Expectations Shape Reality

The healing power underlying a person’s thoughts and expectations has flown largely under the radar and focus in the realm of Western Medicine. So I was intrigued (yet, not surprised) when I stumbled upon an abstract of a study the other day, entitled, The Effect of Treatment Expectation on Drug Efficacy: Imaging the Analgesic Benefit of the Opioid Remifentanil. Researchers discovered, what many people, especially those who are acutely tapped in to the energetics of being are already aware of, that the most inﬂuential determining factor to the effectiveness of any drug treatment is (cue intense music) a patient’s own mind.

It is always exciting to me when bridges are built connecting science and spirituality in ways that have great potential to comfort those “let’s see the numbers” folks into nudging paradigms to the side that are no longer serving in the best of ways, and in the following breath, open up minds to an entirely new way of treating disease.

In the study’s abstract, the researchers state: “Evidence from behavioral and self-reported data suggests that the patients’ beliefs and expectations can shape both therapeutic and adverse effects of any given drug. We investigated how divergent expectancies alter the analgesic efficacy of a potent opioid in healthy volunteers by using brain imaging.”

During the study, “positive treatment expectancy substantially enhanced (doubled) the analgesic benefit” of the medication. On the flip side, when subjects were told that they were not receiving painkiller medications, even while they were, the effects proved to be entirely ineffective. In fact, the research showed the benefits of painkillers could be increased or completely canceled by manipulating the subjects’ expectations. Wrapped up in one sentence? Relief is up to the patient.

While this amount of scientific light shed on the subject should have important outcomes for patient care and drug use, there is no money to be made in our present day setup from telling patients that they hold much potential to heal themselves. That written treatment modalities (of any variety) will always benefit from weaving these mind over matter principles into their approaches. There are thousands of examples where whatever is being wined and dined by the mind in a serious and consistent way has materialized. Mind/body medicine is not parallel to some wishful, cauldron-stirring result. It is real, concrete, and increasingly, the only way to get lasting results in a a society that has been built upon stress-laden channels, many of which lack an off switch.

Your Mind Matters!

It is known from research that healing in the body is regulated by the brain. This has been repetitively upheld by many studies where the desired effect(s) of various drugs have consistently missed the boat in the company of a placebo. That fact that we are in charge of our brain is reassuring. The brain carries out its to do list in the form of beliefs, intentions, in the trust of what is to happen, positive, negative, conscious and subconscious, alike. There is no better time than now to realize that we hold (beyond magical) moxie (Capabilities was the word I was really going for. Moxie popped up and I couldn’t turn it down.) when it comes to our path, our purpose….and our healing abilities. It is my sincere hope and intention that we, collectively, continue to migrate toward this (refreshed) and powerful understanding.

The article, The Effect of Treatment Expectation on Drug Efficacy: Imaging the Analgesic Benefit of the Opioid Remifentanil was published in the medical journal, Science Translational Medicine Vol. 3, Issue 70, February 16, 2011. You can find it online at this site, but you will have to subscribe to the read the full article.

Steps Toward Preventing Chronic Illness

Cancel Illness, Order in Wellness. 10 Strategies for Disease Prevention

Reduce Processed Foods

Better yet, entirely eliminate processed foods, sugar, and sugar spiking grains from your diet. Aside from being a poor source of nutrients for your body, many of the above foods create and support insulin issues. Controlling insulin levels is one of the most powerful and effective ways to decrease risk of developing many illnesses.

Eat Real Food

Increase the amount of live and wild foods in your diet. Live food has all of its nutrients, including enzymes, unaltered and intact. Because live foods are whole foods, they contribute to feeling well not only because they decrease the amount of ‘negatives’ that are going into your body, but because they offer more nutrition-wise than food that has been stripped of its nutrients, or otherwise ‘revamped.’ Live and whole foods are fantastic, but taking this a slight step further, the REAL nutritional stars are wild foods! Even the soil that most organic food is grown in these days, has been stripped of many nutrients, leaving far less than intended for the plants to absorb and pass along. A forest, however, has ‘food production’ down with perfection. Due to the continuous cycle of growth and decomposition the soil is rich with health supporting nutrients, and the root systems of most wild plants reach an impressive depth within the soil, pulling up massive amounts of minerals and vitamins.

Get Sunlight

Balance your sun exposure. Spend enough time in the sun each day to normalize your levels of vitamin D. If/when spending time outdoors is not possible, consider mindful supplementation. Vitamin D is a key player in overall health and tests are available from a nutritionally knowledgeable physician if you’re unsure whether you need to supplement.

Balance your Fats

Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats by reducing omega-6 rich oils (cottonseed, corn, vegetable, wheat germ, grapeseed, sunflower seed, soybean, sesame seed, olive and safflower) and including more high quality omega-3 rich foods in your diet (omega-3 rich wild fish or fish oil and flaxseed are two good sources).

Exercise

Cultivate a regular exercise routine. As already written above, controlling insulin levels dramatically drops the risk of health decline. Exercise drives your insulin levels down, making it very beneficial from a position of prevention.

Sleep Well

Sleep sound. Historically, sleep was thought to be a passive state. Few things could be further from the truth. Sleep is an incredibly active time for both our brains and our bodies, during which we dreamily dive into all varieties of growth and repair processes- a dynamic biochemical orchestration. Sleep certainly affects our physical and mental well-being, and is essential for the normal functioning of all of the systems of our body, including our immune system.

Avoid Environmental Toxins

Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins. Pesticides, household cleaners, chemically laden paints and stains, conventionally grown food, air fresheners, air/water pollution, plastics, body washes and lotions are just a small sample of things that most of us come in contact with on a daily basis that make an imprint on our internal toxin load. Research all products that enter your home and your body and do your best to find healthy substitutes to support your own health, the health of your family, and the well-being of our planet.

Avoid Harmful EMFs

Limit your exposure to EMF produced by cell phone towers, base stations, cell phones and WiFi stations. (Easier written than done with the profuse integration of all the above into our daily lives and routines). There are several protection devices that are now available and can be worn and/or placed in your home to reduce energetic interference.

Get Grounded

Connect with the Earth (A passion of mine! I cannot write enough about this topic and so it deserves an entire, solo-style article. Click hear to readTouching Earth.

Heal Emotionally

Discover techniques to help rebalance your body from emotional energetic blockages. The Center for Disease Control states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions and stress. Neurological short-circuiting can promote a whole host of health problems, including activating cancer genes. While some people might gloss over this factor due to lack of ‘tangible understanding,’ it may be more important than all the other more physical ones listed above, and is very worthy of being addressed. A couple of energetic rebalancing techniques worth looking into are Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique ( B.E.S.T.) and Emotional Freedom Technique.

Medicinal Mushrooms

Self-treating medical conditions with medicinal mushrooms

Which Type is Right for You?

Whether you want to improve cellular health or prevent the common cold, medicinal mushrooms are available in a variety of species to help you address your health concerns. Certain types of mushrooms have the distinct ability to boost immune health and fight diseases including diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and many more life-threatening illnesses. These powerful herbal remedies are one of the primary foundations of alternative medicine, but with so many different formulas to choose from, it can be difficult to know which type best fits your personal health needs. Here’s a closer look at three varieties of common medicinal mushrooms:

Reishi

Ganoderma lucidum, more commonly known as Reishi, is found worldwide and has a variety of active components, including proteins, amino acids, polysaccharides, volatile oils, minerals, vitamins and lipids. These properties make it effective in enhancing the oxygenation of the blood, lowering cholesterol levels, stimulating the immune system, and promoting liver detoxification.

Maitake

This leaf-like, braided polypore fungus contains over 25% protein, various polysaccharides, vitamins, unsaturated fatty acids, and sterols that provide potent anti-tumor and immune-regulating effects. It is most highly recognized for its anti-cancer effects, as it provides protection against the harmful effects of chemotherapy, has inhibited breast cancer growth and metastasis in animal studies, and is the subject of ongoing human clinical trials with breast and prostate cancer patients.

Shiitake

This particular mushroom is the source of two well-studied extracts that include lentinan, a cell wall polysaccharide rich in Beta-glucans; and LEM (LentinulaEdodes Mycelium Extract), a protein-bound polysaccharide complex. Lentinan has been shown to be protective against various bacteria, viruses (including influenza) and parasites. Taking this mushroom regularly may help to decrease cholesterol levels and lower blood pressure.

Each of these mushrooms has profound applications that can improve vitality, decrease the growth of fungus and bacteria in the body, and even prevent deadly viruses by boosting your immune system. For more in-depth information about specific medicinal mushrooms and their many health-promoting benefits, I invite you to download a complimentary copy of a Medicinal Mushroom Wellness Guide.

Sick Society

And the ramifications of the choices we make within our sick society

We live in a sick, sick society. And yes, I mean that literally as well as figuratively. We put toxins in our water through pollution and through fluoridation. We alter and process food until it doesn’t resemble its original components and loses all of its nutrition, then we put a little artificial nutrition back in before adding artificial coloring, preservatives, and flavorings to make it taste better and look inviting while increasing its shelf life. We send our children to schools that feed them this processed garbage once or twice a day.

Most of us believe the FDA protects us, so we feed our children sugared cereal made from genetically modified corn for their breakfast along with pasteurized juice and milk from cows shot full of rBGH. Maybe we add a little fruit sprayed with herbicides and pesticides. For lunch our kids eat fast food with plenty of trans fats. Dinner comes out of a can, a box, or a frozen packet and is often irradiated. Oh and don’t forget the snacks: sugar filled sodas, cakes, cookies, and candy. We are raising a generation of children whose sugar and toxin intake negates their immune systems and their exposure to real foods is so negligible they cannot recognize or name most of our vegetables and fruits.

Next come the pharmaceuticals. We vaccinate our children with dirty, toxic vaccines. Our children get sick (need I repeat why?) and we treat their symptoms (not the cause) with over-the-counter drugs and prescription drugs. Our children exhibit behavior and mental health problems. Rather than clean up their diets and detoxify their bodies, we give them more drugs. At some point we may not be given a choice. If our child has cancer or another serious disease or is diagnosed with a mental illness we may be forced by Child Protective Services or the courts to follow conventional treatment including chemotherapy or psychotropic drugs. If we choose not to vaccinate, we may be forced by law to comply.

Pharmaceuticals, both over the counter and prescriptive, are marketed to us through television and print media. We are encouraged (brainwashed?) to improve our lives with the use of sleeping pills, tranquilizers, anti-depressive drugs, and stimulants. Our society demands that we be the best we can be through the use of these pills. And yet, cancer is at an all time high. ADHD, autism, and Alzheimer’s are epidemic.

We are cogs in the wheel of the 21st century economic machine. Wherever we turn, the typical American lifestyle is ruled by the interests of big business: the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the health care industry. Poor health is a profitable outcome for all three. Processed food is cheap to buy and cheaper to make. It yields enormous profits. Factory farming is profitable. Huge farming enterprises raising crops with chemicals on land stripped of nutrients are profitable. Pharmaceuticals are criminally profitable. The medical industry is fed by illness and married to pharmaceuticals. The cycle goes round and round. And the powers that be continue in their efforts to shut down naturopathic treatments including the sale of vitamins and supplements.

The strange thing is, this same diseased society that embraces conventional treatment is punitive and vengeful to those who use these prescription drugs. Are you aware that the use of a prescription drug may be the deciding factor of whether you spend the next fifteen to twenty years in prison if you are involved in a fatal accident? Even though you took that drug as prescribed?

In the State of Georgia, drivers involved in fatal crashes can be charged with a misdemeanor, second degree homicide by vehicle or with a felony, first degree homicide by a vehicle. If charged in the second degree, the driver can face up to a year in prison and a $1,000 fine. If charged with first degree, the driver faces three to fifteen years (or up to twenty if the offender is found to be habitual).

So what constitutes a first degree crime in this instance? The law includes cases of death involving fleeing a police officer, failure to stop for a school bus, hit and run, previously being declared a habitual offender, reckless driving, or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Again, drugs don’t have to be illegal drugs nor do prescription drugs have to be abused. If you take a prescription drug and are involved in a fatal accident, you could be in trouble.

Michael Edwards (editor-in-chief) met a man who was sentenced to ten years in prison due to a sleeping pill prescription. He hadn’t taken the medication for several days before the accident, but the medication was the basis for a first degree charge. A recent case was bumped up to first degree when it was learned that the driver was prescribed Adderol for ADD.

We have a choice, a huge choice. We can continue to be a cog in the wheel or we can choose health—real health. We can eat real food, unadulterated, organic fruits and vegetables. Organic grains. Organic meats and raw dairy. We have to fight to keep these foods available. We have to care about the foods given to children in our schools. We have to demand our rights to refuse medications, to choose whether or not to vaccinate, to demand, at the very least, that vaccinations be pure, that they are not tainted with mercury or other toxic substances. We have to demand that pharmaceutical companies are held responsible if they fail to provide safe vaccinations and medications.

The incarceration rate is obscene and rising. Justice has become a joke in this country. Once upon a time, an accident was an accident. A painful, horrific reality for a driver who lost control of a vehicle. Today, an accident is an opportunity to incarcerate someone, even if there was no negligence, criminal intent, or criminal wrongdoing.

When you choose your lifestyle, look at the whole picture. Which do you choose? If you choose an unhealthy lifestyle maintained through pills, be aware that your choices may sentence you to years in prison if, God forbid, the worst happens. An accident may be just that—an accident. Your choices are not.

Environmental Toxins Typically Do Not Cause Cancer on Their Own

In the film Healing Cancer from the Inside Out, narrator Mike Anderson explains that carcinogens provide the seeds for cancer, while a diet rich in animal proteins and fats (a typical Western Diet) provides the fertilizer.

To support his arguments, he reminds us that indigenous cultures eating traditional diets have low incidences of cancer. But when they begin eating western diets, cancer rates explode.

In Okinawa, cancer rates are extremely low in the midst of rampant environmental toxicity. When Okinawans immigrate to the United States and consume a Western diet, their cancer rates soar.

Anderson’s final argument is the surprising lack of correlation between smoking rates and lung cancer in the United States. While smoking rates have dropped significantly in the last 50 years, there has been no corresponding decline in lung cancer. Again—carcinogens and toxins are the seeds. Our unhealthy diet provides the fertilizer. Conversely, healthy foods provide the cure.

Budwig Cancer Cure

A Simple and Natural Cure for Cancer

Most people dismiss the idea that you can cure any cancer simply, easily, and naturally with a 90% success rate. People in general do not put much faith in alternative medicine or natural cures. Even those who subscribe to the idea of a natural and organic lifestyle tend to dismiss natural cancer treatments, thinking that cancer is too big, too strong, and too deadly for alternative medicine.

Meet Dr. Johanna Budwig

Believe it or not, Dr. Johanna Budwig, a German biochemist with a Ph.D in natural science, cured cancer with a 90% success rate with a very simple, natural, and inexpensive treatment. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in medicine six times.

Dr. Budwig underwent medical training, was schooled in pharmaceutical science, physics, botany, and biology, and was one of the foremost experts in fats. She lived to the ripe old age of 94.

What Have You Got to Lose?

What many people do not know is that most cancers progress very slowly. Dr. Budwig said that her protocol can restore health to most people in less than three months. Some people have seen cancer completely eradicated in just a few weeks or even days. While conventional doctors typically try to rush their patients into chemotherapy as soon as possible, consider this: cancer typically kills very slowly. Chemotherapy, on the other hand, kills very quickly.

Why not try this alternative cure?

Quark and Flaxseed Oil

Dr. Budwig’s protocol includes a proper diet, which for the unhealthy is likely to be a radical lifestyle change (but so are chemotherapy treatments). Dr. Budwig allows no refined sugars and no animal proteins except for quark (a type of cheese) or cottage cheese. But the most important part of her program, and certainly the most well known, is the mixture of quark and flaxseed oil.

In the video on the next page, Sandra Olson shows the recipe for the Budwig Protocol. She uses cottage cheese instead of quark.

Fat is fat soluble, which means it has to be processed by bile from the liver and gallbladder. When someone is sick enough to have cancer (or any other inflammatory disease for that matter), their ability to process and absorb fats is drastically reduced. Quark and cottage cheese are rich in sulphurated proteins. When these proteins are mixed with fat, the fat becomes water soluble and no longer needs the liver’s help to be absorbed into the body’s cells. Furthermore, even a healthy body can only assimilated so much fat at once when the fat is not water soluble. Dr. Budwig’s method saturates the body with omega 3 anti-inflammatory fatty acids, a process which oxidizes the cells and restores health at a cellular level.

It’s Not Just for Cancer

Diseases thrive on unhealthy cells and inflammation. In fact, disease is the symptom of unhealthy cells. Raymond Francis put it best, “There is only one disease (malfunctioning cells), and only two causes of disease(nutrition deficiency and toxicity).” Most of our modern diseases from diabetes to cancer to arthritis are inflammatory diseases.

Budwig’s Recipe

You will need organic, cold pressed flaxseed oil and organic quark or organic cottage cheese and a blender (since you are mixing a small amount, an immersion blender works best, or you can use a mixer with a single beater). If you can get cottage cheese or quark made with fresh raw (unpasteurized and non-homogenized) milk, then get it as long as it is organic.

The ratio is 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil to 2 tablespoons of quark or cottage cheese thoroughly blended so that the oil is no longer visible. Using more quark or cottage cheese is fine, and preferable to not using enough. A total of three to six tablespoons of flaxseed oil a day one is recommended.

Budwig’s Muesli Recipe

Blend 3 Tablespoons of organic flaxseed oil with 6 Tablespoons of low-fat (less than 2%) organic Quark or Cottage Cheese . Blend until the oil has disappeared. If the mixture is too thick, you can add 1-3 tablespoons of goat’s milk. Do not add water or juice while blending the oil and cheese.

Grind 2 tablespoons of flax seeds and add to the mixture. (Use only freshly ground seeds.)

Mix in 1 teaspoon of raw (non-pasteurized) honey.

Add fruit, nuts or seeds (soak first!), and spices as desired.

Quark Alternatives

Organic cottage cheese can be used in place of quark. Yogurt or kefir can also be used in place of quark but are considered less optimal. The ration is also higher: 3 tablespoons of yogurt or kefir to 1 tablespoon of oil.

Vegan Alternatives

We at OLM tried to find a vegan substitute for quark, but were unsuccessful in finding one high enough in sulphurated protein. There were some vegan sulphurated protein capsules, but the company that we would have recommended quit making them and now we can’t find any available.

Bionatures.com offers “companion nutrients” with sulphurated protein already mixed with flaxseed oil. It should be noted that Dr. Budwig was not a fan of supplements and she believed the quark/oil should be eaten immediately after mixing.

Our Additions

Kill candida and other parasites when trying to eliminate cancer. Rebuild the colon, and clean out the blood. Eat lots of produce. Checkout the recommended supplements below.

Your Health, Your Responsibility

For more information on Dr. Johanna Budwig, check out Dr. Johanna Budwig’s Healing Diet & Protocol. Also, if you have cancer (or any other disease for that matter), read what Michael Edwards, Editor-in-Chief of OLM would do if he were diagnosed with virtually any disease. The modern medical establishment is a for-profit business. Curing disease naturally is not profitable, but it certainly is possible.

Health can be regained through a combination of an optimal nutrient dense diet, adequate sleep, exercise, and detoxing. If you are wanting to get well, whether you suffer from cancer, diabitits, allergies, migrains, or virtually any other health issue, the first step is repairing the gut. Check out Gluten, Candid, Leaky Gut Symdrome, and Autoimmune Diseases and

Recommended Supplements:

Chemotherapy vs Placebo

Cancer treatments have varying survival rates depending on the cancer, the treatment, and how the survival rate is calculated. If you really want to know how successful conventional treatments are at curing cancer, you’ll be hard pressed to find the information.

Cure rates are hard to find. Instead, the medical community publishes 5-year survival rates. If cancer patients die from cancer 5 years and 1 day from the time they were diagnosed, their 5-year survival is still a success to the cancer industry. Furthermore, most cancers are extremely slow moving diseases. If the cancer patient was left untreated, a 5-year survival rate is likely. Proponents of alternative treatments argue that cure rates have not changed in the last 35 years. The 5-year survival rate has improved—but they contend this improvement is due to earlier detection rather than successful medical intervention.

Consider the placebo effect. In 1955 Henry Beecher concluded that between 30 and 40 percent of any treated group would positively respond to a placebo (sugar pill). When new drugs are tested for FDA approval, they go through a placebo test where results are compared to a sugar pill.

New research shows that the placebo success rate may be significantly higher than previously believed, as high as 75%. Furthermore, the bigger the treatment appears to be, the higher the success rate. Patients who believe they underwent surgery experience higher levels of success than those taking a pill.

Chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer has a current 5-year survival rate of 44%. With many other types of cancer, chemotherapy treatment success rates are as low as 1%.