organic? There are always people who will try to rip others off and we'd be naive to think that won't happen with organic produce.
  

So what do I recommend?

First and foremost I believe it's important that you either grow food yourself or source it from local farmers as much as possible. It's more likely that your produce will be fresh if you buy it directly from a small farmer, rather than a large business. Increasingly small farmers are selling directly to the public, so the profits go to the farmer rather than being drained off by middle men.

There are a significant number of local farms that are using regenerative farming practices. They won't necessarily have an organic certification, but they don't use things like Roundup and the produce you receive is not stored for any length of time. You'll only be able to get fruit and veg that are in season from these small farms, and that's what we should be doing anyway.

Let's talk a bit about meat.

Cows for example can be kept in a feedlot and fed on organic grain and their meat sold as organic beef. Even though it's organic it's definitely not a good option. Firstly, from an animal welfare point of view and secondly from a health perspective. Cows are meant to eat grass, not grain. When they eat lots of grain, they're not healthy animals and whether we're eating meat or butter or milk, it has different nutrients when it's grass fed. It's also important that they are grass fed and finished.

Many farmers feed their animals on pasture and then send them off to a feedlot to be fattened up. So technically they’re grass fed, but for the last weeks of their lives they've been on grain, with all the issues that grain creates. So grass fed and finished is really important. Sometimes it'll be called pasture fed and finished.

Eggs are another issue. In my opinion, the label free range on eggs is meaningless. What you need is chooks that are running around on grass. They will be fed some grain, but they need to be able to scratch, and eat bugs and greens. So you need pasture fed hens for good eggs. Organic eggs may be pasture fed, or they may be almost as bad as cage eggs, the only real difference sometimes is that they were fed on organic grain.

Farmed fish are fed on grain. It's the same problem. Fish are not meant to eat grain. The best option is sustainably wild caught fish.

I recommend you buy as much food as possible from local, small farmers who only produce organic or regeneratively farmed produce. If a farmer produces conventionally farmed produce and organically farmed produce, then it suggests to me that they're not using organic farming practices because they have any conviction that it's a better way to farm. I'd guess that they're simply in it for the money.

I have a client who worked for an egg producer. They sold organic eggs and also cage eggs. He told me that when they had more organic orders for the day than they could fulfill, they were instructed to put cage eggs into the organic labelled cartons. I don't know how widespread this kind of thing is, but my recommendation is to go with small farmers that only do organic or regenerative farming. Get to know your food producers and have a look at their farms. Just be aware that organic farms usually look messy compared to conventional farms. This is because they don't use sprays to keep the weeds down and they may use things that look like weeds to us but those weeds may be harbouring essential insects that do the job of pesticides.

What about organic packaged products?

I've seen many packaged products that have an organic certification but still contain nasty things. So let's take a biscuit as an example. It might be made with organic wheat, and organic butter but it still has a chemical preservative or a flavour or whatever. You can't trust that the organic certification is a guarantee that the food is good. All the certification on the label says is that some of the ingredients in the product are organic. As with fresh food, many brands have both organic lines and non-organic lines. I try to buy from smaller manufacturers who only do organic food.

Organic certification is a good start, but you still need to read ingredient labels and know where your food comes from as much as possible.

So, organic can be good but sometimes there are better options. It comes back to you educating yourself and making informed choices about the food you eat.

How to read Ingredient Labels

Last week we talked about diets and eating real food.

What is real food? It's meat, fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, but in a form where they haven't been processed and there are no additives.

So grinding a grain is not a problem, that's still real food. But taking a grain and extracting something from it, removing this and removing that and then presenting the final products as individual things is usually not real food.

So how do we tell if we're buying real food or not?

The best way is to read the ingredient label.

This is usually the part on the back of the package. The bit on the front that says "All natural" or "No added preservatives or colours" or whatever… That's marketing. Ignore that bit.

The table that tells you the percentage of fat or sugar or protein might be of some interest. In my opinion the most important part is the ingredient list.

Here are some rules of thumb that will help you to make better choices with your food. These are not always going to be true, but they will give you a really good indication.

1. A short ingredient label is usually better than a long one. A product with 2 ingredients is less likely to have nasty stuff than a product with 23 ingredients.

2. If you can't pronounce aningredient, don't eat it!

3. Code numbers. For example flavour enhancer 621 is MSG. If a munfacturer is using a number instead of telling you the name of the ingredient, it's probably because they want to hide something. Don't eat it.

4. Generic words. Things like vegetable oil. That sounds OK doesn't it? If they don't want to tell you which vegetable oil they're using, it's probably an oil like conola or soy oil that in my opinion we shouldn't be eating. The other one that manufacturers love is Natural flavour, or Natural colour. There's 2 problems with these. The first one is that natural is not necessarily good. Arsenic is natural. Poison ivy is natural. Cockroaches are natural. There are many natural things that you don't want to eat. The other issue is that many ingredients may have started out as something good but they've been processed into something bad, and yet it's still legal to call them natural. Marketers love the word natural. Even if something is 100% natural it's not a guarantee that it's good. So if a manufacturer is using a good natural flavour like peppermint oil, they'll usually list peppermint oil on the label. If a manufacturer is using a questionable ingredient, then they may choose to hide it behind a generic term like natural flavour. Sometimes I see things like "natural raspberry flavour" Most people will assume that it comes from a raspberry. What this actually means is that the ingredient tastes like raspberries, it doesn't mean that it comes from raspberries. It could potentially come from anything.

So unfortunately while there are plenty of good manufacturers, there are lots of others who will do anything to make a buck.

Many legal food additives are known to cause a whole host of health problems. They get away with it by saying, “we only use a little bit”. But a little bit here and a little bit there and a little bit somewhere else adds up. Something which has never been studied to my knowledge is what happens when you combine chemical A with chemical B and they interact? It’d be almost impossible to study because there are so many additives used in food, the potential combinations would be massive.

So at the end of the day, you can't trust the food regulations to protect your health. You need to know what to look for. When you start reading food labels, you'll probably be surprised to find that 90+ percent of the food you're currently eating has nasty ingredients. That's the reality. So what I suggest you do, (unless you have major issues that you want to deal with immediately), is this: as you use up the foods currently in your house, read labels and as you replace them, make better choices.

Diet Advice: Genetics, Climate, Seasons: Paleo, Veganism, Carnivore Diets: Which Is Best?

People often ask me "What diet should I be on?"

Should I be eating Paleo, or vegetarian? What about the blood type diet, or raw food, or MM? There are so many different options.

My opinion about diets is this: there is no one diet that’s right for everyone. If anybody says they have a diet that suits everybody, then that doesn't make sense to me because we all have different needs.

Some people need more carbs, or low fat, or high protein, or whatever.

There are two major things we need to take into account with our diet.

The first is our genetics. We all have a different mix of genes.

The second one is the climate that we live in. You've probably noticed that you eat different foods in the summer time compared to the winter. That's just you intuitively knowing that you need different foods depending on whether it's hot or cold.

So let's have a look at two extreme examples of both climate and genetics.

The Inuit people in their traditional culture, eat mostly animal products. They eat meat, fat and blood, and all the various products from say a seal, a whale or a caribou.

They rarely eat fruit, vegetables or grains. Most of their diet is animal products, and when they're living in their traditional environment, they do well on that diet. They don't get lots of degenerative disease like we have in our society today. If you start giving them a standard western diet, they get sick.

On the other end of the scale, there are a number of tribes in South America where they hardly ever eat animal products. They eat fruits and vegetables, grains and nuts. And when they eat that diet they're healthy and happy. Give them a western diet and they get sick.

Most of you reading this blog today probably don't live in extreme heat or cold, and you probably don't have a single genetic origin. Most of us today have a mixed set of genes and live in a more temperate climate.

So what should we eat? Listen to your body. Work out the things that make you feel better, and the things that make you feel worse. Our bodies are very intelligent. Your tastes will change depending on what you need. I often have people in my clinic who crave chocolate. When I test their magnesium levels it's usually really low. Chocolate is one of the best sources of magnesium.

So for the most part, the things you like are the things you need, and the things you don't like are usually not good for you. For example I've never liked fish much. I did a gene test and found I have a gene that doesn't do well on seafood.

So listen to your body and choose things that make you feel well. The big exception to this is sweet things. That's usually caused by a microbe in your gut called Candida. Candida puts a chemical into your blood that says: go and eat sugar!

The one piece of dietary advice I can give you that applies to everyone is: EAT REAL FOOD.

So much of the food in our supermarkets these days has either been processed and interfered with, or has added things that don't belong in food. An example of processing can be things like milk which is pasteurised and homogenised. It's no longer the same as milk that comes straight out of a cow.

There are so many foods that have additives like preservatives, colours, flavours, emulsifiers, you name it! These things are not real food and they're not meant to be in our bodies.

You need to read ingredient labels and be selective about the things you choose to eat for yourself and your family.

Keep your eye out for another blog soon on how to read ingredient labels, and the tips and traps to watch out for.

MY SECRET WEAPON TO DEAL WITH BRAIN FOG

MY SECRET WEAPON TO DEAL WITH BRAIN FOG

Have any of these things happened to you?

• You drive to pick up your children from school…and can’t remember how you got there?
• You come into the kitchen to start getting dinner…and you notice the half filled dishwasher that you had started filling, and left, 3 hours ago?
• You get to the grocer store to pick up a couple of items…and can’t remember what they are?
• You meet you best friend for coffee…and can’t think of her name?
• You ask your colleague for the 10th time how to run a new computer program. The simple instructions just won’t stay in your head?

These have all happened to me in the past. Frightening, scary, and upsetting...and thankfully, usually reversible!

MY SECRET WEAPON CERTAINLY REVERSED IT!

Brain fog – What is it?

 It’s a cry from your body to tell you that something is very wrong. You might say that it’s a symptom of something more serious happening inside. “More serious than being unable to think clearly?” “Yes. More serious than being unable to think clearly!”

With brain fog you may find yourself confused, disorganised, unable to focus, have trouble putting your thoughts into words, have trouble processing information, feel disorientated at times, or even find your spatial awareness and balance affected.

IT FEELS LIKE THE BRAIN HAS SLOWED RIGHT DOWN AND EVERYTHING YOU WANT UP THERE IS JUST OUT OF REACH!

It can be a short term thing that only happens now and then. It can also be on the other end of the scale where you live 24/7 walking through a misty world, where everything is an effort and nothing is 100% clear. It can develop slowly, or develop almost overnight after a mild illness, or after toxic exposure to something like having an x-ray or receiving a Fluvax.

You feel like telling people…“I’M NOT STUPID…I JUST HAVE BRAIN FOG!”

Brain fog is quite common. It affects thousands of people including children as well as adults. It contributes to school and work problems, and can cause intense frustration that can lead to delinquency and crime. Accidents at home and work can be partly due to brain fog, and relationships with yourself and others can suffer due to brain fog.

MAYBE YOU NEED ACCESS TO A SECRET WEAPON!

Brain Fog Triggers

 There are many different triggers, and for me it was my first pregnancy. “Nothing to get worried about, I told myself.”, and that was largely true…BUT… I got pregnant again…and I didn’t bounce back so well the second time! It was all downhill from there, and so slowly that I didn’t even realise how bad I was getting…

Diet – Sugars, dairy, grains, nuts, chemicals (and the list could be a lot longer here) can all create brain fog.

Sleep – So very important. Too much or too little can bring on the brain fog…and this includes sleep apnoea.

Heavy metals – Copper, Mercury, Aluminium, Cadmium, Lead. I think we all know the heavy toll these metals can have on the body. Brain fog is just one of the many symptoms experienced.

Insulin resistance and hypoglycaemia – can commonly cause brain fuel deprivation, resulting in feeling hungry, being sweaty, feeling weak, dizzy, shaky, anxious, cranky, confused…are you seeing brain fog in there? Food needed here, but my little secret weapon could also help you to bounce back faster.

Hormonal imbalance/Menopause – Throw brain fog in with hot flushes, lots of sweat, and an increased heart rate…what a lovely mix!

Adrenal fatigue/Thyroid – To keep this one simple…fatigue causes brain fog.

Leaky Gut – or intestinal permeability usually goes with an imbalance in your gut flora, which then leads to inflammation, which then leads to brain fog.

Allergies – In a nutshell, an allergic reaction to something causes inflammation, which causes swelling mainly in the sinus’/nose, which makes it difficult to sleep, the fatigue then causes brain fog…

Infections – cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress leads to brain fog. One of the main infections that can cause brain fog is candida, and it is usually curable.

Toxins/Mold – 25% of the population are vulnerable to the effects of toxins and moulds. Mostly they have a genetic predisposition which inhibits them clearing the toxins out of their bodies. One of the prominent symptoms of this toxicity is brain fog.

Depression – Does depression cause brain fog…or brain fog cause depression?

Anxiety and chronic stress – Does anxiety and stress cause brain fog…or brain fog cause…well, you get the picture.

Drugs – Legal or otherwise – Read the side effects on the packet! Enough said!

Anaemia – an insufficient uptake of iron by the body. This results in tiredness, shortness of breath and/or dizziness. Even when corrected, the body can be left with brain fog.

Pregnancy – Chemicals released to nourish and protect your baby can bring on brain fog.

MS – affects your central nervous system by interrupting how your brain is able to direct the rest of your body. Brain fog is one of the many facets of MS.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – Brain fog is just one of many facets found with CFS.

Chemotherapy – This can lead to ‘chemo brain’ (also known as brain fog), which often goes fairly quickly, but not always.

Lupus – About half the people with lupus have problems with memory, confusion, or have trouble concentrating. Brain fog!

BUT I’VE ALREADY TRIED changing my diet, drinking more water, getting more sleep, had blood tests to check hormone levels, howled at the full moon and tried aunt Bessie’s famous poultice… AND NOTHING HAS HELPED.

WHAT NOW?

NOW I SHARE WITH YOU MY SECRET WEAPON.

 Well it’s quite simple really. My secret weapon is homeopathy. The World Health Organisation states that Homeopathy is the second most used medical system in the world. You’ve never heard of it?  Well, I did call it my SECRET WEAPON!

To show how homeopathy can help your brain fog I have linked a couple of cases for you to read.

1.Brain fog with hypothyroidism treated with Homeopathy.

This story is about a young 30 yr old lady who came seeking help for brain fog. Her main concern was to cure the daily absolute blank states of mind that she was experiencing. They came with a feeling of being disconnected, confused, lacking clarity, lacking concentration and unable to focus with memory loss. She had become very depressed and frustrated. Her memory had become so bad that sometimes she would not even be able to remember her address. Her ability to work was in jeopardy as she couldn’t even do simple calculations correctly anymore.

Read the full story here:

https://hpathy.com/clinical-cases/a-case-of-brain-fog-with-hypothyroidism-and-hypotension/

Brain fog gone.

2.Brain fog from chronic fatigue syndrome with Homeopathy.

This story is about a young 33 yr old gentleman who searched and searched for any glimmer of hope that could help alleviate his chronic fatigue that he had experience for 15 years after a short but severe illness of what he thought was glandular fever and tonsillitis together.

https://www.healthrising.org/forums/resources/homeopathy-my-cure-after-15-years.459/

Brain fog gone.

THERE IS HOPE – HOMEOPATHY!

 If this still seems all too difficult to grasp, (and it certainly can if you have brain fog!) and you feel your brain fog isn’t ‘that bad anyway’, then try a remedy complex. For many people this can be the answer. BRAIN FOG ASSIST is a mix of 5 remedies, and comes in an easy to dispense dropper bottle with written instructions. If you have any questions about dosage, then drop me an email.   If after 3 doses there is no improvement, then you will need a more in depth look at your individual situation. With over 3000 remedies to choose from, there will be one for you.

To talk to a homeopath, click here.

Julie

PS. Please share this with friends and family who are dealing with brain fog.

Thank you.

HOW TO FIND ME

 Click the link:

www.totalhealthclinic.com.au

New Study Exposes the "60% Effective" Flu Shot as 98.5% Useless

Interesting article about Flu shots.  Click here.

Could Eating This Popular "Health" Food Lead to Celibacy?

Here is an interesting article about soy.  Click here

Heart Surgeon Admits Huge Mistake

By Dwight Lundell, MD

[Ed. Note: Dr. Dwight Lundell is the past Chief of Staff and Chief of Surgery at Banner Heart Hospital, Mesa, AZ. His private practice, Cardiac Care Center was in Mesa, AZ. Recently Dr. Lundell left surgery to focus on the nutritional treatment of heart disease. He is the founder of Healthy Humans Foundation that promotes human health with a focus on helping large corporations promote wellness. He is the author of "The Cure for Heart Disease and The Great Cholesterol Lie"] .

“We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong.  As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries, today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

I trained for many years with other prominent physicians labeled “opinion makers.” Bombarded with scientific literature, continually attending education seminars, we opinion-makers insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.
The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter of course we insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease. Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice.

It Is Not Working!

These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailmentswill be treated.

The long-established dietary recommendations have created epidemics of obesity and diabetes, the consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and dire economic consequences.
Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.
Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, there is no way that cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes. Without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body as nature intended. It is inflammation that causes cholesterol to become trapped.

Inflammation is not complicated -- it is quite simply your body's natural defence to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from these bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process, a condition occurs called chronic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial.

What thoughtful person would willfully expose himself repeatedly to foods or other substances that are known to cause injury to the body? Well, smokers perhaps, but at least they made that choice willfully.
The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream diet that is low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates, not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, Stroke, diabetes and obesity.

Let me repeat that. The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Take a moment to visualize rubbing a stiff brush repeatedly over soft skin until it becomes quite red and nearly bleeding. You kept this up several times a day, every day for five years. This is a good way to visualize the inflammatory process that could be going on in your body right now.

 I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall.  Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

While we savor the tantalizing taste of a sweet roll, our bodies respond alarmingly as if a foreign invader arrived declaring war.  Foods loaded with sugars and simple carbohydrates, or processed with omega-6 oils for long shelf life have been the mainstay of the American diet for six decades. These foods have been slowly poisoning everyone.

How does eating a simple sweet roll create a cascade of inflammation to make you sick?

When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works.
When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.
What does all this have to do with inflammation? When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.

While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator — inflammation in their arteries.

Let’s get back to the sweet roll. That innocent looking goody not only contains sugars, it is baked in one of many omega-6 oils such as soybean. Chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil; processed foods are manufactured with omega-6 oils for longer shelf life. While omega-6’s are essential as part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell — they must be in the correct balance with omega-3’s. If the balance shifts by consuming excessive omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.

Today’s mainstream Standard American Diet has produced an extreme imbalance of these two fats. The ratio of imbalance ranges from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of omega-6. That’s a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today’s food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells that pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and finally, Alzheimer’s disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.
There is no escaping the fact that the more we consume prepared and processed foods, the more we trip the inflammation switch little by little each day. The human body cannot process, nor was it designed to consume, foods packed with sugars and soaked in omega-6 oils.

There is but one answer to reducing inflammation, and that is to return to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein but not grain fed beef.  Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on, or eliminate inflammation-causing omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and the processed foods that are made from them. One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.
 
Animal fats contain less than 20% omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labeled ‘polyunsaturated’. Forget the ‘science’ that has been drummed into your head for decades. The ‘science’ that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent. The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.

The cholesterol theory led to the no-fat, low-fat recommendations (and a whole new weight loss industry) that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation.

Mainstream medicine made a terrible mistake when it advised people to avoid saturated fat in favor of foods high in omega-6 fats. We now have an epidemic of arterial inflammation leading to heart disease and other silent killers.

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical Standard American diet.

Why we don't eat food additives

Food additives are substances added to food to increase shelf life, change its taste and appearance or make it cheaper and easier to manufacture. Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling with vinegar or salting bacon. With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the 20th century, many more additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin. 

It's a sad fact, but food is not just food anymore. Over the past 50 years the use of food additives has skyrocketed to the point where very few of us have any real idea exactly what's in the food we eat. Alarmingly, the rates of diseases such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, autism, depression, asthma and ADHD have also increased dramatically over this time. Every year, Australians consume over 5kg of food additives each, yet how many of us really know what these chemicals do, which ones are safe and which ones are known to be harmful? 

As a rule of thumb, if a food manufacturer tries to hide behind an additive number like "colour 102" or a generic term like "natural flavour", they have something to hide. Generally, if a manufacturer is using a good product like "peppermint oil" as a flavour, they will put "peppermint oil" in the ingredient list, not "natural flavour". 

Natural does not necessarily mean good or healthy. There are lots of natural poisons, and some products start life as a plant like soy and end as nasty food additives like soy lecithin after undergoing extensive processing. These products can still legally be labelled as "natural".  It is important to remember that many so-called "natural" products are just as bad as many artificial products because of the processing they have undergone.

Not all food additives are harmful. However, there are at least 60 food additives used in our foods which are known to be harmful and many more which are highly questionable. 

Many people believe that the government would not allow harmful food additives. Unfortunately this is not true. Often, the onus is on the public to prove that a food additive IS harmful, rather than on the manufacturer to prove that an additive is NOT harmful. There are many food additives approved for use in Australia that are banned in other countries. Our food regulator believes that a small amount of harmful food additives are OK. It is true that our bodies can cope with small amounts of toxic substances, but not the plethora of toxins we are exposed to daily. 

When reading food labels, it is important to read what IS in the food, not the list of what is NOT in the food.  Manufacturers like to make their products appear as healthy as possible and often use claims like "No Preservatives, No Artificial Colours" and so on.  This is meaningless marketing hype in my opinion.  Read the ingredient label and you may see a different picture.  I saw a well known brand of chips recently that said "No Flavours" on the label, yet on reading the ingredients, found it contained MSG as well as other nasty additives.  On contacting the manufacturer I was told that MSG technically is not a "flavour", it is a "flavour enhancer"!  Manufacturers are willing to split hairs in order to make their product appear better than it really is.

Here are just 15 common food additives and their effects: 

Tartrazine, Colour 102, hyperactivity, skin rashes, migraines, behavioural problems, thyroid problems, chromosome damage. Banned in Norway and Austria. 

Sunset Yellow, Colour 110, cancer, allergies, hyperactivity, upset stomach, skin rashes, kidney tumours, chromosome damage. Banned in Norway. 

Amaranth, Colour 123, cancer, gene damage, hyperactivity, asthma and eczema. Banned in USA (1976), Russia, Austria, Norway and others. 

Allura Red, Colour 129, cancer, skin rashes, hypersensitivity. Banned in Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway. 

Brilliant Blue, Colour 133, cancer, hyperactivity, asthmatics should avoid. Banned in Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria, Norway. 

Caramel, Colour 150, gastro intestinal problems, hypersensitivity. This is often listed as a "natural colour". 

Annatto, Colour 160b, Hypersensitivity, allergic reactions, skin irritations, behaviour and learning problems. Concerns about toxicity still being evaluated by JECFA yet is still freely used. Often listed as "natural colour". 

Sulphur Dioxide, Preservative 220, gastric irritation/damage, hyperactivity, behavioural problems, gene damage, skin irritations, lung damage. Can be fatal to asthmatics. 

Sodium Nitrate, Preservative 251, Hyperactivity, behavioural problems, asthma, headaches, dizziness, cancer. Prohibited in foods for infants and young children. 

tert-Butylhydroquinone, Antioxidant 319, cancer, birth defects, nausea, vomiting, delirium, collapse, dermatitis. Dose of 5g is fatal. 

Carrageenan, Vegetable gum 407, cancer, ulcerative colitis, damage to the immune system, birth defects. Do not give to infants and young children. Often listed as "natural". 

Monosodium L-glutamate or MSG, Flavour enhancer 621, Asthma, hyperactivity, depression, mood changes, sleeplessness, nausea, migraine, infertility, birth defects, convulsions, abdominal discomfort. Hidden sources of MSG include Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein, Yeast Extract, and others. Note that these can also be described as "natural". 

Disodium 5-ribonucleotides, Flavour enhancer 635, Can cause terrible itchy skin rashes, hyperactivity, sleeplessness, mood changes, many varied ill effects reported. Banned in many countries - very common in Australian foods. Asthmatics should avoid. 

Aspartame, Artificial sweetener 951, Linked to many health problems including cancer, asthma, nausea, depression, hyperactivity, seizures. The most complained about food additive accounting for 75% of all complaints to FDA. 

Propylene glycol, Humectant 1520, toxicity, kidney failure, depression of Central Nervous System, liver damage, birth defects, on NIH Hazards list. Humectant used to coat fruit and vegetables. US has placed a total recall of any medication containing this additive yet it is still permitted in food. 

Links for further information: 
www.changinghabits.com.au
www.fedup.com.au
www.additivealert.com.au
www.nourished.com.au

What's REALLY in our food?

What's REALLY in our food?

Ever wonder what’s really in the food sold at grocery stores around the world? People keep asking me, “What ingredients should I avoid?” So I put together a short list that covers all the most toxic and disease-promoting ingredients in the food supply. These are the substances causing cancer, diabetes, heart disease and leading to tens of billions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs across America and around the world. If you want to stay healthy and out of the hospital, read ingredients labels and make sure you avoid all these ingredients:

Acrylamides - Toxic, cancer-causing chemicals formed in foods when carbohydrates are exposed to high heat (baking, frying, grilling). They’re present in everything from bread crusts to snack chips, and because they aren’t intentional ingredients, acrylamides do NOT have to be listed on labels.

Aspartame – Chemical sweetener that causes neurological disorders, seizures, blurred vision and migraine headaches (Nutra Sweet).

Autolysed or Hydrolysed Proteins – Highly processed form of protein containing free glutamate and used to mimic the taste-enhancer chemical MSG.

BPA (Bisphenol-A) – A hormone mimicking chemical found in nearly all food packaging plastics. Active in just parts per billion, BPA promotes cancer, infertility and hormone disorders. It also “feminizes” males, promoting male breast growth and hormone disruption.

Casein – Milk proteins. Hilariously, this is widely used in “soy cheese” products that claim to be alternatives to cow’s milk. Nearly all of them are made with cow’s milk proteins.

Corn Syrup - Just another name for High Fructose Corn Syrup (see below). Frequently used in infant formula products.

Food Colors – FD&C Red #40, for example, is linked to behavioral disorders in children. Nearly all artificial food colors are derived from petroleum, and many are contaminated with aluminum.

Genetically Modified Ingredients – Not currently listed on the label because the GMO industry (Monsanto and DuPont) absolutely does not want people to know which foods contain GMOs. Nearly all conventionally grown corn, soy and cotton are GMOs. They’re linked to severe infertility problems and may even cause the bacteria in your body to produce and release a pesticide in your own gut. If you’re not eating organic corn, you’re definitely eating GMO corn.

High Fructose Corn Syrup – A highly processed liquid sugar extracted with the chemical solvent glutaraldehyde and frequently contaminated with mercury. It’s also linked to diabetes, obesity and mood disorders. Used in thousands of grocery items, including things you wouldn’t suspect like pizza sauce and salad dressings.

Hydrochloride - When you see anything hydrochloride, such as Pyridoxine Hydrochloride or Thiamin Hydrochloride, those are chemical forms of B vitamins that companies add to their products to be able to claim higher RDA values of vitamins. But these are synthetic, chemical forms of vitamins, not real vitamins from foods or plants. Nutritionally, they are near-useless and may actually be bad for you.

Hydrolysed Vegetable Protein – A highly processed form of (usually) soy protein that’s processed to bring out the free glutamate (MSG). Use as a taste enhancer.

Partially Hydrogenated Oils - Oils that are modified using a chemical catalyst to make them stable at room temperature. This creates trans fatty acids and greatly increases the risk of blocked arteries. It also promotes what I call “sludge blood,” which is thick, viscous blood that’s hard to pump. This is usually diagnosed by doctors as “high blood pressure” and treated with blood-thinning medications that are technically the same chemicals as rat poison (warfarin).

Phosphoric Acid – The acid used in sodas to dissolve the carbon dioxide and add to the overall fizzy-ness of the soda. Phosphoric acid will eat steel nails. It’s also used by stone masons to etch rocks. The military uses it to clean the rust off battleships. In absolutely destroys tooth enamel.  Search Google Images for “Mountain Dew Mouth” to see photos of teeth rotted out by phosphoric acid.

Propylene Glycol – A liquid used in the automotive industry to winterise RVs. It’s also used to make the fake blueberries you see in blueberry muffins, bagels and breads. (Combined with artificial colors and corn syrup.)

Sodium (Salt) - The processed white salt lacking in trace minerals. In the holistic nutrition industry, we call it “death salt” because it promotes disease and death. Real salt, on the other hand, such as “dirty” sea salt or pink Himalayan salt, is loaded with the trace minerals that prevent disease, such as selenium (cancer), chromium (diabetes) and zinc (infectious disease). Much like with bread and sugar, white salt is terrible for your health. And don’t be fooled by claims of “sea salt” in grocery stores. All salt came from the sea if you go far back enough in geologic time, so they can slap the “sea salt” claim on ANY salt!

Sodium Nitrite or Nitrate – A cancer-causing red colouring chemical added to bacon, hot dogs, sausage, beef jerky, ham, lunch meats, pepperoni and nearly all processed meats. Strongly linked to brain tumors, pancreatic cancers and colon cancers. The USDA once tried to ban it from the food supply but was out-manoeuvred by the meat industry, which now dominates USDA regulations. Sodium nitrite is a complete poison used to make meats look fresh. Countless children die of cancer each year from sodium nitrite-induced cancers.

Soy Protein – The No. 1 protein source used in “protein bars,” including many bars widely consumed by bodybuilders. Soy protein is the “junk protein” of the food industry. It’s made from genetically modified soybeans (often grown in China) and then subjected to hexane, a chemical solvent that can literally explode.

Sucralose – An artificial chemical sweetener sold as Splenda. The sucralose molecule contains a chlorine atom.  Researchers have repeatedly found that artificial sweeteners make people fat by actually promoting weight gain.

Sugar – The bleached, nutritionally-deficient byproduct of cane processing. During sugar cane processing, nearly all the minerals and vitamins end up in the blackstrap molasses that’s usually fed to farm animals. (Blackstrap molasses is actually the “good” part of sugar cane juice.) Molasses is often fed to farm animals because every rancher knows that farm animals need good nutrition to stay alive. Amazingly, conventional doctors don’t yet realize this about humans, and they continue to claim that eating sugar is perfectly fine for you. Sugar promotes diabetes, obesity, mood disorders and nutritional deficiencies.

Textured Vegetable Protein - Usually made of soy protein which is extracted from genetically modified soybeans and then processed using hexane, an explosive chemical solvent (see Soy Protein, above). Widely used in vegetarian foods such as “veggie burgers” (most of which also contain MSG or Yeast Extract, by the way).

Yeast Extract - Hidden form of MSG that contains free glutamate and is used in many “natural” food products to claim “No MSG!” Yeast extract contains up to 14% free glutamate. You’ll find it in thousands of grocery store products, from soups to snack chips. I even once spotted it used on fresh meat!

Food label tricks

Here’s a trick food companies frequently used to pack more sugar into their products without making sugar look like the first ingredient:

Ingredient labels, you see, must list the most prominent ingredients first, and some consumers might freak out of they saw a box of cereal that said, “Sugar, whole grain wheat, corn” and so on. Instead, the company uses 3 or 4 different forms of sugar to distribute them farther down the label, like this:

“Whole grain wheat, sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids…”

This way, the first ingredients looks like “whole grain wheat” when, in reality, the cereal might be over fifty percent sugars!

How to buy honest food

• Shop are your local farmer’s market, food co-op or CSA.

• In the USA, look for the USDA Organic label on foods. This is a legitimate claim to being certified organic. It’s one of the few programs run by the USDA that actually has integrity.

• Read the ingredients labels! If you see names of chemicals you can’t pronounce, don’t buy it.

• Buy more unprocessed food ingredients and make your own meals rather than buying ready-to-eat, processed foods, which are almost universally formulated with disease-promoting ingredients.

• GROW some of your own food! The best food you can ever eat is food from your own garden.

This article was published by www.healthfreedoms.org