Lose Them Pounds

1 If you are injured by a pandemic vaccine, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, your only recourse is to:
File an injury claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) within four years from the date of the first manifestation of symptoms
Sue the vaccine manufacturer for damages
Sue the doctor and/or health care facility that administered the vaccine for damages, but not the manufacturer or distributors
File an injury claim with the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), run by the Department of Health and Human Services, within one year of vaccination
If you are injured by a pandemic vaccine, you cannot sue any of the parties involved in getting the vaccine to you. Within one year of vaccination, you would have to file a claim with the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), run by the DHHS. The maximum payout is $250,000 per person; however, you’d have to exhaust your private insurance policy first. CICP will only pay the difference between what your insurance covers and the total CICP payout amount established for your case. Learn more.

2 Which of the following vaccine makers are using a fetal cell line in the production of their COVID-19 vaccines?
AstraZeneca and Jansen Research and Development/Johnson & Johnson
Vaccine makers using a fetal cell line in the development of their COVID-19 vaccines include AstraZeneca, which is using the HEK293 cell line, and Jansen Research and Development (owned by Johnson & Johnson), which is using the PER.C6 cell line. Learn more.
Moderna and Merck
Novavax and Sanofi Pasteur
Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline

3 Who is the president of the EcoHealth Alliance, who is now also leading The Lancet’s COVID-19 Commission charged with getting to the bottom of SARS-CoV-2’s origin?
Andrew Cuomo
Peter Daszak
Peter Daszak is heading The Lancet’s COVID-19 Commission. He is also the president of the EcoHealth Alliance, an organization that has received many millions in funding for coronavirus research that was then contracted to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Emails now prove Daszak was behind the plot to obscure the lab origin of SARS-CoV-2 by issuing a scientific statement condemning such inquiries as “conspiracy theory.” Learn more.
Rita Colwell
William Karesh

4 The so-called “Great Reset” will benefit:
Everyone
Primarily the poor
Wealthy, unelected powerbrokers
As reckless government overreach has destroyed many small businesses and engineered catastrophic unemployment around the world, world leaders are joining the World Economic Forum in calling for a Great Reset of the global economy that will benefit wealthy powerbrokers while enslaving and impoverishing everyone else. Learn more.
The middle-class

5 What can the SARS-CoV-2 PCR test tell you?
Whether you have an active SARS-CoV-2 infection
How serious your infection is
Whether you’re infectious or not
Whether you have viral RNA in your body, but not whether it’s from live virus or inactive/noninfectious RNA
PCR tests cannot distinguish between “live” viruses and inactive (noninfectious) viral particles and therefore cannot be used as a diagnostic tool. They also cannot confirm that 2019-nCoV is the causative agent for clinical symptoms as the test cannot rule out diseases caused by other bacterial or viral pathogens. Learn more.

6 Which of the following most aptly describes the OPPOSITE of technocracy?
Freedom
The goal of all technocratic agendas is to capture all the world’s resources for a small global elite so that they can dictate the lives of everyone. It’s the ultimate form of totalitarianism: total enslavement of mind and body, the opposite of which is freedom. Learn more.
Totalitarianism
Wealth redistribution
Enslavement

7 Which of the following conditions is closely related to Alzheimer’s disease and is often predictive of a future Alzheimer’s diagnosis?
Cataracts
Glaucoma
Glaucoma and Alzheimer’s disease frequently follow each other. Glaucoma can be viewed as “Alzheimer’s disease of the eye,” and Alzheimer’s as “glaucoma of the brain.” Learn more.
Lyme disease
COVID-19

 

While lockdowns were supposed to be temporary — initially just a couple of weeks to “flatten the curve” — nine months into the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s still no end in sight. Thanksgiving was canceled in many parts of the U.S., and many government leaders are now urging residents to cancel their Christmas celebrations too.
What many still don’t realize is that the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic has little to do with the spread of an actual virus, and everything to do with the planned global takeover and implementation of a technocratic agenda known as the Great Reset.
Universal mask mandates, social distancing, business shutdowns, online shopping, working and learning, CRP testing and quarantining of asymptomatic individuals are all forms of “soft indoctrination” to get us used to an entirely new, and unfathomably inhumane, way of life devoid of our usual rights and freedoms.
The Other Klaus

Klaus Schwab is the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. Schwab announced the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset Initiative in June 2020, which includes stripping people of their privately owned assets.
In addition to being a poster boy for technocracy, Schwab also has a strong transhumanist bend, and wrote the book on the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a hallmark of which is the merger of man and machine, biology and digital technology.1
According to Winter Oak — a British nonprofit social justice organization — Schwab and his globalist accomplices are using the COVID-19 pandemic “to bypass democratic accountability, to override opposition, to accelerate their agenda and to impose it on the rest of humankind against our will.”
Indeed, Schwab’s book,2,3 “COVID-19: The Great Reset” urges industry leaders and decision makers to “make good use of the pandemic” and “not letting the crisis go to waste.”
Greatest Wealth Transfer in History Is Underway

While the Great Reset plan is being sold as a way to make life fair and equitable for all, the required sacrifices do not apply to the technocrats running the system.
On the contrary, as noted by Patrick Wood in his recent interview with James Delingpole, featured in “Technocracy and the Great Reset,” the wealth distribution and circular economies promoted by the technocratic elite will never benefit the people, because what they’re really referring to is the redistribution of wealth from the people, to themselves.
Evidence of this can be seen in the decision to allow big box stores to remain open during the pandemic while forcing small businesses to close, no matter how small the infection risk.
There’s really no rhyme or reason for such a decision, other than to shift wealth away from small, private business owners to multinational corporations. Walmart and Target, for example, report record sales this year4 while more than half of all small business owners fear their businesses won’t survive.5
Never before has America seen such an accumulation of wealth in so few hands. ~ Frank Clemente, executive director, Americans for Tax Fairness
Yelp’s September 2020 economic impact report showed that, as of August 31, 2020, 163,735 U.S. businesses had closed and 60% of them are permanent closures.6 Similarly, while working-class Americans filed for unemployment by the tens of millions, the five richest men in the U.S. — Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison — grew their wealth by a total of $101.7 billion (26%), between March 18 and June 17, 2020, alone.7
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the collective wealth of 651 billionaires in the U.S. rose by more than $1 trillion (36%).8 To put their current wealth in perspective, the assets of these 651 billionaires is nearly double that of the combined wealth of the least wealthy 165 million Americans. As noted by Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, “Never before has America seen such an accumulation of wealth in so few hands.”9
That’s technocratic wealth redistribution for you. Ultimately, the Great Reset will result in two tiers or people: the technocratic elite, who have all the power and rule over all assets, and the rest of humanity, who have no power, no assets and no voice.
That the COVID-19 pandemic is a form of class war is also evident in the way rules are enforced. While citizens are threatened with fines and arrest if they don’t do as they’re told, those who lay down the rules repeatedly break them without repercussions.
The PCR Test Hoax

The reason technocratic world leaders and their loyal minions are now calling for the cancellation of Christmas is — as illustrated in our Christmas parody above — because of PCR testing. The number of positive tests are reportedly on the rise, which is said to be proof that the infection is spreading out of control.
However, evidence shows there’s no relationship between positive tests and deaths, and the reason for this is because the false positive rate for the PCR test is extraordinarily high. We’re simply quarantining and preventing healthy people who pose no risk to anyone from living their lives.
A September 28, 2020, study10 in Clinical Infectious Diseases revealed that when you run a PCR test at a cycle threshold (CT, i.e., the amplification rate) of 35 cycles or higher, the accuracy drops to 3%, resulting in a 97% false positive rate.
According to an April 2020 study11 in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, to get 100% confirmed real positives, the PCR test must be run at no more than 17 amplification cycles.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend running PCR tests at a CT of 40,12 and Drosten tests and tests recommended by the World Health Organization are set to a CT of 45.
By using CTs known to result in false positives, you end up with the appearance of widespread infection, which is then used to keep the pandemic measures going. In reality, COVID-19 has not resulted in excess deaths13,14,15 and were it not for the fact that it’s being used as a cover for the Great Reset, life would have returned to normal months ago.
According to Dr. Roger Hodkinson, one of Canada’s top pathologists and an expert in virology, the COVID-19 pandemic is the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an unsuspecting public.”16 Hodkinson is the CEO of Western Medical Assessments, a biotech company that manufactures COVID-19 PCR tests.
Michael Yeadon, Ph.D., a former vice-president and chief scientific adviser of the drug company Pfizer and founder/CEO of the biotech company Ziarco, is also speaking out about how fraudulent PCR testing is being used to manufacture the appearance of a pandemic that doesn’t really exist, as are Dr. Lee Merritt, members of the German Corona Extra-Parliamentary Inquiry Committee17,18 and many others.
What Vaccines Have to Do With It

If you need more evidence that we’re in the middle of a technocratic takeover, look no further than the mass vaccination agenda and the promotion of fake, lab-grown meat. Bill Gates, another frontline technocrat, has repeatedly stated that we have no choice but to vaccinate everyone against COVID-19.
Naturally, he’s heavily invested in said vaccine and stands to gain handsomely from a global mass vaccination campaign. Technocrats are nothing if not self-serving, all while pretending to be do-gooders — much like COVID Claus in our little video.
But the vaccine program isn’t just about selling vaccines. It’s also a way to implement a global biological surveillance network (which is also why 5G is being rolled out across the globe).
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has funded and promoted a new delivery method for the COVID-19 vaccine that uses a microneedle array rather than conventional injection.19 The microneedles are equipped with fluorescent quantum dot tags. The resulting invisible mark can then be read by a smartphone equipped with a special sensor. This mark will also allow government to track you.
Eventually, your personal identification, medical records, finances and who knows what else, will all be tied together and embedded somewhere on or in your body. Every possible aspect of your biology and life activities will be trackable 24/7. You will also be digitally tied into the internet of things, which eventually will include smart cities.
All the different parts of this giant population control grid fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The global vaccination agenda ties into the biometric identity agenda, which ties into the cashless society agenda, which ties into the social credit system agenda, which ties into the social engineering agenda and so on.

When you follow this experiment to its ultimate conclusion, you find all of humanity enslaved within a digitized prison with no way out. Those who rebel will simply have their digital-everything restricted or shut down.
Fake Meat Is Part of the Reset Too
The rise of fake, lab-grown meat is a puzzle piece of the Great Reset agenda too. According to the World Economic Forum, lab-grown, cultured meat is a more sustainable alternative to conventional livestock, and in the future, we’ll all be eating a lot less meat. As noted on its website:20

“As the world looks to reset its economy, along with food systems, in a cleaner way post-pandemic, one more sustainable solution coming to fruition is cultured meat … Cultured meat takes much less time to grow, uses fewer of the planet’s resources, and no animals are slaughtered.”

But don’t think for a second that this has anything to do with environmental protection. No, it’s about controlling the food supply and preventing food independence. 
Already, multinational corporations have taken over a majority of the global food supply with their patented genetically engineered seeds. Patented cultured meats and seafood will allow private companies to control the food supply in its entirety, and by controlling the food supply, they will control countries and entire populations.

Public health will undoubtedly suffer from this dietary switch, as canola and safflower oil are primary sources of fat in these fake meat concoctions. Vegetable oils are loaded with linoleic acid (LA), an omega-6 fat that, in excess, acts as a metabolic poison, causing severe mitochondrial dysfunction, insulin resistance, decreased NAD+ levels, obesity and a radical decrease in your ability to generate cellular energy.
Our LA consumption 150 years ago was between 2 and 3 grams per day. Today it is 10 to 20 times higher. If fake meat becomes a staple, the average LA intake is bound to increase even further.
Make a Christmas Vow to Undo the Great Reset
The Great Reset is well underway, but it’s not yet too late to stop it. Enough people have to see it and understand it, though. And then they must act. If we want to prevent the Great Reset from destroying life as we know it, we must view civil disobedience as a duty. We must resist it from every angle.

We must reclaim our sovereignty, our right to live free, to open our businesses and move about freely. We must communicate with our elected leaders and demand they not infringe on our constitutional rights. We have to engage in political processes and help educate our local sheriffs of their role as defenders of the constitution. We may also need to support legal challenges.

A small step in the right direction that you can take right now would be to celebrate Christmas like you normally would this week, and not allow the Klaus Schwabs and Bill Gateses of the world rob you of valuable time with family and friends.

There are no guarantees in this life, and for many, this will be their last Christmas. So, spend it well. Cherish life by actually living it and spending it with those you love. Refusing to give up our humanity is how we resist the Great Reset.

Although they sound the same, and some people use the terms interchangeably, flavonoids and flavanols are different. Flavonoids are a family of plant compounds, of which flavanols are one subclass. You can find flavonoids in fruits, vegetables, tea, chocolate and wine. Evidence shows it’s flavanol-rich dark chocolate that improves cognitive performance and mood.
The chemical properties of flavanols impact the bioavailability of the compounds and help determine their biological activity. As a family, flavonoids have antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and neuroprotective properties.
Oregon State University reports there is evidence that some flavonoids can improve cognitive function, but it is not known if they can help lower risk for those who are at risk for cognitive decline and dementia.1
For at least 4,000 years, chocolate has been a symbol of luxury, wealth and power.2 Of all the treats available, chocolate remains one of the most popular in the world. However, while dark chocolate has known health benefits, the same cannot be said for milk chocolate.
Flavanols Raise Brain Oxygenation and Cognitive Performance

In 2017, a meta-analysis was published in Frontiers in Nutrition evaluating the association between cocoa flavonoids and cognitive performance.3 Cocoa and cocoa products are a substantial source of flavanols. Scientists suggest cocoa can help counteract cognitive decline, especially in people at risk.
They speculated that the administration of cocoa flavanols may improve cognitive function and protect performance that occurs during sleep loss in healthy people. A study published in Scientific Reports delved further into this hypothesis.4
Using a randomized double-blind study design with young healthy adults, the researchers showed that cocoa flavanols increased the speed and capacity of brain oxygenation in response to the administration of carbon dioxide.
The participants also exhibited 11% faster performance than baseline when the demand was high.5 ZME Science spoke with Catarina Rendeiro from the University of Birmingham, who led the study. She described what the researchers were looking for, saying:6

“I have been for the last 10-12 years interested in the health benefits of plant-derived flavonoids, particularly their effects on brain and cognitive function. We have known for many years that flavanols from cocoa (in particular) can improve vascular function in humans by improving vessel/arterial function.

These benefits are apparent even after one single dose. However, the extent to which some of these benefits could translate into the brain vasculature was less clear.”

The researchers engaged 18 healthy people whom they tested in two trials. During the first, the participants consumed cocoa rich in flavanols and in the second processed cocoa with low levels of flavanols. Neither the participants nor the researchers were aware of which type had been consumed during the trials.
Two hours later the participants breathed 5% carbon dioxide (CO2) to increase blood flow to the brain. Normally, the air you breathe is composed of 0.04% CO2.7 CO2 causes vasodilation and vascular changes in the brain, including raising blood flow.8 The air delivered to the participants was just over 100 times greater than the normal concentration of CO2 in the air.
The researchers then measured the increased blood flow and oxygenation to the brain using customized helmets. They found the participants who ate high flavanol cocoa showed three times more oxygenated hemoglobin than those who ate the low flavanol cocoa.
Interestingly, the researchers also found a few participants did not show any benefits from flavanols and had the healthiest oxygenation responses. While speaking to ZME Science, Rendeiro said:9

“It is currently unclear why these subjects had higher responses but it might be related to higher levels of fitness, but we did not measure this in the study.

Consuming foods rich in flavanols, such as grapes, green tea, apples, berries can provide levels of flavanols that are beneficial for brain function. The fact that we can see benefits even in a perfectly healthy brain it is good news for all of us. There shouldn’t be any downsides from consuming flavanols from fresh fruits and vegetables …”

Chocolate Improves Taste of Natural Triterpenes

In a second study of cocoa, researchers used 70% cocoa chocolate as a delivery mechanism for ursolic acid and oleanolic acid.10 These are triterpenoid compounds with known pharmacological effects, including liver protection after chemically-induced injury in laboratory animals11 and antimicrobial activity in the fight against human pathogens.12
Oleanolic acid is sold in China for liver disorders and both are recognized as having anti-inflammatory and antihyperlipidemic properties when tested in lab animals.13 Researchers have found the health benefits of ursolic acid may include “anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiapoptotic, and anticarcinogenic effects.”14
An animal study found ursolic acid increased calorie burn, skeletal muscle and brown fat development associated with weight loss, and increased strength. It also improved glucose tolerance.15
The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of consuming 70% chocolate infused with ursolic and oleanolic acids that had been isolated from the Mansoa hirsuta DC plant.16 Initially, the researchers sought a combination with microbiological and sensory properties that were well accepted. There were 100 volunteers who participated in the “acceptance analysis.”
To evaluate the health effect, the researchers engaged 45 volunteers who were divided into a test group, a control group and a placebo group. The test group received a chocolate formulation containing the triterpenes; the placebo group received chocolate without the triterpenes; and the control group was instructed not to eat any chocolate of any kind during the course of the study.
The test group received 25 grams (g) of 70% cocoa chocolate with the added triterpenes over a four-week period. All were asked to maintain their regular activities and diet. Before and after the intervention the participants had their weight, height and waist circumference measured. Lipid profile and fasting blood sugar tests were also done.
In the control group in which no one consumed chocolate, there were no significant changes in the anthropometric measurements or lab tests. In the test group, after eating the chocolate with the ursolic and oleanolic acids, 50% lost approximately 2 kilograms (kg) (4.4 pounds) and 73.3% had reduced waist circumference. In the placebo group, which ate the regular chocolate, 86.6% gained weight.
In Moderation, Dark Chocolate Has Health Benefits

As demonstrated by the research discussed above, dark chocolate in moderation may have health benefits, but too much can raise your risk of weight gain and subsequent insulin resistance. Cocoa beans are rich in fat (54%), fiber (16%), protein (11%) and carbohydrates (31%).17
The largest source of bioactive compounds comes from flavonoids, which can improve central and peripheral vascular function. When consumed in moderation, flavanol-rich dark chocolate may improve insulin sensitivity by reducing your body’s oxidative stress and improving endothelial function. This indicates that dark chocolate rich in flavanols may be a beneficial addition to your diet.
However, while dark chocolate has health benefits, milk chocolate does not. Unfortunately, the vast majority of chocolate sold and eaten is in the form of milk chocolate candy, which is loaded with sugar and has minute amounts of healthy cocoa. Additionally, one study found that the added milk proteins can reduce the bioavailability of epicatechin, a flavonoid important to antioxidant activity, in chocolate candies.18
In addition to the flavonoids, researchers have also found theobromine and other methylxanthines in dark chocolate that may affect health.19 For instance, theobromine improved memory in an animal study. But, as with most foods found in nature, the likelihood is the health effects come from the combination of polyphenols found in the food and not from a single ingredient.
There is some evidence that hearing loss may be inversely associated with chocolate consumption, yet it has no effect on tinnitus.20 Another review of the literature analyzed 13 clinical trials and found athletes experienced a reduction in oxidative stress linked to cocoa ingestion, but no clear conclusion could be drawn on the impact it had on exercise performance or recovery.21
A 2013 paper in The Netherlands Journal of Medicine also reviewed the health benefits of cacao, noting that some consider it a “complete food,” as it contains:22

Healthy fats
Antioxidants
Nitrogenous compounds, including proteins, methylxanthines theobromine and caffeine
Minerals, including potassium, phosphorus, copper, iron, zinc and magnesium
Valeric acid, which acts as a stress reducer despite the presence of stimulants

Bitter Chocolate May Help Improve Your Mood
Human trial data from Loma Linda University, presented at the Experimental Biology 2018 annual meeting in San Diego, revealed chocolate helps improve stress levels, inflammation, mood, memory and immune function. The caveat? It must contain at least 70% cacao and be sweetened with organic cane sugar. According to the scientists:23

“While it is well-known that cacao is a major source of flavonoids, this is the first time the effect has been studied in human subjects to determine how it can support cognitive, endocrine and cardiovascular health … These studies show us that the higher the concentration of cacao, the more positive the impact on cognition, memory, mood, immunity and other beneficial effects.”

A number of other studies have confirmed cacao can benefit your heart, blood vessels, brain and nervous system, and helps combat diabetes and other conditions rooted in inflammation.
As noted in a paper published in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity,24 “Cocoa contains about 380 known chemicals, 10 of which are psychoactive compounds” and it “has more phenolics and higher antioxidant capacity than green tea, black tea, or red wine …”

“The antioxidant properties of cocoa or cocoa-derived products enriched in flavonoids may help protect against diseases in which oxidative stress is implicated as a causal or contributing factor.

The phenolics from cocoa may thus protect against diseases in which oxidative stress is implicated as a causal or contributing factor, such as cancer. They also have antiproliferative, antimutagenic, and chemoprotective effects, in addition to their anticariogenic effects.”

Another compound found in cacao is phenylethylamine, which has been shown to boost mood in a way similar to that of tryptophan, which your body converts to serotonin. Cocoa also contains chemical compounds shown to boost mood. One study found the polyphenols in a dark chocolate drink mix helped reduce anxiety and induce a sense of calm when consumed daily for one month.25
There were 72 participants who completed the trial, in which they drank a chocolate drink standardized to 500 milligrams (mg), 250 mg or zero mg of polyphenols. The researchers found those taking the high-dose polyphenol chocolate drink increased their self-assessed calmness and contentedness in relation to those drinking the placebo chocolate drink.
When colorectal cell lines were incubated with cocoa extract for 24 hours in the lab, the researchers found the chocolate had an impact on genetic up and down regulation.26 They believe the results suggest “valuable clues for future clinical studies of cocoa health benefits are highlighted as [an] anticancer agent in this study once validation studies are carried out.”
Cacao to Chocolate — Raw Dark Chocolate Is What You Want

The results of these studies demonstrate the importance of consuming dark chocolate rich in flavanols to experience the health benefits. As I show in this short video above, you can create your own delectable and healthy chocolate treat at home that satisfies your sweet tooth.
Although some people use the terms interchangeably, there is a difference between cocoa and cacao. Many of the studies discussed used a cocoa-based product, but it’s helpful to understand the differences. Cacao is the term used for the evergreen plant and the dried seeds, which ultimately become chocolate. Raw cacao nibs have the highest levels of polyphenols.
Ideally, you’ll want to buy them whole and grind them at home. You can use a coffee grinder for this. You can also nibble on them like you would chocolate chips. A healthy amount would be around one-half to 1 ounce per day. I personally grind 1 tablespoon of raw cacao nibs twice a day and put them into my smoothies.
Cacao becomes cocoa when the beans are roasted and ground into a powder from which most of the fat is removed. Cocoa butter, which you can purchase from health food stores and some grocers, is the yellow fat that’s extracted from the beans.
The cacao beans go through 14 steps in processing before resulting in the chocolate that is ready for distribution to your local store. If the chocolate is processed from cacao seeds that are not roasted, then you’re buying “raw chocolate.”
When you are selecting your chocolate, the evidence shows health benefits are greatest in products with a higher percentage of cacao and lower percentage of sugar. Since cacao has a bitter taste, you’ll also find the higher percentage chocolates are more bitter.
It’s the polyphenols that make the chocolate bitter, so some manufacturers remove them, but it’s also the polyphenols that are responsible for many of the health benefits. That’s why, for health benefits, it’s best to choose 70% or higher cacao chocolate.
On the other hand, “white chocolate” contains only the butter extracted from the beans and none of the cocoa, which is the ingredient chocolate gets its name from. Instead, white chocolate is a health-zapping mix of pasteurized milk, vanilla flavoring and processed sugar.

Chinese herbs may relieve menstrual cramps better than drugs, acupuncture, or heat compression, Australia-based researchers found after studying nearly 3,500 women in several countries.Along with relieving pain, Chinese herbs also reduced the recurrence of cramps over a three-month period.In the study, women were given herbal concoctions to regulate their “qi” (energy) and blood, warm their bodies, and boost their kidney and liver functions. Herbs in the study included, but were not limited to:1. Chinese angelica root 2. Szechuan lovage root3. Red peony root, white peony root 4. Chinese motherwort 5. Cinnamon barkIn one trial, 53 percent of the women who took herbs had less pain, compared with 26 percent in the placebo group.The Chinese herbs were more effective than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), oral contraceptive pills, acupuncture, heat compressions, placebos, or no treatment at all. Chinese herbal medicine has been used to treat menstrual pain for hundreds of years. Up to 50 percent of women of reproductive age experience period pain that leads to absences from school and work.Since relatively small numbers of participants were included in each trial in the study, the researchers recommended further research to confirm their findings.Sources:Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2007, Issue 4 Reuters October 17, 2007

The contraceptive pill may disrupt women’s natural ability to choose a partner genetically dissimilar to themselves. This could result in difficulties when trying to conceive, an increased risk of miscarriage and long intervals between pregnancies. Passing on a lack of diverse genes to children could also weaken their immune systems.Humans tend to be attracted to those with a dissimilar genetic make-up to themselves, maintaining genetic diversity, which is signaled by subtle odors. A research team analyzed how the contraceptive pill affects odor preferences, and found that the preferences of women who began using the contraceptive pill shifted towards men with genetically similar odors.Not only could genetic similarity in couples lead to fertility problems, but it could ultimately lead to the breakdown of relationships when women stop using the contraceptive pill, as odor perception plays a significant role in maintaining attraction to partners, researchers said.

In January of this year, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to talk about health tips. The 62-year-old actress uses bio-identical estrogen cream and progesterone on her other arm two weeks a month.

According to Somers, the bio-identical hormones are identical to the ones created by the human body, unlike conventional hormones, which are made from mare’s urine.
The result has been a media firestorm condemning both Somers and Oprah, including the hit piece in Newsweek linked below. The authors of the piece, Weston Kosova and Pat Wingert, argue that bio-identical hormones are just as synthetic as conventional hormones — although they don’t much discuss the fact that conventional hormones are actually different from the 17-beta-estradiol made by your body, while the bio-identical hormones are 17-beta-estradiol itself.
The real reason for the attacks on bio-identical hormones?

As Somers points out, many doctors, scientists and media figures make a good deal of money off of the pharmaceutical industry.

And one thing you won’t see mentioned in the Newsweek article is the fact that Pat Wingert is the co-author of a pharmaceutically biased book on hormones and menopause, and that  Newsweek is heavily funded by pharmaceutical companies.
This resembles an incident a few years ago when the cattle industry actually sued Oprah Winfrey just for talking about Mad Cow Disease.

Breast cancer rates dropped by half in tandem with the discontinuation of hormone replacement therapy, according to a study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study was reported in the Telegraph in the United Kingdom.
The Telegraph said:

“Dr Prithwish De, of the Canadian Cancer Society, and colleagues, found that use of HRT dropped from 12.7 per cent in 2002 to 4.9 per cent in 2004.
During the same period breast cancer rates dropped by 9.6 per cent even though the same number of women were having mammography tests.
Between 2004 and 2006 use of HRT remained stable at around five per cent of women aged 50 to 59 but breast cancer rates began to increase again.
Dr De wrote: ‘The results support the hypothesised link between the use of hormone replacement therapy and invasive breast cancer incidence and indicate that the sharp decline in breast cancer incidence in 2002 is likely explained by the concurrent decline in the use of hormone replacement therapy among Canadian women.'”

The study’s authors said these numbers support existing evidence of the link between HRT and breast cancer.

By Dr. Mercola

You may be aware, and possibly have experienced firsthand, that antibiotics can cause diarrhea.
This is because antibiotics, by design, disrupt the balance of good and bad bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract, often killing off both beneficial and harmful microorganisms without distinction.
It is through this same mechanism that antibiotics may also be causing you to pack on extra pounds.
In fact, Dr. Martin Blaser, a professor of microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center, suggests that antibiotics may permanently alter your gut bacteria and interfere with important hunger hormones secreted by your stomach, leading to increased appetite and body mass index (BMI).

Antibiotics Lead to Increases in Body Fat and Hunger Hormones

Research by Dr. Blaser has shown that 18 months after antibiotics are used to eradicate H. pylori bacteria, there is a:

6-fold increase in the release of ghrelin (the “hunger hormone”) after a meal
20 percent increase in leptin levels (leptin is a hormone produced by fat tissue)
5 percent increase in BMI

Levels of ghrelin should ordinarily fall after a meal to signal your brain that you’re full and ready to stop eating; an increase would therefore essentially tell your brain to continue eating, leading to weight gain. Further, the increase in leptin levels is concerning because overexposure to high levels of the hormone can lead to leptin resistance, which means your body is unable to properly hear leptin’s signals.
The way your body stores fat is a highly regulated process that is controlled, primarily, by leptin. If you gain excess weight, the additional fat produces extra leptin that should alert your brain that your body is storing too much fat and needs to burn off the excess.
To do this, signals are sent to your brain to stop being hungry and to stop eating. When you become leptin-resistant, your body can no longer hear these messages — so it remains hungry and stores more fat.
Interestingly, you can easily become leptin resistant by eating the typical American diet full of sugar (particularly fructose), refined grains and processed foods … which, like antibiotics, will upset the balance of bacteria in your gut.

Farmers Use Antibiotics to Fatten Up Livestock Quickly

About 70 percent of all the antibiotics produced are used in agriculture — not necessarily to fight disease, but rather to promote weight gain.
As stated by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs:

“Continuous, low-dose administration of an antibiotic can increase the rate and efficiency of weight gain in healthy livestock. The presence of antibiotics likely changes the composition of the gut flora to favor growth. Debate is ongoing as to how gut flora are changed; change may simply be a reduction in numbers, a change in species composition or a combination of the two.
… Some antibiotics may also enhance feed consumption and growth by stimulating metabolic processes within the animal.”

Unfortunately, this practice is also contributing to the alarming spread of antibiotic-resistant disease. As it pertains to your weight, there’s ample reason to believe that this same phenomenon occurs in humans as well, figuratively turning Americans into fatted calves.

Your Gut Bacteria and Your Waistline Go Hand-in-Hand

Research by Dr. Blaser, for instance, found that mice fed antibiotics (in dosages similar to those given to children for throat or ear infections) had significant increases in body fat despite their diets remaining unchanged.
Multiple studies have actually shown that obese people have different intestinal bacteria than slim people, and that altering the microbial balance in your gut can influence your weight. Here are six such studies:

When rats were given lactic acid bacteria while in utero through adulthood, they put on significantly less weight than other rats eating the same high-calorie diet. They also had lower levels of minor inflammation, which has been associated with obesity.
Babies with high numbers of Bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus — which may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, contributing to obesity — appeared to be protected from excess weight gain. This may be one reason why breast-fed babies have a lower risk of obesity, as Bifidobacteria flourish in the guts of breast-fed babies.
Two studies found that obese individuals had about 20 percent more of a family of bacteria known as Firmicutes, and almost 90 percent less of a bacteria called Bacteroidetes than lean people. Firmicutes help your body to extract calories from complex sugars and deposit those calories in fat. When these microbes were transplanted into normal-weight mice, those mice started to gain twice as much fat.
Obese people were able to reduce their abdominal fat by nearly 5 percent, and their subcutaneous fat by over 3 percent, just be drinking a probiotic-rich fermented milk beverage for 12 weeks.
Probiotics (good bacteria) have been found to benefit metabolic syndrome, which often goes hand-in-hand with obesity.
Probiotics may also be beneficial in helping women lose weight after childbirth when taken from the first trimester through breastfeeding.

Healthy Gut Bacteria Cannot Coexist With Antibiotics

Antibiotics can save your life if you develop a serious bacterial infection, but it’s important that you resist the urge to ask your physician for a prescription for every ear, nose, or throat infection you come down with. Likewise for a cold or the flu. Antibiotics are useless against viral infections like these, and when used for this purpose will only harm your health by wiping out the good bacteria in your gut.
Antibiotic use has become so routine in the United States that one round of the drugs may seem like no big deal, but remember that using them drastically alters the makeup of bacteria in your gut, which will need to be rebuilt in order for you to stay in good health. Whenever you use an antibiotic, you’re also increasing your susceptibility to developing infections with resistance to that antibiotic — and you can become the carrier of this resistant bug and even spread it to others.
Ultimately the problem of antibiotic-overuse needs to be stemmed through public policy on a nationwide level, especially in the agricultural community, but I urge you to also take personal responsibility and evaluate your own use of antibiotics, and avoid taking them — or giving them to your children — unless absolutely necessary.
Remember that the foods you eat are also a major source of exposure to antibiotics, so to protect your gut bacteria you should buy primarily antibiotic-free, organically raised meat and produce. Keep in mind that conventionally farmed food is often grown in fertilizer derived from factory-farmed animal waste and human sewage, which may be a source of contamination with antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The Recipe for Healthy Gut Bacteria

Your gut bacteria are vulnerable to your lifestyle. If you eat a lot of processed foods, for instance, your gut bacteria are going to be compromised because processed foods in general will destroy healthy microflora and feed bad bacteria and yeast.
In addition to antibiotics, your gut bacteria are also very sensitive to:

Chlorinated water
Antibacterial soap
Agricultural chemicals
Pollution

Because virtually all of us are exposed to these at least occasionally, ensuring your gut bacteria remain balanced should be considered an ongoing process, and consuming fermented foods is one of the best ways to do this.
One of the reasons why fermented foods are so beneficial is because they contain lactic acid bacteria — a type of beneficial gut bacteria that research shows can help you stay slim.
I have long stated that it’s generally a wise choice to “reseed” your body with good bacteria from time to time by taking a high-quality probiotic supplement or eating non-pasteurized, traditionally fermented foods such as:

Lassi (an Indian yoghurt drink, traditionally enjoyed before dinner)
Fermented  organic grass-fed raw milk, such as kefir
Various pickled fermentations of cabbage, turnips, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, squash and carrots
Natto (fermented soy)

If you do not eat fermented foods on a regular basis, a high-quality probiotic supplement can be incredibly useful to help maintain healthy gut bacteria when you stray from your healthy diet and consume excess grains or sugar, or if you have to take antibiotics.
Also please remember that it is vital to eliminate ALL sugars. They will sabotage any beneficial effects of the fermented foods, as they will act as nutrients for the pathogenic yeast, fungi and bacteria that are in your gut.

Despite widespread publicity, the 2002 landmark study on the potential dangers of hormone therapy for postmenopausal women is completely unknown to most women. 
New research from the Stanford University School of Medicine discovered that only 29 percent of the women surveyed knew anything about the study two years later. Additionally, only 40 percent of the women were able to identify possible risks and benefits linked to hormone therapy. 
Hormone therapy is used to ease your symptoms of menopause, but has also been widely prescribed for preventive purposes, based in part on earlier observational studies that had suggested it could help protect women against heart disease, weak bones, and dementia. 
In July 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) abruptly ended its combination of estrogen and progestin therapy study, as their data discovered higher rates of breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots in the population taking the hormones, compared to those taking placebos. 
Later, in April 2004, WHI also halted the portion of the study for estrogen-only therapy, after finding the hormone did not offer any protective heart disease prevention, but rather increased your risk of stroke and blood clots. 
The WHI findings triggered enormous changes in the use of hormone therapy, and prescriptions had dropped 38 percent by 2003. 
Senior author Randall Stafford, MD, PhD, said their latest survey indicates there’s a huge problem in communicating crucial health information to patients effectively, which in turn is indicative of an even larger problem – ensuring that people can make informed decisions about their medical care. 
Menopause April 10, 2007
Women’s Health Initiative June 21, 2007
WHI March 2, 2007 (The Estrogen-Alone Study Links)
Women’s Health Initiative (The Estrogen-Plus-Progestin Study Links)
Eurekalert September 18, 2007

By Dr. Mercola

Up to 50 million Americans struggle with acne, making it the most common skin disorder in the United States.1
When it strikes during the teen years, it can lead to feelings of self-consciousness, embarrassment and depression. Many severe acne sufferers struggle with low self-confidence, feelings of alienation and social withdrawal as a result.
And it’s not only teens who are affected; one in five U.S. adults also suffers from acne, and for them the psychological toll is often no less severe.
Many are desperate for help to clear their skin, and if the typical face washes and topical treatments don’t work, they may gratefully accept a prescription for the acne drug Roaccutane (generic name, isotretinoin, and formerly sold as Accutane in the United States).

Isotretinoin (Formerly Sold as Accutane) Greatly Overused

This is an extreme step, given that isotretinoin is easily one of the most dangerous drugs ever made. Yet, incredibly it remains the industry standard for treating severe acne. One leading UK dermatologist even recently spoke out to say it is being greatly overused.
More than half a million people worldwide have been prescribed Roaccutane, despite the fact that it’s intended to be used only as a last resort (and even then its use is highly questionable). But UK dermatologist Tony Chu said that often Roaccutane is being offered far more than that:2

“Roaccutane is grossly overused …I’ve seen patients who have been to see a local dermatologist to treat four of five spots and still been offered it … If you read the guidelines it should only be used for people who have severe acne.”

In the United States, it remains one of the most controversial drugs, and Swiss drugmaker Roche, manufacturer of Accutane, has spent most of this century in court defending itself against lawsuits from people whose health has been irreparably damaged by this menacing drug.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Suicide, Depression and More …

Roche has lost nine out of 13 lawsuits since 2007, and was ordered to pay more than $25 million in damages in 2010, plus another $18 million in 2012, to Accutane users who developed inflammatory bowel disease as a result of the drug. Due to generic competition and the exorbitant cost of defending personal injury lawsuits, Roche stopped selling the drug in June 2009.
However, the generic form of Accutane (isotretinoin) is no less deadly and remains available on the marketplace under the names Claravis, Sotret and Amnesteem. Aside from its links to inflammatory bowel disease, Accutane has been implicated as a cause of depression and suicide.
In 2004, brain scans showed that people taking Accutane suffer a 21 percent decrease in activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, a brain area known to mediate symptoms of depression.3 These brain changes may explain the depression, suicidal and aggressive behavior, and psychotic reactions reported by some Accutane users.
Is reducing your acne worth that? In light of this evidence and reports of suicide or suicide attempts associated with the use of isotretinoin, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated:4

“All patients treated with isotretinoin should be observed closely for symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts, such as sad mood, irritability, acting on dangerous impulses, anger, loss of pleasure or interest in social or sports activities, sleeping too much or too little, changes in weight or appetite, school or work performance going down, or trouble concentrating, or for mood disturbance, psychosis, or aggression.

…Patients taking isotretinoin may experience side effects including bad headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, seizures, stroke, diarrhea, and muscle weakness. Additionally, serious mental health problems, such as depression and suicide, have been reported with isotretinoin use.”

Isotretinoin is a Category X Drug for Pregnancy – Guaranteed to Cause Birth Defects

Isotretinoin now has the strongest warning available for any drug category — and was given an FDA Pregnancy Category X rating, which means if you are taking isotretinoin and become pregnant, you are virtually guaranteed to be damaging your baby. Accutane is extremely teratogenic (causing damage to a fetus). According to the FDA:5

“If you are pregnant or may get pregnant, isotretinoin can cause birth defects, miscarriage, premature births, and death in babies.”

The risk is so well-established that anyone taking the drug must go through the FDA’s iPledge system, which was designed specifically to eliminate fetal exposure to this toxic drug. The system requires both the patient and the prescriber to enter in specific information on a monthly basis prior to the drug being dispensed. In the United States, a woman must:

Use two forms of effective contraception simultaneously for one month before, during, and for one month after isotretinoin therapy.
Have two negative urine or blood (serum) pregnancy tests with a sensitivity of at least 25 mIU/ml before receiving the initial isotretinoin prescription (an additional pregnancy test must be taken with each month of additional therapy).

According to the FDA’s iPledge system:6

“There is an extremely high risk that severe birth defects will result if pregnancy occurs while taking isotretinoin in any amount, even for short periods of time. Birth defects which have been documented following isotretinoin exposure include abnormalities of the face, eyes, ears, skull, central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and thymus and parathyroid glands. Cases of IQ scores less than 85 with or without other abnormalities have been reported. There is an increased risk of spontaneous abortion, and premature births have been reported.

Documented external abnormalities include: skull abnormality; ear abnormalities (including anotia, micropinna, small or absent external auditory canals); eye abnormalities (including microphthalmia); facial dysmorphia; cleft palate. Documented internal abnormalities include: CNS abnormalities (including cerebral abnormalities, cerebellar malformation, hydrocephalus, microcephaly, cranial nerve deficit); cardiovascular abnormalities; thymus gland abnormality; parathyroid hormone deficiency. In some cases death has occurred with certain of the abnormalities previously noted.”

If a drug is this toxic to a developing fetus, it certainly does make you wonder how it could possibly be safe for any living creature. Indeed, in addition to teratogenic and psychological adverse effects, Accutane (isotretinoin) users have also reported the following negative effects:

Increased levels of triglycerides and cholesterol in your blood
Increased liver enzyme levels and liver damage
Erectile dysfunction

Headaches and brain swelling
Disturbances of your central nervous system
Seizures

Damage to skin and mucous membranes Premature epiphyseal closure
Hyperostosis (excessive bone growth) and bone demineralization
Neutropenia, agranulocytosis, and rhabdomyolysis (blood disorders)

Development of inflammatory bowel disease
Damage to your eyes including cataracts
Hearing impairment

Pancreatitis
Heart attack and stroke
Allergic vasculitis

Did You Know Acne Can be Treated Naturally?

The root cause of acne is most likely not bacteria or genetics, but environmental factors — particularly your diet. Acne is much less of a problem in non-Westernized societies, where refined carbohydrates, sugar and fructose are consumed in much lower amounts. Solid evidence exists that diets high in sugar and refined carbohydrates are the primary CAUSE of acne.
When you eat grain carbohydrates and sugar/fructose, it causes a surge of insulin and an insulin-like growth factor called IGF-1 in your body.7 This can lead to an excess of male hormones, which cause your pores to secrete sebum, a greasy substance that attracts acne-promoting bacteria. Additionally, IGF-1 causes skin cells known as keratinocytes to multiply, a process that is also associated with acne.
Additionally, these very same foods — refined carbs, such as fructose, sugar and grains — will also increase inflammation in your body, which may trigger acne, and at the same time they will also wreak havoc on the makeup of your intestinal bacteria, which may also play a role.
This is why simply eliminating grains, sugars (particularly fructose), cereals, potatoes, corn, rice, pasta, processed foods, etc., radically improves acne for most people. Fruit contains a fair amount of fructose, so it should be consumed in very limited quantities if you are predisposed to acne. And fruit juices should be strictly avoided since the sugar is very concentrated in them. (Vegetable juices are great, though, especially green juices.)
Additionally, psychological stress may also alter the microflora in your intestines, which could therefore contribute to systemic inflammation that could exacerbate acne and other skin conditions. In one study, researchers noted:8

“Experimental studies show that psychological stress stagnates normal small intestinal transit time, encourages overgrowth of bacteria, and compromises the intestinal barrier. SIBO [small intestinal bacterial over growth] is strongly associated with depression and anxiety, while eradication of SIBO improves emotional symptoms.

Although the frequency of SIBO in acne vulgaris has not yet been investigated, a recent report indicates that SIBO is 10 times more prevalent in those with acne rosacea vs. healthy controls. Correction of SIBO leads to marked clinical improvement in patients with rosacea.”

It’s actually well proven that stress can aggravate acne. One study involving college students found a connection between acne flare-ups and stress from final exams.9 Researchers found that subjects who had the most stress during examination periods also had the worst acne outbreaks, suggesting emotional stress from external sources is a significant factor. While it has been argued that the stress associated with acne is an effect of acne rather than a cause, the above researchers believe this evidence proved otherwise — that it’s the stress that is exacerbating the acne, not vice versa.

Ditch the Drugs and Try This Instead

No one wants to live with acne, but that doesn’t mean you have to resort to toxic drugs to clear your skin. Remember, your complexion is a reflection of your overall health. Don’t forget to incorporate these essential factors into your acne-busting plan:

Sugars/Fructose and Grains: This is probably the single most important step you can take to improve your skin health. If you can eliminate all sugars, fructose and grains for a few weeks there is a major likelihood you will notice rapid improvement in your complexion. Be sure to check out my nutrition plan for a simple guide on how to eat right for healthy skin and overall health.
Water: Drink plenty of fresh, pure water every day. Hydrating your body facilitates cell growth and regeneration, elimination of wastes, and sloughing away dead skin cells. Hydration will also improve your skin tone.
Every day, drink enough water so that your urine is a pale yellow color. If your urine is bright yellow, you probably need to drink more water (unless you take B vitamins, which themselves turn urine bright yellow).

Exercise: Getting plenty of high-intensity exercise helps your body flush out toxins, including those in your skin’s pores. Plus, exercise is vitally important to all other aspects of your heath. If you happen to have access to an infrared sauna, this can be helpful too, because the more you sweat, the more you flush unwanted debris and contaminants out of your pores.
Sleep: Did you know that a good night’s sleep can decrease your stress and lead to clearer skin? Your body’s main time for healing and rebuilding is at night while you sleep, and this applies to your skin. Sleep is also required for good energy and mood.

Proper balance of bacteria: This is especially important if you have been on antibiotics, because those drugs indiscriminately kill off the beneficial bacteria in your gut, without which you cannot have a strong immune system. You can reestablish your bacterial balance by incorporating naturally fermented/cultured foods into your diet and/or taking a high-quality probiotic supplement.
Vitamin D: This important nutrient is crucial for maintaining a healthy immune response, and most people are deficient in it. Without adequate vitamin D, your body cannot control infection, in your skin or elsewhere. Exposing large areas of your skin to appropriate amounts of sunshine is the best way to optimize your vitamin D levels, or alternatively use a safe tanning bed. You should expose your skin until you just barely begin turning pink, which indicates you’ve generated the optimal amount of vitamin D for the day.
If you don’t have access to regular UV exposure, the last option is an oral vitamin D3 supplement, accompanied by regular monitoring of your vitamin D levels with a blood test.
Address your stress: My favorite tool is the Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT. EFT involves tapping your body’s energy meridians with the tips of your fingers to clear emotional blocks, thus restoring balance to your mind and body. EFT is a powerful de-stressing technique that is easy for adults and children to learn. It can even relieve physical complaints such as chronic pain, allergy symptoms, and more. You can also add in other proven stress-busters, such as yoga and meditation.