Soya For Weight Loss And Lowering Cholesterol

Natural Remedy For Weight Loss

Use Soya Milk To Replace Dairy Milk

Dairy milk, wheat flour, and sugar are, I believe, the worst foods imaginable.  They all contribute to bloating of the stomach, often caused by intestinal worms, and general obesity issues.

I fully recommend replacing all these problematic foods with other, healthier, options.  You can start with buying soya milk instead of dairy milk.  Make sure you get the GE Free kind of milk, which has been made from UNgenetically modified beans.

Japanese people, who traditionally eat a good amount of soy in their daily diets, are seldom fat. Of course, they eat very little wheat, as rice is their staple diet. And they do not eat a lot of sugary or fatty foods, such as we do in the west.

Research has shown that Japanese people eating their traditional diet are many times more healthy than UK or American people:  The incidence of deaths from breast cancer in Japan is only one sixth the rate of breast cancer deaths in the UK.

Soya beans contain phyto-oestrogens.  These are natural oestrogen-like substances which help prevent the harmful cancer-causing oestrogens from becoming active.  Thus, soya beans help prevent cancer, noteably breast cancer.  The death rate of breast cancer in Japan is only one sixth that of the UK figures, according to Dr Marilyn Glenville. (see Alternatives To Dieting’)

The death rate from prostate cancer is also much lower in Japan than USA or UK.

Soya is also thought to help prevent osteoporosis.  Asian people have fewer hip fractures than Westerners of the older age group.  Of course, seaweed and other mineral-rich foods in the Asian, or Japanese diet will have a bearing on the healthier condition of the bones.

Soya Contains No Saturated Fats:  This is a huge plus for those of us who wish to lose a few pounds of flesh.

Replace Dairy With Soya Milk:  By simply switching to using soya milk to replace dairy milk, you will be doing you and your body an enormous favour.  Even if you do nothing else but to include soya milk in your diet,  within a few weeks you should note an improvement in your general state of health, as well as a reduction in fat tissue.

Toxic Chemicals In Food:  Do try to avoid all foods which have additives of any kind – artificial colourings, flavourings, preservatives.  These are very bad for the health and are a real problem in producing obesity, diabetes, heart malfunctions and blood pressure problems. I am convinced of this.

Also avoid other toxic chemicals, such as agricultural herbicides or pesticides.  These can affect the thyroid, the hypothalamus gland, and the pituitary, which have a big influence on hormone production.  If they get upset by being exposed to poisonous chemicals, then you can end up with obesity issues such as water retention,  or high blood pressure, or low blood pressure, heart irregularities, and depression.  It is important to avoid toxic chemicals if you want your nutrition-related diet to have a good effect on your health, body, and mind.

Dairy milk, meat, wheat and sugar are very problematic foods which can have a very deleterious effect on the health.  None of these foods is helpful in avoiding cancer or other diseases, least of all obesity.

Soya beans are a wonderful food.  The wee soya bean is the only edible bean which contains all the essential amino acids, of which there are eight.  These eight amino acids make soya a complete protein in itself.  You can live on soya bean protein.

Soya beans also have another great quality which is of help to those wishing to lower their cholesterol levels:  Soya is free of natural cholesterols. Soya milk, and soya products, will not raise your blood pressure.

In fact, eating a quantity of soya beans each day, or using soy products, can actually lower your cholesterol levels, as well as your blood pressure.

Dr Marilyn Glenville says in her book, ‘Alternatives To Dieting’, that soya initially has a dramatic effect on people whose cholesterol levels are very high.  Research, she says, shows that consuming 25mg of soy protein per day definitely helps to lower so-called bad cholesterol.

If you switch to using soy milk instead of dairy milk, then two glasses of soy milk per day will provide you with 20mg of soy protein.  Another quarter of a glassful, and you have your 25mg.

100g of tofu apparently contains around 12 g of soy protein.

Brain And Nerve Food: Soya milk and other soy products are rich in essential fatty acids.  These essential fatty acids are utilized in the assimilation of other vitamins and minerals, many of which are needed for skin, hair, nerve and brain health.

For people wishing to lose weight, for high-blood pressure people, or people with any chronic health problem, soya milk would be a wise choice.

Another post on weight loss treatment:

Castor Oil And Ginger For Weight Loss

Natural Remedies

Culpeper says of Sage that it ’causes the hair to become black’.

Garden sage has many therapeutic uses.

In the garden, its flowers provide medicine and nectar for the bees, as well as a herbal tonic to the neighbouring plants.

It is well-known as an aid to oral hygiene.  It has strong antiseptic qualities and is supposed to whiten tooth enamel.

Sage is still used today in some tooth-pastes.  It is reputedly one effective remedy for bleeding gums,  and improving gum health:  The crushed fresh leaves are massaged several times a day onto the gums and teeth.

The tea is gargled to relieve sore throats, colds and flu,  and ulcers in the mouth.

It can be effective to reduce fevers, and has been used in the past for thyphoid fever. (see ‘Herbal Remedies  and Homeopathy’ published by Geddes and Grosset.)

It is a valuable nerve medicine, and is a useful stomach remedy for improving a weak appetite.

Natural Herbal Hair Dye and Tonic:  Sage can help restore healthy hair and improve the colour.

Strong sage tea encourages hair growth and darkens the hair, if it is used on a regular basis. Many herbalists describe it in their writings:  see John Heinerman’s ‘Encyclopedia of Fruits Vegetables and Herbs’.

Rosemary is another wonderful herb which can help hair growth, but it does not have such a darkening effect on the hair, as sage does.

Recipe For Sage Hair Dye:  Here is a simple, natural hair dye and tonic which you can try.  It is perfectly safe to use, as it does not contain any harmful additives such as you might find in commercial dyes for darkening the hair.

Take two cups of fresh sage leaves and put into a stainless steel saucepan.

Add one cup of dry black tea leaves

Add half a cup of cider vinegar and eight cups of water.

Simmer very gently, with no lid, for one hour on a very low heat.  You should have around half the original quantity of liquid left at the end of an hour.  If you need to add a little more water, make sure you do so well before you finish simmering the brew.  If you add more water at the end of the simmering, then your mixture will not keep so well.

Take off the heat after an hour of simmering.  Set aside to cool.

Once your sage mixture has cooled properly, strain it off.

To the liquid remaining add the same amount of vodka.

Put into a bottle with a screw-top lid and store in a cool place.

Massage around a tablespoonful of the sage infusion into the hair each day.  Use more or less, depending on how much hair you need to cover.

Massage the sage tonic well into the roots of the hair as well, so that it feeds the scalp and hair follicles.  Massaging the scalp with the sage tonic will help the hair to grow again.

The oils in the sage leaves will put a natural shine to the hair.

Once the hair is sufficiently darkened, which may take several weeks, you can reduce the amount of applications each week.  Once or twice a week may be enough to maintain the darker colour.

Sage is really very good for the hair in so many ways.

Alternative Sage Tonic Without Alcohol:  You could make up your sage tea without the alcohol if you wish.  Only, remember that your mixture will not keep for longer than a week, and it must be kept in the fridge.  You could make up a lesser amount, enough to last a week, and then make up a fresh brew of tea for the following week.

My new book is available on Amazon:

Chicory Root Coffee Health Benefits And Male Contraceptive

Natural Remedy:

Chicory is used as a coffee substitute mainly because it is caffeine-free.

Because it is relatively inexpensive, with a wonderful robust flavour, Chicory is sometimes blended with Coffee.

It is supposed to be effective as a liver cleanser, to help stabilize a rapid heart-beat, to lower  blood cholesterol, and to help reduce fat tissue.

I must say that the effects of trying a coffee-chicory blend of coffee for one week, in place of natural, full-strength coffee, have not been altogether pleasing.  I did notice that that the tummy flattened out a bit, which was good.

But blood pressure was lowered, which for me is not so good, as I have relatively low blood pressure anyway. Blood sugar levels were also lower than usual.  The worst effect was that digestion also became sluggish, which resulted in constipation.  Could possibly have been the effects of withdrawal from my daily dose of caffeine, and it is also possible that gall stones were actually expelled.  But I have decided that one week of this treatment is enough for me, and so I have resumed drinking two to three cups of brewed full-strength coffee again each day.

However, there is a rather unique use for Chicory, according to John Heinerman:

Male Birth Control could be achieved quite naturally by using Chicory Root as a coffee, according to Heinerman’s research.  I do not promise that this works, remember.

He states in his book ‘Miracle Healing Herbs’, published by Prentice Hall, 1998, that Chicory Root was found to render infertile the sperm of mice.

After only one and a half weeks of being fed Chicory Root in one form or another, the mice’s sperm became infertile, and the testicles had reduced in size.

May or may not be a good thing.  One wonders – will the testicles be restored to the normal size again when you stop drinking the Chicory Coffee, and will normal fertility be resumed?  If so, how long will it take?  Anyhow……

Mr Heinerman suggests that the human dose which might act as a human contraceptive is six cups of brewed Chicory Coffee per day.  The Chicory Root, or Endive, is roasted and ground before making the coffee in the usual way.  He prefers the drip method for the best flavour.

Apparently, six cups of strong Chicory Coffee in the one day should work as a natural contraceptive for one whole week.

Obviously, if you are male and you love drinking Chicory Coffee, you might have problems in the conceiving of a baby.  So better avoid that Chicory if you want to have a wee bairn.

Interestingly enough, Louise Tenney lists it in her ‘Today’s Herbal Health’ book as being good for infertility, which contradicts John Heinerman’s idea.  It could be that Chicory helps fertility in women, but not men, OR that in smaller doses it may work to increase fertility.  Louise does not give specific information as to dosage, or whether it suits men, or women, or both.

Heinerman and Tenney say that Chicory can help to dissolve Gall Stones.  Heinerman’s herbal recipe for this is a tea made from simmering half a cup of chopped Chicory root in two pints of water for 20 minutes.  Add either half a cup of chopped Endive.  I would use Dandelion, which is related to Endive, if you don’t have fresh Endive.

Infuse for half an hour or so.  Strain.

Drink two cups at morning tea time, and two more in the evening two hours before bed.

It is recommended that this be repeated for three days running.

My new book is available on Amazon:

 

 

Cholesterol-lowering Drugs For Profit

Cholesterol-lowering Drugs Most Profitable

Goal of Drug Companies To Convince the Healthy They Need Drugs, so that their profits will soar.

If only sick people took medical drugs, then drug companies would not be making the enormous profits that they make today.

Side Effects of  Cholesterol-lowering Drugs: Recent research, published only last week,  shows that many people taking cholesterol-lowering drugs are not benefiting their health at all, and are possibly doing more harm than good by exposing themselves to their side effects.

The thing is, drug companies have convinced much of the Western world into believing that they are prolonging their lives through the taking of certain drugs. Warfarin and statins are examples of the drugs which they promote as being life-savers and prolongers of life.

Almost every second person I know who is over the age of 50 in New Zealand is taking warfarin, or some other cholesterol-lowering drug.  And what is more, they accept that they will take this drug for the rest of their lives.

How has this happened? – Because vast fortunes have, and will be continued to be made, because of the psychological dependence which many people have on prescription drugs.

This state of affairs has been relatively easy to manipulate: Instill a little fear into the people, such as the threat of circulatory disease, tell them that lowering cholesterol will prolong life, and you have it made: They will buy your cholesterol-lowering products by the ton.

All you have to do is to get a bit of ‘research’ done into cholesterol, how lowering cholesterol can prevent heart attacks,  get some articles published, and most people will believe that they need to take a trip to the doctor, get their cholesterol checked, and begin taking a commercial product to lower cholesterol.

An article appeared in the Weekend Herald, 22 January, 2011, written by James LeFanu, via the Telegraph Group Ltd, which is headed:

“Billions to be had convincing healthy they need drugs”: This article has some very interesting information regarding the drug companies’ manipulation of the facts, and the public, in order to make billions of dollars.

It states that Henry Gadsden, who was chief executive of Merck drug company in 1975, had expressed the wish that he could find a market for the sale of drugs to healthy people, because profits were limited whilst the sale of drugs were aimed at only sick people with treatable illnesses.  If you could increase your sales to healthy people, obviously there would be a mint to be made.

Cholesterol Drug Scam
Well, as  James LeFanu says in his article, the dream of this man has come true with the discovery of the ‘most profitable class of drugs ever discovered’.  This most profitable class of drugs is the cholesterol-lowering statins.  This line of drugs, which formerly made around $3billion annually for the drug companies, now makes close to $26 billion American dollars a year.
It makes more now, because the ‘safe limit’ of cholesterol which is written into doctors’ guidelines, has been pushed lower and lower, until it has reached absurdly low levels.  Having such low levels of cholesterol as the guideline for good health means that almost everyone above the age of 40 or 50 now,  who goes to the doctor for a check up, would fit into the category of needing a cholesterol-lowering drug. And THAT benefits the drug companies.

The wide spread use of  the cholesterol-reducing drug Lovastatin began in 1987, when it was launched in America.
The drug companies began grooming the public,  ready for the onslaught:  Great effort was put into “educating” the public about cholesterol and its relationship to heart attacks and strokes.  This was done on a national scale, with all the medical authorities on board the gravy train.
Who Should Take Lovastatin? Now, Lovastatin is a drug  which could possibly be of benefit to people who have a predisposition to heart disease and strokes: Generally speaking, males under the age of 70 who have a history of heart disease and strokes in the family, could benefit from taking this drug, because of its cholesterol-lowering effect.  But this does not mean that EVERYONE should benefit from it. NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO LOWER THEIR CHOLESTEROL OR REDUCE FATS TO A MINIMUM.
Drug Companies’ Goal of Mass Medicalization: However, drug companies had a goal of “mass medicalization”, and with the discovery of Lovastatin came the idea that they could ‘educate’ the masses into becoming ‘cholesterol conscious’ so that they might be easily convinced that they would benefit from taking statins to lower cholesterol.
Being ‘cholesterol conscious’ would entail  making people nervous about eating any fatty foods, for a start.  Convincing people to go to the doctor for a check-up, to get a cholesterol reading and a prescription for a cholesterol controlling drug if their cholesterol readings were a little high, was the next part of the plan.
Doctors Indoctrinated Too:  Doctors were given ‘incentives’ to get people on these prescription drugs.  Clinical trials of mammoth proportions accompanied this intensive profit-making  project:  Up to 10,000 people at a time were trialled on the grand cholesterol-lowering scheme which purported to be saving people’s lives. This had a tremendous effect on the profile of the drug, and the marketing of it.  James LeFanu says:
“The effect of the inevitably favourable results generated evangelical enthusiasm for the project of “statins for all”.

Over 30 Million People Needlessly Taking These Drugs:  Well, recent research has been revealed this last week,which shows that 3/4 of the people taking these drugs are taking them unnecessarily and are exposing themselves to the danger of their side effects. This is an awful lot of people:  an estimated 40 million people in America alone take these drugs.  If 3/4 of these people are not benefiting from these drugs, and are consequently jeopardizing their health, that’s 30 million people in America, not counting the rest of the people all over the world  who are taking these drugs unnecessarily. Who benefits from this?  The drug companies, of course, and they are all on the bandwagon:  After Merck’s success with their cholesterol-lowering promotions, all the other drug companies followed suit with their own versions of the drug.

Well, according to James LeFanu, his dream has come true with the discovery of the ‘most profitable class of drugs ever discovered’. This most profitable class of drugs is the cholesterol-lowering statins.

In 1987, Lovastatin was launched in America. This is a cholesterol-lowering drug which could be of benefit to people who have a predisposition to heart disease and strokes.

Mass Medicalization:  However, drug companies had a goal of “mass medicalization”, and with the discovery of Lovastatin came the idea that they could ‘educate’ the masses into becoming ‘cholesterol conscious’.

This ‘educating’ of the public took place on a national scale.

Being ‘cholesterol conscious’ would entail going to the doctor for a check-up, to get a cholesterol reading and a prescription for a cholesterol controlling drug.

to be continued

The Benefits of Probiotics

What are Probiotics?

No doubt – acidophilus and other probiotic bacteria do help digestion and strengthen the immunity.

However, an important note to bear in mind: No amount of probiotic supplements or yoghurt will help you if you have an allergy to milk, or wheat and you are still using these products.

This is because the bowels become clogged with mucous if you do not digest these foods, which are often problematic, properly.

The mucous lining the bowel will prevent the probiotics from doing their good job, and the mucous will also harbour intestinal parasites, which will further weaken your digestion and your immune system.

So – I have one major reservation about the value of taking probiotics.  I think that they are generally over-rated.  People often want that quick-fix without making any radical changes to the diet, and so everybody goes overboard about taking probiotic supplements, or probiotic yoghurt.

If you really want to get the full effect from taking probiotics, then give up wheat, sugar and milk.

The word probiotic is derived from Greek roots. Pro means ‘supporting’ or ‘pro’, ‘for’; and ‘biotic’ means life. The word Probiotcs means anything, really, which is supportive of life.

When we talk about food supplements and ‘probiotics’, we usually think about the special brands of yogurt which contain those specific cultures of beneficial bacteria which are probiotic. Or we might bring to mind the various supplements containing probiotics which we see in our favorite health food shop.

Although the term probiotics is one which has only recently been applied to the beneficial cultures used in yogurt making today, and which are found in some other fermented foods, and nutritional supplements, the therapeutic value of  the lactobacillus probiotic has actually been known for centuries.

Yogurt is still, and always has been,  an important part of the diet in many places of the world.  Today, yogurt with added probiotics is also becoming a very popular addition to the Western diet because of the nutritional boosts this gives us.

Note: If you have a sensitivity to dairy products, or you are suffering a candida infection, then you should go to see your health practitioner for advice. Probiotics can be helpful in many conditions, but a professional opinion should be sought.

There are a variety of culures of bacteria which can be added to milk to make yogurt: Of the many and various cultures known by scientists,  we will outline some of the most commonly  used strains, those which have been proven to enhance health, in this article.

Yogurt making is a skill which  will preserve fresh milk in the hot places of the world where the milk would otherwise ‘go off’ very quickly. This is one beneficial aspect of yogurt making, and the lactobacillic organism.

However, the other important factor, which is why yogurt, and other fermented foods like sauerkraut have remained  so popular in many parts of the world, is because these foods which have been fermented with special cultures of bacteria- probiotics –  have definite health giving effects.

What are the Main Benefits of Probiotics?

  • Two of the main benefits of probiotics are that your digestion will improve, and your immune system will become stronger. A stronger immune system means that you will have improved resistance to disease.  It has been scientifically illustrated, also,  that lactobacilli work a little like a natural antibiotic because they possess  the ability to kill some unfriendly bacteria which cause certain diseases.
  • There are other health-giving attributes  to be had if you use probiotics, or specific fermented foods on a daily basis.  One important benefit from using probiotics is that your digestion of fats and proteins is improved.
  • Another is that you have better absorption of  the minerals and vitamins in your food:  Probiotics help to keep your intestinal flora  healthy, and this is why the absorption of minerals and vitamins is improved. Healthy intestinal flora also assists in the manufacture of certain vitamins and enzymes in the bowel.
  • Another health bonus from including lactobacillus probiotics in your daily diet, is that your cholesterol levels will most likely be lowered. This cholesterol-lowering effect gained from using lactobacillus in the diet will be enhanced, of course, by the eating of plenty of high fiber foods.
  • Certain probiotics enhance the body’s ability to manufacture Vitamin B and Vitamin K in the body, as well as Biotin.
  • Some people who are otherwise intolerant to the lactose in milk  find that their sensitivities are reduced when acidophilus/or bifidus or other probiotics are added to the diet. Some people are able to digest yogurt which has been treated with special cultures, whereas they still cannot digest unfermented milk properly.

Now, the benefits of probiotics have been proven scientifically by many researchers. Dr Khem Shahani, Ph.D is one emminent doctor who has devoted his life’s work and his research  almost specifically to the topic of organisms and their effect on health, such as the Lactobacillus acidophilus strain, and the Lactobacillus bifidus, otherwise known as bifidobacterium bifidum. Dr Shahani emphasises that our good health is really dependent upon these two organisms. This is no quackery – Dr Khem Shahani has worked as an advisor to the World Health Organisation.

Khem Shahani’s  latest book  is entitled ‘Cultivate Health From Within’Dr Shahani’s Guide to Probiotics. This book gives much detailed  information on the benefits of probiotics to your health and how probiotics help  promote longevity. This book is a fairly recent one, published in 2005 by Vital Health Publishing, Danbury, CT 06811.

The Bifidobacterium bifidum organism lives primarily in the large intestine and colon. The Lacto acidophilus lives mainly in the small intestine, although it is also found in the large intestine and colon, though in smaller numbers. These two work together synergistically in maintaining good digestion and elimination of waste products.

You can help proliferate the Lacto acidophilus bacteria in the small intestines by eating fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, umeboshi plums, tempeh and miso. If you are to get the benefit of  either the Lacto acidophilus, or the Bifidobacterium organism from eating yogurt, though, you have to buy a product which advertises the probiotics on the packaging. Otherwise, you might be eating a yogurt which has been pasteurised, and this means that the beneficial organisms such as the Lacto acidiophilus, or L. bifidus, will have been killed off. These organisms need to be live in the food you eat, or in the supplement which you take, to enable them to proliferate in the intestines.

Why Do We Need To Consider Supplementing Our Diets With Probiotics?

Many things in our environment interfere with our digestion and our body’s ability to keep the intestinal flora in a proper, healthy  balance.

Here are some of the main things which upset the intestinal flora, which in turn affects our immunity and our ability to process food and manufacture vitamins:

  • Antibiotics. (Note – sometimes antibiotics are necessary and will save a life. See your health practitioner or your doctor if you have a health complaint)  These are one of the worst things for interfering with digestion. Antibiotics readily kill off the beneficial bacteria in the bowel. The trouble is, that even if you do not take allopathic medications,  antibiotics find their way into our bodies because the animals we eat have been fed antibiotics.
  • Milk is contaminated with antibiotics too, as the cows which produce our milk for us are treated regularly with antibiotics.
  • Eggs, unless they are certified organic, will have quantities of antibiotics and hormones in them. It is important, for the sake of our health and that of our children, therefore, to find organic sources for our milk and our meats and eggs.
  • If you take a probiotic after a course of necessary antibiotics, then your intestinal flora will quickly be restored. A Probiotic will help alleviate the negative side- effects of the antibiotic.
  • Drinking too much coffee, alcohol, and smoking, will deplete the supply of healthy bacteria in the bowel.
  • Radiation, such as living too close to intense power sources and cell phone towers, or sleeping next to the meter box at your house, or the television, will affect the delicate balance of your intestinal flora.
  • Insectides and herbicides also harm your intestinal flora.
  • Medications such as the pill, and blood thinners, will affect your intestinal flora.
  • Read merrilyn’s other post on probiotics entitled Probiotic Advantage.

Magnesium Benefits

MAGNESIUM
Magnesium helps protect against heart disease.  Up to 150 mg in water effects a reduction of heart disease by 13%.
This is thought to be because magnesium, which links with calcium, tends to clean out the arteries of any calcium lingering around the artery walls.This would also indicate magnesium to be important in keeping healthy cholesterol levels maintained, as well as preventing high blood pressure, avoiding strokes, and maintaining a regular heart beat.

Magnesium can remedy cramps and bone pain. It  helps prevent the development of arthritis.Take ‘ Milk of magnesia’ to help with these problems, or a little epsom salts, or ‘Zechstein Magnesium’.

Magnesium links with calcium to form healthy bone tissue, tooth enamel, hair and nails. Magnesium is therefore  essential for expectant mothers:

450 mg of Magnesium daily is recommended for mothers just about to give birth. If extra magnesium is supplemented, along with Vitamin B 6, then contraction pain should be reduced.
Epsom salts can be used to supplement magnesium in the diet. Dolomite powder is another source of magnesium which is highly concentrated.
Much natural magnesium is leached out of vegetables when they are cooked in water. Drink the water to up your magnesium levels.