Shoboshobo I noticed this piece (pasted below) on the cause of anxiety in the opinion page of the NY Times this morning. In it, Gilbert shows that people are happier with certainty and that uncertainty is the cause unhappiness. To make his point, Gilbert cites studies showing that faced with the certainty verses the uncertainty of an unfortunate circumstance, such as a chronic disease condition, those with certainty of the unfortunate event were less nervous than those for whom the predictability of the event is uncertain. In other words, it is the the ‘not knowing’ that causes mental unrest, not the actual event. Gilbert relates this information to the uncertain economic times we live in. People have a lot of fear about their economic future, their job security and so forth, which is causing an upswing in the incidence of depression, anxiety and insomnia. According to Gilbert, it is the uncertainty about the future that is causing the mental angst, not the actual outcome. If people were certain about the outcome, even a negative one, such as job loss, they would have more mental stability. Certainty gives one a course to chart, rather than aimless drifting which is difficult for the mind to deal with. This is where one’s spiritual convictions come to play. Knowing that one is in this (physical) world, but not of it (of the spiritual realm) helps one to avoid the pitfall of getting tossed around by the drama of the day. Knowing that we are mere players on this stage, but that our real place is in another dimension allows us to step out of the set, and gain perspective on the scene being played out. I will cop to a panic weekend last November, when the markets had crashed and the economy had plummeted. I credit my meditation practice with getting me through the emotional crisis. In meditation one connects to our true nature (spirit, soul . . .) and gets out of the ego-driven mind. Our true nature is our connection to the divine (tao, universal consciousness . . .). Operating from this place we are able to navigate the trouble waters, whatever they may be. Maintaining this soul-connection we have the knowledge and strength to weather the storms of life. The real challenge is in maintaining this connection to our core being. If we are able to do that the rest falls away, allowing the underlying peace and stillness of our true nature to emerge. For this reason, I advocate developing and maintaining a daily meditation practice to calm the mind, to foster this connection, and to stay plugged in. One of the keys to getting through this recession intact is to take care of oneself. Due to the increased stress of economic uncertainty, now more than ever it is of vital importance to maintain one’s physical and mental health. In doing so, you send a firm message to yourself that you are taking care of yourself. Knowing that you are able to take care and provide for your needs, and are doing so, works to develop peace of mind and eliminate the uncertainty of the future. It is certain that you will take are of your needs because you are doing just that. Taking care of yourself means developing and maintaining a regular exercise program, eating regular nutritious, satisfying meals in a relaxed space, incorporating stress reduction activities, such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, walking in nature . . . , and treating any health conditions as they arise. By taking care of yourself you reinforce that regardless of the external circumstances you are providing for your well being. In doing so you gain peace of mind in knowing that you are providing for your physical, mental and spiritual needs and maintaining inner harmony. KB May 20, 2009, 9:30 pm What You Don’t Know Makes You Nervous By Daniel Gilbert CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Seventy-six years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took to the inaugural dais and reminded a nation that its recent troubles “concern, thank God, only material things.” In the midst of the Depression, he urged Americans to remember that “happiness lies not in the mere possession of money” and to recognize “the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success.” “The only thing we have to fear,” he claimed, “is fear itself.” As it turned out, Americans had a great deal more to fear than that, and their innocent belief that money buys happiness was entirely correct. Psychologists and economists now know that although the very rich are no happier than the merely rich, for the other 99 percent of us, happiness is greatly enhanced by a few quaint assets, like shelter, sustenance and security. Those who think the material is immaterial have probably never stood in a breadline. Money matters and today most of us have less of it, so no one will be surprised by new survey results from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index showing that Americans are smiling less and worrying more than they were a year ago, that happiness is down and sadness is up, that we are getting less sleep and smoking more cigarettes, that depression is on the rise. An uncertain future leaves us stranded in an unhappy present with nothing to do but wait. But light wallets are not the cause of our heavy hearts. After all, most of us still have more inflation-adjusted dollars than our grandparents had, and they didn’t live in an unremitting funk. Middle-class Americans still enjoy more luxury than upper-class Americans enjoyed a century earlier, and the fin de siècle was not an especially gloomy time. Clearly, people can be perfectly happy with less than we had last year and less than we have now. So if a dearth of dollars isn’t making us miserable, then what is? No one knows. I don’t mean that no one knows the answer to this question. I mean that the answer to this question is that no one knows — and not knowing is making us sick. Consider an experiment by researchers at Maastricht University in the Netherlands who gave subjects a series of 20 electric shocks. Some subjects knew they would receive an intense shock on every trial. Others knew they would receive 17 mild shocks and 3 intense shocks, but they didn’t know on which of the 20 trials the intense shocks would come. The results showed that subjects who thought there was a small chance of receiving an intense shock were more afraid — they sweated more profusely, their hearts beat faster — than subjects who knew for sure that they’d receive an intense shock. That’s because people feel worse when something bad might occur than when something bad will occur. Most of us aren’t losing sleep and sucking down Marlboros because the Dow is going to fall another thousand points, but because we don’t know whether it will fall or not — and human beings find uncertainty more painful than the things they’re uncertain about. But why? A colostomy reroutes the colon so that waste products leave the body through a hole in the abdomen, and it isn’t anyone’s idea of a picnic. A University of Michigan-led research team studied patients whose colostomies were permanent and patients who had a chance of someday having their colostomies reversed. Six months after their operations, patients who knew they would be permanently disabled were happier than those who thought they might someday be returned to normal. Similarly, researchers at the University of British Columbia studied people who had undergone genetic testing to determine their risk for developing the neurodegenerative disorder known as Huntington’s disease. Those who learned that they had a very high likelihood of developing the condition were happier a year after testing than those who did not learn what their risk was. Why would we prefer to know the worst than to suspect it? Because when we get bad news we weep for a while, and then get busy making the best of it. We change our behavior, we change our attitudes. We raise our consciousness and lower our standards. We find our bootstraps and tug. But we can’t come to terms with circumstances whose terms we don’t yet know. An uncertain future leaves us stranded in an unhappy present with nothing to do but wait. Our national gloom is real enough, but it isn’t a matter of insufficient funds. It’s a matter of insufficient certainty. Americans have been perfectly happy with far less wealth than most of us have now, and we could quickly become those Americans again — if only we knew we had to. Daniel Gilbert is professor of psychology at Harvard University and author of “Stumbling on Happiness.” More of his writing and videos of his appearances can be found at his Web site .

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Maintaining Inner Peace to Provide Certainty During Uncertain Times

The wandering sage has finally returned from his travels. It is always good to visit distant places. It gives you a whole new perspective on things. People are basically the same wherever you go. They all have hopes and dreams as well as worries and fears. The problems arise when the worries and fears outweigh the hopes and dreams. It really feels like all of this financial pandemic crisis stuff causes a lot more stress and tension in people than is necessary. I don’t really get the sense that the mainstream media is helping at all. They seem to revel in sensationalizing all of it which only makes things worse. And while we may supposedly be in a recovery now all of the problems with population, limited resources, peak oil, climate change and economic meltdown are still escalating. Fortunately, with the arrival of spring (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) there is the feeling of rebirth and a new wellspring of energy that is bubbling up. We need to tap into this energy and make use f it. Too often it can feel like our problems are taking over our life. When we can feel a real connection to the Earth and the energy of the natural world those problems shrink down to a more manageable size. So, as with many of these posts, I’ll leave you with these simple words… Remember to Breathe

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return of the sage

I found the recipe a while back on the WHO website & have recently run across it in my files. The recipe is for an electrolyte replacement beverage that could be used instead of Gatorade. This one is not neon & thus is safer. Electrolyte replacement is necessary after extreme fluid loss, such as after a bout of diarrhea or vomiting. Athletes drink Gatorade due to the electrolyte loss through perspiration. 3/4 t sea salt 1/2 t backing soda 4 t cream of tarter (or eat 2 bananas for potassium) 1T sugar 1 liter of water optional: 1T orange juice or 2t lemon juice

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Natural Gatorade (Electrolyte Replacement Drink)

Here are 3 more cleanse/flushes for kidney stones, parasites and the colon. In Chinese medicine cleanses/flushes utilizes the purging technique in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) herbology. Purges are only to be used for robust patients with excess conditions, and are contra-indicated for deficiency (fatigue, pale complexion and other signs). Please consult with a TCM practitioner prior to commencing a flush/cleanse to be certain it is an appropriate technique to use with your constitution. See comments about this issue included with the comments about the liver cleanse in the previous post. KB KIDNEY CLEANSE ¼ cup dried Hydrangea root ¼ cup Gravel root ¼ cup Marshmallow root Black cherry concentrate 4 bunches of fresh parsley Goldenrod capsules or herb Vegetable glycerine Ginger capsules Uva Ursi capsules Vitamin B complex ( brewer’s yeast tablets) Magnesium oxide tablets (300 mg) 2 clean glass jars with lids Procedure: Soak the roots in 10 cups of clean cold water in a glass container overnight. Add black cherry concentrate, heat to boiling and simmer for 20 minutes. Cool. Pour the remainder through a bamboo or glass strainer into a glass jar and refrigerate. Rinse fresh parsley, then boil in 1 quart of water for ten minutes. Cool. Discard parsley and refrigerate liquid. Each morning, pour together ¾ cup of the root mixture and ½ cup parsley water. Add 20 drops of goldenrod tincture and 1 tablespoon of vegetable glycerin. Keep cold, and drink in ¼ cup doses throughout the day. Take one ginger capsule with each meal ( 3 per day ). Take one Uva Ursi capsule at breakfast and two at supper. Take one brewer’s yeast tablet daily. Take 300 mg magnesium oxide daily. Ask at your local natural food store about sourcing the roots mentioned. In Asheville the French Broad Food Co-op has a large herbal department. KB PARASITE CLEANSE Recently, there has been a growing awareness about the importance of cleansing our bodies of wastes. The colon carries a heavy load of toxins in many people due to improper diet. Cleaning the colon is of paramount importance. However, there may be other treatments required as well, namely a parasite cleanse . There are over 150 diseases that are related to parasite infestations . In Third World countries, it is customary to cleanse the body of parasites twice a year. Most Westerners have forgotten that their own ancestors used to do this as well, until reminded by the recent books of Dr. Hulda Clark. Many people who travel abroad come back sick, often carrying parasites, which are spread unknowingly to friends and family. In addition, parasites are often contracted from family pets. Signs of parasitic infestation usually appear when parasites are abundant and actively growing in the body. There may be a yellowish cast to the face; fast heartbeat; chest pain; pain in the navel; loss of appetite; blurry vision; pain in the back, thighs, or shoulders; itchy rectum; unclear thinking; forgetfulness; lethargy; slow reflexes; gas and bloating; numb hands; burning sensation in the hands; dryness of the lips; or grinding of teeth at night. However, there can be a lower grade parasite infestation without any overt symptoms. To kill the parasites of whatever variety, it is necessary to consume a product containing wormwood, the green hulls of black walnut , and cloves . These come packaged in capsules in various formulations. Hana Kroeger of Boulder Colorado was the originator of this treatment many years ago, and has proven its effectiveness many thousands of times. In addition, citrucidal, garlic, raw onions and goldenseal are beneficial when dealing with parasites. COLON CLEANSE Bile from the liver stimulates the colon to contract in a rhythmic sequence, pushing along the digested mass. The colon consists of a series of pouches. If any of the pouches becomes filled with putrefying material, it will absorb toxins along with the water it normally absorbs, and disease will result. If the pouch becomes infected, it is designed to swell outward and produces a little bag called a diverticuli. These can be very painful, and the condition of diverticulitis is quite debilitating. In addition, the colon can attempt to protect itself by secreting a very heavy mucous lining, which interferes with the absorption process. This can be shed through the action of a good quality colon cleanser, such as Magnesium. Constipation can result from too little bile entering the intestines, usually because the liver is plugged. Constipation results in the reabsorption of toxins, producing a whole host of problems, up to and including cancer. Commercial laxatives are short-term quick fixes that ultimately cause the colon to lose its muscle tone and be unable to eliminate without help. Ozonated water enemas and herbal laxatives are far preferred, with fiber at the top of the list for maintaining good colon health. In extreme cases, it is sometimes necessary to have a series of colonics with a trained professional. The best results are obtained with ozonated water . After the parasite cleanse, the liver cleanse and the colon cleanse , it is advisable to have a series of coffee enemas , every other day for two weeks, to pull further toxins from the liver. Use 4 oz of coffee brewed from fresh beans (Folger’s red can), in one quart of warm water. It is essential to have a thriving colony of acidophilus and bifidus in order to properly absorb nutrients, and to prevent candida from overgrowing. Humans exist because of a symbiotic relationship with these bacteria, which enable us to absorb our nutrients from the intestine. For all of these reasons, it is necessary to keep the colon clean and in good operating order.

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Kidney Stone Flush, Colon & Parasite Cleanse/Flush

Here’s my newest, favorite soup recipe. Is it ever delicious. I garnished it with a dollop of raw/cultured red cabbage that I found in a package in the refrigerator section at Earthfare. The red color popped beautifully popped in the bowl of the golden yellow soup, as did it’s tartness pop the flavor of this creamy potage. The recipe is from the cookbook of my favorite vegetarian restaurant in NYC: Angelica’s Kitchen. Peter Berley, the author of my 2nd favorite vegetarian cookbook: The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, was a prior chef at Angelica’s Kitchen in earlier days, and is credited for recipe development. I see similarities and influences in the recipes and cooking styles of the 2 books. I keep an herb garden with staples like rosemary, sage, oregano, basil, thyme and so on, ensuring that I always have fresh herbs on hand to throw in a pot of whatever I’m cooking. I’ve made adjustments to the proportions and amounts of some ingredients and streamlined the directions a little bit. I always add a strip of kombu when cooking beans. It aids in their digestibility. You’ll find it in packages in the macrobiotic section at the natural food store. I highly recommend Mitoku’s gold rimmed packaged kombu from the Natural Import Company. It’s of a particularly high quality. The kombu is thick and comes from the part of a particular Japanese cove where the kombu has ideal growing conditions. There’s a link to their website on the bottom on the resources page of my website: www.AcupunctureAsheville.com KB 4C dried chickpeas, washed and soaked overnight Spring water 2 celery stalks 1-2 bay leaves 2 rosemary branches 6-8 fresh sage leaves 1/3C olive oil 4C diced yellow onions: 2 onions 1/2C garlic cloves, peeled: 1 1/2 heads 1/2C Fresh sqeezed lemon juice: 3 lemons sea salt and black pepper to taste 1 strip kombu (KB) Place the beans in a large pressure cooker with herbs, kombu and water to cover beans by 1″ or so. Bring to high pressure, lower heat and cook 45 minutes. While beans are cooking, heat oil in a large frying or saute pan over low heat. Stir in onions and garlic, and cook over lowest possible heat until beans are done: about 40 minutes. When beans are done, discard celery and herbs. Add the onions and garlic to the beans and puree. Add water as needed to make a thick soup. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. You’ll love it! The Angelica Home Kitchen: Mc Eachern Leslie. Ten Speed Press 2003, p132.

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Chickpea-Garlic Soup Mmm, Mmm Good

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead ; follow him on twitter . “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee Bruce Lee was a paragon of cool and an icon of the ultimate bad-ass. Not only were his martial arts skills incredible, but he had such an impressive physique that even bodybuilders in the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger admired him. What’s more impressive is that Bruce trained his body without ever stepping into a gym and with very little use of weights or machines. Here are just a few of Lee’s physical feats : Performed one-hand push-ups using only the thumb and index finger . Could hold an elevated v-sit position for 30 minutes or longer. Could throw grains of rice up into the air and then catch them in mid-flight using chopsticks. Could break wooden boards 6 inches (15 cm) thick. Performed 50 reps of one-arm chin-ups. While you may not get to Bruce Lee’s level overnight, you can start getting in shape without the use of a lot of fancy (and expensive) equipment. You can do it from the comfort of your own home, in a space as large as a bathroom. Part of the reason I started training without a gym was because I began training in Jeet Kune Do (Bruce Lee’s method of martial arts). But I also got tired of paying monthly gym dues. At the time, I was looking for things I could cut out of my monthly budget to save a little extra money. I thought about getting rid of my gym membership altogether, but I didn’t want to sacrifice my health or physical fitness. So I found another way. For months, I haven’t had a gym membership, yet I’m getting stronger and faster than I’ve ever been in my life. You don’t have to buy lots of weights or machines, either. The most expensive equipment you’ll need (a simple doorway pull-up bar) will cost no more than $35.00. Bruce Lee was a big proponent of holistic or total fitness. His workouts included strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility training. Here’s just a few of the ways you can start getting stronger, faster and more toned without ever stepping into a gym: Calisthenics . There are so many different bodyweight exercises out there, but we’ll start with the basics. For the lower body : lunges and squats are a good start. For upper body : pull-ups , push-ups, and shoulder press ups . For your core : crunches, chops, and reverse crunches will get you going. What’s great about bodyweight exercises is that they build functional strength. They’re natural movements you would use in real life situations like sports, self-defense, gardening, or doing chores. Plus when you do bodyweight exercises, you force your body to use more supporting and balancing muscles than you would on machines. For more bodyweight exercises check out these great resources: The Ultimate Guide to Bodyweight Training: 100 Killer Resources and for an awesome list of bodyweight exercises with illustrations check out Combat Fitness . Bonus : Top 10 Best Bodyweight Exercises for Advanced and Beginners . Isometric exercises . These are basic bodyweight exercises, but where you hold your body in a static position. Examples of these are the frog sit , v-sit, horse stance , hanging from a pull-up bar, and the plank . Calisthenic exercises will improve muscle strength over a range of motion, but isometric exercises are great for joint and stabilizing strength. Range of motion and flexibility . The best exercise I’ve found for range of motion and flexibility is yoga. The best thing about yoga is that no equipment is required and you can find tons of free resources online for yoga routines. Check out Anmol Mehta’s Yoga Illustrations to get you started. Balance. Balance is the ability to keep your equilibrium when your center of gravity is thrown off-balance. There are many ways you can practice balance every day (we won’t get into tight rope walking here). When you’re putting on your shoes or getting dressed, do it on one foot. Walk on the curb and try to walk in a straight line without stumbling. Or if you’re really ambitious, there’s always pogo sticking and unicycling. Dynamic exercise . Dynamic exercise is anything where you’re not performing routine after routine. Things are in flux and constantly changing. You’re moving in more natural movements, rather than continuous repetition of fixed patterns. I recently started doing Jeet Kune Do in the park every weekend. It’s a great way to get a good work out and learn self defense. Not to mention, practicing martial arts tends to make you inspired to further pursue and achieve higher levels of physical fitness. If you’re not into martial arts, you can always pick up a sport like tennis, handball, basketball, or take dance classes. Do whatever you’re naturally drawn to. Or if you struggle with seeing fitness as an enjoyable activity, you might consider getting a Wii Fit . There’s a lot of other opportunities for exercise that don’t include a gym that I haven’t listed here. Hiking, jogging, skiing, yardwork… The list could go on. Just use your imagination. Make it fun and change it up. That’s the great thing about exercising without a gym, there’s so much to choose from. On a side note, I will, however, say that for me, it took a lot more discipline to work out from home. It was easy for me to just go to the gym. Once I’m there, there’s not a lot else I can do other than work out. But at home, there’s always distraction, always other things you can do besides working out (like laying on the couch or surfing the internet). For me, practicing martial arts inspires me to be physically fit. While you might not have this problem, I thought it only fair to be upfront about this issue. The other motivator for me to work out from home — besides saving money — was the variety of workouts. There’s just so many more options with bodyweight exercises than machines. You can always do something to further challenge yourself. If push-ups are a breeze, you can try doing them on your fingers or in a close grip (with a medicine ball). If pull-ups become too easy, train for a one arm pull-up (insanely difficult). Attaining Bruce Lee like fitness isn’t just about doing the types workouts he did and eating the same diet. What made Bruce so great was his natural curiosity and drive to constantly explore and learn more about fitness and personal growth. (His personal library contained over 2,000 books!) Tap into your own curiosity and make fitness enjoyable. Challenge yourself to new levels of fitness. Go beyond what you think you can do. “If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” - Bruce Lee This article was written by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind . To learn more about how to reclaim your life, grab a check out his book - Reclaim Your Dreams. (Note: If you’re interested in learning more about Bruce Lee’s training methods, check out: The Art of Expressing the Human Body by John Little) — If you liked this article, please share it on del.icio.us, StumbleUpon or Digg . I’d appreciate it.

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How to Get Bruce Lee Like Strength Without Ever Going to a Gym

National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) News Advisory Noted Author, Surgeon To Address “Chinese Medicine, Western Science and Acupuncture” at NCCAM’s Inaugural Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecture What: National Book Award-winning author and surgeon Sherwin B. Nuland, M.D., discusses his experiences in China observing major surgery conducted without anesthesia, aided by acupuncture—and whether its effectiveness can be explained by current biomedical science. Dr. Nuland, author of The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine , and clinical professor of surgery at Yale University, will be the featured speaker at the inaugural Stephen E. Straus Distinguished Lecture in the Science of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. His lecture is entitled “Chinese Medicine, Western Science and Acupuncture.” Why: This lecture series was established in honor of Stephen E. Straus, M.D., founding director of NCCAM and an internationally recognized clinician-scientist, who died in 2007. Dr. Nuland, the first lecturer of the series, will draw on personal experiences as a surgeon to explore the idea that there are medical phenomena that cannot be explained by the investigational methods used by today’s biomedical science. When: Tuesday, March 10, lecture from 2:30–4:00 p.m. EST Reception and poster session from 4:00–5:00 p.m. EST Where: National Institutes of Health [NIH], Building 10, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, Maryland. Lecture: Masur Auditorium; Reception and Poster Session: Southeast Patio More information: Details are available on NCCAM’s website at nccam.nih.gov. Sign language interpretation will be provided; for other reasonable accommodation or more information call Karen Davison at 301-984-7191. Who Should Attend: The event is free and open to the public. Hosts: Presented by NCCAM and supported by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health with generous funding from The Bernard Osher Foundation. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine’s mission is to explore complementary and alternative medical practices in the context of rigorous science, train CAM researchers, and disseminate authoritative information to the public and professionals. For additional information, call NCCAM’s Clearinghouse toll free at 1-888-644-6226, or visit the NCCAM Web site at nccam.nih.gov . NCCAM 1999–2009: Celebrating 10 years of rigorous research. The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health [NIH] was established by the United States Congress to support the mission of the National Institutes of Health—improving health through scientific discovery. The Foundation identifies and develops opportunities for innovative public-private partnerships involving industry, academia, and the philanthropic community. A nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation, the Foundation raises private-sector funds for a broad portfolio of unique programs that complement and enhance NIH priorities and activities. The Foundation’s web site is www.fnih.org . The National Institutes of Health (NIH)— The Nation’s Medical Research Agency —includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .

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MD Speaks About Acupuncture Anesthesia for Surgery in Address to National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)

Periodically I get asked about diets and acupuncture for weight-loss. My standard answer includes something about the basic fact that weight loss is difficult and there is no magic pill. Eating a healthy, balanced diet is critical and developing a regular exercise program is a must. Still many people tell be that they are eating well and exercising, but for some reason cannot lose the weight. In this case, with acupuncture and herbs we work on improving the metabolism. Others have difficulty developing a healthy lifestyle, that includes a balanced diet (no, the 4 food groups are not fast food, junk food, chocolate and coffee) coupled with regular exercise. In this case the practitioner works with the patient to help them get through the roadblocks in developing a healthy lifestyle. This can be an ongoing process. The topic of Diets opens up a large can of worms. Their are so many Diets out there, and everyone seems to be The Expert on what to eat. Here’s my take: focus on a balanced diet that emphasizes fresh whole foods, including organic produce, grains and protein sources. Obviously avoid ‘empty calories’: ‘foods’ that taste great (even are addictive) with low nutritional content and high calories. Read labels and avoid chemicals and words you don’t understand. Whole foods are the entire food, unprocessed (lots of nutrients get lost when foods are canned and frozen). This means avoiding even processed grains, such as flour and baked goods. Instead eat whole grains: rice, quinoa, amaranth, millet and so on. (You’ll find all of these in the bulk section of the natural food store, such as Whole Foods, Earthfare, Greenlife, and food co-ops). Anna Maria Colbin discusses this concept at length and has authored many books on the subject. I studied with her at the Natural Gourmet Cooking School (http://www.naturalgourmetschool.com/) when I lived in NYC, and am heavily influence by her ideas and approach because it just makes sense. Anna Marie talks about how to tell if something is a fad diet. Here’s a few tests: How long has The Diet been around? Less than 5y, 1y? FAD Are your food options severely restricted to a few odd items: grapefruit, pancakes, etc? FAD Do you just follow the diet for a specified time period: say a few weeks or until you lose the weight, and then go onto another way of eating? FAD Does the diet prescribe a way of eating the is healthy to continue for the long term, or are there food groups, vitamins and minerals and so on that are missing from the diet so that it would be unhealthy to eat that way as a life practice? FAD Did the Diet come from a book that sold so many copies that the author (usually a doctor) made a lot of money and became a celebrity? FAD So what you are looking for in terms of diet is a way of eating that will sustain you in an optimal level of health for the long term; hence, eating a balanced diet based upon whole foods . The New England Journal of Medicine just published the largest-ever study of weight loss methods which concluded that it doesn’t matter whether one follows low carbs, low fats, Atkins, Dean Ornish, Mediterranean diet, the main thing is to control calories. All of these various approaches yield the same percentage results of weight-loss and maintenance. I’ve included a New York Times article discussing the study results, below. This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the “Reprints” tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now. February 26, 2009 Study Zeroes In on Calories, Not Diet, for Loss By TARA PARKER-POPE For people who are trying to lose weight, it does not matter if they are counting carbohydrates , protein or fat. All that matters is that they are counting something. That is the finding of the largest-ever controlled study of weight-loss methods published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine . More than 800 overweight adults in Boston and Baton Rouge, La., were assigned to one of four diets that reduced calories through different combinations of fat, carbohydrates and protein. Each plan cut about 750 calories from a participant’s normal diet , but no one ate fewer than 1,200 calories a day. While the diets were not named, the eating plans were all loosely based on the principles of popular diets like Atkins, which emphasizes low carbohydrates; Dean Ornish , which is low-fat; or the Mediterranean diet, with less animal protein. All participants also received group or individual counseling. After two years, every diet group had lost — and regained — about the same amount of weight regardless of what diet had been assigned. Participants lost an average of 13 pounds at six months and had maintained about 9 pounds of weight loss and a two-inch drop in waist size after two years. While the average weight loss was modest, about 15 percent of dieters lost more than 10 percent of their weight by the end of the study. Still, after about a year many returned to at least some of their usual eating habits. The lesson, researchers say, is that people lose weight if they lower calories, but it does not matter how. “It really does cut through the hype,” said Dr. Frank M. Sacks, the study’s lead author and professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. “It gives people lots of flexibility to pick a diet that they can stick with.” Dr. Sacks said that to reduce bias the researchers avoided associating any of the diets with well-known commercial eating plans. While attendance at counseling sessions was linked with better weight loss, that was not true for every dieter. In some groups, people lost large amounts of weight even though they attended only a few counseling sessions. The real question for researchers, Dr. Sacks said, is what are the biological, psychological or social factors that influence whether a person can stick to any diet. “The effect of any particular diet group is minuscule, but the effect of individual behavior is humongous,” Dr. Sacks said. “We had some people losing 50 pounds and some people gaining five pounds. That’s what we don’t have a clue about. I think in the future, researchers should focus less on the actual diet but on finding what is really the biggest governor of success in these individuals.” Home Health Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company

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Study Finds No Difference in Low Fat, Carb or Protien Diets for Weight-loss.

I was just wat ching Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Power of Intention on PBS this afternoon. He highlighted some interesting medical research on the health benefits of preforming acts of kindness. Apparently researchers have studied the effects of acts of kindness on both the giver, receiver and the witnesses and have concluded that preforming acts of kindness increases serotonin levels and strengthens immune function in both the giver, receiver and witnesses of acts of kindness. Serotonin’s are brain neurotransmitters, a type of endorphin. Increased levels in serotonin’s are seen in happy people: increased endorphin levels are the brain chemicals responsible for the ‘runners high’. Many of the anti-depressant drugs function to increase brain serotonin levels. Researchers have found that witnessing, giving or receiving acts of kindness will increase these brain chemicals, in addition to strengthing immune function. It doesn’t get more empowering than that! KB

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Randon Acts of Kindness Improve Health

Patients periodically ask me about whether I include vitamin therapy in my practice. I do not, for a couple of reasons: I feel that if one is eating an organic, well balanced diet that includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables s/he will naturally get her/his basic nutritional needs met, and therefore supplementing is unnecessary. On this point, however, mention must be made to the importance of eating an organic diet, which studies have shown are much higher in vitamins and minerals than their conventionally grown counter parts. I remember well a study done by Rutger’s University in the early ’90’s which set out to prove that organic produce is no higher in vitamin content than conventionally grown produce. However, the researchers were quite surprised to discover that the opposite is true: organically grown produce is significantly higher in vitamins and minerals than conventionally grown produce. Also, eating a well rounded diet is important here. If food groups are eliminated (contrary to what you may be thinking, chocolate is not a food group) or if the diet is based on fast food or junk food, then taking a general multi-vitamin may be needed to make up for vitamins and minerals lacking in the diet. Many of the vitamins end up in the bottom of the septic tank. When I was studying in acupuncture college, one of my fellow students previously worked for a vitamin company in NJ. He told us a couple of astounding facts. First, he said that if you talk to the workers who clean out the septic tanks you’ll find a cache of vitamin pills at the bottom with their names still imprinted. They were never broken down by the digestive system and integrated into the body. So it makes me wonder how many of these vitamins that are being swallowed are actually being assimilated. He also said that most of the vitamins made in the US were all being manufactured by the same company he worked at in NJ, regardless of brand and price. The company might use different binders, but there is not a whole lot of difference between the vitamins being sold over the counter (OTC) in the various drug, health food, and vitamin stores,regardless of the price charged, excepting packaging. For this reason, I have a couple of brands that I order from for patients using nutritional therapy that are only available to health care practitioners, and are not sold OTC. I am assured of the high quality and assimilation of these products. The vitamin industry is a multi-billion dollar, sales driven industry. I am suspicious that motive for profit outweighs any true health benefits of these products. The New York Times reported this week in the Science Times that “In the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that extra vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life.” Here is the article for your perusal. KB This copy is for your pe rs onal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the “Reprints” tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now. February 17, 2009 Well Vitamin Pills: A False Hope? By TARA PARKER-POPE Ever since the Nobel Prize -winning biochemist Linus Pauling first promoted “megadoses” of essential nutrients 40 years ago, Americans have been devoted to their vitamins . Today about half of all adults use some form of dietary supplement , at a cost of $23 billion a year. But are vitamins worth it? In the past few years, several high-quality studies have failed to show that extra vitamins, at least in pill form, help prevent chronic disease or prolong life. The latest news came last week after researchers in the Women’s Health Initiative study tracked eight years of multivitamin use among more than 161,000 older women . Despite earlier findings suggesting that multivitamins might lower the risk for heart disease and certain cancers, the study, published in The Archives of Internal Medicine, found no such benefit. Last year, a study that tracked almost 15,000 male physicians for a decade reported no differences in cancer or heart disease rates among those using vitamins E and C compared with those taking a placebo. And in October, a study of 35,000 men dashed hopes that high doses of vitamin E and selenium could lower the risk of prostate cancer . Of course, consumers are regularly subjected to conflicting reports and claims about the benefits of vitamins, and they seem undeterred by the news — to the dismay of some experts. “I’m puzzled why the public in general ignores the results of well-done trials,” said Dr. Eric Klein, national study coordinator for the prostate cancer trial and chairman of the Cleveland Clinic’s Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute. “The public’s belief in the benefits of vitamins and nutrients is not supported by the available scientific data.” Everyone needs vitamins, which are essential nutrients that the body can’t produce on its own. Inadequate vitamin C leads to scurvy, for instance, and a lack of vitamin D can cause rickets . But a balanced diet typically provides an adequate level of these nutrients, and today many popular foods are fortified with extra vitamins and minerals. As a result, diseases caused by nutrient deficiency are rare in the United States. In any event, most major vitamin studies in recent years have focused not on deficiencies but on whether high doses of vitamins can prevent or treat a host of chronic illnesses. While people who eat lots of nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables have long been known to have lower rates of heart disease and cancer, it hasn’t been clear whether ingesting high doses of those same nutrients in pill form results in a similar benefit. In January, an editorial in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute noted that most trials had shown no cancer benefits from vitamins — with a few exceptions, like a finding that calcium appeared to lower the recurrence of precancerous colon polyps by 15 percent. But some vitamin studies have also shown unexpected harm, like higher lung cancer rates in two studies of beta carotene use. Another study suggested a higher risk of precancerous polyps among users of folic acid compared with those in a placebo group. In 2007, The Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed mortality rates in randomized trials of antioxidant supplements . In 47 trials of 181,000 participants, the rate was 5 percent higher among the antioxidant users. The main culprits were vitamin A, beta carotene and vitamin E; vitamin C and selenium seemed to have no meaningful effect. “We call them essential nutrients because they are,” said Marian L. Neuhouser, an associate member in cancer prevention at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. “But there has been a leap into thinking that vitamins and minerals can prevent anything from fatigue to cancer to Alzheimer’s . That’s where the science didn’t pan out.” Everyone is struggling to make sense of the conflicting data, said Andrew Shao, vice president for scientific and regulatory affairs at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a vitamin industry trade group. Consumers and researchers need to “redefine our expectations for these nutrients,” he said. “They aren’t magic bullets.” Part of the problem, he said, may stem from an inherent flaw in the way vitamins are studied. With drugs, the gold standard for research is a randomized clinical trial in which some patients take a drug and others a placebo. But vitamins are essential nutrients that people ingest in their daily diets; there is no way to withhold them altogether from research subjects. Vitamins given in high doses may also have effects that science is only beginning to understand. In a test tube, cancer cells gobble up vitamin C, and studies have shown far higher levels of vitamin C in tumor cells than are found in normal tissue. The selling point of antioxidant vitamins is that they mop up free radicals, the damaging molecular fragments linked to aging and disease. But some free radicals are essential to proper immune function, and wiping them out may inadvertently cause harm. In a study at the University of North Carolina , mice with brain cancer were given both normal and vitamin-depleted diets . The ones who were deprived of antioxidants had smaller tumors , and 20 percent of the tumor cells were undergoing a type of cell death called apoptosis, which is fueled by free radicals. In the fully nourished mice, only 3 percent of tumor cells were dying. “Most antioxidants are also pro-oxidants,” said Dr. Peter H. Gann, professor and director of research in the department of pathology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “In the right context and the right dose, they may be able to cause problems rather than prevent them.” Scientists suspect that the benefits of a healthful diet come from eating the whole fruit or vegetable, not just the individual vitamins found in it. “There may not be a single component of broccoli or green leafy vegetables that is responsible for the health benefits,” Dr. Gann said. “Why are we taking a reductionist approach and plucking out one or two chemicals given in isolation?” Even so, some individual vitamin research is continuing. Scientists are beginning to study whether high doses of whole-food extracts can replicate the benefits of a vegetable-rich diet. And Harvard researchers are planning to study whether higher doses of vitamin D in 20,000 men and women can lower risk for cancer and other chronic diseases. “Vitamin D looks really promising,” said Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, the chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an investigator on several Harvard vitamin studies. “But we need to learn the lessons from the past. We should wait for large-scale clinical trials before jumping on the vitamin bandwagon and taking high doses.” Home Health

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Studies Show Vitamins Do Not Cure Disease or Prolong Life