Dr. Fielder's Blog

Sterility and GMO Corn

2012-01-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Subject: corn

Watch this video on YouTube before they remove it.

Farmers pigs go sterile after one year on GMO corn! So how does it affect
humans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eilDbdLAyFs

Sun Does Not Cause Skin Cancer

2011-11-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

For so long we have been hounded and abused if we do not, to cover up against the sun, as a major cause of skin cancer. This article from the British Journal of Dermatology, debunks this commonly held myth.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/20/deadly-melanoma-not-due-vitamin-d-deficiency.aspx?e_cid=20111120_SNL_Art_1

Toxic Psychiatry

2011-11-05T12:58:00.001-07:00

Psychiatrys "billing bible"
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is frequently referred to as psychiatry’s “billing bible.” This is because they can use any disorder added to the DSM to label you mentally ill and then bill you for it. Unlike medical conditions/diseases which are discovered and proven as medical conditions (through biopsy, test, physical abnormality) psychiatric disorders are literally voted into existence by a show of hands. Perhaps more disturbing is that the psychiatrists voting on the new disorders are frequently being paid by the pharmaceutical companies which manufacture the drugs for these disorders.Enough said.

ADHD is a bogus mental “disorder” based on a checklist of behaviors. There are no medical tests to prove any child has ADHD, yet more than 4.5 million kids have been diagnosed and put on drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta, which the U.S. DEA places in the same highly addictive category of drugs as cocaine, morphine and opium. The “checklist” for ADHD could fit any normal child and literally includes such ridiculous criteria as

“loses pencils or toys”
“often does not seem to listen”
“is easily distracted by extraneous stimuli” (what kid isn’t?)
“fidgets”
” runs about or climbs excessively in situations when it is not appropriate” (we are talking about KIDS here… right?)

To summarize; there are no blood tests, brain scans, chemical imbalance tests, X-rays or “genetic” factors to prove any child has a mental “illness” called ADHD. This is simply a list of child-like behaviors that psychiatrists clustered together, repackaged as a mental disorder and the result is a multi billion dollar empire — the child labeling and drugging industry.

Psychiatrists openly admitting at an American Psychiatric Association conference that they have no scientific tests to show mental “illnesses” are biological or physical diseases, and that they have no cures for these unproven mental illnesses.

Dr. Niall McLaren, a practicing psychiatrist for 22 years, explains what is wrong with the psychiatric profession: That this is an industry which cannot take criticism, for fear the entire model of biological psychiatry will unravel.

That there is no science to psychiatric diagnoses, no brain based diseases. And that psychiatry only pushes mental disorders as biological disease in order to convince people to take psychiatric drugs, causing a host of dangerous side effects.

Found the information at:
http://www.cchrint.org/videos/disorders/disorder/

Anti-Biotics and Birth Defects -Source WDDTY

2011-10-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

Antibiotics cause birth defects, pregnant women warned

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04 November 2009

Some antibiotics can cause severe birth defects, pregnant women have been warned this week.

Antibiotic use is common among pregnant women, and doctors have believed they do not affect the growing fetus, but a new study from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has discovered that two types of the drug can cause several severe birth defects.

One group, the nitrofurantoins, are regularly given to pregnant women who are resistant to other antibiotics, and they include the drug Furadantin.

Anti-Biotics - Source WDDTY

2011-10-18T14:03:00.000-07:00

Common antibiotic is a killer, researchers discover

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17 October 2011

One of the world’s most commonly prescribed antibiotics can be a killer, new research has discovered this week.
Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole – which is marketed as Septra and Bactrim – causes a range of life-threatening reactions, including kidney failure and hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar), say researchers.

The Fukushima Emergency

2011-08-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

So what is happening at Fukushima?

The media has not kept us informed, and there appears to be a complete shut-down on information, as to the present position - which, by the way, is far worse than we have been led to believe.

For the latest up-date - and be prepared to be shocked by the revelations go to the following website:

www.radiationanharmony/start.html

They also offer an alternative solution to what has horrendous implications for the whole of the planet and the future of mankind

Breast Cancer & Mammograms

2011-07-27T22:40:00.001-07:00

In recent years women have been forcefed the idea that mammograms are the definitive way to detect breast cancer. The latest research shows that far from this being the truth, they can cause undue harm. Read the whole story by following the link list below.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033161_CAD_mammography_breast_cancer.html

MS & Sunlight

2011-07-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Multiple sclerosis comes like a thief in the night and robs you of your quality of life. Your muscles weaken… and you lose coordination. You suffer from tremors and vision loss. And before you know it, you’re in a wheelchair, unable to tend to your daily needs.

About 300,000 Americans live with MS. Each year brings 10,000 new cases.

Doctors have been baffled for more than 30 years. Without knowing the cause of MS, the most they could do was prescribe drugs. Toxic drugs that could impair the immune system and do more harm than good.

But now researchers have unraveled the MS mystery. They’ve found an all-natural cure that’s safe and effective. It’s a powerful hormone. You can get it in high doses while taking a stroll in the park.

Dr. Jodie M. Burton is an assistant clinical professor at the University of Calgary in Canada. She works in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences. As part of the university’s MS team, she has explored ways to treat the disease.

Dr. Burton also worked as a neurologist at the University of Toronto. While there, she studied the impact of the all-natural hormone on MS patients. Her findings appeared in the journal Neurology.

When Your Body’s Internal Army Turns on Itself…

MS is an auto-immune disorder. Instead of protecting the body, the immune system turns on itself and attacks the protective covering on brain neurons. The impaired neurons then form scars (sclera) in multiple places on your brain and spinal column. (That’s why it’s called multiple sclerosis.)

Dr. Burton studied a group of MS patients. Half of them took 14,000 IUs of the hormone every day for one year. The other half could take up to 4,000 units. But most took about 1,000. All patients also received 1,200 mg of calcium daily.

The result: Only 14% of those taking 14,000 IUs had a relapse. That’s compared to 40% of those taking a lower dose. The study found no side effects, even at high doses.

Not only that. Those who took the higher dose reduced their relapse rate by 40% compared to the prior year. The others saw only a 17% reduction.

The hormone appears to suppress the auto-immune activity that leads to MS. It does so by reducing out-of-control T-cells. They’re the ones that attack the protective covering on the neurons.

Dr. Burton’s findings support a similar study in 2003. It was done by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health. They followed women in two large Nurse Health Studies. They found the hormone had a “protective effect.” And it kept the women from developing MS.

Neurologist Calls This All-Natural Solution “Incredibly Inexpensive” and “Powerfully Effective”

This powerful solution is vitamin D. It’s not really a vitamin. It’s a hormone your body produces naturally when exposed to the sun.

So ignore the myth about the sun being bad for you. It’s a lot of nonsense spread by the American Cancer Society and dermatologists. It’s to their benefit to keep you in the dark.

Deprive yourself of sunlight, and you put your health at risk.

Dr. David Perlmutter is a neurologist and fellow at the American College of Nutrition. He’s a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine. And he’s currently Medical Director of the Perlmutter Health Center. He is a renowned expert on nutritional influences in neurological disorders.

He says Dr. Burton’s findings offer real hope for MS patients. “As a practicing neurologist actively treating patients with this sometimes-devastating disease, this new report clearly offered a potentially new and powerful tool for my toolbox,” he wrote in a recent article. “Vitamin D is incredibly inexpensive, and according to this report safe and powerfully effective as well.”

Dr. Michael F. Holick is a professor of Medicine, Physiology, and Biophysics. He works at Boston University Medical Center. He’s also Director of the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory. He is the author of The Vitamin D Solution: A 3-Step Strategy to Cure Our Most Common Health Problem.

Dr. Holick says studies show that people in northern latitudes are more prone to diseases like MS and cancer. And now we know why. They are not getting enough sun.

“It is known that if you are born above 35° latitude at approximately Atlanta, Georgia, and live at this latitude for the first 10 years of your life that you have a 100% increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis,” he states on his website. “Recent studies have suggested that women and men who increase their vitamin D intake above 400 IU of vitamin D a day reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis by approximately 40%.”

Protect Yourself from MS in Just 15 Minutes a Day

So what do you do with this information? First, make sure you’re getting enough sun. According to Dr. Holick, you can boost your body’s vitamin D production by being outside for just 15-20 minutes. He says sunbathing can be equal to taking 20,000 IUs of vitamin D orally. With no sun exposure, he says you should take at least 1,000 IUs of vitamin D3 daily.

Other experts say you should take between 4,000 and 10,000 IUs a day. It depends on your situation.

Vitamin D is also in many foods. Nuts, seeds, and oils are the best sources. You can get it in green leafy vegetables

And vitamin D isn’t just helpful in warding off MS… It can cause cancer cells to self-destruct. Dramatically reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke. Lower bad cholesterol. Improve your mood. Help you maintain healthy blood pressure levels. Boost your defenses against germs, bacteria, and infectious disease. And increase your physical and mental energy.

It can also help prevent and treat rheumatoid arthritis… Parkinson’s disease… osteoporosis… and in all, over 20 different diseases!

To your best health,

Michael Jelinek,
Managing Editor, NHD “Health Watch

Sustainability

2011-07-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Sustainability is the basis of Natural Living as advocated by Natural Hygiene and Nature Cure. The following video shows just what we can do in our very own neighbourhood and homes. It is the story of what a determined group in Brooklyn, New York City, are doing right now.

http://www.nextworldtv.com/page/4200.html

An Alternative Viewpoint

2011-07-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

An Alternative Viewpoint

As much as I appreciate and commend Mike and his Health Rangers Newsletter for the great work they are doing, sometimes from a Nature Cure, and Natural Hygiene view point, the articles become a little skewed, being based, as I would see it, upon contemporary medical scientific thinking, and not upon that of Alternative Scientific thinking. Alternative Scientific thinking having its origin in the theories of the scientists who subscribe to pleomorphism, against mono-morphism. That is, that the bacteria are not the cause of disease, they are a part of the process of recovery, and take on many forms, according to the media they have to deal with. That (acute)disease is our bodies response to the conditions we have provided. On this basis is my response(below) to the following article.

NaturalNews) As most NaturalNews readers probably already know, there is a rapidly-growing resistance to antibiotics that has given way to antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), and even the strongest antibiotic drugs available have all but lost their ability to treat even the most common infections that afflict people today.

However, a research scientist from the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI in Leipzig, Germany, has discovered that simple, natural amino acids work better than antibiotics at treating infections, and they do not cause harm to healthy cells in the body.

For their study, Dr. Andreas Schubert and his colleagues from Fraunhofer tested the effects of amino acids in vitro and found that they broke through bacterial membranes and penetrated them quicker and with less of a required concentration than antibiotic drugs. And the best part of all was that the amino acids caused no cell damage, unlike antibiotics which kill off beneficial bacteria in the system as well as harmful bacteria.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/032825_amino_acids_antibiotics.html#ixzz1QbPq3vZa

My Response

The first question we require to ask ourselves, when looking to find the answer to the so-called benefits of amino acids in these circumstances, is “What is (acute) disease?” And from a Nature Cure and Natural Hygiene viewpoint, it is the process by which our bodies heal themselves(restore homeostasis), from trauma. The trauma having originated either, physiologically(poor nutrition, lack of sunlight, accumulated toxic waste, etc.),physically(lack of physical activity, accident,etc.) psychologically(psychogical trauma, lack of adequate skills for dealing with stress etc.). Or a combination of any of the afore-mentioned – which it usually is.

The stopping(suppression) of this process by whatever means, be it antibiotics, or amino acids, as mentioned in the above article, is harmful, and fraught with danger in-so-far as in an extreme situation, could cause death to occur. And in all instances can, and will most certainly be, the pre-cursor to chronic disease at a later stage in life.

So that far from being life-saving, and life-preserving, as this article implies, amino acids only contribute further to our ill health, and may well be the basis of our eventual demise if persevered with long term.

John Fielder DO,DC,ND(Adel)

Osteopath & Lifestyle Consultant

Academy of Natural Living

www.johnfielder.com.au

Priscilla's Story

2011-06-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

Back to Basics

Meeting my sister and I at the airport was this healthy, beautiful man. We walked over and introduced ourselves and off we went. The journey starts. We started with a sugar cane juice at the fruit market. I had to stop myself from asking for more, it was so delicious. It was about a 40 minute drive, and then we arrived at John’s farm. I felt relieved, fresh air and fruit trees all around me. I am where I’m meant to be and with my sister.

Two years ago I had a lump in my kidney. I was told by my doctor to have some more tests, but I didn’t want to. I have no faith in chemotherapy and radiation therapy. I believe that water fasting can shrink and cure all things, so here I am doing a water fast.

In preparation to commence the water fast I ate raw fruit and salad for three days. Then on the fourth day I commenced sipping water for the next nine days. My kidneys have been sore, but I kept on going. The water became hard to drink, but I just kept persevering and asking God to help me. I got out of the way and allowed God to do his work. My emotions have been going haywire, but I gave that up to God and didn’t react. I feel so greatful for my time here. Let go. Let God. - Priscilla

Deb's Story

2011-06-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

Name: Deborah

Weight: 100k

BP: 195/125

Time: March 2010

Background due to BP put on tablets to lower my blood pressure and told to come back in three months. I went back to my doctor 6 months later and due to no change in my BP she changed my BP medication and gave me two more prescriptions, one for a blood thinning aspirin and one for a cholesterol pill.

March 2011 my BP was down to 130/90. My doctor was pleased and said to continue taking the three medications. I had started to eat a vegetarian diet 60% and lost five kilos. I then decided to take myself off all medication.

June 2011 I came to John’s health farm for three weeks. Full of excitement, anticipation, not really knowing much about fasting except what I’d read in the Bible. I came with my sister and wanted to be introduced to a new healthy way of living.

At present I was finding it hard to carry my grandbabies. I’d get puffed after a few steps. I would also get tingling in my arms when filing on shelves above my shoulders.

I had come to John’s farm from working fulltime 10 hour days and a busy social life. We ate fresh fruit for lunch, fresh salad for dinner for two days. I also slept a lot. We were encouraged to rest, sip fresh water, walk around the farm, down to the river, sun bathe, and breathe in fresh air

John would meet with us individually every afternoon. We would weigh in, temp taken, BP, pulse and our tongues checked. Also, there was time for any questions to be asked. My first BP was 175/89 and weight was 95k. Over the last three weeks my blood pressure has steadily gone down to 130/80. My weight has held steady now for three days at 83k.

I feel great, rested. It’s amazing what is happening for me. After the two days of raw fruit and salad, I asked John if I could start a water fast. He said yes, due to monitoring me and, of course, my decision. Water fasting was nothing like I expected. I steadily lost weight and my BP went down.

I didn’t feel hungry at all and didn’t feel I needed to consume litres of water. I did get very tired and then after two or three days the poisons started to come out of my body. I had some strange dreams that I noted in my journal. I had very bad reflux and pains that were felt in my shoulder blades, ears, mouth and chest. Day five and six I felt nauseous and didn’t want to even drink water. Day seven I broke the water fast. For 6 days I drank orange juice, sipping it from a cup with a teaspoon.

I am now eating some papaya and then in a couple of days some salad.

I am very grateful to my sister for bringing me along and very thankful to John for practical approach “Nature Cure”. I’m leaving here with some great knowledge from books and paper I read whilst healing. I have learned to “trust the process”. It’s all about some organic chemical free raw fruit and vegetables, fresh air, fresh water, some sunshine, good peaceful rest, and positive attitude. As John says “our bodies are made to heal themselves”.

Jim's Story

2011-06-22T14:41:00.002-07:00

The Parameters of the Fasting Process.

Following on from a previously successful fast, which I undertook at Clohesy River Health Farm, under Dr. John Fielder, and enjoying the subsequent healing benefits from that first fast, I decided to return for further treatment after a second head injury at work caused a recurrence of several of my initial symptoms, viz. seizures, headache, dizziness and memory failure.

This second fast was over 14 days and has left me with much clearer and more positive signs of healing than previously. That first fast felt unfinished and left me totally exhausted and my return to work was a dreadful strain whereas my recent fast in June, 2011, has left me with a lovely feeling of closure, satisfaction and energy.

In the period after the head injury I had been experiencing regular seizures whose frequencies would increase at each full moon. The severity of these seizures was less severe than prior to my first fast in 2009, where extended memory loss caused frightening consequences. The full moon came toward the end of this recent fast and I was so relieved to feel nothing even resembling blackout, discomfort, vagueness or vertigo as had been common prior to fasting.

In addition, after six days of fasting, I began to feel a general clearing of my head. I have had enormous difficulties concentrating for more than 2 or three minutes and this has made reading and writing (two of my favourite pursuits) frustratingly impossible. In particular the two months prior to this last fast were unbearable in the scrambling effects these seizures had on my day to day activities. However after day 6, I suddenly felt my head clearing, which increased steadily as the fast progressed. John has always taught that every fast is different and that it works differently, according to the body’s dictates. This fast verified his words.

During this fast I have felt myself directed towards my own spiritual development. I have been drawn into a great deal of introspection, which has revealed to me that sadly my life has been dominated by Ego and a negative attitude. This fast was a challenge to me more in those areas than in the area of healing my acquired brain injury. It seems that the brain’s readjustment was not my body’s major concern. All this draws me to the obvious conclusion that we are indeed far more than a physical entity. Truly we are a whole conglomeration of energies and interconnections of mind and body and soul with accompanying intuitions, emotions, responses, and sensibilities. I came searching for physical healing but I received far more. Many of my nights involved ‘enlightenment’ of a deeply personal and profoundly life changing nature for me. For example I was often flooded with intense waves of home sickness for my partner, Judy, who has battled alongside me through these last 5 years of chaos. I often awoke with an aching heart and the strongest desire to thank this wonderful woman, who has been my guardian angel for so long – even though I have no memory of her for the first 6 years of our wonderful relationship. My only blessing has been that I have experienced the pleasure of falling in love with her twice over (even if I don’t remember the first time!). I realize that this is a discussion of emotion and, as such, may be dismissed by many, however the healing and cleansing on this level is of paramount importance to me as an individual.

It must be stated that this second fast was more complete, more personal and far more satisfying for me. John’s philosophy of “the body always knows best” has dominated his comments, his careful monitoring and his answers always reinforce that my body was in charge all through the fast.

I am so glad to have been following a rawfood diet for the last 3 or 4 years as it no doubt prepares the individual much better for the extremes of detoxification. A fast is after all a stripping of toxins from the body – whether they be of a physical, emotional or of a spiritual nature.

I am looking forward to re-commencing my ‘new life’, with my present new level of awareness and vitality. My fasting experience opened me completely to the enormity of being and to the wonderful systems the body has developed to cure us and bring us towards the experience of wholeness.

Jim Petherbridge

Jim's previous posting may be viewed October 2009

ROW Lecture Tour - Ojai Valley,California 2011

2011-06-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

My last port of call before departing on the long haul home over the Pacific Ocean, which was via Nadi, Fiji, was the Ojai Valley, a very unique and delightful valley, just out of Los Angeles.

Here I am just about to enter the Krishnamurti Foundation Centre which is beautifully maintained by the librarian, and who most graciously opened the centre for us, sharing his experiences there as chef to Krishnamurti, and now librarian. It was Krishnamurt's practice to spend three months each year at the centre. giving lectures most days.

The Ojai Valley is a beautiful fruit growing area north of Los Angeles with many of its residents being health conscious, and quite a number of organic farms. It was of interest to note that none of the major fast food outlets were to be found in the township, nor were they allowed. Of the two Health Food Stores in the town, one stocked only organically grown produce.

This building must have some importance for me to have photographed it. Unfortunately I am unable to read the sign either. California has a climate similar to much of Australia, and many eucalypts have been planted there, along with the style of homes built being similar, if not the same, making it quite remniscent of OZ.

This is a view of the artificial lake which supplies the valley with its water and which is surronded by a national park with numerous camping areas around the perimeter of the lake. The are very popular both with visistors and the locals, although at the time I was there the season was only just commencing as the snows on the surrounding hills had only recently melted.

ROW Lecture Tour - Houston,Austin, San Antonio, Texas 2011

2011-06-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

No, this is not the vehicle we used for thre next twelve hour segment as we travelled from Hot Springs to Houston. It caught my eye just as we were about to leave, and felt I would like to share it with you as it was/is such a cute idea.

Soon after arriving at our hosts, we were able to sit down to a delightful raw food meal and relax after the long day's drive.

My trusty lap-top came in handy as a prompt when, at some of the venues, I was unable to use it for PowerPoint presentations.

We were very priveledged to be able to spend one day travelling to the nearby city of Austin to visit with my good friend and colleague Dr Ralph Cinque.

We also visited the University of Texas and the HJ Lutcher Stark Centre of Physical Culture which is still in the process of being developed by Dr Terry and his wife to portray the development and history of what comes under the umbrella term of Physical Culture, and includes such disciplines as golf, tennis, body building - and Natural Hygiene and other natural therapies.

This has been achieved with grants in excess of $13million

In this view we are able to see the decor of the library where the students are able to access the material which is housed here.

Dr Terry and his wife in the archives.

Here we are chatting with the librarian in the archives.

ROW Lecture Tour - Hot Springs, Arkansas,2011

2011-06-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Pictured here is Nancy's trusted steed which took us all the way from Atlanta, across the state of Georgia, through Mississippi, and down to Hot Springs in Akansas and our hosts Janis and Travis.

This was a twelve hour drive, travelling mostly at 70 miles an hour on the Interstate, except for a two hour detour caused by exceptional flooding of the Mississippi.

For a number of years I had resisted driving in the countries that drove on the right side of the road, due to feeling my reflexes were too attuned to the left. In recent years though, I have bitten the bullet and driven across Europe and the US with little ,if any, trouble. It does take considerable vigilance, yet so far I can only recall once having strayed to the wrong side, and fortunately correcting to the right side when confronted with a vehicle coming the other way.

In Hot Springs we had the opportunity of visiting the development of a botanical gardens and ecological park being developed in conjunction with the local University. A very delightful wooded area with a number of artificial water-falls and streams.

Unfortunately the photos fail to depict the whole of the beauty that is there, so I must leave it to your imagination to perceive it in its wholeness.

Whilst there we saw the effects of the high winds as they left their trail of havoc - trees stripped bare of leaves, many blown over and up-rooted - houses partially and completely demolished - and alonside them houses completely un-touched.

Here and there were to be found crosses and wreaths on the roadsides for those who had lost their lives during this time from the highly destructive winds.

And, of course, the culmination of our time in Hot Springs was the caring and sharing of the lecture with the local people.

Before leaving Hot Springs, I would like to share with you this rather unusual structure in the gardens, used for lectures to all and sundry, and particularly University Students. It was designed by a local architect, and built to withstand high winds.

This is the dome in the centre of the building which brings light into what would otherwise be a very dark area.

This is a plaque at the entrance to the gardens acknowledging all those who have contributed towards its development.

This is a set of giant wind-chimes in a unique setting.

And this very unique church.

The interior of the church is like being inside - yet outside. A very unique concept in a unique setting.

Our last pot-luck and lecture at Janis and Travis home before departing for Houston in Texas.

ROW Lecture Tour - Atlanta,Georgia.

2011-06-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

From Chestertown I travelled to Atlanta, Georgia for my next series of lectures where normally I would have the opportunity to lecture to the students of Dr Paul Goldberg at Life University. This year my timing was a little awry, in that the days the students were available, were outside of the time I spent there. I did have the pleasure though of spending time with Dr Goldberg discussing matters of mutual interest and viewing the site of his proposed Natural Hygiene Centre.

Here am I, Dr Goldberg, and my host Nancy, having a picnic lunch on the front lawn, so to speak, of the proposed centre.

A visit to one of the local farmers markets, which are becoming more and more popular, worldwide, as the quality of the fresh food available decreases, along with soaring prices, brings greater demand for the locally produced, tasteful food, at a reasonable price increases.

The demand for oganically produced food is also growing as more and more people are starting to realise the superiority healthwise, and taste wise of food which has been grown without the use of chemical fertilisers and poisonous sprays.

Any-one who eats eggs will enthuse over the difference between those produced by battery hens and those produced by free ranging chickens, eating what is natural for them, and getting all the exercise, fresh air and sunlight they need.

Many of my lectures are preceded by a pot-luck meal and this one to the local Natural Hygiene group was no exception. This is some of the food which was provided.

A most enthusiastic group they were too.

ROW Lecture Tour - Chestertown,Maryland 2011

2011-06-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

The county seat of Kent County, on Maryland's Upper Eastern Shore, Chestertown is surrounded by the rich tapestry of farmland and Chesapeake Bay estuaries that almost surround the county with water.

An Impeccably Restored Maryland Historic Inn Nestled in the Chesapeake Bay Region

See Chestertown Spy Video:
Christian Havemeyer on the Preservation of the White Swan Tavern

It was at the White Swan that I stayed, my friend ,and host, Wayne being the Inn-keeper. And it was here that I gave my lecture to a group of interested people from the locality.

The White Swan Tavern has been a familiar landmark in Chestertown since pre-Revolutionary War days. Not far from the great Eastern cities of Baltimore, Washington, and Philadelphia, the White Swan Tavern is a quiet, elegant historic inn nestled in the history of Maryland's Chesapeake Bay region. The White Swan is for those who treasure serene streets, birdsong mornings, impeccable service, and the grace of New World Tradition.

Today the tavern operates as a bed and breakfast, offering accommodations and afternoon tea, as well as amenities for small conferences, weddings, and receptions. Just as it was described in the 18th century, the White Swan remains "a comfortable... Public House... with every attention given to render comfort and pleasure to such as favor it with their patronage."

The interior of the white Swan could well make the weary traveller believe he/she was experience a time warp with its exquisite and tasteful period furnishings.

The ambiance throughout the whole of the Inn was that of the 18th Century.

The old riverside mansions have benn beautifully, and tastefully restored, harking back to their glory days and the cotton plantations which enabled their being built.

Also to be found some of the very early wooden stuctured buildings, awaiting restoration. It is well to bear in mind that the restoration of these old house has been a continuing and on-going process since the 70's. A labour of love, so to speak. One which provides employment for many of the local tradesmen wo lovingly and caringly carry out the refurbishment of what, in some instances, are almost derelict buildings.

A work in progress, so to speak.

ROW Lecture Tour -Cleveland ,Ohio 2011

2011-05-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

In this photo we see the very delightful home of my hosts, Helen and John, which is in a rural area on the banks of a river. John and Helen were just commencing to plant their vegetable garden for the year as the warmer weather approached, after the recent melting of the snows

The surrounding country was originally all used for growing corn, and much of it still is with these old corn silos being still in use. Slowly, and inexorably, though, urbanisation is creeping in. The closest townships in either direction were about seven miles away. Each day whilst there I took the opportunity to walk, and never quite made it to either of the townships. My goal is to do so next time.

The lady in the centre is the owner of a local raw food reastaurant, which is the centre for much of the activity in the alternative health field and who hosted the pot-luck group to whom I spoke.

Cleveland is situated on the shores of one of the Great Lakes dividing the US from Canada, Lake Eyrie. This how I saw it from the high rise unit of one of the local people who kindly invited me to a delicious raw food meal, followed by a day of sight-seeing in Cleveland.

This monument was erected in commemoration of President James Garfield, considered, so I recall, as the founder of the United States.

I was just a little too early to view the interior of the building as renovations were in progress at the time.

This is the frontal view, or as best as it could be photgraphed due to the surrounding trees.

Nearby, and almost alongside, was this monument to the Rockefeller family

ROW Lecture Tour - Montreal, Canada 2011

2011-05-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Here I am with my host from Crudescence in Montreal

This was another group of enthusiastic raw-fooders who had come along to my lecture in spite of it being a major religious holiday, Good Friday, and a very Catholic and primarily French speaking part

of Canada.

They were adamant that, if possible, I should come again next year, as many of the things which I mentioned and referred to they had not heard before, and were entirely new to them.

ROW Lecture Tour - Croatia 2011

2011-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Add caption

From the UK I flew to Croatia, and of course one of my first ports of call was the farmer's markets to not only purchase a supply of fresh raw food, also to see what was available in the way of organically grown produce. And this photo shows a group, small though it may be, of dedicated organic growers. The array of food they had available was indeed quite astounding, given the time of the year, with the snows hardly melted.

My host for my visit was Marijana and her family, who most graciously welcomed me into their home, providing me with all the comforts, and more, of a five star hotel. Marijana also fulfilled the role of interpreter, and very comptently too.

One day we visited one of the family who lived in this exquisite mountain cottage in its delightful setting on the top of a mountain ridge.

Lunch was in the family room, which was a very warm and friendly place to be. It consisted of fresh ripe fruits with a most happy time being had by all.

Growing on the nearby slopes was/is such an array of wild edible plants that I almost felt as though I could live off them alone.

In the corner of the room was to be found a spinning wheel, a family heirloom still in good working order

This plaque tells us of the history of the building and the original owners of it, portrayed in the following pictures.

Because I was unable to take a photo of the entire building, due to its imensity, surrounding trees etc., I have use a photo of an airial photo to endeavour to give some idea of what it looks like and its size.

This life-size sculptures is a portrayal of the original owner just prior to his departure to France where he was to be be-headed.

In the background can be seen the original stables and dungeons with the main building to the left.

This is the courtyard of the main building.

And in this view we are looking down the inner corridor which faces the courtyard and from which all of the room s open or are accessed.

The building today is maintained as a Museum, and is gradually being restored as the money becomes available with only a relatively small portion being as yet open to the public.

One of the enthusiastic audiences that attended the lectures.

Marijana making a few introductory remarks.

And Marijana hard at work with her raw food prepartion and demostration.

I was very agreeably surprised to find that Kraljevic was the birthplace of Rudolf Steiner the founder of the Spiritual science Anthroposophy, the Wldorf schools, and Bio-Dynamic Farmimg and gardening.

This is the house in which he was born February 25th 1861

And this is the plaque on the attesting to such a fact. We were extremely fortunate to be able to visit on the very day, and at the very time that a group of schhol children were also visiting, and had the opportunity to see inside.

This a room which has been set aside in the house and decorated in the era of the time that Rudolf Steiner would have lived there.

Here we see the room which is used for the functions of the local followers of Rudolf Steiner.

And this is the building which is currently being renovated and re-built with donations and

lots of hard work by the local people to be a Steiner Centre.

ROW Lecture Tour - UK 2011 Part 2

2011-05-14T04:46:00.000-07:00

Whilst in the UK, I took the opportunity to visit with Dr Jayne Donegan in London. Dr Jayne is a medical practitioner who has, through her own research, researching the currently available medical literature, along with her clinical experience, come to realise the harmfulness of vaccination. Not only on adults, particularly so though, upon the young, and as yet to be fully developed bodies, of our children.

I consider it a joy, indeed a privilege to know Dr Jayne, and very much appreciate her breaking into her very busy schedule, to spend the time with myself and Annette.

This photo shows, from L to R myself, Dr Jayne, and Dr Jayne's daughter

You may read Dr Jayne's story by visiting her website at: www.jayne-donegan.co.uk

Prostate Cancer

2011-05-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

"It may sound crazy, but it's a fact. 98% of men with prostate cancer would live just as long without any treatment at all."

I lifted this quotation from a website quoting recent medical research on the current medical treatment available, and being advised for men and felt the need to share it with you.

John

ROW Lecture Tour - UK 2011

2011-05-10T15:29:00.002-07:00

My next port of call was York in the UK and to attend the AGM of the Incorporated Society of Registered Naturopaths. And here we all, a small, select group with our luncheon meal.

One of the highlights of the meal was this raw-food cake.

2011-05-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

ROW Lecture Tour - India Part 5

2011-05-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

This is the type of bed on which most sleep, commonly known as a charpoy. Fortunately I was not required to sleep on one without a mattress for more than one night, yet that night was not too sleepless either. Otherwise I was provided with a thin, but quite adequate mattress. Overall much better than the bed of nails often displayed as commonly used by yogis.

If they could afford to do so, the local people loved to paint their houses in bright colours.

It is a real joy to see the pride these people take if and when they can afford to do do so. Most, of course, cannot afford to do so.

From time to time, amongst the two or three roomed dwellings of the average person, we find some quite large mansions.

No matter whether the house is large or small, it is always open to visitors, and especially some-one from a far country is made welcome even in the most modest of homes.

Whilst in Kerala I had the priviledge and joy of meeting with Dr Sukumar Azhikode, writer, scholar, author,orator, and teacher. These are some of the awards he has received in his lifetime.

Dr Azhikode and myself.

Dr Azhikode's home and him saying his farewells to another friend, the Buddhist monk, Bhanta U Dhammanda and Dr Viswambharan

This is a photo on Dr Azhikode's wall of a time when he addressed over 30,000 people so I was informed.

This is the first of a number of vegetarian and Eco- shops set

up by Dr Vadakkanchery

This was the investment of appreciation and friendship to myself on the at one of the Life Natural, Nature Cure Hospitals, on the eve of my departure to the UK.

Thank you to all of our friends, Nature Curists, Hygienists, and those who believe, and support, and continue to support the ideals and practice of Nature Cure and Natural Hygiene in India, for inviting me to visit, and share with you the vital truth's of these disciplines.

ROW Lecture Tour - India Part 4

2011-04-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

The local people use honey to sweeten almost everything, including the water they drink. Here are the hives for the bees from which they collect the honey. These hives, as can be seen are less than half the size of those used in the western countries.

This is the small hand operated extractor which is used to extract the honey from the comb. The use of this machine is shared amongst a number of the villagers, as for them not only is this the most cost effective way of doing things given that no one has a great deal of money, it is also the most practical.

In places that cater for both the local culture and the western culture, it is interesting to see the development of toilets which cater for both. For in the past, and of course still is for the majority of the people of India, squat toilets, or just digging a hole in the ground, or in some instances, not even that, was/is the norm. As can be seen this toilet enables both methods to be utilised.

Large retal stores similar to those we see in the West are becoming more and more common in India, although surprising at it may seem, they do not open for business until 11am. On the other hand they do not close till 10pm either. For it is not until later in the day, and night, that the people of India are most active. This security guard has headgear and sash remniscent of the days of the Raj.

Bhante U Dhammanda, a Buddhist monk from Malaysia, was also visiting the area, and somewhat the same places, and meeting with the same people. He has invited me to visit Malaysia next year to speak to their people. If I am to take up all the invitations to speak, I will have very little time for the farm. Each will need to take their turn so it appears.

This is one of the attentive groups that I addressed whilst in Kerala, India. If necessary they would sit for hours to hear something new, and/or different

At these gatherings we were often given bouquets of flowers, amongst other things, as a showing of their gratitude for the lecture. One Westerner commented on how unusual this was for flowers to be offered to to a Westerner as in the Western society they only be offered to a woman. In reality it is a delightful custom, particularly as the people are so poor, and the flowers are virtually free for them to offer as a token of their esteem and does not represent a hardship either on the giver or the recipient.

This is one of the more opulent homes we spent the night in It belonged to a retired teacher of French, and was in a very beautiful setting surrounded by mostly cocoanut palms, bananas and other tropical plants

On this property was to be found a very rare type of cocoanut tree the name of which I unfortunately did not record at the time.

This is a part of the old original dwelling which is now occupied by the oxen

The beautifully Hand carved doors and interior motifs in the home were a delight to see in this day and age where such things are not only a rarity in Western society, are rarely if ever seen.

Lounge Room

Interior staircase

A very homely and delightful place to spend the night, as well as having a most gracious person as a host. It was far superior to spending one's time in the best of hotels I can assure you

ROW Lecture Tour - India Part 3

2011-04-21T00:33:00.000-07:00

Re-fuelling your bike from the local store where the storekeeper buys it in small amounts of maybe one gallon, and dispenses it a litre at a time - in plastic bottles. No pumps, or warning signs about the hazards of smoking, or remembering to turn of your engine.

Here we are on this self-same bike as we set off for a tour of the village so kindly offered by this local resident. The bike was an Indian produced replica of the English Royal Enfield, which is known there as just Enfield, having dropped the name Royal. A very sturdy and reliable bike it is too. I loved riding on it and the tour of the village.

On the tour we visited his home a traditional thatched roof, earthen floored dwelling.

We spent some time chatting with his wife and partaking the usual refreshment which is traditionally offered. In this instance is was water sweetened with honey which has been collected from their own hives.

As we toured round, we passed numerous small rubber tree plantations which are popular with the villagers providing a source of income as a cash crop, as rubber is still quite in demand.

The young trees take from 7 to 8 years before they come into production.

This is the river in which I swam almost each day whilst in Kerala. I enquired about crocodiles and was told that yes, they had had crocodiles many years ago, but no longer did so. I am not sure how long ago this was. They also informed me that monkeys were not a problem for them, u elephants were.

This is one of the many pumps the people have for irrigating their land and the crops they are growing. I was informed by this landholder that they were very fortunate in having sufficient water to not have any restrictions placed upon the amount they could pump out of the river.

ROW Lecture Tour - India Part 2.

2011-04-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

This was my home for most of the time whilst I was in Kerala. A most delightful setting amongst the fruit trees, cocoanuts, bananas, jak fruit, and many others. Each day I was able to bathe in the river which made me feel very much at home, the river being a short walk through the plantation of cocoanuts and bananas.

And here we have the ubiquitous tuk tuk the local peoples taxi which is to be found almost everywhere in SE Asia. They are great for getting around in and quite reasonable with their fares. Although of course you need to learn to bargain, for this is a part of the Asian culture. And to always be sure to do so before you set out. Today some have a meter, which of course precludes all discussion. Even here though caution is required for in many instances the meter just does not work. One thing they can be good for too, is a great adrenalin rush, for driving in India is not for the unwary.

This was my contact with the world, the local internet cafe. Whilst in India I had the opportunity to use many such places, and this one was my favourite as it was scrupulously clean, something which was a rarity.

This is a view of the street which we visited to buy dates in bulk, with nearly every store, if not all the stores selling them

The dates were packed mostly in cartons, although as can be seen here, they also were available in larger quantities in plastic bags.

Here is the train on which we travelled for 8 to 9 hours to Bangalore. These trains usually consisted of 20 or more carriages and seemed to be always full to overflowing with every seat occupied and people sitting in the corridors. Although all the windows were open and they had lots of interior fans, the air still seemed to hardly circulate and it was quite hot. This did not bother me, it was the long period of sitting. So when I could, I spent many hours standing by the doorways.

All who visit India, so I believe, should avail themselves of the opportunity of travelling on the local trains. They are not essentially clean by our standards, and most certainly not the most comfortable. Yet the experience of the contact with the local people is one, which in my opinion, is well worth having. I most certainly would not have "missed it for quids", as the saying goes.

You need to rise very early in the morning if you wish to beat the traffic. This is a normal street scene at almost any hour of the day, seven days a week.

Another of the sights still relatively common on the streets in India is the provision of secretarial services on the sidewalk.

Walking the streets, one would be hard put to think that there was refuse collection. Yet here is a refuse truck to refute such thoughts.

Yet the piles of refuse continue to be found on the streets, never seeming to be coming less.

ROW Lecture Tour - India

2011-04-18T23:58:00.000-07:00

This years ROW Lecture Tour commenced in India where I had the fortune to stay with and be hosted by Dr K Viswambharan i Kerala, south-west India

During my time there we also visited with Dr Jacob Vadakkanchery .

Dr Vadakkanchery is pictured here with his first child. He is in the process of opening Nature Cure Hospitals in many parts of India and has been able to negotiate with the government to utilise the old disused medical hospitals which have become available as new one's are being built.

This is one of the Nature Cure Hospitals and its entrance which is operated by Dr Vadakkanchery.

Max's Story

2011-03-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Hi WEEK 1 CLOSHEY RV HEALTH FARM,,,,,,,, Well, well, well and that is how is feel ,,,,Iv lost 5kgs first week ,, full of energy ,, and feeling so well,, Walking 10 km's at a stretch everyday and finish that of by swimming in the Closhey Rv ,,,My blood pressure is back to normal ( no medication ) 80 over 120 ,, perfect,,, All the swelling has gone out of my left ankle , not to mention the gout pain,,, We eat only raw food here ,, nothing cooked ,, it is so yummy,, so tasty ,, My sleep has returned to 8 hours a night ,, wot a blessing that is I can tell you,,,The real challenge is to take it up when Im home , but for now ,, Im going for it aand loving it Maxxxxxxx

Dr's Paid to Make You Mental

2011-02-12T22:02:00.001-08:00

.

doctors paid to make you mental

(NaturalNews) The U.K. National Health Service (NHS) has decided to turn its health care system into a giant game where doctors who recruit the most new mental patients win cash prizes. The equivalent of over $243 million is set to be divied out based on which general practitioners (GP) garner the most new business in the mental health field, an effort that is sure to add thousands of new people, including young children, into the category of having mental diseases.

The effort, say authorities, is to help craft a better preventive approach to mental health by catching problems early, and thus saving money in the long term. Sources say NHS currently spends the equivalent of over $16 billion a year treating mental health disorders. So by helping people early, overall costs will subside, so they say.

But the endeavor also has the potential to tag thousands of otherwise healthy people as mentally ill, which will plunge them into various therapies, including drug interventions, for disorders they likely do not even have. Everything from getting angry to excessive emailing is now considered to be a sign of mental illness, and the list of "disorders" continues to grow. Just last year, psychiatrists even tried to say that choosing to eat healthy foods is a mental disorder (http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_o...).

Check out this video at NaturalNews.tv for a simple, clever, and to-the-point look at how the field of psychiatry falsely labels normal people as having mental disorders:

http://www.naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=7...

And now, U.K. GPs will be able to rake in a whole lot of dough for recruiting new mental health patients into the tangled, fraudulent web of psychiatric medicine and treatments. The contest is a perfect opportunity to recategorize potentially millions of ordinary folks as having made-up diseases so they can begin to undergo things like "cognitive behavioral therapy" (CBT), as well as take extensive drug regimens that mellow out the brain and induce conformity.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2...

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/031239_menta .... z1DXi3jvr9

Pharmaceutical Terrorism

2011-01-31T12:47:00.000-08:00

blog.imva.info/medicine/pharmaceutical-terrorism

Follow this link to read a very insightful article by Dr Suzanne Humphries on vaccination and the vaccination industry

Violence Inducing Drugs

2011-01-15T12:24:00.000-08:00

NaturalNews.com printable article

Originally published January 15 2011

Study reveals top ten violence-inducing prescription drugs

by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

(NaturalNews) The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) recently published a study in the journal PLoS One highlighting the worst prescription drug offenders that cause patients to become violent. Among the top-ten most dangerous are the antidepressants Pristiq (desvenlafaxine), Paxil (paroxetine) and Prozac (fluoxetine).

Concerns about the extreme negative side effects of many popular antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs have been on the rise, as these drugs not only cause severe health problems to users, but also pose a significant threat to society. The ISMP report indicates that, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting System, many popular drugs are linked even to homicides.

Most of the drugs in the top ten most dangerous are antidepressants, but also included are an insomnia medication, an attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug, a malaria drug and an anti-smoking medication.

As reported in Time, the top ten list is as follows:

10. Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq) - An antidepressant that affects serotonin and noradrenaline. The drug is 7.9 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

9. Venlafaxine (Effexor) - An antidepressant that treats anxiety disorders. The drug is 8.3 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

8. Fluvoxamine (Luvox) - A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drug that is 8.4 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

7. Triazolam (Halcion) - A benzodiazepine drug for insomnia that is 8.7 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

6. Atomoxetine (Strattera) - An ADHD drug that is 9 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

5. Mefoquine (Lariam) - A malaria drug that is 9.5 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

4. Amphetamines - This general class of ADHD drug is 9.6 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

3. Paroxetine (Paxil) - An SSRI antidepressant drug that is 10.3 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs. It is also linked to severe withdrawal symptoms and birth defects.

2. Fluoxetine (Prozac) - A popular SSRI antidepressant drug that is 10.9 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

1. Varenicline (Chantix) - An anti-smoking drug that is a shocking 18 times more likely to be associated with violence than other drugs.

Sources for this story include:

http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/...

Cola Drinks

2010-11-08T12:23:00.001-08:00

WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY WITHIN AN HOUR OF DRINKING COLA

So you want to be healthy? Drinking soda is bad for your health in so many ways; science can’t even state all the consequences. Here’s what happens in your body when you assault it with a Coke:

Within the first 10 minutes of drinking it, 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (This is 100 percent of your recommended daily intake, and the only reason you don’t vomit as a result of the overwhelming sweetness is because phosphoric acid cuts the flavour).

Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning these massive amounts of sugar into fat.

Within 40 minutes, the caffeine in the cola is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your livers dumps even more sugar into your bloodstream.

After around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.

After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a sugar crash.

How many sodas have you had today? As of 2005, white bread was dethroned as the number one source of calories in the American diet, being replaced by soft drinks. Fact.

The average American drinks more than 60 gallons of soft drinks each year, so before you grab that next can of soda, consider this: one can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial food colors and sulphites. Not to mention the fact it’s also your largest source of dangerous high-fructose modified corn syrup.

Let’s take a look at some of the other major components of a typical can of soda:

· Phosphoric Acid: Which can interfere with the body's ability to use calcium, leading to osteoporosis or softening of the teeth and bones.

· Sugar: It is a proven fact that sugar increases insulin levels, which can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, weight gain, premature aging and many more negative side effects. Most sodas include over 100 percent of the RDA of sugar. Sugar is so bad for your health in so many ways, I have even created an entire list outlining 100-Plus Ways in Which Sugar Can Damage Your Health

· Aspartame: This chemical is used as a sugar substitute in diet soda. There are over 92 different health side effects associated with aspartame consumption including brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, emotional disorders and epilispsy/seizures.

· Caffeine: Caffeinated drinks cause jitters, insomnia, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, elevated blood cholesterol levels, vitamin and mineral depletion, breast lumps, birth defects, and perhaps some forms of cancer.

· Tap Water: I recommend that everyone avoid drinking tap water because it can carry any number of chemicals including chlorine, trihalomethanes, lead, cadmium, and various organic pollutants. Tap water is the main ingredient in bottled soft drinks.

Clearly, the over-consumption of sodas and sweet drinks is one of the leading causes fueling the world-wide obesity epidemic.

One independent, peer-reviewed study published in the British medical journal 'The Lancet' demonstrated a strong link between soda consumption and childhood obesity. They found that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't. In fact, for each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity jumped by 60 percent.

Here’s another sobering fact if you’re struggling with weight issues: Just one extra can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year! Other statistics on the health dangers of soft drinks include:

· One soda per day increases your risk of diabetes by 85 percent

· Soda drinkers have higher cancer risk. While the federal limit for benzene in drinking water is 5 parts per billion (ppb), researchers have found benzene levels as high as 79 ppb in some soft drinks, and of the 100 brands tested, most had at least some detectable level of benzene present

· Soda has been shown to cause DNA damage – courtesy of sodium benzoate, a common preservative found in many soft drinks, which has the ability to switch off vital parts of your DNA. This could eventually lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's

If you are still drinking soda, stopping the habit is an easy way to improve your health. Pure water is a much better choice, or if you must drink a carbonated beverage, try sparkling mineral water with a squirt of lime or lemon juice.

There is absolutely NO REASON chikdren should ever drink soda. None, nada, zip, zero. No excuses. The elimination of soft drinks is one of the most crucial factors to deal with many of the health problems you or your children suffer.

Fruits of Our Labours

2010-10-21T00:25:00.000-07:00

After attending a Conference in Melbourne, we were faced with the question of whether to purchase food for the two days prior to the next farmer's markets upon our return? Or, upon arriving home, would we find an abundance of food or an empty pantry?

The following photos will provide you with the answer:

These are Brazillian Cherries. Slightly tart when ripe, and very tart when un-ripe. A very thirst quenching fruit.

This is the bush upon which the Brazillian Cherries grow and at its maximum is about two metres tall.

This is the Surinam Cherry bush which grows a little taller to the Brazillian Cherry.

In this view we see the fruit with the flowers prior to setting the new fruit.

The fruit is sligly sweeter than the the Brazillian Cherry, although still slighly tart. And whereas the Brazillian Cherry seed is somewhat round and usually consisting of only one seed, and occasionally in the largest fruit two, the Surinam Cherry has usually three rather triangulated seeds.

In this bowl we see the last of the black Mulberry crop, along with the shiny black Jaboticabas. These have a very pleasant flavour along with being slightly tart.

The Jaboticabas grow on a small tree which reaches about five to six metres in height when fully grown.

The Yellow Sapote, botanical name, Lucuma nervosa, or Canistal, not related to the other Sapote's, is a very rich, fruit with dense flesh, quite sweet in flavour.

The Lucuma tree grows from five to eight metres tall with the fruit born in clusters. The new crop forms when the current crop is being harvested. Under the right conditions it can bear two or three crops per year.

The Pomelo is a giant tropical grapefruit. The outer rind is very thick and the inner flesh covering the edible part is quite tough and requires tro be also peeled away before eating. Slightly sweeter than the grapefruit grown in the cooler limate.

The Pomelo tree looks the same as any other citrus tree and hardly grows any bigger in spite of the size of the fruit it bears.

The Jakfruit when opened, looks like crayfish and tastes like bubblegum. In the Asian countries it usually made into curries when still somewhat green. It is a sweet fruit, and can grow to be 30 Kilo's in the right conditions, the fruit growing on the trunk or main branches, and can at times even grow on the roots of the tree.

The timber of the tree is used for building in Asian countries, with the young trees being used for fruit bearing. They are then harvested for their timber as they age.

Harmfulness of Prostrate Cancer Treatment

2010-10-02T20:20:00.000-07:00

All conventional prostate cancer treatments harm quality of life

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) All major prostate cancer therapies reduce men's quality of life through increased urinary incontinence and hampered sexual function, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and published in the Journal of Urology.

Researchers followed 1,269 men who had been treated for early-stage prostate cancer and assessed their urinary continence, sexual function, energy levels, pain levels, emotional well-being and ability to perform daily tasks. The men were also questioned about each of these quality-of-life measures.

Sixty percent of study participants had been treated with radical prostatectomy, or complete removal of the prostate gland. Seventeen percent had been treated with brachytherapy, the implantation of radioactive "seeds" in the prostate gland. Twelve percent had undergone external radiation treatment, 6 percent had been treated with both forms of radiation therapy and 5 percent had been treated with hormone-blocking drugs.

The researchers found that in all surgery and radiation groups, symptoms of urinary incontinence worsened in the first year after treatment and then improved in the second year, but did not return to pre-treatment levels. Symptoms tended to be worse in patients who had undergone surgery.

In men who had been treated with hormone-blocking drugs, urinary incontinence tended to worsen gradually over the course of four years. The researchers speculated that the drugs might lead to a degeneration of the pelvic muscles.

All treatments led to a decrease in sexual function over the first year after treatment, with surgery once again leading to the greatest effect. Yet while surgical patients tended to undergo improvement in sexual symptoms during the second year after treatment, no such improvement was seen in patients who had undergone other therapies. Thus after the second year, sexual dysfunction was roughly similar in men of all treatment groups.

Because the majority of prostate cancers are slow growing and will never pose a threat to men's health, screening for the disease has become controversial in recent years. Doctors increasingly worry that large numbers of men are being subjected to severe side effects without good cause.

Sources for this story include: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS....

Fluoride, It's Dangers

2010-09-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

Fluoridation of our water supplies continues to forced upon us. The media has at last picked up the truth of how harmful it really is. Read all about it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZBRBPgTOt0&feature=player_embedded#!

Drugs

2010-09-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

pharmaceutical sales representative discloses big pharma secrets: the industry has no interest in your health. it's only goal is to get you on drugs and keep you there your whole life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqmeB6GB25Q

Pyschiatric Drugs

2010-08-31T12:58:00.000-07:00

The damaged brain, by Lynne McTaggart, WDDTY

Just occasionally, I come across a doctor willing to break the conspiracy of silence on the damage caused by their tools. My hero of the hour is American psychiatrist Grace E. Jackson, who is utterly and refreshingly horrified by psychiatric and most other forms of pharmaceutical medicine. In fact, so incensed was Jackson over the current state of affairs that she felt compelled to self-publish a whistle-blowing book—Drug-Induced Dementia—that painstakingly catalogues the vast amount of scientific proof that modern medicine is the primary culprit behind all forms of dementia, one of the more rampant epidemic conditions of our time.

One of her more outrageous snippets of information is that, in the 1950s, doctors discovered that synthetic-dye and rocket-fuel derivatives had what they considered to be medicinal effects on psychiatric patients. Chlorpromazine, the first antipsychotic agent, was born.

There was only one hitch: the drugs caused the patient to ape the symptoms of sleeping sickness. The doctors also noted that, over time, the drugs produced all the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease—abnormal gait, tremor, dementia and involuntary movements. Patients were also stupefied, with no feelings or excitation—in effect, a vegetable.

However, with the sort of logic peculiar to modern medicine, these debilitating effects were welcomed as being better than having a crazed hallucinating patient. Indeed, doctors viewed the arrival of parkinsonian effects as a benchmark of the patient’s therapeutic progress: they were proof-positive that the drugs were working.

Yet, the damage caused by psychiatric medicine is only the tip of the iceberg. As our cover story this month reveals, a number of the major classes of drugs can bring on dementia, including heart drugs, cholesterol-lowering drugs, sleeping pills, antidepressants, narcotics, stimulants, anticholinergics and antiepileptics.

As most people over the age of 50 are taking at least one prescription drug, and up to six or more a decade later, it’s small wonder that dementia is one of the world’s fastest-growing disorders, now absorbing one-third of the entire US Medicare bill. It’s now expected that one in four of us will have some form of dementia by the time we reach 80.

This giant problem, created entirely by the pharmaceutical industry, is once again a byproduct of the refusal of our current medicine to consider the body a holistic entity.

In 1970, German physicist Fritz-Albert Popp stumbled upon the fact that humans emit a tiny current of photons, or light, from the DNA of every cell. He also discovered something else remarkable. If a medicine was applied to one part of the body, a massive change occurred in the amount of light emitted not only from where he’d applied the agent, but also from other, more distant parts of the body. Popp soon recognized that this light was a communication channel within a living organism—a means of instantaneous, or ‘non-local’, global signaling.

Popp’s work affords us a glimpse of the body at work as an exquisite, interconnected whole. What affects one part affects every other part simultaneously. Whenever we atomize anything, such as our body—dividing it up and treating each piece separately—we invite calamity.

Published 31 August 2010 10:07 by Joanna Evans

Filed under: dementia, drugs, Parkinson's disease

Breast Cancer

2010-07-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

Although this article is directed at Breast Cancer in women, I would not hesitate to say that the causative factors referred to can be, and more often than not are, contributting factors in the development of all types of cancer. A very little publicised fact is that breast cancer can occur in men also, and appears to be closely connected to the feeding of growth hormones to the animals which are subsequently killed for human consumption. Or, as often happens, in the consumption of the dairy products that are made from the milk produced by these animals.

New Delhi: Are you eating too much of meat and sweets?

Think twice because it might increase risks of breast cancer, says a recent study in China.

Subjected on more than a thousand women, this study found that western diet increases the risk of breast cancer in post menopausal Asian women.

"Western diet consists of meat and animal fats and refined bread. This triggers hormonal imbalances that increases the risks of breast cancer," says nutritionist, Dr Shikha Sharma.

The study also stated that the risks of breast cancer highest among post-menopausal women and also that high fat intake could trigger the risks of breast cancer.

Ten years ago, the numbers for women with breast cancer in urban areas in India were five to eight women per 10,000. Now number has risen to 12, which is almost double.

Dr Sharma adds, "Asian diet is traditionally low in fat and is genetically not tuned to western fatty diet. But now trends crossing borders, along with the lifestyle changes, more fat is coming into the Asian diet pattern."

Cancer specialist/Oncologist, Max Hospital, Dr Amit Bhargava says, " The rising numbers are a result of socio-economic changes in people's lifestyle. More and more people are adapting western patterns of living and diet."

Although doctors agree that the genetic pattern also plays a huge role in resisting this change but they also warn that small lifestyle changes can go a long way.

So one should start pay more attention to diet and eat less red meat and include more fruits and green leafy vegetables in the diet.

50 Reasons why GMOs are Cause for Great Concern

2010-07-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

Simplifying the GMO debate: the Harmful Effects of GM Foods.
Download and read:

50 Reasons why GMOs are Cause for Great Concern (pdf 372kb)

Natural Pest Control

2010-07-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

This article is in line with our experience on the farm over the past fourty years, and underlines the work of the founder of Organic farming, Sir Albert Howard, and other leading researchers in the organic farming community.

Sir Albert Howard pointed out that the insects are natures monitors, that they only attack the unhealthy plant. They are warning us that the conditions in which the plant is growing are not supplying the necessary ingredients, or oversupplying some and undersupplying others, or in some instances stopping the uptake of essential nutrients. All of these situations can be caused by a number of factors, including, poor soil conditions(management),chemical farming,weather conditions(too hot or cold, too dry or wet etc.)to name a few.

Over the years we have demonstrated the validity of these claims on many occasions. One of our favourite ways of doing so has been to withhold water from our vegetable plants, In a relatively short time they are being devoured by insects. Restore the water(remove the stress), and almost immediately the insects disappear, and the plants return to their former healthy state.

Better Pest Control with Organic Agriculture

02/07/2010

Washington State University has found that organic farms are better at fighting pests. The researchers discovered that there was a much better balance of animal and plant communities on organic farms compared to standard high intensive farms and this resulted in bigger and healthier crops.

For the experiment, the researchers chose to test a potato crop and by regular analysis they found there to be a more balanced insect population in which no one species was able to dominate. Plants in these balanced environments grew better.

Post-doctorate research associate in entomology at Washington State University, David Crowder, said "I think 'balance' is a good term,"

because "When the species are balanced, at least in our experiments, they're able to fulfill their roles in a more harmonious fashion."

The conclusions being made are that to restore an ecosystem, both richness and evenness are needed.

French fry customers such as McDonald's and Wendy's as well as the potato industry in general are taking keen note of the results from this and other similar studies as they are needing to know which pest control practices are ecological sustainable.

In most current pest control management systems, the biological communities that result on farms are ones that are dominated by just a few species. This often results in one species accounting for 75% of the insect population. In stark contrast, on organic farms the most abundant specie of the farms’ predators and enemies amounted to only 38% of the insect population.

Crowder suggested that the reason why conventional farms get a much lower specie balance may be due to different methods used for crop fertilization and/or from unwittingly killing certain crop enemies over others.

Modern Psychiatry - A Danger to Humanity

2010-06-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

The total failure of modern psychiatry

by David Gutierrez, staff writer

(NaturalNews) Modern psychiatry went wrong when it embraced the idea that the mind should be treated with drugs, says Edward Shorter of the University of Toronto, writing in the Wall Street Journal.

Shorter studies the history of psychiatry and medicine.

Modern U.S. psychiatry has adopted a philosophy that psychological diseases arise from chemical imbalances and therefore have a very specific cluster of symptoms, he says, in spite of evidence that the difference between many so-called disorders is minimal or nonexistent. These "disorders" are then treated with expensive drugs that are no more effective than a placebo.

"Psychiatry seems to have lost its way in a forest of poorly verified diagnoses and ineffectual medications," he writes.

Shorter calls for U.S. psychiatry to abandon its emphasis on "psychopathology" and instead adopt the European approach, which focuses on the symptoms and needs of people as individuals. Yet the draft of the latest edition of psychiatric diagnostic "Bible," the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), shows that U.S. psychiatry has no intention of changing course.

"With DSM-V, American psychiatry is headed in exactly the opposite direction: defining ever-widening circles of the population as mentally ill with vague and undifferentiated diagnoses and treating them with powerful drugs," Shorter writes.

U.S. psychiatry was not always obsessed with psychopharmacology, he notes. Its early years were marked by a psychoanalytic approach that categorized mental disorders in broad, fluid categories such as "nerves," "melancholia" or "manic-depressive illness." These categories sufficed because similar treatments would work for people suffering from any version thereof: lithium treated both mania and severe depression, for example, while the specific symptoms experienced by an anxious person had little influence on the therapies needed.

"Our psychopathological lingo today offers little improvement on these sturdy terms," Shorter said. "A patient with the same symptoms today might be told he has 'social anxiety disorder' or 'seasonal affective disorder.' ... The new disorders all respond to the same drugs, so in terms of treatment, the differentiation is meaningless and of benefit mainly to pharmaceutical companies that market drugs for these niches."

In the 1950s and '60s, a new wave of psychiatrists sought to turn away from psychoanalysis -- perceiving it as focusing excessively on "unconscious psychic conflicts" -- and toward a more "scientific" model instead. As a result, the DSM-III introduced the vague new categories of "major depression" and "bipolar disorder," even though evidence suggests that there is no substantial difference between the two conditions. At the same time, "major depression" absorbed what Shorter calls two very different conditions, "neurotic depression" and "melancholia."

"This would be like incorporating tuberculosis and mumps into the same diagnosis, simply because they are both infectious diseases," he writes.

DSM-V only continues the trend of extending the disordered label to more and more normal people, Shorter warns: "To flip through the latest draft of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, in the works for seven years now, is to see the discipline's floundering writ large."

For example, the new disorder of "psychosis risk syndrome" associates a whole new class of people with full-blown schizophrenia, under the logic, Shorter says, that "even if you aren't floridly psychotic with hallucinations and delusions, eccentric behavior can nonetheless awaken the suspicion that you might someday become psychotic." The implication, of course, is that such people should be treated with antipsychotics.

Symptoms of "psychosis risk syndrome" include such vague descriptors as "disorganized speech."

Other new "disorders" include hoarding, mixed anxiety-depression and binge eating. "Minor neurocognitive disorder" describes a reduction in cognitive function over time, such as that normally experienced by people over the age of 50, while "temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria" refers to children who suffer from outbursts of temper.

"DSM-V accelerates the trend of making variants on the spectrum of everyday behavior into diseases," Shorter says, "turning grief into depression, apprehension into anxiety, and boyishness into hyperactivity."

Sources for this story include: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100....

2010 ROW Lecture Tour - Delhi,India.

2010-06-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

This year my first port of call was to Delhi, India. My initial reaction was one of extreme surprise on the lack of beggars that I saw in my wanderings around the city. This was at complete odds with what I had expected. And yes, there is extreme poverty, with people living on the streets, yet not once was I approached by any-one begging. In spite of their lack of wealth, and worldly goods,the people I saw and came into contact with, and I can assure you, I visited areas of the city which were occupied by the poorer people, as well as those which were not lacking in wealth, were basically happy and friendly.

On my journey I had picked up a book written by a Catholic Priest, on his time spent in the slums of Calcutta. In it he describes how the people used every possible occasion for the celebration of life, and inspite of the hardships they were confronted with on a moment to moment, and day to day basis, as they struggled to survive in the harsh environment, were ever assisting one- another whenever possible. And through it all they maintained a level of happiness, and humanity that is almost hard to imagine given the prevailing circumstances.

Nearly everything was carried out on the street, including barbering

Within a short distance in one street I passed three barbers plying their trade.

Each of them having a different modus operandi. From the most simple with just a plastic sheet covering, and squatting on the ground to the more elaborate and sophisticated chair and all the accoutrements to be found in most western establishments. Albeit though, still on the roadside and in the open air.

The bulk of the population live in these high rise apartments separated one from the other by the mostly narrow ,dark, cavern, like laneways.

And some are even wider with much more light.

And the main interconnecting streets are much wider with, on the whole, far less rubbish obstructing the passage of cars and multitudes of people. This photo was taken in the early morning before the bulk of the people were up and about.

Then there are the broader main thouroughfares along which trundle the ancient and rather decrepit buses, which appear to be kept mobile more by gosh and good-luck than regular maintenance and care.

This is another early morning shot, for within a very short time these roadways have become crowed with both foot traffic and motorised vehicles including the ubiquitous tuk-tuk.

These are some of the street scenes which are a true presentation of the ever present derritrus of our societies as occurs when the population is beyond the physical capacities of the infrastructure to cope with.

And through it all, the people struggle on in their endeavours to attain at least a minimum of dignity, cleanliness, and self-reliance.

Each day the residents endeavour to maintain a modicum of cleanliness and tidiness in their limited way. The mountain of accumulating rubbish though, is far beyond their ability to do so.

Even the goats live on the street.

In the midst of all this clutter and debris are to be found the flower sellers

Their efforts, as they laboriously weave the flowers into intricate and attractively pleasing displays, assists in offsetting the effects of the continual exposure to the mounds of rubbish on the senses.

One thing I did not do was to smell the flowers to see if they gave off an aroma. Or, as the case in most westernised countries today, the flowers grown are so hybridised that they no longer have any aroma.

The iceman still lays a major role with he cost of refrigeration and refrigerators being beyond the ability of the average person.

The delivery is made, as can be observed, on bicycles, right to your front doorstep. And as many people live on the streets, that happens to be the roadside.

The bicycle is still considered, and actively used as a major form of transportation.

In this photo not only can we see this man straining to transport what is obviously a very heavy load as he is unable to move it by pedalling.

We can also observe one of the modern replacements of the rickshaw - the pedal operated tri-shaw.

Although modern transportation methods are available, such as utilities and trucks etc., a large percentage of the goods are transported by these three wheeled bicycles which not only are they cheap to hire, they also can access the very narow streets and lane-ways that are to be found almost everywhere.

In this climate which is invariably warm and hot all the year round, these juice stalls selling freshly made fruit juices are a common sight. My taste buds indicated that the juice was well watered down, refreshing nevertheless.

The street stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables were always a welcome sight. In the background can be seen the motorised form of transportation which has replaced the rickshaw - known commonly throughout Asia, and even in Cuba, as the tuk-tuk.

The food available is certainly of equal quality and flavour to any I have sampled anywhere in the world. Perhaps even superior in many instances. Much of the food is still grown by the traditional methods without the use of artificial fertilisers and poisonous sprays, the farmers beeing too poor to purchase them. And in those instances where they have been introduced they have often bankrupted the farmers, causing total disruption to the local economy and resulting in the suicides of many of the farmers.

This stall is selling juice made with a hand operated juicer.

And this stall is selling cups of tea, and freshly laid eggs

Here we see the old and the new forms of transport, both actively in use. With in the background the admonition to exercise, which for the tricycle operator appears rather superfluous.

Women still use the traditional method for carrying anything by placing it in a basket on their heads.

In this instance the women are carrying the sand from one side of the street to the cement mixer on the other.

All types of vehicles are utilised as people carriers, such as this LandRover. Stacked in they are.

The rear end of all the trucks, and buses all have this very same sign, or a variation of it, painted on them, which says, "Please sound your Horn". And you may rest assured that every-one does just that, resulting in the senses being continually exposed to this great cacophony of sound, which as you may well imagine results in no-one really taking any notice.

Here is to be seen another very normal street scene. It would appear that the replacement of water pipes and subterranean cables is a never ending process with almost every street being involved.

The street is just as common a place as anywhere for your daily ablutions. All you require is a bowl of water and a cake of soap.

Each street has its roadside temple dedicated to one of the many deities that are worshipped in India.

And in the midst of all this poverty you find these beautifully maintained mausoleums to some past dignity, his wives, and concubines.

Each one is beautifully constructed, with the inticacy of the carved stonework and frieze' rarely, if ever, seen in our buildings today.

Each is unique in its own right, with the acres of surrounding grounds so well cared for and places of peace and quiet, so different from the surroundings, with its wall to wall people, traffic, and inevitable cacophony of sound generated by the people,motor traffic, blaring horns etc.

This brings us to the prime reason for my visit to Delhi. Not only to view the lifestyle of the local inahbitants - also to visit the local so-called Nature Cure Hospital. So why do I refer to it as a so-called Nature Cure Hospital? My reason for doing so is based upon the fact that, although it subscribes to the use of some of the principles of Nature Cure, such as Hydrotherapy, Heliotherapy, Exercise etc., it also uses Ayurvedic Medicine. And by its very name of Ayurvedic Medicine we are informed that it is the practice of medicine, and not that of Nature Cure. For in the practice of Nature Cure there is no place for medications of any type or description. Medications are used for the treatment of disease. And as Nature Cure subscribes to the principle that disease(acute) is the process by which the body heals itself - any treatment by medication will only result in suppression of the healing process and contribute towards the development of chronic disease.

I was very graciously received by Dr Pradhan the director of the Hospital, and after a viewing of the facilities that they offered, spent the next two hours in discussion of matter of mutual interest, ending with the most kind invitation to visit again any time I wished.

This is the room from which the Ayurvedic medications are dispensed.

These are the various rooms which are used for hydrotherapy with this photo depicting the equipment used for the foot and arm baths.

In this last view we see the room for the teaching of Yoga. I did not enquire as to the capacity of the Hospital, yet from the size of this room it would indicate that it is quite substantial..

John W's Story

2010-05-30T22:05:00.000-07:00

Note 5: Clohesy River Health Farm - May 2010

For those of you who have followed my natural healing journey, Note 5 is an update to the previous 4 (emailed at various intervals since I was first diagnosed with prostate cancer, May 30th 2006). All the notes, combined, form a telling 'timeline' of that journey - and the capacity of mind and body to heal itself of its own accord; given the right environment. Interested readers will see, in as much detail as possible, the evolutionary process laid bare.

At this point in time, I am collating all the notes so that there is a coherent and accurate story, both for those who have followed the journey, and those who have perhaps just stumbled across these journal entries. I should have that work completed very shortly and will accordingly advise you. Importantly, I want to tell all who are interested: please, feel free to pass my story along or post it to any blog you may participate in. Doing so will encourage or help others who may be seeking to sustain or regain their own health, naturally. If you have a family member, friend or colleague that might want to contact me, I will certainly respond. There is one note of caution: please, do not publish my personal contact details online - the volume of correspondence that would result would simply not be possible to deal with.

Dear Family, Friend and Colleague

I would dearly like to report, categorically, that my cancer of the prostate has completely healed, but without the precision of a biopsy read-out one simply cannot make such bold statements. What I can say is that my most recent PSA (prostate specific antigen) score has remained steady and significantly below the level it was when I was first diagnosed four years ago.

As some of you know, that diagnosis, not surprisingly, accompanied a range of other acute disease conditions - some serious, all problematic. As a reminder they were:

Overweight

Hypertension (high blood pressure)

Hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid)

Continuous diarrhoea

Various perennial skin ailments

High cholesterol

Regular bouts of Hay Fever and Itchy Eye

Chronic exhaustion

Each of those other conditions is now completely healed as you can see below:

1. Weight: reduced from 83.7kg (184.1lbs) to 60.7kg (133.5lbs); a drop of 23kg (50.6lbs).

2. Blood Pressure: dropped from 135/85 to 110/60 (the blood pressure of a 21 year old, not a 67 year old - at one point sticking around 140/90).

3. Thyroid Function: TSH down from 27.90 to 3.12 (Healthy Range 0.40 – 4.00).

4. Diarrhoea: about 6 months into the raw food program, after initially getting worse, the perennial diarrhoea stopped - normal bowl movements returned and have been sustained.

5. Perennial Skin Ailments: after a very bad eczema attack on my shins, all skin ailments including tinea between my toes and a groin rash I had had since my youth; disappeared; never to return.

6. Cholesterol: reduced from 5.3 to 3.8 (Healthy Range <5.5*).

 LDL Cholesterol (the bad stuff) down from 3.8 to 2.6 (Healthy Range <3.5).

 Coronary Risk Ratio has come down from 5.3 to 3.8 (Healthy Range <5.0).

7. Hay Fever and Itchy Eye: this annual, disabling condition suffered since childhood, has completely cleared.

8. Chronic Exhaustion: three times a week I engage in serious group outdoor personal training: sprinting, endurance running and weight training as well as weekly sessions of Yoga. On my 'off days' I pursue other gentle and not so gentle physical activity - walking, gardening, solo running (6 - 10 kms non-stop) and working out in my home gym with yoga postures and weights. I have reached the point at which my cardiovascular fitness and endurance level compares favourably with people 20, 30 or even 40 years my junior. I feel blessed and very grateful. Blessed, for obvious reasons. Grateful, because it took a life-threatening wake-up call to goad me into action. I feel fit and well...

But after healing these acute conditions, progress plateaued. The chronic condition, the cancer, stubbornly refused to succumb, as the PSA test at that time attested (PSA tests are an unreliable gauge at best but other than a biopsy, they are the only marker currently available as far as I know). My carefully studied lifestyle change had supported my body in its clearing each acute condition, and was sufficient to allow my body to hold the cancer in check, but insufficient to eliminate the cancerous cells. Since that was now my remaining challenge, clearly I needed to take my healing approach to a higher level...

For the curious new reader, I should perhaps outline as briefly as possible what that healing approach is... my philosophical stance on the cause of illness and healing. In this way, my journey will be in context and you will more easily make sense of what follows...

As we Sow So Shall we Reap

Like a lot of people, I used to think I could sustain myself with whatever I wanted to eat and drink, lead a sedentary life, stress myself and assume that my body could handle what I now know, with every sense of my being, to be self-inflicted physical abuse. I passed the buck to my body to deal with the toxic stuff I ingested, the physically inactive life I lead, and the stressful thinking I entertained. And if my body became overwhelmed with the daily intake of lifeless and toxic food, drink and thinking, I could hand-ball my failing health to the medical fraternity who would obligingly prescribe all manner of over-the-counter or prescription drugs. Failing that, I could have the diseased parts replaced, zapped with radiation, sliced away or chemically poisoned...

Yes, I was the quintessential Aussie male. I thought "she'll be right mate" and didn't take care of myself. At gut level (literally, bulging bigger by the month) I didn't grasp that I only had one body and that I was responsible and accountable for its care and maintenance: what I ingested, how I exercised and how I used the power of thought. And more fool me, because I was ignoring knowledge from an earlier study and a significant personal healing experience on achieving and maintaining optimal health. Despite that I was still putting the burden on my body to keep me alive in the face of gross neglect and mistreatment.

But the wake up call was imminent - my urologist presenting the news with a warning that there was limited time to have the tumours cut, drugged, or burnt away; or that they would metastasize, most likely to my bones. "When this happens," she said, "you will die a slow painful death."

I had already been told a short time earlier that I should take medication for my high blood pressure and my rapidly failing thyroid and would need to do so for the rest of my life. I had a range of creams for my skin conditions that gave temporary relief. And I also had undergone blood tests, endoscopies and colonoscopies - all without finding out why I had had 'the runs' for the preceding 5 years. For the onset of each hay fever and itchy eye season, pharmaceuticals were taken to make life bearable. And to make up for my demineralised and devitaminised diet I was taking, on a daily basis, an array of vitamin and mineral supplements in a vain attempt to offset the tiredness and lethargy I felt. I had been taking a variety of supplements religiously for many, many years including saw palmetto (a preparation derived from the berrylike fruit) and selenium; both of which were supposed to deter/prevent cancer of the prostate.

News of the cancer jolted me to my core. I was scared. What to do? Having failed to take care of my health, was I going to continue to pass the buck? Was I going to, like most Westerners, hand the care of my life over to the medical, pharmaceutical, and complementary or alternative medicine fraternity? Or was I going to meet the challenge and allow my body to heal via its own resources? After all, I could now clearly see that the cancer and assorted other conditions were symptoms of neglect and abuse; an irresponsible lifestyle...

Was I ready to take responsibility for my ill state of health? From the deepest recesses of my memory I recalled the books read and lectures attended in my twenties, which spoke to the body's inherent ability to heal. I recalled too, with a mixture of hope and chagrin, a remarkable personal healing experience which had clearly demonstrated that fact: those readings, lectures, and the subsequent natural healing event demonstrated that a 100% raw organic diet, coupled with significantly reduced eating, done in concert with an energetic exercise program and a contented state of mind, would, practiced with daily discipline, enable the body to do what it is designed to do… self-heal.

The decision was made; the recovery path clear. For me, shifting the burden of responsibility for my health to others was neither a viable nor a responsible option. I had faith that, as it had become sick with mistreatment, my body would eventually heal, given the care and consideration it should have received long ago.

Two years six months later aged 67, following a natural-healing regime, my body responded - the cancer test results below showing some improvement:

Biopsy Results 2006 Biopsy results 2008

8 Samples Tumour Lengths *8 Samples Tumour Lengths

a) High-grade dysplasia (PIN) a) High grade dysplasia (PIN)

b) Intermediate-grade dysplasia (PIN) b) Atypical gland focus suggestive of malignancy

c) High-grade dysplasia (PIN) c) Gleason 3+3=6 2 glands <0.1mm

d) High-grade dysplasia d) Gleason 3+3=6 0.5/0.2mm

e) Gleason 3+3=6 0.2mm e) No specific pathologic change

f) Gleason 3+3=6 0.5mm f) High-grade dysplasia (PIN)

g) High-grade dysplasia g) No specific pathologic change

h) Gleason 3+3=6 1.0/1.2mm h) Gleason 3+3=6 0.8mm

*2008 samples, except h), are from different parts of the prostate

My experience is real. It cannot be put down to 'fortune' or 'happenstance'. I now see that passing the buck for our health has become so commonplace that it looks as if it is the reasoned, enlightened, intelligent, right thing to do. Passing the buck has become the norm - a deeply ingrained feature of everyday life promoted by self-interested (though in many cases well-meaning) advocates of every hue. Authority comes in many guises. Does that sound anti-establishment, 'lefty' or 'intellectual'? I put it to you; the degree to which this 'norm' is accepted is frightening...

We smoke. We use drugs. We consume alcohol, caffeine and sugar-laden drinks. Some of us, maybe to salve our conscience, take (or worse, provide our kids with) make-believe health drinks: pasteurised, chemicalised, devitalised fruit and veggie juices and a mind-boggling array of other containerised drinks which, while I'm sure the companies involved haven't deliberately set out to poison us, are by their very nature poisonous and should be considered 'anti' health. -We eat make-believe health foods made with devitalised ingredients. We exist on food that has had the nutrition and nourishment cooked or processed to near extinction. We grow increasingly inactive, fat and unhealthy - or just sickly. We line up in our hundreds of thousands each day across the nation at medical practices and hospitals. We believe pharmaceuticals, operations or other remedies will fix our self-induced (and largely unacknowledged) malaise. We have become a nation of life-time medically dependent consumers. We keep the pharmaceutical companies rich beyond imagination. Others, disillusioned with the politicisation and malfunction of modern medicine, and its clear inability to stem our declining health, turn (in vain) to alternative practitioners, hoping that extracts of this or that tree, bark, root, fruit, shrub, vegetable or herb will do the trick. Or that this vitamin, mineral, enzyme, pro-biotic, anti-oxidant, protein supplement or so called super-food will remedy what Mother Nature has the inherent capacity to provide - if only we bypass the dead-food and drink manufacturers and go direct to the only supplier and manufacturer of good health; Mother Nature.

Unfortunately most of us (including me until four years ago) refuse to take the nature-cure road to vibrant, sustainable health. Instead, we live on a lifeless, denatured (or as some have described it) dead-food diet. In quest of good health, some of us lace our diet with vitamin, mineral or super-food supplements of very questionable value. Who can blame us? Who has the time or endurance to question what we are told? In our blind ignorance, we trust the claims that new wave self-styled gurus and purveyors of these products make - the rejuvenation and repair of our bodies a bridge too far - a pointless adjunct to lousy diets and indulgent lifestyle.

The cumulative affects of diet and lifestyle are axiomatic of the Aged-Care Sector: a juggernaut of immense private and corporate wealth created on our seeming inability to predict a very personal and likely future: a wretched, drug dependent, physically and mentally infirmed old age. And in the main, we teach our children to accept, without question, the dogmas and self-interest of mainstream and alternative medicine. We don't even consider an alternative to medicine. Yes! An alternative to medicine; mainstream or alternative.

I understand only too well what it means to question that which is universally accepted. I see also that the 'alternative' route is now more mainstream than we once might have assumed. Money rules, and for the unwary, there are myriad traps! So perhaps it is not surprising that we prefer the safety and comfort of the status quo - the blind acceptance of a malevolent relationship between modern medicine and global pharmaceutical cartels. In short, a failure to question protects trillion dollar investments and perpetuates the illusion.

Sadly, and perhaps because of, our admiration for medical pioneers, teaching and research universities, GPs and frontline practitioners; the truth is that those otherwise talented individuals work inside a health system that is riddled with self-interest. Most of us are blind ignorant to what is happening.

It is difficult, nigh on impossible, for most of us to grasp just how far we have wandered from healthy living. Multinational food producers and processors create addictive and poisonous fake food with shelf-lives that can outlive all of us… Yes, poisonous! So filled is that lethal fare with chemical additives and preservatives. This, because modern food-embalming techniques are promoted by alluring multimedia and celebrity-driven advertising; making multi-billions of dollars in the process.

Isn’t it insane, when you stop and reflect, that life-sustaining, restorative food - raw, simple and delicious nutrition; barely rates a mention in Advertising circles? Isn't it a complete madness that commercial food producers seem bent on killing off (or at least shortening the life of) the very customers they rely on? Is it really so far 'left of center' to imagine a world in which commercial interests and simple humanity come together? Incomprehensible! What chance has humanity got?

But Change (as we know) comes one person at a time... So hear this: my personal responsibility for living simply and naturally has enabled my body to heal eight out of nine ailments. Given time, with the continuation of nature's natural medicine via a thoughtful combination of raw organic nutrition, exercise and healthy thinking; the cancer, if it has not already, will go the same way as my other lifestyle-induced conditions.

Change is here, and passing the buck for my health has stopped.

2010: TAKING MY HEALING JOURNEY TO A HIGHER LEVEL

I had come some distance from that emotionally distressing but life-transforming meeting with the urologist, but I still instinctively felt that more critical fine-tuning was needed to assist my body in the destruction of the cancerous cells and the regeneration of new, healthy cells. Instinct told me that I was still not living an optimal regime for that outcome (and thus giving my body optimum support)...

I sensed that three meals per day, even without any snacking between, was still too much food, too often, for the body's digestive, assimilation, elimination and regeneration processes. It was still in excess of what Dr Fred Bisci, (my primary adviser) had claimed as optimal for healing. Although 100% raw and 99% organic, 'too much of a good thing' was still counter-productive to the destruction and elimination of diseased cells and the regeneration of healthy ones. And, my penchant for filling life with interesting but non-essential and energy-sapping, emotionally challenging activities was stressful. I was falling short in supporting my body and mind and needed sufficient energy to direct toward eliminating the chronic condition called cancer. Fred Bisci was a critical step in my healing journey, but I had pretty well exhausted his pool of knowledge as it applied to me and my specific condition… and New York, where he is based, was too far away for easy personal access.

I really wanted and needed someone within Australia to consult with - someone who had Fred's level of understanding of our mind and body's capacity to regenerate and heal. As luck and diligent searching would have it, I came across Dr John Fielder, a 78 year old Natural Hygienist, Nature Cure Practitioner, Naturopath, Chiropractor and Osteopath who lives and practices from his property Clohesy River Health Farm just out of Cairns, Queensland. John, president of the UK's Incorporated Society of Registered Naturopaths (ISRN) lectures annually round the world.

Talking with John, it became clear to me that he was the man to point me toward a fresh vantage point: a new view of human healing and regeneration. I determined to visit him, and in the late evening light of 22nd February 2010, my descent into Perth punctuated fifteen days at his farm - fifteen extraordinarily challenging days that were enough to have me once more rethink my entire lifestyle!

About an hour's drive due east from Cairns, John's 330 largely undeveloped acerage is situated just beyond the tropical rain forest at Kuranda and incorporates the Clohesy River in one corner. The property was ravaged by fire 9 years back and is now about two thirds into its re-establishment program, including a tropical and citrus orchard, which before being burnt was 35 years in the making. The property is now, once again, reaping a bountiful harvest.

The 2001 fires destroyed his house but fortunately, the consulting office/ablution block was spared, as were three semi-detached rooms and an undamaged client kitchen and library/communal area (currently used as his temporary home). The story becomes all the more real when we view the office windows with large cracks in each pane - evidence of the fierce heat that came close to destroying that building as well. I'm pleased to report that apart from those windows and some charred tree trunks and fence posts, nature's regeneration has pretty well obliterated sight of that destructive episode.

John works mostly a lone hand at restoring and maintaining his property (a mighty effort for a slightly-built near octogenarian and living example of what he espouses).

While I was there, I met a 73 year old man from Cleveland who was assisting John in exchange for food, board, education and the chance of recovery from adrenal fatigue. Also there was a 22 year old male from Chicago who was seeking to understand nature's cure following a recent period of serious unwellness. At 68 I wanted, even though all but one of my ailments had cured already, to take my health to another level after almost four years on a 100% raw vegan diet...

Clohesy Health Farm was a culture shock. John lives simply. Deeply in tune with and in harmony with his place, he bathes daily in the fast flowing Clohesy River using its sandy bed for soap. He harvests and eats twice daily whatever is in season from his garden and orchard, supplemented primarily from organic suppliers. Drinking water is supplied by nature, and his other water needs are pumped from the river by a watermill he constructed. He has no refrigeration, uses an old-fashioned netted food-safe, and recycles like no other I know. Electricity is supplied via solar panels. He is not entirely 'native'! Broadband access and Skype keep him in touch with family, friends, clients and colleagues around the world and abreast of the current health and healing developments.

My accommodation was a small rectangular timber-framed white painted room, semi-detached from another the same size, with one other identical room attached to that. There were two single beds, a wooden table with cloth and an iron-framed bookcase. That was about it other than one critical concession to luxury, an insect net that hung from the ceiling over my bed to keep the flying bugs and insects at bay (those normally having free access through the room's ample supply of unscreened windows and a large door). The humidity was high. With no fans to provide breeze the large openings were a blessing.

The gas-fired hot water-heater to the communal ablutions failed the day I arrived. No doubt it was good for me to take fifteen cold showers daily, but as I came face to face with the reality of fine-tuning my diet, lifestyle and fasting, I could have done without the additional challenge and enjoyed the comfort of a warm wash!

Apart from that, the most significant shift was exchanging three largish meals per day to two smallish meals - one at noon and the other at 5pm. As John explained in our daily sessions together, a critical part of the human metabolic process starts naturally at sunset and continues till noon the next day - allowing for optimal assimilation of nutrition and elimination of waste and thus limiting the amount of energy used for processing food. In turn, this allows both more time and more energy for the removal of old and damaged cells and the regeneration of new cells. The fact is, most of us use 60 to 70% of our energy simply digesting, assimilating and eliminating food.

With two smaller nutrient-rich meals per day, and no snacking in between at all, we dramatically reduce the percentage of energy used to around 10 - 15%. Thus, we make much more available for healing and most importantly; regeneration. This I think is the key. Reduced calorie intake confined within two meals per day. The other critical aspect being to limit the fat consumed to between ten and fifteen percent of total calories. Whilst this eating regime wasn’t news to me it was the first time the fundamental importance of this approach to daily diet had hit home.

I learned from John just how important working in harmony with our natural metabolic process is to healing. The breaking down of old or diseased tissue and cellular waste is part of what is called Catabolism (destructive metabolism). The process of catabolism releases the energy from this old material for rebuilding new cellular material. Catabolism creates the energy that Anabolism consumes for synthesising hormones, enzymes, sugars and other substances for cell growth, reproduction, and tissue repair. Catabolism creates the energy we need for all physical activity. Another element of Metabolism, and complementary to Catabolism, is Anabolism (constructive metabolism). Anabolism enables the body to maintain existing tissue and importantly, grow new cells. Growth and mineralisation of bone, and increases in muscle mass, are both examples of Anabolism.

If Catabolism is producing more energy than Anabolism requires, there will be excess energy, which the human body stores as fat or glycogen. This is the principle way in which we become overweight. The foregoing was an exciting discovery for me and it explained why, for maintaining optimal health and to heal from illness, I needed to eat only two, highest quality, modestly sized meals at midday and 5pm daily, with no snacking in between.

And as Dr Fielder reiterated, there are several vital considerations to optimal health, healing and regeneration:

1. Our body's inbuilt intelligence knows exactly how to take best care of itself, and we must heed how we feel after we eat each particular food - or better still, while we are eating it. It is a good idea to smell and taste our foods before we eat them. If something does not agree with our chemistry or body needs at a particular time, we will not enjoy the smell or taste and worse still we may feel unwell after eating it.

2. We really must rest when tired or unwell. This is probably the most ignored health and healing requirement. I can’t emphasise this aspect of healthy living enough. We must allow rest time for the body to use its energy for healing.

3. If sick, we also need to fast while resting to recover our health. This gives our body the optimum conditions to heal and regain homeostasis.

4. Don't eat before heavy work or exercise. Whilst this and other ideas taken from John fly in the face of prevailing ideas and norms, I have found that fasting after my evening meal (which is around 5pm or certainly before sunset unless it is a special occasion and I break that health rule), till noon next day, works wonderfully for me. I do strenuous exercise several mornings each week and do so much better on an empty stomach. And I must say I really look forward to breaking my fast around noon.

5. For almost four years, I had been on a vegan diet and prior to that had been a strict vegetarian for 25 years. But I learnt from John (and numerous texts that outline the diets of the healthiest people to have lived since recorded history) that some animal product is necessary for optimal human health. John eats a small amount of deep-sea tuna about twice yearly. On his recommendation, and in pursuit of optimal health, I have started eating some fermented goat kefir on a regular basis. In short, I'm still a strict vegetarian - but no longer vegan.

I have learned a lot from John and been reminded of many things I had forgotten… and I know that there is still much more for me to learn from this amazing man.

Dear reader, if you have made it this far I will, to keep this piece within reasonable bounds, round off this note with a list of both philosophical and pragmatic natural laws of healthy living and healing - some gleaned from John and others which came to me through reflective time at Clohesy River Health Farm:

• There is no curative power in drugs, medicines, herbs, foods, electrical apparatus or anything else outside of our own body.

• Nature has not provided cures for disease. Nature has only provided penalties for breaking natural laws.

• Returning to following natural law is the only valid method of sustainable cure.

• All action by the body is right action. Our body's innate intelligence knows what it is doing. Make no mistake about that.

• Only man makes mistakes.

• Trust in the process of healing.

• Know that this too shall pass.

• Nature has not provided remedies, nature has provided the body with an innate ability to cure by returning to natures laws:

 At least 20 minutes sunlight per day) is essential.

 Get as much fresh air as possible and sleep with the window open

 Drink as clean and as pure water as possible.

 Eat natural whole organic uncooked food grown in mineralised, fertile soil that is free of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides - all chemicals.

 Eschew all processed, canned, packaged, fast and convenience foods.

 Be happy at home, at work and in one's social life.

 Ensure adequate rest to live life fully and abundantly.

 We only need adequate shelter.

 Exercise your body each and every day

 Exercise you mind each and every day

 Exercise your spirit each and every day

I trust that this has been of interest and of value to you; or someone you know. The earlier notes, 1 to 4, fill in much detail that is missing from this note. These are available if you want to email me.

Love… John - May 2010

Alzheimers-Dementia, Protect Yourself & Loved One's

2010-03-12T21:16:00.000-08:00

This Common MISDIAGNOSIS

Can Land You In A Nursing Home!

HERE'S HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES

By Dr. Mark Stengler

It's absolutely heartbreaking. All over Australia, nursing homes are filled with frail, feeble residents suffering from dementia. In many cases, these folks are so far gone they don't even recognize their own children.

But I'm going to let you in on a dark, dirty secret: Many of these patients do not have dementia at all. Their memory loss, confusion, and delirium are caused by prescription drugs!

And so are many of their other problems.

This is not just speculation on my part. It's fully documented in the medical journals. In fact, it's so common that there are even medical terms for it. Like "polypharmacy," which means giving a patient too many different drugs. And "iatrogenic illness," which means any illness caused by doctors.

According to the medical journals, polypharmacy and iatrogenic illness are rampant around the globe.

One study concluded that one of the major causes of falls in nursing homes is the side effects caused by medications.

Another study found that 97% of nursing home patients take at least one drug, with 17% taking 5 or more!

Yet another study found that many drugs can cause Parkinson's-like symptoms and concluded that "drug-induced parkinsonism is frequent."

And still another study listed 22 different categories of drugs that can cause symptoms that mimic Alzheimer's... plus 14 different over-the-counter drugs that can cause those symptoms!

Here's a typical scenario. A healthy person goes to the doctor for a checkup and is told his cholesterol or blood pressure is high. So he starts taking medication, which causes side effects. This leads his doctor to give him a second drug to treat those side effects. But, of course, that second drug causes new side effects. So the doctor prescribes a third drug to treat the side effects of the second one!

Before you know it, the person's health is spiraling downward and he soon needs people to take care of him. And everyone just chalks it up to "old age."

But you can fight back against this system of medicine run amok. First of all, make sure you always try natural remedies first. Pharmaceuticals should be a last resort, not a first option. Secondly, if you have a loved one in a nursing home, talk to a naturally minded physician about possibly weaning them off the drugs. This single step may make a huge difference in their health and well-being.

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertiliser And It's Harmfulness to the Soil

2010-02-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

'The Soil is Bleeding'

New research: synthetic nitrogen destroys soil carbon, undermines soil health

Just precisely what does all of that nitrogen ferilizer do to the soil?“Fertilizer is good for the father and bad for the sons.”

—Dutch saying

For all of its ecological baggage, synthetic nitrogen does one good deed for the environment: it helps build carbon in soil. At least, that’s what scientists have assumed for decades.

If that were true, it would count as a major environmental benefit of synthetic N use. At a time of climate chaos and ever-growing global greenhouse gas emissions, anything that helps vast swaths of farmland sponge up carbon would be a stabilizing force. Moreover, carbon-rich soils store nutrients and have the potential to remain fertile over time—a boon for future generations.

The case for synthetic N as a climate stabilizer goes like this. Dousing farm fields with synthetic nitrogen makes plants grow bigger and faster. As plants grow, they pull carbon dioxide from the air. Some of the plant is harvested as crop, but the rest—the residue—stays in the field and ultimately becomes soil. In this way, some of the carbon gobbled up by those N-enhanced plants stays in the ground and out of the atmosphere.

Well, that logic has come under fierce challenge from a team of University of Illinois researchers led by professors Richard Mulvaney, Saeed Khan, and Tim Ellsworth. In two recent papers (see here and here) the trio argues that the net effect of synthetic nitrogen use is to reduce soil’s organic matter content. Why? Because, they posit, nitrogen fertilizer stimulates soil microbes, which feast on organic matter. Over time, the impact of this enhanced microbial appetite outweighs the benefits of more crop residues.

And their analysis gets more alarming. Synthetic nitrogen use, they argue, creates a kind of treadmill effect. As organic matter dissipates, soil’s ability to store organic nitrogen declines. A large amount of nitrogen then leaches away, fouling ground water in the form of nitrates, and entering the atmosphere as nitrous oxide (N2O), a greenhouse gas with some 300 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide. In turn, with its ability to store organic nitrogen compromised, only one thing can help heavily fertilized farmland keep cranking out monster yields: more additions of synthetic N.

The loss of organic matter has other ill effects, the researchers say. Injured soil becomes prone to compaction, which makes it vulnerable to runoff and erosion and limits the growth of stabilizing plant roots. Worse yet, soil has a harder time holding water, making it ever more reliant on irrigation. As water becomes scarcer, this consequence of widespread synthetic N use will become more and more challenging.

In short, “the soil is bleeding,” Mulvaney told me in an interview.

If the Illinois team is correct, synthetic nitrogen’s effect on carbon sequestration swings from being an important ecological advantage to perhaps its gravest liability. Not only would nitrogen fertilizer be contributing to climate change in a way not previously taken into account, but it would also be undermining the long-term productivity of the soil.

Getting their hands dirty: Saeed Khan, Richard Mulvaney, and Tim Ellsworth (l.-r.), in front of the Morrow Plots, University of Illinois. An Old Idea Germinates Anew

While their research bucks decades of received wisdom, the Illinois researchers know they aren’t breaking new ground here. “The fact is, the message we’re delivering in our papers really is a rediscovery of a message that appeared in the ‘20s and ‘30s,” Mulvaney says. In their latest paper, “Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers Deplete Soil Nitrogen: A Global Dilemma for Sustainable Cereal Production,” which appeared last year in the Journal of Environmental Quality, the researchers point to two pre-war academic papers that, according to Mulvaney, “state clearly and simply that synthetic nitrogen fertilizers were promoting the loss of soil carbon and organic nitrogen.”

That idea also appears prominently in The Soil and Health (1947), a founding text of modern organic agriculture. In that book, the British agronomist Sir Albert Howard stated the case clearly:

The use of artificial manure, particularly [synthetic nitrogen] ... does untold harm. The presence of additional combined nitrogen in an easily assimilable form stimulates the growth of fungi and other organisms which, in the search for organic matter needed for energy and for building up microbial tissue, use up first the reserve of soil humus and then the more resistant organic matter which cements soil particles.

In other words, synthetic nitrogen degrades soil.

That conclusion has been current in organic-farming circles since Sir Albert’s time. In an essay in the important 2002 anthology Fatal Harvest Reader, the California organic farmer Jason McKenney puts it like this:

Fertilizer application begins the destruction of soil biodiversity by diminishing the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and amplifying the role of everything that feeds on nitrogen. These feeders then speed up the decomposition of organic matter and humus. As organic matter decreases, the physical structure of soil changes. With less pore space and less of their sponge-like qualities, soils are less efficient at storing water and air. More irrigation is needed. Water leeches through soils, draining away nutrients that no longer have an effective substrate on which to cling. With less available oxygen the growth of soil microbiology slows, and the intricate ecosystem of biological exchanges breaks down.

Although those ideas flourished in organic-ag circles, they withered to dust among soil scientists at the big research universities. Mulvaney told me that in his academic training—he holds a PhD in soil fertility and chemistry from the University of Illinois, where he is now a professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences—he was never exposed to the idea that synthetic nitrogen degrades soil. “It was completely overlooked,” he says. “I had never heard of it, personally, until we dug into the literature.”

What sets the Illinois scientists apart from other critics of synthetic nitrogen is their provenance. Sir Albert’s denouncement sits in a dusty old tome that’s pretty obscure even within the organic-agriculture world; Jason McKenney is an organic farmer who operates near Berkeley—considered la-la land by mainstream soil scientists. Both can be—and, indeed have been—ignored by policymakers and large-scale farmers. By contrast, Mulvaney and his colleagues are living, credentialed scientists working at the premier research university in one of the nation’s most prodigious corn-producing—and nitrogen-consuming—states.

Abandon all hope, all fertilizer execs who enter here. The Dirt on Nitrogen, Soil, and Carbon

To come to their conclusions, the researchers studied data from the Morrow plots on the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus, which comprise the “the world’s oldest experimental site under continuous corn” cultivation. The Morrow plots were first planted in 1876.

Mulvaney and his collaborators analyzed annual soil-test data in test plots that were planted with three crop rotations: continuous corn, corn-soy, and corn-oats-hay. Some of the plots received moderate amounts of fertilizer application; some received high amounts; and some received no fertilizer at all. The crops in question, particularly corn, generate tremendous amounts of residue. Picture a Midwestern field in high summer, packed with towering corn plants. Only the cobs are harvested; the rest of the plant is left in the field. If synthetic nitrogen use really does promote carbon sequestration, you’d expect these fields to show clear gains in soil organic carbon over time.

Instead, the researchers found, all three systems showed a “net decline occurred in soil [carbon] despite increasingly massive residue [carbon] incorporation.” (They published their findings, “The Myth of Nitrogen Fertilization for Soil Carbon Sequestration,” in the Journal of Environmental Quality in 2007.) In other words, synthetic nitrogen broke down organic matter faster than plant residue could create it.

A particularly stark set of graphs traces soil organic carbon (SOC) in the surface layer of soil in the Morrow plots from 1904 to 2005. SOC rises steadily over the first several decades, when the fields were fertilized with livestock manure. After 1967, when synthetic nitrogen became the fertilizer of choice, SOC steadily drops.

In their other major paper, “Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers Deplete Soil Nitrogen: A Global Dilemma for Sustainable Cereal Production” (2009), the authors looked at nitrogen retention in the soil. Given that the test plots received annual lashings of synthetic nitrogen, conventional ag science would predict a buildup of nitrogen. Sure, some nitrogen would be removed with the harvesting of crops, and some would be lost to runoff. But healthy, fertile soil should be capable of storing nitrogen.

In fact, the researchers found just the opposite. “Instead of accumulating,” they wrote, “soil nitrogen declined significantly in every subplot sampled.” The only explanation, they conclude, is that the loss of organic matter depleted the soil’s ability to store nitrogen. The practice of year-after-year fertilization had pushed the Morrow plots onto the chemical treadmill: unable to efficiently store nitrogen, they became reliant on the next fix.

The researchers found similar data from other test plots. “Such evidence is common in the scientific literature but has seldom been acknowledged, perhaps because N fertilizer practices have been predicated largely on short-term economic gain rather than long-term sustainability,” they write, citing some two dozen other studies which mirrored the patterns of the Morrow plots.

The most recent bit of evidence for the Mulvaney team’s nitrogen thesis comes from a team of researchers at Iowa State University and the USDA. In a 2009 paper (PDF), this group looked at data from two long-term experimental sites in Iowa. And they, too, found that soil carbon had declined after decades of synthetic nitrogen applications. They write: “Increases in decay rates with N fertilization apparently offset gains in carbon inputs to the soil in such a way that soil C sequestration was virtually nil in 78% of the systems studied, despite up to 48 years of N additions.”

Fertile ground for research: the Morrow Plots at the University of Illinois.Photo:brianholsclaw Slinging Dirt

Mulvaney and Khan laughed when I asked them what sort of response their work was getting in the soil-science world. “You can bet the fertilizer industry is aware of our work, and they aren’t too pleased,” Mulvaney said. “It’s all about sales, and our conclusions aren’t real good for sales.”

As for the soil-science community, Mulvaney said with a chuckle, “the response is still building.” There has been negative word-of-mouth reaction, he added, but so far, only two responses have been published: a remarkable fact, given that the first paper came out in 2007.

Both published responses fall into the those-data-don’t-say-what-you-say-they-do category. The first, published as a letter to the editor (PDF) in the Journal of Environmental Quality, came from D. Keith Reid, a soil fertility specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Reid writes that the Mulvaney team’s conclusion about synthetic nitrogen and soil carbon is “sensational” and “would be incredibly important if it was true.”

Reid acknowledges the drop in soil organic carbon, but argues that it was caused not by synthetic nitrogen itself, but rather by the difference in composition between manure and synthetic nitrogen. Manure is a mix of slow-release organic nitrogen and organic matter; synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is pure, readily available nitrogen. “It is much more likely that the decline in SOC is due to the change in the form of fertilizer than to the rate of fertilizer applied,” Reid writes.

Then he makes a startling concession:

From the evidence presented in this paper, it would be fair to conclude that modern annual crop management systems are associated with declines in SOC concentrations and that increased residue inputs from high nitrogen applications do not mitigate this decline as much as we might hope.

In other words, modern farming—i.e., the kind practiced on nearly all farmland in the United States—destroys soil carbon. (The Mulvaney team’s response to Reid’s critique can be found in the above-linked document.)

The second second critique (PDF) came from a team led by D.S. Powlson at the Department of Soil Science and Centre for Soils and Ecosystem Function at the Rothamsted Research Station in the United Kingdom. Powlson and colleagues attack the Mulvaney team’s contention that synthetic nitrogen depletes the soil’s ability to store nitrogen.

“We propose that the conclusion drawn by Mulvaney et al. (2009), that inorganic N fertilizer causes a decline in soil organic N concentration, is false and not supported by the data from the Morrow Plots or from numerous studies worldwide,” they write.

Then they, too, make a major concession: “the observation of significant soil C and N declines in subsoil layers is interesting and deserves further consideration.” That is, they don’t challenge Mulvaney team’s contention that synthetic nitrogen destroys organic carbon in the subsoil.

In their response (PDF), Mulvaney and his colleagues mount a vigorous defense of their methodology. And then they conclude:

In the modern era of intensified agriculture, soils are generally managed as a commodity to maximize short-term economic gain. Unfortunately, this concept entirely ignores the consequences for a vast array of biotic and abiotic soil processes that affect air and water quality and most important, the soil itself.

So who’s right? For now, we know that the Illinois team has presented a robust cache of evidence that turns 50 years of conventional soil science on its head—and an analysis that conventional soil scientists acknowledge is “sensational” and “incredibly important” if true. We also know that their analysis is consistent with the founding principles of organic agriculture: that properly applied manure and nitrogen-fixing cover crops, not synthetic nitrogen, are key to long-term soil health and fertility.

The subject demands more study and fierce debate. But if Mulvaney and his team are correct, the future health of our farmland hinges on a dramatic shift away from reliance on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.

Grist food editor Tom Philpott farms and cooks at Maverick Farms, a sustainable-agriculture nonprofit and small farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Follow my Twitter feed; contact me at tphilpott[at]grist[dot]org.

A Philosophy For Everyday Living by John A Wood(A recent Guest)

2010-02-27T13:14:00.000-08:00

A PHILOSOPHY FOR EVERYDAY LIVING

Passing The Buck

(Shifting the Burden of Responsibility)

PREAMBLE

A daydream of mine, destined to be unfulfilled, is to know how my grandfathers saw life - in a sense, what their philosophy for everyday living was. What follows, like the grab-bag of personal musings I've penned over the past 15 years, was put to paper primarily for my grandchildren and their offspring. I trust that my descendents will, as I would have, welcome an insight into (if not agree with) one of their ancestors. I am sending it to you as part of my intermittent mailings to Family, Friends and Colleagues with whom I share my scribbling.

This has been troublesome to write. I suspect it may prove difficult to read. Not because it is badly written - it’s passable, but because it confronts the way in which we fail ourselves, each other and the planet by duck shoving issues. It allows no wriggle room. Rewritten several times, I have failed to make it more palatable.

If after this grim piece you would like me to desist sending further stuff let me know. I mean that. If you find no value I don’t wish to impose further of my reflections.

BEING A VICTIM OF OTHERS AND OF CIRCUMSTANCE

I still feel discomfited, even incompetent around the countless times I’ve passed the buck. That is, shifted the burden of responsibility for my mess, mistakes, misadventures... for life unfolding in ways that didn’t suit me. I blamed him, her or THEM! God and the devil were accused. Luck, or its lack, was another. It was beyond my awareness at those points in time to be accountable for my thinking, feelings and actions (and consequently my life). The weather, seasons, Government, the economy, all were held as the source of my discomfort or difficulty at one time or another. Of course, it was the fault of my first, then second wife, children, step children, blood relatives, in-laws, friends and neighbours. And let’s not forget my employees, customers and suppliers. The censure was indiscriminate; just as long as I wasn’t to blame for my awful actions, critical words or pear-shaped endeavours. He, she, they, them or it, caused me to be the way I was, or made me do what I did… but only if the result was poor. Odd that… I always claimed success as mine. And the grand-daddy of all buck-passing (one that has spawned a global burden-shifting industry: psycho-analysis and its derivatives), my parents. They were my real problem. I enshrined them as the genesis for what went wrong with me and my life. Physical and psychological abuse, being an only child, not having the right physical or intellectual genes, my lack of education, opportunity, timing... all or some combination of the above established that I was not responsible for who and how I was and what befell me. Poor me! I was the genuine victim of circumstance.

Get the Picture?

GETTING A FRESH START

Then what changed? How did I unearth the fact that the buck really did end with me? That I was responsible for my life! Nobody else! No circumstance was at fault!

What enabled me to fully understand that I was the author of my experience… that there was nothing outside my mind creating my reality? What shifted within my consciousness to allow me to see that my life truly is an inside-out experience, not the outside-in reality I had always imagined (and still do when lost in self absorption)?

It was October 1992. I was in picturesque Tiburon across the bay from San Francisco attending a five day Philosophy of Everyday Living Seminar (POEL). It was named differently back then. On day three, although I had read and heard the same thing in numerous ways before, this time it was a revelation: what I think is my reality… the only reality I will ever know. I woke to this fact of life: nothing exists for me except through my thinking. Much later, in another place, again in the tick of a clock, I saw that my thinking was more than my brain at work. Thinking was the continuous expression of the Life energy called Thought; the creative force with which we fashion our lives 24/7. Without which we have no life.

Are you wondering where this is leading? What the point is?

It's this: that split second discovery within my mind, via Thought, freed me from victim-hood. Passing the buck was no longer part of my every day, unless of course I forgot the context of my life. I think my experience, my reality, into being. My experience is not being imposed upon me no matter how it looks and feels to the contrary. My reality is exclusive to me. And it follows that the same holds true for the rest of humanity.

Once awake to the truth that I shifted responsibility as a way of life, I started noticing how common that aspect of human behaviour was in others as well - how pervasive blaming and pointing the finger was in our culture. And more to the point, how that innocently learnt habit, as students of our many teachers, damages or destroys relationships, our health, the environment and (the now topic du jour) the economy. And the biggie: how shifting responsibility frustrates our spiritual relationship with God (or from my reality; Life).

You, like me, may have grown up unaware that a mature human being takes responsibility and is accountable for their thinking, feelings and actions… their entire life. As it has been, is right now, and will be in the future - the cessation of attributing blame to anyone or anything.

PASSING THE BUCK

Let me give you five examples of passing the buck, each making some jarring and/or challenging assertions. And while I acknowledge that there are equally strong views to the contrary in what I am about to express; I ask that you suspend judgement until you have read each one.

Our lives are fabricated by these and many other facets of 21st Century tests of self responsibility. You may think of others. Email me if you do and are willing to share. I could add them to an updated version with due acknowledgement.

THE PLACE WHERE THE HABIT BEGINS: CHILDHOOD – WHERE WE LEARN TO (AND EVENTUALLY EXCEL IN) PASS THE BUCK

Nowhere is duck-shoving more evident, and more invisible to us, than in our personal relationships. And it’s in childhood where we become predominantly responsible or irresponsible (in my view, mostly the latter). Very early on we adopt as our own, not what we are told by our parents and significant others but what we observe; the way we see and hear them live their lives day in, day out. Indelibly imprinted lessons, modelled day after day from our life teachers (some useful and some not so) 'steering' us through life. Once the die is cast it is difficult to transform: from routinely shifting the burden, to an assumption of responsibility for one’s thinking, feelings and actions. Passing the buck, learnt as a youngster, shows up in how we think, feel and behave for the rest of our lives, and is illustrated in the following (that is, unless we experience a new beginning and see life from a clearer vantage point):

• Mother chastises her child: “Daddy will be furious when he finds out." Or: “Wait till Daddy gets home and finds out what a bad boy you have been.” The mother here innocently passes the buck to the father, for whatever reason, rather than being accountable for instilling discipline herself. This particular shifting of responsibility (in various forms) shows up later in life; particularly in organisations...

• A supervisor, rather than taking responsibility for something he needs to achieve, will hide behind an authority figure (who may or may not have been involved in what is to be said and done). He will say something like: “The Boss was very upset…” or “The Directors want you to…” or “The CEO has changed his mind and...” Each time we shift the burden of responsibility by passing the buck upwards, we become weaker as a leader.

• Father, not wanting to speak with a phone caller, foists responsibility onto his child: “Tell the man Daddy is not home." Here we have a double whammy… passing responsibility to the child to deal with the caller and importantly, teaching the child that it is ok to lie. This early lesson shows up in all sorts of avoidance in later life. We habitually get others to do our dirty work rather than face it ourselves. It also manifests in the so-called white lies we live so comfortably with… duck shoving to a lie rather than dealing with the truth. (The latest research shows that 98% of us lie. Is it any wonder?)

• Children learn quickly to flick past responsibility. When confronted over some misdemeanour, for the most part, kids will say that "he, she, they made me do it." Parents, grandparents, assorted 'rellies' and friends all buy into this classic piece of duck shoving - the rationale being that 'children are by definition not mature enough to be responsible' for their actions. After years of collusion you will hear the chorus: “Johnny was such a good boy. It’s a pity he fell in with the wrong crowd. Look how they have led him astray.”

Increasingly, parents (particularly protective mums) find it hard to free their children to take on responsibility for their actions. Instead, they join with their offspring in the buck passing. That irresponsible thinking is so prevalent in Western Society that a myth of giant proportions has developed around the notion that peer pressure is the cause of counterproductive or even illegal behaviour. In fact, many so-called experts support the idea. Psychologist, psychiatrists, sociologists, social workers and a host of other well intentioned individuals perpetuate this myth, aided and abetted by the media.

Rather than coaching our kids in responsibility, we give in to their demands on the one hand or create a protective 'nanny' culture around them on the other. We give in to them when we fail to hold them accountable. We create a nanny culture when we support Government prohibitions rather than educating our child in being responsible. Early unchallenged experiences of buck passing are a primary cause of our inability to accept responsibility. The remaining examples demonstrate the end result.

WISHFUL, WASTEFUL THINKING AROUND GOD

Way back when, I bought into an idea often expressed as: “The Universe will provide”. The theme was: "Have faith, relax, and wait until the Universe delivers what I need or want" (no need for me to strive and work hard). Another was: “If it is meant to be it will work out; if it isn’t it wasn’t meant to be.” Again, in this mindset I am a victim who thinks that a divine being is pulling the strings that determine what will and won’t work out for me. No blood, sweat and tears with this philosophy.

Less new age, more traditional was this one: “I will pray to God for what I want." Health, wealth, love, employment: a spouse, a new bike, a promotion, car, home or cure; all were available on direct request. Here, we pass the buck to an all powerful God to be the provider rather than take the necessary action to earn, seek out, or be worthy of what it is we want or need. Indeed, I held the idea that God was a mystical entity calling the shots over my life and the lives of others. No probleemo! Leave it to God. This of course was a neat abdication of responsibility for my state of health, general welfare or circumstance. Responsibility lay outside me and ultimate responsibility was in the hands of God, the Universe or fate… que sera sera. How juvenile was that?

Today I believe in God… but as Life. I am grateful to and for Life. I don’t say that my viewpoint is the truth… the truth remains a mystery to me, a mystery I am at peace with. I seek not from God but give thanks to Life for what I have – Life; to which I give as wholeheartedly and as energetically as I can. As to the Universe, I am in awe! And I know that I had better get off my backside and take action for what I seek. There are no free lunches.

OUR HEALTH – ‘AS YE SOW SO SHALL YE REAP’

Past actions testify that I thought I could sustain myself with whatever I wanted to eat and drink, lead a sedentary life, stress myself and assume that my body could handle the self inflicted abuse. I passed the buck to my body to deal with the toxic stuff I consumed, the physically inactive life I lead, and my stressful thinking. And if my body became overwhelmed with the daily intake of lifeless food, drink and thinking, I could hand-ball my failing health to the medical fraternity; who would prescribe all manner of remedies to fix me. If their pills and potions failed I could have the diseased parts replaced, zapped with radiation, sliced away or chemically poisoned. No worries mate!

After 64 years of that quality of thinking and behaviour what follows was the end result:

1. Overweight

2. Hypertension (high blood pressure).

3. Hypothyroidism (an under active thyroid).

4. Continuous diarrhoea.

5. Various perennial skin ailments.

6. High cholesterol.

7. Exhausted much of the time… old and worn out.

8. Cancer of the prostate

Like other ‘she'll be right mate’ Aussie males, I didn’t take care of myself. Didn’t grasp at a gut level (bulging bigger by the day) that I only had one body and it needed good care and maintenance. For which I was responsible and accountable. And more fool me, unlike most males, stored in the recesses of my memory was accumulated knowledge from earlier study on achieving and maintaining optimal health. This I ignored. Instead I put the burden on my body to keep me alive in the face of gross neglect and mistreatment. A bad mistake!

In the case of the cancer, the specialist presented the news, warning me that there was limited time to have the tumours cut, drugged, or burnt away - or they would metastasize. “When this happens,” she said, “you will die a slow painful death. “ I had already been told a few years earlier that I should take medication for my high blood pressure and my rapidly failing thyroid and would need to do so for the rest of my life. I had a range of creams for my skin conditions that gave temporary relief. And I also had blood tests, endoscopies and colonoscopies all without finding out why I had had 'the runs' for the preceding 5 years.

The cancer news jolted me to my core. I was scared. What to do? Having failed to take care of my health, was I now about to pass the buck once more? Was I going to leave it all to the medical, pharmaceutical or complementary medicine fraternities? Or was I going to meet the challenge of healing my body, of which the cancer and assorted other conditions were but symptoms of neglect and abuse… an irresponsible lifestyle? Had I really discovered the essence of responsibility back in ’92?

Apparently not quite! But from the deepest recess I remembered that the body, given the right conditions – optimal nutrition, appropriate exercise and a peaceful state of mind, will heal from any malady. I remembered books read in my twenties, and recalled a remarkable personal healing experience in my early thirties. Those readings and the natural healing event demonstrated the following: a 100% raw vegan organic diet, coupled with significantly reduced eating done in concert with fresh juicing, an energetic outdoor exercise program and a contented state of mind would, if practiced with daily discipline, lead to healing.

The decision was made; the path forward clear. For me, shifting the burden of responsibility for my health to others was no longer a viable option. I had faith that, as it had become sick with mistreatment, my body would heal, given time and cared for in the way I knew how to. If in doubt I would dig deeper.

Two years six months later aged 67, following a natural healing regime, my body responded in the following way:

1. Weight reduced from 83.7kg to 61.7kg: a drop of 22kg.

2. Blood pressure down from 135/85 to 110/60

3. Thyroid Function: TSH down from 27.90 to 3.12 (Healthy Range 0.40 – 4.00).

4. Normal bowl movements.

5. Skin conditions healed.

6. Cholesterol has reduced from 5.3 to 3.8 (Healthy Range <5.5*).

o LDL Cholesterol (the bad stuff) down from 3.8 to 2.6 (Healthy Range <3.5).

o Coronary Risk Ratio has come down from 5.3 to 3.8 (Healthy Range <5.0).

7. Feeling stronger, healthier and more energised than I can recall at any point in my life.

8. The test results show steady improvement.

Passing the buck for our health has become so commonplace that it looks as if it is the right thing to do. The norm! Taking next to zero responsibility for our health is part of our culture. It’s frightening!

We smoke; we use drugs. We consume alcohol, caffeine and sugar laden drinks. Some of us, maybe to salve our conscience, take make-believe health drinks; pasteurised, chemicalised, devitalised fruit and veggie juices and a mind boggling array of other containerised anti-health drinks. We eat make believe health foods; made with dead ingredients. We exist on food that has had the nutrition and nourishment cooked or processed to near extinction. We grow increasingly inactive, fat and unhealthy or emaciated and sickly. We line up in our hundreds of thousands each day across the nation at medical practices. Given pharmaceuticals for fixing our self induced failing health; we merely join the club of life time users. Others, disillusioned at the malfunction of modern medicine - and its clear inability to stem our nation's declining health, turn to the naturopath or homeopath, hoping that extracts of this or that tree, bark, root, fruit, shrub, vegetable or herb will do the trick. Or that this vitamin, mineral, enzyme, pro-biotic, anti-oxidant or protein supplement will remedy what Mother Nature has the inherent capacity to provide if only we bypass the dead-food dealers and go direct to the manufacturer; Mother Nature.

Unfortunately most of us (me included til recently) refuse to take the natural road that leads to vibrant, sustainable health. Instead, we live on a lifeless food diet. Some, trying to do the right thing, lace their diet with limited value vitamin and mineral supplements; trusting that these will compensate for a lousy diet. Millions, from babies to old timers, are ending up with serious disease. Hundreds of thousands are hospitalised and more of our aged are living a wretched, drug extended but a physically and mentally infirmed old age (many in soul destroying Care). From cradle to grave, we pass the burden of responsibility to an expanding legion of, dare I say it, make believe health providers (main stream or alternative) to fix the symptoms of an unhealthy lifestyle rather than eating, drinking and living naturally.

Becoming responsible for living very simply and naturally has healed 7 of my 8 ailments. Given time, and continuing to provide my body with nature’s natural medicine: organic nutrition, exercise and healthy thinking, the cancer will go the same way as my other lifestyle induced conditions. Passing the buck for my health has stopped.

ON A GRANDER SCALE - THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET

Having seen how we shift the burden of responsibility for our health let’s look briefly at how we do the same thing with the wellbeing of our common home… the planet.

Polluting the air; degrading the arable soils; acidifying, contaminating and scraping the life from our oceans floors; heating up the atmosphere; killing the lungs of our planet – the forests; and, embracing the potential destruction of our food chain by genetically modifying it - that is just a headline grabbing few examples of our irresponsibility. And, for a second time, I acknowledge that there are others, infinitely more qualified, who will vehemently disagree with my views. But having listened carefully to both sides of the debate on each preceding point for over 50 years, I am unwilling to sit on the fence and in effect, absolve myself of responsibility. I don’t believe we can risk inflicting further potential harm that may take thousands if not millions of years to heal while in the process we destroy the animal kingdom (a kingdom in which we are clearly the destructive species).

Closer to home however is our misuse of water. For two hundred years Australians have refused to be accountable for undervaluing, wasting, poisoning and in other ways destroying our most precious resource.

In my home town Perth we argue the toss over how to deal with water restrictions. We ask “Is it best to use desalination; build more dams; pipe overland or ship it 2000 kilometres from our North; or plumb the depths of additional ancient and finite aquifers?” More of us should ask: “How do we conserve what we have?” Most cures, as with our personal health, address the symptoms not the cause - our chronically irresponsible use and abuse. Each solution passes the buck. We waste water everywhere we use it. In agriculture, industry, at all levels of government and in our homes and gardens. At present we still don’t have a real water shortage! What we have is a massive waste of water in every nook and cranny of our community.

Rather than take personal responsibility for educating ourselves and stopping the waste, aren't we (individually and collectively) shifting the burden of responsibility to our elected Government to solve the problem? It seems so to me. Our Government in turns shifts it back to the tax payer, us, to pay for what many see as unsustainable solutions. On this merry-go-round, arm in arm with the Government, we form a pact which ultimately shifts the problem onto the environment in one way or another. We build another ecologically damaging dam. Better still; we salt up our local sea while at the same time using massive amounts of CO2 emitting energy to run a desalination plant. We drain another ancient aquifer that takes a thousand years to refill, or we construct an environmentally harmful canal from the north to the south. Passing the buck, the thoughtless way of living, is never better illustrated than when we talk about life sustaining water.

Few of us see to the heart of the problem: our lack of careful and prudent use of this most precious resource, and pricing it in accordance with its economic and environmental cost. Instead, we blame 'climate change' or the lack of infrastructure planning by successive Governments. Most of us habitually look outside ourselves to solve the problem. Incongruous as it sounds, we ignore the fact that we live on the planet's driest continent! We need to respond to that, understand that, and respect that. We need to stop (as with our personal health) treating symptoms (in this case our need to please ourselves how we use water) and address the cause, our lack of adequate conservation.

As with all problems, sustainable solutions are available. There are highly skilled men and women who know exactly what needs to be changed within agriculture, industry, government and in our homes and gardens to conserve this most precious resource. We need to listen to them and to act. The buck can stop with you and me at work or at home for wasting water and for the other ways in which we are destroying our planet. What do you say? Will we, as custodians of our environment, embrace responsibility before it is too late? Being 100% responsible for our personal contribution would be a grand start!

OUR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS – INDIVIDUAL AND COLLECTIVE BURDEN SHIFTING

The Australian Government, with the blessing of the Opposition, has committed our taxes by handing out a big chunk of this year’s anticipated surplus, $10+ Billion, to those they think will spend it quickly (and thus stimulate the economy and keep the so-called mindless masses pumping away on the consumption treadmill).

Our Banks, of which the four biggest are in the world’s strongest top twenty, have been underwritten by the Government; excuse me… the tax payer. More Government intervention is promised. Tax payers’ dollars are being pledged by our Prime Minister to prop up sectors of our economy that are finding the going tough. As I see it, we are thus removing the burden of responsibility from poorly managed companies and households and passing it to tax payers as a whole. What a bloody good scheme! Fail and get bailed out. This of course only happens if you are a car manufacturer, car distributer, farmer, bank or part of a politically sensitive sector of our economy. Too bad about the rest of the poor little sods dotted all over the country who will go broke! They don’t have enough political clout to be invited aboard the gravy train. And anyway, the train is nowhere near strong enough to pull additional carriages of freeloaders. The present heavy payload, having convinced each other and most of the population that by papering over the widening cracks in our economic system they can stop the dam bursting; will drown millions of us.

What beggars’ belief is that it was only months ago that successive Reserve Bank Chairmen and Treasurers said that our economy was going gangbusters but overheated, and that demand driven inflation was getting out of control! Things were, on balance, very good! Neither the Reserve Bank nor Treasurers seem to understand what causes inflation, which is an increase in the supply of paper money, not an increase in wages and prices. Those increases are a symptom but not the fundamental cause. So what’s happened? If our economies, Federal, State, Local, Business, Family and Individual, were soundly based and wisely managed, would so many now be facing implied (and in my view widespread) financial annihilation?

Instead of persisting with our Lemming-like rush toward total economic meltdown, might there still be time to take a stand for fiscal prudence? Is not the time right to let the responsibility for poor corporate governance stay where it belongs… with the boards, senior executives and shareholders? Is now the time to return to fundamentals; such as ensuring at all economic levels that incomes exceed expenditure? What a novel idea! You may think me a simpleton to suggest that.

What if the excess created at all levels of the economy, just for once, was saved and invested? Set aside for personal, corporate and national development on badly needed infrastructure, rather than being wasted on trying to sustain an unsustainable consumption-driven, debt fuelled, economic model. A corrupted system, in a drunken stagger, that must eventually implode and when it does cause devastation of the like we may have never seen before.

We are a fleabite population of 22 million with $1 trillion in Household Debt, $620 billion in Foreign Debt, and a Current Account Deficit of $60 billion a year. We cannot continue to shift the burden of responsibility to more and more debt that will become increasingly hard to pay back and eventually cannot be repaid. We will be bankrupted as a nation. We must pull our heads in, be accountable and responsible and start living within our means, as families, as local and state governments, as corporations and as a nation.

We have kidded ourselves in thinking we have been clever. Not so! We’ve just been lucky to live in Australia and be a part of a global commodity bonanza. Before it’s too late, let’s grasp this opportunity and take responsibility to get off the consumer powered treadmill and put our fiscal houses in sustainable order. However painful that might be at this time, it will be but a mild sniffle to the pneumonia we face down the track if we don’t act now. Buck passing has to stop with each of us. A sound economic outlook is forecast for those that apply common sense and accept responsibility for living within their means. Dire consequences await those shifting responsibility to the Government, believing that they have the power to spend our way out of trouble. With that strategy, they will do nothing but delay the inevitable… and in so doing, create even worse economic chaos and greater personal hardship for all but the truly wealthy (and there aren’t many that actually fit that category).

IN SUMMARY

Driving home today I read an outdoor advertising billboard. It said almost everything I’m trying to say in eleven words: “It’s not coz we can’t. It’s coz we can’t be bothered!” Pictured beneath the words was a new toilet roll sitting on top of a dispenser with an empty cardboard roll left on the metal spindle. Below that were the words: “Chill.” Beside that was a picture of a popular brand of iced coffee. Further on I came across another of those ads. The words were the same: “It’s not coz we can’t. It’s coz we can’t be bothered!” This time it pictured a gift that had been wrapped as only a 5 year old could have achieved. In both ads the surface message implies: "Don’t get upset by what others do; just 'chill' with our iced coffee." In fact, it’s cool not to replace the toilet roll or not bother making a neat job of wrapping a gift, and "cool people drink our iced coffee." Trivial, you might say. But at a deeper level, the message is just another reaffirmation that it is cool to be irresponsible. The ad tunes into the growing level of irresponsibility, making it a badge of honour to be uncaring of others and unaccountable to do what is decent.

FINAL WORDS

If you have made it to this point you will know that I have struggled with my own lack of responsibility. I still do. Like everyone, even at 67, I am still work in progress.

Critics of this piece might say that I am just a grumpy old man. That is certainly true on a bad day. Others, who understand the principle of Thought, might say I can only see the world through my thinking and my thinking is jaundiced toward irresponsibility. It is true, each of us can only see through the prism of our own thinking. It is equally true that once we have had a wakeup call we see the obvious… that which we were once blind to.

Australia, at this point, is on balance an irresponsible society. I trust that my grandchildren, great grandchildren (and yours as well) will live in a country where responsibility for one’s life – spiritual, physical, environmental and financial – will be the norm. If that comes to pass we will see people that are psychologically independent, deeply loving and thus interdependent, physically robust and fearless custodians of our planet - men and women who have moved beyond the mental prison of irresponsibility.

For that to materialise we must recognise that the buck ends with each of us. No more shifting the burden of responsibility. The future is up to you and me.

John A Wood

December 11th 2008

Farm Up-Date

2010-02-20T12:46:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of months, or so we have been blessed with the presence of our friend John from Cleveland, Ohio, USA, who has laboured unceasingly since his arrival as he has endeavoured to overcome some of the back-log of work which has occurred over the years since the fire which destroyed our original home and most of the trees in our orchards. To say the least, we feel he has performed a minor miracle in what he has achieved, and cannot thank him too much for his every kindness.

In this photo John is to be seen picking ripe sour-sops for our luncheon meal. The sour-sop is a member of the anona family and is related to the custard apple which is also of that very same genus. As the name implies, its is sour to the taste, and a great favourite with most. The custard apple on the other hand, is sweet to the taste, and has been referred to in some instances as the sweet-sop.

The Surinam cherry, pictured here on the right is only one of three or so of these bushes that are just coming into full bearing this year. Last year we were able to sample the first of the fruits, and the flavour at that stage was rather bland. This year the flavour is much improved.

I apologise for the poor quality of this photo, which is due in part to my lack of expertise. With the wet season being with us, it is the ideal time to plant out new banana suckers, and this photo portrays my latest endeavours and the planting of some twenty or so suckers of a number of varieties, including red daccas,sugars,ladies fingers,plantains,and monkey bananas.

I have been informed that there are up to three thousand varieties of bananas, with only a handful being developed commercially, and really only one - the cavendish - available in most countries.

This is another area of John's expertise which, ascan well be observed he has enhanced the units by the erection of the shades on the front of the units. Thank you John.

And if that is not enough, this next photo portraying the newly planted shrubs along the footpath to the entrance gate, which also another of John's miracles, should convince the most hardened sceptic of his value.

Effects of Cooked Foods

2010-02-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

Cooked Food Effects

From Living Nutrition vol. 6

During the past few decades there has been much research done in the area of nutrition. Some of this research casts light on some important insights regarding the foods Mother Nature offers to us in its whole, raw state, and what happens when we tamper with them.

What exactly happens to food when it is cooked? What happens to the body if we eat cooked food? Some key points are covered in this article. Due to space limitation, we can only but touch on the topic here; however, a brief overview is given below.

Key Points Regarding the Effects of Cooking on Food and Health

* The food's life force is greatly depleted or destroyed. The bioelectrical (energy) field is altered and greatly depleted (as is graphically demonstrated with kirlian photography). Live and bioactive (raw) food is rendered dead and inert.

* The biochemical structure and nutrient makeup of the food is altered from its original state. Molecules in the food are deranged, degraded, and broken down. The food is degenerated in many ways. Fiber in plant foods is broken down into a soft, passive substance which loses its broom-like and magnetic cleansing quality in the intestines.

* Nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, etc.) are depleted, destroyed, and altered. The degree of depletion, destruction, and alteration is simply a matter of temperature, cooking method, and time.

* Up to 50% of the protein is coagulated. Much of this is rendered unusable. High temperatures also create cross-links in protein. Cross-linked proteins are implicated in many problems in the body, as well as being a factor in the acceleration of the aging process.

* The interrelationship of nutrients is altered from its natural synergistic makeup. For example, with meat, relatively more vitamin B-6 than methionine is destroyed, which fosters atherogenic free radical-initiating homocysteine accumulation (which is a factor in heart problems).

* The water content of the food is decreased. The natural structure of the water is also changed.

* Toxic substances and cooked "byproducts" are created. The higher the cooking temperature, the more toxins that are created. Frying and grilling are especially toxin-generating. Various carcinogenic and mutagenic substances and hordes of free radicals are generated in cooked fats and proteins in particular.

* Heat causes the molecules involved to collide, and repeated collision causes divalent bonding in order for new molecules, and hence a new substance, to form. In an ordinary baked potato, there are 450 by-products of every description. They have even been named "new chemical composites".

* Unusable (waste) material is created, which has a cumulative congesting/clogging effect on the body and is a burden to the natural eliminative processes of the body.

* All of the enzymes present in raw foods are destroyed at temperatures as low as 118 degrees Fahrenheit. These enzymes, named "food enzymes" are important for optimum digestion. They naturally aid in digestion and become active as soon as eating commences. Cooking destroys 100% of these enzymes. Eating enzyme-dead food places a burden on the pancreas and other organs and overworks them, which eventually exhausts these organs. The digestion of cooked food usurps valuable metabolic enzymes in order to help digest the food. Digestion of cooked food is much more energetically demanding than the digestion of raw food. In general, raw food is so much more easily digested that it passes through the digestive tract in a half to a third of the time it takes for cooked food.

* After eating a cooked meal, there is a rush of white blood cells towards the digestive tract, leaving the rest of the body less protected by the immune system. From the point of view of the immune system the body is being invaded by a foreign (toxic) substance when cooked food is eaten.

* A general augmentation of white corpuscles in the blood and a change in the relative proportions of different blood cells occurs. This phenomenon is called "digestive leukocytosis."

* The natural population of beneficial intestinal flora becomes dominated by putrefactive bacteria (particularly from cooked meat), resulting in colonic dysfunction, allowing the absorption of toxins from the bowel. This phenomenon is variously called dysbacteria, dysbiosis, or intestinal toxemia (toxicosis).

* A buildup of mucoid plaque is created in the intestines. Mucoid plaque is a thick tar-like substance which is the long-term result of undigested, uneliminated cooked food putrefying in the intestines. Cooked starches and fats in particular are a major culprit in constipation and clogging of the intestines.

* A build-up of toxins and waste material in many parts of the body, including within individual cells. Some of these toxins and wastes are called lipofuscin, which accumulates in the skin and nervous system, including the brain. It can be observed as "liver spots" or "age spots."

* Malnutrition at the cellular level. Because cooked foods are lower in nutrients, in addition to containing wastes and toxins, individual cells don't receive enough of the nutrients they need.

* Tendency towards obesity through overeating. Because the cells don't get enough nutrients they are so to speak "always hungry" and hence "demand" more food. Cooked food is also less likely to be properly metabolized, which is another factor in excess weight gain.

* From time to time the body experiences detoxification crises (also called purification or healing crises). This happens when toxins are released through the skin or dumped in the bloodstream for elimination by the liver, kidneys, and other organs. The symptoms may include headaches, fever, nausea, vomiting, colds, bronchitis, sinusitis, pneumonia, diarrhea, etc.

* The body can become so toxic that all kinds of particles, such as pollen, can cause detoxification crises, called "allergies.". An estimated 80 million Americans suffer from such "allergies."

* The immune system, having to handle the massive daily invasions of toxins and toxic by-products, eventually becomes overwhelmed and weakened. A key factor in the aging process.

* Some of the waste material builds up in the arteries and clogs them, leading to high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, strokes, etc. - killing an estimated 50% of Americans.

* The wastes, toxins, mutagens, and carcinogens that build up within cells, as well as the daily onslaught of excess free radicals eventually cause some cells to become cancerous - killing an estimated 30% of Americans.

* In general, the natural aging process is accelerated by cooked food. People who switch to raw food often become biologically and visibly younger.

From Cancerologist Dr. Bruce Ames Regarding "Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis, and the Degenerative Diseases of Aging"

Cooking food is plausible as a contributor to cancer. A wide variety of chemicals are formed during cooking. Four groups of chemicals that cause tumors in rodents have attracted attention because of mutagenicity, potency, and concentration:

1. Nitrosamines are formed from nitrogen oxides present in gas flames or from other burning. Surprisingly little work has been done on the levels of nitrosamines in fish or meat cooked in gas ovens or barbecued, considering their mutagenic and carcinogenic potency.

2. Heterocyclic amines are formed from heating amino acids or proteins.

3. Polycyclic hydrocarbons are formed from charring meat.

4. Furfural and similar furans are formed from heating sugars. Heating fat generates mutagenic epoxides, hydroperoxides, and unsaturated aldehydes, and may also be of importance.

References

International Agency for Research on Cancer (1993) Some naturally occurring substances: Food items and constituents, heterocyclic aromatic amines and mycotoxins (International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France).

Gold, L. S., Slone, T. H., Stern, B. R., Manley, N. B. & Ames, B. N. (1992) Science 258, 261-265.

Gold, L. S., Slone, T. H., Manley, N. B. & Ames, B. N. (1994) Cancer Lett. 83, 21-29.

Dr. Ames is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of California, Berkeley. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and was on their Commission on Life Sciences. He was formerly on the board of directors of the National Cancer Institute (National Cancer Advisory Board). He was the recipient of the most prestigious award for cancer research, the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Prize (1983), the highest award in environmental achievement, the Tyler Prize (1985), the Gold Medal Award of the American Institute of Chemists (1991), and the Glenn Foundation Award of the Gerontological Society of America (1992). He has been elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Japan Cancer Association, and the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. His 300 scientific publications have resulted in his being the 23rd most-cited scientist (in all fields) (1973-1984).]

Leukocytosis and Cooked Food

In 1930, research was conducted at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry in Lausanne, Switzerland, under the direction of Dr. Paul Kouchakoff. The effect of food (cooked/processed vs. raw/natural) on the immune system was tested and documented. Dr. Kouchakoff's discovery concerned the leukocytes, the white blood cells. Apparently, a well-known phenomenon occurred immediately after a person ate.

It was found that after a person eats cooked food, his/her blood responds immediately by increasing the number of white blood cells. This is a well-known phenomena called "digestive leukocytosis," which means that there is a rise in the number of leukocytes, or white blood cells, after eating. Since digestive leukocytosis was always observed after eating, it was considered to be a normal physiological response to eating. No one knew why the number of white cells would rise after eating, since this appeared to be a stress response, as if the body was reacting to something harmful, such as infection, trauma, or exposure to toxic chemicals.

A Remarkable Discovery

Back in 1930, Swiss researchers of the institute of Chemical Chemistry studied the influence of food on human blood and made a remarkable discovery. They found that eating unaltered, raw food or food heated at low temperatures did not cause a reaction in the blood. In addition, if a food had been heated beyond a certain temperature (unique to each food), or if the food was processed (refined, added chemicals, etc.), this ALWAYS caused a rise in the number of white cells in the blood. The researchers renamed this reaction "pathological leukocytosis", since the body was reacting to highly altered food. They tested many different kinds of foods and found that if the foods were not overheated or refined, they caused no reaction. The body saw them as "friendly foods". However, these same foods, if heated at too high a temperature, caused a negative reaction in the blood, a reaction that is found only when the body is invaded by a dangerous pathogen or trauma.

The Worst Offenders

The worst offenders of all, whether heated or not, were processed foods — that had been refined (such as white flour or white rice), or homogenized (a process in which the fat in milk is subjected to artificial suspension), or pasteurized (also seen in milk, flash-heated to high temperatures to kill bacteria), or preserved (chemicals added to food to retard spoilage or to enhance taste or texture) — in other words, foods that were changed from their original God-given state. Good examples of these harmful foods are: pasteurized milk, chocolate, margarine, sugar, candy, white flour, and regular salt. The researchers found that if these altered, chemical foods were chewed very thoroughly, the harm to the blood could be lessened. In addition, another amazing finding was that if some of the same food in its raw state was eaten with the cooked counterpart, the pathological reaction in the blood was minimized. However, avoid these unnatural, processed foods; replace them with delicious whole foods for optimal health.

Reference

Kouchakoff, Paul, M.D.; "The Influence of Cooking Food on the Blood Formula of Man"; First International Congress of Microbiology; Paris, 1930.

Vaccination & Potential Harm

2010-02-07T22:33:00.000-08:00

Andrew Wakefield, Scientific Censorship, and Fourteen Monkeys; A statement by Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey

by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor

(NaturalNews) When it comes to vaccines, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey get it. They see how the pharma industry is engineering a campaign to silence Dr. Andrew Wakefield in order to suppress the publication of startling new evidence linking vaccines to severe neurological damage.

At great risk to their professional careers, Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey have found the courage to dare to tell the truth about vaccines and autism. Despite the vicious attacks by the pro-vaccine zealots who will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who challenges conventional vaccine mythology, McCarthy and Carrey have issued a powerful, inspired statement that reveals the truth behind the Big Pharma smear campaign that is intent on destroying the reputation of Dr. Andrew Wakefield before he can publish the final results of this important new study.

NaturalNews reprints that statement here, unedited:

A statement from Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey

Dr. Andrew Wakefield is being discredited to prevent an historic study from being published that for the first time looks at vaccinated versus unvaccinated primates and compares health outcomes, with potentially devastating consequences for vaccine makers and public health officials.

It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers reporting on the retraction of a paper published in The Lancet in 1998 by Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues.

The retraction from The Lancet was a response to a ruling from England's General Medical Council, a kangaroo court where public health officials in the pocket of vaccine makers served as judge and jury. Dr. Wakefield strenuously denies all the findings of the GMC and plans a vigorous appeal.

Despite rampant misreporting, Dr. Wakefield's original paper (http://www.generationrescue.org/pdf...) regarding 12 children with severe bowel disease and autism never rendered any judgment whatsoever on whether or not vaccines cause autism, and The Lancet's retraction gets us no closer to understanding this complex issue.

Dr. Wakefield is one of the world's most respected and well-published gastroenterologists. He has published dozens of papers (http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/publ...) since 1998 in well-regarded peer-reviewed journals all over the world. His work documenting the bowel disease of children with autism and his exploration of novel ways to treat bowel disease has helped relieve the pain and suffering of thousands of children with autism.

For the past decade, parents in our community have been clamoring for a relatively simple scientific study that could settle the debate over the possible role of vaccines in the autism epidemic once and for all: compare children who have been vaccinated with children who have never received any vaccines and see if the rate of autism is different or the same.

Few people are aware that this extremely important work has not only begun, but that a study using an animal model has already been completed exploring this topic in great detail.

Dr. Wakefield is the co-author, along with eight other distinguished scientists from institutions like the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Kentucky, and the University of Washington, of a set of studies that explore the topic of vaccinated versus unvaccinated neurological outcomes using monkeys.

The first phase of this monkey study was published three months ago in the prestigious medical journal Neurotoxicology, and focused on the first two weeks of life when the vaccinated monkeys received a single vaccine for Hepatitis B, mimicking the U.S. vaccine schedule. The results, which you can read for yourself here (http://fourteenstudies.org/pdf/prim...), were disturbing. Vaccinated monkeys, unlike their unvaccinated peers, suffered the loss of many reflexes that are critical for survival.

Dr. Wakefield and his scientific colleagues are on the brink of publishing their entire study, which followed the monkeys through the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule over a multi-year period. It is our understanding that the difference in outcome for the vaccinated monkeys versus the unvaccinated controls is both stark and devastating.

There is no question that the publication of the monkey study will lend substantial credibility to the theory that over-vaccination of young children is leading to neurological damage, including autism. The fallout from the study for vaccine makers and public health officials could be severe. Having denied the possibility of the vaccine-autism connection for so long while profiting immensely from a recent boom in vaccine sales around the world, it's no surprise that they would seek to repress this important work.

Behind the scenes, the pressure to keep the work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues from being published is immense, and growing every day. Medical journals take extreme risk of backlash in publishing any studies that question the safety of the vaccination program, no matter how well-designed and thorough the research might be. Neurotoxicology, a highly-respected medical journal, deserves great credit for courageously publishing the first phase of this vaccinated monkey study.

The press has been deeply misled in the way The Lancet retraction, and Dr. Wakefield's mock trial, have been characterized. Led by the pharmaceutical companies and their well-compensated spokespeople, Dr. Wakefield is being vilified through a well-orchestrated smear campaign designed to prevent this important new work from seeing the light of day.

What medical journal would want to step in front of this freight train? Moreover, why now, after 12 years of inaction, did The Lancet and GMC suddenly act? Is it coincidence that the monkey study is currently being submitted to medical journals for review and publication?

We urge the media to take a close look at the first phase of the monkey study discussed above and to start asking a very simple question: What was the final outcome of the 14 primates that were vaccinated using the U.S. vaccine schedule and how did that compare to the unvaccinated controls?

The U.S. vaccine schedule has grown from 10 vaccines given to our children in the 1980s to 36 today, perfectly matching the dramatic rise in autism. The work of Dr. Wakefield and his colleagues deserves to be shared with the world to further, rather than censor, scientific progress.

Original source for this statement:

http://www.generationrescue.org/wak...

Up-Date From Jim

2010-02-07T12:55:00.000-08:00

Hi John!

Of course you can publish my dribble on your blog....

I should also have mentioned that many other 'nasties' have disappeared fro=

m my body - like the constant aches in my knees and elbows, the 'turns' I w=

as almost experiencing everyday and the broken sleep... and a heap of littl=

e things! The fast worked many wonders and seemed to have kicked started my=

body in many facets...

Sent: Sunday, 7 February 2010 5:21 AM

To: John Fielder

Subject: Many thanks!

Hi John!

Please forgive the huge delay in correspondence - no excuse! I've been slack!

An update in my own health is needed...

Firstly many thanks for the time and care at the farm during October - gee, was it that long ago? I really enjoyed my days of reading and discussion with you. I missed your friendship greatly when I returned. In truth, except for Judy I just don't have any support at all for my 'strange' diet and 'weird' view of disease, nutrition and health. Accordingly, I keep my lifestyle pretty low-key and choose to keep to myself most of the time. I really missed having you to answer my questions about all the things that interest me and which I find so frustrating in this unreal world.

After the fast I was exhausted and it did take quite awhile to recover my full strength. Work was extremely enervating for me for a few months. I have maintained my raw food diet and all the stuff that you said to me is slowly unfolding.

You were so right about so many things John. I'm writing today because I wanted to tell you that slowly my memory seems to be returning. I haven't suddenly recalled everything but I have had a few awakenings over the passed couple of weeks. I was a bit disappointed that there were no sensational flashes of lightning or bright lights...!!! One day as I was in bed with Judy as we were talking... I just remembered an experience I had in China involving a beggar man in Xingtai, the city I lived in. It was just 'there' - no doubt as it always had been - and it just tumbled out unexpectedly. I suppose this doesn't really surprise you at all? However, this is something that has really been brought home to me about the way nature and our systems and healing itself usually works. There is a process occurring constantly and it just flows along (if allowed to) and there really are no bright revelations, just this constant movement, these wonderful cycles that flow around us and within us. What a wonderful thing life really is!

Unfortunately our manmade world craves sensationalism and instant gratification... and I have been badly brain-washed by this paradigm too... We think that if there is no instant 'fix' then nothing has happened... hence drugs, surgery and our convoluted view of healing. I'm still seeped in this perspective, it scars my understanding and warps my view of life too. But I am beginning to see that nature works through processes. My own healing has been slow and I bet it has been constant too, even though I can't see it.

Sssooooooooooooo.... now I am slowly regaining my lost memory... slowly and I believe my mind has improved also. No, I understand that I am not 'there' yet but I am moving in a definite direction and it just excites my heart and soul to soaring heights when I see that I am moving out of the mess I was once in. I'm actually very thankful that this process is so gentle. The accident was such a violent,savage slash into my being and it tore me apart in so many ways - but my healing has been so very gracious and respectful of my heart and of my feelings and I really am beginning to appreciate this process now. Even if I never regain all those lost years I feel that there is something wonderful in having had this process revealed to me.

Yes John, I have learnt a great deal through your care and I am so very thankful.

Life flows on and the opportunity for real health and longevity lies before us all. Health! - there's just so much contained in that one word. I know that nourishment and sustainence and healing and fulfillment are really such simple things and that they are within our grasp and that they are all around us. I know we complicate things out of all proportion.

I still admire Gandhi and Thoreau and all men who embrace a minimalist lifestyle and for this reason I admire you also John. I can see that your life reflects this gentle knowing also. Thank you so much for the assistance and the example.

So, I am just very comforted in having experienced that fortnight at Clohesy River Farm and I feel so very much blessed to have met you and felt the support that you offer to all who go under your care. I would dearly love to return but my fortnight with you was a major expense for Judy and I and, in truth, we could not repeat such for some time. Regardless I can see that the fasting process greatly accelerates healing. Maybe in time (without the fast) I may have had an improvement in my health but it really would have taken such a long ammount of time. I wonder if I would have given up on my diet if not for the encouragement that I received via the fast? Perhaps... but such a small fast was a great benefit for me.

One thing I have not yet experienced that you mentioned to me John.... I have not experienced the change that you spoke to me about when the taste of my food will alter - when my taste will awaken... I haven't experienced this as yet... this awakening of taste. Will it still come? Is it a certainty?

Anyway I just wanted to drop you a line and thank you so much for all the help that you have given to me.

I'll keep you posted on my recovery!

Cheers!

Jim

Farm Up-Date January 2010

2010-01-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

The mango season is upon us with a vengeance and Mango Madness is the order of the day.There is nothing to compare to the flavour of tree ripened fruit, picked freshly from your own tree. This is especially so if the fruit is on the outside of the tree and is sun-kissed which further enhances the flavour. Windfalls quite often provide the ultimate in flavour as they tend to fall at the height of maturity.

Our passion fruits are just commencing to ripen too, and of course this is a fruit about which we are also quite passionate(pun intended).

The strawberry Guavas have set their fruit and should be maturing in about 3 to 4 weeks.

The pesimmon tree is one which I must admit I had not expected to grow in this climate as it is a deciduous tree and native to the mediterranean regions. Perhaps because it is a seedling tree and grown from seed from a tree which is growing at Atherton, a much cooler climate, yet relatively close as things go. And it is thriving as can be seen by the clusters of fruit that it has set.

Our tomato crop is commencing to ripen, with the promise of a good harvest once again. This is not the best time of the year for them as they tend to be effected by the humidity with many rotting on the vine. Then if it rains, which of course it should do at this time of the year, and they are in contact with the ground, then this can also cause rotting. Of course, as the experts will say, I should be growing them on stakes or a trellis of some description. And I feel sure this will occur at some stage in the future. For the moment the priorities lie in other directions and we are picking enough to supply our needs.

And our bean crop continues to provide us with enough for our weekly needs.

One of our recent bonus' was to have four inches of rain in the twenty four hours of New Years eve and New Years day. A great start to the wet season being quite gentle too so that it did not cause any undue erosion and will enable the grass to become better established to protect the soil even further when the heavier rains do occur.

As can be seen, we are blessed with a wonderful commencement to the New Year, and take this opportunity to wish all of our readers a bountiful and fulfilling 2010.

Beauty in Modern Day Society

2009-12-24T12:04:00.000-08:00

I was sent this article by a friend of mine, and so empathised with it that I wished to share it.

Arkiv
Behovet for skjønnhet vs kulten av det uskjønne
By Hans Rustadon Desember 24, 2009 11:41 FM | Permalink | Comments (1)
By ROGER SCRUTON

When asked by the BBC to make a film about beauty, my first instinct was to present all the wonderful works of art and music, the magnificent buildings and landscapes, the glorious variety of animals and birds, which have shone a light of beauty in my life.

To share with others these things that I love would surely bring pleasure and knowledge to my audience, as well as consolation to me - for when people share things they value, they, too, are comforted.

Notorious: Tracey Emin's My Bed which was created in 1998

But as I worked on the script, I was constantly troubled by the thought that beauty seems no longer to have the significance that once it had.

In the modern age, we are surrounded by man-made ugliness. And artists, who used to devote their efforts to idealising the human form, to recording the charms of nature and bringing order and beauty to our sorrows, are no longer interested in those tasks.

Galleries of contemporary art are filled with the debris of modern life, with subhuman figures purposefully designed to demean and desecrate the human image and with ludicrous installations that mean nothing at all.

This lapse into ugliness is nowhere more apparent or more intrusive than in the desolate city centres produced by modern architects.

Art today is sponsored by the likes of wealthy collector Charles Saatchi who championed Damien Hirst. Here, at the Saatchi gallery is Ron Mueck's 'Dead Dad' (front) and Damien Hirst's 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind', portraying a shark within glass, steel, silicone and formaldehyde

In the programme, I decided that I should show one of these wastelands, and so took the film crew with me to Reading, the town in whose shadow I grew up.

As I looked around the centre, I recognised nothing that I had known. Gone were the lovely Victorian terrace streets, elegant public buildings and smart hotels. In their place were huge, grey, concrete slabs. The welcoming surroundings of the old town centre had been replaced by buildings deemed to be 'useful'.

And the most striking fact - which I immediately decided should form the theme of my film - was that these 'useful' buildings were, in fact, entirely useless.

Constructed to house office blocks, a shopping centre, a bus station and car parks, they were now boarded up and crumbling. Walls were plastered with graffiti, and doors and windows vandalised - though I don't blame the vandals for finishing the job that the architects began.

What happened to Reading happened to Birmingham and Coventry, to Newcastle, to Liverpool and Leeds and a hundred other once-beautiful towns - the wholesale demolition of genial streets, and their replacement by buildings deemed to be functional, which lost their function in a matter of years.

The point is that there is a deep human need for beauty, and if you ignore that need in architecture, your buildings will not last, since people will never feel at home in them. Indeed, the only beings at home in the decaying part of Reading I visited were the pigeons fouling the pavements.

This triumph of 'function' over form in recent decades has dehumanised our towns and cities. But it is not only architecture that has drifted away from beauty. Contemporary art has made a cult of ugliness, and artists vie with each other in the game of putting the human face on display and throwing dung at it.

Not all artists, of course: there is still beautiful art today as there has always been. But such art remains below the horizon of official patronage.

Official art today is the art sponsored and encouraged by the likes of the wealthy collector Charles Saatchi, who championed Damien Hirst and his cadavers of cows, calves and pickled sharks.

It is the art favoured by the Tate's director, Nicholas Serota - not an idealisation of life, but one of life's sordid off-shoots, like Tracey Emin's notorious My Bed, an installation of an unmade bed complete with condoms, underpants and empty vodka bottles.

We should not think that these changes in the world of art - which have been paralleled, too, in the worlds of music and literature - are without significance.

What we look at, listen to and read affects us in the deepest part of our being. Once we start to celebrate ugliness, then we become ugly, too. Just as art and architecture have uglified themselves, so have our manners, our relationships and our language become crude.

Without the guidance offered by beauty and good taste, we find it difficult to relate to each other in a natural or graceful way. Society itself becomes fractured and atomised.

This official uglification of our world is the work of the ivory-towered elites of the liberal classes - people who have little sympathy for how the rest of us live and who, with their mania for modernising, are happy to rip up beliefs that have stood the test of time for millennia.

What they forget is that ordinary people hunger for beauty as they have always hungered, for beauty is the voice of comfort, the voice of home.

When a lovely melody, a sublime landscape or a passage of exquisite poetry comes before your senses and your mind, you know that you are at home in the world. Beauty is the voice that settles us, the assurance that we belong among others, in a place of sharing and consolation.

By contrast, the ugly art and architecture of today divides society rather than bringing it together. Written across so much of it is the word 'me'. Beauty is not popular among professional architects - it suggests a scaling down of 'artistic' pretentions for the sake of people whom they don't need to know.

The images of brutality and destruction in modern art, the tales of vicious and repugnant ways of life in today's novels, the violent and harrowing music of our age - all these are forms of egotism, ways in which insignificant people draw attention to themselves by standing ostentatiously apart from the majority of us who crave beauty.

Over the decades, this has produced both weariness and brutalisation in society, yet the critics still go along with it. And to gain favour from the critics today, you must avoid making something beautiful.

This flies in history's face. The most sublime representations of the human form we owe to the pagan gods of antiquity. We are in awe of those statues of Apollo and Venus which adorned ancient temples.

Our tradition of painting is owed to the Church and the icons that have illuminated Christian worship. You don't have to be a religious believer to appreciate the ecstasy of a Madonna by Bellini or Raphael, or the tranquillity of a temple Buddha.

Through so much human existence, art has sanctified the world, even in the eyes of those without religious faith. And when the scientific revolution of the 17th century cast doubt on the old Christian idea of a God-centred universe, artists sought to renew their faith through the beauty that surrounded them in the landscapes of nature.

Yet as society has become more urban and less religious, the cult of ugliness has taken hold. It can be no coincidence that it has come at a time of unprecedented prosperity.

Ugly modern art is produced by the pampered children of the democratic state, who have never had to struggle, who have not known war and who have entered at the earliest age into the lap of luxury.

Maybe we can live with their rubbish - after all, we don't have to frequent the museums and galleries where it is displayed. But modern architecture is unavoidable.

Nowhere do we feel the need for beauty more vividly than in these vast, supposedly functional, buildings. Without ornament, grandeur, style or dignity, a building is opaque to us. We cannot find our way around it. Nothing seems to face us, to beckon to us, to welcome us. When we enter such a building, we are immediately lost.

Here we should contrast the old railway stations such as Paddington and St Pancras. The architecture is noble, serene, upright. The spaces open before you. Everything is picked out with ornamental details. You are at home here, and you have no difficulty finding the ticket office, the platform or the way through the crowds.

I end my film with a tribute to St Pancras - a performance of Pergolesi's sublime Stabat Mater, beautifully sung in the great arched spaces of that fine old building, made useful again by the Eurostar. Useful and loved because it is beautiful.

• Roger Scruton's Why Beauty Matters was part of BBC2's modern beauty season. You can see it on BBC iPlayer until December 5.

The modern cult of ugliness: With desolate city centres and sordid 'art' like Tracey Emin's, ROGER SCRUTON says the death of beauty in modern Britain is making us all ugly too

Posted by Hans Rustad on Desember 24, 2009 11:41 FM | Permalink

Mammograms cause breast cancer

2009-12-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Mammograms cause breast cancer, groundbreaking new research declares

by S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) Ever since the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force took a look, finally, at the scientific evidence and announced new recommendations earlier this month for routine mammograms -- specifically that women under 50 should avoid them and women over 50 should only get them every other year -- the reactions from many women, doctors and the mainstream media have reached the point of near hysteria (http://www.naturalnews.com/027558_m...). Not getting annual mammograms, some say, means countless women will receive a virtual death sentence because their breast tumors won't be discovered. But what is rarely discussed about mammograms is this: the tests could actually be causing many cases of breast cancer.

In fact, a new study just presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), concludes the low-dose radiation from annual mammography screening significantly increases breast cancer risk in women with a genetic or familial predisposition to breast cancer. This is particularly worrisome because women who are at high risk for breast cancer are regularly pushed to start mammograms at a younger age -- as early as 25 -- and that means they are exposed to more radiation from mammography earlier and for more years than women who don't have breast cancer in their family trees.

"For women at high risk for breast cancer, screening is very important, but a careful approach should be taken when considering mammography for screening young women, particularly under age 30," Marijke C. Jansen-van der Weide, Ph.D., an epidemiologist in the Department of Epidemiology and Radiology at University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, said in a statement to the media. "Further, repeated exposure to low-dose radiation should be avoided."

Dr. Jansen-van der Weide and colleagues analyzed peer-reviewed, published medical research to investigate whether low-dose radiation exposure affects breast cancer risk among high-risk women. Out of the six studies included in this analysis, four looked at the effect of exposure to low-dose radiation among breast cancer gene mutation carriers. The other two studies traced the impact of radiation on women with a family history of breast cancer. The researchers took the combined data from all these research projects and then calculated odds ratios to estimate the risk of breast cancer caused by radiation.

The results? All the high-risk women in the study who were exposed to low-dose mammography type radiation had an increased risk of breast cancer that was 1.5 times greater than that of high-risk women who had not been exposed to low-dose radiation. What's more, women at high risk for breast cancer who had been exposed to low-dose radiation before the age of 20 or who had five or more exposures to low-dose radiation were 2.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than high-risk women not exposed to low-dose radiation.

Bottom line: any supposed benefit of early tumor detection using mammograms in young women with familial or genetic predisposition to breast cancer is offset by the potential risk of radiation-induced cancer. "Our findings suggest that low-dose radiation increases breast cancer risk among these young high-risk women, and a careful approach is warranted," Dr. Jansen-van der Weide said in the press statement.

The mammogram scam exposed

Incredibly, although it is rarely reported in the mainstream media, the new study follows on the heels of several others that have already sounded the warning that mammograms may cause breast cancer. For example, NaturalNews covered a Johns Hopkins study published earlier this year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (http://www.naturalnews.com/025560_c...) that warned radiation exposure from annual mammograms could trigger breast malignancies in women with a strong family history of breast and/or ovarian cancers who have altered genes (identified as BRCA1 or BRCA2).

And it may not be only women with a familial risk for breast cancer who are at extra risk from mammography radiation. As NaturalNews covered last year, a report published in the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine found breast cancer rates increased significantly in four Norwegian counties after women there began getting mammograms every two years. In fact, the start of screening mammography programs throughout Europe has been linked to an increased incidence of breast cancer (http://www.naturalnews.com/024901.html).

Comments by the Health Ranger, Editor of NaturalNews.com

Mammogram pushers now have nothing left to stand on. The complete and utter hoax of mammography has now been wholly discredited through a flurry of groundbreaking studies performed by conventional medicine researchers! Yes, even the industry's own former advocates now admit mammography harms far more women than it helps.

Why? Because mammography causes the very disease it claims to "detect". It's much like a clever sleight-of-hand magician's trick where they reach for your ear and suddenly produce a coin that was presumably hidden there. But as everybody knows, they put it there themselves! Mammograms offer a similar kind of sleight-of-hand trick (or sleight-of-breast, as the case may be) by actually generating the very disease they claim to find. If so many women hadn't already been harmed by mammography, the whole thing would be quite hysterical.

"Early detection saves lives," they say. Except they stupidly forget to tell women the other side of the story: "Mammograms cause cancer." And if you're gullible enough to actually irradiate your breasts every year, don't be surprised -- shocked! -- if they someday find tumors in them.

For more information:
http://www.naturalnews.com/mammogra...

Scientists Believe Your Cell Phone Is a Death Trap

2009-12-01T12:41:00.000-08:00

As I am sure you are all aware, I do not have a cell phone, nor do I recommend their use. By reading the following article you will be able to see many of the reasons that I not do so

http://emf.mercola.com/sites/emf/archive/2009/12/01/Leading-Experts-Give-Advice-on-How-to-Reduce-Your-EMF-Risk.aspx

GE Corn Health Concerns

2009-11-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

New health evidence sparks call for ban on GE corn and better food labelling

Sydney Thursday November 12, 2009: A type of genetically engineered (GE) corn approved for human consumption in Australia has now been linked to increased risk of developing chronic kidney and heart disease. High Lysine corn LY038 was also withdrawn from commercial development in Europe because of safety concerns.

Greenpeace calls on our food regulator – Food Standards Australia and New Zealand to immediately review its approval of Monsanto’s LY038 GE corn for human consumption, in light of this new evidence of health risks, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

“The Food Labelling Review being chaired by Dr Neal Blewitt must take note of this case as an example of why we need to improve the labelling of genetically engineered ingredients,” said Greenpeace GE campaigner Laura Kelly. “It’s also time for an end to the rubber stamp approach FSANZ takes with applications for genetically engineered food products. For a start FSANZ should immediately review it’s approval of LY038 and properly consider the health risks.”

“This case indicates a serious regulatory failure by the Federal Government,” continued Ms Kelly. “Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mark Butler must be held accountable for any health impacts Australians suffer from eating genetically engineered food. This latest research shows these health impacts could be serious.”

The research published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reaffirms that compounds found in high lysine corn called “advanced glycation endproducts”, or AGEs, “are pathogenic…suggesting that dietary AGEs are directly linked to increased [oxidative stress] and the risk of developing CKD [chronic kidney disease] and CVD [cardiovascular disease].” (1)

Dr Jack Heinemann of New Zealand’s Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety (INBI) had warned FSANZ of the health risks associated with this type of high lycine corn, and says there is no excuse for its continued approval for human consumption.

“FSANZ knows that there are strong links between dietary AGEs and certain human diseases but it hasn’t even asked for a list of novel compounds that may appear in this corn much less attempted to evaluate their safety through scientific tests,” said Dr Heinemann.

When the European Food Safety Authority asked the developer, Monsanto/Renessen, to supply additional scientific information that this corn will be safe for humans to eat. Monsanto pulled the development of GE high lysine corn.

(1) Helen Vlassara, et al. Protection against Loss of Innate Defenses in Adulthood by Low Advanced Glycation End Products (AGE) Intake: Role of the Antiinflammatory AGE Receptor-1

J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., Nov 2009; 94: 4483 - 4491.

Contact:

Greenpeace GE campaigner Laura Kelly ph: 0407 414 572

Media Manager Carolin Wenzel ph: 0417 668 957

Jack Heinemann, INBI ph: 0011 64 3 364 2500

Farm Update Oct. 09

2009-10-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

Having, at last, completed the clearing of the old nursery where it is now ready to build the new shade houses for the growing of our vegetables in the cooler months, and for our new trees for the orchard, I have commenced on their erection. This is achieved in a similar way to our trelliss' on which we grow our passion fruit, only they are much lower. In this instance the star pickets are much shorter, with the width spanned by the poly-piping being almost half as wide again. After the main structure is erected and covered with wire mesh, this is then covered by shade cloth. For whereas in the cooler climates structures of this nature are used to maximise the benefits of sunlight, and often referred to as hot-houses, in the tropics the opposite effects is required, that is, to lessen the effects of the sunlight by the use of shade-cloth, and could well be called cool-houses, as this is the effect that is desired.

Speaking of trellis' here is to be seen some of the passion fruit vines that have survived the depredations of the roaming cattle, and lo and behold they have set passion fruit. I must admit that I had given up all hope of this occurring, for the damage to the vines was massive with at least 60% being eaten completely out. And those that had survived were a sore sight to see.

The new papaya patch has now been completed and fully planted. Between each papaya tree I am growing tomatoes and beans. All being well the new papayas will be ready as the older planting is commencing to produce less fruit. And the new tomatoes will also be ripening as the old bushes come to the end of their lives. I have never tried to grow beans before at this time of the year. The nurserymen say it is possible to do so. I will keep you posted.

And speaking of tomatoes, Here is today's harvest. Well most of it to be precise, for I also picked a bowl full separately. As can be seen we have an abundant supply at the moment.

The persimmon tree was so badly effected that I was very surprised when it commenced to shoot from the old roots. And now we are being blessed with the first crop, with the new fruit just setting.

Last, but not least, the Brazillian Cherries have just about completed their season. They are a small fruit born on a shrubby bush which grows to an average height of five to six feet. The fruit is quite tart, being almost sweet when fully ripe. They are very thirst quenching.

This is a brief addendum on the building of the shade houses for the vegetables. The previous garden edgings/borders, to the beds had in some instances been burnt out and required replacing before erecting the superstructure. Fortunately off-cuts from a nearby saw-mill were available just for the collecting so it was only a matter of driving over in the van and rummaging through the heap to find suitable lengths.

The longest, and the hardest part of the whole operation is/was the placement of them in the required position. This necessitated digging out the required trench into which they were then fitted and the soil then back-filled.

Jim's Story. My Process of Healing.

2009-10-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

Nature's way is always towards healing, but sometimes it takes a crisis for us to realize that fully.
After a serious head injury at work( I work on a farm in rural Victoria) I found myself battling all the traumas and many of the side effects of amnesia. The heartbreak of not knowing on's partner, not recognising or knowing the bond with one's kids, or even one's own world, floundering with poor co-ordination, slow reactions, interrupted sleep, very poor concentration and a general lack of mental speed - all these things and many others, just tore me to pieces. I can't tell you how many x-rays, MRI's and tests I endured - I'm just glad I don't really remember them all. My problem seemed to be that there was nothing definitely wrong - I just didn't work like I used to - however that was? Yep, this Humpty Dumpty couldn't be put back together. Regardless, I knew there was something haywire, even if the scans all showed that I was OK.

Any-way I managed to get some of my life back together, fall in love(again) with the partner whom I didn't remember, and together(maintained by her strength and love), we tried to pretend we were healthy. But then again, most people pretend about health these days. You know, sometimes "acting as if", is not the best way of finding true health.

Well when I started having weird stuff happen with my vision and my balance I became really worried, I did not want to pursue that medical treadmill again, so I started to do some seeking of my own.

I discovered that the body will always heal itself if left to itself and if supplied with suitable nutrition and care. So I figured diet had to be my first change. I wanted to get maximum nutruition - isn't that the real purpose of eating? So Iwent 100% raw food. Thress months later I decided that I wanted to help my healing by going on a fast. I wanted some guidance here. I had read that stuff can bubble up during a fast, so I searched for help. I found John Fielder and the Clohesy River Health Farm. I found out that John was no phoney - he had lived this healthy life style for fourty years or more. So I decided to do a ten day fast at the Clohesy River Heaqlth Farm. Now that is a big step for some-one who had very little money, and who had not been away from his partner for even a moment in two and a half years.

Yes the fast was costly in lots of ways, but it has been well worth it. Others I spoke with who had undertaken fasts in other places, or even at home, said they were nothing like a fast under John Fielder. Fasting is about resting and allowing your body to do its own thing, and that's what Clohesy's all about. It is intense and wholly beneficial. I felt that John was truly showing me the essentials of healthy livinh. His words were full of meaning, coming from some-one who had lived this simple, caring way for over 40 years.

Other places may have the facilities, all turned on with all the "mod cons".( If you want them, then go to a motel), but then the essence, and the power of healing may very well get lost. There is a reason that John insists on no radios, no TV's, and no cosmetics. There is a reason that Clohesy is out in the bush and not huddled inside a city. There's a reasonthat we are taught to embracethe real needs in this time of healing. That reason is to ensure that we rest totally and that the fast is as effective as possible.

Now that I have travelled the Fielder way, I can see the sense of it. I can see the power and the message and the healing that John is directing me to. John's daily consultations allowed me to ask a thousand questions, and always his answers and direction sent me away with more to think about, and with another piece to the puzzle. Healing is not about taking a pill, or throwing a switch. It is not and instant, just add water and swallow this. Healing is about working to assist your body, your healing centre to do its thing. Healing is a wonderful, powerful patient process. When one leaves John's care one knows that healing is what life's entire experience is about.

As for results..... well on day 5 of my fast my arthriric pains in my knees and elbows began to disappear. I haven't had a single wobbly weird vision thing since - and I was having up to 40 per week. My eyes are clearing( I apparently always had blood-shot eyes) . On day 9 of the fast I slept for 5 hours without waking - that was the first since my accident. Constant interrupted sleep has been my norm for three years.

Now my mind is full of the desire to do things. I can feel it working again. No I have not regained my memory again yet, but as John has taught me, healing is a slow process, and I'm on that healing road now. I know I am! I'm trying to apply all the stuff John has taught me, and I still have a great deal of tweaking to do.

One thing I do know - this entire experience has been a great stride toward health, and it has taught me that my body can heal itself, and that it doesn't make mistakes. In fact it even fixes up all the mistakes I make. So armed with what John has taught me, I'm journeying on and I am just so excited about every single day now.