Whole Foods’ Rebuttal of the You Tube Story Questioning the Legitimacy of their Organics.

Here is a link to the Whole Foods’ rebuttal about the You Tube story questioning the legitimacy of their organics.

http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/whole-foods-market-responds-to-wjla/

As Whole Foods represents organic foods, it needs to be totally up front about its products. People who go to the trouble of purchasing via their hard-earned dollars there expect the highest standards. People who go to Whole Foods to support their healing journey need to be able to trust the products they are choosing. People who are desperately ill who shop at Whole Foods, are in great need of honest help in their foods choices. “Profit at all costs” cannot be the motto.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new< a href="/the-healing-diet-for-healing-acid-reflux-disease/">e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Are Whole Foods Organics Really Organic?

Whole Foods is the leading grocery chain selling organics. But can we trust their organic labels? See this shocking You Tube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ31Ljd9T_Y&feature=player_embedded#

There is an old saying that “You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of time.” Whole Foods–Stop fooling the public!

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Mood Disorders in Children and Diet

This is an interesting article on how important traditional fats are to mental health in our children.

‘We’re Not Eating What We Should Eat’

By Agnes Blum

Eat fat, be healthy.

It’s not nutritional advice that one hears every day, but it was the message at the Northern Virginia Whole Food Nutrition Meetup on Saturday Jan. 30. About 40 people braved the impending snowstorm and met at the restaurant Food Matters in Cameron Station to discuss how food can affect mood and health.

Paula Bass, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist, spoke to the crowd as they ate a breakfast of local foods. Bass, who has been practicing in Northern Virginia for 30 years, fuses a traditional psychotherapeutic approach with nutritional wisdom.

Drawing on experiences with her patients and her own battles with health problems, she told the audience how a change in diet could dramatically alter health. One theme emerged over and over: we need saturated fat, the kind you get from animals.

“When you take the fat out, you’re taking out all the good nutrients,” Bass said, explaining how saturated fat helps keep the brain chemically balanced. “Without it, symptoms can mimic a psychiatric illness and then you do have a psychiatric illness, because that’s the way you’re feeling every day.”

One little girl, for example, had always excelled in school but had begun having breakdowns and lashing out at friends and family. It turned out this second-grader had, up until recently, been eating a whole-foods breakfast with plenty of fat — pancakes, eggs, bacon — and was now eating sugar-cereal and skim milk because of the morning rush at home. Bass recommended to her parents that they ensure she eat a breakfast full of protein and animal fats. They did, and her problems disappeared.

“Food can directly influence a child’s brain,” Bass said. Many people who suffer from mood disorders today — everything from depression to ADD — can trace their problems to a diet lacking in nutrients and fats, she said.

“The only vegetable I saw growing up was canned string beans,” Bass joked. She traced her own turnaround in health to when she began to follow the principles of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which uses education, research and activism to promote healthy living. Their guidelines are: eat pastured meat, probiotics such as yogurt, organic fruits and vegetables and strictly avoid sugar, vegetable oils, white flour, soy and additives such as MSG. “We’re not eating what we should eat,” Bass said. “And what we are eating damages the manufacture of healthy cells.”

A nutrient-dense, traditional foods diet will go a long way in protecting our children’s physical and mental health. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Important Results of Scientific Research Done on Mercury Toxicity

The book, The Mercury in Your Mouth–The Truth about “Silver” Dental Fillings, (Quicksilver Press), is another excellent source for learning about the effects of mercury toxicity. It contains the results of some of the most important scientific studies that have been done in relationship to dental amalgams. It is unfortunate that knowledgeable dentists are unable to openly write about this information without fear of losing their license and most people are quite unaware of the extent to which mercury may be the underlying cause of their health complaints. Therefore, the public needs to share this information.

The book describes mercury as a “cytotoxin.” It is poisonous to all living cells and can bind with any molecule called a “sulfhydrl”–which is found in most proteins–the building blocks for all tissues. As a result–mercury can interfere with virtually any process or organ in the body. Mercury has a long history of being reported as a poison. 2,500 years ago, the Greeks used it as a murder weapon by pouring it into the victim’s ear–thereby paralyzing the brain and causing almost instant death. It has been marked an extremely toxic poison in every encyclopedia description. In a widely-respected toxicological manual–The Pharmacological Basics of Therapeutics (Eighth Edition, Pergamon Press, 1990)–it states that:

Short term exposure to elemental mercury vapor may produce symptoms within hours; these include weakness, chills, metallic taste, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dyspnea, cough, and a feeling of tightness in the chest. Pulmonary toxicity may progress to an interstitial pneumonitis with severe compromise of respiratory function. Recovery, although usually complete, may be complicated by residual interstitial fibrosis.

Chronic exposure to mercury vapor produces a more insidious form of toxicity that is dominated by neurological effects (Friberg and Vostal, 1972). The syndrome is referred to as asthenic vegetative syndrome and consists of the following findings (Goyer, 1985): goiter, increase uptake of radio-iodine by the thyroid, tachycardia, labile pulse, gingivitis, dermographia, an increases mercury in the urine. With continued exposure, tremor becomes noticeable and psychological changes consist of depression, irritability, excessive shyness, insomnia, emotional instability, forgetfulness, confusion, and vasomotor disturbances (such as excessive perspiration and uncontrolled blushing, which together are referred to as erethism. ) Common features of intoxication from mercury vapor are severe salivation and gingivitis.

To add to this scenario, dental office staff are carefully instructed about the careful  handling of amalgam material as it is classified by OSHA as “hazardous.” Remarkably–once it is put in your mouth–it becomes safe? In 1992, the World Health Organization declared that mercury is so poisonous that no amount of mercury absorption is safe!

A study done by publisher, Sam Ziff and his son, Michael Ziff, DDS published in 1993–A Consolidated Symptom Analysis of 1569 Patients”— compiled the changes in health that occurred with the removal of amalgams in people from Sweden, Denmark, Canada and Colorado. Here are some of the results:

  • Chronic fatigue –45% reported this problem–86% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Headaches–34% reported this problem–87% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Vision Problems–29% reported this problem–63% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Depression–22% reported this problem–91% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Dizziness–22% reported this problem–88% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Skin Disturbances–20% reported this problem–81% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Memory Loss–17% reported this problem–73% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Lack of Concentration–17% reported this problem–63% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Gastrointestinal Problems–15% reported this problem–83% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Allergies–14% reported this problem–89% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Insomnia–12% reported this problem–78% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Ulcers and Sores in the Oral Cavity–12%reported this problem–86% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Irregular Heartbeat–10% reported this problem–80% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Muscle Tremor–8% reported this problem–83% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Gum Problems–8% reported this problem–94% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Irritability–8% reported this problem–90% of those reported cure or improvement
  • Multiple Sclerosis–7% reported this problem–75% of those reported cure or improvement

Dr. Ziff states that, “You wouldn’t take a leaky thermometer, put it  in your mouth, and leave it there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Yet that’s exactly what happens when an amalgam filling is installed in your mouth.”

The book also discusses these important research studies:

  • In animal experiments of Murray Vimy, DMD and Fritz Lorscheider, PhD,  the presence of amalgam fillings in the mouth caused a decline in kidney function of 54% within 30 days and 60% within 60 days. These changes are considered sub-clinical as there are no “overt” symptoms.
  • The research of Dr William Markesbery and Dr. Willaim Ehmann determined that there is a higher level of mercury in the brains of persons who died of Alzheimers–and a lower level of two major minerals which protect against mercury–zinc and selenium.
  • The research of Drs. Vasken and Mary Aposhian at the University of Arizona, showed that two-thirds of the body-burden of mercury comes from amalgam dental fillings, with only one-third coming from food and the environment.
  • Lastly, research by Dr. Anne Summers, a molecular biologist at the University of Georgia, determined that “the presence of mercury in the body stimulates antibiotic resistance among bacteria in the GI tract–that dental amalgam is an identified factor in the widespread development of antibiotic resistance.

A summary of how mercury interferes with basic metabolic processes is eloquently described by Alfred Zamm, MD, FACP in this statement from his research:

Mercury poisoning is impaired oxidation. It’s like having an invisible cord around your neck that’s strangling you, but you can’t feel the cord is there. [The strangulation] is biochemical, but the principal is the same: mercury reduced the amount of oxygen you get. The body keeps adjusting, but with every adjustment it gets sicker and sicker. And ultimately you will die from this.

I realized that when you were at this level of impaired oxidation, then everything else would follow: autoimmunity, inability to deal with infections, bizarre illnesses that don’t make sense otherwise. These environmental illnesses are due to a lack of energy packages required for the detoxification process.

Therefore mercury toxicity deprives the body of oxygen-and any process in the body requiring oxygen will be less efficient in the presence of mercury.

Learning about the effects of mercury toxicity can alert us to the shocking evidence of how many epidemics in illnesses may have a relation to this issue. Besides personally taking steps to find a biological dentist who can assist us in the safe removal of these poisonous substances from our bodies, we can become a help to others by sharing this information.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Greed in Health Insurance Companies–The Necessity of Changing Our Food Supply to Support Real Health

Below is an article about the absolute greed in health insurance companies that shouldn’t surprise a single soul. Building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods, removing mercury amalgams to reverse mercury toxicity in our bodies and putting your dollars behind traditional, sustainable agriculture will help protect you from needing to participate in a health system based on the bottom line. If you can work with progressive holistic practitioners for your health needs when at all possible to find the root cause of a health issue–one who also works with traditional foods, energetic medicine and homeopathy–hopefully you will be able to avoid most medical interventions. If enough people vote for real health insurance–that is real food and holistic approaches to health care–great change will come.

Health Insurers More Grotesquely Greedy Than Wall Street Bankers

The great thing about Corporate America is that competition is always fierce for the national title of greediest.

February 17, 2010 |

By gollies, the top executives of health insurance corporations are not giving up without a fight! To paraphrase every high school football coach who ever lived, “When the going gets ugly, the ugly get going.”

During the past several months, the Barons of Wall Street had established themselves as the vilest and most reviled corporate team in the land. They’ve been lavishing bonuses on themselves even as their firms continue to benefit from government bailout measures and even as ordinary Americans continue to struggle with the economic collapse caused by the bankers’ arrogance and avarice. Wall Streeters were widely considered a shoo-in to take the coveted Corporate Greedhead Trophy this year — but, holy cow, what a comeback bid we’re now seeing from the Giants of Insurance!

Let’s recap their amazing charge: Last week, the news broke that America’s five largest health insurance companies (United Health, Wellpoint, Aetna, Humana and Cigna) had scored record profits in 2009, totaling $12.2 billion. This was a stunning 56 percent hike over the previous year, a drive made all the more impressive by the fact that these gains came during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

As American families struggled financially last year, Team Insurance was able to boot 2.7 million more people out of their private health plans, leaving those folks in the corporate dust. In an even slicker, hidden-ball play, three of the five giants cut the proportion of premiums they spent on their customers’ medical care, shifting those premium dollars into corporate salaries, profits and administrative overhead. Even Wall Street’s Barons had to shake their heads in disbelief and marvel at the audacity of that play.

By the way, buried in that increase for the insurers’ administrative overhead was a little statistic that often gets overlooked: lobbying expenses. The Big Five spent $16.8 million last year to lobby against comprehensive reform of our health care system. You youngsters should take note of that, for such attention to detail is what builds a corporate champion.

The recession-time surge in insurance profits, the shedding of older and sicker customers, the lateral of more premium dollars into things like executive pay — these maneuvers alone would’ve moved health insurance up in the top tier of ugly industries. But then the industry ratcheted up its game another notch. One of Wellpoint’s subsidiaries heaved a “Hail Mary” pass that shocked everyone and catapulted insurance into a serious contender for the Greedhead Trophy.
In the same week that Wellpoint acknowledged that its 2009 profits were up by $2.3 billion over the previous year (a 91 percent increase), its Anthem Blue Cross subsidiary in California caused a sensation by seeking to raise the premiums on its customers’ policies by as much as 39 percent this year.

As befits a true Greedhead striver, Wellpoint neatly stiffed critics by asserting that this price hike was necessitated by the general increase in America’s health care costs — never mind that the corporation’s rise in premiums is actually 10 times more than the rise in the overall cost of health care. What a move!

However, whether Wellpoint’s daring California score will be allowed is in question, for there was a flag on the play. State insurance zebras are questioning the legitimacy of the increase, causing a company executive to argue heatedly that while tens of thousands of customers would indeed be socked with a 39 percent jump in their premiums, the average rate increase would be a mere 25 percent, so the play should be OK.

Come on, sports fans, ya gotta give ’em some style points just for trying to get away with that.

Still, can the upstart Insurance Giants hope to out-ugly the more-sophisticated Wall Street Barons? The great thing about Corporate America is that competition is always fierce for the national greedhead title, and insurance is now in the running. As sportscasters can tell you: Only time will tell, it’s not over ’til it’s over, tomorrow’s another day, winners never quit/quitters never win, wait’ll next year, and it’s deja vu all over again.

Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the new book, “Swim Against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow.” (Wiley, March 2008) He publishes the monthly “Hightower Lowdown,” co-edited by Phillip

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

Mercury Poisoning from Silver Fillings–“Amalgams”–What are Some of the Known Symptoms?

The book, It’s All in Your Head, The Link Between Mercury Amalgams and Illness by Hal Huggins, DDS, MS is a work of utmost importance. Since dental health has been completely compromised from our poor food supply, nearly every person has suffered the consequences and required cavitation surgery–the placement of fillings in the teeth. However, the most common material used for this important–literally “life-saving” treatment–not only contains at least 54% mercury, but is mixed with other metals (copper, silver, tin and zinc) that increase the mercury toxicity through galvanization–an electrical current produced from two or more dissimilar metals. So while the teeth are protected from further decay, the resulting heavy metal toxicity may be devastating to health.

Huggins discusses that mercury attacks the body in many ways so the symptoms of mercury poisoning vary from person to person.  He states that “Mercury kills cells by interfering with their ability to exchange oxygen, nutrients and waste products through the cell membrane. Inside the cell, mercury destroys our genetic code, DNA, leaving us without the ability to reproduce that cell ever again. Immunologically, mercury embeds itself in a cell membrane, giving the cell the appearance of being”non-self, ” which is the trigger for the immune system to destroy that specific cell. With mercury in your cell membranes, the immune system will start destroying your own tissues, thus the term autoimmune disease. Examples of these are diabetes, multiple sclerosis, scleroderma and lupus.” Courageously, Huggins, and the growing community of biological dentists have shown us that many of these serious illnesses may be reversed through the proper removal of these amalgams.

Huggins categorizes the medical diseases he saw as related to amalgams into five categories:

  1. Neurological (motor and sensory)–tremors, seizures, MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, emotional disturbances, unexplained depression, anxiety, unprovoked suicidal thoughts
  2. Immunological–lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis
  3. Cardiovascular–unexplained heart pains, irregular heart beat, high and low blood pressure
  4. Collagen–ie osteoarthritis and diseases that affect the collagen
  5. Miscellaneous–chronic fatigue, brain fog, digestive diseases and Crohn’s disease

Below is a list of common symptoms from his extensive study that are suspected to be of dental origin:

  • Unexplained irritability
  • Constant or frequent periods of depression
  • Numbness or tingling in extremities
  • Frequent urination at night
  • Unexplained chronic fatigue
  • Cold hand and feet, even in moderate weather
  • Bloated feeling most of the time
  • Difficulty with short-term memory
  • Constipation on a regular basis
  • Difficulty in making decisions
  • Tremors or shakes of hands, feet, head, etc.
  • Twitching of face and other muscles
  • Frequent leg cramps
  • Constant  or frequent ringing or noise in ears
  • Shortness of breath
  • Frequent or recurring heartburn
  • Excessive itching
  • Unexplained rashes, skin irritation
  • Constant or frequent metallic taste in mouth
  • Jumpiness and nervousness
  • Constant death wish or suicidal intent
  • Frequent insomnia
  • Unexplained chest pains
  • Constant or frequent pain in joints
  • Tachycardia
  • Unexplained fluid retention
  • Burning sensation on tongue
  • Headaches just after eating
  • Frequent diarrhea

Through the careful removal of amalgams, biological dentists are helping people to overcome serious health issues caused by heavy metal toxicity. As we move forward in understanding all of the necessary components to reversing and preventing  dental carries and chronic illness through nutrient-dense foods, we will hopefully provide future generations with the correct knowledge to alleviate the necessity of dental fillings. In the mean time, we must be cognizant of the wide ranging symptoms of mercury toxicity so that we may understand their root cause, which diet alone will not correct.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

The Relationship of the Dietary Prevention of Inflammation and Digestive Disorders as a Protection Against Degenerative Disease

There is mounting evidence that as more people are experiencing healing from inflammation and digestive illness with nutrient-dense foods, that this factor is in itself a protection from degenerative disease. In articles from the Wise Traditions JournalA Holistic Approach to Cancer:The Disease of Civilization, by Tom Cowan, MD and The Pilot Research Study, Live Blood Analysis of Adults Comparing The Weston A. Price Foundation Diet and the Conventional Modern Diet, by Beverly Rubick, PhD–we can see this relationship.

Dr. Cowan notes that “civilization is the cause of cancer….The hunter-gatherer indigenous populations that were dependent upon animals feeding on perennial grass-based environments lived free of cancer for literally thousands and thousands of years. Organic agriculture turned the soil nearly into a desert, and brought cancer to people who had no cancer. Weston Price got in at the tail end of this inquiry in the 1930s and documented the health of these people from the standpoint of their teeth. But again, whenever we look at the health of non-industrialized people we see the same thing: these people are without cancer, and also without heart disease.”

Cowan discusses how a diet high in hard-to-digest carbohydrates–including hard-to-digest raw vegetables–can cause dysbiosis, intestinal damage and leaky gut, which puts the body in a constant state of inflammation. This state of inflammation is what leads to degenerative illness like cancer and heart disease. It is by returning to the hunter-gatherer diet that we can correct this disease state. This is the same diet that Dr. Weston Price found in immune cultures and that is reversing chronic illness in so many ill people who follow this approach today.

I love Cowan’s statements in response to the question, Is the hunter-gatherer diet “square with human anatomy?” He says, “I am not against changing certain patterns of the diet based on what a person can tolerate. But when someone says that their blood type needs to be a herbivore, a vegan, I think to myself well, yes, that would be fine if they had rumen. Let me tell you, the first cancer patients that come in with rumen, I’m putting them on a vegetarian diet. If they have very long intestines and a rumen with bacteria to ferment cellulose, I’d put them on a vegetarian diet.”

Cowan uses a nutrient-dense diet in his work with cancer patients. This diet eliminates all disaccharides–sugars in grains, lactose in fluid milk (even raw) and starchy vegetables. It emphasizes lots of healthy fats–butter, ghee, and coconut oil–grass-fed meats and organ meats, wild seafood, fermented raw dairy, low-starch vegetables, some fruit, bone broth soups and cod-liver oil. This is exactly the same diet that saved my life and that I have written about extensively for the last eight years. This is how I overcame 25 years of chronic inflammation and a severe digestive disorder. IT WORKS!

A new exciting study, The Pilot Research Study, Live Blood Analysis of Adults Comparing The Weston A. Price Foundation Diet and the Conventional Modern Diet, by Beverly Rubick, PhD, compares the blood from two groups of men of three age groups–one eating the Weston A. Price diet and the other a conventional diet.” The blood of the subjects on the WAPF diet showed reduced blood coagulation and clotting within forty-five minutes compared to those on conventional modern diets. Blood coagulation and clotting in fresh blood draws are generally associated with increased inflammation.” Here again, in the  prevention of inflammation, a traditional, nutrient-dense diet is showing great promise.

As we see more people healing and being protected from inflammation, digestive disorders and degenerative illness with nutrient-dense diets, and even more research pointing to the support of this powerful traditional dietary approach, we will hopefully move our society in the direction of seeking true solutions for our ever-increasing modern health epidemics. As more people also seek the foods produced by traditional small-farm agriculture to accomplish this goal, we can reform our food supply to improve the health of future generations.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

A Serious Look at the Trends of Children’s Physical and Mental Health Today

When considering the disturbing rise in the percentage of degenerative diseases, brain disorders and mental health issues in children today, intuition would suggest that these statistics will not improve without drastic changes in the trends that have lead us to this looming catastrophe. In the book, The Truth about Children’s Health: The Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Preventing, and Reversing Disease, by Robert Bernardini, MS (PRI Publishing, 2003), Bernardini points to the fact that children are far less healthy today than in the 1950s—that we have forgotten what a healthy child is—that diseases have become so common, that we think this trend is not unusual.

Another book, Is Your Child’s Brain Starving?, by Dr. Michael R. Lyon, MD and Dr. Christine Laurell, PhD (Mind Publishing, 2002) makes these profound statements:

  • ADHD, Autism, OCD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and depression have become rampant in today’s kids. What happens when these children grow up? Without real solutions to these conditions, the future of our world is in jeopardy.
  • Think of this: a very subtle downturn in the overall intelligence of our population would have a profound effect on society. If the average IQ decreased by only 5 points, the number of individuals officially considered to be mentally retarded/disabled would increase by 50%, while the number of individuals officially labeled as “intellectually gifted” would decrease by 50% (www.igc.org/psr) The whole course of history could change if such a shift were to take place on a global scale.
  • Although the brain is built to survive and perform under adverse conditions, optimal brain performance requires optimal nutrition. Brain cells are the most sophisticated cells in the body. They need a wide array of nutrients.
  • Junk food, contaminants like pesticides and heavy metals, and a decrease in dietary nutrition cause a deadly combination against the brain.

In a review of Bernardini’s book by Janice M. Curtin, she explains:

Beginning with a report on the status of children in America today, Bernardini asks the question I have raised many times. “If you’re an adult reading this who is older than about 40 years of age, I’d like you to think back to your childhood. How many kids did you know who had leukemia, asthma, diabetes, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), arthritis, multiple sclerosis, cancer, autism or were obese? Chances are, you may have known a few. Perhaps the kid down the street had asthma. Maybe there was a distant relative who had juvenile diabetes. Or you heard on the news about some rare child with leukemia. Now, it seems like everywhere you turn, you read or hear about a child with a serious health problem. How many kids do you know of who are on Ritalin or were diagnosed with a learning disability? There are whole hospitals devoted to children’s cancer. Asthma and diabetes are now considered epidemics.”

Bernadini points out that “we live in a universe of laws. These laws that don’t care if you’re black or white, Japanese or Mexican, 90 years old or still a fetus. These laws are fundamental in the nature of matter and energy and determine how life progresses. If we live in harmony with these laws, we will as consequence live in harmony. If we break the laws, we will become discordant. Enough of this discord will create sickness, disease, and aberrant behavior.” Dr. Price expressed this fact in a similar manner as “Life in all its fullness is Mother Nature obeyed.”

Bernadini explains that whenever a health problem occurs, we must determine what the problem really is and determine the cause of the symptoms. Then we must apply our knowledge and technology in a way that works with nature, not against it, in order to get our children well. A good example of this might be the treatment of ADHD. Bernardini recommends removing the heavy metal toxicity from a child’s tissues and giving him a good diet instead of giving him Ritalin. If you do not remove the cause you never truly get rid of the problem. It may, however, seem to disappear but then surface in a new way.

Bernardini also addresses mental and emotional health and the growth of violence in our schools. “According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the years between 1985 and 1995 saw a 249 percent increase in gun-related murders committed by juveniles.” Bernardini says our kids are going crazy because “they’re not happy. And they’re not happy because they’re not healthy.”

Furthermore, “People are getting sicker younger and younger–physically, mentally and emotionally. And it’s not by chance –it’s because our bodies are not being treated and cared for the way nature intended.” Our children are exposed to environmental toxins which their small bodies cannot handle and they are stressed out and poorly fed.

Bernardini stresses that the diet of pregnant mothers and infants during the first few years of life is critical to their health and happiness later on. He quotes Susan B. Robbers, Ph.D, professor of nutrition at Tufts University School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston, who says, “As a nutrition researcher, I have spent 20 years studying the importance of healthy food at all stages of life. . . Studies from my own laboratory and others around the world have taught me that the foods my daughter eats during the first months and years of life have long-lasting–and in some cases–permanent effects. Foods make an important difference in virtually everything–from mental and physical developments to vitality, personality and health from childhood through old age.” Bernardini provides extensive information on the foods and nutrients your baby needs, what these nutrients do, and how to get them.

Bernardini’s dietary advice is in line with that of Dr. Price. Characteristic of the entire book, Bernardini is not afraid to tell us that it is important for your growing child to get enough fat in the diet. “Newborns must derive 50 percent of the calories they consume from dietary fat. Fat is essential for normal growth from infancy on, since fats provide fatty acids, the building block children need for critical metabolic programming of brain growth and development.” Bernardini gives specific advice on how to feed your child. He includes our recipes for homemade baby formula and recommends cod liver oil, egg yolks, raw whole milk and liver.

Dr. Bernardini fearlessly addresses an array of controversial topics including birth defects, infertility, baby food and formula, soy, vaccines, and SIDS. He gives extensive advice on what to avoid but also has plenty of support and resources on ways to deal with any problems your child may be experiencing already.

Bernardini does a good job of empowering us to be proactive. He is particularly concerned that we take back responsibility for our own and our children’s health. He gives good advice when he says: “You must scrutinize closely the information you receive from the government and the mass media. Policy decisions, guidelines and laws are oftentimes made not so much for the preservation of our health, but for the preservation of profits. Big money can do big things, including influencing our government. A 1980 study showed that almost half of the leading officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had at one time worked for organizations the agency is mandated to regulate. Similarly, many FDA officials quit to go work for a company in the field they were once regulating. . . . Do some research and ask some questions. Don’t necessarily believe somebody just because he or she is on the nightly news, in the papers or is a so-called ‘expert.’ Make yourself the expert. Learn to seek answers, not just accept what is foisted upon you–for the truth is often quiet and the truth is often hidden. Truth is not in it for the money, it just is. Truth doesn’t advertise.” He reminds us to be wary of the advertisers and be watchful that we do not become brainwashed. We must constantly be aware of the fact that we could lose our health freedoms if we are not educated, aware and vigilant about protecting them.

Although the problems we are seeing today may seem overwhelming in their scope, it is the responsibility of an alerted society to protect future generations of children from the suffering caused by the obvious mistakes and profit-driven decisions that have given birth to a wildly untamed massive power structure and authority that we cannot afford to blindly support. As statistics are showing seriously unfavorable trends in wide areas of health, we have no time to waste in correcting this path, for our children’s ability to thrive depends on our courage to help change this misguided direction of history.

The enlightened work of the Weston A. Price Foundation and the expansive healing information it is providing, which is helping to reverse these trends, must be communicated in exponential proportion to every person by those who understand and have experienced its power. Through understanding the root cause of our mistakes and the proven answers to these problems, we can steer a sinking ship from disaster to great hope for a brighter future for upcoming generations.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Weston A. Price Foundation Press Release: Whole Foods Promotes Militant Vegetarian Agenda



WHOLE FOODS PROMOTES MILITANT VEGETARIAN AGENDA

Has the Upscale Market Outlived Its Usefulness?

WASHINGTON, DC. February 3, 2010:  Whole Foods Markets has launched a nationwide “Health Starts Here” marketing scheme that endorses a lowfat, vegetarian diet, with promises that the diet will “improve health easily and naturally.” The plan promotes the books and private business ventures of Joel Fuhrman, MD, and Rip Esselstyn, both of whom worked with Whole Foods to formulate the new guidelines. Customers now receive a pamphlet urging them to adopt a lowfat, plant-based diet and to cut back or completely eliminate animal foods.  Many Whole Foods stores no longer sell books advocating consumption of meat, eggs and dairy products.

The plan will feature new Aggregate Nutrient Density Index (ANDI) labels for foods in the store; the index is designed to make plant foods to appear “nutrient dense” by favoring various phytonutrients in plants and ignoring many vitamins and minerals essential to health. “Whole Foods has stacked the deck against animal foods by choosing ANDI parameters that do not include a host of key nutrients, such as vitamins A, D and K, DHA, EPA arachidonic acid, taurine, iodine, biotin, pantothenic acid, and vital minerals like sodium, chloride, potassium, sulfur, phosphorus, copper, manganese, boron, molybdenum and chromium,” says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. “Many of the phytochemicals that Fuhrman includes in the index he developed for Whole Foods play no essential role in the body and may even be harmful.”

“Animal foods like meat, liver, butter, whole milk and eggs contain ten to one hundred times more vitamins and minerals than plant foods,” says Fallon Morell. “Plant foods add variety and interest to the human diet but in most circumstances do not qualify as ‘nutrient-dense’ foods.”

“For years before becoming deathly ill, I followed the dietary suggestions in the Whole Foods plan,” said Kathryne Pirtle, author of Performance without Pain. “I ate large amounts of organic salads, vegetables and fruits, lots of whole grains, only a little meat and no animal fat. I had chronic pain for twenty-five years on this diet, then acid reflux, then a serious inflammation in my spine followed by chronic diarrhea. Without switching to nutrient-dense animal foods, including eggs, butter and whole dairy products, not only would I have lost my national career as a performing artist, I would have died at forty-five years old! I am not alone in this story of ill health from a lowfat, plant-based diet, which does not supply a person with enough nutrients to be healthy and can be very damaging to the intestinal tract.”

“Consumers can send a message about Whole Foods’ misinformed scheme by voting with their feet,” says Fallon Morell.  “Most major grocery store chains now carry basic organic staples and a larger array of organic fruits and vegetables than Whole Foods markets. And citizens should purchase seasonal produce  and their meat, eggs and dairy products directly from farmers engaged in non-toxic and grass-based farming. It’s not appropriate for Whole Foods to promote a scheme that has no scientific basis and that bulldozes their customers towards the higher profit items in their stores.” The local chapters of the Weston A. Price Foundation help consumers connect with farmers raising animal foods in humane, healthy and ecologically friendly fashion.

“The growing emphasis on plant-based diets deficient in animal protein also serves to promote soy foods as both meat and dairy substitutes,” says Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food.   “Soy is not only one of the top eight allergens but has been linked in more than sixty years of studies to malnutrition, digestive distress, thyroid dysfunction, reproductive disorders including infertility, and even cancer, especially breast cancer.”

“Low fat patients are my most unhealthy patients,” says John P. Salerno, MD, a board certified family physician from New York City. “The reason we are spiraling into diabetes and obesity is because of the lowfat concept developed by the U.S government decades ago. Lowfat diets have a low nutrient base, and phytonutrients in vegetables cannot be properly absorbed without fat.”

Fallon Morell cites recent studies from Europe showing that lowfat diets promote weight gain in both children and adults, and also contribute to infertility. A meta-analysis published January, 2010 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found no significant evidence that saturated fat consumption is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

“Whole Foods CEO John Mackay has stated that eating animal fats amounts to an addiction. But in fact, animal fats are essential for good health,” says Fallon Morell. “The nutrients in animal fats, such as vitamins A, D and K, arachidonic acid, DHA, choline, cholesterol and saturated fat, are critical for brain function. In the misguided war against cholesterol and saturated fat, we have created an epidemic of learning disorders in the young and mental decline in the elderly.”

“Perhaps the vegetarian diet has affected the thinking powers of Whole Foods management,” says Fallon Morell. “It’s time for the stockholders to insist on leadership devoted to increasing customer base, not promoting a personal vegetarian agenda.”

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a 501C3 nutrition education foundation with the mission of disseminating accurate, science-based information on diet and health. Named after nutrition pioneer Weston A. Price, DDS, author of the book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, the Washington, DC-based Foundation publishes a quarterly journal for over 12,000 members, supports 400 local chapters worldwide and hosts a yearly conference. The Foundation headquarters phone number is (202) 363-4394, westonaprice.org, info@westonaprice.org.

Comments about the Whole Foods Health Starts Here scheme can be emailed to customer.questions@wholefoods.com .

CONTACT

Kimberly Hartke, Publicist, the Weston A. Price Foundation

703-860-2711, 703-675-5557 press@westonaprice.org

Dogs and Cats Thrive on Nutrient-Dense Diets Too!

Once you study the work of Dr. Weston Price–Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, and Dr. Francis Pottenger–Dr. Pottenger’s Cats–you will never be the same! We took in a beautiful 4 year old dog from the shelter about 5 years ago. Her name is Lexi. She is a cute, medium-sized blond-colored sweetie. She looks like a mix of Beagle and Shar Pei–with her wrinkly skin.

When Lexi came to us she was nervous and skittish. I knew I was going to feed her a diet based on the work of Weston A. Price and Dr. Pottenger–a species-appropriate raw diet. I found a fantastic book called Switching to Raw and got busy. What I realized after reading the book is that Lexi would be eating a lot like me–except I don’t do the raw bones and I don’t eat raw meat exclusively–but do bone broth soups and lightly cooked meats–sometimes raw. I alternate her diet between one day of raw chicken necks and backs from the farm, which I cut in smaller pieces, with raw meat or liver mixed with raw egg yolks, cod liver oil and butter oil the next day. She always has a little bowl of raw milk kefir to drink alongside her water.

As you might imagine, Lexi at 9 years old has never been sick, she is no longer skittish and her coat is drop-dead gorgeous! She went from a shy dog to being a dog who is happy, playful–yet calm–and a friend to all. What a beautiful miracle she is and her exceptional health is a joy to observe.

Although I do not have a cat, I know if I did, I would follow Dr. Pottenger’s recipe for cat health. Raw meat, raw milk, raw egg yolks, cod liver oil and butter oil and learn if ground-up raw bones is also recommended.

When you feed your pets nutrient-dense foods, they can recover from illness and develop a high-level of health and hopefully, many more years of life.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.