Total Health Breakthroughs: Free Natural Health Newsletter and Alternative Health Articles

By now, most people are aware that in our fight against chronic disease, the first order of business is to fight internal inflammation. While we think of this as being an adult problem, did you know it can actually start in childhood? As in adults, inflammation increases as weight increases, and since there are so many more overweight and obese children today, just like adults, they are experiencing Metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and even diseases like high blood pressure at alarmingly high rates. ^1,2,3

The first place to look for the cause of inflammation is the diet. Studies show that the nutritional intake of most children is high in calories, but sorely lacking in nutrients.⁴ Children’s intake of fruit juices, fruit drinks, and all types of desserts and sweets is high, but their intake of nutrient-dense vegetables is very low.⁵ And only 10 to 14% of toddlers by age 18 months are consuming any deep yellow or green vegetables. But by age 24 months, on any given day, about 25% of toddlers consume potato chips or French fries.

One of the biggest hoaxes of our time is that the sun is bad for you. They tell you to avoid it at all costs and to protect yourself with sunscreen lotion if you dare to venture outside.

Here’s the real truth…

Sunscreen lotions block the sun’s UV rays, but your skin needs exposure to these rays to make vitamin D. This is a huge problem because vitamin D is a critical nutrient for your body. It’s a powerful antioxidant and mood booster that your skin cells make with the help of sunlight.

Research shows that vitamin D is the most potent cancer fighter there is. In fact, a report from Nebraska University shows that vitamin D has the potential to lower the risk of all cancers in women over 50 by 77%.¹

Not only do sunscreens block your body’s ability to produce vitamin D, their ingredients are toxic and have never been safety tested or safety approved by the FDA.

A study in the April 2004 Journal of Chromatography found that the carcinogenic agents found in sunscreens penetrate the skin. This means that when you use most sunscreens, you absorb toxic chemicals. And with so-called experts telling you to generously apply it every few hours, you are likely absorbing a dangerous amount.

The Centers for Disease Control also reports that 97% of Americans are contaminated with a widely used sunscreen ingredient called oxybenzone. It’s linked to allergies, hormone disruption, low birth weights, cell damage, and more. It is also a chemical that helps other chemicals penetrate the skin.²

One of the biggest areas of dietary confusion today is whether saturated fat is bad for us or not. For the most part, conventional medical thought remains firmly in the “saturated fat is bad for you” corner, while a growing number of people feel that not only is the jury still out on saturated fat intake, it may even have health benefits.

Sugar’s about to show up on food labels, all dressed up as a new “natural ingredient” and a better alternative to the demon du jour, high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Never let it be said that there are no “second acts” in the marketing of junk food.

OK, in case you haven’t been paying attention, HFCS has gotten quite a whipping in the press. The Corn Refiners Association tried fighting back, most notably with a series of commercials showing a clueless mother unable to explain why the stuff was so “bad,” but even the best PR campaign wasn’t able to put out the fire. And the death blow was delivered recently by Michelle Obama who declared any product with high-fructose corn syrup to be off-limits at the White House.

So now sugar — plain old white table sugar, the poor little guy that got displaced by HFCS, is being reinvented… this time as the “natural” healthy alternative to HFCS.

Oh, brother.

Let’s recap for a moment. Sugar is one part glucose and one part fructose (50/50). HFCS is very close to the same formula, marginally higher in fructose — 55% fructose, 45% glucose — but probably not enough to make that much difference (or at least that’s what the proponents of HFCS claim).

While the Corn Refiners Association and the Sugar Association continue to sponsor studies and media campaigns to promote their “safe, natural sweeteners,” whether people know it or not, headlines are running concurrently that attest to the dangers of the over- consumption of sugars.

Sometimes the most important pieces of a puzzle are right in front of us, and we still don’t see them. As a practicing doctor in the natural healing arts, I am consistently amazed how making one or two simple changes can have a huge impact on one’s health and well-being.

Do you find yourself forgetting where you left your car keys… or just feel like your brain is in a fog sometimes?

Contrary to popular belief, forgetfulness is not just a normal part of growing older. As you age, your brain loses critical nutrients that it needs to fire on all cylinders.

If your mental spark plugs aren’t firing like they used to, don’t worry. I’ll show you how to get your brain’s engine back to running as smooth as a Rolls Royce. You just need to know what’s missing and how to get it.

Your Brain is Begging for Nutrients

Your brain uses chemicals called neurotransmitters to transmit messages in the brain. There are millions of these messages happening every second. Neurotransmitters are conductors of these messages, allowing them to fire from one part of your brain to another.

In a word, the answer to that question is yes. For example, as Jim’s article pointed out, foods which contain nutrients with methyl groups heavily influence your genetic expression and are known to reduce the risk of several cancers, including prostate, breast, and colon cancers.

As more and more consumers become aware of the many negative health effects of over-consuming sugar in their diet, the search continues for a good replacement to sweeten foods. While the FDA has insisted that artificial sweeteners like aspartame (brand name Equal) and sucralose (brand name Splenda) are safe, they can cause side effects in many people. Headaches and muscle pain are two of the more common reported side effects, for example.¹

Most of us know that parsley is used freely in food for garnishing dishes. You may not know that it is likely to be more nutritive than the concoctions to which it adds color — and some of us actually enjoy the taste.

The parts used from the parsley plant are the root, leaves and seeds — virtually the whole plant has remarkable actions for the body.