Like fat, cholesterol, and sugar, many people believe salt is bad for us. It’s not. Salt is essential for body functions such as nerve cell communication, food absorption, and balancing sugar levels. What may surprise you is that most people in America (and in many other countries as well) do not eat enough salt. But we’re not talking about refined table salt. Like processed sugar, refined salt is void of nutrition, its minerals stripped away. Refined salt is an unhealthy nutrient-robbing, addictive, toxic substance. But the right kind of salt, unrefined sea salt, is an important source of minerals. The next time you purchase salt, buy unrefined, colorful sea salt and enjoy it guilt free.

Salt and pepper doesn’t sound like an interesting topic, does it? We didn’t think so either until we opened a box from Sustainable Sourcing LLC and spread their products across our counter. Once we read the enclosed information we found salt and pepper could be very interesting, especially when the company that brings these organic, gourmet products to market is downright inspirational.

HimalaSalt is hand harvested from the Himalayan Mountains. It is pure, pristine sea salt created 250 million years ago from an ancient ocean. Its lovely pink color is due to its high content of essential minerals (it’s high in magnesium, calcium, and iron and contains more than 80 essential trace minerals). It is never heat treated. It is stone ground, all natural, unrefined, and additive free. Its taste is full-bodied and rich. When you taste it, you’ll realize this is how salt is supposed to taste!

HimalaSalt is actually good for you. Its essential minerals replenish vital electrolytes. It alkalizes the body, allowing vital nutrients to be absorbed more efficiently, while aiding the body in releasing acidic waste.

It comes in a surprising variety which includes a 7oz. box of coarse crystals, 4 oz. and 2.8 oz. refillable salt grinders, a 6 oz. fine grain shaker, and a one pound Zen Cube that comes with a stainless steel Inox Italian grater. The Zen Cube looks like a big chunk of rose quartz. It’s unique, beautiful, and fun to use. Sustainable Sourcing also offers organic garlic salt in a shaker.

Sustainable Sourcing’s Organic Heirloom Peppercorn ™ line is equally appealing. Sold in refillable pepper grinders and spice jars, the variety includes Cubeb Pepper grown in the Monsoon Forests of Indonesia, Heirloom Long Pepper from Bali, pink peppercorns from Brazil, green peppercorns from India, white peppercorns from Indonesia, and the Rainbow Blend—black, white, pink, and green peppercorns. Each delivers a distinctive flavor.

Melissa Kushi, the founder and president of Sustainable Sourcing, is a former whole foods cooking teacher, a macrobiotic educator, and a successful organic commodities trader who has devoted much of her life’s work to sustainable foods farming, alternative health, and ethical business models. Her integrity and morality provide the foundation for Sustainable Sourcing, a company that puts health, well-being, and the environment first and insists on ethical sourcing, artisan harvesting and production methods, natural packaging, and a carbon-neutral, zero-landfill footprint. Check out www.himalasalt.com.

The First Steps to Optimum Health – Letter From the Editor

Ask OLM

If You’re on Prescription Drugs, Don’t Kid Yourself

Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com Discusses GMOs with OLM

Avoid the Frankenfoods

Antiperspirants Cause Breast Cancer

A FrankenFood Bedtime Story

All Natural Label

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Vaccinations

EasyBloom Plant Sensor Product Review

Desk Jockey Yoga

LüSa Organics Product Review

Dandelions

Monsanto Company Profile Part I of IV

As you can imagine, I am frequently asked the question, “What is the most significant thing I can do to improve my health?” I usually tell people that the most important change is to eat a diet high in raw fruits and vegetables. This is the absolute foundation for good health. No supplement or herbal tincture can give you the benefits that the right diet can give you.

The second step is to go organic if possible. USDA certified organic is great, but ideally, fresh, locally grown, truly organic food is the best choice. There is a significant difference between fresh locally grown food and food that was stored, later shipped, only to be piled up again at a distributing center before being shelved for another few weeks or longer. Those fruits and vegetables lose a significant amount of vitamin content and enzymes. We don’t get enough enzymes; eating fresh, locally grown, recently picked raw fresh fruits and vegetables is our best source.

Another benefit of buying organic is avoiding genetically modified foods. Most of today’s processed foods are full of GMOs and much of our produce is genetically modified as well. The only way to ensure you are not eating GMOs is to eat organic.

You can cite studies that seem to prove genetically modified foods are bad for our health, and you can cite studies that show there is no such evidence. I don’t need a study to tell me that a genetically altered vegetable is not going to be good for me.

There are two kinds of science that come to mind with regards to one’s health: the kind of science that works with nature and the kind that works against nature. Genetically modified foods work against nature and seek to overcome nature. If you want optimum health, work with nature and eat what naturally makes sense. Eating food that has been genetically modified to combine DNA from a plant and an animal or food that has been genetically modified to contain an herbicide is not natural.

Infertility and genetic diseases are on the rise. I believe the further we remove ourselves (as well as animals, plants, or any living organism) from nature, the more our health will suffer. Only time will tell what price we will pay for our cavalier attitude towards (or rather, against) nature.

Michael Edwards

Editor in Chief

Cold Sores

I have been getting cold sores on my lips since I was a teenager. I asked my doctor and she indicated that I had the herpes virus. I could not believe it because I thought herpes was an STD. I bought the audio book Natural Cures and the author kept saying that there is a natural remedy for herpes, but he did not say what it is. Do you know what he is referring to?

I really appreciate any suggestion.

Thanks,

Anonymous

DR. TIM O’SHEA: Cold sores are usually viral and indicate local micro-trauma to oral mucosa. They also indicate microbial imbalance in the whole body; equilibrium is centered in the colon. Cold sores indicate insufficient probiotic intestinal flora, an epidemic in the U.S. Three remedies are:

• Take an aspirin tablet (the old fashioned kind, not a capsule) and apply it directly to sore. The aspirin will burn off the sore in 15 minutes.
• Take lysine, an amino acid, as a supplement.
• If the condition is chronic, you must re-establish floral balance in the colon.

Dr. T

Note: To reestablish floral balance, Dr. O’Shea recommends his 60 Day Program, as described on his site www.thedoctorwithin.com. He recommends a double dose of flora for the first 30 days.

EFT

I enjoyed Ryan Harrison’s article on EFT, but I am a bit skeptical. I am willing to give it a try though. I wonder if you know of people who have had success with it in regard to allergies such as pollen, pets, etc. I have a ton of allergies and I want to get off the drugs and start living a more natural life.

Peter

RYAN HARRISON ANSWERS: Skepticism toward EFT is both understandable and, to some extent, wise. I like to tell people that I am an “optimistic skeptic.” What that means is that I genuinely want things to be/do what people claim they will, but that I’m not ready to simply take it all on faith and start seeing great results that aren’t really there. So, I appreciate your skepticism. The best way to determine whether EFT will work for you is to give it a fair shake. That means finding a skilled, trained EFT Practitioner and going through at least a few sessions together.

Will EFT help with allergies? It may, and it may not. EFT Practitioners typically suggest that all physical complaints will respond to EFT sooner or later, because all aspects of life are at some point energetic, and EFT directly affects your system on an energetic level. My experience is that if an allergy has an emotional component (such as an allergy coupled with a traumatic memory), then EFT may certainly help erase the allergy and with amazing efficiency and speed. If the allergy is an issue of competing or clashing subtle energies, then it may take a while longer for the body’s energy system to reconcile itself with the offending allergen’s energetic “thumbprint.”

Let me offer an example:

I had a client who had an intense allergic reaction to fresh chilies and bell peppers of any shape, size, color, or “heat.” His reaction was so strong that he would have to avoid the produce section of the grocery store, because if he so much as smelled a pepper he’d end up with a migraine. Touching a pepper elicited the same severe response, as did eating one, even if it was “hidden” in a prepared food item – proof enough that this wasn’t psychosomatic.

My suspicion was that there was a clash of subtle energies at play. Something about his body’s energy system rebelled when he was in the presence of bell peppers. Their unique energy signature was enough – even at a distance – to cause his body to respond with a migraine.

Using EFT and a related technique that stimulates certain acupoints while using guided imagery, we were able to radically shift this clash of subtle energies within one session. He left my office and reported the next day that he had enjoyed Mexican food loaded with bell peppers, with no negative response. The shift didn’t hold, however. Within a few days, his “allergy” returned. We worked on this issue for a few more sessions with similar results: great and immediate improvement followed by a return to the original state within a few days. Time and circumstance did not allow us to continue working on this case.

My take on this situation is that there was still work to do. Most likely, we needed to keep “massaging” his energetic response to peppers, making the meeting of their subtle energies copacetic as the norm, rather than the exception.

All this to say that I think EFT could very well help you find relief from your allergies, but you may need to give it time and you should certainly find a qualified EFT Practitioner to work with.

Ryan Harrison, MA

Gluten

Raymond Francis, I’ve read your book, Never Be Sick Again, and was astonished by how similar our stories are. I, too, had my immune system collapse and suffered from many environmental sensitivities (though not as severely as you have suffered). Through diet and naturopathic medicine, I have recovered much of my health. One thing I discovered was a sensitivity to gluten. Do you believe that when I completely restore my health I can reverse my inability to digest gluten?

Carol

RAYMOND FRANCIS ANSWERS: It is impossible to predict if gluten sensitivity can be reversed in a particular person. Whether this can happen depends on too many individual factors, including genetic makeup. That being said, I have observed numerous people overcome gluten sensitivity by rebuilding their immunity, and very importantly, rebuilding the integrity of their gut tissue. Damaged gut tissue and leaky gut are a sure-fire prescription for food allergies. Repairing gut tissue with diet, stress reduction and supplements will often make food allergies and gluten sensitivity go away. At the very least, as you improve your health, your sensitivity will be reduced and it will take exposure to higher amounts of the allergen to get a reaction.

Raymond Francis

Email your questions to questions [at] organicmail.net. Questions may be edited for clarity or length.

Since you’re reading this magazine right now, you probably either consider yourself healthy, or you are looking to become healthy. It’s time for some hard truth. If you are taking drugs, whether it be one or sixteen, over the counter or prescription, for prevention or a major illness, YOU ARE NOT HEALTHY!

There is a great misconception in America (and in many other countries) that drugs have something to do with health. They do not. In most cases, drugs are used by people who are looking for a way to make themselves feel better without actually having to change any of their habits. You see this if you ever pay attention to drug commercials. For instance, in a recent commercial for a blood glucose monitor, they talk about how to make diabetes treatment fit into their lifestyle. What about changing your lifestyle?

If you truly want to be healthy, I mean vibrant, no aches and pains, never a headache, hardly ever yawning, etc., you will have to get off of any and all drugs. But please note, there are many prescription drugs that are so dangerous, so addictive, that if you quit cold turkey, and/or without the assistance of a doctor, you may hurt yourself or others. I’ve seen this before. In fact, if you follow scientology and the many headlines scientologists make, you see what happens when people who know very little about drugs try to “cure” someone of their need for prescription drugs. Drugs are dangerous and in many cases getting off of drugs can be even more dangerous.

This magazine is about education. I’m not telling you to “get off of prescription drugs”. But I am saying that you can’t reach a level of optimum health if you are taking drugs. Do your own research. Take steps, baby steps, one step at a time, and start cleaning up your lifestyle. Or not. But don’t kid yourself.

One of the biggest controversies surrounding food in recent years is the entry of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into our food system. If you don’t know about GMOs by now, here’s the concept in a nutshell: Genetically modified foods have had their DNA changed through genetic engineering, using advanced techniques to insert foreign genes (from such varied sources as bacteria and viruses) in order to enhance or change certain characteristics of the organism. The most common modified foods are derived from plants such as soybean, corn, canola, and cotton, but the list of GMOs also includes hormones given to dairy cattle (rbGH). Now even the animals themselves are being genetically engineered.

Supporters of genetic engineering say that modification of organisms on a genetic level is safe, and is similar to how conventional plant breeding has taken place for thousands of years. They also state that in order to gain efficiency in food production to feed the world, GM foods are necessary. The producers of these GMOs maintain that they are as safe as any other food, and have no negative effect on the people consuming them or the environment.

Critics of GMOs (including me) point out that no true trials or testing have been undertaken in order to prove the safety of these foods. In fact, adverse effects from consuming GMOs have been recorded, and because it’s such a new practice, the full results of releasing these unnatural organisms into the environment still remain to be seen. Since science can measure only what it targets, and the sheer number of variables in our natural environment is enormous, the possibility is great that many unintended consequences will occur through the use and consumption of GMOs.

Unfortunately, due to the prevalence of GMOs and the intermingling of foods in our food system during harvest, storage, and processing, most U.S. consumers have been eating genetically modified foods for years. Even those of us who focus on eating all organic probably have been ingesting these foods if we eat out or dine at someone’s house who isn’t as strict as we are with their food purchases. Some 60 to 70% of the products in a grocery store contain some type of genetically engineered ingredient, with the biggest offenders being soy, corn, canola oil, and cottonseed oil.

So why do companies like Monsanto (the world leader in genetic modification) pursue genetic engineering?

One claimed benefit is that using GM seeds increases crop yields and decreases the use of pesticides and herbicides for food production (hence the claim that GMOs will help feed the world). However, contrary to the information coming from the supporters of genetic engineering, studies have shown that just as many pesticides and herbicides are being applied to GM crops as non-GM crops, and in some cases at even higher quantities. For crops modified to be resistant to herbicides, farmers can spray even heavier without damaging the plants, leading to increased use of herbicides worldwide. These herbicides end up in our groundwater, and may also be present in food even after harvest and processing. A recent study sponsored by the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), published in Chemical Research in Toxicology journal, found that Roundup (glyphosate) diluted 105 times was toxic to three different human cell types. This level is significantly lower than the currently accepted residue levels. What this means is that every bite of GM food (modified to be tolerant of glyphosate application) will also have toxic residues which may be detrimental to your health.

Another reason given is the possible increase in nutrition from genetic modification (a higher vitamin content, such as vitamin A in so-called Golden Rice). Yet another is the production of pharmaceuticals from GM crops, which is touted as being able to increase the global availability of medicines and vaccines. Still another reason is the production of substances like spider silk in mass quantities (from genetically modified goats that can produce the silk protein in their Pesticides and GMOs milk).

The four major GM crops – soy, corn, canola, and cotton – are engineered to survive the applications of herbicides at levels which would otherwise kill the plants. Almost 70% of GM crops are engineered to be herbicide tolerant. Another trait of GM crops is a pesticide produced within the plant itself (Bt, or Bacillus thuringienses) in GM corn and cotton. Proponents claim that Bt is harmless, and is a natural bacteria, but some studies have shown an allergic reaction, a high immune response, and even damaged intestines.

If you aren’t OK with all of that, then you need to learn how to avoid GMOs in the food you buy. The best way to avoid them is to buy 100% certified organic food always (check the PLU number on the produce). Organic produce has a 5 digit PLU number, beginning with 9. Conventionally grown produce has a 4 digit PLU number. In theory, all GM produce has a 5 digit PLU number beginning with 8, but the critics say that because labeling is optional, not all GM produce will be labeled as such. If you eat meat, buy 100% grass-fed (pastured) beef and go for the certified organic meats. If you read labels carefully, you will find foods that have been labeled non-GMO or GMO-free. If it isn’t labeled as such, and the product contains non-organic soybeans, corn, canola, cottonseed oil, or dairy, you’re probably getting GM varieties in there.

For more info, be sure to bookmark Seeds of Deception and the Organic Consumers Association GM page.

I avoid GM food, and I wouldn’t feed it to my friends or family either. I highly recommend you become a careful label reader and keep it out of your diet as well.