| Natural
Health News |
| Vol.
1, No. 51 * * * November 2010 |
|
Message
from Bernadette Wulf
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Greetings!
I feel great today, though it has been a bit of a bumpy ride recently.
Sometimes, no matter how positive you try to be, life just throws you a
curve ball and you find yourself grumbling and complaining. It happens
to everyone from time to time. The trick is to find ways to relieve the
pressure, shift the balance, move stuck energy, and find a new
perspective. I can almost always shift my energy with dance. In fact, a
councilor once told me to find ways to "dance through life."
I've taken that advice to heart and I often do a subtle dance right in
a supermarket isle (much to the chagrin of my teenage charges), or
anytime life starts feeling a bit dreary. Sometimes I can just think
about dancing and it lifts my spirits. A healthy body makes dancing
even more uplifting and gives you the energy to kick up your heels. So
make sure you are eating right, sleeping enough, and getting some sort
of exercise everyday. This is my sage advice for November - find ways
to dance through life. It is so much more fun when you do!
Did you know that your family doctor probably knows less about
nutrition than you do? (At least if you have been reading this
newsletter for awhile.) It is important to educate yourself, because we
can't depend on doctors to fix most common health problems, or
degenerative diseases. Save the doctors for emergency room visits. That
is where they really shine. Find out why in the first article.
This month we also have some news for homeopathy skeptics. Science is
getting close to proving how it works. And then we have more warnings
about GMOs. Beware! Those things are dangerous.
It turns out that eight is not the ideal number of hours to sleep,
according to recent studies, so we don't have to feel guilty about
burning the candle a bit longer than recommended in the past.
We'll end up with a few good articles on IBS, dangers of microchips for
pets, a counter-top water filter that removes fluoride (finally!), and
pain relief with good old ginger to round out this month.
I have also been adding more remedies to my Remedy Encyclopedia. Check
it out to see if there is a remedy for what ails you.
To Your Health!
Bernadette Wulf
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Natural
Remedy Encyclopedia Updates |
|
 Most MDs Know Very Little About
Nutrition
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My local Dr. Calston recently sent out a newsletter that stated, "In
the mid 1980's the National Academy of Sciences recommended that US
medical students receive a minimum of 25 hours of nutritional
instruction. A new study shows that only a small minority of medical
schools require that of their students."
Then NaturalNews reported on a recent New York Times article saying,
"Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill
found that the average number of nutrition education hours offered by
most medical colleges today has actually dropped by nearly half since
six years ago. Today, only 25 percent of medical schools even offer the
minimum recommended number of hours in nutrition education."
If the recommended number of hours in the 1980s was 25 and that has
"dropped by nearly half," it would mean that about 75 percent of
doctors only get around 13 hours of nutrition education. That is less
than two school days!
As a Naturopath who has been studying nutrition since high school, I
find this shocking. I've spent hundreds of hours reading about
nutrition, listening to lectures, and experimenting with my own diet,
and I am still learning more every day. How can we expect doctors to
help people heal if their education barely covers one of the most
important building blocks of health?
I believe most medical doctors mean well. They really want to help
people, but our medical schools are doing them a huge disservice
because they are dominated by pharmaceutical companies. The result is
that doctors spend most of their time learning about drugs and surgery,
not about how to prevent and heal disease. This is causing an
ever-widening gap between MDs and holistic health care providers. It is
getting to the point where we have to make a choice between the two
modalities, because they are becoming almost mutually exclusive.
Why? Look at it this way - people get sick for only a few possible
reasons:
1. Stress and negative thinking (which creates toxins in the body)
2. Environmental toxins
3. Poor nutrition (either deficiencies or toxic overload of certain
nutrients)
4. Lack of exercise (which causes toxic build up in the body)
5. Injuries
6. Birth defects (often caused by toxins or poor nutrition)
Because four of these causes are related to toxins, we can shorten the
list to -
1. Toxins
2. Nutritional deficiencies
3. Injuries and birth defects
With the exception of major injuries and birth defects, these causes of
illness can only be effectively addressed without the use of drugs and
surgery. Modern medical care is not designed to treat toxic overload
(unless it is extreme) or nutritional deficiencies. Nobody has ever
become sick from a deficiency of drugs or surgery!
When a disease resulting from toxic overload or nutritional deficiency
is treated with drugs, we are only adding more toxins to the system
(which may already be overloaded with toxins). This will only cause the
body to function less efficiently in the long run, even if symptoms are
temporarily relieved. Eventually, the body will try to eliminate the
toxins from the drugs, which can cause more symptoms. A healthy body
can eliminate some toxins, but if there are too many in the system, the
liver will become overloaded. The body will then have to store the
toxins somewhere, usually in fatty tissue. This is one cause of
"unexplained" weight gain.
The reason I said we will have to make a choice between the mainstream
medical system (aside from emergency care) and a holistic approach to
healing, is because these modalities have totally opposite effects on
the body. Use of pharmaceutical drugs will create a downward spiral of
toxic overload in the body. This will upset nutritional levels and the
efficiency of the organs and hormonal systems. The body will become
more and more out of balance, so more and more symptoms will present.
Doctors may temporarily keep people alive by balancing the chemical
soup of pharmaceuticals in their bloodstreams, but true health will
never be regained with this approach.
The holistic and naturopathic approach works in exactly the opposite
direction. Instead of adding toxins to the system, it seeks to help the
body eliminate toxins through good nutrition, infared saunas,
grounding, fasting, moderate exercise, avoidance of pollutants,
relaxation, positive thinking, pure water, fresh air and sunshine. When
the body is provided with everything it needs, and not overloaded with
toxins, it will naturally return to balance. It is a self-healing
mechanism.
Often, people who have been under the care of the medical system get to
the point where they no longer get the results they are looking for,
and they turn to alternative healing modalities. They may expect quick
relief of their symptoms like they have experienced with pharmaceutical
drugs. When they don't get immediate relief they may decide that the
holistic approach doesn't work. What they don't understand is that it
can take years for the body to eliminate all the toxins that made them
sick in the first place, in addition to all the toxins added by the
pharmaceutical drugs.
As the body detoxes, they may actually feel worse for awhile, because
toxins that have been stored are released into the system to be
cleared. They will also have to be mindful of their nutrition, avoiding
junk food and eating healthy, whole foods. They will have to cultivate
a positive attitude and give their body time to relax. Daily exercise
will also be important, so they are usually looking at a total
lifestyle change.
Many people are not willing to make such a big change. They would
rather have a doctor patch them up after they make a mess of things,
but unfortunately no doctor can undo years of malnutrition and toxic
overload. There is no long-term solution except to help people detox,
in addition to adequate nutrition, exercise, and a positive attitude.
So the question for each of us becomes, which do you choose? Are you
willing to commit to a natural lifestyle that supports health and
vitality? Or do you want to put your life in the hands of someone else
- perhaps someone who has had less than 13 hours of nutritional
education?
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Read
About Doctor's Nutrition Gap |
|
 Scientific
Basis of Homeopathy
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I have never understood why some people are so adamantly opposed to
homeopathy when it is obvious to anyone who has been helped by it that
it works really well. The usual argument is that there is no scientific
evidence to back it up. Because they don't understand how it works,
some people can't believe it could, which is pretty ridiculous when so
much of reality cannot be explained - like how did we get here in the
first place?
However, it looks like scientists are finally finding some explanations
for why homeopathy works. For all you skeptics out there, check this
out:
NaturalNews - "One of the foundations of homeopathy maintains that the
potency of a substance is increased with its dilution. Montagnier
discovered that solutions containing the DNA of viruses and bacteria
"could emit low frequency radio waves" and that such waves influence
molecules around them, turning them into organized structures. The
molecules in turn emit waves and Montagnier found that the waves remain
in the water even after it has been diluted many times. To a lay
person, that may not mean much, but to a scientist is highly suggests
that homeopathy may have a scientific basis."
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Read
About Science and Homeopathy |
|
Think
GMOs are Not That Bad? Ha Ha!
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If you think genetically modified food is safe, think again! Arpad
Pusztai, top biological expert in the UK, has come to another
conclusion. From Dr. Mercola's newsletter:
"The results of Pusztai's work were supposed to become the required
testing protocols for all of Europe. But when he fed supposedly
harmless GM potatoes to rats, things didn't go as planned.
"Within just 10 days, the animals developed potentially pre-cancerous
cell growth, smaller brains, livers, and testicles, partially atrophied
livers, and damaged immune systems. Moreover, the cause was almost
certainly side effects from the process of genetic engineering itself.
In other words, the GM foods on the market, which are created from the
same process, might have similar affects on humans."
I don't know why people only worry about humans in most of these
experiments, as if it is okay for the rest of the animal kingdom to
suffer needlessly for our benefit, but at least those poor rats gave
Europe a much needed wake up call. Europeans were smart enough to ban
GMOs, but here in the U. S. Monsanto has been given almost free reign
to wreak havoc across the country, destroying the lives of farmers and
even polluting whole ecosystems.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, PLEASE boycott Round Up, GMO
foods (most non-organic corn, soy, canola and a lot more - even honey!)
and anything else produced by Monsanto and its subsidiaries. Monsanto
creates GMOs for the express purpose of selling more Round Up and
increasing their profits at the expense of farmers and public health.
Buy organic whenever possible! Though I added "Ha Ha!" to the subject
line, this is no laughing matter.
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Read
About Dangers of GMOs |
|
 Comprehensive
List of GMO Foods
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For a comprehensive list of foods likely to contain GMOs visit
- GMO
foods list |
|
 Seven
is the Lucky Number for Sleep Hours
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The old standard recommendation of eight hours sleep is slipping. After
all these years of trying to get in a solid eight hours a night, it
turns out that we could have had an extra hour a day to play. New
scientific studies have shown that seven is the optimal number of sleep
hours.
NaturalNews: "The study found that sleeping fewer than 5 hours a night,
including naps, doubles the risk of cardiovascular disease. In
contrast, sleeping more than 7 hours may also increase the risk of such
conditions. Those who slept for 9 hours or more were even more
susceptible to disease, becoming 1 and a half times more likely to
develop cardiovascular disease than those who slept for 7 hours."
The article includes lots of good information on sleep and how it
affects our health. I highly recommend reading the entire article.
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Latest
Scoop on Sleep |
|
 Who
Wants to Talk About Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
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It's not a very pleasant subject, but irritable bowel syndrome causes
untold misery for millions of people. What's worse is that doctors
often can't find the cause and end up telling people it is all in their
mind. (That is just one result of the limited nutrition education in
medical schools!)
NaturalNews: "Doctors who have been telling IBS (irritable bowel
syndrome) patients that it's all in their mind will have to rethink
that approach after scientists finally discovered the problem really
does exist. Researchers at Munich's Technische University have located
the cause of IBS and it is in the gut, not the mind. Specifically, it
is the result of tiny inflammations in the mucosa of the gut, which
upset the sensitive balance of the bowel."
What a surprise (sorry for the sarcasm), the list of things that
contribute to IBS reads like the list of things that generally
contribute to poor health - Red meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.), poultry
dark meat and skin, dairy products, egg yolks, fried foods, coconut
milk, oils, shortening, butter, fats, solid chocolate, regular and
decaffeinated coffee, alcohol, carbonated beverages, artificial
sweeteners, artificial fats, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and
cigarettes.
I would add gluten to the list, since it often causes bowel
inflammation in people who are somewhat gluten intolerant. It is
important to eat lots of soluble fiber and be very careful with
insoluble fiber. Soothing foods like chia seeds and slippery elm can be
very helpful.
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How
to Avoid IBS |
|
 75%
of IBS Sufferers Are Women
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It is a curious fact that far more women suffer from irritable bowel
syndrome than men. Perhaps women are not designed to eat as much animal
protein and fat as men, because one of the most common factors is high
consumption of animal products. In this article they call it IBD
(Irritable Bowel Disease), but it means the same thing as IBS.
NaturalNews: "They found that women who consumed the highest amount of
protein had were more three times as likely to developing IBD as other
women. When the researchers further analyzed this risk by protein type,
they found that animal flesh, including fish, was responsible for the
greatest risk increase. Although the study was not designed to explain
this association, the researchers hypothesized that meat consumption
may produce toxic "end products" that can damage the digestive tract,
such as ammonia or hydrogen sulfide. Another possibility is that a diet
high in protein may alter the natural balance of beneficial bacteria in
the colon."
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IBS
and Animal Products |
|
 Microchips
in Pets Can Cause Cancer
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NaturalNews: "According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
potential health risks associated with implantable microchips include
'adverse tissue reaction'. Based on data from the British Small Animal
Veterinary Association, this can include swelling, infection,
abscesses, and tumors."
That is not good news. Millions of pets are being implanted with
microchips every year and their keepers are never warned of the
possible risks. Though the chips are helpful in reuniting lost pets
with their families, it sounds like we need to keep looking for a
better solution. Meanwhile, always keep an I.D. tag on your outdoor
pets. I have returned many a lost pets to their homes by calling the
phone numbers on their tags.
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Read
More About Microchips and Cancer |
|
 Big
Berkey Water Filters
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I was pretty excited to discover that there is a counter-top water
filter that can even remove fluoride from tap water, but alas, they
can't ship to California. They will, however, ship to other states and
you can have a friend forward it to you. This sounds like a really
efficient, cost effective, and durable product, so I wanted to pass it
along to those who might be looking for a good, portable water
filtration system.
NaturalNews: "With a Berkey water filter, you simply put the water into
the top chamber and gravity pulls it through the media filters that
capture bacteria, parasites, herbicides, pesticides, solvents,
nitrates, nitrites, lead, mercury, chlorine, VOCs, and even fluoride.
You can run practically any type of water through the unit and get
fresh, pure drinking water as a result. (Of course, really dirty water
will clog the filters more quickly, requiring more frequent cleaning of
the filters, but that's true with any filtration system.)"
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Big
Berkey Water Filters |
|
 Ginger Offers Safe and Effective Pain
Relief
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If you are concerned about liver and stomach damage from taking pain
killers (and you should be), check out this article on ginger.
NaturalNews: "Forget the aspirin and Big Pharma pills for your muscle
pain. According to a new study just reported in the Journal of Pain,
published by the American Pain Society, daily doses of raw or
heat-treated ginger effectively relieve muscle aches and discomfort --
and that includes even severe pain following strenuous exercise."
The article goes on to say that "...ginger appears to have
anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties similar to nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs, but without the side effects (which can
include gastrointestinal bleeding and ulcers). In one study, taking a
daily dose of ginger (30 to 500 mg.) for four to 36 weeks successfully
reduced knee pain in people suffering from osteoarthritis."
That is pretty impressive. If you can get the pain relief without the
side effects, why endanger your health with dangerous pain killers?
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Read
About Ginger for Pain Relief |
|
To read past issues of
HealItAll.com Newsletter go to
http://healitall.com/newsletterarchives.html
Bernadette Wulf is a Naturopath, EFT therapist, Health and Nutrition
Coach, and Reiki Master with a world-wide practice via phone and
Internet.
Visit http://healitall.com for more information.
For Health & Wellness Coaching contact Bernadette Wulf at
wulfartist@yahoo.com
707-824-0675 |
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