How to Survive Prostate Cancer Without Surgery, Drugs, or Radiation

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. In the US, about 221,800 men get diagnosed every year yet only about 27,500 die each year from the disease. Unfortunately, the conventional treatment for prostate cancer leaves much to be desired. Wouldn't it be nice to have a therapy that didn't involve costly and hazardous surgery, drugs, or radiation? Peter Starr, an award-winning filmmaker, recently produced the documentary Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery, Drugs, or Radiation. He's also in the process of writing a book on the same subject. In June 2004, he was in fact diagnosed with prostate cancer, and as his film and book title reveals, today, 11 years later, he's still here to share his story.

Why You Should Not Wear Contact Lenses

You are not only a human being… you’re a microbial being that provides a home to nearly 100 trillion bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other microorganisms that compose your body's microflora. Advancing science has made it quite clear that these organisms play a major role in your health, both mental and physical. Much of the research to date has focused on the role of microbes in your gut and skin health, but this is only the beginning. Your eyes have a microbiome, too, one that has been largely neglected by researchers to the extent that its functions remain unknown.1 A 2015 study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology has begun to piece together the puzzle, however, by examining the colonies of bacteria living on the eyes of people who wear contact lenses and those who do not. Their findings add to the growing knowledge that modern lifestyles are tinkering with our microbiomes… with potentially dangerous effects.

Insecticides No Longer Effective Against Mutant Lice – Coconut Oil a Better Option

Only one thing sends more shivers down the spines of school-aged children’s parents than head lice, and that is mutant head lice. Research from 2014 of lice samples from the US and Canada showed almost all of the insects (99.6 percent) had developed gene mutations making them resistant to common over-the-counter lice shampoos.1 Such shampoos often contain the toxic pesticide permethrin, which should not be placed anywhere near a child’s scalp due to the health risks alone. But now it appears the chemicals will no longer be very effective either. While medicated shampoos are touted as the best way to get rid of head lice, you have to decide whether you really want to slather your child’s hair up with pesticides, especially when they may not kill the lice and there are other effective alternatives. Coconut oil appears to be a useful option, as it’s been found to lead to 80 percent mortality in head lice after four hours.

FDA Approves Potentially Disastrous Cholesterol-Lowering Drug

One in three Americans aged 40 and over take a cholesterol-lowering statin drug, and nearly half of people over age 75 are on them, despite their risks, and the fact that “high” cholesterol is not always the enemy it’s made out to be. Statins have a long list of side effects, and may even lead to the very problem you’re trying to avoid — heart disease — as the drug inhibits both Coenzyme Q10 and vitamin K2. Statins also reduce squalene, which can raise your risk of immune system dysfunction. Now, the drug industry is rolling out yet another cholesterol-lowering medication that may turn out to be even worse than statins.

Saturated Fat Helps Avoid Diabetes

About one in three Americans now has diabetes or pre-diabetes. That's nearly 80 million people, the majority of whom suffer from type 2 diabetes – a preventable and, often, reversible condition. The problem is that many Americans are unaware that the foods they're eating could be setting them up for a dietary disaster, and this isn't their fault. Public health guidelines condemn healthy fats from foods like butter and full-fat dairy and recommend whole grains and cereals – the opposite of what a person with diabetes, or any person really, needs to stay healthy. For the last 50 years, Americans have been told to eat a high complex carbohydrate, low saturated fat diet. Even diabetics have been told to eat 50 to 60 percent of their daily calories in the form of processed carbs! Research, including a new study involving dolphins, again suggests that this movement away from traditional full-fat foods is contributing to the rising rates of diabetes and metabolic syndrome across the globe.

Why Smells Can Trigger Strong Memories

You catch a whiff of pumpkin pie, school glue, newspaper, or fresh-cut grass and suddenly you’re immersed in a flurry of vivid memories, often from your childhood. What is it about smells that can trigger memories so strong and real it feels like you’ve been transported back in time?

The Major Role Soybean Oil Plays in Obesity and Diabetes

Soybean oil is the most common oil used in the US, but this is a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to 1900, cooking was done with lard and butter, and the processed foods that are now primary sources of soybean oil (and other soy ingredients) were nonexistent. In the 1950s, saturated fats were condemned on the basis of them raising your cholesterol and causing heart disease – a theory that has since been proven wrong, but which is still lingering in medical offices and public nutrition regulations. Partially hydrogenated soybean oil was developed to replace saturated fats like butter and lard in the food supply. Not only did consumers embrace it, but food manufacturers did even more so because of its low cost, long shelf-life, and stability at room temperature. There was just one problem: partially hydrogenated oils are sources of trans fats, which are now known to cause chronic health problems such as obesity, asthma, auto-immune disease, cancer, and bone degeneration. Yet, even if you take the hydrogenation process out of the picture, soybean oil is still detrimental to your health. While trans fats are now being pulled out of processed foods due to their extreme health risks, soybean oil is still fair game… but it shouldn’t be – and here’s why.

While Mandatory Vaccination Laws Are Enacted, Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Is Failing

SB 277, signed into law on June 29, 2015, denies parents in California the legal right to file a personal belief exemption to vaccination for religious and conscientious so their children can attend school. Drug companies donated more than $2 million to the California lawmakers who decided to gut the human right to informed consent to medical risk taking and the civil right to a school education. Since 1988, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has adjudicated more than 14,000 petitions for vaccine injury and death; $3.2 billion has been paid to 4,150 claimants; the remaining cases were dismissed.

Make Your Own Coffee and Coconut Oil Exfoliating Scrubs

Coffee beans aren’t only invigorating as a beverage, they’re also revitalizing when used as a body scrub! Repurposed coffee grounds could become the best part of your morning routine. Trust me, once you try this you’ll have no trouble at all rousing yourself out of bed in the morning. Imagine stepping into a steaming hot shower, and literally scrubbing away the sleep and slumber with fragrant ground coffee, silky coconut oil, and pure essential oils! You’ll leave the shower feeling so energized, and with that lovely, natural glow – people will ask where you’re hiding the fountain of youth! Consider the benefits of improved circulation, smooth + hydrated skin, and positively looking like you woke up ready to take on the world with that fresh, bright face of yours.

Will New 2015 Dietary Guidelines Reverse Four Decades of Foolish Fat Phobia?

Every five years, the US Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) convene a 15-member panel to update the nation’s dietary guidelines. The panel’s mission is to identify foods and beverages that help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, promote health, and prevent disease. In addition to guiding the public at large, the guidelines significantly influence nutrition policies such as school lunch programs and feeding programs for the elderly. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) scientific report is an integral part of this process, as it serves as the foundation for the development of the dietary guidelines. The DGAC submitted its 2015 Scientific Report to the HHS and USDA in February 2015, which, to many people’s surprise, included the elimination of warnings about dietary cholesterol. Another remarkable turnaround is the Advisory Committee’s revised stance on fats. As noted in a recent Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)paper, the latest advisory report reverses nearly four decades of nutrition policy.