Salt Water for Sore Throat

Sore throats are a common symptom that most of us will suffer from time to time. They can be caused by a variety of factors, including viruses (including cold and flu), bacteria (such as streptococcus), sinus drainage, or simply breathing through the mouth due to nasal congestion, but the pain itself is usually a result of inflammation. While certain medications may be required depending on the underlying cause, most sore throats can be soothed in the meantime with simple natural remedies.

Salt Water to Soothe Sore Throat

Method

• Gargle a mixture of 1 teaspoon salt and 1 cup warm water 2-3 times daily. For best results, alter the pitch of the sound you make while gargling (low, to medium, to high) to move the salt water to different areas of your throat.

Why It Works

The salt draws out some of the fluid in the throat that causes the swelling and inflammation, thereby reducing the pain.

Precautions

Do not overdo the salt in your gargle, as it will dry out the tissues in the throat, leading to greater irritation. Please contact your healthcare provider if your sore throat does not improve within 24-48 hours, as this may be a sign of serious illness.

Source:http://www.grannymed.com/remedies/conditions/sore-throat/salt-water-for-sore-throat

8 More Reasons I Haven’t Vaccinated My Daughter

Last week, my first blog on this very sensitive topic called "8 Reasons I Haven't Vaccinated my Daughter" went viral on MindBodyGreen, being shared almost 50,000 times in the first week. There has been such an outpouring of support from all over the world that has been very humbling. Given the imminent direction vaccination policy in going, it seems like a good time to speak up.

The original article I wrote had 15 reasons, but after editing it was turned into eight. Here are eight more that didn't make the cut, that I thought GreenMedInfo readers might like.

1.  I can't trust vaccine studies to be true.

We all love studies, right? Let's start off with one that I believe may be the most important study of all. This gem caught my attention because it examined the "undue industry influence that distorts healthcare research, strategy, expenditure and practice." The conclusion reads, "to serve its interests, the industry masterfully influences evidence-base production, evidence synthesis, understanding of harms issues, cost-effectiveness evaluations, clinical practice guidelines and healthcare professional education and also exerts direct influences on professional decisions and health consumers."

The key word there is masterfully, because it wouldn't be masterful if everyone knew it was going on. The fact that marketing is spun to be made to look like pure science is the true "mastery".

Any one of these factors in isolation might be enough to make anyone doubt whose interests are being served by pro-vaccine research, but all together and working synergistically? Given the scope of this conclusion, it seems unlikely that a doctor or hospital will provide the most objective opinion, given their exposure to the 'direct influences' from pharmaceutical companies that have paid over$11bn in fines in the last three years for criminal wrongdoing.

2.  I believe the benefits of vaccines have been exaggerated.

I already hear you saying, "But James, how can you say that about vaccines? We all know that vaccines have saved millions of lives." Well, when you talk about saving lives, you are talking about reducing mortality. And when we look at the mortality presumably impacted by vaccines, we see a different picture than we have been told is true.  There is no doubt that sanitation, nutrition and socioeconomic factors played a much greater role in reducing mortality from communicable diseases than vaccines.

Graph Courtesy of HealthSentinel.com

Prime example: measles. Mortality reduced 99.5% before the vaccine was introduced in 1963. Notice also, scarlet fever follows the same pattern of decline without the use of a vaccine ever. Even polio deaths were reduced 47% in the USA and 55% in the UK before the first vaccine was introduced, and were falling. How far could we have gone without vaccines? We will never know.

Since my article has come out, Dr. Suzanne Humpries has written a very well thought out piece on this exact topic, you can find it here. I challenge anyone to read that and still be 100% pro-vaccine.

3.  There is evidence of vaccines causing chronic and autoimmune disease

In my previous article, I detailed at least six chronic conditions proven to have come from vaccines. Given the ridiculously short observation periods and underreporting of the numbers, there is likely be a lot more.

This study from Japan spells it out clearly regarding vaccines and autoimmunity. "Systemic autoimmunity appears to be the inevitable consequence of over-stimulating the host's immune 'system' by repeated immunization with antigen, to the levels that surpass system's self-organized criticality."

Please know, I am not saying that vaccines cause all chronic diseases, but we are getting precious few answers as to what is causing them, and the answers that are starting to come are pointing atexcessive toxicity or medical interventions, of which vaccines are both (see point #9).  If you really want to be 'one less', in my view, it is better to be one less iatrogenic death (caused by doctors or medicine, the #3 killer in America).

4.  The history of polio has been distorted.

The first thing anyone says when you discuss not giving vaccines is 'do you want her to get polio?' Obviously not, although 'getting' polio and being paralyzed are two completely different things, given that 95% of polio cases are asymptomatic. Furthermore, polio has been consistently reclassified over the last 50 years so that many diseases we called polio at one time are no longer called that. This reclassification is not just an American trait, though.

In India in 2012, they celebrated a whole year going by without a polio death. Great news, hey! But have you heard of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis? A new study revealed that rates of non-polio acute flaccid paralysis (NPAFP) have increased 1200% since the oral polio vaccine was introduced a decade ago. Bear in mind NPAFP is "clinically indistinguishable" from wild polio.  Clinically. Indistinguishable. We may have eliminated a virus, but we have not eliminated paralysis, which, after all, should have been the goal of the program.

So, has polio been "eradicated" or reclassified?

Also, you most likely source of getting polio in America in the last 60 years was actually from a polio vaccine. In 1955, in what is now referred to as the 'Cutter Incident', 120,000 people were mistakenly vaccinated with live polio. Whoops!

5. Eradication of the Disease is NOT the same as Eradication of the Microbe

Another common misconception is that vaccines kill off the actual microbes themselves. All of the microbes we vaccinate for still exist in our environment (and in some cases in our guts!), the vaccine program (along with other synergistic medical and social improvements) has got the human race to a point where the majority of them do not cause symptomatic infection. It is easy to make that mistake, granted, because the topic is often confused in the media.

6. Is the germ theory dead?

The germ theory underpins all of our current medical paradigm, including vaccines. I'm not sure the exact date that the germ theory died, but when the most effective treatment for an infection that is incurable with antibiotics is taking pills filled with human feces, you can be sure it is on it's last legs.

Perhaps the recent admission from the director of the CDC that we have "reached the end of the antibiotic era. Period" might make us think twice about building health strategies based on a flawed model.

Antoine Bechamp must be rolling in his grave, because it is looking more and more like he was right when he said "Le terrain est tout, le microbe n'est rien" or "the terrain is everything, the microbe is nothing".

7. I have researched the ingredients in vaccines. They are toxic, even carcinogenic; I do not want them injected into my daughter.

Before I discuss the ingredients themselves, there are four things to appreciate about toxicity and how it affects the body.

First, my baby's blood brain barrier (BBB) is still developing. The BBB protects the brain part of the brain known as the cerebellum, which is largely responsible for balance and gait.

Second, chemicals injected into the arm/leg are then absorbed directly into the blood stream. This has a potentially higher rate of toxicity than if those chemicals were inhaled or deposited into the alimentary canal. Our bodies team up with our microbial friends to create an amazing system for dealing with environmental toxicity, but that counts for nothing if the toxin is injected.

Third, toxicity can be transgenerational. Did you see the abnormalities of the grandkids of Vietnamese sprayed with Agent Orange? If I vaccinate my daughter today, and she seems to be relatively unscathed by the events, could I be giving my great-granddaughter autism or diabetes or autoimmune disease? No one can answer this question assuredly.

Fourth, toxicity between chemicals and metals have a synergistic effect. This means that if more than one toxin is present there is multiplier effect.

So what are the ingredients in vaccines? Unfortunately they are way too many to go over in detail in this post. Here are a few of the worst offenders (and remember the synergy!)

8.  I have done my homework and I know that history will eventually repeat itself. I don't want my daughter to be a statistic.

While our parents lived through the issues with tobacco science, most of us who are new parents today are too young to remember all the commotion. As the well worn, but not particularly well heeded, saying goes 'those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

The conclusion of the first study I quoted in this piece went on to state, "there is an urgent need for regulation and other action towards redefining the mission of medicine towards a more objective and patient-. population- and society-benefit direction that is free from conflict of interests."

Whatever your views on vaccines, you can surely agree with this last sentence. Regulation is obviously not going to get us there soon enough and so "other action" is required.

Over the last 8 years, I have been developing an understanding of what it would take to develop this new model. My new venture is called Revive Primary Care, we sold out our initial membership and are now looking to scale it across America, the world. If this article speaks to you, I ask you to take action and join us.

Source: GreenMedInfo

Flu shots still contain mercury

It must be the winter holiday season, because the push to poison Americans with flu shots is once again in full force.

And, as usual, they are being sold as the ultimate public health and public safety tool, even though predicting which strain of flu is going to hit this year is a bit like guessing Powerball numbers.

But no matter. The call has gone out far and wide: "Get your flu shot now! Protect yourself! Hurry - time's-a-wastin'!"

Cue the fearmongering

As reported by Newsday on Nov. 14, under the headline, "Be Thankful and Get a Flu Shot Now":

Thanksgiving is a week from Thursday, so you might want to put getting a flu shot at the top of your to-do list if you plan to be with family and friends for the holiday. For those who haven't gotten the vaccine yet, it's even more crucial if you expect to be mingling with a crowd of sneezing, coughing shoppers at the malls, hunting for bargains on Black Friday.

None of this, of course, comes without the required fearmongering, from no less than "official" government sources:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults 65 and older get a flu shot each year because seniors are at the greatest risk of serious complications if they get the virus. Since it takes about 10 days to build up immunity after receiving a flu shot, getting vaccinated now should protect you through the entire holiday season.

They are even making it easier than ever to get the poisonous flu shot. You no longer have to go to your doctor's office or the county clinic; you can visit any number of retailers with pharmacies like Walgreen's, RiteAid and Target for your shot.

And, of course, if you happen to have a cash flow problem, well, the government's got a solution for that, too:

Flu shots are covered by Medicare and many private health insurance plans. In most cases, you will have little to no out-of-pocket costs. Still, call the site first to make sure it has the vaccine available and ask whether your insurance will be accepted.

What is not being told to the general public is this: Flu vaccines still contain mercury, which is a neurotoxin.

Now, the "medical establishment" and the government have pooh-poohed this fact, brushing it off as a wild conspiracy theory. But in truth, study after study has shown that even the trace amounts of mercury-containing thimerosal, which is found in flu shots, can be harmful.

'Mercury is known to cause serious harm'

In 2011, the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs published details of a Brazilian study that confirmed what earlier studies had shown:

Yet another peer-reviewed, scientific study proving the connection between the mercury in medicine and human illnesses has just been released. The latest study is the sixth one published in recent months. This report specifically examines the harm inflicted on developing fetuses and children by Thimerosal, a mercury-based compound routinely used as a preservative in flu shots.

The study's author, Dr. Jose Dorea, reviewed the published science which demonstrates that infant exposure to the amount of thimerosal in vaccines is toxic to human brain cells.

"Mercury is known to cause serious harm, especially to fetuses and children because of their smaller size," said Rev. Lisa Sykes, President of CoMeD and mother of a mercury-poisoned child. "Why remove Thimerosal from pediatric vaccines only to inject it into pregnant women and children with recommended flu shots? They removed Thimerosal from other vaccines, so it should also be removed from flu shots."

Source: NaturalNews

Curcumin causes colon cancer cells to self-destruct

The second leading cause of cancer-related death in America, colon cancer, is projected to take over 50,000 lives in 2013, just in the US. The steep death toll can be prevented, however, because the causes of colon cancer are preventable and are no coincidence. Cancer of the colon is based on risk factors acquired through lifestyle decisions.

These risk factors do not include stereotypical medical excuses like family genetics and being over 50 years old.

Stereotypical colon cancer risk factors debunked

People of the same family may harbor similar genes, but more importantly, they may pass on the same mindsets. Similar negative gene expression may actually come from families who tend to practice and teach the same philosophies about thinking, eating and medicating.

In fact, gene expression can be completely altered and changed in the face of cancer when a new mindset and eating approach is undertaken. (Certain substances like turmeric can alter proteins in colon cancer cells.)

Age is no risk factor for cancer either. Just because a person is over age 50, doesn't mean they need a colonoscopy from a medical doctor. One can be completely confident that they are not harboring cancer by knowing their nutrition levels and understanding their body's signs and the condition of their stool.

If there's one assurance that trumps all, it's the understanding that natural substances like turmeric have the greatest impact on killing cancer cells in the colon. Turmeric, and its active ingredient, curcumin, has been tested for its ability to destroy colon cancer cells at the Department of Surgery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

The results, were astounding.

Curcumin obliterates colon cancer cells

In the study, researchers looked at three kinds of colon cancer cells, p53(+/+), p53(-/-) HCT-116, and p53 HT-29.

Cancer cell death was observed through curcumin's ability to reduce pro-caspase-3 levels, polymerase-1 cleavage and chromatin condensation. In a time- and dosage-dependent manner, curcumin caused wild-type p53 HCT-116 cells to self-destruct, while obliterating mutant p53 HT-29 cells in their tracks.

The researchers were so astounded that they proposed that curcumin may actually have therapeutic potential in the management of colon cancer. With its ability to inhibit the growth of neoplastic cells, curcumin is king against colon cancer. In the presence of curcumin, colon cancer cells went through a process of phosphorylation, which is a complete altering of the function and activity of certain protein enzymes. This was all for the better, as oxidative stress was alleviated and superoxide anion production was increased.

Affordable curcumin cancer treatments could save over 50,000 lives without the devastating side effects

Health care is not expensive after all, and no one has to lose their hair to overcome cancer. The medical system and the insurance companies may only cover and recommend chemotherapy drugs and radiation treatment, but that way of thinking is not working. Look at all the dying people. It's not working. (A government health insurance mandate won't make the broken health care system work either.)

Instead, cancer treatment can be as simple as consuming daily doses of turmeric. Who said you needed to poison the immune system with radiation and chemotherapy just to kill some cancer in the colon?

Medical doctors in America typically graduate and are accredited simply by following one way of thinking. This means they probably have no clue about the evidence of turmeric killing cancer. Maybe they are restricted from recommending a cheaper, natural therapy that actually works. Maybe turmeric doesn't pay off their student loans and high salaries. Regardless, turmeric itself can travel in the body, alkalize it and kill cancer cells in their tracks.

An alkaline state of body should be first priority

Furthermore, the importance of starving cancer cells by creating an alkaline state in the body is disregarded by mainstream medical doctors. An alkaline state makes bacteria, virus, cancer and fungus growth practically impossible. Alkalizing the body, which is rooted in a holistic lifestyle eating approach, should be the first step in any cancer treatment.

How might patients get to an alkaline state?

First, the hospital wouldn't feed the patients processed food. They'd hydrate the patients' bodies with filtered water and feed them fresh herbs and vegetables from the hospital garden. Patients would be fed only foods that are alkaline forming. A few examples of these foods include apple cider vinegar, probiotic cultures, berries, spirulina, mostly any herb, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, garlic and spices like cinnamon and turmeric.

You can prevent and destroy cancer right here, right now

There's no coincidence to colon cancer incidence, and you can begin to help yourself, right now, and begin preventing and destroying cancer in the colon. As a matter of fact, you are the only person that can help you right now, because the last time I checked, the doctor wasn't bringing in fresh vegetables, herbs and doses of turmeric for you to eat at the clinic or hospital. He's probably over there talking to the pharmaceutical rep, taking an incentive, ready to put you on a new experimental drug.

Source: NaturalNews

Grain-Free Banana Bread

This banana bread is not only gluten-free, but it’s grain-free! Made with coconut flour and honey as a sweetener, this is without a doubt a ‘real food’ version of this favorite baked good. It is surprisingly moist and doesn’t carry a heavy coconut flavor.

Ingredients:

dry ingredients
-1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- a dash or two of sea salt

wet ingredients
- 4 pastured eggs
- 1/3 cup coconut oil (I use this brand)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (I love this one)
- 4 medium bananas (ripe)
- 1/4 cup raw honey

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium size bowl and set aside.
3. Mash the bananas in a small bowl (I use a potato masher like this one).
4. Melt the coconut oil on the stove top (and the honey if it is in a solid state).
5. Mix ALL ingredients together including the ones that you have not yet touched and the ones that you have set aside.
6. Mix well and pour into a greased loaf pan (I use butter to grease the pan).
7. Bake for 1 hour and enjoy.

Source: ReThinkSimple

The Beet Test

Eat beets. If they turn your urine pink/red, then you have low stomach acid. Stomach acid is a very important first step in digestion. Without enough, you can't absorb B12, and you have trouble absorbing zinc as well as several other nutrients. If you don't have adequate stomach acid, proteins aren't broken down properly, and so they can cause trouble in the small intestine and/or get absorbed whole into the bloodstream.

Gluten and casein are famous for being addictive because they form opiod-like substances. Stomach acid is necessary to prevent them from becoming opiods.

Histamine helps trigger the release of stomach acid. Histamine is found in several foods, especially ferments, so pile on another reason to eat ferments with every meal. Adequate zinc is also necessary to produce stomach acid (remember what's not absorbed well without it?).

Source: HealThyself

Cranberry-Walnut Powerballs

These Cranberry-Walnut Powerballs remind me of a no-bake cookie recipe that used to be popular when I was a kid, but are even better.  I still remember going to see The Jungle Book with my best friend, Emma, and her mom, smuggling in no bake cookies in our coat pockets.  We liked to live on the wild side. 

It sure is nice to have a quick and easy snack on hand that’s packed with “the good stuff” like coconut oil, walnuts and flaxseed.  Hearty rolled oats help fill you up while honey adds natural sweetness.  If you’re in a hurry, you can skip rolling out balls and press the mix into a 9″x9″ glass pan, chill and slice into bite sized pieces.

Cranberry-Walnut Powerballs

Ingredients

·         3 cups old fashioned oats

·         1/4 cup ground flax seed

·         2 tablespoons cocoa powder

·         1/2 cup dried cranberries (or another dried fruit like raisins, cherries or goji berries)

·         1/2 cup  chopped walnuts (or other nuts or seeds)

·         1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or cacao nibs (I prefer Enjoy Life)

·         1 cup peanut butter or nut butter

·         1/2-3/4 cup of raw honey

·         1/4-1/2 cup of high quality coconut oil (my favorite is Nutiva, which tastes like fresh coconut)

·         coconut flakes, unsweetened, to coat the balls

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients except coconut flakes.  Mix well.

Add honey, coconut oil and peanut butter.  Mix thoroughly.

As I mentioned above, you can use the “quickie” option.  Sprinkle enough coconut into a 9″x9″ glass pan to cover the bottom of the pan so the bars lift out easily.  Press the mixture into the pan, refrigerate for a few hours, then slice into squares.

If you have a bit more time, roll the mix  into balls roughly 1 inch in diameter, and then roll the balls in the coconut flakes to coat.  This will make them less sticky.  Place in a sealed container in the refrigerator for a few hours to firm up.  Store in the refrigerator. Makes around 35-40 1-inch balls/squares.

These will easily keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, if they last that long.  Thanks to the online friend who provided this recipe.  I can’t remember who it was because I’ve had it for a while now, but I think it was someone the the Foodie Families Facebook group.  If you use gluten free oatmeal, these can be gluten free (oats don’t have gluten, but they can be cross contaminated, so look for those that are labeled “gluten free”), and the coconut oil and peanut butter help them fill you up.

Source: CommonSenseHome

Do you have Heartburn (Reflux)?

Heartburn is generally caused from *inadequate* stomach acid, not too much.

For natural comfort, I'd try Tum-Ease or Gripe Water (fennel and ginger are the ingredients), or improving stomach acid and thus digestion, are safer solutions than antacids which don't address the *cause*.

When food is incompletely digested, it begins to putrefy in the stomach. Purification of food in the stomach causes gas, which regurgitates up the esophagus (with stomach acid).

Suppressing stomach acid only relieves the discomfort of the regurgitation. Suppressing stomach acid DECREASES the ability of the body from digesting food properly and completely into nutrients. Undigested or poorly digested food leads to further digestion issues in the gut (and nutrient deficiencies).

Inadequate stomach acid allows pathological bacteria to survive in the stomach.Undigested food is then sent to the small bowel where it increases the growth of "wrong" gut microbials and feeds candida, for instance.

Stomach acid is the first line of defense against disease, after saliva.

A squeeze of lemon juice in water or raw apple cider vinegar in water with meals, or a forkful of whole food probiotics with meals will improve stomach acid, digestion, nutrient absorption and gut microbial balance.

Cabbage juice, sauerkraut, zinc, apple cider vinegar, fermented vegetables, B12 all help to improve stomach acid naturally.

Spices, teas and herbs, i.e. camomile, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, nettles and other "bitters" etc. stimulate digestion also.

Eat beets. If they turn your urine pink/red, then you have low stomach acid. Stomach acid is a very important first step in digestion. Without enough, you can't absorb B12, and you have trouble absorbing zinc as well as several other nutrients.https://www.facebook.com/HealThyself/posts/279319132131497

If you don't have adequate stomach acid, proteins aren't broken down properly, and so they can cause trouble in the small intestine and/or get absorbed whole into the bloodstream. This leads to inflammatory issues, food intolerances, digestion and bowel issues, allergies and asthma as the body reacts to the *foreign* products in the blood.

If one system (digesting proteins with HCl in the stomach) doesn't work, then the next system addresses the problem, if it is functioning. If the HCl is present with zinc and B1 and B6, then the proteins are digested!!

This article was made by another great website you should check out --> HealThyself