The practice of Homeopathy has proven a very effective healing modality since its discovery in the early 1800s. It is low cost and without side effects. Why then is it being attacked by being described by "a belief in Homeopathy exceeds the tolerance of an open mind". Read more about how homeopathy could be a part of your healthcare regime.
A few days ago I was browsing in a 2nd hand book store and in a book promoting natural health from the 1980’s I found a photocopied article from Time Magazine of June 18th 1990 by Norman Cousins who was on the medical faculty of UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles). Who photocopied it I know not. However, it is even more relevant, and to a wider audience today, than it was when it was written. I reproduce it here in full.
More on vitamin D. The world is begriming to wake up to its effectiveness. The latest research shows that adequate levels of Vitamin D in the population as a whole would dramatically lower the healthcare cost. However, I discuss whetehr this is in the interests of the the medical professionand make recommendations are made on how you can further improve your health using vitamin D.
In the last 25 years the rate of autism in children has increased from 1 in 100,000 births to 1 in 55 births.This is is absolutely staggering to me! It does not have to be this way as this is clearly a result of our modern lifestyle and you can take the steps described in this article to minimize your child's risk. If you or anyone you know is planning to have a child, is already pregnant, or has a young child they need to read this article.
Since economic Vitamin D testing became available a few years ago, the medical profession has realized that the levels of Vitamin D considered necessary for radiant health are much higher than had been previously thought. The previous suggested dose has been increased four fold. Most people (up to 90%) have Vitamin D levels that are abysmally low. This applies even to those who live in sunny locations. As Vitamin D helps prevent and heal more than 30 diseases from cancer, cardiovascular disease, to infections such as cold and flu, the question to ask yourself is: Am I getting enough?
Antidepressant drugs are currently the most prescribed pharmaceutical drug, yet studies show that they are no better than a placebo. As these drugs are very damaging to your body, does it not make sense to use alternative treatments for depression? In this article I suggest seven steps that will reduce your depression more effectively than antidepressants and will leave you healthier with more money in the bank.
Although swine flu has been declared a pandemic, the effects of catching swine flu are relatively mild and recovery is swift. However, the vaccine being developed for swine flu, as well as being unnecessary, is dangerous to your health. Read why this is so.
I was recently asked why I do not stress the importance of the acid/alkali balance in the body more in my talks. I do consider it essential. The wholesome and healthy diet I recommend will naturally balance your acid/alkali with no need for special practices.
There are foods that will naturally reduce your cholesterol. However research shows us that cholesterol is not the problem and is only an indicator that something else is wrong with your metabolism. This is what needs to be addressed.
Our modern diet based on the accepted food pyramid, with its emphasis on significant intake of non-fibrous carbohydrates, is slowly killing us. Is it affecting you? How can you tell and what can you do to prevent it?
I discovered recently that the accepted way of getting enough Omega-3 in your diet, which reduces the inflammation in your body, without using animal products is insufficient, and that you really do need a fish based solution.
For a complete list of all please articles go here.
Homeopathy – A Viable Alternative to Conventional Healthcare December 23rd 2009
I have noticed recently that the medical community and "big pharma" have been taking pot shots are the practice of homeopathy and in Britain have managed to shutdown homeopathic hospitals, clinics and homeopathic practitioners funded by the National Health Service, that have been in operation for many, many years. This is a tragedy as homeopathy offers a healing modality that is very effective, uses no drugs, and thus has no side effects. This all despite the British royal family having supported and used homeopathy for many years. In fact, homeopathy is the second most widespread form of medicine in the world being particularly strong in poorer countries such as India and Cuba.
Michael Baum and Edzard Ernst, who are leading the current anti-homeopathy campaign in the UK, published a article in the November 2009 issue of the American Journal of Medicine in which they stated, “a belief in homeopathy exceeds the tolerance of an open mind. We should start from the premise that homeopathy cannot work and that positive evidence (in any studies) reflects publication bias or design flaws until proved otherwise.” The authors ignored a number of well-designed studies that illustrate, quite clearly, that even though homeopathy may exceed the tolerance of an open mind, it nevertheless works.
So what is homeopathy that it triggers such reactions and why? Homeopathy was discovered by Samuel Hahnemann in Germany in the early 1800s. By 1840 it was popular in Europe and the US but was even then fiercely opposed by the medical fraternity. Many homeopaths were allopathic (conventional) doctors that found homeopathy more effective in treating diseases such as cholera, typhus, yellow fever, diphtheria, influenza, and other epidemics of the 1800s than the conventional solutions at the time.
Homeopathy means similar (Homeo) suffering (pathy). It is based on the principle that “Like cures Like”. This means that if a patient is suffering from chronic sleeplessness, taking a substance that causes the body to be sleep deprived ( the homeopathic remedy for insomnia is Coffea Cruda and is made from coffee) will actually make the patient sleep better. Weird, I know, but it works. However it does get even stranger and this is what the critics jump on. What the patient is given is not the compound itself as this may be toxic, but the compound dissolved in water and then diluted to the point that there is not a single molecule of the original compound. The solution is also “potentized:” at each dilution by vigorous shaking or “succussion”. Hahemann discovered that the more the solution was diluted, the more potent therapeutically it became as long as it was potentized at each dilution. The water carries the “energy” of the compound.
From a theoretical perspective this does exceed the tolerance of an open mind which is often the case in science until a mechanism is developed to explain it (e.g. electricity). However, water has the property of “memory”. Indeed, science has backed up the phenomenon of potentization for over 20 years. In 1988, Nobel Prize nominee and medical researcher Jacques Benveniste turned the course of his life upside down when he discovered that ultradilutions in water could retain substance-specific properties. In particular, he found that a certain antibody could be serially diluted and succussed beyond the point where a single molecule could remain, but still cause the same effects. In spite of being attacked by the skeptics, he continued his work and further demonstrated that the electromagnetic signature of an ultradilution could be recorded electronically, transmitted via Email, replayed into water, and still achieve the same substance-specific effects in the laboratory. Eventually, Benveniste’s results were replicated and more recently, a paper by Nobel Prize winner Luc Montagnier in 2009 underscored the power of ultradilutions.
So the scientific community does now accept the principle of ultradilution. However this did not convince the skeptics. Big pharma through its agents is intent to shutting down homeopathy as there is no way they can take their customary share of the proceeds
In my experience homeopathy is very good a dealing with all kinds of illness, both acute and chronic. Homeopaths believe that the remedies go to the cause of the problem and not just suppress the symptoms in the manner of conventional drugs. In fact homeopathy can cure chronic diseases not just relieve the symptoms. If you have asthma and you are prescribed the appropriate remedy, the asthma will be healed for good without any side effects. Note that homeopathy has the power to heal both physical problems as well as emotional ones such as depression.
My only caveat is that you find a good homeopath. The training is long and thorough, but I find that the best homeopaths I have come across have an instinct for the correct remedy of which there are many thousands. There are no generic approaches to homeopathy (a single remedy for each illness), and each person’s health signature is different thus requiring a specific remedy.
There are homeopathic institutions in each country that can help you find a recognized and reliable homeopath. One way to tell if the homeopath is good is
how long do you have to wait for an appointment. If you get an appointment within a day or so, ask why, as most good homeopaths are booked quite far in advance.
David Gore Graham B. Sc.
Author of Wellbeing Matters – A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
Tags: homeopathy, pharmaceutical, Samuel Hanhemann, Michael Baum, Edzard Ernst, AJM, succussion, potentized, remedy, Jacque Benveniste, ultradilution, Luc Montagnier
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A Society of Hypochondriacs 12th December 2009
A few days ago I was browsing in a 2nd hand book store and in a book promoting natural health from the 1980’s I found a photocopied article from Time Magazine of June 18th 1990 by Norman Cousins who was on the medical faculty of UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles). Who photocopied it I know not. However, it is even more relevant, and to a wider audience today, than it was when it was written. I reproduce it here in full:
The main impression growing out of twelve years on the faculty of the medical school is that the No. 1 health problem in the US today, even more than AIDS or cancer, is that Americans don’t know how to think about health and illness. Our reactions are formed on the terror level. We fear the worst, expect the worst, and thus invite the worst. The result is that we are becoming a nation of weaklings and hypochondriacs, a self-medicating society incapable of distinguishing between casual, everyday symptoms and those that require professional attention.
Somewhere in our early education we become addicted to the notion that pain means sickness. We fail to learn that pain is the is the body’s way of telling us that we are eating to much or the wrong things; or that we are smoking too much or drinking too much; or there is too much emotional congestion in our lives; or that we are being worn down by having to cope daily with overcrowded streets and highways, the pounding noise of garbage grinders, or the cosmic distance between the entrance to the airport and the departure gate. We get the message of pain all wrong. Instead of addressing ourselves to the cause, we become pushovers for pills, driving the pain underground and inviting it to return with increased authority.
Early in life, too, we become seized with the bizarre idea that we are constantly assaulted by invisible monsters called germs, and that we have to be on a constant alert to protect ourselves against their fury. Equal emphasis, however, is not given to the presiding fact that our bodies are superbly equipped to deal with the little demons, and the best way of forestalling an attack is to maintain a sensible life-style.
The most significant single statement about health to appear in the medical journals during the past decade is by Dr. Franz Ingelfinger, the late former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine. Ingelfinger noted that almost all illnesses are self-limiting. That is, the human body is capable of handling than without outside intervention. The thrust of the article was that we need not feel we are helpless if disease tries to tear away at our bodies, and that we can have greater confidence in the reality of the healing system that is beautifully designed to meet most of its problems. And even when outside help is required, our won resources have something of value to offer in a combined strategy of treatment.
No one gets out of this world alive, and few people come through life without a least one serious illness. If we are given a serious diagnosis, it is useful to try to remain free of panic and depression. Panic can constrict the blood vessels and impose an additional burden on the heart. Depression, as medical researchers all the way back to Galen have observed, can set the stage for other illnesses or intensifying existing ones. It is no surprise that so many patients who learn that they have cancer of heart disease – or any other catastrophic disease – become worse at the time of diagnosis. The moment they have a label to attach to their symptoms, the illness deepens. All the terrible things they have heard about disease produce the kind of despair that in turn complicates the underlying condition. It is not unnatural to be severely apprehensive about a serious diagnosis, but a reasonable confidence is justified. Cancer today, for the most part, is a largely treatable disease. A heavily damaged heart can be reconditioned. Even a positive HIV diagnosis does not necessarily mean that the illness will move into the active stage.
One of the interesting things researchers at the UCLA medical center have discovered is that the environment of medical treatment can actually be enhanced if seriously ill patients can be kept free of depression. In a project involving 75 malignant melanoma patients, it was learned that a direct connection exists between the mental state of the patient and the ability of the immune system to do its job. In a condition of emotional devastation the immune system is impaired. Conversely, liberation from depression and panic is frequently accompanied by an increase in the body’s substances that help the immune system and help active that cancer-killing immune cells. The wise physician, therefore, is conscious of both the physical and emotional needs of the patient.
People who have heart attacks are especially prone to despair. After they come through the emergency phase of the episode they begin to reflect on all the things they think they will be unable to do. They wonder whether they will be able to continue at their jobs, whether they will be able to perform satisfactorily at se, whether they can play tennis or golf again. In short they contemplate an existence drained of usefulness and joy. The spark goes out of their souls. It may help for these people to know that in addition to the miracles that modern medicine can perform, the heart can make its own bypass around the occluding arteries and that collateral circulation can provide a rich supply of oxygen. A heart attack need not be regarded as consignment to mincing life-style. Under the circumstance of good nutrition, a reasonable amount of exercise and decrease in the wear and tear of stressful events, life expectancy need not be curtailed.
Plainly the American people need to be re-educated about their health. They need to know that they are the possessors of a remarkably robust mechanism. They need to be de-intimidated about disease. They need to understand the concept of a patient physician partnership in which the best that medical science has to offer is combined with the magnificent resources of mind and body.
We need not wait, of course for a catastrophic illness before we develop confidence in our ability to rise to a serious challenge. Confidence is useful on the everyday level. We are stronger than we think. Much stronger.
I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed. Since 1990 we have learned how diet and lifestyle can prevent the diseases he mentions for occurring altogether, how diet and lifestyle directly affects depression, how the content of our mind affects the expression of our genes (epigenetics), how to heal our unconscious programming such we attract less illness ourselves, and finally how a spiritual understanding of life leads to health-giving peace and harmony within. I describe all these in detail in my book Wellbeing Matters.
Take charge of your own health and stop being a helpless hypochondriac. Bring out that inner strength that lives within you and live with radiant health.
David Gore Graham B. Sc.
Author of Wellbeing Matters – A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
Vitamin D and the Healthcare System December 10th 2009
As readers of my blog will know I am passionate about helping everyone individually take charge of their health and, to this end, I have frequently mentioned the need for adequate Vitamin D to be a part of that process. Well, it seems the message is finally getting through. In the newspaper last weekend there was a large article pointing out the benefits of Vitamin D and, for the first time in years the general health recommendation was to “get more sun on your body” and not the reverse. Also in the local New Age magazine there was a similar article. At last!
Human evolution started in Africa 3.2 million years ago, and until recently, in a evolutionary sense, we ran around without clothes. As we evolved our skin changed color depending on the amount of sunlight we received. In general we find lighter skinned races towards the poles and darker skinned races towards the equator. The lighter your skin the faster you will manufacture Vitamin D when ultraviolet rays from the sun strike the skin. Remember to absorb adequate vitamin D, you need sun on as much of you body as possible. However you must not allow your skin to burn as it is the sunburn that causes skin cancer. A little sun is good, too much is bad.
From the recent studies on the benefits of Vitamin D, it has been estimated that the overall cost of healthcare would be reduced from between 25% to 50% if everyone had appropriate blood serum levels of Vitamin D. This is a fascinating and mind boggling assertion. I consider runaway healthcare costs to be one of the three crises facing human kind in the next 40 years or so and perhaps the first one of these three to really bite. Without addressing healthcare costs in a fundamental preventative manner, many western countries will go bankrupt as the ageing baby boomer populations demand for healthcare services eat up a larger and larger share of the available pie. Don’t hold your breath and expect changes to happen soon. A 50% reduction in healthcare costs would mean that 50% of the doctors would be redundant. In spite of doctors being seen by the general public as somewhere up there with Gods, doctors, with a few exceptions, act in the interest of doctors and not in the interest of their patients, so don’t expect much change.
As an example of the way doctors act in the interest of doctors, let me digress for a moment. I, like many men as they get older, suffer from an enlarged prostate. Interestingly it is not considered an illness but a function of the changing hormones as we age (we are one of the few animals that have the prostrate wrapped around the urethra and not beside it). I am not sure that I accept it is normal and not some malfunction but as yet I have not found a natural solution that works completely. The most effective final stage solution is surgery to “ream” out the prostrate and increase the diameter of the urethra so that it no longer impedes the flow. There are two main ways to achieve this. One is called TURP where the prostrate tissue is removed with elctrocautery. This has been the favored treatment for many years. It requires a 3 day stay in hospital plus there are risks of hemorrhage. It also requires catheterization for at least 24 hours. And it takes a month for the patient to get back to normal.
The other solution that has been developed in the last few years uses a laser to remove the tissue. This can be done often without an overnight stay in the hospital, usually does not require catheterization and you are back to normal in a few days with very few after effects. The laser treatment also costs about 40% less than TURP. I visited an urologist recently for a check up and he recommended I have the TURP operation. It turns out that he knew the statistics comparing the two techniques but he was unwilling to recommend the laser operation. In discussing it further with him, it was obvious that he made more money doing TURP and he did not want to have to learn a new technique. He will go on doing TURPs to patients who know no better until he retires in 10-15 years. Why is this allowed? Why is the patient’s welfare, and the cost of the process, not of greater importance than the preferences of the doctor in maximizing his/her income and convenience? There are many ethical doctors who put the patient’s welfare first but there are many who don’t.
Back to Vitamin D. It is important to keep your Vitamin D levels at the level that is the new normal. As of today the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of vitamin D is 200IU for infants, children and adults up to age 50, 400IU for adults 51-70, and 600IU for those over 70. The new normal for a child weighing 40 pounds or 18 kilos would need 1,400IU daily and an adult weighing 170 pounds or 77 kilos would need nearly 6,000IU daily. You can see the difference! The best way to track this is through the actual concentration of vitamin D in the blood. The optimum value you are looking for is 50-65 ng/ml or in metrics terms 125-162 nmo/l. This applies to all ages. It is recommended that all adults take 2,000IU per day as starters and get the rest from the sun. During the dark winter months you may want to increase this dose by 50%. As different people create different amounts of Vitamin D depending on skin color, season, available sunlight, etc. it is important to get tested.
There is a way you can help bring this to peoples attention and get tested relatively inexpensively. Join Vitamin D-Action and become part of a worldwide study of Vitamin D levels. This is a consortium of scientists, institutions and individuals committed to solving the worldwide Vitamin D deficiency epidemic. Go to http://www.grassrootshealth.net/d-action and for $40US you can have your levels tested at regular intervals and provide valuable information on global Vitamin D levels.
The message of this article is that radiant health only comes about when you take responsibility for your own health. The medical system (not individual doctors) is designed for illness and not for wellness and is big business so arm yourself with knowledge and tread carefully.
David Gore Graham B. Sc.
Author of Wellbeing Matters – A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
Tags: Vitamin D, BPH, medical proffession, RDA.
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The Autism Explosion – and What You Need to Know About It!
12th September 2009 by David Gore Graham B.Sc.
1 in 38 boys born today will have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and 1 in 63 of children of both sexes born today will have ASD. These are frightening statistics from two recently published studies on children in the US. This is a 159 fold increase since 1994. That is a whopping 15,900% increase in 15 years, most of it in the last few years! This is 3 times more than the recent prevailing belief that the rate was 1 in 150. 25 years ago it was 1 in 100,000. Everyone having a child, or who already has a child with ASD, needs to understand the causes of this terrifying epidemic and take the appropriate precautions or actions.
It appears that there are multiple culprits, and when combined, they create the conditions that cause the problem. They are all within your control both before and after birth. In fact Dr Klinghardt, a leading expert in ASD, says that he can predict which children will suffer from ASD by examining the environmental conditions of the pregnant mother and the early days of the new born. Currently, 10-20 times as much money is being spent on genetic research to find reasons for this epidemic, than is being spent on research into the effect of environmental conditions. There is a clear correlation between the increase of ASD with:
a) The increase in childhood Vaccinations;
b) The rise in popularity of cell phones and WiFi devices in the home,
c) The increase in the toxic load on pregnant mother and child.
Vaccinations both trigger the immune system of the newborn, causing damage, and also leave the child with a toxic dose of the heavy metal mercury that is used as a preservative.
Electro Magnetic Frequency (EMF) causes damage to cell membranes and decreases the intracellular communication by disrupting micro-tubular connections between the cells. EMF also increases the deposits of heavy metals into your cells, which in turn increases intracellular production of free radicals, also causing damage to cell itself. Toxins in your food and environment, together with modern diets, increase the toxins in the body, increasing inflammation.
There are two circumstances to be addressed-
· What to do to prevent your child getting autism in the first place.
· What to do if you have a child suffering from ASD.
In fact, the steps required for the Mother, to prevent her having a child with ASD, are the same as the steps needed to be taken for the child diagnosed with ASD.
Steps in the prevention of ASD:
1. Vaccines
From the day you become pregnant do not have any vaccines (this includes flu vaccines). None! Use natural methods to deal with any condition.
Once born, do not allow your child to have any vaccines, preferably at all. If you must have your child vaccinated, then wait until they are 1 year old. Do not, and I repeat, do not allow your child to have the Hep. B Vaccine, which is usually given right at birth. See page 116 of my book Wellbeing Matters for a discussion of this topic.
2. EMF Radiation
Reduce the amount of EMF radiation in your home and surroundings. EMF radiation comes from the following sources:
Mobile and cell phones. Pregnant women should not use cell phones even for sending and receiving text messages.
Cordless phones. These are similar to cell phones and should not be used.
Computer WiFi. Use ethernet cables instead of WiFi. If you have a modem provided by your ESP make sure the WiFi is disabled. Also your neighbors WiFi does not respect the physical boundaries of your property.
Electrical outlets. Make sure your bedroom is free from strong EMFs. It is recommended that you turn of the electricity at the circuit breaker before sleeping at night. You can shield your bed with fabrics that are Radio Frequency (RF) shielding, or if building a house put aluminum foil in the walls that will shield out unwanted EMF. Meters are available for a reasonable price so you can test your bedroom for EMF and it may be that moving your bed is sufficient.
3. Removing toxins.
It is important that the mother create as toxin free an environment for the growing fetus. This means eating a diet that is low in non-fibrous carbohydrates (refined grains such as white bread and pasta, potatoes in all their forms, and all sugar and sugar substitutes. Increase intake of Omega-3, probiotics, etc. Take activated zeolite to remove heavy metals from yourself and the fetus. Read chapters 4 and 5 of my book Wellbeing Matters for more details on what to do.
Make sure that there are as few toxins in your environment as possible. This includes drinking pure water, removing mold or toxins in your home, and using only natural cleaning materials. Please read Chapter 3 of my book Wellbeing Matters for more information on removing toxins from your environment.
4. Increase Vitamin D levels in your blood.
The presence of Vitamin D receptors in brain tissue in early fetal development indicates that Vitamin D is very important to the developing brain. As I have written about elsewhere, most people have a profound lack of Vitamin D brought about by the modern fear of the sun (evidenced by the slathering on of sun screen at every opportunity). All pregnant women should have Vitamin D levels of 50-60 ng/ml. Ask your doctor to check this and get more sun if it is too low. If there is little sun where you live while you are pregnant then a Vitamin D3 supplement may be called for. This may be the most important of the 4 causes of ASD and one of the simplest to do something about. See the article below concerning Vitamin D.
Relief of Your Child’s ASD Symptoms:
1. All the steps above need to be applied to your young child’s environment. Yes, it is inconvenient but the health of your child can be significantly affected. The healthier the child and the stronger the child’s immune system the less likely they will suffer from ASD and the less the severity of the symptoms.
David Gore Graham B.Sc.
Author of Wellbeing Matters – A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
Since economic testing for Vitamin D levels became available a few years ago, a remarkable amount of research has taken place on the role vitamin D plays in the prevention of disease. A lack of Vitamin D is now understood to be one of the most commonly unrecognized medical conditions. A
condition that leaves millions at risk of developing various diseases and disorders. These include not only osteoporosis and fractures,
but also numerous serious and often fatal diseases such as several common cancers,
diabetes, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. This covers the most common degenerative diseases each one of us is likely to face in our lifetime. Research also shows that Vitamin D aids in brain function, helping to reduce depression and other neurological disorders. It also helps remove toxins, such as heavy metals, from your body and is important in aiding your DNA to express itself correctly.
Recent research compared the illness rate of US military personnel living on different bases as a factor of their latitude. It was assumed that they would have similar nutrition and lifestyle and that the main variable would be the amount of sunshine and the time they spent out of doors. They found that the military personnel when stationed in bases near the equator had less illness, especially infections illnesses such as colds and flu, and the incidence of illness increased at bases progressively the farther they were from the equator.
Historically, vitamin D has been added to milk to prevent bone diseases such as rickets. However it is only recently that its affect in other diseases has been measured. It was thought that the correct daily dose (rda) was 200 IU for people aged 14-50, 400 IU for people aged 51-70, 600 IU for people over 71 but these are hopelessly inadequate. These doses may prevent rickets in children but will do little for your general health and the prevention of disease. An adult body uses 3,000-4,000 IU of Vitamin D per day so it is important to get at least much on a regular basis. I was talking to a Doctor friend who told me that 40% of his patients are chronically short of Vitamin D, 40% of his patients have low levels and the other 20% are sub-optimal. Thus, almost none of his patients have enough vitamin D and we live in one of the sunny spots on the planet! I have known that we are collectively short of Vitamin D but this information was rather shocking.
The main sources for Vitamin D are sun exposure, oily fish and fish oil, butterfat and eggs. It is clear to me that we were designed to get most of our vitamin D from the sun as our bodies have the ability to store six weeks supply of Vitamin D in our livers. Any Vitamin D above the daily current needs of the body is stored in the liver. Only when the liver is full will the issue of toxicity rear its head and even this is very unlikely even for Australian life guards who get one of the highest daily doses of sun exposure. Our bodies can absorb up to 10,000-20,000 thousand units per day in the peak summer sun so the issue of toxicity will only become a problem above this level. To get this level of Vitamin D from a supplement such as fish oil alone would risk you getting too much Vitamin A which is toxic.
There are two other issues that come up when exposing yourself ultra violet light (UV) usually from the sun. We have been led to believe that the sun is bad for us and the current recommendation is to slather ourselves with sunscreen. This practice was recommended to prevent skin cancer by dermatologists. It is estimated that 1,000 skin cancer deaths are prevented per year at the cost of at least 300,000 deaths from other forms of cancer that would have been ameliorated by the extra Vitamin D. You only risk skin cancer if you get sun burn. So you need to get enough sun exposure but not too much. The other issue is that Vitamin D is an oily substance and it is formed on the surface of skin with the help of cholesterol. It takes from 12 to 24 hours for this Vitamin D to migrate through the skin into the blood stream where it can do you good. If you go in the sun and then directly into the shower and soap all over, all that precious vitamin D will get washed down the drain. Only wash the parts of you with soap that need to be washed and they don't get exposed to the sun anyway! This will allow the Vitamin D to migrate before being washed away.
Supplements are not the simple answer you might imagine unless you check your levels regularly. This is because different people absorb Vitamin D at different rates. Vitamin D supplements come in the form of either D2 (vegetarian) or D3. Either are ok as your body will convert from one to the other. D3 is the much more concentrated form but it does come from animals. D2 is less potent but vegetarian.
Here are my recommendations:
Expose as much of your body (at least torso, front and back and your legs front and back) as possible to the sun at least once a week. Enough to just change the color of your skin but not enough to burn. If you are going to the beach then sun for a while before putting on sun screen. When you shower later, do not use soap on those parts of your body that received the sun's rays. Wait for 24 hours before soaping.
If you live in a climate where there is not enough sun then go to a tanning salon once a week. Not enough to burn or give you a false looking tan!.
If you cannot follow either of the above two recommendations, I suggest you take a supplement of 2,000 IUs per day. No more unless under the supervision of a doctor or naturopath.
If you catch a cold or flu take a supplement of 3,000 IU per day for the duration of the illness. Reduce the dosage if you are getting enough UV exposure.
Do not sit in the sun where there is glass between you and the sun, such as in a sunny window or in your car, as this actually destroys the Vitamin D on your skin.
Make sure that your children get enough Vitamin D. They need at least 2,000 IU per day.
David Gore Graham B.Sc.
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
Kicking the Antidepressant Habit and the Placebo Effect.
17th September 2009 By David Gore Graham B.Sc.
Did you know that 203 million prescriptions for antidepressants are filled per year in the US and in Australia 2.3 million antidepressant prescriptions were filled in 2005-06?
Did you know that antidepressants such as Lexapro, Effexor, Cymbalta, Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, and Wellbutrin have been shown to be no more effective than a placebo?
A team at the University of Hull in Britain conducted a review of clinical trials of new generation antidepressant drugs. What they found may surprise you. They found they were no more effective than a placebo for most people with depression. The study included results that had been withheld from the public by the manufacturers as well as data reported in scientific journals. In the double blind trials they investigated, one half of the people in the trial were given actual antidepressants, and the other half were given a sugar pill (the placebo). As the real antidepressants and the sugar pills were made to look the same, neither group new which ones they were taking. In fact they all thought they were taking the real thing.
The team used the freedom of information laws to obtain all information on four members of the class of antidepressants known as selective seratonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). The team leader, Irving Kirsch, said the analysis showed that although patients got better when they took the antidepressants, they also got better when they took the placebo, and the difference in improvement was very slight.
So what does this really mean? The people in the study, believing that they were taking the antidepressant, even if they were not, experienced relief of their depression just as effectively as if they were really taking the anti-depressant. This illustrates just how powerful the placebo effect is and how useless the antidepressants really are..
As I am sure you know, antidepressants are very hard on your body and not good for your health. The body reacts to the drug as it would to a toxin. It is the job of the liver to remove the toxins from you blood supply and break them down so they can be removed from the body. Thus antidepressants are very hard on your liver, which, thanks to our modern diet and lifestyle, is already one of our most overtaxed organs. Other side effects from anti-depressants include weight gain; sleep disruption, nausea, constipation, dry mouth, and many more.
However, there is another more serious issue that affects those that take antidepressants. I am sure many of you know that I consider the epidemic of metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance) and the subsequent diabetes that follows as the number one serious health issue that will affect the most people. Currently, 37% of the population has insulin resistance or diabetes. Taking antidepressants increases the likelihood that those with insulin resistance will get diabetes by 200-300%. If you are overweight, which often causes you to feel depressed, then do not take antidepressants. The resulting diabetes is far more unpleasant than depression especially as there are a number of ways (see below) to cure depression without resorting to pharmaceuticals.
Oh, another thing, dear readers. Diabetes will surely kill you slowly and unpleasantly, but those taking antidepressants are far more likely to die suddenly from committing suicide. The link is so strong that antidepressants have been mandated to carry a suicide warning. If these side effects are enough reasons for you to look for a safe, healthy and effective alternative solution, I don’t know what will. Nevertheless, I have clients that tell me they could not have got through such and such a situation without them, and I believe that they believe this to be true. However the scientific evidence does not back it up and the natural solutions below have been proven to be as effective in relieving depression.
So what do you do if you feel depressed? I have observed frequently that many people’s depression has a nutritional basis. The depression is simply a symptom and not the cause. The cause is usually due to a number of issues related to diet and lifestyle. Even if the cause of your depressions has no nutritional basis the recommendations below will help. These recommendations are described in my book Wellbeing Matters::
Increase your intake of omega-3 oils by eating oily fish, such as Portuguese sardines, twice a week, eat eggs with high omega-3, or taking a fish oil or krill supplement that is free of heavy metals. I personally prefer the sardine solution as there are a number of other benefits. Decrease your intake of vegetable oils (soy, safflower, sunflower, salad, canola, etc.) using only olive oil, butter, coconut oil, avocado oil and nut oils for salads and cooking.
Increase your exercise. Get at least 15 minutes robust exercise per day and preferably 30 minutes plus. Mix aerobic exercise with resistance exercise.
Take 250mg Niacin (vitamin B3) and 1gm Vitamin C daily.
Make sure you have enough Magnesium in your diet or take a supplement..
Increase your vitamin D intake by getting sun on the majority your body once a week. In winter go to a safe tanning place but do not get enough exposure that you burn. You do not so much as to get brown, just enough to get very slightly pink.
Avoid non-fibrous carbohydrates (refined bread, pasta, potatoes and all forms of sugar).
Do some deep emotional feeling-based release work such as breathwork or some type of psychotherapy. Read my book Wellbeing Matters for information on how to recognize a therapy/therapist with whom you will have a positive outcome.
David Gore Graham B.Sc.
Author of Wellbeing Matters – A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
The Swine Flu (H1N1) pandemic of 2009 is upon us. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers it a Phase 6 pandemic. This means that it has spread very quickly around the globe. However the pandemic label says nothing about the severity of the H1N1 virus. The H1N1 virus is currently rated as moderate. A "moderate" virus does not require a doctor's visit and those who are affected by it will normally have mild symptoms that a day or two in bed will cure. The virus brings about death in 1 in 121 people who catch it which is lower than the normal flu in any winter. Most people who die from flu, such as the elderly, have compromised immune systems or are already suffering from some other illness and the flu just pushes them over the top.
This being the case why are the drug manufacturers rushing to produce millions of doses of a vaccine to prevent this mild flu.Who are they going to inject this flu into? Influenza viruses, by their very nature, mutate so the H1N1 virus won't be around for the next pandemic and if not used now will be useless.
I am convinced that there is going to be pressure on us citizens, especially children, to be vaccinated. There is talk in the US that school children will be forcibly vaccinated when they return to school in September.
Don't let this happen to you or your children. And here is the reason why. Vaccine manufacturing is expensive and slow. Vaccine manufacturers have discovered that they can speed up the manufacturing process and make the vaccine go further by adding what is called a "vaccine adjuvant". This is a compound that is added to the vaccine that triggers your immune system to react very strongly to it and thus to the vaccine. This means that they can use less viral antigen and, as the adjuvant is inexpensive, make more money on each dose of vaccine.
The adjuvant that is being used is called "squaline", a component of olive oil and a beneficial antioxidant, that is vital to the health of the nervous system and the brain. It has been used before with disastrous consequences. According to Meryl Nass, M.D., an authority on the anthrax vaccine,
“A novel feature of the two H1N1 vaccines being developed by companies Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline is the addition of squalene-containing adjuvants to boost immunogenicity and dramatically reduce the amount of viral antigen needed. This translates to much faster production of desired vaccine quantities.”
Squaline has been tested on rats. Oil-based vaccination adjuvants like squalene have been proved to cause concentrated, unremitting immune responses over long periods of time. A 2000 study published in the American Journal of Pathology demonstrated a single injection of the adjuvant squalene into rats triggered “chronic, immune-mediated joint-specific inflammation,” also known as rheumatoid arthritis. The researchers concluded the study raised questions about the role of adjuvants in chronic inflammatory diseases.
When the vaccine is injected all the squaline in the body is attacked, not just the squaline that was part of the injected vaccine. As squaline is vital to the health of the nervous system it does a lot of damage.
How do we know this? You are probably all familiar with GWS (Gulf War Syndrome).It is collection of about 20 chronic ailments such as joint aching, chronic fatigue, etc. It turns out the soldiers going to the Gulf war were injected with an Anthrax vaccine that contained MF59, an illegal squaline adjuvant manufactured by Novartis. The same one that is being used in the H1N1 vaccine. The proof that this is the cause is pretty incontrovertible. A test was developed to detect anti-squalene antibodies in GWS patients, and a clear link was established between the contaminated product and all the GWS sufferers who had been injected with the vaccine containing squalene.
A study conducted at Tulane Medical School and published in the February 2000 issue of Experimental Molecular Pathology included these stunning statistics:
“ … the substantial majority (95%) of overtly ill deployed GWS patients had antibodies to squalene. All (100%) GWS patients immunized for service in Desert Shield/Desert Storm who did not deploy, but had the same signs and symptoms as those who did deploy, had antibodies to squalene.
In contrast, none (0%) of the deployed Persian Gulf veterans not showing signs and symptoms of GWS have antibodies to squalene. Neither patients with idiopathic autoimmune disease nor healthy controls had detectable serum antibodies to squalene. The majority of symptomatic GWS patients had serum antibodies to squalene.”
According to Dr. Viera Scheibner, Ph.D., a former principle research scientist for the government of Australia:
“… this adjuvant [squalene] contributed to the cascade of reactions called “Gulf War Syndrome,” documented in the soldiers involved in the Gulf War. The symptoms they developed included arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, rashes, photosensitive rashes, malar rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, abnormal body hair loss, non-healing skin lesions, aphthous ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory loss, seizures, mood changes, neuropsychiatric problems, anti-thyroid effects, anaemia, elevated ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), Raynaud’s phenomenon, Sjorgren’s syndrome, chronic diarrhoea, night sweats and low-grade fevers.”
The evidence is clear that squaline is not just unsafe but downright dangerous. Don't let this happen to you. Don't allow you or your family to be vaccinated. Don't be a Guinea pig for the pharmaceutical giants that are, in the US at least, immune from prosecution. And I have not even mentioned thimerosal which is a mercury based preservative that is added to it. Agh!
Also don't confuse these H1N1 vaccines with Tamiflu. Tamiflu is an anti-viral that is also used to treat influenza. It only reduces, at best, the length of the illness by up to 36 hours and H1N1 has been reported to be resistant to tamiflu in a number of countries. Your body knows best. Let it do its work.
If you do get any kind of flu then simply take a daily dose of 5,00iu of Vitamin D, 5gms of Vitamin C, 250mcg Selenium and Olive Seed Extract and you will be well in a few days.
David Gore Graham
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing
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The Importance of Maintaining the Appropriate Acid/Alkali Balance
17th August 2009 by David Gore Graham B.Sc.
I was asked by one of the attendees at a recent presentation I gave, why I didn't say very much about maintaining the appropriate acid/alkali balance and did that mean that I don't think it is very important. I do think it is very important. My opinion is the a person eating a healthy diet will naturally have the correct acid/alkali balance without doing anything specific. Let me explain. Also note that the acid/alkali balance is important in both your blood and in your digestive tract..
Firstly the importance of the acid/alkali balance of the blood. If we think of the human body as a chemical factory then its chemical reactions work best at a certain pH. pH is the way acidity or the alkalinity is measured. For example battery acid is pH=0, bleach is alkaline with a pH= 13. Blood is kept at a constant 7.35 to 7.5 pH which is close to neutral being neither acid nor alkaline (see page 58 of Wellbeing Matters). Your body will keep your blood at this pH because most of the chemical reactions that keep you alive and healthy work best at this pH. Keeping the blood at the correct pH is one of your bodies highest priorities, and your body will make sacrifices to other parts and systems to achieve it. These sacrifices can lead to many degenerative diseases including cancer
To keep the blood at this pH, where the body works best, requires that the minerals and foods we consume must be supportive to this balance. It is easy in this day and age with our convenience foods for our bodies to become too acid. If we do not eat enough foods that, when digested, leave the body in an alkaline state, then to keep the blood at the correct pH, your body will "steal" minerals from bones and other places to neutralize the acid in the blood. This can lead to a host of health problems including osteoporosis. This "sacrifice" has very significant consequences to your health if it goes on to long.
So what do we have to do to keep our blood at this healthy pH and prevent your body sacrificing parts such as your bones? All foods either from acid or alkali residue when digest. Most foods have been tested to see which ones form acid and which ones for alkalis in the body and tables are available (see Wellbeing Matters page 62 for such a list). In general fruits and vegetables are alkali forming ,and proteins, grains and sugars are acid forming. A modern diet with a significant percentage of non-fibrous carbohydrates (grains, potatoes and sugar) is usually very acid. A healthy whole food diet is in general very alkaline as long as you keep away from the sweet things. Note that the acidity/alkalinity of foods is not about the food itself, but about the residue after the food has been digested. For example, the juice of lemons is very acid, but to the body when digested, lemons are one of the most alkaline of foods.
The other area of your body that is acid/alkali dependent is your digestive tract. Your digestive tract is filled with more than a kilo of symbiotic beneficial bacterial. Much of the functioning of your immune system is dependent on the health of these bacteria. Your stomach also contains bacteria that are not beneficial plus fungi and yeasts. The beneficial bacteria thrive in an alkaline environment and the non-beneficial bacteria thrive in an acid environment. Antibiotics kill the beneficial bacteria first leaving the pickings to the harmful bacteria. This is why people who take lots of antibiotics tend to to have serious yeast and fungal problems such as candida.
It is as important for the blood as the digestive tract to have an alkaline environment for you to have radiant health. As this is the case then the question that was put to me that I started this post with is a valid one. Why do I not mention it in my talks? The reason is that I promote a wholesome complete diet, rich in fruits and vegetables and low in refined grains, potatoes and sugar. If you follow my dietary recommendations, then your body will be naturally alkaline the you will have radiant health available to you. If you eat a modern diet based on convenience and packaged foods with high carbohydrates, then you are damaging your health anyway, and will have an acidic digestive tract plus you will robbing your own body parts of minerals to keep your blood at the correct pH.
The bottom line is that if you address only the acid/alkali balance without changing your diet, you will definitely improve your health in some ways and not in others. If you address your diet as a direct path to radiant health then you will also correct any acid/alkali imbalances.
There are some cases where tools such as alkaline water and alkaline additions (drops) to your food are of benefit. That is if you have a compromised digestive system through illness or have to eat institutionalized food. The elderly living in group homes are one such case where the food they eat is high in carbohydrates and low in vegetables and fruits. Changing the acid/alkali balance by changing your diet is almost instantaneous. However if your body has been to acid for a period of time, it is necessary to build up your reserves of minerals which may take time and some assistance by drinking alkaline water may be beneficial.
David Gore Graham
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing
Cholesterol Lowering Foods – Correct Approach but the Wrong Focus!
July 29th 2009 by David Gore Graham B.Sc.
I have received a few questions of late asking which foods will reduce your cholesterol. Today I want to discuss why reducing your cholesterol using foods is the correct approach but the wrong focus.
That you are searching for cholesterol lowering foods means that you are concerned with your cardiovascular health.
The reason that I believe it is the correct approach, is that eating correctly, along with increased exercise, must be your primary focus in restoring your cardiovascular health, rather than taking prescription drugs with their myriad side effects. The foods that you can eat that specifically lower cholesterol, also directly affect your overall health in a very positive way, and help reduce the inflammation (as measured by the C-Reactive Protein CRP) that is the real cause of most degenerative health problems we face today including cardiovascular disease. These foods include:
1. Oily fish, such as sardines, which increases the amount of omega-3 fatty acid in your body that directly influence the inflammation
2. Rolled Oats – not the precooked versions that line the supermarket shelves
3. Virgin Olive Oil – use in preference to other vegetable oils.
The reason I believe this is an incorrect focus is because multiple studies carried out over the last few years have shown that cholesterol is not the cause of cardiovascular problems no matter what the “experts” say. As many people who die from heart disease have normal cholesterol levels as have elevated cholesterol. Cholesterol is a symptom of some underlying condition, not the cause. It is this underlying condition that is also the cause of the cardiovascular disease and leads to usually inflammation and/or metabolic syndrome.
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Furthermore, cutting out foods that are high in cholesterol will mean avoiding foods that are very high in nutrition that will directly benefit your health immensely. A typical example is eggs, which contain some very important compounds that are really good for you health – such as leutin that helps protect your eyes, your heart, prevent cancer, prevent arthritis, your skin, plus other benefits too numerous to mention.
That cholesterol is made the “bad guy” is a conspiracy of the medical/pharmaceutical complex. Nine of the experts on the panel in the US that recently recommended reducing cholesterol to a minimum have connections, and make money from, the pharmaceutical companies producing the statin drugs they recommend you take.
Cholesterol is a normal and important part of the function of your body. Cholesterol is necessary for the repair and creation of cells in the body. The reason it is elevated is that it is being transported to your tissues to repair damage caused by the inflammation. That is why it is elevated. Lowering it abnormally with Statin drugs will create other problems that can actually increase the danger of heart attacks. Statin drugs depress the production by the liver of the very important vitamin CoQ10. One of the jobs of CoQ10 is to protect the heart muscle. Taking statin drugs will actually increase the risk of heart attacks. Also lowering cholesterol below normal levels will affect the brain. All, and I mean everybody, who is taking statin drugs will suffer some loss of cognitive function.
I suggest that you take the nutrition route beyond just cholesterol reducing foods and address the underlying cause. Don’t focus solely on lowering your cholesterol. Here are some things you can do that will improve your health dramatically at the same time increasing your life span:
1. Get plenty of exercise – both aerobic and resistance. At least 25 minutes per day and, at least twice a week, enough effort to make you break out in a sweat.
2. Alter your diet to reduce complex carbohydrates – refined grains such as bread, cookies, cakes, rice, etc., potatoes in all their forms, sugar in all its forms (this includes soft drinks).
3. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables.
4. Reduce the amount of vegetable oils in your diet and increase oils that contain Omega-3 such as fish oils. The best source is a can of sardines twice a week (pour of the oil they are packed in).
5. Do the emotional work required to reduce your stress levels.
6. Increase your vitamin D levels by getting more exposure to the sun – don’t listen to those that say sun exposure will cause cancer – sunburn causes cancer and a lack of sun on your body will cause heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
7. Reduce caffeinated drinks and alcohol consumption.
David Gore Graham
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing
I like the perspective you have on Cholesterol. Despite all of the negative connotations, cholesterol is necessary for the proper functioning of the body. In fact your body can synthesize up to 1,500 milligrams of cholesterol a day (almost the amount in 10 eggs) using it for a number of crucial functions.
The 7 tips to increase heart health are something everyone should take note of to live a vibrant life.
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Insulin Resistance – Are you Heading for a Premature Death?
July 29th, 2009 by David Gore Graham B.Sc.
Insulin resistance, also known as metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes, is causing an epidemic of immense proportions, and may cause you to suffer an early death. This epidemic is growing alarmingly. Diabetes has increase 700% in the last 50 years.
Are you suffering from Insulin Resistance and don’t even know it? Many of you are suffering from this silent killer in our midst that we are taking more and more for granted.
Do you know that 25%, that is 1 in 4, people in our population have insulin resistant and as a result they are suffering from per-diabetes or diabetes. Do you know that another 25% of our population is at risk for insulin resistance? This means at least half the population alive today will most likely suffer from insulin resistance and will die on average 15 years earlier than they normally would if they did not have it. I state at least half but the reality is much more severe. Assuming the increase in diabetes continues at the same rate it has of late, I would estimate that within 20 years at least 75% of the population would be suffering from Insulin Resistance. Many of those that are not yet at risk, will be, as they get older. If this does not frighten you as it frightens me then I don’t know what will.
The first sign that you too may be suffering from insulin resistance is that you will be putting on excess weight, especially around you middle. The simplest way to discover if you are insulin resistant, or at risk for it, is to measure your waistline when you get up in the morning. If you are a male and your waist is over 37inches (94cm) then you have a mild risk. If you are a woman and your waist is over 31.5 inches (80cm) then you also have a mild risk. Add 5 inches or 8 cm to these numbers for serious risk. Due the increase in the incidence of diabetes, most of those at risk can expect to become afflicted as they get older.
What I want to share with you today is that this epidemic is not your fault as we have collectively been led down this path by the accepted food pyramid issued by our government and other associated misinformation. Thankfully, if it is not too late, insulin resistance can be reversed surprising quickly by changing your diet and lifestyle. As the three main killers (cancer, cardiovascular disease, complications of prescription drugs) in our society today are brought about in the main by insulin resistance, it is important that you take steps today.
The cause of insulin resistance is our modern diet and lifestyle. The supermarket shelves are groaning under the weight of packaged and convenience foods. The advertisements on the television are continually promoting fast foods, sugary sodas, and sweet salty fatty snacks. These may be inexpensive in price but will ultimately cost you your health. Did you know that the main source of calories in the US population comes from soft drinks?
Do you believe that carbohydrates, such as grains, potatoes and sugary foods, are the main source of energy for the body? Many do and this is a very dangerous myth. Man evolved to get his energy from fats, not carbohydrates. The current food pyramid with its message that you should get 40% of your nutrition from carbohydrates is killing you.
Our bodies were never designed to eat large quantities these complex carbohydrates. We don’t have the mechanism in the body to manage them on this scale. What happens when you frequently consume of complex carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises abnormally and your cells become resistant to the hormone insulin. You then get on a roller coaster where you crave sugar, eat more, crave more, etc. You put on weight, especially around your tummy. The continually high blood sugar causes inflammation in you body leading to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and many other degenerative diseases.
Conventional medical practitioners do not understand this situation and how to treat it. Typical recommendations, such as reducing cholesterol, or having you take insulin, actually make the problem worse and cause more people to die prematurely.
The solution is to take your healing into your own hands and make diet and lifestyle changes to rectify the problem. As I describe in my book, Wellbeing Matters, I recommend the following:
1. Reduce you consumption of complex carbohydrates. That is refined bread, cakes, cookies, and snacks made with flour; cut out or dramatically reduce potatoes, do not eat sugary foods or sweetened drinks.
2. Increase your exercise. Exercise daily for at least 30 minutes and do enough exercise to raise a sweat two or three times a week.
3. Reduce your intake of vegetable oil (margarine, spreads, salad, soy, safflower, sunflower, canola, etc.), replace with butter, pure virgin olive oil, and coconut oil.
4. Eat only whole grains if at all.
5. Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables – preferably grown organically.
6. Increase your intake of Omega-3 oil – from oily fish or krill.
7. Drink at least 6 glasses of pure water every day.
8. Breathe deeply and fully all the time.
For more information I suggest to read my book Wellbeing Matters where where a clear regime to combat this hidden killer is clearly described.
David Gore Graham
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing
I’m so glad I found this site…Keep up the good work I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say GREAT blog. Thanks,
It is always fascinating to me how there is always something new to discover even in a area of knowledge that I believe I know well. In the case of good fats and bad fats, I have recently learned that not all forms of the essential fatty acid Omega-3 are equal. This will be of interest to anyone who desires radiant health.
Some background first. Commentators on health and wellbeing have universally been advocating that you increase your consumption of the Essential Fatty Acid (EFA) Omega-3 and decrease the consumption of the EFA Omega-6. Thus increasing good fats and decreasing bad fats. Having the correct amounts of these EFAs is really important to protect yourself from inflammation. Inflammation is thought by many to be the real cause of the degenerative diseases that are the main causes of death today, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. There is also a clear implication that inflammation is the cause of other non fatal chronic degenerative diseases such as arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, etc. At last the American Heart Association is beginning to recognize this reality, and to move away from their stance that a high fat diet is the cause of heart disease , and accept that the real cause is inflammation.
In ancient times the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 in the human body was 1:2 or 1:3 at most. This means ancient man consumed at most 3 times as much Omega-6 as Omega-3. These are known as Essential Fatty Acids because they cannot be created in the body, and must be consumed as food. Sources of Omega-3 are rare. Although there is a small amount in walnuts, free range eggs, meat from grass fed animals, and in diary products made from milk from grass fed cows, the major source throughout millennia has been oily fish. A more modern source is flax seeds and chia seeds.
The source of Omega-6 in our diet is from vegetable oils. As I recommend in my book Wellbeing Matters, it is as important to reduce your consumption of these oils and thus reduce your Omega-6 levels, as it is to increase your omega-3 intake. These oils are typically corn, soy, canola, safflower and sunflower oil. As long as there is enough of both, it is the ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 that is important, not the amounts. So to have radiant health you need to increase your Omega-3 intake and decrease your Omega-6 by using olive oil, butter and coconut oil for cooking and salads instead of the oils mentioned above. Also it is a must to reduce convenience foods as they are nearly always cooked with these oils.
So where should you get your Omega-3? The problem with fish today is that they are a dwindling resource thanks to over fishing, and that they are often contaminated with heavy metals such as mercury. I have been advocating flax seeds as the best source of Omega-3, however they must be ground up before eating and consumed within fifteen minutes of grinding to prevent them going rancid. Chia seeds are more expensive but have the benefit of not having to be ground up and they don’t go rancid. Chia seeds where known as a high energy food by the Inca’s who use them for sustenance on long journeys.
What I discovered very recently is that Omega-3 from flaxseeds and chia seeds do not give you the same benefits as Omega-3 from fish. Here’s the scoop. Omega-3 comes in three different forms which are ALA (α-linolenic acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid). In flax seeds and chia seeds the majority of the Omega-3 is ALA. In fish Omega-3 is in the form of EPA and DHA. The most beneficial types of Omega-3 are EPA and DHA. It was thought by others and myself that our livers would convert the ALA to EPA and DHA as shown in the diagram below.
However numerous studies in Canada and elsewhere paint a different picture. It turns out the conversion rate is very poor. Almost zero in men and about 10% in women, and it also varies between individuals. As EPA and DHA are the more important forms of Omega-3 it seems the only significant sources is from fish or from Omega-e enriched eggs, that are enriched by feeding the hens flax seeds, are also high in EPA and HDA as the chickens convert the ALA efficiently.
Thus I now recommend that you do one or all of the following. Eat a tin of Portuguese sardines twice a week (pour away the oil that they are packed in); or eat some wild oily fish (not farmed so no Atlantic Salmon) twice a week (Halibut, Herring, Mackerel, Orange Roughy, Wild Salmon, Sardines, Tuna are particularly high in Omega-3); or take a fish oil supplement that is molecular distilled to remove the heavy metals; or take a krill supplement; or eat Omega-3 enriched eggs. This is especially important for pregnant women and any one who is overweight or suffering from some degenerative disease.
David Gore Graham
Author of Wellbeing Matters - A Personal Guide to Radiant Health and Wellbeing.
Tags: ALA, DHA, EPA, Omega-3, Omega-6, sardines, Essential Fatty Acids, oily fish
An attendee at one of my talks, who is a vegan, brought to my attention an Omega-3 supplement that contains specifically HDA and EPA that does not come from animals. It is extracted from algae grown expressly for the purpose. What I did not mention above, but discuss in my book, is that fish don't themselves manufacture omega-3 oils. They get it from the algae they eat. Similarly ancient man would get omega-3 from the animals they ate who would have absorbed it by eating some algae. Thus this supplement is perfect for vegans. Thank you Melanie. Just search on the internet for "Vegetarian EPA & DHA" and you will find the product.
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