Health is based on a hierarchy of awareness. The highest level of awareness is of your spiritual potential and where you stand in relation to that potential.

Have you ever wondered just what kind of being you really are? What are you really made for? Why do you exist? Come up with a really good reason for your existence. It is essential. Remember, health is the ability to comprehend yourself in your environment. To spiritually comprehend, or to “take in the meaning, nature, or importance of”, your spiritual nature and potential is the baseline to vibrant and dynamic health. Your quality of life is based entirely on this awareness. So you may ask, just how is my health based on this spiritual awareness?

-Our emotions are a by-product of our spiritual perspectives and our life experiences.
-Our emotions guide the way we think.
-The way we think drives the energy flow in the body, which in turn drives the blood circulation.
-Our emotions also form chemical cascades that dictate the attitude and behavior of every cell in our body.
-The behavior of cells directs the newly discovered field of Epigenetics (http://www.sciencemag.org/ feature/plus/sfg/resources/res_epigenetics.dtl) which actually control our genes. It allows every thought and activity to be instantly integrated into our body and to be passed on to our posterity, with no change of actual genetic material.
-The food we eat also influences the way our genes express themselves, once again through this amazing epigenetic process.
-The activity we engage in influences our thoughts, energy production, circulation and level of emotions.
-This all regulates the expression of our genes.

As a result, our health is almost totally based on the spiritual perspective we assume.

It s very hard to convince someone who has low back pain, or chronic foot pain that it has a spiritual origin, but all things do. The ability to see this reality can be called the ability to “see far off”. The ability to see things from a distant perspective gives us a realization that we cannot get from our close up view of the world. To read some excellent examples of this ability see the two stories in my book, respectively on pages 170, and 173 and gain a deeper insight into this profound reality.

What are the things that limit our view? Many of us limit our scope of vision because of what we look at. We look at life through the window of:
1. Our appetites. This is a severely limiting perspective. If we allow this to be our motivation, we base or view on our stomach, our thumb(which controls the remote control), the area just below the waist line, or what kind of things we can put into our body that influence our state of being; like tobacco, alcohol, drugs, sugar, or stimulants.
2. Our prejudices: This is our judgments. We usually base much of our view on improper judgment. This does not only mean prejudice as we talk about it from a politically correct term, but our preconceived and ill conceived notions we hold dear, despite obvious and apparent contradictions in life.
3. Our fears: Our fears are simply those things we don’t want to happen. When we don’t want something to happen we are thinking about it, and where we put our thoughts and attention is where our energy goes. Where our energy goes is what we create more of in life. When we have fears, we tend to create the very thing we fear.
4. Our individual self-centered desires: This is the positive events we think we want, like winning the lottery. But for us to: win the lottery, get that job, be picked by the coach, means that someone else is not being chosen, or winning. So we are competing against others. For us to win, they must lose. We must be cautious of our selfish desires.
5. Our view of the world as we see it based on our MFTP’s: The beliefs we have been taught by our Mothers, Fathers, Teachers, or Preachers that are not correct and ultimately self limiting. These ideas, like well, you can’ have everything in life you want. Or sometimes you just have to take what you can get. These are limiting, destructive of our potential and just not true. Be cautious what beliefs you choose to buy into.
6. Finally, when we see far off, we will see the world as God sees it; through the lens of Love, Gratitude, and Humility. This state frees our vision, it opens our minds to see things as they really are. The other limiting views are blocked out and life takes on a full and refreshing ambiance.

Do you want to know what your spiritual perspective is? Look at your life, your emotions, loves, joys, frustrations, insecurities, physical health, fears and choices. It will show you your spiritual perspective. Do you like it? Is it all you want it to be? If not, ask better questions, gain greater insight by looking at the world in a different way. When the student is ready the teacher will appear. Be ready.

Have a blessed month.

By: Nikhil Swaminathan

Evidence began mounting as long as 70 years ago that restricting calories while consuming necessary amounts of sustenance could increase one's life span. Since then, a group called the North Carolina- based Calorie Restriction Society has sprouted whose 1,800 members routinely down about half of the daily caloric intake recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the hope of living to the ripe old age of 120.

New research may prompt the organization to send out nose plugs with its next newsletter.

A team of scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, New Mexico State University at Las Cruces, and the University of Houston found that the average life span of fruit flies on restricted diets decreased when they were exposed to food odors. The findings, according to lead researcher Scott Pletcher of Baylor's Huffington Center on Aging, suggest that the flies are "actually perceiving the environment," thinking that they are in a nutrient-rich place and then their bodies are "adaptively responding to it." The results imply there is likely some olfactory component affecting humans on caloric restriction diets as well.

Pletcher's group exposed two lab strains of fruit flies on caloric restriction to smells created by live yeast, an important constituent of the fly's diet. These flies died three to 10 days sooner-a 6 to 18 percent reduction in life span-than flies on the same diet that did not get a whiff of the yeast. Their life spans were further shortened if the flies actually ate the yeast paste.

Pletcher says the smell of yeast only had an effect on the life spans of dieting flies and not on those that were fully fed and likely already perceived their immediate environment to be nutrient-rich. "If you're in what might be considered an alternative physiological state that is associated with long life span under diet restriction, then the foods have some effect," he says, noting, "that suggests that there's some interaction because the odorants aren't having the same effect in all environments."

To determine if smell alone has an effect on longevity, Pletcher's team created a fruit fly strain that had a particularly sensitive olfactory receptor inhibited. Fully fed female flies with an impaired sense of smell exhibited an average life span increase of 56 percent compared with unaltered wild females. Males also lived longer that their wild counterparts. Pletcher says this indicates that odor- mediated aging and dietary effects on aging probably share some of the same physiological pathways.

Brown University ecologist Marc Tatar says the current study, published in this week's 'Science,' provides "really profound evidence" that longevity is controlled not by actual resources but rather by hormones that are cued to resources (such as the way plants sense winter by sunlight changes). "It's like the whole system doesn't actually function on the currency of resources anymore. It functions on virtual data about what the resources should be like," he says. "It's mind over matter."

Pletcher agrees with that analysis, at least in part. "Some component is due to perception," he says, "and another large component is actually consumption." But given the effect that eating versus smelling yeast had on longevity, he says, "Overall, I would guess consumption has a bigger effect than perception. That's for sure."

Obesity is generally discussed in terms of caloric intake (how much a person eats) and energy output (how much a person exercises). However, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia scientist, environmental chemicals found in everyday plastics and pesticides also may influence obesity. Frederick vom Saal, professor of biological sciences in MU’s College of Arts and Science, has found that when fetuses are exposed to these chemicals, the way their genes function may be altered to make them more prone to obesity and disease.

“Certain environmental substances called endocrine- disrupting chemicals can change the functioning of the fetus’s genes, altering a baby’s metabolic system and predisposing him or her to obesity. This individual could eat the same thing and exercise the same amount as someone with a normal metabolic system, but he or she would become obese, while the other person remained thin. This is a serious problem because obesity puts people at risk for other problems, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension,” said vom Saal.

Using lab mice, vom Saal has studied the effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, including bisphenol- A, which recently made news in San Francisco, where controversy has ensued over an ordinance that seeks to ban its use in children’s products. In vom Saal’s recent study, which he will present at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), he found that endocrine-disrupting chemicals cause mice to be born at very low birth weight and then gain abnormally large amounts of weight in a short period of time, more than doubling their body weight in just seven days. Vom Saal followed the mice as they got older and found that these mice were obese throughout their lives. He said studies of low-birth- weight children have shown a similar overcompensation after birth, resulting in lifelong obesity.

“The babies are born with a low body weight and a metabolic system that’s been programmed for starvation. This is called a ‘thrifty phenotype,’ a system designed to maximize the use of all food taken into the body. The problem comes when the baby isn’t born into a world of starvation, but into a world of fast food restaurants and fatty foods,” vom Saal said.

More research must be done to determine which chemicals cause this effect. According to vom Saal, there are approximately 55,000 manmade chemicals in the world, and 1,000 of those might fall into the category of endocrine-disrupting. These chemicals are found in common products, from plastic bottles and containers to pesticides and electronics.

“You inherit genes, but how those genes develop during your very early life also plays an important role in your prosperity for obesity and disease. People who have abnormal metabolic systems have to live extremely different lifestyles in order to not be obese because their systems are malfunctioning,” vom Saal said. “We need to figure out what we can do to understand and prevent this.”

“Perinatal Programming of Obesity: Interaction of Nutrition and Environmental Exposures” is the title of vom Saal’s AAAS presentation. Also presenting with vom Saal at the AAAS symposium are Reth Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Bruce Blumberg of the University of California-Irvine, George Corcoran of Wayne State University, and James O’Callaghan of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

NewsMax.com Wires
Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007

New scientific evidence is emerging that germs have been linked to heart disease and even cancer.

Do you have a program for limiting and reducing the number of germs that touch your body?

The winter cold and flu season may be upon us, but fighting germs is a yearlong effort.

Recently, WebMD magazine offered some helpful tips for minimizing your chances of picking up a bad bug. Some of their findings are most surprising!

Here are some ways to stop germs:

1) Don’t touch the first floor elevator button!

In an elevator, the first-floor button harbors the most germs because more people touch it than any other button. If you can, let someone else push it so you don’t have to touch it, said Charles Gerba, Ph.D., professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona.

If you’re alone, use your elbow instead of your finger to press the button. [Use your elbow even if others are there. Who cares if they think you’re a little strange!]

2) Dangerous shopping cart handles

Shopping cart handles are prime culprits in the spread of germs. Some supermarkets now offer germ-killing towelette dispensers in the cart area. Bring your own if they don’t. Use them to sanitize the cart handle-and never put fresh produce in the cart seat, where diaper-aged children often sit.

3) Watch those escalator handrails

Escalator handrails are loaded with germs. Don’t touch them if you can manage without them, Gerba advises.

4) Use the first toilet

Research shows that most people use the middle stall in public bathrooms, so avoid those. More use means they’re the dirtiest and have the most germs.

5) Office coffee pots dripping with disease

Your office coffee pot and mug may have been cleaned with a sponge dripping with germs (more on these later). Hang on to your own mug, and use a dishwasher when it’s time to clean it. Another trick: Keep apple cider vinegar in the office and pour a water/cider solution through the coffee machine weekly. It will help kill bacteria.

6) Kitchen Woes

Be aware that kitchen sponges, dishcloths, the kitchen and bathroom sinks, cutting boards, and even the bathroom floor carry more germs than the toilet seat.

New research suggests that if you want to sterilize your sponge, put it in the microwave for two minutes. A team of engineering researchers at the University of Florida found that two minutes of microwaving on full power killed or inactivated more than 99 percent of bacteria, viruses, or parasites, as well as spores, on a kitchen sponge.

7) Your desk is dirtier than the toilet

Get this: the typical office desk area has 400 times the amount of bacteria than the average toilet seat. Worst offenders: first, the office phone. Then, the desk. Finally, the keyboard. Use a disinfectant wipe to clean the desktop, computer, keyboard, and phone.

8) Avoid hand shaking, kissing

This may be an impossibility for some. But try to avoid shaking hands or kissing during the flu season.

While there are many steps in preventing disease, perhaps the most important is to wash your hands frequently.

Scrub your hands with warm water and soap for at least 15 to 20 seconds after using the bathroom; eating, working, or playing outdoors; playing with pets; or coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose. Anything less than 15 seconds won’t do the job.

Incredibly, 95 percent of people say they wash their hands after using the bathroom, but only 67 percent really do it. Worse, only 33 percent bother to use soap, and only 16 percent wash their hands long enough to remove germs.

One last caveat: Everyone is doing the “antibacterial craze”—getting soap and wipes that kill germs. Dr. Russell Blaylock suggests occasional use of these products is fine, but frequent may be bad.

Why?

The antibacterials also kill the good bacteria on your skin that your body needs to defend against bad bacteria.

Feb. 15, 2007

Washington-(CNN)—Eating seafood during pregnancy could help your child’s development, according to a new study in the British journal, Lancet.

The finding conflicts with a U.S. government advisory that pregnant women limit the amount of seafood they eat to 12 ounces a week (two or three meals), because of the mercury levels.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Bristol in Britain, and the University of Illinois-Chicago say that advice to limit seafood consumption could actually be detrimental to a child’s health.

After analyzing data from almost 9,000 British mothers and their children over an eight-year period, they found pregnant women who ate less than 12 ounces of seafood a week did not protect their children from adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Rather, they increased their child’s risk of poor verbal IQ development compared to mothers who ate more than 12 ounces a week.

The researchers said these children also had a greater risk of poor social development and poor motor control.

In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency issued a joint advisory recommending that pregnant women and nursing mothers eat no more than 12 ounces of fish and shellfish a week to prevent developmental problems in their babies or young children caused by the toxins in the seafood.

The advisory recommended not eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish, and advised not eating the same type of fish and shellfish more than once a week.

An FDA spokesman said the agency had not yet seen the study and would need to review it before commenting.

Following positive results in a clinical study on the effects of krill oil on adult ADHD, Neptune Technologies is in the process of designing a large- scale study to test the cognitive effects of krill oil.

Krill oil is derived from the planktonic family of crustaceans and is rich in omega-3 fats, phospholipids, and antioxidants.

In the recently completed clinical trial on ADHD, researchers evaluated the cognitive effects of krill oil as measured by Barkley’s Executive Function score of behavior inhibition, daily functional capacity and social behavior. The study examined 30 adults with confirmed diagnosis of ADHD.

The study on ADHD found that patients improved their ability to concentrate and their working capacity by an average of 60.2 percent after taking a daily 500mg dose of krill oil for six months. Researchers also reported a 50 percent improvement in planning skills and a 48.8 percent improvement in social skills.

ADHD strikes between 4 percent and 12 percent of children and 1 percent and 6 percent of adults in North America.

Nutra Ingredients, USA.com January 5, 2007