. . .  another reason to choose raw foods. There are a number of problems with cooked foods; that's why I recommend eating at least 80% of your diet raw. One problem that hasn't gotten much press recently is acrylamide. I thought of it again when I ran across a 2008 study showing that curcumin greatly reduces the toxic effects of acrylamide. In 2002 Swedish researchers set off worldwide alarm bells when they reported that cooking starchy foods at temperatures over 120 degrees C (245 degrees F) -- temperatures reached in baking, roasting, frying and toasting -- creates a compound shown in animal studies to be highly carcinogenic and neurotoxic. That compound is acrylamide. It appears to be formed primarily when sugar reacts with an amino acid called asparagine. The higher the heat, and the longer the heating time, the more is formed. Boiling, steaming and stewing, which use lower temperatures, don't cause this reaction. According to a 2004 report by the FDA, the top 10 acrylami…

. . . probiotics -- essential to good health If you haven't been particularly interested in the bugs in your tummy, this study should catch your attention. Scientists have been able to predict the likelihood of a heart attack in lab rats by studying types and levels of bacteria found in their intestines. In addition, certain probiotics, specifically Lactobacillus plantarum 299y, were also found to decrease the size of a heart attack and lead to better recovery. According to John E. Baker, PhD, who led the study, the "discovery is a revolutionary milestone in the prevention and treatment of heart attacks." The editor of the FASEB Journal, where the study was published, commented, "We may soon evaluate our body's susceptibility to disease by looking at the microbes that inhabit the gut." Antibiotics use has been a disaster for human health by decimating healthy intestinal bacteria. If you've ever taken an antibiotic, build up your good bugs with Beyond Health's Probiotic Form…

. . .  with cooking and green tea. Wild fish are chock full of healthy omega 3 fats; unfortunately they're also usually chock full of toxic mercury. But here's some great news from researchers at the University of Montreal. They discovered that cooking fish and consuming it along with coffee or tea reduces the mercury that gets into your system to almost negligible amounts! Using laboratory techniques that simulate digestion, these scientists tested three kinds of fish (tuna, shark and mackerel) raw, boiled or fried. Compared with raw, boiling reduced mercury bioaccessibility by 40%; frying by 60%. In separate experiments they combined the fish with black coffee or black or green tea. All three beverages lowered mercury bioaccessibility by 50-60%. The combined effect of cooking and coffee or tea ingestion reduced bioaccessibility to extremely low levels. Here's another reason to add green tea to your healthy lifestyle -- a far healthier choice than either…

Share and Enjoy: . . . extra support is optimal as we age The kind of general health program described in Never Be Sick Again will support a healthy brain.Your supplement program should include ample vitamins - A, B, C, D and E, and a good balance of essential fatty acids. The brain is largely made of fat, and the type of fats you ingest are crucial for brain health. Get transfats out of your diet, and include flax oil, Udo's Choice and fish oil for extra omega 3 fats. There are several nutrients that the body can make, provided it has the right raw materials, that are essential for brain health and function. These nutrients begin to decline more and more after the age of 45. Growing deficiencies of these nutrients -- CoQ10, phosphatidyl serine and, my favorite brain nutrient, acetyl-L-carnitine, can play a large role in age-related cognitive decline; supplementing them can slow down and in some cases even reverse the brain-aging process. Aging tends to increase infl…

. . . a common surgery that can go very wrong. Having a hip replacement is now considered a normal part of aging for many Americans. About 400,000 of these surgeries are performed each year, and with Medicare or private insurance picking up most of the $40,000 tab for each, most people seem happy they've had them. If all goes well they can last 20 years or more. But all doesn't always go well. My good friend Dr. Len Saputo found out the hard way that a certain type of hip replacement -- metal on metal, or MOM -- can be disastrous. Eleven months after his own surgery, he was in agonizing pain and became increasingly disabled, with exhaustion, weight loss, night sweats, peripheral neuropathies, and inflammatory blood markers that went through the roof. The hip is a ball-and-socket joint. A replacement involves both a ball (with a stem implanted into the femur bone) and a socket. These can be ceramic, plastic or metal. It turns out that when both ball and socket are made of me…

Share and Enjoy: . . . more reasons to choose a safe deodorant Last year Newsclips reported on a British researcher, Dr. Philippa Darbre, who observed a parallel rise in breast cancer in the upper outer quadrant of the breast (where deodorant is applied) and increased underarm cosmetic use in Britain, Scotland and Wales. In a 2004 study, she found accumulations of parabens, preservatives found in many underarm deodorants, in all malignant breast tumors she analyzed. Parabens are known endocrine disruptors and suspected carcinogens. Now a new study from Darbre and co-researcher, surgeon Lester Barr, again found parabens in the breast tissue of all 40 participants in the study, women who had had mastectomies due to breast cancer. As explained in my book Never Fear Cancer Again, many factors contribute to developing cancer; however there are only two fundamental causes for all disease, nutrient deficiency and toxicity. Parabens are one of thousands of harmful chemicals i…

. . . a prudent response to increasing environmental radioactivity Share and Enjoy: Radiation does its harm by generating massive amounts of free radicals that do oxidative damage to DNA and cause cancer years later. To combat oxidation, optimize your antioxidant status by eating plenty of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Take vitamin C to bowel tolerance (call our office for instructions), and supplement with other antioxidants like vitamins A, D and E, N-acetyl cysteine, alpha-lipoic acid, curcumin, quercitin, selenium, CoQ10 and tocotrienols. Gamma tocotrienols have been proven protective against radiation exposure. Lipoic acid also has powerful anti-radiation effects: Giving lipoic acid to children who lived in areas damaged by Chernobyl for 28 days normalized radiation-related abnormalities. A combination of lipoic acid and vitamin E even improved the children's health markers above what was considered normal. Support DNA repair with vitamins B3, B6, B12 and…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® Newsby Raymond FrancisMalnutrition is our leading cause of disease. Yet, when our poor nutrition causes health problems, we almost always blame our illnesses on germs, aging, or faulty genes rather than on poor nutrition. According to the Worldwatch Institute in Washington, D.C., Americans are among the 1.2 billion people who are starving to death because they eat too much of the wrong kinds of food. We are overfed and undernourished; study after study has concluded that almost all Americans are chronically short several nutrients. Meanwhile our excess calories are causing an epidemic of obesity. A diet of fresh vegetables, fruits, lean meat and fish will significantly reduce a person’s risk of disease. Recent studies indicate that nine daily servings of vegetables and fruits are recommended. Yet only a handful of Americans eats such a diet. Typical deficiencies include calcium, magnesium, zinc, chromium, essential fatty acids, and vitamins A, B6, C, E, an…

. . . Quercetin may be one answer Despite efforts to replace it, more than 6 billion tons of BPA is being produced annually worldwide, and virtually every man, woman and child in the US is contaminated with it. One way to avoid BPA is by removing packaged foods from your diet. BPA is found in packaged food liners and in the linings of cans containing food and beverages. Last July, it was reported that scientists who asked families to eliminate all packaged foods for just three days measured a 60% average drop in the families' urinary levels of BPA -- 75% for those with the highest initial levels. Minimize your handling of receipts. You might also consider keeping them in a small plastic bag rather than in your wallet. And DON'T throw them into your recycle bin. Traces of BPA and BPS have been showing up in all kinds of recycled products, from mailing envelopes to toilet paper. Quercetin (the main ingredient in our Cell Repair Formula) may also help mitigate the effects of…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® Newsby Raymond FrancisAstonishing new information about the damaging health effects of medical x-rays is the subject of a new book, Radiation from Medical Procedures, by John Gofman, M.D., Ph.D. Both a medical doctor and a nuclear physicist, Dr. Gofman is one of the world's leading experts in radiation damage. Dr. Gofman's evidence suggests that: Medical x-rays are responsible for an estimated 60 percent of all cancer deaths and 70 percent of all deaths from Ischemic Heart Disease (blockage of blood vessels).To understand why x-rays are such a serious threat to our health, we must understand genes and mutations. Similar to the operating system of a computer, genes are the blueprints for the structure and function of our bodies. Just as a "glitch" in computer software can disable a computer, a glitch in a cell's genetic programming can cause serious problems, including cancer. Such a cellular "glitch" is referred to as a mutation (a change from the original…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® Newsby Raymond FrancisThere are thousands of different diseases—or so goes one of the major myths of modern medicine. In fact, there is only one disease—malfunctioning cells. Your body is made up of between 50 and a 100 trillion cells. When all of your cells are in perfect health, you cannot be sick. When cells malfunction, myriad symptoms can be produced. This makes it appear as if there are thousands of diseases. Not true. To prevent or reverse almost any disease, you must make daily choices that support your cellular health. Unfortunately, optimizing cellular health in our society is no easy task. Our deficient diets, toxic environment, and stressful lifestyles all conspire to damage cellular health; they are the primary causes of our pandemic of chronic disease. To reverse this pandemic, through keeping our cells healthy, there is a little-recognized factor that we must consider—our pH.The pH (acid-alkaline balance) of our blood and of the…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Our health is determined by many factors, including diet, toxins, genes, stress, thoughts and emotions, and the amount of physical activity we get. Research has proven that the benefits of exercise are cumulative and that physical activity is absolutely essential for health. Unfortunately, we have become a nation of couch potatoes. Even our children are sedentary—physical play has been replaced with television and video games. In fact, 60 percent of our adult population is sedentary, both professionally and recreationally, and about 25 percent of Americans engage in absolutely no exercise whatsoever. Did you know that this level of inactivity virtually guarantees disease? We are not getting enough physical activity to stay healthy, and it is having a profoundly negative effect on the health and productivity of our nation. Traditionally, getting enough exercise was not a problem. Our ancestors either farmed or gathered their…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Evidence continues to accumulate that mammograms cause cancer, while doing little to save lives. Unfortunately, the medical establishment, including the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society, has brainwashed most of us into thinking the opposite. As a result, millions of women march off to get mammograms every year, exposing themselves to cancer-causing x-rays. The misinformation is so bad that when women were asked in a poll what they could do to prevent breast cancer, the number one response was "get a mammogram." (Exactly how mammograms are supposed to "prevent" breast cancer was not explained.) In truth, mammograms cause cancer; they are the leading cause of breast cancer. Mammograms have put a very large number of women at risk for cancer and many have died as a result. Mammograms are routinely performed without the patient being warned of the radiation hazard. Yet Dr. John Gofman, a medical doctor,…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Digestive aids are one of the biggest selling over-the-counter drugs in America, and sales of prescription drugs for heartburn are in the many billions of dollars. A vast number of people have trouble properly digesting their food and this is a major contributor to our epidemic of chronic and degenerative diseases. Where is all this poor digestion coming from? Modern medicine may be the single largest cause of poor digestion through its irresponsible use of antibiotics, birth control pills, and anti-inflammatory drugs. However, another major contributor is the foods we select to eat at a given meal. This last problem can be completely solved by learning which foods digest well together and which do not. Having evolved as hunter-gatherers, our digestive systems are not designed to digest different types of food all at the same time. Yet, due to today's technology, we can eat a variety of foods, at the same time, at every meal.…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Millions of Americans take vitamin supplements on a daily basis. Does it improve their health? No! Large-scale epidemiological studies have been unable to find health benefits in vitamin takers. Confused? There is a simple explanation. Most vitamin products are ineffective and even the best-selling brands contain toxins. The few decent brands are not taken by many people, while the harm done by top selling, toxic brands more than offset the good effects of the better brands, making it difficult to measure benefits. After seeking help from 36 medical doctors and almost dying from their treatments, I took control of my own health. As I was struggling to restore my health, I knew I needed vitamins, but I had to learn the hard way about the differences between vitamin brands. I was chemically sensitive and contaminants in all of the brands I tried made me sick. The Perque brand was the first supplement I was able to tolerate, a…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Oils are essential to human health. They rank among our most important nutrients, yet they are poorly understood by most people. Unfortunately, over the last 140 years there has been a massive shift in the type and quantity of oils consumed due to the development of the modern vegetable oil industry and the feeding of grains to livestock. Experts now estimate that up to 90 percent of the U.S. population is not obtaining the correct assortment of oils in the proper amounts. This massive deficiency crisis is a major contributor to our unprecedented epidemic of chronic disease. Supplementing with the correct types of oils is essential. However, there is widespread confusion regarding which supplements to take, in which amounts, and why they are needed. There are right oils and wrong oils. The right oils are important building blocks of life and are referred to as essential fatty acids (EFAs). EFAs are essential for building…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Following is a summary of the presentation by Raymond Francis at the Second North American Conference on Natural Vision Improvement held in San Francisco on April 26 and 27, 2003. Poor vision and eye diseases are epidemic in America today. There are many reasons for this, but nutrition plays a critical role in this equation. The eye is a complex and delicate organ. One factor that makes the eye vulnerable to damage is that light enters the eye. This allows us to see, but it is also presents problems. Think for a moment about how much damage light can do, especially if it gets inside your eye. Light fades the paint on your house or car, or the color on your drapes, furniture or carpets. Light degrades plastics, causes dietary oils to turn rancid or our skin to burn. Because of this potential for harm, the eye has a number of defensive mechanisms to protect itself, and it is important to understand how to support these defens…

REPRINTED FROM BEYOND HEALTH® News by Raymond Francis Almost all vitamin supplements are junk. Large-scale epidemiological studies by the federal Centers for Disease Control and the National Research Council (NRC) have failed to find health benefits among people who take vitamins. The NRC issued a report saying there is no conclusive evidence of any healthful effect from taking vitamin supplements. Last July an Oxford University study in the medical journal Lancet announced that vitamins are “a waste of money.” There is a good reason for all this—most supplements are ineffective. Yet supplements are a necessity. It is almost impossible to be healthy without them. Because we are not getting the nutrition we need, more than 75 percent of us have a diagnosable chronic disease. In April of 1998, the National Academy of Sciences issued a profound statement saying that most people will not get all the vitamins they need, even if they eat a good diet with lots of fruit and vegetables…