Oops, I Told a Lie
Not intentionally, but I was wandering through an old photo album
last week and came face-to-face with a picture of me that failed to register in my memory.
There was this blimp in a leisure suit (OK, it was a fad in 1977) standing next to the
woman I recognized as my first wife. Now all this time, I have been telling you folks my
maximum weight was 325 pounds (guesstimated as 340 at the doctor’s office). Then,
while looking at these pictures, I remembered that I never even stepped on the scale for
about two years; probably because the scale didn’t go up high enough and I was in
denial or something equally stupid. So, to be honest, I have no idea what my maximum
weight might have been, but if I gauge the amount of visible fat on that guy’s face
and knowing he was wearing size 52 slacks, I now estimate he was at least 360 pounds (What
would that be at the doc’s office? 375? Oh my gawd… no wonder I was in denial).
Well, today I also realized something else about me. I cannot
remember any time in my life when my waist size was a smaller number than my inseam
measurement. When I was in sixth grade, with a waist of 30 inches, my inseam was 26. When
I was in eighth grade, with a waist size of 34, my inseam was 28. As a senior in high
school, with a waist size of 38 inches, my inseam was 32. With those size 52 slacks, the
inseam was 34. And so it went, all through life. But today…
Note that the jeans I have on in this picture are size 33-inch waist
and 34 inseam. (They used to belong to Lannie. Yay, team!) You might also note the
thighs are a tad baggy. Oh, and the weight is 180 pounds (home scale). And, the big secret
is… (wait for it)… I have not been on a diet to lose weight! I
have, however, changed my lifestyle and eating habits with my Field of Intentions
directed to do whatever is necessary to make this body healthy. No fad diets, no
starvation… none of the BS; just a simple desire to get healthy and stay that way.
You can see the results in this picture. You can do this! Decide for yourself.
Note for this and next few issues: We have another case of being too
busy to get much research done (chicken coop is done, greenhouse is done, the old
homestead cabin is 90% complete outside and the inside (tack room and butcher shop) barely
started. I just got a new horse today, so the next hot project is to finish the inside of
the barn, pronto! Guess that means it might be a couple weeks before the next
issue. Sorry…
Miscellaneous BS
1. While this isn’t health-related, I present this as a
follow-up for those who still choose to believe their government would not do something as
illegal as injecting its citizens with RFID chips against their will. How about spying on
you without just-cause or warrant? The EFF (Electronic
Frontier Foundation), has filed a class-action suit
accusing AT&T of helping the NSA (National Security Agency) break laws against
domestic spying and invasion of privacy… “AT&T violated the law and the
privacy of its customers, in collaboration with the NSA,” Jeschke said. “AT&T
was key to allowing the surveillance to go on. When the NSA came knocking, [AT&T]
should have said, ‘Come back with a warrant.’“ One of the documents they refer to is available in PDF format at: http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/att_klein_wired.pdf (Just is case someone manages to make
this disappear, I have saved a copy and burned it to CD and snail-mailed it to someone
else.) These assholes are guilty as sin and I’m tired of the government sticking
their nose in where it doesn’t belong.
2. What simple preventive health
measures would help us live healthier, longer lives for the least money? After reviewing
more than 8,000 studies, the Partnership for Prevention came up with its ranking of the
top 25... Read the whole story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12921543/ When you read this, take notes. How
many of these things require you to buy a drug or go to a doctor for an expensive
screening or to get a vaccination? ALL of them! The only thing that gets healthier from this regimen is
your doctor’s wallet.
3. Accidental overdoses and side effects from attention deficit
drugs likely send thousands of children and adults to emergency rooms, according to
the first national estimates of the problem. More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12956008/
4. Congress is debating a controversial
program called the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The system would require
tagging or implanting all farm animals with radio frequency identification (RFID) devices
and registering those animals with a federal government tracking system. The plan would require every owner of
even a single livestock animal to register their home with a national tracking system,
including Global Positing Coordinates (for satellite tracking) and implant or tag every
animal with a RFID device. Large-scale livestock producers say NAIS would help them
control an outbreak of disease by allowing individual animals to be tracked to their
origins. Small-scale farmers say the registration fees, RFID expenses, and administrative
bureaucracy of the system would drive them out of business. More (and you can send a note to your congress critters) at: http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/oca/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=3873
5. In an unprecedented move, EPA’s own scientists are lashing
out against the agency, saying the profits of the pesticide industry are
taking priority over measures to protect public health. A union of over 9,000 EPA
scientists has submitted a letter to the EPA’s Administrator, Stephen Johnson,
indicating that due to industry pressure, the “integrity of the science upon which
agency decisions are based has been compromised.” In particular, the scientists are
concerned about a group of
organophosphate pesticides they believe should no longer be allowed on the market due to
their harmful effects on children, infants and fetuses. Specifically, the letter
references 20 toxic pesticides
that were developed from nerve gases after World War II, many of which are still available
for purchase at most gardening centers. The EPA has not responded to the letter. More at: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_540.cfm
6. In the wake of ever-escalating
gasoline prices, the ethanol craze has officially taken hold. Congress has approved $5.7
billion in federal tax credits to support the ethanol market, in addition to the $10
billion U.S. corn farmers annually receive in subsidies. While the
corn-industry-lobbying-machine has President Bush predicting ethanol will replace
gasoline, the science behind corn-based ethanol seems to suggest this alternative fuel may be more about
politics than an actual solution. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, it
takes the equivalent of three barrels of oil to create four barrels of corn-based ethanol.
Couple that with the fact that ethanol gets lower miles per gallon than gasoline, and the
corn-based solution begins to show its true colors. But other nations are demonstrating
that plant-based ethanol fuels can help meet our energy needs. Brazil makes ethanol from
sugar-cane, which is almost eight times more energy efficient to produce than the US
corn-based fuel. Crops with high cellulose or sugar content that can be easily grown in
the U.S., such as sugar beets, hemp or switch grass, make much more efficient fuels. But, in the U.S., where special interests,
not the public seem to govern federal policy, it appears the immediate future of U.S.
automotive fuel is going to the highest bidder: genetically engineered corn. More at: http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_461.cfm
7. In April, a University of
Massachusetts and Tufts University study found that 56% of 170 psychiatric “experts”
who helped work on the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM) had financial links to drug makers. These links make it impossible
for psychiatric patients to get honest unbiased treatment. Read this NewsTarget article to
discover how Big Pharma profits influence the diagnosis and treatment of mental health
patients and why many adults and children on psychiatric drugs would be better off without
medication. Get the full story at http://www.newstarget.com/019403.html
8. Trimming carbohydrate intake results
in healthy improvements in cholesterol levels, even if a person doesn’t lose an
ounce, a new study shows. “These dietary fads tend to come and go,” Dr. Ronald
M. Krauss of Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, Calif., told
Reuters Health. “In the case of low carbohydrates, people shouldn’t be so quick
to throw that away and move on to the next diet. Limiting carbohydrates can be beneficial
even if people aren’t successful at losing weight.” Scientists now believe that
carbohydrates, especially simple sugars, can cause unhealthy changes in blood fats by
causing fat to collect in the liver… More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13036768/ Funny thing here: We come to the same
conclusions by different routes. We say that those high-carb foods (i.e., grains, corn,
etc.) are the foods that are high in fungi and their mycotoxins, which are the cause of
bad cholesterol. Oh well…
9. Unnecessary medical tests are costing the U.S. health care system millions – and potentially billions – of dollars per year, and add unnecessary patient stress, say researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Not only are the tests unwarranted, but false-positive results lead to further tests and compound the expense, says the study’s lead author, Dan Merenstein, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Georgetown. More at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-05/gumc-msi051706.php
10. If You’ve Got a Pulse, You’re Sick – 22 May 2006 – For a nation that spends more than any other on health, the United States certainly doesn’t seem very healthy. The following URL is a portal to the New York Time article, but you will have to register to read it. http://www.bioethics.net/News/?id=1988
11. Study Finds No Marijuana-Lung Cancer Link – 24 May 2006 – Marijuana smoking does not increase a person’s risk of developing lung cancer, according to findings of a new study at the University of California Los Angeles that surprised even the researchers. More at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/05/24/pot.lung.cancer.reut/index.html Now before you think I am promoting smoking “weed,” let me
compare cigarettes to pot: commercial cigarette tobacco gets sugared and fermented, which
produces fungi (and their mycotoxins), which does not get neutralized in the secondhand
smoke. Marijuana does not go through that process, which very likely is the difference in
smoking one versus the other. Mycotoxins are the cause of cancer.
12. The hospital bug Clostridium
difficile is causing more than twice as many deaths as it did five years ago, the
first official figures show. Inadequate infection control measures in hospitals and
declining levels of cleanliness are believed to be behind the rise. Increased reporting of
cases has also contributed. More: http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article601331.ece Or maybe it’s because
antibiotics are being overused, causing the bacteria to mutate to even stronger
strains. If you want to get really, really
sick with a very virulent strain of bug, just check yourself into a hospital for a day or
two. L
13. It’s shocking, but true: Once a drug has been approved, it can be prescribed for any health problem, even ones that the drug was never intended to treat. Read this NewsTarget feature to discover how this common practice generates more profits for Big Pharma and proves the so-called “scientific evidence” behind conventional medicine is nonsense. Get the full story at http://www.newstarget.com/019393.html
14. High doses of some older painkillers as well as newer drugs known as COX-2 inhibitors raise the risk of a heart attack, scientists said on Friday. “COX-2 inhibitors and NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), particularly ibuprofen and diclofenac increase the risk of heart attacks,” said Dr Colin Baigent, an epidemiologist at the University of Oxford in England. Full story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13086302/
15. Babies whose mothers took ACE inhibitors in their first trimester were more than twice as likely to be born with serious heart and brain problems than those not exposed to any pressure-lowering medicines, a large study in Tennessee found. Other types of blood pressure drugs did not raise the risk to babies. More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13189947/
16. Manufacturers of cold, cough and allergy medicines that contain the antihistamine carbinoxamine and have not been approved have been given 30 to 90 days to stop making the products. In ordering this, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday the estimated 120 such medicines that contain the antihistamine being sold today pose a safety risk to infants and young children. More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13205791/
17. In a public health emergency, suspected victims would no longer have to give permission before experimental tests could be run to determine why they’re sick, under a federal rule published Wednesday. Privacy experts called the exception unnecessary, ripe for abuse and an override of state informed-consent laws. Write your congress critters.
18. Aside from the potential benzene
risks, MindConnection has compiled a thorough article on all of soft drinks’
potential health threats. Soft drinks, they say, could rightfully be called: Osteoporosis
in a can, Diabetes in a can, and Cancer in a can. Looks like Dr. Mercola
finally caught up with us on reporting the benzene issues with soda pop. However, he has a
neat commentary (well worth reading) on all this nasty soda pop business at:
http://www.mercola.com/2006/jun/6/soft_drinks_disease_in_a_can.htm
19. As many of you know, our astronauts have experienced weakness in their bones due to extended duration space flights. The FDA, however, claims there hasn’t been enough “hard science” to prove that without gravity bones become weak, so they now view the theory that gravity is beneficial for bone density as “unproven quackery.” Geez, those idiots quack me up! In any case, Mike Adams has a very humorous take on this idiocy, which you can read for yourself at: http://www.newstarget.com/019391.html And if that’s not enough to tell you how stupid the FDA can be, NewsTarget has compiled hundreds of articles about the FDA, all available at: http://www.webseed.com/the_FDA.html
20. Doctors are testing an experimental technique that's being touted as the first non-drug treatment for asthma (we have already given you a better one: change your eating habits). In the technique, called bronchial thermoplasty, tissue from the inside of the lungs that may block a person's ability to breathe, is burned away. During a bronchial thermoplasty, a lighted catheter is inserted into your nose or throat and into the airways that fill the lungs. The tip, a wire basket, is inflated to touch the airway walls, then radio-frequency (RF) waves are beamed through the wires (I will talk about this RF BS more when I finish the Body Electric article I’ve been promising you for months – sigh...). The RF waves heat the muscle tissue to 149 ºF, causing some of it to disintegrate, while apparently not scarring the airway's thin lining. Researchers have compared the technique to a microwave oven, which cooks meat on the inside but doesn't scorch the outer layers. The idea is that overgrown muscle tissue in air tubes inside the lungs is responsible for some asthma cases, and bronchial thermoplasty can get rid of half of the thickened muscle. For a general overview, see: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/23052006/3/canada-canadian-researcher-pioneers-asthma-treatment.html For those with a more scientific bent, try:
21. The number of women giving birth
with a midwife has doubled since 1990, both in absolute numbers and as a percentage of
overall births. Midwifery and DIY births! More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13062835/ While I applaud that, it should come with a warning. Midwives,
causing doctors to lose some business, were one of the main causes of the Church chasing
supposed “witches.” It often was a doctor who accused a midwife (or any herbal
healer/wise woman) of consorting with the devil and practicing magic, which then spread
this hysteria into something anyone could use to blame someone else for their problems. I
have no doubt that the AMA will find a reason why you should not do this. Heavy sigh.
22. Researchers monitored the
medical records of more than 4,000 men and women over age 60 who were patients in a large
US medical center. All had at least one prescription filled within a three-year period,
usually to treat a chronic condition such as high blood pressure or heart disease. The
researchers found that only 37% of
the patients were using the correct amount of the drugs they needed to treat their
medical problems. In contrast, 16%
of the patients were taking too little medication and more than 40% were taking too much.
Read the whole story
at: http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=13454&WT.mc_id=NL44
23. Journal Retracts Chromium Study. An
environmental journal is planning to retract a 1997 paper that claimed no link between
drinking water polluted with toxic chromium and cancer incidence. Editors discovered that much of the paper was put together by
undisclosed consultants hired by a public utility that was at the time being sued for
allegedly endangering California residents through chromium pollution. So much for truth in advertising (publishing). See the whole story
at: http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23590/
24. Halt Is Urged for Trials of Antibiotic in Children. A Food and Drug Administration official called in May for a drug company to halt clinical trials of an antibiotic in children because the drug could be deadly, according to internal memorandums sent to other FDA officials. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/science/08drug.html
The Meatrix II! For those of you who were unsuccessful at navigating the links to find this the last time I sent out the Meatrix animation info, go to: http://www.TheMeatrix2.com It’s worth it to see the lies that are being hidden from you.