The Health Plus Letter
July 6, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 22
By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher,
http://www.1healthyworld.com

If you prefer to read this issue online, you can read it, along with all other back issues, at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine.


Table Of Contents
What’s New – Durbin Retreats (For N/o/w)
Quote of the Day
Fast Fact
Medical Freedom Alert
Health News and Commentary (Prince Charles Defies Big Pharma, Pres. Bush Kowtows to It)
A Brief History of Magnet Therapy
Self-Care Tips for Preventing and Managing Anxiety
Reader Feedback (Why I write about the subjects I do, and a question about Dr. Garry Gordon)
Recommendations


Unabashed Plug

Amazon.com continues to offer my newest book, Health on the Edge: Visionary Views of Healing in the New Millennium at a healthy discount. To order it, visit http://www.amazon.com.  In it, you will learn:

How to quickly and easily restore relaxation throughout your body using hand warming, an easily mastered biofeedback technique you can do without any equipment.

How to increase your IQ by 20 points or more in less than a week’s time.

How to permanently eliminate long-standing fears, phobias, and traumas using energy psychology.

How to create a bioscalar energy wave within your body for rapid healing.

Take the next step in your healing, and order Health on the Edge today.

 
What’s New-Durbin Retreats (For N/o/w)

Two weeks ago, I shared with you Dr. Julian Whitaker’s alert that Senator Richard Durbin was attempting to insert legislation into a Department of Defense funding bill that, if passed, would have restricted access to certain dietary supplements on military bases. Such legislation would then have made it possible to continue the attempt to place supplements completely under the yoke of the FDA.

I’m happy to report that Durbin, pressured by a flood of emails, calls, and faxes from citizens like you and me who value our health freedoms, withdrew his legislation before it was even voted upon. Once again, we the people have made a difference. This is hardly the end of the battle, though, so please stay informed by visiting the websites listed in the Medical Freedom Alert section, including that of the International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF), whose founder, John Hammell, tirelessly works to unearth the myriad machinations of Big Pharma, in collusion with various government agencies around the world, to place the entire field of alternative medical therapies under its control.

Well, last week’s special issue, wherein I deconstructed health stories in the media, generated the highest reader response I’ve received since shortly after launching The Health Plus Letter nearly one year ago. Every response was overwhelmingly positive, and I’m very grateful to all who wrote me.

I will feature more such issues from time to time. In the meantime, soon after I wrote my article, I came across a report written by naturopathic physician Owen Foronow, ND, entitled Who Among Us Has the Power to Routinely Plant Fake Health-Science “News” Reports in the Mass Media? If you liked what I wrote last issue, you’ll want to see this. It’s posted at:
http://www.thecureforheartdisease.com/owen/fakenews.htm

Speaking of last week’s article, I owe an apology to Dr. Abram Hoffer, whom I erroneously referred to as Dr. Abrams. Dr. Hoffer’s article, Facts vs. Factoids appeared in Volume 2, Nos. 18-20 of The Health Plus Letter.

OK, onto this issue, where you’ll find A Brief History of Magnet Therapy, self-care tips for managing anxiety, and the latest health news and commentary.
 
As always, please continue to send me your comments and suggestions. And please spread the word about The Health Plus Letter by passing it along to your friends and inviting them to subscribe.


Quote Of The Day

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson


Fast Fact

94% of claims made in pharmaceutical drug advertising material is not backed by scientific evidence.

Source: British Medical Journal, Feb. 28, 2004; 328:485

[Comment: It is precisely this type of nonfactual information that many physicians rely upon when prescribing drugs to their patients. – LT]


Unabashed Plug

Dr. Garry Gordon’s entire line of nutritional products are available for purchase directly from 1HealthyWorld.com. Dr. Gordon is a member of 1HealthyWorld’s Medical Advisory Board, and an internationally acclaimed expert in the areas of cardiovascular health, anti-aging medicine, and the use of nutritional medicine to prevent and reverse inflammation, toxicity, and chronic disease. He is also one of the most accomplished and knowledgeable physicians it’s ever been my privilege to meet, and the nutritional products he’s developed reflect his expertise. You can order them by visiting http://www.1healthyworld.com/healthproducts/garrygordon


Medical Freedom Alert

Our health freedom remains under siege. Please support the following organizations, which are at the forefront of those working to protect our rights:

Citizens for Health - http://www.citizens.org (Sing their online petition to safeguard health supplements.)

Institute for Health Freedom – http://www.ForHealthFreedom.org

International Advocates for Health Freedom (IAHF) – http://www.iahf.com

Health Lobby (Monica Miller) – http://www.healthlobby.com

Also, please do your part to ensure that the misleadingly named “Dietary Safety Supplement” Act (S. 722) is defeated. To become informed about S. 722 and to take action to help defeat its passage, please visit: http://capwiz.com/nnfa/S722.html

To stay informed of other developments related to medical freedom, please visit http://www4.dr-rath-foundation.org the website of Dr. Mattias Rath, a leading crusader for medical freedom.

To see to what depraved lengths people will go to persecute practitioners of alternative medicine in the U.S., please read the following report by noted medical freedom advocate Tim Bolen at http://www.quackpotwatch.org/opinionpieces/Suster2.htm

And to learn how corrupt and extensive Big Pharma’s monopoly is, visit http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/index.html the website for the Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research. In particular, read their in-depth report The Pharmaceutical Drug Racket that you will find there.


Health News and Commentary

England’s Prince Charles Backs Controversial Cancer Therapy

Last week, Prince Charles announced his enthusiastic support of Gerson Therapy, a dietary and detoxification regimen pioneered by the late Dr. Max Gerson to treat degenerative diseases, including cancer. Addressing a conference of health care professionals, Prince Charles said, “I know of one patient who turned to Gerson Therapy having been told she was suffering from terminal cancer and would not survive another course of chemotherapy. Happily, seven years later, she is alive and well. So it is vital that, rather than dismissing such experiences, we should further investigate the beneficial nature of these treatments.”

Because of his statement, Charles was angrily criticized by conventional cancer specialists, who claimed the therapy is unproven and dangerous, echoing the sentiments of the American Cancer Society (ACS).

To read the full story, see http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1248282,00.html

[Comment: Prince Charles has long been a proponent of alternative healing approaches, and I applaud him for using his influence to call for more research into approaches such as Gerson Therapy. As for those who denounced him for it, that’s par for the course. Like all therapies, Gerson Therapy is not a solution for everyone, and its regimen can be difficult to adhere to. That the ACS disparages it as unproven and dangerous is typical of the organization’s staunch opposition to all cancer treatments that do not rely on chemotherapy and/or radiation. The fact of the matter is that ample evidence exists that Gerson Therapy has produced long-term favorable outcomes for many patients with cancer, but that evidence has been willfully ignored by the cancer establishment.]

Bush Wants Entire Population Screened for Mental Illness

According to the conservative website, worldnetdaily.com, President Bush soon plans to announce his intent that the entire U.S. population be screened for mental illness. The website further states that Bush’s initiative “promotes the use of expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs favored by supporters of [his] administration.” Critics of the plan charge that it is a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry, and that it could be seen as a way of “fishing for customers.” They also point out the close ties many in the Bush administration have to Eli Lilly, a drug company that could stand to pro/fit enormously from this initiative due to the fact that it manufactures one of the drugs recommended in Bush’s plan. Among those ties are the president’s father, who was a member of Lilly's board of directors, and Sidney Taurel, Lilly’s CEO, whom Bush appointed to the Homeland Security Council.

To read more on this story, see http://snipurl.com/7ik6

[Comment: Between this initiative and the recent Medicare legislation that the Bush administration fought for and passed into law, there is no doubt that the White House is clearly committed to advancing Big Pharma’s agenda. But this is hardly a partisan issue, as many leading Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, also carry Big Pharma’s water these days. Among the most ominous measures in the initiative is plans to have public schools serve as screening centers to further the mass drugging of children that is already underway. Any child exhibiting boredom, despondency, aggression – all of which can be direct responses to the stifling nature of public education these days – will be a prime candidate for dangerous antidepressant drugs. All in the name of “leaving no child behind.” You can count on this initiative being promoting as a compassionate health care measure, complete with all the PR spin you can imagine. In actuality, it will be anything but, and should be adamantly opposed.]


Unabashed Plug

Learn the Truth about Heart Disease, Stroke and Hypertension. Most of what conventional medicine has to offer for treating these conditions is based on faulty and potentially dangerous assumptions. Discover the real causes behind these diseases and learn what you can do today to prevent and reverse them using safe and natural alternatives that have been scientifically proven to be effective. Read the critically-acclaimed eBook Burton Goldberg’s Definitive Guide to Heart Disease, featuring the contributions of Dr. Garry Gordon, Dr. Stephen Sinatra, and many other leading heart specialists. To order or to find out more about this potentially lifesaving guide, visit http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Heart-Book-Info.cfm.


A Brief History of Magnet Therapy

[The following article is excerpted from the eBook Burton Goldberg’s Definitive Guide to Magnet Therapy, written by Dr. William Philpott, one of the world’s foremost authorities on magnet therapy. To learn how to effectively use magnets as a self-care approach for improving your health, visit http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Magnet-Book-Info.cfm.]

While magnet therapy may just n/o/w be gaining more widespread use and popularity in the United States and elsewhere, the use of magnetic energy for healing dates back thousands of years. In fact, the earliest written medical text, The Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine, published in China around 2,000 B.C., mentions the application of ‘magnetic stones” to correct health imbalances.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) originated over 5,000 years ago and is a comprehensive system of medical practice that heals the body according to the principles of nature and balance. A TCM physician considers the flow of qi (pronounced CHEE) in a patient’s body. Qi is variously translated to mean “vital energy,” “essence of life,” and “living force.” The proper flow of qi along energy channels (meridians) within the body is crucial to a person’s health and vitality. Qi has two essential qualities: yang (active, fiery, moving, bright, energizing) and yin (passive, watery, stationary, dark, calming). The manipulation and readjustment of qi to treat disease and ensure health is the basic principle of acupuncture. Qi could be interpreted as a kind of bioelectric or biomagnetic force, a current running through the body, with yang as the positive pole and yin as the negative pole. Under this conceptual framework, the Chinese may have recommended the use of magnetic stones in order to enhance or influence the qi or “vital energy” of the body.

The ancient Egyptians were apparently also acquainted with the power of magnets. Legend has it that Cleopatra slept with a magnetic stone on her forehead to preserve her youthful appearance (perhaps trying to cause the pineal gland in the brain to release melatonin). The ancient Hindus in India believed that a dying person should rest with their body aligned north and south (their head pointed north) to relieve their pain and ease their departure from this life.

The word magnet comes from the ancient Greeks. It is thought to derive from Magnes lithos, meaning “stone from Magnesia,” an area of Greece that was known for its volcanic rocks with magnetic attributes. The Greek philosopher Aristotle spoke about using magnets as a healing therapy.

The next promulgator of magnet therapy was Paracelsus, a physician and alchemist born in Switzerland in 1493. He was the first to propose that illnesses were caused by external substances (the concept of disease), not imbalances in the body’s “humors” (the dominant theory at the time). He recommended using sulfur, mercury, and other substances to treat diseases. Paracelsus also thought that some diseases could be treated with very small doses of “similars,” substances that would cause like symptoms to the illness—this idea is the basis of homeopathy. Though unaware of the Chinese idea of qi, Paracelsus had a similar notion of a “life force” in nature and the human body, which he called archaeus (meaning “ancient”). He treated illnesses by replenishing the archaeus with the energy found in certain herbs and foods. Paracelsus also advocated using magnets to energize and influence the body’s life force to start the healing process, treating everything from inflammation to diarrhea to epilepsy.

In 1600, William Gilbert, court physician to Elizabeth I of England, published the first scientific treatise on magnetism, De Magnete. This book summarized the current knowledge about magnetism, showing, for instance, that steel holds a magnetic charge better than iron and that there is a distinction between magnetism and electricity. Gilbert was the first to describe the earth as a huge magnet with magnetic poles close to the geographic north and south poles. He also confirmed that use of the lodestone could be “beneficial in many diseases of the human system.” (The term lodestone for magnetized stones is from the Middle Ages, when the lodestone—“guiding stone”—was used in compasses by sailors as a navigational tool.)

Franz Anton Mesmer, an 18th-century mathematician and physician, wrote his doctoral thesis on the effects of gravitational fields on human health. He proposed that there was magnetic energy flowing throughout the universe and inside the body as well. Mesmer thought that the body had magnetic poles, and that illness was caused by these poles moving out of alignment with the universal magnetic flow. He experimented with using magnets to treat seizures and other conditions.

Mesmer made a distinction between “mineral magnetism” (iron and steel) and “animal magnetism” (a property of animals and humans). Mesmer claimed that he could heal by touch, applying his own animal magnetism to influence the magnetic flow in a patient’s body. Mesmer believed that magnetism could treat mental illnesses directly and other conditions indirectly. He became famous traveling around Europe as a healer and he later opened a magnetism salon in Paris. In his salon, patients sat in water-filled vats containing iron filings and rods. Patients would pour magnetic water on parts of their bodies affected by illness and sometimes join hands to facilitate the magnetic flow, all accompanied by music and colored lights added by the theatrical Mesmer. Patients sometimes fainted or went into convulsions, later claiming they were “mesmerized.” (Mesmer’s animal magnetism gradually came to be viewed as hypnotic suggestion, hence the current meaning of the word mesmerize.)

Around 1800, Alessandro Volta constructed the first battery (made of silver, moist cardboard, and zinc), which produced a small, steady electric current. Further experiments with electricity by Andre-Marie Ampere, Michael Faraday, and others, established the link between magnetism and electricity. Faraday demonstrated that a magnet in motion could produce electricity and that the flow of electricity produces a magnetic field. This was confirmed by Scottish scientist James Maxwell, who also showed that light was an electromagnetic phenomenon.

The publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 1818 certainly shows that electricity was in the air during this period. This gothic romance about bringing the dead to life reflected an interest at this time in using electromagnetism as a therapy. Reanimation devices, using electricity in much the same way as defibrillators are used in hospitals today to jumpstart the heart, became popular and were successfully used for heart arrhythmias, angina, and curvature of the spine. Magnetic boots, rings, girdles, and caps, as well as magnetic ointments were available in mail-order catalogues. Daniel Palmer founded Palmer’s School of Magnetic Cure in Davenport, Iowa, which taught massage techniques, spinal manipulations, and magnets as healing therapies—this later evolved into modern chiropractic.

The discovery of the electron at the end of the 19th century moved electromagnetism to the atomic level, demonstrating that all matter is essentially electric in nature. Finally, Albert Einstein, in postulating his general theory of relativity, showed that electricity and magnetism are not discrete phenomena, but different aspects of the same phenomenon. Medical textbooks at this time included magnetism and electricity as therapeutic alternatives for mental disorders in particular and other conditions as well. It was recommended for convulsions, insomnia, migraine, fatigue, arthritis, and pain. Magnet therapy fell into disfavor following World War II with the development of antibiotics and biochemistry-based medicine. Today, magnet therapy is seeing a resurgence in its use, and is an officially approved therapy in over 45 countries worldwide.


Self-Care Tips for Preventing and Managing Anxiety

Anxiety is a sense of fear and, in some cases, a feeling of impending doom. The term anxiety disorder refers to a category of disturbances that includes generalized anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. A panic attack is an acute anxiety episode that may be accompanied by sweating, shortness of breath, hot or cold flashes, heart palpitations, and other forms of discomfort. Anxiety disorders occur in people of all ages, but appear to be more common among women. The exact cause is complex, involving constitutional factors, emotional stress, biochemical imbalances, and environmental triggers.

Symptoms: The occurrence of a panic attack is often unpredictable, but it may be associated with certain situations such as driving a car. Anxiety is an emotion that may feature excessive worry, sleep disturbances, shakiness, ritualistic behavior, fear of being alone or in public places, impatience, easy distraction, and great apprehension concerning the welfare of loved ones. Associated physical symptoms include racing pulse, heart palpitations, shortness or rapidity of breath, sweating, dry mouth, numbness and tingling of the hands and feet or cold/clammy hands, lightheadedness or dizziness, fatigue, trembling, indigestion, and diarrhea.

Self-Care

Diet: Assess diet for excessive consumption of stressor foods such as: refined sugars, honey, maple syrup, or cow’s milk products. Consume vegetable soups, broths, and a wide variety of green and yellow vegetables. Add more complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, beans, seeds, and nuts.

Nutritional Therapy: Calcium,, Magnesium, Vitamin B complex, Pantothenic acid, and 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) are all valuable nutritional aids for coping with anxiety. GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), an amino acid, can also help by increasing levels of the brain neurotransmitter serotonin (a mood regulator).

Flower Essences: Flower essences may prove helpful. Aspen is for apprehension, foreboding, and fear of unknown origin while mimulus is for fear of known things, shyness, and timidity. Red chestnut is used for excessive anxiety and over caring for others. Rescue Remedy(combination formula) for general stress from anxiety; Rock Rose for terror and panic from known fear.

Herbs:Panax ginseng has a nutritive or tonic effect on the adrenal glands, improving blood flow to the brain and reducing the stress associated with mental/emotional issues. Valerian root, an her/bal tranquilizer and muscle relaxant, is another good agent for calming the nervous system. It helps balance mood swings and is not habit forming. Valerian-hops combination formulas are good daytime sedatives because they don’t interfere with reflex actions. Passionflower is another mild sedative that helps reduce anxiety, high blood pressure, nervous tension, and muscle tension, and encourages deep, restful sleep. Extract of the kava-kava plant, an her/bal tranquilizer native to Polynesia, can lower anxiety levels and alleviate panic disorder and general tension in as quickly as a week. St. John’s wort, a highly popular remedy for depression, has proven effective for anxiety and mood swings as well.

Homeopathy:Aconite, Actaea rac., Drosera, Calc carb., Sulfur.

Hypnotherapy: Self-hypnosis can help to impart to the mind imagery designed to bring about deep levels of relaxation.

Meditation: Develops the mind’s ability to stop anxiety at its source.

Professional Care
The following therapies should only be provided by a qualified health professional): Environmental Medicine, Hypnotherapy, Light Therapy, Magnet Therapy, Naturopathic Medicine, Orthomolecular Medicine, and Traditional Chinese Medicine have been shown to be useful for treating anxiety and other mood disorders.


Unabashed Plug

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http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Mind-Mastery-Book-Info.cfm.


Reader Feedback

As I mentioned above, last week I received a flood of emails from readers thanking me for what I write. But not all comments I receive are favorable. For example, I recently received an email from a reader who took me to task for recommending the book The New Pearl Harbor by David Ray Griffen, which raises serious doubts about the official story concerning the events of 9/11. Basically, the writer (he denied permission to print his email) believes I should stick to my field of expertise – holistic healing methods – and not cover topics that stray from it. I must stress that his points were very well articulated, and his own background and expertise as a journalist are quite impressive. I’ve received three or four similar emails in the past from readers who take exception to other comments I’ve made, so I guess I should address why I make them and will continue to make them.

The reason is quite simple. Health does not occur in a vacuum, and the issues that affect our health on a national and planetary level are not isolated to the health-care (so-called) arena. Rather, they are interrelated to all aspects of human endeavor and, in regard to our access to viable health care options, are increasingly subject to the whims of special interests whose primary concerns are economic and political. Additionally, as one begins to examine the history of our health care system and how it came to so favor the monopolistic agenda of Big Pharma – something I have been doing for nearly two decades – one soon begins to realize that the same special interests which seek to control our health care options are also at the heart of many other social, political and economic agendas. Were this not so, fluoride, a known carcinogen (among other things) would not be in most of our nation’s municipal water supplies; dangerous vaccines would not be so widely administered (increasingly under a government mandate) to our children; harmful chemicals would not be so prevalent in our food crops and environment; our medical schools would not be so resistant to expanding their curriculums to include far more instruction on integrative healing methods; and alternative health care practitioners, especially those treating chronic degenerative diseases, would not be at risk of losing their medical licenses or worse simply because they are curing people using natural healing methods that threaten the profitability of far more toxic and expensive drugs. And that’s but the tip of the iceberg, with all of it occurring under the watch of our elected officials on both sides of the political aisle due to how far-reaching and corrupting the influences of these special interests are. I would be remiss if I did not report on all of these subjects.

I write The Health Plus Letter each week for three reasons: 1) To empower each of you to take greater control over your health, 2) to inform you about trends that might affect your ability to maintain that control, and 3) because I really enjoy creating it. I am extremely grateful that the vast majority of my readers have been so receptive and supportive of my efforts. I neither wish nor expect everyone who reads it to agree with all I share, and in fact truly welcome dissenting points of view. So, even if you disagree with me, please keep your emails coming my way.

Finally, this very valid question from Thomas D:

“Dear Larry – I enjoy your ezine very much but wonder why you promote the nutritional supplements of Dr. Garry Gordon? They seem expensive to me.”

I have known Dr. Garry Gordon for quite some time and consider him a “walking encyclopedia” on the subject of the nutrition, nutritional supplements, detoxification, anti-aging, and innovative approaches for treating degenerative disease. His products, compared to seemingly similar products available at your local health food store, are expensive. But not when you consider their effectiveness, which I can attest to, based on my own experience in using them (especially his Beyond C vitamin C formula). So I’m happy to provide Garry with my endorsement.


Recommendations

Website:
http://www.corsello.com - this website of Serafina Corsello, M.D., a very forward thinking holistic physician, features a wealth of useful health-related information.

Book:
Happy Birthday Planet Earth by Barbara Marx Hubbard. This slim volume, written in 1984, affirms my own intuitions about future human and planetary transformation. Extremely positive and inspiring, it provides a blueprint for a new way of living that anyone can adapt today.


Health and Blessings!

Larry Trivieri, Jr. (larry@1healthyworld.com)


Disclaimer: The Health Plus Letter is a weekly eZine published by Larry Trivieri, Jr. and Library of Health, LLC (dba www.1healthyworld.com) 1514 Genesee Street, Suite 52, Utica, NY 13502. It is made available without charge for information purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you are experiencing a health problem, seek prompt medical attention.

The Health Plus Letter is fully compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Legal Notice: The information in this eZine may be freely and widely disseminated so long as full attribution is made as follows: The Health Plus Letter, July 6, 2004, Vol. 2, No. 22. Copyright © 2004 by Larry Trivieri, Jr. All rights reserved.

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