Is Stress a Disease?

On the front page of last week's Sunday Chicago Tribune was an article "Is being stressed out a disease?"  That sure caught my attention.  Undeniably there are people so stressed that physical symptoms emerge and many will fly off to their doctors in need of sleeping pills, antacids, you-name-it.

According to this article a popular label being thrown around a lot these days is "adrenal fatigue"  which I guess covers everything from unexplained fatigue, depression, weight gain and malaise.  We have these tiny walnut-sized adrenal glands that produce hormones (cortisol) needed to cope with stress.  Some theorize that these just get over-worked and fizzle out.   However, many symptoms linked to adrenal fatigue, including feeling tired, depressed, irritable or unable to concentrate, could be caused by dozens of things - fractured sleep, poor nutrition and a lack of exercise being key.

There is MUCH controversy over whether there even IS such a disease as adrenal fatigue, but I'm sure the opportunistic guys at Big Pharma will create some new pill for this and we'll see it advertised on tv with the usual "Go ask your doctor for blah-blah-blah".

The article used two women as examples.  One, a popular radio show personality, experienced fatigue that so overwhelmed her she began to have panic attacks.  Her doctor prescribed anti-anxiety drugs and anti-depressants.  No surprise - she got worse.  She turned to a holistic practitioner who changed her diet, introduced her to meditation and gave her some supplements.

Did she recover?  Yes.  Did it happen overnight?  No.  When adjusting diet and adding supplements/vitamins to your daily life this takes time.  Whatever caused the imbalance that produced the symptoms happened over time.  Likewise, it takes time to get that internal balance back.  She admitted in the article that "I think poor nutrition and a lack of exercise had a lot to do with it."  Pity her medical doctor didn't think of this but instead doled out drugs. 

The other woman in the article was a pilates instructor who also went first to her medical doctor for her fatigue.  All the tests he did were "normal" but she didn't FEEL normal.  Again, she went to a holistic practioner who revised her diet and put her on a vitamin and supplement regime.  She said "What I needed was someone who was willing to look outside of the box.  The other answers I had gotten were "Go home and drink wine." or "Take a day off - you work too hard."

I mention all this because all too often we have dips in energy, bouts of depression, or feel overwhelmed.  It is rarely an indication of "disease" as much as it is we need some guidelines,
nutritionally, and to nurture ourselves a bit with relaxation techniques, and to make time for exercise even if it's a daily walk.

If left alone, stress CAN lead to some very serious and life threatening consequences.  Take the time to assess your eating habits, since what you put in your body is of paramount importance!  Would you put Gatorade into the fuel tank of your car and expect it would keep running normally?  The old saying "Garage In, Garbage Out" was never more true when it comes to what you are eating.

Is stress a part of your life?  What do you do about it?  And do you know that a poor diet ALONE can actually cause symptoms of stress?

CT Scans and Scientists Fired (again)

(NaturalNews) At least nine current and former scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) medical device unit have filed complaints against the agency for harassment and intimidation over their concerns about the safety of FDA-approved medical devices. But for the second time this year, federal officials have rejected those complaints without even conducting a legitimate investigation.

According to reports, FDA scientists went public with concerns about the safety of new medical imaging devices that inflict a heavy load of harmful radiation on patients. Of particular concern are new computed tomography (CT) scanning machines being used on otherwise healthy individuals to screen for prostate cancer, which the same scientists say exposes individuals to needlessly high levels of radiation. And these are the same devices implicated in hundreds of radiation overdoses throughout this past year.

The scientists say their FDA overseers pressured them to approve the devices despite the health concerns, and even threatened to retaliate against them if they failed to cooperate. These same managers actually overrode the scientists' decisions, but without documenting a valid reason for doing so as is required by law. And according to a recent Associated Press release, three of the "whistleblowers" had their contracts terminated after finally bringing their concerns before Congress.

But worst of all is the fact that the office of inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) did not even perform a real investigation into the matter before outright dismissing it. According to Dr. Julian Nicholas, an Oxford-trained intestinal specialist that had his contract at the FDA annulled for filing a complaint, the office did not even interview any of the scientists to hear their side of the story.

Well I just love how anyone in the know, like a scientist who finds something BAD for us, gets the axe, don't you?  So in thinking about CT scans being so customarily done for just about everything, this gives me pause.  Truthfully, a LOT of things like this give me pause.  I am not subjecting myself to tests unless it is a totally life saving emergency, or I'm unconscious and don't know about it. 

But the point of sharing this part of this article from NN with you is to sadly, once again, caution and inform you about this.  There was a time when dental fillings with mercury were supposedly safe, for decades, and of course today we know differently.  Then flouride.  Food additives, food colorings and other things we were TOLD by government, a la the FDA or USDA, were safe.  Hate to say it but I have no faith in what the government says is safe any more.  In fact, the more they insist it is (like Aspartame) the more I know darn well it isn't!  And the more the government agencies poo-poo organics or natural alternatives to anything, the more I know I need them - not the government, the alternatives!

How do you feel about this?  (There is no wrong answer)

Fluoride - or - Another "F" word!

When I was in second grade I brought home a paper for my parents to sign.  I was excited about it.  We were ALL getting some new fangled "treat" at school but it required our parents approval.  This was in the 50's.  My dad read the letter from school and said "Absolutely NOT!"  I was crushed.  He was furious and I knew it would do no good whatsoever to cry about it.  I cried inside.

So the following week, all the kids at school got little cups of some greenish stuff to rinse their mouths out with - being careful not to swallow it.  Everyone but me. 

This went on in third grade, and in fourth grade too.  My dad said it was poison and some day I would thank him.  When toothpaste in a tube with fluoride came out, he wouldn't buy it.  We continued to use the tooth powder of baking soda and whatever.  It remained like that until I left home.  Then I thought I'd get all independent and grow up and buy my own darned toothpaste.  And I did.  With fluoride.  Smarty pants.

Flash forward - uh oh.  The fluoride controversy.  I quickly did a "mea coulpa" and bought Tom's of Maine toothpaste with NO fluoride and stayed tuned in to the fights over the safety of fluoride. 

Some of the research  shows, for example, that fluoridation damages the brain, increases levels of lead in children's blood and therefore leads to behavioral disorders and brain damage. It also showed that humans are accumulating fluoride in their bones, that fluoride's toxicity is systemic in the human body, and that the current safe drinking water standards for fluoride were fraudulently authored by officials at the Environmental Protection Agency who were pressured.

These findings were presented by a variety of scientists and researchers, including a senior EPA scientist and a doctor of the Forsyth Dental Center. Not surprisingly, both of these individuals have been fired and have had their careers jeopardized after participating in this conference.  I am always so highly suspicious when I hear things like this.  This appears to happen often when dealing with the FDA as well - when the tests are not showing what "everyone" wants them to, just fire the scientist. Hmmm.

One of the more interesting bits of evidence presented in the study was an internal memo issued by the EPA professional who wrote the current fluoridation safe drinking water standards. In the memo, the official notes how this new standard would produce "teeth gross enough to gag a maggot." The conference also featured author Christopher Bryson, who wrote the book The Fluoride Deception, who said, "Fluoride science is corporate science, fluoride science is DDT science, it's asbestos science, it's tobacco science."

In other words, fluoride science isn't scientific at all -- it's distorted science made up by bureaucrats and political officials who have some other agenda in mind rather than public health. If you're new to this debate on fluoride, you might find some of this information shocking.  There are so many sources on line to check this out.  I'd suggest Mercola.com, or Natural News where I found most of the information in this blog.

There are so many things wrong with the mass fluoridation of the U.S. population that it's hard to know where to begin talking about it. First off, there's the idea that fluoride is a so-called "naturally occurring substance in water." That's the lie propagated by dentists and the American Dental Association to try to convince people that simply "adjusting the naturally occurring levels" is somehow a good thing to do.

But all of this is based on a distortion. In reality, the fluoride added to the public water supplies in the United States is not organic fluoride at all. It is in fact fluorosilicic acid, which is purchased in bulk from chemical companies, who must be laughing loudly at the idea that they can actually sell this toxic waste product. Why? Because if cities weren't buying it and putting it into the public water supply, these industrial companies would have to spend millions of dollars disposing of fluorosilicic acid because it is an EPA regulated toxic waste.

Let me put this another way -- fluorosilicic acid is a toxic waste byproduct that is produced in the United States by various chemical companies. It represents such a health hazard to human beings that it is regulated by the EPA, and must be disposed of as a toxic waste. And yet, municipalities throughout the United States actually purchase this product and then drip it into the public water supply, and simultaneously call it "fluoride."

Fluorosilicic acid is not fluoride, it is something very different, and it strikes me as downright bizarre that it is perfectly legal to dump this toxic waste product into the rivers and streams of America as long as it passes through the bodies of human beings first. In other words, it's illegal to take a bucket of fluorosilicic acid and dump it into a stream, but it is perfectly legal to dump it into the bodies of human beings, whose waste products will subsequently enter those same streams and rivers.

All of this is done under the guise of distorted scientific evidence that claims the mass consumption of fluorosilicic acid somehow improves the dental health of Americans. And yet there is no credible evidence that this is the case. All of the evidence cited by the EPA, the American Dental Association, and dentists has been fraudulently concocted, and quite frankly is decades old.
Across America today, you see the effects of mass fluoridation all around you -- you see children with darkened teeth from fluoridosis, you see elderly people breaking their bones because fluoridation of the water supplies contributes to brittle bones. You see children with behavioral disorders that are multiplied by the effects of lead in their bloodstream, and lead uptake is enhanced in the presence of fluoride in public water.

You also see a great number of neurological disorders in the U.S. population. You see problems with migraine headaches, clinical depression, dementia, and Alzheimer's, and there is a very strong link between these diseases and the long-term consumption of fluoride in the public water supply.

Beyond all of this, there's the important question of why dentists and public health officials think the public water supply is an acceptable medium through which to mass medicate the U.S. population in the first place. It is a forced medication that has no consideration for the nutritional choices made by individuals who might be drinking that water. Some individuals might be using fluoridated toothpaste, and thus if they're drinking fluoridated water, they could easily be getting too much fluoride and suffer from fluoridosis.

The public water supply is a bad place to be putting drugs and medications in an effort to alter the chemistry of the U.S. population. I've even heard some doctors who are excited about the supposed benefits of statin drugs say that we should drip statin drugs into the public water supply the way we do fluoride. They say the benefit is so widespread that everybody should be taking these drugs. It would be ludicrous to suppose that we should mass-medicate the entire U.S. public with statin drugs by dripping them into the public water supply, and yet this is exactly what takes place every day right now with fluoride, which is also a bioactive chemical compound that could reasonably be classified as a drug. Using the public water supply to mass medicate people is bad policy. It's also bad science, and it takes away the freedom of choice from the U.S. population. It is Big Brother at its worst.

I fought with my dentist when he wanted to give my kids fluoride treatments in the 80's.  I said no!  It doesn't do much good since its in our water, but no sense in OVER doing it, and besides it made me feel powerful, if only for a moment!  The dentists HAVE to support fluoride because their associations (the A.M.A. and A. D. A.) tell them to.  I could do a whole blog on the fact that we are now IMPORTING fluoride from everyone's favorite country known for its lead in toys and poisons in dog food.  Yep, China.  We don't have enough toxins here to accomodate apparently?  Test in New York as well as the West Coast have shown that there is toxic lead, arsenic and other goodies in the Chinese goodie bags being dumped into our water.  Is there no end?  Should I just stop reading everything?

During some tooth drama I had earlier this year, again my dentist want to do some fluoride treatment on me.  He is merely parroting what he's been told, and believes, but when it comes to what our bodies NEED, I know beyond a doubt, fluoride isn't on the darn list!  They can huff and puff all they want to about it but it is simply not true.  Most western doctors aren't qualified to talk about nutrition, either. They've had almost no nutritional training in their medical schools, and simply remain illiterate about the relationships between nutritional deficiencies and chronic disease. So, you essentially have a whole group of experts that know nothing about the subject they are talking about, but yet who grandstand and claim to be the authorities on it and pound the public into the mistaken belief that people should be dosed with this toxic waste product regardless of the scientific facts.

This is essentially a mass experiment now being conducted on the American population, and I think we are seeing some the effects of this in the worsening health statistics in this country. Fluoride is also thought to suppress intelligence and independent will, which may explain some of the reasons why the U.S. population is so easy to control through propaganda and media manipulation. In fact, there is some interesting research going way back about fluoride being used on wartime prisoners as a truth serum in an effort to get them to go along with the capturing nation's propaganda. So, in an almost comic sense, the mass medication of the U.S. population with fluoride could, in a very real sense, be turning our country into a nation of mindless zombies. Of course, that's an exaggeration of what's probably really happening, but no doubt it has some influence.

Natural News goes on to say -
Now what does all of this mean for you, as consumer? What should you do to protect yourself from fluoride? First off, you should never use products that contain fluoride. That is, don't use toothpaste or mouthwashes that contain fluoride. Also, don't purchase bottled water that has added fluoride in it. I think that's a ridiculous product to have on the shelves.

Here's what Natural News says to do about this: (and I greatly acknowledge this site for content!)

Don't drink from the public water supply. Of course, if you're drinking tap water right now, you probably need to step back and question your judgment anyway -- tap water contains so many toxic chemicals (such as chlorine) that it represents a risk to human health even without the fluoride. One of the simplest and most important things you can do to protect your health and the health of your family is to get yourself a faucet-mounted water filter such as a Britta filer or a PUR filter that uses carbon-block filtration to remove fluoride, chlorine, and other water contaminants. Better yet, drink water that is filtered through reverse osmosis or is distilled.

Fluoride?   It's based on bad science, the egos of misinformed medical authorities, and political power grabs that have nothing whatsoever to do with protecting the public health.


To read more on this, see my friend and fellow blogger, Dr. Paul Mayer - he is a physician who used to work for the FDA.  Quite the blog!  He just wrote on Fluoride too and has a bunch of great sites to check out - I can't recommend him highly enough!    http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/

The Sum of Summer

So hard to believe that I'll be packing up soon to come home from the lake!  And so much has happened since I arrived in May!  I'm having a new spurt of activity, now that summer guests have gone, that has me doing little painting jobs - yeah, still! - and trying to finish some things that I don't want to do next year.  It's all good!

Picked up a lot of information this summer on some random things I thought I might share.

First off, we had such an outside ant problem!  Huge colonies make almost cow-pie sized big circles in the yard.  Just step on one by accident and you'll be infested with ants.  Not nice.  So I did some research on something that I could do that would be non-toxic to the environment.  When I first read about this I laughed, but sprinkling quick-cooking GRITS of all things actually worked!  My neighbor thought I was NUTS til he witnessed the grass coming back where the ant circles had been.  Now he uses grits too.  Go figure, huh?  Something as dumb as grits - cheap too and non-toxic to my lake property.  Gotta love it!

I finished my Anatomy class.  If you want to really be in awe of the body you have, I'd suggest you get a book on anatomy and read it.  I don't care what you think, YOUR body is awesome!  I don't have to see it to know that and I'm sure not talking about your hair, or flat stomach (or not)!  With this awesomeness in mind, I cannot figure out for the life of me why ANYone would feed it crap.  A living body needs living food.  Feed it nutrients it needs and you have a healthy exuberant life.  Don't do that and you will suffer.  It really IS that simple.

Since I determined that I was allergic to sunscreen, I've done a lot of research on this subject.  Of course it is controversial, what isn't anymore?  But I found it interesting that there are many sources that claim more people are GETTING skin cancer from the chemicals in the sunscreens than from the sun.  Controversial or not, it gives me pause.  I never have used sunscreen except for our tropical vacations.  Here at the lake house, I'm just cautious.  If I'm out on the boat for hours, I'll cover up with a light weight top.  It is really never an issue since we either boat early or late, never mid-day. 

So in curiousity, I read about how people in the Mediterrean protect themselves and wouldn't ya know it, they use olive oil.  Instead of a salad route, I mixed 3/4 grape seed oil with 1/4 lavender in a small spray bottle and used that!  Not only did it smell great but no sun burn all summer and my skin isn't all dried out either.  If you are one to lavish your body in sunscreen, you may want to check out the ingredients.  Some are known toxins.  We absorb more toxins from our environment than ever before in history!  Everything you put on your skin is absorbed into your body, some directly into your blood, so do be aware!  Don't trust the advertisements.  Small children at especially at risk for absorbing toxins and their little bodies cannot filter out as much as adults can.  Better to just cover them up after some limited exposure or use a safe oil - most of all, use your head!

I've read many books, the suggested outside reading for school, and with each one, picked up more and more really useful info.  It's blog material for months actually and I can't wait to share it all.  I think I need some time in a cave to mentally digest it all.  I hope you know you can trust the info I'll share as I do absolutely copious amounts of research.  Who'd have thought I'd turn into a science junkie - surely NOT Mr. Kluth, my high school biology teacher! ha!  Although I must tell you I was the only one in the class to extract a frog's brain totally in tact, which is really more a testament to my fine motor skills than any knowledge of biology back then!  Anyway, a class in body bio-chemistry followed the anatomy class and call me crazy (and many DO!) but I loved it!

Here's a video about just some of what I've learned, although this video goes so fast it is hard to read the information - I suggest many pauses - there will be blogs about grape seed oil, pine bark extract, anti-oxidants and their vital role in our health.  Meantime, eat berries!  And kiss summer bye-bye.

From the land of the bear and the home of the loons,
suZen

Healthy Intentions and Blah blah blah

It has been strange lately.  I'm in school part time for Natural Health and Nutrition and all my friends know this.  Most of them probably coined me a "health nut" years ago (as well as just a plain old nut!) but now they really know I'm serious.  So conversations go like this:

THEM:  "So I know I don't eat right - what should I be eating?"
ME:  It would be good to start out eating more vegetables."
THEM:  I hate veggies.
end of conversation

THEM:  "I'm confused about organics.  Are they really better for you?"
ME: "Indeed!  Especially dairy products!"
THEM:  "It's too expensive.  I can't afford organics.  Besides they probably taste funny."
ME:  "No, they taste REAL.  It's a little more expensive so just don't consume as much.  The research today is not very pro-milk in any case."
THEM:  My doctor said to drink lots of milk for the calcium.  He didn't say it should be organic!
(well, alrighty then - end of conversation)


THEM:  I've been trying to lose weight - what's one thing I can do?  I've tried all the diets!
ME:  Cut back on meat, dairy and fast foods and give up the diet soda.
THEM:  NO DIET SODA??? WHAT will I drink?
ME:  Water is good.  Think of it kind of like God's juice - add some lemon or cucumber slices.
end of conversation

I don't know.  Conversations just aren't going real well in the ole healthy eating department.    People ask me questions but I'm beginning to feel it is just to make conversation.  There is no intention to change, they really don't want to hear what I have to say,  and they could seemingly care less. 

I know there is a lot of confusion about what to eat/not eat.  I know you hear snipets on the news about this causing cancer or that causing cancer.  It's drama, it's headlines, and besides breeding confusion, it is creating apathy.  And that's NOT a good thing.  I've heard many people say they don't pay attention to the "latest" cancer scare because if they listened, they feel EVERYTHING causes cancer.  If one thing doesn't get them in the end, another will, so they are going to keep on living/eating whatever the heck they want to.

Either that attitude, or they seem to really believe that bad stuff just wouldn't be allowed on the shelves.  Oh paleeez!

In a way I do understand this apathy.  I'd like to naively believe that I can just go lolly-lolly thru life and not eliminate any "treats".  Just shop like everyone else, eat whatever I want and have a house that SMELLS clean - like pine or something - and ignore all confusing data/drama out there.  Let it be somebody else's problem to sort through and care about.

That just isn't me.  I DO care.  And the classes I am taking, and the research I am doing supplementally are making it hard - it's hard to watch friends consume what they do, it's hard to see what people put in their shopping carts at the store and it breaks my heart to see so many obese young people who are shuffling bodies of diabetes waiting to happen. 

What on earth will it take to get people motivated to try making changes that will be benefit their health and well being?  I'm asking you because I really need to know!

I started this blog to help people get motivated, accept change, MAKE change, live with some zest for life.  I don't know if it actually DID help anyone with any of that.  If you've been reading me awhile, you've no doubt seen a shift into the health area.  It is not just a personal pursuit but I sincerely want to help educate people about eating to LIVE and not the other way around, living to eat.  Life is so much more than food!  Our bodies require simple basic nutrition.  It is our MINDS that think we need treats, we need more, we deserve it, we earned the right, blah, blah, blah.  There are so many (too many) choices for us and we are wrapped up in that.  That and the thought of eating healthy stuff means having to "give up" things they like.  Or worse yet, to have to eat stuff they do not like.

I had a talk with a good friend who is a counselor.  She told me people just have an aversion to being told what to do - especially if it means having to "give up" something.  I guess she's right.  Have you ever tried telling an alcholic that drinking isn't good for them - or telling a smoker to kick the habit?  Doesn't seem to endear you to them does it?

I know people are responsible for their own choices.  I'm just wondering if they are making EDUCATED choices?  What do they really know about GMO food, aspartame, growth hormones and antibiotics in dairy and meat?   I just assumed if they knew the truth about the poisons sitting in the grocery store just waiting for them, they'd avoid them.  Maybe not.

I will remain undaunted (tho I will admit to a moment or two of temporary discouragement) and I will at least keep blogging about food issues, natural alternatives, herbal therapies and etc.  Please, if you have any questions or if there is something I can help ANYone with, don't hesitate to email me.  I have several people emailing with questions/issues already, some I've sent recipes to as well.   I feel blessed to do this - heck it's WHY I'm in school for this in the first place!  I believe strongly in preventative and alternative medicine and remaining as drug free (prescriptions) as possible.  If there is any topic you'd like to hear more about, let me know.
Naturally and Sincerely Yours,
suZen
joyisours@sbcglobal.net

Getting Organized Notes from the Queen of Juggle

It occurred to me today that I have had good fortune staying organized. I am  surely the reigning Queen of  Juggle. But - the title here - Tips for Getting Organized may not be fair. I  really only have two tips. BUT they are the big ones, the only ones that really count.  It's not earth shaking, mind you.  I don't often do anything earth shaking, unless you include ironing - I still iron  - which in conversations with other women makes me a certifiable odd ball.  Oh well.  I'm used to it! ha!  So on with the tip(s).



#1 - Make lists. Where I would be now without my lists heaven only knows. I gave up on really long project kind of lists (see my post on resolutions - its a dandy!). No, my lists are just List of the Week, and List of the Day.  At the back of my journal I have a List of Ideas.  (I have no idea what I will, or IF I will do them - no matter, they are ideas not chores you know?)

The Weekly list I review on Sunday. I see if there is anything left over that didn't get done.  I call those remnants and I look at them carefully. Most often what didn't get done isn't important, or maybe the opportunity to do it is gone now. Throw out the remnants unless it is something you absolutely must do. Don't beat yourself up over it. Just put it on the list for the new week. I had something that showed up on list after list after list and it seemed it would never get done.  That demanded an executive decision.   I decided not to put it on a list any more. I was sick of seeing it on the list. I can't remember now what it was! Priorities change, you move along. I figure whatever it was really didn't need doing.  Frankly, it bothers me more that I can't remember what the heck it was, than the fact that I didn't do it!


The List of the Day is my alternative to a day-timer. It's empowering to scratch stuff off this list as I tear thru the day. If you recall from other posts, however, I have monkey-mind. I may start out doing something on the list and get distracted and start doing something else entirely. And that leads me to something else, totally unrelated. Hours go by and I've been working like crazy and suddenly I see my list out of the corner of my eye sitting on the kitchen counter.

Ooops.

I've done a lot of things that weren't on the list and the day is about over.

So I do the only thing to do - I ADD what I did to the list because now that they are done, I can cross them off. Seeing crossed off items on any list is gratifying.  I seem to live for crossing out!  And wow, with so many things crossed off, it's not such a bad day of distractions after all, look at what is done now!


#2  This isn't a "tip" it is more of a kick.   Do the list - do it! Stop making lists to procrastinate taking action. That's tip #2 - just do it!

I leave you a few additional thoughts -

Never be afraid to try something new - remember, amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.

and

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

suZen