Author: Dr. Keith Nemec

Dr. Keith Nemec continually applies advanced research for the best alternative health methods to treat the cause of symptoms and diseases of the physical body, mind, and emotions for total health including alternative cancer treatment, irritable bowel syndrome, thyroid treatment, and many more conditions by applying the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health.

Poor Sleep causes Health Problems

“There is increasing evidence that there is a very strong relationship between sleep quality and physical and mental health,” said Dr. Phyllis C. Zee, a professor of neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

“If you have poor sleep, there is an association between that and poor health,” Zee said.

Still, physicians should be asking their patients about the quality and quantity of their sleep, Zee said. “Sleep should be another vital sign,” she said.

In one study, led by Richard L. Nahin, a senior advisor for scientific coordination and outreach at the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, looked at why people had trouble sleeping and how many were using alternative drugs to help them sleep.

Insomnia and trouble sleeping are most often associated with high blood pressure, heart failure, anxiety and depression, according to a national survey of 31,044 adults. “That’s unusual. It had been most often thought that insomnia was quite prevalent on its own, but only 4 percent of the people who said they had insomnia said they had it without any of those conditions,” Nahin said.

The researchers also found that 1.6 million Americans are using alternative therapies, such as melatonin to treat their insomnia. “That’s quite high when you consider that there is very little reliable data on the efficacy and safety of using the products people are using,” Nahin said.

“Another study found that people who have sleep-related breathing disorder — marked by frequent pauses in breathing, labored breathing, or reduced breathing during the night — were two to 2.6 times more likely to develop depression. Moreover, the odds of depression increased as breathing disorders became more severe, according to researcher Paul E. Peppard and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin.

“If you think insomnia is an annoyance and merely something you should tough out, that may be a mistake,” said Michael L. Perlis, director of the Sleep Research Laboratory at the University of Rochester, in New York. “It may lead you down the path to other morbidities. It would also be a mistake because it’s treatable.”

Other studies in the same journal issue found that:

  • Fewer hours of sleep may contribute to poor health in young adults.
  • Those in rural areas who sleep fewer hours appear to weigh more.
  • The immune system may play a role in narcolepsy, a disorder characterized by an uncontrollable urge to sleep.
  • The immune system may be affected by a lack of sleep that contributes to inflammation and a variety of diseases.

-Archives of Internal Medicine, HealthDay

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Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on Poor Sleep causes Health Problems.
Very interesting in this article just confirmed how critical sleep is in your total health. According to the researcher, it says there is increasing evidence that there is a very strong relationship between sleep quality and physical and mental health. And what they found in this research is that sleep is tied into every aspect of your health and from the immune system to the cardio vascular system to the mental emotional state of a person, even to the amount of inflammation in the body. So, it is obvious, it is one of the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health. It is a very important basic step because it was designed by God;

We were designed to go to bed when the sun went down and get up when the sun comes up. And the closer we live on that schedule, the more we are going to balance our immune system, balance our hormonal system including the thyroid gland. We are going to balance our nervous system and neurological system. We are going to decrease the inflammation in our body.

This all comes with proper amount of sleep at the right time. Time is critical. The more hours before midnight has a double effect on the body. Remember if your sleep is decreased and you get little or now pre-midnight sleep you weaken your immune system and increase your cancer risk. A simple treatment is to simply get to sleep by 8PM every day. So the hours between the eight and midnight have a double effect compared to the hours after midnight. So remember, you want to be in bed by eight o’clock, and you want to be up by six. As close to that as you can, the more you will balance your system. Even if you get the same amount of hours, 9 to 9 1/2 hours, but you went to bed at midnight and you woke up at 9:00 – 9:30, this does not balance the system. Because you’ve lost the most critical hours, which were the four hours before midnight.

Also a side note is the use of melatonin for sleep. This is not recommended for the reason that if you take anything that artificially stimulates your hormonal system the system will grow dependent upon that stimulation and stop secreting the hormones on it own. This throws the hormonal system completely out of balance. Instead of taking supplements or medications start on the journey to total health by following the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health.

Thyroid Treatment – Health and Healing

There is a disturbing trend we observed concerning thyroid treatment. Most thyroid sufferers are treated exactly the same! This is the first problem because no two people react the same, especially with endocrine dysfunction.

Your thyroid gland is your gland of metabolism which means it is like the furnace in your house used to keep you warm. If your thyroid gland is functioning too low (hypothyroid) then you will be cold and all the systems of your body will work at a reduced state because the enzymes of the body work and 98.6 degrees F. If your body temperature is less than this because of low thyroid function then all systems that are run with those enzymes are working at less than 100%. The lower the body temperature the more you are negatively affecting all other systems, organs and glands. On the other hand if your thyroid gland is functioning too high (hyperthyroid, Graves, Hashimoto’s) then the body temperature can either be hot or alternating between hot and cold. In these thyroid conditions the body is working too hard; the immune system is overly stressed and this will lead to major health disorders.

So what you want is not too little and not too much but a balance thyroid gland with normal thyroid hormone secretion. It is important to know that the thyroid gland is affected by many other glands, organs and systems. Let us look at some of the major influences on thyroid function:

  1. Nervous system – The brain, brainstem, spinal cord, spinal nerves control every other organ, gland and system in the body. The hypothalamus in the brain controls pituitary gland function and this is the master hormonal gland that controls thyroid function.
  2. Immune system – When the immune system is overly active it is called autoimmune. Hashimoto’s and Grave’s disease are autoimmune thyroid diseases. When the immune system is underactive it can cause thyroid cancer.
  3. Hormonal system – This is the brain via the hypothalamus directly controlling pituitary gland function and the pituitary gland directly controls most all hormonal gland secretions including the thyroid gland. The pituitary, thyroid, thymus, pancreas, adrenals all have to be in balance to heal the thyroid gland.
  4. Digestive System – If you do not digest your food completely it leads to malabsorption, deficiency along with toxic build up. All these negative affect thyroid gland function and your thyroid will never heal and be in optimum health if your digestive system is out of balance.
  5. Elimination System – This is the detoxification system which moves the chemicals and toxins out of the body. If this system is overburdened then the hormonal system is stressed and the thyroid gland will malfunction.
  6. Biochemical System – Unless the biochemical state is balanced with correct diet customized for one’s individual biochemistry, the thyroid gland cannot heal. The thyroid gland needs iodine to produce thyroid hormone. If there is too much iodine in the body it may lead to a hyperthyroid condition or autoimmune thyroid. If there is too little iodine this can lead to hypothyroid or goiter. There is a perfect balance that keeps the body and the thyroid gland in health.
  7. Mental/Emotional State – If the mind and emotions are overly active this causes stress in the hormonal system and causes thyroid conditions to remain active. If the adrenal glands are overly secreting cortisol because of perceived stress, this will inhibit thyroid gland function.

How do you know if you have a thyroid disorder?  There are three main thyroid disorders you should know about:

  1. Hypothyroidism (slow thyroid)
  2. Hyperthyroidism or Grave’s (overfunctioning thyroid)
  3. Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Symptoms of Hypothyroidism

  1. Do you feel fatigued, tired or sluggish?
  2. Do you have cold feet and/or hands?
  3. Do you require excessive amounts of sleep to function?
  4. Do you gain weight easily or have difficulty losing weight?
  5. Do you have difficult or infrequent bowel movements (constipation)?
  6. Are you depressed?
  7. Do you lack motivation?
  8. Do you suffer from morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses?
  9. Do you suffer from thinning hair or excessive hair falling out?
  10. Do you suffer from dryness of the skin and/or scalp?
  11. Do you suffer from mental sluggishness?

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormones. Since the main purpose of thyroid hormones is to “run the body’s metabolism,” it is logical that people with this condition will have symptoms associated with a slow metabolism. Millions of Americans have this more common medical condition…and it often goes undetected in the early stages.  Were you told that your results were “normal” and yet you continue to have symptoms?

Symptoms of Hyperthyroidism or Grave’s Disease

  1. Do you experience heart palpitations?
  2. Do you suffer from inward trembling?
  3. Do you have an increased pulse even at rest?
  4. Are you nervous and/or emotional?
  5. Do you suffer from insomnia?
  6. Do you experience night sweats?
  7. Do you have difficulty gaining weight?

Hyperthyroidism is the medical term to describe an over production of thyroid hormones.  Although this condition is less common, it can precede a slowing down of the thyroid.

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks the thyroid gland (this is an auto-immune disorder).  It is diagnosed by checking for thyroid antibodies (TPO & TGB) and gluten antibodies. Patients suffering from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis will experience symptoms of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism. This means they will experience some or all of the above symptoms.  Since the thyroid gland controls the body’s metabolism, it can affect all of the systems of the body such as the gut, liver, gall bladder, hormones, cholesterol, brain (via neurotransmitters), adrenal glands, breasts, ovaries, and heart.

The only way to completely heal your thyroid gland is to balance all systems of the body and then the body (and the thyroid gland) will do what God intended them to do- they will heal naturally.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is a digestive disorder that manifests most commonly with cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, gas and alternating between constipation and diarrhea. It accounts for up to 70 percent of gastrointestinal complaints seen in general medical practice. One in five Americans, have symptoms of IBS, making it one of the most common disorders diagnosed by doctors. It occurs more often in women than in men, and it begins before the age of 35 in about 50 percent of people.

At times IBS sufferers frequently have straining and cramping when trying to have a bowel movement but often they are able to eliminate only a small amount. If they are able to have a bowel movement, it can have mucus in it. Some people with IBS experience diarrhea, which is frequent, loose, watery, stools. With IBS, along with the diarrhea, there is frequently a feeling of an urgent and uncontrollable need to have a bowel movement.

Others with IBS alternate between constipation and diarrhea. Sometimes those with IBS find that their symptoms subside for a few months and then return in a never-ending cycle, while others have a constant worsening of symptoms over time. In addition, some with IBS feel the need to have a bowel movement after they have already had one.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome does heal naturally without medication or surgery if the condition is treated holistically meaning that one treats the body as a whole instead of focusing on the individual parts like the bowel.

To get to the cause of Irritable Bowel Syndrome you must think of all the systems in the body working together producing a symphony of total health of body and mind. In the order of importance, these systems must be balanced so to heal the source or cause of irritable bowel syndrome instead of treating the effects with medication that never heals the condition, only temporarily patches it up. Remember medications have between 7-500 side effects. This means they can negatively affect this many systems, organs, gland and tissues. Why would you do something that can potentially do so much harm? In an emergency and only for a very short time. To heal IBS we must heal the systems of the body and state of mind.

  1. Nervous system- The brain, brainstem, spinal cord, spinal nerves control every other organ, gland and system in the body.
  2. Immune system- This is actually a circulating nervous system. Most digestive disorders have a strong immune factor to them.
  3. Hormonal system- This is how the nervous system speaks and controls the organs and glands. The pituitary, thyroid, thymus, pancreas, adrenal all have to be in balance to heal IBS and have a healthy digestive system.
  4. Digestive system- If the other digestive organs like the stomach, pancreas and liver are not functioning at 100% then the bowel will suffer and IBS will not heal.
  5. Elimination system- This is the detoxification system which moves the chemicals and toxins out of the body. If this system is malfunctioning then the irritable bowel cannot and will not heal.
  6. Biochemical system- Unless the biochemical state is balanced with correct diet customized for one’s individual biochemistry, the IBS cannot heal.
  7. Mental/emotional state- If the mind and emotions are overly active this causes stress in the digestive system and causes IBS to remain active.

Once you balance these systems, the body (and bowel) will do what God intended it to do- they will heal naturally.

Routine Periodic Fasting Is Good for Your Health

Fasting has long been associated with religious rituals, diets, and political protests. Now new evidence from cardiac researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute demonstrates that routine periodic fasting is also good for your health, and your heart. Research cardiologists at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute are reporting that fasting not only lowers one’s risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant changes in a person’s blood cholesterol levels.

Both diabetes and elevated cholesterol are known risk factors for coronary heart disease. The discovery expands upon a 2007 Intermountain Healthcare study that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death among men and women in America. In the new research, fasting was also found to reduce other cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar levels.

“Fasting causes hunger or stress. In response, the body releases more cholesterol, allowing it to utilize fat as a source of fuel, instead of glucose. This decreases the number of fat cells in the body,” says lead researcher.

“This is important because the fewer fat cells a body has, the less likely it will experience insulin resistance, or diabetes.”

This recent study also confirmed earlier findings about the effects of fasting on human growth hormone (HGH), a metabolic protein. HGH works to protect lean muscle and metabolic balance, a response triggered and accelerated by fasting. During the 24-hour fasting periods, HGH increased an average of 1,300 percent in women, and nearly 2,000 percent in men.
–Intermountain Medical Center

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec comments on Fasting
Gods’ ways are always better than man’s ways. In this study it was shown how powerful a one day water fast can be in your total health maintenance. Not only does it decrease your cholesterol and help balance your blood sugar but it also tremendously increases your human growth hormone naturally in a way that keeps you healthy and does not increase you cancer risk from taking supplemental hormones. Throughout the bible it speaks of the power of prayer and fasting. This lifestyle change can be adopted into you total health regime as a once a week water fast. If this is too drastic then try a once a month one day water fast. Make sure you pick a day that you are not working so that you do not have added stress.

Can Prayer Heal You?

So many people believe in the power of prayer that it’s now caught the attention of scientific researchers.

“Praying for your health is one of the most common complementary treatments people do on their own,” said Dr. Harold G. Koenig, co-director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University Medical Center. “About 90 percent of Americans pray at some point in their lives, and when they’re under stress, such as when they’re sick, they’re even more likely to pray.”

More than one-third of people surveyed in a recent study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine said they often turned to prayer when faced with health concerns. In the poll involving more than 2,000 Americans, 75 percent of those who prayed said they prayed for wellness, while 22 percent said they prayed for specific medical conditions. Numerous randomized trials have been done to assess the effect of intercessory prayer on heart patients’ health. In one such study, neither patients nor the health-care providers had any idea who was being prayed for. The coronary-care unit patients didn’t even know there was a study being conducted. And, those praying for the patients had never even met them. The result: While those in the prayer group had about the same length of hospital stay, their overall health was better than the group that didn’t receive special prayers.

“Prayer may be an effective adjunct to standard medical care,” wrote the authors of this 1999 study.
-Archives of Internal Medicine, HealthDay

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on Can Prayer Heal You?

The interesting thing is this study was showing that majority of Americans pray (90% and even more when they are under stress or they are sick). Prayer is a part of the American lifestyle, also according to the Archives of Internal Medicine; it showed that 75% of those who pray prayed for wellness while 22% prayed for specific medical conditions. Interesting in this is what prayer is and what prayer is not. Let’s talk about what prayer is not.

Prayer is not asking God to make everything perfect and right in your life. Prayer is not a grocery or shopping list that you give to God. Prayer is not positive thinking. Prayer is not wishful thinking. Prayer is not using your mind to make your life most comfortable and easy and smooth and happy. That is not what prayer is. What prayer is, is communion with God. It is communication; it is talking and listening to God. And if we have entered a covenant relationship with Him who created us and sustains us, that marriage relationship covenant with Him; the communication in that marriage relationship is prayer.

True prayer cannot really be studied in any journal, or any research project, because true prayer is just true communication and communion with God. And of course, when one is in communion one will be listening much more than talking, and listening to the voice of God spoken into their heart, it is obvious that every aspect of their body, mind, and spirit health will increase. When one is listening to what God is speaking to the heart, because they have stilled the conscious, racing, running, raging mind that is filled with all the thoughts of the world system, when one is listening to the still, calm pond of the heart and the words that God speaks to that still heart, it’s like drops on the still pond. When we can hear the voice of God spoken into our heart, that truth will set us free in body, mind and spirit. That truth will heal your body, mind and spirit. So, what can you do today?

The biggest thing to improve your total health of body, mind and spirit is learn to be still and know God. To still your mind and follow your heart. Live a life from the heart, not a life from the mind. To live a life of waiting on God and what truth He speaks to your heart, and not the lies that the world system speaks to your mind. How do you know it’s from God and in your heart? Because it will not, in most cases, be comfortable to your mind. If it’s not comfortable, if it’s not easy, if it brings you out of your comfort zone, if it doesn’t make sense, these are usual signs that they are what God has spoken into the heart. Because what is of the heart, is the opposite of what is of the mind.

Now long term into the journey, once you’ve lived the life from the heart, the mind eventually will follow the heart to some extent, they will line up. But at first the mind will totally resist what God speaks to the heart because things that are of the heart and of the Spirit are not things that are of the mind and of the flesh. They are opposing each other. But we can train our mind to follow our heart, but first we have to take the step of faith and always follow our heart.

Vitamin D Can Decrease Or Increase Breast Cancer Formation and Insulin Resistance

In mice models of breast cancer, researchers at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center, found that vitamin D significantly reduced development of estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer both in lean and obese mice, but had no beneficial effect in estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) cancer. In fact, obese mice destined to develop ER- breast cancer were clearly worse off than lean ER- mice if they were given vitamin D in their diet.

The researchers also found that vitamin D reversed insulin resistance in obese mice, no matter which breast cancer subtype they later developed. In lean mice, however, there was no evidence that vitamin D increased insulin sensitivity. “Use of vitamin D supplementation is clearly tricky. In the many studies that have been done studying the effect of vitamin D in different cancer types, there is no straight link between use and benefit,” says the study’s lead investigator, Leena Hilakivi-Clarke, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Oncology. For example, in the colon, vitamin D seems to reduce the risk of cancer development, but it may not have any effect on later stage colon cancer.

There is also concern that vitamin D may increase the risk of prostate, esophagus and pancreatic cancer. In work she has conducted in endometrial cancer, Hilakivi-Clarke found that although vitamin D was not beneficial in lean mice, in obese animals it reverses both early and advanced stages of the cancer. “This is not a vitamin that should be taken lightly,” she cautions. “People need sufficient amounts because it has beneficial effects for overall health that have nothing to do with preventing cancer. But for those who want to boost their use of vitamin D, it is important that they have their individual levels tested by a physician, and that they discuss their desire to use supplements.”
– Georgetown University Medical Center

Comments by Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec on Vitamin D
What this study shows is that more is not always better. There is an ideal physiological dosage for every vital nutrient and that dosage can be attained without harmful effects when it comes from a food source or from the sun exposure. Vitamin D can be beneficial as part of an alternative cancer treatment program if it comes from the sun or vitamin rich foods. If it is taken in supplemental form then it needs to be monitored with vitamin D blood testing. The best way to live the God directed and God designed life is to live the 7 Basics Steps to Total Health Lifestyle each day.

Diet Changes Slow Prostate Cancer

When prostate cancer recurs, eating a plant-based diet and reducing stress may help slow progression of the disease, a study shows. Dr. Gordon A. Saxe of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center and colleagues note that hormone treatment may be used to extend survival when prostate cancer returns. However, they add, the treatment reduces sex drive, causes hot flashes and weakens bones. The researchers investigated whether a plant-based diet might be another way to slow the advance of recurrent prostate cancer, because the typical “Western” diet high in animal protein and low in plant foods has been seen to boost the progression of the disease.

Fourteen men with recurrent prostate cancer participated in the study. They were instructed in how to raise their consumption of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes, and taught how to meditate and do several yoga and tai chi exercises. Just ten of the patients could be evaluated after the 6-month intervention, because two dropped out and two opted for hormone therapy. Compared to the 6 months before the study, the average rate at which the patients’ PSA levels rose slowed down during the dietary modification programs. Four patients actually showed a drop in PSA levels. The rate of PSA rise is the best predictor of survival and cancer spread, according to Saxe. “Our findings suggest that the intervention we employed may have resulted in a slowing of disease progression and, in a few patients, possibly disease reversal,” they write, concluding: “These results provide preliminary evidence that adoption of a plant-based diet, in combination with stress reduction, may attenuate disease progression and have therapeutic potential for clinical management of prostate cancer.”
– Integrative Cancer Therapies

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on Diet Changes  Slow Prostate Cancer.
Very interesting in this study, is that they showed when prostate cancer reoccurs, eating a plant based diet and reducing stress actually helps slow the progression of the disease. In this study, they showed that the standard treatment of hormonal treatment used to extend survival prostate cancer returns, however they found that treatment reduces sex drive, causes hot flashes and weakens the bones. This is because all medications have side effects. If it’s not natural, if it’s not from diet and lifestyle it is going to cause side effects. For every medication put into the body there is a minimum of seven very significant hazardous to your health side effects and some medications have up to 500 side effects. So, what the authors of the research study were seeking is another alternative and they decided to test a plant based versus an animal based diet to see how it affected the disease. So patients were put on a six month intervention. What happened was those that stayed in the study, their PSA levels, which is the sign of prostate specific antigen, which is what they use to measure progression of prostate cancer, it either slowed down the rapid progression in the people eating the plant based diet, or it dropped.

This was not seen in standard people, eating a standard American diet, it just continued to rise at the same expected accelerated rate. So what the author concludes is that the adoption of a plant based diet in a combination of stress reduction may attenuate disease progression and have therapeutic potential for clinical management for prostate cancer. This is just common sense. A diet of living/raw plant based food is the most anti-inflammatory diet available it is also the most disease protective and preventative diet that is available. This diet should be part of an alternative cancer treatment. So a person that would eat this diet, and of course work on, as this study showed, exercises to reduce stress, the two combined are going to reduce stress in the system and decrease inflammation and of course help in the healing of all types of cancer and all types of health challenges.

It is important to understand, animal protein is inflammatory, and inflammation is the root of all disease, including cancer. Refined sugar and flour are also inflammatory. Refined sugar is the most, then animal protein and animal fat the second, the refined flours the third, as far as producing inflammatory reactions in the body. Also very inflammatory are dairy products. Dairy products are the number one allergenic food this due to the casein or milk protein. Casein is extremely allergen and mucous forming. This causes mucous in the respiratory tract, the digestive tract and sinuses. So, how can you avoid these diseases? How can you heal your cancers and all other health challenges? By adopting the diet, the lifestyle changes, as the study showed.

MIT Shows Life Extending Secrets Of Calorie Restriction

Shedding light on why drastically restricting calorie intake prolongs life span in some organisms, MIT researchers report that lowering the level of a common coenzyme activates an anti-aging gene in yeast.

Calorie restriction extends life span in a wide spectrum of organisms, and has been shown to delay the onset or reduce the incidence of many age-related diseases, including cancer and diabetes.

MIT Biology Professor Leonard P. Guarente discovered that calorie restriction activates the silenced information regulator (SIR2) gene, which has the apparent ability to slow aging during the low-calorie diet. This gene makes a protein called Sir2, which is normally activated by the coenzyme molecule NAD. Guarente has shown that SIR2 is integrally tied to extending life span in yeast and in the roundworm. Humans carry a similar gene.

This latest study probes how Sir2 is activated by calorie restriction. The authors report that a coenzyme related to NAD, called NADH (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) inhibits Sir2 by blocking the action of NAD. During calorie restriction, levels of NADH decline in cells. This decrease in NADH allows NAD to better activate Sir2 and thereby extend life span.
– Science Daily

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on MIT helps unlock life extending secrets of calorie restriction.
What this research showed was that calorie restriction activates a certain gene, the SIR2 gene, which has the ability to slow aging. So this was a very interesting study because they found that when you calorie restrict, when you eat 30-40 percent less calories than normally taken in, this gene SRI2, is activated and this slows aging. Also, what they found was not only did it increase longevity, but it increased energy; the ATP formation, which is the molecule of energy. So this is just another of the many studies that have shown that the less we eat of the right food, which is living raw plant based food, the less calories we take in. But eating the right food, the living raw plant based food, the longer our cells will live; the less inflammation will be in our body.

Also a lower calorie plant based diet is one of the best alternative cancer treatment and alternative diabetes treatment strategies. The more energy we would have. Again these are all medical researches. Research documents that just confirm what God said in the beginning. The ideal diet for mankind, for all human kind, was a living raw plant based diet. That’s the only food that was eaten in the Garden of Eden. That was the original plan, diet plan, as stated in the bible, in Genesis 1:29-31, green plants for food. And all medical research confirms, green plants, living raw food, and especially green plants, have the most anti-inflammatory, highest nutrients, most enzymes, most phytochemicals to promote the highest level of health.

So, how can you do keep a healthy diet?

Just start eating more living raw plant based food. Seeds, sprouts, vegetables, sea vegetables, avocadoes, nuts, all sprouted material. The more you can eat in a living raw plant base form, the less inflammation in the body and the longer the cells are going to live. And the less chance you’re going to have of developing any disease. It’s not just one diet factor. Its 7 factors, 7 Basics to Total Health that will decrease inflammation in and increase longevity in your body, long term.

The Moment of No Stress

All stress is a product of living in the past or the future. If you live fully in the moment there is no stress just His love, joy and peace.
– Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec

This is the day (the moment) the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. NIV

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. (His name is I AM not I was or I will be, His name means the infinite, eternal “I AM” moment.) NIV
Love the moment and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.
– Corita Kent

He is living in the moment. He’s at peace with himself because he’s out of step with everyone and everything and he doesn’t care.
– Unknown Author

Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.
– Voltaire

Each moment in time we have it all, even when we think we don’t.
– Melody Beattie

Just live in the moment and not worry about what’s going to happen. Life’s too short.
– Alison Lohman

I live very much, try to, in the moment, and find whichever moment I’m in to be the best.
– Dirk Benedict

We all must live our lives always feeling, always thinking the moment has arrived.
– Tracy Chapman

The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.
– Vivekananda

Lose not yourself in a far off time, seize the moment that is thine.
– Friedrich Schiller

Calorie Restriction Keeps the Heart Healthy

Feeling younger in middle age may be as easy as eating a low-calorie, nutritionally balanced diet, U.S. researchers report.

These types of diets help slow cardiac aging, according to researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Their study included 25 people, aged 41 to 65, who’d consumed a low-calorie diet (about 1,400 to 2,000 calories a day) an average of six years.

Using ultrasound imaging, the team found the hearts of the people on the low-calorie diets appeared more elastic than those of other people the same age who ate a typical Western diet (about 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day).

The hearts of the people on the low-calorie diet were also able to relax between beats in a way similar to the hearts of people 15 years younger. The study appears in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Hearts tend to stiffen and pump less effectively as people get older, but ultrasound examinations showed that the hearts of the people on caloric restriction appeared more elastic than those of the control subjects; that is, the hearts relaxed between beats in a way that is similar to the hearts of younger people. In addition, several heart disease risk factors and inflammatory markers–blood pressure, C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-á), and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-â1)–were lower in the caloric restriction group than in the Western diet group.

“This is the first study to demonstrate that long-term calorie restriction with optimal nutrition has cardiac-specific effects that ameliorate age-associated declines in heart function,” according to principal investigator Dr. Luigi Fontana.

Previous research in mice and rats found their lifespans increased by about 30 percent when they were put on calorie-restricted diets. This diet also protected the animals against cancer and atherosclerosis.

Fontana and his colleagues previously found that people on a very low-calorie diet had low blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, blood pressure scores similar to much younger people, less body fat, and reduced risk of diabetes.
This latest study also found that markers of inflammation indicative of primary aging were much lower in people who ate the calorie-restricted diets.

“It’s very clear from these studies that caloric restriction has a powerful, protective effect against diseases associated with aging,” said Dr. John O. Holloszy, a professor of medicine and co-investigator.

“Caloric restriction does not mean eating half a hamburger and half a pack of french fries and drinking half of a sugary beverage. These people have very good nutrition. They eliminate calories by eating nutrient-dense foods,” Holloszy said.

Calorie-restricted diets avoid refined and processed foods, soft drinks, desserts, white bread and other sources of “empty” calories, as well as limiting animal product consumption.
–Washington University School of Medicine

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on calorie restriction keeps the heart healthy.
Interesting in this study was that as people eat lower calorie, calorie restricted diets, which is a diet very easily sustained with a plant based living/raw food diet, it is the easiest way to eat a calorie restricted diet. Because if you are eating living/raw food in the right proportions, you will be filled up with the fiber, the raw fat, the raw protein, the raw carbohydrates in the right form filled with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, bioenergy and enzymes.

So, what this study showed was the hearts of people on low calorie diets were able to relax in between beats, and they reacted similarly to people that were 15 years younger in age. Very important to also note that people that were calorie restricted or eating this lower calorie diet, the blood vessels appeared more elastic. And they were lower in disease risk factors of inflammation, which is C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor. These were very important to understand, this isn’t just for heart health, this was for total health. This study did characterize it as heart health, but when you decrease C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor and transforming growth factors, when these are all inflammation and disease promoting factors, you are going to promote a higher level of health of every cell, tissue, gland and organ in the body. These were all benefits from the calorie restricted diet.

So it is very clear a calorie restricted diet is very simply when we eat a living/raw plant food diet. When we eat a diet high in vegetables, sprouts, seeds, nuts, legumes, avocados, sea vegetables. When we eat a diet of these in the living/raw state, we will be full; we will be highly filled with all the essential nutrients, bioenergy, bioenzymes, and phytochemicals. And we will go to the optimal body weight and we will have the lowest amount of inflammation in our body which would be linked to the lowest possible chances of contracting any diseases. This is a part of a lifestyle that will keep you in total health.

Chemotherapy Treatment for Cancer Has Greater Complications

Sixteen percent of women who underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer experienced serious adverse effects requiring emergency care or hospitalization, according to a new study supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Most of the adverse events were related to serious complications caused by the toxicity of the drugs. These complications, which included anemia, dehydration, and reduced production of white blood cells, also augmented the costs of care.

The odds of experiencing a serious adverse effect increased by 20 percent per month for each additional month of chemotherapy administered to women after their initial breast cancer diagnosis.

“The study highlights the importance of studying how drugs affect people in everyday medical care,” said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. “It is important to know the impact of interventions such as chemotherapy so that patients can make informed decisions about the risks and benefits of their treatment options.”

The study is the first to analyze the risks of serious adverse effects from intravenous chemotherapy in women under age 65 since medications to treat the complications of chemotherapy became more available, the report’s authors said.

More than 8 percent of the women who had chemotherapy were seen in the emergency room or were hospitalized for infection and fever. The proportion of women treated for other chemotherapy-related problems included:

  • Neutropenia or thrombocytopenia—disorders that reduce the production of white blood cells or platelets—5.5 percent.
  • Electrolyte disorders such as dehydration—2.5 percent.
  • Nausea or diarrhea—2.4 percent.
  • Fatigue, dizziness and related conditions—2 percent.
  • Deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism—1.2 percent.
  • Malnutrition—just under 1 percent.

The researchers, who were led by Michael J. Hassett, M.D., with the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
– Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on chemotherapy treatment for cancer has greater complications.
To review, this article it is important to understand that 60% of the women who underwent chemotherapy for breast cancer experienced serious adverse effects as the studies shows requiring emergency care or hospitalization. Interesting is these women exhibited anemia and dehydration and reduced productions of white blood cells. Why? because chemotherapy is poison in the body. And when we put poison in the body, the body reacts. The white blood cell count goes down and this is vital because you need the white blood cell count to go up to fight the cancer. The odds of experiencing adverse effects increase by 20% per month for each additional month of chemotherapy administered to women after initial breast cancer diagnosis. Other interesting studies apart from this study, have shown that in 96-98% of cancers, chemotherapy does not eliminate the disease.

And in the vast majority of cancer such as breast, colon, and lung cancer, they are barely even touched by chemotherapy. Also in additional studies they showed that typically an anti-cancer drug is found to cause a response which is to find as a 50% or greater shrinkage of measurable tumors from one month or more. But this shrinkage of tumor is not the same as extending lives. In case after case, shrinkages are shown not to increase median overall survival. This shrinkage of the tumors, does increase median overall survival when the shrinkage is found in natural methods with the diet and lifestyle changes and other alternative cancer treatment methods.

Chemotherapy suppresses your immune system. Tumor shrinkage has absolutely no correlation with the cure of cancer and the extension of life according to Dr. Ralph Moss. A new study confirmed that some women with breast cancer who received chemotherapy in addition to surgery and radiation have a 28 times greater chance of developing leukemia, than those who avoid such drugs. So to sum this up, the choice is yours but you have to know the risk that is involved when we you put chemicals and toxins and chemotherapy into your body. And also you have to understand that your decisions of what therapies to do should always be lead by the faith of what God puts into the heart instead of the fear that the world system and the medical system puts into your mind.

The next is to be still and wait on God, wait until He confirms your direction of therapy whether it be alternative, whether it be standard conventional chemotherapy, radiation and surgery or whether it be a combination of the two. Again if you follow your heart, the peace will come. And usually that peace does not initially have a peace in the mind because the heart and the mind are usually opposites. So, if a person has a peace in their heart to do alternative therapies then they should do that and do it with all their being.

And if a person has a peace doing standard chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, they should at least do alternative therapies with to soften the devastation of the poisons that are being put into the body. Standard chemotherapy, radiation and surgery especially the chemotherapy destroys cancer cells but also destroys your immune system as the study showed a 28 time greater chance of developing leukemia, cancer of the blood. So if you are going to destroy the body, you need to at least build it back up. So the choices really should be either alternative therapy only, or alternative therapy and standard chemotherapy, radiation and surgery

Diabetes Link With Cancer

A large study of Japanese adults found those with diabetes were more likely to develop cancer, especially of certain organs such as the pancreas and liver.

Men with diabetes in the study of nearly 98,000 people were 27 percent more likely than non-diabetics to be diagnosed with cancer, the study by the National Cancer Center in Tokyo found. Women afflicted with diabetes were also more at risk for cancer.

Study author Manami Inoue wrote that researchers have suspected a link between the two diseases but have not had conclusive evidence.

One theory holds that adult-onset diabetes produces excess insulin that may promote cancer cell growth in the liver or pancreas.

Diabetes – which is on the rise in many parts of the world – may also alter levels of sex hormones that could contribute to ovarian cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.
– Archives of Internal Medicine

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on diabetes linked with cancer
The interesting thing in this study was that they showed that people that have diabetes tend to have a greater increased risk of cancer. This study showed that it was possibly due to the excessive insulin that might promote cancer cell growth in certain organs like the liver and pancreas. I think to further expound upon this it is very important to understand that cancer eats sugar. Cancer is an anaerobic organism. It lives best in low oxygen, it survives in fermentation. And what is the major product that produces fermentation? Sugar. So it is very important to understand that cancer cells eat sugar faster than any cell in the body. Brain cells need the most sugar of all cells of the body and cancer cells consume sugar twice as fast as brain cells. So any sugar that goes into your body, whether in the form of refined sugars, starches, flours, or in the form of just cooked food, which turns into sugar into the body, this all feeds cancer. Everyone has cancer cells in their body, but with a strong immune system, the immune system eats the cancer cells.

The problem is that most people in America have a weakened immune system because they are breaking most all of the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health. So, if cancer eats sugar twice as fast as brain cells, and even faster than all other cells in the body, then it is very important to understand everything that we eat, has the potential to fuel cancer cell growth and tumor formation. So, the ideal diet, the most health promoting and cancer protective diet, is one that is a living/raw plant based diet.

This is a diet of seeds, nuts, legumes, sprouts, vegetables, sea vegetables, avocados, and let me make a side note, it is a diet that is also to void of most fruit. Why? Because fruit has been hybridized over the last 100 years to produce a crop of extreme sweetness. Apples that you eat today are 75-100 times sweeter than they were over 100 years ago. Sweetness sells. So it is important to understand that sugar, excessive even in fruit, can spur cancer cell growth. So it is important that we be very, very cautious on what we put in our body, that would have a sugar content. Vegetables and the living raw food diet of sprouts, sprouted seeds, legumes, avocados, nuts and sea vegetables, these are all acceptable. So to close, it is important for you to understand it is not the disease, diabetes that’s linked with cancer as much as the sugar in the blood and in the body that spurs cancer cell formation and spread. The important way for you to work on being as healthy as God created you to be is by living the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health™.

Value is seeing yourself through God’s eyes

Value is seeing yourself through God’s eyes. You are His most precious possession. You are His very heart. See the value you bring the world in seeing who you are.

The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.
-Thomas Paine

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.
-Albert Einstein

You do not get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.
Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within.
-Franz Kafka

Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.
-Cicero

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. -NIV
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
-NIV

Health is not valued till sickness comes.
-Dr. Thomas Fuller

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can’t buy.
-Izaak Walton

Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness; no laziness; no procrastination; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
-Lord Chesterfield

Surely there comes a time when counting the cost and paying the price aren’t things to think about any more. All that matters is value – the ultimate value of what one does.
-James Hilton

If you really do put a small value upon yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.
-Anonymous

He who undervalues himself is justly undervalued by others.
-William Hazlitt

Sugar Linked with Mental Problems in Norway Study

Oslo teens who drink the most sugary soft drinks also have more mental health problems such as hyperactivity and distress, according to Norwegian researchers.

Their study of more than 5,000 Norwegian 15- and 16-year-olds showed a clear and direct association between soft drink intake and hyperactivity, and a more complex link with other mental and behavioral disorders.

They surveyed the students, asking them how many fizzy soft drinks with sugar they had a day, and then questions from a standard questionnaire used to assess mental health.

The teens who reported skipping breakfast and lunch were among the heaviest soft drink consumers, Dr. Lars Lien and colleagues at the University of Oslo found.

“There was a strong association between soft drink consumption and mental health problems among Oslo 10th grader”.

“This association remained significant after adjustment for social, behavioral and food-related disorders.”

Most of the students said they drank anywhere between one and six servings of soft drinks per week.

Those who drank the most — more than six servings a week – had the highest scores.

For hyperactivity, there was a direct linear relationship — the more sodas a teen drank, the most symptoms of hyperactivity he or she had.

The worst problems were seen in boys and girls who drank four or more soft drinks a day. Ten percent of the boys and 2 percent of the girls drank this much.

The researchers said it was possible that other substances in the soft drinks, such as caffeine, were to blame for the symptoms, and they did not check other possible sources of refined sugar in the children’s diets.
-Reuters, American Journal of Public Health

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on sugar linked with mental problems in Norway.
This was a very interesting study, it’s one that has been known for many years but it’s very good that they did this study to confirm it. What this study showed was, when sugar goes into the body, the sugar was in this study was the form of soft drink intake. When sugar goes into the body as we spoke of before, not only does it weaken your immune system, make you more prone to cancer and all other pathogens, which is bacteria, viruses, parasites, candida, and cancer cell formation. It also throws the mind and emotion balance off and in this study, the children, ages 15 and 16 year olds that drank the most soft drinks had the more mental health problems such as hyperactivity and distress.

Again this has been known for quite a long period of time, ask any school teacher that has younger children; ask them what the two worst days to teach in the school are. They are usually the day after Halloween and the day after Easter. These are the days after kids had the most refined sugar in their system and they become hyperactive, ADD, ADHD, all these things are greatly increased when sugar goes into the body. What is the mechanism? There’s many possible ones, but one is sugar depletes the body of B vitamins. And B vitamins are the vitamins of your nervous system. They are also your anti stress vitamins and your energy vitamins, so it is very important that we don’t stress the system out with refined sugar which depletes our system and causes the nervous system to go into dysfunction. It’s also interesting to note people that eat high sugar diets, or more refined sugars, flours and starches and more cooked food, they tend to have more inflammation in their body. Sugar causes inflammation. Sugar causes pain. Sugar causes, as this study showed mental emotional imbalance and sugar opens the door to most forms of diseases as we spoke of in the past. Increases cancer risk and will increase risk of most all diseases because of the increased inflammation in the body due to the sugar consumption.

So how can we reverse all of this? Very simply, it’s just stop eating it.

These sugars are not necessary in the diet. Children can eat non sweetened sugar in the form of fruit, but non sweetened fruit not genetically altered fruit that is hybrid for sweetness and sugar vegetables are acceptable. But any other sugar form, especially in a cooked form, refined flours, starches and sugars, turn into sugar in the body and throw the mind and emotions out of balance and also increase inflammation and also increase risk of most all diseases.

Obesity Linked to Too Little Sleep

The amount of time people spend sleeping may affect their weight, study results suggest.

The study looked at people living in rural areas. Previous studies conducted in urban and suburban areas have had similar results, which suggests that sleep loss may play a role in the increasing rates of obesity in the US.

Researchers have proposed that shorter sleep duration may affect levels of two weight-control hormones: reduced levels of leptin, a hormone associated with satiety, and increased levels of ghrelin, associated with hunger.

Dr. Neal D. Kohatsu, an epidemiologist at the California Department of Health Services in Sacramento, and his associates were interested in studying rural populations because obesity rates are higher and lifestyle patterns of nutrition, physical activity, work hours, and sleep differ from those in more populous areas.

According to the researchers’ report in the Archives of internal Medicine, theirs is the first study evaluating the relationship between sleep duration and body mass index (BMI) in rural settings. BMI reflects weight in relation to height, with 20-25 classified as normal, 25-30 as overweight, and over 30 as obese.

The team analyzed data collected in an agricultural county in southeastern Iowa, from a survey of a random sample of 990 employed adults. The subjects were asked about sleep duration, physical activity associated with employment, symptoms of depression, alcohol consumption, snoring, and other demographic information. Height and weight were measured during the same visit.

There was a straight-line relationship between a higher BMI and lesser amount of sleep. The average BMI ranged from 30.24 among individuals sleeping less than 6 hours per night, to 28.25 for those who slept more than 9 hours at a time.
– Archives of Internal Medicine

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on obesity linked too little sleep.
In this study the researchers found two weight control hormones, leptin and ghrelin, were associated with shorter sleep and may affect weight gain. What the research showed was people that slept an average of 6 hours or less a night, tended to have a much higher body mass index than people that got more hours, 9 hours or more. So it is very important to understand how does this all work? Yes, less sleep can cause weight gain; it can also lead to a weakened immune system, increased cancer risk, increased heart disease risk, and increased auto immune disease risk.

The key situation is when you do not get enough sleep, and enough sleep means as close to 9.5 hours as you can, but most critically at least 3.5 to 4 of those hours before midnight. This is what the body needs to balance balance the thyroid and the entire hormonal system. As this study showed what happens is, certain hormones goes out of balance, the leptin, which is associated with fullness and the ghrelin, which is associated with hunger, again these are part of the hormonal system. But, melatonin which is secreted by the pineal gland, this has to do with immunity, this also has to do with health, this is affected with sleep. The next one is pituitary, your master hormone gland, this is affected by sleep. And most critically your next one, your thyroid gland, is the one that is most critically affected by sleep after the melatonin secreted by the pineal gland. So your thyroid gland is your gland of metabolism. If your sleep is off, your metabolism will be off. In most cases, it will slow down and if your metabolism slows down, you much more easily gain weight.

So, one of the best ways to keep in the highest level of immune health, total body health, total emotional health, total mental health, is to get that 9.5 hours of sleep with at least 3.5 to 4 before midnight. Because remember, the 3.5 to 4 before midnight has a double affect on the body, a double affect.   So what are you going to do? You want to live the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health each and every day of your life. One of them is sleep which we have talked about. But there are six other very important steps that will help you maintain the ideal body weight or gain or regain your total health of body, mind and emotions.

Scientists Identify Agent that Regulates Appetite

Scientists in Japan have identified a molecule responsible for making mammals feel full, a discovery that could lead to new ways to treat obesity in humans.

Scientists believe appetite is controlled in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus, and the group of researchers claims to be the first to pinpoint an agent that triggers an increase or decrease in appetite.

The scientists identified the molecule as nesfatin-1, which is produced naturally in the brain.

After injecting the molecule into the brains of rats, the rodents began to eat less and lose weight. The researchers also were able to induce the rats to eat more, by blocking nesfatin-1.

“After we injected anti-nesfatin-1 antibody, these rats showed increased appetite and finally showed a progressive increase in body weight,” said Dr. Masatomo Mori of the medicine and molecular science department at Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine.

Mori said the finding could pave the way for treating obesity, which has become a major health problem in the developing world as well as in economically advanced countries.

There are at least one billion overweight adults across the world, 300 million of them considered obese, according to the World Health Organization.

Obesity has been linked to chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and some forms of cancer.
-Reuters, Nature

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on scientists identify agent that regulates appetite.
The interesting but sad thing in this study is, the scientist believe they have found an actual substance that can regulate appetite. The molecules nesfatin-1, which is naturally produced in the brain. So what they did once they found this, which is a byproduct of the region in the brain called hypothalamus, this is the part of the brain that appetite is controlled and they have found this molecule when injected into the brains of rats caused them to eat less and lose weight. The sad thing with this study is what these researchers hope to do with people by making a drug and selling it for a way that people who are overweight can lose weight. They are going to make available a new drug to lose weight. This is not God’s way. This is not God’s plan. It is not the plan to go in and try to pull out a molecule that works in perfect harmony with the rest of the body and try to synthesize it and put it back into the body. This is where down the road, cancer develops. This is where down the road all other imbalances develop because we are not God. We do not know the master plan of how He created the body and by throwing some drug or some medication in to try to control appetite; we have the potential risk of throwing many, many systems out of balance and the risk of producing all types of other diseases.

So, it’s either going to be God’s way or man’s way. God’s way is the way of truth; it’s the way He created nature. The way you lose weight is not by taking a drug or injecting a molecule into yourself. The way you lose weight is you live a lifestyle that God created. It’s a lifestyle of the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health. And one of those basic steps is eating the proper food that God designed. The God designed food is the food that has been around for 10,000 years. The food that was in the Garden of Eden. The food that was not processed or changed by a world filled, flesh filled, ego filled, person. So when we eat the food that God created, our body goes to the normal body weight.

If you look at nature the answer is simply found. Animals eat mostly all living, and some raw food. They do not eat cooked food. Animals are all at their ideal body weight. Animals are not fat, they don’t carry fat unless it is a protective mechanism in some way, then their body naturally produces it for the protective mechanism. But animals do not get overweight. Lions and tigers do not get overweight. Wolves do not get overweight. Your dogs and your cats can become overweight. Why? And they are also prone to all the diseases that you are prone to, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, lung conditions, auto immune diseases, all these things. Lions and tigers and wolves don’t get these things. Why? Because they eat living food. Although they eat meat, they eat it in the living state, they kill it and eat. Whereas your dogs and cats eat processed food, cooked food. And it causes all the inflammation, diseases that affect human beings.

So what is the answer? The answer for weight is not to focus on weight. The answer for weight is to focus on your total health. And when you live a total health lifestyle you will not be overweight. You will go to your ideal body weight. And it’s not just food, which the ideal food which was in the Garden of Eden, which is a living/raw plant based diet. But it is also oxygen intake, it is also water intake, it is also the proper amount of sleep, it is also the proper exercise, it is also fasting and detoxifying the body, and it is also living a lifestyle of prayer, meditation and stillness. These all bring the body into balance. Balance in total health. And if you are in total health, you will never, ever be overweight.

Contentment

To be content is to know who you are, to know who is in control of all things and to know the truth in every situation so that you may experience victory and freedom in every situation.
-Dr. Keith & Laurie Nemec

Phil 4:11-13
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength. NIV

He who desires nothing will always be free.
-Edouard Laboulaye

The only person in this world who enjoys complete contentment is the person who knows that the only worthwhile and satisfying life is to be a means, however humble, to God’s chief end his own glory and praise.
J. I. Packer

1 Tim 6:6-10
But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.  People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. NIV

I am always content with what happens, for what God chooses is better than what I choose.
-Epictetus

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.
-Benjamin Franklin

A mind at leisure from itself beats all rest cures.
-Vance Havner

Let your riches consist, not in the largeness of your possessions, but in the fewness of your wants.
-Anon.

Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty.
-Socrates

The wealthiest man is he who is contented with least.
-Socrates

If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
-C. H. Spurgeon

 Heb 13:5-6
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?” NIV

Overeating: the Brain-Stomach Connection

Scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York have identified brain-stomach connections that motivate the desire to over indulge in food.

Specifically, the research suggests an important role for the hippocampus — the part of the brain associated with motivation, emotion, and memory formation — in controlling “emotional eating.”

“This study opens new territory in understanding how the body and brain connect to each other, and how this connection is tied to obesity,” said Dr. Gene-Jack Wang in a Brookhaven-issued statement accompanying the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“We were able to simulate the process that takes place when the stomach is full and for the first time we could see the pathway from the stomach to the brain that turns ‘off’ the brain’s desire to continue eating,” Wang explained.

To look at how the human brain responds to “fullness” cues, the scientists implanted a gastric stimulator in seven obese individuals for one to two years. The investigational device provides low levels of electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve, causing the stomach to expand and send “fullness” messages to the brain. The device has been shown to curb the desire to eat.

The subjects underwent brain scans with the stomach stimulator in the on and off mode. Prior to the scans, the volunteers were injected with a radioactive molecule that would light up on the scan so the researchers could track brain metabolism.

“We found that implantable gastric stimulators induced significant changes in metabolism in brain regions associated with controlling emotions, effectively shutting down these obese subjects’ desire to eat,” said Wang.

The changes were most pronounced in the hippocampus, where metabolism was 18-percent higher with the stomach stimulator turned on.
The stomach stimulator also sent messages of fullness to brain circuits in the frontal cortex and striatum, brain regions linked to craving and desire for drugs in addicts.

With the gastric stimulator on, the subjects self-reported “emotional eating” scores were 21-percent lower than when the stimulator was off.

“This provides further evidence of the connection between the hippocampus, the emotions, and the desire to eat, and gives us new insight into the mechanisms by which obese people use food to soothe their emotions,” Wang said. “This new pathway should be explored in further studies to determine if there are any implications for treating or preventing obesity.”
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on over eating, the brain stomach connection.
Interesting in this study was the body, mind or body brain connection. What this study showed was when they implanted gastric stimulators in the stomach to make the stomach stretch as if it were full, this kicked in the called the hippocampus which is associated with motivation and emotions and memory formation. So a very interesting tie into emotional eating could be a connection from the body to the mind and emotions and also the other pathway which is from the mind emotions into the body. Also when the stomach stimulator was used it also affected the frontal cortex and striatum areas of the brain, which are linked to craving and desire for drugs in addicts. So when the gastric stimulator was on the emotional eaters, there score was 21% lower than when it was off. The study also shows that this is possibly one of the mechanisms why obese people use food to soothe their emotions. If they keep eating and the stomach stretches and it stimulates the areas of the hippocampus in the brain that soothe those emotions, or work with emotions, this pathway might be explored in other ways.

Now when we really look at this, this is the technical side, the scientific side but really when we look at this part of the brain, the hippocampus, as it said, part of it function is involved with motivation and emotions. Now we have to remember that emotions are a byproduct of mind thoughts. So, the mind patterns or the mental thoughts that we think will produce the emotions. So, one of the biggest reasons people do overeat or emotionally eat is because of the lack of pleasure in their life. Their mind sends the message that I am not happy; I’m not having anything pleasurable, so I need a reward.   So they eat for the reward. And it’s not just eating anything for fullness; they eat things that have been changed by man. They eat the refined sugars, the starches; the things that have been changed that stimulate the body in a negative way. Stimulate the flesh filled mind. So it is important to understand that we do have a choice of living in the flesh or living in the Spirit. If we fix our mind on the world and the world system, it is a system ruled by the flesh and it will feed the flesh. If we live and walk in the Spirit, walk in what God has put in our heart, then we are not going to seek pleasure from the world, from the food, our pleasure is in Him. In our relationship with Him, in our oneness with Him, sitting at His feet each and every moment receiving His love, joy and peace into our hearts. So when people are not receiving from Him, then they will seek to receive from another stimulus, and the number one stimulus that they will reach for is food because it is the greatest addiction and bondage in all of the world. So, to sum up this study, we can break food addictions. We can break obesity. We can break overweight, we can break it all. This will not be accomplished by just eating more to stimulate our stomach. It’s walking in the Spirit living a life from our heart, what God has put in the purpose and the design and plan that He has put in our heart and sitting at His feet and keeping our eyes fixed on Him not the world system. Keeping our eyes fixed on the truth and not the lie and receiving all of our pleasure in life from our relationship, our covenant marriage with Him instead of a relationship a covenant marriage with the world system. It’s your choice, are your going to eat food of the world system, which is refined processed foods, or the food that God made, which is the vegetables, the sprouts, the seeds, the nuts, the foods that have been around as long as mankind has been around, because God created the food. It’s interesting to note that you don’t get addicted to green vegetables. You don’t get addicted to things that God has made the food that He has made. Your addiction comes when you eat the food that has been changed by man, that has been changed by flesh filled, world filled, ego filled minds of men. So again, you have the choice to choose life or death, blessing or curses, to choose to eat the food that God designed you to eat, or the world system designed you to eat. The choice is up to you. To get a greater revelation of these truths you need to learn how to walk in the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health each and every day of your life.

Hormone Therapy Ups Ovarian Cancer Risk

New research suggests that prolonged use of hormone therapy in postmenopausal women increases the risk of developing ovarian cancer.
“We’ve seen a growing body of evidence linking unopposed estrogen and estrogen-plus-progestin to an increased risk of ovarian cancer,” said study author James V. Lacey Jr., an epidemiologist with the National Cancer Institute. “There are still some outstanding questions, but this adds more data that there is a slightly increased risk of ovarian cancer among women who used [this] hormone therapy for long durations.”

Another study in the same publication, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that high levels of natural sex hormones, including estrogen, were associated with an increased risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women.

Concerns about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) were initially raised by the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a landmark U.S. study involving 27,000 participants. Researchers halted the WHI study in 2002, after they found the regimen entailed more health risks — most notably an increased risk for breast cancer and stroke — than benefits.

The authors of the first study found that, among a group of almost 100,000 women aged 50 to 71, those with a hysterectomy who used estrogen alone for a decade or more had almost double the risk of ovarian cancer than those who received no HRT.

Women who had not undergone a hysterectomy and who used estrogen plus progestin in sequence or continuously for five or more years also had a higher risk, compared with women who used no HRT.

The authors of the second study looked at blood samples from 18,521 premenopausal women and found that women with high levels of a naturally occurring type of estrogen called estradiol during the pre-ovulation phase of their menstrual cycle had a higher risk of developing breast cancer.

A third study in the same issue of the journal found sad news for breast-cancer survivors: They have an increased risk of suicide for up to 30 years after diagnosis. The cumulative risk of suicide 30 years after a breast-cancer diagnosis was 0.2 percent, or 37 percent higher than the general population.
–Journal of the National Cancer Institute

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on hormone therapy ups ovarian cancer risk
This study just confirms what has been know when you throw off the bodies natural design the way God made it to work by putting hormones into it, which upsets the homeostasis or balance of the body and can increase the risk of cancer and all other types of diseases. So what they have shown definitively is that prolonged use of hormone therapy increases the risk of developing ovarian cancer. They also showed it increases the risk of producing breast cancer.

So, very simply, what you want to take home from these studies, is you don’t need to increase your risk of ovarian cancer and you do not need to increase your risk of breast cancer, you do not need to increase your risk of disease. You just have to live the life that God designed you to live which is to take medication only under emergency circumstances. 95-99% of all medications prescribed in this country are unnecessary. They are given for situations that not life threatening, they are not emergency, they are taken because people have not been taught and not been impressed upon a lifestyle that will keep them in total health, but they have gone a medical route to take a medication for everything that they don’t like, or every reason the body doesn’t work right.

So, if you eat the wrong food and it gives you headaches regularly, you don’t think about the diet, you think you just want to get rid of the headache so you take a headache medication. This is just ridiculous because a majority of the symptoms, conditions and diseases that people have can be very easily cleared up if they live the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health, they would not need to take medications practically never except under emergency circumstances. So the big message is don’t take drugs unless it is an emergency and only short term to overcome that emergency.

Also an interesting side note is in the third study in this research article, it found that breast cancer survivors, again these are ones that used chemotherapy that did make it, they have increased risk of suicide for up to thirty years after the diagnosis. Why? And they say that’s 37% percent higher than the general population. Why? Well there’s many reasons, but one of the reasons would be first of all, they were not proactive in their health care. They did what was told them to be done, they took a drug, they took chemotherapy, radiation. They were not taught a lifestyle, they did not heal themselves with natural methods, God designed methods. Instead they took the easy route, they took the fear route. The easy route taken because one is in fear route will always have long term consequences, which in this case led to increasing the risk of all types of mental/emotional disorders and increase the risk of suicide.

So, the answer is very simple, live the natural way.

Strength Training and Exercises Stops Arthritis

Strengthening exercises for the legs may help slow the progression of knee arthritis, a study shows.

Researchers found that among older adults with knee osteoarthritis, those who underwent lower-body strength training showed less narrowing in the knee joint space over 2.5 years — evidence that their arthritis was progressing more slowly.

Osteoarthritis is the common, “wear-and-tear” form of arthritis that often comes with aging. The cartilage cushioning the joints breaks down, allowing bones to rub together. Over time, the affected joint loses its normal shape, causing further pain and mobility problems.
Other studies have found that strengthening exercises can, in the short term, ease knee arthritis symptoms. The new study was unusual for an exercise trial because it ran for 30 months, looking for differences in X-ray evidence of arthritis progression, according to study co-author Dr. Steven A. Mazzuca.

Mazzuca and his colleagues at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis followed 221 older adults. Fifty-seven had a diagnosis of knee arthritis and 164 were recruited from the general population.

About half were randomly assigned to strength training that emphasized the lower body, first at a fitness center and then to a home-based regimen. The other patients underwent flexibility exercises and served as a comparison group. Sixty-seven patients did not complete the trial, leaving 154 patients for evaluation.

After 30 months, study participants in the strength training group showed less narrowing in the knee joint than their counterparts who performed flexibility exercises.
Strength training slowed the rate of joint space narrowing by about one quarter, the researchers report
The benefit was observed despite the fact that the workouts did not improve strength in the quadriceps, the group of muscles at the front of the thigh. Mazzuca said the strength training group did, however, show less strength loss — which typically comes with aging.
– Arthritis & Rheumatism

Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on strength, training stops arthritis.
What this study showed was the conclusion that strength training slowed the rate of joint space narrowing by about ¼ of the people that went through the study. It also went on to say that the benefit was observed despite the fact that the workouts did not improve the strength, although they had less strength loss which is common with aging. What we want to draw on in this study is very simply this, your body was meant to be used, that’s what your muscle’s are for, that’s what exercise is, if you don’t use you are going to lose it. So, with exercise the body as it was created by God is meant to move and when you move, as this study shows you can slow, stop or even reverse arthritis. We can look at arthritis or inflammation of joints from two perspectives. One perspective is there is the arthritis that comes from lack of motion, lack of movement. Because of the loss of motion the joint becomes solidified, the calcium mineral deposits just fill in the joint and it becomes arthritic. This is evident when a person has a cast on for periods of time, when they take the cast off how immobile the joint is. Because with the lack of motion, it becomes immobile and can even eventually fuse.

The other type of arthritis comes from excessive motion.   This is repetitive motion in an incorrect way, usually when the joints are misaligned or subluxated in the wrong position. Which is common in most people due to past traumas. So, if excessive motion with the joint, subluxation, can also leads to arthritis, but exercise is critical. We were designed by God to move and use our muscles and this has been shown in many studies, not only in this study which shows slowing the narrowing space, the joint narrowing space, or the arthritic deposits, but also it’s been shown to have a wide range effects including increasing cognitive function, your mental abilities. It has the ability to boost the immune system, to fight off infection and disease. It also has the ability to increase vitality by causing the body to secrete more growth hormones, causing increased levels of health.

So what you want to take away from this study is we were designed by God to exercise, as it is one of the 7 Basic Steps to Total Health, and if we put exercise, which can be divided into four categories: cellular or lymphatic exercise, cardiovascular or aerobic exercise, strengthening exercise and stretching exercise. All these come together to keep a person as healthy as they can be from this aspect of the 7 Basic Steps of Total Health. A side note, the most important exercise to be done on a daily basis, is cellular lymphatic exercise, because it strengthens every cell in the body, every cell of every organ, gland and tissue and it also moves lymph which lymphatic fluid is where 2/3 of your white blood cells are, so this is the heart of the immune system. Also lymph is the sewer system of the body, which is where 2/3 of the toxins circulate through. So any exercise that can increase lymph flow and strengthen cells is hugely going to impact ones total health.