For all those still pondering this dilemma, I offer the following TWO WORDS which should never, ever be put together ever again: 

MEAT GLUE  (please click for what this is and what it means for you)

Like most things in life – you get what you pay for.  Something cheap now may turn out to be far costlier in the long run.  If you’re going to eat meat (and I do, although not near as much as I used to), PLEASE be kind to yourself, to the poor animals (because its bad enough to be born to be eaten, let alone mistreated all your “life”), your loved ones (because they will be taking care of you), and the planet.  There is a reason that some politicians are trying to make it a crime to videotape factory farm operations and what goes on there!  Go for the golden rule and the gold standard – get meat from animals raised naturally and organically, without chemicals, hormones, waste products, and torture – and you will taste the difference as well. It’s time to understand what “sustainable” really means!

Mike Adams, the “Health Ranger” has released a video that exposes the lies of dermatology and the cancer industry while explaining the truth about sunlight, vitamin D and skin cancer. That video is available now on the new video site NaturalNews.TV: http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=234

The Happy Holistic:   I never wear sunscreen.  Ever.  (OK, well if I’m going to be out all day, especially from 10AM-2PM I will put a dab of a natural sunblock on my nose, which needs it more than anywhere else Try Astaxanthin and Spirulina.  The best is made by Nutrex-Hawaii and comes from the pure waters off the Big Island of Hawaii.  It also protects your eyes from sunlight!  Take these algaes, and other anti-oxidants, juice your veggies, eat berries and omega-3′s in increasing amounts for about 30 days and then start to build up your time in the sun, from a few minutes per day to at least a half-hour.  Soon most of you will be able to stay out for a few hours at a time without burning.  Of course, everyone’s skin is different and some people have certain conditions and genetics that will affect their ability to stay out in the sun – so approach it as you would in starting an exercise routine.  (You can also try a great all-natural sunscreen, but it will block many of the UV-B rays you need for Vitamin-D).  The best part is – the sun is still free.  They haven’t taxed it yet!

You see, a lot of people try to eat their way to happiness by eating the “instant joy” foods like ice cream, donuts, cookies and yes, even twinkies. Sugar can, indeed, make us momentarily uplifted because this refined molecule temporarily boosts blood sugar and actively alters brain chemistry. But like any drug, the depression after it wears off is far worse than the brief happiness it appeared to give us. And in the worst cases, we sometimes fall into a pattern of treating that mental rut with yet another hit of sugar to try to keep the happiness going.

This downward cycle of sugar dependence leads us to long-term obesity, diabetes and depression.

As author Timothy Brantley says in The Cure: Heal Your Body, Save Your Life:
“How did these foods affect their moods? Food Group A (Standard American Diet). The subjects all had radical energy fluctuations, staying in a cycle of having to manipulate to produce quick energy after a radical drop. The subjects all remarked that they never realized how addicted they were to sugar and other stimulants, like caffeine, simply to function. The roller-coaster effect on their energy swung them into high and low moods, and many of them got sick consistently.”
(http://www.naturalpedia.com/book_Th…)

The Standard American Diet is obviously not the solution we’re looking for. But what works better?

http://www.naturalnews.com/029117_moods_happiness.html

“…As part of the deal, McDonald’s will use the Weight Watchers logo on its menu boards and Weight Watchers will promote McDonald’s food to dieters. So far, the Fillet-O-Fish, with 18g of fat and 380 calories; Chicken McNuggets, with 29g of fat and 485 calories; and Sweet Chilli Seared Chicken Wrap, with 18.8g of fat and 404 calories, have been approved by Weight Watchers.”

But that’s just for starters…

Yes, these are the supposedly “healthy” and “happy” meals that have been launched in response to the bad PR of documentaries such as “Super Size Me“.  Yet, the “chicken” being offered still comes from nightmarish factory farms, where it is just a product to be stacked on top of other product and fattened in every way imaginable, with no concern for the health or nutritional makeup of the birds – let alone concern for their dignity or pain of existence.  How could it matter if a bird, or food product, is fed nutritional food and cared for – or just stuffed in a box and fed chemicals?  After all, “Parts is parts”, right???  

Sadly, there are no “happy” meals for the chicken or the cow that are raised for these gruesome purposes.  It is now well known that the constant, never-ending fear endured by these factory-farm creatures is directly expressed through their bodies by hormones and this same negative energy is transferred into the ”food” they become – and you eat.  The entire process of the factory farm is not geared to quality of the product produced – it is totally designed to maximize quantity – and therefore profit.  When you eat these foods, you are essentially absorbing in the fear and the horror of the entire torturous life of these poor beings, that have never known happiness – only pain.  And even if you don’t personally believe in Karma, that’s still toxic.  If you really want to know more about the hell they go through – and how it relates to your fast-food meal, go read “Diet For a New America” by John Robbins – or go see the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. 

The “nuggets” of various assorted parts to be eaten are then usually dipped in various goos or “sauces” full of sugars and chemicals that will make you even more hungry.  Even the salads are composed of mostly iceberg lettuce and doused with more sugary dressings full of special wonderful additives, which can vary like guest stars on a game show, from canola oil to MSG-by-another-name (hydrolyzed yeast extract being one) to good ol’ high fructose corn syrup.  And what visit wouldn’t be complete without acrylamide-laced fried potatoes and bone-dissolving sugar soda pop drinks with phosphoric acid.   The All-American meal of a long, slow, painful, expensive (and expansive) decline by diet.

Of course, the original idea behind Weight Watchers, for its day, was ahead of the curve.  An easy method for diet-conscious people on the go to maintain a balance of healthy types of food and limit calories and thus weight gain.  Reducing complex food decisions to a simple counting system may have been valuable 20 years ago, when foods were far less processed and full of chemicals than they are today.  But the knowledge we now know of nutrition makes calorie counting itself obsolete.

You are only as healthy as the nutrients you eat per calorie.  In other words, as proposed by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Health equals Nutrients over Calories, or the formula H=N/C.  The higher the nutrient count per calorie of food you eat, the healthier you will be.  And you will naturally drop to your optimal weight.   

But what about those calories – doesn’t the number matter?  Not really.  Your metabolism will adjust if you eat healthy, high nutritional foods or superfoods.  And your appetite will adjust to match your more stabilized hormones.  And, after you adjust, you still start to feel better, look better, move better - and yes, be happier. 

No word yet on whether this endorsement by WW of the premier distributor of fats, salt, sugar sauces, and other high-risk ingredients will spread to the other far-flung regions of its global empire, or where it all began in the US.  Of course, after the colossal irony and tragedy of seeing the Golden Arches serving patrons in US hospitals, just a few floors down from the heart-attack victims and cancer patients, nothing much surprises me anymore.

The Happy Holistic:  This is old news, and those of us in the natural health community have known this for years.  The FDA will allow large corporations to put chemicals such as high-fructose corn syrup and MSG in these junk foods and fast foods, which have already been shown to promote these addictive behaviors leading to obesity and illness, yet they will prosecute natural health practitioners for helping people overcome them.  It reminds me of how cigarette companies knowingly put chemicals in their products to make them even more addictive! Than nicotine!  How can we ever get healthy and get raging health costs under control when these addictive drugs are allowed to poison our bodies and minds? 

MEANWHILE, THERE is at least one good thing to come out of the FDA – unfortunately, he no longer works there.  The former head of the FDA, David Kessler, has authored an outstanding new expose of the American Food industry and its success at exploiting our addictions and avoiding all regulation called The End of Overeating.  In this interview, he explains how our brains are hardwired for these addictive behaviors.

…Avoid GMO food like the plague.  Don’t buy any product made with GMO food or any product made by a company that uses any GMO food.  Demand that GMO food be labeled so that consumers have a clear choice.  And look out for sugar, the latest food to undergo Frankenfood mutation.

Article

The Happy Holistic:  Halloween is a blast.  But its also the start of Sugar Season, and that means sugar, sickness, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), and lots and lots of calories and weight gain.  Make sure you don’t go overboard on the sweet stuff.  If you do, you may need to do some detoxing to clean up your blood and enhance your immunity.

One happy and healthy alternative to sugar is Stevia, the herb that South Americans have been using for thousands of years as a sweetener – with zero calories!  Some people find the powder to be slightly bitter at first but many have no problem with the liquid form to sweeten drinks.  Stevia can also be used to replace sugar in baking and many recipes exist.  Stevia also has health benefits, its anti-viral, anti-bacterial and it actually helps to regulate blood sugar – something regular sugar will never do!  Another safe sugar alternative is xylitol.   Artificial Sweeteners (Aspartame “Nutrasweet”, Splenda, etc.) are even worse than sugar. If you must use sugar, try to find organic cane sugar.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027312_astragalus_aging_health.html

The Happy Holistic:  So…in other words….each time your cells divide, your telomeres get shorter. When your telomeres run down, cell division stops and your life ends! Yikes! But wait, Time Out! It appears that the Astragalus root, known to Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years to be effective in helping to prevent colds and flu, is also a powerful anti-aging element! It can even rebuild the telomeres and REVERSE AGING! In fact, the researchers have recently been awarded a Nobel Prize for their findings, and this guy has been reversing his gray hair for two years now (and suggests it may also prevent cancer) - it seems to be a documented natural fountain of youth.  Yet, Dr. Weil is being attacked for suggesting its use in his products to help prevent the flu – while a new untested vaccine with toxic ingredients has been subsidized by taxpayers and hysterically pushed upon the general public by the health authorities – for what appears to be a non-existant crisis (see below)!

…When CDC did not provide us with the material, we filed a Freedom of Information request with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). More than two months later, the request has not been fulfilled. We also asked CDC for state-by-state test results prior to halting of testing and tracking, but CDC was again, initially, unresponsive.

While we waited for CDC to provide the data, which it eventually did, we asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors, such as travel to Mexico.

In most states the percentages ranged from 83 to 98 percent NOT BEING H1N1 or influenza.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/21/cbsnews_investigates/main5404829.shtml

The Happy Holistic:  This is just another example of a pattern of deception and outright propaganda by the CDC in conjunction with HHS to hype this so-called “Swine Flu” epidemic.  While the government has spent $6.4 Billion on this vaccine and untold millions to push its acceptance,  the FDA and FTC is harassing doctors such as Andrew Weil for promoting healthy alternatives.  This amounts to a campaign to embolden the powers of the federal health bureaucracy and the bottom line of Big Pharma.

http://www.naturalnews.com/027303_the_FTC_America_vaccines.html

You can review the FTC threats against Dr. Weil on the FTC’s own website: http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm186837.htm

Dr. Weil was right: Astragalus herb really helps fight the flu:  http://www.naturalnews.com/027302_astragalus_the_flu.html

The Happy Holistic:  This is an interesting case where the agencies are going after the most prominent alternative medicine practioner at a time when the government is in the midst of a vast, expensive campaign to promote taking the Swine Flu Vaccine.  Taxpayers have already paid an estimated $6.4 Billion for these vaccines, which were rushed past normal testing procedures and likely not effective.  The government is spending even more (and pumping the media) to encourage people to take the shot.  Health workers in New York have just won an injunction to stop from having to take mandatory shots.  Now, a widely-respected doctor and author is suggesting an inexpensive and harmless alternative, Astralagus, an ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine herb,  to these toxic, ineffective vaccines and the government is trying to silence him and others.  If nothing else, this proves without a doubt that the government is being directly manipulated by the medical-pharmacological complex.