earthsuit101.com Blog

After my post on Ritalin, I’m feeling a little guilty about reporting on “medical breakthroughs”. So, I’ll admit right from the start: this is not entirely new. But, it is very interesting and could be important to you.

Catechins in green tea are 20 times stronger in their antioxidant properties than vitamin E. Here is the useful part. Green tea has been shown to protect the skin against direct damage to the cell and moderates inflammation. The fascinating thing about green tea is that it helps [the skin] whether it is applied topically or when consumed as a beverage.

New York’s Columbia University, Department of Dermatology did the lead research here, but its only one of many such studies that point in the same direction. There are plenty of claims and some supporting data suggesting green tea is also helpful in preventing cancer, but the official FDA take is that green tea and cancer prevention is bunk (June 30 2005)

Once again it is my nature to question all sides of the sphere, but I cannot help but focus on the FDA at this moment. “Do we believe them because they are looking out for our interest?” or “Should we not believe them because they get it wrong more often than the National Weather Service. Perhaps, we should not believe them simply because they are looking out for our interest!

What a country. Ever wonder where you sign up for a job you can get paid for not showing up, then, when you do show up, they encourage you to not care about the people you serve, and then you get to keep your job even if you’re correct only half the time?* Try our Government at USA JOBS.

*sick days, antiquated holidays, “personal health” days, family leave…“Take a number and wait.” “Sit here.” “Fill out this.” “We’re closing now.” “That’s not my department.” “Payment is due before we give you an application”….government efficiency; and it only gets more so.

Things that we give little thought to when we are young often have a way of creeping into focus later in life. For instance, there is a certain age (you must fill in the number yourself) when healthcare all of a sudden become a valid topic of discussion.

There is the joke about the organ recital at the local nursing home. “My stomach hurts so much I…blah blah, blah”, “Oh I should be so lucky. My heart….blah blah, blah.” and on and on….

A friend of mine, (Let’s just say he listened to Winston Churchill’s radio addresses during WWII) sent me an email asking my opinion on energy medicine.  It was a good question.

Here was my response:

As for energy medicine, that all depends. Our bodies and actually the entire universe is energy (ie. atoms are not exactly solid stuff), MRI’s read energy, drugs effect change through energy and chiropractic restores energy flow to and from the nerves. That said “energy medicine” has become a “code word” for some occult practices that really are no more energy related than more traditional therapies.

Please avoid things like New Age Healing, Reiki and Pendulums as any power they have to heal is not universal (at best it’s psychological and at worse it’s demonic).

On the other hand, there are subtle healing techniques that could be classified as energy medicine that should not be discounted. Some interesting and legitimate examples are cold laser, infrared (and other light energies) some massage therapy, some acupuncture, and some magnetic devices (beware of some multilevel vendors).

I hope this will help you. I might write a post on this. It’s a good topic and we are always learning the value of energy in healthcare practice. But if our minds are too open our brain falls out…something to avoid.”

It’s a strange feeling when you find you have uttered the exact words to your kids that your parents used. Especially when you see them roll their eyes and side-tilt their head just the way you did.

This particular saying is one of the earliest I can remember, followed by, “Eat your vegetables — there are starving kids in….” Still, my bittersweet favorite is the classic about having two strong legs. I remember the first time I pulled it out of some dusty closet in my brain and deftly admonished my firstborn. It was as if those words had been genetically imprinted, just waiting for some predetermined trigger to activate them.

Blaming God for your kids two strong legs seems natural enough, but the intentional application of guilt and finger pointing that follows with, “Use them!” makes everybody feel bad. Certainly the same kind of verbal intonation comes across when Nike says “Just do it.” So why can’t I bring back “USE THEM!” as a delightful reminder of what a blessing we have? Legs and arms. Eyes and ears. Hands. These are gifts and we animate them with our will. They are tools which allow us to interface with our world.

Like any tool, our body must be well maintained in order to work properly. Care and maintenance can determine whether we enjoy all life has to offer or fall into dysfunction and misery.

This is where the comparison, between man and machine, stops. An old axiom, which should at once challenge and encourage is, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” Each day we have choices. Some are easy, like deciding to drive on the right side of the road. The consequences of doing otherwise are devastating and immediate. Other choices we make each day are less immediate but just as devastating.

For instance, whether we go for that walk? Is that extra cookie necessary? Should I take a minute to sit and talk to a loved one? We face thousands of choices each day. Sometimes the answers take the form of a habit. We internally wrestle with other choices and then there are the outright decisions that round out our life experience.

Unlike when you were five, it is likely that there is no one in your life to tell you what to do. Perhaps it’s been 30 years or more since somebody said, “God gave you two strong legs. Use them!” Maybe those legs are no longer as strong as they were. Perhaps the dynamic “tool” that is your body, has not been maintained as it should. Dis-ease and dysfunctional aging may be demonstrating the serious effects of neglect.

Don’t despair. Each day is a new opportunity to make new and different choices. The rewards are huge. They are also available to anybody who is willing to make positive change. Renewed enthusiasm, proper nutrition, sufficient exercise, optimal nerve function, relationship building, adequate rest, and spiritual certainty carry with them remarkable results at any age or in any situation. The choices are yours and so is the outcome.

When I write articles about health and wellness, I think about my patients and how best to share the “BIG IDEA” with them. Years later, when I re-visit what I’ve written, I realize It is the author who needed to learn from the message. Here is the original text, of Broken Bodies before I included it in The Power of 90

In the early eighties criminologists George Kelling and James Q. Wilson published an article in The Atlantic that has revolutionized our understanding of the relationship between the condition of property and crime. Their argument was that rampant crime is the inevitable result of disorder.

Imagine an urban neighborhood where the homes and apartments are well cared for. No pealing paint, carefully tended planter boxes, an absence of litter. In this neighborhood if a ball happens through a window it is quickly fixed and if someone sprays graffiti on a wall it is dealt with immediately. All who enter this neighborhood are aware that there are standards. Quality-of-life is important to the people who live there and it is clear that people have dignity and care about their environment.

Unfortunately for every neighborhood that seeks to maintain order there are many that do little or nothing to keep up a standard of expectations. This is the communities where Kelling and Wilson make their point. As soon as disorder becomes apparent people naturally conclude that no one cares. If a window is broken and left unrepaired, it becomes an invitation to break more windows. Soon lawlessness spreads. Graffiti becomes a permanent part of the landscape and filth begins to infect the neighborhood. Since nobody is in charge, thugs begin to rule the streets and soon the neighborhood is in disorder, safety is diminished and crime and violence become rampant.

Many may argue that it is a long leap of reason to go from a single broken window to a seriously decayed community. On paper it is a stretch, but in countless neighborhoods throughout the world a reproducible “experiment” has saved not only windows, but quality-of-life. When the responsible people of a neighborhood rally together and claim ownership of the streets, allies and sidewalks wonderful things happen. The most obvious sign of change, is that someone cares. Repairing streetlights and broken windows, new paint and cleaning up trash sends a clear message that someone is in control.

Chances are, you live in a neighborhood that sends a clear message to all who pass through. A message that says we care, a message that relays to others that someone is in control, so why would I bother telling you about a groundbreaking study on criminology? The answer is obvious if you are willing to take another leap of reason. One warning though, this probably will hurt.

If someone were to “pass through” your life and examine your lifestyle, your level of health and commitment to wellness, would they see someone who cared? Would they see evidence that someone was in control?

Getting up everyday and sweeping off the front steps, taking each weekend and painting over graffiti and spending the money to fix broken property is not easy. However, if reclaiming a neighborhood is important, it is something that must be done. Likewise, eating right, exercising regularly, and spending money to correct and maintain our mind and body is not easy, but if reclaiming our health is important, it too, must be done.

Sorry about the inconsistency of the video found in my last post. I’ll try to fix it, but have found if you play with the post loading options it will work eventually.

Here’s something I’ve been working on for a June talk I’m giving. I’m calling it Insiders Secrets to Health and Wellness. It’s very condensed and rough, but here are the major aspects for you to check out. Enjoy!

Our world is full of harmful influences leading to dis-ease, dysfunctional aging and early death.

It’s up to you and every other person to learn about and deal with these problems. This is called orthobiosis (Literally, “proper living”) which means living in accordance with the truths of health and wellness in order to lead a more full and abundant life. Once you discover these secrets you will understand how to optimize wellness and revolutionize your life.

There are three realms which demand our attention Internal, External and Universal. If any of these are underdeveloped or unduly stressed our health is threaten and our ability to benefit from orthobiosis vanishes, therefore our ability to live a full and abundant life is diminished.

Wellness is within reach if we know the secrets which can create a state of orthobiosis.

Internal wellness principles will propel you into a state of optimal function

Solutions:
Optimize Spinal Health
Maintain Adequate Rest

External wellness principles will allow you to control your form which serves as the foundation for life expression.

Solutions:
Enhance Physical Fitness
Create Exceptional Nutrition

Universal wellness principles add enjoyment and significance to our life experience.

Solutions:
Promote Proper Mental Attitude
Gain Spiritual Certainty

This book didn’t make my top ten list easily. In fact every time I went through my faves, I kept discarding it. But no mater how often I scratched the name off my list, or backspaced through it, somehow, I just couldn’t remove it from my mind. So to settle the debate I carefully read Mirage of Heath – Utopias, Progress, and Biological Change, by Rene Dubos, for the third time.

Here is the surprising result of the re-read: while I leaned towards dumping it, once again, somehow I just couldn’t remove the 1959 work from my mind! Realizing that a fourth read would not change anything I decided to place it firmly on my list once and for all. Before you gloss over this review or decide that it must have just squeaked by, I have to confess that it is in my top five.

Read on and you will discover why I rank it so highly and why I vacillated so vehemently concerning its value.

Don’t for a minute think that my decisions regarding inclusion to my list are pell-mell. My criteria are actually quite structured. When choosing my top ten health books, I ask myself questions like… “Does it advance mankind?” “Is the particular author the only one who could pull off writing the book?” “Is the content timeless, or at least of historical importance?” “Does the author promote my worldview?” (Hey, it’s my list!) “Can an interested layperson read it?” and finally, “Do the health and wellness principles discussed in the book actually promote health and wellness?”

Rene Dubos wrote extensively about mankind’s dilemma regarding health issues. He was without question a brilliant medical researcher, a keen observer of cause and effect, and consistently made accurate conclusions. Hindsight continues to validate his work and his contribution to meaningful alterations of our views on health and the environment, are enormous.

So, what’s the problem? Dubos doesn’t promote my worldview. He did when I first read this book in the early 1980’s, but I’ve changed, a lot.

Not to excuse him (or me for that matter), the evidence has been convincing since creation 1, but he did die in 1982 and lived and wrote at a time when science was…young and foolish. Up to that era, all of *us science types operated under a paradigm that was not being questioned by those who mattered and ensured a bias so strong that even quality empirical data which lead to impeccable conclusions still resulted in erroneous assumptios. Dubos’ only academic failing was one that a century of scientist fell for…Darwin’s theory of evolution.

The history is clear on this topic. Nineteenth Century scientists were in such a hurry to operate in a pure scientific vacuum, one devoid of religion, they embraced a theory which was so porous that nonsense quickly filled the vacuum they sought. Continuing the irony, Darwinian Evolution is as much a faith based worldview as any religion!

Interestingly, Dubos speaks to this, in his 1972 work, On Being Human.

Religion and science … constitute deep-rooted and ancient efforts to find richer experience and deeper meaning than are found in the ordinary biological and social satisfactions. As pointed out by Whitehead, religion and science have similar origins and are evolving toward similar goals.

Throughout Mirage of Health, Dubos observes and recounts multiple examples of evolution. At times he seems an apologist, with his numerous citations of evolution, implying Evolution. As with all such apologist, he never goes beyond sighting examples of variation within a particular species. In no way is variation (micro-evolution) controversial, and in no way does it support Darwinian Evolution. Causing one of the “proofs” to become one of it’s many flaws.

With powerful truths like, “The touchstone of a scientific theory is its power to predict natural phenomena…” one has to wonder what doctrine compels him to add, in the same sentience, “…evolutionary theories can rarely be put to this test because most biological processes evolve so slowly.” Perhaps the best answer is found in the Bible, “No one can serve two masters.” 2

Personal philosophy, however, is not enough to discount Dubos. His dispassionate reporting of medical history is astute. Demonstrations of man interacting within his environment are thoughtful and provocative, and it’s easy to see the genesis for his later work in this field. Furthermore, nothing matches his accounts of contributory causation… they are sublime.

This book is a gift for anybody craving a perspective of wellness. It includes; reckoning the past, analyzing the present, and projecting into the future. Dubos speaks of Pasteur who “pointed out…the response of the infected individual [is] determined by his heredity endowment, his state of nutrition, his environment including the climate, and even his mental state.” Yet, he captures in a volume the intricacies behind such a statement. It is these intricacies that are so easily lost to a modern medical marketplace stymied by ignorance and moved by sound bites. Mirage of Heath does not let us forget. That is why I adore this book.

*I’m not suggesting that I was ever in Dubos league. As a science major in college, I wouldn’t have been worthy to sterilize his Petri dishes!

“The average multi-level-salesperson, selling vitamins for a little extra income, knows more about leading-edge-nutrition than the average medical doctor.”

You may find this statement amusing. Perhaps, you say “that couldn’t be true.” Or maybe you’re among the millions that are not surprised by such a bold claim. As for myself, I’m the rebel that said it to a friend years ago. Who was the friend? At the time he was a recent graduate from a leading medical school, now he’s Chief of Pediatrics at a respected university hospital.

“You’re right.” He said. We had been friends since we were in first grade. We’ve discussed sports, girls, school, and current events since we were four feet tall. I always thought I knew how to needle him into a lively debate, so you can imagine my surprise when he agreed with my outlandish statement! Basically, I told him that the average American, with no formal healthcare education, selling multilevel nutritional products knows more about nutrition than he and most of his doctor friends.

When he agreed, it kind of took the wind out of my sails.

Afterwards, it got me thinking. Why was he willing to concede that medical doctors don’t know about modern nutrition?

Looking for the answer, I took another look at the practice of medicine in this country. A number of thoughts came to mind. Some of them probably wrong, some a bit cynical, and at least a few I’m certain to be right on.

• There is little personal gratification for the doctor who expands his/her knowledge in the field of nutrition. Prestige among the doctors colleagues will not be elevated, in fact the opposite, he’s likely to be treated with a skeptical eye.
• Financially, it would be suicide, as there are few people who want to pay the premium fee of a highly educated and skilled MD to provide a similar service they could get for free at the corner health-food store.
• Nutrition doesn’t fit the purpose of medicine. The practice of medicine is often summarized as the treatment of disease and pathologies using surgery and drugs. Optimizing health through nutrition, or providing information to enable the patient to take real control of their personal health is just not found in the standard medical play book.
• Doctors are only human. Consumer Direct Advertisements: Magazines, newspapers and TV encourage readers and viewers to “Ask your doctor about Claritin…” “Ask your doctor about Zoloft.” “Ask your doctor about…” Get use to it. Over 75% of consumers say their MD accommodated their request for a specific drug. Also doctors are having a difficult time keeping abreast of the FDA warnings about possible drug risks as it is.

There are just so many new drugs available…and keeping current with the information that goes with each drug has become almost impossible. (Read Full Article) Kenneth W. Kizer, M.D., M.P.H, Former VA Under Secretary for Health.

• The pharmaceutical industry does everything within their power to keep medical doctors promoting their products for the treatment of sickness. There is no way to compete with this $100+ billion-a-year-industry.

Or is there?

Don’t wait for your medical doctor or illness to convince you to really make a difference in you nutritional health.

Take responsibility for your own healthcare and leave the sickness care to your medical doctor, that’s his/her expertise. Make up your mind to learn more about modern nutrition and never stop learning!

One thing that is clear when it comes to health and nutrition. The closer your diet is to God’s earth the better. In other words, we would all be a great deal healthier if we ate a wide mix of whole foods.

• Fresh fruits, vegetables and a varied grains are best.
• Moderate amounts of wild fish, organic and grass fed meats are important sources of vital nutrients and proteins.
• Animal fats, refined sugars and processed foods should be limited.
• Manufactured fats (trans fatty acids),chemical additives as well as artificial colorings and flavorings should never enter our bodies (they are not “food” at all).
• Vitamins, minerals, and other nutrient supplements will not and should not take the place of a proper diet, but they can and do supply important nutrients that are often missing or scarce in what we eat.

In a perfect world we would follow these simple truths. Unfortunately we don’t live in a perfect world. As a result, our nutrition and eventually our health becomes compromised.

For what ever reason, our medical doctors are not learning how to help us create the ideal diet or find the optimal nutrients, so isn’t it time we help ourselves to the wealth of information available and teach them a thing or two about how to life a full and healthy life.

P.S. No, I’m not entirely thrilled about the newish US dept. of ag. My Pyramid concept, but it is better than anything they’ve come up with before. Click

There are some things that just don’t come up in the news too often, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t. That’s why I’m going to offer this post, on a little discussed topic, as a public service. Let’s leave the cyber world long enough to meditate on something that virtually (funny –huh?) nobody talks about…FIBER.

Okay, so probably fiber is not among the highest of Googled words, but great health is something we all are looking for. Often a small change in diet can make a huge difference in our health. That’s certainly the case with fiber, an essential nutrient we often forget about.

In the Standard American Diet (SAD), fiber has become increasingly hard to find. Yet scientific research (Harvard School of Public Health) continues to discover a multitude of health benefits provided by dietary fiber. Including:

• Heart Disease – fiber assists in the elimination of cholesterol and triglycerides and may lower blood pressure.

• Cancer – fiber helps decreases the risk of colon cancer and assists in the excretion of toxins and heavy metals.

• Diabetes – fiber is instrumental in the stabilization of blood sugar levels and slows absorption of glucose.

• Obesity – fiber aids in weight loss by providing a feeling of fullness.

• Digestive Concerns – fiber helps eliminate sluggish bowel and constipation, while supporting beneficial intestinal flora.

Dietary fiber comes from the edible parts of plants which are not broken down by digestive enzymes. Excellent food sources of dietary fiber include, sprouted and un-sprouted seeds, beans, whole grains, Swiss chard, vegetable greens (especially turnip, mustard and collard), cauliflower, broccoli, and most berries.

My suggestion (and I’m not alone here) is to make sure your diet includes a wide assortment of dietary fiber. By all means, supplement if you must (Super Seed from Garden of Life is the best product I’ve found) but get enough fiber. In the days, months, and years to come, your body will thank you in the most wonderful way – improved health.