The Health Plus Letter February 9, 2010 Vol. 8, No. 4 By Larry Trivieri, Jr. – founder & publisher
Table Of Contents Quote of the Day Fast Fact My Latest Miracle Why I’m In Tennessee and What Than Means For You Self-Care Tips For Dealing With Kidney Stones Once Again Nutritional Supplements Are Under Attack Recommendations Medical Freedom Contact Information
As always, if you like what you read, please feel free to share this issue with others and invite them to join you as a subscriber to the Health Plus Letter. Thanks for reading!
Quote Of The Day
“I don‘t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
-- Bill Cosby
Fast Fact
75% of physicians fail to inform their patients about the potentially toxic side effects of the drugs they prescribed (in many cases because the doctors themselves are unaware of them).
Source: The Big Black Book
Unabashed Plug
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My Latest Miracle
Recently I experienced further proof of the way Divine Providence protects us all. Two Sundays ago I left my home bound for Chattanooga, Tennessee. I departed around noon and seven hours later I was in Virginia, smooth sailing all the way. I drove a bit more, then heard a "that's not good" sound that I thought was coming from my engine. Now when it comes to cars, all I know how to do is drive them and put gas in them and very little else. Hearing the sound, I worried something major was wrong with my engine. So I pulled off the highway and drove into the nearest town, where I found a parking lot and checked all the tires, kicking them, etc. Everything seemed good. Damn, I thought, that must mean it is the engine. But my car still started up and continued to run so I drove another 60 miles or so before finding a motel to spend the night.
The next morning I got up, thinking maybe I should drive to the Midas place I noticed down the road. Nah, let's just get to Chattanooga. So I drive another 120 miles, at a speed of 70-75 mph the whole way but for a few brief patches of road where I was going 65. The sound was still there and I noticed it smoothed out every time I accelerated and increased a bit whenever I brake a bit.Long story shorter, I passed Roanoke and decided to gas up in Salem.
As I pulled off the highway the sound suddenly became worse. I got gas and asked the attendantif there was an auto repair place anywhere nearby. Yes, a Monro Muffler - go to the light and make a left. So I do, and now my car feels like it's about to fall apart.
No sooner do I turn onto the Monroe lot, just clearing the busy two lane busy street then my front driver-side tire falls completely off my car. Immediately I realized this could have happened anywhere along the 180 miles I sped along, but didn't until I was safe and sound. It's miraculous. Plain and simple.
Upon inspection, the manager tells me I only had two lug nuts that were in place. The others had come undone. He said, "You're lucky we were nearby because this must have just happened." No, I replied, I started hearing the sound 180 miles ago.
I've never seen anyone look so stunned as when I told him that. Needless to say, I spent the six hours it took them to repair my car (I also opted to have brake work even though he told me it was something I would only have to do eventually) in a state of gratitude. Now the car runs smooth as can be.
Only me, folks, only me... Anyone else would have known immediately that the tire was screwed up. Me, I opt for the absurd and wondrous given than I'm often braindead.
So thank you, God, You got my attention:-)
PS - For what it's worth - and I believe it's worth a lot - I thank my sister Liz, and my mother and Marilu's mom, all of whom were praying for me to have a safe journey. Also, for reasons I couldn't explain at the time, when I set from my motel that morning and opted not to take the car to Midas, I found myself thinking, St. Christopher protect me. (Patron saint of travelers.) My heartfelt gratitude to all of them.
Now read on to learn what I’m doing in Tennessee….
Why I’m In Tennessee and What That Means For You
For the next two months I am spending my time in Chattanooga because of my desire to work my closely with Kerry Friesen, MD. Kerry is someone I’ve known through phone calls and emails for a number of years, and in past issues of The Health Plus Letter I’ve shared a number of articles he’s written.
The more I’ve gotten to know Kerry, the more I wanted to meet him in person and have him become my personal physician, due to how impressed I am with his approach to health, healing and medicine. (Not too surprising, given Kerry’s medical training, including at StanfordUniversity.) He has an exceptional grasp of how the body works and what steps to take to help his patients most readily regain and then maintain their health. And he’s one of the very few physicians I know who consistently makes the time to keep himself informed about the latest medical studies across a wide spectrum of health topics. As a result, he’s created an innovative integrative approach to medicine that is informed by the most current scientific studies. Just as importantly, he is able to extrapolate from those studies to recognize their connections to the “big picture” of health and healing as they relate to the whole person – body, mind and spirit.
As I write this, Kerry and I have spent a week in each other’s company, sharing in wonderful discussions on a wide range of topics, and it’s become apparent that we spark each other’s creativity. Therefore we have decided to work together on a variety of projects. At least two of them will be books, but the ones I am most excited about will be delivered across multi-platforms (text, audio, and video) via the Internet. We are already putting the pieces in place so that we can be able to launch the first of these online sites in the spring. It will be a membership site and be focused on the connection between the health of your brain and the health of your body. Years of research attest to the fact that brain health is the single most important factor for predicting overall health and longevity, yet the vast majority of doctors today are not doing anything to inform their patients of these facts, let alone helping them to improve brain, and therefore overall, health.
I will have a lot more to share with you about this site once Kerry and I get closer to launching it. For now, know that it is something I can guarantee you will greatly benefit from joining, and that, as my readers, you will be able to become a member at a healthy discount.
I haven’t been as excited about a project as this one in a long time. Once you see all that our site has to offer you, I’m convinced you will be too.
Stay tuned for more updates about this right here in The Health Plus Letter.
Self-Care Tips for Dealing With Kidney Stones
Kidney stones can form anywhere in the entire urinary tract (kidney, bladder, the ducts in-between, or the ureter), and primarily occur because of calcium (oxalate) and/or phosphate that has come out of solution. If left untreated, the stones can block these areas of the urinary tract, causing pain, bleeding, and other problems.
Symptoms of kidney stones include sudden and excruciating back pain that may come and go and that often radiates from the back across the abdomen and into the genital area or inner thighs. This pain can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, abdominal bloating, possible blood in the urine, pain on urination, and chills and fever. Stones in the urinary tract can be one of the most painful conditions, similar to the pain of childbirth.
In some cases, there may be no symptoms, depending on where the stone is located and its size.
What To Consider
One in every 1,000 adults is hospitalized each year in the US because of kidney stones. Kidney stones also tend to be recurring, typically reforming within seven years.
Kidney stones are more common during the summer, possibly due to concentrated urine caused by increased sweating and insufficient fluid intake. In general, mild chronic dehydration can play a role in the development of kidney stones. Chronic stress can also play a role. In addition, kidney stones may be due to genetics. If one parent had kidney stones, there is an increased risk in his or her children. Cadmium poisoning may also play a role and needs to be considered if other treatment methods fail.
Note: Kidney stones that are high in calcium may be a signal of hyperparathyroidism (excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone).
Self-Care
Diet: Diet alone cannot get rid of the stones. Higher-than-normal levels of oxalate related to a diet high in oxalic containing foods, such as rhubarb, spinach, leafy vegetables, and coffee, can promote kidney stone formation. High levels of dietary refined carbohydrates can also cause kidney stones. Sugar stimulates the pancreas to release insulin, causing increased calcium excretion through the urine. Other dietary factors that cause increased calcium excretion in the urine and promote stone formation are increased intakes of coffee, colas, acid-forming diets (such as high protein and grains), insufficient water intake, and excessive salt consumption. Soft drinks containing phosphoric acid can also encourage the formation of kidney stones and should be completely eliminated.
The most important dietary actions are to increase your intake of pure filtered water, fiber, and green vegetables, and reduce refined sugar consumption. Foods that are helpful in decreasing kidney stone formation include cranberries, black cherries, rice bran, kombucha tea. In addition to avoiding sugar, also avoid or reduce your intake of salt, dairy products, caffeine, alcohol, refined carbohydrates, nuts, chocolate, pepper, and animal proteins.
Nutritional Supplementation: Helpful nutrients include: magnesium, vitamin B6, vitamin C ( keep your total daily intake below 6 grams to avoid increasing oxalate formation), vitamin A, proteolytic enzymes (away from meals), raw kidney glandulars, fat-soluble chlorophyll, lipoic acid, and the amino acids glutamic acid, lysine, and methionine.
Aromatherapy: Hyssop and juniper essential oils can be helpful.
Ayurveda: Cumin, coriander, and fennel tea. Drink one cup three times a day.
Herbs: Combine the tinctures of gravel root, cornsilk, wild yam, and blackhaw in equal parts and take one teaspoon of this mixture three times a day. Or drink one cup of an infusion of nettle three times a day. Other useful herbs include uva ursi, horsetail, and dandelion root.
Homeopathy:Berberis, and Sarsaparilla are both useful homeopathic remedies.
Hydrotherapy: Constitutional hydrotherapy of alternating hot and cold water packs applied two to five times weekly, and a hot pack applied to the abdomen and lower back several times a day can help relieve and prevent flare-ups of pain.
Juice Therapy: The following juices can help stimulate the overall health of the urinary tract and potentially flush out the stones: lemon juice; carrot, beet, and cucumber juice with a dash of garlic and/or horseradish; and/or cranberry and watermelon juice.
(The above information is adapted from Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, co-written and edited by Larry Trivieri, Jr.)
Once Again Nutritional Supplements Are Under Attack
For over a year, I’ve been predicting that someone in Congress would introduce legislation that would seek to overturn the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) that protects the nutritional supplement industry from unwarranted intrusions by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The basis for my prediction lay in the regular appearance in the mainstream media of stories linking steroids to supplements. Close examination of such stories reveals that the link is, at best, dubious, and that no reputable supplement manufacturer or their products were ever mentioned or at fault. Moreover, the stories always failed to mention that DSHEA already grants the FDA all the authority it needs to properly regulate the supplement industry and punish companies that violate DSHEA’s tenets. Nor, of course, do the stories point out what an abysmal failure the FDA already is when it comes to fulfilling its duties regulating and protecting us from abuses from the pharmaceutical industry. None of that is the main point of those stories. The main point is to create a climate of fear and calls for the federal government “to do something.” And so, as I predicted, someone has stepped forward to do just that. I thought the main culprit would be a Democrat since many Democrat leaders (Clinton, Waxman, Durbin, to name just a few) have consistently played the supplements are dangerous card far more so than their Republican counterparts. However, the first member of Congress to raise the current call of alarm is Senator John McCain. All in the guise of protecting we the people from the dangers of steroids.
Given the anti-steroid hysteria in the US these days (I, too, am opposed to steroid use except in cases of true medical need), there is a very good chance that McCain’s bill will pass and be signed into law (President Obama is no stranger to Big Pharma’s overtures either, as his record as both President and Congressman make clear). That is unless wee the people raise our voices as we did during the early 1990s when Big Pharma and their Congressional lackeys did all they could to prevent DSHEA’s passage.
With that said, please read the following from Gretchen DuBeau, Executive Director of the Alliance for Natural Health, and, if you are a US citizen, please take action by clicking on the website link that will show you how to do so.
Senator John McCain Files New Bill That Attacks Your Access to Supplements and Repeals Key Sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act
TAKE ACTION AND TELL YOUR SENATOR NOT TO CO-SPONSOR THIS BILL
Senator McCain’s bill is called The Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA). It would repeal key sections of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). DSHEA protects supplements if 1) they are food products that have been in the food supply and not chemically altered or 2) if they were sold as supplements prior to 1994, the year that DSHEA was passed. If a supplement fits one of these two descriptions, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cannot arbitrarily ban it or reclassify it as a drug.
These protections are far from perfect. They discourage companies from developing new forms of supplements. New supplements may be arbitrarily banned by the FDA or adopted by drug companies in a way that precludes their further sale as supplements.
McCain’s bill would wipe out even the minimal protections contained in DSHEA. It would give the FDA full discretion and power to compile a discreet list of supplements allowed to remain on the market while banning all others.
Everyone knows that the FDA is friendly to drug companies (which pay its bills and provide good revolving door jobs) and hostile to supplement companies. Under this bill, this same Agency could quite arbitrarily ban any supplement it wished or turn it over to drug companies to be developed as a drug and sold for multiples of its price as a supplement.
The FDA will like this because it believes that it can more easily control a few industry giants. But isn’t it more likely that the industry giants will eventually gain control over the FDA?
The FDA is already misusing the adverse event reporting process that exists. Drugs rack up thousands of adverse event reports without any action. Just recently, the FDA yanked from the market a supplement product based on just a couple of alleged adverse event reports without even allowing the company (an old and respected firm) to provide any counter-evidence or counter-argument.
The bill also allows the FDA to yank a product (at the company’s expense) if there is a “reasonable probability” that it is “adulterated” or “misbranded”. Let’s remember that “adulterated” could mean there is a minor record keeping error on the producer’s part and “misbranded” can mean that the producer simply tells the truth about the product. An “adulterated” and “misbranded” supplement in Orwellian FDA speak may actually be both completely safe and effective.
We must prevent this bill from gaining traction! Protect your access to supplements by contacting your senators today and asking them NOT to co-sponsor the Dietary Supplement Safety Act but rather to oppose it.
McCain’s Dietary Supplement Safety Act (DSSA) appears to be supported by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) which is funded by major league sports teams including baseball, football and others. The recent suspensions of NFL and other professional sports figures is much in the news, and the goal of the sports industry appears to be to shift the spotlight from their players to the supplements industry. In his comments, Senator McCain cited six NFL players recently suspended for testing positive for banned substances and purportedly exposed to these substances through dietary supplements.
The problem here of course is one of illegal sale and use of steroids. So why dismantle the supplement industry in order to control already illegal substances?
The FDA currently has complete and total authority to stop illegal steroids and, more broadly, to regulate dietary supplements. If the agency were doing its job, it could and would have prevented the sale of illegal steroids. The answer to this problem is not to give FDA more power. The Agency simply needs to do its job.
Why would a bill be offered to solve an illegal steroid problem that does not really address the steroid problem but instead gives the FDA complete and arbitrary control over all supplements? The answer is simple.
There are a lot of vested interests which are threatened by supplements. Drug companies do not like them because they represent a low cost, safer, and often more effective alternative to drugs. The FDA does not like them because supplements do not come through the FDA approval process and therefore do not support the FDA budget.
Why not simply require that supplements be brought through the FDA’s drug approval process? Wouldn’t that create a level playing field?
That is probably the argument that Senator McCain has been sold. But it is a completely false argument. The FDA drug approval process costs as much as a billion dollars. It is not economically feasible to spend such vast sums on substances that are not protected by patent, and natural substances cannot legally be patented.
This is the great “Catch 22” of American medicine. The FDA, which is supposed to guard and promote our health, is hostile to the kind of natural medicine—based on diet, supplements, and exercise—that represents the real future of healthcare. The Agency has either been captured by drug interests or is trapped in a catastrophically expensive, toxic, and ineffective patented-drug model.
Senator McCain has no doubt offered this bill in good faith. But he has been sold a bill of goods by special interests. And he has been naïve enough not to know that he is being used.
This exceptionally bad bill also requires the reporting of all minor adverse events related to supplements. This is in addition to the already existing requirement to report adverse events. This will further stack the deck against small supplement companies by creating new, unnecessary, even more cumbersome, and of course very expensive administrative hurdles. The result: the consolidation of the supplement industry into a few big companies. If passed, this bill will likely result in the disappearance from store shelves of many supplements currently on the market. In addition to fewer supplements, there would likely be much lower doses available. Unbridled authority would be handed to the FDA, an agency that needs a top to bottom overhaul, not ever more power over our lives.
If McCain’s bill passes, we can look to Europe for a snapshot of what we may be in for: EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, has sharply reduced the list of available supplements and is in the process of reducing potencies to ridiculous levels, such as less beta carotene than can be found in half of a large carrot. Europeans already look to theUS to obtain their dietary supplements. If this bill passes, where will we obtain ours?
Please take action immediately. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/yz75gfb. Tell your senators NOT to co- sponsor this legislation and to do everything in their power to defeat it. Then forward this to your friends and family and ask then to do the same!
Gretchen DuBeau Executive Director, Alliance For Natural Health USA. Legal Director, ANH-Int
http://www.ratical.org – Read through this site to learn just how dangerous all exposure to x-rays can be.
Medical Freedom
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 freedom in England and the EU.)
Institute for Health Freedom – http://www.ForHealthFreedom.org
International Advocates for Health Freedom (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 there. That’s all for this week.
Health and Blessings!
Larry Trivieri, Jr. Contact Information: Due to the inordinate amount of spam my email account receives, I no longer use it to receive emails. To contact me, please visit www.1healthyworld.com/contactus
Disclaimer:The Health Plus Letter is a weekly eZine published by Larry Trivieri, Jr. and Library of Health, LLC (dba www.1healthyworld.com) 3 Greenwood Court, Utica, NY13501. 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.
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