Tag Archives: cancer

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SuperFoods: Sprouting for Health

Skin Cancer Story

How Can We Prevent Cancer?

Cancer is touching every one of us.  Seems like you can ask anybody, and someone in their family has recently died of cancer or they are struggling today.  It’s a sad, sad subject.

Personally, I just spent the weekend with my father-in-law who is fighting his cancer naturally.  The doctors gave him 6 months to live about 18 months ago. We are thrilled that we’ve had this time to spend with him.  He’s has been accepted into the Gerson Institute for a week by week treatment.  He will fly to San Diego and receive training on nutrition (which he’s already implemented) and receive some pretty amazing high doses of cancer fighting supplements. His loyal and hard working daughter, Jana, will go with him as his care-giver.  We’re hoping this will give him some more time with us on this earth.  We move forward with hope.

It conjured up many thoughts and emotions in me about how I live my life and how to raise my children.  Unfortunately, we are so accustomed to processed foods, immediate gratification, fast paced life, and lack of training.  If we slow down a bit and prepare the right foods, enjoy cooking together, spend time finding quality foods, take care of ourselves physically… maybe, just maybe, we have a chance to fight cancer.  I DO NOT have this down.  We’re working on it daily. And some weeks we are definitely not successful, actually, we just plain fail and fall into the American lifestyle.  But we move forward with hope.

No one says this is simple. But it can save us years of struggling with doctors and hospitals, as well as help us feel great TODAY. I tell people that’s my goal, just to feel good today. I don’t care to live to 100.  I actually don’t want to. But, I do want to feel better now.

I ran across this article listed in FoodMatters Newsletter, it was by Dr. Mercola.  They give some great tips on lifestyle changes that can decrease your chances of cancer.  These are not cures, but things we can do today to help our future.

Cancer is on the Rise, and Toxic Chemicals are MAJOR Factors

According to the latest statistics compiled by the American Heart Association, cancer surpasses heart disease as the top killer among Americans between the ages of 45 to 74. The odds are very high that you or someone you know has cancer or has died from it.

Environmental/lifestyle factors are increasingly being pinpointed as the culprits, such as:

• Pesticide- and other chemical exposures
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• Processed and artificial foods(plus the chemicals in the packaging)
• Wireless technologies, dirty electricity, and medical diagnostic radiation exposure
• Obesity Stress Poor sleeping habits
• Lack of sunshine exposure and use of sunscreens

Genetics have more or less been ruled out as a primary factor, although diet, lifestyle and toxic exposures have been found to turn genes on or off that contribute to the development and malignancy of cancer.

Still, focusing on research into the genetic underpinnings of cancer along with screening methods that can also cause harm cleverly avoids the obvious, which is finding the underlying contributing factors so that people can avoid them!

Breast Cancer Prevention Tips

It’s profoundly sad that one of the so-called leaders against cancer simply will not spread the word about the many ways women can help prevent breast cancer in the first place, and ignores research into safer alternative screening methods and treatment of cancer, choosing instead to protect the financial interests of the biggest contributors to the toxic overload that’s at the root of this growing problem.

Cancer Advancements that Need to Become Mainstream Knowledge

In the last 30 years the global cancer burden has doubled, and is estimated to nearly triple by 2030. We must begin to take cancer prevention seriously. Three cancer advancements in particular merit special mention. These advancements have not yet been accepted by conventional medicine, and they must be.

Number 1: Radically Reduce Your Sugar Intake — Normalizing your insulin levels is one of the most powerful physical actions you can take to lower your risk of cancer. Unfortunately, very few oncologists appreciate or apply this knowledge today. The Cancer Centers of America is one of the few exceptions, where strict dietary measures are included in their cancer treatment program.

Chronic insulin resistance will cause major damage in your body. The most recognized of these is diabetes, but that is far from the only one. As Ron Rosedale, M.D. said in one of my most popular articles, Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects:

“It doesn’t matter what disease you are talking about, whether you are talking about a common cold or cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis or cancer, the root is always going to be at the molecular and cellular level, and I will tell you that insulin is going to have its hand in it, if not totally control it.”

The good news is that controlling your insulin levels is relatively straightforward. First, limit your intake of processed foods, grains and sugars/fructose as much as possible to prevent your insulin levels from becoming elevated in the first place.

Number 2: Vitamin D — There’s overwhelming evidence pointing to the fact that vitamin D deficiency plays a crucial role in cancer development. Researchers within this field have estimated that about 30 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented each year simply by optimizing the vitamin D levels in the general population. Countless people around the world have an increased risk of cancer because their vitamin D levels are too low due to utter lack of sun exposure…

On a personal (Dr. Mercola) level, you can decrease your risk of cancer by MORE THAN HALF simply by optimizing your vitamin D levels with sun exposure. And if you are being treated for cancer it is likely that higher blood levels—probably around 80-90 ng/ml—would be beneficial.

The health benefits of optimizing your levels, either by safe sun exposure (ideally), a safe tanning bed, or oral supplementation as a last resort, simply cannot be overstated. In terms of protecting against cancer, vitamin D has been found to offer protection in a number of ways, including:

• Regulating genetic expression
• Increasing the self-destruction of mutated cells (which, if allowed to replicate, could lead to cancer)
• Reducing the spread and reproduction of cancer cells
• Causing cells to become differentiated (cancer cells often lack differentiation)
• Reducing the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones, which is a step in the transition of dormant tumors turning cancerous

Number 3: Exercise — If you are like most people, when you think of reducing your risk of cancer, exercise doesn’t immediately come to mind. However, there is some fairly compelling evidence that exercise can slash your risk of cancer.

One of the primary ways exercise lowers your risk for cancer is by reducing elevated insulin levels, which creates a low sugar environment that discourages the growth and spread of cancer cells.

Controlling your insulin levels and optimizing your vitamin D level are two of the most powerful steps you can take to reduce your cancer risk. For example, physically active adults experience about half the incidence of colon cancer as their sedentary counterparts, and women who exercise regularly can reduce their breast cancer risk by 20 to 30 percent compared to those who are inactive.

Additionally, exercise improves the circulation of immune cells in your blood. Your immune system is your first line of defense against everything from minor illnesses like a cold right up to devastating, life-threatening diseases like cancer.

The trick about exercise, though, is understanding how to use it as a precise tool. This ensures you are getting enough to achieve the benefit, not too much to cause injury, and the right variety to balance your entire physical structure and maintain strength and flexibility, and aerobic and anaerobic fitness levels. This is why it is helpful to view exercise like a drug that needs to be carefully prescribed to achieve its maximum benefit.

It’s important to include a large variety of techniques in your exercise routine, such as strength training, aerobics, core-building activities, and stretching. Most important of all, however, is to make sure you include high-intensity, burst-type exercise.

These exercises activate your super-fast twitch muscle fibers, which can increase your body’s natural production of human growth hormone.

Additionally it is likely that integrating exercise with intermittent fasting will greatly catalyze the potential of exercise to reduce your risk of cancer and stimulate widespread healing and rejuvenation.

Additional Anti-Cancer Strategies

Additional lifestyle guidelines that will help protect you against cancer include:

• Get appropriate amounts of animal-based omega-3 fats.
• Eat as many vegetables as you are comfortable with. Ideally, they should be raw and organic. Cruciferous vegetables in particular have been identified as having potent anti-cancer properties.
• Have a tool to permanently erase the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes. Even the CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. It is likely that this factor may be more important than all the other physical ones listed here, so make sure this is addressed. My particular favorite tool for this purpose, as you may know, is the Emotional Freedom Technique.
• Maintain an ideal body weight.
• Get enough high-quality sleep.
• Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution. (Try Shaklee’s Get Clean Line, great stuff)
• Reduce your use of cell phones and other wireless technologies, and implement as many safety strategies as possible if/when you cannot avoid their use.
• Boil, poach or steam your foods, rather than frying or charbroiling them.

Let’s try to implement some of these tips!  Encourage the women around you to make some changes in their lifestyle. It’s a “pay now, or pay later” mentality that we can adopt, right?

To your health!

KidTip: Hyperactivity

When my daughter was about 18 months old, I noticed she would have spells of hyperactivity that I could not understand.  I’m a pretty calm person who doesn’t experience many “hyper” moments, so unfortunately, I saw this as annoying as a new mom.  Just being honest here!

To qualify hyper behavior, I felt like she had found a coffee bean on the floor or something and she would dash around the house completely disregarding her safety or focus. It was incredible how one minute she would be calm and gentle and in a split second, she would begin shaking and running and screaming.  I just didn’t understand. So I spoke to some other moms at that time, just to get their perspective.

One mom mentioned food-coloring allergies. At this point I had no health knowledge or desire to be healthy.  I just did what most of us moms do… give our kids a protein, a starch, and a fruit or veggie… and then a snack for finishing their meal.  I would look at packages and say, “oh, it says flavored with real juice, or all natural”… Well, I did a little experiment.  I did not feed her anything for about 2 hours, then I gave her one of those gummy snacks like Nemo or Princesses.  She ate the whole baggie and almost immediately she began her hyper session. This is was a huge moment in my mind as a parent.

From that moment on, I began to read labels more closely.  Not for the sake of being healthier, but for the sake of my child being the “best” that she could be.  It was my RESPONSIBILITY.  Isn’t it? Aren’t we entrusted with our kids to raise them to be the best human beings they can be? Full of character, virtue, love, respect, oh…and health.

I feel this was the beginning of my journey of nutrition relating to our behavior.  Since then, I realize that processed foods, artificially manufactured and colored “foods”, genetically modified, overly cooked, and bleached items effect how our family functions.  I’m not trying to preach at anyone. I’m merely stating a powerful influence you can have!!! It’s exciting, really!!  To be able to control how your children learn and grow by the SIMPLE task of giving them whole foods, God-foods, and even supplements.

A few things I’ve found regarding food-coloring are below:

There are two different types of food dyes according to The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

A) Certifiable Color Additives: These food dyes are obtained from petroleum distillates or coal tars. They are synthetic chemicals and are created in a lab. These are what we would commonly call “artificial” colors.

B) Exempt Color Additives: These are commonly referred to as “natural” additives. They are obtained from plants, animals or mineral sources. Because of their “natural” origin we tend to forget that they may be as dangerous as any synthetic food-coloring agent.

Study:

In studies in which rats were given doses of artificial food coloring versus a placebo and then placed in a maze, it was found that the rats were hyperactive and had difficulty staying on task and retaining attention. This is interesting because, as a lot of brightly colored snacks have lots of sugar as well as artificial color, people blame the sugar alone for hyperactivity. However, the coloring itself may have something to do with this as well. Some parents have concluded this on their own from observations at home, too. The colorings will worsen one’s inability to pay attention if he or she already has trouble, such as with ADD or ADHD, so keep that in mind.

Known Symptoms:

skin problems (urticaria, flushing), respiratory problems (asthma, rhinitis, coughing), gastrointestinal issues (abdominal pain, bloating, gas, nauseas, vomiting), and many other reactions (joint aches, palpitations, headaches, etc).

You can also read this booklet… It’ s further information of all the food colorings and how the have been studied and linked to cancers, thyroid issues, skin problems, hyperactivity and so much more.

What can you do???

Read labels (food coloring is in EVERYTHING, you’ll be surprised!)

Clean out the pantry and medicine cabinets – even your supplements you think are safe – they’re colored with this poison.

Take charge of your family!!

I believe in YOU!!!

PS. as an update on our daughter.  She’s a beautiful 8 year old who understands some of her limitations.  We allow our kids to have some sugar and even some food coloring from time to time, but she is cognitive of the risk she is taking.  She actually takes responsibility now for it.  We prep her before eating something about what may happen and that she has a choice to control herself or go play outside (for an example). We only want our kids to function at their best. We’re not perfect parents, but this is an area that is simple to adjust.

Just Breathe…

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

When I was in high school I took voice lessons every week where most of the time was spent doing breathing exercises.  I never realized then how therapeutic those days were to my body.  From what I’m learning these days correct breathing can heal our bodies, can increase our vitality and can relax our anxious spirits.  It’s so interesting to me that we don’t have to teach babies to breathe! They simply do this as a reflex to live. Yet, as adults, do we give focus to the very thing that keeps us alive? Can we be using this as a tool to gain health and strength? It’s just so amazing how God has designed our bodies and this earth. Even more incentive to keep our earth healthy and producing the oxygen we and our future generations need.  As I often say, I’m not an expert yet, so I have found some tips from people who are! Hope they help you today.

Oxygen is free! It’s a simple thing to stop, focus, and just breathe for your health.  It’s been said that proper breathing has profound effects on our health. Over 70% of waste by-products are eliminated  through our breathing and our skin. When our blood is heavily oxygenated it becomes very difficult for virus’ and bacteria to grow in our body.

Deep breathing is important from the standpoint of both health and spiritual development. Deep breathing increases our vitality and promotes relaxation. Unfortunately, when we try to take a so-called deep breath, most of us do the exact opposite: we suck in our bellies and raise our shoulders. This is shallow breathing. To learn deep breathing we need to do far more than learn new breathing exercises. Before deep breathing exercises can be of any lasting value, we need to experience and understand through the direct inner sensation of our own bodies the function of the chest and diaphragm in breathing, as well as the function of the belly, lower ribs, and lower back. We also need to observe how unnecessary tension in our muscles impedes our breathing.

The Mechanics of Deep Breathing

The diaphragm is a dome-shaped structure that not only assists in breathing, but also acts as a natural partition between our heart and lungs on the one hand, and all of the other internal organs on the other. The top of the diaphragm, located about one and one-half inches up from the bottom of the sternum, actually supports the heart, while the bottom of the diaphragm is attached all the way around our lower ribs and connects also to our lower lumbar vertebrae. When we breathe, the surface of our diaphragm generally moves downward as we inhale and upward as we exhale. (See if you can sense these movements periodically throughout your day.) When we breathe fully and deeply, the diaphragm moves farther down into the abdomen, and our lungs are able to expand more completely into the chest cavity. This means that more oxygen is taken in and more carbon dioxide is released with each breath. Deep breathing takes advantage of the fact that the lungs are larger toward the bottom than the top.

The Impact of Deep Breathing on Our Health

Deep breathing can have a powerful influence on our health. To understand how this is possible, we need to remember that the diaphragm is attached all around the lower ribcage and has strands going down to the lumbar vertebrae. When our  breathing is full and deep, the diaphragm moves through its entire range downward to massage the liver, stomach, and other organs and tissues below it, and upward to massage the heart. When our breathing is full and deep, the belly, lower ribcage, and lower back all expand on inhalation, thus drawing the diaphragm down deeper into the abdomen, and retract on exhalation, allowing the diaphragm to move fully upward toward the heart. In deep, abdominal breathing, the downward and upward movements of the diaphragm, combined with the outward and inward movements of the belly, ribcage, and lower back, help to massage and detoxify our inner organs, promote blood flow and peristalsis, and pump the lymph more efficiently through our lymphatic system. The lymphatic system, which is an important part of our immune system, has no pump other than muscular movements, including the movements of breathing.

Deep Breathing for Relaxation

Many of us breathe too fast for the conditions in which we find ourselves, that is, we actually hyperventilate. This fast, shallow breathing expels carbon dioxide too quickly and has many bad effects on our physical and emotional health. When our breathing is deep, however–when it involves in an appropriate way not only the respiratory muscles of the chest but also the belly, lower ribcage, and lower back–our breathing slows down. This slower, deeper breathing, combined with the rhythmical pumping of our diaphragm, abdomen, and belly, helps turn on our parasympathetic nervous system–our “relaxation response.” Such breathing helps to harmonize our nervous system and reduce the amount of stress in our lives. And this, of course, has a positive impact on our overall health.

Breathing Exercises May Be Harmful to Your Health

Please understand that if you’re going to get into this sort of therapy, there are dangers. We have to be aware of our body’s limitations. Some advanced yoga breathing exercises may not be right for you yet.  So, please don’t see this blog as your cure or a prescription. It’s just an informative and encouraging word that should lead you to do more research for yourself.

3 BREATHING EXERCISES:

Breathing in, Breathing Out

One of the simplest, safest, and most powerful breathing practices you can undertake on your own behalf is to consciously follow your breathing in the many circumstances of your life. As you inhale, simply be aware that you are inhaling. As you exhale, simply be aware that you are exhaling. Try this practice for 10 minutes or so at a time at least three times a day. It will help free you from your automatic thoughts and emotional reactions and thus enable you to wake up in your daily life more often, to live with more receptivity and clarity in the present moment. You may find this practice especially useful at moments when you are anxious or angry.

Belly Breathing

Introduction

Before we were born, our mother provided through our umbilical cord the nutrients, food, and oxygen that we needed to live. In many traditions, the area just below the navel and midway into the body is considered to be a sacred center of energy. In any event, our belly is one of the major areas that get tight and tense when we are under a lot of stress. And this greatly affects our internal organs, our breath, our energy, and our overall health. In this breathing exercise, we are going to work with “belly breathing” in order to open our belly and allow our diaphragm to move deeper down into our abdomen on inhalation and farther up to squeeze our lungs and support our heart on exhalation. This will have a powerful influence on our respiration, on the way we breathe in the many conditions of our lives.

Practice

1. Lie down comfortably on your back on your bed or on a mat or carpeted floor. Position yourself with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent (pointing upward). Simply follow your breathing for a minute or two with your attention. See if you can sense which parts of your body your breath touches.  Continue to follow your breathing as you rub your hands together until they are very warm.
2. Put your hands (one on top of the other) on your belly, with the center of your lower hand touching your navel. Watch how your breathing responds. You may notice that your belly wants to expand as you inhale and retract as you exhale. Let this happen, but don’t try to force it. If your belly seems tight, rub your hands together again until they are warm and then massage your belly, especially right around the outside edge of your belly button. Notice how your belly begins to soften and relax.
3. Now rub your hands together again until they are warm and put them on your belly again. Watch how this influences your breath. Do not try to do anything. Simply watch and enjoy as your belly begins to come to life, expanding as you inhale and retracting as you exhale.  If your belly still seems overly tight and does not want to move as you breathe, press down with your hands on your belly as you exhale. Then as you inhale, gradually release the tension. Try this several times. Notice how your belly begins to open more on inhalation.
4. When you are ready to stop, be sure to sense your entire abdominal area, noting any special sensations of warmth, comfort, and energy. Spend a few minutes allowing these sensations to spread into all the cells of your belly all the way back to your spine.

This simple practice will have a highly beneficial affect on your breathing, especially if you do it on a regular basis. Remember that you can try this practice at any time of the day or night. Though it’s easiest if you are lying down, you can also do it sitting, standing, walking, and so on. It is an excellent practice to try before you get out of bed in the morning. It is also an excellent practice to work with whenever you are anxious or tense, since it will help relax you and center your energy. Over time, it will help slow down your breathing and make it more natural.

Tan Tien Cleansing Breath

Introduction

The tan tien cleansing breath is a powerful, natural breathing exercise for both health preservation and self-healing, as well as for increasing your inner, vital energy. Based on natural, diaphragmatic breathing, it involves inhaling through the nose and directing the breath energy down into the lower tan tien, the area just beneath the navel, and exhaling waste products up and out through the nose or mouth while simultaneously condensing the breath energy into the cells of the lower abdomen. The tan tien cleansing breath requires a long, slow exhalation. By intentionally prolonging the exhalation, you not only promote the removal of toxins from your body, but you also help turn on your parasympathetic nervous system, thus furthering inner deep relaxation and healing.

Practice

The key to using tan tien breathing to help heal yourself is to inhale gently all the way down into the tan tien area, an inch or two below your navel. As you inhale, put your attention on the lower tan tien and sense your breath energy filling your lower abdomen. Feel how your abdomen naturally expands. If you like, you can put your hands on your belly (see the Belly Breathing Exercise) to help attract your breath there. As you exhale, sense any tensions and toxins going out with the breath as your abdomen naturally contracts, but do not “throw out the baby with the bath water.” Learn to be attentive to the vital warmth or vibration of the breath energy remaining in your abdomen as you exhale. Guard it with your awareness. Feel it being absorbed deep into your cells as you exhale waste products upward and out through your nose or mouth. Do not use any force or effort in doing this practice. Use only your awareness and intention.

Tan tien breathing is an important aspect of natural, authentic breathing, so be patient and gentle as you undertake this exercise. The key is to work with your full attention, without any feeling of willfulness, and to sense the energy in your abdomen as you breathe naturally and effortlessly. If you can work in this way for several minutes each day for a few weeks, the tan tien cleansing breath will quickly become a regular and natural part of your life.

Tips To Increase Oxygen In The Body

There are a number of different ways one can increase the oxygen saturation of the blood and tissues:

1. Fresh air. Increase the amount of oxygen in the air you breathe by allowing fresh air into every room of your home, office and transportation.

2. Deep breathing. Improper breathing causes oxygen deficiency. Use the full capacity of your lungs by expanding both the chest and lower abdomen. Practice deep breathing for a few minutes every day. If you feel depressed, try breathing more deeply. Deep breathing also contributes to moving the lymph.

4. Eat smaller nutrient-dense meals (no empty-calorie junk food). Overeating causes oxygen deficiency. Do you feel tired after a big meal? Vitamin F increases the oxygen carrying capacity of the hemoglobin in red blood cells. Eat an alkaline diet and create an alkaline condition in the body.

6. Avoid carbon monoxide (vehicle exhaust, fumes from gas stoves & heaters) that reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood. Fluoride also interferes with oxygen uptake (“ Oxygen Oxygen Oxygen (Dr. Donsbach Tells You What You Need to Know About) ” by Donsbach, page 30). Alcohol and drugs rob the body of oxygen because the body must oxidize these substances during the process of their removal (“O2Xygen Therapies: A New Way of Approaching Disease” by McCabe, pages 86-87).

7. Consume supplementary oxygen from other sources such as oxygenated drinking water, fresh foods and juices, magnesium peroxide, magnesium dioxide.

8. Bathe in oxygenated water. Add one pint to one quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide to your bath water and soak in it. Be sure your bath water is free of chlorine. You can remove the chlorine in your bath water by putting a filter on the shower head and fill the tub via the shower.

Not only are these good tips, they will help you quiet your mind and be still.  In my heart I know that when I am quiet (mentally, spiritually and physically), I hear God a little more clearly.  Isn’t it so amazing how He who gives us breath wants us to gain strength from it and hear Him when we are still and meditate on the LIFE He gives.  This is a lesson that He continually teaches me since I am prone to stress and tension and tightness in my body.  He teaches me to Be still, and know that (He is) God! (Psalm 46:10).  I have such a hard time learning this that I have it tattooed on my spine!!

May your day be filled with pauses and quiet moments of deep, cleansing breaths! Enjoy this free supplement from your Creator!

Sources: http://www.authentic-breathing.com/deep_breathing.htm and http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/cancer-and-oxygen.htm

146 Side Effects of Sugar

146 REASONS WHY SUGAR IS RUINING YOUR HEALTH

By: Nancy Appleton, Ph.D.

In addition to throwing off the body’s homeostasis (state of balance), excess sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences.  The following is a list of some of sugar’s metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

1.  Sugar can suppress the immune system.

2.  Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.

3.  Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.

4.  Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

5.  Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases)

6.  Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function

7.  Sugar reduces high-density lipoproteins.

8.  Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.

9.  Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.

10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.

11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.

12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.

13. Sugar may make eyes more vulnerable to age-related macular degeneration.

14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and n norepinephrine.

15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.

16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.

17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.

18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.

19. Sugar can cause premature aging.

20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

21. Sugar can cause tooth decay.

22. Sugar contributes to obesity

23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn’s disease, and ulcerative colitis.

24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.

25. Sugar can cause arthritis.

26. Sugar can cause asthma.

27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).

28. Sugar can cause gallstones.

29. Sugar can cause heart disease.

30. Sugar can cause appendicitis.

31. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.

32. Sugar can cause varicose veins.

33. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.

34. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.

35. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

36. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.

37. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

38. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E (alpha-Tocopherol) in the blood.

39. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.

40. Sugar can increase cholesterol.

41. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure.

42. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein)

43. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.

44. Sugar causes food allergies.

45. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.

46. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.

47. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.

48. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.

49. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA

50. Sugar can change the structure of protein.

51. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen.

52. Sugar can cause cataracts.

53. Sugar can cause emphysema.

54. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.

55. Sugar can promote an elevation of low-density lipoproteins (LDL).

56. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.

57. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.

58. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.

59. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.

60. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.

61. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.

62. Sugar can damage the pancreas.

63. Sugar can increase the body’s fluid retention.

64. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement.

65. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).

66. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.

67. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle.

68. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine.

69. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.

70. Sugar can adversely affect school children’s grades and cause learning disorders.

71. Sugar can cause depression.

72. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.

73. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion).

74. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout.

75. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates.

76. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low-sugar diets.

77. A diet high in refined sugar reduces learning capacity.

78. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.

79.  Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.

80. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness.

81. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become under active and others become overactive.

82. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

83. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.

84. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer.

85. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold-increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.

86. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents.

87. Sugar slows food’s travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.

88. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon. This can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.

89.  Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.

90.  Sugar combines with and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult.

91.  Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer.

92. Sugar is an addictive substance.

93. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.

94. Sugar can exacerbate PMS.

95. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.

96. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.

97. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.

98. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

99. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.

100. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.

101. I.V’s (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain.

102. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer.

103. Sugar increases the risk of polio.

104. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.

105. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.

106. In Intensive Care Units, limiting sugar saves lives.

107. Sugar may induce cell death.

108. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.

109. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior.

110. Sugar can lead to prostrate cancer.

111. Sugar dehydrates newborns.

112.  Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.

113. Greater consumption of refined sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia

114. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the blood stream.

115. Sweet food items increase the risk of breast cancer.

116. Sugar is a risk factor in cancer of the small intestine.

117. Sugar may cause laryngeal cancer.

118. Sugar induces salt and water retention.

119. Sugar may contribute to mild memory loss.

120. The more sodas a 10 year old child consumes, the less milk.

121. Sugar can increase the total amount of food consumed.

122. Exposing a newborn to sugar results in a heightened preference for sucrose relative to water at 6 months and 2 years of age.

123.  Sugar causes constipation.

124.  Sugar causes varicose veins.

125.  Sugar can cause brain decay in prediabetic and diabetic women.

126.  Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.

127.  Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.

128.  Sugar ingestion by pregnant women increases neural tube defects in embryos.

129.  Sugar can be a factor in asthma.

130.  The higher the sugar consumption the more chances of getting irritable bowel syndrome.

131.  Sugar can affect the brain’s ability to deal with rewards and consequences.

132.  Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.

133.  Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.

134.  Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.

135.  Sugar can cause liver tumors.

136.  Sugar can increase inflammatory markers in the blood stream of overweight people.

137.  Sugar can lower Vitamin E levels in the blood stream.

138.  Sugar can increase your appetite for all food.

139.  Sugar plays a role in the etiology and the continuation of acne.

140.  Too much sugar can kill your sex life.

141.  Sugar saps school performance in children.

142.  Sugar can cause fatigue, moodiness, nervousness and depression.

143.   Sugar is common choice of obese individuals.

144.   A linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients is associated with increasing total sugar intake.

145.   High fructose consumption has been linked to liver disease.

146.   Sugar adds to the risk of bladder cancer.

Are you overwhelmed? If you got through all these points, you might be. But if we limit the amount that we take in each day, and we sweeten with natural options such as agave, stevia, fruit sugars… then we will be better off than using processed, bleached white sugar.  The standard Dietary Guideline says we should only have 32grams of sugar per day.  And I guess we know that the USDA doesn’t always have the best information for us..so this may be even more than we should have.  1 teaspoon has 4grams of sugar.  Just keep this in mind as you make choices for your family!

The Body Can Heal Itself

by Roscoe Brewer

In November of 2008, I had surgery to remove 60% of my liver and cancer there.  Afterwards, I went for a quarterly cat scan and blood work to see if the cancer returned and it didn’t for one year.  But, in November of 2010, a check up showed that there were three cancerous growths on my pancreas.  The doctor stated that they were not operable and that most people with this kind of cancer only had six to twelve months to live.  He also did not recommend chemo therapy since the chances for curing the disease were slim.

Without options and at the coaching of my family, I decided to try a nutritional based, immuno-therapy program recommended by a Shaklee rep.  It consisted of juicing fruits and vegetables, Shaklee supplements, alkaline water, and eating only vegetables and whole grains.  The basic position of this program is that the body can heal itself if given a chance.  The average person has cancer cells in their body but their immune system is strong enough to reject them.  My immune system was obviously not strong enough to resist the cancer.

After three months, I went for another cat scan and blood test.  My doctor reported to me that the cancerous growths had shrunk significantly.  His words were, “I don’t know what you are doing, but keep it up because you are going to lick this.”  I am continuing the program and plan, upon defeating this cancer, to make most of these practices a life style.

Please know that all the information listed below is how I am fighting my cancer.  But I quickly want to add that hundreds of people have been praying for me.  I know that God is going to heal me and I celebrate this.  But in my heart of hearts, I know that it is God that is doing this and not just my holistic nutritional program.

Please know this post is not saying results would be the same for every body.  But there are many wonderful testimonies just like his, and strong evidence that shows that our bodies can use the right nutrients and processes to heal itself!  It’s a beautiful story of faith and commitment.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the cancer has returned, but Roscoe is focused intently on this regimen and has seen many improvements when he is consistent and careful with what he puts in his body.  He has definitely defied the medical community’s assumptions of his length of life. We are so thankful for his life of love and ministry.  As his family, we appreciate his devotion to keeping his body from growing the cancer any further.

If you’re interested in seeing the plan Roscoe used, please click below:

Immuno Therapy Program