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By Dr. Mercola

Killer at Large¹, a documentary film by Steven Greenstreet, tackles the topic of obesity, a problem of truly epic proportions where misinformation is a major driver. According to former Surgeon General, Richard Carmona, quoted in the film:

“Obesity is a terror [threat] within; it's destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out."

Presently, a full two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has also skyrocketed, tripling over the past 30 years. One in three children between the ages of 10 and 17 is now overweight or obese, and 27 percent of young adults, 17 to 24, are too heavy to join the military.

As a result, today’s children may be the first generation whose life expectancy is shorter than that of their parents...

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 110,000 Americans die as a result of obesity each year, and about one-third of all cancers are directly related to it.

Data collected from over 60,000 Canadians also shows that obesity now leads to more doctor visits than smoking. One in four Americans is also pre-diabetic or diabetic, and heart disease and cancer, both of which are associated with obesity, top the mortality charts.

Clearly, the issue of how to achieve good health has never been more pertinent to more people. Yet despite the enormity of this problem, very little is being done to effectively combat obesity.

The film examines the causes of obesity and suggests ways to reverse this deadly trend. Below, I sum up my own recommendations as well.

It’s quite clear that conventional diet and health recommendations are off the mark... Obesity and related health problems are directly attributable to flawed diet—a diet too high in carbs and poor-quality proteins, and too low in healthy fats.

Yet multinational food corporations and biotech companies have successfully manipulated the system to encourage an increase in the use of cheap foods that contribute to the obesity epidemic.

A recent report exposing the deep conflicts of interest between the processed food industry and the trade organization for food and nutrition professionals in the US also shatters any illusion you may have had that registered dieticians will provide you with well-researched, science-based nutrition advice that will improve your health...

Skyrocketing Obesity Is Related to Misleading You on Health Issues

Obesity is the result of inappropriate lifestyle choices, and unfortunately, our government has done an abysmal job at disseminating accurate information about diet and health. It’s one thing for corporations to put out misleading ads – honesty is not in the self-interest of the processed food and beverage industry. It’s another when the government falls in line with for-profit deception and becomes a propagator of corporate propaganda. And this is exactly what has happened... For example, conventional advice that is driving public health in the wrong direction includes:

• Cutting calories: Not all calories are created equal, and counting calories will not help you lose weight if you're consuming the wrong kind of calories
• Choosing diet foods will help you lose weight: Substances like Splenda (sucralose) and Equal or Nutrasweet (aspartame) may have zero calories, but your body isn't fooled. When it gets a "sweet" taste, it expects calories to follow, and when this doesn't occur it leads to distortions in your biochemistry that may actually lead to weight gain
• Avoiding saturated fat: The myth that saturated fat causes heart disease has undoubtedly harmed an incalculable number of lives over the past several decades, even though it all began as little more than a scientifically unsupported marketing strategy for Crisco cooking oil. Most people (myself included) actually need at least 50 to 70 percent of their diet as healthful fats such as organic, pastured eggs, avocados, coconut oil, real butter and grass-fed beef in order to optimize their health
• Reducing your cholesterol to extremely low levels: Cholesterol is actually NOT the major culprit in heart disease or any disease, and the guidelines that dictate what number your cholesterol levels should be to keep you "healthy" are fraught with conflict of interest -- and have never been proven to be good for your health

This is just a tiny sampling of the pervasive misleading information on weight and obesity disseminated by our government agencies. A more complete list of conventional health myths could easily fill several books. The reason behind this sad state of affairs is the fact that the very industries that profit from these lies are the ones funding most of the research; infiltrating our regulatory agencies; and bribing our political officials to support their financially-driven agenda through any number of legal, and at times not so legal, means.

Why Eating Fructose Is More Dangerous than Other Sugars

Part of what makesfructose so unhealthy is that it is metabolized by your liver to fat far more rapidly than any other sugar. The entire burden of metabolizing fructose falls on your liver, and it promotes visceral fat². This is the type of fat that collects around your organs and in your abdominal region and is associated with a greater risk of heart disease.

Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, has been a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, and his work reveals there are major differences in how different sugars are broken down and used. For example:

• After eating fructose, virtually all of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. With glucose or most other sugars, your liver has to break down only 20 percent. The metabolism of fructose by your liver creates a long list of waste products and toxins, including a large amount of uric acid, which drives up blood pressure and causes gout.
• Every cell in your body, including your brain, utilizes glucose. Therefore, much of it is "burned up" immediately after you consume it. By contrast, fructose is turned into free fatty acids (FFAs), VLDL (the damaging form of cholesterol), and triglycerides, which get stored as fat.
• The fatty acids created during fructose metabolism accumulate as fat droplets in your liver and skeletal muscle tissues, causing insulin resistance and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)³. Insulin resistance progresses to metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.
• Fructose is the most lipophilic carbohydrate. In other words, fructose converts to glycerol-3-phosphate (g-3-p), which is directly used to turn FFAs into triglycerides. The more g-3-p you have, the more fat you store. Glucose does not do this.
• When you eat 120 calories of glucose, less than one calorie is stored as fat. 120 calories of fructose results in 40 calories being stored as fat.
• Glucose suppresses your hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates leptin, which suppresses your appetite. Fructose has no effect on ghrelin and interferes with your brain's communication with leptin, resulting in overeating. That fructose triggers changes in your brain that may lead to overeating and weight gain has also been confirmed through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tests.

The Evolutionary Link Between Fructose Consumption and Fat Accumulation

No doubt you’ve heard that consuming more calories than you burn off is the root of your weight problem. Alas, this “conventional wisdom” has been firmly debunked by modern science. The fact is this: Not all calories count equally. It is in fact FAR more important to look at the source of the calories than counting them.

In short, you do not get fat because you eat too many calories and don't exercise enough. You get fat because you eat the wrong kind of calories.

As explained by Dr. Robert Lustig, fructose is "isocaloric but not isometabolic." This means you can have the same amount of calories from fructose or glucose, fructose and protein, or fructose and fat, but the metabolic effect will be entirely different despite the identical calorie count. This is a crucial point that must be understood.

The bottom line is that your consumption of carbohydrates, whether in the form of grains and sugars (especially fructose), will determine whether or not you're able to manage your weight and maintain optimal health. This is because these types of carbs (fructose and grains) affect the hormone insulin, which is a very potent fat regulator. Fats and proteins affect insulin to a far lesser degree.

As long as you keep eating fructose and grains, you're programming your body to create and store fat...

Research by another expert in this field, Dr. Richard Johnson, chief of the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension at the University of Colorado and author of The Sugar Fix and The Fat Switch, further confirms this. His work demonstrates that fructose-containing sugars cause obesity, again not by calories, but by turning on your “fat switch”—a powerful biological adaptation that causes cells to accumulate fat in anticipation of scarcity (or hibernation). His most recent book, The Fat Switch, is of major importance to anyone who has ever struggled with their weight and/or persistent health issues. Five basic truths detailed in his book include:

• Large portions of food and too little exercise are NOT solely responsible for why you are gaining weight
• Metabolic Syndrome is actually a healthy adaptive condition that animals undergo to store fat to help them survive periods of famine. The problem is that most of us are always “feasting” and rarely undergo fasting. As a result, this beneficial switch actually causes damage to contemporary man
• Uric acid is increased by specific foods and causally contributes to obesity and insulin resistance
• Fructose-containing sugars cause obesity not by calories but by turning on the fat switch
• Effective treatment of obesity requires turning off your fat switch and improving the function of your cells’ mitochondria

I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book, which is a useful tool for those struggling with their weight. Dietary sugar, and fructose in particular, is a significant “tripper of your fat switch,” so understanding how sugars of all kinds affect your weight and health is imperative.

What Are the Sources of Your Daily Calories?

According to the 2010 Report by the Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans⁴, the top 10 sources of calories in the American diet are:

1. Grain-based desserts (cakes, cookies, donuts, pies, crisps, cobblers, and granola bars) 139 calories a day	6. Alcoholic beverages
2. Yeast breads, 129 calories a day	7. Pasta and pasta dishes
3. Chicken and chicken-mixed dishes, 121 calories a day	8. Mexican mixed dishes
4. Soda, energy drinks, and sports drinks, 114 calories a day	9. Beef and beef-mixed dishes
5. Pizza, 98 calories a day	10. Dairy desserts

 

As you can see, on the whole it’s easy to see that the dietary roots of the American weight problem is linked to carbs—sugars (primarily fructose) and grains—in the form of processed foods and sweet drinks. You’ve often heard me state that soda is the number one source of calories in the US diet, which it was, based on the 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The updated NHANES survey above covers nutritional data from 2005-2006, placing grain-based foods in the top two slots.

Still, soda comes in at number four, and I still believe many people, particularly teenagers, probably still get a majority of their calories from fructose-rich drinks like soda.

I strongly recommend ditching all sodas as a first step to clean up your diet and help normalize your insulin levels. I believe it’s one of the most powerful actions you can take to improve your health and lower your risk of disease and long-term chronic health conditions. Especially when you consider that just one can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year, and increases your risk of diabetes by 85 percent! If you struggle with an addiction to soda and other sweets, I strongly recommend you consider Turbo Tapping. It's a simple and clever use of the Emotional Freedom Technique, designed to resolve many aspects of an issue in a concentrated period of time.

My Recommended Fructose Allowance

As a standard recommendation, I advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day. For most people it would also be wise to limit your fructose from fruit to 15 grams or less, as you're virtually guaranteed to consume "hidden" sources of fructose through processed food and condiments.

There certainly are exceptions to this rule. People who are aggressively exercising can consume far more, especially if consuming the calories around the time of exercise, but generally, to optimize health, most will benefit from restricting their fructose input.

Fifteen grams of fructose is not much -- it represents two bananas, one-third cup of raisins, or two Medjool dates. Remember, the average 12-ounce can of soda contains 40 grams of sugar, at least half of which is fructose, so one can of soda alone would exceed your daily allotment. If your insulin and leptin signaling is fine and you have normal body weight and don’t suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, then consuming more fruit is reasonable.

In his book, The Sugar Fix, Dr. Richard Johnson includes detailed tables showing the content of fructose in different foods -- an information base that isn't readily available when you're trying to find out exactly how much fructose is in various foods. You can also find an abbreviated listing of the fructose content of common fruits in this previous article.

Key Point: Replace Carbs with Healthful Fats!

Keep in mind that when we're talking about harmful carbs, we're only referring to grains and sugars, NOT vegetable carbs. When you cut grain/sugar carbs, you then need to radically increase:

• The amount of vegetables you eat since, by volume, the grains you need to trade out are denser than vegetables, and
• Healthful fats such as avocados, coconut oil, organic pastured egg yolks, raw grass fed organic butter, olives, and nuts such as almonds and pecans.

Avoid highly processed and genetically engineered omega-6 oils like corn, canola and soy as they will upset your omega-6/3 ratio. Of course you want to avoid all trans fats, but contrary to popular advice, saturated fats are a key component of a healthy diet that will promote weight loss.

A reasonable goal will be to have as much as 50-70 percent of your diet as healthy fat, which will radically reduce your carbohydrate intake. It can be helpful to remember that fat is far more satiating than carbs, so if you have cut down on carbs and feel ravenous, this is a sign that you have not replaced them with sufficient amounts of healthy fat.

Most people will likely notice massive improvement in their health by following this approach as they are presently consuming FAR more grain and bean carbohydrates in their diet, and any reduction will be a step in the right direction. To help you get started on the right track, review my Nutritional Plan, which guides you through these dietary changes one step at a time.

You Can Avoid Becoming a Statistic

Perhaps one of the most powerful scientific discoveries to emerge in the past several years is that the old adage “a calorie is a calorie” is patently false. Furthermore, the idea that in order to lose weight all you have to do is expend more calories than you consume is equally false. The research clearly demonstrates that even if you control the number of calories you eat, if those calories come from fructose, you are at increased risk of obesity and pre-diabetes, which includes insulin and leptin resistance, fatty liver, high blood pressure and high triglycerides.

Conventional advice tells us that obesity is simply the result of eating too many calories and not exercising enough. However, Dr. Johnson’s research, discussed above, shows that a high fructose diet is one of the keys to trapping excess fat and developing metabolic disorders, and that as soon as you throw fructose into the mix, “calories in versus calories out” is no longer a functional equation.

In short, limiting fructose in all its forms, along with other sugars, is imperative in order to avoid “flipping the fat switch” that can trigger your body to accumulate excess fat. And replacing sugar and grain carbs with vegetables and healthful fats is the key to normalizing your weight, metabolic function, and overall health.

Intermittent fasting is another powerful tool that will help you transition your body from obtaining the majority of its fuel from glucose stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver, to the fat stored in your tissues. This is one of the most effective ways to burn your excess body fat, become lean, and eliminate sugar cravings.

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By Dr. Mercola

Newly released statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that more Americans now commit suicide than die in traffic accidents.^{1, 2, 3}

Between 1999 and 2010, the suicide rate among American adults ages 35-64 rose by more than 28 percent, to just under 18 deaths per 100,000.

The sharpest rise in suicides is seen among the middle-aged, suggesting there may be a link to the downturn in our economy, which to some degree has affected most Americans over the past decade. During the 1932 Great Depression, as many as 22 people per 100,000 committed suicide.

The suicide rate for men in their 50’s has risen by 50 percent, to nearly 30 suicides per 100,000.

The suicide rate for middle-aged women is just over eight deaths per 100,000. While not nearly as high as that for men, suicide rates still increased with age among women, with the largest increase seen among women between the ages of 60-64. In this age group, suicide rates rose by nearly 60 percent in the last decade.

According to the CDC:

“Prevalence of mechanisms of suicide changed from 1999 to 2010. Whereas firearm and poisoning suicide rates increased significantly, suffocation (predominantly hanging) suicide rates increased the most among men and women aged 35-64 years.

...Possible contributing factors for the rise in suicide rates among middle-aged adults include the recent economic downturn (historically, suicide rates tend to correlate with business cycles, with higher rates observed during times of economic hardship); a cohort effect, based on evidence that the 'baby boomer' generation had unusually high suicide rates during their adolescent years; and a rise in intentional overdoses associated with the increase in availability of prescription opioids.”

Antidepressants May Be Fueling the Problem

Sadly, the knee-jerk conventional treatment for depression and suicidal tendencies is almost exclusively prescription antidepressants. Every year, more than 253 million prescriptions for antidepressants are filled in the United States, making them the second most prescribed drug class in the United States (second only to cholesterol-lowering drugs).⁴

But how effective are antidepressants in alleviating the symptoms of depression?

Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that antidepressants are often no more effective than a placebo, and in some case less effective. A study published in the January 2010 issue of JAMA concluded there is little evidence that SSRIs (a popular group of antidepressants that includes Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft) have any benefit to people with mild to moderate depression.⁵ The researchers stated:

"The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo... may be minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms."

SSRIs were found to be 33 percent effective, just like a sugar pill—but with far more adverse effects, including violence and suicidal thoughts and actions. Exercise actually outperforms antidepressants, but many still overlook this option.

Total Video Length: 1:02:10
Download Interview Transcript

More and more studies are confirming that antidepressants intensify violent thoughts and behaviors, both suicidal and homicidal, especially among children. And, since the late 1980s, there have been frequent reports of increased violent behavior, including homicides and suicides, among individuals taking antidepressant drugs.

Add to this a faltering economy and many literally feeling like they’re “fighting for their livelihoods” and the safety of their family, and the use of antidepressants may very well be pushing people over the edge rather than keeping them from it... It all depends on how you react to them.

Federal Institute for Mental Health Abandons Psychiatric 'Bible'

There may be a glimmer of hope on the horizon however, in terms of psychiatric diagnosis and ultimate treatment. The misuse of psychiatric drugs is in part due to the reliance on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)—the “bible” of psychiatry, containing all the diagnostic codes for virtually every conceivable mental health problem and personality quirk known to man at this point. There are many problems with this reference book. As stated by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH):⁶

“While DSM has been described as a 'bible' for the field, it is, at best, a dictionary, creating a set of labels and defining each. The strength of each of the editions of DSM has been “reliability” – each edition has ensured that clinicians use the same terms in the same ways. The weakness is its lack of validity.

Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure. In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever.

Indeed, symptom-based diagnosis, once common in other areas of medicine, has been largely replaced in the past half century as we have understood that symptoms alone rarely indicate the best choice of treatment. Patients with mental disorders deserve better.” [Emphasis mine]

At the end of April, the NIMH (which is responsible for overseeing mental health research in the US, and funds more research in this field than any other agency in the world) announced it will no longer look to the DSM as the “gold standard” for categorizing mental health problems.⁷ In an effort to improve and transform psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, the Institute has launched the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project, which will incorporate genetics, imaging, cognitive science, and other information in order “to lay the foundation for a new classification system.”

Will Psychiatric Transformation Miss the Mark Yet Again?

While this is a step in the right direction, I hope they make the effort to go far enough... The NIMH admits that their approach began with certain assumptions, some of which, I think, may or may not be completely accurate in all cases. And if so, then the most effective treatments may still be completely overlooked. For example, one of the assumptions is that:

“Mental disorders are biological disorders involving brain circuits that implicate specific domains of cognition, emotion, or behavior.”

The assumption that all mental health problems are due to biological dysfunction is to take too narrow a view, in my opinion, because there’s also a spiritual and a bioenergetic component—both of which few psychiatrists bother to address. Also, by limiting it to “biological disorders involving brain circuits” they may completely miss the boat in terms of how nutrition affects your mental health. Mounting research shows that your gut health has a truly profound impact on your mental and emotional states, so to say that the cause of mental disorders is rooted in faulty brain circuits alone still seems rather dogmatic and archaic.

We may in fact be complicating matters when we really should be simplifying. There’s no doubt in my mind that proper nutrition, optimal gut health and vitamin D levels, along with regular exercise and an overall reduction in toxic exposures can go an enormously long way toward curbing the trend of rising mental health problems.

SPECT Imaging—An Invaluable New Tool for Psychiatry

That said, I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater just yet, as I believe there may be room for modern diagnostic tools even within something as nebulous as mental health. For example, last year I interviewed Dr. Daniel Amen, a physician, board-certified psychiatrist, and one of the foremost experts on brain imaging science and brain plasticity. His work with SPECT imaging demonstrates how it can be a remarkably useful tool for psychiatry, especially more complicated cases.

Brain SPECT imaging is different from the anatomical MRI or CT scans. SPECT measures blood flow and activity patterns. It looks at how your brain works. (It's similar to positron emission tomography (PET) scans, which looks at glucose metabolism.) When using SPECT imaging, physicians look for three things:

1. Areas of your brain that work well
2. Areas of your brain that are low in activity, and
3. Areas of your brain that are high in activity

The job then becomes balancing the different areas of your brain. According to Dr. Amen, most cases of depression and anxiety are symptoms of underlying brain dysfunction. For example, depression can arise if brain activity is too low in your frontal lobes. This inactivity means you cannot inhibit your negative feelings. Depression can also be a symptom of heightened or excessive activity in your frontal lobes, as this leads to an inability to stop thinking the bad thoughts in your head. A traumatic brain injury can also result in symptoms of depression. In fact, according to Dr. Amen, this is very common.

However, he does not dismiss or overlook the impact of lifestyle on brain function. Rather he readily admits that some brain dysfunction is directly related to toxic exposures and/or a combination of poor lifestyle habits, such as a poor diet and lack of exercise. And, unlike most psychiatrists who rely on drugs, Dr. Amen's treatments to restore and optimize brain function focus on the four-pronged approach of diet, exercise, nutritional supplements, and correcting negative thought patterns.

This, I believe, is a beautiful example of how, by combining the best of both worlds—modern diagnostic tools and science, combined with natural common sense lifestyle changes—can truly make a difference in people’s lives. While getting a SPECT scan can be expensive, it may save you tons of money in the long run. According to a recent study by Dr. Amen and his colleagues, getting a SPECT scan will change what your doctor does 79 percent of the time.

""We have a new outcome study that we're publishing on 500 consecutive patients that came to the Amen Clinics who were complicated. After six months, 85 percent showed significant improvements in their quality of life,” Dr. Amen said.” We are very excited about our work. And we have been teaching our colleagues about it for decades... But it's horrifying what's happening overall in psychiatry. I would be very cautious about seeing a psychiatrist that is not gathering data on your brain before he or she puts you on multiple medications."

The Rise of Energy Psychology

Many people avoid energy psychology as they believe it is an alternative form of New Age spirituality, yet nothing could be further from the truth. It is merely an advanced tool that can effectively address some of the psychological short circuiting that occurs in emotional illnesses. It is not any competition at all with any religion but merely an effective resource you can use with whatever spiritual belief you have.

My favorite technique for this is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), which is the largest and most popular version of energy psychology.

EFT was developed in the 1990s by Gary Craig, a Stanford engineering graduate specializing in healing and self-improvement. It’s akin to acupuncture, which is based on the concept that a vital energy flows through your body along invisible pathways known as meridians. EFT stimulates different energy meridian points in your body by tapping them with your fingertips, while simultaneously using custom-made verbal affirmations. This can be done alone or under the supervision of a qualified therapist. By doing so, you help your body eliminate emotional “scarring” and reprogram the way your body responds to emotional stressors.

While the following video will teach you how to do EFT, it is VERY important to realize that self-treatment for serious mental health issues is NOT recommended. For serious or complex issue you need someone to guide you through the process as there is an incredible art to this process and it typically takes years of training to develop the skill to tap on deep-seated, significant issues.

Research Backs the Use of EFT for Depression

I have been a fan of energy psychology for many years, having witnessed its effectiveness in my medical practice and in my own personal life. However, studies have been few and far between as science has been trying to “catch up” with clinical experience. That has finally started to change. Several studies have been published in the last few years, showing just how safe and effective EFT really is. For example, the following three studies show remarkable progress in a very short amount of time for people with a history of trauma:

1. A 2009 study⁸ of 16 institutionalized adolescent boys with histories of physical or psychological abuse showed substantially decreased intensity of traumatic memories after just ONE session of EFT.
2. An EFT study⁹ involving 30 moderately to severely depressed college students was conducted. The depressed students were given four 90-minute EFT sessions. Students who received EFT showed significantly less depression than the control group when evaluated three weeks later.
3. In a study of 100 veterans with severe PTSD¹⁰ (Iraq Vets Stress Project),¹¹ after just six one-hour EFT sessions, 90 percent of the veterans had such a reduction in symptoms that they no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD; 60 percent no longer met PTSD criteria after only three EFT sessions. At the three-month follow-up, the gains remained stable, suggesting lasting and potentially permanent resolution of the problem.

Red Flags: Is Someone You Know Suicidal?

If someone close to you has recently endured a hardship, or you have noticed a change in their behavior, how can you tell when ordinary stress or sadness has progressed to a potentially suicidal level? Besides straightforward or "sideways" comments about not wanting to live any longer, some of the red flags that a person has a high risk for self-harm include:

Acquiring a weapon	Hoarding medication	No plan for the future
Putting affairs in order	Making or changing a will	Giving away personal belongings
Mending grievances	Checking on insurance policies	Withdrawing from people

 

If you think someone is suicidal, do not leave him or her alone. Most suicide attempts are expressions of extreme distress, not harmless bids for attention. A person who appears suicidal needs immediate professional help. Help the person to seek immediate assistance from their doctor or the nearest hospital emergency room, or call 911. Eliminate access to firearms or other potential suicide aids, including unsupervised access to medications.

Are You, or Someone You Know Currently Struggling With Depression or Feeling Suicidal?

If you are feeling desperate or have any thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a toll-free number 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or call 911, or simply go to your nearest Hospital Emergency Department.

I know firsthand that depression and suicide is devastating. It takes a toll on the healthiest of families and can destroy lifelong friendships. Few things are harder in life than losing someone you love, especially to suicide.

It's impossible to impart the will to live to somebody who no longer possesses it. No amount of logic, reasoning, or reminders about all they have to live for will put a smile back on the face of a loved one who is seriously contemplating suicide.

If you are currently the one struggling in a dark place, realize that oftentimes you cannot change your circumstances. You can, however, change your response to them. I encourage you to be balanced in your life. Don't ignore your body's warning signs that something needs to change. Sometimes people are so busy taking care of everybody else that they lose sight of taking care of themselves. Know that it’s okay to take care of yourself. Putting yourself last is a serious mistake, as you need to find ways to “refill” and replenish your own energy stores or else you’ll eventually burn out.

There really are no easy answers—especially when the troubles are related to crumbling finances, joblessness, or tumultuous family- and living situations. So many seem to be suffering these days; emotional and mental pain really is epidemic. Knowing that others are suffering as well can be helpful to a degree, but overall, it may only add to the sum total of ones misery and adding to the feeling that there’s no hope... One of the most effective ways of being supportive is perhaps to simply allow yourself to reach out and try to truly connect with the person who is suffering—even if it’s a virtual stranger. Sometimes, having someone look you in the eye and asking you how you are, and really meaning it, can be the lifeline needed in that moment...

Long-Term Strategies for Improving Your Mental Health

You can't make long-term plans for lifestyle changes when you are in a crisis, so clearly, the following recommendations are not meant to get you out of an acute situation. Rather, I invite you to take these lifestyle recommendations to heart as a preventive measure, before depression and other troubles set in. Optimizing your health may actually be one of the most important things you can do to help you make it safely through financially hard times, as faltering health in combination with poverty can lead even the most level-headed people to the limit of what they can endure.

My top tips to support positive mental health are as follows:

• Energy psychology is one of the most powerful tools for resolving emotional issues—specifically a technique called EFT. For serious problems like depression you do NOT want to perform EFT on yourself, you need to seek guidance from a skilled professional,¹² ideally someone who is also trained in conventional methods. The effectiveness of any energy psychology technique will be significantly improved if you combine it with the tips that follow.
• Dramatically decrease your consumption of sugar (particularly fructose), grains, and processed foods. (In addition to being high in sugar and grains, processed foods also contain a variety of additives that can affect your brain function and mental state, especially artificial sweeteners.)
• Adequate vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 deficiency can contribute to depression and affects one in four people.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally through regular sun exposure. Vitamin D is very important for your mood. One study found that people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who had normal levels.

The best way to get vitamin D is through exposure to SUNSHINE, not swallowing a capsule. Remember, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of depression that we know is related to sunshine deficiency, so it would make sense that the perfect way to optimize your vitamin D is through sun exposure, or a safe tanning bed if you don't have regular access to the sun.

• Get plenty of high quality animal-based omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fats are crucial for optimal brain function and mental health, and most people don't get enough from diet alone. So make sure you take a high-quality omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.
• Evaluate your salt intake. Sodium deficiency actually creates symptoms that are very much like those of depression. Make sure you do NOT use processed salt (regular table salt) however. You'll want to use an all natural, unprocessed salt like Himalayan salt, which contains more than 80 different micronutrients.
• Adequate daily exercise. Exercise is one of the best-kept secrets to preventing and treating depression.
• Make sure your cholesterol levels aren’t too low for optimal mental health. I have been educating the public about the underreported, adverse effects associated with lowering cholesterol through drugs like statins for many years, but what many still do not know is that low cholesterol is linked to dramatically increased rates of suicide, as well as aggression towards others.

This increased expression of violence towards self and others may be due to the fact that low membrane cholesterol decreases the number of serotonin receptors in the brain (which is approximately 30 percent cholesterol by weight). Lower serum cholesterol concentrations therefore may contribute to decreasing brain serotonin, which not only contributes to suicidal-associated depression, but prevents the suppression of aggressive behavior and violence towards self and others.¹³

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By Dr. Mercola

One in four teens has misused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime, according to new survey results from the partnership at Drugfree.org and the MetLife Foundation.¹

This represents a 33 percent increase in the past five years!

Among one of the most commonly abused class of drugs are stimulants like Ritalin and Adderall, of which one in eight teens (13 percent) said they had taken even though it wasn’t prescribed to them.

Prescription drugs don’t hold the same stigma as illegal recreational drugs, even though they can be just as deadly, leading teens to regard them as a “safe” way to get high.

In many cases, parents only add to this assumption, not only because they may take multiple prescription drugs themselves but also, as the survey reported, because close to one-third of parents believe prescription stimulants can improve their teen’s academic performance.

One in Six Parents Believe Prescription Drugs Give a Safer “High” Than Street Drugs

Another shocking belief held by one in six parents was that using prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs. This might explain why 86 percent of teens said their parents had not talked to them about the risks of abusing prescription drugs. In fact, it’s often the parents’ own medicine cabinets that become their children’s “drug dealers” …

Some teens even describe having “skittles parties,”² where they combine a mix of pills they took from their parent’s medicine cabinet into one big bowl, then take a few just for fun.

Sadly, some teens pay for this one “bad” decision with their lives. Drug fatalities more than doubled among teens and young adults between 2000 and 2008, and these drug-induced fatalities are not being driven by illegal street drugs.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the most commonly abused prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and Soma now cause more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined.³ As written in the Baltimore Sun:⁴

"According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for today's teens. In fact, seven of the top 10 drugs used by 12th-graders were prescription drugs.

More than 40 percent of high school seniors reported that painkillers are "fairly" or "very" easy to get. They also reported that they believed that if they were to get caught, there was less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. This mirrors the perceptions of their parents, who when queried said that they felt prescription drugs were a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer."

There’s Nothing “Safe” About Prescription Drug Abuse

If you have a teenager or pre-teen in your life that you care about, please make it a point to sit down and talk to them about the dangers of taking prescription drugs just “for fun.” Far from being “safer” than illegal street drugs, they can sometimes kill in just one pill.

Be sure to let them in on this simple fact: in many cases there's no difference between a recreational street drug and a prescription drug. For example, hydrocodone, a prescription opiate, is synthetic heroin. It's indistinguishable from any other heroine as far as your brain and body is concerned. So, if you're hooked on hydrocodone, you are in fact a good-old-fashioned heroin addict.

Worse, pain-killing drugs like fentanyl are actually 100 times more potent than natural opioids like morphine, making the addictive potential and side effects associated with prescription drug use much higher. Among the most commonly abused prescription medications, along with their risks, which you can share with your teen, include:

Opioids (Painkillers)

Morphine, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl all fall into this category. These drugs are not only addictive, they can lead to slowed breathing and death if too much is taken.

Stimulants

These include drugs such as Ritalin, Concerta and Adderall (the latter of which actually contains amphetamine, known and sold on the street as "speed" or "crank"), which are often used to teat ADHD, narcolepsy and even sometimes depression. Along with being highly addictive, stimulants sometimes lead to feelings of hostility and paranoia, along with risks like irregular heartbeat, heart failure and seizures.

When a stimulant is combined with another medication, such as an over-the-counter cold medicine that contains a decongestant, it can cause dangerously high blood pressure or irregular heart rhythms.

Depressants

Used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders, medications such as Valium, Xanax, Ambien, and Sonata are also addictive, and cause side effects like confusion, drowsiness and impaired coordination. This can be especially risky among teens if they then get behind the wheel to drive, as it increases the risk of accidents. Further, if these drugs are combined with alcohol or pain medications, the results can be deadly.

In the Popular Science infographic above,⁵ you can see rankings of some of the deadliest drugs in the US, according to data from the CDC. What is striking about this graphic is not only the steady rise in drug-related deaths, but also the fact that close to 60 percent of the drug overdose deaths involve pharmaceutical drugs such as opioids (oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone), anti-anxiety drugs, antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs – the very same drugs often preferred by teens for a “safer” high.

Politicians are Worried About Soda … but What About Prescription Drugs?

Soda taxes and other measures to lower soda consumption is a hot topic among politicians. Obviously, helping teens to drink less soda is an admirable and important public health goal, but what about the abuse of prescription drugs? One American dies every 19 minutes from an accidental prescription drug overdose,⁶ a phenomenon now being described as “the biggest man-made epidemic in the United States.”⁷ Yet, this is a soaring public health epidemic that receives far too little attention from the media and lawmakers alike.

Unfortunately, we’re living in an era when the drug industry is praised and revered for their “life-saving” medications, when in reality even their proper use often takes lives unnecessarily. Drugs are known to cause well over 125,000 deaths per year in the US when taken correctly as prescribed – and still the FDA allows fast-track approvals and countless new additions of poorly tested drugs to the marketplace that must later be withdrawn due to their lethal consequences.

This “FDA approval” makes teens believe that taking a few pills here and there is no big deal, and parents add to this flawed belief by often giving medications to their kids when they’re not really necessary – a practice that often starts at a very young age.

Nearly Half of Parents Give Cold Meds to Kids When They Shouldn’t

In children under the age of 4, common over-the-counter cough and cold medications can lead to allergic reactions, increased heart rate, slow breathing, confusion, hallucinations, drowsiness, sleeplessness, convulsions, nausea and constipation. This is why, since 2008, labels on these drugs state that they’re not intended for children under 4. Yet, according to a new survey, the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, more than 40 percent of US parents give these cough and cold medications to their children aged 3 and younger.⁸

There is a common perception that if you’re coughing, sneezing or have a low-grade fever, you must take a medication to get rid of it. In reality, coughing and sneezing are tools your body uses to get rid of viruses and irritants, and fever also helps to kill bacteria and viruses.

So if you take a drug to stop these natural protections, you are actually stopping your body’s healing process -- and in the long run it will likely take you even longer to feel better. That, combined with the serious risks these drugs can pose to children, makes a strong case against their use … yet many parents still reach for such medications at the first hint of a sniffle. For kids, this sends the message that drugs are necessary to make you “feel better” – a belief they may keep when they reach their teenage years …

Novartis Drug Company Being Sued for Illegal Kickback Scheme

You probably wouldn’t trust that a drug dealer on the street had your best interests at heart … you would assume they’re mostly interested in making a profit. But make no mistake – the leading pharmaceutical companies are also among the largest corporate criminals in the world, behaving as if they are little more than white-collar drug dealers.

In one of the most recent examples, the US government sued the drug company Novartis for giving pharmacies discounts and rebates to switch kidney transplant patients from competitors’ drugs to their own anti-rejection drug Myfortic. Medicare and Medicaid reportedly paid tens of millions of dollars in reimbursements to the pharmacies as a result of the illegal kickback scheme, which has reportedly been going on since 2005.

This is not an isolated incident, either. A 2010 study analyzed trends in criminal and civil actions against drug companies, and revealed that the drug industry is the biggest defrauder of the federal government under the False Claims Act.⁹ Despite stiffer financial penalties, criminal activity has increased dramatically in recent years. These white-collar criminals are the same ones behind the supposedly “safe” medications sitting in your medicine cabinet; if they’re willing to defraud the federal government, what makes you think they’re not willing to defraud you, too?

12 Signs Your Teen May be Abusing Prescription Drugs

Prescription drug abuse often goes unnoticed by parents until it’s too late, so be sure to keep a close eye out for the following signs that your teen may be abusing prescription drugs:

Changes in sleeping habits or energy level	Changes in mood or personality	Changes in personal hygiene or appearance
Changes in friends	Loss of appetite	Changes in grades or dedication to schoolwork
Constricted eye pupils (“pinpoint pupils”), which may be a sign of opiate use	Poor decision making	Restlessness or impulsive behavior
Missing medications around your home	Loss of interest in activities, sports, etc.	Sudden weight loss

 

If you notice these signs or otherwise suspect that your teen may be abusing prescription drugs, talk to them immediately about the dangers and seek professional help if necessary.

• Medical News Today April 25, 2013

• Kaiser Health News April 24, 2013

• MedicineNet April 23, 2013

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By Dr. Mercola

Yep, it’s time for yet another pandemic flu drill... “WHO says new bird strain is "one of most lethal" flu viruses,” Reuters¹ recently declared.

Every few years, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and related agencies drum up another flu emergency; each promised to be worse than the last, and this year you’re likely to start hearing a lot more about “lethal bird flu” again.

What many don’t realize is that these agencies actually need these faux flu emergencies to practice — to fine-tune their strategies and test the latest disease surveillance systems.

They also need them to justify their own existence, not to mention growth and expansion. As noted in a recent article by Medical News Today²:

“After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the potential threat of bioterrorism, many new advanced systems for disease surveillance and notification have been developed and implemented throughout the world.

The goal of these systems is not only to detect a possible biological attack, but to characterize emerging pathogens so that a public health response can be implemented rapidly.

'You can't test these systems on a day-to-day basis,' says... Michael A. Stoto, PhD... 'The only way to test these systems is how they perform in a real public health emergency.'

... 'What really made a difference in 2009 was that people from the US and Mexico talked to each other through a formalized system of communication,' he says. 'I think taxpayers and policymakers want to know if the billions invested after 9-11 to prepare for a biological event is paying off. I think the answer is 'yes.'"

One Profitable Flu Hoax After Another...

So far, these pandemic threats have never been anywhere near as lethal as predicted. Unfortunately, many are still hopelessly addicted to fear, so these dramatic warnings will likely continue to be successful in enabling WHO and CDC health officials to accumulate more power and control.

Hyping fear of microorganisms has already led to an increase in the numbers of state vaccine mandates, which are now threatening people’s health and right to get an education or keep a job.

In recent years, we've seen a number of aggressively hyped flu pandemics that were based more on media spin than on hard science and never materialized.

While it's prudent to be aware that a pandemic involving a mutated, lethal microorganism could occur in the future, what we've repeatedly seen is that the possibility has been massively over-sold in the past, allowing drug companies to rake in billions of dollars for fast-tracked, inadequately tested vaccines and other dangerous and/or ineffective anti-viral drugs.

Sadly, each time a greater number of people tend to end up being harmed by the drugs and ”pandemic” vaccines than actually succumb to the viral infection.

• The 2005 bird flu hoax: Headlines warned the U.S. was facing a cataclysmic extermination event, with a projected two million Americans at risk of potentially succumbing to the bird flu. The best case scenario had public health experts warning that the bird flu could kill at least 200,000 Americans. Then, as now, constant references to the tragic 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic heightened the fear factor to a fever pitch, despite the fact that the scientific data did not support any of these hyped claims.

Of course, 200,000 people in the US did not die from bird flu in 2005. The number was zero. I even wrote a NY Times best seller book on the topic, The Great Bird Flu Hoax.

At that time, they mysteriously translated the minuscule number of deaths of bird handlers that had occurred worldwide into an impending extermination-level event from a virus that did not — and still does not — readily spread from birds to humans, nor between humans.

Most of the people who acquire the infection were, and still are, bird handlers in continuous contact with sick birds. How anyone in their right mind could envision similar circumstances among the general population of the United States is a mystery, but it goes to show that it's unwise to throw common sense to the wind...

• Bird flu hoax repeats: In 2006, 2007, and again in 2008, hyped warnings over the bird flu were repeatedly exposed as little more than a cruel hoax, designed to instill fear and line the pocketbooks of industry and various vested individuals.
• The 2009 swine flu hoax: After four consecutive years of bird flu warnings that just refused to come to fruition, the H1N1 swine flu became front-page news again. This turned out to be yet another faux threat that cost tax payers billions for fast-tracked vaccines, which wrought havoc across the world. Ironically, the 2009 H1N1 "pandemic" actually turned out to be one of the MILDEST flu seasons in recent years with a low number of reported influenza-related deaths.

Meanwhile, the fast-tracked 2009 H1N1 vaccine turned out to be the most reactive flu vaccine ever created, harming far more people than the virus itself.

• The dire predictions of 2012: The summer of 2012 was filled with dire predictions of bird flu sufficiently mutating to cause a human pandemic, immediately followed by urgent calls for fast-tracked vaccines.

New Bird Flu Strain ‘One of the Most Lethal’ WHO Claims

If we are to believe recent reports³, a new more easily transmittable strain of bird flu has emerged in China, reportedly killing 22 people since its discovery in March. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson, the strain is far more lethal than another strain of bird flu that has “killed hundreds” since 2003. According to the featured article⁴:

“The H7N9 flu has infected 108 people in China since it was first detected in March, according to the Geneva-based WHO. Although it is not clear exactly how people are being infected, experts say they see no evidence so far of the most worrisome scenario — sustained transmission between people. An international team of scientists led by the WHO and the Chinese government conducted a five-day investigation in China, but said they were no closer to determining whether the virus might become transmissible between people.

... Another bird flu strain - H5N1 - has killed 30 of the 45 people it infected in China between 2003 and 2013, and although the H7N9 strain in the current outbreak has a lower fatality rate to date, Fukuda said: 'This is definitely one of the most lethal influenza viruses that we've seen so far.' ... Based on the evidence, 'this virus is more easily transmissible from poultry to humans than H5N1...'"

While each death is tragic, flu death statistics can’t compare to the death toll wrought by pharmaceutical drugs and vaccines. If you want to protect your health, at least compare the odds. In 2009/2010, many who gambled on the fast-tracked pandemic H1N1 influenza vaccine sacrificed their health and in some cases their lives to what at final count turned out to be one of the mildest flu seasons in years. An estimated 125,000 people die each year in the US from prescription medications taken correctly as prescribed. And in just six years (from 2006 to 2013), more than 100 deaths were reported after vaccination with the HPV vaccine Gardasil.

No investigation or remedial action whatsoever has been launched by public health authorities in response to these “lethal medicine” statistics. Yet, each time a new influenza virus is identified, we’re supposed to “do the right thing” without asking any questions —meaning, “just get your damn vaccine,” as so bluntly stated by NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman during the 2009 swine flu pandemic debacle. That wouldn’t be such a problematic demand were it not for the fact that pandemic flu vaccines are virtually untested in adequate clinical trials before they are released to the public, and therefore carry unknown risks over and above the “normal” risk you take with any vaccination.

H7N9 Vaccine At Least 6 Weeks Away

To further feed people’s stomach-churning anxiety over potentially lethal bird flu viruses proliferating and mutating, current media articles warn that the remedy, an H7N9 vaccine, is still several weeks away from being developed.

“If the strain proves to be a candidate for a pandemic outbreak, it might be a while before health professionals have a vaccine to protect against the strain, according to Joseph Kim, president of Inovio, a California-based company that is currently in the initial stages of developing an H7N9 vaccine,” US News writes⁵.

'The fastest we'd be able to have a vaccine to test in animals for H7N9 would probably be 4-6 weeks from now,' he says.... Under normal circumstances, the path from animal testing to 'small scale human tests' to full approval takes another couple months 'in an accelerated path,' Kim says.

But in the case of a pandemic, the animal testing stage is sometimes skipped and the vaccine is immediately used to treat humans. 'In a pandemic setting, you can potentially grow the vaccine and use them without human testing in emergency cases,' Kim says.” [Emphasis mine]

And therein lies the rub. Pandemic vaccines are among the most high-profit and low-risk business ventures for vaccine makers. They stand to make billions of dollars in revenue while being completely shielded from liability if the vaccine turns out to be hazardous, like it turned out to be in 2009. Not to mention they save a ton of money on development, since drug companies can duck under FDA standard pre-licensure testing regulations and skip certain types of either animal or human testing—or BOTH! It’s a triple-win for liability free vaccine manufacturers assured of big profits and a risky game of Vaccine Roulette for you.

This macabre situation was created in the U.S. when Congress passed the 2006 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (the PREP Act), which is part of the “Bioshield” legislation Big Pharma lobbied for and was enacted following 9-11 reportedly to address national “biosecurity” concerns. The PREP Act removes your right to a trial jury in a civil court unless you can provide clear evidence of willful misconduct by the vaccine maker that resulted in death or serious physical injury. But first, you must apply for and be granted permission to sue by the DHHS Secretary.

The most problematic aspect of the PREP Act is that it removes all financial incentive to make a safe product in the first place. In fact, vaccine makers now have a negative incentive to test it for safety, because if they are aware of problems, then they could potentially be held liable for willful misconduct! As long as they can prove they "didn't know" of any problem — a statement widely used during the 2009/2010 season — they will not be liable for damages. Hence it's in their best interest to know as little as possible about the adverse reactions it might cause.

How to Protect Yourself Against the Flu Without Vaccination

Be prepared to hear more fear mongering about the H7N9 bird flu. In the meantime, I'd like to remind you that a healthy immune system is your best and primary defense against any viral threat. Following these simple guidelines will help you keep your immune system in optimal working order so that you're far less likely to acquire the infection to begin with. Or, if you do get sick with type A or B influenza, you are better prepared to recover  without serious complications—which by the way will give you a longer lasting naturally acquired immunity to the strain of influenza you experienced.

• Optimize Your Gut Flora. This may be the single most important strategy you can implement as the bacteria in your gut have enormous control of your immune response. The best way to improve your beneficial bacteria ratio is to avoid sugars as they will feed the pathogenic bacteria. Additionally, processed foods and most grains should be limited and replaced with healthy fats like coconut oil, avocados, olives, olive oil, butter, eggs and nuts. Once you change your diet, then regular use of fermented foods can radically optimize the function of your immune response.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels. As I've previously reported, optimizing your vitamin D levels is one of the absolute best strategies for avoiding infections of ALL kinds, and vitamin D deficiency may actually be the true culprit behind the seasonality of the flu – not the flu virus itself. This is probably the single most important and least expensive action you can take. Regularly monitor your vitamin D levels to confirm your levels are within the therapeutic range of 50-70 ng/ml.

Ideally, you'll want to get all your vitamin D from sun exposure or a safe tanning bed, but you can also take an oral vitamin D3 supplement. According to the latest review by Carole Baggerly (Grassrootshealth.org), adults need about 8,000 IU's a day to reach a serum level of 40 ng/ml. Be sure to take vitamin K2 if you are taking oral vitamin D as it has a powerful synergy and will help prevent vitamin D toxicity.

• Avoid Sugar and Processed Foods. Sugar impairs the quality of your immune response almost immediately, and as you likely know, a healthy immune system is one of the most important keys to fighting off viruses and other illness. It also can decimate your beneficial bacteria and feed the pathogenic yeast and viruses. Be aware that sugar (typically in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is present in foods you may not suspect, like ketchup and fruit juice. If you are healthy, then sugar can be consumed but the LAST thing you should be eating when you are sick is sugar.
• Get Plenty of Rest. Just like it becomes harder for you to get your daily tasks done if you're tired, if your body is overly fatigued it will be harder for it to fight the flu. Be sure to check out my article Guide to a Good Night's Sleep for some great tips to help you get quality rest.
• Have Effective Tools to Address Stress. We all face some stress every day, but if stress becomes overwhelming then your body will be less able to fight off the flu and other illness. If you feel that stress is taking a toll on your health, consider using an energy psychology tool such as the Emotional Freedom Technique, which is remarkably effective in relieving stress associated with all kinds of events, from work to family to trauma.
• Get Regular Exercise. When you exercise, you increase your circulation and your blood flow throughout your body. The components of your immune system are also better circulated, which means your immune system has a better chance of responding to infection before it spreads. Be sure to stay hydrated – drink plenty of fluids, especially water. However, it would be wise to radically reduce the intensity of your workouts while you are sick. No Peak Fitness exercises until you are better.
• Take a High-Quality Source of Animal-Based Omega-3 Fats. Increase your intake of healthy and essential fats like the omega-3 found in krill oil, which is crucial for maintaining health. It is also vitally important to avoid damaged omega-6 oils that are trans fats and in processed foods as it will seriously damage your immune response.
• Wash Your Hands. Washing your hands will decrease your likelihood of spreading a virus to your nose, mouth or other people. Be sure you don't use antibacterial soap for this – antibacterial soaps are completely unnecessary, and they cause far more harm than good. Instead, identify a simple chemical-free soap that you can switch your family to.
• Tried and True Hygiene Measures. In addition to washing your hands regularly, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze. If possible, avoid close contact with those, who are sick and, if you are sick, avoid close contact with those who are well.
• Use Natural Immune Boosters. Examples include oil of oregano and garlic. Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, these do not appear to lead to resistance, so they can be used again and again.
• Avoid Hospitals. I'd recommend you stay away from hospitals unless you're having an emergency and need expert medical care, as hospitals are prime breeding grounds for infections of all kinds. The best place to get plenty of rest and recover from illness that is not life-threatening is usually in the comfort of your own home.

Protect Your Right to Informed Consent and Defend Vaccine Exemptions

With all the uncertainty surrounding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, it's critical to protect your right to informed consent to vaccination and fight to protect and expand vaccine exemptions in state public health laws. The best way to do this is to get personally involved with your state legislators and the leaders in your community.

THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY.

Mass vaccination policies are made at the federal level but vaccine laws are made at the state level. It is at the state level where your action to protect your vaccine choice rights can have the greatest impact. It is critical for EVERYONE to get involved now in standing up for the legal right to make vaccine choices in America because those choices are being threatened by lobbyists representing drug companies, medical trade associations and public health officials, who are trying to persuade legislators to strip all vaccine exemptions from public health laws.

Signing up for NVIC's free Advocacy Portal at www.NVICAdvocacy.org gives you immediate, easy access to your own state legislators on your Smart Phone or computer so you can make your voice heard. You will be kept up-to-date on the latest state bills threatening your vaccine choices and get practical, useful information to help you become an effective vaccine choice advocate in your own community. Also, when national vaccine issues come up, you will have the up-to-date information and call to action items you need at your fingertips..

So please, as your first step, sign up for the NVIC Advocacy Portal.

Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know

If you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, please talk about it. If we don't share information and experiences with each other, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper. Make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.

I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the "other side" of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.

We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies or public health officials promoting forced use of a growing list of vaccines to dominate the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than "statistically acceptable collateral damage" of national one-size-fits-all mandatory vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn't be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.

Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More

I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:

• NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
• If You Vaccinate, Ask 8 Questions: Learn how to recognize vaccine reaction symptoms and prevent vaccine injuries.
• Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment and sanctions by doctors, employers, school and health officials for making independent vaccine choices.

Connect with Your Doctor or Find a New One that Will Listen and Care

If your pediatrician or doctor refuses to provide medical care to you or your child unless you agree to get vaccines you don't want, I strongly encourage you to have the courage to find another doctor. Harassment, intimidation, and refusal of medical care is becoming the modus operandi of the medical establishment in an effort to stop the change in attitude of many parents about vaccinations after they become truly educated about health and vaccination.

However, there is hope.

At least 15 percent of young doctors recently polled admit that they're starting to adopt a more individualized approach to vaccinations in direct response to the vaccine safety concerns of parents. It is good news that there is a growing number of smart young doctors, who prefer to work as partners with parents in making personalized vaccine decisions for children, including delaying vaccinations or giving children fewer vaccines on the same day or continuing to provide medical care for those families, who decline use of one or more vaccines.

So take the time to locate a doctor, who treats you with compassion and respect and is willing to work with you to do what is right for your child.

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By Dr. Mercola

More than half a million US kids aged 1 to 5 years have blood lead levels higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL), the “level of concern” at which health problems may occur.

The new data comes from a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, which found 2.6 percent of young US children (535,000) may be at risk from lead poisoning.

Why Lead is So Dangerous for Children

Lead is a naturally occurring metal that was once commonly used in gasoline, paint and children’s toys, and is still a part of batteries, pipes, pottery, roofing materials and cosmetics.

Lead is known to cause damage to your brain and nervous system. Even small amounts can be dangerous, as lead builds up in your body over time.

Children under 6 are especially at risk, not only because they’re more likely to come into contact with lead via household dust and paint but also because they’re still developing and absorb it more easily than adults. The greatest risk of lead exposure is to brain development, as permanent damage can occur.

In pregnant women, lead is linked to miscarriages, premature birth, low birth weight, brain damage and reduced growth in young children. For children, lead exposure may cause:

Damage to the brain and nervous system	Behavior and learning problems, such as hyperactivity	Slowed growth	Hearing problems
Headaches	Anemia	Seizures	Coma and even death

Signs of Lead Poisoning Can be Easy to Miss

The initial symptoms of lead poisoning can be easy to miss, increasing the likelihood of continued exposure – and worsening health problems.

If you have young children, it’s imperative to be on the lookout for some of the most common signs of lead poisoning, especially if you live in a home that was built prior to 1978, as it is likely to contain at least some lead-based paint. Common symptoms of lead poisoning in children include:

Fatigue, lethargy or sometimes hyperactivity	Headaches	Weight loss	Insomnia
Constipation	Irritability	Metallic taste in your mouth	Nausea, vomiting or abdominal pain
Poor appetite	Reduced cognitive abilities	Learning difficulties	Slowed growth

Contaminated Soil May be a Significant Source of Lead Exposure

Lead-based paint, and consequently lead-contaminated dust, are typically regarded as the major sources of lead exposure to US children. It’s estimated that 24 million housing units in the US have deteriorated leaded paint and lead-contaminated household dust, 4 million of which are home to young children.¹

However, while most people are now aware of the issues associated with lead paint in older homes, far fewer are aware that lead is often a contaminant in soil, thanks to remnants of leaded gasoline and other lead-containing pollutants.

According to one study, seasonal variations in children’s blood lead levels in industrial cities like Detroit can be tied to lead in contaminated soil that becomes airborne dust during the summer.² This suggests that it’s not only children exposed to leaded paint that may be at risk, but also those living or playing near contaminated soil outdoors.

If you live in an urban area, or near a busy road, it’s probably best to assume that your soil is contaminated with lead to some extent or another. This is also an issue if you plan to plant a vegetable garden, as vegetables can take up lead from the soil very efficiently.

Lead Warnings Coming to Baby Food?

The Environmental Law Foundation filed a lawsuit in California against several large baby food makers, including Beech-Nut Nutrition, Del Monte Foods, Dole and Gerber. The suit alleges that many of the baby foods and juices sold by the companies contain lead that must be noted on a warning label under California law.

As mentioned, vegetables and fruits can be very effective at taking up metals such as lead from the soil. While lead does occur naturally in soil, if the food is grown in an area with heavily contaminated soil, it could end up with unsafe levels of lead or other pollutants.

Court documents noted that despite the trace amounts of lead in the products at issue, most Americans need to eat more of such fruits and vegetables – not less. The lawsuit is still pending, so it remains to be seen whether the lead warning labels will soon be added to baby food sold in California.

Your Tap Water May Also Contain Lead

Another little talked about source of lead exposure is the pipes that carry tap water into your home. When your water leaves a treatment plant, it is transported into large pipes, or mains, that run under your city's streets. These are typically made of cast iron or concrete. The problem occurs when the water flows into smaller pipes known as service lines, which carry the water directly to your home.

An estimated 3.3 to 6.4 million service lines in the United States are made out of lead, and while they are found across the country, they're especially common in older neighborhoods in the Midwest and Northeast. This, of course, makes it very likely that your home's tap water is being contaminated by this poison virtually 24/7.

You probably assume that if your water contains dangerous levels of lead, you'll be notified immediately, but this is not always the case. Some water utilities may be "gaming the system" by cherry-picking which houses it tests in order to keep any lead problems hidden. In another tactic, water companies are "gifting" lead service lines to homeowners, and saying they no longer have any responsibility for the pipes. Replacing lead service lines on your property can cost thousands of dollars, and may increase lead levels during, and after, the replacement.

What to Do If You Have Lead Pipes

If you think your water may be supplied via lead pipes, your safest and most economical choice -- if you don't have access to a clean spring or private well -- is to make sure your water is filtered when it comes out of your tap, or, alternatively, when it comes into your home. Many people will have carbon water filters on their taps even if they have a whole house filter, and this is indeed a good idea. The reason for this is because the internal house pipes could release lead even after being filtered through the whole house, so ideally, you may want to have both.

Large carbon filters and a whole house water filtration system will remove dangerous levels of lead, along with the host of other contaminants, including over 500 toxic disinfectant by-products,that are often present in drinking water. In addition, if you know you have lead pipes, and especially if you haven't installed a filter, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),³ also recommends you:

• Use cold water for drinking or cooking. Never cook or mix infant formula using hot water from the tap.
• Make it a practice to run the water at each tap before use.
• Do not consume water that has sat in your home's plumbing for more than six hours. First, make sure to run the water until you feel the temperature change before cooking, drinking, or brushing your teeth, unless otherwise instructed by your utility.
• If you use a filter, be sure you get one that is certified to remove lead by the NSF International.

More Tips for Reducing Your Child’s Lead Exposure

We’ve covered how to minimize your exposure to lead in your drinking water, but what about the other sources of exposure?

First off, lead-based paint is still a significant route of exposure, so make sure young children do not have access to peeling paint or painted surfaces that can be chewed, particularly if the home was built prior to 1978. Children and pregnant women should not be involved in any renovations on older homes, as the disturbed paint is likely to contain elevated lead levels in household dust. Other important tips to reduce your child’s lead exposure include:

Avoid letting children play in soil near industrial areas or busy roadways	Wash your child’s hands regularly, including after playing outdoors
Regularly wet mop and wet-wipe your floors and other home surfaces to remove household dust	Pay attention to recalls for lead-contaminated toys or jewelry
Make sure any ceramic or porcelain pottery you use in your home has lead-free glaze	Avoid letting your children play with (or wear) conventional cosmetics, many of which contain lead

 

Removing the sources of exposure is the most important part of protecting your children from lead. If you know exposure has occurred, seek a knowledgeable natural health care practitioner who can guide you through a safe and effective detoxification program.

Chlorella, for instance, is a single-celled fresh water algae that is a naturally potent detox agent that may be useful for removing lead and other heavy metals from your body.

• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report April 5, 2013 / 62(13);245-248 CNN April 8, 2013

• Medical News Today April 7, 2013

• NPR April 5, 2013

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