Tuesday
Aug282012

Bentonite Clay Benefits

Bentonite clay has a very strong negative ionic charge. This negative ionic charge attracts things that have a positive charge, such as heavy metals, toxins, harmful bacteria, pesticides, and other pathogens. By divine design, bentonite clay does not attach to anything beneficial in the body. The clumping action of clay binds to heavy metals and pathogens to prevent them from passing through the intestines to the bloodstream. The clay binds with these toxins and then makes an exit via the colon and the kidneys.

Bentonite clay can help alleviate rashes, eczema, food allergies, food poisoning, colitis, viral infections, and parasites. It is effective in treating many digestive conditions and also aids in weight loss. Bentonite clay remineralizes cells and tissues, alkalizes the body and is also effective in protecting our bodies against radiation.

Bentonite clay for heavy metal detoxing

When the body absorbs a toxic heavy metal, the metal is distributed throughout the body by osmotic pressure. Osmosis takes tissues with higher levels of metal and redistributes the metals to tissues with fewer quantities. Drinking liquid bentonite clay from the health food store for a week at a time, every six months or so can help remove toxins and metals from the GI tract. By removing those metals from the GI tract first, before chelating the brain, you may avoid relocating metals to the central nervous system through osmosis. In the case of toxic metals in the brain or other organs, cleansing the colon of metals drops the gradient levels there and causes the metals to naturally begin to flow out of the body via the colon.

Bentonite clay can even remove radioactive uranium, cesium or plutonium from the skin and digestive tract. If exposed to any of these elements, administer clay baths and drink bentonite clay to remove radioactive particles from the body as quickly as possible.

Bentonite for treating rashes


Rashes that are not treatable with anti-fungal creams, zinc oxide or antibiotics are often due to metal toxicity.


Those ugly diaper rashes are often a reaction to the thimerosal in the diapers. Thimerosal is 50 percent mercury and used as a disinfectant in diapers, Kotex, bandages, gauze and other products. A clay bath will draw metals out of the skin and pores of the body helping to cleanse the body.


Sunday
Aug262012

Pesticides are Deadly...Use this Guide to Avoid when Purchasing Produce

The EWG (environmental working group) cleverly calls the 12 fruits and vegetables listed below the "dirty dozen" due to their high levels of pesticides, when compared to other produce. If possible, purchase the following organic produce.

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines
7. Grapes
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

The clean 15

This next group of 15 produce are known by the EWG as the "clean 15". They are the lowest in toxic pesticides, so if you're going to buy non-organic produce, these would be the ones to buy.

1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplant
9. Cantaloupe
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

Consuming foods from the clean 15 will lower your pesticide exposure a whopping 92% when compared with the dirty dozen. By choosing five fruits and vegetables a day from the clean 15 list you'll consume fewer than two pesticides per day, whereas consuming five fruits and vegetables a day from the dirty dozen will cause you to ingest as many as 14 different pesticides every day.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036947_fresh_produce_pesticides_chemical_residue.html#ixzz24gLZS5Xz

Wednesday
Aug152012

BACK to SCHOOL - To VACCINATE or NOT?

With school starting comes the question “Should I vaccinate my child so he can enter public school?” This is a question that many parents are concerned about. Many mothers are saying “I just don’t feel good about vaccinations for my child.” Mothers’ intuition is a valued gift and should be heeded when the health of a child is important to her. We’ve been told for years that vaccinations are necessary and safe for our children but it’s hard to keep track anymore of all they are vaccinating for.
A parent who is uninformed about what vaccinations are given may say that the doctor knows best and allow multiple vaccinations to be given to the child within a few minutes. We don’t always contract multiple illnesses at once. It’s usually one at a time and our immune system goes to work to help us through that illness. When multiple illnesses in the form of vaccines are injected into the bloodstream, bypassing all of the body’s defense systems, the immune system gets overloaded. Some of these vaccines are given to newborns just minutes after birth. None of the illnesses vaccinated for are deadly and when vaccinations were introduced the illnesses were already on a decline due to better sanitation and nutrition.
Most states have an exemption form a parent can fill out so the child can enter school without having the vaccines. These forms can be obtained from the local health department.  Exemptions may include medical, religious or personal reasons.  Schools can’t keep a child out for not having vaccinations, unfortunately that information is not usually provided to the parents.
Please educate yourselves on the safety of vaccinations and then make an informed decision 

Back To School-Jo Francks MHWith school starting comes the question “Should I vaccinate my child so he can enter public school?” This is a question that many parents are concerned about. Many mothers are saying “I just don’t feel good about vaccinations for my child.”Mothers’ intuition is a valued gift and should be heeded when the health of a child is important to her. We’ve been told for years that vaccinations are necessary and safe for our children but it’s hard to keep track anymore of all they are vaccinating for. A parent who is uninformed about what vaccinations are given may say that the doctor knows best and allow multiple vaccinations to be given to the child within a few minutes. We don’t always contract multiple illnesses at once. It’s usually one at a time and our immune system goes to work to help us through that illness. When multiple illnesses in the form of vaccines are injected into the bloodstream, bypassing all of the body’s defense systems, the immune system gets overloaded. Some of these vaccines are given to newborns just minutes after birth. None of the illnesses vaccinated for are deadly and when vaccinations were introduced the illnesses were already on a decline due to better sanitation and nutrition.

Most states have an exemption form a parent can fill out so the child can enter school without having the vaccines. These forms can be obtained from the local health department.Exemptions may include medical, religious or personal reasons.  Schools can’t keep a child out for not having vaccinations, unfortunately that information is not usually provided to the parents.Please educate yourselves on the safety of vaccinations and then make an informed decision 

Friday
Aug032012

Surprise! Whooping Cough Spreads Mainly through Vaccinated Populations

Recent research shows outbreaks of whooping cough (pertussis) are actually related to the pertussis vaccine itself. Eighty-one percent of 2010 California whooping cough cases in children under 18 occurred in those fully up to date on the whooping cough vaccine. Only eight percent of those stricken were unvaccinated. According to the authors, attack rates markedly increased three years after receiving the vaccine.


DTaP vaccine effectiveness was only 41 percent among 2- to 7-year-olds and a dismal 24 percent among those aged 8-12.

“Cocooning” vaccines does not work, a Canadian study shows. "Cocooning," is a controversial practice and is being promoted by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and government health officials as a way of protecting babies from whooping cough and other infectious diseases like influenza by vaccinating their parents and other adult caregivers. In order to prevent ONE infant death, at least one million parents and adult caregivers must be vaccinated.

The US varicella vaccination program has been shown to have dramatically increased rates of shingles, while also failing to provide long-term protection from chicken pox. Researchers also concluded the vaccine is less effective than the natural immunity that existed in the general population before the vaccine.

A recent study (read: marketing ploy) claims the HPV vaccine has already conferred herd immunity on the population, despite the fact that less than half of American teens and young women have received the vaccine (and the vast majority of those have only received one-third of the recommended number of doses).

 

Sunday
Jul292012

The Potential Effects of Soy, and How it Might Decimate the Health of Your Unborn Baby and the Fertility of Future Generations

By Dr. Mercola

If you're pregnant or thinking of having a baby, you might want to take a look at some new research on the effects of plant estrogens, such as that found in soy, on a developing fetus.

According to Medical News Today1, a paper published in Biology of Reproduction2suggests that exposure to estrogenic chemicals in the womb or during childhood has the potential to negatively affect a woman's fertility as an adult.

This coincides with earlier research on neonatal effects of exposure to plant or environmental estrogens.  In studies with mice, researchers found that causes of infertility included:

  • Failure to ovulate
  • Reduced ability of the oviduct to support embryo development before ovulation, and
  • Failure of the uterus to support effective implantation of blastocyst-stage embryos

According to Medical News Today:

"The team now reports that neonatal exposure to genistein changes the level of immune response in the mouse oviduct, known as mucosal immune response. Some of the immune response genes were altered beginning from the time of genistein treatment, while others were altered much later, when the mouse was in early pregnancy.

Together, those changes led to harmfully altered immune responses and to compromised oviduct support for preimplantation embryo development, both of which would likely contribute to infertility."

Since human development of the reproductive tract continues through puberty, researchers believe that estrogenic chemical exposure to human females as a fetus, infant, child, and adolescent could have impacts on fertility. The authors suggested that minimizing the use of soy-based baby formula would be a step toward maintaining female reproductive health.

Earlier research has also found that the compound genistein impairs sperm as they swim toward the egg. Even tiny doses of the compound in the female tract could destroy sperm, which would impair your ability to conceive in the first place.

Do You Still Believe Soy is a Health Food?

Soybeans contain compounds called phytoestrogens or isoflavones, which have been found to produce a variety of mild hormonal actions within the human body by mimicking the sex hormone estrogen. An increased risk of breast cancer is another potential hazard, especially if you're exposed to high amounts of estrogen-mimicking compounds from birth.

Making matters worse, unless you're buying USDA 100% Organic soy products, chances are you're consuming genetically engineered (GE) soy, or feeding it to your baby, and GE crops—soy in particular—has also been linked to serious fertility problems. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, has similarly been implicated in causing miscarriages, and both conventional- and genetically engineered soy is typically treated with heavy doses of this herbicide.

All in all, the health hazards of unfermented soy products—particularly genetically engineered varieties—are so serious and numerous, I strongly suggest avoiding them altogether, whether you're planning a pregnancy or not. But clearly, it's of particular concern for pregnant women.

For an excellent summary of the many dangers of consuming unfermented soy, please see this previous article by The Weston A. Price Foundation.

Unfortunately, many Americans who are committed to healthy lifestyles have been hoodwinked and manipulated into believing that unfermented and processed soy products like soy milk, soy cheese, soy burgers and soy ice cream are good for them. This is a tragic case of shrewd marketing and outright lies, with the end result of producing large profits for the soy industry and impaired health for most who have been deceived into using unfermented soy long-term.

Why You Should Avoid Feeding Your Baby Soy Infant Formula

Nearly 20 percent of U.S. infants are now fed soy formula, but as demonstrated in the featured study, the estrogens in soy can cause serious long-term harm to your baby's sexual development and reproductive health. It's important to realize that feeding your baby soy formula is like giving her an estimated four to five birth control pills' worth of estrogen every day. Infants fed soy formula have up to20,000 times the amount of estrogen in circulation as those fed other formulas!

A 1997 study in The Lancet3 found that infants who consume soy formulas were exposed to phytoestrogen levels that were 6-11 times higher, on a body weight basis, than in adults consuming soy foods. And when you consider the fact that drinking two glasses of soy milk a day for one month provides enough of these compounds to alter your menstrual cycle, I'm sure you can see what a massive problem soy formula can be.

Male infants are also adversely affected by phytoestrogens. Male babies undergo a testosterone surge during the first few months of life, when testosterone levels may be as high as those of an adult male.

During this period, baby boys are programmed to express male characteristics after puberty, not only in the development of their sexual organs and other masculinity traits, but also in setting patterns in the brain characteristic of male behavior. Flooding his system with female hormones during this time can have severe ramifications on his development, including potentially smaller testes and significantly reduced testosterone levels.

Today, about 15 percent of white girls and as much as 50 percent of African-Americans girls show signs of puberty, such as breast development and pubic hair, before the age of eight. Some girls are showing sexual development before the age of three! Such premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula and exposure to other environmental estrogen-mimickers such as PCBs and DDE.

Soy Infant Formula May Reduce Your Baby's IQ

Aside from harmful endocrine disrupters, soy infant formula can also contain over 1,000 percent more aluminum than conventional milk-based formulas. Aluminum is a potent neurotoxin that has been implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders. According to a study in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics4:

"Aluminum is now being implicated as interfering with a variety of cellular and metabolic processes in the nervous system and in other tissues."

But that's not all. Many soy foods also have toxic levels of manganese. Soy formula contains up to 80 times more manganese than is found in human breast milk, and according to recent research, high concentrations of manganese can lead to brain damage in infants and altered behaviors in adolescents.5

I rarely talk about absolutes but this is one instant where I will say: I encourage you to NEVER give your child soy formula. (I guess the only exception would be if there was a catastrophe and soy formula was the only food source temporarily available to keep your baby alive.)

The Benefits of Breast Feeding, and Healthier Alternatives

One of the best gifts you can give your child is to start out their life with a sound nutritional foundation, and the best way from a health perspective to do this is by breastfeeding if you can. In fact, statistics show a clear correlation between feeding infants artificial formula and increased infant mortality within the first year.

It's important to realize that there are at least 400 nutrients in breast milk that are NOT found in formula. Of course, the healthier a mom's diet is, the healthier her breast milk will be, too. While any amount of breastfeeding is better than none at all, it is clearly to your advantage, and best for your baby's health, to breastfeed exclusively for at least the first 6 months. Then, at the age of 6 or 9 months, you can begin to supplement with solid foods (while still continuing to breastfeed as well).

As you can see from the chart below, breast milk, and animal milk are far superior to commercially available infant formulas. What exactly does your baby stand to gain by being breastfed?

  • Lower risk of respiratory tract and middle ear infections
  • Lower risk of eczema
  • Lower risk of obesity
  • Added protection against heart disease, diabetes, asthma, and allergies
  • Improved brain function and immune system function