Raw Living Foods Lifestyle - chiDiet.net

The top seven diets in America

Top Seven Diets in America
From www.MedicalNewsToday.com

The seven diets below are not in order of popularity; they are just the seven most popular diets.

RAW FOODS
THE SCIENCE: Cooking food destroys its nutritional value: Enzymes begin to degenerate; the body has to use its own enzymes to digest food, hastening aging and sapping energy.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Animal protein, and anything heated past 118 degrees.

RAW FOODS IN NEW YORK: Unless you've got a personal chef able to whip up coconut-meat noodles, familiarize yourself with one of the city's three Quintessence restaurants, which serve raw-vegetable soup, raw 'pasta' (thin strips of squash), even raw wine.

READING UP: Raw (came out May 2003), by raw-food guru Roxanne Klein and four-star chef Charlie Trotter.

OTHER RESOURCES: Why Suffer, by Dr. Ann Wigmore; Eating without Heating, by Sergei and Valya Boutenko; Raw Family by Victoria Boutenko; Twelve Steps to Raw Food, by Victoria Boutenko.

www.annwigmore.com, www.chidiet.com

WEIGHT WATCHERS
THE SCIENCE: Foods are assigned point values based on their number of calories, grams of fat, and grams of fiber. Eat anything you want, but stay inside your daily point limit.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Five-course tasting menus and supersize McDonald's meals.

WEIGHT WATCHERS IN NEW YORK: There's a Weight Watchers group for everyone: Creative types meet at 14th Street; fashionistas migrate to 38th and Broadway; at 51st and Sixth, you'll find folks from NBC; and so on.

READING UP: Weight Watchers Stop Stuffing Yourself; www.weightwatchers.com

ATKINS
THE SCIENCE: The body metabolizes carbohydrates first; cut down on carbs, and your body will burn fat. So you can eat all the protein and fat you want and still shed pounds.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Sugar and carbs. After a stringent regimen during the first few weeks (including no more than twenty grams of carbs a day), gradually up your carb intake and ease into a diet low in trans fats, sugars, refined flours, and processed foods.

ATKINS IN NEW YORK: The Atkins Center is located right in midtown. There, an Atkins counselor will develop a personalized regimen for you (212-758-2110).

READING UP: Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, by Robert C. Atkins; www.atkinscenter.com

THE ZONE
THE SCIENCE: Balance the basic food groups: 40 percent carbs, 30 percent fat, 30 percent protein.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Caffeine, artificial sweeteners, one-dimensional meals.

THE ZONE IN NEW YORK: Zone Gourmet delivers three prepared meals and two snacks daily—all perfectly balanced according to the 40-30-30 ratio (800-diet-308; $34.95 per day).

READING UP: The Zone, by Barry Sears; www.zoneperfect.com

PERRICONE PRESCRIPTION
THE SCIENCE: Pounds are shed and wrinkles prevented by eliminating foods over 50 on the glycemic index and by increasing your intake of antioxidants (dark leafy greens, blueberries, cantaloupe) and omega-3 fatty acids (nuts, olive oil, salmon).

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Rice, pasta, bread, refined sugars, potatoes, and juice.

PERRICONE IN NEW YORK: Dermatologist Nicholas Perricone practices in Meriden, Connecticut; if you can't make the trip, pick up his antioxidant skin-care line, Cosmeceuticals, at Saks Fifth Avenue and Sephora.

READING UP: The Wrinkle Cure and The Perricone Prescription, both by Nicholas V. Perricone; www.perriconeprescription.com

LIFE CHOICE
THE SCIENCE: The antithesis of Atkins: a low-fat diet that comprises fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, and soy products in their natural forms.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Cut back on meat, sugar, alcohol, and high-fat foods.

LIFE CHOICE IN NEW YORK: Dean Ornish, the man behind Life Choice, is 3,000 miles away. But if you need hands-on coaching, the Avon Salon & Spa's nutritionist, Gayle Reichler, is an Ornish guru (212-310-6363).

READING UP: Eat More, Weigh Less, by Dean Ornish; www.ornish.com

MACROBIOTIC
THE SCIENCE: Eat only when you're hungry, chew slowly, and divide your daily proportions along these lines: 10 percent brothy soup; 30 percent veggies, 10 percent beans and sea vegetables, and 50 percent whole grains—plus a bit of seafood, fruit, and nuts. And lots of twig tea.

SAY GOOD-BYE TO: Meat, dairy, artificially or chemically treated foods, and caffeine.

MACROBIOTIC IN NEW YORK: Keeping a macrobiotic kitchen can be a full-time job. Restaurants like Souen, Ozu, and Angelica Kitchen can ease the burden. Or contact the Natural Gourmet Cookery School to hire a personal chef, available full-time or for the occasional dinner party (212-645-5170, extension 103).

READING UP: The Macrobiotic Way, by Michio Kushi; www.macrobiotics.org

Learn more at http://chiDiet.com

The Pig Phlu Paranoia Phenomenon

A few thoughts about the stuff I'm seeing on the media lately. Normally I don't watch the news or read newspapers because they cause undue stress and unnecessary paranoia.

But I've been unable to avoid the Pig Pflu Paranoia Phenomenon of late, if only because of all the email I'm receiving about it.

Four thoughts:

1) I know from experience that if you're eating a healthy diet of Raw Living Foods that your body's immune system will fight off illness, including influenza.

As Dr. Ann Wigmore said, the cause of dis-ease is toxemia and deficiency.

2) The Pig Pflu Paranoia is blowing out of proportion.

100 people died in car accidents yesterday in the US alone.

Someone dies every day in the US in a bathtub accident; two-thirds of the time it's a woman.

But we still take baths and we still drive our cars. It's a psychological phenomenon called "acceptable risk."  We know, at least unconsciously, the risks involved in driving a car, but because it's familiar and convenient we repress the knowledge and drive anyway.

Something new and unfamiliar comes along, and with a little sensational, melodramatic reporting we fear it irrationally.

Your odds of winning the lottery this week are about the same as catching Pig Pflu. Maybe greater...

3) The paper masks I see people wearing as Pig Pflu Protectors are useless against influenza. They may be downright dangerous because they give a false sense of security.

4) This hysteria is a great way to divert attention away from the real issues - the economy, and the bailout scandal.

"The most effectual engines for [pacifying a nation] are the public papers... [A despotic] government always [keeps] a kind of standing army of newswriters who, without any regard to truth or to what should be like truth, [invent] and put into the papers whatever might serve the ministers.

This suffices with the mass of the people who have no means of distinguishing the false from the true paragraphs of a newspaper." --Thomas Jefferson to G. K. van Hogendorp, Oct. 13, 1785. (*) ME 5:181, Papers 8:632

Of course, when the same people own the newspapers as own Big Pharma and Big Agriculture, what do we get?

Working with you to grow your health,

Jim Carey

P.S. "Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Gandhi

P.P.S. This week on Grassy Roots TV - Back to the Roots of Healthy Eating Beth and I discuss the five tastes of food and their importance in maintaining a balanced, nutritious and interesting diet.
A new educator in the raw food world also makes her debut this week: Gertie Gieger, with food prep ideas for kids.  You don't want to miss this one!

View it at
http://grassyroots.com/index.php/this-weeks-show.html

Let's discuss overcoming health challenges - Diabetes, Cancer, Heart Disease, and more...

Raw Living Foods News	21 April, 2009
So, what's YOUR health challenge?   I bring it up because Diabetes is a subject that's close to my heart as I watch my best friend struggle with it, and steadfastly refuses to change his lifestyle, despite all the good advice I have to share with him.   They say it's easier to change a man's religion than it is his lifestyle. I believe it.   The good folks over at Raw for 30 Days have declared this "Twitter Tuesday" to help get the word our about the Movement to Reverse Diabetes Naturally through Twitter.    Yes, that's Dr. Flora, me and Dr. Steve in row three of photo gallery on their website. All of us endorse what they're doing. Their movie about Reversing Diabetes Naturally is a must-see if you or yours has the Diabetes challenge.   Visit them today and you'll find that Alex has lined up a bunch of great bonus items just for your commitment to Tweet about his website. No purchase necessary.   I went there an hour ago, got my bonuses, was impressed by what I downloaded, and am looking forward to listening to the podcasts tonight.   Now I'm Tweeting about it! Raw for 30 Days   Jim Carey     This week on Grassy Roots TV - "Back to the Roots of Healthy Eating" - Beth Overgaauw and I discuss the basic causes of disease - dietary deficiency and toxemia - caused by eating the Standard American Diet (SAD).    Eating raw living foods in easy-to-digest form reduces toxins and enables the immune system to strengthen and rebuild. That's why the body heals itself on the Raw Living Foods Lifestyle.   In the kitchen segment we prepare Mock Chicken Salad using only raw foods.   The show airs on Channel 6 TV, Lebanon, KY, tomorrow, April 22nd, but I've posted it a day early on GrassyRootsTV.com. Catch the streaming video feed live tomorrow night at 8 pm EDT (GMT-4) on Channel6TV.net.   Click here to view this week's show.         Also on the subject of healing health challenges with what we eat is the video from Food Matters TV.   James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch have produced an outstanding video about how you can detox, reverse diabetes, conquer cancer, beat heart disease, ditch depression and more, using a nutritional approach.   Featuring interviews with Andrew Saul, David "Avocado" Wolfe, Charlotte Gerson, Ian Brighthope [ Brighthope - a great name! ], Victor Zines, Phillip Day and more, they show that it's not as hard as you think!   [I'm trying to resist a punning temptation... ]   For a bright hope in your life, check out their video.   [Oh, well! Temptation overcame me.]   Despite my irreverance, I bought the video last year, and now I can't believe everyone hasn't seen it by now!   Food Matters TV       Working with you to grow your health, and wishing you a Bright Hope to your day,   Jim Carey     P.S. "One Green Smoothie a Day will Change Your Life." - Victoria Boutenko	Dr. Jim Carey, PhD (computers), Raw Living Foods Advocate         New - The Going Raw Network - GoRaw.net             For news and events related to food and your health - Omnivore, Vegetarian, Vegan and Raw Vegan - RawDoctors.com.   Lots of new articles, videos and podcasts every day! If you sign up for the newsletter you'll get an email of new postings every day.           My new contact info page: jimcarey.tel             New Raw Recipes are posted every day at chiDiet.net. They have an option to be emailed a daily summary of new postings.             Dr. Jim Carey and Beth Overgaauw, GrassyRootsTV.com
My Links Twitter me: twitter.com/rawdoctor Facebook me: jcarey@chiDiet.com YouTube me: chidiet Interesting Blog Posts Still my favorite - I love the music and the energy: Video of a Creative Health Institute-Sponsored Event in Kaduna, Nigeria

Tests Reveal High Chemical Levels in Kids' Bodies

Story Highlights:

So-called "body burden" testing reveals industrial chemicals in humans.
Many of these chemicals harm rats, but studies on humans are preliminary.
One scientist warns modern-day humans are living an "unnatural experiment"


NEW YORK (CNN) -- Michelle Hammond and Jeremiah Holland were intrigued when a friend at the Oakland Tribune asked them and their two young children to take part in a cutting-edge study to measure the industrial chemicals in their bodies.

Tests showed that Rowan, at 18 months, had high levels of a chemical in his bloodstream that can cause thyroid dysfunction in rats.

"In the beginning, I wasn't worried at all; I was fascinated," Hammond recalled.

But that fascination soon changed to fear, as tests revealed that their children -- Rowan, then 18 months, and Mikaela, then 5 -- had chemical exposure levels up to seven times those of their parents.

"[Rowan's] been on this planet for 18 months, and he's loaded with a chemical I've never heard of," Holland said. "He had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body that's been known to cause thyroid dysfunction in lab rats."

The technology to test for these flame retardants -- known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) -- and other industrial chemicals is less than 10 years old. Environmentalists call it "body burden" testing, an allusion to the chemical "burden," or legacy of toxins, running through our bloodstream. Scientists refer to this testing as "biomonitoring."

Most Americans haven't heard of body burden testing, but it's a hot topic among environmentalists and public health experts who warn that the industrial chemicals we come into contact with every day are accumulating in our bodies and endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand. See which household products contain industrial chemicals.

"We are the humans in a dangerous and unnatural experiment in the United States, and I think it's unconscionable," said Dr. Leo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City. Watch Anderson Cooper get his blood drawn for testing.

Dr. Trasande says that industrial toxins could be leading to more childhood disease and disorders.
"We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today," he said.
"Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."

Elizabeth Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health, a public health advocacy group, disagrees. "My concern about this trend about measuring chemicals in the blood is it's leading people to believe that the mere ability to detect chemicals is the same as proving a hazard, that if you have this chemical, you are at risk of a disease, and that is false," she said. Whelan contends that trace levels of industrial chemicals in our bodies do not necessarily pose health risks.

In 2004, the Hollands became the first intact nuclear family in the United States to undergo body burden testing. Rowan, at just 1½ years old, became the youngest child in the U.S. to be tested for chemical exposure with this method.

Rowan's extraordinarily high levels of PBDEs frightened his parents and left them with a looming question: If PBDEs are causing neurological damage to lab rats, could they be doing the same thing to Rowan? The answer is that no one knows for sure. In the three years since he was tested, no developmental problems have been found in Rowan's neurological system.

Dr. Trasande said children up to six years old are most at risk because their vital organs and immune system are still developing and because they depend more heavily on their environments than adults do.
"Pound for pound, they eat more food, they drink more water, they breathe in more air," he said. "And so [children] carry a higher body burden than we do.

Studies on the health effects of PBDEs are only just beginning, but many countries have heeded the warning signs they see in animal studies. Sweden banned PBDEs in 1998. The European Union banned most PBDEs in 2004. In the United States, the sole manufacturer of two kinds of PBDEs voluntarily stopped making them in 2004. A third kind, Deca, is still used in the U.S. in electrical equipment, construction material, mattresses and textiles.

Another class of chemicals that showed up in high levels in the Holland children is known as phthalates. These are plasticizers, the softening agents found in many plastic bottles, kitchenware, toys, medical devices, personal care products and cosmetics. In lab animals, phthalates have been associated with reproductive defects, obesity and early puberty. But like PBDEs, little is known about what they do to humans and specifically children.

Russ Hauser, an associate professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, has done some of the few human studies on low-level phthalate exposure. His preliminary research shows that phthalates may contribute to infertility in men. A study led by Shanna Swan of the University of Rochester in New York shows that prenatal exposure to phthalates in males may be associated with impaired testicular function and with a defect that shortens the space between the genitals and anus.

The Environmental Protection Agency does not require chemical manufacturers to conduct human toxicity studies before approving their chemicals for use in the market. A manufacturer simply has to submit paperwork on a chemical, all the data that exists on that chemical to date, and wait 90 days for approval.
Jennifer Wood, an EPA spokeswoman, insists the agency has the tools to ensure safe oversight.

"If during the new-chemical review process, EPA determines that it may have concerns regarding risk or exposure, the EPA has the authority to require additional testing," she said. EPA records show that of the 1,500 new chemicals submitted each year, the agency asks for additional testing roughly 10 percent of the time. The EPA has set up a voluntary testing program with the major chemical manufacturers to retroactively test some of the 3,000 most widely used chemicals. Dr. Trasande believes that is too little, too late.

"The problem with these tests is that they are really baseline tests that don't measure for the kind of subtle health problems that we're seeing," Dr. Trasande said. In the three years since her family went through body burden testing, Michelle Hammond has become an activist on the issue. She's testified twice in the California legislature to support a statewide body burden testing program, a bill that passed last year. Michelle also speaks to various public health groups about her experience, taking Mikaela, now 8, and Rowan, now 5, with her. So far, her children show no health problems associated with the industrial chemicals in their bodies.

"I'm angry at my government for failing to regulate chemicals that are in mass production and in consumer products." Hammond says. "I don't think it should have to be up to me to worry about what's in my couch."

Migrating to a new Website

The three years here at RawLivingFoods.Typepad.com have been fun, and I've made a lot of new friends, but as technology progresses I've found the medium limiting. I have hundreds of hours of interviews and video footage of Dr. Ann Wigmore, Creative Health Institute, and "who's who" in Raw and Living Foods that I haven't been able to post here.

So for the last 6 months I've been migrating this website to a new format and website. My new site is RawDoctors.com. Eventually I'll have all of the 2,000 articles posted here migrated over to the new website. I'm also uploading 2 or 3 movies every week to Raw Doctors. We're also posting 3-5 audio interviews every week.

If you have favorite links to this website, don't worry. I'm leaving everything here just where it is. But all of my new material is now being posted on Raw Doctors, and the old stuff is being copied over there, too.

The new website gives us access to modern website programming tools, and is a poster child for multimedia websites. Oh -- it also has a search feature that allows you to search the entire website for any particular word or phrase, something that you can't do on this site.

The best part of Raw Doctors is that I have a new partner, Dr. Steve Monkiewicz, a Naturopathic Doctor from Southern California that's not only passionate about raw foods, but used to be a professional broadcaster. Steve's got experience and expertise in certain fields that I don't have, and is also great at getting interviews. He generates a lot of new, informative material every week.

Dr. Flora van Orden III, Dr. Ann Wigmore's long-time assistant, will also be on our new website with all of the great advice and experience that she's been sharing here with us for the last few years. In addition, any registered user on the new site can post their own articles and weblinks.

Hope to see you there! http://rawdoctors.com.

Thanks,
Jim Carey

Bovine Growth Hormone Controversy

News stories regarding Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). On the pages listed below are streaming video and mp3 downloads. One company is being sued by Monsanto for advertising that their milk is hormone-free. In another case reporters claim they were fired for attempting to report on the effects of rBGH. Agribusiness at its finest!

http://www.democracynow.org/2003/7/25/monsanto_sues_milk_producer_for_advertising
http://www.democracynow.org/2000/7/28/fox_network_on_trial

- contributed by Robert Bower

Nutrition Research Finally Being Taken Seriously

Doctors are generally ignorant of the role of nutrition in treating diseases because the subject is never taught in medical schools. But things are changing as the medical fraternity is gradually waking up to the fact that nutrition can no longer be ignored.

“Nutrition research is not being rubbished anymore as unscientific,” said Dr Pang Chu Yen, as hard evidence is showing up to elevate nutrition to a more prominent role.

One of the more startling findings is that a phytochemical (plant chemicals produced to protect plants from pests and diseases) called isothiocyanate kills cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy... phytochemicals can act as antioxidants neutralising free radicals thought to trigger cancer and other degenerative diseases, as hormonal agents that reduce symptoms of menopause and osteoporosis, and as stimulators of enzymes that work against cell multiplication...

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/Features/20071119185546/Article/index_html

Vihara Youkta, wife of Viktoras Kulvinskas, passes

Vihara Youkta, wife of Viktoras Kulvinskas, ascended peacefully, and gracefully in the company of loved ones on Oct. 16th, 2007.

Ms. Youkta lived the raw food lifestyle for over 3 decades. She was a beautiful successful Woman, and very talented accomplished yogini and dancer. Ms Vihara, unfortunately neglected to have the symptoms from which she had been suffering for more than a year diagnosed until her condition was irreversible. A life of ongoing stress will cause distress to the body irregardless of ones lifestyle. The recent stress of moving to Costa Rica, and loss of a loved one, exacerbated her condition rapidly. Like Viktoras, Youkta also survived some extreme abuse and suffering in her childhood which no doubt took an early toll on her overall well-being.

We celebrate Youkta's life and the fact that it ended in the perfect divine time. We are reminded that death spares no one.

This is a great loss to the raw food community.

Youkta left behind many devoted students who are carrying on her style and teachings.

Friends of Youkta can send cards and letters to the family, her son, Nick and Kim and their daughter Samantha Geraigery, at 1671 Somerset Ave, Taunton, MA. 02780.

Cards and letters will also reach Viktoras Kuvlinskas at the same address or email to survival4u@msn.com.

Contributions can also be sent for the Vihara Youkta Foundation, for the purposes of continuing her vision of building a school in Costa Rica to the above address.

A memorial will be held at Garvin Gardens, Hot Springs Arkansas Nov 11th, 11 am.
Her memorial services will be held the week of Feb 18th in Montezuma Costa Rica.

See www.youkta.org for more information about her life and memorial services.

A lifestyle for your genes

(CBS) She's a healthy baby girl, but Allison Upchurch has a rare genetic mutation that can cause protein to build up like poison – it's called gluteric acedemia type one.

Allison's mother Donna says the condition can be fatal, but, as CBS News Correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, doesn't have to be.

The only treatment, Upchurch says, is diet.

"We just have to give her certain foods," Upchurch says.

Treating a genetic condition with food might seem low-tech, but it's cutting-edge medicine. Scientists have long known that genes influence health. What's new is they now believe that certain foods can influence a person's genes.

The science is called neutrigenomics.

Dr. Jose Ordovas, who runs the nutrigenomics lab at Tufts University, is studying how food and genes interact in heart disease. He wants to know if Patrice Rider's genes will lower her cholesterol - on a very specific low fat diet.

"I have to eat everything," says Rider. "I have to scrape the bowl and lick the bowl."

What Ordovas is learning is surprising. It turns out a low-fat diet will not lower everyone's cholesterol. It depends, Ordovas says, primarily on the person's genetic makeup.

Another Tufts researcher, Dr. Joel Mason, studies why folate, a nutrient found in greens like broccoli, gives certain people stronger protection against colon cancer.

"Some people, based on their genetic background, might require more folate than others," Mason says.

If they ate more folate foods, Mason says, "They might more effectively reduce their risk of developing cancer."

The promise of neutrigenomics is one day based on an individual's DNA, and the next day a person's prescription may be a list of foods.

"What we are learning is how to feed properly our genes as individuals, because each one of us will need different fuels," Ordovas says.

Which in a way makes us all like Allison Upchurch; We will learn, after a DNA test, where we are vulnerable and then customize a diet to extend our lives.

© MMIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc.

Dr. Flora responds to Janet Ng

From: Flora Van Orden <drflora3rd@yahoo.com>
Subject: Janet Ng

When I was invited up there [to Creative Health Institute], I had private conversations with some of the staff about the fact that when people are using canned tahini, even though it says raw, it is a clogging oil that promotes the cancer and heart conditions. It doesn't matter, many doctors say, what kind of oil people use. It's an accumulative situation. I disagree. People can actually sweat out animal protein easier than margerines, or dead vegetable oils like olive oil.

People who have those particular health challenges should not be using citrus at all, or any of the nightshades. If people would go back to the basics that Dr. Ann used, instead of trying to branch out with all of the great variety of fancy foods, the challenged would just get well on the blended foods and not even have exposure to the foods that have to be chewed (not to say that the blended foods don't have to be chewed at least 30 times, as you know, before they are swallowed so that they may be assimilated in the villi easily). The easiest-to-digest foods that Dr. Ann taught were Energy Soup made with Rejuvelac, seed and nut cheeses and Veggikraut. Beyond that, there was not much except for coconut water and fresh fruits (not citrus - and no tomatoes).

I remember people coming up to Boston and wanting Dr. Ann to expand her recipe books and then using things that she, Dr. Ann, did not use when the books were published. She used tomatoes as a color, but she knew that they lowered the immune system of the patient/student because they contain malonic acid (a biproduct of a tapeworm stage), and besides are a nightshade. Even down in Puerto Rico, I've had to rescue people from the citrus who had cancer, and whose stomachs were practically dissolved because some staff who were not on the program brought some oranges in and displayed them in bowls.

No Braggs or olive oil ever should be allowed in the Institute, and not more than 1/4th of an avocado or the same amount of seed or nut cheese should be allowed a student who is challenged with cancer, heart condition or diabetes.

Arthtiic patients should be told about the nightshades straight away so they can be aware; why people want to eat inflammatory foods anyhow after awareness is something we all have struggled with in the past.

I had some frozen and dead food presented to us when I was there, and was very surprised that it was available. None of those "candy bars" have enzymes in them. The tahini was the most dangerous of all, though. But, then the syrup also grows cancer cells. Who is to say which is the most dangerous, after all. Only God knows.

A friend of mine has found that rabbit flukes cause the tumors originally and then the sheep liver fluke turns it into cancer. With all of the precious creatures defecating in the dirt in California, with the sheep being pastured for 3 months before the Mexican laborers come in and plant the fruits and veggies, we have to be very careful that we don't turn into carriers, when we grow veggies up there and make sure there are fences around the perimeters, and that nightshades are not grown, because the turned over leaves make the dirt poisonous (actually the wrong ph).

I went away from CHI with a different feeling than when I came. I thought that it was going to be a revelation of the dream that Dr. Ann had to have places all over; instead, I found I had to take some of the students outside with Energy Soup I had made myself from the wonderful local weeds and teach them to ground themselves in the sun while eating. The looks on their faces and the feeling that came over them as they ate silently was so precious. They felt rejuvenated and peaceful. We left the dining area because people were talking about illness and disease and operations, and Dr. Ann wanted silence so we could pray over the food and give thanks to each ingredient. We are making holy happy cells.

I know I am preaching to the choir with you, and just venting my frustration because I felt that in trying to lead, I may have ruffled some feathers. One person even thought I was undermining the program. No, I was trying to get the program back to being what Dr. Ann wanted before she died. She had gone back to eating the energy soup made with weeds and local fruits and vegetables, not the sunflower and buckwheat, and she felt so much better.

I felt that people were being misled and even ultimately killed by that 'creative' branching out of what should be a simple program to generate cells, happy cells. Energy Soup, wheat grass juice, Rejuvelac, fruits, and seed and nut cheeses of sesame/sunflower and almond, and dulse instead of nori. Nori also has a tapeworm stage biproduct so the rolls are lowering people's immune systems now.

I have helped many people when their breasts looked like raw hamburger and watched them heal. I have also watched two die, because of psychological reasons of incest when both were younger. They wanted the male parent to feel guilty and the female parent to also feel guilty because they allowed it, even after they were told, because they said they didn't believe it. We have to honor their choice, even though we want them to live.

I just wish I had a chance to help Janet focus on the real living food program. Some of the wheat grass nowadays is not good at all. Dr. Ann's very real concern was our seed and nut supply and keeping it pure. We need to save and replant everything.

Please send this to Janet, and let her know that I am here for her, PO Box 900963, Homestead, FL  33090, drflora3rd@yahoo.com, or drflora3rd.com and if she wishes to go on with the operation, afterward, we can refine her diet. I hope she has read "The No Dairy Anti-Cancer Diet" of Dr. Jane Plant. She had lost one breast, had chemo and radiation 5 times and it kept coming back. Finally, she threw away her ghee and yogurt when she and her husband realized that the China study had exposed the fact that the reason the Chinese didn't have cancer was because they didn't use dairy. Her tumors started to itch, and then got smaller and when she measured them with a caliper and charted them, the reduction was in a straight line (meaning a cure), not a curve, which indicates just in remission. That was nearly 20 years ago or so. Never to return. I don't exactly agree with some of her recipes in that book, but hey, with enlightenment, in the future, she will move toward living food.

- Dr. Flora van Orden III

Janet Ng - about her health challenge

Last week we ran an article about a fundraiser for Janet Ng. This is a typical response to that article:

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My wife and I are both 64 with health problems and we are looking into CHI to learn a new way to live better.  I am just beginning to learn about the raw diet and have started to do juicing for our evening meal.  We have a long way to go and not much money to spend, thus have purchased some books from CHI to learn more.

I don't know who Janet Ng is, but it is stated she was one of your chefs.  I am curious to understand why she needs to go for surgery when she surely follows the healthy lifestyle to help prevent  the need for such actions.  I understand that there are things that need correction which the only solution is surgery and was wondering if this was one of those.  It seems from the things I have been reading, that the raw lifestyle is a preventive for having to resort to surgery.  Is it possible for you to elaborate on this situation?

All the best,
Gary

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Dear Gary,

Last April I found a cyst the size of a golf ball, which the doctor wanted to operate on,which I refuse. I went online looking for wheatgrass because 10 years ago, I did grow my own wheatgrass and I know the power and value of the grass.

I found The Wheatgrass Place, which is CHI. I came wanting the wheatgrass juice but found that it's also a raw food place. I know nothing about eating raw but I am open to try. During the program, I detox through emotionally but there were still lots of health issues and  I applied as energy exchange.

After the two week program, I came to work as an energy exchange and I have work in the kitchen since the day I started.The wheatgrass and raw food have empower my creative talents in creating some raw recipes.(When you go to CHI, ask for some Janet's recipes).

As I work 6 hours, 6 days a week and giving my free time in creating recipes, I did not give my body a chance to rest, which I should have done. The cyst did not get smaller as I have hope.

I uses comfrey poultice, wheatgrass poultice but it engorge my breast and it's getting painful. Then someone introduce me to a pulling salve, which opens up the skin to pull the cyst out. It was to painful and after 3 months I have an open sore. I stop using the salve but the open sore did not close up.

Instead, I have a mass of tissues pouring out of the open wound and now I have been carrying the weight and it is compressing on my heart. By continuing to work, I did not give my body the rest that it needed so a surgery is the best and I think the right choice,now.

I have attached a photo to show you what I am going through and why surgery is my choice.
But, my having wheatgrass, doing enemas, implant, skin brushing and eating raw have all this while help prevent it from turning cancerous and also give me the energy to work, focus and clarity of mind.

Love and Blessing to all who read this.

Janet

Fundraiser for Janet Ng

Janet Ng, chef at Creative Health Institute, is resigning. Janet has been advised to undergo surgery at this time; and we are conducting a fund raising campaign to raise $5000 to assist her.

She will need money for travel expenses to San Francisco for the surgery, also household expenses and personal care until she recovers and is able to find employment.

Check and credit card donations are tax-deductible if designated for the Janet Ng Fund, payable to Creative Health Institute.

All contributors will receive a copy of  Rebuild Your Health by Dr. Ann Wigmore.

Creative Health Institute
112 W. Union City Road
Union City, MI  49094
517-278-6260
866-426-1213

Toxic wastes connected to antibacterial soaps

(Dr. Mercola) Recent studies indicate that antiseptic ingredients added to soaps are not only ineffective, they may actually be harmful.

A 2005 U.S. FDA panel reported that there is "no added benefit" from using antimicrobial products as opposed to plain soap and water.

In addition, researchers have determined that about 75 percent of a popular antimicrobial, triclocarban (TCC), resists water treatments meant to break it down and ends up in surface water and in municipal sludge used as fertilizer. TCC is known to cause cancer and reproductive problems: http://www.mercola.com/2006/oct/26/the-toxic-waste-of-antibacterial-soaps.htm.

Using seawater as a substitute for blood plasma

A century ago Rene Quinton discovered that he could drain all of the blood out of a dog, replace it with refined seawater, and the dogs' bodies would change the plasma into blood quite quickly. Dying humans injected with his plasma substitute would regain health quite quickly. This is another "lost" medical treatment that's been reborn of late: http://www.truthquest2.com/oceanplasma.htm.

The end of daylight savings time as we know it

You probably missed the laws that were passed in the US that marks this weekend as a major change in Daylight Saving Time. A commentary video by Dr. Mercola:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmvomhbbqhs.

Fox News kills story on milk contamination by BGH

Milk, Lies, and Videotape - Monsanto's War Against Your Health
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axU9ngbTxKw

Move over drug companies. Your position as the greediest companies on the planet with the least concern for truth and human life has been displaced. Monsanto has just pushed you out. Yes, the chemical giant, the maker of Roundup, aspartame, genetically engineered seeds, and BST hormone (which increases a cow's milk production), is the new emperor of Pillage for Profit.

Reporters at a Fox News affiliate in Florida did an in-depth investigation of the dangers of Monsanto's BST in milk and its clear connection to cancer in people who consume the milk. Monsanto lawyers heard about the story and threatened the network with "dire consequences" if the program was aired.

The network tried to bribe the reporters to change the story. They refused. The station then threatened to fire them. They  fought back. The station negotiated to make changes to the story that the reporters could live with. But after an unheard of 83 rounds of rewrites and cuts, the final story was so watered down, the reports refused to go along with it.

Fox fired them for insubordination. The reporters filed suits as whistleblowers and a jury awarded them $425,000.

A happy ending?  I wish it were so.  Here's what happened next: Fox appealed and five major news chains filed briefs in support of Fox. The Florida appeals court (notice this wasn't from a jury) reversed the verdict, denying them whistleblower protection. The court found that Fox, and the media in general, have no obligation to tell the truth! In other words, the media can report known fiction (lies) to you as real news.

Now consider this: If I were to write a fantastic story about a supplement that I also endorsed, but exaggerated the story to make it sound better than it is, federal agencies would quickly take action against me. In fact, I would face very stiff fines and a possible jail sentence. Why? Because "commercial" speech is not protected by the first amendment.

But the media can lie to you over the airways. According to the courts, it's not commercial speech. The courts hold that the media aren't profiting from the sale of the drugs (or other products). While that's technically true, the networks are profiting - and in a big way - from by the ad revenue their lies protect.

I repeatedly saw the same problem in Anchorage, where one of the largest advertisers was a local hospital. The local paper conveniently avoided stories about the hospital's scandalous gross negligence. A woman with a bowel obstruction was allowed to languish over the weekend untreated until her bowel became gangrenous and she needed emergency surgery to avoid imminent death. The local newspaper wouldn't run the story for fear of losing ad revenue from the hospital.

This story is to remind you not to believe anything you read, see, or hear in the mass media regarding medicine or alleged scientific studies. Anything and everything presented to you is likely tainted by what effect the story has on their advertising dollars.

If you would like more information on this story about Monsanto, please click on this website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axU9ngbTxKw. If you're as outraged as I am, please forward this to your friends. If they're drinking milk from hormone-injected cows, this story could save their life. And they certainly won't get this information from the mainstream media.

Yours for better health and medical freedom,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD

- thanks to Sharon Liess

Free Hugs campaign

I once heard that human beings need at least 4 hugs per day.  More than four is nice, but fewer leaves us feeling deprived.  Human touch is very special,  yet, somehow, society has been engineered so that the "proper" thing is to isolate from other people and deny our need for human interaction and touch.  My world vision is this: more hugs.  Let's suspend our sense of independence and try interdependence instead, shall we?  Have you had  your daily dose of hugs today?

With that said, I invite you to watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Here's to love beyond measure, deep satisfaction, and child-like joy in this moment...

Love,
Jan Jenson

Government denounces home genetic testing kits

NUTRIGENETIC TESTING
Tests Purchased from Four Web Sites Mislead Consumers

Scientists increasingly believe that most, if not all, diseases have a genetic component. Consequently, genetic testing is becoming an integral part of health care with great potential for future test development and use. Some genetic tests are sold directly to the consumer via the Internet or retail stores, and purport to use genetic information to deliver personalized nutrition and lifestyle guidance.

These tests require consumers to self-collect a sample of genetic material, usually from a cheek swab, and then forward the sample to a laboratory for analysis. Companies that market this type of test claim to provide consumers with the information needed to tailor their diet and exercise programs to address their genetically determined health risks.

The results from all the tests GAO purchased mislead consumers by making predictions that are medically unproven and so ambiguous that they do not provide meaningful information to consumers. Although there are numerous disclaimers indicating that the tests are not intended to diagnose disease, all 14 results predict that the fictitious consumers are at risk for developing a range of conditions, as shown in the figure below. However, although some types of diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, can be definitively diagnosed by looking at certain genes, the experts GAO spoke with said that the medical predictions in the tests results can not be medically proven at this time.

Even if the predictions could be medically proven, the way the results are presented renders them meaningless. For example, many people “may” be “at increased risk” for developing heart disease, so such an ambiguous statement could relate to any human that submitted DNA.

Results from the tests that GAO purchased from Web sites 1 and 4 further mislead the consumer by recommending costly dietary supplements. The results from the tests from Web site 1 suggested “personalized” supplements costing approximately $1, 200 per year. However, after examining the list of ingredients, GAO found that they were substantially the same as typical vitamins and antioxidants that can be found in any grocery store for about $35 per year. Results from the tests from Web site 4 suggested expensive products that claimed to repair damaged DNA. However, the experts GAO spoke with stated that there is no “pill” currently available that has been proven to do so. The experts also told us that, in some circumstances, taking supplements such as those recommended may be harmful.

In addition, results from the tests that GAO purchased from Web sites 1, 2, and 3 do not provide recommendations based on a unique genetic profile as promised, but instead provide a number of common sense health recommendations: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06977t.pdf.

Young vegan challenges Professor to Triathlon

Christchurch vegan Ella Soryl (11) has challenged Professor Robert Pickard to prove his claims that her diet is lacking.

Ella, a life-long vegan who has never eaten animal products, won her school triathlon this year, and was a finalist in the Vegan Triathlon in 2005 and 2006. Ella has challenged Professor Pickard to compete with her in a one-on-one triathlon.

"If you're going to say silly things like 'children must eat animal products,' you have to be prepared to put your money where your mouth is," says Ella. "I challenge Professor Pickard to meet me on the sports field and run, swim and bike it out with me."

Professor Pickard, whose trip to New Zealand has been financed by the animal foods industry, has been unable to provide references as proof for his claims when asked by vegetarian organisations in the UK. His claims contradict the position of the New Zealand Dieticians association that a vegan diet is appropriate for all stages of the human life cycle.

"Pro meat 'experts' sponsored by animal industries are as credible as tobacco industry 'experts' who promote smoking," says New Zealand Vegetarian Society (Christchurch Centre) spokesperson Yolanda Soryl: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0609/S00236.htm.

October is Vegetarian Awareness Month

What are your plans for celebrating?  Create your own special veggie event! Consider these ideas or invent your own:

Make a meatless date with a meat-eater
Host a vegan dinner party
Bring a vegan treat to your child's school
Teach a friend or family member how to create a healthy meal (especially those with diabetes, heart disease or cancer, etc.)
Walk a child through the meal planning process – start at your local farmers’ market to shop, or perhaps in your garden
Bike to a park and have a vegan picnic
Pass out brochures on veganism - like “Why Vegan” or PCRM’s “Vegetarian Starter Kit” - at a local college
Hold a vegan potluck at work
Start your cruelty-free holiday shopping list: http://www.allveganshopping.com/links.html 

Celebrate Vegetarian Awareness Month in your way, but have fun and share!

Note: Vegetarian Awareness Month is internationally dedicated to Mohandas Gandhi, born on October 2nd.

- from VegMichigan's newsletter: VeggiesInMotion.org

Rich people healthier, more active in old age

(Toronto Star) A new study, co-authored by University of Toronto social work professor Esme Fuller-Thomson, has found it's not just greater purchasing power that older people with more money enjoy, it's also greater physical prowess.

And each increase or decrease in level of household income, from poverty to wealth, correlates to a similar change in physical functioning."

The discrepancy between poorest and richest is huge," says Fuller-Thomson, "but even very high up the spectrum, the richer are doing better than the people just one step down: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1156111824183&call_pageid=968332188492.

Avalanche of pharmaceutical lawsuits

More than 6,000 lawsuits have been filed in recent years against four drugs taken by millions of patients: hormone-replacement drug Prempro, birth-control patch Ortho Evra, anti-psychotic Seroquel and anti-seizure drug Neurontin.

The plaintiffs claim drugmakers failed to disclose the drugs' risks or failed to properly test them, or both. The claims are similar to those against Merck's painkiller Vioxx, which faces 14,000 lawsuits. Unlike Vioxx, these drugs are still being sold, and the Food and Drug Administration considers their benefits worth their risks: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2006-08-23-drug-lawsuits-usat_x.htm.

Serious abnormalaties in Potomac River fish

(ABC News) Intersex fish have been found in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., where scientists have discovered immature eggs in the sex organs of male smallmouth and largemouth bass.

"It indicates a problem we need to be concerned about," says Vicki Blazer, the fish pathologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, who has studied the problem since 2003, after a large fish kill in the south branch of the Potomac. Blazer first noticed the intersex abnormality in 2004. "We need to try to figure out what's going on."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2401242&page=1

- thanks to Helen Terry

More colleges setting sustainability examples

Looking for a little good news about the future of our planet? Schools across the U.S. are back in session, and a number of colleges are moving away from business as usual toward sustainability and health. The University of Washington in Seattle is just one of many examples of how educational institutions can set an example for how to do things the right way:

• UW students are exploring how to use cooking oil from campus eateries to fuel university cars.
• The student body agreed to pay up to $10.50 a quarter to buy renewable electricity -- becoming one of the first in the state to go 100 percent green on the main campus.
• Food compost from the cafeterias fertilizes the flowers instead of going into the garbage.
• Due to pressure from students, campus eateries serve locally grown foods, organic fruits and vegetables and fair-trade coffee.
• Students helped the University build the new Urban Horticulture building in an ecologically friendly manner. The building features a garden roof, second-growth Washington wood and recycled concrete.

Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1797.cfm

US family farm income down again

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service issued updated estimates regarding 2006 farm income. Here are some quick statistics from the report:

• Net farm income is forecast to be $54.4 billion in 2006, down from 2005 by $19.4 billion (a 26% decline).
• Government payments are forecast to decline $6.2 billion.
• The average family farm will generate 86.7 percent of their income from off-farm sources in 2006. In other words, less than 14% of income is generated from the farm, itself.

Source: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Features/farmincome/2006/August/

Spy chips in your clothing, and more

An increasing number of marketers are apparently implanting Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) into products to monitor consumer behavior after they leave stores. The tiny chips, hidden unnoticeably in the product or its packaging, can be read though your homes walls, thereby allowing marketers to know exactly when and where you are using a specific product. Marketers claim it's completely legal, while opponents refer to them as "spy chips".

Check out this website to see several short animated videos depicting some of RFID's current capabilities: http://www.spychips.com/index.html

Soda pop, health and politics

After repeated discoveries of dangerously high pesticides levels in Coke and Pepsi products in India, six states have announced bans of the products in schools and hospitals. In response, the U.S. Under Secretary for International Trade, Frank Lavin, has threatened India with withdrawals of foreign investment.

Although the Indian Centre for Science and the Environment have confirmed previous studies, and found levels of pesticides 24 times the legal limit in the Indian-made soft-drinks, New York-based spokesman for PepsiCo's international division, Dick Detwiler, said of the situation, "All of the data and all of the science point to the fact our products in India are absolutely safe."
Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1511.cfm.

Raw vegan inspiration - animal cruelty

Inspiration for being a raw vegan can come from many sources. Besides the good it does for your body, consider the animals that are being destroyed for consumption: http://www.peta.org/AnimalLiberation/. (Special thanks to Gerald Perry for sending us this link.)

Air fresheners may damage your lungs

The chemical that gives mothballs their smell can also put you at risk for diminished lung function, heart disease, stroke, and cancer: http://www.mercola.com/2006/aug/10/air_fresheners_may_damage_your_lungs.htm.

High levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in supermarket meats

A preliminary survey of beef and poultry sold in U.S. supermarkets conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found relatively high levels of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to a report presented at the 101st annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in May 2001. FDA microbiologist Dr. David Wagner reported that investigators found "fairly substantial amounts of resistance to a number of drugs." For more information: http://www.organicauthority.com.

Dioxin dangers extend even to your kitchen floor

Why your kitchen floor may pose a threat to National Security, and other issues relating to the dioxin dangers posed by our widespread usage of PVCs. Orion Magazine, May-June 2005: http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/05-3om/Steingraber.html

Hospitals moving to organic food

Two thousand hospitals across the U.S. are finally slamming the door on junk foods and low-grade institutional grub: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1182.cfm.

Living foods become haute fashion, literally

(Vancouver) Models strutted the grocery aisles in Carmen Miranda-esque fruit-laden hats, and a frock fashioned out of live and lush wheatgrass: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/Fashion/2006/07/21/1695104-sun.html.

FDA scientists being asked to falsify data

The Union of Concerned Scientists has released a survey of scientists who work for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The survey reveals that one-fifth of FDA scientists "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document."

The study strongly suggests that the FDA is not adequately regulating products that significantly impact public health, including food, drugs, vaccines, and medical devices. The survey also indicates that 61 percent of the respondents knew of cases where FDA political appointees have "inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions." Eighty-one percent of FDA scientists in the survey agreed that the "public would be better served if the independence and authority of FDA post-market safety systems were strengthened." http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1179.cfm

Raw food tops among celebrities

Raw Food is one of top 3 diets among Celebrities - it makes them feel joyfully lovely, with more youthful years, slim, athletically energized, aesthetically beautiful: http://www.rawfoodsnewsmagazine.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=46.

The 7 most popular diets in the world

Yes, Raw Living Foods is one of the top 7 diets in the world today:  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=5847.

Study shows pesticides still have effects on environment generations after they're banned

Nearly half a century after DDT was first dumped across acres of North American farmland and three decades after it was banned in the United States and Canada, the toxic pesticide still has damaging effects on local species, according to a new study:  http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_1209.cfm.

Taming the drug monster - major shakedown brewing for pharmaceutical industry

TAMING THE DRUG MONSTER
- by Patrick Holford, Ph.D.

A major shake down is brewing for the pharmaceutical industry following increasing reports of manipulating drug trial data, doctors and the government to increase sales and profits. A recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine published a correction on a study it published on Rofecoxib (Vioxx) – the now withdrawn pain-killer that is estimated to have damaged or killed up to 140,000 Americans – stating that increased cardiovascular risks were visible as early as four months into treatment, rather than the 18 months that Merck had claimed.

There are now an estimated 10,000 court cases outstanding against Vioxx manufacturer Merck – 400 of which are brought by patients in the UK who claim to have been damaged by the drug and not properly warned about the risks. The cost of legal actions to Merck has been put at between $5 and $50 billion. [1] As of April 2006, just six cases had been heard. In three, the plaintiffs were awarded damages running into millions of dollars. We don’t hear so much about this in the UK because plaintiffs here have been refused legal aid and insurers will not fund no-win, no-fee cases, so no cases can be brought.

This might sound like old news but this kind of manipulation of data is finally sounding big alarm bells within the medical profession. After all, commercial drug testing centres, funded by the company making the drug, are four times more likely to come up with favourable results than independent ones. [2] How can doctors know the science they’re being sold is free from spin?

Another shocking example recently emerged on a trial of the anti-depressant Seroxat. The summary at the start of the research paper, which is the only part most doctors read, claimed that Seroxat was ‘well tolerated and effective’.[3] But when a team of independent scientists looked at the whole paper, they found this: ‘Out of 93 children given Seroxat, 11 had serious ADRs [adverse drug reactions] compared with 2 in the placebo group’. [4] Just how serious? ‘Seven of these children were admitted to hospital during treatment.’   

This kind of deceptive reporting in what are supposed to be objective research reports is making the medical profession increasingly nervous. After all, this is what they rely on to practice safe medicine. On 8 July 2006, the British Medical Journal ran an editorial suggesting that drug companies should not be allowed to evaluate their own products. Instead, to get their drugs tested and licensed they would contribute to a central pot for independent, publicly-funded clinical trials.

But, of course, it doesn’t stop there. Clinical practice guidelines advise doctors on the drugs to use for various conditions. However, 80 per cent of the academics who write them have financial links with the companies whose products they are recommending. [5] [6]

Then, of course, there’s the wining and dining of doctors. Drug companies in America spend around $15 billion a year on marketing, which is about half the amount they spend on research and development. [7] A big chunk of this is spent selling drugs to doctors who have to clock up a certain number of days of ‘continuing medical education’, paid for, you guessed it, largely by the pharmaceutical industry.

A recent article in the American Medical Association’s journal of ethics wants to put an end to this. ‘Only continuing medical education activities that are entirely free of pharmaceutical industry funding should qualify as education,’ they write. Continuing education should be funded by doctors, not drug companies, say the authors. And just in case you think these companies behave differently elsewhere, in the UK for instance, this is what the 2005 Parliamentary health committee investigation, The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry, found: ‘[it] buys influence over doctors, charities, patient groups, journalists and politicians, whose regulation is sometimes weak or ambiguous.’

In the wake of the Vioxx scandal, the US FDA, the agency charged with protecting the public from the dangers of drugs, has been heavily criticised for not responding fast enough to problems with drugs, for being too close to the drug companies and for not devoting enough attention and resources to safety once a drug had been licensed.

In May, a report by the US government’s General Accounting Office made damning criticisms of the FDA, saying that the agency ‘did not to have clear policies for addressing drug safety issues and that it sometimes excludes its best safety experts from important meetings’. Not only was it slow to respond but ‘the agency’s entire system for reviewing the safety of drugs already on the market is too limited and broadly flawed’. [8]

The pharmaceutical industry begs to differ. A spokesman from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry explicitly referred to the existing state of affairs between all the parties concerned – except for patients – and implied that as far as they were concerned, it was working fine. ‘The challenge is to acknowledge there is a contract between industry, regulators and health service which recognises that there is a trade-off between risks and benefits.’ [9]

With an estimated death toll of over 10,000 Britons every year from adverse drug reactions, and over 40,000 made seriously ill enough to require hospitalisation, that’s one hell of a trade off. [10]

‘Full spectrum dominance’ is the stated aim of the American military. It involves being ready ‘to defeat any adversary and control any situation across the range of military operations’. Not a bad description of what the pharmaceutical industry has achieved across the whole field of prescription drugs, from creating to selling. Besides dominating the clinical trials production line, the drug companies have also found ways of exerting control over researchers, medical journals, doctors and even patient groups. The industry’s strategy for maintaining their full spectrum dominance all the way down the drug chain is very simple – they pay for it.

‘Something is very wrong,’ writes Dr John Abramson of Harvard University in his brilliant and disturbing book Overdosed America, ‘with a system that leads patients to demand and doctors to prescribe a drug that provides no better relief and causes significantly more side effects’.

These recent and growing recommendations to sever the financial and information stranglehold big pharma has on medicine may, at last, provide a more level playing field in which it will become increasingly obvious that, for most chronic diseases, nutrition works better than drugs. It’s time we stopped swallowing what the drug industry tells us.

References
1. A Jack, ‘Master or servant: the US drugs regulator is put under scrutiny’, Financial Times, 7 January 2005.
2. J Lexchin et al, Pharmaceutical industry sponsorship and research outcome and quality, British Medical Journal (2003), vol 326, pp 1167-70.
3. E Marshall, ‘Antidepressants and children: buried data can be hazardous to a company's health’, Science (2004), vol 304 (5677), pp 1576-1577.
4. J N Jureidini et al, ‘Efficacy and safety of antidepressants for children and adolescents’, British Medical Journal (2004), vol 328 pp 879-83.
5. K Niteesh et al, ‘Relationships between authors of clinical practice guidelines and the pharmaceutical industry’, Journal of the American Medical Association (2202), vol 287, pp 612-617.
6. R Taylor and J Giles, ‘Cash interests taint drug advice’, Nature (2005), vol 437, pp 1070.
7. Spin Doctored: How drug companies keep tabs on physicians, online journal Slate, 31 May 2005.
8. M Kaufman, ‘FDA Is criticized over drugs' safety problems; response to approved medications cited', The Washington Post, 24 April 2006.
9. The Independent, 23 August 2005.
10. M Pirmohamed et al, Adverse drug reactions as cause of admission to hospital: prospective analysis of 18,820 patients, British Medical Journal (2004), vol 329, pp 15-19.

Bigger isn't better - it's just fatter

(IC Wales, UK) Government experts are looking at reducing the current recommended daily calorie levels - as advertised on the likes of chocolate bars and multi-packs of doughnuts - because the nation is getting fatter: http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/features/tm_objectid=17318883&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=bigger-isn-t-better---it-s-just-fatter-name_page.html.

Superfoods - all you need to eat?

                              

(The Independent - UK) Ask the natural health groupies and, these days, you'll find they've given the vitamin jar the boot. "Superfoods" are the big nutrition thing. We're not talking about your humble broccoli or nuts. Instead, it's foods such as spirulina, wheatgrass or sprouts that are so packed with nutrients, a mere handful should give you the daily dose of vitamins and minerals you need: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1170365.ece.

How your eating habits affect the environment

- by Kim McCoy, environmental & animal law student and Sierra Club Chairperson

* POLLUTION/GLOBAL WARMING
Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population---86,600 lbs. per second---which all too often leaches into streams and contaminates groundwater. Nearly 90% of all U.S. farms drain into a single body of water-the Mississippi River. Waste lagoons on livestock farms release a considerable amount of methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to global warming, into the atmosphere.

* LAND USE/DEFORESTATION/HABITAT DESTRUCTION
Nearly 90% of all agricultural land in the U.S is used to raise animals for food. 20 times more land is required to feed a meat-eater than to feed a pure vegetarian. For every quarter-pound burger made of rainforest beef, 55 square feet of land are consumed. Livestock grazing is the number one threat and cause of elimination to tropical rainforest species.

* WATER
Nearly 50% of all water consumed in the U.S. is used for livestock. The production of one pound of California beef requires a total of 2464 gallons of water. You would save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by not showering for 6 months.

* ENERGY
Raising animals for food requires more than 30% of all raw materials and fossil fuels used in the United States. Producing a single hamburger patty uses enough fossil fuels to drive a small car 20 miles, not to mention enough water for 17 showers.

* FISH FARMS/FACTORY TRAWLERS
Fish and shrimp farms destroy habitats and contaminate water with heavy use of antibiotics, causing coastal pollution, displacement of local people from their land, and the clearing of mangrove forests. They take away land that is traditionally used for growing rice, the primary staple for most of the world's people. Just like their land-dwelling counterparts, fish and shrimp are highly inefficient converters of protein. It takes 5 lbs. of wild ocean fish to feed and produce a single pound of farmed saltwater fish or shrimp. Think you're better off eating wild-caught? Think again. Factory trawlers use long lines with thousands of hooks and huge nets, spanning up to 80 miles. These lines wreak havoc, destroying the ocean floor and drowning everything in their path, including seabirds, seals, dolphins, sea turtles, and countless other species. About 25% of all animals caught in factory nets are thrown away. Factory trawlers have driven more than 100 species of "food fish" to full or near extinction and caused irreparable harm to others.

* PERSONAL HEALTH/ANTIBIOTICS
The obesity rate among the general (meat-eating) U.S. population is nearly 20%. For vegetarians, that number drops to 6%, and for vegans (people who abstain from all animal products), it is only 2%. The increased risk of heart disease and gallstones for obese people is double to triple; the risk of colon cancer is triple to quadruple; and the risk of diabetes is 40 times greater than for people at a healthy weight. Vegetarians and vegans enjoy a reduced risk for obesity, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some types of cancer. This translates to a much lower drain on U.S. tax dollars spent on health care and preventable medical procedures. In addition, the EPA estimates that 60-80% of all livestock receive antibiotics as a routine food additive, leading to an increase in antibiotic resistance in humans by causing selective pressure for the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Roughly 24 million pounds of antibiotics (about 70% of the nation's total antibiotic use) are added to animal feed every year to speed livestock growth.

* PUBLIC HEALTH
Open waste lagoons on factory farms store urine and liquefied manure, home to more than 150 pathogens (disease causing organisms) such as Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform. These pathogens are 10-100 times more concentrated than in human waste and pose a serious threat to human health. Animal waste is also contaminated with endocrine disrupters from pesticides (consumed via feed crops) and hormones (fed to cattle to speed up growth), which can alter sexual development in humans, undermine intelligence, and render us less resistant to disease. Animal waste lagoons emit toxic fumes (such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and methane) which can cause diarrhea, nausea, headaches, eye irritation, sore throat, shortness of breath, wheezing, excessive coughing, seizures, coma, and even death. Nitrate-contaminated drinking water can increase the risk of methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome), and high levels of nitrate contamination have been linked to spontaneous abortions.

* WORKER SAFETY
On average, 25% of factory farm workers suffer job-related injuries and/or illnesses each year-the highest rate of any job in the country. At high concentrations, methane and/or carbon dioxide can displace enough oxygen to suffocate a worker; hydrogen sulfide can result in unconsciousness, respiratory failure, and death within minutes; and ammonia causes severe irritation to the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs and can also be fatal.

* SUSTAINABILITY / WORLD HUNGER
Livestock are simply not efficient converters of protein-it takes 17 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of beef. As the meat industry devotes more and more grain to feeding livestock, valuable food resources are diverted from the hungry, contributing to food scarcity for the world's poor, particularly in developing countries. An astounding 70% of U.S. grain and soybeans are fed to livestock. If Americans were to reduce their beef consumption by only 5%, it would free up the 12 million tons of grain needed to adequately feed every single person on the planet who dies from hunger or hunger-related diseases annually.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
The Food Revelation, by John Robbins
Diet For A New America, by John Robbins
Hope's Edge, by Frances Moore Lappe and Anna Lappe
Earthsave - www.earthsave.org
Natural Resources Defense Council: www.nrdc.org

Fresh food franchises blooming

Americans adore all things fresh: fresh beginnings, fresh outlooks and now, more than ever, fresh foods. According to a survey conducted by Datamonitor, the natural food and drinks market is expected to surpass $27.5 billion by 2007, and the number of natural-food consumers in the U.S. is expected to grow from 216 million in 2002 to 266 million in 2007.

The bottom line is that Americans are no longer willing to eat whatever is easiest or cheapest. Better-educated consumers are searching for fresh, unprocessed, healthy foods -- and this dietary change is fueling what we predict will be the next big trend in franchising: fresh-food franchises.

Read more: http://www.thestreet.com/smallbiz/entrepreneur/10295310.html.

Dufferin Grove Organic Farmers' Market - Toronto

(Toronto Star) Shopping at Dufferin Grove farmers' market puts you in a green space, physically and mentally. Young moms with staggering toddlers and Snugli-sized infants stroll, unperturbed, along the sun-dappled pathways. Health food types inspect picture-perfect clusters of honey mushrooms and trade bucks for bread baked by park staff in the outdoor, wood-burning oven. Browsers bite into free-range meat as bongo rhythms waft in the air: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1151404148828&call_pageid=968867496431&col=969048867839.

Half of all bankruptcies caused by medical bills

Eat Raw, Stay Healthy, or else:  http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20050102023437data_trunc_sys.shtml.

(75 percent had insurance, too!)

More motivation to stop eating meat

STUDY SAYS MAD COW EPIDEMIC MAY BE INCUBATING IN THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE

A new study in the Lancet medical journal (UK) suggests that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human variant of Mad Cow Disease, may not peak in the human population for several decades, by which time many thousands of beef eaters and hospital patients that have received tainted blood transfusions could die.

The study shows how Kuru, a similar fatal brain-wasting prion disease in New Guinea, has been found to have an incubation period of 35 to 41 years. Researchers suspect it could be longer for vCJD because the infection is transmitted between species, from cows to humans.

The 160 fatal human cases of the disease that have already surfaced around the world could represent a distinct genetic subgroup of the population with an unusually short incubation period, according to John Collinge, the study leader and a professor at University College, London.

There could be "substantial underestimations" in recent estimates of the size of the vCJD epidemic, Collinge said in a report in The Lancet medical journal: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_889.cfm.

Scientists and environmental experts see livestock grazing as ecological disaster

Most scientists and environmental experts view livestock grazing as an ecological disaster. For starters, cows and sheep are indiscriminate eaters and tend to remove every piece of grass and shrub in sight, thus eliminating shelter and food for birds and other wildlife, leading to their decline.

In drier regions, landscape used extensively and repeatedly for grazing eventually turns into barren wasteland not even suitable for the livestock themselves. Further, the significant amounts of waste that livestock animals leave behind play a key role in the pollution of our freshwater supplies:
http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/15622/.

AMA asks the government to regulate salt

In an unprecedented move, the American Medical Association (AMA) voted on June 13 to call on the U.S. government to require salt warning labels on food products and to cut salt content in manufactured foods by 50% within a decade. The AMA, the largest group of physicians in the U.S., is also asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke salt's status as a food that is "generally recognized as safe," noting there is overwhelming medical evidence that high salt intake dramatically increases risk of heart disease, hypertension and stroke.

Heart disease is the nation's leading cause of death. Foods that would require warning labels would include everything from conventional hot dogs to some canned soups. The Food Products Association, a trade group for the food and beverage manufacturing industry, and one of the most powerful lobbying groups in Washington D.C. said the new policy is "misguided," claiming there is not enough scientific evidence tying salt to negative health effects: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301245.html.

A novel way to scare Americans away from Canadian drugs

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, especially in this case. Lloyd Grove, a columnist for the New York Daily News, says that the pharmaceutical lobby in the United States, a group called PhRMA, actually commissioned the writing of a fiction novel designed to scare Americans into avoiding prescription drugs from Canada: http://www.mercola.com/2006/jun/20/a_novel_way_to_scare_americans_away_from_canadian_drugs.htm.

LA police invade nation's largest community garden

Police stormed a community garden in South Central Los Angeles this week, arresting 25 people including actress Daryl Hannah. The 14 acre plot of land, tended by over 350 neighborhood fruit and vegetable farmers for a decade, is the largest urban community garden in the country, and a symbol of hope for the embattled South Central neighborhood:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_756.cfm.

- submitted by Steven Gibb

Sharp rise in US Carbon Dioxide levels recorded

US climate scientists have recorded a significant rise in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, pushing it to a new record level: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4803460.stm.