The Health Plus Letter
November 21, 2006, Vol. 4, No. 26
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
New This Issue
Quote of the Day
Fast Fact
Legacy Of Donald Rumsfeld, Aspartame & Diane Fleming by Don Harkins and Dr. Betty Martini
Self-Care Tips for Managing Stress
Reader Feedback: I Was Wrong
Recommendations
Medical F/r/e/edom
New This Issue
Welcome to another issue of The Health Plus Letter. With another holiday approaching, I’m sharing self-care tips for dealing with stress, which can often be exacerbated around this time of year. I’m also including an excerpt of an article about the many dangers of the artificial sweetener aspartame and the role Donald Rumsfeld played it getting it approved by the FDA over the objections of the FDA’s own researchers. In addition, I’ve included a recent email I received correcting me about an article I ran last issue that also bears reading.
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.
To all of my readers, both in the US and around the world, I wish you many blessings during time of Thanksgiving. Please know that your readership is one of the blessings I am most grateful for. Thank you!
Quote Of The Day
“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”
-- Confucius
Fast Fact
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has admitted that the common oral flu vaccine Tamiflu can cause people who take it to become confused, prone to self-injury, and so delirious that they start harming themselves. Tamiflu can also cause anaphylactic shock, serious skin reactions, nausea, vomiting, bronchitis, insomnia and vertigo. According to the FDA, people with the flu who Tamiflu “should be closely monitored for signs of unusual behavior.”
Source: FDA website (www.fda.gov)
Comment: Were a nutritional supplement shown to have the potential to cause such serious side effects, the FDA would immediately act to have it removed from the market. It’s also worth noting that the US government purchased some 20 mill.ion doses of Tamiflu to stockpile against an outbreak of avian (bird) flu, even though Tamiflu is completely useless for that purpose.
Unabashed Plug
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Legacy Of Donald Rumsfeld, Aspartame & Diane Fleming by Don Harkins and Dr. Betty Martini
As recently as Nov. 4, 2006, President Bush was publicly praising 74-year-old Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for his service to the nation, his wartime leadership and expressed his "sincere" desire that the increasingly unpopular Rumsfeld would continue as secretary of defense until his term is over in 2008. But the president was not sincere; he was lying. The day after the election, "Rummy" announced he was stepping down from the top spot in the Pentagon. As President Bush was explaining why he lied to America about Rumsfeld's pending resignation at a day-after-election press conference, he was still praising Rumsfeld's "accomplishments". The president failed to mention that Rumsfeld's Pentagon couldn't account for "misplacing" nearly $3 trillion.
Chicago Tribune columnist Stephen J. Hedges more accurately summed up Rummy's "accomplishments" in his Nov. 12, 2006 editorial, "Winter Comes for a Beltway Lion: Rumsfeld rose and fell with his conviction intact." Hedges noted Rumsfeld's "accomplishments" are the result of his bet that ill-equipped Arabs defending their homes were no match for the technologically-superior professional military under his direction. He was wrong and history will remember him as the defense secretary who failed in Iraq. Though the end of the Rumsfeld story has yet to be written, we can state with certainty that the thousands of American soldiers and (at least) 700,000 Iraqi and Afghani men, women and children non-combatants who have been killed under his authority since Sept. 11, 2001, are merely the most recent examples of the murder and misery this ruthless beltway bureaucrat has been inflicting on our world since the late 70s.
On the way up
At age 29, Princeton educated wrestling champion, navy pilot and presidential aid Republican Donald Rumsfeld was elected by Illinois to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1962. Rummy began accumulating political contacts-and power-for the next 14 years. After leaving the House, he held several high-level executive posts during the Nixon era and became the youngest defense secretary in U.S. history under Gerald Ford. When Ford lost the White House to Jimmy Carter in 1976, Rummy was unemployed in D.C. for the first time since 1962. In 1978 Rummy's career as a public poisoner-for-profit began when he became CEO of G.D. Searle, a small pharmaceutical company. When Rummy took the helm, Searle was being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for attempting to defraud the FDA into approving artificial aspartame as a safe artificial sweetener when lab tests proved it was a neurotoxic, carcinogenic drug. He was able to pull political strings to get Searle out of le.gal trouble and influenced President Reagan's appointment of Arthur Hull Hayes as FDA Commissioner to politically approve the sale of aspartame in 1981--over the objections of FDA scientists, independent researchers and consumer safety advocates.
Monsanto bought Searle for $2.7 billion in 1985, and the Searle family walked away with about $1 billion. Rumsfeld's take was about $12 mil.lion.
Let him hear their cries
Since Rumsfeld "called in his markers" to achieve aspartame approval in the 80s, mil.lions of cases of aspartame poisoning have been reported where ever aspartame is found in foods, beverages and medical preparations. According to FDA records, adverse reactions to aspartame comprise about 80 percent of consumer complaints. The agency has published a list of 92 symptoms of aspartame poisoning which includes blindness, joint pain, chronic fatigue, wei.ght gain, sex.ual dysfunction, mental illness and death. Its use is linked to chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease-illnesses that have become globally pandemic since aspartame was approved. During the 1980s when congressional hearings were being held on the dangers of aspartame, Dr. H.J. Roberts predicted that, if aspartame approval was not reversed at that time, in five or 10 years "aspartame disease" would be a global plague. By 2001, Dr. Roberts had published the 1,038-page text “Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic” proving his prediction came to pass.
The testimonies of people who have suffered the consequences of aspartame poisoning, a cluster of symptoms most appropriately called "Rumsfeld's disease," are as varied as they are numerous. Aspartame is a multipotential carcinogen linked to a variety of cancers; a teratogen linked to birth defects; an abortifacient implicated in untold numbers of pregnancies ending unexpectedly and without explanation; a neurotoxin associated with neurodevelopmental and behavioral disorders in children and the development of central nervous system complications in adults-a list that includes MS, fibromyalgia and various forms of dementia; it reacts with other chemicals to increase chemical sensitivity and; it reacts with pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines to produce a full spectrum of off-label reactions and adverse events.
[You can read the rest of this article at: http://www.rense.com/general74/legacy.htm - I highly recommend it.]
Self-Care Tips for Managing Stress
Up to 80 percent of all doctor visits are due to health conditions caused by stress, which is not surprising since, according to researchers such as Dr. Bruce Lipton, of Stanford Univ.ersity, stress is the single most important cause of more than 95 percent of all diseases. However, it is more accurate to say that it is not stress itself that causes illness so much as it is our reactions to stress. After all, everyone experiences stress on a daily basis. In fact, without a certain amount of stress, our bodies would not be able to function properly and we would die.
Any type of stimulus that upsets the normal functioning of the body and or disturbs one’s mood can be considered unhealthy. Such stress can occur as a result of one’s diet or environment, or arise from various daily life experiences, such as conflict with loved ones or co-workers, mo.ney problems, or the death of someone close to you. Positive life experiences can also trigger unhealthy stress. In fact, stress researchers have identified marriage, the birth of a child, financial achievement, and job advancements as being among the top experiences that can lead to stress that can have a negative impact on people. Again, however, it needs to be pointed out that it is not the experience, per se, that causes stress, but how a person reacts to the experience. For example, some people can face illness with equanimity and therefore heal from it more quickly than normal, whereas some people, in the face of normally positive life experiences, such as getting married or being hired for a desired job, can become overly worried about what such events portend for their future, this creating unhealthy stress.
When unhealthy stress becomes prolonged, or chronic, it creates biochemical imbalances in the body that can compromise immune function and metabolism, trigger headaches, create or exacerbate pain, create sleep disorders, cause digestive problems, affect brain chemistry and brain wave patterns, and lead to hypertension and heart problems, including heart attack and stroke. Learning to manage and properly respond to stress is therefore a central tenet of natural, holistic approaches to healing and something that alternative health practitioners take time to instruct their patients in.
Self-Care
Aromatherapy: The following essential oils can help to relieve stress and anxiety by promoting physical and psychological calming effects: bergamot, camphor, cedarwood, chamomile, clary sage, cypress, frankincense, geranium, hyssop, jasmine, juniper, lavender, lemon, marjoram, melissa, neroli, rose, sandalwood, and/or ylang ylang.
Diet: Poor diet can cause stress and worsen symptoms of allergies (both food and environmental), anxiety, depression, and hyperactivity, all of which, in turn, can create additional feelings of stress, setting a vicious circle in motion. To combat stress, your diet needs to be fr.ee of all foods to which you may be allergic or sensitive, as well as caffeine, food additives, sugar, sodas, and simple carbohydrates. Instead, emphasize fresh, organic foods, with plenty of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and fr.ee-range, organic meats and poultry, as well as wild caught fish that are rich in essential fatty acids, such as sardines and salmon. Also be sure to drink plenty of pure, filtered water throughout the day, and minimize your alcohol intake to no more than one glass of red wine or beer per day.
If you suffer from low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), you may be particularly prone to stress due to the low energy levels and muddled thinking problems that blood sugar fluctuations can cause. Hypoglycemia can be resolved by following a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet. In addition, eat five smaller meals per day instead of the tradition three meals. If you feel hungry between meals, you can snack on high quality protein bars. Restrict your fruit intake, due to the natural sugars fruits contain, and follow the above dietary guidelines for best results.
Exercise: Physical exercise is an excellent means of reducing stress, so long as you do not over-exercise. Adopting a program of regular exercise is also one of the best things you can do for your health.
Flower Essences: Bach flower (named after Edward Bach, a British physician and homeopath who developed flower essence therapies in the 1930s) and other flower essence therapies can be very effective at healing the mental and emotional issues of a person’s life that are causing them stress. Flower essences work by healing the underlying psychological causes that contribute to physical health conditions, helping to resolve emotions such as anxiety, depression, fear, grief, loneliness, panic, and worry. Rescue Remedy, an all-purpose combination of Bach flower essences can be particularly helpful in this regard. Add a few drops to a glass of pure filtered water and sip from it throughout the day.
Guided Imagery and Visualization: Guided imagery and visualization techniques are an easy way to learn how to enhance your ability to relax. The following exercise can provide you with tools you can use to quickly shift away from feelings of stress to feelings of relaxation. Sit comfortably in an easy chair and close your eyes. Take a few gentle, deep breaths, and imagine yourself becoming increasingly relaxed with each breath you take. Feel relaxation spreading over your entire body like and wave of peace. N.o.w recall a time from your past when you were truly happy and at ease. Imagine yourself back within that moment as if it is actually happening in the present. Use all of your senses to make the scene real. Hear the sounds, smell the scents, and see everything about you in full color. As you relive this experience, notice anew how relaxed, happy, and at peace you feel. By taking a few moments to imagine this scene whenever you feel stress building up, you will be able to quickly release your tension and reclaim the positive mood you were in when you first experienced the scene you are recalling.
HeartMath: HeartMath is both the name of a research institute in Boulder Creek, California, and a system of mind/body medicine developed by the researchers there that is based on the heart’s innate intelligence and ability to create healing and relieve stress when it is properly paid attention to. Learning to control your heart rate can therefore dramatically improve your ability to handle stress. Training people how to do this is the goal of the techniques developed at the HeartMath Institute. Their research has shown that when these techniques are practiced regularly, levels of stress in the body are lowered and accompanied by a reduction of cortisol and other stress-hormones, as well as blood pressure levels. In addition, the HeartMath techniques have been clinical proven to enhance mood and improve cognitive function.
One of these techniques is known as Freeze-Frame. It is comprised of five steps and enables practitioners to quickly replace negative thoughts and emotions with positive experiences of appreciation, joy, and love. These are the steps involved:
1) Become aware of your stressful feelings and “freeze” them, literally taking a “time-out” from whatever it is you were previously engaged in thinking or doing.
2) Shift your attention away from what’s troubling you to focus on your heart. Visualize yourself breathing in and out of your heart for at least ten seconds
3) Allow yourself to recall a past experience of joy or pleasure and immerse yourself within it as if it were reoccurring in the present.
4) Once you are reconnected to these positive feelings, as your heart how to most appropriately and effectively respond to the previous situation that was troubling you.
5) Heed your intuition and the answer that comes to you and act upon the solution you were given as soon as possible.
Herbal Medicine: Useful herbs for relieving stress include chamomile, passionflower, valerian root, and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), which acts as an adaptogen, helping to balance various body functions while simultaneously increasing resistance to stress.
Hydrotherapy: Warm baths and wet sheet packs applied on a regular basis can quickly soothe stress and tension, as well as improve your mood and restore flagging energy levels.
Laughter Therapy: One of the most enjoyable forms of stress relief is the simple act of laughter. Research has shown that pure, unbridled laughter not only helps to relieve stress, it also reduces the body’s production of stress-hormones such as cortisol, and improves immune function. Being able to laugh at yourself and your life situations also provides you with a sense of being in greater control of your life, which can significantly improve your ability to healthily respond to stress. Laughter also enhances feelings of joy and other positive emotions, and can provide a healthier perspective about life challenges and problems you may be faced with.
To cultivate more laughter in your life make it a point to look on the humorous side of life, consciously aim to become more playful and childlike, and regularly expose yourself to comedy, movies, and other media that provoke laughter. Most importantly, don’t take yourself so seriously. If you make the effort, you will find that you have many opportunities throughout each day to laugh about something. Take advantage of them!
Lifestyle: Your lifestyle choices play a big role in how much or how little stress you are exposed to each day. What follows are some guidelines for making your daily routine more stress-fr.ee:
1 Be sure to get enough sleep and go to bed at the same time each night.
2 Don’t skip breakfast and be sure the foods you eat are healthy for you.
3 Exercise for at least 30 minutes for a minimum of three days each week.
4 Schedule your day so that you have fr.ee time to relax and spend with your loved ones.
5 Find a hobby you enjoy and commit to pursuing it on a regular basis.
6 Know what’s most essential and important in your life and commit yourself that instead of wasting time on matters that are unimportant.
7 Identify your fears and worries and examine them objectively. In most cases, you will find doing so will make them far less significant and much more manageable.
8 Set up your daily schedule so that you have plenty of time to devote to your daily tasks, instead of having to hurry to meet your responsibilities.
9 Don’t be afraid of compromising, especially about matters that aren’t significant.
10 Once you decide to do something, act on it as soon as possible. Hesitations about taking action can dramatically ramp up your stress levels.
11 Cultivate laughter in your daily life and make a conscious effort to find the humor in things.
12 Make a commitment to yourself and those you care about to be more loving.
13 Avoid long periods of isolation, especially if you live alone. Seek out and enjoy your friends and loved ones.
14 Regularly engage in relaxation exercises and/or meditation.
15 Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it, and be assertive in the requests you make so that you are treated with respect and taken seriously by others.
16 Avoid the use of alcohol, caffeine, and comfort foods when you do feel stress. Such things are unhealthy for you and serve only to numb your problems temporarily, not resolve them.
Meditation: Meditation has been scientifically shown to relieve stress, as well as to improve overall health and immune function, and to reduce the pain and suffering caused by chronic disease. Meditation can often also provide those who practice it with new insights and improved coping strategies, better enabling them to meet the challenges of the day.
Although there are many types of meditation practices to choose from, all of them have one thing in common: focused attention on the breath. If you are new to meditation, you can begin by sitting up straight yet comfortably and closing your eyes. Place your attention on your breathing as you inhale and exhale. Each time that you find your attention starting to wander, simply return your focusing on your breath. Though doing so may seem difficult initially, with practice it will become easier and easier, and you will find yourself able to easily spend 20 to 30 minutes meditating in this manner. The key is to be gentle with yourself and don’t force the issue. At first, you may find yourself unable to sit still for more than a few minutes. If that is the case, don’t continue. Instead, each day seek to add to the length of your meditation practice until you reach your goal of 20 to 30 minutes per session.
Nutritional Supplements: The following nutrients can improve your ability to cope with stress: vitamin A, B-complex vitamins, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin C, vitamin E, in conjunction with a multivitamin/multimineral formula. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are also important, especially omega-3 oils. If you suffer from hypoglycemia, add chromium and the amino acid glutamine (1000 mg take three times per day, half an hour before each meal).
Relaxation Exercises: Practicing exercises that help your body and mind to relax can quickly release feelings of stress and tension. The following relaxation exercise is one that you can easily make part of your daily health routine:
1) Sit in a quiet room with dim lighting, with your feet flat on the ground.
2) Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Gently begin to breathe deeply in and out from your belly.
3) Each time you exhale, mentally tell yourself, “Relax.” Do this for a few moments, until you feel a wave of relaxation starting to move through your body.
4) Place your attention on your head, jaw, and face. As you continue breathing, direct the wave of relaxation throughout all of the muscles of your face and jaw, including those of the eyes, then over your scalp and along your head, down to the base of your neck.
5) Tense your facial, jaw, and eye muscles for a few seconds, before relaxing them.
6) Repeat this process with each remaining part of your body, beginning with your shoulders, back, arms, and hands, then moving down to your chest, abdomen, pelvis, thighs and upper legs, calves, ankles, feet, and toes. Be sure each area of your body becomes more relaxed before you move your attention to the next area.
7) Once you have proceeded all the way to your toes, continue to sit with your eyes closed for a few more minutes, still breathing gently in and out of your belly, allowing your feelings of relaxation to deepen.
Just before you open your eyes, allow your breathing to become deeper and fuller, feeling a wave of energy passing through you. Once you feel vitalized, open your eyes and return to your daily activities.
(The above information was adapted from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, 2nd edition, edited and co-written by Larry Trivieri, Jr.)
Unabashed Plug
Protect Yourself From Energy Pollution With the BioElectric ShieldTM. Energy pollution is all around us in the fo/rm of harmful electromagnetic frequencies and radiation (EMFs and EMR) emitted by power lines, cells phones, computers, and many other so-called modern conveniences. By wearing the BioElectric Shield pendant, you can protect yourself from the harmful effects of EMFs and EMR. To obtain a BioElectricShield, visit http://www.mcssl.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=408491. To learn more about how and why the BioElectric Shield works, see my article about it at http://www.1healthyworld.com/ezine/vol4no9.cfm.
Reader Feedback: I Was Wrong
Last issue, I ran an article by Byron J. Richards, CNN. In it, Richards suggested that the FDA was attacking small nutrition companies who were not owned in whole or in part by pharmaceutical companies. To back up his point, Richards cited Nutrition 21, a nutritional company in which the pharmaceutical company Wyeth is the largest shareholder. N21’s website makes a number of health claims regarding chromium and the role it can play in helping to manage diabetes. Richards pointed out that smaller nutritional companies that are not owned in whole or in part by pharmaceutical companies are attacked by the FDA when they make similar health claims about their products. This happens to be true, as I know since I regularly receive notifications of the FDA’s letters to such companies. However, as it turns out, Richards’ assumption that N21 has not been attacked by the FDA because Wyeth is its largest shareholder is erroneous, as I learned when I recently received the following email:
<<Larry,
With all due respect you are really jumping to conclusions about Nutrition 21. I know, because I am the chromium scientist at this company. We have been fighting the injustices in health for years.
We flew under the FDA radar because we are a science-based company. Indeed, we are a model in the industry for our nutritional science. We dot the i's and cross the t's to comply with their edicts. We do not make any health claims that we can not back with science.
Do I like what the FDA is doing to these other companies? Absolutely not!
Do I think they are controlled by big pharma? Absolutely yes!
Do I think that reductionist science can support nutritional claims? Yes, but only in some cases.
Chromium can stand on its own, but is only part of the answer to insulin health. Yet science is what keeps the FDA from screwing with us. Believe me, they would wipe us out if they could.
Do I like your newsletter? Very much so! But you are wrong about N21, and I'd like to give you the details on why.
Sincerely, Philip Domenico, PhD>>
Based on Dr. Domenico’s email, I realize that I ought to have done a better job of due diligence before I ran Richards’ article. Though I still agree with the basic thrust of Richards’ piece, by running it as I did, I wrongly besmirched Nutrition 21 and in the process left my readers with the impression that its products may not be worthwhile.
I’m grateful for Dr. Domenico taking the time to set me straight on this matter and look forward to learning from him more about this issue. When I do, I will be sure to pass along what I learn in future issues of The Health Plus Letter.
Recommendations
Book:
Tesla: Man Out of Time by Margaret Cheney. I have long been interested in Nikola Tesla, but only recently did I get around to reading this biography. It’s a fascinating read and I highly recommend it.
Website:
http://gethuman.com/us - This is a very helpful website enabling anyone to quickly get a direct connection to an actual human operator at over 500 major companies instead of suffering through tedious recorded messages.
http://snipurl.com/12lfs- This link will take you to a hilarious video of a bulldog skateboarding. Absolutely delightful!
http://www.nswbc.org/Op%20Ed/Op-ed-Part1-Nov15-06.htm - This link will bring you to a very sobering article about how our nation’s interests have been hijacked by the collusion between foreign nations and our elected officials, and has a direct bearing on the deeper story of 9/11.
Unabashed Plug
Discover and Gain Control of Your Human Energy Field. Read Dr. Valerie Hunt’s Mind Mastery Meditations: A Workbook for the “Infinite Mind,” the empowering guide created by one of the world's foremost researchers into the human energy field, energy medicine, and the relationship between consciousness and health. Each of the meditations this eBook contains is designed to give you mastery of your mind and to empower you to discover the answers to why you are the way you are, your soul's needs, your unique talents and capacities, and your self-designed destiny. By practicing and mastering these meditations, you will become able to live your life with greater ease and success, speed your self-healing, and dramatically increase your ability to manifest your deepest goals. To order this life-changing guide, visit
http://www.1healthyworld.com/ebooks/Mind-Mastery-Book-Info.cfm.
Medical F/r/e/edom
Please contact and support the following organizations dedicated to protecting our health freedoms.
Citizens for Health - http://www.citizens.org
Alliance for Natural Health – http://www.alliance-natural-health.org (The leading organization fighting to preserve health f/r/e/edom in England and the EU.)
Institute for Health F/r/e/edom – http://www.ForHealthF/r/e/edom.org
International Advocates for Health F/r/e/edom (IAHF) – http://www.iahf.com
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 th/e/re.
That’s all for this week.
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 info/rmation purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you are experiencing a health problem, seek prompt medical attention.
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Le/gal Notice: The info/rmation in this eZine may be f/r/e/ely and widely disseminated so long as full attribution is made as follows: The Health Plus Letter, November 21, 2006, Vol. 4, No. 26. Copyright © 2006 by Larry Trivieri, Jr. All rights reserved.
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