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Big Brother AMA
by Nancy O'Meara

I devour books.  Awake till 3:00 am (so many good reads, so little time), off to work at 7:30.   Who hooked me? Tolkien - “The Hobbit” all through the night.

My brother flies 747’s - online. (Luckily he warned the virtual LAX Air Traffic Controller I was a trainee pilot; the 15 computer generated houses in Inglewood I rammed with a crash take off - forgiven.)

With three sisters, nephews, nieces and their spouses, I could name family enthusiasms for hours. Most dangerous? Extreme-skier nephew-in-law. Wears a universal locator, recovers others from avalanches.

This week the AMA is “voting” on whether one enthusiasm is a “disease.” Their choice? “Internet and video game addiction.”  (LA Times, Friday 22 June 2007, “Marathon sessions take over players: Is that sick?”)

According to the LA Times, “Doctors in favor of the proposal say the condition exists and needs to be recognized by the medical establishment so it can be properly treated.” 

Doctors in favor?

How can a doctor be in “favor” of a disease?  Isn’t a disease caused by a germ or virus? Aren’t diseases confirmed with a microscope? Blood tests? 

The “condition” exists?

According to whom? There’s been no clinical trial, no study, no peer reviewed paper. This proposal is based on a report called “Emotional and Behavioral Effects, Including Addictive Potential, of Video Games” a collection of quotes from dozens of published
articles. (Council on Science and Public Health Report 12-A-07) 

The report explains that the prototype video gamer is a 30-year-old male. Yes, 30 - grown man, bought his own computer, pays his own electricity bills.

Phrases such as “it is difficult to definitely conclude” and “cannot document a demonstrable long-term effect” and “it is not clear whether withdrawal symptoms are associated with video game overuse” appear throughout the document.

The concern, “overuse” of a computer, is never defined, while recommending limiting computer screen time to 1-2 hour allotments. Doesn’t work for me, I write and edit for a living.  How about you?

“Properly Treated?”

The two doctors, paid $25,000 for spending days sitting at a computer and looking up articles published on PubMed, recommend that the AMA “strongly encourages” the consideration and inclusion of “Internet/video game addiction” as a “formal
diagnostic disorder.”

“Arrogant” and “pompous” come to mind.

Except there’s another one: “dangerous.”

Why? Because this report is telling doctors to “vote” in a disease so that the American Psychiatric Association can add this “illness” to the list of approved psychiatric disorders to be “treated.”  Another of over 400 “disorders” (lists of behaviors, not diseases with a biological cause) for which the favored treatment is - drugs.

Drugs the FDA are issuing new warnings on as fast as video games are invented. Suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, violence, psychosis - not the symptoms the drugs are used to treat - the “side” effects the drugs cause.

So, “no thank you,” AMA. And “who do you think you are,” researchers who used the Internet to find no link between the internet/video games and violence, but plowed ahead with your apparently pre-determined recommendations?  Hope you aren’t researching the
cause of Alzheimer’s or multiple sclerosis

For the real world, I strongly encourage unplugging the computer (talk to my sister-in-law) or turning off the light (ask my husband).

Nancy O’Meara

Using Nutritional Supplements to address health challenges, how does it work?

Most people grow up using drugs as the therapy to turn to when they are sick?    But why is nutrition a much better method?

First the definition of Nutrition:

Nu-tri-tion n. (taken from www.dictionary.com )

1. The process of nourishing or being nourished, especially the process by which a living organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and for replacement of tissues.

2. The science or study that deals with food and nourishment, especially in humans.

3. A source of nourishment; food. 

Now if you think about what you learned in school, you know that the body is designed to discard old damaged cells.
and make new cells.  

What does the body need to do that?  the correct nutrition.   It needs not only protein, carbohydrates and fats, but it needs all the enzymes, vitamins, minerals and co-factors normally found in food.    It needs it to build healthy cells.  It needs natural vitamins to give the body what it needs to produce energy and to  function (digestion, movement, etc. etc.)

Proteins are the building blocks.  You need other nutrients to make the body work.... but you also need  nutrients so the body can replicate its old cells and build health new ones.

This is especially important when the body needs to replace injured or damaged cells.   If it isn't getting the right tools - the right nutrients, it can't do that and will reproduce cells that won't do the job.   

"The assumption that human technology could improve on the wisdom of nature has become a primary cause of disease in the modern world.  We dissect food, take out the most glaringly obvious parts, attempt to recreate them in a laboratory, and label them as 'active ingredients'.  In fact it is the symphony of nutrients working synergistically that provides the quantum healing power of whole foods."

September 2002 issue of the American Journal of Natural Medicine feature article by Patrick Quillan, PhD

The body given the correct nutrients will make things right in the body.   The body may need a lot of a specific vitamins  for a while, which is why we have whole food supplements. 
 

Why Supplements & not Drug Therapy?   

"One of the biggest tragedies of human civilization is the precedence of chemical therapy over nutrition.  It's the substitution of artificial therapy over natural, of poisons over food, in which we are feeding people poison in trying to correct the reactions of starvation."    Dr. Royal Lee - January 12, 1951

Drugs are used to cover up symptoms and alleviate suffering.   But drugs work by forcing the body to do something that it normally wouldn't do, covering up deficiencies, and will have side effects.   

Going to the cause of the problem and giving the body what it needs to fix the problem is what nutritional healing is all about. 

Improving Your Diabetic Condition With Exercise

Explanation of the role of exercise in the management of diabetes as a means of controlling blood sugar naturally and of the higher morning sugar levels known as the dawn phenomena.

The type 2 diabetic condition is brought about by a diet that is too high in carbohydrates and a lack of nutrients, which results in the insulin the body naturally produces becoming less and less effective in keeping blood sugar levels under control and in a normal range.

While change in diet and proper nutritional supplementation have a dramatic effect in controlling blood sugar naturally without the need for drugs or insulin, exercise can greatly contribute to the overall control of the diabetic condition, as can be seen in the following excerpt:

"While many people may begin exercising out of a sense of responsibility - the way children eat vegetables they don't like - the main reason they keep exercising is that it feels good."

"Overall, people who exercise regularly are better equipped to carry on day-to-day activities as they age."

"One of the great benefits is that many people find that when they exercise, they have less desire to overeat."

"Even though your fat won't 'melt away,' exercise, particularly if you're a Type II diabetic, is still of value in a weight-reduction program because muscle building reduces insulin resistance."

"As you increase your muscle mass, your insulin needs will be reduced - and having less insulin present in your bloodstream will reduce the amount of fat you pack away."

"As a result, your own insulin production gradually becomes more effective at lowering blood sugar."

excerpted from Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution
by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein

Higher Morning Sugar Levels?

Blood sugar can be kept at normal levels throughout the day, yet, many diabetics find that even though they have not eaten before bedtime, when they wake up in the morning their blood sugar levels are elevated. This is caused by something called the "dawn phenomenon":

"Although the mechanics of the dawn phenomenon aren't yet entirely clear, research suggests that the liver deactivates more circulating insulin during the early morning hours." [This results in sugar not being pushed into cells for energy but building up in the blood instead.]

"Investigators have actually measured blood sugar every hour throughout the night under similar circumstances. They find that the entire blood sugar increase occurs about 6-10 hours after bedtime for most people who are so affected."

"Both the time it takes for blood sugar to increase and the amount of the increase vary from one person to another. An increase may be negligible in some and profound in others."

excerpted from Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution
by Dr. Richard K. Bernstein

You can begin maintaining healthy blood sugar levels with regular exercise combined with a low carbohydrate diet and by supplementing with a natural med to lower blood sugar. This can also help reduce the effects of the "dawn phenomenon".

For more about Diabetes go to www.mcvitamins.com/diabetes.htm 

Lowering Blood Pressure: The Medications and the Natural Treatments

There are various methods of lowering blood pressure, all involve relaxing the small smooth muscles inside your arteries.  

The Medications

If you take blood pressure medications to address hypertension, you will need to take a blood pressure lowering drug for the rest of your life. These medications do not change the underlying reason that the blood pressure is high and so you have to take the medications continuously for them to work.

These drugs are attempting to address the reason for hypertension, which is the small smooth muscles inside your arteries that tense up. When these muscles tense up, the arteries become narrower, more rigid and less flexible. These medications will lower pressure by slowing your heart beat, interfering with nerve impulses to your arteries, removing water from your body, blocking biochemical reactions, or preventing calcium from entering the cells that make up the walls of your arteries.

Blood Pressure medications alter basic body functions not only in the blood vessels but other parts of the body as well.   Because all of the body’s systems work together, these drugs can create a wide array of side effects. 

There are different types of blood pressure medications.  

Beta-blockers:  are used to control irregular heartbeats. These drugs limit the ability of the heart to beat faster and as a result they reduce the ability of the person to or to physically respond to fight or flight during an emergency.  Fatigue is a side effect.  Beta Blockers can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes. 

ACE Inhibitors:  Lowers blood pressure by decreasing certain substances in the blood that tighten the blood vessels.   It will dilate the blood vessels so the blood will flow more smoothly and the heart can pump blood more effectively using less pressure.  Common side effects are violent cough, dizziness, fatigue and flu like symptoms.  It can also produce a pounding or uneven heart beat.

Diuretics:  Stimulates the kidneys to flush excess fluid and sodium out of the body.  Less blood volume allows the heart to move the blood easier.  Side effects are loss of potassium, dry mouth, and dehydration.

Calcium Channel blockers:  Keeps the blood vessels and heart from absorbing calcium, which causes the blood vessels to relax.  Common side effects are headache, nausea, constipation, rash, dizziness and fluid retention.

Alpha Blockers:  stops certain nerve impulses to the blood vessels causing the vessels to relax.  Common side effects are low blood pressure, dizziness, headache, pounding heartbeat, nausea, fatigue, fluid retention and an increase of the cholesterol levels in the blood. 

Vasodilators:  Cause the muscles in the blood vessels to relax, preventing the muscles from tightening and the walls of the blood vessels from narrowing.   Side effects are headache, nasal congestion, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, pounding heartbeat, fluid retention, fluid retention and dizziness.

Sometimes taking two or three of these drugs is recommended to be used at the same time, which creates even more side effects as a result of the chemical interactions between the medications.

Natural Treatments:  Addressing the underlying cause of the high blood pressure

Since blood pressure is affected by the small smooth muscles that line the inside walls of your blood vessels, the reason that these muscles tense up needs to be addressed.

The Reason:  The loss of vital minerals by poor diet, nutritional deficiencies, being overweight, alcohol and caffeine in excess, emotional and physical stress and being diabetic results in these small muscles tensing up.

It is the replacement of vital minerals to your body that is essential to the natural and effective control of blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels and making them supple again.

Taking the vitamins and minerals your body is deficient in will naturally relax the muscles, relax the blood vessels and lower the blood pressure. 

Magnesium is a key mineral.  The body needs a proper balance of potassium, sodium and calcium.  When the body is deficient in magnesium, the balance is disrupted.

We can’t get enough magnesium in our food supply as the soil is depleted of magnesium, and other vital vitamins and minerals.  Thus, supplementing our diet with whole food nutrients that will nourish the cells of your arteries will naturally lower blood.

For More about Blood Pressure go to:  http://www.mcvitamins.com/high-blood-pressure.htm 

Sidebar:

Are Your Vitamins Missing Something?

Millions of people take some kind of basic vitamin supplement every day. Why?

Some do it because they feel that foods today are not as nutritious as they used to be.

Some do it because they know they just don’t eat properly.

Some do it just as a precaution to be on the safe side.

Are the basic vitamin supplements you’re taking really giving you everything you need?

Find out at http://www.mcvitamins.com/WSN/whole-food-supplements.htm

Or you can call us at (888) 758-5590.