Sunday, June 6, 2010

Am I at risk of heart disease? Homocysteine

Like most health conscious Americans, you realize heart disease is a silent killer, a ticking time bomb that may strike at any time without warning and take your life or the life of a loved one.

And, like most Americans your doctor has tested your blood/cholesterol levels more than once to see if you're at risk of heart disease.

Furthermore, if your blood cholesterol level is above a certain level, your doctor has or will prescribe cholesterol lowering statin drugs to help prevent you from having heart disease.

But, people with low blood/cholesterol levels are just as likely to have a heart attack as those with high/blood cholesterol.

However, there is a test that is far more important than cholesterol testing when it comes to determining if you are at risk of heart disease.

If you're concerned about the potential for developing heart disease and having a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular disease, call your doctor and ask for an appointment to test your blood levels of HOMOCYSTEINE.

Unlike cholesterol which is required for life, the presence of homocysteine is an indication that there's a problem. The lower your homocysteine level, the lower your risk of developing heart disease. Your homocysteine level, NOT your cholesterol level, is the one you want to watch, and you want to watch it carefully, especially if other factors put you at higher risk of heart disease, such as incidence of heart attacks among your relatives, smoking, or previous detection of cardiovascular problems.

If your homocysteine level is higher than 12, you need to act quickly to lower it. You're in danger!

In fact, if your homocysteine level is above 6, although it may not be a medical emergency, you need to change your diet to reduce it.

To do so, cut back on foods high in carbohydrates and those that contain any of the oils produced from plants. Then, supplement your diet with B6, B12 and Folic acid by taking a good B Complex or HIGH vitamin B potency multivitamin supplement.

In addition to changing your diet if your blood levels of homocysteine are high, watch it very closely, consult a Naturopathic Doctor, and keep working until you get it down.

Get your homocysteine levels tested the next time someone suggests a cholesterol test. And start paying more attention to your homocysteine levels than your cholesterol levels.

Better Health Through Education

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Saturday, May 15, 2010

"How to Cure Heart Disease" by Dr. Dwight Lundell, MD

If you still thnk cholesterol and saturated fat are causing heart disease, here's what a heart surgeon and co-author of "The Cure for Heart Disease" says about the matter.

Following is the beginning of an article/interview of Dr. Lundell, from his website located at http://thecureforheartdisease.net/index.php ;

Liar, Liar, Hearts on Fire

Is it possible that the low-fat diet was a big fat lie?

The fat content in food continues to decrease. Yet, our belt lines continue to increase. And, heart disease is more prevalent now than ever. Is the low fat diet helping or hindering our national epidemics of heart disease and obesity?

Statistically, the low-fat diet isn’t helping. In fact, it’s making the entire situation worse. The same diet recommendations that have been the focal point of public consensus, numerous fad diet plans, and the foundation of the government’s famous food pyramid is creating a national health crisis.

“Quite frankly, the low-fat diet is a confusing mess,” says Dr. Dwight Lundell, a heart surgeon with more than 25 years of experience and co-author of the new book The Cure for Heart Disease—Unmasking the Real Cause of Heart Disease. “In spite of the fact that there was no initial evidence to support the low-fat theory in the first place, the diet continues to be the focus of the government, the medical establishment, and almost every food manufacturer in this country. The American public is screaming for change. And, instead of looking closely at the low-fat theory and its results on our health—more incidences of heart disease and obesity—we ignorantly continue lowering the fat content of our food supply. The lower it gets, the fatter we become. And, heart disease is out of control.”

So, Americans are consuming less fat, yet the epidemics continue to spiral out of control? What about the good old slogan our mothers would drill into heads at the dinner table, ‘You are what you eat.’ Is that wrong?

“It is wrong,” says Lundell. “Instead of focusing on what we put inside our bodies, we need to focus on what our bodies do with the foods we consume—what happens when those foods enter the metabolic process. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) adopted the now famous food pyramid and began a public health campaign to change the diet of America, our nation began to face unimaginable health problems. The low-fat diet is not working. The food pyramid isn’t working. It’s not making our nation thinner and it’s not reducing the incidence of heart disease.”

So, there’s a lot of wishful thinking going on in America today—an obese and unhealthy public is blindly hoping for a possible benefit from the low-fat diet. And, so far, all we’ve seen are negative effects. Nevertheless, the National Institutes of Health, the National Cholesterol Education Program, the American Heart Association, the US Department of Agriculture, and a host of other medical organizations continue to promote and publicize the low-fat diet—even though the health of our nation is in dire need of rescue.

Is this a conspiracy theory? Are they trying to trick us?

“The low-fat diet is not a conspiracy,” says Dr. Lundell. “It’s simply a theory that isn’t based on fact—the entire theory is based on incomplete science. All these groups have good intentions. But, let’s look at the facts. There is no evidence to suggest that low-fat equals lower incidence of heart disease and obesity. In fact, all the evidence points in the opposite direction. So, when will the public, the politicians, the medical organizations, and the food manufacturers start waving their white flags and surrender to real science? I admitted that I was wrong, why can’t they?”

Admitting he was wrong? Dr. Lundell is referring to his own career, and a pesky suspicion that haunted him through more than 25 years of surgical practice and more than 5000 open-heart surgeries.

“There came a point in my career when I realized that everything was backward,” says Dr. Lundell. “Medicine was only treating disease after people had become ill. We know the real cure for heart disease. So, why aren’t we curing it? And, why do we continue to promote the low-fat diet theory? It isn’t helping the situation. In fact, it’s becoming much worse.”

He’s right. More people develop heart disease today than ever before. Every 34 seconds a person in this country dies of a heart attack. And, if you’re curious how many people won’t live to see tomorrow due to a heart attack—2500 Americans die each day. And, as far as reducing our waistlines, obesity rates in the United States remained stable at around 14 or 15% from 1900 to 1980. Since then, the obesity rates have skyrocketed. Today, nearly 60% of the population is overweight or obese

So, is the low-fat diet really just one big fat lie?

“It may sound melodramatic, but I’m a guru of the facts,” says Dr. Lundell. “Study after study has demonstrated the negative effects of consuming high-grain based diets and low-fats. I think it’s about time the American public heard the truth about the low-fat diet. And, I think it’s time that everyone knows, there is a cure for heart disease.”

Dr. Lundell’s new book, The Cure for Heart Disease, co-authored with Todd R. Nordstrom, details the rise of popularity for the low-fat diet—showing exactly how the low-fat diet became public policy and consensus. He also details numerous studies that back his bold statements—denouncing the theory. And, he provides a solution to a problem that medicine has been bumbling with for decades—the elusive cure for heart disease.

“I know it’s a bold statement, saying there is a cure for heart disease,” says Dr. Lundell. “But again, as a former heart surgeon, I look to the facts—this statement is based only on science. We have the cure for heart disease.”

Thank you Dr. Lundell!

Now, if you're still not convinced that your health depends upon learning that saturated fat and cholesterol are not the demons in heart disease, and if you really do care about your health, take the time to read a book or two by authors who are exposing these money making myths for what they are.

Read Dr. Lundell and Todd Norstrom's book, "The Cure for Heart Disease".

Then, read They're Making You Fat and Sick for an entire plan of health, a plan that will lead to Perfect Health.

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Friday, April 16, 2010

Doctor Watch Blog, What MD's say about American Doctors and medicine

What is Doctor Watch? http://doctorwatch.blogspot.com/

Throughout my 28 years of study and practice of nutrition and nutritional cures, it has been difficult to convince people that the American MD knows practically nothing about nutrition and the powerful benefits that nutritional supplements have on good health.

For some strange reason, people think those with MD after their name know everything about health, when in fact, the focus of their training in the pharmaceutical controlled medical schools is writing prescriptions for expensive patented pills.

After reading the work of Dr. Stephen Barrett on his site called "QuackWatch", a site devoted to bashing nutritional supplements and nutritional cures and alternative medicine, I decided it was time to spend a little time informing you exactly what many MD's are saying about other MD's, the pharmaceutical companies and the training doctors get, or don't get, in medical school.

You can visit the blog at http://doctorwatch.blogspot.com/

Here's the introduction to Doctor Watch Blog as it appears on its first post.

"Because of the failure of traditional MD's to make positive differences in the health status of millions of people, with each passing year, more and more people are turning to nutrition and alternative approaches to cure and health maintenance.

QuackWatch.com is devoted to slowing the continued erosion of the faith Americans have in MD's, the American Medical Association and the pharmaceutical industry.

QuackWatch.com founder, Dr. Stephen Barrett, bashes nutritional cures and alternative approaches to health and healing with every word he publishes. QuackWatch.com is in essence the attack dog for the traditional medical industries.

Doctor Watch is hereby founded to counter the attacks of QuackWatch.com

Doctor Watch will publish articles written by MD's who are working to expose the corruption and ignorance surrounding the Americal Medical Association, the pharmaceutical companies, medical schools and the average Joe American, MD. "

You can read what honest and informed MD's are saying about traditional MD's by visiting the blog located at http://doctorwatch.blogspot.com/

Please join us!

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick

Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ancel Keys lived nearly 100 years!!!

In 2004, Ancel Keys died just two months shy of his 100th birthday.

Doctors and scientists who support Ancel Keys and his saturated fat/cholesterol theories of heart disease are now claiming that because Mr. Keys lived to be 100 years old, he must have been right.

This is just another reminder of the inability or refusal of most doctors and scientists to think critically.

A brief analysis of the Six and Seven Country Studies makes it very obvious that Mr. Keys cherry-picked the data. He was then paid $200,000 a year by the federal government to convince people that there is a relationship between consumption of saturated fat, blood cholesterol levels and risk of coronary heart disease.

Because Mr. Keys created and perpetuated the saturated fat/cholesterol myths, no one on planet earth was more aware than Mr. Keys that following a low fat diet and taking statin drugs does not reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

Mr. Keys did NOT live to be nearly 100 years old because he took statin drugs and controlled his consumption of saturated fat.

Mr. Keys lived to be nearly 100 years old because he KNEW better than to take statin drugs and he KNEW better than to abstain from eating saturated fat.

To take a brief look at Mr. Keys’ fudged data, visit http://www.perfecthealthinstitute.com/aANCELKEYS.html

It is my hope that you see as clearly as Mr. Keys that your health depends upon avoiding use of statin drugs and that your health depends upon taking full advantage of the important nutrients found only in foods containing saturated fat and cholesterol.

To your health,

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick

Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Friday, April 9, 2010

My Post to Fat-Head movie blog

Gary Springer says:
April 8, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Hi Laurie,

Thank you! It’s always a pleasure to read posts by educators who are looking beyond their formal education for understanding of health and nutrition, a RARE pleasure.

But, I think it is quite obvious the medical world will not embrace any science that shows LDL has a positive influence upon health.

The “cholesterol is bad” myth has now been running for sixty years. Not only was there no science to support the myth from the beginning, but also, with the passing years, more and more cholesterol has been classified as “good cholesterol”. Even though more and more cholesterol has been determined to be beneficial, the “safe” blood cholesterol levels keep dropping. Right, read that again. It’s completely backward.

Science, knowledge and logic obviously have nothing to do with the “cholesterol is bad” myth. Because the lipid theory of heart disease was created for financial and economic reasons, no matter how high the scientific studies pile up that discredit the lipid theory of heart disease, it will persist for financial reasons. (The statin drug market is only a small part of the incentive to keep these myths alive. Statins are a spin-off business of saturated fat fear)

Can you imagine the difficult spot the World Health Organization would be in if they had to tell people that grain was substandard food? They’re having big enough problems feeding the world with large amounts of cheaply and efficiently produced grain even though people think these are nutritious foods. Can you imagine what would happen for the demand of meat, dairy and eggs if cholesterol was vindicated? Can you imagine the WHO explaining that some nations simply cannot afford to eat anything but efficiently produced grain, even though meat is more healthful and more conducive for the proper development of the brain?

No, the “choleterol is bad” myth and its equally dangerous sister the “saturated fat is bad” myth are both here to stay, no matter how much scientific evidence you pile up to discredit these myths. It’s all about money and economics.

All you have to do is look at the timing of the fabrication of these myths and the history of the man who fabricated them, Ancel Keys, an economist turned nutritionist who worked with the US defence department in designing K rations, a nutritionally bankrupt but economical food supply for soldiers. Immediately after WWII, when the majority of the population would for the first time be able to eat the diet of kings, Ancel Keys then “theorized” and was awarded huge grants to convince us that the diet of kings would give us heart disease. At the same time, all funding for opposing theories was cut off. Now, why was there a pressing need for energy conservation and food production efficiency immediately after WWII? The answer is in my book and you should go Dah?? when you consider it.

Can you see how many trillions of dollars in energy costs that have been saved over the decades by cutting the demand for foods that need to be refrigerated?(meat, dairy and eggs).

Nutrition and healthfulness are irrelevent factors in the decision to promote saturated fat and cholesterol fear! Completely irrelivent! An economist and a CPA are more properly trained than scientists to understand why the science is ignored. Piles and piles of additional scientific studies that show the same old thing over and over, the piling up of more studies that show cholesterol and saturated fat are healthful substances will not overturn conventional medicine’s condemnation of these substances.

You can bank on it!

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984354409/sr=1-1/qid=1262637905/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1262637905&sr=1-1&seller=

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Health Care Reform?

The recent “Health Care Reform” debate over the last several years is the perfect illustration of how naïve the American people really are. Please wake up from your deep sleep!

No matter how many times I call my 2005 Chevy Aveo a “brand new BMW” it will never be a new BMW.

But, every single news commentator, every politician both Democrats and Republicans, and every other American I’ve heard discuss the recent medical finance bill has called it “Health Care Reform”.

Do words no longer have meaning? Maybe President Clinton had a valid point when he said, "It all depends on what the meaning of the word "is" means".

Do you own a dictionary? The words “health care” mean taking care of the health. But, throughout the entire debate they’re calling “Health Care Reform”, there has not been a single comment about how to improve the health of the American people. Not one word!

The topic of conversation that has dominated the news for the last several months has been about figuring a way to funnel more money into the medical industry by forcing Americans to pay more money for health insurance.

Because the topic is really about how to pump more money into the medical industry, more appropriately called the Sick Care Industry, an accurate description of the raging debate would be “Sick Care Finance Reform”.

The very sad part is that we really do need to reform the medical industry which is really the Sick Care Industry. Americans are paying far more money into the Sick Care Industry than any other nation, yet the health of our citizens is lagging most industrialized nations.

The pharmaceutical industry controlled western medical system is failing miserably. If “Health Care Reform were the topic of debate instead of Sick Care Finance, and if we really did focus on taking action to improve the health of Americans, the size of the medical industry and costs of Sick Care would plummet and the American tax payer would not be straddled with a huge bill for Sick Care.

The reason so many Americans are sick is that the Sick Care industry controls health education. As long as the medical professions and pharmaceutical industries have dominant roles in health education, the industry will take advantage of this conflict-of- interest and people will continue to believe the best way to better health is expensive patented pills, even though these pills are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.

Again, this is all about money! The health of Americans is not the primary goal of the institutions that control the medical industries. The goal is centered around PROFIT. If you don’t believe this, please name one for-profit corporation that is focused on social goals instead of profit.

The medical industry completely ignores prevention of disease because they can’t make one dime until someone is sick, not one dime. As a result, even though nutrition is the key to prevention and the key to good HEALTH, 94% of MD’s have never had a single course in nutrition or prevention. To the western medical professions, prevention is early detection and putting people on pills sooner.

If you’ve had your fill about the recent debate about Sick Care Finance Reform, here’s what a discussion about Health Care Reform would sound like. As you read this, ask yourself, have any of the political pundits even talked about these issues that affect the actual HEALTH of Americans?

Health Care Reform Discussion Point Sheet:

So many Americans are sick and Sick Care is so expensive that it is helping bankrupt our nation. What can we do to stop the steadily increasing rates of obesity, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases so we can reduce the cost of medical treatment?

1) Because prevention is the key to reducing disease, lets increase spending on prevention of disease from zero percent to at least ten percent. (That will never happen as long as long as the sick care providers control health education and nutritional recommendations because they can’t earn a dime by preventing disease. The entire sick care system is more profitable and growing rapidly BECAUSE more and more people are sick. Do you really think they are trying to prevent or cure any disease? NO! They are selling pills that reduce suffering so you keep buying the pills.)

2) Remove the pharmaceutical industry and the medical provider industries from health education, especially the medical schools.

3) Eliminate the influence the pharmaceutical industry has over the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

4) Because nutrition is the key to prevention of disease, it’s obvious that the Standard American Diet is causing the increase in disease. Lets remove the control the food industry has over the FDA so the FDA begins to regulate the food industry instead of the food industry using the FDA to help them market cheaply produced foods that cause obesity. Remove the food industry control of the FDA so it clamps down on the addition of toxins to food, toxins that are added to increase shelf life for the sole purpose of increasing profits at the expense of the health of our citizens.

5) What other issues do you think would enter the debate about Health Care Reform? (Please refrain from commenting on Sick Care Finance Reform)

Gary Springer,
Author of They're Making You Fat and Sick
Founder of Perfect Health Institute

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

How to Achieve Perfect Health

Nothing is more important to good health than nutrition. Nothing even comes close to being as important as nutrition when it comes to attaining perfect health.

When you realize that fear of saturated fat was created to keep you buying more profitable dirt-cheap grain foods instead of expensive meat, dairy and eggs that require expensive energy consuming refrigeration, when you realize all the nutritional recommendations were designed to make money and feed the population the most efficient way, not to keep you healthy, then you need an entirely new approach to nutrition and good health.

That’s why I wrote a 446 page health book that describes in detail exactly what you need to do to attain perfect health.

This health and nutrition book tells you everything you need to know to attain perfect health, including the Super Foods, the Super Nutritional Supplements, the King of Vitamins, things to avoid, and a Five Step Naturopathic Approach to Healing and Perfect Health.

Get ready to jump start your way to perfect health! Read a review of the book at http://www.perfecthealthinstitute.com/THEYMAKINGYOUBOOK.html