Attacking Anti-Vaxxers

It appears that my local paper, The Blade, was doing the bidding of Big Pharma by providing a very biased editorial last year about the banning of Vaxxed from the Tribeca Film Festival. Describing the depiction of the research of a serious medical scientist as “crackpot” and the doctor as spreading “spurious notions” reflects a total lack of understanding of the issue. One suspects they don’t want to undermine the profits of this industry. Then again recently an editorial appeared with the heading Anti-Vaxxers Threaten Everyone, aiming to put the fear of God into everyone if they don’t get their flu shot. Before you consider these flu shots harmless, read this story of Dr. Suzanne Humphries who left a successful hospital nephrology practice because she saw so many of her patients get sicker after getting the hospital-required flu shot on admission.

Let’s see, experts are now saying that our young people will probably not live as long as their parents because of increasing chronic disease, but we seem to be unwilling to examine serious attempts to understand possible causes. The goal of “herd immunity” is bandied about, with little basis in fact. We build new medical facilities and spend enormous amounts on sickness care and research, with results that are disappointing, as our children suffer ever more chronic disease. Meanwhile the medical establishment ostracizes any scientist doctor that doesn’t follow the party line – exactly what happened with Dr. Wakefield. In fact there has been little serious research comparing the health of vaccinated vs. non-vaccinated children – that would undermine the whole industry. A recent independent pilot study of home-schooled children showed that unvaccinated children had lower incidences of allergies and neurodevelopmental disorders than vaccinated children.

I grew up in a very healthy fashion without the benefit of most of these vaccines. In those days we got sick, developed natural immunity, got well and moved on. Now I know how to support my immune system without vaccines or pharmaceuticals if I should happen to get sick. High dose vitamin C is powerful therapy against serious infections we should all be aware of, as most hospitals won’t allow it, and Big Pharma would like to see it outlawed. Sorry if I’m undermining the profits of Big Pharma, but maybe that is what we all need to do. If you are still unconvinced and fearful, check out the links here.

Kris, the retired and reformed dietitian

Democratic Dilemma

I just read three articles that illustrate the dangerous situation in this country that we must face up to before there is any hope of Universal Health Care, or any other progressive objective.

First – the long standing drive of the GOP to gain power – gerrymandering, voter suppression, etc. The demonizing of Hillary is just one nasty, aspect detailed in this story:

Hillary Need Not Apologize For What Happened  Her destruction [by the GOP] was decades in the making.

"The real answer to what happened to Clinton in 2016 won’t be found in her book. You’d have to go back more than a decade, when the GOP took dead aim at then Senator Clinton as a potential presidential contender. Their plan was pretty simple. It entailed digging up every scintilla of old and new dirt it could dredge up against her to torpedo her candidacy even before [it] officially took off."

Second, Russia’s efforts to influence Trump and our election, as well as the elections of other Western states, as illustrated in this story:

The Gripping Story Behind the Case for Trump-Putin Collusion  Bill Browder's explosive testimony provides compelling insight for the corrupt bargain at the heart of the Russia investigation.

And finally, this lengthy interview (there is a transcript) discussing the insidious influence of White Supremacists/Neo-Nazis in our current administration. It’s scary that up to a third of US citizens seem to have fallen for this line of thinking – blame the Jews, the Blacks, the Muslims for all our troubles!

Life After Hate: Full Intv. with Nephew of Fascist WhoMarched in Charlottesville & Former Neo-Nazi

[O]ur complete discussion with a former neo-Nazi and the nephew of a white supremacist who marched in the Charlottesville, Virginia, protest. Christian Picciolini is co-founder of Life After Hate, a nonprofit helping people disengage from hate and violent extremism. He was a leading neo-Nazi skinhead gang member and far-right extremist in the 1980s and 1990s. We also speak with Jacob Scott, the nephew of Peter Tefft, who was disowned by his father, Pearce Tefft, in a letter published in a local newspaper.

It’s especially interesting the techniques Picciolini uses in changing the beliefs of Neo-Nazis that his organization works with – the same techniques we need to use in interactions with right-wingers – listen, and help establish contact with those they are afraid of.

  

At this point bashing the Democratic Party is not helpful, blaming them for Hillary’s defeat, since they were fighting against these powerful forces. Yes, they made major mistakes, but our mission now should be to support the progressive wing of the Dem. Party, promote a progressive platform and encourage the progressive candidates that are running, with the goal of transforming the party (which is what OurRevolution is doing). Other progressive parties have important messages, but they aren’t going to win elections anytime soon. They have a much better chance of transforming the party and the country by running candidates in Democratic primaries, shaking up the party, as Bernie did, and moving it to the left (just as the Alt-right moved their party to the extreme right by running in their primaries).

With the current administration bent on undoing every progressive change made in this country, we have our work cut out for us!

Misguided School Lunch Guidelines

On 3/4/17 I sent a letter to the editor of the Toledo Blade, which has not appeared, so I’m posting it here. It was in response to this editorial:

http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2017/03/04/Health-and-balance.html

Good for Rep. Steve King taking aim at the misguided school lunch guidelines.

Where is the evidence that the current low fat, low salt guidelines for school lunches has led to healthier students? The notion that limiting fat will help kids lose weight is based on a misunderstanding of how the body deals with real food. Research has shown that children who drink whole milk tend to be slimmer than children who drink low fat milk. The butterfat contains valuable nutrients, such as true vitamin A. The nutrients in vegetables are absorbed better when you butter those veggies. The idea that natural saturated fats are bad for you has been thoroughly debunked, though it has been dying a very slow death unfortunately.

Salt is an essential mineral in the blood stream. The notion that you can’t add enough salt to soup made from scratch to make it taste good is nonsense! They seem to be using the guidelines for elderly people with high blood pressure.

We are giving our children the awful message that healthy food doesn’t taste good, which is simply not true when real food is properly prepared. I speak as a slim, retired dietitian who uses plenty of butter and drinks [raw] whole milk.

Kris Johnson, MS Nutrition, retired dietitian

Williston, OH

www.MercyViewMeadow.org

419-320-2309

I would have liked to add more information supporting my position, but the length of letters to the editor is limited.

The Healthy Nation Coalition, consisting of many health and nutrition professionals, has a goal of changing the USDA Dietary Guidelines so they actually promote good health: http://forahealthynation.org/healthy-nation-coalition-letter/

The Weston A. Price Foundation has several article on this topic: https://www.westonaprice.org/dietary-guidelines-usda/

And, of course, on my website there are many links to healthy dietary guidance.

So learn to take with a grain of salt some of the advice that you so often see in the paper, such as this article that appeared in today’s paper, Bacon, soda & too few nuts tied to big portion of US deaths.

Kris

Whole Foods = Good Health!

We Must Claim The High Moral Ground

Sunday I listened to John Ikerd speak on sustainability at the OEFFA (Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Asso.) conference. He emphasized that we must take the high moral ground that what we are promoting is the right thing to do, whether farming ecologically or organizing local food systems or communicating with our politicians. As he says in this recent blog:

“For purposes of this discussion, I have defined an ethic as: a set of rules of behavior based on individual or collective ideas about what is morally good and bad and thus is right and wrong. An ethic can be individual, communal, or societal and thus can guide the decisions and actions of individuals, communities, societies, or humanity as a whole. An ethic of sustainability ultimately must eventually encompass humanity, if the global sustainability movement is to succeed in its mission. However, individual ethics eventually shape communal ethics and communal ethics shape societal ethics, which ultimately guide the evolution of humanity.”

http://johnikerd.com/toward-an-ethic-of-sustainability/

And then I reread Rev. William Barber’s piece in a recent issue of The Nation, where he speaks of the same issue of what is morally right and wrong and raises some pointed questions:

 “This is why progressives must learn to “speak in tongues” toward a new political Pentecost, because the issues we face in 2016 are not matters of left and right; instead, they are matters of right and wrong. What religious tradition urges its devotees to fleece the poor and destroy public schools? What concept of God informs the believer that it is right to turn hungry children away from preschool programs where they can get a head start in life and a nutritious breakfast, or to deny poor children medical care and dentistry? What Scripture permits the beating of prisoners or refuses a person a fair trial? We have a genuine moral vision, and it is time that we embraced it.”

http://www.thenation.com/article/how-progressives-can-and-must-regain-the-moral-high-ground/

There are many conservatives who are religious, but progressives have the high moral ground, while it seems like the Right Wing has become totally greedy and selfish and legalistic.  Setting aside the “hot button” issues, about which religious people sincerely disagree on ethical grounds, progressives are fighting for what is morally right, and we must maintain the high moral ground in all we do. And, as Rev. Barber emphasizes, we must band together with all those fighting for what is ethically right on a host of different issues if we are going to turn things around in this country. As Ikerd, who is an economist, said, we farm ecologically because it is right, not because it is highly profitable, we shop at the farmers market because it is the right thing to do, not because it is cheaper. We must appeal to folks’ higher moral standards if we are to win them over and change our society.

Kris Johnson

Nutrition in the headlines again - or it should have been!

I just finished reading this book, The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by  Nina Teicholz (https://thebigfatsurprise.com/)

It's familiar territory to me, but what an indictment of our nutrition authorities! Nina documents the shocking refusal of so-called nutrition experts to entertain the idea that there might be another way to look at the issue of saturated fat, instead accusing those who have studied the research carefully of 'quackery' for suggesting that saturated fat is not bad. They simply refuse to look at all the research with an open mind - a very bad habit for anyone calling themselves a scientist!

Two recent stories in The New York Times (one after the other in my large print weekly edition) make me wonder if we’ll ever get the nutrition right!

“Rising Obesity Rates Put Strain on Nursing Homes”

relates the problems nursing homes are having taking care of massively obese patients. And I’ll bet they are feeding them the very low fat high carb type of diet that made them fat in the first place, since that is the standard diet in nursing homes. And that is what we’ve been told is a healthy diet for nearly 40 years - still recommended in the government’s 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

This is what guides food policy in many institutions, including our public schools.  Pity the poor children that can have low fat chocolate milk with extra sugar, but not the whole milk that is truly nourishing – and never any butter on their tasteless vegetables.

Which leads me to the other shocking article, where nutrition is completely ignored, as babies are given drugs for problems that are probably the result of missing nutrients.

“Still in a Crib, Yet Being Given Antipsychotics”

Imagine giving babies,  or even toddlers, Prozac or Risperdal for depression! The doctors who prescribe these drugs know so little about nutrition, they have no idea that faulty nutrition of the child or even the mother could be at the root of the problem. Yet good nutrition is essential  for the brain to work properly. The influence on behavior of several common nutrient deficiencies is detailed in this article:

“Violent Behavior: A Solution in Plain Sight”

And good natural fats, like butter, are needed to absorb several of these important nutrients.

Parents who follow the Dietary Guidelines based on the research of Dr. Weston A. Price, DDS, rich with natural fats, have healthy happy children with little in the way of behavior problems. As evidence, check out the Healthy Baby Photo Gallery

These happy faces are an inspiration!

Kris, retired and reformed dietitian

Merry Christmas to all!

Not a good place for family news, but here's a bit of my news. With a world in turmoil, I’d rather talk about what we can look forward to. I continue to teach classes on eating traditional realfoods. Some refer to it as the Paleo Diet, but that’s a pretty nebulous description, with many versions, though they often emphasize many of the traditional foods that Dr Price discovered nourished the healthy societies that he visited back in the 1930’s. For those who want to learn more, visit the website of the Weston A Price Foundation, www.westonaprice.org, or prowl around on my website www.MercyViewMeadow.org. I’m happy to report that many people are discovering that butter is better and eggs are excellent!

I’ve continued working on GMO issues (see last year’s Christmas letter). Efforts to get genetically engineered foods labeled have been sidetracked by nationwide efforts to defeat the so-called Dark Act (“Deny Americans the Right to Know” Act) which would prevent all GMO labeling nationwide and pretend that somehow genetic engineering is “natural”.  Meanwhile, in the face of growing evidence that this artificial genetic engineering is not good for our health or that of the planet, global food, farming and environmental justice groups will put Monsanto on trial for crimes against human health and the environment in the International People’s Court in the Hague. You can find out more at www.organicconsumers.org And most importantly you can take action to acquire your food from clean organic sources, including meat from animals raised and finished on well-managed pasture.

And in doing that you will also make a contribution to reversing climate change - much in the news these days. We always hear about the need to switch to renewable energy, and there is much good news on that, but we haven’t heard much about the other side of the equation – putting carbon back into the soil where it belongs. It turns out that organic style farming, sometimes referred to as ecoagriculture, not only puts carbon back into the soil, but also is highly productive, and very healthy for all.

I’ve been reading a book, World Hunger: 10 Myths (smallplanet.org), which ties this all together – food security, healthy food, happy farmers, fertile soils, stable climate. Food First (foodfirst.org) has been in the forefront of spreading the good news about ‘agroecology’, as farmers around the world learn to increase their food production by focusing on soil health not pesticides. The prospects are very encouraging, as long as they can fend off the efforts of corporate agriculture. Don’t be fooled when you hear “experts” claim that we need GMOs to feed the world. It is simply not true!

Another exciting activity this year has been participating in our local Multifaith Women’s group, getting to know women of other faiths, sharing garden and cooking knowhow, and attending demonstrations for peace and understanding. Our community celebrated a visit by the Interfaith Amigos (interfaithamigos.com), a pastor, a rabbi, and an imam who have become good friends and spread the message of unity, love, and compassion, having found that their friendship has deepened their faith. We need to understand and respect each other’s faith. I highly recommend inviting the Interfaith Amigos to your community. 

As we celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus, may we remember that we are all children of God, and that God loves us in spite of our many foibles and disappointing behaviors. I pray that understanding that Love, we are inspired to spread love and compassion far and wide. Our country and our world desperately need them!

Wishing you the best in 2016

Kris

A Letter to the Editor of BBC World Service concerning their coverage of GMOs

Dear BBC,

I listen to  BBC World Service night on Sirius XM. I was appalled that BBC would broadcast such a biased report about GMOs as the one I heard recently (6/1/15) on The Inquiry. It sounded like a propaganda press release from the genetic engineering industry (Monsanto) attempting to gloss over the serious scientific questions raised about their safety and affects on the environment.

I didn’t hear anything about the good quality, independent research that has revealed serious health concerns.
Nor did I hear anything about the serious problems farmers have experienced when they use these products and their associated pesticides.
Nor did I hear anything about how modern organic/ecological sustainable agriculture can be just as productive, if not more so under adverse weather conditions.

The notion that there is scientific consensus that GMOs are safe is totally misleading, as most scientists have no idea of the depth of deception coming from the industry.
The book, ‘Altered Genes, Twisted Truth, documents the unethical practices of the industry in their efforts to minimize oversight by government authorities and protect their profits.

We deserve better reporting from the BBC!

Concerning recent headlines

A letter to the editor which didn't get published:

The price of eggs is up because of bird flu hitting giant commercial layer factories. Millions of piglets died last year in commercial pig factories due to a strange virus. Health insurance premiums are set to rise significantly. Salt is targeted as causing poor health, so labeling is mandated in restaurants. Our children are plagued by obesity and diabetes. The common weed killer, glyphosate, is a probable carcinogen and contaminates many foods.  What is wrong with our systems???

Commercial chicken and hog factories may provide us with cheap food, but animals that are so vulnerable to disease do not provide us with the healthiest food, to say nothing of the ethical issues they raise. The minerals missing from refined foods (salt, flour, sugar, & high fructose corn syrup) are keys to good health, rather than restricting salt. Now we are learning that the recommended low fat foods actually contribute to obesity, while butter and eggs are good for us, but modern vegetable oils are not.

Shockingly, unless they study nutrition on their own, doctors are not of much help, as they get almost no nutrition instruction in  medical school.

When are we going to learn that the quality of the food we eat and how it is raised are keys to keeping us truly healthy, cutting our health care costs, and restoring a healthy environment? They are all interconnected!

Why I’m reluctant to throw some things away!

Yesterday while working in the garden pulling weeds. The sun was bright, but it was getting late and the sun was lower in the west, and there was not much shade protection. I kept shifting my hat visor to try to keep from being blinded by the sun, and realized I needed a wide brimmed hat. Aha! I thought. I have an old wide brimmed straw hat (that I almost threw away at one point because it wasn’t very useful) that might work, so I went and found that. It might have served the purpose, except thanks to the loose weave, the sun was still able to get through and make it hard to see. Aha! I thought. I need to add some dark cloth that would keep out the sun. (I have a white hat with quite a wide visor, but being white and not very opaque it had a bit of the same problem in bright sun.) I was about done for the day, it would soon be dark, so I went looking for a solution to my hat problem – heading for the rag drawer, which is full of assorted old clothes, etc. I found a very old, faded, well-worn brown work T-shirt that my husband had worn out. It had already been cut across the bottom for some reason. It looked like as if I cut off about 4 more inches it just might work for my purpose. I made the cut and ran big stitches along one edge on the sewing machine, pulled the thread to gather that edge, and tried it on the hat, pinning it to the edge of the hat brim. It worked! It was just the right size! (Well, close enough.) But it was definitely ugly and needed a finishing touch.  I have an assortment of colorful decorative ribbons from my mother’s sewing things, including a bit of 1/2 inch ribbon with brown highlights that just happened to be sitting in a little basket on the shelve above the sewing machine - perfect! I stitched that on by hand, fastening down the old T-shirt in the process, and the result looks really promising – from three things that others might have thrown in the trash, or maybe to Goodwill!
So – my new garden hat for a really sunny day of working in the sun.

In the process of looking for the hat I did find 3 back packs that I don't need, and put them in the car to take to Goodwill.

Let's deal with the Ebola Crisis!

With the ebola virus scaring the wits out of everyone, and even doctors and nurses dying from the infection, it’s time to remind folks that there is a very likely effective cure which is still being ignored by mainstream medicine. Dr. Thomas Levy, MD, JD, in Curing the Incurable¹ (page 109ff) addresses the issue of Ebola infections. This extensive quote from Dr. Levy’s books should convince you there is a better way!

Ebola Virus - (Curable-?, Reversible-?, Preventable-?)

Ebola is probably the best know of a class of viruses known as hemorrhagic fever viruses. [There are many others. Levy lists 13.]…

These viral hemorrhagic fever syndromes share certain clinical features. The Cecil Textbook of Medicine notes that these diseases are characterized by capillary fragility, which translates to easy bleeding, that can frequently lead to severe shock and death. These diseases also tend to consume and/or destroy the  platelets, which plan an integral role in blood clotting.  The clinical presentation of the viral disease is similar to scurvy, which is also characterized by capillary fragility and a tendency to bleed easily. Characteristic skin lesions develop, which are actually multiple tiny areas of bleeding into the skin that surround the hair follicles…

In the classic form of scurvy that evolves very slowly from the gradual depletion of vitamin C body stores,  the immune system will be sufficiently compromised for infection to claim the patient’s life before the extensive hemorrhage that occurs after all vitamin C stores have been completely exhausted. Ebola virus and the other viral hemorrhagic fevers are much more likely to cause hemorrhaging before any other fatal infection has a chance to become established. This is because the virus so rapidly and totally metabolizes and consumes all available vitamin C in the bodies of the victims that an advanced stage of scurvy is literally produced after only a few days of the disease…

To date, no vital infection has been demonstrated to be resistance to the proper dosing of vitamin C as classically demonstrated by Klenner². However, not all viruses have been treated with Klenner-sized vitamin C doses, or at least the results have not been published. Ebola virus infection and the other acute vital hemorrhagic fevers appear to be diseases that fall into this category. Because of the seemingly exceptional ability of these viruses to rapidly deplete vitamin C stores, even larger doses of vitamin C would likely be required in order to effectively reverse and eventually cure infections caused by these viruses…

[I]t seems clear as evidenced by the scurvy-like clinical manifestations of these infections that vitamin C dosing must be vigorous and given in extremely high doses. [Perhaps up to 5000 – 10,000 mg every 1-2 hours throughout the day and night.]... Death occurs too quickly with the hemorrhagic fevers to be conservative when doing the vitamin C.

Belfield and Stone (1975) reported enormous success in the treatment of a variety of viral infections in animals:

The intravenous use of ascorbate [vitamin C] is especially valuable in the therapy of the viral diseases as it appears to be an effective, non-specific, non-toxic virucidal agent. We have not seen any viral disease that did not respond to this treatment. Successful therapy appears to depend on using it in sufficiently large doses.

[This] certainly seems to agree with the phenomenal success that Klenner reported in his treatment of viral infections with vitamin C in humans. It also implies that Ebola viral infection and the other acute viral hemorrhagic fevers should respond to large enough doses of intravenous vitamin C. (end quote)

Why are doctors so reluctant to use this effective therapy? In another book by Dr. Levy, Primal Panacea³, chapter 7 deals with this issue. Titled “High-Dose Vitamin C: Spin Doctors Lie, 7 medical lies that kill!” Levy states:

"[W]ithout a doubt vitamin  C lies – like urban legends – are sincerely believed by most of those who pass them along. But, unlike relatively harmless urban legends, vitamin C lies are responsible for much sickness and death because doctors continue to refuse to administer vitamin C correctly, or at all. As a result, patients are far too often denied optimal health and even life because their physician believes one or more of the following vitamin C lies." (page 95)

Dr. Levy then lists 7 lies and rebuts them thoroughly, concluding with this section (page 107):

What About Negative Studies?

With over 50,000 published studies and counting, it's no surprise that a some reach conc1usions other than what has been presented thus far [in Primal Panacea].

However, the vast majority of “negative'' studies are only negative in the sense that vitamin C was determined to be ineffective. Often conclusions are so broad they leave out important facts. Instead of conveying a dose-specific truth such as, ''A daily vitamin C dose of 50 mg was found to be ineffective in the treatment of lung cancer,'' the researchers and media will convey what is effectively a lie by saying, "Vitamin C is ineffective in the treatment of lung cancer."

Since successful treatment is always dose-dependent, this omission of dose in the conclusion is misleading at best, and basically dishonest.

He then concludes:

"From my own experience, exhaustive research in the medical literature, and through consultation with doctors in this country and throughout the world, I am absolutely convinced of one thing - when enough vitamin  C is given, in the right form, and for a long enough time, vitamin C helps virtually every condition, resolves many of them, and prevents still others. Although I have not personally analyzed every negative study the ones that I have reviewed use very inadequate quantities of vitamin C, or they are clearly flawed in some other way. Furthermore, I have never found a single article showing properly dosed and administered vitamin C to fail to improve the status of a toxic or infected patient."

In Chapter 8, “High-Dose Vitamin C: Revolution Required, Are profits more important than people?,” Dr. Levy discusses the massive conflict of interest between the drug industry and the FDA that has led to the situation where an effective therapy is aggressively suppressed and the reputation of doctors using the therapy is attacked. In spite of the pressures, there are many physicians using these therapies, and you would do well to find a physician knowledgeable about and willing to appropriately use high-dose vitamin C when needed.  For guidance on dealing at home with lesser infections I’d suggest Ascorbate, The Science of Vitamin C⁴, which, among other things, recommends frequent large doses throughout the day when fighting an infection or dealing with some toxin. He also explains the use of bowel tolerance as a guide to dosage.

For those health professionals who might happen to read this I’d recommend studying Primal Panacea³, which has the technical information needed for dealing with an extensive list of conditions, though the much thicker, Curing the Incurable¹, is fascinating reading, with over 1,200 scientific references. Get with the program, and discovered a more satisfying and successful practice, though you may have to do battle with the powers that be. 

Kris Johnson, Retired and Reformed Dietitian

www.MercyViewMeadow.org

1. Curing the Incurable, Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins, by Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD, LivON  Books, Third Edition, 2009

2. In Curing the Incurable, chapter 2, Curing, Reversing, and Preventing Infectious Diseases, Dr. Levy reviews the extensive, ground-breaking research of Dr. Frederick Klenner, M.D. (and many other doctors), in the use of high-dose IV vitamin C.

3. Primal Panacea, by Thomas E. Levy, MD, JD, MedFox Publishing, 2011

4. Ascorbate: The science of vitamin C. by Hickey S and Roberts H.  2004

5. There are more useful links on my website at http://home.roadrunner.com/~krisjohnson/Recipes/Odds&Ends.htm#Vitamin%20C

Fight the Flu with Vitamin C

It’s all over the news papers – People are dying of flu – get your flu shot! Is this really the answer to flu? There is a much better way – giving your body the nutrients it need to fight off infections such as the flu. To tell the truth, when your body is fighting an infection of any kind it revs up it’s use of many nutrients, especially vitamin C. Most animals can make their own vitamin C, so they have a ready supply to fight off most things. Humans can’t, so we must consume vitamin C in our food. Our body’s use of vitamin C increases greatly when we’re fighting infections – 5,000 mg and more daily.  Such large amounts are impossible to get from food, so high quality supplements are in order. There are links on my website to more information about vitamin C and sources, including Curing the Incurable: Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, & Toxins by Thomas E. Levy, M.D., J.D., the book that alerted me to this powerful therapy.

In spite of the efficacy of high dose vitamin C, conventional medicine has been very resistant to accepting this therapy, mainly because no drug company is willing to fund proper research. (It would cut greatly into their profits to find a low cost effective substitute for their drugs!) There is a link on my website to a powerful little video, called Living Proof, about the battle a family had with the doctors and hospital to use vitamin C on the patient who was on death’s door, but was finally completely healed with vitamin C.

So there is really no need to fear the flu or any serious illness. The secret is frequent large doses of vitamin C throughout the day to bowel tolerance, to maintain high levels in the blood while fighting an infection. And don’t wait until you are seriously ill – the sooner you start, the better. To learn more, check some of the links on my website or find ‘Vitamin C’ on my site map. One day your life may depend on this knowledge.

Kris
www.MercyViewMeadow.org

Some Fruits are Better Than Others...

Blueberry Data

In the headlines this month:
"Some Fruits Are Better Than Others"
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/04/some-fruits-are-better-than-others/
Our local Toledo Blade picked up on the story today and here's Dr. Mercola's take on this research.
 The "reader pick" comments on the NYTimes article are interesting, but they all miss a vital point - the quality of the fruit makes a big difference. Quality is something that is seldom mentioned in an intelligent way - that is, more than just 'it looks good and is nice and big.' Some folks lift the fruit to get a feel for the 'heft', feeling that density reflects better fruit. And of course the taste is important to quality, but far too much fruit is poor in that respect. Those big huge strawberries they may have tested were probably nearly tasteless.

Some folks have been digging into the genuine source of quality, and have found that mineral content is an important factor. Jamil, in his blog, High Nutrition Blueberries Nutrition Analysis: Why Are They Better Than Wild/Organic?, has been looking at this aspect and has an a chart showing the mineral content of various blueberries, including some by a farmer who has been working to remineralize his soil, so as to get top quality and high nutrition. The chart above from this blog shows higher levels of most minerals and a couple key vitamins in the high nutrition blueberry.

Why is this so important? The research highlighted in the NYTimes article says eating apples, grapes, grapefruit, and especially blueberries was associated with decreased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. One comment claims that to avoid diabetes cut down on carbs. Another says cut out processed foods. Another comment says 'no, it's a matter of insulin resistance,' but he's not sure what causes that. Well, minerals have a lot to do with that! People eat large quantities of refined carbs (you know, white bread, pasta, white sugar), which have had the minerals stripped out of them. Processed foods contain refined carbs and modern vegetable oils, which add another piece to the puzzle, as these modern oils are highly subject to oxidation. Oxidized oils create all kinds of problems in the body, including contributing to insulin resistance. In addition, Dr. Mercola highlights the problems with too much fructose in fruit.

But, in truth, those missing minerals are key to proper body function. We took them out because white flour is nicer, and so much easier to work with, figuring we'd just get the vitamin and minerals from elsewhere or by 'fortifying' the flour.  But now we see that "elsewhere" is also low in vitamins and minerals. (see Food Quality Issues) As a result, between refined foods and low quality unrefined foods, mineral deficiencies are common in American today. Diabetes is just the tip of the iceberg. Heart disease, cancer, and a host of chronic disease conditions are caused by or made worse by mineral deficiencies. Eating blueberries instead of strawberries is only going to get us so far.

So where do we go from here? Start thinking about quality. Pay attention to taste - high quality tastes better. Pay attention to keeping quality - high quality keeps better. Get yourself a refractometer and do some actual testing. Buy from a farmer that has better quality produce - and let him know you appreciate his efforts. Grow some of your own food and learn how to garden for Maximum Nutrition.

It's not simple like taking a vitamin/mineral tablet, but likely to be much more effective!

That "Flu Epidemic" - What to do about it.

With all the hullabaloo about a flu epidemic and "get your flu shot" (of questionable value), why is there so little emphasis on how to boost the immune system so you don't get sick in the first place, and why are some simple proven means to beat the flu never mentioned, except to scoff at them? Part of the reason is that there is no one simple answer and research rarely uses an effective multi-faceted approach. So what is involved? What should you do to avoid and deal with colds and flu?
1. Limit refined sugars. Refined sugars tend to depress the immune system. That includes high fructose corn syrup that is in so many processed foods  They also deplete nutrients as the body has to pull nutrients from elsewhere to process the sugars and other refined foods in the typical American diet, such as white flour. Eat whole unprocessed foods.
2. Avoid modern vegetable oils. They tend to be pro-inflammatory, contributing to disease, and are usually damaged in processing so they contribute to body dysfunction. Use plenty of good fats, like good butter (vitamin A), grass-fed lard (vitamin D), coconut oil (antibacterials), real olive oil.
3. Have chicken soup. Grandma was right about chicken soup. Get a good Amish chicken, put it in your crock pot, cover with clean water, some chopped onion, a bit of vinegar to acidify and pull out the minerals, set it on low to simmer for several hours. Pull off the meat when it is very tender and continue simmering the bones to make wonderful healing bone broth. Add vegetables, herbs, pepper and unrefined sea salt along with the reserved meat to make a nourishing and flavorful soup. No, salt does not cause high blood pressure - it's the missing minerals in our refined diet that is a major cause.
4. Drink plenty of fluids - purified and remineralized water, green tea, more broth.
5. Nourish healthy gut flora - have fermented foods, such as raw sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, or maybe a good probiotic supplement. By eating whole plant foods you nourish the healthy gut flora.
6. Vitamin A plays a vital regulating role in the immune system, needed to fight off flu and other infections. Vitamin A is key for many other body functions, so it's important to include vitamin A rich foods daily. Best sources of vitamin A - liver, high vitamin cod liver oil, butter & cream, eggs. Plants  do not contain vitamin A, but the precursor, carotenes, which the body must convert to A, and not everyone converts it well.
7. Vitamin D is also important for a healthy immune system that fights of colds and flu. Get plenty of sunshine in the summertime. High vitamin cod liver oil is the best source the rest of the year.
8. Get plenty of rest & relaxation. Lack of sleep & stress increase vulnerability to infection. Be sure to get adequate sleep, and deal appropriately with stress. If you feel lousy, have some chicken soup and go to bed. Over-the-counter drugs may be counterproductive. A moderate fever indicates your body is fighting the bug.
9. Zinc decreases adhesion molecules where viruses attach. At the first sign of the sniffles or achiness, take extra zinc, preferably as gluconate or acetate (but without citrate which binds up the zinc). Zinc is an antioxidant, works as an anti-inflammatory agent, and has a direct effect on immunity. Zinc is found in many whole foods, especially oysters, organ meats and nuts. But zinc levels in foods are down because of soil depletion, so ecological farmers are learning to include zinc in their soil amendments.
10. Take vitamin C in high doses and often (several times a day). Natural forms of vitamin C with bioflavanoids are more effective, as they are better absorbed by the cells. Most animals can make their own vitamin C, and they rev up production very high when fighting an infection, but humans have lost that ability, so we must get what our body needs through food and supplements. Doctors who understand this have effectively treated very serious infections with high dose IV vitamin C along with other nutrients. Excess vitamin C tends to cause loose stools, so back off if that happens.
11. Herbs & spices - For more suggestions, and helpful herbs and spices, check out Dr. Mercola at http://tinyurl.com/MercolaFlu22

Stay Well!
Kris

Nutrition and Behavior - a neglected link?

Excerpted from my Christmas letter for this holiday season:

Now violence has intruded itself into our holiday season, and we are led to wonder what prompts such vicious behavior. All sorts of causes are cited, but some important ones are overlooked or ignored.

• Barb Stitt, probation officer, in her book, Food & Behavior: a Natural Connection, relates how the behavior of probationers turned around when she improved their nutrition, emphasizing vitamin B complex. Too many nutritionally deficient, refined foods (junk food) leads to a 'jumpy' brain, prone to violent outbursts.
• Dr. Stitt worked with a school in Wisconsin to improve the school meals which resulted in a remarkable improvement in student behavior.
• Several experts have highlighted the importance of adequate omega-3 essential fats for brain health, as they are a major component of brain tissue, but many folks are short on omega-3s and long on omega-6 fat, which crowd out the omega-3's. Bizarre behavioral problems can result.
• An article by Kevin Drum in the latest issue of Mother Jones details the close correlation between leaded gasoline and crime some twenty years later when the children exposed to lead grow to be troubled young adults. He asserts that the fall in crime in recent years is related to the earlier outlawing of leaded gas, but he feels that investing in cleaning up the remaining environmental lead contamination would be a worthwhile investment.
• And the new kid on the block, vitamin K2, very essential for brain health (& heart health, bone health, etc.). And where is it found? Pasture-raised eggs, butter, lard & meat, especially liver, the very foods our health authorities have been demonizing! See Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox for the details. All you folks taking supplemental calcium and vitamin D need to read this!
• And now I read of another neglected and easily corrected deficiency that can cause really strange behavior - Could It Be B12? - a serious, often hidden, and neglected deficiency!
• There are more links on my website, www.MercyViewMeadow.org, about the nutrition behavior connection - find 'violence' on the site map and follow the link. Be aware that good nutrition and detoxification are far more important than medications, guns, more police, or more prisons to end these irrational behaviors.

 Why is it that with all the talk of guns, gun control, prisons, and whatever to attack the problem of violence, there is so little recognition that some well planned, inexpensive supplements might calm the troubled mind? Why are we so reluctant to acknowledge that the highly processed junk foods that constitute the typical diet of too many Americans might be contributing to the problem? Could it be that profits and sales are more important than health and a tranquil society? After all, if we all started eating real food and got truly healthy, there are several industries that would suffer decline!

I'd like to close with a quote from Jurriaan Kamp, Editor of The Intelligent Optimist  

"Please take a moment with me to direct your love to not just the young victims of the overwhelmingly painful massacre at the school in Connecticut and their families, but to all people who live in challenging, sad and painful circumstances in our world. Anyone can turn into a gunman if s/he is feeling left out, disconnected and lost. A gunman shames us all. Let's make sure that we take care of all our sisters and brothers.

"Let's focus on a world that we do want to create and live in. Let's ignore the media that will spread ever more fear with their reporting.
"We need CHANGE. We long for PEACE. So let's think PEACE. Let's dream PEACE.  Let's do PEACE. Every day. Let's feed our minds and souls with possibility.

This very touching poem by by Cameo Smith, Mt. Wolf, PA, exemplifies the possibilities - Prayer for Newtown

 

I don't understand why....

I don't understand why folks are so enamored of Paul Ryan! I appears to me that he stands for demolishing the safety nets that are a hallmark of a civilized society, while using the army as a substitute safety net (do we need more foreign adventures?), and coddling the rich, who take advantage of our public services (public education, infrastructure, safety personnel, etc.) while avoiding paying taxes in every way they can.  Are they going to use their billions to repair our roads and bridges, or hire our public servants, such as teachers and policemen?
   
Yes, we have too many regulations, but do we need to shut down everything that protects us from the predatory nature of big for-profit corporations?

Does that mean we let industry continue to contribute to global warming, environmental disasters, and  lousy food & health systems?

Why have we gotten to the point where some wealthy people appear to be trying to buy the election to protect their often ill-gotten gains?

Why are the airwaves filled with innuendo and out-right lies meant to instill fear in the heart of the gullible masses?

I'm sorry, but the Republicans have turned me off completely with their kowtowing to the right wingers (who seem to have their brains screwed on backwards), with their racist determination to undermine Obama since the day he was elected, and their refusal to compromise for the good of the country.

ProsperityforAll.org seems to me to have a much better handle on putting our country back on the right path - See Prosperity Economics: Building an Economy for All

Plus-size America: What to do?

We will not solve the obesity problem in America until we stop kowtowing to the food and ag industries and change the USDA Dietary Guidelines, which currently tell us to eat lots of grains, half of which can be refined, and which certainly contribute to obesity. They also advise a low fat diet with lean meat and skim milk, which leaves you hungry and seeking all those fattening grains, and ignores the evidence that kids that drink whole milk are slimmer. Then they recommend 'oils,' including your modern polyunsaturated vegetable oils, which provide too much pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats and are often damaged by the processing which makes them unhealthy. There is little mention of real butter, which provides an excellent source of real vitamin A and contains butyric acid that improves insulin sensitivity. They perpetuate the myth that saturated fat promotes heart disease, when good, unbiased evidence shows that is not true. They perpetuate the myth that fat is fattening because it is concentrated calories, ignoring the evidence that it is really carbohydrates that promote obesity and diabetes, especially if they are refined (3 slices of white bread a day is okay for kids over 14). These are the guidelines that govern school lunches, and apparently guide the processed food industry! Is it any wonder we're raising a generation of fat kids!

Lest you think I'm crazy, here are a number of supporting links (below). Fortunately many health professionals are beginning to catch on.

Kris, the retired and reformed dietitian

Adele Hite, RD, on failure of Dietary Guidelines:

What Really Makes Us Fat

Saturated fat is vital to human health

24 Reasons the 2010 Dietary Guidelines are wrong about cholesterol, saturated fat, and carbohydrates

Healthy Nation Coalition - www.forahealthynation.org

Comment on the Nutrition Standards of the School Lunch Program

Open letter to the folks at Slow Food USA Time-for-Lunch:

Dear Time-for-Lunch,

Folks at Slow Food USA must surely be aware that the Nutrition Standards for the School Lunch Program are a recipe for obesity and diabetes, with their emphasis on grains and skim milk, and the misguided limits on saturated fat and salt.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/legislation/dietaryspecs.pdf

I don't know how we push for healthier school lunches when the guidelines are stacked against good health. Juice, dry cereal and skim milk fit the guidelines, but are sure to lead to crashing blood sugars a couple hours later, and fat storage of all those excess carbs. By lunch kids are famished after their low fat breakfast, but the unbuttered, unsalted veggies have little appeal, and the nutrients are poorly absorbed without the good fats, vitamins, and minerals in butter and other traditional natural fats. And of course all those grains are raising blood sugars and storing fat, leading to obesity and diabetes. This is well known science - all the carbs (modern wheat is worse - http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/) cause raised blood sugar and insulin. Insulin is the fat storing hormone, which blocks fat burning.

Why do we ignore the fact that butter, eggs, and whole milk have nourished people well over the ages, but childhood obesity and diabetes have become a problem only in recent years since the guidelines mandated low fat meals, or encouraged meals that are too high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils.

Why do we ignore the evidence that children who drink whole milk tend to be slimmer than those who drink skim milk? http://tinyurl.com/Childrenwholemilk

Why do we continue to ignore the evidence that saturated fat does not cause disease?
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/untold-story-of-butter/ and http://healthydietsandscience.blogspot.com/search/label/Butter%20and%20Heart%20Disease

Time for Lunch will not succeed in its goal of seeing healthier children until we convince our legislators to change the goals. More and more health professionals are seeing the light. See http://www.forahealthynation.org/. Now we just need to get the public health officials on board.

The future of our country is at stake!

Peace,
Kris Johnson, retired and reformed dietitian, Slow Food member
www.MercyViewMeadow.org

----------------------------
"Tragically, a growing body of evidence suggests that the bizarre and increasingly common behavioral problems among young children and teen-agers are related to the combined effects of high sugar intakes and the virtual absence of omega-3 essential fatty acids in the American diet."
The Modern Nutritional Diseases, and How to Prevent Them -
Heart Disease, Stroke, Type-2 Diabetes, Obesity, Cancer , page 199
by Alice and Fred Ottoboni, public health professionals

I'm a schizophrenic Progressive

A January 16th column in the Toledo Blade by Charles Krauthammer on the resurgence of libertarianism, lead me to conclude that I am a schizophrenic Progressive - torn between liberalism and libertarianism. Right wingers' focus on 'rights' of the unborn and marriage are certainly not libertarian. Their emphasis on cutting taxes and government seems to reflect greed and selfishness more than any concern for the common good, in spite of their claim to be Christian. I'm afraid I see right wing ideas leading down the path to serfdom, as the rich become ever more powerful and the poor become poorer. On the other hand Democrats need to learn from libertarians that reams of regulations are not the answer to a healthier, happier, more productive society.

The current USDA goal of eliminating access to raw milk by 2020 is but one example of regulatory overkill. Never mind that good quality raw milk has nourished millions of people around the world for thousands of year, and there are currently better that 8 million raw milk drinkers in this country with no evidence that it is more dangerous than all the other things on our grocery store shelves.

The book, 'Everything I Want to Do is Illegal,' written by one of the smartest ecological farmers in this country, Joel Salatin, details a host of other ridiculous, job-killing regulations that add nothing to the safety or health of our food supply. I can see the influence of powerful corporations behind much of this over-regulation, designed to kill small businesses and cut the competition, whichever party is in power, and then the bureaucrats become control freaks. Is either party willing to cut the corporate purse strings, resist corrupt corporate influence, and do what we really need to do to make this a better world?

A few examples of adverse corporate influence:

Dairy Industry
The government war on raw milk is an attack against food freedom
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

Meat Industry
Everything I want to do is Illegal - War Stories from the Local Food Front

Ag/Food industries
The Farm Bill: Better Food Starts Here
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/farm-bill-2012

Drug Industry
Ex-Pharma Sales Reps Speaks Out - Pharma Not in Business of Health, Healing, Cures, Wellness

GMO Industry
Scientist finding many negative impacts of Roundup Ready GM crops

Trust Us, We're Experts! How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future

There are more examples on my website

Make baked goods a little healthier

Here we go again - blaming fat, especially the wrong kind of fat, rather than carbs and commercial vegetable oils. An article in today's (11/27/11) Blade claims to tell you how to make baked good healthier, but it's the usual misguided advice.

• Replacing part of the butter with pureed fruit will just make the item higher in carbs, contributing to undesirable blood sugar gyrations.
• Using oil rather than butter is likely to contribute to the insulin resistance that leads to diabetes.
• Replacing whole eggs with egg whites or egg substitutes, just means you miss all the wonderful nutrients in the egg yolk, including choline and vitamin A. Choline deficiency induces metabolic syndrome (indicated by insulin resistance and elevated serum triglycerides and cholesterol) and obesity. And the cholesterol in egg yolks is actually beneficial.
• Using low fat cream cheese or low fat milk just means you are losing the benefits of butterfat - more vitamin A, stable saturated fats that make for a satisfying meal and protect your cells from the undesirable trans fats and excessive highly reactive omega-6 oils.

The easiest way to make baked goods healthier is to use all your good natural fats, but eat a smaller portion. But one caution, smaller portions may signal your body "Oops! Starvation!" and your metabolism slows down - not what you had in mind. A satisfying meal of real food in modest portions, with plenty of good fats, is more likely to keep your body happily perking along in fat-burning mode. So make that rich dessert with quality ingredients, just don't eat as much! And you can probably cut the sugar - with superior ingredients it doesn't need to be super sweet.

Where are the Innovators?

In response to the Editorial on page 37 of the October 10-16, 2011 large print weekly of the NYTimes, titled "Where to Find the Innovators?"(They are always changing the name!) I wrote this response - but was too late to send it.

What do you mean 'Where are the innovators?' There are plenty of innovators but they are being systematically squashed!

There are innovative eco-farmers who are producing super nutritious, tasty and highly productive farm products, using innovative, sophisticated, ecologically friendly, sustainable techniques, but they have been ignored or belittled by conventional agricultural experts.

There are small eco-farmers and their customers who are producing wonderfully nutritious and innovative value added products, but they are crushed by burdensome, irrational, often arbitrarily applied regulations which have little to do with real food safety, but are true job killers. Read famed, truly innovative eco-farmer Joel Salatin's book, Everything I Want To Do is Illegal, to see what innovation killers those regulations can be. (Summary article)

There are unconventional health professionals who are not only curing cancer, but also guiding their patients into how to prevent it and a host of other chronic diseases in the first place, yet they are regularly disparaged as quacks and frauds by establishment medicine and often threatened with loss of their license to practice.

The public has been led to believe that the latest drug is truly innovative, when in fact the really innovative, effective, and relatively low cost non-drug approaches being used by knowledgeable nutritionists face all kinds of regulatory barriers, while the practitioners are attacked by the dietetic police for not having the "proper credentials," or not following proper protocols.

Wall Street's insistence on short term profits is behind much of this - so hurrah for 'Occupy Wall Street'! An end to the collusion between big corporations and government!

Your everlovin' reformed and retired dietitian,
Kris