Archive for the ‘Health’ Category
Cancer Cure? Asparagus!
I received an email worth reading. It is about asparagus and its role in defeating cancer. Here goes:
Several years ago, a man seeking asparagus for a friend who had cancer. He gave me a photocopied copy of an article entitled `Asparagus for Cancer’ printed in Cancer News Journal, December 1979.
I will share it here, just as it was shared with me: ‘I am a biochemist, and have specialized in the relation of diet to health for over 50 years. Several years ago, I learned of the discovery of Richard R. Vensal, D.D.S. that asparagus might cure cancer.
Since then, I have worked with him on his project. We have accumulated a number of favorable case histories.
Here are a few examples:
Case No. 1, A man with an almost hopeless case of Hodgkin’s disease (cancer of the lymph glands) who was completely incapacitated. Within 1 year of starting the asparagus therapy, his doctors were unable to detect any signs of cancer, and he was back on a schedule of strenuous exercise.
Case No. 2, a successful businessman 68 years old who suffered from cancer of the bladder for 16 years. After years of medical treatments, including radiation without improvement, he went on asparagus. Within 3 months, examinations revealed that his bladder tumor had disappeared and that his kidneys were normal.
Case No. 3, a man who had lung cancer. On March 5th 1971 , he was put on the operating table where they found lung cancer so widely spread that it was inoperable. The surgeon sewed him up and declared his case hopeless. On April 5th he heard about the asparagus therapy and immediately started taking it.By August, x-ray pictures revealed that all signs of the cancer had disappeared. He is back at his regular business routine.
Case No. 4, a woman who was troubled for a number of years with skin cancer. She finally developed different skin cancers which were diagnosed by asking specialist as advanced. Within 3 months after starting on asparagus, her skin specialist said that her skin looked fine and no more skin lesions. This woman reported that the asparagus therapy also cured her kidney disease, which started in 1949. She had over 10 operations for kidney stones, and was receiving government disability payments for an inoperable, terminal, kidney condition. She attributes the cure of this kidney trouble entirely to the asparagus.
I was not surprised at this result as ` The elements of materia medica ‘, edited in 1854 by a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania stated that asparagus was used as a popular remedy for kidney stones. He even referred to experiments in 1739 on the power of asparagus in dissolving stones.
We would have other case histories, but the medical establishment has interfered with our obtaining some of the records. I am therefore appealing to readers to spread this good news and help us to gather a large number of case histories that will overwhelm the medical skeptics about this unbelievably simple and natural remedy. For the treatment, asparagus should be cooked before using , and therefore canned asparagus is just as good as fresh.
I have corresponded with the two leading canners of asparagus, Giant Giant and Stokely, and I am satisfied that these brands contain no pesticides or preservatives.
Place the cooked asparagus in a blender and liquefy to make a puree, and store in the refrigerator. Give the patient 4 full tablespoons twice daily , morning and evening.
Patients usually show some improvement in 2-4 weeks. It can be diluted with water and used as a cold or hot drink. This suggested dosage is based on present experience, but certainly larger amounts can do no harm and may be needed in some cases.
As a biochemist I am convinced of the old saying that `what cures can prevent’. Based on this theory, my wife and I have been using asparagus puree as a beverage with our meals.
We take 2 tablespoons diluted in water to suit our taste with breakfast and with dinner. I take mine hot and my wife prefers hers cold. For years, we have made it a practice to have blood surveys taken as part of our regular checkups.
The last blood survey, taken by a medical doctor who specializes in the nutritional approach to health, showed substantial improvements in all categories over the last one, and we can attribute these improvements to nothing but the asparagus drink.
As a biochemist, I have made an extensive study of all aspects of cancer, and all of the proposed cures. As a result, I am convinced that asparagus fits in better with the latest theories about cancer. Asparagus contains a good supply of protein called histones, which are believed to be active in controlling cell growth. For that reason, I believe asparagus can be said to contain a substance that I call cell growth normalizer. That accounts for its action on cancer and inacting as a general body tonic.
In any event, regardless of theory, asparagus used as we suggest is a harmless substance.
The FDA cannot prevent you from using it and it may do you much good. It has been reported by the US National Cancer Institute that asparagus is the highest tested food containing glutathione , which is considered one of the body’s most potent anticarcinogens and antioxidants.
Fat VS Sugar
Here is a good health article that Phaw received in his email. For those who wants to be healthy, read this. This is taken from the website totalhealthbreakthrough.com:
Get Off the Sugar Roller Coaster Now!
By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS
Here’s a news bulletin for you: The most damaging ingredient in the American diet is not fat.
It’s sugar.
No kidding. As a “health hazard”, fat has gotten the lion’s share of attention — but it may well turn out that our attention was focused in the wrong place. High sugar diets are now linked to increased risk for diabetes, Alzheimer’s, some types of cancer, and obesity. Sugar depresses the immune system, ages the body, creates inflammation, and contributes to cravings, mood swings, PMS, and a host of other conditions.
And the news about our consumption isn’t good, either. USDA surveys show that the average American is consuming about 20 teaspoons of the stuff a day. Sugar now accounts for over 15% of the average adult’s calories and 20% of the average teenager’s.
So why exactly does sugar cause such a problem?
Let’s start with insulin.
When you eat sugar, your blood sugar rises (quickly) and your pancreas immediately jumps into action. It responds to the increase in blood sugar by secreting the hormone insulin, whose job — among other things — is to get that sugar out of the bloodstream pronto… by delivering it to the muscle cells where it can be used for energy. That’s because if sugar hangs around the bloodstream, it ultimately does a lot of damage — glomming onto red blood cells and creating sticky compounds that ultimately clog up the works.
But there are two problems with the way our bodies handle sugar. First, most of us aren’t using those muscle cells enough to create much of a demand for the sugar, so the muscle cells eventually shut their doors. (It doesn’t require too much sugar to power the muscles used to move the mouse on your computer.) So sugar either goes into fat cells, or continues to hang out in the bloodstream, like an accident waiting to happen.
The second problem is that the small amount of insulin needed to manage a moderate amount of sugar from a natural food — like an apple, for example — isn’t enough to manage a diet of 900-calorie “no-fat” muffins from Starbucks. The pancreas has to shoot more and more insulin into the system to get the job done, and high levels of insulin create a whole other set of problems.
Insulin, for example, tells the kidneys to hold onto sodium, increasing blood pressure. Chronically high insulin levels have also been linked to Metabolic Syndrome (a kind of “pre-diabetes” which increases the risk for heart disease). That’s just the short list…
And it’s not just plain old garden variety table sugar that has this effect on the body. Some of the worst offenders when it comes to raising blood sugar are mashed potatoes, most breads, rice, fruit punch, pancakes, virtually all desserts, and even cornflakes. These foods convert quickly to sugar in the body. Your pancreas can’t tell the difference.
Sugar’s not just non-nutritive, it’s actually anti-nutritive. Here’s why: When sugar is found in real life foods and plants (like apples or berries, or even for goodness sake, actual sugar cane), it comes complete with the vitamins, minerals, and enzymes needed for its complete digestion. That’s pretty amazing!
But when it’s found in your sugar bowl — or in any of the typical chemical compounds that food manufacturers use to sweeten their goods –like “brown rice syrup” or the disaster known as high fructose corn syrup — it contains nothing of any value.
Your body actually has to “borrow” from its stores of nutrients in order to process it. That’s one reason sugar is considered to be an immune system depressor. In order to be metabolized, sugar literally “eats up” nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.
And if you think sugar isn’t addictive, think again. Research at Princeton University has found that the brains of rats change in response to sugar.1 Rats that were allowed to binge on sugar showed signs of “withdrawal” when the pleasure centers of the brain were blocked, an experience all-too-familiar to many of us who can’t get our nightly fix of Ben and Jerry’s. The researchers suggested that sugar triggers production of the brain’s natural opioids.
Whether sugar is a true “addiction” or a dependence, remains an open question. I say, “Who cares?” The fact remains that sugar consumption is a big problem for a whole lot of people.
According to Connie Bennett, whose excellent book, “Sugar Shock!” details her own personal journey out of “sugar hell”, there are an estimated 74-147 million Americans who have difficulty processing sweets and refined carbs. “Ultimately, (the) insidious roller-coaster effect which occurs whenever you eat lots of sweets and quickie carbs hampers sufferers’ ability to function at full or even half throttle”, she writes.
In my first book I wrote that you may not be able to eliminate sugar from your diet completely, but to the extent that you can, you will be doing yourself an enormous favor. That’s just as true now as it was then.
Get off the sugar roller coaster. Your body — and your brain –will thank you for it.