Saturday, August 23, 2008

More Honest Living Based On Experience - "Don't believe everything you think."

Living With Radical Honesty
--Brad Blanton

http://tow.charityfocus.org/audio.php?op=play&tid=580

I learned that the primary cause of most human stress, the primary cause of most conflict between couples and the primary cause of most both psychological and physical illness is being trapped in your mind and removed from your experience. What keeps you trapped in your mind and removed from your experience is lying and we all lie […] all the time. We're taught systematically to lie, to pretend, to maintain a pretense because we're taught that who we are is our performance. Our schools teach us to lie, our parents teach us to lie. We're all suffering from mistaken identity.

We think that who we are is our reputation, what the teacher thinks of us, what kind of grades we make, what kind of job we have. We're constantly spinning our presentation of self, which is a constant process of lying and being trapped in the anticipation of imagining about what other people might think.

Our actual identity is as a present tense noticing (and acting) being. I'm someone sitting here talking on the telephone right now and you're sitting there talking on the telephone and writing or doing whatever you're doing.

That's your current identity and this is my current identity and when you start identifying with your current present-tense identity you discover all kinds of things about life that you can't even see or notice when you're trapped in the spin doctoring machine of your mind.

So radical honesty is about delivering yourself from that constant worrisome preoccupation of, "Oh my god. How am I doing? How am I doing? How am I doing? How am I doing?" Then you can pay attention to what's going on in your body and in the world and even pay attention to what's going on in your mind. […]

Just look at what you notice in front of you right now, your environment, wherever you are in an office or wherever it is. Noticing is an entirely different function than thinking and what we do all the time is that we confuse thinking with noticing.

When we think something we act as though it has the same validity as something that we see.

(From actual experience, using imagination to act to co-create better, more useful experiences, for a better world for everyone - people and nature.)

I've got a bumper sticker on my truck that says, "Don't believe everything you think." It's like your thinking just goes on and on and on and on.

(Experience - Think & Act On It)

--Brad Blanton, Center For Radical Honesty

Listen!

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Ways To Encourage Children To Be Healthier By Eating Lots Of Fruit And Vegetables

Parents Shape Whether Their Children Learn To Eat Fruits And Vegetables

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811200425.htm

ScienceDaily (Aug. 13, 2008) — Providing fruits for snacks and serving vegetables at dinner can shape a preschooler's eating patterns for his or her lifetime.

To combat the increasing problem of childhood obesity, researchers are studying how to get preschoolers to eat more fruits and vegetables. According to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, one way is early home interventions — teaching parents how to create an environment where children reach for a banana instead of potato chips.

"We know that parents have tremendous influence over how many fruits and vegetables their children eat," says Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D., a professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. "When parents eat more fruits and vegetables, so do their children. When parents eat and give their children high fat snacks or soft drinks, children learn these eating patterns instead."

Haire-Joshu and researchers at Saint Louis University School of Public Health tested a program that taught parents in their homes how to provide preschool children easy access to more fruits and vegetables and examined whether changes in what the parents ate affected what their children consumed. The study was published in the July issue of the journal Preventive Medicine.

"This research shows that it's important to communicate with parents in real world settings," Haire-Joshu says. "They control the food environment for their young child. This environment is key to not only what children eat today but how they will eat in the future."

Past research has shown that diets high in fruits and vegetables are associated with a lower risk of obesity. Previous studies also have established that children learn to like and eat vegetables at a young age — before they turn five years old.

In this five-year study in rural, southeast Missouri, 1,306 parents and children between the ages of two and five participating in Parents As Teachers, a national parent education program, were randomly assigned to two groups. One group enrolled in the High 5 for Kids program, and the other group received standard visits from Parents as Teachers. In the High 5 for Kids group, parents first completed a pretest interview about fruit and vegetable consumption.

Parent educators then visited the home four times, providing examples of parent-child activities designed around nutrition, such as teaching the child the names and colors of various fruits and vegetables and having the child select a variety of fruits and vegetables for breakfast. At each visit, parents also received materials and informational handouts with suggestions for improving feeding practices and the food environment in the home. Many of these materials were tailored to the individual patterns of that parent, with suggestions for how to improve his or her specific intake and that of their child.

Additionally, children were given four High 5 for Kids sing-along-stories with audiocassettes and coloring books.

The same parent interviewed before the intervention completed a telephone survey to determine changes in the number of fruits and vegetables eaten and behaviors of both the preschool children and parent. The average time between the before and after intervention survey was seven months.

Parents in the High 5 for Kids group ate significantly more fruits and vegetables, and a change in the parent's servings of fruits and vegetables predicted a change in the child's diet, too. An increase of one fruit or vegetable serving per day in a parent was associated with an increase of half a fruit or vegetable serving per day in his or her child. These parents also reported an increase in fruit and vegetable knowledge and availability of fruits and vegetables in the home.

Although the High 5 for Kids program was effective in improving fruit and vegetable intake in children of normal weight, overweight children in this group did not eat more of these foods. "Overweight children have already been exposed to salty, sweet foods and learned to like them," says Haire-Joshu, who also holds an appointment at the School of Medicine as a professor. "To keep a child from becoming overweight, parents need to expose them early to a variety of healthy foods and offer the foods many times."

Haire-Joshu says many children today are taught patterns that lead to obesity. "We want families to provide their child with an environment in which they not only learn how to eat healthy but have the opportunity to practice what they learn," she says. "And by partnering with Parents As Teachers, we now can disseminate this program to their sites nationwide. This further impacts healthy eating patterns in parents and their preschool children."

Adapted from materials provided by Washington University in St. Louis.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

School Lunches Get Failing Grades

Cafeteria Menus Get Failing Grades

By Lori Aratani

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 24, 2008; Page B03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/23/AR2008072303578.html

A District-based nonprofit organization, affiliated with a group that promotes a vegan diet, issued a report card today on school lunches that gives two local school systems failing grades for the amount of processed meat they serve to students.

D.C. and Montgomery County public schools received the low grades in the Cancer Project's evaluation because they offer processed meats for breakfast and/or lunch more than 20 percent of the time. Two other systems evaluated in the study, those in Fairfax and Prince George's counties, received "poor" ratings; they offer processed meat products more than 15 percent but less than 20 percent of the time, the study says.

The Cancer Project looked at a month's worth of breakfast and lunch menus at 28 of the country's largest school systems. The group is affiliated with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which evaluates school lunch menus yearly, focusing on the number of vegetarian and vegan (excluding all animal products) menu items offered.

The Cancer Project is urging school systems to stop serving hot dogs, deli meats, pepperoni and other processed meats because some studies have linked consumption of such foods to colon and rectal cancer.

"Cancer risk starts early,'' said Neal Barnard, president of the Cancer Project in a statement that accompanied the report. "If we don't protect our kids by removing hot dogs, sausages, deli slices and pepperoni slices from our schools, we're stacking the cards against them."

The American Meat Association called the Cancer Project's efforts to banned processed meats "outrageous," noting that manufacturers offer options that meet many dietary needs, including low-fat, low-sodium and uncured processed meats.

School nutrition officials said that, given fiscal constraints and logistics, it is difficult to avoid serving processed meats. Although many systems, including those in the study, have focused on serving fresher, low-fat meals, they say processed food is included in their offerings.

They argue, however, that education, not bans, is the answer.

"We are trying to move to a less-processed environment," said Mydina Thabet, dietician and food specialist for the Prince George's schools. "But what we try to tell people is everything in moderation."

In the District, schools officials said they plan to expand a program designed to bring more fresh foods, including salad bars, into cafeterias, after a pilot program at two high schools and two elementary campuses last school year was successful.

Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for D.C. public schools, said officials think the school system has leaned too heavily on processed foods and have decided to revamp menus because students were not eating what was offered.

Susan Levin, senior dietician for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, said this is the first time a group has examined the use of processed meat in school lunches.

School lunch programs, which serve almost 30 million children a year, have long been a target of health advocates, who criticize them for being laden with salt and fat. Efforts to overhaul the programs have taken root, but many food service officials say they are hampered by shrinking budgets and finicky students. But with the prevalence of overweight among children tripling since the 1980s, health advocacy groups say more must be done.

Levin said her group understands that food service directors face daunting challenges. She also noted that many systems are trying.

Although Montgomery received a failing grade for its dependence on processed meats, she praised the system for trying to offer healthful menu items, citing its recent effort to introduce soy burgers and other non-meat alternatives on its menus. But she said all systems need to do more.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Better Nutrition Without Meat - Nutrition Information For Doctors & Health Care Providers

Here are two good nutrition resources-

NutritionCME is intended for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians, nutritionists, and other health care providers interested in how nutrition can be used for health promotion and disease prevention.

http://www.nutritioncme.org/

PCRM
http://www.pcrm.org/about/index.html
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Doctors are encouraged to make use of these useful websites.

They came from an interview of a doctor that grew up in North Dakota on a cattle ranch who now does not recommend meat since there are many significant health issues and also mounting environmental issues due to meat - including salmonella in tomatoes from meat farms contaminating water used on tomatoes.

From PCRM

The new Four Food Groups are:
Whole Grains (5 or more servings a day)
Vegetables (4 or more servings a day)
Fruit (3 or more servings a day)
Beans - Legumes (2 or more servings a day)

The major killers of Americans—heart disease, cancer, and stroke—have a dramatically lower incidence among people consuming primarily plant-based diets.

Weight problems—a contributor to a host of health problems—can also be brought under control by following the New Four Food Group recommendations.

Try the New Four Food Groups and discover a healthier way to live!
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	Explore nutrition’s role in combating specific illnesses, including arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and mad cow disease. go> New: Reversing Diabetes With a Low-Fat Vegan Diet			Discover the benefits of a vegetarian diet - for children and adults - and find answers to your questions. go> Nuevo: Guía de Iniciación para una Dieta Vegetariana

	PCRM’S in-depth analysis of current health and nutrition related issues such as high-protein diets, airline food, and fast food salads. go> New Report: 2007 School Lunch Report Card			PCRM's research projects on diabetes, weight-loss, and PMS and premenstrual pain. go> Diabetes: Targeting Diabetes: PCRM Study Shows the Dramatic Impact of a Low-Fat Vegan Diet

	Lifesaving information on reducing cancer risk, and how diet and other factors may help improve survival. go> Where to Start? The Cancer Project web site			Enjoy these low-fat, heart-healthy, vegetarian delights. Here’s to your health! go> Where to start? Recipe of the week

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Here's information on Vegetarian and Vegan Diets
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/index.html

A good place to begin is the Vegetarian Starter Kit
also available in Spanish-language Guía de Iniciación una Dieta Vegetariana

and our fact sheet Vegetarian Foods: Powerful for Health
also available in Spanish-language La Comida Vegetariana: Poderosa para la Salud

For additional information, check out
FAQs About Vegetarian Diets
Find answers about issues such as protein, milk, eggs, athletic performance, essential fatty acids, lactose intolerance, calcium absorption rates in foods, vitamin B₁₂, vegetarian diets for correctional facilities, and incorporating vegetarian meals on college campuses.

FAQs About General Nutrition Issues

The New Four Food Groups

Information About Diabetes

If you're pregnant, be sure to read
Vegetarian Diets For Pregnancy

To raise vegan children, read our fact sheets:
Vegetarian Diets for Children: Right from the Start
Vegetarian Diets: Advantages for Children
a comprehensive report by PCRM's Nutrition Panel

Healthy Snacks for Kids

Restaurant Vegetarian Starter Kit

NutritionCME is intended for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians, nutritionists, and other health care providers interested in how nutrition can be used for health promotion and disease prevention.

http://www.nutritioncme.org/

PCRM
http://www.pcrm.org/about/index.html

Doctors and laypersons working together for compassionate and effective medical practice, research, and health promotion.

Prevention
PCRM promotes preventive medicine through innovative programs:

PCRM has led the way for reforms of federal nutrition policies.

Our clinical research programs are breaking new ground in diabetes, cancer, and other serious conditions.

PCRM’s Cancer Project has provided vital information to tens of thousands of people.

The New Four Food Groups is PCRM’s innovative proposal for a federal nutrition policy that puts a new priority on health.

Our public service announcement series features medical experts on prevention and health.

Research Advocacy
We encourage higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research:

We oppose unethical human experiments. While great strides have been made in eliminating such experiments, problems remain. For example, children are still given synthetic growth hormone in experiments to make them taller, and both children and adults are exposed to unnecessary new drugs which have toxic effects.

We promote alternatives to animal research. We have worked to put a stop to gruesome experiments, such as the military’s cat-shooting studies, DEA narcotics experiments, and monkey self-mutilation projects. We also promote non-animal methods in medical education. Currently, more than three-quarters of all U.S. medical schools have dropped their animal labs for medical students.

Organization
Founded in 1985, PCRM is a nonprofit organization supported by physicians and laypersons who receive Good Medicine each quarter. PCRM programs combine the efforts of medical experts and grassroots individuals.

Leadership
PCRM Board of Directors: Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President; Mark Sklar, M.D., Secretary; Russell Bunai, M.D., Director.

PCRM’s advisory board includes 11 health care professionals from a broad range of specialties:

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. Cornell University
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. The Cleveland Clinic
Suzanne Havala Hobbs, Dr.PH., M.S., R.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Henry J. Heimlich, M.D., Sc.D. The Heimlich Institute
Lawrence Kushi, Sc.D. Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente
Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D. Nutrition Matters, Inc.
John McDougall, M.D. McDougall Program, St. Helena Hospital
Milton Mills, M.D. Gilead Medical Group
Myriam Parham, R.D., L.D., C.D.E. East Pasco Medical Center
William Roberts, M.D. Baylor Cardiovascular Institute
Andrew Weil, M.D. University of Arizona

Affiliations are listed for identification only.

Monday, August 4, 2008

High dose vitamin C injections slash tumor growth in mice - No Adverse Effects

High dose vitamin C injections slash tumor growth in mice

http://www.lef.org/newsletter/2008/0805_High-Dose-Vitamin-C-Injections-Slash-Tumor-Growth-in-Mice.htm?source=eNewsLetter2008Wk32-1&key=Article&l=0#article

An article published in the August 5, 2008, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that injections of ascorbate (vitamin C) reduce the weight and growth rate of tumors by half in mouse models of ovarian, pancreatic and brain cancer,

while leaving normal cells unharmed.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) tested ascorbate in 43 tumor and 5 normal cell lines to determine a concentration that decreases cell survival in cancerous cells without resulting in toxicity to healthy cells. They subsequently injected a dose of 4 grams ascorbate (neutralized with sodium hydroxide) per kilogram body weight once or twice per day into immune-deficient mice with implanted ovarian, pancreatic and glioblastoma (brain) tumors. "At these high injected doses, we hoped to see drug-like activity that might be useful in cancer,” explained lead author Mark Levine, MD, who is the chief of the Molecular and Clinical Nutrition Section of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the NIH.

Dr Levine’s team found that injecting the animals with ascorbate decreased tumor growth and weight by 41 to 53 percent.
While metastases occurred in 30 percent of the mice with brain tumors, none appeared in animals injected with vitamin C.

No adverse effects of vitamin C treatment were noted.

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