NFA’s Guide to Health & Healing

http://www.newstarget.com/021789.html

When it comes to health freedom, this is the FDA’s end game. A new FDA “guidance” document, published on the FDA’s website, reveals plans to reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even vegetable juices as FDA-regulated drugs. Massage oils and massage rocks will be classified as “medical devices” and require FDA approval. The document is called Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is accepting public comments on the docket until April 30th. They tried to sneak this under the radar, but word got out and now the natural health community is up in arms over this rule. If you wish to protect your access to nutritional supplements, herbs, essential oils, homeopathic medicine or any other “complementary” or “alternative” modality, it is crucial that you take action to post your comments with the FDA right now and write your representatives in Washington to put a stop to this outrageous effort to destroy natural medicine. (And be sure to really write them. Just sending an email has virtually no impact compared to writing a physical letter in your own words.)

Click here for the direct link to the FDA’s comment posting page for this docket.

This move by the FDA is designed to once and for all destroy the 1994 DSHEA law that has made supplements “legal” while eliminating nutritional supplements and natural medicine from the United States, ensuring monopoly profits and control by drug companies and the FDA. It is the latest action item by the FDA / Big Pharma conspiracy that will not stop until health freedom has been abolished, drug companies rule the nation, and every citizen is diagnosied with a fictitious disease and drugged up on monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals.

FDA “experts” will decide what’s a drug or medical device
Under these proposed guidelines, FDA “experts” (the same corrupt officials who reapproved Vioxx after it killed over 50,000 Americans) will decide whether herbs, supplements, vitamins or simple devices like massage stones are to be regulated as drugs and medical devices. If the FDA experts, in their infinite wisdom, decide that these things are to be reclassified, they will essentially be outlawed, stripped from the shelves, and regulated out of existence. Anyone who dares to manufacture, promote or sell such products may be branded a criminal and rounded up by armed FDA agents who have a well established history of suppressing natural medicine.

I’ve documented much of the criminal history of the FDA in my recent book, Natural Health Solutions and the Conspiracy to Keep You From Knowing About Them, which suddenly seems even more relevant today than when I wrote it. In that book, I documented the FDA ordered book burnings, the raids on vitamin shops, the kidnapping of natural health practitioners, the threats, intimidation and oppression tactics that have been used to suppress natural medicine for nearly a hundred years now. And now, with this CAM Products Regulation effort, the FDA is about to deal a final, fatal blow to the alternative medicine industry, outlawing nutritional supplements, functional foods, homeopathy and natural therapies all at once.

This is not a drill. It really is time to be alarmed. Nothing else I’ve written about this year is as important as this sinister plot to destroy natural medicine and force the American population to resort to dangerous prescription medications sold at monopoly prices under a system of medical tyranny.

Your access to vitamins, supplements, herbs, and even energy medicine modalities is now directly threatened, and you have until April 30 to make your voice heard.

Action items
First, read the document yourself. Click here for the PDF version.

Take special care to notice the following text, taken directly from the FDA’s own document: (italicized text is from the FDA, with my own translation following)

“…a product used in a CAM therapy or practice may be subject to regulation as a biological product, cosmetic, drug, device, or food (including food additives and dietary supplements) under the act or the PHS Act. Second, neither the act nor the PHS Act exempts CAM products from regulation.”

Translation: Anything used in any system of medicine may now be regulated as a drug or medical device by the FDA. This includes a biofeedback machine, acupuncture needles, a cup of herbal tea, massage oil, a glass of vegetable juice or even a bottle of water.

“…if a person decides to produce and sell raw vegetable juice for use in juice therapy to promote optimal health… [and] if the juice therapy is intended for use as part of a disease treatment regimen instead of for the general wellness, the vegetable juice would also be subject to regulation as a drug under the Act.”

Translation: Raw vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug and must be FDA approved as a drug if it has any health effect whatsoever. Handing a cup of raw vegetable juice to someone and telling them it’s good for the detoxification of their liver will get you arrested for practicing medicine without a license and promoting an “unapproved drug.”

…”biologically based practices” includes, but is not limited to, botanicals, animal-derived extracts, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, proteins, prebiotics and probiotics: whole diets, and “functional foods”. …a botanical product intended for use in treating a disease would generally be regulated as a drug.” …”functional foods” may be subject to FDA regulation as foods, dietary supplements, or drugs under the Act.

Translation: All foods, supplements, superfoods and functional foods may be reclassified as drugs by the FDA, then regulated off the market.

“If… the manipulative and body-based practices involve the use of equipment (such as massage devices) or the application of a product (such as a lotion, cream, or oil) to the skin or other parts of the body, those products may be subject to regulation under the Act.”

Translation: Massage oils and creams will be regulated as “drugs” and acupuncture needles as “medical devices.” Taking this absurdity one step further, massage therapists who use their fingers to touch patients may have their fingers regulated as “medical devices” and be accused of practicing medicine for merely touching patients.

Things that will be regulated out of existence
It is very clear that the FDA is intending to regulate and ultimately destroy the entire CAM industry (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). Based on the explanations in the FDA’s own document, the following things are likely to occur:

* All vitamins, nutritional supplements and functional foods will be stripped of their structure & function claims, reducing them to empty labels where virtually nothing at all is allowed to be stated.
* Vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug. Raw juice retreats will be raided or shut down.
* Growing and selling common garden herbs will get you arrested as a drug dealer.
* Massage oils and handheld massagers will be regulated as “medical devices.”
* Yoga props, pilates machines and weight machines will be regulated as “medical devices” and require FDA approval before being sold or used.
* Raw sprouts and other anti-cancer foods will be regulated as drugs.
* Bottled water that “treats” dehydration will be regulated as a drug.
* Massage therapists who use hot rocks as part of their therapy will have the ROCKS regulated as medical devices! (It’s true. The FDA will actually look at a pile of rocks and declare, “Those are medical devices!”)
* Functional foods, supplements, vitamins and homeopathic remedies will disappear from store shelves, pending FDA “review.” (The only things remaining will be processed junk foods and pharmaceuticals, which is exactly what Big Business wants.)
* Therapeutic tea products, such as green tea, will be outlawed and confiscated.
* Vitamin store owners will be arrested and prosecuted for “practicing medicine without a license.”
* Citizens owning personal inventories of “unapproved drugs” (vitamins and herbs) may have their homes raided at gunpoint and their inventories confiscated by armed law enforcement agents.
* The importation of herbs and functional foods from all countries may be banned.

Keep in mind that the FDA is the same agency that:

* Wants to label irradiated foods as “pasteurized.”
* Voted to put the deadly drug Vioxx back on the market after tens of thousands of deaths, even after its own manufacturer pulled it from pharmacies.
* Raided a church at gunpoint, confiscating biofeedback machines and charging that they were “practicing medicine” by counseling church members on issues like depression.
* Openly allows corrupt, “on the take” experts to vote on new drug approvals, even when those experts are taking money from the same companies impacted by their votes.
* Refuses to legalize stevia, the safe, natural herbal sweetener that’s used virtually everywhere else in the world. The agenda? Protect the profits of aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.
* Openly allows the mass poisoning of the public with cancer-causing food additives such as sodium nitrite.
* Refuses to enforce its own laws regarding unsafe chemical toxins in personal care products, allowing perfume and lotion companies to continue poisoning the public with cancer-causing chemicals that don’t even have to be listed on the label, nor proven safe.
* Ordered the destruction of recipe books that mentioned stevia. (A campaign to keep the public ignorant of the herb.)
* Does everything in its power to protect drug company profits, including discrediting herbs, supplements and alternative medicine.

Does anyone honestly believe that this criminal organization has any capacity whatsoever to act in the public interest? Even many Senators are fed up with the FDA’s unprecedented level of corruption and criminal behavior.

Action items, continued…
Read Jon Barron’s comments on this rule at the JonBarron.org website.

Next, lodge your complaint against the FDA by commenting on this docket through the FDA’s docket comment form.

And finally, write your Senator or Congressperson about this issue and let them know, in blatant language, that you will not stand by and allow the criminals running medicine today to take away your access to vitamins, supplements, herbs and homeopathic medicine. Write the letter in your own words, even if it’s just two sentences. Individual letters have a hundred times the impact of form letters.

Medical wasteland USA
Everything is at stake here. If the FDA gets its way, the United States will become a medical wasteland, dominated by corporate drug company interests, where the naturopaths are imprisoned and their products destroyed. Supplements and herbs will become contraband, and gardeners who grow their own medicinal herbs may be raided and arrested by DEA agents wielding assault rifles. Simply selling dried broccoli sprouts as being “good anti-cancer foods” may land you in prison, and running a vitamin shop could result in you being arrested for “practicing medicine.”

Imagine a nation where Whole Foods stores are stripped of all herbs and supplements, where vitamin shops are emptied and abandoned, where books that promote herbs are bulldozed into large piles and burned, where natural healers are rounded up and “disappeared” into incarceration centers. This is the future that will become reality if the FDA has its way. The plan has been explained to us in plain language. Any agency that openly states “vegetable juice will be regulated as a drug” has quite simply lost its marbles. We’re are now clearly being regulated by clinically insane bureaucrats.

With this desperate proposal by the FDA — clearly designed as a last-ditch effort to save the failing conventional medical industry from a massive public shift towards natural medicine — the war against health freedom has reached our shores, and the FDA is plotting a 9/11-style attack to bring down the towers of health freedom in one swift motion.

This is the same agency that currently represents the greatest threat to the health and safety of the American people, far outweighing the threat of real terrorism. This agency, we have seen, will do ANYTHING to protect the profits and power of drug companies. It will lie, steal, accept bribes, hide scientific evidence, distort statistics, commit scientific fraud, break federal laws, threaten its own drug safety scientists, conspire with drug company executives, intimidate American citizens and use terror-style tactics to achieve its goals of complete domination over foods, drugs and health.

Why do Americans tolerate terrorism in their own government?

It is time we put a stop to this home-grown tyranny. We have fought too hard for freedom in the United States to allow us all to be steamrolled by a criminal front group covertly working for Big Pharma. The FDA has declared war on natural medicine and the American people, and we will lose our family members, children, brothers and sisters as casualties of this war if we don’t stand up now and demand radical changes. It’s time to stop this terrorist organization from destroying the lives of yet more U.S. citizens.

Make your voice heard now, or forever surrender your access to supplements, herbs, superfoods and functional foods. By the time the FDA is done with this country, we’ll all be eating medication for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Action reminders:
1. Lodge a complaint with the FDA by clicking here. MAKE SURE you include the docket number 2006D-0480. But don’t trust this to be enough. The FDA will probably simply delete half the complaints it receives, so don’t trust your complaint to actually count. It’s important to continue…

2. Send a strongly-worded letter to your representatives in Washington. Be sure to cite Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for Industry on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Products and Their Regulation by the Food and Drug Administration. Tell them you support open access to vitamins, herbs, and supplements, and you do not want CAM to be regulated by the FDA.

3. Send this story to everyone you know. Spread the word. Raise the alarm. With enough public support, the FDA will be forced to back off this insane proposal.

And stay tuned to NewsTarget for more news, analysis and action alerts on health freedom. Even though we’re under constant attack by criminal organizations trying to disrupt our servers and take us off line, we’re still here, beating the drum for health freedom, and hoping that we have enough sane-minded Americans remaining to save this country from its government.

Actual FDA quote is gobbledygook
Here’s an actual FDA statement from the CAM Guidance report:

For example, naturopathic cranberry tablets might be labeled for use to maintain the health of the urinary tract. In this example, the cranberry tablets generally would be regulated as “dietary supplements” …if they were labeled for use to “maintain the health of the urinary tract” rather than “prevent urinary tract infections.” The cranberry tablets would be regulated as “drugs” …if they were labeled for use to “treat urinary tract infections” even if they were labeled as dietary supplements.

Additional phone numbers as listed in the FDA document
Sheryl Lard-Whiteford at 301-827-0379
Daniel Nguyen at 301-827-8971
Ted Stevens at 301-594-1184
Wayne Amchin at 301-827-6739

Tooth decay is caused by a deficiency of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients the body needs to build healthy teeth. The two most important minerals teeth need are calcium and phosphate. Unfortunately, for the teeth, other places of the body also need these minerals. So if you’re running short, the minerals will migrate out of your teeth, and bones, and go to more important places, like your heart and other organs.

For optimal tooth health, you need to avoid foods that contribute to decay, and carry minerals out of the body. Some of these foods are:

* Sugar (all forms) which leaches calcium out of the bones.
* White flour (such as bread, crackers, cereals, pastas). White flour has the vitamins and minterals removed to promote shelf life. Fresh flour will go rancid in two weeks, even when refrigerated.
* Pasteurized dairy products (all forms). Heat from pasteurization kills both good and bad bacteria, causes a loss of half the vitamin C, and up to 80% of all other vitamins, including 100% of vitamin B-12. It also changes the structure, causing it to strain the digestive system, and because the digestive-aiding enzymes are destroyed, it can cause allergies or an intolerance.
* Iodized salt, which has had all valuable minerals removed.
* Grains, nuts, and seeds which have not been soaked or sprouted. Processing these grains by high heat destroys digestive enzymes, but leaves phytic acid, which combines with minerals (calcium, magnesium, iron, etc.), blocking their absorption.

“Secondary dentine” which is dentin generated on an as-needed basis, which enamel has been worn away and cavities have begun. This secondary dentine can heal the spot by patching it up or rebuilding the tooth. But this will only occur if the body has enough vitamin D, otherwise it may not generate at all. One study concluded the calcium content of saliva doubled or tripled when enough cod liver oil was present in the diet (cod liver oil contains alot of vitamin D).

Dr. Weston A. Price, who in the 1930’s and ’40’s used a mixture of cod liver oil and butter oil to cure cavities. The short story is, Dr. Price decided to find out the cause of dental decay, and so he travelled the world, visiting the people with the best teeth - primitives. After observing their diet, he discovered primitives consumed at least four times as many water soluble vitamins (calcium and other minerals) and ten times the fat soluble vitamins (vitamins A and D) from animals foods (fish eggs, butter from grass-fed cows) than those with modern (American) diets.

He also found an additional fat soluble vitamin which he called Activator X (scientists now call this the Price Factor). Activator X is similar to vitamins A and D, helping the body to absorb minerals that would otherwise be lost. The good news is, Activator X is not lost through pasteurization, although it disappears in cows fed high amounts of protein or soy.

Not all primitives had perfect teeth - there were also primitives with terrible teeth. Crooked, crowded, decayed. He found these primitives had adopted a modern (American) diet, consisting of sugary breakfast cereals and white flour products. For these, Dr. Price daily fed them a lunch containing a day’s supply of calcium and twice the amount of phosphorus. He began with 1/2 teaspoon high vitamin cod liver oil and 1/2 teaspoon high vitamin butter oil in 4 ounces of tomato (or orange) juice. Then, 1 pint of beef broth stew made with fine cuts of tender meat and lots of vegetables, particularly carrots (or fish chowder or liver, depending on the day); cooked fruit (no artificial sweetener); rolls made from freshly-ground whole wheat, spread with high vitamin butter; 2 glasses raw milk.

They still had their sugary breakfast and otherwise lousy eating habits the rest of the day, and yet he had a 90% success rate of healing their cavities (including one girl with 42 cavities on 24 teeth!). There are photos of the x-rays in Dr. Price’s book, as well as on the web.

Once your teeth start getting sensitive, it’s a clue that you’re losing minerals, and you need to grow some enamel back. Or, if you already have cavities forming, you will need calcium, phosphate, magnesium, and a variety of enzymes to grow enamel back. Taking a multi-vitamin won’t solve this problem, as the RDA’s are the minimum amounts necessary for survival - not optimal health.

Here is a list of foods to consume for healthy teeth:

* Cod Liver Oil and butter oil, taken together
* Raw dairy from grass-fed cows. Butter, kefir, yogurt, cheese, milk.
* Animal proteins, such as eggs, fish, or liver
* Lots of greens and raw (stir-fried or lightly steamed) vegetables
* Soup made from bone broth and containing green vegetables, topped with seaweed.
* Soaked and/or sprouted nuts and grains.
* Sea salt (full of minerals)
* Herbs: lemongrass, lemon balm, red raspberry leaf

If you want to learn more about Weston A. Price, visit http://www.westonaprice.org or purchase his book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.” Another great book, is “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon - who is carrying on the work of Dr. Price - containing recipes and food advice for healthy teeth, and health in general.

-Lea

http://www.honestfoodguide.org/

It’s the free guide for those who want an honest reference guide on what’s healthy and what’s not.

Healthy Chocolate Bars

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup cacao powder
1 T vanilla
1 t sea salt

Combine butter, cream, and agave until well mixed.

Add cacao powder, vanilla, and salt.

Pour into molds and refrigerate until firm.

http://www.newstarget.com/007348.html

Lie #1: Prescription drugs will make you healthier.

Truth #1: Prescription drugs only mask symptoms. They do nothing to correct the underlying biochemical causes of disease. Simultaneously, most prescription drugs cause nutritional deficiencies which lead to further progression of chronic disease. See http://www.newstarget.com/001352.html

Lie #2: You should actively treat the swelling of sprains, strains and other injuries.

Truth #2: Swelling is your body’s natural strategy for enhancing the flow of blood and nutrients to the injured area. If drugs or hormones are used to prevent swelling, the injured tissues won’t heal correctly, greatly increasing the likelihood of repeat injuries to the same area.

Lie #3: Mammograms prevent cancer.

Truth #3: Mammograms actually cause cancer. They dose the breast tissues with harmful radiation. Even when they spot breast cancer tumors, they aren’t “preventing” breast cancer; they’re merely detecting breast cancer. True prevention requires changes in food choice and lifestyle, not the use of imaging technology. See http://www.newstarget.com/000895.html

Lie #4: Vitamins give you “expensive urine.”

Truth #4: The most expensive urine in the world is created by taking multiple overpriced prescription drugs, not vitamins. With more than 40% of the U.S. population now on prescription drugs, the drug content in human urine is now so high that trace amounts of antidepressant drugs can be found in public water supplies. Compared to drugs, vitamins are cheap prevention. Seehttp://www.newstarget.com/001891.html

Lie #5: The sun will give you cancer.

Truth #5: The sun will prevent cancer due to the creation of vitamin D by the skin. Most Americans (and Canadians and Europeans, for that matter) are deficient in vitamin D. As a result, tumor cell growth in the breast and prostate is unregulated. Sensible exposure to natural sunlight generates cancer-preventing vitamin D… at no charge! Sunburns are actually caused by nutritional deficiencies (lack of antioxidants in the skin), not by sensible exposure to sunlight. See http://www.newstarget.com/Vitamin_D.html

Lie #6: CT scans (CAT scans) are perfectly safe.

Truth #6: CT scans expose patients to 1000 times the radiation of chest X-rays. Repeated exposure to CT scans raises a patient’s cumulative radiation to levels experienced by many hydrogen bomb victims in Hiroshima. In addition, rigorous studies have concluded that CT scans offer no medical benefit whatsoever. See http://www.newstarget.com/004060.html

Lie #7: The U.S. health care system is the best in the world.

Truth #7: The health of U.S. citizens is actually the worst of any industrialized nation. We pay double, triple, and even quadruple the price for prescription drugs as any other country. We also have the highest rates of obesity, Alzheimer’s, cancer and diabetes, plus the highest health insurance costs in the world. The U.S. health care system (”sick care system”) is so bad that people are fleeing the country to seek medical services in Asia. It’s a trend called “medical tourism,” and it’s flourishing. See http://www.newstarget.com/007097.htmln

Lie #8: All surgical procedures have been proven safe and effective.

Truth #8: There is currently NO requirement whatsoever that surgical procedures must be either safe or effective in order to be practiced. Hundreds of thousands of medically unnecessary surgical procedures are performed each year in the U.S. alone, including hysterectomies and prostate cancer surgeries. See http://www.newstarget.com/002608.html

Lie #9: You can get all the nutrition you need from three balanced meals a day.

Truth #9: Today’s foods are nutrient depleted, and they come from depleted soils. Processed and manufactured foods would have to be eaten at the rate of 10,000 calories a day just to meet minimum RDA requirements for basic nutrition. The only way to get adequate nutrition is to supplement with superfoods or whole food concentrates (vitamins, whole food powders, supplement capsules, etc.) along with eating healthy meals. Organizations like the AHA, however, insist that nutrient supplementation is actually bad for your health. See http://www.newstarget.com/001587.html

Lie #10: All these lab tests are for your own good.

Truth #10: At least half of all diagnostic tests ordered by doctors are medically unnecessary. They’re often conducted merely to generate revenues for the hospital or medical group that owns the doctor’s clinic. Some doctors are actually required to generate a certain dollar amount of lab test revenues in order to keep their jobs.

[originally posted on NFA on 5-3-2007]

NewsTarget.com

Originally published March 9 2007 SDA approves mass planting of GM rice made with human genes

by David Gutierrez

(NewsTarget) For the first time, the USDA has given preliminary approval for large-scale planting of a genetically engineered food crop containing human genes. The rice grains, produced by California-based Ventria Bioscience, synthesize a human immune protein. The public comment period for this decision lasts until March 30, after which the decision will be finalized.

Jump directly to: conventional view | alternative view | resources | bottom line

What you need to know - Conventional View

• The USDA has tentatively approved a petition by Ventria to plant up to 3,200 acres of the modified rice in Geary County, Kan. If the approval stands, Ventria will begin by planting 450 acres this spring.

• Previously, Ventria had sought to grow the rice in Missouri, but the plan was abandoned when Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. threatened to boycott all rice from the state. Anheuser-Busch, a beer maker, is the country’s foremost buyer of rice.

• Anheuser-Busch had the same concern as many critics of genetically engineered plants, which is that genes from engineered varieties may spread to and “genetically pollute” non-engineered or even wild relatives of the plants.

• Critics of the USDA’s decision have expressed concern that genetic pollution in this case could cause potentially dangerous pharmacological proteins to contaminate the food supply. The same day that the USDA gave the new rice the green light, it announced that rice seed in Arkansas had become contaminated by a different genetically engineered strain not approved for consumption. This was discovered while investigating the widespread contamination of rice in the U.S. with yet another genetically modified strain.

• According to Ventria, the genetically engineered rice could allow the cheap production of immune proteins that have been shown to help children recover faster from severe diarrhea. It is seeking FDA approval to add the protein to foods such as yogurt and granola.

• Quote: “This is not a product that everyone would want to consume. It is unwise to produce drugs in plants outdoors.” - Jane Rissler, Union of Concerned Scientists

What you need to know - Alternative View

Statements and opinions by Mike Adams, author for Truth Publishing

• These experiments with genetically modified crops are, in my view, extremely dangerous and may ultimately lead to a genetic Chernobyl that could devastate the U.S. food supply. Such crops should never be allowed to be planted in the open.

• In giving this preliminary approval, the USDA seems to be once again leaning towards protecting corporate profits rather than public health. The motives of a regulatory agency that would allow such crops to be planted in open fields are highly questionable.

Resources you need to know

• Union of Concerned Scientists (http://www.ucsusa.org)

• Ventria Bioscience (http://www.ventria.com)

• USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service public comment notice (http://www.aphis.usda.gov/brs/fedregister/BRS_20070228a.pdf)

• More about genetically modified foods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_foods)

Bottom line

• The USDA has given preliminary approval for the planting of rice engineered to produce human immune proteins, and the agency will accept public comments on the decision until March 30.

[originally posted on NFA on 3-9-2007]

http://www.newstarget.com/021731.html

Commentary by Mike Adams, the creator of this cartoon:

Humans are the only species on the planet who actually go out of their way to feed their children crap. All other animals instinctly seek out the best nutrition they can find. Birds find grubs, worms and insects to feed their young, honeybees painstakingly collect pollen and create a nutrient-rich superfood that gives rise to a living queen bee, and even dogs, cats and cows try to find the most nutrient-rich foods to offer their offspring.

But humans? Most of them “reward” their children with junk food, sugary sodas, candy laced with petrochemical coloring additives and refined sugars that promote obesity and diabetes. Most parents don’t even make any real effort to follow nutritional discipline at home — they simply buy whatever their children saw advertised on television, caving in to the all-powerful “nag factor” that junk food companies fully exploit when marketing to children.

As a result, human children are the least healthy youngsters of any species on the planet. Baby dolphins are healthier than baby humans, for example, and they are born with healthier nervous systems, fewer toxins and a lot more common sense.

Speaking of common sense, nearly all mammals have the common sense to feed their children their own mother’s milk. A kitten, for example, will drink cat’s milk from its mother. A puppy will drink dog’s milk from its mother. A baby horse will drink horse’s milk from its mother. But humans? We’re sorta stupid. We mostly drink cow’s milk. (And the dairy industry insisted for decades it was better for infants than human milk!)

Of all the mammals on planet Earth, only humans are dumb enough to seek out the mammary gland juice of another species while shunning the breast milk of their own species. And did we choose the milk of a species SMARTER than us that might have more brain-boosting nutrients? Nope. We get our milk from a low-IQ species well suited to pulling a plow. Cow’s milk ain’t exactly brain nutrition, folks. Some people have a hard time understanding that because they’ve been drinking too much of the stuff and those mushy neurons crammed into their thick skulls are firing a bit on the slow side. (A lack of DHA does wonders for boosting stupidity scores.)

Humans, by the way, are not only so collectively short-sighted that they feed their children crap foods and beverages, they actually still haven’t figured out why so many of their children are obese and diabetic! It’s like beating yourself on the hand with a hammer and wondering why your fingers hurt. Gee, the evidence isn’t that difficult to figure out, folks. If you feed your kids sugar, white flour, toxic chemical additives, mind-altering pharmaceuticals and toxic shampoos, lotions and toothpaste, you’re gonna end up with mutant children who aren’t exactly Nobel Prize material.

This isn’t rocket science. The real mystery is how the food companies keep getting away with all the denial of the evidence linking processed foods and beverages to childrens’ health problems. I guess it helps that they influence the government regulators and practically own the mainstream media. They also buy all the prime shelf space at grocery stores, sponsor the big sporting events, and have successfully infiltrated schools and hospitals with junk food restaurants and vending machines. Heck, there’s still a McDonald’s restaurant in the Cleveland Clinic where they perform heart surgery!

If the birds and the bees have figured out how to raise healthy offspring, you’d think that humans might have the brain power to raise their own healthy children, too. And some parents are. There are lots of great parents out there raising kids on a macrobiotic diet, a vegetarian diet or a zero-processed-foods diet. Many of those parents are home schoolers, by the way. Good job to all the parents who actually teach their children healthful eating habits! Keep up the goog work!

Unfortunately, those parents are rare. Most parents just buy whatever crap is being peddled on TV these days. And they feed their kids cancer-causing processed meats, hyperactivity-causing food additives and obesity-promoting refined sugars. They load ‘em up on high-fructose corn syrup and then wonder why little Johnny weighs 150 pounds. (Must be the genes, they think. Cause daddy’s overweight, too.)

And even though some individuals and corporations may get financially rich by selling this junk to families, the bottom line is that we’re all worse off when we raise unhealthy children in society. Why? Because the future cost of treating disease — not to mention the loss of lifetime productivity — is jaw-droppingly HUGE. It’s enough to bankrupt our nation, which is, coincidentally, what seems likely to happen in due course. No democracy has ever survived its citizens losing their health.

We could learn a lot by listening to nature on the subject of nutrition. Most animals eat a raw foods, vegetarian diet. Even the birds and the bees have something important to teach us about nutrition: feed your children right, and your species will survive and thrive. But feed your children crap and your family tree becomes a dead stump in the dirt.

If you’re a parent, I urge you to make an effort to introduce your children to a diet of unprocessed, natural foods. If they’ve been on a sugared-up diet of processed foods so far, they will of course whine about it. But your job as the parent is to give your children what’s best for their health, not what they really really want because their taste buds tell them so.

Always breastfeed newborns and don’t believe the B.S. about infant formula being just as good as mother’s milk (nothing’s as good for infants as the real thing). Don’t bring sugar and soda into your house, and don’t reward kids with junk food. That only trains them to associate pleasure with unhealthful foods, and that’s a curse that could haunt them for the rest of their adult life.

Feed them right and you’ll give them the best gift any parent could hope to offer: a healthful, self-aware future, free from chemicals and disease.

[originally posted on NFA on 3-23-207]

http://www.foodnews.org/

Why Should You Care About Pesticides?

There is growing consensus in the scientific community that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can adversely affect people, especially during vulnerable periods of fetal development and childhood when exposures can have long lasting effects. Because the toxic effects of pesticides are worrisome, not well understood, or in some cases completely unstudied, shoppers are wise to minimize exposure to pesticides whenever possible.

Will Washing and Peeling Help?

Nearly all of the data used to create these lists already considers how people typically wash and prepare produce (for example, apples are washed before testing, bananas are peeled). While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.

How This Guide Was Developed

The produce ranking was developed by analysts at the not-for-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) based on the results of nearly 43,000 tests for pesticides on produce collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2004. A detailed description of the criteria used in developing the rankings is available as well as a full list of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been tested (see below).

EWG is a not-for-profit environmental research organization dedicated to improving public health and protecting the environment by reducing pollution in air, water and food. For more information please visit www.ewg.org.

Partial List: (for the full list, visit: http://www.foodnews.org/)

[originally posted on NFA on 3-30-2007]

I bought some of this calendula for when Ariana gets the inevitable scrape. It helps knit the skin together more quickly. In fact, if the wound is deep, it’s not recommended, as it will heal so fast, the top layers of skin will heal faster than the inside. Also good for skin ailments from acne to sunburns.

For deep wounds St. John’s Oil (Hypericium) is best.

[originally posted on NFA on 6-5-2006]

Some interesting articles I came across today:

Discovering the Truth Behind the Sunshine/Skin Cancer Myth

Sunlight Actually Prevents Cancer

Vitamin D for Cancer

[originally posted on NFA on 6-6-2006]