The FDA has reported that there are unconfirmed reports that several diabetic drugs currently in use that may cause inflammation and pre-cancerous changes in the pancreas of those taking the drugs.These drugs are all known as incretin mimetics for type 2 diabetics. These drugs include Januvia and Jamumet made by Merck & co., Victoza made by Novo Nordish and Onglyza made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and AstaZeneca Plc. For more detailed information; go to this CBS News Report here.

Another diabetic drug Avandia which was introduced in 1999 was reported in May of 2007 to cause extensive heart problems. It was later found that the maker GlaxoSmithKline had known of the drugs potential heart attack risk since at least 2005 and they failed to report it as required by law. It has been reported that an estimated 50,000 lawsuits over this has already been settled and more are still pending or being filled.

A few days back; I wrote an article about a book by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. titled The End of Diabetes The book tells about how Dr. Fuhrman used diet to reverse his patients diabetes. He believes that if we use his diet recommendations we can achieve the same results that his patients have. He does however want us to work with our own doctor during this process if we are on any diabetes medications. If we don’t we may lower our blood sugar too much when we start using his dietary recommendations. When we work with our own doctor he can change our medications as our need for them decreases. As I see it we have an easy choice; we can either continue to be unhealthy and suffer the complications from the disease and from the side affects of the medications we take for the rest of our life or we get healthy, our choice.

I am not just jumping on people who have diabetes, this applies to some extent to all diseases. Although all diseases may not be reversible as with diabetes; the condition may be sufficiently improved to make the effort worthwhile. Whatever condition you may have, the drugs prescribed in most cases, will not cure it and are designed to manage the symptoms. As with the diabetic drugs; in most cases they do have side affects and some could be fatal. In my own life; I will not take a drug if I can find an alternate solution that has less risk.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

I am an Amazon Associate and may get a few cents from them if you use the link to them to buy anything. This helps me to keep this blog going and I appreciate it.

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Anyone who may have watched The Food Network have surely seen how to make broth or stock. Broth being made from meat scraps or bones cooked for long periods in water and stock being the same with the addition of vegetables. Note, this is my simplified version of what happens. Both broth and stock are used to add flavor to soups, gravies and sauces. Who knew that these broths could be really good for you too. Back before the food companies began making MSG and other factory made flavor enhancers these broths and stocks were what made food taste good and good for you.

Why should we even think of making our own bone broth? I am going to give you some links to more information but I want to just cover a few points first. The main reason is we don’t have to ingest MSG and all that other crap. The broth has glucosamine and chondroitin for our joints, plus several forms of collagen for our joints, hair, skin and nails. It has gelatin to heal our guts, glycine to detox our livers and a host of easily absorbed minerals.

First off I want to give you the link to a blog that has brought back the art of making bone broth.The ladies on The Traditional Foods Blog; Amanda Rose and her Mother Jeanie Rose have this down to an art.

Two other links I want to give you are for general information about the history and benefits of bone broths. The first is from Underground Wellness dot com and the article is Top 5 Reasons That Bone Broth is The Bomb  by Sean Croxton and the other can be reached from the Underground Wellness site but I will give you the link. It is on The Weston A. Price Foundation’s website and it is Broth Is Beautiful  by Sally Fallon.

I know this is interesting to read about but I hope that this is something that you might consider as part of your health regimen. I have made broth in the past but this new information will spur me to do more. I made broths before because I liked the taste but now I can do it for the taste and also for the health benefits as well. It’s not rocket science; any of us can do this. I am going to try Amanda Rose’s technique first; see how that works. If you are still not convinced; Google bone broth and keep reading.  To all our good health, bottoms up.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

Anyone who has been reading my posts already knows that I want to do what is best for me when it comes to diet. Today I came across something that just reinforces what I already believe but I thought it was something I needed to share with my readers. Most people unless they have done a lot of independent reading on the subject may believe the hype from the food industry saying that this product is better for you than mother’s milk. What I am talking about is soy products. These include everything from the whole raw bean in the  pod, edamame  to soy protein powder.

From what I had already read over the last few years I knew that the only products I saw recommended ( except by the food industry it’s self ) was the fermented products such as soy sauce, miso, natto and tempeh. The majority of soy eaten in Japan and Asia is in the form of condiments. The majority of soy products eaten in this country ( US ) are not fermented and highly processed except for the edamame. These products are some of the most highly processed of the processed foods that we are forced to eat.  By saying forced;  I mean it will take due diligence on our part to find foods that do not have soy added.  Also we are forced because most of us will not even make the effort to limit or remove soy from our diet. Soy products are as pervasive in our diet as added salt, sugar and fats. Start looking at labels and you will find many products containing soybean oil or cottonseed oil and in some cases palm oil. These are in there not because they are the best and healthiest oils but because they are the cheapest. I personally would not buy either to use in my diet. There are cases where I might occasionally buy a product containing one of them but certainly not by choice but because I don’t have a healthier choice. It comes down to their way or the highway and in most cases I take the highway. There are other soy products that are added to foods but fortunately there is a law requiring them to be listed on the label because soy is eighth on the list of foods we are allergic to.

DaNelle over at the Weed’em and Reap Blog has posted a lot more information about  The Hidden Danger’s of Soy. I would recommend that anyone who is interested; read it. You can Google and find all he information you could ever use. Dr. Mercola’s website; mercola.com, is good.

I hope this is information we can all use to be healthier.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

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Today was beautiful; really, I could not have asked for anything better. The weather was prefect, my best friend was here and my grandson Christopher was here. We worked in the garden; I  guess it is that time, hope so anyway. We went for a walk on the mountain in front of my house; came back to the house for awhile and then I took Christopher home, he goes to spend the night with his grandmother tonight. A big day for him I guess; also a big day for his parents for they get a break from a three year old for awhile. Why do I write about this? Well, this is a part of how I am healthy and happy. I personally think that we should do our damnedest to be happy under any circumstances but days like today make it really easy to do so.

The garden part will help me in the future to be healthy; assuming everything I planted today grows and prospers but I am sure some of it at least will. The joy of growing it is almost as joyous as the eating of it. I  planted three different kinds of English peas, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, kale, three kinds  of lettuce, carrots and some Swiss chard. If this all does well, I will be as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine. These will be as Alton Brown would classify as good eats and healthy too.

Anyone who has the space in their yard should take the opportunity to grow some of their own food, there is nothing like it. It is not expensive to do and it will give you so much satisfaction to eat food that you grew yourself. It is also much healthier than what you buy in the store, you know where it came from and what went into it. You are in control of what you eat. Even a container garden is better than nothing.

I hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful day as well as I did. Spring is almost here; let’s get out and enjoy it when we can, it is so uplifting.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

I have lived in the ” country ” almost all of my life; some might say in the sticks. When I was growing up when we needed groceries or anything that we couldn’t get at one of the little country stores about five miles away; we went to town. These little stores had a large variety of items to sell but if you had the cash you would limit what you bought there and wait until you went to town to get most of what you needed. Buying there was like buying all of your groceries at a convenience store, it just cost too much. A good portion of the regular customers of these stores were farmers who only got paid one a year. If they didn’t have cash left over from the last harvest they usually had to buy their stuff from the country stores and have it put on the book or tab. They would then pay it off when they got their next crop sold. It could be a lot like getting a payday loan because you never got caught up.

I can remember my father talking about going to town when he was a young man; he was born in 1912 and it was after World War ll before he owned a vehicle. He lived about a mile further than I do from the little town I mentioned earlier. The big town was about twenty miles away. My Father said he had to get up about 4:00 AM and walk the first 5 to 6 miles and catch a bus to the big town. After spending the day in town; he would take the bus back, get off the bus at 8:00 PM and walk home in the dark. You really had to want something to do that. We are so blessed today that we don’t have to do that.

The stores I mentioned above are no longer there, long since closed. The only stores there now are an auto parts store and a Dollar General. The nearest grocery store is about twelve miles and the ones I usually use are 20 to 25 miles. It is so great to have a vehicle, now if we could do something about these gas prices.

Since I have been mostly retired, the price of gas, I don’t just run to town every day like I did when I was working. My new focus on healthier eating does require a foraging trip every week or so if I haven’t had to go for some other reason. Fresh vegetables, fruits and salad makings do not keep forever and have the most nutrition when fresh. My new favorite grocery store is Aldi ; especially for the produce, they have some unbelievable deals some time.  How about 2 pounds carrots for $.49 , avocados for $.39 or strawberries  for $.79 a carton. I have bought eggs there for $.49 to $.99. Watch the first isle going in if you want to eat healthy, skip most of it. If you pick what you buy; you can not only eat healthy but also save a lot of money by shopping at Aldi. Check online for a store near you.

I guess I need to close and get on the road.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

There has been a lot on the news and in the media of late about these new Super Bugs that have developed because of the overuse and incorrect use of antibiotics. We as patients go to our doctors and demand antibiotics for even minor problems that would probably clear up even without treatment. In many other cases the problem we are having is not caused by a bacteria but by a virus and in that case the antibiotic is worse than useless, it can actually harm us. We may have a reaction to the antibiotic and it can also kill all the good bacteria in our bodies; sometimes leaving antibiotic resistant bad bacteria to harm us later. If left alone the good bacteria holds the bad bacteria in check and prevents it from being over populated and causing possible harm to us.

On Monday of this week The Doctor Oz Show was about this very subject. Dr. Oz had as his guest Dr. Brad Spellberg an infectious disease doctor; he said that if this trend continues and more bacteria become Super Bugs because of their resistant to antibiotics, it could have grave consequences. The medical profession’s ability to control infections could be back to the level of the 1930′s in some cases. Before antibiotics were developed a full 50% of people who developed pneumonia died. Health officials in the UK said that it was considered so bad that it could trigger a national health emergency. The show tells us of ways we can limit our use of antibiotics and lessen our contribution to the global problem. They told several things I did not know about how to take antibiotics, what kinds and for how long. The show can be still viewed on line at The Doctor Oz Show and I recommend you see it.

So what do we do to protect ourselves when we don’t have an effective antibiotic? We become as healthy as we possibly can and we do everything in our power to boost the effectiveness of our immune system to it’s highest level. So how do we do that?  We eat the foods that gives our bodies what they need and restrict the things that can cause our bodies harm. Easier said than done; I know, but it can be done. Whole natural unprocessed foods, 50%  or more none starchy vegetables and greens, 25% or less of starches and grains and 25% or less of meats or dairy is a good start.

If you need more information about improving your diet to improve your immunity; check out the information about Dr Joel Fuhrman’s Super Immunity Diet. while you are on Dr. Oz’s website. You can go to Amazon and read the reviews of his book Super Immunity  .   There are at present 214 reviews and 155 of them are 5 star reviews. I hope this is a help to you on your personal journey to better health.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

I am an Amazon Associate and may get a few cents from them if you use the link to them to buy anything. This helps me to keep this blog going and I appreciate it.

Real food, what is it anyway? Anything that we put in our bodies that has even the most minute amount of some useful nutrient could in a broad sense be called real food but not really. What other none nutrient material do we have to ingest to get this small amount of useful material, is the key. Say we eat a large portion of fatty, sugary or salty material to get a very limited amount of real nutrients; the question then becomes, do we gain more bad than the good. Are we harmed or helped by eating this? That is always what it comes down to. You may eat it because it tastes so good, it may give you comfort or you may be with friends or family and that is what they are eating. When we become aware of what we are eating and why; we gain control of our destiny but until we do, we are being controlled

Controlled by our friends, family, co-workers and everyone else around us. Controlled by the media, advertisers, your government and anything else that has any influence upon you. So how do we become aware and how do we determine if something is real food? How many ingredients does this food have? The less ingredients a food has; the less chance it will have something that will harm you. The healthiest foods are single ingredient foods, minimally processed grains, legumes, fresh lower fat meats, fresh eggs and minimally altered dairy. If we spend the majority of our supermarket time on the outside isles we will be healthier by far. With the exception of fresh vegetables that we can eat raw, the less preparation it takes to get it on the table, the less healthy it probably is.

What ingredients does this have and why are they in there? Look for unnecessary added fats, any hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, artificial colors, flavor enhancers and chemical preservatives. Anything you can’t pronounce or don’t know what is, is suspect. Also look for added sugars, especially high fructose corn syrup. Does it make sense to you that these ingredients be in there, in the amount that is in there? Would you want to put this in your body or are you just tired and want to eat something quickly? If the later is the case, maybe you can start planning now to keep from being put in that situation in the future.

It is all about awareness, using your common sense and planning ahead and anyone can eat real food. The kind of food your body wants and needs to be healthy.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

A couple of days ago, something interesting caught my eye and I clicked on it to see what it was about. It showed a photo of a handful of pills of various designs and the caption  The Only Supplement your body needs is and I just couldn’t resist finding out what it was about. I have taken a lot of supplements for several years that I thought would benefit me but in the last few months had been reconsidering what I was taking.  It was not that I though the supplements were harming me. The thought was that I would start eating high nutrient dense food that would give my body everything it needed without me having to continue all these various supplements. I figured it would be easier and probably cheaper to just eat food that would give me all these nutrients and just forget the supplements.  There has been a big change in my diet but I have not quit taking the supplements yet although I have not reordered the ones I have run out of. Although I take three omega three caps everyday, well almost every day, and also use flax seed in my diet, I did go and read the post I mentioned above. It turned out to be a recommendation to take fermented cod liver oil. I remember that when I was a kid they gave babies cod liver oil to prevent them from having a deficiency in vitamin D but Of course it wasn’t fermented.

Although I had not planned to quit taking my omega three’s, I had not even considered taking fermented cod liver oil. I didn’t really know anything about it. I do know there is a huge benefit from eating fermented foods in general but had never even thought that they would even ferment cod liver oil. Usually when you think of fermented products you thing of vegetables, wines and beer but they do ferment a lot of other things. Corned beet is actually fermented in some way, haven’t really checked out how it is done though..

I am going to give you the link to this blog post on Weed’em and Reap. com so you can check this out. I am not recommending you start using this, I don’t know yet whether I will or not but it is something to know about. It might be really good for us but I don’t know yet, you decide if it is right for you.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

Today is the third and last in the book review series that I have been writing. The book is also written by the same author as the one I told you about yesterday. Dr. Joel Fuhrman has expanded his recommended diet and fine tuned it to treat diebetes. Still the same basic diet but with emphasis on what is the most effective approach to reverse diabetes. While it is not possible to reverse Type I diabetes; by changing our diets we can have a healthy stable weight, more even blood sugar levels, take less insulin, and have a normal life span. Type II on the other hand is quite different, the disease and the complications that come with it can be reversed and we can have a normal life span. Dr Fuhrman says his diet can lower our medications by 50% in the first week and eliminate them entirely within three to six months. End the need for insulin usually within the first week, end the blood sugar highs and lows and stabilize our weight.

Whether or not you believe this, you need to check it out. Most doctors will only tell you to eat better; whatever that is, and hand you your prescriptions.

The name of the book is  The End of Diabetes by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. . He calls this the eat to live plan to prevent or reverse diabetes . There are something like 155 reviews of this book on Amazon and 111 are five star reviews, so check it out.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

I am an Amazon Associate and may get a few cents from them if you use the link to them to buy anything. This helps me to keep this blog going and I appreciate it.

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Today is day two for my book recommendations and today I want to talk about Eat To Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. . Dr Fuhrman  is a board certified family physician  with his own practice who specializes in preventing and reversing diseases through nutritional and natural means. He has hosted the special 3 Steps to Incredible Health on PBS and he is the author of six books about what has worked for his own patients in his own practice. What he writes about is not theory, it works and he can prove it. He gives  us a lot of case histories in his book so we can see how others have fared using his techniques. He has been on The Doctor Oz Show and Dr. Oz even wrote the foreword to the book.

Dr Fuhrman  tells us to eat basically the same food, with some slight difference in application, that Dr, Campbell is telling us to eat in his book; The China Study. Dr fuhrman recommends foods that are nutrient dense in relation to calories. In other words when you eat a doughnut you get a lot of calories and very few nutrients but when you eat a mixed salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, and avocado you get a lot of nutrients and very few calories. When you eat a lot of foods that are nutrient dense, you give your body what it needs, which keeps you from feeling hungry all the time and keeps you from eating a lot of high calorie low nutrient food. That doesn’t mean you can’t still eat a doughnut once in a while but once you get healthy; you probably won’t want it. You may lose the craving for that type of food.

There are about sixty pages of what to eat, menus and recipes in the book to give you a leg up to getting started. He tells you what to eat, why, and in some cases how to prepare it, what to eat raw and what to cook. Dr Fuhrman says that it is almost impossible to eat too much food, only too much of the wrong food. He says, make your life simple. Enjoy food but don’t have your life revolve around a menu plan. He says, the diet is delicious; it involves no sacrifice, only different choices.

The book also has a section containing commonly asked questions asked about Dr Fuhrman’s way of eating.

Thanks for visiting, you are always welcome here. May you and yours have a healthy and happy day.       David Johnson

I am an Amazon Associate and may get a few cents from them if you use the link to them to buy anything. This helps me to keep this blog going and I appreciate it.

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