White Bread is "dead" bread

I received this information as a forwarded message in my email.  I am not completely certain if the information being claimed is actually true or not, but I’m sharing it with my readers anyway:

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The Swiss government has been aware of the dangers of eating white bread for decades and in order to get its populace to stop eating it, Switzerland has placed a tax on the purchase of white bread. The tax money is given to bakers to reduce the price of whole wheat bread to encourage people to switch.

The Canadian government passed a law prohibiting the “enrichment” of white bread with synthetic vitamins. Bread must contain the original vitamins found in the grain, not imitations.

Essentially, white bread is “dead” bread. Frequently, consumers are not told the truth about this and so called “enriched” flour.

Why is the color of white bread so white when the flour taken from wheat is not?

It’s because the flour used to make white bread is chemically bleached just like you bleach your clothes. When you are eating white bread, you are also eating residual chemical bleach. Flour mills use different chemical bleaches, all of which are pretty bad. Here are a few of them: oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl and benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts.

One bleaching agent, chloride oxide, combined with whatever proteins are still left in the flour, produces alloxan. Alloxon is a poison and has been used to produce diabetes in laboratory animals. Chlorine oxide destroys the vital wheat germ oil. It will also shorten the

flour’s shelf life.

Good Nutrition: You Won’t Find It In White Bread

In the process of making flour white, half of the good unsaturated fatty acids, that are high in food value, are lost in the milling process alone, and virtually all the vitamin E is lost with the removal of wheat germ and bran. As a result, the remaining flour in the white bread you buy, contains only poor quality proteins and fattening starch.

But that is not the whole story as to the loss of nutrients. About 50% of all calcium, 70% of phosphorus, 80% iron, 98% magnesium, 75% manganese, 50% potassium, and 65% of copper is destroyed. If that is not bad enough, about 80% thiamin, 60% of riboflavin, 75% of niacin,

50% of pantothenic acid, and about 50% of Pyridoxine is also lost.

Scientific Study Has Confirmed What The Swiss Have Known For Years

These horrific numbers are the results of a study run by the University of California, College of Agriculture.

It is obvious, from what we have learned, that white bread should beavoided. Whole wheat, rye, and grain breads made with whole wheat flour is a better way.

It is a good idea to always read the labels and never buy foods that contain artificial flavors, colors, bleached flour, preservatives, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.

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Human body hosts about 10,000 germ species

Scientists of the Human Microbiome Project had calculated that healthy people share their bodies with with as much as 10,000 species of microbes.

This is old news, I know, but perhaps, still worth reposting.  So, read on.

Virtually everybody harbors low levels of some harmful types of bacteria, pathogens that are known for causing specific infections. But when a person is healthy those bugs simply quietly coexist with benign or helpful microbes, perhaps kept in check by them.

The next step is to explore what doctors really want to know: Why do the bad bugs harm some people and not others? What changes a person's microbial zoo that puts them at risk for diseases ranging from infections to irritable bowel syndrome to psoriasis?

Already the findings are reshaping scientists' views of how people stay healthy, or not.

"This is a whole new way of looking at human biology and human disease, and it's awe-inspiring," said Dr. Phillip Tarr of Washington University at St. Louis, one of the lead researchers in the $173 million project, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"These bacteria are not passengers," Tarr stressed. "They are metabolically active. As a community, we now have to reckon with them like we have to reckon with the ecosystem in a forest or a body of water."

And like environmental ecosystems, your microbial makeup varies widely by body part. Your skin could be like a rainforest, your intestines teeming with different species like an ocean.

Some 200 scientists from nearly 80 research institutions worked together for five years on this first-ever census to begin answering those questions by unraveling the DNA of these microbes, with some of the same methods used to decode human genetics. The results have been published in a series of reports in the journals Nature and the Public Library of Science.

Read more here.

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A word on Neurosis

Neurosis was coined by the Scottish doctor William Cullen in 1769 to refer to "disorders of sense and motion" caused by a "general affection of the nervous system". For him, it described various nervous disorders and symptoms that could not be explained physiologically. It derives from the Greek word "νεῦρον" (neuron, "nerve") with the suffix -osis (diseased or abnormal condition).

The term was however most influentially defined by Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud over a century later. It has continued to be used in contemporary theoretical writing in psychology and philosophy.

There are many forms of neurosis: obsessive–compulsive disorder, anxiety neurosis, hysteria (in which anxiety may be discharged through a physical symptom), and a nearly endless variety of phobias as well as obsessions such as pyromania.

According to C. George Boeree, professor emeritus at Shippensburg University, effects of neurosis can involve:

...anxiety, sadness or depression, anger, irritability, mental confusion, low sense of self-worth, etc., behavioral symptoms such as phobic avoidance, vigilance, impulsive and compulsive acts, lethargy, etc., cognitive problems such as unpleasant or disturbing thoughts, repetition of thoughts and obsession, habitual fantasizing, negativity and cynicism, etc. Interpersonally, neurosis involves dependency, aggressiveness, perfectionism, schizoid isolation, socio-culturally inappropriate behaviors, etc.

As an illness, neurosis represents a variety of mental disorders in which emotional distress or unconscious conflict is expressed through various physical, physiological, and mental disturbances, which may include physical symptoms (e.g., hysteria).

The definitive symptom is anxieties. Neurotic tendencies are common and may manifest themselves as depression, acute or chronic anxiety, obsessive–compulsive tendencies, specific phobias, such as social phobia, arachnophobia or any number of other phobias, and some personality disorders: paranoid, schizotypal, borderline, histrionic, avoidant, dependent and obsessive–compulsive.

It has perhaps been most simply defined as a "poor ability to adapt to one's environment, an inability to change one's life patterns, and the inability to develop a richer, more complex, more satisfying personality." Neurosis should not be mistaken for psychosis, which refers to loss of touch with reality, or neuroticism, a fundamental personality trait according to psychological theory.

According to psychoanalytic theory, neuroses may be rooted in ego defense mechanisms, but the two concepts are not synonymous. Defense mechanisms are a normal way of developing and maintaining a consistent sense of self (i.e., an ego), while only those thoughts and behavior patterns that produce difficulties in living should be termed "neuroses".

Main article: Jung's theory of neurosis

Carl Jung found his approach particularly fitting for people who are successfully adjusted by normal social standards, but who nevertheless have issues with the meaning of their life.

I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with inadequate or wrong answers to the questions of life (Jung, [1961] 1989:140).

The majority of my patients consisted not of believers but of those who had lost their faith (Jung, [1961] 1989:140).

[Contemporary man] is blind to the fact that, with all his rationality and efficiency, he is possessed by "powers" that are beyond his control. His gods and demons have not disappeared at all; they have merely got new names. They keep him on the run with restlessness, vague apprehensions, psychological complications, an insatiable need for pills, alcohol, tobacco, food – and, above all, a large array of neuroses. (Jung, 1964:82).

Jung found that the unconscious finds expression primarily through an individual's inferior psychological function, whether it is thinking, feeling, sensing, or intuition. The characteristic effects of a neurosis on the dominant and inferior functions are discussed in Psychological Types.

Source: Wikipedia

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Another Take on Courage: Kicking my nicotine addiction

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In retrospect, one of the greatest challenges I had dealt with in life was summoning the courage to fight my nicotine addiction.  

It was a long series of quitting and then picking  up the habit again.  But my inner desires of good prevailed. I eventually won.  

These days I can look back and thank the Universe for having given me the resources to win this battle.  Most useful of which were neverending prayers for God’s helping hand.

Here’s my story:

Ask me to talk to someone about kicking his smoking habit and I wouldn’t do it.

First of all, I was once in his position — the more people would tell me to stop smoking, the more I would light up a cigarette; not out of defiance, but because just the thought of how tough it is to quit would only make me light up another stick.

Actually, any form of challenge to any smoker, be it cerebral or physical, would be a good enough trigger to make him reach for a cigarette. When playing a pick-up game of basketball with a smoker, ever noticed the more exhausted he got, the more he craved for a cigarette? That’s the way it is with someone with a nicotine addiction.

Almost everyone knows nicotine does not stimulate relaxation; on the contrary it shocks the system. Why do you think smokers must have a cigarette when going to the bathroom in the morning? That is because nicotine jolts the system into inducing a bowel movement without resorting to the hemorrhoid-causing birthing push.

Neither does smoking make one look cool and unperturbed. Reaching for a cigarette is more often a dead giveaway that one is undergoing stress at that moment.

Nicotine addiction is not selective and would just as easily afflict anyone. I know a couple of successful doctors — one a pediatrician, the other a heart specialist — who, to this day, smoke more than a pack of cigarettes every day. Even our young people — despite of frequent public awareness campaigns about the perils of smoking and breathing second hand smoke — would still light up or hang out at crowded arenas filled with this lethal fumes.

For me, it all started back in high school when my friends and I would light up a cigarette as pang patapang or to embolden ourselves when about to meet with some girls from another school, or as a prop to our macho posturing — pang porma — at a school dance or private party. And before I knew it, 20 years later, I was seriously addicted to nicotine.

How bad was it? Well, immediately upon getting up from bed every morning, the very first thing I would do is reach for a cigarette. At work, there were times I would light up only to realize a couple of seconds later that I still have a half-smoked cigarette burning on the ashtray. I was to discover later on that this whole motion of reaching for a cigarette and lighting it are integral parts of the entire nicotine addiction process.

There was also the incident of once waking up at 3:00 o’clock in the morning only to realize I had already smoked my last cigarette earlier before I went to bed. What happened next, to this day, would embarrass me to share with anyone: I went through the butts that had collected on the ashtray, including the ones already dumped in the trash can, looking for maybe a half-smoked stick. 

When none was found, I hurriedly put on my sweater, pants, boots and overcoat to look for an open store in the neighborhood. It was in the midst of a dreadful New York winter with the howling wind dragging down the outside temperature way below zero. I must have walked an hour with about seven inches of snow and ice on the ground until I finally found a 24-hour deli.

Yet, going through that horrendous experience was not a good enough incentive for me to consider quitting; it only made me better prepared. That is, even with still half a pack of cigarettes in my pocket, I would now buy an extra pack before going home. I was, in effect, in the stocking up mode of my drug, or whatever it was that would get me through the night. In this particular case, cigarettes.

Be that as it may, like other heavy smokers, I had made a number of attempts to quit — from cold turkey to moderate cessation with the use of an electronic gadget — but to no avail. I even tried the nicotine patch but only to discover my skin was allergic to its adhesive. Eventually, I’ve become totally resigned to the idea that I would live the rest of my life as a nicotine addict — a life of incessant dry coughing, horrible skin, bad breath, smoker’s lines around my mouth and a severely cracked voice.

However, such dismal personal resolve came to a sudden end when one morning I woke up with a distinct sense that my body no longer wanted it. As if miraculously, that morning, I stopped just like that. Although every now and then, to this day, I would dream I was once again a heavy smoker and would wake up deeply troubled by it. Nonetheless, on that fateful morning, I never — not even once — craved again for a cigarette.

After about a year of being a non-smoker, while at a bar having a couple of rounds with co-workers to celebrate our bonus, I tested myself and lit up a cigarette. I immediately coughed after a subtle inhale. I held on to the stick anyway and after two minutes tried to inhale again. I coughed again in response. I realized that not only had I gotten over the psychological need for cigarettes, but my body was, in effect, rejecting nicotine altogether.

That night at the bar, I also noticed how awkward I’ve become when holding a cigarette — I was now waving it like a piece of French fry while engaged in some animated conversation; unlike in the past when I used to hold it the way Humphrey Bogart did — with an air of confidence, style and charm. At least, that was the image I thought I exuded.

It was a Friday night and before heading home from that bar, I stopped by St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue to light up a candle. It was my offering of sincere appreciation to the Higher Power that helped me lick my nicotine addiction. That was what it was — like someone ravaged by alcoholism, I needed help from a Higher Power to duke it out of my system. It was, in essence, a soul thing.

Unarguably, despite my having a history of intense addiction to nicotine, I feel it would be utterly presumptuous and condescending of me to suggest to a smoker to quit. And especially since not knowing an iota about his inner self, how dare I intrude and tell him how to deal with the vast emptiness that he feels inside of him?

It may just be a cigarette to anyone, but the grasp it has on a smoker’s life runs deep. I should know; I was once enslaved by it.

However, for those who may know someone struggling to kick his smoking habit, I suggest not to attack the cigarette itself at first, because smoking may be the symptom of the problem and not the problem itself. Instead, find a way to help the smoker sort out and resolve any deep-seated issues that may be underneath it all. And who knows? Just like what happened to me, this smoker you know might just suddenly stop one day and never crave for it ever again.

Photo courtesy of eHow

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Suggested read:

AP: Judge Orders Tobacco Companies To Admit Lying About Smoking Dangers

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!

Can chicken, milk and sugar turn our children gay?

Earlier this year, I attended a seminar on Natural Farming, which introduced me to the fundamental differences between conventional and natural farming methods. 

It was a very informative 3-day event, but what I found startling was when the speaker, Andry Lim, said half-in-jest that the usual practice in conventional poultry-raising – the injection of alarming doses of growth hormones in chickens, namely estrogen – may be causing premature physiological advances and homosexuality among our children.

It was shocking, to say the least, but I nonchalantly dismissed it since I’ve never heard of, or read about any hard facts on such issues.  But now comes this new study.

You may have already known about it.  I’m talking about the recent study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics which suggests that boys are entering puberty earlier now than several decades ago — or at least earlier than the time frame doctors have historically used as a benchmark.

The study, indicates that boys are showing signs of puberty six months to two years earlier than was reported in previous research in which 11 ½ was the general age puberty began in boys, historically that is.

But then again, experts are wary because studies in the past were of smaller scale or may have used different approaches. They admit that it is no easy task to determine how much earlier boys might be developing.  Supposedly, the study reflects research on girls which show earlier breast development than in the past.

This study by the Academy of Pediatrics does not propose answers to what might be causing earlier puberty, although it mentioned changes in diet, less physical activity and other environmental factors as possibilities. Experts said that without further research, implications for boys remain nebulous.

African-American boys, in this new study, show experiencing puberty earlier than whites and Hispanics, a result that other studies have shown also applies to African-American girls. Researchers said that difference is most likely driven by the role of genes in puberty.

In The New York Times article, the author, Pam Belluck, mentions a Dr. Laura Bachrach, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at Stanford University, who warns that the results of this new study should not prompt “a magazine cover article that shows a 9-year-old boy shaving.”

Dr. Bachrach goes on to add, “And because some parents fear that early puberty is related to more hormones in milk — speculation that is unproven — I don’t want people to get up in arms and rush out and buy organic milk,” she said. “When patients ask me, I say, ‘Do that for political reasons or because you like the taste, but don’t do it because you think it’s going to influence puberty.’ ”

“This should perhaps set a standard going forward for being very attentive to puberty in boys and being mindful that they’re developing earlier,” said Dolores J. Lamb, a molecular endocrinologist at Baylor College of Medicine and president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. She was not involved in the study.

Praising the study as well done, she said, “Whether the difference is as large as what they say on some papers 40 years ago is not clear.” However, she added, “this is going to be incredibly useful to pediatricians and urologists.”

The new study also found that African-American boys began puberty earlier than whites and Hispanics, a result that other studies have shown also applies to African-American girls. Researchers said that difference is most likely driven by the role of genes in puberty.

On average, black boys in the study showed signs of puberty, primarily identified as growth of the testicles, at a little older than 9, while white and Hispanic boys were a little older than 10.

Several experts said the study should not be seized upon as cause for alarm, but rather as a way to help parents and doctors gauge what to be aware of in boys’ development and whether to start conversations about social issues sooner.

“It was an important study to do, and their methodology is improved over prior studies in that they based their assessment of puberty in boys on what I consider to be the gold standard: the size of the testicles,” said Dr. Laura Bachrach, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at Stanford University.

But the study should not prompt a magazine “cover article that shows a 9-year-old boy shaving,” Dr. Bachrach said. And because some parents fear that early puberty is related to more hormones in milk — speculation that is unproven — “I don’t want people to get up in arms and rush out and buy organic milk,” she said. “When patients ask me, I say, ‘Do that for political reasons or because you like the taste, but don’t do it because you think it’s going to influence puberty.’ ”

Thus, though scientifically unconfirmed, the growth hormones infused in he livestock and chickens whose meat we consume, as well as the pesticides in our food supplies, may in fact turn out to be the insidious culprits that are quietly wreaking havoc in our internal systems.

In this Natural Farming seminar I had attended, on its final evening, there was a guest speaker who gave a brief lecture on the adverse effects of chemicals to our environment and to ourselves.  Her name is Edna Sasing-Lao. She is a Fellow, Biological Medicine; Diplomate, Chelation Therapy; Diploma in Homeophathy, British Institute of Homeophaty; Member, American College for the Advancement in Medicine; National Chancellor, PAMS-AIM; Trustee, Philippine College for the Advancement in Medicine; and Past President, Philippine for the Advancement in Medicine.

In her talk, she basically underscored what Andry Lim had earlier claimed about estrogen as being a probable cause in the increasing rate of homosexuality among our children.  Dr. Lao claims sugar increases estradiol – the most potent form of naturally-occurring estrogen in men – that can cause homosexuality.

          

Goodness gracious! Milk, chicken and sugar happen to be among the prime choices of our children when it comes to meals and snacks.  What a tough world we are living in, indeed.

Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you

Cow's or Hemp Milk: Which one is better?

Look at those cows and remember that the greatest scientists in 

the world have never discovered how to make grass into milk.

                                     Michael Pupin

That may be true indeed, but then again, many people are now shying away from drinking milk. That's due to the extreme processes that milk undergoes, as well as the high amounts of antibiotics, hormones, and genetically-modified substances that cows are continually exposed to.

In the article The Dangers of Drinking Cow’s Milk, the author, Dr. Edward F. Group III, claims with much certainty that there are real and eminent dangers associated with drinking milk from cows.  And that all cows release toxins through their milk, as milk is a natural exit-portal for substances that the body cannot use.

The following is a list compiled by Dr. Group showing just a few of the artificially-engineered components found in the average glass of non-organic pasteurized and homogenized milk:

- A Veritable Hormone Cocktail: including pituitary, steroid, hypothalamic, and thyroid hormones (remember most cows are extremely stressed)

- Gastrointestinal Peptides:

- Nerve and epidermal growth factors, and the growth inhibitors MDGI and MAF

- rBGH (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone): a genetically engineered hormone directly linked to breast, colon and prostrate cancer. This is injected into cows to increase milk production.[1 ]

- Pus: National averages show at least 322 million cell-counts of pus per glass![2 ] This is well-above the human limit for pus-intake, and has been directly linked to paratuberculosis bacteria, as well as Crohn’s disease . The pus comes from infected udders on the cows known as mastitis.

- Blood Cells: The USDA allows up to 1.5 million white blood cells per milliliter of commonly-sold milk.[3 ] Yes, you are drinking cows blood in the milk and the USDA allows this!

- Antibiotics: Currently, cows are in such a state of disease and mistreatment that they are continually being injected with antibiotic medicines, and rubbed down with chemical-laden ointments to deal with their chronic infections. Currently, regulating committees only test for 4 of the 85 drugs in dairy cows. This means that the other 81 drugs in cow’s milk are coming directly into your glasses and bodies. Estimates show that 38% of milk in the U.S. is “contaminated with sulfa drugs or other antibiotics,” according to a study by the Centre for Science in the Public Interest and published in the Wall Street Journal on December 29, 1989. A study from the FDA data showed that over half of all milk was laden with traces of pharmaceuticals yet nothing has been done to control this.

Essentially, not only are people drinking in these toxins, they are also taking in the energetic effects of the life of the cow.

In addition, studies show that many cows are infected with incredibly painful inflammatory infections such as mastitis . Due to over-milking, artificial hormones, bacteria and medications, cow’s udders can become chronically inflamed, thus altering the color and taste of the milk.

Over time, this bacterial invasion causes harm to the cow’s mammary gland, reeking havoc on the milk being produced. From parasitic worms to cancerous tumors, these diseases are often passed along to the next generation of cows, and more often, into the milk we drink.

Even more, the conditions in which cows live, as well as the rigorous milking regimes, cause dairy cattle to live in a permanent state of sympathetic (stress) response, as well as adrenal over-load. When our adrenal glands are overworked for long periods of time, there is a overload of cortisol in the blood. When we drink this milk, we are then exposed to the millions of stress-response cells in the milk of cows. It is no wonder that we are a chronically-stressed society!

Read more here.

For in-depth information on the dangers of cow’s milk, Dr. Group  recommends visiting www.NotMilk.com 

As an alternative to cow’s milk and for those who cannot consume dairy because of dietary issues, Dr. Group recommends Hemp Milk.

Hemp milk is completely legal, and produced from the seeds of the hemp plant.  It has only begun to be sold in the United States within the past few years.

Organic hemp milk may very well be the best alternative for those who either do not like cow’s milk , suffer from lactose intolerance, or are vegetarians. While the taste of it may be something that you have to adjust to, you might just find that you actually prefer it to any of the other milk products you have tried.

Nutritional value of organic Hemp Milk

Organic hemp milk is also a great alternative to toxic cow’s milk and One 8-Ounce glass contains the following healthy nutrients:

* 900mg Omega-3 Fatty Acid

* 2800mg Omega-6 Fatty Acid

* All 10 Essential Amino Acids

* 4 grams of Digestible Protein

* 46% of RDA of Calcium

* 0% Cholesterol

* Potassium

* Phosphorous

* Riboflavin

* Vitamin A

* Vitamin E

* Vitamin B12

* Folic Acid

* Vitamin D

* Magnesium

* Zinc

And more…

Other Things You Need To Know About Organic Hemp Milk

It can be purchased in plain, vanilla, or chocolate flavors, and the boxes they are packaged in do not have to be refrigerated until after you open them. There are now multiple stores selling multiple brands, so if you are a consumer who prefers to stick to organic products, you should not have too much difficulty finding them.

Plain organic hemp milk contains no sugar, no cholesterol, and is free of soy and gluten. For many people, these factors make it an obvious choice for an abundant source of vital nutrients. The essential fatty acids, vitamins & nutrients that are contained in organic hemp milk provide a wide variety of health benefits.

Hemp Milk Benefits Include:

* Strengthened Immune System

* Clear, Healthy Skin, Hair & Nails

* Strong, Healthy Heart

* Increased Mental Capacity

As with anything, always conduct a sufficient amount of research on any products that you are considering trying. There are actually quite a few different brands available on the market, and not all of them are made with organic ingredients.

Try to get in the habit of reading product labels on everything, not just food and beverage items. When you regularly read ingredients of the things you and your family are using or consuming, you will develop a greater understanding of labeling practices and what to look for to be safe.

You can also make your own organic hemp milk.

Read more here.

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Please note:

I very much appreciate my articles and photos appearing on fellow bloggers' sites, popular broadsheets, and local broadcast news segments, but I would appreciate even more a request for permission first.

Thank you!