Health-Essentials.info Newsletter for February 2008

Greetings from Lincoln, Nebraska.  Hope you are well and prospering in this not-quite-new anymore year.

Things have been pretty weird here since my last newsletter.  I started taking Young Living's new essential oils supplement, Inner Defense, in earnest, along with a good amount of Primal Defense ULTRA, as well as YL's new oil blend RutaVaLa (putting 12-15 drops in a glass of water before bed), and got a great case of the "Herxheimer Reaction" (or healing crisis).¹  I've been through this, to a lesser degree, often enough before; but, this time, … WOW!!!¹

I was just getting back to normal when, Saturday morning, I came down with my first case of hives since 1970² (which I cleared up almost instantly with the application of German chamomile oil).  I'm assuming, for now, that this is just another part of the healing crisis.³  It has been an experience.

I've had significant health challenges most of my life, and have carried around a chronic viral syndrome and yeast/fungal problems for many years.  I think this has just been clearing all of the junk out of my system.

Assuming I survive, I should be the better for it.

 

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Healthcare, and who should pay for it: That is NOT the question

In my newsletters, I normally stay away from issues of politics, unless there is something that has direct bearing on our health freedom.  My thought is that you're interested in information that will help you improve and/or maintain your health.  But, this year's US Presidential election is presenting us with some very clear choices in who should pay for our healthcare.  On the one side, you have a free-market approach (along with a few entitlement programs we can't get rid of, like MediCare).  On the other, you have plans for some form of universal health coverage.

But, in all of this discussion, everyone is trying to answer the wrong question.

Yes; the issue of access to healthcare, and who pays for it, is important.  But, it is ultimately a secondary question.  The point we should be discussing is the nature of healthcare, itself.

Let's face it: In all of this healthcare debate, the unquestioned assumption is that the allopathic/pharmaceutical model is healthcare.  That, from the Democratic side, fuels the urgency of the call for universal coverage.  From the Republican side, it fuels the warnings that we just can't pay for universal coverage.  (MediCare is already going to kill our economy.)  But, is that underlying assumption correct?  Do we really have no choice but to continue to pump upwards to 20% of our total economy (and increasing at something like 16% per year) into this system?  The answer to both of these questions is a resounding "NO!"

 

Let's look at the facts:

1. The choice to continue with our present healthcare system is no choice at all.  As it is, no matter who pays for it, it is unsustainable.  It's simply too expensive.
   
   Healthcare costs are a major contributor to nearly half of all bankruptcies in the US.
• MediCare teeters on the verge of collapse already (even worse, now that Healthcare Reform has passed), and can only get worse once the Baby Boomers start to draw on the system.
• Employers, who have seen healthcare premiums increase by about 90% in recent years, are increasingly transferring the costs of health insurance to their employees, who are also saddled with higher co-payments. 
• Health coverage has become increasingly unaffordable for many people, leading to almost 47 million people (who presumably want it) left without health insurance.  And, now that Healthcare Reform has passed, insurance rates for the new year are rising by about 20%, as insurance companies adjust for the added burden they will be forced to carry.

Transferring that burden to the government would require paying for it with borrowed money; we simply cannot tax the people enough to pay the cost.  This system simply must implode, at some point in the not-too-distant future, under its own weight.

Sources:

• Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Causing 225,000 Deaths Every Year
• Modern Health Care System is the Leading Cause of Death
2. Not only is this healthcare system too expensive to be sustained, it's the leading cause of death in America.  The system — not cancer, not heart disease — kills some 783,000 people every year.
   
   The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) recognizes 225,000 deaths per year from iatrogenic (doctor-induced) causes.  That figure includes 106,000 deaths from non-error, negative drug reactions.  But, other researchers have studied the issue, using medical peer-reviewed journals, and concluded that the numbers are actually much higher.
   
   Worse still, the 783,936 deaths they noted are estimated to be only 5-20% of the actual number.  Even if you accept the number as reported, that's like six jumbo jets are falling out of the sky each and every day.
3. In addition to this horrific death toll, there are the 1.78 to 2.2 million people each year who have some sort of iatrogenic injury while in the hospital, leaving them with permanent disability or discomfort.  No figures are provided for those who suffer such injury outside the hospital.
4. Although this system is unsurpassed for critical/trauma care, and other acute conditions (I go to a doctor sometimes myself), it is woefully ineffective for preventative or chronic care situations, which make up about 80% of our healthcare expenditures.

The system is broken.  It is in crisis.  Clearly, sanity itself must cry out, "There must be a better alternative!"

Thankfully, there is.

Alternative, Complementary or Integrative Medicine offers a powerful, effective, safe and cost-effective alternative to the allopathic/pharmaceutical medical model.  Let's look at a few examples.

1. Under our current healthcare system, billions of dollars are being spent every year for antidepressants.  Besides the fact that they are "effective" in only about 25-30% of those taking them (placebo is more effective, as is exercise), they don't address the real issues of depression. 
   
   First of all, depression is NOT a disease; it's a SYMPTOM of something else.  Treating it, as if it was a disease, is crazy.  Deal with the underlying issues (which can be as simple as needing more B vitamins or Omega-3 oils or sunlight or vitamin D, or needing to detoxify the liver or oxygenate the pineal gland — to make it work right, not make it work not at all), and depression will melt away.  (See The untold dangers of SSRI antidepressants for more on this.)
   
   Secondly, there is no scientific evidence that depression is caused by chemical imbalances in the brain.  And, if there were evidence of this, there is no way to measure these chemicals to see if you are deficient.  It's simply a hypothesis put out there by drug companies with something to sell; a hypothesis that has no conclusive evidence of being right (since the drugs work no better than a sugar pill).
2. The cost of diabetes, in economic and human terms, is staggering.  And, drug companies are make fortunes off of it.  But, I've seen cases of insulin-dependant diabetes completely reversed by simply taking a relatively inexpensive dietary supplement called Nutrilite.  In one case, the person went from 5-6 injections per day to none at all.  There are protocols, using therapeutic-grade essential oils, that completely cure diabetes.  The point is: Diabetes can be handled through natural modalities, without breaking the bank — or peoples' lives.  (Dr. Mercola has a whole section of his website devoted to the natural treatment of diabetes.  You can see it here.)
3. Heart disease presents an enormous drain on our economy.  But, there are a few simple dietary supplements and/or essential oils that could all but eliminate it.  You don't need aspirin (which has a rebound effect in a large percentage of people who use it); clove oil will thin the blood and reduce inflammation better — with no risk of death from sudden bleeding.
   
   You don't need Plavix (which can kill you just as effectively as aspirin); simple proteolytic enzymes will do more, by dissolving the fibrin that causes platelettes to stick together and form clots.  Cholesterol lowering drugs should be a crime; cholesterol isn't the problem (except in a very few genetically-challenged individuals who can't process it), it's oxidized cholesterol.  Simply adding antioxidants and reducing exposure to toxins in the environment would do far more for our cardiac health than all of these drugs combined.

I could go on and on.  But, the point here is that there are alternatives.  There are far better, more effective and safer options to our current healthcare system.  Most of them are far cheaper, as well.  There may be a lot of hocus-pocus in the alternative healthcare world, to be sure; but, there is much that would elevate the standard of health — and healthcare — in this country.

Here's an example from my own experience.

I have Fibromyalgia.  I had been severely disabled for more than 30 years when I was introduced to essential oils.  I'm nowhere near fully recovered, but I'm far better than I would be if I had relied on the medical option.

Because I was doing so much better than most people in my area who also have Fibromyalgia, I was invited to give a presentation to the local Fibromyalgia support group.  After playing the Ancient Secrets of Life video for the group, I answered some questions and then did some hands-on demonstrations of the oils.

Because everyone there was so terribly toxic from their multiple medications, and since the oils have powerful detoxifying properties (and detoxifying too quickly can make you feel like you're going to die — hopefully), everything I did was really scaled down.  Two things stand out to me about that experience; no, make that three things:

1. Everyone felt sick (nauseated, headache) when they first came into the room.  That was the detoxifying effect of the oils I was wearing (even though I had scaled down what I wore that evening).  But, everyone — without exception — commented to me before leaving that they felt better at the end of the meeting than they had in a long time.  (People with Fibromyalgia always feel worse, not better, the longer things like that meeting go on.  So, this was rather impressive to all of us.)
2. One woman's insurance was spending about $12,000 per month on her medications, including a morphine IV drip.  (She disconnected the IV to come to the meeting.)  These medications still left her in pain, were eating away at her joints, causing more pain, and did virtually nothing to improve the quality of her life.  I applied one drop of the essential oil blend Deep Blue to her shoulder, and within seconds, she had substantial relief from her pain.  It was more effective than all the medications she had been taking.  Instead of $12,000 per month, she could have been spending maybe a few hundred, if she had taken the natural option.
3. Despite the value they saw in the oils, none of the people at that meeting purchased any.  Why?  Because all of these people were on disability.  They had no money to spend for their own healthcare.  Most were struggling to put food on the table.  And, because they were disabled, the government paid for their healthcare — but only if they chose the medical option.  The government would pay hundreds — or thousands — of dollars every month to medicate them — even though it did little, if any, good — but would not cover $37 for a bottle of essential oil.  That is insane.

It's good that we're talking about healthcare during this election year; and the election this fall should offer us a clear choice as to who will pay for it.  But, when we talk about the economic stress of entitlements or who should pay for healthcare, we're spitting into the wind unless we refuse the lie that insists that we have no alternative but to live under the tyranny of our present healthcare system.  There ARE choices; they are safer, at least as effective, and cost a LOT less than what we accept as healthcare today.

Personally, my wife and I have made the deliberate choice not to have health insurance.  We could afford it through her employer, but have chosen to stand outside the present healthcare system.  Buying health insurance, to us, is simply supporting the de facto monopoly on healthcare enjoyed by the drug companies.  It is the blood that feeds the cancer of our current healthcare system.

 

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Probiotics and their powerful influences on your health

Based upon my personal experience, I feel that the two most important types of dietary supplements you can — and should — take every day are:

1. Digestive/systemic enzymes, and
2. Probiotics

In this newsletter, I'd like to focus on probiotics.

It's important to understand that 80% of your immune system is located in your gut, and a significant part of that immune function is carried out by the microflora in your intestinal tract — the good bacteria.  These beneficial microorganisms also play an important role in supporting digestion.

But, that's not all.  Proper intestinal flora play an important role in preventing everything from heart disease to diabetes to cancer.

Historically, our ancestors consumed the microorganisms they needed to support proper digestion and immune function in the foods they ate.  However, with the introduction of modern agricultural methods, our soil has been effectively sterilized.  Our foods — even in their raw form — typically no longer have these friendly bacteria.

And, we generally don't eat our foods in their raw form.  Our diets are, all-too-often, filled with processed foods.  This further upsets the balance of microorganisms that support intestinal health.  Additionally, many of the foods we eat have been pasteurized or sterilized in the production process, which pretty well finish off any remaining beneficial bacteria.

Add to this the use of antibiotics and drinking chlorinated water, and the need to recolonize your intestinal tract with friendly microflora becomes all the more imperative.

What do probiotics do for you?

Probiotics offer you the many important health benefits.  They:

• Support proper ratio of good and bad bacteria in the gut, checking the overgrowth of Candida albicans and E. coli in the intestinal tract.
• Support proper pH balance in the gut.
• Support the production of B vitamins (especially folic acid and biotin), as well as vitamin K.
• Support mineral absorption and the digestion of proteins and carbohydrates.
• Aid in the breakdown of toxins in the gut, covering a multitude of dietary "sins".
• Aid in metabolism and optimal bowel transit time.
• Supports proper blood lipid and blood pressure levels.
• Support normal inflammatory response.

This last point might be especially important if you suffer from asthma.  I've seen research that indicates that children who have had two or more courses of antibiotics before the age of five years are significantly more likely to develope asthma.  The same is true for those who swim in chlorinated pools.  Since antibiotics and chlorinated water both destroy the friendly flora in the gut, supplementing your diet with a good probiotic might have important benefits for asthma.

Recent research also states that probiotics can normalize immune responses, helping to prevent or alleviate allergies, by encouraging the production of antibodies.  And, there is another important immune-related benefit of taking probiotics: they can support normal body weight.  Research has found that many weight problems today are associated with bacteria or viruses in the gut.  Imbalances of intestinal flora allow these to flourish; but, probiotics can assist in restoring the proper balance of microorganisms, which help keep viruses and bacteria in check, helping to restore proper body weight.

Probiotics can also contribute to beautiful skin.

Seemingly incurable disorders like depression, autism, ADD and eczema all have one thing in common: gut problems.  Find out why, and natural solutions for what to do about it, in this TOP-recommended book!

EcoBloom is 100% inulin, a prebiotic that not only boosts your immune system, but it also makes your food taste even better!

One of the truly exciting findings about probiotics, however, is their benefits in treating such conditions as depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, autism, dyslexia, ADD, ADHD and dyspraxia.  All of these disorders have a common trait: gut problems.  Probiotics provide the support needed for the gut to heal itself; and, as this healing progresses, these other disorders are often reversed.  (I hope to deal with this subject a little more in my next newsletter.)

Making the most of your probiotics

To ensure that your gut has an adequate probiotic population to affect these benefits, however, you need to ensure that you're consuming plenty of prebiotics.

Prebiotics are simply food for probiotics.  They nourish the microflora (probiotics), and encourage them to work more efficiently.

By combining prebiotics with probiotics, you create a synbiotic effect, where you not only help to populate your gut with beneficial bacteria, you help to improve their survival, implantation and growth, as well.

What are prebiotics?

Prebiotics are derived from insoluble fiber and fructooligosaccharides (or FOS, carbohydrate molecules made up of a relatively small number of simple sugars).

Inulin (found in 36,000 different plants) and lactose (found in dairy products) are the two main types of prebiotics.  Inulin is found in herbs (such as chicory root and dandelion root), fruits (such as apples and bananas), sweet vegetables (such as onions, garlic, asparagus, leeks and Jerusalem artichokes) and raw apple cider vinegar.

Health benefits derived from prebiotics

Prebiotics offer a number of important health benefits, all on their own.

• They have been shown to normalize cholesterol and triglyceride levels, with one study showing that inulin can reduce hardening of the arteries by 30%.
• They can boost white blood cells and killer T cells, and have been shown to reduce the number of sick days for children in daycare.
• They have a powerful effect against pathogens and bad bacteria in the gut, and have been effectively used to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn's Disease.  They may also prove helpful in treating cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes.

In terms of a probiotic, I've never found anything that can beat Primal Defense ULTRA, although dōTERRA's PB Assist is very good.  I've also enjoyed Body Ecology's probiotic drinks, Dong Quai, Coco-Biotic and Innergy Biotic.  Dr Mercola strongly recommends Complete Probiotics, but honestly, I'm not all that impressed with it.  However, probiotics are a pretty personal thing; what doesn't work all that well for me may be just the perfect probiotic for you.

In terms of a prebiotic, EcoBloom may be your best choice.  However, Innergy Biotic offers you a nice combination of pre- and probiotics.

I encourage you to take advantage of the many benefits of any of these products.  I'm sure you'll notice the difference in how you feel.

 

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That's it for this month.  I wish you health and happiness.  If you have any questions about the things covered in this newsletter, I'd be glad to help you with them.

Yours in better health,

Tom Anson

 

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¹  Although I believed at the time that I had experienced a "Herxheimer Reaction", that impression was very wrong.  What I had actually gone through was a severe reaction to the toxic effects of the ruta oil in RutaVaLa.  A Herxheimer Reaction can be rather intense, but the effects are fairly short in duration.  With the RutaVaLa, however, the effect was long-lasting.  It's been 31 months now, and I'm not sure that I'm fully over it yet.

RutaVaLa is a very toxic product and should never have been brought to market.

²  I found out later that the hives were from the Young Living lavender oil I had been using.  I have since received numerous reports from customers and others of similar reactions to the Young Living lavender and peppermint oils, particularly.

³  Wrong!  The hives had nothing to do with anything like healing.  They were a reaction to the toxicity of the Young Living oils I was taking.  I've had so many reports coming in to me about hives and rashes and itchy skin, as well as chemical sensitivities or strong reactions to bug bites, I find it amazing that so few people realize just how bad Young Living oils have come to be.

For your aromatherapy needs, I strongly encourage you to to go with an essential oils company that deserves your trust: dōTERRA^®.  The beginning of dōTERRA^® was Justin breaking out in hives as Dr David Hill performed RainDrop on him — using Young Living oils — at a RainDrop training session.  These people understand the need for quality oils.