Lose Them Pounds

At the start of the pandemic, doctors were placing COVID-19 patients on ventilators for more reasons than saving lives. The Wall Street Journal reports some physicians are now reverting to the basics of treatment with better survival rates and better patient outcomes. How much of this story will reach mainstream media?
In the 1950s, the CIA ran a cover campaign called “Operation Mockingbird,” in which they recruited journalists as assets to spread propaganda.1 The campaign officially ended in the 1970s, but when you read the uniform media reports over the past 10 months, the evidence suggests the project never really stopped.
Many of the current media stories may make you long for the days of Woodward and Bernstein when uncovering information and breaking a story appeared more important than repeating the “company” line.
It appears there are few who write balanced pieces about what COVID-19 testing really shows, the science behind hydroxychloroquine, zinc, remdesivir or ivermectin, or the role high-dose vitamin C may play as an antiviral.
What does appear to be happening is a grassroots movement away from the initial treatment protocols for hospitalized COVID-19 patients and a reversion to prepandemic guidelines for ventilator use. Dr. Eduardo Oliveira from Advent Health Central Florida described the movement to a Wall Street Journal reporter: “Let’s go back to the basics. The less you deviate from it, the better.”2
Returning to Basics Raises Survival Rates

The point made by the journalist was that in the early stages of the disease, doctors were preemptively using powerful sedatives and ventilators for two reasons — “to save the seriously ill and protect hospital staff from COVID-19.”3
In other words, the critically ill, and often elderly, were placed on sedatives that had largely been abandoned because of side effects, and put on ventilators that lowered the chance of survival, “partly to limit contagion at a time when it was less clear how the virus spread, when protective masks and gowns were in short supply.”4
While early reports showed high flow oxygen through a nasal cannula may support breathing and does not require risky sedation, doctors were unsure if the patients would continue to release the virus into the air and raise the risk for health care workers.
Dr. Theodore Iwashyna is a critical care doctor at the University of Michigan, who also spoke with the reporter from The Wall Street Journal, saying,5 “We were intubating sick patients very early. Not for the patients’ benefit, but in order to control the epidemic and to save other patients. That felt awful.”
In addition to ventilation, patients were also given heavy doses of sedation so nurses and doctors could limit their exposure. However, these heavy doses of sedation increase the risk for delirium, long-term confusion and potentially death.6
Over time, doctors learned that while the disease is different from other viruses, it does respond to basic treatment protocols and prepandemic guidelines for ventilator use. Survival for patients in one hospital system rose 28% from April to September 2020 as doctors adjusted the treatment protocols using computerized guides to determine oxygen delivery and rate of flow.7
The Wall Street Journal reported on a study of three New York City hospitals in which the death rate from March to August 2020 dropped from 25.6% to 7.6%, which researchers attributed to less crowding of hospital facilities and new medications and improved treatment. Contact with a person’s family also improves their recovery, which is a common finding when people are ill.8,9,10
Over 50% of Mechanically Ventilated COVID-19 Patients Die

It wasn’t long before doctors discovered that ventilators were causing more damage to COVID-19 patients’ lungs than they were helping. Ventilators push air into a person’s lungs after a tube is inserted through the mouth and down the trachea.
Even in the best circumstances, ventilators can injure a person’s lungs by placing too much pressure against the tissue as the machine pushes air in. Typically, with low oxygen saturation, people are given breathing support with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
This is also used to treat severe sleep apnea as it helps regulate the pressure and level of oxygen using mild pressure gradients to keep the airways open. However, mechanical ventilation became widespread and remained that way even after published reports demonstrated that ventilation did not lower mortality rates, but may have in fact raised them.
Several studies have indicated the fatality rate once patients are on ventilators is more than 50%.11 In a case series of 1,300 critically ill patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in Lombardy, Italy, 88% were on ventilation and the mortality rate was 26%.12
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association included 5,700 patients who were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the New York City area from March 1, 2020, to April 4, 2020.13 They found the mortality rates for those who were on mechanical ventilation ranged from 76.4% to 97.2%, depending on the age bracket.
Another study of 24 patients admitted to Seattle area intensive care units showed 75% were placed on mechanical ventilation and half the 24 patients died between Day 1 and Day 18 after being admitted.14
There are inherent risks to ventilation, including lung damage to the air sacs from high levels of oxygen and from high pressure used by the machines. Another risk is long-term sedation, which is difficult for some patients to bounce back from.
MATH+ at First Sign of Breathing Problem Prevents Ventilator

Information about natural therapeutics continues to be suppressed by the media and is not received by those who need it most: critical care doctors. The Alliance for Natural Health has asked why is “success in critical care being ignored?” and goes on to question:15

“We all need to be asking why. After all, people are dying. How would it make relatives feel if it was found that their loved one had died needlessly just because the doctors who were having greatest success were not being listened to and their innovative protocols had been systematically ignored?”

In other words, it’s time to go back to the basics when treating this virus. One of those protocols they are referring to is the MATH+ protocol. At the time of the article, doctors had treated 100 patients with a 98% survival rate and no ventilation. The two people who died were both over 80 and had advanced chronic conditions.16
The protocol was first developed by a group of leading critical care physicians who formed the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Working Group (FLCCC).17 The protocol gets the name from the medications used, which include intravenous methylprednisolone, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), thiamine and full dose low-molecular-weight heparin.18
The protocol uses methylprednisolone and vitamin C intravenously in high doses to help mitigate the inflammatory response caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).19 They work synergistically and improve survival rates, particularly when given early in the disease. Thiamine helps optimize oxygen utilization and helps protect the heart, brain and immune system.
Heparin is used as a preventive and to help dissolve any blood clots that are known to appear with high frequency in this disease. The FLCCC writes that “Timing is a critical factor in the efficacy of MATH+ and to achieving successful outcomes in patients ill with COVID-19.”20
The protocol should be started soon after patients require oxygen supplementation for maximum benefit. Delaying therapy can lead to complications. The medications used in the protocol are all “FDA-approved, safe, inexpensive and readily available drugs.”21
Since the initiation of the protocol, doctors have found the addition of ivermectin beneficial to their patients. As such, it’s considered a core medication that’s administered on admission and repeated on Day 6 and 8 if the person has not recovered. Further, vitamin D, melatonin and zinc can be added, with therapeutic plasma exchange for patients whose disease is refractory.22,23
At High Doses, Vitamin C Has Antiviral Properties

A second treatment protocol being silenced for COVID-19 is high dose vitamin C. Dr. Andrew Saul is the editor-in-chief of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. He presents valuable information on the importance of vitamin C for disease treatment, including COVID-19, which you can see in “Vitamin C Treatment for COVID-19 Being Silenced.”
At extremely high doses, vitamin C acts like an antiviral drug and kills viruses. When using this treatment at home to help prevent the need for hospitalization, use liposomal vitamin C as it is more bioavailable and doesn’t have the side effect of diarrhea at high doses.
Vitamin C is best known for its antioxidant properties. Even in small quantities, it protects proteins, lipids and DNA and RNA from reactive oxygen species that are generated during normal metabolism.
Vitamin C is also involved in the biosynthesis of collagen, carnitine and catecholamines. According to Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D., as such it “participates in immune function, wound healing, fatty acid metabolism, neurotransmitter production and blood vessel formation, as well as other key processes and pathways.”24
In the early months of the pandemic, a commentary published in The Lancet states “rescue therapy with high dose vitamin C can also be considered” for patients with ARDS caused by COVID-19.25
A study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine by Harri Hemila, Ph.D., who is considered to be an authority on vitamin C, stated that patients with pneumonia can tolerate up to 100 grams of vitamin C each day without developing diarrhea, “possibly because of the changes in vitamin C metabolism caused by the severe infection.”26
Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc Are a Powerful Combo Treatment

A hydroxychloroquine and zinc combination is yet another treatment that has been maligned in favor of remdesivir, an expensive drug with little documented evidence. In this short news video, reporter Sharyl Attkisson delves into the politics and finances of the two drugs in the treatment of COVID-19.
While remdesivir must be given in the hospital over five days, your doctor can prescribe hydroxychloroquine for use at home to help prevent hospitalization. Hydroxychloroquine is an antimalarial drug that was introduced in 1955.27 It has a long history of use outside a hospital setting, including for the treatment of arthritis and lupus, for which it was approved in 1956.28
According to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons’ home-based guide to treating COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are antiviral agents that29 “must be started quickly at STAGE I (Days 1 to 5)” and “These medicines stop the virus from (1) entering the cells and (2) from multiplying once inside the cells, and they reduce bacterial invasion in the sinuses and lung.”
They recommend the addition of azithromycin or doxycycline with either of the drugs. However, the guideline also stresses the necessity of using zinc and supplemental vitamins D and C:30

“Either combination above must also include zinc sulfate or gluconate, plus supplemental vitamin D, and vitamin C. Some doctors also recommend adding a B complex vitamin. Zinc is critical. It helps block the virus from multiplying. Hydroxychloroquine is the carrier taking zinc INTO the cells to do its job.”

There are several reasons why certain individuals and companies may not want an inexpensive generic drug to work against COVID-19, including eliminating the need for vaccination or the development of other antiviral drugs that are more costly than a two-week supply of hydroxychloroquine that can retail for as little as $20.31
You’ll find more about hydroxychloroquine and how one doctor calls those who are denying patients hydroxychloroquine “guilty of mass murder,” in “How a False Hydroxychloroquine Narrative Was Created.”

Mounting mortality data show COVID-19 is hardly the deadly pandemic it’s been made out to be. But just as people were starting to wake up to this fact, the British technocracy came up with a new narrative to keep the fearmongering going.
Mere days before Christmas, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced there’s a new, mutated, and far more infectious, strain of SARS-CoV-2 on the loose.1,2 The answer? Another round of even stricter stay-at-home orders, business shutdowns and travel bans, just in time for the holidays.
According to The New York Times, the U.K. restrictions may remain in effect for months. Considering these unscientific strategies didn’t work the first or second time around, it strains believability to think they’ll work now.
Indeed, anyone who knows anything about the Great Reset agenda can now see that the lockdowns, which destroy local economies and small businesses, have nothing to do with public health. They are mere smokescreens for the greatest transfer (if not theft) of wealth the world has ever seen.
The biggest losers are low- and middle-income earners, especially private business owners, who have been absolutely decimated while large box stores and multinational companies report record-breaking profits.
Despite the obviousness of the scheme, countries are responding to the news of the mutation with fervor. The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Bulgaria and Ireland all issued travel restrictions from the U.K.3,4
What’s New About This Mutated SARS-CoV-2 Strain?

The mutated strain, referred to in some places as B1175 and in others as VUI-202012/01,6 reportedly began popping up in patient samples collected in September 2020 across southern England. In all, the virus is said to have 23 new mutations, several of which affect how the virus attaches to and infects human cells, potentially making it more virulent.
British researchers claim the mutation has rapidly displaced previous variants of the virus. In mid-November 2020, 28% of COVID-19 cases in London were attributed to B117. By December 9, 2020, that figure had risen to 62%, according to the Daily Mail.7 The following graphic from the U.K. government illustrates the spread of the virus from September through mid-December in London and the U.K as a whole.8

According to absolutely untrustworthy and disgraced epidemiologist Neil Ferguson, whose models have been grossly incorrect thus far, B117 may be 50% to 70% more contagious than previous variants circulating in the U.K.9
B117 also appears to infect children and teens to a greater extent than previous variants. According to Wendy Barclay, a government adviser and virologist at Imperial College London, children may be “equally susceptible as adults” to this new strain.10 However, while said to transmit more easily, B117 does not appear to cause more severe disease.
A mutated variant of SARS-CoV-2 that has one of the mutations found in B117 has also been identified in South Africa. This virus is now found in 90% of samples analyzed.11
While mainstream media are hyping these new variants for all their worth, The New York Times reports that “Researchers have recorded thousands of tiny modifications in the genetic material of the coronavirus as it has hopscotched across the world.”
In other words, mutations are nothing new. In fact, the virus has reportedly picked up one or two mutations per month since the start of the pandemic.12 What’s surprising about B117 is the unusually high number of mutations that seemingly emerged all at once.
One possibility that might explain this is that it evolved inside someone who was immunocompromised and therefore ended up battling the infection for an extended period of time.13
According to the Covid-19 Genomics Consortium UK, high rates of mutations have also occurred in immunosuppressed COVID-19 patients who received convalescent plasma. As explained in a Telegraph op-ed by Matt Ridley:14

“In a person with a deficient immune system, a large population of viruses can proliferate, mutate and diversify, and then the treatment selects a new strain from among this diversity. Essentially, the virus has a crash course in evolution.”

Still, that doesn’t mean there’s cause for hysteria. As noted by Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist at Queen Mary University of London, as mass vaccination programs get off the ground, “selection pressure” on the virus will further increase, which she suspects will trigger even more mutations,15 which in turn might reduce the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. According to a December 20, 2020, article in The New York Times:16

“Several recent papers17,18,19,20 have shown that the coronavirus can evolve to avoid recognition by a single monoclonal antibody, a cocktail of two antibodies or even convalescent serum …”

Show Us the Evidence
As London and southeast England faced strict, new lockdowns in the days before Christmas, British scientists were demanding to be shown evidence that B117 is in fact 50% to 70% more contagious.
Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence based medicine at Oxford University’s Nuffield department of primary care, told the Daily Mail,21 “I’ve been doing this job for 25 years and I can tell you can’t establish a quantifiable number in such a short time frame. Every expert is saying it’s too early to draw such an inference.”
He also stated the lack of transparency was “undermining public trust” in the government and its response measures. The data on the new strain come from an analysis by the New and Emerging Respiratory Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG), but none of the data have been released to the scientific community.

“It has massive implications, it’s causing fear and panic, but we should not be in this situation when the government is putting out data that is unquantifiable. They are fitting the data to the evidence. They see cases rising and they are looking for evidence to explain it,” Heneghan said.22

Conservative MPs have also called for the scientific evidence relating to the mutant strain to be made public.23 Former minister Sir Desmond Swayne stated the new Christmas lockdown rules had “all the characteristics of the government being bounced by the science, as it was right at the beginning … when we first went into lockdown last March.”24
The new restrictions were announced after Parliament had already discussed and voted on a less restrictive set of Christmas rules before going on break. In an interview with BBC Radio 4 Today, Swayne said:25

“The arrangements for Christmas were explicitly voted on by Parliament. If they’re to be changed then in my view, Parliament should vote again … irrespective of the Government acting in an emergency.

Nevertheless, it’s perfectly proper to recall Parliament … to at least ratify those changes. Explain to us — we are after all a democracy — explain to the elected representatives the evidence that they have and why they’ve reached this decision.

They’ve been looking at it [the new variant] since September. How convenient when Parliament went into recess … suddenly they were then able to produce this revelation. Let’s see the evidence then. Let’s have Parliament back and show us and convince us, come clean. I want Parliament to be recalled so we can scrutinize properly, in a democracy, decisions that are being made which affect our economy radically and our liberty.”

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith laid the bulk of the blame on the government’s scientific advisers and accused chief medical officer professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance of “stepping back into the shadows when it suits them.”26
“Why did they not alert ministers to the dangers earlier? Especially when, as we now know, scientists learnt about this mutation back in September,” Smith wrote in an op-ed in The Telegraph.27
Is It a False Alarm?

Indeed, if the new, wildly different strain was discovered September 20, why all of a sudden is it an emergency a full three months later — especially considering the fact that the research still hasn’t been done to confirm whether this variant actually is any worse than previous strains? As reported by MIT Technology Review, December 21, 2020:28

“The situation could prove to be a false alarm. Sometimes virus variants appear to seem to spread more easily but in fact are being propelled by luck, like a superspreader event.

British teams, and some abroad, are now racing to carry out the lab experiments necessary to demonstrate whether the new variant really infects human cells more easily, and whether vaccines will stop it; those studies will involve exposing the new strain to blood plasma from COVID-19 survivors or vaccinated people, to see if their antibodies can block it …

The mutations seen in the new variant have all been spotted previously, according to comments posted online by Francois Balloux, a computational biologist at the University of College London, but apparently not in this combination.

They include one that causes the spike protein to bind more effectively to human cells, another linked to escape from human immune responses, and a third adjacent to a biologically critical component of the pathogen.”

Lockdowns May Prevent Natural Weakening of the Virus
Circling back to where we started, with the uselessness of lockdowns, in his op-ed in The Telegraph, Ridley29 points out that viruses naturally weaken over time as more and more people are exposed, and that by implementing tougher lockdowns, the virus primarily spreads among the sickest, which allows the most lethal strains to dominate.
It is a worrying possibility that lockdowns could prevent this natural attenuation of the virus. They keep the virus spreading mainly in hospitals and care homes among the very ill, preventing the eclipse of lethal strains at the hands of milder ones. If so … then not only do lockdowns fail to wipe out the disease, they may be prolonging our agony. ~ Matt Ridley
In other words, by shutting everything down, the natural weakening of COVID-19 is prevented, which is the precise opposite of what we want. Ridley writes:30

“Viruses will always evolve to be more contagious if they can, but respiratory viruses also often evolve towards being less virulent. Each virus is striving to grab market share for its descendants.

The best way of achieving this is to print as many copies of itself as possible while in a human body, yet not make that person so ill that they meet fewer people. Where the [lockdown] sceptics have a point is that it is a worrying possibility that lockdowns could prevent this natural attenuation of the virus.

They keep the virus spreading mainly in hospitals and care homes among the very ill, preventing the eclipse of lethal strains at the hands of milder ones. If so, and it’s only a possibility, then not only do lockdowns fail to wipe out the disease, they may be prolonging our agony.”

Lockdowns Are Not the Answer

Shutting down the world over a respiratory virus will perhaps go down in history as the most destructive and irrational decision ever made by public health “experts,” the World Health Organization and its technocratic allies.
I’ve written other articles about its effects — which aside from the transfer of wealth from the working class to the global elites, include a rise in food insecurity, mental health problems, excess deaths unrelated to COVID-19, domestic violence, child abuse, sex abuse and suicide — so I won’t belabor that here. What’s become clear is that lockdowns are a cure far worse than the disease.
It’s time to fight back, and to resist any and all unconstitutional and tyrannical edicts. To do that, we must overcome fear, as it is a fearful public that allows the technocratic elite to rip away our freedoms. It’s fear that allows tyranny to flourish. I urge you to really look at the data, so you can see for yourself that panic is unwarranted, and that the so-called “solutions” to the pandemic are in fact a path of total destruction.
This destruction — both moral and economic — is necessary for the Great Reset to occur. The technocratic elite need everything and everyone to fall apart in order to justify the implementation of their new system. Without this desperation, no one would agree to what they have planned.
For practical strategies on how you can respond in light of all the tyrannical interventions that have been imposed on us, check out James Corbett’s interview with Howard Lichtman below. I also recommend reading “Constitutional Sheriffs Are the Difference Between Freedom and Tyranny.”

Take Control of Your Health

Last but not least, now is also the time to take control of your own health. Make it a point to really take care of yourself. Remember, insulin resistance, obesity and vitamin D deficiency top the list of comorbidities that significantly raise your risk complications and death from COVID-19. One key health strategy is eliminating all vegetable oils from your diet, which is likely one of the worst metabolic poisons you can eat.
These are also underlying factors in a host of other chronic diseases, including mental health problems, so by addressing them, you’ll improve your chances of getting through this challenging time with your health and sanity intact. You can find tons of information about how to reverse all of these issues by searching my article archives.

Vaccine passports, hastily ushered in as a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, are expected to become “widely available” during the first half of 2021. “Rest assured, the nerds are on it,” Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Linux Foundation, told CNN Business.1
The Linux Foundation has partnered with IBM, the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative and CommonPass, a digital “health passport,” in order to develop vaccine credential apps that will be applicable globally.
If the initiative is successful, you’ll likely be required to pull up a vaccine certificate on your phone showing when and where you were vaccinated, along with which type of vaccine, in order to get on a plane or attend an indoor event, such as a concert, for starters.
“If we’re successful, you should be able to say: I’ve got a vaccine certificate on my phone that I got when I was vaccinated in one country, with a whole set of its own kind of health management practices … that I use to get on a plane to an entirely different country and then I presented in that new country a vaccination credential so I could go to that concert that was happening indoors for which attendance was limited to those who have demonstrated that they’ve had the vaccine,” Behlendorf said.2
The notion of having to present proof of a voluntary medical procedure in order to travel or attend public events is unprecedented in the U.S., but is being presented as a measure to protect public health. In reality, your freedom to go about your normal, daily life is being threatened, unless you consent to receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. And this may only be the beginning.
What You Need to Know About CommonPass

The Commons Project and the World Economic Forum created the Common Trust Network, which developed the CommonPass app that’s intended to act as a health passport in the near future.
The app allows users to upload medical data such as a COVID-19 test result or proof of vaccination, which then generates a QR code that you will show to authorities as your health passport.3 The proposed common framework “for safe border reopening” around the world involves the following:4

Every nation must publish their health screening criteria for entry into the country using a standard format on a common framework
Each country must register trusted facilities that conduct COVID-19 lab testing for foreign travel and administer vaccines listed in the CommonPass registry
Each country will accept health screening status from foreign visitors through apps and services built on the CommonPass framework
Patient identification is to be collected at the time of sample collection and/or vaccination using an international standard
The CommonPass framework will be integrated into flight and hotel reservation check-in processes

Eventually, the CommonPass framework will be integrated with already existing personal health apps such as Apple Health and CommonHealth. If you want to travel, your personal health record will be evaluated and compared to a country’s entry requirements, and if you don’t meet them, you’ll be directed to an approved testing and vaccination location.
The groundwork for CommonPass was laid out in an April 21, 2020, white paper by The Rockefeller Foundation,5 and is part of the rollout of global surveillance and social control known as “the Great Reset.”
According to CNN, “Airlines including Cathay Pacific, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Swiss Airlines, United Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, as well as hundreds of health systems across the United States and the government of Aruba,” have already partnered with the Common Trust Network and their CommonPass app.6
The CommonPass App, Smart Cards Are Coming

CommonPass is just one example of apps being developed to track your personal health information and convert it into a digital health ID that you’ll need to scan just to go about your daily life. IBM developed the Digital Health Pass, which companies can use to assess everything from coronavirus test results and vaccination to an individual’s temperature.
If you don’t have a cellphone, you won’t be exempt from the need to show your health credentials. Companies that are part of the COVID-19 Credentials Initiative are working on a smart card that acts as a digital health credential that can be easily presented even if you don’t have a smartphone or stable internet connection.7
August 28, 2020, Ireland was among the first to begin a national trial of their new Health Passport Ireland initiative8 to track and display results of COVID-19 testing — and facilitate increased COVID-19 testing for businesses and the public, plus display COVID-19 vaccination status.9
The initiative has since been renamed Health Passport Europe,10 and states the system will soon be used worldwide for international travels. Aside from travel and tourism, Health Passports will be used for health care purposes, events, factories and offices, and even in schools and child care centers.
So, in order to achieve the “freedom” you need to go about your normal, daily life, you only need to get tested or vaccinated for COVID-19, have a health administrator create a Health Passport account in your name, download the app on your phone, receive your COVID-19 test results on your phone (and get retested as required), then display your COVID-19 status and vaccination history whenever it’s requested.
For those who haven’t been tested, Health Passport Europe states that you can still immediately use the technology by downloading the Health Passport Scanner app and using it to scan others whenever needed.
By scanning others to get their COVID-19 status, “It gives great security for you and your family throughout or daily lives, for example when availing of services, whilst travelling, at events, at work and much more.”11
Special Treatment ‘Same as a Mandatory Vaccination’

While many countries have suggested that the COVID-19 vaccine will not be mandated, by giving special privileges to the vaccinated, such as the ability to travel, attend social events or even enter a workplace, it essentially amounts to the same thing.
“As important as vaccination is for all of us: No special treatment for the vaccinated,” Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. “Distinguishing between the vaccinated and the not-vaccinated would be the same as a mandatory vaccination.”12
Still, Thomas Mertens, head of Germany’s Standing Commission on Vaccination (STIKO), has stated that vaccine passports may one day be used to grant access to travel, restaurants, concerts and cinemas, and may also be required by certain businesses.
“These are private agreements made by the restaurant owner, the airline and the concert organizer,” he told Die Welt newspaper. “I think something like that is possible. I’m not a lawyer, and at the end of the day lawyers will have to decide.”13
Seehofer, however, stated that while the government couldn’t stop businesses from requiring vaccination of their customers, he was clearly against it: “All I can do is warn against it. Special treatment for the vaccinated would divide society.”14
Meanwhile, Spain, which plans to vaccinate 2.3 million over a 12-week period, is maintaining a register of people who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine and intends to share it with other countries in the European Union.15 While the vaccine is voluntary, citizens are being called for their turn by the national health system, making it easy to track those who refuse.
In 2018, the European Commission drafted a proposal to strengthen cooperation against vaccine preventable diseases, including joint action to increase vaccination coverage, stating, “Vaccination programmes have become increasingly fragile; in the face of low uptake of vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, the increasing cost of new vaccines and shortages in vaccine production and supply in Europe.”16
It appears the sharing of private health information, including who chooses not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, is part of that joint action.
Tracking and Tracing Are Here

One year ago, it would have been hard to imagine widespread acceptance for cellphone apps that collect your vaccination status and convert it into a health passport you may soon need to present in order to travel or attend recreational events like concerts, or even attend school or go to work. But under the context of a pandemic, it’s suddenly perceived as necessary for public health.
“Vaccinated? Show Us Your App,” reads a New York Times headline from December 13, 2020, which states that United, JetBlue and Lufthansa airlines plan to introduce CommonPass in the coming weeks.17 “It is just the start of a push for digital Covid-19 credentials that could soon be embraced by employers, schools, summer camps and entertainment venues,” the Times added.
Indeed, Dr. Brad Perkins, Commons Project Foundation’s chief medical officer, added, “This is likely to be a new normal need that we’re going to have to deal with to control and contain this pandemic.”
Getting health passports to become a new normal has, in fact, been part of the plan all along for the Commons Project, which began developing software that tracks medical data well before the COVID-19 pandemic.18 “But spikes in virus cases around the world this spring accelerated its work,” The New York Times reported.
It’s Not About Infectious Disease

Now partnered with the World Economic Forum, CommonPass represents the beginning stage of mass tracking and tracing, under the guise of keeping everyone safe from infectious disease.
It is part and parcel of the Great Reset and the fourth industrial revolution, the nuts and bolts of which boil down to transhumanism. In years past, this plan was referred to as a “new world order” or “one world order.” All of these terms, however, refer to an agenda that has the same ultimate goal.
As explained by journalist James Corbett, for those who forgot about what the New World Order was/is all about, it’s “centralization of control into fewer hands, globalization [and] transformation of society through Orwellian surveillance technologies.”19
In other words, it’s technocracy, where we the people know nothing about the ruling elite while every aspect of our lives is surveilled, tracked and manipulated for their gain. The tracking and tracing of COVID-19 test results and vaccination are setting the stage for biometric surveillance, tracking and tracing, which will eventually be tied in with all your other medical records, digital ID, digital banking and a social credit system.
What can you do? Getting informed and sharing your knowledge is the first step to protecting your freedom. Next, learn the role of your local sheriff, who should safeguard your Constitutional rights and protect your civil liberties against unlawful government overreach.
The most important part is to contact your local sheriff and urge him or her to learn about the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA).
The goal is to create a partnership between the people, the sheriff and the local law enforcement chiefs to make sure county sheriffs are trained on Constitutional rights and their own role as guardians of the Constitution and protectors of civil liberties, so they will no longer enforce unlawful, unconstitutional orders, whatever they might be.

After being vilified for decades, butter is back and booming. Not only has it made a comeback, but sales are soaring, with per capita butter consumption up 24% in the U.S. over the last decade.1 Changes in eating habits due to the pandemic pushed demand for butter even higher in 2020. Dairy cooperative Land O’Lakes estimated a 20% increase in sales during the last year, reaching 275 million to 300 million pounds sold.2
The rise in retail demand, triggered by Americans cooking and baking more at home during the pandemic, was so high it made up for declines in restaurant butter demand — and then some. In a statement, the company reported a $54 million year-over-year earnings increase from 2019 to 2020, adding:3

“Earnings improved by $54 million in the third quarter due to strong performance across the portfolio. Dairy Foods earnings were higher due to continued strength in Retail, which more than offset lower volumes in Foodservice and commodity market volatility due to impacts of COVID-19.”

Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture concur, showing a 6% rise in butter production during the first six months of 2020, with trends suggesting it may top 2 billion pounds for the year — the highest it’s been since 1943.4
Butter’s Popularity Outpaces Margarine’s

In the early 1900s, per-capita annual butter consumption in the U.S. was greater than 15 pounds, but this dropped sharply as margarine consumption increased. The dairy industry fought back from the beginning, when margarine entered the marketplace in 1869.
The Oleomargarine Act (margarine was known as oleomargarine at the time) was passed in 1886, which imposed a 2 cent per pound tax on margarine, which originally was made from excess animal fat harvested from slaughterhouses.5 It was also prohibited to color “artificial butter” yellow to make it look more like real butter,6 while the state of New Hampshire briefly required margarine to be tinted pink.7
Despite the initial backlash, margarine, with its lower price and claims of superior health benefits, soared in popularity by the middle of the century and outpaced butter consumption in 1957.
As saturated fats fell out of favor, and health officials wrongly urged Americans to avoid such healthy fats as butter to reduce their risk of heart disease and lose weight, margarine, which came to be made with refined vegetable oils and trans fats, became the go-to spread and cooking companion.
We now know that refined vegetable oils are among the worst foods to consume, and a prominent study released in 1997, which examined the effects of margarine on cardiovascular disease, revealed that margarine increases your heart attack risk.8 Still, for decades margarine remained more popular than butter; it wasn’t until 2005 that butter regained its top title, and consumption has been on the rise ever since.9
Butter Is Good for You

Butter is still regarded by many as a guilty pleasure, one of those foods that you shouldn’t really be eating, but indulge in anyway because it’s just so good. But this is one case where you can indulge guilt-free, because butter is a health food — especially when it’s made with milk from grass fed cows.
Unlike heavily processed margarine, butter is a whole food that contains nutrients your body needs. This includes:10

Nutrients in Butter

Vitamin A in the most absorbable form
Lauric acid
Lecithin — necessary for cholesterol metabolism and nerve health

Antioxidants
Vitamin E
Vitamin K2

Wulzen Factor — hormone-like substance known to prevent arthritis and joint stiffness (destroyed by pasteurization)
Fatty acids, especially short- and medium-chain in the perfect omega-3 to omega-6 balance
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) — anticancer agent, muscle builder and immunity booster

Vitamin D
Minerals, including selenium, manganese, chromium, zinc, and copper
Iodine in a highly absorbable form

Cholesterol
Arachidonic acid (AA) — brain function and healthy cell membranes
Glycosphingolipids — fatty acids that protect against GI infections

Multiple studies support butter consumption for good health. In a systematic review and meta-analysis of nine publications including 15 country-specific cohorts, butter consumption was not significantly associated with cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease or stroke, but increased consumption was associated with a lower incidence of diabetes.11
A Closer Look at the Beneficial Compounds in Butter

Multiple compounds in butterfat are associated with health benefits. One of the most well-known is CLA, which not only is anticancer, but also heart healthy and anti-inflammatory with antiobesity effects as well.12
Sphingolipids, such as ceramides, sphingomyelin, cerebrosides, sulfatides and gangliosides, are also found in butter. These compounds influence cell regulation and have antimicrobial and immunomodulatory effects, while inhibiting cholesterol adsorption. They also have potential anticancer effects. According to Advances in Food and Nutrition Research:13

“When consumed, sphingomyelin is transformed to ceramide by sphingomyelinase, and further ceramide is digested to sphingosine and a free fatty acid before being absorbed. Ceramide is known as a cancer cell apoptosis inducer. The consumption of sphingomyelin was related to the prevention of colon cancer in mice and humans.”

There’s also butyric acid, an anticancer compound found in milk fat. Butyric acid and its salts, including butyrate, are beneficial for your gut and have beneficial effects on energy homeostasis, obesity, immune system regulation, cancer and brain function. Myristic acid is a long-chain saturated fatty acid also found abundantly in milk fat.
It’s involved in important metabolic processes, and moderate consumption may improve omega-3 fat levels, which could lead to improvements in heart health. The consumption of myristic acid from dairy fat is also linked to increases in HDL cholesterol and decreases in triglyceride levels with additional noted immunomodulatory properties.14
It’s not surprising, then, that accumulating research supports the consumption of whole-fat dairy like butter. The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study,15 published in The Lancet, is among them.
As lead study author Mahshid Dehghan, a senior research associate and nutrition epidemiology investigator at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, noted in the featured study, “Our results showed an inverse association between total dairy and mortality and major cardiovascular disease. The risk of stroke was markedly lower with higher consumption of dairy.”16
Grass Fed Butter Is Best

Keep in mind that butter’s nutritional value depends on how the animals are raised, as the fatty acid composition of butterfat varies according to the animal’s diet. The very best quality butter is raw (unpasteurized) from grass fed cows, preferably certified organic.
The next best is pasteurized butter from grass fed or pastured organic cows, followed by regular pasteurized butter common in supermarkets. Even the latter two are healthier choices by orders of magnitude than margarines or other vegetable-oil based spreads. Why is grass fed butter better? Milk from cows raised primarily on pasture has been shown to be higher in many nutrients, including vitamin E, beta-carotene and the healthy fats omega-3 and CLA.17
The improved fatty acid profile in grass fed organic milk and dairy products brings the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio to a near 1-to-1, compared to 5.7-to-1 in conventional whole milk. This is important, since the majority of Americans eat 10 to 15 times the amount of omega-6s compared to what they eat in omega-3s.18
“Because of often high per?capita dairy consumption relative to most other sources of omega?3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, these differences in grassmilk [grass fed milk] can help restore a historical balance of fatty acids and potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases,” researchers noted.19
A study published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and nutrition also highlighted the differences in human health after consuming the same foods from animals raised in different ways:20

“Multiple studies have shown that food products from animals raised on pasture instead of grains contain significantly higher amounts of nutrients that may protect against cancer, like omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid.
Due to the general recommendation against dietary fat consumption over the past several decades, there has been a lack of scientific dialogue regarding the differences pasture-raised animal byproducts may have on health and cancer prevention.”

Indeed, they found that while lipid levels remained relatively neutral overall, significant differences were found in inflammatory markers and phospholipids depending on whether the animal foods came from animals fed grass or grains:21

“While red meat, butter, cheese, and eggs have been generally treated as nutritional boogeymen with most nutritional recommendations endorsing their avoidance, these individual foods may vary significantly in nutritional value and the corresponding effect on consumers.
Grass-fed butter, n-3 enriched eggs, and wild game meat appear to have a neutral effect on serum lipids while providing a decrease in several inflammatory factors, potentially improving health.
Significant data exist illustrating a marked differing physiological affect from consuming the exact same food produced from animals raised differently, and this finding could have a large impact on population-wide dietary recommendations if controlled for in future studies.”

Dairy Farmers Dump Milk as Butter Sales Climb

It’s ironic that butter sales are through the roof when the dairy industry as a whole has been challenged during the pandemic. In spring 2020, dairy farmers were forced to dump milk as demand from restaurants and schools plummeted. It was forecast that the dairy industry could lose $5 billion to $10 billion in sales over the next six months.22
Two major milk producers — Dean Foods and Borden Dairy — had already filed bankruptcies in November 2019 and January 2020 as U.S. milk sales had declined before the pandemic. However, the pandemic has since had a favorable effect on U.S. retail milk sales, which increased 8.3% from January 2020 to July 18, 2020. During the same period the year prior, sales were down 2.3%.23
For butter producer Land O’Lakes, sales were so strong over the summer of 2020 that they didn’t put nearly as much butter in cold storage as they normally do.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford said, “Often times, even for the retail business, what you do is you make a lot of butter because it’s peak milk production time, and you store it for the key season [during the holidays]. But the buying was so strong that we didn’t do that, because we were selling right off the line.”24

Increasingly, it appears Americans are seeking traditional, whole foods that provide solid nutrition and feelings of comfort, which butter certainly fulfills on both levels.
As mentioned, when seeking out the best butter, skip that made from CAFO milk and support small farmers offering butter made from grass fed cow’s milk. If you can’t find a local farmer at a nearby farmers market, look for the American Grassfed Association (AGA) logo on dairy products, which ensures the highest quality grass fed products.

1 Research shows that children are:
Insignificant disease vectors; they rarely test positive or spread SARS-CoV-2 infection
Research shows young children are insignificant disease vectors as they rarely test positive or spread SARS-CoV-2 infection. Learn more.
Significant disease vectors; they frequently test positive and spread SARS-CoV-2 infection
The No. 1 disease vector for COVID-19
As likely to test positive for and spread COVID-19 as any other age group

2 According to Dr. Reid Sheftall, COVID-19 has an infection fatality rate of 0.1%, which is the same as that from:
Bubonic plague
Influenza (flu)
“… I don’t think the general public would have agreed to lockdowns, for example, if they had known that the infection fatality rate is 0.1% … the same as the flu.” Learn more.
Tuberculosis
Ebola

3 Which of the following has increased as a result of pandemic lockdown measures?
COVID-19 deaths
Scholastic achievement
Domestic abuse, child abuse and suicides
Lockdowns have resulted in dramatic increases in domestic abuse, rape, child sex abuse and suicides. As just one example, in September 2020, Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, admitted a record number of 37 pediatric patients who had tried to commit suicide. Learn more.
Small business revenues

4 Which of the following is associated with and commonly caused by leaky gut?
Breast cancer
Anorexia nervosa
Andropause and menopause
Autoimmune disorders and neuroinflammatory diseases
Chronic inflammatory diseases associated with dysregulation of the zonulin pathway and leaky gut include autoimmune disorders, metabolic disorders, intestinal diseases, neuroinflammatory diseases and cancer of the brain and liver. Learn more.

5 What is sarcopenia?
Age-related muscle loss
Sarcopenia is the loss of skeletal muscle that occurs with age. Learn more.
Premature hair loss/baldness
Age-related bone loss
Collection of inflammatory cells lumping together in lungs, eyes, joints and/or skin

6 As meat processing plants shut down due to COVID-19, US farmers had nowhere to send their animals. The USDA said it would assist by:
Allowing farmers to bring the animals to smaller processing plants
Culling or depopulating the animals
Sullivan received an email from the USDA in April 2020, stating that it would help farmers to find alternative markets for their harvests, and if that couldn’t be done, state veterinarians and government officials would assist with culls, or depopulation, of the animals. Learn more.
Reimbursing farmers for their losses
Ensuring the meat would be processed and distributed to those in need

7 Research shows emotions are contagious. Which of the following emotions tend to be the most “infectious”?
Negative emotions
Neutral emotions
Positive emotions
Negative emotions can “infect” people up to 2 degrees removed, while positive emotions can affect those 3 degrees removed. So, you’re actually more effective as an agent of emotional contagion when you’re filled with positivity. Learn more.
Judgmental emotions specifically

 

A second antimalarial treatment is now being seriously considered and evaluated for its efficacy against COVID-19. The treatment is made from the plant Artemisia annua, which most people know as Sweet Wormwood. Other names for this plant include Annual Sagewort and Sweet Annie.
Research over the past few decades has revealed multiple health benefits from this medicinal herb, which has a centuries-long history of use in folk medicine. In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou received a partial Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin,1 both of which have potent malaria-fighting properties.
As reported by the University of Kentucky,2 “The popular malaria drug artesunate was developed from those compounds and is still used as a first-line treatment for the disease today.”
Artemisinin — A Viable COVID-19 Remedy?

Interestingly, in addition to having a long-standing history of being used as a highly effective antiparasitic, it also has anticancer properties. Additionally, artemisia annua has antiviral activity that might be helpful against SARS-CoV-2.
In an April 8, 2020, press release Mateon Therapeutics reported3 that “Artemisinin is highly potent at inhibiting the ability of the COVID-19 causing virus (SARS-CoV-2) to multiply while also having an excellent safety index.”
After testing the plant’s antiviral effects in a laboratory setting for a couple of years, University of Kentucky researchers are also exploring its use for the treatment of COVID-19,4 as are researchers in Denmark and Germany.5 According to the University of Kentucky:6

“Surprisingly, results showed that the plant’s leaves, when extracted with absolute ethanol or distilled water, provided more antiviral activity than the actual drug itself — meaning that an Artemisia annua-blended coffee or tea could possibly be more effective than taking the drug.”

Based on these findings, researchers have decided to test artemisinin in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Some of the first human studies, set to investigate both the extract blended into coffee and tea, as well as the drug artesunate, were implemented by UK HealthCare.
University of Kentucky researchers have founded a company called ArtemiFlow to develop and manufacture the drug, in collaboration with the Kentucky Tobacco Research & Development Center.7 A sister company, ArtemiLife, is marketing Artemisia tea and coffee to raise research funds.
Mechanism of Action Remains Unknown

As for its mechanism of action, such details still remain to be discovered. C&EN explains:8

“When countering malaria, artemisinin exploits the parasite’s taste for hemoglobin in its host’s blood. As the parasite digests hemoglobin, it frees the iron-porphyrin heme complex from the protein.

Because this heme is toxic to the parasite, the organism normally converts the complex to a more benign crystalline form. ‘But artemisinin corrupts this heme-detoxification pathway,’ says Paul O’Neill, a medicinal chemist at the University of Liverpool.

If artemisinin does have any effect against SARS-CoV-2, though, it likely relies on a completely different mechanism than the one it uses against the malaria parasite, Harvard’s [malaria researcher Dyann F.] Wirth says.”

In Vitro Study Reports Positive Results
An in vitro study9,10 looking at the efficacy of artemisinin-based treatments against SARS-CoV-2, posted on the prepublication server bioRxiv, October 5, 2020, report promising results.
Both pretreatment and treatment with artemisinin extracts, synthetic artemisinin and the drug artesunate were able to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, artesunate was the most potent in terms of treatment, and from a clinical perspective may be the only one worth pursuing.
The study was a collaboration between researchers from Germany, Denmark and Hong Kong, led by Kerry Gilmore, Ph.D., from the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany.
Three artemisinin extracts, as well as pure, synthetic artemisinin, artesunate and artemether were evaluated. During the initial screening for antiviral activity, a German SARS-CoV-2 strain obtained from Munich was used.
Later on, during the concentration-response phase of the trial, they used a Danish SARS-CoV-2 strain from Copenhagen. These two strains are said to be “more closely related to the majority of SARS-CoV-2 strains circulating worldwide than the Wuhan strain.”11,12
In summary, they found that both pretreatment and treatment with artemisinin extracts, synthetic artemisinin and the drug artesunate were able to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection of Vero E6 cells and human hepatoma Huh7.5 cells. That said, artesunate was the most potent in terms of treatment, and from a clinical perspective may be the only one worth pursuing.13,14
World Health Organization Warns Against Its Use

While the world is eager to add another remedy to its COVID-19 treatment list, the World Health Organization has come out in opposition to artemisinin-based products. In a May 27, 2020, article, C&EN reported:15

“One of the most high-profile advocates for using the herbal remedy against the novel coronavirus is Madagascar president Andry Rajoelina, who has been touting Covid-Organics, a tonic containing A. annua that the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research developed …

But health officials are deeply concerned about the promotion and use of these herbal remedies for three principal reasons. First, no evidence exists that A. annua extracts can prevent or cure COVID-19 …

Second, A. annua preparations such as teas, tonics, or herbal capsules also contain a cocktail of bioactive compounds in addition to artemisinin that can have side effects such as dizziness, hearing problems, and vomiting.

Third, and perhaps most worrying of all, widespread use of A. annua herbal extracts could bolster drug-resistant strains of malaria parasites such as Plasmodium falciparum.16

For people living in regions where malaria is endemic, exposure to subtherapeutic doses of artemisinin in A. annua may be enough to kill off some of the parasites in their bodies, but not all of them. Clearing out weakling parasites leaves more room for drug-resistant siblings to proliferate, rendering vital ACTs [artemisinin-based combination therapies] ineffective.”

According to Pascal Ringwald, who heads up the drug resistance and response unit of the WHO Global Malaria Program, artemisinin resistance is a significant problem in Southeast Asia, where Artemisia readily grows and is commonly used.17
That said, this risk is bound to be slight for Americans and people in many other Western countries where malaria is exceedingly rare. According to C&EN,18 “Scientists interviewed by C&EN agree that although this use is against WHO recommendations, it does not risk accelerating resistance because there are so few cases of malaria in the U.S.”

In the video above, American cattle rancher Shad Sullivan from North Texas is interviewed by host Patrick Bet-David about the future of the cattle and meat industry. In April 2020, Sullivan posted a YouTube video1 discussing how U.S. farmers are being forced to dump the food supply — plowing under vegetable crops, euthanizing millions of chickens, aborting sows and burying feeder pigs, and dumping milk by the hundreds of thousands of gallons.
Sullivan says officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are also preparing farmers to depopulate cattle that are ready to harvest due to a “bottleneck created by the effects of COVID and the logistics therein.” Yet, while preparing U.S. cattle ranchers to cull their herds, the U.S. is actively importing beef from other countries.
The first shipment of beef from Namibia, for instance, arrived in the U.S. in April 2020, prompting Sullivan to ask, “Am I the only one that sees a problem in this? … We are importing beef from other countries. Beef that is less regulated than our beef, less safe, not as high-quality of product, and yet, it’s happening. At the same time, they’re preparing for us to euthanize our harvests.”2
USDA Email Told Farmers It Would Assist in Depopulation
Sullivan received an email from the USDA in April 2020, stating that it would help farmers to find alternative markets for their harvests, and if that couldn’t be done, state veterinarians and government officials would assist with culls, or depopulation, of the animals.
In May 2020, the USDA announced that its Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) had established a National Incident Coordination Center that would support producers who could not move their animals due to the closing of processing plants because of COVID-19.
“Going forward,” the announcement stated, “APHIS’ Coordination Center, State Veterinarians, and other state officials will be assisting to help identify potential alternative markets if a producer is unable to move animals, and if necessary, advise and assist on depopulation and disposal methods.”3
As processing plants shut down across the U.S. near the beginning of the pandemic, farmers were forced to euthanize hundreds of thousands of animals, a waste of meat during a time when many are struggling to find food, and a sentence that’s caused emotional and economic damage to farmers.
Because the processing is concentrated into a small number of large facilities, a U.S. government statement noted at the time, “[C]losure of any of these plants could disrupt our food supply and detrimentally impact our hardworking farmers and ranchers.”4
The government also cited statistics that closing one large beef processing plant could lead to a loss of more than 10 million servings of beef in a day, and noted that closing one processing plant can eliminate more than 80% of the supply of a given meat product, such as ground beef, to an entire grocery store chain.5 These highlight the glaring problems that come along with a highly concentrated and centralized food system.
Four Companies Control 85% of the Beef Cattle Supply Chain

Due to the allowance of acquisitions and mergers, four companies — Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef, which is owned by Marfrig Global Foods — control the majority of the U.S. beef supply. These companies are multinational corporations that act as processors and distributors of beef. Decades ago, according to Sullivan, there may have been 800 different processors of beef, where now there are only four.
By taking away all competition, they’ve taken control of the entire industry. In April 2019, Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef were accused of violating federal antitrust law by colluding to drive down the price of cattle they bought from ranchers while boosting retail prices, in order to boost profits.6
According to the lawsuit, which was filed by the Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF), the companies “engaged in tactics — including purchasing fewer cattle than a competitive market would otherwise demand and running their processing plants at less than available capacity” — that had the end result of creating surpluses in the cattle market but shortages in the wholesale beef market.7
“There’s an oligarchy of power and control at the top of the chain,” Sullivan said, “and that trickles down to you … They are able to eliminate competition in the United States while bringing in cheaper, lower quality meat from other countries.” In 2020, the U.S. imported beef from at least 19 countries, including Nicaragua, Japan, Croatia, Lithuania and Chile.
Product of the USA Doesn’t Mean It’s From the US

The original Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) rule, which was approved in 2002 and took effect in 2008, required the country of origin to be listed on meat labels. In 2013, the COOL rule was improved and meat packages were supposed to be required to label where the animal that provided your meat was born, raised and slaughtered.
At the time, industrial meat producers like Tyson, Cargill and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association were among those who spoke out against the rule, calling it unnecessarily costly and “short-sighted,” while fearing it would shrink demand for imported meat.
Unfortunately for U.S. consumers seeking greater transparency in their food sources, the meat giants needn’t have worried because global dictators stepped in and essentially told consumers they don’t have the right to know.
In 2015, the World Trade Organization ruled U.S. law requiring COOL labels on meat was illegal, as it discriminated against Canadian and Mexican meat companies and gave an advantage to U.S. meat producers.8 By removing COOL, multinational companies are allowed to pass off imported meat as U.S.-raised, while U.S. farmers suffer.
As long as it’s processed in a U.S. facility, it can be labeled “Product of USA”9 — even if that processing involves nothing more than unwrapping and rewrapping the package, or cutting a piece of meat into smaller pieces.
The National Cattleman’s Beef Association, a cattle industry lobbying group, continues to push back against mandatory COOL, as processors don’t want the added expense of having to differentiate and label meats from different origins. R-CALF USA, which represents independent cattle producers, is fighting for mandatory COOL, calling it an individual right and liberty issue.
But “it’s a pay to play system,” Sullivan says. “The packers pay to sit on the board of directors and then they’re required to play how the packers want.” When asked how much similarity there is with pharmaceutical lobbyists and lobbyists in the meat industry, Sullivan says, “Very similar … it’s all about money, power and control. Lobbying is power.”
It’s Nearly Impossible for Next Generation to Raise Cattle

There are now 727,906 beef farms and ranches in the U.S. In 1979, Sullivan says, there were 1.2 million to 1.3 million. The dramatic decline is the result of a gradual disappearance because of the lack of competition throughout the industry. As more acquisitions and mergers occur, small farms disappear. Meanwhile, expenses are on the rise, and, without competition in the marketplace, profits fall.
Bet-David asked Sullivan if he would be able to “sell” someone on getting into the industry today, and Sullivan said, “It’s financially impossible.” An individual looking to get into the cattle industry would be faced with the high cost of land, startup costs and overhead, for slight profits, if any, making it a losing proposition for most, especially without a lot of extra cash to pull from.
Currently, Sullivan says he spends $1,200 per animal for a $900 return. “And therefore, across America, we have seen hundreds of thousands of youth not return to the family operation after high school or college.” Sullivan believes that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one-third of the remaining beef farms and ranches in the U.S. may disappear after 2020 — maybe more.
As more farms and ranches shut down, the industry becomes even more concentrated. One thing that can help U.S. farmers is to support mandatory COOL. According to the American Grassfed Association (AGA), “U.S. cattle producers received higher prices for their cattle when the origins of foreign beef was distinguished in the marketplace.”10
As it stands, Americans may be eating imported meat that came from a country with lower standards for their meat, but they have no way of knowing it. This is even true for grass fed beef, about 80% of which is imported into the U.S. from other countries that can produce it at a lower cost.11 It’s a food safety issue, according to Sullivan:

“The consumer doesn’t know where that food safety issue lies. They need to have the choice to do that. And if I’m gone as an individual producer, who fills my shoes now, in this time and age? Nobody.

Only multinational corporations, the conglomerates, the control … We have the highest quality beef supply … we’ve spent the last 150 years improving our herds. We want that to be differentiated from those people who have not worked so hard to be in the U.S. market.”

Regenerative Farming Has Saved Farmers

One way cattle farmers have differentiated themselves in these difficult times is by converting to grass fed, regenerative farming. Allen Williams, Ph.D., a sixth-generation family farmer, has consulted with more than 4,200 farmers and ranchers in the U.S. on soil health, cover-cropping, livestock integration, grazing management and other regenerative agriculture practices.
Many of the farmers and ranchers Allen has worked with over the past 20 years were in deep distress, trying to farm and ranch conventionally, and failing. Many of them were on the brink of losing their farms, which had been in the family for generations. By teaching them regenerative land management techniques, many of them were able to rebuild and prosper financially.

“The average age of farmers and ranchers across the U.S. are people in their 60s and early 70s,” Williams said. “So, we desperately need the younger generation to return to the land, and these regenerative practices allow them to have that opportunity to return and to do it in profitable and viable manner where they can support their young and growing families.”12

Regenerative farming pioneer Will Harris, who runs White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, is another example of how you can accomplish the conversion from conventional to regenerative agriculture and thrive financially. He produces high-quality grass fed products, including beef and other animal products.
The Grassfed Exchange is one resource for ranchers, who can learn how to produce the highest quality beef using 100% grass-based production models.13 Supporting the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act, introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is also beneficial, as it would allow farmers to sell meat processed at smaller slaughtering facilities and allow states to set their own meat processing standards.
Because small slaughterhouses do not have an inspector on staff, a requirement that only large facilities can easily fulfill, they’re banned from selling their meat. The PRIME Act would lift this regulation without sacrificing safety, as random USDA inspections could still occur.14
On an individual level, the best way to support U.S. farmers is to seek out locally produced food as much as possible, including grass fed beef, and buy it directly from the farm or a farmers market whenever you can.

There are several COVID-19 vaccines in development, and some have reached human trials. One of the recently revealed challenges of some forms of the vaccine is a connection to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) — either triggering a false positive test for it or potentially increasing the risk of an HIV infection.
HIV triggers acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). HIV is a retrovirus, which some experts believe is at the heart of several chronic diseases, including myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and autism. While some retroviruses can infect your germ cells, and therefore pass to your offspring, it’s not believed that HIV has that capacity.
The first HIV case was reported in 1981.1 Over the next 35 years, the infection created panic in some communities, raised the risk of death and triggered multiple public health programs. As scientists grew to have a better understanding of the infection, they developed better treatment methods for those who are infected.
By 2019 surgeons at Johns Hopkins Medical Center had performed the first living donor kidney transplant in the U.S. from an HIV patient to an HIV recipient. It was time, effort and science that brought treatment modalities to the point where HIV is now thought of as a chronic disease and not a death sentence.2
Australia Abandons Vaccine After False Positive HIV Tests

In the race to produce a viable vaccine for COVID-19, one developed at the University of Queensland, Australia, was scrapped when scientists found participants developed a false positive test for HIV after vaccination. This affected a $750 million planned order for the vaccine.
The vaccine was developed in a collaboration between the university and biotech company CSL and was one of several using a protein that prompted a response from the human immune system. These types of vaccines have been in use for years and have a known track record, as compared to the newer mRNA vaccines in development.
Examples of protein-based vaccinations include those given for pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type B and hepatitis B. Scientists have also used genetically engineered viruses to prompt the immune system to create antibodies against a pathogen. The technique of modifying the adenovirus has been in development for nearly three decades across several vaccines.4
The problem with the COVID vaccine was with two HIV protein fragments that scientists used to produce a molecular “clamp” on the coronavirus spikes. The clamp was meant to stabilize the virus, allowing an individual’s immune system to effectively develop antibodies after exposure to the vaccine.
While researchers thought there was no risk from the vaccine of directly infecting the volunteer with HIV, the clamp caused trial participants’ bodies to produce antibodies that HIV tests recognized as a positive response.
Even though they felt the vaccine appeared to be safe and effective, they thought the false positive testing for HIV would undermine public trust. In order to continue the development and use of this vaccine, it would have required the current HIV test to be re-engineered to differentiate between those testing positive from the vaccine and those who had the virus. Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke with reporters, saying:5

“We can’t have any issues with confidence and we are as a nation now, with a good portfolio of vaccines, able to make these decisions to best protect the Australian people.”

The New York Times calls this a “misstep”6 “that can inevitably occur when scientists, during a pandemic … rush to condense the usual years-long process to develop vaccines into a matter of months.”
Warning: Modified Virus Vaccine May Increase the Risk of HIV

Currently, the idea is to modify the adenovirus, which normally causes a common cold, with genes from SARS-CoV-2. This tricks the immune system into thinking it has been infected and then producing antibodies against the infection.
Researchers believe the adenoviruses are excellent vectors with several advantages over other viruses for this type of research, including the ease of genetic manipulation and the ability to induce robust T cell and antibody responses.7 However, there have been major drawbacks using adenoviruses in gene therapy and vaccines.
Researchers who had used recombinant adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) vector 10 years ago for an HIV-1 vaccine warned against using the same process for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Published in The Lancet, they outlined the challenges they had faced in two human trials with Ad5 vectored HIV-1 vaccine.
Data from both studies suggested the vaccination could increase the risk of acquiring HIV from the environment more easily than before. The mechanism for this increased susceptibility was not determined, but further exploratory studies suggested the Ad5 vaccine promoted HIV replication in CD4 T-cells, which could potentially make you more susceptible to an HIV infection.8
The results from the Step trial demonstrated the risk of acquiring HIV was higher in uncircumcised men having unprotected anal sex with an HIV-seropositive partner. The data from the Phambili study suggested that vaccinated heterosexual men also had a consistently higher increased risk of infection.
The results were compelling enough that in 2014 the National Institutes of Health acknowledged recombinant Ad5 vaccines may have a major problem as they could “increase susceptibility to HIV infection. This also raised the question of whether the problem extends to some or all of the other recombinant adenovirus vectors currently in development or to other vector-based vaccines.”9
The lead author of this paper was Dr. Anthony Fauci, who went on to recommend “against further use of Ad5 as a vector in HIV vaccines,” as reported by Forbes Magazine.10 These concerns were also reiterated by the researchers of the original HIV-1 vaccine studies, who wrote in The Lancet:11

“On the basis of these findings, we are concerned that use of an Ad5 vector for immunisation against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could similarly increase the risk of HIV-1 acquisition among men who receive the vaccine.

Both the HIV and COVID-19 pandemics disproportionately affect vulnerable populations globally. Roll-out of an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine globally could be given to populations at risk of HIV infection, which could potentially increase their risk of HIV-1 acquisition.”

Emergency COVID Vaccines May Trigger Massive Side Effects

In the past, efforts to vaccinate against other coronaviruses have revealed serious concerns. Vaccines developed for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) tended to trigger antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE).
This means that for some who received the vaccine, it has a paradoxical effect that increases your risk of severe infection if you are exposed to the virus. In other words, the vaccine enhances the virus’ ability to get inside your cells, which results in more severe disease.
This process may manifest in different ways, which include ADE and allergic inflammation caused by Th2 immunopathology. Given what is currently known about the virus and behavior in the body, some scientists have argued that ADE is only one immune enhancement pathology that may cause a dysregulated and potentially dangerous response to a COVID-19 vaccine.12
In May 2020 I interviewed Robert Kennedy Jr., during which he described the well-known hazards of coronavirus vaccines and summarized the history of coronavirus vaccine development. In 2002, following three consecutive SARS outbreaks, vaccine research had begun. Ten years later in 2012, Chinese, American and European scientists were working on a SARS vaccine and had about 30 promising candidates.
Of those, the four best vaccine candidates were then given to ferrets, which are the closest analog to human lung infections. While the ferrets displayed robust antibody response, which is the metric used for vaccine licensing, once they were challenged with the wild virus, they all became severely ill and died.
The same thing happened when they tried to develop an RSV vaccine in the 1960s. RSV is an upper respiratory illness that is very similar to that caused by coronaviruses. At that time, they had decided to skip animal trials and go directly to human trials. Kennedy recounts the experiment, saying:13

“They tested it on I think about 35 children, and the same thing happened. The children developed a champion antibody response — robust, durable. It looked perfect [but when] the children were exposed to the wild virus, they all became sick. Two of them died. They abandoned the vaccine. It was a big embarrassment to FDA and NIH.”

Even Pfizer acknowledges in their clinical protocol that COVID-19 disease enhancement is a real risk following certain vaccinations.14 Despite years of research and alternative development strategies, ADE concerns remain, and, as explained by Kennedy, coronavirus vaccines remain notorious for creating paradoxical immune enhancement.
Coronaviruses Produce Two Types of Antibodies

Coronaviruses produce more than neutralizing antibodies. Instead, they trigger two antibody responses in your body. This difference may be at the heart of why vaccines to prevent coronavirus infections have thus far been ineffective, and sometimes dangerous:

Neutralizing antibodies bind to the virus in a way that blocks the ability of the pathogen to infect your cells.15
Binding antibodies (also known as nonneutralizing antibodies) are produced during an infection but are unable to prevent a viral infection.16

Binding antibodies can also trigger an abnormal immune response.17 Another way to look at this is, instead of protecting you, the vaccine triggers an abnormal response, which causes your immune system to backfire so you develop a severe disease from the infection.
Many of the COVID-19 vaccines currently in development are using mRNA to trigger an immune response by instructing cells to make the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.18 The idea is to create the spike protein so your body produces antibodies, without making you sick in the process. The key question is: Which of the two types of antibodies are being produced through this process?
Weigh a Personal Risk-Benefit Ratio Before You Decide

Regardless of how effective or ineffective COVID-19 vaccines are, it is likely that several will be released to the public in relatively short order — all while racing through a process that normally takes years to ensure some measure of safety.19
Ironically, current data20,21,22 no longer support a mass vaccination mandate, considering that the lethality of COVID-19 is lower than the flu for those under the age of 60.23 If you’re under the age of 40, your risk of dying from COVID-19 is even lower, at just 0.01%, or a 99.99% chance of surviving the infection — and you could improve that further if you’re metabolically flexible and have optimal levels of vitamin D.
Unfortunately, participants in current COVID-19 vaccine trials are not being told that by getting the vaccine they may end up with more severe COVID-19 disease once they’re infected with the virus.24 The speed at which the vaccines are being produced and released may create a second wave of severe disease and death from medical interventions.
In the meantime, as health officials pushed them to develop “warp speed” vaccines, the pharmaceutical companies were unwilling to move ahead unless they were shielded from liability if the vaccine were to produce injuries.25 As one senior executive at AstraZeneca said:26 “This is a unique situation where we as a company simply cannot take the risk …”
The industry is already protected by the 2005 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act that prohibits claims against companies that develop and release products for a public health emergency. Plus, the Supreme Court has also upheld rulings that protect vaccine makers,27 without any seeming regard for the citizens who are injured.
Your decision to vaccinate or not for COVID-19 is currently a personal choice. Before making your decision, consider balancing your risks and benefits, evaluating the research and results of the vaccine and the danger of fatality in your personal circumstances. Also, consider taking significant steps to improve your metabolic flexibility and optimizing your vitamin D levels to lower your risk of severe disease.

Dr. Mercola Interviews the Experts
This article is part of a weekly series in which Dr. Mercola interviews various experts on a variety of health issues. To see more expert interviews, click here.

Thomas Lewis, author of “The End of Alzheimer’s: The Brain and Beyond,” is a microbiologist with a Ph.D. from MIT. He’s done a lot of work on diagnostic testing, and in this interview, we explore how retinal assessment and other laboratory tests can be used to stratify your risk factors for chronic disease and COVID-19. Lewis recently published an excellent paper on this.
We first met almost two years ago at the Academy for Comprehensive Integrative Medicine in Orlando, Florida, where he gave a presentation on how assessment of the retina can be used as a diagnostic tool to evaluate your risk for a wide variety of diseases.
The Eye-Brain Connection

As just one example, glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease are often linked together, with glaucoma occurring first, as they did in Lewis’ father’s case. His dad developed glaucoma several years before he developed Alzheimer’s.
Glaucoma is “Alzheimer’s disease of the eye,” and Alzheimer’s is “glaucoma of the brain.” Similarly, cataracts are a manifestation of your innate immune response against both acute and chronic infection.
Lewis goes so far as to refer to glaucoma as “Alzheimer’s disease of the eye,” and Alzheimer’s as “glaucoma of the brain.” Similarly, cataracts are a manifestation of your innate immune response against acute and chronic infection. If you are, say, 50 years old and you have early nuclear cataracts, it’s a bad sign, as it’s an indication of a chronic infection.
The infection is what’s causing this unfolded protein response to slowly matriculate in the lens of the eye. According to Lewis, “If you have an early cataract, that’s a bad sign for longevity. Most people with cataracts die of some vascular event fairly young.”
Your Eye Is a Window Into Your Overall Health

Lewis explains the general theory for using the eye as a biomarker for systemic disease:

“When you look at disease, in the allopathic system, you’re either healthy or you’re sick. But we really lie on a continuum of health. I say we live on four different continuums, determinants of health, lifestyle, risks, things like that. For physiological health, we measure blood, stool and urine …
For pathology, which is largely ignored, we do ultrasounds, MRIs and CT scans that assess tissue changes. The eye happens to be particularly good at that because the eye is transparent, and the methodology used to measure the eye is low-cost and noninvasive but highly precise and accurate.
For example, optical coherence tomography (OCT) is much more precise at looking at micro vessels, capillaries, compared to MRI because the wavelength of light they use to create the interference is a much shorter wave length. In other words, it gives much more detail than an MRI.”

OCT is a type of tomography that uses safe, nonionizing light waves. At a cash price of about $50, it’s also an affordable diagnostic tool that can tell you a lot about what’s going on in your body.
I was intrigued with the test and found a local optometrist to perform it for me. I hadn’t had an eye exam for a few decades so thought it would be a good checkup. Well, I had no glaucoma, 20/20 vision, near and far without glasses, and my OCT was totally normal, like that of a young adult. It’s great to know that lifestyle changes work. Next month I will share an article on what they have done for my physical body.
Again, because the eye is transparent, OCT allows you to see all the micro vessels, and whatever is happening in this carotid tissue — the vasculature in your eye — is also happening in the rest of your body, as the carotid is the most vascular tissue in your entire body.

“Whereas the brain uses 10 times more oxygen than most tissue on a per mass basis, the retina, which is constantly converting photons to electrons, uses even more oxygen on a per mass basis. If you’re vulnerable, the eye is potentially a canary for that vulnerability,” he explains.

“That’s why we use this test. It’s so simple to see if there are life risks that are translating into physiological risk and then changing into pathological risks. When you’re changing into pathological risk, a bad ending is getting closer because you have tissue damage, basically.”

The COVID Connection

Many common lab tests can also tell you a lot about your health and the state of your immune system. When COVID-19 broke out, Chinese researchers reported patients had elevated ferritin and erythrocyte sedimentation (SED) rate, among other things. Lewis compared the COVID-19 lab panels with the work he’d been doing for the past 15 years, and found they matched up nicely.

“It’s not about treating COVID-19, it’s about measuring how full your vessel is towards these markers that create the cytokine storm, high inflammation, and kill you, and try to modulate that,” Lewis says.

“Why does the Z-Pak treat COVID-19? It doesn’t. It treats bacterial infection, but we all have a subclinical bacterial infectious burden, and that burden is taking up immune system bandwidth, which makes you less able to fight something as virial as COVID-19. That’s why Z-Pak works …
There’s nothing really special about COVID-19 and our immune response, because our immune response is innate and adaptive. It’s [about] being able to more accurately measure your immune compromised status. And almost everything we measure is reversible through very simple processes, supplementation, lifestyle activities, treating the infection, treating the pre-existing virus.”

Understanding Cytokines

One of the most lethal aspects of COVID-19 is the cytokine or bradykinin storm that can develop. A cytokine is a short-lived signaling protein that has regulatory properties on nearby cells. It could be beneficial or it could be detrimental. It could be proinflammatory, or it could be anti-inflammatory.
So, it’s not so much that cytokines are bad — they’re absolutely necessary and you’d be dead in a few heartbeats without them — but when they get out of control, they can kill you. That’s what’s known as a cytokine storm, which I have discussed extensively in previous newsletters. It is one of the reasons why vitamin D works so well; it aborts most cytokine storms through its modulation of your immune response.
Risk Score Versus Diagnosis

What the retinal assessment and various lab assays can do is identify a brewing problem, which can then be addressed using strategies such as nutritional supplementation and lifestyle changes.

“For the average person, knowing where you are on that continuum would be extraordinarily valuable,” Lewis says, “and that’s the testing we’re doing and trying to promote more broadly.”

The key, however, is not to be within the “normal” reference ranges for disease markers, examples of which include fibrinogen, D-dimer, SED rate or C-reactive protein. What Lewis has done is determine the point at which there’s a statistical increase in early mortality. “That sets a completely different set of normal ranges for biomarkers, which is what we use. These ranges are much tighter compared to normal reference ranges, so you are amplifying the signal your body is projecting about your health. We’re not diagnosing people, we’re risk scoring people,” he explains.
Helpful Lab Tests

Screening tests that can help assess the state of your health and immune system include:

1-25 Dihydroxy vitamin D — This is the activated form of vitamin D. Vitamin D increases antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and improves the activity of neutrophils (white blood cells that fight bacteria).

RBC magnesium — Magnesium is an important cofactor for the activation of vitamin D. Taking magnesium can actually reduce the amount of oral vitamin D you require to optimize your vitamin D level.

Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) — This marker alone determines prognosis in most solid tumor cancers. Neutrophils go up when there’s a bacterial infection, while lymphocytes are suppressed by viruses. As explained by Lewis, “The NLR is sort of an amplified barometer for your stealth infectious burden. The absolute count should be 1.5 or below.” Anything above 55% neutrophils is indicative of a chronic, likely bacterial, infection.

Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) — Red blood cells are born small and die large. If your RDW is wide, you likely have plaques and inflamed carotid arteries. Above 16 or 17, RDW could be a sign of anemia, but between 12.5 and 16, it’s a pure sign of inflammation.

C-reactive protein — A marker of inflammation. This should be 0.6 or below.

Fibrinogen — As a signaling molecule for tissue repair, fibrinogen is a good marker for how well your body is able to repair itself. If your fibrinogen is between 150 and 285, your repair and recovery is probably meeting or outpacing wear and tear, allowing you to properly heal and recover.
Above 285, you are probably deteriorating more rapidly than you’re repairing. Fibrinogen is also a clotting factor marker, so in COVID-19 and sepsis, for example, high fibrinogen is indicative of a cytokine storm. Pre-cytokine storm levels are also indicative of several chronic diseases, including heart attack and cancer.

Ferritin — Ferritin is an iron transport protein that becomes elevated in COVID-19 and other serious illnesses. Iron catalyzes growth of bacterial pathogens. Typically, when your blood cells are under attack by a pathogen, your body responds by hiding the iron from the antigen (the infection) in the ferritin protein, thereby resulting in anemia (low iron) and high ferritin.
If you have elevated ferritin, the iron may not be available to the pathogen, but it is still available to the cells of your body.
Iron is a powerful oxidant stressor that will radically increase oxidized species, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species, which activates the NRLP3 inflammasome and radically increases inflammatory mediators and cytokines. The solution for high ferritin is to donate blood. If your ferritin is above 100, consider giving blood periodically.

Fasting insulin — Insulin resistance is a foundational contributor to most chronic disease and significantly increases your risk of complications and death from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Fasting glucose is also a useful test that you can easily do at home.

Uric acid — Uric acid is a multifactorial inflammatory marker. It also helps protect against hypoxia.

Homocysteine — Homocysteine is a vascular toxin associated with heart disease that is influenced by your vitamin B levels. As explained by Lewis:

“LabCorp keeps changing their reference normals, and now they’re as high as 17. But the Framingham’s study shows that with a baseline of 9, every five points higher homocysteine leads to a 40% increase in dementia because it’s a vascular toxicity.”

SED rate — The SED rate is a measurement of how fast your red blood cells settle in a test tube. Red blood cells have a repulsive charge on the outside of their membranes (zeta potential) that allow them to remain buoyant. When this repulsive charge is lacking, they settle faster. As explained by Lewis:

“SED rate is a surrogate for how good your electrical system is working, which I then use as a surrogate for your gut and how well it’s doing at digesting and making minerals bioavailable, because it’s the sodium potassium pump that drives the electric potential of cells, among other minerals.”

Ideally, if your zeta potential is good and high, your SED rate should be close to zero. The lower, the better. The higher your SED rate, the worse off you are, as this means the “battery” of your red blood cells are discharged, which will result in systemic problems and overall low energy levels. Typically, your SED rate will improve once you start to heal and rebalance your gut.

Where to Get These Tests

Your primary care doctor can order any and all of these lab tests for you. However, they may not be able to thoroughly guide your treatment based on your results, which is what Lewis and his team specialize in. So, for testing and a comprehensive analysis, consider turning to www.healthrevivalpartners.com.

“Come through us and we’ll help you solve your problem,” Lewis says. “Under our services tab, we have a COVID-19 service, and there we have five different levels of panels, from just a population screening to a very deep dive. Basically, every marker we talked about today, and more.

Looking at the lipids, the chemistry, liver function, metabolic, all that stuff, is included. We don’t take insurance, but I can order these labs. My team can order these labs anywhere in the country …
We couple the lab test with a highly functional intake survey. What we’ve done, and we were publishing a paper on this, is we’ve created a risk score for every single question and answer that is typically on a functional intake questionnaire, and made it digitized, so it’s online. You take it.
We give you a letter grade, which is sort of a reflection of your total risk portfolio, and then subsections of grades. Then we give you a very detailed color-code report, which really turns into your treatment plan, if you will. We want to ameliorate these different things. And we have health coaches to help you organize them because some things you want to do in series, other things you want to do in parallel. We call this the hierarchy of health.
Anybody who does a blood test gets that. And then our team is trained on how to help you understand your labs from a very detailed chronic perspective, but also look back at the risk factors and show you what risk factors could potentially have led to an elevation in that lab. So, you see a very clear one-to-one correlation.
We give you a letter grade, but there’s a score underneath it. And then we give you what we call our chronic disease temperature, which is the amalgamation of 20 of these important biomarkers into a single score. We have a plot of our chronic disease temperature versus our chronic disease assessment.
It’s a fairly linear thing, showing you that your risks are tied to your physiological health. And then we’ve shown, in populations that we work with, that when we lower their risk grade — just the lifestyle things, cleaning up the teeth, improving the gut, cleaning the diet up, detoxification — as their risk rate goes down, their physiological score goes down, which is a good thing because we want your score as low as possible.

That’s the essence of what we do. We have functional doctors, regular doctors, health coaches.”

Managing Your Expectations

While most health problems can be successfully addressed with nutritional and other lifestyle changes, it’s important to manage your expectations of how long it’s going to take. As noted by Lewis:

“I have a very simple explanation to set expectations up. If it took you 10 years to get into something chronic, it’s going to take you at least 10 months to get out of it. And that’s with diligence, consistency and the proper treatment. When we have really compliant people [working on healing] rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, brain fog, we get this major inflection of health improvement at five months.
Why is that? Because everything in nature is log linear. We are wired to understand that implicitly, but society has taught us instantaneous gratification. We think if we do one thing, we’ll get one result. But really everything is an asymptote, going into disease is an asymptote, so you’re incubating, incubating, incubating, and then suddenly things go wrong.
While getting out of that state is the reverse of that, it takes you a long time to move the needle and start feeling better. Then all of a sudden, you reach that inflection point and you feel better.
Everything in nature, including health, it’s a log linear relationship to get to where you want to be … When people understand that and buy into that concept, then they can stay the course and we can actually make them better. It’s not an overnight thing. That’s the only point I’m trying to make.”

More Information

Again, HealthRevivalPartners.com is where you can sign up for your biomarker panel and receive the guidance you need to address whatever problems you may be having. For more information about the eye-brain connection and what your eye health can tell you about your Alzheimer’s risk, which we touched on at the beginning of this interview, see RealHealthClinics.com.

Dawson Church,1 Ph.D., is a leader in the energy psychology movement, one of the most common forms being the Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), which I have promoted for years. Church investigated and built on the EFT techniques developed by Gary Craig2 in the 1990s (which in turn was a derivative of the founder of energy tapping, Roger Callahan’s, work3).
While Craig was not a clinical investigator, Dawson’s work has led to over 100 clinical trials on EFT. In this interview, Church shares insights from his experience, which he has also documented in the books “Mind to Matter: The Astonishing Science of How Your Brain Creates Material Reality” and “Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity and Joy.”

This information is particularly timely in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the infection itself has been shown to be far less lethal than initially suspected, government responses to it have undoubtedly led to an epidemic of fear and stress, which can have serious health consequences. As explained by Church:

“The stress we feel in our minds and bodies can often do far more harm than pathogens. I’ve done several randomized controlled trials of cortisol.
When you think a negative thought, when you feel stress, when you have a fearful belief, your cortisol level rises within three minutes. Chronically high cortisol produces all kinds of ill effects in your body, including depressed immune function and increased inflammation. The fear will get you even if the virus doesn’t.”

The Importance of Positive Thinking
As noted by Church, our brains are hard-wired and evolutionarily adapted to pay attention to potential threats. Failing to notice a threat can get you killed, whereas there’s no evolutionary reward for failing to notice the good stuff. As a result, most of us need to train our brain to notice the positive, and to feel gratitude.

“We’re subject to a constant barrage of bad news, so it takes meditation, it takes tapping, it takes time in nature,” Church says. “You really have to be deliberate in your efforts to redirect your attention and not have it hijacked by all the bad stuff out there.
What I do in response is to read positive blogs, news and media. That doesn’t mean I never read any bad news, I stay informed, but I make sure I read positive things. I’m reading Marcus Aurelius right now … I meditate for an hour every day. And I anchor myself in what I call in my book ‘Mind to Matter,’ Nonlocal mind.
Tune into nonlocal mind, look out the window and see the roses and the bees and the sunset, and then it’s a lot easier to stay centered when confronted by difficult local events. I also focus on compassion.”

The Benefits of Eco Meditation

In 2008, Church attended a conference where he presented with Roland McCraty,4 head researcher in how the heart and mind interconnect from HeartMath Institute, and Joe Dispenza,5 whose fields include mind-body medicine and brain/heart coherence. Curious about what would happen if he combined the best evidence-based methods, he came up with what eventually became known as “EcoMeditation” — a conglomerate of techniques proven to rapidly increase positivity and well-being. They include:

EFT tapping
Neurofeedback (heart rate variability control)
Mindfulness
HeartMath’s quick coherence technique
Self hypnosis

According to Church, when you do them together, they reinforce each other. “The whole is more than the sum of its parts,” he says. EcoMeditation has now been empirically tested and refined, showing that it can lower baseline cortisol levels by one-third in as little as a week. And, when stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline decline, the neurochemicals of repair and rejuvenation such as DHEA, serotonin and dopamine increase.
In one trial, Church looked at the effects of EcoMeditation on immunoglobulins, antibodies that bind to and neutralize corona viruses. In just two days, participants who did EcoMeditation had a 27% rise in these antibodies in their mucous membranes.

“You produce a huge shift in your immunity by lowering stress,” Church says. “Meditate, tap, use your favorite methods to lower your stress level. This automatically upregulates your immune system.”

Emotions Are Contagious

The year 2020 has been challenging for most people. The drumbeat of negative news can overwhelm even the most resilient among us. In Chapter 2 of “Mind to Matter,” Church talks about a phenomenon called “emotional contagion.” In a nutshell, researchers have shown that emotions have an impact similar to that of infectious disease. They’re contagious, and affect those around us.
Eco meditation is about 15 to 20 minutes long. It doesn’t take long and you’re then making a powerful declaration that you are choosing to be that agent of positive emotional contagion. ~ Dawson Church
He cites one study in which they found that the next-door neighbor of a happy person is 35% more likely to be happy as well, and the neighbor twice removed is 15% more likely to be happy. That person’s neighbor, in turn, who is 3 degrees removed from the happy person is 6% more likely to be happy. The same contagion rule applies when the emotions are negative.

“We’re in the middle of this mass contagion of fear,” Dawson says, “and it is depressing our immune systems, rendering us less resilient, affecting us psychospiritually, making us less able to cope. That’s when we need a bigger dose of positivity, joy and gratitude. We need to do that deliberately. That means meditation, it means consuming positive media. It means not exposing yourself to needless negative emotions.”

The Chemical Effects of Meditation

One of the reasons Dawson recommends meditation is because of the distinct biochemical effects it produces. He explains:

“Mystics describe this experience of oneness with the universe. When they meditate, they lose any sense of as isolated beings. If you look at MRIs of Tibetan monks, you find that the part of the brain that constructs the sense of self — the mid-prefrontal cortex — downregulates. They lose themselves.
Another part of the brain that downregulates is the part of the parietal lobe, the temporal parietal junction that handles ‘proprioception’, the location of our body in space. When they’re in this deep mystical experience, their sense of self has turned off and their brains’ ability to locate their bodies and space is turned off.
At the same time, oxytocin, the love hormone, floods their cells. They experience this ecstatic bliss as anandamide, serotonin and dopamine flood their brains and they’ve lost the sense of who they are and where they are, and they’re literally feeling one with the universe.
Do that each morning using EcoMeditation and you’re one with what I call nonlocal mind. You have that experience of mystical unity. Then, after meditation, you come back into your body, come back to your local mind, your mid prefrontal cortex turns back on, you’re a local self again, your parietal lobe comes back. You know where you are in time and space.
You then bring all the resilience of that contact with nonlocal mind into local reality and you’re then far more effective … Over time, these parts of the brain start to shift into this function as the neurological wiring changes, and then it becomes a trait.”

To show you how effective meditation can be in daily life, Dawson cites a 10-year-long study of high performing people by the McKinsey Consulting Group. It found that those who are able to enter this flow state are five times as productive as ordinary people.
Another study by DARPA described in his book “Bliss Brain” found people who meditate improved their ability to solve complex problems by 490%. “That’s why meditation is a powerful antidote to dealing with all the chaos of the world around us,” Dawson says. These and many other studies can be found on www.eftuniverse.com/research-studies/eft-research.
EcoMeditation Summarized

As mentioned, EcoMeditation incorporates several different techniques, including EFT tapping, breath control and meditation. To download a free EcoMeditation audio track that guides you through each of the steps, see EcoMeditation.com. Step 1 involves tapping a series of acupuncture meridian end points. Dawson explains their relevance:

“Over 100 clinical trials have shown that [tapping] regulates the body. It downregulates your stress. It improves your mood, it decreases anxiety and depression very, very quickly … The research shows that symptoms of trauma, hypervigilance, intrusive negative thoughts, depression — all of these things are regulated by tapping.”

When you’re doing EFT, you first focus on a target problem by formulating a statement. The target problem might be ‘I’m afraid of catching the virus.’ It might be, ‘I’m afraid of dying.’ It might be ‘I’ve lost my job, I don’t know how I will cope.’ However, in Eco Meditation, you tap the points without defining a specific target problem.
“We know that general tapping produces an effect,” Dawson says. It basically regulates your energy system in a general way and helps you enter a space of calm. Next, you add in heart coherent breathing, muscular relaxation, neurofeedback techniques and meditation on compassion.

“There are several things that move the needle in terms of neuroplasticity in the brain quicker than others,” Dawson says the one that changes the brain the quickest is compassion …  a response to the suffering of the world and just a sense of acceptance of people just as they are.
We get people to this compassionate state and then they start to feel really centered, really resilient, really happy. Focus on a person who makes you feel unconditionally loved. That might be a Saint. It might be a historical figure. It might be a childhood hero … Focus on that person and then … expand that compassion to every atom in the universe.
That’s the very general conceptual framework we use to keep people out of trauma. We’ve had to really refine this thing over the years because a lot of people traumatized and it’s very easy to trigger traumatic memories.
If you go into that altered state without adequate preparation, it can be  produce what’s called retraumatization. The instructions for EcoMeditation have been very carefully calibrated to avoid the possibility of retraumatization, which of course is the opposite of resilience, which we’re trying to produce.”
Emotional intensity is also important for optimal results, and the emotion of gratitude typically generates this. As such, compassion and gratitude go hand in hand and work very well together. Lastly, you need to recenter in your body. So, at the end of the meditation, open your eyes and take in your surroundings. You feel the weight of your body in the chair or on the cushion as you re-anchor yourself in the here and now.

“We don’t want people to bliss out and then not be able to bring it back down to the immediate issues of their lives,” Dawson explains. “We want to have them experience that mystical state, and then come back and be effective in their daily lives.”

Sheltering in Love

When California issued its first round of lockdown orders, Dawson and his wife agreed to use that time of increased togetherness to be extra nice to each other — to literally shelter in love. He explains:

“We realized we would be together a lot more than usual. We said we’re going to use this as a crucible to really be nice to each other. We weren’t not nice to each other before, but we knew we’d have tension.
We used this as a way to shelter in love, get to know each other better … I began to learn things about her. I began to be fascinated by her. We used the crisis to strengthen our relationship. Families are systems. When you change one element of a system, you change the whole system.
That’s why, in a marriage, in a family, not everyone has to change. People think that ‘Oh, my husband has to change. My wife has to change. My kid has to change. My parent has to change.’ Actually … your chances of getting them to change are approximately zero. The only person you have leverage over is yourself …
We know, through that new science of emotional contagion, that your emotions are contagious. So, make that choice to work on yourself, to find your negative emotion, to release it, to be this agent of positive emotional contagion all around you and soon you’ll find it spreads far beyond you.
Be proactive. Do the things it’ll take to shift your mood. When we shift psychology, we shift biology. People don’t realize how dependent their biology is on their psychology. For example, in study of  a weekend EcoMeditation, anxiety went down by 26%. Depression went down by 32%. PTSD symptoms went down by 18%. Pain went down 43%. All of these are psychological shifts people are making as they tap and meditate.
Average resting cortisol went down significantly by 29%. The resting heart rate went down by 5% and their immunoglobulins went up by 27%. These are your leverage points and you can decide proactively to meditate to tap and to release all that negative emotion you have.
Fill your mind with positive thoughts. I’m not saying don’t read anything negative. You can’t avoid it. You need to be well informed. But be informed and see it through the lens of that positive being. Tune into nonlocal mind every day. That’s something you can choose to do.
EcoMeditation is about 15 to 20 minutes long. It doesn’t take long and you’re making a powerful declaration that you are choosing to be that agent of positive emotional contagion. You then enter your day after that morning meditation as a resourceful person, a resilient person.
Are there still problems — financial problems, medical problems, family problems? Sure. There might be all those problems. But now you are a resilient person who is facing those problems and bringing five times the problem-solving ability into that situation.”

For me, personally, the COVID-19 pandemic has probably been one of the best things that’s ever happened to me. I have never been healthier, I think, in my life as a result of this forced discipline to stay at home and pursue a healthy lifestyle, many of which are detailed in Dawson’s book. It’s a great toolbox.
More Information and Free Resources

Again, to learn more about the scientific underpinnings of tapping, visit www.eftuniverse.com/research-studies/eft-research, and for a free eco meditation audio track, see EcoMeditation.com. If you want professional EFT help, you can tap with a practitioner, live via the internet, on tappingplace.com. Free tapping resources and meditations are also available on DawsonGift.org
Also consider picking up a copy of “Mind to Matter: The Astonishing Science of How Your Brain Creates Material Reality,” in which you’ll find 30 different practices that will help reprogram your mind and energetic system, including yoga, Chi Gung, Tai Chi, spending time in nature, grounding and much more. The book is available on Amazon, but you can also get it free — just cover the cost of shipping — if you order it on mindtomatter.com.

“Pick the ones that fit your lifestyle and love yourself enough to do that,” Dawson says. “Make a practice of doing them. Be that proactive person and then you’ll find your whole lifestyle to change.
One of the problems that meditators have [is that] we really have to calibrate ourselves when we meet other people because they’re not here, they’re not full of love, joy and laughter. They’re full of anguish, stress and doubt. [So] you listen to people, you hear their grief and pain and sorrow and loss.
Then, by the end of your time with them, they’ve been affected by your positive emotional contagion and we then can change the emotional tone of our whole world. One of the cool things about those studies is that positive emotions travel out to affect those around you. So, do negative ones, but negative ones only affect people 2 degrees of separation out.
Positive ones affect people 3 degrees of separation out. We’re actually more effective as agents of emotional contagion if we’re positive than negative. So, go out there and meet people where they are. Listen to them if they’re suffering, but then bring the power of joy and beauty and all those benefits of nonlocal mind into your local world and be that powerful change agent …
Do things to love your mind and body, and then be that vibrant person who helps those around you shift. A suffering world needs us now more than ever.”