Fun on “Dog’s nite-out”

(Yea, Ohio’s getting it right!)

KYLE ROBERTSON DISPATCH Vanessa Brown with Guss during a recent “Dogs on the Deck” gathering at the Lodge Bar in the Arena District

DINING  ARF FRESCO

Some eating places with patios go to the dogs, despite state ban

By Kevin Joy | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH (7-13-09)

Saliva dripped from Maxwell’s jowls as an afternoon treat — a whey-and-tomato concoction dubbed a Bloodhound Mary — was presented before his bulging eyes. The 75-pound boxer regularly visits “yappy hour” on Sundays at Bar 23 in the Short North — a prime outing for owner Nighat Bukhari along with other urbanites whose pampered pooches lack backyards of their own.  Yet something is wrong with this picture: Dogs aren’t allowed.

With the exception of service animals, a 1954 Ohio law prohibits canines in restaurants and in bars that serve food — a ban that includes outdoor patios.  The city, though, seems to have taken a “Don’t bark, don’t tell” approach to enforcement.

Bob Kramer, who supervises the Columbus Health Department food-safety program, doesn’t consider patio pooches a major issue.   “I don’t think it poses a real food-safety threat, but it is a violation of the food code,” said Kramer, who couldn’t recall the last time he received a canine-related grievance.  “If we see . . . (dogs) during our inspection, of course, we will mark it as a violation. And if we get a complaint, we’ll investigate it.”

Still, plenty of restaurants regularly host dog-oriented gatherings — to boost business and build community, they say.
Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers runs print ads for its monthly “Pooches and Pizza on the Patio” at the Polaris location.
A chalkboard outside Black Olive in the Short North touts its weekly “Mutts & Martinis” night. And the Bar 23 get-to-gether, a joint affair with the neighboring Three Dog Bakery, includes a tasting menu of gourmet doggy quiches and “pupcakes.”

Eric Gresak of Gresso’s in German Village has had “Pups on the Patio” — “my best night of the week” — since 2007, he said.  He didn’t know of the law until recently, said Gresak, who shuddered at the thought of losing such business.
“People have said this is the only place they feel really welcome,” he said.

Venues with specialty nights aren’t the only establishments that cater to hounds. Restaurants and businesses along N. High Street and in other walking neighborhoods — such as German Village and Grandview Heights — place water dishes on sidewalks to attract customers who don’t want to leave their furry friends at home while running errands or enjoying a meal alfresco.  “We want people in the neighborhood to feel welcome, . . . to pop in for breakfast while they’re walking their dog,” said coowner Kevin Malhame of the Northstar Cafe, which has outlets in the Short North and Clintonville areas.  Such hospitality is sometimes a tipping point.

“If there’s a place where I can take a dog, I’m much more likely to go there,” said Vanessa McDaniel of Dublin.  She took Colby, her 2-year-old Pekingese mix, to the “Dogs on the Deck” night last month at the Lodge Bar.  “You work all day, and they want to be with you.”

Starbucks in the Short North once said nothing about takeout customers escorting dogs into the store but changed its stance in the wake of customer complaints. Ditto for the nearby Union Bar + Food.  Meanwhile, the Downtown patio at Tip Top Kitchen and Cocktails has never admitted dogs.  “Many people have allergies, and not every dog is well-behaved,” co-owner Elizabeth Lessner said. “I would never want to put a visitor’s safety at risk.”

What’s illegal in Ohio, though, is legal in some other places: Laws regarding dogs on restaurant patios vary by state or municipality.  In 2006, for example, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed a “doggy dining” bill allowing local governments to decide whether restaurant owners may permit canines on patios.  Tennessee legislators passed a similar bill in May.
Two years ago, the Chicago City Council adopted a dog-friendly ordinance — issuing licenses to restaurants (at $450 each) a year later. Sixty-five Windy City places have the licenses. And, last year, Dallas approved a similar process.
Ohio could change its law with legislative action, according to Christopher Weiss, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health.

Susan Oilar plans to rally dog lovers to support a lifting of the ban.  “I don’t understand the harm in it,” said the Three Dog Bakery co-owner, flanked recently by her Great Danes, Sadie and Solomon, at Bar 23.  “You’re not preparing the food out here.  “This is a great way for urban people to have time with their dogs. They don’t have a yard or a back porch.”
kjoy@dispatch.com

KYLE ROBERTSON DISPATCH Vanessa Brown with Guss during a recent “Dogs on the Deck” gathering at the Lodge Bar in the Arena District

KELLIE MANIER DISPATCH Susan Oilar with her Great Danes at Bar 23

KELLIE MANIER DISPATCH
Maxwell the boxer enjoys a “muttini” at Bar 23.

Body Ecology – Smoothie

Why are These Refreshing Smoothies Ideal for Your Health and Energy (and Superior to Juicing)? Part 1: Vegetable Smoothies

by BodyEcology.com

Blend your way to great health with vegetable smoothies! Find out why vegetable smoothies are superior to juicing when you are healing candida and other health issues. And get started making your own smoothies with our energizing smoothie recipe!

Machines that grind fresh raw fruits and vegetables into juices seem to be everywhere these days: in the stores, on television, pictured in books. It’s a sign that people want to include healthier foods in their diets and reap the benefits of the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes in fresh produce.

But juicing is not the panacea it’s often portrayed to be… especially for people with Body Ecology imbalances.

If you have poor health or candida, drinking juices when your body is still too acidic and without an understanding of how to do juicing properly will only magnify your symptoms. We recommend waiting until your yeast infection is well under control, you have alkalized your blood and your inner ecosystem is healed (which may take at least 3 months) before you begin juicing.

So what can you do in the meantime?

You can make blended smoothies! The smoothies we recommend are delicious, easy to digest and assimilate into your body. They are also ideal for the warm summer months. They do not feed yeast as many smoothies do.

In Part 1 of this two-part piece on smoothies, we will discuss the benefits of vegetable smoothies and provide you with two easy vegetable smoothie recipes. In part 2, we will talk about fruit smoothie do’s and don’ts and provide you with a “template” to make Body Ecology fruit smoothie recipes.

Sublime Vegetable Smoothies

Both blended smoothies and juiced vegetables will provide you with a raw food treat that is full of enzymes yet will be much easier to digest than eating the raw veggie in its whole form.

So, what’s the difference between vegetable juices and vegetable smoothies?

With vegetable blended smoothies, you are drinking all parts of the vegetable, including the fiber. These juices digest more slowly and are even healthier. When you juice vegetables, you remove the fiber, so the vegetable juice metabolizes or goes into your system too quickly, with an effect similar to sugar. Your blood becomes quickly acidic.

Vegetable blended smoothies allow you to obtain the benefits of vegetables in a delicious drinkable form. And, when you make vegetable smoothies, you are breaking down the cellulose fiber in the vegetables, which makes them easier to digest.

We humans lack the ability to digest insoluble fiber because we don’t have the enzyme cellulose in our stomachs like cows do.

Ingredients Count

What you put in your smoothie counts when it comes to creating great health.

Here are some examples of Do’s and Don’ts in vegetable smoothie making:

• Don’t – Use raw cruciferous vegetables,like collards, kale, cauliflower, arugula, Brussels Sprouts and broccoli. These raw vegetables have thyroid suppressing properties and are best eaten cooked or fermented.
• Do – Use plenty of NON-cruciferous veggies and fresh garden herbs like celery, romaine lettuce, cilantro, basil, cucumbers, green beans, sprouts, yellow squash and zucchini. Veggies and herbs are packed with vitamins and minerals and provide delicious flavor for your smoothies.We DO NOT recommend the use of beets, carrots or other root vegetables because they become even sweeter when juiced or blended into smoothies. Later as your yeast infection or viral infections are under control, you may be able to add very small amounts of these sweet veggies blended into smoothies but only IF you are sure they are well balanced with mostly alkaline-forming ingredients like the veggies mentioned above (and see below)

  Basically, your choice of main ingredients should ensure a very mineral-rich, alkaline smoothie. It’s the mineral-rich vegetables and the fiber in the blended smoothies that help keep your smoothies more alkaline.

• Do- practice The Principle of Balance between expansive and contracting foods. Since veggies are slightly expansive a pinch of Celtic Sea Salt and/or a dash of Wheat-Free Low Sodium Tamara (by San-J) can be used to create more balance.A scoop of Vitality SuperGreen with its fermented algae, fermented green veggies and cereal grasses is a nutrient-dense addition that alkalizes.
• Do – Use a healthy, organic form of fat, like avocadoes, unrefined hempseed  oil, flaxseed oil, cod liver oil, evening primrose or melted ghee or coconut oil. These add flavor and body, plus a fat or an oil helps keeps your body feeling satisfied longer.
• Do – Add sea veggies like wakame or Irish Moss. A small amount goes a long way but they do provide additional proteins, iodine and other minerals that can ensure that you start your day with extra energy and even more brain power.

Give your smoothies a probiotic punch with energizing Innergy-Biotic. Adding 2 – 4 oz. of Innergy-Biotic will help heal your digestion and multiply the nutrients in your vegetable smoothie by hundreds of times! Learn More About Innergy-Biotic and Try Some Today.

• Do – Use fermented foods and drinks in your smoothies. Using a probiotic liquid like a few ounces of Innergy-Biotic will add a balancing sour taste, much like lemon juice would. And the addition of beneficial microflora to help create an inner ecosystem in the power center of your body… your intestines… is a must! Even adding a spoonful of cultured vegetables works really well and has many excellent benefits.
• Don’t  – Combine vegetables and most fruits in your smoothies. However, having said that, a very sour Granny Smith apple and other sour fruits like lemons, limes, noni, acai, cranberry and pomegranate juice concentrates may be okay for most of us. Fruits digest so quickly that they usually do not combine well with any other foods. Blended smoothies may be an exception. It’s a matter of following the Principle of Uniqueness. See what your body likes best. It will speak to you loud and clear.
• Do – Try a small amount of a soaked nuts or seeds or even a spoonful of any nut or seed butter that your body seems to like. These give a nice texture, consistency and flavor to your yummy one-of-a-kind creation.
• Do – Follow the Body Ecology guidelines for foods to include in your diet. The Body Ecology Diet outlines everything you need to know about the foods to include and avoid when creating a healthy inner ecosystem.

Best Time of the Day to Drink a Blended Smoothie?

We love them in the morning because that’s when our body needs alkaline, easy-to-digest, liquid-y foods best. We wake up dehydrated and acidic and are usually not ready to overburden our digestive systems with rich, complex meals.

Blended smoothies can be a meal replacement especially if you are trying to lose weight. They can also be consumed at any other time of the day and are ideal to take between meals if you need to put on more muscle and/or gain weight. (Yes, while obesity seems to be the main focus of our attention today, some people are undernourished and need supplemental nutrition)

In a nutshell, drink your blended smoothies for breakfast, or as a simple yet nourishing meal or as a snack anytime of the day. They digest so quickly that you will soon find yourself feeling hungry again.

Now that you have some simple yet basic guidelines, you are ready to make your own delicious smoothies!
Here is a vegetable smoothie recipe to get you started… be creative and you’ll find that whipping up these smoothies is as easy as it is delicious!

Energizing Green Vegetable Smoothie Recipe:

Ingredients

½  of a small cucumber
½  cup fresh basil
1 cup spring mix
1 TBL coconut oil
2 cups fresh green beans
5 chives
½ cup water
½ cup Innergy-Biotic

Directions

• Wash the vegetables and cut them up to prepare for blending.
• Place all ingredients in a blender and mix until the consistency is smooth.
• Add more water if you want to thin out the consistency.
• Pour into glasses and enjoy!

Variation: Add 1 Tbsp of Hemp Seed Butter

Please help, you are Needed

Maneuvering is going on to grant the FDA even more power which they should not have for they will use this new found power to strip our choices back further once again.   Please help stop this constant invasion of our rights and freedoms.  Pulse of Health Freedom has done all the work, they just need to add your voice to the petition.   We can do this!

Pulse of Health Freedom

July 7, 2009

Alert!  Breaking News

New Bill (HR2749) Gives FDA Unheard-of Power over Small Farmers, Food and Supplement Producers
Minor paperwork violations and violations completely unrelated to food safety could result in draconian penalties. Cite scientific research about food or supplements without FDA approval? You could go to jail for ten years. We need your help to amend or defeat this Orwellian bill that is currently on a fast track to passage. Because of the importance of this subject, it is the only subject in this week’s newsletter.

To be taken to our Action Alert to let your Representative know you do not support his bill, copy and paste the following into your browser:

https://secure3.convio.net/aahf/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=392

FDA negligent on BPA’s

American Association for Health Freedom

Strong New Evidence of BPA’s Danger, Yet AAHF’s Petition to the FDA Remains Unanswered

A report presented recently at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, an overwhelmingly conservative medical association, detailed the strong new evidence that Bisphenol A (BPA) interferes with the hormone system, either mimicking hormones or occupying their receptor sites, and this can cause serious health problems. According to Robert Carey, MD, president of the Endocrine Society, the Society issued this first-ever report on the issue because these hormone disrupting chemicals “affect everyone.” While the hormone issue is not new information, it’s remarkable in that an organization so entrenched in an allopathic worldview should now be getting on the anti-BPA bandwagon.

BPA is found in plastic baby bottles, in the linings of metal cans, and in dental sealants and composite fillings. While the FDA has continued to affirm the safety of BPA, Canada declared BPA toxic last year. The National Toxicology Program has expressed concern over the effect of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate gland in fetuses, infants, and young children. A group of thirty-eight leading research scientists published a statement that listed the serious risks posed by BPA. Yet AAHF’s petition to the FDA regarding the safety of BPA in dental sealants remains unanswered

A newly released study funded by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicity (IAOMT) and led by Carl Heltzel, PhD, found the amount of BPA released from composite fillings can vary widely. Under varying pH conditions, Dr. Heltzel found that composite dental filling materials at the high end of the scale released 4 to 5 times as much BPA as those materials on the lowest end of the scale. Dr. Leo Cashman discussed the study in “Bisphenol A Release Varies Widely Among Composite Fillings” in the current issue of Dental Truth, a publication of DAMS (Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions), a non-profit group based in St Paul, Minnesota. Their e-mail contact is dams@usfamily.net

You may also be interested in reading AAHF’s letters to Senators Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak.  They recently launched an ethics investigation into the BPA Joint Trade Association’s attempts to derail congressional efforts to regulate BPA.

FDA – We’re keeping score

American Association of Health Freedom

Protecting the right of the Consumer to choose, and the Practitioner to practice

Safety of Garcinia Cambogia Validated in the Wake

of the FDA’sWarning Letter

On May 1, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter to consumers to stop using Hydroxycut. The line of products was pulled from the market after reports of liver damage and one death, though those reports have yet to be documented.

The controversy surrounded the safety of one of Hydroxycut’s ingredients, a plant called Garcinia cambogia, which contains hydroxycitric acid (HCA). HCA extracts, trademarked as Citrin®, are found in many products. Those questions have now been addressed by research from Sabinsa Corp., which manufactures phytonutrients and Ayurvedic herbal extracts for nutritional, pharmaceutical, and food industries; they have brought over 100 standardized extracts to market with privately funded clinical studies. Several reports validating the safety of the Garcinia cambogia extract are available on their website for download.

Based on the long history of use of Garcinia cambogia fruits as food, the abundant literature which includes both preclinical and clinical studies, and Sabinsa Corp.’s clinical experience with Citrin®, there is no direct evidence, either epidemiological or clinical, that links Garcinia cambogia fruit rind extract with liver toxicity. In fact, its safety is supported by a variety of animal studies, in vitro experimental studies, and multiple human clinical trials. In 2007, GRAS status (“Generally Recognized as Safe”) was affirmed for the potassium salt of hydroxycitric acid by an independent panel of experts.

The May 12 issue of Pulse of Health Freedom spoke of the double standard in the FDA regulatory system—helpful, healthful supplements are often attacked, while dangerous drugs are approved. Send your comments to the FDA about the need to increase transparency at every level of the agency’s decision-making  process. AAHF has joined with those who are educated daily by sites that include “http://www.drmercola.com;  www.naturalhealthnews.com to tell the FDA it’s time for reform.

Daily Quotes from ABRAHAM

Getting Through my Days

A couple of years ago, I was given a book called the “Law of Attraction” from the Abraham-Hicks Publications.  I thought ‘How nice’, for I had been familiar with the concept for more than half my adult life.   This was in line with my thinking, but with such different emphasis, I soon realized that I hadn’t a clue about any of this.  Turns out this was better.  Far less struggle, a great deal more ‘joy’  involved  Soon I acquired a video or two which I totally enjoyed and a book here and there  The foundation puts out these wonderful “Daily Quotes”  from Abraham.  It had never crossed my mind to offer any of this on my blog.   It was just something which was always there on my computer each day as I arose and started my day.  I was enriched and often found  something to really ponder.  You know, intimate, personal stuff.    It works for me.

In case there others out there  with some of the sensibilities that are part of me, I thought  – - why not?  Why shouldn’t I share this?   I have only included a few here and there over the last few months, not the couple of years I have been receiving them  This Daily Quote is a free service from Esther and Jerry Hicks, anyone can sign up and receive it. Contact them at:   dailyquote@abraham-hicks.com.

Being happy is the cornerstone of all that you are! Nothing is more important than that you feel good! And you have absolute and utter control about that because you can choose the thought that makes you worry or the thought that makes you happy; the things that thrill you, or the things that worry you. You have the choice in every moment.

Excerpted from the workshop in Sacramento, CA on Saturday, March 15th, 2003                      April 5, 2009

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Find thoughts that feel good, because it is inevitable that you are going to always be moving toward something. So why not be moving toward something that is pleasing? You can’t cease to vibrate, and Law of Attraction will not stop responding to the vibration that you are offering. So, expansion is inevitable. You provide it, whether you know you do, or not. The only question is, what is the standard of joy that you are demanding for yourself? From your Nonphysical perspective, it’s a high, high standard.

Excerpted from the workshop in Seattle, WA on Saturday, July 2nd, 2005                          April 8, 2009

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If you know that all is well, you know all you need to know. And if you know life is supposed to be fun, you know more than almost anybody else knows. And if you know that the way you feel is your indicator of how connected you are to Source, then you know that which only a handful of Deliberate Creators, respective to the total population, really know. The beasts all know it. Your animals know that all is well. Your animals live in the moment. They understand the power of their now. They expect the Universe to yield to them. They don’t worry or fret or conjure or make laws or rules or try to regulate. They are Pure Positive Energy. Your beasts vibrate more on the Energy scale of contentment than of passion. Their desire was set forth from Nonphysical, and continues to be set forth by those, like you, who want Energy balance, who want sustenance. The difference between the beast and the human is that the beast is more general in its intent. The human is usually less blended, usually less allowing of the Energy to flow, but is more specific. And that is why the human is seen to be the Creator while the beast is more the balancer of Energy.

Excerpted from the workshop in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday, October 15th, 1998                 April 14, 2009

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That All-That-Isness that is responding to your vibration is that which you call God.

Excerpted from the workshop in Lincroft, NJ on Tuesday, October 15th, 1996                    April 21, 2009

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Any time you have physical discomfort of any kind, whether you call it emotional, or physical pain within your body, it always, always means the same thing: “I have a desire that is summoning Energy, but I have a belief that is not allowing so I’ve created resistance in my body.” The solution, every single time, to the releasing of discomfort or pain — is the relaxation and the reaching for the feeling of relief.

Excerpted from the workshop in Kansas City, MO on Sunday, August 29th, 1999              April 23, 2009

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Death is an inevitable cycle. But sickness before death is a symptom of resistance. Most people think they’ve got to get sick to die. But, you could be like the cat who chooses to get run over. Or, you could just lie down in your bed, happily, one night, so content and thoughtless, wanting nothing in this physical world, and just reemerge into Pure Positive Energy… You can play it out any way you choose.

Excerpted from the workshop in Sedona, AZ on Saturday, August 27th, 2005                        April 26, 2009

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When you find vibrational alignment with You, you personally thrive. You feel good; you look good; you have stamina; you have energy; you have balance; you have clarity; you have wit; you have abundance of all things that you consider to be good. You thrive in all ways when you come into Energy Balance with You. Vibrational Relativity – that’s what it’s all about.

Excerpted from the workshop in Asheville, NC on Sunday, May 1st, 2005                                May 1, 2009

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You will never reach the place where you will not need to be diligent about your choice of thought. Because you live in a world that is determined to show you every pocket of despair. So you must diligently choose. But it gets easier and easier and easier to do so. Right now, it may feel to you like those moments of Connection are the rare ones. There will be a time when those moments of Connection will feel so normal that it will shock you when you get into a place of disconnection.

Excerpted from the workshop in San Antonio, TX on Saturday, November 24th, 2001              May 6, 2009

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You are the creator of your own reality, and so you are not in jeopardy. You do not need to control the behavior of others in order for you to thrive. Your attention to things that you think they do that keeps you from your thriving is, in fact, what keeps you from your thriving… It is not what they do to you; it’s what you do to you in fear of what you think that they will do to you.

Excerpted from the workshop in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday, May 12th, 2005                          May 8, 2009

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Rather than trying to monitor your thoughts, we encourage that you simply pay attention to how you are feeling. For if you should choose a thought that is not in harmony with the way that broader, older, wiser, loving Inner Being part of you sees it, you will feel the discord, and then you can easily redirect your thought to something that feels better, and therefore serves you better. — Abraham              Excerpted from “The Law of Attraction, The Basics of the Teachings of  Abraham                                                                                                                                                                                                   May 18, 2009

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If there is no source of illness, why are there so many sick people? It is because they have found lots of excuses to hold themselves in vibrational discord with wellness. They are not letting it in. And when they don’t let it in, the absence of it looks like sickness. And when enough of them do it you say, “Oh, there must be a source of sickness. In fact, let’s give it a label. Let’s call it cancer. Let’s call it AIDS. Let’s call it all kinds of terrible things, and let’s imply that it jumps into people’s experience.” And we say it never jumps into anybody’s experience. It’s just that people learn through trial and error, and — through banging around with each other — patterns of thought that don’t let it in. — Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Buffalo, NY on Wednesday, September 27th, 2000                  5/20/09

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Physical pain is just an extension of emotion. It’s all the same thing. There are two emotions. One feels good and one feels bad. Which means, you’re connected to your Energy Stream or you’re not allowing your Energy Stream. — Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Phoenix, AZ on Sunday, April 5th, 1998                        May 26, 2009

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Death is a withdrawal of consciousness. It’s like taking attention from here and putting it there.                                                                                                                                                                   May 27, 2009

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Appreciation and self-love are the most important tools that you could ever nurture. Appreciation of others, and the appreciation of yourself is the closest vibrational match to your Source Energy of anything that we’ve ever witnessed anywhere in the Universe. — Abraham Excerpted from the workshop in Spokane, WA on Tuesday, May 30th, 2000 5/29/09

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There is no state of physical decline or damage that you could not recover from–none–not any, if you knew it… If you wanted it and knew that you could. And that’s those miracles that they talk about every day. They’re not miracles at all, they are the natural order of things. But because they are rare, people think they are miraculous. They’re not. That’s the way it is supposed to be. You’re supposed to thrive. — Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in San Diego, CA on Saturday, February 23rd, 2002                       May 30, 2009

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Inspiration comes forth from within. It’s what the light burning within you is about, as opposed to motivation, which is doing it because if you don’t do it, there will be negative repercussions. Motivation is making myself do something that I don’t really want to do. Inspiration is having the clear picture of what I am wanting — and letting Universal forces come into play to get the outcome. — Abraham                                                                                                                              June 3, 2009

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Tell everyone you know: “My happiness depends on me, so you’re off the hook.” And then demonstrate it. Be happy, no matter what they’re doing. Practice feeling good, no matter what. And before you know it, you will not give anyone else responsibility for the way you feel — and then, you’ll love them all. Because the only reason you don’t love them, is because you’re using them as your excuse to not feel good. — Abraham                                                                                      6/8/09

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Reduce your workload by 30% and increase your fun load by 30% and you will increase your revenues by 100%. And you will increase your productivity by 10,000%. (If there could be such a percentage.) More fun, less struggle — more results on all fronts. — Abraham             Excerpted from the workshop in Salt Lake City, UT on Saturday, September 9th, 2000                                                                                                                                                                                                                              June 20, 2009

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When people thought the world was flat, it wasn’t that their thinking was distorted, (The data that they were collecting gave them that information.) it was that they were not broadsighted enough to step back far enough to see the big picture. And that’s what we see with so many of you: You are so close to the reality that you are creating, that you sometimes can’t see the bigger picture. — Abraham Excerpted from the workshop in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, July 24th, 2004                                                                                                                                                                                                               June 30, 2009

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The things that we would be asking ourselves is, “What proportion of my day am I in vibrational harmony with my desires, which means, how much of my day am I happy, glad, eager, fulfilled, satisfied, complimentary? And what percentage of my day am I ornery, irritated, frustrated, or blaming?” And you don’t have to do 100%, you don’t have to do 90%, you don’t have to do 80%. If you could even get around 55% feeling better, than not feeling so good — you’d have significant movement in what begins to happen in your experience. — Abraham xcerpted from the workshop in San Diego, CA on Saturday, August 11th, 2001                                                                                                                                                                                                   July 1, 2009

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We want to speak about freedom: This is a Vibrational Universe. The only Source that flows is the Source of Well-Being. And, physical and Nonphysical, we are all free to allow that Well-Being to flow to us and through us, or we can pinch it off. It is our call —every time… — Abraham Excerpted from the workshop in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, February 28th, 2004                                                                                                                                                                                                             July 2, 2009

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We are really advocates of just getting as happy as you can be — which takes care of everything. Even if you don’t have reason to be happy — make it up. Fantasize it. Make a decision that you’re going to be happy one way or another — no matter what. “No matter what, I’m going to be happy! If I have to ignore everybody; if I have to never watch television again; if I have to never pick up a newspaper again, I’m going to be happy. If I never have to see that person’s face again, I’m going to be happy. If I have to see that person’s face, I’m going to find something to see in that person’s face that makes me happy. I’m going to be happy. I’m going to be happy. I’m going to be happy.”   — Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Sacramento, CA on Saturday, March 15th, 2003                                                July 4, 2009

What is true “Prevention”?

American Association for Health Freedom

Protecting the right of the consumer to choose, and the practitioner to practice

Can Prevention Turn the Tide of Rising Healthcare Costs?What Is True Prevention?

Business journals have chronicled the rise in healthcare costs for the past 30 years, and have linked them to America’s increasing inability to compete effectively in the global marketplace. The US spends more per capita than any other nation on the planet on its medical care, currently 17.5% of our GDP. According to AP articles,  President Barack Obama has also blamed some of our economic troubles on the current health-care system. He has called our medical system a “ticking time bomb” for the federal budget.

The old proverb states that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” But true preventive medicine is not the early detection screenings (followed by more and more prescription drugs at ever younger ages) that are being promoted by drug companies and allopathic medicine. According to physician and journalist Abraham Verghese in the recent Wall Street Journal article “The Myth of Prevention,” “If your preventive strategy is medical, if it involves us, if it consists of screening, finding medical conditions early, shaking the bushes for high cholesterols, or abnormal EKGs, markers for prostate cancer such as PSA, then more often than not you don’t save anything and you might generate more medical costs.” He might have added that you may also end up sicker because of drug toxicity, side effects, and interactions.

True preventive medicine, as practiced by US integrative practitioners, advises and counsels the patient to make lifestyle choices that can turn on and off genes that predispose us to chronic degenerative disease. True preventive care does not push prescriptions or procedures and does not generate billions for conventional medicine. It is not “the buzz” in the media, but rather commonsense, science-based lifestyle choices that can prevent and even reverse heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and other chronic degenerative disease. Consumers, guided by their integrative practitioners, hold the power. This is the true solution to our nation’s runaway health-care costs.

Visit our website to find an integrative practitioner in your area.

Pulse of Health Freedom June 30, 2009

Betrayal, Pain and Choice

When Pain Pills don’t help, or even kill us – why take them?

Hopefully, by now, you have come to expect that this is what I do.   It is clear that we are  not all alike,  and that is as it should be.  Maybe I do concern myself  too much about the deterioration of health-care in our country.   But I have been witnessing this for decades now and I see an acceleration of the speed and breadth of the action on higher levels over which we (you and I ) have no control.   Fortunately, our president is inclined to take appropriate action – - however, there is no way one man can do this alone.  He is well motivated and supremely intelligent, but the PUSH and IMPETUS must come from the people – - YOU  and ME.  Do we write our letters and make our phone calls to our congressmen and senators?  People, wake up! We are either “Citizens” of this great  country and willing to stand up and be counted, or we are willing sheep going where told to go.

Below, I start with an extracted blurb from Dr Mercola (7-1-09 newsletter).  He says it well in keeping with the fire I am feeling at the moment.  Then, a front page story from our Columbus Dispatch showing still one more ruse perpetrated on the unsuspecting public regarding the “safe”, highly recommended pain pills – “Tylenol” and/or acetaminophen.  Behind all this of course is the FDA and the obvious way they have run things with lack of ethics, proper testing and the disregard of the very thing they were entrusted to do in the first place – which is PROTECT OUR PEOPLE.  Instead, they have been in cahoots with  big business and corporate interests and betrayed us.  I’m fed up and you should be too.  Let Washington know that you expect better.  Tell them what you want.    We can do this.

Finally, I would suggest that I have already tried to put a bug in everyone’s ear about EFT.  I posted on it several times. This is because I have personally found great relief both physically and emotionally for  problems I seemed unable to cope with alone.  One is 4-13-09 simply called EFT and Tapping;  another is 4-24-09 “Lung Woes? – Check this out”;  Still another was on 5-13-09 – “Special Pain Relief” (my favorite).    In the event that one needs relief from  physiological problems and worry about the trustworthiness of drugs (pills), you might want to check this out as it is free,  non-toxic and can only help – at the very least you won’t be out anything and is won’t hurt you.                    Stay well, be happy with yourself.                     Jan

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Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

Today, the battle is no longer for the freedom of the colonies. Instead, we are waging war against the forces that are threatening to take away our good health and well-being:

• Businesses and media are propagating an unhealthy fast food culture where we see Americans literally stuffing themselves to death.
• Profit-hungry pharmaceutical companies market dangerous drugs as “medicine.”
• Self-serving healthcare and regulatory bodies are taking away our right to choose our own methods of healing.

Don’t allow yourself to be oppressed into a state of physical incapacity and depression. It’s time to join the health revolution and take back control of your health!

Common painkiller could be reined in

FDA focuses on Tylenol, other drugs with acetaminophen

By Matthew Perrone
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ADELPHI, Md. — Government experts called for sweeping safety restrictions yesterday on the most widely used painkiller, including reducing the maximum dose of Tylenol and eliminating prescription drugs such as Vicodin and Percocet.
The Food and Drug Administration assembled 37 experts to recommend ways to reduce overdoses with acetaminophen, which is the leading cause of liver failure in the U.S. and sends 56,000 people to the emergency room annually. About 200 die each year.
“We’re here because there are inadvertent overdoses with this drug that are fatal and this is the one opportunity we have to do something that will have a big impact,” said Dr. Judith Kramer of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
But over-the-counter cold medicines — such as Nyquil and Theraflu — that combine other drugs with acetaminophen can stay on the market, the panel said, rejecting a proposal to take them off store shelves.
The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, though it usually does. The agency gave no indication when it would act.
In a series of votes yesterday, the panel recommended 21-16 to lower the maximum 24-hour dose of over-thecounter acetaminophen from 4 grams, or eight pills, of a medication such as Extra Strength Tylenol. They did not specify how much it should be lowered.
The panel also endorsed limiting the maximum single dose of the drug to 650 milligrams. That would be down from the 1,000-milligram dose, or two tablets of Extra Strength Tylenol.
A majority of panelists also said the 1,000-milligram dose should only be available by prescription.
The industry group that represents Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth and other companies defended the current dosing that appears on overthe-counter products.
“I think it’s a very useful dose and one that is needed for treating chronic pain, such as people with chronic osteoarthritis,” said Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.
The experts narrowly ruled that prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with other painkilling ingredients should be eliminated. They cited FDA data indicating that 60 percent of acetaminophen-related deaths are related to prescription products.
But some on the panel opposed a vast withdrawal of products that are widely used to control severe pain. Prescription acetaminophen combination drugs were prescribed 200 million times in 2008, the FDA said.
“To make this shift without very clear understanding of the implications on the management of pain would be a huge mistake,” said Dr. Robert Kerns of Yale University.
If the drugs stay on the market, they should carry a “black box” warning of serious risk, the panel decided.
“If we don’t eliminate the combination products, we should at least lower the levels of acetaminophen contained in those medicines,” said Sandra Kewder, the FDA’s deputy director for new drugs.
Percocet and similar treatments combine acetaminophen with more powerful pain-relieving narcotics.
Vicodin is marketed by Abbott Laboratories, which has a strong presence in Columbus, while Percocet is marketed by Endo Pharmaceuticals.
Drug companies avoided the most damaging potential outcome with the defeat of a proposal to pull NyQuil and other over-the-counter cold and cough medicines that combine acetaminophen with other drugs.
These drugs can be dangerous when taken with Tylenol or other drugs containing acetaminophen, according to the FDA.

PAUL SAKUMA ASSOCIATED PRESS
An FDA panel has endorsed lowering the maximum dose of overthe-counter acetaminophen, the key ingredient in Tylenol, Excedrin and other drugs.

Women’s Hormones

Once again, I have borrowed from Dr Mercola, the source of so much of my really great information and this fabulous piece comes from his archives circa November 2000.  This may be more than you want to know, but for those always seeking the “Big Picture” in order to arrive at answers, you’re gonna love it. This can be very enabling toward a more healthy perspective and possible reduction in biology-confusion.  This was tucked in as a reference on his recent post on OPRAH and the seeming ire of the AMA toward her for her broad views on altrernative medicine etc.  It’s not too easy to push someone like Oprah around (thank God), but they aren’t happy with her.  Go Girl!

By I. Michael Borkin N.M.D.

Originally Published in Alternative Medicine, Issue 37

Female hormonal health is not just related to menstruation and menopause – it is a matter of lifelong well-being and longevity

While a great number of women in our culture develop some kind of sexual reproductive organ dysfunction, most are misled about true sexual and reproductive health and what options exist to achieve it. People tend to think of women’s “hormone problems” as starting in midlife with the onset of menopause. In fact, a dysfunctional pattern can begin during adolescent years or even before birth. The severity of hormonal problems may increase with age, but it is not aging per se that is the root of declining health. It is most often the cumulative physiological effects of stress that cause disruption of the natural rhythms and balancing mechanisms of women’s hormones (see Quick Definition), thereby eventually compromising overall health as well as sexual and reproductive health.

Quick Definition – Sex and stress hormones are chemical messengers formed in endocrine organs and certain body tissues and then carried in the blood to other areas of the body. Depending on how specific their effects, hormones can alter either the functional activity or the structure of one or more organs. Synthetic hormones are different from naturally occurring hormones; they are structurally altered (so as to be patentable).

Allopathic (conventional) medical thinking fails to look for or treat the root causes of women’s hormonal imbalances. For example, more young women today are experiencing infertility because they are not ovulating, yet they are being given fertility drugs like Clomid without comprehensive hormonal evaluations. Though these women often succeed in conceiving, they generally end up paying a price for short-sighted symptom management. The future health consequence is that other symptoms will appear and hormonal imbalance will progress.

Similarly, women are led to believe that it is normal to experience distressing menopausal symptoms. They anticipate having to accept the conventional treatment choice of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with synthetic hormones. Women are encouraged to do this in spite of the fact that estrogen supplementation places them at risk for breast cancer and other serious health problems. HRT and fertility drugs — as well as birth control pills and other hormonal therapies — were all designed to treat only specific symptoms with no regard for the effects they have on the entire body. Because of this non-holistic approach, we are seeing an increase in the incidence of not only breast cancer and sexual reproductive organ dysfunctions but also uterine and ovarian cancer.

Another problem with conventional HRT is that it generally employs the wrong forms of estrogen and progesterone. Synthetic estrogens or the estrogens that are excreted in pregnant mare urine are often used. And of the three estrogen hormones (estradiol, estriol and estrone) found in women’s bodies, most conventional pharmaceutical products use only estradiol. Many HRT formulas also contain synthetic progestin (as opposed to natural progesterone), which is included to help balance the effects of synthetic estrogen. Yet an artificial hormone cannot function in concert with another artificial hormone to create balance in the body. Worse, these HRT formulas ignore the increasingly common wisdom that it is progesterone deficiency — not estrogen deficiency — that leads to early or difficult menopause and many other health problems affecting women.

A lot of women are discovering that conventional HRT does not give them the overall health and well-being they had hoped for, and they are seeking out healthier alternatives. What everyone will hopefully soon realize is that menopausal and sexual reproductive problems are actually symptoms of overall hormonal imbalances. Women need to get a complete picture of their hormonal status and find appropriate therapeutic steps to maintaining balance.

Meanwhile, millions of women continue to experience dysfunctions such as PMS, depression, decreased libido, fibrocystic breasts, food and sugar cravings, uterine fibroids, irregular or excessive uterine bleeding and endometriosis (see Quick Definition below). Those whose dysfunctions are extremely painful or debilitating are told that their “health is more important than their reproductive organs” and that “a hysterectomy would be the best thing.” Unbelievably, an estimated trillion-plus dollars was spent during the twentieth century to remove women’s reproductive organs. Hysterectomy now out-numbers almost all types of surgery performed in the U.S.

Reproductive organs play an important role in more than reproduction. Many studies show that each aspect of the female sexual anatomy serves an integral part in the health and well-being of the entire body. Each function is part of the whole, part of a system, or symphony, of interrelated parts and timing.

The Endocrine Interplay

What needs to be understood is that, for example, if a woman’s thyroid or adrenal glands are depleted or functioning inadequately — a fairly common occurrence in our stressful culture — she will likely experience problems with her sexual reproductive organs. The connection between these organs and the thyroid, the adrenals and other endocrine glands is that they are all governed by endocrine hormones. This is an important interrelationship, which is why what disrupts one gland can disrupt another, causing a kind of domino effect or vicious cycle. The immune system and the thymus are involved, too, because immune response is inhibited by abnormal hormone levels.

The endocrine system (see below) is responsible for homeostasis, the body’s ability to maintain stable internal conditions, including body temperature, regardless of changing external conditions. Balance is crucial to all life processes. The body functions within very specific margins, and being forced to function outside of those margins can cause a whole series of negative events, even death. The endocrine system also controls the processes of reproduction, metabolism, growth and development.

The Endocrine System and the Female Cycle

The endocrine system regulates the body’s major continuous and prolonged processes, including reproduction; growth and development; cellular metabolism and energy; blood balance of nutrients, electrolytes and water; and the mobilization of body defenses against stressors (things that cause wear and tear on the body’s physical and mental resources). It is made up of eight different glands located strategically throughout the body:

• ovaries (in men, the testes)
• adrenals
• pancreatic islets
• thyroid
• parathyroid
• pineal
• pituitary
• hypothalamus, which is also part of the nervous system

Besides these major organs, the system includes pockets of hormone-producing cells in tissues in the small intestine, heart, kidneys and stomach. The endocrine system develops and begins producing hormones by the end of the second trimester of fetal development.

In the order of endocrine command, the hypothalamus is the body’s CEO, orchestrating the events of the rest of the endocrine system. The hypothalamus controls autonomic reflexes (such as the activity of the heart and smooth muscles), and it houses the body’s “thermostat” and biological clock, which maintains the body’s rhythm of 24-hour sleep-wake cycles. The somewhat mysterious pineal gland also has a role in biological timekeeping, being an organ sensitive to retinal response to light. The pineal gland, believed to coordinate fertility hormones, produces melatonin, the hormone known for its sleep-triggering ability.

The hypothalamus also initiates part of the adrenal stress response,causing the pituitary to secrete the hormone that travels to the adrenal glands to stimulate secretion of cortisol, DHEA and aldosterone. The hypothalamus also initiates the female cycle by producing gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which signals the pituitary to secrete follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). FSH stimulates the ovaries to secrete estrogen, the sex hormone that stimulates development of breast, uterine and ovarian tissue (and in synthetic HRT forms is associated with excessive cell growth that leads to cancer).

When estrogen reaches a certain level, it signals the hypothalamus to trigger the pituitary to secrete luteinizing hormone (LH). Estrogen levels then fall, while the level of LH rises and peaks (around day 14 of a 28-day cycle), stimulating ovulation, the release of an egg from its ovarian follicle. After ovulation, the follicle (now called the corpus luteum) is filled with cholesterol, which is converted first to pregnenolone and then to progesterone. This newly-made progesterone is used in part for the building up of the uterine lining. If after about 13 to 15 days the egg is not fertilized, the uterine lining is sloughed off (in menstruation) when both estrogen and progesterone levels drop.

Both estrogen and progesterone are necessary in the female cycle, and their balance is key for full health. Many women in our culture have an imbalance of these hormones, especially, insufficient levels of progesterone to counter excessive estrogen — an imbalance further exacerbated by chronic stress. Progesterone is a hormone important to a number of body functions. During times of stress or conditions of chronic adrenal hyper-stimulation, progesterone is capable of being converted into the stress hormone cortisol.

When one goes through chronic or severe long-term stress, the hypothalamus at first triggers an overproduction of the adrenal hormones (especially cortisol and DHEA). This eventually leads to adrenal insufficiency, a state in which the exhausted adrenals cannot respond adequately.

The thyroid gland is also adversely affected by chronic stress. This gland’s roles include regulating calcium metabolism and glycolysis, the breakdown of glucose for body energy fuel. Under normal conditions, the fight-or-flight response causes the thyroid to increase glucose breakdown. In conditions of chronic stress, however, the thyroid is continually overstimulated and eventually becomes depleted. Thyroid function is also disrupted by excessive estrogen, but this can be prevented by adequate progesterone levels.

Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid functioning) and especially hypothyroidism (low functioning) have become more common. The classic symptoms of hypothyroidism include sluggishness, early morning fatigue, cold extremities, lowered basal temperature and menstrual problems, including scanty periods.

Adrenal and other hormonal gland dysfunctions can cause some of the above symptoms and more, including cravings for sweets, weight gain, allergies, heart palpitations, insomnia, depression, fatigue, poor memory, foggy thinking, headaches, nervousness, inability to concentrate, recurrent infections and glucose intolerance.

One very damaging adrenal dysfunction is excessive cortisol production, which causes, among other serious problems, increased calcium mobilization from the bones, leading to osteoporosis, or loss of bone density. In a person with a healthy stress response, excessive levels of cortisol are automatically buffered. Constant stress destroys this feedback loop.

Hormonal imbalances compromise not only physical health but also psychological health, manifesting as problems ranging from depression to panic disorder. One way the body tries to compensate for imbalances created and exacerbated by the demands of stress is to overproduce key hormones. Another way it tries to compensate is by converting sex hormones to stress hormones, thus further diminishing reproductive functions and the enjoyment of sexual health.

It is helpful to learn about these hormonal interdependencies because they allow one to see the bigger picture, that the problems commonly associated with menses or menopause are actually indicators of greater endocrine imbalance. For many women, the next step in understanding the bigger picture might be to look at digestive health — such as the possibility of malabsorption syndrome or food allergies — and at nutritional supplementation strategies (see Supplementation below) that help restore or maintain hormonal balance.

One of the biggest reasons why hormonal imbalances are misunderstood is because “modern” medicine disregards the way the human body deals with its environment. Consider that the body’s responses basically have not changed for 50,000 years. We still respond to our environment with the most primal of mechanisms: the “fight-or-flight” mechanism, the release of adrenaline and other stress hormones. The stress response, initiated in the hypothalamus and pituitary, and regulated by the adrenal glands, is responsible for redirecting energy and resources away from the reproductive organs when we are under severe or chronic stress, directing it instead to the muscles and organs that are necessary for survival. This redirection is allowed to take place because, on the body’s list of priorities, survival comes first and reproduction comes last.

The reproductive system is the only body system whose functions are biologically expendable. With this in mind, we see how the ability to reproduce becomes a privilege in the body, not a right. Fertility, or the ability to ovulate, is therefore a good indicator of the overall health of a woman.

The fight-or-flight response can be a detriment as well as a lifesaving response. In a modern environment, many things — ranging from allergic reactions to being cut off while driving — can evoke this mechanism. Throughout daily life, there are many hidden as well as overt sources of stress. Most of the time, our response to stress ends without a literal “fight” or some form of physical activity, as our ancestors would have engaged in. One of the problems with this is that adrenaline, unlike most hormones, has no enzyme “switch” to turn it off. Once released it must be used or it remains active. As a result, we remain in a state of hyper-stimulation, with abnormal levels of adrenaline and cortisol, the primary fight-or-flight hormones. Other hormone levels, such as the pancreatic hormone glucagon, also become dysregulated. If hyper-stimulation persists, we have difficulty inducing a relaxation response, and we do not return to a normal state.

Over a period of time, if chronic stress continues, the body adapts to adrenal hyper-stimulation, continuing in a perpetual fight-or-flight mode. This is called maladaptation, a process in which endocrine system organs begin to break down. This process eventually reaches the point where the adrenals become exhausted and cortisol levels drop. One example of what can result from adrenal exhaustion is fibromyalgia, a condition that can arise when the protective benefits of normal cortisol levels are lost.

The adrenals are usually first in the order of endocrine function breakdown, followed by the insulin-producing portion of the pancreas, thyroid, ovaries, parathyroid, pineal, pituitary and finally, the link to the autonomic nervous system, the hypothalamus. The thymus gland, which produces immune defense cells, is also affected in the endocrine breakdown process. Each of these glands controls specific functions, and as each breaks down new symptoms appear. Symptoms are subtle at first. Then over the years, as the body goes further into deficit, the symptoms will increase and worsen.

The more stress endured, the worse the hormonal problems become. When the endocrine system is severely dysregulated, the hypothalamus is affected. If the production of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) becomes severely affected, the psychological symptoms can become debilitating. Because CRH controls fear through stimulating adrenal secretion, an abnormal level of CRH can make it difficult to perform routine chores or leave the house. The fear response in turn worsens hormonal problems by further stressing the adrenals, which respond by converting more sex hormones to stress hormones and becoming more maladapted — a vicious cycle.

The Creation of Maladaptation

A woman’s hormonal problems can begin even before birth, during her fetal development. If her mother is under chronic stress and adrenally hyper-stimulated, the mother’s body will draw on the developing fetus’s “survival chemistry” to supplement her own body’s hormonal needs. During the second trimester, the placenta produces on average about 450 milligrams of progesterone a day, and some of this progesterone will be routed to the stressed mother and converted for stress purposes. In the third trimester, the developing baby’s adrenal glands begin to produce stress hormones, and these can also be taken and used by the mother.

Quick Definition - Endometriosis is the buildup of endometrial (uterine lining) tissue outside the uterus, most often in or on the fallopian tubes, ovaries and pelvic area. It is thought to be caused by or exacerbated by estrogen dominance (too much estrogen in relation to progesterone), and it can in turn cause organ dysfunction or intestinal blockage. Symptoms include painful menstruation and frequent and severe bleeding.

Women are rarely cautioned about this kind of fetal stress before or during their pregnancies. Nor are they told how the developing baby’s adrenal glands will enlarge to meet the mother’s demand for additional stress hormones. A baby born in this state of secondary hyper-stimulation produces too much stress hormone. While the baby’s adrenal glands can eventually decrease their output, the glands will tend to reinflate more easily — like a balloon — every time extreme demands are made upon them.If severe or chronic stress persists, however, hyper-stimulation continues. As the baby grows and matures into an adult, this maladaptive cycle will be perpetuated, causing her sex hormones to be routed from her reproductive system and used for her own stress purposes.

Breaking the Stress Cycle

Once a maladaptive stress cycle has been established, it will continue until appropriate intervention takes place to restore hormonal balance. This can be done at any age, and functional hormonal testing is the first step. The best type of stress and sex hormone testing is known as a circadian test, which is performed over a 24-hour period.

Sampling is easily accomplished at home, and the test results will determine the exact levels of accumulated stress and sex hormones. Using a collection kit, a woman can obtain a saliva sample every four hours for 24 hours by chewing on a salivette (a small dacron roll). The results will show specific hormonal changes that occur every four hours, demonstrating a 24-hour graphic representation of the body’s stress reactions.

Salivary testing is the best test method because saliva contains free fractions of stress and sex hormones. Free fractions are the utilizable hormones, those that the body actually has access to. Many studies have been conducted showing the validity of assaying these steroid hormones in saliva. The usual hormone tests, conducted with blood samples, measure total hormone production, a value that includes bound (not free) hormones that are unavailable for the body’s use. It is important to measure free fractions to get an accurate picture of how sex and stress hormone levels are varying by body function and activity.

Also, conventional hormone panels usually test only the blood plasma levels of the sex hormones and only at the moment of sampling (when the blood was drawn). The Female Circadian Panel from Sabre Sciences evaluates fluctuations of the salivary hormone levels of estrogen (estradiol), progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA and melatonin over a 24-hour period. Important clues about endocrine health are revealed by circadian fluctuations. For example, we know that because human skin regenerates mostly at night, high nighttime cortisol values mean that less skin regeneration is taking place.

Steps to Restore Hormonal Health

• First, support the endocrine system and allow it time to repair.
• Support immune function, thereby reducing stress on the endocrine system.
• Make dietary and nutritional changes according to genetic predisposition,
  allergies, personal weight and exerciseobjectives.
• Support proper digestive function; eliminate any malabsorption problems.
• Get exercise, establishing your level of capacity and personal training objectives.
• To relieve stress, try meditation, hypnotherapy, visualization, Hatha Yoga, Tai Chi or QiGong.
• Consider individual counseling and group stress management workshops.
• Relax by walking in nature, swimming, pursuing creative activities, changing routines.

Establishing a Baseline

Comprehensive hormonal testing should be performed to establish a baseline before a woman chooses any kind of hormonal treatment, and then should be repeated periodically thereafter. Baseline test results are also needed to order custom-made transdermal hormonal creams from Sabre Sciences and various compounding pharmacies around the country. Women should also consider additional testing, such as a comprehensive, 5-hour glucose tolerance test and a lipid panel (cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL). An abnormal (especially high) level of cholesterol, the basic building block of sex and stress hormones, indicates that the body is attempting to provide more stress hormones. In some cases, testing for gastrointestinal problems, allergies or even parasites is advised.

Note, however, that “normal” (negative) results from conventional laboratory diagnostic tests do not always mean normal function. Some tests do not reveal serious existing conditions, others are not able to detect borderline conditions. One example is thyroid testing, which cannot indicate how well thyroid hormone (T3) is able to bind to target cells, a thyroid condition that can be caused by high levels of estrogen. Woman suspecting hormonal imbalances or experiencing distressing symptoms should discuss testing with a healthcare practitioner.

Effective Treatment

By evaluating hormonal changes over a 24-hour period, a pattern can be determined and a treatment protocol designed. An effective plan involving natural hormones, nutritional support and various stress-relief therapies can be successfully implemented to reestablish the proper menstrual dynamics, hormonal balance and well-being.

It should be mentioned that in many scientific circles, the 28-day menstrual cycle is believed to be a result of the impact of the modern world. Up until the last hundred years, the menstrual cycle is said to have reacted to seasonal changes. Fertility was at its peak during the fall months, thus helping guarantee the survival of the newborn during the much more hospitable spring and summer environment. The menstrual/fertility cycle could last as long as 90 days, and was absent during times of serious stress.

When evaluating the “modern” 28-day cycle and hormonal balance it is important to understand that approximately the first 14 days of the cycle are estrogen dominant and the second 14 days are progesterone dominant. This is an over-simplification but it helps to establish an understanding of the healthy dynamics of the menstrual cycle.

The first treatment consideration is that the maladaptive stress response must be interrupted so that sex hormones will no longer be converted for stress purposes. Women must know that, until these conversion pathways are closed, supplementation with the sex hormones estrogen and progesterone is of little value because they will easily be converted. First, therefore, proper levels of the adrenal hormones cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) need to be reestablished. DHEA is a much talked about hormone these days because of its importance in maintaining youthfulness; a healthy DHEA level is considered an indicator of longevity.

Hormonal restoral with transdermal creams is accomplished using a dual-phase approach, which uses estrogen-dominant supplementation during the first 14 days and progesterone supplementation during the second 14 days.

Transdermal Delivery System

In addition to individual needs, an important factor regarding the correct levels of any kind of supplement is how quickly it is metabolized and eliminated from the body. This is called metabolic clearance. A supplement, especially a hormone, should not accumulate or remain in the body too long, or it will interfere with the changes that must occur — in this case, the necessary shift from estrogen to progesterone — for supplementation to be effective.

A transdermal hormonal cream supplement works best. It is easily applied and delivered, bypassing the obstacle of breakdown in the digestive system or liver. Most of the available hormonal creams claim to be transdermal, but are actually topical. A big problem with topical creams is that most of them use an inexpensive oil cosmetic base. They are absorbed into fat cells, and months after discontinuance they can still be found in body tissues. Also, a topical relies on the small size of the hormone molecule (progesterone being very small, estrogen very large) to transverse the layers of the skin and make its way into the bloodstream. A true transdermal does not rely on the size of the molecule; instead it has a vehicle to carry it to the target. This is called a liposomal delivery system, which employs a molecular coating to control absorption.

A “stealth” liposome has 100 bilayer lipid shells, identical to cell membrane lipids, allowing it to pass through the skin tissue. The shells slowly dissolve, releasing hormones and cofactors gradually into the bloodstream.

The Sabre Sciences transdermal cream delivery system is also pulsatile, meaning that only a small, measurable quantity of hormone is released at one time. This not only allows for easy calculation of the amount that will be in the blood but also comes closest to matching the body’s own cyclic hormone rhythm.

Recreating Healthy Dynamics

The key factor in positively influencing estrogen and progesterone levels is to recreate or enhance the healthy dynamics of the menstrual cycle by maintaining estrogen dominance during the first 14 days of the cycle and allowing a shift at mid-cycle to progesterone dominance. A one-phase treatment involves supplementation throughout the entire cycle using only estrogen or progesterone factors. If you use this approach, not only will you not restore hormonal balance but also you will cause further imbalance, negatively affecting sexual and reproductive health as well as the health of the whole body.

To support the adrenal system, dual-phase transdermal creams from Sabre Sciences contain DHEA and pregnenolone, important precursors of sex and stress hormones. The creams also contain cofactors and nutrients (such as Alpha Lipoic Acid) as well as botanicals and homeopathics, all of which help estrogen and progesterone work properly. Custom transdermal creams are formulated using an individual’s hormonal test results. Off-the-shelf dual-phase creams called BioEst™ Phyto-Estrogen Formula and Bio-Femme™ Progesterone Formula are also available. These creams are designed to enhance the healthy dynamics of estrogen and progesterone activity in both pre- and post-menopausal women. For example, women suffering from hot flashes or postmenopausal vaginal dryness are aided by the phyto-estrogen cream.

Supplementation

The following list includes general recommendations for women who are “stressed out” or hormonally imbalanced and would like to restore overall hormonal health. For best results, consult a qualified healthcare practitioner for guidance in establishng a supplement plan before assuming the important responsibility of self-care.

• Transdermal hormonal supplements (dosages vary)
• Vitamin A (25,000 IU daily as beta carotene)
• Vitamin B5 (500­1,500 IU daily)
• B complex vitamins (25­50 mg daily)
• Vitamin C & Bioflavonoids (2,000 mg/1,000 mg daily)
• Vitamin D (400­1,000 IU daily)
• Vitamin E (400 IU daily; 800 IU for women on HRT)
• Digestive enzymes (needs and dosages vary)
• Probiotics (including acidophilus; dosages vary)
• Alpha Lipoic acid (100­200 mg twice daily)
• Biotin (1,000 mcg prior to meals)
• Calcium (1 tsp Coral Calcium daily)
• Chelated magnesium (1,000 mg daily)
• Licorice root (use if cortisol level is low)
• Phosphatidyl choline (acetylcholine precursor; use if cortisol level is low)
• Phosphatidyl serine (revitalizes nerve cells; use if cortisol level is high)
• Siberian Ginseng (use if cortisol level is high)
• Royal Maca (affects hypothalamic action; important to all hormonal therapies)

While the use of these creams or any other hormonal therapy should be initiated under the guidance of a healthcare practitioner, the creams provide an individual the ability to adjust the dosage to the exact amount needed during each phase. Supplementing with both phyto-estrogen (from natural plant sources) and progesterone will re-balance the natural monthly cycle. Pre-menopausal women should use the phyto-estrogen cream from day one through 15 of their monthly cycle (day one is first day of menses); the progesterone cream should be used from day 16 through 28. Postmenopausal women can create a cycle by choosing a day to begin using the creams. After four cycles, women should get fully retested to see whether the dosages of the creams and other supplements need further adjustment.

Women have seen amazing results after employing these creams, especially in combination with other treatments, including nutritional supplements (see above) and therapies for normalizing adrenal stress. Some women without a period for years, clinically diagnosed as being post-menopausal, have begun to menstruate again after using this system of hormonal supplementation. Most women find that the healthy, youthful aspects of their skin, hair and nails are reestablished, and they report greatly enhanced moods and feelings of well-being.

Again, it is important to look at all aspects of the reproductive system and its interplay with the endocrine system, especially adrenal health. It is equally important that women become observant and vigilant about what is happening in their own bodies. This is what it takes to maintain optimum sexual and overall health and maximize longevity.

Contact: I. Michael Borkin, N.M.D., in professional practice for 17 years, is dedicated full-time to endocrine research and is CEO/Director of The Foundation for The Advancement of Endocrine Research. He is also Director of Research and Development for Sabre Sciences. A pioneer in transdermal delivery systems, his ideas have given birth to naturopathic therapies, including Neuro Emotional Sensory Training (NEST) and Quantum Magnetic Manipulation (Q2m). He is past president of the California State Naturopathic Medical Association, and is an independent medical/nutritional consultant. Tel: 323-450-7101.

Sources

Sabre Sciences, Inc., EndoScreen Labs: hormonal test kits for women and men. (Doctors can order test panels; patients can order user-friendly testing systems.) 910 Hampshire Road, Suite P, Westlake Village, CA 91361. Tel: 888-490-7300. Web address: www.sabresciences.com.

Sabre Sciences, Inc., Transdermal Division: transdermal creams. 910 Hampshire Road, Suite P, Westlake Village, CA 91361. Tel: 888-490-7300.

The Foundation for The Advancement of Endocrine Research: 1218 S. Eastern Ave. Las Vegas, Nevada 89104. Tel: 323-450-7101. Hormonal research information (physicians only please).

Reprinted with permission from Alternative Medicine magazine, September 2000/#37. For subscription information call 800-333-HEAL (4325). Website: www.alternativemedicine.com.

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

I had the opportunity to have Dr. Borkin come to my office and show me his work. He has developed quite an interesting and comprehensive method of diagnosing hormone imbalances.

He uses a technique called Q2M (quantum magnetic manipulation) in conjunction with his version of a transdermal hormone cream which appears to have resolved many of the concerns of the older creams.

Overall though, this is an excellent summary of a natural perspective on how the hormone axis becomes imbalanced.

DEM’s Betraying us – unbelievable

Shame on the Democrats – Big Time!

Why are we being bombarded daily,   especially from the LEFT over this HEALTH-CARE issue?  This is what President Obama ran on and promised to do once in office.  How can our party come apart like this?  Wasn’t our years roaming the outlands bad enough while ruthless, greedy, insensitive leaders impoverished the “middle-class’ to the extent that they disappeared  into homelessness,  need and desperation?  Do not take hope away from those who still have a trace of it left.  This was a major issue Barack Obama ran on. The people believed him and responded – we are counting on him now  But he cannot fight this alone  or with just Speaker Pelosi (tho, thank God for her),  and a rare Sherrod Brown (Ohio thanks God daily for him) and Dennis Kucinich, one of the purist jewels of the bunch.

Where are all those other elected Democrats?  A party can not be, unless there is Team Spirit and cohesiveness.  There are too many egos with separate agendas for actual accomplishment to form and happen.  Everybody is fighting.   Hell, I was too because as I see it, the only way to truly reform this gigantic mess is to truly start over and the redraw the whole thing with single-payer.  No one can deny that social security has been successful.  Where would several generations of elders be without it?  It indeed, did work no matter how much carping goes on about it.  No one likes to pay for anything which pardon my saying so expresses a consciousness of lack which ultimately will keep us mired in – - LACK.  We should be grateful to be able to spend lavishly and wholeheartedly assure that all shall be treated to medical care as a matter of fair treatment under the law of our land.

So yes, I had my preferences too which I have had to cede to the higher good and to a man I trust.  I am willing to leave it to more educated minds than mine to figure out ways to handle the financial end of this stuff.  It can be done.  But with the Insurance companies “out of the way,”  the profit picture changes so dramatically as to be  radically unrecognizable.  That’s a good thing.   You think that the savings realized wouldn’t more than compensate for the burden that our “public option” plan would lead to?   There is no question whatsoever that all this could be done through  taxes alone without citizenry having to pay for medical care individually.  The middlemen are removed from the equation, and with the streamlining already laid out with certain modernizations – - this could be magnificent.   Herein lies the problem.

Without that MONEY from the corporate Insurance industry and its related medical community (AMA) and Big Pharma,  how would all those “poor” senators and “congressmen and women” finance their careers?  How could they get those votes if they had no money to pay for all this stuff?  Even tho President Obama said he was going to change the way business was done in Washington – - that corporate America was no longer going to “run things” there,  it is beginning to sound like its too late already.  If there is no will to do, why of course it can’t be done.  But please,  lets call a spade a spade. Finding the cleanest path to HEALTH-CARE REFORM appears not to be what is going on, but rather, how to preserve the status-quo (staying alive politically) while going through the motions  NEWSFLASH:  FAIL US NOW AND YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD!  The Independant party is about to grow big time.

This man we elected to the presidency was pursuing the higher road, wanted to serve the needs of the people with the promise that Corporate America would no longer RULE.   He has done almost everything totally right, so cool, pragmatic – just what we needed.  But he is being severely undermined.   This smart, savvy man has a plan and can get it done – we’ve never had this opportunity before!   So why must this great resistance loom so large now while the wind is still at our back and the public is hugely in Barack’s corner maintaining faith in him with massive margins asking for the “public option”

Our party must decide and quickly – integrity or greed. What’s it gonna be, believe me, we are ALL WATCHING!