New UK data highlights range of possible problems associated with cholesterol-lowering drugs
Cholesterol-lowering drugs taken by millions of Britons could cause liver, kidney, muscle and eye problems, research suggests.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
Comment: Side-effects already known to be caused by statins include insomnia, constipation, diarrhoea, headaches, loss of appetite and loss of sensation or pain in the nerve endings of the hands and feet. Despite this, however, cholesterol-lowering drugs have become the single largest business segment of the pharmaceutical drug business, with the global sales of statins now surpassing 200 billion dollars per year. To achieve these sales, the entire cholesterol business is built on fear – the fear that cholesterol causes heart attacks.
If you would prefer to avoid the risks involved in taking statins, you can easily, rapidly and significantly lower your high cholesterol without taking any drugs, without cost, without risk and without adverse side-effects, simply by avoiding added salt and salty food. By minimising your intake of salt/sodium, you not only lower high cholesterol, you also lower high blood pressure and lower your risk of heart attacks and heart disease, reduce the size of an enlarged heart, and reduce the risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes and many other degenerative diseases. And reducing salt intake has the added bonus of reducing excess weight - because lowered salt intake reduces fluid retention. (Some of the excess water in the body is excreted in the urine. See how to Lose weight safely.)
Improve your health by eating less salt! - Go on! Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See sodium in foods.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry: an unhealthy symbiosis
I am very impressed by the article I have just been reading online: Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry: who pays the piper? (Psychiatric Bulletin (2005) 29: 84-85 © 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists. As you can see, it was written some years ago, but its message is even more urgent today.
The three writers of the article are psychiatrists, concerned about the increasing grip the pharmaceutical industry has on the training of psychiatrists, on drug trials, on the inventing of new mental illnesses to be treated with psychotropic drugs, on the influencing of prescribing physicians to prescribe certain drugs, etc. It is a short and very clearly written article. I do urge you to read it.
My personal concern focuses mainly on the terrible suffering that psychotropic drugs can and do cause. I have written many times about the side-effect of morbid obesity (plus all its attendant illnesses and disabilities) resulting from many of these drugs.
Thousands upon thousands of children, mainly in America, are subjected to drug treatment for the flimsiest of reasons, and their young lives are blighted almost before they have begun. That is not even counting the effects on their brains themselves, and all the other systems of the body. The problem is compounded in America by the fact that so many of their legislators are in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry and are lobbyists for it.
Children are not the only group who endure unnecessary illness, unhappiness and pain in order to swell the profits of Big Pharma. In my country, the UK, many elderly people in care homes are drugged with psychiatric coshes, bringing frailty, disability, indignities and hastened death, and the doctors who bring about this horrifying suffering incur neither censure nor sanction: EVEN THOUGH THE FACTS ARE WELL KNOWN BY THE GOVERNMENT.
We have had the thalidomide tragedies, the tranquilliser tragedies. We presently have the ever-increasing and reckless prescribing of anti-depressants, which complacent doctors delude themselves into believing 'save lives'. See Anti-depressants are no better than dummy pills and amitriptyline
The 'developed' world, that has nurtured the pharmaceutical industry until it has grown into a multinational malign entity 'too big to be allowed to fail', apparently, will come to rue its failure to nip corruption in the bud long ago.
The three writers of the article are psychiatrists, concerned about the increasing grip the pharmaceutical industry has on the training of psychiatrists, on drug trials, on the inventing of new mental illnesses to be treated with psychotropic drugs, on the influencing of prescribing physicians to prescribe certain drugs, etc. It is a short and very clearly written article. I do urge you to read it.
My personal concern focuses mainly on the terrible suffering that psychotropic drugs can and do cause. I have written many times about the side-effect of morbid obesity (plus all its attendant illnesses and disabilities) resulting from many of these drugs.
Thousands upon thousands of children, mainly in America, are subjected to drug treatment for the flimsiest of reasons, and their young lives are blighted almost before they have begun. That is not even counting the effects on their brains themselves, and all the other systems of the body. The problem is compounded in America by the fact that so many of their legislators are in the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry and are lobbyists for it.
Children are not the only group who endure unnecessary illness, unhappiness and pain in order to swell the profits of Big Pharma. In my country, the UK, many elderly people in care homes are drugged with psychiatric coshes, bringing frailty, disability, indignities and hastened death, and the doctors who bring about this horrifying suffering incur neither censure nor sanction: EVEN THOUGH THE FACTS ARE WELL KNOWN BY THE GOVERNMENT.
We have had the thalidomide tragedies, the tranquilliser tragedies. We presently have the ever-increasing and reckless prescribing of anti-depressants, which complacent doctors delude themselves into believing 'save lives'. See Anti-depressants are no better than dummy pills and amitriptyline
The 'developed' world, that has nurtured the pharmaceutical industry until it has grown into a multinational malign entity 'too big to be allowed to fail', apparently, will come to rue its failure to nip corruption in the bud long ago.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Increased risk of Crohn's Disease associated with regular use of Aspirin
Read article at sciencedaily.com
There are several hazards associated with regular use of aspirin, including risk of hearing loss and risk of internal bleeding.
If you take aspirin as a painkiller and would welcome a drug-free way to reduce pain, you may like to consider reducing your intake of salt and salty food. This helps with many kinds of pain, including the pain of osteoarthritis.
There are several hazards associated with regular use of aspirin, including risk of hearing loss and risk of internal bleeding.
If you take aspirin as a painkiller and would welcome a drug-free way to reduce pain, you may like to consider reducing your intake of salt and salty food. This helps with many kinds of pain, including the pain of osteoarthritis.
Friday, 28 May 2010
Study finds association between Viagra use and hearing loss
Research by a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) professor shows an association between hearing loss and the use of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.
Read article at physorg.com
Ken Loach has the right idea about Bush and Blair
Ken Loach calls for ‘war criminals’ Bush and Blair to face trial.
Read article on the Raw Story website (USA)
Thursday, 27 May 2010
I listened to Carrie Grant presenting the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease
I listened this afternoon to Carrie Grant presenting the Radio 4 Appeal on behalf of the charity National Association for Colitis & Crohn's Disease. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sf7hj As a sufferer herself, Ms Grant has personal experience of inflammatory bowel diseases which can have a devastating impact on education, work, social and family life. And it is good that there is a charity - The National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease (NACC) - that helps people suffering from these illnesses. Ms Grant explained that part of what the charity does is give monetary grants to people who need them, for example, a grant to buy a washing machine to make the work of constantly having to wash soiled bedding less of a chore. She said that another grant was for 'Adam', for new clothes. She explained that Adam had become a lonely, isolated teenager because he had gained such a lot of weight as a result of taking the medication for his illness and that he had needed new clothes because the weight gain made his old clothes too small for him. Well that's a good practical way to help Adam and his mother, and a good way to use money donated to the charity.
But I have another suggestion to make. - It would be great if the NACC would inform sufferers and their families about how the weight gain can be avoided or minimised in the first place. - This is easy. Explain to people that the drugs that cause weight gain do so because they cause sodium retention/fluid retention and that this fluid retention/weight gain/water weight can be avoided or reduced by avoiding salt and salty food. - Even now it is not too late for Adam to reduce the excess weight he has gained. If, from now on, he reduces his intake of salt and salty food he will lose some of the excess weight easily, safely and fast.
I read on this page that one of the drug types used for Crohn's Disease is Corticosteroids and that "Steroids have an anti-inflammatory effect and can treat symptoms quickly. There are varying types, and so can target specific affected areas of the gut. A high dose is often required initially to reduce inflammation rapidly, which can be an issue as side-effects are often dose related. It is common for patients on steroids to gain weight quickly and teenagers can suffer acne breakouts as a result of such treatment. Long term usage can also result in poor growth development in children."
As well as reducing the problem of sudden weight gain on steroids, my advice about avoiding salt/sodium and salty food would also reduce or avoid the acne that teenagers aften suffer as a result of the steroid medication.
Having experienced massive weight gain and acne myself as a consequence of taking prescribed steroids I would like to help people like Adam, and other people who take prescribed steroids, to avoid unnecessary suffering. I have written a webpage with the necessary information and advice. I hope you will visit it.
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection.
But I have another suggestion to make. - It would be great if the NACC would inform sufferers and their families about how the weight gain can be avoided or minimised in the first place. - This is easy. Explain to people that the drugs that cause weight gain do so because they cause sodium retention/fluid retention and that this fluid retention/weight gain/water weight can be avoided or reduced by avoiding salt and salty food. - Even now it is not too late for Adam to reduce the excess weight he has gained. If, from now on, he reduces his intake of salt and salty food he will lose some of the excess weight easily, safely and fast.
I read on this page that one of the drug types used for Crohn's Disease is Corticosteroids and that "Steroids have an anti-inflammatory effect and can treat symptoms quickly. There are varying types, and so can target specific affected areas of the gut. A high dose is often required initially to reduce inflammation rapidly, which can be an issue as side-effects are often dose related. It is common for patients on steroids to gain weight quickly and teenagers can suffer acne breakouts as a result of such treatment. Long term usage can also result in poor growth development in children."
As well as reducing the problem of sudden weight gain on steroids, my advice about avoiding salt/sodium and salty food would also reduce or avoid the acne that teenagers aften suffer as a result of the steroid medication.
Having experienced massive weight gain and acne myself as a consequence of taking prescribed steroids I would like to help people like Adam, and other people who take prescribed steroids, to avoid unnecessary suffering. I have written a webpage with the necessary information and advice. I hope you will visit it.
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
See http://www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk/
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Bacterial Vaginosis or Vaginitis (BV) is one of those health problems that tend to be associated with obesity
Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) or
Vaginitis can cause intense itching and loss of sleep. Maybe you have
tried the usual antibiotics and they have not worked, or maybe you
would rather avoid prescription drugs anyway. - Well consider the
obesity link. - Obesity is easily reduced by cutting down on salt and
salty food. This reduces the fluid retention/salt sensitivity which is
always a constituent of obesity. So if you lose weight by eating less salt you may find that that helps with the BV problem.
Alternative home remedies variously include wearing cotton underwear and trying to alter the balance of the vaginal flora by eating less sugar, eating probiotic yogurt or by applying the yogurt directly to the vagina. By a happy coincidence, eating dairy yoghurt also reduces excess weight by increasing the excretion of fat from the body via the faeces. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/calcium.shtml where you will read: "a high calcium intake increases the excretion of fat in the faeces". – In fact, the researchers found that twice as much fat was excreted on a high calcium intake as on a low calcium intake – and this was independent of calorie intake. – They also found that dairy calcium (they suggest eating yoghurt) is a particularly good source for this extra calcium.
On one of the links - http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/calcium.html - from the BBC The Truth About Food site, it says: "Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Let me repeat that. Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Calcium deficiency is a condition in which we fail to receive or to metabolize an adequate supply of Calcium," and also: "Calcium helps keep the weight off. Research suggests that if you don't get enough calcium in your diet, you're likely to be overweight."
There are a number of reasons that overweight people in particular tend to be deficient in calcium.
The main reason is that sodium retention/salt sensitivity/fluid retention depletes the body of calcium.
Here are two other very simple reasons:
Alternative home remedies variously include wearing cotton underwear and trying to alter the balance of the vaginal flora by eating less sugar, eating probiotic yogurt or by applying the yogurt directly to the vagina. By a happy coincidence, eating dairy yoghurt also reduces excess weight by increasing the excretion of fat from the body via the faeces. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/calcium.shtml where you will read: "a high calcium intake increases the excretion of fat in the faeces". – In fact, the researchers found that twice as much fat was excreted on a high calcium intake as on a low calcium intake – and this was independent of calorie intake. – They also found that dairy calcium (they suggest eating yoghurt) is a particularly good source for this extra calcium.
On one of the links - http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/calcium.html - from the BBC The Truth About Food site, it says: "Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Let me repeat that. Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Calcium deficiency is a condition in which we fail to receive or to metabolize an adequate supply of Calcium," and also: "Calcium helps keep the weight off. Research suggests that if you don't get enough calcium in your diet, you're likely to be overweight."
There are a number of reasons that overweight people in particular tend to be deficient in calcium.
The main reason is that sodium retention/salt sensitivity/fluid retention depletes the body of calcium.
Here are two other very simple reasons:
1. Most fat people are ‘dieting’ most of the time – i.e. they are eating insufficient food for their body’s needs.
2. Fat people are routinely advised to limit their intake of dairy food like milk because their advisors (wrongly) believe that milk is ‘fattening’.
So to reduce fat retention, if it is present, the most important
thing is to alter the diet to reduce the fluid retention which is the
initiating cause of excess weight and the primary reason for fat
people being short of calcium and for fat people ‘dieting’. That means
reducing sodium intake and ensuring plenty of fruit and vegetables in
the diet (because their high potassium content helps to displace
sodium from the body).
And specifically it also means
having a higher intake of calcium, especially, if possible, from a
dairy source like yoghurt. – It is also necessary to ensure sufficient
vitamin D intake, as this is needed to metabolise the calcium.
Insufficiency of vitamin D is quite common, as is widely reported,
e.g. here - http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
Also read this very informative page: http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Vitamin-D-Deficiency.htm
I hope that cutting down on salt and sugar, and eating more calcium by
way of probiotic unsweetened dairy yogurt, will help you to reduce or
solve the itching and the lack of sleep and also help you to lose
excess weight the safe, fast, healthy way.
Sunday, 23 May 2010
eu seems a misnomer to me.
eu- (Greek: good, well, normal; happy, pleasing; used as a prefix)
I loathe and despise just about everything that emanates from the EU, starting with the fact that it is a kleptocracy, rather than merely a bureaucracy. Continuing with the fact that its rules/laws are made to benefit nefarious multinationals (including the pharmaceutical industry, the processed food industry, the healthcare industry, the arms trade, the petrochemicals industry) rather than the EU taxpayers, whom the EU ostensibly serves. And among many other huge flaws, the EU is a non-elected, self-perpetuating, parasitical, unaccountable, corrupt, amoral monster. - IMHO/DYOR, of course.
I loathe and despise just about everything that emanates from the EU, starting with the fact that it is a kleptocracy, rather than merely a bureaucracy. Continuing with the fact that its rules/laws are made to benefit nefarious multinationals (including the pharmaceutical industry, the processed food industry, the healthcare industry, the arms trade, the petrochemicals industry) rather than the EU taxpayers, whom the EU ostensibly serves. And among many other huge flaws, the EU is a non-elected, self-perpetuating, parasitical, unaccountable, corrupt, amoral monster. - IMHO/DYOR, of course.
Saturday, 22 May 2010
It's European Obesity Day today.
Drawing special attention today to the growing incidence of obesity is unlikely to reduce the problem, because the usual suspects (eating too many calories/too much fat and not taking enough exercise) will be re-accused and again found guilty, and the well-known but incorrect advice will yet again be trotted out mindlessly to the unfortunate victims of the advice, namely: "Why don't you just eat less and exercise more?" - See the mostly sneering Comments that follow this Guardian article.
While the rôle of salt remains unacknowledged by the 'experts' on obesity, there isn't a snowball's chance in Hell that obesity will start to decline.
Lose weight by eating less salt! - Go on! - Try it! - You will feel so much better!
See my website
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
See my website
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
South Africa is alleged to have dumped GM maize onto Kenya, Mozambique and Swaziland markets
Johannesburg - South Africa has dumped genetically modified (GM) maize on African markets, the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) has alleged. "In the last four months, South Africa has dumped almost 300 000 metric tons of GM maize on to Kenya, Mozambique and Swaziland," it said in a statement.
Read article at news24.com (South Africa)
Read article at news24.com (South Africa)
Antidepressants taken during pregnancy could harm the unborn baby
The Daily Mail reports that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is warning pregnant mothers that antidepressants taken during pregnancy could harm the unborn baby. In particular they warn that there is an increased risk that babies will be born with a rare lung condition if the mother is taking SSRI antidepressant drugs like Prozac and Seroxat.
Doctors are supposed as far as possible to avoid prescribing drugs to pregnant mothers because pharmaceutical drugs are far, far more harmful/dangerous to unborn babies than they are to the mother herself. It is shameful that medics give so little heed to this precaution. In fact, prescription drugs are also more risky to pregnant women than to women who are not pregnant. - So it's a no no all round...
Coupled with all that, antidepressants don't work anyway! See Anti-depressants are no better than dummy pills
See also amitriptyline
advice for pregnant mothers
And see Sodium in foods.
Non-drug therapies for depression include:
a walk in the country (recommended by MIND, the mental health charity) and
improving nutrition by avoiding dieting (a well-known cause of depression) and avoiding eating salt and salty food.
Doctors are supposed as far as possible to avoid prescribing drugs to pregnant mothers because pharmaceutical drugs are far, far more harmful/dangerous to unborn babies than they are to the mother herself. It is shameful that medics give so little heed to this precaution. In fact, prescription drugs are also more risky to pregnant women than to women who are not pregnant. - So it's a no no all round...
Coupled with all that, antidepressants don't work anyway! See Anti-depressants are no better than dummy pills
See also amitriptyline
advice for pregnant mothers
And see Sodium in foods.
Non-drug therapies for depression include:
a walk in the country (recommended by MIND, the mental health charity) and
improving nutrition by avoiding dieting (a well-known cause of depression) and avoiding eating salt and salty food.
Friday, 21 May 2010
Older people need higher doses to treat vitamin D deficiency: Study
Older adults suffering vitamin D deficiency need higher remedial doses than younger adults, according to a new research review.
Read article at nutraingredients.com
Thursday, 20 May 2010
AstraZenica, its drug, Seroquel, its illegal marketing of antipsychotic drugs,
and its misleading of doctors and patients, and the serious harm Seroquel does to the unfortunate patients/victims who take or have taken it, reported here by the New York Times.
I urge you to read the article in full. It contains a resumé of other pharmaceutical companies who have similarly poisoned the people who have taken their dangerous antipsychotic and painkiller junk. Some of the damaged people are children, their lives and health now permanently blighted by massive weight gain, diabetes and other attendant ill-health. Some victims have actually died from the adverse effects.
Yes, the evil pharmaceutical industry pays out huge sums of money in a sort of system of fines, though these huge sums are insignificant set against their colossal profits, but they don't seem to go to prison for these crimes against humanity, including what many would regard as torture and murder, do they? Why? Why don't they go to prison? They knowingly lie about the results of drug trials. They knowingly supply products they know will do grave harm. - Why does the judicial system not protect the citizens? Should the members of the judiciary be held to account? Should they themselves go to prison?
In a fierce and deadly irony, I see that on the same webpage as the report to which I refer, there is an advertisement to recruit volunteers to take part in drug trials! - Not me, guv!
If you, or anyone you know - maybe one of those poor, damaged children - gained weight from taking any of these ghastly drugs, or gained weight from taking any other prescription drugs, please be aware that that weight gain can be reduced by cutting down on salt and salty food. - It makes a great difference, believe me. Please tell these victims. Do not have it on your conscience that you failed to tell them about this safe, fast, effective way to lose excess weight and improve their health and happiness. Don't pass by on the other side and leave them to suffer needlessly.
See Sodium in foods.
Fat Retention
I urge you to read the article in full. It contains a resumé of other pharmaceutical companies who have similarly poisoned the people who have taken their dangerous antipsychotic and painkiller junk. Some of the damaged people are children, their lives and health now permanently blighted by massive weight gain, diabetes and other attendant ill-health. Some victims have actually died from the adverse effects.
Yes, the evil pharmaceutical industry pays out huge sums of money in a sort of system of fines, though these huge sums are insignificant set against their colossal profits, but they don't seem to go to prison for these crimes against humanity, including what many would regard as torture and murder, do they? Why? Why don't they go to prison? They knowingly lie about the results of drug trials. They knowingly supply products they know will do grave harm. - Why does the judicial system not protect the citizens? Should the members of the judiciary be held to account? Should they themselves go to prison?
In a fierce and deadly irony, I see that on the same webpage as the report to which I refer, there is an advertisement to recruit volunteers to take part in drug trials! - Not me, guv!
If you, or anyone you know - maybe one of those poor, damaged children - gained weight from taking any of these ghastly drugs, or gained weight from taking any other prescription drugs, please be aware that that weight gain can be reduced by cutting down on salt and salty food. - It makes a great difference, believe me. Please tell these victims. Do not have it on your conscience that you failed to tell them about this safe, fast, effective way to lose excess weight and improve their health and happiness. Don't pass by on the other side and leave them to suffer needlessly.
See Sodium in foods.
Fat Retention
RNIB's help transformed Trevor's life
Trevor Franklin went blind at the age of 60 and this hit him especially hard, so much so that he reached a point of wanting to kill himself. Then a friend persuaded him to get in touch with the RNIB. This good news story is reported here in the Telegraph.
Two good ways to reduce the risk of going blind are giving up smoking and cutting down on salt and salty food. These will improve your health in countless other ways too.
Two good ways to reduce the risk of going blind are giving up smoking and cutting down on salt and salty food. These will improve your health in countless other ways too.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Processed meat risks health, studies suggest; fresh meat OK.
BBC News reports that a Harvard University team which looked at studies involving over one million people from 10 countries found just 50g of processed meat a day increased the risk of heart disease and diabetes, while there was no such risk from unprocessed meat, such as beef, lamb or pork. They posit that the difference may be explained by the salt and preservatives added to processed meats (like bacon, sausages, salami and other luncheon meats).
Well I've been saying for years on my website and in my blogs that salt intake and dodgy added chemicals in processed 'foods' promote degenerative disease and obesity.
See Sodium in foods.
Well I've been saying for years on my website and in my blogs that salt intake and dodgy added chemicals in processed 'foods' promote degenerative disease and obesity.
See Sodium in foods.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Australian suspension of all seasonal flu vaccines for children under five, pending further investigation.
MORE than 250 adverse flu jab reactions have now been reported in under-fives.
See adverse flu jab reactions.
See adverse flu jab reactions.
Chromium picolinate may improve memory in elderly people
Supplements of chromium picolinate may boost memory function in the elderly, says a new placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Writing in the findings published in Nutritional Neuroscience, scientists by University of Cincinnati College of Medicine report that daily supplements of the compound improved learning, recall, and recognition memory tasks.
Read article at nutraingredients-usa.com
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Haiku: The Trial
K is arrested,
‘Tried’ lengthily, though blameless.
The Law then kills him.
By Margaret Wilde
‘Tried’ lengthily, though blameless.
The Law then kills him.
By Margaret Wilde
Saturday, 15 May 2010
The Soil Association reports that governments are using flawed food production data to justify GM food crops expansion
Governments and pro-agribusiness groups are using flawed data on food production requirements to push for an expansion of GM food crops, claims a new report from the Soil Association.
Read article in Natural Products Magazine (UK)
The idea of further expansion of GM food crops horrifies me. I am surprised at some of the people who espouse the expansion of GM food crops.
If you do not at present share my concerns about this perversion of food, I invite you to read Oryx and Crake, one of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novels, reviewed here in The Observer in 2003: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/may/11/fiction.margaretatwood. You may find Atwood’s accomplished and well-informed vision of a future world causes you an apprehensive shiver or two.
Looking up - Poem by Margaret Wilde
Looking Up
I have removed my spectacles.
Things are cosy-warmer.
Blurred edges take the edge off urgency.
Let us take our time.
We have things to peer at, things to find,
People to recognise –
How pleased they are by our so-flattering scrutiny!
Now then, where, exactly,
Are we?
Let us consult our map.
How considerately people help us on our way!
With what anecdotes are we regaled!
How admired our wide-eyed innocence!
Should all this gentleness
Really be exchanged
For as clinical an attribute
As clarity of vision?
Margaret Wilde © 2010
How to put a pair of socks on someone else: the best way to do it
You roll/gather up the sock so that there’s just the toe part free and you put that over the toes. Then you very gradually unroll the sock from the toes end while drawing it further onto the foot. You come to the other end of the sock and pull it up neatly.
The idea is not to cause any avoidable friction on the sock-wearer’s foot, and not to leave any little folds or ridges under the foot that could hurt the sock-wearer as they walked.
What do you think of my description of how best to put on a sock for someone else? – Does it seem clear to you?
I think that carers or anybody else who puts socks on for someone else who can’t do it for themselves (too frail, too ill, too fat, painful hands, etc) should be instructed in the best way of doing it to cause least pain or discomfort for the person being cared for.
Friday, 14 May 2010
Similarities Between Lysenkoism and Prevailing Obesity Advice
Wikipedia defines Lysenkoism thus:
Lysenkoism is used colloquially to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism)
Wikipedia informs us that Lysenko was a Russian agronomist who, in 1928, "claimed to have developed an agricultural technique, termed vernalization, which tripled or quadrupled crop yield by exposing wheat seed to high humidity and low temperature." His many ideas/theories were politically popular with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but because the theories did not stand up in practice when the farmers tried to achieve the successful results claimed by the theory, the theories were eventually discredited, but that was only after decades of serious harm to agriculture and Russian science, and after terrible unjust punishments, including executions and being sent to labour camps, had been meted out to Russian geneticists who disagreed with Lysenko's claims.
I suggest there are strong similarities between 1) Lysenkoism, which made the already unsuccessful forced collectivisation of Soviet agriculture at the time catastrophically worse, and 2) the already huge problem of obesity on the increase throughout much of the world being made very, very much worse by the harmful and incorrect misinformation and advice being given to the public and in particular to the overweight and obese people themselves.
In the main, the advice can be summed up as something approximating to 'eat less food/fewer
calories/smaller portions/less fat and do more exercise'. When their clients/patients/victims try to lose weight by following this advice very few succeed. For most of them, following the advice causes weight gain, not weight loss, because when a fat person eats insufficient food for the body's needs, the body has to feed on itself. This makes the skin and the walls of the blood vessels become thinner and weaker, with the result that the fluid retention that has initiated the excess weight increases, along with further weight increase. See how to lose weight safely.
When these innocent subjects of this vast, damaging, unscientific worldwide 'experiment' report back that they have genuinely tried hard to lose weight but have not succeeded in so doing, the usual response is not to believe them and to say that they are mistaken or lying or have not followed the instructions properly, and they have really been eating more calories, which accounts for the weight gain. - You get the idea. - And so the failures of the results of following the conventional advice do not get accepted. - To exclude these results, which are the results for most obese people who try to follow the advice, is obviously Bad Science, like the propaganda machine in Soviet Russia, which also omitted mention of failures.
Now when obese people lose weight the fast, easy, safe way by seriously reducing their intake of salt/sodium but not their calorie intake and they report this welcome result to their advisers, their reports too are manipulated/doctored/distorted. The researchers who studied the fact that when children cut down on salt intake they lose weight, refused to believe that the weight loss was because of reduction in fluid retention. They introduced an unnecessary and unscientific explanation for the result.
Cutting down on salt intake reduces weight because it reduces thirst and so subjects drink less and fluid retention (excess weight) is reduced. But the researchers claimed that the reduction in weight was because when their thirst was reduced they stopped drinking so many fizzy drinks and that the fizzy drinks were sugary and contained a lot of calories, so weight loss was really caused by calorie reduction! That is Bad Science, like the Soviet propaganda, distorting the evidence and leading to a predetermined conclusion. The researchers in this instance recorded the data correctly, as far as I know, but then extrapolated from it to invent the explanation of the calories in drinks that were assumed to have been drunk.
If you have a pet dog or cat that is obese, it is obese because it has been habitually given salty food to eat - for example the last bit of its owner's takeaway meal. If you give it food that contains no added salt it will rapidly lose weight by excreting more water in the urine. - Hands up anyone who gives their pet dog or cat sugary fizzy drinks instead of water? - No hands up for that, I suspect. So losing weight by reduced salt intake occurs because of sodium reduction, not because of calorie reduction.
Failure to admit the truth about how best to reduce obesity is causing weight gain in the obese people who try to lose weight by dieting and reducing calories. And lying about salt reduction as a means of losing excess weight and claiming it is really calorie reduction resembles the history of Lysenkoism in its damage to Science and in the massive harm it is doing to millions of innocent obese people.
If you want to lose excess weight, do it the fast, easy, safe way by avoiding salt and salty food.
See Obesity and the Salt Connection and Sodium in foods.
Lysenkoism is used colloquially to describe the manipulation or distortion of the scientific process as a way to reach a predetermined conclusion as dictated by an ideological bias, often related to social or political objectives. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism)
Wikipedia informs us that Lysenko was a Russian agronomist who, in 1928, "claimed to have developed an agricultural technique, termed vernalization, which tripled or quadrupled crop yield by exposing wheat seed to high humidity and low temperature." His many ideas/theories were politically popular with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but because the theories did not stand up in practice when the farmers tried to achieve the successful results claimed by the theory, the theories were eventually discredited, but that was only after decades of serious harm to agriculture and Russian science, and after terrible unjust punishments, including executions and being sent to labour camps, had been meted out to Russian geneticists who disagreed with Lysenko's claims.
I suggest there are strong similarities between 1) Lysenkoism, which made the already unsuccessful forced collectivisation of Soviet agriculture at the time catastrophically worse, and 2) the already huge problem of obesity on the increase throughout much of the world being made very, very much worse by the harmful and incorrect misinformation and advice being given to the public and in particular to the overweight and obese people themselves.
In the main, the advice can be summed up as something approximating to 'eat less food/fewer
calories/smaller portions/less fat and do more exercise'. When their clients/patients/victims try to lose weight by following this advice very few succeed. For most of them, following the advice causes weight gain, not weight loss, because when a fat person eats insufficient food for the body's needs, the body has to feed on itself. This makes the skin and the walls of the blood vessels become thinner and weaker, with the result that the fluid retention that has initiated the excess weight increases, along with further weight increase. See how to lose weight safely.
When these innocent subjects of this vast, damaging, unscientific worldwide 'experiment' report back that they have genuinely tried hard to lose weight but have not succeeded in so doing, the usual response is not to believe them and to say that they are mistaken or lying or have not followed the instructions properly, and they have really been eating more calories, which accounts for the weight gain. - You get the idea. - And so the failures of the results of following the conventional advice do not get accepted. - To exclude these results, which are the results for most obese people who try to follow the advice, is obviously Bad Science, like the propaganda machine in Soviet Russia, which also omitted mention of failures.
Now when obese people lose weight the fast, easy, safe way by seriously reducing their intake of salt/sodium but not their calorie intake and they report this welcome result to their advisers, their reports too are manipulated/doctored/distorted. The researchers who studied the fact that when children cut down on salt intake they lose weight, refused to believe that the weight loss was because of reduction in fluid retention. They introduced an unnecessary and unscientific explanation for the result.
Cutting down on salt intake reduces weight because it reduces thirst and so subjects drink less and fluid retention (excess weight) is reduced. But the researchers claimed that the reduction in weight was because when their thirst was reduced they stopped drinking so many fizzy drinks and that the fizzy drinks were sugary and contained a lot of calories, so weight loss was really caused by calorie reduction! That is Bad Science, like the Soviet propaganda, distorting the evidence and leading to a predetermined conclusion. The researchers in this instance recorded the data correctly, as far as I know, but then extrapolated from it to invent the explanation of the calories in drinks that were assumed to have been drunk.
If you have a pet dog or cat that is obese, it is obese because it has been habitually given salty food to eat - for example the last bit of its owner's takeaway meal. If you give it food that contains no added salt it will rapidly lose weight by excreting more water in the urine. - Hands up anyone who gives their pet dog or cat sugary fizzy drinks instead of water? - No hands up for that, I suspect. So losing weight by reduced salt intake occurs because of sodium reduction, not because of calorie reduction.
Failure to admit the truth about how best to reduce obesity is causing weight gain in the obese people who try to lose weight by dieting and reducing calories. And lying about salt reduction as a means of losing excess weight and claiming it is really calorie reduction resembles the history of Lysenkoism in its damage to Science and in the massive harm it is doing to millions of innocent obese people.
If you want to lose excess weight, do it the fast, easy, safe way by avoiding salt and salty food.
See Obesity and the Salt Connection and Sodium in foods.
Thursday, 13 May 2010
How to lose excess fat by eating more calcium
BBC2 showed a series of programmes called “The Truth About Food” and I learnt about some Danish research which throws light on this. – See http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/calcium.shtml where you will read: "a high calcium intake increases the excretion of fat in the faeces". – In fact, the researchers found that twice as much fat was excreted on a high calcium intake as on a low calcium intake – and this was independent of calorie intake. – They also found that dairy calcium (they suggest low fat yoghurt) is a particularly good source for this extra calcium.
And specifically it also means having a higher intake of calcium, especially, if possible, from dairy yoghurt. – It is also necessary to ensure sufficient vitamin D intake, as this is needed to metabolise the calcium. Insufficiency of vitamin D is quite common, as is widely reported, e.g. here - http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
The best source of vitamin D is summer sunshine round about midday. - Go out then if you can, bare-armed, and soak up some summer sunshine...(o: - As well as helping you to get rid of excess fat and therefore lose excess fat, it also strengthens our bones and your muscles and helps you to avoid catching colds and flu.
If you cannot get out into the sun and need to take vitamin D supplements, Vitamin D3 are the best sort to get.
See vulnerable groups and fat retention
On one of the links - http://www.vitamins-nutrition.org/vitamins/calcium.html - from the BBC The Truth About Food site, it says: "Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Let me repeat that. Calcium is the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Calcium deficiency is a condition in which we fail to receive or to metabolize an adequate supply of Calcium," and also: "Calcium helps keep the weight off. Research suggests that if you don't get enough calcium in your diet, you're likely to be overweight."
There are a number of reasons that overweight people in particular tend to be deficient in calcium. Overweight people suffer from sodium retention/salt sensitivity/fluid retention and sodium retention/salt sensitivity/fluid retention depletes the body of calcium and is the main reason for the calcium deficiency problem in overweight/obese people.
Here are two other very simple reasons:
1. Most fat people are ‘dieting’ most of the time – i.e. they are eating insufficient food for their body’s needs.
2. Fat people are routinely advised to limit their intake of dairy food like milk because their advisors (wrongly) believe that milk is ‘fattening’.So to reduce fat retention, if it is present, the most important thing is to alter the diet to reduce the fluid retention which is the initiating cause of excess weight and the primary reason for fat people being short of calcium and for fat people ‘dieting’. That means reducing sodium intake and ensuring plenty of fruit and vegetables in the diet (because their high potassium content helps to displace sodium from the body).
And specifically it also means having a higher intake of calcium, especially, if possible, from dairy yoghurt. – It is also necessary to ensure sufficient vitamin D intake, as this is needed to metabolise the calcium. Insufficiency of vitamin D is quite common, as is widely reported, e.g. here - http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp
The best source of vitamin D is summer sunshine round about midday. - Go out then if you can, bare-armed, and soak up some summer sunshine...(o: - As well as helping you to get rid of excess fat and therefore lose excess fat, it also strengthens our bones and your muscles and helps you to avoid catching colds and flu.
If you cannot get out into the sun and need to take vitamin D supplements, Vitamin D3 are the best sort to get.
See vulnerable groups and fat retention
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Of One Who Longed for Flowers - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
“You need no blossoms,” the seducer returned. “There are roses in my little lady’s cheeks.”
“Bring me flowers,” implored the wife. But the mortgage insisted that you can’t eat flowers.
Nobody wasted flowers on the old, blind woman.
They sent a wreath to the corpse.
Margaret Wilde © 2010
“Bring me flowers,” implored the wife. But the mortgage insisted that you can’t eat flowers.
Nobody wasted flowers on the old, blind woman.
They sent a wreath to the corpse.
Margaret Wilde © 2010
Weeping Red Flowers in a Vase - Poem by Margaret Wilde
With wayward grace, however held,
The flowers bend, and earthward arch.
And so my thoughts, which you engage,
Sway back, and earth-bent, draw away,
Unslaked, unnourished at the common well.
The gaudy petals fitfully provide
A falling splendour and a lively death.
Margaret Wilde © 1986
The flowers bend, and earthward arch.
And so my thoughts, which you engage,
Sway back, and earth-bent, draw away,
Unslaked, unnourished at the common well.
The gaudy petals fitfully provide
A falling splendour and a lively death.
Margaret Wilde © 1986
Tuesday, 11 May 2010
Causes of obesity: a thoughtful article
The article is in the Guardian today. But while the writer draws attention to significant factors relating to poverty usually not thought about much in discussions about obesity, he has not recognised the crucial rôle of salt, and sensitivity to salt, in the causation of obesity.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Firefighters had to knock down bungalow wall to free fat woman to get her to hospital
See the report in the Telegraph. This is so horrifying. Poor Joanne Ettienne is only 45, but has not been able, because of her obesity (she weighs almost 40 stone) to leave her bedroom for 3 years. And this is all because of the dangerously incorrect obesity misinformation that continues to be churned out.
Her skin is vastly overstretched and delicate because of the huge mass it contains, and this, of course, makes it vulnerable to infections and tears and other damage. Yet it is extremely unlikely that the hospital she is in will provide her with the food she needs in order to lose weight, fast, easily and safely. She needs to eat food that, as far as is humanly possible, contains NO ADDED SALT WHATEVER. She would lose several stones in weight rapidly, and would feel so much better and so much more comfortable. Simple diuretics should also be considered.
I do hope they do not put the poor woman onto a saline drip for any length of time for some reason or other. That would probably be the last straw for her poor fragile skin and blood vessels.
She does NOT need to diet. - I expect she's spent/wasted years of her life dieting. But diets don't work.
Obesity is NOT caused by eating too many calories/too much fat and/or taking too little exercise. – No matter how many doctors and other ‘experts’ claim that it is, and that it can be reduced by eating fewer calories and taking more exercise, they are wrong and it is still NOT true. – The hypothesis has never been put to the test scientifically and there is certainly not a shred of valid evidence to back it up.
There is, however, a wealth of evidence to show that it is NOT true. – Millions upon millions of innocent overweight people have tried over decades to reduce their excess weight by eating fewer calories and taking more exercise. – Overwhelmingly they fail to lose weight this way. – They get tired; they feel cold and ill and hungry. – But they do not lose weight (or if they do it is only temporary). – The ‘experts’ then tell them that they have done it wrong; they haven’t tried hard enough or long enough; they are lying; they are mistaken, etc. – The ‘experts’ cannot get their heads around the fact that it is THEY who are wrong; THEY who are lying; THEY who are mistaken…
Obesity is usually caused by fluid retention in people who are sensitive to salt. – It is as simple, and as profoundly complex, as that.
Now – what really causes the fluid retention/salt sensitivity/obesity? – Here are the main causes:
1. Prescription drugs such as tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline.
Amitriptyline is also known as Elavil, Tryptanol, Endep, Elatrol, Tryptizol, Trepiline, Laroxyl, and is present in some combination drugs, e.g. Limbitrol is a drug which combines amitriptyline and chlordiazepoxide.
Weight gain is also widely reported by people taking Lexapro, Prozac, Fontex, Celexa and Paxil. These are not tricyclic antidepressants; they are SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors). As with the tricyclic antidepressants, the weight gain is because of sodium retention and fluid/water retention, and can be avoided/reduced by avoiding eating salt and salty food.
2. Other prescription drugs such as steroids including prednisolone (also sold as Pediapred®), prednisone (also sold as Deltasone®, Meticorten, Orasone and SK-Prednisone), cortisone, hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, betamethasone, beclomethasone, fludrocortisone, triamsinolone, desonide, fluprednidene, clobetasone, alclomethasone, momethasone, desoxymethasone, fluosinonide, budesonide, fluosinolone, triamcinolone (trade names Kenalog, Aristocort, Nasacort, Tri-Nasal, Triderm, Azmacort, Trilone, Volon A, Tristoject, Fougera, Tricortone, Triesence) and other corticosteroids, Advair – a combination drug that contains Fluticasone, a corticosteroid, HRT and other medications containing oestrogen – like some birth control medication (contraceptives) – amitriptyline and some other anti-depressants, some anti-psychotic drugs, including Zyprexa (aka olanzapine) and other psychotropic drugs, and some anti-epileptic/anticonvulsant drugs, notably valproate (trade name Epilim).
If you have been inappropriately prescribed or over-dosed with corticosteroids or HRT or the many other drugs that cause weight gain, then you may well have developed drug-induced Cushing’s Syndrome, a very serious illness, frequently far more serious than the health problem for which the drugs were prescribed. It is, to the best of my knowledge, an entirely preventable illness if doctors conform to the protocols for prescribing these drugs and if they monitor patients’ progress on the drugs, and if they warn patients about salt. It is VITALLY important that it be realised that weight gain resulting from these drugs is from sodium and water retention, so patients taking these drugs should be warned not to eat salt, or foods containing salt, while taking the medication. They should also be informed that any weight gained in this way can easily and swiftly be reduced by eating less salt/sodium, and they should be warned not to try to lose weight by eating less food or restricting calories because this will not help them to lose weight and is
harmful.
If you gain weight suddenly and unexpectedly when you start to take prescribed medication that I have not mentioned on this page, it is highly likely that the weight gain is caused by the drug. You may like to consider whether you really need to take that drug, or whether the dose could be lowered. At any rate if you continue with the drug, try to reduce your salt intake in order to reduce the weight gain. Doctors seldom, if ever, warn about the drugs that cause salt sensitivity and the need very strictly to avoid salt and salty food while on the drugs, and many do not observe the drug protocols and very few properly monitor the patient’s progress on the drugs. Obviously if doctors did do all these things, there would be no steroid victims, no patients with drug-induced obesity, etc. whereas there are many millions of them worldwide, victims of medical negligence and ignorance.
3. If, as a baby or small child, you ate salt and salty food, you were highly likely to have developed sensitivity to salt and you therefore became fat or overweight.
4. Pregnancy can cause fluid retention/salt sensitivity because of hormonal changes during pregnancy. It is important to avoid salt and salty food during pregnancy.
These are the main causes of obesity. Dieting/calorie counting makes obesity worse and should be avoided.
Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
Sodium in foods
I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.
Her skin is vastly overstretched and delicate because of the huge mass it contains, and this, of course, makes it vulnerable to infections and tears and other damage. Yet it is extremely unlikely that the hospital she is in will provide her with the food she needs in order to lose weight, fast, easily and safely. She needs to eat food that, as far as is humanly possible, contains NO ADDED SALT WHATEVER. She would lose several stones in weight rapidly, and would feel so much better and so much more comfortable. Simple diuretics should also be considered.
I do hope they do not put the poor woman onto a saline drip for any length of time for some reason or other. That would probably be the last straw for her poor fragile skin and blood vessels.
She does NOT need to diet. - I expect she's spent/wasted years of her life dieting. But diets don't work.
Obesity is NOT caused by eating too many calories/too much fat and/or taking too little exercise. – No matter how many doctors and other ‘experts’ claim that it is, and that it can be reduced by eating fewer calories and taking more exercise, they are wrong and it is still NOT true. – The hypothesis has never been put to the test scientifically and there is certainly not a shred of valid evidence to back it up.
There is, however, a wealth of evidence to show that it is NOT true. – Millions upon millions of innocent overweight people have tried over decades to reduce their excess weight by eating fewer calories and taking more exercise. – Overwhelmingly they fail to lose weight this way. – They get tired; they feel cold and ill and hungry. – But they do not lose weight (or if they do it is only temporary). – The ‘experts’ then tell them that they have done it wrong; they haven’t tried hard enough or long enough; they are lying; they are mistaken, etc. – The ‘experts’ cannot get their heads around the fact that it is THEY who are wrong; THEY who are lying; THEY who are mistaken…
Obesity is usually caused by fluid retention in people who are sensitive to salt. – It is as simple, and as profoundly complex, as that.
Now – what really causes the fluid retention/salt sensitivity/obesity? – Here are the main causes:
1. Prescription drugs such as tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline.
Amitriptyline is also known as Elavil, Tryptanol, Endep, Elatrol, Tryptizol, Trepiline, Laroxyl, and is present in some combination drugs, e.g. Limbitrol is a drug which combines amitriptyline and chlordiazepoxide.
Weight gain is also widely reported by people taking Lexapro, Prozac, Fontex, Celexa and Paxil. These are not tricyclic antidepressants; they are SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors). As with the tricyclic antidepressants, the weight gain is because of sodium retention and fluid/water retention, and can be avoided/reduced by avoiding eating salt and salty food.
2. Other prescription drugs such as steroids including prednisolone (also sold as Pediapred®), prednisone (also sold as Deltasone®, Meticorten, Orasone and SK-Prednisone), cortisone, hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, betamethasone, beclomethasone, fludrocortisone, triamsinolone, desonide, fluprednidene, clobetasone, alclomethasone, momethasone, desoxymethasone, fluosinonide, budesonide, fluosinolone, triamcinolone (trade names Kenalog, Aristocort, Nasacort, Tri-Nasal, Triderm, Azmacort, Trilone, Volon A, Tristoject, Fougera, Tricortone, Triesence) and other corticosteroids, Advair – a combination drug that contains Fluticasone, a corticosteroid, HRT and other medications containing oestrogen – like some birth control medication (contraceptives) – amitriptyline and some other anti-depressants, some anti-psychotic drugs, including Zyprexa (aka olanzapine) and other psychotropic drugs, and some anti-epileptic/anticonvulsant drugs, notably valproate (trade name Epilim).
If you have been inappropriately prescribed or over-dosed with corticosteroids or HRT or the many other drugs that cause weight gain, then you may well have developed drug-induced Cushing’s Syndrome, a very serious illness, frequently far more serious than the health problem for which the drugs were prescribed. It is, to the best of my knowledge, an entirely preventable illness if doctors conform to the protocols for prescribing these drugs and if they monitor patients’ progress on the drugs, and if they warn patients about salt. It is VITALLY important that it be realised that weight gain resulting from these drugs is from sodium and water retention, so patients taking these drugs should be warned not to eat salt, or foods containing salt, while taking the medication. They should also be informed that any weight gained in this way can easily and swiftly be reduced by eating less salt/sodium, and they should be warned not to try to lose weight by eating less food or restricting calories because this will not help them to lose weight and is
harmful.
If you gain weight suddenly and unexpectedly when you start to take prescribed medication that I have not mentioned on this page, it is highly likely that the weight gain is caused by the drug. You may like to consider whether you really need to take that drug, or whether the dose could be lowered. At any rate if you continue with the drug, try to reduce your salt intake in order to reduce the weight gain. Doctors seldom, if ever, warn about the drugs that cause salt sensitivity and the need very strictly to avoid salt and salty food while on the drugs, and many do not observe the drug protocols and very few properly monitor the patient’s progress on the drugs. Obviously if doctors did do all these things, there would be no steroid victims, no patients with drug-induced obesity, etc. whereas there are many millions of them worldwide, victims of medical negligence and ignorance.
3. If, as a baby or small child, you ate salt and salty food, you were highly likely to have developed sensitivity to salt and you therefore became fat or overweight.
4. Pregnancy can cause fluid retention/salt sensitivity because of hormonal changes during pregnancy. It is important to avoid salt and salty food during pregnancy.
These are the main causes of obesity. Dieting/calorie counting makes obesity worse and should be avoided.
Lose weight, reduce your risk of most cancers, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, heart attack, vascular dementia, stroke, osteopenia, osteoporosis, hypercholesterolaemia, depression, liver and kidney problems, boost your lung function and improve your health in many other ways without drugs, hunger or expense by eating less salt! - Try it!
See my website www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
The site does not sell anything and has no banners or sponsors or adverts - just helpful information.
Read my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
Sodium in foods
I can be contacted from my website if you need my further help. My help is free.
Decline in numbers of US honeybee colonies leads to concern
The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter.
Read article in the Guardian (UK) "The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. "
The Dr Rath Foundation Comments: Colony collapse disorder is now a serious worldwide problem. Significantly, therefore, evidence in the United States and Europe has linked pesticides produced by Bayer CropScience to the deaths of bees. In recognition of this, in the UK, a group of members of the British Bee Keepers Association has recently split from the organization and criticized the sponsorship deals it has with companies such as Bayer CropScience and Syngenta, from whom it receives around £17,500 pounds-a-year in funding.
Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) continues with its high dose supplement campaign
The EU Parliament Petitions Committee have voted to keep open five petitions that question the European Commission’s proposal to limit maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in the EU bloc under the Food Supplements Directive.
Read article at foodnavigator.com
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Conclusion and cash damages at long last for former child victims of sex abuse in Catholic children's homes decades ago in Liverpool
See today's report in The Observer. To wait 21 years for a legal case to end is surely a perversion of justice even though, thankfully, there is now vindication and closure for the victims. "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied", is a sentiment often quoted in such long-drawn-out cases, and it is surely true. When victims, as well as suffering physical and emotional damage, also have their truthfulness impugned, a delay of over 20 years for a judgment in their favour adds insult to injury.
Well I'm very pleased for the victims that they have won through, and I congratulate them on their courage and tenacity in not letting their tormentors get away with it. But at what terrible corrosive cost to their lives!
Surely some way could be found to speed the Law's process!
Well I'm very pleased for the victims that they have won through, and I congratulate them on their courage and tenacity in not letting their tormentors get away with it. But at what terrible corrosive cost to their lives!
Surely some way could be found to speed the Law's process!
Saturday, 8 May 2010
OUT ON A LIMB - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
She was in hospital after having had a little operation and was unable as yet to perform little personal tasks like cutting toe-nails. It was unfortunate that the nurse cut off her foot by accident.
As the nurse said: "It was a particularly tough nail. It could have happened to anyone."
They got distinctly cross with her for making a fuss about it. If her feet were so important to her she should have waited till she was home again and able to cut her own toe-nails. Anyway it was done now. No use crying over spilt milk. She must look forward, not back.
Her friends were very kind and helpful. "Never mind," they said. "You’ve got another one. It was only your left one after all. You’ll soon get used to it. Footloose and fancy free, eh?"
She found it difficult to keep her balance. Her many falls damaged her arms, her other foot and the left leg itself, which had to be amputated.
Again she was assured she would soon get used to it. "You’ll soon be hopping around like a two year old."
They were a long time in providing a false leg. She tried to hurry them up, pointing out that if she hadn’t previously had to wait so long for the artificial foot, perhaps she’d have had fewer falls and not have had to have her leg amputated.
"You cripples are all the same! – You just think we’re here for your convenience. You had quite a nice solid artificial foot – a bit heavy perhaps – and you’ve had hardly any wear out of it. – Scandalous waste! – And now you chivvy us for an artificial leg. Wait your turn. You’ll probably only go and fall and break it anyway. I don’t know why you can’t be more careful, so’s you don’t fall. You’d think we’d nothing better to do than to make false limbs for clumsy folk like you."
"But it’s not my fault. It was the Health Service robbed me of my foot and that’s why I lost my leg."
"Back to that again! You’ve got a persecution complex. You ought to see a psychiatrist: always looking for someone to blame. – Well you can’t see one. You’re getting more than your fair share of attention as it is."
"Stir your stumps; and for goodness’ sake learn to stand on your own two feet!"
Margaret Wilde © 1985
Bête noire - Short Story by Margaret Wilde
The young cat was tightrope-walking. That is to say, it was performing the delicate manoeuvre of walking along the balcony rail which was the front boundary of its owners' first floor flat.
The woman in pain, whose ground floor flat nearby afforded a good view of the cat, watched it from her armchair by the window. She had seen it, week after week, hour after hour, going over every inch of its balcony territory, up and down, back and forth, slowly, methodically, seeking to escape and explore further afield. Its bright, inquisitive, searching face would look out through the railings, through the trellis struts, look out onto the wider world denied it, being high above the ground.
The cat in the top floor flat was more fortunate. There was a sloping ledge from its balcony to the roof. This roof led to others, one of which led to the stairs and freedom. Another cat had a cat door at its disposal. Several cats lived on the ground floor and so could come and go.
Miss Smith saw a lot of the free cats. They tried to enter her flat if she left the patio door ajar. She had to make sure it was not open wide enough to admit a cat, since she had difficulty catching them if they got in. They sunned themselves on her verandah. They sharpened their claws on the nearby trees.
Miss Smith thought it must be especially galling for the constrained animal to see other cats enjoying liberty - but perhaps she was being anthropomorphic?
The balcony doors were left slightly open for the cat. It had the run of its 'own' flat. Sometimes she would see it at the bedroom window - looking out - stretching, stretching, stretching up, trying to push open the window.
Once, she had seen it patiently and ingeniously insinuate itself into the hanging basket on the balcony. Having curled itself small enough to fit the hemisphere, using the momentum it had generated in the eventual successful leap into the basket, it had swung to and fro in a wider and wider arc, trying by this means to reach the upper balcony. But it had failed.
She admired the cat. It did not mope, become ill, turn aggressive. It just kept up its efforts, curiosity and hope undimmed. But surely it must have moments of despair and feelings of frustration?
And other people liked the cat. In friendly tones they spoke to the little black and white face as it peered down at them. - Its owners, too, were fond of the cat. They would gather it up into loving arms and take it in from the balcony, cuddling it, offering it comfort while denying it autonomy,
The woman in pain also spoke to the cat - but quietly, since of course it was too far away to hear. She empathised with the fine creature. How closely their suffering matched! - She too was offered comforting words, and they were as inappropriate for her as for the cat.
The cat's zest for living was not yet impaired. How long could it keep on 'keeping on'? She saw it on its 'tightrope', best vantage point for escape if escape were ever to be won.
"Jump!" she whispered softly. "Jump!"
Margaret Wilde © 1999
The woman in pain, whose ground floor flat nearby afforded a good view of the cat, watched it from her armchair by the window. She had seen it, week after week, hour after hour, going over every inch of its balcony territory, up and down, back and forth, slowly, methodically, seeking to escape and explore further afield. Its bright, inquisitive, searching face would look out through the railings, through the trellis struts, look out onto the wider world denied it, being high above the ground.
The cat in the top floor flat was more fortunate. There was a sloping ledge from its balcony to the roof. This roof led to others, one of which led to the stairs and freedom. Another cat had a cat door at its disposal. Several cats lived on the ground floor and so could come and go.
Miss Smith saw a lot of the free cats. They tried to enter her flat if she left the patio door ajar. She had to make sure it was not open wide enough to admit a cat, since she had difficulty catching them if they got in. They sunned themselves on her verandah. They sharpened their claws on the nearby trees.
Miss Smith thought it must be especially galling for the constrained animal to see other cats enjoying liberty - but perhaps she was being anthropomorphic?
The balcony doors were left slightly open for the cat. It had the run of its 'own' flat. Sometimes she would see it at the bedroom window - looking out - stretching, stretching, stretching up, trying to push open the window.
Once, she had seen it patiently and ingeniously insinuate itself into the hanging basket on the balcony. Having curled itself small enough to fit the hemisphere, using the momentum it had generated in the eventual successful leap into the basket, it had swung to and fro in a wider and wider arc, trying by this means to reach the upper balcony. But it had failed.
She admired the cat. It did not mope, become ill, turn aggressive. It just kept up its efforts, curiosity and hope undimmed. But surely it must have moments of despair and feelings of frustration?
And other people liked the cat. In friendly tones they spoke to the little black and white face as it peered down at them. - Its owners, too, were fond of the cat. They would gather it up into loving arms and take it in from the balcony, cuddling it, offering it comfort while denying it autonomy,
The woman in pain also spoke to the cat - but quietly, since of course it was too far away to hear. She empathised with the fine creature. How closely their suffering matched! - She too was offered comforting words, and they were as inappropriate for her as for the cat.
The cat's zest for living was not yet impaired. How long could it keep on 'keeping on'? She saw it on its 'tightrope', best vantage point for escape if escape were ever to be won.
"Jump!" she whispered softly. "Jump!"
Margaret Wilde © 1999
Friday, 7 May 2010
A little bit of excitement for me!
My Mensa article Obesity and the Salt Connection now has its URL on youtube.
See http://www.youtube.com/user/BrokeTheInterweb
And the young lady in the video talks about my article. I am tickled pink...(o:
See http://www.youtube.com/user/BrokeTheInterweb
And the young lady in the video talks about my article. I am tickled pink...(o:
Thursday, 6 May 2010
International No Diet Day: that's today, May 6th
That's right: today is International No Diet Day. I hope all dieters are observing it...(o:
But seriously, I urge you to give up dieting, not just for today, but for ever. Dieting is not necessary to lose weight and, indeed, diets do not work. In fact dieting is harmful.
Why do you think people find that diets don't work? - It's because obesity is caused by fluid retention/salt sensitivity, not by eating too many calories. It's not the calories in junk food that make you gain weight; it's the SALT.
We all know people who eat like trenchermen but never get fat. - They are the lucky people who are not sensitive to salt. For them, eating salt doesn't lead to fluid retention because their strong veins can withstand the input of salt/sodium when they eat more of it than their body needs. - Their kidneys do not have a problem dealing with the salt/sodium and they excrete any excess salt/sodium in their urine, along with the water that salt always attracts to itself.
When excess fluid (i.e. excess salt and water) is held in the veins, the extra blood volume obviously adds to a person's weight: water weighs heavily in fact. - So if you are overweight and reduce your salt intake you will shed some of the excess fluid held in your body and will therefore lose weight - easily, safely and fast.
And do not despise the weight lost and think well, it's only water. - Excess WATER is what you need to lose in order to lose weight safely. - You don't want to lose lean muscle/firm flesh. You don't want your skin and bones to become thinner and more fragile. - You don't want to lose your hair.
Believe me: you want to lose excess fluid. - There is a great bonus to losing excess fluid. - If you have fat retention as well as fluid retention, then reducing salt intake also reduces fat retention.
But seriously, I urge you to give up dieting, not just for today, but for ever. Dieting is not necessary to lose weight and, indeed, diets do not work. In fact dieting is harmful.
Why do you think people find that diets don't work? - It's because obesity is caused by fluid retention/salt sensitivity, not by eating too many calories. It's not the calories in junk food that make you gain weight; it's the SALT.
We all know people who eat like trenchermen but never get fat. - They are the lucky people who are not sensitive to salt. For them, eating salt doesn't lead to fluid retention because their strong veins can withstand the input of salt/sodium when they eat more of it than their body needs. - Their kidneys do not have a problem dealing with the salt/sodium and they excrete any excess salt/sodium in their urine, along with the water that salt always attracts to itself.
When excess fluid (i.e. excess salt and water) is held in the veins, the extra blood volume obviously adds to a person's weight: water weighs heavily in fact. - So if you are overweight and reduce your salt intake you will shed some of the excess fluid held in your body and will therefore lose weight - easily, safely and fast.
And do not despise the weight lost and think well, it's only water. - Excess WATER is what you need to lose in order to lose weight safely. - You don't want to lose lean muscle/firm flesh. You don't want your skin and bones to become thinner and more fragile. - You don't want to lose your hair.
Believe me: you want to lose excess fluid. - There is a great bonus to losing excess fluid. - If you have fat retention as well as fluid retention, then reducing salt intake also reduces fat retention.
There are no calories in salt - but if you cut down on salt you will easily lose excess weight. If you cut down on calories you will not lose excess weight.
See Sodium in foodsRead my Mensa article on Obesity and the Salt Connection
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Nearly 2,000 doctors named for taking pharmaceutical companies' gifts
NEW DELHI: Nearly 2,000 doctors have violated professional ethics by receiving gifts, hospitality, or monetary grants from pharmaceutical companies in the last three years, according to the Medical Council of India (MCI).
Read article in The Economic Times (India)
Pharmaceuticals plus Salt: the Deadly Duo
It is a commonplace for doctors to assume that the weight gain of people taking amitriptyline or other antidepressants is actually caused by over-eating, and they commonly assert that depressed people indulge in comfort-eating. But the doctors are wrong; the weight gain consequent on starting to take amitriptyline is caused by salt and water retention, not fat.
When people find the side-effects so unpleasant, and the drug so unhelpful for their chronic pain, for instance, that they stop taking it, they find that much of the weight gain disappears.
If you have gained a lot of weight and become obese because of taking prescribed steroids or HRT then I have very good news for you! - You have gained weight because of excess water stored in your body - mainly in the veins. You are suffering from what is called hypervolaemia - that is, abnormally high blood volume - and it is easy to reduce this abnormally high blood volume by losing some of the excess water. Another name for the problem is sodium retention. - This is the name that often appears in the reference books doctors have, that they use to look up correct doses of drugs they prescribe and side-effects that can result from taking the drugs.
To prevent or reduce the weight gained, you need to cut down on salt and salty food, because the sodium retention has made you sensitive to salt.
If you have been inappropriately prescribed or over-dosed with corticosteroids or HRT or any of the many other drugs that cause weight gain, then you may well have developed drug-induced Cushing's Syndrome, a very serious illness, frequently far more serious than the health problem for which the drugs were prescribed. It is, to the best of my knowledge, an entirely preventable illness if doctors conform to the protocols for prescribing these drugs and if they monitor patients' progress on the drugs, and if they warn patients about salt. It is VITALLY important that it be realised that weight gain resulting from these drugs is from sodium and water retention, so patients taking these drugs should be warned not to eat salt, or foods containing salt, while taking the medication. They should also be informed that any weight gained in this way can easily be reduced by eating less salt/sodium, and they should be warned not to try to lose weight by eating less food or restricting calories because this will not help them to lose weight and is harmful.
If you gain weight suddenly and unexpectedly when you start to take prescribed medication that I have not mentioned on this page, it is highly likely that the weight gain is caused by the drug. You may like to consider whether you really need to take that drug, or whether the dose could be lowered. At any rate if you continue with the drug, try to reduce your salt intake in order to reduce the weight gain.
So all you have to do is eat less salt. - If, at the same time, you increase your potassium by eating more fresh fruit and vegetables (unsalted vegetables), then you will lose the water and the weight even faster. - You will already have discovered that calorie counting and 'slimming' do not help you to lose weight if you are a steroid victim. - Take my advice, eat less salt, and the weight will fall off you like magic.
See also my Fat Retention page.
One of the many people I have helped with information about sodium retention was Dame Muriel Spark, who died in April 2006. Even she, as famous as she was, had not been warned to avoid salt while taking steroid medication and so had gained a lot of weight. She had also been taking some effervescent tablets which were high in sodium, but she discontinued these when she learned from me that they were contributing to the excess weight.
A Note about Pain-killers:
The class of drugs known as NSAIDs - Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs - is listed as causing Sodium Retention and in particular causing swelling in the lower legs and ankles. These include commonly used pain-killers, which are available both as prescription drugs and over the counter drugs. Examples are Ibuprofen (Brufen), Aspirin, Diclofenic and many others.
Also remember that effervescent tablets may contain a high proportion of sodium, so you may prefer to change from taking effervescent tablets to taking the non-effervescent type.
Monday, 3 May 2010
And now, from the Department of the Blindingly Obvious, this report:
CNN reports that fat children are more likely to get bullied than their peers of normal weight.
Too true, and all too sad, and it is a growing problem. - Here's what to do about it:
Tell the truth about what causes child obesity.There is altogether too much misinformation about child obesity. - When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Fat children do not need to go onto a diet or to be pressed into uncongenial exercise. As far as possible, they need to avoid salt and salty food. They do not need to cut down on calories or eat low-fat junk full of strange fillers and iffy chemicals. They need to eat real food - fresh food - not processed, high profit, low nutrition food.
See Children and Obesity
And see Sodium in foods
FAT RETENTION
Too true, and all too sad, and it is a growing problem. - Here's what to do about it:
Tell the truth about what causes child obesity.There is altogether too much misinformation about child obesity. - When children become fat it is essentially because they are eating salty food. Children are especially vulnerable to salt because of their small size and small blood volume, and because their blood vessels are weaker than those of adults. Salt, and the water it attracts to it, can more easily distend weak blood vessels than fully mature ones. The resulting increase in blood volume and other fluid retention results in weight gain, as well as higher blood pressure and many other undesirable consequences. The smaller the child, the less salt they should have - and a baby, of course, should have no salt at all. - Babies can die if they are fed salty food.
Fat children do not need to go onto a diet or to be pressed into uncongenial exercise. As far as possible, they need to avoid salt and salty food. They do not need to cut down on calories or eat low-fat junk full of strange fillers and iffy chemicals. They need to eat real food - fresh food - not processed, high profit, low nutrition food.
See Children and Obesity
And see Sodium in foods
FAT RETENTION
Sunday, 2 May 2010
Irresponsible prescribing of diazepam/Valium is again on the rise in UK
The Sunday Telegraph reports that prescriptions for diazepam aka Valium are rising dramatically. The benzodiazepine family of drugs, which includes Valium, are extremely addictive yet were heavily over-prescribed in the 1970s, and have destroyed the lives of millions of people, mainly women. Were it not for Esther Rantzen and her investigative television programme “That’s Life” this horrifying damage to innocent people would have continued to escalate, as the drug companies assured their medical dupes that the dreadful symptoms their patients were suffering were not caused by the drugs, but by the putative underlying illness. See the article in The Independent of 31 October 2009 where we read that:
"In 1980, an item on Esther Rantzen’s BBC TV programme “That’s Life” detailing the difficulty some people had withrawing from Valium, provoked the biggest response in the programme’s history, exposing a problem on a huge scale that had gone unnoticed by doctors. GPs had until then assumed, when patients complained of symptoms of withdrawal, that this was the anxiety returning - and prescribed more drugs. “That’s life” was later celebrated as the TV programme that changed the course of medicine.
In 1988, doctors were warned by the Committee on Safety of Medicines that prescriptions for the benzodiazepines should be limited to a maximum of four weeks . The warning was re-iterated by Sir Liam Donaldson, the Government’s Chief Medical Officer in 2004."
That irresponsible GPs are adding to the already huge numbers of innocent victims of these harmful drugs is hard to credit. Their freedom to prescribe these drugs should be curbed by Law and there should be severe sanctions against any further flouting of the guidelines about it.
In my informed opinion, prescription drugs cause most of the avoidable illness and disability in the UK and in the USA.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
A shining button on the waistcoat of the world.
Years ago I used to to be very fond of ballroom dancing and went regularly to dances. One of the men I sometimes danced with was Malcolm. Malcolm liked to go to dances for the friendly company and a relaxing evening, but no one could accuse him of being a good dancer...(o: Once when we were dancing, I pointed out that we were not doing the right steps. - It's a waltz, I told him, not a slow foxtrot, but he explained that he always did the same steps, whatever the dance rhythm: they were the steps he was used to and had served him well, over many years...(o:
It seemed such a waste to me, to spend years of your life doing the same steps - doing the same wrong steps most of the time - when you could get informed about the right steps and start doing them instead, and enjoy your life so much more. With Ibsen's Peer Gynt in mind I teased him and said, "Malcolm, you were meant to be a shining button on the waistcoat of the world, and you are failing in that." (I can be pretty insufferable sometimes!)
I told him about a dancing school where he could go to learn the basic steps of the usual ballroom dances and urged him to take some lessons. He said he would. When I next saw him I enquired if he had been to the dancing school yet and he told me that yes, he had, and so I asked him how he had got on with the dance lessons. He said he hadn't actually taken any lessons. "I parked the car in the car park," he said, "and walked down the steps to the dance school, heard the music, opened the door and had a look inside. And then I thought I wouldn't bother; I'd just go home and carry on as usual!"
Poor Malcolm. A nice, kind person but not brave enough to try doing something he hadn't done before, and missing out on new and better experiences. I wonder if the Button Maker has ladled him into his amorphous pot yet, to be melted and re-moulded?
It seemed such a waste to me, to spend years of your life doing the same steps - doing the same wrong steps most of the time - when you could get informed about the right steps and start doing them instead, and enjoy your life so much more. With Ibsen's Peer Gynt in mind I teased him and said, "Malcolm, you were meant to be a shining button on the waistcoat of the world, and you are failing in that." (I can be pretty insufferable sometimes!)
I told him about a dancing school where he could go to learn the basic steps of the usual ballroom dances and urged him to take some lessons. He said he would. When I next saw him I enquired if he had been to the dancing school yet and he told me that yes, he had, and so I asked him how he had got on with the dance lessons. He said he hadn't actually taken any lessons. "I parked the car in the car park," he said, "and walked down the steps to the dance school, heard the music, opened the door and had a look inside. And then I thought I wouldn't bother; I'd just go home and carry on as usual!"
Poor Malcolm. A nice, kind person but not brave enough to try doing something he hadn't done before, and missing out on new and better experiences. I wonder if the Button Maker has ladled him into his amorphous pot yet, to be melted and re-moulded?
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