Uni Organics Skincare Review

I love the idea of travel or starter kits. Not only are they the perfect size for travel, but are a cost effective way of sampling products before committing to buy the full size. Uni Organics have 7 different face and body skincare starter sets to choose from, I recently sampled their Luxe Travel Set containing 5 every day essentials. Continue Reading →

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A Treasure Trove of Information Waiting to Be Unlocked — And Here’s the Key

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8 Simple Solutions To Your Sleep Problems

Did you know that sleep has become a huge issue as it pertains to our health, yet it still isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Many of us are so used to being tired all the time that we think that is the new norm. If you go to Google and type in “Why am I…” Do you […]

The post 8 Simple Solutions To Your Sleep Problems appeared first on The Organic Life.

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Yogi Tea - 3 Delicious Iced Tea Ideas!

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Information: 
This post does include products sent for consideration.
The links are not affiliated.
All opinions are honest and my own, any suggestions made are based on my own experiences and are meant as a guide. Please always take care when making any DIY products and patch test to rule out an adverse reaction.

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How to Drink a Watermelon (and Why You Should)

  Summer is almost over, and I might be panicking just a tiny bit about that. To keep summer going strong, I’ve latched on to that summertime classic—watermelon. Here’s the thing about watermelon, though—I’m the only person who eats it at home, so I’m normally only half way through a melon before it starts to go all mushy and sour. A few weeks ago I decided if I can’t eat, I can drink it, and my new juice obsession was born. Now I’m buying watermelon expressly for the juice, and I’m sharing it with anyone who will have a glass. […]

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​What's In My Skin Care: Moth Bean Extract

The Safe Alternative Of Retinol: Moth Bean Extract

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The first thing that comes to our mind when we think about anti-aging ingredients is definitely retinol. Most women are already familiar with its ability to boost the formation of new cells and enhance the production of collagen, thus preventing the signs of aging and even reducing the already visible ones. Along with its proven anti-aging benefits, retinol also has a record for helping improve the condition and the appearance of acne-prone skin. While all this definitely sounds exciting, unfortunately, retinol is not as safe as we wish it was…

So, what’s the catch?

Well, while retinol is proven to be effective for fighting aging, there are several drawbacks of using retinol in cosmetic products. The compound has shown to be very unstable, especially when exposed to UV light, and might lead to increased skin sensitivity, irritation, peeling, and redness. Not to mention the prescription-only form of retinol, which is far more active than OTC retinol, and too harsh on the skin as it is.

If you are sensitive to products formulated with retinol or you simply prefer to avoid the risks associated with its use, we have good news for you. There is an equally effective, yet all natural alternative – moth bean extract.

What is Moth Bean Extract?

It is an extract derived from an annual climbing plant native to India and Pakistan. The Latin name for the plant is Vigna aconitifolia, but it is also commonly known as moth bean, matki, dew bean, and mat bean. This drought resistant plant produces protein-rich seedpods, which are the main source of the potent extract, proven to be as effective in anti-aging products, as synthetic retinols.

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What Does Moth Bean Extract Do For the Skin?

Two processes that drastically decreases with age, but are essential for having healthy skin, are: collagen production and cell turnover. Loss of collagen leads to sagging skin and wrinkle formation, while reduced cell turnover rate gives our skin a dull and sallow complexion. Moth bean extract penetrates into the skin, where it works on a molecular level to jump-start the production of collagen and boost cell renewal, without the pesky side effects of synthetic retinol. After a few months of daily use, moth bean extract will help your skin look refreshed, youthful, glowing and smooth.

What To Try: Omega 3 Advanced Nightly Repair Cream

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Additionally, this botanical alternative to retinol contains phenolic compounds - caffeic acid, cinnamic acid, ferulic acid, and kaempferol. All these hard-to-pronounce compounds are the reason why moth bean extract is an excellent antioxidant that not only protects your skin against free radicals and UV damage, but also keeps it healthy and imperfection-free.

What’s more - in contrast to synthetic retinol, moth bean extract has demonstrated high level of stability in cosmetic formulations, which means it preserves its properties longer, even when in contact with air and light.

The extract can serve as an excellent anti-acne treatment, as well. While supporting the epidermal cellular renewal, moth bean extract slightly exfoliates the top layer of the skin, to further help cleans the pores, reduce their size + smooth out skin's surface and improve its texture. 

Safe, natural and effective. Moth bean extract ticks all the boxes. Try it!

If you liked this post, let us know by sharing it! Share and get $5 off for your next order with La Mav!

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Hurraw Lip Balm – The Natural Alternative to ChapStick

If a product had a warning on it's label stating it is "for external use only", "keep out of reach of children" and "if swallowed get medical help or contact a Poison Control Centre right away" would you want to put that product on your lips? Neither would I. Continue Reading →

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Murad Facial

Last week Murad treated me for a facial at Massage Envy spa and it felt like my ‘ME time’ prayers got heard. 1 hour of a thoughtful facial and great ‘skincare chat’ with Lauren, Massage Envy esthetician who took good care of my heat-stressed face. My skin loves Murad products, and I had zero doubts if

The post Murad Facial appeared first on TLV Birdie.

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Monsanto Benefits Hand Over Fist From Tax Dollar Subsidies

Even Organic Factory Farms Hate Transparency

By Dr. Mercola

There's a widespread belief in the U.S. that animals raised on organic farms are treated more humanely than animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). This may be true in some cases, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) organic standards do not address animal welfare.

Despite this, a survey conducted for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) found 68 percent of those surveyed expected animals raised on organic farms "have access to outdoor pasture and fresh air throughout the day."

Another 67 percent believed "[organically raised] animals have significantly more space to move than on non-organic farms."¹

These beliefs, however, are often not the reality on organic farms, especially large organic farms that are owned by major food corporations and operate similarly to conventional CAFOs (making them essentially organic CAFOs).

USDA Proposed Rule on Organic Animal Welfare Falls Flat

In April 2016, the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) issued a proposed rule to amend organic livestock and poultry practices to provide for the animals' welfare. As reported by the Organic Trade Association (OTA), the changes proposed by the USDA include:²

✓ Distinct welfare provisions are provided for mammalian and avian livestock	✓ Outdoor access for poultry cannot have a solid roof overhead
✓ Outdoor space requirements for poultry must be less than 2.25 pounds of hen per square foot of outdoor space	✓ Outdoor space must have 50 percent soil cover
✓ Indoor space requirements for poultry must be less than 2.25 pounds of hen per square foot of indoor space (allowances up to 4.5 pounds per square foot are made for pasture based and aviary style production systems)	✓ Further clarity on justifications for confinement indoors for livestock and poultry
✓ Further clarity on physical alterations that are allowed and prohibited	✓ Proposed implementation timeline following the issuance of a final rule: one year for all new organic operations; three years for new livestock housing construction; five years for all certified operations to be in full compliance

While some of the changes are a step in the right direction, others favor industrial livestock production (CAFOs) and will essentially legalize organic CAFOs for producing eggs and poultry.

The Cornucopia Institute, which engages in educational activities supporting sustainable and organic agriculture, noted, for instance, that:³

• Porches should not be considered outdoor access in poultry operations
• Birds need a minimum of 5 square feet each outdoors
• Vegetation should be required in all outdoor areas for poultry
• One of the dairy proposals allows cows to defecate and urinate on bedding, which jeopardizes animal health and conflicts with the requirement to keep animals clean

Glaring Issues With USDA's Organic Animal Welfare Proposal

The public comment period on the USDA's draft rule ended on July 13, 2016, with organic supporters like The Cornucopia Institute calling it a "giveaway to factory farm interests masquerading as organic." They continued:⁴

"Cornucopia policy experts and scientists claim that the options presented in the USDA's draft rule could confine birds to as little as [1] square foot indoors and only require farms to provide [2] square feet of 'pasture' outdoors, half of which could be covered with concrete."

"At best, the USDA proposal delays enforcement for five to seven years allowing continued factory farm confinement production," said Mark A. Kastel, senior farm policy analyst at the Cornucopia Institute.⁵ Kastel continued to Mercola.com:

"If corporate agribusiness, and a friendly USDA, succeed in blurring the lines, consumers won't be able to tell if their organic food is coming from a factory farm or a family farm that truly subscribes to organic practices.

Besides for many people who want to make sure livestock are treated respectfully, unless we have good enforcement, it becomes near impossible to differentiate between the phony-baloney organic brands and [the] ones that offer enhanced nutrition, like elevated omega-3 levels, that people expect when animals are provided access to pasture."

Industry Groups Balk at Looking Out for Animal Welfare

The organic industry is a mixed bag made up of small farms raising food the right way and large CAFOs that have gotten into the organic market and sell an organic line.

One of the scenarios that prompted to USDA's draft proposal in the first place was the fact that millions of chickens could be raised in squalid conditions on a CAFO, yet still labeled as organic.⁶

The reality is that corporate interests want to raise food in industrial CAFO settings yet still get a piece of the organic pie by labeling the questionably raised foods organic.

So far, they've been getting away with it, and they don't want that to change. In comments filed under the USDA's draft organic rule, for instance:

• The National Cattlemen's Beef Association argued the USDA doesn't have authority to put animal welfare standards in place under the organic program, and said the rule implies organically raised food is superior to conventionally and "vilifies conventionally raised livestock."⁷

• Cal-Maine Foods, the largest U.S. egg producer, Rose Acre Farms and Herbruck Poultry argued that the proposed requirements would be nearly impossible for big organic egg producers to comply.

They even went so far as to say the proposals could potentially jeopardize bird and human health.⁸

• The National Chicken Council (NCC), which represents Tyson, Perdue and other large poultry producers, also took issue with the proposed organic rule, specifically the suggestion that porches do not qualify as organic access.

The poultry giant claimed allowing birds outdoors could risk bird health and food safety while increasing costs for organic producers.⁹

So, basically, they want Americans to believe that keeping birds cooped up in close quarters is a better way to prevent disease than giving them access to fresh air and sunlight — an argument that defies commonsense and reason.

In short, organic CAFOs want to continue to raise animals in confinement and oppose measures that would require provisions that let farm animals be farm animals (like scratching around freely in the dirt, feeling the sun on their backs and foraging for their native diets).

North Carolina CAFO Waste Pits Are Environmental Disasters

If there were any question that raising animals in CAFOs is a disaster for all parties involved (except, maybe, for those raking in the profits), you need only look to North Carolina, where residents are reeling from the effects of living near hog CAFOs.

Every year, 15,000 Olympic pools' worth of waste come from North Carolina's CAFOs — the hog CAFOs alone, according to an analysis of maps and data of the state's CAFOs by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). According to EWG:¹⁰

"A new analysis by EWG and Waterkeeper Alliance shows that wet waste, primarily from pigs, in North Carolina's industrial agricultural operations produce almost 10 billion gallons of fecal waste yearly, enough to fill more than 15,000 Olympic-size swimming pools … Nestled near the Atlantic coast, these counties are beset with numerous air and water quality problems."

In addition, poultry operations in the state produce more than 2 million tons of dry animal waste annually. The wet animal waste is often applied to croplands as "fertilizer" or dumped into waste lagoons. The open pits allow pathogenic microbes and chemicals to enter the air and waterways. Of the state's more than 4,100 waste pits, EWG found that:

• 37 were located within one-half mile of a school
• 288 within one-half mile of a church
• 136 within one-half mile of a public water well
• 170 within the state's 100-year floodplain

This isn't a problem unique to North Carolina; unfortunately, it's a familiar scene in many U.S. CAFO states. Alex Formuzis, senior vice president, communications and strategic campaigns for the EWG, wrote of the reality of living near a CAFO:¹¹

"The smell from the manure and ammonia plume dangling above your property is so strong it often triggers vomiting, nause[a] and lung and eye irritation. The tap water could very well contain traces of the offending and dangerous swine waste, too, forcing you to buy and drink bottled water.

The waste saturates your property and builds up along the exterior of the house, attracting droves of flies, mosquitos, rats and snakes. Depression sets in as you and your family face the fact you've become prisoners in your own home.

A home you own, pay taxes on, and had hoped would be a safe and comfortable place to live, raise a family and grow old in. This is a slice of the American dream turned into a nightmare, courtesy of the industrial swine operation that borders your property.

Welcome to life alongside a factory farm. This is the reality of [residents of North Carolina] and tens of thousands of other Americans in this state, Iowa, Indiana, Colorado, Missouri and beyond."

TTIP May Also Stand in the Way of Increased Access to Healthier, Humanely Raised Food

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is a proposed trade agreement between the U.S. and Europe that's supported by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), which represents major U.S. meat and poultry producers. According to a report from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), which promotes sustainable food, farming and trade systems, TTIP would result in a corporate meat takeover and policy that favors industry over the public interest.

Provisions in TTIP would allow the global meat industry's global power to grow. They use the example of transnational meat corporations such as JBS and Smithfield, which they say "could be newly empowered to challenge regulations that hurt their bottom line …"¹² According to IATP:¹³

"The U.S. simply lacks essential rules that should curb the meat industry's wors[t] practices that cost taxpayers millions in environmental and public health costs … With TTIP, the EU industry will also ensure that pending decisions on critical issues such as cloning and glyphosate are made with trade 'competitiveness' in mind and not the public interest.

A TTIP deal would basically hand over Europe's animal farming sector on a silver platter to transnational meat corporations — through tariffs and quota expansions, but definitively through the sweeping de-regulatory changes the industry hopes to win through the accord."

How to Find Truly Humanely Raised Food

At this point, it's very difficult to tell from food labels alone whether the food you buy has been raised humanely or not. Even an organic label does not give you the whole picture. Unfortunately, unless you do a lot of research, it may be nearly impossible to sort the good from the bad.

That's where The Cornucopia Institute's organic egg report and scorecard, which took six years to produce, is invaluable. The scorecard is designed to help consumers and wholesale buyers identify truly exemplary organic brands in the supermarket coolers. It ranks 136 egg producers according to 28 organic criteria to help you find truly healthy, humanely-raised eggs.¹⁴ According to the Cornucopia Institute:

"'Scrambled Eggs: Separating Factory Farm Egg Production from Authentic Organic Agriculture' will empower consumers and wholesale buyers who want to invest their food dollars to protect hard-working family farmers that are in danger of being forced off the land by a landslide of eggs from factory farms ...

[As] consumers have become concerned about the humane treatment of animals, and are also seeking out eggs that are superior in flavor and nutrition, a number of national marketers have found success in distributing 'pasture'-produced eggs.

'There is a fair bit of overreach and the exploitation of this term is well covered in our report,' Kastel explained. 'The organic egg scorecard enables concerned consumers to select authentic brands delivering the very best quality eggs regardless of the hyperbole on the label' ..."

When shopping for food, it's important to be informed regarding where that food was produced. This becomes possible when you shop at farmers markets, natural food co-ops and directly from the farm, if possible. If you take advantage of the farm-fresh sustainability that's becoming more prevalent as people take control of what they're consuming, you'll realize many benefits.

You'll know where the foods you and your family eat come from, ensure optimal nutrition and protect the health of future generations. Also remember that some local foods are grown using organic standards and humanely, even though they might not be certified organic. One of the benefits of getting your food straight from the farm via the resources below is that you can often meet the farmer and ask about animal welfare before you buy:

1. Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
2. Farmers Markets — A national listing of farmers markets.
3. Local Harvest —This website will help you find farmers markets, family farms and other sources of sustainably grown food in your area where you can buy produce, grass-fed meats and many other goodies.
4. Eat Well Guide: Wholesome Food from Healthy Animals — The Eat Well Guide is a free online directory of sustainably raised meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farms, stores, restaurants, inns and hotels, and online outlets in the United States and Canada.
5. Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture (CISA) — CISA is dedicated to sustaining agriculture and promoting the products of small farms.
6. FoodRoutes — The FoodRoutes "Find Good Food" map can help you connect with local farmers to find the freshest, tastiest food possible. On their interactive map, you can find a listing for local farmers, CSAs and markets near you.

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Should Food Sharing Be Illegal?

Powerful Properties of Pomegranates

By Dr. Mercola

Swiss scientists recently found an element in pomegranates with promising potential to slow the effects of aging. The breakthrough catapulted pomegranates into superfood status and earned the focus of at least one biotech company eager to take advantage of the data.

The journal Nature Medicine reported the findings submitted by researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). They discovered that a compound called urolithin A bumped up the running endurance of aged mice by an average of 42 percent.

Urolithin A is a metabolite naturally produced by your body when compounds called ellagitannins, found in pomegranates, break down bacteria in your gut.

Not surprisingly, the team at EPFL is working with biotech company Amazentis to produce a nutritional supplement, which they hope will increase people's stamina and muscle strength, even in the aging process. Amazentis co-founder, neuroscience professor and EPFL president, Patrick Aebischer, said:

"We believe our research, uncovering the health benefits of urolithin A, holds promise in reversing muscle ageing [sic]. It's a completely natural substance, and its effect is powerful and measurable."¹

How Do Pomegranates Break Bacteria Down in Your Gut to Slow Aging?

When you eat a pomegranate, urolithin A is produced naturally when it's digested by gut bacteria. Tests aren't yet conclusive, but studies on rodents and nematodes (non-parasitic roundworms called Caenorhabditis elegans, or C. elegans), which both exhibited the metabolite, are said to be promising for humans.

Studies over many years have extolled the age-fighting properties of pomegranates, but there was no evidence to prove it. In spite of the hype that made the claim a little dubious, scientists decided to try further evaluation. Medical News Today explained:

"As we age, an important process that our cells rely on for energy slows down and begins to malfunction. This process — called "mitophagy" — recycles worn-out mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside cells that make the chemical units of energy that fuel their work.

If worn-out mitochondria are not recycled, they and their decomposing components build up inside cells, eventually causing problems in many tissues, including muscle, which gradually becomes weaker."²

Clinical evidence reveals that when this "old" mitochondria builds up, it can become toxic and even trigger age-related diseases such as Parkinson's. Further, genetic mutations in the Parkinson's gene, called Fbxo7, prevent the mitophagy or elimination of worn-out mitochondria.³

Only the Urolithin A Molecule Can Kick-Start a Lagging Mitophagy Process

When the process of mitophagy begins getting sluggish, urolithin A is the only substance that can relaunch the clean-up process, Aebischer revealed.

Nematodes were the first subjects in urolithin A testing because they're multicellular, have several things in common with human cells, and develop from a fertilized egg. Further, when C. elegans roundworms are just 8 to 10 days old, they're considered old, so the researchers found them to be the perfect test specimen.

Significantly, when C. elegans worms were exposed to urolithin A, they not only lived an average of 45 percent longer, they also kept faulty mitochondria from accumulating.⁴

The scientists' next step was to test with mice, which netted the same if not better results, with an extra bit of information: Mice as old as 2 years of age ran 42 percent better than mice the same age that hadn't been subject to the compound. More tests showed that young rats exposed to urolithin A exhibited enhanced capacity for exercise.

Scientists: Eating Pomegranates May Not Help You

While some people might hear about the EPFL studies for themselves and figure eating pomegranates might net at least some of the anti-aging and strength-bolstering benefits the animals found, scientists say because of the number of steps in its natural production process and the fact that the amount of urolithin A people produce varies widely, it's not quite that simple.

The ellagitannin precursor molecule in pomegranates mixes with water in your gut and breaks down into ellagic acid via bacteria to manufacture the urolithin A compound. You need certain gut bacteria to accomplish this, they say, not just the pomegranate.

The amount of bacteria varies from person to person and is sometimes nonexistent. If your gut bacteria don't produce urolithin A, it's probable that you won't reflect the mitochondria-recycling benefits exhibited in the study.

Urolithin A is currently under observation in human trials to deliver "finely calibrated doses" of the compound. EPFL's Laboratory of Integrative Systems Physiology
Professor Johan Auwerk explained:

"The fact that it works in two evolutionary distant species, it makes us very hopeful that it will also work in humans. That's the ultimate goal of our research.

Our work showed for the first time the importance of mitophagy in the aging process, and in addition we provided a compound contained in the natural product pomegranate that could activate mitophagy and hence curb age-related disease as frailty, sarcopenia (muscle loss due to aging) or metabolic diseases linked with aging."⁵

If the human test results duplicate the other studies, it will indicate that urolithin A has the capacity to slow muscle aging in humans. The initial clinical trial on humans is anticipated by 2017.

Pomegranates Are Packed With Powerful Health Potential

Pomegranates are technically a berry, mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament, and are one of the most popular fruits in many areas of the world.

Cut into a pomegranate and you'll find a bitter "pith"—not unlike that found in an orange—and about 600 small, juice-filled seed sacs called arils containing a crunchy, edible seed. To get the most of these bite-sized "jewels," cut off the crown of the fruit, cut it into sections, and roll the arils out in a bowl of water with your fingers.

Pomegranates are highly prized for their free radical-zapping antioxidants. While both red wine and green tea contain high amounts, one study found commercial pomegranate juice to have three times more antioxidant activity.

However, eating whole fruits is better since fiber moderates the amount of potentially damaging fructose.

Additionally, the presence of the tannin punicalagin indicates that more than just the arils are used in commercial juice, and that the pith can be used for juicing, as well.⁶ According to a study in the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry:

"This shows that pomegranate industrial processing extracts some of the hydrolyzable tannins present in the fruit rind. This could account for the higher antioxidant activity of commercial juices compared to the experimental ones.

In addition, anthocyanins, ellagic acid derivatives, and hydrolyzable tannins were detected and quantified in the pomegranate juices."⁷

Tests in the same study showed that extracts from the entire fruit exerted more antioxidant activity than just the arils. The aforementioned ellagitannin contains even more compounds such as punicalagins and punicalins, which account for about half of this fruit's antioxidant ability.

So if you're planning to juice pomegranates at home, be sure to include the beneficial rind.

Another study took a comprehensive view of pomegranates in relation to their antioxidants, free-radical-scavenging capacity, total oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) and other factors in comparison with seven other fruit juices, including blueberry, orange and açaí, plus red wines and several teas, including green tea.

The study found that pomegranate juice "had the greatest antioxidant potency composite index among the beverages tested and was at least 20 percent greater than any of the other beverages tested."⁸

Antioxidants can decrease your risk of oxidative stress that exposes you to several serious diseases and chronic inflammation. One study said antioxidants may help delay the progression of Alzheimer's⁹ and the rapid deterioration of your tissues and organs.

In addition, tannins, anthocyanins and ellagic acid are important polyphenols in pomegranates that help with arthritis pain. They also contain vitamins C and K, folate, and the minerals potassium, copper and manganese.¹⁰ Together, these micronutrients help protect your cells against reactive oxygen species (ROS), cell damage and, yes, aging.

Disease-Fighting Power of Pomegranates

Pomegranate compounds can improve erectile dysfunction,¹¹ and also squelch cancer cell proliferation and even bring about apoptosis, or cell death. The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC)¹² noted that "in laboratory tests, pomegranate shows antiviral, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties." In regard to osteoarthritis, UMMC noted:

"Flavonols (a kind of antioxidant) similar to the ones found in pomegranate fruit have been suggested as treatments for osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis happens when the cartilage in joints wears down and causes pain and stiffness. Researchers believe flavonols can help block inflammation that contributes to the destruction of cartilage.

… In test tubes, pomegranate extract blocked the production of an enzyme that destroys cartilage in the body. In one review of the scientific literature, researchers concluded that all of the studies reported positive effects of pomegranate juice or extract on osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis."

According to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,¹³ pomegranates have been shown to be effective in lowering blood pressure and also in:

✓ Cancer prevention14	✓ Hyperlipidemia15 (high blood fat)	✓ HIV 16
✓ Atherosclerosis17 (hardening of the arteries)	✓ Coronary heart disease18	✓ Hypertension

In 2007, Harvard Medical School published a review¹⁹ on the way pomegranate juice affects both prostate cancer and the heart:

"Two … studies suggest that pomegranate juice may help fight prostate cancer. In one study, scientists grew cells from highly aggressive cases of human prostate cancer in tissue cultures. Pomegranate fruit extracts slowed the growth of the cultured cancer cells and promoted cell death.

The researchers then implanted the cancer cells in mice. A group of mice that received water laced with pomegranate juice developed significantly smaller tumors than the untreated animals. In a preliminary study of men with prostate cancer, pomegranate juice lengthened patients' PSA doubling time (the longer the doubling time, the slower the tumor is growing) from 15 months before treatment to 54 months on the juice."

The same review discussed the benefits pomegranates may have on heart disease via its ability to protect LDL cholesterol from oxidative damage. Pomegranate juice also decreased carotid artery thickness²⁰ and improved cardiac blood flow, but it may also interfere with some medications.

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Magnesium — An Essential Mineral for Heart Health

What Is Cassava Good For?

By Dr. Mercola

You might be wondering what cassava is before you think to ask what it might be good for, but in light of its amazing properties, this rather sweet, starchy and nut-flavored tuber may become a staple in your pantry.

Cassava (Manihot esculenta), also known as manioc or yuca (not yucca), belongs to the spurge family of plants called Euphorbiaceae. It most likely originated in South American forest regions, but it's also grown very inexpensively in parts of Asia, Africa and the Southern U.S. For centuries, it's been a food mainstay for millions.

Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety says cassava contains more than one form of cyanogenic glycosides — sweet and bitter:

"Different varieties of cassava are generally classified into two main types: sweet cassava and bitter cassava. Sweet cassava roots contain less than 50 mg per kilogram hydrogen cyanide on fresh weight basis, whereas that of the bitter variety may contain up to 400 mg per kilogram."¹

Cassava is a perennial, usually grown in tropical climates, very simply propagated by using a cut portion of the stem. The roots, often compared to large yams, can weigh several pounds. They have tough, scaly and brown skin and starchy, white "meat" inside, but care must be taken in harvest because the shelf life is only a few days.

Purchase cassava roots (or flour) at large groceries, and store them at room temperature for a week. They can then be peeled and boiled, baked or fried, cooked and dried for later use, or fermented.

The leaves are also used for food and contain 100 times more protein than the root, but both must be cooked and the water discarded.²

The Odd and Advantageous Benefits of Cassava

While cassava roots are close to what we know as white potatoes, cassava contains almost twice the calories, and may be the highest-calorie tuber known. One cup of boiled cassava contains 330 calories, 78 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of protein and 4 grams each of fiber and sugar.³

Being naturally gluten-free, cassava is extremely useful for celiac patients and others trying to avoid gluten. One aspect of cassava is that it's one of several root foods defined by the Philippines' Department of Science and Technology as having a low glycemic index (GI) and therefore good for diabetics.

"GI is a classification of food based on the blood glucose response to a food relative to a standard glucose solution. Low glycemic foods control the release of glucose into the bloodstream at a steady and sustained rate, keeping the body's metabolic processes and energy levels balanced.

People with low glycemic diets or [who] eat low glycemic foods are said to have lower risk of getting coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

These food items that have low GI would benefit those who are already suffering from diabetes, since these would help in the proper control and management of blood sugar."⁴

As a low-GI food, eating cassava can also help improve physical endurance because blood glucose levels are moderated instead of dropping when insulin is produced.

Low-GI foods also may help control triglyceride and other lipid levels in your blood. Cassava has even been called a "weight loss wonder food" due to its ability to decrease appetite and decrease fat storage in fat cells.⁵

B-complex vitamins contained in cassava include folate, thiamin, pyridoxine (vitamin B6), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and riboflavin (vitamin B2). The root also includes a number of minerals that perform important functions throughout your body:

✓ Iron helps form the two proteins responsible for transporting oxygen to your tissues	✓ Zinc helps your immune system fight bacteria and aids cell growth and division	✓ Calcium helps form strong bones and teeth
✓ Magnesium optimizes mitochondrial function and helps regulate blood sugar	✓ Potassium synthesizes proteins and helps break down carbohydrates	✓ Manganese is vital for connective tissue and sex hormones, and repairing joints

Cassava also contains saponins that can ease inflammation, break down organic body wastes like uric acid, cleanse mineral deposits from your joints and help balance your gut flora.

Tapioca: Starch From the Cassava Root

If you've ever had tapioca, you've had a form of cassava, as tapioca is the starchy liquid extracted from the root; cassava is the ground root itself. The content is essentially pure carbohydrates, with negligible fiber, protein or nutrients. In fact, one study called tapioca "nutritionally inferior."⁶

One cup of dry pearl tapioca contains 544 calories, 135 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of sugar. There are virtually no vitamins to speak of, other than a small amount of folate and pantothenic acid, but the same amount yields 13 percent of the recommended daily value in iron and 8 percent of the manganese.⁷

Moisture is removed from the root either by evaporation or squeezing it out after being ground, leaving a fine, white powder. Dried, it's often sold as flour or pressed into flakes or "pearls," which should be boiled before you eat them; 1 part dry pearls to 8 parts water is a good ratio.

The product usually resembles small, translucent and gel-like balls with a leathery consistency that expand when moisture is added. Especially as a need for gluten-free options have emerged into the mainstream diet, tapioca is one of the best alternatives to wheat and other grains.

While tapioca starch provides energy with very little nutritional value, it's gluten-free, which is worth its weight in gold to a growing number of people who are allergic or sensitive to gluten.⁸ It also has several uses in place of flour for both cooking and baking:

• Tapioca makes a popular type of pudding made up of chewy, mildly sweet "pearls," as well as bubble tea, an Asian concoction usually served cold.
• Gluten- and grain-free bread made from tapioca is sometimes combined with other flours such as coconut flour or almond meal to improve the nutrition.
• As a thickener, tapioca is excellent for bulking up the consistency of soups or stews, and it's essentially flavorless.
• Flatbread made from tapioca is most often found in developing countries because it's inexpensive and very versatile.
• Added to burgers and dough, tapioca is a binder that can improve the texture and moisture content in foods without becoming soggy.

Cassava: A Digestive-Resistant Starch

The Healthy Home Economist calls resistant starch "the healthiest starch for your gut:"

"Resistant starch is a type of starch that does not break down (it literally "resists" digestion), instead of being absorbed as glucose like most starches.

Instead, resistant starch travels through the small intestine to the colon where it is turned into beneficial, energy-boosting, inflammation-squashing and short-chain fatty acids by intestinal bacteria.

The main reason why resistant starch is so beneficial is that it feeds the friendly bacteria in your colon, turns them into important short chain fatty acids, such as butyrate (known to help reduce inflammation) and is extremely helpful in cases of autoimmunity, IBS, colitis and allergies."⁹

According to Authority Nutrition:

"Most of the carbohydrates in the diet are starches. Starches are long chains of glucose that are found in grains, potatoes and various foods. But not all of the starch we eat gets digested. Sometimes a small part of it passes through the digestive tract unchanged. In other words, it is resistant to digestion."¹⁰

Resistant starch can be very beneficial. As it feeds beneficial gut bacteria, it can reduce inflammation as well as harmful bacteria.¹¹

It may also lower your blood glucose level after meals,¹² improve insulin sensitivity,¹³ help manage metabolic syndrome¹⁴ and possibly help you eat less.¹⁵ The four different types of resistant starches include:¹⁶

• Type 1, found in grains, seeds and legumes, resists digestion because it's bound by fibrous cell walls.
• Type 2 is indigestible starchy foods such as green bananas and raw potatoes which, when heated, makes them digestible.
• Type 3 is created when a starchy food is cooked, then cooled, turning some digestible starches, such as rice and white beans, into resistant starch through retrogradation.¹⁷
• Type 4 is a man-made substance using a chemical process and is not healthy for you.

Other Uses for Cassava

Cassava is also known for many additional benefits, according to StyleCraze:¹⁸

✓ Cassava made into a simple paste with water and used as a peel or scrub smoothes, brightens and hydrates your skin.	✓ As a mask, wash your face first with warm water, smooth on a paste using water and honey, dry completely and rinse well with cold water.
✓ Cassava roots and leaves can be made into a paste to nourish and soften your hair and remedy hair loss. Twice a week, apply coconut or olive oil, then cassava paste, wait one hour and rinse.	✓ Traditionally, the roots and leaves were used to boost immunity, energy and brain function, heal wounds, de-worm, soothe headaches and fevers, aid digestion and rheumatoid conditions, lower blood pressure and balance stress levels.

Precautions Regarding Cassava

Cassava roots contain the toxic compound linamarin, which converts to hydrogen cyanide. Improper cooking of cassava root is associated with cyanide poisoning, which can cause symptoms of vomiting, nausea, dizziness, stomach pains, headache, irreversible paralysis from a disease called konzo¹⁹ and even death. Nutrition and You noted:

"Cassava should never be eaten raw as the root composes [sic] small quantities of cyanogenic glycosides, especially hydroxycyanic acid. Cyanide compounds interfere with cellular metabolism by inhibiting the cytochrome-oxidase enzyme inside the human body."²⁰

However, if the cassava are peeled and cooked, toxic substances are removed. It should be noted that the tapioca you buy at the store or prepare from a package does not contain harmful cyanide levels, so it's perfectly safe to eat.

*Mercola.com follows journalistic industry standards by using the Associated Press (AP) writing style. For consistency's sake, we sometimes change quoted text from other printed sources to reflect AP style, or to indicate that the usage is the exact language of the quoted text. Those changes and indications will appear in brackets within the text.

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Love Comes First

In a state of love, no matter what you do, it’s going to be good.   Love comes first. That must be the ideal. When two people feel an unconditional attraction for each other, and are ready to sacrifice for one another, they are truly in love. Then only are they ready for an intimate […]

The post Love Comes First appeared first on The Organic Life.

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Brushing my Teeth with a Twig!? Twig Brush Unboxing / First Impression

Today's post is a little different and is probably the most unusual thing I've tried on camera! I was sent this Twig Brush to try and have to say that as weird as it was, I was actually impressed after the first use. Continue Reading →

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Murad Facial

Last week Murad treated me for a facial at Massage Envy spa and it felt like my ‘ME time’ prayers got heard. 1 hour of a thoughtful facial and great ‘skincare chat’ with Lauren, Massage Envy esthetician who took good care of my heat-stressed face. My skin loves Murad products, and I had zero doubts if

The post Murad Facial appeared first on TLV Birdie.

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Balsamic Drizzled Brussels Sprouts Recipe

Recipe From Naturally Savvy

Brussels sprouts have always tested the patience of parents and bravery of picky eaters, young and old. However, various types of sprouts are becoming well-known nowadays as a potent “superfood” that can do wonders for your body because they’re rich in nutrients and deliver vital health benefits.

If you’re looking for an appetizing way to prepare Brussels sprouts, look no further than this Balsamic Drizzled Brussels Sprouts recipe from Naturally Savvy. The balsamic vinegar adds that much needed flavor to the Brussels sprouts, and in no time, your family and friends might be back for seconds.

Ingredients

2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Large pinch of Himalayan salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 to 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar (add more or less to taste)

Procedure

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. On a large rimmed baking sheet or in a large casserole dish, toss the Brussels sprouts with oil, garlic, salt and a few grinds of freshly ground pepper.

2. Roast until tender and slightly golden, approximately 25 minutes.

3. Remove from the oven and drizzle with 1 to 2 Tbsp. (or more) of balsamic vinegar. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

This recipe makes six to eight servings.

This Balsamic Drizzled Brussels Sprouts Recipe Bursts With Flavor

Sprouts, which are edible germinated seeds of flowers, beans, legumes, vegetables or grains, are becoming well-known for their nutritional content and health benefits that you cannot get from their mature versions.

Brussels sprouts are low in calories, and contain various vitamins (A, B1, B2, B6, C and K), minerals (magnesium, phosphorus, iron, potassium and calcium, to name a few) and antioxidants (ferulic and caffeic acids, kaempferol and isorhamnetin). Brussels sprouts also contain sulfur-containing compounds called glucosinolates that break down into isothiocyanates and activate cancer-fighting enzymes.

Cooked Brussels sprouts will have a bright green color, slightly crisp texture and nutty/sweet flavor. Don’t overcook your Brussels sprouts as the taste changes and the nutrients become damaged. They will become overly smelly, mushy and turn a pale green color.

For this recipe, skip unhealthy vegetable oils and use coconut oil instead. It contains healthy medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that don’t require special enzymes to be metabolized. Plus, MCFAs are easier to digest and break down in your body, and are sent to the liver directly where they’re converted into energy instead of being stored as fat.

Garlic not only provides your food additional flavor and spice, but it’s good for your health too. Its antioxidant properties can help suppress bacterial, viral and parasitic infections, fight free radicals and cancer cells, and improve your immune system. Garlic also helps reduce inflammation in your body and boost cardiovascular health and circulation.

While balsamic vinegar traces its roots to Italy, this ingredient has become popular in different cuisines worldwide because of its sweet and tart taste, which sets it apart from other types of vinegar. An article in The Times of India highlights Balsamic vinegar’s health benefits, including:

• Weight loss: balsamic vinegar helps in regulating your appetite, preventing overeating and increasing the amount of time it takes for your stomach to empty. This vinegar is also low in calories and contains calcium, iron, manganese and potassium.

• Helps blood circulation: antioxidants called polyphenols are present in balsamic vinegar, and they fix free radical-caused damage in your body. These polyphenols are also able to shield the body from heart disease and cancer.

• Helps in digestion: balsamic vinegar boosts the activity of an enzyme called pepsin. This enzyme enhances your body’s metabolism and breaks down protein into smaller amino acids that could be absorbed more easily by your body.

• Improves immunity: balsamic vinegar is made from grapes, which contain antioxidants that are able to fight cell damage and enhance your body’s immune system and flexibility of your blood platelets.

• Regulates blood sugar: if you’re diabetic, balsamic vinegar is able to improve insulin sensitivity, and in turn normalizes blood sugar more easily and lessens unwanted diabetes side effects.

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Exceptional Teaching Tool for Health Practitioners and Laypeople Looking to Learn About Integrative Medicine

By Dr. Mercola

Most of us will, at some point, go through personal health challenges, and it would be wise to have a personal physician you can trust who is grounded in natural medicine. Dr. Lee Cowden, who is my personal physician, has developed an excellent teaching program for licensed health professionals and laypeople alike.

Cowden is a board-certified interventional cardiologist who, after experiencing the limitations of the conventional model firsthand as a patient, came to realize there's another approach.

"I was accepted to medical school in Houston ... With all the grass, weeds, molds, fungus, pollens and everything in the air, I developed allergic rhinitis, then I developed allergic sinusitis, then infective sinusitis, [followed by] bronchitis and finally pneumonia.

I went to the chairman of different medical school departments to get help and I followed their instructions explicitly, and I got progressively worse. Thank goodness, my wife's grandmother came to visit us in Houston. She saw me suffering and took pity on me.

She was a school teacher and a self-taught nutritionist. She took me to the health food store and got me some vitamins, minerals and herbs, and I got well.

I thought, 'I need to learn what this woman knows and I need to take with a grain of salt everything I learned in the conventional allopathic training system after this.'"

From Crisis Intervention to Preventive Medicine

That was 1975. It took another decade before he decided to "come out of the closet," as he puts it, and begin to incorporate the alternative methods he'd learned into his own medical practice.

By that time, he'd finished his cardiology and critical care medicine fellowships, and had practiced interventional cardiology and invasive medicine for a year.

"At the end of that year, I concluded three things: if I continued on that grueling path, I would kill myself and probably end up in divorce and wouldn't know my children," he says.

"The other thing I realized was that patients got well and got out of the hospital when they weren't expected to because of the nutritional things I used while they were in the hospital.

But they were all coming back to the hospital two to three months later with the same condition, because they didn't change their lifestyle.

They didn't change their diet. They hadn't done anything else. I realized at that point I was intervening way too far down the stream. I needed to get out of that crisis intervention mode.

I [started] thinking of getting into a more preventative medicine mode and start reversing diseases by identifying the causes and helping the patients to reverse those causes."

Cowden now travels and teaches doctors about various preventive and integrative care strategies, including diet, detoxification, electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and much more.

I believe the model Cowden has developed, integrating many different modalities into a very comprehensive and integrative approach, is one of the best available for physicians who seek to learn and integrate this into their practice.

The Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine

Cowden's intention and goal is to create a large number of physicians and healthcare clinicians who understand integrative or alternative medicine principles and are able to apply them.

He's developed a course to train clinicians that seems to be, from everything I've reviewed, the most cost-effective strategy available.

"The academy I work with, the Academy of Comprehensive Integrative Medicine (ACIM), is a Panamanian-based academy (because they still have freedom of speech) that has been at this since late 2008.

We've been filming valuable information, editing it and uploading it to the academy website. So there's a lot of information on the academy website, ACIMConnect.com."

ACIM connects practitioners to other practitioners through a mentoring process. It also connects practitioners with patients that want to seek their help, and connects patients with patients who need support and encouragement during their healing process.

The cost for this program is about one-quarter of the typical cost for similar programs, and by providing online training, you also save a lot of money by eliminating the need for travel and hotel stays.

Periodically, you may be required to go to a fixed location for hands-on instruction, but 80 to 90 percent of what you need to learn is done online at your own convenience.

Moreover, you do not have to be a licensed medical professional to participate. Even laypeople and patients can enroll in the program. If you complete the entire program, you will be certified as a comprehensive wellness coach who can work closely with a licensed practitioner. The two available paths in the academy are:

1. The informal path: as a member (free membership is also available), you can look through the catalog and select the education courses that interest you. All courses are available as online videos.
2. The formal path: practitioners who want to go to the next step can enter into the ACIM's integrative medicine fellowship program, which includes 300 hours' worth of integrative medicine educational training, much of which can be done online. There are also different levels within the fellowship program, from low to high.

Mark Your Calendar for ACIM's Annual Conference

ACIM holds an annual conference in Florida. This year, I will be speaking at this event, which will be held in Orlando from September 22 through September 24.

There's also a post-conference on September 25, which will include the major laboratories that test blood or use other non-scanning techniques to find out whether a person has cancer and to what extent.

For example, by measuring Nagalase and ENOX2, Cowden says you can receive a "fairly certain" diagnosis of whether you have cancer, all in a matter of 48 hours.

It promises to be one of the best events of the year and I am very excited to be sharing my latest insights on the metabolic treatment of cancer. Many of the leading experts in the field will also be there, including Thomas Seyfried, Ph.D. author of the book “Cancer as a Metabolic Disease.”

If you have an interest in cancer, this is the go-to event of the year to get the latest insights on how to conquer cancer through diet and other means. You can get the details at this link.

"This topic of diet and cancer is absolutely crucial. Without [addressing your diet], most patients have very little hope of recovery, whether they go the allopathic route or the integrative medicine route," Cowden says.

"We have Dr. Tsuneo Kobayashi coming from Japan. Twenty years ago, he started doing research for finding a blood chemistry panel that could determine whether a person was starting to develop cancer. If he found they were starting to develop cancer, he would intervene with natural means and turn that around, so that the cancer markers became normal again.

During that time, there should have been 300 full-blown cases of cancer in his group of patients, but there's not been one. He's going to tell us how he did all that. That's going to be a fascinating presentation.

Dr. [Ioannis] Papasotiriou is coming to us from Greece. He's developed a lab that's just mind-boggling ... He can actually make a remedy that can be used to treat a patient from the patient's own blood. We have Dr. William LaValley ... who has researched the literature, finding all the articles in the peer-reviewed literature showing how nutraceuticals effectively reverse cancer ... "

Novel Tool to Improve Your Sleep Quality

While conventional medicine has only a limited number of tools at its disposal, there's really no shortage of them in the integrative model. I've had some experience with a few that are really incredible. One tool I'm currently using is a fitness ring that assesses sleep quality, which is an important part of the health equation.

The ring essentially works like a mini sleep lab. It will tell you how long you were in light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep, your heart rate variability, what time you wake up and your total sleep time.

"We have thousands of tools," Cowden says. "We could be here for days talking about all of them. The allopathic system unfortunately only has about three or four tools in their toolbox. When you get to the end of those few tools, the allopathic doctor says, 'There is no more hope for your condition. Go home and suffer and die.' 

That's when you need to start looking in the integrative medicine realm. Years ago, somebody asked me, 'What business are you in?' I said, 'I'm in the failure business. I treat the failures of the allopathic medical community.' The human body has been created to regenerate as long as the allopathic doctors don't get too much in the way. The pharmaceuticals block the healing process. The surgery removes body parts that you might have needed ...

Anyway, the EEG Biofeedback is an extremely valuable tool in the integrative medicine toolbox ... We measure the brain waves coming off the different parts of the brain, [which] tells us with great predictive accuracy what that person's sleep is like, what their mood is like, what their memory is like, what their ability to do a mathematical calculation is like, whether they have anxiety ... It's amazing what we can learn."

Herbal Medicine

Cowden uses products from a Florida-based herbal company called NutraMedix. Many of its products are potent mitochondrial regulators. Cowden estimates most all people have disease-causing microbes in their bodies. As long as your immune system is strong, they're kept in check. But if your immune function falters, they can easily take over, and many pathogenic microorganisms produce biotoxins that are more toxic than man-made ones.

"Those add on to the pile that's already in your body from the pesticides, the herbicides, the heavy metals and the radioactive elements we're all getting exposed to every day just by living and breathing," Cowden says. "You can become very ill [from] the combination of the bugs and the toxins. When we use these herbals, we're shifting that balance. They're very diverse in their effect."

What's unique about the NutraMedix products is that most of them are quantum physically imprinted. They're high-quality herbal extracts from naturally raised plants in the jungle. They also act like homeopathics, because they can deal with a lot of things that the herbs themselves cannot address.

I've tried about a dozen different preparations from NutraMedix and have experienced profound benefits from them. Ideally, they'd be prescribed by someone who has the training and knowledge to select the most appropriate remedy, but they're quite safe either way, so there's no major downside to taking them.

"No. They've studied these at the University of Guayaquil in Ecuador in animals and given hundreds of times the human recommended dose, scaled down to animal bodyweight, for weeks on end without seeing any change in the behavior of the animals or any change in the histology of the organs ... We know that these are extremely safe. In some cases, safer than water," Cowden says.

Herbal Remedies for Lyme Disease

People with Lyme disease, for example, may benefit from these kinds of herbal formulas. Cowden has created a specific treatment program for Lyme patients who have failed to improve on antibiotic therapy. In initial tests, the improvement rate was around 80 percent.

Bionatus, located in Ecuador, has an educational website, NutraMedix.ec, where you can learn more about this all-natural treatment program. The 11 herbs used in this program include Cumanda, Banderol and Samento.

Takuna is also an excellent product to help with seasonal health challenges. I recommend keeping Takuna in your home emergency medical kit.

"It's a comprehensive program. You don't really have to know what kind of creature you have in your body. It will address the vast majority of the creatures that are there," Cowden says.

Integrative Medicine Can Help Just About Any Condition

According to doctors who have used the Cowden Support Program in their chronically-ill patients, this program has often produced "amazing results." Other procedures developed by innovative integrative practitioners can also have amazing results in certain chronically-ill patients.

"We know you can reverse chronic diarrhea caused by Clostridium dificil and even ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease oftentimes with one procedure called human fecal transplant. We're talking about permanent resolution. This treatment came out of Australia but it's actually been studied at the Mayo Clinic and proven to be effective. Why are we still giving all the drugs for these conditions when we can effectively treat them and often cure them with one integrative treatment?" he says.

The Importance of Addressing Food Sensitivities

Food sensitivities underlie many chronic health problems, and there are electronic tools that can comprehensively screen for hundreds, if not thousands, of different foods, giving you a list of foods you're sensitive to within a matter of 15 minutes. Cowden recommends using electrodermal screening or galvanic skin response testing. By eliminating sensitizing foods, you may experience a significant improvement in your condition.

"When you're dealing with an immune-related problem like cancer, for example, if you're consuming a lot of food allergens every day, a lot of the immune energy is going to deal with that food allergy reaction rather than the immunity that's taking care of the cancer. You're cheating yourself out of combating the cancer when you have those unnecessary food allergy reactions," Cowden says.

"In this type of medicine, we also teach practitioners how to do the Coca Pulse test, so that they can teach their patients how to do that at home. It's a very simple process. Just take your pulse before the meal. Relax for a few minutes. Eat your meal without distress. No arguments at the table. No watching the news.

About 10 minutes after the meal, take your pulse again. If your pulse rate goes up, you know you've had an allergy reaction to that meal. We don't have to know what type of allergy reaction; we just know there's a problem in that meal. If they make an entire meal out of each one of those component foods over the next three days, they could figure out which ones [are problematic]."

Most heart rate variability tools come from Russia, where they've studied and perfected this technique over the last 45 years. Cowden likes a heart rate variability system called Heart Quest, which tells you not only what your autonomic nervous system is doing, but also what's going on with your hormonal, psycho-emotional and cardiovascular systems.

From this, you can assess your brain's toxic load and potential mineral or hormone deficiencies, for example. You can also assess the balance of your meridian system, used in Chinese medicine, acupuncture and the Ayurvedic system.

Remarkable Success Stories

Some of the more remarkable success stories using integrative medicine involve prospective transplant patients. Many have actually been on the roster list for an organ transplant, and implementing Cowden's protocols made them well enough to not need that transplant. To me, that's quite profound.

"I had a young fellow come to me from Israel years ago with kidney failure. He was on the verge of dialysis. He already had one kidney transplant and he was rejecting that kidney. In just a month's time — with dietary changes, nutritional supplementation, some emotional work [and] some electromagnetic therapies — he went to perfectly normal kidney function ...

The liver is one of the most regenerative organs in the body. For somebody to get a liver transplant is absolutely crazy, because all you have to do is get rid of the toxins in the liver ... You can get the toxins out and stop putting more toxins in. Give the body just a few nutrients to help rebuild the liver back up, and it regenerates in every case," Cowden says.

That may sound like a bold statement, but this is coming from a clinician who's treated patients for 30 years and has seen these kinds of cases day in and day out.

The Importance of Addressing Your Emotions

Quite often, emotional wounding is part of the disease spectrum. Cowden suggests it may be a contributing factor in nearly all disease, to some degree. In some patients, it may be 90 percent causative. In others, it may only contribute 10 or 20 percent. However, avoiding addressing any potential emotional issues will oftentimes stifle the healing process and/or prevent complete healing.

Michelle LaMasa-Schrader, Ph.D., who teaches one of ACIM's fellowship training courses on emotional healing, will also be speaking at this year's conference. She teaches Recall Healing, which involves asking the patient the right questions, the right way, so the patient has an "aha moment." When they have the "aha moment," the condition the question addresses often resolves spontaneously without any other therapy.

"Dr. [Ryke] Geerd Hamer in Germany was the one who started this back in 1978," Cowden says. "Many others have added on to the methodology system. It's quite an extraordinary process. I learned the process originally from Gilbert Renaud [Ph.D.,] in Vancouver B.C., Canada. He now travels in Europe and Russia, and teaches at the University of Moscow. Recall Healing is now a required course for the psychology students at the university."

Other tools include EVOX therapy, which involves speaking into a microphone that records the frequencies embedded in your voice. Each frequency in your voice corresponds to a specific emotion attached to the person or event you're speaking about. In 15 seconds, all the specific emotions surrounding the issue talked about are displayed on a computer screen. The device then takes these voice frequencies and makes them into a homeopathic energy that it delivers back into you.

"It shakes those memories loose, so the patient becomes free from them," Cowden explains. I realize this may sound like hocus pocus, science fiction or both, but I've experienced a few EVOX therapy sessions and can attest to its effectiveness. The Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is another tool that can be quite useful, and there are many others. New techniques are also cropping up at a fairly rapid clip.

"They say allopathic medical knowledge is doubling every three to four years; integrative medicine knowledge is doubling every two years. Unless you're continually learning, you're going to fall behind and something that's valuable will not be used," Cowden says.

More Information

The take-home message here is that, no matter what health issue you're trying to address, there is likely a wide array of tools and treatment strategies that can help. My goal is to catalyze the transformation of the healing system in the world. I can provide information on this website, but ultimately we need clinicians trained in these alternative and integrative methods, so that patients can get expert guidance.

The ACIM program is, in my view, the best training tool out there for health practitioners and laypeople alike. Especially if you're a practicing clinician, I couldn't encourage you more strongly to participate. You can get more information and enroll on ACIMConnect.com.

"I think each listener, no matter what their background, can go to the academy website and learn things that will be valuable for their own health, the health of their family members and close friends. If they choose to, they can even apply that to others. They can do that, if they're not a practitioner, as a wellness coach.

We want to try to hook up wellness coaches with well-trained integrative practitioners, so they can work together. Integrative practitioners need the help of the wellness coach to handle the patients ... Creating that team is the best scenario for the practitioner, the wellness coach and the patient," Cowden says.

The program also teaches you how to legally practice as a wellness coach, so you don't run the risk of going to jail for practicing medicine without a license. That's a big part of the equation. It's important to have the appropriate legal structure in place. Cowden is also working on a tertiary care system, where severely ill patients can have access to guidance and care for days or weeks at a time.

"Some people might have far advanced cancer. They might have to spend a few weeks in a tertiary care location to get the integrative care they need. Then once they are improved significantly, they go back into the setting around their home where there's a wellness coach or an integrative practitioner that can do the follow through and keep them moving in the right direction.

You need to have that balance of 'the best of the best' on call all the time, if you need him, but also the person that's going to be close to you, the primary care practitioner [and] the wellness coach that's going to do the follow-through."

Attend the ACIM Conquering Cancer Conference

If you have an interest in or passion for learning more about cancer, be sure to attend the ACIM Conquering Cancer Conference in Orlando, September 22 through September 24. Cowden and I will both be there, along with a long list of other excellent speakers, including my mentor in nutrition, Dr. Ron Rosedale. You'll learn how to implement a ketogenic diet, for example, and much more.

Perhaps more importantly, get your clinician to participate in the ACIM Connect training program, so they can get certified and become aware of all these great tools. A practitioner can begin the fellowship program with just 30 hours of training, which is one level.

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A Vulnerable Conversation About My Health

The post A Vulnerable Conversation About My Health appeared first on The Organic Life.

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Taking Your Health Into Your Own Hands

The post Taking Your Health Into Your Own Hands appeared first on The Organic Life.

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How Perfect Is Your Poop?

The Chilling History of Monsanto’s Rise to Power

By Dr. Mercola

In the featured video, journalist Abby Martin discusses Monsanto's rise to power and how the company has managed to saturate the global environment with its toxic chemicals, largely through immoral means.

In May, the University of San Francisco revealed the results from a testing project that began in 2015. The tests, commissioned by the Organic Consumers Association (OCA), found that 93 percent of Americans have detectable levels of the chemical glyphosate in their urine.¹

Glyphosate is the most widely used agricultural chemical in the world, and it's an active ingredient in Monsanto's broad-spectrum herbicide Roundup. As noted by the Detox Project:²

"Glyphosate, labeled a 'probable human carcinogen' by the World Health Organization's cancer agency IARC in 2015, has now been revealed to be ubiquitous in the first ever comprehensive and validated LC/MS/MS testing project to be carried out across America...

Glyphosate was found ... at an average level of 3.096 parts per billion (ppb). Children had the highest levels with an average of 3.586 ppb. The regions with the highest levels were the West and the Midwest with an average of 3.053 ppb and 3.050 ppb respectively."

Glyphosate Contamination Is 'Everywhere'

Glyphosate has been found in a wide array of samples, including blood, urine, breast milk, drinking water and more. Results from a German study³ published in 2012 showed that even people who have no direct contact with agriculture have significant concentrations of glyphosate in their urine.

In fact, every single urine sample collected from city dwellers around Berlin tested positive for glyphosate, with values ranging from 0.5 to 2 nanograms per milliliter (ng/ml), which is between five and 20 times the permissible upper limit for glyphosate in German drinking water, set at 0.1 ng/ml.

Why do most people have traces of this probable carcinogen in their bodies, regardless of where they live?

The answer is because glyphosate is sprayed on virtually all food crops around the world. In fact, glyphosate is the most heavily used weed killer in history. Roundup is the most commonly used formulation but glyphosate can also be found in other pesticide formulas.⁴

Since 1974, 1.8 million tons of glyphosate have been applied to US fields; two-thirds of that volume has been sprayed in the last 10 years.⁵

In 2014 alone, farmers sprayed enough glyphosate to apply 0.8 pounds of the chemical to every acre of cultivated cropland in the US Between 1974 and 2014, 9.4 million tons of glyphosate was used worldwide.

Glyphosate Threatens Ecological, Animal and Human Health

As noted by The Center for Biological Diversity, the heavy use of glyphosate — particularly on genetically engineered (GE) Roundup Ready crops, which are also developed by Monsanto — has been implicated in the dramatic decline in Monarch butterflies.

Evidence^6,7 has also linked glyphosate to Bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and honeybee starvation,⁸ along with toxicity to soil, woodland plants, amphibians, fish, aquatic environments and mammals,⁹ causing reproductive problems and endocrine disruption.

According to other recent research, glyphosate may also promote antibiotic resistance by disrupting gut bacteria and dysregulating manganese utilization (manganese accumulation in bile acids allows Salmonella to gain a stronghold there).

Monsanto, a 'Sinister Threat to the Planet's Ecosystem'

Considering the many concerns raised by scientists about the toxic nature of glyphosate and formulations containing glyphosate (which typically turn out to be even more toxic than glyphosate in isolation), you'd think the US government, if not Monsanto itself, would take action to protect human health.

Instead, they've done the converse. In fact, it could easily be said that without the support by government officials and regulators, Monsanto would never have been able to achieve its current power status.

As noted by Martin:

"Monsanto has already proven it cannot be trusted to care about anything but money, especially when lives are at stake.

A quick look at the corporation's scandalous history reveals it is a sinister threat to the planet's ecosystem, economies around the world, as well as the livelihoods and very lives of millions of people."

The company's history goes all the way back to 1901, when John Francis Queeny founded Monsanto Chemical Works in St. Luis, Missouri. His father-in-law, a sugar merchant named Emmanuel Mendes de Monsanto provided funding.

"During the sugar shortage in World War I, the Monsanto Company convinced America the solution was buying its fake sweetener, saccharin," Martin says. The company was also enlisted to help with American bomb making.

"From its inception, the corporation employed the shadiest of tactics to avert laws that infringed on profits," Martin says. To circumvent the regulations and high taxes in St. Luis, Monsanto moved its business four miles south, establishing its own town, Monsanto, Illinois.

Not surprisingly, regulations were lax in the town of Monsanto, and corporate taxes were low. As a result, the town attracted a number of other factories. According to Martin, "the town's head even admitted to The Wall Street Journal that it was created to be a sewer. Today, it's a toxic wasteland."

A History of Concealment

Monsanto became a leading producer of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), producing nearly all PCBs sold in the US, an estimated 1.25 billion pounds. As noted by Martin, the toxicity of PCBs were known, and concealed, by Monsanto executives.

Today, lingering PCB pollution has led to at least 700 lawsuits on behalf of people who claim their exposure to PCBs caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma.¹⁰

In 2002, Monsanto was found guilty of decades of "outrageous acts of pollution" in the town of Anniston, Alabama, where it dumped PCBs into the local river and secretly buried the toxic chemical in a landfill.¹¹

The charge of "outrageous" in Alabama law requires the act to be "so outrageous in character and extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency so as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in civilized society."

Indeed, internal documents revealed Monsanto had full knowledge of the severity of the pollution problem it caused for at least three decades, and decided to cover it up. As reported by The Washington Post at the time:¹²

"In 1966 ... Monsanto managers discovered that fish dunked in a local creek turned belly-up within 10 seconds, spurting blood and shedding skin as if dropped into boiling water. In 1969, they found a fish in another creek with 7,500 times the legal PCB level. But they never told their neighbors, and concluded that 'there is little object in going to expensive extremes in limiting discharges' ...

[D]ocuments – many featuring warnings such as "CONFIDENTIAL: Read and Destroy" – suggested a company-wide preoccupation with maintaining its $22-million-a-year PCB monopoly regardless of health or environmental risks. 'We can't afford to lose one dollar of business,' one internal memo declared.

A committee the company formed to address controversies about PCBs had only two formal objectives: 'Permit continued sales and profits' and 'protect image of ... the corporation.'"

US Government Shields Monsanto From PCB Fallout

Seattle recently filed a lawsuit against Monsanto for PCB pollution. They want Monsanto to pay to help clean up pollution it caused in the Duwamish River and also wants to hold the company responsible for making the river's fish too contaminated to eat.¹³

San Diego has also sued Monsanto for polluting the Coronado Bay with PCBs,¹⁴ while San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, California and Spokane, Washington have filed lawsuits against Monsanto for continuing to produce and promote PCBs despite knowing their hazards.¹⁵

However, it remains to be seen whether these lawsuits will ever move forward. Congress is in the process of updating the Toxic Substances Control Act and the House of Representatives has conveniently slipped in a clause that many are calling a "gift" to Monsanto, as the paragraph shields the company from legal liability related to PCBs.

Monsanto's War Contributions: Atomic Bomb, DDT and Agent Orange

Most people are unaware that in 1943, Monsanto joined the US war machine. Monsanto head Charles Allen Thomas received an invitation from the Pentagon, asking him to join the Manhattan Project. Monsanto's laboratories subsequently produced polonium for the atomic bomb, which ended up being dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.

According to Martin, Monsanto was also responsible for irradiating American citizens on US soil, supplying radioactive iron for human experiments. Between 1945 and 1947, Vanderbilt University researchers fed radioactive iron to nearly 900 pregnant women to test the effects of radiation on the human body and fetus.

Monsanto also produced one of the world's first pesticides, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known as DDT. Advertised not only as harmless but actually good for human health, DDT was widely used without any safety precautions whatsoever to kill off disease-carrying mosquitoes.

For three decades, marketing campaigns assured DDT's safety and benefits, despite the growing number of scientific investigations suggestion otherwise. Today the toxicity of DDT is well-recognized, but it was public pressure that forced the US government to finally ban the chemical in 1972.

Monsanto's contributions to the US war machine continued during the Vietnam War, when the company became a leading producer of Agent Orange, a defoliant that had severe health consequences for those exposed to it, thanks to the presence of dioxin. According to Martin, Monsanto and the US government were aware of the toxic nature of dioxin, but hid it from the public.

Still to this day, Vietnamese people, American veterans and chemical plant workers suffer the consequences of exposure. In the town of Nitro, where Monsanto dumped dioxin for years without informing the residents, people also suffer elevated rates of cancer and other health problems. Byproducts from the manufacture of Agent Orange were also dumped into New Jersey's Passaic River for decades, turning it into one of the most contaminated waterways in the US.

Monsanto Tries to Rebrand Itself

In 1977, Monsanto hired the PR firm Bain & Company to help them reshape public opinion about the company, which had grown increasingly negative. Bain employee Mitt Romney was selected for the task, and Romney suggested Monsanto rebrand itself as a life affirming company by shifting its focus toward food and agriculture. Under Romney's guidance, Monsanto slogans such as "Feeding the World" were born. 

But this corporate facelift was as shallow as they come, because Monsanto didn't stop making toxic chemicals. Nor did it change the way it does business. For example, Monsanto acquired Searle, the maker of aspartame, a toxic sweetener now found in more than 6,000 food products and beverages. Martin describes the history behind this controversial sweetener, and the political connections that ultimately allowed aspartame to flood the market, despite studies suggesting it may be harmful to human health.

Monsanto also contributed recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) to the US food system. This synthetic hormone increases milk production in cows. However, research suggests that drinking milk from rBGH-treated cows may also increase your risk of cancer.

Monsanto's entry into agriculture may have been the most destructive of all. By producing genetically engineered (GE) herbicide-resistant seeds and the pesticides that go with them, Monsanto has been able to spread its toxic influence even further than ever before. Remarkably, the company tries to pass itself off as a "sustainable agricultural company," despite the fact that its chemical-based methods are anything but.

Monsanto Has Long History of Lobbying Against Warning Labels

Since its inception, Monsanto has repeatedly fought attempts to warn people about the potential health risks associated with their products. Repeatedly, the company has insisted their products are completely safe, even when they knew it wasn't true. Monsanto has vehemently fought:

• rBGH-free labeling
• Food labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
• Glyphosate toxicity warning labels

Monsanto's history really speaks for itself, and its current behavior tells us nothing has changed since the days of DDT, PCBs and Agent Orange. The only thing that has changed is that now the company is able to ensure that virtually every person on the planet is affected by its toxic chemicals, via food.

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Giveaway: Kahina Giving Beauty Eye Serum & Prickly Pear Seed Oil Rollerball

  Feeling lucky? We’ve teamed up with Kahina Giving Beauty to bring you a giveaway that’s sure to sweeten the weekend. We’re giving away one Kahina Eye Serum and one Kahina Prickly Pear Seed Oil Rollerball—two of Nicolle’s newest skincare loves—so enter below for your chance to win! It’s true that the silky Eye Serum was recently upgraded and now includes one of our favorite ingredients, prickly pear seed oil. Pat this cooling light gel around your eyes morning and night. You’ll see an instant reduction in puffiness and improvement overall after consistent use in terms of the tone and firmness […]

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Madam Glam 5 Free Cruelty Free Nail Polish Review & Demo

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This post does include products sent for consideration.
The links are not affiliated.
All opinions are honest and my own, any suggestions made are based on my own experiences and are meant as a guide. Please always take care when making any DIY products and patch test to rule out an adverse reaction.

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Beginners Guide To Oil Pulling

Oil pulling isn’t a novelty, but it sure has been a trend for the past few years, so chances are that many of you have already tried (or even heard about) this technique and its benefits. If you follow me on Instagram, you also might have seen that I’ve been trying out some oil pulling...

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All You Need To Know About Double Cleansing

What Is Double Cleansing And Why Your Skin Will Love It!

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Dermatologists, beauty experts and cosmetic junkies, all agree that cleansing is one the most important step of your skin care regimen. We do, too.

Cleansing is not only about “taking the day off your face” and how fresh your skin feels afterwards. How you cleanse your skin affects its overall condition + enhances or decreases the effectiveness of the advanced products you are using. If there is “wall” of sebum and makeup residues that stops beneficial ingredients from penetrating in depth, obviously, you won’t see any effect from their use. Sounds logical, doesn’t it?

Regardless of your skin type, if you want to deeply cleanse + nourish your skin, and you also want all of your favorite beauty lotion & potions to really do their job, double cleansing is the way to go. Let us tell you more…

What is double cleansing?

Double cleansing is basically cleansing your skin in two steps:

1. Oil or oil-based cleanser
2. Regular cleanser (gel, cream, mousse, etc.)

Why double cleanse?

Double cleansing is not just a new trend that everyone raves about, because of its fancy name. In fact, double cleansing has been around for ages. Originating from Japan (like many other miraculous beauty rituals), double cleansing is, without doubt, the best way to thoroughly cleanse the skin, without stripping it of its natural oils. Gentle, nourishing and easy, this method will change how you feel about regular cleansing, straight after the first time you try it.

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Who can double cleanse?

I suppose that those of you who have oily/combo skin are already thinking ” nah, that’s not for me”. Contrary to popular belief, oils are actually good for people who struggle with sebum hyper secretion (we’ve explained it all here), therefore oil cleansing is equally beneficial for people with oily/combo or dry/normal skin.

How does double cleansing work?

The science behind double cleansing is quite simple, and it revolves around a rule we were taught in high school - like dissolves like. Since most makeup and sunscreens are oil-based, they easily dissolve in… you guessed it - oil! Dissolving completely the makeup you’ve been wearing on your face all day long, is the only way to get to the impurities.that are deeply stuck in your pores. Once the makeup is removed, the skin can be fully purified and detoxified with the help of water-based cleanser, be it mousse, gel or foam cleanser.

How to double cleanse?

To master the art of double cleansing you don’t need much – an oil (or an oil-based cleanser) and a regular, water-based cleanser.

The first step is to massage a few drop of the oil/oil-cleanser onto dry skin for a minute or two, in order to dissolve all makeup you have on. When you massage your face, you improve blood micro-circulation, helping more nutrients and oxygen reach the skin (yet another reason to love double cleansing).

What type of water-based cleanser you’ll choose to follow with, is totally up to you – foaming, cream cleanser, gel or mousse – you decide. As long as it cleanses well, without being too aggressive (like sulfate-loaded cleansers normally are) you can go with it. I personally prefer to use cream cleansers during the winter, because my skin tends to be drier and more dehydrated when the temperatures drop, and gel cleansers in the summer, as this is the season when my sebaceous-glands go haywire.

What To Try: La Mav Hydra Calm Cleansing Cream

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The best oils for double cleansing

According to beauty experts, the best oils for double cleansing are castor oil, sweet almond oil, jojoba oil and coconut oil. One thing worth remembering is to always opt for certified organic, pure oils, as this is the ultimate guarantee their qualities are fully preserved.

Have you tried double cleansing? Have you notices a difference in the way your skin looks and feels? Tell us in the comments below!

If you liked this post, let us know by sharing it! Share and get $5 off for your next order with La Mav!

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