Culinary herbs seldom began their human histories as mere flavorings. Indeed, the kitchen herb and spice rack could reasonably be dubbed the kitchen medicine chest and several useful books have done just that. Oregano is a good example of a culinary herb that leads a double life. In much of the world, this plant continues to be used not just to flavor and preserve food, but also to disinfect surfaces and wounds, to calm the stomach, and much more. For some of these purposes, oregano extracts may still be as good or better than many of the modern alternatives. In other words, the health benefits of oregano are not only "traditional" or "folk remedies."
Health Care Crisis
Written by Bernie Siegel, MD
The present health care crisis is not just related to
health care it is a crisis related to what is happening
in our society. We have become depersonalized
as a society, invested in technology and not the
experience people are having. Studies verify what
happens to children who grow up unloved and experiencing indifference,
rejection and abuse. By midlife if they haven’t killed
themselves and others while seeking revenge and experiencing
guilt related to their actions, almost one hundred percent of
them have experienced a major illness, while loved children
have one-fourth the serious illness rate.
OURS IS A POLLUTED WORLD. At home, at work, at school we are likely to be exposed to substances that can sicken and even kill us. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat—all can be contaminated with toxins that threaten our health. Other things we use in our daily lives—prescription drugs, lawn and garden chemicals, and household cleaners—often can have toxic effects that their labels do not disclose. Of the 50–60 thousand chemicals available to industry, only a few hundred have been tested for safety. Yet thousands of others have chemical structures that virtually guarantee they are toxic to humans. Consequently, we all carry a “total toxic load” from all the toxins to which we are exposed.
The Obvious Toxins: Lethal But Avoidable
You can begin to win freedom from toxins by making a detailed listing of the toxins in your everyday environment. Begin with a self-assessment: do you smoke? If you do, be aware that smoking is responsible for more than 80 percent of all cases of lung cancer and increases the risk of heart and other circulatory diseases by at least 400 percent. One puff of cigarette smoke contains 100,000,000,000,000 (10 to the power of 14) free radicals. Almost as bad, do you live with someone who smokes? If you do, be aware that the smoke coming off the end of the cigarette is likely to be more toxic than what the smoker inhales because the carcinogens coming off the end are less thoroughly burned away.
How much alcohol do you drink? If your answer is more than one glass of wine or one beer each day, you’re probably drinking too much. Don’t be influenced by the studies industry lobbies cite about alcohol being good for health. For the highly touted French Red Wine Paradox independent scientific support is shaky. In any case, lots of other drinks (teas, for example, and fruit juices) carry more protective antioxidants and no potentially toxic alcohol. Cigarette smoke and alcohol are the greatest obvious toxic threats to human health, yet they are the easiest for committed individuals to control.
GMOs—Control, Power and Money
What are the true motives behind the genetic manipulation of human and animal food crops? They have been hidden behind ethical fronts like the cure for
world hunger, disease prevention, improved
crop yields and reduced costs for consumers.
However, the driving force behind genetic engineering and genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
is proving to be far from ethical; it’s all about control, power
and money. The pharmaceutical industry
has contributed largely to the pioneering
of this technology since the 1960s to produce
hormones for human use and we’ve
benefited tremendously from a therapeutic
standpoint. Just like nature, technology
has a way of evolving but conventionally
technological advancement depends
on guidance by man. However, we may
be at the brink of witnessing an interesting
hybrid of the evolutionary process—natural selection advancing man-made
technology at a genetic level.
Everything that lives requires enzymes; humans, plants and animals.
Enzymes are protein-based substance found in every living cell. Enzymes can be likened to the starter in your automobile; they ignite the process into action and the speed is dependent on the amount of power under the hood (a full-spectrum of enzymes for specific jobs, working in powerful synchronicity to enhance performance).
Energy Therapy
Written by Robert Crayhon, MS, CNIf you have a chronic disease, where do you start looking for answers?
First you seek medical care to get a diagnosis. You try to understand what is the cause of the ailment, whether you have heart disease, arthritis, candida overgrowth or fibromyalgia. It may surprise you to learn that there is a common thread behind many of these diseases: a lack of energy in the body.
Antioxidant Digest
Written by Doctor Parris KiddAntioxidants, Our Natural Protectants: Metabolic Regulators, Antitoxins and Anti-inflammatories
Antioxidants protect us. They are the sub-stances that naturally regulate the fires within our bodies.
The fires are sparked by metabolic errors in our cells—errors that are unavoidable as our cells make and use energy for the business of life. The fires can be managed when we are young and very healthy but become harder to control as we get older. Aging is not so much bad genes as it is a slow, inexorable, cumulative consequence of tissue damage from internal fires, sparked by these unavoidable errors of metabolism.
The Multivitamin-Mineral Cornerstone of a personal program
The first step in establishing your personal vitamin program is to ensure that every day you are receiving those vitamins and other nutrients that are truly essential to the human body. Since thousands of dietary supplement products are available, claiming to benefit every manner of body function, here are some guidelines to help separate the wheat from the chaff. Let’s start with the multivitamin- mineral (MVM) product.
For us to stay healthy and active our bodies need energy…lots of energy. The energy produced by each of the trillions of cells in our bodies keeps our hearts beating, our muscles contracting, our brains functioning to send signals to the far reaches of our bodies, and our nerves carrying those signals to each of our organs to sustain life. Each day, our bodies produce and consume extraordinary amounts of energy. Let’s take the heart for example.
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