Health & Wellness
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Kathryn Jakobson Ramin's back pain started when she was 16, on the day she flew off her horse and landed on her right hip.
For the next four decades, Ramin says her back pain was like a small rodent nibbling at the base of her spine. The aching left her bedridden on some days and made it difficult to work, run a household, and raise her two boys.
By 2008, after Ramin had exhausted what seemed like all her options, she elected to have a "minimally invasive" nerve decompression procedure. But the $8,000 operation didn't fix her back, either. The same pain remained, along with new neck aches.
A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, and low-carbohydrate diet that produces ketones - compounds the body can use to produce energy. Ketones have been shown in studies to be neuroprotective, meaning they "defend" your brain from degenerating. In short, a ketogenic diet is a great way to reverse dementia naturally.
Comment: Aside from the studies (which are important), there are also thousands of personal accounts of how the ketogenic diet has helped with brain health. Even without pathology, the ketogenic diet can help to boost brain function.
See also:
- Food as medicine: Low-carb ketogenic diet is as effective as taking antipsychotic drugs - without the negative side effects
- Treatment of epilepsy: Ketogenic diet often better than drugs
- Food for thought: The ketogenic diet improves thinking and behavior
- The Ketogenic diet: What are the effects of Ketosis on the brain?
- What's a ketogenic diet, and can it really boost brain health?
- Study finds ketogenic diet improves memory in adults with cognitive impairment
Policemen in Seattle wearing masks made by the Red Cross during the influenza epidemic, December 1918. (National Archives)
Every few years, a new virus shows up that, experts tell us, can wipe out half the world in six months...and then it doesn't happen.
I could give you several examples. In this piece, let's harken back to SARS, the vague flu lookalike that suddenly showed up in 2003 and was going to decimate the Earth.
When SARS hit, the World Health Organization (WHO) put the world on notice not to fly into Toronto. The city lost billions of tourism dollars.
The fabled "coronavirus," touted as the cause of SARS, was evil and covert and unique. So said ten WHO labs, which took over all official research on the "plague."
Comment: The WHO has certainly embellished a number of 'possible' pandemics over the modern era, and as Rappoport said, it's what "moves product off the shelves."
History, however, has had its numerous devastating plagues that also seem to have had a 'cosmic connection' - read from this excellent SOTT Focus article New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection
"Comets are vile stars. Every time they appear in the south, they wipe out the old and establish the new. Fish grow sick, crops fail, Emperors and common people die, and men go to war. The people hate life and don't even want to speak of it." -Li Ch'un Feng, Director, Chinese Imperial Astronomical Bureau, 648, A.D.As for the 1918 Flu epidemic (represented in the lead photo above), the same cited link provides the following:
Joseph points out that medieval Europe and colonial America are areas where comets were observed to coincide with plagues and disease, adding that Comet Encke, the likely origin of the Tunguska impactor and the 1918 Flu epidemic, also coincide. He writes:... in 2005, scientists from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., resurrected the 1918 virus from bodies that had been preserved in the permanently frozen soil of Alaska. They soon discovered that a completely new virus had combined with an old virus, exchanging and recombining genes, creating a hybrid that transformed mild strains of the flu virus into forms far more deadly and pathogenic. They also confirmed that the 1918 Spanish flu virus originated in the sky, first infecting birds and then spreading and proliferating in humans.
The new study, published in Appetite, debunks the popular diet trick based on the Delbouef illusion that predicts people will identify sizes differently when they are placed within a larger or smaller object. The classic experiment shows that people perceive a similar black circle is smaller when it embedded in a larger circle than when it is embedded in a smaller one.
"Plate size doesn't matter as much as we think it does," says Dr. Tzvi Ganel, head of the Laboratory for Visual Perception and Action in BGU's Department of Psychology. "Even if you're hungry and haven't eaten, or are trying to cut back on portions, a serving looks similar whether it fills a smaller plate or is surrounded by empty space on a larger one."
There are many lifestyle choices that have a direct impact on our health, such as smoking, exercise and diet. Could your bathing routine also be added to that list? We know sporadic research that has been done suggests that regular exposure to cold water (via showers, baths or swims) may have some incredible health benefits. Immersion of the body in water (immersion bathing), rather than showering, causes greater dilation of blood vessels. Subsequently, there is improved replenishment of oxygen and nutrients to peripheral areas, together with better removal of carbon dioxide and other waste products, which refreshes the body.
In Japan, full-immersion bathing is a more common habit than in other countries, where showering prevails. A research group in Japan (Goto et al.) investigates the effects of immersion bathing against that of showering. The team's previous studies recruited a cross-section of the Japanese population that immersion bathed daily -- and the participants reported improved happiness, sleep and general health status, and reduced stress levels too. However, in their latest study, Goto et al. conducted a clinical trial that compared the effects of immersion bathing versus showering over a period of time.
Researchers believe that glucosamine increases the amount of cartilage and fluid that surrounds our joints, thus helps prevent joint breakdown and reduces pain.
This compound possesses natural anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. One of the most popular supplements taken by people with bone and joint pain, glucosamine aids in treating common symptoms of age-related disorders like arthritis and osteoarthritis. (1) It can also help improve digestion and gut health, mobility, range of motion and general joint health, even in healthy people who have no chronic joint or bowel disorders.
Without this compound, everyday movements and tasks would be very difficult and painful. The body needs it for the synthesis of certain proteins and lipids (fats) that form various important tissues, especially cartilage. This plays an important part in the construction of our joints, tendons and ligaments. In addition, it helps form the fluids that surround joints and provide lubrication. (This is called synovial fluid). Glucosamine also serves an important role in microbiome health. It helps form connective tissue that make up parts of the digestive tract, a system that helps the immune system function.
Although not every person with severe joint pain will benefit from glucosamine supplementation, many find some relief from pain within just six to eight weeks. (2) Many people do benefit from it, though, experiencing quality of life improvements like natural relief from arthritis, better digestive health, lower inflammation or less bone pain. It can be used for years safely to combat signs of aging and improve overall quality of life, with little to no side effects or risks in most people.
Globally, the liver cancer hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer death due to the high prevalence and difficulty of treatment. Researchers warn that by 2030, the global rate of liver cancer will double, affecting upward of 1.2 million.5
Other liver-related diseases such as cirrhosis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are also becoming more prevalent. Between 2001 and 2013, the number of diagnosed cirrhosis cases nearly doubled,6 and deaths from cirrhosis increased by 65 percent between 1999 and 2016.7 The greatest increase (10.5 percent) was among those between the ages of 25 and 34, where alcoholic cirrhosis has become rampant.8,9
Comment: More tips for optimizing liver function:
- Gut bacteria shown to protect the liver
- Nutritional support that helps optimize liver function and remove toxins
- Turmeric repairs damaged liver tissues, promotes overall liver health
Lead plaintiff Dyami Myers-Taylor claims in the Kerrygold class action lawsuit that the milk that makes up the high-end butter is made from cows that eat various grains, including soy and corn.
However, alleges the plaintiff, the company touts its expensive product as made from milk derived from "grass-fed" cows.
Comment: Fat sources from grass-fed animals are far nutritionally superior to their grain-fed counterparts. As such, many knowledgeable consumers will make efforts to seek out, and pay a premium for, grass-fed sources of meat and dairy products. That Kerrygold has, allegedly, been misinforming their customers on the source of the animal feed for their products is essentially a scam. It's like labeling 10K gold as 24K in order to be able to charge more. That they are targeting the health-conscious, and in many cases people who are trying to deal with serious disease, makes it all the more shameful.
See also:
- Why Grassfed is best
- Grassfed fat, the real brain food
- Grassfed Meat Gives Strength and Recovery
- A Real Paleo Diet - Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats
- Grassfed Fat - the Lost Delicacy
- In Defense of Nutritious, Delicious Grassfed Butter
- Why Is Fattier Grassfed Meat Best?
© www.testbiotech.org/en/node/2224
According to the publication, plants manipulated with methods known as genome editing can be identified and traced in most cases. This position is in contradiction to previous BVL statements denying such differences.
The experts state that relevant differences between methods using tools such as CRISPR-Cas and conventional breeding can also be observed in cases where no additional genes are inserted:
Comment: For years one of the main arguments put forth by GMO advocates is that the genetically modified organisms are 'substantially equivalent' to their non-modified counterparts, and therefore do not need to be regulated. It seems the experts disagree.
See also:
- Not as precise or safe as we thought: CRISPR genome editing can cause big deletions or rearrangements of DNA
- Genomic revolution: Has your genome been hacked?
- Unexpected complications: CRISPR gene editing can introduce hundreds of unintended mutations into the genome
- Viruses found in genome important for our brain
- Reprogramming life? Scientists close to 'recoding' genome
- God's red pencil? CRISPR and the myths of precise genome editing
Comment: Guidelines on low back pain are clear: drugs and surgery should be the last resort