This is a very important question. The answer will affect every aspect of your life. In fact, I bet you have never even thought about this question. Are you Health oriented or Disease oriented in your health care?

Go ahead. Guess which way you are oriented. Do you even know how to recognize your committment in this way? Well, let me help you figure it out. Let's draw some distinctions between the two models of thinking.

Here is a small test. It will help determine how health oriented you are or how disease oriented you are. Once you have completed the test for yourself, copy it and send it to others. Find out what your friends and relatives are: Health or Disease Oriented.

1. My first thought when faced with a symptom is:
a. How to get rid of it.
b. What it means.

2. I exercise regularly because:
a. I know it helps prevent disease and is better for me
b. It gives me the freedom I want to live the type of life I want to live.

3. I will take drugs to help with a problem:
a. When it is most convenient.
b. When it is the best solution to the cause of the problem.

4. I go to the doctor:
a. When I have something wrong.
b. To make sure I stay as healthy as possible.

5. I am constantly seeking:
a. Security in life.
b. Better and better ways of living and expressing myself.

6. I would use surgery:
a. As a first resort to a problem.
b. As a last resort after exhausting all other reasonable means.

7. I use antibiotics:
a. When the Doctor prescribes them.
b. As a last resort to kill an infection that my body simply can't overcome.

8. When you get a cold:
a. Do you think you caught it?
b. Do you think you invited it in to serve a cause?

9. When I am upset:
a. I try to understand who upset me and why.
b. I ponder on how that serves me and why I choose to feel that way.

10. My health care plan in life is made of:
a. Regular visits to my Doctor to be tested to see if I have anything wrong.
b. Regular visits to my Doctor to keep my body functioning in the optimal range of my potential.

Add up your answers. If you scored:
8-10 "a" answers, you are a medical doctor's dream.
6-8 "a" answers, you are starting to think in terms of Health.
--If you are in the above range, you need to get my book and start learning about the virtues of health.--
4-6 "b" answers, you are definitely becoming health-oriented. Life is getting exciting.
6-8 "b" answers, not only is life exciting, but you enjoy each day of life.
8-10 "b" answers, life is a big exciting game that brings wonder and joy at every turn.

The more health-oriented you are, the more self-empowered you are, the more you enjoy life, and the more you search out and find new and exciting things in life. Life is an adventure. Enjoy!

Vegan Diet Reverses Diabetes Symptoms, Study Finds

WASHINGTON - People who ate a low-fat diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on a standard American Diabetes Association diet, researchers said this week.

They lowered their cholesterol more and ended up with better kidney function, according to the report published in Diabetes Care, a journal published by the American Diabetes Association.

Participants said the vegan diet was easier to follow than most because they did not measure portions or count calories. Three of the vegan dieters dropped out of the study, compared with eight on the standard diet.

"I hope this study will rekindle interest in using diet changes first, rather than prescription drugs," Dr. Neal Barnard, president of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine, which helped conduct the study, told a news conference Thursday.

An estimated 18 million Americans have type-2 diabetes, which results from a combination of genetics and poor eating and exercise habits. They run a high risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and limb loss.

Barnard's team and colleagues at George Washington University, the University of Toronto, and the University of North Carolina tested 99 people with type-2 diabetes, assigning them randomly to either a low-fat, low-sugar vegan diet, or the standard American Diabetes Association diet.

After 22 weeks on the diet, 43 percent of those on the vegan diet and 26 percent of those on the standard diet were either able to stop taking some of their drugs such as insulin or glucose-control medications, or lowered the doses.

The vegan dieters lost 14 pounds on average while the diabetes association dieters lost 6.8 pounds.

An important level of glucose control called a1c fell by 1.23 points in the vegan group and by 0.38 in the group on the standard diet.

Dropping Drugs

A1c gives a measure of how well-controlled blood sugar has been over the preceding three months.

In the dieters who did not change whatever cholesterol drugs they were on during the study, LDL or "bad" cholesterol fell by 21 percent in the vegan group and 10 percent in the standard diet group.

The vegan diet removed all animal products, including meat, fish, and dairy. It was also low in added fat and sugar.

The American Diabetes Association diet is more tailored, taking into account the patient's weight and cholesterol. Most patients on this diet cut calories significantly and were told to eat sugary and starchy foods in moderation.

All 99 participants met weekly with advisors who advised them on recipes, gave them tips for sticking to their respective diets and offered encouragement.

"We have got a combination here that works successfully," said Dr. David Jenkins of the University of Toronto, who worked on the study. "The message that we so often get with diet is that it is no good because nobody follows it for very long."

Dr. Joshua Cohen, George Washington University associate professor of medicine, said everyone found to have diabetes is told to start eating more carefully.

"That may be among the hardest things that any of us can do," Cohen told the news conference.

The vegan diet "is at least as good, if not better than, traditional approaches," Cohen said.

Vance Warren, a 36-year-old retired police officer living in Washington, said he lowered his a1c from 10.4, considered uncontrolled diabetes, to 5.1, considered a healthy level, over 18 months. "My life is much better being 74 pounds lighter," Warren told the news conference.

Source: Washington Reuters, July 28, 2006.

Pediatricians Say Dairy OK for Lactose-Intolerant Kids

Tuesday, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) - (Okay, see if this article makes sense to you, or do you see the insanity in this as well?) The American Academy of Pediatrics has a new attitude about consumption of milk and milk products by children with lactose intolerance: Hey, give it a try.
New guidelines say the academy "supports use of dairy foods as an important source of calcium for bone mineral health and of other nutrients that facilitate growth in children and adolescents." Specifically, it does not recommend eliminating dairy products to treat lactose intolerance.
In practical terms, said Dr. Melvin B. Heyman, a member of the committee that wrote the guidelines, the new advice is for parents of children with lactose intolerance, in collaboration with pediatricians, to "test the system and see how much milk, cheese, and ice cream they can tolerate."
One reason for the new advice, said Heyman, who is a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, is that "we have more information about what people will tolerate. We know that children who have lactose intolerance have a tendency to tolerate some dairy products."
At least an equally important factor is the need for the calcium in dairy products, he said. "Young people have to get as much calcium as they can to lower the risk of problems with bones as they get older," Heyman said.
The new guidelines were published in the September issue of the academy's journal, Pediatrics.
An estimated 30 million to 50 million Americans have some degree of intolerance to lactose, the main sugar found in milk and other dairy products. They have a shortage of the enzyme lactase, which breaks down the sugar, and can experience unpleasant symptoms, including nausea, cramps, bloating, gas and diarrhea if they ingest too much lactose.
The condition is relatively rare in whites, but as many as 75 percent of blacks, 90 percent of Asian-Americans, and nearly 100 percent of Native Americans suffer from it. Symptoms generally start appearing after the age of 2.
When symptoms do appear, the first step should be to make sure that they are not caused by another condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome, celiac disease, and infection or parasites, Heyman said.
If lactose intolerance is the problem, it's important to remember that the condition does not do bodily damage, however unpleasant the symptoms might be, he said. (Dr. Olson Comment: "Sheesh! What kind of things will they think of next.) Careful testing can help determine which products affect an individual and which are a lesser problem. "Some people might tolerate yogurt but have problems with milk," Heyman said.
The important point is that young people get an adequate amount of calcium,(Dr. Olson Comment: Dairy is not the only source of calcium, and in the end is not a very good source at all. Try broccholi, spinach, nuts and meats. Dairy has many negatives. This must be pushed by the dairy counsel. Be careful of the advice you take.) he said. The guidelines note that the National Medical Association, an organization of black physicians, "recently recommended that black people consume three to four servings a day of low-fat milk, cheese, and/or yogurt."
"If lactose-free diets are used for treatment of lactose intolerance, the diets should include a good source of calcium and/or calcium supplementation to meet daily recommended intake levels," the guidelines state.

The Frightening Teen Age Brain

Teenagers take less account than adults of people's feelings and, often, even fail to thing about their own, according to a UCL neuroscientist. The results, presented at the BA Festival of Science today, show that teenagers hardly use the area of the brain that is involved in thinking about other people's emotions and thoughts, when considering a course of action.
Many areas of the brain alter dramatically during adolescence. One area in development well beyond the teenage years is the medial prefrontal cortex, a large region at the front of the brain associated with higher-level thinking, empathy, guilt and understanding other people's motivations. Scientists have now found that, when making decisions about what action to take, the medial prefrontal cortex is under-used by teenagers. Instead, a posterior area of the brain, involved in perceiving and imagining actions, takes over.
Dr. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore of UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, giving the BA Festival's BAYS lecture, said: "Thinking strategies change with age. As you get older you use more or less of the same brain network to make decisions about your actions as you did when you were a teenager, but the crucial difference is that the distribution of that brain activity shifts from the back of the brain (when you are a teenager) to the front (when you are an adult).
"The fact that teenagers underuse the medial prefrontal cortex when making decisions about what to do, implies that they are less likely to think about how they themselves and how other people will feel as a result of their intended action.
"We think that a teenager's judgement of what they would do in a given situation is driven by the simple question: 'What would I do?' Adults, on the other hand ask: 'What would I do, given how I would feel and given how the people around me would feel as a result of my actions?' The fact that teenagers use a different area of the brain than adults when considering what to do suggests they may think less about the impact of their actions on other people and how they are likely to make other people feel."
In the study, teenagers and adults were asked questions about the actions they would take in a given situation while their brains were being scanned using fMRI. For example, 'You are at the cinema and have trouble seeing the screen. Do you move to another seat?' A second set of questions asked what they would expect to happen as a result of a natural event eg. 'A huge tree comes crashing down in a forest. Does it make a loud noise?'
Although teenagers and adults chose similar responses, the medial prefrontal cortex was significantly more active in adults than in teenagers when questioned about their intended actions. Teenagers, on the other hand, activated the posterior area of the brain known as the superior temporal sulcus-an area that's involved in predicting future actions based on past actions.
While children start to think about other people's mental states at around age five, this new data shows that the neural basis of this ability continues to develop and mature well past early childhood.
A second piece of research presented at the festival shows that teenagers are also less adept at taking someone else's perspective and deciding how they would feel in another person's shoes.
Participants aged eight to 36 years were a sked how they would feel and how they would expect someone else to feel in a series of situations. Adults were far quicker than teenagers at judging emotional reactions-both how they would feel and how a third party might feel in a given situation. For example, "How would you feel if you were not allowed to to to your best friend's party?" or "A girl has just had an argument with her best friend. How does she feel?"
Dr. Blakemore said: "It seems that adults might be better at putting themselves in other people's mental shoes and thinking about the emotional impact of actions-but further analysis is required. The relative difficulty that teenagers have could be down to them using a different strategy when trying to understand someone else's perspective, perhaps because the relevant part of the brain is still developing. The other factor to consider is that adults have had much more social experience."
"Whatever the reasons, it is clear that teenagers are dealing with, not only massive hormonal shifts, but also substantial neural changes. These changes do not happen gradually and steadily between the ages of 0-18. They come on in great spurts and puberty is one of the most dramatic developmental stages."

Accutane Harms Your Liver, Increases Your Cholesterol

Accutane, an acne medication known to cause birth defects, can also raise the risk for potential heart and liver problems more often than had been thought.
The drug was already known to increase levels of cholesterol, liver enzymes and triglycerides (a kind of blood fat that can raise the risk of heart disease), all of which can lead to serious illness over the long term. But a new study found that the risks of these problems were higher than expected.
Lab tests on more than 13,000 patients showed abnormal results for cholesterol and liver function with much greater frequency than had been predicted. Most patients' lab tests returned to normal when they stopped taking the drug.
In all, 44 percent of those taking the drug developed high levels of triglycerides, where 25 percent had been predicted. Another 31 percent developed high cholesterol levels and 11 percent showed abnormal liver function.
Archives of Dermatology August 2006; 142(8): 1016 -1022
____________________________________________________ _
Use our safe and effective Chinese Herbal Formula for acne. Cearing up your teenagers skin is safe and effective with Colorful Phoenix Pearl Combination. This excellent formula, when combined with proper nutrition is safe and effective way to go. -Dr. O.
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Vitamin D May Cut Pancreatic Cancer Risk by Nearly Half

Consumption of Vitamin D tablets was found to cut the risk of pancreatic cancer nearly in half, according to a study led by researchers at Northwestern and Harvard universities.
The findings point to Vitamin D's potential to prevent the disease (The two best sources of Vitamin D are the dreaded sun and Cod liver oil) , and is one of the first know studies to use a large- scale epidemiological survey to examine the relationship between the nutrient and cancer of the pancreas. The study, led by Halcyon Skinner, Ph.D., of Northwestern, appears in the September issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.
The study examined data from two large, long-term health surveys and found that taking the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance of Vitamin D (400 IU/day) reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 43 percent. By comparison, those who consumed less than 150 IUs per day experienced a 22 percent reduced risk of cancer. Increased consumption of the vitamin beyond 400 IUs per day resulted in no significant increased benefit.
From American Association for Cancer Research, Sept. 2006

Drug Reactions Send 700,000 Yearly to ER

CHICAGO - Harmful reactions to some of the most widely used medicines-from insulin to a common antibiotic-sent more than 700,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year, landmark government research shows.
Accidental overdoses and allergic reactions to prescription drugs were the most frequent cause of serious illnesses, according to the study, the first to reveal the nationwide scope of the problem. People over 65 faced the greatest risks.
"This is an important study because it reinforces the really substantial risks that there are in everyday use of drugs," said patient safety specialist Bruce Lambert, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago's college of pharmacy.
Even so, the study authors and other experts agreed that the 700,000 estimate was conservative because bad drug reactions are likely often misdiagnosed.
The study found that a small group of pharmaceutical warhorses were most commonly implicated, including insulin for diabetes; warfarin for clotting problems; and amoxicillin, a penicillin-like antibiotic used for all kinds of infections.
"These are old drugs which are known to be extremely effective. We could not and would not want to live without them. But you've got to get the dose exactly right. Variations, especially on the high side, are really dangerous," Lambert said. He was not involved in the research.
Those aged 65 and older faced more than double the risk of requiring emergency room treatment and were nearly seven times more likely to be admitted to the hospital than younger patients.
The results, from 2004-05, represent the first two years of data from a national surveillance project on outpatient drug safety. The project was developed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The study was published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study did not include information on whether any of the reactions were fatal.
"The numbers are quite troubling," said Jim Conway, senior vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The tally underscores that "there is a tremendous number of consumers in the United States taking medication."
The CDC has estimated that about 130 million Americans used prescribed medication every month. U.S. consumers buy far more medicine per person than anywhere else in the world.
Yet a recent study found that doctors' conversations with patients when prescribing new drugs aren't very thorough and that side effects often aren't mentioned. Many of the drugs implicated in the new study require frequent physician monitoring to make sure the dose is correct.
The new findings highlight the need for better doctor-patient communication about use of medicines, Conway said.
The number likely underestimates the number of people who have bad drug reactions outside a hospital setting because many don't get ER treatment, while others who do may have symptoms that are mistakenly attributed to something else, said patient safety expert Dr. David Bates, a professor at Harvard Medical School.
Still, Bates called the effort a significant contribution since previous reports on the problem have not been national in scope.
Copyright 2006, Associated Press

Please join us for our upcoming Healing S.E.N.S.E. Seminars. Coming this month:

Thursday, November 2nd
Emotional Health
-Emotion is the number one cause of disease. Once we have a firm spiritual foundation to build emotionally, we are free to transform to reflect a deeper reality that stems from viruses.

Thursday, November 16th
Spiritual Health
-Take a deep look into the spiritual aspects of health and our lives. Our spiritual perspective sets the foundation of health and our life experience.

Where: The Des Peres Lodge (at the corner of Manchester and Des Peres Rd)
Time: Registration begins at 6:45pm. Classes start at 7.
Cost: $50 per class

Please contact either Diane or Nicole if you are interested in attending either of these classes. 636-225-2121

Could Antiperspirants Raise Breast Cancer Risk?

MONDAY, March 6 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists believe aluminum salts found in antiperspirants could heighten breast cancer risk, but they caution that this theory requires further investigation.
According to the authors of a review in the April issue of the Journal of Applied Toxicology, chemicals that mimic the body's natural hormone estrogen are known to affect breast cancer risk. And there's increasing evidence that aluminum salts, which account for 25 percent of the volume of some antiperspirants, can get through the skin and into the body, where they can mimic estrogen.
"Since estrogen is known to be involved in the development and progression of human breast cancer, any components of the environment that have estrogenic activity and which can enter the human breast could theoretically influence a woman's risk of breast cancer," article author Dr. Philippa Darbre, of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading in the U.K., said in a prepared statement.
Since antiperspirants are sprayed into the armpits, exposure to aluminum salts is concentrated near the breasts. Furthermore, women often apply antiperspirants immediately after shaving their armpits, which means the skin there is likely to be damaged and less able to keep out the aluminum salts.
"It is reasonable to question whether this aluminum could then influence breast cancer," Darbre said.
Aluminum salts in antiperspirants aren't the only concern, she noted. Smoking tobacco introduces the element cadmium into the body, and cadmium can collect in breast tissue. Cadmium can bind to estrogen receptors and influence their action. There is evidence that the accumulation of cadmium can increase breast cancer risk.
"Each of these agents on their own may not have a powerful effect, but we need to see what happens when a number of them act together -- it could be that this would have a significant effect on diseases like breast cancer," Darbre said.

Aluminum and Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a terrible illness and a major public health problem. Five percent of people over 65 have a severe case and another 10% have a mild to moderate degree of AD.
The cause of AD is unknown. However, environmental influences appear to be important. Aluminum is a widely recognized nerve toxin. It has been found in increased concentrations in all AD affected tissue. Recent scientific studies provide four independent lines of compelling evidence that implicate aluminum's role in the cause of AD.
Laboratory observations of the learning and memory performance of animals support the association. If aluminum is directly injected into the brain of sensitive species such as cats and rabbits, they will have delayed memory and learning impairment. They will then develop altered muscle control, muscle jerks, and seizures. Their illness is very similar to AD in humans. Aluminum also induces neurochemical changes. Abnormal accumulation of aluminum has been found in at least four sites in the AD-affected brain.
(Dr. O's comments: Flu shots is a major source of Aluminum in the body. Think twice an do some homework before you put the flu shot in your body.) Environmental aluminum is linked to increased rates of AD. Aluminum is a common constituent of the environment and has no recognized biologic function. It is absorbed primarily through the intestine but also through the lungs and skin. Seven studies have related elevated aluminum concentrations in drinking water to an increased incidence of AD.
Of more practical importance is a case-control study which looked at the association of AD and lifetime exposure to aluminum in antiperspirants and antacids. Scientists found a direct correlation. The more antiperspirant that was used, the more likely the person would develop AD. The same held true for aluminum antacids. The risk in high users was as high as 300%.
There is another line of independent evidence that shows aluminum is associated with the cause of AD. If persons affected with AD are given a compound which binds aluminum and helps to remove it from their body, they deteriorate at much slower rates compared to those who do not receive the binder.
Science still has quite a few years of research before it can definitely state that aluminum causes AD. However, the above items of evidence should encourage us to limit our aluminum intake if we hope to avoid this horribly devastating illness. There are several practical recommendations that can be used:
1. Avoid antiperspirants. Nearly all antiperspirants have aluminum salts which are absorbed into your body. An effective alternative would be to vigorously wash your armpits daily with an effective and gentle antibacterial soap like Lever 2000. Dial would also work but is not as gentle to your skin. If odor is still a problem one could use a deodorant. Deodorants with clay do not have aluminum salts in them and pose no threat and can hep some with perspiration. Oral chlorophyll pills can also help reduce body odor and can help eliminate the need for deodorants.
2. Avoid aluminum containing antacids. The main ones are Mylanta and Maalox. Acceptable alternatives include Tums and Rolaids which are pure calcium and also help to build dense bones.
3. Avoid using food in aluminum cans. The cans have a protective food liner, but this liner can deteriorate over time and allow aluminum from the can to seep into the food. Any tomato containing products are especially vulnerable. It would also be wise to avoid soda in cans. Try to use the glass bottle containers if at all possible.
4. Avoid cooking in aluminum cookware and any cookware that is coated with a non-stick finish that is cracked. Stainless steel is the better, and ceramic or porcelain is the best.
5. Best of all look into our new and wonderful deoderant. It is all natural, efective, long lasting, safe and not expensive. The next article will fill you in.

NatureRich Deodorant Mist

NatureRich Deodorant Mist is a total body spray that is a safe and effective "natural" way to combat unpleasant body odor. The natural mineral salts inhibit the growth of bacteria on the surface of the skin and in sweat, eliminating odor without clogging pores and stopping the perspiration process. Perspiration is a necessary process that excretes toxins from your body. Eliminate the bacteria, and you eliminate the odor. It's that simple. The Deodorant Mist is free from artificial fragrances and perfumes, oils, emulsifiers, alcohol, and other harmful chemicals, such as aluminum chlorhydrate (a potential cancer-causing agent). It is non-staining, hypoallergenic and non-aerosol. To use, spray 4-6 times on any part of the body after bathing.
Natural Ingredients: Purified water and mineral salts
Price: $20 for an 8oz. bottle (lasts avg. 3-4 months)