What Are You Going To Do Today To Change?

Came across this quote from American psychiatrist Thomas Szasz: “Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all.”

Powerful. Transformational. And that’s why I salute the brave thinkers among us.

The very act of learning something new disrupts the way you’ve always seen things-and the way you’ve always been. A fresh idea pushes you out of your comfort zone and threatens the very foundations you’ve built your view of the world on.

That’s scary for nearly everyone. Truly frightening for the vast majority. So rather than experience any form of discomfort, most people regress – and return to their Safe Harbor of The Known. It feels better. Seems safer. But, in truth, it’s not.

The problem is that refusing to learn and grow is the beginning of the end.

Leadership-and life itself-is all about making tomorrow better than today. And stepping into your next level of excellence with every passing hour. To cling to the thoughts and ways of performing that you’ve always known is to resign yourself to being average. And mediocre. A spectator versus in the game.

Neuroscientists will tell you that a single new piece of learning actually changes the very nature of your brain. The circuitry shifts. And the wiring expands. But in order to reach these new lands, we must lose sight of the shore-even for just a little while.

And that takes guts.

Are you staying the same or are you going to change and improve your life?

“It’s your future, be there healthy”.

The Plant Analogy

We can all agree that all living organisms are made up of cells working together to maintain life.  Each organism is in fact an ecosystem of cells.  I like to think of all my patients this way.  I just see ecosystems of cells that are toxic or deficient and my job is to help them to become pure and sufficient.  When this occurs the ecosystem naturally goes back to its natural state – homeostasis and health.  There are countless examples of this to prove I am right.  Stop smoking and your lungs clear (as long as you have not exhausted your innate ability to adapt).  Stop polluting rivers and the plants and fish come back.  Walk away from a logged forest for long enough and a forest will return.  The less we intervene in natural ecosystems the healthier they are – period.  When people realize that they are ecosystems they will stop polluting themselves and start making ecologically friendly or physiologically compatible lifestyle choices.

Think of plants.  If you had a bunch of plants that were wilting what would you do?  Add drugs and remove parts?  I doubt it.  You would ask intelligent questions such as if the plants were getting enough sunlight.  You might notice that the wilting plants were in the shade and, realizing that these particular plants require a lot of sunlight, you would intelligently put them in the sun.  Well they should all stop wilting right?  Guess what.  They all wilted more!  If you were doing a study you would have to conclude that sunlight made plants worse.  But you knew these plants were deficient in sunlight, how is this possible?

What if they were also deficient in water?  Putting a dry plant in the sun could indeed make it dry out faster couldn’t it?  O.K. then, let’s give all the plants water and put them in the sun.  You’re a brilliant clinician!  Too bad only a few of the plants got better.  In other words, no significant difference between water and sunlight and flipping a coin or water and sunlight and fake water and sunlight.  Your study concludes that water and sunlight has no beneficial effect on wilting plants.  What?  Some of the plants were saved!  Sorry, not statistically significantly better than the control group and in the RCT model you must conclude that your intervention had no effect.  How scientific!  What a wonderful gold standard.

But wait, you won’t give up.  You will also add nutrients to the soil.  Now you have well fed, well watered plans basking in the sun all day.  Surely your plants are totally sufficient now and will thrive.  Sorry, only a few get better again.  How is this possible?  Your study will be quoted as evidence that water, sunlight, and food is no good for plants.  But we know for sure plants will die without this stuff!  Sorry, we must be scientific and your RCT study clearly showed that water, nutrients, and sunlight were not any better for plants than fake water, nutrients, and sunlight.

But if I take healthy plants and take away water, nutrients, and sunlight they will all die!  Wait a minute, did you want to study healthy plats?  That is not within the paradigm of allopathy because it cannot answer the real important questions of whether or not your intervention improved symptoms or treated a disease.  In allopathy you must evaluate everything based on these criteria.

By the way, why didn’t your plants all thrive if you gave them all water, nutrients, and sunlight?  They were toxic!  Your neighbor was dumping out his oil in his back yard and it got into the root systems of your plants!

I hope you see that in order to be healthy and well, in order to maintain homeostasis, ecosystems have to have sufficiency in ALL the required nutrients, and purity  in ALL aspects of their environment AT THE SAME TIME, for a period of time!  This is what your patients need, they are ecosystems of cells.

I hope you also realize that in every case it was NOT a genetic problem with the plants or the cells of the plant ecosystem that was the problem.  The problem was the deficient and toxic environments the plants were in.  However, if you studied the genetics of these sick plants you would see different genes being expressed in the sick plants than in healthy ones.  This is the EFFECT of the deficient and toxic environment NOT the CAUSE!  Interesting isn’t it.

Ginger Reduces Muscle Pain

Ginger reduces lingering pain after exercise, according to a study published in Phytotherapy Research.  Compared to placebo, 2 g of ginger taken 24 hours after a workout reduced pain by 13 percent the following day.  Other studies have found that ginger reduces arthritis pain and motion sickness.

Honey: Nature's Cough Remedy

For sore throats, honey soothes and fights bacteria more effectively than common pharmaceutical cough syrups, according to research at Penn State College of Medicine. In two studies, researchers found that honey was better than conventional cough syrup in suppressing nighttime coughs among children ages 1 through 18 years.

For children (12 months or older) and adults, honey can also help to ward off infection, as it contains natural antibacterial ingredients and antioxidants.  Take 1-2 tsp. and use honey to sweeten hot or cold beverages.

Walnuts And Flaxseeds Burn Belly Fat

Eating 30 grams of flax seed or walnuts daily reduced belly fat in a study of nearly 300 overweight people at risk for diabetes and heart disease.  The equivalent of 30 grams is approximately 4 tablespoons of ground flax seed or 14 walnut halves.

In the trial, published in the Journal of Nutrition, participants also received lifestyle counseling to improve eating and exercise habits.  However, lifestyle changes alone produced fewer benefits than with the addition of either flax seed or walnuts.

People in the study had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, a combination of factors, including belly fat, elevated blood sugar and/or blood pressure, that increases risk for diabetes and heart disease.  Belly fat is especially dangerous because it generates chronic inflammation.

Cranberry Benefits Prostate

A study of 42 men found that cranberry supplements - 1,500 mg of dried powdered cranberries daily for six months - reduced lower urinary tract symptoms and risk for prostate cancer.  Published in the British Journal of Nutrition, the study used standard medical measures of symptoms and PSA (prostate-specific antigen) tests to assess risk for prostate cancer.

Whey Lowers Blood Pressure

Washington State University researchers have found that whey protein, eaten daily, lowers blood pressure.  In a six-week study of 71 young men and women, 28 grams of whey protein per day in a beverage significantly lowered unhealthy levels of blood pressure.  It did not change healthy blood-pressure levels.  The study, published in the International Dairy Journal, noted that the protein is known to improve blood vessel function.

Are You Aging Fast or Slow?

The day after visiting a fair, my wife was in agony.  "You know you're past your prime," she said, "when you hurt all over and all you rode was the massage chair."

Pycnogenol Relieves Tinnitus

An extract of French maritime pine bark, Pycnogenol (150 mg per day) relieves ringing in the ear, or tinnitus, according to an Italian study of 82 people published in Panminerva Medica.  The supplement improves blood flow to the ear.

Friendly Bacteria Fight Colds and Flu

Infants are less likely to suffer from respiratory infections when they are given probiotics, or friendly bacteria, according to a study funded by the British Hournal of Nutrition.  In another study, in Italy, researchers found that adults' resistance to flu bugs improves with probiotics.

Both studies used a specific strain of friendly bacteria, B. Lactis, BB - 12, and the adult study also used L. Casei 431.  Each of these strains is found as an ingredient in various probiotics products.