Beck Anderson Yoga & Wellness Hammock

When I was in Salzburg, Austria a few years ago, I bought a bag of salt. That’s what you do because Salzburg, where Mozart was born, literally means “salt castle.” I didn’t take the opportunity to visit a salt mine while I was visiting because my first day I walked 3-4 hours with my pack “seeing the sights” (Finally I broke down and hailed my first–and last, I’m proud to announce–European taxi because I was lost!) and the second day we were leaving on our way to Hallstatt, Austria (the most beautiful place in the world).

“If you put all jewels together — salt would be the most precious one!”

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Every half minute a person dies of a heart attack in the U.S., making heart attack the number one cause of death for adults in the U.S. (National Hear, Lung and Blood Institute Fact Book: Fiscal Year 1995). But our common conception of the cause of heart attack – that it is caused by high cholesterol – cannot be further from the truth! To lessen your risk of heart attack, we need to understand ”The Low-Down on Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs,” from Sherry A. Rogers, M.D:

• Statin drugs work by poisoning a liver enzyme that makes cholesterol. That enzyme is HMC  COA reductase (3-hydroxyl-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase). The problem? The fact that cholesterol is needed to keep the brain from aging. Aging brain = Alzheimer’s, senility, amnesia, depression, and nerve, heart and muscle damage.
• Turning off cholesterol production fuels the Viagra epidemic, because you need cholesterol to make your sex hormones like testosterone, estrogen and progesterone. Impotency and low libido are common side affects, including fatigue or exhaustion, irritability, road rage, hostile aggression.
• We need cholesterol in the cell membranes so that they can properly release cytokines. Only healthy cell membranes with sufficient cholesterol can release chemicals that we need to make inside of our cells to kills cancer cell.
• Statin drugs create a coenzyme Q10 deficiency. Statin drugs inhibit or poison the same enzyme, HMG COA reductase, that the body uses to make the fat-soluble vitamin, CoQ10. A deficiency often caused fatal cardiomyopathy, heart attack , congestive heart failure, exhaustion, cancer, myopathy (muscle diseases), fibromyalgia, depression resistant to anti-depressants, high blood pressure, gum disease and tooth loss, hair loss, liver disease, sudden complete memory loss or amnesia, cataracts, anigina, folic acid deficiency, damaged cell membranes, fatigue, accelerated aging and much more. Without sufficient CoQ10 levels, you are likely to die within 6 months (pg. 6).
• Cholesterol drugs deplete nutrients and invite cancer, which is why statin drug users have a higher rate of cancer. As well as lowering CoQ10, statins deplete vitamin E and vitamin A precursor, beta-corotene, as much as 22%.
• Statins damage the good effects of vitamin E, instead making it easier for cholesterol to stick in blood vessel walls causing coronary artery disease, heart attack, and death.
• Statin cholesterol-lowering drugs decrease the ability of insulin to metabolize sugars. Which means the body makes more insulin, which promotes arteriosclerosis, which promotes diabetes, which accelerates aging.
• Taking statin drugs increases the risk of developing polyneuropath (neurological disorder) 14-fold. Symptoms include numbness and tingling to impotency or paralysis.
• Statins can cause amnesia, within minutes. (Hopefully your taxi driver or airplane pilot isn’t on a statin!)
• Cholesterol drugs cause miserable people. “One out of three people have low energy, does not feel content, is no longer happy, and has other subtle and affective changes” (pg. 10). The brain receptors for the hormones to plug in in the brain to make us feel good are malformed when there isn’t enough cholesterol and other nutrients. So regardless of how much Prozac you take, you won’t feel better because there is no dock for the “happy hormones”.
• Cholesterol drugs guarantee an avalanche of new symptoms, especially cancer and more serious heart disease.

That is a fairly simple list for the layman to understand, but then the question always follows: WHY?!

All my conspiracy theorists will love this one! As you probably have heard, the pharmaceutical industry has its hands all up in the FDA pockets, or should I say vice versa? One of all the cholesterol-lowering drugs brings in more than five times the entire annual budget for the FDA! So of course they want to put them on the market despite scientific studies proving the drug causes side affects. Frequently drugs are taken off the market only after lawsuits emerge. If the FDA keeps adding drugs and then taking them off, why do we still trust them?

There are many examples of drugs that I could write about where the dangerous side affects of the drug were known and yet were allowed on the market. But I will spare you the gory details. Just know that the most important person to your health is not your doctor, but you.

If you continue to take statin drugs despite the dire warnings contained in this article (and this article does not contain all the trials and tribulations of cholesterol-lowering drugs), at least take the following to begin to repair your deficits and damage:

• E Gems Elite, 1-2/day
• Gamma E Gems, 1-2/day
• Cod Liver Oil, 1-3 tsp/day
• Super 2 Daily, 2/day
• Phos Chol, 1-3 tsp/day
• Liquid Multiple Minerals, 1-2/day
• Q-ODT (80 mg of CoQ10), 1-3 under the tongue, 1-3 times/day

References:

The Cholesterol Hoax, Sherry A. Rogers, M.D.

Country Crock has a whole section at the Angelis grocery store I frequent; some containers declare descriptions such as “Calcium plus Vitamin D” and “Light” and all ofthem claim “No Hydrogenated Oil 0g Trans Fat per serving*“  Oh, couldn’t you read the last part?  It clearly says “per serving.”  I’m rolling my eyes, by the way, because in fact, it is not clear!  Nor is it truthful because this product does contains trans fats!  And did you know you can get all your Calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D needs from grass-fed, full fat animal products?

ingredients:

Vegetable Oil Blend (Liquid Soybean Oil, Palm Oil, Palm Kernel Oil, Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil), Water, Whey (Milk) Salt, Vegetable Mono and Diglycerides, Soy Lecithin, (Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Disodium EDTA) Used to Protect Quality, Citric Acid, Artificial Flavor, Vitamin A (Palmitate), Beta Carotene (Color).

• Vegetable Oil Blend: cancer contributor.Partially Hydrogenated & Hydrogenated: trans fats. Food service has found a loop hole in the trans fat war – if there is less than a certain percentage of trans fat per serving they can claim “0g Trans Fat.” Are you enraged yet?
• Mono and Diglycerides: emulsifying agents – they are both hydrophilic (attract water) and hyrdophobic (repel water), so they are soluble in both water AND fat. They are used to keep oils from separating out of products and used to increase shelf life – the same reasons trans fats are used in most products. Unique, not necessarily natural.
• Soybean oil – industrially processed liquid oil, oxidation index 7.0
• Soy Lecithin: a waste product containing residues of solvents and pesticides and has a consistency ranging from a gummy fluid to a plastic solid. The color ranges from dirty tan to reddish brown, manufactures therefore use a bleaching process to turn lecithin into an appealing light yellow hue.
• Calcium Disodium EDTA: Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, known as EDTA, is a chemical salt used to separate heavy metals from dyes and other substances. This form appears in foods and cosmetic products to prevent air from spoiling them by introducing unwanted oxygen into the products’ molecular structures. Calcium dixodium EDTA is toxic to humans in high amounts.
• Citric Acid: often contains MSG, a neurotoxin.
• Artificial Flavor: may contain MSG.
• Vitamin A (artificial): toxic with excess. Overdosing leads to adverse physiological reactions. Typically added to low fat milk and other dairy products to replace the vitamin content lost through the removal of milk. High doses of retinyl palmitate has been shown to accelerate cancer in lab animals.

the better options:

Use real butter (hint: it will just say “milk” or “cream from milk”).  Using butter with an Organic label is crucial, because Organic cows have a healthier cream when compared to conventional cows (click here).  Organic Valley butter is a great brand as is Horizon organic, Biona, Calon Wen, and others. Read the ingredients.

the best option:

Whole, raw cream from a local Organic, grass-fed cow can be churned or shaken in a glass jar until it turns into butter.  The cream will separate into a lumpy ball inside the jar, butter, and liquid, whey. And whey can be used for lacto-fermented foods such as making sauerkraut.

You can find all your Calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D needs in grass-fed, full fat animal products. Dietary fat is your friend, don’t be afraid of healthy fat!

Butter making photo credit

Comments about RealSalt: “Tastes delicious and I love it,” Clara Douglas.

There are a couple generic types of salt: unrefined and refined.  Unrefined salt is “an excellent, traditional source of nearly 80 trace minerals.  …This natural bacteria-inhibiting preservative can be considered a mineral ‘supplement’ that is essential to life” (Weston A Price, Nutrient-Dense Eating).  Compared to refined iodized salt which, in some cases, is heated to temperatures up to 1200 degrees F, stripped of all nutrients and combined with poisonous substances including aluminum, sugar and anti-caking agents.  Which salt should you avoid?  Pure white salt, of course!  Sea salt, containing all those beneficial minerals, shows up as gray or pink, depending on the type (see photo).  Salt is important for digestion and assimilation and also crucial for the development and functioning of the nervous system.

Prescribing a low-sodium diet doesn’t always fix the problem of high blood pressure.  Lacto-fermented foods like Sauerkraut and Kimchi contain salt but also the vitamin C, MSM, and phytochemicals necessary to promote elasticity in the arteries.  In fact, to further confirm the statement, a recent article I read states that some people with high blood pressure are unaffected by sea salt and only about 3% of high blood pressure cases are related to salt intake.

Avoid foods containing extra sugar, processed carbohydrates, chemicals and oxidized fats and cholesterol.  Do consume lacto-fermented foods, healthy saturated fats, grass-fed animal meat, sea salt, organic vegetables and fruits.  The best kinds of unrefined salt includes Celtic, Himalayan, RealSalt, and Lima.  You may find these salts at your local healthy food store, in the health food section of your grocery store or other online sites such as iherb.com or swansonvitamins.com.

Resources:
About High Blood Pressure
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
Weston A Price

“Good broth can resurrect the dead.”

Broth Benefits:

Gelatin is the traditional way of assuring plenty of proline and glycine in the diet.  Gelatin is especially rich in proline and hydroxyproline, containing 15.5 and 13.3 grams per 100 grams of pure protein respectively.  A diet deficient in proline and glycine may lead to suffering from stiff joints, skin diseases and other collagen, connective tissue and cartilage disorders.  One suggestion for heart patients with elevated lipoprotein (a) levels (the only “bad”cholesterol) is that they should take a formula consisting of proline, lysine and vitamin C to help reverse the artery-blocking effects of lipoprotein (a).

Gelatin promotes digestion, heals allergies, improves rheumatoid arthritis as well as other degenerative joint conditions and inflammatory bowel diseases, detoxification in the liver, heals wounds, and promotes bone building.  Also helps people with celiac disease.

During fasting or rapid weight loss (such as an illness), the body tends to eat its own protein store from the muscles.  If a person wants to avoid that (and who doesn’t?) bone broth can help.  Gelatin helps the body to stay in a “nitrogen balance,” meaning gelatin is already decomposed and it prevents the breakdown of protein in the body.  The same researcher, Carl Voit, found that gelatin alone is not able to build up protein supplies in the body.  To me it means don’t stay on a bone broth fast for an extended period of time.

“Remember also that the amino acids in gelatin, like all amino acids, can only be properly utilized when the diet contains sufficient fat-soluble activators–vitamins A and D–found exclusively in animal fats. So don’t hesitate to put cream in your broth-based soups and sauces, and include other sources of vitamins A and D in your diet, such as butter, egg yolks and cod liver oil.” “Broth is Beautiful,” Kaayla Daniels, PhD

General Bone Broth Recipe

Ingredients

2 – 3 pounds chicken, ducks, turkeys, geese, beef, fish* (see simmer hours table below)
Gizzards and chicken feet (option, but nutritious)
4 quarts of water
2 Tb Apple Cider Vinegar
2 large Onions (yellow or white)
2 – 4 Carrots, cut into large pieces
3 stalks Celery, cut into large pieces
1 bunch of Parsley

*make sure you are using the best bones: Chickens should be free-range, organic allowed to peck insects and bugs outside.  If chickens are feed fed, make sure it’s not soy based.  But if it is, make sure it’s not Genetically Modified.  (Rules rules!  Don’t you wish all food was real food?)  Beef should also be free-range, organic and grass-fed.  Fish should be wild-caught (not feedlot raised!)

Equipment

Large stainless steel or enamel stock pot OR crock pot
Large glass jars or containers to store broth in freezer
Slotted Spoon

Directions

1. Add all ingredients (except parsley) into pot and bring to a boil.  Skim off the scum (less scum with higher quality bones).  Then continue to simmer for…
   1. Simmer Hours Chart
      1. Chicken Bones             12 – 24 hours
      2. Beef                               36 – 48 hours
      3. Fish                                 4 – 12 hours
2. Half an hour before simmering is finished, add the bunch of parsley for extra minerals.  With your slotted spoon, remove vegetables and bones and pour liquid into jars and/or containers to cool before transferring to long-term storage (freezer).

The container on the right is frozen already.

Ruminant Digestion

“Grass-Fed Nation Steers & Steppes Forever”

A:  Ruminant animals, like cows, are healthier when their diet contains grass in the summer and hay (dried grass), silage (fermented grass) and root vegetables in the winter versus a grain diet.  It is common for cows to be fed grains, but it causes problems for the cows:  the waste from microbial digestion of starches is lactic acid, which is not valuable to ruminant (acetic acid is a metabolic waste used as an energy source by cattle), the rumen pH lowers causing acidosis and the animal’s health, milk and meat are adversely affected.  Cows eating large amounts of grains can die.  Also, the colostrum of acidic cows have few antibodies because they are immunosuppressed.  Damage to the cow’s liver is attributed to high levels of protein in soy-based feed.  Grain-fed cattle do not obtain the fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, D, K), occurring in the fat of grass-fed animals, which support endocrine function and protect against inflammation.

If you are the typical American, I know what you’re thinking and I don’t need your attitude! I bet you haven’t even had good liver, if any at all! And I’m right, aren’t I? So sit tight and quite whining.  First, read why liver is good for you, then read what kind of liver to get and then go shopping and cook it up!  Using my easy-peasy instructions, of course.

Why Liver?

Liver contains more nutrients than any other food.  Historically hunter-gatherer societies would feed the best part of an animal to the pregnant women and young children (survival of the species, you know). And what part was that? The liver of course! And other organs, but we’re just into livers today. The Weston A. Price foundation has a wonderful list in their Liver Files that I’ve copied right here – no need for me to re-create the wheel:

• An excellent source of high-quality protein
• Nature’s most concentrated source of vitamin A
• All the B vitamins in abundance, particularly vitamin B12
• One of our best sources of folic acid
• A highly usable form of iron
• Trace elements such as copper, zinc and chromium; liver is our best source of copper
• An unidentified anti-fatigue factor
• CoQ10, a nutrient that is especially important for cardio-vascular function
• A good source of purines, nitrogen-containing compounds that serve as precursors for DNA and RNA.

Where to Buy

Do not eat liver from commercial farm animals!

I repeat: do not eat liver from commercial farm animals! In fact, try not eat any meat from commercial farm animals (hint: most of the meats at your local supermarket or Walmart) because a) the animals are living the holocaust, squished together and caged in a barn versus grazing on grass outside in the sunlight and b) they become sickly and are given antibiotics, and yes that will affect your body, although you may not notice a single dose, you will notice the accumulation.

You do want to eat liver from animals that spend their lives outdoors on pasture and in the cold months, eating hay or fermented hay. If you can’t find this type of liver, go for organic chicken, beef and calves liver. If supermarket liver is your only choice, the best option is calves liver because in the U.S. beef cattle spend their first months on pasture.

Go Shopping

Go on, I can’t do this for you. Although you can click on Local Harvest, to find local farmers in your area, or Eat Well Guide for local foods in the U.S. or Canada.

How much should I eat?

“A good recommendation for liver is one 100-gram serving of beef, lamb, bison or duck liver (about 4 ounces) once or twice a week, providing about 50,000 IU vitamin A per serving. Chicken liver, which is lower in vitamin A, may be consumed more frequently.” (The Liver Files, Weston A. Price)

Bacon, Liver & Onions

Serves 2

Ingredients

2-4 pieces Liver
8 slices Bacon, cut into 2-3 inch pieces
Onion, sliced

Directions

1. In a medium sized pan, add bacon and onions.  Stir until you get your bacon the way you like it.
2. Clear out a space in the pan, place your liver pieces down and sear each side of the liver until just barely cooked through (tough liver is the worst liver).
3. Pile bacon and onions on top of liver and include a healthy helping of bacon and onions with each bit of liver.

“It would be a shame to find out that your diet wasn’t as good as everyone was saying 15 years from now…“

Sunday night began the first of eight nights where prominent leaders in the health industry talk about all things diet-related ON LINE, hosted by Kevin Gianni.  This completely free event features Dr. Mercola of Mercola.com, T. Colin Campbell, Sally Fallon Morell, Dr. Robert O. Young PhD. author of “The pH Miracle”, Dona Gates of “The Body Ecology Diet”, and more.  Each debate starts at 8pm EST and is online for only 24 hours (except the first night, Sunday night, is available for an additional 24 hours).

If you haven’t already, get registered.  No matter what your diet is, you will learn something new.

I found this article as I was perusing Weston A. Price Foundation’s website. The following are guidelines for the Standard American Diet – and look where we’ve ended up following these suggestions: overweight, sick, and confused. Thankfully here are answers explaining why the USDA guidelines are wrong.