Question: I have cervical dysplasia.  Do you have any suggestions as to how I can help myself? B.T. – Tarrytown, NY Answer:   Cervical dysplasia is abnormal cells found in the cervix, usually leading to cervical cancer.  It can be caused by infection or physical trauma, but is usually the result of estrogen dominance.  As mentioned above, this can be caused by the excess estrogen you consume in meat and dairy products.  However, there is another reason for estrogen dominance – the consumption of environmental chemicals called xenoestrogens.  Xenoestrogens are chemicals that have a different chemical structure than estrogen, but they have the ability to attach to estrogen receptor sites on cells and provide an estrogen effect.  Xenoestrogens are everywhere in our environment, so you must make an effort to avoid them.  These include pesticides, phthalates and bisphenol-A. These xenoestrogens are fat-soluble molecules.  They build up in your body with time.  The best way to get r…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis A pandemic of chronic and degenerative disease is sweeping our country—diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, Alzheimer’s are all out of control. Even our children are sick, so sick that they are not expected to live as long as their parents and average life expectancy is expected to decrease. The largest single cause of this human tragedy is—malnutrition. In the best-fed country in the world, malnutrition is our leading cause of disease. Given the reality of today’s nutritionally- depleted foods, one of our biggest fallacies is the myth that you can get all the nutrients you need by eating a so called “balanced diet.” Foods no longer contain what we need for good health. Depleted soils, resulting from intensive farming, the use of artificial fertilizers, and poor crop rotation practices plus premature harvesting, long transit times to market, processing and other factors, have dramatically re…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Summer is here, the secret sauce recipes are out of the vault, and the neighbors think your house is on fire -- it's barbecue time! Oh, it tastes so good, but it's so bad for us. Here's the bottom line: Man was not intended to eat cooked foods. The hotter we cook food, the more nutrients are lost, and the more carcinogenic chemicals are produced. Grilling and blackening food literally converts some of the food to carcinogens, creating a real cancer-causing nightmare. If we go back to nature and see what is natural - cooking is not natural. Homo sapiens are the only creatures that cook their food. How this foolish practice began no one knows, but the act of cooking produces fundamental changes in the food. Cooked food is chemically different from raw food. And, like all the other creatures on earth, raw food is what we were designed to eat. Since not all of the essential nutrients necessary for good health have been disco…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Disease is a choice. And there is only one disease, malfunctioning cells. Cells will malfunction for only two reasons- they are not getting everything they need (deficiency) and/or they are getting something they do not need (toxicity). The Breakfast of Chumps manages to be both nutrient deficient and toxic and is a sure-fire pathway to disease. We all have been brought up with the myth that a healthy way to start the day is with a breakfast cereal. They come in a convenient box, are easy to prepare and are time efficient. Oh, if only they were good for us. Far from a "breakfast of champions," these products are the breakfast of chumps. Almost all breakfast cereals are second rate sources of nutrition, made from refined grains and loaded with toxic sugars, hydrogenated oils, and artificial vitamins, colors, flavors and preservatives. Providing both deficiency and toxicity, these products cause disease. Amazingly, some ce…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Following is a synopsis of the speech I presented at the New Millennium Conference in Egypt on the afternoon of January 1, 2000. As I was speaking, I could see the Great Pyramid through the window. What a fitting place it was to ponder the next 1000 years of human history, and to project the evolution of health and medicine in the coming centuries. I was reminded that it was in Egypt where man first created a great state, devised institutions to rule a widespread geographical area, organized the governmental machinery to administer large groups of people, and planned and executed the first epicscale projects. It was an awesome experience talking about the next millennium, while in direct view of 5000 years of human history. The millennium is a convenient way for us to measure what we call "time," but beyond that the millennium has no importance; it is an arbitrary human construct, with no meaning of its own. However, this…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Fluoridation is a vast medical experiment, and we have all been guinea pigs. Unfortunately, the public is still unaware that this experiment has been a colossal failure. In January of 1995, I warned against the health hazards of fluoride in one of my newspaper columns. A month later, I devoted an entire radio show to the subject. Today, four years later, there are even more people exposed to fluoride, and the health damage continues unabated. Why do you suppose this is happening? Let's consider fluoride for a moment... Fluoride is one of the most toxic chemicals in our environment. Did you know that? It is more toxic than lead and only slightly less toxic than arsenic, according to the Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products handbook. Fluoride accumulates in the body over time, and has been shown to damage teeth, bones, kidneys, muscles, nerves, the brain and immune function. It also causes genetic damage. So how much fl…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Malnutrition is the number one health problem in America. While it may seem incredible, there is a compelling need to teach everyone how to make better nutritional choices. The vast majority of Americans underestimate the degree to which almost all of us are malnourished. Few appear to appreciate the vast difference that better nutrition could make in their lives. Quite simply, we are what we eat. If you build a house out of low quality materials, you will end up with a poorly constructed house. That house will not age well. The same is true of your body. Abundant amounts of high quality nutrients are essential to build a healthy body and to maintain it, free of disease. Babies and children need extra amounts of nutrients because they are building rather than just maintaining their bodies. After fifteen years of researching health and disease, it is abundantly clear to me that malnutrition is the leading cause of disease…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis In September of '97, the self-serving bureaucrats at the Centers for Disease Control announced that there have been "broad gains in the nation's health." They were able to say this with a straight face because there has been a reduction in our excessively high infant mortality, and therefore average life expectancy is up. Unfortunately, the medical establishment is just spreading misconceptions. How can we address our health problems if we think everything is just fine and getting better? Here is the truth: The nation's health is in a long-term decline. Seventy-five percent of our population now has a diagnosable chronic disease. Sixty-four percent currently take medications, and it's getting worse every year. Yet, get this! According to a recent survey, two-thirds of us think we are in "excellent" or "good" health. Talk about misconceptions! Ninety percent of people over age 65 have a chronic disease, and twenty-five perce…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Why is educational performance so bad? One reason is American children are getting dumber. SAT scores have been declining for decades. In response, our educational establishment has progressively lowered standards and dumbed down achievement tests to avoid embarrassment, but the scores continue to drop anyway. Despite the fact that we are spending more money than ever before on education, numerous studies show a decline in cognitive ability—our ability to think and reason. For a country whose prosperity is founded on superior technology, these are ominous trends. Why are these things happening and what can we do about them? As our children continue to suffer problems with intelligence, learning, poor academic performance, behavior, violence, and suicide, some insights are being provided by the National Children’s Study into the causes of these problems. The study identified a number of common environmental chemicals that ca…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Spirit is the most powerful force in existence, yet few of us are using this power to heal. A woman once asked Thomas Edison, “What is electricity?’’ Edison replied, “Madame, electricity is. Use it.” The same can be said for spirit. It is, and we should use it—even if we don’t fully understand it. Fortunately, spirit is just as easy to use as electricity, and with it, spontaneous remission of disease is achievable. Most of us are familiar with the terms “body, mind and spirit.” In practice, however, our attention is mostly on the body, some on the mind and little if any on the spirit—hence we fail to take full advantage of the most powerful force in the universe. For most of human history, medicine and spirit were inseparable. Yet conventional allopathic medicine pays no attention to the body/spirit connection and fails to see the body as an energy system. In actuality, spirit is all there is, and if we are not actively…

Everything you need to know about how to handle stress better and enjoy the holidays. The holidays are a time of stress in most American lives, from the child stressed over gifts from Santa to the adult worried about their ability to provide the looked forward to gifts. The additional costs of food, time off from work and additional stress from families getting together all take an added toll at this time of year. Every year Beyond Health publishes a few articles on the topic. This year we are dedicating this whole issue of the Beyond Health E-Magazine to getting through the holidays in a stress-free and healthy manor. Take the time to think about what causes you stress at this time of year before reading this issue and you will hopefully find an article or a couple of paragraphs speaking directly to you. Finally, don’t forget that a poor diet adds to both physical and mental stress in many ways, from elevated blood sugars, to excitotoxins keeping you awake and you…

Can Sauna Therapy Support Smoother, Healthier-Looking Skin? What if improving the look and feel of your skin wasn’t just about what you apply on the surface—but about how well your body releases what doesn’t belong? In a study published in the Journal of Cosmetic and Laser Therapy, participants who used infrared-based skin therapy for 12 weeks reported visible improvements in: Fine lines and crow’s feet Skin softness and smoothness Elasticity and firmness Overall tone and clarity These findings point to a compelling idea: supporting the skin’s natural detox and circulation processes may enhance its appearance over time. The Skin’s Role in Detoxification and Renewal The skin is the body’s largest organ—and one of its most active interfaces with the environment. It: Facilitates gas exchange Supports temperature regulation Participates in waste elimination through sweat When pores are congested by dead skin cells and envir…

Have you ever won a stare-down with a tray of Christmas cookies?  You’ve probably heard that people gain an average of five to ten pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years. The good news is that the real average is more like one to two pounds. The bad news is that most of that weight is never lost. And people who are already overweight tend to gain pounds faster than normal-weight individuals do. Whether you are following the Beyond Health lifestyle to lose weight, or to get well and stay well, the next few months may challenge your resolve like no other time of year. The holiday season—for many now stretching from Halloween to the Superbowl—is a marathon of festive celebrations with friends and family that attempt to bring cheer to what might otherwise be a cold and gloomy time of year. The Challenge of Cheer It’s always harder to maintain your diet when you leave your house, but during the holidays, there is a whole lot of leaving the house. And the ten…

Question: I heard you talk about thermography.  Could you tell me more about this, how it works, and how good it is?  N.F. — Kentfield, CA Answer: Thermography is a safe and effectivealternative to cancer-causing mammography.  It is a way of measuring the temperature of the breast and of detecting changes in temperature as a tumor begins to receive its own blood supply.  A cancerous tumor will be warmer than the surrounding tissue and will stand out when the temperature of the breast is measured.  Thermography appears to be a far more accurate way of detecting tumors and at a much earlier stage. According to the National Cancer Institute, in 95 percent of cases, a tumor found by mammography or physical examination is already eight years old and has had ample opportunity to metastasize.  Thermography, on the other hand, can find tumors two to three years before any other means of detection.  In addition, thermography can differentiate between a cancerous tumor and fibrocystic g…

. . . do eat the peel, but skip the seeds If you’re going to start eating an apple a day, which apple should you pick? In one Canadian study Red Delicious led the pack in number of antioxidants, but many varieties better known in the US weren’t included. Really, all apples are recommended, as long as they’re fresh, unwaxed and organic. Supermarket apples are often years old! So, as always, it’s best to buy your apples from the friendly farmer at your local Farmer’s Market. Apples in the northern hemisphere are best from late summer until early winter. Many of the ancient supermarket apples are waxed. Put them in attractive baskets to decorate your home if you wish, but by all means don’t eat them! Many of the healthy, antioxidant polyphenols in apples are formed in response to pests as a natural pesticide, so organic apples will have far more. Plus you won’t be getting the synthetic pesticides as well as fungicides and insecticides that bathe the poor non-organic apple. Hav…

Forget diets. Forget New Year's resolutions.  You are building a new you, from the ground up, one healthy habit at a time. You endured the election.  You made it through Thanksgiving.  And, for the sake of argument, let's assume that the world doesn't end on December 21. Now what? What do you want your life to look like in 2013?  What do you want to accomplish?  What new habits do you want to develop?  What old habits do you want to let go of? About 40% of us make New Year's resolutions, and often they're a long list of radical changes that are very hard to make and even harder to sustain.  That's why after one week 25% of people making resolutions have already abandoned them, and by July 54% have given up. HERE'S A SUGGESTION: Instead of making a huge list of New Year's resolutions and demanding of yourself that keep them all from day one, why not take a gradual approach?  The Beyond Health Lifestyle is not like a diet or exercise program; it is a way of life.  And cha…

. . . But most of us can't get raw almonds anymore! Most food-calorie charts list an ounce of almonds as 165-170 calories. But a new, and more accurate, way of measuring calories has found that almonds provide only 129 calories per ounce, about 24% less. Published last August in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, this study used a way of measuring calories that takes into account the rigid structure of cell membranes in almonds that apparently locks in some fats and keep them from being digested. This same factor may mean that other nuts and plant foods are lower in effective calories than we’ve assumed. Last year, the same lab found that pistachios provide 6% fewer calories than had been thought. The problem with almonds, however, is that it’s far healthier to eat them raw, since heat damages their essential fatty acids. But it’s become impossible for most of us to get raw almonds. Most US almonds are grown in California. In 2007, the Almond Board of California (ABC)…

. . . Essential fatty acids in a balanced formula  I met Udo Erasmus early in my search to regain my own health and admired him right from the start as a man of vision and integrity. Like me, he had a background in science, lost his own health and turned to the study of nutrition to help himself. His research led him into the world of edible fats and oils, and his book, Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, became an instant classic. Having observed that the health benefits of most oils were being destroyed by processing, he pioneered new techniques for packaging edible, fresh oils that excluded the three main factors which destroy most oils: light, heat and oxygen.  It was Udo who taught me about the importance of balancing omega 3 with omega 6 fatty acids to prevent chronic inflammation, a factor in just about every chronic disease. His blended oil, Udo's Choice, combines several different seed oils in a perfect balance of fatty acids, weighted more towards the anti-inflammatory omeg…