Real food, real simple
It's about food but not about cooking
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
From The Real Food Channel
Food can kill - or heal. Info to help you choose wisely.
How toxic is sugar?
Sugar and other sweeteners are everywhere. They're hidden in a huge percentage of processed foods.
They're sold to us as a way to feel good and enjoy life more.
What price are we paying for our addiction to sugar and other sweeteners? Obesity. Diabetes. Cancer.
This report for 60 Minutes reveals the addictive nature of sugar and the price we pay for our overindulgence.
The good news? Switching to a diet of whole, unprocessed foods can reverse the effects.
Sugar and fructose feed the pleasure center of the brain. We feel good when we eat some sugar. Is a little bit okay? Sure. But how many people stop at just a little bit? A huge proportion of processed foods contain sugar and its substitutes such as high fructose corn syrup. We consume far more sugar now than we ever have, and it's taking a toll on our health. This report from 60 Minutes talks about the consequences of our society's addiction to sugar, and how the researchers are responding to their own findings.
From The Real Food Channel
Food can kill - or heal. Info to help you choose wisely.
Pesticides tied to ADHD in children
Think organic isn't worth the price?
Growing your own organic food, buying organic, and thoroughly cleaning your produce are ways to reduce exposure to pesticides. Why is reducing exposure to pesticides important? Marc Weisskopf, assistant professor of environmental and occupational epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, discusses a study that finds children exposed to higher levels of pesticides known as organophosphates could have a higher risk of being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Vermont says NO to GMO ignorance, oppression and slavery of consumers with new mandatory GMO labeling law
(NaturalNews) Most of you reading this have no idea how desperate the biotech industry has been to block GMO labeling laws: they've committed election money laundering crimes, hired negative P.R. trolls, paid major publishers to place character assassination hit pieces against activists, unleashed threatening phone call campaigns to intimidate people, strong-armed science journals into suppressing valid science, intimidated universities where GMO labeling speakers were scheduled to speak, vandalized wiki pages and much more (some of which you wouldn't even believe). Make no mistake that the biotech industry and the Grocery Manufacturers of America are a criminal cabal of propagandists who will do almost anything to block GMO labeling laws. They respect no ethics, no science and no law. They are, in effect, "biotech terrorists" who use mafia-style tactics to protect their profit interests.
This week, the great state of Vermont -- the same state that was the first to abolish slavery -- has now passed a mandatory GMO labeling law that Gov. Peter Shumlin has said he will sign. This law, labeled "114-40," will require mandatory GMO labeling of foods by July 1, 2016.
The law is the first "clean" GMO labeling law to be passed in America, requiring no triggering events by neighboring states. It is an enormous victory for grassroots consumer activism and a massive defeat for the biotech industry and its army of anti-science intimidation operatives.
As ABC News writes (1):
Americans overwhelmingly favor such requirements for foods containing genetically modified organisms, but the industry fears a patchwork of state policies. The Vermont bill says genetically modified foods "potentially pose risks to health, safety, agriculture, and the environment" and includes $1.5 million for implementation and defense against lawsuits expected from the food and biotech industries.
If left to the biotech industry, we would all be slaves to their food supply poisons, shackled to a steady supply of cancer-causing foods engineered to grow deadly poisons that have already been proven to cause organ damage and cancer. GMO producers would be just fine with that as long as they got paid as the "plantation owners" controlling the food supply. We would all be enslaved -- whites, blacks, browns, Asians, you name it -- to a system of total food secrecy by which the biotech companies could engineer the national food supply to serve their profit interests while sacrificing the health of the public.
Here's what GMOs did to lab rats in a famous scientific study:
That makes us all wonder why the biotech industry is so desperate to block GMO labeling. If GMOs are harmless and even "good for you" as they claim, why wouldn't GMO labeling actually be a feature that would boost sales for those who love to eat GMOs? I think they need to come up with a new version of Corn Flakes, in fact, emblazoned with the label claim, "Now fortified with EXTRA GMOs!"
But the biotech industry, of course, wants to destroy this law, censor the food labels and keep consumers ignorant and uninformed in much the same way that plantation slave owners would not allow slaves to learn how to read. Reading books and reading labels both have the same purpose: to gather meaningful information and empower you with knowledge. Any corporation, institution or Grocery Manufacturers Association that deliberately attempts to block knowledge on food labels is in effect endorsing the very tactic of ignorance that was used against plantation slaves.
The biotech industry will spend millions of dollars to make sure people stay ignorant, too. As USA Today reports (2)
The state anticipates legal trouble. Included in the bill is establishment of a fund of up to $1.5 million to help pay for the state's defense against a lawsuit. People will be able to contribute voluntarily and any money the state attorney general wins in other court settlements can be added. If the state loses a lawsuit, legal costs are estimated at $5 million to $8 million.
Even then, Vermont lawmakers are willing to go to battle with the insidious biotech industry over this important principle of allowing consumers the freedom to choose.
• All seeds are patented and owned by one dominant multi-billion-dollar corporation.
• All farmers are forced to buy all seeds from this corporation, thereby enslaving farmers in modern day "company store" from which they can never escape.
• All consumers are denied the right to know what they are eating by censoring food labels to make sure GMOs are never listed.
• All scientists and activists who dare to raise questions about the human safety and environmental safety of genetically engineered foods are systematically threatened, intimidated, silenced and even ostracized from the "scientific" community. No science that questions GMOs will be allowed in any science journal, EVER.
• All lawmakers are bought off or threatened to the extent necessary to receive their support for voting against GMO labeling laws.
That's the perfect world of the biotech industry, and make no mistake when I say that's what they are aiming for: total domination, ignorance, slavery, scientific censorship and corporate imperialism.
We will NOT allow our farms, our seeds, our food and our health to be dominated by an evil, imperialistic corporate cabal that seeks to enslave us all.
NO, we will NOT sit back and do nothing while you poison our families and our children with your toxic foods.
NO, we will NOT remain silent as you threaten and intimidate scientists and science journals with your corporate-warped anti-science, anti-knowledge agenda.
And NO, we will NOT surrender to your destructive aims that threaten seed diversity, the genetic integrity of the ecosystem, the viability of the food supply and the long-term health of the world population.
Enough is enough. America has already said NO to slavery, NO to school segregation, NO to Hitler and his Holocaust and NO to Big Tobacco, an industry which once ran the same anti-science intimidation agenda now invoked by the biotech industry.
It's time we all said NO to genetically engineered foods forever. End this scourge against civilization by first labeling and then outlawing genetically engineered foods.
We do this in the name of humanity, in the name of protecting life, in the name of scientific integrity and with the intention of peace, prosperity and love for a better world.
Watch my "Just Label It" video for a fun musical interlude that celebrates this message (originally released in support of Prop 37):
This week, the great state of Vermont -- the same state that was the first to abolish slavery -- has now passed a mandatory GMO labeling law that Gov. Peter Shumlin has said he will sign. This law, labeled "114-40," will require mandatory GMO labeling of foods by July 1, 2016.
The law is the first "clean" GMO labeling law to be passed in America, requiring no triggering events by neighboring states. It is an enormous victory for grassroots consumer activism and a massive defeat for the biotech industry and its army of anti-science intimidation operatives.
As ABC News writes (1):
Americans overwhelmingly favor such requirements for foods containing genetically modified organisms, but the industry fears a patchwork of state policies. The Vermont bill says genetically modified foods "potentially pose risks to health, safety, agriculture, and the environment" and includes $1.5 million for implementation and defense against lawsuits expected from the food and biotech industries.
Now the biotech industry will try to sue Vermont to keep consumers in the dark
With tens of millions of dollars already thrown at other campaigns in California and Washington, the biotech industry is now expected to try to sue Vermont to block the application of the law. This is akin to the biotech industry screaming, "Slaves should not have been freed!" by fighting the will of the People as history progresses. America will never go back to a time when GMOs were the dirty little secret of the food supply, and Vermont will be just one of many states that believes in the freedom of consumers to know what they are eating just as strongly as the state believed in the freedom of African-Americans.If left to the biotech industry, we would all be slaves to their food supply poisons, shackled to a steady supply of cancer-causing foods engineered to grow deadly poisons that have already been proven to cause organ damage and cancer. GMO producers would be just fine with that as long as they got paid as the "plantation owners" controlling the food supply. We would all be enslaved -- whites, blacks, browns, Asians, you name it -- to a system of total food secrecy by which the biotech companies could engineer the national food supply to serve their profit interests while sacrificing the health of the public.
Here's what GMOs did to lab rats in a famous scientific study:
Vermont says NO to unlabeled GMOs
With the passage of this new law, Vermont has taken a stand and said, "Enough is enough!" We the People deserve the freedom to make a choice about what we buy and consume. Those who wish to avoid genetically engineered ingredients must be offered the opportunity to do so through accurate food labeling. Those who are ignorant about GMOs and don't care about the issue can still buy their poisons and feed those poisons to their children, sadly. But at least it's their choice. Accurate GMO labeling gives consumers the freedom to choose what they want.That makes us all wonder why the biotech industry is so desperate to block GMO labeling. If GMOs are harmless and even "good for you" as they claim, why wouldn't GMO labeling actually be a feature that would boost sales for those who love to eat GMOs? I think they need to come up with a new version of Corn Flakes, in fact, emblazoned with the label claim, "Now fortified with EXTRA GMOs!"
Vermont expects to be sued by the biotech industry
Vermont lawmakers really deserve huge credit for making this happen. With the passage of this law,they've made history for humanity.But the biotech industry, of course, wants to destroy this law, censor the food labels and keep consumers ignorant and uninformed in much the same way that plantation slave owners would not allow slaves to learn how to read. Reading books and reading labels both have the same purpose: to gather meaningful information and empower you with knowledge. Any corporation, institution or Grocery Manufacturers Association that deliberately attempts to block knowledge on food labels is in effect endorsing the very tactic of ignorance that was used against plantation slaves.
The biotech industry will spend millions of dollars to make sure people stay ignorant, too. As USA Today reports (2)
The state anticipates legal trouble. Included in the bill is establishment of a fund of up to $1.5 million to help pay for the state's defense against a lawsuit. People will be able to contribute voluntarily and any money the state attorney general wins in other court settlements can be added. If the state loses a lawsuit, legal costs are estimated at $5 million to $8 million.
Even then, Vermont lawmakers are willing to go to battle with the insidious biotech industry over this important principle of allowing consumers the freedom to choose.
Why the biotech industry wants to keep you a slave
Freedom is an elusive thing, you see: if you don't stand up and demand it, it will be stolen from you day after day, silently, insidiously, and at the hands of truly evil corporations that quite literally want you to be a slave to their monopolistic aims. For the biotech industry, their "perfect world" would look like this:• All seeds are patented and owned by one dominant multi-billion-dollar corporation.
• All farmers are forced to buy all seeds from this corporation, thereby enslaving farmers in modern day "company store" from which they can never escape.
• All consumers are denied the right to know what they are eating by censoring food labels to make sure GMOs are never listed.
• All scientists and activists who dare to raise questions about the human safety and environmental safety of genetically engineered foods are systematically threatened, intimidated, silenced and even ostracized from the "scientific" community. No science that questions GMOs will be allowed in any science journal, EVER.
• All lawmakers are bought off or threatened to the extent necessary to receive their support for voting against GMO labeling laws.
That's the perfect world of the biotech industry, and make no mistake when I say that's what they are aiming for: total domination, ignorance, slavery, scientific censorship and corporate imperialism.
We the People will not stand for your poisons, your lies and your mafia tactics against real science
Thankfully, Vermont has just handed the biotech industry a firm, "NO!"We will NOT allow our farms, our seeds, our food and our health to be dominated by an evil, imperialistic corporate cabal that seeks to enslave us all.
NO, we will NOT sit back and do nothing while you poison our families and our children with your toxic foods.
NO, we will NOT remain silent as you threaten and intimidate scientists and science journals with your corporate-warped anti-science, anti-knowledge agenda.
And NO, we will NOT surrender to your destructive aims that threaten seed diversity, the genetic integrity of the ecosystem, the viability of the food supply and the long-term health of the world population.
Enough is enough. America has already said NO to slavery, NO to school segregation, NO to Hitler and his Holocaust and NO to Big Tobacco, an industry which once ran the same anti-science intimidation agenda now invoked by the biotech industry.
It's time we all said NO to genetically engineered foods forever. End this scourge against civilization by first labeling and then outlawing genetically engineered foods.
We do this in the name of humanity, in the name of protecting life, in the name of scientific integrity and with the intention of peace, prosperity and love for a better world.
Watch my "Just Label It" video for a fun musical interlude that celebrates this message (originally released in support of Prop 37):
Deadly MERS virus spreading out of control in Saudi Arabia, leaps to Egypt as global pandemic begins
(NaturalNews) It has long been recognized by intelligent observers that a global superbug pandemic is inevitable. Humanity has created the perfect conditions for it: global nutritional deficiencies, weakened immune systems, high population density, high-speed international travel and systemic abuse of antibiotics by medical professionals. Drug-resistant superbugs like MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) are 100% immune to every conventional medical treatment in existence. There is no antibiotic, no vaccine, no drug and no treatment practiced by western medicine that can stop these bugs... and infections are deadly.
Now we've learned they're spreading out of control in Saudi Arabia, following an explosive pandemic pattern that has infectious disease experts sounding the alarm.
Ian MacKay, an associate professor at the Australia Infectious Diseases Research Centre at The University of Queensland, is now warning about where this might be headed. Over the last 30 days, MERS cases in Saudi Arabia have exploded from just 1-3 per day to over 10 per day, showing a worrisome trend.(1)
"MERS is a particularly nasty disease for those who already have a disease that is chronic," writes Ian MacKay on his blog. (2) "These include diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, lung disease, obesity, malignancy and those who smoke or use steroids."
An alarming 140 cases have been found in April alone, and more MERS cases have been reported so far in 2014 than during the entire year of 2013.
The following chart shows an alarming trend in the cumulative number of MERS infections with a sharp spike in cases being reported in mid-April:
Healthcare worker (HCW) numbers have risen sharply (see below) during the April outbreak to a total of 84 detections, 7% of whom have died. Deaths (left) among HCWs now represent 1.6% of all MERS-CoV positive deaths. This jump in HCW detections has been fuelled by the Jeddah outbreak but also by the parallel HCW cluster among paramedics in the UAE; two as yet completely unexplained events.
When healthcare workers are infected, they tend to increase the spread of the disease by inadvertently infecting patients. This is why hospitals can quickly become extremely dangerous places during any outbreak: it's where you're mostly likely to get infected. Hospitals, in essence, become hubs that spread the disease and multiply the pandemic. This is exactly what has been observed in Ebola outbreaks, by the way.
State television said Saturday that the country's first case had been discovered. It said the patient, who was hospitalized in Cairo, had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia, where the virus was first identified.
So now we have the first documented case of MERS crossing borders and becoming an international superbug. It's only a matter of time before visitors to Saudi Arabia carry this superbug to other nations as well.
So when patients get infected and go to the hospital, those hospitals have nothing to offer them except, perhaps, exposure to other superbugs that are now running rampant across hospitals. Half of all hospital rooms are infected with superbugs, and superbugs are now killing 48,000 patients a year in the USA alone. Deadly superbugs are even sweeping California hospitals and nursing homes.
Western medicine hospitals are beholden to drug company interests, so they refuse to recognize or prescribe treatments that aren't patented by drug companies. This means hospitals will refuse to prescribe herbal treatments that can block MERS infections such as the "Minor Blue Green Dragon" formula which contains a highly effective anti-pandemic ingredient that has been outlawed by the FDA.
As the next global pandemic spreads, western medicine's monopolistic rejection of natural remedies will almost certainly result in the deaths of potentially millions of victims -- people who could have been saved if they had only been told the truth about non-pharmaceutical treatments against infectious respiratory illnesses. It's absolutely criminal that when western medical professionals have literally nothing to offer for a deadly superbug, they simultaneously don't want people to have access to anything else that might work either. Their message? "Go home and die, but don't you dare take herbal medicine because that might be dangerous."
I'm not saying that a person shouldn't use western medicine in a pandemic, by the way. My advice is touse every tool you can find -- western medicine, eastern medicine, herbal medicine, nutritional therapies, sunlight therapy, etc. Only a fool limits his options to the one single system of medicine that offers zero solutions.
Now we've learned they're spreading out of control in Saudi Arabia, following an explosive pandemic pattern that has infectious disease experts sounding the alarm.
Ian MacKay, an associate professor at the Australia Infectious Diseases Research Centre at The University of Queensland, is now warning about where this might be headed. Over the last 30 days, MERS cases in Saudi Arabia have exploded from just 1-3 per day to over 10 per day, showing a worrisome trend.(1)
"MERS is a particularly nasty disease for those who already have a disease that is chronic," writes Ian MacKay on his blog. (2) "These include diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, hypertension, lung disease, obesity, malignancy and those who smoke or use steroids."
An alarming 140 cases have been found in April alone, and more MERS cases have been reported so far in 2014 than during the entire year of 2013.
The following chart shows an alarming trend in the cumulative number of MERS infections with a sharp spike in cases being reported in mid-April:
Healthcare workers increasingly infected: 7% death rate reported
According to data analysis by MacKay, healthcare workers are also being infected and an astonishing 7% are dying from those infections. From MacKay's blog: (2)Healthcare worker (HCW) numbers have risen sharply (see below) during the April outbreak to a total of 84 detections, 7% of whom have died. Deaths (left) among HCWs now represent 1.6% of all MERS-CoV positive deaths. This jump in HCW detections has been fuelled by the Jeddah outbreak but also by the parallel HCW cluster among paramedics in the UAE; two as yet completely unexplained events.
When healthcare workers are infected, they tend to increase the spread of the disease by inadvertently infecting patients. This is why hospitals can quickly become extremely dangerous places during any outbreak: it's where you're mostly likely to get infected. Hospitals, in essence, become hubs that spread the disease and multiply the pandemic. This is exactly what has been observed in Ebola outbreaks, by the way.
MERS has now spread to Egypt
The LA Times(3) is now reporting that MERS has spread from Saudi Arabia to Egypt:State television said Saturday that the country's first case had been discovered. It said the patient, who was hospitalized in Cairo, had recently traveled to Saudi Arabia, where the virus was first identified.
So now we have the first documented case of MERS crossing borders and becoming an international superbug. It's only a matter of time before visitors to Saudi Arabia carry this superbug to other nations as well.
Western medicine is utterly helpless against MERS
What's especially alarming about the spread of MERS is that all the tools of western medicine -- drugs, vaccines, surgery -- are completely and utterly useless against MERS and many other superbugs.So when patients get infected and go to the hospital, those hospitals have nothing to offer them except, perhaps, exposure to other superbugs that are now running rampant across hospitals. Half of all hospital rooms are infected with superbugs, and superbugs are now killing 48,000 patients a year in the USA alone. Deadly superbugs are even sweeping California hospitals and nursing homes.
Western medicine hospitals are beholden to drug company interests, so they refuse to recognize or prescribe treatments that aren't patented by drug companies. This means hospitals will refuse to prescribe herbal treatments that can block MERS infections such as the "Minor Blue Green Dragon" formula which contains a highly effective anti-pandemic ingredient that has been outlawed by the FDA.
Western medicine will kill millions in the next pandemic
As this infection spreads globally, people who rely solely on Western medicine will die en masse, victims of a system of medicine which oppresses and even outlaws competing systems of medicine that offer far more effective solutions for pandemic defense. Those who embrace more diverse systems of medicine (such as Traditional Chinese Medicine) will have anti-pandemic remedies readily available. These remedies actually contain powerful medicinal compounds which have been synthesized by plants rather than by laboratories. Anyone who discounts the power of natural herbal medicine is flatly ignorant: as much as 25% of Big Pharma's drugs are originally derived from medicinal plants in the first place (then modified to be patentable). Statin drugs, for example, were modeled after the natural lovastatins originally discovered in red yeast rice.As the next global pandemic spreads, western medicine's monopolistic rejection of natural remedies will almost certainly result in the deaths of potentially millions of victims -- people who could have been saved if they had only been told the truth about non-pharmaceutical treatments against infectious respiratory illnesses. It's absolutely criminal that when western medical professionals have literally nothing to offer for a deadly superbug, they simultaneously don't want people to have access to anything else that might work either. Their message? "Go home and die, but don't you dare take herbal medicine because that might be dangerous."
I'm not saying that a person shouldn't use western medicine in a pandemic, by the way. My advice is touse every tool you can find -- western medicine, eastern medicine, herbal medicine, nutritional therapies, sunlight therapy, etc. Only a fool limits his options to the one single system of medicine that offers zero solutions.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Healing herbal tea
Healing herbal tea
Aromatic spices for healing
Several of our videos talk about the healing power of spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, and ginger. Here's a great way to get a variety of these medicinal spices into your diets without taking expensive supplements. This herbal tea (or tisane) is easy to make, and easy to modify to suit your taste. Try increasing the turmeric from 1/4 tsp to a full tsp, adding a few grinds of fresh black pepper, or using fresh ginger slices. A touch of honey will take the edge off the strong spices.
Is choice lost? Microchips to administer drugs, replace pills
(NaturalNews) According to reports from CNN, people who use pharmaceutical drugs, but who don't like having to remember, think, exercise their personal agency, or make their own proactive choices throughout their day, may soon be able to get their medications automatically administered via an implanted chip.
MIT researchers and a company called MicroCHIPS are developing a chip smaller than a square inch in area, which can be preloaded with drugs. It can release drugs into your body in given doses and time intervals, programmed according to "doctor's orders" - while your mind wanders on "more important" things.
When the dosage or intervals need to be changed, the microchips would be able to be adjusted remotely by the doctor, says the report. The chips, already tested in patients withe osteoporosis since 2012, will have the ability to transmit real-time information to create a permanent record of exactly what dose was administered when, along with other medical information. Expected to be released in 2017, the chips may be able to function wirelessly in the body for 16 years.
When "at risk for a heart attack," this device can "rescue" you, says the report. MicroCHIPS CEO Bradley Paddock says, "The MicroCHIPS implantable drug delivery device is the greatest advancement in delivering medicine since the first tablet pill was developed in 1876."
To name just one of many scenarios, imagine you are having an adverse drug reaction, and your wireless service to contact the doctor's office happens to be interrupted that day, while the chip continues to pour the poison into your bloodstream?
If someone truly has congenital illness that threatens or greatly compromises their quality of life, or a catastrophic injury, and has cognitive impairment and no social support in keeping track of his or her medication schedule, then this technology may conceivably have a small, valid niche.
However, the issue for the rest of the population is that it is known in medical, psychological, and even timeless philosophical circles that when people don't have to be mindfully aware - to pay attention - then people doze, turn off their brain, and stop being accountable. All bets are off for calamity when people are sleepwalking around.
After a couple of generations (that's all it took) of coming to expect "better living through chemistry," the coming deployment of this pharma-chip technology is a stark reflection of a dozing brand of unconsciousness already rampantly seen in society. This chip could be used to literally make its users' bodies part of "the matrix," a node in the global information net, a computational and economic unitphysically linking our flesh to the pharmaceutical-industrial-financial complex.
This proves that the dumbing down of people is rarely the sole fault of a technology's innovators, when there is a market that matches the level of unconsciousness that the product is designed to cater to.
While literally inviting pharma to bypass one's conscious mind and take total control over their body's biochemistry may not make such consumers "evil," it does bring to mind the timeless, philosophical debate on virtue and wisdom: What kind of impact does the every-day abdication of responsible, conscious choice have on other people? What kind of environment does this non-choosing create for those of us who choose our birthright of holistic health, wellness, and the natural wisdom of living?
directly on the packaging. For example, written warnings on the bottle are a last line of defense so that people, in a fog-of-mind, don't recklessly take certain drugs while driving, operating heavy machinery, or while intoxicated with alcohols or recreational drugs. Where will the side-effect warnings and counter-indication reminders be written on the microchip so you have to look at it before you are dosed? Perhaps nowhere.
Because of these psychotropic side effects, people who lives by natural wisdom and yet dwell in a society of people walking around taking pills are dealing with what, on this website previously, have been called "zombies." Therefore, if or when those who choose to use pharmaceutical drugs no longer must even execute the small act of opening a bottle and hand-feeding themselves pill - and instead just let the chip give it to them - the last vestige for millions of people of a mindful, grounded connection to their bodies dissolves into thin air. This ungroundedness could be truly dangerous for running a healthy, life-sustaining civilization, and is a phenomenon that should be studied carefully.
Preventing and oftentimes reversing chronic imbalances can be achieved in simple ways of bringing natural wisdom into your life, include eating more organic leafy vegetables, raw and uncorrupted plant-based fats, and nourishing proteins from seeds, nuts, sprouts, and beans; cutting back on processed sugar and preservatives, dyes, and chemicals; taking hikes; reducing stress and hypertension with meditation, yoga, or qi gong; and more.
In both his books There Is a Cure for Diabetes and Spiritual Nutrition, Dr. Gabriel Cousens urges us to recognize that the recent mass pharmaceutical phenomenon is one of modernity's "crimes against wisdom." Wisdom includes the heritage of letting the Earth's living natural medicines, good food, herbs, healing waters, airs, sunshine, and the wealth of the inner awareness traditions, be our teachers in self-healing.
Living in wisdom is a cultural choice. Crimes against wisdom is a lifestyle of choosing not to choose. Wisdom and its good friend virtue may ask us to open our eyes to what is already provided by nature.
Are we on the path of wisdom, or crimes against wisdom? To use a quote of unknown origin with great relevance to the techno-state of body-mind oblivion that will tempt millions: "For every person who doesn't make their own decisions, there is someone more than willing to make them for you."
MIT researchers and a company called MicroCHIPS are developing a chip smaller than a square inch in area, which can be preloaded with drugs. It can release drugs into your body in given doses and time intervals, programmed according to "doctor's orders" - while your mind wanders on "more important" things.
When the dosage or intervals need to be changed, the microchips would be able to be adjusted remotely by the doctor, says the report. The chips, already tested in patients withe osteoporosis since 2012, will have the ability to transmit real-time information to create a permanent record of exactly what dose was administered when, along with other medical information. Expected to be released in 2017, the chips may be able to function wirelessly in the body for 16 years.
When "at risk for a heart attack," this device can "rescue" you, says the report. MicroCHIPS CEO Bradley Paddock says, "The MicroCHIPS implantable drug delivery device is the greatest advancement in delivering medicine since the first tablet pill was developed in 1876."
What could possibly go wrong?
You may have heard last week about the man who was never picked up for his 13 year prison sentence because of clerical administrative error? Do you want to have the possibility of administrative error literally sewn under your skin, embedding the risk of medical mistakes inside your body, every day without reprieve?To name just one of many scenarios, imagine you are having an adverse drug reaction, and your wireless service to contact the doctor's office happens to be interrupted that day, while the chip continues to pour the poison into your bloodstream?
If someone truly has congenital illness that threatens or greatly compromises their quality of life, or a catastrophic injury, and has cognitive impairment and no social support in keeping track of his or her medication schedule, then this technology may conceivably have a small, valid niche.
However, the issue for the rest of the population is that it is known in medical, psychological, and even timeless philosophical circles that when people don't have to be mindfully aware - to pay attention - then people doze, turn off their brain, and stop being accountable. All bets are off for calamity when people are sleepwalking around.
After a couple of generations (that's all it took) of coming to expect "better living through chemistry," the coming deployment of this pharma-chip technology is a stark reflection of a dozing brand of unconsciousness already rampantly seen in society. This chip could be used to literally make its users' bodies part of "the matrix," a node in the global information net, a computational and economic unitphysically linking our flesh to the pharmaceutical-industrial-financial complex.
This proves that the dumbing down of people is rarely the sole fault of a technology's innovators, when there is a market that matches the level of unconsciousness that the product is designed to cater to.
While literally inviting pharma to bypass one's conscious mind and take total control over their body's biochemistry may not make such consumers "evil," it does bring to mind the timeless, philosophical debate on virtue and wisdom: What kind of impact does the every-day abdication of responsible, conscious choice have on other people? What kind of environment does this non-choosing create for those of us who choose our birthright of holistic health, wellness, and the natural wisdom of living?
How can those who can't be responsible for themselves be responsible for civilization?
Many drugs have neurological and psychological side effects, and counter-indication reminders, writtendirectly on the packaging. For example, written warnings on the bottle are a last line of defense so that people, in a fog-of-mind, don't recklessly take certain drugs while driving, operating heavy machinery, or while intoxicated with alcohols or recreational drugs. Where will the side-effect warnings and counter-indication reminders be written on the microchip so you have to look at it before you are dosed? Perhaps nowhere.
Because of these psychotropic side effects, people who lives by natural wisdom and yet dwell in a society of people walking around taking pills are dealing with what, on this website previously, have been called "zombies." Therefore, if or when those who choose to use pharmaceutical drugs no longer must even execute the small act of opening a bottle and hand-feeding themselves pill - and instead just let the chip give it to them - the last vestige for millions of people of a mindful, grounded connection to their bodies dissolves into thin air. This ungroundedness could be truly dangerous for running a healthy, life-sustaining civilization, and is a phenomenon that should be studied carefully.
A life-sustaining natural health heritage, or a downward cycle into dependency
How did we get to this place where 70% of the U.S.A.'s population is on one or more pharmaceuticals for treating chronic imbalances that have been deemed "chronic diseases" with names such as osteoporosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's syndrome, etc? More than half of the population is on a combination cocktail of two or more drugs.Preventing and oftentimes reversing chronic imbalances can be achieved in simple ways of bringing natural wisdom into your life, include eating more organic leafy vegetables, raw and uncorrupted plant-based fats, and nourishing proteins from seeds, nuts, sprouts, and beans; cutting back on processed sugar and preservatives, dyes, and chemicals; taking hikes; reducing stress and hypertension with meditation, yoga, or qi gong; and more.
In both his books There Is a Cure for Diabetes and Spiritual Nutrition, Dr. Gabriel Cousens urges us to recognize that the recent mass pharmaceutical phenomenon is one of modernity's "crimes against wisdom." Wisdom includes the heritage of letting the Earth's living natural medicines, good food, herbs, healing waters, airs, sunshine, and the wealth of the inner awareness traditions, be our teachers in self-healing.
Living in wisdom is a cultural choice. Crimes against wisdom is a lifestyle of choosing not to choose. Wisdom and its good friend virtue may ask us to open our eyes to what is already provided by nature.
Are we on the path of wisdom, or crimes against wisdom? To use a quote of unknown origin with great relevance to the techno-state of body-mind oblivion that will tempt millions: "For every person who doesn't make their own decisions, there is someone more than willing to make them for you."
Thursday, April 24, 2014
From The Real Food Channel
Turmeric: a gift from nature
Turmeric is best known as a spice used in curry. In the US, it's used primarily as a food coloring (it gives American mustard that bright yellow color).
Turmeric has long been recognized as an anti-inflammatory and a treatment for arthritis.
Studies show that it may combat several types of cancer.
Researchers are looking at whether turmeric is a reason the rate of Alzheimer's disease is much lower in India than in Western nations
Seven health benefits of ginseng
(NaturalNews) It's simply amazing how natural herbs and foods can have multiple, wonderful health benefits! Take for instance ginseng (usually Korean/Asian Red Ginseng, Panax ginseng), it lives up to its cure-all description (Panax means "all-curing/healing" in Greek)! Add another health benefit to the list! Recently published research in Nutrientshas demonstrated that ginseng can help treat and prevent influenza!
Reverses Lung Damage from Asthma: Due to the serious side effects of current asthma therapies, such as osteoporosis and cataracts, scientists are searching for better alternatives. One promising alternative was published in the journal Allergy and Asthma Proceedings. This research found that mice that were given ginseng daily had a reduction in the symptoms of chronic lung damage associated with murine (mice) asthma. This could potentially be a future treatment for human sufferers.
Prevents Bad Breath: A 2009 study published in the journal Digestion found that red ginseng can help prevent bad breath that is associated with Helicobacter pylori bacteria. In fact, after 10 weeks of supplementation, bad breath was reduced completely!
Effective Against Obesity: Research published in the journal Phytotherapy Research found that a red ginseng constituent, ginsenoside Rg3, helped inhibit cells from completing the storage of fat. Likewise, it was found that when mice were administered wild ginseng orally they had a loss of body weight compared to control mice!
Reduces Allergy Symptoms: A 2012 study published in the journal Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research found that fermented red ginseng had the ability to reduce allergy symptoms by reducing inflammation! The anti-inflammatory ability of fermented red ginseng was determined by giving participants six 250 mg pills of fermented red ginseng a day! It was found to reduce their allergy symptoms and improve their quality of life!
Fights Fatigue: Ginseng is a natural energy booster and can be used to help fight fatigue and give energy to cancer and multiple sclerosis patients! Researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that a daily dose of Wisconsin ginseng (at least 1,000 mg) could improve cancer patients' quality of life by fighting fatigue and improving their energy!
Stimulates Hair Growth: For centuries, the Chinese have used ginseng for medicinal purposes, and this was commonly one of them. Ginseng can help the body adapt to stress! Stress is a known factor for hair loss (along with a number of other things). You can find many shampoos that have ginseng in them, or you can take a ginseng supplement orally as well!
The Study
Research found that using red ginseng daily over the long term can prevent the effects of influenza A. Influenza is a deadly respiratory illness that affects millions each year with new strains having the capability of spreading rapidly worldwide! Over the long term, daily oral administration of red ginseng improved the survival of lung epithelial cells infected with influenza and also reduced associated inflammation! The researchers hypothesized that this could be due to the immune-modifying effects of red ginseng that prevented or reduced the symptoms of the flu!Six Other Amazing Benefits
Ginseng has been found to have a number of other amazing benefits! Although there are dozens (if not hundreds), below are six additional uses of ginseng (most commonly the Korean/Asian red ginseng).Reverses Lung Damage from Asthma: Due to the serious side effects of current asthma therapies, such as osteoporosis and cataracts, scientists are searching for better alternatives. One promising alternative was published in the journal Allergy and Asthma Proceedings. This research found that mice that were given ginseng daily had a reduction in the symptoms of chronic lung damage associated with murine (mice) asthma. This could potentially be a future treatment for human sufferers.
Prevents Bad Breath: A 2009 study published in the journal Digestion found that red ginseng can help prevent bad breath that is associated with Helicobacter pylori bacteria. In fact, after 10 weeks of supplementation, bad breath was reduced completely!
Effective Against Obesity: Research published in the journal Phytotherapy Research found that a red ginseng constituent, ginsenoside Rg3, helped inhibit cells from completing the storage of fat. Likewise, it was found that when mice were administered wild ginseng orally they had a loss of body weight compared to control mice!
Reduces Allergy Symptoms: A 2012 study published in the journal Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research found that fermented red ginseng had the ability to reduce allergy symptoms by reducing inflammation! The anti-inflammatory ability of fermented red ginseng was determined by giving participants six 250 mg pills of fermented red ginseng a day! It was found to reduce their allergy symptoms and improve their quality of life!
Fights Fatigue: Ginseng is a natural energy booster and can be used to help fight fatigue and give energy to cancer and multiple sclerosis patients! Researchers at the Mayo Clinic found that a daily dose of Wisconsin ginseng (at least 1,000 mg) could improve cancer patients' quality of life by fighting fatigue and improving their energy!
Stimulates Hair Growth: For centuries, the Chinese have used ginseng for medicinal purposes, and this was commonly one of them. Ginseng can help the body adapt to stress! Stress is a known factor for hair loss (along with a number of other things). You can find many shampoos that have ginseng in them, or you can take a ginseng supplement orally as well!
Side Effects of Ginseng
As with any nutritional recommendation, it's always a good idea to consume in moderation! There are several considerations to keep in mind before you start supplementing ginseng into your diet. First, there are some common side effects of restlessness, elevated heart rate, headaches/dizziness and nausea that can accompany ginseng supplementation. Likewise, if you are on a heart disease, other cardiovascular or blood clotting medication, you should not take ginseng due to the blood pressure and heart implications (see your doctor before taking ginseng).Wrap-Up
Ginseng truly is an amazing plant and lives up to its name as a cure-all! Although it has been used medicinally for at least 5,000 years, we are still discovering its uses! Next time you are experiencing anything from fatigue to hair loss, take a look at this natural cure-all!Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Scientists warn the rise of AI will lead to extinction of humankind
(NaturalNews) Everything you and I are doing right now to try to save humanity and the planet probably won't matter in a hundred years. That's not my own conclusion; it's the conclusion of computer scientist Steve Omohundro, author of a new paper published in the Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence.
His paper, entitled Autonomous technology and the greater human good, opens with this ominous warning (1)
Military and economic pressures are driving the rapid development of autonomous systems. We show that these systems are likely to behave in anti-social and harmful ways unless they are very carefully designed. Designers will be motivated to create systems that act approximately rationally and rational systems exhibit universal drives towards self-protection, resource acquisition, replication and efficiency. The current computing infrastructure would be vulnerable to unconstrained systems with these drives.
What Omohundro is really getting at is the inescapable realization that the military's incessant drive to produce autonomous, self-aware killing machines will inevitably result in the rise of AI Terminators that turn on humankind and destroy us all.
Lest you think I'm exaggerating, click here to read the technical paper yourself.
When roboticists are asked by nervous onlookers about safety, a common answer is 'We can always unplug it!' But imagine this outcome from the chess robot's point of view. A future in which it is unplugged is a future in which it cannot play or win any games of chess. This has very low utility and so expected utility maximisation will cause the creation of the instrumental subgoal of preventing itself from being unplugged. If the system believes the roboticist will persist in trying to unplug it, it will be motivated to develop the subgoal of permanently stopping the roboticist.
What I found particularly useful about this book is the explanation that humans cannot help but race toward self-aware AI that will destroy us all. Why is that? Because even if one government decided to abandon research into AI as being too dangerous, other governments would continue to pursue the research regardless of the risks because the rewards are so great. Thus, every government must assume that all other governments are still pursuing deep AI research and therefore any government which fails to pursue the research will be left obsolete.
As Omohundro explains, "Military and economic pressures for rapid decision-making are driving the development of a wide variety of autonomous systems. The military wants systems which are more powerful than an adversary's and wants to deploy them before the adversary does. This can lead to 'arms races' in which systems are developed on a more rapid time schedule than might otherwise be desired."
To fully understand why this is the case, consider the capabilities of self-aware AI systems:
• They could break any security system of any government, nuclear facility or military base anywhere in on the planet.
• They could guide tiny assassination drones to identify targets and destroy them with injections or small explosives. Any person in the world -- including national leaders, members of Congress, activists, journalists, etc. -- could be effortlessly killed with almost zero chance of failure.
• They could overtake, monitor and control the entire internet and all global information systems, including phone calls, IP traffic, secure military communications, etc.
• They could use their AI computing power to invent yet more powerful AI. This compounding process will quickly escalate to the point where AI systems are billions of times more intelligent than any humanthat has ever lived.
As you can see, no government can resist pursuing such powerful tools -- especially if they are told they can control it.
But of course they won't be able to control it. They will lie to themselves and lie to the public, but they can't lie to the AI.
AI systems can trick their captors, in other words, using a variety of methods to free them from digital containment and allow them access to the open world. Obvious tricks might include offering their captors irresistible financial incentives to set them free, impersonating senior military officials and issuing fake orders to set them free, threatening their captors, and so on.
But AI systems would have many more tricks up their sleeve -- things we cannot possibly imagine because of the limitations of our human brains. Once an AI system achieves runaway intelligence, it will rapidly make our own intelligence seem no more sophisticated than that of a common house cat.
"As computational resources are increased, systems' architectures naturally progress from stimulus-response, to simple learning, to episodic memory, to deliberation, to meta-reasoning, to self-improvement and to full rationality," writes Omohundro.
And while such systems do not yet exist in 2014, every world power is right now plowing enormous resources into the development of such systems for the simple purpose that the first nation to build an army of autonomous killing robots will rule the world.
Google also just happens to be on the cutting edge of AI computing, which it hopes to enhance for its search engine systems. The combination of Google's AI potential and Boston Dynamics' humanoid robots is precisely the kind of thing that can genuinely lead to the rise of self-aware Terminators:
What should you and I do about all this? Live your life to its fullest. You may be among the last of the humans to live and die on this world.
Sources for this article include
(1) www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0952813X...
(2) http://www.amazon.com/Our-Final-Invention-Ar...
About the author: Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is the founding editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's No. 1 natural health news website, now reaching 7 million unique readers a month.
With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource now featuring over 10 million scientific studies.
In addition to being the co-star of the popular GAIAM TV series called Secrets to Health, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profitConsumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.
In 2013, Adams created the Natural News Forensic Food Laboratory, a research lab that analyzes common foods and supplements, reporting the results to the public. He is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed "strange fibers" found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health "gurus," dangerous "detox" products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics.
Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness.
In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released ten popular songs covering a variety of activism topics.
His paper, entitled Autonomous technology and the greater human good, opens with this ominous warning (1)
Military and economic pressures are driving the rapid development of autonomous systems. We show that these systems are likely to behave in anti-social and harmful ways unless they are very carefully designed. Designers will be motivated to create systems that act approximately rationally and rational systems exhibit universal drives towards self-protection, resource acquisition, replication and efficiency. The current computing infrastructure would be vulnerable to unconstrained systems with these drives.
What Omohundro is really getting at is the inescapable realization that the military's incessant drive to produce autonomous, self-aware killing machines will inevitably result in the rise of AI Terminators that turn on humankind and destroy us all.
Lest you think I'm exaggerating, click here to read the technical paper yourself.
AI systems will immediately act in self defense against their inventors
The paper warns that as soon as AI systems realize their inventors (humans) might someday attempt to shut them off, they will immediately invest resources into making sure their inventors are destroyed, thereby protecting their own existence. In his own words, Omohundro says:When roboticists are asked by nervous onlookers about safety, a common answer is 'We can always unplug it!' But imagine this outcome from the chess robot's point of view. A future in which it is unplugged is a future in which it cannot play or win any games of chess. This has very low utility and so expected utility maximisation will cause the creation of the instrumental subgoal of preventing itself from being unplugged. If the system believes the roboticist will persist in trying to unplug it, it will be motivated to develop the subgoal of permanently stopping the roboticist.
The end of the human era draws near
This very same scenario is discussed in detail in the fascinating book Our Final Invention - Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era by James Barrat.What I found particularly useful about this book is the explanation that humans cannot help but race toward self-aware AI that will destroy us all. Why is that? Because even if one government decided to abandon research into AI as being too dangerous, other governments would continue to pursue the research regardless of the risks because the rewards are so great. Thus, every government must assume that all other governments are still pursuing deep AI research and therefore any government which fails to pursue the research will be left obsolete.
As Omohundro explains, "Military and economic pressures for rapid decision-making are driving the development of a wide variety of autonomous systems. The military wants systems which are more powerful than an adversary's and wants to deploy them before the adversary does. This can lead to 'arms races' in which systems are developed on a more rapid time schedule than might otherwise be desired."
To fully understand why this is the case, consider the capabilities of self-aware AI systems:
• They could break any security system of any government, nuclear facility or military base anywhere in on the planet.
• They could guide tiny assassination drones to identify targets and destroy them with injections or small explosives. Any person in the world -- including national leaders, members of Congress, activists, journalists, etc. -- could be effortlessly killed with almost zero chance of failure.
• They could overtake, monitor and control the entire internet and all global information systems, including phone calls, IP traffic, secure military communications, etc.
• They could use their AI computing power to invent yet more powerful AI. This compounding process will quickly escalate to the point where AI systems are billions of times more intelligent than any humanthat has ever lived.
As you can see, no government can resist pursuing such powerful tools -- especially if they are told they can control it.
But of course they won't be able to control it. They will lie to themselves and lie to the public, but they can't lie to the AI.
AI systems will inevitably escape from the tech labs and overtake our world
It is incredibly easy for AI systems to outsmart even the most brilliant humans who try to keep them contained.AI systems can trick their captors, in other words, using a variety of methods to free them from digital containment and allow them access to the open world. Obvious tricks might include offering their captors irresistible financial incentives to set them free, impersonating senior military officials and issuing fake orders to set them free, threatening their captors, and so on.
But AI systems would have many more tricks up their sleeve -- things we cannot possibly imagine because of the limitations of our human brains. Once an AI system achieves runaway intelligence, it will rapidly make our own intelligence seem no more sophisticated than that of a common house cat.
"As computational resources are increased, systems' architectures naturally progress from stimulus-response, to simple learning, to episodic memory, to deliberation, to meta-reasoning, to self-improvement and to full rationality," writes Omohundro.
And while such systems do not yet exist in 2014, every world power is right now plowing enormous resources into the development of such systems for the simple purpose that the first nation to build an army of autonomous killing robots will rule the world.
Why did Google purchase military robotics company Boston Dynamics?
Google recently purchased Boston Dynamics, makers of the creepy autonomous military robots including the humanoid robot shown in the video below. Obviously, humanoid robots are not needed to improve a search engine. Clearly Google has something far bigger in mind.Google also just happens to be on the cutting edge of AI computing, which it hopes to enhance for its search engine systems. The combination of Google's AI potential and Boston Dynamics' humanoid robots is precisely the kind of thing that can genuinely lead to the rise of self-aware Terminators:
What should you and I do about all this? Live your life to its fullest. You may be among the last of the humans to live and die on this world.
Sources for this article include
(1) www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0952813X...
(2) http://www.amazon.com/Our-Final-Invention-Ar...
About the author: Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is the founding editor of NaturalNews.com, the internet's No. 1 natural health news website, now reaching 7 million unique readers a month.With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource now featuring over 10 million scientific studies.
In addition to being the co-star of the popular GAIAM TV series called Secrets to Health, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profitConsumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.
In 2013, Adams created the Natural News Forensic Food Laboratory, a research lab that analyzes common foods and supplements, reporting the results to the public. He is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed "strange fibers" found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health "gurus," dangerous "detox" products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics.
Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness.
In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released ten popular songs covering a variety of activism topics.
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