Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About

[cb360]

Like you were saying about your mom I think daily exercise would do wonders for a lot of americans who have become sedentary in the era we live in. And the dryer air in Arizona has helped lots of people who have various health problems. Our bodies are miracles in and of themselves... but if we don't use them they stop working right... just like motorcycles I think the FDA has a lot of dubious policies, but to be fair they do recommend a balanced diet (low on fried stuff and processed sugars) and lots of exercise - two things that a whole lot of us don't practice that all by themselves would eliminate many common health problems. I'm a pretty skeptical dude when it comes to a lot of 'alternative' medicine. But like I was saying I was having some back problems - really intense sciatic nerve pain that kept me from sleeping - and I've been going to yoga classes and it's cleared up. It may be that walking and stretching would have done the same thing but I do look at yoga a bit differently now. It is incredibly difficult and I can't deny my own eyes - the instructors I have display some of the most fit bodies I've ever seen. My jaw almost hit the floor when I discovered my last instructor is 48 - I'd have guessed 28.

I do believe there are some miraculous drugs out there as well. Antibiotics are overprescribed... but they have also saved countless lives when administered properly. Anti-depressants have come a long way. There are problems with them to be sure. It seems like a lot of people who don't need them take them anyway when they are looking for something they are missing and the people who really need them don't want to take them. I won't go into the gory details but let's just say that I don't think my wife would be alive without them. They aren't the 'happy pills' that many people claim them to be. You'll still cry if your dog dies and you'll still feel proud when you get a promotion... they just let you think clear when you couldn't otherwise. I'm talking about demonstrable organic mental illness here, not just feeling sad sometimes which is completely normal. We're only beginning to understand the workings of the brain.

Anyway, my mind is more open than it used to be on some alternatives to western medicine... I just believe that if something actually works then it should be demonstrable and repeatable in clinical trials. I still want a good surgeon around if I get in an accident though. I haven't read this book but I've read about the dude several times and his past is just too shady for me... 'fool me once...' and all that. I don't doubt that there is some good stuff in the book. I just think there's probably better sources to get good info on homeopathic medicine. As usual, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. At least that's my experience. Sorry that's so long.

[ZooTech]

As usual, if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.

That's just it...nothing about his recommendation sound "good", meaning it will require some serious lifestyle changes to pull off. I'm no stranger to fast food and Chinese buffets for lunch, and the idea of eating an apple and some carrot sticks seems pretty daunting. But for years I have felt that fast food has no nutritional value and is processed to the point of being downright toxic to our bodies. Unfortunately the food industry makes far too much money the way things are, and they're not about to let cattle and chickens roam freely and grow at their own natural rate when they can cram them into the smallest space possible and shoot them full of drugs to make them grow quicker than nature intended. And, as a result, we see 5th grade girls walking around wearing a C-cup, and cancer is at its all time highest despite all the billions going in to "research". All you ever hear about is cancer treatments, never a cure. After all, an actual cure for cancer has to be the scariest proposition for some bigwig at the American Cancer Institute.

Another thing that I find disturbing is the FDA itself. Whose idea was it to lump food and drugs together anyway? Sounds like a serious and unethical conflict of interest to me.

[cb360]

There's a huge genetic component to all this stuff as well. We all know the exceptions to the rule - my 40 y.o. brother in-law wouldn't exercise if you paid him. He starts every day off with an egg McMuffin or Frosted Flakes and ends it with a six pack and he drinks whole milk with every meal and he's had a 30 inch waist since junior high. If I had his diet and exercise regimen I'd weigh 400 pounds within a year. Then you have folks who eat 900 calories a day and walk to the moon and back every year and they still have a spare tire 'cause their daddy did and there ain't a damn thing they can do about it. There's wiry skinny dudes who can lift every day and drink protein shakes and never put on muscle as well. Those are exceptions though. Most of us can be healthy - if not pretty - with proper diet and exercise. Mickie d's will keep you alive for a while and there's nothing wrong with it in moderation. But I do believe in the old axiom garbage in- garbage out. We also have some odd ideas from madison avenue about body image. I know wome people who are in excellent physical condition - I mean if you can run a marathon how could you not be - who have a little belly on them... but their heart is strong. And there's plenty of office bound skinny dudes who get out of breath going up stairs. TV and magazines have conditioned us to think that thin = healthy but it isn't so cut and dried. Eat good food and get your heart rate up for several minutes several times a week and you're chances of living a long time go way up even if you don't necessarily look good in cycling shorts and a tank top.

[9000white]

how to lose weight.
get throwed in jail for swindling gullible people out of their money.
anybody ever try to gain weight on that jailhouse swill????????

[SuperRookie]

how to lose weight.
get throwed in jail for swindling gullible people out of their money.
anybody ever try to gain weight on that jailhouse swill????????

Hmmmm Nope...Personally, I'm not built for that...living for years in close quarters with a bunch of angry dudes all trying to take advantage of the next guy...wait...I grew up in Brooklyn, so I've already done that...dang

The problem with the state of western medicine is that it's focus isn't on prevention or cures so much as it is on treating symptoms. And don't forget that what doctors do is "practice". So, who's practicing on you? Not to mention that once you start coming up with bona fide cures the big rx companies will lose major $$$...IMHO some of the best advice given in this thread is to try and live a healthier life...try to eat right...excersize, and maintain a positive attitude.

Live long, and prosper...

[sv-wolf]

Any one else read this book? I'm on chapter seven of the book and became a member of his website. Just wondering if anyone else has read it and, if so, what sort of results have you had?

Loonette? Anyone?

Haven't seen the book or know anything about the author but would suggest that if you like it you should use it as a stepping off point to do your own research. Charlatans sometimes talk sense. Well meaning and honest men often talk rubbish.

The problem with both orthodox and 'alternative' medicine is that both are full of crap. A lot of what passes for 'science' in orthodox medicine is no more than established opinion, a lot of which is questionable or demonstrably unture - like the supposedly overwhelming effectivenes of vaccines, for example, or many forms of chemotherapy. Some of the rest is not at all 'scientific'. Research is often flawed, or done badly or not done at all. For instance, most drug combinations and virtually all surgical procedures are completely untested by anything that could be regarded as 'scientific method'. Orthodox medical belief systems are often more influenced by commercial, professional or political considerations than purely scientific ones, so what passes for knowledge by their practitioners often fails to bear any serious scrutiny. On the other hand drugs and practices that are tested in the lab are not necessarily safe or proven effective on the population at large.

So-called 'alternative' medicine is still largely unregulated and untested, so you cannot approach it comfortably if you demand 'scientific' evidence or accuracy. There are undoubtedly a lot of quack remedies and treatments out there. Like orthodox medicine, many belief systems have hardened into 'received knowledge' when in fact they have little foundation in fact.

My own view (speaking as an alternative practitioner) is that no medicine is or is ever going to be scientifically accurate, and our Western obsession with highly generalised forms of proof leads nowhere. 'Scientific' is often no mre than a soothing buzz word

Ultimately, I suspect, all healing has to do with right relationship. Get that right and you are well on your way to good health.

[ZooTech]

Well, the thing is, Kevin Trudeau is a scientologist and a big Ralph Nader fan...so I take everything he says with a big kosher grain of salt. However, his conclusions about the state of our food and the overall deception and corruption coming out of the FDA and FTC is right on the money, in my opinion. Since reading the book, I have began drinking a LOT more bottled water (about four or five 20oz bottles per day) and have started doing my grocery shopping at Whole Foods Market. I really do believe the majority of our illnesses are self-inflicted due to the amount of chemicals we ingest, and stress we deal with. I've never been one to run to the doctor at the first sign of a sniffle, and I have on more than one occasion thrown away a prescription without having it filled. All this book has done so far is give me a little more and different insight in what I pretty much already suspected. But he does tend to get a little bit too political at times, and that's when skimming comes in handy!

[sv-wolf]

I really do believe the majority of our illnesses are self-inflicted due to the amount of chemicals we ingest, and stress we deal with.

Well, I'd pretty much go along with you on this one.

One interesting fact about modern 'orthodox' medicine is that it has firmly staked out its territory on the germ theory of disease. Many forms of illness, it claims, are 'caused' by micro-organisms. The curious thing about this is that, although almost everyone believes it, no-one has ever been able to demonstrate that it is true.

Before I get howled down, let me point out that there is a world of difference between claiming that an illness is 'caused' by a bacteria say, and that bacteria are invariably involved in the disease process. The most anyone has ever been able to show 'scientifically' is that bacteria are involved in the process.

Another interesting fact is that Pasteur, who is credited with the germ theory of disease, actually retracted his views and denied his own theory towards the end of his life. Instead, he adopted a position similar to many modern naturopaths. 'Le terrain est tous,' he said, 'Le microbe est rien.' Disease is caused by unhealthy bodily tissue and not on the microbe that seeks it out (like a mosquite might seek out a swamp but find little to support it on dry land).

In this view, poor nutrition, stressors of all kinds, and lack of appropriate exercise create diseased tissue which then attracts environmental micro-organisms. Healthy tissue is not so easily susceptible to attack by bacteria and viruses. How else can you explain the fact that the air you breath, the water you drink and the food you eat every day of your life contain a huge cocktail of pathogenic micro-organisms, but only at certain times and under certain conditions can they take hold and cause disease.

So, yes, I agree, what you put into yourself is extremely important. I have seen the beneficial effects of a change in nutrition far too often in clinical practice to be able to deny it.

[CNF2002]

How else can you explain the fact that the air you breath, the water you drink and the food you eat every day of your life contain a huge cocktail of pathogenic micro-organisms, but only at certain times and under certain conditions can they take hold and cause disease.

Antibodies

[sv-wolf]

How else can you explain the fact that the air you breath, the water you drink and the food you eat every day of your life contain a huge cocktail of pathogenic micro-organisms, but only at certain times and under certain conditions can they take hold and cause disease.

Antibodies

Interesting view, but as far as I can see, the existence of antibodies doesn't explain anything. The same argument applies. Why, on one occasion, do antibodies and the rest of the immune function succeed in preventing an invading 'pathogen' from establishing a disease process and on another occasion not. There are various ways of answering this but they all come down to one thing: it is the internal condition of the body and not the presence of microbes that determine whether or not disease is established.

But it is more complex than this. Some organisms which are known to be highly 'pathogenic' live out their entire life cycle in the human body - in all human bodies. They live there wholly undisturbed by human antibodies - and yet despite their presence no disease process normally results. Occasionally however, they are found, unchanged, in a disease process. In these instances, some condition has to alter within the body before the microbe becomes harmful to its host. Again, it is the condition of the tissue, not the microbe that determines whether a disease process results.

It is even possible that the body sometimes utilises apparently harmful organisms to maintain its health at a higher level. After all, the best way to prevent yourself from getting cancer is to have a high fever once a year. Your body will burn off vastly more cancer cells at these times than at any other.

I have no way of knowing for sure what is the most useful way of understanding these things, but I think it is important to keep an open mind about them. Despite all the theories and research, we still actually know very little about the human body and about the living world in general. The limitations on our theoretical knowledge and on its practical application are borne out by the well-estsablished fact that modern 'orthodox' medicine is the third biggest killer in the U.S. after cancer and heart disease.