Is Your Body Too Acidic?

ACIDOSIS

Acidosis is a health condition in the body characterized by increased acidity in the blood and other body tissues.  When your pH levels are too low, it means acid is eating away at your heart, brain cells, muscles, bones, joints—and practically every organ of your body—causing an untold number of health problems such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, depression, joint pain, osteoporosis, bladder and kidney conditions, digestive problems—and even premature aging.  Fortunately, you can easily identify acidosis and reverse it with proven, simple steps before it ruins your health. This is Your Body on Acid Acidosis affects all cellular activities and functions.  You may remember from your high school chemistry class that the pH scale ranges from 0 to 14.  This scale shows how acidic or alkalizing a substance is. The pH Scale Simplified Substances with a pH over 7 are alkalizing Substances with a pH under 7 are acidic Substances with a pH of 7 are neutral      In order for our blood to effectively transport oxygen and other vital nutrients, its pH needs to stay within a very narrow range—7.36 to 7.44, though the closer to 7.4 exactly, the better.  Deviations too far in either direction can be dangerous.  Most tissues in our body are naturally alkaline.  However, when we eat acid-forming foods ... or when we work our muscles... when we're exposed to acid rain from the environment, or pollutants in the air or water ... when we take prescription drugs... or even when we just breathe, we generate acid.  That acid must then be neutralized to keep the pH of our blood balanced. The 10-Fold Difference One important fact to know about the pH scale is that there is a 10-fold difference between each number.  So, a liquid with a pH of 6 is 10 times more acidic than pure water, which is generally agreed to have a pH of 7, and a liquid with a pH of 5 is 100 times more acidic than water.      The next time you reach for a can of soda, keep in mind that the typical soft drink has a pH of 3, meaning it is a whopping 10,000 times more acidic than water.      Soda is not the only highly acidic staple of the standard American diet.  Other offenders include... Coffee Eggs Most types of bread and pasta Seafood Flesh meats Cheese Beans Popcorn Barley and other grains Chocolate      Eating these foods can produce an extra 100mEq (a measure of liquid) of acid daily—that's close to twice the amount your body is equipped to neutralize! How Acid Destroys You from the Inside Out Your body maintains a proper pH balance by eliminating or neutralizing acids.  But when too much acid is produced, your body becomes overwhelmed.  As acids build up, your pH balance decreases more and more.  Eventually, in its attempts to restore a proper pH balance, your body begins to pull minerals from your bones...teeth...and vital tissues. Acidosis destroys your body from the inside out, creating the perfect environment for pathogens to thrive.  When your body remains in an acidic state for a prolonged period of time, it puts you at greater risk of illnesses and diseases.      All our internal organs suffer when our pH levels are off.  Research indicates acidosis may be the root cause of many forms of cancer. Perfect Storm For Cancer Studies have shown that there are two environment prerequisites for the development of cancer cells: a lack of oxygen and an acidic pH.  Acidosis creates both those conditions. Create a Whole New You Even if you've accumulated years of acid damage, it's not too late.  Every day, you get a chance to start over.  No matter how unhealthy your lifestyle has been... how much junk food you've eaten... how much alcohol you've consumed... how many recreational drugs you've taken... or how much pollution you've been exposed to, you can return your body to a healthy pH and protect your future health.      It is widely acknowledged that the best alkaline-forming foods include fruits (such as acai, camu-camu and the cacao fruit), leafy green vegetables (such as moringa and wheatgrass), and sea vegetables/algae (such as spirulina and chlorella).  When you consume these superfoods on a daily basis, it's equivalent to flooding your body with an alkaline-forming elixir that supports healing and health restoration.      The human body has an amazing ability to regenerate.  If you give it the materials it needs, you can create a new and improved you!  In less than one year, your body will have rebuilt 98% of itself, cell by cell.  It takes a year for your brain to replace itself, 4 months for your blood supply, 3 months for your entire skeleton, 6 weeks for your liver, a month for your skin, and just 5 days for the lining of your stomach!      What you put in your body today determines the state of your health tomorrow.  With the right ingredients, you can experience a total body transformation. I have heard that Dischem stocks the saliva pH test strips. Courtesy Cancer Defeated

Struggle to relax and fall asleep?

When I switch off my bedside light I often seem to switch on a light in my brain and my mind gets totally over active. This is so frustrating when you know you need a good night's sleep.

I came across this breathing technique by Dr Andrew Weil, which I have been using for the last month or so and have found it to be very effective. Not many of us breathe as deeply as we should - to the lower part of the diaphragm, expanding and deflating completely. Done correctly, this sends a message to the brain to slow down.


Breathing Technique:

• Exhale through your mouth making a "whoosh" sound.
• Breathe in slowly and deeply for the count of 4, through your nose with your mouth closed.
• Hold for the count of 7
• Breathe out slowly and completely exhale through your mouth making a "whoosh" sound for the count of 8 .

Repeat this 4 times.

 By sitting up with a straight back, this technique can also be used to de-stress and relax during the day.
The more you use this technique the more you master it and it's effectiveness.

Bicarb controls pH levels

I am back on my old hobby horse of alkalising the body and adjusting the acidic state that most people are in. The below article, courtesy of Mark David, shows just how great Bicarb is at doing this.

After extensively researching and writing almost 30 articles on some of the greatest anti-cancer medicines, I think that regular Baking Soda might be the most powerful medicine ever discovered, and should be your first line of defense against anything from the common cold to cancer.

“Everyone should know about this and it is a betrayal of our humanity that most people still do not know.”
– Dr. Mark Sircus, Sodium Bicarbonate: Nature’s Unique First Aid Remedy

Sodium Bicarbonate (NaHCO3) is a form of salt that is found in nature in crystalline form, and is usually processed into the fine powder we know as baking soda.  Among its literally hundreds of household uses, baking soda is a most potent medicine that has been in use for over 150 years for a variety of diseases and conditions.
Bicarbonate is the active ingredient in baking soda.  It is safe because it is produced by the body in the stomach, pancreas and kidneys, and it’s alkalizing properties enable the body to neutralize and eliminate acids.  The buildup of acids in the body (as a direct result of the reduction of bicarbonates in the blood) damages the metabolism, reduces the cellular usage of oxygen, disables the proper function of enzymes, and is the literal cause of aging and all diseases.
Like the experiment most of us have done by adding baking soda and vinegar together, the fizzing that occurs is the production of carbon dioxide (CO2), and carbon dioxide is exactly what is lacking in the body during illness.  Contrary to what we’ve been told, carbon dioxide is not a waste product, an in fact, due to the fact that even anaerobic life forms (that do not require oxygen to survive) still utilize carbon dioxide, one could say that carbon dioxide is more fundamental to life than oxygen.  In the case of CO2 in our bloodstream, by way of what is called the Bohr effect, carbon dioxide releases oxygen from red blood cells so that it can be used by our cells.  Without adequate CO2 in the body, no oxygen can be used, and thus, cancer and disease begins to develop.  Bicarbonate, as found in baking soda turns into CO2 when in contact with acids, and that’s why its medicinal value is cherished by those who understand how it works.
When the body is malnourished from consuming a diet with toxic unsaturated fats, chemical additives, preservatives, and pesticides, the body’s production of bicarbonate is reduced and diabetes and other diseases begin to set in.  In an acidic environment cells cannot utilize oxygen during energy production, and this renders excessive acidity the primary cause of virtually all degenerative diseases including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, kidney and gall stones, and tooth decay.

“Pharmaceutical companies can charge all they want, and they do for their dangerous ineffective medicines.  But even in their wildest dreams of pharmaceutical executive do visions come for a drug they might fabricate that would match the fantastic medicinal properties of simple inexpensive baking soda.” – Dr. Mark Sircus

The Cancer Industries Secret Weapon

Oncologists have secretly been using sodium bicarbonate prior to, during, and after the administration of chemotherapy for decades to protect their patients from the deadly chemicals.  Not only has sodium bicarbonate been shown to enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy, but as Dr. Mark Sircus puts it, “science indicates that it might be the sodium bicarbonate that’s doing the helping and not the poisons.”
Those who survive the deadly treatment known as chemotherapy were likely saved by the sodium bicarbonate, and not the deadly chemotherapy poison pumped into their bodies.  “If you want to see how fast a person can hit the floor during chemotherapy just forget to mix in the bicarbonate and get out your stopwatch,” continued Dr. Sircus.
The quickest way to make cancer cells grow and spread more aggressively in the body is to increase the acidity of the bloodstream.  Conversely, nothing will disable, destroy and eliminate cancer cells faster than alkalizing the acid-dominant environment in which cancer cells thrive.  Baking soda is likely the most rapid and effective way to accomplish this.

Detoxifying Chemicals and Heavy Metals

According to Dr. Mark Sircus, “Comparison of cancer tissue with healthy tissue from the same person shows that the cancer tissue has a much higher concentration of toxic chemicals, pesticides, and other toxic materials,” and this is the primary reasons baking soda is used by mainstream oncologists before, during and after chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
By arming the body with the resource needed to neutralize and eliminate heavy metals and other chemicals poisons in the body, baking soda is effective in treating overdoses from a number of chemicals and pharmaceutical drugs by negating the toxic effects to the body.  It is one of the best antidotes to radiation poisoning, and old military manuals even suggest infusions of sodium bicarbonate to reduce the kidney toxicity of uranium and promote its excretion.
In January 2003, the results of a 10-year study in Bulgaria were published in the American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal.  Lead by Dr Gospodinka R. Pradova, two groups of people were examined, one of which worked in a polluted environment, and the other in an office setting without pollution.  The researchers found that those working in the polluted environment had fewer amounts of bicarbonates in their blood than those working in the un-polluted environment.  The simple truth is that the more polluted your environment, the more bicarbonates your body needs to deal with those pollutants and remain healthy.

People who Have Cured Cancer with Baking Soda

1. Vernon Johnston – After being diagnosed with aggressive stage 4 prostate cancer, which had already spread to his bones, Vernon rejected all mainstream treatments and instead decided to focus on raising his pH since cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment.  The protocol he created for himself involved consuming a mixture of baking soda and molasses and consuming that numerous times per day.  After only a few weeks, Vernon’s doctor confirmed a complete reversal of prostate and bone cancer.  His story was written up in a California newspaper in 2008, and the exact protocol he used is detailed below in this article.
2.  Italian Oncologist Dr. Tullio Simoncini has been using sodium bicarbonate to destroy tumors for many years.  He describes one of his early experiences with sodium bicarbonate in the following paragraphs:

“One of the first patients I treated was an 11-year-old child, a case which immediately indicated that I was on the right track.  The child arrived in a coma at the paediatrichaematology ward around 11:30 in the morning, with a medical history of leukemia.  Because of the child’s disease he had been taken from a small town in Sicily to Rome, through the universities of Palermo and Naples, where he underwent several chemotherapy sessions.  His desperate mother told me that she had been unable to speak with the child for days; that is, since the child had been on his journey through the various hospitals.  She said she would have given the world to hear her son’s voice again before he died.”
“As I was of the opinion that the child was comatose both because of the proliferation of fungal colonies in the brain and because of the toxicity of the therapies that had been performed on him, I concluded that if I could destroy the colonies with sodium bicarbonate salts and at the same time nourish and detoxify the brain with glucose administered intravenously, I could hope for a regression of the symptoms.  And so it was.  After a continuous intravenous infusion of bicarbonate and glucose solutions, at around 7pm, when I returned to the university, I found the child speaking with his mother, who was in tears.”

How to Heal with Baking Soda

Bath Bombs contain baking soda, citric acid and essential oils for aroma.

A quick and effective way to consume sodium bicarbonate medicine is to combine it with maple syrup or honey at a 3:1 ratio, where 3 tablespoons of maple syrup mixed with 1 tablespoon of baking soda is a great mixture that goes down easy.
Alternatively you can add 1 cup of baking soda into a bathtub for effective absorbtion, or probably the absolute best way to elevate your body’s CO2 levels and heal disease is to add a bath bomb and magnesium chloride into your bath tub and bathe in it.
As you read above in the story of Vernon Johnston, using baking soda and molasses was literally the only treatment he did to cure his advanced stage cancer in only two weeks.  Perhaps the most logical approach to cancer treatment would be to use baking soda, along with your choice of any number of other anti-cancer medicines available, and while the reactions between taking multiple chemical drugs are completely unpredictable and often dangerous, taking multiple nutritional-based medicinal compounds together tend to result in a synergistic effect, where the healing that results is greater than could be produced by each individual compound on its own.

Vernon Johnston’s Baking Soda & Molasses Protocol

Some of you may want to know the exact protocol used by Vernon Johnston when he cured himself of cancer, so I have summarized it below:
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Days 1-4:  Vernon began by consuming a mixture of 1 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 teaspoon of black strap molasses.  He did the same thing once a day for the first four days, and after he noticed he felt fine and his pH was 7.0 (saliva) and 7.5 (urine), he decided to increase his dose.
Day 5: On day 5, Vernon doubled his dose and began drinking the same solution twice per day.  After reading that cancer cells become dormant at a pH of 7, and dead at a pH of 8.0-8.5, his goal was to achieve a saliva and urine pH between 8.0-8.5 and hold it for 4 or 5 days.  He used pH test strips to measure his pH, and stressed the importance of taking both saliva and urine pH into consideration since saliva pH can at times be a poor indicator of blood pH.
Day 6:  He continued taking two daily doses of his solution, and on day 6, his pH averaged out to be 7.25, and he felt slightly nauseous with stool that had a yellowish tinge.
Day 7: Vernon slowly increased his dose to build his confidence that he was going to be okay, so on this day he took 3 teaspoons in water with 1 teaspoon of molasses for his first dose, and on his second dose he went back down to the 2-teaspoon baking soda solution.
Day 8: Wanting to further increase his pH, Vernon took two teaspoons of baking soda in water and molasses three times over the course of the day.
Day 9: He noticed a little diarrhea, and felt a bit weak, but says that he “felt oxygen euphoria throughout the day. Like my body was breathing pure oxygen.”
Day 10: Vernon had a persistent headache at this point and noticed body sweats at night due to the extreme level of alkalinity he had achieved.  He took 4 pH readings over the course of the day and they were all in the mid 8’s.  He then cut back his dose on this day to a 2 teaspoon sodium bicarbonate solution in molasses and water, twice a day.
Day 11:  Day 11 was Vernon’s last day before going in for a body scan to assess the condition of his cancerous bones.  He noticed more diarrhea on this day that was slightly yellow, so he dropped back to 1.5  teaspoons baking soda and molasses/water solution two times on this final day.
“So there you have it.  That was my last day before the scan,” said Vernon, before adding that it’s important to take his baking soda solution two hours before or 2 hours after a meal to maintain the stomach acidity necessary for digestion.
Let’s finish this article off right with a video from the man himself, Vernon Johnston, who will tell you exactly his protocol for curing cancer using baking soda and molasses:

Bicarb used in pH control

Oncologists Do Not Like Baking Soda Cancer Treatment Because It is Too Effective & Too Cheap

Even the most aggressive cancers which have metastasized have been reversed with baking soda cancer treatments. Although chemotherapy is toxic to all cells, it represents the only measure that oncologists employ in their practice to almost all cancer patients. In fact, 9 out of 10 cancer patients agree to chemotherapy first without investigating other less invasive options.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies make money from it. That’s the only reason chemotherapy is still used. Not because it’s effective, decreases morbidity, mortality or diminishes any specific cancer rates. In fact, it does the opposite. Chemotherapy boosts cancer growth and long-term mortality rates and oncologists know it.

A few years ago, University of Arizona Cancer Center member Dr. Mark Pagel received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of personalized baking soda cancer treatment for breast cancer. Obviously there are people in the know who have understood that sodium bicarbonate, that same stuff that can save a person’s life in the emergency room in a heartbeat, is a primary cancer treatment option of the safest and most effective kind.

Studies have shown that dietary measures to boost bicarbonate levels can increase the pH of acidic tumors without upsetting the pH of the blood and healthy tissues. Animal models of human breast cancer show that oral sodium bicarbonate does indeed make tumors more alkaline and inhibit metastasis. Based on these studies, plus the fact that baking soda is safe and well tolerated, world renowned doctors such as Dr. Julian Whitaker have adopted successful cancer treatment protocols as part of an overall nutritional and immune support program for patients who are dealing with the disease. The Whitaker protocol uses 12 g (2 rounded teaspoons) of baking soda mixed in 2 cups water, along with a low-cal sweetener of your choice. (It’s quite salty tasting.) Sip this mixture over the course of an hour or two and repeat for a total of three times a day. One man claims he has found a cure for cancer using baking soda and molasses and actually successfully treated his own disease by using baking soda.

When taken orally with water, especially water with high magnesium content, and when used transdermally in medicinal baths, sodium bicarbonate becomes a first-line medicinal for the treatment of cancer, and also kidney disease, diabetes, influenza and even the common cold. It is also a powerful buffer against radiation exposure, so everyone should be up to speed on its use. Everybody’s physiology is under heavy nuclear attack from strong radioactive winds that are circling the northern hemisphere.

Dr. Robert J. Gillies and his colleagues have already demonstrated that pre-treatment of mice with baking soda results in the alkalinization of the area around tumors. The same researchers reported that bicarbonate increases tumor pH and also inhibits spontaneous metastases in mice with breast cancer.

What is Baking Soda?

Baking soda is a white crystalline solid that appears as fine powder. It is also called cooking soda, bread soda and bicarbonate of soda. Its chemical name is sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate.

Baking soda is different from washing soda (sodium carbonate) although they share the same slightly salty and alkaline taste.

This widely used soda is commonly dissolved in mineral water and used as a leavening agent in baking. It works as a leavening agent by neutralizing the acidic components of batter. The neutralization releases carbon dioxide and leads to the “raising” or expansion of baked foods.

Baking soda has also been used to soften vegetable and to tenderize meat.

As a household chemical, baking soda is used as a cleaning agent. It is included in toothpastes for similar reasons where it serves as an antiseptic, acid-neutralizer, whitening agent and plaque-removing agent as well as a cleaning agent.

Other common personal hygiene products in which baking soda can be found include deodorants and shampoos.

Baking Soda and pH Medicine

The pH of our tissues and body fluids is crucial and central because it affects and mirrors the state of our health or our inner cleanliness. The closer the pH is to 7.35-7.45, the higher our level of health and wellbeing. Staying within this range dramatically increases our ability to resist acute illnesses like colds and flues as well as the onset of cancer and other diseases. Keeping our pH within a healthy range also involves necessary lifestyle and dietary changes that will protect us over the long term while the use of sodium bicarbonate gives us a jump-start toward increased alkalinity.

The pH scale is like a thermometer showing increases and decreases in the acid and alkaline content of fluids. Deviations above or below a 7.35-7.45 pH range in the tightly controlled blood can signal potentially serious and dangerous symptoms or states of disease. When the body can no longer effectively neutralize and eliminate the acids, it relocates them within the body’s extra-cellular fluids and connective tissue cells directly compromising cellular integrity. Conversely when the body becomes too alkaline from too much bicarbonate in the blood, metabolic alkalosis occurs, which can lead to severe consequences if not corrected quickly.

Jon Barron presents a way of looking at pH that opens up one of the major benefits of alkaline water:

Hydrogen ions tie up oxygen. That means that the more acid a liquid is, the less available the oxygen in it. Every cell in our body requires oxygen for life and to maintain optimum health. Combine that with what we know about hydrogen ions and we see that the more acid the blood (the lower its pH), the less oxygen is available for use by the cells. Without going into a discussion of the chemistry involved, just understand that it’s the same mechanism involved when acid rain “kills” a lake. The fish literally suffocate to death because the acid in the lake “binds up” all of the available oxygen. It’s not that the oxygen has gone anywhere; it’s just no longer available. Conversely, if you raise the pH of the lake (make it more alkaline), oxygen is now available and the lake comes back to life. Incidentally, it’s worth noting that cancer is related to an acid environment (lack of oxygen)–the higher the pH (the more oxygen present in the cells of the body), the harder it is for cancer to thrive.

Understanding this is important for two reasons: (1) it reveals one of the primary benefits of alkaline water–more “available” oxygen in the system and (2) it explains why alkaline water helps fight cancer.

How Baking Soda Can Help “Cure” Cancer

Basically, malignant tumors represent masses of rapidly growing cells. The rapid rate of growth experienced by these cells means that cellular metabolism also proceeds at very high rates.

Therefore, cancer cells are using a lot more carbohydrates and sugars to generate energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).

However, some of the compounds formed from the energy production include lactic acid and pyruvic acid. Under normal circumstances, these compounds are cleared and utilized as soon as they are produced. But cancer cells are experiencing metabolism at a much faster rate. Therefore, these organic acid accumulate in the immediate environment of the tumor.

The high level of extracellular acidity around the tumor is one of the chief driving force behind the metastasis of cancer tumors.

Basically, cancer cells need an acidic environment to grow and spread rapidly.

Some cancer experts, therefore, believe that by buffering the tumor microenvironment with an alkalizing compound, the pH of tumors can be raised enough to starve them and stop their growth and spread.

Curiously, this rather simple solution to cancer has been proven right.

What is even more remarkable is that there is no need to cook up some fancy synthetic drug to lower the acidity in the immediate environment of the tumor. A simple, commonly obtained compound like sodium bicarbonate will do.

Obviously, it is desirable to deliver the sodium bicarbonate as close to the tumor as possible since its pH-raising effect is needed in the microenvironment of the tumor. Therefore, directly injecting sodium bicarbonate in the tumor site is considered a better solution than oral administration. However, oral sodium bicarbonate is just safer and can be readily used at home.

A 2009 study published in the journal, Cancer Research, is among the first to confirm that the alkalinizing effect of sodium bicarbonate can indeed stop cancer.

By injecting sodium bicarbonate into a group of mice, the authors of the study were able to determine how the growth and spread of cancer tumors were effected by raising the pH of the organ affected by the cancer.

The study results showed that baking soda indeed raised the pH and reduced spontaneous metastases in mice induced with breast cancer.

The researchers also determined that sodium bicarbonate works by raising the pH outside cells and not within cells. This is an important finding because it suggests that sodium bicarbonate does not interfere with cellular metabolism even as it makes the microenvironment unconducive for tumor growth.

Other findings from this study show that baking soda:

-Reduced the involvement of the lymph node on the transport of cancer cells

-Does not lower the levels of circulating tumor cells

-Reduced the involvement of the liver and, therefore, the spread of tumor cells to other organs

-Inhibit the colonization of other organs by circulating tumor cells

The Baking Soda Formula for Cancer

To make the baking soda natural cancer remedy at home, you need maple syrup, molasses or honey to go along with the baking soda.

In Dr. Sircus’ book, he documented how one patient used baking soda and blackstrap molasses to fight the prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones. On the first day, the patient mixed 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 teaspoon of molasses in a cup of water.

He took this for another 3 days after which his saliva pH read 7.0 and his urine pH read 7.5.

Encouraged by these results, the patient took the solution 2 times on day 5 instead of once daily. And from day 6 – 10, he took 2 teaspoons each of baking soda and molasses twice daily.

By the 10th day, the patient’s pH had risen to 8.5 and the only side effects experienced were headaches and night sweat (similar to cesium therapy).

The next day, the patient had a bone scan and too other medical tests. His results showed that his PSA (prostate-specific antigen, the protein used to determine the severity of prostate enlargement and prostate cancer) level was down from 22.3 at the point of diagnosis to 0.1.

Another baking soda formula recommends mixing 90 teaspoons of maple syrup with 30 teaspoons of baking soda.

To do this, the maple syrup must be heated to become less viscous. Then the baking syrup is added and stirred for 5 minutes until it is fully dissolved.

This preparation should provide about 10-day worth of the baking soda remedy. 5 – 7 teaspoons per day is the recommended dose for cancer patients.

Care should be taken when using the baking soda remedy to treat cancer. This is because sustaining a high pH level can itself cause metabolic alkalosis and electrolyte imbalance. These can result in edema and also affect the heart and blood pressure.

One does not have to be a doctor to practice pH medicine. Every practitioner of the healing arts and every mother and father needs to understand how to use sodium bicarbonate. Bicarbonate deficiency is a real problem that deepens with age so it really does pay to understand and appreciate what baking soda is all about.

Courtesy of 

DAVE MIHALOVIC

STATINS AND DIABETES

Statin use for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease among healthy adults has been linked to an increased risk for diabetes, diabetes complications, and overweight/obesity in a new retrospective cohort study that tracked individuals in a database for an average of 6.5 years.



"Whereas the increased risk of diabetes with statins is well-known, the increased risk of diabetic complications has not been previously described," write the authors, led by Ishak Mansi, MD, from the department of medicine, Veterans Affairs (VA) North Texas Health System, Dallas.
They report their findings in the Journal of General Internal Medicine and note that these are among the first data to show a connection between statins and diabetes in a relatively healthy group of people.

"The risk of diabetes with statins has been known, but until now it was thought that this might be due to the fact that people who were prescribed statins had greater medical risks to begin with," said Dr Mansi in a VA statement.

The author of another recent study, which reported the largest risk yet seen for diabetes with statins, Markku Laakso, MD, from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University, has urged caution when considering statin use in primary prevention.

"Statins are not meant to be a treatment for everybody. Especially in women, who are at a lower risk of getting cardiovascular disease, maybe we should be more careful when we start statin treatment?" he said in March, when his work was published.

Take Steps to Control Oestrogen Levels

Oestrogen is the name given to an important group of compounds that affect the growth and function of tissues throughout the body, including the tissues responsible for reproduction. It plays a significant role in maintaining cardiovascular function, helps keep our bones healthy and has a strong influence over our mood and behaviour.⁽¹⁾ In other words, both men and women need oestrogen in appropriate levels to maintain optimum health.

Unfortunately, most of us live in a world that is detached from nature. Our environments are becomingly increasingly polluted, our lifestyles are becoming more sedentary and our food is much more toxic than ever before. All of these factors can greatly destabilize our oestrogen levels, causing us to suffer from fatigue, low libido, insomnia, depression, cravings, weight gain and many other symptoms associated with a hormone imbalance.⁽²⁾

For this reason, it's important that all of us make some effort to help stabilize our estrogen levels. This article provides three major steps that help us achieve this important, health-boosting goal.

Decrease our body fat and improve our diet

Decreasing our body fat is a great way to help stabilize our oestrogen levels, since fat tissue increases our levels of aromatase, the enzyme that turns testosterone to oestrogen.⁽³⁾ Additionally, a study published by the American Association for Cancer Research notes that high body fat increases the incidence of "cancers arising from tissues responsive to oestrogenic stimulation, including endometrium, breast, and prostate."⁽⁴⁾

The two greatest steps we can take towards maintaining low body fat is to eat a diet rich in organic whole foods and to exercise regularly (ideally both cardio and strength training). Foods high in beneficial fatty acids, such as avocados and raw coconut oil, are known to be especially effective at normalizing oestrogen levels, as are adaptogenic foods that stimulate the adaptive mechanisms of our body, such as maca and ashwagandha.⁽⁵⁾ Moreover, we will also benefit from the removal of oestrogenic foods, such as unfermented soy products, which contain substances that mimic oestrogen and can contribute to endocrine dysfunction.⁽⁶⁾

Supplement our diet with essential nutrients

Though an improved diet alone can significantly normalize our oestrogen levels, we can help accelerate the process by supplementing our diet with nutrients that are known to help metabolize oestrogen in the body. The best of these nutrients include magnesium and vitamin B6 (which play important roles in oestrogen clearance by the liver)⁽⁷⁾, omega-3 fish oils, melatonin, selenium and zinc. The powerful antioxidant vitamin E is also known to aid oestrogen elimination and can inhibit the growth of prostate and breast cancer cells.⁽⁸⁾

Minimize our exposure to oestrogen imitators

Minimizing our exposure to oestrogen imitators is another important step towards stabilizing our estrogen levels, but it is also the most difficult one, since oestrogen imitators are virtually everywhere. Perhaps the most notorious of these imitators is bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic compound used to make certain plastics, but diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) are some of the many other oestrogen imitators lurking in our environment.⁽⁹⁾

According to a 2011 study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, simply eating a diet that contains minimal packaging (i.e., a fresh food diet) can substantially reduce our exposure to BPA and DEHP,⁽¹⁰⁾ though avoiding plastics in general, unless we can confirm that products are free from pollutants, is a more secure strategy. Furthermore, drinking water that has been purified by reverse osmosis or distillation will ensure that we're not inadvertently consuming these hormone-disrupting chemicals.
Courtesy: Natural News

A comparison of screening methods

The Dangers of Mammograms - New Research Findings

Breast Thermography and Fibrocystic Breast Disease W/ Dr. Alexander Sepper

Colloidal Silver To the Rescue, Against Bacteria and Infectious Microbial

Colloidal Silver To the Rescue, Against Bacteria and Infectious Microbial



This should be the first line of action and not antibiotics.

The American Cancer Society - What an Embarrassment

The American Cancer Society declares that 'diet is an unclear factor' in preventing cancer! They even go so far as to say that some vitamins may cause cancer. Now I have heard it all!

Come on! There is an abundance of scientific evidence that shows a healthy diet can prevent cancer and other diseases.

When the Cancer Society was first formed in 1913 the cancer rate was 1 in 75. 100 years later, it is now 1 in 3. This proves that they have failed miserably. This kind of misinformation shows that you cannot look to them for help or guidelines anymore. They do not have our best interests at heart. A mere money making machine and this is one of the reasons that I no longer support any “pink” drives.

This behavior is almost criminal as is their failure to endorse thermography.

All foods identified as cancer-fighting are also known to be low glycemic and to produce an alkaline state. Cancer cells proliferate when there are elevated glucose levels and even the slightest increase in acidic pH - which also helps to explain the effectiveness of these foods

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/048515_American_Cancer_Society_anti-cancer_foods_prevention.html#ixzz3QwDPgCK2

Fluoride is a neurotoxin

The Lancet has said that fluoride is in the same category as arsenic, lead and mercury.  

The report also notes that neurodevelopmental disabilities, including ADHD, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, are now affecting millions of children worldwide in what they call a “pandemic of developmental neurotoxicity.”

Sodium fluoride (different to the naturally occurring calcium fluoride), which is added to water and widely used by dentists has also been linked to cancers.

Manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers are all developmental neurotoxins.

The Lancet Neurology, Volume 13, Issue 3, in the March 2014 edition, by authors Dr. Phillippe Grandjean and Philip J. Landrigan, MD. The report can be viewed by clicking here.

Everything you want to know about the Lymph System

I found this to be an amazing read and feel that not enough attention is given to it.

The Lymph System and Your Health

Like Cinderella, the lymph labours quietly in the shadows to clean up the mess made by virtually all the other systems of the body. Widely regarded as a lesser sister to the circulatory system, the lymphatic system is actually a crucial player in your body’s ability to ward off disease and heal from injury.

The lymphatic system is recognized by doctors in Europe and the Far East for its importance to preventive health care. They understand how lymphatic function supports every other system in the body, including the immune, digestive, detoxification and nervous systems. In fact, many believe that poor lymph health underlies a host of conditions, from cellulite to cancer.

By contrast, in America our practitioners don’t think much about the lymph system until something goes wrong — usually when infection causes a swollen lymph node, or worse, when we develop cancer in a lymph gland, or cancer elsewhere that metastasizes through the lymph vessels.

The reality is that you have twice as much lymph fluid in your body as blood. The lymph continuously bathes each cell and drains away the detritus in a circulatory system powered only by your breathing and movement. If the movement of the lymph stopped entirely you would die in a matter of hours.

What can you do to ensure your lymph system stays healthy? There are a number of ways to support lymphatic function that should be part of every woman’s health habits. Let’s start by exploring this amazing system.

Anatomy of the lymph system

The first thing to understand about your lymph system is its vast extent. Like the circulatory system that supplies blood, the network of lymph vessels serves almost every cell in your body.

Strung along the lymph vessels like pearls knotted on a string, the lymph nodes serve as a series of cleaning filters. Lymphatic fluid percolates through the nodes, being purified and immunologically boosted at every stage.

The lymph vessels and nodes are made of lymph tissue, but so are many other parts of the body. One crucial function of lymph tissue is generating and storing white blood cells, the blood cells that fight infection. Besides the lymph nodes, principal lymph organs include the bone marrow (where white blood cells called B-lymphocytes are made), the spleen, tonsils and the thymus gland (where T-lymphocytes are made). Lymphoma is a group of related cancers of the lymphocytes.

The largest concentration of lymph tissue in the body surrounds the intestines. Called gut-associated lymphatic tissue, or GALT, this tissue is the guardian of this largest gateway through the body’s defenses, and it actively separates desirable nutrients from undesirable pathogens, and helps mount a defense whenever needed.

The flow of lymph fluid

The lymph system’s primary function is to isolate infection and cellular detritus from the rest of the body and deal with it. Imagine you are looking at a handful of living cells through a microscope. A capillary (the smallest blood vessel) delivers blood with its oxygen and nutrients. The local cells use these nutrients and excrete waste. There may be pathogens or antigens present that create an immune response, leaving dead cells and perhaps live infection. Some of the blood and waste products are picked up by tiny veins. But much of the vascular fluid and waste — and hopefully all of the live infection — is picked up by tiny lymph vessels. This process is happening all over the body all the time.

Like tributaries trickling into a stream that feeds a slow-moving river, the lymph system transports lymph fluid through ever-widening vessels, moving it through 500 filtration and collection points — your lymph nodes. At each successive node the lymph fluid is filtered and bacteria is removed. If lymph fluid is blocked in one lymph node it will usually take a detour, but when blockage is extreme it can cause the lymph fluid to back up and cause swelling in the surrounding tissue, a condition known as lymphedema.

The far-reaching lymph vessels merge at certain points to form lymphatic trunks. You have six major lymph trunks in your body, each responsible for draining filtered fluid from one region of the body.

The lumbar and intestinal trunks drain a large volume of purified lymph fluid upward from your lower extremities, pelvis and abdomen into the cisterna chyli, a widened collection pouch at the base of the thoracic duct.

Digestive fats from our food are meanwhile absorbed in the small intestine and then drawn into the lymphatic system for transport to the bloodstream via the cysterna chyli. This milky mixture of digestive fats and lymph is known as chyle.

The now enriched and purified lymph travels up your torso through the thoracic duct along the left side of your esophagus. It merges here with the lymph from your left trunk and arm, and finally returns to the bloodstream at its junction with the left subclavian vein, located above your heart and under your collarbone. A much smaller volume of filtered lymph fluid from nodes and trunks along the right side of your head, neck and arm is fed back into the bloodstream by the right lymphatic duct, on the right-hand side of your collarbone.

Amazingly, the lymphatic system has no central pump but depends on muscle contraction and manual manipulation to move fluid. Deep breathing is another essential way we can enhance movement of lymph through our bodies. And importantly, the organs of elimination (skin, kidney, liver, bladder, small and large intestines) need to be doing their jobs well so that the lymph does not get overwhelmed with waste products.

If the lymph system gets blocked or overrun (due to illness, surgery, toxic overload or lack of activity), lymph fluid backs up. This can cause swelling, joint pain, nausea and fatigue. Stagnant lymph may be stored within nodes for a long period of time but eventually becomes too toxic for the body to handle well.

Negative effects of chronic lymph blockages

All things in nature have a natural progression; when this motion is inhibited or jammed, concerns arise — and when it occurs in your lymph system, you feel it quickly.

Think again of a river: a healthy river runs clean and clear. A brackish river chugs along, thick with soot and silt that gets snagged, pocketing pollution in small pools along the way. Eventually, the sluggish river can become a breeding ground for bacteria and disease. The same is true for your lymph.

Because lymph cleanses nearly every cell in your body, symptoms of chronic lymph blockage are diverse but can include worsened allergies and food sensitivities, frequent cold and flu infections, joint pain, headaches and migraines, menstrual cramps, arthritis, fibrocystic breasts, breast tenderness, sinusitis, loss of appetite and GI issues, muscle cramping, tissue swelling, fatigue, mental fuzziness, mood irregularities, depression, parasites, skin breakouts, acne, and cellulite. In general, you may feel tired and toxic, with a heaviness in your abdomen. In Chinese medicine, practitioners call this “excessive damp” that undermines your whole health.

Stagnant lymph can also interfere with the system’s ability to cleanse more potentially hazardous concerns, such as bacteria and cancerous or diseased cells from organ tissue. Viral infections, bacteria, and cancerous or mutagenic cells move through the lymph fluid, where they are targeted and destroyed in the lymph nodes — when the system is adequate to the task.

Lymph nodes

The lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped pockets interspersed along the lymph network almost everywhere from your nose to your knees.

Lymph nodes counteract infection by filtering the lymph fluid, engulfing and removing any bacteria and foreign substances identified. Once a particular pathogen is detected, lymph nodes help customize antibodies to neutralize it. In a nutshell, immature lymphocytes mature in the bone marrow and thymus and are sent off to work in the lymph nodes and lymph tissue. There they wait until an offending substance happens along in the lymph fluid. Then, with the help of other defensive cells called APC’s (antigen-presenting cells), they target the invaders and create specific antibodies to get rid of them.

Swelling in certain node sites generally indicates an infection in the part of the body drained by those nodes. It’s a good sign when you develop swollen glands; it means your lymph system is doing its job.

The function of the spleen and immunity

The largest organ in your lymph system, your spleen is actually like a big lymph node, except that it filters your blood rather than your lymph fluid. The spleen houses a concentrated amount of immune cells and is designed to bring lymphocytes into contact with the blood, making it a major player in your ability to ward off blood-borne diseases and antigens. The spleen also removes worn-out red and white blood cells, platelets, and any other hazardous blood-borne debris.

An enlarged spleen, which can be a symptom of mononucleosis or the Epstein–Barr virus, is prone to injury and should be taken seriously. In our culture, the spleen is sometimes removed if its function declines or persistent swelling is a concern. A swollen spleen places a patient at a higher risk for hemorrhage (if it ruptures), so some doctors decide to remove a suboptimal spleen to avoid the risk.

In Eastern cultures, where the spleen and the lymph system are taken much more seriously, this is tantamount to clipping a bird’s wings. The bird will not die, but it will never fly very high again. In Chinese medicine the spleen governs the blood, the great nourisher of life. Without the guardianship of the spleen, the blood is weakened, can become either blocked or dilute, and has more difficulty supporting the rest of the organs.

I often hear my patients say, “You can live without your spleen.” My response is usually, “Yes, but how well?” Of course, if you must undergo spleen removal you should feel confident that your other organs can compensate for your lost immunity. But if you have a choice, you should make your decision knowing that the spleen exists for a reason. It does not operate in a void, and surgically removing it usually does have long-term immunological consequences. If you must do so, you must then support the rest of your immune system more carefully in response.

Most spleen concerns can be treated with an alternative protocol that includes a lot of rest, supplements, and supportive enzymes. As long as you are not endangering a swollen spleen with reckless activities, taking the time to heal it from the inside out is preferable to having it yanked. For a long time tonsils were treated with the same indifference (the lymph system just can’t get respect) — now it’s generally accepted that it’s healthier to keep them.

In fact, I don’t think any organ in the body should be treated as disposable. That kind of thinking is based on the fractured Western paradigm. But of course, all systems of the body are interconnected! Think of it this way: if you didn’t have a road map or welcome signs, would the landscape show any hint that you’d just crossed a state line? Nature respects few manmade boundaries, and when it comes to the map of your body, this is evident in the overreaching web that connects organ tissue to the lymph system and the lymph system to the immune, circulatory, endocrine, and digestive systems.

The lymphatic system, digestion and elimination

As you read above, so much of the lymph tissue is associated with the gut that it has its own acronym: GALT (gut-associated lymphoid tissue). Lymphatic tissue is where much of our immunity originates, and because the digestive tract is a main path of entry for offensive substances (bacteria, allergens, heavy metals, molds, fungi, chemicals, trans fats), many lines of defense permeate the gut.

The agents involved in digestion — enzymes, acids, and intestinal flora — do away with many of the pathogens that try to invade our systems. Those that make it through are taken up and acted upon by the GALT.

The GALT itself is a kind of tasting room for pathogens. The ones that survive the initial pass of digestion get sampled by receptors in the GALT, which coordinate an immune response (including mucus production). Anyone who lacks the enzymes to digest dairy is familiar with a GALT-dictated immune response.

So, the GALT receives information from the microenvironment of the intestines in the form of which pathogenic agents get through. It then decides which of these deserve an allergic response, calling upon the immune and endocrine systems to facilitate. In this way, the GALT tissue becomes its own command center, which is one reason many practitioners call the gut the “second brain.” For more on this topic, read The Second Brain, by Michael Gershon.

Healthy GALT function generally inhibits allergic responses and decreases food sensitivity — but this is complicated and often relies on the status of the intestinal flora and other factors. Suffice it to say that the healthier your gut-associated lymph tissue, the less sensitive you are likely to be to food-borne bacteria and chemicals.

The mucosal tissue of the intestines (the villi and lacteals) are also classified as GALT tissue, playing an important role in the transportation of digested dietary fats (or chyle) into the blood (those LDL’s and HDL’s we hear so much about) via the cisterna chyli and the thoracic duct.

Constipation, diarrhea, and other GI issues compromise the lymphatic system’s ability to do its job. If the digestive tract is suboptimal due to food sensitivities, parasites or stress, the flow of lymph and chyle will also be diminished. This can cause nausea and toxicity, exacerbating the original GI concerns. It may also play a part in the appearance of cellulite.

The lymphatic system and cellulite

Cellulite and “saddle bags” along the thighs are partially the result of impaired lymph flow to certain areas, causing immobilized pockets of fat and trapping toxins. Over 90% of women have some form of cellulite resulting from weight gain, a genetic predisposition, or inactivity.

Cellulite begins when numerous fat cells collect in one area (generally the buttocks, thighs and upper arms in women), causing the skin to bulge. The dimpling effect occurs when the connective fibers in the skin pull down in areas where body fat is pushing up. Toxins and lymph fluid accumulate in the pockets of fat. Improving the circulation of lymph in areas prone to cellulite and reducing toxic burden are two successful ways to diminish cellulite from the inside out.

Liposuction, creams, and wraps on the other hand, may reduce the appearance of cellulite but do not keep it from coming back. Invasive procedures tend to increase inflammation in the area and strain the connective tissue, which can make the situation worse over time.

Lymphatic massage

Because lymph fluid moves slowly without aid of its own pump, inactivity can seriously restrict its flow. Muscular contraction through exercise and deep breathing is the primary means by which our lymph circulates, but lymphatic massage and drainage provide another helpful option.

In Europe, patients often receive a special massage called lymph therapy or lymph drainage before undergoing surgery. This method of treatment was popularized in the US by the Danish doctor, Dr. Emil Vodder, as an effective treatment for lymphedema. Practitioners believe that it significantly improves healing by readying the system for recovery. For more information, visit Dr. Vodder’s educational website.

On an everyday basis, regular lymph massage (particularly around the abdomen, axillary nodes, and breast) can be great preventive health maintenance. There are many ways to practice lymph massage, and I recommend that you visit a certified massage therapist to learn more. However, there are some techniques you can try at home, and for those of you who are ready to try it on your own we will be offering brief instruction on lymph massage in the near future, so check back with us again soon.

Rejuvenating your lymphatic system

As you can see, the lymphatic system works steadily to keep you clean and well. The nutritional and lifestyle guidelines we offer at Women to Women will go a long way toward reducing the overall “body sludge” your lymph system must sweep away. In addition, we recommend the following steps to ensure that your lymph remains clear and unimpeded. Whether you have symptoms or not, every woman will benefit from these techniques.

·         Clean up your diet. Reduce your body’s toxic burden by avoiding processed food, eating organic when possible, and eliminating simple sugars and carbohydrates. Get tested for heavy metal exposure (lead and mercury are very common in the US). The idea here is that the less waste your lymph has to deal with, the more easily it will flow.

·         A regular nutritional detox and colon cleanse, supported by liver enzymes, will ease your liver and kidney burden, which in turn will decrease pressure on your spleen. Even a two–week Quick-Cleanse can do wonders.

·         Investigate any food sensitivities or allergies that may be affecting your digestion. Take a medical-grade multivitamin to support your cellular function, digestion, and elimination. Look into probiotic supplements to help maintain a healthy ratio of intestinal flora. Experiment with a hypoallergenic diet for two weeks to cleanse your system of moderate food irritants. Deal with any troublesome GI issues, including parasites. Read our article on IBS and, if necessary, talk to your practitioner about relevant tests.

·         Drink plenty of purified or filtered water – at least six to eight 8–oz glasses per day. Your body needs hydration to keep the fluids running!

·         Consider regular visits to a lymph drainage massage therapist. This is a wonderful and healthy way to pamper yourself (and your internal organs). This is especially invaluable during a detox.

·         Practice deep breathing. Breathing deeply from the diaphragm, not shallowly from the chest, and through the nose rather than the mouth, is one of the best ways to move lymph fluid through your body.

·         Get regular physical exercise. Jumping on a rebounder, or mini-trampoline, just five minutes a day is a great way to get your lymph system pumping. Walking, stretching, t’ai chi, yoga, Pilates, and other moderate activities are helpful, too — especially if you do them every day. Or find an activity that suits you. Some women prefer ballroom dancing, others swimming. What’s important is that you make it a regular and joy-inducing part of your life.

·         Don’t be afraid to sweat! A weekly sauna or steam bath is a pleasant way to facilitate a healthy sweat, and sweating helps detoxify the body and so supports lymphatic function. Avoid aluminum-based antiperspirants (they block sweating and add to your toxic load) and choose natural deodorants instead.

·         Avoid restrictive clothing that press on your lymph nodes. Underwires and overtight bras, jeans, and skirts can impede lymph flow. Try to go bra-free for at least 12 hours a day, and don’t sleep in one. If this is uncomfortable for you, consider buying a stretchy camisole.

·         If you are concerned about cellulite, massaging those specific areas and the lymph nodes in the groin on a daily basis can be helpful.

·         Consider acupuncture. Chinese medical doctors are far ahead of their Western counterparts when it comes to “unsticking” the lymph system. As a treatment or preventative, acupuncture can be a great way to keep things moving. It can also help alleviate discomfort that may arise while you are detoxing.

·         Examine your emotional issues. Sometimes we get stuck in a particular pattern of stress that reduces our capacity to make positive changes. Your lymph can become blocked when you are feeling stuck or unable to express yourself. Remember that your life, too, is a progression, and “our biography becomes our biology.” If you find the same situations arising over and over, you may want to take a closer look. Discuss any areas that feel stagnant or obtrusive with a friend, partner, therapist or trusted religious advisor. You may find that as your lymph system unbinds, so does your spirit.

I hope this article has served to reveal the hidden beauty of your lymphatic system, and inspires you to give more time to its care. Remember that support for your body is all-inclusive, not fragmented into specialized body parts as so many doctors would have us believe. Taking the time to honor and support your lesser-known systems will have a far-reaching, life enhancing effect.

by Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP