(Tenth in a Series)

The Body

The human body is a carbon based combustion engine, operating at roughly 37.0 degrees Celsius, or 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

It needs fuel and oxygen to operate, and the way the body changes the food you eat into energy and building blocks for internal consumption is called metabolism (from the Greek metabole "change").

Metabolism - Converting Food Into Energy

This conversion is achieved by a complex biochemical process, where calories-whether from carbohydrates, fats or proteins-are chemically combined with oxygen to form cellular building blocks while also releasing the energy your body needs to function.

The total number of calories you consume in a day is called yourtotal energy intake. The total number of calories your body burns each day is called-you guessed it-your total energy expenditure.

The following three factors constitute your total energy expenditure:

Basic needs

Amazingly, the majority of calories consumed in any one day are used by the body for basic maintenance, for even when at rest your body requires energy as fuel for organs, breathing, blood circulation, adjusting hormone levels, as well as for cell production and repair.

The number of calories used to meet these basic needs are referred to as your basal metabolic rate (BMR)-basal refers to base, fundamental, what forms or belongs to the foundation (of your body).

A person's BMR typically constitutes as much as two-thirds or three-quarters of all calories consumed. It is also noteworthy that basal energy needs stay fairly constant and do not easily change.

Food processing

The process by which the body digests, absorbs, transports and stores the food you consume also requires energy. This activity uses about ten percent of the calories you consume. As with basal energy needs, the energy needed to process food remains fairly constant and is not easily changed.

Physical activity

Physical activity, however, is a factor you can control: by playing tennis, by walking to the store, by hiking, cooking, channel surfing; in other words, by moving
.
Physical activity accounts for the remainder of calories consumed, roughly 15 to 25%.

Frequency, duration, and intensity of your movements (activity) determine how many calories you burn.

Metabolism and your weight

While it may seem logical that low metabolism should result in obesity, this is rarely the case. It is, in fact, quite uncommon for low metabolism to cause excess weight.

First Law of Thermodynamics (1LTD)

Instead, it's our old friend 1LTD (which you may want to tattoo somewhere easily viewed as a constant reminder) that again rears its conspicuous head, for weight gain is most often cause by an imbalance between total energy intake, and total energy expenditure; in other words: by consuming more calories than your body burns.

To lose weight-and yes, the broken record analogy springs to mind-you simply need to create an energy deficit by consuming fewer calories than you burn-by eating less while increasing your physical activity.

Your Calorie Needs

If everyone had identical bodies, we could easily determine basal energy needs. But-luckily-this is not the case. Therefore, to establish your calorie needs you need to take into account your body size and composition, your age, and sex.

Body Size and Composition

In a nutshell, larger body mass requires more energy (that's to say more calories) than smaller body mass. Also, as you probably know, muscle burns more calories than does fat; so the higher your muscle to fat ratio, the higher your basal metabolic rate.

Age

Age brings with it a decrease of muscle in favor of fat, which lowers the basal metabolism; and metabolism itself tends to grow more inefficient with age. This means that your calorie needs naturally decrease as you grow older. Keep that in mind.

Sex

As a rule, men have more muscle and less body fat than women of the same age and weight do. This is why men generally have a higher basal metabolic rate and burn more calories-just sitting still (or changing the channel)-than women do.

Burning Calories

When it comes to burning calories, there isn't very much you can do about your metabolism or digestive system, speeding them up or slowing them down; your only option-realistically speaking-is to increase daily exercise and activity to both burn calories through movement and build muscle tissue which in turn burns more calories.

And the key to exercise is regularity. As in daily. Take a 30-minute walk every day. It's an excellent aerobic way to burn calories.

As you age, you may also want to add weight training to help counteract muscle loss.

That said, any movement burns calories. This means walking to the store rather than driving, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, playing with the dog rather than watching television, hiking, swimming, dancing. You name it.

Bottom Line

While it is true that the majority of your energy needs are determined by your metabolism, you ultimately determine your weight by what you eat and how much of that intake you burn through physical activity.

1LTD.

When you are looking for the most effective fast weight loss pills, you may find it tough to resolve which is most suitable for you. Without doubt, any firm selling their weight loss pills are going to state that theirs work more effectively than those of the competition, but they aren't aware of your physiological needs.

When choosing the weight loss pill you're going to use, make sure that you fully check out the company who is selling it. Read critiques of the product so that you can get a good idea on how well you can expect it to work for you. Just make sure that you read professional reviews that are impartial. Alternatively read reviews by people who have actually used the product. Contact them, if you can and ask if they're prepared to tell you what sort of size and shape they were before using the pills and what sort of lifestyle they have. This will help you to ascertain the similarity with your own and the likelihood that the same pills will work for you.

Another thing you should when purchasing weight loss pills is the list of ingredients. You would be surprised at the rubbish that goes into some of them. Familiarise yourself with every constituent part so that you can be certain that you are comfortable with the idea of taking it and that you don't have any known allergies.

Regardless of which pill you opt for, it is absolutely necessary to use it only as a supplement. Using a fat burning pill only is not going to give you the best wieght loss results. It is important to eat a healthy diet that is full of all the nutrition that your body needs. Exercise is also very important because it will help you burn calories and consequently to lose weight more efficiently.

Finding the best fast weight loss pills doesn't have to be a complete nightmare. If you follow the few tips above, you will be able to buy based on knowledge, not guesswork, and it will help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Pandemics lurk on every corner - there's Aids, SARS, the Bird Flu, the Swine Flu, and various others that have not made such a deep impression on the public mind. The "fear factor" makes us accept what we would normally question, like toxic drugs (AZT and Tamiflu) and the barbaric practice of vaccination.

However, the exaggerations needed to instil that fear in us become transparent and the fear mongers stand to lose the support of the medical profession. Thus the push needed to bring about our fear may be a key to reforming medicine. Having gone over the top, the fear mongers become vulnerable to exposure of their real agendas...

AIDS DISSIDENTS ANNOUNCE RA 2009 CONFERENCE PROGRAM

San Francisco (Rethinking AIDS) September 21, 2009 -- The Rethinking AIDS 2009 conference is proud to announce its program, including keynote speaker Michael Tracey and a screening of the controversial new documentary 'House of Numbers'. Numerous scientists, doctors, activists and HIV-positive people will be in attendance from November 6 - 8th at the Waterfront Plaza Hotel in Oakland. Media are invited to all conference sessions including the film screening.

This conference will question all aspects of the HIV=AIDS=Death theory, including the accuracy of HIV tests, the safety and efficacy of AIDS drugs, the non-likelihood of sexual transmission, the social and legal consequences and even the very existence of HIV.

These skeptics claim HIV/AIDS is the biggest medical catastrophe ever adopted by the medical-pharmaceutical establishment. They have evidence that those supposedly dying of AIDS are really dying from pre-existing diseases, well-known health risks such as drug abuse and malnutrition, the psychological stress of a fatal diagnosis and the AIDS medicines themselves...

Irish Health Trade Group challenges UK Press over biased reporting
ANH Comment:
It is of great concern to us that the negative stories that appear in the press so often appear to be about studies that you get the feeling are ‘designed’ to fail, with inappropriate doses and combinations of synthetic nutrients, and the negative ‘spin’ often takes even the researchers themselves by surprise. It is particularly interesting to hear that respected professors and academics are unhappy about the way their views had been “represented in the papers”...

Video:Vitamin D - You need it

The Importance of ph Balance
This was posted as a comment on an older article on this site, and I would like to draw attention to it here.
According to a current stream of research, the natural pH in the human body fluctuates, over a 24 hour period, between alkalosis and acidosis. If this oscillation did not occur, it would be impossible for the various biochemical processes in the body to take place and metabolism would grind to a halt. This ebb and flow in our pH is precisely what drives the engine of biological life.

Oppose FDA Declaration of Electroshock Safety
The US Food and Drug Administration is in charge of regulating medical devices just as it does drugs, including the machines used to give Electroshock. But it's not doing its job. It has allowed these machines to be used on millions of patients over the past generation without requiring any evidence whatsoever that shock treatment is safe or effective!

Big anti-GM protest in Germany
Thousands of protesters took to the streets against GM yesterday (Sunday, Sept. 13), in the southern German town of Ulm (in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg). The protest kicked of with a tractor demonstration involving 120 vehicles. The event was themed "Diversity feeds the world" and included a huge GM-free food festival. The protesters called for a ban of GMOs in farming in Germany, for both cultivation and feed.

This article and a number of other recent news items on the issue of genetically modified organisms collected on the dr. Rath Foundation's site show that international resistance keeps building against the plan to monopolize our food supply through patentable (genetically modified) seeds which form the backbone of big agro multinationals' takeover strategy.

Vitamin C deficiency worse than feared
Vitamin C deficiency is becoming increasingly common. A University of Toronto study, led by Leah Cahill, found that 1 in 7 of young non-smoking Canadian adults had serum vitamin C deficiency. In the US, 15% of adults are estimated to be deficient. A quarter of a century ago, this figure was only about 3 – 5%. In Mexico, the percentage of women who were vitamin C deficient was estimated in 2003, to be as high as 40%, which may have serious clinical implications for their babies and children.

Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.
Behind the scenes, however, MK-869 was starting to unravel. True, many test subjects treated with the medication felt their hopelessness and anxiety lift. But so did nearly the same number who took a placebo, a look-alike pill made of milk sugar or another inert substance given to groups of volunteers in clinical trials to gauge how much more effective the real drug is by comparison. The fact that taking a faux drug can powerfully improve some people's health—the so-called placebo effect—has long been considered an embarrassment to the serious practice of pharmacology.

Doctors' speeches on brand-name drugs can net thousands
Boca Raton psychiatrist Donna Holland spent a day this month in San Antonio talking to doctors about the hyperactivity drug Strattera for manufacturer Eli Lilly and Co.

Her pay for that 45-minute speech: $1,500 plus expenses.

She's one of 24 doctors in Broward and Palm Beach counties who were paid a total of $200,000 in speaking fees from Lilly in the first three months of 2009.

I suppose you can all say "conflict of interest"...

Pfizer paid agency thousands to boost drug sales, suit claims
Pfizer Inc. paid the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill [a group posing as a grassroots patient advocacy - Sepp] hundreds of thousands of dollars and its former president thousands more, turning the organization into a “Trojan horse” for an illegal marketing scheme that helped boost the schizophrenia drug Geodon's sales by millions of dollars a year, according to a lawsuit unsealed this week.

Gardasil and Cervarix: Vaccination insanity
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 20 million Americans are infected with HPV. There are 6.2 million new infections each year. The CDC says that at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women get an HPV infection at some time in their life. The American Social Health Association says HPV is the most common sexually transmitted virus and puts that number at 75 percent or more.”

Yet while these “infections” are so common as to be virtually routine, almost no one contracts the diseases that these infections supposedly cause:

“The CDC says that although HPV is very common in both sexes, most men won’t develop symptoms or serious health problems, and there is no test to detect the virus in men.

Yet there is talk about giving that vaccine to boys as well as girls. Another profitable pharmaceutical product that prevents .... nothing, except perhaps financial hardship for the producer.

Dr. Andrew Moulden: What You Were Never Told About Vaccines
"Through my extensive research and my work throughout the years, I have discovered that vaccinations are causing impaired blood flow (ischemia) to brain and body from clinically silent to death. These are strokes – across the board for all of us. I have reason to believe that all are being affected and all vaccinations ARE causing the overwhelming rise in autism, specific learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, sudden infant death, gulf war syndrome, dementia, seizure disorders, some cancers it would appear, and much much more."

Swine flu death rate similar to seasonal flu: expert
"It's mildest in kids. That's one of the really good pieces of news in this pandemic," Lipsitch told a meeting of flu experts being held by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.

"Barring any changes in the virus, I think we can say we are in a category 1 pandemic. This has not become clear until fairly recently."

The Pandemic Severity Index set by the U.S. government has five categories of pandemic, with a category 1 being comparable to a seasonal flu epidemic.

Ignore the health scare professionals: you won't die of swine flu
I don’t really blame the pharmaceutical companies: they’re doing what all big corporations aim to do, namely to maximise their profits. But I do blame the politicians who are falling for it. Ministers must suspect that the danger is being exaggerated. Yet they would rather spend gazillions than run the slightest risk of being accused of not having done enough. And, needless to say, there isn’t a medical advisory body in the world that will say: “Actually, minister, considering everything in the round, the danger posed by this virus is minor, and we recommend the disbandment of this panel”.

Health care workers often shun flu shot
... nearly 50 percent of the nation's health care workers also ignore the reminder, often for the same reasons. They think they don't need it, doubt its efficacy or are convinced the vaccine carries risks of dangerous side effects.

Well - they should know about side effects ... which through reporting bias remain largely unreported and thus unknown to large segments of the public.

CDC: First swine flu vaccines may be nasal spray
Currently it looks like all of them will be a nasal spray vaccine that is approved only for healthy people ages 2 to 49, said Dr. Jay Butler, an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The nasal spray, called FluMist, is not recommended for some of the people most in danger of severe swine flu complications.

I seem to recall that nasal sprays, which use live attenuated virus, carry a danger of producing mutations in the virus - hmmm, why would they put out such a dangerous vaccine as the first step?

Preparing for the Real Pandemic
I believe that the real pandemic is about to be unleashed through the very vaccines being pushed by governments and pharmaceutical giants like Novartis and Glaxo Smith Kline. The shots will be the cause, not the cure, of the pandemic.

USA: Senate Hearings Held on Dangers of Cell Phone Use
But new research is serving as a wake-up call. The Environmental Working Group is warning that using a cell phone for 10 years or more significantly increases a person's risk for certain types of brain cancer.

"The studies are showing 50 [to] 90 percent increased risk for those rare tumors," said Jane Houlihan of the Environmental Working Group.

The study shows children are especially vulnerable, as their thinner skulls provide less protection and they absorb twice the radiation as adults.

HIV/AIDS priorities and other flaws
The hysteria over HIV/AIDS has meant that for nigh on two decades the world has been duped into considering the need for antiretroviral drugs to be the most urgent health issue in Africa, when even by official estimates HIV/AIDS takes only 1.5% of the African babies who die before the age of 5. On the other hand, it’s been shown that the simple and inexpensive act of providing mosquito nets can reduce drastically the incidence of malaria, which kills 5 times as many babies as HIV/AIDS is supposed to. Better sanitation, cleaner drinking water, and vitamin supplements to combat malnutrition could save an even larger number of babies than would the providing of mosquito nets.

VIRUSGATE?
It is unlikely that such a virus had been “circulating undetected among swine herds somewhere in the world.” And it is unlikely that pigs were the source of the current human pandemic, not even a remote potential. They have not yet seen this new virus infecting swine.

The researchers confirm that the new virus is an “odd mixture of human, pig and bird genes” and their study on the genetic code sequencing of the 70 samples from the US and Mexico confirm that this new virus is a mixture of genes from human, pig and bird genes as it is possible to determine where each of those genes originate.

- - -

CONTRIBUTE to these health newsgrabs.
Just tell me about a link you think is interesting. Email me at (sepp -at- lastrega -dot- com)
twitter (healthsupreme)
facebook (facebook.com/hasslberger)

And, by the way, there is much more information out there...

There is a lot I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist.

Zeus Info Service is one of those. Louise, who runs the site, also has a weekly newsletter all about homeopathy - Zeus Homeopathy News.

Dr Mercola's health blog, Mike Adams' Natural News and the One Click Group in the UK have good health information. The Dr Rath Foundation is also putting out a weekly collection of health related news. Here is the link to their Newsletter Archive.

For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emr-updates group on Yahoo. Genetic modification and issues around agriculture and foods are reported on the Organic Consumers Association site.

A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://www.truthout.org/

... and remember ...

The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition

I have just returned to Rome from Bologna, which is further to the north of Italy. A health foods and healthy living fair - SANA - was held there for four days, finishing Sunday. It was amazing to see how many people are realizing that their health is really in their own hands and that they had better inform themselves or lose out. The looming swine flu vaccine campaign was a major issue on many people's mind, and the general sentiment seems to be that the health authorities cannot be trusted to do the right thing. It appears ever more clear that, when vaccinations will be offered or worse imposed, people are ready to stay away in droves.

There is more information on the swine flu, including an interesting video by the former chief Medical Officer of Finland, further down towards the end of these newsgrabs.

The purpose of psychosis
The way in which our society treats people who experience the symptoms of schizophrenia is sickening, horrible. We immediately pump them full of powerful antipsychotic drugs. The drugs get in the way of the healing process in which the psyche is engaged and turn people into zombies and chronic mental patients.

What we should do is provide such people with a safe place in which they can live without any pressure to “get better”, “stop saying those things” or “straighten up”. A place in which the staff will just be with them as they go through the healing process in which they are engaged. A staff that will help them go through the experience, make some sense out of it, ultimately learn from it and come out the other side healthier, more balanced and more whole than when it started.

France approves Stevia sweeteners
The French government has approved the use of Stevia sweeteners with 97 per cent purity rebaudioside A (Reb A), officially opening up the first EU market for products containing the much-anticipated ingredient. While full EU approval for Stevia sweeteners is still dependent on a scientific opinion from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), France has taken advantage of a window that allows individual member states to approve ingredients for a limited two year period.

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is widely grown in tropical South America and Central America for its sweet leaves. As a sweetener and sugar substitute, Stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and the leaves are 250-300 times sweeter than sucrose. It is a natural, healthier alternative to sugar and is favoured by many over artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose.

New techniques slow progress of age-related vision loss
...studies have shown that supplements and a healthy diet can slow the progression of dry macular degeneration. A recent National Eye Institute study found that certain nutrients such as beta carotene (vitamin A) and vitamins C and E may reduce the risk of progression of early-stage AMD by 25 percent.

Other research has shown that B6, B12 and folic acid may help prevent age-related macular degeneration. In a study of more than 5,000 women, researchers noted those who took a combination of B6 and B12 vitamins along with a folic acid supplement had a 34 percent lower risk of developing AMD then those taking a placebo.

Frankenfoods - A plate full of toxins
The false claim of higher food production has been dislodged by a recent study by Dr Doug Gurian Sherman, a former biotech specialist for the US Environmental Protection Agency and former adviser on GM to the US Food and Drug Administration, titled "Failure to Yield". Sherman states, "Let us be clear. There are no commercialised GM crops that inherently increase yield. Similarly, there are no GM crops in the market that were engineered to resist drought, reduce fertiliser pollution or save soil. Not one".

European Court Ruling spells an end to water fluoridation
Fluoridated water must be treated as a medicine, and cannot be used to prepare foods. That is the decision of the European Court of Justice, in a landmark case dealing with the classification and regulation of 'functional drinks' in member states of the European Community.

The Court ruled that, where two different sets of rules appear to apply to a product, medicinal legislation must take precedence, and the product must be regulated as a medicine. It emphasised that medicines regulators in member states do not have the power to exercise discretion on the classification of such dual-function products.

UK government's 'National Fluoride Information Centre' is a sham
The 'National Fluoride Information Centre' was set up by the British Government in 2004. It was enthusiastically promoted as a reputable 'academically independent centre', and every effort was made to raise its public profile as a new and reliable Centre of Excellence, to persuade the public and the Health Sector that it would become an authoritative official source of information on fluoride.

Five years on, we have the evidence of what we have long suspected - that this 'National Centre' is a sham. It has no full-time staff, and no office. There is no manned Help Line. Instead, it's a tiny locked room in an almost empty building, abandoned as unfit for modern science two years ago.

'Silver' Fillings Still Prompt Dental Debate
There is no question that mercury, a heavy metal, is toxic in large doses. It can cause memory impairment; itching; burning; pain; tissue swelling; loss of hair, teeth and nails; kidney dysfunction; and psychiatric problems.

Silver fillings are known to dentists as amalgam, and are made up of a mixture of elemental mercury, which is liquid at room temperature, and a powdered alloy of silver, tin and copper.

Will Nutrasweet Be Banned For Causing Cancer?
The Huffington Post is reporting that new FDA chief Dr. Margaret Hamburg is expected to ban the use of aspartame, the substance in Nutrasweet...

Mutant Protein in Milk?
The protein, called A1 beta-casein, is well known in the scientific community. While most dairy companies, trade groups and government agencies consider it harmless, a growing body of research implicates A1 beta-casein in diabetes, heart disease, autism and schizophrenia.

Money-Driven Medicine: "Medical-Industrial Complex"
The U.S. spends twice as much per person on healthcare as the average developed nation, fully one-sixth of our GDP - yet our outcomes, especially for chronic diseases, are very often worse. What makes us different? The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that has chosen to turn medicine into a largely unregulated, for-profit business.

The U.S. example shows the extreme end of the scale, but pretty much every industrialized country is infected with the type of thought that makes medicine into a business instead of a compassionate endeavor to help people overcome illness and above all - to stay healthy.

And ... there is resistance to reform - any change has the potential to endanger the billion-dollar business that is the current health care, or rather disease care, system.

Ghostwriting: The Dirty Little Secret of Medical Publishing
While readers expect and assume that the named academic authors on a paper carried out the piece of work and then wrote up their article or review informed by their professional qualifications and expertise, instead we see a prime example of “ghostwriting”: a writing company was commissioned to produce a manuscript on a piece of research to fit the drug company's needs and then a person was identified to be the “author”:

Casting out devils: How salmonella kills tumors
Salmonella are regarded as bad guys. Hardly a summer passes without severe salmonella infections via raw egg dishes or chicken that find their way into the media. But salmonella not only harm us -- in the future they may even help to defend us against cancer. The bacteria migrates into solid tumors, and makes it easier to destroy them.

Why Current Thinking About Autism Is Completely Wrong
Dramatic scientific discoveries have taken place during the last 10 to 20 years that reveal the true causes of autism -- and turn conventional thinking on its head. For example, Martha Herbert, MD, a pediatric neurologist from Harvard Medical School has painted a picture of autism that shows how core abnormalities in body systems like immunity, gut function, and detoxification play a central role in causing the behavioral and mood symptoms of autism.

AIDS: House of Numbers is quietly explosive
Remarkable movie shows how AIDS story falls apart under questioning

As the scientists quarrel on camera about which combination of tests might be definitive, it emerges that all tests, even PCR tests, have package disclaimers saying that in themselves they confirm nothing about the HIV status of the individual. Meanwhile, test interpretation varies by country, and by the information you have given the tester (are you gay? are you poor?). Rapid tests, used widely now in South Africa, are unreliable and prove nothing, it turns out, though Brent takes one on camera. Many Africans are still judged to be AIDS victims without any testing at all (the Bangui definition is still widely used, he discovers, for symptoms as simple as diarrhea and fever, no testing required).

'Tamiflu turned my children into hallucinating, sobbing wrecks'
So what happened when we defied government advice and eschewed Tamiflu in favour of Calpol and cuddles? Within 24hours both of our children were completely recovered, save for those runny noses.

Yet the sobering fact is that today alone, the NHS will hand out Tamiflu to thousands of vulnerable little children who will go through needless suffering as a result of scaremongering about an illness which is no more dangerous than seasonal flu.

Of course, there is always the chance that your child will not suffer side effects, and the drug could reduce the length of the illness by a day - though even the Government now admits Tamiflu does virtually nothing to relieve symptoms.

Video:The Swine Flu Scandal
Dr Rauni Kilde, retired chief medical officer of Finland on the Swine Flu Conspiracy

Bird-Swine Flu Vaccine: Voluntary or Mandatory?
We decided to look into the issue and we found that while many of the scare stories circulating seem to have little in the way of foundation, it is indeed the case that on paper this novel, fast-tracked and virtually untested vaccine is mandatory in the UK and the rest of the European Union, the United states, Canada, Australia and many other countries...

Swine Flu: There are natural remedies - The US Government ignores them
Multiple studies have shown a possible link between vitamin D deficiency and influenza. During the winter cold and flu season, the sun is weaker and we get less or no vitamin D from exposure to solar rays. Having more Vitamin D has also been shown to reduce the incidence of upper respiratory infections.

Vaccine May Be More Dangerous Than Swine Flu
This virus continues to be an enigma for virologists. In the April 30, 2009 issue of Nature, a virologist was quoted as saying, “Where the hell it got all these genes from we don’t know.” Extensive analysis of the virus found that it contained the original 1918 H1N1 flu virus, the avian flu virus (bird flu), and two new H3N2 virus genes from Eurasia. Debate continues over the possibility that swine flu is a genetically engineered virus.

Next Marketing Frontier: Gardasil for Boys
Almost immediately after the Food and Drug Administration approved Gardasil in 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) unanimously endorsed the HPV vaccine for girls aged 11 and older. The result: Over 23 million doses of the $300-a-shot HPV vaccine (a course of three is required for the best immunity) were administered in its first three years on the market. Worldwide sales for Merck soared to more than $1.4 billion in both 2007 and 2008, more than half outside the U.S.

However, Merck's sales have slowed sharply this year as penetration of the most lucrative market -- well-insured and well-off young girls in the advanced industrial countries -- reached saturation. Over 25 percent of 13-to-17-year-old girls in the U.S. have now been vaccinated. So from Merck's perspective, it makes sense to move on to the next marketing frontier: teenage boys.

- - -

YOU MAY CONTRIBUTE to these health newsgrabs.
Just tell me about a link you think is interesting. Email me at (sepp -at- lastrega -dot- com)
twitter (healthsupreme)
facebook (facebook.com/hasslberger)

And there is much more information out there...

There is a lot I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist.

You can subscribe to the Zeus Newsletterhere. Appears twice monthly. If you would like to see some samples of Louise's collection of informative links, here are the archives. She also has a weekly newsletter all about homeopathy - Zeus Homeopathy News.

Dr Mercola's health blog, Mike Adams' Natural News and the One Click Group in the UK have good health information. The Dr Rath Foundation is also putting out a weekly collection of health related news. Here is the link to their Newsletter Archive.

The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group and the healthfreedom ning group are places to discuss and exchange information on what is happening in the world of natural health.

For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emr-updates group on Yahoo. Genetic modification and issues around agriculture and foods are reported on the Organic Consumers Association site.

A few sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't necessarily find on your tv or in the papers:

http://therealnews.com/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://www.truthout.org/

... and remember ...

The individual is supreme and ... we find our way through intuition

(Ninth in a Series)

In his book, Mindfulness with Breathing, Buddhadasa Bhikku, a rather famous Buddhist monk-at least in Theravada circles-had these very wise words to say about food: "We should eat food that is food. Do not eat food that is 'bait.' We eat food for the proper nourishment of life. We eat bait for the sake of deliciousness. Bait makes us unwise and causes us to eat foolishly, just like the bait on the hook that snags foolish fish. We must eat the kinds of food that are genuinely beneficial for the body, and we must eat in moderation."

That is probably the best statement on the subject of "Eat to Live vs. Live to Eat" that I have come across.

In the same book, he goes on to say: "Eating bait means eating for the sake of deliciousness and fun. It is also usually expensive. We must stop swallowing bait and learn to eat only food that is proper and wholesome.

"If you are eating bait, you will be constantly hungry all day and night. You will always be sneaking off to eat yet more bait. Eating bait impairs our mental abilities. The mind surrenders to the bait."

Live to Eat

It is a sad testament to our western culture-especially here in America-that living to eat is a predominant philosophy, if not a religion.

Most of us, deep down, know this. We know that fruit is better than grease-dripping French fries. We know that greens and rice is healthier for the body than a thick, juicy (as in bloody) steak with baked potatoes (and scoops of sour cream).

Quite apart from the fact that we could feed seven persons with the soy beans we feed the pig that slaughtered will feed only one person-which is just bad economy-the human body does not run well on salty, greasy, high-cholesterol, high-calorie food. Yet this is the daily menu for a majority of our citizens today.

A Pact

In fact, this is so much the case that it makes one wonder: Could there be a secret pact between the Fast Food and Medical Industries? A pact that goes something like this:

Medical Industry: "As long as you keep sending them to us for expensive and very profitable treatment, we will not expose how terribly bad your foods actually are for them."

A nodding-head Fast Food Industry: "Deal."

This is not to say that such a conspiracy is afoot; it is to say that by the statistics alone, one is justified in wondering.

Pleasure and Taste

For many the battle comes down to taste, and the pleasure it gives.

We can go a whole day-if not a whole week, and with great anticipation-looking forward to a particular dinner course, one which in the past has given us great pleasure (enter your favorite food here). The quiet voice that tries to point out that this sumptuous meal, strictly speaking, is not at all good for us-and that afterwards we will wake up in the night with heartburn and a bad conscience-eventually goes all silent, and as comes the day, we sit down to dig in.

Short Term vs. Long Term

It may be that true pleasures are few and far between. It certainly is true that pleasure is far preferable to pain. But it is also true that long-term pleasure, say a rejuvenated body that will allow you to make that twenty mile hike to the top of Mount so-and-so-and with it that most fantastic view and feeling you've ever experienced-is far stronger, and far preferable to the short-term pleasure of an indulging meal.

But short term is much easier to confront than long term, and that's the crux. Working toward long-term pleasure, and survival, takes effort, will power, and time. Even though we know the rewards outweigh the short-term pleasure by a huge factor, we would rather go with the burger in hand than the long-term survival in the woods.

Eat to Live

It takes less effort to start the car than to walk. It takes less effort to turn on the television than to read a book. It takes less effort to drive to the fast food restaurant than to cook a healthy meal.

It takes less effort to be unhealthy than healthy. It takes less effort not to live than live.

Living life to the fullest takes effort. It takes dedication and will power. It takes knowing what fuel makes your body function the best and to choose that fuel, no matter how much work is involved. It takes sticking to that resolve every day of every week, month, year.

Eating to live is not a short-term project; it's a philosophy and a lifestyle that in the end brings far, far more happiness to those who make it, than any amount of bait ever can.