Book Review: Fat For Fuel by Dr. Joseph Mercola | #SmartReads

TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
May 22, 2017

“The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.”
– Ann Wigmore

“He who takes medicine and neglects diet wastes the skill of the physician.”
– Chinese Proverb

There are mainstream doctors, and there are open-minded doctors who are few, but dedicated, within the alternative health community.  Dr. Mercola is one of these select few who isn’t afraid to not only call it how it is, but back up what he says with significant contributions and hard work.

Anyone that has been reading Dr. Mercola’s work for quite some time knows what kind of quality of work they will get.  For those that might be newer, as all of us were at one time, Dr. Mercola has been putting in hard work on his website, and he has been dedicated to help others find truths within the sphere of health, no matter how uncomfortable they may be.

It is no surprise then that in Fat For Fuel, Dr. Mercola has come out once again pulling no punches with his new effort to show the truth behind the myths claiming fats being unhealthy.  Better yet, he goes beyond that to provide the ample benefits that are to be had by eating healthy fats, which harbor immense benefits.

Fat For Fuel is a veritable crash course on how to streamline your health.  Some of the most salient points in the book, which stand to help a lot of individuals, is that Dr. Mercola takes a very comprehensive approach into showing how to cut off the supply line for cancer cells, how to improve your overall health with simple dietary/lifestyle changes, and even discusses how to maintain healthy mitochondria, which helps maintain optimal health reducing the likelihood of cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Type 2 Diabetes and other diseases.

All of this comes about through what Dr. Mercola calls Mitochondrial Metabolic Therapy [MMT].  Essentially, what MMT does is target mitochondria, which aids in bringing about healing of chronic disease.  This is accomplished by making sure the body uses fat as a primary fuel, rather than using glucose, which is far less optimal.

The system that Mercola provides is rather comprehensive in its approach, while not overlooking common issues that individuals may face in their journey towards optimal health.  The book offers considerations like when to eat and how much time to leave between, what cooking oils to avoid that are deleterious to health, ways to help individuals self-monitor their own health, and much more.

Extensively covered as well are the many benefits of fasting.  Thankfully, there are a few fasting options offered, as well as many of the do’s and don’ts as well.  Also covered there in are Mercola’s own favorite fast, as well as other fasts which also help the body reach optimal health.

The book even covers many of the extensive issues that are prevalent within individuals with too much iron.  This part alone is quite salient since it couples directly too many other health issues like Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, and more.

In its totality, Fat For Fuel is an in-depth look at how the marvel of the human body can achieve healing by providing it with the proper fuel source.  If you’re interested in healing yourself without having to deal with the myriad issues of that conventional medicine espouses, then consideration of this book should be done.  One thing is for sure, after reading Fat For Fuel people will never think of fats – healthy fats! – in the same way ever again.

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This article is free and open source.  All individuals are encouraged to share this content and have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
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About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, researcher, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, humanitarian, and freelance writer who studies and mirrors regularly subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

His other blog, BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com features mainly his personal work, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information nigh always ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.

2 Hidden Reasons You Can’t Lose Weight – my guest is Dr. KellyAnn Petrucci

Source: TheSpaDr
Dr. Trevor Holly Gates | Dr. KellyAnn Petrucci
March 2, 2017

Learn more at – http://thespadr.com/dr-kellyann-petru…

Our guest Dr. Kellyann Petrucci is a weight loss and natural anti-aging expert. She runs a private practice in the Birmingham, Michigan area and is the author of six books, including Paleo for Dummies and the upcoming Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Diet. You also might recognize Kellyann from her appearances on The Doctors and Dr. Oz.

In today’s podcast Dr. Kellyann shares with us:
– 2 hidden reasons why people have trouble losing weight
– 3 fat burning foods you can eat to lose weight, strike a healthy balance in your body, and reboot your system
– Her personal bone broth recipe

Children’s consumption of artificial sweeteners has officially hit a 200% increase

Source: NaturalNews.com
Vicki Batts
February 25, 2017

Artificial sweeteners are contentious ingredients that have been the subject of controversy for quite some time. It seems as if since the day they were introduced into the marketplace, their safety has been questioned. In spite of overwhelming concern, sugar substitutes have carved their very own niche in our society and have become a staple in many homes.

Unsurprisingly, an increasing number of adults and children are consuming artificial sweeteners. These non-nutritive substitutes are marketed as low-calorie, and few are able to resist the chance to have the cake and eat it too. However, the health consequences of these nefarious chemicals still remains something of an unknown.

Currently, several artificial sweeteners have been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They are aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-potassium, saccharin, neotame and advantame. Stevia is a natural low-calorie sweetener that is also FDA-approved. In spite of FDA approval, many people rightfully remain skeptical at the actual effects these chemicals may have on the human body.

The findings were recently published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. A staggering 200 percent increase in artificial sweetener consumption among children was observed, while a 54 percent increase was seen in adults. This drastic increase was seen between the years of 1999 and 2012.

In a press release, the study’s lead author Dr. Allison Sylvetsky, an assistant professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said,”The findings are important, especially for children, because some studies suggest a link between low-calorie sweeteners and obesity, diabetes and other health issues.”

This study offers some of the most recent stats on the consumption of low-calorie sweeteners in the form of food, beverages or packets for the United States’ population.

What is most concerning about the substantial increase in artificial sweetener usage among children is that the effects of long-term consumption on kids is entirely unknown. The Nutrition Source from Harvard’s School of Public Health recommends that children avoid consuming sugar substitutes for this very reason.

To conduct their study, the research team disseminated data from the National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES) from 2009 to 2012, and compared their analysis to a previous study that used data from 1999-2008. In total, data from some 17,000 people was analyzed.

More specifically, the scientists reviewed survey results from two dietary interviews in which participants were asked to recall what they ate and drank during the previous 24-hour period. This, of course, comes with many inherent drawbacks. Regardless, their analysis revealed that 44 percent of adults and 20 percent of children were consuming sugar substitutes more than once a day.

Interestingly enough, the team noted that the amount of low-calorie sweetened foods and drinks consumed actually increased with body mass index. Previous studies have also indicated that consuming artificial sweeteners may actually increase your risk of diabetes, obesity and other health issues.

The team also discovered that some children as young as two-years old were reportedly consuming artificial sweeteners, either in food or drink. Given that the data collected was self-reported, it is very possible that the number of adults and children consuming artificial sweeteners could be much higher than indicated.

The study authors noted that some parents may not understand that labels indicating “light” or “no added sugar” could mean a product contains a low-calorie sweetener. It’s also possible that many people do not understand that those ingredients are not inherently healthier than natural sugar.

In their news release, the team advised parents to follow federal dietary guidelines, recommendations that include limiting consumption of added sugars.  Sylvetsky also suggested, “Drink water instead of soda. Sweeten a serving of plain yogurt with a little fruit.”

“And don’t forget an apple or another piece of fresh fruit is a great snack for both kids and adults.”

One thing is for certain: we, as a country, need to stop being so reliant on artificial sweeteners, and start eating more whole foods.

Read More At: NaturalNews.com

Sources:

FoxNews.com

ScienceMag.org

HSPH.Harvard.edu

Top 8 Health Benefits of Turmeric

Source: TheHealthRanger
November 15, 2016

Primary Care Doctors Now Telling Parents To Lie To Children About Their Obesity

According to newly issued guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, parents should essentially lie to all teens, whether they have weight problems or not.

Source: NaturalNews.com
J.D. Heyes
August 26, 2016

One of the most important things, if not the most important, that children should share with their parents is trust. A child who has little worldly experience and lacks the brain development and maturity to make important decisions and guide his or her actions must rely on parents to guide them, mentor them and help them understand all of life’s peculiarities.

But some politically correct physicians are now asking parents to lie to their kids if they don’t believe they can accept or understand the truth – a blatant violation of the trust and faith that are vital to the child’s parental bond.

As reported by New York Magazine, one of the things that PC docs are “advising” against is parents talking to their teenagers about their weight – and in particular, about their teens’ need to adjust their diets in order to maintain a healthier weight. Ignoring the problems of obesity and eating disorders, they claim, is a better way to reduce the incidence of both.

In other words, the better thing to do, these “experts” say, is to allow your children to maintain an unhealthy weight and lifestyle rather than possibly hurt their feelings by giving them some dieting and weight-loss advice that could actually save their lives.

According to newly issued guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, parents should essentially lie to all teens, whether they have weight problems or not.

Diet and exercise has long been the go-to weight loss combo – until now

“Scientific evidence summarized in the new recommendations shows that physicians and parents can ward off problems at both ends of the weight spectrum by avoiding focusing teens’ attention on weight or dieting, and instead encouraging a healthy, balanced lifestyle,” says a press release from Stanford University Medical Center, in highlighting the AAP guidelines.

Dr. Neville Golden, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the university’s medical center, and lead author of the guidelines, said that he and his research team developed them partly out of a growing concern that some teens may be using poor, unhealthy methods to lose weight. Some of these include forced vomiting, taking laxatives and ingesting diet pills. He says that since these teens have odd eating patterns but don’t fit the “image” of patients with eating disorders, their problems could easily be overlooked by their doctors.

But isn’t obesity a big deal anymore, especially in America where it is considered an epidemic? Yes, says the AAP, but rates are coming down in children and holding steady in adolescents. So now, we suppose, it’s okay to start lying to our kids and telling them things really aren’t that bad.

The recommendations, which have recently been published in the journal Pediatrics, are said to be the result of five evidence-based strategies, three of which consist of things to avoid, while two are behaviors that ought to be promoted.

Neither parents nor doctors should be encouraging teens to diet, AAP says, and parents should not talk about weight at all – neither their own nor their child’s. They should also never tease their teen about how much they weigh.

No “fat-shaming,” which is an entirely PC concept, or counting calories. Both, the AAP says, are equally bad.

‘Shaming’ used to be called ‘caring’

What does the organization recommend? Parents eating meals together regularly with their children, and encouraging a balanced diet and exercise – but only for fitness, not as an activity to help their teens lose weight, even though diet and exercise have been the go-to weight loss combination for eons (because they work).

But Golden, for all his recommendations, still doesn’t really have the answers. He even admits that the evidence is unclear as to why family meals help with weight problems. He says it could be that kids see parents eating healthy food and setting a good example – which makes sense – but that assumes they are healthy to begin with.

It seems as though these “guidelines” are little more than politically correct psycho-babble meant to disguise and hide a problem – teen obesity – rather than tackling it head-on. Doctors like Golden want parents, through their silence, to become enablers of childhood obesity, thus perhaps saddling their kids with a lifetime of health problems.

All because saying something about a child’s weight and advising them how to fix the problem is “shaming.”

But it’s not, really; it’s called “caring.” And if we lived in a country where everyone didn’t get a trophy just for showing up and playing the game, we would still understand that.

Read More At: NaturalNews.com

Sources:

NYMag.com

EurekaAlert.org

Science.NaturalNews.com

Michelle Obama’s ‘healthy’ lunch program is actually worsening childhood obesity, study finds

Source: NaturalNews.com
Amy Goodrich
August 13, 2016

First lady Michelle Obama’s healthy school lunch program is putting financially vulnerable children at risk of being overweight, according to new government-funded research.

Every day, millions of kids eat government-funded breakfasts or lunches at public schools. Virginia Tech researchers found that kids who get these free school meals are more likely to become overweight or obese.

According to the study, published in the journal Health Economics, kids who live in the Northeast, South and rural America, who consume one-third to one-half of their meals at school, are most susceptible to the rising obesity epidemic.

School meal programs not as healthy as you might think

Wen You, associate professor of agricultural and applied economics at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said that while well-intentioned, these government-funded school meal programs which aim to make students healthier, are in fact doing just the opposite.

You and her team used a survey of 21,260 students who were followed from kindergarten to eighth grade. They found that children who didn’t participate in school lunch programs supported by Michelle Obama were less likely to end up with some extra padding.

On the other hand, children who consistently participated in both breakfast and lunch programs throughout their elementary and intermediate school years were most likely to end up overweight or obese.

You and her colleague, Kristen Capogrossi, a former doctoral student at Virginia Tech and now an economist at RTI International, also studied the effect of long- and short-term consumption of school meals.

The longer that students were enrolled in the program, the higher the risk. Furthermore, they reported that the most adverse effect of the government-funded school meal programs was seen in the South, the Northeast and rural areas of the country.

Students who changed their program participation status along the way were also at risk of childhood obesity, confirming the short-term risk of being overweight imposed by the school lunch program.

“The question now is what to do in order to not just fill bellies, but make sure those children consume healthy and nutritious food – or at least not contribute to the obesity epidemic,” said You.

Let’s Move!

Since 2010, Michelle Obama has led the “Let’s Move” campaign to encourage kids to live and eat healthier. Unfortunately, nothing significant has changed, and her campaign hasn’t been a huge success among students. As reported by The Daily Caller, local health officials have said that it has been hard to get children to eat this food, which “tastes like vomit,” according to some Kentucky students.

Both You’s study and Obama’s failed initiative to make school kids healthier are strong signals that there is an urgent need to improve the school meal program’s effectiveness at promoting better nutrition among children.

You noted that policymakers should take all the aspects into account when reforming school meal programs – from availability and affordability of the ingredients, to nutritional content and tastiness of the meals. Furthermore, kids should be taught the importance of a healthy diet and how to grow their own food.

“It is important to have extra policy support that will allow funding for programs such as chef-to-school and farm-to-school, as well as culinary training for cafeteria staff so kids actually enjoy eating what is ultimately prepared for them,” said You.

Read More At: NaturalNews.com

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

EurekAlert.org

OnlineLibrary.Wiley.com

DailyCaller.com

How To Avoid The Obesity-Related Plastic Chemical BPA

Source: NutritionFacts.org
Dr. Greger
August 8, 2016

DESCRIPTION: 90% of our exposure to the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A comes from certain components of our diet.

62-Year-Old Man REVERSES Type-2 Diabetes By Cutting Out Pasta, Bread

Source: NaturalNews.com
Ethan A. Huff
July 26, 2016

The next time somebody tries to tell you that type-2 diabetes is irreversible, simply point them to the incredible healing journey of Geoff Whitington, a UK man who was ultimately cured of his diabetic condition, thanks to the loving efforts of his two sons who helped lift their father out of the rut he’d been stuck in for years.

Grossly overweight, hormonally imbalanced, and on the verge of having to have his leg amputated, Geoff had all but given up hope of any sort of healthy future. A security guard who worked long, 15-hour shifts, Geoff was in a pretty bad place health-wise as a result of eating too much takeout and junk food, which left him about 100 pounds overweight and reliant on crutches just to move around.

Grieved at having to watch their formerly healthy, athletic dad get overweight and then become frail due to diabetes, sons Ian and Anthony decided that it was time to intervene. They took their father on a 10-day trip to Spain, during which time they showed him old pictures of himself during his pre-diabetic days, and offered up a solution to restore his health.

The two boys developed a solid workout plan for their dad that they, too, would participate in, and also urged their father to immediately change his diet to exclude two of the things he loved most: pastas and breads. These blood sugar-raising foods are a nightmare for diabetics, and Geoff’s two sons knew that they would have to be pulled from the menu if their father was ever to get better.

Part of the plan involved having younger brother Ian, a documentary filmmaker, capture Geoff’s transformation on film in order to share his story with others – everything from the daily cycling regimen, to the 800-calorie-per-day restricted diet – an anti-diabetic approach pioneered by Professor Roy Taylor of Newcastle University’s Diabetes Research Group.

The film, entitled Fixing Dad, aired on Sunday, July 24, on BBC2. You can learn more about the film here.

This low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet helped Geoff shed about 100 pounds, as did the daily workouts with his sons. Eating lots of veggies and clean meats also brought Geoff’s blood sugar levels down to a normal range, so much so that he was able to completely reverse his diabetes and get off his medications.

“We insisted that if he could stick to the diet and exercise plan we had devised for him, we could hopefully enable him to spend another 20 to 30 years with us and his four grandchildren,” son Anthony told the UK’s Daily Mail.

Official dietary guidelines allowing ‘some’ sugar for diabetics will never cure disease

Making these changes was difficult for Geoff – at least initially. But after he began to see dramatic progress in terms of his weight, strength and newfound athletic abilities, continuing on with them was a no-brainer.

His Charcot foot – a diabetic condition in which the arch of the foot collapses due to fragile bones and lack of blood flow – completely went away, as did his diabetes-related heart events. Geoff’s circulation improved, and he began to feel better in many different areas that were gradually crippling him.

He credits it all to the efforts of his sons rather than the system. That’s because the system told Geoff that he could eat “some” sugar in “moderation” – a misnomer of the food establishment – and still survive, as long as he took his pills. But pills were the problem, and diet and exercise were the solution.

“Too many pills are being doled out because the right advice is not getting across,” Geoff told the Daily Mail.

Fresh, chemical-free vegetables are a great addition to any diabetes prevention diet, and you can learn more here about how to grow them at home with the incredible Vertical Garden Tower.

Read More At: NaturalNews.com

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

FixingDad.com

Aluminum, Fluoride, and Glyphosate—A Toxic Trifecta Implicated in Autism and Alzheimer’s Disease

Via: Crookedbearcreekorganicherbs.com
Source: Mercola.com
Dr. Mercola

Aluminum is a known neurotoxin, and according to Professor Christopher Exley of Keele University, aluminum-containing products are likely fueling the rise in Alzheimer’s disease.¹ In an article published in the journal Frontiers in Neurology,² he writes:

“We are all accumulating a known neurotoxin in our brain from our conception to our death. The presence of aluminium in the human brain should be a red flag alerting us all to the potential dangers of the aluminium age.

How do we know that Alzheimer’s disease is not the manifestation of chronic aluminium toxicity in humans?”

People with aluminum toxicity display many of the same symptoms as those with dementia, Parkinson’s, ADHD, autism, and other neurological diseases, and mounting evidence suggests aluminum may play a significant role in the development of those (and other) diseases.

By taking steps to protect yourself, you can minimize your exposure while maximizing your body’s ability to rid itself of this toxic metal, which will move you toward a long and healthy life well into your senior years.

Other toxins to beware of include fluoride and glyphosate. All of these are toxic in their own right, but research suggests they may be even more hazardous in combination.

You May Be Exposed to More Aluminum Than You Think

Aluminum can be found in a wide range of consumer products, including:

• Foods such as baking powder, self rising flour, salt, baby formula, coffee creamers, baked goods, and processed foods, coloring, and caking agents
• Drugs, such as antacids, analgesics, anti-diarrheals, and others; additives such as magnesium stearate
• Vaccines—Hepatitis A and B, Hib, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), pneumococcal vaccine, Gardasil (HPV), and others
• Cosmetics and personal care products such as antiperspirants, deodorants (including salt crystals, made of alum), lotions, sunscreens, and shampoos
• Aluminum products, including foil, cans, juice pouches, tins, and water bottles

According to CDC,5 the average adult in the US consumes about seven to nine mg of aluminum per day in food, and a lesser amount from air and water.

Approximately one percent of the aluminum you ingest orally gets absorbed into your body—the rest is moved out by your digestive tract, providing it’s functioning well. The remaining aluminum can be deposited not only in brain tissue, but also in your nerves, bone, liver, heart, spleen, and muscle.

While one percent may sound like a tiny amount, your overall toxic load will depend on the total amount of toxins you’re exposed to over time. Your diet and digestive health will also play a role in how much your body is actually able to eliminate.

Occupational Exposure to Aluminum Raises Your Risk for Alzheimer’s

One recently published case study³ found high levels of aluminum in the brain of a man who was exposed to aluminum at work for eight years. He later died from Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the authors, it’s the first case showing a direct link between Alzheimer’s disease and elevated brain aluminum following occupational exposure.⁴

An earlier study⁵ suggested that aluminum from food and drinking water may be contributing to rising Alzheimer’s rates, noting that:

“In recent years, interest in the potential role of metals in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has grown considerably.

In particular, aluminum (Al) neurotoxicity was suggested after its discovery in the senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that represent the principal neuropathological hallmarks of AD.

Al is omnipresent in everyday life and can enter the human body from several sources, most notably from drinking water and food consumption… [O]ther elements present in drinking water, such as fluoride, copper, zinc, or iron could also have an effect on cognitive impairment or modify any Al neurotoxicity.”

Indeed, dozens of studies have shown that fluoride causes brain damage and lowers IQ. Fluoride emitted by aluminum plants has also been implicated in animal disease.⁶

Farmers in Iceland, for example, claim their animals are being sickened by environmental fluoride contamination—some to the point of having to be euthanized. Others report higher rates of tooth damage and infertility among their livestock.

Another related study⁷ linked occupational exposure to aluminum to the development of pulmonary fibrosis, a condition in which scarring on your lungs make it difficult to breathe. In this case, the exposure occurred during sanding of Corian material.

All in all, it seems reasonable to conclude that the combination of aluminum, fluoride, and/or a number of other toxins can promote Alzheimer’s disease in addition to a number of other health problems.

Pesticides Can Also Wreak Havoc with Brain Function

Pesticides, for example, have also been shown to have an adverse effect on neurological function and brain health.⁸ In one study, farmers exposed to organochlorine insecticides had a 90 percent increased risk of depression compared to those who didn’t use them.

Exposure to fumigants increased risk of depression by 80 percent. People exposed to pesticides are also more likely to have Parkinson’s disease.

Clearly, when it comes to toxins, unless the chemical is acutely toxic, the real harm occurs when your body becomes chronically overloaded with them, and most people today are exposed to thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of different chemicals on a regular basis.

Farmers are not the only ones at risk for adverse effects from pesticide exposure. Glyphosate can be found in most processed foods in the Western diet courtesy of GE sugar beets, corn, and soy, and research shows glyphosate enhances the damaging effects of other chemical residues and toxins.

While nearly one billion pounds of glyphosate is doused on both conventional and GE crops worldwide each year, genetically engineered (GE) crops receive the heaviest amounts. Meats from animals raised in confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) may also contain higher amounts of glyphosate residues, as GE soy is a staple of conventional livestock feed.

It’s quite crucial to understand that glyphosate contamination is systemic, meaning it is integrated into every cell of the plant, from root to tip. It’s not just an issue of topical contamination, as with many other agricultural chemicals sprayed on crops.

Normally, you need to thoroughly wash your produce to remove topical pesticide residues, but you simply cannot remove glyphosate from your produce. And neither can food and animal feed manufacturers who use GE ingredients in their products. This is part and parcel of what makes GE foods so harmful to your health.

Synergistic Poisoning from Aluminum and Glyphosate Implicated in Autism

Dr. Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been instrumental in educating people about the hazards of glyphosate. In the video below, she explains how aluminum and glyphosate act together as synergistic poisons that promote autism. Based on the current trend, Dr. Seneff predicts that by 2025, half of all children born will be diagnosed with autism. Clearly, we must identify leading environmental factors contributing to this frightening trend. Lack of vitamin D caused by inadequate sun exposure is one factor. Nutritional deficiencies caused by poor diet are another.

Environmental toxins must not be overlooked however, and some toxins—glyphosate and aluminum included—are far more hazardous and ubiquitous than others, and are therefore likely to contribute to a greater degree. As Dr. Seneff explains, glyphosate’s mechanism of harm renders it particularly problematic. Indeed, according to Dr. Seneff, glyphosate is possibly “the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies,” including but not limited to:

Autism	Gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, chronic diarrhea, colitis, and Crohn’s disease	Obesity
Allergies	Cardiovascular disease	Depression
Cancer	Infertility	Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease	Multiple sclerosis	ALS and more

Continue Reading At: Mercola.com

How Your Thoughts & Beliefs Are Manipulated By The Media

TheBreakaway
Zy Marquiez
July 8, 2016

We are going to see what happens to a person’s thoughts/beliefs when they are presented with a constant barrage of certain type of information by the mainstream media.

In his groundbreaking book, Thinking, Fast And Slow, Nobel Prize Winner Daniel Kahneman takes a gander at some research conducted by his colleagues Slovic, Lichtenstein, and a former student Fischhoff.

Kahneman goes on to cover the landmark research conducted by the above individuals in relation to “public perceptions of risks, including a survey that has become the standard example of an availability bias.”

Quick side bar.

For clarification purposes, in plain-speak, an availability bias is when individuals are influenced by circumstances/events/ideas that have taken place more recently due to availability – such as a report in the media being widespread and ubiquitous.  This therein skews the actual decision making process of individuals.

Continuing on, Slovic, Lichtenstein & Fischhoff “asked participants in their survey to consider pairs of causes of death: diabetes and asthma, or stroke and accidents.  For each pair, the subjects indicated the more frequent cause and estimated the ratio of the two frequencies. The judgments were compared to health statistics of the time.  Here’s a sample of their findings:

-Stroke cause almost twice as many deaths as all accidents combined, but 80% of respondents judged accidental death to be more likely.
– Tornadoes were seen as more frequent killers than asthma, although the latter cause 20 times more deaths.
-Death by lightning was judged less likely than death from botulism even though it is 52 times more frequent.
-Death by disease is 18 times as likely as accidental death, but the two were judged about equally likely.
-Death by accidents was judged to be more than 300 times more likely than death by diabetes, but the true ratio was 1:4

The lesson is clear: estimates of causes of death are warped by media coverage.  The coverage is itself biased towards novelty and poignancy.”[1][Emphasis Added]

Kahneman carries on:

“Unusual events (such as botulism) attack disproportionate attention and are consequently perceived as less unusual than they really are.  The world in our heads is not a precise replica of reality; our expectations about the frequency of events are distorted by the prevalence and emotional intensity of the messages to which we are exposed.” [2][Emphasis Added]

As the cited examples above showcase, people’s reality structure can be overwhelming warped – especially when coupled with fears – by how much coverage a certain subject gets by the mainstream media.

Could that also apply to the disconcerting topic of terrorism?  Quite so.

Since 9/11, terrorism in its many shapes and forms, has become an omnipresent issue throughout society.   Has that that threat of terrorism been overstated?   Let’s find out.

In fact, years ago it was found that ” the leading cause of deaths for Americans traveling abroad is not terrorism, or murder … or even crime of any type.

It’s car crashes.

In fact:

With the exception of the Philippines, more Americans died from road crashes in all of the 160 countries surveyed than from homicides.

The U.S. Department of State reports that only 17 U.S. citizens were killed worldwide as a result of terrorism in 2011. That figure includes deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq and all other theaters of war.

In contrast, the American agency which tracks health-related issues – the U.S. Centers for Disease Control – rounds up the most prevalent causes of death in the United States:

Comparing the CDC numbers to terrorism deaths means (keep in mind that – from here to the end of the piece – we are consistently and substantially understating the risk of other causes of death as compared to terrorism, because we are comparing deaths from various causes within the United States against deaths from terrorism worldwide):

– You are 35,079 times more likely to die from heart disease than from a terrorist attack

– You are 33,842 times more likely to die from cancer than from a terrorist attack

Wikipedia notes that obesity is a a contributing factor in 100,000–400,000 deaths in the United States per year. That makes obesity 5,882 to times 23,528 more likely to kill you than a terrorist.

The annual number of deaths in the U.S. due to avoidable medical errors is as high as 100,000. Indeed, one of the world’s leading medical journals – Lancet – reported in 2011:

A November, 2010, document from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services reported that, when in hospital, one in seven beneficiaries of Medicare (the government-sponsored health-care programme for those aged 65 years and older) have complications from medical errors, which contribute to about 180 000 deaths of patients per year.

That’s just Medicare beneficiaries, not the entire American public. Scientific American noted in 2009:

Preventable medical mistakes and infections are responsible for about 200,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to an investigation by the Hearst media corporation.

And a new study published in the Journal of Patient Safety says the numbers may be up to 440,000 each year.

But let’s use the lower – 100,000 – figure. That still means that you are 5,882 times more likely to die from medical error than terrorism.”[3]

Let’s ask the question again: has the threat of terrorism been overstated?

What do you think?

Given that we have learned that that are many more greater threats to our lively hoods, not only should society not be as fearful regarding terrorism propaganda that the mainstream media exacerbates, but the real problems we should be concerned about – like for instance the likelihood of dying from medical mistakes – are severely underreported.

This is quite disconcerting given how many people over estimate the quality of health in the united states, even though its nowhere near the top country in health in the world.

What the above information shows is that if the individual is not careful, not only will their view of the world be quite distorted, but the information that they should be looking into will be completely overlooked.

Let this be a word of caution for those who are quick to trust the mainstream media – or any other media for that matter including this one.

Always, always, always verify the information, and make sure not to attach emotion to it.

Sift through it, cross-check, use various sources, and don’t fall for the fear porn.

Be open-minded, but skeptical.

Remember, we’re responsible for what goes in our minds.  Let make sure its quality information.

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Sources:

[1] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast And Slow, pg. 138.
[2] Ibid., pg 138.
[3] GlobalResearch, The Terrorism Statistics Every American Needs To Hear, May 19, 2014.