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Post Master News Headlines and Excerpts from various Health and Nutrition sites. Some articles are aggregated under the Creative Commons License. If you feel this article has been re-published outside of these parameters, please contact us immediately to resolve any issues. We respect copyrights and address any concerns promptly.

Jun

2013

The Bright Side Mission

These days, There is a real, justified cynicism about supplementation, diet plans, alternatives to drugs, etc., and the medical model plays off on this skepticism. Pharmacist Ben believes that this cynicism exists because nobody is explaining exactly how the body works and how nutrients work.

The Bright Side Mission

The Bright Side mission is to communicate the message of how the body works – how the chemistry, neurology, biology, and all systems in the body work together with nutrition, with oxygen, and with mental, spiritual, and emotional components as well – so that regular people can gain appreciation and awe at the sheer perfection and magnificence of the human body. The Bright Side carries out its mission via The Bright Side Radio show and website, Pharmacist Ben’s presentations, and pamphlets such as this one.

Bright Side Mission – Syndicated Radio Show with Ben Fuchs

Therefore, The Bright Side’s mission is also one of empowerment and liberation: teaching the people how the body works so that we may take the power to control our own health back into our own hands and liberate ourselves from slavery to modern medicine, pharmaceutical drugs, and processed corporate swill that passes for food in the Standard American Diet (SAD).

As such, Americans are the most diseased and medicalized people in human history, despite modern medical and technological advances. 70 – 80% of the health issues in the U.S. are degenerative diseases – essentially, diseases of lifestyle; doctors, drugs, and surgery cannot do anything about this state of affairs. The reality, however, is that Americans are not sick, they are starving for nutrients. We do not need to be fixed, we need to be fed. Without nutrients, disease is the only eventuality possible, and that is what we are seeing more and more in the United States (and the Western world) today.

But there is great news! You can help yourself feel better and reverse the degenerative process if you just give the body what it needs. The body needs proper nutrition to feed the body, respiration to oxygenate the body, movement to generate electrical energy and deliver nutrients throughout the body, and long periods of rest for bodily growth and repair to take place.

Once you understand better how the body works and what it needs, you can effectively provide yourself with the necessary nutrients so that you don’t have to go looking for salvation from herbs, drugs, and exotic elements that are not part of the body’s essential line up of nutrition.

And so, as the name “The Bright Side” itself states, there is always a “bright side” when it comes to our health and any diseases we or our loved ones might be suffering from, which is that we can be our own doctors and healthcare providers! The Bright Side is committed to the idea that the body’s healing processes and optimal health can begin immediately if we arm ourselves with the proper knowledge and begin to change the food and lifestyle choices we make, allowing us to be the immediate beneficiaries of the body’s divine, inborn healing system.

Modern Medicine – It’s About Money, Not Health

The United States is spending between 15 – 20% (soon to be 30%) of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare, yet we’re so sick! We have the most expensive healthcare and the highest rates of degenerative disease in the world, as well as the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and cancer. As well, we have the highest healthcare costs, highest drug costs, insurance costs, and soon we will have the full weight of the federal government guaranteeing that everyone’s participation.

And what do we have to show for ourselves? More degeneration than ever before, and we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Doctors generally treat allopathically, which is a treatment of disease. In fact, modern medicine is an ongoing war against disease, bacteria, viruses. Let’s look at the roots of the word “allopathy”, which means “against (allo-) pathology (-pathy)”, or in other words, “opposing pathology/disease”. Toxic pharmaceuticals, radiation, and invasive surgery are the weapons of choice in modern medicine’s “war on pathology”. With the notion of “you have ___________ disease and ___________ symptom(s)”, doctors are given the license to prescribe medications or harmful remedies.

It’s the medical model that is the root problem: The focus on billable markers, tests, ancillary hospital services, and drugs that is at fault here. This is the wrong way to look at the body! The commoditization of medicine in our capitalist culture has led to this state of affairs, so in true follow-the-money fashion, the health of the population has become nothing more than an opportunity for some well-paid CEO’s and their poodles in the medical profession to line their pockets at our and our family’s expense.

People go to the doctors for their sickness and, in a knee-jerk fashion, the doctor prescribes the usual stuff (like amoxicillin, cough syrup, etc.). Doctors prescribe the exact same stuff for everyone; some cost-cutting health facilities use formularies that show which drugs are supplied at the discounted rate. Everyone who has problem X will be treated with drug Y in a very cookie-cutter fashion – whatever the buyers of drugs at the facilities have a deal on. Every pathology has a designated drug and protocol for how much and when. These days, dispensing prescriptions is so automatic that the doctor doesn’t even have to know anything.

So, do you really believe that drug companies, hospitals, and healthcare services in general really have an interest in making sure everyone is healthy? The $300 billion figure goes towards paying a lot of mortgages for a lot of drug company reps and CEO’s. Do not think that a pharmaceutical company is interested in your health! The medical model does NOT have your best interests in mind. If you don’t want to be milked like a cash cow, you want to stay FAR away from the corporate healthcare system in this country.

What’s more, the medical model wants us to think that the body’s workings are a mystery and keep us confused, just like the legal and political system want us confused – so that we can’t empower ourselves. Just think for a second about the legal system or the tax code – they are so complex that you must find a lawyer or an accountant. Why? Because lawyers write the law. The political system is the same way – filled with laws, intentionally complicating things so we give up.

The American medical system is much the same – we are led to believe that health is complicated, when it’s not. The main problem is that most modern medical treatments that suppress symptoms do not address the causes of the problem in the first place, which can almost always be traced to simple root causes (more on that in the next section). And so, we’ve become so smart with today’s medical model that we’re dumb! We spend our time, energy, and money trying to “cure” the ever-growing list of symptoms of disease. But attempting to address health challenges at the symptom level is equivalent to Hercules trying to destroy the hydra, who grew two heads for every one cut off. For example:

– When doctors remove a gall bladder for chronic gall stones, patients get skin and digestive problems

– When doctors prescribe blood pressure medicine, patients have fatigue and sexual difficulties

– Treatments for depression increase the risk for suicide and difficulty in concentration

But again, the bright side is that, when it comes to your health, you don’t have to buy into a crooked medical paradigm. If nutrition sounds kind of wacky to you and you want to go out and use, say, a statin drug, then go ahead. But if you’re suspicious or tired of being drugged, turn to The Bright Side, because you will get a lot of real options for real health and wellness that don’t involve interfacing with the medical community at all. Continued reading The Bright Side Mission Pt. 2

Jun

2013

High Fructose Corn Syrup Addiction Like Cocaine

Results presented at the 2013 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting shows that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) can cause behavioural reactions similar to those produced by drugs of abuse such as cocaine.

by APRIL McCARTHY

These results, presented by addiction expert Francesco Leri, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Applied Cognitive Science at the University of Guelph, suggest food addiction could explain, at least partly, the current global obesity epidemic partly caused by these ingredients.

The same brain circuits are involved when people crave high fructose corn syrup as when drug addicts think about drugs. There is significant activity in all areas of the brain, especially in the hippocampus when consuming potent sweeteners. That region is related to learning, memory and is also related to a lot of things such as sensory and motor impulse and emotional behavior.

The stimulators also sent messages of satiety to brain circuits in the orbitofrontal cortex and striatum, which have been linked to craving and desire in cocaine addicts.

High-fructose corn syrup, which is a mixture a potent concentrated cocktail of the simple sugars fructose and glucose, came into use in the 1970s and by 2010 the average American was consuming about 80 pounds of it per year. Overall, dietary intake of fructose has increased by an estimated 50 percent in the last thirty years.

Jun

2013

Doctor Wallach’s Deadly Recipe Lecture

Listen to Doc Wallach’s Deadly Recipe Lecture below. Dr. Joel Wallach, internationally renowned health and longevity expert, founded Youngevity. Since 1991, Youngevity has been providing innovative health care products with impressive history and benefits.

He is also the author of, Dead Doctors Don’t Lie, Let’s Play Herbal Doctor, Let’s Play Doctor and several other informative publications.

Doctor Joel Wallach is sometimes referred to as the godfather of liquid supplementation. He is considered a true pioneer in the fields of biomedical research and nutrition. Doctor Wallach’s 40 years of work in the field of Veterinary Medicine forms the basis to his deep understanding of nutritional health. Some of his ground breaking research includes the discovery of the effects of selenium on cancer and the essential fatty acids on heart disease. He has written more than 70 scientific papers and six books including the famous textbook, “Diseases of Exotic Animals”, still being used today by leading veterinary schools, and can also be found on display at the Smithsonian Institute where it is stored as a national treasure.

Following an extensive career in Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Wallach went on to become a primary care physician of Naturopathic medicine. He has worked tirelessly as an advocate of the dietary supplement industry and has successfully lobbied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on a number of occasions. Dr. Wallach’s forward-thinking ideas on nutritional health are clearly spelled out in his most famous lecture, “Dead Doctors Don’t Lie” which currently has more than 150 million copies worldwide, making it the most widely distributed health lecture on record. [Read more: Dr. Joel Wallach]

Dr. Joel Wallach’s Dead Doctors Don’t Lie radio program can be heard on GCN Monday through Friday 1:00-2:00pm (MT).

Doc Wallach’s Deadly Recipe Lecture

Jun

2013

Insomnia And Disrupted Sleep During Menopause

Are you kidding me! Of course sleep problems are connected to heart disease in menopausal women. Problems sleeping are classic signs of adrenal production of stress (sympathetic) hormones. and nothing puts more “stress on the heart than stress hormones! That’s why one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself from heart disease or to mitigate the effects if you already have it, is to focus on adrenal health.

When the inevitable hits and a women’s ovarian hormone output slows down, a women’s adrenal glands, which also produce reproductive hormones (except at this point in a woman’s life they’re more accurately health and repair hormones) are expected to pick up the slack. They’re working hard! To give your adrenals some love, use Celtic Sea Salt or Redmond Salt or Himalayan salt. The adrenal gland LOVES minerals! Use lots of Vitamin C too and don’t forget the Zinc and Magnesium. Breath deeply and fully 5 minutes a day paying extra attention to the exhale, it’s activated by the relaxation nervous systems (parasympathetic) and mitigates some of the affects of the stress nervous system. Meditation and Yoga are great too. Us more protein to avoid low blood sugar and eat less food. And as always make sure you’re avoiding problem foods and using probiotics and easting lots of fermented foods.

Insomnia and other sleep disturbances are common among perimenopausal and postmenopausal women and may increase their risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Evidence that a combination of altered sleep duration and insomnia among women ages 50-79 doubled their risk of both CHD and CVD over a period of more than 10 years is presented in an article in Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available on the Journal of Women’s Health website.

In “Sleep Duration, Insomnia, and Coronary Heart Disease among Postmenopausal Women in the Women’s Health Initiative,” Megan Sands-Lincoln, PhD, MPH and a team of researchers from leading medical institutions across the U.S. gathered self-reported data on sleep duration and insomnia in 86,329 women 50-79 years of age. Shorter (10 hours) sleep duration and insomnia were associated with higher incidence of CHD and CVD over 10.3 years, and when considered together, the interaction risk of insomnia and sleep duration was significant.

“This is the first study to investigate interactions of sleep duration with insomnia in relation to increased risk of CHD and CVD in postmenopausal women,” says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women’s Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women’s Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women’s Health. [Read more: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.]

Jun

2013

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Important for the Heart

One of the most important heart supplements you can ever use is Omega-3 fatty acids. These important nutrients have gotten some bad press recently and now research comes out from The University of California, corroborating what most nutritionists have known for decades. Omega-3 fatty acids are indeed important for the heart.There is no system in the body more quickly effected by inflammation than the cardiovascular and these powerful ESSENTIAL fatty acids have well-known anti inflammatory benefits. If you have heart problems uses 2000 mg a a couple of times a day MINIMUM , but you can take a lot more. Make sure you take them with Vitamin E (400 i.u.) and it’s probably a good idea to use an omega -6 containing oil as a supplement AND as throughout the day as dressing for vegetables.

Procedures like angioplasty, stenting and bypass surgery may save lives, but they also cause excessive inflammation and scarring, which ultimately can lead to permanent disability and even death. A new research report appearing in The FASEB Journal, shows that naturally derived compounds from polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3s) may reduce the inflammation associated with these procedures to help arteries more fully and completely heal.

“Our study suggests that biologically active, naturally occurring compounds derived from omega-3 PUFAs reduce inflammation and improve the healing of blood vessels after injury,” said Michael S. Conte, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery and the Heart and Vascular Center at the University of California, in San Francisco, CA. “They suggest a new opportunity to improve the long-term results of cardiovascular procedures such as bypass surgery and angioplasty by the therapeutic application of this class of agents or their dietary precursors.”