Even More Reasons to Avoid This Potential Danger
Maybe You’re Scared of the WRONG Thing
Look around…..even now, when spring is upon us, we are constantly bombarded with internet ads, TV commercials, printed ads, billboards, banners on drug stores, etc. to have your entire family vaccinated with the flu shot. Why there are even price wars now offering discounted shots. Do we really need to fall prey to the media hype? How many of us ever stop to consider what the heck we are having injected into our bodies, or what possible health consequences that little flu shot could have. Here’s an article about a study in Finland on teens who have been immunized:
Hospitals May Be Hazardous To Your Health!
18% of Hospital Patients Suffer Harm
According to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, almost one fifth of all hospital patients were harmed by medical mistakes. Nearly 3% sustained sufficient harm to cause death, and another 3% suffered enough harm to cause permanent injury. 8.5% had life-threatening incidents. Hospital errors and medical mistakes continue to be very high, and cause approximately 100,000 deaths per year. Read more
If You’re Not, You SHOULD BE Afraid of This!
Act NOW to Ban Triclosan! You CAN Help!
Super germs are pretty scary! When infectious diseases become highly resistant to even second line antibiotics, it turns into a major health epidemic. It’s really only since the late 60’s that infectious diseases have come back with a vengeance. Three factors have greatly contributed to this: 1) abuse of antibiotics, 2) use of histamine blockers such as omeprazole, and 3) the introduction of anti-bacterial chemicals, such as Triclosan, into many of our personal care products.
Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent widely used in hand sanitizers, hand soap, lotions, detergents, toothpaste, hair products, body washes, cosmetics, deodorant, paint, air filters, blankets, carpeting, towels, and even clothing and childrens’ toys! In humans, Triclosan has been indicated to disrupt hormones, particularly thyroid, weaken the immune system, cause reproductive problems including birth defects, increase resistance to antibiotics, increase allergies and immune disorders and affect uncontrolled cell growth. In lab animals, it’s been shown to cause cancer.
When you wash your hands with a product containing Triclosan, it, unlike plain soap, stays on your skin for hours. When you hand wash dishes with an anti-bacterial dish detergent, you are inhaling the dangerous chemical chloroform, which is formed by the Triclosan mixing with the chlorine in the water.
Currently, Triclosan is being investigated by the USDA, which is particularly concerned about the health affects on pregnant women and children.
Please check out this website to learn more about the dangers of Triclosan and how you can help ban this very toxic chemical. Meanwhile, you might want to start using plain soap!
If You Do This Too Much, You May Die Sooner
Stand Up For Health
Recent studies suggest that sitting for hours on end is very harmful to one’s health. It doesn’t seem to help if calories are restricted or physical activity, such as regular exercise at the gym, is performed. Some scientists think that the muscles lose their ability to metabolize fats and sugars, which, in turn, could result in high cholesterol and increased diabetes.
Over 50 years ago, researchers found that people who had sedentary jobs were twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease as those with active jobs. Recently, doctors are seeing an increase in metabolic syndrome in people who have desk jobs, watch a lot of TV or sit at the computer for extended periods of time.
For additional details about the detrimental effects of sitting, read this article.
Friend or Foe?
Electronic Health Records — Friend or Foe?
While some would argue that having almost instant access to your electronic health records (EHR) could potentially save your life in an emergency situation, or possibly prevent a dangerous or even fatal drug interaction, others claim that it’s all too easy for the information to be breached and fall into the wrong hands!
EHR may indeed improve the safety and delivery of quality health care, may be cost effective and may reduce patient charting errors. However, the costs involved in computerizing medical records can be formidable and present a significant burden to smaller health care practitioners. But, more concerning, is what happens when confidentiality and security regulations are not stringent enough?
Who controls that fuzzy ethical line? Who limits the number of people given access? What additional loss of control is there when the records are stored in databases overseas in countries where $300.00 is a whole month’s pay? Take the scenario of a hacker penetrating the EHR system and disseminating confidential information on the internet. Perhaps a prospective employer learns that a potential employee has a disability, may be too expensive to insure or has been treated for a life threatening illness or mental health issues. Is EHR helpful or harmful?
How Much of This Common and Deadly Ingredient Do You Consume?
This Common and Deadly Ingredient Can Cause Major Health Problems.
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Why all the attention to High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)? Did you know the Corn Refiners Association applied for a permit to change the name from HFCS to Corn Sugar on food labels because so many people are worried about it? The industry is even doing TV commercials and printed media in an attempt to convince us it is just the same as sugar.
Well, it’s not as simple as they’d like us to believe. When HFCS is ingested in the human body, it goes straight to the liver, turning into fat. Unlike other carbohydrates, HFCS does not cause the pancreas to produce insulin, which would then act to stop our hunger. About 2/3 of the HFCS is ingested in the form of beverages, mainly soft drinks and juices.
Unfortunately, HFCS is also in just about every type of processed food we eat on a daily basis: soft drinks, powdered mixes, bread, breakfast cereal, stuffing, chocolate milk, yogurt, candy, gum, salad dressings, catsup, relish, lunch meats, crackers, protein bars, pasta sauce, cookies, jelly, peanut butter, ice cream, barbeque sauces, marinades, soups, and even low fat frozen “healthy” diet dinners.
You’re probably asking yourself WHY the food manufacturers would even use HFCS. Well, for one, it’s about 20% sweeter, it’s much less expensive than sugar, it’s easier to blend into liquids and it has a long shelf life. Some studies indicate that HFCS may alter the body’s metabolism of magnesium, thereby increasing bone loss. It’s also implicated in metabolic syndrome, obesity and diabetes, not to mention the heart problems and hypertension, as the HFCS causes high triglycerides in the blood.
In a University of California (Davis) study, researchers found that “Dietary HFCS significantly increased serum triglyceride concentration across the life span in rats.” This increase occurred in both the rats who had calorie restriction and those who had free access to food.
Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2000; 72: 1128-1134 and Journal of Nutrition, December 2000;130:3077-3084
So, how important is it to read the labels? VERY important! While you have little control over the restaurant food you consume, you do have complete control over your home prepared meals. Fortunately, some processed foods will now have an obvious “No HFCS” right there on the label.
For those of you who wish to restrict your consumption of HFCS, here’s a link to HFCS free foods
Think You Have It?
Healthcare Has Changed Right Under Your Nose!
Remember the promises? How wonderful things would be if the healthcare reform passed – how it would benefit everyone – how it was a win-win solution? Oh yeah, and we were all supposed to get the same healthcare as Obama, right? Well, wake up America! Healthcare has changed right under our noses, and we’re all left scratching our heads and wondering just how it all happened.
Last week, in the news, a cancer patient, Ronald Flanagan, was dropped by his insurance company over a balance due of 2 cents!
Insurance companies were supposed to be held to a higher standard of accountability, business owners were supposed to get a break if they covered more employees, and weren’t rates supposed to go down? Did yours? Ours actually increased 46%, and we received a letter stating that our plan was “grandfathered” so we weren’t eligible for the new preventive care coverage. Blue Shield led the way by promising a 59% rate increase to individual policyholders. Almost all our patients’ deductibles were increased, as well as their co-insurance, and, surprise, their coverage was often reduced. Now, patients with pre-existing conditions can get insured, but at what cost? Triple, and who can afford that??? And on top of it, the reform mandates that people purchase insurance even when they can’t afford it.
So, how did insurance companies fare so far with the reform? Were they forced to be accountable? Were they forced to lower their premiums? Were they really forced to, now, include preventive care? Hardly! A “preventive” colonoscopy automatically turns into a “diagnostic” procedure with one little snip. And then, it’s no longer considered preventive and is subject to your deductible.
Insurance companies don’t have to care about the policyholders. They are out to make a profit. They can deny you, delay benefits, drop you, dictate which doctor to use, make your deductible higher by ambiguities in your policy, and basically make you jump through hoops just to get your routine healthcare. You are just a number to them, and they aim to keep you just well enough to make the next premium payment, nothing more.
And maybe we’re feeling a bit more antagonistic right now because a close relative of ours was just denied necessary surgery by a major insurance company after learning that her breast implant had ruptured and was leaking silicone. They called it “elective.”
What are your stories? How do you feel about the current status of healthcare in America? Please leave us your comments on our blog!
How SAFE Are Yours???
Supplements — How SAFE Are Yours???
According to the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN), more than 75% of U.S physicians recommend nutritional supplements to their patients. It’s obvious that the American public is enhancing their health with a multitude of vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanicals and sports supplements, but just how SAFE are they?
When questioned, nearly 70% of supplement users reported having concerns about the safety, effectiveness and quality of ingredients. Safety ranked first ahead of brand, and price was the last concern.
In the U.S., the FDA regulates nutritional supplements under the FOOD category, not the DRUGS category. Unlike the pharmaceutical companies, who must obtain FDA approval, the dietary supplement manufacturers may bring their products to market without any approval. Sadly, about 95% of U.S. supplement companies lack the resources to be able to self-manufacture and thus rely on contract manufacturers, many of whom are overseas. Adulterated ingredients such as heavy metals have been found in imported supplements, mainly from China. Shockingly, the sole reason the heavy metals are added is to increase the weight of the ingredients that are then sold by weight.
Due to lack of enforcement and quality control measures, there may also be substandard ingredients and no standardization in the dosage of the ingredient. To date, China has not formed a regulatory agency to adequately oversee the manufacturing of nutritional supplements. It has been stated that up to 1/3 of Asian supplements have drugs not listed on the label or contain lead, mercury or arsenic.
Although the contaminants, per pill, are very small, they do build up in the body over the years and can become quite detrimental. With all the concerns and potentially serious consequences of ingesting tainted supplements, we are VERY careful about the supplements we provide for you. You can rest assured that we carry only the finest, pure ingredient supplements that have been manufactured in the U.S. under strict quality control processes. They are carefully assayed to make sure you are getting exactly what is on the label.
These Most Commonly Taken Drugs Are Dangerous!
Think Your Non-opioid Painkiller is Safe??? Think Again!
Most people are well aware of the dire warnings surrounding usage of the opioid painkillers such as Vicodin, Hydrocone, Morphine and Oxycodone. Side effects may include addiction, severe constipation, impairment, nausea, vomiting, weakness, drowsiness, itching and urinary difficulties –just to name a few. But somehow, the general public has been lead to believe that non-opioid analgesics are SAFE. However, many of these drugs, some of which we have come to trust, through a multitude of television commercials and magazine ads, can cause serious and sometimes fatal side effects including cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks and strokes.
This article from lawyersandsettlements.com brings to light the dangers of both the non-prescription and the prescription NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug.)
The Most Dangerous Prescription Drugs
Are You Taking One of The Most Dangerous Prescription Drugs
Shockingly, almost 50% of Americans take at least one prescription drug daily, and many take up to a dozen. Prescription drugs account for the fastest growing segment of the healthcare market. While drugs have their place and can save lives under the appropriate circumstances, most of the time less dangerous options and remedies are available.
Pharmaceutical companies are spending billions every year to aggressively market drugs that have not been properly tested to both the general public and the prescribing doctors. Just watch the TV commercials or thumb through any of the major magazines to see the prevalence of ads, many of them terribly misleading. Unfortunately, almost half of the public is under the belief that only “safe” drugs can be advertised.
Many prescription drugs are fraught with horrible side effects or can even be fatal. For decades, chiropractors have been warning patients to take a more natural approach, whenever possible, that includes dietary changes, exercise, lifestyle modifications and conservative chiropractic care. This article from livestrong.com lists the 5 most dangerous types of prescription drugs.
