Category: Health


Don’t Be S.A.D.

Filed Under: Health
Feb.03, 2010

As a counselor, I love finding patterns in situations, circumstances, and in all the drama or trauma going on in people’s lives.  History certainly repeats itself and if we’ll only take the time to identify the patterns, we can usually take appropriate steps to change it. But as much as I enjoy doing that for others, I often forget to do it for myself. This is the reason having a counselor or life coach can be so important for personal growth. Often we are too close to the situation to see the big picture, and if you want to see a pattern, you really must be able to step back and see the whole thing.

I recently noticed a huge pattern in my life.  I was feeling particularly depressed one day and realized that I had been feeling that way a lot lately.  I think it’s normal to experience occasional down times, but I was feeling much more than just that. Most of those around me didn’t seem to notice my blues, but that’s because I’m a huge proponent of managing my emotions and not letting them affect me in adverse ways. Anyway, once I noticed the frequency of my depressed moods, I began to look for patterns and eureka! I found one!

For as long as I can recall, I’ve struggled emotionally during the months beginning with Fall and lasting until Spring. It’s weird too, because I actually like cold weather and Fall is one of my most favorite seasons because of the colors and cool air. But like clockwork, as soon as Fall rolls around I begin feeling down. I often explain to people that Fall makes me feel nostalgic. That sounded better than depressed. I often get a sense that things are done with, over, nearing death – but I figured it was just preparing for the “deadness” of winter.

As I looked back, I realized that a lot of major events, negative ones, took place in during those months.  I suffered a clinical depression during the Fall and Winter. I quit my job during the Fall, without a back up plan. I got a divorce during the Winter. I married my first husband (huge mistake) during the Fall. So, I can see a lot of really poor decisions were made during that time.  I can’t really see the same pattern during the warmer months.  Finally, I noticed that this year, the season has been particularly hard on me.  Although I’m living a dream life, my happily ever after, I still feel down a lot.  (This is yet another reason I preach the gospel of not taking your emotions too seriously and letting them run your life. You simply cannot trust every emotion.)

Finally, the light came on for me.  Literally.  Could it be that I am suffering from a very common malady known as S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder)?

Let’s take a look at how Google Health describes the disorder – you can read the entire article at: https://health.google.com/health/ref/Seasonal+affective+disorder

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that occurs in relation to the seasons, most commonly beginning in winter.

  • Afternoon slumps with decreased energy and concentration
  • Carbohydrate cravings
  • Decreased interest in work or other activities
  • Depression that starts in fall or winter
  • Increased appetite with weight gain
  • Increased sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness
  • Lack of energy
  • Slow, sluggish, lethargic movement
  • Social withdrawal

Yep, I had every one of those symptoms.  As soon as my “light bulb” came on in my mind, I immediately opened the blinds to let some light in my home.  We’ve had an unusual amount of rain here, so I’m just not getting much sunlight. Plus, we’ve had the blinds closed for months (too lazy to open them?) and the lighting in my office was dim too. With the shortened days of Fall and Winter, I was living in the dark!

Experts think that the reduced exposure to light, particularly sun light, causes a drop in serotonin levels, which brings about the symptoms of SAD. I love it when the solution is natural, easy, safe, and affective! Opening my blinds and making it a point to take a walk outside, even though we were experiencing an ice storm (but it’s so beautiful!) made an immediate improvement in my depressed mood!  Next, I had the lights changed in my office at work and Viola! Instant cheer!

If you’ve been down lately, take a look at the amount of light you are getting. It’s amazing how making such small changes can greatly impact your life!

Tags: , ,
read more

4 Simple Steps to More Energy

Filed Under: Health
Jan.25, 2010

If you were able to compare my energy today with my energy level a year ago, you would be totally amazed!  A year ago at this time, I was heavier than I had ever been (almost 20 pound more) and I felt horrible! I implemented four simple steps which not only helped me to lose weight and gain energy, I also became more productive (published a book and started a successful blog). Anyone can follow these four steps!  Here they are:

Think about it:  Everything, everything, everything begins upstairs. Before any thing that is in existence comes about, it begins with a thought or an idea. Look around you – the chair you are sitting on, the clock on the wall, the song on the radio, the baby sitting next to you – they all started with a thought.  Think about this: all life is energy. If you don’t have energy, you don’t have life. When people say, get a life – you should.  Get some energy!

You’ve no doubt heard people say it is important to be present, right? Do you understand what that means and why it’s important? In order to be present, it means you are thinking about and are focused on right now. Not tomorrow (worry) or yesterday (regret) but right now. Since we know that thoughts are energy, simply making yourself focus your thoughts on what is happening right now automatically raises your energy level. So, think about how much energy you feel right now. Ask yourself, “where is my energy level right now?” When you ask that question, your energy automatically goes up because you are focused on it. Get into the habit of asking yourself that question many times every day and you will notice you feel better and better. Think about it.


Go Green:  Let’s take a look at the food you eat. By green, I don’t necessarily mean green vegetables; I’m referring to any food that is alive. It is the enzymes that are important to feeling more energetic. Before I began implementing these four steps, my diet consisted of mostly dead food or food that wasn’t all natural : chips, snacks, cheese, pasta, meat.  Meat is dead – or at least it better be! To go green, you need to incorporate lots of live or natural foods, such as raw veggies and fruits into your diet. The body easily converts these foods into available energy and you’ll lose weight!

Scale Back:  I can’t tell you how many times I used to eat until it hurt! The food was so good and I would shovel it in as fast as I could and before I knew it, I was over stuffed and could barely breathe! If you feel the need to unbutton your pants after a meal, it’s a good indication that you ate too much! Scaling back is the easiest step to having more energy!  I started off by ordering kids meals at fast food places – but now I simply don’t go to fast food places! It helps to change the plates you are using too. Our regular plates are huge so it helps me to use a saucer or smaller plate when preparing my meals. If I use a saucer and want more, I don’t feel bad going back for “seconds.” But I have found that usually a smaller plate is just enough to fill me up comfortably.

Move it, Move it!  No matter what form of exercise you prefer, the important thing is to move! Get off that sofa and move! Start parking as far away as you can from the store or work entrance. Take the stairs. Begin taking walks. No matter what it is, the more you move the more energy you will have. It really works! Give it a try.


If your energy level describes your life – what kind of life do you have?

read more

Where’s the Beef?

Filed Under: Health, Politics
Jan.20, 2010

Honestly, I don’t know how I manage to miss important news.  If you had any idea of the amount of time I spend every evening surfing the internet for information (while watching the local and national news) you’d be amazed that I missed this one too! Ok, here’s my disclaimer: If you really, really enjoy eating your hamburgers – don’t read the rest of this article. It really is gross. But for those of you who actually care about your health and aren’t afraid of making lifestyle changes to get fit – then read on! This is especially those of you who made fun of me for turning into a deer eating redneck! After this, you will likely remove the name “Bambi” from your vocabulary and replace it with “yummy.”
A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran an article regarding a practice that was put in place about 8 years ago to address the pesky problem of E. coli.  You can read the entire article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/us/31meat.html?_r=1  However, if you don’t have time – here’s a recap:
There is a man in South Dakota, Eldon R. Roth, who by his own admission is a mechanic.  I love mechanics….really, I do.  My son was a professional mechanic before he changed careers and to this day I call upon him for all sorts of routine issues with my car, tractor, lawn mowers, etc. But as deep as my appreciation for mechanics run, I don’t think I want them solving any medical or nutritional problems. But Mr. Roth did. He started thinking one day about E. coli and figured, “You know what? We need to find something that kills that germ! Hey, I know, ammonia – heck that stuff will kill just about anything!”
Ok, I have to tell you a sad story here….when I was a little girl of about 10 years, I had a kitty cat. I can’t recall what I named the kitten, but I remember how she looked. She was black and white. Well, my father apparently didn’t like kittens. For some reason, this kitty took a while to learn to use the litter box and had some “accidents.” As an adult, I now wonder if the cat was just smart enough to know dad didn’t like cats and was simply punishing him. But anyway, it made my dad so mad that one day when I was cleaning up the “accident,” he made me pour some ammonia on the kitten. I was cleaning with ammonia because not only does it kill germs, it really cleans up poo pretty good. As I was afraid of him, I complied and poured a bit on the kitten. The ammonia killed the animal within just a few days. It seemed to have eaten right through her fur and skin. It was a terrible trauma for me. Ok, back to my story -
Mr. Roth, the mechanic, decides that if he can figure out a way to make filler for beef, with a bit of ammonia in it, it will not only take care of E. coli and salmonella, it will also make the beef companies a ton of money! So he took left over fat from all sorts of animals and mixed it with a bit of ammonia, then froze the slimy concoction and shipped it to beef processors to add to their meat. Not only does the ammonia kill E. coli and salmonella, and save the processors .03 cents per pound, it also increases shelf life.  Wow.  Isn’t this great? And the funny thing is, the FDA approved it. Ok. This is where it gets a little stupid.  You know how the government agencies have a problem with communicating with one another? Similar to how the CIA and FBI failed to communicate red flags concerning a military psychologist who later went all “jihad” on a base in Texas. Also similar to how agencies failed to communicate concerns about a Nigeria man who ended up attempting to blow up a plane during the holidays last month. I could go on and on about the lack of communication issues, but when sections of the same department do not communicate – I think it’s pretty funny (aka sad).  The FDA has a sub-department that handles school lunches.  They want to make sure that what our kids are eating really is safe…and eventually they discovered that the meat treated with pink slime wasn’t so safe after all. The FDA wasn’t aware of this because they were so convinced that the added ammonia would kill E. coli that they decided it would be a waste of time to test the meat – so they didn’t. However, the department that monitors school lunch food had other information they didn’t feel the need to share with the guys in the next office. 

The cooks at a Georgia prison became concerned when they began noticing a strong ammonia odor coming from the meat when they were cooking hamburgers for the inmates – so they alerted the FDA about a possible contamination! I wish I could have seen the looks on the cook’s faces when the FDA instructed them to go ahead and feed the inmates your ammonia burgers – it’s been approved! 

Now before you think you are immune to exposure of ammonia burgers, you have to know that the company who produces the pink ammonia slime stated that 70% of all hamburgers in the United States are treated! Yuk. That includes all fast food restaurants and ground beef you purchase at the grocery store.

Where is the logic behind any of this, but most importantly, after watching a parade of commercials about FDA approved drugs with all sorts of horrible side affects, WHY am I surprised that they think eating ammonia is ok?  Have you ever read the warnings on the bottles of ammonia? Have you ever used it in a non-ventilated room and had your eyes burn? Remember what it did to my kitten? Yikes! Is it scary or is it yummy? 

By the way, the process of using left over animal body parts is nothing new. Tomorrow, I will let you in on a little secret about what is floating around in your lipstick, make-up and body lotion! 

So what can you and I do about this insanity? First, stop eating it.  You would think that would be a common sense response, but I know how it is.  You want that hamburger, you are hungry, and McDonalds is right around the corner! But stop for just a minute and think. Why do you think the occurrence of cancer is getting higher and higher? We must get serious about the link between what we expose ourselves to and our health! 

The second thing you can do is to speak up! Ask your grocer if they have any meat that is not tainted with the filler. If they don’t, walk away. The possibility of them losing your dollars is a powerful incentive to change policy! If we all stop trading our dollars for “cancer causing crap” – then the giants who feed it to us will have to listen! 

The third thing – make people aware of this. I did not know. The media doesn’t seem to think this is important enough to talk about. Everyone trusts the almighty FDA. Think about that. No agency should ever be so powerful that they become above reproach and beyond doubt. Educate yourself and those around you. Knowledge is power! 

The last thing you can do – speak up to those in charge. Make demands on the politicians who are supposed to be representing you! The FDA is corrupt – let’s find some people who care enough to clean it up! The next time you see a commercial on television soliciting people who have been harmed by approved drugs and they want you to sue the drug company – remember that the FDA should be held accountable as well. The FDA and the drug companies are in bed together and there’s a lot of money being passed between them. Prostitution is illegal – so let’s hold the FDA accountable for their crime! meat filler

read more

Expert Explains the Flu Vaccine Deception and the Swine Flu Hoax

Filed Under: Health
Jan.05, 2010

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Follow me on facebook

  

 

 

I met Dr. Chopra while we were both attending the National Vaccine Information Center’s “4th International Conference on Vaccines” in Washington D.C. He was clearly one of the top leading experts there, giving an enormously compelling and effective presentation that got rounds of standing ovations.

Dr. Chopra is an insider; he was hired by the drug companies and worked with vaccine development in Europe. He has also worked for the Canadian government, in the equivalent of the FDA. He was a senior scientific advisor for what is now Health Canada for 20 years, working primarily in vaccines and antibiotics.

So with respect to vaccines, the understanding of them and the history and the regulatory authorities that are involved with them, there are really very few people in the entire world who are more qualified than Dr. Chopra to comment on the issues, specifically swine flu.

And that is why I am so excited to share this interview with all of you.

Swine Flu: True Claims or Mere Hoax?

Is swine flu really a devastating pandemic that may wipe out large numbers of people? Are you doing yourself disservice by not getting the vaccine? According to Dr. Chopra, no and no way.

He states:

“No flu vaccine has ever worked. Swine flu, we don’t even know there is such a thing. It’s a misnomer. Avian [bird] flu, these are all made-up things. The whole thing is a hoax. It has been for the last 10 years. First they started with the avian flu, and then swine flu.”

For those of you who don’t remember, the bird flu epidemic — predicted to kill some 2 million Americans — turned out to be a whole lot of hot air, and not much else. This is why I wrote the book The Great Bird Flu Hoax.

Dr. Chopra was really one of the earliest advocates to warn that the bird flu was a hoax, and he explains that nobody really knows to this day what all of the major influenza epidemics of the past really were — including the 1918 flu epidemic.

“How come they never talked about this influenza in India? We never heard of it. I never heard of it. Remember, this swine flu at that time was originally called Spanish flu, and the Spanish called it French flu because the two countries were on the opposite sides of the war. And then eventually they settled on swine flu. Again, nobody knew if that was really swine flu because we didn’t know how to isolate a virus at that time,” Dr. Chopra says.

“There were no tissue cultures and the viruses didn’t grow outside living cells. We know a lot of people died; exactly what they died of, it could be swine flu, the virus, or pneumonia. We didn’t have any antibiotics at that time. So complications may have killed them. It’s even possible as some people say it was: with influenza you get fairly high fever, with some flu you get higher fever.

The aspirin at the time was a thing to reduce your body temperature. People say too much aspirin — there were no controls, we didn’t know how aspirin really worked and what damage it did. Some people may have died from internal bleeding, by taking too much aspirin and trying to bring the temperature down,” he continues.

How Did Vaccines Come to be Trusted?

You may remember the 1976 swine flu epidemic, which also never materialized. Dr. Chopra shares the inside story on how it materialized and why so many people jumped on the vaccine bandwagon:

“All of a sudden, a rumor came out: an American marine had died of influenza and it was swine influenza. Nobody compared it to the actual swine influenza … Nobody also revealed that that soldier on that day had run 12 miles. With a fever going, this can happen: he died. This became a reality for America.

They said, “There’s going to be a major epidemic, a pandemic. It’s going to kill millions of people around the world. At least we’re going to take care of America.””

So Merck was contracted to produce a swine flu vaccine for every single American. The American population at that time was 250 million, so 250 million doses were taken care of at that time for the United States.

We were next door in Canada. I was working on these issues, too, and we had a high-powered meeting. What are we going to do? We approached Merck and Merck said, “We don’t have enough vaccine. We only have for the Americans. We don’t have for you.” So Canada ran around to buy the vaccine at that time.

We had a company in Toronto: Canadian company Canada Laboratories, who used to make insulin and so on. They said, “We can’t make it but we can get it for you from Glaxo.” So a contract we proposed for 21 million doses because Canada’s population at that time was 21 million. Now it’s 33.

So we prepared a contract. I was sitting there in this meeting and said, “You know, people, let’s really consider: is it necessary?”

I said that in 1968, I used to live in England. When that epidemic occurred at that time in England, they were saying they don’t have enough vaccine; it will only be given to senior executives and important people. Because I worked in a pharmaceutical company as a senior executive, I was offered the vaccine.

But I didn’t take it. So I left and I said in this meeting in ’76 in Canada that I didn’t take the vaccine. The funny thing is, I was sick only once. People who took the vaccine were sick twice: their first from the vaccine, then from the flu because it didn’t protect them.”

This whole business of vaccines, for a long time, used to be under the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Chopra explained.

“So the government was responsible for doing good to the entire public. Public health was under that area. If the government was doing it, there was no question ever raised that they will do any wrong thing. They’re making vaccines. All over the world, it was the same system. So they were not brought under the regular drug evaluation system,” he says.

“This is the way the politics of vaccines work,” he continues. “What I’m saying categorically is that vaccines have never been tested. Vaccines other than smallpox have never been tested for safety or efficacy, as they should have been.”

Real Scare from the H1N1 ‘Pandemic’

You may recall over the summer when the World Health Organization raised the swine flu threat level from a 5 to a 6, which meant this is a full-blown pandemic. As Dr. Chopra explains, this decision, along with the news that the virus was “mutating,” may have been completely unfounded.

“Who is the Directorate General of the WHO to say that “I’m raising it to pandemic level #6?” Based on what? At the same time, from the same sources, we’re receiving information that we think sooner or later, the virus is going to mutate. We don’t know when but it is going to. How did they know that? How do they come to that conclusion?

Then we hear the new virus H1N1 has components: the bird flu, H5N1, or the other way around. When you use these kinds of numbers and technical words, it frightens people because they don’t understand what H or N stands for. They take people’s words for it and the media picks it up and then starts to say, “This is very different. This is entirely different. This has components of the 1918 flu and the bird flu. It also has the swine flu.”

And you go around in Mexico and you get H1N1 in the swine right now. So you make six, eight or ten different drugs, different vaccines as many as the companies, and then you say, “Some will be live and they’ll be given in the nose, some will be killed, some will have adjuvants like squalene oils.

… And some people are being given nasal vaccine, so that means a live virus. If you’re putting a drop in the nose like you put the drop of polio in the mouth, then those are the portals of entry that obviously mean this is a live virus. If it’s a live virus, then you actually maybe creating a pandemic with whatever you manufactured in the laboratory. If it’s a live virus then that’s what could happen,” he states.

One of the Most Massive Cover-Ups in American History?

Swine flu is quickly becoming exposed for the massive hoax it really is. For more insider information, be sure to listen to my interview with retired neurosurgeon and researcher Dr. Russell Blaylock and stay tuned to the newsletter for the latest news and updates.

read more

SMART New Year Resolution

Filed Under: Health
Jan.02, 2010

diet_measureToday is the beginning of the new diet and exercise program that Mark has planned for us. My goal: lose 15 pounds and firm up my trouble spots – my belly, thighs, and butt.

I’m excited about our plan because I feel it has all the components of a successful program – variety, common sense eating, consistency (6 days a week for us to begin with) and motivation – Mark was in the Marines, so you can imagine how he “motivates.”  But the best feature is that it includes a great deal of reality. On our day off, which will probably be on Saturdays, we can do what we want and eat what we want – that gives us something to look forward to during the week. I have a feeling that by the time we take our cruise this Spring, I’m going to be sporting a new bod!  I’m excited about that!

I am also encouraged about having two “secret weapons” that I feel will ensure my success with this program. The first is the new nutritional drink that I’m taking – Mandura. I’ve only been taking it for a few days and I have noticed some huge improvements in my health: first, I was able to get over the cold that I couldn’t seem to shake; second, I have more energy; and third (you probably don’t want to know this) I’m more regular!  (Sorry, but that’s important too!) The other secret weapon for my get in shape program is that Mandura is releasing a new product in the next few days – ManduraTrim.  This link will show you a short video about the product. I’m very excited to give that a try and will keep you updated on my progress!

If you will recall, I experienced awesome results in losing weight beginning on July 1st until just before Thanksgiving using no other method other than positive thinking (and common sense, of course). I lost 18 pounds during that time. So obviously, my positive mindset will be a staple during this workout. But this time, it will be much more of a challenge for me! Why? I HATE exercising! I don’t know why, but honestly, I’d rather have a tooth pulled. So for me to remain positive while doing something as hideous as working out – will be a miracle on its own! But, I promise, I’ll keep you in the loop with that too. No whining for me!

On today’s agenda, Mark and I will be taking measurements and recording them so we can determine how victorious we are in a few weeks! Remember, it’s not only about what the scale shows – we’ll be working out and replacing fat with muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat.  So just because the scale did not drop as much as you’d hoped, it may be that you gained muscle. We will also be figuring out our weekly menu. This is not only important to keep us on track with calories, it’s also a great way to stay on your budget. Even if you aren’t dieting, making weekly menus and shopping accordingly will control those budget buster purchases we make at the grocery store. It will also help us get ready for work in the mornings since we take our lunches. Since we’ll be so busy at night with our workouts, having a ready made menu will also assist in our dinner preparation too! It’s all about being prepared.

Also on today’s agenda is a bit of stretching and yoga for me. Although Mark has been faithful in working out in the last 12 months, I haven’t – so my body is not nearly as ready for workouts as his is.  I’m embarrassed to say that Thursday Mark and I played Wii tennis, golf, and baseball – and I could barely move the next day without hurting. See my challenge? I’m a little nervous, but I know Mark will go easy on me until I get my body used to the idea of doing something more than sitting, typing, and watching TV. (He said, “Ha!” when I read that to him.)

There’s one more important piece in my “get fit” armory – I have a dieting email buddy.  My aunt promised to keep in touch with me throughout the week and we will offer support and encouragement to one another as we both work on losing those holiday pounds. Of course, she has only a few ounces to lose, compared to my 15 pounds – but that’s ok!

As you can see, we have really thought this out. We are prepared. We have created a SMART goal for ourselves and we have a plan to accomplish it. This method will work for any of your New Year resolutions: S: specific – M: measurable – A: attainable – R: realistic – T: time goal. Are your resolutions SMART? Do you have a plan and are you prepared to implement the plan? If not, you might want to reconsider having a resolution. If your resolution is SMART – grab a few supporters and get working on it! If you need any help or support – give me or Mark a call or email us – we’ll be happy to help!  It doesn’t take luck – it takes a plan.

read more
Powered by WordPress and Motion by 85ideas.