High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease? : Part 5

Are you worries about your high cholesterol? Do you avoid butter, cheese and cream because you are afraid of dying of heart attack? Do you take cholesterol lowering drug? If so, you are a victim of the cholesterol campaign, the greatest medical scandal in modern times. Even worse, you may suffer from bad memory, muscle weakness, pain in your legs, sexual impotency or cancer, not because you are getting old, but because of the harmful effects from your cholesterol treatment. 

Don't you believe me? Neither does your doctor because all the 'experts' have said that reduction of cholesterol is harmless. Well, they are wrong, and today, I would like to share with you readers out there, about statins and how cholesterol lowering drug works, and their harmful effects. Not only pharmaceutical companies and their paid researchers succeeded in presenting the cholesterol reducing drugs as a gift from heaven, but the very idea that saturated fat and high cholesterol are bad for health, is created out in the thin air. In spite of that, it has accepted uncritically across the globe.

We have been told, that saturated fat is bad for us as it causes the raise of cholesterol levels in the body. Let's see. Fat, is composed of various types of fatty acids and fatty acids are molecular chains of various lengths, mainly composed of carbon and hydrogen atoms.  Saturated fatty acids are stable molecules because they are saturated with atoms of hydrogen. One of the main constituents of our cell walls is saturated fat. We produced saturated fat ourselves to build new cells and the excess is deposited in our fat cells for later use. 

Do you believe that humans are designed to produce a toxic molecule that will eventually kills us? Could the dominant fat in mother's milk be poisonous to the baby? Absurd isn't it? It is simply a masterpiece of deceit to convince the world that too much of saturated fat in our food should cause a deadly disease. 

It is impossible to build new cell walls and nerve fibres without cholesterol. We produce other important molecules such as sex and stress hormones by changing the structure of the cholesterol molecule a little. With the help of the sun, our skin cells use the same method to produce Vitamin D. Cholesterol is also vital importance to our brain. We cannot think clearly without it. Not only cholesterol is used by the brain cells and all nerve fibres as an important building material, the chemical processes necessary for the creation of nerve impulses are also dependant on its presence. It is therefore no surprise that the brain has the highest concentration of cholesterol in the body. 

The importance of cholesterol is apparent from the fact that the richest source cholesterol from our food is the egg, because much cholesterol is needed to produce a healthy living warm-blooded creature. Make sense? I always ask my colleagues why does an egg contains so much of cholesterol. They couldn't give me the correct answer. If any of you understand what makes a living creature healthy, you will know the importance of cholesterol in the body. 

Cholesterol is so important, that all cells are able to produce it by themselves. In fact, everyday, we produce three to five times more cholesterol then we eat from our diet. If we eat to little in our diet, the production goes up, and if we gorge on animal food, the production goes down. That is why it is so difficult to reduce and control blood cholesterol with diet. The idea that a little extra cholesterol in the blood should result in a deadly disease seemed to be utterly silly yet ridiculous. It's like saying that the burning houses are set on fire by the fire brigade.

Now, let me introduce to you the 'best seller' drug of all drugs, cholesterol lowering drug. It's also known as statins. There are a number of different statins. Lovastatin, simvastatin, cerivastatin, fluvastatin, pravastatin, atorvastatin, etc. Why so many? Actually, cerivastatin was voluntarily withdrawn after killing rather too many people. It was said to have cause muscle disintegration, followed by death. In fact, all statins CAN cause muscle disintegration and death. Statins comes in different brand names in different countries. In UK, we have simvastatin, also known as Zocor. In other countries like Malaysia, we have atorvastatin, which is widely known as Lipitor. This drug is the most widely prescribed of the statins. Lipitor sits proudly at the top of the sales pyramid with over 6 billion pounds per year in sales!

 Now, let me try to explain to you where and how statins work in our body. We have been told by doctors that statins reduce the synthesis of cholesterol in our body. Right? The answer is yes. By reducing cholesterol synthesis, they should in turn reduce the production of VLDL in the liver. True? Well, LDL level is actually controlled by the number of LDL receptors in the body. The more LDL receptors you have, the more LDL will be removed from the circulation.

Unlike VDLD and IDL, LDLs do not shrink, thereby changing into other types of lipoprotein. LDLs wander about in the circulation, essentially unaltered, until they are lock on to an LDL receptor. At this point, the LDL and all its contents are pulled into cells and then broken down, along with the receptors itself. And if you want to remove more LDLs, more receptors must be manufactured, then transported to the surface of the cell.

If any of you heard about a condition by the name of Familial Hypercholesterolimia (FH), the you will know that the LDL levels are extremely high. Reason? The underlying problem in FH is a lack of LDL receptors. With very few receptors available, LDL is stuck in the circulation and consequently its level skyrockets.

Now, I will explain in a nutshell how statins work, to lower cholesterol and LDL level in our body.

1. They lower cholesterol sysnthesis in the liver.
2. The liver starts running out of the cholesterol needed to make VLDLs.
3. The liver then has to increase the number of LDL receptors to pull cholesterol back in to make more VLDLs.
4. More LDL is dragged back into the liver, as a result, LDL level in the blood falls.

But, if you think that the only action of statins is to reduce the synthesis of cholesterol in the liver, then you are dead wrong! Statins do many other things in our body. Tons of other side effects of statins include muscle weakness, loss of memory, congestive heart failure and even death. When you go against the nature's way, when you push your cholesterol level down, you cancer rates goes up, and the lower your cholesterol level is, the rate of cancer is off the roof, astronomically. Well, isn't it absurd, you take cholesterol lowering drug to prevent heart disease, but it could cause congestive heart failure? Wonderful. 

High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease? : Part 4

A colleague of mine asked me "What do you always eat for breakfast?". When I told him I consume high fat foods for breakfast, he look surprised. He couldn't understand why eating high fat diet could enable a person to stay lean and not being fat. But folks, I'm talking about good quality fats here. For instance, an avocado  could consists of 30-40g of good quality fat. An organic raw free range egg easily has 5g of fat as well, and partially saturated fat. Organic coconut oil has 14g of saturated fat per serving (one tablespoon). The idea is to avoid trans fat consumption, and eating fried noodles, fried chicken, fried rice, roti canai, fast foods, French fries, junk food, those are list of foods which has trans fat content. Those are recipes for heart disease!

Now, let's talk about synthesis of cholesterol, how it is manufactured in the liver and gut. The fundamental building block for cholesterol, is a substance called Acetyl CoA. Synthesis of cholesterol is horribly complicated.  The liver is quite capable of turning one type of chemical into any other type of chemical. It can turn protein into sugar, sugar into fat, glycerol into glucose, etc. If you eat a great deal of carbohydrate, the liver will then convert excess glucose into fat.

Let me ask of all you. What sort of fat does the liver choose to make in this situation? Would it be unsaturated fat? The answer would be NO. When the liver makes fats, it makes saturated fats, and saturated fats alone. God, how come our liver does not know saturated fat is 'bad' for us ? Or perhaps the liver knows that saturated fats are not actually unhealthy at all? Think folks, connect the dots, and figure it out. Our body is built and designed as survival mechanism. I'll let you decide if saturated fat is unhealthy or the other way round.

Now, I would like to enlighten you guys about so called 'good' and 'bad' cholesterol. To whoever created this stupid mind boggling term, this person should won first prize in "Idiology medicine 101 contest". What happen to health and medicine industries, especially doctors who studied about cholesterol in the body? I would consider a doctor pathetic, if he or she thinks or agrees that LDL and HDL are good and bad cholesterol. Period! No debate, no argument here.

Let's go back to basics of cholesterol. Cholesterol 101 lesson. For those 'qualified doctors' out there reading this post, you might want to revise your learning and understanding about cholesterol fundamentals. First of all, cholesterol does not dissolve in water. It does not dissolve in blood too. That means, it has to be transported around the body inside a small transportation molecule, known as Lipoprotein. Yes folks, lipoprotein, a type of protein, and NOT cholesterol! Another substance which cannot dissolve in blood is fat. So, fat also travel about as part of lipoproteins. So, get the picture here? Fats and cholesterol are passengers inside lipoproteins.

Now, as we all thought that there are only 2 types of lipoproteins, which is LDL and HDL. The truth is, there are more then 2 types, and the biggest is called Chylomicron. This particular lipioprotein is manufactured in the guts. After a meal, it fills up with triglyceride, alongside a relatively small amount of cholesterol. The chylomicron then travels straight to fat cells in the body without passing through the liver. When the chylomicron reaches fat cells, the triglyceride is sucked out, and the chylomicron shrivels up into little remnant, is the hoovered by the liver.

One level down the size from chylomicron, is a lipoprotein known as very low density lipoprotein (VLDL). VLDLs are manufactured in both the guts and the liver. VLDLs are usually referred as 'triglycerides'. A further level down in size is the intermediate density lipoprotein, IDL. This is formed when a VLDL loses triglyceride to fat cells, and shrinks. So far, the world seem to have been spared worrying about IDL levels. I would think that IDL would be the new danger to health in time to come. Let's wait and see.

Moving on, When the IDL shrinks to a level even further down in size, it becomes, the low density lipoprotein, LDL. Now, ladies and gentlemen, health professionals including doctors and nutritionists, pronounce it slowly in a awestruck voice. Low..Density...Lipoprotein. So, is it cholesterol? Of course not for god sake! So, stop calling it cholesterol. I really do not know how some doctors got their degree. Were they been asleep the whole time during lectures? It's really ashamed certain doctors called themselves health professionals when they don't even know the facts about cholesterol and blood lipids. No wonder everyone is confused when the terminology used is completely bonkers.

Next, we have HDL, and again, it has been termed as 'good' cholesterol. Another killer, absurdly stupid and people lead to believe that it is really a good type of cholesterol. Folks, HDL is not even a cholesterol, same with LDL. It is believed that HDL 'removes' cholesterol from plaques in arteries and transports it back to the liver for reprocessing. But, so far, there hasn't been any scientific evidence or proof to show how this was done and the mechanism involved. It is believed that HDL protects against heart disease.

Let me tell you, it is NOT true. Studies after studies showed that HDL has no relation with risk of heart disease. One good example is the HERS study. The study showed that HDL went up, so did the risk of heart disease. Then, we have studies conducted in Poland and USA where the rate of heart disease was going up very rapidly in Poland and down in the USA. The assumption behind the study was that the HDL levels would be high in the USA and low in Poland. But guess what, the HDL levels is higher in Poland compared to USA.

Next, we have the study done in a small town of northern Italy, where lots of people have low HDL levels and low rates of heart disease. All these three studies are enough to demolish the hypothesis of HDL protects against heart disease. Is HDL a 'good' cholesterol? Yeah right.

High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease? : Part 3

When we talk about cholesterol, everyone seem to be scared of having high level of cholesterol, making it sound like something really bad, a villain, the 'bad guy'. When i eat eggs, I have people telling me it will contribute to high cholesterol and risk of getting heart disease. God, this insanity has got to stop at some point! Does anyone even know what cholesterol really is? 

Everyone I've spoken to, seemed to look stunned and surprised when I say, "High Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease". Some people seem to care and curious, but most people just walk away or they just don't care if they drop dead one day. Am I even surprise why the rates of heart disease increases every year?

Cholesterol, has been a favorite theme on the airwaves for the past 30 years or so, and mostly it seems to get a pretty harsh press. Everywhere you go, posters, advertisements, articles, news, saying that high cholesterol causes heart disease. Is that right? Now, I'm going to give you the REAL facts about cholesterol and my own take on this. 

Cholesterol, is essential for life. Without cholesterol, you won't be here right now, there wouldn't even be female and male on this planet. Without cholesterol, you will not even be able to learn and have memory. Without cholesterol, you will not be able to produce Vitamin D and all the steroid hormones, including DHEA, estrogen, testosterone, etc. All your cells membranes are made up of cholesterol folks! Without it, they would disintegrate, as cholesterol provides structural integrity. Cholesterol has been protecting us from diseases for thousands of years. 

Let me ask you. Why do you think an egg yolk is full of cholesterol? It is because it takes one hell of a lot of cholesterol to build a healthy chicken. It also takes a lot of cholesterol to build and maintain a healthy human being. In fact, cholesterol is so vital that all cells, apart from neurons, can manufacture cholesterol, and one of the key functions of liver is to synthesize cholesterol. We also have an entire transportation system dedicated to move cholesterol around the body.

It should be pointed out that all these require a great deal of cholesterol. So much that it is almost impossible to eat enough cholesterol to meet your daily cholesterol needs. In order to meet this gap, the liver has to produce four to five times the amount of cholesterol as you ingest. In fact, you need to eat about six to eight egg yolk a day, and everyday, to meet the daily requirement of cholesterol production in the body. As most of us never do this, the liver fills the gap. 

So, how could it possibly make sense to claim that eating, say one third of our daily cholesterol requirement, would overwhelm our metabolic control systems, causing cholesterol levels to spiral out of control. If we did eat managed to eat four or five eggs a day, the liver would simply produce less cholesterol to keep the levels steady.

However much cholesterol you eat, the liver just keeps churning away, manufacturing as much as ever. Almost everyone I met kept saying this food and that food has high cholesterol and it is harmful to the body and could cause heart disease. If you have done your homework, you will know that 25% of total cholesterol in our body is in our brain. This is how all of us can recognize, remember, learn and process our thoughts since we are infants till now.  We need significant amount of cholesterol in our body to maintain all 60 trillion cells in our body. Without cholesterol, we wouldn't be here today. Cholesterol is antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, it protects human being from getting all sorts of diseases including cancer.

Now, let's move to to discuss about fat, primarily saturated fat. I'm sure some of you heard that consumption of saturated fat raises cholesterol levels in the body. Saturated fat was labeled as 'mass murderer' and partner in crime with cholesterol. Is there any truth in this hypothesis? The truth will be revealed and exposed in later discussion. Saturated fats, so we are repeatedly informed, raise our cholesterol levels, thus killing us all from heart disease. In addition to this, they have been implicated in causing cancer and diabetes and other nasty conditions too numerous to mention.

Eskimos, who have been living for generations after generations, eat high saturated fat, high protein in their daily diet. And you know what? They don't have cancer, heart diseases or any major disease known to  modern society. These diseases are literally unheard of during their generations. Then, we have unsaturated fat, which is widely known as the 'good' fat. It is also known as Omega 3 fatty acid, which is the healthiest molecule in the world. Indeed, you are looking at the substance that cures many diseases and ailments. All fats have fatty acids, and all fatty acids are fats.

Let's look into polyunsaturated fat. I got many colleagues and friends asking me different types of fats, which one is good, and which is bad, what to avoid and eat. More people are avoiding eating fats, but they are gaining more weight and getting fatter. How could that be? As I mentioned before, eating fats, especially healthy good fats, WILL NOT make you fat. Now, what is polyunsaturated fat? It is a fat, with more than one double bond in it. We then have monounsaturated fat, the fat with one double bond. Usually, they comes from vegetable sources, fishes, oils, seeds, etc.

I wrote earlier about trans fat weeks back, and it is another type of 'altered' fat, which is 'created' by mankind. With big machine, extremely high pressure and a few heavy metal catalysts, can manufacture trans bonds. High temperature heating while cooking, also can generate trans fat. It is also known as trans fatty acids. It is unnatural and damaging to our health. Our body's enzyme systems, are not designed to deal with trans bonds. This type of fat is the villain of all fats. In fact, trans fat causes heart disease, and not cholesterol! I will disclose in coming posts what other factors contribute to heart disease.

Does anyone knows how fat is transported in our body? Triglycerides. Yes, three fat bonds, attached to a backbone called glycerol. Glycerol, is actually half of a glucose or sugar molecule in a triglyceride, and when triglycerides are broken down into their component parts, glycerol travels to the liver, which combines two molecules to form glucose. The fats go to muscles to be burned up. In short, stored fats are part sugar, providing energy.

You must be wondering why am I discussing about fats and cholesterol without seeming to be the slightest connection among them. Well, the reason for this is because there is no connection between them! Yet the way they are discussed today, the impression seems to be given that the things are virtually the same. Fats, cholesterol, cholesterol, fats. Low-fat diet lowers cholesterol, high-fat diet raises cholesterol.

It is also true that foods containing cholesterol also tend to contain fats, specifically saturated fat. That's because foods containing cholesterol comes from animal sources, and so do foods containing saturated fat. I will discuss about the synthesis of cholesterol in our body in the next post, stay tuned.

High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease? : Part 2

When any of you hit the age of 40's, 50's, 60's or even as young as 30's, you will be almost certain, to be advised by doctors, to take cholesterol lowering drug. One really good drug which is a big hit around the world, especially Malaysia, LIPITOR. Sounds familiar? This drug, is only one of the many statin drugs sold in the market, and there are a number of other cholesterol lowering drugs. 

This hypothesis, has mesmerized scientists, doctors and the general public for years, exuding a siren song that none can resist, dragging us all to our doom on the sharp rocks of illogicality. When you look at the eye-watering profits being generated, it hasn't exactly dragged pharmaceutical companies to their doom, YET. Indeed, once everyone believed that a high cholesterol level was the single cause of heart disease, the gold rush was on to discover drugs, that could lower cholesterol levels. A highly successful god rush, lead by big pharmaceutical companies.

Merck, for many years, the world's biggest pharmaceutical company, managed to obtain lovastatin, from the US army. Mankind has entered 'The age of Statin'. Pfizer, who bought the marketing rights from Warner lambert, for the drug called Atorvastatin, which is world best selling drug, with profits which would make your eyes water. 

Bayer, mixed the wrong chemicals together and discovered cerivastatin, so powerful that it allegedly killed hundreds of patients and had to be withdrawn. All of these drugs make billions and billions of dollars of profit for their companies. 

At first, doctors weren't keen on statins. Many of them didn't believe in the cholesterol hypothesis, and were far from certain that lowering cholesterol levels would do much good. However, the statin companies embarked on a series of massive clinical studies to so called 'prove' that lowering cholesterol with statins would work. I will discuss about the studies and scientific research on later post.

Right now, I would want to discuss about heart disease. What is heart disease? You may Google and do your own homework about find out about heart disease, but I will give you my own knowledge and explanation. The term 'heart disease' is virtually meaningless. There are hundreds of them, most with complex names, such as myocarditis, ventricular hypertrophy, etc. However, the one that kills most people, is not truly a disease of the heart at all. It is a disease of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. It is called atherosclerosis. Well, athero, describes the build up of grey-white fatty gunk in the artery walls. These thickening sometimes called plaques. Sclerosis, means thickening and hardening. 

Plaques are generally thought to progress from an initial 'fatty streak' found in the arteries which gradually becomes thicker and bigger. Eventually, plaques can reach to the point where they actually calcify, turning arteries into stiff, almost bonelike tubes. At some point during their development, plaques turn into something that looks like a cyst or goo lurking within the artery wall. This goo, is made of all sorts of stuff, mainly fats, dead white cells, broken down bits of blood clots, etc. 

The great danger with this type of plaque, is that the thin wall surrounding the goo bursts or breaks down. This 'goo' exposure, sends a powerful message to the blood-clotting system, and results in a blood clot, forming over the burst plaque. If the blood clot is big enough, then it completely blocks the blood supply to whichever organ that particularly artery was supplying. Are you guys following me so far? Confused? Bear with me here, trying my best to be not so technical. 

Ok now, if that organ happens to be the heart, then the heart muscle downstream will become starve of oxygen. It may then 'infarct', meaning, cell death. Myocardial, means heart muscle. Medically speaking, this is called myocardial infarction. In other words, heart attack. It is estimated that about 50% of heart attacks are fatal, and people mostly die in the first hour. 

Before we move on, I need to provide a little more information about 'infarctions' elsewhere in the body. Because although plaques most often develop in the arteries supplying blood to the heart, plaques are capable of developing elsewhere in the body too. Quite often, big plaques form in the arteries in the neck, which is the carotid arteries. As these arteries supply blood to the brain, this is clearly a danger spot. What most often happens, is that a clot forms over the carotid plaque, then a bit breaks off and travels up to the brain through ever smaller arteries.  Once the clot reaches an artery that is too narrow for it, it gets stuck, and this dams up the blood supply to an area of the brain, leading to a brain infarction, or known as cerebral infarction. Heard of stroke? Now you have a clearer picture how a person suffers from stroke episode.

The other version of stroke, occurs when an artery in the brain bursts, causing a bleed into the brain tissue. This is called cerebral haemorrhage. You need to do a brain scan to know for sure, what type of stroke has occured. Has any of you know anyone who suffers stroke before? Heard about their real experiences? 

Moving on, apart from heart and brain, you can have infarctions in the gut, kidneys and eyes as well. In fact, you can have infarctions almost anywhere in the body. Sounds scary? Perhaps, the scariest place to develop big plaques, is in the aorta, the major blood vessel that leads out of the heart and down through the chest and abdomen. If the aorta develops big plaques, the wall can lose structural integrity and balloon outwards, creating a big great 'aneurysm'. This is like having an unexploded bomb in your chest, waiting to go off. And when an artery this big fails, BOOM! There goes your previous life!

High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease? : Part 1

I never thought I could blogged until today. I almost gave up writing and sharing health facts to all of you reading this blog. I never thought of being able to upload 100 posts as of today, I'm a bit surprise myself. Should I just continue sharing all these health and nutrition info? Or should I shut down this blog after this final series, the cholesterol series, one of my favorite topic of all time? I don't know, we'll see.

Among all articles, posts or whatever you wanna call it, this topic is one of the most intriguing yet interesting enough to draw my attention to write and blog it for everyone to finally know the real truth about lipid hypothesis, "High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease". It may be yet, the most difficult medically related, article or post, which I have attempted to share it with anyone till today, especially to the ones who keen and curious to erase doubt and get the real truth about this long standing hypothesis.

I have been thinking hard and long, where do I start? How many posts would I blog for this topic? All I know, is I got a lot of information, genuine facts and scienfitic studies and researches to show to all of you, that how I will debunk, this huge powerfully protected hypothesis, for more then 50 years now. I will join some of the doctors, nutritionists, health practitioners, and the rest of the 'cholesterol skeptics', to hypothesize or prove that this claim, has mislead the public for many years now. To all the elderly people who are reading this, please, take some time, to finish reading the whole series of these posts as it will save your health, money and effort, for trusting, listening and being mislead by doctors, pharmaceutical companies and various so called health practitioners, as well as majority of us.

Recently, I did my full medical checkup in a specialized private hospital. As I've expected, the medical officer will review incorrect information from my medical results. This is how the event which had happened. As I was waiting for  the doctor to lead me into the examination room, I was fairly shock to see an obese woman calling out my name, gesturing me to follow her into the examination room. What is going on here? Am I suppose to get health advise from an obese unhealthy ? It's like your fitness trainer's gut looks like shit, and you are paying him loads of money for personal training? It doesn't make sense at all people! Truly absurb and ridiculous!

While this female doctor is reviewing through my blood test results, here comes the shocker.  As she was explaining to me about my total cholesterol level and she said, "Your HDL, which is your good cholesterol is okay, and your LDL, which is your bad cholesterol, looks to be in healthy range".  I was looking at her, trying to hint to her with my facial expression, that what on earth is she talking about. Does she even know what she is saying medically? How on earth she can be a damn medical officer and qualify herself to be a doctor? My god. This is why people died because of statin drugs effects, this is why people were mislead and given wrong message about cholesterol, which everyone think cholesterol is a villain, a bad thing for health, and we need to take cholesterol lowering drugs to avoid getting heart disease.

Now, I asked this doctor " Can you tell me what exactly is HDL and LDL, what do they stands for?". Guess what she said. She repeat the same thing saying they are good and bad cholesterol. What a joke. What is happening to our medically qualified doctors? This is not only happening in my country, but also throughout every nation on this planet. Typical lack of knowledge doctors think that high cholesterol causes heart disease.

Folks, HDL stands for High Density Lipoprotein, and LDL stands for Low Density Lipoprotein. They are lipoproteins!! They are not even cholesterol, for god sake. There is no such thing as good or bad cholesterol! Period! To all the doctors reading this right now, it is time to truly educate yourself, and stop giving statin drugs to patients. I will explain about the bad effects of statin drugs in coming posts.

The medical establishments blame cholesterol for everything from heart disease and stroke, to Alzheimer disease. They blamed saturated fat for raising cholesterol levels, and this will be discuss later, as I will provide all the data and facts about this particular discussion. We are bombarded with so much confusing nonsense about heart disease, that it is difficult to know where to start. Each day that dawns, it seems, heralds a new study that flatly contradicts the last. Omega 3 fish oils are good for you, Omega 3 fish oils are bad for you. Coffee is good for you, coffee is bad for you.

Now, a lot of people, do not know what to believe, and what to do anymore. So what happen? Everyone seem to seek help and trust the only reasonable 'qualified' health person, DOCTOR. Does anyone even know what doctors study in their degree? Well, go ask any of your relatives, or friends who is a qualified medical officer. Ensure they tell you honestly, and you will know, that most doctors DO NOT have knowledge about nutrition, which 90% of the time, are the cause of underlying health condition or disease. Ask yourself, when was the last time u seen a doctor who looks fit and healthy?

Before I sign off this post, I would like to share with you, the Diet-Heart Hypothesis, aka Cholesterol Hypothesis. This hypothesis, is quoted and informed by health authorities, pharmaceutical manufacturers, media and doctors, etc.

"If you eat too much of food containing cholesterol or saturated fat, the level of cholesterol in your blood will rise. The excess cholesterol will be deposited in the artery walls, causing them to thicken and narrow. In time, this will block the blood supply to the heart, and other organs, causing a heart attack or stroke".

An absurd, yet brilliantly protected hypothesis. Things are starting to get interesting...stay tuned.

Vacation: What do you have for breakfast?

Everyone loves a holiday. Everyone loves going on vacation. But, how many of you kick off your day with a healthy nutritious meal for breakfast? Let's see...what i have for breakfast while I'm on holiday overseas. Simple yet nutritious. By attempting to eat as much organic whole food as possible, you indirectly reduce eating crappy food and avoid toxins especially pesticides, trans fat and chemicals, while on vacation. Well, I'm not saying you can't enjoy all the delicious local food while on holiday, it's just that mixing organic whole food would be such a good idea for a healthier diet while travelling. You guys should try it out.

Breakfast:

1. 2 tablespoon of organic coconut oil
2. 2 raw organic free range eggs
3. organic cucumbers (eat it raw)
4. organic baby tomatoes (eat it raw)
5. Some clean good quality water (Artesian FIJI) (I know bottled water is not good, but I can't get a good filtered water from tap).  1 litre of this bottled water cost about Rm7.

Natto : Fermented soybean

Yes, another post on soybean. But, this time, I'm writing and posting about a fermented soy based food, Natto. This soy based food, is consumed traditionally in Japan, and still being eaten amongst many Japanese in 21st century. 

I know I blogged about soy based food is harmful and not advisable for consumption. You are right, but those harmful soy based food are non fermented ones. Natto, is a fermented soybean food product, is considered to be nutritious, yet beneficial in certain ways. This food is produced by fermentation by including bacterium called bacillus nato, to boiled the soybean. It has an enzyme called nattokinase. Only Natto has this enzyme and not any other food product. 

Meanwhile, I'm not too sure if Malaysia sells this food product as I've not been able to find it so far. No such luck I guess. 

L-Tyrosine : Natural caffeine

Are you a coffee lover? How about tea? Soft drinks? Today, I will introduce to you a natural amino acid, called L-Tyrosine. This amino acid is known as 'natural caffeine' and it is much more potent then caffeine in general, minus the diuretic effect. 

Remember catecholamines? This neurotransmitter is important to our brain and plays a key role to ensure we don't feel tired and sluggish, and unable to concentrate or focus. Some people feel sleepy and sluggish after lunch meal, and they struggle to concentrate and stay awake and be alert while at work. Reason? Deficient in catecholamines. Besides, consumption of too much sugar also depletes the availability of this neurotransmitter. 

One who always consume coffee, tea, soft drinks or whichever beverage which contains caffeine, will only stimulate the nervous system to be awake for a short period of time, but this will trigger the highs and lows of energy levels throughout the day. That is why some people drink coffee all day long because energy levels keep dropping once the caffeine effect has finished. Caffeine also suppress your immune system and allows free flow of water, meaning, pee free water.

Basically, one who has deficient in catecholamines, these people tend to look for energy boosting food or drinks which contains caffeine, sugar and even nicotine (cigarettes). These substances will temporarily provides quick energy boost to the body, especially the brain, but, it will deplete your important neurotransmitters and suppress your immune functions. Meanwhile, this natural amino acid is not available in Malaysia. Well, what do you expect from pharmacies and supplement shops in this country? 

Brain fuel : Seratonin

I wrote about neurotransmitters few months back, when I started blogging this site. If any of you read my posts on brain chemicals, you will know about seratonin, a powerful important neurotransmitter for our brain. Majority of us are deficient in seratonin, we see people having mood swings, tend to get agitated or irritated easily, low in confidence, low self esteem, negative or pessimistic mindset, worried to much, and someone easily get pissed off as well. 

People who is violent, are severely deficient in seratonin. Criminals usually have very low seratonin and we are talking about violent criminals here, such as rapists, murderer, bank robbers, etc. How do we get low seratonin? Go read my earlier posts on brain chemicals, but I can tell you that high consumption of carbohydrates actually decrease the production and conversion of L-Tryptophan to seratonin in the brain. Meanwhile, recently I bought this amino acid from overseas (see attached pic), and it is not sold in Malaysia.

Seratonin, is the most important 'feel good' chemical in our brain. Due to stress, diet and among other factors, we are depleted of this brain fuel which is much needed for our overall 'shinny day' mood. People who is depressed or having anxiety, desperately needs this amino acid. Bear in mind, this is not a drug, this is a natural amino acid derived from protein. It is so many times much more powerful then anti-depressant drugs. 

So people, if you want to feel good and be happy and be able to improve your sleep quality, ensure your diet contains high in L-Tryptophan. How do you get L-Tryptophan? Again, read my earlier posts on brain chemicals. Besides, your sleeping hormone melatonin is produced from this amino acid as well. Now you know how important this neurotransmitter is to the body. 

 

Stomach Cancer : Highest in China

I've obtained another statistic which shows that Eastern Asia has the highest rates for stomach cancer globally. China has the highest rate of stomach cancer, followed by Korea and Japan, both these nations also one of the highest, while countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Africa and North America are the lowest. 

Stomach cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide till the year of 2008's data. The highest mortality rates are in Eastern Asia and the lowest in Northern America. Anyone can guess why China has the highest rates of stomach cancer? 

Cancer rates amongst Asians : Year 2008

I was browsing through the International Agency for Research on Cancer couple days back, below is what I found on cancer rates amongst Asians for the year 2008. I have captured screenshots with graphs showing most common cancer types, rates and mortality for both men and women, which includes Malaysia. 

As expected, breast cancer top the list for women, and lung cancer still remain as leading cancer mortality amongst Asian men. For more details about this life threatening disease, read my earlier posts on cancer.

Toxic Phases of Life (Part 2)

This would be the 2nd part of this post as I will discuss mostly on teenage years, adulthood and senior years. Although I'm not an expert in toxicology, but I'm more then happy to share with you readers about the awareness on toxic exposure which we have been exposed to most of our lives, from my years of knowledge about toxins. 

Now, our internal cleansing systems, which naturally detoxify our bodies, were not designed to eliminate synthetic chemicals. As a result, many of the toxins bioaccumulate in our organs and tissues, and await a trigger to begin the synergistic process that can result in illness and disease. During our teen years, we experiment with an even wider range of chemicals in our bodies and on our bodies, from the first use of personal care products to  tattoo inks and illicit substances. 

Processed Foods - I guess this would be almost every teenage favorite. If you are an average person, your teen years were spent acquiring food habits that would last a lifetime. Fast foods and processed foods are laden with synthetic chemicals, bioaccumulate in your body from childhood and began to reach toxic levels during teenhood. Your mood swings and that went beyond normal hormonal fluctuations became one observable symptom of this toxicity. If you became a hot-dog fanatic as a teenager, and consumed a dozen or so per month, preservative chemicals found in the meat may have bioaccumulated and sharply elevated your risk of developing leukemia. Hot dogs anyone? 

Fast Foods - Teenagers eat more french fries and fast foods than any other age group. French fries have been consumed for generations, but only in year 2005, it was discovered that frying with starches creates a carcinogen. Read my earlier posts relating to fast foods if you want to educated yourself further. 

Overprescribed Antibiotics : Whenever kids are sick, how often does doctors prescribe antibiotics? You know better as parents and guardians as well as whenever you fall sick during your teenage years. On average, every teenager receives at least one prescription of antibiotics every year. This unnecessary usage of antibiotics sets in motion of lifetime of unthinking use, and exposed to deadly strains of resistance bacteria that prey upon immune systems weakened by the overuse of antibiotics. 

Pesticide Exposure - Teenagers who have grown up in agricultural areas or in residential areas that adjoin crop-growing areas, inherit a much higher body burden of chemical pesticides and herbicides. But, everyone is at risk from pesticide residues on supermarket products. Pesticide residues on non-organic foods begin to accumulate in fatty tissues and organs at an early age. Read my post on pesticide to educate yourself further.

Personal Care Products - As a teenager, you experiment with a wide array of personal care products that include shampoos, aftershaves, deodorants, cosmetics, etc. On average, you will be exposed to more then a hundred synthetic chemical from these products. Some of the ingredients, are known as endocrine disrupters, affect hormone levels and lead to mood swings and other effects the behavior and mental acuity. Lotions you lather on your body during the summer contain numerous chemicals that have been found to be carcinogens or endocrine disrupters. 

Body Decorating - Some of you got your first tattoo when you were teenager. Synthetic dyes used in the inks needled into you, were laced with heavy metals. These toxins can migrate into your body and lodge into various body organs, particularly the lungs.


Now, as we mature and venture into adulthood, we are then exposed to different range of toxins. Throughout  your adult life, you continue to accumulate synthetic chemical toxins in your body tissues, building on levels of exposure from the three earlier stages of life. Whether these exposures will trigger diseases and illnesses in you, depends on a variety of factors, including your genetic predisposition and how badly your immune system has been battered by chemical toxins.

Meat Hormones - If you ate meat regularly, there is no doubt what will happen to your endocrine system. Your hormones will be disrupted, as synthetic growth hormones injected into the cows and other meat-based animals. Chicken is no exception, unless all the meats you consumed are organic free range.

Food Additives -  Most processed foods including baby foods, are contaminated with MSG, an excitotoxin. Chewing gums, yogurts, candy bars, peanut butters, cereals are some of the list of processed foods which contains aspartame. Even vitamin supplements now have aspartame being added to the products! Read my posts on MSG and aspartame for more details.

Seafood Consumption - If you have been a regular seafood consumer, two or more a week, and if it contains white canned tuna and swordfish, then your body burden of mercury contamination should be a cause for concern. We are talking about roughly approximately three decades of seafood consumption during adulthood.

Cosmetics Use - If you are a woman and began using cosmetics as a teenager, you have absorbed a broad range of toxins. The FDA estimates that approximately 65% of women's cosmetics contain potentially carcinogenic ingredients.

Occupational Hazards - From various arrays of jobs to choose, farmers are exposed to pesticides and welders exposed to fumes from manganese have a higher then average incidence of Parkinson's disease. Hairdressers are at much higher risk for Alzheimer's because of their contact hair dyes and solvents. We then have aircraft mechanics from their exposures to toxic fuels and solvents as well.


Finally, we move to senior years, or what I call it elderly. Our last phase of life, or sometimes we might call it 'senior citizen'. By retirement, the average person is taking at least one prescription drug a day, to combat any one of dozens of common ailments. At this point in your life, your total body load of chemicals has reached a critical threshold that makes you more susceptible to prostate cancer if you are a man, and breast cancer if you are a woman. I hereby provide you various known exposures of the types of toxins in this final stage of life.

Prescription Drugs - How many of you out there reading this at the age of above 55 years, take prescription drugs to treat any sort of illness or disease?  At least fifty commonly used antibiotics and antihistamines can create disorientation and weaken memory, as well as cognitive abilities in the elderly. If you have abused antibiotics during the course of your life, taking them when they aren't needed, you have inadvertently made your immune system vulnerable to deadly strains of bacteria. Because you kidney and liver functions have diminished with age, the possible synergistic effects of these drugs increase your likelihood of an overdose and of becoming one of the may people who died each year from the synergies and side effects of prescription medications.

Tap Water Bioaccumulation - Throughout your years of life, the fluoride you have ingested and absorbed from municipal water supplies and even during consumption from various mineral bottled waters and 'kopitiam' outlets, has bioaccumulate in your bones and made them more brittle. Your prospects of hip fractures during your senior years have been increased well beyond what you could have expected.

New Car Smells - By retirement age, you have probably already owned more then a few cars in your life. You may have enjoyed the unmistakable aroma of fresh carpeting, plastic, and paint that a new vehicle exudes. Breathing in these fumes may have given you and your passengers a feeling of light-headedness, nausea, drowsiness and headaches. This is because any chemical you can smell, whether it be vinyl in new shower or new cars, is making its way into your bloodstream when you inhale it. All these years you have been adsorbing and inhaling a chemical brew of volatile organic compounds, or known as VOCs, composed of such cancer causing chemicals as styrene and formaldehyde. These gases are even more dangerous on hot days when the windows are rolled up and the air conditioner is operating.


So folks, here you go, a whole complete phase of toxins exposure from the womb to the grave. Whether you like it or not, you can hardly avoid from toxins in life. But, we could minimize the risk and exposure by maintaining a healthy diet and aware of household and personal care products.

Toxic Phases of Life (Part 1)

It's a toxic toxic world. All our lives, we have been assaulted with tons of toxins from the womb to the grave. Today, I would to to write about toxins impact in our lives. The different phases of our lives which we have been exposed to loads of toxins for decades, which includes heavy metals and chemicals.

Let's start off with phase one. Fetal development. There are a lots of people especially women, who are not aware that their pre-born babies, could easily be exposed to some of the most dangerous toxins produced and available in modern society. As I've mentioned earlier in 'pesticides' post, we knew that it was a myth, that the placenta connecting a mother and a fetus acted as a foolproof filter, protecting the fetus from toxins absorbed by the mother's body during pregnancy. 

Long list of chemical substances have been shown to have adverse impact of up to ten times as toxic to fetuses and newborns as adults. Here are some of the chemical challenges every fetus must now contend with during its nine month attempt to evolve into a normal being with naturally occurring health. 

Air Pollution - If you mother lived in an industrialized city, you were assaulted to various types of air pollutants and pesticides. The simple act of mother of an expected mother breathing polluted air, might cause chromosome abnormalities in the fetus. 

Household chemicals -  A long list of chemicals include pesticides, bleach, aerosols, air refreshers, window cleaners, carpet cleaners and dry cleaning fluids. A primary chemical culprit in most of these products seemed to be formaldehyde. 

Everyday Conveniences - Babies in the womb are swimming in synthetic chemical soup. While you were in the womb, you can expect about one in three chance that you would absorb PCBs from your mother. PCBs are toxins found in electrical transformers, adhesives and hydraulic fluids. PCBs have been detected in 30 percent of human breast milk, so the odds of babies absorbing one in three chance having been exposed to additional PCB residue if you were breast fed. A study conducted in the USA in 2004, chose a big group of random babies, analyzed their umbilical cord blood and found an average of two hundred synthetic chemicals, including chemicals from food packaging and flame retardents from household furnitures and appliances. 

Food Contamination - If a pregnant woman consume mercury laden food such as canned tuna or swordfish, the pregnancy will be exposed to methylmercury. Mercury, along with PCBs and pesticides, has been shown to disrupt the endocrine system, which manages hormones in the body. An entire class of potential chemical contaminants to the fetus are the thousands of chemical additives in processed foods and fast foods. Chemical exposure during the fetal stage can set in motion tissue changes that years later, as an adult, erupt into cancer.


Expected mothers, after reading the above, are you willing to change your lifestyles to ensure your babies are born healthy? Now, I will discuss about the second phase of toxic expose in our lives. Childhood. Once out of the womb, you are confronted by a gauntlet of chemical challenges. 

Some kids start life with a genetic defect that affects metabolic functions and renders their bodies less efficient at excreting toxins. This predisposition can compromise their immune system. The cocktail of vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal, can further overwhelm the already susceptible child's immune system. 

Food additives -  Because many of an infant's body organs are not fully developed at birth, infant growth can be retarded by contact with foreign chemicals. Organ cells in the infant are highly susceptible to chemical food additives, particularly the nitrites that sometimes appear in the baby foods. Food additives in the form of  artificial colorings, flavorings and preservatives which laced all processed foods, increase your childhood chances of becoming hyperactive and developing attention deficit disorder. Even more than soft drinks, most fruit juices (processed), are composed of synthetic chemicals that can trigger disruptive behaviors.

Breast Milk - Any baby born today or in the past decade who consumed its mother's breast milk also probably absorbed traces of perchlorate. A breast-fed one month old infant will absorb enough perchlorate to exceed all safe levels, perhaps even lifetime safe level, and perchlorate is known to adversely affect the thyroid and other glands of your body.

Infant formula - I've earlier written a couple of posts about infant milk formula. For many, the first food you received after birth was infant formula, an artificial imitation of milk. Many researches have pointed out that infant milk formula is a primary cause of allergies in infants. Mother's milk by contrast, naturally contains colostrum, a substance that helps the infant develop protection against viral infection, influenza, and a host of other diseases and ailments. Infant formula DO not have such protections.

Tap Water - If you drink fluoridated water as a child, depending on your consumption, your chances of contracting allergic reactions to the fluoride may increase with age, resulting in headaches, muscle weakness and stomach upsets. Read my earlier post on fluoride for more details.

Childhood vaccinations - Once you are born, it is mandatory to receive series of vaccinations before you could enter public school system. In most countries, it is mandatory enforced by laws for vaccinations. Many of these vaccinations were administered to you as an infant. Besides the disease-fighting agents, what else lurks in these vaccines that your body absorbs? Common vaccine additives include methylmercury, aluminum, formaldehyde, MSG, sulfites and ethylene glycol. Most are used as preservatives and adjuvants. The overall amount of mercury that you receive as a child from vaccinations may represent your entire lifetime's safe amount of mercury exposure. Read my earlier post on vaccinations for more information.

Household Dust - Lead paints were banned in many countries, but I'm not too sure for Malaysia. Lead lowers IQ, impairs memory, reduce attention spans and causes learning disabilities. Molecules lead leach from paints and attach themselves to dust particles that collect on furniture, rugs and carpets, where crawling children inhale and absorb the particles. Pesticide and insecticide residues and chemicals that outgas from new carpeting also mix with dust, surviving in carpets and rugs for years until absorbed into animals or humans.

Play Areas - Pressure treated wood used on outdoor decks, picnic tables and playground equipment contain high levels of arsenic. A twelve foot section of pressure-treated lumbar contains about an ounce of arsenic, enough to poison to death 250 people. This wood is also treated with preservatives and toxins to prevent bug infestations. As children play on the surfaces of treated wood, the toxic chemicals can stick to their hands and then be ingested when they put their hands in their mouths.

Food Packaging - Stain repellants that coat hundreds of products and are especially prevalent in food packaging leach a Teflon chemical known as PFOA into food, water and the surrounding of air. Teflon molecules never breaks down in the environment and can persists in the human body for an entire lifetime! Among girls born today for close to a decade ago, at least 1 out of 8 is expected to get breast cancer in their lifetime. Children today live in a very different environment from years ago. Toxicity testing has not even begun to keep pace with disease.

Amway Positrim Drink Mix: Meal replacement?

Well, well, what can I say yet again? I let you guys to comment on this food product. Meal replacement? You gotta be kidding me big time! Let's see what Amway prepare for us this time, for a so called 'meal replacement for weight control'. I tend to bump into food products from Amway as my relatives thought that this company is good and trusted. I tell myself, I just have to post this product to aware the public and all my readers out there. 

Just in case anyone decided to gulp a huge load of toxins into their body, I now present to you the ingredients of this so called 'meal replacement for weight control'. How many more Amway food products are out there containing loads of toxins? 

Ingredients: 

Fructose (Read my sugar posts to find out more! This WILL make you fat!)
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil (Trans fat)
Maltodextrin (Contains MSG, excitotoxin)
Sodium Caseinate (Contains MSG)
Natural Flavoring (Contains MSG)
Carrageenan (Contains MSG)
Emulsifier

 

Amway Positrim Corn Soup : Toxic soup!

Another Amway product which doesn't surprise me at all. I won't write much about this product but I have the list of ingredients which you will be shocked to find out when you think that you are consuming a safe and healthy corn soup. Anyway, it is from Amway right? A well established company which most people think they could be trusted. Here you go folks. 

Ingredient list:

Maltodextrin (Contains MSG, excitotoxin)

Soy Protein Isolate (Easily the most harmful soy based processed ingredient)

Sucrose 

Partially Hydrogenated oil (Trans fat!)

Soy Protein Flour (More soy!)

Corn starch (High chance containing GMO corn)

Natural chicken flavor (Contains MSG)

Sodium Caseinate (Contains MSG)

Soy Lecithin

Soy Sauce Powder (More soy?)

Thanks and no thanks to Amway for selling such a so called 'trusted' food product! Is it safe to consume? Absolutely not! A food product full of toxins and trans fat is not a 'healthy' product. Purchase your food product safely folks. 

Pharmaton Cough Syrup : Safe for kids?

To all parents and guardians, you might want to be careful of this cough syrup. I just have the urge to highlight this so called 'cough syrup' for kids to the everyone reading this blog. Manage to snap a photo of this bottle syrup but due to poor quality mobile camera, this is the best I could get. 

When I glance through the ingredient list, I was shocked to see that harmful sweeteners such as sorbitol and aspartame are in the mixture of this bottle. Aspartame? This is insane! Why on earth this pharmaceutical company would add an excitotoxin in this so called medicine? An ingredient which could cause brain cancer and multiple sclerosis for kids? Besides, this cough mixture even has sodium benzoate. It's like we are trying to relieve the cough symptom but poisoning the kids at the same time? What is happening here? 

Meanwhile, below are some of the harmful ingredients which is added to this cough syrup. To all the people out there, be extra careful whenever you purchase any so called 'medicine' from pharmacies or even prescribed by doctors. 

Ingredients:  Aspartame, sodium benzoate, sorbitol.

 

The Calcium Lie : Osteoporosis

I got a close colleague who sent me an article couple days back, expressing his confusion about soy myths and truths. He often seemed confused by health myths and truths, but he seemed to eat everything under the sun, animal organs, pig's intestines, duck's blood, etc. All non-organic animal meat and organs, filled with toxins such as pesticides, synthetic sex hormones and antibiotics. The thing is, he wants to be healthy with his on going eating habit. Now folks, tell me, how can I help him? I hope someone could comment and provide some advise for him.

Today, I would like to debunk another health myth. This time, it is about calcium. I'm sure you've heard that the cause of osteoporosis and the key to its prevention revolve around calcium, right? Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. 

I've always tell my colleagues, friends and relatives. We are all victims of health lies. These lies, are quite literally killing us, a big fat lie, that has sucked us all in, consumers and medical professionals alike. Primary among those lies is the notion that bones are made of calcium, with the dogmatic exhortation from almost every doctor on the planet that we all need supplemental calcium in order to have strong bones. This is absolutely untrue, and without any reliable scientific evidence. In fact, our bones, are made of 12 minerals including calcium, and we need all of them in proper proportions in order to have healthy bones and a healthy metabolism.

It started with a wild notion that calcium is essential for strong bones. Nearly all of us, including doctors, have brought into this 'calcium' bullshit. We believe that unless we get loads of calcium, our bones will fracture or crumble to powder. Let me tell you. It is NOT true. It's never been true, and the basic science that taught in every university in the world, shows us the error of this belief system. 

If you take calcium to strengthen your bone, you are signing your own death warrant. Think of this, calcium hardens concrete. Imagine what it can harden in your body! Let me tell all of you whoever reading this right now, why we are all bought into this calcium lie. Here is the story. It started with the creation of refrigerator. Yes, the refrigerator used at your house. You must be thinking, what on earth refrigerator has to do with calcium and bones? Keep on reading folks.

The invention of refrigerator was the beginning of humankind's modern health crisis. So, why did this cause health crisis for humankind? The answer is simple. We stop using sea salt to preserve meat and other foods, thereby robbed our bodies of essential minerals we need to survive and thrive. 

We have all failed to understand and recognize the importance of basic biochemistry that lies at the heart of the medical conditions that plague modern humans. You probably already know that our bodies are mainly water, approximately 72% of our body weight is water, pure and simple. This is a basic premise of our physiology. Anything we put in our bodies MUST be water soluble, or have specific transport mechanism to be absorbed. The remainder of your body weight is minerals. All 28% of it, ranging from potassium and sodium, calcium, selenium and copper, manganese, magnesium, to the more rare trace minerals like fluorine, cobalt, etc. 

Now, the planet oceans and and salt beds contain all the minerals and trace minerals we need to be in perfect health. Sea salt and rock salt contain all of the minerals in the exact proportion that our bodies requires, except sodium. Quite simply, these minerals are necessary for every single body function to work, biochemical, electrical, chemical and physiological. 

Getting back to the refrigerator. When we stopped preserve food with naturally occurring salts, we became progressively deficient in some, if not all, of those essential minerals. Because chemical 'fingerprint' is passed from mother to child, each generation has progressively become more deficient in these essential minerals. 

Meanwhile, we too, have severely deplete the soil, in which we grow our food. The introduction of chemical fertilizers and pesticides actually robbed and depleted the soil of its nutrients. Then, came the final blow. Table salt. Early in the 20th century, scientific advances brought us the white table salt, which only contains two minerals, sodium and chloride. It was a fine and granular salt. It was convenient. We then also have iodized salt, which added a mineral called iodine. 

Our bodies began to seek desperately for the minerals we need to survive, and it should have been our first clue that many other vital nutrients were missing when we began to refine our salt. But we failed to recognize the signals. Our collective downhill slide into widespread mineral deficiency  began to accelerate.

Most people, even many medical professionals, began to believe that bones are made of calcium. As i mentioned before, our bones are made of at least 12 minerals. One of them is calcium, but a proper balance of all these minerals are essential for bone health, strong bones and the prevention of osteoporosis. By the way, osteoporosis is defined as a loss of minerals from the bones, and not just calcium deficiency. 

Our doctors and health medias told us we need more calcium to keep our bones strong, so we started popping calcium supplements, adding calcium to many of our foods, and we were told to drink couple glasses of calcium-rich milk everyday. This oversimplification for the benefit of the dairy industry  is just pathetic. 

Ask yourself, what are your bones made of? What builds strong bones? What is osteoporosis, a loss of what from the bones? Almost everyone, including educated medical personnel, dietitians and even physicians, will answer, Calcium! This is a big mistake! We are so programmed to believe that bones are made of calcium, same goes to people believing that soy based food is a healthy food. In this case, I'm talking about unfermented soy food.      

Here's the truth. If you calcium supplements and eat calcium-rich foods, you will build up excess calcium in your system coupled with mineral deficiency and imbalances, that will cause plaque in arteries, kidney stones, gallstones, osteoarthritis, hypertension, hypothyroidism, obesity, type 2 diabetes and many other diseases as well. 

We we took sea salt and rock salt out from our diets, we lost part of the nutritional value of our foods. Adding calcium to our diets to try correct multiple mineral deficiencies and prevent of treat osteoporosis won't help. It will make your mineral imbalances even worse. Today, nearly all of us believe that we need extra calcium to have healthy bones and prevent osteoporosis. More is better, so we add calcium. 

Worst of all, we feed our children calcium-rich milk, in the mistaken belief that it will give them strong bones. By doing this, we are condemning them to hardening of the arteries later in life, hypothyroidism and even obesity. We can all give thanks to the milk industry for that lie. 

Too much calcium causes an imbalance of minerals in the body. This leads to accumulation of calcium in the tissues. This calcium excess not only causes huge changes in our intercellular metabolism, but also leads to calcium deposits intracellular spaces. This calcium deposits form plaque throughout our arteries, kidney stones, gallstones and joints as well. 

Now, if you've been prescribed an osteoporosis drug such as Fosamax or Boniva, it is very important that you understand how these drugs work before putting them into your body. Using these types of pharmaceutical drugs is the worst way to attempt to treat or prevent osteoporosis and I'll tell you why. Even though they will increase your bone density, these drugs are poison! They work by killing off certain cells in your bones called osteoclasts. Osteoclasts destroy the bone as part of the natural bone regeneration process. Killing off these cells means you are left with only osteoblasts, which will increase bone density but not bone strength.

As a result, your bones lose their natural ability to build new bone and readjust to the constantly changing forces applied. Now, you have thicker bones with less strength, which actually increases your risk of bone fractures. Additionally, these drugs have been linked to some terrible side effects, including increased risk of eye problems such as blurry vision, pain and swelling, liver damage, bone fractures, esophageal cancer, etc.  

By now, you must be wondering, what to eat and avoid. Well, below are the some of the lists of nutrients or food to eat and avoid:

Avoid

Food which has gluten

Processed and fast food

Food which uses vegetable oil for cooking

Table salt

What to eat

Organically grown vegetables/fruits

Omega 3 fatty acids

Vitamin K 

Sea salt/Rock salt (add in water when drinking)

Lastly, exercise and get appropriate sunshine exposure. Stay tuned. 

Fluoride: Lower IQ in children & Skeletal Fluorosis

As I was reading the recent news concerning fluoride, I decided to share with all of you readers out there. Another nail in the coffin. Read the news and the study conducted.

Study 1

If you live in countries such as United States, more likely than not you’re drinking tap water that contains added fluoride. The United States is one of only eight countries in the entire developed world that fluoridates more than 50 percent of its water supply, under the guise that it helps prevent and control tooth decay.

The sad reality is, however, that there is practically no difference in tooth decay rates between fluoridated and non-fluoridated countries, and no difference between states that fluoridate a high versus low percentage of their water.

Yet, while fluoride in drinking water does NOT decrease rates of tooth decay, numerous studies show that this chemical has an array of devastating health effects that are being imposed on you and your family whether you like it or not.

Fluoride is known to interfere with basic functions of nerve cells in your brain. There are now numerous animal and human studies demonstrating the damage fluoride inflicts on your brain, including your pineal gland. Fluoride can also increase manganese absorption, compounding problems since manganese in drinking water has also been linked to lower IQ in children.

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1289/ehp.1003171#top

Study 2

Of the 200-odd villagers in the Indian town of Gaudiyan, around 135 have bone deformities. A private doctor who conducts social work in the area termed it as a case of skeletal fluorosis, the result of excess fluoride content in drinking water.

India is one of several countries known to have dangerously high levels of fluoride in their drinking water. This poison comes into contact with water supplies when rocks containing fluoride erode or volcanic activity spews fluoride-containing ash into the air, allowing the colorless, odorless substance to enter groundwater.

In areas where naturally occurring fluoride is high, serious health problems usually become apparent, and that is, unfortunately, what's happening now in India. Sadly, for many people in India, there is no access to safer water supplies or reverse osmosis filters that could remove the fluoride from the water, and now generations of children are growing up with serious health problems as a result.

Skeletal fluorosis, a crippling bone disease, is well documented and strongly associated with drinking water that contains high levels of fluoride. The disease is known to be endemic in several parts of the world, including India, China and many parts of Africa.

For the people in India and other developing countries who are exposed to dangerously high levels of naturally occurring fluoride, the solution lies in securing safer water supplies or filters to remove the poison.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/one-crippled-village-two-theories/637407/

Conclusion

In order to understand the long term dangers of fluoride, it's important to realize that fluoride is a cumulative poison. Ninety eight percent of the fluoride you ingest in water is absorbed into your blood through your gastrointestinal tract. From there, it enters your body's cellular tissues. On average, about 50 percent of the fluoride you ingest each day gets excreted through your kidneys. The remainder accumulates in your teeth and bones, pineal gland, and other tissues.

The amount deposited into your bones and teeth varies depending on your age. In children, more than 50 percent of an ingested dose of fluoride is deposited in bone, but in adults only about 10 percent is stored there.

As with teeth, fluoride is deposited in bone by the ionic exchange with hydroxyl apatite. It does dissolve from bone over time, but at a slower rate than it is deposited, so if your intake remains constant or high, the level of fluoride in your bones increases linearly with age.

Furthermore, if your kidneys are damaged, fluoride accumulation will increase, and with it, the likelihood of harm. Basically, if you ingest more fluoride than your body is capable of eliminating, various stages of fluorosis may ensue. Symptoms of early skeletal fluorosis include:

• Pains in your bones and joints
• Burning, prickling, and tingling in your limbs
• Muscle weakness
• Chronic fatigue
• Gastrointestinal disorders