Addiction is a powerful and terrible thing. We now know that addiction can come in many forms, and it’s just as easy for someone to be addicted to certain foods as it would be for alcohol or drugs. Until recently however, not much thought was put into the effects on certain brain chemicals in relation to food addiction. Recent studies have shown that the rises of dopamine and serotonin (chemicals that affect the pleasure centers of the brain) can be just as high from food as they would be from cocaine use. There is hope though, and there are ways to beat the foods that you may be addicted to. We offer some steps to beat the cravings, and quit the foods that make you fat.

Most overweight people don’t actually experience any more hunger than anyone else, rather they are subconsciously feeding their brains want for chemical reactions that take place as a result of the consumption of unhealthy foods. Diets that simply restrict calories often fail because they don’t address the chemistry behind weight gain. When your body craves certain chemical reactions and balances, you notice it by craving certain foods that restore that feeling and boost your dopamine and serotonin levels. For example, if you’re sitting at home by yourself all night your loneliness could easily make your brain crave a spike in dopamine to feel happier. Because of this you might often go right for the sugary snacks. Identify these types of situations or times when you indulge too much, and be conscious of what you’re doing before you dive into that pint of Ben & Jerry’s and you’ll be much more likely to avoid it next time.

Because it’s a brain chemical reaction that leads to eating, it’s actually pretty simple to break the cycle by doing things that support dopamine and serotonin production. Being social and active are both excellent ways to boost dopamine, so try getting out more often. If you’re stuck at home, find something active to do; even if it’s just cleaning the house. Make it fun though, crank up some music that makes you want to move around more. Social exercises are also good for serotonin, so call up an old friend or strike up conversations at work that you might not normally take the time to. Creating, developing, and maintaining relationships are huge for boosting serotonin.

It’s OK to slip sometimes, and it’s also perfectly fine to step down gradually. Any chemical imbalance in the brain that is a result of a legitimate addiction should be treated with caution, and stepped down from. To help out, identify what times or activities are the riskiest for you to overindulge. If you need to, plan other activities during these times so the temptation isn’t as strong. It’s usually the times that you’re able to sort of “switch off” that are the most dangerous. Start shopping for healthier snacks to begin with, that way if you do catch yourself in that situation you’re at least eating healthier. Remember: baby steps.

Even during tough economic times people will always have necessities that they can’t afford to not spend money on. Everyone has to have food on the table, right? Many people resort to clipping coupons from the Sunday paper or whatever other mailings they get from local retailers and grocery stores to save a few bucks here and there. While it seems like a great way to save in theory, it can actually be a money trap that will cost you more in the long run. Not only can this form of saving actually cost you money, but it can also lead to other shortcuts that cost you your health.

Most of the coupons you see in advertisements are for products that are either overpriced to begin with, or items that you never really needed in the first place. The only way that coupons for brand name products actually save you money is if they bring the price below that of their generic or store brand counterparts. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that advertising that included the word “FREE” was more likely to garner sales than items priced so low that they might as well be free. Even Amazon.com offered free shipping they noticed that orders jumped exponentially over offering shipping at a negligible amount as low at 10 cents.

Some of the most popular coupons are for the unhealthiest types of foods. Sugary drinks and salty snacks, as well as processed and frozen foods are the most common food coupons you see. The trick here is that by using coupons and “saving” you’re forgetting that you’re loading up on junk food. Junk is exactly the term to use for these types of foods, as it refers to something you simply don’t need. If you think that you’re using a 25 cent coupon to buy a $1 bottle of soda to save 25 cents, you’re wrong. You’ve actually just wasted 75 cents. Because these kinds of foods are so unhealthy you may also be adding to your own long term medical costs as well, and that’s certainly not a savings.

Overdoses on prescription drugs are the leading cause of unintentional injury or death in the US and while it’s sad that these situations are able to take place at all, it’s much worse when negligence on behalf of the prescribing physician is directly to blame. Take the case of Andre Duncan for example, a young girl from Henderson, NV who died in 2005 as a direct result of toxicity from a combination of opiates, antidepressants, and pain killers prescribed by her doctor. Maybe Andrea needed all these medications, maybe she didn’t The world will never know because Dr. Kevin Buckwalter admitted in a taped deposition that he prescribed her all these medications because he “did not have time” to fully examine her. Years later, Dr. Buckwalter is countersuing the Duncan family along with 6 other families with cases against the former doctor. Former, as in: the DEA and Nevada Board of Medical Examiners revoked his license in 2006.

At least 6 cases exist where individuals either overdosed and died or committed suicide after taking drugs prescribed by Kevin Buckwalter. In his deposition for the Duncan case, he essentially admits the lack of detail in his former practice. He states that he did not “routinely” keep records of prescribed medications, which is in direct violation of state medical laws. He took his patients word for it on what sorts of medications they were taking, and seems to have made a habit out of providing larger than normal quantities of these drugs just because the patient asked for it. He prescribed Andrea Duncan xanax in quantity of 300 at a time, and once prescribed over 310 oxycodone pills to a drug addict named Staci Voyda over an 11 day period. 2 weeks after that prescription was filled, Staci took her own life.

Stories like this happen all too often, and it’s unfortunate that they only make the news after so many have been hurt or killed. It’s simply appalling that after all these years, Buckwalter is taking action against the Duncan family. He’s already been captured on film admitting that he didn’t properly examine a patient, didn’t order records from a previous medical facility, and gave her large amounts of multiple forms of prescription drugs simply because she said “please”. People like Kevin Buckwalter give new meaning to the term “practicing medicine” because he simply doesn’t know how to do it, and we should all be thankful that his license was revoked years ago.

Between 1999 and 2006 the number of hospitalizations from prescription drug poisoning jumped by over 50%, and those drugs have taken the top spot away from auto accidents in regard to unintentional injury death. Be sure your doctors are taking proper and professional care of you and your loved ones, because there are still plenty of Kevin Buckwalters out there that need to be made examples of.

Sources:

Las Vegas Sun

ProPublica

Everyone knows how bad sodas and soft drinks are bad for you. Whether it’s the caffeine or in many cases high fructose corn syrup, it’s no secret that excessive consumption of sugary drinks leads to a number of health issues including diabetes and weight gain. Research by the American Heart Association on sugar intake found that the safe allowed amount of added sugar (sugars not found naturally in food sources) per day is 6 teaspoons for women, and 9 for men. Consider then that a single 12 ounce can of soda in most cases contains around 10 teaspoons. It’s not just soft drinks though; many fruit juices contain the same amount or more of added sugars. This buildup of additional sugar can cause major problems beyond heartburn and high blood pressure, and it only gets worse.

The human body isn’t designed to process the amounts of sugar that most of us consume, and when we do, we break the process that allows our bodies to maintain chemical balances. When these balances get out of whack, normal bodily functions are impaired. This includes digestive enzymes, which can lead to certain molecules slipping right past the intestine and into the bloodstream. At this point they’re recognized as foreign substances, and the immune system attacks them as such. Autoimmune disorders like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis can result from this, as well as other conditions of the sort.

Don’t think you can avoid problems by switching to “diet” soft drinks either. Sugar substitutes like aspartame have their own set of problems that can be just as bad. Out of a 2,500 person study of diet soda drinkers, over 60% were more likely to suffer a stroke or heart attack versus those who didn’t drink diet soft drinks. Even sports drinks and teas contain well over the daily recommended intake of sugars, so there aren’t too many places to turn. The best advice is to stick to what Mother Nature blessed us with in the first place: water.

If the powers that be have their way, options will no longer be an option. Last year the FDA ordered certain types of vitamin B (pyridoxamine) off the market. Not because it wasn’t safe for use or had any ill side effects, but rather because it was the active ingredient in a new pharmaceutical product and it simply “wouldn’t be fair” to the manufacturer for a cheap supplement to be available when they could make so much more money on a prescription product. The FDA seems to have it out for natural products over the past few years and new regulations have been created that threaten the existence of supplements as you know them. These unrealistic mandates will make it virtually impossible for new products to reach the new bar, and when you read what their suggested testing methods and requirements are for new products you probably won’t believe it. In case you aren’t already, you might want to sit down.

A prime example is fish oil, because it’s the subject of the most recent pharmaceutical product to use natural ingredients or supplements as their active ingredient and therefore crash the party for the natural products industry. (Lovaza uses omega 3 fish oil to help lower cholesterol.) According to the new FDA guidelines, manufacturers of fish oil supplements would have to conduct year long animal studies on their products. The animals involved would be required to take in what would be the equivalent to a human of 240,000 mg a day of fish oil. (Keep in mind that the recommended daily dosage for humans is 2,400 mg, so the FDA is requiring that they take 100 times that.) This alone would be unsafe for any being, but would go a great distance to “prove” that the supplement wasn’t safe due to the adverse reactions that would occur.

If that yearlong study sounds like a crock, the other option offered is much worse. In fact, it’s more than a million times worse. Behind door number 2 in the FDA’s supplement funhouse is the option to do a 90 day study instead, however it would be a 1,000 fold safety margin. This option requires at least 2 species of animals to be tested, one being non-rodent. The other species according to the FDA would likely be “young beagle dogs”. The animals in this shorter timed study would be required to take the equivalent of 2.4 million mg daily of fish oil. The obvious problem with this is that virtually no species on this planet could consume that much daily, so the FDA would have the easiest route possible of denying the products to be sold, and clearing the way for big pharma to run the table.

If you want to take action to prevent the implementation of such ridiculous guidelines, the day is fast approaching to do so. September 8 is being recognized as “National Call-In Complaint Day” about these efforts to undermine and subsequently destroy the natural products and supplements industry. Write and call your Representatives and Senators and tell them how you oppose these regulations. You can also write a formal petition to the FDA and fax it to 301-443-9767, and don’t forget to call the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements on September 8 at 888-723-3366 and voice your opinion. Similar attempts were made back in 1994 to destroy the industry, but when consumers rallied together they beat the system. We all have to do our parts to maintain our health freedom.

Mahatma Ghandi once said that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” While the rise of factory farms for mass production has given way to barbaric practices, it appears that the worst is yet to come. A medical team in Japan has recently revealed what they’re calling “progress” in the field of stem cell research. Their ultimate goal: generating human organs by injecting stem cells into animal embryos, or in other words playing God.

Stem cells called “pluripotent” cells can reproduce as other kinds of cells, not just their own type. For this reason, they are now being injected into pigs in order to make them generate human blood, and soon organs. This process has been done before between mice and rats, even engineering mice to be born without a pancreas- making them diabetic at birth due to the inability to make insulin. This same practice would have to take place with the pigs as well, so consider that if they want a pig to grow a human liver it would have to be missing its own liver to begin with. These experiments have been going on for years, but are just now seeing the light of day in regard to the public eye.

Organ transplantation is a tricky beast on its own without adding the dangers associated with mass food production and factory farms. In fact, most of the food borne disease comes from these farms already due to unsanitary conditions. The underlying problem is that if such a large portion of the population didn’t disregard their health in the first place there wouldn’t be such a need for organ transplantation at all. Now we have black market surgeons and people being kidnapped or in some cases murdered for their organs just so someone can buy themselves a few more years of debauchery.

It is more than likely that if this practice takes off, the incidents of disease will only increase. Cross contamination is already a huge issue with factory farms, and that’s just with animals we cook and eat. It can only become worse if we are to put organs from their bodies directly into our own. Even beyond the moral argument of this research, the ethical argument of spreading illness should be enough to sway anyone.

Sources:

UK Telegraph

The great debate over vaccinations will likely never be settled among the masses and even though most of the more popular ones like flu vaccines and ones for HPV contain numerous chemical additives that do more harm than good, people still flock to them yearly. Also taking place yearly alongside of the vaccines being administered are the side effects that many are now aware of. When you consider that such ingredients as mercury and formaldehyde are used in their makeup, it shouldn’t really be a surprise. Would you really be shocked if you had an adverse reaction from consuming either of those substances on their own were it not packaged in a syringe that you were told was good for you? Adding to the list of dangerous vaccine additives now is polysorbate 80, which has been determined by a German study to cause severe allergic reactions, sometimes culminating in death.

The team of researchers has isolated polysorbate 80 as the cause of severe immune system suppression, and in multiple cases was the direct cause of anaphylactic shock. For the record, it is also found in soaps, creams, and even foods like ice cream. Though no government agency will publicly admit the links between vaccines and disease rates, independent research continues to find skyrocketing rates of asthma, autism, and ADHD among children who have been vaccinated versus those who have not.

Polysorbate 80 has been known for well over a decade to cause infertility in mammals. Studies found that female rats injected with it had numerous problems including hormonal changes, accelerated maturation, and decreased size of reproductive organs. Because the previous mammal studies were so conclusive, there is currently a vaccine being developed as a contraceptive. It’s main ingredient? Polysorbate 80. It’s a wonder that since it’s actually being used for the purpose of infertility that it’s still allowed to be included in foods and hygiene products.

Sources:

PubMed.gov – Polysorbate 80 and anaphylactic shock

PubMed.gov – Effects on reproductive organs of rats

It’s nice to know that our government agencies in charge of protecting us and preventing disease operate on a system of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…and even if it is broke, give it a few more days before you fix it”. We sell guns to Mexican drug runners in “hope” of tracing them and preventing further crime while at the same time they are conducting armed raids of farmers markets. Should it really be a surprise that the USDA was well aware that ground turkey produced by Cargill was contaminated with salmonella but did nothing about it until over 70 people got sick and 1 person even died? That’s exactly what happened.

So let’s get this straight: raids are conducted on raw milk farms because of their “pathogenic” products that are sold among private food co-ops, but the pathogens that are in meat products and are produced for the masses are OK to let slide until the bodies start piling up? Of course agencies like the USDA maintain their sterling reputation by jumping to action when someone actually does finally die from something like this. Once recalls are announced, they’re heroes again. Why though if they knew about the contamination in 2010 would they take no action at all until deaths occurred in 2011?

Some people are calling this a “false flag” attack, one designed to cause an increase in fear over food safety. With the current state of things, and the newly adopted “food safety modernization act” it makes sense that government agencies like the USDA and FDA would want to encourage people to call for stricter regulations. We’ve already seen a case of someone threatened with jail time for growing vegetables in their own front yard, and before long you won’t be allowed to in your back yard either.

Sources:

Wall Street Journal

You may remember a story from a few months back in which a mother was charges with neglect by Child Protective Services for pursuing natural treatments for her child rather than continuing to adhere to a regimen of psychoactive drugs. After realizing the debilitating effects that Risperdal was having on her daughter, Maryanne Godboldo began holistic treatments for her daughter, and subsequently was charged with child neglect while her daughter was essentially kidnapped by CPS. In the latest development of this case, the manufacturer of the drug, Johnson & Johnson are being sued by federal and state governments for hiding dangerous effects and deceptive marketing to the tune of $1 billion.

While it comes as news to some, Johnson & Johnson has actually been under fire over Risperdal for a number of years. Failure to disclose harmful side effects, doctor pay offs, questionable sales practices, marketing to children, these are just a few of the activities that the US Department of Justice has been watching.

What’s actually sad about this situation is that the government isn’t getting involved because the drug can do damage, they’re getting in the mix because other suits exist against J&J over money paid by Medicare and Medicaid for prescriptions. Once again, it’s all just a big money game. What may even be worse is that this drug will likely not be pulled from the market. No, the government will make its money back and slap the pharma giant on the wrist before putting them back to work crafting more pills.

So far J&J has been ordered to pay over $500 million in just South Carolina and Louisiana over deceptive marketing and making misleading safety claims. The state of Texas is next in line, and has a trial scheduled for the fall already. The state of Texas has spent over $500 on its own on Risperdal since it came to market.

Sources:

Associated Press

Rueters

Many people dealing with chronic pain from conditions such as fibromyalgia could very well be seeking treatment from all the wrong places. It’s an extremely complex condition, and can also come with other issues like irritable bowel syndrome and arthritis. Dr. Daniel Arkfeld of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California says that “There are usually other things triggering it, so you have to individualize treatment for each patient.” For some of these patients, relief lies in their diets and lifestyles. Medication usually only reduces the symptoms of fibromyalgia up to 50%, and to get the other half of their lives back a number of people are turning to dietary changes.

One survey showed that 42% of people’s symptoms were worsened by certain foods. This can be in part to certain chemicals in food that trigger excess inflammation and increased sensitivity in the spinal cord which can have neurological effects. Organic foods produced without the use of pesticides and preservatives can be a great place to start, as these are the most likely to cause chemical reactions of this nature, and even something as simple as cutting back on red meat consumption has been a help with numerous patients.

A lot of cases of chronic pain are accompanied by chronic fatigue. A lot of people try to substitute caffeine for actual rest, and in doing so are causing more harm than good. Caffeine can stay in your system for hours after you’ve consumed it and prevent you from getting the real rest your body needs. Dr. Kent Horloff, MD is the founding medical director of the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, and he says that “Caffeine is a loan shark for energy. We recommend not using a lot.” He also suggests a low sugar and low carbohydrate diet for those suffering from fibromyalgia as a vast majority of patients have low adrenal functioning which can affect their metabolism and lead to hypoglycemia.

Just because Dr. Horloff recommends a low sugar diet doesn’t mean you should run to the artificial sweeteners though. Aspartame, which is what is used in most sugar free products can actually cause the activation of the group of neurons which increase pain sensitivity. Other artificial sweeteners like xylitol can cause flare ups of IBS too. In some cases, you may just have to try a process of elimination over the course of a few weeks to see what foods have effects on your pain. Fresh, organic foods are the best choices for a healthy lifestyle, and some studies have shown that supplementation of certain vitamins and minerals like magnesium can have big impacts on conditions like fibromyalgia due to its effects in regulating and inhibiting nerve receptors.