Supplement Access Threatened
By Linda | September 15, 2011
Supplement Cures
Taking quercetin (an antioxidant found in fruits) can halt a sinus allergy in minutes. A client of mine from New York was on prescription drugs for allergies. She was surprised she could not only breathe clearly but smell roses for the first time in years after taking a quercetin capsule instead of her meds.
Taking magnesium helped reduce anxiety and provided relief from PMS for a young mother I recently counseled.
Taking vitamin D can cut cancer and heart disease risk by half.
Taking vitamin C can prolong life by 6 years.
A male client of mine in his early 70’s suffered a painful enlarged prostate and was facing surgery and a host of potential side effects. After taking saw palmetto and pygeum extract his prostate returned to normal.
Your freedom to choose these natural remedies may end this year. A new bill introduced by Sen Dick Durbin (D-Ill) will treat supplements like drugs, making them very expensive or unavailable at all.
The FDA’s open comment period expires on September 30 this year. You can help fight this threat to your health options by writing your representative and tell them to vote no on S 1310, the Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011.
For more detail plus a step-by-step guide to contacting yoru representatives click here.
The FDA, once considered a watchdog for consumers, is now more of a client to drug companies. Many drug company executives are now on the payroll of the FDA!
Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, accused the FDA of being a servant of the drug industry. Industry influence has gotten so bad that the FDA employees “are inhibited from acting against drug company interests,” she says.
If you want to let the FDA know what you think, click here to take action.
An estimated 106,000 hospitalized people die each year from properly prescribed drugs. Another two million suffer serious side effects. Few to no one dies from dietary supplements.
I have worked with supplements for over 25 years. They can be a safe and effective alternative to drugs and surgery. You can bet this threatens a multi-billion pharmaceutical industry. It takes minutes to take action to protect this freedom.
Photo thanks to: http://healthwyze.org
Topics: Drugs | 9 Comments »
Are Salt Guidelines Overkill?
By Linda | July 25, 2011
Low Salt Diets, Depression and Heart Attacks
Is salt as bad as they say?
To some, salt is synonymous with heart disease. However this still debated. A recent study in JAMA found those heavy handed with the salt shaker are not more prone to high blood pressure and actually less likely to die of heart disease than those eating low salt.
This wasn’t the first study to link salt with longer life.
When confused by science I often step back and look at the world. Who eats the most salt? Who lives the longest? The answer to both: The Japanese and the French. All that salt doesn’t seem to be killing them off.
Just like with confusion over fats and sugars, the answer to the salt question may be less about quantity and more about quality.
Unrefined salts (sea salt, Himalayan, Celtic salts) contain sodium and chloride balanced with 75-80 trace minerals essential to life. Refined salt used in processed foods, on the other hand, is heated to damagingly high temperatures, stripped of naturally occurring minerals and often contains nasty chemicals and sugar.
Sodium and chloride are necessary for cell function and our nervous system. Salt is one of the few sources of chloride, a component of hydrochloric acid, the key to protein digestion and parasite protection. Sodium enables us to make bile, which helps us digest fats.
Salt, like fat, is a natural mood booster. It keeps us from getting depressed. Could that be the government’s worry?
This year the government imposed stricter than ever, telling most of us to keep it below 2300 mg, and under 1500mg for those over 51 years or in high risk groups. The majority of us, me included, consume far more salt than that.
The Japanese get from 8000mg -15,000mg or more per day. The The French, famous already for their fat intake, traditionally consume around 10,000 mg per day. As they reduce their salt and fat intakes, their waist lines and rates of death are increasing.
Of course we can suffer consequences from excess salt, just as we can from excess water, but are we?
Have you cut your salt intake too much? If you are fatigued, have weak adrenals, feel dizzy upon standing or have low blood pressure, you may need more salt. A fasting chem panel should show your sodium and your chloride to be in normal ranges.
If you have high blood pressure or cardiovascular disease, you probably need to cut back on processed foods, including refined salt.
Switch to fresh produce, meats, fish, poultry and legumes and add your own sea salt.
Topics: Flavors & Foods | 6 Comments »
Risks & Remedies for Insomnia
By Linda | June 29, 2011
If you aren’t getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, you may be headed for type 2 diabetes, a heart attack, stroke and even early death, says the research.
Your belly may be growing fatter as well. Sleeping 5 hours? Your risk of obesity goes up 50%.
I can attest to blood sugar challenges, memory impairment and overall malaise from lack of sleep lately thanks to a new puppy with size-appropriate bladder.
This is temporary for me. How about you? The health consequences should be enough to get you into bed by 10pm. If it’s insomnia you’re dealing with, the following tips may help.
Sleep Tips
Hit the sack by 10pm, the magic hour that helps induce sleep. We get a second wind after 10pm. Get up by 6. Too much sleep leads to the same problems as not enough.
Get hot and sweaty in the late afternoon. A workout or hot bath several hours before bed induces sleep as the body cools.
Avoid sugary foods or alcohol at night. Both can induce rebound low blood sugar, which can wake you up.
Try sleep-inducing herbs in tea or capsule form: valerian, skullcap, chamomile, passion flower, hops.
Take the tissue cell salt: magnesium phosphate
Take 1-3 milligrams melatonin 30 minutes before sleep. (this also reduces breast cancer risk).
For more sleep-inducing help, email me. If you have an effective sleep tip, leave your comment here.
Topics: Sleep | 4 Comments »
Burning Fat Fast
By Linda | June 6, 2011
Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Weight Loss Diets | 10 Comments »