Dr Mark Hyman podcast interview with Kelly Noonan Gores on The HEAL Podcast

 This  has such Great information, I had to share it! 

Here is the description from Kelly's The HEAL Podcast:

Dr. Mark Hyman is a practicing family physician and an internationally recognized leader, speaker, 14 times New York Times bestselling author, educator, and advocate in the field of Functional Medicine. He has devoted his life to helping others discover optimal health by addressing the root causes of chronic disease through the power of functional medicine. Dr. Hyman believes that our biggest risk factor for disease, disability, and death is our diet, with the western diet being among the most detrimental to our health.

Today, I sit with Dr. Hyman to discuss his latest book, The Pegan Diet and how food is medicine, which can heal or harm. We break down the issues with dairy, wheat, and meat, and delve into many of the common misconceptions surrounding food as a whole. By making the right choices in our food (which can be done on a budget!) we can reverse chronic disease and heal our bodies, ultimately inviting us to see and use our local grocery store as a FARMACY.

12 Ways to Improve Your Circulation for Healthy Blood Flow, According to Doctors

This is a partial reprint of an article by Krissy Brady on Prevention.com, a list of a dozen natural ways to improve circulation. Visit the article to see all the details. 

My personal interest in healthy circulation is due to gum recession. I don't yet know if this will help, but dehydration and poor circulation can affect teeth and gums, and I believe that incorporating some of these ideas - I've been rather lazy of late - will not only improve overall wellness, but help my gums as well. 

What is Your WHY for wanting to improve your circulation? When you have a WHY, you are more likely to start a plan and stick with it. So, go for it! 

1 - Go on regular walks.

“Contraction of the calf muscles causes venous blood to be pushed back up to the heart,” says Misty Humphries, M.D., a board-certified vascular surgeon and associate professor of vascular surgery in Sacramento, CA. “The arteries dilate when patients walk and improve blood flow all throughout the body.” 

2 - Take more work breaks

Do your best to take stretch breaks every 15 to 20 minutes, and get-up-and-go breaks from sitting every hour—even if it’s just a power walk around your home.

3 - Eat more fruits and veggies

Besides reducing your sugar and fatty food intake to steer clear of high blood pressure, plaque formation, and diabetes, adding more fruits and veggies to your repertoire leads to more nitrates and other compounds in your diet, says Dr. Patel, which your body then uses to create nitric oxide—a chemical compound we exhale that boosts blood flow by relaxing blood vessels.

4 - Stay Hydrated

“Your blood is about half water, so staying well-hydrated will help keep it moving,” says Dr. Patel. When you’re dehydrated, not only does the amount of blood circulating through your body decrease, but your blood retains more sodium, causing it to thicken and making it that much harder for your circulatory system to do its thing.

5 - Quit smoking

Smoking causes a build-up of plaque in your arteries that can ultimately lead to peripheral artery disease (PAD). 

6 - Manage your blood pressure

Exercising, cutting back on sodium, and reducing stress are some of the lifestyle factors that can help lower your blood pressure and improve your circulation in the process. 

7 - Control your blood sugar

Elevated glucose levels can cause damage to the lining of your small blood vessels and this can mess with your circulation.

 8 - Wear compression socks

Wear compression socks from morning to evening to steadily squeeze your legs so your veins can move blood more efficiently. 

9 - Elevate your legs

Elevating your legs (at or above heart level) improves blood flow to the rest of your body by keeping the blood from pooling in your lower legs. “When you elevate your legs it helps take the pressure off your veins, since they don’t have to work against gravity to get blood back to the heart,” says Dr. Patel.

10 - Drink green tea

Green tea contains catechins, which are compounds that help to improve blood vessel function.

11 - Take it easy on the booze

“Alcohol consumption at levels above one to two drinks per day is associated with high blood pressure,”

12 - Finally, have a family meeting 

“Even without classic risk factors, your genetics and family history play a key role in plaque development.”

Fat-Soluble Vitamins

 

I was in a conversation with a friend the other day talking about vitamins, and she said something like, 'Well, if I get too much Vitamin D, I'll just pee it out.' I said, 'No, your body stores it!' 

And that, in a nutshell, is the major difference between water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. The important piece being that you won't likely have too much of a water-soluble vitamin in your body, but you can accumulate high amounts of fat-soluble vitamins and that may be harmful. 

I've shared information from Fat-Soluble Vitamins: A, D, E, and K - 9.315 from Colorado State University  The authors are J. Clifford and A. Kozil. Please read the article as it contains quite a bit of excellent information I've not included here like quantity needed and signs of deficiency. 

Here is the basic info:

• Small amounts of vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K are needed to maintain good  health.
• Fat-soluble vitamins will not be lost when the foods that contain them are cooked.
• The body does not need these vitamins every day and stores them in the liver and adipose  (fat) tissue when not used.
• Megadoses of vitamins A, D, E or K can be toxic and lead to health problems.
• Requirements for vitamins may be expressed in different mathematical units. Close attention should be paid to ensure that similar units are being compared.

As stated, the vitamins that area stored in your body are A, D, E, and K. 

Vitamin A sources are dairy and fish. Also, your body converts beta-carotene to Vitamin A, so carrots, pumpkins, squash, and other orange vegetables, as well as dark green leafy vegetables are good sources.

Vitamin D sources are mainly sunlight - your body makes this vitamin when skin is exposed to sun.  [Other sources state about 20 minutes daily of sun exposure without sunblock will suffice to make an adequate amount of this important vitamin.]  Food sources can be fortified dairy products, oily fish, and cod liver oil. This source recommends exposure to sunlight without sunblock for 10 to 15 minutes twice a week. Vitamin D is extremely important to a strong immune system. 

Vitamin E sources are fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains, and sunflower seeds. 

Vitamin K food sources are green, leafy vegetables like spinach, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. 

Here is another excellent website article containing information on fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins as well as micronutrients: Vitamins and Minerals Are You Getting What You Need  - A Harvard Health Article. 

Healthy Benefits of Dehydrated Fruits - Do It Yourself

 These are 10 benefits of dehydrated fruits identified by Food N Health. 

1 - Great source of nutrients

2 - Light on the stomach

3 - Easy to digest

4 - Source of instant energy

5 - Delicious

6 - Antioxidants

7 - Rich in Fiber

8 - Rich in calories

9 - Improves immunity

10 - No preservatives 

Number 10 is my personal favorite and the reason I do my own dehydrating. 

As I write, I have a batch of pears in my dehydrator. Above is a photo of strawberries and bananas I did yesterday. 

The berries are very sweet, and the bananas taste like candy. If you want a sweet and healthy treat for yourself and your family - especially kids! - you'll want to take advantage of this! 

It takes a while to dehydrate, anywhere from 4 to 10 hours depending on the density of the fruit, but the nice part is, once you have them set on the trays and turn it on, you can ignore it for the rest of the day! 

Another thing I've make in the past is croutons, plain, garlic, and cheese. Again, very simple, prep and forget for a few hours. 

It's actually pretty relaxing to do this, and you can feel satisfied in the knowledge you're doing something good for yourself, and your family if you have one, and your friends if you share - my friends love getting little jars of my dried fruits! They make sweet holiday treats! 

Here is a link to a dehydrator, the same brand I use but mine is an older model no longer available. This one has an excellent rating! 

The connection between inflammation, red (mammal) meat, and NEU5GC

The information in the first 40 minutes of this interview of Dr Roger Seheult with Lewis Howes is pure gold. It's rather long at 1:53:35 and covers many topics relating to health. 

We know we have an inflammation problem in the U. S. and we've been told that red meat can be a cause, but never before have I heard How and Why red meat can be a culprit. Dt Seheult does a fine job explaining it. He talks about a gene called neu5gc and why it's a problem. 

I did a bit of additional research and found these two related articles. See if they apply to you; not all information will, but it's worth researching. 

Neu5gc, Red Meat, and Human Disease:Part I

Neu5gc and Autoimmunity: Hashimoto's Hypothyroidism

Statin Crazy: Don't Be Duped by Their Newest "Benefit"

It is known, though not well known, that one of the reasons your liver makes and sends additional cholesterol to accumulate in your arteries is because there is potential arterial damage afoot. Cholesterol acts like a bandage on an area of arterial inflammation. Removing cholesterol without addressing the cause of inflammation is like removing the bandage from an open wound leaving it vulnerable. (By the way, typically, you ingest 20% or less of your cholesterol from food. If your cholesterol is high, one of the reasons could be because your liver is working to protect your arteries. Statin drugs subvert the normal, natural function of your liver as it works to protect your arteries.)

Here, briefly, is how statin drugs work. The following paragraph was taken from an interview posted at the Mayo Clinic website: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/statin-drugs/CL00035 with Mayo Clinic cardiologist Gerald Gau, M.D.

"Dr. Gau: Statins work directly in the liver. There is a system in our liver that produces cholesterol. Cholesterol is necessary in our body, and the statin mechanism, it creates bile — it's one of the mechanisms of bile creation — and bile is necessary in our digestion and absorption. So the liver makes cholesterol to make this happen. It can also remove cholesterol from the blood for this purpose. Statins work by attacking in the liver the enzyme system that produces the cholesterol in the liver. And that forces the liver cells to pull it from the blood and thereby lowers your cholesterol. And so our cholesterol comes down because we stop the production in the liver."

I ask you, Is this what God and Nature intended? Sure isn't holistic, and sure hasn't addressed the reason for the high cholesterol in the first place, and sure has not admitted that high cholesterol really is not a marker for heart disease anyway (see information from the Framingham Study http://bewellwithmichelle.blogspot.com/2009/03/high-cholesterol-from-your-food-not.html ), and that the side-effects of the drugs can be worse than having high cholesterol.

There is an enormous mound of misinformation on the high-cholesterol vs statin-drug topic, and I hope that the article below will help clear up some of those points. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Statin Crazy: Don't Be Duped by Their Newest "Benefit"

Reprinted from Bottom Line Secrets newsletter of March 26, 2010

By Mark A. Stengler, NMD
La Jolla Whole Health Clinic

Statins have gotten a lot of press. Researchers made headlines when they found that rosuvastatin (Crestor), a cholesterol-lowering drug, reduced the risk for heart attack and stroke in people who had normal cholesterol and high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a sign of inflammation. The recent JUPITER trial (which stands for Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) was lauded as a breakthrough. The findings were found to be so positive that the trial was cut short -- to allow even the placebo group to receive the purported cardiovascular benefits of the drug. We are accustomed to thinking about statins in terms of lowering cholesterol, but this study caused some cardiologists to think statins -- already a best-selling class of drugs -- should be prescribed even more widely.

Ready to get a prescription? Hold on. In my opinion, the researchers duped other doctors and their patients. In terms of statistics, Crestor did reduce the risk for a heart attack or stroke by half, but in terms of real-world risk, only one person out of 120 actually would benefit from the drug as the trial indicated. Worse, 25% more patients taking Crestor developed type 2 diabetes compared with the placebo group, a fact that was not widely reported.

If there is anything useful resulting from this study, it is that mainstream medicine recognized the importance of CRP and the role of inflammation in heart disease. This is a topic that holistic physicians have been talking about for years. I wrote about inflammation and heart disease in the very first issue of Bottom Line Natural Healing back in 2005.

Statins may reduce symptoms of heart disease by lowering cholesterol and inflammation, but they do not address the source of the inflammation, as natural therapies do. Although statins have a place in the conventional treatment of patients, including those with a history of heart attack or very high CRP levels, they are expensive -- costing hundreds of dollars a year -- and can cause serious side effects, such as muscle pain and damage, fatigue, liver and kidney damage, diabetes and memory impairment. They may even increase cancer risk.

Important: Most of us can lower CRP levels naturally by losing weight if we need to and by exercising if we don’t already do so. But perhaps the most powerful factor influencing inflammation is what we eat. We also can supplement with specific nutrients to further reduce inflammation.


The Inflammation Connection

About 10 years ago, Harvard University physicians demonstrated that chronic low-grade inflammation throughout the body could damage blood vessels and was a better indicator of risk for cardiovascular disease than cholesterol. The researchers developed a laboratory test for CRP to measure low-grade inflammation in the body. An elevated CRP level doesn’t just affect the heart. It hurts the whole body. Several years ago, a health author whom I know and respect, Jack Challem, wrote The Inflammation Syndrome. He described how "every disease, every ache and every pain... revolves around inflammation... " and how many inflammatory diseases are related to one another. For example, having periodontal disease (which inflames the gums) or rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis increases heart disease risk. Similarly, being overweight or having type 2 diabetes increases CRP levels and heart disease risk.


Diet Comes first

To reduce inflammation, it’s best to start with what you eat. Your body makes both inflammation-promoting and inflammation-fighting substances called eicosanoids, compounds derived mostly from the fats you eat. Consuming a lot of sweets and unhealthful oils, such as corn, safflower and soybean oils, and trans fats found in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils ramps up the body’s inflammatory eicosanoids. In other words, junk food increases inflammation.

However, if you consume fish (the best choices are cold-water types, including salmon, trout and sardines), free-range meats and health-promoting cooking oils (such as extra-virgin olive oil, macadamia nut oil and avocado oil), you can increase your body’s production of anti-inflammatory eicosanoids. Eating a lot of vegetables, such as romaine lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower, and fruits, such as blueberries, raspberries and kiwifruit, also helps maintain normal CRP levels. These foods are high in fiber and rich in antioxidants, nutrients that neutralize harmful molecules called free radicals.

Make sure that the vast majority of foods you eat are fresh -- not out of a box, can or jar. You’ll be avoiding packaged foods, most of which have been adulterated with added sugars, salt, refined carbohydrates and unhealthful fats.


Supplements THAT HELP

For many people, healthful eating habits are not enough to lower CRP levels. Some of my patients have greater needs for specific anti-inflammatory nutrients.

First step: Insist that your doctor measure your CRP level annually. Ask for the high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) test, the newest form of the test. It’s a simple blood test and relatively inexpensive (about $25 to $50). Some insurers will cover the test.

Multivitamin. Several studies have found that taking a multivitamin can lead to impressive reductions in CRP. One study conducted at the Cooper Institute in Dallas showed that a daily multivitamin lowered CRP by 14% after six months.

Many individual vitamins, including vitamins C and E, have been shown to reduce CRP. Niacin (a form of vitamin B-3) also lowers CRP.

Important: While many individual vitamins are beneficial, I recommend a multivitamin because it contains numerous vitamins that can reduce inflammation.


Omega-3 fish oils. The omega-3s form the biochemical basis of some of the body’s anti-inflammatory eicosanoids. They benefit cardiovascular health in a number of ways, including mildly thinning the blood, slowing the heart rate, lowering levels of triglycerides and improving blood vessel flexibility. Look for fish oil that contains both eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

One good choice: Krill oil, a type of fish oil made from shrimplike crustaceans. Krill oil contains the antioxidant astaxanthin, which also is good for the heart.


Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). This essential fatty acid in plant oil is the principal anti-inflammatory compound in the omega-6 family of fats. It works by shifting a major part of the omega-6 biochemistry from inflammatory to anti-inflammatory activity. In the process, it increases production of anti-inflammatory eicosanoids. GLA and fish oils are synergistic -- they work better together than either on its own.


Curcumin. This extract of the spice turmeric, common in South Asian cuisines, blocks inflammation. More than 2,000 studies have documented the benefits of curcumin for such inflammatory diseases as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. It also may prevent cardiac hypertrophy, a type of enlarged heart. Given the anti-inflammatory nature of curcumin, research is likely to uncover more heart-healthy benefits.


Pycnogenol. This proprietary ingredient, extracted from the bark of French maritime pine trees, has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. It has been shown to improve circulation, to work as a mild blood thinner and to reduce the need for angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor drugs that are used to treat high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.


Vitamin D. Half of Americans are deficient in vitamin D. A recent study in Archives of Internal Medicine found that men with low vitamin D levels were two and one-half times more likely to die during the next eight years than those with the highest levels.


Red yeast rice extract. This is one of my favorite supplements because it can lower levels of CRP and LDL (bad) cholesterol. It is sold at most health-food stores and contains trace levels of a naturally occurring statin compound. In these small quantities -- a fraction of what’s in drugs -- statins are safe. Studies have found that red yeast rice extract can lower CRP levels by up to 50%. Statins (perhaps even natural ones, such as red yeast rice extract) are known to deplete coenzyme Q10, an antioxidant necessary for heart health. If you take red yeast rice extract, supplement daily with 100 mg of coenzyme Q10.


About the author:Mark A. Stengler, NMD, a naturopathic medical doctor and leading authority on the practice of alternative and integrated medicine. He is editor of Bottom Line’s Natural Healing newsletter, author of The Natural Physician’s Healing Therapies (Bottom Line Books), director of the La Jolla Whole Health Clinic in La Jolla, California, and adjunct clinical professor at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. To learn more about his work, visit www.drstengler.com and www.lajollawholehealth.com.

Avoid genetically-modified foods with these NON-GMO Shopping Guides

These printable guides, compiled by the Center For Food Safety, help you avoid foods made with genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

To learn more about the risks associated with GMOs, visit the Center For Food Safety website at www.centerforfoodsafety.org

The guides are organized by food group, and list the brands of foods stated by the processor to be free of genetically-modified ingredients as well as the brands that may contain GMOs. I printed my guide and keep it in the car so it's handy when I go shopping. Of course, I buy organic as much as possible, but the guides are very handy when organic products are not available.


This booklet is small print, eight pages
http://truefoodnow.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/web_new-ge-booklet.pdf


This booklet is large print, sixteen pages
http://www.responsibletechnology.org/DocumentFiles/144.pdf

Creative Health Tip 19 October 2009

I have a wonderful teaching for you today about Nature. The direction this came from is somewhat unusual, but that’s the thing about Wisdom; you just never know what direction it’s going to come from, so always keep your eyes and ears open!

I am doing some editing for a friend of mine who I’ll call Richard since that’s his name. Richard is a retired Doctor of Chiropractic who now devotes his time to his Golden Bridge Seminars where he shares the wisdom Abraham as channeled by Esther Hicks who writes books and travels with her husband Jerry.

One of the main teachings of Abraham is to “go with the flow,” or “go downstream.” To get what you want out of life, to be where you want to be and in the circumstances and relationships and prosperity and places that are right for you, you do not need to struggle. Struggling is considered to be going upstream. You paddle and paddle and struggle and struggle, and where does it really get you? Nowhere.

Now, the reason I mention Richard today is that I am editing a manuscript for him. There is a miracle described in there, and you are going to have to read the book to learn what that is, but meanwhile….

While working on his manuscript, I came across a simple sentence that leapt off the page and just sort of hit me right between the eyes. I don’t know if this philosophy came to Richard before or after his interest in the Abraham-Hicks teachings manifested, but if it were before, I certainly can understand his attraction to the Abraham teachings and the Law of Attraction.

Richard’s philosophy is simple, and – as these things often are – simply profound: “Nature needs no help, just no interference.”

Just think about that for a moment and how it could relate to your health. Your wellness is in the hands of your immune system. Think about the ways you may be interfering with Nature and compromising your immune system by being exposed to household chemicals, eating an unhealthy diet, and living a stressed-out lifestyle. Certainly, none of those are in alignment or harmony with Nature or her “go with the flow, go downstream” advice.

As a Doctor of Chiropractic, Richard’s main interest was wellness, and his philosophy is a perfect reflection of his belief, and certainly aligns with the Abraham teachings as well!

If you are floating downstream, you are not “helping” Nature by paddling, and likewise, if you are floating you are not interfering with or hampering your harmony with Nature. Floating means letting Nature take its course

In the area of wellness, what this means is that when your body’s immune system, which is Nature’s way of keeping you healthy, is operating at peak efficiency, it can handle any disease to which you are exposed, either externally such as the flu or strep throat, or internally such as cancer or even arthritis. It is only when Nature – meaning your immune system – is compromised that you fall prey to disease.

If you want real wellness, there are two things you should do. First: Expect miracles, for that is how you create them. Second: Don’t get in Mother Nature’s way when she’s working to restore your health! Support your immune system by getting enough sleep, eating healthy, organic foods, and minimizing the stress that suppresses proper immune system function.

Seriously, I am going to post this statement where I can see it and be reminded of its wisdom every day, and I hope you do, too!

Remember: “Nature needs no help, just no interference.”

Thank you, Richard, for that!


Have a great week!

Creative Health Tip 14 August 2009

This week, I am sharing a video with you from the Abraham-Hicks selection on YouTube. The topic is weight loss, and in terms of Creative Health, the advice given by Abraham through Esther Hicks certainly offers the best in Mind-Body Creation of a healthy attitude toward food and the attainment of your perfect weight: it has to be in the mind before it can manifest in the body!

Here is the description of the video:

"Abraham, translated by Esther Hicks, responds to a question from a woman has tried every diet, done every exercise, and still cannot lose weight.

"Sidestepping the usual - and often frustrating - approaches to the problem, Abraham lays the foundation of a mental attitude that brings to bear the power of Law of Attraction to create the most effective technique ever presented for losing weight.

"Excerpted from the 2 hour and 20 minute program "Think And Get Slim: Natural Weight Loss" which is available on DVD and CD from Abraham-Hicks.

"Recorded September 8, 2006 in San Antonio, TX."

If you are in Bend, Oregon and would like to learn about local Abraham-Hicks gatherings and workshops, please visit the website of Golden Bridge Seminars at http://www.goldenbridgeseminars.com/


Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Creative Health Tip 10 July 2009

The problem with uploading complete .avi format videos at YouTube has been fixed, so today's video is of a better quality than the last few which had to be converted before being uploaded! Yay!

Today's Creative Health Tip is about Mind Movies

Mind Movies are something that's become very popular recently. A Mind Movie is a motivational and creative tool. Usually, it's a three to five minute video that runs like a slide-show, displaying pictures and affirmations designed to evoke positive desires and enthusiastic emotions which are the key to creating your reality. They include upbeat music to enhance the experience and further boost your feelings of desire and intention to manifest and experience the things you want to create in your life.

To manifest prosperity, for example, they often include pictures of expansive mansions and fabulous cars and exotic vacation locations interspersed with affirmations such as "I have enough money for everything I want" and "I have my dream home" and so on.

Of course there are Mind Movies for health, too, with pictures of people enjoying various healthy and athletic activities like swimming, hiking, even skydiving! The affirmations are usually something like, "I feel rejuvenated" and "I always feel physically great" and "I eat only nutritious food" and so on. There are pictures of healthy foods, too!

There are fancy, professional versions, but you can easily make your own Mind Movie with your own pictures in just a few minutes. Create a new folder on your computer and copy or drag-and-drop into it pictures you want to manifest or recreate. For example, if you would like to lose weight, include pictures of happy, thin people and nutritious foods, and activities you would enjoy doing when you are thin.

If you would like to feel more energetic, put in pictures of people enjoying various physical activities. For an even better Mind Movie experience, put into the folder pictures of you when you were thin, or pictures of yourself enjoying an activity like playing golf or hiking, or any activity you would like to have the energy to do.

To manifest general health or to counteract a chronic health condition, include pictures of yourself as a healthy, vibrant, enthusiastic person, the person you want to be!

To enjoy your Mind Movie, you may play any music that is on your computer – in iTunes or another music folder, or even play a CD or iPod as you watch your Movie. Make sure the music is fun, upbeat, "feel-good" music! This will run in the background.

To start your slide-show, open the folder that contains your pictures and double click on the first one. This will open in a picture viewing program. If it does not start the slide-show automatically, look for an icon or command that will start the slide-show. Your pictures will be displayed in the order they are in the folder.

View your movie for a few minutes at least twice a day. I have heard of some people who watch their movie frequently throughout the day, and they report that they create and manifest their desire just that much faster, so view your movie as frequently as you desire! In this case, more is definitely better!

Have a great weekend!

Michelle

Hormone experts worried about plastics, chemicals

This is a reprint of an article I saw yesterday on Yahoo! Apparently, there is a growing mountain of evidence that the chemical BPA, which is found in some plastic products, is terribly damaging to your health, espcially heart health because of the way it interacts with estrogen.

I have added bold emphasis to the original in places where I believe it is especially important for you to take note of the damaging influence of this chemical which apparenlty has been found in the containers of these products:

Photo source: Milwaukee, Wisconsin "Journal Sentinel" http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/34532034.html

Hormone experts worried about plastics, chemicals

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090611/sc_nm/us_bisphenol

By Maggie Fox, Health And Science Editor – Wed Jun 10, 2009 11:00 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hormone experts said on Wednesday they are becoming worried by a chemical called bisphenol A, which some politicians say they want taken out of products and which consumers are increasingly shunning.

They said they have gathered a growing body evidence to show the compound, also known as BPA, might damage human health. The Endocrine Society issued a scientific statement on Wednesday calling for better studies into its effects.

Studies presented at the group's annual meeting show BPA can affect the hearts of women, can permanently damage the DNA of mice, and appear to be pouring into the human body from a variety of unknown sources.

BPA, used to stiffen plastic bottles, line cans and make smooth paper receipts, belongs to a broad class of compounds called endocrine disruptors.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is examining their safety but there has not been much evidence to show that they are any threat to human health.

"We present evidence that endocrine disruptors do have effects on male and female development, prostate cancer, thyroid disease, cardiovascular disease," Dr. Robert Carey of the University of Virginia, who is president of the Endocrine Society, told a news conference.

The society issued a lengthy scientific statement about the chemicals in general that admits the evidence is not yet overwhelming, but is worrying.

Dr. Hugh Taylor of Yale University in Connecticut found evidence in mice that the compounds could affect unborn pups.

"We exposed some mice to bisphenol A and then we looked at their offspring," Taylor told the news conference.

"We found that even when a they had a brief exposure during pregnancy ... mice exposed to these chemicals as a fetus carried these changes throughout their lives."

The BPA did not directly change DNA through mutations, but rather through a process called epigenetics -- when chemicals attach to the DNA and change its function.

WIDESPREAD EXPOSURE

Taylor noted studies have shown that most people have some BPA in their blood, although the effects of these levels are not clear.

Dr. Frederick Vom Saal of the University of Missouri, who has long studied endocrine disruptors, said tests on monkeys showed the body quickly clears BPA -- which may at first sound reassuring.

But he said when tests show most people have high levels, this suggests they are being repeatedly exposed to BPA.

"We are really concerned that there is a very large amount of bisphenol A that must be coming from other sources," Vom Saal said.

Dr. Scott Belcher of the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and colleagues will tell the meeting they found BPA could affect the heart cells of female mice, sending them into an uneven beating pattern called an arrhythmia.

"These effects are specific on the female heart. The male heart does not respond in this way and we understand why," Belcher said. He said BPA interacts with estrogen and said the findings may help explain why young women are more likely to die when they have a heart attack than men of the same age.

U.S. government toxicologists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences expressed concern last year that BPA may hurt development of the prostate and brain.

A 2008 study by British researchers linked high levels of BPA to heart disease, diabetes and liver-enzyme abnormalities.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Friday Food Pharmacy - Holy Powder To Spice Up Your Life

I know it's not Friday, but I just couldn't help including this one in the Friday Food Pharmacy especially since it has some heavyweight healing and health properties.

The way this spice works is really amazing, and it makes a lot of sense to start using it in more meals!

This is reprinted from the website of Dr. Joseph Mercola.

'Holy Powder' Makes Your Cell Membranes Behave for Better Health

The marigold-colored spice known as turmeric, which is revered in India as "holy powder," has been used for centuries to treat wounds, infections and other health problems. In recent years, there has been increasing research into turmeric's main ingredient, curcumin, and its astonishing array of antioxidant, anti-cancer, antibiotic, antiviral and other properties.

Now, researchers have discovered that curcumin acts by inserting itself into cell membranes and making them more orderly, a move that improves cells' resistance to infection and malignancy.

Scientists had previously speculated that curcumin does its health-promoting work by interacting directly with membrane proteins, but the new findings challenge that notion. Instead, curcumin appears to regulate the action of membrane proteins indirectly, by changing the physical properties of the membrane.

Sources:

Eurekalert March 6, 2009

Journal of the American Chemical Society March 3, 2009

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Turmeric is a yellow spice most often associated with Indian food, curry and yellow mustard, but as research into this powerful spice increases, it’s becoming clear that it may be one of nature’s most powerful potential healers.

Both the ancient Chinese and Indian systems of medicine have recognized turmeric’s beneficial properties for thousands of years, but this new study is the first to show how exactly it does its work.

It appears that curcumin -- the pigment that gives turmeric its yellow-orange color, and which is thought to be responsible for many of its medicinal effects -- is able to “discipline” cells and get them back into working order. When curcumin enters a cell, the study’s lead researcher said:

"The membrane goes from being crazy and floppy to being more disciplined and ordered, so that information that flows through it can be controlled."

This not only improves your cells’ resistance to infections, but it also may help prevent cancer.

Turmeric May be a Potent Cancer Fighter

In India where turmeric is widely used, the prevalence of four common U.S. cancers -- colon, breast, prostate and lung -- is 10 times lower. In fact, prostate cancer, which is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in U.S. men, is rare in India and this is attributed, in part, to turmeric.

Numerous studies have looked into this potential cancer-fighting link, with promising results. For instance, curcumin has been found to:

• Inhibit the proliferation of tumor cells
• Inhibit the transformation of cells from normal to tumor
• Help your body destroy mutated cancer cells so they cannot spread throughout your body
• Decrease inflammation
• Enhance liver function
• Inhibit the synthesis of a protein thought to be instrumental in tumor formation
• Prevent the development of additional blood supply necessary for cancer cell growth

And according to researchers from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, curcumin blocks a key biological pathway needed for development of melanoma and other cancers.

The spice actually stops laboratory strains of melanoma from proliferating and pushes the cancer cells to commit suicide by shutting down nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB), a powerful protein known to induce an abnormal inflammatory response that leads to an assortment of disorders such as arthritis and cancer.

More Reasons to Add More Spice to Your Life

The reason people in India refer to turmeric as “holy powder” is because it has such a broad range of health effects. In fact, curcumin has been shown to influence more than 700 genes, with benefits that include:

• Strengthening and improving your digestion
• Supporting healthy liver function and detoxification
• Purifying your blood
• Fighting cancer, arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease
• Anti-inflammatory properties

Further, evidence suggests turmeric may play a beneficial role in the following diseases:

• Cystic fibrosis
• Type 2 diabetes
• Crohn’s disease
• Psoriasis
• Rheumatoid arthritis

• Cataracts
• Gallstones
• Muscle regeneration
• Inflammatory bowel disease

A Few Turmeric Tips

You can absolutely use turmeric in your cooking, and in case you haven’t tried it, it has a warm, peppery flavor. However, when you do choose a pure turmeric powder, rather than a curry powder, as at least one study has found curry powders tend to contain very little curcumin, compared to turmeric powder.

Be sure to listen to your body as always, and if turmeric is a spice you do not enjoy it may be a sign that it’s not right for your body. If you are not one who enjoys the flavor of curry, you can also get the benefits of turmeric by taking it in a high-quality, organic supplement form.

High cholesterol from your food? Not likely!

Television advertising – and maybe even your doctor – would have you believe that eating foods that contain high amounts of cholesterol highly raise your cholesterol levels.

As it turns out, this is true for rabbits because they lack enzymes necessary for the digestion of fats (1), but very far from true for human beings!

Also, they would have you believe that high cholesterol is the cause of stroke or heart attack. This is far from true, too. Many studies have shown that cholesterol is a poor indication of risk; cholesterol levels do not effectively mark a person for heart disease, and in fact people with low cholesterol levels currently deemed as "healthy" may suffer more health problems that those with levels currently deemed "too high."

Here is an excerpt, bold highlights are my additions:

"In the Framingham heart study done near Boston that spanned 30 years , the researchers concluded that high cholesterol was a risk factor for heart disease, but when one really dissects the data, one must question how they came to that conclusion. For example, when the participants of the study are plotted on a graph it clearly shows that those with cholesterol levels between 182 and 222 did not survive as long as those with higher cholesterol levels of between 222 and 261. The study shows that about half the people with heart disease had low cholesterol, and half the people without heart disease had high cholesterol.

"Most studies have found that for women, high cholesterol is not a risk factor for heart disease at all - in fact, the death rate for women is five times higher in those with very low cholesterol. In a Canadian study that followed 5000 healthy middle-aged men for 12 years, they found that high cholesterol was not associated with heart disease at all. And in another study done at the University Hospital in Toronto that looked at cholesterol levels in 120 men that previously had heart attacks, they found that just as many men that had second heart attacks had low cholesterol levels as those that had high. The Maoris of New Zealand die of heart attacks frequently, irrespective of their cholesterol levels. In Russia, it is low cholesterol levels that are associated with increased heart disease. The Japanese are often cited as an example of a population that eat very little cholesterol and have a very low risk of heart disease. But the Japanese that moved to the US and continued to eat the traditional Japanese diet had heart disease twice as often as those that maintained the Japanese traditions but ate the fatty American diet. This suggests that it is something else, like stress perhaps, that is causing the heart disease."

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Me again: So, perhaps we should take a look at what cholesterol is, where it comes from, and how the body uses it. Below are two articles that should clear up a lot of the misconception.

How the Body Uses Cholesterol by Neil Stone

As a vital part of the body's chemistry, cholesterol is used to produce the steroid hormones required for normal development and functioning. These include the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone in women and testosterone in men. These hormones trigger development of the physical traits characteristic of adult women and men; they also play a role in reproduction.

Other steroid hormones produced from cholesterol include cortisol, which is involved in regulating blood-sugar levels and defending the body against infection, and aldosterone, which is important for retaining salt and water in the body. The body can even use cholesterol to make a significant amount of vitamin D, the vitamin responsible for strong bones and teeth, when the skin is exposed to sunlight.

Cholesterol is also used to make bile, a greenish fluid that is produced by the liver and stored in the gallbladder. The body needs bile to digest foods that contain fat. Bile acts as an emulsifier -- it breaks down large globules of fat into smaller particles so they can mix better with the enzymes that digest fat.

Once the fat is digested, bile helps the body to absorb it. The presence of bile in the intestines is required before cholesterol can be absorbed from foods. The body also needs bile in order to absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, called fat-soluble vitamins, from food or supplements.

Your body has the ability to make al­l the cholesterol it needs for these various functions. A diet that contains animal products, however, also supplies cholesterol to the body. In an effort to balance these two sources of cholesterol, your body adjusts the amount it produces each day.

For example, if you eat many foods from animal sources, your body gets a substantial dose of cholesterol from the diet, called dietary cholesterol; your body then slows down its own production of cholesterol. On the other hand, when most of the foods you eat come from plant sources, your body manufactures more cholesterol in order to meet its needs.

Your body can also eliminate some excess cholesterol through bile. Whenever bile is released into the intestine, a portion of it is absorbed back into the body to be used again. The remaining bile is excreted in the feces. To help maintain the cholesterol balance, the body can dissolve excess cholesterol in the bile and can also convert more cholesterol into bile acids so that the cholesterol will be excreted with the feces.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Neil Stone is a professor of clinical medicine in cardiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University and a practicing internist-cardiologist-lipidologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He also serves as the Medical Director of the Vascular Center for the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. Dr. Stone was a member of the first and third National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panels and a past chairman of the American Heart Association Nutrition Committee and Clinical Affairs Committee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's more on the lack of correlation between high cholesterol foods and your high cholesterol:

Cholesterol Facts: Avoiding Cholesterol in Foods Won't Lower Your Cholesterol by: Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

If you avoid all foods that contain cholesterol, will your high cholesterol return to normal?

It's not that simple. Your blood cholesterol level is influenced far more by how many calories and how much saturated and partially hydrogenated fat you eat, than by how much cholesterol is in your food. Cholesterol is found only in foods from animals, such as meat, fish, chicken, dairy products and eggs. It is not found in plants. More than 80 percent of the cholesterol in your body is made by your liver. Less than 20 percent comes from the food that you eat. When you eat more cholesterol, your liver makes less.

Your liver makes cholesterol from saturated fats, which are found in most foods but are concentrated in meat, poultry and whole-milk dairy products. The saturated fat is broken down by your liver into acetone units. If you are not taking in too many calories, your liver uses the acetone units for energy, but if you are taking in more calories than your body needs, your liver uses these same acetone units to manufacture cholesterol. That explains why eating two eggs a day does not raise blood cholesterol levels in the average American. They are already taking in so much cholesterol from meat, fish and chicken and diary products, that when they take in more, they absorb less.

The average North American takes in 350 mg per day of cholesterol. If he takes in 26 mg per day, he absorbs 41 percent. When he takes in 188 mg cholesterol per day, he absorbs only 36 percent, and when he takes in 421 mg per day (the equivalent of two eggs), he absorbs only 25 percent. Some people absorb more than five times as much as other people at the same intake. So you lower blood cholesterol levels far more effectively by eating less food, less saturated fat and less partially hydrogenated fats than by avoiding foods that contain cholesterol.

About The Author
Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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Me again……so, got it? It's ok to eat meat and eggs, really; in fact, eggs have been knows as "the perfect food" for ages, and they still are! Cholesterol isn't the enemy, and you really need reasonable levels to properly absorb vitamins and minerals so you will be healthy. If your cholesterol levels are pharmaceutically forced too low, you will be sick.

(There is an ad on TV these days with a man telling us he didn't know his high cholesterol could have caused his erectile dysfunction. I have another theory: along with exposure to dietary herbicides and pesticides, the statin drug he takes to lower his cholesterol is interfering with his testosterone levels, and those are the causes of his ED, not his cholesterol level. What do you think?)

The bottom line: Don't overeat – many people do when stressed, and that is a greater danger than eating foods rated high in cholesterol. Eat healthy – try eating according to your Metabolic Type or your Blood Type (I do!) – and definitely eat organic!

This is a joy to read for those of us who believe in holisitc health and wellness.

Four powerhouse alternative health gurus have come together in this article reprinted from The Wall Street Journal to show you that drugs and surgery don't really work, and that nutrition and exercise can reverse many chronic health conditions, including cancer and heart disease.

I have made bold some of the points in the article that I believe are the most important. Otherwise, it is reprinted exactly as found on The Wall Street Journal website - see link below.

JANUARY 9, 2009

'Alternative' Medicine Is Mainstream

The evidence is mounting that diet and lifestyle are the best cures for our worst afflictions.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123146318996466585.html

By DEEPAK CHOPRA , DEAN ORNISH , RUSTUM ROY and ANDREW WEIL

In mid-February, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and the Bravewell Collaborative are convening a "Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public." This is a watershed in the evolution of integrative medicine, a holistic approach to health care that uses the best of conventional and alternative therapies such as meditation, yoga, acupuncture and herbal remedies. Many of these therapies are now scientifically documented to be not only medically effective but also cost effective.

President-elect Barack Obama and former Sen. Tom Daschle (the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services) understand that if we want to make affordable health care available to the 45 million Americans who do not have health insurance, then we need to address the fundamental causes of health and illness, and provide incentives for healthy ways of living rather than reimbursing only drugs and surgery.

Heart disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, breast cancer and obesity account for 75% of health-care costs, and yet these are largely preventable and even reversible by changing diet and lifestyle. As Mr. Obama states in his health plan, unveiled during his campaign: "This nation is facing a true epidemic of chronic disease. An increasing number of Americans are suffering and dying needlessly from diseases such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and HIV/AIDS, all of which can be delayed in onset if not prevented entirely."

The latest scientific studies show that our bodies have a remarkable capacity to begin healing, and much more quickly than we had once realized, if we address the lifestyle factors that often cause these chronic diseases. These studies show that integrative medicine can make a powerful difference in our health and well-being, how quickly these changes may occur, and how dynamic these mechanisms can be.

Many people tend to think of breakthroughs in medicine as a new drug, laser or high-tech surgical procedure. They often have a hard time believing that the simple choices that we make in our lifestyle -- what we eat, how we respond to stress, whether or not we smoke cigarettes, how much exercise we get, and the quality of our relationships and social support -- can be as powerful as drugs and surgery. But they often are. And in many instances, they're even more powerful.

These studies often used high-tech, state-of-the-art measures to prove the power of simple, low-tech, and low-cost interventions. Integrative medicine approaches such as plant-based diets, yoga, meditation and psychosocial support may stop or even reverse the progression of coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, prostate cancer, obesity, hypercholesterolemia and other chronic conditions.

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that these approaches may even change gene expression in hundreds of genes in only a few months. Genes associated with cancer, heart disease and inflammation were downregulated or "turned off" whereas protective genes were upregulated or "turned on." A study published in The Lancet Oncology reported that these changes increase telomerase, the enzyme that lengthens telomeres, the ends of our chromosomes that control how long we live. Even drugs have not been shown to do this.

Our "health-care system" is primarily a disease-care system. Last year, $2.1 trillion was spent in the U.S. on medical care, or 16.5% of the gross national product. Of these trillions, 95 cents of every dollar was spent to treat disease after it had already occurred. At least 75% of these costs were spent on treating chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, that are preventable or even reversible.

The choices are especially clear in cardiology. In 2006, for example, according to data provided by the American Heart Association, 1.3 million coronary angioplasty procedures were performed at an average cost of $48,399 each, or more than $60 billion; and 448,000 coronary bypass operations were performed at a cost of $99,743 each, or more than $44 billion. In other words, Americans spent more than $100 billion in 2006 for these two procedures alone.

Despite these costs, a randomized controlled trial published in April 2007 in The New England Journal of Medicine found that angioplasties and stents do not prolong life or even prevent heart attacks in stable patients (i.e., 95% of those who receive them). Coronary bypass surgery prolongs life in less than 3% of patients who receive it. So, Medicare and other insurers and individuals pay billions for surgical procedures like angioplasty and bypass surgery that are usually dangerous, invasive, expensive and largely ineffective. Yet they pay very little -- if any money at all -- for integrative medicine approaches that have been proven to reverse and prevent most chronic diseases that account for at least 75% of health-care costs. The INTERHEART study, published in September 2004 in The Lancet, followed 30,000 men and women on six continents and found that changing lifestyle could prevent at least 90% of all heart disease.

That bears repeating: The disease that accounts for more premature deaths and costs Americans more than any other illness is almost completely preventable simply by changing diet and lifestyle. And the same lifestyle changes that can prevent or even reverse heart disease also help prevent or reverse many other chronic diseases as well. Chronic pain is one of the major sources of worker's compensation claims costs, yet studies show that it is often susceptible to acupuncture and Qi Gong. Herbs usually have far fewer side effects than pharmaceuticals.

Joy, pleasure and freedom are sustainable, deprivation and austerity are not. When you eat a healthier diet, quit smoking, exercise, meditate and have more love in your life, then your brain receives more blood and oxygen, so you think more clearly, have more energy, need less sleep. Your brain may grow so many new neurons that it could get measurably bigger in only a few months. Your face gets more blood flow, so your skin glows more and wrinkles less. Your heart gets more blood flow, so you have more stamina and can even begin to reverse heart disease. Your sexual organs receive more blood flow, so you may become more potent -- similar to the way that circulation-increasing drugs like Viagra work. For many people, these are choices worth making -- not just to live longer, but also to live better.

It's time to move past the debate of alternative medicine versus traditional medicine, and to focus on what works, what doesn't, for whom, and under which circumstances. It will take serious government funding to find out, but these findings may help reduce costs and increase health.

Integrative medicine approaches bring together those in red states and blue states, liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, because these are human issues. They are both medically effective and, important in our current economic climate, cost effective. These approaches emphasize both personal responsibility and the opportunity to make affordable, quality health care available to those who most need it. Mr. Obama should make them an integral part of his health plan as soon as possible.

Dr. Chopra, the author of more than 50 books on the mind, body and spirit, is guest faculty at Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ornish is clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Mr. Roy is professor emeritus of materials science at Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Weil is director of the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine.

Suicide Rates Rising Among Middle Age Women

This trend is pretty scary, but not as surprising nor as unfathomable as the researchers seem to think.

Here is the story; my own comments follow at the end.

Middle-aged women drive rise in U.S. suicides: study

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081021/hl_nm/us_suicide_usa

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Maggie Fox, Health And Science Editor

October 21, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. suicide rates appear to be on the rise, driven mostly by middle-aged white women, researchers reported on Tuesday.

They found a disturbing increase in suicides between 1999 and 2005 and said the pattern had changed in an unmistakable way -- although the reasons behind the change are not clear.

The overall suicide rate rose 0.7 percent during this time, but the rate for white men aged 40 to 64 rose 2.7 percent and for middle-aged women 3.9 percent, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found.

"The biggest increase that we have seen between 1999 and 2005 was the increase in poisoning suicide in women -- that went up by 57 percent," said Susan Baker, a professor in injury prevention with a special expertise in suicide.

Writing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Baker, Guoqing Hu and colleagues said they analyzed publicly available death certificate data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The results underscore a change in the epidemiology of suicide, with middle-aged whites emerging as a new high-risk group," Baker said in a statement.

"Historically, suicide-prevention programs have focused on groups considered to be at highest risk -- teens and young adults of both genders as well as elderly white men. This research tells us we need to refocus our resources to develop prevention programs for men and women in their middle years."

Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States and Baker said the changes are substantial.

"Definitely these are not just little blips," she said in a telephone interview. "We are looking at a big population change."

She hopes other researchers will study the reasons behind the shifts. "I certainly think we need research to look at the information that we have on people who have committed suicide," she said.

"Are these people living alone, with no major responsibility or others to take care of, or are they people overwhelmed with all of the jobs and responsibilities they have? We need to find out more about the conditions under which these people are living."

The middle-aged women and men used various methods to kill themselves -- poisons, prescription drugs, hanging or suffocation, and firearms, Baker said.

While firearms remain the most common method, the rate of gun suicides decreased while suicide by hanging or suffocation increased by 6.3 percent among men, and 2.3 percent among women.

In September researchers confirmed an 18 percent spike in youth suicides in the United States in 2004 persisted into 2005 after more than a decade of decreases.

And international research published in January found that the young, single, female, poorly educated and mentally ill are all at higher risk of suicide.

According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates have increased by 60 percent in the last 45 years. Depression is the leading cause of suicide.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Julie Steenhuysen)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michelle here again. . .

Personally, I would like to know if the jump has been gradual since 1963, or if there has been a spike in the suicide rates more recently. I think that could give a lot of insight into what is behind this terrible trend.

Here are some reasons that I believe contribute to the rise in women committing suicide in record numbers:

Just being a woman means there is something wrong with you and you need to be fixed:

· Young girls must be medicated for a virus that the FDA has said "are short-lived and not associated with cervical cancer;"

· Young women must be medicated to reduce or eliminate the menstrual cycle;

· Middle-age women must be medicated to overcome menopause;

· Elderly women must be medicated to overcome osteoporosis.

· From 9 to 90, you spend your entire life on drugs!

Here is an eye-opener: a chart ranked by number of prescriptions filled for women by state showing prescriptions filled for both men and women in 2007. Overall, women are prescribed far more drugs than men.

"Retail Prescription Drugs Filled at Pharmacies (Annual per Capita by Gender) 2007"

	Male	Female
United States	9.0	13.8
Alaska	5	8.1
Hawaii	7.2	9.5
California	6.4	9.6
Colorado	6	9.7
New Mexico	6.3	9.8
District of Columbia	6.5	10.3
Arizona	7.2	11.1
Washington	7.4	11.4
Utah	7.2	11.7
Maryland	8	11.7
Oregon	7.6	12.3
Idaho	7.6	12.3
Nevada	8	12.4
Texas	8.2	12.9
Minnesota	8.2	12.9
New Jersey	9.3	12.9
Michigan	8.9	13.4
Virginia	8.8	13.6
Wyoming	8.2	13.6
New York	9.5	13.8
South Dakota	8.3	13.9
Georgia	9.2	14.3
Montana	8.8	14.3
Ohio	9.3	14.4
New Hampshire	9.7	14.4
Illinois	9.4	14.5
Wisconsin	9.8	14.8
Rhode Island	10.2	14.8
Maine	10	14.8
Connecticut	10.4	14.8
Delaware	10.4	14.9
Pennsylvania	10	14.9
Vermont	10.4	15.2
Oklahoma	9.7	15.4
North Dakota	9.6	15.5
Florida	10.3	15.5
Massachusetts	11	15.6
Kansas	10	16.4
North Carolina	10.7	16.7
Indiana	10.7	16.9
Nebraska	10.4	17
Iowa	11.3	17.8
Mississippi	11.5	18.1
Louisiana	12.2	18.5
Kentucky	12.8	19.5
Arkansas	12.5	19.6
Missouri	12.2	19.6
Tennessee	13	20
South Carolina	12.9	20.2
Alabama	13.1	20.4
West Virginia	14.4	21.5

Furthermore:

You are paid less than a man doing the same work. This is a major source of stress, anxiety, fear, and depression.

You have wrinkles, and you are never thin enough. This is a major source of anxiety and depression.

You may be caring for children, spouse, and parents, but there is no one to take care of you! This is a major cause of stress, anxiety, and depression.

You don't eat right, and don't get enough sunlight so you are deficient in many nutrients, especially Vitamin D. This is a major cause of stress, anxiety, depression, and general illness.

You are expected to participate in the competitive business world and yet that is counter to all we know about women and how they work best, which is cooperatively not competitively. This is a major cause of stress, anxiety, and fear.

Your main source of support and stress-relief has virtually disappeared; hanging out with other women. This is a major source of stress, anxiety, loneliness and depression.

Women, you must break the cycle. You are the only ones who can.

Stop listening to the television tell you who you are and what you are supposed to be, do, and think.

Start listening to that most-ridiculed and yet most profound and relevant of womanly senses: Intuition.

And, for goodness sake, read the article about the Back Fence Network and then get out there and hang out with other women!